COLLECTIVE MADNESS Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people." Stockbyte/Thinkstock(PHOENIX) -- Republican Debbie Lesko is the projected winner of Arizona's special election Tuesday in a contest both parties were watching as a barometer of political strength before the November midterm elections. But Democrat Hiral Tipirneni performed strongly, which bolsters the party's argument that enthusiasm remains high for its candidates and helps reinforce the argument that a so-called blue wave is coming this fall. Lesko had 52.43 percent of the vote, compared to Tipirneni's 47.22 percent, with 94 percent of precincts reporting. Tipirneni conceded the race on Wednesday morning. "Now that nearly all of the votes have been counted, we know that the special election goes to our opponent. I congratulate Debbie Lesko on a hard-fought campaign, and wish her good luck in Congress," she said in a statement. Democrats argued that the narrow margin of victory for Republicans was a sign of trouble. It should terrify vulnerable Republicans that their party had to run a desperate rescue mission to hold on to this deep-red seat in Arizona," DCCC spokesperson Jacob Peters said in a statement. "These narrow results in Arizonas 8th District spell serious trouble for the Republican majority, particularly because it proves there is no place in the country where energized, organized Democrats are not ready to compete." President Trump tweeted his congratulations to Lesko Wednesday morning. But both Democrats and Republicans will dissect the details of the contest -- specifically, the final margin between the two candidates. Arizona has a competitive Senate race this fall, and how independents broke in Tuesday's contest, along with how many Republicans crossed over to vote for Tipirneni, will be pored over for any indication of how voters may go in November. The early returns also indicated that the Democrats' record of overperformance in special elections continues, although the large number of white, older, Republican-leaning voters in the district, which is a popular one for retirees, made it tough for Tipirneni to prevail. Even with the numbers against her, Republicans spent heavy and hard in this contest to secure the win. Unlike the March special election in Pennsylvania, where there was a strong suburban population, the 8th Congressional District in Arizona has a history of being reliably red. Former Rep. Trent Franks, in his three times on the ballot, won with more than 25 percent of the vote. Leskos victory only gives her the seat for the remainder of this year. Both she and Tipirneni are expected to run again. First, each of them has to get through the Aug. 28 primary for the right to compete in November. Tipirneni touted her strong showing in the race and vowed to fight on. "In a seat that President Trump won by more than 20 points, and outside groups spent more than a million dollars to try and silence us. Tonight, we showed them that Arizona's West Valley has something to say," she said in a statement. "It's because the hard work of my staff, volunteers and supporters that the race is still too close to call. Regardless of the outcome, we are taking this to November." In Tuesday's contest, which was triggered by Frank's resignation from Congress last year, Tipirneni outpaced Lesko in campaign fundraising by over $100,000, but outside groups invested heavily in the Republican. The Republican National Committee (RNC), National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) and the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) poured over $1.3 million into the race from primary to Election Day, according to FEC filings, while Democratic outside groups spent just over $300,000. Debbie is a strong conservative whose values truly reflect those of the voters in Arizonas 8th District, NRCC Chairman Steve Stivers said in a statement Tuesday night. The NRCC was proud to support her, and our targeted and early investments proved to be a difference maker in the race. One GOP strategist called the Republican spending in the race an education campaign to remind voters that the special election was taking place. Trump carried Arizona's 8th Congressional District, which lies to the northwest of Phoenix and was once the home base for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, by 21 points in the 2016 presidential election. The population in the district is older than most, with a median age of 43, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The average median age for congressional districts in Arizona is 38, and the 8th Congressional District is the second oldest in a state with a significant retiree population. Republicans will face tough contests in much less demographically favorable districts come November and still face two more special elections in the coming months. There will be a special election in Texas' 27th Congressional District on June 30 to replace the seat vacated by Rep. Blake Farenthold, and a special election in Ohio's 12th Congressional District on Aug. 7. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Home Regional News East Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit to China Friday (April 27) for an informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, to reset relations between the two Asian giants. Modi is also due to travel to China in June for a regional security summit -- it is highly unusual for a foreign leader to visit the country twice in such quick succession, the South China Morning News reported Sunday. Jinping-Modi summit was announced in a joint press conference held after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Beijing on Sunday, April 22. According to Indian media reports, the two leaders will meet in Hubei capital Wuhan one-on-one, without any ministers or advisers, and the summit aimed to redefine the future relationship of the two countries. "This year, under the guidance of our leaders, the China-India relationship has realized good development and shown a positive momentum," Wang told the press conference. "The informal summit will be an important occasion for them to exchange views on bilateral and international matters from an overarching and long-term perspective with the objective of enhancing mutual communication at the level of leaders," Swaraj was quoted as saying by Indian external affairs ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar on his official Twitter account. A Chinese analyst was quoted by the South China Morning News as saying that Modi's visit would be a chance for the two sides to reset ties following last year's protracted military stand-off in the disputed Himalayan border region of Doklam. New Delhi's invitation for the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh and its criticism of Beijing's trade and infrastructure strategy, the "Belt and Road Initiative", have also strained relations between China and India amid growing rivalry over regional influence. "India has made goodwill gestures since March and the two countries are now ready to get their ties back on track," said Jiang Jingkui, an expert on China-India relations at Peking University. Jiang said a separate bilateral meeting between Xi and Modi ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit would give the two leaders enough space and time to build a post-Doklam framework for relations. "The meeting could be an opportunity for the two countries to explore a new mode of exchange as they seek to develop a more mature relationship that transcends border disputes, and try to find new ground for political, economic and regional cooperation," Jiang said. China's concern The South China Morning News quoted Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, as saying that Beijing was concerned about India's growing cooperation with the United States, including last year's announcement to revive the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, talks that also include officials from Australia and Japan. "Whenever China feels that US-India relations are improving, China does some kind of signalling, and calls for 'multipolarity' to counter the United States' 'unipolar' position," he said. Renmin University international relations professor Shi Yinhong said the talks were part of a broader effort to improve bilateral relations. "This is part of the ongoing reconciliation in bilateral ties between China and India since August when the two countries agreed to end the stand-off at Doklam," Shi said. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. See original here According to reporting by Rewire.News, Catholic hospitals across the country are imposing dangerous and life-threatening mandates on their patients, including requiring fetal burial after a miscarriage and restricting access to contraception, abortion, fertility treatments and gender-affirming care for transgender patients. And now, right-wing politicians like Vice President Mike Pence are pushing to enshrine these dangerous practices into law. For more, we speak with Rewire investigative journalist Amy Littlefield. This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring Amy Littlefield into this conversation, with Rewire.News. You have looked at laws like this in other states, particularly in Indiana, particularly significant because it's the state of the vice president, Pence, who was governor of Indiana. Can you talk about what happened there? AMY LITTLEFIELD: Yes, absolutely. So, I just want to note also that this is a nationwide issue, that Catholic hospitals actually make up a growing share of the medical landscape. One in six hospital beds in this country are in a Catholic hospital. And we don't just see coercive fetal burial practices, like were just described. We also see restrictions on a broad range of healthcare in those hospitals. So, I looked at Indiana because it's where Governor Pence, at the time, now our vice president, signed one of the most sweeping anti-choice laws ever seen in the United States. And among other provisions, it required burial or cremation of all aborted or miscarried remains. Just last week, a federal appeals court affirmed that that law was in fact unconstitutional. But it turned out that for years before Pence had signed that law, a Catholic hospital in the state had already been imposing religious beliefs on patients by coercing, bullying and shaming them into burying their miscarried fetuses in a shared plot, similar to what exists in Texas. I think this is important, because I think there's a pattern here, that we saw in Texas, that we also see in Indiana, where these Catholic hospitals impose their religious beliefs on patients, often causing great harm and trauma, or even putting lives at risk, in some cases, and then we see extremist politicians, like Pence and like the lawmakers in Texas, then enshrine these religious practices into law and sort of give it the blessing of law, and rather than interfering to protect patients in some of those cases. So, I looked at the case of a woman named Kate Marshall, who, in 2015 -- it's a story similar to Blake's -- she actually found out that she had lost her pregnancy at 11 weeks. The fetus no longer had a heartbeat. Her doctor scheduled surgery to remove the remains. And she scheduled it in this Catholic hospital. And so, Kate didn't really have another option at that point. As she's lying in her hospital bed, you know, naked under her hospital gown, hooked up to an IV, feeling vulnerable, grieving her pregnancy, a chaplain comes into the room and tries to pressure her to sign a form allowing this hospital to bury the fetus in a cemetery plot. Kate actually already had another plan. She and her doctor had decided to send her fetus's remains for testing to find out what had caused her miscarriage, because what she wanted more than anything was to have a baby. And this was her way of doing that. And she explained that to the chaplain, but he didn't think that was a valid reason for her to decline this burial program. And he kept pushing her. And she had to ask him to leave five times, before he finally did. And then another chaplain came into the room. And this chaplain, again, asked her to sign this form. And when Kate declined again, the chaplain told her that she would be sending her baby's remains to a medical flush pile, if she fulfilled her wish to have this testing done. AMY GOODMAN: She stood by her beliefs and did not sign? AMY LITTLEFIELD: That's right, she did. But, you know, as in the horrible case that Blake just described, it was a very traumatic experience for her. Her sister was in the room and remembers watching Kate sobbing, shaking, crying, devastated that not only had she just lost this much-wanted pregnancy, but then a chaplain had come in and used his religious beliefs and the hospital's religious beliefs to shame her about her medical decision-making, which should have been her private choice. And that's not the place where you want to be -- shaking, sobbing, crying -- as you're being wheeled into surgery. So, she did stand by her beliefs, and she was able to get the testing done. And then she was later able to get pregnant and carry that pregnancy to term. But as she was pregnant, about a year later, she watched as Mike Pence and the Indiana Legislature enacted this bill that, in her words, would have made what she experienced at this Catholic hospital into law and make it the law of the land and force it on everyone statewide. So, again, we see this pattern where these Catholic hospitals, instead of being checked, when they -- by the state, with these, you know, abuses of patients under the guise of religion, where the state is actually empowering them and giving their behavior the blessing of law. AMY GOODMAN: Amy, you wrote a piece headlined "Women of Color More Likely to Give Birth in Hospitals Where Catholic Beliefs Hinder Care." How does that impact what we're talking about today? AMY LITTLEFIELD: Absolutely. So, I think this is a really important piece of the national conversation that's going on right now around black maternal mortality. It turns out that women of color disproportionately bear the burden of these restrictions on Catholic healthcare. Now, it's worth noting that Catholic hospitals don't just impose fetal burial on patients; they restrict access to contraception, abortion, end-of-life care, fertility treatments, gender-affirming care for trans patients. And because of the restrictions on abortion, oftentimes when women come in in the life-threatening process of losing a pregnancy, if that fetus still has a heartbeat, the Catholic hospital will not terminate the pregnancy in many cases, and this can lead to life-threatening and damaging scenarios for patients. So, we have to keep that in mind when we think about the fact that nationwide, 53 percent of births in Catholic hospitals are to women of color. In some states, that's even more stark. In New Jersey, for example, 80 percent of births in Catholic hospitals are to women of color. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. No doubt you know who Alex Jones is and maybe you've spent some time doing one of the following: Wondering how we've gotten to the point where someone could peddle conspiracy theories (lies) for a living. Wondering if there's any way we could ban Jones from the media, given the fact that his statements have incited harassment and outright violence. Wondering if we should add another caveat to the First Amendment, something along the lines of, "Free speech shall not include flat-out lies under the guise of information or entertainment, or infotainment." Jones is facing several defamation suits from the parents of a victim in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. If you were one of these parents, wouldn't you do the same? I know plenty of people who'd feel outright murderous if someone claimed they were lying about the death of their child. Jones has poured salt on a very painful wound by claiming that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax and that the parents are part of the conspiracy. The parents have received death threats, and according to the lawsuits, Jones' conspiracy theory has subjected them to "public and private hatred, contempt, and ridicule." They feel their reputations are ruined because of Jones. Yet, Jones' lies are protected by the First Amendment to the extent that, if they are defamatory, he doesn't face criminal charges. He can face civil suits, but for whatever reason, nothing I'm seeing in my research indicates that defamation is a crime. HG.org says, "The First Amendment does not protect individuals from facing civil penalties if they defame another person through written or verbal communication." In other words, someone can personally take issue with false, slanderous words, but the government can't. However, even for a simple civil proceeding, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff: according to Cornell Law School , for Jones to be guilty of defamation he has to know the statements he made were false. Will Jones claim he actually believes his conspiracy theory is true? And will he furthermore claim he's not responsible for the actions other people took as a result of words he spoke with the intent to tell "the truth"? How can the plaintiffs prove he knows the Sandy Hook shooting wasn't a conspiracy? This is shaky ground and you can see why it's tough to make headway with the First Amendment in many defamation suits. It's also tough to tell whether Congress is infringing on freedom of speech with FOSTA . FOSTA stands for Fight Online Sex Trafficking. As of this writing, FOSTA is very recent. Congress was nearly unanimous in the passage of FOSTA, and that might seem like a good thing. Congress is finally agreeing on something, and that something is a bill meant to crack down on sex trafficking via internet. If a user of any online forum posts content that facilitates sex trafficking, the website on which they post is liable. This includes cases of prostitution. Already, Craigslist has removed the Personal Ads section because of FOSTA. Any lawyer worth their salt will point out that prostitution is legal in some jurisdictions, such as Nevada. If someone from another state uses a site that's perfectly legal in Nevada to engage a prostitute, what then? And what if someone goes on Facebook and proclaims they're a prostitute, what then? Is Facebook liable for a statement of fact that leads a person from a state where prostitution is illegal to seek sex from a prostitute in a state where it's legal? Basically, FOSTA is calling sites like Facebook and Craigslist potential houses of ill repute. We already knew they were, now it's just official. Now it's as if sites are a physical place where people make sex deals, even if they're not physical, per se. Some confusion is bound to arise. If sites can be liable for statements that lead to sex trafficking, can't they be liable for certain forms of cyberbullying too? It's a rampant problem: in a survey, 27 percent of women in college reported they've been victims of cyberbullying, while 25 percent of middle and high school students said the same. Cyberbullying can take the form of threats, and if it's a threat that could actually result in physical harm or death, it's illegal. Plenty of people have dealt with death threats on Twitter, but that site is still running strong. Returning to the Alex Jones case, a woman named Lucy Richards was jailed for 5 months for threatening one of the plaintiffs, Leonard Pozner. The judge who jailed Richards said that Richards would "not be permitted to access a list of conspiracy-based websites upon her release, including InfoWars. ... Ms. Richards' arrest and sentencing are an ominous reminder of the danger posed by Mr. Jones' continuing lies about the Plaintiffs' alleged role in faking Sandy Hook." In this case, InfoWars, that house of infamy, sounds culpable of inciting Richards to threaten Pozner's physical well-being. If Jones loses the lawsuit to Pozner, this could set a loose precedent that a website can be held responsible for death threats. Granted, the lawsuit is against Alex Jones personally, not InfoWars. But isn't InfoWars included in this because it's Alex Jones' megaphone? Without the site, you would have no widespread conspiracy theory, therefore no death threats. Looking at the FOSTA bill and the Alex Jones case, you could easily conclude that the internet is on shaky ground as a forum for expression. There are nine types of speech that aren't protected by the First Amendment. Once a forum is liable for its users' violations of the First Amendment, that makes a forum an actor, not a forum. If websites have to proceed as actors married to their users' words, they'll have to tread very lightly. Plenty of us want to see Alex Jones go down. But do we want to see the internet wrapped in red tape? The time is coming when it will be. All it takes is an idiot like Jones to ruin it for the rest of us. Enjoy this forum while it lasts. Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. From Common Dreams The attack on Syria was an open violation of international law and of the U.S. Constitution. Anti-war protest (Image by flickr.com) Details DMCA This week, the Senate will decide whether to confirm CIA Director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State. Pompeo is a key figure in Trump's new war cabinet, along with National Security Advisor John Bolton and Gina Haspel, who he wants to take Pompeo's place the CIA. The Senate is also likely to move towards a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), which grants congressional authority to expand the global war on terror. What remains to be seen is whether Congress will finally curb presidential war making. This president -- like his predecessors -- claims the right to make war unilaterally, unrestrained by international law or the Constitution. The recent U.S. missile attack on Syria to punish the Assad regime for an alleged use of chemical weapons on civilians reveals the scope of presidential contempt for the law. This attack on Syria was an open violation of international law and the United Nations Charter, the centerpiece of the "rules-based" order the U.S. claims to uphold. This Charter prohibits "the threat or use of force" against a sovereign nation, unless the attack is authorized by the U.N. Security Council, an act of self-defense, or consented to by the sovereign government. None of these apply here. Some argue the attack was justified by the "responsibility to protect" populations from atrocities endorsed by U.N. member nations since 2005, but that too permits intervention only with U.N. sanction. The attack is also an open violation of the U.S. Constitution, which lodges the power to make war in the Congress and not the Executive (Article 1; Section 8). Congress has provided no authority for the invasion of Syria. The 2002 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) authorizes actions against the organizations that perpetrated the 9/11 attacks and their offshoots. No contortion of logic can stretch it to include the Assad regime in Syria. The secret legal rationale -- if there is one -- would likely be based on the rationale invoked by both Obama and Trump for earlier strikes in Syria: that as Commander in Chief, the President may use military force to uphold regional stability and vital international norms in the national interest. This contention, as Jack Goldsmith, former attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel under George W Bush, concludes, "places no limit at all on the president's ability to use significant military force unilaterally." That our "stable genius," the impulsive, erratic, ignorant Donald Trump, claims the power to use the military anywhere at any time that he might decide is frightening enough. It becomes terrifying when combined with the views of the war cabinet he now seeks to assemble. The Syrian strike coincided with uberhawk John Bolton assuming his post as National Security adviser to the president. Bolton's views -- and treatment of colleagues --are so extreme that a Republican Senate refused to confirm his nomination by George W. Bush to be Ambassador to the UN. Bolton was not only part of the effort to sell the "war of choice" on Iraq, but remains a defender of what is clearly the greatest U.S. foreign policy debacle since the Vietnam War. Having learned nothing from that calamity, he remains a vociferous advocate of preventive war against both North Korea and Iran. He openly scorns diplomatic achievements like the Paris Climate Accord or the multilateral Ira n nuclear weapons agreement. He advocates escalating U.S. involvement in Ukraine, and a more muscular policy against both Russia and China. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. This piece was reprinted by OpEdNews with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source. Mark Taliano reporting from Syria Sheikh Najjar, an industrial city spanning 4,400 hectares, is part of the Industrial heartland of Syria. Before the war, it accounted for 40% of the country's GDP. Western terrorists have targeted Syria's industrial base since the beginning of the war, stealing what they could, and destroying everything else. In the video below, a factory owner explained that when Daesh/ISIS was attacking, he kept lights low so his factory wouldn't be attacked. Janice Kortkamp, leader of the Salam Syria tour rhetorically asked him, for the benefit of disillusioned Western audiences, "So when the city was liberated, were you sad or were you happy?" Source: Mario Heineman Jaillet The destruction of a country's industrial base is part of the Imperial Dirty Game. The industrial collapse drastically devalued the Syrian currency, it disemployed 50,000 workers, and it strengthened economies of plunder and terrorism. All of the pre-planned Death and Destruction are Imperial Success Stories. The "Dirty Games" are pre-planned War Crimes. * Mark Taliano is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and the author of Voices from Syria, Global Research Publishers, 2017. Featured image is from the author. Order Mark Taliano's Book "Voices from Syria" directly from Global Research. Taliano talks and listens to the people of Syria. He reveals the courage and resilience of a Nation and its people in their day to day lives, after more than six years of US-NATO sponsored terrorism and three years of US "peacemaking" airstrikes. Mark Taliano combines years of research with on-the-ground observations to present an informed and well-documented analysis that refutes the mainstream media narratives on Syria. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Global Prepaid Card Market to reach a market size of $3.5 billion by 2022 https://kbvresearch.com/global-prepaid-card-market/ According to a new report Global Prepaid Cards Market (2016-2022), published by KBV Research, the global Prepaid Card is expected to attain a market size of $3.5 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 23.3% during the forecast period.The Single-purpose market dominated the Global Prepaid Cards Market by Card Type in 2015, and would continue to be a dominant market till 2022. The Multi-purpose market is expected to witness a CAGR of 28% during (2016 2022).The Corporate Institutions market dominated the Global Prepaid Cards Market by Vertical in 2015, and would continue to be a dominant market till 2022; growing at a CAGR of 22.1 % during the forecast period. The Government market is expected to witness a CAGR of 24% during (2016 2022). Additionally, The Retail market is expected to witness a CAGR of 24.2% during (2016 2022).The General Purpose Reload able Cards market dominated the Global Prepaid Cards Market by Usage in 2015, and would continue to be a dominant market till 2022; growing at a CAGR of 21.7 % during the forecast period. The Gift Card market is expected to witness a CAGR of 21.8% during (2016 2022). Additionally, The Incentive/Payroll Card market is expected to witness highest CAGR of 25.4% during (2016 2022).The Europe market dominated the Global Prepaid Cards Market by Region in 2015, and would continue to be a dominant market till 2022; growing at a CAGR of 22.3 % during the forecast period. The Asia-Pacific market is expected to witness a CAGR of 26.1% during (2016 2022). Additionally, The North America market is expected to witness a CAGR of 22.3% during (2016 2022).The report has exhaustive quantitative insights providing a clear picture of the market potential in various segments across the globe with country wise analysis in each discussed region. The key influencing factors of the global Prepaid Card have been discussed in the report along with the elaborated company profiles of Green Dot Corporation, American Express Company, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Master Card Incorporated, Ebay, TSYS, The Western Union Company, and Visa, Inc.Full report :-Global Prepaid Cards Market SegmentationBy Card TypeMulti-PurposeSingle-PurposeBy VerticalRetailCorporate InstitutionsGovernmentFinancial Institutions & OthersBy UsageGeneral Purpose Reloadable CardsGift CardGovernment Benefits/Disbursement CardIncentive/ Payroll CardOthersBy GeographyNorth America Prepaid Card MarketUS. Prepaid Card MarketCanada Prepaid Card MarketMexico Prepaid Card MarketRest of North America Prepaid Card MarketEurope Prepaid Card MarketGermany Prepaid Card MarketUK. Prepaid Card MarketFrance Prepaid Card MarketRussia Prepaid Card MarketSpain Prepaid Card MarketItaly Prepaid Card MarketRest of Europe Prepaid Card MarketAsia-Pacific Prepaid Card MarketChina Prepaid Card MarketJapan Prepaid Card MarketIndia Prepaid Card MarketSouth Korea Prepaid Card MarketSingapore Prepaid Card MarketMalaysia Prepaid Card MarketRest of Asia-Pacific Prepaid Card MarketLAMEA Prepaid Card MarketBrazil Prepaid Card MarketArgentina Prepaid Card MarketUAE Prepaid Card MarketSaudi Arabia Prepaid Card MarketSouth Africa Prepaid Card MarketNigeria Prepaid Card MarketRest of LAMEA Prepaid Card MarketCompanies ProfiledGreen Dot CorporationAmerican Express CompanyJP Morgan Chase & Co.Master Card IncorporatedEbayTSYSThe Western Union CompanyVisa, Inc.Unique Offerings from KBV ResearchExhaustive coverage of Global Prepaid Card MarketHighest number of market tables and figuresUnique Market Research & Analytics Tool to provide instant comparative analysis within the reportSubscription based model availableFree of cost quarterly updatesGuaranteed best priceAssured post sales research support with 10% customization freeRelated Reports-North America Prepaid Card Market (2016-2022)Europe Prepaid Card Market (2016-2022)Asia-Pacific Prepaid Card Market (2016-2022)Lamea Prepaid Card Market (2016-2022)Knowledge Based Value Research is a global brand and consulting firm serving all kinds of business verticals, government and non-governmental organizations, and not-for-profit organizations. Our motto is to extend our services that will have a lasting impact on our clients who trust us with their business goals.4F CS 27, Ansal PlazaSector 1, Vaishali 201010Delhi NCR, Ghaziabad, IndiaTel: 0120-4968631 / +91-9990696033Email: info@kbvresearch.com Infectious Disease Therapeutics Market: Global Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis 2012-2016 and Forecast 2017-2023 Infectious Disease Therapeutics Market https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-infectious-disease-therapeutics-market/#ulp-4H8Z4LpNMLEuOnnx https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-infectious-disease-therapeutics-market/#ulp-c654SbFYO64MsOhu https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-infectious-disease-therapeutics-market/#ulp-14mlyhjMGhVjZqa3 https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-infectious-disease-therapeutics-market/ https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com Infectious Disease Therapeutics Market: Infectious diseases are caused by organisms, such as bacteria, virus, fungi or parasites. Many organisms live in our body but few of them cause diseases. These infectious diseases transmitted from one individual to other either by direct or indirect contact. The drugs used for the infectious diseases are antibiotics, antiviral, and antiparasitic, among others. Infectious disease therapeutics acts directly on organisms or helps body system to fight infections. Infectious diseases include HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and influenza, among others.Infectious disease therapeutics market is driven by the growing prevalence rates of infectious diseases, increased healthcare expenditure and increased funding of governments on prevention and management of infectious diseases. In addition, increased geriatric population and use of direct acting antiviral drugs are fuelling the growth of infectious diseases therapeutics market. However, patent expiry of many infectious disease drugs and increase number of generic alternatives hindering the market revenue of infectious disease therapeutics market.A sample of this report is available upon request @Infectious disease therapeutics market segmented based on drug class, disease indication, and distribution channelBased on drug class, infectious disease therapeutics market is segmented into Anti-Bacterial Anti-Viral Anti-Parasite Anti-Fungal OthersBased on disease indication, infectious disease therapeutics market is segmented into HIV/AIDS Influenza Hepatitis Malaria TB OthersBased on distribution channel, infectious disease therapeutics market is segmented into Hospital Pharmacy Retail Pharmacy OthersTo view TOC of this report is available upon request @Market players focusing on mergers, acquisitions and collaborations to increase revenue share in the market. For instance, in August 2016, Pfizer acquired AstraZenecas late-stage small molecule anti-infectives business for development and commercialization outside the U.S. In addition, market players investing on research and development to introduce new drugs and to strengthen their position in infectious disease therapeutics market. Some of the pipeline anti infectives include avycaz (ceftazidime and avibactam), bictegravir (Anti HIV), cabotegravir (Anti HIV). Patent expiry of blockbuster anti-infectives such as Tamiflu, cubicin and ambisome are expected to negatively effect the infectious disease therapeutics market.Need more information about this report @Geographically infectious disease therapeutics market has been segmented into following regions viz. North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the infectious disease therapeutics market owing to high prevalence rates of infectious diseases and rise in ageing population. According to scientific data from Princeton University 2015, rising trend in consumption of anti-infectives has increased in BRICS nation. In the last few years, there was an increase in use of antibiotics in Asian countries like India and China and some parts of Africa. Factors such as rapidly developing healthcare infrastructure on the grounds of emerging medical tourism industry along with government initiative to boost biotechnology sector of the respective country are fuelling the growth of the infectious disease therapeutics market in Asia Pacific region.Some of the players in infectious disease therapeutics market are GlaxoSmithKline Plc (U.K.), Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. (U.S.), Merck & Co, Inc. (U.S.), Pfizer Inc. (U.S.), Novartis AG. (Switzerland), AbbVie Inc. (U.S.), Astellas Pharma Inc. (Japan), AstraZeneca (U.K.), Auritec Pharmaceuticals Inc. (U.S.), Bayer AG (Germany), Modified Polymer Components, Inc. (Bristol-Myers Squibb) (U.S.), Chimerix Inc. (U.S.), Eli Lilly and Company (U.S.), Isis Pharmaceuticals (U.S.), Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation (Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma) (Japan), Sanofi S.A. (France) and Gilead Sciences (U.S.) to name a few.Get access to full summary @About Precision Business InsightsPrecision Business Insights is one of the leading market research and business consulting firm, which follow a holistic approach to solve needs of the clients. We adopt and implement proven research methodologies to achieve better results. We help our clients by providing actionable insights and strategies to make better decisions. We provide consulting, syndicated and customised market research services based on our client needs.Contact to Precision Business Insights,Kemp House,152 160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXEmail: sales@precisionbusinessinsights.comToll Free (US): +1-866-598-1553Website @ ELSE CORP, The First Start-up Classified for the Innovation Award 4.0 www.else-corp.com/spark-up-at-aet-2018 ELSE CORP, The First Start-up Classified for the Innovation Award 4.0Milan, 21 April 2018 - ELSE Corp - a Virtual Retail Company won the Innovation Award 4.0 in the Start-up category, with their industrial Open Innovation project, "The Future of Footwear 4.0: From RoboShop to Factory on Demand" at the A&T, Automation & Testing, fair which brought together the best of robotic automation and metrology and offered a complete overview of the fourth industrial revolution, in Turin from April 18 to 20. The company also took part in the Spark-Up event, the new A&T initiative, dedicated to innovative Startups focused on Industry 4.0, with the aim of creating a networking platform between Italian and foreign Startups, investors, economic and industrial operators to stimulate innovation.ELSE Corp is a startup that has been working on developing a Cloud SAAS & API platform for the Customization and Personalization of fashion products based on the Virtual Retail, business model, a strategy for Digital Transformation of the entire value chain in the sectors footwear, fashion and beauty since 2014. ELSE received the Award dedicated to the best innovative solutions 4.0 in the industrial field during the first day of the fair and presented the project in detail on Thursday the 19th during the specialist session "Additive Manufacturing 4.0". The project, in collaboration with ATOM Lab, ATOM Group's research laboratory that develops innovative technologies and projects for the creation of new production methods in footwear, and Shoemaster International, an ATOM Group company offering a range of CAD / CAM systems innovative for the creation of 2D and 3D shoe models, has been presented for two consecutive years at the SIMAC Tanning Tech fair, the international event with the most qualified offer of machinery and technologies for the footwear, leather goods and tanning industries.The first year the three partners showed a prototype vision of the project concerning just-in-time hybrid production (cutting and sewing, together with 3D printing and robotic assembly), and the following year they proposed an updated version, a prototype working for the future of the footwear industry presenting "RoboShop 2018", the shop-factory of the future, where the customer's personalization and purchasing experience merge with the live experience of the production of personal shoes, showing the whole "custom-made assembly" process for the ultra-rapid production of footwear. An Industry 4.0 project with a purely sustainable imprint and a look at the future of the footwear product, a real implementation of the concept of Mass Customization, now also in the Footwear sector.The CEO of ELSE Corp, Andrey Golub, also presented the startup and the Virtual Retail model during Spark-Up Night, exposing its innovation to an interested and curious public.More information on the event at:About ELSE Corp: http://www.else-corp.com/ELSE Corp is an Italian startup founded in Milan in 2014, that offers B2B and B2B2C solutions to brands, retail-ers, manufacturers and independent designers. Its main objective is to create the foundation for the future of Fashion Retail and to revolutionize the fashion industry through the startups vision of Virtual Retail through E.L.S.E. (acronym for "Exclusive Luxury Shopping Experience "), a technologically advanced SaaS & API Cloud platform that enables the Mass Customization and Personalization in 3D of fashion products, through an inno-vative Virtual Shopping experience.ELSE Corp,Via Domenichino 19, MilanItalyELSE Corp,Via Domenichino 19, MilanItaly Liquid Fertilizers Market Growing $13,530 Million By 2023 http://bit.ly/2iZ4PN4 http://bit.ly/2zaKrzc http://bit.ly/2xXPUpc The global liquid fertilizer market was valued at $11,108 million in 2016, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.8% from 2017 to 2023 to reach $13,530 million by 2023. Liquid fertilizers provide the required nutrients to plants at specific time and varied conditions. These fertilizers are expected to be absorbed by plants through leaf pores and roots. These fertilizers are rich in growth hormones and micro nutrients; hence, widely used to row crops, such as maize. They appear to act in the form of a catalyst, increasing a plants nutrient uptake. Liquid fertilizers help in the rapid establishment of seedlings and fast pace early growth. Fertilizers containing sodium, potassium, and phosphorous are able to dissolve quickly in water, which eventually saves the cost of application and allows its utilization. Micronutrient fertilizers are often applied to soil by foliar methods. Furthermore, nitrogen-based liquid fertilizers are expected to account for the major share of the liquid fertilizer market.For More Info, Get Sample :This report projects the trends and opportunities of the global liquid fertilizers market. It includes a qualitative & quantitative analysis with comprehensive research methodologies and reliable projections to understand the present overview and predict the market behavior during the forecast period.The market is expected to witness major growth, owing to the rise in requirement for food and the development of agricultural industry. The need for micro-nutrients, increase in soil efficiency, growth in demand for biofuels, investments in R&D activities, and introduction of new policies by the government agencies and private players fuel the liquid fertilizers market growth. Biofuels are obtained from components other than petroleum products and are extracted from energy crops, such as wheat, soybean, corn, rapeseed, and sugarcane. Thus, the demand for biofuels is expected to increase the market growth.The global liquid fertilizers market is segmented based on type, production process, mode of application, crop, and geography. On the basis of type, it is divided into potassium, micronutrients, phosphate, and nitrogen. On the basis of production process, it is bifurcated into organic and synthetic. On the basis of application, it is categorized into soil, fertigation, foliar, and others (aerial & starter solutions). Based on crop, it is classified into oil seeds & pulses, fruits & vegetables, grains & cereals, and others. Geographically, it is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.Key market players in this sector Agrium Incorporated, AgroLiquid, Haifa Chemicals Ltd., Israel Chemical Ltd. (ICL), Kugler Company, Rural Liquid Fertilizers (RLF), Yara International ASA, Agroliquid, Compo Expert GmbH, and K+S Aktiengesellschaft.Enquire About Report :KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS This report provides a quantitative analysis of the current trends, estimations, and dynamics through 20172023, which is expected to assist in identifying the prevailing market opportunities. Major countries in each region are mapped as per individual market revenue. The region- and country-wise liquid fertilizers market conditions are comprehensively analyzed. Key players of the liquid fertilizers market are also listed. This study evaluates the value chain to understand the competitive environment across geographies. An in-depth analysis of segmentation is provided to elucidate the prevailing market opportunities.Also Request For Discount :Table Of Contents CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 3. MARKET OVERVIEW CHAPTER 4. GLOBAL LIQUID FERTILIZERS MARKET, BY TYPE CHAPTER 5. GLOBAL LIQUID FERTILIZERS MARKET, BY PRODUCTION PROCESS CHAPTER 6. GLOBAL LIQUID FERTILIZER MARKET, BY CROP TYPE CHAPTER 7. GLOBAL LIQUID FERTILIZER MARKET, BY MODE OF APPLICATION CHAPTER 8. GLOBAL LIQUID FERTILIZER MARKET, BY GEOGRAPHY CHAPTER 9. COMPANY PROFILESAbout UsWe have a large database of quality and precise market research reports that will be very beneficial for your organization. Reports that we sell our authentic in nature and from reputed publishers, hence it can definitely help you with your growth opportunities. Research Beam will always make sure to bring most ethical and high quality reports. We value your relationship with us and look forward for a long term relation.Contact UsGlobal Head Quarters5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United States+1 (800) 910-6452help@researchbeam.com Cancer Diagnostics Market Fueling the Growth over 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1949 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1949 https://www.tmrresearch.com/cancer-diagnostics-market Global Cancer Diagnostics Market: OverviewCancer, caused by environmental factors causing gene mutations and affecting cell regulatory proteins, is one of the diseases that is resulting in the highest expenditure for treatment. Growing incidences of cancer is fueling the market for cancer diagnostics at an exponential rate. Advancements in technology coupled with growing government funding, and initiatives for research and development have resulted in the positive growth of the global cancer diagnostics market. As per the World Health Organization, the number of deaths reported due to cancer was 8.2 mn in 2012. In addition to this, 14 mn new cases are being registered across the globe. All these factors are expected to push the demand for cancer diagnostics.Cancer can be diagnosed by using diagnostic devices which not only confirms the presence of tumor, but also gives information regarding the rate at which it is growing inside the body. This is boosting the global demand for cancer diagnostic devices.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Cancer Diagnostics: Key TrendsThe advent of proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics and other such breakthrough detection techniques is expected to fuel the demand for cancer diagnostic devices. Additionally, the breakthrough development in companion diagnostics is also expected to create positive environment for an increase in the demand for cancer diagnostic devices. Some of the other factors anticipated to drive this market is the rise in the awareness level of patients and an increase in the number of screenings, which in turn is leading to an early diagnosis of cancer and increasing the chances of survival. However, there are various factors that are affecting the demand for these devices. Some of them include, the high cost of medical laboratory infrastructure, insufficient reimbursement for innovative technologies, and strict guidelines and procedures implemented by government.Global Cancer Diagnostics: Market PotentialCancer diagnostic devices are being used by pharmaceutical companies for monitoring, administering, and diagnosing the cancer treatment process. Pharmaceutical companies such as Roche are shifting their focus from developing drugs to diagnostic devices. Roches cobas EGFR mutation test helps in the diagnosis of neck and head cancers.Request TOC of the Report @Scientific advancements have made possible complex and customized approach to cancer in molecular diagnostics. Abbott Molecular is one of the key players in oncology molecular diagnostics and has developed Vysis FISH assays, which offers features such as processing flexibility, reduced inventory management, and simplified workflow. All these factors help to reduce operating costs. Such developments are helping the growth and progress of the global cancer diagnostics market.Global Cancer Diagnostics Market: Regional OutlookIn terms of geography, North America, followed by Europe is leading in the cancer diagnostics market. The adoption rate of preventive diagnostic techniques is high, fueled by increasing government efforts to create awareness about cancer. Other factors pushing the demand for cancer diagnostic devices in the region include, growing prevalence of breast, lung, and prostate cancer in these regions.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @As per the report, Asia Pacific is also expected to witness a positive growth in the forecast period with developed nations such as Australia and Japan as well as developing nations such as China, Thailand, Singapore, and India creating opportunities of growth for the cancer diagnostics market.Global Cancer Diagnostics Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the key vendors operating in the global cancer diagnostics market are: Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca, Ambry Genetics, Eli Lilly and Co., bioMerieux, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Pfizer, and Novartis.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 Cloud Computing 2018 Global Industry Key Players - Microsoft , Citrix , Nutanix , DELL, Pure Storage Market Analysis And Forecast To 2023 World Cloud Computing Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3140199-world-cloud-computing-market-research-report-2022-covering https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3140199-world-cloud-computing-market-research-report-2022-covering World Cloud Computing MarketExecutive SummaryCloud Computing market research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability.The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The report includes the forecasts, Analysis and discussion of important industry trends, market size, market share estimates and profiles of the leading industry Players.Request a Sample Report @The Players mentioned in our reportMicrosoftCitrixNutanixDELLPure StorageEMCNetappFusionioXangatiOracleAvayaGlobal Cloud Computing Market: Product Segment AnalysisSoftware as a Service (SaaS)Platform as a Service (PaaS)Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)Global Cloud Computing Market: Application Segment AnalysisInfrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS)Private cloud and hybrid cloudTest and developmentBig data analyticsFile storageDisaster recoveryGlobal Cloud Computing Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSouth East AsiaTable of Content-Key Points CoveredChapter 1 About the Cloud Computing Industry1.1 Industry Definition and Types1.1.1 Software as a Service (SaaS)1.1.2 Platform as a Service (PaaS)1.1.3 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)1.2 Main Market Activities1.3 Similar Industries1.4 Industry at a GlanceChapter 2 World Market Competition Landscape2.1 Cloud Computing Markets by Regions2.1.1 USAMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.2 EuropeMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.3 ChinaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.4 IndiaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.5 JapanMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.6 South East AsiaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.2 World Cloud Computing Market by TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS)Platform as a Service (PaaS)Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)2.3 World Cloud Computing Market by ApplicationsInfrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS)Private cloud and hybrid cloudTest and developmentBig data analyticsFile storage2.4 World Cloud Computing Market Analysis2.4.1 World Cloud Computing Market Revenue and Growth Rate 2012-20172.4.2 World Cloud Computing Market Consumption and Growth rate 2012-20172.4.3 World Cloud Computing Market Price Analysis 2012-2017Chapter 3 World Cloud Computing Market share3.1 Major Production Market share by Players3.2 Major Revenue (M USD) Market share by Players3.3 Major Production Market share by Regions in 2017, Through 20223.4 Major Revenue (M USD) Market share By Regions in 2017, Through 2022Chapter 4 Supply Chain Analysis4.1 Industry Supply chain Analysis4.2 Raw material Market Analysis4.2.1 Raw material Prices Analysis 2012-20174.2.2 Raw material Supply Market Analysis4.2 Manufacturing Equipment Suppliers Analysis4.3 Production Process Analysis4.4 Production Cost Structure Benchmarks4.5 End users Market AnalysisContinued.Complete Report Details @Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Advanced Battery Energy Storage System Market Nobilitate by 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1958 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1958 https://www.tmrresearch.com/advanced-battery-energy-storage-system-market Global Advanced Battery Energy Storage System Market: OverviewEnergy storage is referred to as the capturing of energy produced at one point of time for future use. A device that is used for storing energy is often known as an accumulator. Energy is found in multiple forms such as kinetic, latent heat, elevated temperature, electricity, electrical potential, gravitational potential, chemical, and radiation. Battery energy storage comprises converting energy into a form that can be easily stored in the form of battery and are more convenient and economically feasible. Battery energy systems are gaining prominence among residential, commercial, and transportation sectors as a mean of storing natural energy and using it at the time of emergency. Manufacturers seek huge growth potentials in the micro-grid developments in advanced battery energy storage systems for disaster relief and military purposes. Batteries such as lithium ion used for energy storage are witnessing high demand owing to factors such as low cost, long battery life, fast charging, light weight, and low requirement for space.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The report examines the growth of the global advanced battery energy storage systems market that occurred in the last over the last few years and is likely to occur in the coming years. The research publication additionally explains the causes of the fluctuations in the global market. It does this by assessing of the facets and the different trends that have been prevalent from past few years and also the aspects that are anticipated to maintain a strong impact on the market over the coming years. The Porters five forces analysis has been considered by analysts to present a clear picture of the vendor landscape to readers. Agreements, mergers, acquisitions, and other dealings have been further mentioned in the study. It focuses on the strategies, products, and market share along with position of the companies operating in the market.Global Advanced Battery Energy Storage System Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe global market for advanced battery energy storage systems is likely to benefit from the growing emphasis on decreasing the dependence on fossil fuels and magnifying the share of clean resources in the energy mix. The burgeoning demand for enhanced power quality, time shifting, improved grid network utilization, and the availability of emergency power source for protecting and controlling equipment is expected to further drive the global advanced battery energy storage system market. These advanced battery energy storage systems have application in sectors such as forklifts, UPS, telecom, grid storage, and transportation. The growing demand from these sectors is likely to boost the growth of the market over the coming years. In order to enhance business productivity, there is an incessant need for uninterrupted supply of power in telecommunications and data centers. As a result of this, the demand for these storage systems is likely to exponentially rise.Request TOC of the Report @Global Advanced Battery Energy Storage System Market: Regional OutlookRegionally, the global market for advanced battery energy storage system can be segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Rest of the World. North America and Europe are likely to emerge as prominent regions in the market owing to high availability of natural resources and advanced means of converting and storing them. Asia Pacific is also expected to catch up in the run owing to rising focus on the use of the available natural sources for energy needs.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Advanced Battery Energy Storage System Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the key participants in the market are EnerSys, Samsung SDI, AES Technologies, Exide Technologies, Hitachi Ltd., and General Electric.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 Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticle Global Market Top Key Players American Elements , EPRUI Nanoparticles & Microspheres , Inframat Corporation , SkySpring Nanomaterials , Strem Chemicals and Forecast to 2021 Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticle Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2431974-global-magnesium-oxide-nanoparticle-market-2017-2021 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2431974-global-magnesium-oxide-nanoparticle-market-2017-2021 www.wiseguyreports.com Global Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticle MarketWiseGuyRerports.com Presents Global Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticle Market 2017-2021 New Document to its Studies Database. The Report Contain 68 Pages With Detailed Analysis.DescriptionMagnesium oxide nanoparticles are non-toxic and odorless in nature with high hardness, high purity, and a high melting point. These are available in the white powdered form and are prepared using various methods such as hydrothermal, sol-gel, chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, and micro-emulsion method. The size of magnesium oxide nanoparticles is controlled by varying the processing conditions. Sol-gel and hydrothermal methods are popularly used for the manufacturing of magnesium oxide nanoparticles.The analysts forecast the global magnesium oxide nanoparticle market to grow at a CAGR of 7.65% during the period 2017-2021.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global magnesium oxide nanoparticle market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the retail selling price as the average selling price of the product.Get sample Report @The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: Americas APAC EMEAThe Global Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticle Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors American Elements EPRUI Nanoparticles & Microspheres Inframat Corporation SkySpring Nanomaterials Strem ChemicalsOther prominent vendors American International Chemical (AIC) MARTIN MARIETTA MAGNESIA SPECIALTIES NaBond Technologies Nano Labs Nanostructured & Amorphous Materials NanoScale Corporation REINSTEMarket driver Superior properties of magnesium oxide nanoparticles For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge Low manufacturing capacities and agglomeration issues For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Growing usage as fuel additive For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space?Complete Report Details @Table of Contents -Major Key PointsPART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORTPART 03: RESEARCH METHODOLOGYPART 04: INTRODUCTION Market outlinePART 05: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market overview Market size and forecast Five forces analysisPART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY APPLICATION Global magnesium oxide nanoparticle market by application Market forecast Global magnesium oxide nanoparticle market by furnace lining Global magnesium oxide nanoparticle market by construction and ceramics Global magnesium oxide nanoparticle market by advanced electronics Global magnesium oxide nanoparticle market by coatings Global magnesium oxide nanoparticle market by othersPART 07: REGIONAL LANDSCAPE Geographical segmentation Regional comparison APAC market size & forecast Americas market size & forecast EMEA market size & forecast Key leading countries Market opportunityPART 08: DECISION FRAMEWORKPART 09: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers Market challengesPART 10: MARKET TRENDS Growing usage as fuel additive Increasing use as flame retardant Growing applications in pharmaceutical industryPART 11: VENDOR LANDSCAPE Competitive scenario Other prominent vendorsPART 12: KEY VENDOR ANALYSIS American Elements EPRUI Nanoparticles & Microspheres Inframat Corporation SkySpring Nanomaterials Strem Chemicals..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) Frozen Meat & Poultry Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Industry Demand, Trends, Forecast To 2025 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3134102-global-frozen-meat-poultry-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3134102-global-frozen-meat-poultry-market-research-report-2018 This report studies the global Frozen Meat & Poultry market status and forecast, categorizes the global Frozen Meat & Poultry market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and Middle East & Africa.In 2017, the global Frozen Meat & Poultry market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportCargill BeefJBSBALTIC FOODSAshbourne Meat ProcessorsPatterson Food ProcessorsKILCOY PASTORAL COMPANYRantoul FoodsKSPElfab CoXIEJIHnyisaiShandong Delisi FoodRequest a Sample Report @Geographically, this report studies the key regions, focuses on product sales, value, market share and growth opportunity in these regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East & AfricaThe regional scope of the study is as follows:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoFrozen ChickenFrozen PorkFrozen BeefFrozen LambOtherOn 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, includingFoodserviceRetail & Grocery Store ChainsRestaurantsOtherThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Frozen Meat & Poultry sales, value, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025).Focuses on the key Frozen Meat & Poultry manufacturers, to study the sales, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Table of ContentsGlobal Frozen Meat & Poultry Market Research Report 20181 Frozen Meat & Poultry Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Frozen Meat & Poultry1.2 Frozen Meat & Poultry Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Frozen Chicken1.2.4 Frozen Pork1.2.5 Frozen Beef1.2.6 Frozen Lamb1.2.7 Other1.3 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Segment by Application1.3.1 Frozen Meat & Poultry Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Foodservice1.3.3 Retail & Grocery Store Chains1.3.4 Restaurants1.3.5 Other1.4 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry 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 Asia-Pacific Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 South America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Middle East & Africa Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Frozen Meat & Poultry (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Frozen Meat & Poultry Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Frozen Meat & Poultry Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Frozen Meat & Poultry Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Frozen Meat & Poultry Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Frozen Meat & Poultry Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Frozen Meat & Poultry Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 Asia-Pacific Frozen Meat & Poultry Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.8 South America Frozen Meat & Poultry Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.9 Middle East & Africa Frozen Meat & Poultry Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Consumption by Region (2013-2018)4.2 North America Frozen Meat & Poultry Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.3 Europe Frozen Meat & Poultry Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.4 Asia-Pacific Frozen Meat & Poultry Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.5 South America Frozen Meat & Poultry Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.6 Middle East & Africa Frozen Meat & Poultry Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)5 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)6 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Consumption and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)6.2 Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2013-2018)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/CountriesContinuedAccess Complete Report @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Warehouse Robotics Market Impressive Growth over 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1979 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1979 https://www.tmrresearch.com/warehouse-robotics-market Global Warehouse Robotics Market: SnapshotVendors dealing with electronics and electricals have always focused on ensuring that their materials are smoothly handled, during the course of shipments. Warehouse robots are used for industrial logistical activities, such as assembling, disassembling, consolidation, palletizing, packaging and labeling, sorting, storage and inspection. In the past decade, warehouse robotics has emerged as a rising field in terms of functions in diverse industries. Mobile robots are largely utilized in warehouses for sorting the electronic goods into their respective pallets. On the other hand, articulated robots are primarily used different industries for picking, machine tending and assembling. The end operations, such as dispensing, picking and placing, sorting, unitizing and assembling is carried out by Cartesian robots.Until recently, robots hadnt made much of an impact on the process of logistics, but now workers are beginning to collaborate with robots to ensure that their customers are served faster while maintaining quality. Large enterprises, such as Walmart and Amazon, are realigning their focus towards warehouse automation to improve their efficiency and streamline operations. Thus, warehouse robotics is gaining momentum at present and is expected to witness a steep growth curve. Warehouse robotics will aid manufacturers in not just reduction of overhead costs, but also provide consistency while giving accurate production. Another benefit of adopting warehouse robotics is a faster return on investment (ROI), as mobile robots are easier to set up and cheaper to operate.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Warehouse Robotics Market: OverviewWarehouse robotics is the use of robots to manage, control, and automate various warehouse operations with increased levels of performance and flexibility. The robots used in warehousing, also called autonomous mobile robotics are equipped with embedded intelligence and application software and serve several functions. They can be used to automate pick-and-package systems, or manage high-volume logistics, or can be specialized to perform high-speed sorting of parcels on the basis of their weights and dimension.Over the past few years, warehouse robotics systems have gained increased popularity due to the global boom in e-commerce and its consequent impact on order fulfillment requirements. Warehouse robotics are characterized to handle a high volume of small, multi-line-item orders. The system has come to occupy a vital role in warehouse automation by offering a viable and cost-saving alternative to traditional human labor.Request TOC of the Report @Global Warehouse Robotics Market: Key TrendsThe warehouse robotics market is majorly driven by the rapid strides e-commerce has taken over the past few decades coupled with the need for bringing automation across supply chain processes. The pressing need for efficient warehouse operations across a diverse range of industriesautomotive, electrical and electronics, chemical, rubber, and plastics, and F&Bhas spurred the demand for robotics systems. In addition, the increased adoption of warehouse robotics by a large number of small- and medium-scale enterprises to reduce production costs and increase profitability has stimulated the demand for warehouse robotics.Spiraling investment by several start-up firms and established providers of warehouse automation, combined with an upsurge in investments by venture capitalists, is expected to propel the robotics warehouse market. However, the high costs incurred in total automation may restrain many small retailers from adopting warehouse robotics for their processes. On the other hand, the emergence of multi-robot fulfillment systems to assist humans in transportation opens up lucrative avenues in the market along the forecast period.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Warehouse Robotics Market: Market PotentialGrey Orange, a fast emerging multinational technology company headquartered in Singapore has intended to exhibit its Butler robots in Sydney at SMART Expo to be held from March 2930 in 2017. The company that pioneers in advanced robotics and automation solutions for warehousing has helped various companies across Asia Pacific improve last-mile delivery in e-commerce, omnichannel retail, and supply chain sectors. The Butler robots are specialized to manage changing inventory profiles and order fulfilment patterns in real time resulting in enhanced productivity and unmatched accuracy. The event holds special significance for several supply chain and logistics industry players.The next-generation warehouse robots have an extensive demand across companies of all sizes who are looking to modernize their logistics operations. More recently, the company has bagged numerous orders by various retail chains in Hong Kong and India. One of the most significant demands that merits mention is the one from the Nitori Holdings Group, the largest furniture and home furnishing chain in Japan. The Butler systems will be installed at the Home Logistics Osaka distribution center to automate massive inventory storage and picking functions. Lately, there is an emerging demand for the warehouse robotics solutions from retailers in Europe and North America.Global Warehouse Robotics Market: Regional OutlookThe Asia Pacific market is expected to witness substantial demand for warehouse robotics over the forecast period. The impressive growth in the regional market is fueled by the rising trend of online retail shopping and soaring number of startup technology players developing autonomous mobile robotics solutions. The burgeoning need for streamlining supply chains and shortening delivery times has stimulated the demand for warehouse robotics among small and medium-scale retailers in Asia Pacific. In addition, a burgeoning e-commerce sector is expected to propel the regional market in the coming years.Warehouse robotics systems are anticipated to witness significant adoption in e-commerce warehouses in developed markets of Europe and North America. The regional market will be driven by increased adoption of multichannel supply chain strategy and constant advances in industry automation software.Global Warehouse Robotics Market: Competitive AnalysisSeveral warehouse management providers are actively developing interactive and advanced mobile automation solutions that help early adopters optimize picking operations and gain competitive benefits. Prominent players eyeing for a sustained share in this market include ABB, KUKA, Yaskawa Electric Corp., ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc., Amazon, Honeywell International Inc., Fetch Robotics, Inc., IAM Robotics, and Omron Corporation.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Water Quality Monitoring Market Venerate over 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1982 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1982 https://www.tmrresearch.com/water-quality-monitoring-market Global Water Quality Monitoring Market: OverviewWater quality monitoring makes use of water quality data to identify trends, characterize waters from various waterbodies, address emerging problems, assess the effectiveness of pollution control programs, and help formulate better pollution control policies, apart from responding to emergencies such as draughts and floods. The chemical, physical, microbiological, and biological characteristics of water are measured under water quality monitoring.By product type, dissolved oxygen analyzers, conductivity sensors, pH meters, turbidity meters, multi-parameter devices, flowmeters, and TOC analyzers can be some of the key segments of the market. Based on end-use applications, industrial, commercial, government, laboratories, agricultural, and residential can be the major segments of the global water quality monitoring market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Water Quality Monitoring Market: Key TrendsThe rising demand for wastewater treatment, increasing incidence of waterborne diseases, and growing awareness about the quality of drinking water are some of the key catalysts of the market. More than 1.8 million people over the world drink faecally contaminated water, found a study conducted by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation.Moreover, according to the WHO World Water Day Report, nearly 3.4 million people, mostly children, fall prey to death due to the consumption of unclean drinking water worldwide. Typhoid, hepatitis A, and cholera, caused by bacteria in undrinkable water are some of the most common diarrheal diseases afflicting the third world countries. Therefore, the demand for water quality monitoring systems is likely to go up.However, ignorance about the benefits of these systems and high costs of the devices used in water quality monitoring might impede the progress of the market. Despite these deterrents, the market is expected to gain from the development of cost-efficient smart water networks that deploy geographic information systems (GIS) and sensors to evaluate water quality.Request TOC of the Report @Global Water Quality Monitoring Market: Market PotentialWater quality monitoring is being increasingly acknowledged by government bodies of several nations worldwide. For instance, in Thailand a majority of large factories that generate 7,500 cubic meters of wastewater have been put under a real-time monitoring system. The Central government of India has also installed 44 real-time water quality monitoring stations (RTWQMS) in Ganga, the largest river of the Indian subcontinent during March 2017.Mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, collaborations, and product development are some of the key business strategies adopted by companies. For instance, in March 2017, Ecolab Inc., in partnership with Microsoft Corp. and Trucost, announced the addition of new features to its financial-modeling tool. The advanced tool, Water Risk Monetizer, is designed to aid enterprises in the detection of unwanted elements in water, prediction of water expenses, and conservation of water.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Water Quality Monitoring Market: Regional OutlookBy geography, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe are the key segments of the global market for water quality monitoring. Europe has emerged as one of the leading regional markets, driven by high awareness about water quality and the consequent implementation of water quality monitoring activities in Germany, France, the U.K, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, and Switzerland.Several government initiatives and laws have been promoting the adoption of water quality monitoring systems in North America. Israel in the Middle East, and India, Singapore, Japan, and China in Asia Pacific are likely to represent a significant portion of the market over the forecast period.Global Water Quality Monitoring Market: Competitive AnalysisOwing to the presence of several large players, the global water quality monitoring market has a highly fragmented vendor landscape. Some of the major companies operating in the global market for water quality monitoring are Thermo Fisher Scientific, Horiba, Ltd., General Electric Company, Shimadzu Corporation, Agilent Technologies, Honeywell International, Inc., Danaher Corporation, Mettler- Toledo International Inc., Stevens Water Monitoring Systems, Xylem, OTT Hydromet, YSI, Hydro International, Hanna Instruments, Sea-Bird Coastal, LaMotte Company, and OAKTON Instruments.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 Superconducting Wire Market Boost over a Period of 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1985 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1985 https://www.tmrresearch.com/superconducting-wire-market Global Superconducting Wire Market: OverviewSuperconducting wires are made up of superconducting materials which, when cooled below a certain temperature (transition temperature), exhibit zero electrical resistance. The superconductor material used is usually in the form of filament and theoretically allows the persistent flow of electric current across any loop of superconductor wire. Superconductor magnets find extensive applications in MRI/NMR machines, mass spectrometers, and in particle accelerators as beam-steering magnets. Recent applications of superconducting wires include their use in smart grid, transformers, power storage devices, and electric motors.Second-generation high temperature superconducting wires, with significantly higher transition temperatures, are mainly made up of rare Earth compounds such as yttrium, samarium, and neodymium. Allowing competitive cost-benefits and multi-functionalities, the demand for these materials is rising rapidly in the making of various electrical power equipment and medical equipment, opening up a spate of promising avenues in the market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Superconducting Wire Market: Key TrendsThe global market is primarily driven by the burgeoning demand for superconducting materials in high-voltage transmission applications and in making MRI systems. The increasing demand for high-temperatures superconducting materials in numerous areas such as energy, medical, defense, electronics, and industrial applications is expected to boost the market. Advances in computer chip designing technology are expected to spur the demand for superconductors with high critical current capacity and enhanced power performance.High manufacturing cost involved in making superconductors and dearth of standard testing facilities are likely to restrain the superconducting wire market to some extent. On the other hand, continuous scaling efforts by manufacturing units and intensive advances in R&D technology are expected to expand the commercial applications of superconducting wires.Request TOC of the Report @Global Superconducting Wire Market: Market PotentialBruker Corporation, a U.S. based manufacturer of scientific instruments for materials researches and industrial analysis, announced at the end of 2016 that it was planning to acquire Oxford Instruments Superconducting Wire LLC (OST). The deal was finalized by Brukers subsidiary, Bruker Energy and Supercon Technologies (BEST), for an aggregate sum of U$17.5 million. BEST pioneers in low temperature superconductors for being used in MRI, NMR, and fusion energy researches. Post finalization of the buyout deal, the manufacturer made efforts to expand its technology portfolio with the Rod Restack Process (RRP) conductor technology from OST. The technology is especially in demand for various high-energy physics applications that require considerably high magnetic fields.The deal marked a strategic acquisition for BEST as it strengthened its position in the low-temperature superconductors (LTS) market. The company already enjoys a sustained position in LTS segment and has made numerous investments in the past to boost capacity automation and quality control.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @With the integration of the OST technology, BEST hopes to emerge as a world-leading LTS provider with a broad product portfolio that will house superconducting wires with advanced conductor performance and quality. Furthermore, with such strategic buyouts in place, Bruker Corporation hopes to consolidate its positions across prominent regions such as the U.S. and China. These developments are poised to expand the potential of the superconducting wire market.Global Superconducting Wire Market: Regional OutlookNorth America, Europe, and Asia Pacific are the prominent markets for superconductor wires. Europe is expected to offer lucrative growth avenues to manufacturers and vendors of superconducting wires. The substantial growth in the regional market is expected to be driven by increased commercialization of high-technology superconducting materials and extensive R&D investments in developing second-generation superconducting wire technology.Asia Pacific is anticipated to show impressive growth over the forecast period; the growth is attributed to significant advances in semiconductor technology leading to the wide use of LTS electromagnets in making magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear magnetic resonance magnets.Global Superconducting Wire Market: Competitive AnalysisLeading players are making substantial investments in R&D in order to launch advanced products made with cost-effective technologies. Several players are making technology integrations to expand their expertise in the manufacture of superconducting wires. Major players vying for a sustained share in the superconducting wires market include American Superconductor, Bruker Corporation, Fujikura Ltd., Superconductor Technologies Inc., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., Japan Superconductor Technology, Inc., Supercon Inc., and Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Ready Meals Market Growing With $146,247 Million by 2023 http://bit.ly/2HWow0r http://bit.ly/2JmprXI http://bit.ly/2qXmZPK The global ready meals market was valued at $72,257 million in 2016, and is expected to reach $146,247 million by 2023, registering a CAGR of 10.6% during the forecast period. Ready meals are defined as precooked meals that are prepared with minimum efforts. The ready meals market is characterized by the presence of large players with frequent innovations and product launch as their major strategy.For More Info, Get Sample :Increase in demand for packaged food predominantly drives the growth of the global ready meals market. Globally, the demand for packaged food is anticipated to increase at a moderate rate due to change in lifestyle and consumer preferences for ready-to-eat food products. In addition, rise in disposable income of people is expected to boost the demand for ready meals during the analysis period.The report segments the global ready meals market based on type, distribution channel, and geography. On the basis of type, the market is divided into canned/preserved ready meals, chilled pizza, chilled ready meals, dried ready meals, frozen pizza, frozen ready meals, and prepared salads. By distribution channel, it is classified into store-based retailing and online retailing. The store-based retailing segment is broadly classified into supermarkets/hypermarkets, discounters, convenience stores, and others. Geographically, the market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. Europe is expected to dominate the global ready meals market till 2023.The prominent players in the global ready meals market have focused on product launch as their key strategy to gain significant share in the market.The key players profiled in the report are Bakkavor Foods Ltd. ConAgra Greencore Group Plc. JH Heinz Company Ltd. Nestle SA Fleury Michon Unilever Group Northern Food Ltd. Kerry Foods Ltd. Premier Foods Group Ltd.KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS This report provides an extensive analysis of the current trends and emerging estimations in the global ready meals market. In-depth analysis of the industry is conducted through market estimations of key segments from 2017 to 2023. Comprehensive analysis of factors that drive and restrain the growth of the market is provided in the report. Extensive analysis of the industry is conducted by following key product positioning and monitoring the top competitors within the market framework. The key players are profiled along with their strategies to determine the competitive outlook of the market.Enquire About Report :MARKET SEGMENTATIONBy Type Canned/Preserved Ready Meals Chilled Pizza Chilled Ready Meals Dried Ready Meals Frozen Pizza Frozen Ready Meals Prepared SaladsBy Distribution Channel Store-based Retailing Supermarkets/Hypermarkets Discounters Convenience Stores Others Online RetailingBy Geography North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe France Germany UK Spain Italy Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific India China Japan Korea Australia Rest of Asia-Pacific LAMEA Brazil KSA South AfricaAlso Request For Discount :Rest of LAMEA*Other players in the value chain include Oetker-Gruppe Frosta AG Campbell Soup Co Bofrost Dienstleistungs GmbH & Co KG Iglo Bird's Eye Frozen Foods Freiberger Lebensmittel GmbH & Co KG Hilcona AG Gartenfrisch Jung GmbH Bonduelle Groupe SA General Mills Inc.Table Of Contents CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 3. MARKET OVERVIEW CHAPTER 4. GLOBAL READY MEALS MARKET, BY TYPE CHAPTER 5. GLOBAL READY MEALS MARKET, BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL CHAPTER 6. GLOBAL READY MEALS MARKET, BY GEOGRAPHY CHAPTER 7. COMPANY PROFILESAbout UsWe have a large database of quality and precise market research reports that will be very beneficial for your organization. Reports that we sell our authentic in nature and from reputed publishers, hence it can definitely help you with your growth opportunities. Research Beam will always make sure to bring most ethical and high quality reports. We value your relationship with us and look forward for a long term relation.Contact UsGlobal Head Quarters5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United States+1 (800) 910-6452help@researchbeam.com Silicone Market: Regional Segment Analysis (Regional Production Volume, Consumption Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate Silicone-Global Market http://orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/2012837 http://orbisresearch.com/reports/index/silicone-global-market-status-and-trend-report-2013-2023 http://orbisresearch.com/contacts/discount/2012837 http://orbisnewsrelease.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/orbis-research https://twitter.com/orbisresearch Silicone-Global Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 offers a comprehensive analysis on Silicone industry, standing on the readers perspective, delivering detailed market data and penetrating insights. No matter the client is industry insider, potential entrant or investor, the report will provides useful data and information.Ask for Sample Report@Key Vendors Mentioned in Report: Xinapse Systems Ltd. Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation Sciencesoft USA Corporation Mim Software, Inc. Koninklijke Philips N.V. Image Analysis Esaote S.P.A Aquilab AGFA Healthcare Carestream Health, Inc. General Electric Company (GE) INFINITT Healthcare Co, Ltd. Merge Healthcare Incorporated Mirada Medical Limited Siemens HealthineersBrowse complete report with table of content and list of figures@Key questions answered by this report include:Worldwide and Regional Market Size of Silicone 2013-2017, and development forecast 2018-2023Main manufacturers/suppliers of Silicone worldwide, with company and product introduction, position in the Silicone marketMarket status and development trend of Silicone by types and applicationsCost and profit status of Silicone, and marketing statusMarket growth drivers and challengesThe report segments the global Silicone market as:Global Silicone Market: Regional Segment Analysis (Regional Production Volume, Consumption Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate 2013-2023):North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanRest APACLatin AmericaGlobal Silicone Market: Type Segment Analysis (Consumption Volume, Average Price, Revenue, Market Share and Trend 2013-2023):ElastomersFluids & EmulsionsResinsGelsGlobal Silicone Market: Application Segment Analysis (Consumption Volume and Market Share 2013-2023; Downstream Customers and Market Analysis)Health CareAutomotiveConstructionEnergy and ElectronicsConsumer CarePerformance Additives/Functional IngredientsOthersSome Major Points from table of contentChapter One: Overview of SiliconeChapter Two: Global Market Status and Forecast by RegionsChapter Three: Global Market Status and Forecast by TypesChapter Four: Global Market Status and Forecast by Downstream IndustryChapter Five: Market Driving Factor Analysis of SiliconeChapter Six: Silicone Market Competition Status by Major ManufacturersChapter Seven: Silicone Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market DataChapter Eight: Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis of SiliconeChapter Nine: Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of SiliconeChapter Ten: Marketing Status Analysis of SiliconeChapter Eleven: Report ConclusionChapter Twelve: Research Methodology and ReferenceFor discount click here@Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019For More PRs:Follow Us on LinkedIn:Follow us on Twitter: Semiconductor Intellectual Property Market Investigation Highlights Growth Trends in the Coming Years MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/3493 https://www.mrrse.com/semiconductor-intellectual-property-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/3493 https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ This report provides an analysis of the global semiconductor intellectual property market for the period from 2015 to 2025, wherein the period from 2017 to 2025 comprises 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 technologies playing a major role in the growth of the semiconductor intellectual property market over the forecast period. It also highlights various drivers, restraints, and opportunities expected to influence the markets growth during this period.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @The study provides a holistic perspective of the growth of the semiconductor intellectual property market throughout the forecast period in terms of revenue estimates (in US$ Mn), across Asia Pacific (APAC), South America (SA), North America, Europe, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). The report provides a cross-sectional analysis of the global semiconductor intellectual property market in terms of market estimates and forecasts for all the segments across different geographic regions.Global Semiconductor Intellectual Property Market: Trends and OpportunitiesSemiconductor intellectual property allows manufacturers to design chips faster using existing blocks. Semiconductor intellectual property cores are used to enhance the quality of devices and increase the efficiency of product. Rising demand for reduced design and manufacturing costs, across the world have resulted in the growth of the semiconductor intellectual property market. Similarly, growing adoption of modern system on chips (SOC) designs and rising adoption of outsourcing of semiconductor components are expected to drive the market for semiconductor intellectual property. In addition, with the increasing adoption of semiconductor intellectual property market, many of the IP vendors are focusing on delivering customized specifications according to demand. IP vendors are divided into IP developers and licensors and open source IP vendors. They provide semiconductor IP to manufacturers to reduce their labor cost required to develop elementary components of devices. Thus, the growing presence of third-party IP vendors and increase in licensing of software with semiconductor IP by several key players is projected to drive market expansion during the forecast periodGlobal Semiconductor Intellectual Property Market: Key SegmentsOn the basis of type, the semiconductor intellectual property market is categorized into digital IP, physical IP and processor IP. On the basis of architecture design, the semiconductor intellectual property market is categorized into hard IP core and soft IP core. On the basis of application, the semiconductor intellectual property market is categorized into the healthcare, telecommunications, consumer electronics, automotive and others segments. On the basis of country, North American market is divided into The U.S., Canada and Rest of North America. Similarly, Europe market is divided into Germany, the U.K., France, and Rest of Europe. Asia Pacific has been segmented into China, Japan, India and Rest of Asia Pacific. Middle East and Africa covers the GCC countries, South Africa and Rest of Middle East and Africa. Similarly, South America region includes Brazil and Rest of South America.To know latest trends and Insight prevalent on this report, visit @Global Semiconductor Intellectual Property Market: Competitive LandscapeThe report also includes competitive profiling of the major players associated with the semiconductor intellectual property market. The important business strategies adopted by them, their market positioning, and recent developments have also been identified in the research report. The increasing demand of licensed semiconductor devices due to high competition among manufacturing players to develop advance products have led to the increased presence of semiconductor intellectual property vendors in the market. The major players in semiconductor intellectual property market include Altera (Intel Corporation), Arm Limited, Cadence Design Systems, Inc., Cast In., Ceva Inc., eSilicon Corporation, Imagination Technologies Limited, Kilopass Technology Inc., Mentor, a Siemens Business, Open-Silicon, Inc., Perceptia Devices Inc., Rambus Inc., Silabtech Private Limited, Synopsys Inc. and Videantis GmbH.Enquire about this Report @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 and customers 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.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Farm Tire Market Scenario Focusing on Improvements Shaping Industry Growth MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/3483 https://www.mrrse.com/farm-tire-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/3483 https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ This report on the global farm tire market provides analysis for the period 20152025, wherein 2016 is the base year and the period from 2017 to 2025 is the forecast period. Data for 2015 has been included as historical information. The report covers market dynamics including drivers, restraints, opportunities, and trends expected to influence the global farm tire market growth during the said period.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @Technologies that are playing a major role in driving the global farm tire market have also been covered in the study. The study provides a comprehensive analysis on market growth throughout the above forecast period in terms of revenue estimates (in US$ Mn) and volume estimates (in thousand units), across different geographies.The report also includes key industrial developments in the farm tire market. Porters Five Forces analysis which identifies bargaining power of supplier, bargaining power of buyer, threat from new entrant, threat from substitute and threat from competition in farm tire market is also included in the report. Ecosystem analysis which identifies key stake holders in the farm tire market is also covered in the report. Furthermore, key market indicators that are indirectly driving the farm tire market are also included in the report.Segment trends and regional trends have also been added in farm tire market report. The report also covers segment wise comparison matrix, market attractiveness analysis and market positioning of key players for all regions covered in the scope of study.Comparison matrix includes segment growth matrix, 2017 - 2025 (%), segment volume contribution, 2017 - 2025 (%), and segment compounded growth matrix (CAGR %). Market attractiveness identifies and compares segments attractiveness in the market on the basis of CAGR and market share index across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America.Global Farm Tire Market: SegmentationThe farm tire market has been segmented on the basis of tire type, application, equipment horse power and geography. Based on tire type, the market has been further classified into bias and radial. By application, the farm tire market is classified into tractors, harvesters, and others. The others segment comprises of combines, sprayers and trailers among others. On the basis of equipment horse power, the farm tire market is classified into 0-80 HP and 81-200 HP.Geographically, the report classifies the global farm tire market into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America; the regions are analyzed in terms of revenue and volume generation. Furthermore, region wise prominent countries covered in the report include the following - U.S, Canada, U.K., Germany, France, China, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, GCC countries, South Africa and Brazil.To know latest trends and Insight prevalent on this report, visit @Global Farm Tire Market: Competitive AnalysisThe report also includes competition landscape which includes competition matrix, market share analysis of major players in the global farm tire market based on their 2016 revenues and profiles of major players. Competition matrix benchmarks leading players on the basis of their capabilities and potential to grow. Factors including market position, offerings and R&D focus are attributed to companys capabilities. Factors including top line growth, market share, segment growth, infrastructure facilities and future outlook are attributed to companys potential to grow. This section also identifies and includes various recent developments carried out by the leading players of the farm tire market across the world.Company profiling includes company overview, major business strategies adopted, SWOT analysis and market revenues for year 2014 to 2016. The global players profiled in the global farm tire market include Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT), Bridgestone Corporation, Continental AG, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Michelin, Mitas Tires Global Inc., TBC Corp., Titan International, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd., and Pirelli & C. S.P.A.Enquire about this Report @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 and customers 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.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Barrier-coated Papers Market Projected to Gain Significant Value by 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-6030 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-6030 www.futuremarketinsights.com Global Barrier-coated Papers - Market OverviewBarrier-coatings are applied to the packaging surface to obtain a smooth surface for brightness, printability, and aseptic packaging. In many of packaging applications, the paper is used for packaging of several products. Paper packaging offers several advantages such as paper is biodegradable, flexible, and cost-efficient. The barrier-coated paper is the paper which has coating of various barrier materials such as silicon oxide, ethyl vinyl alcohol, aluminum oxide, polyethylene, polyolefin, polyethylene glycol, and among others. The coating on the paper provides a better surface for printing. The barrier coatings are applied on papers to facilitate aroma, grease, etc. Apart from barrier properties, the coating provides immense opportunities for manufacturers for printing. The global market for barrier-coated papers is expected to grow over the forecast period as the barrier-coated paper offers many advantages.Global Barrier-coated Papers Market Drivers and restraintsThe global market for barrier-coated papers is expected to grow over the forecast period due to various reasons increasingly. One of the reasons for growth of barrier-coated papers market is its extensive use in food & beverage and pharmaceutical packaging. In food and pharmaceutical packaging, barrier coated papers are used for packaging of products which require protection from moisture, oxygen, and light. The flexibility in design and effective functionality of barrier-coated papers for packaging are preferred solution for among industrial and consumer products. The main reason which drives the market for barrier-coated papers is that barrier-coated papers ensure the protection of the products packaged and also reduces the use of preservatives. Many manufacturers are inclining towards the use of barrier-coated papers for packaging of different products. The consumer trend of using smaller pack sizes of ready-to-consume products increases the demand for barrier-coated papers. For these reasons, the growth of global barrier-coated papers market is expected to further rise in the near future.Request to Sample Report -Despite from the positive outlook, there are some challenges that might hamper the growth of the global barrier coated papers market. The additional barrier coating applied to the barrier coating papers need a separate process for separation of different layers at the time of disposal. Another reason is the availability of alternatives.Global Barrier-coated Papers - Market SegmentationThe global market barrier-coated paper is segmented on the basis of coating type, on the basis of paper type, and on the basis of end use.On the basis of coating type, the barrier-coated papers are segmented intoConventional coatingPlastic coatingBiodegradable coatingOthersOn the basis of end use, the barrier-coated papers are used inFood and beverages industryPharmaceutical industryDairy IndustryBuilding and construction industryOthersGlobal Barrier-coated Papers Market - Regional OutlookGeographically, the global barrier-coated papers market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Middle East & Africa and Japan. The global barrier-coated papers market is expected to grow over the forecast period. APEJ and North America are considered as the largest producers of the barrier-coated papers. The consumption of barrier-coated papers is increasing for packaging due to the increase in the disposable incomes. Apart from this, Latin America and Western Europe are anticipated to have considerable growth in the global barrier-coated papers market. However, Middle East & Africa and Japan are anticipated have the moderate growth in the global Barrier-coated Papers market over the forecast period.Request Report TOC @Global Barrier-coated Papers Market - Key PlayersSome of the players in the global barrier-coated papers market are Mondi Group, Archroma Packaging & Paper Specialties, Michelman, Inc., Kuraray Co. Limited, Imerys Paper and Packaging, Cork Industries, Inc. and among others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite : Cyclic Olefin Co-polymers for Packaging Market to Remain Lucrative During 2017 - 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-6031 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-6031 www.futuremarketinsights.com Global Cyclic Olefin Copolymers for Packaging - Market OverviewCyclic olefin copolymers for packaging are increasingly used polymer in the packaging industry. Cyclic Olefin Co-polymers are advanced co-polymers having highest purity and several advantages such as break resistant, lightweight, temperature resistant, chemical resistant, transparent, and have excellent barrier properties. Manufacturers use cyclic olefin co-polymers in packaging of a wide range of products such as medical devices & diagnostic equipment, electronic devices, among others. Cyclic olefin co-polymers for packaging are used as an alternative to glass due to various additional properties such as these are transparent, light in weight, and break resistant. Cyclic Olefins Co-polymers for packaging are commercially used for manufacturing of lenses, reflection films, touch screens, liquid crystal displays, components of mobile devices, and among others. The global market for Cyclic Olefin Co-polymers is expected to grow during the forecast period due to increased use in packaging of various products.Global Cyclic Olefin Copolymers for Packaging Market Drivers & RestraintsThe global market for cyclic olefin copolymers for packaging is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period due to several reasons. The demand for the Cyclic Olefin Copolymers for packaging market is propelling due to increasing use in the manufacturing of packaging solutions such as vials, bottles, syringes, packaging films, lenses, medical devices, and among others. The primary driving factor for the growth of cyclic olefin co-polymers for packaging market is the increasing demand from the healthcare industry. Moreover, cyclic olefin copolymers for packaging are used in the packaging of electronics, pharmaceuticals, optical, and among other sectors. Cyclic olefin copolymers for packaging are easy to process. In many countries, especially in the Western Europe region, the use of conventional plastic as a raw material has been banned, owing to stringent rules and regulations. For instance, France banned the use of plastic cups. This has led to governments across the world looking to shift their preference towards sustainable alternatives to conventional plastic resins, such as Olefin copolymers, for packaging. Therefore, it is anticipated that the global olefin co-polymers market will face lucrative opportunities for growth in the future as more manufacturers turn towards manufacturing of sustainable resins.Request to Sample Report -Despite the positive outlook, the growth of cyclic olefin copolymers for packaging market might be hampered due to the available alternative packaging solutions such as polypropylene, polyethylene films, and among others.Global Cyclic Olefin Copolymers for Packaging - Market SegmentationGlobally the cyclic olefin copolymers for packaging market is segmented on the basis of application and on the basis of chemical structure.ApplicationHealthcareElectronics & ElectricalsFood & BeveragesPharmaceuticalsOthersChemical Structure (series)Global Cyclic Olefin Copolymers for Packaging Market - Regional OutlookGeographically, the global cyclic olefin copolymers for packaging market is divided into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle-East & Africa (MEA), and Japan. Some countries in North America and Western Europe regions are witnessed increased growth in recent years. The demand for cyclic olefin copolymers in APEJ and Middle East & Africa market is increasing owing to the increasing disposable incomes and rapid urbanization. The growth of cyclic olefin copolymers for packaging is anticipated to increase in the near future.Request Report TOC @Global Cyclic Olefin Copolymers for Packaging Market Key PlayersSome of the key players in the cyclic olefin copolymers for packaging market are Owens Illinois Inc., Polyplastics USA, Inc., The Dow Chemical Company, Stack Plastics, Topas Co. Ltd., among others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite : Will Dispensing Sprayers Market Perceive Robust Expansion by 2027? https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-6032 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-6032 www.futuremarketinsights.com Global Dispensing Sprayers - Market OverviewDispensing sprayers are a type of dispensing system which is used for spraying out the liquid into small droplets or mist. The dispensing sprayers are used in various applications such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, automotive, agriculture and among others. Dispensing sprayers include aerosol cans, deodorant sprayers, perfumes, spray pumps, barber spray, among others. Dispensing sprayers have a nozzle fitted for spreading out the liquid. Dispensing sprayers are of different types such as prefilled or post filled. Prefilled dispensing sprayers are the pressurized containers filled with the liquid or fluids. The market for dispensing sprayers is mostly driven by agricultural and fragrance industry. Dispensing sprayers are widely used for spraying of pesticides on crops in order to protect them from insects, mosquitos, and other harmful viruses that may harm crops. The dispensing sprayers are made of different materials. Dispensing sprayers are of various types including cans, bottles, and drums among others. Due to the convenience associated with dispensing sprayers, the outlook for growth of the global dispensing sprayers market, over the forecast period is expected to be largely positive.Global Dispensing Sprayers - Market DynamicsThe global dispensing sprayers market is expected to grow during the forecast period due to various factors. One of the drivers is the increasing growth of the fragrance industry. Manufacturers are inclining towards manufacturing of dispensing sprayers having consumer convenient packaging. The factor fuelling the growth of the dispensing sprayers market is that the dispensing sprayers limit the dispensing of the content which decreases the wastage of the contents. The manufacturers are inclining towards product innovation and design to attract the consumers. Increasing disposable incomes of the consumers, increasing fashion sense and expenditure on personal care has also increased the growth of dispensing sprayers market. Due to these factors, the demand for dispensing sprayers is expected to rise during the forecast period, and the growth of global dispensing sprayers market is anticipated to increase in the near future.Request to Sample Report -Despite the positive outlook, there are some factors that might hamper the growth of the global dispensing sprayers market. Most of the prefilled dispensing sprayers are not refillable. Moreover, the disposal of used dispensing sprayers requires a separate process for the separation of the nozzle and the containers. These reasons might hamper the growth of the global dispensing sprayers market.Global Dispensing Sprayers - Market SegmentationThe global dispensing sprayers market is segmented on the basis of material type, on the basis of product type and on the basis of application.On the basis of material type, dispensing sprayers market has been segmented intoPlasticMetalOn the basis of product type, dispensing sprayers market has been segmented intoCansBottlesDrumsOthersOn the basis of application, dispensing sprayers market has been segmented intoCosmetics & Personal careAgriculturePharmaceuticalsAutomotiveChemicals & PaintsGlobal Dispensing Sprayers Market Regional OutlookGlobally, the dispensing sprayers market is divided into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Japan. Among these, Asia-Pacific and Western Europe region are supposed to be the major producers of the dispensing sprayers market over the forecast period due to the increasing disposable incomes and increasing consumer expenditure on personal care and fashion products such as perfume bottles. The APEJ region is home to some of the worlds fastest-growing economies, such as India. As the agricultural sector revenues account for a significant share of the Indian GDP, dispensing sprayers are expected to witness high demand in the region, during the forecast period. North America, Eastern Europe, and other regions are expected to have considerable growth in the global dispensing sprayers market in the near future. Hence, dispensing sprayers are here to stay.Request Report TOC @Global Dispensing Sprayers Market Key PlayersSome are the key players in the global dispensing sprayers market are Sema Sprayers Ltd., Visan Spraytech Ltd., Bans Group of Companies, Rieke Corporation, Knida Company Limited, Guala Dispensing S.p.A., Canyon Europe Ltd., National Plastics, Inc., among others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite : Global Conveyor Wire Belts Market Forecast 2018-2025 Steinhaus, Movex, Osaka Telbant, Ashworth Bros Conveyor Wire Belts Market http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-conveyor-wire-belts-market-1309 A market study "Global Conveyor Wire Belts Market" examines the performance of the Conveyor Wire Belts market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Conveyor Wire Belts market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Conveyor Wire Belts market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Conveyor Wire Belts Market 2018 report includes Conveyor Wire Belts market Revenue, market Share, Conveyor Wire Belts industry volume, market Trends, Conveyor Wire Belts Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Conveyor Wire Belts Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here: https://tinyurl.com/ybmwjqz3Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Conveyor Wire Belts Market 2018 :1. Osaka Telbant2. Ammeraal Beltech Modular3. Steinhaus4. Ashworth Bros5. Wire Belt6. ELMOTEC Antriebstechnik7. Belt Technologies Europe8. Movex9. NGBConveyor Wire Belts Market : By ApplicationMiningFood IndustryChemical IndustryLogistics/WarehousingConstructionOtheConveyor Wire Belts Market : By TypeMetal Conveyor BeltsAluminum Conveyor BeltsWire Mesh Conveyor BeltsOtherFirstly, the report covers the top Conveyor Wire Belts manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Conveyor Wire Belts report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Conveyor Wire Belts industry, Conveyor Wire Belts industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Conveyor Wire Belts Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Conveyor Wire Belts 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 Conveyor Wire Belts market revenue worldwide.Finally, Conveyor Wire Belts 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:QYMarketStudy.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:United StatesContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Global Cryosurgery Devices Market 2017-2021 | Brymill Cryogenic Systems, Medtronic, Wallach Surgical Devices, Galil Medical (BTG) https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1208699 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-cryosurgery-devices-market-2017-2021-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Cryosurgery is a non-invasive therapy used to alleviate pain, treat abnormal skin conditions, and destroy localized tumors. Cryosurgery can be administered locally or on the whole body. The surgeon uses cryoprobes to deliver liquid nitrogen or high-pressure argon gas to freeze and destroy tumor cells. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, or computed tomography (CT) scan is used to guide the cryoprobe to the treatment site.The global cryosurgery devices market to grow at a CAGR of 7.34% during the period 2017-2021. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global cryosurgery devices market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the sales and volumes of cryosurgery devices.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEAClick to get Sample PDF:Technavio's report, Global Cryosurgery Devices Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- Brymill Cryogenic Systems- Medtronic- Wallach Surgical Devices- Galil Medical (BTG)- Other prominent vendors- CORTEX TECHNOLOGY- CryoConcepts- Cryoswiss- Cryonic Medical- CryoSurgery- Erbe Medical- gbo Medizintechnik- H&O Equipments- Hironic- inomed Medizintechnik- Mectronic- Majestic CRYO- Optikon- PHYSIOMED ELEKTROMEDIZIN- Sanarus- zmc- Zimmer MedizinSystemeView Complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:Key questions answered in this report- What will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?- What are the key market trends?- What is driving this market?- What are the challenges to market growth?- Who are the key vendors in this market space?- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at: Ribbed Closures Market Expansion to be Persistent During 2017 - 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-6047 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-6047 www.futuremarketinsights.com Global Ribbed Closures - Market Overview:The changing preference of consumer in the packaging industry and better features offered by ribbed closures such as easy gripping for the user to twist on and off creates an opportunity for the ribbed closures manufacturer in the global market. In the packaging industry, ribbed closures are a kind of basis closures. The ribbed closure is a threaded closure with an uninterrupted spiral mechanism. This closure has a flat matte top, which easily allows labeling and it is useful in branding and writing an important message on closure. Ribbed closures are suitable for food and beverages, pharmaceutical, agriculture, personal care, automotive and many other industries. For liquid and semi-liquid packaging, ribbed closures are one of the cost-effective packaging closures. Easy to open, light in weight and suitable for wide array of bottles are few of the key features which help in increasing the demand for ribbed closures in the global closures market. Ribbed closures market is expected to gain sustainable growth in the closure market owing to environmental friendly property.Global Ribbed Closures - Market Dynamics:One the significant factors which contribute to the growth of the global ribbed closures market is economic growth in developing countries and increasing health awareness among consumer. Due to the increasing health awareness, the demand for the energy drinks and packed water demand is growing day by day, and it is directly impacting the demand for ribbed closures. Well established sales distributor network for various products may be the reason which helps in emerging growth of the global ribbed closures market. Increasing demand for the cosmetics and personal care products in the global market assists in driving the demand of the ribbed closure market. Ribbed closure lightweight, and excellent sealability are few of the major factors which contribute to the growth of the global ribbed closures market.Request to Sample Report -Global Ribbed Closures - Market Segmentation:Global ribbed closures market segmented on the basis of material type, diameter and by end use.On the basis of material, global ribbed closures market is segmented into PolyethyleneHDPELDPELLDPEPolypropyleneOthersOn the basis of diameter, global ribbed closure market is segmented into Up to 15 mm15 to 30 mm30 to 50 mmUp to 50 mmOn the basis of end use, global ribbed closure market is segmented into Food & BeveragesCosmetic & Personal CarePharmaceuticalAgricultureOthersGlobal Ribbed Closures Market- Regional Outlook:Geographically, the global ribbed closures market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to be the biggest subscriber in terms of volume and value because of growing standard of living and increase of disposable incomes. India and China have expected significant growth in market volume share due to the rise in the retail sector in these regions. China is expected to have the largest share of ribbed closure in the Asia Pacific market whereas Europe and North America have the highest demand for ribbed closures due to increasing demand for the cosmetic products in these regions. Europe is expected to occupy significant share in ribbed closures market. Asia Pacific and North America have the most significant regional market followed by Europe for the ribbed closures, owing to high demand from customers. The Middle East and Central and South America are expected to observe considerable growth rates in the near future.Request Report TOC @Global Ribbed Closures Market- Major Players:Few of the major players identified across the globe in the ribbed closures market are Berry Plastics Corp., Amcor Limited, MJS Packaging, Alpha Packaging International, Gosselin Group, Olcott Plastics, Mold-Rite Plastics, Phoenix Closures, Plastic Closures Limited, etc.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite : Global Self Regulating Heating Cables Market Forecast 2018-2025 Emerson, Raychem, Bartec, Anhui Huanrui Self Regulating Heating Cables Market https://tinyurl.com/yd55qon3 http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-self-regulating-heating-cables-market-3205 A market study "Global Self Regulating Heating Cables Market" examines the performance of the Self Regulating Heating Cables market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Self Regulating Heating Cables market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Self Regulating Heating Cables market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Self Regulating Heating Cables Market 2018 report includes Self Regulating Heating Cables market Revenue, market Share, Self Regulating Heating Cables industry volume, market Trends, Self Regulating Heating Cables Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Self Regulating Heating Cables Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Self Regulating Heating Cables Market 2018 :1. Raychem2. SST3. Anhui Huanrui4. Thermon5. Bartec6. Wuhu Jiahong7. Emerson8. Anbang9. Eltherm10. TechnitraceSelf Regulating Heating Cables Market : By ApplicationIndustrialResidentialCommercialSelf Regulating Heating Cables Market : By TypeCABTCAMTCAHTFirstly, the report covers the top Self Regulating Heating Cables manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Self Regulating Heating Cables report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Self Regulating Heating Cables industry, Self Regulating Heating Cables industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Self Regulating Heating Cables Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Self Regulating Heating Cables 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 Self Regulating Heating Cables market revenue worldwide.Finally, Self Regulating Heating Cables 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:QYMarketStudy.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:United StatesContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Digital Power Conversion Market: AC/DC Segment Projected to be the Most Attractive Product Type During the Forecast Period (2017 - 2027) MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/4000 https://www.mrrse.com/digital-power-conversion-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/4000 https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ With a fact based approach, Future Market Insights has skilfully crafted a multi-client oriented research report titled Digital Power Conversion Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017-2027). The main motive of this research study is to highlight various market scenarios that include new trends, developments, opportunities, growth propelling aspects and restraints that have a direct or an indirect influence over the growth of the digital power conversion market.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @As per observations the dynamics of the market have been changing since 2012 and the research study is produced in a systematic manner to support the reader by providing numerous actionable insights to cope with the changing market scenario across several key regions in the globe. Moreover, the research report also entails future market projections that give a clear picture of the growth path of the global digital power conversion market. These forecasts have been assessed for a period of ten years from 2017 till 2027.The research report reflects a holistic approachResearch study on the global market for digital power conversion is based on a 3600 perspective. Key regions in the globe have been examined for new trends and developments that keep changing from region to region and impact the digital power conversion market. This holistic approach delivers the much needed value addition to the reader that can assist him/her in gaining relevant market acumen with respect to entire market scenario that includes all the market segments across several regional markets. Various revenue pockets can be identified with the help of this research study and regions with high potential can be identified. Moreover, the global analysis is carried out without biasness which adds to the credibility of the research study.Uniqueness in research process USP of Future Market InsightsFuture Market Insights implements a one of a kind research process to garner key insights of the market. This research methodology has two main arms, namely, primary research and extensive secondary research. Secondary research is used to gain a clear market understanding based on which the entire market is segmented and major players are identified. At the same time, primary research is carried out in parallel to the secondary research, with respect to the region, distribution channel, and product type. Several primary interviews with opinion leaders, key market observers and experts are conducted during which each data point gathered in the secondary research is cross-verified. Moreover, the data and statistics obtained from one primary interview is again verified in the second and this process continues till the completion of the final research study. These multiple validation and verification funnels ensure high accuracy of the researched data thus giving a real market picture to the reader.To know latest trends and Insight prevalent on this report, visit @This comprehensive research study covers a separate section on competitive landscape in which several key players are profiled. Various key players and their in-depth assessment regarding their key strategies, financials such as market shares and revenues, product portfolio, mergers and acquisitions, geographical reach, expansion plans, innovations and developments from a technological standpoint etc., is covered in this section. The reader can get acquainted with the pulse running through the global power conversion market with the help of this assessment and can devise key strategies to gain competitive advantage.To summarizeSuch an in-depth, comprehensive research study delivers the much needed value addition, with unbiased statistical analysis and key recommendations which can be used to plan future expansions, gain stability and improve current position in the market in a particular region. Just a click away, the reader can gain intelligence on key companies and entire market segmentation across regions. All the data and insights are skilfully crafted and presented in a systematic order for readers convenience. Actionable intelligence at its best, is what Future Market Insights delivers, global digital power conversion market research report is no exception to this moto.Enquire about this Report @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 and customers 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.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Returnable Plastic Crate (RPC) Market Foraying into Emerging Economies https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-6050 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-6050 www.futuremarketinsights.com Global Returnable Plastic Crate (RPC) - Market Overview:Improvement in the logistics and material handling techniques have changed the trend of storage and over the time there has been an increase in the usage of returnable packaging solution. Returnable packaging systems helps in reduction of the mass production of disposable packaging containers. Returnable packaging also reduces the expenses of repurchasing of packaging each and every time for logistics or shipping companies. Returnable plastic crates (RPC) are packaging crates used for carrying various goods from food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, cosmetics industries, etc. Returnable plastic crates also helps the logistics companies to have cost cutting on packaging which helps them to get more return on investment. Returnable plastic crates (RPC) offers several distinctive features as compared to disposable packaging systems and is easy for cleaning. Due to increasing usage of returnable packaging systems, the market for returnable plastic crates (RPC) is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period 2017-2025.Global Returnable Plastic Crate (RPC) - Market Dynamics:Global returnable plastic crates market is expected to grow tremendously due to increasing demand for cost efficient packaging and also environmental friendly solutions. Returnable plastic crates packaging is efficient for all types of supply chain systems. The returnable plastic crates packaging have seen a good potential for growth due to its robust performance and durability of the crates. Returnable plastic crates packaging crates also helps in decreasing the issues related to environment such as land fill issues, etc. Returnable plastic crates also helps in decreasing the packaging cost for ecommerce companies. In recent years returnable crates and containers accounts for more than 50% of the total returnable packaging used for transportation across the globe and is expected to drive the growth for returnable plastic crates market.Request to Sample Report -Global Returnable Plastic Crate (RPC) - Market Segmentation:The global returnable plastic crates (RPC) market can be segmented by material type, product type, and by application.On the basis of material type, the global returnable plastic crates (RPC) market is segmented into -HDPEPolypropylene (PP)OthersOn the basis of product type, the global returnable plastic crates (RPC) market is segmented into -Foldable Plastic CratesReusable Plastic CratesCollapsible Plastic CratesNestable/Stackable Plastic CrateOthersOn the basis of end use industry, the global returnable plastic crates (RPC) market is segmented into -Food & BeveragesPharmaceuticals & HealthcareCosmetics & Personal CareConsumer GoodsOthersGlobal Returnable Plastic Crate (RPC) Market Regional Overview:The global returnable plastic crates (RPC) market can be divided into seven major regions which are as follows -Asia-Pacific excluding JapanNorth AmericaLatin AmericaEastern EuropeJapanMiddle East & AfricaWestern EuropeThe returnable plastic crates (RPC) market in North America and Europe region being a mature market is expected to witness above average growth during the forecast period 2017-2025. Returnable plastic crates (RPC) market in Asia Pacific region is anticipated to witness significant growth over the forecast period. Latin America and Middle East & Africa is expected to have a robust growth for returnable plastic crates (RPC) market due to opportunities for development in logistics industry during the forecast period 2017-2025.Request Report TOC @Global Returnable Plastic Crate (RPC) Market Key players:Few of the key players in the returnable plastic crates (RPC) market are International Plastics Inc., Rehrig Pacific Company, CHEP International Inc, TranPak Inc., Schoeller Allibert Services B.V., Western Container Corporation, IFCO Systems US, LLC, Tosca Services, LLC, Polymer Logistics, Myers Industries, Inc., RPP Containers, Schaefer Systems International, Inc., and Minnesota Diversified Industries, Inc.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite : Drop Sealers Market Projected to Discern Stable Expansion During 2017 - 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-6212 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-6212 www.futuremarketinsights.com Global Drop Sealers - Market OverviewThe global packaging industry has witnessed significant growth in the past few years and is anticipated to grow at a similar pace, during the forecast period. Like any other industry, automation has played a significant role in shaping the global multi-billion dollar packaging market. Drop sealers have pushed the frontier of how effectively machines can be put to use in the world of packaging. Recent advancements in robotics and industrial automation has had an impact on every industry. Drop sealers are intended to seal a variety of bags and pouches such as vacuum pouches, flat bags, and gusseted bags, etc. The sealer can be used to seal a wide range of pouches, such as a stand-up pouch, spouted pouch, and the likes. Moreover, drop sealer increases the efficiency and rate of packaging, thereby reducing human effort to a great deal. One of the key strategies for any company to survive the intense market competition is to increase production. As a result, drop sealers are in demand in the market, as packaging companies need to improve their yield and efficiency to ensure good quality of packaged products and retain their consumer base.Global Drop Sealers - Market DynamicsThe global drop sealers market is expected to grow as the higher number of manufacturers switching to more efficient automated solutions, increases the demand for drop sealers. Drop sealers also eliminates the need for specialty filling and sealing machines, thereby, reducing cost because of complete fill and seal packaging drop sealers available in the market. In addition, there is constant innovation by drop sealer manufacturers to produce low maintenance multitasking versions that are compatible with a wide variety of pouches and bags. Drop sealers are accurately engineered, and therefore guarantee precision while filling narrow mouth openings and sealing. From the perspective of food packaging companies, drop sealers help reduce labor cost, and despite having high installation expenses, drop sealers prove to be more cost-effective, with the minimum labor required for manual adjustments to the machine. However, with advancement in technology, it is anticipated that the need for automation will soar, resulting in a very positive outlook for the global drop sealers market.Request to Sample Report -Global Drop Sealers - Market SegmentationThe global drop sealers market can be segmented on the basis of product type, application, and end-use industry.On the basis of product type:AutomaticSemi-automaticOn the basis of application:SealingFilling and SealingOn the basis of the end use industry:Food & BeveragesPharmaceuticalChemicalCosmetic & Personal CareOthers (Agriculture, Automotive etc.)Global Drop Sealers Market - Regional OutlookNorth America and Western Europe leads the global drop sealers market in terms of value and volume, owing to the importance given and the need for industrial automation in these regions. The Asia Pacific market looks promising. The global drop sealers market is expected to grow majorly on the backdrop of food & beverages and pharmaceutical industries, which are currently experiencing growth. The APAC region is expected to register the highest projected growth rate, among all other regions, during the forecast period. It is expected that the key players in the global drop sealers market will focus on establishing/expanding footprint in the APAC region in the years to come. Latin America and MEA drop sealers markets are expected to represent similar opportunities for global players.Request Report TOC @Global Drop Sealers Market - Major PlayersFew of the major players identified across the globe in the drop sealers market are PAC Machinery, Inpak Systems, Inc., SIGMA Equipment, Excel Packaging Systems Inc., Eagle Packaging Machinery LLC., Sun Packaging Technologies, Inc., Industrial Packaging Corporation etc.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite : Global Market Overview - United States Nanoporous Market Report 2018 Global Market Overview - United States Nanoporous Market Report 2018 http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1543400.html http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/ or http://www.qyresearch.com/ The United States Nanoporous Market Report 2018 is in-depth study of overall Nanoporous market including introduction of product, definition, scope, Nanoporous global sale, and forecast up to 2025.The Nanoporous industry report clarifies the past experience and trends, on the basis of these past experiences, it offers the future prediction considering other factors influencing the growth rate. This worldwide report offers the detailed analysis of the important factors such as market dynamics (DROT), PEST, and PORTER which assists the growth of the Nanoporous Industry. These past experience and factors assist to build the strategy and future planning of Nanoporous Market and hold a place in the competitive world.This report is the extensive analysis of the Nanoporous industry based on the primary and secondary in-depth research. The scope of the report includes the global and regional sale, product consumption in terms of volume and value. The Nanoporous market report offers a forecast of revenue, CAGR, and cumulative revenue. The gathered information about Nanoporous global business is represented in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs.The United States Nanoporous industry Market report offers the competitive scenario in the Nanoporous industry based on the type of product, applications, and the companies that are present in the Nanoporous market, and covers the company profiles, their development policies, lined up products and recent launched along with the SWOT analysis of companies.Get a complete report sample from this link:Geographically, this report splits the United States market into seven regions:The WestSouthwestThe Middle AtlanticNew EnglandThe SouthThe Midwestwith sales (volume), revenue (value), market share and growth rate of Nanoporous in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast).United States Nanoporous market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Nanoporous sales volume, price, revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingAlbemarle CorporationBASF SEChemviron CarbonMineral Technologies IncExxon Mobil CorporationCalgon Carbon CorporationZeochem AGKuraray ChemicalClariant AGZeolyst InternationaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoZeolitesClaysSilica GelActivated AluminaOthersOn 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, includingPetroleum RefiningPet LitterWater TreatmentFood and BeveragesChemical ProcessingEnvironmentalDetergentsOthersThis research study focuses to product specifications, Nanoporous cost specifications, production capacity, distributors list, Nanoporous marketing channel, and detail analysis of the export/import of the product. The Nanoporous research document also offers raw material suppliers, cost, and downstream consumer list.All features mentioned above is included in the Nanoporous Market Report 2018 which can offer solution to the difficulties to the prominent members of the Nanoporous market.Additionally, the important terminologies, government policies, and regulations related to Nanoporous market product are added.Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Global Amifostine Market Analysis 2018 Forecasts To 2023 : Clinigen Group, Sun Pharmaceutical, Mingren Pharma Global Amifostine survey, Global Amifostine Segmentation, Global Amifostine Manufacturers, Global Amifostine Industry https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2447804-global-amifostine-market-analysis-2011-2017-and-forecast-2018-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2447804-global-amifostine-market-analysis-2011-2017-and-forecast-2018-2023 Global Amifostine MarketDescription:-Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Global Amifostine Market 2018: Global Analysis, Industry Size, Share, Trends, Application Analysis and Growth Opportunities Forecast to 2023 To Its Research DatabaseAmifostine (Ethiofos) is a cytoprotective adjuvant used in cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy involving DNA-binding chemotherapeutic agents. It is marketed by Clinigen Group under the trade name Ethyol.The global Amifostine 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 Amifostine 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.):400mg/Dose500mg/DoseCompany Coverage (Sales Revenue, Price, Gross Margin, Main Products etc.):Clinigen GroupSun PharmaceuticalTaj PharmaceuticalsMerro PharmaceuticalLuye PharmaMingren PharmaBrowse sample report @Application Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Different Demand Market by Region, Main Consumer Profile etc.):Ovarian Cancer Adjuvant TherapyHead and Neck Cancer Adjuvant TherapyOthersRegion Coverage (Regional Output, Demand & Forecast by Countries etc.):North AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East & AfricaTable of Content1 Industry Overview1.1 Amifostine Industry1.1.1 Overview1.1.2 Development of Amifostine1.2 Market Segment1.2.1 Upstream1.2.2 Downstream1.3 Cost Analysis2 Industry Environment2.1 Policy2.2 Economics2.3 Sociology2.4 Technology3 Amifostine Market by Type3.1 Segment Overview3.1.1 400mg/Dose3.1.2 500mg/Dose3.2 Market Size3.3 Market Forecast4 Major Companies List4.1 Clinigen Group (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.2 Sun Pharmaceutical (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.3 Taj Pharmaceuticals (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.4 Merro Pharmaceutical (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.5 Luye Pharma (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.6 Mingren Pharma (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 Ovarian Cancer Adjuvant Therapy6.1.2 Demand in Head and Neck Cancer Adjuvant Therapy6.1.3 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 AmifostineBrowse 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 Chillers Market to 2025 - Global Trends by Product (Vortex Cooler, Spiral Cooler, Turbine Refrigerator, Reciprocating Refrigerator, Absorption Refrigerator), Applications and Regions 2018 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011900136/discount http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011900136/discount http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00011900136/buy/3500 Chillers Market by Global Brands, Countries, Type and Applications 2018 updated report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Chillers market focusing on the market size and trends with industry structure reviewThis report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringDaikin IndustriesCarrier CorporationTraneJohnson Controls - Hitachi Air ConditioningSmardt Chiller GroupBroad GroupDunham BushGea GroupMidea GroupThermax LimitedOther CompaniesAdvantage EngineeringAiredale Air ConditioningBlueboxBv Thermal SystemsClimaveneta S.P.A.Cold Shot ChillersDrake RefrigerationKaltra Innovativtechnik GmbhLennox EmeaPolyscienceShuangliang Eco-Energy SystemsSkm Air ConditioningTandem ChillersThermonics CorporationThermal CareRequest a Sample on Chillers Market atOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoVortex CoolerSpiral CoolerTurbine RefrigeratorReciprocating RefrigeratorAbsorption RefrigeratorBy Application, the market can be split intoPlasticFood And BeverageChemicalsRubberMedicalOtherBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaCheck Discount on this report atTable of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Chillers2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Chillers3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Chillers4 Global Chillers Overall Market Overview5 Chillers Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2013-2018E Chillers Segment Market Analysis-by Type7 Global 2013-2018E Chillers Segment Market Analysis-by Application8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Chillers8.1 Daikin Industries8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Daikin Industries 2017 Chillers Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Daikin Industries 2017 Chillers Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Carrier Corporation8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Carrier Corporation 2017 Chillers Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Carrier Corporation 2017 Chillers Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 Trane8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 Trane 2017 Chillers Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 Trane 2017 Chillers Business Region Distribution Analysis9 Development Trend of Analysis of Chillers Market10 Chillers Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Chillers12 Conclusion of the Global Chillers Market Professional Survey Report 2018Purchase Complete Report atContact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comOrganization: ReportsWebPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Global Cloud Accounting Software Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1737181 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737181/global-cloud-accounting-software-by-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737181/global-cloud-accounting-software-by-market-research-reports https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1737181&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Global Cloud Accounting Software Market 2018 by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Cloud Accounting Software MarketThis report studies the Cloud (SaaS, Online) Accounting Software market, online accounting systems are specifically designed to be used through the Internet, rather than being installed locally onto company computers. This reduces information technology requirements like server hardware, backups and maintenance and shifts the expenditure from being a large up-front capital cost to a much smaller, but ongoing, monthly or annual fee.Get Sample copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Cloud Accounting Software in global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversIntuitSageSAPOracle(NetSuite)MicrosoftInforEpicorWorkdayUnit4XeroYonyouKingdeeAcclivityFreshBooksZohoAssit CornerstoneMEGIReckonKashFlowDropboxCarboniteApptivoFinancialForceWave Accounting Inc.Request for TOC @Market 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, coversBrowser-based, SaaSApplication Service Providers (ASPs)Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoSMEsLarge EnterprisesOther UsersThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Cloud Accounting Software market.Chapter 1, to describe Cloud Accounting Software Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Cloud Accounting Software, with sales, revenue, and price of Cloud Accounting Software, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Cloud Accounting Software, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Cloud Accounting Software market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Cloud Accounting Software sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceView Report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Cloud Accounting Software Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Browser-based, SaaS1.2.2 Application Service Providers (ASPs)1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 SMEs1.3.2 Large Enterprises1.3.3 Other Users1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 United States Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.2 Canada Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.2 France Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.3 UK Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.4 Russia Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.5 Italy Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.2 Japan Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.3 Korea Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.4 India Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Intuit2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Intuit Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Sage2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Sage Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 SAP2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 SAP Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Oracle(NetSuite)2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Oracle(NetSuite) Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 Microsoft2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Microsoft Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 Infor2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 Infor Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 Epicor2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Epicor Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8 Workday2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 Workday Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.9 Unit42.9.1 Business Overview2.9.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.9.2.1 Type 12.9.2.2 Type 22.9.3 Unit4 Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.10 Xero2.10.1 Business Overview2.10.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.10.2.1 Type 12.10.2.2 Type 22.10.3 Xero Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.11 Yonyou2.11.1 Business Overview2.11.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.11.2.1 Type 12.11.2.2 Type 22.11.3 Yonyou Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.12 Kingdee2.12.1 Business Overview2.12.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.12.2.1 Type 12.12.2.2 Type 22.12.3 Kingdee Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.13 Acclivity2.13.1 Business Overview2.13.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.13.2.1 Type 12.13.2.2 Type 22.13.3 Acclivity Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.14 FreshBooks2.14.1 Business Overview2.14.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.14.2.1 Type 12.14.2.2 Type 22.14.3 FreshBooks Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.15 Zoho2.15.1 Business Overview2.15.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.15.2.1 Type 12.15.2.2 Type 22.15.3 Zoho Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.16 Assit Cornerstone2.16.1 Business Overview2.16.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.16.2.1 Type 12.16.2.2 Type 22.16.3 Assit Cornerstone Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.17 MEGI2.17.1 Business Overview2.17.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.17.2.1 Type 12.17.2.2 Type 22.17.3 MEGI Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.18 Reckon2.18.1 Business Overview2.18.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.18.2.1 Type 12.18.2.2 Type 22.18.3 Reckon Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.19 KashFlow2.19.1 Business Overview2.19.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.19.2.1 Type 12.19.2.2 Type 22.19.3 KashFlow Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.20 Dropbox2.20.1 Business Overview2.20.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.20.2.1 Type 12.20.2.2 Type 22.20.3 Dropbox Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.21 Carbonite2.21.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.21.2.1 Type 12.21.2.2 Type 22.21.3 Carbonite Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.22 Apptivo2.22.1 Business Overview2.22.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.22.2.1 Type 12.22.2.2 Type 22.22.3 Apptivo Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.23 FinancialForce2.23.1 Business Overview2.23.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.23.2.1 Type 12.23.2.2 Type 22.23.3 FinancialForce Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.24 Wave Accounting Inc.2.24.1 Business Overview2.24.2 Cloud Accounting Software Type and Applications2.24.2.1 Type 12.24.2.2 Type 22.24.3 Wave Accounting Inc. Cloud Accounting Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)Buy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global cloud robotics market is anticipated to reach at a valuation of about USD 3100.1 Million by the end of 2024, according to Research Nester https://www.researchnester.com/sample-request/2/rep-id-366 https://www.researchnester.com/toc-request/1/rep-id-366 https://www.researchnester.com/reports/cloud-robotics-market-global-demand-analysis-opportunity-outlook-2024/366 Cloud robotics is modern robotics which is used in cloud computing and cloud storage. Cloud robotics makes robots to do many intensive tasks such as image processing, scanning and voice recognition. Cloud robotics allows robots to access the data and information such as updated image library, maps, product data and others. Cloud robotics enables the robots to learn some interesting skill such as speaking, dancing, running and others. Apart from this, cloud robotics is very valuable in handling big data, parallel grid computing, crowd sourcing and other works.Market Size & ForecastGlobal cloud robotics market is anticipated to flourish at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.1% over the forecast period. Global cloud robotics market is anticipated to reach at a valuation of about USD 3100.1 Million by the end of 2024. Rising technological advancement of robots and wide adoption of robotics in service sector are some of the major factors expected to propel the growth of global cloud robotics market over the forecast period.Request Report Sample@In terms of region, global cloud robotics market is segmented into five major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa region. In terms of market share, Europe region is the biggest market of the cloud robotics .Rising consumers awareness towards robotics and presence of some major cloud robotics companies such as Cervi Robotics and Torninova are the major factors which are driving the growth of cloud robotics market in Europe region. By share, North America region is the second leading market of cloud robotics and is anticipated to witness remarkable growth over the forecast period.Apart from this, Asia Pacific region is the fastest growing regional market of cloud robotics and is expected to flourish at a compound annual growth (CAGR) of 34.1% over the forecast period. Japan & China are expected to be the key contributors in growth of cloud robotics in this region. Middle East & Africa and Latin America regions are also anticipated to grow at a satisfactory growth rate over the forecast period.Market SegmentationOur-in depth analysis of the global cloud robotics market includes the following segments:By End UserIndustrialMilitaryCommercialPersonalBy ConnectivityBluetoothWi-Fi3G4G5GRFInfraredBy DeploymentHybridPrivatePublicBy ApplicationAerospaceManufacturingEducationLogisticAgricultureHomeConstructionGrowth Drivers & ChallengesGlobal cloud robotics market is driven by rising adoption of high-tech machines and their benefits in our personal and professional life. Application of cloud robotics in agriculture sector has made them more intelligent in terms of operation and control. This advancement in agriculture sector by using cloud robotics is anticipated to propel the growth of global cloud robotics market in near future. Moreover, rising adoption of cloud robotics in defense & security sector for the enhancement of existing security system is a major driver which is likely to foster the growth of global cloud robotics market in near future. Utilization of cloud robotics for enhancement of old robots in the terms of intelligence and to arm them with skills like walking, running, speaking and others are some of the major reasons driving the growth of cloud robotics market.Request Table of Contents Here:Apart from this, rising adoption of cloud robotics in education sector is likely to foster the growth of cloud robotics market. Cloud robotics has a wide range of applications including manufacturing, logistic, homes and others. Further, use of cloud robotics in manufacturing sector has resulted in increased production, reduction of human errors, improved quality. These advantages are anticipated to propel the involvement of cloud robotics in manufacturing sector. Additionally, cloud robotics is used in logistic sector. Expansion of logistic service across the globe is envisioned to bolster the growth of global cloud robotics market over the forecast period.However, high cost of cloud robotics and lack of user guidance are some major challenges which are restraining the growth of global cloud robotics market. Apart from this, slow adoption rate is also hampering the growth of global cloud robotics market.This report also provides the existing competitive scenario of some of the key players of the global cloud robotics market which includes company profiling of V3 Smart Technology Pvt. Ltd., Hit Robot Group, ABB Group, Adept Technology, Boston Dynamics, Fanuc Corporation, Rockwell Automation Inc., Rapyuta Robotics Co. Ltd., Universal Robotics A/S, and Motion Controls Robotics. The profiling enfolds key information of the companies which encompasses business overview, products and services, key financials and recent news and developments. On the whole, the report depicts detailed overview of the global cloud robotics market that will help industry consultants, equipment manufacturers, existing players searching for expansion opportunities, new players searching possibilities and other stakeholders to align their market centric strategies according to the ongoing and expected trends in the future.To know more about this research, kindly visit:About Research NesterResearch Nester is a leading service provider for strategic market research and consulting. We aim to provide unbiased, unparalleled market insights and industry analysis to help industries, conglomerates and executives to take wise decisions for their future marketing strategy, expansion and investment etc. We believe every business can expand to its new horizon, provided a right guidance at a right time is available through strategic minds. Our out of box thinking helps our clients to take wise decision so as to avoid future uncertainties.Contact for more Info:Ajay DanielEmail: ajay.daniel@researchnester.comU.S. +1 646 586 9123U.K. +44 203 608 5919 Global Electronic Packaging Materials Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1737189 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737189/global-north-america-europe-and-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737189/global-north-america-europe-and-market-research-reports https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1737189&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Electronic Packaging Materials Market 2018 Forecast to 2023 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Electronic Packaging Materials MarketElectronic packaging materials are used to carry electronic components and their interconnection, Function as mechanical support, seal environmental protection, heat dissipation of electronic components and so on. Electronic packaging materials have good electrical insulation, it is the sealing material of an integrated circuit.Get Sample copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Electronic Packaging Materials in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversDuPontEvonikEPMMitsubishi ChemicalSumitomo ChemicalMitsui High-tecTanakaShinko Electric IndustriesPanasonicHitachi ChemicalKyocera ChemicalGoreBASFHenkelAMETEK ElectronicTorayMaruwaLeatec Fine CeramicsNCIChaozhou Three-CircleNippon MicrometalToppanDai Nippon PrintingPossehlNingbo KangqiangRequest for TOC @Market 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 etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversMetal PackagesPlastic PackagesCeramic PackagesMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoSemiconductor & ICPCBOthersThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Electronic Packaging Materials market.Chapter 1, to describe Electronic Packaging Materials Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Electronic Packaging Materials, with sales, revenue, and price of Electronic Packaging Materials, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Electronic Packaging Materials, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Electronic Packaging Materials market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Electronic Packaging Materials sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceView Report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Electronic Packaging Materials Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Metal Packages1.2.2 Plastic Packages1.2.3 Ceramic Packages1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Semiconductor & IC1.3.2 PCB1.3.3 Others1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 United States Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 DuPont2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 DuPont Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Evonik2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Evonik Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 EPM2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 EPM Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Mitsubishi Chemical2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Mitsubishi Chemical Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 Sumitomo Chemical2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Sumitomo Chemical Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 Mitsui High-tec2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 Mitsui High-tec Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 Tanaka2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Tanaka Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8 Shinko Electric Industries2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 Shinko Electric Industries Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.9 Panasonic2.9.1 Business Overview2.9.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.9.2.1 Type 12.9.2.2 Type 22.9.3 Panasonic Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.10 Hitachi Chemical2.10.1 Business Overview2.10.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.10.2.1 Type 12.10.2.2 Type 22.10.3 Hitachi Chemical Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.11 Kyocera Chemical2.11.1 Business Overview2.11.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.11.2.1 Type 12.11.2.2 Type 22.11.3 Kyocera Chemical Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.12 Gore2.12.1 Business Overview2.12.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.12.2.1 Type 12.12.2.2 Type 22.12.3 Gore Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.13 BASF2.13.1 Business Overview2.13.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.13.2.1 Type 12.13.2.2 Type 22.13.3 BASF Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.14 Henkel2.14.1 Business Overview2.14.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.14.2.1 Type 12.14.2.2 Type 22.14.3 Henkel Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.15 AMETEK Electronic2.15.1 Business Overview2.15.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.15.2.1 Type 12.15.2.2 Type 22.15.3 AMETEK Electronic Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.16 Toray2.16.1 Business Overview2.16.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.16.2.1 Type 12.16.2.2 Type 22.16.3 Toray Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.17 Maruwa2.17.1 Business Overview2.17.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.17.2.1 Type 12.17.2.2 Type 22.17.3 Maruwa Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.18 Leatec Fine Ceramics2.18.1 Business Overview2.18.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.18.2.1 Type 12.18.2.2 Type 22.18.3 Leatec Fine Ceramics Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.19 NCI2.19.1 Business Overview2.19.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.19.2.1 Type 12.19.2.2 Type 22.19.3 NCI Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.20 Chaozhou Three-Circle2.20.1 Business Overview2.20.2 Electronic Packaging Materials Type and Applications2.20.2.1 Type 12.20.2.2 Type 22.20.3 Chaozhou Three-Circle Electronic Packaging Materials Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)Buy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global EVA Resin Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1737194 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737194/global-north-america-europe-and-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737194/global-north-america-europe-and-market-research-reports https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1737194&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) EVA Resin Market 2018 Forecast to 2023 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About EVA Resin MarketThis report studies the EVA Resin market, Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) resin, also known as PEVA, is the copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate. The weight percent vinyl acetate (VA) usually varies from 10 to 40%, with the remainder being ethylene.Get Sample copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the EVA Resin in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversDuPont (US)ExxonMobil (US)FPC (TW)Hanwha Total (KR)USI (TW)Sinopec Beijing Yanshan (CN)Sipchem (SA)BASF-YPC (CN)Braskem (BR)Westlake (US)TPI Polene (TH)LG Chem (KR)Celanese (US)Arkema (FR)Repsol (ES)LyondellBasell (NL)Sumitomo Chem (JP)Levima/Haoda Chem (CN)Lotte Chem (KR)Total (FR)Tosoh (JP)Versalis/Eni (IT)Ube (JP)Huamei Polymer (CN)NUC Corp (JP)Sumsung Total (KR)Request for TOC @Market 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 etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversTubular EVAAutoclave EVAOther ProcessMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoFilmAdhesive and CoatingMolding PlasticsFoaming MaterialsOther ApplicationThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global EVA Resin market.Chapter 1, to describe EVA Resin Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of EVA Resin, with sales, revenue, and price of EVA Resin, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of EVA Resin, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, EVA Resin market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe EVA Resin sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceView Report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 EVA Resin Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Tubular EVA1.2.2 Autoclave EVA1.2.3 Other Process1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Film1.3.2 Adhesive and Coating1.3.3 Molding Plastics1.3.4 Foaming Materials1.3.5 Other Application1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 United States Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 DuPont (US)2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 DuPont (US) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 ExxonMobil (US)2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 ExxonMobil (US) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 FPC (TW)2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 FPC (TW) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Hanwha Total (KR)2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Hanwha Total (KR) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 USI (TW)2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 USI (TW) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 Sinopec Beijing Yanshan (CN)2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 Sinopec Beijing Yanshan (CN) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 Sipchem (SA)2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Sipchem (SA) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8 BASF-YPC (CN)2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 BASF-YPC (CN) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.9 Braskem (BR)2.9.1 Business Overview2.9.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.9.2.1 Type 12.9.2.2 Type 22.9.3 Braskem (BR) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.10 Westlake (US)2.10.1 Business Overview2.10.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.10.2.1 Type 12.10.2.2 Type 22.10.3 Westlake (US) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.11 TPI Polene (TH)2.11.1 Business Overview2.11.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.11.2.1 Type 12.11.2.2 Type 22.11.3 TPI Polene (TH) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.12 LG Chem (KR)2.12.1 Business Overview2.12.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.12.2.1 Type 12.12.2.2 Type 22.12.3 LG Chem (KR) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.13 Celanese (US)2.13.1 Business Overview2.13.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.13.2.1 Type 12.13.2.2 Type 22.13.3 Celanese (US) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.14 Arkema (FR)2.14.1 Business Overview2.14.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.14.2.1 Type 12.14.2.2 Type 22.14.3 Arkema (FR) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.15 Repsol (ES)2.15.1 Business Overview2.15.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.15.2.1 Type 12.15.2.2 Type 22.15.3 Repsol (ES) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.16 LyondellBasell (NL)2.16.1 Business Overview2.16.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.16.2.1 Type 12.16.2.2 Type 22.16.3 LyondellBasell (NL) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.17 Sumitomo Chem (JP)2.17.1 Business Overview2.17.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.17.2.1 Type 12.17.2.2 Type 22.17.3 Sumitomo Chem (JP) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.18 Levima/Haoda Chem (CN)2.18.1 Business Overview2.18.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.18.2.1 Type 12.18.2.2 Type 22.18.3 Levima/Haoda Chem (CN) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.19 Lotte Chem (KR)2.19.1 Business Overview2.19.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.19.2.1 Type 12.19.2.2 Type 22.19.3 Lotte Chem (KR) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.20 Total (FR)2.20.1 Business Overview2.20.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.20.2.1 Type 12.20.2.2 Type 22.20.3 Total (FR) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.21 Tosoh (JP)2.21.1 Business Overview2.2.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.21.2.1 Type 12.21.2.2 Type 22.21.3 Tosoh (JP) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.22 Versalis/Eni (IT)2.22.1 Business Overview2.22.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.22.2.1 Type 12.22.2.2 Type 22.22.3 Versalis/Eni (IT) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.23 Ube (JP)2.23.1 Business Overview2.23.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.23.2.1 Type 12.23.2.2 Type 22.23.3 Ube (JP) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.24 Huamei Polymer (CN)2.24.1 Business Overview2.24.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.24.2.1 Type 12.24.2.2 Type 22.24.3 Huamei Polymer (CN) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.25 NUC Corp (JP)2.25.1 Business Overview2.25.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.25.2.1 Type 12.25.2.2 Type 22.25.3 NUC Corp (JP) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.26 Sumsung Total (KR)2.26.1 Business Overview2.26.2 EVA Resin Type and Applications2.26.2.1 Type 12.26.2.2 Type 22.26.3 Sumsung Total (KR) EVA Resin Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)3 Global EVA Resin Market Competition, by Manufacturer3.1 Global EVA Resin Sales and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.2 Global EVA Resin Revenue and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.3 Global EVA Resin Price by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.4 Market Concentration Rate3.4.1 Top 3 EVA Resin Manufacturer Market Share in 20173.4.2 Top 5 EVA Resin Manufacturer Market Share in 20173.5 Market Competition TrendBuy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Fetal Bovine Serum Market Market Research Report - Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1737200 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737200/global-north-america-europe-and-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737200/global-north-america-europe-and-market-research-reports https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1737200&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Fetal Bovine Serum Market 2018 Forecast to 2023 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Fetal Bovine Serum MarketThis report studies the Fetal Bovine Serum market, Fetal bovine serum (FBS) or fetal calf serum (spelled foetal in Commonwealth English) is the blood fraction remaining after the natural coagulation of blood, followed by centrifugation to remove any remaining red blood cells. Fetal bovine serum comes from the blood drawn from a bovine fetus via a closed system of collection at the slaughterhouse. Fetal bovine serum is the most widely used serum-supplement for the in vitro cell culture of eukaryotic cells. This is due to it having a very low level of antibodies and containing more growth factors, allowing for versatility in many different cell culture applications.Get Sample copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Fetal Bovine Serum in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversThermo FisherGE HealthcareSigma-AldrichMerckMoregate BioTechGeminiAtlanta BiologicalsTissue Culture BiologicalsBovogenBiowestInternegociosRMBIOBiological IndustriesPAN-BiotechVWRCorningAnimal TechnologiesSeranaWISENTPeak SerumSeroxlabNorthBioBio Nutrientes BrasilLanzhou MinhaiZhejiang Tianhang BiotechnologyExCell BioJin Yuan KangRequest for TOC @Market 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 etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversNorth America-sourcedSouth America-sourcedAustralia-sourcedOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoScientific ResearchIndustrial productionThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Fetal Bovine Serum market.Chapter 1, to describe Fetal Bovine Serum Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Fetal Bovine Serum, with sales, revenue, and price of Fetal Bovine Serum, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Fetal Bovine Serum, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Fetal Bovine Serum market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Fetal Bovine Serum sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceView Report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Fetal Bovine Serum Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 North America-sourced1.2.2 South America-sourced1.2.3 Australia-sourced1.2.4 Others1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Scientific Research1.3.2 Industrial production1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 United States Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Thermo Fisher2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Thermo Fisher Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 GE Healthcare2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 GE Healthcare Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Sigma-Aldrich2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Sigma-Aldrich Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Merck2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Merck Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 Moregate BioTech2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Moregate BioTech Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 Gemini2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 Gemini Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 Atlanta Biologicals2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Atlanta Biologicals Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8 Tissue Culture Biologicals2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 Tissue Culture Biologicals Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.9 Bovogen2.9.1 Business Overview2.9.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.9.2.1 Type 12.9.2.2 Type 22.9.3 Bovogen Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.10 Biowest2.10.1 Business Overview2.10.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.10.2.1 Type 12.10.2.2 Type 22.10.3 Biowest Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.11 Internegocios2.11.1 Business Overview2.11.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.11.2.1 Type 12.11.2.2 Type 22.11.3 Internegocios Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.12 RMBIO2.12.1 Business Overview2.12.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.12.2.1 Type 12.12.2.2 Type 22.12.3 RMBIO Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.13 Biological Industries2.13.1 Business Overview2.13.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.13.2.1 Type 12.13.2.2 Type 22.13.3 Biological Industries Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.14 PAN-Biotech2.14.1 Business Overview2.14.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.14.2.1 Type 12.14.2.2 Type 22.14.3 PAN-Biotech Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.15 VWR2.15.1 Business Overview2.15.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.15.2.1 Type 12.15.2.2 Type 22.15.3 VWR Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.16 Corning2.16.1 Business Overview2.16.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.16.2.1 Type 12.16.2.2 Type 22.16.3 Corning Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.17 Animal Technologies2.17.1 Business Overview2.17.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.17.2.1 Type 12.17.2.2 Type 22.17.3 Animal Technologies Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.18 Serana2.18.1 Business Overview2.18.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.18.2.1 Type 12.18.2.2 Type 22.18.3 Serana Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.19 WISENT2.19.1 Business Overview2.19.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.19.2.1 Type 12.19.2.2 Type 22.19.3 WISENT Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.20 Peak Serum2.20.1 Business Overview2.20.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.20.2.1 Type 12.20.2.2 Type 22.20.3 Peak Serum Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.21 Seroxlab2.21.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.21.2.1 Type 12.21.2.2 Type 22.21.3 Seroxlab Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.22 NorthBio2.22.1 Business Overview2.22.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.22.2.1 Type 12.22.2.2 Type 22.22.3 NorthBio Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.23 Bio Nutrientes Brasil2.23.1 Business Overview2.23.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.23.2.1 Type 12.23.2.2 Type 22.23.3 Bio Nutrientes Brasil Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.24 Lanzhou Minhai2.24.1 Business Overview2.24.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.24.2.1 Type 12.24.2.2 Type 22.24.3 Lanzhou Minhai Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.25 Zhejiang Tianhang Biotechnology2.25.1 Business Overview2.25.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.25.2.1 Type 12.25.2.2 Type 22.25.3 Zhejiang Tianhang Biotechnology Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.26 ExCell Bio2.26.1 Business Overview2.26.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.26.2.1 Type 12.26.2.2 Type 22.26.3 ExCell Bio Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.27 Jin Yuan Kang2.27.1 Business Overview2.27.2 Fetal Bovine Serum Type and Applications2.27.2.1 Type 12.27.2.2 Type 22.27.3 Jin Yuan Kang Fetal Bovine Serum Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)Buy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Fiber Reinforced Plastics Market By players, Regions, Product Type, Consumers Forecast 2017-2023 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1737202 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737202/global-north-america-europe-and-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737202/global-north-america-europe-and-market-research-reports https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1737202&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Market 2018 Forecast to 2023 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) MarketFiber reinforced plastic?(FRP), also known as?fiber reinforced polymer, is in fact a composite material constituting a polymer matrix blended with certain reinforcing materials, such as fibers. The fibers are generally glass, carbon, aramid and so on.Get Sample copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversBASFDuPontLanxessDSMSABICPolyOneHexionDenkaDaicelEvonikSumitomo BakeliteKingfa Science and TechnologyGeniusSolvayRTPSI GroupKolonTenCateTorayMitsubishi RayonTeijinSGLHexcelRequest for TOC @Market 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 etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversGlass Fiber TypeCarbon Fiber TypeAramid Fiber TypeOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoAerospaceAutomotiveElectrical & ElectronicsConstructionOthersThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) market.Chapter 1, to describe Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP), with sales, revenue, and price of Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP), in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP), for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceView Report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Glass Fiber Type1.2.2 Carbon Fiber Type1.2.3 Aramid Fiber Type1.2.4 Others1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Aerospace1.3.2 Automotive1.3.3 Electrical & Electronics1.3.4 Construction1.3.5 Others1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 United States Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 BASF2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 BASF Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 DuPont2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 DuPont Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Lanxess2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Lanxess Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 DSM2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 DSM Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 SABIC2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 SABIC Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 PolyOne2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 PolyOne Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 Hexion2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Hexion Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8 Denka2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 Denka Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.9 Daicel2.9.1 Business Overview2.9.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.9.2.1 Type 12.9.2.2 Type 22.9.3 Daicel Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.10 Evonik2.10.1 Business Overview2.10.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.10.2.1 Type 12.10.2.2 Type 22.10.3 Evonik Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.11 Sumitomo Bakelite2.11.1 Business Overview2.11.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.11.2.1 Type 12.11.2.2 Type 22.11.3 Sumitomo Bakelite Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.12 Kingfa Science and Technology2.12.1 Business Overview2.12.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.12.2.1 Type 12.12.2.2 Type 22.12.3 Kingfa Science and Technology Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.13 Genius2.13.1 Business Overview2.13.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.13.2.1 Type 12.13.2.2 Type 22.13.3 Genius Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.14 Solvay2.14.1 Business Overview2.14.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.14.2.1 Type 12.14.2.2 Type 22.14.3 Solvay Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.15 RTP2.15.1 Business Overview2.15.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.15.2.1 Type 12.15.2.2 Type 22.15.3 RTP Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.16 SI Group2.16.1 Business Overview2.16.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.16.2.1 Type 12.16.2.2 Type 22.16.3 SI Group Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.17 Kolon2.17.1 Business Overview2.17.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.17.2.1 Type 12.17.2.2 Type 22.17.3 Kolon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.18 TenCate2.18.1 Business Overview2.18.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.18.2.1 Type 12.18.2.2 Type 22.18.3 TenCate Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.19 Toray2.19.1 Business Overview2.19.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.19.2.1 Type 12.19.2.2 Type 22.19.3 Toray Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.20 Mitsubishi Rayon2.20.1 Business Overview2.20.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.20.2.1 Type 12.20.2.2 Type 22.20.3 Mitsubishi Rayon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.21 Teijin2.21.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.21.2.1 Type 12.21.2.2 Type 22.21.3 Teijin Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.22 SGL2.22.1 Business Overview2.22.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.22.2.1 Type 12.22.2.2 Type 22.22.3 SGL Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.23 Hexcel2.23.1 Business Overview2.23.2 Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Type and Applications2.23.2.1 Type 12.23.2.2 Type 22.23.3 Hexcel Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)Buy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Fiberglass Market By players, Regions, Product Type, Consumers Forecast 2017-2023 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1737203 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737203/global-north-america-europe-and-market-research-reports/toc https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1737203&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Fiberglass Market 2018 Forecast to 2023 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Fiberglass MarketThis report studies the Fiberglass market. Glass fibers are the materials consisting of extremely fine glass fibers, used in making various products, such as yarns, fabrics, insulators, and structural objects or parts. It is also called spun glass.Get Sample copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Fiberglass in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversOwens CorningJushi GroupTaishan Fiberglass (Sinoma)CPICSaint-Gobain VetrotexPPG IndustriesNippon Electric GlassJohns MansvilleNittoboAdvanced Glassfiber YarnsBinani-3BSichuan WeiboJiangsu JiudingLanxessChangzhou TianmaAhlstromRequest for TOC @Market 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 etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversGeneral-Purpose Glass FibersSpecial-Purpose Glass FibersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoConstructionTransportationIndustrialConsumerWind PowerOthersThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Fiberglass market.Chapter 1, to describe Fiberglass Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Fiberglass, with sales, revenue, and price of Fiberglass, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Fiberglass, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Fiberglass market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Fiberglass sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceTable of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Fiberglass Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 General-Purpose Glass Fibers1.2.2 Special-Purpose Glass Fibers1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Construction1.3.2 Transportation1.3.3 Industrial1.3.4 Consumer1.3.5 Wind Power1.3.6 Others1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 United States Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Owens Corning2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Owens Corning Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Jushi Group2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Jushi Group Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Taishan Fiberglass (Sinoma)2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Taishan Fiberglass (Sinoma) Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 CPIC2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 CPIC Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 Saint-Gobain Vetrotex2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Saint-Gobain Vetrotex Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 PPG Industries2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 PPG Industries Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 Nippon Electric Glass2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Nippon Electric Glass Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8 Johns Mansville2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 Johns Mansville Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.9 Nittobo2.9.1 Business Overview2.9.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.9.2.1 Type 12.9.2.2 Type 22.9.3 Nittobo Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.10 Advanced Glassfiber Yarns2.10.1 Business Overview2.10.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.10.2.1 Type 12.10.2.2 Type 22.10.3 Advanced Glassfiber Yarns Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.11 Binani-3B2.11.1 Business Overview2.11.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.11.2.1 Type 12.11.2.2 Type 22.11.3 Binani-3B Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.12 Sichuan Weibo2.12.1 Business Overview2.12.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.12.2.1 Type 12.12.2.2 Type 22.12.3 Sichuan Weibo Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.13 Jiangsu Jiuding2.13.1 Business Overview2.13.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.13.2.1 Type 12.13.2.2 Type 22.13.3 Jiangsu Jiuding Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.14 Lanxess2.14.1 Business Overview2.14.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.14.2.1 Type 12.14.2.2 Type 22.14.3 Lanxess Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.15 Changzhou Tianma2.15.1 Business Overview2.15.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.15.2.1 Type 12.15.2.2 Type 22.15.3 Changzhou Tianma Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.16 Ahlstrom2.16.1 Business Overview2.16.2 Fiberglass Type and Applications2.16.2.1 Type 12.16.2.2 Type 22.16.3 Ahlstrom Fiberglass Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)3 Global Fiberglass Market Competition, by Manufacturer3.1 Global Fiberglass Sales and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.2 Global Fiberglass Revenue and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.3 Global Fiberglass Price by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.4 Market Concentration Rate3.4.1 Top 3 Fiberglass Manufacturer Market Share in 20173.4.2 Top 5 Fiberglass Manufacturer Market Share in 20173.5 Market Competition TrendBuy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Fragrance Market Expected to Witness a CAGR of 4.80% through 2017-2023 http://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2622770-global-fragrance-research-report-forecast-to-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2622770-global-fragrance-research-report-forecast-to-2023 Fragrance MarketSummaryFragrance is referred as blend of chemical compounds which is characterised by having olfactive properties. Fragrance is incorporated in order to impart peculiar and unique odorous characteristics into the preparations. Fragrance industry holds a major share in the cosmetics and personal care industries as a major ingredients used in the products. Fragrance are used as the major ingredient in spray perfumes, cosmetics, soaps & detergents, incense, body care and home care products. Fragrance are produced at par with the international regulations. Fragrance produced by the manufacturers undergo stringent quality check before getting certification of approval for further production.The demand of fragrance is increasing at a fast pace in the Asia Pacific and Middle East region owing to the increasing young population. Also, mounting growth of online retail distribution in developing economies such as Asia Pacific is anticipated to augment the growth of perfumery products due to the economical and discounted price offered by the e-commerce companies. Moreover, product innovations by the perfumery manufacturers is expected to propel the sales of fragrance in the near future. The demand for products like scented candles, perfumes and expensive fine fragrances increases in the festive season, mostly in Asia Pacific region. Consumers have more inclination towards the gifting trend to cope up with the changing social dynamics.Click here for sample report @Technological advancement is one of the key factors which are driving the global fragrance market. Development in processing technologies as well as modifications in the product quality, packaging and visual appearance has resulted in increasing demand of fine fragrance in personal care products. Long lasting odour control and new methods such as solvent extraction for the extraction of essential oils and aroma from plant are some of the new developments in this industry.Key PlayersThe leading market players in the global fragrance market primarily are Givaudan SA (Switzerland), International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc. (U.S.), Firmenich International SA (Switzerland), Symrise AG (Germany), Takasago International Corporation (Japan), V. MANE FILS SA (France), Sensient Technologies Corporation (U.S.)Study Objectives of fragrance Market Forecast to 2023 Detailed analysis for individual micro and macro markets for fragrance To estimate market size by Type, Application and Region To understand the supply and demand dynamics of fragrance Company profiling of major players & competitive positioning for the fragrance market Value chain analysis and supply chain analysis of fragrance Analysis of historical market trends, and technologies, and current government regulatory requirements related to fragrance marketKey Findings Synthetic fragrance will dominate the fragrance market and is projected to reach USD 11,838.77 million by 2023 at a CAGR of 4.80% in terms of value. However, natural segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 6.41% to reach USD 5,661.26 million by 2023. Cosmetics & toiletry dominated the fragrance market and is projected to reach USD 4,109.66 million by 2023 and will register a healthy CAGR of 5.20% during the forecast period. Fine fragrance segment is projected to reach USD 3,541.44 million by the end of 2023, registering the highest CAGR of 5.78% during the forecast period from 2017 to 2023.Regional and Country Analysis of fragrance market development and demand Forecast to 2023Table of Contents1 Executive Summary 122 Introduction 132.1 Definition 132.1.1 Fragrance 132.1.2 History of Fragrance 132.1.3 Trends in Fragrance Market 132.1.4 Organisations active in Fragrance Market 142.2 Scope of the Study 152.2.1 Research Methodology 152.3 Assumptions 152.4 Limitations 152.5 Market Structure 162.5.1 Global Fragrance Market, By Type 162.5.2 Global Fragrance Market, By Application 162.5.3 Global Fragrance Market, By Region 16.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 Global Ballast Water Treatment Systems Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1737219 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737219/asia-pacific-ballast-water-treatment-systems-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737219/asia-pacific-ballast-water-treatment-systems-market-research-reports https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1737219&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Asia-Pacific Ballast Water Treatment Systems Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Ballast Water Treatment SystemsBallast Water Treatment System is a device of processing ballast water that discharged directly into the sea. Ballast Water Treatment System mainly consists of ballast pumps, ballast water pipelines, ballast tanks and associated valve member.Get Sample copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Ballast Water Treatment Systems in Asia-Pacific market, especially in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, India and Australia. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries/Regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversAlfa LavalPanasiaOceanSaverQingdao SunruiJFE EngineeringNKQingdao Headway TechnologyOptimarinHyde MarineVeolia Water TechnologiesTechcrossSiemensEcochlorIndustrie De NoraMMC Green TechnologyWartsilaNEI Treatment SystemsMitsubishi Heavy IndustriesDesmiBright SkyTrojan MarinexRequest for TOC @Market Segment by Countries, coveringChinaJapanKoreaTaiwanSoutheast AsiaIndiaAustraliaMarket Segment by Type, coversChemical MethodPhysical MethodMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoModify ShipNew Build ShipThere are 19 Chapters to deeply display the Asia-Pacific Ballast Water Treatment Systems market.Chapter 1, to describe Ballast Water Treatment Systems Introduction, product type and application, market overview, market analysis by countries, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the manufacturers of Ballast Water Treatment Systems, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the Asia-Pacific market by countries, covering China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, India and Australia, with sales, price, revenue and market share of Ballast Water Treatment Systems, for each country, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5 and 6, to show the market by type and application, with sales, price, revenue, market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 to analyze the key countries by manufacturers, Type and Application, covering 7 Regin, with sales, revenue and market share by manufacturers, types and applications;Chapter 14, Ballast Water Treatment Systems market forecast, by countries, type and application, with sales, price, revenue and growth rate forecast, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 15, to analyze the manufacturing cost, key raw materials and manufacturing process, etc.Chapter 16, to analyze the industrial chain, sourcing strategy and downstream end users (buyers);Chapter 17, to describe sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, etc.Chapter 18 and 19, to describe the research findings and conclusion, appendix, methodology and data source.View Report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Chemical Method1.2.2 Physical Method1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Modify Ship1.3.2 New Build Ship1.4 Market Analysis by Countries1.4.1 China Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.2 Korea Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.3 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.4 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.7 Australia Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Alfa Laval2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Alfa Laval Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Panasia2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Panasia Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 OceanSaver2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 OceanSaver Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Qingdao Sunrui2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Qingdao Sunrui Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 JFE Engineering2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 JFE Engineering Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 NK2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 NK Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 Qingdao Headway Technology2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Qingdao Headway Technology Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8 Optimarin2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 Optimarin Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.9 Hyde Marine2.9.1 Business Overview2.9.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.9.2.1 Type 12.9.2.2 Type 22.9.3 Hyde Marine Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.10 Veolia Water Technologies2.10.1 Business Overview2.10.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.10.2.1 Type 12.10.2.2 Type 22.10.3 Veolia Water Technologies Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.11 Techcross2.11.1 Business Overview2.11.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.11.2.1 Type 12.11.2.2 Type 22.11.3 Techcross Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.12 Siemens2.12.1 Business Overview2.12.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.12.2.1 Type 12.12.2.2 Type 22.12.3 Siemens Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.13 Ecochlor2.13.1 Business Overview2.13.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.13.2.1 Type 12.13.2.2 Type 22.13.3 Ecochlor Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.14 Industrie De Nora2.14.1 Business Overview2.14.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.14.2.1 Type 12.14.2.2 Type 22.14.3 Industrie De Nora Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.15 MMC Green Technology2.15.1 Business Overview2.15.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.15.2.1 Type 12.15.2.2 Type 22.15.3 MMC Green Technology Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.16 Wartsila2.16.1 Business Overview2.16.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.16.2.1 Type 12.16.2.2 Type 22.16.3 Wartsila Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.17 NEI Treatment Systems2.17.1 Business Overview2.17.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.17.2.1 Type 12.17.2.2 Type 22.17.3 NEI Treatment Systems Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.18 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries2.18.1 Business Overview2.18.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.18.2.1 Type 12.18.2.2 Type 22.18.3 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.19 Desmi2.19.1 Business Overview2.19.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.19.2.1 Type 12.19.2.2 Type 22.19.3 Desmi Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.20 Bright Sky2.20.1 Business Overview2.20.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.20.2.1 Type 12.20.2.2 Type 22.20.3 Bright Sky Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.21 Trojan Marinex2.21.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Ballast Water Treatment Systems Type and Applications2.21.2.1 Type 12.21.2.2 Type 22.21.3 Trojan Marinex Ballast Water Treatment Systems Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)Buy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Biodiesel Catalyst Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1737222 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737222/asia-pacific-biodiesel-catalyst-by-manufacturers-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737222/asia-pacific-biodiesel-catalyst-by-manufacturers-market-research-reports https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1737222&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Biodiesel Catalyst MarketBiodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel engines that is produced by chemically reacting a vegetable oil or animal fat with an alcohol such as methanol or ethanol.Get Sample copy of this Report @The chemical reaction used to make biodiesel requires a catalyst. A catalyst is usually a chemical added to the reaction mixture to speed up the reaction. Since the catalyst is not consumed in the reaction, it will be left over at the end in some form. In biodiesel production, the actual compound that catalyzes the reaction is called methoxide. One common way to make methoxide is to dissolve sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide in methanol. Large producers buy a solution of sodium methoxide in methanol that is much safer to work with.""Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Biodiesel Catalyst in Asia-Pacific market, especially in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, India and Australia. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries/Regions, type and application.Request for TOC @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversEvonikBASFTSS GroupDupontCamera AgriculturaDOWAlbemarleSud-ChemieMarket Segment by Countries, coveringChinaJapanKoreaTaiwanSoutheast AsiaIndiaAustraliaMarket Segment by Type, coversHydroxideSodium MethylateMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoThere are 19 Chapters to deeply display the Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst market.Chapter 1, to describe Biodiesel Catalyst Introduction, product type and application, market overview, market analysis by countries, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the manufacturers of Biodiesel Catalyst, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the Asia-Pacific market by countries, covering China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, India and Australia, with sales, price, revenue and market share of Biodiesel Catalyst, for each country, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5 and 6, to show the market by type and application, with sales, price, revenue, market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 to analyze the key countries by manufacturers, Type and Application, covering 7 Regin, with sales, revenue and market share by manufacturers, types and applications;Chapter 14, Biodiesel Catalyst market forecast, by countries, type and application, with sales, price, revenue and growth rate forecast, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 15, to analyze the manufacturing cost, key raw materials and manufacturing process, etc.Chapter 16, to analyze the industrial chain, sourcing strategy and downstream end users (buyers);Chapter 17, to describe sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, etc.Chapter 18 and 19, to describe the research findings and conclusion, appendix, methodology and data source.View Report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Biodiesel Catalyst Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Hydroxide1.2.2 Sodium Methylate1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.4 Market Analysis by Countries1.4.1 China Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.2 Korea Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.3 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.4 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.7 Australia Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Evonik2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Biodiesel Catalyst Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Evonik Biodiesel Catalyst Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 BASF2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Biodiesel Catalyst Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 BASF Biodiesel Catalyst Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 TSS Group2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Biodiesel Catalyst Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 TSS Group Biodiesel Catalyst Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Dupont2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Biodiesel Catalyst Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Dupont Biodiesel Catalyst Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 Camera Agricultura2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Biodiesel Catalyst Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Camera Agricultura Biodiesel Catalyst Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 DOW2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Biodiesel Catalyst Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 DOW Biodiesel Catalyst Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 Albemarle2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 Biodiesel Catalyst Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Albemarle Biodiesel Catalyst Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8 Sud-Chemie2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.2 Biodiesel Catalyst Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 Sud-Chemie Biodiesel Catalyst Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)3 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Market Competition, by Manufacturer3.1 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Sales and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.2 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Revenue and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.2.1 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Revenue by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.2.2 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Revenue Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.3 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Price by Manufacturers (2016-2017)3.4 Market Concentration Rate3.4.1 Top 3 Biodiesel Catalyst Manufacturer Market Share (2016-2017)3.4.2 Top 6 Biodiesel Catalyst Manufacturer Market Share (2016-2017)3.5 Market Competition Trend4 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Market Analysis by Countries/Regions4.1 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Sales Market Share by Countries/Regions4.2 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Sales by Countries/Regions (2013-2018)4.2.1 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Sales by Countries/Regions (2013-2018)4.2.2 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Sales Market Share by Countries (2013-2018)4.3 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Revenue (Value) by Countries (2013-2018)4.3.1 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.3.2 Asia-Pacific Biodiesel Catalyst Revenue Market Share by Countries (2013-2018)Buy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global C4ISR Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1737225 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737225/asia-pacific-c-isr-by-manufacturers-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1737226/asia-pacific-cae-software-by-manufacturers-market-research-reports https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1737225&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Asia-Pacific C4ISR Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About C4ISR MarketC4ISR is a military terminology, it is by the C2 (Command, Control) evolved, usually translated as command automation system. It is abbreviated of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence Surveillance, Reconnaissance.Get Sample copy of this Report @C4ISR system to provide military information command and management system, improve command efficiency. Now C4ISR has become the nerve center of modern army.Kosovo war is the first large-scale military use of C4ISR system by US."""Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the C4ISR in Asia-Pacific market, especially in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, India and Australia. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries/Regions, type and application.Request for TOC @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversLockheed Martin CorporationBoeingRaytheonNorthrop Grumman CorporationL-3 Communications HoldingsElbit SystemsBAE SystemsThales GroupHarris CorporationDRS TechnologiesMarket Segment by Countries, coveringChinaJapanKoreaTaiwanSoutheast AsiaIndiaAustraliaMarket Segment by Type, coversCommand & ControlCommunicationsComputersIntelligenceSurveillanceMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoLand Based SystemNaval SystemsAir Force SystemSpace SystemThere are 19 Chapters to deeply display the Asia-Pacific C4ISR market.Chapter 1, to describe C4ISR Introduction, product type and application, market overview, market analysis by countries, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the manufacturers of C4ISR, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the Asia-Pacific market by countries, covering China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, India and Australia, with sales, price, revenue and market share of C4ISR, for each country, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5 and 6, to show the market by type and application, with sales, price, revenue, market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 to analyze the key countries by manufacturers, Type and Application, covering 7 Regin, with sales, revenue and market share by manufacturers, types and applications;Chapter 14, C4ISR market forecast, by countries, type and application, with sales, price, revenue and growth rate forecast, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 15, to analyze the manufacturing cost, key raw materials and manufacturing process, etc.Chapter 16, to analyze the industrial chain, sourcing strategy and downstream end users (buyers);Chapter 17, to describe sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, etc.Chapter 18 and 19, to describe the research findings and conclusion, appendix, methodology and data source.View Report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 C4ISR Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Command & Control1.2.2 Communications1.2.3 Computers1.2.4 Intelligence1.2.5 Surveillance1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Land Based System1.3.2 Naval Systems1.3.3 Air Force System1.3.4 Space System1.4 Market Analysis by Countries1.4.1 China Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.2 Korea Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.3 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.4 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.7 Australia Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Lockheed Martin Corporation2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 C4ISR Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Lockheed Martin Corporation C4ISR Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Boeing2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 C4ISR Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Boeing C4ISR Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Raytheon2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 C4ISR Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Raytheon C4ISR Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Northrop Grumman Corporation2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 C4ISR Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Northrop Grumman Corporation C4ISR Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 L-3 Communications Holdings2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 C4ISR Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 L-3 Communications Holdings C4ISR Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 Elbit Systems2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 C4ISR Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 Elbit Systems C4ISR Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 BAE Systems2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 C4ISR Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 BAE Systems C4ISR Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8 Thales Group2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.2 C4ISR Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 Thales Group C4ISR Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.9 Harris Corporation2.9.1 Business Overview2.9.2 C4ISR Type and Applications2.9.2.1 Type 12.9.2.2 Type 22.9.3 Harris Corporation C4ISR Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.10 DRS Technologies2.10.1 Business Overview2.10.2 C4ISR Type and Applications2.10.2.1 Type 12.10.2.2 Type 22.10.3 DRS Technologies C4ISR Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)3 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Market Competition, by Manufacturer3.1 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Sales and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.2 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Revenue and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.2.1 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Revenue by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.2.2 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Revenue Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.3 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Price by Manufacturers (2016-2017)3.4 Market Concentration Rate3.4.1 Top 3 C4ISR Manufacturer Market Share (2016-2017)3.4.2 Top 6 C4ISR Manufacturer Market Share (2016-2017)3.5 Market Competition Trend4 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Market Analysis by Countries/Regions4.1 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Sales Market Share by Countries/Regions4.2 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Sales by Countries/Regions (2013-2018)4.2.1 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Sales by Countries/Regions (2013-2018)4.2.2 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Sales Market Share by Countries (2013-2018)4.3 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Revenue (Value) by Countries (2013-2018)4.3.1 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.3.2 Asia-Pacific C4ISR Revenue Market Share by Countries (2013-2018)Buy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Transplant Diagnostics Market is Projected to Reach Valuation Of US$ 1,127.6 Million By 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1335 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1335 The Global Transplant Diagnostics Market, By Product Type (Instrument, Reagents & Kits, and Software), By Technology (Molecular Assay (PCR-Based and Sequencing Based), and Non-Molecular Assay), By Application (Tissue Typing, Infectious Disease Testing, Serum-Cross Matching, and Blood Profiling), By Organ Type (Kidney, Liver, Heart, Lungs, Pancreas, and Others), By End User (Hospitals & Transplant Centers, Research Laboratories & Academic Institutes, and Commercial Service Providers), and By Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa) was valued at US$ 544.2 million in 2016 and is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 8.4% over the forecast period (20172025), as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Growth of the transplant diagnostics market is attributed to rising prevalence of chronic diseases leading to multiple organ failures, possible prediction of organ rejection episodes with the help of transplant diagnostics, initiatives by government organizations to promote organ donation, and increasing research and development by leading players to enhance technologies in transplant diagnostics.Request Sample Copy of Research @Manufacturers are focusing on introducing innovative transplant diagnostic solutions in line with needs and demands of customers. For instance, Thermo Fisher Scientific launched NXType NGS HLA typing assay in 2015 consisting of SSP, SSO, and SBT molecular typing technologies. Also, Immucor, Inc. launched MIA FORA NGS Flex HLA Typing Assay in 2017, which provides coverage of up to 11 HLA genes. Furthermore, Immucor, Inc. launched kSORTa molecular gene expression assayin 2016 for kidney transplant patients. Moreover, Qiagen launched GeneReader NGS system in 2015 that provides NGS solution and helps laboratories in obtaining accurate results. CareDx, Inc. launched Olerup QTYPE in 2016, which is an easy-to-use alternative for rapid HLA typing. Furthermore, GenDx signed a global reseller agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2017, under which former gained rights to offer latters Ion Torrent next-generation sequencing systems.Browse 48 Market Data Tables and 37 Figures spread through 187 Pages and in-depth TOC on Transplant Diagnostics Market by Product Type (Instrument, Reagents & Kits, and Software), by Technology (Molecular Assay (PCR-Based, Sequencing Based), and Non-Molecular Assay), by Application (Tissue Typing, Infectious Disease ,.Testing, Serum-Cross Matching, and Blood Profiling), by Organ Type (Kidney, Liver, Heart, Lungs, Pancreas, and Others), by End User (Hospitals & Transplant Centers, Research Laboratories & Academic Institutes, and Commercial Service Providers) and Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and, Africa) - Global Forecast to 2025Manufacturers are increasingly focusing on research and development of transplant diagnostic products through mergers and acquisition activities. For instance, Thermo Fisher Scientific acquired Linkage Bio in 2017, which became a part of formers transplant diagnostics business, One Lambda. Xenotransplantation (from different species) could aid in reducing the gap in supply and demand of transplant organs. Research on innovative transplant options such as pig-to-human transplants and stem cell transplants is being conducted by various manufacturers. TAI Diagnostics, Inc., which provides a highly sensitive and non-invasive diagnostic test to monitor transplanted organs, entered into a partnership with United Therapeutics and raised significant capital in January 2018 for R&D. Moreover, Transplant Genomics, Inc. entered into a collaboration with Mayo Clinic Center, to develop diagnostic tests for organ transplant patients; in an immunosuppressive clinical trials collaboration with Astellas Pharmaceuticals; and with Quark Pharmaceuticals, in discovery and development collaboration in the year 2016. Natera, Inc. and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), entered into a research collaboration in 2016, to study DNA markers of Kidney Transplant Rejection.Ask for customization:Key Takeaways of the Transplant Diagnostics Market:The global transplant diagnostics market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4% over the forecast period (20172025), owing to increasing product offerings by key players such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Qiagen in transplant diagnosticsIncreasing competition in the market has led to increasing focus of key players on continuous product development, in order to enhance their market share. This is expected to aid in market growth over the forecast period.Increasing effectiveness of transplant diagnostics tests such as identification of more robust biomarkers in providing viable results in organ transplant is expected to boost growth of the transplant diagnostics market over the forecast periodMajor players operating in the global transplant diagnostics market are Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Qiagen N.V., F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., Immucor, Inc., Becton Dickinson and Company, bioMerieux S.A., Illumina, Inc., CareDx, Inc., and GenDx.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.1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154 Ready To Use Therapeutic Food Market Expected to Account for US$ 617.4 Mn by the end of 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/ready-to-use-therapeutic-food-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/ready-to-use-therapeutic-food-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11044 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/multiple-chapter/11044 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Persistence Market Research recently conducted in-depth analysis of the global ready-to-use therapeutic food market, according to which the global sales registered a value worth US$ 307.3 Mn in 2017. The market is poised to be valued in excess of US$ 617 Mn by 2024 end, according to the report, titled Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 20172024. The market is expected to observe exponential growth at a robust CAGR of around 10.5% over a seven-year forecast period, 2017-2024.Report overview @Favourable initiatives by government as well as non-government entities in order to efficiently treat severe acute malnutrition (SAM) will remain a key factor impacting the demand for ready-to-use therapeutic food products throughout the projection period, states a research analyst, Persistence Market Research.With more intensifying instances of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) worldwide, the global market for ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) has been experiencing a rapid upsurge since the past decade. As RUTF is high energy fortified food, it is being predominantly used in the treatment of SAM, by government as well as non-government entities. RUTF will continue to gain traction as the highest recommended nutrition alternative by UNICEF, WHO, UNSSCN, and WFP. The market has been seeing escalated domestic production in the recent past, which is foreseen to boost the growth of market. Furthermore, growing encouragement from UNICEF for R&D of RUTF raw materials is also expected to fuel the market growth in near future.Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @The regional analysis highlights continued dominance of the European market, primarily because the regional European companies have been the key providers of RUTF to leading organisations, such as UNICEF. This region houses state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, which are currently under ambitious expansion plans. MEA is identified to be another key market and the most opportunistic region for ready-to-use therapeutic food in coming years, owing to the support from local as well as regional governments. While local governments in MEA are augmenting SAM treatment budgets, regional governments are on the verge of approving new production facilities. APAC market for RUTF will reportedly flourish due to CAMAM implementation. On account of a significant malnutrition rate, some of the underprivileged Asian and African countries are anticipated to constantly drive the demand for RUTF products.Request to Sample of Report @Among product types, semi-solid paste segment is presumed to remain the dominant segment throughout the assessment period and will possibly thrive at an impressive CAGR of over 10%. Research says that the products that fall under this category tend to have a negligible risk of contamination and is thus relatively safer for children. Moreover, they do not demand preparation before they are distributed among children, and are more convenient and cost-effective in terms of transport and storage. The market is expected to see extensive innovation in solid RUTF products. Drinkable ready-to-use therapeutic foods segment is however believed to observe substantial and relatively higher growth in near future, as the UNICEF has recently announced its focus on drinkable RUTF procurement.The report profiles the key vendors in the global ready-to-use therapeutic food market, some of which include GC Rieber Compact AS, MANA, Nutriset, Tabatchnick Fine Foods, Edesia, Inc., Insta Products (EPZ) Ltd., Nutrivita Foods Pvt Ltd., Power Foods Industries Ltd., Tabatchnick Fine Foods, HILINA Enriched Food Processing Center P.L.C., Diva Nutritional Products, and InnoFasoSA.Request Report Multiple Chapter @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Growth Opportunities Of Vehicle Analytics Market in Global Industry 2018-2025 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1377466 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=1377466 https://www.researchmoz.us/vehicle-analytics-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketinfo247.wordpress.com/ Albany, NY, 25th April : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Vehicle Analytics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" globally.This report on the global vehicle analytics market provides analysis for the period 20152025, wherein 2016 is the base year and the period from 2017 to 2025 is the forecast period. Data for 2015 has been included as historical information.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The report covers market dynamics including drivers, restraints, opportunities, and trends expected to influence the global vehicle analytics market growth during the said period. Technologies that are playing a major role in driving the global vehicle analytics market have also been covered in the study. The study provides a comprehensive analysis on market growth throughout the above forecast period in terms of value estimates (in US$ Mn), across different geographies.Global Vehicle Analytics Market: Key SegmentsThe global vehicle analytics market is segmented on the basis of deployment type, end-user, application and geography. On the basis of deployment type, the market is segmented into cloud and on-premises. On-Premise deployment segment would refer to the computation that is located within the physical confines of an organization while the cloud based deployment refers to delivery of hosted services over the internet. In 2016, the On-premises deployment type is expected to hold the major revenue share owing to their wide adoption across industry vertical. Cloud sub-segment, owing to their increasing adoption is expected to grow at a rapid pace while also capturing considerable market share during the forecast period.On the basis of end-user, the global vehicle analytics market is segmented into Tier 1 suppliers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), service providers, automotive dealers, fleet owners, regulatory bodies and insurers. Based on the end-user, Tier 1 suppliers sub-segment is expected to hold the major share of the market, primarily their critical role as suppliers of hardware and software to other industries. On the basis of application, the market is segmented into predictive maintenance, warranty analytics, traffic management, safety and security management, driver and user behavior analysis, dealer performance analysis, infotainment, usage-based insurance and road charging. The market, based on application is expected to be dominated by predictive maintenance sub-segment and is projected to grow at rapid pace.Geographically, the report classifies the global network traffic analysis solutions market into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America; the regions are analyzed in terms of market revenue. Furthermore, region wise prominent countries covered in the report include the following - the U.S, Canada, Germany, France, the U.K., China, India, Japan, GCC Countries, South Africa and Brazil.Make An Enquiry About TOC with tables & Figures @Global Vehicle Analytics Market: Scope of the StudyThe report also includes key developments in the vehicle analytics market. Porter Five Force analysis and financials are also included in the report. The report also covers segment wise comparison matrix, market attractiveness analysis and market share analysis for all regions covered in the scope of study.Comparison matrix includes segment growth matrix, 2015 - 2025 (%), segment value share contribution, 2015 - 2025 (%), and segment compounded growth matrix (CAGR %). Market attractiveness identifies and compares segments market attractiveness on the basis of CAGR and market share index.The report also includes competition landscape which include competition matrix, market share analysis of major players in the global vehicle analytics market based on their projected value share, and business profiling of major players. The competition matrix benchmarks leading players on the basis of their capabilities and potential to grow. Factors including market position, offerings and R&D focus are attributed to companys capabilities. Factors including top line growth, market share, segment growth, infrastructure facilities and future outlook are attributed to companys potential to grow. This section also identifies and includes various recent developments carried out by the leading players.Companies Mentioned in ReportCompany profiling includes company overview, major business strategies adopted and SWOT analysis. Major players in the vehicle analytics market include Agnik LLC, Amodo, Automotive Rentals, Inc., Harman International Industries, Inc., IBM, Inquiron, INRIX, SAS Institute Inc., Teletrac Navman and Xevo Inc.The global vehicle analytics market is segmented as below:Global Vehicle analytics Market, By Deployment TypeCloudOn-PremiseGlobal Vehicle analytics Market, By End-userTier 1 SuppliersOriginal Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)Service ProvidersAutomotive DealersFleet OwnersRegulatory BodiesInsurersGlobal Vehicle analytics Market, By ApplicationPredictive MaintenanceWarranty AnalyticsTraffic ManagementSafety and Security ManagementDriver and User Behavior AnalysisDealer Performance AnalysisInfotainmentUsage-Based InsuranceRoad ChargingGlobal Vehicle analytics Market, By GeographyNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaRest of North AmericaEuropeU.KGermanyFranceRest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)ChinaIndiaJapanRest of APACBrowse Report @Middle East and Africa (MEA)GCC CountriesSouth AfricaRest of MEASouth AmericaBrazilRest of South AmericaResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on : Automotive Aftermarket in South Korea Key Manufacturers (Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai-WIA Corporation, Mando Corporation, Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin), Trends, Share, 2017 Analysis and 2022 Forecasts Automotive Aftermarket in South Korea industry profile provides top-line qualitative and quantitative summary information including: market size (value and volume 2013-17, and forecast to 2022). The profile also contains descriptions of the leading players including key financial metrics and analysis of competitive pressures within the market.Key Leading Major Companies Mentioned:Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai-WIA Corporation, Mando Corporation, Compagnie Generale des Etablissements MichelinGet More Information & Sample Copy at https://tinyurl.com/y74ypf69Essential resource for top-line data and analysis covering the South Korea automotive aftermarket market. Includes market size and segmentation data, textual and graphical analysis of market growth trends, leading companies and macroeconomic information.Key Highlights- The Automotive Aftermarket market includes the sale of automotive components for use on vehicles after first purchase.- The South Korean automotive aftermarket sector is expected to generate total revenues of $21.3bn in 2017, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8% between 2013 and 2017.- The components segment is expected to be the sector's most lucrative in 2017, with total revenues of $15.0bn, equivalent to 70.5% of the sector's overall value.- South Koreas high level vehicle production is a key contributing factor in promoting growth in the automotive aftermarket sector, as growth occurs naturally as production increases.Scope- Save time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the size, growth, major segments, and leading players in the automotive aftermarket market in South Korea- Use the Five Forces analysis to determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of the automotive aftermarket market in South Korea- Leading company profiles reveal details of key automotive aftermarket market players global operations and financial performance- Add weight to presentations and pitches by understanding the future growth prospects of the South Korea automotive aftermarket market with five year forecasts by both value and volumeReasons to buy- What was the size of the South Korea automotive aftermarket market by value in 2017?- What will be the size of the South Korea automotive aftermarket market in 2022?- What factors are affecting the strength of competition in the South Korea automotive aftermarket market?- How has the market performed over the last five years?- What are the main segments that make up South Korea's automotive aftermarket market?Enquire before Buying at https://tinyurl.com/ybrzjjx5Note: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Information:Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +9164101019Email: sales@orbisresearch.com 5G Equipment Industry Global Key Players, Market Trends & Technology Development Forecast to 2021 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001427417/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001427417/buying http://www.reportsweb.com/global-5g-equipment-market-2016-2020 Extensive research carried out by the analysts at Publisher has shown that the global 5G equipment market is anticipated to witness tremendous growth and will post a staggering CAGR of more than 32% over the forecast period. With the growth of complementary technologies such as software defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV), the market for 5G equipment is expected to have a positive outlook in the coming years. According to the market research analysts, by 2020, nearly 2.2 billion mobile connections will be using LTE technology. This growth in mobile data traffic is driven by an increase in the number of data capable devices and high bandwidth applications. New technologies like SDN enable new revenue streams to telecom operators by re-examining network architectures, introducing virtualization, and providing intelligence solutions. Also, SDN and NFV provide more flexibility and seamless integration with infrastructure layers. Moreover, NFV facilitates advancements in server virtualization and enterprise IT virtualization, while SDN allows logical centralization of control functions. Furthermore, SDN and NFV enable telecom carriers to reduce their dependency on hardware-based network equipment and diverting their focus on software and server-based infrastructure.The rapid deployment of smart grid systems is one of the latest trends gaining significant traction in the market. Several countries like India, the US, China, Spain, France, and Germany are introducing smart grid systems that include grid applications such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, smart energy meters, and other communication networks. These devices provide utilities complete control in managing digital assets present in the field. Moreover, the shift to smart grid means that utilities will have to manage complex smart devices and considerably reduces the risk of grid failure and outages. This will drive the need for sophisticated control systems to manage the assets in the field. Also, smart grids can control demand for and supply of power generated by a wide range of distributed and interconnected power producers with the support of 5G secure and fast communication network, leading to their increased adoption over the next four years.Get Request Sample Copy is Available at:Competitive landscape and key vendorsThe rising popularity of IoT has had a significant impact on the 5G equipment market. Several well-established companies like Verizon, AT&T, China Mobile, and SK Telecom have been conducting trials on 5G technology in partnership with network equipment providers such as Huawei Technologies, Ericsson, and Nokia. As customer requirements are becoming dynamic with advances in technology, therefore, the vendors are constantly under a lot of pressure to develop new faster wireless technology to meet client demands. The competition in the market is expected to intensify with increase in commercial deployments, technological innovations, and mergers and acquisitions.Key vendors in this market are -EricssonHuawei TechnologiesNokiaQualcommSamsungZTEOther prominent vendors in the market are AT&T, China Mobile, KT, NTT DOCOMO, Orange Business Services, Singtel, SK Telecom, Sprint, Telenor, TeliaSonera, Verizon, and Vodafone.Geographical segmentation and analysis of the 5G equipment marketAmericasAPACEMEAFor Inquire before Buying at:In terms of geography, the Americas led the global 5G equipment market and will continue to dominate the market in the coming years. The increasing use of IoT solutions will contribute to the growth of this market. Nearly 80% of the enterprises in the US have been using the IoT products and services, with the support of cloud platforms and data analytics to improve their business efficiency. Moreover, with the penetration of IoT, the majority of industries are in need of efficient and reliable communication networks to process business operations.Furthermore, with the increasing demand for high-speed broadband network and introduction of several online applications and social media, it has become imperative for telecom operators to provide high quality services, which will also fuel this markets growth in the region.Get Complete Report is Available at:Contact Us:Phone: +1-646-491-9876Email Id: sales@reportsweb.comAbout Us:ReportsWeb is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township, Amanora Chambers, East Block, Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Cooling Paste Market and presents reliable forecasts as to the markets growth prospects over the coming years https://www.healthcareintelligencemarkets.com/request_sample.php?id=22712 https://www.healthcareintelligencemarkets.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=22712 The report evaluates the figures of the global Cooling Paste market and presents reliable forecasts as to the markets growth prospects over the coming years. The historical development trajectory of the global Cooling Paste market is examined in the report, offering solid factual support to the analysis and estimations presented in the report. The geographical and competitive dynamics of this global market are also presented in the report, helping deliver a comprehensive picture of the market.Top Key Vendors in Market:Kobayashi,Pharmaceutical,Pigeon,3M,KAO,Kobayashi,Muhi,Shiseido,Mentholatum,ToPlan,Sebamed,Be koool,Yunnan Baiyao Group,Lorine De Nature,Wuhan Bingbing Pharma,Tonghua Wantong Pharmaceutical,Shanghai Kobayashi Daily Chemical.Get Sample Copy Of this ReportThis Cooling Paste Market research report highlights on the key players in this market all over the world. This sector of the report consists the company outlines, prerequisite, and product illustrations, manufacture, expertise, contact information, price, and revenue. Similarly, program assembly, upstream raw materials, and downstream demand research are equally managed.This market research report looks into and examines the Cooling Paste Market and determines an all-encompassing approximation of its growth and its specifications. Another aspect that was well-organized is the cost analysis of the major products leading in the industry bearing in mind the profit margin of the manufacturers.All the queries about this report can be asked at:Also, this examination is well-defined generally bearing in mind the different components of this market. It similarly estimates the present condition and the ultimate outcome of the market by utilizing the visualization prospect. The forecast is analyzed based on the capacity and income of this market. The tools used for analyzing the Cooling Paste Market research report include Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis.The best thing about this statistical surveying report is that the importance and introduction of this market have been characterized. Furthermore, different market essential authorities and purchasing criteria have been supported in the report. As a result, this statistical surveying report is an incredible breadth for organizing new speculation undertakings, arranging how to manage the market patterns and so on of the Cooling Paste market.Table of Content:Global Cooling Paste Market Research ReportChapter 1: Cooling Paste Market OverviewChapter 2: Global Economic ImpactChapter 3: Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4: Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5: Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6: Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7: Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8: Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9: Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10: Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11: Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12: Market ForecastChapter 13: AppendixHealthCare Intelligence Markets supply market intelligence reports in the domain of personalized drugs & diagnostics after going through a rigorous research process. The healthcare and pharma industry is constantly evolving as trends are getting replaced at a rapid pace.601, Winterberry Purple, Koregaon Park, Pune, 411001Email: sales@healthcareintelligencemarkets.comPhone: +91 7400242424 Dental Cone Beam Computed Tomography Industry 2016-2020 Growth, Price, analysis and manufacturing capacity reportsweb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001486787/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001486787/buying http://www.reportsweb.com/global-dental-cone-beam-computed-tomography-market-2016-2020 Extensive research carried out by the analysts at Publisher has shown that the global dental cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) market will witness impressive growth and post a staggering CAGR of more than 12% over the forecast period. With the growing number of dental schools and dentists, the market for dental CBCT is expected to have a positive outlook in the coming years. The increasing number of dental specialty hospitals and laboratories in the Americas and Europe is leading to the augmented adoption of CBCT in these regions. In the Americas, the markets growth is high as public-private dental schools are increasing. With the increasing dental problems in the region, there is a high requirement for dentists, which can be fulfilled by the growth of dental schools in the market.In terms of geography, the Americas led the global dental CBCT market during 2015 and is likely to dominate the market over the next four years. The growth of this market in the region is attributed to the increasing number of dental implant procedures and radical improvements in dentomaxillofacial surgeries in the Americas. The use of dentomaxillofacial radiology has increased after the introduction of CBCT application in dental services as it helps in soft tissue examination, temporomandibular joint examination, and plaque detection. The extensive application of CBCT will lead to its increased adoption in the region, especially in countries like the US and Canada.Get Request Sample Copy is Available at:Competitive landscape and key vendorsThe global dental CBCT market is characterized by the presence of intense competition among the global and local vendors. Factors like advances in technology and product upgrading will increase the competition among vendors.Key vendors in this market are -Carestream HealthDentsply SironaDanaherPlanmeca OYOther prominent vendors in the market include ClaroNav, Fussen Technology, J. Morita, LargeV Instrument, LED Dental, PointNix, PreXion, 3Shape, Varian Medical Systems, and Vatech.For Inquire before Buying at:Segmentation by application and analysis of the dental CBCT marketDental implantOrthodonticEndodontic and periodonticDental surgeriesDuring 2015, the dental implant segment accounted for the majority of market shares and will continue to lead the market over the next four years. Dental implants are metal products that provide a stable support to artificial teeth, dentures, and bridges. CBCT is used for imaging in the restoration of implants. CBCT combined with 2D imaging modalities can help in treatment planning, implant placement, and the need of bone augmentation, which will boost this market segments growth over coming years.Segmentation by end user and analysis of the dental CBCT marketHospitalsDental clinics and laboratoriesGet Complete Report is Available at:Contact Us:Phone: +1-646-491-9876Email Id: sales@reportsweb.comAbout Us:ReportsWeb is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township, Amanora Chambers, East Block, Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Global Patient Flow Management Solutions Market: Moving Towards a Brighter Future QYResearchReports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1670385&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-patient-flow-management-solutions-market-size-status-and-forecast-2025.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Patient Flow Management Solutions to its huge collection of research reports.Several regional and global trends account for the attractive stride the global Patient Flow Management Solutions market is experiencing over the forecast period. The report offers a granular assessment of all such trends impacting the current outlook and emerging growth dynamics. The study on the global Patient Flow Management Solutions market highlights the key factors shaping the various elements of the industry ecosystem, including value-chain, capital investment, and strategic and operational risks. The analysis also takes into account of sharply contrasting trends the surfaced in recent years. In addition, it analyzes their transformative effect on the overall competitive landscape of the global Patient Flow Management Solutions market. The research keeps a tab of the key technological advances in recent years, which led to innovations in products and services offered by various players.This report studies the global Patient Flow Management Solutions market, analyzes and researches the Patient Flow Management Solutions development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeAllscripts Healthcare SolutionsCerner CorporationMcKesson CorporationTeleTracking TechnologiesCentral LogicMedworxx SolutionsSTANLEY HealthcareAwarepoint CorporationCare LogisticsSonitor TechnologiesGet Free Sample Report of the Research Study at:Table of ContentsGlobal Patient Flow Management Solutions Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Patient Flow Management Solutions1.1 Patient Flow Management Solutions Market Overview1.1.1 Patient Flow Management Solutions Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Patient Flow Management Solutions Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Patient Flow Management Solutions Market by Type1.3.1 On-Premise1.3.2 In Clound1.4 Patient Flow Management Solutions Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Hospital1.4.2 Clinic1.4.3 OthersRead Complete Table of Content of the Report at:2 Global Patient Flow Management Solutions Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Patient Flow Management Solutions 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 Allscripts Healthcare Solutions3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Patient Flow Management Solutions Revenue (Million USD) (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 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales Market Solutions, Services & Applications 2018 https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1625839&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-bitcoin-mining-machine-sales-market-report-2018.htm/toc https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1625839&type=D http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales Market Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.The report on the global market for Bitcoin-Mining Machine is a succinct description of multiple forces that cumulatively contribute to market growth. The researchers of the report employed pragmatic methodologies to measure key indicators such as growth rate, market value, and regional market share. Since the growth of the market for Bitcoin-Mining Machine relies on several factors, the researchers followed a multifaceted approach to gauge its progress. With an intent to provide a wide purview of the market, the report categorizes the market into multiple segments based on integral parameters.Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Bitcoin-Mining Machine sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingAntminerASICrising GmbHBitmain Technologies Ltd.BIOSTAR GroupBitDragonflyBitFury GroupDigBigFor more information on this report, fill the form @The report has synchronized various extrinsic and intrinsic factors that are expected to augment demand within the market for Bitcoin-Mining Machine. An eye for detail and a rigorous scrutiny of the market for Bitcoin-Mining Machine has given a peek into key standpoints that usually remain disguised. Furthermore, the key end-use industries that run the wheel of growth in the market have also been analyzed within the report. Key marketing theories have been used to substantiate the fettle of the market, and to forecast a trajectory of growth for the future.An all-inclusive set of information and an unbiased portrayal of the market dynamics have been the catchphrases of the report. The intent behind crafting the report is to provide a yardstick for measuring the lucrativeness of the market for Bitcoin-Mining Machine over the coming years. Besides this, market players who contribute to the cut-throat competition in the market can refer to the report to steer clear of any discrepancies in the future.Table of ContentsGlobal Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales Market Report 20181 Bitcoin-Mining Machine Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Bitcoin-Mining Machine1.2 Classification of Bitcoin-Mining Machine by Product Category1.2.1 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017To Browse a Complete Report with TOC Visit @2 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.2 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3 United States Bitcoin-Mining Machine (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales and Value (2013-2018)3.1.1 United States Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.2 United States Bitcoin-Mining Machine Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.3 United States Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)3.2 United States Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)Enquiry For Discount Visit @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Product Picture of Bitcoin-Mining MachineFigure Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales Volume Comparison (K Units) by Type (2013-2025)Figure Global Bitcoin-Mining Machine Sales Volume Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017Figure ETH Type Product PictureFigure United States Bitcoin-Mining Machine Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure China Bitcoin-Mining Machine Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Europe Bitcoin-Mining Machine Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Japan Bitcoin-Mining Machine Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Southeast Asia Bitcoin-Mining Machine 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.com Industry Overview - EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Plastics Processing Machinery Market Report 2018 Industry Overview - EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Plastics Processing Machinery Market Report 2018 http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1543977.html http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/ or http://www.qyresearch.com/ The EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Plastics Processing Machinery Market Report 2018 is in-depth study of overall Plastics Processing Machinery market including introduction of product, definition, scope, Plastics Processing Machinery global sale, and forecast up to 2025.The Plastics Processing Machinery industry report clarifies the past experience and trends, on the basis of these past experiences, it offers the future prediction considering other factors influencing the growth rate. This worldwide report offers the detailed analysis of the important factors such as market dynamics (DROT), PEST, and PORTER which assists the growth of the Plastics Processing Machinery Industry. These past experience and factors assist to build the strategy and future planning of Plastics Processing Machinery Market and hold a place in the competitive world.This report is the extensive analysis of the Plastics Processing Machinery industry based on the primary and secondary in-depth research. The scope of the report includes the global and regional sale, product consumption in terms of volume and value. The Plastics Processing Machinery market report offers a forecast of revenue, CAGR, and cumulative revenue. The gathered information about Plastics Processing Machinery global business is represented in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs.The EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Plastics Processing Machinery industry Market report offers the competitive scenario in the Plastics Processing Machinery industry based on the type of product, applications, and the companies that are present in the Plastics Processing Machinery market, and covers the company profiles, their development policies, lined up products and recent launched along with the SWOT analysis of companies.Get a complete report sample from this link: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 Plastics Processing Machinery 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 Plastics Processing Machinery market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Plastics Processing Machinery sales volume (K Units), price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingBruckner Group GmbHCROWN MachineDavis-StandardDonghua MachineryFANUC CorporationFu Chun Shin Machinery ManufactureG.N. PlasticsGraham EngineeringHaitian International HoldingsHusky Injection Molding SystemsIntype EnterpriseKautex MaschinenbauKraussMaffei TechnologiesLyle IndustriesMacro Engineering & TechnologyMilacron LLCNan Rong MechanicalNEGRI BOSSINingbo Haida Plastic MachineryThai Hydraulic MachineryOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume, revenue, product price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSemi-Automatic Plastics Processing MachineryFully Automatic Plastics Processing MachineryOtherOn 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, includingToy FactoryMold FactoryPlastics FactoryOtherThis research study focuses to product specifications, Plastics Processing Machinery cost specifications, production capacity, distributors list, Plastics Processing Machinery marketing channel, and detail analysis of the export/import of the product. The Plastics Processing Machinery research document also offers raw material suppliers, cost, and downstream consumer list.All features mentioned above is included in the Plastics Processing Machinery Market Report 2018 which can offer solution to the difficulties to the prominent members of the Plastics Processing Machinery market.Additionally, the important terminologies, government policies, and regulations related to Plastics Processing Machinery market product are added.Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road A High Double-Digit CAGR Projected for Organic Sugar Market During 2017-2022 http://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2530943-global-organic-sugar-research-report-forecast-to-2022 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2530943-global-organic-sugar-research-report-forecast-to-2022 Organic Sugar MarketSummaryThe global organic sugar market is expected to exhibit a substantial growth of 15.55% during the forecast period of 2017-2022. The demand of organic sugar is anticipated to be driven by the various factors. Organic sugar retains various nutrition which otherwise is lost during over-processing of conventional sugar. The organic unrefined sugar contains 17 amino acids, 11 minerals (such as sodium, magnesium, and calcium) and many different vitamins. It retains its fructose and glucose along with sucrose, while the processed sugar only contains sucrose and glucose. Therefore, this factor is playing a key role to drive sales of organic sugar.Sugarcane crop is increasingly sprayed with harmful pesticides and chemicals during growing stage to protect crops from various pests and weeds. These pesticides can cause severe health issues among consumers. However, organic farming of sugarcane eliminates the risk of use of harmful pesticides. Hence, lack of pesticides is another key factor spiking the demand for organic sugar.The growing demand for organically produced foods is growing rapidly which is influencing higher demand and use of organic food & beverages. Evolving consumer buying habits, growing consumers concerns regarding health, the environment, and animal welfare, along with their willingness to pay premium price for healthy food is fuelling the demand of organic food & beverages market in Asia-Pacific region. Even at the global level, market is driven by factors such as increasing consumer awareness towards organic benefits associated with its consumption, adoption of organic farming methods, and implementation of organic regulations. The presence of organic food & beverages has increased over the years in conventional food supply chains due to the development of private labels and growing interest of large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Tesco to sell organic products.Click here for sample report @The market players have increased their level of investment in research to identify right formulation and to improve product functionality in order to capture lions share and create brand recognition in organic sugar market. Also, government authorities, NGOs and farmer organizations in developing countries are promoting organic farming by financial support, market information, and trends in organic food market. Developing countries are providing subsidies to small farmers for organic farming. NGOs, farmer organizations, traders are conducting training programs to encourage farmers for adopting organic farming. Government and non-government organizations such as FiBL (Switzerland), APEDA (India), and USDA (U.S.) to support conventional farmers to switch to organic farming.Key PlayersThe leading market players in the global organic sugar market primarily are Cosan Ltd. (Brazil), Tereos Internacional (Brazil), Shree Renuka Sugars Limited (India), Raizen S.A (Brazil), Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Limited (India), Mitr Phol Group (Thailand), Wangkanai Group (Thailand), Bunge Limited (Brazil)Key Findings The Global organic sugar market is projected to reach USD 1314.53 million by the end of 2022 Latin America is estimated to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period and expected to reach USD 838.17 million with registering a CAGR of 15.88% Personal care application is estimated to witness a massive growth of 16.85% during the review period of 2017-2022.Regional and Country Analysis of organic sugar market development and demand Forecast to 2022 MarketTable of Contents1 Executive Summary 102 Industry Overview of Organic Sugar 112.1 Scope of the Study 112.1.1 Study Objectives 112.2 Assumptions 112.3 Market Structure 113 Premium Insights 123.1 Organic Sugar Market: Market Mapping & Research Methodology 123.2 Market Overview: Organic Sugar Market 133.3 Industry Trends and Market Environment: Organic Sugar Market 144 Global Conventional Sugar Market (2007-2015) 165 North America Conventional Sugar Market (2007-2015) 186 Latin America Conventional Sugar Market (2007-2015) 207 Europe Conventional Sugar Market (2007-2015) 238 Asia Pacific Conventional Sugar Market (2007-2015) 259 Middle East & Africa Conventional Sugar Market (2007-2015) 2810 Global Organic Sugar Market (2007-2015) 30.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 Sucralfate Suspension Market Trends, Status, Revenue, Growth & Forecast by 2022 https://www.healthcareintelligencemarkets.com/request_sample.php?id=22887 https://www.healthcareintelligencemarkets.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=22887 This medication is used to treat ulcers in the intestines. Sucralfate forms a coating over ulcers, protecting the area from further injury. This helps ulcers heal more quickly.It works mainly in the lining of the stomach by adhering to ulcer sites and protecting them from acids, enzymes, and bile salts. Sucralfate is used to treat an active duodenal ulcer. Sucralfate can heal an active ulcer, but it will not prevent future ulcers from occurring.Top Key Vendors in Market:Teva, Actavis, Lisapharma, Orion Pharma, SANOFI, Aspen Pharmacare, Sandoz, Huanan Pharma, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Changzheng-Xinkai Pharm, Northeast Pharmaceutical, Guangzhou Medtech Xinghua Pharmaceutical.Get Sample Copy Of this ReportThis Sucralfate Suspension Market research report highlights on the key players in this market all over the world. This sector of the report consists the company outlines, prerequisite, and product illustrations, manufacture, expertise, contact information, price, and revenue. Similarly, program assembly, upstream raw materials, and downstream demand research are equally managed.This market research report looks into and examines the Sucralfate Suspension Market and determines an all-encompassing approximation of its growth and its specifications. Another aspect that was well-organized is the cost analysis of the major products leading in the industry bearing in mind the profit margin of the manufacturers.All the queries about this report can be asked at:Also, this examination is well-defined generally bearing in mind the different components of this market. It similarly estimates the present condition and the ultimate outcome of the market by utilizing the visualization prospect. The forecast is analyzed based on the capacity and income of this market. The tools used for analyzing the Sucralfate Suspension Market research report include Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis.The best thing about this statistical surveying report is that the importance and introduction of this market have been characterized. Furthermore, different market essential authorities and purchasing criteria have been supported in the report. As a result, this statistical surveying report is an incredible breadth for organizing new speculation undertakings, arranging how to manage the market patterns and so on of the Sucralfate Suspension market.Table of Content:Global Sucralfate Suspension Market Research ReportChapter 1: Sucralfate Suspension Market OverviewChapter 2: Global Economic ImpactChapter 3: Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4: Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5: Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6: Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7: Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8: Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9: Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10: Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11: Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12: Market ForecastChapter 13: AppendixHealthCare Intelligence Markets supply market intelligence reports in the domain of personalized drugs & diagnostics after going through a rigorous research process. The healthcare and pharma industry is constantly evolving as trends are getting replaced at a rapid pace.601, Winterberry Purple, Koregaon Park, Pune, 411001Email: sales@healthcareintelligencemarkets.comPhone: +91 7400242424 Global Oil and Gas Lubricants Market Share and Forecast (2018-2023): Chevron Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Exxon Mobil Corporation, BP plc, Dow Corning Corporation, Total SA, SK Lubricants Co., Ltd http://orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/2122838 http://orbisresearch.com/contacts/enquiry-before-buying/2122838 http://www.orbisresearch.com/reports/index/global-oil-and-gas-lubricants-market-growth-trends-and-forecast-2018-2023 Summary:- (Oil and Gas Lubricants)By 2040, the global demand for energy is expected to increase by 28% from the 2015 level. Despite the increasing share of renewables in the primary energy mix, oil & gas is expected to cater approximately half the increased demand. Despite concerns hovering around the oil prices, the uptake of more upstream, midstream, and downstream based projects is necessary to meet up with the increased demand, resulting in increased usage of mechanical equipment. Like any mechanical system, moving parts in pumps, compressors, generators, fans and blowers, cranes, shakers, thrusters, valves, amongst others equipment used in the oil & gas industry requires proper lubrication to function optimally. As the oil & gas industry shifts its focus towards more complex offshore locations, and unconventional resources recovery, the risk associated with the system failures also increases, resulting in increased demand for specialized lubricants. Furthermore growing pipeline network for oil & gas coupled with an increased number of refinery and petrochemical projects across the globe is also expected to supplement the demand for oil & gas lubricants during the forecast period, 2018-2023.Request a Sample Copy! Get PDF Sample Brochure@Offshore Oilfield Development Offers Increasing Opportunity for the MarketWith fewer remaining easy-to-access oilfields and maturing production from existing basins, in both onshore and shallow-water, development of deep-water reserves has become increasingly vital. Moreover, advancements in technology have made deepwater drilling safer and economically viable. With the rebound of oil & gas prices to a sustainable level from witnessing a record low in January 2016, the uptake of offshore oil & gas projects is expected to witness a significant increase during the forecast period. Most of North American land-based and shallow water oil fields have reached their maturity, and there is little scope for a new field discovery in these areas. However, prospects are bright for offshore deepwater oil field exploration and production. To meet up with the global demand for oil in future, opportunities lie in the deep offshore seabed, where oil & gas operators continue to discover new reserves in the North American region. In a bid to ensure energy security by boosting domestic oil & gas production, countries across the Asia-Pacific region are expected to increase offshore oil & gas development activities. Similar interests are also expected to increase across the Middle East, Africa, and the South America region, to capture growing demand for oil & gas. Increasing investment to develop offshore oil & gas fields is expected to be the major factor driving the global offshore lubricants segment during the forecast period.Unconventional Recovery Fueling Demand in North AmericaThe exploration and production activities for unconventional resources, such as shale oil/gas, oil sands, and tight gas, are expected to remain high during the forecast period in the North America region. The GOM production in 2016 set an annual high of 1.6 million barrels per day (b/d), surpassing the previous record established in 2009, by 44,000 b/d. Market conditions are improving significantly amid rising oil prices, coupled with the support of a new and favorable administration with pro-energy policies that understand the strategic importance of a healthy oil & gas industry, exploration and production activities are expected to further increase in the United States. Furthermore, Exxon Mobil has already pledged a USD 20 billion investment to improve chemical sector across the US Gulf Coast. All factors combined is expected to supplement the demand for oil & gas lubricants in the region.India to Register High DemandFor a long time, India has been dependent on other countries to satisfy its oil & gas needs. However, to ensure energy security, the Indian government plans to ramp up domestic oil & gas production. India is expecting a USD 40 billion investment in next five years for exploration and production activities. Furthermore, LNG and downstream sectors including petrochemical plants are also expected to attract similar investments, which in turn, would supplement the demand for oil & gas lubricants during the forecast period.Key Developments in the MarketDecember 2017: ExxonMobil to merge Refining and Marketing Divisions in Q1 2018, Forms ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants Company.August 2017: ENOC and Chevron explored long-term collaboration across various aspects of downstream operations, ranging from lubricants marketing to aviation refueling.The major players include Chevron Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Exxon Mobil Corporation, BP plc, Dow Corning Corporation, Total SA, SK Lubricants Co., Ltd., amongst others.Reasons to Purchase this ReportCurrent and future oil & gas lubricants market outlook in the developed and emerging countriesAnalyzing various perspectives of the market with the help of Porters five forces analysisThe segment that is expected to dominate the marketCountries that are expected to witness fastest growth during the forecast periodIdentify the latest developments, market share, and strategies employed by the major market players.3 months analyst support along with the Market Estimate sheet (in excel).Customization of the ReportThis report can be customized to meet your requirements. Please connect with our representative, who will ensure you to get a report that suits your needs.Companies Mentioned:Chevron Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Exxon Mobil Corporation, BP plc, Dow Corning Corporation, Total SA, SK Lubricants Co., Ltd., Sinopec Lubricant Company, Indian Oil Corporation, Valvoline Inc, PJSC LUKOIL, Lubrication Engineers, Inc., Chemours Co, SKF USA Inc.To Make an Enquiry on Oil and Gas Lubricants Market Research Report@Major Point from Table of Content:1. Executive Summary2. Research Methodology3. Market Overview4. Market Dynamics5. Value Chain Analysis6. Industry Attractiveness - Porters Five Force Analysis7. Market Segmentation and Analysis (Overview, Market Size, and Demand Forecast until 2023)8. Regional Market Analysis (Overview, Market Size, and Demand Forecast until 2023)9. Key Company Analysis* (Overview, Products & Services, Financials**, Recent Development, and Analyst View)10. Competitive Landscape10.1 Mergers & Acquisitions10.2 Joint Ventures, Collaborations and Agreements10.3 Market Share Analysis10.4 Strategies Adopted by Leading Players11. DisclaimerRead more....Browse full report@About Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Us:Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019Email ID: sales@orbisresearch.com Automotive Switch Market By Product, Application, Growth Potential & Forecast, 2017 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/834 https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/834 https://www.gminsights.com/toc/detail/automotive-switch-market The luxury vehicle manufacturers are including screen touch panels in their cars for electronic operations, which will hinder the global automotive switch market growth. Also, after continuous use of these switches, their service starts failing and delays the processes, which can slow down the industry growth. Further, the fluctuating raw material prices can also restrict the growth. Switch failure is one of the major threats to the industry as it is responsible for the safety and activating/deactivating a function. For instance, General Motors recalled 800,000 of its vehicles owing to faulty ignition switches.Automotive Switch Market is projected to cross USD 25 billion by 2024. Rising consumer demand for integrated electronics in vehicles owing to the increased safety and convenience it offers will stimulate the automotive switch market growth.Request for a sample of this research report @Growing demand for vehicles is likely to enhance shipments over the forecast period. Vehicle production is increasing and modern vehicles are equipped with various electronic systems including infotainment, HVAC, electric steering, headlight control, transmission, acceleration, and window. Switches are an important part of electronic systems, which help in the better functioning of the vehicle.Technological advancements in the automobile sector are resulting in the increased adoption of automotive switches in vehicles to make the systems more efficient and reliable. These systems provide ease of operating various functions at the same time and their illuminating nature makes them easy to locate. Moreover, the growing demand for electric vehicles will provide significant growth opportunities to the industry players.Touch pad automotive switch segment is expected to dominate the market. Integrating mobile phones functionality with cars will lead to an increased demand for touch pads and touch panels over the forecast timeframe. These devices are easy to integrate and maintain and can be updated remotely by using a software. Touch panels display rich media and reduce the cockpit clutter and these have lesser number of moving parts, reducing the chances of breakage. These factors promote the touch pad segment growth.Engine management switches segment is likely to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period. This is attributed to the increasing awareness for automobile safety while driving. These switches play a key role in monitoring the engine operation thereby increasing the vehicle efficiency. Improved efficiency and better engine operation will boost the demand for engine management switches.Passenger vehicle is dominating the industry and is anticipated to gain maximum market share in the coming years. Various features offered by automotive switches, such as better safety, enhanced user experience, and engine monitoring, are supporting passenger vehicle segment growth.Asia Pacific automotive switch market will observe the highest CAGR fueled by the growing automotive industry. Rising number of automobile manufacturing facilities in India and China owing to the lesser cost of production, improving production capacity, and surging demand for heavy and light vehicles are driving the industry in these nations.Make an inquiry before buying @North America automotive switch market is expected to have a significant growth over the projected period. This can be attributed to the increasing vehicle manufacturing facilities in Mexico owing to the lower production cost and cheap labor, pushing the production volume in this region and driving the industry growth.Some of the key companies in automotive switch market include Continental Group, Robert Bosch, TRW Automotive, Hella, Tokai Rika, Omron, Panasonic Corporation, and Delphi. These major players are engaged in collaborating with domestic players and launching technologically-advanced products to generate more revenue and sustain in the industry.Chapter 4. Automotive Switch Market, By Product4.1. Global automotive switch market share by product, 2016 & 20244.2. Knob4.2.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2013-20244.2.2. Market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013-20244.3. Lever4.3.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2013-20244.3.2. Market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013-20244.4. Button4.4.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2013-20244.4.2. Market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013-20244.5. Touchpad4.5.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2013-20244.5.2. Market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013-20244.6. Others4.6.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2013-20244.6.2. Market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013-2024Chapter 5. Automotive Switch Market, By Application5.1. Global automotive switch market share by application, 2016 & 20245.2. HVAC5.2.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2013-20245.2.2. Market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013-20245.3. Indicator system switches5.3.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2013-20245.3.2. Market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013-20245.4. EMS Switches5.4.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2013-20245.4.2. Market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013-20245.5. Others5.5.1. Market estimates and forecast, 2013-20245.5.2. Market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013-2024Browse Full TOC @Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.4 North Main StreetSelbyville Global Milk Chocolates Market Key Vendors (Brookside, Hershey's, Kinder ) Overview and Scope 2018 to 2025 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011893513/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/global-milk-chocolates-market-professional-survey-report-2018 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011893513/discount http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00011893513/buy/3500 ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Milk Chocolates Market Professional Survey Report 2018 report detailed insights about the aspects responsible for augmenting as well as restraining market growth and analyses the market potential for each geographical region based on the growth rate, macroeconomic parameters, consumer buying patterns, and market demand and supply scenarios.This report studies Milk Chocolates (Menadione) in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringFerreroEzaki GlicoNestleMarsMondelezBlommerLindtGodivaBarry CallebautStella BernrainBrooksideHershey'sKinderGet sample of report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoNuts Milk ChocolateLiqueur Milk ChocolateOtherBy Application, the market can be split intoSupermarkets and HypermarketsConvenience StoresSpecialist RetailersOnline RetailersOtherBrowse Complete Report @The study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Flight Simulator capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025) ;Focuses on the key Flight Simulator manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Ask for Discount on Report @Table of ContentGlobal Milk Chocolates (Menadione) Market Professional Survey Report 20181 Industry Overview of Milk Chocolates (Menadione)2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Milk Chocolates (Menadione)3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Milk Chocolates (Menadione)4 Global Milk Chocolates (Menadione) Overall Market Overview5 Milk Chocolates (Menadione) Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2012-2017E Milk Chocolates (Menadione) Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Global 2012-2017E Milk Chocolates (Menadione) Segment Market Analysis (by Application)8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Milk Chocolates8.1 Ferrero8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Ferrero 2017 Milk Chocolates Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Ferrero 2017 Milk Chocolates Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Ezaki Glico8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Ezaki Glico 2017 Milk Chocolates Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Ezaki Glico 2017 Milk Chocolates Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 Nestle8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 Nestle 2017 Milk Chocolates Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 Nestle 2017 Milk Chocolates Business Region Distribution Analysis9 Development Trend of Analysis of Milk Chocolates (Menadione) Market10 Milk Chocolates (Menadione) Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Milk Chocolates (Menadione)Place Direct Purchase order For Complete report @ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiOrganization: ReportsWebEmail: sales@reportsweb.comPhone: +1-646-491-9876505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Industry Overview - EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin Market Report 2018 Industry Overview - EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin Market Report 2018 http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1543969.html http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/ or http://www.qyresearch.com/ The EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin Market Report 2018 is in-depth study of overall Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin market including introduction of product, definition, scope, Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin global sale, and forecast up to 2025.The Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin industry report clarifies the past experience and trends, on the basis of these past experiences, it offers the future prediction considering other factors influencing the growth rate. This worldwide report offers the detailed analysis of the important factors such as market dynamics (DROT), PEST, and PORTER which assists the growth of the Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin Industry. These past experience and factors assist to build the strategy and future planning of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin Market and hold a place in the competitive world.This report is the extensive analysis of the Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin industry based on the primary and secondary in-depth research. The scope of the report includes the global and regional sale, product consumption in terms of volume and value. The Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin market report offers a forecast of revenue, CAGR, and cumulative revenue. The gathered information about Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin global business is represented in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs.The EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin industry Market report offers the competitive scenario in the Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin industry based on the type of product, applications, and the companies that are present in the Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin market, and covers the company profiles, their development policies, lined up products and recent launched along with the SWOT analysis of companies.Get a complete report sample from this link: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 Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin 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 Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin sales volume (K Units), price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingEastmanQingdao Bater ChemicalLESCO CHEMICAL LIMITEDPuyang Changyu Petroleum ResinsCredrezHIGREEChina Mk GroupCray Valley S.A.Gautam Zen InternationalNeville ChemicalOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume, revenue, product price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoC5 Aliphatic ResinsC9 Aromatic ResinsC5/C9 Aliphatic/Aromatic ResinsOthersOn 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, includingAliphatic PolymersFootwearOthersThis research study focuses to product specifications, Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin cost specifications, production capacity, distributors list, Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin marketing channel, and detail analysis of the export/import of the product. The Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin research document also offers raw material suppliers, cost, and downstream consumer list.All features mentioned above is included in the Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin Market Report 2018 which can offer solution to the difficulties to the prominent members of the Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin market.Additionally, the important terminologies, government policies, and regulations related to Petroleum Hydrocarbon Resin market product are added.Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Market Forecast Report on Gas Leak Detectors Market 2014 - 2020 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-67 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-67 www.futuremarketinsights.com A gas leak detector is a piece of equipment or a device that senses and detects the existence of gases in a particular area. These devices are used as a part of safety systems installed in factories, homes and commercial complexes. A gas leak detector system detects the gas leaked and generates a signal to take proper action. Industrially, gas detector systems are fitted with a sound alarm to evacuate the area in case of toxic gas leakage. The popularity of such devices is growing due to the influx of new chemical facilities across the world. Further, the growing gas storage facility network across the globe has deployed a significant number of gas leak detectors for safety systems.Due to their design modifications, gas detectors are broadly categorised on the basis of technology as electrochemical, infrared imaging, infrared point, ultrasonic, semiconductor and holographic. On the basis of product type, the global gas detectors market is bifurcated into portable gas detectors and fixed gas detectors.Portable gas detectors are widely used in lab application whereas fixed detectors find their maximum application in gas extraction and processing fields. Fixed gas detectors can also be used for residential applications such as using itin a bedroom. Further, industrial fixed type gas detector application includes SCADA monitoring.Request Report Sample@Gas detectors are used in applications such as gas turbines, building and construction, health care, food and beverages, water treatment, oil and gas refineries, chemical plants, underground gas storage facilities, and others. The segments for refineries and chemical plants applications dominate the global market at present. Nevertheless, gas detectors are widely used in underground gas storage. The growing gas supply network is spurring the demand in this segment.One of the major driving factors for gas leak detectors market is the ever growing oil & gas industry. The increasing number of gas field explorations and widening gas supply network has been fuelling the demand for gas leak detectors. In addition, active government organizations have been imposing safety regulations on the industries. This, in turn, has propelled the demand for gas leak detectors. Further, Asia Pacific is likely to lead the league in terms of growth of the industrial sector, mining sector, medicine and healthcare sector, and construction sector. This is likely to create opportunities for the growth of theglobal gas leak detectors market. However, the market is facing strong competition due to the influx of new players in the market and frequent product launches.Multi-gas detector coupled with an analyzer system is one of the emerging trends in the global leaked gas detector market. This kind of detector is gaining popularity due to its compact designs and better features as compared to conventional gas leak detectors. It is expected that the after sales market is likely to develop further in future and a number of market participants will enter this segment. It is also expected that the gas leak detector manufacturers will expand their business to aftermarket sales through forward integration and strategic alliances.Visit For TOC@A number of product launches can be seen in the global gas leak detectors market. For instance, market participants such as Scott Safety, GE and RAE Systems recently launched a few new gas leak detectors. The global gas leak detectors market has also been witnessing strategic alliances such as that between Cbiss and Old Man Partner. To expand the business globally, a number of gas leaked detectors manufacturers have acquired other companies such as the acquisition of Edinburgh Instruments Ltd by Techcomp Group Ltd., the acquisition of RAE Systems by Honeywell International Inc. and the acquisition ofGroveley Detection Ltd by Emerson.Some of the prominent players in global gas leak detectors market are City Technology Ltd., Honeywell International Inc., Mine Safety Appliances Co., Dragerwerk AG & Co., KGAA, Testo AG, ABB Ltd, Industrial Scientific Corporation, California Analytical Instruments Inc., Figaro Engineering Inc., Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Hitech Instruments Ltd, Ametek Inc., Emerson Electric Co.,Halma Plc, Trolex Ltd,GE Measurement & Control, Gasmet Technologies OY, Enerac Inc., Xtralis Pty. Ltd, Horiba Ltd and others.About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Polymer Capacitor Market Trend to 2023 Profiling Nichicon, Panasonic Corporation, Kemet, AVX, Vishay, Apaq Technology Co, Rubycon Corporation https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1029405/?utm_source=OPR&utm_medium=SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-polymer-capacitor-market-2018-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023/?utm_source=OPR-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/2018-global-tantalum-polymer-capacitors-industry-report-history-present-and-future/?utm_source=RR-SP https://factsweek.com/author/chetan/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ http://reports.algosonline.com/ Polymer Capacitor Market report 2023 focuses on the major Types and Applications for the key players. Polymer Capacitor market research report also provides analysis of the market share, segmentation, revenue forecasts and geographic regions of the market. The Polymer Capacitor market research report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of Polymer Capacitor Industry.A polymer capacitor, or more accurately a polymer electrolytic capacitor, is an electrolytic capacitor (e-cap) with a solid electrolyte of a conductive polymer. Polymer electrolytic capacitors are characterized by particularly low internal equivalent series resistances (ESR) and high ripple current ratings. Their electrical parameters have similar temperature dependence, reliability and service life compared to solid tantalum capacitors, but have a much better temperature dependence and a considerably longer service life than aluminum electrolytic capacitors with non-solid electrolytes. In general polymer e-caps have a higher leakage current rating than the other solid or non-solid electrolytic capacitors. Polymer electrolytic capacitors are mainly used in power supplies of integrated electronic circuits as buffer, bypass and decoupling capacitors, especially in devices with flat or compact design. Thus they compete with MLCC capacitors, but offer higher capacitance values than MLCC, and they display no microphonic effect.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Polymer Capacitor 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 a Sample Copy of Polymer Capacitor Market Report @Polymer Capacitor Market Segment by Top Manufacturers Including:Murata Manufacturing Co, NCC (Chemi-con), Nichicon, Panasonic Corporation, Kemet, AVX, Vishay, Apaq Technology Co, Rubycon Corporation, ROHM Semiconductor, Lelon, Jianghai, Yageo, Aihua Group and Illinois Capacitor.An inherent sub-vertical of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industry space, Polymer Capacitor market stands to gain remarkable proceeds over 2018-2023, as per a recently compiled report Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Table of Contents:Global Polymer Capacitor Market OverviewGlobal Polymer Capacitor Market Manufacturers ProfilesGlobal Polymer Capacitor Market Competition, by ManufacturerGlobal Polymer Capacitor Market Analysis by RegionsGlobal Polymer Capacitor by CountriesGlobal Polymer Capacitor Market Segment by TypeGlobal Polymer Capacitor Market Segment by ApplicationPolymer Capacitor Market Forecast (2018-2023)Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and DealersResearch Findings and ConclusionMarket Segment by Type, coversPolymer Tantalum Electrolytic Capacitor, Polymer Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitor and Others (Hybrid and Niobium)Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into:Consumer Electronics, Communication, Industrial and OthersThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Polymer Capacitor market.Chapter 1, to describe Polymer Capacitor Market Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Polymer Capacitor, with sales, revenue, and price of Polymer Capacitor, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Polymer Capacitor, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Polymer Capacitor market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Polymer Capacitor sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor more information on this report, Please visit at:Related Reports: -2018 Global Tantalum Polymer Capacitors Industry Report - History, Present and FutureThe global market size of Tantalum Polymer Capacitors is $XX million in 2017 with XX CAGR from 2013 to 2017, and it is expected to reach $XX million by the end of 2023 with a CAGR of XX% from 2018 to 2023.More Report @Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:More Report at: Chlorobenzene Global Market Top Key Players Anhui Bayi Chemical Industry , JIANGSU YANGNONG CHEMICAL , Jiaxing Zhonghua Chemical , KUREHA , SEYA Industries and Forecast to 2022 Chlorobenzene Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2373865-global-chlorobenzene-market-2017-2021 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2373865-global-chlorobenzene-market-2017-2021 www.wiseguyreports.com Global Chlorobenzene MarketWiseGuyRerports.com Presents Global Chlorobenzene Market 2017-2021 New Document to its Studies Database. The Report Contain 75 Pages With Detailed Analysis.DescriptionChlorobenzene is a colorless aromatic organic compound with high flammability and is used as a solvent. Chlorobenzene is used extensively as a chemical intermediate in the production of various products such as dyes, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and fertilizers. The production of chlorobenzene involves the chlorination of benzene with Lewis acid catalysts, such as ferric chloride and anhydrous chloride. The chlorination of benzene can produce almost 12 different types of chlorobenzene; however, the three significant products used extensively in various applications are monochlorobenzene, ortho-dichlorobenzene (o-dichlorobenzene), and para-dichlorobenzene (p-dichlorobenzene).The analysts forecast the global chlorobenzene market to grow at a CAGR of 5.90% during the period 2017-2021.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global chlorobenzene market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the retail selling price is considered as the average selling price of the product.Get sample Report @The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: Americas APAC Europe ROWThe Global Chlorobenzene Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors Anhui Bayi Chemical Industry JIANGSU YANGNONG CHEMICAL Jiaxing Zhonghua Chemical KUREHA SEYA IndustriesOther prominent vendors Akshar Enterprises Chemieorganics Chemical India Chirag Organics Hindustan Organic Chemicals Kutch Chemicals Industries LANXESS Panoli Intermediates India PCC RIDHDHI SIDHDHI CHEMICALS SP CHEMICALS HOLDINGSMarket driver Increased demand for chlorobenzene from the chemical industry For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge Hazardous effects of chlorobenzene on human health For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Rising consumption of p-dichlorobenzene For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space?Complete Report Details @Table of Contents -Major Key PointsPART 01: Executive summaryPART 02: Scope of the reportPART 03: Research MethodologyPART 04: Introduction Market OutlinePART 05: Market landscape Market overview Global chlorobenzene market Five forces analysisPART 06: Market segmentation by products Overview: Global chlorobenzene market by product Global monochlorobenzene market Global p-dichlorobenzene market Global o-dichlorobenzene market Global market for othersPART 07: Geographical segmentation Global chlorobenzene market by geography Chlorobenzene market in APAC Chlorobenzene market in Americas Chlorobenzene market in Europe Chlorobenzene market in ROWPART 08: Decision frameworkPART 09: Drivers and challenges Market drivers Market challengesPART 10: Market trends Rising demand in personal care industry Shifting of chemical industries in APAC Rising consumption of p-dichlorobenzenePART 11: Vendor landscape Competitive Landscape Key vendors in global chlorobenzene market Other prominent vendorsPART 12: Key vendor analysis Anhui Bayi Chemical Industry JIANGSU YANGNONG CHEMICAL Jiaxing Zhonghua Chemical KUREHA SEYA Industries..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) Global Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments Market 2018 - GE Healthcare, Stryker, Siemens AG Global Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments Market https://goo.gl/Jty7DW https://goo.gl/TvkGxB www.apexmarketreports.com Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments Market across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments 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 Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments performance both in terms of volume and revenue.The market research report explores the Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments Market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments 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 Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments Market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments 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 ReportGE HealthcareStrykerSiemens AGKoninklijke Philips NVToshiba Medical Systems CorporationHitachiHitachiPlanmed OYEOS ImagingThe competitive landscape of the global market for Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments Markets production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments Market globally.Inquire Before Buying @The Global Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments Market 2018 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments production volume, data pertaining to demand and Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments 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 Orthopaedic Imaging Equipments 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 - Industry Overview - EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) PcBN Cutting Tool Market Report 2018 Industry Overview - EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) PcBN Cutting Tool Market Report 2018 http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1543961.html http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/ or http://www.qyresearch.com/ The EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) PcBN Cutting Tool Market Report 2018 is in-depth study of overall PcBN Cutting Tool market including introduction of product, definition, scope, PcBN Cutting Tool global sale, and forecast up to 2025.The PcBN Cutting Tool industry report clarifies the past experience and trends, on the basis of these past experiences, it offers the future prediction considering other factors influencing the growth rate. This worldwide report offers the detailed analysis of the important factors such as market dynamics (DROT), PEST, and PORTER which assists the growth of the PcBN Cutting Tool Industry. These past experience and factors assist to build the strategy and future planning of PcBN Cutting Tool Market and hold a place in the competitive world.This report is the extensive analysis of the PcBN Cutting Tool industry based on the primary and secondary in-depth research. The scope of the report includes the global and regional sale, product consumption in terms of volume and value. The PcBN Cutting Tool market report offers a forecast of revenue, CAGR, and cumulative revenue. The gathered information about PcBN Cutting Tool global business is represented in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs.The EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) PcBN Cutting Tool industry Market report offers the competitive scenario in the PcBN Cutting Tool industry based on the type of product, applications, and the companies that are present in the PcBN Cutting Tool market, and covers the company profiles, their development policies, lined up products and recent launched along with the SWOT analysis of companies.Get a complete report sample from this link: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 PcBN Cutting Tool 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 PcBN Cutting Tool market competition by top manufacturers/players, with PcBN Cutting Tool sales volume (K Units), price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingMastertech DiamondSumitomo Electric Carbide IncAbrasives Cutting ToolsSsangyongNTK Cutting ToolsToyoda Van Moppes LtdHenan More Super Hard ProductsKYOCERA Asia PacificSandvik GroupTokyo Diamond ToolsOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume, revenue, product price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSolidIndexableOn 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, includingGeneral Metal FabricationConstructionHeavy Metal FabricationShipbuilding & OffshoreAutomotiveOthersThis research study focuses to product specifications, PcBN Cutting Tool cost specifications, production capacity, distributors list, PcBN Cutting Tool marketing channel, and detail analysis of the export/import of the product. The PcBN Cutting Tool research document also offers raw material suppliers, cost, and downstream consumer list.All features mentioned above is included in the PcBN Cutting Tool Market Report 2018 which can offer solution to the difficulties to the prominent members of the PcBN Cutting Tool market.Additionally, the important terminologies, government policies, and regulations related to PcBN Cutting Tool market product are added.Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Asia Pacific Peracetic Acid Market Expected to Reach US$ 164.2 Mn by 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/asia-pacific-peracetic-acid-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12955 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/multiple-chapter/12955 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/12955 A study conducted by Persistence Market Research (PMR) on Peracetic Acid (PAA) Market: Asia Pacific Industry Analysis and Forecast 20162024, projects the APAC peracetic acid market to surpass 164 Million, expanding at over 8% CAGR over 2024.Growing preference for peracetic acid over chlorine across various industrial domains in Asia pacific is expected to influence the overall growth of the peracetic market in the region. In recent years, the application base of peracetic acid has expanded to a significant extent.On the contrary, demand for peracetic acid from food & vegetables processing aids, healthcare textiles (HCT), industrial cleaning, aseptic filling & packaging, meat & poultry processing aids and water treatment industries is scaling at a healthy pace.Request for Table of Contents @Key factors expected to shape the peracetic acid market in Asia Pacific during the next eight yearsA better alternative to chlorine as an oxidant agent for industrial cleaning, textile industry and in other purification purposes. Peracetic acid is an effective disinfectant and finds robust use in various industries in the form of purifiers, cleaners and as sanitizing agents.In addition, growing demand for peracetic acid as sanitizing agents in packaged food and vegetables for prevention of microbial contamination is likely to play a major role in stimulating the market growth in Asia Pacific. Peracetic acid contains properties of bleaching agent, easy environmental degradation, and non-toxicity. Hence, making the product a safe sanitizer that can be used in consumable products.Request to Sample of Report @In contrast, high volatility of PPA above 17% and associated risks with logistics can restrain the growth of the market. Likewise, adverse side-effects on health due to excessive exposure of peracetic acid on the surface of the skin, through oral intake or inhalation.Based on PPA grade, demand for PAA- grade above 15% is expected remain high as compared to other PAA grades. While, growth in demand for other PAA grades will be sluggish during the forecast period. By 2016 end, the PAA- grade above 15% segment is estimated to occupy for over 46% value share of the market and is anticipated to gain 130 BPS over 2025.Request Report Multiple Chapter @By end-use, food and beverage is anticipated to be the leading segment during the forecast period. In addition, the segment is projected to account for over 27% value share of the market by the end of 2016, gaining a BPS of 210 over 2025. This is primarily owing to the growing demand for peracetic acid from the F&B industry for sterilizing food contact surface equipment. In addition, the segment is set to witness a value CAGR of over 9% between 2016 and 2024.Region-wise, the market in China is projected to present lucrative business opportunities for leading players. The China peracetic acid market is projected to increase by 350 BPS during the forecast period. By 2016-end, China is estimated to account for mammoth 59.6% share of the market in terms of value.The market growth in China is largely attributed to the existence of a strong manufacturing and supply chain in the country that is comprehensively sustaining the growing demand for peracetic acid in the country as well as in the region. Likewise, India is another country were the market is estimated to exhibit a significant growth over the next couple of years. In the recent past, the country has attracted a healthy number of foreign investors who are planning to setup production plants in the country as demand for eco-friendly alternative chemicals is on the rise.Get full report now @Key stakeholders in the peracetic acid market in the Asia Pacific region include Tianjin Xinyuan Chemical Co., Ltd., Evonik Industries AG, National Peroxide Limited, Aditya Birla Chemicals Limited, Acuro Organics Ltd., Solvay Peroxythai Ltd., PeroxyChem LLC, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, MGI Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., and Qingdao Hisea Chem Co.Ltd.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com New Research Report on Latin America Mining Equipments Market, 2014 - 2020 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-la-68 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-la-68 www.futuremarketinsights.com The mining industry is expected to witness growth with a single digit CAGR over the next six years on account of the further expanding demand for metal and mineral commodities. Latin America accounted for about 8% of the global mining equipment demand in 2013 and its contribution towards global mining equipment sales was registered at 15% for the same year. The region serves as the prime destination for mining exploration and investment at a global level.The key reason which has accelerated the growth of the Latin American mining equipment market is the enhanced demand for the consumption of natural resources. Presently, the region produces about 45% of the global copper, 21% of the global zinc, 50% of the global silver and 26% of the global molybdenumproduction. In addition, foreign investment, especially from China, US, Canada and Australia, plays a significant role in the growth of the Latin American mining equipment market. Further, other operations such as the Panama Stock Operation (PSO), CSR activities, and introduction of next generation mining equipment such as Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) also serve as driving factors for the growth of the mining equipment market in Latin America. Among these, CSR activities primarily focus on rehabilitation and support programmes, promotion of healthy lifestyle and awareness programmes for the adoption of green technology. However, in the past few years, the mining industry and hence the mining equipment industry has been facing an economic crisis on account of the requirement for budget allocation in the maintenance of the mining industry and equipment, etc. Illegal mining operations at some locations and the risk associated with the mining industry serve as further constraints for the Latin American mining equipment industry.Surging demand and abundant availability of natural resources(including the worlds top three metal and mineral reserves of copper, zinc and silver rapid technological advancement, modernization of mining plants, stable legislations with a motivating legal environment, and the efficient budget allocation with aftermarket revenue generation will serve as opportunities for the development of the Latin America mining equipment market.Request Report Sample@Market segmentation of Latin American mining equipment can be done on the basis of equipment, application and countries. On the basis of equipment, the Latin American mining equipment market includes mineral processing equipment, surface mining equipment, underground mining equipment, mining drills and breakers, crushing and screening equipment, etc. On the basis of applications, the Latin American mining equipment market segmentation includes metal ore mining, coal mining and mineral mining. Chile, being the largest producer of copper, serves as a lucrative market for copper-based mining equipment. Colombia is an active exporter,and is the first Latin American coal-producing country alongwith the production of metals such as gold, silver and platinum and hence is the opportunistic market for the associated mining equipment market. On the basis of countries, the Latin American mining equipment market includes Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Panama, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and Venezuela. Chile is known for the adoption and introduction of advanced technologies such as autonomous haulage system. Peru is the reserve of key minerals and has been witnessing a surging demand for copper and hence the expansion of the associated mining equipment market. Brazil has an integrated approach for the production and sale of mining equipment. Panama has an active stock operation (PSO) for the support of the mining industry. In line with the positive future of the Latin American mining equipment industry, Peru and Chile are expected to receive double digit foreign investment in $ Bn in the next six years.Visit For TOC@Some of the prominent players of the global mining equipment market include Sandvik AB, Hitachi Construction Machinery, Komatsu Limited, Atlas Copco Ab Joy Global Inc. Breaker Technology, Astec Industries, Bucyrus International, Caterpillar Incorporated, China Coal Energy Company Limited, Tecpalsa, Tecmap, Tiesa and Igaretta. Among these, Komatsu Limited in the whole of Latin America, Tecpalsa in Colombia, Tecmap and Tiesa in Panama and Igaretta in Argentina are active players in the Latin American mining equipment market.About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Automotive Collision Repair Market Trends 2018 Growth Forecast Research 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/108 https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/108 https://www.gminsights.com/toc/detail/automotive-collision-repair-market-report Paints & coating was valued at over USD 35 billion in 2016. The segment is most commonly used product in the industry. Its wide acceptance can be attributed to the rising road traffic that poses risk of small collisions and minor dents, which results in the need to restore the original color of the vehicle.Rising demand for the enhancement of repair quality, efficiency, and profitability in medium & large sized workshops will positively impact the automotive collision repair market growth over the coming years. Rapidly changing economy due to continuous technological advancements, especially in the developing countries will support the revenue generation. Moreover, shifting consumer preference towards advanced automobiles due to their increasing disposable income will further fuel the industry growth over the next eight years.Request for a sample of this research report @Regular technological innovations by the industry participants will pave an opportunistic way for the product penetration. Rising production of electric and hybrid vehicles owing to surging prices of petrol and petrol based vehicles will increase the application segments for automotive collision repair services.Most consumers tend to repair their vehicles in authorized workshops with vehicle age up to 4 years. Less depreciation rate and enhanced look are among the factors that enable the consumers to prefer authorized channel over other alternatives. With the vehicles, up to 8 years of age, the consumers are likely to prefer either independent or authorized channel depending on the impact intensity.Abrasives are anticipated to hold more than 16% share over the forecast timeframe owing to the high implementation of advanced technologies including water-borne refinish coating. Increasing number of road accidents has further catapulted the industry growth. Enhanced repairing and beautifying ability along with protection against corrosion will further support the industry demand till 2024.Light duty vehicles are expected to dominate the industry revenue share till 2024 owing to the government initiatives for enhancing the fuel economy and domestic and international transportation demand.Consumers preferring shared mobility is expected to positively impact the automobile demand. Higher wear and tear in shared mobility vehicles is likely to favor automotive collision repair market growth during forecast period. In addition, complexity in vehicles due to advanced technology will hamper the industry demand. Small independent shop owner may face difficulties owing to requirement of expertise & investments required for upgraded vehicle repairs.Make an inquiry before buying @Recycled OEMs will grow with over 2% CAGR owing to provision of the benefits such as certainty about the product quality, and well & safe fitting of the equipment. Shifting focus towards environment-friendly products will escalate the growth of recycled OEM components in automotive collision repair market over the next eight years.Remanufactured components will grow over the forecast timeframe as these components are manufactured as per the specifications laid by the OEMs. Moreover, these parts are re-inspected and cleaned, that attracts the customers, further enhancing the industry growth till 2024.Asia Pacific is poised to grow substantially over the forecast timeframe owing to extensive production of passenger vehicles across the region. High demand of adhesives and sealants in the region will catapult the industry growth till 2024. The development in the Chinese economy and initiatives by the government associated with the road development infrastructure will augment the industry demand. The advanced approaches being widely incorporated for repairing activities will increase penetration over the coming years.The companies providing collision repair services & components includes 3M company, Honeywell International Inc., ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Federal-Mogul Holdings Corporation, Continental Corporation, Denso Corporation, Faurecia and Bosch among others.Collision repair shops generally have negative implications on the environment owing to the emission of cadmium, nickel, manganese and chromium. The rising concern for environment protection has led the collision repair owners to judiciously dump these harmful substances and replacing them with less harmful ones. In addition, escalating support from governmental organization such as United States Environmental Protection Agency which has undertaken a campaign for minimizing the exposure to air emissions from collision repair shops.Chapter 4 Automotive Collision Repair Market, By Product4.1 Automotive collision repair market share by product, 2016 & 20244.1.1 Market estimates and forecast from paints & coatings, 2012 2024, (USD Billion)4.2 Adhesives & Sealants4.2.1 Market estimates and forecast from adhesives & sealants, 2012 2024, (USD Billion)4.3 Abrasives4.3.1 Market estimates and forecast from abrasives, 2012 2024, (USD Billion)4.4 Finishing compounds4.4.1 Market estimates and forecast from finishing compounds, 2012 2024, (USD Billion)4.5 Others4.5.1 Market estimates and forecast from others, 2012 2024, (USD Billion)Chapter 5 Automotive Collision Repair Market, By Vehicle5.1 Automotive collision repair market share by vehicle, 2016 & 20245.2 Light-duty vehicle5.2.1 Market estimates and forecast from light-duty vehicle, 2012 2024, (USD Billion)5.3 Heavy-duty vehicle5.3.1 Market estimates and forecast from heavy-duty vehicle, 2012 2024, (USD Billion)Browse Full TOC @Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.4 North Main StreetSelbyville Growth statistics of Global Plano Sunglasses Market presents good news for investors & market players https://www.researchbeam.com/global-plano-sunglasses-research-report-2011-2023-market/request-sample https://www.researchbeam.com/global-plano-sunglasses-research-report-2011-2023-market/purchase-enquiry https://www.researchbeam.com/global-plano-sunglasses-research-report-2011-2023-market Research Beam has added a report on Global Plano Sunglasses Market Research Report 2011-2023Plano Sunglasses Market is provided in the report based on product scope and market status & outlook. The market is segmented on the basis of type, end-users/application, and geography. The report provides information about the production, price, revenue, market share, and growth rate of each type. Geographically, the market has been analyzed across North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and India. The status and prospect through 2013-2025 for each of these regions are listed in the report.Get Sample@The report entails the qualitative and quantitative analysis of current and future market estimations. It also divulges details about the mode of research methodology used for the study. It includes data from primary as well as secondary resources. The report is a useful resource for industry players, new entrants in the marketplace, and investors as it helps them plan their business to gain fruitful and meaningful outcomes. It makes them aware of the production, capacity, revenue, supply, consumption, export, import, the challenges and risks associated with the industry, and much more.Factors that drive the growth of the market are detailed in the study. Key players are profiled in the report and their developments in recent years are mentioned, which helps in understanding the competitive outlook of the Global Plano Sunglasses MarketGet 15% discount on this report @The Global Plano Sunglasses Market report has a mention of the industrial chain, sourcing strategy, and downstream buyers. This incorporates the overall industrial chain analysis, upstream raw materials sourcing, raw materials sources of the product major manufacturers in 2015, and downstream buyers.The report also throws light on the marketing strategy used for the study. It includes marketing channel (direct marketing, indirect marketing, and marketing channel development trend) and market positioning (pricing strategy, brand strategy, and target client).The Global Plano Sunglasses Market report also covers an analysis of the market effect factors. This includes the technology progress/risk (substitutes/threat and technology progress in the related industry), consumer needs/customer preference change, and economic/political environmentalThe key players which provide solutions in the Global Plano Sunglasses Market Ray-Ban Oakley Maui Jim Persol Prada Gucci Versace Armani Tom Ford Dolce & Gabbana Burberry Fendi BVLGARI Oliver Peoples Bottega VenetaCheck Full Report With TOC@About Us:Research Beams uniqueness lies in its highly ethical reports at economical rates because we value your relationship and growth more than money. Your growth is our aim. With the arsenal of different search reports, we help you here to look and buy research reports that will be helpful to you and your organization. Our research reports have the capability and authenticity to support your organization for growth and consistency.Contact Us:Global Head Quarters5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United Statesphone+1 (800) 910-6452help@researchbeam.com Semi-Rigid Spray Polyurethane Foam Market to Reach $1.1bn by 2024 Semi-rigid spray polyurethane foam market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2513 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2513 https://bit.ly/2JkTsHl https://www.gminsights.com Semi-rigid spray polyurethane foam market is further segmented on the basis of application, end-use and region. According to the end-use, the global semi-rigid SPF market is segregated into commercial, residential, agricultural, institutional and industrial buildings. Among these, the residential buildings segment will account for more than 15% share of the overall segment in coming years due to the significant usage of the product for heat insulation and provide water & air resistant properties on the walls and roofs of personal homes as well as apartment buildings.According to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Semi-Rigid Spray Polyurethane Foam Market size will surpass USD 1.1 billion by 2024. Overheating of attics in the summers is a growing concern in the European countries due to the climate changes. Extensive insulation used in maintaining the indoor temperature, energy saving and storing heat in panels will escalate the semi-rigid SPF market growth in this region.Request for a Sample copy of this Report @Building and construction accounts for over 40% of the total energy consumption in Europe. According to UN Summit, energy conservation is the major challenge and Europe plays a pivotal role in this scenario. Increasing energy efficiency are the basic criteria for closing the gap between energy consumption and rising power demand. European Union has taken numerous measures such as energy efficient renovations for government properties, mandatory energy efficient certificates for residential and industrial buildings. This will drive the product market growth in next seven years down the line.Various health risks caused by the raw materials used in the production of semi-rigid spray polyurethane foam is the chief restraining factor for the growth of this market. Several agencies, such as EPA and NIOSH, have set standards related to the usage and handling of these products at the time of manufacturing. Health risks can be avoided through various precautions such as avoidance of direct contact with the materials, using quality assured protective equipment, etc.Make an Inquiry for Purchasing this Report @However, the residential market being the most dominant end-user segment, issues related to the health have become a key restraint for market growth. Industry players, such as Rhino Lining Corporation, have been focusing on the development of bio-based SPF due to these health hazards. Growing awareness about health threats has led to the growth in demand for bio-based semi-rigid SPFs. This has been one of the foremost restraining reason for isocyanates and polyol based semi-rigid spray polyurethane foam market.Browse Report Summery @Based of application, the global semi-rigid spray polyurethane foam market is mainly divided into floor, walls and roofs. In terms of revenue, the floor application segment will likely generate over USD 18 million by 2024. Other applications segment includes attics, plumbing systems, ceilings, and will account for around a tenth of the entire semi-rigid SPF market in 2024.Japan semi-rigid spray polyurethane foam market is likely to become a USD 40 million by 2024 driven by significant growth in construction industry coupled with increasing demand from cold storage sector. This will positively influence the Asia Pacific semi-rigid SPF market throughout the forecast timeframe.Some of the key semi-rigid SPF market players include Honeywell, Lapolla Industries, JJD Urethane Co, NCFI Polyurethanes, The Dow Chemical Company, and Foam Supplies Inc.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb: Electric Underfloor Heating Market Industry Trends, Technology, Applications and Growth Drivers up to 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2130 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/electric-underfloor-heating-market https://www.gminsights.com/toc/detail/electric-underfloor-heating-market https://www.gminsights.com http://algosonline.com/news UK electric underfloor heating market is projected to expand over 7% on account of growing measures to improvise energy security by the reduction of energy consumption. In 2015, UK implemented an energy saving ordinance with an objective to reduce energy consumption across new buildings by 25% and ensures to achieve the carbon-neutral buildings target by 2050.Russia electric underfloor heating market is predicted to exceed USD 120 million by 2024. Significant growth across residential construction along with increasing awareness towards adoption of low emission heating systems will positively influence the business outlook. Rising demand for heating systems owing to extreme weather conditions will further complement the product demand. In 2015, underfloor heating accounted for over 30% of the overall heating systems across residential establishments.Request for a sample of this research report @Japan electric underfloor heating market is anticipated to witness high growth on account of favorable government initiatives with an aim to increase energy efficiency. Internal migration of population to urban areas from remote locations will further complement the product penetration. In 2016, urban population of the country increased up to 93.9% with an average annual growth rate of 0.62%.Electric Underfloor Heating Market is projected to surpass USD 2.5 billion by 2024. Increasing consumer awareness toward conservation of energy along with high demand for the installation of reliable heating systems will drive the electric underfloor heating market growth. Rising disposable personal income along with the improving living standards will further complement the product penetration. According to the Office for National Statistics, UK household disposable personal income in the year 2016 was around USD 34,930 which was USD 790 higher when compared with the previous year.The U.S. electric underfloor heating market will witness strong growth subject to growing space heating demand coupled with increasing energy cost. Advancement in technology along with the declining associated cost will further embellish the business growth. The government of California has implemented building energy efficiency and cost-effective appliance standards which has resulted into an estimated cumulative annual efficiency & conservation savings for electricity to reach over 95,000 GWh by 2016.Shifting focus towards green buildings coupled with strict government regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will embellish the electric underfloor heating market growth. Introduction of building codes and standards to cut the energy consumption will further complement the industry outlook. The European Union has introduced several directives including Energy Performance of Buildings Directive to achieve the target of nearly zero-energy by 2020.Browse key industry insights spread across 225 pages with 372 market data tables & 14 figures & charts from the report, Electric Underfloor Heating Market Size By Facility (Existing Buildings, New Buildings), By Application (Residential (Single Family, Multi Family), Industrial, Commercial (Education, Healthcare, Retail, Logistics & Transportation, Offices, Hospitality, Others)) Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 2024 in detail along with the table of contents:Rising energy demand for localized heating across the residential establishments along with high petroleum products cost will foster the electric underfloor heating market. The European Commission has estimated 64.7% of energy consumption in the residential sector primarily for heating homes.Eminent industry participants in the electric underfloor heating market include Emerson Electric, Uponor, Danfoss, Warmup, Honeywell, Schneider, Sensata technologies, Siemens, Pentair, Robert Bosch, Mitsubishi, Nexans, Amuheat, Hunt Heating, REHAU, and H2O Heating.Table of Content (TOC-)Chapter 3 Electric Underfloor Heating Market Industry Insights3.1 Industry Segmentation3.2 Industry landscape, 2013 2024 (Revenue)3.3 Industry ecosystem analysis3.3.1 Raw material/component outlook3.3.1.1 Heating pipes3.3.1.2 Manifold3.3.1.3 Sensors & thermostats3.3.1.4 Electric Heating mats3.3.1.5 Heating cables3.3.2 Vendor Matrix3.4 Technology & innovation landscape3.4.1 Electric vs. hydronic underfloor heating3.4.1.1 Electric underfloor heating3.4.1.2 Hydronic underfloor heating3.5 Regulatory landscape3.5.1 U.S.3.5.2 Europe3.5.3 United Kingdom3.5.4 Germany3.5.5 China3.5.6 Asia Pacific3.6 Infrastructure/Construction spending outlook, 2016/20153.7 Industry impact forces3.7.1 Growth drivers3.7.1.1 Introduction of energy efficiency standards3.7.1.2 Increasing standard of living3.7.1.3 Strict government regulations3.7.1.4 Extreme climatic conditions3.7.1.5 Rapid urbanization and commercialization3.7.1.6 Increasing demand for space heating3.7.2 Industry pitfalls & challenges3.7.2.1 High initial investment3.8 Growth potential analysis3.9 Porter's Analysis3.10 Competitive landscape, 20163.10.1 Strategy dashboard3.10.1.1 REHAU3.10.1.2 Danfoss3.10.1.3 Warmup3.10.1.4 Robert Bosch3.10.1.5 Uponor3.10.2 M&A landscape3.11 PESTEL AnalysisBrowse Full Toc of This Report @About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Folding Cartons Global Market 2018: Key Players Amcor Limited, Graphic Packaging International, Inc, Artistic Carton Company, Cherokee Packaging Inc https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2101676-folding-cartons-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2101676-folding-cartons-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2101676 https://www.wiseguyreports.com Folding Cartons IndustryDescriptionWiseguyreports.Com Adds Folding Cartons -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2022 To Its Research DatabaseThe Global Folding Cartons Market is accounted for $39.6 billion in 2016 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% to reach $56.7 billion by 2023. The market factors such as increase in developing countries with higher production and consumption of products, attractive and appealing packaging to entice customers, eco-friendly packaging and demand for good quality packaged foods are driving the market growth. However, the occurrence of substitutes for folding cartons packaging and economic conditions related to folding cartons manufacturing are inhibiting the market growth. The trend of industries to move towards single serve packs, introduction of smaller packs of their products, increasing requirement for additions to packaging such as QR codes, holographic images, Fresnel lenses and other 3D devices and the development of smart packaging are increasingly driving towards using folding cartons.The food products segment dominated the market due to demand for convenient packaged food products from consumers. The healthcare industry is the largest user of folding cartons, followed by the tobacco industry. Asia Pacific region is accounted for the largest market share as new manufacturing technologies are driving the growth of the market in this region. North America is the second largest contributor to growth of the market, due to the healthcare sector in the region. Europe and Latin America contribute their significant presence in the global market because of personal care and confectionary industries.The key players in global Folding Cartons market are Amcor Limited, Graphic Packaging International, Inc, Artistic Carton Company, Cherokee Packaging Inc, Craftsman Packaging, Inc, F.P.Woll & Co, Smurfit Kappa, Menasha Packaging Company LLC, Midlands Packaging Corporation, WestRock Company, Laural Packaging Group and Pacific Southwest Container.Request for Sample Report @Applications Covered: Healthcare Tobacco Products Personal Care Food Hardware and Electrical Paper Products Household Care Other ApplicationsStructures Covered: French Reverse tuck Standard Reverse tuck Rectangular Sleeve Standard Straight tuck Mailer Lock Bellows Tuck Tuck & Tongue Airplane Style StraightProducts Covered: Green Folding Cartons Plastic Folding Cartons Paperboard Folding CartonsRegions Covered: North Americao USo Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo UKo Italyo Franceo Spaino Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando South Koreao Rest of Asia Pacific South Americao Argentinao Brazilo Chileo Rest of South America Middle East & Africao Saudi Arabiao UAEo Qataro South Africao Rest of 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 advancementsLeave a Query @Table of Content1 Executive Summary2 Preface2.1 Abstract2.2 Stake Holders2.3 Research Scope2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources2.5.1 Primary Research Sources2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources2.5.3 Assumptions3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.3 Restraints3.4 Opportunities3.5 Threats3.6 Application Analysis3.7 Product Analysis3.8 Emerging Markets3.9 Futuristic Market Scenario4 Porters Five Force Analysis4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers4.2 Bargaining power of buyers4.3 Threat of substitutes4.4 Threat of new entrants4.5 Competitive rivalry....10 Company Profiling10.1 Amcor Limited10.2 Graphic Packaging International, Inc10.3 Artistic Carton Company10.4 Cherokee Packaging Inc10.5 Craftsman Packaging, Inc10.6 F.P.Woll & Co10.7 Smurfit Kappa10.8 Menasha Packaging Company LLC10.9 Midlands Packaging Corporation10.10 WestRock Company10.11 Laural Packaging Group10.12 Pacific Southwest ContainerBuy Now @Continued...Contact Us: Sales@Wiseguyreports.Com Ph: +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 LtdPune 411028Maharashtra, GlobalPh: +91 841 198 5042 Floor Cleaning Machines Market 2018 to 2023 Top Manufacturers Ecovacs, Nilfisk, iRobot, Karcher, Hako, Tennant, Elgin, Aebi Schmidt, LG, Samsung, Sharp https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1029288/?utm_source=OPR&utm_medium=SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-floor-cleaning-machines-market-2018-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023/?utm_source=OPR-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-automatic-floor-cleaning-machines-market-research-report-2018/?utm_source=RR-SP https://factsweek.com/author/chetan/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ http://reports.algosonline.com/ The Floor Cleaning Machines Market Research Report Forecast 2018-2023 is a valuable source of insightful data for business strategists. It provides the Floor Cleaning Machines industry overview with growth analysis and historical & futuristic cost, revenue, demand and supply data (as applicable). The research analysts provide an elaborate description of the value chain and its distributor analysis.Floor Cleaning Machine is a device used to clean the floor. They are widely used in these public places like supermarkets and modern malls. In the report the data we provide is all about the Floor Cleaning Machine, such as sweepers, scrubbers, burnishers and Cleaning Robots. The report has no relationship with the basic floor scrubber used in home.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Floor Cleaning Machines 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 a Sample Copy of Floor Cleaning Machines Market Report @Floor Cleaning Machines Market Segment by Top Manufacturers Including:iRobot, Ecovacs, Nilfisk, Bucher (Johnston), OOMLION, Karcher, Hako, Tennant, Elgin, FULONGMA, Aebi Schmidt, LG, Samsung, Sharp, Comac, IPC Eagle, NSS, FAYAT GROUP, Exprolink, Alamo Group, FAUN and Dulevo.An inherent sub-vertical of the Manufacturing and Construction Industry space, Floor Cleaning Machines market stands to gain remarkable proceeds over 2018-2023, as per a recently compiled report Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Table of Contents:Global Floor Cleaning Machines Market OverviewGlobal Floor Cleaning Machines Market Manufacturers ProfilesGlobal Floor Cleaning Machines Market Competition, by ManufacturerGlobal Floor Cleaning Machines Market Analysis by RegionsGlobal Floor Cleaning Machines by CountriesGlobal Floor Cleaning Machines Market Segment by TypeGlobal Floor Cleaning Machines Market Segment by ApplicationFloor Cleaning Machines Market Forecast (2018-2023)Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and DealersResearch Findings and ConclusionMarket Segment by Type, coversSweepers, Scrubbers, Burnisher and Cleaning RobotsMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into:Commercial, Industrial, Institution, Transportation and OthersThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Floor Cleaning Machines market.Chapter 1, to describe Floor Cleaning Machines Market Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Floor Cleaning Machines, with sales, revenue, and price of Floor Cleaning Machines, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Floor Cleaning Machines, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Floor Cleaning Machines market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Floor Cleaning Machines sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor more information on this report, Please visit at:Related Reports: -Global Automatic Floor Cleaning Machines Market Research Report 2018In this report, the global Automatic Floor Cleaning Machines 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.More Report @Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:More Report at: Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Market 2018- Yacoo, Xueman, Worthington, Starbio https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1658753&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-horseradish-peroxidase-hrp-market-professional-survey-report-2018.htm/toc https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1658753&type=D http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Market Professional Survey Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringTOYOBOMerck MilliporeThermo FisherBBI SolutionsEnzybel InternationalCreative EnzymesYacooXuemanWorthingtonStarbioScripps LaboratoriesDownload Free exclusive Sample of this report:The possible segments of the global market for Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) help in understanding the microscopic details of the market. Hence, the report discretely mentions each of these segments and describes the internal functioning of each. The growth of regional markets cumulatively determines the overall growth of the global market, and hence, the report mentions all the dynamics of the regional markets as well. The restraints that have been an element of concern in the market have also been include in the report on the global market for Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP). The importance of inventing new business strategies and courses of action has also been elaborated in the report.Table of ContentsGlobal Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Market Professional Survey Report 20181 Industry Overview of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)1.1 Definition and Specifications of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)1.1.1 Definition of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)1.1.2 Specifications of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)1.2 Classification of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)1.2.1 Grade1.2.2 Grade1.2.3 Grade1.3 Applications of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)1.3.1 Diagnostic Reagents1.3.2 Research1.3.3 Other2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Major Manufacturers in 20174 Global Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Overall Market Overview4.1 2013-2018E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2013-2018E Global Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2017 Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2013-2018E Global Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2017 Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price AnalysisRead Complete Table of Content @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)Table Product Specifications of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)Table Classification of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)Figure Global Production Market Share of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) by Type in 2017Figure Grade PictureTable Major Manufacturers of GradeFigure Grade PictureTable Major Manufacturers of GradeFigure Grade PictureTable Major Manufacturers of GradeTable Applications of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)Enquiry For Discount Visit @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Industry Overview - China Turbidity Analyzer Market Research Report 2018 Industry Overview - China Turbidity Analyzer Market Research Report 2018 http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1545807.html http://www.qyresearcheurope.com/ or http://www.qyresearch.com/ The China Turbidity Analyzer Market Research Report 2018 is in-depth study of overall Turbidity Analyzer market including introduction of product, definition, scope, Turbidity Analyzer global sale, and forecast up to 2025.The Turbidity Analyzer industry report clarifies the past experience and trends, on the basis of these past experiences, it offers the future prediction considering other factors influencing the growth rate. This worldwide report offers the detailed analysis of the important factors such as market dynamics (DROT), PEST, and PORTER which assists the growth of the Turbidity Analyzer Industry. These past experience and factors assist to build the strategy and future planning of Turbidity Analyzer Market and hold a place in the competitive world.This report is the extensive analysis of the Turbidity Analyzer industry based on the primary and secondary in-depth research. The scope of the report includes the global and regional sale, product consumption in terms of volume and value. The Turbidity Analyzer market report offers a forecast of revenue, CAGR, and cumulative revenue. The gathered information about Turbidity Analyzer global business is represented in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs.The China Turbidity Analyzer industry Market report offers the competitive scenario in the Turbidity Analyzer industry based on the type of product, applications, and the companies that are present in the Turbidity Analyzer market, and covers the company profiles, their development policies, lined up products and recent launched along with the SWOT analysis of companies.Get a complete report sample from this link:This report studies the Turbidity Analyzer development status and future trend in China, focuses on top players in China, also splits Turbidity Analyzer by type and by applications, to fully and deeply research and reveal the market general situation and future forecast.The major players in China market includeYokogawa Electric CorporationGlobal Water InstrumentationHachOMEGA EngineeringToadkkNIKKISOForbes MarshallEndress+HauserSWAN Analytical Instruments AGHeferGeographically, this report splits the China market into six regions,South ChinaEast ChinaSouthwest ChinaNortheast ChinaNorth ChinaCentral ChinaNorthwest ChinaOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume (K Units), revenue (Million USD), product price (USD/Unit), market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoDry MediaWet MediaOn the basis of the end users/application, this report coversMedicalIndustrialAutomotiveHeating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning (HVAC)This research study focuses to product specifications, Turbidity Analyzer cost specifications, production capacity, distributors list, Turbidity Analyzer marketing channel, and detail analysis of the export/import of the product. The Turbidity Analyzer research document also offers raw material suppliers, cost, and downstream consumer list.All features mentioned above is included in the Turbidity Analyzer Market Report 2018 which can offer solution to the difficulties to the prominent members of the Turbidity Analyzer market.Additionally, the important terminologies, government policies, and regulations related to Turbidity Analyzer market product are added.Contact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Physical Security Market Saturation During 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2072 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2072 https://www.tmrresearch.com/physical-security-market Global Physical Security Market: SnapshotDriving the global physical security market at this high growth rate are factors such as a greatly increasing awareness of protecting confidential data and the rapid rate of industrialization creating a sprawling infrastructure landscape. This holds true especially for the Asia Pacific region, with countries such as China and India currently in a state of heavy industrialization. The market is expected to further expand at a promising pace as threats to personal security continue to rise at an alarming pace across the globe.The global physical security market holds a plethora of hardware, software, and services that stand guard for your data and devices. They protect an institution, enterprise, or agency from major loss of data that could occur in times of physical incidents. The list of physical incidents includes terrorism, theft, vandalism, most natural disasters, and fires. Most organizations pay far more attention to virtual security in order to protect their data from spyware, viruses, Trojans, and hackers than they do to installing physical security measures.Request Sample Copy of the Report @However, the truth is that although physical events might occur less frequently than cyber-attacks, their potency to cause massive damage is greater, as major losses can occur due to even inexperienced thieves. Besides, any organization that plans to stick around for the long run needs to understand that natural disasters and fires are rather inevitable at some point.Global Physical Security Market: OverviewThe global market for physical security is likely to grow at a progressive rate in the next few years. The growing demand from a wide range of industries across the globe is estimated to benefit the key players operating in the global market. As a result, several new players are making notable efforts to expand their product horizon and enter the market in the coming years. Moreover, the increasing popularity of Internet of Things is expected to generate several growth opportunities for the market players.Global Physical Security Market: Key TrendsThe leading players in the global physical security market are focusing on technological developments and innovations, including video surveillance, which is estimated to contribute towards the development of the market. In addition, the current developments of smart cities and the increasing use of IP-based cameras is projected to supplement the growth of the global physical security market in the forecast period. Furthermore, the stringent rules and regulations and security compliances associated with physical security are likely to fuel the markets growth in the near future.Global Physical Security Market: Market PotentialThe rising incidences of criminal activities and terror attacks are projected to fuel the growth of the global physical security market in the next few years. In addition, the rising need to protect employees, business assets, and consumers is considered as a major factor predicted to accelerate the growth of the market in the near future.On the contrary, the lack of synergy among security solutions and the reduced use of advanced technologies are estimated to restrict the development of the physical security market in the near future. Moreover, the key players in the market are expected to face several challenges, owing to the integration of physical and logical components of security. This is projected to hamper the growth of the market. Nonetheless, the rising use of Internet of Things is estimated to generate promising opportunities for key players in the global physical security market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Physical Security Market: Regional OutlookFrom a regional viewpoint, North America is anticipated to account for a massive share of the global physical security market in the next few years. The high growth of this region can be attributed to the growing need for security against illegal immigration, rising terrorist activities, and other criminal activities. In addition, several advancements in technology, including the introduction of video surveillance are projected to accelerate the growth of the North America market in the near future.On the flip side, Asia Pacific is likely to exhibit a considerable growth throughout the forecast period. The increasing investments by a large number of small and big organizations for physical security are anticipated to supplement the growth of the market in Asia Pacific in the next few years. In addition, the increasing contribution from Japan, India, China, and Australia is predicted to accelerate the growth of the market in the coming years.Global Physical Security Market: Competitive AnalysisThe global physical security market is predicted to witness a high level of competition in the next few years. Some of the leading players operating in the physical security market across the globe are Bosch Security Systems, Inc., Pelco, Senstar Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Genetec Inc., Honeywell International, Inc., Stanley Security, Tyco International PLC, Anixter International Inc., and ADT Corporation.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @A tremendous rise in the number of criminal activities and terror attacks across the globe are anticipated to encourage the growth of the global physical security market in the coming few years. Technological advancements and the expansion of the product portfolio are projected to offer promising opportunities for key players operating in the physical security market across the globe.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com R&D Focus Areas for IoT Device Management Market IoT Device Management Market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/770323-iot-device-management-global-market-outlook https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/770323-iot-device-management-global-market-outlook https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/770323-iot-device-management-global-market-outlook https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=770323 HTF Market Report released a new research document of 155 pages on industry titled as 'IoT Device Management - Global Market Outlook (2017-2023) with detailed analysis, Competitive landscape, forecast and strategies. The study covers geographic analysis that includes regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa and important players/vendors such as Telecommunications, Aeris, Telit Communications PLC, Advantech The report will help you gain market insights, future trends and growth prospects for forecast period of 2017-23According to HTF, the Global IoT Device Management market is expected to grow from $461.24 million in 2016 to reach $3,125.68 million by 2023 with a CAGR of 31.4%. Some of the factors propelling the market growth include growing acceptance of device and vendor agnostic platforms, rising demand for converged device management platform and expansion of intelligent connected devices. However, privacy issues and lack of uniform IoT standards required for interoperability are restricting the market.Request a sample report @The demand for IoT devices have acquired largest market share in small and medium-sized enterprises as these devices helps in making efficient decisions in business areas. By deployment model, public cloud is leading the market with the highest CAGR and the growth can be attributed as many enterprises are adopting public cloud system which reduces the cost of data storage. Based on services, integration services is one of the fastest growing segments due to the rising number of protocols and connectivity technologies.North America is dominating the global market due to governments support in implementing new technologies in IoT security and analytics. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region and the growth in this region can be mainly attributed to rising investments of governments in IoT initiatives.Some of the key players in global IoT Device Management market include Enhanced, Telecommunications Inc., Aeris, Telit Communications PLC, Advantech Co., Ltd., Oracle Corporation, Amplia Soluciones S.L., Xively, Cumulocity GmbH, Microsoft Corporation, Zentri, International Business Machines Corporation, Smith Micro Software, Inc., PTC Incorporation and Wind River.Applications Covered: Connected Health Connected Logistics Smart Home Smart Manufacturing Smart Retail Smart Transportation Smart Utilities Other ApplicationsServices Covered: Professional Serviceso Consulting Serviceso Integration Serviceso Support and Maintenance Managed ServicesDeployment Models Covered: Hybrid Cloud Private Cloud Public CloudSolutions Covered: Data Management Network Bandwidth Management Real-Time Streaming Analytics Remote Monitoring Security SolutionsOrganization Sizes Covered: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Large EnterprisesRegions Covered: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East & AfricaGet Customization in the Report, Enquire Now @What our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological 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 Application Analysis3.7 Emerging Markets3.8 Futuristic Market Scenario4 Porters Five Force Analysis4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers4.2 Bargaining power of buyers4.3 Threat of substitutes4.4 Threat of new entrants4.5 Competitive rivalry....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 Asset Integrity Management Global Market 2017: Key Players Aker Solutions ASA, Applus+ Servicios Tecnologicos, S.L., Bureau Veritas SA, DNV GL AS https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2361601-asset-integrity-management-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2361601-asset-integrity-management-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2361601 https://www.wiseguyreports.com Asset Integrity Management IndustryDescriptionWiseguyreports.Com Adds Asset Integrity Management -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2022 To Its Research DatabaseGlobal Asset Integrity Management market is expected to grow from $17.86 billion in 2016 to reach $34.94 billion by 2023 with a CAGR of 10.1%. Increasing awareness to mitigate capital expenditure of oil fields, growing pressure from governments to maintain quality & safety control requirements, and raise in exploration of new deep water offshore fields are some of the factors fostering the market growth. Furthermore, rapid growth in power sector and adopting new technologies are some other factors boosting the market growth during the forecast period. On the other hand, shortage of skilled professionals and unfavorable environmental situations are some of the restraints limiting the market growth.Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Inspection is a major service type among the other services. This process is broadly applied in numerous in-service application and manufacturing industries. Oil and gas industry is heavily uses asset integrity managed services to mitigate risk and minimize operating costs. These services are apt for subsea, onshore, and offshore oil fields for maintaining safe and quality requirements.North America region is holding the largest market revenue over the forecast period. High oil and gas exploration activities in this region impacting the North America market growth. Asia Pacific is projected to witness high growth rate during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to growing power consumption and increasing adoption of asset integrated managed services from emerging economy countries such as India, Japan, and China are driving the Asia Pacific market growth.Some of the key players in global asset integrity management market include Aker Solutions ASA, Applus+ Servicios Tecnologicos, S.L., Bureau Veritas SA, DNV GL AS, EM&I Ltd, Fluor Corporation, Genesis Oil and Gas Consultants Ltd., Intertek Group PLC, John Wood Group PLC, Lifetech Engineering Ltd., Meridium Inc., Metegrity Inc., Oceaneering International Inc., ROSEN Swiss AG, SGS SA, and TechnipFMC plc.Request for Sample Report @Service Types Covered: Corrosion Management Hazard Identification (HAZID) Study Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) Study Pipeline Integrity Management Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Inspection Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) Structural Integrity Management Other Service TypesEnd Users Covered: Aerospace Mining Power Oil and Gas Other End UsersRegions Covered: North Americao USo Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo UKo Italyo Franceo Spaino Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando Rest of Asia Pacific South Americao Argentinao Brazilo Chileo Rest of South America Middle East & Africao Saudi Arabiao UAEo Qataro South Africao Rest of 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 advancementsLeave a Query @Table of Content1 Executive Summary2 Preface2.1 Abstract2.2 Stake Holders2.3 Research Scope2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources2.5.1 Primary Research Sources2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources2.5.3 Assumptions3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.3 Restraints3.4 Opportunities3.5 Threats3.6 End User Analysis3.7 Emerging Markets3.8 Futuristic Market Scenario4 Porters Five Force Analysis4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers4.2 Bargaining power of buyers4.3 Threat of substitutes4.4 Threat of new entrants4.5 Competitive rivalry5 Global Asset Integrity Management Market, By Service Type5.1 Introduction5.2 Corrosion Management5.3 Hazard Identification (HAZID) Study5.4 Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) Study5.5 Pipeline Integrity Management5.6 Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Inspection5.7 Risk-Based Inspection (RBI)5.8 Structural Integrity Management5.9 Other Service Types...9 Company Profiling9.1 Aker Solutions ASA9.2 Applus+ Servicios Tecnologicos, S.L.9.3 Bureau Veritas SA9.4 DNV GL AS9.5 EM&I Ltd9.6 Fluor Corporation9.7 Genesis Oil and Gas Consultants Ltd.9.8 Intertek Group PLC9.9 John Wood Group PLC9.10 Lifetech Engineering Ltd.9.11 Meridium Inc.9.12 Metegrity Inc.9.13 Oceaneering International Inc.9.14 ROSEN Swiss AG9.15 SGS SA9.16 TechnipFMC plcBuy Now @Continued...Contact Us: Sales@Wiseguyreports.Com Ph: +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 LtdPune 411028Maharashtra, GlobalPh: +91 841 198 5042 Global Marketing Automation Software Market Can Make Your Business Smarter and Richer https://www.futuregenicreports.com/Request-Sample/100843 https://www.futuregenicreports.com/Request-Discount/100843 https://www.futuregenicreports.com/Reports/Marketing-Automation-Software-Market Market HighlightsMarketing Automation Software is a marketing tool that automates marketing process digitally by generating new lead and retaining them. The software offers complex process in order to have longer term lead nurturing through multiple online channels.The rising need of managing leads, segmenting premium customers from other, and converting customers into the premium one have given rise for need of marketing automation solutions. From SMBs to enterprises, the organizations are experiencing need of this software to target right prospects and customers with the right message.The major factor for the growth of Marketing Automation Software market is increasing demand for predictive analytics and community marketing. It helps the enterprises to gain customer insights, and make strategic decisions about their businesses by predicting the market demand and trends. It also provides customer visualization, with consistent, automatic, auditable, and high-quality communication through marketing processes. But the availability of open-sourced marketing automation software is acting barrier for the growth of the market.Detailed Sample Copy of Updated Analysis @Top Industry Players:This report studies the global Marketing Automation Software market, analyzes and researches the Marketing Automation Software development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, like: HubSpot, Marketo, Act-On Software, Salesforce, Adobe Systems, Oracle, Infusionsoft, IBM, Cognizant, ETrigue, GreenRope, Hatchbuck, IContact, LeadSquared, MarcomCentral, Salesfusion, SALESmanago, SAP, SAS Institute, SharpSpring, Aprimo.Key Benefits This report provides an extensive analysis of the current and emerging market trends and dynamics of the Marketing Automation Software market. The market trend analysis for all the countries is conducted by constructing estimations for key segments between 2018 and 2023 to identify the prevailing opportunities. The report assists to understand the strategies adopted by the leading companies in the industry. Extensive analysis is conducted by key player positioning and monitoring the top competitors within the regional market.Request Discount on this repots @Market SegmentMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia) Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, covers Campaign Management Email Marketing Mobile Application Inbound Marketing Lead Nurturing and Lead Scoring Reporting and Analytics Social Media MarketingMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into Large Enterprises Small and Mid-sized Enterprises (SMEs)Browse Report @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:Future Generic Reports244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email: sales@futuregenicreports.com Pharmaceutical Excipients Market Analysis & Technological Innovation by Top Industry Experts - Ashland, Inc. (U.S.), BASF SE (Germany), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Roquette (France), FMC Corporation (U.S.) Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Market- Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024 http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-pharmaceutical-excipients-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-pharmaceutical-excipients-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-pharmaceutical-excipients-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-pharmaceutical-excipients-market/ The Pharmaceuticals excipients market is highly fragmented and is based on new product launches and clinical results of products. Hence the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, clinical trials, market initiatives, high expense on research and development, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of Pharmaceuticals excipients market for global, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and South America.Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Market By Type (Organic {Oleochemicals, Artificial sweeteners, Carbohydrates, Cellulose, Starch, Petrochemicals, Inorganic},Functionality (Coatings & Films, Coloring agents, Binders, Diluents, Disintegrants, Flavoring agents, Glidants, and Lubricants), Formulations (Advanced Delivery Systems, Oral, Liquid, Parenteral, Topical) and Geography Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024The Pharmaceutical Excipients Market accounted to USD 7.4billion by the end of 2021growing at a CAGR of 6.8% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.Get a Free Sample Report @TOP Competitors of Market: Ashland, Inc. (U.S.), BASF SE (Germany), the Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Roquette (France), FMC Corporation (U.S.), Evonik Industries AG (Germany), Associated British Foods Plc. (U.K.), Archer Daniels Midland Company (U.S.), Lubrizol Corporation (U.S.), Croda International Plc. (U.K.), Akzo Nobel N.V. (U.K.), J.M. Huber Corporation (U.S.), Merck Millipore (U.S.), Croda International (U.S.), Signet Chemicals, Innophos Holdings Inc., WackerChemie AG and Avantor Performance Materials, Inc. (U.S.) among others.Get a Detail TOC Here @Market Definition:-Pharmaceutical Excipients are the inert substances with active ingredient in the dosage which are used to use to prepare final formulation of drugs. It is also termed as bulking agent, diluent or filler, which may be natural or synthetic substance in the whole drug. The excipients are used to prepare the final dosage to enhance the therapeutic effect of the active ingredient, stability, or for bioavailability or patient acceptability. They help to identify the product and enhance the safety and functionality of the product during storing period. The excipients enhanced the bulkiness to the final formulations, which leads to facilities the drug absorption. Excipients are used in various medicinal products like capsules, oral liquids, implants, inhalers, tablets and transdermal patches.Major Market Drivers: Increase in demand for oral pharmaceutical drugs and emergence of novel therapeutics. Utilization of functionality excipients to create controlled dosage forms. Advancements in nanotechnology to impart innovative functions to the excipients. Decline in R&D investments and the increasing stringency of regulatory requirements. Non-availability of standard quality gradation of excipients and their safety evaluation standards. Lack of FDA-approved manufacturing sites. Asia-Pacific is the emerging market as advance technology is used to manufacture new excipients.Avail 10% Discount on this Report @Market Segmentation:By Type:- Organic Chemicals which is categorized inOleochemicalsOn the basis of Functionality:- Coatings & Films, Coloring agents, Fillers, Binders, Diluents, Suspension & Viscocity Agents, Coatings, Disintegrants, Flavoring agents, Glidants, Preservatives agents Lubricants and other functionalities.By Formulations:- Advanced Delivery Systems, Oral formulation which is categorized in Capsules, which is further classified into Hard Gelat in Capsules and Soft Gelat in Capsules and Tablets, Liquid Formulations, Parenteral formulations and Topical formulations.On the basis of geography:- North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. U.S., Canada, Germany, France, U.K., China, India and Japan among others.Browse full report Here @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 Data Center Construction Market to Worth $45 Billion by 2023 | Arizton Global Data Center Construction Market Revenue to be Worth $45 bn by 2023 https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/global-data-center-construction-market https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/global-data-center-construction-market https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/global-data-center-construction-market The installation of 2N power infrastructure solutions among large facilities and implementation of containment solutions or rack-level modular solutions will transform the global data center construction marketAriztons recent market research report on the global data center construction market provides comprehensive industry analysis, trend forecasts, and competitive analysis. The research study segments the market by electrical construction (UPS systems, generators, transfer switches & switchgear, rack PDU, and other electrical infrastructure), by mechanical construction (cooling systems, rack, and other infrastructure), by tier standard (Tier 1 & 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4), by general construction (building development, installation and commissioning services, building design, physical security, and DCIM), by geography (North America, Europe, APAC, Latin America, and MEA), and offers detailed competitive analysis.The global data center construction market is anticipated to reach revenues of approximately $45 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of over 6% during the forecast period. The research report also offers market size in square ft area and power capacity in megawatts (MW) across geographies.The increasing number of colocation providers building hyperscale facilities spanning over 200,000 square feet and rack power density of up to 40kW will contribute to the growth of the global data center construction market.Request for a sample today:The top 3 drivers and trends augmenting the growth of the global data center construction market are discussed below:Tax Incentives and Availability of ResourcesThe growing availability of various resources and lucrative tax incentives are the major factors attributing of the growth of the global data center construction market. Several state and local governments provide investment, job creation, and sales tax incentives to attract new facilities operators in the global market. The availability of beneficial tax breaks will help yield millions of dollars in savings for hyperscale operators in the global data center construction market. Tax incentives are major criteria for the process of site selection for data center and further help to generate business opportunities for local sub-contracts.According to the research analysts at Arizton, currently, more than 20 states in the US provide tax incentives for service providers and is expected that about 40 states will be offering tax incentives for facilities development by 2023. Moreover, the availability of resources such as renewable energy sources, reliable power supply, accessibility of water for cooling, and presence of fiber connectivity are some of the other factors that will attract more investments to specific regions for construction activities in the global market. The lucrative incentives and land for development will boost the revenues in the global data center construction market over the next few years.District Heating by Data CentersConstructions of new facilities are the largest of consumer of power and water in any region and the main attributors of environmental pollution in the area. Leading colocation operators are now focusing on redistributing the excess heat generate by these facilities in locations where it gets very cold in the winter thereby, promoting sustainable development and reducing carbon footprint in the global data center construction market. Facilities waste heat for district heating is being used by few provides in the global market and IBM is among the pioneering companies that support this technique. District heating concept is gaining increased popularity among facilities operators and local governments across the Europe, the US, and Canada. For instance, Multigrid facility in Stockholm Data Parks has partnered with Fortum Varme, a district energy company regarding supply of waste heat from centers to nearby homes during winter. Another example of this method of reducing heat wastage is undertaken by Facebooks upcoming facility Odense, Denmark that is being designed to heat around 7,000 homes in nearby community. Such efforts to reduce energy wastage and adoption of new technology will augment the development of the global data center construction market.Request for your free sample today!Growing Construction of Cryptocurrency CentersThe increasing interest from individuals and businesses in cryptocurrency mining owing its growing popularity and profitability will fuel the growth of the global data center construction market. Mining of cryptocurrency will initiate the building of new facilities, collocating spaces, and increased mining in cloud platforms. The miners are identifying suitable locations for their operations and investing heavily on construction of new centers in the global data center construction market.For instance, Kolos data center development in Norway is promising to be the largest data center in world with power capacity of 1GW during the forecast period.The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Ripple (XRP) will have a positive impact on the overall development of the construction market. The growing investments in new facilities will contribute to the revenues in the global data center construction market.The leading vendors in the global data center construction market are ABB, Eaton, Rittal, Schneider Electric, STULZ, Vertiv, Caterpillar, Cummins, AECOM, DPR Construction, HDR Architecture, Holder Construction, Jacobs Engineering Group, Mercury Engineering, M +W Group, Airedale Air Conditioning, Alfa Laval, Altima Technologies (NetZoom), Bosch Security Systems (Robert Bosch), Condair Group, Delta Group, GE, HPE, Huawei, Legrand, Nlyte Software, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, MTU On Site Energy, Socomec Group, Trane (Ingersoll Rand), Arup Group, Cap Ingelec, Corgan, CSF Group, Fluor Corporation, Fortis Construction, Gensler, Gilbane Building Co., Jones Engineering Group, KKR Investment Group, Morrison Hershfield, Mortenson Construction, Structure Tone, Syska Hennessy Group, and Whiting-Turner Contracting.The complete overview of the latest market research report on global data center construction market by Arizton is now available.The report also offers a detailed study of major trends, drivers, challenges, and also provides the market size and forecast for major geographical regions and key countries.Order a report now:About Arizton Advisory & IntelligenceArizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services.Arizton has gained a paramount standpoint in the market research arena as it offers top of the line solutions to clients to assess market landscape and to finalize foolproof business strategies. We are committed to provide inclusive market research reports and consulting services to clients from diversified industries including Consumer Goods & Retail Technology, Automotive and Mobility, Smart Tech, Healthcare and Lifesciences, Industrial Machinery, Chemicals and Materials, IT and Media, Logistics and PackagingArizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports.Arizton Advisory & IntelligenceChicago, Illinois, 60605Mail: enquiry@arizton.comCall: +1-312-465-7864 Oleochemicals 2018 Global Industry Key Players Wilmar International, IOI Group, KLK Oleo ,Emery Oleochemicals ,Clariant AG Market Analysis And Forecast To 2025 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1653711-oleochemicals-market-by-type-fatty-acids-fatty-alcohols-glycerine-fatty-amines https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1653711-oleochemicals-market-by-type-fatty-acids-fatty-alcohols-glycerine-fatty-amines Global Oleochemicals MarketOleochemicals are chemicals that are derived from plants and animal fats. Many a times they are analogous to petrochemicals which are derived from petroleum. During the 1970s, when there were considerable amount of profits generated from petroleum based products, the market for natural oils and fats-based chemicals saw a reduction in the gains. However, when the petrochemical industry experienced a steep plunge in the crude oil prices, the attention got shifted from petrochemicals to natural-based feedstock.Request a Sample Report @The manufacturing of oleochemicals deals with a series of enzymatic reactions across the production process to manufacture basic oleochemicals like fatty acids and alcohols along with glycerine. The hydrolysis of fats result in 95% production of fatty acids and glycerine is produced as a by-product. These fatty acids are further utilized for the production of fatty alcohols and methyl esters. Fatty acids are anticipated dominate the global oleochemicals market by type and are estimated to control around 51% of the total oleochemicals consumption by type in 2021. However, fatty amines are estimated to attain the fastest growth rate during the forecast period. The global market size is estimated to reach $31.7bn by 2021 at a CAGR of around 4.9% during the forecast period of 2016 and 2021.The report explains that global oleochemicals market is segmented on the basis of types, application and geography. Based on types, oleochemicals is classified intoFatty AcidsFatty AlcoholsGlycerineFatty Acid Methyl Esters andFatty AminesOleochemicals find their applications into a variety of end used industries which include,PharmaceuticalsPersonal CareFood & BeveragesSoaps & DetergentsLubricant & GreasePulp & PaperPlastics, rubber and textilesPaint & Surface CoatingsIntermediates and OthersEach of these segments is further broken down to give an in-depth analysis of the market. The oleochemicals market report analyses the oleochemicals in various applications and covers the market demand with respect to regions.With environmental safety being the prime concern and the non-renewable resources getting depleted, stringent regulations are forced to be amended. With this initiative there has been a big opportunity for the oleochemicals to pave into the market and substitute the traditional petroleum based products. The oleochemicals market is driven by increased demand from the end-use industries such as soaps and detergents, personal care, pharmaceuticals, lubricants and many others. Abundant supply of raw materials and competitiveness of the prices are yet other reasons which will propel the growth of oleochemicals in the near future.Complete Report Details @As far as the geographical region are concerned, Asia-Pacific, due to its expanding economy and rapidly growing industrial and commercial activities is estimated to experience the highest growth in the oleochemicals market between 2016 and 2021. The Key Players profiled in this report include like:Wilmar InternationalIOI GroupKLK OleoEmery OleochemicalsClariant AGThe report analyses the oleochemicals market demand with respect to various regions. Competitive landscape for top five oleochemicals market is highlighted and market players are profiled and are analysed on disparate aspects like company overview, financial overview, product portfolio and recent developments.Oleochemicals Market OverviewExecutive Summary3. Oleochemicals Market Landscape3.1. Market Share Analysis3.2. Comparative Analysis3.2.1. Product Benchmarking3.2.2. End user profiling3.2.3. Top 5 Financials Analysis4. Oleochemicals Market Forces4.1. Market Drivers4.2. Market Constraints4.3. Market Challenges4.4. Attractiveness of the Oleochemicals Industry4.4.1. Power of Suppliers4.4.2. Power of Customers4.4.3. Threat of New entrants4.4.4. Threat of Substitution4.4.5. Degree of Competition5. Oleochemicals Market Strategic Analysis5.1. Value Chain Analysis5.2. Pricing Analysis5.3. Opportunities Analysis5.4. Product/Market Life Cycle Analysis5.5. Suppliers and Distributors6. Oleochemicals Market: By Type6.1. Fatty Acids6.2. Fatty Alcohols6.3. Glycerine6.4. Fatty Amines6.5. Fatty Acid Methyl Esters6.6. Others7. Oleochemicals Market By Application7.1. Pharmaceutical7.2. Personal Care7.3. Food & Beverages7.4. Soaps & Detergents7.5. Lubricant & Grease7.6. Pulp & Paper7.7. Additives for Plastics, Rubber and Textiles7.8. Paint & Surface Coatings7.9. Intermediates7.10. Others8. Oleochemicals Market -Geographic Analysis8.1. Americas8.1.1. US8.1.2. Canada8.1.3. Mexico8.1.4. Argentina8.1.5. Others8.2. Europe8.2.1. France8.2.2. Germany8.2.3. Italy8.2.4. Others8.3. APAC8.3.1. China8.3.2. India8.3.3. Japan8.3.4. Malaysia8.3.5. Indonesia8.3.6. Philippines8.3.7. Others8.4. ROW8.4.1. Middle East8.4.2. South Africa8.4.3. Russia8.4.4. OthersContinued.Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Global Flotation Reagents Market Professional Survey Report 2018 - Fuchs Lubricants, Air Products, Cytec Solvay Group, https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1643053 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-flotation-reagents-market-professional-survey-report-2018-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketsizeinfo.blogspot.in/ Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Flotation Reagents Market Professional Survey Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies Flotation Reagents in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringCheminovaArkemaChevron Phillips ChemicalAkzoNobelKemcoreHuntsmanOricaSellwell GroupArrMaz Mining ChemicalsSibur InternationalSNF FloMinFuchs LubricantsAir ProductsCytec Solvay GroupClariantTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Kao ChemicalsNalco Water (Ecolab)SenminEkofole ReagentsNasacoQiXia TongDa Flotation ReagentBGRIMMForbon TechnologyQingdao Bright ChemicalTieling Flotation ReagentOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoFlotation FrothersFlotation Promoters/CollectorsFlotation DepressantsFlotation ActivatorsFlotation SulphidizersFlotation RegulatorsOthersBy Application, the market can be split intoCoal, Graphite, CokeNon-Sulfide-OresSulfide OresOthersBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaTable of ContentsGlobal Flotation Reagents Market Professional Survey Report 20181 Industry Overview of Flotation Reagents1.1 Definition and Specifications of Flotation Reagents1.1.1 Definition of Flotation Reagents1.1.2 Specifications of Flotation Reagents1.2 Classification of Flotation Reagents1.2.1 Flotation Frothers1.2.2 Flotation Promoters/Collectors1.2.3 Flotation Depressants1.2.4 Flotation Activators1.2.5 Flotation Sulphidizers1.2.6 Flotation Regulators1.2.7 Others1.3 Applications of Flotation Reagents1.3.1 Coal, Graphite, Coke1.3.2 Non-Sulfide-Ores1.3.3 Sulfide Ores1.3.4 Others1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Flotation Reagents2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Flotation Reagents2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Flotation Reagents2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Flotation ReagentsGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Flotation Reagents3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Flotation Reagents Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Flotation Reagents Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Flotation Reagents Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Flotation Reagents Major Manufacturers in 20174 Global Flotation Reagents Overall Market Overview4.1 2013-2018E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2013-2018E Global Flotation Reagents Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2017 Flotation Reagents Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2013-2018E Global Flotation Reagents Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2017 Flotation Reagents Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2013-2018E Global Flotation Reagents Sales PriceContinue...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 @ Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation Devices Market to Exceed US$ 2940.5 Mn in 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/18085 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/cranio-maxillofacial-fixation-devices-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/multiple-chapter/18085 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-cranio-maxillofacial-fixation-devices-market-to-reach-us-29405-mn-by-2025---persistence-market-research-642986753.html https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/18085 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Persistence Market Research has published the new report, Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation Devices Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Forecast (2017-2025), which studies the overall performance of the highly competitive global cranio maxillofacial fixation devices market for the assessment period of ten years. The global cranio maxillofacial fixation devices market is anticipated to expand at a significant CAGR over the forecast period Europe is likely to dominate the market by grabbing maximum revenue share over the projected period. Increasing efforts and funding to raise awareness of cleft and craniofacial disorders across the globe is favourable factor for the growth of the global cranio maxillofacial fixation devices market. Revenue from the global cranio maxillofacial fixation devices market was US$ 1535.5 Mn in 2016, and is expected to reach US$ 2940.5 Mn by the end of 2025. Sales revenue is expected to register a robust CAGR of 7.5% between 2017 and 2025.Request to Sample of Report @Key Trends in the Global Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation Devices MarketThe increasing number of accredited hospitals and clinics to handle the patient pool is expected the drive the demand for the cranio maxillofacial fixation device. Major advancement towards improved standard of care and international players targeting the global market fuel the growth of the global market for cranio maxillofacial fixation devices market. Gradual shift from titanium to polymer implants and the use of 3D X-rays that provide unique augmented reality view create positive impact on the global market. Increasing government funding towards start-ups and expansion domestic players in the market through new establishment. Use of robotics during surgery to avoid complications and upsurge In number of surgical procedures is expected the drive the demand for the cranio maxillofacial fixation devicesRequest for Table of Contents @Global Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation Devices Market: Segmental ForecastOn the basis of product type, the cranio maxillofacial fixation devices market is segmented into plate and screw fixation, flap fixation, bone graft substitute, thoracic fixation, and CMF distraction system. Among all these segments, plate & screw fixation segment accounted for 60.6% market share in 2016, which is expected to increase to 61.6% by 2025 end. Bone graft substitutes segment is expected to remain the second largest segment in terms of revenue growth in cranio maxillofacial fixation devices market and is expected to register a CAGR of 7.4% over the forecast period. Fixation type segment includes internal fixation and external fixation. Internal fixation market dominated the global cranio maxillofacial fixation devices market in terms of revenue in 2016, and the trend is projected to grow throughout the forecast period. Internal fixation market is the most attractive segment, with attractiveness index of 1.8 over the forecast period. End user segment is divided into hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. Revenue from the hospital market is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 7.9% during 2017-2025.Request Report Multiple Chapter @Global Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation Devices Market: Regional ForecastPersistence Market Research has covered the North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC and MEA regions while examining the global cranio maxillofacial fixation devices market. Europe region is expected to dominate the market throughout the projected period with 54.5% market share in 2025. Revenue from Europe market is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 7.7% over 2017-2025. North America market is expected to be the second most lucrative market in the CMF device market by global, with attractiveness index of 1.3 during the forecast period.For more information @Global Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation Devices Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players covered in this report are Zimmer Biomet Holding Inc., Stryker Corp., Johnson and Johnson (DePuy Synthes), Medtronic, Integra LifeSciences, B. Braun Melsungen AG, KLS Martin LP, Poriferous LLC, Medartis Holding AG, Matrix Surgical USA.Get full report now @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global Food Processing System Market Research Report 2018 - GEA Group, Bhler AG, Marel, Ali SpA, JBT, Meyer Industries, https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1641826 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-food-processing-system-market-research-report-2018-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketsizeinfo.blogspot.in/ Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Food Processing System Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Food Processing System 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 Food Processing System in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Food Processing System market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingGEA GroupBhler AGMarelAli SpAJBTTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Meyer IndustriesSatake CorporationHaasBaader GroupBucher IndustriesHaarslev IndustriesRheon Automatic MachineryBMASinmag Bakery MachineMecathermNichimoTomra SystemsRisco SpAKey TechnologyPavan SrlMIWEBaker PerkinsAtlas Pacific EngineeringHosokawa MicronMallet & CompanyBriggsWengerLehuiHebei XiaoJinSENONOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoFrozen Food Processing MachineryBakery and pasta Processing MachineryMeat Processing MachineryOthersOn 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, includingFood Processing PlantsRestaurantsOthersTable of ContentsGlobal Food Processing System Market Research Report 20181 Food Processing System Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Food Processing System1.2 Food Processing System Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Food Processing System Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Food Processing System Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Frozen Food Processing Machinery1.2.4 Bakery and pasta Processing Machinery1.2.5 Meat Processing Machinery1.2.6 Others1.3 Global Food Processing System Segment by Application1.3.1 Food Processing System Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Food Processing Plants1.3.3 Restaurants1.3.4 Others1.4 Global Food Processing System Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Food Processing System 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 Food Processing System (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Food Processing System Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Food Processing System Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Food Processing System Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Food Processing System Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Food Processing System Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Food Processing System Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Food Processing System Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Food Processing System Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Food Processing System Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Food Processing System Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Food Processing System Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Food Processing System Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @3 Global Food Processing System Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Food Processing System Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Food Processing System Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Food Processing System Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Food Processing System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Food Processing System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Food Processing System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China Food Processing System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)Continue...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 @ Global Machine Condition Monitoring Market Research 2018: By Key Players including Bostik, Inc., The Dow Chemical Company, 3M, H.B. Fuller Company, Henkel AG &Co. KGaA Global Plastisols Market- Industry Trends and Forecast to 2025 http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-plastisols-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-plastisols-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-plastisols-market/ The Global Plastisols 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.Global Plastisols Market accounted for USD 14.70 billion in 2017 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.19% during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2014, 2015, the base year of calculation is 2017 and the forecast period is 2018 to 2025.Get a Sample Copy Of This Report @Global Plastisols Market By Resin Type (PVC, Acrylic), By Processing Technology (Moldings, Coatings, Screen Printing, Spraying, Dipping, Casting), By Application (Coating, Ink, Slush Molding), By End User (Textiles, Automotive, Construction, Metal Finishing, Military, Recreational), By Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Europe, South America, Middle East and Africa) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2025Top Competitors:Some of the major players in Global Plastisols market are:- Bostik, Inc., The Dow Chemical Company, 3M, H.B. Fuller Company, Henkel AG &Co. KGaA, Dow Corning Corporation, Chemence Ltd, Franklin International, Illinois Tool Works Inc., ITW TACC, KONISHI CHEMICAL INC CO., Hernon Manufacturing, Inc., KRAFFT SLU, Hutchinson Worldwide, Hodgson Sealants and ITW Devcon, Inc. among others.Market Definition:Plastisols are the heterogeneous mixture of the vinyl chloride polymer in liquid plasticizers, which does not dissolve the resins at the room temperature. It gets dissolved only when these are converted into solid from the liquid form by heating. Its physical as well as the chemical properties can be varied throughout wide range.Major Market Drivers: Growth in the end use industry. Rising investment in research and development activities Growing automotive industryMarket Restraint: Strict environmental issue regarding polyvinyl chlorideEarly Buyer Will Get 10% Discount on This Report @Market Segmentation: On the basis of resin type: - Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and acrylic. On the basis of processing technology: - Moldings, Coatings, Screen Printing, Spraying, Dipping, Casting and others. Moldings are sub segmented into dip molding, slush molding rotational molding and open molding. Others are sub segmented into sealants, adhesives and saturants. On the basis of application: - coating, ink and slush molding. On the basis of end user:- Textiles, automotive, construction, metal finishing, military, recreational and others. On the basis of geography:- North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa. Some of the major countries covered in this report are U.S., Canada, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Brazil among others.Read more about This Report @Key Questions Addressed:What is the current state of the Global Plastisols Market and how will it develop over the next decade?What are the key drivers of market growth, and the key challenges faced by the industry?What are the major applications for Plastisols Market and what are their respective growth profiles?What are the technology challenges associated with Plastisols Industry?What are the important players in the Plastisols Market?What is the size of the Plastisols Market opportunity?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 Micro Packaging Market Trends Research and Projections for 2017-2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/18151 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/18151 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Global micro packaging market: IntroductionMicro packaging refers to the integration of nano-materials such as nano-coatings and films to form a high barrier packaging solution, resistant to light, air and heat. Micro packaging is a relatively new concept that presents numerous opportunities of growth, in all verticals of the global packaging industry. It is anticipated that various industries, especially the food industry, are to benefit from micro packaging. Micro packaging technology is anticipated to enjoy increased preference in all industries, owing to its nanotechnology roots.Technological advancement in various fields, such as in the healthcare industry has paved way for increased need of more advanced packaging solutions, thereby fueling demand for micro packaging. For instance, the advent of nanotechnology has led to the conceptualization of new drug delivery forms, which demand increased protection against elements such as moisture, heat and light, to protect the drug. In addition, ongoing research and development in nanotechnology has revealed a plethora of possibilities for the global micro packaging industry.Improved bio-availability, antimicrobial activity, enhanced sensory acceptance, and targeted delivery of bioactive compounds are some of the factors, expected to increase credibility and preference for micro packaging. Overall, nanotechnology is said to be the future, and therefore, it is anticipated that micro packaging will witness rapid penetration in the markets, in the future.Global micro packaging market: DynamicsThe global packaging industry has transformed over the past few decades, creating an absolute need for customization. Innovation in form of materials used in new products, dictates the momentum of technological advancement in the global packaging industry. There are various factors which are expected to positively impact the global micro packaging market and facilitate its growth. These include, a global effort to move to more sophisticated yet safer technology, in order to increase consumer convenience, as well as maintain the quality of products. Many people believe edible packaging to be the future of food packaging. A few years ago, in 2011, a team of students from Texas A&M University developed a new thin-coating polymer, which had food-preservation abilities, equivalent to that of glass.The micro packaging solution could be switched back and forth between polymers, depending on food-contact approval. Customizability of this technology, coupled with the excellent gas barrier properties drew the attention of various food companies to its discovery. Furthermore, micro packaging is also poised to immensely benefit the pharmaceutical packaging industry. Various applications in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, including implant packaging, micro-fabrication, and micro-assembly, demand the level of sophistication that micro packaging has on offer. It is therefore anticipated that technological advancement in the healthcare and pharmaceutical packaging sector will drive growth of the global micro packaging market.The consumer electronics industry is expected to be another major contributor to growth of the global micro packaging market, over the forecast period. Despite the positive outlook, there are several factors which might hamper growth of the global micro packaging market. Micro packaging involves a very technologically advanced field of packaging science, which might be new to many manufacturers across the world, and therefore, it will take time for it to be accepted as a safe packaging solution, as is the case with all new technology. It has been observed that companies such as McDonalds prefer to steer clear of new entrants in the packaging industry until they have been proven to be safe and risk-free. Adoption of micro packaging might be slow and gradual, over the forecast period. However, the future of the global micro packaging market looks promising, and will be so, once consumer and manufacturer awareness regarding its benefits increases.Request for Table of Contents @Global micro packaging market: SegmentationThe global micro packaging market has been segmented as follows On the basis of end use industry, the global micro packaging market has been segmented as follows:Food & Beverage IndustryPersonal Care & Cosmetics IndustryPharmaceutical IndustryOn the basis of application, the global micro packaging market has been segmented as follows:VialsCartonsFilmsBoxesBlister PacksSachetsPouchesTraysDoy bagsOthersOn the basis of material type, the global micro packaging market has been segmented as follows:Paper and paperboardGlassMetalPlastic copolymersGlobal micro packaging market: Geographical OutlookThe global micro packaging market has been divided into seven major regions North AmericaLatin AmericaWestern EuropeEastern EuropeAsia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ)Middle East & Africa (MEA)JapanNorth America and the Western Europe regions are expected to lead the global micro packaging market, owing to intense efforts on R&D by major companies and a technologically advanced healthcare sector. Japan and Eastern Europe are expected to have high penetration of micro packaging technology over the forecast period. The APEJ micro packaging market is expected to gain traction, with the gradual incorporation of new technology in the packaging industry.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Global micro packaging market: Key PlayersSome of the players operating in the global micro packaging market include Bayer AG, Tetra Pak International S.A., Avery Dennison Corporation, Bemis Company, Inc., and Amcor Limited.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global Intraocular Lens (IOLs) Market to Grow at a CAGR of 4.42 % During The Period 2017-2021. https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1208679 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-intraocular-lens-iols-market-2017-2021-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketsizeinfo.blogspot.in/ Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Intraocular Lens (IOLs) Market 2017-2021" to its huge collection of research reports.About Intraocular Lens (IOLs)IOLs are used for vision correction and the process is known as refractive lens exchange. IOL is a synthetic artificial lens. The lens is implanted to replace the eyes' natural lens. Glasses may be required after surgery for reading and short or long distance sight depending on the power of lens used. Several types of IOLs are available in the market and can be differentiated into four major segments: monofocal IOLs, multifocal IOLs, toric IOLs, and accommodative IOLs. The US FDA had approved IOLs for implantation. The ideal IOLs tend to provide benefit to the surgeon as well as the individual. The surgeon looks for ease of implantation and lack of intraoperative complications, the individual asks for better vision and refractive stability. Foldable IOLs are preferred in recent times.Technavios analysts forecast the global Intraocular Lens (IOLs) market to grow at a CAGR of 4.42 % during the period 2017-2021.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global intraocular lens (IOLs) market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of IOLs.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATechnavio's report, Global Intraocular Lens (IOLs) Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendorsAlconBausch & LombCarl ZeissJohnson & Johnson (Abbott Medical Optics)Other prominent vendorsHOYA Surgical OpticsOculentisOphtecRaynerSTAAR SurgicalMarket driverRise in prevalence of cataractFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengePost-surgery complicationsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendShift toward ASCs for eye careFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Table of ContentsPART 01: Executive summaryPART 02: Scope of the reportPART 03: Research MethodologyPART 04: IntroductionMarket outlinePART 05: Market landscapeMarket overviewMarket size and forecastFive forces analysisPART 06: Market segmentation by productMarket overviewMonofocal IOLsMultifocal IOLsToric IOLsAccommodative IOLsPART 07: Market segmentation by end-usersMarket overviewHospitalsASCsGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Eye research institutePART 08: Geographical segmentationMarket scenarioIOLs market in AmericasIOLs market in EMEAIOLs market in APACPART 09: Decision frameworkPART 10: Drivers and challengesMarket driversMarket challengesPART 11: Market trendsIntroduction of emerging technologiesContinue...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 @ Global Cable Laying Vessels Market Forecast 2018-2025 Royal IHC, Amels Holland, Cammell Laird, Kleven Cable Laying Vessels Market https://bit.ly/2KbT4fC http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-cable-laying-vessels-market-4146 A market study "Global Cable Laying Vessels Market" examines the performance of the Cable Laying Vessels market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Cable Laying Vessels market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Cable Laying Vessels market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Cable Laying Vessels Market 2018 report includes Cable Laying Vessels market Revenue, market Share, Cable Laying Vessels industry volume, market Trends, Cable Laying Vessels Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Cable Laying Vessels Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Cable Laying Vessels Market 2018 :1. Amels Holland2. KANREI SHIPBUILDING3. Kleven4. Cammell Laird5. Zhejiang Kailing6. Royal IHC.7. Royal Boskalis Westminster...Cable Laying Vessels Market : By ApplicationOffshore EnergyMaritimeTelecommunicationsOthersCable Laying Vessels Market : By TypeMultipurpose VesselsModern Cable ShipsOthersFirstly, the report covers the top Cable Laying Vessels manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Cable Laying Vessels report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Cable Laying Vessels industry, Cable Laying Vessels industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Cable Laying Vessels Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Cable Laying Vessels 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 Cable Laying Vessels market revenue worldwide.Finally, Cable Laying Vessels 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:QYMarketStudy.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:United StatesContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Global Antirust Turbine Oil Market Forecast 2018-2025 Sasol, Gulf Oil Marine, ExxonMobil, Chevron Lubricants Antirust Turbine Oil Market https://bit.ly/2KfoaTk http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-antirust-turbine-oil-sales-market-4144 A market study "Global Antirust Turbine Oil Market" examines the performance of the Antirust Turbine Oil market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Antirust Turbine Oil market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Antirust Turbine Oil market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Antirust Turbine Oil Market 2018 report includes Antirust Turbine Oil market Revenue, market Share, Antirust Turbine Oil industry volume, market Trends, Antirust Turbine Oil Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Antirust Turbine Oil Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Antirust Turbine Oil Market 2018 :1. Chevron Lubricants2. Shell Global3. SINOPEC4. Total5. Quantum Lubricants6. Sasol7. ExxonMobil8. Gulf Oil MarineAntirust Turbine Oil Market : By ApplicationIndustrial EquipmentAerospaceAutomotiveOthersAntirust Turbine Oil Market : By TypeNeutralAlkalinityFirstly, the report covers the top Antirust Turbine Oil manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Antirust Turbine Oil report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Antirust Turbine Oil industry, Antirust Turbine Oil industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Antirust Turbine Oil Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Antirust Turbine Oil research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Antirust Turbine Oil market revenue worldwide.Finally, Antirust Turbine Oil market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.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:United StatesContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Global Quantum Cryptography Market Forecast 2018-2025 IBM, ID Quantique, Nokia, HP Development Company Quantum Cryptography Market https://bit.ly/2FeNx4l http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-quantum-cryptography-market-4123 A market study "Global Quantum Cryptography Market" examines the performance of the Quantum Cryptography market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Quantum Cryptography market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Quantum Cryptography market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Quantum Cryptography Market 2018 report includes Quantum Cryptography market Revenue, market Share, Quantum Cryptography industry volume, market Trends, Quantum Cryptography Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Quantum Cryptography Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Quantum Cryptography Market 2018 :1. HP Development Company2. ID Quantique3. IBM4. Nokia...Quantum Cryptography Market : By ApplicationGoverning and regulatory bodiesLarge enterprisesSMEsQuantum Cryptography Market : By TypeDesignStudyFirstly, the report covers the top Quantum Cryptography manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Quantum Cryptography report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Quantum Cryptography industry, Quantum Cryptography industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Quantum Cryptography Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Quantum Cryptography 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 Quantum Cryptography market revenue worldwide.Finally, Quantum Cryptography 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:QYMarketStudy.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:United StatesContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Red Berries Market Poised to Expand at 3.0% CAGR In terms of value During 2016 - 2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1648 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1648 www.futuremarketinsights.com Red berries are gaining popularity as a natural ingredient, with global demand growing by 1.9% volume in 2016. The all-pervasive, health and wellness trend will continue to influence demand positively, as global revenues are expected to surpass US$ 18.5 Mn in 2016, up from US$ 18.1 Mn in 2015.Beverages will remain the largest application segment for red berries, accounting for 5.3 Mn tonnes of demand in 2016. This is an increase of over 3.5% over 2015. Dairy products, the second largest application segment will grow by 2.8%.Request For Report Sample@By berry type, grapes will continue to witness highest demand from end-use industries, growing by 3.2% in 2016. This will represent a market value of over US$ 8.9 Mn.By product type, juice concentrates will maintain their dominance in 2016 as well, representing over 34.3% revenue share of the market. Juice concentrates volume will grow by 3.6% in 2016, and total US$ 6.4 million in revenues.Western Europe, the largest market for red berries, will increase its revenue share of the market to 25.5%. North America the second largest market will register impressive growth in 2016.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Ocean Spray Cranberry Inc., Dohler Group, SunOpta, Inc., Hortex Group, Milne Fruit Products, Fruit d'Or, Townsend Farms, Inc., Kerr Concentrates Inc., Maberry & Maberry Berry Associates, Pacific Coast Fruit Products Ltd., NorthWest Berry Co-op and Berryhill Foods Inc. are some of the key players in this market. Leading companies are focusing on expanding their production capacity and launching new product offerings to meet the growing demand for red berries. Developing economies, where there is rapid growth in demand for natural ingredients, are expected to remain a key target market for red berry manufacturers.Long-term outlook: FMI maintains a positive long-term outlook on the global red berries market, estimating global revenues projected to reach US$ 24.9 Mn by 2026.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Global Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics Market Forecast 2018-2025 Incyte, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Genentech Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics Market https://bit.ly/2Hvg2g5 http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-squamous-nonsmall-cell-lung-cancer-therapeutics-market-4122 A market study "Global Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics Market" examines the performance of the Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics Market 2018 report includes Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics market Revenue, market Share, Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics industry volume, market Trends, Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics Market 2018 :1. Ascenta Therapeutics, Inc.2. AstraZeneca Plc3. AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc.4. Bayer AG5. BIND Therapeutics, Inc.6. Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH7. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company8. Eli Lilly and Company9. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.10. Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc.11. Genentech, Inc.12. Incyte Corporation13. Johnson & Johnson14. MacroGenics, Inc.15. Novartis AG16. Oncogenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.17. PsiOxus Therapeutics LimitedSquamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics Market : By ApplicationResearch CenterHospitalClinicSquamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics Market : By TypeBMS-906024Buparlisib HydrochlorideFP-1039IpilimumabJNJ-42756493LenvatinibOthersFirstly, the report covers the top Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics industry, Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapeutics industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. 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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:United StatesContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Glass Wafers Market Trend to 2023 Profiling Nippon Electric Glass, Asahi Glass Co, Corning, Tecnisco, Plan Optik AG, Bullen, Swift Glass, Edmund Optics https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1029362/?utm_source=OPR&utm_medium=SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-glass-wafers-market-2018-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023/?utm_source=OPR-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-glass-wafers-market-professional-survey-report-2017/?utm_source=RR-SP https://factsweek.com/author/chetan/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ http://reports.algosonline.com/ Glass Wafers Market report 2023 focuses on the major Types and Applications for the key players. Glass Wafers market research report also provides analysis of the market share, segmentation, revenue forecasts and geographic regions of the market. The Glass Wafers market research report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of Glass Wafers Industry.A glass wafer is a thin piece of semiconductor material, usually borosilicate glass, quartz or fused silica, in the shape of a very thin disc that is used as a base for fabricating electronic integrated circuits (ICs) and silicon-based photovoltaic cells. The glass wafer serves as the substrate for most microelectronic circuits and goes through many processes, such as doping, implantation and etching, before the final product of an integrated circuit is completed.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Glass Wafers 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 a Sample Copy of Glass Wafers Market Report @Glass Wafers Market Segment by Top Manufacturers Including:SCHOTT, Nippon Electric Glass, Asahi Glass Co, Corning, Tecnisco, Plan Optik AG, Bullen, Swift Glass, Coresix Precision Glass, Edmund Optics, Hoya Corporation, Sydor Optics, Prazisions Glas & Optik, Valley Design, Zhejiang Lante Optics and Nikon.An inherent sub-vertical of the Chemicals and Advanced Materials Industry space, Glass Wafers market stands to gain remarkable proceeds over 2018-2023, as per a recently compiled report Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Table of Contents:Global Glass Wafers Market OverviewGlobal Glass Wafers Market Manufacturers ProfilesGlobal Glass Wafers Market Competition, by ManufacturerGlobal Glass Wafers Market Analysis by RegionsGlobal Glass Wafers by CountriesGlobal Glass Wafers Market Segment by TypeGlobal Glass Wafers Market Segment by ApplicationGlass Wafers Market Forecast (2018-2023)Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and DealersResearch Findings and ConclusionMarket Segment by Type, coversBorosilicate Glass, Quartz and Fused SilicaMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into:Aerospace Equipment, Motor Vehicles, Machinery & Equipment, Pipe & Fitting, Valves, Pumps & Compressors, Special Industry Machinery and OthersThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Glass Wafers market.Chapter 1, to describe Glass Wafers Market Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Glass Wafers, with sales, revenue, and price of Glass Wafers, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Glass Wafers, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Glass Wafers market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Glass Wafers sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceKey questions answered in Glass Wafers market report:What will the market size be in 2023 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key Glass Wafers market trends?What is Key Top Manufactures this market?What are the challenges to Glass Wafers market growth?What are the Glass Wafers market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Glass Wafers market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by types and applications of Glass Wafers market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by regions of Glass Wafers market?For more information on this report, Please visit at:Related Reports: -Global Glass Wafers Market Professional Survey Report 2017This report studies Glass Wafers in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.More Report @Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:More Report at: Pediatric Ultrasound Market Latest Trends & Global Outlook 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1238 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1238 https://www.tmrresearch.com/pediatric-ultrasound-market Global Pediatric Ultrasound Market: SnapshotUltrasound imaging, or sonography, makes use of sound waves in high frequencies to take a look inside the body. It is a noninvasive diagnostic procedure that can be used to capture images of the human anatomy in real time. Their real time imaging capabilities also allow them to display internal organ movements, including blood flow and blood vessel formations. The advantage of ultrasound over similar imaging technologies such as X-ray imaging, is that the former does not expose patients to harmful rays. This forms the core principle of using ultrasound imaging in pediatric care.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Ultrasound technologies are designed to be safe and painless for patients while still being able to produce accurate images of the anatomy. Pediatric ultrasound can therefore be a significantly better method of generating images of a childs abdomen for the sake of examination. Common body parts that can be diagnosed using ultrasound include the kidneys, stomach, appendix, uterus, spleen, and pancreas. Pediatric ultrasound imaging can therefore help a doctor check the child for deformities or the cause of pain in their abdomen. Ultrasound technologies are also highly advantageous when providing guidance for surgeons attempting to operate on the child. While it is uncommon, abdominal buildup of fluids can occur in children, and needs to be taken care of immediately. Pediatric ultrasound imaging comes handy in situations such as there.Global Pediatric Ultrasound Market: OverviewPediatric ultrasound imaging, also called pediatric sonography, is one of the standard imaging techniques used across a variety of healthcare facilities to scan different parts of body of children to diagnose and treat a number of medical conditions. The noninvasive and safe nature of the imaging technique is significantly used to evaluate and examine a variety of conditions and is witnessing a steady rise in demand across the globe owing to a significant rise in several diseases affecting children.This report on the global pediatric ultrasound market presents a detailed overview of the present growth dynamics of the market and an analytical overview of the key factors expected to exert a significant impact on the overall development of the market over the period 2017-2025.Global Pediatric Ultrasound Market: Trends and OpportunitiesA host of factors are leading to the increased demand for pediatric ultrasound devices in the global market, including the significant rise in prevalence of a number of pediatric diseases, the resultant rise in demand for increased number of diagnostic procedures, and the increased consciousness among parents about the need for early diagnosis of pediatric diseases. The low threat of exposure to harmful radiations as compared to other popular imaging techniques and technological advancements in the field of pediatric ultrasound are also expected to drive the market.Additionally, vast untapped growth opportunities in developing and less-developed economies are also expected to drive the market for pediatric ultrasounds in the next few years. However, the markets growth is expected to be restrained to a certain extent owing to the thriving industry of refurbished medical devices, limited availability of skilled resources, and some inherent limitations of the ultrasound technology that restrict their scope of use.Global Pediatric Ultrasound Market: Geographical AnalysisFrom a geographical perspective, the report examines the global pediatric ultrasound market across regions such as Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East and Africa. Of these, the markets across developed regions such as North America and Europe are amongst the top revenue-grossers for the global market. The high prevalence of pediatric chronic heart diseases, high awareness among parents about children health, and technologically advanced healthcare infrastructures in these regions are the key factors driving the pediatric ultrasound market.Request TOC of the Report @Over the reports forecast period, however, the market for pediatric ultrasound in Asia Pacific is expected to exhibit growth at the most promising pace, chiefly owing to the increased focus of government bodies on modernization of healthcare infrastructures and rising expenditure on healthcare and fitness. With the presence of some of the worlds leading medical device manufacturers such as Hitachi and Toshiba, Japan dominates the Asia Pacific pediatric ultrasound market.Global Pediatric Ultrasound Market: Competitive OverviewThe vendor landscape of the global pediatric ultrasound market features intense competition in terms of product pricing and product features. The rising demand for portable and handheld systems has compelled leading vendors to focus on this niche segment of the market to reap sustainable returns. Futuristic technologies such as 3D and 4D ultrasound devices are also gaining increasing acceptance across developed regional markets as well as developing regional markets, a trend that could result in excellent growth opportunities for vendors wanting to venture into the pediatric ultrasound market.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Some of the leading companies contributing to the development of the global pediatric ultrasound market are Toshiba Medical System Corporation, Boston Scientific, Agfa-Gevaert NV, Hitachi Medical Corporation, Esaote SpA, General Electric Company, Fujifilm Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Samsung Medison Co. Ltd., Mindray Medical International Limited, GE Healthcare, and Siemens Healthcare.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 Shares of Hydraulic Roof Supports Market in Global Industry: by key players, Competitors, Revenue, Demand and Application 2025 Market Research Report https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1643013 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-hydraulic-roof-supports-market-professional-survey-report-2018-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/global-hydraulic-roof-supports-market-professional-survey-report-2018-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketreserch1.blogspot.com Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Hydraulic Roof Supports Market Professional Survey Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies Hydraulic Roof Supports in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringJoy GlobalCaterpillarBecker MiningNepeanFamurKopexTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Tiandi Science & TechnologyZhengzhou Coal Mining MachineryBeijing Coal Mining MachineryPingdingshan PMJ Coal Mine Machinery EquipmentChongqing Dajiang XinDa VehicleShanxi Pingyang Industry MachineryShandong Tiansheng Coal Mine EquipmentShandong Mining Machinery GroupOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoChock SupportShield SupportChock Shield SupportBy Application, the market can be split intoHigh Mining Height MiningTop Coal Caving MiningFully Mechanized MiningBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Table of ContentsGlobal Hydraulic Roof Supports Market Professional Survey Report 20181 Industry Overview of Hydraulic Roof Supports1.1 Definition and Specifications of Hydraulic Roof Supports1.1.1 Definition of Hydraulic Roof Supports1.1.2 Specifications of Hydraulic Roof Supports1.2 Classification of Hydraulic Roof Supports1.2.1 Chock Support1.2.2 Shield Support1.2.3 Chock Shield Support1.3 Applications of Hydraulic Roof Supports1.3.1 High Mining Height Mining2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Hydraulic Roof Supports2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Hydraulic Roof Supports2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Hydraulic Roof Supports2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Hydraulic Roof Supports3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Hydraulic Roof Supports3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Hydraulic Roof Supports Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Hydraulic Roof Supports Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Hydraulic Roof Supports Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Hydraulic Roof Supports Major Manufacturers in 2017Browse Report @4 Global Hydraulic Roof Supports Overall Market Overview4.1 2013-2018E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2013-2018E Global Hydraulic Roof Supports Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2017 Hydraulic Roof Supports Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2013-2018E Global Hydraulic Roof Supports Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2017 Hydraulic Roof Supports Sales Analysis (Company Segment)5 Hydraulic Roof Supports Regional Market Analysis5.1 North America Hydraulic Roof Supports Market Analysis5.1.1 North America Hydraulic Roof Supports Market Overview5.1.2 North America 2013-2018E Hydraulic Roof Supports Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.1.3 North America 2013-2018E Hydraulic Roof Supports Sales Price Analysis5.1.4 North America 2017 Hydraulic Roof Supports Market Share Analysis5.2 China Hydraulic Roof Supports Market Analysis5.2.1 China Hydraulic Roof Supports Market OverviewAbout 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 Blogger at: Sodium Formate Market Analysis, Segments, Growth and Value Chain 2017 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5517 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-5517 www.futuremarketinsights.com Market Definition and IntroductionSodium formate is a sodium-based salt of formic acid. It is generally available in its physical form as a white powder. Sodium formate is a key chemical due to its multiple applications across a diverse range of industries, such as oil & gas, textile, printing, aviation and others. It offers important end uses, such as a food additive in fabric dyeing processes and a de-icing agent in multiple applications. Also, sodium formate has been finding important end use as a buffering agent for mineral acids so as to increase their acidity levels. It is not toxic, exhibits biodegradability to a considerable extent and is eco-friendly. In the field of biology, sodium formate is used as a cryogenic protectant in X-ray diffraction experiments conducted on protein crystalline substances.Sodium formate is manufactured by the neutralization of formic acid with sodium carbonate. Alternatively, it can be manufactured by the reaction of sodium hydroxide with chloroform. However, the popular commercial method for the manufacture of sodium formate is through the absorption of carbon monoxide in sodium hydroxide at high pressures. In the chemical industry, sodium formate is used in the manufacture of formic acid and sodium hydro sulphite. Sodium formate also finds applications in the leather tanning industry and as an enzyme stabilizing agent in detergents.Considering these important applications of sodium formate, the study of the sodium formate market becomes an important read.Report for Sample Report@Market SegmentationOn the basis of end use, the sodium formate market is segmented as follows:CatalystReducing agentManufacture of sodium hydrosulfiteIntermediate for the manufacture of formic acid and oxalic acidManufacture of N,N-DimethylformamideDe-icing agentOilfield servicesWork-over fluidsOther end usesOn the basis of application, the sodium formate market is segmented as follows:AviationFood & beverageTextilePrintingOil & gasChemicalOther applicationsKey Trends, DriversIn recent times, there has been a rise in the number of applications of sodium formate in various industries. Also, rapid growth of the food & beverage industry, dyeing & printing industry and the oil & gas industry has been contributing to the growth of the sodium formate market at a global level. For instance, there has been a rise in the demand for sodium formate from the upstream oil & gas industry to produce clear brine, which is an important chemical in work over & completion processes. Furthermore, the solid form of sodium formate has been witnessing a rise in demand as an anti-corrosion agent and an effective de-icing material at airports. The key use of sodium formate here has been the de-icing of runways as sodium formate quickly penetrates solid snow and ice layers when mixed with corrosion inhibitors & other additives, detaching the snow from the concrete and melting it at a rapid pace.However, there have been a few restraints to the growth of sodium formate demand. For example, sodium formate is hygroscopic in nature, i.e. it absorbs moisture. This property translates into added requirements for its special & careful handling so as to avoid moisture absorption. Furthermore, commercially attractive alternatives for sodium formate are available in the market, such as urea. The latter has been found to display de-icing competitive characteristics vis-a-vis sodium formate, thereby encouraging potential buyers to shift toward purchasing urea. Besides, prices of raw materials in the manufacture of sodium formate are inherently volatile. This fluctuation in raw material prices drastically affects sodium formate price variations, thereby inhibiting the growth rate of the sodium formate market even further. These factors have been dampening the sodium formate market growth rate.Visit For Toc@Market ParticipantsExamples of some of the market participants in the sodium formate market are as follows:BASF SEPerstorp OrgnrHoneywell International Inc.TCI Chemicals (India) Pvt. Ltd.Avantor Performance Materials, LLCVertellus Holdings LLCKanoria Chemicals & Industries Ltd.Alder S.p.AAsian PaintsAcros OrganicsABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature.CONTACT:FUTURE MARKET INSIGHTS616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Insights on Humidity Indicator Cards (HIC) Market Offering Trends, Share, Size, Growth Until the End of 2028 https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=634 https://www.factmr.com/report/634/humidity-indicator-cards-market https://www.factmr.com/checkout/634/S https://www.factmr.com/ As per the current market trends and the promising nature of the humidity indicator cards market, it can be estimated that the future holds positive outcomes. In order to provide a deep insight about the concerned market, Fact.MR would be publishing a resourceful analysis that will enclose knowledge about the regional market size, revenue and opportunity status. Readers will be offered the privilege to decode various facets of the market during the period 2018 to 2027, together with the active access to secondary and primary research methodology. Furthermore, various segments of the market associated to product, application, end-user etc., would also be present in this intelligent research report.Request TOC of this Report-Humidity Indicator Cards (HIC) Market: OverviewHumidity indicator card is a card impregnated with a chemical solution which changes colors to indicate the different levels of humidity with changing moisture. The chemical is cobalt chloride. Humidity indicator cards are used in several end use industries where moisture change can cause severe damage to the product. These cards indicate the change in the relative humidity. These cards have several benefits - easy to use & read, cost effective, instant visual verification of product integrity. Humidity indicator cards can be categorized as a part of active, smart & intelligent packaging. The global market for humidity indicator cards is categorized into end use industries such as food, electronics, pharmaceuticals, military applications, diagnostic & optical component packaging. The market for humidity indicator cards is expected to grow during the next ten years.Moisture sensitive devices, components or parts that needs to be protected from moisture are monitored by placing the humidity indicator card with them in a sealed container. With the help of humidity indicator card, moisture sensitive products can be protected from rust and corrosion. The humidity indicator card serves as a guide to monitoring device exposure.To know more @ Global Humidity Indicator Cards (HIC) Market, visit -Humidity Indicator Cards (HIC) Market: DynamicsThe major key driver for global market for humidity indicator card is the electronics packaging industry. Humidity indicator cards are used in electronics industry to indicate the humidity levels as excessive moisture content may degrade the operational performance and cause permanent damage to the semiconductors and electronic devices.Humidity Indicator Labels have witnessed wide usage in the current scenario. This is mainly attributed to the excellent visualization of humidity levels enabled by HIC. In addition to that, Humidity Indicator Cards are cost effective, which plays a key role in increasing their preference.Despite the positive outlook, there are some factors which might hamper the growth of the global market for humidity indicator cards. First is the storage of these cards must be in sealed container in order to avoid the change in levels of humidity with moisture and second is that these cards only indicate the humidity level.Humidity Indicating Cards (HIC) Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the global market for humidity indicating cards (HIC) is divided into seven key regions as North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ), Middle East & Africa, and Japan. APEJ humidity indicator cards is expected to account for maximum market share in the global humidity indicator market. China is expected to contribute for nearly half of the global semiconductor market. The global humidity indicator market is expected to grow further on the backdrop of semiconductors market during the forecast period.Humidity Indicating Cards (HIC) Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players operating in the global humidity indicator cards (HIC) market are categorized in three tiers (revenue wise) asTier 1 (includes players having revenue more than US$ 15 Mn) AGM Container Controls, Inc. Advantek, Inc., Tier 2 (includes players having revenue in between US$ 5-15 Mn) Drytech Inc., Tier 3 (includes players having revenue less than US$ 5 Mn) Garg Chemical Company, Brownell Limited, Dessicare Inc., Multisorb Technologies Inc., Reel Service Ltd., Humi Pak Sdn. Bhd., Stream Peak International Pte Ltd., Prestige Technology (S) Pte. Ltd., Scientific Instrument Services, Inc., Electronics Materials Solutions Division Static Control Products, Dou Yee Enterprises (S) Pte Ltd., Suzhou Winwinet Import & Export Co., Ltd., Shanghai Hengyuan Macromolecular Materials Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Chunwang Environmental Protection Technology Co.,Ltd.Many small and regional players are expected to contribute to the global humidity indicator cards (HIC) market.Pre-book Global Humidity Indicator Cards (HIC) Market Forecast 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: Quad-Flat-No-Lead Packaging Market to Incur High Value Growth at 13.1% CAGR During 2017 - 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2039 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-2039 www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights presents a comprehensive analysis and valuable insights on the adoption of quad-flat-no-lead packaging in various applications and sectors across the globe. The report titled Quad-Flat-No-Lead Packaging Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017-2027) covers a wide angle of the global market with the help of a detailed market segmentation. The research report also discusses various opportunities for quad-flat-no-lead packaging, various trends influencing the global market, key drivers fuelling the growth of the global market as well as restraints that have a negative impact on revenue growth of the global quad-flat-no-lead packaging market. The research report presents historic data as well as future market projections for a period of 10 years.Global Quad-Flat-No-Lead Packaging Market: Factors Influencing GrowthFactors such as rising demand for wireless applications, growing adoption of portable devices, small form factor, enhanced thermal performance, rising applications in the automobile sector, high electrical performance and increased reliability are boosting adoption and consequently the growth in revenue of the global quad-flat-no-lead packaging market. However, aspects such as changing price of raw materials, more space needed by QFN packaging, wirebond challenge, high competition with WLCSP and BGA, high cost and problems associated with assembling the QFN package are hindering the growth of the global market.Request For Report Sample@Global Quad-Flat-No-Lead Packaging Market: Segmental SnapshotThe global quad-flat-no-lead packaging market is segmented on the basis of type, QFN variants, application and by region.By type, the plastic moulded QFNs segment is expected to reflect high market attractiveness and is the largest segment. The plastic moulded QFNs segment is estimated to reach a value higher than US$ 180 Bn by the end of the year of forecast thus dominating the global market. Air-cavity QFNs segment is projected to grow at a higher pace in the coming years.By QFN variant, the quad-flat-no-lead segment is anticipated to reach a noteworthy valuation by the end of the assessment period. The ultrathin quad-flat-no-lead segment is projected to grow at the fastest rate to register a CAGR of 14.4% throughout the period of assessment.By application, the radio frequency devices segment is estimated to be valued at around US$ 26 Bn in 2017 and is likely to lead the global market. The wearable devices segment is projected to register the fastest growth rate of 0% owing to increased use of quad-flat-no-lead packaging in wearable devices.By region, Asia Pacific excluding Japan reflects high growth potential. The quad-flat-no-lead packaging market in Asia Pacific excluding Japan is projected to grow at the highest rate and is estimated to be the largest among all other regional markets, thus dominating the global market.Global Quad-Flat-No-Lead Packaging Market: Forecast HighlightsThe global quad-flat-no-lead packaging market is anticipated to reach a value higher than US$ 235 Bn by the end of the year of assessment from a valuation of more than US$ 68 Bn in 2017. The global market for quad-flat-no-lead packaging is projected to grow at a stellar CAGR of 13.1% throughout the period of forecast.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Quad-Flat-No-Lead Packaging Market: Competitive AssessmentThe research report on the global market for quad-flat-no-lead packaging includes analysis on key players and presents vendor insights in a dedicated chapter. Intelligence on key players such as NXP Semiconductor, Fujitsu Ltd., Toshiba Corporation, Texas Instruments, Microchip Technology Inc., STATS ChipPAC Pte. Ltd., ASE Group, Amkor Technology, UTAC Group, Linear Technology Corporation, Henkel AG & Co., and Broadcom Limited has been included in this chapter.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Global Organic Pet Food Market 2018 - Mars, Nestle Purina, Big Heart, Colgate Global Organic Pet Food Market https://goo.gl/DaKju4 https://goo.gl/9NsfdQ www.apexmarketreports.com Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the Organic Pet Food Market across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of Organic Pet Food 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 Organic Pet Food on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares Organic Pet Food performance both in terms of volume and revenue.The market research report explores the Organic Pet Food Market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of Organic Pet Food 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 Organic Pet Food Market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Organic Pet Food. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Organic Pet Food 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 ReportMarsNestle PurinaBig HeartColgateDiamond pet foodsBlue BuffaloHeristoUnicharmMogiana AlimentosAffinity PetcareNisshin Pet FoodTotal AlimentosRamicalButcher'sMoonShineBig TimeYantai China Pet FoodsGambolPaide Pet FoodWaggThe competitive landscape of the global market for Organic Pet Food is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Organic Pet Food Markets production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Organic Pet Food Market globally.Inquire Before Buying @The Global Organic Pet Food Market 2018 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Organic Pet Food production volume, data pertaining to demand and Organic Pet Food supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Organic Pet Food 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 Organic Pet Food 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 - Healthcare Quality Management Global Market 2017: Key Players Altegra Health, Cerner Corporation, Citiustech Inc., Dolbey Systems, Inc. , Enli Health Intelligence https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2361631-healthcare-quality-management-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2361631-healthcare-quality-management-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2361631 https://www.wiseguyreports.com Healthcare Quality Management IndustryDescriptionWiseguyreports.Com Adds Healthcare Quality Management -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2022 To Its Research DatabaseGlobal Healthcare Quality Management Market is accounted for $1.62 billion in 2016 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.0% to reach $4.59 billion by 2023. The market is driven by increasing volume of unstructured data in the healthcare industry, need to curtail healthcare costs & medical errors, government mandates for healthcare providers to report quality and improve performance. However, high cost of quality reporting and data security concerns will hamper market growth. Further, dearth of skilled IT professionals and reluctance among medical professionals to adopt healthcare quality management software will pose threat to the industry. In addition, the market will observe few trends such as potentiality in emerging economies, introduction of HL7 QRDA-III STU R2.1 guidelines & ICD 10, Natural Language Processing (NLP) technique to revolutionize data abstraction.For healthcare providers, analytics and insights make the difference in tomorrows clinical outcomes. The need to understand healthcare data and to draw insights and correlations from BI & Analytics continues to grow. With increasing data volumes, disparate data sources, and a lack of resources, reporting actionable insights from the hospital floor is presumed difficult but the healthcare sector has become a constant progressing sector. For example, Piedmont launched a collaborative initiative called Patient First to allow physicians to focus attention on one patient centered activity at a time. Also, a Late-Binding data warehouse provides not only faster time to value, but also the agility necessary to meet todays healthcare analytics demands.Data Processing & Analysis is attributed to the increasing volume of disparate data and the requirement of quality-based reports by regulatory bodies. Electronic Health Record (EHR) is important for data processing, communication, efficiency and effectiveness of patients information access, confidentiality, ethical and/or legal issues. Many countries have been complaining for incompleteness, inappropriateness and illegibility of records. Therefore creating awareness on the magnitude of the problem has paramount importance. In many cases, the elderly population suffers from multiple chronic conditions simultaneously. Such socio-demographic and epidemiologic challenges place increasing pressure on the health sector, calling for better prevention and more effective management of chronic diseases.Request for Sample Report @Based on End users, some of the often mentioned trends have been accountable care organizations (ACOs), the formation of large hospital health systems, and the continuation of private insurance coverage by self-funded employers. However, the marketplace had undergone many subtle changes that began before the ACA, which only accelerated after its passage. As an example, Memorial Hermann Physician Network and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas are developing an ACO for 100,000 patients. Memorial Hermann Health System is hedging its bets, because it also has an ACO relationship with Aetna and a medical home model with Humana. The trends that will increasingly impact multiple healthcare stakeholders over the next few years include: revenue-driving consolidation, specialty drug use driving the cost of care and information technology innovations driving interstakeholder communications etc,.Some of the key players in global Healthcare Quality Management market are Altegra Health, Cerner Corporation, Citiustech Inc., Dolbey Systems, Inc. , Enli Health Intelligence, McKesson Corporation, Medisolv, Inc., Nuance Communications, Inc., Premier, Inc., Quantros, Inc., Truven Health Analytics (A Subsidiary of IBM Watson Health) and Verscend Technologies.Delivery Modes Covered: Web & Cloud Based Solutions On-Premise SolutionsTypes Covered: Physician Quality Reporting Solutions Business Intelligence and Analytics Provider Performance Improvement Solutions Clinical Risk Management SolutionsApplications Covered: Risk Management Data Managemento Data Processing & Analysiso Unstructured Data Abstractiono Report Generationo Report SubmissionEnd Users Covered: Hospitals Ambulatory Care Centers Payers Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) Other End UsersRegions Covered: North Americao USo Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo UKo Italyo Franceo Spaino Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando South Koreao Rest of Asia Pacific South Americao Argentinao Brazilo Chileo Rest of South America Middle East & Africao Saudi Arabiao UAEo Qataro South Africao Rest of 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 advancementsLeave a Query @Table of Content1 Executive Summary2 Preface2.1 Abstract2.2 Stake Holders2.3 Research Scope2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources2.5.1 Primary Research Sources2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources2.5.3 Assumptions3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.3 Restraints3.4 Opportunities3.5 Threats3.6 Application Analysis3.7 End User Analysis3.8 Emerging Markets3.9 Futuristic Market Scenario4 Porters Five Force Analysis4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers4.2 Bargaining power of buyers4.3 Threat of substitutes4.4 Threat of new entrants4.5 Competitive rivalry...11 Company Profiling11.1 Altegra Health11.2 Cerner Corporation11.3 Citiustech Inc.11.4 Dolbey Systems, Inc.11.5 Enli Health Intelligence11.6 McKesson Corporation11.7 Medisolv, Inc.11.8 Nuance Communications, Inc.11.9 Premier, Inc.11.10 Quantros, Inc.11.11 Truven Health Analytics (A Subsidiary of IBM Watson Health)11.12 Verscend TechnologiesBuy Now @Continued...Contact Us: Sales@Wiseguyreports.Com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (Us) Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UkAbout 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 LtdPune 411028Maharashtra, GlobalPh: +91 841 198 5042 Bakery Enzymes Market foreseen to grow exponentially over 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/16582 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/16582 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Bakery Enzymes Market: IntroductionBakery enzymes are essential enzymes used in the baking industry for different application ranging from the fermentation to additive replacer. The bakery enzymes market carries a global scope. Increased consumption of bakery products globally has produced a demand for bakery enzymes. Due to its environmental and cost effective benefits, bakery enzymes are being opted by leading food and beverage manufacturers globally. From 2012 to 2015 the demand for food and beverage enzymes increased by almost 45% in the global market. This growth trend is anticipated to continue over the forecasted period resulting in growth of bakery enzymes market. Currently, the global bakery enzyme market is dominated by North American and European manufacturers.Bakery Enzymes Market: SegmentationsThe bakery enzyme market can be segmented according to the type, product, and origin.Based on the type the bakery enzymes market can be segmented into Amylase, Glucose oxidase, Lipase, Lipoxygenase, Xylanase, Protease, and Asparaginase. Amylase enzyme effects fermentation, texture, shelf-life, and volume, whereas Glucose oxidase effects the dough characteristics. Lipase and Lipoxygenase help in strengthening the dough and the later is also used for bleaching of dough. Xylanase improves dough condition for ease of production. Protease produce dough for biscuits and cookies. Asparaginase helps in reduction of acrylamide content.On basis of product, the bakery enzymes market can be segmented into bread, cakes, biscuits, crackers, cookies, pies, and tortillas.Based on the origin the bakery enzymes market can be segmented into GMO and Non-GMO. The demand for both type bakery enzymes in the market is healthy as each carries its own benefit such as GMOs can offer multi-functionality and Non-GMO are mandated for organic products.Request for Table of Contents @Bakery Enzymes Market: Region-wise OutlookThe North America and Europe stand as the major markets for the bakery enzymes globally. The regions like Asia Pacific and Latin America are expected to see a high demand for bakery enzymes due to increased consumption of bakery product by the fast food chains. The Middle East and Africa is anticipated to create a good market for bakery enzymes as international food chains are expanding into this territories.Bakery Enzymes Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe benefits of the bakery enzymes will act as the drivers for this market. Benefits such as increased volume of bread and improvement in dough characteristics and color will drive the bakery enzymes market globally. The new inventions in the field of biotechnology have significantly brought down the cost of production of enzymes. This is anticipated to push the existing bakeries in the market to opt for bakery enzymes for their production. Bakery enzymes significantly bring down chemical content in the products which is further anticipated to drive the bakery enzyme market.Extensive use of GMO based enzymes may cause restraint in the bakery enzyme market. Recent trends in food and beverage market show people are opting for Non-GMO products over GMO products globally, hence, it can act as a restraint for the bakery enzymes market.Bakery Enzymes Market: Key PlayersThe key global player for the bakery enzymes market are E.I. DU Pont de Nemours and Company, AB Enzymes GmbH, Novozymes A/S, Koninklijke DSM N.V., Muehlenchemie GmbH & Co. KG, Biocatalysts Limited, Muehlenchemie GmbH & Co. KG, and VEMO 99 Ltd & VSV Ltd.Request to View Sample of Research Report @ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global Demand for Calcium Citrate Malate Market to Incur Considerable Upsurge During 2017 - 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3865 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-3865 www.futuremarketinsights.com Calcium plays a significant component of the body. Calcium helps to maintain and promote the proper functioning of various body parts such as bones, joints, nerves and muscles among others. Deficiency of calcium content in the body directly affects the bone and joint health. Calcium citrate malate is an important component which helps to replenish the calcium content in the body. Calcium citrate malate consists calcium and organic acids such as malic acid and citric acid, which help to increase the absorption of calcium in the body. Calcium citrate malate along with vitamin D helps to prevent bone and joint diseases, as it helps to retain calcium and maintain the bone mass density along with other health benefits. Moreover, calcium citrate malate can suffice requirement of calcium with or without adequate food intake. Calcium citrate malate is most commonly used as calcium supplements. It also forms major component in fortification of food and beverages.Global Calcium Citrate Malate Market: Drivers and RestraintsWith increasing health conscious behaviour, consumers are drifting towards healthier food products. Hence, driving the calcium citrate malate market with growing application in health supplements. Calcium citrate malate has potential to reduce the risk of fractures. Hence, with increasing incidence of bone related diseases among women such as osteoporosis, demand for products to overcome osteoporosis is expected to gain traction, which is expected to bolster the overall calcium citrate malate market growth. Moreover, calcium citrate malate also possess various other significant properties such as high aqueous solubility, enhanced bioavailability along with increased absorption, thus finding profound application in the manufacturing of health supplements and fortified food and beverages products.Request For Report Sample@Furthermore, with increasing demand for bone & joint supplements among geriatric population, the demand for calcium citrate malate is expect to accelerate during the forecast. Calcium citrate malate market caters to broad range of age groups to various optimal health benefits. Moreover, calcium citrate malate is also reported to cater potential to help in preventing kidney stones. Although still this benefit is at introductory stage. Hence gaining traction in the health supplements market due to its versatile nature.However, there are various other compound apart from calcium citrate malate by which calcium can be incorporated into food and beverages product in fortified form, which are cost efficient. Hence, may restrain the growth of calcium citrate malate market particularly in fortified food and beverages products. It is also reported to have certain side effects if consumed in excessive amount such as constipation, nausea, weight loss and loss of appetite.Global Calcium Citrate Malate Market: SegmentationOn the basis of form, calcium citrate malate is segmented into:-TabletsCapsulesPowderOn the basis of industry, organic hair care s market is segmented into:-PharmaceuticalFood & BeverageGlobal Calcium Citrate Malate Market: Region wise OutlookThe global calcium malate market is categorised into seven regions, namely, Western Europe, Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa (MEA), Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Latin America and North America. Asia Pacific region accounts for major share of the market. With increasing incidences of bone related disease among women, demand for calcium citrate malate supplements is expect to record significant growth. North America accounts for significant share of the market. As majority of the population in North America comprises baby boomer generation, attaining the age of 55yrs in the recent years. Thereby, fuelling the demand for bone & joint supplements to prevent the age related diseases. This is further leading to a bright prospect for growth of calcium citrate malate market. Owing to rising preventive health awareness among consumers, demand for calcium citrate malate products is expected to propel in Europe.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Calcium Citrate Malate Market: Key PlayersSome of the prominent players identified in the global calcium malate market across the value chain includes:Panvo Organics Pvt Ltd.GlaxoSmithKline PlcRevital LimitedAlbion Laboratories, Inc.Posy Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd.BioveaNutraBio Labs, Inc.Dr. Paul Lohmann GmbH KGABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Growing +10.65% CAGR of Information Security Consulting Market with Leading Players of IBM Corporation, Wipro Limited, KPMG, Accenture Dominating | 2018-2024 http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-information-security-consulting-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-information-security-consulting-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-information-security-consulting-market/ http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-information-security-consulting-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/geotechnical-instrumentation-monitoring-market/ Worldwide Information Security Consulting Industry 2017 Market Research Report is an expert and inside and out examination on the flow condition of the Global Information Security Consulting industry. The report gives a fundamental outline of the business including definitions, arrangements, applications and industry chain structure. The Global Information Security Consulting investigation is accommodated the universal markets including advancement patterns, aggressive scene examination, and key districts improvement status.The Global Information Security Consulting Market accounted for USD 15.85 billion in 2016 growing at a CAGR of 10.65% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market report contains data for historic year 2014, 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.For In depth Information Get Free Sample Copy of this Report@Global Information Security Consulting Market, By Geography, Security Type (Network Security, Application Security, Database Security, Endpoint Security), Organization Size (SMEs, Large Enterprises), Vertical (Aerospace & Defense, Government & Public Utilities, BFSI, IT & Telecom, Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Complete report on Global Information Security Consulting Market Research Report 2017-2024 spread across 350 Pages, profiling Top companies and supports with tables and figuresMarket Definition: Global Information Security Consulting MarketThe information security consulting helps in protection of the organization by providing expertise and experience that lack internally. The services comprises of including security engineering, management, assessment, and compliance provided by certified consultants. The growing network complexities, growing trends of IoT among others are some of the drivers for the growth of this market whereas the budget constraints are the restraining factor for this market.Key Questions Answered in Global Information Security Consulting Market Report:-Our Report offers:- What will the market growth rate, Overview and Analysis by Type of Global Information Security Consulting Market in 2024? What are the key factors driving, Analysis by Applications and Countries Global Information Security Consulting Market? What are Dynamics, This Overview Includes Analysis of Scope, and price analysis of top Vendors Profiles of Global Information Security Consulting Market? Who are Opportunities, Risk and Driving Force of Global Information Security Consulting Market? Who are the opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in Global Information Security Consulting Market? Business Overview by Type, Applications, Gross Margin and Market Share What are the Global Information Security Consulting Market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Market?Request for Detailed TOC:Major Market Drivers: Growing Network Complexities Increased Sophistication in Attacking Growing Trends of IoT Budget Constraints Growing Cyber-Attacks On Business NetworkTop Key Players: IBM Corporation Wipro Limited Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP BAE Systems. KPMG Accenture Ernst & Young Global Limited Atos SE Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. Optiv Security Inc. SecureWorks, Inc. among others.For more insightful information visit@Customize report of "Global Information Security Consulting Market" as per customers requirement also available.Company Share Analysis: Global Information Security Consulting MarketThe report for information security consulting market include detailed vendor level analysis for market shares in 2016 for Global, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South America specifically. Also impact and development analysis of key vendors is registered in the market and factored on the basis of Vendor Positioning Grid Analysis which measures the vendors strengths and opportunities against present market challenges, measure providers ability to identify or satisfy present market needs, map providers market vision to current and upcoming market dynamics among others. The report also measures technology life line curve and market time line to analyze and do more affective investments.Market Segmentations:Global Information Security Consulting Market is segmented on the basis of Security Type Organization Size Vertical GeographyMarket Segmentations in Details:On the basis of Security Type into network security, application security, database security and endpoint security.On the basis of Organization Size, the global information security consulting market is segmented into small & medium enterprises and large enterprises.On the basis of Vertical, the global information security consulting market is segmented into aerospace & defense, government & public utilities, BFSI, IT & telecom, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and others.On the basis of Geography, North America South America Europe Asia-Pacific Middle East & AfricaSpeak 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 Superalloys Market in Global Industry Analysis by Type and Application, Manufacturers, Regions & forecast to 2025 Market Research Report https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1377451 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1377451 https://www.researchmoz.us/superalloys-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketreserch1.blogspot.com Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Superalloys Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Superalloys are high-strength, heat-resisting alloys based on iron, nickel, or cobalt, which exhibit resistance to surface degradation under prolonged exposure to high temperature. Most superalloys possess complex physical and chemical properties due to the presence of different metals in different proportions. The presence of multiple alloying elements and usage of different production techniques help to create multiple phases in the superalloys, which lend special mechanical properties. A few key alloying elements such as iron, cobalt, and nickel help in the production of the dominant phases in the superalloys, while on other hand, a variety of adjunct elements that are found in traces help in modifying special properties in the superalloys. Classification of the superalloys is based on the chemical composition of cobalt base, iron base, nickel base and processing methods of cast alloys and wrought alloys.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @A combination of proper chemical composition and processing methods produces high quality superalloys with desirable properties, according to the scope of application. A highly popular superalloys used around the globe are Nickel-based superalloys. Nickel-base superalloys have nickel as the major constituent combined with significant quantity of chromium. Some nickel-based superalloys also contain iron, cobalt, tantalum, tungsten, and molybdenum, as major alloying additions, in order to impart specific properties in the produced superalloys. Superalloys are strengthened by second-phase intermetallic precipitation, vacuum suction, and solid-solution techniques.A majority of superalloys are employed in jet engines, gas turbines, chemical process industries, coal conversion plants due to their corrosion resistance and heat requiring properties. A majority of nickel-based superalloys are utilized in extremely high temperature load-bearing applications, which cannot be achieved by any other alloys. Other elements employed in the manufacture of superalloys are titanium, aluminum, and niobium. Superalloys made from titanium and aluminum, currently, constitute a majority of advanced aircraft engines produced around the globe.Alloying nickel with chromium and aluminum significantly improves surface stability, which enables them to be employed in high temperature applications and aggressive environments such as parts of reactive engines, aircraft engines, containers for the chemical industry, pressure vessels, maritime constructions, combustion systems, turbines blades, furnace systems, nuclear reactor equipment, and protection tubes of thermocouples. Production of the specialty materials which can resist extremely high-temperature is possible at present because of the use of superalloys in the present time.Make An Enquiry @Rising demand for specialty materials in defense, energy, automobile, marine and aerospace industries across the globe. This in turn provides significant growth potential for the superalloys market. Increase in demand for superalloys in the automotive industry for engines is also driving the superalloys market around the globe. The superalloys market is driven by factors such as rising international defense deals, increase in trade of fighter aircraft, increase in number of power projects in developing economies, expanding aerospace industry in India and China, expansion of space program in several countries around the globe. Lack of technology and infrastructure in emerging economies and high prices of superalloys are the key restraints of the superalloys market.Currently, Europe and North America followed by the Asia Pacific leads the global superalloys market in terms of consumption. Rapid development in material science technology and expanding economy of countries in Asia Pacific are expected to drive the superalloys market. Prominent players operating in the global superalloys market are SMC, Sumitomo Corporation, Nippon Yakin Ltd., Hitachi Corporation, Sandvik, ATI Metals, Haynes International Inc., and VSMPO. Increase in funding for R&D activities and investments for improving strength of alloys, led by the rising demand for superalloys from developing regions, and it is anticipated to boost the demand for superalloys in the near future.Browse Report @The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About 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 Blogger at: Oxytocic Pharmaceuticals Market Detailed Analytical Overview by 2022 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/9662 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/9662 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Oxytocic are the type of drugs used at the end of pregnancy, during labor pain and post-delivery which induce to take a selective action on the contraction of smooth musculature of the uterus. Oxytocic drugs are used is various field of obstetrics such as induction of labor, treatment of labor arrest, contraction stress test, management of labor and for the treatment of uterine atony and postpartum hemorrhage. The drug is also used to abort the fetus in case of miscarriage. For the prevention of uterine atony, oxytocic drugs are given following C-section. Synthetic derivatives of oxytocin can induce antidiuretic activity owing to absence of vasopressin.Request for Table of Contents @Increasing in the trend of delivery in hospitals over at home and number of caesarian procedures are the primary factor for the growth of oxytocic pharmaceuticals market. Also, the various type of products offering by various companies related to oxytocic drug to capture the market share is creating a competition for oxytocic pharmaceuticals market. The side effects associated with the oxytocic drugs leading to excessive bleeding following vaginal delivery due to postpartum haemorrhage are the key factors restraining the growth of oxytocic pharmaceutical market.The oxytocic pharmaceuticals market has been classified on the basis of product, application, end use and geography.Oxytocic Pharmaceuticals Market by Treatment type:Pre-eclampsia/EclampsiaPostpartum HemorrhageOthersOxytocic Pharmaceuticals Market by End use type:HospitalsMaternity CentreClinicsPostpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is the key factor that led to maternal mortality which is a type of obstetric haemorrhage. According to WHO, there are 14 million cases related to PPH occur every year. PPH oxytocin injection is recommended for treatment of PPH. The recommended dose for oxytocic pharmaceuticals is 1-2mU/min. Various brands that are available in the market are Hipofisina, Evatocin, Litocin, Pitogin, Piton-S and Obcin Octocin. Also, various oxytocic pharmaceuticals are yet to receive FDA approvals such as Carbetocin, Misoprostol and Syntocinon.Depending on geographic region, oxytocic pharmaceuticals market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to dominate the oxytocic pharmaceuticals market followed by Europe, Asia Pacific owing to increase in the caesarian procedures, involvement in R&D, government initiatives, great advancement in field of oxytocic functions, awareness regarding maternal care and developed healthcare infrastructure. The developing nations in Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa hold huge potential for growth in the oxytocic pharmaceuticals market due to prevalence of delivering child at home that reduces the execution of injections immediately after delivery, unavailability of oxytocic drugs and healthcare infrastructure facilities.Request a Sample Brochure of the Report @Key players of oxytocic pharmaceuticals market are App Pharmaceuticals LLC, Teva Parenteral Medicines Inc., Abbott laboratories, JHP Pharmaceuticals LLC and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Future of Target Drones Market in Global Industry: Regional Analysis, Key Players, Growth Factors and Trends by Forecast 2025 Market Research Report https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1377486 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=1377486 https://www.researchmoz.us/target-drones-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketreserch1.blogspot.com Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Target Drones Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Target drones are unmanned aerial vehicles, controlled by remote and mainly used in the defense. They are the substitutes for aerial targets primarily used in testing and evaluation and research and development. They resemble the radio-controlled model aircraft. The modern target drones are used in radar, countermeasures, and similar systems in order to mimic the manned aircraft.Upsurge in funds for training programs in the military across the globe is expected to fuel the demand for target drones as they are increasingly being adopted in the defense sector for training. Moreover, rise in incidents of political terrorism, civil unrest, and maritime piracy have augmented the investments for realistic military training. However, lack of trained and skilled personnel to control and operate the target drones is expected to hamper the market during the forecast period.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The target drones market can be segmented based on engine type, fit, platform, target type, end-user, and region. In terms of engine type, the target drones market can be bifurcated into internal combustion engines, jet engines, and others. The jet engine segment is anticipated to dominate the market during the forecast period due to the high adoption rate of target drones in the military owing to their high speed capabilities. The fit market can be further segmented into customized fit and line fit.The line fit segment is expected to constitute the largest market share as customized fit is available only in the U.K. and the U.S. Due to budget constraints in the defense in emerging countries, customization of fighter aircraft is not possible as most of the countries obtain such aircraft from Russia and the U.S. and are not able to convert them into aerial targets. Therefore, the target drones in those countries are mostly line fit drones. Based on platform, the target drones market can be classified into ground targets, underwater targets, aerial targets, and sea surface targets.The aerial target segment is expected to expand significantly due to its wide usage in anti-missile military training, anti-aircraft, and missile calibration testing. On the basis of target type, the target drones market can be further divided into sub-scaled, free flying, full-scaled, towing, and sporting. The sub-scaled segment is expected to witness the largest market share owing to the fact that they are the inexpensive alternative to the real aircraft used during training. On the basis of end-user, the target drones market can be divided into homeland security, defense, and commercial. The defense segment is expected to account for the largest market share as target drones are primarily used for anti-missile, anti-aircraft, and anti-submarine military trainings and also for missile and weapon calibration testing.Make An Enquiry @In terms of region, the target drones market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and South America. North America is expected to constitute the largest share of the target drones market during the forecast period due to the rise in investment in training programs in the defense and the increase in budget allocated for target drones in the U.S. Moreover, in the U.S., old fighter aircraft are converted into aerial targets that help in the missile training and testing exercises and also simulate real-time threat scenarios for military anti-aircraft. Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth rate during the forecast period from emerging nations such as India and China due to their developing air-based defense equipment to reduce expenditure in imports.Major players operating in the target drones market are Lockheed Martin Corporation (The U.S.), Northrop Grumman Corporation (The U.S.), The Boeing Company (The U.S.), QinetiQ Group plc (U.K.), Leonardo S.p.A. (Italy), AeroTargets International, LLC (U.S.), Saab AB (Sweden), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (U.S.) and ASV Global (U.K.).Browse Report @The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About 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 Blogger at: Gene Expression Analysis Market to Exceed US$ 4.5 Bn in 2022 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/17995 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/gene-expression-analysis-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/multiple-chapter/17995 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-gene-expression-analysis-market-us-45-bn-by-2022---persistence-market-research-642997933.html https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/17995 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com According to the recently-published report by Persistence Market Research, the global market for gene expression analysis will reflect a steady growth during the forecast period, 2017-2022. By the end of 2022, the global gene expression analysis market is predicted to surpass US$ 4,500 Mn valuation, reflecting a robust CAGR in terms of revenues. The study throws a light on various factors influence the dynamics of global gene expression analysis market, and offers insightful projections, the highlights of which are mentioned below.Request to Sample of Report @Gene Expression Analysis Market: Regional ForecastThrough 2022, North America is anticipated to hold a leading position in the global market for gene expression analysis. Most of the companies operating in the expansion of global gene expression analysis market are based in the US. Moreover, North American research institutes contributing to the field of functional genomics continue to support the development of new drugs derived from gene expression analysis studies. Drug discovery is a key application of gene expression analysis, and the US healthcare markets are observed as lucrative grounds for players in the global gene expression analysis market.North Americas gene expression analysis market is pegged to be reach a billion dollar valuation by the end of 2017. The report projects that throughout the forecast period, the gene expression analysis market in North America will reflect a robust CAGR, wherein the US market will be observed as the largest contributor to this growth.Europe is also expected to reflect impressive growth as the gene expression analysis market in this region is poised to create an incremental opportunity of over US$ 200 Mn between 2017 and 2022.The gene expression analysis market in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region is anticipated to record fastest growth. To the contrary, Japans gene expression analysis market is expected to reflect lowest CAGR during the forecast period.Request for Table of Contents @Widespread Adoption of Northern Blotting TechnologyOn the basis of technology, the report projects that northern blotting will be at the forefront of adoption, and will reflect highest share on global revenues of gene expression analysis market. DNA microarrays and PCR techniques are also projected to gain traction as preferred technologies used for synthesizing functional gene products through gene expression analysis. Advancements in RNA-sequencing, 2-D gel electrophoresis, western blotting, immunoassays, ChIP, mass spectrometry and other technologies are also expected to influence the future prospects of global gene expression analysis market.Request Report Multiple Chapter @The report further projects that gene expression analysis will find higher traction in drug discovery & development applications. Towards the end of the forecast period, application of gene expression analysis in drug discovery & development is anticipated to procure over US$ 1,200 Mn in global revenues. Concurrently, the demand for gene expression analysis products with low- to mid- plex capacity will also witness considerable uptake during the forecast period. The report also anticipates that sales of products kits & reagents will reflect a sizeable share on the value of global gene expression analysis market throughout the forecast period. By the end of 2022, kits & reagents will register over one-third share on the global market revenues for gene expression analysis.For more information @The report has also profiled key players in the global market for gene expression analysis, which include Agilent Technologies, Inc., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., General Electric Company, Luminex Corporation, Illumina, Inc., Oxford Gene Technology IP, PerkinElmer, Inc., QIAGEN NV, Roche Holding AG, and Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.Get full report now @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Market Expected to Increase at a CAGR 15.33% through 2017 to 2023 http://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2530942-organic-virgin-coconut-oil-market-research-report-forecast-to-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2530942-organic-virgin-coconut-oil-market-research-report-forecast-to-2023 Organic Virgin Coconut Oil MarketSummaryOwning to the high nutritional value and diverse application majorly across the personal care industry, the demand for organic virgin coconut oil is experiencing a surge. The global market for organic virgin coconut oil is projected to reach a market value of USD 1.28 billion at a CAGR of 10.98% by 2022. Asia Pacific is anticipated to account for a major market share of more than 95% during the forecast period. Favorable climatic condition in the region is one of the key factors for the increased production of organic virgin coconut in the region which further facilitates the growth of organic virgin coconut oil in Asia Pacific region. Asia pacific is projected to account for a value of more than USD 660 million in the year 2016.The production of organic virgin coconut oil will witness the highest growth rate of 15.33% during the given period owing to rising production capacity of organic virgin coconut oil in various Mexico and Venezuela. Rising consumers awareness about the health benefits of consumption of chemical-free organic virgin coconut oil is also anticipated to be one of the key reasons for its increased market share in the region.On the basis of application, personal care products is evaluated to dominate the market and is projected to hold a major share of more than 45% in the global market organic virgin coconut oil market. Diverse application of coconut oil in skin and hair care products is supporting the escalating share of organic virgin coconut oil based on its high nutritional value than the conventional coconut oil.Click here for sample report @Key PlayersSome of the leading players in the global organic virgin coconut oil market are: Nutiva, Inc. (U.S.), Celebes Coconut Corporation (the Philippines), Greenville Agro Corporation (the Philippines), Earth Born Co.,Ltd. (Thailand), Vita Coco (U.S.), Farm Direct Coconuts (U.S.), Parker Biotech Private Ltd (India)Target Audience Organic virgin coconut oil manufacturers Personal care product manufacturers Pharmaceutical Industry Retailers and wholesalers Traders, importers and exportersKey Findings Global organic virgin coconut oil market is projected to reach USD 1.28 billion by 2022 at a growth rate of 10.98% America will experience the highest growth at a rate of 15.33% during the given forecast period Application of organic virgin coconut oil in health care sector is projected to have a high growth rate of 5.14%Regional and Country Analysis of Organic Virgin Coconut Oil market Development and the Demand Forecast till 2022 MarketAs per the MRFR analysis, the global market for organic virgin coconut oil has been witnessing continued demand during the forecast period owning to rising population of consumers adopting organic and healthy food consumption trends. In terms of value and volume both, Asia Pacific is estimated to dominate the organic virgin coconut oil market holding the lions share of more than 90%. Also, Africa will hold the second largest share in the global organic virgin coconut oil market and is projected to grow at a rate of 14.4%The reports also cover country level analysis: Americao Brazilo Ecuadoro El Salvadoro Guyanao Mexicoo Venezuelao Suriname Asia Pacifico Bangladesho Cambodiao Indiao Indonesiao Malaysiao Pakistano Philippineso Sri Lankao Thailando Viet NamTable of ContentsACRONYMS 91 Executive Summary 102 Introduction 112.1 Definition 112.1.1 Organic Virgin Coconut Oil 112.2 Scope of the Study 112.2.1 Research Methodology 112.3 Assumptions 122.4 Limitations 122.5 Market Structure 122.5.1 Global Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, By Application 122.5.2 Global Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, By Region 123 Research Methodology 133.1 Research Process 133.2 Primary Research 153.3 Secondary Research 163.4 Forecast Model 174 Premium Insights 184.1 Global Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Market: Market Mapping & Research Methodology 184.2 Market Overview: Global Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Market 19.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 WebRTC Market to Reflect Impressive Growth Rate During 2015-2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/7987 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/7987 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) is an internet browser interface which enables real-time communication between two internet browsers. WebRTC enables peer to peer audio, video and data communication between the browsers without plugins. This key functionality of WebRTC not only reduces the time required but also makes the process easy for a non-technical user since WebRTC requires no plugins, frameworks or applications. The browsers use Session Description Protocol (SDP) to establish a connection for data transfer. WebRTC is using JavaScript Application Programming Interface (APIs) and HTML5 for embedded communication within the browsers. However, WebRTC is an emerging platform that is anticipated to have significant impact on the communication between browsers in near future.WebRTC is available for free and is accessible worldwide which is the key growth driver of this market. Moreover, WebRTC is platform and device independent which would help to attract global audience. Further, it provides better video and voice quality with advanced security and other operational features. WebRTC can adapt to various network conditions and is interoperable with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Unified Communications (UC) solutions which is expected to help companies to easily integrate it with their existing infrastructure. WebRTC provides a bright solution for customer facing businesses. As this communication is real time, WebRTC provides audio visual solutions without any cost. Retail and healthcare are two industries with high demand for WebRTC as direct communication with end users or customers is of immense importance in these industries.Request for Table of Contents @One key restraint associated with the use of WebRTC is that it uses internet platform which is a public domain and thus, the quality of service cannot be guaranteed all the time. Use of Internet could result in privacy issues as it is still not clear how WebRTC manages the security and privacy. Further, integration is another key challenge associated with WebRTC. Organizations could face problems in integrating and adapting the WebRTC to their current system. WebRTC is currently not supported on Microsoft Internet Explorer. Thus, there are a number of complexities linked with WebRTC however, technological advancements are anticipated to eliminate these challenges in near future.With WebRTC nearing its completion, organizations especially the consumer facing entities are expected to use this technology in near future across all platforms. WebRTC is an emerging industry standard for audio and video communication through a web browser. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) decided that browser makers should implement VP8 and H.264 video codecs. WebRTC is of huge importance for call centers and customer care centers, where direct communication is happening between a company representative and the end user or customer. WebRTC can simplify this communication further and increase the level of customer satisfaction. Companies are integrating WebRTC into their websites to enhance the overall user experience.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the major players in the global WebRTC market are Google Inc., Facebook, Inc., Citrix Systems, Inc., TokBox Inc., Sinch AB, Twilio, Inc., WIRE SWISS GmbH, Talko Inc., Screenhero, Inc., and Comcast Corporation etc.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Nasopharyngeal Cancer Market Display Significant Growth by 2022 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/9680 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/9680 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Nasopharyngeal is a type of cancer which takes place in head or neck. It happens in nasopharynx, which is a upper part of the of the throat behind the nose. It is also called nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). It has also been linked with Epstein-Barr virus.In 2015, American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) estimated 3200 to be diagnosed with NPC in U.S. The prevalence rate is fairly rate, as one in out of every 100,000 population are diagnosed with this chronic disorder. However, over the last few years, there has been a dramatic rise in prevalence rate of nasopharyngeal cancer. This is mainly attributed to increasing tobacco and alcohol consumption. The global prevalence of nasopharyngeal cancer is likely to peak by the end of forecast period. In developing region, nasopharyngeal cancer is widely prevalent in South East Asia such as China. Various symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer are lump in the neck, hearing loss, stuffiness, numbness, frequent headaches, fatigue, blurred, weight loss etc.Request for Table of Contents @Increasing geriatric population, rise in consumption of tobacco, increasing health awareness, changing lifestyle, are key driving factors for nasopharyngeal cancer treatment market. Also, rapid adoption of technologies in healthcare premises is expected to further boost nasopharyngeal cancer treatment market. This trend is likely to be seen in developing regions where healthcare expenditure is increasing at a significant rate. Developed regions are witnessing since accessibility for nasopharyngeal cancer treatment and procedure is easily accessible and available, the demand for nasopharyngeal cancer market has increased. Companies are investing heavily in developing regions to offer effective treatment solutions for higher care quality, greater efficiency and better patient outcomes.With so many advantages of nasopharyngeal cancer market, it has few disadvantages too. High cost of the treatment and side effects are acting as a barrier for nasopharyngeal cancer market.The nasopharyngeal cancer market has grown substantially at a healthy CAGR due to increasing number of patients with nasopharyngeal cancer. With rapid technological advancement and innovation, nasopharyngeal cancer market is expected to grow globally. North America is the largest market for nasopharyngeal cancer treatment, however, Asia Pacific is expected to witness fastest growth during the forecast period.The nasopharyngeal cancer market is expected to register a significant CAGR over the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, nasopharyngeal cancer market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. North America along with Europe is expected to dominate the global nasopharyngeal market throughout the forecast period, however, Asia Pacific is expected to witness fastest growth during the forecast period. Increasing healthcare awareness along with increasing spending on IT and healthcare technologies in developing regions is expected to boost overall demand for effective treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer market. Though there has been an alarming increase in incidence rate of nasopharyngeal in Latin America, ineffective public policy formulation mechanism along with low healthcare expenditure has led to moderate growth in the region. Latin America and MEA are expected to witness moderate growth during the forecast period.Request a Sample Brochure of the Report @Some of the key market players for Nasopharyngeal Cancer Market market are Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Sanofi, Merck & Co., Inc., CELGENE CORPORATION, BioDiem LtdAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Insightful Forecast on Expansion of Global Carnauba Wax Market During 2017 - 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3868 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-3868 www.futuremarketinsights.com Natural waxes are obtained through ecological process of biogenesis without any involvement of chemical process. Natural waxes can be derived from plant as well as animal source and represents renewable source of wax. Thereby, gaining traction among wax manufacturers. Carnauba wax is plant-based resin wax, which is obtained from palm leaves of Copernicia prunifera, found exclusively in Brazil. The wax is attained by beating the dried leaves of palm and then refining it. Carnauba wax is considered to be naturally occurring hardest wax. Due to its durability and high melting point, carnauba wax finds extensive use in various sectors such as cosmetics, automobiles, pharmaceuticals among others. Carnauba wax consists various exclusive properties such as it swells when exposed to water, has potential to retain oil and exhibits prominent glossy characteristics differentiating it from other naturally occurring wax. Apart from natural source, carnauba wax can also be obtained organically by filtering the highest quality of untreated carnauba wax.Request For Report Sample@Global Carnauba Wax Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncreasing inclination of consumers towards naturally-derived products is driving the market for carnauba wax. Carnauba wax is hypo allergic in nature and easy to swallow hence finds extensive use in pharmaceutical industry for pills coating. As food & beverage industry is under continuous innovation, product such as carnauba wax that exhibit excellent emulsifying properties and binding capacity for oils, are gaining traction. Moreover, due to its high melting point and glossy characteristics it is becoming a desired natural additive choice among manufacturers of cosmetic industry for manufacturing of lip balms, lipsticks, mascaras among others. Thus, broad spectrum applicability of carnauba wax is propelling the market growth. Moreover, due to its hardness and viscosity modifier properties, it is extensively used as polish wax in automobile industry. Carnauba wax is gaining traction among consumers over the bee wax due to broad base of application hence accelerating the market growth.However, the tropical variety of carnauba wax may cause some side effects such as skin rash, contact dermatitis, inflammation of hair follicle. Thereby, restraining the growth of carnauba wax market. Moreover, owing to less commercialisation, carnauba wax market offers low profitability margins to the manufacturers across the globe.Global Carnauba Wax Market: SegmentationCarnauba wax is used in the manufacturing of chewing gums, coated chocolates, lip balms, lipsticks, and dental floss, owing to its glossy and stabilizing characteristics. Moreover, due to its hardness characteristics it is extensively used as polish wax for car, furniture and surf board.On the basis of end-use, carnauba wax market is segmented into:-Food & BeveragesAutomobilesPersonal CarePharmaceuticalOthersOn the basis of source, carnauba wax market is segmented into:-NaturalOrganicOn the basis of form, carnauba wax market is segmented into:-PowderFlakesPelletGlobal Carnauba Wax Market: Region wise OutlookThe global carnauba wax market is categorised into seven regions, namely, Western Europe, Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa (MEA), Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Latin America and North America. Brazil accounts for the major share of the market as carnauba wax is exclusively cultivated in the North-eastern Brazil. Asia pacific region is considered to be prominent segment for growth due to opportunistic investment and manufacturing hub for various industries under which carnauba wax finds extensive use. North America exports its major share of carnauba wax from Brazil.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Organic Hair Care Market: Key PlayersSome of the prominent players identified in the global carnauba wax market includes:Strahl & Pitsch, Inc.Poth Hille & Co LtdKoster Keunen, LLC.CalwaxKahl GmbH & CO. KGFrank B. Ross Co., Inc.Akrochem CorporationABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Companion diagnostics Market Highly Favorable to the Growth Rate by 2022 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3592 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3592 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Companion Diagnostics are used in diagnosing the treatment response of the patient. Companion diagnostic is now gaining importance for personalized treatment medicine and drug discovery. Companion diagnostic are used to determine patient personal molecular profile which helps in deciding which therapy will work for the patient. The few companion diagnostics are already available in the market for specific types of cancer and many are already under clinical development. Companion diagnostics test depends on finding a specific biomarker in the patient and hence biomarker presence or absence determines whether or not the patient will respond to the treatment. This test require a biopsied tissue to access the expression of biomarker protein or mutant or aberrant genes. Companion diagnostics are also used in drug development process by determining Companion biomarker that help predict likely response of toxicity.Request for Table of Contents @There are different types of biomarker available in market for few of the disease as follows:Colorectal CancerLung CancerBreast CancerGastric CancerMelanoma CancerGenital CancerOther (Infectious disease, HIV)Companion diagnostics market is growing due to continuous advancement in medical technology both for the diagnosis and the treatment of patients. Rise in the prevalence of diseases like cancer & HIV is fueling to the growth of companion diagnostics as it assist in determining the patient specific dose and drugs. Awareness among physician and patient about the drug toxicity is helping the market to dive further however in developing countries due to less awareness it is not as much in practice as in developed countries but the developing countries with huge population like India & china have a huge potential to pool in the market share. Lack of skilled professionals in the developing countries and lack of awareness is hampering the growth of companion diagnostics in developing countries. Other challenges in the development of companion diagnostics is the logistic issues raised so as to develop companion diagnostics and drug together.Companion diagnostic can be segmented on the basis of its use in indications.CardiovascularCentral Nervous SystemOncologyInflammationVirologyOncology being the highest revenue generating segment and most of the companion diagnostic have been developed to detect one or the other cancer biomarkers.Companion diagnostics has developed its space in drug discovery and diagnostics by identifying the biomarkers. Companion Diagnostic test includes biomarker test which helps in making a better decision making in therapy use. The goal of diagnostic drug is specially linked to therapeutic drug and increasing its safety and efficacy. However it is difficult to find the predictive biomarker in the early stage of development of drugs, can only be established after a significant number of patients much beyond the usual number in Phase III trials.Request a Sample Brochure of the Report @Some of the key market players in companion diagnostic market are Qiagen, Abbott, Genomic Health, Roche Holdings, Life Technologies, Thermo Fischer Scientific, Myriad Genetics, Agilent Technologies, Amgen, Sysmex, Myriad Genetics, Protagen Diagnostics to name a few.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Next Generation Data Storage Technology Market to Register Substantial Expansion by 2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/7169 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/7169 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Next generation data storage technology is the need for the hour as everything today we use creates data. For instance our mobile phones, wearable electronics, smart battery, games, advertisements, movies, smart homes, smart city, smart homes i.e. almost everything creates data. The next generation data storage technology offers the storage and fast recovery of our data in an efficient manner. The conventional data storage technology cannot handle the large chunks of data that are being produced every day.The increasing input-output devices are driving the next generation data storage market. Now data is being produced in virtually every sector that is the major growth driver for next generation data storage market.The growing demand for time-saving is a major driver of next generation data storage market. An example of time-saving technologies or system: smart technologies, automated systems, internet of things, online shopping, etc. has taken the next generation data storage market to a next level.Companies working in next generation and data storage market are constantly investing in research and development. For instance: HP has developed affordable flash drives that work at high speed.The invention of new technologies is catering the needs of the data market and boosting the next generation data storage market. For instances: EMC has developed new technology to solve data storage problems in enterprises, also Intel and micron have developed 3D NAND technology to increase data processing speed in solid state drives.Request for Table of Contents @Data storage which is a major challenge for numerous industries is helping the next generation data storage technology market to expand its roots. There is a vast demand for data storage which is flourishing the next generation data storage market.With the need to constantly update till the time we find the ultimate data storage technology is biggest demand generator for next generation data storage market because the data generation is never going to end.Cloud computing is a new trend and there has been a significant increase in the number of cloud providers, NetApp and EMC are aggressively focusing on this market. For instance: Virtustream is acquired by EMC to expand its cloud services.The restrain of next generation data storage market is the lack of security in cloud and server based services.Next generation data storage technology market is segmented by technology, by applications, by region. Next generation data storage technology market segmentation by technology is done as cloud-based disaster recovery, all-flash storage arrays, hybrid array, holographic data storage and Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR). The growing technologies will help to store, secure and recover huge volume of data. Hybrid array and all-flash array are popular storage techniques.Next generation data storage technology market segmentation by an application is done into big data storage service, cloud-based storage service, enterprise based storage service and others. The growing data analytics for big data has created the requirement for next generation data storage system, which help in efficient storing and fast searching of necessary data.The global next generation data storage technology market is segmented into seven major regions, which include North America, Western Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the key players identified in the global next generation data storage technology market are Dell, EMC Corporation, IBM, VMware, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Development Company, Sandisk corporation, Micron Technology, Nutanix, NetApp, Inc. , Toshiba corporation, Quantum Corporation, Hitachi data systems, HGST, Inc., Drobo , Avago Technologies, SimpliVity Corporation, Tintri. Wherein HP, EMC and IBM are some of the leading players in global next generation data storage technology market. The increase in the cloud services for public and the smart technologies generated the need for new technologies for the enterprise storage industries.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Data Analysis Market Trepidation In 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1223 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1223 https://www.tmrresearch.com/next-generation-sequencing-data-analysis-market Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Data Analysis Market: SnapshotNGS is the term which is used to describe a number of different modern sequencing technologies and is also known as high throughput sequencing. Researchers are allowed to examine the biological systems, deeply due to exceptional throughput, scalability of systems, and speed by the next generation sequencing (NGS). In present times, a greater level of understanding is demanded due to the complexities involved in genomic research, than those offered by old-style DNA sequencing methods. Thus, next generation sequencing has filled the gaps to cater to these greater levels of understanding needs and has become an everyday research tool. A digital alternative to sequence based gene expression, the scalability of next generation sequencing allows altering of the level of resolution to meet experimental needs.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Due to constant developments in data integration and cloud computing solutions, data handling bottlenecks are effectively being addressed, involving a sizeable volume analysis of high throughput sequence data. The introduction of NGS methods in combination with increasing clinical diagnosis for personalized treatment of many diseases, and genomic research are in need of fast and precise algorithms and sequencing interpretation tools which can analyze data faster. Concurrent drop in prices and high genetic data output are few of the main causes behind the rise in the scope of sequencing projects. This, in turn, is leading to an increase in the demand for advanced and efficient solutions for elaborate bioinformatics pipeline.When seen from a geographical aspect, due to the presence of some established market players in North America, it is likely to surface as one of the lucrative regions supplementing the growth of the global next generation sequencing data analysis market. In Canadian universities, increasing number of next generation sequencing research activities is further leading to growth of the market in that region.Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Data Analysis Market: OverviewNext generation sequencing allows researchers to examine biological systems deeply due to the unprecedented throughput, speed, and scalability of these systems.Today, complexities involved in genomic research demands a higher level of understanding than what is offered by traditional DNA sequencing methodologies. Next-generation sequencing has become an everyday research tool and filled the gap to cater to these needs.NGS is the digital alternative for sequence-based gene expression. Moreover, the scalability of NGS allows to tune the resolution level to meet specific experimental needs.The report analyzes the various segments and sub-segments at length and offers a detailed assessment of their current, past, and future performance. The factor propelling and challenging the global next generation sequencing data analysis market and recommendations on how to overcome the challenges have also been presented in this study. Using industry-centric tools, such as SWOT analysis and Porters Five Forces analysis, readers are given a 360-degree overview of where the NGS data analysis market will stand in the near future.Request TOC of the Report @Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Data Analysis Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe continuous advancements in cloud computing and data integration solutions are effectively addressing data handling bottlenecks, which involves analyzing a sizeable volume of high-throughput sequence data. Technological advancements in bioinformatics are anticipated to provide lucrative opportunities to this vertical and hence propel growth of the global NGS data analysis market in the near future.The introduction of NGS methods combined with their increasing adoption in clinical diagnosis, genomic research, and for personalized treatment of several diseases are bolstering the demand for precise and rapid sequencing interpretation tools and algorithms that can expedite data analysis. Moreover, the scope of sequencing projects is expected to rise due to the high genetic data output and concurrent drop in the prices of sequencing. This has led to an increased demand for elaborate bioinformatics pipeline with advanced and efficient solutions.However, infrastructural cost for the development of algorithms and software is anticipated to hold back the markets growth to some extent. Moreover, time-consuming nature of NGS data analysis is also hampering the markets growth. This, however, will provide lucrative opportunities for commercial service providers to design and develop newer solutions with faster turnaround times.Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Data Analysis Market: Geographical OutlookThe NGS data analysis market can be analyzed with respect to the regional segments of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. North America is the leading market for NGS data analysis due to the presence of some of the established market players in this region. Moreover, the increasing number of NGS research undertakings carried out in Canadian universities is leading to the growth of the NGS data analysis market in this region.However, Asia Pacific is anticipated to exhibit significant growth in this market in the coming years. This is mainly due to the increasing number of grants received for sequencing projects in the developing countries of this region. Moreover, positive R&D outcomes that are encouraging the inclusion of high-throughput sequencing in clinical diagnosis is anticipated to boost the growth of the NGS data sequencing market in Asia Pacific.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Major Companies Mentioned in ReportSome of the leading companies in the global NGS data analysis market includes Illumina Inc., Ingenuity, Station X Inc., DNAnexus SevenBridges Genomics, Genalice, Congenica, Omicia Inc., WuXiNextCODE, Bluebee, and Edico Genome.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 Automotive Parking Radar Market Trend to 2023 Profiling Fujitsu Ten, Bosch, Denso, Continental, Autoliv, Delphi, ZF, Hella https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1029301/?utm_source=OPR&utm_medium=SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa-automotive-parking-radar-market-2018-forecast-to-2023/?utm_source=OPR-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-automotive-parking-radar-market-professional-survey-report-2018/?utm_source=RR-SP https://factsweek.com/author/chetan/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ http://reports.algosonline.com/ Automotive Parking Radar Market report 2023 focuses on the major Types and Applications for the key players. Automotive Parking Radar market research report also provides analysis of the market share, segmentation, revenue forecasts and geographic regions of the market. The Automotive Parking Radar market research report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of Automotive Parking Radar Industry.This report studies the Automotive Parking Radar market. Parking Radars (or Parking Sensor) are designed to alert the driver about obstacles while parking or reversing. The use of display along with parking Radar gives a more precise look to understand quickly about the obstacle in terms of distance and representation.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Automotive Parking Radar 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 a Sample Copy of Automotive Parking Radar Market Report @Automotive Parking Radar Market Segment by Top Manufacturers Including:Bosch, Denso, Fujitsu Ten, Continental, Autoliv, Delphi, ZF, Valeo and Hella.An inherent sub-vertical of the Automotive Industry space, Automotive Parking Radar market stands to gain remarkable proceeds over 2018-2023, as per a recently compiled report Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Table of Contents:Global Automotive Parking Radar Market OverviewGlobal Automotive Parking Radar Market Manufacturers ProfilesGlobal Automotive Parking Radar Market Competition, by ManufacturerGlobal Automotive Parking Radar Market Analysis by RegionsGlobal Automotive Parking Radar by CountriesGlobal Automotive Parking Radar Market Segment by TypeGlobal Automotive Parking Radar Market Segment by ApplicationAutomotive Parking Radar Market Forecast (2018-2023)Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and DealersResearch Findings and ConclusionMarket Segment by Type, coversForward and Rear ViewMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into:Passenger Vehicle and Commercial VehicleThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Automotive Parking Radar market.Chapter 1, to describe Automotive Parking Radar Market Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Automotive Parking Radar, with sales, revenue, and price of Automotive Parking Radar, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Automotive Parking Radar, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Automotive Parking Radar market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Automotive Parking Radar sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor more information on this report, Please visit at:Related Reports: -Global Automotive Parking Radar Market Professional Survey Report 2018This report studies Automotive Parking Radar in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.More Report @Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:More Report at: Hair Transplant in Turkey hair transplant turkey www.gurhairtransplant.co.uk Istanbul is not only recognised with its world-famous Bosphorus Bridge any more. It is the first city comes to mind in hair transplant operations globally. Moreover, one in every five people in the world travels to Istanbul for medical tourism to undergo a hair transplant procedure. If you surf the internet and use search engines, you will come across with an enormous number of advertisements, clinics, hospitals, doctors and even non-doctor persons and agencies promoting their services to local and international patients. So, if YOU are considering to come to Turkey to have your hair transplant operation done, what do you need to know and beware of?Dr. Gokhan Gur, one of the pioneers in the Turkish hair transplant industry, is a highly experienced Turkish Medical Doctor who realized over 2500 hair transplant operations personally in the last 15 years that he has been implementing the FUE technique. Dr. Gurs recommendations to those who are trying to make a decision with the online information available are:1. First thing first, you MUST research the doctor. Unfortunately, in Turkey there are many clinics operating without doctors, many hospitals where doctors do not even see their patients let alone making the operations themselves, and establishments which are commissioning the hair transplant procedures to nurses or technicians. Simply put, you must ask the doctors name and stay away from those that are not able to provide you with a name.2. Once you are given the doctors nameme, you MUST find out if the doctor only supervises the transplant operation or personally performs it; or which stages of the operation (consultation, design, extraction of the grafts, opening of the channels etc.) the doctor handles.You should ONLY consider getting your hair transplant done in places that pass these two criteria.***As a Medical Doctor who realizes all surgical and aesthetical stages of a hair transplant operation himself, Dr. Gur has created two important quality standards:1. Golden Hand Standards: These standards help minimize the possibility of graft damage during the extraction and configuration phases, and enable a homogeneous extraction from the donor area which results in obtaining the most natural look possible in the recipient area.2. Under 1mm incision holes: These standards practiced by using transplant slits smaller than 1mm diameter allow to open very small incision holes and as a result achieve a natural looking and high quality result that even a hairdresser cannot differentiate the transplanted hair from the patient's own hair.Dr. Gur meticulously practices these two standards on each and every patient. Therefore, he does not perform hair transplant operations over 3000 grafts in an 8-hour long operation in one day.***With the explanation of these two important standards, Dr. Gur also warns patients about the online advertisements that are promising very high number of graft transplants in one day forKucukbakkalkoy Dist - 29 Dudullu Avenue Brandium Residance R4 Block - Door Number:124Post Code:34750 - Atasehir, Istanbul , TURKEY Getting a Farm Loans in Kansas Has Never Been Easier https://americanagfinance.com/ https://americanagfinance.com/ Many American farmers seek for agricultural and farm loans but are any times disappointed while dealing with banks and their terms. Many farmers are straightaway rejected from getting any loans and are sent off right away. American AG Finance was set up to assist farmers and agricultural landowners with agricultural and farm loans.If you own a piece of land that is used for agricultural purposes and want to expand your business, an agricultural loan might help you achieve your vision. The criteria for an agricultural loan eligibility includes you to own a property that is used for agricultural purposes and your credit score being 680 or above.American AG Finance finances a variety of properties including farms, ranches, dairies, orchards, vineyards, roves, citrus, equestrian operations, and other specialty agricultural operations.A farm loan can help you start a fresh business, expand your already existing business, strengthen your business, market your business, and even transition your business. Many banks do not offer loans to women willing to farm and certain people belonging to an ethnic minority or racially underprivileged farmers are denied from receiving an agricultural loan.While offering financial support to these people, American AG Finance also targets farmers involved in organic farming. Certain farming businesses involving alternative farming methods such as aeroponics, hydroponics, freight container farming, and vertical farming requires you to meet some more eligibility criteria.The minimum amount that you can borrow from us is $200,000 and there is no maximum limit. You monthly and semi-annual EMI tenure makes it easy for you to pay back the amount. Moreover, we do not charge any extra penalty for prepayment.If you are looking for farm loans in Kansas or land loan specialists in Kansas, make sure to contact American AG Finance. You can visit our websiteto learn more about our services. Alternatively, you can also call us up on the telephone number 913-549-3776. Our officers will be glad to assist you.If you are looking for farm loans in Kansas or land loan specialists in Kansas, make sure to contact American AG Finance. You can visit our websiteto learn more about our services.American Ag Finance6500 W. 132nd Terr.Leawood, KS 66209Phone: (913) 549-3776Fax: (913) 273-0560Email: norm@americanagfinance.com Poland Gears up for 5G Trials in 2019 - Telecom Industry Market Trends Market Research HUB https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1740273 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/poland-telecoms-mobile-and-broadband-statistics-and-analyses-report.html https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=enquiry&repid=1740273 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/ An up-to-date research report has been disclosed by Market Research Hub highlighting the title Poland - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses". This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in Poland's telecommunications market. Polands liberalised telecom market has seen considerable development in recent years, with the regulatory environment having been shaped by EU principles designed to facilitate competition and encourage competing operators to enter the market. Recently this extended to opening Orange Polands fibre network to access and pricing regulation.Request For Sample Report-The fixed broadband market has benefited from excellent cross-platform competition, with comprehensive DSL infrastructure complemented by extensive cable networks and a growing fibre presence. Commercial considerations meant that fibre was for some years restricted to a number of urban areas, though more recently the sector has received considerable financial support from the government and the EU aimed at building fibre-based networks across the country and promoting fibre connectivity to end-users. As a result, the proportion of broadband subscribers receiving a service of at least 100Mb/s has increased sharply in recent years.Orange Poland still dominates the fixed broadband market although there has been some consolidation among operators. UPC Poland in particular has grown through acquisitions, though its bid to take over the cable assets of Multimedia Polska was abandoned in early 2018 following regulatory concerns over the proposed deals impact on market competition.The mobile market has been characterised by the rapid extension of LTE networks and the development of mobile data services based on newly released and refarmed spectrum. In addition, the regulator and operators alike are preparing for 5G, with the regulator embarking on a long-term strategy and with operators such as Orange Poland preparing to trial services based on 5G technologies in 2019.Mobile penetration in Poland is above the European average, standing at almost 141% by early 2018. This reflects the continuing popularity among consumers to keep two or more SIM cards, which has distorted the real mobile penetration rate. The distortion has been addressed on two fronts: by network operators being encouraged to disconnect dormant SIM cards, and by legislation, effective from February 2017, which obliges subscribers of prepaid services to register their details. This has resulted in a significant readjustment in the number of subscribers in the market.Browse Full Report with TOC-This report covers key aspects of Polands evolving telecom market, presenting data and analyses on market operators, fixed-line networks and technologies, and the key regulatory developments. The report also profiles the fixed broadband market players, assesses the varied technology platforms and market developments, and provides subscriber forecasts to 2023. In addition the report covers the mobile voice and data markets, including profiles of the major operators together with updated operating and financial results, and assessing recent regulatory measures and spectrum auction results.Key developments:- NetWorkS! Joint venture increases LTE spectrum allocation;- Polkomtels LTE-A service data rate increased to 500Mb/s;- Legislation waives spectrum fees for technology trials;- Orange Poland planning 5G trials in 2019;- T-Mobile Poland launches commercial NB-IoT services;- Vectra and Toya launch 1Gb/s FttP services;- Liberty Global cancels proposed acquisition of Multimedias cable assets;- Netia and Orange Poland head fibre-based consortia to extend broadband nationally;- Government creates Ministry of Administration and Digitalisation to oversee telecom sector development;- Telecommunications Act amended;- Report update includes the regulators market data report for 2016, State Statistics data for 2016, telcos operating and financial data for Q4 2017, recent market developments.Companies mentioned in this report:Orange Poland, Netia, Telefonia Dialog, GTS Energis, Exatel, Telekomunikacja Kolejowa, UPC Poland, Aster, Multimedia Polska, Vectra, Polkomtel, CenterNet, T-Mobile Poland, P4/Play, Mobyland.Enquire about this Report-About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRH's expansive collection of chemicals market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite: African MNOs Under Pressure from SIM Card Registration - African Telecom Industry Market Research HUB https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1740274 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/africa-mobile-network-operators-and-mvnos-report.html https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=enquiry&repid=1740274 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/ An up-to-date research report has been disclosed by Market Research Hub highlighting the title Africa - Mobile Network Operators and MVNOs". This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in African telecommunications market. Mobile telephony remains by far the dominant telecom service across Africa, accounting for more than 90% of all telephone lines on the continent. Given the very poor condition of fixed-line infrastructure in most markets, mobile internet access as a consequence also accounts for between 95% and 99% of all internet connections.Request For Sample Report-The size and range of the diverse markets within Africa have contributed to varied market penetration rates between countries. By early 2018 the highest mobile penetration was found in countries including Gabon (163%), Botswana (159%), South Africa (147%) and Mauritius (146%). To some degree high penetration reflects the popularity of consumers having multiple SIM cards despite efforts among most regulators to enforce measures by which operators must register SIM card users. These efforts are largely geared more to removing dormant SIM cards from operators databases, and thereby providing a more accurate impression of market dynamics, than of addressing fears that crime and civil disturbances can be facilitated or orchestrated via the use of mobile phones.At the other end of the scale there are a number of countries in which far greater government direction, market competition and regulatory oversight are still required for the local mobile markets to develop further. These countries include Niger (40% penetration) and Madagascar (39%) as also two which have suffered from considerable civil and economic disruption, South Sudan (20% penetration) and Eritrea (7.5%).The mobile market in Africa is almost entirely prepaid. Commonly, about 99% of all subscribers are prepaid, since this offer a far more economically manageable means to gain access to voice and data services than does a contract plan. In addition, year-on-year a greater proportion of the continents population is able to afford mobile services, leading to a steady increase in the subscriber base. Affordability has been extended by the positive effects on pricing from market competition and by measures to reduce termination rates. In addition, many countries have signed up to regional agreements aimed at reducing international roaming charges. Regional roaming initiatives reduce charges for customers, increase regulated traffic, and curtail grey traffic (the re-origination of long-distance calls). The East Africa One Network Area has been in effect since April 2016, while the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) came into play in December 2016. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) provides a similar agreement (signed in October 2017) among its 19-member bloc, stretching from Libya in the north to eSwatini (Swaziland) in the south.Browse Full Report with TOC-While network operators have seen reduced revenue from roaming access, this has generally been recouped from a sharp increase in international traffic.A few countries within Africa retain incumbent monopolies for the provision of services, while others have seen consolidation among players (largely due to operators such as Airtel and Tigo exiting certain markets or the failure of some poorly managed enterprises). In sum, though, there is effective competition within the mobile sector. This has also encouraged competition for services based on upgraded technologies, which in turn has encouraged investment. Africa remains the main region globally for m-money and m-banking services, for example, and while there is little focus on 5G deployments as yet there is considerable effort being undertaken to upgrade networks from 3G infrastructure to LTE. This process is uneven, since in many areas GSM remains the dominant technology.Table of Contents1. Regional mobile market overview1.1 Leading mobile operators by country1.1.1 Major domestic operators1.1.2 Major international operators1.2 Africa Telecoms Maturity Index1.2.1 Africa Telecom Maturity Index by tier2. Algeria2.1 Market analysis2.2 Operator statistics2.3 Algerie Telecom (Mobilis)2.4 Optimum Telecom Algerie (Djezzy)2.5 Wataniya Telecom (Nedjma, Ooredoo)3. Angola3.1 Market analysis3.2 Movicel (Angola Telecom).....Enquire about this Report-About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRH's expansive collection of chemicals market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite: Energy Storage System Market Expected to be more than US$ 21 Billion Globally by 2024 End Market Research HUB https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1740272 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/energy-storage-system-market-volume-global-forecast-by-enduser-region-companies-report.html https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=enquiry&repid=1740272 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/ A comprehensive study, with a prime focus on power industry has been publicized to the vast archive of Market Research Hub (MRH), which provides precise information on the energy storage system, thus titled as "Energy Storage System Market, Volume, Global Forecast by End-User, Region & Companies". Energy Storage System market is expected to be more than US$ 21 Billion globally by the end of year 2024. This report covers key growth drivers and scientific challenges for Energy Storage System market. The set of methods and technologies used to store various kind of energy like Mechanical (Pumped hydro, Compressed air energy and Flywheels), Electrochemical, Thermal and Chemical known as Energy Storage System.Request For Sample Report-Globally fluctuation in electricity and demand for electricity in many sectors like industries, transportation, and residential use developed technology to store electrical energy so it can be used whenever needed. Energy storage allows a lower-cost generating source to generate electricity at a diverse point in time to be stored and then used to meet times of crest demand.Latest report Energy Storage System Market, Volume, Global Forecast by End-User (Utility-Scale, Commercial & Industrial, Residential, Remote Power System) Region (East Asia & Pacific, South Asia, Eastern Europe & Central Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa) Companies (Samsung SDI., LG Chemical, SANYO-Panasonic, BYD Company Limited, ATL and Exide Technologies) provides a detailed and comprehensive insight of the Global Energy Storage System Market. This report studies the Global Energy Storage System Market and Volume from 4 view points by End-User and further 6 view points by Region.By End-User - Energy Storage System Market & Volume- Utility-Scale- Commercial & Industrial- Residential- Remote Power SystemBy Region - Energy Storage System Market & Volume- East Asia & Pacific- South Asia- Eastern Europe & Central Asia- Latin America & the Caribbean- Sub-Saharan Africa- Middle East and North AfricaUtility-Scale, Commercial & Industrial, Residential and Remote Power System - By Region- East Asia & Pacific- South Asia- Eastern Europe & Central Asia- Latin America & the Caribbean- Sub-Saharan Africa- Middle East and North AfricaBrowse Full Report with TOC-Key Player covered in the Report- Samsung SDI.- LG Chemical- SANYO-Panasonic- BYD Company Limited- ATL- Exide TechnologiesScope of the Report- Market by End-User: We have segmented the market into four applications which are Utility-Scale, Commercial & Industrial, Residential and Remote Power System.- Volume by End-User: We have segmented the volume sales into four applications which are Utility-Scale, Commercial & Industrial, Residential and Remote Power System. We have taken volume in Mega Watt for each of mentioned segment.- Market by Region: We have segmented the market into six parts by region which are East Asia & Pacific, South Asia, Eastern Europe & Central Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East and North Africa. Moreover we have also fragmented most important key drivers for the region.- Volume by Region: We have segmented the volume sales into six parts by region which are East Asia & Pacific, South Asia, Eastern Europe & Central Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East and North Africa.- Market Share Analysis: We have mentioned market share from two view points: energy storage system volume share by application and by region.- Volume Share Analysis: We have also mentioned volume share from two view points: energy storage system volume share by application and by region.- Key Growth Drivers & Challenges: Report studies the multi-dimensional factors which help to grow global energy storage system market. We have also studied key factors that will hinder the market growth.- Key Players Analysis: We have covered six key players and their overview of the company and their business strategies.Enquire about this Report-About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRH's expansive collection of chemicals market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite: Middle East Mobile Operators Begin to See Rising Data Revenues - Middle East Telecom Industry Market Research HUB https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1740275 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/middle-east-mobile-network-operators-and-mvnos-report.html https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=enquiry&repid=1740275 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/ An up-to-date research report has been disclosed by Market Research Hub highlighting the title Middle East Mobile Network Operators and MVNOs". This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in middle east telecommunications market. On a global level, we saw the mobile operators in the developed markets begin international expansion a few years ago, when it became clear that the mobile markets were saturated and revenue growth opportunities were limited. Developing markets like the Middle East were quickly identified as offering room for potential mobile growth as well as infrastructure building opportunities.Request For Sample report-In many ways, the Middle East has benefited from this trend with 6 international operators providing services in parts of the region; bringing valuable experience, infrastructure, services, investment and solutions to the region. The Middle East also has 9 dominant domestic players of its own which are competing with these international players.The operators face many challenges in the Middle East, including the rise of competition; the impact of civil conflict upon the region, difficult topography, variances in regulatory laws and differing economic conditions. The operators also need to keep pace with the rapid rate of development in telecoms on a global level and this requires huge capital expenditure as well as an appropriately skilled workforce.Many operators are obliged to pay large tax levies and licensing fees depending on the country - and are subject to various regulatory conditions applied across the different markets of the Middle East.In many cases governments and operators have attempted to curb or stop the disruptive influence of Over-The-Top players; however, this has had limited success as it can be difficult to regulate such prohibitions and citizens often turn to VPN solutions to access such services.This annual publication provides a country level analyses of 14 mobile markets across the Middle East including Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. It includes analyses of each countries mobile market, key mobile market statistics and information on the major operators and trends. It also includes mobile subscriber data for the major international and domestic operators.This annual publication also incorporates Middle East Telecoms Maturity Index (TMI). This is an index (on a scale between 0% and 100%) which measures and ranks the relative maturity of the telecoms industries in 12 countries in the region (Syria and Yemen have been excluded from the index at this time). The Index has been devised as a tool to compare the different markets easily and uniformly. Countries have been placed into Market Leaders, Market Challengers or Market Laggards categories according to their Market Index score. Countries are compared according to a number of parameters with a focus on fixed broadband and mobile broadband penetration. GDP is also included in a number of charts both for illustrative purposes and as a gauge to help decipher market maturity. However, a number of countries low on the Index scale are noted for the considerable effort still required in terms of market investment, regulatory oversight and effective government-sponsored direction. Given the poor condition of the telecoms market in these countries they have not been placed into either category.Browse Full Report with TOC-Key developments:Many Middle Eastern mobile operators are facing increased challenges in the mobile sector, due primarily to regulatory reforms, liberalisation, Over-The-Top providers, economic and civil conditions, the lifting of sanctions (Iran) and mobile market saturation.The mobile operators have risen to the challenges presented across the various markets. By using methods such as network infrastructure sharing, international expansion, acquisitions and partnerships, cost cutting and service improvements, many of the operators continue to survive and even grow. Focusing on mobile broadband opportunities is becoming particularly beneficial to many operators.Companies mentioned in this reportMobile Telecommunications Co (MTC) / Zain, Ooredoo Kuwait (previously National Mobile Telecommunication Co (NMT) / Wataniya Telecom), Kuwait Telecom Company (KTC) / Viva, Batelco, Zain Bahrain, Viva Bahrain, Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI), Mobile Communications Iran (MCI), MTN Irancell, Tamin Telecom (Rightel), Mobile Telecommunications Company of Isfahan (MTCE), Telecommunication Kish Company (TKC), Iraqi Telephone and Postal Company (ITPC), Asiacell, Zain Iraq, Korek Telecom, Regional Telecom, Cellcom, Orange (Partner), Pelephone (Bezeq), HOT Mobile, Golan Telecom, Rami Levy, Jordan Telecom Group/Orange, Zain Jordan, Batelco/Umniah, Saudi Telecom Company (STC)/Bravo, Integrated Telecom Company (ITC)/Bayn Consortium, GO Telecom/Etihad Atheeb, Mobily/Ettihad Etisalat/Bayanat Al-Oula, Zain KSA, Lebara KSA/Etihad Jawraa, Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa (Virgin Mobile MEA), Axiom Telecom, VIVA, Etisalat, du, Jordan Telecom Group/Orange, Zain Jordan, Batelco/Umniah, MTC Touch, Alfa Telecom, Ooredoo Qatar, Vodafone Qatar, OmanTel, Ooredoo Oman, FRiENDi, Majan Telecom (Renna), Samatel, Syrian Telecommunication Establishment (STE), MTN Syria, Syriatel, Turkcell, Vodafone Turkey, Avea.Enquire about this Report-About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRH's expansive collection of chemicals market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite: Wafer Inspection Equipment Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/637 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/637 www.coherentchronicle.com Wafer inspection equipment is fabrication system utilized for the detection of defects during the semiconductor wafer manufacturing processes. Increasing application of electronic semiconductor ICs in consumer electronics, industrial, automobile segments and related R&D activities is expected to drive the increased demands for the production. Requirement to maintain the quality of products and the client satisfaction is expected to remain the primary factor that would fuel the wafer inspection equipment market growth.Request For Sample Copy of this Research Report :Proliferation of wireless computing devices are expected to primarily contribute to the industry growthAdvanced wireless networking technologies such as 3G, 4G, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and wireless LAN have enabled fast and easy data transmission. Smartphones, tablets, wearables and sensors integrating these technologies have witnessed significant demand increase over the past few years. In conjunction with the demands for high level integration and development of new designs to provide support to multiple application on single platforms, intensive industry competition has led to increased demands for better quality and least defects in the semiconductor devices. Moreover, increasing demands for high performance chips for mission critical applications in industries and R&D activities will present considerable growth opportunities for the wafer inspection equipment market through the forecast period.IoT, and digitization are the major trends expected to transform the globe, which would require semiconductor technologies as the basis of their framework. Smart connected TVs, vehicle automation, kitchen automation, smart city, smart grids, are among the many such IoT concepts that are expected to gain traction over the next few years. This will increase demand for the electronic product manufacturing, which will in turn fuel the wafer inspection equipment market growth.Optical and E-beam are complementary technologies that perform distinct operations in the workflow. optical has fast throughputs and finds great applications in the end use. On the other hand E-beam helps in detection of smallest defects, however the throughputs are low. Owing to these features, it finds substantial applications in R&D activities. Increasing demands for advanced computing and processing has led to development of 3D finFETs, NAND and advanced DRAMs, which requires the tools to assess complex structures. Wafer assessment on the scales below 10 nm is extremely difficult, and in case of overlooking of the smallest error can impact the end use. This is expected to be major industry growth challenge over the next coming years.Asia Pacific is the largest hub for the electronic semiconductor manufacturing activities, driven by the extensive production demands specifically in the countries that include China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Moreover, the region is also attributed with the presence of key electronic industry participants such as Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, among many others, which will help the region sustain its dominance over the next few years.U.S. is expected to contribute to major industry share in the industry growth primarily owing to the major inclination of the users towards innovative technologies such as connected vehicles, industrial automation and other process automation. Moreover, the region is also characterized with the presence of major tech giants that include, Google, Tesla, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and GlobalFoundries among many others, which will provide consistent demands for the wafer inspection equipment market.Request For Table of Content of this Report:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Our New Website: Quarter Sawn Flooring Market: Brief Analysis of Products and Application Set to Attain Higher Position Through 2027 https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=644 https://www.factmr.com/report/644/quarter-sawn-flooring-market https://www.factmr.com/checkout/644/S https://www.factmr.com/ As per the current market trends and the promising nature of the quarter sawn flooring market, it can be estimated that the future holds positive outcomes. In order to provide a deep insight about the concerned market, Fact.MR would be publishing a resourceful analysis that will enclose knowledge about the regional market size, revenue and opportunity status. Readers will be offered the privilege to decode various facets of the market during the period 2018 to 2027, together with the active access to secondary and primary research methodology. Furthermore, various segments of the market associated to product, application, end-user etc., would also be present in this intelligent research report.Request TOC of this Report-Fact.MR, after analyzing the global market for quarter sawn flooring, has come up with a new research publication on global quarter sawn flooring market which includes a multitude of angles that have an influence on the adoption and sales of quarter sawn flooring, the analysis of which is systematically drafted in this research report. This research gives a thorough understanding on various market participants, their recent developments and innovations. A complete understanding of the competiveness of the global quarter sawn flooring market has been portrayed in this research report. Key participants in the global quarter sawn flooring market include Quarter-Sawn Flooring Inc., Kustom Floors LLC, Midwest Hardwood Corporation, Taylor Lumber and Stonewood Products.Wooden flooring has gained high traction since past several years owing to its aesthetic features along with versatility and durability of its engineered equivalents. Wooden flooring is easy to maintain, and can be restored and styled according to ones requirements these factors continue to support the growing adoption of quarter sawn flooring.Demand for Engineered Wood Flooring to Impact Sale of Quarter Sawn Flooring in the Coming YearsEngineered wood flooring is witnessing higher demand in the construction industry, owing to its various benefits. It offers high resistance against moisture owing to presence of additional layers wherein the grain is at 90 degree angle making it impossible for the wood to shrink or swell. In addition, on engineered flooring, different effects can be achieves via techniques such as sawing, planning, brushing and smoking.Engineered hardwood for quarter sawn flooring is expected to witness increased adoption as ideal flooring material. Regulatory bodies have recommended the use of engineered wood flooring over solid wood. For instance, the US Department of Energy has recommended the use of engineered wood with a view to reduce wood shrinking or cracking owing to drying effects of heat. Also, the National Wood Flooring Association has recommended engineered quarter sawn flooring for radiant heating owing to its dimensional stability. Also, it has suggested the use American Cherry, North American Oak, and American Walnut as ideal wood species for engineered quarter sawn flooring. This is expected to positively influence the sale of quarter sawn flooring in the years to follow.To know more @ Global Quarter Sawn Flooring Market, visit -Increasing Demand for Wood Flooring, Especially in Developed Economies, to Significantly Contribute to the Sale of Quarter Sawn FlooringUse of high quality wood for residential flooring has been observed in the developed economies such as US and Europe. Majority of people are opting for wood flooring for their row houses and apartments owing to its aesthetic appeal. For example, in Europe, the wood flooring sales increased by 1% in 2017 according to European Federation of the Parquet Industry. Wood flooring industry in this region witnessed a 1.6% growth in 2016. The slight decrease in this percentage is mainly due to a decline in purchases of wood flooring in Germany and in Switzerland. According to European Federation of the Parquet Industry, albeit this small decline, the wood flooring industry is expected to witness bright future in the coming years. Moreover, all other European countries reflected a steady rise in this industry. Poland, Belgium, Sweden and Netherlands witnessed significant growth with respect to adoption of wood flooring. This steady growth in demand for wood flooring coupled with increasing awareness regarding benefits associated with quarter sawing of wood for flooring purposes is expected to significantly fuel the sale of quarter sawn flooring in the coming years.Additionally, per capita GDP of developed countries is high as compared to emerging economies. In 2016, the GDP per capita of US was US$ 54,000 which increased to US$ 59,495 in 2017. Likewise, in European countries, the GDP per capita across countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Russia, to name a few, has been steadily rising. People are willing to spend more on high quality quarter sawn flooring, which is typically highly priced as compared to plain or flat sawn flooring. This aspect is also anticipated to drive the adoption of quarter sawn flooring during the forecast period.With this research, the reader can gain incisive market acumen on quarter sawn flooring at a global level. The global quarter sawn flooring market research report covers past data, current market position and future trajectory of the quarter sawn flooring market. The forecast period of nine years, starting from 2018 till 2027 is presented in this research study. The reader can gain high level insights on the volume and value projections of quarter sawn flooring across regions in the globe.Pre-book Global Quarter Sawn Flooring Market Forecast 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: Leather Goods Market to Surpass US$ 336.71 Billion by 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1439 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1439 The products made from animal hide by means of tanning, a process that stabilizes proteins, are referred as leather goods. The process of tanning animal hide makes it suitable for various applications such as wallets, clothing, footwear, and others. The inherent qualities of leather such as dustproof, fireproof, crack proof, and durability is expected to increase growth of leather goods market. Furthermore, increasing demand for trendy hand bags, premium wallets, and other leather products is propelling growth of leather goods market. However, low availability of raw material, availability of synthetic alternatives such as plastic leather, and availability of leather goods at low cost are some of the factors restraining growth of leather goods market.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report@*The Sample consists of Table of Content, Research framework of the actual report & research methodology adopted for it.On the basis of product type, leather goods are segment in to footwear, accessories, luggage, and others. Footwear segment is expected to account for the highest revenue share in market over the forecast period, owing to increasing consumer preference for high comfort and quality products. According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the per capita footwear consumption is expected to increase up to four pairs by 2020 whereas domestic footwear consumption is expected to reach five billion pairs. Luggage segment is expected to witness significant growth in global leather goods market over the forecast period, owing to increasing retail sales. According to the Travel Goods Association, retail sales of luggage in 2015 was 59.74 million units, which increased to 76.023 million units in 2016 in the U.S.Asia Pacific region held dominant position in global leather goods market and was valued at US$ 70.82 Billion in 2016. Increasing demand for leather goods by the fashion industry especially footwear is driving growth of the market. Furthermore, growth of the leather industry in the region is further fuelling the demand for leather products in the region. According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), India ranks second in terms of leather goods and footwear production in 2017 and accounted for 12.93% of leather production of hides or skins worldwide.Europe region is projected to witness significant growth in leather goods market in terms of revenue over the forecast period. The tanneries in Europe is highly competitive sector in the global leather market and the tanning industry in Europe is one of the largest supplier of the leather in 2015, according to European Union. Also, Europe accounted for one third of the worlds leather goods market, as it is one of the largest traded region in world, Italy accounted for 18% of global leather exports in 2016, according to CBI Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Furthermore, fashion industry is one of the most creative and vibrant sector in Europe. Various players in leather goods market increased their sales revenue in fashion and leather goods industry, driving the market growth. For example, LVMH, one of the key player based in Paris, engaged in fashion and leather goods business group witness sales of US$ 15.93 bn in 2016 and increased up to US$ 19.291 bn in 2017.However, shortage of leather goods worldwide is resulting in increasing its cost. As a result, European buyers are looking for low cost supplier and manufacturing leather made of exotic animals such as pythons and alligators. For instance, the fashion industry in Europe accounted for 96% of the python skin market, Italy, Spain and France being the major importers in 2016, as stated in Humane Society International.The leather goods market was valued at US$ 220.71 billion in 2016 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.02%, in terms of revenue, over the forecast period (2017 2025).Request For Customization@North America accounted for largest market share of 23.24% in the global leather goods market in 2016. This is attributed to the availability of raw skin and hides from the slaughterhouses and the discovery of chrome tanning process. According to U.S. Hide, Skin and Leather Association, hides and skins companies in U.S. regularly import nearly 90% of total production of these products, which in turn is boosting growth of leather and leather goods industry.Several manufacturers are adopting various organic strategies such as technological innovations and new product launch to maintain their market position. For instance, in July 2017, Rugged Material, launched The Ultimate Leather EDC Belt, designed with a hidden pocket and with high durability.Major Players in Global Leather Goods Market:Some of the key players operating in the global leather goods market include LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, Kering S.A., Adidas AG, Hermes International S.A., Dolce & Gabbana Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Overseas Leather Goods Company Pvt Ltd, Tata International Ltd, Chanel International B.V., Prada S.p.A, Ralph Lauren Corporation, and others.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Global Concentrating Solar Power Market 2025 - Abengoa Solar, Aalborg CSP, ACWA Power, Bright Source Energy, Esolar https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1670281 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1670281/global-concentrating-solar-power-research-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1670281/global-concentrating-solar-power-research-market-research-reports.pdf http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Latest Research Report Global Concentrating Solar Power Market Research Report 2018 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"In this report, the global Concentrating Solar Power 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 Concentrating Solar Power in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGet Sample Copy of this report @Global Concentrating Solar Power market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingAbengoa SolarAalborg CSPACWA PowerBright Source EnergyEsolarOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoParabolic TroughSolar TowerLinear FresnelDish/Engine SystemOn 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, includingResidentialCommercialIndustrialBrowse Complete Report with TOC @Table of ContentsGlobal Concentrating Solar Power Market Research Report 20181 Concentrating Solar Power Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Concentrating Solar Power1.2 Concentrating Solar Power Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Concentrating Solar Power Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Concentrating Solar Power Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Parabolic Trough1.2.4 Solar Tower1.2.5 Linear Fresnel1.2.6 Dish/Engine System1.3 Global Concentrating Solar Power Segment by Application1.3.1 Concentrating Solar Power Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Residential1.3.3 Commercial1.3.4 Industrial1.4 Global Concentrating Solar Power Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Concentrating Solar Power 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 Concentrating Solar Power (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Concentrating Solar Power Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Concentrating Solar Power Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Concentrating Solar Power Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Concentrating Solar Power Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Concentrating Solar Power Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Concentrating Solar Power Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Concentrating Solar Power Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Concentrating Solar Power Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Concentrating Solar Power Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Concentrating Solar Power Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Concentrating Solar Power Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Concentrating Solar Power Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Concentrating Solar Power Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Concentrating Solar Power Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Concentrating Solar Power Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Concentrating Solar Power Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Concentrating Solar Power Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Concentrating Solar Power Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Concentrating Solar Power Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China Concentrating Solar Power Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.8 Japan Concentrating Solar Power Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.9 Southeast Asia Concentrating Solar Power Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.10 India Concentrating Solar Power Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)View Sample PDF @4 Global Concentrating Solar Power Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global Concentrating Solar Power Consumption by Region (2013-2018)4.2 North America Concentrating Solar Power Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.3 Europe Concentrating Solar Power Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.4 China Concentrating Solar Power Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.5 Japan Concentrating Solar Power Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.6 Southeast Asia Concentrating Solar Power Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.7 India Concentrating Solar Power Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Commodity Chemicals Market Gain Impetus due to the Growing Demand over 2020 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/2787 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/2787 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Commodity chemicals (bulk chemicals) are a group of chemicals that are made on a very large scale and act as intermediates to produce other chemicals, which, in turn are used to produce a extensive range of end-user products including construction materials, adhesives, plastics, apparel and tires. Commodity chemicals are the largest sub-segment of the chemical industry. Commodity chemicals are commonly traded under broad categories such as organics, inorganics, plastics resins, synthetic rubbers, fibers, films,explosives and petrochemicals. These broad categories include chemicals such as, acetic acid, acetone, acrylate esters, adipic acid, acrylonitrate, benzene, bisphenol, butadiene, butanediol, butyl acetate, hexane, melamine, polyvinyl chloride, propylene, methanol, methyl, glycol and glycerines. These chemical are very low in product differentiation, and hence making price the dominant economic factor in purchasing decisions for the end users.Request Report for TOC @The commodity chemical industry is highly fragmented and served with large number of local or regional players. Asia Pacific is by far the largest market for commodity chemicals accounting almost half of the total market. It is followed by North America and Europe. The growth prospective is still high in Asia Pacific attributed to the growing economy and ongoing trend and support for manufacturing sector in the developing countries such as India, China, and Indonesia. Bulk availability of crude oil and natural gas from gulf countries such as Saudi Arabian, Iran, Iraq and Syria is helping the commodity chemical industries in Asia Pacific.Commodity chemicals serve a wide range of industries ranging from personal care products to aerospace industries. It has its application either directly or indirectly in almost all manufacturing industries. The economy growth and increasing Gross domestic product (GDP) of developed and developing countries around the world is boosting the overall market of commodity chemicals. However the stiff regulation of the governments around the world regarding the health and environment side effect of chemicals and fluctuating prices of crude oil and natural gas are posing significant challenge for the industry.Request to Sample Report @Some of the major players in commodity chemicals market include, BASF SE, Bayer AG, The Dow Chemical Company, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, PPG industries, Linde Group, Akzo Nobel, LyondellBasell Industries, Asahi Kasei, Sumitomo chemicals, Evonik Industries, INEOS Group Holding and Chem China.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: LED Lighting Horticulture Market trends research and projections for 2017-2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/668 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/668 http://www.coherentchronicle.com Industry is largely characterized by the presence of conventional alternatives such as fluorescent and high pressure sodium (HPS) products. These products are featured with high power consumption, these in turn lead to heavy electricity bills and lower profit margins for commercial applications. However, horticulturists are increasingly encouraging the use of LED lighting for applications owing to the related power savings, optimum plant light outputs and considerably longer lifecycles up to 5X the conventional products. These factors are expected to provide major traction to the LED Lighting Horticulture market during the next few years.LED lighting horticulture market is directly addressed to the businesses associated with the commercial, indoor and R&D activities associated with plants, which is in contrast of the field farming and animal husbandry. These addressable segments are directly dependent on the presence of sunlight for the crops growth. However, with the increase in global population and lack of adequate sunlight in regions that include North Central Europe and Nordic countries, requirement of additional production of vegetables, fruits, medicines and other agricultural products is expected to drive the demands for these industry products.Ask for detailed Sample of this Research Report @Moreover, rather than increasingly focusing on the commercial sales of the products, major industry participants that include Philips Lighting and Osram Sylvania are increasingly focusing on awareness through investing in trial projects. For instance, Philips has already made significant investments in Europe, Americas and Asia Pacific for several such projects to gain higher consumer inclinations. Moreover, offering products with 3 to 5 years warranty is expected to garner higher consumer inclinations over the long run.Low light intensity is the major drawback that will restrain the growth of LED lighting horticulture marketConventional alternatives that includes specifically includes HPS are associated with additional costs owing to their short lifecycles, requirement to alter the lights almost every year and high labor costs. However, these are expected to remain in the industry for long owing to their high intensity and low light degradation that is 1% every thousand hours of utilization. However, long term warranties of the LED counterparts only ensures only 70% of the initial lumen output over its lifecycle. This is expected to remain as the major restraining factor for the industry over the forecast period. Moreover, low overall initial outputs also require the plants to be located in the close proximity. This in turn can lead to blocking of the naturally available sunlight, which may lead to 24 hours requirement of these lights. This may hamper the overall yield up to 30% which is not ideal for growers who want to maintain the annual yield which may in turn lead to decreased consumer inclinations.These factors are anticipated to be most likely be dealt with the utilization of increased intensity with certain product developments over the next few years. Moreover, aforementioned benefits outweigh these drawbacks and LED lighting horticulture market is expected to gain highest traction over the coming years.U.S. is expected to remain the most lucrative regional business segment owing to the unfavorable climatic conditions for conventional agriculture methodologyU.S has legalized the cultivation of marijuana in locations away from public spaces, along with certain other countries in the Americas. In conjunction with this demands for high nutrition foods, will drive the requirement for vegetable and fruits over the next few years. Owing to unfavorable weather conditions, requirements to meet these demands, construction of commercial greenhouses and LED lighting equipment will drive the market growth through the forecast period.Chief industry participants in the LED lighting horticulture market include Fluence Bioengineering, Cree, Illumitex, Kessil Lighting, Heliospectra, Hubbell Lighting, LumiGrow, Lemnis Oreon, Osram Sylvania and Smart Grow Technologies. Industry is expected to be characterized by the next generation product launches to garner higher consumer inclinations. For instance, in January 2014, Philips Lighting launched LED toplighting range for commercial applications, which was featured with relatively higher efficiency than the other available LED modules.Request for Table of Content of this Report @About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website : Global Mens Underwear Market to Surpass US$ 12.41 Bn by 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1442 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1442 An underwear is usually made up of suitable material or fabric in order to provide comfort and protect the internal body parts. Increasing awareness regarding health & fitness and personal hygiene among men is a major driving factor for the growth of the mens underwear market. Furthermore, increasing demand for stylish and trendy underwear such as geo-prints launched by the Australian company 2eros in 2016 are expected to fuel demand for mens underwear, which in turn is expected to drive the growth of the market during the forecast period (2018 2025). Wide availability of products related to intimate apparels for men coupled with discounts with online e-commerce websites such as Amazon providing 20-30% discount on brands such as Jockey and Hanes, which is expected to drive growth of online shopping for underwear worldwide.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report@*The Sample consists of Table of Content, Research framework of the actual report & research methodology adopted for it.The specialty stores segment dominated the global underwear market and is expected to continue its dominance over the forecast period. This is on account to specialty stores being the most preferred channel for end users to purchase underwear due to the large variety of options that are available at these stores. For instance, HanesBrands launched a pop-up shop in 2017 in North Carolina in the U.S. providing customers with up to 75% discount on their undergarments. However, the online channel segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment over the forecast period. Underwear manufacturers are focusing on offering their products through online distribution channels such as Skiviez, in order to enhance their online presence and expand their customer base. These distribution channels enable manufacturers to offer a large product portfolio along with providing discounts and receiving immediate feedback of the customers.Asia Pacific was the most dominant market in terms of revenue share in 2016 and is expected to continue its dominance over the forecast period. Asia Pacific mens underwear market was valued at over US$ 2.3 billion in 2016, due to high demand for underwear due to the high male population in the region especially in China and India that account for the highest male population globally. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the male population in China and India stood is reported to be 700 million and 640 million respectively in the year 2016. Increasing penetration of international underwear brands such as Hanes, Jockey, and Calvin Klein in emerging economies in Asia Pacific is expected to spur the demand for mens underwear. Hence numerous international players are looking to enter the Asia Pacific mens underwear market due to the huge untapped market in this region. For instance, Perry Ellis International agreed on a new license agreement with Good People Co. Ltd for selling mens underwear and loungewear in South Korea in 2018.Request For Customization@Among product types, boxer briefs segment was dominant segment accounting for 36.57% of the market share in 2016 and is expected to increase to 37.91% by 2025. The trunks segment is expected to grow at the fastest rate, with CAGR of 6.31% during the forecast period. Boxer briefs are a fusion of men's underwear that are long and similar to boxer shorts, however have a tighter and more comfortable fitting like briefs thus providing better comfort and protection. This is a major factor that is expected to drive the demand for boxer briefs in the global mens underwear market.Some of the leading players in the mens underwear market include American Eagle Outfitter Inc., Philips-Van Heusen Corporation, Hanesbrands Inc. Jockey International Inc, Perry Ellis International Inc., Naked Brand Group Inc., Ralph Lauren Corporation, and Berkshire Hathaway IncAbout Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Leather Chemicals Market to Gain a Stronghold by 2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3599 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3599 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Leather chemicals are a class of products that are used in the treatment of animal hides for the production of leather. Leather chemicals are required at different stages of leather processing which includes beamhouse, tanning and finishing, fatliquors and water repellents and drum dyeing. Leather is an unmatched material for making accessory products and item. In order to make the leather for long lasting for use and to create an appealing richness of leather, many leather chemicals are used.Increasing demand for various leather made products such as apparels, footwear, garments, furniture and automotive upholstery positively influence the demand of leather chemicals and helps in further growth of leather chemical market. Innovation in technology such as use of micro and nano particulates for abrasion resistance and improved innovation in chemical compound that offers improved color, look and feel better leather, superior water resistance and improved finish adhesion are expected to drive the leather chemical market across the globe.Request Report for TOC @Increasing per capita income of individual, growing consumer affluence, growth in tourism industry are some of the key reason, which leads to increase in the demand of luxury and leather goods items in the market. Fast changing fashion trends and increasing the consumer awareness level about various luxury products further boost the demand of leather goods in the market. Regular innovation and changing design model of various leather and luxury product leads to trigger the demand of leather product in the market. Growing trends towards purchasing of various leather product help to trigger the growth of leather chemical market.Asia Pacific is the largest market for leather chemicals. Some of the major factor that drives the leather chemicals success in Indian market in coming years would be its compliance with many international regulations like ISO, REACH, etc. With large number of population in Asia Pacific countries, the demand of various leather products is also on the rise. China produced 4.271 billion pairs of leather shoes in 2011 and the leather shoes market is growing with a CAGR of around 12.4% annually.The growing rate of leather shoe products helps to boost the leather chemicals market in China and in Asia Pacific region. Increasing disposable income level of individual in North America and Europe further tends people to invest more on purchasing leather luxury products including garments, footwear and others product. The total turnover of retail sale of footwear and leather goods in specialized stores in the U.K. was USD 3,973 million in 2010 and it grew to USD 4,649 million in 2013. This growing investment over leather products and product innovation further helps to boost the leather chemical market in European region.Request to Sample of Report @Some of the companies operating in global leather chemicals market are BASF SE, Lanxess AG, TFL, Clariant Chemicals Ltd., Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd., Indofil Industries Ltd., Pidilite Industries Ltd., Schill & Seilacher GmbH & Co., ATC CHEMICALS, Tytan, TEXAPEL, Elementis plc, Zschimmer & Schwarz & Co KG, DyStar, Elementis plc, LANXESS AG, lawrence international, TASA GROUP INTERNATIONAL, Loving Group Ltd., Chemtan Company, Inc. and Stahl International BV.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Spacesuit Market trends research and projections for 2017-2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/669 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/669 http://www.coherentchronicle.com Utilization of distinct advanced materials in the designing and development for next generation suits, such as urethane-coated nylon, Dacron, Neoprene, aluminized Mylar, Gortex, Kevlar and Nomex, to enable living in space have gained significant traction as the key industry trends. These materials enhance the strength, reduce overall weights, and enable the required sustenance of pressure and air. Moreover, participants are increasingly focusing on development of more innovative materials to differentiate their portfolio from the competitors and provide tailored solutions with enhanced safety and versatility for the end users.Spacesuit market primarily caters to the limited list of space agencies such as Russian Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that utilize these products for the astronaut survival in the outer space. These also find significant application for the crew members inside the spacecraft to ensure safety mechanism in the event of loss of the cabin pressure. According to Coherent Market Insights, the business can be largely characterized low volume and high margin industry.Ask for detailed Sample of this Research Report @Spacesuit market are poised for renaissance owing to increasing interests of private sector roles in the space industryCommercial space travel concept is among the key trend that is expected to transform the industry landscape over the next decade. For instance, In May 2014, U.S. space travel agency has partnered with a Japanese advertisement agency for endorsing its future spaceflight missions. Commercial space travel offering companies will make efforts to distinguish themselves by offering their products based on better capabilities, aesthetics, and comfort. These factors will drive the demands for commercial grade suits and fuel the spacesuit market growth over the forecast period.EVA segment dominated the global industry share in 2016, owing to its necessary applications in the spaceThese dominated the industry share by value primarily owing to the significant usage of these suits for the examination and research operations. Moreover, these form necessary inclusions in the space missions owing to probability of damage owing to orbiting space debris. Owing to these requirements, EVA segment application is anticipated to continue its dominance over the forecast period.U.S. is expected to continue to dominate the global industry share owing to significant advancement and large number of space related operations taking place in the country. Other countries that include Russia, China, Japan, and India are expected to highly contribute to the global demands over the next few years. High involvement of countries in various space programs such as the launch of satellites and the availability of potential opportunities to provide low-cost space missions, will propel the growth of the spacesuit market.Industry is largely characterized by the fragmented industry share owing to number of players sharing the industry share. According to our analysis, the intensive competition is expected to be largely characterized by the substantial development of new materials, low overall weights, and high reliability of the suits. Advent of commercial space companies further alleviate the competition and will drive the innovation in shortening the design cycles, computer simulations, 3D printing, and product durability. Chief industry participants in the industry include Boeing, ILC Dover, David Clark, Oceaneering International, NPP Zvezda, Final Frontier Design, Pacific Spaceflight, Austrian Space Forum (OeWF), and UTC Aerospace Systems.Request for Table of Content of this Report @About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website : Online Clothing Rental Market, By Clothing Style, and End User https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1446 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/1446 North America dominated the online clothing rental market in 2017, followed by Europe and both are expected to retain market dominance over the forecast period. The U.S, Canada, Germany, France, and Italy are the major economies contributing to the growth of online clothing rental market. Traditions such as celebration of Halloween and parties, and events that require a specific outfit for one time usage are some of the key factors driving the demand for online clothing rental in these economies. Companies operating in this industry are engaged in extensive marketing and promotional activities to attain an edge over its competitors. For instance, in October 2017, Rent the Runway announced a low price membership called RTR Update, where the buyers get to rent four pieces of clothing from the company for a month. At the end of every month, subscribers can select four new items after returning their older clothes. The subscription costs around US$ 89 for a month and includes services such as shipping, dry cleaning, and insurance.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report@*The Sample consists of Table of Content, Research framework of the actual report & research methodology adopted for it.Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market region for online clothing rental and is expected to exhibit the same trend during the forecast period. India, China, and Japan are the major economies of this region fueling growth of the online clothing rental market. The online clothing rental market in these economies is majorly driven by the influence of the western culture, the concept of renting clothes for a single occasion at a nominal price, rather than buying the same at a high price. Furthermore, rising purchasing power of the consumers residing in these economies is another key factor that is luring several start-up companies to establish a presence in these economies. A number of startups are offering online clothing rental services in Asia Pacific with added benefits in order to enhance customer experience. For instance, Stage3, a startup found in 2016 and based in India, operates on a rental model that offers designer clothes and accessories for men and women with added benefits such as free home trial service and personalized styling assistance in order to offer the best experience to their customersOnline clothing rental is a service by which someone can rent clothing for a specific period of time or buy a clothing. This service is mainly suitable for individuals who do not want to buy expensive clothing for a one-time event. Online clothing rental service proves to be a perfect solution for events such as theme parties, films, weddings, and photo shoots, where people prefer renting clothes rather than buying in order to avoid high costs of the required clothing.Rising e-commerce platform due to the increasing demand for high speed internet services is one of the key factors fueling the growth of global online clothing rental market. India alone witnessed over 500 million internet users in the last quarter of 2015. According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the market for e-commerce in India was estimated at US$ 13 billion in 2015 and the same is set to increase to US$ 188 billion by the end of 2025, projecting a growth of around 30% during the forecast period. Apparels were ranked second in terms of market share in the e-commerce industry.Furthermore, increasing growth of e-commerce industry and the rapid penetration of smartphone industry in India are major factors driving growth of the global online clothing rental market. Several players operating in this industry, especially in the apparel segment have launched their own apps to provide consumers with convenient shopping. Online clothing rental companies provide lucrative services such as recommendation of services with respect to choosing the required outfit and availability of the required size along with free delivery, which are gaining increased attraction of the consumers.However, low penetration of such companies in the emerging economies and low societal acceptance of the idea of renting clothes among the consumers in the emerging economies is highly restraining the growth of the market.Western wear clothing style segment accounted for the major market share in the online clothing rental market in 2016 and is expected to retain market dominance over the forecast period. Popularity of western wear apparels is observed to be high among the consumers. Furthermore, consumer acceptance of online clothing rental services is higher in the Western economies, which is another key factor increasing the demand for western wear clothing.To get detailed table of content (ToC)@Key players in the Online Clothing Rental Market:Some of the major players in the online clothing rental market include Lending Luxury, Rent the Runway Le Tote, Flyrobe, Bag Borrow Steal, Glam Corner Pty Ltd., Secoo Holdings Limited, Rent the Runway, Dress & Go, and Gwynnie Bee among others.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Electric Blankets Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2022 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/sample/143602 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/discount/143602 Worldwide Market Reports added Latest Research Report titled Electric Blankets Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2022.An electric blanket has an electrical heating device built in that is meant to be placed above the bed sheet. In Commonwealth countries, however, it refers to an electric mattress pad that is kept below the bottom bed sheet. They comprise a control unit that allows the user to adjust the heat produced by the device. Larger size beds may even have two separate control units for both sides of the bed. An electric blanket can be useful to heat the bed to a certain level before sleeping to keep the occupant cosy and warm. Typical low voltage electric blankets work on 12-24 volts and are made of thin carbon fibre wires. The electric blanket was invented more than a century ago by American inventor Samuel Russell, while the first recorded sale in the electric blanket market was by the Samson United Corporation in 1930.Request Sample Copy of the Business Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Electric Blankets in North America and Europe market, especially in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries/Regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversRainbow Group, Sunbeam, Caiyang, Shanghai Xiaomianyang Electric, Qingdao Qindao Electric, Perfect Fit Industries, LLC., Beurer,Tenacta Group S.p.A., Bokuk Electronics CO., Morphy Richards, Slumberdown, BiddefordMarket Segment by Countries, coveringUnited States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany,France,Italy, SpainMarket Segment by Type, coversUnderblankets, OverblanketsMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoCommercial use, Home useGet discount on this report :Table of Contents1 Market Overview2 Manufacturers Profiles3 North America and Europe Electric Blankets Market Competition, by Manufacturer4 North America and Europe Electric Blankets Market Analysis by Countries/Regions5 North America and Europe Market Segmentation Electric Blankets by Type6 North America and Europe Market Segmentation Electric Blankets by Application7 United States Electric Blankets Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers8 United Kingdom Electric Blankets Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers9 Canada Electric Blankets Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers10 Germany Electric Blankets Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers11 France Electric Blankets Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers12 Italy Electric Blankets Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers13 Spain Electric Blankets Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers14 Electric Blankets Market Forecast (2018-2023)15 Electric Blankets Manufacturing Cost Analysis16 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers17 Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers18 Research Findings and Conclusion19 AppendixList of Tables and Figures**If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About WMR :Worldwide Market Reports is your one-stop repository of detailed and in-depth market research reports compiled by an extensive list of publishers from across the globe. We offer reports across virtually all domains and an exhaustive list of sub-domains under the sun. The in-depth market analysis by some of the most vastly experienced analysts provide our diverse range of clients from across all industries with vital decision making insights to plan and align their market strategies in line with current market trends. Worldwide Market Researchs well-researched inputs that encompass domains ranging from IT to healthcare enable our prized clients to capitalize upon key growth opportunities and shield against credible threats prevalent in the market in the current scenario and those expected in the near future.Contact Us:Mr. ShahWorldwide Market Reports1001 4th Ave,U.STel: +1 415 871 0703Email: sales@worldwidemarketreports.com Digital Printed Wallpaper Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2022 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/sample/143598 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/discount/143598 Worldwide Market Reports added Latest Research Report titled Digital Printed Wallpaper Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2022.Digital printed wallpaper refer to murals are printed by digital style, with ultimate scaleabilty and vast color range. Colors and backgrounds can be tweaked to customer specifications from solid color, wood grain, paint drips to camouflage.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Digital Printed Wallpaper in North America and Europe market, especially in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries/Regions, type and application.Request Sample Copy of the Business Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversA.S. Creation, Fathead, LLC., KOROSEAL Interior Products, Asheu, York Wallcoverings, Brewster, Hollywood Monster, Flavor Paper, Roysons Corporation, Yulan Wallcoverings,Topli Decorative Materials,Coshare, Best AdvertisingMarket Segment by Countries, coveringUnited States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France,Italy, SpainMarket Segment by Type, coversNon-woven Type, Pure Paper Type, Vinyl-based Type, OthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoHousehold, CommercialGet discount on this report :Table of Contents1 Market Overview2 Manufacturers Profiles3 North America and Europe Digital Printed Wallpaper Market Competition, by Manufacturer4 North America and Europe Digital Printed Wallpaper Market Analysis by Countries/Regions5 North America and Europe Market Segmentation Digital Printed Wallpaper by Type6 North America and Europe Market Segmentation Digital Printed Wallpaper by Application7 United States Digital Printed Wallpaper Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers8 United Kingdom Digital Printed Wallpaper Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers9 Canada Digital Printed Wallpaper Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers10 Germany Digital Printed Wallpaper Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers11 France Digital Printed Wallpaper Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers12 Italy Digital Printed Wallpaper Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers13 Spain Digital Printed Wallpaper Sales, Revenue, by Type, Application and Manufacturers14 Digital Printed Wallpaper Market Forecast (2018-2023)15 Digital Printed Wallpaper Manufacturing Cost Analysis16 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers17 Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers18 Research Findings and Conclusion19 AppendixList of Tables and Figures**If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About WMR :Worldwide Market Reports is your one-stop repository of detailed and in-depth market research reports compiled by an extensive list of publishers from across the globe. We offer reports across virtually all domains and an exhaustive list of sub-domains under the sun. The in-depth market analysis by some of the most vastly experienced analysts provide our diverse range of clients from across all industries with vital decision making insights to plan and align their market strategies in line with current market trends. Worldwide Market Researchs well-researched inputs that encompass domains ranging from IT to healthcare enable our prized clients to capitalize upon key growth opportunities and shield against credible threats prevalent in the market in the current scenario and those expected in the near future.1001 4th Ave, #3200 Seattle, WA 98154 Lane Keep Assist System Market Expected To Expand At A CAGR Of 15.21% From 2016 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1735473 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1735473/lane-keep-assist-system-for-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1735473/lane-keep-assist-system-for-market-research-reports.pdf http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Latest Research Report Lane Keep Assist System Market For Automotive - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, And Forecast 2016 - 2025 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"This report analyzes and forecasts the market for lane keep assist system at the global and regional level. The market has been forecast, based on revenue (US$ Mn) and volume (million units) from 2017 to 2025. The study includes drivers and restraints of the global lane keep assist system market for automotive. It also covers the impact of these drivers and restraints on the demand for lane keep assist systems during the forecast period. The report also highlights opportunities in the lane keep assist system for automotive market at the global and regional level.The report comprises a detailed value chain analysis, which provides a comprehensive view of the global lane keep assist system market for automotive. The Porters Five forces model for the lane keep assist system market for automotive has also been included to help understand the competitive landscape in the market. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-users are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and general attractiveness.Get Sample Copy of this report @Lane Keep Assist System Market - SegmentationThe study provides a decisive view of the global lane keep assist system markeat for automotive, by segmenting it in terms of component, sales channel, vehicle type, and region. These segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends. Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for lane keep assist system in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The report also covers demand for individual application segments in all the regions.The study includes profiles of major companies operating in the global lane keep assist system market for automotive. Key players operating in the lane keep assist system market for automotive include Robert Bosch GmBH, Denso Corporation, Delphi Automotive PLC., Continental AG, Valeo, ZF Friedrichshafen Ag, Hitachi Ltd., Preco Electronics, Mobileye, Velodyne LiDAR, Inc., Ficosa International SA and Gentex Corporation. Market players have been profiled in terms of attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, recent developments, and SWOT analysis. The market for lane keep assist system is primarily driven by the rising demand for non-polluting alternative.The report provides the estimated market size of lane keep assist system for 2016, and forecast for the next nine years. The global market size of lane keep assist system has been provided in terms of revenue and volume. Market numbers have been estimated based on key component, sales channel, vehicle type, and regional segments of lane keep assist system for automotive market. Market size and forecast for each major component, sales channel, and vehicle type have been provided in terms of global and regional/country markets.In order to compile the research report, we conducted in-depth interviews and discussions with a number of key industry participants and opinion leaders. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. We reviewed key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents for competitive analysis and market understanding. Secondary research also includes a search of recent trade, technical writing, internet sources, and statistical data from government websites, trade associations, and agencies. This has proven to be the most reliable, effective, and successful approach for obtaining precise market data, capturing industry participants insights, and recognizing business opportunities.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Secondary research sources that are typically referred to include, but are not limited to company websites, annual reports, financial reports, broker reports, investor presentations, and SEC filings, internal and external proprietary databases, and relevant patent and regulatory databases, national government documents, statistical databases, and market reports, news articles, press releases, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market, National government documents, statistical databases, and market reports, American Automobile Association, European Automobile Manufacturers Association, Automotive Research Association of India, Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobile (OICA), Factiva, etc.Primary research involves e-mail interactions, telephonic interviews, and face-to-face interviews for each market, category, segment, and sub-segment across geographies. We conduct primary interviews on an ongoing basis with industry participants and commentators in order to validate the data and analysis. Primary interviews provide firsthand information on market size, market trends, growth trends, competitive landscape, and outlook, etc. These help validate and strengthen secondary research findings. These also help develop the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.The Lane Keep Assist System for Automotive Market for automotive has been segmented as follows:Global Lane Keep Assist System for Automotive Market for Automotive: By ComponentVision Sensor/CameraEPAS ActuatorElectronic Control UnitOthersGlobal Lane Keep Assist System for Automotive Market for Automotive: By Sales ChannelOEMsAftermarketGlobal Lane Keep Assist System for Automotive Market for Automotive: By Vehicle TypePassenger VehicleCommercial VehicleGlobal Lane Keep Assist System for Automotive Market for Automotive: By RegionNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeGermanyU.K.FranceItalySpainRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaJapanASEANRest of EuropeMiddle East & AfricaGCCSouth AfricaRest of Middle East and AfricaLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaView Sample PDF @Table of Content1. Preface1.1. Report Scope and Market Segmentation1.2. Research Highlights1.3. Research Objectives1.4. Key Questions Answered2. Assumptions and Research Methodology2.1. Report Assumptions2.2. Abbreviations Used2.3. Research Methodology3. Executive Summary3.1. Global Lane Keep Assist System for Automotive Market Size, by Market Value (US$ Mn) and Market Volume (million units), by Region4. Market Overview4.1. Introduction4.2. Market Indicator4.3. Drivers and Restraints Snapshot Analysis4.3.1. Drivers4.3.2. Restraint4.3.3. Opportunities4.3.4. Porters Analysis4.3.5. Value Chain Analysis4.3.6. SWOT Analysis5. Global Lane Keep Assist System for Automotive Market Analysis and forecast5.1. Global Lane Keep Assist System for Automotive Market Size & Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, by Region5.2. North America5.3. Europe5.4. Asia Pacific5.5. Middle East and Africa5.6. Latin AmericaAbout 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 Seamless Pipes Market Size, Share, Vendor Analysis and Outlook to 2023 Reportsweb http://www.reportsweb.com/seamless-pipes-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011117724/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011117724/buying According to Publisher, the Global Seamless Pipes Market is accounted for $176.95 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $270.65 billion by 2023 growing at a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period. Growing demand for seamless pipes from the oil & gas industry and flexible pipes are some of the key factors favouring the market growth. However, strict ecological regulations and fluctuation in raw material cost are restraining the market. Future demand for seamless pipes from developing countries provides ample of opportunities for the market growth.Seamless pipe manufacturing uses hot rolled round bar billet of carbon steel or steel alloy. Seamless pipes are used where power, conflict to corrosion, and product life is critical. A seamless pipe can be high pressure, temperature, higher mechanical stress, and corrosive atmosphere. A seamless steel pipe is made up of solid round steel 'billet', which is heated and pushed or pulled over a form until the steel is shaped into a hollow tube. Ultra-high strength and corrosion-resistant properties make the seamless pipe perfect for the oil & gas industry, steam boilers, chemical and other processing industries, pipelines, installation with high and supercritical steam and pressure conditions, etc.For more information @Hot finished seamless pipes are cost-effective. These pipes have good machinability and are often preferred for projects that require high strength and close tolerance. Hot Finished Seamless (HFS) as differentiated from Cold Drawn Seamless (CDS) pipes and tubes are made by heating a solid billet or bloom and then punching or piercing it to make a hollow out of it. This hollow is subsequently passed through one or multiple stands with or without a tool inside to give it the final pipe or tube dimensions. It is possible to manufacture large diameter and thick pipes of various grades in high volume through the HFS process. With the improvement in technology, HFS pipes & tubes now come with close dimensional tolerance & good surface finish.Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a fastest CAGR due to the growing industrialization and rapid infrastructural growth. Seamless pipes are broadly used in various applications of construction sectors because of thermal resistance and chemical resistance.Some of the key players in Seamless Pipes market include Cimco Europe C.F, PAO TMK, Tenaris S.A., Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation, Vallourec SA, JFE Holdings, Inc., Sandvik AB, Zaffertec S.L., Tubos Reunidos, S.A., Umw Holdings Berhad, Salzgitter Mannesmann Stainless Tubes, Tianjin Pipe(Group) Corporation, Shalco Industries Pvt. Ltd., Evraz PLC and Jindal Saw Ltd.Materials Covered:-Copper & Alloys-Nickel & Alloys-Steel & Alloys-Other MaterialsRequest Sample CopyPipes Types Covered:-Cold Finished Seamless Pipes-Hot Finished Seamless PipesEnd Users Covered:-Infrastructure & Construction-Automotive-Oil & Gas-Engineering-Power Generation-Other End UsersProduction Process Covered:-Multi-Stand Plug Mill-Cross-Roll Piercing & Pilger Rolling-Continuous Mandrel RollingRegions Covered:-North Americao USo Canadao Mexico-Europeo Germanyo Franceo Italyo UKo Spaino Rest of Europe-Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando South Koreao Rest of Asia Pacific-South Americao Argentinao Brazilo Chileo Rest of South America-Middle East & Africao Saudi Arabiao UAEo Qataro South Africao Rest of Middle East & AfricaMake 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 Soda Ash Market Likely to Emerge over a Period of 2015 to 2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4526 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4526 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Soda ash also known as sodium carbonate is a salt of carbnoic acid. Soda ash is hygroscopic in nature and forms strong alkaline solution in water.Soda ash is manufactured via three different process viz. Leblanc process, Solvay process and Hous process. Solvay process is most preffered manufacturing process in the industry due to its efficiency and cost. In this process, sodium chloride to sodium carbonate in presence of ammonia. Soda ash finds applications in various end-user industries such as glass, detergents, food and beverages, chemicals and dyeing among others.The market for soda ashwas driven by various factors from different end-user industries. Huge demand from buildings & constructionindustry is driving the soda ash market in past few years. Soda ash is used in manufacturing of flat glass which is used in modern construction activities.Increasing demand from end-user industries such as automotive from emerging countries has been one of the major factors for the growth of flat glass, subsequently increasing demand for soda ash.Another, major factor driving the soda ash market is increasing demand for powder detergents from developing countries.Request Report for TOC @Soda ash is also used in various applications such as metallurgy, personal care and water treatment among others. Rising demand for personal care and water treatment industry is expected to open new markets for the soda ash market during the forecast period. Increasing demand for soda ash from fiberglass and silicates is likely to provide major opportunities for soda ash market in next few years to come. However, stern regulations faced by soda ash industry are anticipated to hider the growth of the market in next few years.In terms of demand, Asia Pacific was the leading region insoda ashmarket. Asia Pacific is anticipated to be one of the fastest growing markets for soda ash due to increasing demand for glass and detergents from emerging countries such as India, Indonesia and Korea among others. The demand for soda ash is huge especially from buildings & construction, automotive and personal care end-user industry. The market for soda ash in Asia Pacific was led by China. However, India is likely to provide better opportunity for soda ash market owing to increasing consumption from various end-user industries. Asia Pacific was followed by Europe. Increasing demand from modern construction activities has been driving the market for flat glass in Europe, thus driving the demand for soda ash in this region.Request to Sample of Report @Germany, the UK, France and Italy were the major consumers of soda ash in Europe. However, certain regulations related to soda ash industry is likely to stagnant the growth of the market in this region. North America had the third-largest demand for soda ash in 2012. Increasing demand from glass and detergent industry were driving the growth of the market in this region. The U.S. had the largest demand for soda ash owing to huge demand from end-user industries such as buildings & construction, personal care and automotive among others. Rest of the World market is anticipated to show potential growth for the soda ash market in near future.Latin America is anticipated to show fastest growth for the soda ash market in this region. The demand is huge owing to increasing applications in personal care and water treatment applications.The market for soda ash is fragmented and however, various manufacturers have dominated in particular regions. Some of the key manufacturers in thesoda ashmarket areGujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd., Solvay Chemicals Inc., OCI Chemicals Corporation and Tata Chemicals among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global Conductive Carbon Black Market: Paints & Coatings Application to Witness Fastest Growth till 2021 Market Research Reports Search Engine https://www.mrrse.com/sample/771 https://www.mrrse.com/conductive-carbon-black-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/771 https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been serving as an active source to cater intelligent research report to enlighten both readers and investors. This research study titled Global Market Study on Conductive Carbon Black: Paints & Coatings Application to Witness Fastest Growth Through 2021This study offers a four year forecast of the global conductive carbon black market between 2017 and 2021. The study demonstrates the market dynamics and trends in all the five regions, which are expected to influence the current nature and future status of the conductive carbon black over the forecast period.Request Sample Copy of Report @A lucid report description for the aid of the report readersThis Market Research Reports Search Engine report examines the global conductive carbon black market for the period 20172021. The primary objective of the report is to offer updates on the growth of the conductive carbon black type in the carbon black market and the expanding applications of conductive carbon black globally. In the next section, MRRSE covers the conductive carbon black market performance in terms of its global revenue split. This section additionally includes PMRs analyses of the key trends, drivers and restraints, which are influencing the conductive carbon black market. Impact analysis of key growth drivers and restraints, based on the weighted average model, is included in this report to provide better insights. The conductive carbon black applications are described in details with regard to the value and volume share held the by each application in the global conductive carbon black market.The report highlights the market values and volumes in each of the five regions. It provides a market outlook for 20172021 and sets the forecast within the context of the conductive carbon black market. This study draws inferences from the key regional trends contributing to the growth of the carbon black market, in order to estimate and forecast the values and volumes for the regional conductive carbon black markets. The global conductive carbon black market report analyses the degree at which the global drivers are influencing this market in each region. Key regions assessed in this report include North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and Africa.A robust research methodology for estimating the market numbersTo calculate the conductive carbon black market size, we first considered revenue generated from the sale of carbon blacks, the parent market for conductive carbon black. The forecast presented here assesses the total revenue generated, by value and volume, across the conductive carbon black market. In order to offer an accurate forecast, we started by sizing the current market, which forms the basis of how the conductive carbon black market would develop in the future. However, forecasting the market in terms of various conductive carbon black segments and regions is more a matter of quantifying expectations and identifying opportunities rather than rationalizing them after the forecast has been completed.In addition, it is imperative to note that in an ever-fluctuating global economy, we not only conduct forecasts in terms of CAGR, but also analyze on the basis of key parameters, such as Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) growth, to understand the predictability of the market and to identify the right opportunities available in the conductive carbon black market.To Know The latest Trends and Insights Prevalent in This Market, Click the link below @The conductive carbon black market is split into a number of sub-segments. All the conductive carbon black sub-segments, in terms of applications and regions, are analyzed on the basis of the Basis Point Share (BPS) to understand the individual segments relative contributions to the market growth. This detailed level of information is important for the identification of various key trends witnessed in the conductive carbon black market.Another key feature of this report is the analysis of all key conductive carbon black segments, sub-segments and regional adoption and revenue forecast in terms of the absolute dollar. This is traditionally overlooked while forecasting the market. However, the absolute dollar opportunity is critical in assessing the level of opportunity that a provider can look to achieve, as well as to identify potential resources from a sales and delivery perspective in the conductive carbon black market.Competition landscape is a valuable source of market intelligenceThe conductive carbon black competitive landscape is included to provide report audiences with a dashboard view, based on categories of providers in the value chain, their presence in the conductive carbon black market and key differentiators. Key categories of providers covered in the report are conductive carbon black providers. This section is primarily designed to provide clients with an objective and detailed comparative assessment of key providers specific to a market segment in the value chain of the conductive carbon black market. Report audiences can gain segment-specific vendor insights to identify and evaluate key competitors based on an in-depth assessment of their capabilities and success in the conductive carbon black marketplace. Detailed profiles of the providers are also included in the scope of the report to evaluate their long-term and short-term strategies, key offerings and recent developments in the conductive carbon black market.Market TaxonomyBy ApplicationPlasticsBattery ElectrodesPaints & CoatingsRubberOther ApplicationsBy RegionNorth AmericaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle East and AfricaEnquire about this Report @About Market Research Reports Search EngineMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Talc Market to Gain a Stronghold by 2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4609 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4609 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Talc is a mineral composed of hydrated magnesium silicate and is an important industrial and commercial mineral. It has broad applications as an industrial mineral due to its resistance to heat, electricity and acids and oil and grease adsorption. Talc has extensive commercial use because of its luster, softness, purity, fragrance retention, softness and whiteness. It is the softest known mineral and has a rating of 1 on the Mohs hardness scale.It can be scratched by a fingernail and is also sectile that means it can be cut by a knife. It has a specific gravity of 2.5 -2.8 and has clear luster. Talc is slightly soluble in dilute mineral acids and insoluble in water. It is a metamorphic mineral and occurs due to metamorphism of magnesium minerals such as olivine, amphibole, serpentine and pyroxene in presence of water and carbon dioxide. Talc is a tri-octahedral layered mineral and has a similar structure to that of pyrophyllite.Request Report for TOC @Talc can be used as an ingredient in paints, roofing materials, ceramics, insecticides, rubber, talcum powder and insecticides among others. It is also used by the cosmetics industry, pulp and paper industry and food industry. Talc is often used to manufacture laboratory countertops and electrical switchboards due to its resistance to heat, acids and electricity. It is used by the cosmetic industry as a lubricant and as a filler by the pulp and paper industry.Talc is extensively used to make astringent baby powders that prevent rashes covered by a diaper. Talc is used by the pharmaceutical industry as a glidant (a substance that is added to powder to improve its flow ability) and by the food industry as an additive. In the European Union the additive number is E553b. In medicine, talc is used as a pluerodesis agent to prevent pneumothorax or recurrent pleural effusion. Talc is also an effective dispersing agent and anti caking agent and helps fertilizer plants and animal feeds to function efficiently and can be used for fertilizers.The paper and pulp industry remains the largest global end market for talc and is the key driving factor for the talc Industry. The automotive industry, ceramics industry and the paint and coatings industry are the other major consumers of talc. The use of talc as a filler in the paper industry is declining today but the use of talc for the manufacture of under the hood automotive parts is substantially increasing that has further lead to surge in demand for talc by the automotive industry.Request to Sample of Report @Asia Pacific is the largest market for talc with China, India, Japan, Bhutan, and South Korea being the key markets in this region. The Indian talc industry is the worlds third largest and continues to grow due to increase in domestic consumption. North America and Europe are other regions with a substantial market share of talc. Austria, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and United Kingdom are the major consumers of talc in Europe.Some of the major companies dominating the talc market are Imerys talc, Mondo Minerals, Golcha Group, American Talc, IMI FABI, Nippon Talc, Minerals Technologies Inc, the Jai Group, Aihai Talc, Behai Talc, Shuiquan Talc, Xin Talc, Haumei Talc, Guiguang Talc and Xin Talc among others. Imerys talc is the worlds leading producer of talc followed by Mondo Minerals.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Ferrochromium Market to Gain a Stronghold by 2022 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/10046 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10046 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Ferrochromium, also known as Ferrochrome, is an alloy of iron and chromium containing 50 to 70% of chromium. It is produced by electric arc melting of chromium ore and chromite. Ferrochromium is consumed extensively in the manufacturing of steel to achieve the qualities such as corrosion resistance, tensile strength, heat resistance and yield strength. The global ferrochromium market is anticipated to be in deficit to cater the increasing global steel market in near future. Ferrochromium is mostly produced in India, China, South Africa and Kazakhstan because of large chromite resources found in these countries. The global ferrochromium market is witnessing a modest single digit CAGR growth up till now and is expected to continue in future.Request Report for TOC @Ferrochromium is having its maximum share of consumption in steel industry and due to the ever increasing construction and demand of steel the global ferrochromium market is forecasted to flourish. In order to get a continuous supply of raw material for ferrochrome, China has established its operations in the countries like Turkey, South Africa, Philippines and Zimbabwe which would boost the global ferrochromium market in future. Due to the favourable conditions like lower electricity price and lower labour cost in upcoming markets like China, the production cost reduces comparatively. This will boost the production of ferrochrome to suffice its increasing demand and will contribute in global ferrochromium market.The global ferrochromium market can get hampered because of the increase in the export tax and fixed export quotas imposed by South Africa on chrome ore, owing to the concern of losing ferrochromium market to China. South Africa is having a significant market share in global ferrochromium market but there are concerns of power supply and higher production cost which would lead to the closure of small competitors and is estimated to slowdown the global ferrochromium market.Based on the carbon percentage, the global ferrochromium market is segmented as -Extra low carbon ferrochromium powderLow carbon ferrochromium powderHigh carbon ferrochromium powderExtra high carbon ferrochromium powderBased in the available form, the global ferrochromium market is segmented as Ferrochromium slagFerrochromium powderBased on the application, the global ferrochromium market is segmented as Ball bearing steelsAcid resistant steelsCast ironsPowder metallurgyOthers (civil engineering, refractory materials)The global ferrochromium market can be divided into five regions, namely North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific is having the maximum market share in global ferrochromium market, China and India are the countries having an excellent steel market, so these countries are significant in the consumption of ferrochrome. China is expanding its capacity to import chrome ore for the production of ferrochrome from the countries like South Africa,Request to Sample of Report @Turkey, Zimbabwe. Middle East and Africa are also marking a significant growth in the global ferrochromium market, Especially South Africa is having plenty of chromite resources for the production of ferrochrome. Europe is an emerging market in the field of ferrochrome and is anticipated to have a considerable market in future due to the flourishing automobile sector in the region. North America and Latin America is at a nascent stage in the global ferrochromium market.Some of the key players in global ferrochromium market are, Nava Bharat Ventures Limited, VISA STEEL, Balasore Alloys Limited, Aarti Steels Ltd, SR Group, Vyankatesh Metals & Alloys Pvt. LtdAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Walmart PrestaShop Integration Module Live on PrestaShop Store - Grow your PrestaShop Business PrestaShop Addons Marketplace has made available Walmart -- PrestaShop Integration Module by CedCommerce. https://cedcommerce.com/ http://cedcommerce.com/blog/ https://www.facebook.com/CedCommerce/ https://twitter.com/cedcommerce https://www.linkedin.com/company/7584005/ https://cedcommerce.com/ Portland, Oregon [April 25, 2018]Today, PrestaShop Addons Marketplace has made available Walmart -- PrestaShop Integration Module by CedCommerce. This integration module is compatible with Prestashop 1.6.1 - 1.6. Walmart Integration aids sellers to bypass the complex procedure of uploading products on Walmart via CSV's and gives them the handy mechanism to upload products directly using Walmart API's.Incepted in 2010, CedCommerce is revolutionizing the way eCommerce is perceived and performed over the Internet with 10,000+ satisfied customers and 800+ products tailor-made for almost every eCommerce platform. We have already developed Walmart Integration Solutions for Shopify, Bigcommerce and Magento framework and when we were fed with the requirements for Walmart-PrestaShop Integration, we came up with an integration solution for it as well.We are passionate about E-Commerce and Developments. So founded CedCommerce where we have a team of dedicated developers and have been engaged in more than 1000+ successful e-commerce custom developments which allowed us to gain a powerful insight into the requirements of the niche said Mr. Abhishek Jaiswal & Mr. Himanshu Rauthan, Directors and co-founders, CedCommerce.HIGHLIGHTS OF WALMART-PRESTASHOP INTEGRATION MODULE:This module provides the mechanism to upload sellers PrestaShop store products directly to Walmart Marketplace in some simple steps, through the usage of API provided by Walmart. It provides some qualitative features for the management of -1) Inventory: Synchronize product stock between Prestashop store and the Walmart marketplace.2) Product Listing: Bulk product upload feature with synchronized product edits.3) Order: Automated order acknowledgment & import process.4) Refund: Easily manageable refund creation process.5) Promotions: Create Promotions for Products on Walmart.Apart from offering aforementioned features, Walmart-PrestaShop Integration Module strengthens the whole stage with the accompanying features, such as :1) Product Data Validation2) Easy Product Upload3) Bulk Uploading4) Auto acknowledgment of orders5) Promotion of product6) Centralized Order Management7) Easy Refund8) Real-time stock update9) Status FeedPRICING AND AVAILABILITY :Walmart-PrestaShop Integration Module is available immediately for the new users. Sellers can either purchase the module from Official PrestaShop Addons MarketplaceORDirectly from the developers site Cedcommerce.comIt comes with 3-months Free Support.ADDITIONAL RESOURCES :CedCommerce Website :CedCommerce Blog :CEDCOMMERCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA :Facebook :Twitter :LinkedIn :ABOUT CEDCOMMERCE :Started in 2010, the company has been involved in over 1000 ventures of customizing solutions to address all the unique needs. Fueled by its rich experience, the company has developed highly popular Integrations connecting online sellers with marketplaces across the diverse platforms. And the app is being used by 1000+ sellers across the United States of America. The company offers all the products that make selling easier on e-commerce.Being a TRUSTED WALMART PARTNER, CedCommerce helps sellers get accepted (subject to their criterion), upload their products, provides expert training and excellent support for a hassle-free selling experience. For more information visit:ABOUT WALMART :Walmart is an American retail chain of hypermarkets, departmental and grocery stores, founded in 1962, with 11,718 stores across 28 countries, operating under 59 different names. Over 80 million unique visitors from across the world visit the online marketplace monthly.Started in 2010, the company has been involved in over 1000 ventures of customizing solutions to address all the unique needs. Fueled by its rich experience, the company has developed highly popular Integrations connecting online sellers with marketplaces across the diverse platforms. And the app is being used by 1000+ sellers across the United States of America. The company offers all the products that make selling easier on e-commerce.CedCommerce Inc, 1812 N Columbia Blvd, Suite C15-653026, Portland, Oregon, 97217, USA Skin Care Products Market, by Distribution Channel, Product Type, and End User https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1468 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/1468 Skin care products are those that support the skins integrity, enrich its appearance in addition to curing skin conditions. Skin care products provide the nutrition required for the skin, while products such as sunscreens protect the skin from harmful UV-radiations, thus helping in the prevention of skin cancer. The rising personal care industry worldwide, is driving the growth of the skin care products market. According to the International Trade Administration (ITA), in 2014, per capita spending on cosmetic products was reported as USD 139 in United States, USD 171 in South Korea and USD 174 in Japan. Thus, the high per capita spending on cosmetic products is anticipated to boost the growth of the market. Further, new product launches and various innovation in the skin care products such as organic personal care products, are the factors, supporting the growth of skin care products market. For instance, Revlon Inc. had launched a series of Almay Kinetin Skincare Advanced Anti-Aging products, in 2017. However, the limited shelf life of the skin care product poses as a limitation to the market growth.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @Market Trends:Factors driving market growth include increasing inclination towards probiotic skincare products, which has probiotic bacteria such as bifidobacterium and lactobacillus that are beneficial to the skin. For instance, Aurelia Probiotic Skincare Miracle Cleanser, launched by Aurelia, incorporated this bacteria in its products. Demand for hyaluronic acid and retinoid-based products, is increasing on account of the powerful anti-aging properties of these products. These help in treating issues such as wrinkles, scars, acne, and sun damage.The online stores segment is expected to exhibit fastest growth on an account of the growing e-commerce retail industry. Customers are preferring the online segments for the purchase of skin care products due to the option to choose from a wide range of products in addition to options such as discounts and delivery. According to U.S. Census Bureau News, total e-commerce sales in the U.S. in 2017 accounted for US$ 453.5 billion, an increase of 16.0% compared to 2016.Market Outlook:Asia Pacific is held the fastest-growing market for skin care in 2016 and is expected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period (2018-2025). According to ITA, with rising demand from men, the Indian skin care market is expanding at a phenomenal rate and several players are developing innovative cosmetic products, especially skin care products, for men. Companies such as L'Oreal are introducing special mens skin care range such as anti-aging products in India. A number of international brands are focusing on entering into the market in Asia Pacific due to the huge untapped potential, especially in the emerging economies such as India and China. For instance, Malu Wilz, a premium German skin care brand, partnered with Kaunis Marketing Services Pvt Ltd in India, in 2017, to enter in the Indian skin care market.Several skin care manufacturers are focusing on product innovation with added benefits. For instance, Revance Therapeutics Inc. is developing wipe-on botulinum toxin to wipe off wrinkle lines by 2018, in order to prevent aging. Manufacturers are also adopting numerous inorganic strategies such as mergers and acquisitions in order to strengthen their position in the global skin care market. For instance, LOreal acquired three skin care brands, CeraVe, AcneFree, and Ambi from Valeant for around US$ 1.3 billion in January 2017.The market is highly competitive due to presence of a large number of brands and premium pricing. Consumers thus, switch between brands and settle for personalized products. Hence, the skin care manufacturers are adding innovative products with beneficial ingredients such as healthy bacteria, to their product portfolio. Apart from this, manufacturers are also incorporating new technologies such as nano gold and nanosomes technology or nano particles such as the Peter Thomas Roth line of 24K gold skincare for manufacturing skin care products. These products contain physicochemical characteristics of nanoparticles, such as rigidity, hydrophobicity, size, and charge, which are crucial for skin permeation mechanism and reducing aging. Thus, these products are gaining significant traction, globally.To get detailed table of content (ToC)@Some of the major players operating in the field of skincare products market are Unilever Plc, Shiseido Company Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., Revlon Inc., Kao Corporation, and Avon Products Inc.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com E-commerce Packaging Market: Consumer Expectation Drive global Trends https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1508 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1508 The e-commerce packaging market is bolstered by increasing e-commerce sales around the world. E-commerce has transformed retail sector and it is gaining significant market share in place of conventional retail channels such as hypermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores. The primary function of e-commerce packaging is to protect products from environmental damage and contamination such as dust, moisture, and microbes. Moreover, protection from damage is important for products such as electronics and furniture. E-commerce packaging is also important in terms of branding and customer retention. The use of sustainable and/or aesthetically appealing packaging material led to increased resale of products, according to a Stora Enso Oyj survey.Sustainable e-commerce packaging is gaining major traction since recent past. Chinese e-commerce players such as JD.com and Suning.com are adopting reusable plastic boxes, which is cost-effective and generates low waste. JD.com also announced that it aims to raise the proportion of sustainable materials to 80% of its total packaging material used by 2020, due to high waste generation from packaging. According to Chinese government sources, on Singles Day 2017, a popular Chinese holiday, over 160,000 tons of waste was generated as e-commerce players recorded sales of US$ 52 billion.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @In terms of revenue, Asia Pacific held a dominant position in the market in 2016, and is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. According to Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (ASSOCHAM), an industry trade association, the e-commerce market accounted for US$ 38.5 billion in 2017 and is projected to exceed US$ 50 billion by 2025. This can be attributed to an increasing internet penetration rate in India. According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the number of people with access to internet in India is projected to reach 500 million by June 2018. The aforementioned factors coupled with strong GDP growth and increasing purchasing power of consumers will result in India being the fastest growing market for e-commerce in the world, which in turn is expected to boost growth of the e-commerce packaging market in the region. Amazon India, Flipkart, and Snapdeal are among the major e-commerce players operating in India. The e-commerce packaging demand in India will largely be dictated by the performance of these companies in the market.Europe and North America region have high internet and smartphone penetration. According to the World Bank, average rate of internet penetration in Europe and North America is 75% and 78% respectively. The market in these regions is driven by shifting consumer preference from offline retail channels to e-commerce. Amazon Inc. is the largest e-commerce player in North America. The company recorded a revenue of US$ 149 billion in 2016 in the U.S. alone and accounted for over 38% of the e-commerce market in the U.S. According to the Fibre Box Association (U.S.), the boxes segment is expected to witness significant demand from the e-commerce industry. This is largely due to increased demand for products such as furnishings, electronics, and consumer goods which typically utilize boxes as packaging.Request For Customization @Among product type, protective packaging accounted for 33.23% of the market share and was valued at US$ 7.12 billion in 2017. It is expected to be the largest and the fastest growing segment throughout the forecast period. The segments dominance can be attributed to increasing electronics and food & beverages sales from online platforms.The global e-commerce packaging market is marked by intense competition from major manufacturers operating in this market. Strategic mergers and acquisitions, product innovations, and joint ventures are some of the key strategies adopted by these companies to ensure long-term sustenance in the market. Some of the major players operating in the market are Smurfit Kappa Group, Mondi Group plc, International Paper Company, DS Smith plc, Klabin S.A., Rengo Co. Ltd., Nippon Paper Industries Co. Ltd., and Georgia-Pacific LLC.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com The Internet of Things (IoT) Healthcare market is projected to reach USD 337.41 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 28.2% over the forecast period https://www.xpodenceresearch.com/Request-Sample/105848 https://www.xpodenceresearch.com/Reports/IoT-Healthcare-Market Market Definition:The Internet of Things (IoT) Healthcare market was valued at USD 28.42 Billion in 2015, and is projected to reach USD 337.41 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 28.2% over the forecast period. Rising investments in healthcare IoT solutions, implementation of IoT solutions for cost reduction, and the growing penetration level of connected devices in the healthcare industry are few factors projected to spur the IoT healthcare industry.Growing awareness for advancement in AI technology and disease management tools such as remote patient monitoring, telemedicine, and Health Management Information Systems (HMIS) is also anticipated to gain traction globally. For instance, as per Healthcare Intelligence Network (HIN) report in 2014, over 30% of the U.S. population with chronic disorders focuses on homebound treatment with remote monitoring programs.Get PDF with Latest Advancement atHealthcare sector has started focusing on implementing IoT & AI technology to improve patient care by various technologies including interoperability of medical devices, digital patient experience, and scalable therapeutics. UroSense App by Future Path Medical for catheterized patients to check their body temperature and urine output, Niox Mino App by Aerocrine for routine measurements of Intric Oxide in a patient's breath are few apps launched by healthcare sector implementing IoT technology. Additionally, OpenAPS (Open Artificial Pancreas System) for closed loop insulin delivery, Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) system, connected inhalers, and ingestible sensors are few advanced IoT technologies implemented in healthcare industry.Nanobots & robotic flight stimulator surgeries, increasing demand for effective treatment, big data analytics in healthcare, and increasing awareness for upgraded technologies among patients are some of the trends shifting the global healthcare industry towards IoT applications. Moreover, increasing demand for low-cost disease management & treatment, accuracy of sensors, lack of exposure in emerging regions, and rising prevalence of chronic diseases are creating opportunities for the IoT healthcare market over the forecast period. Although, rising concerns about patient privacy and security breaches might affect the global market over the forecast period.On the basis of component, the report displays the revenue, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into: Medical Devices System & Software ServicesOn the basis of application, the report displays the revenue, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into: Telemedicine Medication Management Clinical Operations Inpatient Monitoring Connected Imaging OthersOn the basis of end-user, the report displays the revenue, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into: Hospitals, Surgical Centers, and Clinics Clinical Research Organization (CRO) Government and Defense Institutions Research and Diagnostics LaboratoriesRemote device management is anticipated to hold the largest revenue share in software and systems segment owing to rising awareness regarding tele-health technology, increasing demand for technologically advanced remote patient care programs, and growing prevalence chronic diseases.Hospitals and clinics have been anticipated to acquire the largest share over the forecast period. Increasing efficiency, growing focus on better patient care and reducing treatment cost, are few factors contributing to the industry growth. Furthermore, growing awareness regarding the benefits of IoT implementation in healthcare centers is also a substantial factor for the largest market share.Adoption of IoT in research and diagnostic centers enable reduction in diagnostic cost, improvement in patient care, and reduction of machine downtime accelerating the usage of connected equipment. Inpatient monitoring has been projected to emerge as the largest application segments owing to rising demand for continuous patient care services, real-time disease management, and effective treatment outcomes.Obtain Browser with Technological Trends atGeographically, the global market report has been split into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa and Latin America, with revenue (Billion USD), market share and growth rate of IoT Healthcare market for these regions, from 2015 to 2025 (forecast), North America: U.S., Rest of North America Europe: Germany, France, UK, rest of Europe Asia Pacific: China, Japan, India and Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa: GCC, North Africa, South Africa and Rest of MEA Latin America: Brazil and Rest of Latin AmericaNorth America is estimated to dominate IoT healthcare market owing to few major contributing factors including data protection of EHR & IPR regulations and sophisticated healthcare IT infrastructure. Moreover, local presence of key players such as Microsoft & IBM, continuous R&D initiatives by the key players, and faster implementation of IoT in healthcare centers are also projected to boost the usage rate. Asia Pacific region is predicted to emerge as fastest growing region over the forecast period. Growing government initiatives for healthcare providers & other organizations to implement EHR & EMR technology is one of the major factors foreseen to boost the market.Overview of market leaders in IoT Healthcare market by top manufacturers/players, with IoT Healthcare revenue (Billion USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players including Medtronic Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., General Electric Company, International Business Machine (IBM) Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Cerner Corporation, Proteus Digital Health Inc., AdhereTech Inc., Google, and Cisco Systems.R&D activities, new advanced product launches, mergers & acquisitions, and expansions are few strategies adopted by industry players to cater to the needs of the industry. For instance, in 2015, the International Business Machine Corporation (IBM) collaborated with Medtronic PLC to provide IoT services for Medtronics medical devices data. A major chip manufacturer Qualcomm Life Inc. has acquired medical device data integration provider Capsule Technologie in 2014.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 Research244, Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email: sales@xpodenceresearch.com Automotive Piston System Market Analysis, Trends, Forecast, 2015-2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-532 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-532 www.futuremarketinsights.com The increasing demand for automobile, especially in emerging economies, is expected to drive the global Automotive Piston Systems Market in the coming decade. As a piston is an essential part of an internal combustion engine, the demand for pistons is directly coupled with the automobile production. Owing to the continuous developments, the automobile sector is witnessing increased demand for lightweight pistons, which is expected to result in push for the global automotive piston system market.A piston is a key component of automobile internal combustion engine, which reciprocates within the cylinder, delivering energy to the crankshaft after each power stroke during an engine cycle.Automotive Piston System Market: Drivers & ConstraintsThe global automotive piston system market is expected to grow on account of increasing sales of automobiles across various segments such as two wheelers, four wheeler, and other automobile segments. With increasing demand for automobiles, especially two wheeler segment in emerging economies such as India, demand for pistons is expected to increase further thereby positively impacting the global automotive piston system market.Request Report Sample@Furthermore, the two wheelers is increasingly moving towards double cylinder engines as opposed to conventional single cylinder engines, particularly in the high end bikes segment. A double engine cylinder requires two pistons as compared to a single cylinder, wherein only one piston is used, hence with increasing production of high end bikes, the global automotive piston system market is expected to grow as well. Demand for passenger car, light & heavy commercial vehicle is also expected to contribute towards the growth in global automotive piston system market in coming years.Additionally, due to burgeoning fuel costs across the globe, the automobile industry is in continuous phase of research & development in order to increase fuel efficiency. The global automotive piston system market is hence witnessing an increased demand for light weight pistons across the globe.One of the key constraints for the global automotive piston market can be attributed to the increasing penetration of electric vehicles, which do not use pistons. Yet another constraint in the global automotive piston system market is the downsizing of engines in order to reduce weight and fuel increase efficiency. Using technologies such as turbocharger, automobile manufacturers have been able to downsize engines by reducing number of cylinders, without compromising on power of the engine.Automotive Piston System Market: SegmentationThe automotive piston system market has been segmented on the basis of types of vehicle such as two wheelers, passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, and heavy commercial vehicles. On the basis of piston material, the market has been segment as aluminium & steel piston. Increasing demand for lightweight aluminium piston is expected to have a positive impact on the global automotive piston system market in coming years.Visit For TOC@In terms of geography, the global automotive piston system has been divided in to seven key regions including North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Middle East & Africa and Japan. Within these regions, the Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) and Japan can be attributed as the largest contributing regions towards the global automotive piston system market, in terms of volume. The North American region is follows the aforementioned regions in the global automotive piston system market.Automotive Piston System Market: Key PlayersThe global automotive piston system witnesses key players such as Rheinmetall AG, Aisin-Seiki Co. Ltd., Mahle GmbH, Federal-Mogul Corporation, and Hitachi Ltd.About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Vehicle Electrification Market Analysis, Trends, Forecast, 2015-2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-542 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-542 www.futuremarketinsights.com Electrification of a vehicle is considered as one of the best way to reduce carbon emission, increase vehicle efficiency and reduce dependency over oil. Vehicle electrification generates new opportunities for consumer engagement along with various environmental and economic benefits. We can replace various hydraulic or mechanical systems with electric systems: hydraulic power steering with electric power steering and mechanical or hydraulic pumps with electric pumps. The air conditioner in a vehicle canVehicle Electrification Market: Drivers & RestraintsIncreasing prices of conventional fuels, growth in the sales of electric vehicles will enhance the growth of vehicle electrification. Growing demand for fuel efficient vehicles, stringent emission norm along with increasing environmental awareness among the consumer are also expected to fuel the growth of vehicle electrification market. Governments of various countries such as US are actively supporting vehicle electrification by providing tax exemption and subsidies.Request Report Sample@Vehicle Electrification Market: SegmentationOn the basis of product type, vehicle electrification market is broadly segmented as:StartStop SystemElectric Power Steering (EPS)Liquid Heater PTCElectric Air-Conditioner CompressorElectric Vacuum PumpElectric Oil PumpElectric Water PumpThermoelectric GeneratorElectric TurbochargerOn the basis of vehicle type, the market is segmented into:Passenger CarLight Commercial VehicleHeavy Commercial VehicleTwo WheelerVehicle electrification market is segmented on the basis of degree of hybridizationas:Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) & Micro-Hybrid VehicleHybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV)Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)Battery Electric Vehicle (Bev) & Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV)In addition, report also includes segmentation on the basis of channel type:OEMsAftermarketVisit For TOC@Vehicle Electrification Market: Region Wise OutlookAsia Pacific region owing to the fast growing automotive industry in developing countries such as India, China and South Korea is expected to show a significant growth in the vehicle electrification market. Strict laws in Western & Eastern Europe for vehicle efficiency will drive the vehicle electrification market in this region. North America is also anticipated to a moderate growth with credits to the strong fuel efficiency norms and support from government in the region. With rapid technological advancement and growing automobile industry, vehicle electrification market is expected to increase at a double CAGR during the forecast period.Vehicle Electrification Market: Key PlayersSome of the players in the market we identified includes, Continental AG, Robert Bosch GmbH., TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., Denso Corporation, (Japan), Nexteer Automotive, JTEKT Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Mando Corp., Borgwarner Inc. and ZF Friedrichshafen AG.About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Smart Greenhouse Irrigation System Sales Market 2021: Challenges, Standardization, Competitive Market Share, Operator Case Studies and Key Players like Netafim, Rain Bird, TORO, Valmont https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=32209 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=32209 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=32209 The report titled Smart Greenhouse Irrigation System presents an in-depth synopsis of the competitive landscape of the market globally, thus helping establishments understand the primary threats and prospects that vendors in the market are dealt with. It also encompasses thorough business profiles of some of the prime vendors in the market. The report includes vast data relating to the recent discovery and technological expansions perceived in the market, complete with an examination of the impact of these intrusions on the markets future development.This report presents a comprehensive study of the global Smart Greenhouse Irrigation System Sales market by assessing the growth drivers and restraining factors at length. This detailed study of important factors assists the market participants in understanding the issues they will be facing while functioning in this market over a long period of time.To get the sample copy of this report @:Most prominent players in the market include Netafim, Rain Bird, TORO, Valmont, Hunter, LINDSAY, NELSON, Reinke, T-L, John Deere, JAIN, Epc, NaanDanJain, Rivulis, Irritec.These Players are analyzed based on attributes such as their product profile, product introductions, SWOT analysis, and contact information. Each of the key players in the market is revealed in terms of their basic company data, key competitors, and presence of manufacturing bases. These players are also described according to their offerings in product types and technologies, the production costs, revenue generated, and overall price of these solutions.Avail 20% Discount on this report @:The report is generically segmented into six parts and every part aims on the overview of the Smart Greenhouse Irrigation System industry, present condition of the market, feasibleness of the investment along with several strategies and policies. Apart from the definition and classification, the report also discusses the analysis of import and export and describes a comparison of the market that is focused on the trends and development. Along with entire framework in addition to in-depth details, one can prepare and stay ahead of the competitors across the targeted locations.On the basis of product,this report displays the production,revenue,price,market share and growth rate of each type,primarily split into Drip Irrigation, Micro Sprinkler Irrigation and Boom Irrigation.To know more about this report @:The research report evaluates the Global Smart Greenhouse Irrigation System Market in an all-inclusive manner by explaining the prime characteristics of the market that is likely to have a quantifiable influence on its progressive scenarios over the forecast period. The major growth drivers, challenges, and inclinations manipulating the global market are examined. The report also presents a thorough qualitative and quantitative data relating to the predictable impact of these factors on markets future growth projections.A SWOT analysis of the upcoming projects being undertaken in the Global Smart Greenhouse Irrigation System Sales Market identifies and evaluates the weaknesses, strengths, threats, and opportunities of the new projects, in addition to an assessment of their investment returns, investment feasibility, and development trends.Table of ContentsGlobal Smart Greenhouse Irrigation System Sales Market Research ReportChapter 1 Smart Greenhouse Irrigation System Sales Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global Smart Greenhouse Irrigation System Sales Market ForecastResearch N Reports helps clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change. We have successfully guided businesses throughout the world with our market research reports. We are uniquely positioned to lead digital transformations, thus creating greater value for clients by presenting growth opportunities in the global market.Our profound experience provides a clear and confident vision to help clients navigate the future. Research N Reports techniques encompasses both qualitative and quantitative modes to provide customized and highly flexible tailored research studies so that you get information that is just the best-fit to make informed strategic organizational decisions. Research N Reports helps clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative.Sunny Denis(Sales Manager)10916, Gold Point, Dr,Houston, TX - 77064E-mail:sales@researchnreports.comPhone:+1 888-631-6977 Africa Mobile Network Operators and MVNOs Millicom, Orange Group, Vodacom and Bharti Airtel https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/873526 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/873526/africa-mobile-network-operators-and-mvnos-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/873526/africa-mobile-network-operators-and-mvnos-market-research-reports.pdf http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Latest Research Report Africa - Mobile Network Operators and MVNOs provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Mobile telephony is by far the dominant telecom platform across Africa, accounting for more than 90% of all telephone lines in the region. As a consequence, mobile internet also accounts for a similar proportion of all internet connections. Given the size and range of markets on the continent, market penetration is varied between countries. By the end of 2016 the highest mobile penetration was found in countries including Libya (155%), Botswana (176%) and Gabon (190%), which reflects the popularity of consumers having multiple SIM cards. By contrast, a number of countries have a penetration rate less than half of this level.In many countries the recorded number of subscribers has fallen since 2015 as regulators step up efforts to compel mobile network operators to enforce provisions by which dormant SIM cards are taken off their books, and services are ended for non-registered SIM cards. The latter is intended to address fears that crime and civil disturbances can be facilitated or orchestrated via mobile phones.Get Sample Copy of this report @The introduction of prepaid services was a catalyst for strong mobile subscriber growth across Africa. By late 2016 the prepaid sector accounted for up to 99% of the overall subscriber base in many markets. The steady decline in tariffs, encouraged by competitive pressure, has meant that a greater proportion of the continents estimated population of 1.34 billion can afford a mobile phone, and so make use of voice and data services which are in many areas cannot be accessed via fixed-line networks.Mobile services are also increasingly contributing to the growth of national economies, stimulated by productivity and efficiency gained brought about by the increased take-up of a range of services, as also by tax revenue.Although there are a large number of network operators across the continent, as also smaller niche MVNO players, there are also a small number of pan-regional network operators. These include Millicom, Orange Group, Vodacom and Bharti Airtel. Some rationalisation of their operations continues as these players adjust their strategies to fit in with market positions and expectations. Thus Orange Group in late 2015 sold its entire 70% stake in Telkom Kenya, having sold its local Ugandan unit in the previous year, when it became clear that it was unlikely to gain market share and become at least the number two player. Focussing on core markets was also the reason Millicom exited Botswana in mid-2016.Although ARPU remains relatively low for operators, considering the level of disposable income in the region, Africa remains a key area for investment among players. In coming years much investment will be geared towards securing licences and spectrum as well as to upgrading networks to take better advantage of the capabilities of LTE infrastructure as LTE coverage expands.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of Contents1. Regional overview2. Algeria2.1 Market analysis2.2 Operator statistics2.3 Algerie Telecom (Mobilis)2.4 Optimum Telecom Algerie (Djezzy)2.5 Wataniya Telecom (Nedjma, Ooredoo)3. Angola3.1 Market analysis3.2 Movicel (Angola Telecom)3.2.1 Privatisation3.3 Unitel3.3.1 Network developments4. Benin4.1 Market analysis4.2 Operator statistics4.3 MTN (Spacetel-Benin, Areeba)4.4 Moov (Etisalat Moov)4.5 Libercom (Benin Telecoms)4.6 BBCom (Bell Benin)4.7 Glo Mobile Benin (Globacom)5. Botswana5.1 Market analysis5.2 Operator statistics5.3 Mascom Wireless5.4 Orange Botswana (formerly Vista Cellular)5.5 beMobile (BTC)6. Burkina Faso6.1 Market analysis6.2 Operator statistics6.3 Airtel Burkina Faso (formerly Zain, Celtel)6.4 Telmob (Onatel)6.5 Moov (Telecel, Etisalat)View Sample PDF @7. Cameroon7.1 Market analysis7.2 Operator statistics7.3 MTN Cameroon7.3.1 National backbone7.4 Orange Cameroon7.5 Nextell Cameroon (Viettel)7.6 Camtel Mobile7.7 Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO)8. Chad8.1 Market analysis8.2 Airtel Chad (formerly Zain)8.3 Millicom Chad (Tigo)8.4 Salam Mobile8.5 Tchad Mobile (defunct)9. Cote dIvoire9.1 Mobile market9.2 Operator statistics9.3 Major mobile operators overview9.3.1 MTN Cote dIvoire (formerly Loteny)9.3.2 Orange CI9.3.3 Comium (KoZ)9.3.4 Moov (Etisalat)9.3.5 Green Network (Oricel, Lap Green)9.3.6 Warid Telecom9.3.7 Globacom9.3.8 CORA de Comstar and Aircomm CI (Historic)10. Democratic Republic of Congo10.1 Major mobile operators overview10.1.1 Vodacom Congo10.1.2 Bharti Airtel (formerly Zain, Celtel)10.1.3 Tigo (Millicom, Oasis)10.1.4 Orange (CCT)10.1.5 Africell11. Djibouti11.1 Mobile market overview12. Egypt12.1 Market analysis12.2 Operator statistics12.3 Orange Egypt (Mobinil, ECMS)12.3.1 Shareholder structure and dispute12.3.2 Network development12.3.3 ARPU and usage12.4 Vodafone Egypt12.4.1 Shareholder structure12.5 Etisalat MisrAbout 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 Market Size of Air Pressure Sensor Market, Forecast Report 2015-2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-600 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-600 www.futuremarketinsights.com Increase in demand for reliable sensors, low cost along with high performance feature is anticipated to fuel the growth of global air pressure sensor market.Air pressure sensor is a measuring converter of the pressure of a gas or liquid into pneumatic, electric, and other kinds of output signal. It is also used for measuring pressure drops and rarefaction. The demand for air pressure sensors market is rapidly increasing as they are widely used across various applications such as petrochemicals, building, shipbuilding, aircraft, and medical sector, among many others. In building, medical and automotive sector, MEMS-based pressure sensors (technology) are widely used. Additionally, on account of industry shift from analog to digital, air pressure sensors have become smarter in terms of sensing and efficiency performance. Advancements in ICT technology as well as Nanotechnology applications are emerging as new trends for the global air pressure sensor market.Air Pressure Sensor Market: Drivers & RestraintsImproved sensitivity in pressure sensors has strongly contributed to the demand of the global air pressure sensor market. Fast growth in Asia-Pacific region, increasing governmental regulation and vehicle production are the key factors driving the growth in the global air pressure sensor market. Advancement in technology is opening new doors to the growth of pressure sensors for medical and automotive applications. In coming years, it is anticipated that penetration of MEMS technology is going to lead the overall global air pressure sensor market. However, higher cost of the investment for production, could act as a major restraint in the global air pressure sensor market.Request Report Sample@Air Pressure Sensor Market: SegmentationOn the basis of technology, the global air pressure sensor market is segmented as:ElectromagneticCapacitivePiezoresistiveOpticalOthers (Resonant solid-state)On the basis of applications the global air pressure sensor market is segmented as:Automotive Pressure SensorsMedical SectorIndustrial SectorConsumer ElectronicsOthers (Refineries, Chemical plant, Pulp & paper, etc)Visit For TOC@Air Pressure Sensor Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global air pressure sensor market is expected to register a favourable growth for the forecast period, 2015?2025. On the basis of region, Asia Pacific, Japan and Latin America are expected to be the growth engines of air pressure sensor market in the near future. Asia-Pacific is anticipated to dominate the global air pressure sensor market. The key countries mentioned in the Asia-Pacific region are India, South Korea, and China as an outcome of growth in application sectors. Also, the region is expected to generate higher revenue as compared to North America (is practically maturing). Japan also contributes to the global air pressure sensor market remarkably. In Latin America, Brazil is expected to be the largest opportunity in terms of revenue of the air pressure sensor market. The remaining regions are expected to grow at a steady rate over the forecast period.Air Pressure Sensor Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in global air pressure sensor market are ABB Ltd., Analog Devices, Inc., Analog Devices, Inc., Analog Devices, Inc., Emerson Electric, General Electric, Freescale Semiconductor, Honeywell International, Robert Bosch GmbH and others.About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: In-depth Assessment of CPR Resuscitator Market along with Driving Factors, Industry Analysis, Investment Feasibility and Trends, Outlook https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=48481 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=48481 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=48481 Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure that combines chest compressions often with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest. It is recommended in those who are unresponsive with no breathing or abnormal breathing, for example, agonal respirations.This market research is an intelligence report with meticulous efforts undertaken to study the right and valuable information. The data which has been looked upon as done considering both, the existing top players and the upcoming competitors. Business strategies of the key players and the new entering market industries are studied in detail. Well defined SWOT analysis, income share, and contact information are shared in this report examination.Get Sample copy of this report @:Major Players profiled in this report include Cardiac Science Corporation (U.S.), CPR Medical Devices, Inc. (Canada), General Electric Company (U.S.), Michigan Instruments (U.S.), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), Physio-Control, Inc. (U.S.), St. Jude Medical, Inc. (U.S.), and ZOLL Medical Corporation (Japan).This provides a comprehensive overview of the revenue of the global market in various key regions, including an understanding of how the revenue generation patterns have changed over the recent past. The relation between the overall revenue generation figures and the sales structure of the industry in each regional segment is also described in the report.The major players of the global CPR Resuscitator market are identified across regions, and their offerings, distribution channels, and regional presence are understood through in-depth discussions. Also, average revenue generated by these companies, segmented on the basis of region, is used to arrive at the overall market size. This overall market size is used in the top-down procedure to estimate the sizes of other individual markets through percentage splits from secondary sources directories, databases, and primary research.Avail 20% Discount on this report @:The performance of the major products and application segments of the market in each regional market has been described in the report. Similarly, each regional markets competitive dynamics have been particularized upon by providing information about the hierarchy among the foremost players operating in it. This helps provide a systematic granular analysis of the Global CPR Resuscitator Market. The report also provides forecasts for each product, application, and geographical segments of the global market.To know more about this report @:The report's conclusion uncovers the overall range of the Global CPR Resuscitator Market in terms of feasibility of investments in the different sections of the market, alongside a descriptive entry that layouts the plausibility of new activities that may prevail in the market sooner rather than later.Table of ContentsGlobal CPR Resuscitators Market Research ReportChapter 1 CPR Resuscitators Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global CPR Resuscitators Market ForecastResearch N Reports helps clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change. We have successfully guided businesses throughout the world with our market research reports. We are uniquely positioned to lead digital transformations, thus creating greater value for clients by presenting growth opportunities in the global market.Our profound experience provides a clear and confident vision to help clients navigate the future. Research N Reports techniques encompasses both qualitative and quantitative modes to provide customized and highly flexible tailored research studies so that you get information that is just the best-fit to make informed strategic organizational decisions. Research N Reports helps clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative.Sunny Denis(Sales Manager)10916, Gold Point, Dr,Houston, TX - 77064E-mail:sales@researchnreports.comPhone:+1 888-631-6977 Industrial Starches Market to Grow at a CAGR of 4.0% through 2027 http://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3136554-global-industrial-starches-market-research-report-forecast-to-2022 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3136554-global-industrial-starches-market-research-report-forecast-to-2022 Industrial StarchesSynopsisThe global industrial starch market has observed a significant growth and is estimated to reach 111.61 MMT with registering a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period of 20162022 in terms of volume. The global industrial starch market has witnessed a huge innovation in the product portfolio, and it offers various applications.Researchers have invented techniques to modify starch, by using chemicals and enzymes. Modified starch is used as a food additive. The purpose of this modification is to improve its characteristics particularly such as the water holding capacity, heat resistant, strengthening its binding, and better-quality thickening agent.There is an increase in the demand for modified starches as there is rapid growth in the food industry. Modified starches have a remarkable number of uses in a variety of foods such as bakeries, snacks, beverages as well as functional foods. In functional food, modified starch is used as a fat replacer, a texture enhancer, for added nutritional properties, for high-temperature stability, and flavor and oil encapsulation. Other applications of modified starches include a stabilizing agent, emulsifying agent, thickening agent, and freeze-thaw stabilizing agent. The food & beverage industry has a huge demand for industrial starches.The huge demand for starches from food & beverages industries will drive the industrial starch market in the upcoming decade.Industrial starches are hugely dependent on the production and farming of cassava, corn, wheat, potato, etc. The cost of raw materials is very high due to the nature such as rains, water supply, natural calamities, etc. Due to insufficient rains and devastation caused by natural calamities such as floods earthquake, tsunami, volcano, and cyclone, there is a low supply of raw materials which results in the inflammation of prices. Hence, the manufacturers and processing units of industrial starches could overcome this risk by importing raw materials from other regions, but still, the manufacturing cost is high.Click here for sample report @Regional AnalysisThe global industrial starches market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the rest of the world. The North American region is estimated to account for a significant market proportion in the global industrial starches market, and the trend is expected to continue throughout the forecast period of 20162022. Asia Pacific is estimated to reach 33.13 MMT in terms of volume by the end of 2022. Asia Pacific is also expected to witness a healthy growth rate of 4.23% during the review period of 20162022.SegmentsThe industrial starches market has been segmented on the basis of source which comprises corn, cassava, potato, wheat, and others. On the basis of type, the industrial starches market has been segmented into sweeteners, modified starch, and native starch. The industrial starches market has been segmented on the basis of application which comprises foods & beverages and non-food. Foods & beverages have been further segmented into confectionery, processed foods, beverages, and others. The non-food application has been further segmented into corrugation and paper making, pharmaceutical, textile, personal care, and others. Key PlayersThe leading market players in the global Industrial starches market primarily are Cargill Incorporated (U.S.), Ingredion Incorporated (U.S.), Archer Daniels Midland Company (U.S.).Key Findings Among the source, the corn segment is estimated to account for the maximum market proportion in the global industrial starches market throughout the forecast period of 20162022. The segment is expected to reach 58.46 MMT by the end of 2022. Among the type, the sweeteners segment is expected to hold a major market proportion in the global industrial starches market. The segment is projected to reach USD 57.28 MMT by the end of the forecast period.Table of Contents1 Report Prologue2 Introduction2.1 Definition2.1.1 By Source2.1.1.1 Corn2.1.1.2 Potato2.1.1.3 Cassava2.1.1.4 Wheat2.1.2 By Type2.1.2.1 Sweeteners2.1.2.2 Modified starches2.1.2.3 Native Starches2.1.3 By Form2.1.3.1 Powder2.1.3.2 Liquid2.1.3.3 Gel2.1.4 By Application2.1.4.1 Food Application2.1.4.2 Non - Food application.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 Orthopedic Orthotics Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2021 Orthopedic Orthotics Market https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/request-sample/187706 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/report/global-orthopedic-orthotics-market-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2021 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/check-discount/187706 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com Orthopedic Orthotics is a specialty within the medical field concerned with the design, manufacture and application of Orthotics. It is an externally applied device used to modify the structural and functional characteristics of the neuromuscular and skeletal system.Orthopedic Orthotics is made from various types of materials including thermoplastics, carbon fibre, metals, and elastic, EVA, fabric or a combination of similar materials.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Orthopedic Orthotics in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers DJO Global Ottobock Breg Ossur hf DeRoyal Industries Medi ORTEC Nakamura Brace Thuasne Aspen Adhenor Rcai Huici Medical CSJBJZ WuHan JiShiMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America, Middle East and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, coversUpper-limb orthosesLower-limb orthosesSpinal orthosesMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoFunctional recoveryDeformityBrowse full report with Table of Content @There are 13 Chapters to deeply display the global Orthopedic Orthotics market.Chapter 1, to describe Orthopedic Orthotics Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Orthopedic Orthotics, with sales, revenue, and price of Orthopedic Orthotics, in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Orthopedic Orthotics, for each region, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 9 and 10, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 11, Orthopedic Orthotics market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2016 to 2021;Chapter 12 and 13, to describe Orthopedic Orthotics sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, appendix and data source.Check Discount @About Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWeb- Revenues from Iron Oxide Market will Surpass US$ 2.8 Bn by 2025-End https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1254 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1254 www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers key insights on the global iron oxide market in its latest report titled, Iron Oxide Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2015-2025. In terms of value, the global iron oxide market is projected to increase at a CAGR of 4.3% during the forecast period, owing to various factors, regarding which FMI offers vital insights in detail in this report.Iron oxides are chemical compounds that, apart from iron ores, find wide application as pigments, catalysts, etc. Construction and paints & coatings are the major end-use industries for iron oxides. Growth in construction industry, supported by rising urbanization, is expected to be among the major drivers for global iron oxide market. Major application of iron oxides in the construction industry is to colour concrete blocks and pavement bricks. Iron oxide pigments are being widely used in paints and coatings industry for their use as primers for automobiles and steel structures.Stringent government regulations are expected to adversely impact global iron oxide market significantly. This is especially the case in China, where, over the last two years, various small- and medium-scale companies have exited the iron oxide market due to high costs involved in ensuring regulatory compliance. The same trend is expected to continue over the near future.To Get Sample Copy of Report please visit @The iron oxide market is segmented on the basis of product type, application and region. On the basis of product type, the global iron oxide market is segmented into red iron oxide, yellow iron oxide, black iron oxide, orange iron oxide, brown iron oxide, green iron oxide and other blends. On the basis of application, the global iron oxide market is segmented into construction, paints & coatings, plastics, chemicals, paper & pulp manufacturing, textile, ceramics, leather and others (fertilizers, cosmetics and rubber). Regionally, the global iron oxide market is segmented into Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa and Japan.Among product types, red iron oxide was the largest revenue contributor to the global iron oxide market in 2014. Wide application of red iron oxide across various industries is expected to support growth of the segment over the forecast period. In 2014, the construction industry segment dominated the global market, accounting for around 50% revenue share. Growth of the construction industry is in turn expected to drive growth of the iron oxide market over forecast period. In order to enhance their market share, iron oxide producers are focusing on development of new applications for iron oxides.Visit For TOC@In 2014, Asia pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) was the largest market for iron oxide, both in terms of production and consumption. In terms of consumption, APEJ was followed by Western Europe and North America, respectively. Key players profiled in this study of the global iron oxide market include LANXESS AG, Huntsman International Inc. Cathay Industries, Alabama Pigments Company LLC, Shenghua Group Deqing Huayuan Pigment Co LTD, TODA KOGYO CORPORATION, Jiangsu Yuxing Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., Hunan Three-ring Pigments Co., Ltd., Yaroslavsky Pigment Company and Tata Pigments Company. LANXESS AG has been estimated to account for the largest share in the global iron oxide market in 2015.About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Electronic Article Surveillance Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2021 Electronic Article Surveillance Market https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/request-sample/146650 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/report/global-electronic-article-surveillance-market-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2021 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/check-discount/146650 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com Electronic article surveillance (EAS) is a technological method for preventing shoplifting from retail stores, pilferage of books from libraries or removal of properties from office buildings. Special tags are fixed to merchandise or books. These tags are removed or deactivated by the clerks when the item is properly bought or checked out.At the exits of the store, a detection system sounds an alarm or otherwise alerts the staff when it senses active tags. Some stores also have detection systems at the entrance to the restrooms that sound an alarm if someone tries to take unpaid merchandise with them into the restroom. For high-value goods that are to be manipulated by the patrons, wired alarm clips called spider wrap may be used instead of tags.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Electronic Article Surveillance in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversCheckpoint SystemsTyco Retail SolutionsNedapHangzhou Century Co., LtdGunnebo GatewaySentry TechnologyKetecAll TagUniversal Surveillance SystemsMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)Latin America, Middle East and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, coversHard TagSoft TagDeactivator or DetacherDetection SystemMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoClothing &Fashion AccessoriesCosmetics/PharmacySupermarkets & Large GroceryOthersBrowse full report with Table of Content @There are 13 Chapters to deeply display the global Electronic Article Surveillance market.Chapter 1, to describe Electronic Article Surveillance Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Electronic Article Surveillance , with sales, revenue, and price of Electronic Article Surveillance , in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Electronic Article Surveillance , for each region, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 9 and 10, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 11, Electronic Article Surveillance market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2016 to 2021;Chapter 12 and 13, to describe Electronic Article Surveillance sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, appendix and data source.Check Discount @About Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWeb- Digital Thread 2018 Global Market Key Players -General Electric, PTC, Siemens, Dassault Systemes, IBM Corporation, ANSYS, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation-Analysis And Forecast To 2023 Digital Thread Market 2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3035872-global-digital-thread-market-size-status-and-forecast-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3035872-global-digital-thread-market-size-status-and-forecast-2023 Digital Thread Market 2018Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Digital Thread Global Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2023 To Its Research Database.Description:This report studies the Digital Thread market status and outlook of global and major regions, from angles of players, regions, product and end Application/industries; this report analyzes the top players in global and major regions, and splits the Digital Thread market by product and Application/end industries.The global Digital Thread market is valued at 86 million USD in 2017 and is expected to reach 1798 million USD by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of 65.91% between 2017 and 2023.The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast growing India and Southeast Asia regions.United States will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Digital Thread.EU also play important roles in global market, with market size of 14.6 million USD in 2017 and will be 336 million USD in 2023, with a CAGR of 68.74%.The major players in global market includeGeneral ElectricPTCSiemensDassault SystemesIBM CorporationANSYSMicrosoft CorporationOracle CorporationRequest for Sample Report@Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Digital Thread for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)United StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaOn the basis of product, the Digital Thread market is primarily split intoParts TypeSystem TypeOn the basis on the end users/Application, this report coversAerospace & DefenseAutomotive & TransportationMachine ManufacturingEnergy & UtilitiesOthersComplete 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:1 Industry Overview 11.1 Digital Thread Market Overview 11.1.1 Digital Thread Product Scope 11.1.2 Market Status and Outlook 31.2 Global Digital Thread Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2016-2023) 41.2.1 United States Digital Thread Market Status and Outlook 51.2.2 EU Digital Thread Market Status and Outlook 61.2.3 Japan Digital Thread Market Status and Outlook 71.2.4 China Digital Thread Market Status and Outlook 81.2.5 India Digital Thread Market Status and Outlook 91.2.6 Southeast Asia Digital Thread Market Status and Outlook 101.3 Classification of Digital Thread by Product 111.3.1 Global Digital Thread Revenue (Million USD) Market Share (%) by Product in 2017 111.3.2 Parts Type 111.3.3 System Type 121.4 Digital Thread Market by End Users/Application 131.4.1 Aerospace & Defense 141.4.2 Automotive & Transportation 151.4.3 Machine Manufacturing 161.4.4 Energy & Utilities 172 Global Digital Thread Competition Analysis by Players 182.1 Global Digital Thread Market Size (Million USD) by Players (2016-2018) 182.2 Competitive Status and Trend 202.2.1 Market Concentration Rate 202.2.2 Product/Service Differences 202.2.3 New Entrants 212.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future 223 Company (Top Players) Profiles and Key Data 233.1 General Electric 233.1.1 Company Profile 233.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview 233.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions 243.1.4 General Electric Digital Thread Revenue (Million USD) (2016-2018) 263.1.5 Recent Developments 273.2 PTC 283.2.1 Company Profile 283.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview 293.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions 293.2.4 PTC Digital Thread Revenue (Million USD) (2016-2018) 303.2.5 Recent Developments 323.3 Siemens 323.3.1 Company Profile 323.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview 333.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions 333.3.4 Siemens Digital Thread Revenue (Million USD) (2016-2018) 343.4 Dassault Systemes 353.4.1 Company Profile 353.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview 363.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions 363.4.4 Dassault Systemes Digital Thread Revenue (Million USD) (2016-2018) 373.4.5 Recent Developments 393.5 IBM Corporation 393.5.1 Company Profile 393.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview 403.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions 403.5.4 IBM Corporation Digital Thread Revenue (Million USD) (2016-2018) 423.5.5 Recent Developments 443.6 ANSYS 443.6.1 Company Profile 443.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview 453.6.3 Recent Developments 453.7 Microsoft Corporation 463.7.1 Company Profile 463.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview 463.7.3 Recent Developments 473.8 Oracle Corporation 473.8.1 Company Profile 473.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview 473.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions 483.8.4 Oracle Corporation Digital Thread Revenue (Million USD) (2016-2018) 48Continued..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 Magnesium Raw Materials Market Insights by Size, Status and Forecast 2023 Magnesium Raw Materials Market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/request-discount/1069981-world-magnesium-raw-materials-2 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1069981-world-magnesium-raw-materials-2 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1069981-world-magnesium-raw-materials-2 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1069981 A new independent 113 page research with title 'World Magnesium Raw Materials(Magnesite and Brucite) Market Research Report 2022(Covering USA, EU, China, South East Asia, India, Japan and etc)' guarantees you will remain better informed than your competition. The study covers geographic analysis that includes regions like USA, Europe, Japan, China, India, South East Asia and important players/vendors such as GRECIAN MAGNESITE, Calix, Haicheng Magnesite etc. The research gives you a visual, one-stop breakdown of the leading products, submarkets and market leaders market revenue forecasts as well as analysis to 2022Get customization & check discount for report @SummaryThe Magnesium Raw Materials(Magnesite and Brucite) market research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability.The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The report includes the forecasts, Analysis and discussion of important industry trends, market size, market share estimates and profiles of the leading industry Players.View Detailed Table of Content @Global Magnesium Raw Materials(Magnesite and Brucite) Market: Product Segment AnalysisMagnesite, BruciteGlobal Magnesium Raw Materials(Magnesite and Brucite) Market: Application Segment AnalysisMetallurgical, Building materials, Chemical, OthersGlobal Magnesium Raw Materials(Magnesite and Brucite) Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSA, Europe, Japan, China, India, South East AsiaThe Players mentioned in our reportGRECIAN MAGNESITE, Calix, Haicheng Magnesite, Liaoning Wangcheng Magnesium group, Liaoning BeiHai Industries Group, Richard Baker Harrison Limited, Ramakrishna Magnesite Mines, Hindustan Produce Company, Garrison Minerals, Liaoning Jinding Magnesite Group, Haicheng Jinghua Mineral ProductsRequest a sample report @Table of ContentChapter 1 About the Magnesium Raw Materials(Magnesite and Brucite) IndustryChapter 2 World Market Competition LandscapeChapter 3 World Magnesium Raw Materials(Magnesite and Brucite) Market shareChapter 4 Supply Chain An....ContinuedPlace a Purchase Order for this Market Study (Single User License) at:Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.About Author: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 Insomnia therapeutics Market By Drug Class, and Distribution Channel https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/958 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/958 http://www.coherentchronicle.com Insomnia is a common type of sleep disorder and frequently co-morbid with mental or psychiatric illness. Consistent risk factors for insomnia are age, and stress associated with job, family, financial, and medical conditions. Increase in consumption of alcohol, caffeine, nicotine could also lead to insomnia. Depending on the duration, insomnia is categorized into transient and chronic insomnia. Transient insomnia last for a single night to few weeks or months and is an adaptive response to the above mentioned challenges. Chronic insomnia is more complex resulting from combination of factors mentioned above and lasts for longer period of time. Insomnia is normally treated with prescription medication or over the counter sleep aid such as natrol melatonin and unisom sleep gel help people to fall asleep with minimum side effects. According to a study by University of Laval, 2011, about 40 % of the adult Canadian are experiencing one or more symptoms of insomnia. Further, a latest research reported in Nature, 2017, stated that insomnia increases the risk in women to deliver premature babies by 30%. Increase in incidence of insomnia across the globe will propel the insomnia therapeutics market.Get The Holistic SAMPLE With Research Methodology:Insomnia therapeutics Market TaxonomyBy Drug ClassNon benzodiazepinesBenzodiazepinesOthersBy Distribution ChannelRetail & Hospital PharmaciesOnline PharmaciesNew improved medication with lesser side effects will drive the insomnia therapeutics market growth globallyBenzodiazepines (BZP) such as temazepam and diazepam are the commonly prescribed medication for insomnia. Though these medications are effective, prolonged use of these drugs may cause cognitive impairment, dependency and addiction. The launch of novel drugs such as Intermezzo (2014), tasimelteon (2014) have created a meteoric growth in G7 countries in the insomnia therapeutics and is expected market over the forecast period.Intermezzo (2014), are used in small doses and administered under the tongue for faster absorption. Tesimelton approved by FDA in 2014 is the only drug approved by FDA for Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Rhythm Disorder and it lacks abuse potential. These products are expected to drive the insomnia therapeutics market over the forecast period.Increasing awareness and treatment seeking rates for insomnia are expected to further contribute to the growth of the market. However, the loss of exclusivity of the drugs led the market more genericized, creating a competitive environment for new entrants. For instance, non-benzodiazepines and low dose sedating anti-depressants, still considered as a first line of medication for the insomnia, are facing stiff competition from the generics.According to a report by Sleep Research Society, 2012, 20% of the general adult population in Canada and U.S is suffering from insomnia and this number is expected to increase in the near future. Problems like daytime sleepiness, and fatigue is affecting larger number of population and imposing a considerable burden on these regions. These factors all together will trigger the total insomnia therapeutics market demand in the future period.Get Table Of Content:Devices would have a negative impact on the global insomnia therapeutics marketRapid entry of new players and new devices for insomnia will boost the market over the forecast period. FDA approved new device Cereve Sleep System for insomnia in 2016 this device is used to reduce latency to stage 1 and stage 2 sleep by keeping the forehead cool. Major players in insomnia therapeutics market are GlaxoSmithKline plc, UCB Group, Otsuka Holdings Co., Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, Axxonis Pharma AG, Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. Ltd., National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Ltd., Omeros Corporation and Manhattan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: Enterprise Social Networks Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 Enterprise Social Networks Market https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1377297 https://www.researchmoz.us/enterprise-social-networks-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Enterprise Social Networks Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Use of social media by any organization internally and externally to connect individuals who share similar business interests and activities is known as enterprise social network (ESN). The social media tools help employees to share knowledge with their co-workers. This formal or informal communication between the employees helps in creating a healthy working environment. Owing to this communication, employees are able to share their opinions, views and thoughts with their co-workers and management. ESN is an effective problem solving technique which involves the participation of all the parties required through media. ESN is an internal workplace which helps in creating connections between various departments, this is extremely beneficial in larger corporations. To protect the corporate image and brand, most large corporations have implemented social media policies to make sure that employees communicate properly with each other across all the social networking channels. Effective knowledge management is the ultimate goal behind the implementation of ESN. It is not a prevailing model yet; however, ESN is anticipated to gain popularity in the coming years.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Organizations are implementing ESN due to its ability to enhance the communication and collaboration between the employees through media. Employees are able to voice their concerns through these platforms. Departmental boundaries are broken and hierarchies are flattened with the help of ESN. Moreover, it helps to spur innovation within the company as employees are sharing new ideas and thoughts between them and getting suggestions on how to make them better. ESN helps organizations to achieve business transparency, which is important to maintain the loyalty of employees. Employees are aware of the things going on within the organization and they are involved in the discussions happening around them. More than anything ESN gives a platform for employees other than the formal communication platforms such as the company e-mail. ESN is gaining popularity, however, companies are indecisive over how to apply this technology to business processes and operations. Companies are concerned that use of social media could result in reduced productivity. Major concern is that employees could use these tools extensively leaving behind their primary responsibilities.Major organizations are evaluating the benefits of implementing ESN. However, concerns regarding the usefulness of ESN for small size enterprises with very few employees remains a challenge for ESN market. In addition to this, acceptance by employees remains the most important aspect for implementation of the ESN. Top management cannot just implement ESN and wait for the results. If the employees are not encouraged by the use of ESN then it may not prove beneficial to any organization.ESN tools are used by many companies across the industry verticals including IT and telecom, retail, Banking, Financial services and Insurance (BFSI), professional services, and healthcare. During the recent years, IT and telecom has seen significant adoption for ESN tools. Further, other sectors such as retail and professional services are expected to see significant adoption of ESN tools during the coming years. Some of the major players in the global ESN market are Microsoft Corporation, salesforce.com, Inc., TIBCO Software Inc., MangoApps Inc., JIVE SOFTWARE, Inc., Kaltura Inc., VMWare, Inc., Zyncro Tech S.L., Socialtext, Inc., and IBM Corporation.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:- Market segments and sub-segments- Market trends and dynamics- Supply and demand- Market size- Current trends/opportunities/challenges- Competitive landscape- Technological breakthroughs- Value chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:- North America (U.S. and Canada)- Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)- Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)- Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)- Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)- Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.Browse Detail Report @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 market- Important changes in market dynamics- Market segmentation up to the second or third level- Historical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volume- Reporting and evaluation of recent industry developments- Market shares and strategies of key players- Emerging niche segments and regional markets- An objective assessment of the trajectory of the market- Recommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout 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 @ Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) Market to Rear Excessive Growth During 2016 2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1011 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/1011 http://www.coherentchronicle.com Human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (HCG) is a hormone secreted by the placenta after implantation of a fertilized zygote in the uterus. The hormone also supports normal development of an egg and helps in the stimulation of egg release from the ovary. The HCG is mainly used to induce ovulation in the women under infertility treatment. It is also used among males mostly to increase the sperm count and in young boys, due to pituitary gland disorders and other diseases, due to which the testicles of the young males does not drop down naturally into the scrotum. The HCG is usually administered as an injection under the skin into a muscle. The HCG can also be administered at home under the advice of a gynecologist or a pharmacist. The HCG levels can be determined with the help of urine or blood test. Result of specific test helps in the determining accurate measurement of the levels. These tests are mostly used to identify and confirm pregnancy or as a screening test to determine birth defects.Rising incidence of infertility are expected to drive the growth of human gonadotropin market across the globeAccording to Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2016, approximately 7.3 million women aged 15 - 44 have used infertility services. Moreover, 6.7% of the married women aged 15 - 44 were reported infertile. According to Azura Vascular Care, around 17% of the couples in the U.S. deal with infertility out of which 30% cases are a result of male infertility. These numbers suggests significant demand for infertility treatments, such as HCG in order for females to conceive a child. According to a statistical survey conducted by HealthGrove, pituitary gland disorders resulted into the death of around 205 people in 2015, out of which highest percentage belonged to white men. Pituitary disorders resulting into significant mortality rate are propelling the demand for human chorionic gonadotropin hormone. Additionally, various other factors such as endometriosis, hormonal imbalance, polycystic ovary syndrome, and others are expected to propel the growth of global HCG market. For instance, according to Frisco Institute of Reproductive Medicine, around 10% of women of reproductive age in the U.S. suffer from polycystic ovary syndrome. However, easy availability of alternatives to treat infertility could act as potential barriers for the market growth.Get The Holistic SAMPLE With Research Methodology:Market Taxonomy:The global human chorionic gonadotropin by Coherent Market Insights is segmented on the basis of Technology, Therapeutic area, and end user.On the basis of technology, the global human chorionic gonadotropin is segmented as:Natural Source ExtractionRecombinant DNA TechnologyOn the basis of therapeutic area, the global human chorionic gonadotropin market is segmented as:Female infertility treatmentOligospermic TreatmentCryptorchidism TreatmentOthersOn the basis of end user, the global human chorionic gonadotropin market is segmented as:Fertility CentersResearch InstitutesOthersNorth America to dominate global human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) market, owing to rising frequency of infertility casesOn the basis of geography, the global human chorionic gonadotropin market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. North America is the highest regional contributor to the market and is expected to continue as a regional dominator over the forecast years. This primarily owes to the rising number of infertility cases as well as hormonal dysfunction among young males and females as a result of changing lifestyle. According to Mayo Clinic, around 25% of women fertility problems in the U.S. are a result of ovulation issues that are mostly caused due to dysfunction of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) hormone. Thus, the rapidly increasing cases of infertility are expected to surge the North America global human chorionic gonadotropin market. On the other hand, Asia Pacific is anticipated to be the fasting growing geography, owing to economic developments facilitating technological advancements in healthcare sectors as well as emerging local players in the market.Get Table Of Content:The key players operating the global human chorionic gonadotropin market include Merck & Co., Inc., EMD Sereno, Inc., Fresenius Kabi, Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Ferring BV, and Kamia Biomedical Company. Acris Antibodies developed a human chorionic gonadotropin hormone by recombinant DNA technology that helps to prevent the disintegration of the corpus luteum of the ovary thereby, maintaining levels of progesterone production for healthy pregnancy in females.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: End-Point Security Market Analysis 2017 2025 | Global Industry Attractiveness, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts End-Point Security Market https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1377296 https://www.researchmoz.us/endpoint-security-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=1377296 https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "End-Point Security Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Endpoint security technology protects organization networks that are bridged with the end users device remotely. The use of laptops, mobile devices, tablets and other wireless gadgets that are connected with corporate networks are the main medium to generate security threats. Each device with a remote access, connecting to the network creates a potential entry point for security threats. End-point security confirms such devices to follow a level of compliance as well as standards. It can operate in both client and server model with the security program managed by centralized host server having a client program installed on the network drives. In software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, the security programs as well as the host server are managed remotely by the merchant. Both the delivery model has a server program that authenticates the user login credentials and scan device to check compliance with corporate security standards before permitting the network access. Endpoint security management systems, can be purchased as software or as an appliance, which discover, manage as well as control computing devices that need the access to corporate network. The required elements used in an end-point security system may include an operating system, a VPN client and an anti-virus software with latest updates.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The major factor that drives the market for endpoint security are the need to alleviate IT security risks. The growing BYOD trends among the organizations as well as growing endpoint attacks are some of the other factor swelling this market growth. As the businesses grow, various sophisticated threats such as trojans, zero day malwares and more are created which bring the companys critical data at risk. This encouraged the organizations to implement endpoint security solution to protect their endpoints as well as networks against any potential cyber-attacks.Various companies are coming with innovative end-point security solutions so as to meet the increasing demand from organizations. The consolidation of endpoint security infrastructure and the software is the major upcoming trend in the end-point security market as this allow the firms to regulate the endpoint security components on same hardware platform. Given the evolving demand for new security technologies, the endpoint security market is now coming up with various venture capital investment, mergers as well as acquisitions, and innovation. Intel Group announced in January 2014 that McAfee, an Intel-owned security company, had rebranded itself into Intel Security and changed the payment structure for its products. Intel had also started offering elements of McAfees security solutions for free for mobile devices. Also, in 2012, Symantec Corporation had done three acquisitions, which include two mobile security companies called Nukona, Inc. and Odyssey Software Solutions, Inc. In April 2015, Invincea, Inc. added new threat identification as well as response capabilities to its containerization solution so as to provide advanced endpoint visibility, analysis, and control and better threat elimination.The major participants in the end-point security market include such as Symantec, Intel Security Group, AVG Technologies, Invincea Inc., Bit9, Inc., Fortinet, Inc., Space Hellas S.A., Trend Micro Inc., Sophos Group plc, and Kaspersky Labs.Browse Detail Report @The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:- Market segments and sub-segments- Market trends and dynamics- Supply and demand- Market size- Current trends/opportunities/challenges- Competitive landscape- Technological breakthroughs- Value chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:- North America (U.S. and Canada)- Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)- Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)- Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)- Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)- Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.Make an Enquiry of this report @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 market- Important changes in market dynamics- Market segmentation up to the second or third level- Historical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volume- Reporting and evaluation of recent industry developments- Market shares and strategies of key players- Emerging niche segments and regional markets- An objective assessment of the trajectory of the market- Recommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout 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 @ Opioids Reducing body pain but increasing pain for regulatory authorities https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1017 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1017 http://www.coherentchronicle.com Opioids are drugs primarily prescribed for pain management and treatment of diarrhea and cough. Opioid drugs are of two types namely, agonist and antagonist. Codeine, Fentanyl, Meperidine, Methadone, Morphine, Hydrocodone, Diphenoxylate, Hydromorphone, Methylphenidate, Oxycodone, and Oxymorphone are classified as agonists, while Buprenorphine, Naloxone, Naltrexone, Methylnaltrexone, and Nalbuphine are classified as antagonists. Due to easy availability of opioids, these drugs are rampantly overused globally and the situation is more critical in developed countries, mainly the U.S. This has led to government or regulatory intervention in various countries. Government and regulatory bodies are involved in closely monitoring prescription patterns or in publishing strict prescription guidelines for opioids and in educating the public about its side effects or harmful effects, such as dependence on the drug on regular use. Government bodies have also directed drug-stores such as CVS health to limit opioids delivery and inform the government about the steps they are or planning to undertake to address this crisis.The prescription of opioids drug has increases rapidly in last two decades across the globe, however, the rate of change is much higher in U.S. These prescriptions are not only for treating chronic pain and other related conditions, but majority of these prescriptions are for patients who are addicted to this drug. According to World Drug Report 2017, 29.5 million people suffered from drug use disorders globally, in 2015. About 70% of this 29.5 million people were on opioids, according to the same report. In U.S. alone, the drug overuse killed 59,000 to 65,000 people in 2016, and about two-thirds were due to opioids overuse only.Get The Holistic SAMPLE With Research Methodology:The global opioids market was valued at US$ 28,252.3 million in 2016 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 5.3% over the forecast period (2016 - 2024).Cannabis as potential alternative for pain reliefCannabis has recently gained attention from a diverse range of people, including medical professionals, independent health advocacy groups, and government organizations. Cannabis is projected to emerge as a potential alternative therapy to opioids, as it controls nausea associated with intake of opioid drugs, as well as vomiting and dizziness that often accompany severe, prolonged pain. Moreover, risk of addiction associated with cannabis intake is much lower as compared to that of opioids. A poll conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine, in 2013, found that 75% (3 out of 4) clinicians in the U.S. recommended the use of cannabis for hypothetical cancer patients. Currently, medical marijuana is legal in 28 states and the District of Columbia, even though it is illegal under federal law. According to a research published, in 2017, in Annals of Internal Medicine, cannabis, which is also called medical marijuana, is used for pain management for 45-85% cases. However, the same research argues that there is little evidence to show that cannabis helps control chronic pain. Hence, an urgent need is experienced for high-quality clinical trials to test the clinical efficacy of marijuana in pain management. If clinical trials prove marijuana effective beyond a reasonable doubt, it is expected to emerge as a replacement for opioids.Some of the major players operating in the global opioids market are Purdue Pharma, Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Sanofi S.A., Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, Egalet Corporation, Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., Allergan, Plc, and Pfizer Inc.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.Contact Us:Mr.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: Global Cloud Accounting Software Market 2018 by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 Cloud Accounting Software Market https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1737181 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-cloud-accounting-software-market-2018-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Cloud Accounting Software Market 2018 by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the Cloud (SaaS, Online) Accounting Software market, online accounting systems are specifically designed to be used through the Internet, rather than being installed locally onto company computers. This reduces information technology requirements like server hardware, backups and maintenance and shifts the expenditure from being a large up-front capital cost to a much smaller, but ongoing, monthly or annual fee.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Cloud Accounting Software in global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversIntuitSageSAPOracle(NetSuite)MicrosoftInforEpicorWorkdayUnit4XeroYonyouKingdeeAcclivityFreshBooksZohoAssit CornerstoneMEGIReckonKashFlowDropboxCarboniteApptivoFinancialForceWave Accounting Inc.Market 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, coversBrowser-based, SaaSApplication Service Providers (ASPs)Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoSMEsLarge EnterprisesOther UsersGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Cloud Accounting Software market.Chapter 1, to describe Cloud Accounting Software Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Cloud Accounting Software, with sales, revenue, and price of Cloud Accounting Software, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Cloud Accounting Software, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Cloud Accounting Software market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Cloud Accounting Software sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceAbout 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 @ Artificial Joints Market Trends Estimates High Demand By 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1026 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/1026 http://www.coherentchronicle.com Joint diseases and related conditions causes degradation of cartilage and fluid between bones, which is necessary for smooth, painless, and quick movement of joints. Degenerative disorders such as osteoarthritis and stress related conditions results in abnormalities in the joints, which in turn, requires surgical procedure, arthroplasty. Arthroplasty is the medical procedure to treat joints for effective and pain free movement of the interlinked bones. The procedure is mostly carried out for large joints such as hip, shoulder, elbow, and knees. An ideal artificial joint is made to withstand joint biocompatibility, wear, kinetic impacts, and antibacterial properties. Various materials are used such as ceramic (silica, zirconia, hydroxyapatite, titanium nitride, and silicon nitride), alloys (titanium and Chromium cobalt based alloys), Oxinium, and polyethylene (cross-linked polyethylene and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene). However, the combination of materials such as metal-on-metal, metal-on-ceramic, ceramic-on-metal, metal-on-polyethylene, and ceramic-on-polyethylene are widely used in the market.Rising geriatric population and obese individuals is leading to the musculoskeletal disorders, hypertension, and other lifestyle diseases. Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent musculoskeletal disease affecting geriatric population, causing a rise in demand for artificial joints. Moreover, the artificial joints with integrated circuits and other R&D initiatives relevant to the artificial joints accessing brain neuron impulses are expected to further drive growth of the market. However, factors such as high cost of artificial joints and product recalls are expected to hamper growth of the market. According to the estimates of American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR), hip or knee surgeries are performed on around 7 million people in the U.S. Hip and Knee surgeries account for more than 85% of the total joint replacement surgeries in the U.S. Similarly, according to National Joint Registry, in 2016, around 101,651 hip, 108,713 knees, 6,967 shoulders, and 722 elbow replacement surgeries were performed in U.K.Get The Holistic SAMPLE With Research Methodology:Global Artificial Joints Market TaxonomyOn the basis of material type, the global artificial joints market is segmented into:CeramicsAlloysOxiniumOthersOn the basis of application, the global artificial joints market is segmented into:Artificial Joints of HipArtificial Joints of KneeArtificial Joints of ShoulderOthersOn the basis of product type, the global artificial joints market is segmented into:Cemented JointsNon-Cemented JointsHigh healthcare expenditure and continuous R&D initiatives in the development of artificial joints is expected to propel growth of the market in North AmericaNorth America is expected to hold a dominant position in the global artificial joints market over the forecast period. This is mainly due to presence of developed healthcare infrastructure, high healthcare expenditure, and continuous R&D initiatives in the development of artificial joints. Asia Pacific is projected to exhibit above average growth over the forecast period, owing to the presence of large pool of population suffering from joint related diseases coupled with presence of untapped market opportunity and developing healthcare infrastructure.The global artificial joints market is witnessing a launch of novel technologies which are expected to increase the efficiency of joint replacement surgeries. In 2017, the Corin Group introduced Optimized Positioning System (OPS) for hip replacement surgeries. OPS helps surgeons in determining the position and orientation of hip implant on the basis patients anatomy and movement. In 2017, Stryker Corporation introduced robotic arm assisted total knee arthroplasty, to be used with Mako system. This is the first robotic technology that could be used for total knee, hip, and partial knee replacements.Global artificial joints market is oligopolistic in nature with few players holding majority of the share. Various strategies are adopted by market players such as new product launches, acquisitions, and agreements, in order to retain their market position. In 2017, Exactech Inc., a US based medical device maker, announced that it agreed to be acquired by TPG Capital to go private. With the purchase, the private equity firm plans to compete with larger players in the orthopedic industry.Some of the major players operating in the global artificial joints market are Abbott Laboratories, Boston Scientific, Stryker Corporation, Intuitive Surgical Inc., Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc., Smith and Nephew Plc, Varian Medical Systems, Sonova Holdings AG., Aesculap AG, Arthrex, Globus Medical, and JRI orthopedics.Get Table Of Content:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: Global High Performance Coating Market Survey 2018 | AkzoNobel, PPG, Hempel A/S, Nippon Paint Holding Co. Ltd, Jotun A/S High Performance Coating Market https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1642955 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-high-performance-coating-market-professional-survey-report-2018-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global High Performance Coating Market Professional Survey Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies High Performance Coating in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringAkzoNobelPPGHempel A/SNippon Paint Holding Co. LtdJotun A/SValspar CorporationAxalta Coating Systems LtdMasco CorporationBASF SESherwin-WilliamsTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoEpoxy CoatingPolyurethane CoatingPolyester CoatingAcrylic Resin CoatingBy Application, the market can be split intoConstructionIndustrial UseOthersBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaTable of ContentsGlobal High Performance Coating Market Professional Survey Report 20181 Industry Overview of High Performance Coating1.1 Definition and Specifications of High Performance Coating1.1.1 Definition of High Performance Coating1.1.2 Specifications of High Performance Coating1.2 Classification of High Performance Coating1.2.1 Epoxy Coating1.2.2 Polyurethane Coating1.2.3 Polyester Coating1.2.4 Acrylic Resin Coating1.3 Applications of High Performance Coating1.3.1 Construction1.3.2 Industrial Use1.3.3 Others1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of High Performance Coating2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of High Performance Coating2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of High Performance Coating2.4 Industry Chain Structure of High Performance CoatingGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of High Performance Coating3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global High Performance Coating Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global High Performance Coating Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global High Performance Coating Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global High Performance Coating Major Manufacturers in 20174 Global High Performance Coating Overall Market Overview4.1 2013-2018E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2013-2018E Global High Performance Coating Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2017 High Performance Coating Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2013-2018E Global High Performance Coating Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2017 High Performance Coating Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2013-2018E Global High Performance Coating Sales Price4.4.2 2017 High Performance Coating Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment)5 High Performance Coating Regional Market Analysis5.1 North America High Performance Coating Market Analysis5.1.1 North America High Performance Coating Market Overview5.1.2 North America 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.1.3 North America 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Sales Price Analysis5.1.4 North America 2017 High Performance Coating Market Share Analysis5.2 China High Performance Coating Market Analysis5.2.1 China High Performance Coating Market Overview5.2.2 China 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.2.3 China 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Sales Price Analysis5.2.4 China 2017 High Performance Coating Market Share Analysis5.3 Europe High Performance Coating Market Analysis5.3.1 Europe High Performance Coating Market Overview5.3.2 Europe 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.3.3 Europe 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Sales Price Analysis5.3.4 Europe 2017 High Performance Coating Market Share Analysis5.4 Southeast Asia High Performance Coating Market Analysis5.4.1 Southeast Asia High Performance Coating Market Overview5.4.2 Southeast Asia 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.4.3 Southeast Asia 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Sales Price Analysis5.4.4 Southeast Asia 2017 High Performance Coating Market Share Analysis5.5 Japan High Performance Coating Market Analysis5.5.1 Japan High Performance Coating Market Overview5.5.2 Japan 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.5.3 Japan 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Sales Price Analysis5.5.4 Japan 2017 High Performance Coating Market Share Analysis5.6 India High Performance Coating Market Analysis5.6.1 India High Performance Coating Market Overview5.6.2 India 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.6.3 India 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Sales Price Analysis5.6.4 India 2017 High Performance Coating Market Share Analysis6 Global 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Segment Market Analysis (by Type)6.1 Global 2013-2018E High Performance Coating Sales by Type6.2 Different Types of High Performance Coating Product Interview Price Analysis6.3 Different Types of High Performance Coating Product Driving Factors Analysis6.3.1 Epoxy Coating of High Performance Coating Growth Driving Factor Analysis6.3.2 Polyurethane Coating of High Performance Coating Growth Driving Factor Analysis6.3.3 Polyester Coating of High Performance Coating Growth Driving Factor Analysis6.3.4 Acrylic Resin Coating of High Performance Coating Growth Driving Factor AnalysisContinue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.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 @ Antacid Medications Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Analysis, 20162024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/91 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/91 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/antacid-medications-market-91 Antacids are used to treat acid reflux that causes heartburn, indigestion, and stomach upset. They provide quick relief from heartburn, which is a major symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease and indigestion. Treatment with antacids is symptomatic and is usually recommended for minor symptoms. Antacids include magnesium carbonate, aluminum hydroxide, and magnesium trisilicate. Some people have reported allergic reactions to antacids. Antacids with magnesium may cause diarrhea, while those containing calcium and aluminum may cause constipation. Long-term use may cause kidney stones and may increase the risk of contracting osteoporosis. Popular antacid brands include Alka seltzer, Gelusil, Milk of Magnesia, Maalox, Gaviscon, Mylanta, Rolaids, and Tums.Request Sample Copy of the Business Report:Distribution channel of AntacidsAntacids are mainly sold through two distribution channels, namely chemists and non-chemist. Non-chemists comprise grocers, general stores, and food stores. Abbotts Digene and Pfizers Gelusil have a doctor heritage. Eno and Pudin Hara have an ayurvedic base and are available over the counter and are aiding in growth of the antacid medications market. Over-the-counter availability of antacids have enabled individuals to self-medicate their bouts of acid reflux, which can increase probability of suffering from stroke in the future. Antacids are available in different forms such as water dissolving tablet, powder form, and melt-in-mouth granules.Antacid medications market taxonomy Formulation, Drug and DemographicAntacid medications market is classified by various ways such as by formulation, drug and Demographic. On the basis of formulation, the antacid medications market is classified as tablets, capsules, suspensions, and drops. On the basis of demographic, antacid medications market is classified as products for pediatrics and products for adults. On the basis of drug, antacid medications market is classified as histamine-2 (H2) blockers, proton pump inhibitor, and pro-motility agents. Examples of H2 blocker include Nizatidine, Ranitidine, Cimetidine, and famotidine. Proton pump inhibitors used for acid reflux include Rabeprazole, Esomeprazole, Lansoprazole, Pantoprazole, and Omeprazole. Pro-motility agents stimulate the muscles of gastrointestinal tract and strengthen lower esophageal sphincter, and reduce reflux into esophagus. Metoclopramide is used to treat heartburn associated with GERD.Access Table of Content (TOC) Of the Report:Increasing incidence of acid reflux in North America fueling growth of the antacid medications marketIncreasing trend of self-medication consequently fuels demand for OTC digestive products for treatment of gastrointestinal distress. Antacids are used to neutralize acidity and thus, are expected to lead to rampant increase in demand for the same in North America due to rising incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in the region. According to a study conducted by American Gastroenterological Association and published in International Foundation for Functional in February 2016, approximately one-third of the population in U.S. suffers from GERD. According to a study published in National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in June 2014, the range of GERD prevalence was 18.1%27.8% in North America, 8.7%33.1% in the Middle East, 8.8%25.9% in Europe, 2.5%7.8% in East Asia, and 11.6% in Australia. Increasing prevalence of GERD creates a favorable environment growth of the antacid medications market.Increasing self-medication trend driving antacid medications market growthIncreasing inclination of the populace towards self-medication supplemented by growing availability of over-the-counter products in convenient to use sachets is a prevalent trend observed in the market. This trend is expected to continue over the forecast period, in turn fueling market growth.Global players operating in the antacid medications marketVarious companies manufacture antacids and other products for indigestion. Some of these are GlaxoSmithKline plc, Dabur India Limited, Abbott Laboratories, and Pfizer, Inc. Sun Pharma launched an ayurvedic digestive remedy called Pepmelt to compete with popular antacids such as Eno (GSK consumer healthcare), Digene (Abbott India), Pudin Hara (Dabur), and Gelusil (Pfizer). According to 2014 estimates of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), approximately 20% of the U.S. population suffered from gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.Browse Research Report At: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.1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154 Auto-injectors Market - Application, and Distribution Channel https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1035 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/1035 http://www.coherentchronicle.com Auto-injector is a needle based medical device which is used for the administration of a fixed dose of a particular drug. It can be used for self-administration by the patients or untrained person, as it is easy to handle. Furthermore, auto-injector is significantly used for various mild and severe allergic reactions. If allergic reaction are not cured, then it can even lead to life-threatening condition such as anaphylaxis. Allergy symptoms include trouble in breathing, wheezing, nausea, stomach pain, vomiting, dizziness, faint, swelling of face, mouth, lips, and tongue and skin reactions such as itching, hives, and flushing. Moreover, site of administration depends on the nature of the drug. For instance, insulin shots are always injected in the abdomen site to make them work fast. However, a long term allergy effect caused by food, dust, pollen, and many more substances can lead to life-threatening crisis, which is expected to fuel growth of the auto-injectors market.Get The Holistic SAMPLE With Research Methodology:In 2017, Kaleo Pharmaceutical announced supplemental new drug application (sNDA) named as AUVI-Q (0.1mg), which was granted a priority review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US FDA). AUVI-Q is the first known epinephrine auto-injector, which is designed to treat an allergic reactions especially in infants, weighing around 16.6 to 33 pounds. According to the study by Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology, childrens treated with anaphylaxis has limit of around 0.15 mg per auto-injector, which should have 12.7mm needle length and mainly used for patients with high-risk. The high dose of drug use in life-threatening condition, could strike the bone during the administration of epinephrine. Moreover, National Institute of Health (NIH) guidelines recommended AUVI-Q 0.1 mg for peanut allergy, as it contains no epinephrine auto-injector (EAI). Thus, AUVI-Q 0.1mg is mainly designed to minimize complications during treatment of pediatric patients. Furthermore, Kaleo pharmaceutical announced new program called Q Your School in 2017, this program will provide free AUVI-Q epinephrine auto injector devices to over 67,000 public elementary schools in U.S. AUVI-Q has new advance features such as voice-activated prompts that will give precise guidelines. Thus, it is expected to propel growth of the auto-injectors market.Moreover, Kmart Pharmacy is recognized as the national leader in customers satisfaction in U.S., ranked by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Due to the high cost of epinephrine auto-injector pens, in 2017, Kmart pharmacy decided to lower cost of generic version of Adrenaclick (epinephrine injection), as low with manufacturers coupons. This scheme will provide affordable access to the patients, with health insurance costing no money and on the purchase of two pack of auto-injector, it will cost up to US$ 199.99. Thereby, Kmart Pharmacy is trying to serve auto-injector in affordable price, which is expected to fuel growth of the auto-injectors market.In 2016, Mylan launched generic EpiPen at a wholesale acquisition cost of US$ 300 per epinephrine injection and USP two pack cost less than 50% as compared to EpiPen 2Pak auto-injector. It provides substantial savings which will access more patients to use generic EpiPen.In 2017, Bayer received FDA approval for a connected auto-injector named Betaconnect Electronic Autoinjector with myBetaApp. It offers many advantages such as Bluetooth connectivity, which allows the patient to automatically record all type of auto-injectors and can share with a nurse or physician. MyBetaApp keep a record of injection date and time, speed and depth and help to set a reminder by emails with timings and site of injection. Advantages over conventional auto-injector is expected to augment growth of the auto-injectors market in the near future.Maintaining good quality product is essential to avoid product recalls. For instance, In March 2017, U.S. FDA recalled product EpiPen and EpiPen Jr, which is manufactured by Meridian Medical Technologies and distributed by Mylan. This is mainly due to significant violations of current good manufacturing process (cGMP) in auto injector. FDA found the defective part in device, which results in failure to activate and marked as a major restraining factor.Increasing incidence of life-threatening allergic cases and increasing demand for injector device for instant treatment is expected to fuel growth of the marketGet Table Of Content:According to World Allergy Organization (WAO), in 2017, an estimated number of anaphylaxis cases were around 222 people in around 10.2 million population in Hungary, followed by Japan, estimated to around 300-350 patients per year in around 100 million people. In China, around 3000 people suffered from anaphylaxis in around 1,200 million population per year. According to the Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology, in 2015, around 15 million people suffered from food allergies in U.K. Moreover, according to the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), in 2015, around 17 million people suffered from food allergies, among which around 3.5 million were childrens.in U.K. Furthermore, according to World Health Organization (WHO), around 200 to 250 million people suffered from food allergies worldwide in 2015. This data represents an increasing number of incidence of allergy cases and prevalence. Thereby, it is expected to fuel growth of the auto-injectors market during the forecast period.Key players operating in the global auto-injectors market include Pfizer, Inc., Scandinavian Health Ltd., Novartis International AG, Unilife Corporation, Antares Pharma, Inc., Kaleo Pharmaceutical, Mylan N.V., Biogen Idec, Inc., Becton, Dickinson and Company, and Ypsomed Holdings AG.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: Global Concrete Repair Mortars (CRM) Market To Grow At A CAGR Of 7.70% During The Period 2017-2021 : BASF, Pidilite Industries, Sika, Saint-Gobain Weber Concrete Repair Mortars (CRM) Market https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1208672 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-concrete-repair-mortars-crm-market-2017-2021-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Concrete Repair Mortars (CRM) Market 2017-2021" to its huge collection of research reports.Concrete repair mortar is a material that is used to mend and protect concrete structures. It provides fortification against chemical anchoring, cracking, and reinforcement corrosion. It helps to maintain the moisture content in concrete and enables the refurbishment and restoration of structures by profiling them a second time. CRM also increases the resistance power of the concrete surfaces against chemical attacks. Some of the key features of CRM include improved bond strength, densities, and impermeability; tensile strength; thixotropy; and lowered shrinkage and cracking tendencies. Concrete repair mortar plays a vital role in various end-use industries such as road and infrastructure, building, utility, and marine structures.Technavios analysts forecast the global concrete repair mortars (CRM) market to grow at a CAGR of 7.70% during the period 2017-2021.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global concrete repair mortars (CRM)market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the retail selling price as the average selling price of the product.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:APACEuropeNorth AmericaROWGlobal Concrete Repair Mortars (CRM) Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendorsBASFPidilite IndustriesTHE EUCLID CHEMICAL COMPANYSikaSaint-Gobain WeberOther prominent vendorsAdhesives Technology Corporation (ATC)FlexcreteMapeiRemmersTarmacMarket driverIncreasing spending on repair and maintenanceFor a full, detailed list, view our reportGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Market challengeVolatile raw material pricesFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendDemand for green buildingsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?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 @ Antibacterial Drugs Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Analysis, 20162024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/177 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/177 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/antibacterial-drugs-market-177 Prevalence of bacterial infections and diseases is especially high in third world countries and significantly hampers quality of life across the globe. Further adding to the woes of the affected population is the increasing strains of bacteria that are resistant to conventional antibacterial drugs. The epidemic of antibacterial resistance has spurred interest among the global healthcare organizations and a few pharmaceutical companies and research institutes to develop next-generation antibacterial drugs to effectively thwart such maladies. Unregulated and over prescription of antibacterial drugs has led to increased drug resistance. Moreover, genetic mutations are considered to be another major reason for antibacterial drug resistance. Ironically, these factors have greatly constrained the growth of antibacterial drugs market for years.Request Sample of Antibacterial Drugs Market:Invention of Penicillin was a major breakthrough for treating bacterial infections. This stimulated research for more antibacterial drugs to treat different bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Enterococcus species. However, price control and decreasing financial incentives discouraged pharmaceutical companies to conduct further research in this field. This has limited treatment options for bacterial infections, while discovery of new strains of infectious bacteria is on rise. The timeline highlights the large void in introduction of new antibacterial drugs during period 19602000. Streptomycin, sulfonamide, macrolide, nalidixic acid, aminoglycoside, tetracycline, and linezolid are among the bacterial resistant drugs.Prospective drug candidates in research to improve the future outlook of the global antibacterial drugs marketThe global antibacterial drugs market potential is estimated based on the current antibacterial drug classes, including those mentioned above and those in clinical trials. As of March 2016, there are around 37 drugs in clinical development for treating serious bacterial infections. These drugs are intended to be primarily launched in the U.S.Moreover, FDA is encouraging development of new antibacterial drugs by laying out guidelines for the industry on the types of clinical studies to be conducted on antibacterial drug evaluation. This factor coupled with various incentives for research companies would create a positive outlook for the global antibacterial drugs resistance market in the near future.Also, in March 2017, the WHO released a list of pathogens, classified based on the criticality/urgency, for which newer antibacterial drugs are required. The different environmental forces working towards development of newer antibacterial drugs would be a major continuing factor for the global antibacterial drugs market growth.Access Table of Content (TOC) Of the Report:Alarming rise in drug resistant strains of bacteria driving awareness initiatives and programs by global healthcare organizations to back companies in the antibacterial drugs marketAccording to the Centers for Drug Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), every year at least 2 million people in the U.S. acquire bacterial infections that are resistant to drugs. Antibacterial resistance results in 23,000 deaths every year in the U.S. Moreover, according to the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) data of November 2016, antibiotic resistance is higher in southern and south-eastern Europe than in northern Europe.Multiple drug resistance, as in case of tuberculosis, has further aggravated the treatment for specific conditions. According to the World health Organization (WHO), India has the highest burden of TB worldwide. Furthermore, the MDR-TB cases resistant to second-line drugs was 16% among already treated cases reported in 2015. Globally, an estimated 480,000 people developed MDR-TB in 2015 (WHO). The Government of India has drafted a national Strategic Plan 2017-2025 for eradicating TB in India. This would further propel the antibacterial drugs market in India.The WHO has carved a Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance in 2015 to fight against growing antibacterial resistance. CDC is also working in close collaboration with healthcare providers, pharmaceuticals companies, farmers, agriculture and environmental specialists, and representatives from Federal agencies to monitor, and control the prescription and use of antibacterial drugs. Such initiatives are expected to hold drugs for the future generation until the new drug launch and thus drive the antibacterial drugs market.Some of the major players in the global antibacterial drugs market are Pfizer, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca plc, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Merck & Co., Inc., Evotec Pharmaceuticals, Allecra Therapeutics, Kyorin Pharmaceutical, and Allergan plc.Check The Trending Report of Antibacterial Drugs Market:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154 Bone Grafts A Major Step Towards Regenerative Medicines https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1050 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1050 http://www.coherentchronicle.com A bone graft is used to repair and rebuild diseased bone and transplant bone tissues of the hips, knees, spine, and various other bones in the body. Bone grafts are also used in order to repair the bone loss caused by fractures and cancers. The body accepts the newly implanted graft and provides a framework for growth of new living bone. Bone grafts used in a surgical procedures can be obtained either from the patients own body, a donor or can be entirely man-made from natural or synthetic materials. The two most common types of bone grafts used include an allograft, which refers to a bone obtained from a deceased donor or a cadaver that is sterilized and stored in the tissue or bone banks, whereas the other most frequently used bone graft includes autografts, which is obtained from the patients own body parts such as ribs, pelvis, wrist, and hips. Apart from autografts and allografts, bone graft substitutes made up of materials with osteoconductive and osteogenerative properties such as ceramics and polymers are also gaining popularity in the market due to the easy availability of these grafts and its nature to promote natural bone growth.Rise in trauma cases are responsible for accelerating growth of the global bone grafts and substitutes marketBone grafting is majorly performed in cases of sinus lift, ridge augmentation, fracture repair, nerve repositioning, and dental implantation. Bone damage is majorly attributed to rising incidence of trauma and accident cases across the globe. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 2.5 million people were hospitalized in the U.S. in 2014, due to accident injuries, indicating high risk of bone damage. This in turn, increases the demand for bone grafts and substitutes. The potential ability of bone grafting to repair the damage using natural mechanism can thus, be helpful and incorporated for bone healing procedures. Moreover, the National Trauma Institute in 2014, revealed that economic burden due to trauma cases increased to US$ 671 billion, including healthcare costs and lost productivity costs. Among geographical regions, North America contributes the maximum share in the bone grafts and substitutes market, owing to the increasing research and development activities in the field of bone grafting, which results in development of innovative bone grafts in the region. For instance, Artoss, Inc., a U.S.- based company introduced a complete line of bone grafts in 2017, which incorporates use of nanotechnology in the production of these grafts. Various other factors such as presence of key operating players and collaborative partnerships among the players are responsible for positioning North America as the largest market for bone grafts and substitutes. On the other hand, Asia Pacific is expected to gain significant traction, owing to the rise in medical tourism as well as development of novel bone graft substitutes by regional players, exhibiting equivalent efficiency at affordable prices.Get The Holistic SAMPLE With Research Methodology:The global bone grafts and substitutes market was valued at US$ 2,640.1 million in 2016 and is expected to witness a robust CAGR of 5.5% over the forecast period (2017 - 2025).Consistent development resulting in innovative bone grafting products expected to propel growth of the marketA large number of players are focused on the development of novel products for bone grafting. For instance, in May 2017, the National Chemical Laboratory in India, developed two novel bone graft substitutes that are aimed towards augmenting and regenerating the bones that are lost during accident or injuries. The products are now in clinical trial phase for performance testing and are expected to be available in prices lesser than the currently available imported varieties of the same, leading to emergence of local players in the Asia Pacific market. Moreover, companies are also entering into mergers and acquisitions to strengthen their position in the market. For instance, Kuros Biosciences acquired Xpand Biotechnology in 2016, wherein Kuros will use Xpands granular formulation for the production of novel bone graft substitutes. Major players operating the global bone graft and substitutes market include Ace Surgical Supply Co., Inc., NovaBone Product LLC, Medtronic Plc, Stryker Corporation, Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc., BioHorizons Implant Systems, Inc., Novadip Biosciences, Orthofix International N.V., Globus Medical, Inc., and Bone Therapeutics 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.Contact Us:Mr.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: Electromechanical Cylinders Market Trend to 2023 Bosch Rexroth AG, SKF, BJ-Gear, Parker, Tsubakimoto https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1029317/?utm_source=OPR-SL https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ http://reports.algosonline.com/ MarketStudyReport.com Add New Global Electromechanical Cylinders Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 to its research database. The report presents a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. The report spread across 100 pages with table and figures in it.This report studies the Electromechanical Cylinders market, the Electromechanical Cylinder is a contained precision rolled ball screw actuator designed to provide high thrust/speed capability with greater flexibility and control to applications traditionally using Hydraulic and/or Electromechanical Cylinders.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Electromechanical Cylinders in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Electromechanical Cylinders market is also known as to as clear bra, clear paint film, PPF and clear film. It is a thermoplastic urethane film and also utilizes polymeric calendered PVC film, adhesives and clay coated paper. It is majorly applied on exposed painted automotive exteriors such as side mirrors, hoods, door edges, door handle cavities, bumpers, rocker panel, and wheel flare. The film provides protection from stone chips, bug damage, automotive fluid stains, road tar stains, scratches, and punishing outdoor weathering.The industry is expected to remain innovation-led, with frequent acquisitions and strategic alliances adopted as the key strategies by the players to increase their industry presence. Market stays in mature period with a clear concentration. There hardly to have obvious technology breakthrough except deeper system function integration. Meanwhile, optimize product mix and further develop value-added capabilities to maximize margins. Manufacturers can take advantage of this situation by reinforcing their production units and supply-chains to avoid any delay in production turn-around-times (TAT) and supply-lead-times.Request a sample copy of Electromechanical Cylinders Market Research Report @An inherent sub-vertical of the Manufacturing and Construction industry space, Electromechanical Cylinders market stands to gain remarkable proceeds over 2018-2023, as per a recently compiled report. Covering the pivotal geographies of theNorth 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)this report minutely categorizes global Electromechanical Cylinders market in terms of the product types, applications, and regions. The categorization is also inclusive of the competitive spectrum, encompassing the chief manufacturers involved in primarily developing Electromechanical Cylinderss.Some of the key vendors partaking in Electromechanical Cylinders market share have been enlisted as Bosch Rexroth AG, SKF, BJ-Gear, Parker, Tsubakimoto, RACO, Moog Flo-Tork, Mul-T-Lock, Exlar, Linearmech, Venture, AIM.This report exclusively relegates separate sections that highlight the significant role manufacturers play in the expansion of this business space. A succinct analysis of the entire competitive hierarchy has been outlined in the initial chapters, while a comprehensive study of the competitive scenario among the top-notch players has been depicted in the subsequent sections, along with a detailed insight of the sales captured by the participants and the share each manufacturer accounted for in the overall market share between 2016 and 2018.Conventionally available in the form of an external component or a plug-in card, these modules find applications across theFood industry (Food & Beverage)Medical industryAutomotive IndustryOtherThe market share accrued by these verticals in Electromechanical Cylinders industry, the growth rate of each segment over 2018-2023, and their performance parameters classified by country has been extensively outlined in this report.Global Electromechanical Cylinders market report classifies this industry extensively in terms of the product or type segment such asMarketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:More Report at:Connect with us:Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter Global PoE Injectors Market Is Expected To Reach US$ 950 Mn By 2025, Expanding At A CAGR Of 9.5% From 2018 To 2026 PoE Injectors Market https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1336320 https://www.researchmoz.us/poe-injector-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2022-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=1336320 https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "PoE Injectors Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2018 - 2026" to its huge collection of research reports.This report on the global PoE injectors market provides analysis for the period 20162026, wherein 2017 is the base year and the period from 2018 to 2026 is the forecast period. Data for 2016 has been included as historical information. The report covers market dynamics including drivers, restraints, opportunities, and trends expected to influence the PoE injectors market growth during the said period. The study provides a comprehensive analysis on market growth throughout the above forecast period in terms of value estimates (US$ Mn) and volume shipments (Mn units), across different geographies.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global PoE Injectors Market: Trends and OpportunitiesPoE devices are primarily used at corporate offices for flexible, easier, and faster mode of communication. There is need for less wired and easily accessible PoE switches/devices in residential areas as well. Currently, there is increasing trend of usage of PoE device in residential apartments.PoE devices are rapidly growing and are being installed in residential apartments. The advantages of PoE devices such as simple cabling, reduced installation cost, safety and convenience, and convenient maintenance makes the system reliable and trustworthy. These advantages and features make the PoE market attractive, and usage of the device is expected to grow at a good rate during the forecast period.Global PoE Injectors Market: Key SegmentsThe PoE injectors market has been segmented on the basis of type, application, installation, end-use, and geography. Based on type, the market has been segmented into single port midspan and multi-port midspan. By application, the PoE injectors industry is classified into connectivity, security & access control, lighting control, infotainment, and others. By installation, the industry is segmented into indoor and outdoor. Corporate offices, healthcare facilities, retail, communication, other industrial sectors, and residential sectors are the end-use industries.Geographically, the report classifies the industry into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America; the regions are analyzed in terms of value and volume shipments in the PoE injectors industry. Furthermore, region- wise prominent countries covered in the report include the following the U.S, Canada, Mexico, Germany, U.K., France, Italy, China, India, Japan, GCC, South Africa, and Brazil.Global PoE Injectors Market: Scope of the StudyThe report also includes key developments in the PoE injectors market. Porter Five Force analysis which identifies bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat from new entrants, threat from substitutes, and competition scenario in the PoE injectors industry is also included in the report. Value chain analysis which shows work flow in the PoE injectors market and identifies raw material services providers and distribution channels of this industry is also covered in the report. Segment trends and regional trends have also been included in the report. It also covers segment- wise comparison matrix, incremental opportunity analysis, and market positioning of key players for all regions covered in the scope of the study.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Incremental opportunity analysis identifies and compares attractiveness of the segments based on CAGR and market share index across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and South America. The same has also been provided for each segment i.e. by type, by application, by installation, and by end-use.Global PoE Injectors Market: Competitive LandscapeThe report also includes competition landscape which includes competition matrix, market share analysis of major players in the global PoE injectors industry based on their 2017 revenues, and profiles of major players. Competition matrix benchmarks leading players on the basis of their capabilities and potential to grow. Factors including market position, offerings and R&D focus are attributed to companys capabilities. Factors including top line growth, market share, segment growth, infrastructure facilities, and future outlook are attributed to the companys potential to grow. This section also identifies and includes various recent developments of the leading players of the PoE injector industry.Company profiling includes company overview, major business strategies adopted, and key developments. The companies profiled in the global PoE injector market include Advantech Co., Ltd., Phihong Technology Co., Ltd., Linear Technology Corp., American Power Conversion Corporation (A.P.C.) B.V., Cisco Systems, Inc., Microsemi Corp., L-com, Inc., Sixnet Holding LLC, ICP DAS Co, Ltd. and TP-Link Technologies Co., Ltd.The global PoE injectors market is segmented as below:Global PoE Injectors market, by Type- Single-Port Midspan- Multi-Port MidspanGlobal PoE Injectors market, by Application- Connectivity- Security & Access Control- Lighting Control- Infotainment- OthersGlobal PoE Injectors market, by End-Use- Corporate Offices- Healthcare Facilities- Retail- Communication- Other Industrial Sectors- ResidentialGlobal PoE Injectors market, by Installation- Indoor- OutdoorMake an Enquiry of this report @Global Poe Injectors market, by GeographyNorth America- S.- Canada- Mexico- Rest of North AmericaEurope- UK- Germany- France- Italy- Rest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)- China- India- Japan- Rest of Asia PacificMiddle East & Africa (MEA)- GCC- South Africa- Rest of MEASouth America- Brazil- Rest of South AmericaAbout 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 3D Map System Market For Automotive Is Projected To Expand At A CAGR Of About 18% During The Forecast Period 2017 - 2025 3D Map System Market For Automotive https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1714543 https://www.researchmoz.us/3d-map-system-market-for-automotive-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=1714543 https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "3D Map System Market For Automotive - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, And Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.This report analyzes and forecasts the market for 3D map system at the global and regional level. The market has been forecast based on revenue (US$ Mn) and volume (Mn Units) from 2017 to 2025. The study includes drivers and restraints of the global 3D map system market for automotive. It also covers the impact of these drivers and restraints on demand for 3D map system during the forecast period. The report also highlights opportunities in the 3D map system market for automotive at the global and regional level.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report comprises a detailed value chain analysis, which provides a comprehensive view of the global 3D map system market for automotive. The Porters Five Forces model for the 3D map system market for automotive has also been included to help understand the competitive landscape in the market. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, where in product is benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and general attractiveness.The study provides a decisive view of the global 3D map system market for automotive by segmenting it in terms of navigation, system, sales channel, vehicle, and region. These segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends. Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for 3D map system in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The report also covers demand for individual segments in all regions.3D Map System Market: Competition landscapeThe study includes profiles of major companies operating in the global 3D map system market for automotive. Market players have been profiled in terms of attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, and recent developments. The market for 3D map system is primarily driven by its accuracy and precision.The report provides the estimated market size of 3D map system for 2016 and forecast for the next nine years. The global market size of 3D map system has been provided in terms of revenue and volume. Market numbers have been estimated based on navigation, system, sales channel, vehicle, and regional segments of 3D map system market for automotive. Market size and forecast for each navigation, system, sales channel, and vehicle have been provided in terms of global and regional/country markets.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @In order to compile the research report, we conducted in-depth interviews and discussions with a number of key industry participants and opinion leaders. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. We reviewed key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents for competitive analysis and market understanding. Secondary research also includes a search of recent trade, technical writing, internet sources, and statistical data from government websites, trade associations, and agencies. This has proven to be the most reliable, effective, and successful approach for obtaining precise market data, capturing industry participants insights, and recognizing business opportunities.Secondary research sources that are typically referred to include, but are not limited to company websites, annual reports, financial reports, broker reports, investor presentations, and SEC filings, internal and external proprietary databases, and relevant patent and regulatory databases, national government documents, statistical databases, and market reports, news articles, press releases, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market, National government documents, statistical databases, and market reports, American Automobile Association, European Automobile Manufacturers Association, Automotive Research Association of India, Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobile (OICA), Association for Unmanned Vehicle System International (AUVSI), International Map Industry Association (IMIA), Navigation Data Standard Association (NDS), Factiva, etc.Primary research involves e-mail interactions, telephonic interviews, and face-to-face interviews for each market, category, segment, and sub-segment across geographies. We conduct primary interviews on an ongoing basis with industry participants and commentators in order to validate the data and analysis. Primary interviews provide firsthand information on market size, market trends, growth trends, competitive landscape, and outlook, etc. These help validate and strengthen secondary research findings. These also help develop the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.The 3D map system market for automotive has been segmented as follows:Global 3D Map System Market for Automotive: By Navigation- In-dash Navigation- Handheld NavigationGlobal 3D Map System Market for Automotive: By System- Hardware- Software & ServicesGlobal 3D Map System Market for Automotive: By Sales Channel- OEM- AftermarketGlobal 3D Map System Market for Automotive: By Vehicle- Passenger Vehicle- Commercial VehicleMake an Enquiry of this report @Global 3D Map System Market for Automotive: By Region/Country/Sub-regionNorth America- US- CanadaEurope- Germany- UK- France- Italy- Spain- Rest of EuropeAsia Pacific- China- India- Japan- ASEAN- Rest of Asia PacificMiddle East & Africa- GCC- South Africa- Rest of Middle East & AfricaLatin America- Brazil- Mexico- Rest of Latin AmericaAbout 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 @ Blow Guns Market Trend to 2023 Festo, Smc, Metabo, Silvent, Exair, Hazet, Parker https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1029306/?utm_source=OPR-SL https://thefinancialconsulting.com/author/chetan/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-flexible-printed-circuit-board-market-professional-survey-report-2018/?utm_source=RR-SL https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ http://reports.algosonline.com/ MarketStudyReport.com Adds a New Blow Guns Market research report for the period of 2018 2023 to its research database covering information and by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application forecast to 2023 spreading across 108 Pages with table and figures in it."An air blow gun consists of a nozzle, or tip, installed on a compressed air gun or line. On an air gun, the nozzle serves as a quick and efficient tool for light cleaning, drying and blowing off of parts or work areas. On an airline, it can be used to blow out parts or waste, or to dry out parts in an automated manufacturing process."Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Blow Guns in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Blow Guns market is also known as to as clear bra, clear paint film, PPF and clear film. It is a thermoplastic urethane film and also utilizes polymeric calendered PVC film, adhesives and clay coated paper. It is majorly applied on exposed painted automotive exteriors such as side mirrors, hoods, door edges, door handle cavities, bumpers, rocker panel, and wheel flare. The film provides protection from stone chips, bug damage, automotive fluid stains, road tar stains, scratches, and punishing outdoor weathering.The industry is expected to remain innovation-led, with frequent acquisitions and strategic alliances adopted as the key strategies by the players to increase their industry presence. Market stays in mature period with a clear concentration. There hardly to have obvious technology breakthrough except deeper system function integration. Meanwhile, optimize product mix and further develop value-added capabilities to maximize margins. Manufacturers can take advantage of this situation by reinforcing their production units and supply-chains to avoid any delay in production turn-around-times (TAT) and supply-lead-times.Request a sample copy of Blow Guns Market Research Report @An inherent sub-vertical of the Manufacturing and Construction industry space, Blow Guns market stands to gain remarkable proceeds over 2018-2023, as per a recently compiled report. Covering the pivotal geographies of theNorth 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)this report minutely categorizes global Blow Guns market in terms of the product types, applications, and regions. The categorization is also inclusive of the competitive spectrum, encompassing the chief manufacturers involved in primarily developing Blow Gunss.Some of the key vendors partaking in Blow Guns market share have been enlisted as Festo, Smc, Metabo, Silvent, Exair, Hazet, Parker, Bahco, Guardair, Jwl, Kitz Micro Filter, Cejn, Coilhose, Sata, Prevost, Aventics, Ningbo Pneumission, Airtx.This report exclusively relegates separate sections that highlight the significant role manufacturers play in the expansion of this business space. A succinct analysis of the entire competitive hierarchy has been outlined in the initial chapters, while a comprehensive study of the competitive scenario among the top-notch players has been depicted in the subsequent sections, along with a detailed insight of the sales captured by the participants and the share each manufacturer accounted for in the overall market share between 2016 and 2018.Conventionally available in the form of an external component or a plug-in card, these modules find applications across theIndustrial MachineryElectronicsAutomotiveOthersThe market share accrued by these verticals in Blow Guns industry, the growth rate of each segment over 2018-2023, and their performance parameters classified by country has been extensively outlined in this report.Global Blow Guns market report classifies this industry extensively in terms of the product or type segment such asStraight NozzleAngled NozzleOthersAnalyzed over a far-reaching geographical space, this Blow Guns market report is rather exhaustive, and very meticulously forecasts the sales garnered by this business sphere in terms of volume and revenue, across numerous countries, in addition to vividly portraying the competitive footing between the manufacturers and the individual contribution of every segment toward the overall Blow Guns market valuation.More Report At:There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Blow Guns market.Chapter 1, to describe Blow Guns Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Blow Guns, with sales, revenue, and price of Blow Guns, in 2016 and 2018;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2018;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Blow Guns, for each region, from 2012 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2018;Chapter 12, Blow Guns market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Blow Guns sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceRelated Reports: -Global Flexible Printed Circuit Board Market Professional Survey Report 2018This report studies Flexible Printed Circuit Board 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 foreca...Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:More Report at:Connect with us:Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter Batten Disease Treatment Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/831 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/831 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/batten-disease-treatment-market-831 Batten disease is a rare, inherent, and fatal autosomal recessive neural disorder that begins in the childhood but may take a few years to show symptoms. Batten disease is one of the approximately 50 diseases that fall under the category of lysosome shortage disorders. The batten disease also referred as Neuronal ceroid Lipofuscinoses (NCLs), which is a class of life-limiting genetic neurogenerative diseases that are caused due to abnormality of genes resulting in their inability to synthesize required protein. This disease is characterized by malfunctioning of body, which usually appears around the age of 2-10 with symptoms, such as seizures or gradual onset of vision problem. The early signs may show subtle changes in behavior and learning, however over time, the child suffers from mental impairment, progressive loss of sight, speech and motor reactions, worsening seizures, eventually leading to blindness dementia, and finally death. These disease is diagnosed with the help of certain tests, such as blood or urine tests, skin or tissue dampening, brain scans, and imaging techniques, which includes, computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The batten disease is characterized into four types as follows:Infantile NCL: more than 2 yearsLate Infantile NCL: 2-4 years (Life span of child varies between 8-12 years)Juvenile NCL: 5-8 years (Life span varies between teens to early 20s)Adult NCL: more than 40 years (Variable lifespan)Request for a sample copy @European countries facing rising prevalence and incidence of batten diseaseAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Batten disease is observed in 2-4 per 100,000 live births in the United States on an average. The Batten disease although is rare but has high incidence rates in Finland, Sweden, and other parts of the Europe as compared to rest of the world. According to the Batten Disease Support and Research Association, the batten disease has often been encountered in more than one children of the same family. The Daily News and Analysis article published in June 2016 suggests that, over 20 million children in India suffer from rare diseases, having expensive treatments. This creates opportunities for the sustaining as well as upcoming market players by understanding the potential held by the global batten disease treatment market.The global batten disease treatment market is segmented on the basis of therapy and geographical regions.On the basis of therapy, the global batten disease treatment market is segmented asOccupational Therapies,Physical Therapies,.As of now, there are no established drugs and treatments to cure and prevent the disease. However, the severity of disease can be reduced and controlled by certain therapies. Few clinical trials and studies are being carried out in the North America, Western Europe, and Asia Pacific to identify therapies that would help reducing the disease outcome.Access Table of Content (TOC) Of the Report:Attempts by collaborations of research bodies for introduction to reliable treatment options for batten disease giving hopes to commonersThe batten disease treatment market is not dense on the global level, however the developed economies of North America and Europe are expected to contribute to the growth of the market. This attributes to the increasing incidence of batten disease and high prevalence rates in American as well as European countries. For instance, a joint study between Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Childrens Hospital, and Kings College London have discovered a treatment that has helped to improve the neurological symptoms in the mouse model of juvenile batten disease. This research held a novel approach of counteracting the accumulation of the cellular waste in Batten disease by acting on TFEB, which is a master transcription factor that stimulates the production of lysosomes by the cell body and directs cellular apoptosis. This has brought a ray of hope to patients and families affected by battens disease.Improper treatment facility for batten disease responsible to attract the attention of various players to enter the untapped potential batten disease treatment marketThe rising incidence of the batten disease without effective treatment option for the prevention and cure of the disease is the primary driver for batten disease market, due to which several companies are vying to enter into the untapped global batten disease treatment market. However, the lack of awareness among manufacturers and patient population as well as unavailability of treatment for this disease are greatly hampering the growth of the global batten disease treatment market.Although, the global batten disease treatment market is very scarce, few key players offering cell regeneration therapies and few other forms of medication include Seneb BioSciences, Inc., BioMarin Pharmaceuticals and ReGenX Biosciences LLC. The U.S. FDA has recently approved BioMarins first ever drug to treat batten disease known as Brineura in 2017.Complete Report Details @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.1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154 Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Global Consumption and Analysis Market Report 2018 Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Industry https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3135463-global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3135463-global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Global Consumption and Analysis Market Report 2018.Description:Fat filed milk powders (FFMP) are produced by blending palm or coconut vegetable fat with high quality skimmed milk powder. FFMP is used to replace full cream milk powder (FCMP) while being more economical.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comMarket Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversAlpen Food Group(NL)NZMP(NZ)Dana Dairy(CH)Vreugdenhil(NL)Armor Proteines(FR)BONILAIT PROTEINES(FR)Arla Foods(DK)Polindus(PL)Holland Dairy Foods(NL)Hoogwegt International(NL)Belgomilk(BE)Revala Ltd(EE)TATURA(AU)Olam(MY)Foodexo(PL)Lactalis Group(FR)United Dairy(CN)Dairygold(IE)Dale Farm Ltd(UK)Lakelands(IE)FrieslandCampina Kievit(NL)Milky Holland(NL)Vitusa(US)Nutrimilk Limited(PL)Kaskat Dairy(PL)Market 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 etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, covers26% Fat(min)28% Fat(min)OthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoIce-creamBakery & ConfectioneryYoghurtRecombined Sweetened Condensed MilkChocolateConsumer PowersOtherThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) market.Chapter 1, to describe Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP), with sales, revenue, and price of Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP), in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP), for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Continue..Table Of Contents Major Key Points1 Market Overview1.1 Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 26% Fat(min)1.2.2 28% Fat(min)1.2.3 Others1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Ice-cream1.3.2 Bakery & Confectionery1.3.3 Yoghurt1.3.4 Recombined Sweetened Condensed Milk1.3.5 Chocolate1.3.6 Consumer Powers1.3.1 Other1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 United States Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Alpen Food Group(NL)2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Alpen Food Group(NL) Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 NZMP(NZ)2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 NZMP(NZ) Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Dana Dairy(CH)2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Dana Dairy(CH) Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Vreugdenhil(NL)2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Vreugdenhil(NL) Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 Armor Proteines(FR)2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Armor Proteines(FR) Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 BONILAIT PROTEINES(FR)2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 BONILAIT PROTEINES(FR) Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 Arla Foods(DK)2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Arla Foods(DK) Fat Filled Milk Powders (FFMP) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)Continue..Report Details @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028. Botulinum Toxin Market - Global Industry Insights, and Forecast till 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1518 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/talk-to-analyst/1518 http://www.coherentchronicle.com/ Botulinum toxin is a product produced by naturally occurring Clostridium botulinum bacteria. This bacteria is found in soil and marine sediments and can produce harmful neurotoxin botulinum toxin. Botulinum toxin is a blocking agent which inhibits the release of certain neurotransmitters, specifically acetylcholine, from the endings of the motor nerves. There are about eight types of botulinum toxin named from type A to H. Botulinum toxin type A and botulinum toxin type B are majorly used in cosmetic procedures for the treatment of various facial conditions, its commercially marketed under the brand name Botox. Botulinum toxin type A and B are also used in medical applications for treatment of various diseases such as dystonia, chronic migraines, and spasticity.Request a sample copy of this report:Botulinum Toxin Market: DriversFrequent approvals of novel botulinum toxin products for different indications are expected to drive growth of the Botulinum toxin market in near future. For instance, in 2016, Ipsen S.A. received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its Dysport (abobotulinumtoxinA) injection indicated for the treatment of pediatric lower limb (PLL) spasticity in children of age two years and older. In 2017, company received the FDA approval for same product to use in adults. In 2017, Allergan plc. received FDA approval for BOTOX Cosmetic (OnabotulinumtoxinA) for new indication in forehead lines, and previously the product has been approved for the treatment of , crow's feet lines, and glabellar lines. With this approval company has expanded the indication of its product in the temporary improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe forehead lines associated with frontalis muscle activity in adults. In 2014, Allergan Inc. received approval for its BOTOX (Botulinum toxin type A) from Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in U.K. BOTOX was approved in the U.K. for treatment of ankle disability due to lower limb spasticity associated with stroke in adults. In 2016, Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd received approval for its botulinum toxin Nabota in Mexico and India. Nabota was introduced by Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd in South Korea in 2014. In 2015, Merz North America, the U.S. subsidiary of the global Merz Pharma Group, received U.S. FDA approval for Xeomin (incobotulinumtoxinA) indicated for the treatment of upper limb spasticity (ULS) in adult patients. Furthermore, increasing trend of botulinum toxin in cosmetic procedures is also expected to increase the growth of botulinum toxin market in near future. For instance, according to a report published by American Society of Plastic Surgeons in 2016, around 7,056,255 cosmetic minimally-invasive procedures were performed with Botulinum toxin Type A (Botox, Dysport, and Xeomin), there was an increase of 4% in procedures as compared to 2015. Increasing number of procedures with botulinum toxin along with increasing approved indication is expected to drive growth of the global botulinum toxin market.Botulinum Toxin Market: Regional analysisNorth America is expected to hold a dominant position in the global botulinum toxin market, owing to increasing trend of cosmetic procedures in the region. For instance, according to a report published by American Society of Plastic Surgeons in 2016, around US$ 16.4 billion was spent on cosmetic procedures in the U.S. and in 2017, around 7.2 million botulinum injections were used in the U.S. for cosmetic procedures. Increasing number of cosmetic procedures in the key region of North America is expected to drive the growth of the botulinum toxin market in near future. Furthermore, Asia Pacific is expected to show rapid growth in botulinum toxin market, owing to increasing R&D and approval of novel products in China. For instance, in January 2018, Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a Korean company, received approval from the Chinese authorities to conduct clinical trials for botulinum toxin Nabota in China.Have a doubt? Speak to our analyst now!Botulinum Toxin Market: Key PlayersKey players operating in global botulinum toxin market includes Ipsen group, Allergan Plc., Medytox Inc., Merz GmbH and Co. KGaA, US Worldmed, LLC, Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products Co. Ltd., Revance Therapeutics, Inc., and Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Major players in market are involved in strategic collaborations to develop new products. For instance, in February 2018, Mylan N.V. and Revance Therapeutics, Inc. underwent strategic collaboration and license agreement for the development and commercialization of a proposed biosimilar to BOTOX (onabotulinumtoxinA). Furthermore, key players are focusing on receiving approvals of its product in key market to expand their presence in global market. For instance, in February 2018, Medytox Inc. filed a new drug application with the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) to its botulinum neurotoxin product Meditoxin in China.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: Over-the-Counter Drugs Market - Global Competitive Analysis https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1443 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/talk-to-analyst/1443 http://www.coherentchronicle.com/ Over-the-counter drugs, also known as non-prescription drugs, are available in pharmacies and other retail stores and can be used without being prescribed by a doctor. These drugs are critical components of the pharmaceutical industry as they are highly potent and have the capability to show effective results for simple diseases. The number of competitors diving into the large pool of pharmaceutical industry are increasing day-by-day making the industry a promising venture for new comers to capitalize upon. This review will help to attain a competitive analysis of developments such as strategic alliances, mergers and acquisition, joint ventures as well research and innovation leading to product development with respect to over-the-counter drugs market. According to Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the total U.S. sales for OTC medicines accounted for US$ 34,327 million in 2017.Request a sample copy of this report:Competitive Analysis - The top 10 players operating in the global over-the-counter drugs market include:Pfizer, Inc.,Novartis AGGlaxoSmithKline PlcBayer AGSanofiGlenmark PharmaceuticalsMerck KGaATeva PharmaceuticalsJohnson & Johnson Services, Inc.Boehringer IngelheimPfizer, Inc. - Pfizer, Inc. is a global leading manufacturer and distributor of over-the-counter drugs, managing its commercial operation through two major business segments namely, Pfizer Innovative Health and Pfizer Essential Health. OTC drugs contribute to a major part of Innovative Health Segment, comprising annual revenue of US$ 29,197 million in 2016. The company OTC drugs portfolio includes over 40 products, whereas the leading OTC brands that generated significant revenue for Pfizer included Advil (Ibuprofen capsules for migraine) and Centrum (Multivitamin Tablets), in 2016. Moreover, the company collaborated for the license of Nexium OTC rights under the exclusive agreement with AstraZeneca Plc made in 2012, Pfizer paid US$ 93 Mn to AstraZeneca in April, 2016 as accrued milestone payments as per the norms of the agreement. Pfizer, Inc. adopts strategies such as entering into partnerships and collaborations with companies that adopts incorporation of novel, proprietary drug-delivery technologies as well as unique ingredients of the OTC drugs to expand their OTC product portfolio to retain their significance in global over-the-counter drugs market.Novartis AG - Novartis AG, is widely known for its research, development, manufacturing, and marketing of healthcare products across the globe. Novartis operates its drugs business through two major operating channels Innovative Medicine and Drugs manufactured by Sandoz which is a subsidiary of Novartis, has contributed to positioning the company as one of the top players in global Over-the-counter drugs market. In March 2015, Novartis OTC and GlaxoSmithKline Plc created a combined consumer healthcare business named GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings Ltd, as a completely new entity, for which Novartis has an interest of 36.5% in the investment and profit shares and the resulting pre-tax income from this alliance was valued at US$ 5.9 billion in 2016. The company also markets and manufactures its products through Sandoz. Sandoz specializes in OTC medications for allergy and pain relief and is available in pharmacies across the world. The channel focuses on business expansion and distribution in the Central & Eastern Europe region, including Germany, as the company believes European region to be an integral part of the business and a potential market for growth of companys business.GlaxoSmithKline Plc - GlaxoSmithKline, one of the renowned giant in pharmaceutical industry and over-the-counter drugs market is a global science-led company headquartered in Europe, which develops and manufactures pharmaceutical products, including vaccines, health-related consumer products, and over-the-counter medicines. The consumer healthcare business of GlaxoSmithKline is operated through its subsidiary named GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings Ltd. the subsidiary is split into two equal businesses, namely Over-the-counter Medicines and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), across four major categories of Oral Health, Wellness, Skin Health, and Nutrition. The companys consumer healthcare business segment recorded annual sales of US$ 5,023 million in 2016, of which Europe contributed to the major share of around 30.4%, with U.S. accounting for 24.4% of the share. The company adopts strategy of expanding the business in a growing marketplace thereby developing products that responds to the challenges in Over-the-counter drugs sector that includes educating the users to prevent adverse side effects of these drugs when consumed inappropriately and others. The company also focusses on providing products at a sustainable price to help increase customer adoption and allow access to several patients around the world.Bayer AG - Bayer AG is a global life science company that has a history of over 150 years in areas of healthcare and agriculture. The company operates its business through four major segments namely, Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, Crop Science, and Animal Health. Over-the-counter drugs contribute to a major revenue share of the consumer health segment, which accounted for US$ 7,179.19 million in 2016. The company caters to the users of over-the-counter drugs market through Consumer Health segment that includes major non-prescription drugs and products in the dermatology, gastrointestinal, analgesic, cold, allergy, and sinus, and sun protection categories. The consumer health segment is responding to the challenge in public health care system with mainly non-prescription (OTC) brand products by providing the consumers with their corresponding self-care solutions that are easily available at the pharmacies and online drug stores. The core brands leading to organic growth of the companys segment include Aspirin, Aleve, Canesten, Dr. Scholls, Coppertone, Elevit, Bepanthen, Alka-Seltzer, and Berocca. The company is investing in geographical expansion to strengthen its presence in the U.S. Brazil, Russia, and China through marketing innovations and novel digital offerings. For instance, the company introduced a number of new product line extensions in the U.S. of its existing brands, including ClariSpray in the Claritin portfolio added in April, 2016. The extension of Alka-Seltzer product family with the addition of Alka-Seltzer Plus as an OTC medicine for treatment of cold. Successful strategic implementation and new product development by the company is expected to significantly affect the growth of global over-the-counter drugs market.Have a doubt? Speak to our analyst now!Sanofi - Sanofi is a global life science company based in France (Europe) that is aimed towards improving healthcare access to people. The company operates its business through two major segments namely, Pharmaceuticals and Vaccines. The company operates its over-the-counter business as a part of a major business segment named Consumer Healthcare (CHC). Sanofi focuses on partnerships and acquisitions to expand its consumer healthcare business. For instance, Sanofi completed acquisition of Boehringer Ingelheims CHC business in 2017, expand the companys global footprint and product portfolio. In February 2017, Sanofi sold 5 of its over-the-counter drugs to Ipsen SA on closure of its asset swap with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH. Ipsen SA was entitled for a payment of US$ 98.70 million to purchase the deal from Sanofi. The total revenue of the companys consumer healthcare segment was valued at US$ 4,141.31 million in 2016. The company reported of good performance and growing sales in developing regions such as New Zealand and Australia. The major brands in the companys OTC segment include Allegra, Doliprane, Essentiale, Nasacort, Maalox, Dorflex, and LactacydThe global over-the-counter drugs market is highly competitive, owing to increasing adoption of personal healthcare and self-medication due to rising awareness among the people regarding health precautions and basic drug knowledge. Under such conditions, the competitors experience performance pressure in terms of pricing. Market players are thus focusing on development of OTC drugs in cost-effective way that will help to cater price-sensitive customers, in turn, significantly maintain and subsequently increase profit margins, especially in emerging economies.Following is the Impact Analysis of the strategies employed by the competitors and its impact on the revenues and sales in the global over-the-counter drugs market.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: Bone Growth Stimulator Market Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Analysis, 20162024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/225 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/225 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/bone-growth-stimulator-market-225 Bone growth stimulators or BGSs are supplemental devices that are worn after a lumbar (low back) or cervical (neck) spine surgery. Bone growth stimulators can be used to assist spinal bone fuse after a failed fusion procedure. Bone growth stimulation for the cervical and lumbar spine has significant benefits after a fusion procedure. Various doctors recommend BGS for post-operative lumbar and cervical cases. A bone growth stimulator sends low intensity electrical signals to the site of fusion. These electrical signals trigger natural bone healing process of the body, which are sometimes impaired in surgery patients. The global demographic scenario is quite diverse. For instance, India is a country with more than half of the population in the youth bracket, whereas China and the U.S. have the maximum geriatric population. Bone growth stimulators have observed an implausible demand in the past few years. The early development of BGS began in the U.S. and the innovation in technology has made developed and sophisticated products to enter the market.Request Sample Copy of the Report:According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, osteoporosis causes around 8.9 million fractures per year that is around one osteoporotic fracture every 3 seconds. Moreover, osteoporosis is expected to affect around 200 million women worldwide. Around 80%, 75%, 70% and 58% of forearm, humerus, hip and spine fractures, respectively, affects women. A fracture, especially in the spinal cord requires bone surgery. Out of these surgeries, a significant number of patients will need bone growth stimulators due to steady recovery. This in turn will drive the growth of the overall bone growth stimulator market during the forecast period.Bone growth stimulator market TaxonomyOn the basis of type of product, the global bone growth stimulator market is classified into:Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) Devices,Capacitive Coupling (CC) Devices,Combined Magnetic Field (CMF) Devices,Ultrasound Bone Growth Stimulators Surgical Devices,Invasive Electrical Bone Growth Stimulators,.On the basis of type of application, the global market is classified into:Trauma injury and Fractures,Spinal Fusion,Osteogenesis,.Some of the factors such as rise in per capita healthcare spending, increase in personal income, and improvement in healthcare sector will boost growth of the market in bone growth stimulator, globally. Nonetheless, a variety of factors such as uncertainty about efficacy, and availability of alternative therapies may hinder the growth of the overall market.Request Customization:Increasing prevalence of vertebral fractures, especially in the geriatric population will drive the overall bone growth stimulator marketAccording to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, the number of vertebral fractures that are not recognized is as high 45% in North America, and 46% in Latin America. After a surgery for a vertebral fracture, there is a high risk of requiring hospitalization for another fracture in the following years. To decrease the morbidity rates in patients with a history of bone surgeries, bone growth stimulators are used extensively. As the number of cases is increasing at an alarming rate, so is the need for bone growth stimulators. This will encourage the growth of the global bone growth stimulator market in the forecast period.As per the International Osteoporosis Foundation, white women aged 50 years are at 16% lifetime risk of occurrence of a vertebral fracture, whereas the percentage is 5 for white men. The staggering percentage of the population with risk of vertebral fracture above the age of 50 will be responsible for increased number of bone surgeries, thereby augmenting the growth of bone growth stimulators. By geography, North America is likely to dominate the bone growth stimulator industry owing to various factors such as consumer awareness about treatments related bone fracture and injury and high healthcare expenditure. Western Europe will follow North America in terms of market share. Availability of advanced public health systems and subsidies, along with high adoption of new technologies such bone growth stimulators in this region are some of the factors for this regions high market share.Some of the companies operating in the bone growth stimulator market in the current scenario are Orthofix International N.V., Aetna Inc., DJO LLC, Smith & Nephew, Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc., Ossatec Benelux BV, Elizur, Bioventus LLC., Orchid Medical, IGEA S.p.A, and Verve Consulting Inc.Browse Market Research Report @About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154 U.S. Opioids Market - Trends and Forecast to 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1048 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1048 http://www.coherentchronicle.com/ Opioids can be defined as a class of drugs, which include the drug heroin, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and various pain relievers prescribed legally, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and others. This class of drug is primarily taken for pain relief. It has been used for other medical purposes including cough and diarrhea treatment. They bind to opioids receptor and produce a desirable result. Opioids are generally safe when taken for a short time, regular use of the drug can lead to dependence and in extreme cases may even result in death.To get holistic SAMPLE of the report, please click:According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates, in 2015 by the American Pain Society, nearly 50 million people in the U.S. suffered from chronic pain. Use of opioids in cancer, orthopedic, neuropathic, post-operative pain, and lower back pain is very effective. With growing incidence of chronic pain demand for opioids is also expected to increase consequently. Moreover, opioid overdose or abuse has fueled the growth of the U.S. opioids market. CVS Healths, leading pharmacy chain, reports that company had been often asked to fill the prescription of 30 to 60 of the powerful pills at a time for conditions that required a much more limited amount.However, in near future, the overuse or abuse is expected to come down significantly with deceleration of opioids a public health emergency in October 2017 by U.S government. The pharmacy chain, insurance companies, doctors, and all professionals related (directly or indirectly) to this crisis are being monitored closely and had been asked to co-operate to end this epidemic. This strict government intervention are restraining the growth of the U.S. opioids market.Increasing incidences of chronic pain is expected to drive growth of the U.S. opioids marketAccording to the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), 2011, around 1.8 billion people suffered from chronic pain. Moreover, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH) estimates in 2015, one in 10 people in the U.S. suffered from chronic pain. Increasing prevalence of chronic pain is expected to result in high prescription of opioids pain relievers, which in turn is expected to fuel the market growth. Easy availability and favorable insurance policy are other major drivers for growth of the U.S. opioids market.The analysis of Medicare prescription drug plans, which covers 35.7 million people in the second quarter of 2017, by ProPublica an investigative journal and The New York Times a leading U.S. newspaper, revealed that only one-third of the covered people had any access to other types of pain killer and less-risky opioids. This was attributed to low cost of opioids drugs. The scenario might change, however, due to strict monitoring from government and regulatory bodies.Ask for customization:Cannabis as potential alternative for pain relief can be a threat to the U.S. opioids marketCannabis could be the alternative therapy for opioids. Currently, medical marijuana is legal in 28 states and the District of Columbia even though it is illegal under federal law. According to a research published in Annals of Internal Medicine, in majority of cases, between 45% and 85%, medical marijuana is used for pain management. However, there is some ambiguity about medical marijuana effectiveness in pain management. Cannabis could be used as effective therapy after establishment of clinical trials.Some major players operating in the U.S. opioids market include Purdue Pharma L.P., Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Sanofi S.A., Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Limited, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, Egalet Corporation, Endo Pharmaceuticals plc, Allergan, plc, and Pfizer Inc.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: Capnography Devices Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Size, Share, Outlook, and Analysis, 20172025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/433 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/433 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/capnography-devices-market-433 Capnography is the process of extensive measurement and display of concentrations or partial pressures of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the respiratory gases by using a capnograph. It accurately measure the levels of carbon dioxide released into the bloodstream. The readings are presented as a graph of expiratory CO2plotted against time or expired volume called as capnogram. A capnogram is direct monitoring of inhaled and exhaled concentrations of CO2 and an indirect monitoring of CO2 in arterial blood. There is a very small difference in pressure between arterial blood and exhaled CO2 among healthy individuals. On the other hand, a large difference between arterial blood and exhaled gas, sometimes exceeding 1kPa, is observed in people suffering from various forms of lung diseases and some forms of congenital heart diseases.Request Sample Copy Of This Report:Capnography majorly depicts all the three components of respiration: metabolism, transport, and ventilation and therefore gives an excellent picture of the respiratory process. This is a major help for people who suffer from asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as it will help in proper patient monitoring and take further medications accordingly. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) endorses end-tidal capnography as a standard of care for general anesthesia, deep sedation and moderate sedation. Other specialties include critical care and emergency medicine.The conventional capnography devices have limitations in terms of power, size, weight and ease to use. This is addressed by the emergence of smaller capnography devices that facilitate portability and device performance. Also, among the latest devices launched is a microstream capnography, which has several advantages over the conventional capnography devices. For instance, these can be used on neonatal population and on individuals after a surgery.Capnography Devices Market taxonomy:On the basis of technology, the global market is classified into:Capnographs,Mainstream capnographs,Sidestream capnographs,Microstream capnographs,Disposables,.On the basis of device type, the global market is classified into:Handheld,Stand-alone,Others,.On the basis of end user, the global market is classified into:Hospitals,Clinics,Ambulatory Surgical Centers,.Recent advancements in technology of medical monitoring has enhanced the development of the capnography devices market. Recurring revenue generated from disposables will be a key driver for capnography devices market growth, as users have to buy disposables frequently to use them along with capnographs to analyze CO2. A disposable only lasts for one or two days on an average. On the other hand, reusable consumables carry contamination risks also. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that approximately 1.7 million individuals in the U.S. get infected on the use of reusable consumables every year, of which about 99,000 individuals die. This resulted the rise in preference for disposable consumables over reusable consumables.Rising demand for effective monitoring of carbon dioxide levels was limited due to involvement of pulse oximetry, which takes 4-5 minutes to reflect respiratory status of the individual while capnographs provides the ventilation status of individuals in real time, thereby improving patient care. According to the American Thoracic Society, approximately 360,000 respiratory failure cases every year are observed in the U.S., and of this 36% of deaths occur during hospitalization, 30% of individuals die post-surgery and up to 7% of all Medicare individuals among them in 2014 were indicated with respiratory compromise--a state characterized by respiratory failures, insufficiency, respiratory arrest or death.Access Table of Content (TOC) Of the Report:Market in emerging economies is expected to augment on account of recommendations by global and government healthcare organizationsNorth America dominates the global capnography devices market due to rampant development of advanced products in the region. Latin America capnography devices industry is experiencing a significant growth majorly due to the recommendations to use capnography in routine hospital settings by esteemed organizations and government bodies. The World Health Organization (WHO) published a report on safe surgery in 2009 that recommended the use of capnography monitoring devices during endotracheal tube placement, hypoventilation and esophageal intubation for better possible outcomes in patients. The Uruguayan Society of Anesthesiologists and the American Society of Anesthesiologists also recommends the usage of capnography monitoring in routine-use during procedural sedation and anesthetics. These guidelines by the organizations substantiate the importance of capnography equipment in hospital use.Product innovation by market players contributing towards capnography devices market growthKey players in capnography devices market include Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA., Welch Allyn, Inc., Smiths Medical, Medtronic, Inc., Philips Healthcare, Masimo, Nonin Medical, Inc., Nihon Kohden Corporation, CareFusion Corporation and Dia Medica, Inc. Medtronic recently introduced a global study on opioid induced respiratory depression (OIRD), a preventable form of respiratory condition in 2017. It also claims that it is the first study to use capnography in patients undergoing opioid medication. Also Masimo announces the release of Early Warning Score (EWS) on the root patient monitoring and connectivity hub by launch of NomoLine. These strategies aims to help physicians to understand the true incidence of respiratory compromise and relate issues that has been ignored otherwise.Complete Report Details @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.1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154 Internet of Things (IOT) Healthcare Market - Opportunity 20172025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/968 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/talk-to-analyst/968 http://www.coherentchronicle.com/ The Internet of Thing (IoT) is a technology embedded with software, sensors, actuators, electronics and network connectivity through which data can be collected and exchanged. IoT provides better quality care to the patient by simplifying the experience of healthcare. Moreover, remotely connected medical devices, such as insulin pumps, cardiac monitoring device, and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines provide real-time patient information and remote patient monitoring over the paper-based healthcare treatment. IoT provides constant communication with the physician to track the patients accurate data which is helpful for the execution of diabetes and asthma patients. Furthermore, IoT simplifies the experience in terms of cost and time saving.Request a sample copy of this report:By improving quality care in IoT healthcare, create a positive impact on patient, which is expected to stimulate the growth of IoT healthcare marketThe eClinicalWorks, announced to support patient access to physicians notes through open notes in 2017. It enables clinicians to share visit notes with the patient by using the eClinicalWorks Patient Portal. As of now, 130,000 people are using eClinicalWorks. It will help to build up patient-provider relationship, improve quality care and health care decision.Moreover, Gemalto announced to use of its IoT connectivity technology in OnKoIs mhealth solution in 2017. Gemalto intent to provide quality care to older people by notifying their family members, medical professionals and caregivers in an emergency medical situation. Thus, it would help to gain the growth of the IoT healthcare market in near future.Carecloud and First Data launched one-stop application, Breeze - a web and mobile platform in 2017. Breeze run on First Datas commerce-enabling technology, clover mini and clover station. The breeze will allow patients to manage their doctors appointments, different modes of payment, health insurance and medical forms. This application will help to ease healthcare administrative workload. In turn, this application is expected to influence positive for the IoT healthcare market during the forecast period.Growing demand for better disease management by the execution of IoT technology is expected to fuel the growth of the IoT healthcare marketAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 1.6 million deaths in 2015 were directly caused by diabetes and will increase by more than 50% before the age of 70 years by 2030. Moreover, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, 2017, in every 1 in 13 people is suffering from asthma and approximately 25 million Americans is suffering from asthma. The data represent the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and growing demand for better disease management and cost-effective treatment, which is expected to accelerate the growth of the IoT healthcare market.Have a doubt? Speak to our analyst now!Increasing accessibility of internet and execution of government regulatory policies to make IoT nation in different platform will favor the growth of IoT healthcare market. For instance, in 2017, Brazilian government launched, Internet of Things: an Action Plan for Brazil strategy to enhance their economy and development in four different areas. It includes, healthcare, agribusiness, smart cities and manufacturing and will implement in between 2018 to 2022. Thus, this implementation may help to gain growth of the IoT healthcare market in near future.Key players in IoT healthcare market include, Medtronic Plc, Royal Philips, Cisco Systems Inc., IBM Corporation, GE Healthcare, Microsoft Corporation, SAP SE, Qualcomm Life, Inc., Honeywell Life Care Solutions, and Stanley Healthcare.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: New Book How to Raise a Doctor: Wisdom From Parents Who Did It! by Dr. Dale Okorodudu Offers Insight For Parents Who Hope To See Their Children Become Doctors Nine out of every 10 parents would encourage their child to pursue a future in medicine. Yet at the same time, many parents are unsure of how to encourage and foster this in a positive and nurturing way. That is where How to Raise a Doctor: Wisdom From Parents Who Did It! provides answers.How to Raise a Doctor: Wisdom From Parents Who Did It (ISBN 978-1945507991, Clovercroft Publishing, 2018) by Dr. Dale Okorodudu, a thoughtful and insightful book providing wisdom and advice from parents who did just what the title suggests has been released for mass distribution. Drawing from his experience in guiding students to medical school as co-founder of PreMedSTAR.com, (an online community where notable medical schools recruit medical students), along with interviews and meetings with over 75 parents of physicians, Dr. Dale has written a book that will inform parents how to guide their children along the medical path, or any pathway of leadership. The book serves as a how to guide and offers candid insights, guidance, and antidotes from parents who raised both doctors and leaders. How to Raise a Doctor: Wisdom From Parents Who Did It retails for $15.99 in paperback edition and $9.99 in Kindle.The idea of writing How to Raise a Doctor came after I was contacted by parents who had seen my teams Black Men In White Coats videos, said Dr. Dale. These parents had a simple question; how can I help my child become a doctor? I realized it would be helpful to put the advice into a book and share with parents everywhere who are interested in raising not only doctors, but leaders in society.And who would be better to offer advice on doing this than parents who actually raised doctors, continued Dr. Dale. After interviewing these parents, what I found most interesting was most of them didnt begin with the intention of raising future doctors. Rather, they noticed their childrens potential and interests, then fostered them by providing essential guidance and support. Its within this guidance and support that I found a common thread among the doctors parents.From the stories that were shared with me, its clear how many of these parents actively developed their children not only to become doctors but leaders in life. Their wisdom is the source for this book, concluded Dr. Dale. I believe the information they offered in How to Raise a Doctor is invaluable to parents regardless of what lifepath their children follow.Author Dale Okorodudu, MD, is a Pulmonary & Critical Care Physician in Dallas, Texas. He earned his medical degree from the University of Missouri in Columbia. Dr. Dale, as most like to call him, is triple board certified, having completed his Internal Medicine training at Duke University School of Medicine, and his Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. As the co-founder of PreMedSTAR.com and the founder of DiverseMedicine Inc., Dr. Dale has helped countless premedical students matriculate into medical school.677 Main StreetSuwanee, GA 30024 Electrosurgery Market Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook and Analysis, 2017-2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1069 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1069 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/electrosurgery-market-1069 Electrosurgery involves application of electrical current to a biological tissue to cut, coagulate, desiccate or fulgurate. Electricity is used to cause thermal destruction of tissue through dehydration, coagulation, or vaporization. The tissue acts as a resistance to the passing current and converts it into heat. High-frequency electro surgery and electro cautery are the two types of electrosurgeries used.Electro surgery has a wide range of applications in teeth related procedures, laparoscopy, and chronic diseases (related to kidney and abdomen, among others), with dermatological treatments being the most prominent among others. According to World Health Organization (WHO), one in every three cancer patients suffers from skin cancer. This creates a large patient base opting for electro surgery.Treatment with curettage and electro surgery for skin cancer has a cure rate of around 99 out of 100 for basal cell cancer, making electro surgery a co-therapy for the treatment.Request to download and view Sample Report:Easy electro surgery procedures and numerous applications are expected to fuel growth of the electro surgery marketAccording to World Health Organization (WHO), colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer among men and women. Moreover, according to American Cancer Society, 2017 around 135,430 people are estimated to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer, 40% of which are already at an advanced stage of the cancer.According to the new report, An Aging World: 2015, published by National Institute on Aging (NIA), 8.5% of the people worldwide (617 million) are 65 years of age or older and are at a greater risk of developing chronic diseases, which in turn, increases demand for electro surgery procedures. Advancements in technology are expected to improve the performance of electrosurgical generators, ensuring delivery of appropriate heat energy for treatment of the patient.Advancements in technology, growing geriatric population, and increasing prevalence of chronic diseases related to kidneys and heart, among others are few factors that are expected to fuel growth of the market for electro surgery.Patients with cochlear implants, cardiac and gastric pacemaker implants, and Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICDs) are not advised to go under electro surgery, as it can lead to fatal adverse effects. This poses as a major restraint for growth of the market.Inexpensive electro surgery devices and low maintenance costs are expected to boost growth of the electro surgery marketThe global electro surgery market is segmented on the basis of instrument type, applications, end user, and geography.On the basis of instrument type, the global electro surgery market is segmented into:Monopolar Instruments for Electro surgery,Electrosurgical Electrode Handles,Electrosurgical Electrodes,Electrosurgical Pencils,Monopolar Forceps,.Bipolar Instruments for ElectrosurgeryBipolar System,Bipolar Forceps,.Electrosurgery AccessoriesSuction Coagulators and Irrigation Devices,Argon Systems and Accessories,Smoke Evacuation Systems,Patient Return Electrodes,.On the basis of application, the global electro surgery market is segmented into:General Surgery,Cosmetic Surgery,Orthopedic Surgery,Gynecology Surgery,Urologic Surgery,Cardiovascular Surgery,.On the basis of end user, global electro surgery market is segmented into:Hospitals,Clinics,Ambulatory Surgical Centers,Others,.Request a Customization:Chronic diseases are the leading cause of death and disability in the U.S. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic diseases are expected to affect an estimated 164 million people living in the U.S. by 2025. According to International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, top five countries namely, the U.S., Brazil, Japan, Italy, and Mexico account for 41.4% of the worlds cosmetic procedures, followed by Russia, India, Turkey, Germany, and France. 2015.The U.S. is the largest market for electro surgery in North America. This is attributed to the country accounting for the highest number of cosmetic procedures, with 1.4 million surgical and 2.6 million non-surgical procedures. Moreover, the country had 6,500 active plastic surgeons, which is the highest in the world, followed by Brazil with 5,500 and China with 2,800 plastic surgeons according to International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), 2015. This in turn, drives growth of the market for electro surgery in North America. Other factors driving growth of the market in the region include increasing obesity, provisions of the Affordable Care Act that provides favorable reimbursement for use of electro surgery, and growing geriatric populationhighly susceptible to chronic diseases due to weak immune systems. Asia Pacific is expected to exhibit the highest growth rate due of increasing demand for cosmetic procedures and improving healthcare infrastructure. India and South Korea were among top five countries to have performed surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures in 2015 according to ISAPS.Mergers and acquisitions leading to market consolidationKey players operating in the electro surgery market include ERBE Elektromedizin GmbH, BOWA-electronic GmbH & Co. KG, Bovie Medical Corporation, and CONMED Corporation. In 2017, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. acquired Megadyne Medical Products, Inc. Also, in 2017, U.S. Endoscopy, a leader in endoscopy device design and manufacturing, acquired Genii, Inc.To know more about the Electrosurgery Market, click the link below:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154 Immune Repertoire Sequencing Market Enhancement in Medical Sector 2017 to 2022 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/sample/26554 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/discount/26554 Worldwide Market Reports added Latest Research Report titled " Global Immune Repertoire Sequencing Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 " to its Large Report database.This report studies the global Immune Repertoire Sequencing market, analyzes and researches the Immune Repertoire Sequencing development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, like ArcherDX, Junom Therapeutics, Roche Holding, Illumina, ThermoFisher Scietific, Pacific Biosciences, CD Genomics, Atreca, Adaptive Biotechnologie.Request for Sample Copy of Research Report:Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers United States, EU, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia.Market segment by Type, Immune Repertoire Sequencing can be split into Pyro-Sequencing, Dye-Terminating Sequencing, Semiconductor Sequencing, Others.Market segment by Application, Immune Repertoire Sequencing can be split into Biomarker Discovery, Infectious Diseases, Vaccine Development and Efficacy, Cancer Immunotherapy, Autoimmune Disease, Transplant Rejection and Tolerance, Others.Request for Discount @Table of ContentsGlobal Immune Repertoire Sequencing Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Immune Repertoire Sequencing2 Global Immune Repertoire Sequencing Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles4 Global Immune Repertoire Sequencing Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)5 United States Immune Repertoire Sequencing Development Status and Outlook6 EU Immune Repertoire Sequencing Development Status and Outlook7 Japan Immune Repertoire Sequencing Development Status and Outlook8 China Immune Repertoire Sequencing Development Status and Outlook9 India Immune Repertoire Sequencing Development Status and Outlook10 Southeast Asia Immune Repertoire Sequencing Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2017-2022)12 Immune Repertoire Sequencing Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors Analysis14 Research Finding/Conclusion15 AppendixList of Tables and FiguresContinue*Any special requirements about this report, please let us know and we can provide custom report.About WMRWorldwide Market Reports is your one-stop repository of detailed and in-depth market research reports compiled by an extensive list of publishers from across the globe. We offer reports across virtually all domains and an exhaustive list of sub-domains under the sun. The in-depth market analysis by some of the most vastly experienced analysts provide our diverse range of clients from across all industries with vital decision making insights to plan and align their market strategies in line with current market trends. Worldwide Market Researchs well-researched inputs that encompass domains ranging from IT to healthcare enable our prized clients to capitalize upon key growth opportunities and shield against credible threats prevalent in the market in the current scenario and those expected in the near future.Contact Us:Mr. ShahWorldwide Market Reports1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154,U.STel: +1 415 871 0703Email: sales@worldwidemarketreports.com Global Constructional Steel Electrode Market Size and Key Players Analysis Like ESAB, MAGNA, Elecall, Thyssen and Metrode 2017 - 2022 https://www.researchtrades.com/discount/1196310 https://www.researchtrades.com/request-sample/1196310 https://www.researchtrades.com/report/global-constructional-steel-electrode-industry-market-research-report/1196310 www.researchtrades.com The Constructional Steel Electrode industrial chain, this report mainly elaborate the definition, types, applications and major players of Constructional Steel Electrode market in details. Deep analysis about market status (2012-2017), enterprise competition pattern, advantages and disadvantages of enterprise Products, industry development trends (2017-2022), regional industrial layout characteristics and macroeconomic policies, industrial policy has also be included. From raw materials to downstream buyers of this industry will be analyzed scientifically, the feature of product circulation and sales channel will be presented as well. In a word, this report will help you to establish a panorama of industrial development and characteristics of the Constructional Steel Electrode market.Request for discount atThe Constructional Steel Electrode market can be split based on product types, major applications, and important regions.Major Players in Constructional Steel Electrode market are:Anqiu Specialty Electrodes CompanyOxfordMetrodeOxfordHOBATRESABTASETOMAGNAAnqiu Specialty Electrodes CompanyElecallESABThyssenHOBATRMAGNAThyssenElecallMetrodeTASETOMajor Regions play vital role in Constructional Steel Electrode market are:North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanMiddle East & AfricaIndiaSouth AmericaOthersMost important types of Constructional Steel Electrode products covered in this report are:Acid ElectrodeBasic ElectrodeIron-powder ElectrodeAcid ElectrodeBasic ElectrodeIron-powder ElectrodeMost widely used downstream fields of Constructional Steel Electrode market covered in this report are:Building StructureMechanical StructureOthersBuilding StructureMechanical StructureOthersRequest for free sample atGlobal Constructional Steel Electrode Industry Market Research Report1 Constructional Steel Electrode Introduction and Market Overview1.1 Objectives of the Study1.2 Definition of Constructional Steel Electrode1.3 Constructional Steel Electrode Market Scope and Market Size Estimation1.3.1 Market Concentration Ratio and Market Maturity Analysis1.3.2 Global Constructional Steel Electrode Value ($) and Growth Rate from 2012-20221.4 Market Segmentation1.4.1 Types of Constructional Steel Electrode1.4.2 Applications of Constructional Steel Electrode1.4.3 Research Regions1.4.3.1 North America Constructional Steel Electrode Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.2 Europe Constructional Steel Electrode Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.3 China Constructional Steel Electrode Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.4 Japan Constructional Steel Electrode Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.5 Middle East & Africa Constructional Steel Electrode Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.6 India Constructional Steel Electrode Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.7 South America Constructional Steel Electrode Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Drivers1.5.1.1 Emerging Countries of Constructional Steel Electrode1.5.1.2 Growing Market of Constructional Steel Electrode1.5.2 Limitations1.5.3 Opportunities1.6 Industry News and Policies by Regions1.6.1 Industry News1.6.2 Industry Policies2 Industry Chain Analysis2.1 Upstream Raw Material Suppliers of Constructional Steel Electrode Analysis2.2 Major Players of Constructional Steel Electrode2.2.1 Major Players Manufacturing Base and Market Share of Constructional Steel Electrode in 20162.2.2 Major Players Product Types in 20162.3 Constructional Steel Electrode Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.3.1 Production Process Analysis2.3.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure of Constructional Steel Electrode2.3.3 Raw Material Cost of Constructional Steel Electrode2.3.4 Labor Cost of Constructional Steel Electrode2.4 Market Channel Analysis of Constructional Steel Electrode2.5 Major Downstream Buyers of Constructional Steel Electrode AnalysisBrowse complete report at3 Global Constructional Steel Electrode Market, by Type3.1 Analysis of Market Status and Feature by Type3.2 Global Constructional Steel Electrode Value ($) and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)3.3 Global Constructional Steel Electrode Production and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)3.4 Global Constructional Steel Electrode Value ($) and Growth Rate by Type (2012-2017)3.5 Global Constructional Steel Electrode Price Analysis by Type (2012-2017)4 Constructional Steel Electrode Market, by Application4.1 Downstream Market Overview4.2 Global Constructional Steel Electrode Consumption and Market Share by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Downstream Buyers by Application4.4 Global Constructional Steel Electrode Consumption and Growth Rate by Application (2012-2017)Who we areResearch Trades has team of experts who works on providing exhaustive analysis pertaining to market research on a global basis. This comprehensive analysis is obtained by a thorough research and study of the ongoing trends and provides predictive data regarding the future estimations, which can be utilized by various organizations for growth purposes.We distribute customized reports that focus on meeting the clients specific requirement. Our database consists of a large collection of high-quality reports obtained using a customer-centric approaches, thus providing valuable research insights.Contact us:Email: sales@researchtrades.comCall us: +1 6269994607 (USA), +91 7507349866 (IND)Web:Skype ID: researchtradescon Rapid Growth of HVAC Market | Top Key Companys Denso, Hanon Systems, Valeo, MAHLE Behr, Delphi, Sanden, Calsonic Kansei, Xinhang Yuxin | Global Future Scope to 2023 HVAC Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/9818 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/9818/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/9818 Businessindustryreports.com adds new report 2015-2023 World Automotive HVAC Market Research Report by Product Type, End-User Application and Regions Countries which contains global key players survey information and forecast analysis to 2023.Global Automotive HVAC Market Overview:The report spread across 134 pages is an overview of the 2015-2023 World Automotive HVAC Market Research Report by Product Type, End-User Application and Regions Countries. Automotive HVAC Market Research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The Global Automotive HVAC Market is growing continuously and expected to grow healthy CAGR by Forecast year 2023. The factors which are driving the growth of market include government incentives through Tax Credit Programs, increasing Construction Activities, Government Regulations and Policies for Energy Saving and growing trend of Smart Homes.The Cooling Equipment is expected to lead the Automotive HVAC Market between 2015 and 2023. The growth is attributed to reduction in Energy Consumption of Cooling Equipment, introduction of Innovative Solutions such as Low GWP Pr0oducts, Changing Weather Conditions, increase in Disposable Incomes and Government Grants and Tax Benefits.Asia-Pacific is the largest market for HVAC systems due to the growing Population, Climatic Conditions, Increasing Urbanization and Demographic Changes in the region. Also, the exponential expansion of the construction sector in countries like India and China is contributing significantly to the growth of the Automotive HVAC Market in the region. Furthermore, regulation and efficiency norms in these countries are expected to augment growth in the Automotive HVAC Market in the coming years.Available Exclusive Sample Copy of this Report @A complete analysis of the competitive landscape of the Global Automotive HVAC Market is provided in the report. This section includes company profiles of market key players. The profiles include contact information, gross, capacity, product details of each firm, price, and cost. This report investigates new project feasibility with a purpose of enlightening new entrants about the possibilities in this market. In this report, thorough SWOT analysis & investment analysis is provided which forecasts imminent opportunities for the Automotive HVAC Market players.Major Key Players:1 Denso2 Hanon Systems3 Valeo4 MAHLE Behr5 Delphi6 Sanden7 Calsonic Kansei8 SONGZ Automobile9 Xinhang Yuxin and MorePurchase this report online with 134 Pages, List of Tables & Figures and in-depth Table of Contents on 2015-2023 World Automotive HVAC Market Research Report by Product Type, End-User Application and Regions Countries @Market Segment by Type:1 Manual HVAC2 Automatic HVACMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers: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)This study answers to the below key questions:1 What will the market size be in 2023 and what will the growth rate be?2 What are the key market trends?3 What are the challenges to market growth?4 Who are the key players in this market?5 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key players?Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @In the end, this report covers data and information on capacity and production overview, production, market share analysis, sales overview, supply, sales, and shortage, import, export and consumption as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin of Automotive HVAC Market.Major Points in Table of Contents:Global Automotive HVAC Market Report 20181 Market Definition2 Global Market by Vendors3 Global Market by Type4 Global Market by End-Use / Application5 Global Market by Regions6 North America Market7 Europe Market8 Asia-Pacific Market9 South America Market10 Middle East & Africa Market11 Market Forecast12 Key ManufacturersAbout 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 Bio-Implants Market: A Comprehensive Insights with Top Worldwide Key Players - DePuy Synthes, Medtronic, Zimmer Biomet, Stryker, B. Braun, Abbott, Kasios | Forecasts till 2025 Bio-Implants Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/26135 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/26135/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/26135 Businessindustryreports.com adds new report Global Bioimplants Market Research Report 2018 which contains global key players survey information and forecast analysis to 2025.Global Bioimplants Market Overview:The report spread across 114 pages is an overview of the Global Bioimplants Market Research Report 2018. Bioimplants Market Research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.This report studies the Global Bioimplants Market over the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The Global Bioimplants Market is expected to grow steadily at an impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025.High prevalence of disease conditions such as cardiovascular, orthopedic and spinal disorders that can be treated via bio implants are the key drivers of the market.The Global Bioimplants Market is segmented based on Product Types and Geography. Within the Product Types, the market is segmented into Cardiovascular, Dental and Prosthetic Implants, Orthopedic / Joint Reconstruction and Replacement, Spinal, Ophthalmology and others. Geographically, the market is segmented into four regions, namely North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and LAMEA.Available Exclusive Sample Copy of this Report @A complete analysis of the competitive landscape of the Global Bioimplants Market is provided in the report. This section includes company profiles of market key players. The profiles include contact information, gross, capacity, product details of each firm, price, and cost. This report investigates new project feasibility with a purpose of enlightening new entrants about the possibilities in this market. In this report, thorough SWOT analysis & investment analysis is provided which forecasts imminent opportunities for the Bioimplants Market players.Major Key Players:1 DePuy Synthes2 Medtronic3 Zimmer Biomet4 Stryker5 B. Braun6 Abbott7 FH Orthopedics8 Kasios9 C. R. Bard10 W. L. Gore & Associates and More.Purchase this report online with 114 Pages, List of Tables & Figures and in-depth Table of Contents on Global Bioimplants Market Research Report 2018 @Market Segments:On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into -1 Dental Bioimplants2 Ophthalmic Bioimplants3 Cardiovascular Bioimplants4 Orthopedic Bioimplants5 Neurostimulation BioimplantsGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Bioimplants in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), covering:North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaThis study answers to the below key questions:1 What will the market size be in 2025 and what will the growth rate be?2 What are the key market trends?3 What are the challenges to market growth?4 Who are the key players in this market?5 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key players?Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @In the end, this report covers data and information on capacity and production overview, production, market share analysis, sales overview, supply, sales, and shortage, import, export and consumption as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin of Bioimplants Market.Major Points in Table of Contents:Global Bioimplants Market Report 20181 Bioimplants Market Overview3 Global Bioimplants Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Bioimplants Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Bioimplants Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Bioimplants Market Analysis by Application7 Global Bioimplants Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Bioimplants Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Bioimplants Market Forecast (2018-2025)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixAbout 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 World Marijuana Market 2018:Key Companies, Emerging Trends, Demand, Size, Developments and Forecasts till 2025 Global Marijuana Market Research Report 2018 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/65883 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/65883/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/enquiry/65883 Global Marijuana Market Research Report 2018 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Marijuana industry. 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Get Direct Copy of this Report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoIndustrial GradePharmaceutical GradeOn 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, includingChronic PainArthritisMigraineCancerOtherThe report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Marijuana Market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, Marijuana landscape analysis, and major regions' development status. The report focuses on Global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. What's more, the Marijuana industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Inquire More or share questions if any, on this report atIn a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Key questions answered in the report: What will the market growth rate of Marijuana market in 2025? What are the key factors driving the global Marijuana market? What are sales, revenue, and price analysis of top manufacturers of Marijuana market? Who are the distributors, traders and dealers of Marijuana market? Who are the key manufacturers in Marijuana market space? What are the Marijuana market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Marijuana market? What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by types and applications of Marijuana market? 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What are the market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Marijuana market?Major points from Table of Contents for Global Marijuana Industry 2018 Market Research Report include:1 Marijuana Market Overview2 Global Marijuana Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Marijuana Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Marijuana Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2013-2018)5 Global Marijuana Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Marijuana Market Analysis by Application7 Global Marijuana Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Marijuana Market Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Marijuana Market Forecast (2018-2025)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixAuthor ListDisclosure SectionResearch MethodologyData SourceBusinessIndustryReports.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.+1-9376349940+91-9960690402sales@businessindustryreports.com CBD Hemp Oil Market 2018:Global Size, Consumption, Growth, Drivers, Sales and 2025 Forecasts Analysis Global CBD Hemp Oil Market Research Report 2018 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/65874 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/65874/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/enquiry/65874 Global CBD Hemp Oil Market Research Report 2018 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the CBD Hemp Oil industry. 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This report provides information on global CBD Hemp Oil market competition with a breakdown of all the top manufacturers like ENDOCA, CBD American Shaman, Gaia Botanicals, Isodiol, Medical Marijuana, Cannoid, Canopy Growth Corporation and others by production, price, revenue, and market share.Complete report on Global CBD Hemp Oil Industry 2018 Market Research Report is spread across 113 pages and provides exclusive vital statistics, data, information, trends and landscape details in this niche sector. Get Direct Copy of this Report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoFood GradePharmaceutical GradeOn 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, includingAnxietyFibromyalgia (FM)DiabetesOtherThe report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The CBD Hemp Oil Market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, CBD Hemp Oil landscape analysis, and major regions' development status. The report focuses on Global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. What's more, the CBD Hemp Oil industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Inquire More or share questions if any, on this report atIn a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Key questions answered in the report: What will the market growth rate of CBD Hemp Oil market in 2025? What are the key factors driving the global CBD Hemp Oil market? What are sales, revenue, and price analysis of top manufacturers of CBD Hemp Oil market? Who are the distributors, traders and dealers of CBD Hemp Oil market? Who are the key manufacturers in CBD Hemp Oil market space? What are the CBD Hemp Oil market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global CBD Hemp Oil market? What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by types and applications of CBD Hemp Oil market? What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by regions of CBD Hemp Oil market? What are the market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the CBD Hemp Oil market?Major points from Table of Contents for Global CBD Hemp Oil Industry 2018 Market Research Report include:1 CBD Hemp Oil Market Overview2 Global CBD Hemp Oil Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global CBD Hemp Oil Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global CBD Hemp Oil Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2013-2018)5 Global CBD Hemp Oil Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global CBD Hemp Oil Market Analysis by Application7 Global CBD Hemp Oil Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 CBD Hemp Oil Market Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global CBD Hemp Oil Market Forecast (2018-2025)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixAuthor ListDisclosure SectionResearch MethodologyData SourceBusinessIndustryReports.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.+1-9376349940+91-9960690402sales@businessindustryreports.com Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators market By HERSILL, Catalina Cylinders, MeBer, and Invacare Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/616501//?utm_source=OPR&utm_medium=DC https://empowerednews.net/author/gminsights/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/north-america-and-europe-wet-blasting-machines-market-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023?utm_source=RR-DC https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ This Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators market report speaks about the manufacturing process analyzed thoroughly with respect to four points like Manufacturers, regional analysis, Segment by Type and Segment by Applications and the actual process of whole Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators industry.Pharmaceutical and biotechnology is slated to grow at a rapid pace over the forecast period. Oxygen is critical for cell growth applications and is routinely used in fermenters and bioreactors. Furthermore, enrichment with the gas can enhance bioreactor performance and capacity.Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators Market is set to exceed USD 4.5 billion by 2024; according to a new research study published by Global Market Insights, Inc.Key Vendors, this report coversTecno Gaz, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Cramer Decker, Air Liquide, Chart Industries, HERSILL, Catalina Cylinders, MeBer, and Invacare.Get Sample Copy of this Report:U.S. oxygen cylinder and concentrators market held significant industry share. Increasing proportion of elderly population along with increased occurrence of respiratory disorders should drive industry growth. As per American Lung Association, COPD is the third leading cause of death in the country. Presence of a well-established industrial infrastructure in the country will further stimulate demand.China oxygen cylinder and concentrators market is slated to witness robust growth over the forecast period. The economic boom and drastic rise in GDP has resulted in a surge in motorized vehicles as more number of individuals are now capable of buying them. Moreover, the increased production output from steel and cement industries and burning of coal in factories has worsened the quality of air and has given rise to the problem of smog. Exposure to the increasing pollution and dust has escalated incidence of various respiratory disorders in the region which will fuel industry growth.Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators Market by ProductPortableFixedOxygen Cylinders and Concentrators Market by ApplicationHealthcarePharmaceutical & BiotechnologyManufacturingAerospace & AutomotiveOthersKey Regions, covers:North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Objective of Studies: To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyses the Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porter five force analysis etc. To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the global Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators market. To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by application, product type and sub-segments. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World. To track and analyses competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators market.The next part also sheds light on the gap between supply and consumption. Apart from the mentioned information, growth rate of Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators market in 2023 is also explained. Additionally, type wise and application wise consumption tables and figures of Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators market are also given.Following are major Table of Content of Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators Industry: Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators Market Overview. Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators Market Competition by Manufacturers. Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators Market Analysis by Region. Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators Market Analysis by Type. Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators Market Analysis by Application. Oxygen Cylinders and Concentrators Market -Manufacturers Analysis.Few Data Tables Are:TABLE 1. Oxygen cylinders and concentrators industry 360 degree synopsis, 2013 - 2024TABLE 2. Global oxygen cylinders and concentrators market, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)TABLE 3. Global oxygen cylinders and concentrators market, by product, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)TABLE 4. Global oxygen cylinders and concentrators market, by application, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)TABLE 5. Global oxygen cylinders and concentrators market, by region, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)TABLE 6. Industry impact forcesTABLE 7. Portable oxygen cylinders and concentrators market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)TABLE 8. Fixed oxygen cylinders and concentrators market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)TABLE 9. Healthcare oxygen cylinders and concentrators market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013 - 2024, (USD Million)TABLE 10. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology oxygen cylinders and concentrators market estimates and forecast, by region 2013 - 2024, (USD Million)TABLE 11. Manufacturing oxygen cylinders and concentrators market estimates and forecast, by region 2013 - 2023, (USD Million)TABLE 12. Aerospace and automotive oxygen cylinders and concentrators market estimates and forecast, by region, 2013 - 2023 (USD Million)More Report At:Related Report:North America and Europe Wet Blasting Machines Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023This report studies the Wet Blasting Machines market, Wet Blasting Machines or wetblasting machines are designed to simultaneously blast and degrease components, in a quick and easy dust-free process, which achieves outstanding finishing results on a variety of components.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News: Creative 360 will host a Yes We Can! luncheon in honor of John (90) and Grace (90) Shriner scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, May 4, at the center, 1517 Bayliss St. in Midland. The event will feature a lunch, catered by NADA, and a tribute to Shriners. Cost is $30, and registration is due by Monday, April 30. The Midland County Democratic Party Spring Fundraiser will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday at Creative 360, 1517 Bayliss St. People will be able to support candidates and mix with local progressives over beer, wine, soft drinks and snacks. People also will be able to get up on a soapbox and vent. "Give us two minutes (no more) of that darn bee in your bonnet," organizers stated. Prizes will be given for the angriest rant, the funniest rant and the person attendees would most like to run for office. A suggested donation is $20 per adult and $10 per student. Ever since Ellis "Ned" Brandt moved to Midland 65 years ago, he made his mark as a historian, philanthropist, mentor and friend to many. Brandt, 95, died April 21 after a brief illness. "Although he deserves many accolades, gentlemanly, wise, and full of integrity are some of the best ways to describe him," stated Tawny Nelb, who has known Brandt since the 1990s. "He had a tremendous sense of humor that would roll off his tongue quietly. He was independent-minded. He was so kind and giving with no expectations of receiving anything in return." Brandt was born May 16, 1922, in Detroit and joined the U.S. Army in the quartermaster corp in 1943. He went on to serve as a public relations officer overseas and was involved in the landing on Omaha Beach in France during the latter part of World War II. After leaving the service in 1946 he worked as a reporter, editor, scriptwriter and press attache. His work brought him into contact with several important people including Eleanor Roosevelt, President Truman and eventually his wife, Jeanne LeLay, whom he met in France. The Brandts moved to Midland in 1953 when he joined The Dow Chemical Co.'s public relations staff. He used his talents to write speeches for Bill Schuette, Herbert Doan and Carl Gerstacker, to name a few. History was very important to Brandt. Not only did he write four books about local history and document Dow's past through an oral history program, but he also was the company historian from 1983 to 1986. "He was a fabulous writer, and I envied his facility with words. He was actively writing and documenting valuable history while in his 90s," Nelb said. Brandt also became heavily involved with community organizations including serving as secretary, vice president and director of the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation; chairman of the Midland County Chapter of the American Red Cross; president of Tittabawassee Toastmasters; and a member of Midland Noon Rotary Club for over 50 years. "Ned handled the toughest issues with ease because he viewed things from a global perspective. His talent for framing issues enabled R.M. Gerstacker Foundation, Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network, Michigan State University, Midland Rotary and other organizations to reach better solutions. This giant will be missed," said Jenee Velasquez, executive director of The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation in a statement. In acknowledgement for his services to the community, Brandt was honored with the Naegele Distinguished Community Service Award from Northwood Universtiy, the Outstanding Philanthropist Award from the Mid-Michigan Chapter of Association of Fundraising Professionals and the History Hero Award from the Historical Society of Midland County. "Ned and I worked side by side for 33 years and I came to see him as a generous man, a compassionate man," Al Ott said. "He was thorough in all he did and he had a wonderful understanding of Midland. He certainly was a pleasure to work with. We will miss him." A service for Brandt was planned for Wednesday at Ware-Smith-Woolever Funeral Home with a celebration of his life to take place Thursday at Memorial Presbyterian Church at 1:30 p.m. Visitation starts at 12:30 p.m. To the editor: The Harvard Business School had a business study case that was titled Exit, Voice or Loyalty. It has been 40 years since I studied that case. But I still remember it clearly. And every now and then something comes up to remind me of the eternal lessons and wisdom taught to me by that case. The case itself was simple: A young man in a corporation was directed to do something that violated his values. So what is this young man to do? After due diligence over all of his choices of action, it falls out that there are only ever three choices exit, voice, or loyalty. The person can simply quit rather than do the dreaded action. That is the exit choice. Or he can speak up and protest the situation, the "voice choice. This is the most risky choice because the repercussions of speaking up are not known. The possibilities range from being fired, to being praised and promoted. And, believe, me, I have seen both of these extremes occur. The third choice is loyalty. Simply be loyal and do what is requested of you. This is obviously the easiest choice. But then those old issues of conscience, personal values and sense of honor can creep into the mix to complicate things. Now lets talk about Rex Tillerson. I remember when he took over as Secretary of State. He was a very dignified and impressive guy with impeccable credentials as a real success in business and diplomacy. As the head of Exxon he operated in a worldwide environment of heady prestige, negotiating with many of the major players in the world. Hey, I thought to myself, this guy is a pro. But Rex quickly began to show flaws. He seemed too eager to disagree with the president, and to make public statements that were at odds with his bosss agenda. I quickly summed this up as a battle of egos. Rex seemed to want the world to see that his judgment was better than Trumps. At this I took quick notice. I have been the boss. I know what it is like to have subordinates publicly undercut you. My solution was always easy. I fired the person. It was a quick and easy way to establish in my organization to value of loyalty. Without loyalty your organization will never amount to anything. But certainly Rex Tillerson, the accomplished business success, master of the corporate world would know all this. Certainly he would know the value of loyalty. I was also interested in seeing how Trump would handle the situation. Then it got even more interesting. Rex was quoted as saying that Trump was a moron. Wow! Did this guy just push his self-destruct button? Yes, apparently he did. Trump fired him. And, amazingly, Rex Tillerson seems shocked and dismayed. What did he expect? It is too bad that he did not study that Harvard Business School case titled Exit, Voice or Loyalty. Exit or loyalty would have been far smarter choices. MICHAEL MILLER Midland Wed previously reported in 2017 of the intention of famed animation producers Studio Ghibli to open a theme park based on their collective works in Japan, but now we have a more clear date of when and where that park will open. According to Japan Times, the park will open in central Japan, near the city of Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, in the year 2022. This comes via an announcement by the regional government, and should therefore be considered a legitimate estimate. Studio Ghibli is of course most intimately associated with cofounder Hayao Miyazaki, the director who brought the studio its most prominent successes. Miyazaki films such as Spirited Away and Howls Moving Castle garnered worldwide critical acclaim and attention for Ghibli, making them into the countrys most famous producer of animation. Along the way, Miyazaki (and other directors who should not be forgotten) helped expose the world to unique styles of Japanese animation, having a massive influence on the development of new animation all around the world. All of those films will provide a fertile ground for the parks attractions, which will include rides and forest trails based on the master animators popular fantasy films, which will include the likes of My Neighbor Totoro, Kikis Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke. Areas of the park will literally resemble settings in various Ghibli movies, dotted with the European-themed brick towers that appear frequently in Miyazakis works, as well as giant installations of spider- and boar-shaped spirits in imaginary landscapes that evoke Japans mythical and idyllic past. It you ask us, it sounds like a pretty fabulous concept, and one that possesses a certain sense of gravitas that you wouldnt find at say, a Hello Kitty amusement park. Construction cost is unknown, but one has to assume it will be plenty steep, if they really want to bring the imagination of Hayao Miyazaki to life. That kind of construction wont come cheap. However, the owners can be sure that the park will be a worldwide tourism destination, as lovers of Japanese animation will no doubt make the trek all the way to Japan in order to experience it. In fact, tourists already do travel to Japan just to visit the popular Ghibli Museum located in Tokyo. Well provide more updates about the theme park as it begins to actually come together, but were excited to see some of the first concept art. What kind of rides would you like to see at a Studio Ghibli park? Which movies should receive the biggest spotlight? Well just have to wait and see what properties Ghibli chooses to highlight. Vote for the Petoskey News-Review Athlete of the Week: Sept. 27-Oct. 2 See who was voted as the PNR Athlete of the Week last week and who made the cut this week: After being incarcerated for five months, Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill was released from prison this afternoon. Born Robert Rihmeek Williams, Meek Mill was sentenced to two to four years for violating his probation from a 2009 drug and gun charge. Many felt that the sentencing was harsh including the prosecution. Judge Genece Brinkley who presided over Meek's case has been accused of having a personal vendetta against the Philly MC. Rumors have circulated that Brinkley wanted Meek to abandon his management, Roc Nation, and sign with a local Philadelphia manager who was a personal friend of Brinkley's. During his incarceration. Meek received support from the likes of Jay-Z, Kevin Hart, and Philadelphia 76ers owner Michael Rubin. Celebrities and fans alike took to the streets and #FreeMeekMill became the battle cry for those who felt the rapper's probation violation didn't fit the lengthy sentence that was handed down to him. Upon receiving the news of his release the rapper took to his official Twitter account to address his family, friends, and legions of fans who have supported him through this tough time. Since his signing to rap's self-appointed boss Rick Ross' label Maybach Music Group (MMG for short), Meek has been one of the most energetic spitters in hip-hop today. His raw delivery and passion can be heard in such songs as "Ima Boss" and the intro to his major label debut "Dreams and Nightmares" which became a proverbial fight song for the Philadelphia Eagles on their run to their first Super Bowl win in franchise history. Dream Chaser www.billboard.com Before being sentenced to jail, Meek released his third album, Wins and Losses. This album came on the heels of his break up with hip-hop/pop megastar Nicki Minaj, and his beef with Drake. Now that Meek is out of the slammer, What's next for Philly's favorite son? Deascent is a hip hop artist, music writer, and on-air personality for "Popdust Presents". He's also the co-front man of The Cold Press. Follow him on Instagram. POPDUST | Read More The Top 10 Hip-Hop Moments of 2017 Kendrick Lamar's "DAMN." wins Pulitzer Prize BIG BOI -- Exclusive Interview!!! He talks about Atlanta and latest video Actress Keke Palmer is about to run the music industry with her new single "Bossy" Losing both of my beautiful, inspirational grandmothers to Alzheimers brought me to write this song, says Ellen Starski. Ode to Nanny and Cookie is a clear highlight from off of the folk artists upcoming independent release, The Days When Peonies Prayed For Ants. Releasing on 11 May, the album acts as a soundtrack of sorts for Starskis life leading up to its moment of completion, scrap-booking essential moments of her life into song. From her travels in coal-led rural Pennsylvania to the roots music capital of Nashville, the troubadour details the good, the bad, and the in-between in picturesque detail Starskis Ode to Nanny and Cookie is one such contribution to the scrapbook. The slow-paced song slides in at nearly six minutes in length but never feels languid. Rather, theres a heartfelt sense of urgency to proceedings as she paints us a picture dedicated to two grandmothers who she loves and misses dearly. As Starski tells us, Ode to Nanny and Cookie takes place inside a snow globe. Its about how the disease controls loss and remembrance. Imagine living inside a snow globe: there you are, calm within your little home, when all of a sudden everything you knew is turned upside down. Your mind knows things are familiar, but you cant put the pieces back together. This song is for my amazing grandmothers, and for all the people affected by this disease. Its also for all those who selflessly provide care to the people in need. This songs beginning was prompted via a drive through West Virginia. The first verse came to me in an a-ha moment that pulled me to the side of the road in a writers fury, she continues. It wasnt till years later that I would come to understand the words destination. This song was certainly the most difficult song to approach in the studio, in fact, I was full of self-doubt. Reopening this wound wasnt something I took lightly. My vocal booth was filled with relics from my grandmothers lives. I feel they were there spiritually, but also needed physical reminders to help me through the process. Both of my grandmothers were the true image of grace. They both nurtured my growth as a human being and encouraged me to step outside of my comfort zone. My Nanny and my Grandad met at a dance before he was shipped off to battle during WWII. She told me she used him as her yard stick the entire time he was at war, and nobody measured up. My Cookie fell in love deeply and lost her love while my my mother was carrying me. She never met another that would compare, and lived out the rest of her days awaiting the moment she would reunite with my grandpa. Throughout everyday living, my grandmothers taught me the definition of love and commitment. My wish is that my grandmothers have felt the vibrations from this song somewhere, somehow, and that they love it as much as I love them. The best crime films are raw and thought-provoking. Realistic slice-of-life cinematic criminal character studies embody these traits and more. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), possibly the iconic Robert Mitchums finest hour, captures the true essence of the undesirable life of a criminal from a humanist, down-on-your-luck perspective. The film also expertly captures the classic New Wave style of the era. The 70s reflected a brilliant and interesting time for cinema. Hollywood productions featured many daring films, some decidedly less slick than the current franchise-heavy studio products. Grittiness and realism pervaded through a number of Hollywood and independent films. Often, melodramatic features embodied a documentary-like feel that allowed the films to strike powerful emotional cords. Documentarian voyeurism permeates the style of The Friends of Eddie Coyle. The stylistic approach allows the viewer to casually peer unnoticed from afar and absorb a cultural lesson while watching the end of days for Eddie Coyle and his friends. Who Is Eddie Coyle? The title character stands as an amoral yet sympathetic figure. Hes a low-level gunrunner who aims for a modest level of financial success. The viewer, of course, doesnt need to be a criminal to sympathize with Coyles situation. The man simply wants a better life for himself and his family, but a lack of work and opportunity drag him down. Eddie Coyle is not, however, someone who doesnt deserve his fate. Hes a flawed person who made terrible choices in life and now must pay the price. The character reflects the darkly tragic nature found in so many early 70s crime films. The dimension of being a family man further adds to his pathos. Eddie Coyle not only failed himself in life; he failed his wife and son, too. The cinematic journey of two-bit crook Eddie Coyle picks up at the tail-end of his career, a career that reflects a wasted life. Crime definitely did not play for Eddie Coyle. He made a few dollars as a gun-runner, but the money he earned obviously wasnt enough to live the high life. While out of work, Coyle took a no questions asked delivery job. The discovery of illegal cargo in his truck leads to the aged Coyle facing years in jail away from his family. And his friends dont help his situation. Eddie Coyles friends are not really true friends. They are acquaintances and criminal associates. In his lonely life, such persons are the only ones Eddie has any real interactions with outside of his family. His friends are users who rely on Eddie to support their bank robbery schemes as he supplies them with untraceable firearms. Eddie understands these are the only types of people he can have any relationships with, regardless of how destructive the relationships are. His lot in life leaves him with seemingly few choices and directions. And the life Eddie lives truly reflects a destructive path. What makes it hurt worse is knowing what happens to you, Eddie Coyle says this to a young hoodlum as a warning not to cause him troubles on an upcoming job. Eddie understands imprisonment or death are impossible to avoid when living a life of crime. Young persons lack the experience and perspective to see beyond their feelings of invulnerability. Eddie tries to warn the young man of the path that is impossible to avoid. What a shame Eddie Coyle didnt take his own advice and just quit when he was younger and still capable of taking a different path. As his criminal career comes to a close, Eddies projections to the young hoodlum reveal self-admonishment and regret over a wasted life. Eddie probably feels a tremendous amount of loneliness and misery. All this hurts worse because Eddie knows nothing positive can come out of another small-time gun selling score. Besides, hes slated to be sentenced to a long stretch in prison. Unfortunately, theres seemingly nowhere to go, as he already passed up other opportunities to straighten out his life in the past. Or does he have another opportunity? Eddie can turn in his friends and, hopefully, avoid prison. Or is it much too late to cut a deal? For Eddie, nothing comes easy and life always remains the perpetual struggle and bad choices. Eddie fights his conscious over saving himself from prison. To do so, he must harm those who comprise the twisted friendships hes formed Eddies strange subcultural life does come with a code a code that exists in the shadow of polite society. Polite society does exist in a far different neighborhood than where Eddie Coyle resides. Working-Class Survival and Its Discontents The Friends of Eddie Coyle presents more than an isolated character study. The film effectively captures the imagery of the working-class underbelly, a common trait in scores of crime films of the era such as Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976) and Fingers (1978). The early 70s were a time of significant urban decay in America. New York City, in particular, was a commonly chosen location to display blight. The city became a symbol of the fall from grace of the American metropolitan landscape. Although this film takes place in Boston, the sentiment is the same. Age and decay rot the landscape and those left behind economically must do what they can to survive. Eddies moral compass has no problem with facilitating bank robberies through providing a criminal gang with guns. After all, the gang doesnt hurt anyone as long as the robbery victims go along with the plans. Stealing money from a bank is like stealing money from the same system that contributed to working-class neglect and decline. While outside the law, Coyle simply tries to provide for his family amidst struggling times. He takes personal risks for the proverbial greater good. He doesnt want his wife and children to go on public assistance. His crimes in his eyes are merely ways of making money outside the parameters of an unfair and cruel system. Hell defy the system at great risk, but he wont take handouts from the system. Eddie Coyle is working-class. Beating the system by moving stolen guns to facilitate stealing from the system reflects a perverse form of work. Eddie cant work from jail, though. Facing time in prison, he chooses to become an informant. Acting an informant, to Eddie, is just another job designed to help him get by. Hes working for the feds to stay out of jail and keep providing for his family, something he cannot do from the inside of a prison cell. Working as an informant, however, is not too far removed from working as a criminal. The classic cinematic criminal knows too much and cannot walk away from any deal with the authorities. A crook becomes locked into the indentured servitude of criminal activity. Being an informer places him in a similar position. Once the federal authorities know Eddie needs them to avoid a harsh sentence, he becomes an indentured servant to their cause. They know they can abuse him like the system is prone to do. Is it any wonder Eddie Coyle desperately wants to get away from this scene? The Aging Eddie Coyle Eddie Coyle provides clear motivation as to why he keeps buying and reselling stolen guns: Im getting old I spent most of my life hanging around crummy joints with a bunch of punks drinking the beer and eating the hash and the hot dogs watching the other people go off to Florida while Im sweating out how to play the plumber next time its me going to be going to Florida. A running theme among Eddie Coyle and his friends is the desire for retirement. Like Coyle, the leader of the bank robbers has plans reminiscent of the lyrics from Midnight Cowboys Everybodys Talkin' he plans on going where the sun keeps shining. They need to get out of this life not only because the law may be catching up with them, but age is catching up with them as well. The time has come to cede the criminal scene to younger persons. A different type of criminal, younger and with different motivations, now looks to take a prominent role. Coyle may no longer even be cut out for his illicit side job anymore. His retirement may be a forced one. Although his trade is moving stolen firearms, Eddie doesnt like the indiscriminate nature of machine gun fire. His trust lay in the classic, traditional revolver. He even questions the mindset of someone who would use machine guns in a crime. Not too ironically, the customers for machine guns are two revolutionary hippie types. They wish to rob a bank as well, but their motivation focuses more on damaging the system than personally profiting from it. All this is foreign to someone like Eddie Coyle. Crime and violence seems to be changing and Eddie Coyle sees his way as becoming a thing of the past. Eddie knows his career is winding down, which is why he now thinks of performing one last deal and getting out. The heist (film still) Everything changes when the next bank heist leads to a murder. Eddie, although only peripherally involved in the robbery, finds his ability to cut a deal, save the money from his last score, and retire increasingly difficult. The authorities want more. And they may not even be planning to honor their end of the bargain. Eddie shouldnt be surprised. Law enforcement is another wing of the all-powerful, stifling system. Indeed, the feds are hardly fair to Eddie. Life is not fair to Eddie. He knows it and accepts what seems to be his lot. Considering all the trouble Eddie finds himself in due to informing, its clear that his time in this world is not for long. Suspicions in the underworld about his informing arise. So does the danger level. Never ask a man why hes in a hurry Although a crime film, The Friends of Eddie Coyle doesnt play out like a crime-action movie. The feature appears more like a soap opera, beginning at the point when long-time character is being written out. Audiences track this final journey to its tragic ending. Eddie Coyles life reaches a conclusion that was never avoidable. Films of this nature from this era didnt even attempt to escape their downbeat proceedings. While not uplifting, The Friends of Eddie Coyle provides warnings and lessons that we all criminals or not might heed. Get the SC business stories that matter. Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free. Kalyn Oyer is a Charleston native who covers arts & entertainment and food & bev for The Post and Courier. She's a music festival & concert photographer and used to write about music for the Charleston City Paper, among other publications. Columbia/Myrtle Beach Managing Editor Andy Shain runs The Post and Courier's newsrooms based in Columbia and Myrtle Beach. He was editor of Free Times and has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Charlotte, Columbia and Myrtle Beach. Angie Jackson covers crime and breaking news for The Post and Courier. She previously covered the same beat for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive.com in Michigan. When shes not reporting, Angie enjoys teaching yoga and exploring the outdoors. Watchdog/Public Service Editor Glenn Smith is editor of the Watchdog and Public Service team and helped write the newspapers Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation, Till Death Do Us Part. Reach him securely on Signal at 843-607-0809 or by email at gsmith5@protonmail.com. Political Reporter Caitlin Byrd is a political reporter at The Post and Courier and author of the Palmetto Politics newsletter. Before moving to Charleston in 2016, her byline appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times. To date, Byrd has won 17 awards for her work. Assistant Columbia bureau chief Adcox returned to The Post and Courier in October 2017 after 12 years covering the Statehouse for The Associated Press. She previously covered education for The P&C. She has also worked for The AP in Albany, N.Y., and for The Herald in Rock Hill. PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-25 17:56:02 A.M. Best Revises Issuer Credit Rating Outlook to Stable for National Takaful Company (Watania) PJSC A.M. Best Rishwinder Grewal, +44 20 7397 0321 Financial Analyst rishwinder.grewal@ambest.com or Mahesh Mistry, +44 20 7397 0325 Senior Director, Analytics mahesh.mistry@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 A.M. Best has revised the outlook to stable from negative for the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of B (Fair) and the Long-Term ICR of bb+ of National Takaful Company (Watania) PJSC (Watania) (United Arab Emirates). The outlook of the FSR remains stable. The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect Watanias balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorises as strong, as well as its marginal operating performance, limited business profile and marginal enterprise risk management. The revision of the Long-Term ICR outlook reflects Watanias ability to successfully execute its business strategy, which has brought stability to the companys operations and underwriting profitability. Since inception in 2011, Watania has had a track record of weak earnings, largely stemming from poor technical performance, with accumulated losses eroding shareholders equity to a level close to insolvency under UAE Company Law. However, following a change in senior management in 2016, Watania has embarked on strategic initiatives to stabilise its operations, adopting stricter underwriting controls and tighter claims management. Underwriting performance has improved considerably following the cancellation of loss-making accounts and cost efficiencies achieved through synergies with Watanias sister company, Al Madina Insurance Company SAOG. The companys combined ratio rallied to under 100% in 2017 after producing ratios in excess of 100% for the period 2011 to 2016. Additionally, the companys conservative investment portfolio produced an investment yield of 3.2%, enabling Watania to achieve a good level of profitability (AED 7.6 million) in 2017. Watanias balance sheet strength remains at a strong level; however, the company remains close to breaching UAE Company Law, whereby a company must hold a minimum amount of shareholder equity equal to 50% of paid-up capital (AED 150 million). Watania has improved its shareholder equity over the past year and is seeking to continue strengthening its shareholder equity mainly through internal capital generation, with any dividend payments contingent on profitability levels remaining in line with 2017 results. The company has a limited business profile within its domestic market, writing approximately AED 271 million in gross contribution revenue in 2017. Reduction of business volumes from poor performing accounts have been replenished through price increases and new business generated through a wider distribution network. A.M. Best expects the full effect of these strategies to be realised over the longer term, although the company will be challenged to achieve scale and profitability as the market remains highly competitive. A.M. Best deviates from its Available Capital and Holding Company Analysis methodology in its analysis of Watania, as no financial information is available for the ultimate parent (MB UAE Investments LLC) of Watania. Mitigating rating factors are Watanias independence from the group with limited interrelated transactions and no evidence of financial strain imposed by the parent. Furthermore, Watania is listed on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange and must comply with requirements set by the UAE Insurance Authority rules and UAE Company Law. MB UAE Investments LLC owns 51% of Watania. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Bests Credit Ratings and A.M. Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper [..]. A.M. Best is the worlds oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 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/20180425006 PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-25 10:22:01 (Copenhagen) - This May 16, 2018, CF&B Communication is organizing the 4th edition of the European 'MidCap Event' Scandinavia, where selected Midcaps travelling to European financial capitals will make a stop in Copenhagen to meet the attending institutional investors. For one day, the top managers of listed companies from France, Finland, Germany, Italy and Spain, will present fund managers with their activity and perspectives in pre-organized one-to-one meetings. 30 listed companies, as well as about 40 institutional investors are expected to attend this increasingly successful event. INVEST SECURITIES (Paris), BANCO SABADELL (Madrid) and INTERMONTE (Milan) are the main Partners in this edition, and they will share their analysis, know-how and knowledge on their markets. BOLSA DE MADRID will be the Partner Stock Exchange for the event. Registration is free for investors. For further information and queries, please contact Caroline BADER - c.bader@cfbcom.fr 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: CF&B Communication via Globenewswire PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-25 09:33:01 There have been incorrect reports in the media about the Finnish experimental study on a Universal Basic Income. The experiment will run until the end of 2018 as planned. Kela: Contrary to Reports, the Basic Income Experiment in Finland Will Continue until the End of 2018 Kela Professor Olli Kangas +358 400 261158 olli.kangas@kela.fi Many international media-outlets have published stories alleging that Finland is going to discontinue its basic income experiment. This information is incorrect. The experiment is proceeding according to plan and will continue until the end of 2018, says Professor Olli Kangas, the leader of the research team at Kela (Social Insurance Institution of Finland). There are currently no plans to continue or expand the experiment after 2018. The effects will be studied after the experiment has ended The employment effects across the whole experiment will be available by the end of 2019 or at the beginning of 2020. The effects of the experiment will not be published while the experiment is in progress, because a public discussion of the results could influence the behaviour of the test and control groups. That would lead to skewed results, Kangas says. The basic income experiment was launched in January 2017. During the experiment, the 2,000 participants are receiving a EUR 560 monthly basic income payment, which is independent of any other income they may have and not conditional on undertaking an active search for employment. The purpose of the experiment is to study the effect of increasing cash incentives for work and simplifying the social security system on the employment rate of the study participants. The study will also look at the well-being of the participants and their experiences when communicating and conducting business with the authorities. Basic Income Experiment 20172018 Experimental study on a universal [..] What is the basic income [..] View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005 #KELA : Despite incorrect reports in the media, the Finnish experiment on an Universal Basic Income will run until the end of 2018 as planned. #SocialInsurance #basicincome #Finland PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-25 15:02:02 Libelium Adds Interoperability with AVEVAs Insight, Powered by Wonderware Online Cloud Platform to Speed up Industrial IoT Adoption Libelium Elena Garcia-Lechuz, +34-976-547-492 pr@libelium.com Libelium announces integration has been successfully achieved with AVEVAs Insight, powered by Wonderware Online cloud platform. This integration adds new compatibility to the IoT Gateway Meshlium that now supports native publishing to AVEVAs Insight cloud. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005 AVEVA Cloud Integration in Libelium's Ecosystem. (Photo: Libelium) This integration enables any member of the IoT community to instantly receive proactive, actionable insights about their IoT data on desktop, tablet, mobile or wearables. Users can easily connect, collect, analyze and visualize data from any sensor, and any industrial asset, across any communication protocol. Libelium and AVEVA are marrying the cost-effectiveness of IoT connectivity with the robust, secure and domain specific operational technologies of the industrial world, states Alicia Asin, CEO at Libelium. This agreement means that the Insight publisher will be available to anyone using the Meshlium IoT Gateway device and associated sensors. The native connectivity between the two solutions enables users to access their data anywhere, anytime and on any device resulting in better, faster data-driven decisions. Insight, powered by Wonderware Online, provides an easy, frictionless step towards a larger digital transformation strategy that can reinvent the customer experience, increase operational efficiencies, and lead to new revenue generating service-based business models. All available at a low-cost annual subscription. For industrial companies, digital transformation powered by the cloud and IoT is a strategic necessity to continue to stay competitive, relevant and differentiated said Saadi Kermani, Director of Digital Engagement at AVEVA, Our deep industry expertise and Industrial Software Platform, combined with Libeliums technology, will help companies large or small take their first steps into their successful digital transformation journey, today. AVEVA has been steadily expanding its cloud capabilities which coupled with deep industry expertise enables Libelium customers to both incrementally and safely improve their existing business, while positioning themselves to take advantage of exciting new opportunities. Insight, powered by Wonderware Online, is a secure managed AVEVA solution that allows companies to quickly and easily consolidate data, from multiple sources, in the cloud. Meshlium IoT Gateway provides an innovative low-cost method of capturing data making it feasible to augment existing instrumentation with low-cost solutions that measure and monitor performance of equipment 'black holes'. So where previously it was too expensive, or difficult, to instrument assets for instance raw material stockpiles the Industrial IoT (IIoT) makes it a reality. More information: http://www.libelium.com/libelium-adds-interoperabi View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005 .@Libelium announces a new integration agreement with @AVEVAGroups Insight, powered by @Wonderware Online cloud platform. PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-25 08:16:02 OUTOTEC OYJ PRESS RELEASE APRIL 25, 2018 at 9.15 AM Outotec starts employee cooperation negotiations in Finland As part of Outotec's global simplification of the organization and ways of working (stock exchange release on April 25, 2018), the company is restructuring its operations in Finland and analyzing its resourcing needs. Outotec will start employee cooperation negotiations about the restructuring with the entire personnel in Finland. The effects of the considered restructuring on different locations will be determined by mid-June 2018. The restructuring may lead to the reduction of maximum 40 permanent employees in Finland, mainly in support functions in Espoo, through redundancies and other arrangements. Outotec employs approximately 1,200 persons in Finland. For further information please contact: OUTOTEC Eila Paatela, head of Corporate Communications Tel. +358 400 817198 Email: firstname.lastname@outotec.com DISTRIBUTION: Main media www.outotec.com This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Outotec Oyj via Globenewswire PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-24 06:30:02 2017: strong performance combining growth of both revenue and profitability Revenue: +43% - 274.5 M Adjusted EBITDA (1) : +46% - 25.3 M, 9.2% of revenue Net income Group share: +51% - 12.5 M, 4.6% of revenue 2018: outlook confirmed for profitable, double-digit growth The Supervisory Board of SOLUTIONS 30, a leader in Europe for Solutions for New Technologies and Connected Objects, met under the chairmanship of Jean-Marie Descarpentries, examining and validating the consolidated financial statements for the 2017 financial year, ended on 31 December, approved by Executive Management. million 31/12/2017 31/12/2016 Change Revenue 274.5 191.8 +43% Adjusted EBITDA(1) 25.3 17.3 +46% As a % of revenue 9.2% 9.0% Adjusted EBIT(2) 20.6 14.1 +46% As a % of revenue 7.5% 7.3% Net profit/(loss) from consolidated companies (3) 14.1 9.5 +48% As a % of revenue 5.1% 5.0% Net income Group share 12.5 8.3 +51% As a % of revenue 4.6% 4.3% Structural financial data 31/12/2017 31/12/2016 Change Equity 59.6 37.5 +22.1m Net debt 24.7 20.6 +4.1m Interest Coverage Ratio(4) 7.6x 11.7x - (1) Current operating profit (*) before depreciation, amortisation and provisions, net of reversals (2) Current operating profit before amortisation of intangible assets, including customer relations. (3) Before amortisation of goodwill (4) EBIT/net financial expense - Interest coverage ratio of financial expense net by EBIT (*) Are considered non recurring transactions: income and expense, which is significant in terms of its amount, uncommon in its type or category and infrequent. Gianbeppi Fortis, Chairman of the Executive Board, said: "SOLUTIONS 30 will have more than doubled in size in two years, from 125m in revenue in 2015 to 274m in 2017, and growth in 2018 looks set to continue strongly. The 2017 financial year demonstrated this robust growth momentum, which is the result of an offensive strategy combining internal growth and targeted acquisitions, in order to secure quickly the positions of our Group in its markets. On the back of a strengthened financial structure and solid fundamentals, we approach 2018 with confidence and expect another record year in a market environment that remains favourable." Karim Rachedi, Chief Operating Officer, said: "The 2017 financial year was marked by strong growth in our business activities in France and the successful integration of our acquisitions in Germany, which is now the Group's 2nd market, and in Benelux. At the same time our profitability has improved because the larger size of our operations in certain geographies allows us to better absorb our fixed costs and improve the efficiency of our field force." 43% growth in 2017 revenue In 2017, SOLUTIONS 30 recorded 43% growth in its revenue (27% at constant scope). Revenue ended at 274.5m versus 191.8m a year earlier. SOLUTIONS 30 continued its selective acquisitions policy with the consolidation, in Germany, of ABM Communication (January) and VKDFS (June), and, in France, of Fujitsu's field services business activities (July). In France, revenue reached 177.9m, versus 133.4m a year earlier, i.e. growth of +33% (+30% organic). The financial year was marked by further acceleration in fibre optic installations and the deployment of a new batch of Linky metres, particularly in the last quarter. International revenue came out at 96.6m, i.e. 35% of total revenue, and grew 66% (+22% at constant scope). This performance was particularly owing to Germany, where SOLUTIONS 30 signed three major contracts in the second half of the year, which is now the Group's 2nd region, followed by Benelux, Italy and Spain. The Group has a solid platform in Europe on which to replicate its French growth model. 46% growth in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBIT Adjusted EBITDA stood at 25.3m, i.e. 9.2% of revenue, up 46% versus 2016. Direct operating costs were up 43% and accounted for 79.3% of revenue in 2017, versus 79.4% a year earlier. This good management of operational expenses in a context of strong growth, shows the capability of the Group to improve continuously its efficiency. The costs of the central departments represent 11.5% of revenue in 2017 versus 11.6% in 2016 thus demonstrating the commitment of SOLUTIONS 30's management to keep central costs under control. Adjusted EBIT ended at 20.6M, up 46%. It includes 4.7M in operating amortisation relating to the S30.net software platform and the equipment used by Group technicians. The financial result changed from (1.2)m in 2016 to (1.6)m in 2017, including 0.2m in non recurring expense linked to the implementation, at the start of the year, of a structured financing securing the Group's external growth policy. Tax expense ended at (1.7)m versus (1.3)m in 2016 and amortisation of goodwill at (3.9)m in 2017 versus (1.5)m in 2016. Non-recurring items of 0.7m versus 0.3m a year earlier are mainly from the recognition of customer relations in the acquisitions of the year and costs related to the reorganisation of the German subsidiaries. Net profit reached 14.1m versus 9.5m a year earlier and net income (Group share) ended at 12.5m, up 51%. A solid financial structure At 31 December 2017, equity group share stood at 59.6m, versus 37.5m at 31 December 2016 and net debt stood at 24.7m (less than 1 time adjusted EBITDA) versus 20.6m a year earlier. With a gearing (net debt to equity) of 41%, and a coverage ratio of net financial expense by adjusted EBIT of 7.6 times, the Group has the required room for manoeuvre to pursue its growth strategy. Appointment of three new members within the Supervisory Board At its last meeting, the Supervisory Board co-opted two new members: Paul Raguin, Chairman of the Supervisory Board for Eolane, which specialises in the design and production of connected objects and Jean-Paul Cottet, a former member of Orange's executive committee. The Supervisory Board will propose to the Shareholders Meeting of 18 May to nominate also Laurence Vanhee, a Belgian citizen, who is a human resources specialist and founder of Happyformance. Their appointments strengthen S3O's Supervisory Board's skill set and bring complementary expertise in terms of strategic marketing, human capital management and organisation. Highly robust growth outlook remains for 2018 Thanks to a solid skill set across a range of sectors and strong leadership, SOLUTIONS 30 is in an ideal position to seize growth opportunities in its markets and continue its offensive growth strategy. The Group benefits from several growth drivers: the spread of digital across all sectors of the economy, a strong tendency towards outsourcing service activities and a highly fragmented European market in which SOLUTIONS 30 has become the natural market consolidator. At the same time, and to continue its strategy combining growth and profitability, the Group has secured its business model and its ability to execute whilst maintaining rigorous cost management to absorb the ramp-up of its contracts. Thus, in 2018, SOLUTIONS 30 is expected to witness another excellent year of robust and profitable growth, driven by new contracts signed throughout 2017 and new projects under discussion. Jean-Marie Descarpentries, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, concluded: "On behalf of the Supervisory Board, I would like to thank SOLUTIONS 30's customers for their continued loyalty and extend my warm congratulations to the Executive Board, the Managers and all of our Employees as well as the main referenced subcontractors for another financial year of remarkable progress." Next key dates: 14 May 2018 Q1 2018 revenue 24 July 2018 Q2 and 1st half 2018 revenue 24 September 2018 2018 half-year results 6 November 2018 Q3 2018 revenue Publication after the close of the Euronext Growth and XETRA markets, i.e. at 8:00pm CET. About SOLUTIONS 30 The SOLUTIONS 30 Group is Europe's leading provider of Solutions for New Technologies. Its mission is to grant individuals and businesses alike access to technological changes that transform our daily lives: computers and the Internet in the past, today's digital changes, and future technology that will make the world ever more connected in real time. Since its founding, the Group has handled more than 10 million service calls by drawing on a network of 4,000 regional technicians. SOLUTIONS 30 currently covers the whole of France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain. SOLUTIONS 30 S.E.'s capital comprises 24,179,812 shares, with an identical number of theoretical and exercisable voting rights. Solutions 30 S.E. is listed on the Alternext market (ISIN FR0013188844 - code ALS30), eligible for the PEA-PME share savings plan, and on the Frankfurt stock exchange on the Xetra electronic system (ISIN FR0013188844 - code 30L2) Indexes: MSCI Europe Small Cap | Tech40 | CAC PME For more information, go to www.solutions30.com SOLUTIONS 30 CONTACTS: SOLUTIONS 30 EDIFICE COMMUNICATION Nezha Calligaro | CEO PA Samuel Beaupain | Press Relations +352 (0)2 648 19 17 +33 (0)6 88 48 48 02 | samuel@edifice-communication.com GENESTA Finance Herve Guyot | Listing Sponsor Nathalie Boumendil | Investor Relations +33 (0)1 45 63 68 60 | hguyot@genesta-finance.com +33 (0)6 85 82 41 95 | nathalie@edifice-communication.com This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: SOLUTIONS 30 via Globenewswire The Nigerian government on Tuesday said some ongoing initiatives to promote financial transparency and accountability in the system were part of efforts to curb illicit financial flows in the country. Findings by a high level African Union panel led by the former South African President, Thabo Mbeki said losses traced to Illicit financial flows cost Africa an estimated $50 billion annually. Recent data showed loses have continued to grow mainly due to trade malpractices, abusive transfer pricing schemes, criminality, corruption and outright theft of the continents natural resources. The Special Adviser on Economic Matters, Office of the Vice President, Adeyemi Dipeolu, said the Nigerian government has continued to implement some of the recommendations in a special declaration by African Heads of State and Government on the issue. Mr Dipeolu was speaking at the workshop on the Role of Parliaments in Combating Illicit Financial Flows from Africa organized by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abuja. Some of the initiatives by Nigeria to curb illicit financial flows, he said, include introduction of a single windows trade platform in all of the countrys ports of entry and ensuring company registration and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) were linked to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) website. Others include introduction of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), a tax amnesty scheme for tax offenders; the Bank Verification Number (BVN) scheme; enactment of law granting independence to the National Financial Intelligence Unit against money laundering and related crimes. Also, the signing of the multilateral convention to implement tax treaty related measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting as well as common reporting standard multilateral competent authority agreement to continue the convention on mutual assistance in tax matters. Mr Dipeolu underlined the need for a strong political will and cooperation among African leaders and interest groups to continue the implementation of the recommendations of the high level panel. He said the workshop would provide the platform to bring key issues about illicit financial flows to the attention of lawmakers considered among political leaders capable of helping tackle the problem in the continent. Legislators are very much needed if Africa is to successfully tackle the scourge of illicit financial flows. They are representatives of the people and moulders and shapers of public discourse, he said. The lawmakers, the Adviser noted, were not only required to pass domestic legislation on illicit financial flows, but also to contribute to a global effort to tackle the problem, by encouraging their colleagues in the Inter-Parliamentary Union and other related fora to support such efforts. Highlighting the negative impact of illicit financial flows, Mr Dipeolu said African countries resources needed for development have not only been reduced, it contributes to undermining good governance, exacerbates conflict, deepen inequality and weaken international development cooperation. He stressed the need to continue promoting transparency; ensure closer monitoring of the commercial routes of illicit financial flows and increased efforts at asset recovery and repatriation. Transparency, he pointed out, was important considering that the main motivation of most perpetrators of illicit financial flows was to hide wealth from tax authorities and law enforcement agencies. President of AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, said the workshop was organized by the Bank in view of its understanding of the fundamental role of the legislature in promoting economic recovery and sustainable development. He was represented by AfDB Senior Nigeria Country Director, Ebrima Faal. Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank Photo: AfDB Apart from their constitutional mandate to oversee government and hold government to account, Mr Adesina said the legislature also promote good economic and financial governance through effective oversight of the public budget and expenditure management. He said the AfDB would continue to support the capacity building of African Parliaments, to help strengthen their oversight function and promote good economic governance in the regional member countries. ADVERTISEMENT The AfDB strongly supports Africas economic efforts; including efforts to stem corruption, improve transparency, and strengthen fiscal consolidation and efficiency, Mr Adesina said. He said the strategic framework and action plan for the prevention of illicit financial flows in Africa approved in April 2017 was anchored on strengthening the capacity of the Banks regional member countries and regional economic communities to fight the menace of illicit financial flows. The workshop organized for lawmakers, judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and related officials in Africa, he said, was to help build the capacity of regional interest groups against illicit financial flows. ADVERTISEMENT A Palestinian Journalist died on Wednesday after succumbing to wounds sustained by Israeli troops who shot him in the Gaza Strip two weeks ago while covering protests, a Gaza Health Ministry official said. Ahmad Abu Hussein, aged 26, worked for a local radio station. He was shot in the eastern Gaza Strip on April 13. He becomes the second Palestinian journalist to die during weekly protests in the Gaza Strip demanding that refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war be allowed to return to their homes in what is now Israel. The protests began in late March and are set to continue until at least May 15, the day Palestinians mourn Israels creation. Since the start of the weekly marches, Israeli forces have killed 42 Palestinians, amid criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups over the excessive use of force. (dpa/NAN) ADVERTISEMENT As the world marks the World Malaria Day, Wednesday, with the theme Ready to Beat Malaria, experts have said Nigeria could eliminate malaria if there was political will. In a statement signed on behalf of Novartis, a pharmaceutical company by Nana Boakye-Yiadom, the experts opine that with the current way Nigeria is handling malaria, it is unlikely the country will be able to achieve malaria elimination by 2030. There are great plans, policies and documents but very little on the path of the government to make things work, This assertion, the release noted is contained in the MalaFa report. The MalaFA study was commissioned by Novartis and co-chaired by Richard Kamwi, Ambassador, Elimination 8 (E8), and Bob Snow, of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust program, Kenya and University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Research advisers, which include Roll Back Malaria, Malaria No More UK and the African Leaders Malaria Alliance have experts suggesting that the capacity of regulators in Nigeria to check influx of substandard malaria products needs to be strengthened. Part of the statement reads: According to the 2017 World Malaria Report, there were 216 million cases of malaria in 2016, up from 211 million cases in 2015. The number of malaria deaths was 445,000 in 2016 vs. 438,000 in 2015. 90 per cent of malaria cases and over 90 per cent of malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Children under 5 are particularly at risk, and malaria takes the life of a child every two minutes. Over the next five years, as part of its commitment, Novartis, a pharmaceutical company, will invest more than USD100 million to advance research and development of next-generation treatments to combat emerging resistance to artemisinin and other currently used antimalarials. In order to contribute to the WHOs target of reducing malaria-related child mortality by at least 90 per cent by 2030, Novartis will further help expand access to paediatric antimalarials and implement healthcare system strengthening programs in 4 sub-Saharan countries. The new commitment, the statement adds launches at the same time as results from a new research study (Malaria Futures for Africa, MalaFA) across 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In total, 68 African experts from governments, the research community and nongovernmental organizations expressed their views on progress and remaining challenges toward the 2030 global malaria elimination targets. Malaria remains a major public health concern in Nigeria with about 76 per cent of the population at risk. It is still one of the leading causes of death in the country with the country having one of the greatest number of malaria cases in the world. Despite the tremendous progress made in combating malaria, one child still dies from the disease every two minutes. Novartis aims to contribute to the WHOs target of reducing malaria-related child mortality by at least 90 per cent in 2030. In Nigeria and three other Sub Saharan African countries, Novartis plans to work with partners to help expand access to our paediatric artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) and drive integrated community case management (iCCM) initiatives. iCCM is recognized as a key strategy for increasing access to essential treatments and reducing child mortality from treatable conditions, such as malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea. The MalaFa Report insight on Nigeria offered that in terms of budgetary integrity, Malaria programmes are dependent on the availability of donor funds. At the expiration of these programmes, the entire country goes into doldrums and we wait for the next programme. In between, the little gains made are lost. Meanwhile, with respect to Geographical focus, the inputs from Nigerian experts reveal in the MalaFa Report that because Nigerians do travel a lot with many traveling to Asia on business. This increases the prospects for importation of ACT-resistant parasite strains into the country. Resistance to treatment presents the biggest threat to the incredible progress that has been made in the fight against malaria in the past 20 years. We cannot afford to wait; this is why we are committing to advance the research and development of next-generation treatments, Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis said. At the same time, we need to work to ensure that our innovation reaches those most in need, even those in the most remote locations. ADVERTISEMENT The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, has assured Nigerians the government is making efforts to end the strike by the Joints Health Unions (JOHESU) which has crippled government hospitals across the country. Mr. Adewole gave this assurance on Wednesday while addressing journalists after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja. The minister said government has set up a high-level committee to review the demands of the striking union and find a lasting solution. JOHESU, comprising health workers apart from medical doctors and dentists, are on an indefinite strike to press home their demands (technical and financial) from the government. The minister said the committee had met five times start from last week Tuesday and would also be meeting Wednesday night. We are really at work with respect to this. We have done quite a lot of computation, we have met with (Ministry of )Finance, we have met with Budget and National planning. We are looking into all issues relating to this strike, he said. The minister however debunked the unions claim of a prior agreement which was not fulfilled. But let me also put it on record that when we came on board, JOHESU approached us that they had an agreement with government but we discovered that there was really no agreement with government. What they were able to provide were minutes of meetings held previously and we told them that no responsible government will implement minutes of previous meetings. And of the 15 points demands, we have met 14 of them over the one and a half years. The only one left we are currently meeting on, Mr Adewole added. The strike which is on its eighth day has crippled health care delivery across federal health institutions across the country. The government had threatened to invoke the no work no pay rule on the strike but the union called the bluff of the government, saying it will be on the strike until its demands are met. The union also vowed that state and local government health institutions will join the strike within two weeks if the government fails to accede to the demands. JOHESU also said it is no longer ready to go back to the negotiation table with the government. There is no more negotiation because the government had already reached an agreement with us and signed it so nothing again to negotiate, the only thing we may look at as agreement is how many months of the arrears are they going to pay because it is now four years since 2014. Any other thing is sealed and signed, the National Vice Chairman of JOHESU, Ogbonna Chimela, said in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES. ADVERTISEMENT The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Uche Secondus, has urged the Presidency to halt the killings going on in Benue State immediately before it degenerates into a national crisis. Mr Secondus, in a condolence message sent to the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom and the Catholic Church in Nigeria on the Tuesday mornings brutal murder of two Catholic priests and 17 other worshippers said the killings which began on New Years Day is no longer bearable. On Tuesday morning, worshipers at the St. Ignatius Quashi Catholic Church parish in Ukpor-Mbalom in Gwer Local Government Area of the state were attacked and killed by suspected herdsmen. At least 19 people were killed during the attack, including two priests. Several attacks by suspected herdsmen have left hundreds of people dead in various communities within the state in recent months. A visit by President Muhammadu Buhari and a six-weeks military operation deployed to curb the killings have not stemmed the crisis. The PDP chairman, in a statement signed by his media adviser, Ike Abonyi, said the continued bloodletting in Benue and other parts of the country raises a lot of concern on the future of the country. From whichever angle you are witnessing what is happening in this country, one thing is agreeable that this country is sliding dangerously. Nigerians and the global community have continued to watch as all the tenets of democracy are being eroded and giving way to dictatorial tendencies. In the last one week, we have watched as disturbing indices continue to crop up ahead of the forthcoming general election with APC administration either unconcerned or involved in a tactical endorsement of such act, the party said. The official said the choreographed tension is designed by the APC administration to charge up the polity to enable them carry out an agenda of abusing democratic processes and the rule of law ahead of 2019. I find it unexplainable that some group of gunmen should hold a state to ransom since January killing and maiming citizens and destroying their houses and the security operatives appear helpless. Where are the military operatives that carried out Python and Crocodile dances in South-east and South-south region respectively lately brandishing their might to less dangerous citizens and who have been unable to tackle the Benue killings. How can anybody expect Benue State for instance to contribute its own share of the $1bn security votes when the nation security architecture is not designed to protect their people? The president had recently said these herdsmen are foreigners trained by late Libyan leader, Muammar Gadhafi. If we are to give in to the Presidents assertions lately that these killer herdsmen are foreigners and that a dead Gadhafi could leave behind such deadly force that a living President and its army have no answer to, where then lies our pride as a nation, he asked. ADVERTISEMENT The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) says it has taken measures to ensure that its members imbibe the culture of transparency in transactions and corporate governance. Aminu Gwadabe, the president of ABCON, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Lagos that the measures were taken to ensure that members of the association operated under global best practices. Mr Gwadabe said sensitisation workshops had been organised for its members across the nation to avoid any infringements on the requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). According to him, the associations strategic partnership with the CBN demands that BDCs carry out their transactions transparently to avoid misleading figures during documentation. He noted that the association remained focused in partnering with the CBN to ensure that the naira remained stable at the foreign exchange market. He urged the central bank to review downward BDCs buying rates and make BDC transactions VAT exempted. We ask the CBN to hasten the approval of our request for an institute of Foreign Exchange Retailers. Extend deadline for the submission of payment for renewal licences and audited accounts. We urge the CBN to also approve license for BDC live trading FX platforms, Mr Gwadabe said. NAN reports that ABCON in the last couple of years had continued to train its members on documentation and transparent transactions. ABCON had also partnered with the Nigeria Interbank Settlement Service (NIBSS) on the training of its members for transparent transactions. ADVERTISEMENT All the 24 governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressive Congress(APC) on Tuesday announced their endorsement of President Muhammadu Buharis candidature for the 2019 presidential election. Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo made the position of the governors known to State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with the President at the Presidential villa, Abuja. The President had, at the last APC National Executive Committee meeting, declared his intention to run for second term in 2019. Mr Okorocha, told the correspondents that they communicated their support for the Presidents reelection bid at the meeting. We came to welcome him back and to commend him for his boldness and courage to declare his intention to run for second term as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which we the 24 governors of the APC duly support. And we have come to encourage him that he must go ahead with his vision to rescue Nigeria from its present challenges, he said. According to him, the meeting also addressed the issue of the forthcoming convention and congresses in order to make it hitch-free. He said the president and governors resolved to produce a strong party chairman that could deliver tangible results for the party in the forthcoming general election. He added that we also agreed that we will not allow the issue of many contestants to destroy our party. The governor, who is also the Chairman of APC Governors Forum, dismissed the suggestions that the meeting was convened to endorse former governor of Edo, Adams Oshiomole as next APC National Chairman. He, however, disclosed that the governors would soon make their stance known on the subject matter, adding that the public will be duly briefed in due course. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, who was part of the meeting, also disclosed that new leadership of the APC from the ward, local government, state and the federal levels might emerge through consensus. Those who attended the meeting included Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, as well as the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari. APC state governors in attendance were Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Simon Lalung of Plateau, Jubrila Bindow of Adamawa and Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara. Others were Rochas Okorocha of Imo, Abdulahi Ganduje of Kano, Kashim Shettima of Borno, Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger, Tanko Almakura of Nassarawa, Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun, Godwin Obaseki of Edo and Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT A former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, has hit back at former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on her revelations that he tried to dissuade her from joining the Goodluck Jonathan administration in order to undermine it. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala had in a new book titled fighting corruption is dangerous revealed that Mr. Duke visited her in Washington DC, USA and asked her not to accept an impending appointment from Mr Jonathan because people like him wanted the government to lose credibility and fail. The revelation by the former minister drew widespread reaction at a time Mr. Duke is considered one of the leading candidates to run for president in the 2019 Nigerian elections. Mr Duke took to his Twitter handle on Wednesday to react to the allegation by the former coordinator of Nigerian economy. He admitted that it is true he met with Mrs Okonjo-Oweala when the rumours were swirling about her being considered for appointment. He also said as friends and with Mrs Okonjo-Iweala having been literally dismissed from an earlier appointment as finance minister, he simply urged caution. I made no mention of adding or subtracting credibility to anyone or government, he said. He also said it was just a matter of two friends discussing careers, adding it ended there and she subsequently made her choice which I respected. Mr. Duke, however, hit hard at Mrs Okonjo-Iweala for revealing to the public what he considers a private discussion between two friends. I think it is in poor taste and demeaning of her to report a private conversation in whatever self laundering attempt she may be up to. With hindsight, I was vindicated, Ngozi, as Minister of Finance and Economy, despite massive revenue receipts, left Nigeria poorer than she met it, he said. Mr Duke was Cross River Governor during the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency and during which period Mrs Okonjo-Iweala was finance minister. Although he nursed a presidential ambition in 2007 when Mr Obasanjo was leaving office, he was schemed out of the Peoples Democratic Partys ticket which was won by late Umaru YarAdua who eventually chose Mr Jonathan as his running mate and won the presidential election. Mr Jonathan became the president following the death of Mr YarAdua. ADVERTISEMENT Just days before President Muhammadu Buhari meets his American counterpart, Donald Trump, in Washington DC, the United States government has released a report indicting the administration of the Nigerian leader of the festering human rights abuses in the country. The US Department of State in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 blamed the reluctance of the Buhari administration to properly investigate allegations of abuses, especially by members of the armed forces and top officials and prosecute those indicted as the main impediment to fighting rights violations. Impunity remained widespread at all levels of government. The government did not adequately investigate or prosecute most of the major outstanding allegations of human rights violations by the security forces or the majority of cases of police or military extortion or other abuse of power, the recently released report stated. Authorities generally did not hold police, military, or other security force personnel accountable for the use of excessive or deadly force or for the deaths of persons in custody. State and federal panels of inquiry investigating suspicious deaths generally did not make their findings public. In August the acting president convened a civilian-led presidential investigative panel to review compliance of the armed forces with human rights obligations and rules of engagement. As of November, the panel had not issued a report, the report noted. In the same vein, the report highlighted a number of rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, allegedly carried out by the countrys security forces, which the government vowed to investigate but has failed to either do so or release the report of such investigations. As of November, the government had not adequately investigated or held police or military personnel accountable for extrajudicial killings of supporters of IPOB movement in 2016. Amnesty International (AI) reported that security forces killed at least 150 IPOB members or supporters and arbitrarily arrested hundreds from August 2015 to August 2016. The Nigerian Army (NA) reportedly investigated the incidents as part of a broader Board of Inquiry (BOI), but its full report was not made public. There have been no reports of discipline or prosecution of police or military personnel. As of November, there were no reports of the federal government further investigating or holding individuals accountable for the 2015 killing and subsequent mass burial of members of the Shia group Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) and other civilians by NA forces in Zaria, Kaduna State. The federal government had indicated it would wait for the results of a Kaduna State judicial commission of inquiry before taking further action to investigate or hold those responsible to account. In July 2016 the government of Kaduna made public the commissions nonbinding report, which found the NA used excessive and disproportionate force during the 2015 altercations in which 348 IMN members and one soldier died. The commission recommended the federal government conduct an independent investigation and prosecute anyone found to have acted unlawfully. It also called for the proscription of the IMN and the monitoring of its members and their activities. The report also frowned at the disappearance of members of anti-government groups such as the Indigenous People of Biafra and members of the Shiite sect, Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN). The secret police, Department for State Security (DSS) was particularly blamed for arbitrary abduction of persons opposed to the government. The U.S. government also chastised the countrys security forces for widespread use of torture and the use of evidence and confession obtained via torture during prosecution of suspects even though the law of the country clearly forbids it. U.S. President, Donald Trump The constitution and law prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), passed in 2015, prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of arrestees; however, it fails to prescribe penalties for violators. Each state must also individually adopt the ACJA for the legislation to apply beyond the FCT and federal agencies. As of November only the states of Anambra, Cross Rivers, Ekiti, Enugu, Lagos, Ondo, and Oyo had adopted ACJA-compliant legislation. In July both houses of the National Assembly passed an antitorture bill, which was waiting for the presidents signature. The Ministry of Justice previously established a National Committee against Torture (NCAT). Lack of legal and operational independence and lack of funding, however, prevented NCAT from carrying out its work effectively. The law prohibits the introduction into trials of evidence and confessions obtained through torture. Authorities did not respect this prohibition, however, and police often used torture to extract confessions later used to try suspects. Police also repeatedly mistreated civilians to extort money. Mr Buhari signed the anti-torture bill into law last December. The report also highlighted the right abuses and violations allegedly perpetrated by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad(SARS) of the police and the Civilian JTF in the northeast of the country. It noted that despite social media campaign against the excesses of SARS and Amnesty Internationals report detailing abuses perpetrated by members of the government backed Civilian JTF, the government has not taken any recognisable action to address the concerns raised. As the release of the N9billion allocated for cancer machines that could check the deaths of 10,000 Nigerians annually suffers delay without explanation, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has so far released N120 billion for pet projects by lawmakers at the National Assembly, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today. Eight federal university teaching hospitals were identified for immediate supply of cancer machines in the 2017 budget after relentless calls for the federal government to address the collapse of the less than 10 machines available in the country. Medical experts say only two radiotherapy machines are working out of a combined seven in a country of an estimated 180 million people. But as hospitals and learning institutions across the country suffocate amidst abysmal release of their allocations by Mrs Adeosun, the minister has advanced up to N120 billion to Nigerias 469 lawmakers for their so-called constituency projects which are neither urgent nor transparent. The funding of lawmakers self-enriching projects were intensified despite President Muhammadu Buharis promises that his government would not tolerate slush payments to lawmakers, especially at a time of harsh economic realities that calls for austere measures. But the finance minister would rather prioritise the repainting of a town hall in rural Enugu at a whopping N20million ahead of life-saving concerns like the replacement of the epileptic cancer machine at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, an ongoing investigation by PREMIUM TIMES and UDEME shows. Our findings show that the payouts were released in three tranches of N50billion for 50 per cent implementation for Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP); N50 billion for so-called constituency projects surreptitiously tucked by lawmakers in budgets of federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs); and another N20billion for zonal intervention projects. Federal lawmakers have always allocated N100 billion yearly for zonal intervention projects. But after getting that N100billion in the 2017 budget, the lawmakers also proceeded to secretly insert in the budgets of MDAs projects insiders said would cost the nation above another N100billion. They call those constituency projects. Those familiar with the arrangement said nothing differentiates ZIPs from constituency projects. Lawmakers devised the semantics to evade scrutiny from citizens and advocacy groups who have long identified constituency projects as one of the multiple layers of corrupt enrichment by lawmakers. It was only in recent years that lawmakers reworded constituency projects as ZIPs, a National Assembly insider told PREMIUM TIMES. What they now describe as constituency projects are initiatives they secretly insert into budgets of MDAs. National Assembly On the surface, the items appear in the budget as though they are capital projects of the domiciled MDAs, but they only serve as another conduit for lawmakers to siphon taxpayers money through the back channel. Our findings show that the scheme has become so pervasive that it is difficult to establish how much of constituency projects are inserted in federal budget by lawmakers, largely at the expense of critical developmental projects. The projects could range from training and supply of tailoring equipment for artisans to erosion control in a remote village. The N50 billion released for constituency projects tucked in MDAs is what PREMIUM TIMES and UDEME were able to confirm based on Ministry of Finance documents. The amount released could be significantly more. Local business, national funding PREMIUM TIMES and UDEME analysed cash releases for projects lawmakers initiated and compared them with funds made available for priority projects compiled by the executive. The process uncovered higher intensity of releases for low-priority projects suggested by lawmakers. The review also found that projects nominated by principal officers of the National Assembly are more and received significantly higher cash backing than those of ordinary members. The Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, could muster barely a half of his ministrys N305billion budget for critical road infrastructure, but Mrs Adeosun generously released N50billion for some 165 pet projects initiated by lawmakers. Thousands are estimated to die annually on Nigerian roads that have long remained in a state of disrepair and have become death traps, but the countrys funds managers do not appear to see this as a problem needing priority funding. ADVERTISEMENT The Ministry of Health budgeted about N1 billion for the replacement of the radiotherapy machine at the UNTH, Enugu, but no release has been approved by Mrs Adeosun, and the facilitys authorities fear time is running out for the close of the budget year. The hospitals radiotherapy facility is the only one in the South East, but Mrs Adeosun prioritised release of about N1billion for a slew of pet projects promoted by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his colleagues from the zone, which include the repainting of a town hall and construction of a rural access road that sees only a few users a day. In Kwara, Mrs Adeosun released over N2 billion for pet projects initiated by Mr Saraki, including N485million for the construction of junior model schools in Kwara Central. The Appropriation Law provided N450 million for the project. But in what has continued to baffle many people, the finance minister released N485million for the project, N35million above the approved amount. Mrs Adeosun could not be reached for comments. Calls and text messages to her telephone lines went unanswered for two days. The spokespersons for Messrs Saraki, Ekweremadu and Dogara did not respond to requests for comments for two days. Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki While Mr Ekweremadus media aide, Uche Anichukwu, initially acknowledged receipt of enquiries and promised to get back on time, he failed to do so. Subsequent calls and messages sent to him were neither returned nor acknowledged. No going back In recent years, lawmakers have acknowledged citizens concerns that they are using constituency projects to enrich themselves. But rather than suggest a water-tight solution, principal officers like Mr Dogara have slammed concerned citizens as ignorant and mischievous. Speaker Yakubu Dogara At a forum on 2018 budget in late March, the Speaker praised the pet projects by lawmakers as the only evidence of federal government presence in most rural communities of Nigeria. He vowed that lawmakers would not be cowed by the condemnations that have trailed the constituency projects scheme over the years. Lawmakers also consider constituency projects as parts of their larger charitable intervention to constituents. It is true that MDAs execute some of our projects, said Lanre Smart, a legislative aide to Femi Gbajabiamala, the House Majority Leader who inserted N1.25 billion in ZIPs in the 2017 budget. But to say that Mr Gbajabiamila received certain amount for some projects is false. Mr Smart said his principal struggles to attract several projects to his constituency by drawing from his own pocket or partnering with international organisations. Several lawmakers said their constituency projects brought enormous benefits to their constituencies. But that lawmakers benefit financially from constituency projects is perhaps the worst kept secret, said a former lawmaker who served between 2003 and 2007. It is okay for my former colleagues to deny, but Nigerians have known this technique for as long as it has been in existence, said the lawmaker from a North-Central state who preferred not to be named because he is still a consultant to nearly a dozen serving lawmakers. The lawmaker said the president could stop the projects or at least frustrate lawmakers ploy to corner funds through them, citing an approach once taken by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. I remember a year when I pushed for a massive hospital for my constituency, the lawmaker said. My plan was that I would nominate a contractor then earn a good kick-back from it, but by the time the contract was awarded, it was so random that they gave it to a contractor from Adamawa State. This is someone I never even heard of in my life, he said. It was the same thing that most of my colleagues experienced in the hands of Mr Obasanjo at the time. Chidi Duru, a former House member from Anambra State, said he had been a long time opponent of pet projects because they proffer simplistic solutions where a broader approach is required. It is better to have a water works office that covers a 10-kilometre radius than to construct a borehole that would last only a few months at most, Mr Duru said. It is also the same way that a trunk-A road that cuts across constituencies is expected to be jointly sponsored by lawmakers from those constituencies rather than having a lawmaker insert project to build a road that truncates after two or three kilometres away. Mr Duru said the president could exercise discretionary powers over constituency projects, especially when they fail to conform with an administrations policy thrust. Budget process is a holistic intervention. It is a strategic thrust of government on how policies should be implemented, he said. This haphazard approach of releasing money for pet projects by lawmakers should be discouraged. Lawmakers move to shore up their constituency projects by cutting funding for projects the Buhari administration consider key to national development sparked a major row with Mr Fashola last year. The minister scolded senators for slashing appropriations for the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge, amongst others. But this was rejected by the Senate, which said low-priority projects must be funded to achieve equity. Shady past, shady future The constituency projects scheme was introduced during the regime of Mr Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007. But its initial purpose had little or nothing to do with self-enrichment, said anti-corruption campaigner Ezenwa Nwagu. There was a little benefit for the citizens from the beginning and now lawmakers have completely ambushed the process and using it to benefit themselves rather than the people, Mr. Nwagu said. He said constituency projects play key role in executive-legislature relations and that lawmakers appear to be having a better bargain. This is lawmakers muzzling the executive to get their projects into the budget and in turn they cooperate with the presidents requests, Mr Nwagu added. Theyve registered borehole drilling companies and construction companies, he said. You dont carry out corruption in a brazen manner like this. A borehole that was installed in my constituency has never supplied water to residents despite the huge amount sunk into it. Martin Obono, an Internet rights and transparency advocate, said he had tracked constituency projects over the years and found that they are hardly executed. By and large, what we found was that constituency projects usually turn out as white elephants, Mr Obono, head of Cyber Crimes and Fraud Awareness Foundation in Abuja, told PREMIUM TIMES. Mr Obono attributed this to the insufficient fund release for the projects, but said lawmakers are okay with this disorderly approach because it is usually a win-win for them. Even when they know money would not be fully released, they push MDAs to start the project so they could use it to amass votes from their constituency. They would share whatever is released and ask contractors to go and start the project, and still use the project even when it is not completed to boast that they brought federal presence. ADVERTISEMENT The Lagos State Government on Wednesday said all is set for the prosecution of a Danish national, Peter Nielsen, who allegedly murdered his Nigerian wife, Zainab, in Lagos on April 5. Adeniji Kazeem, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, said forensic investigation into the matter revealed overwhelming and compelling evidence to the effect that the suspect killed his wife and daughter. Mr Nielsen, 53, is accused of murdering Zainab, 37, and his three year old daughter, Petra, in their home at Banana Island, Ikoyi. The Attorney General said a prima facie case (evidence) of murder had already been established against the suspect contrary to Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, adding that he would be prosecuted at the High Court of Lagos State for the crime. The Office of Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice on the 19th of April, 2018 issued Legal Advice to the effect that a prima facie case of murder Contrary to Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 has been established against the suspect, Peter Nielsen (M) a Danish National, said Mr Kazeem. The suspect is therefore to stand trial; before the High Court of Lagos State for the murder of his Nigerian wife and 3 year old daughter. There is overwhelming and compelling evidence both forensic and direct eye witness account showing without doubt that the victims were killed by the suspect. There is also evidence that there was a history of domestic violence against the victim by the suspect. Giving background of the case, Mr Kazeem recalled that after news of the alleged murder broke, the police swung into action and conducted investigation, while the case file was forwarded to the Ministry of Justice for legal advice. The police had released a preliminary report on April 8th stating that the violence that led to the death of the deceased persons started in the couples bedroom but the bodies were dragged to the kitchen. Last week, the police released an autopsy report showing that the Danish nationals wife died from trauma suffered as a result of the impact on her head. On the 5th /6th April, 2018, the people of Lagos State woke up to the news that a mother and daughter Zainab Nielsen and Petra Nielsen were allegedly murdered in their residence at Banana Island, Lagos, Mr Kazeem continued. The matter was reported at the nearest Police State and the Nigeria Police immediately began an indepth investigation into the case. On the 10th of April, 2018 the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, the Nigeria Police Force D Department (CID) Panti, Yaba forwarded the duplicate case file of their investigations to the Lagos State Ministry of Justice for legal advice, he said. Mr Kazeem said the trial of Mr Nielsen would commence at the High Court as soon as the case is assigned to trial. For Nigeria to overcome the challenges to new technologies and innovations as tools for job creation and youth employment, government must give priority to infrastructure development and reform the educational system, a report has advised. Concentrating on stimulating market potential, improving the skillset of Nigerian youth, making sustained early stage funding available, and reviewing regulations inhibiting growth of technology startups will support the growth of the sector, the report further said. These were part of the recommendations in the report commissioned by Google, in collaboration with Ventures Platform and OC & C Consultants on Tech entrepreneurship ecosystem in Nigeria. The report, which is the outcome of an in-depth research, analysed trends and challenges local technology entrepreneurs, particularly start-ups, encounter in setting up or sustaining their businesses in the country. It identified some policy-related concerns to entrepreneurs, such as government requirements for startups to present three-year financial audits, tax certificates and minimum number of years of experience to participate in government tenders and public procurement processes. Some of the recommendations in the report include the need for creation of public school programmes with reformed curriculum to promote technology learning; initiation of vocational programmes to provide digital literacy and technical skills and strengthening of research and innovation in universities. Also, the report called for creation of incubators at universities to inspire student entrepreneurs; design private technology entrepreneurship grants and form public funds to close funding gaps; introduce tax breaks, rebates and exemptions for high impact technology start-ups. Other recommendations included revision of public procurement regulations to accommodate technology entrepreneurship; promotion of collaboration with established innovation hubs; establishment of technology clusters and development of incentives for high net worth investors in technological start-ups. During a pre-report unveiling media briefing in Abuja, Programme Director, Ventures Platform Foundation, Mimshach Obioha, said some of the findings from the study included lack of public funding and limited pool of domestic government grants for technology entrepreneurs in the country. Mr Obioha said other findings included general low education standard culminating in poor skilled talent; low collaboration between interest groups and start-up associations; lack of tax incentives and reliefs for technology entrepreneurs; dearth of laws and digital policies; absence of basic infrastructure and poor regulation. The Nigerian tech ecosystem is still in its infancy and so needs a lot of support, Mr Onuoha noted. The first step to creating meaningful and impactful solutions and policies lies in understanding how the ecosystem runs. This research gives us the opportunity to take that first step. Experts in the tech community, including the government, have a crucial and deliberate role to play in supporting the emergence and growth of digital entrepreneurs. In her view, Google Policy & Government Relations Lead, Titi Akinsanmi, who noted the significance of a thriving digital system to the economy, said it was good for everyone, including Google. Mrs Akinsanmi said while the technology ecosystem in Nigeria was gaining momentum, local technology start-ups struggle with scaling-up their work due to inadequate social and policy structures. Providing informed, independent research like this helps to educate stakeholders on the challenges and how they can be addressed, she said. She said early stage funding was critical to stimulating the countrys technology start-up ecosystem, urging government to do something to guarantee accessibility to affordable internet to the people. At the launch of the report, Minister of State for Industry, Trade & Investment, Aisha Abubakar, hailed the research, saying studies like this would help development of new policies to promote innovation. We see the creativity and ingenuity of our micro, small & medium enterprises and believe the right enabling environment can help them thrive and prosper, the minister said. ADVERTISEMENT She said MSMEs could operate optimally if they effectively utilise local raw materials, generate employment, encourage rural development and stimulate entrepreneurship, towards wealth creation. ADVERTISEMENT Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) who continued their protest in Abuja were dispersed on Wednesday. The Shiites demand the released of their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, who, alongside his wife, has been held without trial since December 2015. On Wednesday, they gathered at about 5:15 p.m. at the Berger roundabout in Abuja but were dispersed by police officers who used teargas and also shot into the air. A member of the group, Abdullahi Musa, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES said they had concluded their rally before the police officers appeared. Mr. Musa also told PREMIUM TIMES that the IMN got information that the government was making plans to move Mr. El-Zakzaky and his detained wife away from Abuja. We were reliably informed that they want to take our leader away from Abuja to stop the protest from continuing here in Abuja. But what they do not know is that we will continue to protest in Abuja. We will not stop until they release our leader, Mr Musa said. Mr. El-Zakzaky and his wife were detained after a clash ensued between the IMN members and the Nigerian Army in December, 2015 leading to the death of over 300 Shiites including women and Children. A Federal High Court in Abuja had in December 2016 ordered the immediate release of Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife within 45 days. The federal government refused to obey the court order and appealed the decision, days after the 45 days ultimatum expired. File photo of Shiites Protesters Protesters at berger area. Close to Utako market during Wednesdays IMN protest. The Shiites have in the past couple of weeks been carrying out repeated protests in Abuja to demand the release of Mr El-Zakzaki and his wife. Hundreds of protesting Shiites have been arrested as the police forcefully disperse the protesters. ADVERTISEMENT The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen says judges cannot form an association to speak for them when under attack because their mandate is adjudication, not advocacy. Mr Onnoghen said this on Wednesday in Abuja at the unveiling of Apex Quarterly Magazine, a maiden in-house publication of the Nigerian judiciary. He recalled that during the 2017 All Nigeria Judges Conference, a judge from one of the Jurisdictions advocated for the formation of an Association of Nigerian Judges to speak for Judiciary when under attack. This is like what the Nigeria Bar Association does for lawyers, since sitting judicial officers cannot grant media interviews. The judges position was that periodic press statements issued after the meetings of the National Judicial Council are too few and far between to make any impact. My obvious response, however, was an emphatic `No, because the mandate of a judicial officer is adjudication and not advocacy, Mr Onnoghen said. He, however, expressed optimism that the publication being unveiled, would like all literature, chronicle events of the judiciary for posterity. The CJN said the publication was a milestone achieved in the quest to improve public perception of the judiciary by the Nigerians. At assumption of office, I unveiled a reform agenda that would consolidate on the achievements of my predecessors to make the Nigerian judiciary one of the best in the world. One of the reform items was directed at improving the public perception of the judiciary. I consider the poor public perception of our arm of government a grave concern that requires special effort to correct by telling the world the true state of things in the judiciary. The Apex Quarterly Magazine is one, but certainly not the only step, taken to show the world what we do in the Judiciary, he said. The CJN also noted that as part of efforts to cautiously open the Judiciary to the public, he had directed that all judgments and decisions of the court be uploaded on the website within seven days of delivery. In a goodwill message, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, President, Court of Appeal; Justice Abdul Kafarati, Acting Chief Judge, Federal High Court; and Justice Babatunde Adejumo, President, National Industrial Court all applauded the initiative. Other top functionaries in the judiciary also lauded the initiative and expressed confidence that it would give the public an insight to the workings of the judiciary. The maiden edition of the magazine has 64 pages and is divided into sections covering different areas of the judiciary. (NAN) Nigerian senator, Dino Melaye, has explained the events leading to his reported escape from a moving police vehicle that landed him in a hospital in Abuja on Tuesday. A statement signed by his media aide, Gideon Ayodele, on Wednesday morning, said the senator voluntarily submitted himself to the police and, therefore, did not deserve to be forcibly taken to Kogi State to stand trial in a slew of criminal indictments that include murder and armed robbery. Earlier in the morning, Senator Dino Melaye as a law-abiding citizen voluntarily submitted himself to the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) who had laid siege to his private residence since around 3.35pm of Monday, April 23, 2018. He, along with his lawyers and personal aides, was driven in his private car to the SARS office in Guzape district of Abuja, sandwiched among the numerous police vehicles earlier deployed to his house, Mr Ayodele said. But shortly after Mr Melaye entered the police custody in Abuja, officers dragged him in a vehicle and headed towards Lokoja, the Kogi State capital which also falls under his Kogi West Senatorial District. Mr Melaye feared that his life would be in danger if taken to Lokoja, amongst other alleged sinister motives of both the police and the state government there, the aide said. The senator also refused to go to Lokoja because he had previously secured a court relief for the case to be moved to Abuja, Mr Ayodele said. The public will vividly recall that this same case involving Senator Dino Melaye had already been transferred to Abuja by the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court after Senator Melaye expressed worry about his safety in Lokoja. Now, the question is why will they want to forcefully take him to Lokoja? The Senator believes they are doing the Kogi Governors bidding in order to assassinate him. The aide said the police have never written to Mr Melaye contrary to their claims in the media. For the avoidance of doubt, he had never evaded police invitation before now because there was none extended to him in the first place. Rather, what the Police FPRO, Mr. Jimoh Moshood, had been doing was to summon the Senator through media briefings, a practice which is unconventional, he said. While it wasnt clear whether or not the police wrote to Mr Melaye as a person, PREMIUM TIMES reported last month that the police wrote to Senate President Bukola Saraki requesting for permission to grill Mr Melaye over the criminal cases allegedly linked to him. The police had explained that they wrote to Mr Saraki and the Clerk of the National Assembly for permission to interrogate Mr Melaye after some arrested criminal suspects named the senator their financier and armed supplier. The police accused Mr Melaye of frustrating all attempts to get him in for interrogation, although the senator denied this and all other criminal allegations against him. After some of the suspects escaped from police custody, the police launched a nationwide manhunt and added Mr Melaye amongst the suspects who were at large. The police also said Mr Melaye and other suspects had been placed on the Interpol red alert, but Interpol later distanced itself from the claim and said Mr Melaye would not be placed on its watch list because of the political undertone of his case, PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported. Even though the Interpol declined to place Mr Melaye on its red alert, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) still held the senator at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport while on his way to Morocco on a federal government-sponsored assignment in the morning of April 23. Following the stop, Mr Melaye said he snatched his passport from an official of the NIS who had taken it from him. After waiting at the airport for a while without being arrested, the senator then proceeded to his residence in Maitama District, Abuja. Hours after he arrived at home, police officers stormed his residence and laid a siege that lasted for almost 24 hours before Mr Melaye ultimately submitted himself. Mr Ayodele said family members and political associates of the senator are traumatised by his ordeal. He also said his principal did not jump out of a moving police vehicle as reported in the media based on witnesses accounts. But he failed to say how Mr Melaye managed to escape from the police vehicle before he started writhing on the ground as captured in viral videos. ADVERTISEMENT The polices account was that Mr Melaye escaped through the window of their vehicle, but this was readily disputed considering that the senator is over six-feet tall and by every account quite a large individual. Mr Melaye had been at the hospital since yesterday afternoon, although the police said they have re-arrested and planned to take him to Lokoja to stand trial. Mr Ayodele said the scene created yesterday was a last resort by Senator Dino Melaye in order foil attempt to kidnap him and kill him by agents of Kogi State governor in connivance with the police. Although Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello and Mr Melaye have been in bitter political rivalry in the state, the governor strongly denied involvement in the criminal allegations the police slammed on the senator. ADVERTISEMENT The Christian Association of Nigeria has called for a national protest in reaction to the recent killings in Benue State. In a statement by Adebayo Oladeji, the special assistant on media and communication to the CAN President, Samson Ayokunle, the association said the high rate of killings in the country is slowly turning Nigeria into a state of anomie. The statement said the protest will be aimed at canvassing governments increased commitment towards the release of abducted Dapchi student, Leah Sharibu, Chibok girls as well as other innocent Nigerians held captive by the Boko Haram terror group. At least 19 people were killed during an early morning attack at Saint Ignatius Catholic church in Benue State on Tuesday, including two priests. Several attacks by suspected herdsmen have left hundreds of people dead in various communities within the state and beyond. President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday condemned the attack, describing it as satanic. According to the statement however the Christian association is asking the federal government to increase efforts towards the arrest and prosecution of herdsmen, as a measure for curtailing the problem. CAN urges Christians in Nigeria to hold peaceful protest on the set aside date, in the premises of their churches asking the Federal Government and the security agencies to stop the unending killings and bloodshed in the country. Christians are to carry placards with inscriptions meant to address issues about sustained killings, attacks and destruction of their property in Nigeria. The inscriptions on placards could read, Enough of bloodshed in Nigeria, Enough of unlawful killings in the country, FG, Release Leah Sharibu from the bondage, FG, Stop Herdsmen Killings, CAN rejects FGs poor handling of insecurity, etc. It also dedicates same day for prayers for the freedom and liberty of Leah Sharibu, the remaining Chibok Girls and others still in captivity of the Boko Haram terrorists. We are already at a breaking point and a state of anomie is almost here. According to the statement, the killings have only persisted because of what the association describes as governments inability to effectively arrest the situation. CAN notes that the failure of the government to raise an effective campaign against the killings by herdsmen is the reason they have continued to kill, while there is no visible plan to pacify the aggrieved. The Association also calls on the heads of the security agencies to wake up to their constitutional role of protecting lives and property across the federation while preventing Nigeria from descending into chaos and a lawless country. The association described the killings as inimical to the progress and unity of Nigeria. Lastly, it reminds Christians across the federation the importance of the forth coming general election and the need for them to fully participate this time, by trooping to obtain their voters cards with which to play a role in the emergence of new set of political leaders in Nigeria during next years elections who could guarantee their security and safety, the statement highlighted. ADVERTISEMENT President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he gave approval for withdrawal of $462 million from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) because he believed the National Assembly would have no objection to his action. The action being referred to by the president is the purpose of the fund: procurement of 12 Super Tucano aircraft from the United States. Mr Buharis explanation was conveyed in a letter read at the Senate on Wednesday. A copy of the letter had earlier been sent to the House of Representatives. First, Mr Buhari explained the processes that led to the approval. I wish to draw the attention of the Senate to the ongoing security emergencies in the nation. These challenges were discussed with the state governors and subsequently at the meeting ot the National Economic Council on the 14th of December 2017 where a resolution was passed with the council approving that up to $1 billion may be released and utilised from the Excess Crude Account to address the situation. Subsequent upon this approval, we are preparing a comprehensive schedule of all the requirements for each of the security services for presentation to the National Assembly for consideration. It would be recalled that, for a number of years, Nigeria had been in discussions with the United States Government for the purchase of Super Tucano Aircraft under a direct Government-to-Government arrangement. Recently, approval was finally granted by the United States Government, but with a deadline within which part payment must be made otherwise, the contract would lapse. Mr Buhari said he was confident the National Assembly would approve release of the fund, hence his anticipatory approval. In the expectation that the National Assembly would have no objection to the purchase of this highly specialised aircraft, which is critical to national security, I granted anticipatory approval for the release of US$496,374,470.00. This was paid directly to the treasury of the United States Government. I am therefore writing, seeking approval of this House for the sum of US$496,374,470.00 (equivalent to N151, 394, 421, 335. 00) to be included in the 2018 Appropriation Bill, which the National Assembly is currently finalising. The balance of the requirements for critical operational equipment is still being collated from the different security services and will be presented in the form of a Supplementary Appropriation Bill, in due course. The Honourable Minister of Defence and other appropriate officers will be available to provide further details, as may be required. While thanking the Senate for the usual cooperation, please be assured Mr. Speaker, the assurance of my highest regards. Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) on Tuesday commenced a partnership with the Paradigm Initiative on Dubawa, its fact-checking arm. The process was initiated at the ongoing Internet Freedom Forum (IFF) in Abuja, which PREMIUM TIMES is a partner. The founder of Paradigm Initiative, Gbenga Sesan, described the partnership as a means to enhance the combat against fake news towards and during the 2019 election. He also described the Dubawa project as a proactive one that ensures fake news do not become an excuse for internet shutdown. The IFF aims to bring to the fore global issues around internet rights especially in Africa. PREMIUM TIMES brings you live updates of the second day of the event. 10.15 a.m- Opening Session The second day of the Internet Freedom Forum started with a short session. Issues raised on Tuesday were reiterated and discussed further. Other issues raised were privacy policies, cybercrime and the lack of data protection agencies in Africa. 11.30 a.m.- Tea Break Shortly after the session, participants went on a tea break. 11.40 a.m Breakout Sessions After the tea break, two sessions on cybercrime laws and freedom of expression commenced. The sessions were tagged: Protecting the rights of journalists and activists online; and Advancing human rights in the era of big data technology. 11. 40 a.m. Session on Cybercrime Two panelists, Lucy Freeman from Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI) and Olumide Babalola, a Nigerian lawyer discussed cybercrime laws and freedom of expression, as well as protecting the rights of journalists and activists online. Ms Freeman, on freedom of expression online, said the internet is a place where the minority feels safe to express themselves, therefore their rights need to be protected. She said if the right to freedom of expression online is protected, the rights of the minority are also being protected. On how journalists can defend themselves while the fight for the reform of cybercrime laws is ongoing, Mr Babalola said it is easier to fight a bill before it becomes a law. ADVERTISEMENT The Cybercrime Act has been on since 2011. There is hardly anything journalists can do, aside to stop writing, he said He described the law as a ready made tool to surpress anything someone up there finds offensive. He concluded by saying the law is barbaric and should not stand in the 21st century. 12.50 p.m Session on Positive Rights Legislation in Africa: Replicating the DRF Bill This session was facilitated by Paradigm Initiative. This session was aimed at discussing the importance of positive rights legislation in the development of digital rights. Positive rights refer to rights that mandate a person to do certain things as opposed to refraining from them. An overview of the session showed that most legislation in Africa which address the development and use of digital platforms and internet facilities are cautionary and restraining. It showed that the focus of legislation is on the possible crimes and ills arising from such interaction, and then going ahead to forbid them. The panelists on this session include, Yasmine Bilikis, a writer from Sierra leone; John Edokpolo, a Lead Commercial Attorney at Microsoft; Nan Nwachukwu among others. Mr Edokpolo explained that although Nigeria already has a Digital Rights and Freedom (DRF) Bill, certain factors like data privacy have not been fully addressed in the bill. If you want foreign direct investments in technology, you need to have a good data privacy law. It would help if businesses can help government see the economic benefits of having positive legislation around digital rights. The job should not be left to civil society organisations alone, he said. Discussions arround Nigeria setting and keeping up the pace for positive rights regulation in Africa were embarked upon the panelists Other issues discussed include the timing in the passing of technology-related bills as new technolocal innovations keep manifesting and the government needs to follow suit on the laws that will guide the implementation of these. Ms Bilikis addressed how enlightenment on the part of the government can enable Sierra Leone embrace putting in place a DRF Bill. 1.50 p.m. Lunch Participants engaged themselves in informal discussions over lunch. Two breakout sessions were on simultaneously in two different halls. 3.00 pm Bridging Gender Knowledge Gap in Wikipedia: Reflections from Nigeria and Egypt This session was facilitated by Wikimedia. The session was reportedly created due to an existing gender gap in Wikipedia and other projects in Wikimedia movement. The session is aimed at finding solutions and bridging the gender gap. The panel was moderated by Nnenna Nwakanma. Ana Brandusescu and Roseblossom Ozurumba constituted the panel of discussants on the topic. Part of the solutions discussed include how the Igbo Women Wiki Project and other ongoing projects by Wikimedia in Nigeria have worked to bridge the gap. Bridging Gender Knowledge Gap in Wikipedia: Reflections from Nigeria and Egypt Discussions among participants centred on how the gap can be bridged through education; empowerment of women in ICT; how technology-based jobs are being stereotyped as mens jobs; going beyond tradition and religion boundries and exposure to technology. 3.00 pm. Internet shutdowns in Africa The session was facilitated by Facebook and CIPIT The session focused on the nature of internet disruptions in the African region and the effects these have on the economy and society . The implications of internet shut down were also discussed. These include: 1. Putting at risk, the means of livelihood of many for example, bloggers, online media platforms, e-commerce platforms, etc.. 2. It limits the rights to freedom of expression and access to information. Access to information is also a key part of doing business. 4.15 pm A session on the Media versus the Government in the Digital Age was moderated by Abdi Latif Dahir, a journalist with Quartz Africa. The panelists for this session included: Dapo Olorunyomi, Publisher PREMIUM TIMES; Tolu Ogunlesi, Special Adviser on New Media to President Muhammadu Buhari; Tolu Balogun, a broadcast journalist and Henry Maina, Regional Director Eastern Africa, ARTICLE 19. On the relationship between the media and the government, Mr Ogulesi said it was rough especially during the military regime in Nigeria. Perhaps placing the relationship in a human rights framework, Mr. Olorunyomi said things have changed but not so much. The moderator asked the panelists why the government has suddenly become interested in regulating and controlling the new media. In response to the question, Mr Ogunlesi said the government has always been interested in the media generally. First it was traditional media. The biggest media organisations then like Daily Times and NTA were owned by the government. The government also knows the importance of the role of the media in getting in and out of the government, he said. He also said there are two sets of people in government: the hardliners, who want to pull the plug on the media and those who are not (non-hardliners). He advised that the media build relationships with the non-hardliners in government. On how social media played a role in past elections, the special adviser said Nigeria experienced a social media election in 2011 through Facebook. In 2015, he said he felt the social media platform moved from Facebook to Twitter and he said in 2019 we are likely to have it move to WhatsApp. 5.00 pm Continuation of the session on the Media versus the Government in the Digital Age. Still on the question of why the government has suddenly become interested in regulating or controlling the new media, Tolulope Balogun said the government wants to regulate and almost control the media. She said the reason why the social media bill was not passed was because there was continued advocacy by the media and civil society organisations among others. Ms Balogun also described the media regulatory arm as a big issue. She said it is not balanced as there are no media persons or bodies that fully understand how the media works. On regulations coming up around Africa, Henry Maina said a major problem governments face is lack of policy coherence. He said they talk about creating an information society, yet they create policies that negate it as they consider themselves instead of the entire country. He also added that, surveillance, which has been criticised in most of the sessions during the forum, cannot be eliminated; and that there is no need for the passing of new laws for social media regulation as laws regulating the media also apply to social media. On social media ethics, Mr Maina said social media users lack internal ethics as basic ethics of practice have failed. Because they think being online has a lot of anonymity, they go out to commit crimes, he said. On fake news, Mr Olorunyomi said it is a problem for everybody as the legislature is trying to come up with a law on hate speech and fake news. He also told participants about the DUBAWA initiative which enables people to fact-check information, government policies and would also work on the 2019 elections. Mr Ogunlesi said the issue of fake news is a sensitive one as sometimes the government, aside the media most of the time, is the source of disinformation. on how to combat fake news, he said a collaboration between the government, civil service organisation, the media and the judiciary, is what would work. He also said his office has plans along the line of fact-checking and key-players need to get involved. He also said the media has to be responsible. Ms Balogun also spoke on the issue of media credibility. She said it is the duty of the media to educate the public on what fake news is since the more educated the people are, the better they can identify fake news. Other issues addressed by the panelists are beneficial ownership of media houses and the competition between media houses to break news. 6.20 pm Closing remarks by Tolu Balogun from Paradigm Initiative Ms Balogun thanked participants for their attending and participation. She also urged participants to come early for the final day of the forum on Thursday. She said day three would commence with a tea break by 9.00 am. ADVERTISEMENT Some constituents of Delta Central senatorial district have written the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to demand a reversal of the suspension of their senator, Ovie Omo-Agege. Writing under the umbrella of Delta Central Collective, the constituents threatened to resort to individual or collective representation if their demand is not acceded to. Copied in the letter are President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, Attorney-General of the Federation, National Security Adviser, Inspector-General of Police, Director-General of the State Security Service, Commandant-General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Chairman of National Human Rights Commission and the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command. The group submitted the letter to the Senate while staging a protest on Wednesday morning. The letter reads, On Thursday, April 12, 2018, you moved the Senate to again violate the letters and spirit of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and other extant laws by purporting to suspend our Distinguished Senator Ovie Omo-Agege from the Nigerian Senate for 90 legislative days. By this act, you are now denying our over six (6) million people of Delta Central Senatorial District representation in the Senate. In proper context, we have been constructively and effectively expelled from the 8th Senate. We totally reject this act of impunity as it violates our peoples inalienable constitutional right to elect a Senator of their choice to represent them. The suspension of our Senator and Delta Central from the Senate is extremely provocative, considering that Mr. Senate President said that it is a sanction against our Senator Omo-Agege for: a. associating with about 60 other serving senators as a frontline member and the Secretary of the Parliamentary Support Group (PSG) for President Muhammadu Buhari; b. expressing a dissenting opinion on a contentious amendment to Section 25 of the Electoral Act, 2010 regarding election sequence to the extent that, There is a perception out there that the amendment is targeted at Mr. President (Buhari) a perception repeatedly confirmed by many authoritative sources; and c. seeking proper legal interpretation of the 1999 Constitution in certain areas. The group noted that the offences for which Mr Omo-Agege was suspended cannot be justified under any act of the 1999 Constitution Indeed, under the constitution and law, a senator can only vacate his seat if he dies; resigns; is recalled; decamps from the party on whose platform he was elected (without a division in that party); or he is otherwise removed by an appropriate court. The Senate has no constitutional powers to suspend or nullify a Senators election to represent his people. This is the main legal point already settled in rem in the cases of: Ali Ndume v Senate (i.e. also against the 8th Senate where Senator Saraki is Senate President); Bauchi State House of Assembly v. Hon. Danna; Usman v. Kaduna State House of Assembly; and Hon. Melaye v. House of Representatives. Given that the judgment in the Ndume case is against this 8th Senate that you lead and the 8th Senate did not appeal against it, it stands to reason that you are fully aware of the current state of the law. But somehow, this 8th Senate appears to thrive in extra-constitutional, extra-judicial, unlawful and tyrannical exercise of power and impunity. This must explain your declaration that the PSG must be disbanded before Senator Omo-Agege can return to the Senate! In other words, to you, for Senator Omo-Agege to represent his people, his constitutional rights of association (in PSG), to hold opinions and to seek legal redress must first be extinguished! This is very dangerous for the Rule of Law and our democracy. The constituents said they would not allow Mr Saraki to expel their senator from representing them. They requested Mr Saraki to honourably and urgently allow our Senator Ovie Omo-Agege to continue to represent us and our people without any hindrance whatsoever; and if this option fails and we continue to be unrepresented; THAT we shall resort to SELF- or COLLECTIVE REPRESENTATION by coming physically in our numbers to represent ourselves in the Senate, as our removal, without any constitutional basis, from decision-making in the Senate is a very clear existential threat to us in the Nigerian Nation. The protest was still on at the time of filing this report. ADVERTISEMENT Nigerian senators have stormed the national hospital to see Dino Melaye, one of their colleagues who was hospitalised after jumping out of a moving police vehicle. Mr Melaye jumped out to avoid being taking to Lokoja to stand trial in a slew of criminal allegations, including murder. The senators arrived st 1:29 p.m. in three buses shortly after suspending plenary for the same purpose. Details shortly Some senators of the ruling All Progressives Party (APC), have blamed the present administration as well as President Muhammadu Buhari for the recent incidents involving a fellow lawmaker, Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West). The senators are Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central) and Muhammed Shittu (APC, Jigawa North East). The lawmakers took turns to express their disappointment at the federal government while contributing to a point of order raised by Samuel Anyawu (PDP, Imo East). Mr Melaye was arrested by immigration officers at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport and later released. A statement signed by his media aide, Gideon Ayodele, on Wednesday morning, said the senator voluntarily submitted himself to the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) who had laid siege to his private residence since around 3.35pm of Monday, April 23, 2018. He added that Mr Melaye did not deserve to be forcibly taken to Kogi State to stand trial in a slew of criminal indictments that include murder and armed robbery. He, along with his lawyers and personal aides, was driven in his private car to the SARS office in Guzape district of Abuja, sandwiched among the numerous police vehicles earlier deployed to his house, Mr Ayodele said. But shortly after Mr Melaye entered the police custody in Abuja, officers dragged him in a vehicle and headed towards Lokoja, the Kogi State capital which also falls under his Kogi West Senatorial District. Mr Melaye feared that his life would be in danger if taken to Lokoja, amongst other alleged sinister motives of both the police and the state government there, the aide said. The senator was alleged to have jumped out of the vehicle and sustained injuries and was later taken to the National Assembly where he is currently receiving treatment. Mr Shittu, angered at how Mr Melaye was handled by the security operatives, described it as a violation of human rights as he accused the law of working against those perceived to be enemies. Everybody has right to freedom and right to be treated according to the law. The law now works against people who are perceived to be enemies. You fight for change and this is the kind of change we are experiencing today. There are proofs and I know because of what Ive said, I can be killed. I dont mind being killed. It is good for one to speak the truth and be killed, he said. He described recent happenings as unfair stating that each lawmaker has a right to his or her opinion. Everybody is against the National Assembly as if we are the enemies of this nation. We are not enemies. We are representatives of the people and as such, we must speak the truth. We should condemn, in totality, what is happening. What is happening is not the change. How can a serving senator be treated like that? If this is change, I doubt if I can continue under this kind of environment. And I know a lot of people share similar opinion with me. This is no change. We didnt vote this government to be mistreated. We didnt vote this government to abuse court processes and procedures. Its not fair, we advise the government to change before it is late, he said. In his remark, Mr Sani expressed concern over the systematic pattern of violation of fundamental human rights in the country adding that he is also a target. ADVERTISEMENT He condemned the use of force by the police to disperse peaceful protesters as well as elite Nigerians who violate court orders describing it as a breach of democratic values. This is not the best of time for some people to speak up for the fear of being targeted. And election season is at hand and people want their ticket back. Senators arriving National Hospital to visit Dino Melaye People need to understand that life itself is temporary, who gave you the assurance that youll be up to 2019. What happened to Dino is an onslaught on democracy. For people like us, I know very well Im also a target and I will fall into the situation of Dino but Im not bothered. What bothers me is to say the truth as it is. People who have worked erroneously and sacrificed their lives and resources to see the change we need today have consistently been tagged or targeted as enemies of the president. How can people who have worked to bring the president into power started being targeted as being his enemies. We should understand that if we continue on this track, we are heading to perdition, he said. He further cautioned every Nigerian in authority to be mindful of their modes of applying the power stressing that power is temporary. My main concern is this, whatever we do today because we are in power, we may be at the receiving end tomorrow. Theres always a karma for the way you apply power. Dinos incident is going to be a history of the 8th senate and the Nigerian government. Dino is a victim today and an attack on one is an attack on all. If youre happy that the parliamentarians are being harassed because you dont like his face, tomorrow therell be a Parliament you like with a president you dont like, he added. Oluremi Tinubu cautioned her colleagues asking them to focus on the topic of discussion. I am against digressing away from the main issue here. We should not implicate different issues. I am not a lawyer, Im a scientist and Id rather face the issue. If we are talking about an issue, we should stick to it but when we begin to bring in a government that many people supported to be here, to use whatever happened to implicate the government, is not right, she stated. If we have anything with the executive, we have leadership here who are supposed to go there and meet with Mr President. But we should face the main issue because this government has been just three years of 16 years of rot. It has only been in power for three years and has inherited a lot of troubles, she said. The senate thereafter, adjourned plenary and set up a delegation to visit Mr Melaye at the hospital and find out his state of recovery. It also resolved to summoned the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to appear on plenary tomorrow, Thursday at 11am and brief the senate on Mr Melayes matter. Nigerian senator, Shehu Sani, on Wednesday said he was not able to immediately say whether his hospitalised colleague, Dino Melaye, was stable or not, hours after visiting him in hospital. Mr Sani, from Kaduna Central, was among the dozens of senators who stormed the National Hospital in Abuja to ascertain Mr Melayes health on Wednesday afternoon. He was not on handcuffs but on drips, Mr Sani said in a Fecebook update. He was barely able to speak and his neck was bandaged. Im not a medical Doctor or a Nurse to conclude whether that means stable or not. That is the truth, he added. Another senator who also met with Mr Melaye said the Kogi senator had been moved to the intensive care unit and that police and hospital officials left him unfed for nearly a day. The senators had earlier postponed plenary to create enough time for the visit. They arrived at the hospital at 1:29 p.m. in four buses. Mr Melaye reportedly jumped out of a moving police vehicle on Tuesday afternoon while protesting polices decision to move him to Lokoja, the capital of his home state of Kogi. Mr Melaye said he had obtained a court order for the criminal case that police have against him to be tried in Abuja, saying he his life would be in danger in Kogi. He was rushed to a private hospital in Utako District, Abuja, after jumping and wounding himself. A medical official at Sanklin Medical Centre where Mr Melaye was initially taken told PREMIUM TIMES there were preliminary indications that the senator had broken a vertebrae, but was not in critical condition. Shortly after news broke that Mr Melaye had been hospitalised at Sanklin, the police stormed the facility to arrest Mr Melaye. He was chained to a stretcher and moved to the National Hospital Tuesday evening, where he had remained ever since. Some of his colleagues who visited him in hospital expressed grave concerns about the state they met Mr Melaye in interviews with PREMIUM TIMES. Speechless, famished Of immediate concern to the senators was Mr Melayes inability to speak or feed, according to one of them who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES strictly on anonymity because he was not a Senate spokesperson or leader of the entourage. Senate President Bukola Saraki led the senators to the hospital. Although he said Mr Melaye had not been fed for about 24 hours, he held back the details the situation. But one of the senators said hospital officials and the police are to blame for the situation. Hospital officials said it is not their responsibility to feed him but only to administer medication, the senator said. The police said they are afraid of feeding the senator to avoid being suspected should anything untoward happen to him. Mr Melayes family members are also said to be aware of the situation, but they declined to supply him food until they are formally informed by the police that the senator is in custody. ADVERTISEMENT The police reportedly declined to yield to the demand of the family members. Police spokesperson Jimoh Moshood did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES request for comments about the dispute over the senators feeding. The senators were also angered by the presence of police at the hospital. They are standing everywhere and harassing everyone as if the senator committed treason, one senator said. Another senator said Mr Melaye was inaudible throughout their visit, but was able to open his eyes. Before yesterdays incident that landed him in hospital, Mr Melaye had underlying medical conditions that included asthma, Mr Saraki told reporters after emerging from the unit where Mr Melaye was being treated. He, however, said Mr Melaye was stable and was being attended to by medical professionals, including a cardiologist. The police insist they would transport Mr Melaye to Lokoja to stand trial in a string of criminal allegations that included murder and armed robbery. Some suspects had allegedly confessed to being armed and financed by Mr Melaye. The senator denied the allegations, saying his ordeal was orchestrated by Governor Yahaya Bello, his erstwhile ally with whom he had been locked in fierce political rivalry for over a year. Mr Bello denied the allegations, saying Mr Melayes recklessness had finally caught up with him. The senate summoned Inspector-General Ibrahim Idris for questioning about the controversy shortly before adjourning plenary Wednesday afternoon to visit the hospital. About 320 local chiefs and traditional record keepers have been trained by the British Councils Managing Conflict in North-east Nigeria (MCN) office in Borno State on the use of traditional justice system (TJS) in dispute resolution. The chiefs, who have been certificated by the British Council, are to henceforth sit and preside over local disputes at the community level as part of their contribution to peace building. It is believed that it was due to the collapse of the TJS and the gross incapacitation of the conventional security organogram of Nigeria that brought about conflicts like Boko Haram and related communal clashes. The revival and strengthening of the traditional justice system is a core programme of the MCN aimed at using the local chiefs and community leaders to carry out complementary judicial role in their localities. MCN is a being funded by the European Union (EU) as part of its efforts at promoting peace in the North-east region of Nigeria. MCN national programme manager, Muhammed Tabiu, said the idea of the programme was to enhance the capacity of the traditional rulers in traditional justice system known as Sulhu as well as mentoring programme. About 160 traditional chiefs who were selected from two emirates of the state (Borno and Biu) were trained over a period of four months. Presenting the newly trained local chiefs, comprising district heads, ward heads and village heads, at a brief ceremony held in the palace of the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Elkanemi, the MCN officials said the trainees have been certified to have acquired enough knowledge to enable them resolve communal disputes amongst their subjects. Mr Tabiu, a professor of Law from Bayero University Kano, and his colleague Naiya Sanda, another legal don from the same university, explained that it was for the neglect of the traditional justice system as an effective tool for dispute resolution at the community level that societies find themselves in bigger conflicts like Boko Haram and herdsmen/farmers clashes. The university dons explained to an assemblage of Borno monarchs, including the Shehus of Dikwa, Bama and the Emir of Gwoza that the British council has the mandate of the European Union to implement the programme which partners with government of Borno State, community leaders in order to strengthen the institution that we have at the community level which resolves conflict. The logic of this programme is if our strengthened institutions at the community level can be able to restore law and order to bring about justice and resolve dispute in non-violent way, we will prevent this violent at the community level from escalating across the state and the country in general, Mr Tabiu said. He said it was the absence of the traditional justice system which has the capacity of nipping conflicts in the bud that led to bigger crisis like Boko Haram. Boko Haram Commander, Abubakar Shekau in latest video The training started in November 2017 with 40 traditional rulers each from Biu and Borno emirate councils and the training exercise extended up to February 2018. Within this period, a total of 160 traditional rulers were trained on mediation, conflict management, Nigerian justice system and family law, said the MCN national coordinator. Mr Tabiu said unlike how the former traditional justice system was being executed without records, the trained chiefs would henceforth have a record keeping system in their courts for the purpose of reference. While this training is on, each of the trained traditional ruler had their scribes trained on how to fill a specially designed Record Keeping System (RKS) manual for recording cases mediated and resolved by their traditional rulers. At the end of this training exercise, a total of 320 traditional rulers and 320 scribes from Biu and Borno emirates benefitted from the capacity building on conflict management and RKS, said Mr Tabiu. Mr Sanda said 40 women, mostly spouses of some of the traditional chiefs, were also incorporated in the training so that they too can sometimes handle cases involving the women, which must not necessarily come before their husbands. ADVERTISEMENT Earlier, the Team Leader of MCN, Zara Goni, said the British Councils MCN programme was established to actively raise the morale and quality of life of every citizen in the North-east; that organizing such training for the traditional leaders was aimed at reviving the neglected justice system that works for the people. An apparently elated Shehu of Borno commended the MCN and British council for bringing such a laudable initiative to his people. He reminded the gathering that the Kanem Borno empire reigned for 1200 uninterrupted years because they ran a society governed by rules including established traditional justice system. ADVERTISEMENT The Alaafin of Oyo, Lamidi Adeyemi III, has just arrived Maiduguri, the Borno State capital to attend the 23rd convocation ceremony of the University of Maiduguri. The Alaafin is the Chancellor of the second generation university. The Yoruba monarch who arrived Maiduguri international airport in the company of two wives and a retinue of traditional aides was received by the Borno State Deputy Governor, Usman Durkwa, and the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Abubakar Njodi. Activities at the airport were halted for about 25 minutes as the Yoruba monarch was given a royal treat by cultural troops formed by students of the university. Mr Adeyemi would be in Maiduguri for the next four days during which he would partake in all activities slated for the 23rd convocation. The vice-chancellor said a total of about 14,000 students of different academic cadre would graduate on Saturday. ADVERTISEMENT Victims of 2011 violence in Southern Kaduna have asked the Federal Government to pay the N4 billion compensation earmarked for them. The victims, under the umbrella of Southern Kaduna Muslim Ummah Development Association, made the appeal at a press conference on Wednesday in Kaduna. The associations chairman, Ahmad Yandeh, said the victims had been abandoned and forgotten since the crisis that occurred seven years ago in which over 1, 000 Muslims were killed. It is an incontrovertible fact that the April 2011 Post Election Violence which took the typology of ethno-religious cleansing (genocide) in some parts of Southern Kaduna had led to the death of over one thousand Muslims. The forceful displacement of over 25,000 families from 38 settlements and the complete destruction of their dwellings, places of worship, farmlands, livestock and other means of livelihoods, Mr Yandeh said. According to him, the Federal Government promised to pay a compensation of N7 billion to the victims but only released N3 billion through the Kaduna State Government. The Kaduna State Government promised repeatedly to prosecute the culprits but up to now to no avail. Presently, the victims were denied rights of return to their places of abode, notably; the people of Matsirga were denied access to their farmlands which are currently trespassed by their aggressors, Yadeh said. He added that the violence had left behind huge humanitarian challenges facing the survivors made up widows, orphans, Internally Displaced Persons who were robbed of their homes, means of livelihood and places of worship. The chairman noted that in spite of the detailed investigation of the genocide by Judicial Commission of Inquiry and Presidential Panel and issuance of white papers by both the state and federal government, no one has been prosecuted for their role in the mayhem. We acknowledge the efforts of various organizations, local and International, various Stakeholders such as NGOs, CSOs, CBOs, Foreign Embassies, and NASS Committees etc for the sundry efforts in peace building and mediation efforts in southern Kaduna. We also wish to recognize the laudable efforts of the Federal and the Kaduna State Government for beefing up the security architecture in and around Kafanchan and do hereby, appeal to for the extension of the same to other parts of the area. We commend the Kaduna state government for the establishment of the permanent Peace Commission in the State with the aim of addressing all issues in the State, he added. ADVERTISEMENT The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), North-West Zonal Office, Kano on Wednesday said it received 46 cases in March. Hauwa Salihu, the NHRCs Zonal Coordinator, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Kano that out of the 46 cases, 26 were completed while 20 were ongoing. Most of the cases were on abandonment of children after divorce, gender-based discrimination and rape. Others are inheritance conflicts, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, unlawful arrest and detention, among others, she said. The zonal coordinator said that the commission mediated on conciliation and reconciliation matters among couples and families. Mrs Salihu said that other cases were referred to courts after thorough investigations, while others were settled by the commission. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun, has described as absolutely childish the endorsement of the immediate past governor of Edo, Adams Oshiomhole, by South-South stakeholders of the party to take over from him. He made this known to newsmen at the partys National Secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday. It was childish, absolutely childish. Voting is done at convention and not in State Houses or in Government Houses, he said. Mr. Odigie-Oyegun, who did not confirm if he would seek re-election as APC national chairman or not, however, said he had concluded consultations and would make his decision public in a few days. The consultation, I think is concluded. Im going to make it known when the convention committee announces their programmes. Then when I am going to buy a form, if I will re-contest I will let you know, he said. There have been speculations that Mr. Odigie-Oyegun and Mr. Oshiomhole among others are in the race for the APC national chairmanship position. The Forum of South-South APC Stakeholders held a meeting in Benin on Monday where some states in the region endorsed the candidacy of Mr. Oshiomhole while others declined. Mr. Odigie-Oyegun, however, said those who endorsed Oshiomhole had their reasons which should be respected, saying that there was nothing wrong in the endorsement. He, however, said that he was not bothered by the development. I will grant a comprehensive interview to you when the time comes. One of those who wants my job is from Edo and he was the immediate past governor and he was very instrumental in installing the present governor. So, I think it is a case of rub my back, I rub your back that is playing out, he said, adding that he was not bothered by the development. (NAN) For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME. Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire. Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever. Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation. View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union. Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history. Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words. By: New York Travel Festival End -- The New York Travel Festival (NY Trav Fest) recently announced its partnership with the Tenement Museum as the location of and motivation for a day of free travel panels and workshops that are open to the general public. Located on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the Tenement Museum (http://www.tenement.org/)focuses on America's urban immigrant history, a topic that will also be tackled during the different presentations from 12-5pm on Sunday, April 29."We are excited to partner with the New York Travel Festival to engage members of the travel community with the Tenement Museum's premier cultural and educational programming as well as with the vibrancy of the Lower East Side, New York City's iconic immigrant neighborhood,"said Tenement Museum Media & Communications manager, Jas Chana.This will be the last day of the NY Trav Fest, an event for people whose lives are changed and inspired by travel, which is being held in New York City over the course of three days, from April 27 to 29, 2018. Crafted for travel professionals, the festival's first two days take place at LMHQ (150 Broadway, 20th Floor) and focus on interactive sessions and workshops encompassing best practices for promoting destinations, travel and technology, diversity, sustainability and storytelling.The NY Trav Fest sessions at the Tenement Museum on Sunday, April 29, include but are not limited to: Your Story, Our Story: Connecting People Across Place and Time, presented by Director of Programs at the Tenement Museum, Kathryn Lloyd; Finding Your Photographic Voice, a workshop led by Director, Producer and Photographer Marco Bollinger; Traveling to Find Your Roots, guided by popular NYC travel expert Valarie D'Elia; and Finding Your Niche, a forum of travel professionals who, from their personal experiences, will share advice about everything from travel entrepreneurship. Forum participants are Pratik Gandhi, a growth-hacker and blockchain marketer; CEO of experience-driven sustainable tourism company Curious on Tanzania, Justa Lujwangana; and Co-Founder and CEO of TravTribe, a platform that creates jobs for travelers, Shar Behzadian."We were happily surprised when Tenement Museum was willing to host not just a session, but multiple tracks of our 'Inspire' day of the Festival," says Founder and Organizer of the New York Travel Festival, Roni Weiss. "Along with hosting us, their expert staff is part of our panels on Accessibility, What it Means to Be an American, and Historic Preservation. We're so honored to have the opportunity to work with this storied institution", continues Weiss.A $20 donation is encouraged and goes to the festival's non-profit partner, Travel Unity, in support of their programs that teach underprivileged youth about travel as a means of personal and professional development.For details on Sunday, April 29, sessions, please visit http://nytravfest.com/ inspire/ To register for Sunday sessions, please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/ e/new-york-travel- festival-2018- tickets-40796140354? discount=sunday For the complete three-day NY Trav Fest event schedule, visit http://nytravfest.com.For the mediaAlso on Sunday, April 29, NY Trav Fest and Tenement Museum are hosting a press brunch and tour. Media will experience the museum's Under One Roof tour, which immerses visitors in the real-life stories of modern era immigrant, refugee and migrant families from different parts of the world.NY Trav Fest Social Media HandlesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nytravfest/Twitter: https://twitter.com/nytravfestFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/NYtravfest/Registration is now open for all events taking place from Friday, April 27, through Sunday, April 29. For tickets visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-york-travel-festival-2018-tickets-40796140354General Ticket Options$125 Friday-Only Ticket (including lunch)$125 Saturday-Only Ticket (including lunch)$200 Friday and Saturday Ticket (including lunch both days)For MediaIf interested in covering the 2018 New York Travel Festival, please complete the application form at this link to be considered for press credentials:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdD-XQcGDK2jA97QgTzlJz_lbffcM91jEdfVos0no1pBYxMFQ/viewformAbout Tenement MuseumAt a time when immigration is at the center of our national conversation, the Tenement Museum is more relevant than ever. Since 1988, the Museum has forged emotional connections between visitors and immigrants past and present, through educator-led tours of its historic tenement buildings at 97 and 103 Orchard and the surrounding neighborhood, enhancing appreciation for the vital role immigrants play in shaping the American identity. The Museum has become one of New York City's preeminent cultural and educational institutions, welcoming more than 238,000 visitors, including 55,000 students, each year. With the Museum well positioned for continued success, the Museum now aims to use every medium at its disposal to dramatically increase the impact of its programmingreaching millions not thousands-- with its message of how immigrants built and continue to build America.About New York Travel FestivalThe New York Travel Festival (NY Trav Fest) is a community of travel professionals and professional travelers. Annually, NY Trav Fest's main event attracts millennial travelers (72% between the ages of 21 and 44), industry members, travel journalists, bloggers, and social media-obsessed travelers. NY Trav Fest focuses on providing professional development and networking opportunities not only during our Festival, but year-round. ST. LOUIS, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Building Endurance for Utility Longevity is the focus of the AclaraConnect Executive Summit 2018, a highlight of the AclaraConnect Conference, which takes place May 14-17 at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina. Held on Tuesday, May 15, the day-long summit delivers on the overall AclaraConnect theme: Come Together. Connect for a Better Future by providing a forum for utility industry leaders to engage with other thought leaders, gain new insights, establish valuable new connections, and develop strategies to navigate the transformation shaping the utility industry. The summit features three panels sure to stimulate lively discussion. Participants will explore strategies for planning for and responding to disruptive forces facing electric, gas and water utilities, including the impact of distributed energy resources and other new business paradigms, changing regulations, issues caused by aging infrastructure, and the need for robust consumer engagement programs. The first panel, "Squashing the Duck," examines how the realities of electricity demand versus available solar energy are affecting utilities today. It will help attendees better understand and evaluate the true impacts of the duck curve, learn about solutions to help "squash" the curve, and minimize its effects on the grid. Panelists are: Troy Anatra Vice President, Commercial Operations at Enbala Carl Zichella Director, Western Transmission, National Resources Defense Council Craig Horne Vice President Business Development, Energy Storage at Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc Dora Nakafuji Member of the Strategy and Innovation Group at Kamehameha Schools The second panel, Resilience Prepare, Respond and Recover, explores how utilities can enhance preparations to maintain adequate levels of service and operation in the face of myriad threats ranging from weather events to natural disasters, water scarcity, cyberattacks, and more. Panelists are: Rich Svindland President, California American Water and Hawaii American Water Roberto Herrera Dominican Republic Country Manager at InterEnergy Holdings, CEO of CESPM & MD of CEPM Erik Christian Vice President, Business Development & Strategy at Aclara In the final panel, Infrastructure Review and Improvement, attendees will join a panel of experts to discuss the importance of investing in modernization versus maintenance, and better understand the impacts of smart infrastructure. Panelists are: Bud Vos President and CEO, Enbala David Swank CEO, Central Electric Cooperative Greg DiLoreto Chair, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for America's Infrastructure Patrick Van Beek President of Midwest ENERGY Association (MEA) Brian Serati Vice President of US Sales, Hubbell Power Systems Seating for the Executive Summit is limited. To register for the Executive Summit and for more information on the AclaraConnect 2018 conference, please visit http://www.aclaraconnect.com/ About Aclara Aclara, now part of the Hubbell Power Systems family of brands, is a world-class supplier of smart infrastructure solutions (SIS) and services to more than 800 water, gas, and electric utilities globally. Aclara SIS offerings include smart meters and other field devices, advanced metering infrastructure and software and services that enable utilities to predict and respond to conditions, leverage their distribution networks effectively, and engage with their customers. Aclara won a Frost & Sullivan Global Smart Energy Networks Enabling Technology Leadership Award in 2017 and was named a finalist in three categories of the Platts Global Energy Awards in 2016. Visit us at Aclara.com, follow us on Twitter @AclaraSolutions or read our blog. About Hubbell Power Systems Hubbell Power Systems, Inc. (HPS) is a subsidiary of Hubbell Incorporated and an international manufacturer of quality transmission, distribution, substation, OEM and telecommunications products for a broad range of non-residential and residential construction and electric, gas and water utility applications. With revenues of $1.1 billion, HPS operates manufacturing facilities in the United States and around the world. The headquarters is located in Columbia, South Carolina. Aclara Media Contacts: Nancy Talley Ann Seamonds Aclara Seamonds & Company 440-528-7287 978-764-5528 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Aclara Related Links http://www.aclara.com HARTFORD, Conn., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, a new online exhibition, "21+ Reasons Why," launched showcasing the many reasons why Connecticut parents, students, and concerned citizens support increasing Connecticut's tobacco sale age to 21. Citizens across the state are urging that the legal age to purchase tobacco change from 18 to 21 for reasons featured in the exhibition such as, "My dad has COPD from smoking for 30+ years" (a student at Western Connecticut State University) and "As a healthcare worker, [I am] seeing the long-term complications it can cause, and the trouble it causes other family members" (Andrew from Old Saybrook). Connecticut residents cite lost loved ones, their own personal struggles with quitting tobacco, major reductions in health care costs, and the desire to create a healthier community as reasons why raising the tobacco sale age to 21 would benefit all Connecticut communities. Roughly 95% of adult tobacco users start before the age of 21. Individuals who begin smoking at a young age are more likely to become addicted, become heavier tobacco users, and have more difficulty quitting. Raising the tobacco sale age to 21 delays youth experimentation with tobacco and reduces the chance that youth become lifelong tobacco users. 300+ cities and counties across 19 states have made this change, including the entire states of Hawaii, New Jersey, California, Oregon, and Maine. Visit 21ReasonsWhyCT.com to view the full "21+ Reasons Why" online exhibition. About Tobacco 21 CT Tobacco 21 is an educational campaign to generate statewide awareness and support for raising the minimum tobacco sales age to 21 in Connecticut. This initiative is implemented by concerned citizens, parents, youth, and organizations across Connecticut in partnership with the MATCH Coalition, American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and American Cancer Society-Cancer Action Network. For more information or to share your support, visit www.Tobacco21CT.com. MEDIA CONTACT Michele Sok, (475) 212-6222 SOURCE Tobacco 21 CT Related Links http://www.tobacco21ct.com ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., April 25, 2018 24/7 Care At Home, a leading provider of comprehensive post-acute throughout Orange County, Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino, is proud to announce its hospice line of service is a national partner of We Honor Veterans, a pioneering campaign developed by National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs. The "We Honor Veterans" program is a national campaign designed to engage and support community hospices in better understanding and addressing Veteran's needs at the end-of-life. 24/7 Care At Home is one of the top hospices in Orange County who has achieved Level 3 designation. "In California alone, there were approximately 2 million veterans, making California the most heavily veteran populated State in the U.S. It is with great honor that we are making great strides to our large veteran community," said Aubrey Calderon, Hospice Volunteer Coordinator. The company's success is a product of their staff's passion and determination to provide the best possible care to veterans within their community. 24/7 Care At Home provide veteran-centric care: Veteran-to-Veteran volunteer program, pinning ceremony. We are looking for veterans who are willing to volunteer. For information, please call (866) 505-888 or visit us at www.247cah.com About 24/7 Care At Home 24/7 Care At Home and its family of companies offer comprehensive and continuous post-acute services, including home health, palliative care, hospice, chronic care management, podiatric, and house-call physicians. We deliver care to all communities, including communities with patients speaking primarily Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Tagalog. We have had the pleasure of serving 9,000 patients, 280,000 disciplines visits at 5 locations and gained top 100 agencies in the U.S with a 4.5 STAR rating. 24/7 Care At Home strives to achieve the "Triple Aim" of health care: high quality, low cost, and high patient satisfaction. About We Honor Veteran Since its inception, We Honor Veteran's (WHV) has successfully grown to include the involvement of over half of the hospice community nationwide, the fastest growing program in the history of the NHPCO- and now extends efforts to include non-hospice community health providers. To learn more about WHV or to support this important work via a secure, online donation, please visit www.wehonorveterans.org. Contact Information: Niece Nardini Community Relationship Manager [email protected] SOURCE 24/7 Care At Home Related Links http://www.247cah.com DUBLIN, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Laser Tracker Market by Application (Quality Control & Inspection, Alignment, and Reverse Engineering), Industry (Automotive, Aerospace & Defense, General Manufacturing, Energy & Power), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The laser tracker market is expected to be valued at USD 290.9 Million in 2018 and is likely to reach USD 521.6 Million by 2023, at a CAGR of 12.39% during the forecast period. The overall laser tracker market is projected to witness significant growth during the forecast period. The growth of the laser tracker market is propelled by the need for quality control & inspection, alignment, reverse engineering, and calibration across industries. The report covers the laser tracker market segmented on the basis of applications, industries, and regions. Among applications, quality control & inspection accounted for the largest market share in 2017, which can be attributed to the increasing use of laser trackers for monitoring and measuring quality across industries such as automotive and aerospace & defense. Quality control and inspection is an important parameter in automotive and aerospace & defense industries to ensure customer requirements and specifications are met. To do so, they mainly rely on laser trackers for inspecting and monitoring the quality of components, assembled parts, and finished products. Laser trackers are accurate, portable coordinate measuring machines for building products, optimizing processes, and delivering solutions by quick and precise measurements. Among industries, aerospace & defense and automotive are expected to lead the overall laser tracker market. In the aerospace & defense industry, laser trackers are used in 3D measurement and reverse engineering, weapon system and shaft and rail alignment, RADAR dish profiling, aircraft rigging, and many other measurement products and services. The most common applications of laser trackers, owing to their portability, in the aerospace industry are jig component inspection and wing component assembly. In the automotive industry, laser trackers are used for applications such as calibration to automate production lines, alignment of hinge lines and body components, measurement of large panels and assembled body panels, reverse engineering, surface measurement for component verification, adjustment of industrial robots, deformation and dynamic measurements, and quality control and inspection. Europe accounted for the largest share of the laser tracker market in 2017. OEMs in Europe have started using laser trackers to meet quality and safety requirements during the production process. Laser trackers in the automotive industry find multiple applications, such as quality inspection, alignment, and calibration. Thus, the growing automotive industry boosts the demand for laser trackers. Germany, the UK, and France are expected to be the top 3 contributors to the laser tracker market in Europe. The market in APAC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. One of the key drivers for the growth of the laser tracker market in APAC is the growing focus of several market players on the adoption of new technologies. This region has become a global focal point for major investments and business expansion opportunities. Key Topics Covered: 1 Introduction 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Premium Insights 4.1 Attractive Opportunities in Laser Tracker Market 4.2 Laser Tracker Market, By Application 4.3 Laser Tracker Market, By Industry and Region 4.4 Laser Tracker Market, By Country 5 Market Overview 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Value Chain Analysis 5.3 Laser Standards, Classifications, and Related Ratings 5.3.1 Ingress Protection (IP) Ratings 5.4 Market Dynamics 5.4.1 Drivers 5.4.1.1 High Accuracy, Precision, and Portability 5.4.1.2 Advancements in Distance Measurement Technology and Improvements in Processing Speed 5.4.1.3 Automation of Robotic Systems 5.4.2 Restraints 5.4.2.1 Availability of Substitutes for Inspection 5.4.3 Opportunities 5.4.3.1 Growing Automotive Market to Boost Overall Manufacturing Process Requiring Condition Monitoring and Extrusion Press Alignment 5.4.4 Challenges 5.4.4.1 Addressing Alignment Errors in Laser Trackers 6 Components of Laser Trackers and Related Services 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Hardware 6.2.1 Laser Tracker Head 6.2.2 Laser Tracker Controller 6.2.3 Retroreflector 6.2.3.1 Spherically-Mounted Retroreflector (SMR) 6.2.3.2 Ball-Mounted Hollow Retroreflector (BMR) 6.2.3.2.1 Stainless Steel 6.2.3.2.2 Ceramic 6.2.3.2.3 Durable 6.2.4 Computer System 6.2.5 Essential Accessories 6.2.5.1 Sensor Cables 6.2.5.2 Stands, Tripods, and Interfaces 6.2.5.3 Power Supply Units, Power Cables, and Battery Chargers and Sets 6.2.5.4 Others 6.3 Software 6.4 Services 6.4.1 Installation and Training 6.4.2 Rental 7 Laser Tracker Market, By Application 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Quality Control & Inspection 7.3 Alignment 7.4 Reverse Engineering 7.5 Calibration 8 Laser Tracker Market, By Industry 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Automotive 8.3 Aerospace & Defense 8.4 Energy & Power 8.5 General Manufacturing 8.6 Architecture and Construction 8.7 Transportation 8.8 Others 9 Geographic Analysis 10 Competitive Landscape 10.1 Overview 10.2 Ranking Analysis of Key Players in Laser Tracker Market 10.3 Competitive Situations and Trends 11 Company Profiles 11.1 Key Players 11.1.1 Hexagon 11.1.2 Faro 11.1.3 API 11.1.4 SGS 11.1.5 VMT 11.1.6 On-Trak Photonics 11.1.7 Variation Reduction Solutions 11.1.8 Brunson 11.1.9 Hubbs 11.1.10 PLX 11.2 Other Key Players 11.2.1 Verisurf 11.2.2 Oasis Alignment Services, LLC 11.2.3 Nebula3D Services Private Limited 11.2.4 Mactech Inc. 11.2.5 East Coast Metrology, LLC 11.3 Key Innovators 11.3.1 Advanced Dimensional Solutions Pty Ltd. 11.3.2 Hiwe Sqs 11.3.3 Diverse Dimensions 11.3.4 Or3D Ltd. 11.3.5 Novamechanical Design Ltd. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/wwpc4n/500_million?w=5 Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com DUBLIN, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A retrospective literature review, published today in Pain Management, examined prescription naloxone as a harm-reduction strategy and outlined opportunities to expand naloxone use more widely into the community to help reduce opioid overdose fatalities. Researchers used PubMed to identify English-language publications from January 2000 to October 2017 that discussed the practice of naloxone prescribing in clinical, addiction treatment, correctional facility and pharmacy settings. Funding for the review was provided by Adapt Pharma, Inc. "Current literature provided documentation on the role of increased access to naloxone as a harm-reduction strategy both for patients prescribed opioids for pain management and those using opioids illicitly," said lead author Robert B. Dunne, M.D., Associate Professor at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. "However, there is a need for greater provider awareness of these benefits and the availability of easy-to-use naloxone formulations." Since 2000, the incidence of opioid overdoses has tripled, and deaths from opioid overdose have increased by 200 percent in the United States.1 "Discussions with patients who may be at risk of an opioid overdose and prescribing NARCAN (naloxone HCl) Nasal Spray can be effective ways to help ensure a critical intervention tool is present in the event of an overdose," said Mike Kelly, President of U.S. Operations at Adapt Pharma. "We support increased access to naloxone, a potentially life-saving medication, and treatment models that operationalize recommendations from the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and the American Medical Association (AMA) on opioid overdose prevention." NARCAN Nasal Spray 4mg is the first and only FDA-approved, needle-free formulation of naloxone for the emergency treatment of a known or suspected opioid overdose. It does not require assembly or any specialized medical training and is also the highest concentrated dose of intranasal naloxone currently available. NARCAN Nasal Spray is not a substitute for emergency medical care, and additional doses of NARCAN Nasal Spray may be required until emergency medical assistance arrives. Seek emergency medical assistance immediately after initial use, keeping the patient under continued surveillance. Please see Indications and Important Safety Information below. Indications NARCAN (naloxone hydrochloride) Nasal Spray is an opioid antagonist indicated for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose, as manifested by respiratory and/or central nervous system depression. NARCAN Nasal Spray is intended for immediate administration as emergency therapy in settings where opioids may be present. NARCAN Nasal Spray is not a substitute for emergency medical care. Important Safety Information NARCAN (naloxone HCI) Nasal Spray is contraindicated in patients known to be hypersensitive to naloxone hydrochloride or to any of the other ingredients. Seek emergency medical assistance immediately after initial use, keeping the patient under continued surveillance. Risk of Recurrent Respiratory and CNS Depression: Due to the duration of action of naloxone relative to the opioid, keep the patient under continued surveillance and administer repeat doses of naloxone using a new nasal spray with each dose, as necessary, while awaiting emergency medical assistance. Risk of Limited Efficacy with Partial Agonists or Mixed Agonists/Antagonists: Reversal of respiratory depression caused by partial agonists or mixed agonists/antagonists, such as buprenorphine and pentazocine, may be incomplete. Larger or repeat doses may be required. Precipitation of Severe Opioid Withdrawal: Use in patients who are opioid dependent may precipitate opioid withdrawal characterized by body aches, fever, sweating, runny nose, sneezing, piloerection, yawning, weakness, shivering or trembling, nervousness, restlessness or irritability, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting, abdominal cramps, increased blood pressure, and tachycardia. In some patients, there may be aggressive behavior upon abrupt reversal of an opioid overdose. In neonates, opioid withdrawal may be life-threatening if not recognized and properly treated and may also include convulsions, excessive crying, and hyperactive reflexes. Monitor for the development of opioid withdrawal. Risk of Cardiovascular (CV) Effects: Abrupt postoperative reversal of opioid depression may result in adverse CV effects. These events have primarily occurred in patients who had pre-existing CV disorders or received other drugs that may have similar adverse CV effects. Monitor these patients closely in an appropriate healthcare setting after use of naloxone hydrochloride. Adverse Reactions: The following adverse reactions were observed in a NARCAN Nasal Spray clinical study: increased blood pressure, constipation, toothache, muscle spasms, musculoskeletal pain, headache, nasal dryness, nasal edema, nasal congestion, nasal inflammation, rhinalgia, and xeroderma. To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact ADAPT Pharma, Inc. at 1-844-4NARCAN (1-844-462-7226) or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch. Please see full Prescribing Information at: https://www.narcan.com/pdf/NARCAN-Prescribing-Information.pdf. For additional information on NARCAN Nasal Spray, please visit www.NARCAN.com. For questions regarding NARCAN Nasal Spray distribution, please call 1-844-4NARCAN (462-7226). ABOUT ADAPT PHARMA Adapt Pharma is a privately-held company committed to expanding affordable access to Narcan (naloxone HCI) Nasal Spray and to progressing treatment options in the field of addiction. Adapt Pharma's company headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland with U.S. headquarters in Radnor, Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit www.adaptpharma.com. 1 Rudd RA, Aleshire N, Zibbell JE, Gladden RM. Increases in drug and opioid overdose deaths United States, 2000-2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 64(50-51), 1378-1382 (2016). 2018 ADAPT Pharma, Inc. ADAPT Pharma and NARCAN are registered trademarks licensed to ADAPT Pharma Operations Limited. NAR4-US-0322 ADAPT Pharma, Inc. Radnor, PA. SOURCE Adapt Pharma WASHINGTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today AARP Pennsylvania leaders and volunteers visited Capitol Hill to urge their elected representatives to make permanent the 7.5 percent medical expense tax deduction threshold, protect and strengthen the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and support family caregivers by joining the Assisting Caregivers Today (ACT) Caucus. State AARP officials visited the offices of U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Pat Toomey (R-PA), and all 18 Pennsylvania U.S. Representatives to discuss these and other issues important to older Americans. "We're asking Congress to take action this year on several initiatives that are critically important to our 1.8 million Pennsylvania AARP members and their families," said AARP Pennsylvania State Director Bill Johnston-Walsh. Johnston-Walsh said AARP Pennsylvania staff and volunteers focused on the following issues in today's meetings with lawmakers: Medical Expense Deduction : Beginning January 1, 2019 , taxpayers will only be able to deduct medical expenses that exceed 10 percent of their income. AARP is urging Congress to make the current 7.5 percent threshold permanent to help protect the approximately 8.8 million Americans with high medical costs who need this deduction each year. : Beginning , taxpayers will only be able to deduct medical expenses that exceed 10 percent of their income. AARP is urging Congress to make the current 7.5 percent threshold permanent to help protect the approximately 8.8 million Americans with high medical costs who need this deduction each year. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): AARP opposes funding cuts and recommends expanding access to the nation's largest domestic nutrition assistance program that provides a vital lifeline to almost 45 million low-income Americans, including nearly 5 million age 60-plus. AARP is also asking Congress to reject expanding SNAP's work requirements, especially for workers age 50-plus who often take longer to find new permanent employment. AARP opposes funding cuts and recommends expanding access to the nation's largest domestic nutrition assistance program that provides a vital lifeline to almost 45 million low-income Americans, including nearly 5 million age 60-plus. AARP is also asking Congress to reject expanding SNAP's work requirements, especially for workers age 50-plus who often take longer to find new permanent employment. Assisting Caregivers Today (ACT) Caucus: In Pennsylvania alone, 1.65 million family caregivers currently provide unpaid care to loved ones valued at $19.2 billion annually. The ACT Caucus is a forum for Congressional leaders to exchange ideas that can lead to solutions that will help family caregivers. AARP Pennsylvania leaders thank Representatives Costello (R-6), Dent (R-15) and Kelly (R-3) for joining the bipartisan ACT Caucus. "AARP Pennsylvania hopes these issues will resonate clearly with elected officials in the Senate and the House as the midterm elections approach," said Johnston-Walsh. About AARP AARP has 1.8 million members in Pennsylvania. Follow AARP Pennsylvania on Facebook @AARPPA and on Twitter @ AARPPA. AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence and nearly 38 million members, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to families: health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also produces the nation's largest circulation publications: AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org or follow @AARP and @AARPadvocates on social media. CONTACT: Steve Gardner, AARP PA (717) 237-6481 or [email protected] Or Jacklyn Isasi, AARP PA (267) 825-9928 or [email protected] SOURCE AARP Pennsylvania Related Links http://www.aarp.org WALTHAM, Mass. and BEDFORD, England, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Actifio, the Data-as-a-Service company, today announced that it has named Blue Chip, an award winning provider of both cloud & on-premise infrastructure solutions and services, its 2018 UK Partner of the Year. Actifio has selected Blue Chip for this honor due to the growth of Actifio into a full-fledged, integrated element of Blue Chip's hosting and disaster recovery-as-a-service offerings. Over the last few years, Blue Chip has worked with Actifio to expand its solutions, utilizing the data-as-a-service platform with customers as they enabled the remote management of an entirely new data backup solution with disaster recovery capabilities through a fully managed IT service that stretches across multiple platforms. Through this collaboration, Blue Chip has been able to provide this fully managed service to a number of notable high-growth companies and will continue to develop its offerings as the Actifio platform continues to evolve. Douglas Greenwell, Strategy, Sales & Marketing Director at Blue Chip, said, "Our partnership with Actifio is one that we value immensely and everyone here at Blue Chip are truly honored to be recognized as Actifio's UK Partner of the Year. As we aid organizations in helping modernize their IT strategies, Actifio provides us with an unmatched level of support as we continue to push our innovative datacenter backup and disaster recovery-as-a-service solutions to data-driven organizations throughout the market." Ash Ashutosh, Founder and CEO of Actifio, said, "Blue Chip represents one of Actifio's highly valued partnerships as they continue to exceed customer expectations for backup and recovery times with their world-class backup and disaster recovery-as-a-service offerings. Blue Chip's market-leading IT solutions and expert management tactics play a big role in their customers' success, and Actifio is proud to recognize them for their achievements." To learn more about Actifio's products and solutions, please visit our website. About Actifio Actifio is the world's leading Data-as-a-Service platform. It enables thousands of users around the world to deliver their data just as they deliver their applications and infrastructure... as a service available instantly, anywhere. An enterprise-class software platform powered by patented Virtual Data Pipeline technology, Actifio frees data from traditional infrastructure to accelerate adoption of hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. For more, visit Actifio.com or follow @Actifio on Twitter. About Blue Chip Established in 1987, Blue Chip is a privately-owned global leader in IBM support and Cloud & Data Centre Services operating the largest, independent IBM POWER Cloud infrastructure in the world. Offering high availability solutions and full disaster recovery alongside business-critical IT support, Blue Chip supports the IT infrastructure of some of the largest organisations within the UK, including within the banking and retail sector. For more, visit www.bluechip.co.uk or follow us on Twitter @bluechipcouk. Media Contact: P.J. Lee, CTP for Actifio [email protected] SOURCE Actifio MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Addepar, the operating system for our financial world, today announced that it has surpassed $1 trillion in assets on its platform, up from $500 billion just 18 months ago. This milestone highlights Addepar's tremendous growth as a technology partner that provides family offices, wealth advisors, private banks and brokerages with access to its tech-forward investment management platform. Addepar's integrated platform offers best in class data aggregation, analytics and reporting, enabling a growing number of wealth managers to enhance efficiency, transparency, and deepen client relationships. "This achievement underscores our team's commitment and dedication to add deep and lasting value to our clients," said Eric Poirier, Chief Executive Officer of Addepar. "We have created a purpose-built platform that enables wealth managers to better serve clients that have complex portfolios and sophisticated investment needs. The future looks brighter than ever for our clients and the markets we serve, and we're eager to continue accelerating our pace of innovation. Addepar will continue hiring exceptional talent to help build the future of finance." Founded in 2009, Addepar now counts over 300 firms as clients, including AB Bernstein, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., BMO Wealth Management's CTC | myCFO, Jefferies, and Morgan Stanley. Addepar's consistent growth trajectory coincides with the increase of mutually beneficial partnerships between traditional financial institutions and innovative fintech startup firms, a trend forecast to continue in the years to come. "Investors own more than $100 trillion globally, and far too often they rely on manual processes and cumbersome spreadsheets to answer even the most basic questions about their investment portfolios. We're in the early innings of a dramatic transformation of wealth management, where the best advisors win in a massive way. Addepar's platform allows us to help them solve so many more problems at the heart of financial services," said Joe Lonsdale, Founder and Chairman of Addepar. Addepar's growth has been marked by the expansion of its leadership team in 2017, the continued addition of top talent across its New York, Mountain View and Salt Lake City offices as well as the announcement of a $140 million Series D round of funding last summer. About Addepar: Addepar is the financial operating system that brings common sense and data-driven investing to our financial world. Addepar gives asset owners and advisors a clearer financial picture at every level, all in one place. It handles all types of assets denominated in any currency. With customizable reporting, financial advisors can visualize and communicate relevant information to anyone who needs it. Secure, scalable, and fast, Addepar is purpose-built to power the global financial system. Hundreds of single and multi-family offices, wealth advisors, large financial institutions, endowments, and foundations manage over $1 trillion of assets on the Addepar platform. Addepar has offices in Mountain View, New York City, Salt Lake City, and Chicago. Media Contact: Edelman [email protected] SOURCE Addepar REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lastline Inc., the leader in advanced network-based malware protection, today announced a technology integration partnership with Allied Telesis K.K. (headquarters in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan, hereinafter Allied Telesis). Allied Telesis will begin immediately offering an integrated networking security solution that uses their Software Defined Networking (SDN) solution to block and/or isolate compromised end points. The resulting integrated application solution features Allied Telesis' Secure Enterprise SDN (hereinafter referred to as SES), Lastline's network breach protection solution, Lastline Breach Defender, and Lastline's advanced malware detection solutions, Lastline Enterprise. Lastline's breach protection solution delivers advanced malware detection using Full System Emulation (FuSE) technology and network flow analysis to protect organizations, such as government agencies and large enterprises, from data breaches and security violation caused by advanced and evasive malware. FuSE is an innovative technology designed to detect evasive malware that easily avoids detection by existing technologies such as firewall, IPS/IDS and anti-virus solutions. By correlating the detected malware behaviors with network flow analysis technology, Lastline can track infected systems, lateral movements, command & control communications, and other malware-driven activity within an organization's network. Alerts are provided through syslog, API and Web UI, making it possible to quickly understand the complete scope and context of a network breach, reducing demand on internal analysis resources and total security costs. Allied Telesis's SES adapts SDN / OpenFlow technology to the enterprise and industrial market's full range of applications and networks in use, thereby reducing internal resources and cost of network operations and managements, and improving overall security effectiveness. By linking with Lastline's breach protection and malware detection products, Lastline Enterprise and Lastline Breach Defender, Allied Telesis can isolate communication of end points compromised by advanced and evasive malware to prevent costly data breaches. The company also will provide network security reinforcement solutions to prevent lateral movements internally. About Lastline Lastline provides breach protection products that are innovating the way companies defend against advanced malware with fewer resources and at lower cost. We deliver the visibility, context, analysis, and integrations enterprise security teams need to quickly and completely eradicate malware-based threats before damaging and costly data breaches occur. Headquartered in Redwood City, California with offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia, Lastline's technology is used by Global 5000 enterprises, is offered directly and through resellers and security service providers, and is integrated into leading third-party security technologies worldwide. www.lastline.com About Allied Telesis K.K. For 30 years, Allied Telesis has been providing planning, sales, support services for network equipment and solutions in Japan. In addition to switches where it is a market leader in Japan, the company supplies routers, wireless LAN products and etc. to customers in many different industries through a nationwide sales network. SOURCE Lastline Inc. Related Links http://www.lastline.com Despite the increasingly fragmented media landscape, consumers continue to expect seamless, personalized experiences. Storytelling 2020 gives marketers the tools they need to foster engagement in ways that inspire customers to act. "To be memorable, there is a growing need for relevance in brand storytelling," said Troy Brown, SVP, Digital, Social and Mobile at MSL Atlanta. "It's important that we, as marketers, continue to share key insights and foster growth in our communities." AMA Atlanta will host a panel luncheon on Wednesday, May 16th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Maggiano's Buckhead to further explore the paper. The luncheon will feature guest moderator, Moira Vetter, Founder and CEO of Modo Modo Agency and panelists from AMA Atlanta's Executive Advisory Board: Georgia-Pacific, Georgia State University, DRUM Agency, Highwire, HoneyBaked Ham, Dragon Army, Dagger, Heirloomed and United Way. Tickets to the luncheon can be purchased at AMA Atlanta's Eventbrite page through May 11th. The Storytelling 2020 white paper is available for download. About AMA Atlanta (AMA ATL) AMA Atlanta is the go-to source for marketing knowledge, events, resources and networking in Atlanta. At 750+ members strong, we are the largest marketing organization in the city and the third largest AMA chapter nationwide. That means AMA Atlanta members have access not only to an incredible amount of local talent, but also to the international reach of the entire AMA organization. Our members include professionals across a spectrum of disciplines: research, non-profit, public relations, advertising, branding, direct marketing, interactive, creative, multicultural and so much more. For more information on AMA Atlanta, visit us at ama-atlanta.com. About American Marketing Association (AMA) The AMA is trusted by nearly a million marketing and sales professionals a year worldwide. It has more than 70 professional chapters and over 350 collegiate chapters throughout North America and select international locations. The American Marketing Association (AMA) is the largest marketing association in the world. AMA serves organizations and individuals who practice, teach and study marketing across the globe. It serves as a forum for connecting like-minded individuals to foster knowledge sharing and relationship building; to be a trusted resource for marketing information, tools, education and training; and to advance marketing practice and thought leadership. For more information about the AMA, visit www.ama.org or follow the latest AMA news at @AMA_Marketing. If you would like more information about this topic, please call Jessica Carruth at 770.313.5784, or email [email protected]. Contact: Jessica Carruth, Dragon Army Phone: 770.313.5784 Email: [email protected] SOURCE AMA Atlanta Related Links http://www.ama-atlanta.com LOS ANGELES, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Innovation Agency (www.inov8.us), an award-winning full-service advertising and public relations agency, announced that a television commercial it produced for Eureka Vapor, was nominated for a People's Telly Award. The awards are similar to the Oscar, Grammy or Emmy Awards, but are for the best television commercials of the year. The nominated commercial is the first in the nation for a cannabis product. The 39th Annual People's Telly Awards winners are chosen by the public. Voting is open now through Friday, May 4. Anyone can view the commercial and vote by visiting: bit.ly/EurekaCommercial and scrolling down to "Eureka Vapor - the nation's first cannabis product commercial." The Innovation Agency has worked with some of the largest companies and biggest brands in the world, including: AT&T, United Airlines, Hyundai, Toyota Motors, Nestle's, Volkswagen, American Express, Winchell's Donuts, Avis, Loews Hotels, Walgreen's and Disney. The agency also has a specialization in the legal cannabis industry and has helped many companies in the sector become market leaders through creative and effective advertising, marketing and public relations. The People's Telly Awards are open to the public at: https://peoples.tellyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2018/local-tv/peoples-telly/peoples-telly-local-tv-commercial/Eureka-Vapor-the-nation's-first-cannabis-product-commercial About the Innovation Agency: The Innovation Agency has expertise in building big brands, creating powerful advertising campaigns, and producing effective communications and public relations programs. The agency is also known for their social cause marketing connecting companies, non-profit organizations and the public in innovative and mutually beneficial ways. The Innovation Agency has worked with some of the most notable brands and businesses in the world, including many Fortune 500 companies. The agency utilizes this marketing expertise to help businesses of all sizes achieve significant growth and outpace their competition. Connect with Innovation Agency: Website: www.inov8.us Facebook: facebook.com/InnovationMarketingCommunications Twitter: @inov8Agency Media Inquiries: The Innovation Agency 310-571-5592 www.inov8.us hello(@)inov8.us SOURCE The Innovation Agency Related Links http://www.inov8.us SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Anpac Bio-Medical Science Co., Ltd. (Anpac Bio), an international life sciences corporation with operations in the United States and Asia, announced today a 386% increase growth in its insurance sector revenue in the first quarter of 2018, over the same period in 2017; due largely to securing key partnerships and contracts with several of the world's largest insurance providers. Core to Anpac Bio's insurance reimbursement strategy is demonstrating its significant value over existing methods of early-stage cancer screening. Anpac Bio's "Cancer Differentiation Analysis" (CDA) liquid biopsy technology screens over 26 different cancers simultaneously; compared to traditional methods that screen only single cancer types with each test. With greater specificity and sensitivity rates for screening early-stage cancer than standard, competing technology, CDA's medical devices and proprietary testing allows medical professionals to identify and treat the disease at the earliest stages, when the patient has the greatest number of treatment options; thus, also reducing the number of required lengthy and costly hospital and other resource-intensive treatments. As a result, an increasing number of insurance carriers are recognizing Anpac Bio's CDA technology as a means of maximizing coverage, while minimizing costs to both carriers and individuals. Additionally, Anpac Bio is providing CDA technology screening directly to employers for employee health benefits packages. Anpac Bio is currently working with 14 global Fortune 500 companies and national supplemental insurance carriers, providing customized early-cancer screening service options. Working through multiple channels allows Anpac Bio to continue to be the only company worldwide offering liquid biopsy services for general population cancer screening. Dr. Chris Yu, CEO of Anpac Bio, states, "Anpac Bio continues to demonstrate sustainability in the marketplace in its partnerships with major insurance carriers, that are built on an annual recurring revenue model. With the positive validation and surge in revenue we are experiencing in Asia, and the new partnerships we are forming with major medical institutions and healthcare providers in the United States, we continue to lead with a significant advantage in cancer screening technology over any competition." For further information: www.AnpacBio.com. SOURCE Anpac Bio-Medical Science Company Related Links http://www.AnpacBio.com BATON ROUGE, La., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognizing the value of evidence-based treatment, Louisiana Healthcare Connections is offering its in-network Licensed Mental Health Professionals (LMHPs) an opportunity to apply to earn 19.5 continuing education credits (CEUs) in Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). This educational package is being offered at no cost to selected eligible applicants. CPP is a trauma-informed, evidence-based and relationship-based therapeutic treatment for children ages 0-6 who have early trauma history and/or are experiencing emotional, behavioral, attachment and/or mental health problems. The training is designed to teach mental health clinicians working with young children and their families. Clinicians will be trained to implement CPP with fidelity, and within the context of working collaboratively within their organizations. The training has been approved by the National Association of Social Workers-Louisiana for 19.5 CEUs. "We are pleased to be able to bring this training to the providers in Louisiana," said Richard Dalton, MD, Behavioral Health Medical Director for Louisiana Healthcare Connections. "Evidence-based Child-Parent Psychotherapy services have tremendous value, and there is a shortage of behavioral health providers in our state who are trained to provide this level of services to young children. We want to increase the availability of these evidence-based services so that Louisiana's children have access to a high level of quality care." Louisiana Healthcare Connections will provide all necessary materials at no cost to selected participants, with participants responsible only for the cost of any travel or lodging associated with in-person sessions. The 18-month training will include: Three in-person sessions ( May 23-25, 2018 ; Jan. 24-25, 2019 ; and June 27-28, 2019 ) ; ; and ) Twice monthly telephone consultation calls The applied use of CPP best practices Eligible LMHPs will have a master's or doctoral degree, and must be in the Louisiana Healthcare Connections provider network. Participants who complete the training will receive Continuing Education credits (CEUs); a framed certificate of CPP designation; and be eligible for inclusion on the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices. The deadline to apply is April 30, 2018. More information and the application can be found at www.lahealth.cc/cpp-training. About Louisiana Healthcare Connections Established to deliver quality healthcare through local, regional and community-based partners, Louisiana Healthcare Connections is a Healthy Louisiana Plan headquartered in Baton Rouge, La. Louisiana Healthcare Connections exists to improve the health of its members through focused, compassionate and coordinated care. Because Louisiana Healthcare Connections believes healthy is a way of life, its members benefit from programs and services designed for their personal well-being. For more information, visit www.LouisianaHealthConnect.com. SOURCE Louisiana Healthcare Connections Related Links http://www.louisianahealthconnect.com WASHINGTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Salena Zito and Brad Todd, co-authors of "The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics" will appear at a National Press Club Headliners Book Event on Wednesday, May 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the club's conference rooms. Zito and Todd traveled over 27,000 miles to interview more than three hundred Trump voters across ten swing counties to paint a picture of the new populist-conservative coalition: a complex mix of citizens from different economic classes with varying backgrounds and education levels. The authors use Zito's reports from the field and Todd's analysis of the electoral trends to argue that the mass media has oversimplified these voters and overlooked their significance in what they feel is a broader cultural shift that will extend well beyond Trump's presidency. This event will feature a discussion with the author, an audience question-and-answer session, and a book signing. Tickets are $5 for National Press Club members and $10 for the general public. When purchasing tickets for this event online, buyers will also have the option of purchasing copies of the book at check-out. To purchase tickets and copies of the book, please click here. Books will also be available for purchase at the event. Proceeds from book sales will benefit the non-profit affiliate of the Club, the National Press Club Journalism Institute, so we kindly ask that you leave all outside books and memorabilia at home. About the Authors: Salena Zito, born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, worked for The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for eleven years. She joined the New York Post in 2016 and serves as an analyst for CNN and a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. Brad Todd, a sixth-generation native of rural East Tennessee, is a founding partner of OnMessage, Inc., a national Republican advertising and opinion research agency. Todd's clients have included seven U.S. Senators, five Governors, and more than two dozen congressmen. Contact: Lindsay Underwood, [email protected], (202) 662-7561 SOURCE National Press Club Related Links https://www.press.org SAN CARLOS, Calif., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BioCardia, Inc., (OTC: BCDA), a leader in the development of comprehensive solutions for cardiovascular regenerative therapies, today announced the issuance of United States Patent No. 9,945,854 relating to methods of measuring therapeutic potency potential and defining dosages for autologous cell therapy. BioCardia CEO Peter Altman, PhD, stated, "This new patent reflects the personalized approach we are taking with CardiAMP cell therapy. It details aspects of performing pre-procedural screening of a patient's bone marrow to determine if he or she is appropriate for the therapy. By selecting patients most likely to respond to therapy, we anticipate magnifying the efficacy signal in our CardiAMP cell therapy system clinical programs." The patent provides coverage for BioCardia's CardiAMP Cell Therapy System, which is being studied in two FDA-approved pivotal clinical trials for the large unmet needs of heart failure and chronic myocardial ischemia with refractory angina. The heart failure trial is currently enrolling patients at 10 centers in the United States, while the refractory angina trial is expected to begin patient enrollment later this year. In prior marrow heart failure studies, therapeutic benefit has been correlated to higher effective doses of specific cell types. One of the primary challenges with point-of-care autologous cell therapy is the variability of a patient's own stem cells. The CardiAMP cell potency assay is designed to address this variability by assessing whether the amount of select cell types from a marrow sample meets a proprietary acceptance criterion derived from data from these past trials. The CardiAMP cell potency assay is an important element of the CardiAMP Cell Therapy System development and is believed to be the first assay of its kind proposed as a quality-based inclusion criterion for a non-cultured autologous cell therapy. BioCardia Chairman Simon Stertzer, M.D., added, "This issued patent describes one important element of our comprehensive approach to advancing cell therapy for the treatment of heart disease. Data tells us that this personalized medicine element, in conjunction with other elements in the CardiAMP Cell Therapy System, should maximize our probability of clinical and commercial success." About BioCardia BioCardia, Inc., headquartered in San Carlos, California, is developing regenerative biologic therapies to treat cardiovascular disease. CardiAMP and CardiALLO cell therapies are the Company's biotherapeutic product candidates in clinical development. The Company's current products include the Helix transendocardial delivery system and the Morph steerable guide and sheath catheter portfolio. BioCardia also partners with other biotherapeutic companies to provide its Helix systems and clinical support to their programs studying therapies for the treatment of heart failure, chronic myocardial ischemia and acute myocardial infarction. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to many risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, the efficacy and safety of our products and therapies, statements regarding our intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with developing new products or technologies, regulatory approvals, unexpected expenditures, the ability to raise the additional funding needed to continue to pursue BioCardia's business and product development plans and overall market conditions. We may find it difficult to enroll patients in our clinical trials, which could delay or prevent development of our therapeutic candidates. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and BioCardia assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements. We may use terms such as "believes," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may," "could," "might," "will," "should," "approximately" or other words that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained herein, we caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results, and the development of the industry in which we operate may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this presentation. As a result of these factors, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this presentation will prove to be accurate. Additional factors that could materially affect actual results can be found in BioCardia's Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2018, including under the caption titled "Risk Factors." BioCardia expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Investor Contact: David McClung, Chief Financial Officer Email: [email protected] Phone: 650-226-0120 Media Contact: David Schull | Alex Xenakis Email: [email protected] | [email protected] Phone: 212-845-4271 | 212-845-4226 SOURCE BioCardia, Inc. SAN FRANCISCO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- David Bjrngaard, Creative Principal at Bjrn Design, is honored to present The Art Salon Dining Room at the 2018 San Francisco Decorator Showcase. The beauty of the Marin Headlands, visible from the dining room's large window, provides inspiration for his design. Artwork focuses on the alumni of the Headlands Center for the Arts Program, with pieces made in or about the region. Materials and colors connect sand, driftwood, sage, and sky. Walls are finished in a rough sand-color plaster; floors are finished in pale sisal. Vintage Axel Einar Hjorth Lovo Dining Chairs, Scandinavian lounge chair, custom charred wood and glass tea table, and a modern walnut dining table provide an accent and counterpoint to the materiality of the room. A custom Kyle Bunting rug gives an abstracted view of the headland's meadows. Above the dining table, a custom mobile by artist Julie Condon is an unexpected substitute for a chandelier. For more information on the Art Salon Dining Room and images, please visit bjorndesign-2018showcase.com. The 2018 San Francisco Decorator Showcase is located at 465 Marina Boulevard and will be open from April 28, 2018 - May 28, 2018. The hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10am to 3pm, Fridays from 10am to 7pm, Sundays and Memorial Day from 11am to 4pm, and closed on Mondays (except Memorial Day). Tickets cost $40 for general admission, $35 for seniors and students, and all proceeds will be donated to the San Francisco University High School Financial Aid program. For more information on the Showcase or ticketing, please visit http://decoratorshowcase.org. About David Bjrngaard The Minnesota native grew up on a farm where he learned to follow the pattern of the sun, respect a sense of place and value simplicity. After moving West to study at the California College of the Arts (CCA), David Bjrngaard worked for interior designer Orlando Diaz-Azcuy. The seven years he spent with the Interior Design Hall of Fame Inductee taught him to observe a room, simplify detailing and clarify function. One of the high points of Bjrngaard's career with Diaz was as project manager for the dining room of the 2009 San Francisco Decorator Showcase. Bjrngaard returns this year to showcase his own design in The Art Salon Dining Room. David Bjrngaard founded Bjrn Design in 2016. Press Contact: Kendra Boutell [email protected] Mobile: 415-218-4022 SOURCE Bjorn Design Related Links http://www.bjorndesign-2018showcase.com CHICAGO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) and its member companies are encouraging all Americans to safely dispose of unused and expired prescription medicines as part of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies have helped to expand access to safe medication disposal options through partnerships with Walgreens. To date, more than 600 safe medication disposal kiosks at Walgreens locations throughout the country have collected and safely disposed of more than 270 tons of unused, unwanted or expired medications. The kiosks allow for safe disposal of unused medications at select Walgreens pharmacies throughout the year at no cost. The kiosk program was created to aid in the ease and convenience of disposing medications including opioids and other controlled substances while helping to reduce the misuse of medications and decrease the rise in overdose deaths. "Through our partnerships with Walgreens, we are proud to play a role in removing unused prescription drugs from medicine cabinets across the country," said Scott Serota, president and CEO of BCBSA. "We have the unique ability and responsibility to encourage BCBS members and all Americans to safely dispose of unused medications." Proper drug disposal is more important than ever considering America's current opioid epidemic. Twenty-one percent of BCBS commercially insured members filled at least one opioid prescription in 2015, according to a Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Health of America Report titled, "America's Opioid Epidemic and Its Effect on the Nation's Commercially Insured Population." Data also show BCBS members with an opioid use disorder diagnosis spiked 493 percent over a seven-year study period. In March, BCBSA's National Council of Physician and Pharmacist Executives announced a systemwide professional standard that opioids should not be prescribed as first or second lines of pain therapy in most clinical situations. For additional information regarding how BCBSA is addressing drug abuse, please visit www.bcbs.com. To participate in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, please visit https://takebackday.dea.gov/ to find a drop-off location closest to you. About Blue Cross Blue Shield Association The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a national federation of 36 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies that collectively provide health care coverage for one in three Americans. BCBSA provides health care insights through The Health of America Report series and the national BCBS Health Indexsm. For more information on BCBSA and its member companies, please visit BCBS.com. We also encourage you to connect with us on Facebook, check out our videos on YouTube, follow us on Twitter and check out our blog. SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Related Links http://www.bcbs.com HOUSTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Commercial construction and interiors firm Burton Construction has announced its leadership team as it continues building on 14 years of success in the Texas market. Cullen Burton, son of company founder Brad Burton, has spent the last 12 years learning the business and gaining invaluable industry knowledge and will now step into the role of president, while Shawn McAlpin will focus on his new role as CEO. With this new structure, Cullen and Shawn will be able to utilize their skills to enable Burton to grow further while maintaining the personality and integrity of the family business. The organization remains focused on Brad's clear visionto provide a service unmatched by competitors. Through experience and commitment, and under the stewardship of Shawn McAlpin, Burton went through significant growth, including the opening of a new office in Austin. Separating the important roles of company president and CEO was a natural step to ensure the expertise and drive of both Cullen and Shawn remain at the heart of Burton as it evolves. "During the past several years we have seen our business grow and expand geographically within Texas," stated Cullen Burton, President of Burton Construction. "I couldn't be more proud of our team for maintaining the high standards set out by my father more than a decade ago. Shawn has been with the business since its inception and is integral to fulfilling our plans. His 27 years of industry experience brings invaluable knowledge to his new role as CEO. I look forward to working closely with him and celebrating the future with our team as we continue to deliver quality construction projects for our clients." Commenting on his role as CEO, Shawn McAlpin stated, "Burton earned its reputation as a firm that delivers and remains committed to client service. It's something Brad believed in strongly, and everyone in our business understands this approach is critical to our ongoing success. It was an honor to take the helm and now help fulfill Brad's dream of Cullen taking over the business. I've worked with Cullen for over 12 years, and he is ready to be president. I'm grateful to play a key role in the day-to-day direction of the business going forward, while Cullen ensures the vision and values of Burton remain embedded in our company culture. I'm excited for our future." About Burton Construction Headquartered in Houston, Burton Construction is a commercial construction company with a dynamic approach to customized, high-end construction and high-end interiors. Founded in 2004, Burton Construction's all-encompassing services include: design build, design assist, and competitive bids. With attention to details, Burton blends industry-specific elements into each building and brings a world of experience to the craft of commercial construction. www.burtonconstruction.com SOURCE Burton Construction Related Links http://www.burtonconstruction.com WEST DES MOINES, Iowa, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Businessolver, a leader in SaaS-based benefits administration technology, announced today it received a Baldrige Bronze Level Recognition at the Governor's Celebration of Performance Excellence, sponsored by Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence (IRPE). IRPE holds Iowa-based organizations accountable to the standards of the Baldrige Excellence Framework to guide performance improvement and achieve business results. Businessolver is the only benefits administration company, and the first technology company in the U.S., participating in the Baldrige journey. "Baldrige provides us the framework for running our business. We focus on quality because we never take for granted that we serve real people. As the hub connecting our client benefits program, we focus on every connection and touchpoint. Data drives our business, and accurate data drives excellence," said Rae Shanahan, Chief Strategy Officer. "As students and practitioners of quality, we are 100% committed. In fact, we're so committed, we're the only benefits technology company working toward achieving Baldrige Framework standards." A Bronze Level distinction illustrates how Businessolver has effectively progressed in meeting Baldrige Framework standards, showing systematic organizational processes and results in leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, workforce focus, operations focus, measurement/analysis, knowledge management, and results. The award, presented by IRPE Executive Director Gary Nesteby, was accepted on behalf of Businessolver by Loren Brockhouse, Senior Vice President of Strategy. "This honor truly reflects our companywide determination and drive toward organizational excellence," Brockhouse said. "Our quality mantra, 'We're in it together,' illustrates the team-oriented approach to performance that's a cornerstone of our business. Our leadership teams and employees worked together to achieve these impressive results and I am proud and honored to be part of a business that strives towards excellence in every task we complete," he concluded. Brockhouse gave a detailed presentation about how Businessolver achieves cohesion throughout its teams in multiple locations with kind, consistent, and quality communication techniques. Some examples include: weekly 1:1 employee meetings with leaders; the employee pulse, which tracks employee engagement; and morning team "Stand Up" meetings to review daily goals and celebrate successes for the week. This kind of open communication with teams, clients, and leadership drives the Businessolver mission of "grow our business and delight our clients." "We strive every day for empathetic communication throughout our organization," Brockhouse stated. "Without empathy, there can be no quality performance or excellence. Empathetic communication encourages and inspires employees to be innovative, driven, and dedicated to success by providing opportunities to share, and also to listen to peer feedback and suggestions for better results." This is its second year of engagement in the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and the first year Businessolver has been awarded Bronze Level recognition; last year the company earned a Tier 3 Leadership honor. About Businessolver Since 1998, Businessolver has delivered market-changing benefits administration technology supported by an intrinsic responsiveness to client needs. It creates client programs that maximize benefit program investment, minimize risk exposure, and engage employees with easy-to-use solutions and communication tools to assist them in making wise and cost-efficient benefit selections. Founded by HR professionals, Businessolver's unwavering service-oriented culture and secure SaaS platform provide measurable success in its mission to provide complete client delight. Media Contact Kristin Korzen [email protected] SOURCE Businessolver Related Links http://www.businessolver.com With 25 years of executive search experience, Mr. Bostick's expertise ranges from placing board directors, chief executive officers, presidents and chief operating officers to executing searches for senior functional leaders in finance, marketing, exploration & production, human resources, information technology, operations, legal, and corporate/business development. His search work has principally been focused on senior level searches in the industrial, aerospace and defense, energy, and private investment sectors to include public and private companies as well as portfolio companies of private equity sponsors. "Tim's extensive experience recruiting across the industrial sector and in manufacturing, energy and natural resources in particular will be a complement to our global Industrial Practice team," said Dave Winston, managing partner of Caldwell's Industrial Practice and Dallas office. "He has a winning combination of deep expertise, singular client focus, strong work ethic and great affability. He's a great addition to our practice and to the Dallas office, and we're truly glad to have him. Mr. Bostick joins Caldwell from Ray Partners, a successful executive search boutique he co-founded 15 years ago. Previously, he spent 10 years in the Energy, Industrial & Consumer Practice of Ray & Berndtson. He began his career with Texas Commerce Bank's commercial banking group (now JP Morgan Chase), where he provided credit, investment banking and depository solutions to corporate and energy clients in the Texas market. He holds a BBA in finance from Texas Christian University. "We will continue to make strategic additions to our team of high caliber, experienced partners who share a similar strength of conviction about the importance of the work we do," said John Wallace, chief executive officer. "We are dedicated to making our clients better, more competitive, and more successful by connecting them with transformational talent. Tim is a fantastic addition to the Caldwell team, demonstrating an approach to his clients that is consistent with our own." Based in the firm's Dallas office, Mr. Bostick joins Industrial Practice leader Dave Winston, and Technology Practice leader Jim Bethmann. About Caldwell At Caldwell we believe Talent Transforms. As a leading provider of executive talent, we enable our clients to thrive and succeed by helping them identify, recruit and retain their best people. Our reputationnearly 50 years in the makinghas been built on transformative searches across functions and geographies at the very highest levels of management and operations. We leverage our skills and networks to also provide agile talent in the form of flexible and on-demand advisory solutions for companies looking for support in strategy and operations. With offices and partners across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, we take pride in delivering an unmatched level of service and expertise to our clients. Caldwell's Common shares are listed on The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CWL). Please visit our website at www.caldwellpartners.com for further information. SOURCE The Caldwell Partners International Inc. LOS ANGELES, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- California Cryobank (Cryobank), the world's largest donor sperm bank, just launched into a whole new stratosphere on the back of an Elon Musk rocket headed straight to the International Space station. Talk about a UFO (Unidentified Frozen Object) As part of a scientific study code-named "Micro-11", NASA's Ames Research Center (through research partner University of Kansas) approached California Cryobank to specially prepare frozen donor specimens to determine the feasibility of human reproduction in space. The project will study how microgravity affects a sperm's potential ability to fertilize an egg. Researchers began by studying the motility and progression of a control group of specimens here on earth. Once the space specimens return, the two results will be compared. "Our team sent out requests to a select group of our donors we knew had the "right stuff" for the study," explained Kaj Rydman, VP of Operations. "The response was overwhelming. We had far more volunteers than NASA needed." Although bull and sea urchin sperm have been studied outside the Earth's atmosphere, this is the first time human gametes have blasted off. As the frozen donor sperm and egg industry leader with 40 years experience and more than 75,000 children born, California Cryobank receives regular requests to participate in scientific studies. "We send out over a thousand research vials a year," says Cryobank's Chief Operating Officer Pamela Richardson. "But this one is definitely special. We're honored to have been invited to participate in the program." About California Cryobank California Cryobank provides frozen donor sperm and egg services, reproductive tissue storage, and cord blood/tissue banking (through FamilyCord) and is registered with the FDA, accredited by the AATB and AABB, and licensed by the states of California and New York. Cryobank is a portfolio company of two healthcare-focused private investment firms, Longitude Capital and NovaQuest Capital Management. CONTACT: Scott Brown 1-310-496-5681 [email protected] SOURCE California Cryobank Related Links http://californiacryobank.com PHOENIX, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CampusLogic, the leading student financial services (SFS) platform, today announced $55 million in funding led by JMI Equity, a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies. Founded in 2011, CampusLogic is a market leader in SFS software with nearly 500 higher education customers that serve more than three million students. CampusLogic, which recently reported a four-year compounded annual growth rate of more than 200%, plans to utilize the new funding to make investments across the company in product, customer success, sales and marketing to increase the scope and power of its platform. It also intends to explore strategic acquisitions that can add breadth to its platform around college savings, shopping, attending, repaying and giving back. "The ABCs of student finance are more important now than ever improving accessibility, reducing borrowing and driving completion," said Gregg Scoresby, CEO of CampusLogic. "We're partnering with institutions across the nation to make the ABCs of student finance a reality with software that brings easy, mobile and personalized student financial services. We're excited to partner with the team at JMI, whose leadership with Ellucian, Blackbaud and other category-leading companies makes them the best partner to help us unlock the tremendous opportunity in front of us." More than 15 million students travel the higher education financial services journey each year. Complicated financial processes often create barriers to student enrollment and retention. A recent report shows that 40% of low-income students that are accepted into college fail to enroll due to complex financial aid processes. And, when students do get into the classroom, more than three million drop out of higher education due to financial constraints. Meanwhile, student debt is increasing at an amount of $2,667 dollars every second. "We are thrilled to partner with Gregg and the CampusLogic team to advance their position as the clear leader in the fast-growing and dynamic market for student financial services software," said Peter Arrowsmith, General Partner at JMI Equity who will join CampusLogic's Board of Directors. "CampusLogic gives students an innovative, efficient and personalized way to access financial aid and provides unparalleled solutions for solving critical problems for colleges and universities around accessibility, borrowing and completion. We look forward to partnering with Gregg and his team to help drive the next phase of CampusLogic's growth and success." In addition, Krishna Potarazu Senior Director at JMI Equity will join CampusLogic's Board of Directors. CampusLogic works with colleges and universities to simplify the student financial services journey with its comprehensive software platform, including web-based guided financial aid forms, personalized multimedia award letters, an industry-leading net price calculator, and rich analytics for the financial aid office. The company recently announced the launch of ScholarshipUniverse, a first-of-its kind software product developed in partnership with the University of Arizona designed to close student funding gaps, improve scholarship fund utilization and bring in outside funding. About JMI JMI Equity is a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies. Founded in 1992, JMI has invested in over 130 businesses in its target markets, successfully completed over 85 exits, and raised more than $3 billion of committed capital. JMI partners with exceptional management teams to help build their companies into industry leaders. For more information, visit www.jmi.com. About CampusLogic CampusLogic transforms the way higher education delivers student financial services with the firstand onlycomprehensive platform. Easy. Mobile. Personalized. CampusLogic's innovative software removes financial barriers to improve student access, reduce borrowing, and drive completion in higher education. Nearly 500 schools serving 3 million students simplify financial services resulting in higher enrollment, streamlined efficiencies, and improved retention with CampusLogic. For more information visit campuslogic.com. Follow CampusLogic Twitter: https://twitter.com/campuslogic Blog: http://campuslogic.com/blog/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/campuslogic SOURCE CampusLogic Related Links http://campuslogic.com "Our community joined together to accomplish this important goal established in 2010," said President Burwell. "We wanted to demonstrate leadership and innovation in addressing the serious social, economic, and environmental issues associated with global warming. Having a net zero carbon footprint reflects our commitment to acting on our values and leading into the future." Concerns about the increasing pace and intensity of global climate change and the potential for unprecedented harmful effects on our world, are important to the AU community and has led to the university's continued action and leadership in this effort. President Burwell further solidified that commitment when she signed the "We Are Still In" pledge to work towards the goals of the Paris Climate Accord. "As the first university to achieve carbon neutrality, and achieving it two years ahead of schedule, American University is truly raising the bar for the country," said Timothy Carter, president of Second Nature. "With this type of leadership and innovation, we can meet our shared climate goals faster than anyone expects." AU's innovative approach to reducing emissions, using green power and purchasing strategic offsets helped it meet its commitment to neutrality two years early. The university concentrated on measures that directly impact its own footprint. AU works to reduce energy use per square foot and produce renewable energy on campus and within its electricity grid. The university purchases renewable energy and offsets to balance the greenhouse gas emissions it produces. Fifty percent of AU's electricity comes from solar power sources. AU hopes to be a model for other institutions looking to drive down their carbon footprints and become carbon neutral. Looking ahead, AU plans to do more. Currently, the university is undergoing a massive two-year hot water and heat conversion project that will drive down campus use of fossil fuels. Current underground steam lines will be replaced with low temperature hot water lines to serve the university's heating needs. This new system will provide American University with reliable energy and carbon savings for the future. The Path to Carbon Neutrality In 2010, AU wrote its first Climate Action Plan and committed to carbon neutrality by 2020. In April of 2016, AU became a charter signatory to the Climate Commitment through the nonprofit Second Nature. It was this pledge that added resiliency to the university's existing pledge to become carbon neutral by the year 2020 and further expanded upon its pledge to increase its sustainability efforts and education. One year later, in April of 2017, the university committed to working toward the goals of the Paris Climate Accord by signing the "We Are Still In" pledge. AU's carbon neutral campus is the result of a campus-wide community effort which was led by strategic planning efforts of the Office of Sustainability and students, faculty, staff and significant contributions from offices such as Facilities Management and Transportation. AU strategically approached the goal of carbon neutrality by driving down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions wherever possible, then using renewables and finally purchasing offsets that align with the source of emissions. Students came together at zero waste events, joined in campus-wide competitions to reduce waste and AU's carbon footprint, and became ambassadors for sustainability. Faculty integrated sustainability into their classes not just through their research and what they teach, but how they teach. For example, students taking an environmental studies course organized a Waste Audit on Campus and an Urban Ecosystem walk on and around campus to collect data on their local environment (light pollution, animals, birds, trash). Other students produced short films about AU waste practices and campus waste infrastructure. AU Scholars prepared a Sustainability City design project. Staff members participated in the Green Office program to understand how our day-to-day work can be more sustainable, and environmentally responsible. "Climate change is one of the most urgent issues of our time," said Megan Litke, AU director of sustainability programs. Each organization and individual has a responsibility to act to reduce their environmental impact. I'm proud to be a part of a university that takes this responsibility seriously and has acted to achieve carbon neutrality." "Sustainability is something that our students care deeply about. But more than talking about it, we have to model the behavior we want to see in the world around us," said Kiho Kim, environmental science professor at AU. "Achieving carbon neutrality is a very strong statement about what is important to us, the entire AU community, and shows that we will continue to lead by example." AU's Diminishing Carbon Footprint Carbon Neutrality at AU: = 10,000 vehicles off the road per year = 5,524 U.S. homes off the grid per year = 1,253,460 trees planted AU's Electricity is 100 Percent Renewable: 50 percent of AU's electricity comes from 250,000 solar panels at a solar farm in North Carolina . This site was the largest solar purchase/installation by a non-utility company when it was constructed in 2014. . This site was the largest solar purchase/installation by a non-utility company when it was constructed in 2014. 50 percent of AU's electricity comes from renewable energy credits AU Builds Sustainably: 6 LEED Certified Buildings Plus 4 On Track 8 Green Roofs More than any other university in D.C. 9 Bioretention basins & rain gardens 7 Solar Panel Installations AU is a Sustainable Community: 500 Certified Green Teachers incorporate sustainability in the classroom 327 AU classes incorporate sustainability in the curriculum 84 percent of AU students commute sustainably 100 percent of AU shuttle buses run on biodiesel 1 million UPass rides taken (on Metro) in the programs first year AU is a Bicycle Friendly University AU Strives for Zero Waste to Landfills: 208 tons of waste composted (2017) 260 tons of waste recycled (2017) AU Chooses Strategic Carbon Offsets*: Efficient cookstoves in Kenya , in partnership with The Paradigm Project, offset study abroad air travel and decrease deforestation, which is a major contributor to climate change. They also improve indoor air quality. , in partnership with The Paradigm Project, offset study abroad air travel and decrease deforestation, which is a major contributor to climate change. They also improve indoor air quality. Planting trees in D.C. helps offset GHG emissions from commuting, and helps the District move toward its tree canopy goals. Homeowners also benefit from onsite stormwater management. Landfill methane projects offset natural gas use and landfill waste, decreasing the GHG emissions from landfills *these are thoughtful alternatives to reducing emissions that are difficult to reduce by other means American University is a leader in global education, enrolling a diverse student body from throughout the United States and nearly 130 countries. Located in Washington, D.C., the university provides opportunities for academic excellence, public service, and internships in the nation's capital and around the world. #CarbonNeutralAU SOURCE American University LONDON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Global remittances represent one of the major international financial resources and a major source of revenue for the world's poorest countries. Official remittances - remittances to developing countries - raised by 4.8% in 2017, reaching $450 billion. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, raised by 3.9 percent to $596 billion. The legacy remittance industry has been long dominated by cash, which requires physical locations where customers can hand over or collect money. Still in the digital world, companies like Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria are controlling a bulk of the industry. The comfortable hold that these companies have on the industry is now being challenged by digital remittance startups. Digital-first remittance companies like Azimo and Transferwise are competing on fees and usability and capitalizing on the way people's expectations have changed with the advent of digital and mobile channels. The Global Money Transfer Summit is the most recognised conference in the money transfer industry and the place where X-border payment industry leaders gather to examine the areas that are having the biggest impact on the remittances. GMTS-Dubai 2018 will bring together a global network of innovators, disruptors and established participants in the remittance industry; all the stakeholders that are driving the world of the X-border payment industry and the financial services like US Treasury, World bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, Ria, Paykii, De Nederlandsche Bank, Moneygram, and many other Central banks also be the part of the discussion. The recent emergence of blockchain technology is now seen as game-changer and is being used to modernise the process that international remittance is sent and has been bandied as a solution for the underbanked. Without the middleman taking a cut of the remittance pie, the cost to send money overseas will be a lot lower. Furthermore, a blockchain is impenetrable for fraud and more secure than banks' existing technology. The weakness of banks comes from their centralization, which makes hacking easier. In contrast, a blockchain works as a digital ledger where all transaction history is stored and which is replicated across a network of participants. For the first time in GMTS, the potential of blockchain technology will be discussed. Cashaa, Ripple and Stellar have been invited to the GMTS-Dubai 2018 to discuss the future of the money transfer industry. Ripple was founded by Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb and operates underlying payment processing solutions with native assets. Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network. Ripple is based around a shared and public database or ledger, which uses a consensus process that allows for payments, exchanges and remittance in a distributed process. Used by companies such as UniCredit, UBS and Santander, Ripple has been increasingly adopted by banks and payment networks as settlement infrastructure technology. In 2014 after McCaleb left Ripple to work on Stellar, the split led to the creation of new and philosophically distinct entities. Stellar is a platform that connects banks, payments systems and people to move money quickly, reliably and at almost no cost, leading to more access for individuals, lower costs for banks, and more revenue for businesses. Stellar is an open-source protocol for exchanging money; servers run a software implementation of the protocol and use the internet to connect to and communicate with other Stellar servers, forming a global value exchange network. Each server stores a record of all "accounts" on the network and these records are stored in a database called the "ledger". While Ripple and Stellar solutions are targeting large banks and could be an alternative to SWIFT, Cashaa is working on solving the problem of sending money to individuals. Cashaa was founded in 2016 by Kumar Gaurav, to demonstrate the power of blockchain technology in real-world use cases. Cashaa has been at the forefront of modernising how money transfer and payments for individuals and businesses are achieved. Cashaa's banking wallet will enable anyone to store and send money to any card, digital wallet or bank account in over 200 countries, in local currency through its network. Cashaa is built on Auxledger, an enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure that currently powers applications across different governments and huge enterprises such as IBM, HP, etc. Cashaa's vision and main goal is to build the payments and banking infrastructure for the future and to become "The Next Generation Banking Platform for The Next Billion". With the advent of blockchain technology, companies are not holding back in adopting this new technology to enable remittance services to solve multiple issues such as high transfer cost, limited money distribution methods, limited brand options, limited ways to deal with money, etc. The future of remittance relies on technological advancements and blockchain companies such as Cashaa, Ripple and Stellar are now becoming part of main industry decisions to change the future of money transfer, which is a need of billions of people worldwide. About Cashaa Cashaa is creating a better bank, challenging legacy banking by building an app and products with input from our community of users. Our blockchain based platform enables its community to store, save, spend, receive, borrow and get insured, with a simplified user experience in a legally compliant way. Ultimately, Cashaa aims to become a one-stop-shop for financial needs. SOURCE Cashaa Kickoff events planned in five locations May 7-11 CHICAGO and DALLAS and WASHINGTON and TAMPA, Fla. and LOS ANGELES and TORONTO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The choices we make big or small can have a huge impact on our safety and the safety of those around us. This is especially true in the construction industry, where thousands of men and women rely on each other every day to stay safe. On May 7-11, we are celebrating the shared commitment to safety on the jobsite and beyond as part of an industry-wide education and awareness event, Safety Week. During Safety Week, construction companies will take the opportunity to thank their employees for their commitment to safety. The week also is a chance to educate, inspire and share best practices on safety. Many companies will conduct safety awareness training activities and demonstrations on jobsites throughout the U.S. and Canada. "Everyone who comes to work on a construction jobsite makes choices that keeps them and their fellow workers safe," said Matt Walsh co-chairman, The Walsh Group and 2018 Safety Week co-chair. "We want to recognize workers who make the right choice, even when nobody is watching, because it's the right thing to do." Walsh's thoughts are echoed by his co-chair, Chris Traylor, co-president, Traylor Bros., Inc. "The need to consistently make safe choices permeates every part of our lives. This must become a value that we live both at home and at work. That's why individual choice is the focus of this year's Safety Week," said Traylor. "The choices we make have a tremendous impact on each other and the communities we serve." To symbolize this year's theme, construction workers, industry leaders and other stakeholders will share why and how they make safe choices on social media. The individual pledges will be aggregated to form a mosaic image, providing a compelling visual demonstration of the collective impact of the workers' commitment to safety on the entire industry. "We're interested in collecting stories from people across the industry we want to demonstrate how the shared commitment to safety can help build a stronger safety culture," Traylor said. Safety Week events are planned for: Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A. Metro): Regional Connector project, Los Angeles . Monday, May 7 , 11 a.m. PDT , Regional Connector Field Office 432 E Temple St. Los Angeles . L.A. Metro serves as transportation planner and coordinator, designer, builder and operator for one of the country's largest, most populous counties. , , Regional Connector Field Office 432 E Temple St. . L.A. Metro serves as transportation planner and coordinator, designer, builder and operator for one of the country's largest, most populous counties. Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT): Midtown Express project, Dallas . Monday, May 7 , 9 a.m. CDT . TxDOT is responsible for maintaining 80,000 miles of road and for supporting aviation, rail, and public transportation across the state. , . TxDOT is responsible for maintaining 80,000 miles of road and for supporting aviation, rail, and public transportation across the state. Infrastructure Ontario : Etobicoke General Hospital, Toronto . Monday, May 7 at 9 a.m. EDT . Etobicoke General Hospital 101 Humber College Blvd, Etobicoke, ON . Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown agency owned by the Province of Ontario that provides a wide range of services to support the Ontario government's initiatives to modernize and maximize the value of public infrastructure and real estate. at . Etobicoke General Hospital 101 Humber College Blvd, . Infrastructure is a Crown agency owned by the Province of that provides a wide range of services to support the government's initiatives to modernize and maximize the value of public infrastructure and real estate. District Department of Transportation : South Capitol Street Corridor project, Washington . Wednesday, May 9 , 10 a.m. EDT . The mission of the District of Columbia government's Department of Transportation (DDOT) is to enhance the quality of life for District residents and visitors by ensuring that people, goods, and information move efficiently and safely with minimal adverse impact on residents and the environment. : , . The mission of the government's Department of Transportation (DDOT) is to enhance the quality of life for District residents and visitors by ensuring that people, goods, and information move efficiently and safely with minimal adverse impact on residents and the environment. Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT): Gateway Expressway project, Tampa . Thursday, May 10 , 10 a.m. EDT . FDOT manages more than 122,000 highway miles, 20 airports, 31 urban transit systems, 15 seaports, a 2,895-mile railway corridor and two spaceports. At these events, guest speakers, local dignitaries and executives will speak about the status of their projects and the unifying nature of safety. Other Safety Week activations will be held at many job sites across the country. Additional details on all events, including instructions for media who would like to cover the events, is available at www.constructionsafetyweek.com. About Safety Week Safety Week is dedicated to raising the awareness of the construction industry's continuing commitment to eliminating worker injury, and to clearly communicate its dedication to a shared culture of care and concern and the belief that every week must be Safety Week. Safety Week is sponsored by members of The Construction Industry Safety Initiative (CISI) and the Incident & Injury Free Executive Forum (IIF). Additional support comes from the Alliance Partners, many of which are non-profit associations. For more information, visit www.constructionsafetyweek.com Safety Week Sponsors Adolphson & Peterson | Aldridge Electric | Allan Myers | Alliant Insurance | American Bridge | Ames | APi Group | Atkinson Construction | Austin Industries | Avalon Bay | Baker Concrete | Balfour Beatty | Barnard Construction | Barton Malow | Black & Veatch | BMWC Constructors | Boh Brothers | Brasfield & Gorrie | Cadell Construction Co. | CF Evans | Chubb | CNA Financial Corp | Cannistraro | Cianbro | Clark Construction Group | Clyde Companies |DOKA | DPR Construction | Eldeco | Flintco| Fluor | Gilbane | Graham Construction | Granite | Great Lakes Dredge & Dock | Halmar International| Hensel Phelps | Herzog Construction| Holder | Hunter Roberts | I+ICON | Jacobs | JE Dunn Construction | JF Shea Construction | Jacobs| JMJ Associates | Keller Foundations | Kiewit | Lane Construction | Lean Construction Institute | Lendlease | Liberty | Limbach | McCarthy Foundations | MWH Constructors | Manson Construction | Massman Construction | McCarthy Building Companies | McHugh Construction | Mortenson Construction | Nicholson Construction | OHL North America | Pacific Pile & Marine | PCL Construction| Parsons | Phillips & Jordan | Starr| RailWorks | Rosendin Electric | Shimmick Construction | Skanska | Stacey and Witbeck | Structural Group | Suffolk | Sundt Construction | Superior Construction |Terracon | Travelers | Traylor Bros.| Turner Construction | The Walsh Group | Webcor | Weeks Marine | Zachry Construction | Zurich North America Media Contacts: Craig Atkinson Chair, Safety Week Communications Committee 312.492.1555 | [email protected] Rob Pasquinucci PR Consultant, Intrinzic, (on behalf of Safety Week) 513.604.3556 | [email protected] SOURCE Construction Safety Week Related Links http://www.constructionsafetyweek.com HOUSTON, April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Charming Charlie (the "Company") today announced that it has successfully completed its financial restructuring and emerged from Chapter 11. The Company's court-confirmed Plan of Reorganization (the "Plan") went into effect today, April 24, 2018. Through this process, Charming Charlie is emerging with a substantially improved financial position and a sustainable capital structure to support its Back-to-Basics Strategy. "Today marks a fresh start for Charming Charlie as we emerge as a stronger, more focused organization that is better positioned to serve customers in our 264 stores across the country," said Lana Krauter, Chief Executive Officer of Charming Charlie. "I want to thank our employees at Charming Charlie for their dedication and focus as they continue to drive our success. We are also grateful for the support of our valued customers and vendors, and look forward to working together well into the future." "We are pleased the creditors were able to come to an agreement that positions Charming Charlie with a new management team, a stronger balance sheet and an improved retail footprint," said Christopher Flynn, CEO of THL Credit, which is now the majority equity holder in the Company. "We are confident in the Company's underlying fundamentals, and believe Lana's deep experience will provide strong leadership as Charming Charlie pursues the growth opportunities we see for the business going forward." Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as the Company's legal counsel, AlixPartners LLP served as its restructuring advisor, and Guggenheim Securities, LLC served as its investment banker. About Charming Charlie Charming Charlie is a Houston-based specialty retailer focused on fashion jewelry, handbags, apparel, gifts and beauty products. Charming Charlie brings value to their customers by providing them with high quality, style and a broad assortment of fashion product at affordable price points. The company currently operates 264 stores in the United States, and can be found online at www.CharmingCharlie.com. Charming Charlie Contacts Michael Freitag or Trevor Gibbons Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher 1-212-355-4449 SOURCE Charming Charlie Related Links http://www.CharmingCharlie.com CHICAGO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund (CTPF) today announced the release of its 2018 Economic Impact Statement. CTPF made $1.3 billion in direct payments to annuitants living in Illinois in 2018. Those payments had a $1.9 billion impact on the Illinois economy, supporting 14,704 jobs in the state. The Buck Stays Here: Understanding the Economic Impact of CTPF Benefit Payments on the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago is produced annually and details CTPF's impact on the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago. The 2018 edition breaks out economic impact by Chicago Ward for the first time. "A majority of our members stay in Illinois after retirement, and the pensions they have earned are spent close to home, supporting local and regional economies. This spending across the state, and specifically in the City of Chicago, contributes to overall community vibrancy," said Charles A. Burbridge, CTPF Executive Director. "CTPF pensions provide a sustainable retirement for 24,440 Illinois residents who continue to give back to their communities in countless ways." The report found that 83 percent of CTPF's annuitants who collect a pension stay in the State of Illinois, with nearly half of that number continuing to call Chicago home. The beneficiaries residing in Chicago are responsible for approximately $1.0 billion in total economic impact and support 7,500 jobs across the city. The study used standard economic multipliers from the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis to assess the economic impact of spending. To view the full report, visit: http://www.ctpf.org/general_info/advocacy/2018_ECONOMIC_IMPACT.pdf ABOUT CTPF Established by the Illinois state legislature in 1895, the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund manages members' assets and administers benefits. The $10.8 billion pension fund serves nearly 86,000 members, and provides pension and health insurance benefits to more than 28,000 beneficiaries. MEDIA INQUIRIES: Tracey L. Schroeder, JD, MBA Director of Communications, CTPF [email protected] 312.604.1234 www.ctpf.org SOURCE Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund Related Links http://www.ctpf.org BURLINGTON, Mass., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ClickSoftware, the leading provider of field service management software, today announced notable highlights from the first quarter of 2018, ranging from new executive leadership to industry recognition. ClickSoftware offers cloud-based solutions to help companies deliver exceptional customer service, while maximizing productivity and lowering costs. The company kicked off 2018 by announcing significant enhancements for Field Service Edge, ClickSoftware's cloud-based, mobile workforce management platform. New features include the ability to leverage machine learning to add new predictive field service capabilities, new demand forecasting and improved enterprise integration features for more rapid and secure integration with third-party systems. The updates further ClickSoftware's mission to equip field service leaders with the smartest technologies, real operational intelligence and measurable results. ClickSoftware welcomed Mark Cattini, who previously led Autotask, as the company's new chief executive officer (CEO) in February. A proven leader with experience growing software and SaaS companies, Cattini's deep industry knowledge positions him perfectly to lead the company into its next phase of growth. The company has enjoyed industry recognition early this year, including Frost & Sullivan's Customer Value Leadership Award for StreetSmart, ClickSoftware's mobile solution for SMBs. Capterra named ClickSoftware in their Top 20 Most Popular Field Service Management Software Solutions. Additionally, Constellation Research included ClickSoftware on its Constellation ShortList Field Service Management, which rates vendors on criteria that includes resource management, case management, communication with customers on the status of the technician's arrival, scheduling, resource allocation, inventory optimization, mobile enablement and route optimization. To round out the quarter, CRN named Jim McGonagle, Senior Vice President of Global Alliances and Channels, to its prestigious list of 2018 Channel Chiefs. The executives on this annual list represent top leaders in the IT channel who excel at driving growth and revenue in their organization through channel partners. "Our first quarter has set a high bar for the remainder of 2018, but after a couple months with the Click team it's clear to me they're eager to keep exceeding expectations," said Mark Cattini, CEO at ClickSoftware. "With a market-leading product, key new hires, and the dedicated team we already have, I believe it's going to be a banner year." About ClickSoftware ClickSoftware is a leading provider of field service management software. ClickSoftware enables customers with intelligent, automated decision making delivered in real time. The cloud-based Click Field Service Edge platform is a cutting-edge solution for optimizing the scheduling and management of a mobile workforce and mission-critical service operations. For more information, please visit https://www.clicksoftware.com/. Follow us on Twitter. Media Contact: Jill Rosenthal InkHouse for ClickSoftware [email protected] SOURCE ClickSoftware Related Links https://www.clicksoftware.com/ SAN FRANCISCO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Designer Melanie Coddington of Coddington Design is honored to present Unapologetically Pink Rose Lounge at the 2018 San Francisco Decorator Showcase running April 28-May 28, 2018. Inspired by edginess and fueled by French rose wine, the lounge is modern, opulent and without a doubt, unapologetically pink. Think Michelle Pfeiffer as Stephanie Zinone, wearing a satin Pink Ladies jacket in Grease 2. The lounge revolves around a geometric marble and walnut cocktail table with brass inlaid rings to mimic wine stains. Nearby sits a mid-century style gondola sofa with custom fabric and a Classic American 1950s swivel chair. While the Rose Lounge has hints of vintage and whimsy, the focal point is a clear, crystal storage safe. Rather than hide the room's treasures away in a vault, we display them in this jewel-like piece of furniture. Crafted in Italy and comprised of a transparent crystal case with satin brass locking mechanism and hinges, the piece floats on an open metal stand. For more information on the Unapologetically Pink Rose Lounge and images, please visit coddington-2018showcase.com. The 2018 San Francisco Decorator Showcase is located at 465 Marina Boulevard and will be open from April 28, 2018 - May 28, 2018. The hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10am to 3pm, Fridays from 10am to 7pm, Sundays and Memorial Day from 11am to 4pm, and closed on Mondays (except Memorial Day). Tickets cost $40 for general admission, $35 for seniors and students, and all proceeds will be donated to the University High School Scholarship Fund. For more information on the Showcase or ticketing, please visit http://decoratorshowcase.org. About Melanie Coddington Coco Chanel's quote "it's not the houses I love, it's the life I live in them," inspires designer Melanie Coddington's work. "Whether it's a more formal residence or one for a family whose childrenor dogsrun the home, my goal is to design sophisticated spaces my clients can fully embrace," Melanie says. The Humboldt County native founded her eponymous interior design firm in 2005. Since then she has been delighting clients throughout California and beyond with interiors that are elegant yet approachable. Press Contact: Phoebe Rios [email protected] Mobile: 425.877.4639 SOURCE Coddington Design PALO ALTO, Calif., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Rubrik, the Cloud Data Management Company, today announced that Compeer Financial, one of the largest farm credit providers in the United States, has deployed Rubrik to support its digital transformation program. Rubrik helped Compeer Financial to consolidate and simplify three disparate IT systems following a merger and eliminate tape by archiving to the cloud. Rubrik delivers self-service capabilities to Compeer Financial's SQL database administrators which has resulted in reduced management time and significant cost savings. Compeer Financial provides a reliable source of capital for farm operations in over 140 counties across the upper Midwest. The company was created in 2017 out of a merger of AgStar Financial Services, Badgerland Financial, and 1st Farm Credit Services to better meet the needs of rural America. The merger required Compeer Financial's IT team to overcome numerous challenges associated with unifying three disparate IT environments. At the same time, the team was focused on modernizing its IT environment by increasing virtualization and moving to the cloud. Compeer Financial found its legacy backup solution was unable to deliver the speed, simplicity, and self-service capabilities needed to meet its ambitious IT goals. Rubrik's intuitive interface provides visibility across Compeer Financial's entire environment and enables self-service access for SQL database administrators. With Rubrik Live Mount, Compeer Financial's SQL database administrators can instantly restore any of its 500 SQL databases to quickly access records, perform backup health checks, or use for testing and development. After deploying Rubrik, Compeer Financial was able to: Provide self-service capabilities for SQL database administrators, creating operational efficiencies. Leverage reporting and compliance tools to prove adherence to financial regulations. Achieve near-zero data recovery time objectives (RTO) and reduce data recovery point objectives (RPOs) by 400%. Significantly reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) through data center consolidation, footprint reduction, and eliminate tape in favor of archiving to the cloud. Comments on the News: "Rubrik is built from the ground up for hybrid cloud environments," said Scott Ament, IT operations lead at Compeer Financial. "We decided that if we were going to overhaul our environment, we should use the vendor that is best suited for where we want to go. With Rubrik, we have the tools that we need to execute our cloud strategy." "Compeer Financial had a complex and rapidly expanding environment due to a recent merger," said Arvind Nithrakashyap, chief technology officer at Rubrik. "Consolidating multiple IT environments is no easy task but Rubrik was not only able to simplify the process for Scott and his team, but also reduce their restore time down from eight hours to just 30 seconds." Resources [CASE STUDY] Compeer Financial Uses Rubrik to Deliver Self-Service Access to Hybrid Cloud Resources About Rubrik Rubrik delivers instant application availability with data protection, search, analytics, archival and copy data management in the Hybrid Cloud. Enterprises benefit from Rubrik's market-leading Cloud Data Management platform with simplicity, instant data access, app mobility, policy-driven automation, ransomware protection, and analytics at scale. For more information, visit http://www.rubrik.com and follow @rubrikInc on Twitter. About Compeer Financial Compeer Financial is a member-owned Farm Credit cooperative serving and supporting agriculture and rural communities. The $18.5 billion organization provides loans, leases, risk management and other financial services throughout 144 counties in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Based in the Upper Midwest, Compeer Financial exists to champion the hopes and dreams of rural America, while providing personalized service and expertise to clients and the agriculture industry. Compeer Financial is the third largest cooperative of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of lending institutions supporting agriculture and rural communities with reliable, consistent credit and financial services. For more information about Compeer Financial, visit Compeer.com. SOURCE Rubrik Related Links http://www.rubrik.com FLORHAM PARK, N.J., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Conduent Incorporated (NYSE: CNDT) today announced it has entered into a binding agreement to sell its off-street parking business, including the Conduent Multipark System in France and the U.K., along with its U.S. airport parking business, to Andera Partners, an investment firm in France. These businesses, which generate approximately $43 million in revenue are part of the announced Conduent plan to divest up to $500 million in revenue in 2018 associated with non-core assets across the company. "Our off-street parking business primarily provides highly customized products and solutions for local clients. As part of our re-positioning as a technology platform-based digital interactions company, we are selling this business so we can focus on our large enterprise and government customers," said David Amoriell, president, Conduent. "This business decision is consistent with our goal to remain focused on our core business and primary transportation offerings." The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the coming months. About Conduent Conduent is the world's largest provider of diversified business services with leading capabilities in transaction processing, automation and analytics. The company's global workforce is dedicated to helping its large and diverse client base deliver quality services to the people they serve. These clients include a majority of the Fortune 100 companies and over 500 government entities. Conduent's differentiated offerings touch millions of lives every day, including two-thirds of all insured patients in the U.S. and nearly nine million people who travel through toll systems daily. Whether it's digital payments, claims processing, benefit administration, automated tolling, customer care or distributed learning Conduent manages and modernizes these interactions to create value for both its clients and their constituents. Learn more at www.conduent.com. Note: To receive RSS news feeds, visit www.news.conduent.com. For open commentary, industry perspectives and views, visit http://twitter.com/Conduent, http://www.linkedin.com/company/conduent or http://www.facebook.com/Conduent. Conduent is a trademark of Conduent Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. SOURCE Conduent Incorporated Related Links https://www.conduent.com AMSTERDAM, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE: "CLB US" and Euronext Amsterdam: "CLB NA") ("Core", "Core Lab", or the "Company") reported that continuing operations resulted in first quarter 2018 revenue of $170,000,000, up over 8% year-over-year, with operating income of $32,300,000, up almost 40% year-over-year, and earnings per diluted share ("EPS") increased 32% to $0.54, all in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). EPS, ex-items, a non-GAAP financial measure, increased 39% year-over-year to $0.57. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures are included in the attached financial tables. Operating margins for the Company increased 400 basis points ("BPS") year-over-year to 19%, ex-items. Year-over-year incremental operating margins were 68%. The improving operating and incremental operating margins are the result of higher-technology services and products being requested by Core's technologically sophisticated client base and increased utilization of our services and products. In the first quarter of 2018, the Company committed to divest the business of our full range of permanent downhole monitoring systems and related services, which have been part of our Production Enhancement segment. The associated results of operations and cash flows from this discontinued business are separately reported as Discontinued Operations for all periods presented. As such, the results from continuing operations for the Company and segment highlights for Production Enhancement, exclude these discontinued operations. Core's Board of Supervisory Directors ("Board") and the Company's Executive Management continue to focus on strategies that maximize return on invested capital ("ROIC") and free cash flow ("FCF"), a non-GAAP financial measure defined as cash from operations less capital expenditures, while exercising capital discipline, factors which have high correlation with maximum total shareholder return. Core's asset-lite business model promotes asset efficiency, designed to produce predictable, superior long-term, and sustainable ROIC. Bloomberg's calculations using the latest comparable data available indicates that Core's ROIC is the highest of any member of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Oil Service Sector Index (the "OSX") as well as any comparably-sized companies in oilfield services. Core also had the highest ratio of ROIC-to-Weighted Average Cost of Capital ("WACC") for all major oilfield service companies. On 22 January 2018, Bloomberg announced that Core Lab would be one of the 104 companies out of over 5,000 publicly-traded companies from ten sectors, representing 24 countries and regions, to join the inaugural 2018 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index ("BGEI"). The BGEI, with its focus on gender equality in the workplace, is yet another metric by which investors can gauge a company's commitment to environmental, social and governance ("ESG") factors across industries. Segment Highlights Reservoir Description Reservoir Description operations, primarily focused on worldwide producing oil and gas fields, performed as guided on the Company's prior earnings call reflecting the traditional seasonal pattern that occurred in the first quarter. Revenue in the first quarter of 2018 was $100,800,000 with operating income on a GAAP basis of $14,800,000. Ex-items, operating income was $15,000,000, yielding operating margins of 15%. While international activity remained relatively unchanged in the first quarter of 2018, the Company experienced increased demand for our highly-specialized core and reservoir fluids services in U.S. unconventional plays, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico ("GOM"), in addition to a number of countries in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions. As part of the continual growth in Core's Digital Rock Characterization services, high resolution Computed-Tomography ("CT") scanners were recently installed in Anchorage and Kuwait. This accelerated the delivery of critical geological and petrophysical data derived from core samples. This aided Core's clients by helping them to quickly assess the quality of their reservoirs and make time-sensitive decisions such as in designing well completions. The CT-based logs provide detailed and accurate information on properties such as lithology, porosity, density, rock strength and acoustic properties, along with full three-dimensional digital visualization of the core. In the first quarter of 2018, Core conducted a large geological and petrophysical evaluation of a potential unconventional reservoir target for a national oil company in the Middle East. This project included detailed geologic descriptions of shale cores, measurement of petrophysical properties using proprietary Core Lab technologies and log analysis. As a complement to the newly acquired information, data analytics were extensively employed. These analytics compared the observed rock and petrophysical properties of this potential Middle East target with analogs of producing unconventional reservoir plays contained within Core Lab's worldwide proprietary database. This unique perspective on unconventional reservoirs allowed Core to generate attribute maps, calculate potential reserves, identify optimal completion practices, and delineate optimal locations for the client across a broad geographic area. Based upon the results presented to the client, this project has expanded in scope and will continue into subsequent quarters. The analysis of reservoir fluids (crude oil and natural gas) continues to be an important driver of Reservoir Description results, representing approximately 60% of total revenue for the segment. Pressure-Volume-Temperature ("PVT") data sets are used to determine the phase behavior of hydrocarbons at reservoir conditions. In turn, these physical properties are key inputs for estimating hydrocarbon reserves and predicting reservoir performance over time. During the first quarter of 2018, Core provided its clients with onsite sample collection services and PVT laboratory measurements that allowed clients to calculate the economic value of their reservoirs under primary production. Furthermore, these data form the criteria necessary to determine when secondary, and possibly tertiary, recovery techniques should be applied to optimize the estimated ultimate recovery ("EUR") from these reservoirs. New fluid phase behavior projects were initiated in the Eagle Ford, the Permian Basin and the GOM, along with Guyana, Malaysia and other international locations. In addition to these PVT services, Core Lab performed customized reservoir condition Enhanced Oil Recovery ("EOR") studies. These include the determination of minimum miscibility pressures, physical measurements of crude oil properties following gas injection and thermodynamic testing for reservoir simulation models. These test results allow Core's clients to calculate the economic viability of miscible tertiary recovery processes, which could extend reservoir life and improve incremental hydrocarbon production. Production Enhancement Production Enhancement operations, largely focused on complex completions in unconventional tight-oil reservoirs and conventional offshore development projects, posted first quarter 2018 revenue of $69,200,000, up 34% year-over-year and 6% sequentially. Operating income, on a GAAP basis, was $17,700,000, up 128% year-over-year. Operating income, ex-items, was $17,800,000, up 135% year-over-year, while operating margins expanded 1,110 BPS year-over-year to 26%. Sequential incremental operating margins were 64% as a result of Core's client demand for technological solutions using enhanced completion techniques. Sales of Core's perforating systems increased 19% sequentially during the first quarter of 2018, while the Energy Information Agency reported that U.S. completions were up 9% sequentially. Therefore, Core continues to gain market share in the technologically advanced perforating markets. Core's clients continue to seek technological perforating charge solutions for increasing daily production and EURs. This is demonstrated by the continued revenue and margin growth for Production Enhancement, which was bolstered by increased demand for Core's HEROPerFRAC perforating charge systems. Client acceptance of HEROPerFRAC technology is among the highest of all new product lines introduced by Core over the past five-plus years. HEROPerFrac product sales were up nearly four-fold year-over-year. The rapid market acceptance is evidence of the Company's technological advantage in shale plays. By eliminating uncertainty created by perforation entry hole-size heterogeneity, clients gain operational efficiencies. These come in the form of reduced surface horsepower required to break down the formation, more effective proppant placement during fracture operations, and increased hydrocarbon flow across all stimulated zones. Client acceptance of Core's HEROPerFRAC technology, during the most recent downturn, confirms the value-added nature of the Company's technologies services which increase incremental recovery rates and EURs. In the first quarter of 2018, Core saw broadening acceptance of FlowProfilerTM EDS, a proprietary technology, which is an engineered delivery system ("EDS"). The break-through EDS technology delivers time-released diagnostics for evaluating the crude oil flow from each stage of a hydraulically fractured completion. Crude oil production by stage is determined by using this Core Lab-developed technology that enables the diagnostic tracer to be absorbed and chemically-bonded to durable, proppant-size particles that accompany the frac sand. The tracer will release from the engineered particles once they contact the reservoir's crude oil, enabling Core to assess which stages are contributing to crude oil production. Free Cash Flow and Dividends During the first quarter of 2018, Core continued to generate FCF, with cash from operations of $23,100,000 and capital expenditures of $4,400,000, yielding FCF of $18,700,000. As revenue and business activities increase, as they have over the past year, investment in working capital and capital expenditures are also expected to increase. Core's free cash will continue to be returned to its shareholders via the Company's regular quarterly dividend and share repurchases. The Company repurchased 30,298 shares during the first quarter of 2018 at an average share price of $109.26. On 16 January 2018, the Board announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.55 per share of common stock, which was paid on 16 February 2018 to shareholders of record on 26 January 2018. Dutch withholding tax was deducted from the dividend at a rate of 15%. On 17 April 2018, the Board announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.55 per share of common stock, payable in the second quarter of 2018. The quarterly cash dividend will be payable on 22 May 2018 to shareholders of record on 27 April 2018. Dutch withholding tax will be deducted from the dividend at a rate of 15%. Return On Invested Capital Core Lab's ROIC exceeds that of all members of the OSX as reported by Bloomberg. The Company's Board has established an internal performance metric of achieving a leading relative ROIC performance compared with the oilfield service companies listed as Core's Comp Group by Bloomberg Financial. The Company and its Board believe that ROIC is a leading long-term performance metric used by shareholders to determine the relative investment value of publicly traded companies. Further, the Company and its Board believe that shareholders will benefit if Core consistently performs at high levels of ROIC relative to its Comp Group. According to the latest Comp Group financial information from Bloomberg, Core's ROIC is the highest of any comparably-sized oilfield service company (greater than $2 billion market capitalization). Comp Group companies listed by Bloomberg include Halliburton, Schlumberger, Oceaneering, National Oilwell Varco, RPC, TGS, and the Wood Group, among others. Only Core Lab and one of the other twenty-one companies listed in the Comp Group posted ROIC that exceeded their WACC. Core's ratio of ROIC to WACC is the highest of any company in the Comp Group. Second Quarter 2018 Revenue and EPS Guidance The Company believes second quarter 2018 international exploration and production activity levels will be flat sequentially, with most international development projects continuing to be funded largely from operating budgets. Core Lab expects the average second quarter 2018 U.S. rig count to be slightly up sequentially, with completion activity levels showing modest growth. Core Lab believes the U.S. completion growth rate will moderate until logistical bottlenecks are resolved (e.g., for the industry to hire and train new frac crews, acquire and/or update pressure pumping equipment, and supply chain optimization). In addition, an emerging trend to larger pad drilling sites, increasing up to 24 wells, will create an increase in drilled but uncompleted ("DUC") wells over the next several quarters. Combined, these issues could impact the rate of revenue growth opportunity for any company that is reliant on completions as a catalyst for growth. Core expects Reservoir Description revenue and operating margins to be similar to the first quarter of 2018 due to continued muted international activity levels. This is consistent with other international service company commentary. Production Enhancement is expected to experience continued growth with year-over-year incremental margins in line with historical 60% levels. Therefore, Core expects consolidated second quarter 2018 revenue of approximately $177,000,000 to $179,000,000 and operating income of approximately $36,200,000 to $37,200,000, yielding operating margins that exceed 20%, up 100 BPS sequentially. Based on these ranges, incremental margins of 50% are expected in the second quarter. EPS for the second quarter 2018 is expected to be approximately $0.64 to $0.66. The Company's second quarter 2018 guidance excludes gains or losses in foreign exchange and assumes an effective tax rate of 15%. Several consecutive years of significant international under-investment will lead to steepening legacy declines in crude oil production outside of North America, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. Therefore, Core has an optimistic view for 2018's industry activity and Core's financial performance for the following reasons: crude oil industry fundamentals continue to improve with falling global crude oil inventories; continued increases in worldwide crude demand; a tightening in the number of days of consumption held in global crude oil inventory; and the impact these fundamentals may have on increasing the price of crude oil. Core is also encouraged by the increased focus of its major clients on capital management, ROIC, FCF and returning capital back to their shareholders, as opposed to just production growth at any cost. The companies adopting value versus volume metrics tend to be the more technologically sophisticated operators and form the foundation of Core's worldwide client base. Client planning for international and offshore projects are in the early stages. This will benefit Core's leverage to both markets, especially in late 2018 and 2019. Additionally, renewed investment at a global level is critical in order to meet future supply needs. Oil company recognition of the need for investment is evidenced by the approximately 25 - 30 final investment decisions ("FIDs") estimated to be announced in 2018, with six already announced year-to-date (e.g., Royal Dutch Shell's Penguin development in the North Sea, Shell's Vito in the GOM and BP's Ghazeer development in Oman). These FIDs would follow the more than 20 FIDs announced in 2017. The oil companies' ability to invest is due to their successful efforts in increasing their EURs, along with reduced capital project costs that are better aligned with today's crude oil price per barrel. Although the FID activity is positive and shows progress of a global crude oil industry recovery, sustainability of supply needs, when compared to demand projections, will require more projects on a larger scale, which Core expects in the future. Earnings Call Scheduled The Company has scheduled a conference call to discuss Core's first quarter 2018 earnings announcement. The call will begin at 7:30 a.m. CDT / 2:30 p.m. CEST on Thursday, 26 April 2018. To listen to the call, please go to Core's website at www.corelab.com . Core Laboratories N.V. (www.corelab.com) is a leading provider of proprietary and patented reservoir description and production enhancement services used to optimize petroleum reservoir performance. The Company has over 70 offices in more than 50 countries and is located in every major oil-producing province in the world. This release includes forward-looking statements regarding the future revenue, profitability, business strategies and developments of the Company made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Federal securities law. The Company's outlook is subject to various important cautionary factors, including risks and uncertainties related to the oil and natural gas industry, business conditions, international markets, international political climates and other factors as more fully described in the Company's 2017 Form 10-K filed on 12 February 2018 and in other securities filings. These important factors could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations of the Company's performance and are subject to a variety of factors, some of which are not under the control of the Company. Because the information herein is based solely on data currently available, and because it is subject to change as a result of changes in conditions over which the Company has no control or influence, such forward-looking statements should not be viewed as assurance regarding the Company's future performance. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward looking statement to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this press release, except as required by law. Visit the Company's website at www.corelab.com. Connect with Core Lab on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. CORE LABORATORIES N.V. & SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (amounts in thousands, except per share data) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended % Variance 3/31/18 12/31/17 3/31/17 vs Q4-17 vs Q1-17 REVENUE $ 170,018 $ 170,111 $ 156,609 (0.1)% 8.6% OPERATING EXPENSES: Costs of services and sales 119,318 119,942 113,021 (0.5)% 5.6% General and administrative expenses 12,709 11,994 12,756 6.0% (0.4)% Depreciation and amortization 5,818 6,038 6,304 (3.6)% (7.7)% Other (income) expense, net (143) (269) 989 NM NM Total operating expenses 137,702 137,705 133,070 % 3.5% OPERATING INCOME 32,316 32,406 23,539 (0.3)% 37.3% Interest expense 3,120 2,717 2,618 14.8% 19.2% Income from continuing operations before income tax expense 29,196 29,689 20,921 (1.7)% 39.6% Income tax expense 5,273 8,017 2,929 (34.2)% 80.0% Net income from continuing operations 23,923 21,672 17,992 10.4% 33.0% Net income (loss) from discontinued operations (346) (20) (310) NM (11.6)% Net income 23,577 21,652 17,682 8.9% 33.3% Net income attributable to non-controlling interest 50 (39) 24 NM NM Net income attributable to Core Laboratories N.V. $ 23,527 $ 21,691 $ 17,658 8.5% 33.2% Diluted Earnings Per Share from continuing operations: $ 0.54 $ 0.49 $ 0.41 10.2% 31.7% Weighted Avg Diluted Common Shares Outstanding 44,463 44,374 44,347 0.2% 0.3% Effective Tax Rate 18 % 27 % 14 % NM NM SEGMENT INFORMATION: Revenue: Reservoir Description $ 100,809 $ 104,571 $ 104,895 (3.6)% (3.9)% Production Enhancement 69,209 65,540 51,714 5.6% 33.8% Total $ 170,018 $ 170,111 $ 156,609 (0.1)% 8.6% Operating income: Reservoir Description $ 14,757 $ 17,269 $ 15,940 (14.5)% (7.4)% Production Enhancement 17,687 15,357 7,755 15.2% 128.1% Corporate and other (128) (220) (156) NM NM Total $ 32,316 $ 32,406 $ 23,539 (0.3)% 37.3% "NM" means not meaningful CORE LABORATORIES N.V. & SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (amounts in thousands) (Unaudited) % Variance ASSETS: 3/31/18 12/31/17 vs Q4-17 Cash and Cash Equivalents $ 13,244 $ 14,400 (7.7)% Accounts Receivable, net 137,661 133,097 13.0% Inventory 36,438 33,317 (2.9)% Other Current Assets 32,842 26,613 20.3% Total Current Assets 220,185 207,427 9.6% Property, Plant and Equipment, net 122,333 123,098 (4.2)% Intangibles, Goodwill and Other Long Term Assets, net 254,622 254,287 1.2% Total Assets $ 597,140 $ 584,812 2.9% LIABILITIES AND EQUITY: Accounts Payable $ 45,541 $ 41,697 24.8% Other Current Liabilities 58,786 58,879 (18.7)% Total Current Liabilities 104,327 100,576 (4.1)% Long-Term Debt & Lease Obligations 235,114 226,989 7.5% Other Long-Term Liabilities 106,123 108,515 6.5% Total Equity 151,576 148,732 (73.9)% Total Liabilities and Equity $ 597,140 $ 584,812 (40.7)% CORE LABORATORIES N.V. & SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOW (amounts in thousands) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended 3/31/18 3/31/17 CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES Net Income from continuing operations $ 23,923 $ 17,992 Income from discontinued operations (346) (310) Net Income 23,577 17,682 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Stock-based compensation 6,291 5,723 Depreciation and amortization 5,876 6,427 Accounts Receivable (5,913) (7,525) Inventory (3,686) (3,898) Accounts Payable 2,634 4,576 Other adjustments to net income (5,686) 6,776 Net cash provided by operating activities $ 23,093 $ 29,761 CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES Capital expenditures $ (4,443) $ (6,449) Other investing activities (174) (177) Net cash used in investing activities $ (4,617) $ (6,626) CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES Repayment of debt borrowings $ (29,000) $ (49,000) Proceeds from debt borrowings 37,000 51,000 Dividends paid (24,322) (24,284) Repurchase of treasury shares (3,310) (1,273) Other financing activities Net cash used in financing activities $ (19,632) $ (23,557) NET CHANGE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS (1,156) (422) CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, beginning of period 14,400 14,764 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, end of period $ 13,244 $ 14,342 Non-GAAP Information Management believes that the exclusion of certain income and expenses enables management, our investors and the public to more effectively evaluate the Company's operations period-over-period and to identify operating trends that could otherwise be masked by the excluded items. For this reason, we used certain non-GAAP measures that exclude these items; and we feel that this presentation provides the public a better understanding of the underlying operations' current period financial results on a more comparable basis to those reported in prior periods. The non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, the financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP, as more fully discussed in Core Lab's financial statements and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Reconciliation of Net Income, Operating Income and Earnings Per Diluted Share (amounts in thousands, except per share data) (Unaudited) Operating Income from Continuing Operations Three Months Ended 3/31/2018 12/31/2017 3/31/2017 GAAP reported $ 32,316 $ 32,406 $ 23,539 Foreign exchange losses 432 357 97 Excluding specific items $ 32,748 $ 32,763 $ 23,636 Net Income from Continuing Operations Three Months Ended 3/31/2018 12/31/2017 3/31/2017 GAAP reported $ 23,923 $ 21,672 $ 17,992 Foreign exchange losses 354 260 83 Impact of higher tax rate 1 907 3,595 Excluding specific items $ 25,184 $ 25,527 $ 18,075 (1) 2018 Quarter 1 tax rate of 18%; guidance given at 15% 2017 Quarter 4 tax rate of 27%; guidance given at 15% Earnings Per Diluted Share from Continuing Operations Three Months Ended 3/31/2018 12/31/2017 3/31/2017 GAAP reported $ 0.54 $ 0.49 $ 0.41 Foreign exchange losses 0.01 0.01 Impact of higher tax rate 1 0.02 0.08 Excluding specific items $ 0.57 $ 0.58 $ 0.41 (1) 2018 Quarter 1 tax rate of 18%; guidance given at 15% 2017 Quarter 4 tax rate of 27%; guidance given at 15% Segment Information (amounts in thousands) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended 31 March 2018 Reservoir Description Production Enhancement Corporate and Other Operating income $ 14,757 $ 17,687 $ (128) Foreign exchange (gains) losses 209 105 118 Operating income excluding specific items $ 14,966 $ 17,792 $ (10) Three Months Ended 31 December 2017 Reservoir Description Production Enhancement Corporate and Other Operating income $ 17,269 $ 15,357 $ (220) Foreign exchange losses 184 70 103 Operating income excluding specific items $ 17,453 $ 15,427 $ (117) Three Months Ended 31 March 2017 Reservoir Description Production Enhancement Corporate and Other Operating income $ 15,940 $ 7,755 $ (156) Foreign exchange losses 237 (181) 40 Severance, compensation and other charges Operating income excluding specific items $ 16,177 $ 7,574 $ (116) Free Cash Flow Core uses the non-GAAP measure of free cash flow to evaluate its cash flows and results of operations. Free cash flow is an important measurement because it represents the cash from operations, in excess of capital expenditures, available to operate the business and fund non-discretionary obligations. Free cash flow is not a measure of operating performance under GAAP, and should not be considered in isolation nor construed as an alternative consideration to operating income, net income, earnings per share, or cash flows from operating, investing, or financing activities, each as determined in accordance with GAAP. You should also not consider free cash flow as a measure of liquidity. Moreover, since free cash flow is not a measure determined in accordance with GAAP and thus is susceptible to varying interpretations and calculations, free cash flow as presented may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Computation of Free Cash Flow (amounts in thousands) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended 3/31/18 Net cash provided by operating activities $ 23,093 Capital expenditures (4,443) Free cash flow $ 18,650 SOURCE Core Laboratories N.V. Related Links http://www.corelab.com WASHINGTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the Corporate Whistleblower Center, "We are urging an employee of an ambulance company anywhere in the United States to call us anytime at 866-714-6466 if their employer is on a very regular basis gouging Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE for medically unnecessary rides in an ambulance. The government recently settled with an ambulance company for $9 million dollars for their alleged involvement in a scheme exactly like this. Unfortunately, there was no whistleblower. Had there been one he or she would now be a millionaire. If you have proof of an ambulance company being extremely aggressive with billing Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE for medically unnecessary rides in an ambulance rides please give us a call." http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com Ambulance Company Medicare Fraud In March 2018 an ambulance company agreed to pay a $9 million dollar fine. In this instance the government alleged the ambulance company submitted false or fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for ambulance transports that were not medically necessary, that did not qualify as Specialty Care Transports, and that were billed improperly to the federal health care programs. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ambulance-company-pay-9-million-settle-false-claims-act-allegations. Aside from unnecessary rides in an ambulance with Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE picking up the bar tab the Corporate Whistleblower Center is also very interested in hearing from the following types of healthcare whistleblowers: A hospital manager who can prove a hospital is routinely admitting patients for unnecessary medical treatments--just so they can gouge the government with a big bill. An imaging center employee with proof their employer is forcing patients to undergo medically unnecessary CT scans, MRIs, or x-rays so they can gouge the government with a huge bill. AKA-"After we give grandma the CT scan let's get her a MRI to confirm there is nothing wrong and then bill Medicare." A dialysis center employee with proof their employer is gouging the government for medically unnecessary treatments. A rehab center employee that has proof their employer is grossly overbilling the government for therapy sessions that were not medically necessary. AKA-"Let's give grandma a back rub all day long-even though it is medically unnecessary." The Corporate Whistleblower Center says, "We don't mean to joke about something as serious as Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE overbilling but it is so common and frequently over the top it is hard not to shake your head in disbelief. We are incredibly serious about healthcare workers with proof of substantia Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE fraud getting rewarded for their information as we would be happy to discuss anytime at 866-714-6466. Why sit on a potentially huge winning lotto ticket without ever knowing what it might be worth?" http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com Simple rules for a whistleblower from the Corporate Whistleblower Center: Do not go to the government first if you are a major whistleblower. The Corporate Whistleblower Center says, "Major whistleblowers frequently go to the government thinking they will help. It's a huge mistake. Do not go to the news media with your whistleblower information. Public revelation of a whistleblower's information could destroy any prospect for a reward. Do not try to force a company or individual to come clean stark on anti-kickback laws or overbilling Medicare. Come to us first, tell us what type of information you have, and if we think it's sufficient, we will help find the right law firms to assist in advancing your information." http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com The Corporate Whistleblower Center is the premier advocate for whistleblowers in the United States. Unlike any group in the US, they can assist a potential whistleblower with packaging their information and providing the whistleblower with access to some of the most accomplished whistleblower attorneys in the nation. For more information, a potential whistleblower can contact the Corporate Whistleblower Center at 866-714-6466 or visit http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com Media contact: Thomas Martin [email protected] 866-714-6466 SOURCE Corporate Whistleblower Center Related Links http://corporatewhistleblower.com MAUMEE, Ohio, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dana Incorporated (NYSE: DAN) today announced that it will be the exclusive driveline supplier for the highly anticipated Hino XL7 and XL8 Class 7 and 8 commercial vehicles. The trucks feature Dana Spicer D- and E-Series steer axles, SPL 140 and 170 driveshafts, and several models of Spicer single and tandem drive axles, including the AdvanTEK 40, newly released S172 heavy-duty single drive axle, and D46-172 heavy-duty tandem axles. Dana's products are designed to provide maximum reliability, efficiency, durability, and maneuverability for the heavy-duty commercial truck segment. The XL series of trucks from Hino add new advantages and capabilities to Hino's product line with a focus on reliability, durability, and owner experience. Yoshinori Noguchi, president and CEO of Hino Trucks North America, said: "Working with Dana to bring the XL series to life for our customers was an important alliance. Dana's products are renowned for their impeccable design, consistency, and effectiveness for customers. Those traits are consistent with our goals and made them an ideal fit." "Dana is focused on providing superior products that exceed customer expectations," said Mark Wallace, executive vice president of Dana and president of Dana Commercial Driveline Technologies. "Hino has demonstrated a strong commitment to excellence for its customers and we are honored to be able to strengthen our relationship with them by being chosen as the driveline supplier for the launch of the XL series." Hino will begin production of the trucks in early 2019 at its facility in Mineral Wells, West Virginia. About Hino Trucks Hino Trucks, a Toyota Group Company, assembles, sells, and services a lineup of Class 48 diesel commercial trucks in the United States. Hino Trucks is the premier heavy- and medium-duty nameplate in the United States with a product lineup that offers fully connected vehicles with low total cost of ownership, superior fuel economy, unmatched reliability and maneuverability, and the most comprehensive bundle of standard features in the market. Headquartered in Novi, Michigan, Hino has a network of over 230 dealers nationwide committed to achieving excellence in the ultimate ownership experience. Learn more about Hino Trucks at www.hino.com or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. About Dana Incorporated Dana is a world leader in highly engineered solutions for improving the efficiency, performance, and sustainability of powered vehicles and machinery. Dana supports the passenger vehicle, commercial truck, and off-highway markets, as well as industrial and stationary equipment applications. Founded in 1904, Dana employs approximately 30,000 people in 33 countries on six continents who are committed to delivering long-term value to customers. The company reported sales of more than $7.2 billion in 2017. Based in Maumee, Ohio, the company's operations in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan were selected as a Top Workplace for the last two years by The (Toledo) Blade and its research partner, Energage. Dana is ranked among the Drucker Institute's listing of the 250 most effectively managed companies. For more information, please visit www.dana.com. SOURCE Dana Incorporated Related Links http://www.dana.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The global data preparation tools market size is anticipated to reach USD 8.47 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., exhibiting a CAGR of 25.1% over the forecast period. Data preparation tools can help organizations augment their efficiency by ensuring easy access to data. Increasing demand for data analytics, particularly in IT and retail sectors, is expected to drive demand for data preparation tools. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661327/Grand_View_Research_Logo.jpg ) The growth of the data preparation tools market can be attributed particularly to capabilities of self-service data preparation tools to ensure easy interchangeability, collaboration, and profiling of data. These tools can also address concerns associated with safety of the data. Demand for self-service data preparation tools will continue to increase as data analytics companies continue to demand efficient solutions to access and analyze large volumes of data. On-premise deployment of data preparation tools accounted for the largest revenue share in 2016 as organizations prefer to adopt conventional data collection and preparation techniques. However, demand for deployment of data preparation tools over the cloud is expected to grow over the forecast period, as cloud deployment can ensure easy access to data via virtual sources. Data preparation tools help enterprises collect, analyze, and standardize data. The data collection segment accounted for the largest market share of more than 28.0% in 2016. However, the data governance segment is expected to expand noticeably over the forecast period. North America accounted for the largest share in the data preparation tools market in 2016. Demand for data preparation tools is expected to increase over the forecast period in line with growing adoption of data preparation tools for data analytics in U.S. However, Asia Pacific is expected to exhibit the highest CAGR over the forecast period. Browse full research report with TOC on "Data Preparation Tools Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Platform, By Deployment (Cloud, On-premise), By Vertical (IT & Telecom, Retail & E-commerce, BFSI), By Function, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/data-preparation-tools-market Further Key Findings From the Report Suggest: Demand for data preparation tools is expected to increase as various companies jointly adopt data governance initiatives The market size of the IT and telecom segment is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 26.8% over the forecast period Asia Pacific is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period owing to large-scale adoption of data preparation tools in retail analytics is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period owing to large-scale adoption of data preparation tools in retail analytics Alteryx, Inc.; Datawatch Corporation; Informatica Corporation; International Business Machines Corporation; Microsoft Corporation; MicroStrategy Incorporated; Qlik Technologies Inc.; SAP SE; SAS Institute Inc.; and Tibco Software Inc. are some of the key players in the market for data preparation tools. Browse related reports by Grand View Research: Service Delivery Platform In The Communication Market - The Global service delivery platform in the communication market is expected to experience brisk growth over the forecast period due to rise in demand for efficient service delivery to the customers across the world. The Global service delivery platform in the communication market is expected to experience brisk growth over the forecast period due to rise in demand for efficient service delivery to the customers across the world. Data Center Security Market - The global data center security market size was valued at USD 6.36 billion in 2015. The global data center security market size was valued at in 2015. Business Process Management (BPM) Market - The BPM market is expected to reach USD 23.04 billion by 2024. The BPM market is expected to reach by 2024. Green Packaging Market - The global green packaging market size was valued at USD 141.7 billion in 2015. Grand View Research has segmented the global data preparation tools market based on platform, function, deployment, vertical, and region: Data Preparation Tools Platform Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) Self-service Data integration Data Preparation Tools Function Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) Data collection Data cataloging Data quality Data governance Data ingestion Data curation Data Preparation Tools Deployment Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) On-premise Cloud Data Preparation Tools Vertical Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) IT and Telecom Retail and E-commerce BFSI Government Healthcare Energy and Utilities Transportation Manufacturing Others Data Preparation Tools Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe Germany U.K. France Asia Pacific China Japan India South America Brazil Middle East and Africa Read Our Blog By Grand View Research: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/blogs/technology About Grand View Research Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare. Contact: Sherry James Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Grand View Research, Inc Phone: +1-415-349-0058 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc. - WE Day Illinois will stream live at 9:45 a.m. CT at we.org/watchweday - - Photos available in the WE Day Illinois Electronic Press Kit by 4 p.m. CT - - WE Day Illinois is free to thousands of students thanks to partners led by title sponsor The Allstate Foundation - ROSEMONT, IL, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Today the world's largest youth empowerment event WE Day, returns to Illinois in celebration of young people committed to making a difference. Over 15,000 students and educators from across the state will join together at The Allstate Arena for a life-changing experience featuring renowned speakers, innovative thought leaders and celebrity performers including Rasheda Ali, Ally Brooke, Lonnie Chavis, Monique Coleman, GRAMMY award-winner Daya, Jordan Fisher, Chris Gardner, Former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard, Anthony Gonzalez, Jack & Jack, Skai Jackson, Jason Mayden, Johnny Orlando, Jenna Ortega, Esera Tuaolo, Cleo Wade and more. Joined by international activists and WE co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger, this day of empowerment is made possible by partners along with title sponsor, The Allstate Foundation. A catalyst to support the movement of young people leading change, WE Day is a series of 19 stadium-sized events held across the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the Caribbean. This past year, more than 200,000 students from over 10,000 schools attended WE Day events, alongside thousands who watched online and millions more who viewed two national North American TV broadcasts. "WE Day is proof of what happens when young people believe in their power to make a difference," said Tom Wilson, Allstate Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "It's about helping young people connect to a world larger than themselves and take action on issues. They can and they will change the world for the better." More than a one-day event, WE Day is connected to the free, yearlong educational program WE Schools. The program provides schools and community groups with curriculum, educational resources and action campaigns designed to enhance a school's existing social initiatives or spark new ones. WE Schools encourages students to further their curricular learning and develop life skills for success beyond the classroom. During the 2016/2017 school year, more than 650 schools and groups across Illinois improved their communities through WE Schools, volunteering more than 509,000 hours and raising over $1.2 million in support of 265 local and global causes such as hunger, homelessness, bullying, education and literacy. Furthermore, 83 percent of Illinois educators participating in WE Schools felt they were better equipped to teach about social justice issues through service-based learning opportunities for their students. In addition, 82 percent of educators said their students felt a greater connection to their local community and 75 percent of educators said the program engaged previously disengaged youth. "Today we celebrate remarkable students who are part of the WE generationyoung leaders from across Illinois who have committed to creating change at home and around the world," said Craig Kielburger, co-founder of WE. "With the support of their incredible educators, these students joined together to help local and global organizations, affecting countless lives just this year alone. WE Day Illinois celebrates their world-changing achievements and inspires another year of working together towards positive impact." Speakers and performers at WE Day Illinois will energize the crowd through a day full of powerful educational speeches, inspirational moments and empowering performances. A few must-see highlights include: Singer, songwriter and member of Fifth Harmony, Ally Brooke , will open the show with a performance of her of her breakout hit, Perfect and GRAMMY Award winning multi-platinum singer, songwriter and recording artist, Daya, closes the show with a performance of, New, Sit Still Look Pretty and Don't Let Me Down , will open the show with a performance of her of her breakout hit, and GRAMMY Award winning multi-platinum singer, songwriter and recording artist, Daya, closes the show with a performance of, Author, entrepreneur and international speaker, Chris Gardner , will deliver a key note speech sharing the importance of leading with purpose and breaking through barriers "I want all the young people at WE Day Illinois to know that even if they feel uncertain about their next day, month or year, when faced with what seems to be an impossible hurdle, the key is not to quit," said Chris Gardner. "When you lead with passion there is no limit to what you can achieveevery single young person that has earned their way to WE Day is a shining example of this." WE Day Illinois speakers, presenters, and performers, in alphabetical order, include: Rasheda Ali, Rachel Belkov, Ian Brock, Ally Brooke, Celebrity Marauders, Lonnie Chavis, Miriam Ngai Lun Cing, Monique Coleman, Daya, Jordan Fisher, Chris Gardner, Former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard, Anthony Gonzalez, Jack & Jack, Skai Jackson, Khadjiah Johnson, Kenyan Boys Choir, Marc and Craig Kielburger, Jason Mayden, Mya Middleton, Garrett Miller, Johnny Orlando, Jenna Ortega, Ava Santos-Volpe, Becky Savage, Founder 525 Foundation, Myreanna Smith, Robert Smith, Michael Strautmanis, Margaret Trudeau, Esera Tuaolo, Cleo Wade, Spencer West and Tom Wilson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Allstate. WE Day provides youth with a platform to learn about some of today's most pressing issues while celebrating this generation's shift toward acting with intention, leading with compassion and believing in the power of community. With more than half of the attendees coming from Chicago Public Schools, WE Day will celebrate the local organizations youth serve and elevate causes that young people across the region care about. WE Day is free of charge to students and educators across the U.S. thanks to the generous support of partners led by National Co-Title Sponsor The Allstate Foundation. Through its Good Starts Young initiative, The Allstate Foundation empowers youth with the strength, confidence and skills to step up as leaders and achieve success in their lives. WE Day is supported in Illinois by Co-Chairs Tom Wilson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Allstate; Alex Gourlay, Co-Chief Operating Officer, Walgreens; Arne Duncan, Managing Partner, Emerson Collective and Former U.S. Secretary of Education; and Linda Imonti, National Partner in Charge, Advisory Office Leaders and Chicago Advisory Office Leader, KPMG LLP. In the U.S., WE Day is supported by Tom Wilson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Allstate; Jane Francisco, Editorial Director of Hearst Lifestyle Group and Editor-in-Chief of Good Housekeeping; Brett Tollman, CEO, The Travel Corporation; and Steve Robinson, CEO and Founder, Zilliance and Janet Crown, CEO, Burn 60 Studios. Stay connected on the latest news and updates on WE Day: #WEday | @WEmovement | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Media Center About WE WE Day is part of WEa family of organizations making doing good, doable. WE is made up of WE Charity, empowering domestic and international change, ME to WE, a social enterprise that creates socially conscious products and experiences to help support the charity, and WE Day, filling stadiums around the world with the greatest celebration of social good. WE enables youth and families to better the world supporting 7,200+ local and global causes by volunteering millions of hours of service, shopping daily with an impact, and raising millions of dollars that directly benefit their local communities and the world. Globally, WE teams in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have provided more than 1 million people with clean water, built 1,000 schools and schoolrooms overseas, and empowered more than 200,000 children with access to education. WE was founded more than 20 years ago by social entrepreneurs, brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger. Join the movement today at WE.org. About The Allstate Foundation Established in 1952, The Allstate Foundation is an independent charitable organization made possible by subsidiaries of The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL). Through partnerships with non-profit organizations across the country, The Allstate Foundation brings the relationships, reputation and resources of Allstate to support innovative and lasting solutions that enhance people's well-being and prosperity. With a focus on building financial independence for domestic violence survivors, empowering youth and celebrating the charitable community involvement of Allstate agency owners and employees, The Allstate Foundation works to bring out the good in people's lives. For more information, visit www.AllstateFoundation.org. SOURCE WE Charity DALLAS, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Pi, Inc. today announced that it is acquiring Boston-based RevEngine Marketing, a full-service marketing consulting agency that specializes in Marketo. The move positions Digital Pi to meet the rapidly growing global demand for the company's high-quality Marketo consulting services. "RevEngine Marketing, led by its founder, Jeff Coveney, is an outstanding business and cultural fit to Digital Pi," said Ryan Vong, President and CEO. "We've known Jeff and his team for years and have always been impressed with their thought leadership, Marketo expertise, company culture, and reputation in our space. Our businesses are very synergistic regarding how we approach and manage client engagements and provide strategic marketing services. The addition of Jeff and his team to ours will allow us to expand our client base geographically and vertically, as well as enhance our service offerings and industry leadership." RevEngine Marketing provides clients a full suite of marketing advisory and consulting services, with focus on best practices in marketing automation. RevEngine Marketing will become a division of Digital Pi. Jeff Coveney will serve as Executive Vice President and lead all marketing efforts of the combined company, reporting to Ryan Vong, CEO. "Combining RevEngine's expertise and resources with those of Digital Pi enables us to help more Marketo customers get even more value from their Marketo investment," said Coveney. "RevEngine and Digital Pi have been working closely together for some time, and I look forward to an exciting future working together as one team." The acquisition is expected to close on April 30, 2018. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. About Digital Pi Digital Pi is a Marketo Platinum Services Partner that helps companies get sustainable, quantifiable business ROI from the Marketo Engagement Platform. The Digital Pi Gold Standard framework helps Marketo customers establish a solid foundation to scale their marketing quickly and efficiently. Additionally, Digital Pi's Omega software is the first performance management application for Marketo to help customers optimize end-to-end performance. Digital Pi clients include, CA Technologies, Ruckus Networks, RSA and more. For more information, visit www.digitalpi.com. About RevEngine Marketing RevEngine Marketing is a digital marketing agency that helps clients scale their brands with measurable and repeatable marketing using Marketo. For more information, visit www.revenginemarketing.com. Media Contact: Tom Grubb 844-887-2669 ext. 704 [email protected] SOURCE Digital Pi Related Links http://www.digitalpi.com EDISON, N.J., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Building automation and energy services provider Albireo Energy, LLC ("Albireo Energy") today announced it has added Long Island City-based Energy Management Control Corporation ("EMCC") to its platform. The partnership will bolster Albireo Energy's geographic presence in the Greater New York City region by having offices in Long Island City, NY and Edison, NJ. It will also expand its capabilities in systems integration. EMCC will continue to run day-to-day operations out of the Long Island City office and is now a part of the New York division of Albireo Energy. Energy Management Control Corporation is a certified Schneider representative serving the New York Metro area. Using Schneider products, along with a dedicated and skilled team, EMCC provides building comfort, efficiency and integrated solutions. Founded in 1981, EMCC has installed and maintained systems in buildings across diverse markets that include universities, healthcare institutions, and commercial buildings. "Our acquisition of EMCC compliments our overall value-added offerings of sustainable energy savings and infrastructure protection," said Phil Rogers, CEO of Albireo Energy. "Last year we doubled our presence in the New York region and the EMCC acquisition will help support our ambition." "EMCC is a long-term successful automation controls company in the NY region. We are very excited to become part of the Albireo Energy family, as this will immediately bring more resources to the market and meet the demand of our current customers," said John Piraino, President of EMCC. "Most importantly, our employees will have greater growth opportunities by becoming part of Albireo." About Albireo Energy Albireo Energy provides building automation and integration solutions and energy services to commercial and institutional buildings nationally. Their solutions and services help building owners and managers improve efficiency and reduce operational costs while improving comfort for tenants. Through its operating divisions, Albireo Energy has a history of providing exceptional solutions to mission critical facilities such as data centers, labs, military installations, and hospitals. For more information, visit www.AlbireoEnergy.com. About Energy Management Control Corporation Founded in 1981, Energy Management Control Corporation (EMCC) provides building automation and integration services to commercial buildings as well as healthcare facilities and universities throughout the Greater New York City region. They offer controls to operate and maintain variable air volume systems, heating air conditioning ventilation, and security and access control. For more information, visit http://emcccontrols.com/. Contact: Jessica Seward Director of Marketing 302-368-0443 [email protected] SOURCE Albireo Energy Related Links http://www.albireoenergy.com BOCA RATON, Fla., April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Eric Adam Heller, M.D., M.S., FACC, FSCAI, FSVM, is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Pinnacle Lifetime Member in the field of Medicine in recognition of his role as Cardiologist at Florida Premiere Cardiology. Florida Premiere Cardiology is notorious for their superior approach when addressing the comprehensive medical needs of their clients. Devoted to providing their clients with quality healthcare services utilizing the latest advancements in medical technology, the facility ensures their clients' needs are met. Offering an extensive range of services, the cardiology center specializes in cardiac procedures, cardiac evaluations, venous disease, and peripheral arterial disease. With over seventeen years of experience in the field of Medicine under his belt, Dr. Eric Adam Heller has become a trusted name in the medical industry. Having served in his current position as Cardiologist at Florida Premiere Cardiology for the past two years, Dr. Heller is revered for his outstanding contributions to the field. Board certified in the areas of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine, Vascular Medicine, Interventional Cardiology, Endovascular Medicine and Nuclear Cardiology, Dr. Heller has fulfilled many prestigious roles throughout his career including Cardiovascular Research Fellow; a Clinical Cardiology Fellow; a Chief Interventional Cardiology Fellow; and an advanced Fellow in Peripheral/Structural Interventions. Prior to joining the team at Florida Premier Cardiology, Dr. Heller has served in several prominent roles including Clinical Associate at Seckler Heart Center; Staff Interventional Cardiologist at JFK Medical Center; Staff Interventional Cardiologist at Boca Raton Regional Hospital; Staff Interventional Cardiologist at Delray Medical Center. Early in his career, Dr. Heller attained both his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Yale University. Thereafter, Dr. Heller would then go onto complete his Medical degree from Harvard Medical School, his Internship in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and his Residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. In an effort to further enhance his professional development, Dr. Heller is an elite member of several organizations including the American College of Cardiology; FACC; Interventional Scientific Council (from 2008 2010); the Society of Coronary Angiography and Intervention; FSCAI and the Society for Vascular Medicine. A venerated researcher, Dr. Heller possesses a wide array of research experience, and is a a published scholar in several prominent medical journals. In recognition of his professional accolades, Dr. Heller graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Yale University; earned the Ebert Community Service Award from Harvard Medical School; the Resident Award for Excellence in Student Teaching from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital; and the American Heart Association Individual Postgraduate Training Grant from Massachusetts General Hospital. When he is not working, Dr. Heller enjoys music, traveling and spending time with his family and children. Dr. Heller dedicates this recognition to his wife, Liat, and thanks her for her love and support. For more information, visit www.floridapremiercardio.com. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com The $100 Prime Margarita, available from May 4-6, is handcrafted with ultimate premium liquors, including Tequila Herradura Seleccion Suprema and Grand Marnier Centenaire. Served in Baccarat's uniquely designed Diamant Highball, guests will take home the glass in Baccarat's iconic red box. "Our $100 Prime Margarita is an extraordinary twist to the traditional cocktail, an offering that echoes Fleming's signature elegance and creates an upscale Cinco de Mayo experience," said Beth Scott, President of Fleming's. Tequila Herradura's Seleccion Suprema is the world's first-ever extra-anejo tequila expression. Aged for 49 months, this smoothly enticing tequila was first introduced by Casa Herradura in 1995. Since its inception it has garnered international awards for its delectable combination of the finest cooked agave, highlighted by notes of rich vanilla and dried fruit a melange ideal for pairing with Fleming's signature dishes. Baccarat has been lauded for centuries as the world's premiere designer of luxury crystal products. In fact, enjoyed by royalty since 1764, Baccarat is often called the "Crystal of the Kings." Crafted in iconic Baccarat style, the clear crystal Diamant Highball is accented with silhouettes and pointed diamond cuts that sparkle as they shine. Famed craftsman Thomas Bastide designed this elegant glass to be a lasting testament to taste and sophistication. To reserve your Cinco de Mayo experience, please visit FlemingsSteakhouse.com. About Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar Nationally acclaimed Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar offers the best in steakhouse dining here you'll find a passion for steak and wine, reflected in an exceptional menu of hand-cut steaks, an award-winning list of wines by the glass, and seasonal menu selections showcasing locally-inspired chef dishes. Fleming's was launched in Newport Beach, California, in 1998 by successful restaurant industry veterans Paul Fleming and Bill Allen. Today there are 70 restaurants nationwide and one in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Fleming's is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including Wine Spectator's annual Award of Excellence. For more information about Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and the Fleming's 100, please visit www.FlemingsSteakhouse.com. About Tequila Herradura Tequila Herradura is an ultra-premium 100% agave tequila crafted by Casa Herradura in Amati tan, Jalisco, the last true Tequila-producing hacienda on the planet and one of Mexico's most historic and renowned Tequila producers. Since 1870, Casa Herradura has been hand-harvesting and estate bottling 100% agave Tequila using only the most mature blue agave and artisanal methods, such as slow cooking the agave in traditional clay ovens and using natural fermentation. Tequila Herradura is distilled twice and aged to perfection in American white oak barrels. Tequila Herradura Silver, Reposado, Anejo, Ultra and Seleccion Suprema Extra Anejo are available throughout the U.S., Mexico, and more than 80 other countries around the world. For more information about Tequila Herradura, visit www.herradura.com/ or connect with Tequila Herradura on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. About Baccarat Baccarat is a market-leading designer, manufacturer and retailer of luxury crystal products. Since its foundation in 1764, the company, whose manufacturing base is in Baccarat in the Lorraine region of Eastern France, has been synonymous with a unique savoir-faire and has come to symbolize an inimitable French Art de Vivre. Baccarat crystal, ranging from lighting to tableware, decorative objects, jewelry and bottle manufacturing, is distributed in 89 countries. Explore the world of Baccarat at www.baccarat.com. Media Contact: Jackie Guzman, 561-998-1995, [email protected] SOURCE Flemings Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar Related Links https://www.flemingssteakhouse.com (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/645103/Neil_Young_CEO_FlowForma.jpg ) (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/523210/FlowForma_Logo.jpg ) The A14 is a stretch of road between Cambridge and Huntingdon in the South East of the United Kingdom, which has long been due an upgrade. Notorious for traffic congestion, it is used by almost 85,000 vehicles every day, with around a quarter of these heavy goods vehicles. The 1.5 billion redevelopment of the road is a joint venture between Costain, Skanska, and Balfour Beatty. However, the project encountered many logistical challenges around business processes, as there was a huge volume of paper in the system, documents inevitably got lost and mistakes were made. An alternative to paper-based processes was high on IT Manager James Morgan's list of priorities, "The adoption of IT is quite poor in construction. We still rely on a lot of paper-based processes, people having to meet face-to-face and share documents to get things done," he explained. After considering several products, James discovered FlowForma BPM. The decision was made quickly, as it met all the requirements: it was built on Microsoft SharePoint, required no coding skills, and it maximized their existing investment with Microsoft. To get quickly up to speed, he took advantage of FlowForma SureStart, a four-step onboarding program, while also staying in touch with the FlowForma Customer Success team for further advice. To date, James has developed 24 'flows' - primarily electronic forms that overcome the challenge of bringing together disparate teams of six or seven stakeholders to sign-off on requests. The 'Permit to Dig' process, for example, is a typical approval request procedure that used to involve downloading a document, filling it in, and sharing it with the team. In FlowForma, it's become a fully automated electronic process. By automating their processes and cutting down on paperwork, the A14 Integrated Delivery Team have seen a vast increase in efficiency and accuracy. This is further demonstrated with the mobile access feature within FlowForma BPM, "You can complete processes much quicker and with mobile access you're enabling people in the field to work on forms from anywhere - you're not waiting for someone to get back to their desks," said James. Having already seen the benefits first-hand, James is looking to extend the use of FlowForma BPM across the entire business project, labelling it as "a potential game-changer". "A complex project such as the redevelopment of the A14 can lead to several transparency and accuracy issues, due to the vast amounts of paperwork floating around. The ramifications can be severe, so having a cost-effective and quick solution was paramount to James Morgan and his team. We are delighted to see that the A14 IDT benefited from our SureStart program, which gives new customers the extra guidance they require to quickly implement their BPM needs." said Neil Young, Chief Executive Officer, FlowForma. Supporting Resources: To learn more about how the A14 Integrated Delivery Team (IDT) are using FlowForma BPM, read our case study: http://www.flowforma.com/a14-costain-skanska-balfourbeatty To find out how the FlowForma Cloud BPM tool works visit: http://www.flowforma.com/how-it-works To download a free trial of FlowForma BPM visit: https://www.flowforma.com/start-your-flowforma-trial About FlowForma FlowForma, the leading provider of Business Process Management (BPM) tools for Microsoft Office 365 has been revolutionizing the traditional BPM space with an innovative approach to developing BPM products that empower users to get work done, smarter and faster, on the familiar SharePoint platform, without any coding. An award-winning Microsoft Office 365 App, the FlowForma BPM tool enables business users and Heads of Departments to quickly implement processes such as HR on-boarding, new product development and clinical trials as well as many others, increasing organizational efficiency and productivity. Recognised by Microsoft and trusted by over 110,000 users, this Microsoft Gold Partner is headquartered in Dublin with offices in London and Boston. For further information or a 30-day free trial, visit www.flowforma.com About the A14 Project 21 miles of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon in the United Kingdom, are being upgraded to three lanes in each direction including a brand new 17-mile bypass south of Huntingdon, with four lanes in each direction between Bar Hill and Girton. The project will add additional capacity, boost the local and national economy and cut up to 20 minutes off journeys. SOURCE FlowForma The dispensaries are strategically located in the densely populated municipalities of Humacao, home to a large cluster of hospitals and medical professionals, and in the heart of the Condado district of San Juan, to provide easy access and care to the over 23,000 registered patients in Puerto Rico. Custom Group expects to begin construction of both sites simultaneously on April 25 th and anticipates that the Humacao location will begin providing services for patients by mid-June. The Humacao dispensary was fully functional and was the newest dispensary in the Clinica Verde brand until it was severely damaged by Hurricane Maria. Before the hurricane, Humacao showed great potential with consistent monthly sales gains. "We're very happy to announce our partnership with Custom Group for the redevelopment of the Humacao store," states Ramon E. Ortiz, CEO of TCG Investments. "Humacao is a market with great potential. It's home to large multinational corporations like Microsoft and Medtronic and to a world-class resort at Palmas del Mar. Hurricane Maria caused major damage to this area and we're glad to announce that our new store will reopen stronger than ever and help improve the quality of life of Humacao's hundreds of medical cannabis patients." About Future Farm Future Farm is a Canadian company with holdings throughout North America including California, Massachusetts, Florida, Maine, Puerto Rico and Newfoundland. The Company's mission is to advance sustainable agriculture through production of mass-market cannabis products. Towards this goal, the Company acquires or partners with licensed cannabis operators, and acquires or develops leading technologies in cannabis production, breeding, genetics, and Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). Future Farm's scalable, indoor CEA systems utilize minimal land, water and energy resources. The Company holds an exclusive, worldwide license to use a patented vertical farming technology that, when compared to traditional plant production methods, generates yields up to 10 times greater per square foot of land. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws. For further information, contact William Gildea Director +1-(888) 387-3761 SOURCE Future Farm Technologies Inc. In today's world, there is an increasing polarization around social and political issues that challenge on-campus efforts to champion diversity and inclusion, teach critical thinking skills and foster open dialogue. Faculty and students need credible information to adequately address these issues in the classroom and beyond. Gale's new Political Extremism & Radicalism in the Twentieth Century collection provides essential historical context on the controversial issues of extremism and radicalism, and how they have shaped the past, present and future of the world's political and civil rights history. The archive contains more than 600,000 pages of content and more than 42 audio histories with full transcripts, making it the largest and most comprehensive resource of its kind. It offers researchers a diverse range of content, including campaign materials, propaganda, government records and various ephemera that allow researchers to explore extremism and radicalism in new and innovative ways. Researchers will gain unparalleled access to information on the extreme right, new left and radical activist groups, such as the Klu Klux Klan, the Communist Party of the United States, National Socialist Party of Australia and the British Union of Fascists. Additionally, researchers of contemporary topics can examine the origins and development of present-day issues, such as the resurgence of right-wing politics, evolution of civil rights movements and the nature of extreme or radical political thought. Political Extremism & Radicalism in the Twentieth Century source archives include: The American Radicalism Collection ( Michigan State University, East Lansing , MI) : Collection of ephemera on radical political groups across a range of extremist movements, including those involved in religion, race, gender, the environment and equal rights. : Collection of ephemera on radical political groups across a range of extremist movements, including those involved in religion, race, gender, the environment and equal rights. The Hall-Hoag Collection of Dissenting and Extremist Printed Propaganda ( Brown University , Providence, RI ): Includes printed propaganda from U.S. anti-integrationist, anti-Semitic and racist groups. Includes printed propaganda from U.S. anti-integrationist, anti-Semitic and racist groups. The Searchlight Archive (University of Northampton, U.K. ): Consists of documents, audio histories and back issues of Searchlight Magazine (1965-2017) from Searchlight Associates, an information service that aims to expose racist and fascist groups. Consists of documents, audio histories and back issues of (1965-2017) from Searchlight Associates, an information service that aims to expose racist and fascist groups. The National Archives, U.K.: Includes government documents relating to inter- and post-war British extremist movements, including Security Service files and Home Office papers. "Gale created the Political Extremism & Radicalism in the Twentieth Century archive to provide historical context to increasingly polarized conversations," said Paul Gazzolo, senior vice president and general manager at Gale. "We believe that from deeper knowledge comes greater understanding. So, we thank our source libraries for making their remarkable collections globally accessible through Gale Primary Sources." Political Extremism & Radicalism in the Twentieth Century will be available in June 2018. The archive is the latest release in Gale's award-winning suite of twentieth century primary source archives, helping researchers discover the hidden histories behind today's most critical conversations including gender, race, diversity and sexuality. Gale will host a launch event and showcase the new archive at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, June 22-25 in New Orleans at the Gale booth #2331. For more information, visit Gale's Political Extremism & Radicalism in the Twentieth Century page. About Cengage and Gale Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. The company serves the higher education, K-12, professional, library and workforce training markets worldwide. Gale, a Cengage company, provides libraries with original and curated content, as well as the modern research tools and technology that are crucial in connecting libraries to learning, and learners to libraries. For more than 60 years, Gale has partnered with libraries around the world to empower the discovery of knowledge and insights where, when, and how people need it. Gale has 500 employees globally with its main operations in Farmington Hills, Michigan. For more information, please visit www.gale.com. Follow Gale on: Media Contact: Kayla Siefker, Gale, a Cengage company 248-699-8456 [email protected] SOURCE Gale, a Cengage company Related Links http://www.cengage.com MORTON, Ill., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which provides funds for the breast cancer movement, will take place on May 12 in Peoria, IL. G&D Integrated, a provider of transportation and logistics based in the Peoria area, is actively supporting Race for the Cure this year with 99 participants including employees, family, and friends. The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Series is the world's largest and most successful education and fundraising event for breast cancer. The series of 5K runs and fitness walks raises funds and awareness for the breast cancer movement, celebrates breast cancer survivorship, and honors those who have lost their battle with the disease. Up to 75 percent of the net income from the Race stays in the Peoria community to fund vital breast cancer health education and breast cancer screening and treatment programs. The remaining 25 percent supports Komen's national research and training grants program. Approximately ten percent of G&D's workforce is participating in the Race this year on a team named "Survivors, Keep on Trucking". The company plans to support the event with team t-shirts and paid entry fees for its employees as well as paid local radio advertising promoting the event. "We are very pleased to support our employees as they join together for such a great cause," said Curt Fisher, vice president of client relations and marketing at G&D Integrated. "G&D is proud of their employees and their families as they race to provide funding and awareness for breast cancer initiatives in our community." The annual Race for the Cure Peoria will take place this year on May 12 at The Metro Centre, 4700 N. University Street, Peoria, IL. The event site opens at 6:30 a.m. and the opening ceremony begins at 7:15 a.m. To register or participate in the event, visit www.komenmemorial.org/race/. ABOUT G&D INTEGRATED G&D Integrated is a provider of transportation and logistics services and has over 100 years of experience advancing innovative global supply chain solutions. Headquartered in Morton, IL, the company provides domestic transportation, freight brokerage, contract logistics, and supply chain services to a variety of industries with 1,000 employees at over 20 facilities across North America. For more information, visit www.gdintegrated.com. Contact: Susan Himes, Marketing Communications 309-284-6795 [email protected] www.gdintegrated.com SOURCE G&D Integrated Related Links http://www.gdintegrated.com Indeed, this Micro-business Conference itself was a product of the rapid transformation and upgrading of the Micro-business industry. The conference adopted the high-end forum model which invited specific guests instead of the "Product Exhibition + Star Effect" meeting model. The conference theme was "creative and innovative entrepreneurship", and the output contents focused on "the national strategy of micro-business and innovative entrepreneurship", so this was a micro-business conference which was aimed at real-world core value. Wen Lei, vice president of Business Media Group, said "Arguments can prompt a burst of new ideas, better business models and better opportunities. What the media and micro-businessmen must do is help upgrade the industry based on their observation and understanding of the business. There will be a lot of twists and turns along the way, but human history has always been about triumph through adversity." The number of excellent micro-businesses made it easy to believe that micro-businesses are no small, passing fad. This conference gathered entrepreneurs and micro-business brands from all over the world. There were more than 1,500 brands attending the conference, such as Gracing Bra, ChuYing, Morocco, Three Papas and Uniplaz; they all discussed the road of micro-business development. More than 100 listed companies also attended, discussing how to upgrade and enhance these brands. Besides brand content, the conference also had a series of forum dialogues. Dong Qian, a famous CCTV host, explained the logic and future value of micro-businesses for all the entrepreneurs. She had deep conversations with Mohanad Ali Moh'D Shalabi; Zheng Jinhua, an entrepreneur representative of China online shops; Fang Jian, an entrepreneur representative from Yiwu; and Wang Gang, the former senior director of Alibaba. The Micro-business Conference wanted to communicate that micro-businesses needed more comprehensive operation. Micro-business was not only about online social entrepreneurship; there were young entrepreneurs that love micro-business because they were dependent on and identified with a smart, connected lifestyle. Our way of life, attitude and so on have been deeply integrated into micro-business. We can say that the future of micro-business is closely tied to our own future. From controversy and pain to a happy reunion, micro-business has had a bumpy ride. The Micro-business Department of the China Online Chamber of Commerce and the Micro-business Association put forward all parts of the country's proposed "Twelve Articles of Micro-business Service" in this conference, wanting to use these articles to guide the development of the whole industry and establish the mainstream values of the industry. SOURCE Global Entrepreneur Conference and Fourth Micro-business Conference The news that every woman has been waiting for has finally arrived, men prefer a womans personality over her looks. Relationships on Female First Lynx has carried out research to find out what type of woman British men want most, and the results shows that brainy girls are at the top of their lists. Seventy two per cent of men say that personality is the biggest turn on and 50 per cent say that their ideal woman is a brainy one! The survey revealed that men seem to prefer the Kate Middleton type, at 5 6 with dark, shoulder length hair and blue eyes. The TOWIE type is a complete turn off, with only 6 per cent of men saying that they go for the high maintenance type of woman. The survey showed that the nations ideal woman would need to be interested in music, movies, sightseeing and travelling, and must be funny, sensitive, thoughtful and outgoing. Most men wouldnt be able to handle a woman like Rihanna as only 5 per cent of them said that they would like to have a party animal for a girlfriend. Despite the Olympics being upon us, only 14 per cent of men said that they see the sporty type of woman attractive. It appears that men like a woman who can flirt, as 25 per cent of men said that was something they found attractive in a woman. Both men and women look for the same personality traits in each other, they have to be funny, thoughtful, sociable, confident and romantic. Although women have a slightly higher focus on personality, with 82 per cent saying it is the most important aspect of a man. Psychologist, Dr. David Lewis said, The findings suggest that male and female roles are evolving as what men look for in a woman are becoming more in line with what women typically look for in a man. Although we are initially attracted to someone through physical features, its now more important to people that their partners are companions rather than trophies. The recent economic downturn could also play a part in this evolvement, as weve become less materialistic as a nation than before the recession, and now seek partners who can provide us with contentment and security. When it came to shy girls, Geordie lads and men from Northern Ireland prefer them, as only 5 per cent of Geordie lads liked sociable women and a shocking 0 per cent of Northern Ireland lads found sociable ladies attractive. Lynx Brand Manager, Kavi Tolani, said, Weve always known guys have preferences for different personality types and its great to see this in our results. Its clear that different cultures and upbringings across the UK can make the mating game very competitive within regions, putting pressure on guys to succeed when they meet girls exhibiting a desired personality type. The new Lynx shower gel range has therefore been developed to help guys feel great whatever the situation and primed to stay ahead in the mating game. Lynx have re-launched their coloured shower gel range with each variant designed to help men keep up with five different types of girl, meaning any man can get the girl he wants. by Cara Mason for relationships.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on DUBLIN, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market by Product & Service, Disease Type, Technology, End User - Global Forecast to 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global infectious disease diagnostics market is projected to reach USD 19.35 Billion in 2022 from USD 14.73 Billion in 2017, at CAGR of 5.6%. Infectious disease diagnostics are various techniques used by healthcare professionals to detect and diagnose diseases causing pathogens in human samples such as serum, blood, urine, throat swab, and stool. Growth in this market is largely be driven by the increasing global prevalence of infectious diseases, the shift in focus from centralized laboratories to decentralized point-of-care testing, and growth in funding for research on infectious disease diagnostics. The market is broadly segmented into assays, kits, & reagents; instruments; and services & software based on product & service. The assays, kits, & reagents segment accounted for the largest share of the global infectious disease diagnostics market and is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The increasing number of infectious disease diagnostic tests carried out; easy accessibility to a wide range of reagents; and the growing need for reliable, specific, and faster detection of infectious diseases in the early stages are the key factors driving the IDD assays, kits, & reagents market. Based on the disease type, the market is segmented into hepatitis, HIV, HAIs, CT/NG, HPV, TB, Influenza, and other diseases. The hepatitis diagnostics segment accounted for the largest share of the global market in 2017. The dominant share of this segment can be attributed to the rising prevalence of hepatitis B and C, the availability of a large number of hepatitis diagnostic tests, and increasing number of HIV/Hepatitis co-infections. The infectious disease diagnostics market is segmented into major seven technologies, namely, immunodiagnostics, clinical microbiology, PCR, INAAT, DNA sequencing & NGS, DNA microarrays, and other technologies. In 2017, the immunodiagnostics segment accounted for the largest share of the global market. The large share of this segment can be attributed to the increasing use of immunoassays in POC infectious disease testing, development of novel tests, rising trend of automation, and increasing awareness about health and fitness. On the basis of end user, the global market is segmented into hospitals/clinical laboratories, reference laboratories, physician offices, academic/research institutes, and other end users. In 2017, the hospitals/clinical laboratories segment accounted for the largest share of the global market. Also, this segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to the large number of diagnostic tests carried out in hospitals. In 2017, in terms of value, North America accounted for the largest share of the global market. This large share can be attributed to the presence of a highly developed healthcare system, increasing prevalence of infectious diseases, the presence of a large number of leading national clinical laboratories, and easy accessibility to technologically advanced instruments in the region. However, inadequate reimbursements and rising healthcare costs limiting the use of novel diagnostic techniques are restraining market growth. The key players in the global infectious disease diagnostics market are Abbott (US), Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) (US), biomrieux (France), Bio-Rad (US), and Roche (Switzerland) Key Topics Covered: 1 Introduction 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Premium Insights 4.1 Infectious Disease Diagnostics: Market Overview 4.2 Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market, By Technology and Region (2017) 4.3 Market, By Product & Service, 2017 vs 2022 (USD Billion) 4.4 Market, By End User 5 Market Overview 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Market Dynamics 5.2.1 Drivers 5.2.1.1 Increasing Global Prevalence of Infectious Diseases 5.2.1.2 Shift in Focus From Centralized Laboratories to Decentralized Point-Of-Care Testing 5.2.1.3 Growth in Funding for Research on Infectious Disease Diagnostics 5.2.2 Restraints 5.2.2.1 Inadequate Reimbursements 5.2.2.2 Rising Healthcare Costs Limiting the Use of Novel Diagnostic Techniques 5.2.3 Opportunities 5.2.3.1 Advances in Genomics and Proteomics 5.2.3.2 Growing Awareness About Personalized Medicine 5.2.3.3 Growth Opportunities in Emerging Markets 6 Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market, By Product & Service 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Assays, Kits, & Reagents 6.3 Instruments 6.4 Services & Software 7 Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market, By Technology 7.1 Introduction 7.1.1 Immunodiagnostics 7.1.2 Clinical Microbiology 7.1.3 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) 7.1.4 Isothermal Nucleic Acid Amplification Technology (INAAT) 7.1.5 DNA Sequencing & Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) 7.1.6 DNA Microarray 7.1.7 Other Technologies 8 Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market, By Disease Type 8.1 Introduction 8.1.1 Hepatitis 8.1.1.1 Hepatitis Diagnostics Market, By Technology 8.1.2 Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) 8.1.3 Chlamydia Trachomatis Genital Infection and Gonorrhea (CT/NG) 8.1.4 Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIS) 8.1.5 Human Papillomavirus (HPV) 8.1.6 Tuberculosis (TB) 8.1.6.1 Tuberculosis Diagnostics Market, By Technology 8.1.7 Influenza 8.1.7.1 Influenza Diagnostics Market, By Technology 8.1.8 Other Infectious Diseases 9 Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market, By End User 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Hospital/Clinical Laboratories 9.3 Reference Laboratories 9.4 Physician Offices 9.5 Academic/Research Institutes 9.6 Other End Users 10 Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market, By Region 10.1 Introduction 10.2 North America 10.2.1 US 10.2.2 Canada 10.3 Europe 10.4 Asia Pacific (APAC) 10.5 Rest of the World (RoW) 11 Competitive Landscape 11.1 Market Overview 11.2 Market Ranking Analysis, 2017 11.3 Competitive Situation and Trends 11.3.1 Product Launches and Approvals 11.3.2 Collaborations, Agreements, and Partnerships 11.3.3 Acquisitions 11.3.4 Expansions 12 Company Profiles 12.1 Abbott Laboratories 12.2 Becton, Dickinson and Company 12.3 Biomrieux SA 12.4 Bio-Rad Laboratories 12.5 Danaher Corporation 12.6 Diasorin 12.7 Luminex 12.8 Meridian Bioscience 12.9 Quidel 12.10 Roche Diagnostics 12.11 Siemens AG 12.12 Thermo Fisher Scientific For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/zrqtws/global_infectious?w=5 Media Contact: Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com RALEIGH, N.C., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Designers and artists looking for a place to showcase their work, or those shopping for unique, handcrafted items, look no further. Hammer and Heart Boutique is an online boutique based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, that has opened its virtual doors. Owner/designer, Katie Wyckoff's direction for the boutique is to work with independent designers/artists and bring forward the idea of sustainable and ethical fashion. The ultimate mission of the boutique is to provide those tired of mass production with an eccentric mix of designs all crafted by hand. Hammer and Heart Boutique can be found at www.hammerandheartboutique.com as well as at local pop-up events/festivals in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. To stay up to date on upcoming events, visit the blog's event page. Katie is also documenting the journey of Hammer and Heart through the blog; for a behind the scenes look, be sure to check it out at https://info466701.wixsite.com/hammerandheart. For more information visit www.hammerandheartboutique.com, https://www.facebook.com/hammerandheartboutique or follow on Instagram @hammer_and_heart. Media inquiries or artist collaborations, please email Katie Wyckoff at [email protected] or call 315.744.7498. Related Links Blog SOURCE Hammer and Heart Boutique Related Links https://www.hammerandheartboutique.com ATLANTA, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Gray Television, Inc. ("Gray," "our") (NYSE: GTN and GTN.A) announced today, that on the 110th anniversary of broadcasting pioneer Edward R. Murrow's birth, the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) named several Gray Television stations as the winners of a combined 19 regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in journalism. Today's news follows the recent announcement by the NAB Educational Foundation (NABBEF) that Gray's WJRT (ABC) in Flint, Michigan, won the 2018 Service to Community Award for Television Medium Market. In addition, Gray's WCTV (CBS) in Tallahassee, Florida, won the 2018 Service to Community Award for Television Small Market. NABEF also named three Gray stations among the eight finalists for both of these prestigious awards: KWTX-TV (CBS) in Waco, Texas, WMTV (NBC) in Madison, Wisconsin, and WEAU in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The NABEF annual awards honor the outstanding public service commitment of local television and radio broadcasters. The Murrow Awards are among the most respected journalism awards in the world. This year, RTDNA awarded 785 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards in 16 categories after receiving a record 4,400 entries. Gray stations receiving Regional Murrow Awards are as follows: With its record six wins, WKYT (CBS) in Lexington, Kentucky (DMA 63), won more Edward R. Murrow Awards than any Kentucky broadcaster and more than all the other television stations in the state combined. WKYT won in the newscast, website, breaking news, hard news, feature reporting, and excellence in innovation categories. WBAY (ABC) in Green Bay, Wisconsin (DMA 69) won a Regional Murrow award for investigative reporting. Winning two awards, KWCH (CBS) in Wichita, Kansas (DMA 67), received honors for its continuing coverage and news series. WJRT (ABC) in Flint, Michigan (DMA 71), won in the hard news category. KKTV (CBS) in Colorado Springs, Colorado (DMA 87), won two Regional Murrow Awards for breaking news and news documentary. KCRG (ABC) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (DMA 91), won in the investigative reporting category. KWQC (NBC) in Davenport, Iowa (DMA 102), won two awards for its feature and sports reporting. Winning a total of four awards, KTUU (NBC) in Anchorage, Alaska (DMA 147), won honors in the continuing coverage, hard news, news documentary and excellence in social media categories. The Radio Television Digital News Association has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971. Murrow's pursuit of excellence in journalism embodies the spirit of the awards that carry his name. Murrow Award recipients demonstrate the excellence that Edward R. Murrow made a standard for the electronic news profession. About Gray: Gray owns and/or operates over 100 television stations across 57 television markets that collectively broadcast over 200 program streams including over 100 channels affiliated with the CBS Network, the NBC Network, the ABC Network and the FOX Network. Our portfolio includes the number-one and/or number-two ranked television station operations in essentially all of our markets, which collectively cover approximately 10.4 percent of total United States television households. For further information, please visit www.gray.tv. SOURCE Gray Television, Inc. Related Links http://www.gray.tv CHICAGO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Courte Partners, LLC, a private equity real estate investment firm focused on building industry-leading companies within niche real estate sectors, announced today that its fourth investment fund, Green Courte Real Estate Partners IV, LLC and its affiliates, has acquired Pueblo Del Sol, a 453-site all-age land-lease community located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The community will be managed by an affiliate of the fund, which plans to undertake an extensive renovation of the community's amenities and introduce significant home inventory and robust home sales and rental programs. Pueblo Del Sol is Green Courte's first land-lease community investment since the 2015 sale of American Land Lease, Inc., a fully-integrated operating platform and portfolio of 59 land-lease communities with over 19,000 home sites located in 11 states. Green Courte plans to build a new portfolio of high-quality land-lease communities to meet the growing needs of families and seniors seeking high quality, yet affordable, housing and an attractive lifestyle. Bill Glascott, Green Courte's Deputy Chief Investment Officer, commented, "We are thrilled with the acquisition of Pueblo Del Sol. It is a large all-age community with an attractive design in a growth market. It's near significant employment opportunities and convenient to retail, transit, and other increasingly diverse demand generators in the Las Vegas MSA. We are excited to launch our new land-lease community platform with this transaction and plan to continue growing the portfolio through our active pipeline of deals." Chuck Crook, the Chief Operating Officer of Green Courte's land-lease community platform, said, "We are excited to re-enter the land-lease community business and leverage our deep experience owning and operating in this asset class. We believe we can enhance Pueblo Del Sol through high-impact infrastructure and amenity improvements and the purchase of new homes to fill the community. There is clear demand for quality housing at affordable prices in this market and we remain 100% focused on providing value to our customers." About Green Courte Partners, LLC Green Courte Partners, LLC is a Chicago-based private equity real estate investment firm focused on building industry-leading companies within niche real estate sectors, including land-lease communities, near-airport parking facilities, and active adult/independent senior living properties. The firm combines focused investment strategies with a disciplined approach to transaction execution, operations, and asset management. Green Courte's goal is to invest in high-quality real estate assets that will generate attractive risk-adjusted returns over a long-term holding period. For additional information, please visit Green Courte's website at www.GreenCourtePartners.com. SOURCE Green Courte Partners, LLC Related Links http://www.GreenCourtePartners.com LONDON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Real estate investment manager GreenOak has held a final close of its second European Fund, GreenOak Europe Fund II, totalling 656 million of equity commitments and exceeding its target of 500 million. The Euro-denominated GreenOak Europe Fund II ("Fund II") is fully discretionary and has the ability to acquire assets in Western European countries including Spain, Italy, France, Holland, UK, Germany, Portugal and Ireland. The Fund comprises institutional investors from North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, representing large corporate and government pension funds, endowments, foundations, and institutionally-managed family offices. In addition to Fund II's raised 656 million of capital, GreenOak has invested or committed a further 185 million of Fund LP co-investment capital and has an additional 70 million of committed discretionary Fund LP co-investment capital to deploy into this strategy. Fund II can acquire or develop real estate with a cost of 2.6 billion (with leverage of up to 65%) and is focusing primarily on logistics, office, and residential assets, as well as land for development. To date, the Fund and co-investors have committed over 567 million of equity across more than 20 transactions in Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands, totalling over 1.8 billion in value. The majority of Fund II's portfolio has been sourced and acquired off-market at discounts to market price and replacement cost and deployed in gateway cities in Europe, namely Madrid, Milan, Barcelona, Paris, as well as Europe's key logistics nodes. Fund II's logistics exposure reflects GreenOak's long-running conviction towards these assets in Europe, having now acquired over 21 million square feet and 1.3bn in aggregate cost. This close forms part of GreenOak's growing European real estate strategy, following GreenOak Europe Fund I, which was invested between May 2015 and July 2016 exclusively in Spanish and Italian assets and has already returned 75% of its called capital having utilised only 50% leverage. John Carrafiell, co-founder of GreenOak commented, "We are still in the middle innings of the deep-value opportunity in select European markets with motivated sellers, such as banks, insurance companies, government entities, funds winding-down and liquidity-driven sellers, driving many of our acquisitions. "We believe our differentiated mid-market focus and direct asset and property management expertise, have established GreenOak as a reliable counterparty for sellers, lenders, developer-partners and tenants in our target markets." "As our investment pace has remained similarly disciplined from Fund I to Fund II, this capital-raise underscores strong institutional support for both our specific European strategy and our disciplined deployment -- and importantly return -- of capital for our investor partners." About GreenOak: GreenOak Real Estate ("GreenOak") is an independent, partner owned, real estate focused principal investing and lending firm that seeks to provide strategic advice and create long-term value for its clients and investors. Since 2011, GreenOak has raised $8.3 billion of discretionary equity from institutional investors for real estate lending and investment in Europe, the US and Asia, and has acquired over $12.4 billion of assets, with approximately $9.4 billion of gross assets under management currently. GreenOak has offices in London, Madrid, Milan, Luxembourg, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Seoul, with over 100 professionals in dedicated local teams having local knowledge, experience and extensive networks in each market. Notes: GreenOak's Europe Fund I: Fund investment period of 18 months. Total equity raised of 321 million, comprising Fund capital of 250 million plus LP co-invested capital of 71 million. The Fund invested during a 15-month period closing 21 separate transactions, acquiring approximately 622,000 square meters (6.7 million square feet) of logistics, retail, office and residential assets in Spain and Italy representing approximately 580 million in aggregate purchase price. Prior to the formation of Fund I, the GreenOak Europe team, on behalf of a separate account, acquired eight retail assets in Spain totaling 132,585 square meters (1.4 million square feet) for a total of 164 million. Media Contacts: Henrietta Dehn Prosek Partners [email protected] +44 (0)20 3878 8560 Toby Phelps, GreenOak Real Estate (Europe): +44 (0) 20 7866 8800 Francesco Ostuni, GreenOak Real Estate (Europe): +44 (0) 20 7866 8800 Julie Wong, GreenOak Real Estate (USA): +1 212 359 7828 SOURCE GreenOak Real Estate MEXICO CITY, April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Quarterly Highlights Record sales and EBITDA for a single quarter. 5th consecutive quarter with double digit year-over-year sales growth. 28% Adjusted EBITDA growth [1] . . Depreciation of the Argentinean Peso decreased company sales growth by a third. Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V. (AGUA.MX) ("Rotoplas", "the Company" or "the Group"), the leading provider of individual and integrated water solutions in the Americas, reported its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2018. The information within has been prepared based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). "Our first quarter results show the strength of our business strategy and constitute further evidence that we are on the right track and at the right pace. Additionally, we registered record sales and EBITDA despite of generalized political uncertainty in many of our markets, which has driven down consumer confidence. Our margins improved as a result of a better price-mix and enhanced expense-control strategies. Furthermore, our most recent acquisition, the e-commerce platform in the United States, is already contributing to our overall results. And, it should be noted that, government sales stood at 4.4%, well below the 10% target in our new strategy. Due to the increasing importance of our Argentinean operations, which have grown significantly we have adopted a new geographical breakdown in our financial reporting, which allows us to provide greater visibility to the markets. It is worth mentioning that Argentina's currency depreciation has affected the group's sales and EBITDA growth in 5 percentage points in comparison with last year's quarter. We remain therefore committed to continue pursuing our Water-as-a-Service and Water-Products business solutions strategies, focusing on innovation and a customer-centric approach" remarked Carlos Rojas Mota Velasco, Chairman and CEO of Grupo Rotoplas. Conference Call Grupo Rotoplas is pleased to invite you to participate in its First Quarter 2018 Conference Call, to be held on Wednesday, April 25th, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Mexico City time (11:00 a.m. EST). Management team will host the call and discuss results, followed by a Q&A session. Carlos Rojas Mota Velasco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mario Romero Orozco Chief Financial Officer Ofelia Lopez Aranda Trewartha Investor Relations To participate in the conference call please use the Conference ID 1503367 and dial or log in: Mexico: 01 800 062 2954 United States: 1 800 263 0877 Other Countries: 1 (323) 794 2094 Web: http://www.rotoplas.com/inversionistas.html Investor Relations Contact Information Ofelia Lopez Aranda Tel: +52 (55) 52015000 Ext. 50163 Email: [email protected] Forward Looking Statements This press release may include certain forward-looking statements relating to Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V., it relies on considerations of the Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V. management which are based on current and known information; however, the forward-looking statements could vary due to facts, circumstances and events beyond the control of Grupo Rotoplas, S.A.B. de C.V. About the Company Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V. is America's leading provider of individual and integrated water solutions for storing, carrying, and treating water. With 40 years' experience in the industry and 21 plants throughout the Americas, Rotoplas has a presence in 14 countries and a portfolio that includes 27 product lines. Grupo Rotoplas has been listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) under the ticker "AGUA" since December 2014. [1] Adjusted EBITDA equals EBITDA plus extraordinary acquisition expenses of $11 MXN million. SOURCE Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V. Related Links http://www.rotoplas.com ROCKVILLE, Md., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB: RGRX) ("the Company" or "RegeneRx"), a clinical-stage drug development company focused on tissue protection, repair and regeneration, today is informing stockholders that GtreeBNT, its joint venture partner for development of RGN-259 in the U.S., has disclosed that 7 of 17 patients enrolled in an orphan Phase 3 clinical trial for neurotrophic keratopathy (NK) have completely healed. To participate in the trial the patients must have a persistent epithelial defect (non-healing corneal wound). While these preliminary observations are encouraging, it should be noted that the patients and treating physicians remain masked while the trial is on-going, so it is not known whether the healed patients are in the RGN-259 group, placebo group, or distributed among both. "The trial disclosure timing was surprising and occurred without our prior knowledge. Nonetheless, we are encouraged by these early observations, hopeful that they reflect the effect of RGN-259 on these difficult-to-treat patients and will accelerate study enrollment. We will report top line data to our stockholders when available," stated J.J. Finkelstein, RegeneRx's president and chief executive officer. About Neurotrophic Keratopathy Neurotrophic Keratopathy (NK) is a serious degenerative disease of the corneal epithelium (the outside layer of the eye) that is designated an "orphan" disease in the U.S. and EU due to its relatively low prevalence. A reduction in corneal sensitivity or complete corneal anesthesia is the hallmark of this disease and is responsible for producing corneal ulceration, perforation, pain and impaired vision. NK typically has three stages: Stage 1 is characterized by mild, nonspecific signs and symptoms. The viscosity of the tear mucus increases. There is decreased tear break-up time, leading to dry spots on the epithelium. Stage 2 involves a non-healing corneal epithelial defect. The surrounding epithelium becomes loose and the stroma swells and becomes edematous. Characteristic of this stage, the defect forms a punched-out oval or circular shape. Stage 3 often ensues if stages 1 and 2 are not treated appropriately and is characterized by stromal melting leading to perforation and/or ulceration. Estimated U.S. and EU prevalence of all stages of neurotrophic keratopathy is less than 50,000 in each region and less than 10,000 with Stage 2 or 3. About RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (www.regenerx.com) RegeneRx is focused on the development of novel therapeutic peptides, including Thymosin beta 4 (T4) and its constituent fragments, for tissue and organ protection, repair and regeneration. RegeneRx currently has three drug candidates in clinical development for ophthalmic, cardiac and dermal indications, three active strategic licensing agreements in the U.S., China, and Pan Asia (Korea, Japan, and Australia, among others), and has patents and patent applications covering its products in many countries throughout the world. RegeneRx, through its U.S joint venture, ReGenTree LLC, recently completed patient enrollment and treatment in its second Phase 3 clinical trial in approximately 600 patients with dry eye syndrome, reported positive clinical results with no safety issues. ReGenTree is also conducting a 46-patient Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with neurotrophic keratopathy (NK) targeted for completion in 2018. Additionally, RGN-259 is being developed in patients with dry eye syndrome in Asia through RegeneRx's two Asian partnerships. RGN-259 has been designated an orphan drug in the U.S. for the treatment of NK. RGN-352, the Company's T4-based injectable formulation, is a Phase 2-ready drug candidate designed to be administered systemically to prevent and repair cardiac damage resulting from heart attacks and central nervous system tissue disorders such as peripheral neuropathy, multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injuries such as stroke. RGN-137, also designated an orphan drug in the U.S., is the Company's T4-based dermal gel formulation that is being developed for epidermolysis bullosa, a rare skin condition. The Company's licensee, GtreeBNT, is sponsoring a phase 3 clinical trial in the U.S. and is expected to initiate the study in 2018. For additional information about RegeneRx please visit www.regenerx.com. Forward-Looking Statements Any statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements made under the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that preliminary observations from any clinical trials will turn out to be positive or definitive or that any current or future clinical trials will result in approved products or future value. Please view these and other risks described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including those identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, and subsequent quarterly reports filed on Form 10-Q, as well as other filings it makes with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements in this press release represent the Company's views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update this information as a result of future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. SOURCE RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. Related Links http://www.regenerx.com VANCOUVER, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - HashChain Technology Inc. ("HashChain" or the "Company") (TSXV: KASH;OTCQB: HSSHF) today announced its financial and operational results for the quarter ended February 28, 2018. HashChain is a global blockchain company with cryptocurrency mining, accounting, and Masternode hosting services that began operations on November 3, 2017 and subsequently listed for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange on December 18, 2017. As of February 28, 2018, the Company had two wholly owned subsidiaries, HashChain Mining LLC and Global Crypto Public Accounting Ltd. Total Company assets increased to $38,278,744 as of February 28, 2018 from $4,405,916 at November 30, 2017. The significant assets consisted of $7,394,705 cash, mining Rigs of $3,283,792, a cash deposit of $10,444,119 for the purchase of mining Rigs, Goodwill and Intangible Assets totaling $14,913,807 related to the acquisition of the assets of NODE40, a cryptocurrency accounting and Masternode hosting service company. "HashChain achieved substantial asset growth in only a four-month period of operation," says Patrick Gray, CEO of HashChain. "From the onset, the Company planned to rapidly scale our mining in tandem with diversifying our business strategy to incorporate other blockchain related businesses. With the current and projected Rig purchases and our acquisition of NODE40, we've positioned ourselves to make a large impact in blockchain and cryptocurrency markets in 2018 and beyond." Quarterly Highlights Acquired the assets of blockchain technology company NODE40, including the software code for Node40 Balance (a cryptocurrency accounting software) and Node40 Hosting , which provide Dash Masternode hosting services as well as the rights to receive payments from ten Dash Masternodes for a period of 36 months. (a cryptocurrency accounting software) and , which provide Dash Masternode hosting services as well as the rights to receive payments from ten Dash Masternodes for a period of 36 months. Raised $29.7 million through a bought deal private placement to finance expansion and allow for future investment growth opportunities. through a bought deal private placement to finance expansion and allow for future investment growth opportunities. Received 770 Bitcoin mining Rigs and purchased an additional 3,000. Cash position increased by $6,763,358 . . Operating revenues of $216,534 from digital currency mining, Dash Masternode rewards and Node40 Masternode hosting revenue. Recent Developments Since the end of the fiscal second quarter, the Company deployed 770 Bitcoin mining Rigs on March 8, 2018. On March 13, 2018 HashChain expanded their Node40 Balance cryptocurrency accounting software to integrate with the Coinbase Exchange and support cross-wallet transactions. On April 3, 2018, the additional order for 3,000 Rigs was delivered to the Company. On April 23, 2018 the Company announced that it had entered into a letter agreement to acquire a company with 1,000 new S9 Antminer Rigs. Upon deployment of all Rigs, HashChain will have over 6.4MW of power dedicated to cryptocurrency mining. Financial Information Due to the acquisition of NODE40 closing on February 15, 2018, the Company's revenues for the quarter of $216,534 included only thirteen days of income attributed to Node40 services. The Company's net losses resultant from continuing operations for the three and six months ended February 28, 2018 were $4,685,105 and $5,325,564, respectively, which included one-time charges associated with the acquisition of NODE40 of $1,009,101. These acquisition costs represent non-recurring items. General and administrative expenses for the aforementioned three and six months were $3,550,361 and $4,877,872 respectively, which included non-cash charges for share-based compensation of $82,174 and $499,409 and depreciation of $37,816 and $74,278 for each of the three and six months. Ongoing general and administration expenses relate to the Company's growth plans and compliance costs related to operating a public company. Operating and maintenance costs for the three and six months ended February 28, 2018 were $26,207 and $63,626, respectively, consisting primarily of fees paid under a master services agreement include: electricity, daily monitoring and maintenance, facility costs and all other costs directly related to the maintenance and operation of the Company's mining equipment. A comprehensive discussion of HashChain's financials and operations are provided in the Company's "Management Discussion & Analysis and Financial Statements" filed with SEDAR and can be found on www.sedar.com. "We have the foundation in place to grow HashChain into a full-scale blockchain service provider, building on mining and regulatory solutions to help institutional and personal investors in this truly disruptive and promising technology," continues Gray. "In the coming months, we plan to invest in additional Rigs and deployment, while expanding our blockchain accounting business with new services and implementation on further exchanges." About HashChain Technology Inc. HashChain is a blockchain company, and the first publicly traded (TSXV:KASH;OTCQB: HSSHF) Canadian cryptocurrency mining company to file a final prospectus supporting highly scalable and flexible mining operations across all major cryptocurrencies. HashChain taps low-cost North American power, cool climate and high-speed Internet: the trifecta most critical to mining success, to create a competitive position for maximizing the number of mining 'wins.' HashChain also acquired a Dash Masternode, which requires a collateral investment of 1,000 DASH coins. Diversifying its business strategy beyond crypto mining, the Company recently acquired NODE40, a blockchain technology company that developed NODE40 Balance, a new SaaS product making cryptocurrency accounting simpler and more accurate. The solution allows cryptocurrency users and traders to accurately track their gains and losses. NODE40 is also one of the leading Masternode server-hosting providers for the Dash network and is seeking additional alternate coin Masternode hosting. HashChain Mining is a wholly owned subsidiary of HashChain Technology Inc. based out of Albany, New York, and an office in Vancouver, British Columbia. On Behalf of the Board, Patrick Gray CEO & Director For Further information please contact: HashChain Technology Inc. Larry Heinzlmeir Vice President, Marketing & Communications [email protected] 604-537-8676 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements: Certain disclosure in this release, including statements regarding the acquisition by the Company of Rigs, including the anticipated benefits to the Company of the Transactions, the performance of the Rigs acquired by the Company, the expected timing of delivery and installation of Rigs and expectations regarding future operations may constitute forward-looking statements. In making the forward-looking statements in this release, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company, including the Rigs deployment. Although the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such risk factors may include, among others, the risk that the conditions to the closing of the Transactions will not be satisfied, including the risk that Rigs will not perform as expected by management . Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. SOURCE HashChain Technology Inc. LANCASHIRE, England, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Hotter Shoes (www.hotter.com) has unveiled a new line of footwear to celebrate the forthcoming British royal wedding. Bright and festive stars and stripes as well as the Union Jack blend together in Hotter's signature comfortable shoes to deliver a decidedly British footwear experience. Hotter is celebrating the Royal Wedding with a collection of limited edition shoes that are the ultimate marriage of style and fit. Hotter's sporty Brooke has been given a makeover to celebrate the Royal Wedding; it's fun, stylish and most importantly, comfortable, and great way to remember the special occasion in years to come. In a much-celebrated event scheduled to take place in St. George's Chapel at Windsor, Meghan Markle will wed Prince Harry on May 19th, 2018, to become the Duchess of Sussex. Britain will be decked out in patriotic splendor, and the UK's largest shoemaker is ready to help people take to the streets with its newest line of footwear. In several styles and iterations of red, white and blue the shoes are as obviously British as they are comfortable and functional. Featuring designs to represent the signature national flags of Britain and America, citizens of the two countries will be suitably accessorized during the rare spectacle of a royal wedding. These limited-edition shoes are only available for a short time. The three Union Jack and stars-and-stripes "on-the-go" styles are complemented by a pair of red heels named Meghan which have an attractive "Markle-sparkle" decorative finish; and each is complete with all the hidden comfort features which make Hotter's shoes so easy to wear. Hotter intends the footwear to be a fun reminder of the occasion; one that its customers could enjoy for years to come. The entire lineup includes: Sporty Brooke with a star spangled banner makeover Hotter Original Leanne with bold red, white and blue colors Classic Red Hotter Original Shake The Meghan stand-out heel featuring the "Markle" sparkle "We're so excited here at Hotter to showcase these new designs, just in time for the upcoming wedding. As the UK's largest shoe manufacturer, we're happy to give our customers the most comfortable footwear experience possible. And we admit we've let our patriotic side have a bit of fun this time. We are obsessed with giving our customers the best in footwear comfort and fashion: everyone should have the chance to feel like royalty," Hotter CEO Sara Prowse said. Hotter has been dedicated to the creation of shoes for over 50 years. Hotter's design team selects leathers and fabrics specially geared toward breathability, durability and fashion. Using state-of-the-art molding technology combined with soft polyurethane material, Hotter shoes are easy-fitting, light and shock absorbing while also sturdy. Producing more than 2.2 million shoes a year, Hotter is trusted by millions of customers in both the UK and the United States. All shoes produced by Hotter are backed by a "100 Percent Happy Promise." About Founded in 1959 as a slipper manufacturer, Hotter now offers a collection of stylish women's and men's shoes with hidden comfort features including supersoft and breathable leathers, lightweight and flexible soles and underfoot cushioning. Its state-of-the-art factory produces a pair of hand finished shoes every 20 seconds making it the UK's largest shoe manufacturer. Contact: Melanie Killilea +44 (0)1695 712720 / +44 (0)7769 555308 [email protected] SOURCE Hotter Related Links http://www.hotter.com Guwahati, April 25 : Kuladhar Saikia, a 1985 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and Sahitya Academy awardee, has been named as the next Assam Police DGP. In a notification issued by the state department on April 25 (Wednesday) stated that, Kuladhar Saikia, Special DGP (Law & Order) is promoted and posted as new DGP, Assam. The current DGP of Assam Mukesh Sahay will be retired on April 30. Earlier, the State Security Commission had prepared a list of five senior-most police officials including Kuladhar Saikia for the DGP post and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has reportedly selected Saikias name from the list. An alumnus of the Cotton College and Delhi University, Kuladhar Saikia had received Fullbright Fellowship in Economics in 2000. He was awarded the prestigious Katha Award in 2000 and Sahitya Akademi Award in 2015 for his short stories. SAN FRANCISCO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyperledger, an open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies, announced today 13 new diverse members from healthcare, to finance, to technology joined the project. A global collaboration hosted by The Linux Foundation, Hyperledger now includes more than 230 organizations. Hyperledger has gained significant traction as a multi-project, multi-stakeholder effort and includes 10 business blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. This growing line-up of technologies is translating to numerous PoC and production deployments across an array of industries. "We are entering a very exciting time in Hyperledger's evolution, as more and more of these technologies are being deployed in various production settings," said Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director, Hyperledger. "The size and scale of our membership and our technologies has fueled rapid innovation and, now, increasing application across industries and geographies. Our newest members will play a key role in feeding that growth, helping bring blockchain and distributed ledger technologies to the core of business, government and consumer transactions." Hyperledger aims to enable organizations to build robust, industry-specific applications, platforms and hardware systems to support their individual business transactions by creating enterprise-grade, open source distributed ledger frameworks and code bases. The latest general members to join are: Beijing Proinsight Technology, CAREiQ, Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) Pte Ltd., Eden Partners, Ehave, Inc. (OTCQB: EHVVF), Equidato Technologies AG/SophiaTX, Globlue Technologies, InformAmuse S.r.l., IPCHAIN Association, Paramount Software Solutions Inc. and Till Payments. Hyperledger supports an open community that values contributions and participation from various entities. As such, pre-approved non-profits, open source projects and government entities can join Hyperledger at no cost as associate members. Associate members joining this month include Blockchain at Berkeley and Zhejiang Blockchain Technology Application Association. New member quotes: Beijing Proinsight Technology "We are honored to become members of Hyperledger," said Octy Yu, Founder & CEO, Proinsight. "Our business is focused on using big data analysis to promote customers' offline retail business development. We have been attempting to use blockchain technology to solve the problems with supply chain coordination customers come across in traditional business activities. We are confident that blockchain technology will ultimately change company's way of collaboration." CAREiQ "We are very excited to join the The Linux Foundation and Hyperledger community to continue our collaborative efforts in leveraging the blockchain technology within the healthcare industry," said Dustin Minter, Chief Information Officer of CAREiQ. "At CAREiQ, we are at the forefront of the data-driven healthcare revolution as we are among the first in the world to implement the Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse Cloud applying machine learning eliminating human error and delivering unprecedented performance, high security and reliability in the cloud. Our Hyperledger membership converges blockchain with emerging technologies in Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Internet of Things (IoT) provides new opportunities to explore digital health economies. In result, we are cutting time and costs, while connecting the dots among millions of 'things' enabling innovation for better, clearer personalized diagnoses allowing for a greater focus on preventative rather than reactive care." Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) Pte Ltd. "We built our enterprise supply chain apps on Hyperledger and are now joining the project so we can be help to drive Hyperledger's growth as the most preferred business platform in APAC," said Samir Neji, Resident Director and Founder of dlt.sg. "Our enterprise grade blockchain apps are used for collaborative trade finance in large organisations. Our customers initiate and run end-to-end digital trade in blockchain with our 'plug and play' apps, including SmartCon, SmartFin, SmartCode and SmartAccess. We extend provenance from our SmartCode with a number of key Agri supply chain and Pharma counterfeit business use cases." Eden Partners "Edenchain is thrilled to become a member of Hyperledger and The Linux Foundation, and we look forward to contributing to this vibrant community and ecosystem," said James Ahn, CEO of Edenchain. "As a robust, scalable and secure enterprise grade blockchain solution provider, our plans are global, and we hope to accelerate the adoption of Hyperledger and blockchain technology with our partners." Ehave, Inc. "We are excited to join Hyperledger to help shape and advance an open standard for protecting health data for patients, clinicians, researchers and other healthcare stakeholders," said Prateek Dwivedi, CEO of Ehave, Inc. "As a provider of a cloud based health informatics platform, data security and patient privacy are the cornerstones of our architecture, and we look forward to working with leading organizations to ensure patients feel confident that their data is safe." Equidato Technologies AG/SophiaTX "It is incredibly exciting to have joined this consortium," said Jaroslav Kacina, CEO of Equidato Technologies, the Swiss-based company behind the SophiaTX platform. "Being part of Hyperledger gives us the opportunity to work with other leaders in our field, and together move blockchain technology into the mainstream. Hyperledger has already proven itself as a vital player in promoting blockchain across a number of industries; we look forward to showing the group what SophiaTX has to offer." Globlue Technologies "Globlue Technologies provides cutting edge solutions for National Security, Commercial and Central Banks, Insurance Carriers, Global Content Protection, Government Tax Offices, among others," said Adrian Silva, President & CEO of Globlue Technologies. "As we enhance our ARKHOS Netfusion Platform to accelerate business transformation, we realized that blockchain was an important component to augment our strategy. We have proudly joined Hyperledger in order to gain insights and collaborate with others technology world leaders in the process of accelerating the evolution of blockchain and its applications for government and private organizations." InformAmuse S.r.l. "To be part of Hyperledger means taking on new challenges for the future, and we are proud and excited to be the first in Italy to offer new ICT Solutions with this significant technological impact," said Marco Di Marco, CMO of Blockchain Company InformAmuse. "We decided to adopt Hyperledger Fabric to develop our Blockchain network, a network linking partners in Mediterranean countries to deliver an innovative system for transaction clearing and settlement and offer new value-added services." IPCHAIN Association "Today intellectual property is a power tool for modern economies. IP is a new source that supports promote economic growth. And blockchain technology should become and, obviously, it will become a game changer, a radical change of business models, tools and industrial roles," said Andrey Krichevsky, President of the IPChain Association (National Coordination Center for Processing Intellectual Property Rights and Items Transactions). "Digital description of objects, smart contracts, identification of objects and assets, digital notary, apart from many other things, will contribute to the transition of relationships of industry participants to a qualitatively new level. It is essential to create a full-fledged infrastructure for shaping technologically advanced global market of intellectual property in the reality of digital economy. That is why we give consideration to the development of our non-commercial IPChain project a decentralized distributed ledger of intellectual property based on Hyperledger Fabric. Using Hyperledger Fabric even today will allow us to build up a digital infrastructure and modern digital services, which, in its own turn, gives all prerequisites for the avalanche growth of the intellectual property market. Hyperledger already enables us today to create a digital infrastructure and quality cutting-edge digital services. To build the global market of intellectual property, to make it understandable, implement transparent systems and functioning mechanisms requires an infrastructure of 'trust,' and Hyperledger allows us to shape such infrastructures." Paramount Software Solutions Inc. "Paramount is privileged to be a part of this revolutionary technology and is excited about the journey with Hyperledger," said Pramod Sajja, President & CEO, Paramount Software Solution. "We are looking ahead to uncover the immense possibilities Blockchain technology has to offer to various industries globally. Our team is excited to kickstart our contribution to the community and contribute towards the development of Blockchain best practices and standards." Till Payments "Till Payments, an emerging Fintech and RegTech provider with headquarters in Australia, is a converged IoT, Payments and Blockchain company that is reshaping the way merchants accept payments and comply with taxation," said Shadi Haddad, Founder and CEO of Till Payments. "Supporting both The Linux Foundation and Hyperledger was a logical choice for us, as it provides us with a solid technical foundation and supporting community that will help foster our innovation agenda." About Hyperledger Hyperledger is an open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies. It is a global collaboration including leaders in finance, banking, Internet of Things, supply chains, manufacturing and Technology. The Linux Foundation hosts Hyperledger under the foundation. To learn more, visit: https://www.hyperledger.org/. Contact: Jessica Rampen The Linux Foundation/Hyperledger [email protected] 650.787.3548 SOURCE Hyperledger Related Links https://www.hyperledger.org HANGZHOU, China, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- What are the possible reasons behind this skyrocketing of INT price, experienced investors have knowledge about this technology orientated team and how they have promoted the plan at its own pace: the first public chain of the IoT has been released as scheduled, and the even in the bear market, INT was among the very few projects still holding price at 2.5 times of initial coin price. INT will launch a series of huge actions in April. All about launching a series of positive actions. The combination of actions from a technology orientated team is sure to be fully understood by every investor who is ready to engage in a bull market. INT has risen at a higher percentage than BTC,and ETH, from the coinmarketcap (https://coinmarketcap.com) data platform, as of 9:24 am April 22, INT's 24-hour increase was up to 62.14% and the price rose to 0.391 dollars. Action 1: INT's new white paper will be released soon The INT White Paper 2.0 will be released in April. According to the team's latest weekly report, Dr. Xiang Ruofei has already conducted training for domestic and oversees operation teams. This new edition of the white paper will redraw the vision, the application of practical problems, the realization of technology, and business models. The release of the new white paper will surely strengthen the confidence of investors and fans in the prospect of INT project. Action 2: INT chain global beta Less than 3 months after releasing the INTchain1.0, INT will launch several big issues: INT 's global beta will be a big event, INT will launch open-source code, T he first generation beta device will be released . Currently the global beta is counting down, the price is unpredictable and INT will have a bull market rally. Action 3: Launching a Global Candy Airdrop Event For the purpose of celebrating the fervent progress of the global beta of the main chain, INT will launch a Candy airdrop campaign with the theme of "INTChain global beta". This event will be the first candy airdrop campaign since INT project was established. The number of users in INT's domestic and overseas communities will reach a new peak. For More INT related information please follow INT official Channels: Website: https://intchain.io/ WeChat: INTChain Weibo: https://weibo.com/u/6358909246 Telegram: https://t.me/intchain Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/INTChain Twitter: https://twitter.com/INTCHAIN Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/INTCHAIN/ SOURCE INTChain Related Links https://intchain.io/ PITTSBURGH, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- "I disliked the way sweat pooled up beneath my breasts while wearing a conventional bra," said an inventor from Sioux Falls, S.D. "I thought that there had to be a better way to absorb perspiration so that it would not cause discomfort or stain clothing." She developed the patent pending PERSPIRATION ABSORBENT BRA STRAP to absorb perspiration to keep the wearer dry. The accessory eliminates discomfort caused by sweat. The unit keeps undergarments and apparel from becoming soiled due to perspiration. It prevents sweat stains from forming on clothing as well. The invention also does away with body odor to keep the user smelling fresh and pleasant. Additionally, it spares the wearer from embarrassment. The original design was submitted to the National Sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 17-JMC-2065, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com. SOURCE InventHelp Related Links http://www.inventhelp.com LONDON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Investis (https://www.investis.com), a leading digital communications company, today announced that Adrian Goodliffe, chief commercial officer, has been appointed to the Investis Board of Directors. Goodliffe joined Investis in June 2016 as UK commercial director and was promoted to chief commercial officer in April 2017. He has more than 20 years of experience in technology sales and leadership roles. Prior to joining Investis he was executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing for CAS, a global leader in CRM, and he spent three years with Accenture as a partner in their software business, where he focused on international clients across the EMEA and Latin American markets. "Investis is in a great place," said Goodliffe. "The business is already recognized as a leader in digital communications, and through our Connected Content approach we have our sights set on continued growth. We are uniquely placed to help the world's most ambitious businesses connect with audiences across all digital channels." "Adrian has demonstrated his sales leadership and understanding of how we want to grow as a company," said David Grigson, chairman of the board, Investis. "His experience and insight will help guide the strategic direction of the company." About Investis Investis is a digital communications company that creates meaningful connections for the world's most ambitious businesses. More than 2,000 clients around the world, including Rolls-Royce, GE and Anglo American trust our team of more than 500 employees to deliver stronger relationships with audiences and improved ROI through our Connected Content approach to digital. For more information, please visit www.investis.com. SOURCE Investis Related Links http://www.investis.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Invitae Corporation (NYSE: NVTA), one of the fastest growing genetics companies, today announced that it will report its first quarter 2018 financial results on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 and will host a conference call and webinar that day at 4:30 p.m. Eastern / 1:30 p.m. Pacific to discuss its financial results and recent highlights. The dial-in numbers for the conference call are (866) 393-4306 for domestic callers and (734) 385-2616 for international callers, and the reservation number for both is 9158119. Following prepared remarks, management will respond to questions from investors and analysts, subject to time limitations. We encourage our shareholders and those representing them to send in questions to [email protected]. The live webinar of the call may be accessed by visiting the investors section of the company's website at ir.invitae.com. A replay of the webinar will be available shortly after the conclusion of the call and will be archived on the company's website. About Invitae Invitae Corporation (NYSE: NVTA) is a genetic testing and information company. Invitae's mission is to bring comprehensive genetic information into mainstream medical practice to improve the quality of healthcare for billions of people. Invitae's goal is to aggregate most of the world's genetic tests into a single service with higher quality, faster turnaround time, and lower prices. NOTE: Invitae and the Invitae logo are trademarks of Invitae Corporation. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. Contact: Laura D'Angelo [email protected] SOURCE Invitae Corporation Related Links http://www.invitae.com CHANGZHOU, China, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 9, China's Changzhou National Hi-Tech District (CND) signed the first batch of key projects for 2018. Italy-based Immergas inked an agreement as the chief representative of commercial and household wall-hung boilers. Immergas' plant in the district is the company's first production facility outside Europe and will become its production and marketing center for the Asia-Pacific region. Founded in 1964 and with operations in over 40 countries, Immergas, a leading HVAC equipment manufacturer in Italy, has been the best-selling brand in the country for the last 15 years and sold more than six million units worldwide. Following 20 years of development since the firm's entry into the Chinese market in 1997, Immergas now views China as its most important overseas market. Given the huge opportunities brought about by China's sustained economic growth, Immergas chose to build a wholly-owned plant in CND following an extensive investigation and negotiation. The new plant will produce, develop and sell a variety of commercial and household wall-hung boilers to meet the huge demand in China's heating market. With a first-phase investment of US$6 million, the 5,300-square meter plant is expected to produce 100,000 boilers annually and become one of the leading producers within the district. CND, established in 1992, is one of China's first national hi-tech districts. The district, with close proximity to Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou, is also home to two of China's first-class open ports, Changzhou Port and Changzhou Benniu International Airport, as well as Changzhou train station, a key stop along the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway. Two expressways, three provincial highways and three rivers pass through the region, creating an accessible and convenient water, land and air traffic network, where outgoing shipments can be quickly dispatched to their final destination. CND has attracted investors from 68 countries and regions worldwide, with 1,683 foreign-invested firms calling the district home. Thirty-eight Fortune 500 firms have invested in 51 projects, including more than 46 with investment exceeding US$100 million. A host of global leaders, including LANXESS, thyssenkrupp and Novelis, have seen their operations in the district experience rapid growth. Twenty-three key projects were signed with this batch, covering new materials, biomedicine, intelligent manufacturing and modern services. Total investment for these projects reached 13.8 billion yuan. Included were 10 foreign-invested projects with a combined investment reaching US$442 million. SOURCE Changzhou National Hi-Tech District Related Links http://www.czxx.org.cn SHAWNEE, Okla., April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- J. Roger Henson, Esq. is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Pinnacle Professional in the field of Law in recognition of his role as an Attorney. Located in Shawnee, Oklahoma J. Roger Henson specializes in "business law and other matters concerning finance." The law firm specializes in offering their clients legal advice within the areas of Probate, Guardianships, Wills Trusts, Business law, Real estate, and Contracts. Amassing over forty one years of experience in the field of Law, Henson is a prominent professional in the field. Throughout his career, Henson has attained expertise within the areas of Real Estate Law, Estate Planning & Probate, and Guardianship. Furthermore, he is a second-generation attorney, following in the footsteps of his father, who he feels contributed to his own successful law career. Currently serving patients in the Shawnee, Oklahoma area as a Private Attorney, Henson is dedicated to offering his clients the quality legal services that they deserve. Throughout the course of his education and training, Henson attained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the Oklahoma Baptist University in 1973, and went on to earn his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1976. In order to further his professional development, Henson maintains memberships with the American Bar Association, Oklahoma Bar Association, U.S. Supreme Court, and the U.S. District Court Western, Northern and Eastern Districts of Oklahoma. Henson dedicates this recognition to his father, Almon E. Henson. The office of J. Roger Henson, PLLC, is located at 2801 North Kickapoo Avenue, in Shawnee, Oklahoma. For more information, or to contact Henson regarding his legal services, please call (405) 273-8558. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com Guwahati: The city based Wintrobe Hospital will conduct next media OPD clinic at Guwahati Press club on 28 April, where Dr Jay Deep Ghosh (Ortho, Spine Surgery) will be available for free consultations to the participants from 3 pm to 5 pm. They will also get the opportunity to check their weight and blood pressure. Organized under the series of weekly Evening with a Doctor programs for the benefit of press club members along with their close relatives, the last media camp was graced by Dr Chandan Mudok (Cardiology) from Dispur Hospital. MOLINE, Ill., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) plans to construct a new 33,000-square-foot facility at the Iowa State University (ISU) Research Park as a design and test lab for agricultural spraying and applications technology. "As a leader in precision agriculture, John Deere is focused on providing customers with innovative, high quality products and services," said Aaron Wetzel, Deere's vice president of the global crop care platform at John Deere. "Our customers will benefit from this investment as the spray lab is expected to enhance product design and improve our development cycle." Wetzel said the new test center will allow increased collaboration with ISU faculty and students. In 2017, Deere opened a strategic technology innovation center in the ISU Research Park to collaborate with the company's business units and complement John Deere's global network of technology and innovation centers. Some employees from that center will be located in the new building when it is completed. Wendy Wintersteen, President of Iowa State University, said, "We are thrilled that John Deere continues to recognize Iowa State's exceptional return on investment. The plans announced today for the ISU Research Park will enhance John Deere's access to our expertise, research and development opportunities and to ISU's student workforce." The facility is expected to be completed by summer 2019 and is contingent on final due diligence as well as required approvals and incentives that are typically available for projects of this nature. Deere has recently expanded its leadership in crop care technologies and acquired several companies that offer innovative spraying technologies for agriculture customers around the world. About Deere & Company Deere & Company is a world leader in providing advanced products and services and is committed to the success of customers whose work is linked to the land - those who cultivate, harvest, transform, enrich and build upon the land to meet the world's dramatically increasing need for food, fuel, shelter and infrastructure. Since 1837, John Deere has delivered innovative products of superior quality built on a tradition of integrity. For more information, visit John Deere at its worldwide website at www.JohnDeere.com. About ISU Research Park The Iowa State University Research Park is a not-for-profit real estate development community closely affiliated with Iowa State University that has been part of the Ames community since 1987. ISU Research Park assists both established and startup companies in connecting with Iowa State's vast infrastructure to grow their enterprises; whether through students, research entities, equipment or a multitude of other resources. ISU Research Park is currently home to more than 90 companies employing 2050 people and occupies just under a million square feet of commercial real estate on 400 acres. SOURCE Deere & Company Related Links http://www.deere.com JACKSONVILLE, Fla. and SANTA ANA, Calif., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson & Johnson Vision, a broad-based global leader in vision, today announced that a suite of new research from its eye health portfolio will be presented at the 2018 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii from April 29 to May 3. "Through our robust research program, we are seeking to discover, develop and bring to eyecare professionals and patients new solutions that will help protect their eyesight for life," said Dr. Xiao-Yu Song, Global Head of Research and Development for Johnson & Johnson Vision. "Our lineup of new data slated for presentation at the ARVO Annual Meeting demonstrates our commitment to discovering answers that will help further elevate how we care for our eyes, the most precious of our human senses," she said. Contact Lenses With the world leading ACUVUE Brand Contact Lens business and its ongoing innovation and research efforts, Johnson & Johnson Vision is exploring new ground for the over 125 million contact lens wearers' worldwide.1 Data at the ARVO Annual Meeting will cover new scientific findings related to tear-film integration and techniques for assessing contact lens wettability, both of which are important for the comfort and wear experience of patients, among other topics. Oral Presentations "Evaluation of simulated orthokeratology in a soft contact for myopia control ," Cheng X, Xu J, Brennan N Wednesday, May 2 , 8:15 8:30 AM , #3927, Room 312 Cheng X, Xu J, Brennan N , 8:15 , #3927, Room 312 "Assessment of contact lens wettability using the WAVE (Wettability Analysis in an in Vitro Environment) system," Read M, Coles-Brennan C, Maldonado-Codina C, Morgan P Wednesday, May 2 , 9:15 9:30 AM , #3931, Room 312 , 9:15 , #3931, Room 312 "Influence of tear-film component integration on contact lens wettability," Rabiah N, Scales C, Fuller G Wednesday, May 2 , 9:30 9:45 PM , #3932, Room 312 Poster Presentations "Antioxidant capacity of a phenolic benzotriazole (Norbloc) in soft contact lens materials: A benefit beyond UV blocking ," Fadli Z, Scales C, Mahadevan S Monday, April 30 , 11:15 AM 1:00 PM , #B0074, Exhibit Hall Fadli Z, Scales C, Mahadevan S , , #B0074, Exhibit Hall "Crosslink density influences the adhesive strength of silicone hydrogel surfaces against corneal epithelial cells," Liu C, Scales C, Fuller G Monday, April 30 , 11:15 AM 1:00 PM , #B0076, Exhibit Hall , , #B0076, Exhibit Hall "Antioxidant protection of a model tear-film component in soft contact lenses," Scales C, Mahadevan S, Sonoda L, Lada M, Martin P, Riederer D, Fadli Z Monday, April 30 , 11:15 AM 1:00 PM , #B0084, Exhibit Hall , , #B0084, Exhibit Hall "Analysis of CLEERE data to test feasibility of identifying future fast myopic progressors," Hernandez J, Sinnott L, Brennan N, Cheng X, Zadnik K, Mutti D Tuesday, May 1 , 11:15 AM 1:00 PM , #C0312, Exhibit Hall , , #C0312, Exhibit Hall "A 'universal' calculator to link data across myopia epidemiology studies," Brennan N, Cheng X, Toubouti Y, Bullimore M Wednesday, May 2 , 8:15 AM 10:00 AM , #B0374, Exhibit Hall , , #B0374, Exhibit Hall "On the assessment of the chromatic contrast of ecologically valid stimuli," Nankivil D Wednesday, May 2 , 8:15 AM 10:00 AM , #A0248, Exhibit Hall Cataract As the leader in premium cataract intraocular lens (IOL) implants, anchored by the TECNIS Family of IOLs, Johnson & Johnson Vision is highlighting scientific insight on optical and visual performance for toric IOLs, clinical methods for predicting rates of eyeglass wear, and more. Poster Presentations "Impact of residual astigmatism on optical and visual performance for toric intraocular lenses," Canovas C, Piers P, Sun M, Alaracon A, Weeber H, Waring G Sunday, April 29 , 8:15 AM 10:00 AM , #C0113, Exhibit Hall , , #C0113, Exhibit Hall "A Bayesian method using through focus visual acuity to predict rates of spectacle wear for pseudophakic patients," Rosen R, Tsai L, Alarcon A, Hileman K, Piers P Sunday, April 29 , 3:15 5:00 PM , #C0088, Exhibit Hall , 3:15 , #C0088, Exhibit Hall "Letter based contrast sensitivity assessment for clinical trials," Kasthurirangan S, Garufis C Sunday, April 29 , 3:15 PM 5:00 PM , #C0101, Exhibit Hall , , #C0101, Exhibit Hall "Theoretical assessment of negative dysphotopsia in physiological eye models," State M, Palkovits S, Alarcon A, Hirnschall N, Findl O, Van der Mooren M, Piers P Monday, April 30 , 8:15 AM 10:00 AM , #A0314, Exhibit Hall , , #A0314, Exhibit Hall "Novel model development for preclinical safety evaluation of ophthalmic viscosurgical devices," Huang L, Gray B, Leang R Monday, April 30 , 3:30 PM 5:15 PM , #A0406, Exhibit Hall , , #A0406, Exhibit Hall "The effect of angle kappa in visual performance in diffractive intraocular lenses," Sun M, Alarcon A, Canovas C, State M, Weeber H, Domingo J, Piers P Tuesday, May 1 , 8:15 AM 10:00 AM , #C0288, Exhibit Hall , , #C0288, Exhibit Hall "Prediction of lens compliance and accommodative amplitude based on color index of the lens," Weeber H, Koopman B, Piers P Tuesday, May 1 , 11:15 AM 1:00 PM , #A0001, Exhibit Hall LASIK As the leader in laser corrective eye surgery, LASIK, Johnson & Johnson Vision is showcasing new data toward its quest for best visual outcomes as well as outcome measures following LASIK surgeries in key poster presentations throughout the ARVO Annual Meeting. Poster Presentations "Agreement between keratometry measurements obtained with full gradient topography and Scheimpflug tomography systems in pre- and postoperative LASIK eyes," Tarrant J, Kasthurirangan S Thursday, May 3 , 8:15 AM 10:00 AM , #C0012, Exhibit Hall , , #C0012, Exhibit Hall "Reducing spherical aberration in LASIK surgeries using periphery modification function," Dai G, Chrnyak D, Kasthurirangan S Thursday, May 3 , 8:15 AM 10:00 AM , #C0038, Exhibit Hall Other Noteworthy Data of Note The following studies feature Johnson & Johnson Vision research in two additional areas including dry eye disease and studies of its proprietary femtosecond laser platform. Poster Presentations "Estimation of visual acuity from dynamic wavefront tear film measurement," Neil D, Raymond T, Xiong W, Dhamdhere K Tuesday, May 1 , 11:15 AM 1:00 PM , #C0072, Exhibit Hall , , #C0072, Exhibit Hall "A novel femtosecond laser platform enabled by hollow core photonics crystal fiber," Lemberg V, Wong D, Rahaman S, Fu H Thursday, May 3 , 8:15 AM 10:00 AM , #C0053, Exhibit Hall , , #C0053, Exhibit Hall "OCT guided femtosecond laser treatment of vitreous floaters: A safety study," Schuele G, Wang J, Dewey D, Gooding P, Wiltberger M, Monahan P, Vankov A Thursday, May 3 , 8:15 AM 10:00 AM , #C0317, Exhibit Hall Johnson & Johnson Vision Johnson & Johnson Vision, through its operating companies, is committed to improving and restoring sight for patients worldwide. Since debuting the world's first disposable soft contact lens in 1987, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. has been helping patients see better through their world-leading ACUVUE Brand Contact Lenses portfolio. In 2017, with the addition of Abbott Medical Optics Inc., the Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision business, Johnson & Johnson invested further in eye health by expanding into cataract surgery, laser refractive surgery (LASIK) and consumer eye health. Serving more than 60 million patients a day across 103 countries, Johnson & Johnson Vision is committed to helping more people in more places improve or restore their sight. Dual headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and Santa Ana, California, Johnson & Johnson Vision has more than 10,000 employees worldwide. For more information about Johnson & Johnson Vision, visit us at www.jjvision.com. Follow @JNJVision on Twitter and Johnson & Johnson Vision on LinkedIn. Important Safety Information for ACUVUE ACUVUE Brand Contact Lenses are indicated for vision correction. As with any contact lens, eye problems, including corneal ulcers, can develop. Some wearers may experience mild irritation, itching or discomfort. Lenses should not be prescribed if patients have any eye infection, or experience eye discomfort, excessive tearing, vision changes, redness or other eye problems. Consult the package insert for complete information. Complete information is also available from Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., by calling 1-800-843-2020, or by visiting www.jnjvisionpro.com. References Joseph T. Barr , OD, MS, FAAO Contact Lens Spectrum, Annual Report 2004 Issue: January 2005 TECNIS is a registered trademark of Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision, Inc. ACUVUE is a registered trademark of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. 2018 Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. SOURCE Johnson & Johnson Vision Related Links http://www.jjvision.com ASTANA, Kazakhstan, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Kazakhstan will start pricing sulphur exports from its giant Kashagan oil field using assessments published by leading global energy and commodity price reporting and news agency Argus. Kazakhstan's prime minister, Bakhytzhan Sagintayev, signed a government decree earlier this month specifying that Argus prices must be used in contracts for sulphur exports from Kashagan. The Kashagan field was discovered in June 2000 and has estimated recoverable crude reserves of up to 13bn bl, making it the largest oil field discovered in the last four decades. Sulphur production and exports from the field began in October 2017, and Kashagan is producing increasing amounts of sulphur as a by-product as crude output rises. The field will produce 1.1mn t/yr of sulphur once it reaches full capacity. China, north Africa and Brazil are the most likely destinations for Kashagan sulphur exports, with buyers using the product mainly to produce fertilizer. Kashagan is operated by NCOC, a consortium comprising Italian Eni, oil majors Shell, ExxonMobil and Total, China's state-owned CNPC, Kazakh state-run Kazmunaigaz and Japanese upstream firm Inpex. The prices that will be used in contracts for Kashagan sulphur exports are for deliveries to the Mediterranean region, north Africa and Brazil, and are published weekly in the Argus Sulphur report. Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: "We are delighted that the Kazakh government is further extending its use of Argus prices, as it expands sulphur production and exports from the Kashagan field. Staff from our Astana office, which we opened more than 10 years ago, have worked with the government and producing companies to develop products suitable for their needs." About Argus Media Argus is an independent media organisation with more than 850 staff. It is headquartered in London and has 21 offices in the world's principal commodity trading and production centres. Argus produces price assessments and analysis of international energy and other commodity markets, and offers bespoke consulting services and industry-leading conferences. Companies in 140 countries around the world use Argus data to index physical trade and as benchmarks in financial derivative markets as well as for analysis and planning purposes. Argus was founded in 1970 and is a privately held UK-registered company. It is owned by employee shareholders and global growth equity firm General Atlantic. ARGUS, the ARGUS logo, ARGUS MEDIA, ARGUS DIRECT, ARGUS OPEN MARKETS, AOM, FMB, DEWITT, JIM JORDAN & ASSOCIATES, JJ&A, FUNDALYTICS, METAL-PAGES, METALPRICES.COM, Argus publication titles and Argus index names are trademarks of Argus Media Limited. Contact Information London Seana Lanigan +44 20 7780 4272 [email protected] Houston Scott Berg + 1 713 968 0000 [email protected] Singapore Pierre Lever +65 6496 9960 [email protected] SOURCE Argus Media Related Links http://www.argusmedia.com BOSTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Brokers can now more easily meet a broader set of Umbrella and Contractor's Equipment coverage needs for customers through two new policy forms introduced by Liberty Mutual. "We're committed to making it easier for brokers to better meet the commercial insurance needs of their customers with tailored, sophisticated solutions that apply our deep underwriting, claims and risk engineering expertise to help better control the total cost of risk," notes Mike Fallon, president, National Insurance, Liberty Mutual. "The new umbrella and contractor's equipment policy forms are the latest examples of this commitment." Liberty Mutual's new, simplified Umbrella form offers broader coverages requiring fewer endorsements, providing greater coverage clarity. In addition, Liberty Mutual completely restructured the form, making it easier for brokers to read, navigate and compare coverages. New umbrella features include: Worldwide coverage Tracking aggregates Shaving of limits "Our new umbrella form offers significant enhancements, helping our dedicated excess casualty team quickly work with brokers to customize an all-lines Liberty Mutual solution, or a stand-alone layer of added protection over another carrier's primary liability policies," explains Doug Manwaring, chief underwriting officer, Excess Casualty, National Insurance, Liberty Mutual. The new Premier Protector - Contractor's Equipment form helps better protect equipment and other essential items that are key to any business consistently delivering quality results. "We enhanced our contractor's equipment offering in three important ways," says Dan Feige, vice president, Inland Marine, Liberty Mutual. "First, we created the industry's most inclusive coverage solutions in a simple to use form. It covers equipment that you own, lease, borrow or rent, or that you loan to others on a blanket basis with no coinsurance. It also automatically includes a host of coverages commonly requiring endorsements, like Loss of Rental or Lease Income, Expediting Expense and Transporting the Property of Others. Second, brokers and customers can tailor deductibles and valuation to reflect equipment usage and age with replacement cost and actual cash value. Third, Liberty Mutual property policyholders may now choose to combine deductibles for their Liberty property and contractor's equipment when it is involved in the same covered loss." The new Umbrella and Contractor's Equipment products are the latest commercial product enhancements by Liberty Mutual. Last September, the dedicated construction practices of Liberty Mutual and Ironshore introduced an Integrated Primary Wrap Up/Project Specific program offering General Liability and Professional Liability protection for medium and large construction projects developed through Design-Build or Integrated Project Delivery. Last August, the company announced its Premier Property Protector, an all-risk policy that accommodates all of a broker's single carrier and shared and layered property coverage needs with contract certainty. Last April, Liberty Mutual released a suite of enhanced excess liability endorsements. About Liberty Mutual Insurance Liberty Mutual's purpose is to help people embrace today and confidently pursue tomorrow. Keeping this promise means we are there when our policyholders throughout the world need us most. In business since 1912, and headquartered in Boston, Mass., today we are a leading global insurer with operations in 30 countries and economies around the world. We are the third largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2017 direct written premium data as reported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. We also rank 75th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2016 revenue. As of December 31, 2017, we had $39.4 billion in annual consolidated revenue. We employ more than 50,000 people in over 800 offices throughout the world. We offer a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, commercial multi-peril, property, general liability, commercial automobile, surety, workers compensation, specialty lines, and reinsurance. You can learn more about us by visiting www.libertymutualinsurance.com. Contact: Richard Angevine 617-574-6638 [email protected] SOURCE Liberty Mutual Insurance Related Links http://www.libertymutual.com WASHINGTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Avante Mezzanine Partners, a woman-owned fund of Los Angeles, Calif. has been named the 2018 Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Avante, along with other national winners and finalists for the National Small Business Person of the Year, have been invited to a recognition ceremony as part of National Small Business Week in Washington, D.C., on April 29-30. SBA Administrator Linda McMahon will be presenting all awards. Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Awardee Jeri J. Harman Managing Partner and CEO Avante Mezzanine Partners SBIC, LP Los Angeles, California Avante Mezzanine Partners SBIC, LP is led by Managing Partners Jeri J. Harman, Stephen Adamson and Natasha V. Fox, and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California with an office in Boston, Massachusetts. It provides total debt solutions and junior capital for high quality, lower middle market businesses that generate at least $3 million in cash flow. Avante invests between $5 million and $25 million of capital in the form of unitranche or one-stop debt as well as traditional mezzanine debt and minority equity. It also partners with other lenders to provide an optimal capital solution. Avante works with private equity and independent sponsors in buyout transactions, as well as with entrepreneurs and owners to finance recapitalizations, refinancings, acquisitions and growth. Additionally, as a women-owned fund, one of Avante Mezzanine Partners' areas of interest, although not exclusive focus, is providing capital to women and minority-owned companies. The SBIC of the Year award is administered by the SBA's Office of Investment. This office was established under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 at a time when no private equity industry existed in the United States. Almost 60 years later, the office manages the current SBIC program, which operates as a fund of funds by providing U.S. taxpayer guaranteed long-term loans to SBA-licensed SBICs. The SBICs use these taxpayer guarantees and privately raised funds to independently provide capital, primarily in the form of subordinated debt with equity enhancements, to qualifying small businesses. To learn more about the SBIC program, visit www.sba.gov/sbic. Each year since 1963, the president has issued a proclamation calling for the celebration of National Small Business Week. This year National Small Business Week will be recognized April 29 May 5, with events planned in Washington, D.C., Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. For more information on the national events, visit www.sba.gov/nsbw. About the U.S. Small Business Administration The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start and grow their businesses. It delivers services to people through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov. Contact: [email protected] Release Number: 18-29 Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs & Instagram SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration Related Links http://www.sba.gov GAITHERSBURG, Md., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MaxCyte, the global cell-based medicines and life sciences company, announced today that it has appointed Claudio Dansky Ullmann, MD, a 25+-year expert in clinical oncology and pharmaceutical research, as its Chief Medical Officer (CMO). In his new role, Dr. Dansky Ullmann is responsible for overseeing clinical development of MaxCyte's CARMA drug development program as the company's first candidate, MCY-M11, is expected to enter the clinic this year. Doug Doerfler, MaxCyte's CEO, said: "We are thrilled to welcome Claudio to the MaxCyte team. His broad experience in cancer therapy drug development will be invaluable at this stage in MaxCyte's evolution from a cell engineering technology company to a drug developer with a pipeline of CARMA drug candidate programs. Furthermore, with his deep understanding of the development of immuno-oncology therapies and other cancer treatments, Claudio will help us to advance our Flow Electroporation Technology to enable our partners to make important medical breakthroughs." Dr. Dansky Ullmann was most recently the senior vice president and head of clinical development at Infinity Pharmaceuticals, where, as part of the executive leadership team, he oversaw all clinical development and operations, shaped corporate strategy, and was directly involved in business development activities as well as investor and analyst interactions. Previously, Dr. Dansky Ullmann was a senior medical director and global clinical lead for oncology clinical research in the Oncology Therapy Area Unit at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Before joining Takeda, Dr. Dansky Ullmann worked at the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a senior investigator participating in numerous early-phase and late-phase clinical trials. During his career, Dr. Dansky Ullmann also held research roles at the National Institute of Health and held postdoctoral fellowship positions in tumor immunotherapy and drug resistance at the NCI. He also was involved in the development of cell therapies and other immunotherapies at Biomira, Inc. Dr. Dansky Ullmann is a native of Argentina and earned his M.D. at the School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires. He completed his medical oncology training at Guemes Private Hospital, Buenos Aires. "It's a very exciting time for me to join the team driving the potential for MaxCyte's CARMA platform as we move towards clinical testing of new therapeutics that will make a real difference in treating patients with various cancers," said Dr. Dansky Ullmann. "In addition to being able to target solid tumors, we believe the CARMA platform, and specifically its use of a non-viral approach, has the potential to address some of the most significant issues with current CAR-T therapies including challenging side effects as well the complex, expensive and time-consuming manufacturing processes found in traditional CAR therapies. "I look forward to the start of our Phase I clinical trial for our lead CARMA candidate, MCY-M11, which is expected to commence dosing in patients with advanced peritoneal mesothelioma and ovarian cancers in 2018," he added. About MaxCyte MaxCyte is a global cell-based medicines and life sciences company applying its patented cell engineering technology to help patients with high unmet medical needs in a broad range of conditions. MaxCyte is developing novel CARMA therapies for its own pipeline. CARMA is MaxCyte's mRNA-based proprietary platform for autologous cell therapy. In addition, through its core business, the Company leverages its Flow Electroporation Technology to enable its partners across the biopharmaceutical industry to advance the development of innovative medicines, particularly in cell therapy, including gene editing and immuno-oncology. The Company has placed its cutting-edge flow electroporation instruments worldwide, including with nine of the top ten global biopharmaceutical companies, and has more than 50 partnered program licenses in cell therapy including more than 20 licensed for clinical use. With its robust delivery technology, MaxCyte helps its partners to unlock the full potential of their products. For more information, visit www.maxcyte.com SOURCE MaxCyte Related Links https://www.maxcyte.com SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- McClatchy (NYSE American: MNI) announced that The State Media Company completed the sale of real property including The State building and surrounding land. Concurrent with the sale, McClatchy entered into a 15-year lease with the purchaser of the real property, which includes initial annual lease payments of approximately $1.6 million. The sale resulted in $13.0 million of after-tax proceeds to the company. McClatchy is offering all $13.0 of after-tax proceeds to holders of its 9.0% Senior Secured Notes due in 2022 (the "9.0% Notes") in compliance with the indenture for the 9.0% Notes pursuant to the Offer described below. The indenture for McClatchy's 9.0% Notes requires it to make a cash offer at par using the after-tax proceeds from the sale to the extent that the proceeds are not reinvested within 365 days of the closing of the transaction. Accordingly, McClatchy has today commenced an offer to purchase for cash up to $13.0 million of the outstanding 9.0% Notes at par plus accrued and unpaid interest to the settlement date. The terms and conditions of the offer are set forth in the Offer to Purchase dated April 25, 2018 (the "Offer" or "Offer to Purchase") and Letter of Transmittal (the "Letter of Transmittal"). The Offer is not subject to the receipt of any minimum amount of 9.0% Notes tendered, but is subject to the general conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase. The Offer is scheduled to expire on May 22, 2018. Based on recent market quotations for the 9.0% Notes, the 9.0% Notes were trading at premium prices ranging between 104.250 percent and 104.875 percent of par. However, holders of the 9.0% Notes should check with dealers of the 9.0% Notes to obtain current pricing on the 9.0% Notes. To the extent the 9.0% Notes are not repurchased under the Offer, management may use the proceeds to invest in initiatives and/or investments to continue its digital transformation, to selectively repurchase outstanding Notes or for other corporate purposes as determined by management and the Board of Directors. This press release is neither an offer to purchase, nor a solicitation for acceptance of the Offer. The McClatchy Company is making the Offer only by, and pursuant to the terms of, the Offer to Purchase and the related Letter of Transmittal. The complete terms and conditions of the Offer are set forth in the Offer to Purchase and Letter of Transmittal that are being sent to holders of the Notes. Holders are urged to read the tender offer documents carefully when they become available. Copies of the Offer to Purchase and Letter of Transmittal may be obtained from the Tender and Paying Agent for the Offer, Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., at 1-800-254-2826 (US toll-free). About McClatchy McClatchy operates 30 media companies in 14 states, providing each of its communities with high-quality news and advertising services in a wide array of digital and print formats. McClatchy is a publisher of iconic brands such as the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star, The Sacramento Bee, The Charlotte Observer, The (Raleigh) News & Observer, and the (Fort Worth) Star-Telegram. McClatchy is headquartered in Sacramento, Calif., and listed on the New York Stock Exchange American under the symbol MNI. SOURCE McClatchy Related Links http://www.mcclatchy.com NEW YORK, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mesothelioma Compensation Center is the top ranked source on the Internet for power plant or energy workers receiving the very best possible financial compensation with diagnosed mesothelioma. The group is appealing to the family of a power plant or energy worker with mesothelioma to call them anytime at 800-714-0303 and ensure they or their loved one is talking directly to the nation's leading mesothelioma attorneys who specialize in providing the very best possible financial compensation settlement results to their clients. Asbestos Warning Sign Power-Energy Workers The full-time mesothelioma attorneys suggested by the Mesothelioma Compensation Center will know exactly how to maximize the potential mesothelioma financial compensation claim for a power plant or energy worker with this cancer caused by asbestos exposure. http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com According to the group, "Your typical power plant or energy worker with mesothelioma could be looking at a million-dollar plus financial compensation settlement, as we would like to discuss anytime at 800-714-0303. The most important detail in a power plant or energy worker with mesothelioma receiving the very best possible financial compensation is legal representation by some of the nation's most skilled, experienced, and capable mesothelioma attorneys. Individuals and family members that hire local car accident law firm, or an Internet marketing law firm are more likely to lose out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial compensation or get overcharged, or both. "Before you hire a lawyer or a law firm to assist with a mesothelioma compensation claim for a power plant or energy worker with this rare cancer, please call us anytime at 800-714-0303. We are advocates for people with mesothelioma not a law firm." http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com For information on the nation's top 10 power plants please review the following news article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2015/04/20/the-ten-biggest-power-plants-in-america-not-what-everyone-claims/. For information about power or energy production in each state please visit the following website: http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/topics/policy/state-analyses/. The Mesothelioma Compensation Center specializes in assisting specific types of people who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma. The Center's top priority is assisting US Navy Veterans, shipyard workers, oil refinery workers, public-utility workers, chemical plant workers, manufacturing workers, power plant workers, plumbers, welders, electricians, millwrights, pipefitters, boiler technicians, machinists, nuclear power plant workers, hydro-electric workers or oil and gas field production workers who have been diagnosed with this rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure. In most instances a diagnosed person with mesothelioma was exposed to asbestos in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's. http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com According to the CDC the states indicated with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington, and Oregon. However, a power plant or energy worker with mesothelioma could live in any state including California, New York, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, or Alaska. http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer: https://www.cancer.gov/types/mesothelioma. Media Contact: Michael Thomas [email protected] 800-714-0303 SOURCE Mesothelioma Compensation Center Related Links http://mesotheliomacompensationcenter.com KATHMANDU, April 25: Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Rabindra Adhikari today inaugurated an exhibition room which has been given the name "Bhagnawasheshbata Punarutthan", meaning 'resurgence from the rubbles' in English, amidst a programme at the local Hanumandhoka Museum today. The structure was constructed by the Hanumandhoka Durbar Museum Development Committee. On the occasion, the Minister said the restoration of the earthquake-damaged heritages of archaeological importance would take place by the next one year. Admitting that the post-quake reconstruction drive failed to take a pace, he said it was a matter of concern that historic Dharahara and Kasthamandap were yet to be rebuilt. The Minister expressed his hope that the incumbent government would be able to accelerate the rebuild efforts it had permanency for five years, adding the opposition would be taken together in such efforts. Kathmandu Metropolis mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya who was also present on the occasion said the reconstruction drive failed to see an expected progress. Culture expert Satyamohan Joshi insisted on the need of reconstructing cultural heritages gifted to us by our ancestors on time and protecting such antique property for the future generation. The structure set up at the cost of around Rs. 2.8 million displays photos of earthquake destruction and post-quake rescue works. DETROIT, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Michigan Science Center and ITC Holdings Corp. will host a special Arbor Day program on Friday, April 27, with schools throughout the state to highlight the museum's new ECHO Distance Learning Program. ECHO, part of the Science Center's Traveling Science program, uses video conferencing to connect classrooms from any location with a museum educator who conducts interactive lessons in real time. ITC Vice President of Engineering Joe Bennett will team up with the Science Center for a special Arbor Day lesson on the importance of trees, how ITC works with communities to safely plant the trees away from power lines, and how ITC helps promote natural habitats in its electricity transmission corridors. "We are excited to work with ITC on this Arbor Day program," said Charles Gibson, Michigan Science Center director of innovation and outreach. "Variety is very important for students, and ECHO helps us approach learning from every direction. When we use a variety of techniques, we can transform how students learn." ECHO content is aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a new set of national science standards designed to help students achieve a cohesive understanding of science over time. ECHO combines technology and hands-on elements to engage students and transform how they learn. The program is made possible by a $300,000 donation from ITC. "ITC is proud to be a longtime supporter of the Michigan Science Center, and to help bring its programming to the far reaches of the state to communities like Adrian, Grayling, Durand, New Boston, Port Huron and more, which are also served by ITC," said Bennett. "Furthermore, we know that the budding young scientists, mathematicians and engineers we are inspiring today will develop the energy solutions of the future." About the Michigan Science Center The Michigan Science Center inspires nearly 300,000 curious minds of all ages every year through STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) discovery, innovation and interactive education in Detroit and across the state of Michigan. As the STEM hub of the state, we focus on developing and introducing expanded education programs, exhibits, and initiatives that enable us to empower and enrich all children and all communities with STEM. Through our Traveling Science Program and distance learning initiative, we are expanding beyond our Detroit-based facility, with a goal of reaching all 83 counties of Michigan. With Toyota's 4D Engineering Theater, live stage shows, a Planetarium, lab activities, 250+ hands-on exhibits, and more, there are dozens of ways to customize your MiSci visit. The Michigan Science Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and does not receive support from the city of Detroit or the state of Michigan. For more information, please call 313.577.8400 or visit the website, Mi-Sci.org. About ITC Michigan ITC Holdings Corp., the nation's largest independent electricity transmission company based in Novi, Michigan, owns and operates two subsidiaries in the state: ITCTransmission and METC (collectively, ITC Michigan). The two systems comprise approximately 8,700 circuit miles of transmission line serving most of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. For further information visit www.itc-holdings.com. ITC is a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., a leader in the North American regulated electric and gas utility industry. For further information visit www.fortisinc.com. SOURCE ITC Holdings Corp.; Michigan Science Center Related Links https://www.itc-holdings.com "Moen is constantly growing and innovating in ways that surprise our customers and the industry. It's only natural that the next progression in the evolution of this industry icon is a fully immersive and experiential showroom at theMART," said Mark-Hans Richer, senior vice president, chief marketing and innovation officer, Fortune Brands Global Plumbing Group. "TheMART is the ultimate arena for the latest in innovative design and decor solutions for the home, making it the ideal place to highlight how we are investing in our brand and accelerating our growth with a more rapid pace of innovation all with the aim of helping homeowners achieve spaces that exceed their expectations." Each of the interactive displays and demonstrations throughout the location provides visitors with an immersive experience. The clean, modern aesthetic focuses visitors' attention on the products and innovations, allowing them to envision how incorporating a piece from Moen will elevate their design projects. All of the latest launches and innovations including U by Moen, the first-to-market WiFi-enabled digital showering system, are represented to give both those new to the brand and existing clientele a comprehensive look at the depth and breadth of Moen's assortment. From bathroom faucets and showerheads to what's next in smart home design, Moen has everything designers and homeowners desire in one stunning space. In addition to the showroom, Moen's new location includes more than 3,000 square feet of private office space, as well as open seating and conference rooms for customer consultations. "We're excited to have a permanent presence at theMART that truly captures the essence of the Moen brand," adds Richer. "It is our belief that through the marriage of technology and innovation, we can elevate individuals' daily routines into an extraordinary moment. We invite everyone to join us in Chicago to explore how Moen can help incorporate style and smart design into their home." For more information about Moen's location at theMART, visit moen.com or call 1-800-BUY-MOEN (1-800-289-6636). WHAT'S NEW Moen Design Center at theMART DIMENSIONS - 3,000 square feet of showroom space PRODUCT SHOWCASE Five separate interactive product experience vignettes Tweetable Highlights Moen unveils new immersive brand experience at the #MerchMart Elevating everyday experiences with water, Moen launches new show-stopping Design Center at the #MerchMart FOLLOW MOEN Facebook: /moen Twitter: @moen Pinterest: /moen Instagram: @moeninc YouTube: /moenfaucets Houzz: /pro/moen Spotify: /user/moenspotifychannel ABOUT MOEN As the #1 faucet brand in North America, Moen offers a diverse selection of thoughtfully designed kitchen and bath faucets, showerheads, accessories, bath safety products, kitchen sinks and garbage disposals for residential applications delivering meaningful innovation, useful features, on-trend styling and lasting value. In addition, Moen Commercial offers superior-performing products that can deliver lower lifetime costs for today's facilities. Moen is part of Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. (NYSE: FBHS), which creates products and services that help fulfill the dreams of homeowners and help people feel more secure. Moen anchors the Global Plumbing Group (GPG), which also includes several brands under the House of Rohl including Perrin & Rowe, ROHL, Riobel, Shaws and Victoria + Albert. Its other segments include Master Lock and Sentry Safe security products, MasterBrand Cabinets and Therma-Tru entry door systems. Fortune Brands is part of the S&P 500 Index. For more information, please visit www.FBHS.com. ABOUT LUXEHOME LuxeHome is the world's largest collection of premier boutiques for home building and renovation located on the first floor of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. With more than 125,000 square feet of showroom space featured in over 45 boutiques, LuxeHome is host to the finest products for home building and renovation from the most recognized and respected manufacturers worldwide. LuxeHome offers discerning homeowners and trade professionals one-stop shopping convenience with access to the finest kitchen, bath, tile, lighting, cabinetry, appliances, countertops and much more. LuxeHome displays the widest selection of products to suit all upscale design styles, from modern European to classic American to traditional English. In addition to the extensive lineup of premier brands, each boutique offers knowledgeable designers who are available to assist with all phases of each design project. LuxeHome's boutiques are open for shopping Monday through Saturday. For more information, visit www.luxehome.com. Follow LuxeHome on Facebook, Houzz, Instagram and Twitter. theMART is owned by New York-based Vornado Realty Trust, a fully integrated, publicly traded, real estate investment trust (REIT) and one of the largest owners and managers of commercial real estate in the United States. SOURCE Moen Related Links https://www.moen.com Better Nutrition's "Best of Natural Beauty Awards" are bestowed each spring on products that, according to the magazine, are made with natural ingredients and no harmful chemicals and that really deliver when it comes to beauty benefits. "Shea butter and argan, kalahari, melon and meadowfoam oils soothe, hydrate, and condition dry, irritated lips, for a dewy look with a hint of gloss," says the publication about MyChelle Lip Hints Conditioning Lip Balm. Lip Hints Conditioning Lip Balm is a rich, melting balm that nourishes, soothes, deeply hydrates, and primes the lips to make lipstick last longer. It can also be worn alone as a sheer gloss ($12.50 / 0.2 oz.). Delicious Living's "Beauty and Body Awards" educate consumers on how to make trusted beauty and body-care purchases in a market increasingly saturated with new products and wellness claims. In the online awards slide show naming the MyChelle Dermaceuticals Perfect C PRO Serum "Best New Product" for 2018, the magazine wrote that "professional-level skin care has finally made its way to natural retailers' shelvesand it just keeps getting better. This high-potency serum delivers serious healthy-aging results, with a super-concentrated dose of L-ascorbic acid, along with other age-well all-starsplant stem cells and CoQ10." Perfect C PRO Serum is a professionally-developed Vitamin C formula that illuminates and enhances the complexion and provides powerful antioxidant anti-aging benefits. Formulated with 25% L-Ascorbic Acid plus Plant C-Stem to improve the appearance of skin texture and reduce the visible signs of aging ($52.00 / 0.5 fl. oz.). "We are thrilled that Better Nutrition, the shopping magazine for natural living, and Delicious Living, a trusted health and wellness resource for more than 33 years, have singled out our products in such a competitive field," said Ramona Roof, VP Marketing, French Transit (owner of MyChelle). "Both entities are vital industry resources whose word carries weight with consumers and builds brands." MyChelle is available at MyChelle.com, nationwide at Whole Foods Market, and regionally at independent natural retailers, including Pharmaca and Sprouts. About MyChelle Dermaceuticals Founded in 2000, MyChelle was the natural industry's first to use anti-aging peptides, plant stem cells, and clinically proven dermatological ingredients, and is the #1 fastest growing natural sun care brand. Our 360-degree approach to beauty provides clean, conscious, and comprehensive products that are bioactive and ethically sourced. SOURCE MyChelle Dermaceuticals Related Links http://www.mychelle.com WASHINGTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media briefing at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, April 30, to discuss the upcoming launch of a mission that will provide unique insights into our planet's changing climate and Earth system processes, and have far-reaching benefits to society, such as improving water resource management. The briefing will be held at NASA Headquarters at 300 E St. SW in Washington, and air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission will measure and monitor monthly changes in how mass is redistributed within and among Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land and ice sheets, as well as within Earth itself. The briefing participants are: David Jarrett , GRACE-FO program executive in the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters , GRACE-FO program executive in the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters Michael Watkins , GRACE-FO science lead and director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) , GRACE-FO science lead and director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Frank Webb , GRACE-FO project scientist at JPL , GRACE-FO project scientist at JPL Phil Morton , NASA GRACE-FO project manager at JPL , NASA GRACE-FO project manager at JPL Frank Flechtner , GRACE-FO project manager for the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), in Potsdam, Germany Media wishing to participate by phone must send an email with their name, affiliation and phone number to Dwayne Brown at [email protected] by noon April 30. Media with U.S. citizenship may register to attend the briefing in person by emailing Steve Cole at [email protected] by 5 p.m. Friday, April 27. Media and the public also may ask questions during the briefing on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA. GRACE-FO is scheduled to launch May 19 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as a "rideshare" on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying five Iridium communications satellites. GRACE-FO is a partnership between NASA and GFZ. For more information about the mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/gracefo SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov NEW YORK, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Kroll ("the Company"), a global leader in risk mitigation, investigations, compliance, cyber resilience, security, and incident response solutions, announces the launch of Kroll CyberRiskRankER, a cyber risk assessment platform that harnesses the unique insight of Kroll's pre-eminent Cyber Security and Investigations team to provide a meaningful view of a company's cyber risk maturity that is tailored for the insurance industry. Kroll CyberRiskRankER is an online, automated solution that standardizes the measurement of an organization's cyber risk and threat preparedness, delivering significant advantages for underwriters, brokers, and applicants alike. Kroll CyberRiskRankER leverages the powerful best practice guidance of the CIS Controls, a prioritized set of actions to help protect organizations and data from known cyber attack vectors. The CIS Controls are developed collaboratively with the global IT community by CIS (Center for Internet Security, Inc.). "Because the nature of cyber risk is constantly changing, it is essential for providers and underwriters of cyber insurance policies to understand how policyholders are adapting to threats, and the infrastructure they have in place to mitigate their risks," said Jason Smolanoff, Senior Managing Director, Global Practice Leader, Cyber Security and Investigations. "Kroll CyberRiskRankER establishes a standard that will create transparency between insurers and policyholders when assessing the appropriate cyber insurance policy." "CIS understands the important role insurance plays in promoting good cyber security best practices, and we are pleased our partners at Kroll have chosen to base their assessment tool on the CIS Controls. The CIS Controls' best practices and guidance provide the strong foundation insurance companies need to evaluate their applicants' cyber security posture," said Brig. Gen. USAF (Retired) Steve Spano, CIS President and COO. Kroll CyberRiskRankER employs an online questionnaire collectively informed by the CIS Controls and the frontline expertise of Kroll's global team of cyber practitioners. The questions are designed to develop a nuanced view of an applicant's cyber risk, including its readiness to rapidly detect and effectively respond to a variety of cyber risks the true measure of a mature information security program. Kroll CyberRiskRankER produces a score based on the applicant's responses, which are weighted by a proprietary dynamic algorithm continuously refined by firsthand findings from Kroll's team of experts on the evolving cyber threat landscape. "Accurately assessing cyber risk for underwriting purposes is one of the most complex challenges today," said Jennifer Rothstein, Senior Director in Kroll's Cyber Security and Investigations practice. "Kroll CyberRiskRankER's ability to generate a reliable quantitative score clearly tied to proven cyber security controls will drive more accurate pricing, coverage, and risk mitigation strategies that benefit everyone in the process." Kroll CyberRiskRankER addresses the diverse needs of underwriters, brokers, and applicants. The solution's integration of data and Kroll insight helps insurers refine underlying methodologies and criteria for policies that reflect modern and next-generation cyber threat scenarios. Likewise, brokers who are looking to differentiate themselves in the market can use Kroll CyberRiskRankER to develop a better understanding of their applicants' cyber risk before approaching underwriters, while also offering targeted risk management tools to their clients. Importantly, applicant organizations also benefit from the solution's transparent, risk-scoring criteria, which helps them to learn about potential risks, vulnerabilities, and areas for improvement that they can then proactively prioritize for strengthening. About Kroll: Kroll is the leading global provider of risk solutions. For more than 45 years, Kroll has helped clients make confident risk management decisions about people, assets, operations and security through a wide range of investigations, cyber security, due diligence and compliance, physical and operational security and data and information management services. Headquartered in New York with more than 35 offices in 20 countries, Kroll has a multidisciplinary team of nearly 1,000 employees and serves a global clientele of law firms, financial institutions, corporations, non-profit institutions, government agencies and individuals. For more information visit www.kroll.com. About CIS: CIS (Center for Internet Security, Inc.) is a forward-thinking, non-profit entity that harnesses the power of a global IT community to safeguard private and public organizations against cyber threats. Our CIS Controls and CIS Benchmarks are the global standard and recognized best practices for securing IT systems and data against the most pervasive attacks. These proven guidelines are continuously refined and verified by a volunteer, global community of experienced IT professionals. CIS is home to the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), the go-to resource for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial government entities. To learn more, visit CISecurity.org or follow us on Twitter: @CISecurity. Media Contact: Infinite Global Ada Oni-Eseleh 646-685-8075 [email protected] SOURCE Kroll Related Links http://www.kroll.com SYDNEY, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Beeline, a global leader in software solutions for managing the extended workforce, announced that the company has been awarded a contract to provide vendor management system (VMS) technology to the government of New South Wales (NSW). Under the contract awarded by NSW Government's Department of Finance, Services and Innovation, Beeline will deliver an end-to-end solution covering contingent workers and statement of work (SOW) based services, along with volunteer placements, whilst working in conjunction with NSW's Contractor Central, established in 2015 to improve spend visibility and reporting capabilities. "We are immensely gratified and excited to be awarded this NSW Government contract," said Doug Leeby, CEO, Beeline. "We are confident that not only will they experience measurably better system reliability and an upgrade in service and support provided by our Sydney-based team, but all the advantages of a platform based on advanced micro-services architecture. This design makes it easy to deploy the latest features and capabilities as they become available. For example, our unique Beeline One functionality allows multiple government departments to have their own VMS configurations and logos while allowing the NSW Procurement team full visibility." Contract award notice details are published on the NSW Government Contract Register. About Beeline Enabling companies to increase profitability, mitigate risk, and attain qualified talent by utilising the extended workforce, Beeline is the world's largest independent provider of solutions for sourcing and managing the complex world of contingent labour. Our software helps procurement, sourcing, and human resources professionals optimise costs, reduce risks, and add value to their services procurement and contingent workforce programmes. We have the deepest, most seasoned team of contingent workforce solution professionals. From over 15 locations around the world, we deliver innovative technology, end-to-end global and localised customer engagement services, and value-added capabilities which help many of the world's largest enterprises meet their most critical talent needs. To learn more, visit beeline.com. For media inquiries, please contact: Brian Hoffmeyer [email protected] SOURCE Beeline Related Links http://www.beeline.com Welcome to the PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE. We are a multi-racial, multi-issue "rainbow coalition" dedicated to social justice, peace and building progressive power. Our key priorities include economic justice; equal rights and equal opportunities for all regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation; international solidarity; humanitarian service; eradicating poverty at home and abroad; environmental protection and sustainable development; and electing progressives to public office and then holding them accountable. EAST HANOVER, N.J., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Novartis announced the launch of its FocalView app, an ophthalmic digital research platform created with ResearchKit. FocalView aims to allow researchers to track disease progression by collecting real-time, self-reported data directly from consenting patients. By adapting the design of clinical trials to suit the daily routine of patients, the app may reduce barriers to participation, leading to a more nuanced understanding of ophthalmic diseases and potentially accelerating the development of novel treatments. Data capture in traditional ophthalmic clinical trials can be inflexible and infrequent, making it difficult for researchers to monitor patients' disease activity and capture real-world patient experiences. FocalView aims to help patients complete various assessments, gaining feedback on their visual function, including any changes over time. At the same time, the app could provide researchers with a greater volume of real-world, patient-reported data, creating more flexible and accessible clinical trial designs. "Because patients with eye diseases are often not as mobile, FocalView has the potential to offer tremendous benefit for the ophthalmic community and for researchers looking to develop better treatments for these patients," said Dr. Mark Bullimore, Medical Advisor for the creation of FocalView and Dean of the Southern California College of Optometry, Marshall B. Ketchum University. "Collating validated patient-reported outcomes in clinical trial research is no longer a nice-to-have. This kind of data is fast becoming a critical element of research and development, because it offers a better reflection of real-world patient experiences, fosters better patient compliance and provides researchers with richer and more accurate data points." FocalView will be tested in a prospective, non-interventional study to evaluate the app's efficacy and usability in assessing visual function. These measurements include visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. Researchers will in turn assess ease of use, level of enrollment and the ability to obtain important documentation for future clinical trial research, such as informed consent. In the next phase, the app will be validated against traditional visual testing that takes place within conventional clinical settings. "Optimizing digital technology in research and development, particularly in ophthalmic disease, could have a marked impact on the quality of the data we capture," said Bertrand Bodson, Novartis Chief Digital Officer. "We believe apps like FocalView, which we've made freely available to the research community on an open-source platform, can help accelerate the development of treatments and bring them to the patients who need them most." FocalView is now available for download from the App Store in the U.S. Consent to contribute to research data will be required before a user can interact with the tool. Novartis is planning to launch in additional markets in the future. About Novartis in ophthalmology Novartis is a leading ophthalmology company, with therapies that treat both front and back of the eye disorders, including retina diseases, glaucoma, dry eye and other external eye diseases. In 2016, approximately 200 million patients worldwide were treated with Novartis ophthalmic products. Disclaimer This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as "potential," "can," "will," "plan," "expect," "anticipate," "look forward," "believe," "committed," "investigational," "pipeline," "launch," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding the potential efficacy and usability of the FocalView app, or regarding the potential of the FocalView app to allow Novartis to gain a more nuanced understanding of ophthalmic diseases and to potentially accelerate the development of investigational treatments, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the FocalView app will be determined to be effective and useable for assessing visual function in the planned prospective, non-interventional study, or in any other study, or at any particular time. Neither can there be any guarantee that the FocalView app will enable more sensitive trial endpoints and more accurate patient-reported outcomes. Nor can there be any guarantee that the FocalView app will accelerate the development of investigational treatments or that the FocalView app and such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding the FocalView app and such products could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems; global trends toward health care cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures; our ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; general political and economic conditions; safety, quality or manufacturing issues, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About Novartis Located in East Hanover, NJ Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation is an affiliate of Novartis which provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals and eye care. Novartis has leading positions globally in each of these areas. In 2017, the Group achieved net sales of USD 49.1 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.0 billion. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 124,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are sold in approximately 155 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com (link is external). Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis For Novartis multimedia content, please visit www.novartis.com/news/media-library For questions about the site or required registration, please contact [email protected] Novartis Media Relations Central media line: +41 61 324 2200 E-mail: [email protected] Eric Althoff Novartis Global Media Relations +41 61 324 7999 (direct) +41 79 593 4202 (mobile) [email protected] Martin DeBenedetto Director, Communications (862) 778-7619 (direct) (973) 738-4104 (mobile) [email protected] Novartis Investor Relations Central investor relations line: +41 61 324 7944 E-mail: [email protected] North America Richard Pulik +1 212 830 2448 Cory Twining +1 212 830 2417 SOURCE Novartis Related Links http://www.novartis.com CHICAGO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- April marks the first anniversary of Olive Tree Escapes (https://otescapes.com/), a bespoke travel company specializing in luxury travel to Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro. Beth Rubin, founder and president of the company, and her team have designed over 300 custom experiences for travel agents and independent travelers alike in the past 12 months. Olive Tree Escapes Team Travel industry veteran Beth Rubin put together a team of experts with over 30 years of combined experience to serve and lead the niche of luxury travel to Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro. The company has been focusing on B2B relationships, working with travel agents to make their clients' vacations a memorable experience. Olive Tree Escapes' travel agent partners enjoy a set of valuable benefits like monthly webinars presented by the team, exclusive FAM trips to Italy and Croatia, top commissions, and much more. "When you enter the world of the travel industry you must have a clear vision of where you want to position yourself. You just can't assure high standards when you offer everything to everyone. I knew my niche was bespoke luxury travel and the fast growth of my company confirms that taking the risk has paid off. I also believe the strength of Olive Tree Escapes is the unmatched expertise and focus in only four destinations. I'm planning to add a new Mediterranean country in the future, but since I want to be able to offer my clients the same high level of expertise, it will take some time," says Beth Rubin, President of Olive Tree Escapes. For further information about the Olive Tree Escapes Travel Agent Program visit otescapes.com; or to schedule an interview with Beth Rubin, send an email to [email protected] . Press Contact: Beatrice Sartori Olive Tree Escapes 877-272-2310 [email protected] About Olive Tree Escapes: Olive Tree Escapes is a boutique tour operator that provides luxury bespoke journeys to Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro. We specialize in designing upscale and customized experiences for the discerning traveler. What sets us apart is that we focus 100% on the Mediterranean area in order to achieve a level of expertise a notch higher than large-spanning operators, and our sales team is US-based to help you plan the trip, while your clients still get the full support from our on-site offices in Italy and Croatia. SOURCE Olive Tree Escapes Related Links https://otescapes.com Pictet Asset Management is responsible for the day-to-day investment management of the fund's assets. OppenheimerFunds' Private Client Group, led by Ned Dane , will leverage its extensive product structuring and distribution platform to make the offering available for high net worth clients and advisors. "OppenheimerFunds strives to be a responsible steward of investors' capital. Increasingly our clients are seeking investment strategies that align with their values," said Dane. "Our partnership with Pictet Asset Management, a recognized leader in environmental investing, reflects our commitment to sustainable solutions and continues our history of providing innovative investment strategies to meet our clients' needs." The fund's Portfolio Managers are Luciano Diana, Head of Environmental Thematic Investing, Gabriel Micheli, CFA, Senior Investment Manager, and Simon Gottelier, Senior Investment Manager. All are members of the firm's Thematic Equities team, which has invested in environmental strategies since 2000. The Portfolio Managers are supported by the broader Thematic Equities team of more than 30 investment professionals, as well as an external advisory board of industry experts and thought leaders who help identify industry trends and ensure the team is well versed in the latest developments in environmental technology. The strategy invests in companies that are active throughout the environmental value chain. The initial universe is narrowed to a targeted investable universe by identifying companies with low impact on key natural resources, and those who actively contribute to resource efficiency and pollution control. The resulting portfolio of stocks, offering attractive risk-return potential, are then ranked based on the strength of the business franchise, management quality, operational momentum, valuation, as well as ESG considerations. The Fund's benchmark is the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI). This broad based global index is designed to measure equity market performance of developed and emerging markets, and is consistent with the Fund's mandate to seek companies around the world that are actively developing environmental solutions. Available share classes and tickers: "People around the world are becoming increasingly aware of the harm to human health that is caused by environmentally-destructive economic development. Because of this increasing awareness, we expect companies that contribute to environmental solutions should experience above average growth over the long-term," said Luciano Diana, Head of Environmental Thematic Investing, Pictet Asset Management. "OFI Pictet Global Environmental Solutions Fund seeks to capitalize on this positive global trend." "OppenheimerFunds already provides a variety of distinct active and beta strategies which offer exposure to companies with strong ESG practices," said John McDonough, head of Distribution and Marketing. "We are pleased to partner with a pioneer in the environmental investing space to expand our suite of ESG solutions to meet clients' evolving needs." In December, OppenheimerFunds appointed Aniket Shah as Head of Sustainable Investing to help further integrate sustainable investing practices across all aspects of the firm's business activities. The firm is also a signatory of The United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI). * OFI Global Asset Management, Inc. is the Fund's investment adviser ("Manager"). OppenheimerFunds, Inc. is the Fund's investment sub-adviser ("Sub Adviser"). Pictet Asset Management is the Fund's investment sub-sub-adviser. About OppenheimerFunds OppenheimerFunds, Inc., a leader in global asset management, is dedicated to providing solutions for its partners and end investors. OppenheimerFunds, including its subsidiaries, manages more than $250 billion in assets for over 13 million shareholder accounts, including sub-accounts, as of March 30, 2018. Founded in 1959, OppenheimerFunds is an asset manager with a history of providing innovative strategies to its investors. The firm's 16 investment management teams specialize in equity, fixed income, alternative, multi-asset, and factor and revenue-weighted-ETF strategies, including ESG as a signatory of the UN PRI. OppenheimerFunds and its subsidiaries offer a broad array of products and services to clients, who range from pensions and endowments to financial advisors and individual investors. OppenheimerFunds and certain of its subsidiaries provide advisory services to the Oppenheimer family of funds, and OFI Global Asset Management offers solutions to institutions. The firm is also active through its Philanthropy & Community initiative: 10,000 Kids by 2020, reaching children with introductions to math literacy programs. Web: oppenheimerfunds.com Tweets: twitter.com/OppFunds Podcasts: oppenheimerfunds.com/advisors/podcasts Before investing in any of the Oppenheimer funds, investors should carefully consider a fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Fund prospectuses and summary prospectuses contain this and other information about the funds, and may be obtained by asking your financial advisor, visiting oppenheimerfunds.com, or calling 1.800.CALL OPP (225.5677). Read prospectuses and summary prospectuses carefully before investing. Foreign investments may be volatile and involve additional expenses and special risks, including currency fluctuations, foreign taxes, regulatory and geopolitical risks. Emerging and developing market investments may be especially volatile. Eurozone investments may be subject to volatility and liquidity issues. The stocks of companies with favorable environmental practices may underperform the stock market as a whole. Small and mid-sized company stock is typically more volatile than that of larger company stock. It may take a substantial period of time to realize a gain on an investment in a small- or mid-sized company, if any gain is realized at all. Investing significantly in a particular region, industry, sector or issuer may increase volatility and risk. Oppenheimer funds are distributed by OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc., 225 Liberty Street, New York, NY, 10281 2018 OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc. All rights reserved. SOURCE OppenheimerFunds Related Links http://www.oppenheimerfunds.com TORONTO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Semi-retired Toronto entrepreneur Robert Glegg, 66, is advocating for change in Canada's broken family law system. Specifically, he wants custody orders and access orders to be respected by both parents during separation and divorce. And he wants breaches of custody orders and access orders to be taken more seriously by both police and Crown Attorneys across Canada. Mr. Glegg's life was turned upside down when his daughter, Olivia Glegg, then age 15, wasas decided by a judge"unlawfully detained" in Florida by her mother, Mr. Glegg's former wife. Ms. Glegg was then returned to Mr. Glegg's home in Oakville, Ontario, with the assistance of the Ft. Lauderdale Police. Subsequently, sole custody court orders were put in place with the consent of both parents, giving sole custody of Ms. Glegg to her father. Those court orders were allegedly breached and resulted in Ms. Glegg going to Florida a second time. No violence was involved when Ms. Glegg was "unlawfully detained," Mr. Glegg notes. Mr. Glegg, having spent more than $1 million in legal fees to no avail, has great sympathy for other parents who don't have the financial resources to pursue matters like this on their own. And, as many legal scholars, family lawyers, and separating parents have observed for decades, Canada's family law system is in desperate need of change. Parents Encouraged to get Involved Mr. Glegg is gathering statistics on how many family law custody orders and access orders are violated. Click on: www.RespectCustodyAndAccessOrders.ca Why are parents who violate custody orders and access orders rarely prosecuted in Canada? "When a judge issues a court order, all parties are expected to follow the court order. It is their responsibility as Canadians. This is the rule of law. "If we are going to have a justice system worth believing in, people who seriously violate court ordersespecially Family Law custody orders and access ordersshould be apprehended, put on trial, and appropriately punished," Mr. Glegg says. "In other areas of the law, violations of court orders are dealt with seriously; but all too often, not in Family Law. Children deserve the protection of court orders." Family courts frequently issue a sole custody court order to one parent if the court determines that doing so is in the best interests of the child. This happened in Mr. Glegg's case. "I want the legal justice system to deal appropriately with these clear violations of the law," Mr. Glegg says. "My daughter is an adult now and not in the custody of any parent. I hope to change the situation in the future for other parents and, more importantly, for other children who should be safe, as determined by the courts," Mr. Glegg says. "We must remember," Mr. Glegg emphasizes, "that every child abducted by a non-custodial parent is now being raised by a criminal. You cannot kidnap your child and not be a criminal." Criminal charges resulting from the alleged breaches are pending in Milton Court. At a hearing on May 9, 2018, a Justice of the Peace will decide if the evidence available on three counts justifies a criminal trial. "Court orders cover many aspects of the best interests of the child," Mr. Glegg says, "and violating them can cause severe harm to a child." In the Glegg case, there are three charges pending, all violations of the Criminal Code of Canada: 1) s.280 (abduction of a person under the age of sixteen), 2) s.127 (breaching a valid Court Order), and 3) s.131 (perjury). If the Justice of the Peace agrees that there is sufficient evidence, then the Crown Attorney has the opportunity to decide if the Crown will intervene and either prosecute, or drop the matter, or if a private prosecutor can take over the prosecution. The guidelines used by Ontario Crown Attorneys provide discretion in making the decision regarding the private prosecution. Private Prosecutions in Family Law A private prosecution is a prosecution started by anyone who is not relying on a law enforcement agency or prosecution service. Private prosecutions are little-known but perfectly legitimate legal remedies in Canada's legal system. Mr. Glegg has agreed to cover all necessary costs for Toronto criminal lawyer Leo Adler to prosecute this case, as a private prosecution. Mr. Adler says: "Breaches of custody court orders are a very serious national and international problem. The difficulty is that the breaching parent's criminal acts are often not strenuously pursued by the Crown Attorneys for various reasons. That's why Parliament allows aggrieved parties to launch private prosecutions. And in this case, and in these circumstances, it would be wrong for the Crown to stop such private proceedings." "Our objective is to use this case as a precedent to help ensure that future significant breaches of other parents' custody court orders are taken seriously by all members of the criminal justice system. Breaches should be prosecuted on the basis that these are criminal acts." says Mr. Glegg. SOURCE Robert Glegg ST. LOUIS, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Peabody (NYSE: BTU) today announced its first quarter 2018 operating results, including revenues of $1.46 billion, income from continuing operations, net of income taxes of $208.3 million, net income attributable to common stockholders of $106.6 million, diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.83 and Adjusted EBITDA1 of $363.9 million. "Peabody increased volumes, revenues and Adjusted EBITDA over 2017 levels and generated record free cash flow in addition, today we are announcing the expansion of our share repurchase program to $1.0 billion after accelerating our existing $500 million buyback program," said Peabody President and Chief Executive Officer Glenn Kellow. "Our results reflect multiple achievements despite not operating at our full potential, as we generated significant cash, sold non-core assets, released cash collateral, simplified the capital structure, initiated a quarterly dividend and accelerated buyback activities." First Quarter 2018 Results Revenues for the first quarter rose 10 percent over the prior year to $1.46 billion driven by improved seaborne coal pricing and increased metallurgical coal volumes. First quarter income from continuing operations, net of income taxes, totaled $208.3 million, reflecting $169.6 million of depreciation, depletion and amortization and $36.3 million of interest expense. Net income attributable to common stockholders totaled $106.6 million for the quarter and included a non-cash dividend charge of $102.5 million related to the conversion of preferred shares during the quarter. All remaining preferred shares converted to common stock as of Jan. 31, 2018. First quarter Adjusted EBITDA increased 7 percent over the prior year to $363.9 million as strong seaborne pricing more than offset the impact of scheduled longwall moves in both Australia and the U.S.; weather effects and temporary geological conditions in Australia; and weaker U.S. pricing. Australian Adjusted EBITDA increased 23 percent over the prior year to $228.0 million as 36 percent higher metallurgical volumes and sturdy seaborne pricing offset temporary weather and geological conditions. Australian sales volumes totaled 6.8 million tons, including 3.0 million tons of metallurgical coal sold at an average price of $153.04 per ton and 2.1 million tons of export thermal coal sold at an average price of $78.18 per ton, with the remainder delivered under a long-term domestic contract. Australian thermal realized pricing increased 10 percent to $53.42 per ton in the first quarter, supported by strong seaborne coal fundamentals despite a larger mix of lower-priced domestic Australian sales. Adjusted EBITDA margins totaled 31 percent for the Australian thermal segment as robust seaborne pricing mitigated the impacts of 17 percent lower volumes and higher costs associated with a scheduled longwall move at the Wambo Mine; impacts from weather; and temporary lack of coal availability due to geology at the Wilpinjong Mine. Australian metallurgical revenues increased 42 percent to $466.2 million in the first quarter on strong sales volumes and higher seaborne pricing relative to the prior year. Australian metallurgical costs per ton declined 2 percent from the prior year. However, costs were elevated during the quarter largely due to the completion of a longwall move at the Metropolitan Mine as well as temporary weather-related challenges. Despite these challenges, the metallurgical segment led the company in Adjusted EBITDA margins and contributions, earning 36 percent Adjusted EBITDA margins and contributing Adjusted EBITDA of $166.4 million in the first quarter. First quarter U.S. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $137.7 million compared to $191.7 million in the prior year. Lower U.S. margins were driven by a decline in realized pricing as well as increased costs largely due to a longwall move; scheduled repairs and maintenance across the operations; wet weather in the Midwest; and sequencing of overburden removal in the PRB. In addition, first quarter 2017 Western segment results benefited from a $13 million contractual settlement with a customer, compared to approximately $3 million in the first quarter of 2018. Resource Management Adjusted EBITDA increased $17.9 million from the prior year to $20.8 million, primarily due to a $20.6 million gain from the sale of surface lands in Queensland. During the first quarter, Peabody generated positive operating cash flow of $579.7 million, including the release of $254.1 million of collateral requirements and cash tax refunds of $61.2 million. Free cash flow totaled $573.3 million, the largest contribution on record, including $53.7 million of capital expenditures and $35.3 million of Middlemount cash contributions. Note: All comparisons are to first quarter 2017 unless otherwise noted. Most first quarter 2017 income statement measures are not comparable with the current period due to the adoption of fresh-start reporting as of April 1, 2017. 1 Adjusted EBITDA, revenues per ton, costs per ton and Adjusted EBITDA margin per ton and percent are non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the tables and related notes in this press release for a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures. Free cash flow is a non-GAAP measure defined as net cash provided by operating activities less net cash used in investing activities. A reconciliation of net cash provided by operating activities to free cash flow is included at the end of this document. Balance Sheet and Capital Return Initiatives Peabody continues to execute on its stated financial priorities generate cash, maintain financial strength, invest wisely and return cash to shareholders. Liquidity Liquidity at quarter end totaled $1.65 billion , including $1.42 billion in cash and cash equivalents, $187 million of available revolver capacity and $49 million of accounts receivable securitization capacity. , including in cash and cash equivalents, of available revolver capacity and of accounts receivable securitization capacity. During the first quarter, Peabody secured approximately $333 million in third-party surety bonds in Australia , representing all of Peabody's current Australian surety bonding needs. Balance Sheet In early April, Peabody successfully completed the repricing of its senior secured term loan to modify terms to provide additional financial and operational flexibility, extend its maturity profile and reduce cash interest expense. As part of the repricing, Peabody repaid approximately $46 million of its term loan, bringing the total balance to $400 million . Peabody's total debt is now at the higher end of its previously established long-term debt target of $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion . of its term loan, bringing the total balance to . Peabody's total debt is now at the of its previously established long-term debt target of to . The company completed multiple non-core asset sales in the first quarter. Cash proceeds from the transactions totaled $23 million in the first quarter, with approximately $28 million also expected to be received in the second quarter. In addition, the company eliminated $4 million of reclamation liabilities as well as future take-or-pay obligations through the sale of Peabody's 50 percent interest in the coal handling and preparation plant and associated rail loading facility utilized by the Millennium Mine. Shareholder Returns In the first quarter, Peabody initiated and paid a quarterly common stock cash dividend of $0.115 per share, totaling approximately $15 million . per share, totaling approximately . In addition, the company repurchased 4.4 million shares during the first quarter with another 1.3 million shares repurchased in April, bringing total repurchases under the program to 11.5 million shares, or 8 percent of shares initially outstanding. Total repurchases under the company's initial $500 million authorized share buyback program 2 are approximately $400 million . authorized share buyback program are approximately . Peabody announced today the board authorized the expansion of its share repurchase program to $1.0 billion , reflecting the company's strong financial position and continued commitment to returning cash to shareholders.3 "Given our robust operating performance since emergence, we believe we have significant flexibility to complete our current share repurchase program and execute a substantial portion of our newly expanded buyback program under our existing bond indentures," said Peabody Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Amy Schwetz. "We believe pursuing an amendment to our bond indentures could make sense at the right price, to secure incremental flexibility and greater certainty of accelerating our shareholder return programs." 2 Repurchases will be subject to limitations in the company's debt documents and may be made from time to time at the company's discretion or pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 repurchase programs. The specific timing, price and size of purchases will depend on the share price, general market and economic conditions and other considerations. No expiration date has been set for the repurchase program, and the program may be suspended or discontinued at any time. 3 Peabody will evaluate whether or not to pursue a potential amendment to its bond indentures based on ongoing dialogue with investors and J.P. Morgan, who is advising the company on the potential amendment. Industry Conditions Seaborne thermal and metallurgical coal pricing remained robust on solid Asian-Pacific demand, while experiencing a gradual rebasing from elevated levels in the first quarter. Through March, seaborne thermal coal demand rose compared to the prior year, supported by increased imports in China, India and ASEAN countries. Chinese thermal coal imports increased approximately 16 million tonnes over the prior year through March as cold weather drove an approximately 10 percent increase in power consumption and impacted domestic coal production and rail transportation. Indian thermal coal imports rose approximately 21 percent year over year due to utility restocking, weak domestic production and rail bottlenecks. ASEAN imports increased over the prior year on continued economic growth and rising coal generating capacity. Overall, Australian thermal coal exports were in line with the prior year. With respect to seaborne metallurgical coal demand, global steel production increased 4 percent through February compared to the prior year. India imports increased 21 percent through March compared to the prior year on strong steel production, while Chinese metallurgical imports declined approximately 5 million tonnes year over year despite strong domestic steel production. At the same time, Australian metallurgical exports were in line with the prior year. Seaborne metallurgical coal prompt prices increased approximately $60 per tonne to an average of $228 per tonne in the first quarter compared to the prior year, with the index-based settlement price for premium hard coking coal set at approximately $237 per tonne, compared to the prior year settlement of $285 per tonne. The first quarter benchmark low-vol PCI price was set at $156.50, with the second quarter benchmark low-vol PCI price negotiated at $155 per tonne. In the U.S., thermal coal demand declined 3 percent from the prior year on increased gas and wind generation as weak natural gas pricing continues to suppress coal demand. As a result, Powder River Basin coal consumption was roughly flat through March year over year. U.S. thermal exports remained robust, increasing approximately 38 percent over the prior year. U.S. coal production declined approximately 3 percent in the first quarter. Combined, these factors led to ending March inventories decreasing approximately 10 million tons from the prior year to approximately 49 days of maximum burn. Second Quarter 2018 Expectations Compared to the first quarter: Australian thermal volumes are expected to increase sequentially throughout the year and unit costs are expected to improve; Metallurgical costs are expected to decline as operational improvements are anticipated to mitigate the impacts of a North Goonyella longwall move bridging the second and third quarters; In the U.S., Peabody expects traditional lower shoulder season PRB volumes in the second quarter. In addition, the company anticipates second quarter costs to improve in the Midwest segment relative to the first quarter 2018 given improved equipment availability; and Peabody remains focused on its stated financial approach, including returning cash to shareholders through its share repurchase program and sustainable dividends. Today's earnings call is scheduled for 10 a.m. CDT, and will be accompanied by a presentation available at PeabodyEnergy.com. Peabody (NYSE: BTU) is the leading global pure-play coal company, serving power and steel customers in more than 25 countries on six continents. The company offers significant scale, high-quality assets, and diversity in geography and products. Peabody is guided by seven core values: safety, customer focus, leadership, people, excellence, integrity and sustainability. For further information, visit PeabodyEnergy.com. Contact: Investors Julie Gates 314.342.4336 Media Michelle Constantine 314.342.4347 Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) For the Quarters Ended Mar. 31, 2018 and 2017 (In Millions, Except Per Share Data) 2018 2017 Successor Predecessor Quarter Ended March 31 Tons Sold 48.3 46.1 Revenues $ 1,462.7 $ 1,326.2 Operating Costs and Expenses (1) 1,057.2 950.2 Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization 169.6 119.9 Asset Retirement Obligation Expenses 12.3 14.6 Selling and Administrative Expenses 37.0 36.3 Other Operating (Income) Loss: Net Gain on Disposals (30.6) (22.8) Asset Impairment 30.5 Income from Equity Affiliates (22.0) (15.0) Operating Profit 239.2 212.5 Interest Expense 36.3 32.9 Interest Income (7.2) (2.7) Net Periodic Benefit Costs, Excluding Service Cost 4.5 14.4 Reorganization Items, Net (12.8) 41.4 Income from Continuing Operations Before Income Taxes 218.4 126.5 Income Tax Provision 10.1 2.2 Income from Continuing Operations, Net of Income Taxes 208.3 124.3 Loss from Discontinued Operations, Net of Income Taxes (1.3) (4.1) Net Income 207.0 120.2 Less: Series A Convertible Preferred Stock Dividends 102.5 Less: Net (Loss) Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests (2.1) 4.8 Net Income Attributable to Common Stockholders $ 106.6 $ 115.4 Adjusted EBITDA (2) $ 363.9 $ 341.3 Diluted EPS - Income from Continuing Operations (3)(4) $ 0.83 $ 6.44 Diluted EPS - Net Income Attributable to Common Stockholders (3) $ 0.82 $ 6.21 (1) Excludes items shown separately. (2) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure defined as income (loss) from continuing operations before deducting net interest expense, income taxes, asset retirement obligation expenses, depreciation, depletion and amortization and reorganization items, net. Adjusted EBITDA is also adjusted for the discrete items that management excluded in analyzing the segments' operating performance as displayed in the reconciliation of income (loss) from continuing operations, net of income taxes to Adjusted EBITDA included at the end of this document. Adjusted EBITDA is used by management as one of the primary metrics to measure our operating performance. Management also believes non-GAAP performance measures are used by investors to measure our operating performance and lenders to measure our ability to incur and service debt. Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to serve as an alternative to U.S. GAAP measures of performance and may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures presented by other companies. (3) Diluted EPS is calculated under the two-class method which treats participating securities as having rights to earnings that otherwise would have been available to common stockholders and assumes that participating securities are not exercised or converted. As such, weighted average diluted shares outstanding were 123.2 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 and excluded 8.4 million weighted average shares outstanding related to the participating securities. Weighted average diluted shares outstanding were 18.4 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2017. (4) Reflects income from continuing operations, net of income taxes less preferred stock dividends and net (loss) income attributable to noncontrolling interests. This information is intended to be reviewed in conjunction with the company's filings with the SEC. Supplemental Financial Data (Unaudited) For the Quarters Ended Mar. 31, 2018 and 2017 2018 2017 Successor Predecessor Quarter Ended March 31 Revenue Summary (In Millions) Powder River Basin Mining Operations $ 389.3 $ 394.3 Midwestern U.S. Mining Operations 201.7 193.2 Western U.S. Mining Operations 143.7 149.7 Total U.S. Mining Operations 734.7 737.2 Australian Metallurgical Mining Operations 466.2 328.9 Australian Thermal Mining Operations 201.4 224.8 Total Australian Mining Operations 667.6 553.7 Trading and Brokerage Operations 20.1 15.0 Other 40.3 20.3 Total $ 1,462.7 $ 1,326.2 Tons Sold (In Millions) Powder River Basin Mining Operations 32.4 31.0 Midwestern U.S. Mining Operations 4.7 4.5 Western U.S. Mining Operations 3.7 3.4 Total U.S. Mining Operations 40.8 38.9 Australian Metallurgical Mining Operations 3.0 2.2 Australian Thermal Mining Operations 3.8 4.6 Total Australian Mining Operations 6.8 6.8 Trading and Brokerage Operations 0.7 0.4 Total 48.3 46.1 Revenues per Ton - Mining Operations (1) Powder River Basin $ 12.02 $ 12.70 Midwestern U.S. 42.66 42.96 Western U.S. 38.96 44.68 Total U.S. 18.01 18.96 Australian Metallurgical 153.04 150.22 Australian Thermal 53.42 48.65 Total Australian 97.95 81.36 Operating Costs per Ton - Mining Operations (1)(2) Powder River Basin $ 9.72 $ 9.75 Midwestern U.S. 36.05 31.84 Western U.S. 30.27 29.76 Total U.S. 14.63 14.03 Australian Metallurgical 98.44 100.16 Australian Thermal 37.09 32.27 Total Australian 64.51 54.15 Adjusted EBITDA Margin per Ton - Mining Operations (1)(2) Powder River Basin $ 2.30 $ 2.95 Midwestern U.S. 6.61 11.12 Western U.S. 8.69 14.92 Total U.S. 3.38 4.93 Australian Metallurgical 54.60 50.06 Australian Thermal 16.33 16.38 Total Australian 33.44 27.21 Note: See footnote explanations on following page Supplemental Financial Data (Unaudited) For the Quarters Ended Mar. 31, 2018 and 2017 2018 2017 Successor Predecessor Quarter Ended March 31 Other Supplemental Financial Data (In Millions) Adjusted EBITDA - Powder River Basin Mining Operations $ 74.5 $ 91.7 Adjusted EBITDA - Midwestern U.S. Mining Operations 31.2 50.0 Adjusted EBITDA - Western U.S. Mining Operations 32.0 50.0 Total U.S. Mining Operations 137.7 191.7 Adjusted EBITDA - Australian Metallurgical Mining Operations 166.4 109.6 Adjusted EBITDA - Australian Thermal Mining Operations 61.6 75.6 Total Australian Mining Operations 228.0 185.2 Adjusted EBITDA - Trading and Brokerage 1.2 8.8 Adjusted EBITDA - Resource Management (3) 20.8 2.9 Selling and Administrative Expenses (37.0) (36.3) Other Operating Costs, Net (4) 15.6 16.6 Corporate Hedging Results (2.4) (27.6) Adjusted EBITDA $ 363.9 $ 341.3 (1) Revenues per Ton, Operating Costs per Ton and Adjusted EBITDA Margin per Ton are non-GAAP measures. Revenues per Ton and Adjusted EBITDA Margin per Ton are approximately equal to revenues by segment and Adjusted EBITDA by segment, respectively, divided by segment tons sold. Operating Costs per Ton is equal to Revenues per Ton less Adjusted EBITDA Margin per Ton. (2) Includes revenue-based production taxes and royalties; excludes depreciation, depletion and amortization; asset retirement obligation expenses; selling and administrative expenses; restructuring charges; asset impairment; and certain other costs related to post-mining activities. (3) Includes the Q1 2018 gain of $20.6 million on the sale of joint venture held surface lands in Queensland, gains (losses) on certain surplus coal reserves and surface land sales and property management costs and revenues. (4) Includes income from equity affiliates (before the impact of related changes in deferred tax asset valuation allowance and amortization of basis difference), costs associated with post-mining activities, coal royalty expense, minimum charges on certain transportation-related contracts, the Q1 2018 gain of $7.1 million recognized on the sale of our interest in the Red Mountain Joint Venture and the Q1 2017 gain of $19.7 million recognized on the sale of Dominion Terminal Associates. This information is intended to be reviewed in conjunction with the company's filings with the SEC. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets As of Mar. 31, 2018 and Dec. 31, 2017 (Dollars In Millions) (Unaudited) Mar. 31, 2018 Dec. 31, 2017 Cash and Cash Equivalents $ 1,416.6 $ 1,012.1 Restricted Cash 40.1 Accounts Receivable, Net 524.0 552.1 Inventories 265.5 291.3 Assets from Coal Trading Activities, Net 11.2 2.6 Collateral Arrangements - Current 109.1 Other Current Assets 251.1 291.8 Total Current Assets 2,577.5 2,190.0 Property, Plant, Equipment and Mine Development, Net 5,008.0 5,111.9 Collateral Arrangements 323.1 Investments and Other Assets 343.6 470.6 Deferred Income Taxes 85.5 85.6 Total Assets $ 8,014.6 $ 8,181.2 Current Portion of Long-Term Debt $ 87.1 $ 42.1 Liabilities from Coal Trading Activities, Net 8.8 11.7 Accounts Payable and Accrued Expenses 1,050.6 1,191.1 Total Current Liabilities 1,146.5 1,244.9 Long-Term Debt, Less Current Portion 1,368.1 1,418.7 Deferred Income Taxes 5.2 5.4 Asset Retirement Obligations 665.9 657.0 Accrued Postretirement Benefit Costs 727.3 730.0 Other Noncurrent Liabilities 451.1 469.4 Total Liabilities 4,364.1 4,525.4 Series A Convertible Preferred Stock 576.0 Common Stock 1.4 1.0 Additional Paid-in Capital 3,276.9 2,590.3 Treasury Stock (351.4) (175.9) Retained Earnings 682.3 613.6 Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income 0.6 1.4 Peabody Energy Corporation Stockholders' Equity 3,609.8 3,606.4 Noncontrolling Interests 40.7 49.4 Total Stockholders' Equity 3,650.5 3,655.8 Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity $ 8,014.6 $ 8,181.2 This information is intended to be reviewed in conjunction with the company's filings with the SEC. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited) For the Quarters Ended Mar. 31, 2018 and 2017 (Dollars In Millions) 2018 2017 Successor Predecessor Quarter Ended March 31 Cash Flows From Operating Activities Net Cash Provided By Continuing Operations $ 580.7 $ 264.3 Net Cash Used In Discontinued Operations (1.0) (8.2) Net Cash Provided By Operating Activities 579.7 256.1 Cash Flows From Investing Activities Additions to Property, Plant, Equipment and Mine Development (53.7) (32.8) Changes in Accrued Expenses Related to Capital Expenditures (4.9) (1.4) Federal Coal Lease Expenditures (0.5) (0.5) Proceeds from Disposal of Assets 23.0 24.3 Contributions to Joint Ventures (123.5) (95.4) Distributions from Joint Ventures 120.7 90.5 Advances to Related Parties (2.0) (0.4) Repayments of Loans from Related Parties 35.3 31.1 Other, Net (0.8) (0.3) Net Cash (Used In) Provided By Investing Activities (6.4) 15.1 Cash Flows From Financing Activities Proceeds from Long-Term Debt 1,000.0 Repayments of Long-Term Debt (8.2) (2.1) Payment of Deferred Financing Costs (45.4) Common Stock Repurchases (175.5) Dividends Paid (15.0) Distributions to Noncontrolling Interests (6.6) (0.1) Other, Net 0.2 (0.1) Net Cash (Used In) Provided By Financing Activities (205.1) 952.3 Net Change in Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash 368.2 1,223.5 Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash at Beginning of Period (1) 1,070.2 941.2 Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash at End of Period (2) $ 1,438.4 $ 2,164.7 (1) The following table provides a reconciliation of "Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period": Cash and Cash Equivalents $ 1,012.1 Restricted Cash 40.1 Restricted Cash Included in Investments and Other Assets 18.0 Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash at Beginning of Period $ 1,070.2 (2) The following table provides a reconciliation of "Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period": Cash and Cash Equivalents $ 1,416.6 Restricted Cash Included in Investments and Other Assets 21.8 Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash at End of Period $ 1,438.4 This information is intended to be reviewed in conjunction with the company's filings with the SEC. Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures (Unaudited) For the Quarters Ended Mar. 31, 2018 and 2017 (Dollars In Millions) 2018 2017 Successor Predecessor Quarter Ended March 31 Income from Continuing Operations, Net of Income Taxes $ 208.3 $ 124.3 Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization 169.6 119.9 Asset Retirement Obligation Expenses 12.3 14.6 Asset Impairment 30.5 Changes in Deferred Tax Asset Valuation Allowance and Amortization of Basis Difference Related to Equity Affiliates (7.6) (5.2) Interest Expense 36.3 32.9 Interest Income (7.2) (2.7) Reorganization Items, Net (12.8) 41.4 Unrealized Gains on Economic Hedges (38.6) (16.6) Unrealized Losses on Non-Coal Trading Derivative Contracts 1.8 Take-or-Pay Contract-Based Intangible Recognition (8.3) Income Tax Provision 10.1 2.2 Adjusted EBITDA $ 363.9 $ 341.3 2018 2017 Successor Predecessor Quarter Ended March 31 Net Cash Provided By Operating Activities $ 579.7 $ 256.1 Net Cash (Used In) Provided By Investing Activities (6.4) 15.1 Free Cash Flow (1) $ 573.3 $ 271.2 (1) Free Cash Flow is a non-GAAP measure defined as net cash provided by operating activities less net cash (used in) provided by investing activities. Free Cash Flow is used by management as a measure of our financial performance and our ability to generate excess cash flow from our business operations. Free Cash Flow is not intended to serve as an alternative to U.S. GAAP measures of performance and may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures presented by other companies. This information is intended to be reviewed in conjunction with the company's filings with the SEC. 2018 Full-Year Guidance Targets Sales Volumes (Short Tons in millions) Capital Expenditures $275 $325 million PRB 115 125 ILB 18 19 SG&A Expense ~$150 million Western 13 14 Total U.S. 146 158 Interest Expense $140 $148 million Aus. Metallurgical1 11 12 Cost Sensitivities4 Aus. Export Thermal2 11.5 12.5 $0.05 Decrease in A$ FX Rate5 + ~$75 million Aus. Domestic Thermal 7 8 $0.05 Increase in A$ FX Rate5 - ~$60 million Total Australia 29.5 32.5 Fuel (+/- $10/barrel) +/- ~$23 million U.S. Operations - Revenue per Ton 2018 Priced Position (Avg. Price per Short Ton) Total U.S. $17.50 $18.50 PRB $11.93 ILB ~$42 U.S. Operations - Costs Per Ton Australia Export Thermal ~$76 PRB $9.25 $9.75 ILB $31.50 $33.50 ~95% of Peabody's 2018 U.S. volumes are priced Total U.S. $13.50 $14.50 ~40% of Peabody's 2019 U.S. volumes are priced ~5.5 million short tons of Australia export thermal Australia Operations - Costs per Ton (USD)3 coal priced for 2018 Metallurgical $85 $95 Thermal $32 $36 2019 Priced Position (Avg. Price per Short Ton) Total Australia $52 $58 Australia Export Thermal ~$75 ~2 million short tons of Australia export thermal coal priced for 2019 1 Metallurgical coal sales volumes may range from ~55%-65% PCI and ~35%-45% coking coal (including semi-hard and semi-soft coking coals). Approximately 30% of seaborne coking sales may be priced on a spot basis, with the remainder linked to an index. Approximately 30% of seaborne PCI sales may be priced on a spot basis, but the remainder linked to the quarterly LV PCI benchmark. The company also has exposure to approximately 2 million tons of metallurgical coal related to the Middlemount Mine, a 50/50 joint venture accounted for in (Income) Loss from Equity Affiliates. Peabody's North Goonyella Mine receives the PHCC index quoted price and the Coppabella Mine typically sets the LV PCI benchmark, with the remainder of products sold at discounts to these values based on coal qualities and properties. On a weighted-average basis across all metallurgical products, Peabody typically realizes approximately 85%-90% of the PHCC index quoted price for its coking products, and 85%-90% of the LV PCI benchmark price for its PCI products. 2 A portion of Peabody's seaborne thermal coal products sell at or above the Newcastle index, with the remainder sold at discounts relative to the Newcastle index based on coal qualities and properties. On a weighted-average basis across all seaborne thermal products, Peabody typically realizes approximately 90%-95% of the Newcastle index price. 3 Assumes 2018 average A$ FX rate of $0.78. Cost ranges include sales-related cost, which will fluctuate based on realized prices. 4 Sensitivities reflect approximate impacts of changes in variables on financial performance. When realized, actual impacts may differ significantly. 5 As of March 31, 2018, Peabody had purchased average rate call options in aggregate notional amount of approximately AUD $1.1 billion to manage market price volatility associated with the Australian dollar with strike price levels ranging from $0.79 to $0.82 and settlement dates through December 2018. Sensitivities provided are relative to an assumed average A$ FX exchange rate of $0.78. Note 1: Peabody classifies its Australian Metallurgical or Thermal Mining segments based on the primary customer base and reserve type. A small portion of the coal mined by the Australian Metallurgical Mining segment is of a thermal grade and vice versa. Peabody may market some of its metallurgical coal products as a thermal product from time to time depending on industry conditions. Per ton metrics presented are non-GAAP measures. Due to the volatility and variability of certain items needed to reconcile these measures to their nearest GAAP measure, no reconciliation can be provided without unreasonable cost or effort. Note 2: A sensitivity to changes in seaborne pricing should consider Peabody's estimated split of PCI and coking coal products, the ratio of PLV PCI benchmark to PLV HCC index quoted price, the weighted average discounts across all products to the applicable PLV HCC index quoted price or PLV PCI benchmark or Newcastle index prices, in addition to impacts on sales-related costs in Australia, and applicable conversions between short tons and metric tonnes as necessary. Note 3: As of April 25, 2018, on a fully diluted basis, Peabody has approximately 128.8 million shares of common stock outstanding, including approximately 3.0 million shares underlying unvested equity awards under Peabody's long-term incentive plan. Forward Looking Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the securities laws. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include words or variation of words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "targets," "would," "will," "should," "goal," "could" or "may" or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements provide management's current expectations or predictions of future conditions, events or results. All statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future are forward-looking statements. They may include estimates of revenues, income, earnings per share, cost savings, capital expenditures, dividends, share repurchases, liquidity, capital structure, market share, industry volume, or other financial items, descriptions of management's plans or objectives for future operations, or descriptions of assumptions underlying any of the above. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and reflect the company's good faith beliefs, assumptions and expectations, but they are not guarantees of future performance or events. Furthermore, the company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, except as required by law. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, a variety of economic, competitive and regulatory factors, many of which are beyond the company's control, that are described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2017, as well as additional factors we may describe from time to time in other filings with the SEC. You may get such filings for free at our website at www.peabodyenergy.com. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors and, consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties. SOURCE Peabody Related Links http://www.peabodyenergy.com SEATTLE, April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute (PLMI) will host the Sixth Annual Thought Leaders Consortium Oct. 12-13, 2018 at the Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa in Tucson, Arizona. The title of the 2018 conference is The Science of Precision: What's Next for Personalized Lifestyle Health Care. PLMI has successfully sponsored five previous consortia. Each event has attracted a global audience of thought leaders from health care, research, and business, as well as medical technology visionaries. The 2018 Thought Leaders Consortium will be facilitated by PLMI President Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D., a respected research scientist, speaker, and author who also has a notable history as a pioneer in the natural products industry. "Collaboration breaking down barriers between different disciplines of science, and between academic researchers and practicing clinicians has been key to the success of many new initiatives over the last decade," says Dr. Bland. "At PLMI, we seek to bring together individuals and organizations that can generate positive ideas and actionable projects to improve health outcomes for patients, streamline processes within the healthcare industry, and deliver data to researchers in efficient and ethical ways." The Thought Leaders Consortium is a unique gathering with seating for less than 500 attendees. Presenters are selected from diverse fields and they participate in keynote talks, panels discussions, and one-to-one onstage dialogues. Early registration is encouraged; this event typically reaches attendance capacity several months in advance. About the Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute The Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute is a nonprofit organization based in the Pacific Northwest. Our mission is to transform health care through the promotion of information, innovation, and implementation of personalized lifestyle medicine. We provide cutting-edge communication about the latest developments in personalized lifestyle medicine through our website and other educational endeavors. To learn more visit http://plminstitute.org. Media: Trish Eury, 206-565-3145 [email protected] SOURCE Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute Related Links http://plminstitute.org JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (the "Company") today announced that it has commenced tender offers to purchase for cash (the "Tender Offers") any and all of the outstanding 2019 Notes, 2020 Notes, and 2037 Notes (together with the 2019 Notes and the 2020 Notes, the "Notes"). The Tender Offers are being made pursuant to a Tender Offer Memorandum, dated April 25, 2018 (the "Tender Offer Memorandum"). Capitalized terms used but not defined herein have the meanings assigned to them in the Tender Offer Memorandum. The Tender Offers will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York time, on May 4, 2018, unless extended or earlier terminated as described in the Tender Offer Memorandum (such time and date, as they may be extended, the "Expiration Time"). Holders of Notes who validly tender (and do not validly withdraw) their Notes prior to the Expiration Time, or who deliver to the Information and Tender Agent a properly completed and duly executed Notice of Guaranteed Delivery in accordance with the instructions described in the Tender Offer Memorandum prior to the Expiration Time, will receive in cash, for Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase by the Company, U.S.$1,066.75 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount for the 2019 Notes, U.S.$1,074.00 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount for the 2020 Notes, and U.S.$1,295.00 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount for the 2037 Notes. The purchase price for each U.S.$1,000 principal amount of each Series of Notes validly tendered at or prior to the Expiration Date or the Guaranteed Delivery Date pursuant to the Guaranteed Delivery Procedures, and not validly withdrawn, is referred to herein as the "Consideration". In addition to the applicable Consideration, Holders whose Notes of a given Series are accepted for purchase will be paid accrued and unpaid interest on such Notes in accordance with the terms of their corresponding indentures governing the respective Series of the Notes to, but not including, the Payment Date. Interest will cease to accrue on the Payment Date for all Notes accepted in the Tender Offers, including those tendered through the Guaranteed Delivery Procedures. Any Notes not validly tendered or not accepted for payment pursuant to the Tender Offers will continue to accrue interest in accordance with the terms of their corresponding Indentures. No tenders will be valid if submitted after the Expiration Time. Notes accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers, including those Notes for which the guaranteed delivery procedures set out in the Tender Offer Memorandum are used, will be paid for through the Clearing Systems on a date promptly following the Expiration Date (such date, the "Payment Date"). The Company currently expects the Payment Date to be May 9, 2018, or the third Business Day in New York following the Expiration Time. The Company has announced the Tender Offers as part of a refinancing transaction pursuant to which the aggregate Consideration will be derived from the concurrent offering or offerings ("New Note Issuance") of new debt securities ("New Notes") on terms and conditions satisfactory to the Company. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to complete the New Notes Issuance or generate sufficient gross proceeds raised in the New Note Issuance, and thus, satisfy the Financing Condition (as defined in the Tender Offer Memorandum). If the Financing Condition is not satisfied in respect of all the Tender Offers due to a shortfall in gross proceeds from the New Note Issuance, then the Company will accept for purchase all Notes of each Series 2 tendered in accordance with applicable Acceptance Priority Levels, as more fully described in the Tender Offer Memorandum. The following table shows the Notes included in the Tender Offers as well as the principal amount outstanding and the Consideration with respect to each series of Notes: Title of Security CUSIP Number/ISIN Nominal Amount Outstanding Consideration 8.00% Notes due August 2019 CUSIP: N54360 AE7, ISIN: USN54360AE78 (Regulation S) CUSIP: 56068T AE7, ISIN: US56068TAE73 (Rule 144A) U.S.$750,000,000 U.S.$1,066.75 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount 7.75% Notes due January 2020 CUSIP: N54360AF4, ISIN: USN54360AF44 (Regulation S) CUSIP: 56068TAF4, ISIN: US56068TAF49 (Rule 144A) U.S.$1,250,000,000 U.S.$1,074.00 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount 7.875% Notes due June 2037 CUSIP: N54360AD9, ISIN: USN54360AD95 (Regulation S) CUSIP: 56068T AD9, ISIN: US56068TAD90 (Rule 144A) U.S.$500,000,000 U.S.$1,295.00 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount Tendered Notes may be withdrawn at any time at or prior to the Expiration Time so long as they are validly withdrawn in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Tender Offer Memorandum. The Tender Offer for each Series of Notes is independent of and not conditioned upon the Tender Offer for any of the other Series of Notes, meaning that the Company may, subject to applicable law, extend, re-open, amend and/or terminate the Tender Offer with respect any Series of Notes without affecting the Tender Offer for any of the other Series of Notes, and vice versa. Furthermore, the Company may, subject to applicable law, choose to reject or accept tenders with respect to any Series of Notes without rejecting or accepting, in whole or in part, tenders with respect to the other Series of Notes. The purchase of any Series of Notes is not conditioned upon the purchase of any other Series of Notes. However, any Notes validly tendered in the Tender Offers and accepted for purchase will be accepted for purchase by the Company based on the Acceptance Priority Levels, each as more fully described in the Tender Offer Memorandum. The Company has engaged Citigroup Global Markets Inc., The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Mandiri Securities Pte. Ltd. and Standard Chartered Bank (the "Dealer Managers") to serve as dealer managers for the Tender Offers. For additional information regarding the terms of the Tender Offers, please contact Citigroup Global Markets Inc. at +1 212 723 6106 (New York) / +852 2501 2693 (Hong Kong), The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited at +852 2822 4100 / +44 20 7992 6237 / +1 212 525 5552, Mandiri Securities Pte. Ltd. at +65 6589 3880 and Standard Chartered Bank at +(852) 3983 8369 / (+65) 6557 8289 / (+44) 20 7885 5739 / (+1) 212 667 0351. The Company has appointed D.F. King to serve as the Information and Tender Agent for the Tender Offers. Questions regarding the Tender Offers should be directed to D.F. King at the contact details provided. Documents for the Tender Offers, including the Tender Offer Memorandum and Notice of Guaranteed Delivery, are available at https://sites.dfkingltd.com/pln and may also be obtained by contacting D.F. King by telephone at New York: +1 (212) 269 5550 / Toll Free: +1 (866) 864 7964, London: +44 20 7920 9700 & Hong Kong: +852 3953 7230 or by email at [email protected]. The Tender Offers are being made solely pursuant to, and will be governed by, the Tender Offer Memorandum. This announcement shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities (including, without limitation, the Company's New Notes being offered concurrently with the Tender Offers) nor will there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction. About Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara: The Company is Indonesia's state-owned electric utility company and is wholly-owned by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, which is represented by the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises. The Company provides most of the public electricity and electricity infrastructure in Indonesia, including construction of power plants, power generation, transmission, distribution and retail sales of electricity. It is the largest electricity producer in Indonesia, and as of December 31, 2017 had a power generation capacity of approximately 42,656 MW (excluding power generation capacities of independent power producers with which it has entered into power purchase agreements and energy sales contracts) that accounted for over 76% of the total installed generation capacity in Indonesia of 55,926 MW and served approximately 68.1 million customers. Majapahit Holding B.V., the issuer of the 2019 Notes, 2020 Notes and 2037 Notes, was incorporated as a private company with limited liability under the laws of the Netherlands and has its corporate seat in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains both historical and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but only predictions and generally can be identified by use of statements that include phrases such as "will," "may," "should," "continue," "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "plan," "appear," "project," "estimate," "intend," or other words or phrases of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe our objectives, plans or goals also are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or otherwise. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events might or might not occur. We cannot assure you that projected results or events will be achieved. Investor and Media Contact: Name: Eka Nurwati Position: Deputy Manager of Investor Relations and GCG Phone: +62 21 725 1234; +62 21 726 1122 ext. 4255 Email: [email protected] Name: Kevin Marsahala Siahaan Position: Assistant Analyst of Investor Relations Phone: +62 21 725 1234; +62 21 726 1122 ext. 1918 Email: [email protected] DISCLAIMER This announcement must be read in conjunction with the Tender Offer Memorandum. No offer or invitation to acquire or exchange any notes is being made pursuant to this announcement. This announcement and the Tender Offer Memorandum contain important information, which must be read carefully before any decision is made with respect to the Tender Offers. If any holder of Notes is in any doubt as to the action it should take, it is recommended to seek its own legal, tax and financial advice, including as to any tax consequences, from its stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or other independent financial adviser. Any individual or company whose Notes are held on its behalf by a broker, dealer, bank, custodian, trust company or other nominee must contact such entity if it wishes to participate in the Tender Offers. None of the Company, the Dealer Managers, D.F. King, or any person who controls, or is a director, officer, employee or agent of such persons, or any affiliate of such persons, makes any recommendation as to whether holders of Notes should participate in the Tender Offers. United Kingdom The communication of this announcement, the Tender Offer Memorandum and any other documents or materials relating to the Tender Offers are not being made, and such documents and/or materials have not been approved, by an authorised person for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "FSMA"). Accordingly, such documents and/or materials are not being distributed to, and must not be passed on to, the general public in the United Kingdom. The communication of such documents and/or materials is exempt from the restriction on financial promotions under section 21 of the FSMA on the basis that it is only directed at and may be communicated to (i) persons who are existing members or creditors of the Company or other persons within the meaning of Article 43 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order"); (ii) persons who fall within Article 49 of the Order ("high net worth companies, unincorporated associations etc."); or (iii) any other persons to whom these documents and/or materials may lawfully be communicated. Any investment or investment activity to which this announcement or the Tender Offer Memorandum relate is available only to such persons or will be engaged only with such persons and other persons should not rely on it. General This announcement, the Tender Offer Memorandum and any related documents do not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell securities in any circumstances or jurisdictions in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons absent registration pursuant to the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("Securities Act"), or an exemption from registration. Any public offering of securities to be made in the United States will be made by means of an offering memorandum that will contain detailed information about the Company and its management, as well as financial statements. If a jurisdiction requires the Tender Offers to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, and any of the Dealer Managers or any of their respective affiliates is such a licensed broker or dealer in such jurisdictions, the Tender Offers shall be deemed to be made by such Dealer Manager or such affiliate (as the case may be) on behalf of the Company in such jurisdiction. In addition to the representations referred to above in respect of the United Kingdom, each holder of Notes participating in the Tender Offers will also be deemed to give certain representations in respect of the other jurisdictions referred to above and generally as set out in "Procedures for Tendering Notes" in the Tender Offer Memorandum. Any tender of Notes for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers from a holder of Notes that is unable to make these representations will not be accepted. Each of the Company, the Dealer Managers and D.F. King reserves the right, in its absolute discretion, to investigate, in relation to any tender of Notes for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers, whether any such representation given by a holder of Notes is correct and, if such investigation is undertaken and as a result the Company determines (for any reason) that such representation is not correct, such tender of Notes shall not be accepted. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act, or any state securities laws of the United States, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state laws. The Company has no intent to register any such securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction. The New Notes will only be offered to qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A of the Securities Act and outside the United States under Regulation S under the Securities Act. SOURCE Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara PIKESVILLE, Md., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pizza Boli's, which offers more product variety than any other major pizza chain in the country, is helping customers enjoy more convenience, value and fun with the launch of a new mobile app. The app is available for Android devices from Google Play, and for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod touch) from the App Store. To celebrate the launch, for a limited time customers who download the app will receive a free medium cheese pizza. Commented Pizza Boli's founder Javed Nasir: "Since we launched our first location more than 30 years ago, we've focused on delivering more to our customers. Our new app is the latest way that we're fulfilling this fundamental promise." In addition to making ordering from Pizza Boli's as easy as eating a pizza, the new app lets customers conveniently and quickly: Track their "Boli's Rewards" loyalty points and earn their way to free food. View coupons and enjoy special deals on pizzas, subs, wraps, wings, pastas, salads, and more. Find the nearest Pizza Boli's location and get directions. Call any Pizza Boli's location with a single tap. Access previous orders for easy and fast re-ordering (guest checkout is also available). Follow Pizza Boli's on social media to connect with the community, post pictures, and more. Plus, customers who order online from www.pizzabolis.com using their desktop or laptop can tap the mobile app's sync button, and instantly update their order history and account details. Commented Pizza Boli's marketing director Maroula G. Mavrophilipos: "Whether they want to place an order, check their loyalty points, get special offers, connect with us on social media and more, our customers can now do it all from wherever they are. And for a limited time, they can enjoy a delicious Pizza Boli's cheese pizza for free by downloading the app!" For more information, visit www.pizzabolis.com. About Pizza Boli's For more than 30 years, Pizza Boli's has been delivering award-winning dishes to an enthusiastic fan base. With over 75 stores in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, Pizza Boli's provides diverse menus for dining, delivery and catering. Related Links http://www.pizzabolis.com SOURCE Pizza Boli's Related Links http://www.pizzabolis.com OAKLAND, Calif., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Poets&Quants, the premier online publication for business education news, is pleased to announce this first interactive MBA panel event done in partnership with the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. The live and live-streaming program will be hosted by John A. Byrne, Poets&Quants founder and editor-in-chief, and will include admissions directors from Michigan Ross, Berkeley Haas, and Yale School of Management, executives from top recruiters at Google, McKinsey, and Amazon, and MBA program graduates. The event, held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, will feature three distinct panels that will address key questions from MBA candidates. "This is truly a unique event that is designed to give MBA prospects a window into the whole MBA experience," Byrne says. "Over the course of three panels, students and alumni will get the inside scoop on finding the right MBA program, the application process, and finally what the top recruiters look for in an MBA all streamed live to the Poets&Quants homepage and website." The MBA Summit invites student prospects to attend the event live in Ann Arbor, on campus with limited seating, or register to view the livestream on May 1, 2018 at 9 a.m. ET. Visit https://poetsandquants.com/calendar/2018-mba-summit/ to register for the MBA Summit and learn more about the event. About Poets&Quants: Poets&Quants is the leading resource for complete coverage of graduate business education. We feature multiple tools and authoritative content, including consolidated B-school rankings, news and in-depth features, videos, podcasts, two searchable directories, and events, empowering our community with information needed to make decisions along their journey from pre- to post-MBA. About Michigan Ross The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan is a vibrant and distinctive learning community grounded in the principle that business can be an extraordinary vehicle for positive change in today's dynamic global economy. The Ross School of Business' mission is to develop leaders who make a positive difference in the world. Through thought and action, members of the Ross community drive change and innovation that improves business and society. Ross is consistently ranked among the world's leading business schools. Academic degree programs include the BBA, MBA, Part-time MBA (Evening and Weekend formats), Executive MBA, Global MBA, Master of Accounting, Master of Supply Chain Management, Master of Management, and PhD. In addition, the school delivers open-enrollment and custom executive education programs targeting general management, leadership development, and strategic human resource management. This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com. SOURCE Poets&Quants Related Links http://poetsandquants.com LONDON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- REPORT DESCRIPTION Polyacrylamides is basically a synthetic resin formed through polymerization of acrylamide. The product is available as a white solid that id soluble in water. Polyacrylamide is majorly used as a as a thickening agent, a flocculant, an absorbent, and to separate macromolecules of different molecular weights. Polyacrylamide finds application in varied market ranging from oil & gas, waste water treatment, textiles, paper & pulp, paints & coatings and others. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5286808 The report estimates and forecasts the market on the global, regional, and country levels. The study provides forecast between 2017 and 2025 based on volume (Kilo Tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) with 2016 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the product segments. It provides a comprehensive view of the market. Value chain analysis also offers detailed information about value addition at each stage. The study includes drivers and restraints for the polyacrylamide 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 polyacrylamide 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. The report includes Porter's Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the polyacrylamide market. The report comprises a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein type, form, application and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market. The report comprises price trend analysis for polyacrylamide between 2017 and 2025. The study provides a comprehensive view of the polyacrylamide market by dividing it on the basis of type, form, application and geography segments. The polyacrylamide market has been segmented into anionic, cationic, non-ionic and others based on type. Type segment have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends. Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for polyacrylamide 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 various segments. Key countries such as the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, the U.K., Spain, Italy, India, China, Japan, South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil have been included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual application in all the regions and countries. The report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report includes BASF SE, Solenis LLC, Ashland Inc., SNF Group, Bio-Rad Laboratories and others. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable). Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report. In-depth interviews and discussions with a wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players' product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis team's expertise and market understanding. The global polyacrylamide market has been segmented as follows: Polyacrylamide Market Type Analysis Anionic Cationic Non-ionic Others Polyacrylamide Market Form Analysis Powder Emulsion Gel Others Polyacrylamide Market Application Analysis Waste Water Treatment Oil & Gas Extraction Mining Agriculture Paper & Pulp Paints & Coatings Textiles Food Others Polyacrylamide Market Regional Analysis North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany France U.K. Italy Spain Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China India Japan ASEAN Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa GCC South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5286808 About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +1 (718) 213 4904 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com PETALUMA, Calif., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Remote work is a feature that millennials seem to look for in employment. In fact, young adults are working flexible hours in greater force than they were just a couple years ago. However, large companies have been banning remote work in the past few years. Brandon Frere, CEO and entrepreneur, argues that presence and availability are important for productivity in any work environment. "I do a lot of business on the phone, but there's nothing like being in the office and working things out in person," said Frere. "There is immense value in being in close proximity to those on your team and being able to quickly solve a problem together or get advice on an issue best shown rather than described." Studies have shown that remote work can improve productivity and efficiency, but employees often report that they get distracted more often and feel isolated from their peers. Employers considering offering remote work may have to balance the pros of work quality against the cons of the potentially lower quantity of productive hours. Some work environments require employees to come into the office simply because of the technology systems that they must use. Customer service and sales positions, for example, must have access to the phone system, which is typically easiest to manage in an office environment. Teams that must collaborate often may find it easiest to do so in person. "How well someone works outside a prescribed work office depends in large part on the individual," said Frere. "The most important quality for productivity is presence. They must be present in their work, whether they are physically in an office or not, and be easily accessible for interactions that help keep the workflows going smoothly." About Frere Enterprises Brandon Frere is an entrepreneur and businessman who lives in Sonoma County, California. He has designed and created multiple companies to meet the ever-demanding needs of businesses and consumers alike. His company website, www.FrereEnterprises.com, is used as a means to communicate many of the lessons, fundamentals and information he has learned throughout his extensive business and personal endeavors, most recently in advocating on behalf of student loan borrowers nationwide. As experienced during his own student loan repayment, Mr. Frere found out how difficult it can be to work with federally contracted student loan servicers and the repayment programs designed to help borrowers. Through those efforts, he gained an insider's look into the repayment process and the motivations behind the inflating student loan debt bubble. His knowledge of the confusing landscape of student loan repayment became a vital theme in his future endeavors, and he now uses those experiences to help guide others through the daunting process of applying for available federal repayment and loan forgiveness programs. FrereEnterprises.com Related Links Frere Enterprises home page SOURCE Frere Enterprises Related Links http://www.FrereEnterprises.com WASHINGTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that on Thursday, April 26, about 100 workers from independent merchant oil refineries owned by Monroe Energy, Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) and PBF Energy will rally for their jobs in Washington, D.C., bringing the urgent need for Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) reform to Senate's lawn. Last month, refinery workers met with dozens of senators and representatives to raise awareness about how the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) use of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) to track RFS compliance threatens thousands of family-supporting, community-sustaining jobs across the country. A growing number of elected leaders from both parties have already joined the USW, other unions and independent refiners to call for RFS reform that benefits consumers and protects oil jobs without significantly impacting the ethanol industry. Sporadic negotiations at the White House have been taking place between the EPA, legislators, refiners and ethanol lobbyists, but the parties have not yet found an acceptable compromise. NOTE: Interviews with Participants Available Contact Roy Houseman at (202) 288-3573 or [email protected] for details. Who: About 100 workers from independent oil refineries whose jobs are threatened. What: Rally for renewable fuel standard reform that protects refinery jobs without harming the ethanol industry. When: From 1 2 p.m., Thursday, April 26, 2018 Where: On the grass across the drive from the east Senate steps More information, contact: Roy Houseman (202) 288-3573 or [email protected] SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW) Related Links http://www.usw.org CHICAGO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Relativity invites tomorrow's legal professionals to apply for the 2018 Relativity Fest Student Scholarship, which provides students interested in legal technology the opportunity to attend Relativity Fest, one of the largest and most influential user conferences in the industry. Both undergraduate and graduate students from law schools and paralegal programs approved by the American Bar Association (ABA) are eligible to apply for the scholarship by June 15, 2018. The award covers transportation, lodging, meals and event registration. The scholarship is open to anyone who is 21 years of age by September 30, 2018. "The 2017 Relativity Academic scholarship provided me with an opportunity to experience my first legal technology conference," said Christopher Wells, former scholarship recipient, now a practice support analyst at Practice Aligned Resources. "I met so many incredible people there and was taken aback by how the legal industry is just beginning to scratch the surface of incorporating technology to better serve its clients. Seeing this firsthand made me realize how significant the work that practice support people, like myself, do really is." To be considered for the scholarship, potential applicants should send their name, school and expected graduation date to [email protected] along with answers to two questions: Why do you think e-discovery is important? In your opinion, what will e-discovery look like in 2025? The Relativity Fest Student Scholarship is offered as part of the Relativity Academic Partners Program, an educational initiative that provides law schools and paralegal programs with free access to hands-on training in Relativity and helps prepare students for the future of litigation and investigations. As part of the program, universities and program instructors have access to Relativity and additional educational and information resources, including in-person training and the Relativity Community site. "Relativity Fest is an outstanding place for current and future legal professionals to meet, network and engage on the issues affecting our profession and industry," said Janice Hollman, manager of the Relativity Academic Partners Program. "Our scholarship winners are invited into that conversation, and we aim to give them a leg up as they begin their legal careers." Relativity Fest will take place in Chicago on September 30 October 3, 2018. The conference is designed to educate and connect the e-discovery and legal community through engaging panel discussions, hands-on labs, breakout sessions and more. About Relativity At Relativity, we make software to help users organize data, discover the truth, and act on it. Our e-discovery platform is used by more than 13,000 organizations around the world to manage large volumes of data and quickly identify key issues during litigation, internal investigations, and compliance projects. Relativity has over 170,000 users in 40+ countries from organizations including the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 70 Fortune 100 companies, and all the Am Law 200. Relativity's cloud solution, RelativityOne, offers all the functionality of Relativity in a secure and comprehensive SaaS product. Relativity has been named one of Chicago's Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune for seven consecutive years. Please contact Relativity at [email protected] or visit http://www.relativity.com for more information. CONTACT: Mike Gilhooly, [email protected] SOURCE Relativity Related Links http://www.relativity.com ALBANY, New York, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Transparency Market Research (TMR) has published a new report titled, "Respiratory Devices Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2018-2026". According to the report, the global respiratory devices market was valued at US$ 17.0 Bn in 2017 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2018 to 2026. The report suggests that increase in incidence of COPD and sleep apnea, strategic alliances among key players, and rise in government expenditure are anticipated to boost the growth of the global market from 2018 to 2026. North America and Europe are expected to dominate the global respiratory devices market in the next few years owing to increase in the number of people suffering from respiratory diseases, rise in diagnosis and treatment rate, and presence of key players in these regions. Rise in geriatric population and government support for respiratory device manufacturers are likely to drive the respiratory devices market in Asia Pacific. The market in the region is expected to expand at a CAGR of 7% from 2018 to 2026. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/664869/Transparency_Market_Research_Logo.jpg ) Get PDF Brochure for Research Insights at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=28073 Drug Delivery Devices Sub-segment to Capture Significant Share In terms of product type, the global respiratory devices market has been segmented into therapeutic devices and diagnostic & monitoring devices. The therapeutic devices segment has been classified into drug delivery devices, mechanical ventilators, continuous positive airway pressure, resuscitators, humidifiers, airway clearance devices, oxygen concentrators, consumables & disposables, and others. The drug delivery devices sub-segment accounted for the largest share of the therapeutic devices segment in 2017. The sub-segment is anticipated to grow at a rapid pace during the forecast period, owing to increase in number of patients with COPD, asthma, and cystic fibrosis who are increasingly adopting devices such as inhalers and nebulizers. Moreover, surge in demand for expensive metered dose inhalers and single use inhalers is expected to drive the sub-segment. Mechanical ventilators is anticipated to be a lucrative sub-segment during the forecast period. Increase in number of health care settings in emerging markets is likely to drive demand for acute care mechanical ventilators. Demand for sub-acute or non-invasive ventilators in developed markets is projected to propel the sub-segment. Rise in number of surgeries performed across the globe is expected to augment the usage of mechanical ventilators. Request a Custom Report at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=28073 Pulse Oximeters Anticipated to be the Most Lucrative Sub-segment The pulse oximeters sub-segment held significant share of the diagnostic & monitoring devices segment in 2017. The sub-segment is projected to expand at a CAGR 6.0% from 2018 to 2026. Increase in adoption of pulse oximeters for monitoring respiratory conditions in home care settings is anticipated to fuel the sub-segment. Moreover, pulse oximeters have become an integral part of primary diagnosis of lung function in clinics and critical care settings. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) to be Fastest Growing Segment In terms of application, the COPD segment accounted for significant share of the global respiratory devices market in 2017. The segment is projected to expand at a CAGR of 7% from 2018 to 2026. Increase in the number of tobacco smokers and rise in air pollution are factors contributing to the increase in number of COPD cases. The WHO estimates that COPD is likely to be third leading cause of death by 2030. Request For Discount On This Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=28073 Asia Pacific to be the Fastest Growing Market for Respiratory Devices In terms of revenue, North America dominated the global respiratory devices market in 2017. Favorable reimbursement policies for respiratory care, high adoption of technology, and rise in demand for advanced devices for home care use are the key factors contributing to the leading share of the region. Furthermore, increase in number of tobacco smokers and rise in air pollution are likely to increase incidence of respiratory disease, thereby driving the market in the region. The respiratory devices market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. Rise in awareness about respiratory diseases, improving health care infrastructure, increase in health care spending, and surge in initiatives by key players to explore the region are likely to propel the market in Asia Pacific. Koninklijke Philips N.V. Held Significant Market Share The report also provides profiles of leading players operating in the global respiratory devices market. Koninklijke Philips N.V., ResMed, Inc., Vyaire Medical, Inc., and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd. are the major players operating in the market. Other players include Smiths Medical, Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, GE Healthcare, Getinge AB, Medtronic plc, and Chart Industries. Koninklijke Philips N.V. held major share of the global respiratory devices market in 2017. Broad portfolio of therapeutic respiratory devices and strong presence in hospital and home care settings are attributed to the company's high market share. The company's strategy to develop innovative portable devices for home care and its pioneering work in connected therapeutic and monitoring devices are likely to provide it a competitive advantage in the respiratory devices market. Popular Research Reports by TMR: Respiratory Disorders Treatment Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/respiratory-disorders-treatment-market.html Respiratory Disposable Devices Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/respiratory-disposable-devices-market.html About Us 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. Contact Transparency Market Research State Tower, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Research Blog: https://theglobalhealthnews.com/ SOURCE Transparency Market Research Mr. Djaha, 54, is a member of the firm's governing policy committee and also has led the firm's global real estate investments and transactions group since 2012. He is highly regarded for his leadership qualities, dedication to client service and sophisticated command of real estate law, with a focus on the private equity, capital markets and banking industries. "With Julie's and David's appointments, we are confident that the firm has a dynamic and visionary leadership team to continue its upward performance trajectory," Mr. Malt said. "David is respected by our clients and attorneys for his depth of business and legal knowledge and his strategic thinking." Mr. Djaha, a native New Yorker, joined Ropes & Gray as a partner in 2009 from one of the world's largest international firms, where he was chairman of the real estate practice for the Americas region and a member of that firm's Americas region management committee. Throughout his 30-year career, he has advised clients, including investment banks, private equity funds, and domestic and international developers and investors, on market-leading deals around the globe. A frequent published author and speaker at industry events, he is recognized as a leading authority on real estate investments and transactions, especially at the intersection of real estate investment and private equity, and is cited as a leading lawyer in many rankings, including Chambers USA and Legal 500. Mr. Djaha has also been dedicated to public service throughout his career and is active in pro bono work, a hallmark of Ropes & Gray, where attorneys in 2017 devoted more than 160,000 hours to pro bono legal service. He leads the firm's support of the Food Bank For New York City, spearheading fundraising and volunteer efforts at the firm, as well as serving as the firm's liaison to Justice Served, an initiative by New York's legal community to combat hunger. "Lawyers at Ropes & Gray are best-in-class, renowned for working cohesively across practices and geographies to deliver the market-leading business solutions that our clients rely upon," Mr. Djaha said. "With Julie, I look forward to working with our lawyers in offices around the globe to continue our extraordinary success. It is quite an honor to have the opportunity to help lead my esteemed colleagues and a privilege to be a Ropes & Gray partner. I am lucky to work alongside such outstanding lawyers and professionals every day." Read the previous announcement about Ms. Jones's appointment. Read more about Mr. Djaha's experience. About Ropes & Gray Ropes & Gray is a preeminent global law firm with more than 1,200 lawyers and legal professionals serving clients in major centers of business, finance, technology and government. The firm has offices in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul, and has consistently been recognized for its leading practices in many areas, including private equity, M&A, finance, investment management, hedge funds, real estate, tax, life sciences, health care, intellectual property, litigation & enforcement, privacy & cybersecurity, and business restructuring. www.ropesgray.com Press Contact: Aaron Kellogg Public Relations Manager Ropes & Gray +1-617-235-4403 [email protected] SOURCE Ropes & Gray Related Links http://www.ropesgray.com ISO 22301 certificate is a comprehensive standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that represents the highest level of commitment to business continuity and disaster preparedness. In the case of biopharmaceuticals, the production and supply of biologics is directly linked to the life of patients suffering from serious diseases including cancer, so it is crucial to stably produce biologics and deliver them accurately. Accordingly, global pharmaceutical companies consider crisis systems critical and request a high level of crisis response system from their partners. Samsung BioLogics launched an internal task force composed of 16 teams and 22 people and discovered a total of 573 projected risks over about two years, reflecting global customer' needs. Ultimately, Samsung BioLogics established an emergency response scenario by anticipating an internal or external crisis that may happen, which led to the attainment of ISO certification. Furthermore, Samsung has also proved that it is able to maintain the continuity of management in a short period of time in case of an unexpected emergency such as a natural disaster, by pre-setting and preparing resources and time required to overcome the crisis. "Through ISO 22301 certificate, Samsung's quality management ability will be recognized once again and it will be a great help in order to get additional orders," said TH Kim, CEO of Samsung BioLogics. "Samsung will continue to identify internal and external risks and improve our processes so that we will become a company that leads global standards for crisis response by providing our customers with high service availability and business continuity." About Samsung BioLogics Samsung BioLogics is a global full-service provider of quality-driven contract process development and cGMP manufacturing to the global biopharmaceutical industry. Our facilities are custom designed for monoclonal & recombinant production with maximum flexibility. Our one-stop services include cell line generation, process and analytical method development, analytical services, clinical and commercial bulk cGMP manufacturing of drug substance and drug product including quality assurance, quality control, regulatory compliance standards & support for our customers. For additional information about the company, please visit http://www.samsungbiologics.com Media Enquiries: Inchan Hwang [email protected] Dahyun Ahn [email protected] SOURCE Samsung BioLogics Related Links http://www.samsungbiologics.com BOSTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Santander Bank's content-driven website Business First has earned three 2018 Internet Advertising Competition Awards from the Web Marketing Association (WMA) for 'Best Bank Website, Best Financial Services Website, and Best Small Business Website.' Designed specifically for its Business Banking customers, Business First has successfully captured the attention of a busy audience with practical tips and stories of innovation and perseverance paired with compelling imagery that depicts personal achievement and satisfaction. "In the last year and a half, we've made significant investments in our website, which include audience-specific microsites offering relevant, educational information and resources tailored to improve our customers' financial wellbeing," said Maria Veltre, Santander's chief marketing and digital officer. "Our guiding editorial principles for Business First are passion and respect the passion it takes to build and grow a successful business and the respect that business owners deserve. This award validates the strides we're making to stand apart from our peers and better serve our customers by offering innovative content that inspires them with relevant, informative stories and practical ideas to manage and grow their businesses." Santander launched Business First in 2017 after speaking with hundreds of business stakeholders about the kinds of information that would help them stay ahead of the competition. To respect the time and interests of its busy audience, Business First's substantive content is presented in quick-read, easy-to-watch and interactive formats that appeal to a wide-range of industries and business sizes at different life stages. "As trusted advisors to our customers, we want to make sure we're providing them with practical tips and tools that not only fuel their passion to succeed, but ultimately help their businesses thrive and grow," said Amir Madjlessi, Santander's executive vice president and managing director of Business Banking. "Business First's thought-provoking ideas, engaging content and best practices straight from our clients, support our customers' short and long-term business objectives and helps them take their businesses to the next level." WMA was founded to help set a high standard for Internet marketing and corporate web development on the World Wide Web. Its Internet Advertising Competition provides an opportunity for companies to highlight their best online advertising in 96 industries and nine online formats including, online ad, video, mobile, newsletter, email and social media. A full list of the Web Marketing Association's 2018 winners is available on the Internet Advertising Competition Awards website: https://www.iacaward.org/iac/winners.asp. Santander Bank, N.A. is one of the country's largest retail and commercial banks with $74.5 billion in assets. With its corporate offices in Boston, the Bank's approximately 9,600 employees, over 600 branches, more than 2,000 ATMs and 2.1 million customers are principally located in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Madrid-based Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: SAN) - one of the most respected banking groups in the world with more than 125 million customers in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. It is managed by Santander Holdings USA, Inc., Banco Santander's intermediate holding company in the U.S. For more information on Santander Bank, please visit www.santanderbank.com. MEDIA CONTACTS: Ann Davis 617-757-5891 [email protected] Nancy Orlando 617.757.5765 [email protected] SOURCE Santander Bank, N.A. Related Links http://www.santanderbank.com SODERTALJE, Sweden, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Scania's corporate venture capital-fund announces its next investment. Scania Growth Capital will become part owner of Swed-Weld, a leading producer of add-on equipment for the optimisation of automated manufacturing lines. Swed-Weld is based in Sweden and its primary product is feeding machines for welding nuts, which are an important part of the robot cells that are used in modern manufacturing. When connected, Swed-Weld's feeding machines provide data that when analysed enable troubleshooting, preventive maintenance and software upgrades. This in turn reduces the number of production stops, so increasing production efficiency. "We are very enthusiastic to have an industrial owner like Scania. With the knowledge and network of Scania, we will be able to accelerate our growth, with the aim of providing the highest quality and the most customer-focused offering in the sector," says Henrik Larsson, Founder and CEO of Swed-Weld. Swed-Weld also produces welding machines and other types of feeding machines. By utilising a modular system, the company can quickly adapt its standard feeding machines to fit customers' specific needs. Swed-Weld also offers installation, training, service and spare parts. "Swed-Weld has been able to secure contracts with some of the most demanding buyers of automation equipment. By leveraging a modular production platform, the company can help customers to improve production efficiency", says Daniel Riazzoli, Partner at the management company of Scania Growth Capital. In addition to capital investment, Scania Growth Capital also provides a platform where Scania can contribute its industry knowledge to its portfolio companies. In the case of this latest investment, Lars Henrik Jornving, head of Global Industrial Development at Scania, will join Swed-Weld's board of directors. "Scania Growth Capital invests in growth companies with strategic relevance to Scania and our ecosystem of customers and partners. As a large manufacturing company with a global production system we see this intelligent use of a modular production, in combination with customer focused design as a strong concept within smart factory development and a good fit for our industry," says Jornving. More about Scania Growth Capital Scania Growth Capital invests in companies that enable the transformation to a more sustainable transport system and in ventures that can develop disruptive technologies and business models. The fund is managed by an external management company consisting of a team with extensive experience from both investments and the automotive industry. Investments may include, but are not limited to, companies with products, solutions or services in digitalisation, autonomous vehicles, connectivity, hybridisation, renewable fuels and smart factory. Through Scania Growth Capital, Scania reaches a segment of companies that are complementary to our vision, giving Scania an opportunity to tap into early development and innovation that is industry-relevant, but outside our own core operations. For more information, visit www.scaniagrowthcapital.com For further information, please contact: Karin Hallstan, Public Relations Manager, Phone: 076-842-81-04 e-mail: [email protected] For investment-related enquiries, please contact the investment team directly: Daniel Riazzoli, Partner at the management company of Scania Growth Capital, e-mail: [email protected] For more information about Swed-Weld, please contact: Henrik Larsson, Founder and CEO, Phone: +46(0)370-465-07 e-mail: [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/scania/r/scania-growth-capital-invests-in-swedish-automation-company,c2504969 The following files are available for download: http://mb.cision.com/Main/209/2504969/829059.pdf N18012EN-Scania Growth Capital invests in Swedish automation company http://news.cision.com/scania/i/scania-growth-capital-invests-in-swedish-automation-company-2,c2395687 Scania Growth Capital invests in Swedish automation company 2 http://news.cision.com/scania/i/scania-growth-capital-invests-in-swedish-automation-company-1,c2395688 Scania Growth Capital invests in Swedish automation company 1 http://news.cision.com/scania/e/scania-growth-capital-invests-in-swedish-automation-company,c2395711 Scania Growth Capital invests in Swedish automation company SOURCE Scania Related Links http://www.scaniagrowthcapital.com HOUSTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Service Corporation International (NYSE: SCI), the largest provider of deathcare products and services in North America, today announced results for the first quarter of 2018. Our unaudited consolidated financial statements can be found at the end of this press release. The table below summarizes our key financial results: (In millions, except for per share amounts) Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2017 Revenue $ 794.5 $ 777.7 Operating income $ 163.7 $ 139.9 Net income attributable to common stockholders $ 82.0 $ 174.7 Diluted earnings per share $ 0.43 $ 0.91 Earnings excluding special items(1) $ 88.9 $ 73.0 Diluted earnings per share excluding special items(1) $ 0.47 $ 0.38 Diluted weighted average shares outstanding 189.9 192.9 Net cash provided by operating activities $ 211.5 $ 188.1 Net cash provided by operating activities excluding special items(1) $ 205.9 $ 188.1 (1) Earnings from continuing operations excluding special items, diluted earnings per share from continuing operations excluding special items, and net cash provided by operating activities excluding special items are non-GAAP financial measures. These items are also referred to as "adjusted earnings per share" and "adjusted operating cash flow". A reconciliation from net income attributable to common stockholders, diluted earnings per share, and net cash provided by operating activities computed in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP) can be found later in this press release under the headings "Cash Flow and Capital Spending" and "Non-GAAP Financial Measures". Quarterly Highlights: Diluted earnings per share were $0.43 in the first quarter of 2018 compared to $0.91 in the first quarter of 2017. The first quarter of 2018 was negatively impacted by a $10.1 million loss on early extinguishment of debt. The first quarter of 2017 was impacted by an income tax benefit related to the settlement of tax audits with the IRS with respect to tax years 1999 through 2005 and a gain on business dispositions partially offset by a pension settlement. Diluted earnings per share excluding special items was $0.47 in the first quarter of 2018 compared to $0.38 in the first quarter of 2017. The nine cent increase in diluted earnings per share excluding special items was primarily driven by approximately five cents from higher funeral and cemetery operating results, two cents from the impact of new accounting standards and selling processes that will become comparable in 2019, and two cents primarily from a lower effective tax rate and a lower share count partially offset by higher interest expense. in the first quarter of 2018 compared to in the first quarter of 2017. The first quarter of 2018 was negatively impacted by a loss on early extinguishment of debt. The first quarter of 2017 was impacted by an income tax benefit related to the settlement of tax audits with the IRS with respect to tax years 1999 through 2005 and a gain on business dispositions partially offset by a pension settlement. Diluted earnings per share excluding special items was in the first quarter of 2018 compared to in the first quarter of 2017. The increase in diluted earnings per share excluding special items was primarily driven by approximately from higher funeral and cemetery operating results, from the impact of new accounting standards and selling processes that will become comparable in 2019, and primarily from a lower effective tax rate and a lower share count partially offset by higher interest expense. Net cash provided by operating activities was $211.5 million in the first quarter of 2018 compared to $188.1 million in the first quarter of 2017. The first quarter of 2018 was impacted by a tax refund received related to the IRS tax settlement that occurred last year. Net cash provided by operating activities excluding special items was $205.9 million in the first quarter of 2018 compared to $188.1 million in the first quarter of 2017. This increase was primarily due to increased cash earnings and a reduction in cash taxes. in the first quarter of 2018 compared to in the first quarter of 2017. The first quarter of 2018 was impacted by a tax refund received related to the IRS tax settlement that occurred last year. Net cash provided by operating activities excluding special items was in the first quarter of 2018 compared to in the first quarter of 2017. This increase was primarily due to increased cash earnings and a reduction in cash taxes. During the first quarter, we returned $150.1 million to shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and dividends and deployed $38.8 million of capital to accretive acquisitions and the construction of new funeral homes. Tom Ryan, the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented on the first quarter of 2018: "Today we are pleased to report total adjusted earnings per share growth of 9 cents or about 24% quarter over quarter. About half of this increase in adjusted earnings per share was attributable to improved operating performance in our funeral and cemetery operations driven by a stronger flu season compared to prior year and effective cost management. The remaining increase was attributable to a favorable impact of new accounting standards and a lower effective tax rate. Our adjusted operating cash flow was similarly strong during the quarter and grew approximately $18 million or 9.5% compared to last year. Preneed funeral sales production was in line with our expectations increasing just under 3% while cemetery preneed sales production experienced a tough quarterly comparison. You may recall that in the first quarter of 2017, we reported a double-digit percentage increase in preneed cemetery sales production and therefore expected this challenging comparison for the first quarter of 2018. These comparisons become more manageable in the back half of 2018 and we continue to expect mid-single digit percentage growth in cemetery preneed sales production for the full year of 2018. Lastly, we look forward to continuing our focus in 2018 on growing our revenues by remaining relevant with the consumer, increasing future market share by growing our preneed sales, continuing to leverage our increasing scale and deploying capital to enhance shareholder value." REVIEW OF RESULTS FOR FIRST QUARTER 2018 Consolidated Segment Results (See definitions of revenue line items later in this earnings release.) (In millions, except funeral services performed and average revenue per service) Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2017 Funeral: Atneed revenue $ 274.4 $ 271.8 Matured preneed revenue 165.3 151.8 Core revenue 439.7 423.6 Non-funeral home revenue 13.8 12.3 Recognized preneed revenue 32.5 32.1 Other revenue 28.4 30.8 Total revenue $ 514.4 $ 498.8 Operating profit $ 120.5 $ 112.6 Operating margin percentage 23.4 % 22.6 % Funeral services performed 86,285 82,918 Average revenue per service 5,256 5,257 Cemetery: Atneed property revenue $ 23.1 $ 24.6 Atneed merchandise and service revenue 59.9 57.0 Total atneed revenue 83.0 81.6 Recognized preneed property revenue 108.9 114.0 Recognized preneed merchandise and service revenue 68.4 63.9 Total recognized preneed revenue 177.3 177.9 Core revenue 260.3 259.5 Other cemetery revenue 19.8 19.4 Total revenue $ 280.1 $ 278.9 Operating profit $ 75.3 $ 64.6 Operating margin percentage 26.9 % 23.2 % Comparable Funeral Results The table below details comparable funeral results of operations ("same store") for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017. We consider comparable operations to be those owned for the entire period beginning January 1, 2017 and ending March 31, 2018. (Dollars in millions, except average revenue per service and average revenue per contract sold) Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2017 Var % Comparable revenue: Atneed revenue(1) $ 269.7 $ 268.3 $ 1.4 0.5 % Matured preneed revenue(2) 163.3 150.6 12.7 8.4 % Core revenue(3) 433.0 418.9 14.1 3.4 % Non-funeral home revenue(4) 13.8 12.3 1.5 12.2 % Recognized preneed revenue(5) 32.4 32.1 0.3 0.9 % Other revenue(6) 28.1 30.4 (2.3) (7.6) % Total comparable revenue $ 507.3 $ 493.7 $ 13.6 2.8 % Comparable operating profit $ 120.1 $ 113.3 $ 6.8 6.0 % Comparable operating margin percentage 23.7 % 22.9 % 0.8 % 3.5 % Comparable services performed: Atneed 46,506 45,665 841 1.8 % Matured preneed 27,111 25,600 1,511 5.9 % Total core 73,617 71,265 2,352 3.3 % Non-funeral home 11,293 10,653 640 6.0 % Total comparable funeral services performed 84,910 81,918 2,992 3.7 % Core cremation rate 47.6 % 46.4 % 1.2 % 2.6 % Total comparable cremation rate 54.4 % 53.2 % 1.2 % 2.3 % Comparable sales average revenue per service: Atneed $ 5,799 $ 5,875 $ (76) (1.3) % Matured preneed 6,023 5,883 140 2.4 % Total core 5,882 5,878 4 0.1 % Non-funeral home 1,222 1,155 67 5.8 % Total comparable average revenue per service $ 5,262 $ 5,264 $ (2) % Comparable preneed sales production: Total preneed sales $ 217.7 $ 211.8 $ 5.9 2.8 % Core contracts sold 28,093 27,274 819 3.0 % Non-funeral home contracts sold 18,715 19,536 (821) (4.2) % Core average revenue per contract sold $ 6,063 $ 6,095 $ (32) (0.5) % Non-funeral home average revenue per contract sold $ 2,529 $ 2,331 $ 198 8.5 % (1) Atneed revenue represents merchandise and services sold and delivered or performed once death has occurred. (2) Matured preneed revenue represents merchandise and services sold on a preneed contract through our core funeral homes which have been delivered or performed as well as the related merchandise and service trust fund income. (3) Core revenue represents the sum of merchandise and services sold on an atneed contract or preneed contract which were delivered or performed once death has occurred through our core funeral homes. (4) Non-funeral home revenue represents services sold on a preneed or atneed contract through one of our non-funeral home sales channels (e.g. SCI Direct) and performed once death has occurred. (5) Recognized preneed revenue represents merchandise and travel protection sold on a preneed contract and delivered before death has occurred. (6) Other revenue primarily comprises general agency revenue, which is commissions we receive from third-party insurance companies for life insurance policies sold to preneed customers for the purpose of funding preneed arrangements. Total comparable funeral revenue increased by $13.6 million , or 2.8%, in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period of 2017, primarily from an increase in core revenue of $14.1 million led by higher funeral services performed. The increase in funeral services performed was primarily driven by a stronger flu season compared to the prior year. , or 2.8%, in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period of 2017, primarily from an increase in core revenue of led by higher funeral services performed. The increase in funeral services performed was primarily driven by a stronger flu season compared to the prior year. The $14.1 million core revenue increase was primarily the result of a 3.3% increase in core funeral services performed. Core average revenue per service was relatively flat as a slight increase in the organic sales average was offset by a 120 basis point increase in the core cremation mix. core revenue increase was primarily the result of a 3.3% increase in core funeral services performed. Core average revenue per service was relatively flat as a slight increase in the organic sales average was offset by a 120 basis point increase in the core cremation mix. Total non-funeral home revenue increased by $1.5 million , or 12.2%, which was primarily the result of a 6.0% increase in non-funeral home services performed driven by a strong flu season and a 5.8% increase in non-funeral home average revenue per service. Recognized preneed revenue, which is also primarily sold through our non-funeral home sales channel, was relatively consistent with prior year. , or 12.2%, which was primarily the result of a 6.0% increase in non-funeral home services performed driven by a strong flu season and a 5.8% increase in non-funeral home average revenue per service. Recognized preneed revenue, which is also primarily sold through our non-funeral home sales channel, was relatively consistent with prior year. Comparable funeral operating profit increased $6.8 million to $120.1 million and the operating margin percentage increased 80 basis points to 23.7%, which is primarily due to the increased revenue from funeral services performed resulting from the stronger flu season, which carries a high incremental profit percentage. This was slightly offset by increased labor and marketing costs. to and the operating margin percentage increased 80 basis points to 23.7%, which is primarily due to the increased revenue from funeral services performed resulting from the stronger flu season, which carries a high incremental profit percentage. This was slightly offset by increased labor and marketing costs. Comparable preneed funeral sales production increased $5.9 million , or 2.8%, in the first quarter of 2018 compared to 2017 as we experienced growth in our core and non-funeral home channels. Comparable Cemetery Results The table below details comparable cemetery results of operations ("same store") for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017. We consider comparable operations to be those owned for the entire period beginning January 1, 2017 and ending March 31, 2018. (Dollars in millions) Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2017 Var % Comparable revenue: Atneed property revenue $ 23.1 $ 24.5 $ (1.4) (5.7) % Atneed merchandise and service revenue 59.6 56.8 2.8 4.9 % Total atneed revenue (1) 82.7 81.3 1.4 1.7 % Recognized preneed property revenue 108.6 113.7 (5.1) (4.5) % Recognized preneed merchandise and service revenue 68.2 63.7 4.5 7.1 % Total recognized preneed revenue (2) 176.8 177.4 (0.6) (0.3) % Core revenue(3) 259.5 258.7 0.8 0.3 % Other revenue(4) 18.8 19.2 (0.4) (2.1) % Total comparable revenue $ 278.3 $ 277.9 $ 0.4 0.1 % Comparable operating profit $ 74.9 $ 64.5 $ 10.4 16.1 % Comparable operating margin percentage 26.9 % 23.2 % 3.7 % 15.9 % Comparable preneed and atneed sales production: Property $ 148.3 $ 157.0 $ (8.7) (5.5) % Merchandise and services 136.6 135.0 1.6 1.2 % Discounts and other 0.3 (1.7) 2.0 117.6 % Preneed and atneed sales production $ 285.2 $ 290.3 $ (5.1) (1.8) % Recognition rate(5) 91.0 % 89.1 % (1) Atneed revenue represents property, merchandise, and services sold and delivered or performed once death has occurred. (2) Recognized preneed revenue represents property, merchandise, and services sold on a preneed contract which were delivered or performed as well as the related merchandise and service trust fund income. (3) Core revenue represents the sum of property, merchandise, and services that have been delivered or performed as well as the related merchandise and service trust fund income. (4) Other revenue is primarily related to endowment care trust fund income, royalty income, and interest and finance charges earned from customer receivables on preneed installment contracts. (5) Represents the ratio of current period core revenue stated as a percentage of current period preneed and atneed sales production. Total comparable cemetery revenue was relatively flat when compared with the first quarter of 2017, as a reduction in both atneed and preneed cemetery property revenue related to property sales production was offset by increases in both atneed and recognized preneed merchandise and service revenues. The merchandise and service revenue increase was driven by higher service volumes from the strong flu season as well as trust fund income associated with recognized preneed merchandise and service revenues. Comparable preneed cemetery sales production decreased $6.5 million , or 3.2%, due primarily to the timing of large preneed property sales and a difficult quarterly comparison. During the first quarter of 2017, we reported a 13.0% increase in cemetery preneed sales production and therefore expected to have a challenging comparison in the first quarter of 2018. We believe this challenging comparison will ease later in 2018 and expect to achieve our annual expectation of mid-single digit percentage growth. , or 3.2%, due primarily to the timing of large preneed property sales and a difficult quarterly comparison. During the first quarter of 2017, we reported a 13.0% increase in cemetery preneed sales production and therefore expected to have a challenging comparison in the first quarter of 2018. We believe this challenging comparison will ease later in 2018 and expect to achieve our annual expectation of mid-single digit percentage growth. Comparable cemetery operating profit increased $10.4 million to $74.9 million and the operating margin percentage increased 370 basis points to 26.9%. The increase was partially due to a $5 million net benefit of deferring selling compensation under the new revenue recognition accounting standard. The additional $5 million of increased profit was due to a change in revenue mix from property revenue towards merchandise and service revenue which typically carries a higher margin percentage due to reduced selling costs, lower variable cost for services and the inclusion of trust fund income. The margins were also positively impacted by lower variable and fixed costs incurred during the quarter. Other Financial Results General and administrative expenses decreased $7.5 million to $34.8 million in the first quarter of 2018. The prior year quarter included a pension termination charge of $11.6 million . Excluding these costs, general and administrative expenses increased $4.1 million primarily related to higher workers compensation and auto related insurance claims, increased legal and accounting costs resulting from the implementation of new accounting standards, and a pension termination expense. to in the first quarter of 2018. The prior year quarter included a pension termination charge of . Excluding these costs, general and administrative expenses increased primarily related to higher workers compensation and auto related insurance claims, increased legal and accounting costs resulting from the implementation of new accounting standards, and a pension termination expense. Hurricane recoveries, net, reflects $2.3 million in expenses incurred through March 31, 2018 as we continue repairs at various locations caused by the 2017 hurricanes. These expenses were offset by $4.5 million of insurance proceeds recognized through March 31, 2018 . in expenses incurred through as we continue repairs at various locations caused by the 2017 hurricanes. These expenses were offset by of insurance proceeds recognized through . Interest expense increased $2.9 million to $43.6 million in the first quarter of 2018 as we were impacted by increased interest rates and higher balances on our floating rate debt as we continued to maintain our leverage ratio. to in the first quarter of 2018 as we were impacted by increased interest rates and higher balances on our floating rate debt as we continued to maintain our leverage ratio. We incurred a $10.1 million loss on early extinguishment of debt in the first three months of 2018 to manage our near-term debt maturity profile and lower our effective interest rate by refinancing our 2018 notes. loss on early extinguishment of debt in the first three months of 2018 to manage our near-term debt maturity profile and lower our effective interest rate by refinancing our 2018 notes. The GAAP effective income tax rate for the first quarter of 2018 was 25.7%, up from the prior year first quarter benefit of 77.4% for 2017. The benefit for GAAP effective tax rate for the prior year was primarily due to our recent IRS tax settlement(A). Our adjusted effective income tax rate was 25.8% in the first quarter of 2018, which was in line with our expectations after taking into account the effect of the 2017 tax reform. This compares to an adjusted effective income tax rate of 30.6% in the prior year quarter. Footnote (A) We reached an agreement in principle with the Internal Revenue Service to resolve the issues under audit with respect to tax years 1999 through 2005. On March 2, 2017, we received from the IRS Office of Appeals the fully executed Form 870-AD, which, subject to finalization of computations, effectively settles the issues under audit for those years. As a result of this resolution, we recognized a reduction in our uncertain tax reserves of $143.0 million of which $102.5 million was recognized as an income tax benefit during the quarter for the matters that were effectively settled with an increase in our taxes payable of $40.5 million. Cash Flow and Capital Spending (In millions) Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2017 Net cash provided by operating activities, as reported $ 211.5 $ 188.1 IRS tax settlement refund received (5.6) Net cash provided by operating activities excluding special items $ 205.9 $ 188.1 Cash taxes included in net cash provided by operating activities excluding special items $ 3.1 $ 19.0 Net cash provided by operating activities excluding special items increased $17.8 million to $205.9 million in the first quarter of 2018 from $188.1 million in the prior year quarter. This increase was primarily due to an increase in cash earnings and a $15.9 million reduction in cash taxes paid related to the timing of federal tax payments in the first quarters of 2018 versus 2017. Working capital was fairly consistent quarter over quarter as a $29 million increase in cash receipts was offset by increases in uses of working capital related to incentive compensation and other various cash payments during the quarter. A summary of our capital expenditures is set forth below: (In millions) Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2017 Capital improvements at existing field locations and corporate $ 26.2 $ 17.5 Development of cemetery property 15.1 17.1 Capital improvements at existing facilities and cemetery development expenditures 41.3 34.6 Growth capital expenditures/construction of new funeral home facilities 4.9 5.6 Total capital expenditures $ 46.2 $ 40.2 Total capital expenditures increased as expected in the current quarter by $6.0 million as we invested more this year on infrastructure improvements within our facilities as we continue to strive to remain relevant with our customers. TRUST FUND RETURNS Total trust fund returns include realized and unrealized gains and losses and dividends and are shown without netting of certain fees. A summary of our consolidated trust fund returns for the three months ended March 31, 2018 is set forth below: Three Months Preneed funeral 0.1% Preneed cemetery (0.1)% Cemetery perpetual care 0.0% Combined trust funds 0.0% NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES Earnings excluding special items and diluted earnings per share excluding special items shown above are non-GAAP financial measures. We believe these non-GAAP financial measures provide a consistent basis for comparison between quarters and better reflect the performance of our core operations, as they are not influenced by certain income or expense items not affecting continuing operations. We also believe these measures help facilitate comparisons to our competitors' operating results. Set forth below is a reconciliation of our reported net income attributable to common stockholders to earnings excluding special items and our GAAP diluted earnings per share to diluted earnings per share excluding special items. We do not intend for this information to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for other measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. (In millions, except diluted EPS) Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2017 Net Income Diluted EPS Net Income Diluted EPS Net income attributable to common stockholders, as reported $ 82.0 $ 0.43 $ 174.7 $ 0.91 Pre-tax reconciling items: Gains on divestitures and impairment charges, net (0.5) (4.9) (0.03) Losses on early extinguishment of debt 10.1 0.05 Pension termination obligations 11.6 0.06 Tax reconciling items: Tax benefit from special items (1.5) (0.01) (2.4) (0.01) Change in certain tax reserves and other (1) (1.2) (106.0) (0.55) Earnings excluding special items and diluted earnings per share excluding special items $ 88.9 $ 0.47 $ 73.0 $ 0.38 Diluted weighted average shares outstanding (in thousands) 189,923 192,867 (1) 2017 is impacted by the settlement of IRS tax audits related to tax years 1999-2005. Please see our first quarter 2018 Form 10-Q filing for further details, which will be filed later today. Conference Call and Webcast We will host a conference call on Thursday, April 26, 2018, at 8:00 a.m. Central Time. A question and answer session will follow a brief presentation made by management. The conference call dial-in number is (888) 771-4371 or (847) 585-4405 with the passcode of 46823501. The conference call will also be broadcast live via the Internet and can be accessed through our website at www.sci-corp.com A replay of the conference call will be available through May 3, 2018 and can be accessed at (888) 843-7419 or (630) 652-3042 with the passcode of 46823501#. Additionally, a replay of the conference call will be available on our website for approximately one week. Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements The statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements made in reliance on the "safe harbor" protections provided under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be accompanied by words such as "believe," "estimate," "project," "expect," "anticipate," or "predict," that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. These statements are based on assumptions that we believe are reasonable; however, many important factors could cause our actual results in the future to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made herein and in any other documents or oral presentations made by us, or on our behalf. Important factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: Our affiliated funeral and cemetery trust funds own investments in securities, which are affected by market conditions that are beyond our control. We may be required to replenish our affiliated funeral and cemetery trust funds to meet minimum funding requirements, which would have a negative effect on our earnings and cash flow. Our ability to execute our strategic plan depends on many factors, some of which are beyond our control. Our credit agreements contain covenants that may prevent us from engaging in certain transactions. If we lost the ability to use surety bonding to support our preneed funeral and preneed cemetery activities, we may be required to make material cash payments to fund certain trust funds. The funeral and cemetery industry is competitive. Increasing death benefits related to preneed contracts funded through life insurance or annuity contracts may not cover future increases in the cost of providing a price-guaranteed service. The financial condition of third-party insurance companies that fund our preneed contracts may impact our future revenue. Unfavorable results of litigation could have a material adverse impact on our financial statements. Unfavorable publicity could affect our reputation and business. If the number of deaths in our markets decline, our cash flows and revenue may decrease. If we are not able to respond effectively to changing consumer preferences, our market share, revenue, and/or profitability could decrease. The continuing upward trend in the number of cremations performed in North America could result in lower revenue, operating profit, and cash flows. could result in lower revenue, operating profit, and cash flows. Our funeral home and cemetery businesses are high fixed-cost businesses. Regulation and compliance could have a material adverse impact on our financial results. Cemetery burial practice claims could have a material adverse impact on our financial results. We use a combination of insurance, self-insurance, and large deductibles in managing our exposure to certain inherent risks, therefore, we could be exposed to unexpected costs that could negatively affect our financial performance. A number of years may elapse before particular tax matters, for which we have established accruals, are audited and finally resolved. Changes in taxation as well as the inherent difficulty in quantifying potential tax effects of business decisions could have a material adverse effect on the results of our operations, financial condition, or cash flows. Declines in overall economic conditions beyond our control could reduce future potential earnings and cash flows and could result in future impairments to goodwill and/or other intangible assets. Any failure to maintain the security of the information relating to our customers, their loved ones, our associates, and our vendors could damage our reputation, could cause us to incur substantial additional costs and to become subject to litigation, and could adversely affect our operating results, financial condition, or cash flow. Our Canadian business exposes us to operational, economic, and currency risks. Our level of indebtedness could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, and may prevent us from fulfilling our obligations under our indebtedness. A failure of key information technology systems or processes could disrupt and adversely affect our business. Failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could adversely affect our results of operations, investor confidence, and our stock price. The application of unclaimed property laws by certain states to our preneed funeral and cemetery backlog could have a material adverse impact on our liquidity, cash flows, and our financial results. For further information on these and other risks and uncertainties, see our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K and as updated in our Form 10-Q filings. Copies of this document as well as other SEC filings can be obtained from our website at www.sci-corp.com. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements made herein or any other forward-looking statements made by us, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About Service Corporation International Service Corporation International (NYSE: SCI), headquartered in Houston, Texas, is North America's leading provider of deathcare products and services. At March 31, 2018, we owned and operated 1,480 funeral homes and 472 cemeteries (of which 280 are combination locations) in 44 states, eight Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Through our businesses, we market the Dignity Memorial brand, which offers assurance of quality, value, caring service, and exceptional customer satisfaction. For more information about Service Corporation International, please visit our website at www.sci-corp.com For more information about Dignity Memorial, please visit www.dignitymemorial.com . For additional information contact: Investors: Debbie Young - Director / Investor Relations (713) 525-9088 Media: Jay Andrew - Managing Director / Corporate Communications (713) 525-5235 SERVICE CORPORATION INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2017 (In thousands, except per share amounts) Revenue $ 794,482 $ 777,710 Costs and expenses (598,720) (600,471) Operating profit 195,762 177,239 General and administrative expenses (34,784) (42,283) Gains on divestitures and impairment charges, net 482 4,935 Hurricane recoveries, net 2,232 Operating income 163,692 139,891 Interest expense (43,576) (40,636) Loss on early extinguishment of debt, net (10,131) Other income (expense), net 384 (729) Income before income taxes 110,369 98,526 (Provision for) benefit from income taxes (28,321) 76,223 Net income 82,048 174,749 Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests (60) (47) Net income attributable to common stockholders $ 81,988 $ 174,702 Basic earnings per share: Net income attributable to common stockholders $ 0.44 $ 0.93 Basic weighted average number of shares 185,130 188,260 Diluted earnings per share: Net income attributable to common stockholders $ 0.43 $ 0.91 Diluted weighted average number of shares 189,923 192,867 Dividends declared per share $ 0.17 $ 0.13 SERVICE CORPORATION INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 (In thousands, except share amounts) ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 219,507 $ 330,039 Receivables, net 77,080 90,304 Inventories 26,955 25,378 Other 27,463 35,575 Total current assets 351,005 481,296 Preneed receivables, net and trust investments 4,199,414 4,778,842 Cemetery property 1,794,070 1,791,989 Property and equipment, net 1,890,475 1,873,044 Goodwill 1,819,134 1,805,981 Deferred charges and other assets 877,690 601,184 Cemetery perpetual care trust investments 1,497,220 1,532,167 Total assets $ 12,429,008 $ 12,864,503 LIABILITIES & EQUITY Current liabilities: Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 469,159 $ 489,172 Current maturities of long-term debt 89,249 337,337 Income taxes payable 33,397 2,470 Total current liabilities 591,805 828,979 Long-term debt 3,316,695 3,135,316 Deferred revenue, net 1,337,045 1,789,776 Deferred tax liability 341,272 283,765 Other liabilities 403,877 410,982 Deferred receipts held in trust 3,431,781 3,475,430 Care trusts' corpus 1,494,684 1,530,818 Commitments and contingencies Equity: Common stock, $1 per share par value, 500,000,000 shares authorized, 192,428,122 and 191,935,647 shares issued, respectively, and 184,011,668 and 186,614,747 shares outstanding, respectively 184,012 186,615 Capital in excess of par value 961,744 970,468 Retained earnings 333,864 210,364 Accumulated other comprehensive income 32,125 41,943 Total common stockholders' equity 1,511,745 1,409,390 Noncontrolling interests 104 47 Total equity 1,511,849 1,409,437 Total liabilities and equity $ 12,429,008 $ 12,864,503 SERVICE CORPORATION INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS (In thousands, except share amounts) Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2017 Cash flows from operating activities: Net income $ 82,048 $ 174,749 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Loss on early extinguishment of debt 10,131 Depreciation and amortization 38,981 38,043 Amortization of intangibles 7,103 6,844 Amortization of cemetery property 12,825 13,881 Amortization of loan costs 1,518 1,433 Provision for doubtful accounts 2,158 2,484 Benefit from deferred income taxes (1,692) (149,585) Gains on divestitures and impairment charges, net (482) (4,935) Share-based compensation 3,699 3,633 Change in assets and liabilities, net of effects from acquisitions and divestitures: Decrease in receivables 11,587 10,959 Increase in other assets (6,685) (5,128) Increase in payables and other liabilities 20,486 86,596 Effect of preneed sales production and maturities: Decrease (increase) in preneed receivables, net and trust investments 9,742 (10,243) Increase in deferred revenue, net 16,550 23,401 Increase (decrease) in deferred receipts held in trust 3,489 (4,019) Net cash provided by operating activities 211,458 188,113 Cash flows from investing activities: Capital expenditures (46,241) (40,150) Acquisitions, net of cash acquired (33,934) (33,212) Proceeds from divestitures and sales of property and equipment 6,452 20,235 Payments on Company-owned life insurance policies (9,246) (2,827) Proceeds from Company-owned life insurance policies 2,810 906 Other 70 Net cash used in investing activities (80,089) (55,048) Cash flows from financing activities: Proceeds from issuance of long-term debt 185,000 35,000 Scheduled payments of debt (8,535) (8,787) Early payments of debt (259,594) Principal payments on capital leases (7,646) (21,055) Proceeds from exercise of stock options 4,989 15,261 Purchase of Company common stock (118,797) (83,460) Payments of dividends (31,348) (24,433) Bank overdrafts and other (7,574) (2,096) Net cash used in financing activities (243,505) (89,570) Effect of foreign currency on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash (1,145) 784 Net (decrease) increase in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash (113,281) 44,279 Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at beginning of period 340,601 211,506 Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at end of period $ 227,320 $ 255,785 SOURCE Service Corporation International Related Links http://www.sci-corp.com R&D and low-volume manufacturing efforts at the 130,000 square foot facility will be led by Chief Technology Officer Yifan Tang, and will center on SF Motors' proprietary battery, e-powertrain, and autonomous driving technologies. Anticipated activities include testing verification of its technologies, development of manufacturing processes, trial production and low-volume manufacturing. This Silicon Valley facility will additionally focus on intelligent connectivity and user experience feature development. "Adding to our existing R&D labs, this new facility will conduct extensive design validation testing and low-volume manufacturing necessary to ensure smooth transition to mass production of our batteries and electric powertrains, which are key components of our vehicles," said SF Motors CTO Yifan Tang. "Drawing on our global business model and decades of manufacturing experience, locating this facility near our Silicon Valley headquarters will strategically ensure quality and efficiency as we prepare to bring our intelligent EVs to market." SF Motors will be the first tenant at McCarthy Creekside, McCarthy Ranch's new Silicon Valley industrial manufacturing development. Engineering and manufacturing jobs will be added for this new facility when it becomes operational in Q4 of 2018. "We have high standards for the companies we recruit to McCarthy Creekside, and we know that leading-edge companies like SF Motors have high standards in where they choose to locate," said McCarthy Ranch Principal, Joey McCarthy. "As SF Motors continues to attract top talent across the EV and tech sectors, the company is clearly putting its people first. This site will not only satisfy its local R&D needs, but also offer employees adjacent retail and outdoor amenities." Last month, SF Motors previewed its first intelligent electric vehicles, battery innovations, electric powertrain systems and "protective autonomy" concepts. After two years of assembling the manufacturing capabilities required, SF Motors will begin trial production of vehicles this year at its state-of-the-art facilities in Mishawaka, Indiana and Chongqing, China, targeting a total capacity of 200,000 units per year. About SF Motors Headquartered in Silicon Valley with facilities across the world, SF Motors is uniquely poised to deliver intelligent electric vehicles to a broader market. We are the only pure EV provider to wholly control and operate production facilities in both the U.S. and China. Our R&D offices in U.S., Germany, and China are focused on creating the next generation of intelligent EV technology. We plan to share these capabilities to help the entire industry thrive. More information about SF Motors is available at www.sfmotors.com. Media Contact: Jason Wallace [email protected] SOURCE SF Motors Related Links http://www.sfmotors.com In order to move forward this innovative change, Sharp also announces that Shane Coffey has been promoted to vice president of product management to lead the new team. The document, display and software groups will now report to him directly while he continues to lead the document hardware team. Shane is a 30 year industry veteran with over 22 years developing products for Sharp. This new product management group will focus on expanding Sharp's smart office concept, developing new products and services to solve business challenges and support tomorrow's workplace. "Restructuring our product management group will make us a more effective and nimble team that will unify our smart office approach," said Mike Marusic, chief operating officer, Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America. "Shane has a highly successful track record as a leader in a high tech industry and we're excited to see him lead this critical endeavor to bring the smart office to the market." Shane's promotion also reflects Sharp's goal to continue to develop its people and promote from within a talented team. In addition, Sharp is pleased to announce the following promotions: Tony Yoshimura , senior director of business planning , senior director of business planning George Grafanakis , associate director of document hardware , associate director of document hardware Akisa Matsuda , associate director of document software , associate director of document software Naeran Rubio, senior manager of SIICA communications About Sharp Electronics Corporation Sharp Electronics Corporation is the U.S. subsidiary of Japan's Sharp Corporation. Sharp is a worldwide developer of one-of-a-kind home appliances, networked multifunction office solutions, professional displays and energy systems. Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America, a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation, markets Sharp's business products, including MX Series multifunction printer (MFP) systems, professional and commercial displays and Skywell atmospheric water generators. Sharp was honored as an inaugural Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Technology Leader in 2018, recognized as one of the tech industry's most operationally sound and financially successful organizations. For more information on Sharp's business products, contact Sharp Electronics Corporation, 100 Paragon Drive, Montvale, N.J., 07645. For online product information, visit our website at siica.sharpusa.com. Become a fan of SIICA on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram and watch us on YouTube . Peppercomm for Sharp Paul Merchan 212.931.6172 [email protected] SOURCE Sharp Electronics Corporation USA Related Links http://siica.sharpusa.com INDIANAPOLIS, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors, LLC, announces the launch of Sheaff Brock Institutional Group. Knowing that successful businesses often having specialized strategic partners to bring knowledge and experience to areas they may not have time to focus on, Sheaff Brock established its Institutional Group to be a resource to institutional investors. Sheaff Brock Institutional Group is a money manager that provides investment resources, research, strategies, and advisory services to registered investment advisors (RIAs), institutional portfolio managers, financial institutions, foundations, and endowments throughout the United States. As a strategic partner, the Sheaff Brock Institutional team work to help clients meet specific investment objectives, fiduciary obligations, and business growth goals. The firm offers a menu of advisory and sub-advisory services as well as a range of innovative, actively-managed portfolio strategies designed to support client success. When traditional investment approaches aren't enough, a strategic partnership with Sheaff Brock Institutional Group may offer innovative options to help institutional investors grow their portfolios or their business. Dave Gilreath, Managing Director of Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors, believes the launch of the new division reflects Sheaff Brock's innovative approach to money management. "We focus on proprietary, actively managed, niche income strategies in an effort to capitalize on market trends and fluctuations. For this reason, our active management strategies can be a perfect complement to many portfolios, especially those with predominantly passive investments." Backed by the investment experience of Sheaff Brock, the new Institutional Group was launched to be a true partner to a wide range of advisors and institutional investors. The firm offers strategic investment portfolios that are actively managed to help institutional investors guard assets against losses while striving to generate greater yield. Sheaff Brock and its newest division, Sheaff Brock Institutional Group, are headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with sales team members located throughout the United States. Please visit sheaffbrockinstitutional.com for more information. About Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors, LLC: Sheaff Brock is a fee-only independent investment firm focusing on innovative investment strategies that strive to enhance the portfolios of both growth- and income-oriented investors. The firm manages more than $1.04 billion in assets nationwide as of 12/31/2017. Sheaff Brock principal David Gilreath is a contributor of investment news to ABCNews.com. Please visit sheaffbrock.com for more information. SOURCE Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors, LLC Related Links http://www.sheaffbrock.com BOSTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SiteSpect, a recognized leader in customer experience optimization and pioneer of full-stack testing and personalization, has announced the launch of their Visual Editor 2.0, a platform that allows marketers to design and deliver personalized customer experiences without knowledge of coding languages. Focused on empowering marketers to continuously test and optimize digital experiences, the Visual Editor 2.0 offers a user-friendly interface that improves the ease and efficiency of customer engagement improvements. "The demands of customers today are always evolving and yet marketers often run into technical roadblocks that impede their ability to drive change," said Eric Hansen, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of SiteSpect. "Our Visual Editor 2.0 eliminates these common barriers and puts the power back into marketers' hands, providing them with a best-in-class tool for code-free editing and testing of digital experiences." The Visual Editor 2.0's key features include: Point-and-Click Editing: Seamlessly change web page elements without having to modify CSS or JavaScript code. Seamlessly change web page elements without having to modify CSS or JavaScript code. Single Page Application (SPA) Integration: Make visual changes that don't break app functionality, and build tests that range from single-page look & feel changes to full-site redesigns. Make visual changes that don't break app functionality, and build tests that range from single-page look & feel changes to full-site redesigns. Omnichannel Presence: Easily integrates with APIs, SPAs, licensed and custom frameworks, mobile, and desktop. Easily integrates with APIs, SPAs, licensed and custom frameworks, mobile, and desktop. Multi-Page Impact: Work with page categories to effect multiple pages with one change. Work with page categories to effect multiple pages with one change. Advanced Analytics: Track clicks and experiment with specific elements of web pages using various metrics functions. Track clicks and experiment with specific elements of web pages using various metrics functions. Campaign Segmentation: Easily create digital experiences unique to each audience, and preview every variation before launch. Visual Editor 2.0's most powerful differentiator is its ability to seamlessly integrate with Single Page Applications (SPA) out of the box, such as React and Angular. Instead of being held back by limited SPA integration, marketers can now use SiteSpect to integrate with any framework without interruption or performance disadvantages. SPA integration supports marketers' quest with an omnichannel experience, enabling them to optimize their web pages on all platforms. For more information on SiteSpect's Visual Editor 2.0 platform, visit: https://www.sitespect.com/visual-editor About SiteSpect, Inc. SiteSpect is leading the advancement of customer experience optimization solutions for the world's most successful businesses. Only the SiteSpect patented solutions enable customers to optimize the entire digital experience from the front end (client side) to the back end (server side) while centrally managing across channels, business units and product lines. SiteSpect's unique technology sits in the flow of your digital traffic for full visibility of requests and responses allowing for real time business impact. Visit www.sitespect.com to see how top companies such as Sam's Club, Esurance, Eddie Bauer, Staples and Urban Outfitters have leveraged SiteSpect's technology and expertise to grow their businesses. CONTACT: Lori Niquette, 617-779-1800, [email protected] SOURCE SiteSpect Related Links http://www.sitespect.com The SME Education Foundation inspires, prepares and supports the next generation of manufacturing engineers and technologists through STEM education opportunities. On Tuesday, May 1 and Wednesday, May 2, students ages 16 and older get to test their design skills and learn about the intricacies of manufacturing with Ripple3D's Mars Rover Challenge. "Our student program sheds a new light on manufacturing and the different career pathways available in industry," said Dina Fattom, workforce development program specialist, SME. "It's a great opportunity for students to understand different product development models, engineering and technology being used in a real-world scenario." In addition, event registration and exhibition access are free for students interested in participating in the challenge and attending the Smart Manufacturing Experience. "Our mission is to expand interest in STEM-based education and employment opportunities," Fattom said. "We want to help students as much as we can and inspire them by connecting them with manufacturers. This event will give them an opportunity to interact with college students, mentors and educators." Three one-hour long Ripple3D Mars Rover Challenges will start at 9:30 a.m. both days. Teams of five students will design, print and build their Mars Rover to learn how wheel size and shape combine with gear train to complete two missions: Mission 1 Carry a payload over Mars rocky terrain Mission 2 Carry a payload over Mars sandy terrain To find out more about the Student Innovation Tour, click here, and to learn more about bringing SME Membership to high schools, click here. Schools that are interested in participating in the student event should contact Dina Fattom at [email protected] or at 313-920-3254. For more information about the Smart Manufacturing Experience, visit smartmanufacturingexperience.com. About SME SME connects manufacturing professionals, academia and communities, sharing knowledge and resources to build inspired, educated and prosperous manufacturers and enterprises. With more than 85 years of experience and expertise in events, media, membership, training and development, and through an education foundation, SME is committed to promoting manufacturing technology, developing a skilled workforce and attracting future generations to advance manufacturing. Learn more at sme.org, follow @SME_MFG on Twitter or facebook.com/SMEmfg. SOURCE SME Related Links http://www.sme.org NEW YORK, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognizing a pioneering approach to community development, the Obama Foundation this week selected Spark MicroGrants' Executive Director and co-founder Sasha Fisher to join the inaugural 2018 Fellows class. Sasha will join 20 Fellows selected from more than 20,000 applicants from 191 countries to participate in a two-year program that brings together leaders from around the world focused on creating transformational change in response to the world's most pressing problems. The Obama Foundation selected Sasha Fisher to continue Spark MicroGrants' work on using community organizing and catalyst grants to foster democratic and economic development in rural Africa and beyond. A community leader facilitating a discussion at a Spark community meeting. "I'm thrilled to be part of the first Obama Foundation Fellows class and join a diverse group of community-minded civic innovators," said Sasha Fisher. "We need civic imagination at this moment and the Obama Foundation is catalyzing this movement forward. With the Obama Foundation, we will bolster our work in strengthening community-led systems and redefining global development at the grassroots." "The 2018 Obama Foundation Fellows come from diverse backgrounds but share a common desire to make positive change and create the world as it should be," said David Simas, CEO of the Obama Foundation. "By bringing these individuals together, we hope to help amplify the work of our Fellows so it has a widespread impact. On behalf of President and Mrs. Obama and the Obama Foundation family, I congratulate our new Fellows and look forward to working with them." About the Obama Foundation Fellowship: www.obama.org/fellowship. Spark MicroGrants Spark MicroGrants supports communities facing poverty to design and launch their own collective projects across Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and beyond. Spark has developed a unique village action process paired with a seed grant that equips poor communities to launch social enterprises of their own choosing, such as an income-generating goat-rearing project, a produce business or school. Through the process, communities develop their own leadership and continue to self-organize and launch new businesses over time. Spark's approach is inclusive, enabling women and men, young and old, across ethnic and social divides to unite around a common purpose. With its track record of success, Spark has received requests from governments, companies and NGOs throughout Africa, Central America and in the United States to scale the Spark approach, enabling communities to take control of their future. About Spark MicroGrants: http://www.sparkmicrogrants.org/. For media inquiries please contact: Shai Fogelson [email protected] Related Images leadership-at-a-spark-community.jpg Leadership at a Spark Community Meeting A community leader facilitating a discussion at a Spark community meeting. image2.jpg SOURCE Spark MicroGrants Related Links http://www.sparkmicrogrants.org DENVER, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A study released today by the Financial Planning Association (FPA) in partnership with Janus Henderson Investors reveals that 73 percent of financial advisers do not have a written succession plan in place, representing little change from a similar study conducted in 2015. Of those who are within five years of retirement, 60 percent do not have a succession plan. Key findings from The Succession Challenge 2018: Why Financial Advisers are Failing to Plan for the Inevitable report include: Sixty percent of financial advisers who are within five years of retirement do not have a formal plan in place. of financial advisers who are within five years of retirement do not have a formal plan in place. Nearly half ( 48%) of those within five to 10 years of retirement do not have a formal plan in place. of those within five to 10 years of retirement do not have a formal plan in place. The disparity is even greater between firms based on assets under management with 60 percent of those with assets in excess of $500 million with a plan compared to just 13 percent of firms with less than $50 million in AUM. of those with assets in excess of with a plan compared to just of firms with less than in AUM. Ninety-five percent of financial advisers say there is some level of risk with not having a plan, while advisory teams are equally concerned about the absence of a plan ( 96% ). of financial advisers say there is some level of risk with not having a plan, while advisory teams are equally concerned about the absence of a plan ( ). Advisers who are planning for their succession are focused more on the "value" of their business (72%) rather than the "transition" of their business (57%), which is of significant importance to their teams. "Succession planning is critical for financial advisers. Not just for the benefit of clients so they know they will be taken care of when their adviser retires, but for the benefit of those on the adviser's team who need to know how they will be impacted when the senior adviser or principal decides to retire," says 2018 FPA President Frank Pare, CFP. "It's clear from the research that while we know we need to take the steps necessary to develop a plan, some of us struggle with how to approach it or have significant personal obstacles that might impact our ability to get the planning done." What's at Stake? The research shows that while a combined 95 percent of financial advisers say there is some level of risk with not having a plan, their team members are also concerned with the absence of a plan and the risk not having a plan carries with it (96%). While there are many causes for the absence of a plan, a key consideration is the lack of adviser clarity on their own plans for retirement. In fact, only 11 percent of all advisers are absolutely clear on their plans for retirement and another 29 percent have some level of clarity. What's Holding Advisers Back? With regard to retirement, advisers shared their main personal concerns that are potentially holding them back from thoroughly engaging in the succession planning process. Among the concerns are worrying the business will not be as successful if they are not there (67%), having a hard time thinking about moving on from the business (63%), and knowing that the business is ready for succession, but not being sure they are personally ready (61%). The research explores the biggest challenges facing financial advisers and their inability to plan for business succession. While finding the right successor leads the way in terms of challenges, what is clear is that advisers are facing some personal challenges that are impacting their ability to plan. The four challenge areas include: Fifty-one percent say the biggest challenges were strategic (e.g., finding the right successor or partner). say the biggest challenges were strategic (e.g., finding the right successor or partner). Twenty-two percent say the biggest challenges were personal (e.g., personal concerns about retirement, identity). say the biggest challenges were personal (e.g., personal concerns about retirement, identity). Fifteen percent say the biggest challenges were structural (e.g., structuring the business to maximize value). say the biggest challenges were structural (e.g., structuring the business to maximize value). Twelve percent say the biggest challenges were mechanical (e.g., the mechanics of creating a succession plan). "Putting in place a succession plan is paramount to building a high-functioning, cohesive team as it gives advisory teams peace of mind that their future is in good hands," says Michael Futterman, Director of Janus Henderson Labs. "At Janus Henderson, we have developed a suite of tools utilizing our expertise in self-awareness, building extraordinary teams, igniting practice growth, among others, to help advisors take the necessary steps to building their succession plan." Now the Good News Despite an overall lack of formal succession planning, many advisers have set a goal for the value they want to achieve for the business at retirement and feel confident they are on track to meet that goal. There are no clear trends with respect to how advisers plan on transitioning, although internal successions are most common. When it comes to valuing and transitioning the business, 61 percent of advisers have a goal for the value of their business. of advisers have a goal for the value of their business. Those advisers with a succession plan are considerably more likely to set a goal for the value of the firm, with 83 percent saying they had a clear goal. saying they had a clear goal. A majority of advisers feel they are on track to meet that goal (60%) or are ahead of the goal (15%) and confidence increases with the size of the business. The Succession Challenge 2018: Why Financial Advisers are Failing to Plan for the Inevitable is now available and additional tools and resources to help financial advisers address succession planning are available from Janus Henderson Investors. Additional white papers are being developed to help financial advisers apply the research to their businesses and will be made available in June and July 2018. Survey Methodology 309 financial advisers and team members from across the country responded to an online survey conducted in February 2018 by Julie Littlechild of AbsoluteEngagement.com with nearly half of respondents identifying themselves as independent RIAs. Respondents included senior financial advisers, junior/associate financial advisers, non-adviser management, support staff (e.g. technical and administrative staff) and others. About the Financial Planning Association The Financial Planning Association (FPA) is the principal professional organization for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM (CFP) professionals, educators, financial services professionals and students who seek advancement in a growing, dynamic profession. Through a collaborative effort to provide more than 23,000 members with tools and resources for professional education, business support, advocacy and community, FPA is the indispensable resource for today's CFP professional. Learn more about FPA at OneFPA.org and follow on Twitter at twitter.com/fpassociation. About Janus Henderson Labs At Janus Henderson Labs, a consulting division of Janus Henderson Investors, we are committed to providing best-in-class programs to truly make a difference in financial professionals practices and lives. Our programs can help fortify a financial professional's strengths and deepen their client relationships through the following four pillars: Professional Development: Tools across a variety of disciplines to help financial professionals build a successful practice Wealth Management: Strategies and advice for high-net-worth clients Defined Contribution: Services and solutions to enhance a financial professional's retirement capabilities Portfolio Diagnostics Services: State-of-the-art analytics to identify portfolio risk For more information about Janus Henderson Labs visit: janushenderson.com/labs About Janus Henderson Janus Henderson is a leading global active asset manager dedicated to helping investors achieve long-term financial goals through a broad range of investment solutions, including equities, quantitative equities, fixed income, multi-asset and alternative asset class strategies. As at 31 December 2017, Janus Henderson had approximately US$371 billion in assets under management, more than 2,000 employees and offices in 27 cities worldwide. Headquartered in London, the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). SOURCE Janus Henderson Investors Related Links http://janushenderson.com "Customers can savor the flavor of citrus and herbs with our refreshing and satisfying Cilantro Lime Bowls for just $4.99," said Aubrey Caruth, senior national marketing manager for TacoTime. "At TacoTime, we are consistently adding high value items to our menu so our customers can enjoy authentic food made with quality ingredients at a price that doesn't hurt their wallet." The new $4.99 Cilantro Lime Bowls feature all the delicious spices and tastes that TacoTime is known for and with two flavorful protein choices to choose from, this limited time offer will have you bowling for more. About TacoTime Headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., TacoTime has been an industry leader in quality quick-service Mexican food for over 50 years. Founded in 1960, TacoTime has grown to nearly 400 franchised restaurants across the U.S. and Canada. In 2003, TacoTime became part of Kahala Brands, one of the fastest growing franchising companies in the world with a portfolio of 27 quick-service restaurant brands and approximately 2900 locations in 28 countries. For more information about Kahala Brands, visit www.KahalaBrands.com. SOURCE TacoTime Related Links https://www.tacotime.com NEW YORK, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Delta Tau Delta and Talkspace, the global leader in online therapy, announced a partnership to provide online counseling to the fraternity's 9,000+ members. It will enable the students to connect with Talkspace's licensed counselors from the convenience of their smartphones. The collaboration brings a modern and student-friendly mental health solution to select colleges across the nation in a time when anxiety and depression levels are on the rise among students. Mental health on college campuses has already been widely reported as a crisis across the U.S. A recent study by National Alliance on Mental Illness found 64 percent of students who dropped out of college did so because of a mental health condition. Also, an analysis conducted by the *Center for Collegiate Mental Health uncovered that half of students who sought counseling last school year reported suffering from depression. Anxiety was even more common, affecting 62 percent of students seeking counseling. Delta Tau Delta is at the forefront of improving student mental health by confronting the stigma of counseling and providing it to members of the on-campus Greek community. Through partnerships with organizations like Talkspace, Delta Tau Delta sends a powerful message that access to mental health resources on campus should be available to all students. After being matched with a counselor in less than 24 hours, students on Talkspace can text or send audio or video messages to their counselor at their convenience. The partnership between Delta Tau Delta and Talkspace follows a 2016 announcement that Alpha Tau Omega is providing Talkspace counseling to its brothers on campus, and represents the second major U.S. fraternity to adopt text counseling for their community. "Delta Tau Delta's students are busy, on-the-go, but also dealing with the stress of college life. They need flexible care that fits their lifestyle," said Talkspace's Lynn Hamilton. The lack of access to mental health support and resources on college campuses represent a growing epidemic among college students, but today Delta Tau Delta makes a strong statement about prioritizing mental wellness. "Delta Tau Delta is proud to support our undergraduate brothers as they seek to improve their mental health," said Delta Tau Delta Executive Vice President Jim Russell. "More than 75 percent of all mental health conditions begin before the age of 24, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which is why college is such a critical time for health resources and support." Delta Tau Delta and its members are committed to their mission of leading "Lives of Excellence." As such, the Fraternity is dedicated to the mental and physical wellness of its members, providing critical support for its young leaders throughout their educational, philanthropic, and social lives on campus and beyond. *source About Talkspace Talkspace connects people with licensed counselors through its web and mobile apps. As the leading online therapy company, Talkspace revolutionized mental health care access by bringing the dialogue between therapists and their clients into the digital age. Founded with a mission to eliminate the stigmas associated with mental illness and make therapy available to all, Talkspace has already been used by more than one million people. For more information, please visit https://www.talkspace.com. To learn more about online therapy, please visit https://www.talkspace.com/online-therapy/. Please direct any press inquiries to [email protected] and LIFTOFF COMMUNICATIONS / Juliet Travis / 510.612.9622 / [email protected] SOURCE Talkspace Related Links https://www.talkspace.com TEL AVIV, Israel, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- TechSee, the category leader in Intelligent Visual Support, today announced the completion of a successful partnership program with Orange Spain, the leading telecom network operator in Spain. Orange Spain contracted with TechSee to meet the growing demand for its newly launched smart home and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services, as well as for its quadruple play services. The partnership demonstrated that the use of TechSee resulted in KPI improvements, including increased First Call Resolutions, reduced technician dispatches, and improved customer satisfaction. With a significant drop in operational costs and high ROI, the carrier implemented TechSee into all four of their technical support call centers. TechSee's visual support solution enables customers to use their smartphone camera to show the agent exactly what they see in their physical environment via a simple tap of a screen no downloads, app installation or account login required. The agent can then virtually identify the problem and visually guide the customer using a suite of augmented reality tools, resulting in the prompt resolution of technical issues. With TechSee's platform, Orange Spain's agents were able to quickly identify and resolve a comprehensive list of technical issues. In addition, the installation and configuration activities that previously required a technician dispatch could now be performed by the agents, acting as virtual technicians. TechSee's solution was effective in a range of use cases including: Self-installation guidance agents visually guide customers who experience difficulties when self-installing a device. agents visually guide customers who experience difficulties when self-installing a device. Troubleshooting agents resolve common technical issues. If a dispatch is required, relevant images ensure the technician arrives well-equipped, avoiding unnecessary repeat dispatches. agents resolve common technical issues. If a dispatch is required, relevant images ensure the technician arrives well-equipped, avoiding unnecessary repeat dispatches. Equipment quality issues agents can test and determine whether the device's quality is lacking (e.g. screen quality/definition) in cases of requests for replacements. agents can test and determine whether the device's quality is lacking (e.g. screen quality/definition) in cases of requests for replacements. Field service support remotely-located experts support field technicians with additional information, consultation or approval. According to Agustin Martin Mayo, Orange Spain's Provisioning & Robotics Director, "TechSee empowers our agents to provide a more effective and efficient service and a better customer experience to our clients. By offering intuitive, visual support, both call center performance and customer satisfaction have improved significantly." Uri Kesselman, TechSee's VP Customer Success, said, "We are very excited to transform the delivery of technical customer support in the Spanish market. Using Techsee's innovative visual support solution, Orange professionals are now able to resolve more technical issues on the first call, avoid technician visits where possible, and deliver an optimal customer experience." About TechSee: TechSee is global Leader in Visual Support technologies for the smart home. TechSee revolutionizes the customer support domain by providing the first intelligent visual support solution powered by artificial intelligence and augmented reality. TechSee empowers technical support teams across the globe to execute visually-interactive remote diagnoses and resolutions of problems. The company is building a massive database of interactions and resolutions to enable customers to experience rapid, fully automated, robotic visual resolution of technical issues via their smartphones. TechSee is headquartered in Tel Aviv with offices in New York and Madrid. For more information visit: www.techsee.me. About Orange Spain: Spain is the second largest market for the Orange Group, one of the world's leading telecommunications operators with 273 million customers as of December 31, 2017. With a project to generate value based on convergence, innovation and quality service, we are the second operator in the Spanish telecommunications market, with a turnover of 5,371 million Euros and an Ebitda of 1,582 million Euros in 2017. Orange is also one of the leading foreign investors in Spain, with a cumulative investment of 23 billion. Through our different brands, all of which are of recognized prestige - Orange, Jazztel, Amena, and Simyo - we have the confidence of more than 20 million customers, who enjoy our fixed, mobile and television services. In our commitment to help position Spain among the leading countries in new generation networks and prepare for the new digital society, we are carrying out an ambitious project to deploy fixed and mobile super broadband networks, with the objective of reaching 16 million households with fiber optic coverage by 2020 - currently it already reaches 12 million households, completing our 4G deployment, which already reaches 96% coverage over the population in Spain - and preparing the network for the new technologies of the future. We will also diversify into new businesses such as mobile banking, Smart Home, Internet of Things and Big Data. More information at www.orange.es Contact: Liad Churchill [email protected] SOURCE TechSee Related Links http://www.techsee.me/ NEW YORK, April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The 14th annual TIME 100 gala, celebrating TIME's list of the world's most influential people takes place tonight, Tuesday, April 24, at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. The event will feature performances by Jennifer Lopez and Shawn Mendes, honorary tributes from members of this year's list and remarks from TIME Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal. TIME is a Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP) brand. The 2018 TIME 100 was announced last week, and the issue is on newsstands now. See the full list at www.time.com/100 and see the issue's six covers running worldwide at https://bit.ly/2EYz0JE. Current members of the TIME 100 attending the gala include Jose Andres, Millie Bobby Brown, Sterling K. Brown, Tarana Burke, Jaclyn Corin, Carmen Yulin Cruz, Rachael Denhollander, Ronan Farrow, Sonia Friedman, Greta Gerwig, Emma Gonzalez, Savannah Guthrie, David Hogg, Cindy Holland, Jodi Kantor, Cameron Kasky, Kesha, Nicole Kidman, Hoda Kotb, John Krasinski, Kevin Kwan, Janet Mock, Adam Neumann, Trevor Noah, Deepika Padukone, Adam Rippon, Christian Siriano, Megan Twohey, Daniela Vega, Lena Waithe, Maxine Waters, Peggy Whitson, Kehinde Wiley, Alex Wind, Whitney Wolfe Herd and more. "The TIME 100, always a reflection of its moment, looks quite different than in the past," notes TIME Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal, citing as one example the record 45 people on this year's list who are under 40. "Influence increasingly knows no single zip code and no minimum age," he adds, "and a common theme in the tributes is how much we can learn from the young." Still, Felsenthal notes, "The elder-as-teacher remains a powerful theme... Seeing success in someone who looks like you, thinks like you, grew up like you can change the course of a life." https://ti.me/2EZZIS4 The sponsors of the 2018 TIME 100 gala are Airtable, Citi, Jane Walker by Johnnie Walker and Victor. Airtable, the technology platform empowering creators to work, their way, is proud to sponsor the Time 100. Leading film studios, media platforms, fashion brands, and technology companies alike turn to Airtable for their most ambitious and innovative endeavors, as do countless small businesses, non-profits, and creative workers around the globe. Citi is the presenting sponsor of the gala for the sixth year in a row. Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. For the third consecutive year, Johnnie Walker, the world's leading blended Scotch whisky brand, is proud to raise a glass to the inspiring TIME 100 honorees and their powerful stories. This year, Jane Walker by Johnnie Walker will be at the center of the TIME 100 gala, toasting the dedication and impact of the 2018 honorees. Jane Walker is the celebration of the many achievements of women, the men who support them, and a symbol of the shared journey towards progress in gender equality. Victor is an on-demand private jet charter marketplace, driving disruption across the private aviation industry. Launched in 2011, the company's B2C and B2B offerings rewrote the jet charter rulebook with a subscription-free, on-demand global platform allowing members to easily request, compare pricing, and evaluate aircrafts before seamlessly booking flights at the tap of a button online or via the Victor mobile app. Victor's unique combination of technology and high-touch customer service, means that its members with access to thousands of aircraft through a global network of over 2000 partner operators are always connected and in control. Visit Time.com for continuing coverage of the TIME 100 gala. ABOUT MEREDITH CORPORATION Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP) (www.meredith.com) has been committed to service journalism for 115 years. Today, Meredith uses multiple distribution platforms including broadcast television, print, digital, mobile and video to provide consumers with content they desire and to deliver the messages of its advertising and marketing partners. Meredith's National Media Group reaches nearly 200 million unduplicated American consumers every month, including 85% of U.S. millennial women. Meredith is a leader in creating content across media platforms and life stages in key consumer interest areas, such as celebrity, food, lifestyle, home, parenting, beauty, fashion, news and sports. Meredith also features robust brand licensing activities, including more than 3,000 SKUs of branded products at 4,000 Walmart stores across the U.S. Meredith National Media Group also includes The Foundry, the company's state-of-the-art creative lab and content studio. SOURCE Meredith Corporation Related Links http://www.time.com PHOENIX, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Toro Management LLC DBA SYLK is proud to announce the commencement of a targeted Research and Development program utilizing its proprietary ingredient, the kiwi vine extract from New Zealand, to expand the SYLK brand in its select, exclusive territories. Mariessa Mahfouz, co-owner of SYLK USA states: "Now that our flagship product, SYLK Moisturizing Personal Lubricant, is completely positioned for full-scale commercialization with its FDA 510(k) Clearance and launch of our brand new, education-based direct-to-consumer website, SYLK USA can now begin the research and development of additional products using our proprietary ingredient, the kiwi vine extract. The unique, gentle properties of the kiwi vine extract are perfect for other complementary products in the personal care space. SYLK has always valued our customer feedback and something that we have heard over the years from our loyal customers is the request for other premium personal care products made with our New Zealand kiwi vine extract. Today, we are thrilled to announce that SYLK has initiated the research and development process for our exclusive product line expansion." About Toro Management LLC DBA SYLK: Toro Management LLC DBA SYLK ("The Company") is the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of SYLK Moisturizing Personal Lubricant in the United States and its other territories. "The Company" owns the exclusive distribution rights in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan and China for SYLK. SYLK is the premium water-based moisturizing personal lubricant that has been sold in Australia and New Zealand since the 1980s and sold in the United Kingdom since the 1990s. In the United States, SYLK is FDA 510(k) Cleared as a Class II Medical Device. Toro Management LLC DBA SYLK is committed to bringing SYLK to mass market here in the United States and its other select territories. For more information on SYLK, please visit www.sylkusa.com. SOURCE Toro Management LLC DBA SYLK Related Links http://www.sylkusa.com ORLANDO, Fla., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- (NYSE: TUP) Tupperware Brands Corporation today announced first quarter 2018 operating results. Rick Goings, Chairman and CEO, commented, "Due to our soft result on the top-line, as well as a higher tax rate, adjusted earnings per share in the first quarter was 10-cents below the low-end of our January guidance range and 16% below the prior year in local currency. The impact to our annual cash flow from lower earnings is expected to be modest and more than offset by the sale of assets under our revitalization program." Goings continued, "We were pleased in the quarter with good performances in China, Mexico, Malaysia/Singapore, South Africa, and the United States and Canada, even though we were disappointed overall. With the disruption from the closure of the supply chain facility in France behind us, we remain confident in our global growth strategy, especially the opportunity in emerging markets. The Tupperware brand, management team and our 3.1 million sales force are each strong and are our most significant source of competitive advantage. With those assets in our arsenal, we will forge ahead with our strategy to adapt and evolve through our integrated use of digital tools, branded contact points and a relevant earning opportunity that empowers and cultivates confidence in women across the globe. It is based on the confidence we have in our business prospects that today we announced a $200 million opportunistic share repurchase, while continuing to support our dividend." First Quarter Executive Summary - (Comparisons with First Quarter 2017) Net sales were $542.6 million , down 2% (6% local currency), including a 2-point impact from the closure of Beauticontrol in 2017. Emerging markets**, accounting for 70% of sales, were up 3% (1% local currency). The most significant contribution to the first quarter growth in local currency sales was in China , along with good results in Argentina , CIS, Fuller Mexico, Malaysia / Singapore , Tupperware Mexico and Tupperware South Africa, partially offset by India and Indonesia . Established market sales decreased 12% (19% local currency), including the impact of the Beauticontrol closure. The local currency sales decreases were most significant in France , Germany and Italy , partially offset by the United States and Canada . , down 2% (6% local currency), including a 2-point impact from the closure of Beauticontrol in 2017. Emerging markets**, accounting for 70% of sales, were up 3% (1% local currency). The most significant contribution to the first quarter growth in local currency sales was in , along with good results in , CIS, Fuller Mexico, / , Tupperware Mexico and Tupperware South Africa, partially offset by and . Established market sales decreased 12% (19% local currency), including the impact of the Beauticontrol closure. The local currency sales decreases were most significant in , and , partially offset by and . GAAP net income and diluted earnings per share were $35.7 million and $0.70 , versus $47.4 million and $0.93 in 2017, respectively, reflecting the impact of lower sales, a higher tax rate and pre-tax costs in connection with the Company's re-engineering program that were $5 million , or $0.09 , higher in 2018. Adjusted, diluted earnings per share were $0.91 . This was 10-cents below the low-end of the January guidance range due to lower sales and 6-cents from an increased tax rate in connection with the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017(the "Tax Act"). Versus the January guidance, there was a 1-cent positive impact on adjusted, diluted earnings per share comparison from net stronger foreign exchange rates, while there was a 7-cent benefit versus the same period in 2017. and , versus and in 2017, respectively, reflecting the impact of lower sales, a higher tax rate and pre-tax costs in connection with the Company's re-engineering program that were , or , higher in 2018. Adjusted, diluted earnings per share were . This was below the low-end of the January guidance range due to lower sales and from an increased tax rate in connection with the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017(the "Tax Act"). Versus the January guidance, there was a positive impact on adjusted, diluted earnings per share comparison from net stronger foreign exchange rates, while there was a benefit versus the same period in 2017. Total sales force of 3.1 million was down 2%, a sequential decrease of 5-points, reflecting higher standards to be included in the sales force in the CIS and in the two South African businesses, as well as a 2-point negative impact from removing the Beauticontrol and NaturCare sales forces. Average active sellers in the first quarter were down 8%, including a negative 3-point impact related to Beauticontrol and NaturCare. First Quarter Business Highlights - (Comparisons with First Quarter 2017) Europe: Segment sales were down 4% (14% local currency). Emerging markets in Europe increased 19% (10% local currency), mainly in Tupperware South Africa, up 24% (11% local currency) and CIS, up 29% (26% local currency). increased 19% (10% local currency), mainly in Tupperware South Africa, up 24% (11% local currency) and CIS, up 29% (26% local currency). Established markets were down 15% (26% local currency), in part, due to service issues in connection with the closure of the French supply chain facility, most significantly impacting Germany , down 17% (28% local currency), France , down 32% (41% local currency), and Italy , down 17% (28% local currency). Asia Pacific: Segment sales were down 3% (7% local currency). Emerging markets in Asia Pacific were down 1% (5% local currency), primarily in Indonesia , down 35% (34% local currency) from a smaller, less active sales force. In addition, India was down 33% (35% local currency), reflecting challenges with the sales force size and manager activity in light of government direct selling guidelines, as well as a negative 6% impact from the goods and services tax effective in July 2017 . These decreases were partially offset by increased sales in China , up 35% (24% local currency) on the strength of significantly more members and continued leveraging of the product portfolio, digital technologies and its 6,400 studios (14% advantage over 2017). North America: Segment sales were up 3% (down 1% local currency), including a negative 7-point local currency impact from Beauticontrol closure. Tupperware United States and Canada sales were up 9% (8% local currency), including a positive impact from changes in revenue recognition. sales were up 9% (8% local currency), including a positive impact from changes in revenue recognition. Tupperware Mexico sales were up 13% (6% local currency) and Fuller Mexico sales were up 14% (7% local currency). South America: Segment sales were down 5% (up 5% local currency). Brazil was down 2% (up 2% local currency), reflecting a deceleration in sales growth due to customer service issues impacting product availability, including a customs strike, the over-sell of certain items, and quality issues with a third party produced item, as well as on-going challenges in the consumer spending environment. These factors negatively impacted the number of sales force additions and new sales force leaders promoted. was down 2% (up 2% local currency), reflecting a deceleration in sales growth due to customer service issues impacting product availability, including a customs strike, the over-sell of certain items, and quality issues with a third party produced item, as well as on-going challenges in the consumer spending environment. These factors negatively impacted the number of sales force additions and new sales force leaders promoted. Sales in Argentina were down 1% (up 26% local currency). Local currency comparison mainly reflected price increases related to the highly inflationary environment. Revitalization Program Under the Company's revitalization plan announced in July 2017, it expects to incur a total of $100 to $110 million in pretax costs, of which $73 million has been recorded starting in the second quarter of 2017 through the first quarter of 2018. The Company expects to incur an additional $24 million in 2018. Cash outflows associated with the overall program are expected to total $90 to $100 million, including $22 million paid through the first quarter of 2018, and an additional $61 million expected to be paid in 2018. Both the cost and cash flow are before related asset sales that could bring proceeds of up to $35 to $45 million over time, including $5 million received in connection with the sale of a building in the first quarter of 2018 with an expected $20 million from additional assets sold in the second quarter of 2018. The program is expected to generate about $35 million of annualized benefits once fully implemented. The Company expects to realize about two-thirds of the annualized benefit in 2018. After reinvestment, a mid-teen dollar benefit is expected in 2018, mainly in the second half of the year. In addition, there was a $1.4 million benefit in the first quarter of 2018, with an additional $1.2 million benefit to be realized in the second quarter, in connection with not having operating losses from Beauticontrol in the first half of 2018 versus 2017. U.S Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 In December 2017, the U.S. government enacted the Tax Act that significantly changed the U.S. corporate income tax system by, among other things, lowering the U.S. corporate income tax rate and implementing a territorial tax system. The changes included in the Tax Act are broad and complex, including the provision related to the Global Intangible Low-taxed Income ("GILTI") tax. GILTI is currently expected to negatively impact full-year earnings per share by 35 cents, although it is not expected to impact cash flow. The final transition and GILTI impacts under the Tax Act may differ from previously recorded estimates, possibly materially, due to, among other things, changes in interpretations; legislative action, including U.S. Treasury regulations and guidance; changes in accounting standards or related interpretations; and updates or changes to estimates the Company has utilized to calculate the transition impacts, including impacts from changes to earnings estimates. A different amount than reflected in this release could be recorded related to transition impacts in the Company's 2018 unaudited financial statements included in its Form 10-Q expected to be filed in early May, and/or additional transition-related amounts could be recorded in the Company's 2018 financial statements later in the year. 2018 Outlook Based on current business trends and foreign currency rates, the Company's second quarter and fiscal 2018 full year outlook is provided below. Company Level 13 Weeks Ended 13 Weeks 52 Weeks Ended 52 Weeks Jun. 30, 2018 Ended Dec. 29, 2018 Ended Low High Jul. 1, 2017 Low High Dec 30, 2017 USD Sales Growth vs Prior Year (2) % % 1 % (1) % 1 % 2 % GAAP EPS $1.16 $1.21 ($0.35) $3.98 $4.13 ($5.22) GAAP Pre-Tax ROS 15.6 % 15.9 % (2.2) % 13.9 % 14.2 % 8.2 % Local Currency+ Sales Growth vs Prior Year (2) % % 2 % (2) % % 1 % EPS Excluding Items* $1.14 $1.19 $1.21 $4.52 $4.67 $4.84 Pre-Tax ROS Excluding Items* 15.3 % 15.7 % 14.6 % 15.3 % 15.5 % 14.6 % FX Impact on EPS Comparison (a) $ $ $0.05 $0.05 (a) Impact of changes in foreign currency versus prior year is updated monthly and posted at: Tupperware Brands Foreign Exchange Translation Impact Update. Full Year 2018 There is a negative 1.7 and 1.4 point impact in the 2018 second quarter and full year sales comparisons, respectively, from the closure of Beauticontrol in 2017. Tax rate estimated at 34.5% on a U.S. GAAP basis and 32.1% excluding items. Includes the gain on the sale of property under the Company's re-engineering program expected to close in the second quarter of 2018. Excludes Orlando, Florida land sales and additional re-engineering program related asset sales that may occur. land sales and additional re-engineering program related asset sales that may occur. Excludes the impact on earnings per share of the announced share repurchase. Segment Level For the full year, sales are expected to be up by a low-single digit in dollars (down 3 to 5% local currency) in Europe ; up by a low-single digit in dollars (down 1 to 3% local currency) in Asia Pacific ; even to down low single digits in dollars and local currency in North America , including a 6 pp negative impact from the closure of Beauticontrol; and down by a low to mid-single digit in dollars (up mid-single digits local currency) in South America . ; up by a low-single digit in dollars (down 1 to 3% local currency) in ; even to down low single digits in dollars and local currency in , including a 6 pp negative impact from the closure of Beauticontrol; and down by a low to mid-single digit in dollars (up mid-single digits local currency) in . Segment profit return on sales, excluding items, is expected to be up about point in Europe and Asia Pacific , to increase almost 2 points in North America and to be about even in South America . $200 Million Share Repurchase The Company intends to repurchase in the open market in upcoming months, an aggregate of $200 million of its shares. It considers this repurchase to be exceptional as it continues to target over time a debt-to-EBITDA ratio, as defined under its revolving credit agreement, of 1.75X, and continues to prioritize its quarterly dividend. * See Non-GAAP Financial Measures Reconciliation Schedules. ** The Company classifies established market units as those operating in Western Europe, including Scandinavia, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan and its remaining units as emerging market units. + Local currency changes are measured by comparing current year results with those of the prior year translated at the current year's foreign exchange rates. First Quarter Earnings Conference Call Tupperware Brands will conduct a conference call today, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, at 8:30 am Eastern time. The conference call will be webcast and accessible, along with a copy of this news release and slides presented during the conference call, on www.tupperwarebrands.com. Tupperware Brands Corporation, through an independent sales force of 3.1 million, is the leading global marketer of innovative, premium products across multiple brands utilizing social selling. Product brands and categories include design-centric preparation, storage and serving solutions for the kitchen and home through the Tupperware brand and beauty and personal care products through the Avroy Shlain, Fuller Cosmetics, NaturCare, Nutrimetics and Nuvo brands. The Company's stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TUP). Statements contained in this release, which are not historical fact and use predictive words such as "estimates", "outlook", "guidance", "expects", "target" or "will" are forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that include impairment and other charges related to purchase accounting goodwill and restructuring actions, enactment related and ongoing impacts related to the Tax Act, recruiting and activity of the Company's independent sales forces relating to governmental actions and otherwise, the success of new product introductions and promotional programs, governmental approvals of materials for use in food containers and beauty, personal care nutraceutical products, the success of buyers in obtaining financing or attracting tenants for commercial and residential developments, the effects of economic and political conditions generally and foreign exchange risk in particular and other risks detailed in the Company's periodic reports as filed in accordance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company updates each month the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates versus the prior year, posting it on Tupperware Brands Foreign Exchange Translation Impact Update. Other than updating for changes in foreign currency exchange rates, the Company does not intend to update forward-looking information, except through its quarterly earnings releases, unless it expects diluted earnings per share for the current quarter, excluding items impacting comparability and changes versus its guidance of the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates, to be significantly below its previous guidance. Non-GAAP Financial Measures The Company has utilized non-GAAP financial measures in this release, which are provided to assist readers' understanding of the Company's results of operations. These amounts exclude certain items that at times materially impact the comparability of the Company's results of operations. The adjusted information is intended to be indicative of the Company's primary operations, and to assist readers in evaluating performance and analyzing trends across periods. These results should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, results reported in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures include sales adjustments to remove the impact the 2017 closure of Beauticontrol. On comparisons related to profit, the non-GAAP financial measures exclude gains from the sale of property, plant and equipment and insurance settlements related to casualty losses, other income in connection with real estate related operations, inventory obsolescence and operating losses in conjunction with decisions to exit, wind-down or significantly restructure businesses along with asset sales related to exited or restructured businesses, certain asset retirement obligations, re-engineering including the exit of businesses and fixed asset impairment charges, pension settlements and significant discrete impacts of new tax laws upon adoption. While the Company is engaged in a multi-year program to sell land adjacent to its Orlando, Florida headquarters, and also disposes of other excess land and facilities periodically, these activities are not part of its primary business operations. Additionally, amounts recognized in any given period are not indicative of amounts that may be recognized in any particular future period. For this reason, these amounts are excluded as indicated. The Company excludes significant charges related to casualty losses caused by significant weather events, fires or similar circumstances. It also excludes any related gains resulting from the settlement of associated insurance claims. While these types of events can and do recur periodically, they are excluded from indicated financial information due to their distinction from ongoing business operations, inherent volatility and impact on the comparability of earnings across periods. The Company periodically records exit costs accounted for using the applicable accounting guidance for exit or disposal cost obligations and other amounts related to rationalizing its supply chain operations and other re-engineering activities, including the exit of businesses and upon liquidation of operations in a country, the recognition in income of amounts previously recorded in equity as a cumulative translation adjustment. Also, the Company excludes the impact of changes in tax laws on cumulative deferred taxes from items previously recorded as cumulative translation adjustments. The Company believes these amounts are similarly volatile and impact the comparability of earnings across periods. Therefore, they are also excluded from indicated financial information to provide what the Company believes represents a useful measure for analysis and predictive purposes. The Company believes that excluding from reported financial information costs incurred in connection with a significant change in its capital structure that is of a nature that would be expected to recur sporadically, also provides a useful measure for analysis and predictive purposes. The Venezuelan government over the last several years has severely restricted the ability to translate bolivars into U.S. dollars. Due to volatility in changes in the mandated exchange rates, the Company's non-GAAP measures exclude for analysis and predictive purposes, the impact from devaluations on the bolivar denominated net monetary assets and other balance sheet positions that impact near term income, since they appear in the income statement at the exchange rate at which they were originally translated rather than the exchange rate at which current operating activity is being translated. The Company has also elected to present financial measures excluding the impact of amortizing the purchase accounting carrying value of certain definite-lived intangible assets, primarily the value of its Fuller trade name recorded in connection with the Company's December 2005 acquisition of the direct selling businesses of Sara Lee Corporation. The amortization expense related to these assets will continue for several years. Similarly, in connection with its evaluation of the carrying value of acquired intangible assets and goodwill, the Company has periodically recognized impairment charges. The Company believes that these types of non-cash charges will not be representative in any single reporting period of amounts recorded in prior reporting periods or expected to be recorded in future reporting periods. Therefore, they are excluded from indicated financial information to also provide a useful measure for analysis and predictive purposes. As the impact of changes in exchange rates is an important factor in understanding period-to-period comparisons, the Company believes the presentation of results on a local currency basis, in addition to reported results, helps improve readers' ability to understand the Company's operating results and evaluate performance in comparison with prior periods. The Company presents local currency information that compares results between periods as if current period exchange rates had been the exchange rates in the prior period. The Company uses results on a local currency basis as one measure to evaluate performance. The Company generally refers to such amounts as calculated on a local currency basis, as restated or excluding the impact of foreign currency. These results should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, results reported in accordance with GAAP. Results on a local currency basis may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies and are not measures of performance presented in accordance with GAAP. In information included with this release, the Company has referred to Adjusted EBITDA and a Debt/Adjusted EBITDA ratio, which are non-GAAP financial measures used in the Company's credit agreement. The Company uses these measures in its capital allocation decision process and in discussions with investors, analysts and other interested parties, and therefore believes it is useful to disclose this amount and ratio. The Company's calculation of these measures is in accordance with its credit agreement, and is set forth in the reconciliation from GAAP amounts in an attachment to this release; however, the reader is cautioned that other companies define these measures in different ways, and consequently they may not be comparable with similarly labeled amounts disclosed by others. TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORPORATION FIRST QUARTER 2018 SALES FORCE STATISTICS* (UNAUDITED) Sales All Units Reported Inc/(Dec) vs. Q1 '17 % Restated+ Inc/(Dec) vs. Q1 '17 % f Active Sales Force Inc/(Dec) vs. Q1 '17 % f Total Sales Force Inc/(Dec) vs. Q1 '17 % f Europe (4) (14) a 103,873 3 788,764 Asia Pacific (3) (7) b 183,418 (16) d 1,028,642 (4) North America 3 (1) 6 c 212,365 (11) (4) 769,463 (6) 1 South America (5) 5 124,024 530,027 4 Total All Units (2) (6) (4) 623,680 (8) (6) 3,116,896 (2) (1) Emerging Market Units Europe 19 10 a 76,399 16 e 612,823 4 Asia Pacific (1) (5) b 162,996 (15) d 943,002 (2) North America 12 6 c 196,898 (4) 657,565 South America (5) 5 124,024 530,027 4 Total Emerging Market Units 3 1 560,317 (5) 2,743,417 1 Estab. Market Units Europe (15) (26) a 27,474 (20) e 175,941 (11) Asia Pacific (13) (17) b 20,422 (24) 85,640 (23) North America (8) (9) 8 15,467 (52) 7 111,898 (30) 2 South America Total Established Market Units (12) (19) (16) 63,363 (32) (16) 373,479 (20) (11) * Sales force statistics as collected by the Company and, in some cases, provided by distributors and sales force. The Company classifies Established Market Units as those operating in Western Europe, including Scandinavia, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan, and its remaining units as Emerging Market Units. Active Sales Force is defined as the average number of people ordering in each cycle over the course of the quarter, and Total Sales Force is defined as the number of sales force members of the units as of the end of the quarter. + Local currency, or restated, changes are measured by comparing current year results with those of the prior year, translated at the current year's foreign exchange rates. Notes a The better active sellers than local currency sales comparison for Europe for established markets reflected a significant decrease in productivity in Germany and France related to customer service issues related to the now closed French facility, and for emerging markets a decrease in timing of fulfillment of orders in Tupperware South Africa. b The larger active sellers than local currency sales decrease comparison for Asia Pacific in the established markets came primarily from Tupperware and NaturCare Japan. After their merger as of January 1st, the number of active sellers of NaturCare Japan who have a much lower productivity level, decreased significantly. For emerging markets the difference was primarily from higher productivity in, and a mix shift toward, Tupperware China that does not have a traditional sales force. c The better local currency sales than active sellers comparison for North America in the emerging markets, reflected improvement in productivity in Fuller Mexico. d The worse active than total sellers comparison in Asia Pacific emerging markets was mainly from Tupperware Indonesia as key strategies have yet to engage. e The better active than total sellers comparison in Europe emerging markets was mainly from Tupperware CIS, Tupperware South Africa and Avroy Shlain reduction in total sellers after a change in standards for sales force additions effective Q1 2018. The established markets had less active sellers than total sellers due to the service issues connected with the now closed French facility. f Comparison excluding amounts of Beauticontrol last year. TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORPORATION CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (UNAUDITED) (In millions, except per share data) 13 Weeks Ended 13 Weeks Ended Mar 31, 2018 Apr 1, 2017 Net sales $ 542.6 $ 554.8 Cost of products sold 179.0 177.7 Gross margin 363.6 377.1 Delivery, sales and administrative expense 289.2 297.9 Re-engineering and impairment charges 7.6 2.3 Gains on disposal of assets 2.2 0.1 Operating income 69.0 77.0 Interest income 0.7 0.5 Interest expense 11.1 11.6 Other expense, net 0.2 1.7 Income before income taxes 58.4 64.2 Provision for income taxes 22.7 16.8 Net income $ 35.7 $ 47.4 Net income per common share: Basic income per share $ 0.70 $ 0.94 Diluted income per share $ 0.70 $ 0.93 TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (UNAUDITED) (In millions, except per share data) 13 Weeks Ended 13 Weeks Ended Reported Restated* Foreign Mar 31, 2018 Apr 1, 2017 % % Exchange Inc (Dec) Inc (Dec) Impact* Net Sales: Europe $ 143.9 $ 149.5 (4) (14) $ 18.6 Asia Pacific 172.2 177.3 (3) (7) 7.6 North America 135.0 131.3 3 (1) 5.0 South America 91.5 96.7 (5) 5 (9.2) $ 542.6 $ 554.8 (2) (6) $ 22.0 Segment profit: Europe $ 12.4 $ 19.9 (38) (46) $ 2.8 Asia Pacific 37.9 40.0 (5) (10) 2.1 North America 19.0 15.8 20 14 0.8 South America 17.3 18.2 (5) 3 (1.3) 86.6 93.9 (8) (12) 4.4 Unallocated expenses (12.4) (16.4) (25) (23) 0.5 Gains on disposal of assets 2.2 0.1 + + Re-engineering and impairment charges (7.6) (2.3) + + Interest expense, net (10.4) (11.1) (6) (6) Income before taxes 58.4 64.2 (9) (16) 4.9 Provision for income taxes 22.7 16.8 35 25 1.2 Net income $ 35.7 $ 47.4 (25) (30) $ 3.7 Net income per share (diluted) $ 0.70 $ 0.93 (25) (30) $ 0.07 Weighted average number of diluted shares 51.3 51.0 * 2018 actual compared with 2017 translated at 2018 exchange rates + Greater than 100% increase TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORPORATION NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (UNAUDITED) (In millions, except per share data) 13 Weeks Ended Mar 31, 2018 13 Weeks Ended Apr 1, 2017 Reported Adj's Excl Adj's Reported Foreign Exchange Impact Adj's Restated* Excl Adj's Segment profit: Europe $ 12.4 $ 0.4 f $ 12.8 $ 19.9 $ 2.8 $ 0.7 b $ 23.4 Asia Pacific 37.9 0.6 a, b 38.5 40.0 2.1 0.4 a 42.5 North America 19.0 2.8 a,g 21.8 15.8 0.8 1.4 a,b 18.0 South America 17.3 0.4 a,c 17.7 18.2 (1.3) 0.4 a,c 17.3 86.6 4.2 90.8 93.9 4.4 2.9 101.2 Unallocated expenses (12.4) (12.4) (16.4) 0.5 (15.9) Gains on disposal of assets 2.2 (2.2) d 0.1 (0.1) d Re-engineering and impairment charges (7.6) 7.6 e (2.3) 2.3 e Interest expense, net (10.4) (10.4) (11.1) (11.1) Income before taxes 58.4 9.6 68.0 64.2 4.9 5.1 74.2 Provision for income taxes 22.7 (1.3) h 21.4 16.8 1.2 0.8 h 18.8 Net income $ 35.7 $ 10.9 $ 46.6 $ 47.4 $ 3.7 $ 4.3 $ 55.4 Net income per share (diluted) $ 0.70 $ 0.21 $ 0.91 $ 0.93 $ 0.07 $ 0.08 $ 1.08 * 2018 actual compared with 2017 translated at 2018 exchange rates. a Amortization of intangibles of acquired beauty units. b Pension settlement costs. c As a result of devaluations in the Venezuelan bolivar, the Company had negative impacts of $0.2 million in the first quarter of both 2018 and 2017. These amounts were related to expense from re-measuring bolivar denominated net monetary assets at the lower exchange rates at the times of devaluations, along with the impact of recording in income amounts on the balance sheet when the devaluations occurred, primarily inventory, at the exchange rates at the time the amounts were made or purchased, rather than the exchange rates in use when they were included in income. d Gains on disposal of assets in 2018 mainly relate to disposal of Beauticontrol assets, and in 2017 related to an insurance settlement. e In both years, re-engineering and impairment charges were primarily related to severance costs incurred for headcount reduction in several of the Company's operations in connection with changes in its management and organizational structures, as well the costs associated with the closure of Beauticontrol, and the French supply chain facility. f Write-off of inventory associated with the closure of units. g Beauticontrol wind down loss and inventory write-off h Provision for income taxes represents the net tax impact of adjusted amounts. See information regarding non-GAAP financial measures in the attached press release. TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (UNAUDITED) (In millions) 13 Weeks Ended 13 Weeks Ended March 31, 2018 April 1, 2017 Operating Activities: Net cash provided by operating activities $ (41.6) $ (18.0) Investing Activities: Capital expenditures (15.2) (16.0) Proceeds from disposal of property, plant & equipment 5.9 0.3 Net cash used in investing activities (9.3) (15.7) Financing Activities: Dividend payments to shareholders (35.4) (34.7) Repurchase of common stock (1.0) (0.5) Repayment of long-term debt and capital lease obligations (0.5) (0.4) Net change in short-term debt 97.2 67.6 Proceeds from exercise of stock options 0.2 2.1 Net cash used in financing activities 60.5 34.1 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 4.1 4.9 Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 13.7 5.3 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of year 147.2 96.0 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period $ 160.9 $ 101.3 TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (UNAUDITED) (In millions) Mar 31, 2018 Dec 30, 2017 Assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 157.0 $ 144.1 Other current assets 543.9 486.4 Total current assets 700.9 630.5 Property, plant and equipment, net 284.1 278.2 Other assets 493.5 479.3 Total assets $ 1,478.5 $ 1,388.0 Liabilities and Shareholders' Equity: Short-term borrowings and current portion of long-term debt $ 234.3 $ 133.0 Accounts payable and other current liabilities 490.5 525.8 Total current liabilities 724.8 658.8 Long-term debt 605.0 605.1 Other liabilities 249.0 243.5 Total shareholders' equity (100.3) (119.4) Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 1,478.5 $ 1,388.0 TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORPORATION NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES OUTLOOK RECONCILIATION SCHEDULE April 25, 2018 (UNAUDITED) Second Quarter Second Quarter (In millions, except per share data) 2017 Actual 2018 Outlook(4) Range Low High Income (loss) before income taxes $ (12.7) $ 87.3 $ 91.1 Income tax $ 5.0 $ 27.9 $ 29.2 Effective Rate (39) % 32 % 32 % Net Income (loss) (GAAP) $ (17.7) $ 59.4 $ 61.9 % change from prior year + + Adjustments(1): Gains on disposal of assets (3.1) (9.9) (9.9) Purchase accounting intangibles impairments 62.9 Re-engineering and pension settlements 33.2 6.6 6.6 Net impact of Venezuelan bolivar devaluations 1.4 Acquired intangible asset amortization 2.0 2.0 2.0 Income tax(2) (16.2) 0.1 0.1 Net Income (adjusted) $ 62.5 $ 58.2 $ 60.7 Exchange rate impact(3) Net Income (adjusted and 2017 restated for currency changes) $ 62.5 $ 58.2 $ 60.7 % change from prior year (7) % (3) % Net income (loss) (GAAP) per common share (diluted) $ (0.35) $ 1.16 $ 1.21 % change from prior year + + Net Income (adjusted) per common share (diluted) $ 1.21 $ 1.14 $ 1.19 Net Income (adjusted & restated) per common share (diluted) $ 1.21 $ 1.14 $ 1.19 % change from prior year (6) % (2) % Average number of diluted shares (millions) 51.4 51.2 51.2 (1) Refer to Non-GAAP Financial Measures section of attached release for description of the general nature of adjustment items. (2) Represents income tax impact of adjustments on an item-by-item basis. (3) Difference between 2017 actual and 2017 translated at current currency exchange rates. (4)Excludes the impact on earnings per share of the announced share repurchase. TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORPORATION NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES OUTLOOK RECONCILIATION SCHEDULE April 25, 2018 (UNAUDITED) Full Year Full Year (In millions, except per share data) 2017 Actual 2018 Outlook(4) Range Low High Income before income taxes $ 185.1 $ 311.9 $ 323.2 Income tax $ 450.5 $ 107.9 $ 111.5 Effective Rate 243 % 35 % 35 % Net Income, (loss) (GAAP) $ (265.4) $ 204.0 $ 211.7 % change from prior year + + Adjustments(1): Gains on disposal of assets $ (9.1) $ (12.1) $ (12.1) Purchase accounting intangibles impairment 62.9 Re-engineering and pension settlements 74.4 33.2 33.2 Net impact of Venezuelan bolivar devaluations 7.4 0.2 0.2 Acquired intangible asset amortization 7.9 7.9 7.9 Income tax(2) 370.2 (1.7) (1.8) Net Income (adjusted) $ 248.3 $ 231.5 $ 239.1 Exchange rate impact(3) 2.5 Net Income (adjusted and 2017 restated for currency changes) $ 250.8 $ 231.5 $ 239.1 % change from prior year (8) % (5) % Net income, (loss) (GAAP) per common share (diluted) $ (5.22) $ 3.98 $ 4.13 Net Income (adjusted) per common share (diluted) $ 4.84 $ 4.52 $ 4.67 Net Income (adjusted & restated) per common share (diluted) $ 4.89 $ 4.52 $ 4.67 % change from prior year (8) % (4) % Average number of diluted shares (millions) 51.3 51.3 51.3 (1) Refer to Non-GAAP Financial Measures section of attached release for description of the general nature of adjustment items. (2) Represents income tax impact of adjustments on an item-by-item basis, as well as $375 million impact from adoption of new tax law in the United States. (3) Difference between 2017 actual and 2017 translated at current currency exchange rates. (4)Excludes the impact on earnings per share of the announced share repurchase. TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORPORATION ADJUSTED EBITDA AND DEBT/ADJUSTED EBITDA* (UNAUDITED) As of and for the four quarters ended March 31, 2018 Adjusted EBITDA: Net income (loss) $ (277.1) Add: Depreciation and amortization 61.4 Gross interest expense 45.6 Provision for income taxes 456.4 Equity compensation 21.1 Pre-tax re-engineering and impairment charges 69.1 Other non-cash extraordinary, unusual or non-recurring charges 65.0 Deduct: Cash paid for re-engineering (21.9) Gains on land sales, insurance recoveries, etc. (11.2) Total Adjusted EBITDA $ 408.4 Consolidated total debt $ 839.3 Divided by adjusted EBITDA 408.4 Debt to Adjusted EBITDA Ratio 2.06 * Amounts and calculations are based on the definitions and provisions of the Company's $600 million Credit Agreement dated September 11, 2013, as amended and restated ("Credit Agreement") and, where applicable, are based on the trailing four quarter amounts. "Adjusted EBITDA" is calculated as defined for "Consolidated EBITDA" in the Credit Agreement. SOURCE Tupperware Brands Corporation Related Links http://www.tupperwarebrands.com (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/682572/Badr_Al_Olama_GMIS.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/682573/Suhail_Mohamed_Faraj_Al_Mazrouei.jpg ) This announcement reaffirms the importance of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by enabling and inspiring a worldwide community of makers to create transformative solutions to solve some of the world's greatest challenges. A humanitarian champion who has impacted and improved the lives of over 130 million people across 116 countries, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Ruler of Dubai, has placed great emphasis on the role of innovation to reshape industries, and strengthen economies and societies. By bringing together manufacturers, startups and entrepreneurs, and governments and NGOs to enable global collaboration and partnerships, the initiative will create an ecosystem to unlock and accelerate innovation designed to enhance global prosperity through product innovation. "Creating an innovative global community of makers dedicated to spreading prosperity across the world, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Initiative for Global Prosperity is designed to promote unconventional thinking, develop unobvious partnerships, and drive unexpected outcomes. We are honoured and proud to be partnering with key UN entities to advance our shared mission - to build a stronger, better, more prosperous, more equal, and more empowered world," said Badr Al-Olama, Head of the Organising Committee for the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit. The initiative combines the Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Maker Cha l lenge , an online open-innovation platform through which 'makers' and innovators will apply a design-thinking approach to solve specific real-world challenges; and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Pro s perity Award , a prestigious global accolade that recognizes and rewards social innovation, and promotes the benefit that manufacturing brings to humanity. The initiative invites world-leading manufacturers and entrepreneurs to adopt one of the global themes identified by the partner UN agencies, and work alongside them through an integrated open-innovation platform that enables ideas to be shared and solutions to be co-created. The themes are: *Sustainable Energy: The challenge will tackle how renewable resources can be applied for humanitarian action, while also reducing inequalities through economic prosperity and industrialisation. *Digital Divide and Digital Literacy: The challenge will focus on ensuring underserved communities and vulnerable populations have access to digital innovation capacity that accelerates digital transformation, thereby narrowing the digital skills gap in the context of emerging technologies. *Rural Transformation and Zero Hunger: The challenge will focus on promoting and enabling inclusive rural transformation in an increasingly urbanised world and enable investment in smallholder farmers, with a focus on developing entrepreneurship in agribusiness, specifically for women and young people, and achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger. *Sustainable Cities: The challenge will tackle how cities can become incubators for innovation and growth, and drivers of sustainable development. The comprehensive partnership and associated themes were announced in the presence of LI Yong, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and Suhail Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy and Industry, as well as world-respected thought-leaders, ministers, academics, and business executives. H.E. Eng. Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy and Industry, said: "The Mohammad Bin Rashid Initiative for Global Prosperity is rooted in the UAE's deep belief that innovation is able to overcome the difficulties that our world faces and open new horizons of development, growth and prosperity. The positive outcomes of this innovation should not be limited to one nation only - but by the whole world." The initiative was first launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on the sidelines of the inaugural Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit, held at the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi in March 2017. For more information, please visit http://www.makingprosperity.com Contact: Michael Wallis +(00)971-4390-1950, [email protected] SOURCE Mubadala PALO ALTO, Calif., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Second Quarter 2018 Summary Revenues of $730 million grew 10 percent, or 6 percent in constant currency Oncology gross orders grew 5 percent, or 1 percent in constant currency GAAP operating earnings of 12.9 percent of revenues; Non-GAAP of 17.6 percent GAAP net earnings per diluted share from continuing operations of $0.79 ; Non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share from continuing operations of $1.15 Varian (NYSE: VAR) today announced its second quarter fiscal year 2018 results. All comparisons in this announcement are year-over-year unless noted otherwise. Summary (Dollars and shares in millions, except per share amounts) Q2 2018 Q2 2017 FY 2018 FY 2017 Revenues (from Continuing Operations) $ 729.9 $ 663.2 $ 1,408.4 $ 1,264.7 Gross Margin 43.6 % 41.6 % 44.1 % 42.9 % GAAP Net Earnings (Loss) (1) $ 73.2 $ 69.5 $ (39.0) $ 77.5 GAAP Net Earnings (Loss) per Diluted Share (1) $ 0.79 $ 0.74 $ (0.43) $ 0.82 Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities $ 65.5 $ 32.2 $ 244.5 $ 114.4 Non-GAAP Net Earnings (1) (2) $ 106.7 $ 84.5 $ 205.1 $ 132.0 Non-GAAP Net Earnings per Diluted Share (1) (2) $ 1.15 $ 0.90 $ 2.21 $ 1.40 Shares used in computing GAAP Net Earnings (Loss) per Diluted Share 92.6 93.7 91.6 93.9 Shares used in computing non-GAAP Net Earnings per Diluted Share 92.6 93.7 92.7 93.9 (1) GAAP Net Earnings (Loss), GAAP Net Earnings (Loss) per Diluted Share, Non-GAAP Net Earnings and Non-GAAP Net Earnings per Diluted Share refer only to continuing operations. (2) Non-GAAP Net Earnings and Non-GAAP Net Earnings per Diluted Share are defined as GAAP Net Earnings (Loss) and GAAP Net Earnings (Loss) per Diluted Share adjusted to exclude the amortization of intangible assets, acquisition-related expenses and benefits, restructuring and impairment charges, significant litigation charges or benefits, legal costs and significant effects of tax legislation. "We are proud of the team's progress in the second quarter toward executing on our long-term value creation strategy," said Dow Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Varian. "We continued to strengthen our leadership in radiation therapy and extend our global footprint with the Mobius and Evinance acquisitions. In addition, we are expanding our addressable markets into interventional oncology with the acquisition of Sirtex, expected to close by the end of May." The company ended the quarter with $740 million in cash and cash equivalents and $255 million of debt. Net cash provided by operating activities was $66 million. During the quarter, the company invested $36 million to repurchase 325,000 shares of common stock. Oncology Systems Segment In the fiscal second quarter, Oncology revenues totaled $698 million, up 10 percent in dollars and 6 percent in constant currency. Gross orders were $664 million, up 5 percent in dollars and 1 percent in constant currency. Gross orders in the Americas increased 2 percent in dollars and in constant currency. In EMEA, gross orders rose 11 percent in dollars and were flat in constant currency; in APAC, gross orders increased 3 percent in dollars and 1 percent in constant currency. Operating earnings for the segment increased 16 percent. Particle Therapy Segment In the fiscal second quarter, Particle Therapy revenues totaled $32 million, up 2 percent. The company did not book any new ProBeam orders in the quarter. Acquisition-Related Expenses and Impairment Charges in Q2 Varian's GAAP net earnings include acquisition-related expenses totaling $20 million for the quarter, primarily driven by $16 million related to hedging the Australian dollar purchase price of the Sirtex acquisition, as well as an impairment charge of $11 million related to the expected refinancing of the Maryland Proton Treatment Center in Baltimore. These costs and the associated tax effects reduced Varian earnings in the second quarter of fiscal 2018 by $0.26 per diluted share on a GAAP basis, and were excluded from non-GAAP results. FY18 Annual Guidance Updated Considering the financial and operational performance in the first half and the impact of currency, fiscal year 2018 guidance is updated to the following: Revenue growth range of 6 percent to 9 percent, which now includes the impact from currency for the remainder of the year Non-GAAP Operating earnings as a percentage of revenues range of 18 percent to 19 percent Non-GAAP effective tax rate of 20 percent Weighted average diluted shares of 93 million Non-GAAP Earnings per diluted share range of $4.43 to $4.53 to Cash flow from operations range of $475 million to $550 million This updated guidance does not reflect the impact of the Sirtex acquisition, which is expected to close at the end of May. Please refer to "Discussion of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below for a description of items excluded from expected non-GAAP earnings. Investor Conference Call Varian Medical Systems is scheduled to conduct its second quarter fiscal year 2018 conference call at 2 p.m. PT today. To hear a live webcast or replay of the call, visit the investor relations page on our web site at www.varian.com/investors where it will be archived for a year. To access the call via telephone, dial 1-877-869-3847 from inside the U.S. or 1-201-689-8261 from outside the U.S. The replay can be accessed by dialing 1-877-660-6853 from inside the U.S. or 1-201-612-7415 from outside the U.S. and entering confirmation code 13677574. The telephone replay will be available through 5 p.m. PT, Friday, April 27, 2018. About Varian Varian is a leader in developing and delivering cancer care solutions, and is focused on creating a world without fear of cancer. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Varian employs approximately 6,500 people around the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com and follow @VarianMedSys on Twitter. Forward-Looking Statements Except for historical information, this news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements concerning industry or market outlook, including growth drivers; the company's future orders, revenues, or earnings growth or other financial results; and any statements using the terms "could," "believe," "expect," "promising," "outlook," "should," "will" or similar statements are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include our ability to close and integrate the Sirtex business; our ability to achieve expected synergies from acquisitions; global economic conditions and changes to trends for cancer treatment regionally; currency exchange rates and tax rates; the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; the impact of the Affordable Health Care for America Act (including excise taxes on medical devices) and any further healthcare reforms (including changes to Medicare and Medicaid), and/or changes in third-party reimbursement levels; demand for and delays in delivery of the company's products; the company's ability to develop, commercialize and deploy new products; the company's ability to meet Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory requirements, regulations or procedures; changes in regulatory environments; the company's assessment of the goodwill associated with its particle therapy business, risks associated with the company providing financing for the construction and start-up operations of particle therapy centers, challenges associated with commercializing the company's particle therapy business; challenges to public tender awards and the loss of such awards or other orders; the effect of adverse publicity; the company's reliance on sole or limited-source suppliers; the company's ability to maintain or increase margins; the impact of competitive products and pricing; the company's assessment of the goodwill associated with its particle therapy business; the potential loss of key distributors or key personnel; and the other risks listed from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which by this reference are incorporated herein. The company assumes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements in this release because of new information, future events, or otherwise. Varian has not filed its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 30, 2018. As a result, all financial results described here should be considered preliminary, and are subject to change to reflect any necessary adjustments, or changes in accounting estimates, that are identified prior to the time the company files the Form 10-Q. Varian Medical Systems, Inc. and Subsidiaries Preliminary Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings (Unaudited) (Dollars and shares in millions, except per share amounts) Q2 2018 Q2 2017 FY 2018 FY 2017 Gross orders $ 666.0 $ 663.0 $ 1,332.1 $ 1,244.0 Oncology Systems 664.1 635.0 1,284.0 1,211.7 Particle Therapy 1.9 28.0 48.1 32.3 Order Backlog 2,927.1 2,686.5 2,927.1 2,686.5 Revenues 729.9 663.2 1,408.4 1,264.7 Oncology Systems 698.0 631.9 1,347.4 1,203.1 Particle Therapy 31.9 31.3 61.0 61.6 Cost of revenues 411.4 387.6 787.1 722.1 Gross margin 318.5 275.6 621.3 542.6 As a percent of revenues 43.6 % 41.6 % 44.1 % 42.9 % Operating expenses Research and development 58.9 53.3 114.8 103.2 Selling, general and administrative 134.5 131.6 258.5 292.7 Impairment charges 11.1 11.1 38.3 Acquisition-related expenses 19.7 0.6 21.2 0.9 Operating earnings 94.3 90.1 215.7 107.5 As a percent of revenues 12.9 % 13.6 % 15.3 % 8.5 % Interest income, net 1.3 0.3 2.4 2.2 Earnings from continuing operations before taxes 95.6 90.4 218.1 109.7 Taxes on earnings 22.4 20.9 257.1 32.2 Net earnings (loss) from continuing operations 73.2 69.5 (39.0) 77.5 Net loss from discontinued operations (13.3) (6.8) Net earnings (loss) 73.2 56.2 (39.0) 70.7 Less: Net (loss) earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests (0.1) 0.1 0.5 Net earnings (loss) attributable to Varian $ 73.2 $ 56.3 $ (39.1) $ 70.2 Net earnings (loss) per share basic Continuing operations $ 0.80 $ 0.75 $ (0.43) $ 0.83 Discontinued operations (0.15) (0.08) Net earnings (loss) per share basic $ 0.80 $ 0.60 $ (0.43) $ 0.75 Net earnings (loss) per share diluted Continuing operations $ 0.79 $ 0.74 $ (0.43) $ 0.82 Discontinued operations (0.14) (0.08) Net earnings (loss) per share diluted $ 0.79 $ 0.60 $ (0.43) $ 0.74 Shares used in the calculation of net earnings per share: Weighted average shares outstanding basic 91.5 93.0 91.6 93.2 Weighted average shares outstanding diluted 92.6 93.7 91.6 93.9 Varian Medical Systems, Inc. and Subsidiaries Preliminary Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) (In millions) March 30, September 29, 2018 2017 Assets Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 739.9 $ 716.2 Trade and unbilled receivables, net 936.7 961.5 Inventories 433.8 417.7 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 226.4 190.3 Current assets of discontinued operations 8.6 11.1 Total current assets 2,345.4 2,296.8 Property, plant and equipment, net 247.0 255.3 Goodwill 232.0 222.6 Intangible assets 85.3 71.6 Deferred tax assets 114.9 147.3 Other assets 282.0 300.8 Total assets $ 3,306.6 $ 3,294.4 Liabilities and Equity Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 164.9 $ 162.3 Accrued liabilities 364.2 374.9 Deferred revenues 766.5 755.4 Short-term borrowings 230.0 350.0 Current liabilities of discontinued operations 3.7 2.5 Total current liabilities 1,529.3 1,645.1 Other long-term liabilities 320.7 127.4 Total liabilities 1,850.0 1,772.5 Equity: Varian stockholders' equity: Common stock 91.7 91.7 Capital in excess of par value 754.7 716.1 Retained earnings 664.2 778.6 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (58.4) (68.8) Total Varian stockholders' equity 1,452.2 1,517.6 Noncontrolling interests 4.4 4.3 Total equity 1,456.6 1,521.9 Total liabilities and equity $ 3,306.6 $ 3,294.4 Discussion of Non-GAAP Financial Measures This press release includes the following non-GAAP financial measures derived from our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings: non-GAAP operating earnings, non-GAAP net earnings and non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share. We define non-GAAP operating earnings from continuing operations as operating earnings from continuing operations excluding amortization of intangible assets, restructuring charges, legal costs, impairment charges and acquisition-related expenses and benefits. These measures are not presented in accordance with, nor are they a substitute for U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. In addition, these measures may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies, limiting their usefulness for comparison purposes. The non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Investors are cautioned that there are material limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial measures as an analytical tool. We have provided a reconciliation of each non-GAAP financial measure used in this earnings release to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. We have not provided a reconciliation of non-GAAP guidance measures to the corresponding GAAP measures on a forward-looking basis due to the potential significant variability and limited visibility of the excluded items discussed below. We utilize a number of different financial measures, both GAAP and non-GAAP, in analyzing and assessing the overall performance of our business, in making operating decisions, forecasting and planning for future periods, and determining payments under compensation programs. We consider the use of the non-GAAP measures to be helpful in assessing the performance of the ongoing operation of our business. We believe that disclosing non-GAAP financial measures provides useful supplemental data that, while not a substitute for financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, allows for greater transparency in the review of our financial and operational performance. We also believe that disclosing non-GAAP financial measures provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results and future prospects in the same manner as management and in comparing financial results across accounting periods and to those of peer companies. Non-GAAP operating earnings and non-GAAP net earnings exclude the following items, except for significant effects of tax legislation, which are only excluded from non-GAAP net earnings: Amortization of intangible assets : We do not acquire businesses and assets on a predictable cycle. The amount of purchase price allocated to intangible assets and the term of amortization can vary significantly and are unique to each acquisition or purchase. We believe that excluding amortization of intangible assets allows the users of our financial statements to better review and understand the historic and current results of our operations, and also facilitates comparisons to peer companies. Acquisition and integration-related expenses and benefits : We incur expenses or benefits with respect to certain items associated with our acquisitions, such as transaction costs, hedging gains and losses, changes in the fair value of contingent consideration liabilities, gain or expense on settlement of pre-existing relationships, integration costs etc. We exclude such expenses or benefits as they are related to acquisitions and have no direct correlation to the operation of our on-going business. Restructuring and impairment charges : We incur restructuring and impairment charges that result from events, which arise from unforeseen circumstances and/or often occur outside of the ordinary course of our on-going business. Although these events are reflected in our GAAP financials, these unique transactions may limit the comparability of our on-going operations with prior and future periods. Significant effects of tax legislation : We may incur significant effects of tax legislation that are generally unrelated to the level of business activity in the period in which the effects of such legislation are reported. We exclude such expenses because we believe this does not accurately reflect the underlying performance of our continuing business operations. This exclusion is applicable to non-GAAP net earnings only. Significant litigation charges or benefits and legal costs : We may incur charges or benefits as well as legal costs from time to time related to litigation and other contingencies. We exclude these charges or benefits, when significant, as well as legal costs associated with significant legal matters, because we do not believe they are reflective of on-going business and operating results. We apply our GAAP consolidated effective tax rate to our non-GAAP financial measures, other than when the underlying item has a materially different tax treatment. From time to time in the future, there may be other items that we may exclude if we believe that doing so is consistent with the goal of providing useful information to investors and management. Non-GAAP items are generally included in selling, general and administrative expenses, except for significant effects of tax legislation and unless otherwise specified. The following table reconciles GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures for Varian's continuing operations: Varian Medical Systems, Inc. and Subsidiaries Reconciliation between Preliminary GAAP and Non-GAAP Financial Measures (Unaudited) (Dollars and shares in millions, except per share amounts) Q2 2018 Q2 2017 FY 2018 FY 2017 Non-GAAP adjustments Amortization of intangible assets (1) $ 3.5 $ 2.8 $ 6.6 $ 5.6 Restructuring charges 2.4 6.0 Legal costs 10.0 16.2 Impairment charges 11.1 11.1 38.3 Acquisition-related expenses (2) 19.7 0.6 21.2 0.9 Other 0.1 0.1 Total non-GAAP adjustments to operating earnings 34.4 15.8 39.0 67.0 Tax effects of non-GAAP adjustments (7.1) (0.8) (8.1) (12.1) Significant effects of tax legislation (3) 6.2 213.3 Total net earnings from continuing operations impact from non-GAAP adjustments $ 33.5 $ 15.0 $ 244.2 $ 54.9 Operating earnings reconciliation GAAP operating earnings from continuing operations $ 94.3 $ 90.1 $ 215.7 $ 107.5 Total operating earnings from continuing operations impact from non-GAAP adjustments 34.4 15.8 39.0 67.0 Non-GAAP operating earnings from continuing operations $ 128.7 $ 105.9 $ 254.7 $ 174.5 Net earnings (loss) and net earnings (loss) per diluted share reconciliation GAAP net earnings (loss) from continuing operations attributable to Varian (4) $ 73.2 $ 69.5 $ (39.1) $ 77.1 Total net earnings from continuing operations impact from non-GAAP adjustments 33.5 15.0 244.2 54.9 Non-GAAP net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Varian $ 106.7 $ 84.5 $ 205.1 $ 132.0 GAAP net (loss) earnings per diluted share from continuing operations $ 0.79 $ 0.74 $ (0.43) $ 0.82 Non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share from continuing operations $ 1.15 $ 0.90 $ 2.21 $ 1.40 Shares used in computing GAAP net earnings per diluted share 92.6 93.7 91.6 93.9 Shares used in computing non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share 92.6 93.7 92.7 93.9 (1) Includes $1.5 million, $1.2 million, $2.7 million, and $2.5 million, respectively, in cost of revenues for the periods presented. (2) Primarily includes $16.4 million for the hedging loss related to the Australian dollar purchase price for Sirtex Medical Limited. (3) Represents the tax effect of a change in law related to the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The corporate rate reduction results in a remeasurement of our Deferred Tax Assets of $2.5 million in the second quarter and $40.2 million in the year-to-date period. The mandatory deemed repatriation of unremitted foreign earnings results in an estimated charge of $3.7 million in the second quarter and $173.1 million in the year-to-date period. (4) Excludes immaterial net earnings (loss) from continuing operations attributable to noncontrolling interests for the periods presented. Investor Relations Contact J. Michael Bruff Senior Vice President, Investor Relations +1 (650) 424-5163 [email protected] Press Contact Mark Plungy Director, Public Relations +1 (650) 424-5630 [email protected] SOURCE Varian Related Links https://www.varian.com GURUGRAM, India, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The E-commerce logistics market in Vietnam was observed to be highly concentrated with the presence of major players such as GHN, VNPost and Viettel Post was observed to be highly concentrated with the presence of major players such as GHN, VNPost and Viettel Post Competition within the logistics industry is ramping up due to tightened capacity along with increased consolidation within the supply chain arena, which has resulted in fewer partners for 3PLs and increased prices. Vietnam is focusing on attracting investment in logistics infrastructure development, constructing regional and international logistics service centers, improving the efficiency of connection between Vietnam and other countries, thereby becoming a modern logistics hub in near future. By the year ending 2019, Vietnam's E-commerce association is setting goals to improve logistics infrastructure in association with the country's E-commerce industry. The association plans to develop transport systems with the aim of following E-commerce growth drivers including growing importance of last mile delivery. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661352/Ken_Research_Logo.jpg ) Over the long term, the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Industry and Trade is expected to invest and give support to improve operating and marketing efficiency, and expand sources of goods for the Cai-Mep Thai Vai port complex, situated in Vung Tau region, Vietnam. Various Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed between Vietnam and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 will lead to boost the country's trade relations in long term. Additionally, foreign investment is anticipated to grow strongly in Vietnam as many logistics enterprises in ASEAN countries are keen to invest and have a better understanding of the laws, customs and culture of Vietnam. By service mix, the freight forwarding segment within Vietnam will continue to dominate the Vietnam logistics and warehousing market in the near future with a revenue share of over 87% by the year ending 2022. Analysts at Ken Research in their latest publication "Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market Outlook to 2022 - By Service Mix (Freight Forwarding, Warehousing, Cold Chain, Express Delivery, E-commerce Logistics, Third Party Logistics)" believe that along with the introduction of new web technologies and surging e-commerce operations, last mile logistics has gained popularity in Vietnam, especially amongst domestic shipping companies in the country. It has led several e-commerce companies to think, strategize and invest on their logistics operations in order to surpass their competition. Growing awareness of E-commerce amongst the Vietnamese population will impact the consumer's way of interaction, price comparison, research on goods and handling transactions. The process changes the supply chain from a push (to the store) to a pull process (by the final consumer). The logistics service is the bottleneck for E-commerce companies. Keywords - Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market Introduction Comparative Analysis of Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market with Global Logistics and Warehousing Market Transport and Logistics Infrastructure Value Chain Analysis Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market Size, 2011-2017 Market Segmentation, 2011-2017 By Service Mix (Freight Forwarding, Warehousing Services and Value-Added Services), 2011-2017 By Regions ( Red River Delta , Da Nang , Ho Chi Minh City and Others), 2017 , , and Others), 2017 By End Users (Food and Beverages, Engineering Equipment, Metals, Automotives and Others), 2017 - Vietnam Freight Forwarding Market Market Overview and Genesis Market Size, 2011-2017 Market Segmentation, 2011-2017 By Normal and Express Delivery, 2011-2017 By Freight Movement (Sea, Road, Air and Rail), 2017 By International and Domestic Freight Forwarding, 2017 By Flow Corridors, 2017 By International and Domestic Companies, 2017 Competition Scenario Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022 - Vietnam Express Logistics Market Market Overview and Genesis Value Chain Analysis Market Size, 2011-2017 Market Segmentation, 2016-2017 By International and Domestic Express, 2016-2017 By Air and Ground Express, 2016-2017 International Operations Domestic Operations By B2B, B2C and C2C, 2017 Pricing Analysis for Vietnam Express Delivery Market Market Share of Major Players in Vietnam Express Logistics Market Domestic Express International Express Express Logistics Market Comparative Landscape of Major Players operating in Vietnam Express Logistics Market Express Logistics Market Competition Scenario Company Profiles of Major Players GHN ( Giao Hang Nhanh ) DHL Express FedEx Vietnam Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022 - Vietnam E-Commerce Logistics Market Market Size By Logistics Revenue and Shipment, 2015-2017 Market Segmentation, 2017 By Channel (3PL Companies and E-Commerce Merchants), 2017 By Speed of Delivery (2 Day Delivery, 1 Day Delivery, Same Day Delivery, Within 2 Hours and Delivery Beyond 2 Days), 2017 By Area of Delivery (Intercity and Intracity), 2017 By Payment Method (Cash on Delivery and Others), 2017 Competitive Landscape of Major Players Competition Scenario Market Share of Major Players Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022 - Vietnam 3PL (Third Party Logistics) Market Market Overview and Genesis Market Size By Revenues, 2011-2017 Cross Comparison of 3PL Market in Vietnam with Global 3PL Market with Global 3PL Market Vietnam 3PL Market Segmentation, 2017 3PL Market Segmentation, 2017 By Market (Freight Forwarding and Warehousing Services), 2017 By Companies (International Companies and Domestic Companies), 2017 Competitive Landscape of Major Players Competition Scenario Vietnam 3PL Market Future Outlook and Projections - Vietnam Warehousing Market Market Overview and Genesis Value Chain Analysis Market Size, 2011-2017 Market Segmentation, 2017 By Number of Warehouses ( Southern Vietnam and Others), 2017 and Others), 2017 By End User (Retail, Electronic Devices, Textile and Footwear, Wooden Products and Others), 2017 By International and Domestic Companies, 2017 By Business Model (Industrial / Retail Freight, Container Freight, Cold Storage, Agriculture and Others), 2017 Competition Scenario in Vietnam Warehousing Market Warehousing Market Vietnam Warehousing Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022 Emerging Warehousing Technological Innovations in Vietnam - Company Profiles of Major Players in Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market Damco Vietnam Sotrans Vietnam Vinafco Kerry Logistics Vietnam Bac Ky Logistics Vietnam Nippon Express Vietnam Vietnam Airlines Transimex Saigon Corporation Sea and Air Freight International Vinalink Logistics PetroVietnam Transport Corporation Noi Bai Cargo Terminal Services Other Players Operating in Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market For more information on the research report, refer to below link: https://www.kenresearch.com/automotive-transportation-and-warehousing/logistics-and-shipping/vietnam-logistics-market/144734-100.html Related Reports Indonesia Logistics and Warehousing Market by Sector (Freight Forwarding, Warehousing, VAS), by Domestic and International Services - Outlook to 2021 The online retail sales in the country increased from USD 8 billion during 2014 to USD 25 billion during 2016 and it is anticipated to grow at similar pace in coming years Philippines Logistics Market Outlook to 2020 - Driven by Customized Logistics, E-commerce Activities and Changes in Freight Forwarding The government of Philippines is spending an increasing amount of its budget on the infrastructural development. From 2010 to 2015, the budgetary spending increased by 240.8%. Singapore Logistics & Warehousing Market Outlook to 2021 - Freight Forwarding and Warehousing Sector to Support Future Growth The cold storage industry of Singapore holds a prominent place owing to its future growth potential. Growing demand of poultry & dairy products and pharmaceuticals and biotech products in the country has increased the demand for cold transport in the country Contact Us: Ken Research Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications [email protected] +91-9015378249 SOURCE Ken Research SAO PAULO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WEX, a company with more than 30 years' experience in the global market of corporate payment solutions, and Raizen, licensee of the Shell brand in Brazil, have established a partnership for gas stations to begin accepting the WEX Frete card as an electronic payment method for independent truckers. According to market estimates, the segment amounts to BRL 100 billion/year in revenues in Brazil. Through this partnership, WEX believes it will be able to cause a reduction in direct costs for highway cargo transport throughout the country's entire logistics chain. In turn, Raizen expects a potential increase in fuel sales at Shell stations, precisely due to the benefits offered by the WEX solution to independent drivers who currently represent more than 50% of the volume consumed at gas stations. WEX possesses one of the most advanced payment platforms, standing out for promoting the financial inclusion of workers who do not have full access to the full range of banking services offered by financial institutions. Through this partnership, the 60,000+ truckers that already utilize the WEX Frete card can now also be served at newly licensed Shell gas stations, where they can benefit from all the advantages of Shell's loyalty platform Clube Irmao Caminhoneiro Shell, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The partnership was announced during Raizen's Annual Sales Convention, which took place on April 10-13 with more than 2,000 Shell retailers at Praia do Forte, Bahia, Brazil. For the CEO of WEX in Latin America, Jose Roberto Kracochansky, Brazil is one of the biggest markets with potential for migrating traditional payment methods to electronic and, in the case of freight payments, this migration is still at a very incipient stage. "Since becoming regulated, electronic freight payment has seen a very slow adoption rate, since it hadn't yet found a balance in the commercial relationship between truckers, transporters and gas stations. We believe that through this partnership, we will precisely achieve this objective." For Andreas Lips, Highways and Diesel Manager at Raizen, the partnership provides a strong competitive advantage, as well as an excellent opportunity for truckers to improve the payment security and their routine at gas stations. "With this new product, we hope to provide greater profitability to our Shell retailers, greater control over sales and more volume. The objective is also to expedite, reduce costs and offer greater safety to truckers when refueling," said Andreas. Market Diagnostic Market estimates indicate that a large part of freight transporters and loaders do not yet use electronic payment methods, instead, they are still relying on the traditional freight letters or paper checks, which is against current regulations established by the National Ground Transportation Agency (ANTT). Furthermore, we can see growing numbers in the use of cards as payment methods for these services in other more mature markets, such as the United States, where approximately 90% of the operation is conducted in this way. This generates much more effective and practical control over the management of financial processes in these companies. About WEX WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX) is a leading provider of corporate payment solutions. From its roots in fleet card payments beginning in 1983, WEX has expanded the scope of its business into a multi-channel provider of corporate payment solutions representing 11.3 million vehicles and offering exceptional payment security and control across a wide spectrum of business sectors. WEX serves a global set of customers and partners through its operations around the world, with offices in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, and Singapore. WEX is expanding strongly in the segments in which it does business, possessing a global footprint and dictating the most innovative trends in the payment methods market for servicing the public in general. WEX Group shares are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: WEX) since 2005. For more information, visit: www.wex.com.br. About Raizen Raizen, a Shell licensee in Brazil since 2011, is one of the most competitive energy companies in the world and one of the biggest in terms of revenue in Brazil, and is present in all stages of the process: sugarcane cultivation, sugar, ethanol and energy production, commercialization, internal and export logistics, fuel distribution and retail. These are activities that employ more than 30,000 people and involve more than 6,000 Shell fuel stations, 950 Shell Select convenience stores, 68 airport refueling bases and 68 fuel distribution terminals, 26 production units, and an annual production of roughly 2 billion liters of ethanol, 4 million tons of sugar and an energy-generation capacity of 940 MW from sugarcane bagasse. Press information: Imagem Corporativa Daniel Oliveira P. +55 (11) 3526-4536 [email protected] Thais Ribeiro P. +55 (11) 3526-4539 [email protected] SOURCE WEX Inc. Related Links http://www.wex.com.br ALBANY, Ore., April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Willamette Community Bank (OTCQB: WMCB) based in Albany, Oregon, reports continued growth in the first quarter of 2018. Total Assets increased $11.0M over year-end 2017 to finish the quarter at $129.9M. This represents a 9.2% increase from year-end and a 20.8% increase over the same period last year. The asset growth was fueled by a $7M capital raise completed in February as well as an increasing deposit base. Total Deposits increased from $107.2M in December 2017 to $111.5M at the end of the first quarter, an increase of 4.0 %. When compared to the same period in 2017, deposits have increased 15.8%. Willamette Community Bank Interim President and CEO Joan Reukauf states, "The capital raise, completed in February, provides the Bank significant capacity for growth in our legacy markets of Albany and Lebanon, and in Salem where we opened a new office in March 2017." Loans grew 26.4%, when compared to the same period last year, finishing the quarter at $94.6M. From year-end, loans have continued to increase, albeit at a slower pace, up from $92.1M. Interim CEO Reukauf further states, "The bank is well positioned to continue our strong loan growth into 2018. We remain focused on continuing to grow our existing customer relationships, as well as welcome new opportunities within the communities we serve." Net income through March 2018 was $129K, an increase of $24K over the same period in 2017. On a pre-tax/pre-provision basis, net income was $196K compared to $150K for the first quarter of 2017 (or a 30.9% increase). Net Interest Income was up $280K with interest income from higher loan balances offsetting the higher funding costs. Nearly half of the increase in total non-interest expense were related to the new Salem facility being on-line for the entire quarter. Interim CEO Reukauf states, "May 2018 marks our 15th year anniversary and we are very proud of what we have built. We are excited to continue our venture into Salem and watch that investment take root not only for the benefit of the bottom line, but for what we, as a community bank, can offer local businesses in their pursuit of growth." Willamette Community Bank serves its customers from three offices located in Albany, Lebanon and Salem. Full financials are available on our website at www.willamettecommunitybank.com. This document includes forward-looking information, which is subject to the "safe harbor" created by Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When the Bank uses or incorporates by reference in this letter the words "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "commit," "believe" and similar expressions, the Company intends to identify forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements, as they will depend on many factors about which we are unsure, including many factors which are beyond our control. Performance Highlights March 2018 (unaudited) March 2017 (unaudited) Total Assets $129,868,166 $107,509,250 Loans 94,588,210 74,860,616 Deposits 111,511,423 96,285,849 Shareholders' Equity 18,163,599 11,169,110 Net Income $129,123 $104,771 Book Value $9.90 $10.96 Contact: Joan Reukauf, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer (541) 926-9000 or [email protected] SOURCE Willamette Community Bank Related Links https://www.willamettecommunitybank.com From 12:00 am until 11:59 pm on May 2, supporters can visit https://www.thebigpayback.org/WWP to donate to WWP. Their generosity will make it possible for wounded warriors to take part in connection opportunities and benefit from program resources at no cost to them. Results from the 2017 WWP Annual Warrior Survey illustrate the importance of connection at WWP outreach events. To learn more, visit https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/survey Additionally, WWP will open its doors in Nashville for a special luncheon where attendees will be able to see the Nashville office up close, meet staff, and hear from Marine Corps veteran Sal Gonzalez about how WWP empowered him during his recovery. Luncheon Details Where: 223 Rosa L. Parks Ave., Suite 301, Nashville, TN When: 11:30 am 1:00 pm Who: RSVP to Eva Jenkins at [email protected] or 904.646.6916. "The communities where our warriors live and work have a significant role in their recoveries," said Gary Corless, WWP chief development officer. "Members of the community interact daily with the injured service members we serve, and they see the need is great and growing. That perspective gives them a chance to understand some of the challenges warriors face when returning to civilian life, but also where they can support those Wounded Warrior Project serves. Events like The Big Payback make a significant difference. We're extremely grateful for the past generosity of the Nashville community and are excited about this year's event." WWP also connects warriors through services focused on mental and physical health and wellness, financial wellness, independence, government relations, and community relations and partnerships. If you are interested in impacting the lives of warriors and joining our team, visit https://www.linkedin.com/company/125657. About Wounded Warrior Project Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) connects, serves, and empowers wounded warriors. Read more at http://newsroom.woundedwarriorproject.org/about-us. SOURCE Wounded Warrior Project Related Links https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org AUSTIN, Texas, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Zenoss Inc., the leader in software-defined IT operations, today announced that the company has been awarded a five-year contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) program. The contract expands the existing Zenoss footprint within the organization, augmenting a 2016 multisite, multiyear software contract to provide software and services for the DCGS. The Air Force Research Laboratory provides research, development and management for numerous programs across the U.S. Air Force. The DCGS is considered one the most advanced of these programs, employing a global communications architecture to connect multiple intelligence platforms and sensors. The DCGS, also referred to as the AN/GSQ-272 Sentinel weapon system, produces military intelligence for multiple military branches. It is the Air Force's key system for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information and is used for collection, processing, exploitation, analysis and dissemination. "We are proud to partner with the U.S. Air Force to protect the interests of the United States and its citizens," said Greg Stock, chairman and CEO at Zenoss. "Zenoss is helping to ensure that the Air Force can protect us 24/7/365. In this environment, system outages are not an option. Through our software-defined IT operations capabilities, we'll continue to deliver results for the Air Force and provide the highest levels of communication and coordination in support of its missions." The Air Force Research Laboratory chose Zenoss as the software-defined IT operations platform to support its newly designed DCGS architecture and provide a common operating picture for all DCGS infrastructure across multiple security echelons at more than 60 sites. The open architecture, extensibility and scalability of the Zenoss platform enable the DCGS to adapt its technology stacks as required to meet ever-changing IT environment requirements. The Zenoss installations at each Air Force site will be implemented by federal partner Intelligent Waves, based in Reston, Virginia. The Intelligent Waves team carries the security credentials required to support the deployment of Zenoss across multiple secure sites. The Zenoss platform provides complete visibility into cloud, virtual and physical environments for secure federal agencies and public sector organizations. Zenoss software-defined IT operations capabilities enable organizations with unique IT Ops needs to securely monitor large, complex IT infrastructures in classified and unclassified networks, ensuring the highest levels of uptime for applications and services. With real-time service status and decision support, the Zenoss platform provides our federal customers with a common operating picture, increased situational awareness, and actionable intelligence and decision support for continuous mission readiness. Additional Resources Connect With Zenoss on LinkedIn Follow Zenoss on Twitter Find Zenoss on Facebook Bookmark the Zenoss Blog Visit the Zenoss Newsroom Contact Zenoss About Zenoss Zenoss works with the world's largest organizations to ensure their IT services and applications are always on. As the leader in software-defined IT operations, Zenoss develops software that builds comprehensive real-time models of hybrid IT environments, providing unparalleled holistic health and performance insights. This uniquely enables Zenoss customers to predict and eliminate outages, dramatically reducing downtime and IT spend. https://www.zenoss.com Media Contact: Alison Guzzio [email protected] 610-925-2761 SOURCE Zenoss Inc. Related Links http://www.zenoss.com If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity. PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move. Stephanie Tromly is the author of the Trouble series, which kicked off in 2015 with Trouble Is a Friend of Mine. Tromly was named a PW Flying Start author for her YA debut, a contemporary screwball mystery featuring friends Zoe Webster and Philip Digby. The final book in the series, Trouble Never Sleeps, is out today from Penguins Kathy Dawson imprint. We asked Tromly and her editor, v-p and publisher Dawson, to interview each other about the trilogy and their collaboration. Tromly: Hey, Kathy, weve known each other for four years this month! It seems simultaneously like a lot of time and not very much time. I mean, its been a year since I finished the third book and I still wake up from stress dreams in a panic, thinking, Ive missed my deadline. Dawson: We did raise the managing editors blood pressure several times, didnt we? I knew I was asking a lot of you with that second book especially. For me, book one set the stage for a very specific book twoin terms of the romance between Zoe and Digby as well as the connections between them and the Scooby Gang of Sloane, Felix, and Henry. You had written so much plotmultiple competing plot threads, and it got very darkbut I was like, wait, wheres the love/hate banter? How is Felix going to save the day? Whats up with Henry and Sloane? Digby was letting his anxiety issues turn him into an island. I wanted a point where Digby and Zoe kissed again, and where they were all together again, working toward a common goal. I think I sent you a laundry list of things that I thought readers would want to seewhich, now that I think of it, must have been scary as hell. Tromly: It was so scary. I was very aware of your trying to give it to me softly but it was undeniable: I had to throw away almost every word of the first draft. Id been around enough failed rewrite situations in my old job to know how much of a disaster it would be to try to fit what you (correctly) pointed out was missing into what Id already written. And of course, you were right. I didnt want you to be right but I knew you were right and the fact that my second attempt came out of me so quickly proves that you were right. Dawson: There was never a point where I doubted you could do itnot after having met this crew on the page, joked with you, and brainstormed with you. How was the process of writing Trouble Is a Friend of Mine different from Trouble Makes a Comeback and Trouble Never Sleeps? Tromly: Everything about the first book felt like a gift. Id just had a kid, in the middle of a classic Winnipeg winter, we couldnt go outside, I couldnt work on my dissertation because I was nursing pretty much every hour. I was trapped in bed, constantly awake. Two weeks in, I propped a notebook on the breastfeeding pillow and started writing. And then, after sitting in silence and darkness for two months, the weather finally broke and I was able to start leaving the apartment. Id hang out at the food court in the mall for hours, absorbing the energy of real speech. Nothing makes you more invisible to young people than a baby, so I just sat near them, eating donuts while my kid napped taking notes. Id written other things before but this was my first attempt at the novel form. The structure baffled me but it was such an awesome relief to have something other than kid-related worries to think about. To get a book deal at the end of that... like I said, it was a gift. Book two, Trouble Makes a Comeback, was harder. Like, many orders of magnitude harder. The mind doesnt like second actswe want the rush of premises and climaxes. I most certainly felt the pressure of the deadline, and missing my first one felt like a death. My own death. But once you finally pried the book out of me, I felt so... grateful. Book three, Trouble Never Sleeps, felt smoothits a weird word, I knowcoming out. I wasted less time chasing dead leads, the characters felt propelled by their narrative destinies. Everything felt driven by itself. Dawson: In retrospect, now that the whole series is done, is there anything you would do differently? Tromly: I would take better care of my body, for one thing. I never realized that writing would take such a physical toll. I basically sat down for months at a time and all my muscles turned into goo. On a more positive note, now that Ive managed to complete a long narrative, I spend less time anxiously working my outline over and over. I feel more confident that as long as I have solid characters and a clear understanding of where they end up, Ill be able to write the material in the middle. I used to lose entire nights fretting. Dawson: Thats what it all comes down to: trusting your characters. In every submission, I look for characters the author knows inside and out. Your cast was so completely clear in that first draft I read of Trouble Is a Friend of Mine. Plus they were characters that I wanted to spend a lot of time withthey made me laugh out loud on the subway. Speaking of which, you recently wrote me an email saying something like, Given the messed-up state of the world, I dont think I can write anything as funny as the Trouble series today. Do you still feel like that? Have there been tangible changes in your writing? Tromly: I dont think Im the only writer out here who feels driven insane by the spirit of the times, but Ive been trying to keep the anger out of the writing while not suppressing too much of myself. I must say, though, that a lot of positive things have also happened in the past few years. I do feel like diversity is on its way to becoming a reality. I mean, Ive been hearing the word diversity since college orientation in the 90s but lately, I find myself daring to hope it becomes part of the new normal. Dawson: I think we could talk more about that. How do you feel as an Asian woman writing in todays market? Tromly: I mostly feel great. Social media is often blamed for bringing out the worst in people but the fact is, social media has also helped make marginalized voices and their allies be heard. Its been heartening. Thats not to say I havent had a few weird moments on the job. One reviewer said Felix (one of the Asian-American characters in my books) was too much of a stereotype because I wrote him as a book-smart but naive grade-skipping nerd. Because I write under my married name, there was no way the reviewer could have known that I myself was Asian and that, like Felix, I was a grade-skipping nerd obsessed with reading comic books while my much older classmates were already dating. I was initially shy about people seeing my photograph but I remember putting it out there after that day. Dawson: I imagine its a constant balanceputting yourself out there so your fans can meet you and still respecting the shy part of yourself. Hey, speaking of fans, is it just my perception or are your fans particularly awesome? Tromly: The people Ive met have been so, so great. Im always sad that Im not able to be the books characters for them because I think, to a certain extent, thats what theyre hoping to see in me as a person. Dawson: Steph, I know you wont believe me, but seriously, you are every bit as funny as your characters. You had me in stitches from that first beauty contest phone call when I was still praying youd pick me to be your editor. Tromly: Im not just shy, though, lets face it. I have a major problem with social anxiety. Social anxiety as a disorder was sort of fresh on the scene when I started dealing with it but now, there are a lot more people who have come out, especially on social media, to say they have to contend with it, too, so Ive been letting go of the shame Id always attached to my feelings. Thats one of the problems I hadnt anticipated when I started out: I somehow thought the books would do all my talking for me. I mean, now I read back what I just typed and Im laughing at how naive that is. I think I started out believing what David Lynch said about people asking him to talk about his movies: The film is the talking. Now, though, I see that what Andre Gide wrote a century ago about writers promoting their work is more accurate: He said, Each one of us, even without knowing it, works on the pedestal for his bust almost as much as on the bust itself. Dawson: Stephanie, you have got to write that dissertation! But maybe after you send in the next book. Trouble Never Sleeps by Stephanie Tromly. Penguin/Dawson, $17.99 Apr. 24 ISBN 978-0-525-42842-8 Author Martha Brockenbrough developed a strong journalistic background during her days as editor-in-chief of the Stanford Daily while attending Stanford University. She went on to become editor of MSN.com and wrote an educational humor column for online encyclopedia Encarta. Her passion for good grammar led Brockenbrough to write a book for adults, Things That Make Us [Sic] (St. Martins, 2012) and launch National Grammar Day (observed every March 4), as well as found the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. She has written well-received YA novels as well as picture books and nonfiction for young readers. Exploring President Donald Trumps life story felt like a logical next step for Brockenbrough following her biography of Alexander Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton, Revolutionary, Feiwel and Friends, 2017). In a recent telephone conversation, she shared why writing Unpresidented, due out November 13, became an urgent issue for her. What is Unpresidented, and what compelled you to write it? Unpresidented is a biography of Donald Trump that reaches back before he was even born, to his grandfathers immigration to the United States and expulsion from Germany for dodging the draft. I cover how his dad started his business and the trouble his dad encountered with the law at various times to how Donald established himself in Manhattan, when he first developed political aspirationsits much earlier than you would imagineall the way up through the election and the tumultuous first year-and-a-half or so of his presidency. I had just finished writing a biography of Alexander Hamilton and I absolutely fell in love with the form and became even more deeply interested in the founding of our nation and the constitutional principles than I had been before. I started my career as a journalist. And I also taught First Amendment to students so its long been an interest. Donald Trumps campaign and election astonished me, for lots of reasons, and after he was elected, I immediately wanted to write a biography, but it took me about a year or so to understand what the most useful book would be for young readers. To connect it back to Alexander Hamilton a little bit more, Hamilton died because he was afraid of an Aaron Burr presidency. He thought Aaron Burr had shifting political principles. Aaron Burrs finances were also in trouble and Hamilton thought that made him susceptible to influence from foreign governments. He said that no one in Burrs financial situation could make a living as president, because they didnt get paid much. Hamilton thought Burr was a demagogue. As I was researching that, I was noticing the parallels between Aaron Burr and Donald Trump, right down to the combover; Aaron Burr had small ears. There are things that might not necessarily make it into the book, but certainly Aaron Burr also had a way with the ladies. Its all so interesting to me. After the election, and the revelations that have followed, and also his behavior as president, it made the book feel really urgent to me, and I was glad that Jean Feiwel, my editor, agreed. Im really thrilled to work with her again. We worked on the Hamilton book, which looks really beautiful in terms of images and design. Unpresidented will also have all of those visual exhibits, which I think are important for these books. This book is aimed primarily at a YA audience. How did you find the right tone for such a politically charged project? Its definitely a politically charged subject and I am primarily interested in the facts. And so I trust the reader to take these facts and come to an understanding of what their significance is independently. But there are lots of challenges with the tone and it comes in part from some of the unprecedented political language that was used during the campaign and afterward. Im including that. Its part of the story, and its part of the notion of norms of public discourse and what those mean and what value they might have. Jean and I have gone back and forth a lot on exactly what the right tone is, but we share a goal of just presenting the facts because they really do tell a consistent and compelling story about who the president is and how he was elected. The news cycle swirling around this president is pretty much nonstop. How will your book distinguish itself within that? There are a lot of books that cover very specific moments. Theres Fire and Fury, which is a very riveting account of the first year. Mine deliberately takes a much wider span and its definitely not an insider account. Im not there sitting in the Oval Office. I am combing through all the documents and accounts I can find, and Im doing my best to understand whats really happening. Thats one of the tricky things because the news isnt always about whats happening, its about what weve just discovered. And that event thats just been reported in the news could have happened six months ago, a year ago. So one of the things Im doing is building a comprehensive timeline so that I can take these things and weave them together. Because its significant, for example, when Donald Trump made the unprecedented invitation at a rallyRussia, are you listening? Find those emails. What was happening in his campaign around that time? It puts things in more perspective and thats really what Im trying to do give perspective. Heres the facts, heres the order in which they happened, then leave room for readers to understand what they think of this development and the direction that the country is going. I could never get away with these plot twists in fiction. My editor would say, You know, thats just really too much. So sometimes we have to, when we want to write something wild, really stick to the facts. What do you hope your book will accomplish? I hope that it fascinates people and gets readers who are on the cusp of registering to vote to feel engaged in the process and that history happens with their participation. Its going to happen either way, but better with their participation. This is a book that can feel desolate at times but it is ultimately meant to empower people with knowledge and with perspective so that they can take their rightful place in the life of the public. One of the things thats been most heartening and most exciting to me is the example of the Parkland high school students. Honestly, this book is for them. This book is for kids like them. My daughter asked permission, as she left for school this morning, to take part in the nationwide walkout. And I said, Sure. Make good choices. Its thrilling to write for kids who feel that this is their country and they have every right to say how they want it to look and who they want to include. Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump by Martha Brockenbrough. Feiwel and Friends, $19.99 Nov. 13 ISBN 978-1-250-30803-0 Last month, Caldecott Honor recipient Peter Brown embarked on a two-week, 10-city tour in celebration of The Wild Robot Escapes (Little, Brown), sequel to his first middle grade novel, The Wild Robot. The new book picks up with the adventures of robot Roz as she tries to return to the island where she has made an unexpected home among the animals. Weve gathered a selection of photo highlights from the events, which included readings, drawing demonstrations, and more. A book-lover in a life-size Roz costume greeted the author, who appeared as guest of honor at the National Writers Series Battle of the Books in Traverse City, Mich. Two teams of elementary school students competed onstage for the title of Battle of the Books champion, answering questions about the books they had readone of which was The Wild Robot. Brown then gave a talk and presented awards to the winning team and the runners-up. Local indie Horizon Bookstore sold books for him to sign. Brown presented his new book at Poly Prep School in Brooklyn. That night, he launched the book at WORD Bookstore in Jersey City, where fans could grab refreshments and Roz-themed pins and bookmarks. During an appearance at the Louisville Free Public Library, for an event hosted with Carmichaels Bookstore in Louisville, Ky., Brown joined the Carmichaels Kids Book Club. The author visited Caledonia Elementary School in Grand Rapids, Mich., to discuss his book with third through fifth graders. Afterwards, he had some one-on-one time with fans. Brown gave a drawing demonstration during a public event at Schuler Books & Music in Grand Rapids, Mich. After his event at Schulers, the author signed books and met a group of friends from a local elementary school. As the tour drew to a close, Brown signed for a long line of kids at Buttonwood Books & Toys in Cohasset, Mass., on March 23, after a day of school visits in the area. Brown will host an event on April 28 in his neighborhood in Brooklyn, at the Brooklyn Public Library, with books sold by Stories Bookshop. In May the author will also make appearances at Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, at White Whale Bookstore in Pittsburgh, and at Barnes & Noble in Philadelphia. In light of sexual misconduct allegations against pastor and author Bill Hybels, publishers are halting the printing of his front and backlist titles. Hybels, the founder and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, which is outside of Chicago, denied, in March, accusations that he be behaved inappropriately with women in his congregation. After more allegations surfaced, and following Hybels resignation from Willow Creek, the church in South Barrington, Ill., is now investigating the situation. The church is looking into accusations from six women who reported being the subject of unwanted sexual comments and advances from the pastor. As a result of the investigation, Tyndale House Publishers has suspended the publication of Hybels Everyone Wins When a Leader Gets Better, which was set to be released in August. We will make a final decision regarding potential publication after we absorb the facts and implications related to these allegations, the publisher told PW. We take allegations of misconduct seriously, and we are deeply concerned for all involved, both those who have brought forth these allegations, as well as the Hybels family. InterVarsity Press, which has published two editions of Who You Are When No Ones Looking by Hybels, is also pausing its relationship with the author. The press' publisher, Jeff Crosby, said it is not reprinting the book, which has sold over 300,000 copies since it was originally published in 1987. IVP will, however, continue to sell existing copies. The press did not provide an estimate for how many copies are on the market today. Zondervan, which has published several of Hybels books, including Holy Discontent (2007) and The Power of a Whisper (2010), said the future of the pastor's backlist titles remains uncertain. Though we do not have any projects currently in the pipeline for Mr. Hybels, we take these allegations seriously and we continue to sort through the information as it is presented, said Zondervan spokesperson Casey Harrell. The National Coalition Against Censorship has joined more than 30 other prominent arts organizations in a friend of the court brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down the third version of the Trump travel ban issued in September 2017. On Wednesday the case, State of Hawaii v. Trump, will be heard by the Supreme Court. The arts organizations argue that the ban has damaged artists freedom of movement and seriously inhibits the creative freedom and free flow of ideas the First Amendment is designed to protect. Among the arguments made by the organizations are that the travel ban violates Americans First Amendment right to receive information by preventing citizens from interacting with the ideas and viewpoints of nationals of the targeted countries. The organizations further argue that the ban is "devastating to artists and cultural producers vulnerable for speaking out in repressive regimes." The organizations go on to claim that these artists "look toward the U.S. as a place enabling them to work freely." Svetlana Mintcheva, director of programs at NCAC, said: In a troubled and divided world, we need more understanding, not greater divisions. It is the voices of artists that help us understand, empathize, and see the common humanity underlying the separations of political and religious differences. Silencing these voices is not likely to make us any safer. Executive Order (EO) 13780, which is the target of the lawsuit, bans all immigration from six majority Muslim countries. It also places additional visa restrictions on nationals of Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Chad, and includes token restrictions on North Korea and Venezuela. The Islamic States Al-Furqan Media released a lengthy speech from its spokesman, Abu al-Hasan al-Muhajir, on Apr. 22. In the 49-minute message, titled So Follow Their Guidance, al-Muhajir summarizes his organizations war against its many enemies, both in the region and abroad. Far from conceding defeat, he says the fight continues. Indeed, Al-Muhajir claims that the so-called caliphates men have entered a new phase in the path of jihad as others now seek to inherit what is left behind by America after it withdraws from the region. The ISIS spokesman says the U.S. is leaving Syria and Iraq after the mujahideen exhausted it. He claims that America is incapable of countering the Russians and the Iranians, who are expanding their sphere of influence as America supposedly retreats. Thus, al-Muhajir says, the Sunni jihadists should prepare for the next stage of their war against the Magi Iranians and the Russians, making them pay for scorching the ground in the Sunni areas of Iraq and Syria. He briefly imparts some advice to the survivors fighting on, saying they should maintain secrecy while probing for their enemies weaknesses. Al-Muhajir warns that the jihadists should be protect their means of communication against the efforts of spies. The Trump administration claims that the Islamic State is close to defeat. But al-Muhajir seeks to refute this argument, asking how America can claim victory as the mujahideen are supposedly gaining strength once again, only now they are more experienced and better organized. He boasts that they are in a better state than when the U.S. withdrew from Iraq in 2011 a move that paved the way for the rise of Baghdadis caliphate. Al-Muhajir threatens any Iraqi who participates in the upcoming elections, arguing that it is permissible to spill their blood as they are participating in a democracy. Both the Islamic State and its predecessor, al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), denounced Iraqi elections. For al-Muhajir and his fellow ideologues, the candidates have claimed divinity for themselves merely by running for office and those who vote for them have elevated others to a status equal to Allah an allegedly grievous sin. The ISIS spokesman argues that the Iraqi government is under the sway of the Iranian rejectionist mobilization groups and, therefore, anyone who assists in the elections assumes responsibility for them and is going to be held accountable under the same [religious] ruling as those holding the votes. The voting locations and any people within them are targets for our swords, al-Muhajir warns, according to a translation obtained by FDDs Long War Journal. The Islamic State is not content with threatening the Iraqi elections. Al-Muhajir calls for the groups members to overthrow the entire Iraqi state, destroying every security, military, economic and media institution of the rejectionist government. He adds that they shouldnt leave a single apostate tribal leader in place excepted with a severed head, and any hostile village should be marked. There are only a few moments when al-Muhajir is somewhat lenient, such as when he tells Baghdadis men that they should accept any who repent before they are captured. And the jihadists should be kind to those who house and support them. Otherwise, al-Muhajirs speech is a defiant screed. The war is not over, he proclaims, as the conflict with the rejectionist Safavids (Iranians) and others is still ongoing. Al-Muhajir defends the self-declared caliphates record, arguing that it restored Muslim honor when it was declared in 2014. The true mujahideen swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at the time, thereby bringing the war to the infidels in a new manner. The Islamic State spokesman must address his groups territorial losses and he does, claiming that Baghdadis enterprise never promised its members anything in this life beyond victory or martyrdom. He portrays the trials and tribulations of the caliphates members as a necessity for any true believer. Al-Muhajir does not remind his listeners of an inconvenient fact: The Islamic State marketed the rise of its caliphate as evidence that Allahs divine will was with them and a sign that an apocalyptic showdown with the West and its allies was drawing closer. Al-Muhajir briefly mentions that the jihad will not end until Isa (Jesus), the son of Mariyam (Mary), returns to rule with justice. Otherwise, he avoids any discussion of a final battle. Al-Muhajir points to the organizations global network and praises the jihadists who continue to fight in its name everywhere from West Africa to South Asia. He notes that some are celebrating the so-called caliphates losses in Mosul, Sirte, and Raqqa the three most important cities in Baghdadis nascent empire at the height of its power. Al-Muhajir claims that some are hoping that the rule of Allah and His sharia have disappeared. He counters that the soldiers of the Caliphate in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Khorasan, the Sinai, Libya, West Africa and elsewhere readily offer their lives for the Islamic States cause. He also claims that the organizations members in these areas plus the Philippines, Somalia and Tunisia are thwarting the designs of Americas agents. He holds up the caliphates soldiers in the Sinai as proof that the fight continues, as they have repulsed campaign after campaign by the Egyptian government. At one point, al-Muhajir puffs up the Islamic States soldiers, pointing out that more than 70 nations have allied against them, with their enemies using the mother of all bombs (dropped by the U.S. in Afghanistan in Apr. 2017) and phosphorus against them, while many Muslims have forsaken them. Still, al-Muhajir claims, the caliphates men march forward. The Islamic State has consistently portrayed its war as a grand jihad against the rest of the world. Al-Muhajir continues with this theme. He says that the Islamic State does not differentiate between the various polytheists, because Allah has commanded the jihadists to fight them all together. Therefore, there is no difference in fighting: the apostate tyrant ruling Saudi Arabia and his son, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Safavid rejectionist Ayatollah Khamenei, Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, or the Americans, Europeans and Russians. Al-Muhajir does add one exception, arguing that the Arabs opposed to the caliphate are more harmful to Islam. After the Islamic States first spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, was killed in Aug. 2016, al-Muhajir assumed the role. Al-Muhajir released his first message in Dec. 2016, seeking to rally the Sunni jihadists against Iran and the West at the time. Al-Muhajir picks up some of Adnanis motifs in his latest message, saying that the Crusader European and American unbelievers now have to worry about being run over, stabbed, or killed in the streets of Paris, London and Manhattan. Adnani was previously responsible for advocating individual jihad in the West, encouraging followers and supporters to use whatever means they had at their disposal to lash out. Al-Muhajir also calls upon Muslims to migrate to the areas where the Islamic State continues to fight, praying that Allah paves their way to the lands of jihad. This, too, was a consistent part of Adnanis messaging. Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal. This article appeared originally at FDD's Long War Journal. On Feb. 19, 1915, British warships attempted to force the heavy Turkish defenses of the Dardanelles, the entrance to the straits in northern Turkey that are the key link between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The British struck in search of an indirect approach to victory. World War I was in stalemate, the two sides locked into trench warfare in northern France. The hope was that a battle fleet appearing off Istanbul would compel Turkey's capitulation, secure a supply route to hard-pressed Russia, and inspire the Balkan states to join the Allied war effort and eventually to attack Austro-Hungary, thereby pressuring Germany. The British government gave much consideration to the eventual division of the Ottoman lands once the straits were captured but very little to how the operation might actually be executed. The amateurish preparation and the resulting fiasco are recounted with sharp, taut precision in Gallipoli: The End of the Myth, Robin Prior's near-definitive analysis of the campaign. Russian meddling? Campaign collusion? Forget that. That did they or didn't they story has nothing on the ongoing saga of cybersecurity breaches with the possible involvement of a foreign government taking place in the House of Representatives. The story has all the features Former coal baron Don Blankenship is in third place in the Republican Senate primary in West Virginia, according to a new poll released Tuesday, a positive development for national Republicans who are concerned his candidacy could sink their chances to flip the seat in November. Rep. Evan Jenkins leads the primary field with 25 percent of the vote, according to the poll released by Fox News. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is in second place with 21 percent, and Blankenship -- who recently finished a prison sentence for conspiring to violate mine safety standards in a fatal 2010 explosion is in third place with 16 percent. Nearly a quarter of voters remain undecided ahead of the May 8 primary. A second poll commissioned by GOPAC, a Republican organization, and released Monday also showed Blankenship in third place, though it had Morrisey narrowly ahead of Jenkins. The race has been increasingly negative, though Jenkins and Morrisey have turned most of their fire on each other rather than going after Blankenship (pictured at left). In a debate Monday afternoon, the congressman attacked Morrisey as having New Jersey values for interrupting him -- a dig for not being a native of West Virginia. Morrisey fired back, calling Jenkins a lifelong career Democrat and linking him to national Democratic figures, a theme in several ads he has released attacking the lawmaker. Jenkins switched to the Republican Party in 2013 before running for Congress. Evan Jenkins is too similar to Joe Manchin to defeat Joe Manchin, Morrisey said. National Republicans have not taken sides, but fear Blankenships connection to an explosion that killed 29 miners would sink his chances in a general election. Manchin referenced the mine accident in his first TV ad of the campaign, released last week. And Mountain Families PAC, a super PAC with ties to national Republicans, has spent $700,000 in ads attacking Blankenship in recent weeks. The upstart candidate, who is self-financing his campaign with significant sums, has attacked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and pitched himself as an outsider. In the debate Monday, he called Washington the District of Corruption and said there was a professional wrestling problem of faking fights between politicians. Blankenship said that when he goes to Washington, it wont be a fake fight, itll be a real fight. Duty and Country PAC, a group with ties to national Democrats, meanwhile, has begun meddling in the primary by running ads opposing Morrisey and Jenkins, each of whom argued during the debate that Democrats are afraid of facing him in the general election. They are scared to death of Evan Jenkins on the ballot in November because they know Evan Jenkins can beat Joe Manchin, Jenkins said. Republicans held on to Arizonas 8th Congressional District seat in a special election Tuesday, breaking Democrats recent winning streak and calming some nerves among conservatives. But that sigh of relief may be fleeting. Debbie Leskos five-percentage-point victory over Hiral Tipirneni marks a significant narrowing of traditional GOP margins in a place Donald Trump won by 20 points, and reflects the opposing partys over-performance in the majority of congressional elections held during the presidents tenure. The Phoenix-area district had been so reliably Republican that Democrats werent even able to field a candidate in the past two elections there. In 2012, Republican Rep. Trent Franks, who resigned in December after allegations he offered a staffer $5 million to carry his child, beat a Democratic challenger by nearly 30 points. The closeness of the results Tuesday is sending warning signals to Republicans in less-safe districts across the country -- especially since, unlike the partys loss last month in a Pennsylvania district Trump had overwhelmingly won, this one had such little evidence of Democratic DNA. And the outcome is having a particularly alarming effect among candidates running statewide in Arizona, a longtime GOP bastion that Democrats have been aiming to flip. These election results ought to startle Republicans in Arizona and nationally out of bed, Arizona-based Republican donor and fundraiser Dan Eberhart told RCP. Winning the Arizona 8th by such a small margin translates to very little margin of error for Gov. Doug Ducey and the eventual GOP Senate nominee in the midterms. Democrats efforts to turn Arizona their way on the statewide level have so far not borne fruit. Hillary Clinton lost the state in 2016 after mounting a serious challenge there, even visiting Tempe in the final days of the campaign. But both Democrats and Republicans say Arizona offers a much more competitive playing field this time around, particularly in the race for the U.S. Senate. Trump won the state by only three points, underperforming Mitt Romneys 10-point victory in 2012. But beyond those statistics, and the states gradually changing demographics, both parties say the fundamentals of the Arizonas long primary calendar and early voting system provide a significant advantage for the Democrats. Arizona, where Trump critic Jeff Flake is retiring from the Senate, is one of the few states where Senate Democrats are on offense. Though they have to defend 10 seats in states Trump won five of them by overwhelming margins the Grand Canyon State provides a rare pickup opportunity. Republicans are engaged in a protracted three-way primary, which wont be decided until Aug. 28, giving the eventual nominee little time to shift gears and wage a general election campaign. Additionally, early voting begins in October. Meanwhile, Democrats cleared the field for U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who, free from the burdens of a primary that would have pulled her far to the left, has several months to build broader support. Establishment Republicans favor Rep. Martha McSally (pictured), a former Air Force colonel who was first female U.S. fighter pilot to fly a combat mission. But she faces a challenge from physician Kelli Ward, who unsuccessfully challenged John McCain for the nomination in 2016, and controversial former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was pardoned by Trump last year after being convicted of criminal contempt of court in a racial profiling case. Flake and Republicans have acknowledged the incumbent senator would have been unlikely to survive a primary with his vocal opposition to the president, and his exit could give Republicans a better shot at keeping the seat, as the eventual nominee will have to hold Trump voters in the state. But there is also concern about the impact the drawn-out primary season could have on the GOP candidate. Ask me today, I'd put my money on Sinema, says veteran Arizona Republican strategist Chuck Coughlin. She's able to narrate a campaign where McSally is nailed down on the right trying to fend off a crazy sheriff and Chem-Trail Kelli. (The latter refers to opponents attempts to tar Ward as a conspiracy theorist.) Coughlin argues that the 8th District results on Tuesday arent indicative of much when it comes to the statewide race, as special elections carry nuance. And while the fundamentals at this point appear to favor Sinema, and Trumps unpopularity could have an impact among women voters, the candidate still has a lot of work to do in a state like Arizona. Democrats counting on getting non-traditional voters to the polls based on their visceral hatred of Trump in a state with a 12-point Republican voter advantage -- thats not going to be enough, Coughlin says. This has been the Democrats' problem for a number of cycles -- its What are they for? We know what they are against. Democrats in the state tend to agree. Each party is going to be using Trump to get their base voters out, says state Democratic consultant Bill Scheel. But at the end of the day, this election is not going to be about Donald Trump that much in November, because we have really strong Arizona issues like education. Like several other Republican governors in red states, Arizonas Doug Ducey has faced weeks of protests by teachers concerned about pay and school resources. The governor, who is also up for re-election this year, announced a proposal to increase pay by 20 percent by 2020. As far as the Senate race is concerned, Democrats argue that health care is still a top driver among base voters. Tipirneni focused on Medicare in her campaign in the 8th District, where the electorate skews toward older voters, including retirees. "If you're looking for an indicator of an anti-Trump wave, theres more of an indirect one, says one Democratic operative working on state races. Republican votes to repeal the health care law and to pass a tax reform bill that gutted the individual mandate, which the AARP argued could eventually lead to cuts in Medicare programs, are those kind of anecdotal points that resonate with Arizona voters more than just The Big T, the operative says. In her first televised ad released earlier this month, Sinema makes no mention of the president or of her being a Democrat. Instead, it featured her police officer and Marine brother, vouching for her independence. Republicans will certainly work to undercut that kind of appeal and tie her to the national party. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is already pointing out that Sinema is attracting more funding from outside Arizona than from within. But some GOPers note a troubling trend their own partys candidates are experiencing with independent voters. Arizona Republican pollster Mike Noble found Sinema leading in hypothetical matchups with her Republican competitors, and attributes the edge to independent voters. Trumps favorability rating is directly tied to Republicans down ballot. There's no other conclusion, Noble says. I'm a Republicans pollster. I don't want to say that. But if your house is on fire, you want someone to say, Hey, your house is on fire. A House candidate who doesnt support Nancy Pelosi as his partys leader is one of the beneficiaries of a Washington fundraiser Wednesday night featuring Pelosi and top Illinois Democrats, according to an invitation obtained by RealClearPolitics. Brendan Kelly, who is running against Rep. Mike Bost in Illinois 12th District, has said he wouldnt vote for Pelosi as leader. He and three other Illinois House candidates in competitive races are the beneficiaries of a fundraiser featuring Pelosi, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, and Democratic members of Illinois congressional delegation, including Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, according to the invitation. Kelly, in a statement to RCP, stood by his position on Pelosi and said the invitation came from the Illinois delegation. "Ive been clear, we need new leadership in Washington in both parties, Kelly said. Some folks may agree with my position, some may not. Im glad to have the Illinois delegations help in fighting for Southern Illinois and I appreciate them inviting me." In an interview with RealClearPolitics last month, Kelly didnt criticize Pelosi but said his position is about new leadership across the board. Thats not directed at just one person, Kelly said. I think the leadership in both parties has not served this part of the country well, and so because of this deep, deep division we just need a fresh start. Kelly is one of multiple Democratic candidates who have said they wouldnt support Pelosi as leader, and Republicans have previously criticized those candidates for benefiting from her fundraising. Nothing says phony like telling voters you dont support Nancy Pelosi as your partys leader only to personally benefit from a fundraiser shes hosting in DC, Jesse Hunt, a spokesman for Republicans House campaign committee, said in a statement. This charade where House Democratic candidates bash Pelosi in public, while at the same time benefit from her financial network, wont hold up under scrutiny this fall. Kelly, a states attorney and former U.S. Navy officer, is considered one of Democrats top recruits this cycle and has received significant support from Democrats campaign committee. Hes included in their Red to Blue program for top candidates, and Lujan, the DCCC chairman, has campaigned for him in Illinois. Kelly is one of dozens of Democrats who have outraised Republican incumbents so far this year. None of the other candidates at the fundraiser have said they would not back Pelosi as leader. Sean Casten, a candidate in a targeted suburban Chicago district, would not commit to voting for Pelosi, but would not rule it out either, according to ABC News. Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, the Democratic candidate in the 13th District, was noncommittal, telling a local newspaper she would take her cue from voters. The campaign of Lauren Underwood, the fourth Democrat on the invitation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Pelosi declined to comment. Former Republican Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas was fond of telling a story about his time stumping for educational change. "My educational policies are based on the fact that I care more about my children than you do," Gramm once said to a woman. "No, you don't," she replied. "OK," said Gramm. "What are their names?" Gramm's fundamental premise is inalterably correct: Parents care more about their children than do the members of the bureaucracy. But parents are being gradually curbed in their authority by precisely those bureaucrats across the West. On Tuesday, a British court condemned a not-yet-2-year-old child to die. Now, make no mistake: The child, Alfie Evans, is expected to die in the near future anyway; he suffers from an undiagnosed brain condition that has robbed him of much of his function. But his parents simply wanted to be able to transfer him from a British hospital to an Italian hospital to seek experimental care. And the British court system refused. Citing the expertise of Evans' doctors, the courts declared that Evans' best interests are not served by his parents' attempts to save his life. Instead, the little boy would be deprived of life support, left to die without oxygen or water. The ruling, the judge said, "represents the final chapter in the life of this extraordinary little boy." But that chapter was written by the British bureaucracy, not by his parents -- the ones who will have to engrave his epitaph and visit his grave. This appalling result isn't the first of its kind; just last year, a little boy named Charlie Gard was taken off life support thanks to the British court system, which presented his parents from sending him to the United States for further treatment. Again, the courts made the argument that the best interest of the child lay in his death. All of this is the final result of a system of thought that places parental control of children below the expertise of bureaucrats on the scale of priorities. It's one thing for the government to step in when parents are preventing children from receiving life-saving care. It's another when the government steps in to prevent parents from pursuing potentially life-saving care. And yet that's just what has happened repeatedly in the United Kingdom. Why? Why would British society place parents' wishes below the wishes of the state? Because a bureaucratic society of experts generally sees parents as an obstacle to proper development. Parents, in this view, treat their children as chattel to be owned and trained -- but the state can treat children with the dignity they are due. This means placing parental wishes to the side in every case in which those wishes come into conflict with the priorities of the state. The bureaucrats of Britain don't merely usurp parental rights in the realm of life and death; they do so in the realm of upbringing as well. They have threatened religious Jewish schools for failing to inculcate children with LGBT propaganda; meanwhile, they have ignored the targeting of young women in Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford and Newcastle because the perpetrators are disproportionately Muslim. All of this is untenable, both morally and practically. Parents will not continue to give the power to control their children away to bureaucrats who do not know their children's names. COPYRIGHT 2018 CREATORS.COM Good morning, its Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Thirty-five years ago today, the Kremlin released the contents of a letter that Russias leader sent to a fifth-grader in Manchester, Maine, assuring the girl that his countrymen did not want war with the United States. Yuri Andropovs letter to Samantha Reed Smith was pure propaganda, and its doubtful he even wrote it himself. In that missive, Andropov upped the ante by inviting Samantha to visit the Soviet Union, so she could see for herself. He couldnt have known it then, but the 68-year-old Soviet premier was dealing with a 10-year-old American girl who possessed innate and impressive public relations chops of her own. Samantha accepted Andropovs offer -- and in the process produced a welcome respite in the Cold War. In a moment, Ill have more about this hopeful, and ultimately sad, story, which Ive written about previously. First, Id first point you to RealClearPolitics front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion columns spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material from our own reporters and contributors, including the following: * * * Jenkins, Morrisey Lead Blankenship in W.Va. Primary Poll. James Arkin has the numbers as the GOP Senate candidates jockey for position ahead of the May 8 election. Neil Gorsuch and the Return of Rule-of-Law Due Process. In RealClearPolicy, Nathan S. Chapman applauds the justice's originalist approach in the recent case Sessions v. Dimaya. Why Do Christians Put Up With Trump? In RealClearReligion, W. David Montgomery explains why he sees no moral conflict between his Christian faith and his support for the president. Reforming Arms Export Control: Better Late Than Never. In RealClearDefense, Rachel Zissimos hails the administrations new conventional arms transfer policy. Remaking NASA Into a Leaner Spacefaring Machine. In RealClearScience, Ross Marchand urges Congress to ensure that the agencys new administrator, Jim Bridenstine, undertakes cost-conscious missions moving forward. Storied Homes on the Real Estate Market. In RealClearLife, Diana Crandall spotlights 10 historic houses currently up for sale. * * * The November 22, 1982 cover of Time magazine was headlined After Brezhnev and featured both the deceased Soviet leader and his successor, Yuri Andropov. The accompanying biographical profile of the new Kremlin boss painted worrying picture for any discerning reader, even one who was 10 years old. Like Vladimir Putin, who was at the time a junior counter-intelligence officer, Andropov was a committed communist whod risen through the ranks of the KGB, an agency he would eventually lead. Hed been his countrys ambassador to Hungary in 1956 when a revolution to overthrow the Soviet occupation was crushed by Russian tanks, had backed the forceful repression of the Prague Spring in 1968, and led the efforts to stamp out the dissident movement inside the Soviet Union itself. Samantha asked her mother, Jane, to write to the Soviet leader and ask if he planned to start a nuclear war. Why dont you write to him, Jane Smith said. This casual suggestion set in motion a series of events that provided a glimpse of hope to a frightened world, but not a happy ending for the Smith family. God made the world for us to live together in peace, Samantha told Andropov in her letter, and not to fight. A few months later, President Reagan warned Americans of the the aggressive impulses of an evil empire. The evil empire speech was cheered by American conservatives, but widely denounced by liberals here and in much of the Western world. Soviet propagandists, seeing an opening, printed Samanthas letter in Pravda as a tacit contrast with the supposedly bellicose American president. The Pravda item included the dismissive aside that Samantha could be forgiven her misapprehensions about Russians because of her tender age. But Samantha Reed Smith turned out to be a difficult person to patronize. She penned another letter, this one to Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, inquiring whether Andropov planned to answer her directly. I thought my questions were good ones, she added, and it shouldnt matter if I was ten years old. Andropov (or someone writing under his name) responded with an uncommonly warm letter comparing Samantha to Mark Twains Becky Thatcher, while including some educational material designed to assure his young pen pal that Soviets viewed armed conflict as a last resort. He asserted that the Russians grievous loss of life in World War II made them fearful of total war, and that the Soviet Union -- unlike the United States -- had pledged never to use weapons of mass destruction first. It was in that letter that Andropov invited his young correspondent to visit his country. That summer, she and her parents took him up on the offer. They did not see Andropov, who by then was seriously ill, but Samantha met many Russians, gave speeches, attracted media attention, and became a pint-sized world ambassador for peace. In a widely covered speech in Japan, she talked about visiting the beautiful and awesome Soviet Union, but made no pretense of being an expert or even worldly in a grown-up way. Until last April, I had never traveled outside the eastern United States, I had never even heard of sushi! she said. And now I will try my wish in Japanese: Sekaiju ni heiwa ga kimasu yo mi (I wish for the world peace and understanding). Samantha told Japanese kids that she had been spending a lot of time imagining herself in the future -- in the year 2001 -- while wondering what the world might look like in the new millennium, and she in it. First of all, I dont want to have these freckles anymore, and I want this tooth straightened, and I hope I like the idea of being almost 30, she said. Maybe its because Ive met so many wonderful people who look a little different from the way I look -- maybe their skin, or their eyes, or their language is not like mine -- but I can picture them becoming my best friends. Maybe its because of these things that I think the year 2001 and the years that follow are going to be just great. The year 2001, of course, featured a deadly attack from the sky on the United States. It didnt come from Russia and, thank God, it wasnt a nuclear bomb. But Samantha Reed Smith didnt live to see the 21st century. She died, along with her father and four other souls, in a small plane crash in Auburn, Maine, in the summer of 1985. She was 13. Although her pen pal Yuri Andropov had passed away in early 1984, his place was taken by Mikhail Gorbachev, a man who understood that the Soviet system couldnt sustain its current path. In Ronald Reagan, Gorby found a willing partner for negotiations. Despite his critics caricatures of him, Reagan had been talking about arms reductions since 1976. The two leaders ultimately agreed to make the world safer by vastly reducing their nations' lethal arsenals. They were in agreement about something else, too. At Samanthas funeral in Augusta, Maine, an emissary from the Soviet Embassy read a statement from Gorbachev. Everyone in the Soviet Union who has known Samantha Smith, it said, will forever remember the image of the American girl who, like millions of Soviet young men and women, dreamt about peace, and about friendship between the peoples of the United States and the Soviet Union. Reagan penned a note of condolence to Jane Smith. Perhaps you can take some measure of comfort in the knowledge that millions of Americans, indeed millions of people, share the burdens of your grief, he wrote. They also will cherish and remember Samantha, her smile, her idealism and unaffected sweetness of spirit. Carl M. Cannon Washington Bureau chief, RealClearPolitics @CarlCannon (Twitter) ccannon@realclearpolitics.com Got some scoop for our reporters or editors? Click on the link below to send us your information. Send your news Contributed photo WOODBURY The Friends of Woodbury Senior Community Center will present a free concert, featuring the Haven String Quartet, Sunday, May 6 at 4 p.m. in Woodburys Senior Community Centers O & G Community Room. The Haven String Quartet has been featured in the New York Times and National Public Radio, and termed exquisite by the New Haven Register. Quartet members include violinists Yaira Matyakubova and Gregory Tompkins, violist Annalisa Boerner, and cellist Philip Boulanger STAMFORD When Anthony Spadaccini started working at the post office, a popular stamp featured a picture of the Stars & Stripes with Long May It Wave printed beneath. The flag on the 4-cent stamp had 48 stars Alaska and Hawaii werent even states yet. When Postal Service officials commemorated Spadaccini this week for his years on the job, they couldnt give him the traditional pin. The USPS doesnt make a pin for 60 years of service. Tonys going to get a plaque instead, area vice president Ed Phelan said during a ceremony at the Camp Avenue post office. Then Phelan read a proclamation. The last few words captured the 81-year-old Spadaccini, who still sorts his letters and packages, loads up his truck, and delivers mail eight hours a day, five days a week. Phelan cited Spadaccini for a continued job well done. Thats me, Spadaccini said. Im reliable, he said. Im consistent. He never calls in sick, fellow mail carrier Dominick Frattaroli said. Tony probably has three years of sick time on the books, Frattaroli said. All that goes away. Hell never see it. Thats fine with him, said Spadaccini, who began delivering mail when he was 19. I like working, he said. I like serving the public. His experience dates to days when postal workers, wearing badges and guns, brought mail out of New York to Stamford by train, stopping at the downtown rail station and branches in Glenbrook, Springdale and New Canaan. They sorted the mail on the way up. There would be two rail cars one for passengers, one for mail, Spadaccini said. They would get in around 2 a.m. and we would be there to pick up our mail. Then they would pick up our outgoing mail and sort that on the way back to New York. For most of his career Spadaccinis route has been in New Canaan, his hometown. The wealthy people would get their mail special delivery - that had to go the same day, he recalled. I would have special delivery mail by the sacks, lined up by street name. When Spadaccini started in 1957, mail carriers delivered to homes in the morning, then picked up mail for businesses and walked the same route to deliver that in the afternoon, often working more than 75 hours a week. Everything was hand-sorted, Spadaccini said. Mail was all over the place. Staying power As USPS officials Monday prepared for Spadaccinis ceremony in the sorting area of the Camp Avenue post office, fellow mail carriers ribbed him. Hey, Tony, how was it working for Ben Franklin? Franklin was the nations first postmaster general, appointed by the Continental Congress in 1775. During the ceremony, a union official pointed out that Spadaccinis first wage was $1.87 an hour. He probably still makes that, mail carriers joked. What do they think about hitting the 60-year mark? Its amazing, mail carrier Danny Thompson said. Ive been here 30 years. If I try to do what Tony did, Ill be 90 years old. I wont last that long. Its unreal, said carrier Michael Giordano, whose sorting station is beside Spadaccinis. Ive been here 33 years. Id have to be here another 27 years to match him. I couldnt do it. Its unbelievable, carrier Michael Pelazza said. I was 1 years old when Tony started working here, and I have 42 years with the post office. Its a remarkable achievement, said Philip Gioia, manager of post office operations. Tony knows his customers names, their kids names, their dogs names, Gioia said. Everybody - his customers, his peers - likes him. No date set David Mastroiani, manager of the USPS district that includes Connecticut, Rhode Island and half of Massachusetts - some 6,000 employees - said its not so much that Spadaccini is an octogenarian. Its the 60 years on the job. Thats the thing, Mastroiani said. This is the first one Ive seen, and Ive been with the post office 39 years. Several of the USPS officials who spoke said they werent born when Spadaccini began walking his route. Stamford Postmaster Jeffrey Salamon said his first assignment as a mail carrier was filling in for Spadaccini. I was his floater, Salamon said. Hes a great employee. Hes pleasant. He has a good attitude. Hes the guy who cares about his customers. I look up to him. After receiving his plaque, Spadaccini said a few words to his co-workers. Youre all nice people, he said. As long as you have your health and you can come to work, you come. He doesnt have a retirement date, Spadaccini said afterward. The doctor told me, Dont ever stand still, he said. Its true. Retire, and next thing, youre gone. acarella@stamfordadvocate.com. KENT The CT Antique Machinery Association (CAMA) presents its Spring Power-Up, a celebration of the machinery that made America great, May 5-6, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Giant steam engines, a steam locomotive, gas engines, farm tractors: CAMAs collection of steam and gas powered machinery will be in full operation on this day. Vendors will be selling a variety of old machinery, engines and tools. CAMAs museum campus on RTE 7 just north of Kent center, contains not just the largest collection of operating industrial steam engines in the state, but also separate collections devoted to large and small internal combustion engines, farm tractors and agricultural machinery, a narrow gauge railroad featuring Hawaii Railway Co. #5, a restored and operational 1925 steam locomotive, the CT Museum of Mining and Mineral Science, the historic Cream Hill Agricultural School, an operating blacksmith shop, and an operating sawmill exhibit. 12 exhibit buildings on 8 acres. For information call 860-927-0050 or check our website www.ctamachinery.com. Painting club to meet in May NEW HARTFORD Shades of Northwest Hills will meet on Friday, May 11th at 6:30 pm the South End Firehouse on Antolini Road in New Hartford. The program for the evening will be painting Freedom Cards which are hand painted wooden cards that contain a message of support to military personnel and their families. The cards provide a way for us to let those who have sacrificed for our freedom know how much it means to us. Members will paint a card of encouragement, sign the back and it is presented to a veteran or current member of the military who needs a lift. When the recipient is feeling better, he or she can put their own name on the back and pass it on to someone else to give them an emotional boost. The card is painted on a wooden surface so it is durable and can be passed on and on, making many lives brighter. Painters need to bring the usual painting supplies. The club will provide the cards, patterns and the paints. Interested painters can contact Lisa at 860-413-9878 for more information. The project and additional information can be found at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shades-of-Northwest-Hills/328349210522724 Flanders to hold annual 5K run WOODBURY Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust will hold the fourth annual Field & Forest 5 K trail run on Friday, June 8, 6 p.m. at the Flanders Van Vleck sanctuary. All ages and skill levels of runners, joggers and walkers are welcome to register for the 3.1 mile run/walk through the trails and rolling hills of the nature center. After the race participants will enjoy a celebration with food trucks and stations which include La Tavola pizza truck, pulled pork sliders from Bantams Woods Pit BBQ, a burger station, the Comfort Zone truck which offers an array of specialty toppings on pretzels, and beer from Woodbury Brewing Company. Live music will be provided by the popular local rock band, Root Six. A registration fee of $35 for 13 years or older includes the run or walk, two food truck items and for those over age 21, a complimentary craft beer. This fee goes up to $40 between June 1 and June 7 and to $45 on race day. For younger walkers and runners age 12 and under, the fee is $30 through June 7 or $35 the day of the race which also includes the vouchers for food items. Online fees are extra. Additional food and drinks will be available for purchase by spectators and participants. Those signing up before May 6 will receive a performance race t-shirt. Awards will be given to top male and female finishers overall as well as in 8 age categories ranging from age under 10 to over 60. For full information and to register online go to flandersnaturecenter.org and click on the trail run box on the homepage. The race will begin promptly at 6 p.m. and will be held rain or shine; however, Flanders reserves the right to cancel in the case of lightening. The event cannot accommodate strollers or pets on the course. Race organizers thank their major event sponsors which include: Aquarian Water Company, Bank Of America, Crossfit Strongtown, Michael Friedman Orthodontics, Dr. William Filchak, Homes by Heather, Ion Bank, Main Street Financial Group, Quassy, Thule, Webster Bank, Westover School, and Woodbury Brewing Company, the beer sponsor, all whom have lent generous support to this Flanders event. Wine and Weep Program explores mourning artifacts LITCHFIELD The Litchfield Historical Society opened a new exhibit, To Weep with Those Who Weep: Mourning Practices in Litchfield on April 14, but many artifacts and documents were left out. The society invites you to mourn their exclusion, members said, during Wine and Weep, on Tuesday, May 1 from 5:30-7 p.m. Although important to the story of mourning in Litchfield, these objects and documents were not included because of their size and format. The society wants to recognize their purpose and mourn their life in storage. Guests can learn more about these objects and documents with a presentation by the Historical Societys Curator and Archivist. Wine and cheese will be served. Wine and Weep is $20 for members and $30 for non-members. Space is limited and registration is required. Payment is required with registration. To register, call 860-567-4501 or email registration@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org. For more information about this or other programs, visit www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org. The Litchfield Historical Society is located at 7 South St., Litchfield. The museums are open mid-April through November. The Litchfield Historical Society receives no funding from the town. In an effort to better serve the community, the Litchfield History Museum and the Tapping Reeve House & Law School offer free admission for all, sponsored by Ericson Insurance Advisors. Unwind benefits Warren Public Library The Warren Public Library will host Unwind - a benefit event of wine, cheese, and chocolate pairings on Saturday, May 12 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Hopkins Vineyard in Warren, CT. This fundraiser will feature Arethusa Farm cheeses and Thorncrest Farm & Milk House chocolates paired with select Hopkins Vineyard wines. A collection of themed gift baskets will be up for silent auction and delicious hors doeuvres will be served. Live acoustic music by Steven Christofor of Ridgefield CT will round out the evening. Presale tickets $20/person are available at the Warren Library. Tickets will be sold at the door the day of the event $25/person. All proceeds will benefit the Warren Public Library. For more information visit warrenctlibrary.org or call the library at 860-868-2195. Exploring simultaneous fiscal support initiatives for OECS governments given their income support measures to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic Social Share by Kwame Venner Worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has left a trail of destruction in its path, including but not limited to plummeting business and government revenues and significant layoffs and/or salary cuts for a multitude of workers. Some notable adverse effects of the pandemic in the OECS sub-region include: A dramatic decline in government revenues, of approximately 50%. Redundancy of thousands of tourism sector workers. The temporary closure of non-essential businesses and concomitant effects. To cushion the adverse impact of the pandemic on the socioeconomic landscape, many of the affected countries have devised income support packages which are being funded and implemented by their social security schemes. These packages are meant to provide temporary income relief and cost tens of millions of dollars to implement. In addition, the governments of the affected territories have provided a wide variety of economic concessions to alleviate the plight of households and businesses. The provision of these concessions will undoubtedly result in tremendous government revenue losses. Neither the social security schemes nor the governments can sustain these worthy initiatives because the scale of financial and human resources required to do so will become overwhelming over time, bearing in mind that these initiatives are not the primary mandates of these entities. Given the transitory nature of the income support measures instituted and the need to continue the discussion on suitable country-specific socioeconomic reforms to move forward on a sustainable path, the countries could consider, in the interim, conscientiously and expeditiously resuming economic activity whilst simultaneously adopting a disciplined approach to adhering to the relevant health protocols designed to control the spread of COVID-19. Adhering to health protocols is very important to: Contain the transmission of the coronavirus which causes the COVID-19 disease. Gain citizens trust and confidence that it will be safe to resume daily activities, which in turn ensures, critically, that the economic recovery is sustained. The conscientious resumption of economic activity would reverse the trend of social and economic suffering and minimise the need for income support programmes funded by social security schemes or loans and/or grants from internal or external sources. It would also negate the need for governments to maintain the excessive levels of economic concessions which, given the resultant high revenue losses incurred, would handicap governments ability to satisfactorily fund administrative operations and development agendas. Citizens of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) can be assured that its regional bodies, i.e. the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and the OECS Commission, will be committed to steadfastly and diligently providing the necessary technical guidance to the member states on medium-to-long-term strategies for responding to the adverse effects of the pandemic. In the circumstances, a joint fiscal support initiative for the governments could be considered by the independent members of the OECS. This could be treated as a first phase of intervention given these members unhindered ability to negotiate with foreign countries and entities. Such negotiating authority is not available to the non-independent territories in the OECS. Key representatives from the countries respective Ministries of Finance could meet to discuss the make-up of this joint fiscal support initiative, which ultimately would be duly deliberated upon and approved by our political leadership. Our Ministries of Finance have developed the requisite experience and expertise in public sector financial management through continual training, counsel and application of prudent fiscal policy over many years. The programme would be constructed bearing in mind a lifespan of at least six (6) months that would satisfy the immediate requirements/priorities of government expenditure, including but not limited to: 1. Employee wages and salaries. 2. Utility payments. 3. Public infrastructure repairs and maintenance. 4. Procurement of goods and services. 5. Rental payments for properties housing government offices. 6. Social sector subventions. The group approach to the design and management of the initiative would give the prospective donor countries/agencies great confidence in the quality of the programme and in the ability of the group to efficiently administer it, given the pooling of the various countries relevant human resources. The funding sources that could be explored include: 1. Regional and international agencies, e.g. Caribbean Development Bank, World Bank and International Monetary Fund which, given their AAA investment ratings, can generate funding at low interest rates. 2. Friendly countries which have enjoyed decades of economic success and with whom our countries have strong international political and economic relations, e.g. Canada. 3. A combination of funding from the options described in (1) and (2). A country is not meant to stop working, and must continue to interact with the rest of the world. Our countries need to arrive at the point where health protocols are adhered to and operations can resume. Although this may have to be phased in, time is of the essence, because our citizens and our public and private sector operations are in distress. Notwithstanding the adverse developments forced upon our countries, all stakeholders must be very mindful that the successful resumption of economic activity is contingent upon the establishment of a harmonious relationship between our governments and citizenry. In this relationship, the stakeholders must be resolutely committed to containing and controlling the transmission of the coronavirus. Kwame Venner is an Economist If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). The editor of a prominent Maoist website was the tour leader, and among the 36 people killed when their tour bus crashed in North Korea at the weekend, RFA has learned. The tour to the secretive Stalinist regime had been run by a company known as Spark Travel operated by the leftist website Utopia, and Diao Weiming, its editor-in-chief, was killed in Sunday's crash in North Hwanghae province, the company confirmed on Wednesday. "Yes, that's right, it was our tour group," an employee who answered the phone at Spark Travel said. Asked if Diao, who is also the general manager of Spark Travel, had died in the crash, she said: "Yes, that's right, he did." She said the company is still awaiting further news on handling the aftermath of the accident, which North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said brought him "uncontrollable grief." Kim visited the two Chinese survivors of the crash in hospital this week, and visited the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang to "express his deep sympathy," North Korean state media reported. The "unexpected accident brought bitter sorrow to his heart and that he couldn't control his grief at the thought of the bereaved families who lost their blood relatives," the official KCNA news agency reported. Thirty-two Chinese tourists were killed in the crash, according to the foreign affairs ministry in Beijing. Four North Koreans were also among the dead. China said it had sent a "working group," including medical personnel, to North Korea in the wake of the accident. The Spark Travel website bills its North Korea tours as a symbol of the "great friendship cemented by the blood relationship between the people of China and the DPRK." "Travel deep into this mysterious country; to the cities, countryside and schools of North Korea, and remember the volunteer martyrs," the website says, in a reference to the People's Volunteers, Chinese troops who fought on the communist side during the Korean War (1950-1953). "Visit the beautiful mountains of Korea, and feel the tensions at the 38th parallel," it says. The tour group had departed the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong for North Korea on Apr. 18 for a seven-day "revolutionary tour" costing 5,900 yuan per person. Maoist left The Maoist left in China is sometimes unhappy with rampant official corruption and the growing gap between the ruling elite and the people, a stance which has left them at odds with the ruling Chinese Communist Party at times. The administration of President Xi Jinping has shut down a number of Maoist websites in recent years, including Utopia, but has generally allowed them to re-open after politically sensitive events, such as the trial of leftist icon and former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai in 2013. However, Utopia's main site was unavailable at its usual web address on Wednesday. Prominent leftist and Peking University professor Kong Qingdong tweeted his condolences and grief over the bus crash earlier this week, but his post was later deleted by government censors. Most the some 100,000 people who visit North Korea as tourists annually are Chinese nationals. Tourists may only travel on predetermined and choreographed tours, and are generally under the watchful eye of officials at all times. Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Wang Zhimin (C), Beijing's envoy to Hong Kong, speaks at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, April 23, 2018. Hong Kong and Chinese officials have once more sounded a warning note to anyone wishing to stand for election in the former British colony, with "no guarantees" that anyone calling for democracy in China won't be excluded from public life. "It is very difficult for the Chief Executive to foresee what will happen in the future and ensure or guarantee anything," Chief Executive Carrie Lam told journalists this week. "Is it right to talk about one-party dictatorship [in China]? As for the consequences of shouting such slogans, it is also difficult for me to answer here concretely or with assurance," she said. But she added: "I think it is a reasonable argument that we should also respect the fact that mainland China is a socialist society." Her comments came after Hong Kong's only delegate to the National People's Congress (NPC) standing committee, Tam Yiu-chung, suggested that people who call for an end to one-party rule in China should be barred from standing for election in Hong Kong. And on Wednesday, the former head of Beijing's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Wang Guangya, said calls for an end to one-party rule are illegal and unconstitutional. He also warned that those calling for an end to one-party rule could be prevented from standing for election to the city's Legislative Council (LegCo). "They probably shouldn't be allowed, because this view goes against our national constitution, and would be an illegal act," Wang told reporters. "It is laid down in the constitution that China is governed by the Chinese Communist Party." "As to whether we are a dictatorship, it's pretty clear what such slogans are driving at," he said. Last month, former student protest leader Agnes Chow, now a member of the fledgling political party Demosisto, was disqualified from running in an election, because her political views were judged to be pro-independence. The barring of certain candidates because of their political views sparked widespread criticism among barristers, rights groups and politicians, as well as among former British and Hong Kong officials, who said the move was a blow to democracy and freedom of expression in the former British colony. But an extension of the ban to include calls for a democratic China would make it much harder for pro-democracy politicians and rights activists who have made the demand in the past to stand for election, regardless of their views on independence. Irresponsible comments Calls for an end to "one-party dictatorship" in China are often heard at the annual June 4 vigil to mark the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in Hong Kong. Democracy campaigner Joseph Cheng, a former political science professor at City University, said Tam's comments were "irresponsible," however. "Returning officers [who administer elections] aren't part of the judiciary or officials of the justice department," Cheng told RFA. "These deputies to the NPC have no concept of what the rule of law means," he said. "They are acting irresponsibly and trying to put invisible pressure on the people of Hong Kong," he said. "There is already enough forbidden speech that can rule you out of standing in elections." "What they are doing goes against the basic principles of human rights, and as such is unacceptable," Cheng said. Raymond Chan, a pro-democracy lawmaker for the People Power coalition, said he and other pan-democrats had boycotted a meeting with Beijing's Hong Kong envoy Wang Zhimin on Wednesday, choosing instead to demonstrate outside. "The last thing we need is to put on a show to maintain an atmosphere of harmony and reconciliation, so we chose to demonstrate outside," Chan said. "[Beijing] is just doing this for show, and because they are hoping for more support for their legislation in LegCo, not for a genuine dialogue with lawmakers," he said. Reported by Gao Feng for RFA's Mandarin Service and by Lam Kwok-lap for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. North Koreans in Pyongyang watch a huge outdoor screen showing the test launch of intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 in a photo released by Korean Central News Agency on July 5, 2017. Many North Koreans are highly skeptical of a decision by the regime to abandon its nuclear tests and missile development in the run-up to leader Kim Jong Uns meetings with his counterparts from archenemies South Korea and the United States, sources inside the country said. The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the ruling an Workers Party, and North Korean Central Television announced on April 21 that the regime was freezing nuclear tests and closing test sites, a source from North Pyongan province told RFAs Korean service. According to the announcement, [North Korea] no longer needs to conduct nuclear tests or test ballistic rocket missiles, and the nuclear test sites in the northern area have completed their missions, said the source who declined to be named. Residents who heard the news find it odd. The Workers Party has been propagandizing for decades that the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea can maintain its dignity with nuclear power, he said, using the countrys official name. If it suddenly halts nuclear development, then we wonder if the state has decided to submit to U.S. and international pressure, he said. They [Workers Party members] say it [the decision] is to improve peoples lives, but dont they say that all the time? Some citizens who do not read the Rodong Sinmun or have access to state television are not aware of the announcement, he added. The news comes days before Kim meets South Korean President Moon Jae-in in a village just south of the Demilitarized Zone, the official border between the two countries, which are still technically at war with each other. The meeting will be the third such summit between leaders of the two nations after the division of the Korean peninsula into North and South at the end of the Korean War (1950-53). U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Kim in May or June to discuss their differences over Pyongyangs nuclear weapons and missile program. That meeting will be the first summit between any North Korean leader and a U.S. president. Peace depends on guns Under former leader Kim Jong Il, father of the current leader, the rogue regime invested in a nuclear weapons program even as up to 3 million North Koreans starved during the Great Famine and an accompanying economic crisis that occurred from 1994 to 1998. Even when hundreds of thousands were dying during the North Korean famine, the state invested in its nuclear program and rocket missiles, saying, Peace depends on guns, the source said. There was no concern for peoples lives, he said. The party repeated its false propaganda for decades telling residents that we all will be having rice and soup with meat and that we should go along the rough roads with a smile, the source said. North Korea is now grappling with the impact of United Nations sanctions, backed by its longtime ally China, as punishment for its development and launch of a ballistic missile that Pyongyang said is capable of striking the U.S. mainland. The sanctions place caps on the import of crude oil, and on refined oil products, such as diesel and kerosene that are crucial to North Koreas economy. They also impose a ban on the export of a range of products, including food, machinery, electrical equipment, wood, earth, and stones, to other countries. The lives of the people are getting worse because of China and the international sanctions, the source said. I doubt if the international sanctions will soon be eased on account of the nuclear test freeze and nuclear test site closings. Enjoying better lives A Pyongyang resident who recently visited Dandong in northeastern Chins Liaoning province, raised doubts that Pyongyang could totally abandon its nuclear weapons program. I am not sure if our country can seriously give up the nuclear program, but its true that we desperately need the immediate easing of sanctions and the resumption of foreign investment, said the source who declined to be named. Many Pyongyang citizens say that if we had not withdrawn from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [NPT] in 2003, and that if we had received a light-water reactor and heavy fuel oil support from the U.S. and from the international community, we would be enjoying better lives. Signatories of the international treaty agree to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and work towards nuclear disarmament. When North Korea withdrew from the 1968 treaty, under which it was prohibited from manufacturing nuclear weapons, it intensified the nuclear-weapons crisis on the Korean peninsula as the country again began operating its nuclear facilities. When Pyongyang previously announced an intention to withdrawal from the NPT, Washington worked out an agreement with the country in 1994 under which North Korea agreed to temporarily freeze the operation and construction of nuclear reactors suspected of being part of a covert weapons program in exchange for two nuclear power reactors and fuel oil supplies from the U.S. The agreement fell apart in 2002. A major diplomatic effort known as the Six-Party Talks launched in August 2003 by China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, and the U.S. initially hit breakthroughs when Pyongyang said it would abandon its nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and return to the NPT. But the talks collapsed in 2009 following disagreements over verification and a widely condemned North Korean rocket launch. Pyongyang citizens these days are well aware of the fact that if we give up our nuclear program and if we interact with the U.S. or South Korea, it will make us an economically stronger country, the source from Pyongyang said. But will the countrys highest dignitary [Kim Jong Un] ever truly admit South Koreas development and make a decision to begin North-South exchanges? he asked. Reported by Hyemin Son for RFAs Korea Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Days ahead of a planned summit meeting between the leaders of long-time adversaries North and South Korea, observers are mixed on whether a commitment by the North to fully dismantling its nuclear weapons program should be a prerequisite to a negotiations on a formal end to the Korean War. On Friday, Kim Jong Un will become the first leader of North Korea to cross the demilitarized zone separating his country from the South, when he meets with South Koreas President Moon Jae-in at the South-administered side of the Panmunjom truce village straddling the border. The South has said that discussions are underway between the two Koreas and the U.S. to bring a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, placing new importance on this weeks summit, which comes ahead of an expected meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump at a time and place yet to be determined. Kim recently announced that North Korea no longer needs to test nuclear weapons or long-range missiles and will close its main nuclear testing site, and would instead focus on rebuilding the countrys economy, which has stagnated under international sanctions leveled in response to the tests. Kim has also said that he is willing to negotiate with the U.S. on giving up his countrys nuclear arms, and he and Moon are expected to focus Fridays talks on denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. But questions have arisen over what the North might concede in exchange for an end to sanctions and guarantees of peace, particularly since Pyongyang has previously vowed to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons, only to renege on its promises despite receiving massive amounts of aid from the South. Song Dae-sung, the former president of the Sejong Institute in Seoul, recently told RFAs Korean Service that North Koreas complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) must be a prerequisite to any talks between the two sides about replacing the 1953 armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War with a formal peace treaty. [So far] there has been no talk about the removal of North Koreas nuclear capabilities, which is the main reason for the ongoing conflict, Song said. A declaration [of the end of the war] can be done only after building a trustworthy relationship through a number of steps, and when we can confirm that there is no possible threat of war, based on the trust-building process. At this point, the conflict and the cause of war remain. Cho Seong-ryoul, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul, said however that a formal end to the war could be used as method to build trust between the North and the South. In the process of negotiating denuclearization, if North Korea shows concerns about the security of its system, it will be necessary to utilize a declaration of the end of the war, he said. Such a declaration would help to smooth the road to North Koreas complete denuclearization. Sue Mi Terry, senior fellow and Korea Chair at the Washington-based Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS), said she expects the Moon-Kim summit to go pretty well, but acknowledged that little is likely to come from the meeting. I think they are going to discuss denuclearization and how they could achieve a peaceful settlement, said Terry, who is also a former Korea analyst for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and former Korea director for the U.S. National Security Council (NSC). But I dont expect too much out of it, honestly, unless Moon can get Kim to clarify that denuclearization means North Korea is truly willing to give up nuclear weapons. US summit Other experts also looked ahead to the planned meeting between Kim and Trump, suggesting that an agreement to full disarmament by North Korea was essential if Pyongyang expects any concessions from Washington. Dennis Wilder, former special assistant to the president and senior director for East Asian Affairs at the NSC, said that while both sides have made a very serious effort, the Trump administration is not going to accept what previous administrations accepted and would only settle on a big agreement that has to involve the CVID of North Korea. If theres a serious agreement, then I think the Trump administration is going to be willing to go to some sort of peace treaty, and the discussion about a reduction in USFK (U.S. forces stationed in South Korea), sequenced with a reduction of both the conventional and nuclear threat from North Korea, and an end to that threat over time. Wilder noted that Trump has not committed to a summit yet, because the U.S. wants to make sure that were not having the same kind of negotiations weve had too often with North Korea, which have been fruitless. The goal is to make Kim understand that were not meeting unless hes seriously going to negotiate complete denuclearization, and if hes not serious about that, there wont be a meeting, he added. Cheon Seong-hoon, the former president of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, said that Trumps decision to meet with Kim is based on North Koreas denuclearization and nuclear removal. North Koreas [definition of] denuclearization will be the ultimate deciding factor. Rights issue Observers also said that Fridays summit must include the issue of human rights violations in the North, where people regularly struggle to earn enough to feed their families, dissent is crushed, and authorities imprison vast numbers of people in concentration camps for minor transgressions. Kim Young-ja, the director of the Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights in Seoul, told RFA that the summit presents an opportunity for the South to help alleviate the suffering of North Koreans. As North Koreans endure human rights violations, finding a way to help them is the true meaning of the North-South talks, he said. Kang Cheol-hwan, president of the Seoul-based North Korea Strategy Center, said the biggest issue at stake in dealing with the North is the lives of its people, who exist in a dictatorship where they suffer from human rights abuses and lack of freedom. North Koreas nuclear issue is just a means to an end for the countrys oppressive government, said Kang, who spent a decade as a child in a notorious prison camp in Yodok, North Korea. If [Moon and Kim] only talk about the nuclear issue at the summit, it means there are no concerns for the lives of North Korean residents. Reported by RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Despite two years of rule by a reform-minded political party, the National League for Democracy, the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar continues to see a drop in press freedoms, with a six-point drop in ranking over the last year in an annual survey released on Wednesday by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Cambodia meanwhile dropped 10 places to 142 in RSFs 180-nation ranking this year, while China and Vietnam remained close to the bottom at 176 and 175 in rankings unchanged from last year, the groups 2018 World Press Freedom Index said. Also unchanged, with rankings close to or at the very bottom of the survey, were Laos at 170 and North Korea at 180. In formerly military-ruled Myanmar, the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi has lost all credibility in regards to its obligation to defend the role of the media in a functioning democracy, RSF said in its report. After a four-point drop from 128 to 131 noted in last years report, which cited frequent self-censorship in reporting on government figures and the countrys powerful military, Myanmar saw further press-freedom violations this year resulting in a fall to 137, the rights group said. The worst violations took place after the start of the Rohingya crisis in August 2017, RSF said. The international community now knows that elements of genocide and ethnic cleansing occurred, to use the UNs terms. But proper reporting on this tragedy from within Myanmar is still impossible because the military continue to deny access. Set up by police Meanwhile, two Reuters journalists who were reporting on the crisis, and who were found in possession of documents describing military operations after being set up by the police, are currently on trial and face possible prison terms of up to 14 years. In Cambodia, moves against press freedoms by Prime Minister Hun Sen, including the closing of more than 30 independent media outlets, caused a 10-point drop in the countrys ranking, from 132 to 142, RSF said in its report. His suppression of independent voices, his increased dominance of the mass media and his meticulous control of social media are a disturbing echo of the methods used in China, which has invested millions of euros in Cambodias pro-government media. Chinas methods have now formed a model of state-controlled news and information increasingly copied not only in Cambodia but also in Vietnam, which at a ranking of 175 is just one point above China in the RSF Index. [Vietnams] traditional media are completely controlled, but citizen-journalists defend the freedom to inform with great courageand the governments response has been merciless, the rights group says. Bloggers used to be sentenced to two years in prison, but now those who blog about banned subjects such as corruption or environmental disasters can expect a 15-year jail term, according to the RSF report. Thirty-two ethnic Kachin civil society organizations urged the United Nations on Wednesday to refer the Myanmar military to the International Criminal Court for what they say are human rights violations against civilians and the denial of humanitarian assistance by soldiers in Kachin state. Our people have been subject to numerous violations of international law, including executions, torture, forced displacement, forced labor, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, confiscations of property, arbitrary arrest and detention, and denial of humanitarian assistance, the Kachin groups said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council. These types of human rights violations are not new to the Kachin people or to other ethnic groups in Burma, it said, using Myanmar's former name. The Burma military has used these tactics to instill fear and control in their attempts to destroy our ethnic identity, destroy our religion, colonize our lands, and steal our natural resources. Members of the United Nations Security Council must support a resolution referring Burma to the International Criminal Court, said the organizations, which included Kachin groups in Myanmar, other Asian countries, Europe, Canada, and Australia. The groups also said that the international community, including members of the Security Council, had failed in their duty to uphold international law. They also pointed out that the U.N. has documented crimes committed by the Myanmar army in Kachin and neighboring Shan state for decades. The groups urged the U.N. to proceed with the appointment of a special envoy to Myanmar and immediately send that person to Kachin state to negotiate free movement and humanitarian access, which have been denied by the Myanmar military. They also expressed a desire for China, India, the United States, and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to mediate talks for a resolution of the prolonged civil war in the state. They suggested that an international or regional peacekeeping mission be appointed to Kachin state to enforce any repositioning of soldiers and to protect civilians. 'The last straw' The Myanmar military and Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic armed group, have engaged in skirmishes since 2011, when a 17-year bilateral cease-fire agreement between the two sides broke down. Over the years, the hostilities have displaced more than 90,000 people who have sought safety in Buddhist monasteries, Christian churches, or displaced persons camps in the state. A recent uptick in fighting in Hpakant and Tanaing townships have driven another 2,000 ethnic Kachin villagers from their homes and into nearby jungles this month. Earlier this week, KIA and Myanmar army soldiers clashed near Kasong village in Namti township, forcing about 2,000 civilians to take refuge in churches in Namti, Myanmars Mizzima news outlet reported on Thursday. The government hasnt paid any attention to Kachin region, a woman named Khonja who is a member of the Kachin Peace Network told RFAs Myanmar Service. The new president hasnt done anything that he said he would do in his speech, she said, referring to President Myint Wins inauguration speech on March 30 during which pledged to implement democracy and human rights. Neither any political party nor parliament has done anything for ethnic Kachins, so that the situation is that the Kachin people have to deal directly with the government army, she said. Thats why we have tried this method, asking the U.N. Security Council to refer Myanmar to the ICC as the last straw. A reference to the Rohingya In their letter to the Security Council, the Kachin groups pointed out that the U.N. has stated that atrocities committed by the military against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state in late 2016 and early 2017 amounted to ethnic cleansing and demonstrated elements of genocide. Thousands of Rohingya were killed in the crackdown and nearly 700,000 others fled to Bangladesh. Earlier this month, an ICC prosecutor asked the tribunals judges to rule on whether the body can exercise jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of the Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh, a possible crime against humanity, She raised the jurisdiction issue because Bangladesh is a member of the ICC, while Myanmar is not. Though the Myanmar government said the extension of jurisdiction is not in line with the ICC Charter or other international statutes to which the country is not a party, the pre-trial chamber agreed to hold a hearing on the issue during which Myanmar and other interested parties could state their views on the question of jurisdiction. The KIA is one of several militias with which the Myanmar government is trying to end decades of ethnic separatist civil wars and forge peace in the country through a series of peace negotiations launched in August 2016 by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the KIAs political wing, has not signed the governments nationwide cease-fire agreement that eight of the countrys more than 20 ethnic armies inked in October 2015, with two more having joined since then. The Myanmar military has accused the KIA of illegally using the areas natural resources and taking money from mining businesses that should otherwise go to the state, while the ethnic militia believes the government army has stepped up its attacks on rebel-held territory in hopes of gaining control before the next round of peace negotiations. Reported by Thiha Tun for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Myanmar Police Captain Moe Yan Naing (C) leaves court after testifying in the ongoing trial of two detained journalists in Yangon, April 20, 2018. Myanmar authorities continue to refuse family access to a detained policeman who revealed the setup of two Reuters journalists, contradicting a statement by a police spokesman who said they could visit the officer after he testified that a police official ordered the reporters entrapment, the officers brother said Wednesday. Police Captain Moe Yan Naing testified on April 20 in Yangons Northern District Court that Police Brigadier General Tin Ko Ko ordered officers to set up reporters Thet Oo Maung, also known as Wa Lone, and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were investigating the murders of Rohingya Muslim civilians by the Myanmar military during a crackdown in Rakhine state Police arrested the pair of reporters on Dec. 12 on the outskirts of Yangon shortly after they had dinner with two police officers who gave them documents related to the crackdown. They were formally charged on Jan. 10 with obtaining state secrets and face up to 14 years in prison if found guilty. Police had identified Moe Yan Naing, who was serving in the paramilitary 8th Security Police Battalion outside Yangon, as one of two officers allegedly involved in the case, and arrested him on Dec. 12. He faces up to two years in jail and dismissal on police misconduct charges. A day after Moe Yan Naing testified about the entrapment in court on April 20, authorities ordered his wife and three children to move out of a police housing complex. On Wednesday, his family went to the 8th Security Police Battalion, where Moe Yan Naing is being held, after police spokesman Colonel Myo Thu Soe told RFAs Myanmar Service a day earlier that his relatives would be allowed to see him. But authorities turned them away. They told us to wait a little while because they had to report to top level police leaders, said Ye Wint Naing, Moe Yan Naings brother. We waited for more than an hour. After that, a policeman came back to the gate and told us that my brother was not there, he said. When we asked him where my brother was, he said he didnt know. He said the only thing he knew was that my brother was being detained in a safe place. The officer also did not allow the family to leave food they brought for Moe Yan Naing, Ye Wint Naing said. RFA was unable to contact Myo Thu Soe by phone on Wednesday for comment. Earlier this week, Myanmars National Human Rights Commission requested that the Ministry of Home Affairs protect Moe Yan Naings rights, including the right to see his family members while he is being detained. Hostile, unreliable witness During the ongoing trial of the two Reuters reporters in Yangon on Wednesday, prosecutors asked the court to declare Moe Yan Naing a hostile and unreliable witness because they said he told a different story to police when he was arrested. The officer had been a witness for the prosecution when he gave sworn testimony that the two journalists had been framed. We, the reporters lawyers, asked the court not to declare Moe Yan Naing an unreliable witness, said attorney Thyan Zaw Aung after the hearing. We dont know what the judge will decide on it next week, but we stated our arguments and submitted detailed documents. If the judge doesnt declare him an unreliable witness, he will remain a government witness, said Khin Maung Zaw, another attorney representing the two journalists. If thats the case, then prosecutors cant cross-examine him, he said. Only we can cross-examine him. The judge said he will decide on May 2 whether the officer was credible during his previous testimony. Myanmar's treatment of the press caused Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to drop the country to 137 in its annual 180-nation ranking this year. The government led by Aung San Suu Kyi has lost all credibility in regards to its obligation to defend the role of the media in a functioning democracy, RSF said in its report. In the meantime, more than 40 civil society organization are preparing to send an open letter to President Win Myint calling for justice for Moe Yan Naing and the two reporters. Reported by Htet Arkar and Thiri Min Zin for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Authorities in northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have detained prominent Uyghur professor and poet Abdulqadir Jalaleddin and are believed to be holding him in one of the regions many political re-education camps, according to a local official. On Monday, Munich-based World Uyghur Congress issued a statement condemning the detention of Jalaleddin, citing reports that police had raided his home on Jan. 29, placed a black hood over his head and arrested him. The Chinese government has provided no justification for his arrest and he has not been publicly charged with any crime, despite his continued detention, the statement said, adding that Jalaleddin is among many Uyghur writers, scholars, academics and journalists held in the XUAR. The WUC urged the international community to push back against these efforts and raise such cases to ensure accountability for human rights violations in the region. The statement followed reports last month from RFA listeners, as well as from the Munich-based East Turkistan Information Centre, that Jalaleddina lecturer at the Xinjiang Pedagogical University in the XUAR capital Urumqihad been arrested by Chinese State Security Police. Officials who answered calls from RFAs Uyghur Service to Urumqis Tengritagh (in Chinese, Tianshan) District Police Station, Ulanbay District Police Station, and Xinjiang Normal University in recent days said they were unaware of Jalaleddins detention and refused to answer further questions. But an official who answered the phone at a branch office of the Xinjiang Pedagogical University Security Department told RFA that the professor hadnt been seen since classes broke for winter vacationaround three months earlier. We saw him before the winter vacation, but since we returned from holiday we havent seen him, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. We heard that he has been taken for re-education. The university knows about it, but we have not been officially informed yet. The official referred further questions to Feng Wenchang, the head of political affairs for the universitys Public Security Office. During a telephone interview, Feng checked a list of arrested university staff and confirmed that Jalaleddin had been detained. I can see here that he was taken away by the Urumqi State Security Police on Jan. 29, he said, adding that no other information was available about his case. Vast network Since April 2017, Uyghurs accused of harboring strong religious views and politically incorrect views have been jailed or detained in re-education camps throughout the XUAR, where members of the ethnic group have long complained of pervasive discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression under Chinese rule. China's central government authorities have not publicly acknowledged the existence of re-education camps in the XUAR, and the number of inmates kept in each facility remains a closely guarded secret, but local officials in many parts of the region have in RFA telephone interviews forthrightly described sending significant numbers of Uyghurs to the camps and even described overcrowding in some facilities. Maya Wang of the New York-based Human Rights Watch told The Guardian in January that estimates of XUAR residents who had spent time in the camps went as high as 800,000, while at least one Uyghur exile group estimates that up to 1 million Uyghurs have been detained throughout the region since April 2017, and some Uyghur activists say nearly every Uyghur household has been affected by the campaign. On the same day Jalaleddin was detained, RFA received reports that prominent Uyghur Islamic scholar Muhammad Salih Hajim had died in Chinese police custody, some 40 days after he was detained at a re-educaiton camp in Urumqi. The exact circumstances of his death are unknown, but sources have suggested Hajim was subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment during his detention. Since Xinjiang party chief Chen was appointed to his post in August 2016, he has initiated unprecedented repressive measures against the Uyghur people and ideological purges against so-called two-faced Uyghur officialsa term applied by the government to Uyghurs who do not willingly follow directives and exhibit signs of disloyalty. China regularly conducts strike hard campaigns in Xinjiang, including police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people, including videos and other material. While China blames some Uyghurs for "terrorist" attacks, experts outside China say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from the Uyghurs and that repressive domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence there that has left hundreds dead since 2009. Reported by by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur Service. Translated by RFA's Uyghur Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. The Afghan Taliban has announced the launch of its annual spring offensive. In a statement released online on April 25, the militant group said the offensive will be "mainly focused on crushing, killing, and capturing American invaders." It said the Americans' "internal supporters" -- the Afghan government and troops -- are considered secondary priorities. The Taliban announcement comes amid a new wave of attacks across Afghanistan. At least 11 Afghan soldiers and police officers were killed on April 24 in separate Taliban attacks in Farah and Ghazni provinces. On April 23, Taliban militants attacks in western Afghanistan killed 18 soldiers and police officers. Separately, an April 22, a suicide bombing in Kabul claimed by the Islamic State extremist group killed 60 people. Based on reporting by AP and dpa YEREVAN -- Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinian says he has warned acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetian against imposing a state of emergency as new antigovernment protests erupted on the streets of Yerevan. In a rally in the central Republic Square late on April 25, Pashinian also claimed that some lawmakers within the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) were ready to drop Karapetian and support a "people's candidate" as the Caucasus country's new prime minister. Pashinian also claimed that Karapetian was not "backed" by Russia, which is Armenia's main ally, and that he had received assurances from Russian officials that Moscow would not intervene in Yerevan's internal affairs. Pashinian warned Karapetian that "the people will blockade" the parliament building if he tries to nominate a new candidate for prime minister. "From this moment, I also warn Karen Karapetian not to even enter any government building," Pashinian told the rally. "We, the people, have won, and no one can dare doubt this fact." The comments came after the long-dominant Republican Party's junior partner decided to quit the alliance with the governing coalition, dealing a blow to the HHK, which opponents accuse of clinging to power after its leader quit the prime minister's post following nearly two weeks of demonstrations. "Bearing in mind the current situation, we announce the termination of our participation in the political coalition," the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, also known as Dashnaktsutyun, said in a statement, adding that parliament should elect a prime minister who "enjoys the people's confidence." Dashnaktsutyun is the junior partner with the HHK in parliament with seven seats. The HHK has 58 in the 105-seat parliament, meaning it could still hold power if it has no defections among its members. However, the splintering of the ruling coalition could be cause for concern for the government amid continuing protests over the HHK's hold on power and as other political forces began to take sides. An opposition bloc announced on April 25 that it would officially nominate Pashinian as the next prime minister. Armenian opposition figures rejoiced at the resignation on April 23 of longtime leader Serzh Sarkisian following 11 days of demonstrations. But many critics demanded that the HHK also cede power to prevent Sarkisian from ruling Armenia as de facto head of a "shadow government." The catalyst for the protests was Sarkisian's shift to the newly powerful post of prime minister after a decade as president -- a move critics charged was a blatant bid to cling to power when he reached the limit of two straight presidential terms. Pashinian on April 25 launched a fresh demonstration on the streets of the capital after the cancelation of planned talks between himself and acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetian, a senior HHK member who said he rejected Pashinian's conditions for the negotiations. Police were deployed in the city center as the new protest began, casting new uncertainly over the country's political future. "I believe that our nonviolent, velvet revolution has sent a clear message that...the Republican Party can no longer be in power," Pashinian said. We demand that the Republican Party give up its power and...unequivocally recognize the victory of the people," he said, speaking through a bullhorn as he marched at the head of a column of protesters in his trademark camouflage T-shirt. The Republicans must also be "deprived of their power" so that Sarkisian cannot rule Armenia as de facto head of a "shadow government," Pashinian added. Pashinian called for snap elections to parliament, which is now dominated by the HHK, and for a "the people's candidate" to be chosen as interim prime minister until the vote is held. The bearded 42-year-old has made it clear he wants to hold that post, saying on April 25 that he would "accept this responsibility...if the people give it to me." Protesters marching with Pashinian voiced their support, chanting "Reject Serzh and Karen" and "Nikol -- prime minister!" During the rally, activist Ruben Rubenian shouted to the cheering crowd that "we expect that all factions of the National Assembly will nominate Pashinian by consensus and elect him prime minister." The HHK has suggested it is open to potentially holding early parliamentary elections but wants to remain at the head of government in the interim. "The logical solution is that political parties -- within the framework of our constitution and the law -- sit down and discuss whether there is a need for early elections" and when they could be held, Karapetian told a news conference on April 25. He said that "equal rules of the game [must] be applied to all." President Armen Sarkisian -- a relative figurehead under the new system and no relation to the former prime minister -- said in a statement that he would start consultations with "parliamentary and nonparliamentary representatives" to try to find "a way out" of the country's political crisis. Pashinian said that acts of civil disobedience by his supporters had expanded to include a blockade on a customs post on the border with Georgia, which lies between Armenia and Russia. Meanwhile, the Prosperous Armenia Party led by wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukian -- whose bloc has the second-largest faction in parliament -- called on its members to "be with the people" in the streets. The Heritage party, which has no parliament seats but whose leader, Raffi Hovannisian, came in second in the 2013 presidential election, according to official results, did the same. Another group, the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party, urged Karapetian to "step down and force the parliamentary majority to elect a people's candidate as prime minister." It said in a statement that any other course of action could have "irreversible and dangerous consequences." Edmon Marukian, a member of parliaments opposition Yelk faction, said there were already enough votes in parliament to nominate Pashinian -- who is one of the three formal leaders of Yelk -- as a candidate for the prime minister's post. In parliament, where at least 27 votes are needed to nominate a candidate for the prime ministers post, Yelk has nine lawmakers and Tsarukian's BHK has 31 seats. "A situation has been created when, without the Republican Party giving up power, nothing will move," Marukian told RFE/RL while marching with protesters. "With the BHK, we already have 40 seats and we are 13 seats short" of the votes needed to elect Pashinian prime minister, Marukian said. He said he believed the groups can get "the missing votes" from members of the Republican Party, which has 58 seats in parliament, and its now former coalition partner Dashnaktsutyun, which has seven. But Vahram Baghdasarian, the leader of the HHK parliamentary faction, told RFE/RL that his party remained "united" and that none of its members would break ranks. The HHK is backing President Armen Sarkisian's calls for dialogue, Baghdasarian said, adding: "Political dialogues will be held. We will make a decision. The Republican faction is united. When we make a decision, we will [announce it]." Asked if the HHK might back Pashinian's demand for a "people's candidate" as interim prime minister, Baghdasarian said: "We cannot say that. A people's candidate is a relative concept." "We will move in accordance with the constitution and will not violate any clause of the constitution," he said. "We'll talk about the rest later." Russia -- which has a military base in Armenia and dominates regional security and economic groupings that include the ex-Soviet republic of about 3 million -- said it was "very carefully monitoring this situation." "We still consider that this is a domestic affair and hope that our Armenian friends will be able to resolve this situation and find a stable structure and a consensus decision soon," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The Kremlin later said President Vladimir Putin had spoken to his Armenian counterpart on April 25 to discuss the situation. "Vladimir Putin and Armen Sarkisian emphasized that to overcome the internal crisis as soon as possible, it is of importance to show restraint and responsibility and readiness to solve the existing problems through constructive dialogue in strict compliance with the constitution," the Kremlin said. The United States and the European Union have called for restraint and political dialogue. "It remains imperative that the current situation is resolved swiftly and peacefully," read a joint statement released by the EU delegation and the embassies of EU states in Yerevan. "A national dialogue involving all political stakeholders remains crucial." With reporting by Reuters Judging by the correspondence between Belgrade and Zagreb in the past few days, one could be forgiven for thinking that World War II has only just ended. The latest strain in relations between Serbia and Croatia is connected with the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of the Jasenovac concentration camp, where around 100,000 Serbs, Jews, Roma, and anti-fascist Croats were killed by the Ustashe regime, a World War II-era quasi-protectorate under Fascist and Nazi patronage. A "stone flower" memorial was built at Jasenovac in 1966, which for decades served as a gathering place for people to pay their respects to the Ustashe's victims and to reaffirm their commitment to ensuring that such crimes were not repeated. However, for the third year running, the annual gathering has fragmented into rival commemorations. The Jewish community, antifascist groups, and the Croatian government paid their tributes to the victims on separate days, with the first two choosing to boycott the official event. Meanwhile, Croatian President Grabar-Kitarovic visited the site independently, a few days before the others' ceremonies. The Serbian community, for its part, marked the camp's liberation in the village of Mlaka, near Jasenovac. The memorial liturgy and the consecration of the Church of St. Elijah were officiated by the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irinej and the metropolitan of Zagreb-Lljubljana, Porfirije. Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin had meanwhile been banned from attending the event at Mlaka after claiming prior to the commemoration that his right to travel to Croatia was not up to the Croatian government but "would be decided by the supreme commander of Serbian armed forces, [Serbian President] Aleksandar Vucic." That assertion was seen as incendiary by the Croatian government, which immediately sent a protest note to the Serbian Embassy in Zagreb to the effect that Vulin was no longer welcome in the country. The decision to ban Vulin from the memorial event was made by the Croatian Foreign Ministry on April 21. Diplomatic Incident It followed another diplomatic incident between the two countries last week, when the controversial leader of the Serbian Radical party, Vojslav Seselj, allegedly trampled on a Croatian flag, prompting a visiting Croatian delegation to leave Belgrade. The rebukes from Belgrade over the snub of its minister came swiftly. Vulin called it an attempt by Croatia "to silence those speaking about the crimes committed there." He told Serbian state television RTS: "The most terrible truth about Jasenovac is not just what happened but the fact that Croatia today refuses to repent for the crimes." On April 23, Vucic said that he "did not understand" Croatia's decision, adding, "Serbia will probably react with reciprocal measures." He added that the Belgrade would formulate its response on April 26 but that one option was to build Holocaust memorials in Serbia with lists of all the victims of the Ustashe regime. Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, also expressed her disappointment with Croatia's decision to deny Vulin the right to visit the country. But she struck a more conciliatory note. "These are not European values," she said, "but Serbia's main priority is regional stability, and for that reason we remain open to dialogue." The exchange of diplomatic barbs between Zagreb and Belgrade has only turned up the heat on an issue that has been simmering for some time, reflected in the rival commemorations. While the minister was banned from the Orthodox memorial service at Mlaka, Jewish groups have been boycotting the official event for three years. Fascist Slogan In an interview with the N1 TV channel, the president of the Zagreb Jewish community, Ognjen Kraus, cited the Croatian government's refusal to ban Ustashe symbols or the slogan "For the home[-land] -- ready!" ("Za dom -- spremni!") "It's been getting worse for some time, because of a failure to do something that should have been done a long time ago," Kraus said. "The real significance of that salutation ["Za dom spremni!"] was never officially explained. It was never unequivocally acknowledged that all racial laws and other official documents issued by the NDH" -- the Independent State of Croatia, a Nazi puppet-state during World War II -- "were undersigned with that slogan." He added that every order sending individuals to concentration camps also ended with that phrase. The words were effectively a death warrant for tens of thousands of people. So, more than seven decades after the liberation of Jasenovac and the victory over fascism, the president of the Jewish community is forced to issue repeated requests for the government to ban the symbols of a murderous regime. "We call on the government and parliament to pass legislation forthwith banning Ustashe symbols and slogans," pleaded Kraus. He also said that the Jewish community could not abide attempts to relativize the crimes of the Ustashe regime by invoking the actions of the partisan liberators of the country, or by claiming equivalence between the pro-Nazi NDH and the anti-fascist Socialist Yugoslavia. 'Not Good For Society' The efforts by the Croatian government to combat the glorification of the Ustashe state have been criticized by some as too little, too late -- leaving it open to charges of hypocrisy from victims' groups. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, has pledged to do everything in his power to ensure that there will be no separate commemorations in the future because "it is not good for our society." He promised to work on bridging those divides. However, he did not seem inclined to defuse tensions with Serbia over this year's commemoration. Serbian Prime Minister Brnabic said it was "unfortunate" that her Croatian counterpart had so far not returned her call, which indicated a lack of desire to resolve differences through dialogue. She added that "nationalists on both sides are harming their respective countries" and that Serbia and Croatia needed to take a "time-out," and return to building the region's future, rather than dwelling on the past. The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL BRUSSELS -- EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini has called on Russia, Iran, and Turkey to do more to scale down the fighting in Syria. Mogherini was speaking to reporters on April 25 in Brussels, as international donors gathered for a second day at a conference to drum up aid for the war-wracked country. She said the three countries shared a "special responsibility" to ensure the conditions for a cease-fire and to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to return to the negotiating table. "We are seeing an escalation in military activities which is exactly the contrary" of what Russia, Iran, and Turkey promised to work toward, she said. Russia and Iran have given Assad crucial support throughout the seven-year war in Syria, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and uprooted millions. Turkey supports opponents seeking to oust Assad. The three countries launched a negotiations process last year in the Kazakh capital, Astana, which is competing with the UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva. "We believe that the only sustainable peace for Syria will be linked to a political process under the UN auspices," Mogherini said. "We need in particular Russia [and] Iran to exercise pressure on Damascus so that it accepts to sit at the table under the UN auspices, she said. "The [Syrian] opposition...is today more united and ready to sit for negotiating." On April 24, Mogherini and the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, appealed for a rapid resumption of the Geneva peace process to end the conflict. The previous eight rounds of Geneva talks have made little progress. Meanwhile, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told reporters on April 25 he expected donors to pledge $4.4 billion in aid for 2018 for Syria and neighboring countries that are sheltering refugees from the war. He earlier told the AFP news agency that he hoped to see $8 billion pledged at the conference. Lowcock thanked the EU, Germany, and Britain for their "exceptionally large" offers and noted that some big donors, such as the United States, had not yet been able to confirm their pledges because of domestic budget processes. Britain announced 450 million pounds ($628 million) for 2018 and another 300 million pounds ($418 million) for next year, while Germany said it would donate more than a billion euros ($1.22 billion). Lowcock added that he expected pledges to be made for a further $3.3 billion for 2019 and afterward from some of the more than 80 countries, aid groups, and agencies at the conference. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa BRUSSELS -- The European Commission is set to single out Russia directly for what it calls Moscow's "information warfare" as part of EU efforts to fight back against online disinformation campaigns considered a threat to European security. The draft of a communique seen by RFE/RL states that "mass online disinformation campaigns are being widely used by a range of domestic and foreign actors to sow distrust and create societal tensions, with serious potential consequences for our security." "For example, Russian military doctrine explicitly recognizes information warfare as one of its domains," the commission adds in the document, set to be published on April 26. Several sources familiar with the draft process told RFE/RL that an earlier draft did not contain the part that directly names Russia. The sources, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak on the record, said EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini and Digital Economy Commissioner Mariya Gabriel were reluctant to single out a specific country in the document. They preferred, instead, that individual countries be named only in the document's footnotes, the sources said. However, several other commissioners insisted that Russia be cited in the section about disinformation, given the many reports of Moscow's alleged meddling in foreign elections, Russian troll factories established to sow civil discourse, and cyberattacks. A March report on disinformation sponsored by the European Commission did not mention countries by name. The commission's draft document also cites Russia when describing the EU task force set up three years ago to address disinformation. "The rise of disinformation and the gravity of the threat have sparked growing awareness and concerns in civil society, both in EU member states and internationally," it reads, adding, "In March 2015, the European Council invited the high representative to develop an action plan to address Russia's ongoing disinformation campaigns, which resulted in establishing East Stratcom Task Force, fully effective as planned since September 2015." The upcoming document aims to establish what it calls "a European approach to tackle disinformation." It focuses on four key principles: improved transparency, promotion of diversity of information, fostering of credibility of information, and finding inclusive solutions. The proposals mentioned include "the creation of an independent European network of fact-checkers to establish common working methods, exchange best practices, achieve the broadest possible coverage across the EU, and participate in joint fact-checking and related activities." The commission will also launch "a secure European online platform on disinformation to support the independent European network of fact-checkers and relevant academic researchers." It said the platform should "offer cross-border data collection and analysis tools, as well as access to EU-wide open data, such as reliable independent statistical information. This will enable the network to act as trusted flaggers." The commission also pledged to look into funding to promote media freedom, training for journalists, new technologies for newsrooms, and to report on progress made on all points by December 2018. Pakistani police have arrested the father and uncle of a Pakistani-Italian woman on suspicion they killed her because she refused to marry the man they chose for her. The two men were charged late on April 24 with killing Sana Cheema, 25, while she was visiting family in the neighborhood of Mangowal in the city of Gujrat in eastern Punjab Province, police said. Police said they are still searching for the woman's brother, who they suspect of also playing a role in the murder. Police said her father and uncle claim she died of a heart attack brought on by "excessive drinking in Italy." Nearly 1,000 women are killed by relatives every year in Pakistan in so-called "honor killings" for violating conservative Pakistani traditions on love, marriage, and public behavior. The Italian Foreign Ministry said it was following the case through its embassy in Islamabad and has offered its assistance. Pakistani police say Cheema died on April 18 under mysterious circumstances. Her body is expected to be exhumed on April 25 to determine the cause of death. Cheema's case came to light after her friends shared posts on social media about her death, eventually prompting police to arrest her family members. Members of the Pakistani community in Brescia, Italy, rallied there over the weekend, demanding that authorities investigate to find out what happened to her. Cheema graduated from high school in Brescia and received Italian citizenship in September. She briefly operated an agency that handled paperwork for driver's licenses. She returned to Pakistan for a visit in November, the news agency ANSA reported. Police said Cheema's family took her to a hospital two times earlier this month and that police are trying to get details from doctors about her hospital stays. According to Italian media, she was in love with a man from Brescia who, like her, was a second-generation immigrant with Italian citizenship. If confirmed, her case will be the second recently publicized honor killing in Punjab involving Western women of Pakistani descent. A father and the ex-husband of a British-Pakistani woman, Samia Shahid, were charged in 2016 over her rape and murder. The trial in Shahid's case is still under way, but her father died last year, leaving only her ex-husband to face the charges. With reporting by AP and dpa A British-Iranian dual citizen has been detained by Iranian authorities since mid-April, a human rights group and friends of the man's family say. The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on April 25 identified the man as Abbas Edalat, a professor of computer science and mathematics at Imperial College in London. "Iran's continued arbitrary arrests of dual nationals without transparency and lack of due process is extremely concerning," said Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI's executive director. Edalat traveled to Iran from his home in London at an unknown date to attend an academic workshop, according to family friends and the rights group. He was arrested at his family's home in Tehran on April 15 by Iran's hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and taken to the notorious Evin prison. Security forces seized a computer, phone, textbooks, and other items. Friends say the charges are unknown and the man has not had access to a lawyer. The CHRI said Edalat refused to post bail on April 25, arguing that he was innocent and should be released immediately. The British Foreign Office said in a statement that it was "urgently seeking information from the Iranian authorities following reports of the arrest of a British-Iranian dual national." In early 2017, Edalat said in an interview that he had stopped submitting research papers to U.S. conferences after President Donald Trump issued a travel ban on mostly Muslim-majority countries, including Iran. The CHRI described him as the founder of the U.S.-based Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran, a group that opposes foreign intervention in Iran. Iran's IRGC has arrested at least 30 dual nationals since 2015, mostly on spying charges, according to Reuters. At least two other British-Iranian citizens are known to be held in Iran. One unidentified British-Iranian man was sentenced in March to six years in prison on spying charges. With reporting by The Wall Street Journal and Reuters An Iranian journalist has been arrested in Tehran over a tweet deemed insulting to Shi'ite Islam's so-called Eighth Imam. Amir Hossein Miresmaili, a reporter with the Jahane Sanat daily, was detained at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport on April 24 while trying to leave the country for Georgia, according to a news agency affiliated with Iran's judiciary, which quoted an "informed security source." The Mizaonline report said Miresmaili was arrested and handed over to judiciary authorities. Miresmaili confirmed his arrest via Twitter, saying, "I've been arrested." The hard-line Tasnim news agency previously reported that Miresmaili was summoned to court on April 23 for "insulting" a Shi'ite imam, a reference to the presumed descendants of the Prophet Muhammad who are revered by some Shi'a. Miresmaili said he had written the tweet in reaction to the suggestion by Mashhad Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda that holding concerts is an insult to the Shi'ite imam, known as Imam Reza. The journalist had said in a subsequently deleted tweet that Imam Reza was "one of us," suggesting that the revered religious figure would have enjoyed having fun. "I did not insult Imam Reza in that tweet. I'm a Muslim and a Shi'a and I just wanted to criticize Alamolhoda," he said on April 23. In another tweet posted on April 23, Miresmaili said he was merely trying to comment on events in Mashhad in a language that is understandable to young people. Iranian authorities routinely summon, arrest, and imprison journalists, bloggers, activists, and others for remarks regarded by the country's clerical leadership as blasphemous or otherwise offensive to Shi'ite Islam. Thousands of websites, including news and social-media sites, are also blocked by the authorities. With reporting by Mizanonline and Tasnim BISHKEK -- A new Kyrgyz government has been sworn in in parliament less than a week after the previous government was dismissed. Members of the new cabinet led by Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev were sworn in just hours before lawmakers approved Otkurbek Jamshitov, who was nominated by President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, as prosecutor-general. Jeenbekov fired previous Prime Minister Sapar Isakov and his government on April 19, hours after lawmakers passed a no-confidence motion. The no-confidence vote was initiated by opposition lawmakers and followed criticism of the government's annual report by opposition parties. In an unexpected move, the ruling coalition, led by former President Almazbek Atambaev's Social Democratic Party, abruptly withdrew its backing for Isakov, prompting his cabinet's fall. Jamshitov replaces Indira Joldubaeva, whom Jeenbekov fired as prosecutor-general earlier this month. Jeenbekov has also ousted Abdil Segizbaev, the head of the State Committee for National Security. Both Joldubaeva and Segizbaev are close allies of the former president and have been criticized for a crackdown on opposition politicians and independent journalists. Atambaev kept a low profile for several months after leaving office five months ago, but has recently begun publicly criticizing his former protege and anointed successor. Kyrgyzstan, a country of 6 million that hosts a Russian military base, is widely seen as the most democratic but also the most politically volatile of the five Central Asian states that gained independence in the Soviet breakup of 1991. Antigovernment protests toppled presidents in 2005 and 2010. As if Turkmenistan didn't already have an image problem, it must now contend with neighboring Uzbekistan changing its policies and earning cautious but consistent praise from the global community and renewed interest from international companies and investors. More concerning for Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is how Uzbekistan is achieving such a turnaround. Berdymukhammedov visited Tashkent on April 23-24, the first time he had visited Uzbekistan's capital since March 2008. That time, he was going to meet with then-Uzbek leader Islam Karimov. The late President Karimov and Turkmenistan's first president, the late Saparmurat Niyazov, really have helped define the image of a Central Asian dictator in the post-Soviet period. This time, Berdymukhammedov went to meet with Uzbekistan's relatively new president, Shavkat Mirziyoev. Mirziyoev is not the internationally criticized, iron-fisted ruler Karimov was. Mirziyoev is implementing administrative, economic, and foreign policy reforms that have attracted the attention of countries in the region, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and in East Asia, Europe, and the United States. It's a really awkward example for Berdymukhammedov's Turkmenistan. Different Paths When Karimov was publicly declared dead on September 2, 2016, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were very similar in their styles of rule. Uzbekistan was increasingly isolationist; Turkmenistan had been an isolationist country for decades. In both countries, there was a heavy internal security-force presence; the slightest hint of opposition was quickly eliminated. Thousands languished in prisons, with international rights organizations claiming that many were tortured into making confessions and condemned at unfair trials without access to proper legal representation. Uzbekistan's economy was in bad shape, but so was Turkmenistan's at the time of Karimov's death. Soon after Mirziyoev came to power in September 2016, the changes started in Uzbekistan. Some long-imprisoned political and rights activists and independent journalists were released. Turkmenistan has not released any of its imprisoned activists or political opponents in that time, though information surfaced in August 2017 suggesting that Niyazov's security chief, Akmurad Rejepov, had died in prison after being confined there 10 years earlier. Mirziyoev's government is also experimenting with loosening controls over Uzbek media. Some abusive and/or corrupt local officials have been exposed due to greater latitude for outlets and journalists, though top officials and current government policies still seem to be a step too far. Turkmen media looks much as it has for nearly all its more than 26 years of independence. The president is everywhere and everything is great, according to state media. Mirziyoev has purged and reorganized the Prosecutor-General's Office, Interior Ministry, and, most of all, the feared National Security Committee. In all three cases, Mirziyoev has promised that abuses of the past will no longer be tolerated and officials will be held accountable for misdeeds toward citizens. Turkmenistan has continued its long-standing policy of regularly shuffling officials without any meaningful results coming from these personnel changes. Uzbek authorities are talking about scrapping the odious exit visa for citizens, possibly by 2019. In Turkmenistan, citizens with tickets to international flights are being turned away at Turkmen airports.* Uzbekistan implemented a badly needed currency devaluation in September 2017, dropping the national currency's exchange rate dramatically to bring it into line with the black-market rate, seen as the more genuine exchange rate. Turkmenistan has stubbornly resisted currency devaluation since it implemented two devaluations at the start of 2015, dropping the value of the manat by some 23 percent. The manats official rate is 3.5 to $1 while the black market rate is currently more than 16 manats. Improving Ties Mirziyoev's greatest success to date has been improving Uzbekistan's foreign ties generally; but in Central Asia in particular. Uzbekistan's relations with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan have improved dramatically since Mirziyoev took power. Uzbek ties with Turkmenistan are better, too, but they were already good when Mirziyoev became leader -- and Mirziyoev's first official visit as Uzbekistan's elected president was to Turkmenistan in March 2017. Mirziyoev was also instrumental in helping to convene the first Central Asian summit in nearly 20 years in Astana, Kazakhstan, on March 15, 2018. Berdymukhammedov did not attend. He went to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates instead. Uzbekistan has opened its doors to foreign investors, urging them to come and set up shop in Uzbekistan. It appears to be showing signs of working, as Uzbek authorities have been in talks with ExxonMobil, for example, and there is seemingly increased interest from Russian companies. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) opened an office in Tashkent on November 8, the same day that Uzbekistan's State Investment Committee said foreign investment since the start of 2017 amounted to more than $4 billion. Vanity Projects Turkmenistan has been hunting for foreign investment but has not offered any of the greatly coveted onshore contracts for hydrocarbon fields that so far only the China National Petroleum Corp can claim to have. Turkmenistan's fondness for the construction of white marble buildings, and other vanity projects, is enough to give would-be foreign investors pause; but Turkish company Polimeks and Belarusian company Belgorkhimprom claim Turkmen authorities owe them hundreds of millions of dollars for work done in Turkmenistan and other companies have smaller financial claims. Turkmenistan is in a dire economic crisis at the moment. The government had to scrap subsidies for water, gas, and electricity that the public had been receiving since the early 1990s; there are reported shortages of basic foods; unemployment could be as high as 60 percent; banks are barely functioning; and hard currency is almost impossible to get. Berdymukhammedov does not appear to have any easy path to getting out of this financial mess anytime soon without drastically changing policies he has pursued since becoming Turkmenistan's leader at the end of 2006. Berdymukhammedov has shown no inclination to change his policies, so Turkmenistan is likely to continue to be run as it has been and the economic woes are likely to continue to multiply. But Uzbekistan has started to turn itself around and is now creeping forward. And all it took was a change in policies, and a change in leadership. *CORRECTION: This article has been amended to remove mention of passengers being blocked from traveling abroad by train from Turkmenistan. There is no longer any international passenger rail service in the country. The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL Russia's Supreme Court has upheld the verdict against opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and his brother Oleg in the so-called Yves Rocher case. The court said on April 25 that, after revising the case following a request by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), it found that the Navalny brothers were lawfully convicted in 2014. Aleksei and Oleg Navalny were convicted of stealing about $500,000 from two Russian firms, one of which was affiliated with French cosmetics company Yves Rocher, between 2008 and 2012, and of laundering part of the amount. Both were sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison, but Aleksei's sentence was suspended. Oleg remains in prison, and his term expires in late June. Navalny condemned the Supreme Court's ruling, calling it "a symbol of ignoring" the ECHR request. "The Supreme Court demonstratively refused to carry out Russia's international commitments," Navalny said after the ruling was pronounced. Navalny's lawyer, Olga Mikhailova said she would ask the Committee of Ministers -- the Council of Europe's decision-making body -- to assess the Russian Supreme Court's ruling. In its ruling in October, the ECHR said that Russian courts handed down "arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable" decisions in the case. The brothers denied the charges, saying the case was politically motivated -- in part as an effort to turn Oleg into a "hostage" who could be used to blackmail his brother into refraining from his political and anticorruption activism. Navalny, 41, a vocal foe of President Vladimir Putin who has organized large street protests on several occasions and published a series of reports alleging corruption in Russia's ruling elite, was barred from the March presidential race due to the convictions in the Yves Rocher case and a second one, known as the Kirovles case. In the Kirovles case, Navalny was found guilty of stealing money from a state timber company in 2013. The ECHR ruled in 2016 that the trial of Navalny and co-defendant Pyotr Ofitserov in the Kirovles case was unfair, saying that they were convicted of actions "indistinguishable from regular commercial activity." Following that ruling, the Russian Supreme Court threw out the 2013 convictions and ordered a retrial, which ended in February 2017 with the same verdicts and the same suspended sentences -- five years in prison for Navalny and four for Ofitserov. New Jersey Supreme Court finds unconstitutional requiring juveniles to be subject to lifetime sex-offender registration | Main | Texas completes its fifth execution of 2018 April 25, 2018 "6 Months Since Trump Declared an Opioid Emergency, What's Changed?" ... other than AG Sessions "strongly" encouraging capital prosecutions? The quoted portion of the title of this post is the headline of this notable new Governing article, which provides this answer via a subheadline: "Some health officials say nothing. Members of Congress, meanwhile, are taking matters of money for the drug crisis into their own hands." Here are excerpts: On Oct. 26 last year, President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic -- which took more than 64,000 lives in 2016 -- a national emergency. More specifically, he declared it a public health emergency, which can be used to ease some federal rules for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to, among other things, make more people eligible for Medicaid or dispatch more medical professionals to the areas hit hardest by the drug crisis. The declaration has already been extended twice, most recently on Tuesday. But health policy experts say it's unclear what -- if any -- HHS rules have been waived since the declaration. Moreover, Trump did not directly offer state and local governments more money to combat the drug crisis. Because of this, some say the declaration has been nothing more than an empty promise. "Weve seen no effect here in Baltimore from the emergency [declaration]," says Leana Wen, the city's health commissioner. "We could save so many more lives if we had more resources. We dont need any more rhetoric." Wen worked with members of Congress to take matters of money into their own hands.... There are at least seven other bills floating around Congress to address the opioid epidemic. The most comprehensive with the most bipartisan support is the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) 2.0. It offers $1 billion more than current federal funding for treatment and prevention programs and would mandate a three-day limit for first-time opioid prescriptions. Frustration over federal inaction is even boiling over within the president's own party. Before Trump traveled to New Hampshire to talk about opioids, the state's Republican governor, Chris Sununu, reportedly confronted White House officials about the lack of funding to back up the emergency declaration. "The president cannot come to New Hampshire without a plan that has substance," Sununu told White House aides, according to CBS News. Trump still gave his scheduled speech there in March to unveil new initiatives to fight the opioid epidemic. He focused on cracking down on illegal immigration and drug dealers. Since then, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for some drug traffickers.... His focus on law-and-order tactics exasperated many health officials. "I'm deeply concerned with the focus on incarceration. It goes against what science says, which is that addiction is a disease. We know that treatment works. The war on drugs doesn't," says Wen. The plan the White House released after Trump's New Hampshire speech did include several bipartisan, health-focused efforts to combat the crisis -- but most of the ideas weren't new and there were few specifics about how to pay for them. Before the emergency declaration, Trump assembled an opioid commission to explore the best tactics the federal government could deploy to stem the tide of overdoses. A final report was released in November, with some bipartisan recommendations, such as removing barriers to treatment and increasing access to drug courts that divert people struggling with addiction from jail. But even those who worked on the commission's 138-page report have said that the administration has no plan to systematically address the epidemic.... There have been some encouraging signs, however, that the federal government is serious about addressing the opioid epidemic. The Trump administration has continued an Obama-era policy of approving waivers to let their Medicaid programs pay for addiction and mental health treatment in facilities larger than 16 beds -- which is normally prohibited under federal law. So far, the Trump administration has approved waivers from Indiana, New Jersey, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia. Five states -- Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin -- have pending waivers still. And last month, Congress passed a federal spending bill that includes a $3.3 billion increase in funding for the opioid crisis. The $3.3 billion will go toward prevention, treatment and law enforcement activities across the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Department of Veterans Affairs and other entities that help state and local governments. Many health policy experts, however, argue that it still isn't enough to make a meaningful impact. To put that in context, the federal budget for HIV care in 2017 was $32 billion. The other part of the title of this post is a reminder that it was a full five weeks ago that AG Jeff Sessions issued a "Memo to U.S. Attorneys on the Use of Capital Punishment in Drug-Related Prosecutions" (full text here) which "strongly encourage[d] federal prosecutors" bringing federal drug prosecutions to "include the pursuit of capital punishment in appropriate cases." I keep wondering if and when we will see that memo having any real tangible impact. Roughly speaking, federal prosecutors bring about 400 federal drug prosecutions per week, meaning that there have likely been around 2000 federal drug prosecutions since the AG issued his capital punishment memo. Even if AG Sessions means by "strongly" encouraging capital prosecutions that only the very worst 0.1% of federal drug defendants should be subject to federal capital charges, we should perhaps have expected to have seen by now two federal drug defendants being subject to a federal capital indictment. (I am inclined here to recall frequent statements by groups like NAUSAA that that federal system is focused only on "the most dangerous and serious drug traffickers." If this is true, perhaps AG Sessions thinks 1% or even 10% of federal drug prosecutions should include capital charges. If so, we ought to already be seeing dozens of federal capital prosecutions by now.) As of this writing, I am not aware of a single new capital drug case since the AG's March memo, though it is certainly possible that some are in the works and that is only a matter of time before we see a lot more federal capital cases. I know I will be continuing to wonder if, when and how the capital prosecutions that AG Sessions has strongly encouraged will become a reality. April 25, 2018 at 02:46 PM | Permalink Comments On the theme of capital punishment I remind everyone that there is a scant five days left before David Behar's promised return (the end of April) so commentators should hop to it and lay whatever eggs of wisdom they may have to offer before the bunny boiler comes back. Posted by: Ghost of Blog Future | Apr 25, 2018 3:02:01 PM If you elect a clown, expect a circus Posted by: Claudio Giusti | Apr 25, 2018 4:01:46 PM The way this blog is structured as a list of articles and reports that have been classified there won't be a lot of comments until Behar returns. If you want to look up what has been posted on a particular subject this is a good place to start. The comments are useful because they often provide additional leads. No blog is perfect and there are not that many law blogs left so the fact this one is still operational means it is fairly robust. Posted by: John Neff | Apr 25, 2018 8:33:24 PM @Doug B. Off topic: You have an interest in the use of solitary confinement. This recent local article discusses a twist: what happens when solitary confinement meets the local jail? "Nobody wants to be forgotten" https://www.sfreporter.com/news/coverstories/2018/04/25/not-forgotten/ Posted by: Yabba Dabba Don't | Apr 25, 2018 8:39:45 PM Claudio nailed it. Posted by: MidWestGuy | Apr 29, 2018 8:47:44 AM Post a comment Prominent Russian lawyer Mark Feigin says he will appeal in court his disbarment for allegedly unethical behavior. Feigin wrote on Facebook on April 25 that the decision by the Moscow Chamber of Attorneys a day earlier "cannot be accepted as lawful, grounded, or fair." "Perhaps for the first time in the history of Russian advocacy, they're stripping someone of his profession for expressing his opinion on social networks," Feigin wrote. According to Feigin, the chamber also ignored a provision in the code of lawyers' ethics stating that a lawyer cannot be sanctioned for a misdeed allegedly committed six months earlier. "It is yet further evidence that the provisions regulating lawyers' behavior on the Internet are a tool for getting rid of undesirables: They are implemented selectively and are very well suited to the settling of personal scores and political persecution," Feigin said. He also called on all lawyers in Russia to support him in his legal fight against the disbarment. The Moscow Chamber of Attorneys' decision comes after lawyer Stalina Gurevich demanded that Feigin be deprived of his status for violating the norms of the lawyers' code of ethics by using obscene vocabulary on social media against his colleagues and their clients. Feigin has gained prominence for representing the interests of the punk protest band Pussy Riot, Crimean Tatar activists who openly opposed Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and Nadia Savchenko, the Ukrainian airwoman who spent nearly two years in Russian captivity, in politically sensitive cases. He is also defending Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko, who is on trial in Moscow on espionage charges. With reporting by the BBC Russian, TASS, and Interfax Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, held a series of meetings with Bosnian Serb officials on a visit to Banja Luka on April 24. Matviyenko was met on her arrival by Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik and spoke of the need to strengthen ties between Russia and Republika Srpska. She said that Russian President Vladimir Putin strongly supports the republic, which was established within the framework of the Dayton peace accords settling the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Later, Matviyenko met Republika Srpska National Assembly speaker Nedeljko Cubrilovic at a ceremonial session of the legislative entity and addressed the lawmakers. Matviyenko also attended a cultural and artistic event organized in honor of the Russian delegation. Traffic in central Banja Luka was blocked as a security measure for the visit, and the sale of alcohol was temporarily banned. Matviyenko's trip follows a visit to Sarajevo on April 23, where she made a speech condemning NATO enlargement in the Balkans, asserting that it is "undermining security and stability in the region." Western governments see NATO and European Union membership as the best way of preserving peace and stability in the Balkans after a decade of wars with the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Montenegro joined the NATO military alliance last year, and Macedonia also aspires to membership. Bosnia hopes to activate a NATO preaccession Membership Action Plan, but its plans for membership in the alliance are opposed by Bosnian Serbs, who see Russia as their main ally. During her visit to Sarajevo, Matviyenko called Balkan ambitions to join the alliance a "dangerous experiment" that goes against the will of sizable pro-Russian factions in the population. With reporting by Reuters European Council President Donald Tusk has said that the European Union aims to further strengthen economic and other cooperation with Serbia and the other Western Balkan countries as they edge toward eventual membership. "I came with a clear message: the European Union is, and wants to remain the most reliable partner for Serbia and the entire Western Balkans region," Tusk said on April 25 after meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade. "The future of Serbia will be decided neither by Moscow, nor Washington. Neither by Ankara, nor by Brussels. It will be decided only by Belgrade," he added. Serbia is seeking to join the EU but at the same time attempting to preserve its traditional strong ties with Russia, which shares its Orthodox Christian heritage and has supported Belgrade in numerous disputes with the West. Tusk's visit was part of a weeklong tour of Western Balkans ahead of the May 17 summit of EU and regional leaders in Sofia, Bulgaria, which Tusk said would "reconfirm our readiness to continue the work on a European perspective for the region." EU officials have urged Serbia, which is one of six Western Balkan countries that remain outside the bloc, to normalize ties with Kosovo in order to be able to join by 2025. Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, declared independence in 2008 -- nearly a decade after the 1998-99 Kosovo war. More than 110 countries recognize its independence. Serbia does not. Tusk said Kosovo was a "difficult and emotionally charged issue" for Serbia, but that resolving it will "pay off in the long run." Vucic said Belgrade wants to reach a compromise on Kosovo "so that our children don't have the same problem as we do today." The Serbian president said he and the head of the European Investment Bank, Werner Hoyer, had signed a 45 million-euro ($54.82 million) loan deal to upgrade joint air-traffic control of Serbia and Montenegro to meet EU regulations. Tusk has already visited Albania and Montenegro and travels to Kosovo next. With reporting by AP and Reuters Muhammadrahim Shoev has finally gotten his wish -- the Tajik man has been reunited with his 10-year-old granddaughter, the only member of his son's family of six to have survived their move to Iraq. Maryam Shoeva was among four Tajik children who were returned home on April 25 following a monthslong effort by authorities to repatriate Tajik children and women who had been stranded in Iraq and Syria. In most cases their families are suspected of having left Tajikistan to join the extremist Islamic State (IS) group. Maryam's parents and three younger siblings are believed to have died in air strikes targeting IS in Mosul, Iraq, last summer, and her grandfather had been seeking her return since discovering in February that she was still alive. "Maryam is back, finally, safe and sound," Shoev said after the girl was handed over to her grandparents in the village of Ghairatobod on the outskirts of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. Appearing sleepy after her early hour flight from Moscow, Maryam clutched a small bag and a bunch of flowers as she rested her head on her grandfather's shoulder while media documented the reunion. Her father, 37-year-old Jamoliddin Shoev, left the village along with his wife and children in 2015, telling his parents that he was going to Egypt, where he had studied more than a decade ago. Tajik authorities say he wasn't on their list of suspected IS fighters from Tajikistan. He would make occasional phone calls to his parents -- the last came in August 2017, according to the elder Shoev -- who say they have no idea how he ended up in Mosul. Pleading For Home Just weeks later, Maryam appeared on a Russian TV program about Russian-speaking children who had been taken to a Baghdad shelter after Iraqi government forces recaptured Mosul from IS control. The footage showed Maryam saying her parents had been killed in an air strike. Later she appeared on a YouTube video, pleading with her relatives to bring her home. Shoev asked Tajik authorities to help, a task Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry said would take several months. In a statement on April 25, the ministry said that the repatriation of the four Tajik minors, including Maryam, was facilitated with assistance of authorities in Iraq, Kuwait, and Russia, several other countries, UNICEF, and the International Red Cross. The ministry will continue its campaign to repatriate other Tajik minors still remaining in the "war-torn Middle East regions," the statement said. The ministry didn't identify the four children by name; Maryam's grandparents, however, agreed to speak to RFE/RL upon her arrival. The three other children were identified by a Tajik diplomat as siblings a girl and two boys aged between 3 and 9.The diplomat requested anonymity as he wasn't authorized to speak to media. The diplomat said the siblings' eldest sister, who is 16 years old, remains in a Baghdad shelter. He wasn't able to provide information as to why the teenager was left behind. Tajik authorities say the return of unaccompanied and undocumented minors from the conflict zones is a complex procedure, which involves identifying the children and issuing provisional travel documents to submit to Iraqi authorities before arranging their flights from Baghdad. Next of kin like Shoev are required to provide photos and documents to prove the children's identities and family ties before custody can be granted. 'A Good Rest' Dushanbe estimates that there are some 200 children among more than 1,000 Tajik nationals who are believed to have left for Iraq and Syria to join IS since 2014. A Tajik official in Dushanbe told RFE/RL on April 25 that authorities have so far identified 13 unaccompanied Tajik minors who were rescued from former IS-held areas and taken to government shelters in Iraq and Syria. Their parents are thought to have been killed in military conflict. The official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media. The government has offered amnesty to all its citizens who were not involved in IS violence. Dozens have come back and reintegrated into normal life. Back home, doctors and psychologists are expected to work with the families to help with the rehabilitation of children who had experienced the trauma of war. "Maryam hasn't spoken much yet, because she is still very tired after a long flight," Shoev said. "We've a lot to tell to each other, but for the time being she needs a good rest." Written by Farangis Najibullah with reporting by RFE/RL Tajik Service correspondent Amriddin Olimov Thousands of demonstrators marched in Los Angeles on April 24 to commemorate the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire a century ago. The marchers demanded that the massacre be officially recognized by Turkey as genocide -- a demand that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declined to fulfill in a statement he issued sending "sincere condolences" to Armenians in Turkey commemorating the deaths on April 24. Twenty-seven countries and most U.S. states have formally recognized the Armenian massacre as genocide, but Erdogan contended that the deaths were the result of "fierce and harsh conditions" during World War I. U.S. President Donald Trump issued a statement calling the 1915 killings "one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century" and said he was committed to ensuring that "such atrocities are not repeated." The Los Angeles demonstrators waved Armenian and American flags and carried signs reading "1915 Never Again" and "Turkish Denial Must End." More than 200,000 people of Armenian descent live in Los Angeles County, making it home to the largest Armenian community outside of Armenia. Marie Keshishian, an 18-year-old college student, said all four of her great-great grandparents were killed and that she was marching in their honor. "I'm out here today to march for justice, to march for recognition," she said. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, an Armenian-American, tweeted an old photo of herself in Armenia and praised global demonstrations calling for the genocide to be recognized. "It's so inspiring to see all Armenians united in peaceful protests making a difference," she said. "It's a historic day for Armenia." The demonstrations came hours after longtime Armenian ruler Serzh Sarkisian resigned in the face of massive street protests. Based on reporting by AP and The Los Angeles Times The current agreement with Iran is working effectively to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and should not be abandoned, EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini has said after the leaders of the United States and France called for a "new" deal. After meeting at the White House on April 24, U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron said they wanted to negotiate a new deal with Iran that would go beyond the landmark 2015 agreement with world powers and encompass broader concerns in the region. "On what can happen in the future, we'll see in the future. But there is one deal existing. It's working. It needs to be preserved," Mogherini said as she arrived for a donor conference on Syria in Brussels on April 25. The deal Iran signed with the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany in June 2015 imposed curbs on Iran's nuclear program -- slowing its potential path to development of a nuclear weapon -- in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Iran says it does not want nuclear arms. Trump has given the agreement's European signatories a May 12 deadline to fix what he calls its "terrible flaws," threatening to effectively withdraw the United States from the deal by refusing to extend waivers on U.S. sanctions if they do not do so. Macron, who is on a three-day state visit to the United States seen as a mission to salvage the nuclear deal, said after his talks with Trump that he believes it will be possible to "build something new that will cover all of our concerns." Macron said the current nuclear agreement could be seen as one "pillar" of a broader accord that he said should include three other "pillars" -- dealing with Iran's long-term nuclear ambitions beyond the current scope of the deal, its ballistic-missile program, and containing Iran's involvement in Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon. However, Germany, Britain, and Russia also said there could be "no alternative" to the current deal. "We want to preserve it, and we want to contribute to the United States remaining in this agreement after May 12," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said upon arrival for the Syria conference in Brussels. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is also due to hold talks with Trump in Washington later in the week. A spokesman for the British government said the Iran nuclear deal was "a product of 13 years of tireless diplomacy and is working." "We are working closely with our allies on how to address the range of challenges Iran poses in the Middle East, including those issues that President Macron proposed a new deal might cover," the spokesman also said. In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on April 25, "We believe that no alternative exists so far," adding that Iran's position was of utmost importance. Iranian President Hassan Rohani criticized the U.S. demand for a fresh agreement. "Together with a leader of a European country [the Americans] say: 'We want to decide on an agreement reached by seven parties,'" Rohani said in a televised speech on April 25. "What for? With what right?" Rohani said. Rohani also railed against Trump, calling him an inexperienced "tradesman." You dont have any background in politics. You dont have any background in law. You dont have any background on international treaties," Rohani said of the U.S. president. "How can a tradesman, a merchant, a building constructor, a tower constructor make judgments about international affairs," he said, referring to Trump's career as a property developer. Addressing the U.S. Congress later on April 25, Macron said that the United States, France, and their allies had a "clear" objective with Tehran. "Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons. Not now. Not in five years. Not in 10 years. Never," he told lawmakers. Tehran has always claimed that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. It has also warned that it will revive and step up its nuclear program if the deal collapses. With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and AFP Turkey says nearly 30,000 Afghans have entered the country since the start of the year, in what Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu called "a new refugee wave." Soylu said on April 25 that 29,899 Afghans had crossed into Turkey since January compared to 45,259 people in the whole of 2017, state news agency Anadolu reported. "In recent months, we are facing a new refugee wave, especially from Afghanistan," Soylu said, adding that 1,328 people smugglers had been detained so far this year. Turkey is a key transit route for migrants from Afghanistan and other countries in Asia and the Middle East seeking to reach Europe in search of better lives and work. Rights groups have criticized Ankara for deporting migrants back to conflict-torn countries such as Afghanistan, saying it was putting their lives at risk. Turkish authorities have sent back 7,100 Afghan migrants since early April, Amnesty International said on April 24, as it denounced the "ruthless deportation drive." "Thousands more are in detention, being treated more like criminals than people fleeing conflict and persecution," the London-based rights group said in a statement. There are 145,000 Afghans in Turkey, according to Amnesty, The country is also home to more than 3 million Syrian refugees, as well as more than 300,000 Iraqis, who have fled conflicts in their respective countries. Turkey has started work on a border wall along its frontier with Iran, which is being crossed by migrants coming from the east. It also built a wall along much of the border with Syria. With reporting by AFP and dpa Dangerous inmates removed from Cancun prison Cancun, Q.R. More than 25 dangerous inmates have been removed from the Cancun prison and relocated throughout the country. The Ministry of Public Security said that the move came after numerous conflicts inside the prison that have led to riots and insecurity, with prisoners often clashing with guards and others inside the system. During the night hours and into the early morning, a total of 27 Cancun inmates were relocated from the Center for Social Reintegration (Cereso) at Cancun to other federal penitentiary centers in the country. Through a statement, the department stressed that the motive for the move is to maintain order inside the prison. The inmates, who were deemed more dangerous, were moved under the protection of State Police, as well as Federal Police, the Navy of Mexico and the Mexican Army. Inmates that were chosen for relocation included those charged with crimes of kidnapping, homicide, extortion and organized crime. In a statement, the Ministry of Public Security explained that in relocating those prisoners, they are hoping to not only maintain order in the prison, but also to eliminate illegal practices by the inmates themselves. The Ministry of Public Security also made it clear that corruption inside the prison system needs to end. Three Cancun police officers arrested for kidnapping Cancun, Q.R. Authorities from the Criminal Investigation Agency say they have apprehended five alleged kidnappers, three of whom are current Cancun police officers. The five arrested were found linked to the same kidnapping crime. According to a statement from the Attorney Generals Office, the three Cancun police officers were arrested Tuesday morning as they arrived for work. The three were arrested by officers from the department of Investigation of Organized Crime on alleged kidnapping charges and immediately flown to Mexico City for questioning. The Attorney General says that the former officers who have been detained are identified only as Ulises N, Nabil Josue N and Saydi Oyuki N. Each of them has been arrested for the kidnapping of four Colombians that police say were detained by the trio and handed over to a criminal group reportedly linked with the Jalisco Cartel. In Mexico City, two citizens have also been arrested for the related kidnapping. The Criminal Investigation Agency reported that Masayoshi N and Nathali N of Colombian nationality, were both arrested for the crime of kidnapping. The charges stem from the kidnapping of four Colombians in December of last year. The body of only one of the four has ever been found. One of the kidnapped Colombians was found decapitated. The other three remain missing. The Colombian government has heavily criticized Mexico for not detaining those responsible for the kidnapping and at least one murder of its citizens. The Attorney General explained that those arrested will be placed inside the Federal Criminal Justice Center for the crime of aggravated kidnapping. In a statement, the City Council of Benito Juarez says the arrests are part of a profound restructuring of the police force, to remove the officers that have violated the trust of citizens. "All Bathwater, No Baby: Expressive Theories of Punishment and the Death Penalty" | Main | New Jersey Supreme Court finds unconstitutional requiring juveniles to be subject to lifetime sex-offender registration April 25, 2018 After four high-profile clemencies, Prez Trump issues a bunch of denials As reported in this USA Today piece, "President Trump has denied clemency for 180 people who had applied for pardons and commutations through formal Justice Department channels even as he's short-circuited that process to pardon political allies." Here is more (with one line emphasized): The denials, decided last week, represent the first movements in the Justice Department's clemency caseload since Trump was inaugurated last year, according to the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Among those denied clemency: Anthony Calabrese, a 57-year-old reputed mob hit man from Chicago convicted of three robberies and sentenced to 62 years in prison. He had requested compassionate release after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. One White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to comment publicly, said the denials were "routine" and that no accompanying clemency grants were expected in the near future. The official said the cases did not meet the president's "high standards" for clemency. That kind of clemency housekeeping is common. The last three presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all denied hundreds of applications in their first two years before granting their very first pardons and commutations.... Last week's denials included 82 applications for pardons and 98 for commutations. Pardons represent a full legal forgiveness for a conviction, restoring civil rights taken away by a felony conviction. Commutations shorten a prison sentence but leave the other consequences intact. Based on Prez Trump's grants of clemency to date (all linked below), it seems that his "high standards" for clemency are closely linked to his political interests and affinities. I suppose I should be pleased that Prez Trump and his team are finally starting to address the many thousands of pending clemency petitions, but I am troubled (though not surprised) to learn that no "regular" defendants have yet been thought worthy of the President's grace. Recent related posts: April 25, 2018 at 09:39 AM | Permalink Comments Post a comment A HORSE which got itself into a sticky situation had to be rescued by firefighters last night (Tuesday). The horse became stuck in a ditch on Delves Lane, Wales, and firefighters from Tankersley and Adwick station attended the scene at 7.05pm. A fire service spokeswoman said the crews put straps onto the horse's body and managed to pull it free. Crews left the scene at 8.30pm. Tom Evans, 21, and Kate James, 20, have been fighting a legal battle with doctors who say that the little boy is in a semi-vegetative state. The U.K. judge Anthony Hayden rejected the parents appeal to allow Alfie to be transferred to the Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital in Rome. They plan to challenge the ruling and a hearing is set for Wednesday. Alfie Evans In an official statement, UKIP leaders condemned the heavy-handedness of government authorities, calling the move a gateway to totalitarianism. Alfie Evans should have a right to life not a duty to die at the behest of the state. This court judgment and medical decision are like a gateway to totalitarianism. The state has no right to tell parents you will not get your kid back even for alternative healthcare, until we are sure he is dead, the statement reads. Alfies father claims that his son has been denied nutrition for 23 hours, suggesting that now that the boy is breathing on his own, the hospital is attempting to starve him. Pope Francis had issued an appeal on Twitter on Monday that the parents desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted for the boy, who suffers from a rare degenerative neurological condition. I want to reiterate and strongly confirm that the only master of life, from the beginning to its natural end, is God, and our duty is to do everything to protect life, Pope Francis added. Italy has previously said it was granting citizenship to the toddler. The officers were transported by the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. State, local and federal law enforcement agencies responded to the scene. The two officers were called to the Home Depot at 4:12 p.m. When they arrived, they received a call from another, off-duty officer , not the Home Depot employee , asking for assistance with an arrest. Somehow during the arrest, the suspect was able to shoot the three and flee. The scene of the shooting A massive search from police helicopters the air and on the ground followed after witnesses reported the shooter fled on foot and may be hiding in a nearby creek. Records on security camera video proved the suspect took off in a pickup truck. The store was evacuated and workers were sent home for the day. After a five-hour manhunt the suspect was arrested. He was identified as Armando Luis Juarez, 29, who faces multiple charges of aggravated assault on a police officer in the shootings at the Lake Highlands store. According to Dallas County criminal records, Juarez has a prior arrest for possession of cocaine. The pursuit ended near Love Field about 9:15 p.m., and a woman with Juarez was also taken into custody. The three victims were taken to Texas Health Presbyterian of Dallas, where they underwent surgery. Once again Dallas is at the precipice, looking into the hell of heartbreak as our police department was attacked this afternoon, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said at the news conference. The soon to be launched Royal Enfield Interceptor and Continental GT 650 twins are on display at showrooma in the UK and Australia. The Indian retro classic motorcycle maker has used the opportunity to reveal new liveries, hinting that the buyers would be spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing the color themes. The new livery with white-red dual-tone fuel tank and black side panels augments the Interceptors classic appeal. The black finish for the spoke feels certainly adds a sporty touch to the new Royal Enfield. The Continental GT 650 is adorned with a grey-black color theme with a dash of yellow. Like its sibling, the cafe racer too gets black finished spoke wheels. It has to be said that the new Royal Enfield logo gels with both the liveries. The Interceptor and Continental GT 650 are powered by Royal Enfields brand new 648 cc parallel twin SOHC fuel-injected engine which is rated at 47 bhp and 52 Nm of torque. Gearbox is a 6-speed unit. Both motorcycles are equipped with regular telescopic front fork and twin gas-charged rear shock absorbers. The front and rear disc brakes benefit from standard ABS. Slipper clutch is another noteworthy mechanical feature. Bookings for the twins have commenced in the UK, signalling that Europe would be high on the priority list for the flagship Royal Enfields but India would certainly be one the first few markets since the motorcycles are made here. The RE 650 Twins are estimated to have a price tag of 6000 pounds (around INR 5.13 lakhs) in the UK. Expect them to retail at around INR 3-4 lakh in the local market. The challenge of modern federal sentencing: "there are 15 distinct factors in 3553(a)" | Main | "All Bathwater, No Baby: Expressive Theories of Punishment and the Death Penalty" April 24, 2018 Meek Mill pledges to "shine a light" on criminal justice issues after Pennsylvania Supreme Court orders his release on bail As reported in prior posts here and here from last November, rapper Meek Mill became the focus point for complaints about an unfair criminal justice system in Philadelphia after he received a seemingly extreme 2-4 year prison sentence for violating his probation from a 2008 gun and drug case. Today, as reported in this USA Today article, he got some relief thanks to this short order from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania: Meek Mill is finally free. The rapper's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, confirmed to USA TODAY that the rapper was freed on bail Tuesday after Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ordered a judge to release him while he appeals decade-old gun and drug convictions. "We are thrilled that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has directed Judge Brinkley to immediately issue an order releasing Meek on bail," said Tacopina in a statement. "As we have said all along, Meek was unjustly convicted and should not have spent a single day in jail." Mill immediately vowed via social media to use his spotlight to "shine a light" on how America's criminal justice systems treat people of color. The Philadelphia-born rapper (real name is Robert Rihmeek Williams) has been fighting for release from jail for the past five months. Mill was sentenced in November to two to four years in prison for violating probation on a roughly decade-old gun and drug case (a ruling opposed at the time by the Philadelphia district attorney and Meek's probation officer). But in March, the most damning piece of evidence came to light when Philly District Attorney Larry Krasner admitted that Mill may have been unjustly convicted thanks to a cop who lied at his 2008 trial. Krasner said he would not oppose Mill's immediate release on bail pending appeal of his case. Because hundreds of other convictions have already been reversed based on information provided by a whistleblowing cop, "there is a strong showing of likelihood of (Mill's) conviction being reversed (in whole or in part)," Krasner said in a statement at the time. "Therefore the Commonwealth is unopposed to (Mill's) petition for bail." Lawyers for Mill have accused Judge Genece Brinkley, who sentenced Mill 10 years ago and has subsequently tacked on 14 years of probation, of having "a personal vendetta" against him. An investigation by Rolling Stone said Brinkley "repeatedly torched his rap career each time he was poised for mega-stardom." Since last fall, Mill and his lawyers have been trying and failing to persuade Brinkley to release him on bail while his case is appealed. On Tuesday, Mill's lawyer said the legal team was "also pleased that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has noted that Judge Brinkley may opt to remove herself from presiding over any further proceedings in Meeks case in the interests of justice." The district attorney's office also weighed in on Tuesday. "As our office has made clear in recent court filings, the Pa. Supreme Courts decision on Meek Mill being released on bail is consistent with the position of the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office," Ben Waxman, spokesperson for the DA, said in a statement to USA TODAY on Tuesday. Waxman noted that "just last week, our office agreed to withdraw prosecution from three lesser-known individuals whose cases were also tainted by potential police credibility issues by following the same procedures and analysis."... A national movement has surged in Mill's defense, along with a hashtag: #FreeMeekMill. While in prison, Mill has received high-profile visits from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin, Colin Kaepernick and Philadelphia's mayor. Kraft has subsequently called for reform of the criminal justice system. On Tuesday, Mill tweeted his thanks, calling the past five months "a nightmare."... Mill continued: "To the Philly District Attorneys office, Im grateful for your commitment to justice. I understand that many people of color across the country dont have that luxury and I plan to use my platform to shine a light on those issues. In the meantime, I plan to work closely with my legal team to overturn this unwarranted conviction and look forward to reuniting with my family and resuming my music career." It is not uncommon for high-profile persons caught up in the criminal justice system to pledge a commitment to reform efforts upon their release, but it is a bit more uncommon to see these persons effectively follow-up on such a pledge (I am thinking of Martha Stewart here). In this case, I have an inkling Meek Mill will in fact be an important high-profile advocate for criminal justice reform. Prior related posts: April 24, 2018 at 07:48 PM | Permalink Comments I do think it's important. I'm glad his artistic talent was able to give him some attention, but in many ways, what he dealt with was not unusual and it's worth highlighting that many people are still in prison in similar circumstances. Posted by: Erik M | Apr 24, 2018 8:33:33 PM Only you would want an "ally" who is a known racist that teaches people through rap how to break in, steal and commit violence on Asian people. Yea a real stand up figure for your cause. Only nutjobs would be skeptical of a movement with saints like meek Mill adovcated for it. Posted by: Woke one | Apr 25, 2018 3:41:52 PM Post a comment The high prevalence of malaria parasites in blood for transfusion in Sub-Saharan Africa could be a major setback in the fight against the disease in the region, a study suggests. The study presented this month (15-20 April) at the 7th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Pan African Malaria Conference in Dakar, Senegal, was a systematic review of the risk of transfusion-transmitted malaria from blood donors in Sub-Saharan Africa. Selali Fiamanya, a co-author of the study and a research fellow at the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN), says they assessed the presence of malaria parasites in 22,508 potential blood donors in 24 studies conducted in nine Sub-Saharan Africa countries including Nigeria from 2000 to 2017. The study assessed the presence of malaria parasites in blood bags. Prevalence ranged from 6.5 per cent to 74.1 per cent in different study sites, Fiamanya adds, noting that most of the studies were conducted in Central and West Africa, including more than ten studies from Nigeria. Without better vigilance, children receiving transfusions to address malarias impacts risk exposure to more malaria-causing parasites Selali Fiamanya, Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) Researchers pooled data from the individual studies to generate an estimate of the presence of malaria parasites in blood donations across the region. They found that based on the 24 studies, malaria parasites could be detected in 23 per cent of donor blood. Malaria can be transmitted by blood transfusion, and efforts to combat it should include investigation into blood products, an important often life-saving intervention which is conducted across the world, he tells SciDev.Net. According to Fiamanya, who is also a research fellow at UK-based Oxford Universitys Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, there is blood bank burden of malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa, exposing pregnant women and children to malaria parasites. "Without better vigilance, children receiving transfusions to address malarias impacts risk exposure to more malaria-causing parasites, he says. Our research is only the first line of inquiry needed to better understand the risk for pregnant women and children who receive the majority of transfusions in this region. The same investigations need to be done in Latin America and Asia to investigate the blood bank burden of malaria in these regions too, as it is likely there is also a hidden source of infection. Philippe Guerin, a co-author of the study and the director of WWARN, notes, The technical challenges of diagnosing Plasmodium parasites from blood donation products require attention, as does further exploration to better understand this risk and [how to] mitigate it. Policymakers in Sub-Saharan Africa, he explains, need to know that there is the possibility of a high risk of malaria transmission through their blood banks. We recommend further research into novel ways to screen and treat blood bank supplies, such as trials into the treatment of blood bags before patients receive a transfusion, Guerin says. He calls for closer collaboration between malaria researchers and the blood banks to further develop approaches to respond to these risks. In another study conducted from June 2017 to September 2017 in Equatorial Guineas capital, Malabo, and presented at the same meeting, researchers indicated that out of 200 blood samples collected at the blood bank in Malabo that were deemed to be free of malaria infections using rapid diagnostic tests, 29.5 per cent were found to be having malaria parasites.We used a novel, highly sensitive quantitative polymerase chain reaction designed for detecting all six malaria species infecting humans, says Claudia Daubenberger, a co-author of the study and a researcher at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. Currently the used rapid diagnostic tests are not sensitive enough to detect low levels of Plasmodium falciparum infections and non-falciparum malaria species. Douglas Oimeke, senior resident, department of family medicine at The Aga Khan University East Africa, Kenya, tells SciDev.Net that any transfusion of blood and blood products that contain red blood cells carry with it the risk of malaria parasites transmission, with the risk being more clinically significant in malaria endemic areas. Clinically, all patients receiving blood transfusions containing red blood cells, are supposed to be monitored for any features suggestive of malaria parasites transmission, he explains. Signs and symptoms include but not limited to fever, chills, headache, yellowness of eyes and dark urine. This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk. Five years ago, a team of University of California San Diego neurobiologists published surprising findings describing how rats' brain cells adopted new chemical codes when subjected to significant changes in natural light exposure -- much as humans suffer from "winter blues," the type of depression known as seasonal affective disorder. A new study implicates a role for light-induced electrical activity in controlling chemical codes. In the earlier studies, the researchers showed for the first time that rats' nerve cells switched to a new chemical code when the animals were subjected to large shifts in their day and night cycles, demonstrating that adult mammalian brains are much more malleable than once believed. At the time, the researchers were unclear about the mechanisms behind the code switching, which is mediated by chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters. How exactly does this plasticity work in the brain? Now, the scientists' results described April 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) identify the mechanism behind this neurotransmitter switching, with possible implications for chemical imbalances in the brain underlying mental illness. In their PNAS study, Da Meng, Hui-quan Li, Stefan Leutgeb and Nicholas Spitzer of UC San Diego's Division of Biological Sciences, along with Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University, find that light-induced electrical activity in specific brain neurons lies at the root of the change in their neurotransmitters. "In this paper we addressed the question of the regulatory mechanism enabling neurotransmitter switching," said Spitzer, senior author of the paper and co-director of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind. "We discovered that manipulating the electrical activity in the brain prevented the change in neurotransmitter identity that elicits the animals' anxious and depressed behavior. We think that this work opens the door to other studies of activity-dependent mechanisms in psychiatric disorders." In the new findings, the researchers studied the change in neurotransmitter identity when rats, which are nocturnal, are exposed to long day lengths. This exposure led to elevated activity of paraventricular (PaVN) neurons in the hypothalamus and by consequence a loss in their expression of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is linked with many aspects of normal behavior. When the researchers suppressed the elevation of activity that resulted from the long-day exposure, exclusively in the PaVN neurons, they blocked the transmitter switch that would have occurred under these normal light conditions. The new studies render other mechanisms for the transmitter switch unlikely, including altered metabolism, hormonal stimulation or influence from other classes of cells. "Because the long photoperiods are stressful to rodents (analogous to short-day photoperiods for people), the findings raise the possibility that various forms of stress may induce transmitter switching that contributes to the chemical imbalances in the brain underlying many psychiatric conditions," said Spitzer. Implications of the findings could be relevant to autism spectrum disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder, areas the researchers are now investigating with their new results in hand. A Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Predoctoral Fellowship and grants from the Ellison Medical Foundation and the W.M. Keck Foundation supported the research. There are too many trees in Sierra Nevada forests, say scientists affiliated with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory (CZO). That may come as a surprise to those who see dense, verdant forests as signs of a healthy environment. After all, green is good, right? Not necessarily. When it comes to the number of trees in California forests, bigger isn't always better. That's in part because trees use lots of water to carry out basic biological tasks. In addition, they act as forest steam stacks, raking up water stored in the ground and expelling it as vapor into the atmosphere, where it's accessible to humans and forest ecosystems only when it falls back to Earth as rain and snow. That process -- by which plants emit water through tiny pores in their leaves -- is known as evapotranspiration. And according to researchers, excessive evapotranspiration may harm a fragile California water system, especially during prolonged, warm droughts. New research published this week in the journal Ecohydrology shows that water loss from evapotranspiration has decreased significantly over the past three decades. That's due in large part to wildfire-driven forest thinning -- a finding with important implications for forest and water management. A century of forest management had kept wildfires to a minimum. But without fire, Sierra forests grew very dense. In recent decades, new policies have allowed nature to take its course, with wildfires helping to thin out overgrown forests. advertisement "Forest wildfires are often considered disasters," said Richard Yuretich, director of NSF's CZO program, which funded the research. "But fire is part of healthy forest ecosystems. By thinning out trees, fires can reduce water stress in forests and ease water shortages during droughts. And by reducing the water used by plants, more rainfall flows into rivers and accumulates in groundwater." Using data from CZO measurement towers and U.S. Geological Survey satellites, researchers found that over the period 1990 to 2008, fire-thinned forests saved 3.7 billion gallons of water annually in California's Kings River Basin and a whopping 17 billion gallons of water annually in the American River Basin -- water that would otherwise have been lost through evapotranspiration. Forest thinning has increased in recent decades in an effort to stave off disastrous wildfires fueled by dense forests. This study shows that restoring forests through mechanical thinning or wildfire can also save California billions of gallons of water each year. "The need for forest restoration is being driven largely by the need to lower the risk of high-intensity wildfires and restore forest health," said University of California Merced scientist Roger Bales, director of the Southern Sierra CZO and study co-author. "Downstream users who benefit from the increased water yield are an important potential revenue stream that can help offset some of the costs of restoration." Forested areas needing restoration are large, Bales said, but potential changes in water availability are significant. The total effect of wildfires over a 20-year period suggests that forest thinning could increase water flow from Sierra Nevada watersheds by as much as 10 percent. The U.S. Forest Service says that 6 to 8 of the 21-million acres it manages in California need immediate restoration. Another 58 million acres nationally also require restoration. For California alone, restoration costs are estimated at $5 to $10 billion. But, according to the study authors, the restoration might help pay for itself. "We've known for some time that managed forest fires are the only way to restore the majority of overstocked western forests and reduce the risk of catastrophic fires," said James Roche, a National Park Service hydrologist and lead author of the new study. "We can now add the potential benefit of increased water yield from these watersheds." More than 30 years ago, when University of California, Berkeley researchers discovered telomerase -- an enzyme that lengthens chromosome ends and prevents them from fraying enough to kill a cell -- speculation ran wild about its role in aging and cancer, setting off a full-court press to produce drugs to activate or block the enzyme. While neither telomerase-based anti-aging drugs, touted as a "fountain of youth," nor anticancer drugs have yet appeared, the publication today by UC Berkeley scientists of the first detailed picture of the molecular structure of human telomerase should jump-start that effort, allowing more targeted drug screens and intelligent design of new drugs. "It has been a long time coming. It took a lot of persistence," said Kathleen Collins, a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology who has worked on the enzyme for 26 years. Collins and Eva Nogales, also a professor of molecular and cell biology, are the senior authors of a paper describing the 3-D molecular structure of the human telomerase enzyme published this week in the journal Nature. One bottleneck has been obtaining pure samples of this complex molecule, which is composed of an RNA backbone decorated by six types of protein that move around as they add DNA to the ends of chromosomes. Labs around the world have debated whether the enzyme operates singly or as conjoined twins, and how and how many proteins decorate the RNA backbone. Without consensus on these questions, it has proven difficult to design a drug to target the molecular machine and either destroy telomerase activity -- which could stop a cancer that has boosted its telomerase levels -- or restart telomerase, perhaps to prime the body for rapid cell division after a bone marrow transplant. advertisement The newly revealed structure still lacks fine detail, but combined with knowledge of the gene sequence of human telomerase, it provides enough information to start thinking about potential targets for drugs, said first author Thi Hoang Duong "Kelly" Nguyen, a Miller Institute postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley. "The best previous images of human telomerase had a resolution of only 30 Angstroms; we were able to get about 7 to 8 Angstroms resolution using cryoelectron microscopy," Kelly said. "When I got to the point where I could see all the subunits -- we had 11 protein subunits in total -- it was a moment of, 'Wow, wow, this is how they all fit together.'" Nguyen, Collins and Nogales are actively working to improve the resolution to 3 or 4 Angstroms -- about the size of two carbon atoms -- which is sufficient for drug design. Telomerase tops up the telomeres Telomeres were first detected at a molecular level in the late 1970s by Elizabeth Blackburn, then at UC Berkeley and now president emerita of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Working with the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena, she and colleagues showed that the ends of the chromosomes are capped by repeating sequences of DNA. Armed with knowledge of telomere sequence, researchers then showed that telomeres in tissues of multicellular organisms grow shorter each time a cell divides. The telomeres protect the DNA strands from fraying and getting damaged at their ends, much like the plastic tip on the end of a shoelace. The fact that they drop off with each cell division is thought to protect us from cancer, when a cell is hijacked and proliferates continually. advertisement In 1985 at UC Berkeley, Blackburn and then-graduate student Carol Greider discovered telomerase, an enzyme that adds DNA back to the ends of chromosomes, lengthening them and extending the lifespan of the cell. Blackburn, Greider and another colleague, Jack Szosak, shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of telomerase. Scientists have since found that, in humans and other multicellular organisms, telomerase is expressed only in the embryo, not in most adult cells. That means that most cells at birth have a predetermined ability to grow and divide, after which they die. Many scientists believe that depleted telomeres are a major cause of aging. Collins has been trying to determine the structure of telomerase ever since the first human telomerase protein was discovered in 1997, and she and her colleagues have discovered and extensively characterized many of the proteins in the large enzyme, as well as the broken-up hairpin structure of the RNA backbone of telomerase. Yet how they all fit together was an enigma because of conflicting results from many different labs. Nguyen was able to isolate the active enzyme and purify it much better than anyone had before, and employed a new, state-of-the-art cryoelectron microscope to determine the structure of the active telomerase unambiguously. Cryo-EM is a technique for determining molecular structures of compounds that cannot be crystallized and imaged with X-rays, and its developers won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Once the UC Berkeley team had the structure, Nguyen said, it became clear why genetic mutations in some of the proteins in telomerase interfere with the enzyme to cause disease. In 1999, Collins discovered the first known human disease caused by a telomerase mutation: a mutation in a telomerase protein called dyskerin that is responsible for a rare disease called dyskeratosis congenita. Patients develop anemia as well as skin and gut problems, and most frequently die from bone marrow failure. The reason, Collins says, is that there are two dyskerin molecules bound to the RNA backbone that have to not only reach out to the network of other proteins but also touch one another, and disease-causing mutations prevent these linkages, crippling the ability of the RNA backbone to survive in cells. Some children with dyskeratosis congenita have telomerase levels about 25 percent of normal and a lifespan of less than two decades. Those with half the normal level of telomerase typically reach a health crisis in mid-life. Collins is ecstatic to finally have a definitive structure for telomerase and looks forward to learning more about the intricate assembly process of one of the most complex enzymes in the body: a polymerase as complicated as the ribosome, which reads RNA to produce proteins. "I didn't think it would be this complicated when I decided to study this molecule," she said. "I became curious about how telomerase works in 1991, when I was just finishing as a grad student, and I was looking for a really simple polymerase system in which to understand nucleic acid interactions. And I thought, my god you can't be simpler than this. That was super naive." Perhaps the strangest prediction of quantum theory is entanglement, a phenomenon whereby two distant objects become intertwined in a manner that defies both classical physics and a "common-sense" understanding of reality. In 1935, Albert Einstein expressed his concern over this concept, referring to it as "spooky action at a distance." Nowadays, entanglement is considered a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, and it is the key resource for a host of potentially transformative quantum technologies. Entanglement is, however, extremely fragile, and it has previously been observed only in microscopic systems such as light or atoms, and recently in superconducting electric circuits. In work recently published in Nature, a team led by Prof. Mika Sillanpaa at Aalto University in Finland has shown that entanglement of massive objects can be generated and detected. The researchers managed to bring the motions of two individual vibrating drumheads -- fabricated from metallic aluminium on a silicon chip -- into an entangled quantum state. The objects in the experiment are truly massive and macroscopic compared to the atomic scale: the circular drumheads have a diametre similar to the width of a thin human hair. The team also included scientists from the University of New South Wales Canberra in Australia, the University of Chicago, and the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. The approach taken in the experiment was based on a theoretical innovation developed by Dr. Matt Woolley at UNSW and Prof. Aashish Clerk, now at the University of Chicago. 'The vibrating bodies are made to interact via a superconducting microwave circuit. The electromagnetic fields in the circuit are used to absorb all thermal disturbances and to leave behind only the quantum mechanical vibrations,' says Mika Sillanpaa, describing the experimental setup. Eliminating all forms of noise is crucial for the experiments, which is why they have to be conducted at extremely low temperatures near absolute zero, at -273 C. Remarkably, the experimental approach allows the unusual state of entanglement to persist for long periods of time, in this case up to half an hour. 'These measurements are challenging but extremely fascinating. In the future, we will attempt to teleport the mechanical vibrations. In quantum teleportation, properties of physical bodies can be transmitted across arbitrary distances using the channel of "spooky action at a distance",' explains Dr. Caspar Ockeloen-Korppi, the lead author on the work, who also performed the measurements. The results demonstrate that it is now possible to have control over large mechanical objects in which exotic quantum states can be generated and stabilized. Not only does this achievement open doors for new kinds of quantum technologies and sensors, it can also enable studies of fundamental physics in, for example, the poorly understood interplay of gravity and quantum mechanics. After four high-profile clemencies, Prez Trump issues a bunch of denials | Main | "6 Months Since Trump Declared an Opioid Emergency, What's Changed?" ... other than AG Sessions "strongly" encouraging capital prosecutions? April 25, 2018 New Jersey Supreme Court finds unconstitutional requiring juveniles to be subject to lifetime sex-offender registration The Supreme Court of New Jersey yesterday handed down a lengthy unanimous opinion in Interest of C.K., No. A-15-16 (N.J. April 24, 2018) (available here) declaring that the state's sex-offender registry law is unconstitutional as applied to some juvenile offenders. Here is how the opinion begins: Juveniles adjudicated delinquent of certain sex offenses are barred for life from seeking relief from the registration and community notification provisions of Megans Law. N.J.S.A. 2C:7-1 to -11, -19; N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(g). That categorical lifetime bar cannot be lifted, even when the juvenile becomes an adult and poses no public safety risk, is fully rehabilitated, and is a fully productive member of society. Defendant C.K. was adjudicated delinquent for sex offenses committed more than two decades ago and now challenges the constitutionality of N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(g)s permanent lifetime registration and notification requirements as applied to juveniles. Subsection (f) of N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2 subjects all sex offenders, including juveniles, to presumptive lifetime registration and notification requirements. Unlike subsection (g), however, subsection (f) allows a registrant to seek relief from those requirements fifteen years after his juvenile adjudication, provided he has been offense-free and is not likely to pose a threat to the safety of others. Subsection (g) imposes an irrebuttable presumption that juveniles, such as defendant, are irredeemable, even when they no longer pose a public safety risk and are fully rehabilitated. The record in this case reveals what is commonly known about juveniles -- that their emotional, mental, and judgmental capacities are still developing and that their immaturity makes them more susceptible to act impulsively and rashly without consideration of the long-term consequences of their conduct. See State v. Zuber, 227 N.J. 422 (2017). The record also supports the conclusion that juveniles adjudicated delinquent of committing sex offenses, such as C.K., who have been offense-free for many years and assessed not likely to reoffend, pose little risk to the public. Indeed, categorical lifetime notification and registration requirements may impede a juveniles rehabilitative efforts and stunt his ability to become a healthy and integrated adult member of society. We conclude that subsection (g)s lifetime registration and notification requirements as applied to juveniles violate the substantive due process guarantee of Article I, Paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution. Permanently barring juveniles who have committed certain sex offenses from petitioning for relief from the Megans Law requirements bears no rational relationship to a legitimate governmental objective. In the absence of subsection (g), N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(f) provides the original safeguard incorporated into Megans Law: no juvenile adjudicated delinquent will be released from his registration and notification requirements unless a Superior Court judge is persuaded that he has been offense-free and does not likely pose a societal risk after a fifteen-year look-back period. Defendant may apply for termination from the Megans Law requirements fifteen years from the date of his juvenile adjudication, and be relieved of those requirements provided he meets the standards set forth in N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(f). April 25, 2018 at 09:55 AM | Permalink Comments Good for the New Jersey State Supreme Court! Maybe other states and the whole nation will follow suit. Former sex offenders who have paid their debt to society should organize themselves into militant self-defense groups like the Socialists and Black Panthers to demand restoration of their rights and to fend off vigilantes. Posted by: william r. delzell | Apr 25, 2018 7:59:37 PM Registration is a very bad idea for likely anyone (depends on their demeanor). But I have to think that "lifetime" Registration is an exceedingly bad idea for pretty much everyone. I know that people who are listed on the Registries come to realize more and more with every passing day that the Registries are nothing but extended harassment and probation/parole. Every day that passes they realize more that the Registries truly are not a legitimate part of any legal sentence or government function and are nothing but an act of war. I think that feeling increases with every passing day and that as time marches on, people feel more strongly that they must retaliate. Everyone should identify the INDIVIDUALS that support the Registries and do everything legal to neutralize, marginalize, and harm them in any way. Remember that they are terrorists and not Americans. Posted by: FRegistryTerrorists | Apr 26, 2018 9:00:35 AM Post a comment This item is available in full to subscribers. Attention subscribers We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription. If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site. If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account by clicking here. Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing. ARLINGTON, Texas - The As have added another reliever to provide long relief, picking up right-hander Wilmer Font in a deal with Los Angeles. This is a guy the front office has talked about before, manager Bob Melvin said. He led the (Pacific Coast League) in strikeouts last year and has a big arm. Hes not only potential relief but hes a potential starter. Oakland sent minor-league lefty Logan Salow, 23, to the Dodgers to complete the deal. The team has not made a corresponding move to put Font onto the 25-man roster and there is currently a 40-man roster spot open after Renato Nunez was claimed on waivers earlier this month. Lou Trivino, called up when Yusmeiro Petit went on the bereavement list, is the most likely reliever to be sent out to make room for Font. When Petit returns from Venezuela, Chris Bassitt, who had been called up to provide length in the bullpen, could be the odd man out. Font, 27, is 0-2 with a 11.32 ERA and a .383 opponents average this season, and he has given up five homers, most among big-league relievers. In 14 big-league appearances overall over four seasons with the Rangers and Dodgers, Font has a 11.42 ERA. In nine seasons in the minor leagues, Font was 38-29 with a 3.61 ERA in 203 games, including 105 starts. He recorded 730 strikeouts in 618 2/3 innings, an average of 10.62 per nine innings. Salow, a sixth-round pick out of Kentucky in 2017, was 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA and .063 opponents average at Class-A Beloit. Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser The event, held at the relic site of former imperial capital of Hoa Lu in Truong Yen commune, saw the presence of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, former Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, former President Truong Tan Sang, former Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, serving and former leaders of the Party and State, along with a large number of local people and visitors. In her speech, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee of Ninh Binh province Nguyen Thi Thanh recalled the countrys glorious history, noting that in 968, Dinh Bo Linh put down the anarchy of the 12 warlords to become king under the name Dinh Tien Hoang. He named the country Dai Co Viet (Great Viet) and set up the capital in Hoa Lu, which is now Ninh Binh. Thanh said the establishment of the first centralized feudal state heralded a new era for the country after a millennium under the rule of dynasties from the north. The countrys name Dai Co Viet existed from 968 to 1054 under three royal dynasties: the Dinh, the Tien Le (Early Le), and the early period of the Ly. In the Tien Le Dynasty and the early period of the Ly Dynasty, Dai Co Viet continued to develop in all aspects, and the countrys independence and autonomy continued to be reinforced, she added. The official said since Ninh Binh province was re-established in 1992, it has obtained a number of significant achievements in all fields. In 2017, the provinces economic growth rate was posted at 7.95 percent while nearly 8.8 trillion VND was collected for the State budget. The province has ensured defence, political security and social order and safety, she said, adding that it has also stepped up the building of the Party and political system. Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh said Ninh Binh is a traditional land of patriotism and culture. Over the past few years, the province has promoted solidarity and creativity to gain significant achievements in diverse fields with economic growth higher than the average level of the whole country. He urged Ninh Binh to promote historical and cultural values of the ancient land and develop such potential fields as hi-tech industry, clean technology, processing technology, and hi-tech agriculture in association with building new-style rural areas. The province needs to pay more attention to social-cultural development, improve the quality of education and training, develop human resources and improve the material and spiritual lives of local people as well as implement effectively social welfare policies, especially for national revolutionary contributors, improve public health services, and better its business environment. Ninh Binh should pay heed to preventing corruption and wastefulness along with protecting the environment, responding to climate change, and strengthening defence-security capacity, he said. With its long-standing and proud history, the Deputy PM believed that Ninh Binh will overcome difficulties to successfully implement the Resolution adopted at the 21st Congress of the provincial Party Organisation, thus ensuring its rapid and sustainable development. At the ceremony, visitors were treated with a special art performance show and a spectacular firework display. Vietnamnews Despite state laws and repeated warnings from its own staff, California State University has done a poor job of protecting half a million students and employees from hazardous materials used in labs and classrooms, the state auditor said in a report released Tuesday. A Santa Rosa lawmaker requested the audit after CSU employees alerted him last year to allegations of an asbestos cover-up at Sonoma State and a botched handling of chemicals at Sacramento State in which students feet and legs were soaked with a hazardous material. My request was driven by some extremely concerning events reported to me that involved worker exposure to hazardous and unsafe conditions, Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, said in a statement Tuesday. Unfortunately, the audit results validated my concerns. The state auditor studied four CSU campuses Sonoma and Sacramento State universities and two others and found ongoing problems: Chemical safety plans have languished for years without reviews for effectiveness, although state law requires yearly reviews and an officer to implement the plan. Not all students and employees receive state-mandated safety trainings for handling hazardous materials. Three of the campuses Sonoma, Sacramento, and San Diego State fail to ensure that fire extinguishers, emergency eye washes, and showers for mitigating hazardous exposure are inspected regularly and work properly. Only California State University Channel Islands properly inspected its equipment. Sacramento State and San Diego State fail to warn employees about asbestos, as required by state law. The audit noted that two of the campuses, Channel Islands and San Diego, each incurred state penalties in the five digits for safety violations between 2012 and 2017. In 2012, the states Occupational Safety and Health agency fined Channel Islands $18,300 for a series of problems, including a failure to relieve pressure in a hot water pipe that caused severe burns on an employee who was sprayed. The San Diego County Pollution Control District fined San Diego State $17,600 over five years for eight violations, including leaving 50 containers of paint with volatile compounds open to dry. In the same period, Sacramento State paid $6,610 in fines, and Sonoma State paid $4,640. The audit also said the CSU chancellors office, which oversees all 23 campuses, has ignored repeated safety recommendations from its own auditor. It said CSU also lacks policies for protecting people working with hazardous materials and has no systemwide safety committee. Without resolving these issues, campuses cannot ensure they are effectively protecting students and employees against injuries and illnesses, Californias auditor, Elaine Howell, told Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers in a letter included in the 87-page report. Among Howells recommendations were that the chancellors office develop a system by November for campuses to submit required health and safety reports that have been missing for years. By June, the four campuses should also show which employees have not received training, and begin correcting that problem, the auditor said. 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. We recognize that improvements need to be made and have already begun taking steps to address many of the recommendations, Chancellor Timothy White said in a written response included in the report. Judy Sakaki, president of Sonoma State, said, We take these recommendations seriously and are working expeditiously to respond to each one. But White and Howell disagree on one recommendation, which is that campuses must create safety committees. White said they arent required, while the auditor said a 2012 labor agreement mandates them. Howell said the committees would help make campuses safer. It was the CSU Employees Union that asked Wood, who sits on the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, to request the audit because of incidents on the two campuses. At Sacramento State, the auditor cited reports showing that in 2016, harmful chemicals spilled from a rickety shelf in a university laboratory and splashed across two students feet and the legs of one of them. Several employees who helped with the cleanup later said they suffered health problems as a result, the audit said. At Sonoma State, an employee sued the school, saying he experienced retaliation for reporting asbestos problems, the audit said. A jury awarded him $388,000 last year. CSU has appealed. Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov San Franciscos Public Works department is offering the public the chance to weigh in on design proposals for new public toilets and information kiosks. The 25 green- and gold-trimmed restrooms that dot the city were installed in 1995 and meant to resemble Parisian public commodes. But city officials believe its time for an upgrade as it negotiates a new contract with JCDecaux, the outdoor furniture company that designed and services the facilities. Last year, the city and JCDecaux invited a number of design firms to submit ideas for reimagined commodes, as well as the 114 advertising kiosks that offset the costs of operating the restrooms. The competition was judged by a panel of city officials and outside design experts, who whittled the field down to three finalists: SmithGroupJJR, Min Design and Branch Creative. Through April 30, the public may review the final trio of proposed designs and submit feedback. The designs will be on display through Monday in the ground-floor rotunda of the Main Library in Civic Center. Theyll also be displayed Wednesday during the weekly farmers market in U.N. Plaza. Comment cards may be submitted at the library or by email to beth.rubenstein@sfdpw.org. The deadline is 10 a.m. on April 30. The winner wont necessarily be the publics favorite, however. The jury will take the publics opinions into consideration, but the final decision rests with the jury comprising representatives from Public Works, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Historic Preservation Commission and the Port of San Francisco, in addition to the outside experts. 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. Regardless of what design gets chosen, toilet interiors still will have to be self-cleaning, accessible to the disabled and connected directly to city water, sewer and electrical infrastructure. According to Public Works, JCDecaux would cover the costs of construction, installation and daily maintenance. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa After repeatedly calling the increasingly squalid conditions on San Franciscos trash-strewn streets unacceptable, Mayor Mark Farrell on Wednesday will unveil a plan to significantly boost spending on street cleaning. Over the next two years, Farrell intends to add $12.8 million to the Public Works budget to hire dozens of street cleaners, add to the citys stock of public toilets, and purchase new equipment, including powerful steam cleaners and sweeping machines. Public outcry over the staggering amounts of litter, used syringes and human waste choking San Franciscos streets has risen steadily in recent months, with some of the most persistent and visible problems occurring in the South of Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods, as well as the Mission District. The conditions on our streets are simply unacceptable, and as mayor, I wanted to make sure it was one of my biggest priorities, Farrell said. This is affecting everybody, and now as mayor, I have the ability to positively affect the conditions of our streets across the entire city. Street cleanliness is among the central issues Farrell vowed to address during his short time as mayor. On Monday, he announced the city also would set aside $750,000 to hire a 10-person team of health professionals dedicated to cleaning up used needles. City officials set aside $65.4 million for street cleaning in the 2017-18 fiscal year budget. After being in City Hall for over seven years, obviously I have my own opinions about what works and what doesnt, and what has the greatest positive impact on our streets, Farrell said. And so, I wanted to fund those initiatives that I believe would have an immediate and lasting impact on our streets and for the residents of San Francisco. They deserve better. Just over $3 million a year would be put toward hiring 44 additional street cleaners, four for each of the citys 11 supervisorial districts. Each supervisor would work closely with Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru to decide which corridors in their districts would be targeted. Farrells plan also calls for building five Pit Stop public toilets and hiring workers to tend to them through contracts with nonprofit groups. The restrooms currently, 18 are placed in frequently dirty locations also provide spaces to safely dispose of needles and to get rid of dog waste. Farrells proposal also includes money to keep five existing Pit Stops open longer each day, and to increase the areas targeted by the citys Fix-It team, which responds to a variety of quality-of-life problems, like graffiti or broken streetlights. Nuru also plans to use the funds to purchase new steam-cleaning trucks to ease the strain on his existing fleet, which he said are pulling double and sometimes triple shifts. When you double- or triple-shift machines, youre going to have a lot of breakdowns, he said. Nuru said the funds would go a long way toward addressing chronically dirty streets in some of the citys most problematic neighborhoods. This will bring some consistency to those areas. Its a game-changer. Nearly $13 million is not a small amount of money. We should see improvements in our commercial corridors and having more bathrooms available all of those things will make a difference, he said. In recent months, Nuru said his department has been forced to shift into firefighting mode when it comes to addressing street cleanliness that stems from the citys homelessness epidemic. When you have tents or people living on our streets without the adequate services, whether its a bathroom or trash service ... then other parts of the city arent getting the normal (amount of) attention, he said. Farrells proposed budget will be presented to the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee in June, where it could encounter some turbulence. The budget committee is chaired by Supervisor Malia Cohen, who has been a reliable adversary for Farrell since the board installed him as mayor in January, booting her longtime ally, London Breed, who was serving as acting mayor following the death of Ed Lee in December. 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. Farrells announcement Wednesday coincides with his decision to veto a budget supplement passed by the board last week that would have added $1.1 million outside of the normal budget process for citywide street cleaning. The measure was introduced by Supervisor Jane Kim, whos also a leading contender in San Franciscos mayoral race. Kim initially had asked for $2.5 million, but she agreed to whittle down her request during negotiations with the rest of the board. Farrell had pledged to veto the budget request even before it narrowly passed the board with a 6-5 vote, citing a general aversion to budget supplementals. He also was concerned that Kims measure would target cleanup efforts only in her district, which includes SoMa and the Tenderloin. Kim said previously she intended to let Public Works decide how and where to spend the money. Kim couldnt be reached for comment Tuesday, but, in a message sent through an aide, she said she intended to go back to the drawing board to get the resources we need to clean our streets. One component of Farrells plan, however, targets street cleanliness specifically in Kims district. Farrell has proposed spending $550,000 each year over the next two years to fund a team that will clean SoMa streets five days a week. SoMa ... has been a major sore spot for residents and businesses and visitors alike, and I believe it deserves special attention, Farrell said. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa An army of cleaners, counselors and police descended upon the Mission District at dawn Wednesday and by lunchtime, they had rendered the gentrifying district entirely free of homeless tent camps for the first time in recent memory. And with that, San Franciscos mayor had fired the first shot in what he said will be unending salvos of enforcement efforts in the coming weeks to try to rid city streets of tent encampments. The clearance was actually the culmination of an intensive street counseling and police patrol operation that began in July, with the aim of emptying the Mission of what were then 287 tents by this summer. That effort had trimmed the number of tents to 40 about a month ago, but so many had begun filtering back that Mayor Mark Farrell ordered Wednesdays operation. Now Playing: Mayor Mark Farrell discusses the homeless situation Earlier this week more than 100 tents along with needles, trash and desperate campers dotted the Missions sidewalks, but as city workers spread word of the coming push, about half of the homeless people had left on their own before Wednesday morning. This is just the beginning, Farrell said. Tents should not be part of the permanent landscape in San Francisco. If, at the end of the day, a person resists everything we offer them in counseling, housing and other services, they shouldnt be allowed to keep tents on the sidewalk. Now Playing: He was ordered to move by city workers clearing out tents from the Mission. Video: SFChronicle Maybe it takes a mayor not running for office to do it, but we need to clean up our streets throughout the city. We havent been pushing hard enough. We will now. Making this push, he said, is just part of what he characterized as a sprint to the finish of his short term as mayor, before someone wins Junes special election to fill out the late Mayor Ed Lees term. It is not, he insisted, part of positioning for a full-term run for mayor in 2019 which he has repeatedly said he will not do. Homeless advocates called the operation a nasty sweep, forcing destitute people to pack everything and flee to a new camping spot. Ramping up sweeps in other districts will be cruel, they said. People actually want help, they want to get into a Navigation Center (full-service homeless shelter), but there arent enough Nav Center beds and there isnt enough housing, said Kelley Cutler, a Coalition on Homelessness organizer who monitored Wednesdays operation. The mayor is putting not just the people in tents at risk by doing these sweeps, but the city workers at risk, too, because hes pushing people to the brink. She said proof of her point came a few hours into the morning when a homeless woman apparently stabbed her boyfriend after they were forced to move their tent from 13th Street. The woman was apprehended nearby, the victim was taken to a hospital, and as Cutler watched the ambulance pull away, she said, See, this is what you get when the tensions come up like this. Farrell, told of the stabbing shortly afterward, took the opposite tack. Please, he said. This is exactly why we need to take tents down. Its not healthy for anyone to live that way. Stabbings, arson, rape, all other sorts of crime you are more vulnerable when youre living outside. Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle He added, Sweep is a bad word, and he characterized Wednesdays effort as a ramp-up of counseling outreach combined with enforcement of existing laws that prohibit tents from blocking sidewalks. The head of city homelessness programs who has consistently preferred steady street counseling as a tool over dismantling camps en masse agreed with that assessment. Jeff Kositsky, director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said his Homeless Outreach Teams ushered two-thirds of everyone who had been camping in the Mission over the past 10 months into shelters or onto buses for rides home to family or relatives. For Wednesdays operation, his department opened 50 temporary shelter beds and about a dozen more in Navigation Centers but only a few took them. We always lead with our services, and we are doing consistent and loving outreach, but at some point we need to let people know that what theyre doing by keeping tent camps on the sidewalk is not legal, safe or healthy, he said. For the tent people, Wednesday was simply the end game for what they knew had been coming. 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. Fifty-year-old Fernando Veloso just moved a few blocks away. I love this lifetime cleaning company they have here, he cracked as he shoved his heaped cart of tents, clothes and tools away from his spot on 13th near Bryant Street. Behind him, street cleaners were hosing down the newly empty sidewalk with cleaning agents. This is just what happens around here, Veloso said. They move us. They clean. We just set up somewhere new. Then it happens all over again. But Wednesday for Angel Brown, 28, was salvation day. She sat with her bags on the sidewalk alongside a Homeless Outreach Team crew, her boyfriend packing up their tent a few blocks away on 16th and Bryant streets, and her eyes teared up. I just want to get off the streets. Im so tired of it, she said. Were supposed to be family out here, but people are fighting all the time. I get beat up. Every time I get clothes, someone steals them. Shes pregnant with her sixth child, she said. Getting inside and kicking methamphetamine is now her biggest priority. I went into the Nav Center more than a year ago, but I didnt stay more than a day or so, Brown said. I was just out of it then. Sometimes it takes a little push to change. Maybe that time is now. Kositsky heard her mention pregnancy and walked over. Have you talked to a doctor? he asked. Brown shook her head no. Kositsky got on the phone and summoned one. Angel, these guys are in your corner, Kositskys deputy, Randy Quezada, told her while his boss made the call. Dont give up on them, and they wont give up on you. Brown hung her head. Yeah, Im going to try this time, she whispered. Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron San Franciscos supervisors sparred Tuesday over a bill by state Sen. Scott Wiener that tackles one of the most pressing issues among voters: conservatorship programs to get mentally ill and drug-addicted homeless people off the street. Wieners bill, SB1045, would give counties more control over those programs. Under state law, counties can hospitalize people for 72 hours only if they pose a danger to themselves or others. The supervisors defeated a resolution to support it, after the five progressives said they werent ready to take a position. Ive heard from people who say the bill loosens the standard for conservatorship, said Supervisor Norman Yee, one of the five no votes. The resolution sponsored by Supervisor London Breed needed eight votes to pass because it was brought to the board without a committee hearing. Breed praised Wieners approach, saying the current law, written in the 1960s, is archaic and frustrating. Moreover, it doesnt allow cities to compel treatment for people using psychoactive substances other than alcohol, she said. She said that nearly half of all psychiatric emergency room visits in San Francisco involve methamphetamine use, not alcohol. We cannot watch people languish like this, Breed said. Under current law we cant adequately intervene. Breed is in the last sprint of a tight race for mayor against Supervisor Jane Kim, who was forced to take a stance on the contentious conservatorship issue when Breed brought the resolution before the board. She was among the dissenting votes. Yee and Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Aaron Peskin said the resolution should be subject to a committee hearing, which would allow experts to testify. 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 on Tuesday, the board voted 10-1 against allowing the owners of the six-unit building at 670 Page St. to convert it into condominiums. One owner, Peter Owens, drew ire from housing activists two years ago when he evicted an elderly woman, Iris Canada, from her apartment in the building. She died last year at age 100. Owens had accused Canada of living elsewhere with family members while thwarting his conversion effort. But that argument fell flat in City Hall. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan A second state Senate committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would make it easier for California cannabis businesses to write checks instead of using hoards of cash, as is common practice now to pay taxes, rent and fees to vendors. The bill, introduced by state Sen. Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, would allow the creation of a special class of state-chartered banks and credit unions, regulated by the Department of Business Oversight, that could process deposits, withdrawals and other financial transactions by licensed cannabis merchants. The Governance and Finance Committee approved the legislation Wednesday. As consumers and health insurers grapple with ever-rising costs of prescription drugs, one Bay Area startup thinks its found a solution: Get doctors involved. Sausalitos Gemini Health has created an online shopping tool for doctors that, as theyre preparing to prescribe medications to their patients, generates a list of similar drugs and their out-of-pocket costs to patients based on each patients insurance plan. Physicians can use the information to start conversations with their patients about which drug is best, while taking cost into consideration. Geminis first customer is one of the states largest insurers, Blue Shield of California, which covers about 4 million people. The insurer is paying Gemini to introduce the service in the next two months to 6,000 California doctors who treat Blue Shield members. Neither company would say how much the fee is; Gemini also declined to disclose details on the companys funding. Prescription drug prices are one of the fastest-growing expenses in health care, and consumers, health plans and employers are all shouldering the costs. Doctors often dont know how much a drug will cost a patient because patients pay different prices depending on what their insurance covers. Nearly a third of prescriptions are never filled, in large part due to cost, according to an analysis published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2014. I practiced medicine for 10 years and wrote 10,000 prescriptions and never once had any idea what those prescriptions cost the patients sitting in front of me, said Gemini founder and CEO Dr. Ed Fotsch, a former emergency medicine doctor who started Gemini three years ago. If there were three drugs I might (prescribe) for an infection or diabetes, Id say, I dont really care among those three. But if someone said, Choose the one thats least expensive for me, Id have no way to do that. Were trying to solve that. Giving doctors access to information on pricing and alternative drugs that could treat the same condition a tablet instead of an inhaled medicine, for instance will help them make more informed decisions about what to recommend to their patients, said Salina Wong, Blue Shields director of clinical pharmacy programs. Wong likens the tool to a price tag for drugs. Its like going into a store, Wong said. If you really wanted that expensive purse for $1,000 as opposed to $30, you go in more informed. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes The pricing tool pulls information from each patients electronic medical records; his or her health insurance plan; Blue Shields pharmacy claims processor; and a database of about 75,000 prescription drugs. The program can be integrated into a medical practices electronic health system. The tool is free for doctors and patients. The company said it is in talks with other Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliates to expand the service to doctors in 17 other states. Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho Laurie Firestone, who lives on Nob Hill, was social secretary to George H.W. Bush while he was vice president, then for four years of his presidential term at the White House. We talked on Monday, April 23, after Firestone had returned from Barbara Bushs funeral in Houston. There were 1,500 people invited, she said, from a list Firestone thought that Barbara Bush had made beforehand, along with many of the other plans for the funeral, specifying also things she wanted done and not done. They had so many friends, and the family itself is over 100 when you count extended family. Many guests were members of the East Wing staff, all of whom were very special to her, said Firestone. Among the decisions Firestone thought the former first lady had made was having Jeb Bush speak on behalf of the family, evidenced by his revelation that shed told him to keep it short and not to cry. As to describing the late first lady, I felt that he hit the nail on the head. He described what she was like as a mother, and also all the good she did. What was it like working for Barbara Bush? All of the White House stories were pretty well documented, said Firestone, but before that, in the vice presidential house, I have some very strong memories. That was sort of off-bounds for the press, and consequently there was a different feeling there than in the White House. Firestone had been hired in 1981, before Ronald Reagans inauguration. I asked her when shed like me to start. And she said, I think youd better start on Inauguration Day, because we will be coming back with all of our family, 100 or maybe 125, with lots of children. And well want a buffet lunch, so you just plan that. When Firestone asked about particulars, Mrs. Bush replied, You know what, any way you want to do it is perfect for me. And honestly, that was the way she treated me the rest of those 12 years. What sorts of things bothered her? What annoyed her the most would be things that would happen but not by choice or oversight, when we had forgotten to tell her something. She didnt like surprises. She wants to know, the good or the bad. Shed say, Just tell me. ... When she was at the White House, on one trip they said, You dont need to go, and that never happened again. She said, No, I will be on every trip. In general, She was on a pretty even keel as long as you were straight and honest. All the qualities that she represented you had to have, or else you didnt last. She expected the best from us, but she expected the best from herself. As to their views of subsequent presidents, Once they got out of office, the Bushes never did anything else political, never criticized. They just retired and felt that every president had his moment and had the right or privilege of serving the country in his way. Bay Area Dance Week, a 10-day free dance festival (www.bayareadance.org), begins Friday, April 27, with One Dance at City Hall at noon. If you are sitting at your desk reading this as I am sitting at my desk writing it a visit to the site will be a visit to a dance class, enabling you to study up and join the crowd in the Rotunda. Those who havent studied will be welcome, too. But I dare you to watch this video and not shake your booty and shimmy your shoulders, even if youre still sitting down. At Target in Richmond, Adriane Ahnsted saw another customer, a young man wearing blue denim overalls, with a live cat a Russian blue hanging draped inside the bib. Its head was poking out one side and its tail flopping around the other. And up and down the aisles, the whisper could be heard: Cat! Shirley-Anne Owden, in poor health, was being admitted to a hospital when the nurse asked her if she had an advance directive. Without hesitation, reports her husband, Rob Hoskins, she said, Yes. Everyone should know that I really, really hate Trump. Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, (415) 777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @leahgarchik Public Eavesdropping I dont care what you do, as long as its not on purpose. The company accused of fraud in the $1 billion environmental cleanup at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard aggressively defended itself Tuesday, its executives contending the work was done strictly by the book and saying the firm would pay for a retesting of the property. In a letter to Laura Duchnak, the Navys director of base closures, Tetra Tech CEO Dan Batrack stated, In light of a barrage of recent negative and misleading media reports, Tetra Tech is compelled to defend itself and its work at Hunters Point. Our company has sought to follow all the required standards and protocols and to operate in a thorough, honest and professional manner to provide testing and clean-up services as required by our contract, Batrack said. We are proud of our high standards and professionalism on this contract, and all the work we perform for clients. Equally important, we have worked to make this site, and all sites where Tetra Tech works, safe for community members and residents. Batrack said Tetra Tech would allow the Navy to select an independent contractor to retest the property for contaminants and would pay for the work. It said the testing would take one to two months. While there has been wild speculation regarding the data collected at the site, we believe that any concerns can be directly addressed by actually retesting and analyzing the areas in question, he said. We want the Hunters Point community and the Navy to know that Tetra Tech stands by its work at Hunters Point. Tetra Techs claim contradicts recent statements by both the Navy and the Environmental Protection Agency, which are responsible for overseeing the cleanup of the former shipyard, home to the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory from 1946 to 1969. On Jan. 30, the Navy issued a preliminary report compiled by five outside consultants that concluded nearly half of the data Tetra Tech had collected from the Superfund site was flawed. The data include samples collected mostly between 2006 and 2012 from 300,000 cubic yards of soil, 20 buildings, 30 former building sites and 28 miles of storm drains. In April, an environmental watchdog group released a Dec. 27 letter written by John Chesnutt, manager of the EPAs local Superfund Division, which stated that as much as 97 percent of Tetra Techs cleanup data from two parcels on the site was found to be suspect and should be retested. The data analyzed demonstrate a widespread pattern of practices that appear to show deliberate falsification, failure to perform the work in a manner required to ensure (the EPAs approval) requirements were met, or both, Chesnutt stated. But on Tuesday, William Brownlie, chief engineer for Tetra Tech, said the Navys report on the data collection was flawed. He said Tetra Tech is having a difficult time understanding the EPAs comments because there is not a lot of information they provided to understand what they were looking at. As for the review conducted by the Navys five consultants, Tetra Tech disagrees with the method they used. He said the conditions at the shipyard are non-homogenous and variable, so that soil samples taken from the same area could have different chemical compositions. To conclude that inconsistency in soil samples represented falsification doesnt make sense, he said. The Navy mothballed the facility in 1974, and the city has been working ever since to redevelop it. Current plans call for over 10,500 housing units, 300 acres of open space, and a diverse collection of buildings housing everything from a hotel to schools to office space to retail to research-and-development facilities. So far, 309 homes have been completed and another 138 are under construction. The is the first time Tetra Tech, an environmental engineering company with a market capitalization of $2.85 billion based in Pasadena, has responded to allegations from whistle-blowers, the Navy and the EPA. San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen, who grew up near the shipyard in the Bayview neighborhood, said she is skeptical of Tetra Techs claims, but we would absolutely accept payment for a third party to retest the soil. Cohen will hold a hearing on the matter on May 14 at the Board of Supervisors Land Use and Transportation Committee and said she hopes Tetra Tech will be there to answer questions. Its curious that 30 years into the cleanup of the shipyard, and after years of allegations, whistle-blowing and public outrage, that Tetra Tech is now claiming that they did nothing wrong, she said. We will not accept a revisionist history of what has been established: Under Tetra Techs supervision, tests were falsified. Attorney David Anton, who represents some of the whistle-blowers, said the idea that Tetra Tech did everything perfectly well has turned out to be dramatically untrue. He said Tetra Techs offer to retest the sample is something the company is legally obligated to do not a generous offer. He also said that the retesting should include the entire property including Parcel A, the hilltop area where hundreds of people have bought condominiums. It sounds like Tetra Tech is trying to ram through a hasty evaluation of Hunters Point, whereas it has to be done carefully and well, he said. We are looking at a decade of fraud I find it hard to believe that a careful examination of that can be done in a couple of months. Dear Mr. LaSalle: You gave Beirut a fairly strong recommendation, which tallies with the 74 percent approval rating among critics according to Rotten Tomatoes. But the movie got only a 14 percent approval rating among general audiences. What caused the huge discrepancy? Michael Biehl, San Francisco Dear Mr. Biehl: A couple of things are going on here. First, the movie is confusing. Generally, critics dont mind that much, because they figure theyll understand everything soon enough, but audiences panic and wonder if theyve missed something. The other possibility is that the movies advertising is roping in an audience thats not ideal for this film. The trailer made the movie seem a lot more exciting, streamlined and comprehensible than the rueful, head-bound exercise that it really is. Audiences go in expecting The Bourne Identity, and they end up with Michael Clayton set in the Middle East. Dear Mick: You often refer to She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Red River as great Westerns. I grew up in Texas, and Rio Bravo is the best Western thats ever been on the screen. Whatever is second is a long ride away. Thomas McCord, Oakland Dear Thomas: Every excerpt Ive seen from Rio Bravo looks good, and I know its considered a classic, but Ive never actually forced myself to sit through it from beginning to end, partly because Im not crazy about Westerns, but mainly because Im even less crazy about Dean Martin. But I like director Howard Hawks, so Im going to take your recommendation. But I have to tell you, though its true that Ive often praised Red River, Im not a fan of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon or most John Ford Westerns. Im not expressing a critical judgment here, just a personal preference. Hi Mick: Not sure why robust gets your nomination for banishment, but my nominations are 24/7 and at the end of the day. Im so sick of these phrases endlessly spouting out of the mouths of talking heads. Doug Herring, El Cerrito Hi Doug: Robust is getting exhausted. It needs to sit out this quarter and recover from overuse. 24/7 I dont like, either, and I never say it, but at least it has some function. Its an economical way to say all day every day or all the time. However, at the end of the day is needlessly long-winded. All it means is in the end or finally or eventually. I like, in a way, that its not literal that a day, in this case, is like a Biblical day, of indeterminate, metaphorical length. Still, it seems clumsy. The first person I ever heard use the phrase was Quentin Tarantino, at a small roundtable for journalists before the release of Pulp Fiction. He said something like, At the end of the day, this movie will make back its investment. But it will make back its investment, at the end of the day. For a second I wondered what day he was referring to, and then I thought the pronouncement had a profound air. Then everyone started saying it (except me and you), and I turned on it. Now it sounds like a way of saying nothing for an extra split second, while you try to come up with an actual thought. Hi Mr. Mick: In a Facebook forum recently, someone compared William Haines to Paul Rudd. I thought it was an interesting idea. Any thoughts? Eric Warren, Oakland Hi Mr. Eric: Its a perceptive comparison, except that it sells Paul Rudd a bit short. The connection is the boyishness, playfulness and the annoying younger brother vibe. But Rudd has hung in for 20 years and has shown other colors. Haines was a good silent movie juvenile whose personality proved obnoxious in the talkies. Strangely, he also lost his looks at around age 30 and was no longer a plausible romantic lead. However, he had a great second act: He and his lifelong partner, James Shields, became very successful interior designers with a high-end Hollywood clientele. Have a question? Ask Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com. Include your name and city for publication, and a phone number for verification. Movie newsletter Get the latest movie reviews, Mick LaSalles views, critics picks and more film news each week in the San Francisco Chronicles revamped movie newsletter! Sign up here for Popcorn Picks and other Chronicle and SFGATE newsletters like the Taploid, Chronicle Commuter, and breaking news alerts. Five years ago, San Francisco Conservatory of Music President David Stull walked into a breakfast meeting at the Pacific-Union Club to ask board member Bill Bowes for $10 million or $15 million to buy land for a student dorm. He walked back out on his way to a commitment of $46.4 million from Bowes, which is being touted as the largest gift to a music school for a new facility in American history. That will definitely buy naming rights, and at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Stull announced the Ute and William K. Bowes Jr. Center for Performing Arts. It honors Bowes, a biotech investor who died in late 2016, and his widow, Ute. Plans have been approved for the 12-story building at Hayes Street and Van Ness Avenue, directly across from Davies Symphony Hall. Construction will begin in July, when two low-rise buildings on the site will be demolished. The Bowes Center is expected to open in the fall of 2020. This is a residence building in the main, said Stull. It gives us 420 student beds. The expansion also gives the conservatory a central location in the performing arts and cultural district along Van Ness, and Stull plans to take advantage of that location. The dorm will offer free public concerts in a jewel-box recital hall on the ground floor, with windows on the corner of Van Ness and Hayes, and a penthouse recital hall overlooking the City Hall dome. There will be a recording studio, a restaurant, a rooftop observation deck and apartments for visiting faculty. The glassy design by Mark Cavagnero Associates designers of SFJazz will replace a squat three-story office building and a small apartment building next to it. The site is just two blocks north of the Conservatorys main campus at 50 Oak St. That building, opened in 2006, will remain in operation. The dorm is the first Conservatory-owned housing for students in its 101-year history. We will finally have a home in San Francisco, said DuMarkus Davis, a senior from Atlanta majoring in violin. It is expected to cost $185 million, and will be 165,000 square feet, just slightly smaller than the main building. The Bowes Center will house the just-opened department of roots, jazz and American music, and space for the technology and applied composition department, which translates to writing scores for the movies. Thats a long way from three pianos in Lillian Hodgheads home on Sacramento Street, which is how the Conservatory began, in 1917. Ada Clement Piano School opened with five instructors for four pupils, but soon expanded into strings under the expansive name the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Among the students were violin prodigies like Isaac Stern, age 5, and Yehudi Menuhin, 12. In 1956, the Conservatory moved to a sprawling Mission-style complex on Ortega Street at 19th Avenue in the Sunset District, and 50 years later it moved downtown. Thirteen hundred applicants are winnowed into 200 slots a year, representing 33 countries. In all, there are 414 students on campus pursuing bachelors and postgraduate diplomas in music. Among thousands of graduates are Hai-Ye Ni, principal cellist with the Philadelphia Orchestra; three of the four members of the Telegraph Quartet, which played Carnegie Hall in February; and soprano Elza van den Heever, who has had leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. A student production can include 25 vocalists and an orchestra of 35, and there are 500 productions or concerts a year, almost all free and open to the public. We are desperate for rehearsal space, said Stull, 51. We do large-scale opera productions, and they need the space for weeks at a time. A former tubist with the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra who had been dean of the conservatory at Oberlin College in Ohio since 2004, Stull was hired in 2013 and hit the ground looking for more land for the conservatory. Outside his office window are several surface parking lots that had already been snapped up for development of high-rise housing on the Market Street corridor. It would not be long before students were squeezed out, and within five weeks on the job he found the location he wanted 214 Van Ness, the former headquarters for Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. He figured on needing at least $10 million to make an offer when he had breakfast with Bowes, whom Stull describes as one of the godfathers of venture capital. Bill was legendary for saying next to nothing, said Stull, who did not mind Bowes silence. It allowed him to do all the talking. When Bowes told Stull he was in for $5 million, the sales pitch started. I said, Bill, we need to act, and if we dont find real estate and buy it, it wont matter what our aspirations are, because there wont be land to acquire, no matter how much money we have. We need to get there, and we need to get there fast. Bowes took it all in without changing his expression, and responded, Yes, thats correct. Stull has a voice made for radio and a dramatic delivery. By the time he finished his pitch, Bowes had gone from $5 million to $16 million as a start. By then the Lighthouse building was in play. Developers bid it up from $4.8 million to $8.1 million in five days. Once that was locked up, Stull was able to buy the adjacent rental apartment building, on the promise that 27 displaced tenants would be offered housing in the new dorm. Total cost for the two parcels was $14.6 million. The Bowes pledge of $46.4 million was calculated to be about half the total cost of the capital campaign. A native San Franciscan and graduate of Lowell High School and Stanford University, Bowes was the founder of U.S. Ventures and was an early investor in biotech. He gave away more than $100 million to a variety of causes but was always low-key about it. When asked why he funded the Conservatory, his answer was simply, Music makes me happy. Bowes never allowed his name to be attached to a building. Asking for that took more nerve on Stulls part than asking for the money. He made his request in person, at Bowes apartment. I said Bill, wed really like to name it for you, and he agreed to that. That was their last conversation. Bowes died of a heart attack, at age 90, on Dec. 28, 2016. Bill was a very quiet and modest person, but a total sweetheart, said Nancy Bechtle, former president of the San Francisco Symphony. She also served on the board of the Conservatory, when it was located out on 19th Avenue. I think its exciting, Bechtle said. Its like having Juilliard next to the New York Philharmonic. Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SamWhitingSF Instagram: @sfchronicle_art Video: David Stull introduces the new Music Conservatory dorm at: http://bit.ly/conservatoryofmusic A gourmet popcorn shop in Emeryville called Cornology is under fire after witnesses said a worker identified by a city official as the companys founder and CEO demanded that a group of young, black customers leave the store while repeatedly uttering a racial slur. The CEO, Mark Stone, said in an interview that he wasnt involved in the incident. He said one of his employees shouted n while chasing a group of roughly 25 juveniles from the store who had taken popcorn, soda and change from a tip jar. But two witnesses disputed that account, saying the Cornology worker aggressively demanded that roughly 10 black shoppers leave the shop moments after they entered. Fay Eastman, one of witnesses, posted a photo of the worker on Facebook and the man in the image resembled Stone. In addition, a city official familiar with the response to the incident said Stone was the lone worker at the business that day and was the one in the altercation with the juveniles. The official asked not to be identified because what happened at Cornology is under investigation. In his initial interview with The Chronicle, Stone said his employee used the racial slur in the heat of the moment. Late Tuesday, Stone did not respond to additional requests for comment. Emeryville police officials confirmed that officers responded to a call at the Emeryville outpost of Cornology on Sunday. No arrests were made. Eastman and Aisha Weber, who saw the incident unfold in its entirety, said the shop worker said n multiple times. Eastman and Weber said the juveniles were not stealing, but reacted to the behavior of the worker by knocking over items in the store. I didnt see those kids running out with bags of popcorn. He just didnt want them in the store, said Eastman. The worker declined to provide his name when confronted after the altercation, both women said. Weber, an Emeryville native, said the shopping center is a normal place for groups of young people to spend their free time. When the group in question entered the Cornology store, Weber said the man behind the counter threw up his arms and told the visitors to leave. He said, Get out of here ns, and he was throwing his hands in the air, Weber said. That came from his heart. That came from him. He didnt want those kids in the store from the beginning. The incident gained attention when it was recapped by Eastman in her Facebook post that same day. It garnered more than 4,300 shares and over 700 comments less than 24 hours after appearing online. As the story spread online, Cornology was flooded with negative reviews on Yelp, its now-deactivated Facebook account and Instagram. The backlash spurred Stone to respond to the growing outrage. Regretfully, you cant take back something that was in the heat of the moment. Were very sorry that was the result of what happened, said Stone. Unfortunately, some employees were sick over the weekend, so there was only one person in the store. It startled him. He regrets it terribly. Its not who he is or who we are. The person Stone was referencing, according to the Emeryville official, was himself. In the days since, Stone said business has continued as normal at the Emeryville Cornology, despite growing outrage. 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. Were hoping (for) the community, while maybe not to forgive us, but to have a little more understanding of the situation, he said. According to the companys website, Cornology is based in Pleasant Hill and has retail outlets in Emeryville, Walnut Creek and Japan. A new store is coming soon in San Francisco. Eastman said she spoke with the Cornology worker after the group left the store and told him he should not use that type of language with young people. Those types of moments shape their world for the rest of their life, she said. I thought I could rationalize it and explain that to him, but nope. He really didnt understand why he shouldnt have said what he said. The Cornology incident comes after Starbucks said it would close 8,000 stores on May 29 to facilitate racial bias training among its employees. The training is a response to the public backlash after two black men Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson were handcuffed and arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia after an employee called police because they had not purchased anything in the store. Both men said they were at the coffee shop while waiting for a business associate. Video of the incident has since been viewed millions of times on social media. Weber said she, along with other witnesses to the incident, believes Cornologys response has been inadequate. It needs to be addressed more than it has already, she said. Who knows how long this has been going on there? Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips A vote that Supervisor Jane Kim made six years ago has resurfaced in the mayors race as grist for a new attack ad that will start airing Wednesday. The ad by an independent expenditure committee called San Franciscans Against Domestic Violence chastises Kim for joining three other progressives to reinstate Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi after he was convicted of misdemeanor false imprisonment. Mirkarimi allegedly bruised his wife during a heated argument. Its still very relevant, said Andrea Shorter, the former president of San Franciscos Commission on the Status of Women, who is featured in the anti-Kim ad. It was funded by Gayle Conway, the wife of angel investor Ron Conway. She chipped in $200,000 to start the committee. Her husband is widely seen as a patron of Supervisor London Breed, one of Kims opponents. Conway said Tuesday that she was deeply offended by the 2012 vote. And while some have forgotten that she betrayed survivors of domestic abuse and sided with the abuser, I and many other women have not. This isnt the first time Conway has funded an effort to punish a candidate for the Mirkarimi vote. She also contributed $49,000 to a committee that went after Christina Olague, an appointee of former Mayor Lee whom Breed defeated for District Five supervisor in 2012. Shorter helped run that committee as well. Shorter is also the chairwoman of Its Our Time, another independent expenditure committee backing Breed. Conways husband, Ron, has brought the Mirkarimi vote into other political campaigns. He donated $85,000 to defeat David Campos, another Mirkarimi supporter, in his unsuccessful 2014 bid for state Assembly. And he poured $200,000 into a committee to trounce Kim in the 2016 state Senate race, which she lost to Scott Wiener. In response to the video, Kims campaign spokeswoman, Julie Edwards, shot back at the Conways. Jane Kim will stand up to Donald Trump. She will stand up to Ron Conway. And she will take this city back for the people who are sick and tired of letting billionaires run our government, Edwards said. Rachel Swan Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfinsider.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider @rachelswan Shortly before his death in December, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee called on the citys Planning Department to speed up approvals for new projects, in the hope of meeting the insatiable demand for more housing. Mayor Mark Farrell took up the task, saying he shares Lees goal to build 5,000 new units a year and keep projects from languishing in city bureaucracy. On Tuesday Farrell introduced legislation to create standard noticing requirements for any planning decision be it a new second-story deck on a house or a large apartment building. His bill also would eliminate the need for multiple hearings, set up an administrative process to approve minor alterations without a hearing and allow 100-percent affordable housing projects to move forward without always having to go before the Planning Commission. Its no secret that we need to speed up the red tape and bureaucracy that has existed for years inside City Hall, to build housing quicker and more efficiently in San Francisco, Farrell said. Lee started the effort with an executive order last fall, which laid out a vision for a more functional entitlement process. City planners have long been stymied by noticing requirements that change from project to project they have to be delivered within a varying number of days on paper of different sizes which leads to errors that take time to rectify. Under the new rules, all notices would be published on the Planning Departments website 20 days after they are mailed to residents who live near the project site. They would be written in a uniform font, and no longer placed in newspapers. Once the city reforms that process, its expected to save 12,480 hours of staff time per year the equivalent of about six positions. Those people could redirect their energy to approve housing units faster, not just work on the mechanics of notices, said Ken Rich, director of development at the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Farrells bill will be heard in May at the Planning Commission and the Historic Preservation Commission. Rachel Swan Ross, again? A vote that Supervisor Jane Kim made six years ago has resurfaced in the mayors race as grist for a new attack ad that will start airing Wednesday. The ad by an independent expenditure committee called San Franciscans Against Domestic Violence chastises Kim for joining three other progressives to reinstate Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi after he was convicted of misdemeanor false imprisonment. Mirkarimi allegedly bruised his wife during a heated argument. Its still very relevant, said Andrea Shorter, the former president of San Franciscos Commission on the Status of Women, who is featured in the anti-Kim ad. It was funded by Gayle Conway, the wife of angel investor Ron Conway. She chipped in $200,000 to start the committee. Her husband is widely seen as a patron of Supervisor London Breed, one of Kims opponents. Conway said Tuesday that she was deeply offended by the 2012 vote. And while some have forgotten that she betrayed survivors of domestic abuse and sided with the abuser, I and many other women have not. This isnt the first time Conway has funded an effort to punish a candidate for the Mirkarimi vote. She also contributed $49,000 to a committee that went after Christina Olague, an appointee of former Mayor Lee whom Breed defeated for District Five supervisor in 2012. Shorter helped run that committee as well. Shorter is also the chairwoman of Its Our Time, another independent expenditure committee backing Breed. Conways husband, Ron, has brought the Mirkarimi vote into other political campaigns. He donated $85,000 to defeat David Campos, another Mirkarimi supporter, in his unsuccessful 2014 bid for state Assembly. And he poured $200,000 into a committee to trounce Kim in the 2016 state Senate race, which she lost to Scott Wiener. In response to the video, Kims campaign spokeswoman, Julie Edwards, shot back at the Conways. Jane Kim will stand up to Donald Trump. She will stand up to Ron Conway. And she will take this city back for the people who are sick and tired of letting billionaires run our government, Edwards said. Rachel Swan Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider, @rachelswan ARLINGTON, Texas He took a 105-mph liner off his lower right leg Tuesday night, but As closer Blake Treinen said not only that he was fine the following day but also that he believed he would have been available to pitch in the finale against the Rangers if needed. Honestly, its not much of a bruise right now, Treinen said. Probably in a couple of days, I think. And if not, then praise the Lord, because that was pretty hard off my leg. Treinen said the most disconcerting thing was that he lost the feeling in his leg after the drive by Shin-Soo Choo hit him in the eighth inning. It whacked my nerve or something my leg went numb for a while, he said. I didnt think it would be smart to not have my best on the mound. I didnt even go after the ball, because I couldnt feel anything. But (on Wednesday), I can move with no issues. The ball struck right to the outside of Treinens right shin, but didnt strike the bone. He didnt have an X-ray, he said. Asked if hed be comfortable using Treinen on Wednesday, manager Bob Melvin said, I would. Very much so. ... That hit him really good, so for him to be available is terrific. Reliever acquired in trade: The As have added another pitcher to provide long relief, picking up right-hander Wilmer Font in a deal with Los Angeles. This is a guy the front office has talked about before, Melvin said. He led the (Pacific Coast League) in strikeouts last year and has a big arm. Hes not only potential relief but hes a potential starter. Oakland sent minor-league lefty Logan Salow, 23, to the Dodgers to complete the deal. The team has not made a corresponding move to put Font on the 25-man roster, but Lou Trivino, recalled when Yusmeiro Petit went on the bereavement list, is the most likely reliever to be sent down to make room for Font. When Petit returns from Venezuela, Chris Bassitt, who had been recalled to provide length in the bullpen, could be the odd man out. Font, 27, is 0-2 with a 11.32 ERA and a .383 opponent average allowed this season, and he has given up five homers, most among big-league relievers, in 101/3 innings. In nine seasons in the minor leagues, Font recorded 730 strikeouts in 6182/3 innings, an average of 10.62 per nine innings. Salow, a sixth-round pick from Kentucky in 2017, was 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA and .063 opponent average allowed at Class A Beloit. Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Two Northern California men have been charged with transporting stolen bottles of ultra-premium wine out of the state including rare treasures plundered on Christmas Day 2014 from the famed French Laundry restaurant in Yountville. The indictments unsealed on Thursday accuse two men of shipping out stolen wines worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from 2013 until recently: Alfred Georgis, 53, of Mountain View and Modesto resident Davis Kiryakoz, 44. Besides the French Laundry, the establishments that were targeted included Alexanders Steakhouse, an upscale restaurant in Cupertino, and an unnamed San Francisco wine merchant from which 142 bottles were stolen in March 2013. The suspects are potentially part of a larger ring of similar wine thefts, said FBI spokesman Prentice Danner. The larger case is still under investigation, Danner said, and he declined to offer information on what led to the mens arrest. He also said he did not know if any of the missing wine was recovered when the defendants were arrested on Wednesday. The theft from the French Laundry received nationwide attention given the restaurants cachet and the fact that nearly all the bottles stolen were returned to Yountville, still sealed, after they were found in North Carolina in January 2015. Alexanders didnt fare so well: The 39 bottles lifted in November 2014 were never found. They knew exactly what they were going for, recalled Maxwell Klassen, wine director at Alexanders, describing the 2014 theft. They took the most expensive bottles. They just didnt grab any old wine. The restaurants biggest loss involved bottles of the 2011 Romanee-Conti a red wine from Burgundy, France, that can sell for $10,000 or more a bottle, he said. Also gone without a trace were rare bottles of Chateau Lafite, Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux, and Chateau Haut Giron. Surveillance video from the store showed two men breaking in overnight, but their hoodies and masks made them hard to identify, Klassen said. The burglars cut through chains outside the restaurant, kicked in the doors, then smashed the glass on the wine display case to reach the pricey bottles, he said. None of those wines were replaceable, he said. Theyre so rare I cant buy them on the open market. The defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to transport stolen goods and two counts of transporting stolen goods. Each man faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted, as well as a $250,000 fine. Despite state laws and repeated warnings from its own staff, California State University has done a poor job of protecting half a million students and employees from hazardous materials used in labs and classrooms, the state auditor said in a report released Tuesday. A Santa Rosa lawmaker requested the audit after CSU employees alerted him last year to allegations of an asbestos cover-up at Sonoma State and a botched handling of chemicals at Sacramento State in which students feet and legs were soaked with a hazardous material. My request was driven by some extremely concerning events reported to me that involved worker exposure to hazardous and unsafe conditions, Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, said in a statement Tuesday. Unfortunately, the audit results validated my concerns. The state auditor studied four CSU campuses Sonoma and Sacramento State universities and two others and found ongoing problems: Chemical safety plans have languished for years without reviews for effectiveness, although state law requires yearly reviews and an officer to implement the plan. Not all students and employees receive state-mandated safety trainings for handling hazardous materials. Three of the campuses Sonoma, Sacramento, and San Diego State fail to ensure that fire extinguishers, emergency eye washes, and showers for mitigating hazardous exposure are inspected regularly and work properly. Only California State University Channel Islands properly inspected its equipment. Sacramento State and San Diego State fail to warn employees about asbestos, as required by state law. The audit noted that two of the campuses, Channel Islands and San Diego, each incurred state penalties in the five digits for safety violations between 2012 and 2017. In 2012, the states Occupational Safety and Health agency fined Channel Islands $18,300 for a series of problems, including a failure to relieve pressure in a hot water pipe that caused severe burns on an employee who was sprayed. The San Diego County Pollution Control District fined San Diego State $17,600 over five years for eight violations, including leaving 50 containers of paint with volatile compounds open to dry. In the same period, Sacramento State paid $6,610 in fines, and Sonoma State paid $4,640. The audit also said the CSU chancellors office, which oversees all 23 campuses, has ignored repeated safety recommendations from its own auditor. It said CSU also lacks policies for protecting people working with hazardous materials and has no systemwide safety committee. Without resolving these issues, campuses cannot ensure they are effectively protecting students and employees against injuries and illnesses, Californias auditor, Elaine Howell, told Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers in a letter included in the 87-page report. Among Howells recommendations were that the chancellors office develop a system by November for campuses to submit required health and safety reports that have been missing for years. By June, the four campuses should also show which employees have not received training, and begin correcting that problem, the auditor said. We recognize that improvements need to be made and have already begun taking steps to address many of the recommendations, Chancellor Timothy White said in a written response included in the report. Judy Sakaki, president of Sonoma State, said, We take these recommendations seriously and are working expeditiously to respond to each one. But White and Howell disagree on one recommendation, which is that campuses must create safety committees. White said they arent required, while the auditor said a 2012 labor agreement mandates them. Howell said the committees would help make campuses safer. It was the CSU Employees Union that asked Wood, who sits on the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, to request the audit because of incidents on the two campuses. At Sacramento State, the auditor cited reports showing that in 2016, harmful chemicals spilled from a rickety shelf in a university laboratory and splashed across two students feet and the legs of one of them. Several employees who helped with the cleanup later said they suffered health problems as a result, the audit said. At Sonoma State, an employee sued the school, saying he experienced retaliation for reporting asbestos problems, the audit said. A jury awarded him $388,000 last year. CSU has appealed. Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov When the rapes finally stopped in the Sacramento area in early 1978, locals breathed a sigh of relief. The East Area Rapist, after dozens of unsolved attacks, was finally gone. But hed only moved on, changing his stalking grounds to the quiet Bay Area suburbs. The man also known as the Golden State Killer has spent 32 years in the shadows, after a crime spree that included 10 terrifying months haunting the Bay Area. A suspect in some of the California crimes is reportedly in Sacramento police custody. From Oct. 1978 until July 1979, Sacramento's East Area Rapists is thought to have moved west, targeted single women and couples in Concord, Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Danville, Fremont and San Jose. The first attack took place in Concord on Oct. 7, 1978 after a three-month hiatus. Just a few days later, he struck again in Concord, near Ygnacio Valley Road. The Golden State Killer broke into a young couple's home in the early hours of Oct. 13. He bound and gagged the husband and locked the couple's eight-year-old daughter in the bathroom, something he often did when children were in the home. He then raped the wife, and bound and gagged her, too, before leaving. MORE: The sadistic Golden State Killer terrorized California 40 years ago. Here's what we know. "Gun sales in Concord have really escalated as a result," Concord police chief Jim Chambers told the Chronicle on Oct. 19. "We've had a bunch of little old ladies who called to ask an officer to come and show them how to load their guns," he added. "If some of these people don't shoot themselves in the foot, it will be a miracle." The East Area Rapist attacked once more that month, targeting a couple in San Ramon, on Oct. 28. When the woman tried to call 911, she learned it didn't work in unincorporated San Ramon. She had to call the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office to get help. He then moved onto San Jose, raping one woman in November and one in December. The Golden State Killers attacks werent random; he spent days or weeks keeping the entire neighborhood under surveillance. In the weeks leading up to attacks, strange occurrences were often reported in the area: gates left open, windows found ajar, pictures moved around in homes. Its thought the killer learned layouts of homes, bribed neighborhood dogs with treats and elaborately planned exit routes in advance of his crimes. In the 1970s, many parts of the suburban East Bay were under construction, raising middle class subdivisions out of previously rural areas. Some investigators believed the Bay Area crime scenes proximity to I-680 indicated the Golden State Killers job might have regularly taken him down the corridor. Others think he chose sites near active construction, where the comings and goings of strange men wouldnt be out of place. On Dec. 9, the Golden State Killer emerged in Danville, where he raped a woman alone in her home. He went quiet again, disappearing until April 1979, when he attacked a couple in Fremont. His behavior spiked in June, when he raped two teen girls in Walnut Creek and one woman in Danville. His final Bay Area crime was on July 5, 1979, when he broke into the home of a Danville couple. After that, the Golden State Killer moved onto Southern California and escalated to almost exclusively murders. The suspect in custody at the Sacramento County Jail is reportedly former Auburn police officer Joseph James DeAngelo, 72. He was arrested by the Ventura County Sheriffs Department and booked on two counts of murder, according to jail records. The Golden State Killer murdered a married couple, Charlene and Lyman Smith, in Ventura in 1980. Officers were expected to provide further details at a noon press conference on Wednesday. According to an Aug. 29, 1979 newspaper article in the Auburn Journal, DeAngelo was dismissed from the police force after he was accused of shoplifting a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a Citrus Heights Pay N Save store. The FBI is currently investigating the home of DeAngelo in Citrus Heights. Public records indicate he has lived in the home for at least two decades. It's only one of four known to exist and one of those went missing after it was stolen by masked gun-wielding robbers in 1967. A small gold coin originally thought to be a fake was authenticated in April by experts as an 1854 California Gold Rush coin, one of 268 struck at the San Francisco Mint that year. This extremely rare find is worth millions. "It's like finding an original Picasso at a garage sale. It's the discovery of a lifetime," said Mark Salzberg, the chairman of Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC), a Sarasota, Fl.-based coin authentication company that identified the treasure. The U.S. $5 denomination gold coin, known as a Half Eagle, is owned by a New England man who wishes to remain anonymous. He showed the coin to several dealers at a recent coin show and they quickly deemed it a forgery. Borris Tavrovsky, a co-owner of Oxbridge Coins in San Francisco, isn't surprised that it was incorrectly identified at first. "These counterfeits are getting more common," Tavrovsky says. "And they're getting better." Then one dealer suggested taking the coin to NGC, a third-party service providing authentication, and their team went to great lengths to assess the coin. They started by making sure the coin wasn't the one stolen from the Florida mansion of the chemical company heir Willis H. DuPont in 1967. The thieves made off with a motherlode $50,000 in cash and DuPont's fabled collection of 7,000 coins, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reported. Some of these stolen treasures have popped up over the years, but the 1854 Gold Rush coin has remained lost. "That was one of the first things we did make sure this wasn't the stolen coin," says Rick Montgomery, president of NGC. "We were able to make a visual comparison against the 1967 catalog. In our comparison it did not match that coin." Montgomery says they also contacted the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., which has one of the four coins in its collection, and requested high-resolution images for comparison. Finally, they compared the coin with the one owned by the Pogue Family, who own a private collection worth millions. "We knew instinctively and intuitively the coin was real," Montgomery says. "But knowing the unlikelihood that a coin like this could be found in this era, we had to do our due diligence." Montgomery says NGC's price indicates the 164-year-old coin is worth about $3 million. Tavrovsky adds that based on past sales of Gold Rush-era coins, he assumes it's worth $3-$4 million. "I think he's going to be quite rich," says Tavrovsky. "I can see why he wants to remain a mystery man. Some people who win the lottery don't want to reveal their identity for fear those cousins start badgering you." EDITORS NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named the president of NGC as Robert Montgomery. His name is Rick Montgomery. CITRUS HEIGHTS, Sacramento County Jeannie and her husband, Bob, were nervous Wednesday as they waited to hear back from their daughter. Standing on a crowded residential street here, several doors down from the brown house blocked off by police tape, they still hadnt figured out how they would break the news to her. How does one tell a daughter that she babysat for a man accused of being one of the most prolific serial killers and rapists in California history? Im just anxious to talk to her, said Jeannie, who asked to withhold the familys name to protect privacy. She didnt just babysit for him once. At a news conference an hour later in Sacramento, authorities announced murder charges against 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo, a Navy veteran and former Auburn (Placer County) and Exeter (Tulare County) police officer suspected of at least 12 murders, 45 rapes and 150 burglaries from 1976 to 1986. DeAngelo was arrested early Wednesday after authorities determined he was the East Area Rapist, also known as the Golden State Killer and the Original Night Stalker. DNA evidence allegedly links him to two brutal murders, one in Sacramento County and another in Ventura County. Jeannie, Bob and their daughter knew DeAngelo simply as Joe, the man who seemed a little odd but always stopped to say hello if he saw them. She enjoyed babysitting for him as far as we know, Bob said of his daughter. Now, DeAngelo is being held without bail in Sacramento County Jail, to the relief of an untold number of families that were terrorized over the course of a decade more than 30 years ago. Bob and Jeannie moved to the Citrus Heights neighborhood in 1982, four years before DeAngelos last alleged attack. He was always a little different, Bob said, shrugging. He would always ask how my daughter was doing and how she did a good job babysitting. DeAngelo was divorced, Jeannie and Bob said, and his two daughters were about 6 to 8 years old at the time their daughter looked after the children. They were there most of the time, Bob said. Seemed like normal kids. Both of them moved out. One of his daughters has already had kids. DeAngelo apparently had the babysitter at his house for a few hours in the evening but never overnight, Jeannie said, adding that her daughter never raised any concerns. Jeannie couldnt help but worry, and hopes that her daughter would feel comfortable enough to tell her if something did happen. Our daughter is a quiet kid, Jeannie said softly. She liked his kids. DeAngelo recently retired after working out of a Save Mart distribution center, according to aSacramento Bee report. He often spent time in his garage fixing up his motorcycle and boat, leaving the light on at night and the door open, his neighbors said. He once told me, I dont have a TV, I just like to keep busy, Bob said. He was kind of loud as far as his voice. We kind of thought we remembered him yelling at his kids. Oh, but you know, we used to do that, Jeannie said. Its one of those things that happens. FBI investigators set up a tent outside DeAngelos house on Canyon Oak Drive and investigators shuffled in and out of the front door as Bob, Jeannie and other neighbors kept their distance a few houses down from the crime scene. Then they walked back to their home built in the same fashion as DeAngelos, minus his extra garage so they could wait for their daughters call. Correction: Joseph James DeAngelos work history has been updated to note he most recently worked for Save Mart, instead of another company noted by his nieghbors. Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani Fresno State Professor Randa Jarrar, who sparked controversy after criticizing the late Barbara Bush on Twitter, will likely keep her job. A statement released Tuesday by Fresno State President Joseph Castro stated that while Jarrar's comments were "insensitive, inappropriate and an embarrassment to the university," she didn't violate CSU or university policies and "was acting in a private capacity and speaking about a public matter on her personal Twitter account." "Her comments, although disgraceful, are protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution," the statement went on. "Therefore, the university does not have justification to support taking any disciplinary action." Hours after Bush's passing, Jarrar took to twitter and called the former first lady an "amazing racist" who raised a "war criminal." She did not offer examples to back up these assertions. "F--- outta here with your nice words," Jarrar added. Jarrar, whose Twitter page is now private, sparked controversy with her provocative message, and in the comments she received both praise and scorn. Many tagged Fresno State President Joseph Castro in their tweets. "Many of us had no idea who @randajarrar was at first & assumed she was just another rather nasty person on Twitter," wrote one who addressed Castro. "Imagine our surprise when we found out she represents your institution. You may want to get ahead of this." More for you Professor calls late Barbara Bush an 'amazing racist' Fresno State later issued a statement from Castro that extended condolences to the Bush family on the loss of the former first lady. "We share the deep concerns expressed by others over the personal comments made today by professor Randa Jarrar, a professor in the English Department at Fresno State," Castro wrote. "Her statements were made as a private citizen, not as a representative at Fresno State." In a followup tweet, Jarrar wrote, "If you'd like to know what it's like to be an Arab American Muslim American woman with some clout online expressing an opinion, look at the racists going crazy in my mentions right now." The professor also shared that she's tenured and makes $100,000 and "will never be fired." Jarrar's bio page on the Fresno State site also reveals that she grew up in Kuwait and Egypt before moving to the U.S. after the Gulf War. She has written several books; her first, "A Map of Home," was published in seven languages and won a Hopwood Award and an Arab-American Book Award. A onetime cop whos been living quietly in the Sacramento suburbs was fingered Wednesday as the East Area Rapist, with authorities saying DNA helped link him to a string of at least 12 slayings and 45 rapes that terrorized communities in the Bay Area and across California from 1976 to 1986. Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, a police officer in Placer and Tulare counties at the time some of the crimes were committed, was arrested in what had been one of the most heinous unsolved crime sprees in U.S. history. He was booked on suspicion of two counts of murder into Sacramento County Jail at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, accused of shooting a young couple to death near their Rancho Cordova home in 1978 as they walked their dog. He was being held without bail. Following the arrest, prosecutors in Ventura County and Orange County announced that they would be filing murder, rape, robbery and other charges in at least six other killings. The East Area Rapist also known as the Golden State Killer and the Original Nightstalker was connected to a series of rapes in Danville, Walnut Creek, San Jose, Fremont and San Ramon in 1978 and 1979. In addition to the homicides and rapes, authorities suspect DeAngelo committed more than 150 home break-ins across the state. Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said she and many others who grew up around the state capital vividly recall the fear the East Area Rapists crimes inspired. It is fitting that today is National DNA Day, Schubert said at a news conference, flanked by district attorneys from four other California counties, the Sacramento sheriff and FBI agents. We found the needle in the haystack, and it was right here in Sacramento. Law enforcement agencies from across the state formed a task force in 2016, after Schubert held a news conference to mark the 40-year anniversary of the first known crime. She said the investigation became more than a professional commitment. It became personal for many of us. While not providing specifics on how DeAngelo was caught, Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones said examination of old crime-scene DNA had narrowed the suspects. It was detective work from that point forward, Jones said. The universe (of suspects) before (DNA evidence) was everyone everyone in the state and beyond. That reduced the universe to a manageable level. Once DeAngelo was identified as a suspect, officials said, detectives monitored his behavior and collected two DNA samples from discarded items. The second sample linked DeAngelo to crime scenes, said Jones, who added that many in law enforcement had speculated the East Area Rapist had ties to law enforcement or the military because of how he carried out crimes. DeAngelo was a police officer in Exeter (Tulare County) from 1973 to 1976, before joining the force in Auburn (Placer County) until he was fired in 1979, officials said. They said it was likely DeAngelo committed his first rape while still with the Exeter department. DeAngelo was arrested outside his Citrus Heights home, where law enforcement had set up surveillance for several days. Officials said his DNA matched evidence connected to the East Area Rapists first suspected murder victims: Mather Air Force Base Sgt. Brian Maggiore and Katie Maggiore. When the young couple were shot in 1978, they were near their Rancho Cordova home, walking their dog. The killer chased them into a backyard, seemingly at random, said Ray Biondi, a retired Sacramento County sheriffs lieutenant who was then in charge of the homicide division. At that time, the East Area Rapist was in full sway, but had yet to kill anyone, Biondi said. There was no connection until investigators discovered the suspects calling cards at the scene: a ski mask and shoelaces he would use to bind people. Biondi, now 81, said he had nightmares about the case and wondered, Are we ever going to solve it? The Maggiore case once had hundreds of suspects, he said. Thats great, Biondi said of the arrest. Ill sleep easier for the rest of my life. DeAngelos DNA, authorities said, was also linked to the 1980 murders of Charlene and Lyman Smith in Ventura County one of 10 counties in California in which DeAngelo is suspected of committing crimes. Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten said DeAngelo will face two counts of murder in the killing of the Smiths along with special circumstances that make him eligible for the death penalty: multiple murders, murder during the commission of rape and murder during the commission of burglary. It is the culmination of a decades-long unrelenting investigation that was singularly focused on bringing this rapist and killer to justice, said Totten. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas also announced that four counts of murder, among other charges including rape and robbery, were filed against DeAngelo on Wednesday. DeAngelo is accused of raping and killing 18-year-old Janelle Cruz in Irvine in 1986, raping and murdering 28-year-old Manuela Witthuhn in Irvine in 1981 and killing 24-year old Keith Harrington and his wife, 28-year-old Patrice Harrington, in Dana Point (Orange County) in 1980. Bruce Harrington, Keiths brother , said DeAngelos arrest brings some closure to the anguish that weve suffered for 40-odd years. Others whod been waiting on justice were relieved as well. William Oakley and his wife discovered the bodies of their good friends, Robert Offerman and his girlfriend Alexandria Manning, when they came over to their Goleta (Santa Barbara County) home for a game of tennis with the couple in December 1979. I was hoping theyd find him, Oakley said in a phone interview. They were good friends of mine and I was disappointed that nothing had been done all these years. On Wednesday morning, FBI agents and other officers taped off and searched DeAngelos Citrus Heights home. A man who lives four houses away said DeAngelo had lived in the home on Canyon Oak Drive for nearly 30 years with at least one daughter. The neighbor, who declined to give his name, said DeAngelo seemed nice, but he was very high-strung. He was always talking or yelling, said the neighbor, who had done window repairs over the years for DeAngelo. I wouldnt have expected this at all. Penny Ryan, 48, said she nearly dropped her coffee when she saw news of the arrest. She ran out of her house before making her way from Rocklin (Placer County) to DeAngelos home. Growing up in the Pocket area of Sacramento, Ryan called the East Area Rapist her childhood boogeyman. The whole neighborhood was so scared, she said. My dad bought a gun and loaded it every night before we went to bed. Her father kept the gun under his pillow, she said, and was once accidentally shot in the back when her younger brother jumped on the bed and the gun discharged. Ryans father survived. All the Ted Bundys and Charles Mansons werent as scary as him, because he never got caught, Ryan said. To find out he was only 15 minutes away from where I lived is really scary. DeAngelo was fired from Auburns police force in 1979 after he shoplifted a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a Sacramento drugstore, according to archives of the Auburn Journal. In 1967, the Journal reported, DeAngelo returned home from serving in the U.S. Navy in North Vietnam. Investigators believe the East Area Rapist went out night after night, targeting multiple houses within a neighborhood to stoke fear among residents. Targets were often single women living in one-story homes. His victims spanned the state. From 1976 to 1978, the suspect developed one of his most sadistic signatures, authorities said. If the home he chose for his crime had a couple living inside, he would incapacitate the man first, binding him with strips of towels or shoelaces. He would then balance a stack of dishes from the kitchen on the male victims back and warn the couple that, if a plate broke, he would kill both the man and the woman. He would then rape the woman. From May 1976 to 1977, the East Area Rapist terrorized Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, Sacramento, Carmichael and Orangevale. In June and July 1978, attacks were reported in Davis and Modesto before the spree moved on to the Bay Area and continued from 1978 to 1979. In 1986, the suspect killed victims in Southern California, police said, before disappearing for more than 30 years. SFGate Senior Producer Katie Dowd contributed to this story. Sarah Ravani, Melody Gutierrez, Jenna Lyons and Sophie Haigney are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com, mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com, jlyons@sfchronicle.com, sophie.haigney@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani @JennaJourno @MelodyGutierrez @SophieHaigney A San Francisco law protecting school employees, families with children and child care center workers from evictions during the school year survived a legal challenge Wednesday when the state Supreme Court denied an appeal by real estate groups. The ordinance, approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors, took effect in April 2016. It expanded a 2010 ordinance that protected families with children under 18 from evictions during the school year by owners who wanted to occupy the property. The law also requires landlords to wait until summer before evicting those families to remodel the property, convert it to a condominium or demolish it, and extends the same protections to teachers and staff members at schools and child care centers. Supporters of the measure said most teachers and other school employees could no longer afford to live in San Francisco. A Chronicle analysis in 2016 found that a teacher with an income of $65,240 a year, the district average, would have to pay nearly two-thirds of that salary for a one-bedroom apartment in the city at the median rent of $3,500 a month. The ordinance was in effect for less than five months before Superior Court Judge Ronald Quidachay overturned it, saying state law barred local governments from limiting the grounds for eviction. The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco disagreed in February. The purpose of the ordinance is to protect children from the disruptive impact of moving during the school year or losing a relationship with a school employee who moves during the school year, Justice Mark Simons said in the appeals courts 3-0 ruling. He said the ordinance is a permissible limitation upon the landlords property rights because it gives certain groups of tenants protection from eviction during a specific period and does not restrict the overall right to evict under state law. The San Francisco Apartment Association and the Small Property Owners of San Francisco Institute, the organizations that challenged the ordinance, asked the states high court to review and reverse the appellate ruling. The court unanimously denied review Wednesday, allowing the city to enforce the ordinance and leaving the ruling intact as a binding precedent for trial courts statewide. Andrew Zacks, a lawyer for the real estate groups, said the decision was disappointing and would probably spawn further onerous regulations in San Francisco and elsewhere. A city should not have the power to decide the timing of the ability to recover possession of your property, Zacks said. City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the court upheld protections that give teachers and families with schoolchildren a fighting chance to stay in their city. The case is San Francisco Apartment Association vs. San Francisco, S247750. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Another decades-old California mystery may be on the brink of being solved: The identity of the Visalia Ransacker. Investigators and amateur sleuths have long speculated the man who burglarized nearly 100 Visalia homes in the mid-1970s was the infamous East Area Rapist. Dubbed the Visalia Ransacker, the man prowled neighborhoods and stole a hodgepodge of items from early 1974 until late 1975. On Wednesday, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department arrested Joseph James DeAngelo of Citrus Heights. At a press conference, they announced DeAngelo's DNA linked him to multiple crimes attributed to the East Area Rapist, also known as the Golden State Killer. In an email to SFGATE, the Visalia police department confirmed they believe their ransacker spree "is linked to the Golden State Killer cases." Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas also affirmed at a news conference Wednesday that DeAngelo is a person of interest in Tulare County. DeAngelo appears to have a connection to the area. According to a 1973 wedding announcement in the Auburn Journal, DeAngelo was living in Exeter at the time, a town some 15 minutes away from Visalia. Like the man also known as the Golden State Killer, the Visalia Ransacker preferred stealing items of sentimental, rather than monetary, value. He took children's piggy banks, personalized jewelry and Blue Chip Stamps books. He also left a chilling calling card: He was known to rip up family photos and leave the pieces for the homeowner to later find. ALSO: The terrifying 10 months when the East Area Rapist emerged in the Bay Area "There has long been a belief that the Golden State Killer and Visalia Ransacker are one in the same and we are working with those investigators in hopes of bringing resolution to a case that has long been of interest here in Visalia," Visalia police chief Jason Salazar told the Visalia Times Delta. The Visalia burglar is also suspected in one murder in the region. On Sept. 11, 1975, a masked man broke into the home of the Snelling family. While prowling through the home, he came across the sleeping teen daughter. He dragged her into the backyard at gunpoint. The struggle woke her father, College of the Sequoias professor Claude Snelling, who ran into the yard to help his daughter. The prowler shot Snelling dead and escaped. He's never been apprehended. Witnesses in Visalia reported the suspect had brown hair, weighed about 180 pounds and was about 5-foot-10. Footprints found at scenes were also a size 9, the same as the East Area Rapist. DeAngelo, who was a police officer in Auburn and Visalia, has been charged in connection to four of the East Area Rapist's 12 suspected murders. He is believed to have raped at least 45 women in California from 1976-86. Visalia police ask anyone who knew DeAngelo during his time in Tulare County to contact them at 559-713-4132. Ireland says it will begin collecting more than $15.9 billion of back taxes from Apple, 19 months after the European Commission ruled that a tax deal with the tech giant amounted to illegal state aid. The commission ordered Ireland to collect back taxes for the years 2003-14. Ireland disagreed, saying the ruling undermined the integrity of the countrys tax system. But Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe planned to sign an agreement Tuesday setting up the escrow account that will hold the payments while Apple and Ireland appeal. The payments should be completed by September. Donohoe says the government fundamentally disagrees with the ruling, but Ireland is intent on complying with our binding legal obligations in this regard. Executives United CEO Munoz gives up his bonus United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz, who was criticized for his initial response to a passenger being violently dragged off a plane, says he gave up his 2017 bonus. Munozs compensation, mostly in stock awards, fell to $9.6 million in 2017 from $18.7 million the year before. The company detailed the action in a securities filing this week. United also said that Chairman Robert Milton is stepping down and the board will pick a new independent chairman. In a letter to employees, Munoz says he waived his bonus to send a message about accountability. Munoz initially blamed the passenger who was dragged off a United Express flight in Chicago to make room for a crew member. He later apologized, reached an undisclosed settlement with the man, and made changes to reduce overbooking. Wells Fargo execs raises approved Wells Fargos leaders deserve fatter paychecks after a tough year, according to investors. Shareholders voted 92.4 percent in favor of the banks executive compensation plan at the annual meeting Tuesday in Des Moines, Iowa. The vote is a sign of support for management despite more than two hours of at times heated commentary. This years result is down from the 96 percent approval rate in 2017. Some critics of the bank expressed outrage last month, after the firm awarded CE Tim Sloan a $17.4 million package for 2017, a 36 percent raise. Part of that reflected his first full year running the company after a promotion. Sloan, who started his presentation by bringing his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren on stage, had asked the board not to award him a bonus and most of his package was restricted stock. Shareholders also approved the election of directors, with every candidate receiving at least 89.9 percent support, according to the preliminary results. Before the meeting, about 100 people gathered to protest the fine levied for the banks abuses, claiming that $1 billion is not enough. Chronicle News Services Apple CEO Tim Cook met with President Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday amid a brewing trade war between the U.S. and China. White House officials said that Cook also had met with Larry Kudlow, the presidents top economic adviser, and had a meeting at the offices of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the primary focus and purpose of the meeting is to discuss trade, adding that the meeting had been planned for weeks. The White House didnt immediately provide additional information on what Trump and Cook had discussed. Autos Nissan offers PG&E discount Automakers, it seems, have figured out a new way to reach potential electric vehicle buyers go through their utility company. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announced this week that its customers can receive $3,000 off a new 2018 Nissan Leaf, a special offer that will end July 2. The discount which comes out of the automakers profit and does not involve a rebate from PG&E will be applied at the time of sale. The idea is not unique. BMW currently offers PG&E customers a $10,000 discount on its i3 electric car, a deal that expires at the end of May. The special offers from both Nissan and BMW come in addition to Californias $2,500 rebate for buying an electric car as well as the federal governments $7,500 EV tax credit. Energy ConocoPhillips Venezuela win ConocoPhillips says it won a $2 billion arbitration award against Venezuelas state oil company over the seizure a decade ago of investments in two projects in the OPEC nation. The award represents the equivalent of more than 20 percent of the cash-strapped Venezuelan governments foreign currency reserves. The Houston company said the ruling was made by an international tribunal constituted under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce. It said the award is final and binding and that it intends to seek financial recovery of the award to the full extent of the law. Earnings Visa San Franciscos Visa reported a sharp jump in its fiscal second-quarter profits from a year earlier, as more shoppers spent money on its network across all its major markets. Visa earned $2.61 billion in the period ending March 30, or $1.11 a share. The companys net income rose by 26 percent when a one-time charge tied to the purchase of Visa Europe is excluded from the year-ago results. Visas profit beat the expectations of analysts, who forecast earnings of $1.01 a share, according to FactSet. PayPal PayPal earnings beat estimates in the first quarter, and the San Jose company gave an optimistic forecast for the second, signaling that its weathering the loss of eBay as it continues to sign up new accounts. For the current quarter, PayPal projected net revenue of $3.78 billion to $3.83 billion, compared with the average analyst estimate of $3.75 billion. In first three months of the year, PayPal had revenue of $3.69 billion, higher than analysts projections for $3.59 billion. EBay EBay gave a weak outlook for revenue growth in the current quarter, taking the shine off CEO Devin Wenigs turnaround strategy. The San Jose online marketplace said it expects revenue of $2.64 billion to $2.68 billion in the second quarter, while analysts were projecting $2.68 billion. Investors are carefully watching eBays sales to determine if it can remain relevant in an e-commerce market dominated by Amazon.com. Adding to the pressure are brick-and-mortar retailers like Walmart Inc. that are enhancing their own digital shopping options. AMD Advanced Micro Devices reported first-quarter net income of $81 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier. The Sunnyvale company had net income of 8 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense and non-recurring costs, came to 11 cents per share. The results topped Wall Street expectations of 9 cents per share. Xilinx San Joses Xilinx reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $165.7 million, with a net income of 64 cents per share. The results missed Wall Street expectations of 66 cents a share. The computer chipmaker posted revenue of $672.9 million in the period, which topped forecasts of $649.5 million. For the current quarter ending in July, Xilinx said it expects revenue in the range of $660 million to $690 million. Qualcomm Qualcomm reported earnings and forecast revenue for the current quarter that sparked optimism phone makers are beginning to order more of the chipmakers components, particularly in China. Sales will be $4.8 billion to $5.6 billion in the fiscal third quarter, the company said Wednesday. Analysts on average expected revenue of $5.45 billion and profit of 75 cents. Profit in the fiscal second quarter was 80 cents a share, excluding certain items. Revenue was $5.2 billion. Analysts had predicted revenue of $5.19 billion. Chronicle News Services Number of the day 600,000 Thats how many copies of former FBI Director James Comeys memoir, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, sold in its first week. The books publisher, Flatiron Books, said more than a million copies are in print and that it has gone to press several times. Michael Wolffs hugely popular Fire and Fury, about the Trump White House, has sold more than 2 million copies in the three months it has been out. A Higher Loyalty had been the No. 1 title on Amazon before being published on April 17. Other number of the day $35 million Thats how much the company formerly known as Yahoo is paying to resolve charges that it deceived investors by failing to disclose one of the biggest data breaches in Internet history. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that the company, now called Altaba after its most valuable parts were sold to Verizon Communications for $4.48 billion last year, neither admitted nor denied the allegations. Personal data was stolen from hundreds of millions of Yahoo users in the December 2014 breach attributed to Russian hackers. They said it The big tech companies have become large enough that theyre going to be inspected. Its fine. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, on regulatory scrutiny of his company, as well as peers like Facebook and Google. From staff and news services. See more at www.sfgate.com. If youve ever wondered exactly what sorts of things Facebook would like you not to do on its service, youre in luck. For the first time, the social network is publishing detailed guidelines to what does and doesnt belong on its service 27 pages worth of them, in fact. So please dont make credible violent threats or revel in sexual violence; promote terrorism or the poaching of endangered species; attempt to buy marijuana, sell firearms or list prescription drug prices for sale; post instructions for self-injury; depict minors in a sexual context; or commit multiple homicides at different times or locations. Facebook already banned most of these actions on its previous community standards page, which sketched out the companys standards in broad strokes. But on Tuesday it will spell out the sometimes gory details. The updated community standards will mirror the rules its 7,600 moderators use to review questionable posts, then decide if they should be pulled off Facebook. And sometimes whether to call in the authorities. The standards themselves arent changing, but the details reveal some interesting tidbits. Photos of breasts are OK in some cases such as breastfeeding or in a painting but not in others. The document details what counts as sexual exploitation of adults or minors, but leaves room to ban more forms of abuse, should they arise. Since Facebook doesnt allow serial murderers on its service, its new standards even define the term. Anyone who has committed two or more murders over multiple incidents or locations qualifies. But youre not banned if youve only committed a single homicide. It could have been self-defense, after all. Reading through the guidelines gives you an idea of how difficult the jobs of Facebook moderators must be. These are people who have to read and watch objectionable material of every stripe and then make hard calls deciding, for instance, if a video promotes eating disorders or merely seeks to help people. Or what crosses the line from joke to harassment, from theoretical musing to direct threats, and so on. Moderators work in 40 languages. Facebooks goal is to respond to reports of questionable content within 24 hours. But the company says it doesnt impose quotas or time limits on the reviewers. The company has made some high-profile mistakes over the years. For instance, human rights groups say Facebook has mounted an inadequate response to hate speech and the incitement of violence against Muslim minorities in Myanmar. In 2016, Facebook backtracked after removing an iconic 1972 Associated Press photo featuring a screaming, naked girl running from a napalm attack in Vietnam. The company initially insisted it couldnt create an exception for that particular photograph of a nude child, but soon reversed itself, saying the photo had global importance. Monica Bickert, Facebooks head of product policy and counterterrorism, said the detailed public guidelines have been a long time in the works. I have been at this job five years, and I wanted to do this that whole time, she said. Bickert said Facebooks recent privacy travails, which forced CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify for 10 hours before Congress, didnt prompt their release now. The policy is an evolving document, and Bickert said updates go out to the content reviewers every week. Facebook hopes it will give people clarity if posts or videos they report arent taken down. Bickert said one challenge is having the same document guide vastly different community standards around the world. What passes as acceptable nudity in Norway may not pass in Uganda or the U.S. There are more universal gray areas, too. For instance, what exactly counts as political protest? How can you know that the person in a photo agreed to have it posted on Facebook? That latter question is the main reason for Facebooks nudity ban, Bickert said, since its hard to determine consent and age. Even if the person agreed to be taped or photographed, for example, they may not have agreed to have their naked image posted on social media. Facebook uses a combination of the human reviewers and artificial intelligence to weed out content that violates its policies. But its AI tools arent close to the point where they could pinpoint subtle differences in context and history not to mention shadings such as humor and satire that would let them make judgments as accurate as those of humans. And of course, humans make plenty of mistakes themselves. Barbara Ortutay is an Associated Press writer. Gary Gensler was one of the top financial regulators in the Obama administration, the finance chief for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign and, before both of those jobs, a partner at Goldman Sachs. Now, like many other big names from business and government, he is plunging into the world of the blockchain, the data-tracking technology introduced by bitcoin. Gensler, 60, has recently gone to work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he will write and teach about the potential he sees for blockchains to change the financial world. He will also use his position to warn about how many of the current projects in the world of virtual currencies, including some of the biggest, are likely to face a significant moment of reckoning with regulators. Gensler said in a speech at MIT this week that the second and third most widely used virtual currencies, ether and ripple, have most likely been issued and traded in violation of securities regulations in the United States. There is a strong case for both of them but particularly ripple that they are noncompliant securities, he said in an interview. He believes that bitcoin, the original virtual currency, can remain exempt from securities regulations. Gensler will be one of the most influential voices to weigh in on a series of questions that are likely to shape the future of the nascent industry. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the agency that Gensler led from 2009 to 2014, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, are in the middle of determining how to categorize and crack down on many of the virtual currencies created in recent years. Most of the focus has been on smaller currencies that were issued through initial coin offerings, a method of fundraising in which entrepreneurs sell custom virtual currencies. But Gensler believes that better-known virtual currencies like ether and ripple should be in that conversation as well and should probably be categorized as securities, given the way they have been created and sold. 2018 is going to be a very interesting time, Gensler said. Over 1,000 previously issued initial coin offerings, and over 100 exchanges that offer ICOs, are going to need to sort out how to come into compliance with U.S. securities law. The people behind both ether and ripple have argued that their tokens are not securities. But there are signs that the SEC could be receptive to Genslers argument. Regulators have indicated in private meetings with industry participants that they are considering whether ether should be categorized as a security. All the outstanding ether were worth around $65 billion at Sundays price, while the ripple tokens in the hands of investors are worth around $35 billion. If they are deemed to be securities, it could become illegal for Americans to trade them on most of the exchanges where they are now traded. That would make it harder to buy and sell them and depress their prices. Gensler developed a reputation for standing up to powerful financial interests when he was the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Before he got into office, some worried that his background at Goldman Sachs would make him hesitant to take on the big banks. But as the chairman of the commission he became one of the most aggressive watchdogs in the effort to rein in Wall Street after the financial crisis. Joi Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab, said the combination of Genslers record of independence and his knowledge of finance and policy was what made him so attractive to MIT. Ito has built the Digital Currency Initiative at the Media Lab in an effort to gather a collection of virtual currency experts who do not have a financial interest in them, though the initiative does provide financial support for some developers working on the bitcoin software. Its important that you have a core group of people who arent in it for the money, and who care about the proper architecture for the long run, he said. Gensler has a dual appointment as a special adviser to the Media Lab and a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he will teach a class on blockchain in the fall. The original blockchain is the ledger on which all bitcoin transactions are recorded. The bitcoin blockchain is updated by a network of computers so that no central authority is needed. While most blockchain experiments are in an early stage, Gensler said he had become convinced that blockchain structures could challenge or replace many of the middlemen in the financial industry. For now, though, his words are likely to have their greatest effect on the quickly evolving debate about how virtual currencies should be regulated. Most industry experts, including Gensler, assume that bitcoin is safe from being categorized as a security because it was not originally issued through an initial coin offering or a central organization, and the software is maintained by a decentralized group of developers. Some other large virtual currencies, like litecoin and monero, have similar designs. But Gensler said ether could have more problems because the first ether tokens were sold in 2014, before the network was functional, by the Ethereum Foundation. Ether could get off the hook, Gensler said, because its development has been more decentralized recently, and new ether tokens are now given out to so-called miners through a network. Aya Miyaguchi, the head of the Ethereum Foundation, said in an email that the foundation neither controls the supply of nor has the ability to issue ether, and the quantity of ether that the foundation holds (under 1 percent of all ether) is already lower than that held by many other ecosystem participants. But Gensler said it would be much harder for the ripple token, known as XRP, to avoid being categorized as a security. The company that oversees ripples development still holds most of the XRP tokens and does most of the work to make the software and the token valuable, he said. A spokesman for the company Ripple, Tom Channick, said XRP should not be a security. XRP does not give its owners an interest or stake in Ripple, and they are not paid dividends, he said. XRP exists independent of Ripple, was created before the company and will exist after it. Nathaniel Popper is a New York Times writer. A payday only goes so far. In 2018, workers are looking for more than just the comfort of a decent salary; they want balance, benefits, and paid maternity leave, too. Indeed, a job listings and company review website, looked at reviews of American companies written between March 2016 and March 2018 to find which businesses are meeting those needs of their workers best. From there, the company identified "which companies receive the highest ratings for helping employees achieve a healthy balance between the personal and professional." Peter Thiel has agreed not to bid on the assets of bankrupt Gawker Media in exchange for the Web publishers promise to end an investigation into the tech billionaire, a Facebook board member. The accord clears an obstacle to the company selling its assets in bankruptcy, according to court papers filed Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. The defunct website was looking into Thiels role, as well as his lawyers, in funding the lawsuit by wrestler Hulk Hogan that led to its demise. Under bankruptcy law, creditors can look into possible litigation that may gain more money for creditors. Number of the day 15 percent That was the drop Wednesday in shares of LendingClub Corp., once the Wall Street darling of online lenders, after U.S. regulators accused it of misleading consumers with hidden fees and charging borrowers even when they paid off loans. The Federal Trade Commission said in a complaint Wednesday that the San Francisco companys conduct, at times flagged by its own compliance department as problematic, violated federal law protecting consumers from unfair and deceptive practices. LendingClub said its disappointed with the FTCs lawsuit. All roads lead to Amazon delivery Now Amazon will even deliver packages to the trunk of your car with one big catch and a caveat. People in dozens of cities around the U.S., including at least part of the Bay Area, can have the items delivered, assuming they have certain General Motors models from 2015 or newer and OnStar, the roadside navigation service. Those with comparable Volvos can also do it, and other carmakers will be added in the future. The caveat? Well, people do break into cars in some cities (cough, San Francisco), so a highly visible delivery in a high-risk place could backfire. From staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Big banks are making it easy to zap money to your friends. Maybe too easy. Zelle, a service that allows bank customers to instantly send money to their acquaintances, is booming. Thousands of new users sign up every day. An estimated $75 billion zoomed through Zelles network last year. Thats more than twice the amount of money that people transferred with Venmo, a rival money-transfer app. But the same features that make Zelle so useful for customers, its speed and ubiquity, have made it irresistible to thieves. Hackers and con artists have used the system to steal from victims some of whom had never used Zelle or even heard of it until someone used it to clean out their bank accounts. While all financial systems are susceptible to fraud, aspects of Zelles design, like not always notifying customers when money is transferred some banks do; others dont have contributed to the systems vulnerability. And some customers who lost money were made whole by their banks; others were not. For the banks, Zelle is a big and must-win effort in the field where money is headed. As people become accustomed to splitting dinner checks, paying for their morning coffee and hailing an Uber without touching paper money, banks are rushing to stake their claim on the wallet of the future. Apps including Venmo (which is owned by PayPal), Popmoney, Square Cash and Apple Pay have made digital cash transfers quick and simple. Banks were falling behind. So they joined up to create a rival product, run by Early Warning Services, a Scottsdale, Ariz., consortium that is jointly owned by seven large banks. In June, Early Warning introduced Zelle. It is built directly into each banks mobile app, making the system easy to use for customers or thieves who gain access to their accounts. Eighteen banks in the United States, including most of the biggest financial institutions, are using Zelle, and 70 more are in the process of setting it up. Collectively, they connect about half of the traditional checking accounts in the United States. I know of one bank that was experiencing a 90 percent fraud rate on Zelle transactions, which is insane, said Genevieve Gimbert, a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers financial crimes unit. Zelle said the problem is under control. There are very few incidents, said Lou Anne Alexander, Early Warnings head of payments. When there is a problem, we and the banks are proactive. Its not something were putting our heads in the sand about. Stacy Cowley is a New York Times writer. WASHINGTON As President Trumps pick to lead Veterans Affairs skids to a halt, senators from both parties are voicing frustration that the White House is skipping crucial vetting of nominees and leaving lawmakers to clean up the mess. That sentiment was evident Tuesday on Capitol Hill after senators delayed hearings for White House physician Ronny Jackson, Trumps surprise pick to head the VA. Jackson is facing questions about improper workplace behavior, and even Trump himself acknowledged that there were concerns about his nominees experience. The White House still seems to be feeling its way on the nomination process, said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and does not fully appreciate how important it is to do a thorough vetting and FBI background check on nominees. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said that while lawmakers want to be deferential as much as we can to the presidents preferences for his Cabinet, it would be nice to know some of the issues that come up after the fact before the fact. Trump, who promised to fill his administration with the best people, often gravitates toward advisers he has a personal connection with or who look the part, drawing on the approach he took as a business executive. But as president, the result is a growing list of Cabinet secretaries and other officials who do not appear to undergo the rigorous scrutiny typically expected for White House hires. Andy Puzder, Trumps initial choice to lead the Labor Department, stepped aside before his confirmation hearings, in part over taxes he belatedly paid on a former housekeeper not authorized to work in the United States. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price won confirmation, but ultimately resigned amid disclosures about his expensive travel habits. Others are fighting similar charges, most notably Scott Pruitt, the embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt faces multiple allegations of improper housing, expensing and other practices, prompting several lawmakers to call for him to step down. Our Republican colleagues bemoan the pace of the nominations, said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. But he said because of the administrations quick, sloppy vetting process, the Senate job of vetting nominees is more important than ever before. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said senators dont have to agree with a nominees position on the issue, but the Senate has a historic role to advise and consent that the presidents picks are up to the job. Were not going to allow nominees to be jammed through without proper scrutiny and debate, Murray said. Now, hopefully, the events of the last 24 hours have made it very clear why this is so important. Lisa Mascaro is an Associated Press writer. 1 Deportation appeal: A civil rights attorney contends that the Trump administration tried to rush deportations of Iraqis who faced torture, sexual slavery and beheadings in their home country. A 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Cincinnati heard arguments Wednesday on the governments request to lift a judges order blocking the deportations. American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt told the three-judge panel that the Detroit federal judge would have been signing death warrants for many of the 1,400 Iraqis, who include Christians and other minority groups. Federal attorneys say the judge overstepped his authority. ACLU attorneys countered that there wasnt time because immigration agents were suddenly rounding up people last year. The panel didnt indicate when it will rule. 2 Texas execution: A prisoner on Texas death row for killing a 5-year-old girl and her grandmother in a gang-related shooting at a childs birthday party in Fort Worth a decade ago was executed Wednesday evening at the state prison in Huntsville. Erick Davila received lethal injection for using a laser-sighted semi-automatic rifle to spray bullets at about 20 people more than a dozen of them children. Annette Stevenson, 48, and her granddaughter, Queshawn Stevenson, were killed and four others were wounded, including the girl who was celebrating her 9th birthday. A federal judge ruled Tuesday that President Trump had offered no legal justification for canceling DACA protections for nearly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants, in a ruling that for the first time would require the administration to accept new applicants to the program. The ruling by U.S. District Judge John Bates of Washington, D.C., came after decisions by federal judges in San Francisco and New York that also rejected Trumps rationale for halting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. But while the earlier rulings barred the administration from ending DACA for current recipients, making them subject to deportation, Bates went a step further and said the government must allow others to apply. Each day that the agency delays is a day that aliens who might otherwise be eligible for initial grants of DACA benefits are exposed to removal (from the U.S.) because of an unlawful agency action, Bates said. Time is of the essence. However, he suspended his ruling for 90 days to give the administration a chance to offer a legally valid explanation for its decision to cancel the program. The administration could also ask higher courts for a stay while it appeals Bates ruling, as it has done in the San Francisco and New York cases. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear the San Francisco case on May 15. President Barack Obama established DACA by executive order in 2012. It allows people who arrived in the U.S. before age 16, later attended school or served in the military, and had no serious criminal records to apply for renewable two-year reprieves from deportation, and for work permits. Trump announced in September that he would eliminate the program on March 3 of this year unless Congress enacted it into law. No such law has been approved. Suits challenging the cancellation were filed by the UC Regents, by California and other states, and, in Tuesdays case, by plaintiffs who included the NAACP, two labor unions and Microsoft Corp. They argued that the administration had acted arbitrarily, in violation of federal law, because it had failed to offer a rational explanation for rescinding a program that had been in effect for more than five years. In reply, the Trump administration said its Department of Homeland Security had concluded that DACA itself had been adopted illegally and exceeded Obamas presidential powers. The administration also said the program was likely to be struck down in a lawsuit by Republican-led states, similar to the suit that had overturned Obamas order to extend deportation protections to several million parents of DACA recipients and legal U.S. residents. But Bates said the Trump administration had failed to rebut findings in 2014 by the same agency under Obama, explained in detail after an extensive study, that the program was within the presidents authority to decide to deport certain groups of undocumented immigrants, those posing the greatest dangers, and allow others to remain. The prospect of a lawsuit did not add to Trumps rationale, Bates said, especially since the program targeted by the earlier suit was different than DACA. The administrations defense of its action also made no mention of the fact that DACA had been in place for five years and had engendered the reliance of hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries, many of whom had structured their education, employment, and other life activities on the assumption that they would be able to renew their DACA benefits, Bates said. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Ever since Donald Trump began his improbable political rise, many pundits have credited his appeal among white, Christian and male voters to economic anxiety. Hobbled by unemployment and locked out of the recovery, those voters turned out in force to send Trump, and a message, to Washington. Or so that narrative goes. A study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences questions that explanation, the latest to suggest that Trump voters werent driven by anger over the past, but rather fear of what may come. White, Christian and male voters, the study suggests, turned to Trump because they felt their status was at risk. Its much more of a symbolic threat that people feel, said Diana C. Mutz, the author of the study and a political science and communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the Institute for the Study of Citizens and Politics. Its not a threat to their own economic well-being; its a threat to their groups dominance in our country overall. The study is not the first to cast doubt on the prevailing economic anxiety theory. Last year, a Public Religion Research Institute survey of more than 3,000 people also found that Trumps appeal could better be explained by a fear of cultural displacement. In her study, Mutz sought to answer two questions: Is there evidence to support the economic anxiety argument, and did the fear of losing social dominance drive some voters to Trump? To find answers, she analyzed survey data from a nationally representative group of about 1,200 voters polled in 2012 and 2016. In both years, participants were asked the same wide-ranging set of questions. Party loyalty overwhelmingly explained how most people voted, but Mutzs statistical analysis focused on those who bucked the trend, switching their support to the Republican candidate, Trump, in 2016. Leaving Behind the Left Behind Theory Even before conducting her analysis, Mutz noted two reasons for skepticism of the economic anxiety, or left behind, theory. First, the economy was improving before the 2016 presidential campaign. Second, while research has suggested that voters are swayed by the economy, there is little evidence that their own financial situation similarly influences their choices at the ballot box. The analysis offered even more reason for doubt. Losing a job or income between 2012 and 2016 did not make a person any more likely to support Trump, Mutz found. Neither did the mere perception that ones financial situation had worsened. A persons opinion on how trade affected personal finances had little bearing on political preferences. Neither did unemployment or the density of manufacturing jobs in ones area. It wasnt people in those areas that were switching, those folks were already voting Republican, Mutz said. For further evidence, Mutz also analyzed a separate survey, conducted in 2016 by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. It showed that anxieties about retirement, education and medical bills also had little impact on whether a person supported Trump. Last years Public Religion Research Institute report went even further, finding a link, albeit a weak one, between poor, white, working-class Americans and support for Hillary Clinton. Status Under Threat: Things Have Changed While economic anxiety did not explain Trumps appeal, Mutz found reason instead to credit those whose thinking changed in ways that reflected a growing sense of racial or global threat. In 2012, voters perceived little difference between themselves and the candidates on trade. But, by 2016, the voters had moved slightly right, while they perceived Trump as moving about as far right as Clinton had moved left. As a result, the voters, in a defensive crouch, found themselves closer to Trump. On the threat posed by China, voters hardly moved between 2012 and 2016, but while they perceived both presidential candidates as being to their left in 2012, they found Trump as having moved just to their right by 2016, again placing them closer to the Republican candidate than the Democratic one. In both cases, the findings revealed a fear that U.S. global dominance was in danger, a belief that benefited Trump and the Republican Party. The shift toward an anti-trade stance was a particularly effective strategy for capitalizing on a public experiencing status threat due to race as well as globalization, Mutz wrote in the study. Her survey also assessed social dominance orientation, a common psychological measure of a persons belief in hierarchy as necessary and inherent to a society. People who exhibited a growing belief in such group dominance were also more likely to move toward Trump, Mutz found, reflecting their hope that the status quo be protected. It used to be a pretty good deal to be a white, Christian male in America, but things have changed, and I think they do feel threatened, Mutz said. The other surveys supported the cultural anxiety explanation, too. For example, Trump support was linked to a belief that high-status groups, such as whites, Christians or men, faced more discrimination than low-status groups, like minorities, Muslims or women, according to Mutzs analysis of the University of Chicago study. What does it matter which kind of anxiety cultural or economic explains Trumps appeal? If wrong, the prevailing economic theory lends unfounded virtue to his victory, crediting it to the disaffected masses, Mutz argues. More important, she said, it would teach the wrong lesson to elected officials, who often look to voting patterns in enacting new policy. This article originally appeared in The New York Times UNION CITY (BCN) Two women who died when the silver Mercedes-Benz sedan they were traveling in collided with a tow truck in Union City on Sunday were identified today by the Alameda County coroner's bureau as 82-year-old Eusebia Umblas of San Francisco and 70-year-old Pacita Umblas Costales of Daly City. Union City police said the collision occurred at Mission Boulevard and Lafayette Avenue at about 3 p.m. Sunday. Police said the tow truck driver cooperated with their investigation into the crash. ### SANTA ROSA (BCN) A Santa Rosa man was sentenced to six years in prison for first-degree burglary and felony looting during the wildfire state of emergency in October. Douglas James Rosado, 50, pleaded no contest in March to the charges and was sentenced Friday in Sonoma County Superior Court. Witnesses confronted Rosado at the evacuated Hope Village group home run by California Human Development around 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 15, Sonoma County prosecutors said. Witnesses saw Rosado trying to load a dryer from a Hope Village residence on Spears Road in Rincon Valley into his truck, and saw a shop vacuum in the bed of Rosado's truck, prosecutors said. Rosado told the witnesses his wife was a former employee of the facility and asked him to check on the Hope Village residence because of the fire, according to prosecutors. Rosado opened the doors of the truck so the witnesses could look inside but he drove away before they were able to do so. During a probation search at Rosado's home and storage unit, the shop vacuum seen by the witnesses and two televisions from Hope Village were recovered, prosecutors said. "The crime was one of opportunity carried out against a nonprofit agency forced to evacuate the building. The sentence is appropriate for the crimes committed," District Attorney Jill Ravitch said in a statement. ### 565-2311 District Attorney Jill Ravitch (707) 565-3098 SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) City Attorney Dennis Herrera today announced that on Monday he filed a motion in San Francisco Superior Court to request the removal of 34 people from a civil gang injunction in the city's Western Addition neighborhood. The Western Addition gang injunction was first implemented in 2007 and targeted a total of 42 people, all members of the Chopper City, Eddy Rock and Knock Out Posse gangs, by prohibiting identified members from conducting gang-related activity in the neighborhood. According to the city attorney's office, 11 years after the Western Addition injunction was put in place, 30 of the alleged gang members have stopped engaging in criminal gang activity and four have died, while eight people remain on the list. Additionally, the Knock Out Posse gang has ceased to exist altogether. The motion filed by Herrera Monday is asking the court to update the injunction to reflect the changes that have taken place since 2007. "I'm glad we are at this point today," Herrera said in a statement. "I couldn't be more pleased that many of those who we had to take court action against a decade ago are no longer part of violent street gangs. Our injunctions are not a panacea for gang violence, but they are a key part of the solution. When we took this action in 2007, the best possible outcome was for residents to be safe in their neighborhoods and for these young men to get their lives in order," Herrera said. In addition to removing the 34 people from the Western Addition injunction, the city attorney's office is also seeking to modify three other gang injunctions that cover the Bayview-Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, and Mission neighborhoods. The injunctions were put in place between 2006 and 2010 in order to target members of seven street gangs in the city. The updates to the injunctions are part of both an internal review and an evaluation requested by elected officials, according to Herrera's office. The injunctions were intended to stop identified gang members from participating in crimes such as trespassing, intimidation, graffiti, vandalism, gang recruitment, weapons violations and drug violations. According to the city attorney's office, the injunctions are not stay-away orders and do not restrict identified gang members from living, working or going to school. Additionally, a person listed in a civil gang injunction can petition the city to be removed from the injunction. ### SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) Auto break-ins have decreased significantly throughout city-owned parking garages in San Francisco due to increased efforts by police and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, city officials announced today. Mayor Mark Farrell, Police Chief Bill Scott and SFMTA Director Ed Reiskin made the announcement today at the Sutter-Stockton Garage at 444 Stockton Street, which has seen an 83 percent decline in vehicle break-ins since last month. The drop in break-ins at the heavily used Union Square-area garage is being credited with new public safety upgrades first implemented in February, which included assigning a dedicated police officer to the garage, installing fencing and locking down electrical outlets to prevent loitering, according to the mayor's office. Before the upgrades, January saw 44 car break-ins at the Sutter-Stockton garage. In March, after the upgrades were implemented, there were only nine break-ins reported. This month, so far, there have no break-ins, the mayor's office said. "Enough is enough -- we are taking ambitious and smart new measures to prevent car break-ins in the city," Farrell said in a statement. "It should not be a gamble to park your car in San Francisco." "Thanks to the existing safety upgrades in a number of our garages, the criminals of this city are beginning to think twice before breaking the law, and we are going to aggressively expand these security efforts across all our city-owned garages," Farrell said. SFMTA officials have also installed 56 high-definition cameras at other high-traffic city-owned garages in an effort to reduce break-ins. After cameras were installed at the Lombard, Polk-Bush, Vallejo Street, Pierce Street, North Beach and Portsmouth Square garages, city officials observed a significant decline in break-ins. The Pierce Street Garage saw the most significant reduction over a six-month period, with a 55 percent drop in break-ins. Many of the new improvements are part of a larger effort by the SFTMA to incorporate new technology at city-owned garages and lots, which include adding new entry and exit stations, improved payment kiosks, two-way intercom systems, high definition cameras and a central monitoring station to provide 24/7 assistance and monitor video. So far, only six garages have undergone the technology upgrades, while upgrades are underway at two others. The fourteen remaining lots or garages will be outfitted with the upgrades by 2020, the mayor's office said. The San Francisco Police Department has also partnered with the SFMTA to step up enforcement by deploying teams of plain-clothes officers at the garages and help the agency identify ways to make the facilities more secure. "Our officers are making good, solid arrests and we are seeing an encouraging decrease in the auto burglaries over last year," Scott said in a statement. "This collaborative approach with our partner agencies is enabling SFPD to improve our responsiveness, educate the public on theft prevention and more effectively deter and investigate car break-ins," he said. Today's announcement follows the introduction of the Park Smart campaign earlier this month, an increased effort by the Police Department and mayor's office aiming to reduce car break-ins with increased foot patrols, units dedicated to dealing with property crimes, expanded investigative resources at district stations, more training in fingerprinting, and the launch of a new public awareness campaign geared toward tourists, reminding them not to leave valuables in unattended vehicles. The combined ongoing efforts by the mayor's office, SFMTA and the Police Department have resulted in a 17 percent citywide decrease in car breaks-ins during the first three months of this year compared with last year, according to the mayor's office. ### 554-6131 San Francisco police (415) 837-7395 or sfpdmediarelations@sfgov.org Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Albany and two municipal districts in the East Bay have been fined almost $400,000 for allowing untreated sewage to enter the Bay, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials said today. The East Bay Municipal Utility District and the Stege Sanitary District for El Cerrito, Kensington and parts of Richmond were also fined for the violations, which occurred between September 2014 and June 2017. EPA officials said the cities violated the terms of a 2014 Clean Water Act settlement "consent decree" that required upgraded sewer infrastructure to protect local waters. In 2014, the eight cities and agencies paid $1.5 million for past sewage penalties and agreed to upgrade 1,500 miles of infrastructure over 21 years, according to the EPA. EPA officials said the cities and districts have inspected 720 miles of sewer pipe and spent $80 million to upgrade 100 miles of sewers since the settlement. The current violations include sanitary sewer overflows reaching the water, failure to meet limits for chlorine and coliform and failing to repair small defects within a year. Oakland incurred the highest fines at $226,500, with EBMUD paying the second-highest portion at $134,000. "We knew heading into the consent decree that we could not eliminate these issues overnight, and we knew some stipulated penalties would be unavoidable," Oakland Public Works spokesman Sean Maher said in an email. Oakland has reduced sewage spills into the Bay by 16 percent since 2014, and the agency is reaching multiple goals outlined in the decree, like pipe rehabilitation, Maher said. EBMUD spokeswoman Jenesse Miller said the fines are reasonable and the district is confident that it can improve in the next few years. Miller said the violations stemmed from numerous issues, but a main cause was a very wet winter that came after a five-year drought. "We discovered our operators needed better muscle memory, if you will, to manage the sudden and enormous inflow of storm water into our system," Miller said in an email. The district is organizing more on-site trainings before storms and evaluating standard operating procedures. Miller said the training has paid off and there weren't any violations during the most recent set of late-winter storms. The district will pay the fines with wastewater revenue, which comes from taxpayers, according to Miller. ### OAKLAND (BCN) An ex-convict was arraigned today on a murder charge for the fatal shooting of a 25-year-old man in Oakland 10 days ago. Julio Rodriguez, 34, is scheduled to return to Alameda County Superior Court on May 3 for a pretrial hearing in connection with the fatal shooting of Daniel Cordova in the 2700 block of East 10th Street at 1:23 a.m. on April 15. Witnesses identified Rodriguez as the man who used a pistol to shoot and kill Cordova, Oakland police Officer Yun Zhou wrote in a probable cause statement. According to Cordova's obituary, he was born in Hayward, graduated from high school in South Dakota, lived in Oakland and worked in security and maintenance. In addition to murder, Rodriguez is charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting another man who was injured in the incident, being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, possession of an assault weapon, possession of methamphetamine for sale and possession of cocaine for sale. Prosecutors allege that Rodriguez was convicted of possession of marijuana for sale in Alameda County in 2007. A second suspect, Jesus De Leon Jr., 39, was charged with attempted murder and being an accessory after the fact to murder. Prosecutors say De Leon was convicted of possession of concentrated cannabis in Alameda County in 2012. De Leon is also scheduled to return to court on May 3. ### 272-6280 CONCORD (BCN) Firefighters this morning are still at the scene of a three-alarm blaze that burned 180 apartments that were still under construction early Tuesday, resulting in two smoke inhalation injuries and roughly $55 million in damage. The fire was reported in a 2.78-acre build site near the intersection of Galindo Street and Clayton Road around 12:55 a.m. It collapsed a five-story wall of scaffolding, and led to the evacuation of roughly 260 residents of a neighboring complex. As of Tuesday afternoon, those people still could not go home out of concerns that the burnt structure could collapse further, potentially impacting their apartments. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Alpine Pastry & Cakes, a neighboring bakery listed at 1848 Willow Pass Road, has been forced to close on a temporary basis as a result of the fire, according to their website. Their building sustained water damage, but they're cleaning up the facility and hope to reopen soon. Contra Costa County health officials issued a health advisory to warn nearby residents with pre-existing pulmonary issues that smoke and other pollutants in the air as a result of the fire could be hazardous to their health. That advisory was lifted at 7:39 a.m., but area residents are still advised to dampen any ash or debris before sweeping it up and avoid sweeping that material into storm drains where it could adversely impact the watershed. The building is said to have been roughly 60 percent completed, with exposed timber framing and no sheetrock to prevent the spread of the fire, making this fire similar to several others that destroyed apartment complexes that were under construction in Oakland and Emeryville during 2016 and 2017. Those fires were determined to be acts of arson and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced in July a $100,000 reward for information leading to the suspect's arrest and conviction. The ATF has also been called in to assist with the investigation into Tuesday's fire in Concord. ### SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) Tetra Tech, a firm contracted by the U.S. Navy to clean up radiation at San Francisco's Hunters Point Shipyard, said today it would pay for retesting at the site by an independent third-party contractor following accusations that the firm falsified data. "We want to assure the residents and neighbors at Hunters Point that what we did was proper and followed all Navy and regulatory guidelines, protocols and work plans," Tetra Tech's chief engineer Bill Brownlie said this morning. "We believe that any false claims that have been made can be addressed by re-sampling and analyzing the areas in question. Therefore, Tetra Tech is proposing to pay for an independent third party contractor to validate our work and to demonstrate that it was performed properly and to the Navy's specifications," Brownlie said. "We're fully confident that a scientific fact-based and independent resampling analysis will prove that the claims against us are false," he said. Pasadena-based Tetra Tech Inc. first began cleaning up radiation at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in 2002. The area had been slated for redevelopment and was divided up into parcels. However, starting in 2010, workers contracted by Tetra Tech claimed that data on the firm's cleanup had been falsified and manipulated in order to minimize evidence of soil contamination, according to the environmental watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. In September, the Navy released a preliminary analysis of the cleanup specifically at two of the site's parcels and determined that nearly half of the samples taken from the site had in fact been falsified or manipulated. In the Navy's findings, 15 percent of the soil samples at Parcel B needed retesting, while 49 percent of soil samples at Parcel G were in need of retesting. Then in December, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, along with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the California Department of Public Health, independently reviewed the Navy's report and found further signs of potential falsification, manipulation and data quality concerns at the parcels. The agencies recommended resampling for roughly 90 percent of Parcel B and resampling for about 97 percent of Parcel G. "In summary, the data analyzed showed a widespread pattern of practices that appear to show deliberate falsification, failure to complete the work in a manner required...or both," John Chesnutt, a regional EPA Superfund manager, wrote to the Navy on Dec. 17. Chesnutt's letter to the Navy was made public earlier this month by PEER after the organization obtained it in a Freedom of Information Act request. Today, in response to Tetra Tech's proposal to pay for an independent third party contractor, Derek Robinson, the Navy's coordinator of the cleanup, issued a statement. "Independent retesting is a critical element of the Navy's Hunters Point reevaluation work plan. Its purpose is not to exonerate the contractors involved, but to offer a comprehensive, credible data set to reassure the community about their safety, determine the extent of any remediation activities needed, and complete the cleanup of HPNS," Robinson said. "We are in receipt of a letter from Tetra Tech and will be evaluating the appropriate course of action to support the success of the Hunters Point cleanup program and ensure the safety of the Hunters Point community," he said. Robinson added that he hopes the resampling work would begin by the end of this summer. Bradley Angel, executive director with Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, said "Greenaction has been calling for this, to look into their apparent fraud, for years." "They need to be held accountable," Angel said. "We're applauding the fact that our state and federal agencies are finally stating to do their job and see that it's worse than first alleged," Angel said. "Tetra Tech needs to go away and the government needs to stop giving them contracts." The area, closed as a Navy shipyard in 1974, was designated in 1989 as an EPA Superfund site, having priority as one of the most toxic cleanup sites in the nation. The radiation contamination stemmed from the use of the yard to clean ships exposed to atom bombs and for research on defense against nuclear weapons. Other contaminants from shipyard operations included petroleum compounds, mercury and lead. Supervisor Malia Cohen, whose district contains the site, has called for a hearing on the matter. The hearing will be held at the Board of Supervisors Land Use and Transportation Committee on May 14, according to Cohen's office. ### A foreign national visiting from India who died in a collision Tuesday morning on U.S. Highway 101 in unincorporated Monterey County has been identified, according to the county coroner's office. Vijay Bhakar, 43, was pronounced dead at a hospital after a crash on southbound Highway 101 just south of Salinas. California Highway Patrol officials said the collision was reported at 10:57 a.m. south of Airport Boulevard after a blue 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and a black Chevrolet Cruze were traveling south and the Silverado struck the Cruze, causing a multi-car collision. The driver of the Cruze was beginning to slow for a lane closure ahead when they saw that a red Ford F-150 and a big-rig going the same direction had come to a stop. According to the CHP, the driver of the Silverado failed to observe traffic and pushed the Cruze into the F-150 in front of it, which then pushed the F-150 into the big-rig. Bhakar was a passenger in the backseat of the Cruze. CHP officials said the driver of the Silverado stated he was looking for headphones when he hit the Cruze, which is why he did not see upcoming traffic. Another foreign national from India who was also a passenger in the Cruze, as well as the driver of the Cruze suffered major injuries, according to the CHP. A passenger in the Silverado suffered minor injuries. Those with injuries were taken to Natividad Medical Center in Salinas. The driver of the Silverado and the driver of the F-150 escaped any injury, according to the CHP. Bhakar's age was originally reported as 42, but the coroner's office clarified he was 43. ### OAKLAND (BCN) A San Jacinto man pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Oakland to a string of bank robberies in the Bay Area between 2015 and 2016. Wesley Allen Krohn, 34, admitted to armed robbery at banks in Pleasant Hill and Walnut Grove and unarmed bank robberies in Rohnert Park, Brentwood, Suisun City and Elk Grove. He also admitted to an unarmed attempted bank robbery in Lodi. Krohn, know as the "Hefty Heister," committed the burglaries over two months, beginning on Dec. 3, 2015, and ending on Jan. 19, 2016. He agreed to pay $14,623 in restitution to each bank as part of the plea. He faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison and his sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 6. Krohn was first arrested for reckless evasion on Feb. 7, 2016, and served a one-year sentence, according to U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Abraham Simmons. After serving his sentence, Krohn self-surrendered to the FBI on Dec. 8, 2017, for the robberies and he has been in custody since then, according to Simmons. ### SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) After changing what was once known as Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day earlier this year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors today approved adding another name to that day. In addition to Indigenous People's Day, the second Monday of October will also be known in the city as Italian American Heritage Day. The board voted at their Jan. 23 meeting to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day. During that meeting, however, Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Norman Yee indicated that they wanted to come up with a way to honor not only the Indigenous community but also the Italian American community. The ordinance to add Italian American Heritage Day, sponsored by supervisors Peskin, Yee, London Breed, Malia Cohen, Catherine Stefani and Ahsha Safai, was passed with a 10-1 vote with Supervisor Hillary Ronen voting no. Also at today' meeting, Ronen introduced a motion calling for an independent investigation into the detainment at San Francisco International Airport last week of a human rights activist visiting from the Philippines. Jerome Aladdin Aba, who arrived at SFO on April 17, was denied entry, detained at the airport and tortured for more than 24 hours before being sent back to his home county, according to activists. According to Ronen, Aba was denied legal counsel, interrogated for hours and ordered to strip naked. She's calling for an independent investigation into his alleged "inhumane treatment." In addition, supervisors sat through a lengthy hearing regarding a motion to disapprove a proposed condo conversion of an apartment building that a 100-year-old woman was displaced from shortly before she died last year. The building in question is where Iris Canada once lived, an African-American centenarian who had fought being displaced from the home where she had lived in since 1962. In 2005, after property owners Peter Owens, Stephen Owens and Carolyne Radishe bought the building at 668-678 Page St. and enacted Ellis Act evictions on most units, Canada was able to negotiate a lifetime estate allowing her to remain. A judge in 2016, however, revoked the lifetime estate after the owners provided evidence that Iris was not living in the building, claiming that she lived with family members in Oakland allowing the unit to fall into disrepair. Despite objections by housing activists and Canada's family, she was removed from the home on Feb. 10, 2017 and died the following month. The motion in front of supervisors today was whether to approve a decision by the Department of Public Works to disapprove an application from the building's tenants for a proposed Tentative Parcel Map to convert the three-story, six-unit building into residential condominiums. "This profit motive over humanity that's become like a monster in our prospective housing market in SF is stark in this case," Ronen said. "As far as I'm concerned, you can call it eviction or displacement, she was removed from her home," Breed said. "What happened to Iris was not compassionate and is not acceptable in our city," Breed said. Ultimately, supervisors voted to 10-1 in favor of motion, approving Public Works' decision to deny the conversion. ### (415) 430-7091 Carolyn Goosen for Ronen (415) 370-5621 Samantha Roxas for Breed (415) 554-7687 BCN22) CONCORD (BCN) A wall of scaffolding five stories high collapsed today at the scene of a three-alarm fire that started in Concord at a 180-unit apartment complex that was still under construction, and firefighters anticipate that it could collapse further, Assistant Fire Chief Terence Carey of the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said. The fire was reported at 12:55 a.m. at an apartment building under construction near the intersection of Clayton Road and Galindo Street. So far it has injured two people and led to the evacuation of roughly 260 people from a neighboring building, causing roughly $55 million in damage, fire officials said. The two people injured suffered from smoke inhalation and were taken to a hospital. Fire crews had contained the blaze as of 5 a.m. but will remain at the scene through the night to put out any hot spots. The fire triggered a number of road closures as first responders arrived at the scene. Some roads have reopened, but police said areas near Willow Pass and Clayton roads will remain closed in the area around the scene of the 2.78-acre fire for the duration of the investigation. County health officials had issued a public health advisory, saying smoke and other pollutants from the fire could affect people sensitive to respiratory illnesses. There is still smoke coming from the structure, but that advisory was lifted at 7:39 a.m. Residents should avoid direct contact with and inhaling ash and debris from the fire. Those materials can be cleaned with soap and water. County health officials recommend dampening the ash before sweeping to minimize the generation of dust. The pollution from the fire could accumulate in nearby creeks and rivers, so people who live nearby should avoid sweeping any ash or debris into storm drains where it might adversely affect the watershed. Fire Marshal Robert Marshall said the building was the second phase of the Renaissance Square apartments. It was 60 percent complete and a mostly wood structure. "The majority of the building was under construction without any sheetrock whatsoever, so there's just no way to control that," Marshall said. Buildings still under construction tend to burn more quickly than completed structures because fire prevention measures such as a sprinkler system typically are not in place yet. Residents who were evacuated from a neighboring building, also part of the Renaissance Square complex, have not yet been allowed to return home due to concerns that the damaged structure could further collapse. First responders and structural engineers are working to make the scene safe, fire officials said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, with the assistance from police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That agency was also called in to investigate a series of three large fires at buildings under construction in Oakland and Emeryville in 2016 and 2017. In July, ATF officials released photos of a man they said was an arson suspect and announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction. Concord Mayor Edi Birsan said that although this was one of the city's largest fires in recent memory, Concord has a history of rebuilding after major fires. "We will rebuild," Birsan said. "This is Concord." ### A 67-year-old woman was killed and three people were injured in a six-car collision on Lakeville Highway in Petaluma this morning, a Petaluma police lieutenant said. A 19-year-old male driver in a Chevrolet Silverado was driving west on Lakeville Highway toward Petaluma around 7:15 a.m. when he crossed over solid, double-yellow lines into the eastbound lane and collided head-on with the woman's Toyota Prius, Lt. Ron Klein said. The Solano County coroner's office has identified a driver who died in a solo vehicle crash late Tuesday night on eastbound Interstate Highway 80 east of Interstate Highway 505 in Vacaville as Myat Win, 35, of Sacramento. The California Highway Patrol received multiple calls about the crash around 11:25 p.m. Officers found a black Toyota Camry on its side and a woman inside. A wall of scaffolding five stories high collapsed Tuesday at the scene of a three-alarm fire that started in Concord at a 180-unit apartment complex that was still under construction, and firefighters anticipate that it could collapse further, Assistant Fire Chief Terence Carey of the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said. The fire was reported at 12:55 a.m. at an apartment building under construction near the intersection of Clayton Road and Galindo Street. So far it has injured two people and led to the evacuation of roughly 260 people from a neighboring building, causing roughly $55 million in damage, fire officials said. The two people injured suffered from smoke inhalation and were taken to a hospital. Fire crews had contained the blaze as of 5 a.m. but will remain at the scene through the night to put out any hot spots. The fire triggered a number of road closures as first responders arrived at the scene. Some roads have reopened, but police said areas near Willow Pass and Clayton roads will remain closed in the area around the scene of the 2.78-acre fire for the duration of the investigation. County health officials had issued a public health advisory, saying smoke and other pollutants from the fire could affect people sensitive to respiratory illnesses. There is still smoke coming from the structure, but that advisory was lifted at 7:39 a.m. Residents should avoid direct contact with and inhaling ash and debris from the fire. Those materials can be cleaned with soap and water. County health officials recommend dampening the ash before sweeping to minimize the generation of dust. The pollution from the fire could accumulate in nearby creeks and rivers, so people who live nearby should avoid sweeping any ash or debris into storm drains where it might adversely affect the watershed. Fire Marshal Robert Marshall said the building was the second phase of the Renaissance Square apartments. It was 60 percent complete and a mostly wood structure. "The majority of the building was under construction without any sheetrock whatsoever, so there's just no way to control that," Marshall said. Buildings still under construction tend to burn more quickly than completed structures because fire prevention measures such as a sprinkler system typically are not in place yet. Residents who were evacuated from a neighboring building, also part of the Renaissance Square complex, have not yet been allowed to return home due to concerns that the damaged structure could further collapse. First responders and structural engineers are working to make the scene safe, fire officials said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, with the assistance from police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That agency was also called in to investigate a series of three large fires at buildings under construction in Oakland and Emeryville in 2016 and 2017. In July, ATF officials released photos of a man they said was an arson suspect and announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction. Concord Mayor Edi Birsan said that although this was one of the city's largest fires in recent memory, Concord has a history of rebuilding after major fires. "We will rebuild," Birsan said. "This is Concord." Livermore police took a suspect into custody after a home invasion robbery and standoff Tuesday afternoon. Police said the suspect was hiding inside a home in the area of Wagoner Drive and Coronado Way and asked people to avoid the area at about 12:30 p.m. A SWAT team and K-9 entered the home at 3:35 p.m. when negotiations and "chemical agents" did not coax the suspect out of the residence, according to police. Police said SWAT team officers then detained the suspect without any injuries. Officers have not released any suspect information at this time. Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Albany and two municipal districts in the East Bay have been fined almost $400,000 for allowing untreated sewage to enter the Bay, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials said Tuesday. The East Bay Municipal Utility District and the Stege Sanitary District for El Cerrito, Kensington and parts of Richmond were also fined for the violations, which occurred between September 2014 and June 2017. EPA officials said the cities violated the terms of a 2014 Clean Water Act settlement "consent decree" that required upgraded sewer infrastructure to protect local waters. In 2014, the eight cities and agencies paid $1.5 million for past sewage penalties and agreed to upgrade 1,500 miles of infrastructure over 21 years, according to the EPA. EPA officials said the cities and districts have inspected 720 miles of sewer pipe and spent $80 million to upgrade 100 miles of sewers since the settlement. The current violations include sanitary sewer overflows reaching the water, failure to meet limits for chlorine and coliform and failing to repair small defects within a year. Oakland incurred the highest fines at $226,500, with EBMUD paying the second-highest portion at $134,000. "We knew heading into the consent decree that we could not eliminate these issues overnight, and we knew some stipulated penalties would be unavoidable," Oakland Public Works spokesman Sean Maher said in an email. Oakland has reduced sewage spills into the Bay by 16 percent since 2014, and the agency is reaching multiple goals outlined in the decree, like pipe rehabilitation, Maher said. EBMUD spokeswoman Jenesse Miller said the fines are reasonable and the district is confident that it can improve in the next few years. Miller said the violations stemmed from numerous issues, but a main cause was a very wet winter that came after a five-year drought. "We discovered our operators needed better muscle memory, if you will, to manage the sudden and enormous inflow of storm water into our system," Miller said in an email. The district is organizing more on-site trainings before storms and evaluating standard operating procedures. Miller said the training has paid off and there weren't any violations during the most recent set of late-winter storms. The district will pay the fines with wastewater revenue, which comes from taxpayers, according to Miller. A human rights activist who was attempting to visit the U.S. from the Philippines last week claims he was supplied with weapons and tortured by federal agents during a 28-hour detention at San Francisco International Airport. Jerome Aladdin Aba arrived at SFO around 8 p.m. April 17, but was detained for questioning by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents due to unspecified problems with his visa. He was eventually denied entry, and was placed on a departing flight to Manila around 12:30 a.m. Thursday. In a subsequent news conference, Aba said he was forced to strip naked in an air-conditioned room and stand in front of a large fan during a lengthy interrogation. Aba claims he was questioned extensively about his political beliefs and President Rodrigo Duterte's controversial drug war, which has been condemned by human rights activists who say that thousands have died in the ensuing civil unrest. President Donald Trump has praised Duterte's actions, saying his Filipino counterpart has done an unbelievable job combating illicit drugs, according to an article by the New York Times last May. This was one of the human rights issues Aba was visiting the U.S. to discuss. One of his interrogating officers, identified only as Lopez, repeatedly touched a handgun he was wearing and said he would "not hesitate to shoot," Aba said. While in detention, Aba said he was left alone with a gun and later a hand grenade in an apparent attempt to tempt him into using the weapons. He has speculated that this may have been an effort to portray him as a suicide bomber. Before authorizing his release, Aba claims he was coerced into signing a blank document. He included the letters U.P. to indicate that he did so under pressure or duress, but federal agents reportedly made him sign another one and then forced him to record a video statement saying that he hadn't been tortured. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said Tuesday in a statement that the agency is aware of the allegations, but claimed they are false. Customs officials say he was not asked to remove his clothing. Their officers would never give Aba access to a weapon he could potentially use against them, and their airport personnel don't have hand grenades. Among other forms of mistreatment, Aba said he informed customs officials that he could not eat pork due to his religious beliefs as a Muslim, and they responded by offering him a ham sandwich after depriving him of food for 24 hours. Agency officials said Aba was kept in a "lounge" area with reclining chairs and blankets where he had access to food, water and bathroom facilities. They refuted Aba's claims about the ham sandwich, saying that while he was in custody they provided an egg and cheese sandwich as well as a turkey and cheese sandwich. He was also offered noodles, but declined. "No pork was provided and no religious discrimination took place," a CBP spokesman said in a statement. Aba and his colleagues with the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines have called on U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, to condemn the alleged actions of the customs agents involved in Aba's case. Their offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter. The Solano County Public Health Department Tuesday reported an active pulmonary tuberculosis case associated with Laurel Creek Elementary School in Fairfield. Specific information about the individual at the K-6 school at 2900 Gulf Drive will not be released to ensure the patient's privacy, county health officials said. "The individual with active pulmonary TB disease is receiving treatment and will return to the school campus only after Public Health has provided clearance," Deputy Health Officer Dr. Michael Stacey said in a statement. "We have already taken steps to determine who is at risk of being infected with TB in this situation," Stacey said. "It is important that we identify those who have had prolonged close contact in an enclosed space with the TB case and test them. If necessary, we will treat individuals with antibiotics to prevent the development of active TB cases." A letter was sent to parents, guardians and staff Monday about the TB case, and parents also were notified by phone and email, county health officials said. "Laurel Creek Elementary School is cooperating fully with Solano Public Health. We are taking all the necessary steps to make sure people identified as at risk for exposure are properly assessed by public health officials," the school's principal Todd Bennett said. Tuberculosis is a serious, treatable and slow-growing bacterial disease that usually affects the lungs but it can affect other parts of the body, including the brain, kidneys and spine, county health officials said. It is transmitted person to person through microscopic droplets that enter the air when a person with an active pulmonary TB case coughs, sneezes, talks or sings. People breathing air containing TB bacteria can become infected, but not everyone gets sick, according to the county. Those with active pulmonary TB disease are ill from active bacteria in their body and may cough often, feel weak, have a fever, lose weight, cough up blood and sweat a lot at night, county health officials said. TB can be treated and cured and people can resume public contact once they are cleared by a doctor. Solano Public Health will schedule a TB screening/testing clinic at the school next week. A town hall meeting on the issue is also scheduled at 5 p.m. today in the school's cafeteria. A Union City woman was charged with murder Tuesday for allegedly fatally shooting her husband at their home on Sunday night, authorities said. Sara Chereji, 56, was arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court Tuesday afternoon and is scheduled to return to court today and possibly enter a plea. A spokeswoman for the Alameda County coroner's bureau refused to release the victim's name, saying his next of kin hadn't yet been notified, but sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly identified him as 56-year-old Sorin Chereji. Union City police said the shooting was reported at a home in the 4300 block of Feldspar Court at 10:15 p.m. on Sunday. They said responding officers found Sorin Chereji suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and he was pronounced dead at the scene. In addition to murder, Sara Chereji is charged with several weapons enhancements, including causing her husband's death by intentionally discharging a firearm. A 67-year-old woman was killed and three people were injured in a six-car collision on Lakeville Highway in Petaluma Tuesday morning, a Petaluma police lieutenant said. A 19-year-old male driver in a Chevrolet Silverado was driving west on Lakeville Highway toward Petaluma around 7:15 a.m. when he crossed over solid, double-yellow lines into the eastbound lane and collided head-on with the woman's Toyota Prius, Lt. Ron Klein said. The Silverado also struck a Honda Accord driven by a 22-year-old man who suffered injuries not considered life-threatening, Klein said. Klein said the Silverado's driver and a 50-year-old male passenger suffered serious injuries that are not life threatening. Three other vehicles sustained minor damage in the collisions near the South McDowell Boulevard extension. After changing what was once known as Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day earlier this year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved adding another name to that day. In addition to Indigenous People's Day, the second Monday of October will also be known in the city as Italian American Heritage Day. The board voted at their Jan. 23 meeting to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day. During that meeting, however, Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Norman Yee indicated that they wanted to come up with a way to honor not only the Indigenous community but also the Italian American community. The ordinance to add Italian American Heritage Day, sponsored by supervisors Peskin, Yee, London Breed, Malia Cohen, Catherine Stefani and Ahsha Safai, was passed with a 10-1 vote with Supervisor Hillary Ronen voting no. Also at Tuesday' meeting, Ronen introduced a motion calling for an independent investigation into the detainment at San Francisco International Airport last week of a human rights activist visiting from the Philippines. Jerome Aladdin Aba, who arrived at SFO on April 17, was denied entry, detained at the airport and tortured for more than 24 hours before being sent back to his home county, according to activists. According to Ronen, Aba was denied legal counsel, interrogated for hours and ordered to strip naked. She's calling for an independent investigation into his alleged "inhumane treatment." In addition, supervisors sat through a lengthy hearing regarding a motion to disapprove a proposed condo conversion of an apartment building that a 100-year-old woman was displaced from shortly before she died last year. The building in question is where Iris Canada once lived, an African-American centenarian who had fought being displaced from the home where she had lived in since 1962. In 2005, after property owners Peter Owens, Stephen Owens and Carolyne Radishe bought the building at 668-678 Page St. and enacted Ellis Act evictions on most units, Canada was able to negotiate a lifetime estate allowing her to remain. A judge in 2016, however, revoked the lifetime estate after the owners provided evidence that Iris was not living in the building, claiming that she lived with family members in Oakland allowing the unit to fall into disrepair. Despite objections by housing activists and Canada's family, she was removed from the home on Feb. 10, 2017 and died the following month. The motion in front of supervisors Tuesday was whether to approve a decision by the Department of Public Works to disapprove an application from the building's tenants for a proposed Tentative Parcel Map to convert the three-story, six-unit building into residential condominiums. "This profit motive over humanity that's become like a monster in our prospective housing market in SF is stark in this case," Ronen said. "As far as I'm concerned, you can call it eviction or displacement, she was removed from her home," Breed said. "What happened to Iris was not compassionate and is not acceptable in our city," Breed said. Ultimately, supervisors voted to 10-1 in favor of motion, approving Public Works' decision to deny the conversion. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said Tuesday that the city is beginning the second phase of its ongoing effort to try to move homeless people from encampments into temporary shelters as they wait for permanent housing. Schaaf said the city opened its first temporary sanctioned navigation center at Sixth and Castro streets in early December and is now opening its second such site at 27th Street and Northgate Avenue. Speaking at a news conference in her office, Schaaf said there's "a very large homeless encampment" of about 100 people at the 27th and Northgate site, underneath a freeway exit there. The mayor said the city will accommodate 40 people in portable "Tuff Shed" living structures and the rest will be housed at the nearby St. Vincent De Paul Community Center at 2272 San Pablo Ave. Schaaf said the sanctioned centers have bathrooms, showers and security and offers a variety of services aimed at getting the homeless population at the locations into permanent housing. She said, "The goal is to have people move from the sheds to permanent housing within a six-month period" and also to help people get jobs. Schaaf said 8 of the people who've lived at the center at Sixth and Castro streets "are on a path to permanent housing" and 15 have permanent jobs. Schaaf said the work by city agencies and their partners to get the 27th Street and Northgate Avenue center up and running is part of a broader effort to reduce the city's unsheltered population without just forcing homeless people out. She said, "It's not compassionate or effective to simply tell them to move on." At least one person was killed in a solo-vehicle crash on eastbound Interstate Highway 80 in Vacaville late Tuesday night, according to the California Highway Patrol. The CHP said it received multiple calls of the crash around 11:25 p.m. Tuesday. Officers arrived on scene and found a black Toyota Camry on its side with one person inside. Vacaville Fire Department crews pronounced the occupant of the vehicle dead at the scene Tuesday night, the CHP said. The No. 4 lane of the freeway was closed as emergency crews were on the scene early this morning, the CHP said. All lanes of northbound Interstate Highway 680 in Walnut Creek just south of Treat Boulevard have re-opened after a multiple-vehicle traffic collision blocked all lanes early this morning, according to the California Highway Patrol. The CHP said at least four vehicles are involved in the collision that was first reported around 3 a.m. Two lanes were re-opened to traffic at 3:41 a.m. and the final three lanes cleared at 4:25 a.m. Two people were taken to local hospitals with minor injuries, the CHP said. ### SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) A woman who died in a three-alarm fire Saturday night in San Francisco's Sunset District has been identified by the city's medical examiner's office as 64-year-old Jessica Summerville. Summerville, a San Francisco resident, was pronounced dead at the scene following a blaze at 1806-1810 Eighth Ave. that started around 9:45 p.m. About 100 firefighters responded to the scene and buildings in the area were evacuated. Firefighters were able to contain the fire by around 12:10 a.m. Sunday, fire officials said. The fire displaced three people and the American Red Cross Bay Area is assisting them, according to fire officials. A cause for the blaze remains under investigation, fire Lt. Jonathan Baxter said. ### Al Madrigal and Aparna Nancherla are scheduled to perform at the Comedy Night for Immigrant Rights on Saturday, April 28, a fundraiser celebrating the 100th anniversary of the International Institute of the Bay Area. The nonprofit IIBA provides legal help, education and other services for immigrants, refugees and their families in the Bay Area. Margo Moritz Son of the Wind, created and performed by Leela Dance Collective, is a modern, all-female deep-dive into the ancient Indian storytelling tradition of kathak dance. As the dance form did in the early days, Son of the Wind unfolds an epic narrative. The audience witnesses the adventures of the Hindu god Hanuman, the story of nothing less than the age-old battle between good and evil as told in the Ramayana. The show, a spectacle that unites dance, poetry and theater directed by Seibi Lee, Rachna Nivas and Rina Mehta, is accompanied by an ensemble of musicians playing an original score. CANBERRA, Australia Australians gathered with descendants of former allies and enemies around the country, on a Turkish coast and in a French town Wednesday in dawn services to commemorate the moment when Australian and New Zealand Army Corps troops waded ashore at the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey 103 years ago in their first major battle of World War I. Because extremists have targeted annual ANZAC Day ceremonies in the past, concrete barriers were placed around the service in downtown Sydney to protect those who gathered at Martin Place. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, his French counterpart, Edouard Philippe, and the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, marked ANZAC Day in France with a service that also commemorates the 100th anniversary of Australian troops taking the town of Villers-Bretonneux from the Germans in a daring counterattack in the early hours of the third ANZAC Day. Villers-Bretonneux is now home to the main Australian Memorial of the Western Front. Phillipe said half the 313,000 Australians who fought in France and Belgium were wounded or died, forging a brotherhood of spilled blood with Australias allies. You sometimes have to die far from home to honor and defend your country, Phillipe told the gathering in French. This is the very hard, sometimes bitter reality well known to the French. Turnbull said: The Australians had come from the other side of the world to defend the freedom of France. We meet here 100 years later on land long healed to remember them. Prince Charles said the spirit of Australians killed in Gallipoli and the Western Front will forever be part of the Australian identity. At Villers-Bretonneux, Turnbull and Philippe on Tuesday unveiled a memorial plaque at the new Sir John Monash Centre museum, which is named after the Australian general responsible for taking the town. Turnbull and his wife, Lucy, also visited the grave of her great-uncle Roger Hughes, who was killed by a German shell in 1916 five days after arriving on the Western Front as a 26-year-old military doctor. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton represented the Australian government at a service at ANZAC Cove at Gallipoli, where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed under British command in an ill-fated attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war. It is the greatest honor for all of us to gather here at North Beach as dawn breaks more than a century after this campaign was fought, Dutton said at a ceremony that brought together Turkish, New Zealand and Australian troops. More than 44,000 Allied soldiers were killed at Gallipoli. Turkish casualties were estimated at 250,000. At the Australian War Memorial in the capital, Canberra, an estimated crowd of 38,000 10 percent of the citys population gathered in the cool autumn darkness for the dawn service, which began with a lone soldier playing a didgeridoo, in recognition of the contribution of indigenous soldiers. Rod McGuirk is an Associated Press writer. WASHINGTON French President Emmanuel Macron urged the United States to reject fear and isolationism Wednesday and instead embrace the historic bond between the two countries to launch a new era of 21st century leadership and security. Macron told a joint meeting of Congress, the American and French people have had a rendezvous with freedom. Speaking almost directly to President Trump, Macron quickly turned to the top issues of Syria, the Iran nuclear deal, free trade and the Paris accord on climate change topics where he and Trump disagree as he urged the United States not to retreat from its historic and military role in world affairs. We are living in a time of anger and fear because of global threats, Macron told lawmakers. You can play with fears and angers for a time, but they do not construct anything. With a nod to great American leaders, including former President Franklin Roosevelt, he warned against withdrawing from the world in fear. We have two possible ways ahead. We can choose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism. It can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy to our fears, he said. But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. He proposed a new breed of militarism that was more effective, accountable and results-oriented. This requires more than ever the United States involvement, he said. At times during the nearly hour-long speech, delivered in English, he took turns playing into his friendly relationship with Trump, while nudging, forcefully at times, against their differences. He reiterated French support for U.S. sanctions on Pyongyang toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and said as for Iran, our objective is clear: Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons. But he warned against simply abandoning the multination Iran nuclear deal, as Trump has considered, promoting a more comprehensive deal he has been discussing with White House officials during his U.S. visit. In a nod to what Trump calls, Fake News, Macron warned that lies disseminated online are threatening freedoms worldwide, and in a play on Trumps famous campaign slogan, Macron said he was confident the U.S. will re-join the Paris climate agreement. If Earths climate continues to warm, there is no Planet B, he said. Lisa Mascaro is an Associated Press writer. 1 Russian missile defense: The Russian military has indicated it will supply the Syrian government with a sophisticated air defense system, after condemning a missile attack launched by the U.S., Britain and France earlier this month. Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said in a statement Wednesday that Russia will supply Syria with new missile defense systems soon. Rudskoi did not specify the type of weapons, but his remarks follow reports in the Russian media that Moscow is considering selling its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. Russia is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. 2 Armenia protests: Several thousand protesters took to the streets of the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Wednesday after talks between the opposition and the acting prime minister were called off. Protest leader Nikol Pashinian had been expected to sit down with the acting prime minister to discuss political transition after Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan abruptly stepped down on Monday amid massive antigovernment protests. Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetian is an ally of Sargsyan, who ruled Armenia for 10 years. The opposition insists that he step down soon to make way for a new premier appointed by a new parliament. The talks on Wednesday were supposed to discuss that transition. BORACAY, Philippines Tourists are spending their final hours on Boracay, enjoying the Philippine islands famed white-sand beaches before it closes for up to six months to recover from overcrowding and development. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte described the waters off Boracay as a cesspool before ordering the closure. But on Wednesday, one Australian visitor said the island had one of the cleanest beaches hes seen. I dont really understand too much about whats going on, about the sewage problem, because when I look out there, I see one of the cleanest beaches Ive ever seen in my life, and the most beautiful beaches Ive ever seen in my life, said Tim Malone, 33. We are just waiting for the bar to open so that we can get a couple of beers before we go on to our flight but, yeah, we just want to enjoy the beach for a few more hours so we got up pretty early and made sure we make the most of it. A government study says more than 2 million tourists visited Boracay last year to enjoy its powdery beaches, spectacular sunsets and festive nightlife, generating about $1 billion in revenue. But it said the tourist influx, neglected infrastructure and growth of resorts threatened to turn Boracay into a dead island in less than a decade. Tourism Undersecretary Frederick Alegre said he hopes the island will be more sustainable when it resumes normal operations after a few months. We have to bite the bullet, Alegre said earlier this week. We have to swallow the bitter pill, one step backward, two steps forward, because we know that its something that has to be done now to sustain the island. Officials have said the island can handle only 30,000 people but teems with 70,000 at any given time, including 50,000 residents and daily arrivals of about 20,000 tourists. About 17,000 are employed in Boracays tourist establishments, and 10,000 to 12,000 others benefit from the bustling tourism business. Only about 47 percent of the hundreds of establishments are connected to the islands main sewerage treatment plant, with many of the rest maintaining crude septic tanks or discharging their waste directly into the sea. A similar decision was made in Thailand, where Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh island in the Andaman Sea will be closed for four months starting in June. Many Thai marine parks close for part of the year but the release of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach in 2000 made picturesque Maya Bay so popular it stayed open year-round. It averages 200 boats and 4,000 visitors daily, and recent surveys found the areas coral reefs and sea life damaged or gone. Joeal Calupitan is an Associated Press writer. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Regular Press Conference on April 25, 2018 2018/04/25 Q: US President Trump said yesterday that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin will visit China in the coming days. Do you have any details, like when he and the other US officials might come to discuss the trade dispute between China and the US? A: We have noted President Trump's words. You mentioned that the US side recently stated that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin will come to China and discuss China-US trade issues. The spokesperson of the Commerce Ministry has already made clear China's attitude: China has received information from the US side about hoping to come to Beijing to discuss trade issues. China welcomes this. Beyond that, I would refer you to the competent authority for specific details. Q: The G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting concluded with a joint communique which contains some China-related contents. What is your comment? A: We have noted that the joint communique released by a meeting of several foreign ministers in Canada incorporates some China-related contents. We believe that under the cloak of international law, these contents made irresponsible comments on the East China Sea issue, the South China Sea issue and China's human rights records. China is firmly opposed to these words and deeds that show no respect for truth and no sense of responsibility. China's position on the relevant maritime issue is clear-cut and consistent. China is always committed to working with the parities directly concerned to properly manage and resolve relevant differences through negotiation and consultation, advance cooperation in various areas, jointly uphold peace and stability of the relevant waters in the region, and safeguard freedom of navigation and overflight and security of sea passages. With regard to the issue of human rights, the Chinese government always attaches great importance to the human rights cause and has made great efforts which have yielded well-recognized remarkable achievements. The Chinese people have the best say in this regard. We ask the relevant countries to respect facts, especially when it comes to maritime issues. They should also respect the efforts made by regional countries to uphold stability while focusing on cooperation and development, and refrain from stirring up troubles and making irresponsible remarks. We urge certain countries to abandon their ideological prejudices, view the development of China's human rights cause in an objective and impartial manner, and make no more attempts to interfere in China's internal affairs under the pretext of human rights issue because such attempts are doomed to fail. Q: A partner at a private equity firm was found guilty of insider trading in a US court on Tuesday. Are you aware of this case at all? Do you have any comment on that? A: I am not aware of what you said. I want to say that if one party wants to accuse another country of something, it'd better have some facts as evidence. Q: According to reports, on April 24, the US Consul-General to Hong Kong said that China doesn't abide by the WTO rules, which harms the US interests and that China's economic volume and its success in world economy has catalyzed the idea that the global trade rules can be ignored. He hopes that China can change its course of action and honor its commitments under the WTO framework and in the US-China bilateral talks. What is your comment? A: I think it would be nice if the US side now wants to talk about following the WTO rules. In fact, if you follow the discussions that have been taking place these days inside the WTO in Geneva, you will have no difficulty in finding out just how eagerly the WTO members wish the US side could abide by the WTO rules and uphold the multilateral trading regime with the WTO rules at the core. Regarding China's compliance with the WTO rules, if the US side truly believes that we have violated the WTO rules, we would like to know what solid evidence can it provide? Whether a WTO member has violated the WTO rules or not can only be determined within the WTO framework. No single member has the right to make a unilateral ruling on that. The undeniable fact is that since its accession to the WTO, China has been strictly fulfilling its membership obligations and observing the WTO rules. China has been firmly supporting the multilateral trading regime as an active participant and an important contributor. Whatever remarkable achievements we have made in our development endeavors, they were made because we honor the international rules and we are a hardworking people. As I said yesterday, it is not surprising for China and the US to have some differences in the trade area. These differences can be resolved through bilateral consultations or within mutually recognized multilateral frameworks, but unilateral actions will offer no way out. Q: On April 24, the EU published its annual reports on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the Macau SAR. What is your response? A: Since the return of Hong Kong and Macau, the implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle has been a success with well-recognized achievements. The EU, by issuing these two reports which contain no facts in them but irresponsible comments on China's domestic affairs, has tried in vain to interfere in China's internal affairs and in the affairs of the two SARs. They will earn nothing but aversion from the Chinese people. Q: According to the website of the Belarusian President, on April 24, President Alexander Lukashenko said in his annual address that China's Belt and Road Initiative is a new type of collaboration model between countries based on the principle of mutual support and common development. Belarus is an active and equal participator of the Belt and Road Initiative. What is your comment? A: After President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, Belarus responded positively and has been playing an active part in it. The Belt and Road Initiative has also brought good opportunities and established a broad platform for China-Belarus cooperation. Now, China is Belarus' third largest trading partner, and major cooperation projects as represented by the China-Belarus industrial park have made sound progress. The successful cooperation between China and Belarus to advance this Initiative once again proves that the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to realize win-win results under the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, can promote the socioeconomic development of the participating countries and improve the livelihood of their people. Q: In recent days, we have seen several cases of traffic accidents involving Chinese nationals overseas. The May Day holiday is just around the corner. Does the Foreign Ministry have anything safety-wise to say to the Chinese people who will be travelling abroad during the holiday peak season? A: This is a timely question. There have been a succession of traffic accidents overseas these past few days which have caused many casualties and big property loss. The Foreign Ministry and the Chinese diplomatic missions in the relevant countries attach high importance to these cases and have been making all-out efforts to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens. Here, on the occasion of the upcoming May Day holiday, I would like to make some special reminders. Safety shall come as a priority for all those that plan to travel abroad during the holiday. You may check on the consular service website of the Foreign Ministry (cs.mfa.gov.cn), the "China Consular Affairs" account on WeChat (Ls12308) and on Weibo for information on safety alerts and travel advice. Overseas travelers are well advised to heighten risk awareness, abide by local laws and regulations, respect local customs and conventions, pay attention to traffic safety, and avoid "red-eye" journeys whenever possible. In case of emergency, besides calling the local police, you can also dial the 12308 hot-line (86-10-12308) of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Global Emergency Call Center for Consular Protection at any time. Our embassies and consulates overseas are also always ready to help. The Foreign Ministry and the Chinese diplomatic missions overseas will continue to coordinate efforts with relevant countries to ensure that concrete and necessary measures are in place to guarantee the safety of Chinese tourists. We hope that everyone could have a pleasant and safe trip. 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The suit filed by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, with the Texas Association of Business as the lead plaintiff, seeks to stop the law from taking effect on Oct. 1. Under the new law, Austin employers would be required to offer up to eight days of paid sick leave per year. Small businesses with 15 or fewer employees would have to offer the hourly equivalent of six days. This law further complicates the already complex web of local and state paid leave laws across the country, said Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president and chief executive officer for SHRM. The solution here is not another sick leave mandatewe need a nationwide solution that works for both employers and employees. As the largest professional association for HR professionals, we hear from members constantly that the high number of paid leave lawswhich are often conflictingcause an unnecessary burden on employers. That is why SHRM worked with Rep. Mimi Walters (R-CA) to develop the Workflex in the 21st Century Act (H.R. 4219) , which would simplify and improve paid leave for many Americans. If passed, the bill would guarantee paid leave for all employees at participating employers and offer a first-of-its-kind combination of generous paid leave and increased flexible work arrangements (or workflex). It also eliminates confusion for employers. SHRM will join this lawsuit along with the Texas Association of Business, the National Federation of Independent Business, the American Staffing Association, and others. Media: For more information, contact Vanessa Hill of SHRM Media Affairs at 703-535-6072 or For more information, contact Vanessa Hill of SHRM Media Affairs at 703-535-6072 or Vanessa.Hill@shrm.org About the Society for Human Resource Management The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the worlds largest HR professional society, representing 285,000 members in more than 165 countries. For nearly seven decades, the Society has been the leading provider of resources serving the needs of HR professionals and advancing the practice of human resource management. SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United States and subsidiary offices in China, India and United Arab Emirates. Visit us at shrm.org and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @SHRMPress. Page Content Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed a bill last month toughening the state's already stringent data breach notification law, which will take effect on June 2. The most significant change for companies to be aware of is the requirement that affected consumers be notified no later than 45 days following discovery of a breach. Additionally, if a company offers free credit monitoring or identity theft protection services to the affected consumers, the company may not require the consumers to provide a credit or debit card number in order to receive such services. Originally passed in 2007, and amended in 2015, the Oregon Consumer Identity Theft Protection Act (codified as ORS 654A.600 to 654A.628) already requires companies to notify affected consumers "in the most expeditious manner possible, without unreasonable delay." Further, if the number of affected consumers is greater than 250, the company must notify the Attorney General, and the breach will be published on the Oregon Department of Justice website. Other key changes in the 2018 amendment to the Oregon Consumer Identity Theft Protection Act include: The law now applies to any person or organization that "owns, licenses or otherwise possesses personal information" (where previously it only applied to those that "own or license personal information"). The duty to report is now triggered if a company receives notice of a breach from a third-party contractor that maintains such information on behalf of the company. The definition of "personal information" under the law is expanded to include any "information or combination of information that a person reasonably knows or should know would permit access to the consumer's financial account." Additionally, when the 2018 bill takes effect in June, Oregon will join a growing number of states that have prohibited credit reporting agencies from charging a fee to consumers for placing, temporarily lifting or removing a security freeze on their credit reportsregardless of whether the consumer was a victim of identity theft. Finally, the bill also amends ORS 654A.622, which contains the act's information security and safeguard requirements. The requirements now apply to any person or organization that has control over or access to personal information, in addition to those that own, maintain or otherwise possess such information. The language in subsection (2)(d)listing the administrative, technical and physical safeguards that should comprise an organization's information security programwas also thoroughly revised. Notable changes include: Administrative safeguardsincluding identification of potential risks and training of key employeesmust be performed with reasonable regularity. Technical safeguards must now include assessment of vulnerabilities in addition to risks, and security updates or patches must be implemented when risks or vulnerabilities are identified. Physical safeguards must be assessed "in light of current technology," and intrusions must be monitored and isolated in addition to the previous requirement that they be detected, prevented, and responded to. As more and more states are amending their data breach notification laws (or even enacting such laws for the first time), organizations of all sizes are encouraged to regularly review and amend their data safeguarding programs (including training programs and incident response processes) to ensure compliance with the various state laws. Daniel J. Moses is an attorney with Jackson Lewis in Portland, Ore. Jackson Lewis. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! The President of the Returned Services Association (R.S.A.), Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio, has demanded more respect towards the R.S.A. In his speech to dignitaries and the diplomatic community during the ANZAC Day commemoration ceremony in Apia yesterday, Tuala said R.S.A. needs a new building. He said he sees how the community doesnt respect the organisation as they should because of its reputation as a nightclub. Thats the bottom line, this place is not respected by the community, Tuala told Samoa Observer. The R.S.A. building is meant to represent the spirit and legacy of the ANZAC's and currently does not do them justice. He says a new building, which could be called ANZAC House, would improve the status of the R.S.A. in peoples eyes. We want to do something to make R.S.A. more secure and prominent." We think R.S.A. has a significant place in the history of Samoa and in relation to the partnership with New Zealand and Australia and we want something to earmark the relationship, he says. This years ANZAC Day service was well attended by diplomats, Samoan dignitaries and veterans with their families. Tuala says the spirit of what it means to be an ANZAC is about trust and respect for your fellow people. When youve been serving in the military, there is no one you can rely on but the guy next to you, he says. You need him to save your life and simply by saying that, you are tapping into elements of trust. Tuala acknowledged values that guide ANZAC soldiers as far back as World War 1 and said they should guide us still today. He included endurance, courage, ingenuity, good humour, good heartedness, and comradeship. These values still exist in our defence force today, but forgotten or taken for granted by some. He said in todays society, especially when the going gets tough people need those values more than ever. The men of Gallipoli taught us these values. We can remember them and honour them by continuing to respect ANZAC Day. This is why we have an R.S.A. club. As well as expressing a desire for a new building, Tuala said ANZAC Day should be returned to its status as a public holiday. While the R.S.A. has not raised this formally yet with Government, the President says he intends to open up the discussion again. He says while the Government probably had very good reasons to change ANZAC Day from being a public holiday, Tuala would like to see the event recognised more than just a memorial day. ANZAC Day is not about glorifying war in the past, he says. He suggests that continued hostilities around the world mean the horrors of the past may repeat themselves, and so the values of the ANZAC's should be remembered. Its about the status of the future. We have to keep our guard up and stay vigilant. Billionaire Vincent Bollore was charged by French investigators as part of a probe into the possible use of bribes in two African countries to obtain port contracts from public officials, according to a statement from his company. The charges stem from a case focusing on suspicions of foul play when Bollore SA was awarded contracts to operate container terminals in Lome, Togo, and Conakry, Guinea. Charged: French billionaire Vincent Bollore. Credit:AP Bollore "remains presumed innocent" as the investigation continues, according to the statement. In France, charges are announced prior to any decision on whether to refer the case to trial and can be dropped later. The move allows his defense team to have access to the case files underpinning the allegations, which they haven't seen so far, and "have the opportunity to answer these unfounded accusations," according to the statement. Investigating judges suspect that managers of Bollore SA used advertising company Havas - previously known as Euro RSCG - to facilitate the elections of presidents Alpha Conde in Guinea and Faure Gnassingbe in Togo nearly a decade ago by providing communications advice at a discount price, according to a person with knowledge of the case. At the time of the events in 2010, Bollore was Havas's controlling shareholder. Jakarta: The Indonesian government has hit back at suggestions that tough new environmental regulations imposed on the giant Grasberg copper mine are politically motivated, or related to the partial-nationalisation of the mine. The Grasberg mine is the world's second-largest copper mine and is located in the highlands of the restive Indonesian province of Papua. It is 90.64 per cent owned by US miner Freeport McMoran, while Rio Tinto also holds a stake. Policemen stand guard in front of the entrance to Grasberg mine run by Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. in Timika in Indonesia's Papua province in 2009. Credit:STRINGER/INDONESIA The Indonesian government has asked Freeport to reduce the volume of "tailings", the waste byproduct from the mining operation, disposed of in nearby rivers from 50 per cent to five per cent. The rest of the tailings are disposed of on land. That request has drawn an angry response from Freeport, which is negotiating with Indonesia to sell down part of its stake so the government would control at least 51 per cent of the mine. When I began university in early 2010, one of my units was a class called "writing for communication". The unit's lecturer was a man who looked as if he had just finished his communications degree, but the content of the lectures suggested he was probably more interested in philosophy than anything else. A recurring theme of class discussions would eventually revert to what some would call a paranoid outlook on the future the end of privacy and the downfall of humanity via social media, as well as references to Orwell's 1984 sporadically littered through hurried rhetoric. Admittedly, this lecture was one of the few I actually listened to. Much like my student peers at 5pm on a Friday afternoon, I was too invested in what was going on in my friends' lives on Facebook and checking out the newest photos from a random girl I had just met in the courtyard and fallen in love with - a different one from last week. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg preparing to testify before US Congress earlier this month. Credit:AP "Social media is a cycle if Facebook is the king, it will surely fall," are only some of the words I remember, but the only ones that have really been resonating with me recently. Have we been witnessing this lately? Facebook's Hamlet-esque moment? The social media giant has killed the public's privacy, and now the public want their revenge. Some retailers are now heading in the opposite direction, cutting back the jargon and dropping discounts. Electricity retailers reacted by offering larger and larger discounts to drive prices down in order to attract customers away from other retailers. But, as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission pointed out in its retail electricity pricing report, the widespread discounting can be problematic and confusing. Bill shock has become a common occurrence in the past two years as high electricity prices have slapped consumers with expensive power bills. Nothing the new normal In Victoria, several energy companies have launched zero per cent offers that work out to be cheaper than their "discounted" deals and are aimed at removing some of this bill confusion. Part of this "discounting" removal is about increasing transparency as there is often confusion in the market as to what is actually being discounted; whether it is energy usage or the kilowatt per hour tariffs, leading to many instances in which consumers lured in with "higher" discounts may actually be hit with higher base costs due to the discount not being right for them. Momentum Energy set the trend for this "lack of a deal" deal, stating it was a plan for where consumers can see exactly what they will pay. "We felt transparency on the actual price of electricity has been limited, so this is the first step towards fairer pricing," Momentum Energy managing director Paul Geason said. In a gruelling testimony before the United States Senate this month Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg seemed baffled when a senator asked him: Would you be comfortable sharing with us the name of the hotel you stayed in last night? Zuckerberg, after an uncomfortable smile and pause, said, Umm, no. For Francis Gurry, the man who has led the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) since 2008 - and amid great controversy as he's fended off a series of allegations that threatened his leadership - our rights on data, should be the same as our rights on personal property. Personally, I think that people ought to be able to control their own data, Gurry tells Fairfax Media in an interview during a brief visit to Melbourne. The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless. The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well. By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism. It is almost a year since the 2016 Oscar nominations brought a simmering resentment against the whiteness of the movie business to a rolling boil with the Twitter campaign #Oscarsowhite. If the moment had finally arrived to have that argument, it was largely because there was one name so conspicuously missing from the list of nominations. It just wasn't possible to wheel out the old defence that David Oyelowo's magisterial performance as Martin Luther King in Selma had been good but not quite good enough, or to brush any bad feeling aside by saying that these things are all subjective anyway and that's the way the skittles fell. This was a travesty. More than that, it was all too obviously about race. Oyelowo's new film A United Kingdom, which opened the London Film Festival to huge acclaim, is also about race. It tells the true story of Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams, the crown prince of Bechuanaland later to become Botswana and his wife, an English office clerk, played by Rosamund Pike. Seretse Khama was studying law at Oxford; the couple met at a missionary society dance, bonded over their love of jazz and married in 1948. It was a marriage opposed not only by their respective families as Ruth's sister Susan points out in the film, their father is bound to resent Seretse because he is both black and cleverer than he is but by the British imperial government in all its residual might. Conflicted: David Oyelowo in A United Kingdom. Bechuanaland was next to the British dominion of South Africa, source of the Treasury's gold and uranium for the nuclear deterrent supposed to stave off future wars. The Attlee government was desperate to avoid conflict with the newly elected, avowedly republican Afrikaaner National party, which had just emerged victorious in South Africa's whites-only elections. Its key agenda was the enforcement of apartheid, starting with legislation banning mixed marriages; the Khamas were seen as an unnecessarily dangerous provocation. The achievement of A United Kingdom, which is directed by Amma Asante, who made Belle, is that the political conspiracy is related largely through its impact on its victims. "We all knew it had to be emotional," says Oyelowo. "And we knew the love story had to be the overriding theme in relation to the politics, but you can't shy away from the politics and you can't undersell it or you can't really understand the obstacles they are up against." In case you hadn't read, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte, are visiting Washington this week. It's a big event for President Donald Trump his first state visit taking place decidedly late in his first term but it's First Lady Melania Trump who's been stealing the spotlight. The state dinner gown With the Macrons' visit reaching its climax at the state dinner on Tuesday night, US time, Mrs Trump, who speaks fluent French, chose none other than the pinnacle of Gallic style, Chanel. Japanese doctors were the first to describe the reaction in detail, and their name for it was even more evocative: Takotsubo syndrome, after the Japanese term for "octopus trap." On scans of the grief-stricken, the heart may look as if it being squeezed from below, its upper chambers swelling as if straining to break free. The sudden loss of a spouse, child or parent "releases an outpouring from sympathetic nervous system, the fight-or-flight response, which is what seems to damage the heart in broken-heart syndrome," said Dr. Anne Curtis, chairwoman of medicine at the University at Buffalo. "The heart rate goes up sharply, blood pressure goes up," she said. "This is why people can also have a stroke in situations like this." The octopus trap can ensnare any heart, healthy or not, young or old. The flash-flood of stress hormones causes a temporary weakening of the heart muscle itself. The rush may also precipitate a classic heart attack, in which a clot blocks blood flow, or an arrhythmia, in which the heart revs wildly. The latter two consequences are more rare than the first, and deadlier. Curtis estimated that about 1 per cent of perceived heart attacks are due to broken-heart syndrome or similar surges of stressful emotion. "We tell people that many will return to normal or near-normal heart function," she said. French and Australian soldiers alongside the wrecked Sopwith Camel aeroplane near Villers-Bretonneux, France, 8 May 1918. Credit:Australian War Memorial The fighting yesterday on the whole of this front was most severe, heavy casualties were inflicted on the enemy by our infantry and tanks. The enemy was thrice repulsed with logs north of the Vlllers-Bretonneux-St. Quentin road. He used a few tanks in this fighting, also late last evening when he attacked the French north-east of Bailleul, and was repulsed. Meal time at a machine gun post of the 5th Australian Machine Gun Battalion on Hill 104, Villers-Bretonneux plateau, France, 26 April 1918. Credit:Australian War Memorial The enemy early this morning renewed his attacks in this sector and on the British positions farther east after an intense bombardment. Fighting continues in this sector on a wide front. The enemy during the night attempted a raid in the neighbourhood of Beuchy, but was repulsed. Four unidentified soldiers inspect the ruins of Villers-Bretonneux, April 1918. Credit:Australian War Memorial English and Australian officers agree that they have never seen the dead so thick on any battlefield. Hostile artillery was active last night in the Festubert and Robecq sectors. Sir Douglas Haig on Thursday night reported: The Australians and English recaptured Villers-Bretonneux, taking 600 prisoners. The 26th Australian Battalion captured this German tank at Monument Wood near Villers-Bretonneux, France, July 14, 1918. Credit:Australian War Memorial Sir Douglas Haig's report dealing with aviation stated: Despite the mist yesterday, our aviators attacked troops in the neighbourhood of Villers-Bretonneux from a low height. We brought down three enemy machines. Two of ours are missing. View of ruined Church of Villers-Bretonneux. May 1918. Credit:Australian War Memorial Our night-fliers dropped five and a half tons of explosives on Estaires, Armentieres, and Roulers, also on railway stations at Courtrai and Thourout. All returned. Skillful British generalship Sydney Morning Herald, 27th April, 1918. Mr. Philip Gibbs telegraphs: The Australian attack on Villers-Bretonneux was made at 10 o'clock at night. It was a piece of skillful, daring generalship. The Australians were sent in the darkness, without artillery, and relied on their rifles and bayonets. They have recaptured a most important position. Great heaps of German dead now lie around Villers-Bretonneux. Mr. Philip Gibbs, describing the previous taking of the village by Germans, stated that two divisions attacked Villers-Bretonneux. The Germans advanced a small distance and hold the outskirts of the village. It is a place of some size, on the ridge of south-east of Amiens, perched above the Somme. As it is a tactical position of some importance its possession would enable the enemy to advance four or five kilometres. The German bombardment commenced at 3 in the morning, and was continued furiously for four hours. Then the Fourth Guards Division, who already had twice been in action in recent battles, attacked with the 77th Division, just from Russia. At the same time the13th Division, comprising Westphalian troops, attacked the French at Kastel. They gained a footing on the rising ground. The Germans used tanks for the first time. When tank meets tank The correspondent of the United Press, telegraphing on Thursday, stated: Terrific fighting occurred throughout Wednesday night in the heights east of Amiens. Tanks were used by both sides for the first time in history. The situation in the Villers-Bretonneux Ridge looks better today. Our counter-attack made progress, driving out the Germans from Aquenne Wood, west of Villlers-Bretonneux. The situation in the towns is uncertain, the fighting being touch-and-go, and is impossible at the present moment to tell their respective positions: but I definitely know that British advanced fighting began in this region at 6.30 yesterday morning after a hurricane-like bombardment of gas and high explosive shells lasting over two hours. The first attack was hurled back, but a subsequent one took Villers-Bretonneux by storm and reached the wood to the westward. The British, successfully countering at noon, used several tanks against the German tanks. The latter were driven off, whereupon two British tanks crawled up and down the enemy lines, mowing down the exposed infantry in straight lines. Eye-witnesses describe the battle between the tanks as the weirdest spectacle. About five aside participated. Three bulky, turreted German "male" tanks charged two "female" British tanks, crippling one and surrounding the other; whereupon the solitary "male" British tank attacked the German trio, smashing one and driving off the others. The enemy poured out of Vaire Wood at dawn today, but were stopped with heavy losses. The French are holding Kemmel village and the hill, while the British hold Grand Bois. Loading The Franco-British are fighting brilliantly side by side. The British apparently hold Villers-Bretonneux. However, when we turn to the art of Tim Johnson, it is difficult to find a parallel with any other artist's work, even though individual elements in his art have a recognisable etymology. What is peculiar to his art is the manner in which all of these elements have been brought together. Johnson, over several decades, has created a peculiar and inimitable pictorial language where, within a shimmering sea of tiny dots reminiscent of central desert painting, figures and emblems from many different cultures and cosmologies are inserted. The word "unique" should be banned in art criticism. Nothing is unique in the precise meaning of the word and each artist draws on the traditions of art history and other artists' marks. Images from Buddhist iconography rub shoulders with UFOs, the Aboriginal Dreamtime creation stories, Vincent van Gogh, angelic cherubs, Bob Dylan and cartoon characters; all are crowded into this continuous sea of vision. Positioning himself on the summit of Mount Meru the sacred, mythical five-peaked mountain of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology which is at the centre of all physical and metaphysical universes Johnson brings together all of the elements that excite his imagination. From Mount Meru, he feels that he can unify harmoniously all of the known religions of the world together with those that are yet to be discovered. Johnson is also a serial collaborator and this exhibition includes examples from the work of his long-term collaborators Daniel Bogunovic and Karma Phuntsok. Collaboration in some ways erodes the authority of the dictatorial voice of the artist as genius creator in the same way as a plethora of religions subverts the dominating voice of any single creed. Johnson, with a very broad dragnet, dredges the cultural and spiritual landscape and displays the spoils within his gossamer-like mesh of finely scattered dots executed with acrylic paints on canvas. One result of this approach to art making is that a certain sameness prevails throughout his prolific oeuvre and, having viewed many of his exhibitions, many of his canvases merge into a continuous diary-like vision. Memorable pieces in this exhibition include Green Mount Meru (2018), Dolma 1 (2013-18) a collaborative piece with Karma Phuntsok and Between the lines (2018). Picking a few of the more resolved and better executed paintings out of a continuous field of production somewhat distorts the process. Throughout his art, Johnson is essentially involved in painting the same picture, but with endless and spectacular variations. The great Anglo-Australian artist Ian Fairweather spent much of his life working on a translation from the Chinese of The Drunken Buddha, which he finally published with his own illustrations in 1965. In Fairweather's translation, one passage reads: "To the seeing eye the multiplicity of things are all contained beneath a single thatch within a single house." Like Fairweather, Tim Johnson seeks to express the most ecumenical of all artistic visions united by a common thread of universal meaning and spirit. His art celebrates an underlying belief that all ethical systems can be reconciled whether Christian, Aboriginal or Buddhist and that there is a continuity in all life forces. On Sunday, May 13, hundreds of veterans of the Battle of Coral-Balmoral will gather in Canberra to mark the 50th anniversary of the engagement, which was marked by some of the fiercest fighting involving Australians during the Vietnam War. The commemoration will come hot on the heels of the publication of findings from the latest Defence Honours and Awards Tribunal inquiry into whether a joint unit citation for gallantry should be awarded to the Diggers who took part over the 26 days of fighting. The report must be released by May 3. While some veterans, such as former 2nd Lieutenant Norm Peatling, think there is only a "snowball's chance in hell" the tribunal will come down on the side of the Diggers, he said he owed it to the men he served alongside to roll the dice. Mateship, courage and sacrifice were honoured at the Australian War Memorial on Anzac Day, with almost 50,000 people attending its two services to pay their respects to Australian servicemen and women. Addressing a dawn service crowd of about 38,000, retired colonel Susan Neuhaus highlighted the contribution of women to the armed forces by remembering 22 nurses who were ordered into the sea and executed by Japanese troops during World War II. Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Wednesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "When their ship, the Vyner Brooke, was torpedoed in the Banka Strait, they swam through the night to the shore," Colonel Neuhaus said. "There, on Monday, the 16th of February 1942, shortly after 10am, they were lined up along the beach, still in their uniforms, a red cross emblazoned into their left sleeve and at bayonet point they were ordered into the sea. Congratulation to Ross Gittins for again hitting the nail on the head ("Cursed by mania for metrics", April 25). The changing nature of nearly every industry and business has seen a decline in customer service and care, in exchange for a focus on improving KPIs.They are all driven by the economic bottom line, rather than the best interests of the individual. There is no better example than the financial services industry, currently airing its dirty laundry before the royal commission and our own federal government. Social harmony, education, health and welfare have all been diminished by the government's priority of reducing the budget deficit. Trust, integrity, honesty and reputation have taken a back seat in the relentless drive to improve the performance indicators, which can then be spun to suit any purpose. - Alan Marel, North Curl Curl Why should executives get huge bonuses for meeting KPIs, but have no similar penalties for poor performance? Greed for money has certainly ruined many aspects of our society. It is interesting to hear many older people who say to the younger generations that money is not the important thing in life, it is how you care for and treat other people. - Alan Hislop, Wahroonga I remember when governments privatised the Commonwealth Bank and the Bank of NSW. How did that work out? - Ian Catt, Surry Hills HSC advice: choose your best topics, do many units Chief Scientist Alan Finkell may be correct in his claim that the ATAR is "very, very poor in helping students choose their year 12 subjects" ("HSC exams analysis: experts baffled by the weight of numbers", April 25) The fact is that the purpose of the ATAR is not, and never has been, to serve as a basis for students' selection of their year 12 courses. Indeed, the best advice HSC students in NSW might use in their HSC course selection would be simply choose the subjects they're best in and take as many units in these subjects that they are able to "handle". - John Cook, Chatswood It shouldn't come as any surprise that students doing harder maths courses get higher ATARs, even compared to students who had the same ability three years earlier. Some students improve more than others over three years, and some students have more interest in maths. In the first case, students are likely to be pushed into a harder course by their schools. In the second case, students are likely to gravitate towards the harder courses, and then put in more effort. In both cases, it's entirely correct that the students doing the harder course should get higher marks. I think the real cause for concern would be if it were otherwise. - Fraser Rew, Summer Hill What determines the difficulty of a HSC subject? Is physics a harder subject than biology? Does the close study of Macbeth in one English course make that course harder than another where Shakespeare may not be required? Is content the determining factor? Or is difficulty determined by a complex statistical process where part of that process involves looking at the performance of the subject's candidature in all their other courses and proceeding from there to give a weight or loading to that subject? It would be informative if Dr Rod Yager from the Technical Committee on Scaling could provide more information regarding how subjects are judged on their relative difficulty especially given his concern that students should not be disadvantaged by their choice of subjects. - Tony Everett, Wareemba Every parent has the right to choose a school system for their child ("Early maths lesson: paying to be on the school waiting list", April 25). Those who do not put their child's name on an expensive wait list for a private school have no need to panic. Their local comprehensive public schools, which will inclusively educate the vast majority of children, provides automatic admission to those living within the school feeder area. Countless successful Australians have been educated through comprehensive public education. - John Cotterill, Kingsford Let people decide on republic Rachel Bailes of the Australian Monarchist League makes some valid points when she explains why the republican movement is not making much progress in Australia ("Baby and wedding are crown jewels for monarchy" , April 25). There are major governance problems here that need to be addressed by republicans who continue to keep their campaign minimalist. The ALP's efforts to reach out to tertiary students by stressing that "a mate should be head of state" is equally simplistic. What kind of republic is the real issue. Let's get on with it: end the toxic two-party system which requires a proportional electoral system to fix; the costly outmoded federal system; rewrite the altogether archaic Constitution. - Klaas Woldring, Pearl Beach Monarchist Rachel Bailes misrepresents what constitutes Australia becoming a republic. It means growing up as a nation and believing that an Australian can become head of state instead of a foreign monarch living 12,000 kilometres away, who, rightfully, pursues the interests of their nation before ours. Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge with their third child. Credit:PA The Constitution can only be changed through a referendum not by an Australian becoming head of state. - Eve Jackson, Lindfield Rachel Bailes claims Australians lack the "appetite for change" for a republic. Yet she cites a poll that indicates 50 per cent support for a republic. Talk about contradictory. An extra 1 per cent in a majority of states and we'll have an Australian as head of state. Time to plan for the referendum. - Daniel Fleming, Surry Hills Fraught discussion Why is it so hard to talk about levels of migration and development without risking charges of racism ("Population boom driven by 100,000 new arrivals", April 25)? When the Australian Bureau of Statistics cannot resist cliches such as "so-called ethnic hubs" (so-called by whom?) and references to "white flight" which, by the way, is not supported by any of the data provided it is no wonder that public debate on this issue is so fraught. - Andrew Hii, Kensington In 2015-16, some 136,000 permanent resident arrivals added to Australia's population. In the same year just shy of eight million tourists entered Australia, many staying for long periods. We read a lot about the contribution of permanent residents to urban congestion, housing shortages and resource usage. People have a lot to say about curtailing immigration but are silent on the same problems caused by tourists. - Simon Chapman, Stanmore Veterans need jobs There are many proffered solutions to fix the problem of veterans committing suicide but many of them offer only a temporary solution ("Suicide is plaguing veterans. We need to fix the problem", www.smh.com.au, April 25). Leaving the service and transitioning to a civilian life in a very insecure time and can lead to feelings of worthlessness, depression and suicide. The best cure for depression is, as they say, "get on with it" which is another way of saying keep busy and herein lies the problem. The government has got hold of the wrong end of the stick. In most cases, they do not need counselling or group therapy, what they need is a guaranteed job. Skills and trade qualifications need to be seen from a civilian (as well as a service) point of view right from the beginning of service. They need to be qualified for civilian work from the word go and Veterans Affairs need to negotiate agreements with employers so that everyone leaving the service is steered straight into appropriate employment. These veterans have fought hard for their country but to be thrown into the "gig" economy with limited qualifications is a battle they have not been trained for. - Steve Johnson, Elizabeth Beach Gloria Healey (Letters, April 25), as a returned serviceman who regularly battles with the Department of Veterans' Affairs, I can explain why we spend obscene amounts of taxpayers' money on bricks and stone memorials, while largely ignoring the human relics of wars declared by sedentary fools. The opening of these memorials allow the same sedentary fools to travel overseas at taxpayers' expense, posture for the paparazzi and generally flaunt their supposed status. - Ian Usman Lewis, Kentucky We should also remember and mourn the stupidity and recklessness of our politicians who sent our youth into the violence of Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq (Letters, April 25). - Mark Porter, New Lambton Diminishing democracy Yes, Peter Hartcher, of course it is and ought to be ("Is democracy in its death throes?", April 24). There is one blindingly obvious reason. Democracy is based on the hallowed value of "the price mechanism" supposedly a "fair and equitable" system. However that is only so if income and wealth are distributed equally to all. In reality that is rubbish and the price mechanism responds to those with the most dollars so that "to those that hath more shall be given and to those that hath not shall be taken away all that they hath". Is it any wonder that so many of us are disenchanted? Pity is that most of us don't know why. - John List, Picton Peter Hartcher again manages to identify a problem and misdiagnose its cause. Democracy is under threat because of lobbyists and insiders gaining control of the political process to benefit themselves rather than the general population. - Danny White, Earlwood In Australia democracy does not flourish because of the two party system. Until each member of parliament is allowed to vote according to his or her conscience in the parliament then we pay lip service to the principles of democracy. We should be voting for our local member according to his or her benefit to the local community rather than the present method where the leaders of the party become the only voice that is reported in the media and the local members are expected to follow the party line or else. Democracy is the freedom of speech and voting for every elected official. - John Ryan, Jamberoo Right on time Nobody announces anything any more. Instead we have pre-announcements, quasi-announcements and announcements about upcoming announcements ("Time to go: Ita Buttrose leaving Studio 10", April 25). The budget will be pre-announced, or even leaked. Newspapers and commentators regularly describe the contents of announcements to be made in the near or not-so-near future. News is no longer news it is announced ahead of time. Why can't we have announcements when they are ready? - Bob Liddelow, Avalon Cultural precinct for Parramatta The new Sydney Modern wing of the Art Gallery NSW should be built at Parramatta, along with a new, and not relocated, Powerhouse Museum ("Gallery gains trees and new facade after complaints", April 25). Wouldn't that create a magnificent cultural precinct acknowledging Parramatta as a true Western Sydney City. Such a decision would also show inspired leadership from our government. - Julie Whitfield, Collaroy Driver courtesy for the old No Colin Booth, if a car stops for you it's not because you are old, it's because the driver is old (Letters, April 25). Driver training no longer seems to include road courtesy, either to pedestrians, or to other road users. - Michael Maguire, Emu Plains Green security solution A Sydney father who desperately tried to prevent his son travelling to Syria has criticised authorities who failed to stop the young man and later charged him with foreign incursion offences. Gaven Biber begged police and government agencies to intervene four times in the weeks before Mehmet Biber flew to Turkey and crossed into Syria with insurgents Ahrar al-Sham in July 2013. "I felt like I was betraying my son each time but I wanted to save him from being killed or ending up in serious trouble. "I fear that the only outcome of my attempts was to bring Mehmet to the attention of the police which led to his ultimate arrest." A large investigation has been launched into a brazen, "targeted" attack on a western Sydney home, in which a 13-year-old was shot in the leg on Tuesday night. It is believed at least two people were travelling in a silver SUV when it pulled up near the driveway of a home on Constance Street, Guildford, about 9.45pm. Within seconds, multiple shots were fired from the passenger side of the vehicle and into the home's open garage, where a group of young girls were gathered. The SUV then drove away, although the direction in which it travelled remains unknown. This years annual Diversity Honors will showcase individuals working on behalf of the LGBT community and beyond. The annual event will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood on Friday, April 27 from 7 to 11 p.m. This collaborative effort between the Harvey Milk Foundation, The Pride Center at Equality Park and the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is an ongoing celebration of those who exemplify authenticity, leadership and courage, wrote organizers in a press release. This years honorees are Mayor Dean Trantalis, Stoneman Douglas activist Emma Gonzalez, Rep. David Richardson, labor activist Dolores Huerta, WSVN 7 anchor Craig Stevens, and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Gay-Straight Alliance. Tickets are $200 each and can be purchased at DiversityHonors.goodmanpr.com. Marjory Stoneman Douglas Gay-Straight Alliance The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas Gay-Straight Alliance [GSA] werent prepared for the loss of their friends and teachers during the Feb. 14 mass shooting at their school. But they were prepared to take action in the aftermath. Since Stoneman Douglas became the site of a mass shooting that took the lives of 17 individuals, members of the GSA have become some the nations most well-known gun control advocates. Its why the group was chosen to be honored by the Diversity Awards. GSA prepared us by giving us a voice. But it also gave us a reason to fight, said Leonor Munoz, GSAs vice president. Behind that voice, said Munoz, is the support system fostered by GSA. Emma Gonzalez, GSA president, has become the most prominently outspoken Stoneman Douglas student. And that really says something [about GSA], Munoz said. There are so many others [in GSA]. Even if they havent gone to meetings, there are a lot of people who are a part of it. Everyone in the gay community, theyre not seen as normal in most places. Having our GSA, we are able to say, No, were okay. Were okay with being who we are. That builds our self-confidence and sense of unity. Even in the most accepting of places, we learn to be ourselves. That experience fighting to be alive is the right kind of experience to fight for other issues, such as gun control, she said. In order to be an activist, you have to have a good support system. That support system, said Munoz, is really what GSA is all about. I know that Valentines Day kind of got overrun. But that day our GSA had an event outside where we ate lunch and we had proclamations of love [100 to 200 people proclaimed their love for one another]. Our GSA has a history of spreading love and unity. Now, GSA is spreading love for the people they wish were still alive. Because we were there, and we tried to share love that day, were fighting for love. Emma Gonzalez Photo by Carina Mask. Ever since she became part of the national conversation about guns and gun control, it seems that Emma Gonzalez has been the recipient of equal parts support and criticism, depending on which side of the issue the person talking about her is. But the Diversity Honors has chosen to give her praise by naming her the recipient of the 2018 Milk Foundation Milan Rozsa Youth Award. Diversity Honors organizers stated that she was chosen for being a youth activist and advocate for LGBT rights, gun control, and has become an international leader for the current generation of American students. She survived the shooting at 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School, where she still serves as the president of the Gay Straight Alliance. Emma is the co-founder of the gun-control advocacy group 'Never Again MSD. They also lauded her multiple appearances on U.S. and international television as well as her appearance on the cover of Time magazine. Gonzalez continues to inspire as an openly LGBT media superstar, speaking up for student safety and an end to violence. In a rally in Fort Lauderdale shortly after the shooting at Stoneman Douglas, Gonzalez said students understand that if they dont study, if they do nothing to prepare for their tests, they will fail. She said its the same with gun violence. If you actively do nothing, people continually end up dead. So, its time to start doing something. SFGN was not able to reach Gonzalez for comment. Dean Trantalis Photo by Carina Mask. Dean Trantalis is no stranger to making history. He became Fort Lauderdales first openly gay commissioner in 2003. In March of this year, he became the citys first openly-gay mayor in a landslide victory. He was also an inaugural honoree for the Diversity Honors. For his work advancing the cause of the LGBT community, which includes his successful advocacy for the Broward Human Rights Ordinance in 1990, Trantalis will be awarded the Pride Centers Alan Schubert Award of Excellence. The former Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner has been a passionate public servant and outspoken leader of civil rights and equality for many years, said Diversity Honors organizers. On election night in March, Trantalis, who did not respond for an interview request in time for publication, called his mayoral win a victory for the entire community. It was our time, Trantalis told his supporters. Rep. David Richardson Photo via Facebook. As the first openly gay state legislator in Floridas history, Rep. David Richardson was chosen by Diversity Honors, in part, for his work on behalf of the LGBT community. But it was only one of the reasons. Also cited was his work on criminal justice and prison reform, support for sensible gun violence prevention measures, promotion of traditional public schools and a steadfast commitment to civil liberties. Thats also how Richardson, a Democrat who represents the 113th District in Miami Beach, also views his time in office. I got elected to represent everybody in my district, not just the gay community. I didnt want to be a gay legislator. I wanted to be a legislator who just happened to be gay. That attitude, he said, has allowed him to build relationships with his colleagues, which have helped him when it came time to accomplish things for the gay community. In particular, he points to the removal of the ban on gay adoption from the books. It was a symbolic victory because the court had struck down the ban years before. But even symbolic victories on LGBT issues, said Richardson, are important. Its the first time in the history of Florida anything has ever passed out of the legislature that was pro-gay. I think thats remarkable. Craig Stevens Photo via WSVN-TV, Facebook. WSVN 7 NEWS anchor Craig Stevens has covered many historic events, including Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the 2000 presidential election, and the 2016 death of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Along the way, hes won many honors, including an Emmy Award. When hes not anchoring the nightly news in South Florida, Stevens gives much of his time to local LGBT organizations and causes, including Care Resource, the National LGBTQ Task Force Recognition Dinner, PRIDE Fort Lauderdale, AIDS Walk Miami, grand marshal of the Stonewall Parade, and past special guest host of the Diversity Honors. Its that past work for the LGBT community that led him to be chosen as one of this years recipients for the Diversity Honors. But just as Stevens has been supportive of his fellow members of the LGBT community, he said he feels fortunate to have worked in a newsroom at WSVN 7 which has been accepting of his sexual orientation as a gay man and has been supportive of the work he does as a journalist. Its a pro-LGBT atmosphere he knows not everyone is fortunate enough to have. Local ownership of the station, he said, is one of the reason he believes thats been the case. Dolores Huerta Photo by Gage Skidmore. Dolores Huerta is a proponent of LGBT rights. Shes spoken and written in favor of LGBT marriage long before the Supreme Court legalized it in 2015, and shes repeatedly stated that LGBT rights are human rights. But her outspoken support of LGBT rights is only the latest in a long line of battles shes fought. Huerta, who is the president and founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America with Cesar Chavez, has fought for over 50 years. Near the start of her activism, the fight for the rights of migrant farm workers took her to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles the night Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June of 1968. That night, Kennedy thanked Huerta for her work with the union. Fast forward 50 years later and shes still fighting. For her lifetime of work, shes been chosen by Diversity Honors to receive the Harvey Milk Foundation Honors Medal. In a 2013 op-ed for NBCLatino.com, Huerta compared LGBT individuals to family members. When we see our Latino hermanos y hermanas harassed and held back simply for being who they are; when we cant come together to celebrate a wedding for our gay friends; and when we know they dont have the same opportunities we take for granted, it affects us personally. SFGN was unable to reach Huerta for comment. A man has died and two people were rescued after a boat capsized in Sydney's south on Wednesday morning, despite all three wearing lifejackets. Emergency services were called about 9.40am to reports the boat had capsized at Bate Bay in Cronulla, and a huge search and rescue operation was launched with police, surf lifesavers, and the PolAir and Westpac Life Saver Rescue helicopters. A man and woman were found in the water safe and well, both wearing lifejackets, Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter chief executive Stephen Leahy said. The movement of pedestrians and vehicles in inner-city Liverpool will be captured by upgraded CCTV cameras and smartphones. The project, part-funded by the federal governments $50 million Smart Cities program, aims to help the local council map potential tweaks to streets and planning rules, in an area undergoing rapid development. The project aims to help the local council map potential tweaks to streets and planning rules. Credit:James Brickwood It gives us the opportunity to be more experimental in our CBD to get better outcomes for the people using it, the chief executive of Liverpool City Council, Kiersten Fishburn, said. The street grid of downtown Liverpool was laid out in 1827 by Robert Hoddle, who would go on to survey and plot Melbournes distinctive grid. Sexpo has lost its application against an anti-sexualisation organisation over claims it labelled Sexpo organisers paedophiles and sexual predators. Sexpo lawyers claimed Collective Shout had been misleading in its claims advertising for the sex-trade show on Brisbane City Council buses last year had promoted live sex cam site MyFreeCams, a Sexpo sponsor. Collective Shout criticised Sexpo's advertising on Brisbane City Council buses. Credit:Michelle Smith According to court documents, Sexpo also alleged Collective Shout republished two tweets that stated the company had been advertising live sex shows and grooming children with its ads. A Collective Shout Instagram caption also used the hashtag #corporatepedophilia in one of its posts from last year, Sexpo alleged. Melbourne Express, Thursday, April 26, 2018 Were sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Dismiss Sweet success: after three years in Australia, Joumana Charaf now runs the Trio Pasta, Sweets and Nuts in Lygon Street, Carlton, with her family. Credit:Eddie Jim A Syrian refugee who arrived with no money, no job and no English has opened a pastry shop in Lygon Street, Carlton, after just three years living in Australia. It is a bittersweet achievement for Jourmana Charaf and her husband, Akram Hamdan. While they feel safe and happy building a future in Melbourne, the civil war rages on in Syria. Ms Joumana Charaf was unsure whether recent missile strikes by US, UK and French forces on chemical weapons sites in Syria would quell or escalate the war. "I fear for my family," Ms Charaf said. "My friends, everyone I left behind over there. The mother of three owned a fabric factory employing 50 in the city of Sweita but had to flee to Jordan after her merchant husband was threatened for aiding victims of Syrian government bombs. The all-conquering feats of Winx, the world's finest race mare, have almost come to defy belief. But for her trainer, Chris Waller, it's an old family tale of fate and survival that leaves him shaking his head. Anzac Day for Waller and his extended family is a time to reflect on the bravery and defiance of his grand uncles and the horrors they endured to return from World War II. Winx, the winning horse. Credit:AAP John and Alex Shand never sought plaudits for their service. They were just thankful to have emerged with their limbs and minds intact. But as Alex, now 98, reveals, his and John's war years were marked by a twist of fate he still finds hard to believe. A Sydney woman has been charged with fraud after allegedly pocketing $320,000 she was sent by mistake. An international financial institution allegedly sent the money to the 27-year-old woman in error in June last year, police say. The woman then allegedly transferred the money into other accounts, including one she established offshore. The woman, from Parramatta in Sydney's west, was arrested after attending City Central Police Station about 10.30am (AEST) Monday. Fraud Unit detectives charged her with obtaining financial advantage by deception. Town Hall Anzac service The Anzac Day service at the Town Hall was a striking picture of life and colour. "Everywhere, running like a sorrowful, dark thread through this great picture, were women in the quiet habiliment of mourning the mothers, the widows, the sisters of our fallen soldiers touching the scene with an impressive sadness. It was an audience as heterogeneous in its makeup as the Anzac army itself." New settlers With one of the largest complements carried by any steamer of the P. and O. branch line service since the war ended, the steamer Berrima arrived in Melbourne. There were about 860 passengers, the majority being new settlers, consisting of tradesmen, farm hands, ex-servicemen, domestics and assisted passengers. Between 340 and 360 will disembark in Melbourne, the remainder will go on to Sydney and New Zealand. Increase in patronage We will get Australian students back to the top of the class," Malcolm Turnbull declared last year as he announced David Gonski would lead an investigation into how to raise educational standards in Australian schools. The release of the consequent report is imminent, meaning we will soon be able to judge whether the Prime Ministers forecast - made at the same time as he committed an addition $18.6 billion in recurrent funding to schools over 10 years - is achievable. Judged by the impact of increased educational expenditure over the last 15 to 20 years, the chances are not good. The reality, as measured by the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Program for International Student Assessment tests, is that standards have either flat-lined or gone backwards. Australian classrooms have been forced to adopt a dumbed down curriculum that lacks academic rigour. And the reasons why Australian students underperform has little, if anything, to do with funding. Compared to other OECD countries Australias expenditure on education as a percentage of gross domestic product is above average. Its tempting to take this personally. And its understandable to do so, given the 19-month delay in appointing a US ambassador to Canberra under Donald Trumps presidency. To have warmly welcomed the appointment of the tough military commander Admiral Harry Harris as our closest ally's top envoy, only to have him abruptly whisked away to South Korea without any apparent back-up plan, does feel like a slap in the face. Were being put second, no doubt. But before we get too upset, we should ask, second to what? To the gravest security crisis the world faces - North Koreas nuclear program. To make a rational judgement about how seriously we should feel aggrieved, we need to assess what exactly the prioritisation of Australia-US alliance diplomacy - both in reality and in appearance - is being sacrificed for. The embattled Chief Executive Officer of the Pride Center, Robert Boo, has a job for now. He survived a vote to remove him last week for his handling, or as some would say mishandling, of the sex predator controversy that has engulfed the LGBT community center over the last month. This week Boo was suspended for two weeks without pay. But for some members of the community thats not enough they want him to resign. But is this a witch hunt? Some of Boos supporters sure think so. Oh for Gods sake! Let's move on. Robert Boo should not resign unless he has made other serious errors that I am unaware of. This is turning into a real witch hunt, longtime local activist and lawyer, Robyn Bodiford, commented on SFGNs previous coverage of the story. Another supporter, Stephen Driscoll, wrote on Facebook: This move to cut ties with the Pride Center smacks of political opportunism, bordering on a witch hunt. It's counter-productive for the whole community. Enough. Salem witch trials, anyone? Andy McNeil, a father of 7-year-old twins, disagrees. A witch hunt? Define witch hunt?, McNeil said. He was in a charge when a sex predator was breaking the law at the facility. He allowed him near our most precious asset our children. There is no witch hunt there. Those are the facts. Our hope was that the board would speak with one unified voice and say the community center does not put an employees welfare above our childrens safety. Boo has come under fire for not taking action sooner to terminate the employment of a registered sex offender, Clarence Collins, 63, who confessed to raping an 11-year-old girl in the mid-90s and threatening to kill her if she told. Children regularly visit the Pride Center and use its playground. Boo admitted he knew of Collins sex offender history all along, just not the details of the crime, and wanted to give him a second chance. But once the playground was installed, Collins employment at the Center was no longer legal since sex offenders arent allowed to work somewhere children gather. Boo later claimed ignorance of the law. Collins was fired on March 19 and later charged with illegally working at the Pride Center. For now the scandal shows no signs of slowing down. Six board members have quit. Outraged parents have called for a protest of the upcoming Diversity Honors, a major fundraiser for the Pride Center that takes place Friday. Wilton Manors City Commissioner Julie Carson called for a discussion at this weeks city commission meeting on whether the city should sever financial ties to the Pride Center (the meeting took place after SFGN went to print, check online for updates). McNeil, a member of South Florida Family Pride, has also called on Boo to resign. Even so, he still defends the CEOs legacy. At the end of the day. Robert has served our community well over the years. He is absolutely a good guy. He is a great guy. He has done a lot for our community. Many of us know him and respect him, McNeil said. But regardless of how well McNeil personally likes Boo he believes the CEO must step aside in order for the organization to move forward and regain the trust of the community. No one takes any joy in calling for him to step aside. But this is a huge lapse of judgment that cannot be overcome, Boo said. When leaders make bad decisions, consequences happen. We need new leadership at the Pride Center. Not everyone agrees. I think all the calls for Boo and the board to resign immediately are overblown, and wonder if there is another agenda driving the demand, Bodiford commented. Yes, an inquiry must be had, but, we as a community must remember that we fought too long and hard to get a Pride Center in the first place and even if Boo was in fact (not saying he was) negligent, it's no reason to destroy the institution or even the man. Chill. Easy does it. While Debra Katz wrote on Facebook: People make mistakes, the director, Mr. Boo has sincerely apologized. It is time to learn, grow, move on and forgive. We are all human and it is not our role to stand in judgment. The staff of The Pride Center has done far more good for the community than this unfortunate incident. The Center has many programs hanging in a delicate balance that people depend on to function and live. I think you have to look at the common good and the good works generated by the Center. The benefits far outweigh the cons. But even Boos detractors believe in those sentiments about the Pride Center and all of the good it does. They just dont think Boo should be leading the organization any longer. On Facebook Michael Broward pointed out that Collins was never accused of harming a child while working at the Pride Center. The sad part is that Clarence, despite what he did two decades ago, is still a better person than most of many of us today, Broward said. No one was ever harmed by Clarence, or anyone else for that matter, at The Pride Center in the 15 years he worked there. The damage was completely theoretical and not actual. McNeil pushed back against that argument saying that unless an actual investigation takes place no one can say no child was harmed and no one ever complained. We dont know that, he said. Thats why an independent investigation needs to take place and be conducted by a child welfare professional. Thats one of my requests to the board. Other people though are now blaming the playground and calling for its removal. Marcello Galante asks on Facebook whether all visitors will be required to undergo criminal background checks before coming to the Center. Will they too needchecks because of this playground? IMO it was poor planning on the part of all parties involved. South Florida Family Pride bares as much fault as the CEO. Regardless of the Centers former employee, it was never the appropriate location for child safety. Tear it down. The playground is the problem....get rid of it and find it a new home. Some others commentators agree with that sentiment. Bill Volbrecht wrote on Facebook: The biggest mistake The Pride Center made was putting the playground there in the first place. While another person, Todd Cortese, added, Yes the playground should go. Problem solved. There are plenty of those available all over the county and state. Longtime local activist Michael Rajner had concerns about the playground even before it was installed. In 2015 he expressed that to the city commission with this email: As The Pride Center moves forward with their playground as LGBT safe space for LGBT families and children, I do hope they run level 2 background checks on their employees and volunteers to ensure those who are sexual offenders are properly screened so not to endanger the safety and welfare of those families. At the time Rajner wrote that email, he had recently completed his term on the city's Community Affairs Advisory Board and served as its chair. Now he agrees the playground must go. I urge The Pride Center to immediately dismantle the playground to minimize their legal liabilities, and donate it to an organization better suited for this equipment so it goes to good use, Rajner said. Michelle Alves though doesnt understand how people are blaming a playground. I get there are a ton of programs there for people who do need them. However they arent shutting it down. The man who hired this man knew and stated that he knew. It was not up to the CEO to give this man a second chance around children. Thats putting innocent kids at risk, she wrote on Facebook. How are people even sticking up for these people, blaming the playground? Sorry but gay people have kids to who also need a safe place. Ultimately it's the Pride Center that has the most to lose in this battle. Were not stopping. We wont stop. As an organization we feel its important to protect our kids at all cost. This is for the betterment of the community. This is not about an individual, McNeil said. The reputation of the Pride Center is on the line. How will the Pride Center be perceived in the next months, years, decades? We want it to be a safe place for all of us. Schools have largely ignored data on their students' performance published on the government's MySchool website, and one in four principals say the initiative has harmed their school, new research has found. The academic paper, which found "little systemic evidence" of schools changing their policies or practices in response to MySchool data, was co-authored by federal Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh, whose party launched the MySchool website while in government in 2010. The tool allows parents and students to compare a school's NAPLAN performance to the national average and to similar schools. It has long been opposed by teacher unions and principals on the basis it turns test results into a league table and pits schools against each other. Many principals believe NAPLAN has done more harm than good to their schools. The research published this week in the Economic Record journal was based on surveys of more than 1000 principals; first in 2009 before the MySchool website was launched, and then in 2012. Canberra: Thousands of Australians gathered at pre-dawn services on Wednesday to commemorate the moment when Australian and New Zealand Army Corps troops waded ashore at the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey 103 years ago in their first major battle of World War I. Because extremists have targeted annual Anzac Day ceremonies in the past, concrete barriers were placed around the service in downtown Sydney to protect those who gathered at Martin Place. The sun sets as seen from the Anzac Cove beach in Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey on Tuesday Credit:AP Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, his French counterpart Edouard Philippe and the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, will mark ANZAC Day in France with a service that also commemorates the 100th anniversary of Australian troops taking the town of Villers-Bretonneux from the Germans. Villers-Bretonneux is now home to the main Australian Memorial of the Western Front. "It's simply not right that this historic square has been a male-only zone for statues, because statues matter. They are a symbol of our values, the demonstration of the importance we place on hard battles won, both in peace and war, and an expression of who and what we chose to celebrate," Khan added. Britain is marking the centennial of (some) women getting the right to vote - in 1918, women older than 30 who owned property in Britain achieved that right. It was also the year that women were allowed to stand for election as a member of Parliament for the first time. (The first woman to take her seat in Parliament was Nancy Astor, an American who moved to the UK when she was 26.) Fawcett was a leading figure in the campaign in the long fight for women's right to vote. Born in 1847 in coastal town of Aldeburgh, Fawcett was interested in women's suffrage, even as a teenager. When she was 19, she organised signatures for a petition calling for votes for women (she was too young to sign it herself). She became well-known as an advocate for peaceful protests and in 1897 became president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. She also campaigned for equal access for higher education. She died in 1929, a year after voting rights were extended to all women older than 21. The new 2.5-metre statue by Gillian Wearing is the first in the square to be designed by a woman. It is holding a placard that reads "courage calls to courage everywhere" - a quote taken from a speech Fawcett gave following the death of suffragette Emily Wilding Davison who was fatally injured at the Epsom Derby horse race in 1913. Copenhagen: Danish submarine inventor Peter Madsen was found guilty Wednesday of torturing and murdering Swedish reporter Kim Wall before dismembering her body during a private submarine trip. He was sentenced to life in prison. Copenhagen City Court Judge Anette Burkoe said she and two jurors unanimously decided Wall's death was a murder, finding Madsen also guilty of sexual assault and the defilement of a corpse. "It is the court's assessment that the defendant killed Kim Wall," Burkoe told the packed courtroom. During the 12 days of the trial that began March 8, the court heard testimony that Madsen, 47, lured 30-year-old Wall on to his hand-built submarine with the promise of an interview she had been trying to get for months. London: Meghan Markle has seen her first live performance of a haka and taken part in a hongi while attending two Anzac Day services along with thousands of antipodeans and her fiancee Prince Harry in London. The couple, due to be married next month, arrived for the service at the Wellington Arch on Hyde Park Corner just before 5am wearing red poppies on their jackets. Ms Markle wore a long light-grey coat and oversized black hat to keep the early morning chill at bay. While it is the second time Prince Harry has attended the London dawn service, it is the first time with his American bride-to-be. She and Harry were greeted by a Kiwi woman with a traditional hongi, the pressing together of noses. Beirut: Chemical weapons inspectors collected samples on Wednesday from a new location in the Syrian town of Douma, their second visit to the area that was hit by a suspected gas attack nearly three weeks ago. The Organisation of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said samples taken by the team in Douma will be sent to the organisation's laboratories for analysis. An earlier visit took place on Saturday after the inspectors were delayed for days from getting to the town, just east of Damascus, over security reasons. The United States, France, and Britain have blamed President Bashar al-Assad's government for the April 7 attack, which Syrian activists said killed more than 40 people. The three countries struck suspected Syrian chemical weapons facilities in joint airstrikes a week later. The OPCW visit to Douma and sample collection would allow the international watchdog to proceed with an independent investigation to determine what chemicals, if any, were used in the attack. With a May 12 deadline looming for Trump to decide on restoring US economic sanctions on Tehran, Macron said he spoke to Trump about a "new deal" in which the United States and Europe would tackle the outstanding concerns about Iran beyond its nuclear program. Macron is using a three-day state visit to the United States as a high-stakes bid to salvage the Iran nuclear deal, which many in the West see as the best hope of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb and heading off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Macron told reporters that he and Trump would look at the Iran deal "in a wider regional context," taking into account the situation in Syria. "We have a common objective, we want to make sure there's no escalation and no nuclear proliferation in the region. We now need to find the right path forward," Macron said. Loading Under Macron's proposal, the US and Europe would agree to block any Iranian nuclear activity until 2025 and beyond, address Iran's ballistic missile program and generate conditions for a political solution to contain Iran in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. The French believe progress had been made. "What was important and new this morning was that President Trump was OK with putting on the table, with France, the idea of a new agreement that should be proposed to, and worked on with, the Iranians," a French official said. It was unclear what that would mean for the fate of the 2015 accord and whether the other countries that signed it, such as China and Russia, would agree to new measures against Iran. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was expected to also make a case for the accord during a lower-key visit to the White House on Friday. A source familiar with the internal debate at the White House said one option under discussion was giving Europe more time to toughen the terms of the current Iran deal. Iran has said it will ramp up its nuclear program if the deal collapses and a senior Iranian official said Tehran might quit a treaty designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons if Trump scrapped the agreement. Trump and Macron embrace at the conclusion of their Tuesday news conference. Credit:AP Backslapping Trump and Macron have developed a strong relationship at a time when many European leaders have kept a certain distance from Trump. "On both sides of the ocean some two years ago, very few would have bet on us being here together today," Macron told Trump in a toast at a glittering state dinner, Trump's first since he took office in January 2017. "I got to know you. You got to know me. We both know that none of us easily changes his mind," Macron said with a smile. President Donald Trump playfully reaches over to clean "dandruff" or lint off French President Emmanuel Macron. Credit:AP Trump, 71, and Macron, 40, were remarkably chummy through the day, repeatedly shaking and grabbing each other's hands, exchanging kisses on the cheek and slapping each other's backs. At one point in the Oval Office, Trump brushed what he said was dandruff from Macron's jacket, saying: "We have to make him perfect - he is perfect." Macron hopes to leverage their friendship into progress on not only Iran but exempting Europe from steel tariffs, and protecting the 2016 Paris climate accord. Their talks also covered the US presence in Syria weeks after the United States, France and Britain launched air strikes in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack blamed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Trump wants to withdraw US forces from Syria, believing Islamic State militants are largely defeated, but Macron and other allies argue they should stay to ensure militants do not resurface and to block Iran from strengthening its foothold. Trump made clear troops would not be withdrawn imminently. "We want to come home. We'll be coming home. But we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint," Trump said. The two leaders also discussed European calls for exemptions from Trump's plan for 25 per cent tariffs on steel imports. Melania Trump greets Emmanuel Macron as he and his wife Brigitte Macron arrive for the State Dinner at the White House. Credit:AP Dazzling style Later on Tuesday, Trump hosted Macron at a formal candlelit dinner featuring spring lamb and New Orleans-style jambalaya before a performance by the Washington National Opera. More than 1200 fragrant branches of cherry blossom filled the hall. French First Lady Brigitte Macron, left, smiles at her counterpart Melania Trump as they tour the National Gallery of Art, in Washington. Credit:AP First Lady Melania Trump drew attention with a wide-brimmed white hat worn to welcome the Macrons. At the state dinner, she wore a black Chantilly lace Chanel haute couture gown, while Brigitte Macron wore Louis Vuitton. Chief executives in the room included Tim Cook of Apple , Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin, Fred Smith of FedEx and Ginni Rometty of IBM. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch attended, as did private equity executives Henry Kravis of KKR, David Rubenstein, co-founder of Carlyle Group, and Blackstone Groups Stephen Schwarzman. Fiscal year 2017: TUV Rheinland continues growth strategy with investments in future-oriented topics Posted by Publisher Internet The international testing service provider, TUV Rheinland, continued its ongoing healthy growth in the fiscal year 2017. TUV Rheinland?s revenues increased in 2017 by ?54 million or 2.8% to the current figure of ?1.972 billion. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) at ?130.6 million also posted the best figure in the company?s 145-year history. The EBIT margin also inched up 0.2 percentage points to 6.6%. At ?91.3 million, investments were at the level recorded in 2016. The average number of employees at TUV Rheinland over the course of 2017, expressed as full-time equivalents, increased to 19,924. It has since moved past the 20,000 mark. ?2017 was a year of important moves. For three years, we have set the accent on improving profitability. For us this is more important than merely increasing revenues. As a result, we can make considerable investments in important future markets and implement digitalization,? said Dr. Michael Fubi, CEO of TUV Rheinland AG. This relates not only to the IT infrastructure and software, but also specifically the development of new services for the digital economy as well as investments in inspection technologies for networked ?smart? devices and products. Dr. Fubi: ?We are not yet completely satisfied with the result achieved so far ? especially with a view to some global competitors ? but we are on the right track. In a challenging industry environment we continued the successful growth trend of recent years.? Our home market in Germany developed very positively in 2017. In Germany, TUV Rheinland?s revenues climbed by ?122 million to almost ?1.1 billion, representing growth of 12.7%. On the other hand, outside Germany revenues decreased by 7% to ?895 million. This was due particularly to what remains the difficult development in Brazil. Overall, at TUV Rheinland the international share of sales is currently 45%. Development in the business streams Traditionally Industrial Services, Mobility and Product Testing have a strong share in overall revenues, each generating approximately 25%. The revenue trend in the Product Testing business stream was again very good in 2017. Revenues increased by 1% to ?524 million. The Mobility business stream generated revenues of ?508 million (+4.4%). One of the key factors here was very good growth in the Vehicle Inspections and Driving Tests business areas. In the Industrial Services business stream, revenues moved down slightly by 3.4% to ?503 million, mainly due to the weakness of the Brazilian market. In Industrial Services, business was positive in Germany, China and Korea. The Academy & Life Care business stream with the services of professional qualification and corporate health management developed in a very pleasing fashion. Revenues rose by a moderate 3.2%, but significant progress was achieved in terms of the business stream?s earnings in particular. In the ICT & Business Solutions business stream, TUV Rheinland posted a revenues upturn of almost ?8 million or 5.8% to ?139 million. The acronym ICT stands for Information and Communication Technology. This business stream bundles cyber security and telecommunications infrastructure services. The Systems business stream considerably improved its results with services for the certification of management systems. Revenues surged by 22.5% to more than ?200 million. This was due to various reorganizational measures, which included sales, and to considerable growth with services in the accreditation business. This includes auditing in line with global standards for quality management, environmental management systems, IT security or occupational health and safety. Further improving appeal as an employer The good market trend in Germany is also reflected in workforce numbers. The number of employees in Germany rose by 218 to 8,504 full-time equivalents. Beyond the borders of Germany, headcount increased only slightly by 35, as the more than 300 additional jobs outside Germany were offset by job cuts in Brazil. The Group is currently seeking staff for over 400 vacancies. To increase the appeal as an employer and to convince applicants has become important for TUV Rheinland in many career areas. ?To find meaning in one?s own work ? this is what drives TUV Rheinland employees the world over. Their high motivation and comprehensive expertise create value and establish the foundation for our success,? stated Ruth Werhahn, member of the TUV Rheinland AG Executive Board and responsible for Human Resources affairs since April 2018. Just how important meaningful work is is shown in a representative survey of the Civey opinion research institute among over 12,000 people in Germany in April this year. Questioned about what most strongly characterizes a good employer, 26.2% responded the balancing of family, leisure and career. Almost 19% stated job security and over 16% purposeful and varied work. Good development opportunities (11.8%) were ranked higher than good remuneration (9.5%). Ruth Werhahn: ?Employees at TUV Rheinland can develop their knowledge and abilities for the whole of their professional career ? just as technologies are developing. This is what makes TUV Rheinland unique as an employer.? In order to further increase its appeal as an employer, the topics of diversity and variety are an important element of the corporate culture at TUV Rheinland. People from 110 nations are working within the company. Gender equality, increasing the number of women in the workforce (currently 15% in management committees, 37% overall), the integration of experienced older employees and the exchange with new specialists is also part of diversity at TUV Rheinland. Stable financial situation and investments at the level of the previous year TUV Rheinland?s equity increased by almost ?13 million from ?346 million to ?359 million in the 2017 fiscal year. The equity ratio improved from 18.4% to 20.1%. Cash flow from operating activities in 2017 was stable at almost the level of the previous year. It was ?161.8 million in the past fiscal year after ?163 million in 2016. As in the previous years, TUV Rheinland made considerable investments in its future viability again in 2017. At ?91 million, investments were at the level recorded in 2016. The focal points were various software and digitalization projects, the expansion of inspection capacity and developing new testing laboratories, especially in Asia, and completion of the expansion and energy renovations at our Group headquarters. In April 2017, the renovated high-rise building started being used again. Around ?10 million was invested in new testing labs, particularly for energy efficiency, electromagnetic compatibility and chemical testing. A highlight here was opening the new state-of-the-art laboratory center in Bangalore, India in October 2017 that has 14,000 square meters of space and employs some 300 staff. Further focus areas for investments included wireless and cyber security. TUV Rheinland currently has eight laboratories for testing radio technologies and wireless standards. Such investments in future-oriented technologies and new testing capacity are needed internationally on the market. Our main investment activities also include the expansion of IT infrastructure at TUV Rheinland itself and the purchase of specialized testing software. The performance of the IT infrastructure was strengthened particularly by means of investments in improved hardware, increased server capacity, and more efficient telecommunications equipment. Digitalization changes and extends traditional inspection business For TUV Rheinland, a look into the future is positive. It is true that digitalization would radically change the inspection business in numerous fields and industries, but at the same time it would extend it. Dr. Michael Fubi, CEO of TUV Rheinland AG, comments, ?For our company, digitalization has several dimensions. First, the internal digitalization and automation of our processes, as well as the expansion of our IT infrastructure. Particularly for us as a ?people company,? digitalization is a question of the culture and skills of the people who work for us. Second, the digitalization of our existing services and customer interface for our customers and our business. And last but not least, we develop new services for the digital economy.? Digitalization now reaches almost every area of life. This applies to the networking in billions of products and applications in the Internet of Things with the design of the smart home as well as to industrial production with Industry 4.0, the learning and working worlds, health care or infrastructure. Dr. Fubi, ?In all areas, smart living has one thing in common networking for the use of technologies requires collecting and exchanging data. No data, no digitalization. No networking, no smart solutions.? Current incidents and discussions about social media platforms, the European General Data Protection Regulation, insecure networked consumer electronics or autonomous driving showed the wide range of the issues of cyber security, data protection and criminal practices. TUV Rheinland is reacting here in all areas of the inspection business. The international expert teams for cyber security, future mobility, and inspections in the Internet of Things are industry leaders. In 2017, the Center of Excellence IoT Privacy launched two new test marks for data protection for networked products and smart services. The experts are assuming that in as soon as five years every private household will have roughly 500 electric products and household devices connected to the Internet. It is particularly these ?smart? devices which currently offer poor levels of protection. Attacks on critical infrastructures and government authorizations also make it clear just how great the damage can be for entire economies and states. In the middle of May 2018, for the fifth time TUV Rheinland will publish its global cyber security trends, analyzing such topics and technical trends. Dr. Fubi, ?We take our responsibility for the safety of people, technology, and the environment very seriously. For almost 150 years, we have been accompanying technical innovations, creating greater quality of life and are the engine of a modern society. It is here we see our mandate for the future. All indicators are pointing to the fact that our work will change very significantly, but that our role as an independent testing organization will remain indispensable.? The 2017 TUV Rheinland annual report can be found online at www.tuv.com/corporatereport TUV Rheinland is a global leader in independent inspection services, founded 145 years ago. The group maintains a worldwide presence more than 20,000 people; annual turnover is nearly EUR 2 billion. The independent experts stand for quality and safety for people, technology and the environment in nearly all aspects of life. TUV Rheinland inspects technical equipment, products and services, oversees projects, helps to shape processes and information security for companies. Its experts train people in a wide range of careers and industries. To this end, TUV Rheinland employs a global network of approved labs, testing and education centres. Since 2006, TUV Rheinland has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact to promote sustainability and combat corruption. Website: www.tuv.com ISC West turned out to be a great show this year not only for our company but for the industry, demonstrating the strength of SIA programming and education, as well as the value of the expo for attendees. Throughout the three days, we were able to make connections with our partners and existing customers, while also starting important conversations about the needs of end users in today's threat landscape. Discussions about the latest trends in the industry, such as cloud-based access control and video management, were at the forefront of these conversations while also covering emerging trends in areas such as cybersecurity. Booth traffic was really strong, and feedback from our team was positive, showing that the investment we made to attend the show was worth it this year. How to build smarter, more secure cities from the ground up Today, we live in a technology-obsessed age. Whichever way you look, its hard to avoid the increasing number applications, products and solutions that continue to redefine the boundaries of what we previously thought possible. From autonomous vehicles and edge computing to 5G and the Internet of Things, all facets of our lives are continuing to evolve, thanks to an endless stream of differentiated innovations. In this article, well be focusing on the latter of these - the Internet of Things (IoT). Deployment of IoT technologies Smart homes, smart utilities, smart retail, smart farming, smart supply chains and many of the other smart versions of sectors that were already familiar with, are all called as such because of the implications of IoT. Indeed, it is a technology that has manifested itself in billions of devices, which today underpin the truly transformational levels of connectivity that we see across industries of all shapes and sizes. The statistics speak for themselves. According to Statista, over US$ 1 trillion is expected to be spent on IoT technology worldwide, in 2022. Be it added convenience, efficiency, productivity or intelligence, many benefits are poised to emerge from this spike in IoT-related activities. Yet to say this digital transition is going to be entirely positive would be naive. Threats faced by smart cities It is said that by 2040, 65 per cent of the worlds population will be living in cities Lets consider smart cities. It is said that by 2040, 65 per cent of the worlds population will be living in cities. To accommodate such an influx, without facing significant logistical issues, with limited space and infrastructure, policy makers have begun to recognise that these urban environments need to become not only larger, but smarter as well. As a result, the global smart cities market is on the rise. Statista states that, globally, technology spending on smart city initiatives is expected to double from US$ 81 billion in 2018 to US$ 189.5 billion in 2023. Threat of attackers with expanding IoT landscape The challenge here is that such a stark uptick will drastically expand the IoT landscape, presenting more opportunities than ever to threat actors. As connectivity and computing power is distributed more widely across large-scale outdoor networks, hackers will scale-up their own operations in tandem. According to a Nokia report from October 2020 (based on data aggregated from monitoring network traffic on more than 150 million devices globally), IoT devices now account for roughly 33 per cent of all infected devices, up from the 16 per cent estimated in 2019. Whats more concerning is how these figures are translating into real world events. 2021 alone has already witnessed an attack on a water plant in Oldsmart, Florida, which was designed to poison residents drinking water. Furthermore, Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest fuel pipelines in the US was also hacked, earlier this year, resulting in major shortages across the countrys East Coast. Security through IoT authentication From weak password protection, a lack of regular patch updates and insecure interfaces, to insufficient data protection, poor IoT devices management and an IoT skills gap, there are plenty of weaknesses existing within the IoT ecosystem, which continue to provide open goals for attackers. To defend against such lethal threats, security-by-design and open standards should be the guiding principles of IoT, working to prioritise security, interoperability and robust, internet-based protocols to mitigate risks. Device authentication and encryption A sound place to start is to make device authentication and encryption the central pillars of your IoT security architecture A sound place to start, in this regard, is to make device authentication and encryption the central pillars of your IoT security architecture. The goal is to be able to prove that each and every device joining a network is not malicious, with tell-tale signs being rogue code, for example. By ensuring each device is uniquely identifiable with digital certificates and therefore, properly authenticated when joining a network, you can ensure no tampered devices are able to infiltrate your overarching network. Using technologies, such as Hardware Secure Element Critically, passwords should be avoided altogether, these vulnerable to being stolen and cracked. And, while a similar vulnerability lies in the fact that all secure devices contain a private key, you can leverage technologies, such as Hardware Secure Element (a chip designed specifically to protect against unauthorised access, even if the attacker has physical access to the device), as an extra layer of defence. Digital certificates are not the only option available in protecting those IoT devices that, if tampered with, could become the cause of physical threats. Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) can also be used to prevent tampering. Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) Through Physical Unclonable Function (PUF), a form of IoT device fingerprint is developed from the unique make up of a piece of silicon, which can be used to create a unique cryptographic key. Unlike digital certificates, a secure infrastructure can be achieved through PUF, without the need for any additional hardware, as the key is not only stored securely, but it also becomes invisible to hackers, when the device is not running. The importance of encryption Use of AES encryption within radio chips, to scramble messages on the move, is the method adopted at Wi-SUN Alliance Now, lets turn attentions to encryption. The use of AES encryption within radio chips, to scramble messages on the move, is the method that we have adopted here at Wi-SUN Alliance. Its a means of maximising data security, but also reducing power consumption in the devices themselves. Beyond AES encryption, its also worth considering topography at the design stage. Indeed, mesh networks are advantageous for several reasons. They are more reliable, allowing data to be re-routed, should devices lose contact unexpectedly. Transmissions usually travel shorter distances, which improves power efficiency and performance, and frequency hopping functionality prevents attackers from jamming signals, which could deny the service altogether. Open standards and interoperability But where do open, interoperable standards fit in? As is defined by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), interoperability enables a computer programme to communicate and exchange information with other computer programmes, allowing all programmes to use that information. Open standards then allow any vendor of communications equipment or services to implement all standards necessary, to interoperate with other vendors. This is incredibly useful from a security perspective. It means that all specs are stress-tested and verified by many users, and that any vulnerabilities are quickly detected, and remediated, enhancing security and reliability. Need for open standards Equally, open standards can accelerate time-to-market, reduce costs and ensure products are usable, with a variety of manufacturers processors and radios, with a steam of publicly available protocol stacks, design information and reference implementations available that can help build and future-proof secure products. Indeed, large-scale corporate IoT networks alongside smart cities, smart utilities, and other key smart infrastructure will only continue to evolve, in the coming years. With the immense threats of attackers in mind, these systems must prioritise security-by-design, both now and in the future. 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. Georgetown, SC (29440) Today Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 67F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 67F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. China's Queqiao relay satellite for the country's Chang'e 4 mission to the far side of the moon launched into space atop a Long March 4C rocket on Monday, May 21, 2018 Beijing Time (Sunday, May 20 EDT). China just launched a spacecraft that will help pave the way for a historic mission to the moon's far side later this year. The Queqiao relay satellite lifted off atop a Long March 4C rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province today (May 20) at 5:28 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT; 5:28 a.m. on May 21 local Xichang time). Queqiao is now its way to the Earth-moon Lagrange point-2, a gravitationally stable spot about 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) beyond the lunar far side. The satellite will set up shop there and wait for China's robotic Chang'e 4 lander-rover spacecraft, which is expected to launch in November or December. [China's Moon Missions Explained (Infographic)] If all goes according to plan, Chang'e 4 will become the first craft ever to touch down on the moon's far side, which forever faces away from Earth. (The moon is "tidally locked" to our planet, so we only ever see the near side.) Queqiao will relay commands and data between the Chang'e 4 lander and its handlers here on Earth a job the lander and rover can't do for themselves, because all that moon rock would get in the way. An artist's illustration of China's Queqiao relay satellite, which launched on May 20, 2018. The spacecraft will relay data between controllers on Earth and China's Chang'e 4 lander-rover pair on the moon's far side. Chang'e 4 is scheduled to launch in November or December. (Image credit: CNSA) Queqiao is also carrying a radio-astronomy package called the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer (NCLE), which will hunt for radio emissions from the universe's infancy, study space weather, characterize the radio environment of the Earth-moon system and make a range of other measurements. NCLE is a pathfinder experiment; its observations should aid in the design and development of a future radio-science instrument that will study the heavens from a perch in space or on the moon, team members have said. Also riding to space today with Queqiao were two microsatellites called Longjiang-1 and Longjiang-2, which will also do some radio-astronomy research. Longjiang-1 and -2 were developed by the Harbin Institute of Technology. HIT is in China's Heilongjiang Province, which apparently explains the microsatellites' names. ("Heilongjiang" means "Black Dragon River;" it's the Chinese name for the river the Russians call the Amur, which forms part of the China-Russia border. "Longjiang" means "dragon river.") While we're on the subject of names: "Queqiao" means "bridge of magpies" and is a nod to a Chinese folktale. In this story, "magpies form a bridge with their wings on the seventh night of the seventh month of the lunar calendar to enable Zhi Nu, the seventh daughter of the Goddess of Heaven, to cross and meet her beloved husband, separated from her by the Milky Way," China's state-run Xinhua news service explained. "Chang'e," meanwhile, is the Chinese moon goddess. The robotic Chang'e program has been going strong for more than a decade, and it's been notching milestone after milestone. The first two missions, Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2, launched orbiters to the moon in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Chang'e 3 put a lander and a rover (called Yutu, "Jade Rabbit") on the lunar surface in December 2013. The next year, the Chang'e 5 T1 mission sent a small capsule around the moon and landed it back on Earth. This was prep work for the Chang'e 5 lunar sample-return mission, which China plans to launch in 2019. Over the long haul, China aims to establish a permanent presence on the lunar surface, Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the China National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center, said at a conference last month, according to Xinhua. Pei "proposed an unmanned lunar research station in about 10 years to accumulate technical expertise, and a lunar research and development base around 2050," Xinhua reported. "The base would be operated by robots over the long term, and visited by humans, Pei envisioned." Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. Researchers used the University of Rochester's Omega Facility used lasers to compress iron-silicon samples to the ultrahigh pressures found in the cores of distant super-Earths. For a few billionths of a second, two samples of iron alloy felt the crushing pressure at the center of a giant, rocky planet three times the size of Earth. But rather than being on one of the 2,000 such super-Earths scientists have discovered orbiting other stars, it was here on our home planet and it was slammed forward with a laser blast. Little is known about what happens at Earth's core, according to researchers reporting in a new study, and even less is known about those rocky super-Earths that are larger than our planet but smaller than Neptune a size not found in our solar system. The researchers' work marked a landmark measurement of material under pressure, and lends insight into how to model the properties of these mysterious worlds. "We now have a technique that allows us to directly access the extreme pressures of the deep interiors of exoplanets and measure important properties," Thomas Duffy, a geoscientist at Princeton University and a co-author of the new work, said in a statement. [No Way Out? Aliens on 'Super-Earth' Planets May Be Trapped by Gravity] The researchers predicted that rocky planets' cores are made up of iron interspersed with a lighter element, such as silicon. So they set out to understand what happens to that type of combination deep in a planet's core, according to the work's lead author, June Wicks, who was also at Princeton at the time of the research. "We know that the Earth's core is iron alloyed with about 10 percent of a lighter element, and silicon is one of the best candidates for this light element both for Earth and extrasolar planets," Wicks, who is now a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, said in the statement. "Knowledge of the crystal structure is the most fundamental piece of information about the material making up the interior of a planet, as all other physical and chemical properties follow from the crystal structure," she added. To measure those crystal structures, the research team blasted a high-powered laser at the sample sitting between pieces of diamond. The laser vaporized the edge of the diamond, turning some of it into plasma in the chamber, which pushed it forward and created the extremely high-pressure conditions. Immediately, they sent X-rays through the sample to measure its atomic structure the highest-pressure conditions ever recorded with X-ray diffraction, the researchers said. They achieved 1,314 gigapascals of pressure, which is more than 13 million times the pressure at sea level on Earth, or 3.5 times the pressure at Earth's core. The researchers found that at the highest pressures, the sample with less silicon arranged its atoms in a tightly packed, hexagonal crystal structure, whereas the one with more silicon had a cubic structure, forming cubes with one atom at the center surrounded by eight more (referred to as body-centered cubic packing). They also measured the samples' densities under different levels of pressure and found that the alloys reached 2.5 times their density on Earth's surface comparable to the density of gold or platinum. In a super-Earth's core, that type of material would result in a larger, lower-pressure core than one made of just iron. "A pure iron core is not realistic," Duffy said, "as the process of planetary formation will inevitably lead to the incorporation of significant amounts of lighter elements. Our study is the first to consider these more realistic core compositions." [The Most Intriguing Alien Planet Discoveries of 2017] A new experiment created the pressure experienced at the core of an alien world more than three times larger than Earth a super-Earth to investigate what happens to materials in its depths. (Image credit: M. Kornmesser/ESO) Next, the researchers plan to test the impact of other light elements, such as carbon or sulfur, on iron alloys at high temperatures that could form exoplanet cores. "The method of simultaneous X-ray diffraction and shock experiments is still in its infancy, so it's exciting to see a 'real-world application' for the Earth's core and beyond," Kanani Lee, a geophysicist at Yale University who was not involved in the research, said in the statement. Diana Valencia, a planetary scientist at the University of Toronto-Scarborough who focuses on super-Earths and mini-Neptunes and was not involved in the study, said in the statement that the new technique used in the work is a "very significant" contribution to the field of exoplanet research. "This is a good study because we are not just extrapolating from low pressures and hoping for the best," she said. "This is actually giving us that 'best,' giving us that data, and it therefore constrains our models better." The study's researchers added that their technique, which can measure samples at higher pressures than ever before, will let researchers peer into the cores of potential planets with more certainty. "For a geologist, the discovery of so many extrasolar planets has opened the door to a new field of exploration," Duffy said. "We now realize that the varieties of planets that are out there go far beyond the limited examples in our own solar system, and there is a much broader field of pressure, temperature and composition space that must be explored. "Understanding the interior structure and composition of these large, rocky bodies is necessary to probe fundamental questions such as the possible existence of plate tectonics, magnetic field generation, their thermal evolution and even whether they are potentially habitable," he added. Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. 21st March 2019 - TV Spot + Reunion Featurette 12th March 2019 - Welcome to Dreamland Featurette + New Posters Check out these exclusive #Dumbo posters from @IMAX, @RealD3D and @DolbyCinema! See Dumbo in theaters March 29 and get your tickets now: https://t.co/DDB40q0dSW pic.twitter.com/wesGhTwLzB Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) March 11, 2019 8th March 2019 - What Is That? Clip 7th March 2019 - Prepare For Takeoff Sneak Peek 4th March 2019 - Arcade Fire TV Spot 1st March 2019 - Soaring to New Heights Featurette 20th February 2019 - Generations TV Spot 10th February 2019 - Sneak Peek 7th February 2019 - 4 New Posters 4th February 2019 - New Poster 17th January 2019 - International Poster Check out the brand-new International poster for Disneys #Dumbo and see the film when it soars into theatres March 29! pic.twitter.com/u2uskiGDPU Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) January 17, 2019 4th January 2019 - Character Posters See the all-new character posters for Disneys @Dumbo featuring Colin Farrell, @MichaelKeaton, @DannyDeVito, Eva Green, and your favorite flying elephant. #Dumbo soars into theatres March 29! pic.twitter.com/Me58ZSKmCB Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) January 4, 2019 See Eva Green as Colette Marchant and Colin Farrell as Holt Farrier in Disney's #Dumbo. pic.twitter.com/z2nzGh8IA0 Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) January 4, 2019 31st December 2018 - Get Ready to Soar TV Spot 14th November 2018 - Trailer 14th November 2018 - New Poster + Trailer Coming Tonight Get your first look at the brand-new trailer for #Dumbo during the CMAs tonight at 8|7c on @ABCNetwork! pic.twitter.com/AdRetD4Lcc Disney (@Disney) November 14, 2018 13th June 2018 - First Look Photos + Poster 13th June 2018 - Teaser Trailer 25th April 2018 - First Look Photo 17th August 2017 - Alan Arkin Joins Cast Alan Arkin has joined the cast of Disneys live-action adaptation of Dumbo directed by Tim Burton. In this version, the film follows Holt Farrier (Farrell), a former circus star who finds his life turned upside down when he returns from the war. Circus owner Max Medici (DeVito) enlists Holt to care for a newborn elephant whose oversized ears make him a laughingstock in an already struggling circus. But when Holts children (Parker and Hobbins) discover that Dumbo can fly, persuasive entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere (Keaton) and an aerial artist named Colette Marchant (Green) swoop in to make the peculiar pachyderm a star. Arkin will play J Griffin Remington, a Wall Street tycoon. Source: Variety Alan Arkin has joined the cast of Disneys live-action adaptation of Dumbo directed by Tim Burton.In this version, the film follows Holt Farrier (Farrell), a former circus star who finds his life turned upside down when he returns from the war. Circus owner Max Medici (DeVito) enlists Holt to care for a newborn elephant whose oversized ears make him a laughingstock in an already struggling circus. But when Holts children (Parker and Hobbins) discover that Dumbo can fly, persuasive entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere (Keaton) and an aerial artist named Colette Marchant (Green) swoop in to make the peculiar pachyderm a star. Arkin will play J Griffin Remington, a Wall Street tycoon. 7th August 2017 - Joseph Gatt Joins Cast EXCLUSIVE: Z Nation actor Joseph Gatt is the latest to join the roster of Tim Burtons live-action adaptation of Dumbo. He will join previously announced cast members Colin, Farrell, Eva Green, Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton, DeObia Oparei, Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins. The movie will also star Roshan Seth, Sharon Rooney and Douglas Reith. Gatt will play a character named Skellig in a story that follows Holt (Farrell), a former circus star who finds his life turned upside down when he returns from the war. Circus owner Max Medici (DeVito) enlists him to care for a newborn elephant whose oversize ears make him a laughingstock in an already struggling circus. But when Holts children discover that Dumbo can fly, persuasive entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere (Keaton) and aerial artist Colette Marchant (Green) swoop in to make the peculiar pachyderm a star. Source: Deadline EXCLUSIVE: Z Nation actor Joseph Gatt is the latest to join the roster of Tim Burtons live-action adaptation of Dumbo. He will join previously announced cast members Colin, Farrell, Eva Green, Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton, DeObia Oparei, Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins. The movie will also star Roshan Seth, Sharon Rooney and Douglas Reith.Gatt will play a character named Skellig in a story that follows Holt (Farrell), a former circus star who finds his life turned upside down when he returns from the war. Circus owner Max Medici (DeVito) enlists him to care for a newborn elephant whose oversize ears make him a laughingstock in an already struggling circus. But when Holts children discover that Dumbo can fly, persuasive entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere (Keaton) and aerial artist Colette Marchant (Green) swoop in to make the peculiar pachyderm a star. 26th July 2017 - DeObia Oparei Joins Cast EXCLUSIVE: The cast of Tim Burtons Dumbo is starting to take shape as Game Of Thrones alum DeObia Oparei has signed on to play a character named Rongo in the live action adaptation of Disneys 1941 animated classic. Source: Deadline EXCLUSIVE: The cast of Tim Burtons Dumbo is starting to take shape as Game Of Thrones alum DeObia Oparei has signed on to play a character named Rongo in the live action adaptation of Disneys 1941 animated classic. 15th July 2017 - Production Underway Production is underway for the live-action reimagining of Disney's Dumbo, directed by Tim Burton. In theaters March 29, 2019. pic.twitter.com/5deE0yANwH Disney (@Disney) July 15, 2017 #Dumbo will open in theaters March 29, 2019. The audience saw an adorable maquette of our favorite flying elephant & a video from Tim Burton Oh My Disney (@OhMyDisney) July 15, 2017 Tim Burton is directing a live-action Dumbo starring Colin Farrell, Danny Devito, Eva Green, and Michael Keaton #D23Expo Disney D23 (@DisneyD23) July 15, 2017 4th April 2017 - Michael Keaton in Talks to Play Villain Michael Keaton is in negotiations to play the villain in the live-action Dumbo movie for Disney. The film would mark a reunion with Tim Burton their first project together since 1992s Batman Returns. The original story followed an ostracized baby circus elephant who strives to achieve his full potential. If a deal closes, Keaton would play the man who acquirers the circus from DeVitos character in order to exploit the lovable elephant and his mother. Source: Variety Michael Keaton is in negotiations to play the villain in the live-action Dumbo movie for Disney. The film would mark a reunion with Tim Burton their first project together since 1992s Batman Returns.The original story followed an ostracized baby circus elephant who strives to achieve his full potential. If a deal closes, Keaton would play the man who acquirers the circus from DeVitos character in order to exploit the lovable elephant and his mother. 24th March 2017 - Colin Farrell in Negotiations to Join Cast EXCLUSIVE: Colin Farrell is in negotiations to join Tim Burtons Dumbo, the live-action adaptation of the 1941 animated classic for Disney, which is casting up now. Should the deal make, hell play the role of Holt, the widowed father of two kids from Kentucky and hell join Eva Green and Danny Devito in the project, which is edging closer towards a production start. Farrell has a track record at Disney, having played the fun-loving father of the young Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks, which took $117.9M worldwide after it was released in 2013. Green is in talks to take on the role of Colette, a French trapeze artist who works for evil top circus villain Vandemere (which is still looking to be cast) while DeVito would play Medici, the man who runs a smaller circus that gets acquired by Vandemere. Source: Deadline EXCLUSIVE: Colin Farrell is in negotiations to join Tim Burtons Dumbo, the live-action adaptation of the 1941 animated classic for Disney, which is casting up now. Should the deal make, hell play the role of Holt, the widowed father of two kids from Kentucky and hell join Eva Green and Danny Devito in the project, which is edging closer towards a production start.Farrell has a track record at Disney, having played the fun-loving father of the young Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks, which took $117.9M worldwide after it was released in 2013. Green is in talks to take on the role of Colette, a French trapeze artist who works for evil top circus villain Vandemere (which is still looking to be cast) while DeVito would play Medici, the man who runs a smaller circus that gets acquired by Vandemere. 9th March 2017 - Danny DeVito in Negotiations to Join Cast EXCLUSIVE: Danny DeVito is negotiating to join Tim Burtons circus in Disneys live-action rendering of Dumbo which is casting up now. DeVito is trying to work out schedules on his Broadway turn to join Eva Green in the story of the beloved baby circus elephant with the big, floppy ears. If things work out, DeVito would play Medici, the man who runs a smaller circus that gets acquired by the evil big top circus villain Vandemere. Others involved in the picture say that DeVitos deal is pretty much closed. Source: Deadline EXCLUSIVE: Danny DeVito is negotiating to join Tim Burtons circus in Disneys live-action rendering of Dumbo which is casting up now. DeVito is trying to work out schedules on his Broadway turn to join Eva Green in the story of the beloved baby circus elephant with the big, floppy ears.If things work out, DeVito would play Medici, the man who runs a smaller circus that gets acquired by the evil big top circus villain Vandemere. Others involved in the picture say that DeVitos deal is pretty much closed. 7th March 2017 - Eva Green in Talks to Star in Live-Action Adaptation EXCLUSIVE: Eva Green is in talks to star in Tim Burtons Dumbo, the live-action adaptation of the 1941 animated classic for Disney. Sources tell me shes being eyed for one of the three main adult roles in the title, which is edging closer and closer towards a production start. A Green-Burton reunion would make a lot of sense given the sizzling actress seems to be the directors new muse, and Burton has a habit of working again and again with actors he likes. Green played the title character in Burtons family fantasy Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children, based on the novel by Ransom Riggs. It grossed $297.4M worldwide last year. She also starred in Burtons vampire comedy Dark Shadows alongside Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer, which generated $254.5M worldwide in 2012. Source: Deadline EXCLUSIVE: Eva Green is in talks to star in Tim Burtons Dumbo, the live-action adaptation of the 1941 animated classic for Disney. Sources tell me shes being eyed for one of the three main adult roles in the title, which is edging closer and closer towards a production start.A Green-Burton reunion would make a lot of sense given the sizzling actress seems to be the directors new muse, and Burton has a habit of working again and again with actors he likes. Green played the title character in Burtons family fantasy Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children, based on the novel by Ransom Riggs. It grossed $297.4M worldwide last year. She also starred in Burtons vampire comedy Dark Shadows alongside Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer, which generated $254.5M worldwide in 2012. 10th February 2017 - Will Smith No Longer Attached Talks between Will Smith and Disney have broken off, and he will not be starring in Dumbo, the Tim Burton-directed live-action adaptation of the classic 1941 animated film. The studio continues to move aggressively toward a production start with a script by Ehren Kruger about the big-eared, lovable elephant. This was an intriguing family film option for Smith, but he had not committed and it didnt work out for the usual reasons, including salary and scheduling. Source: Deadline Talks between Will Smith and Disney have broken off, and he will not be starring in Dumbo, the Tim Burton-directed live-action adaptation of the classic 1941 animated film. The studio continues to move aggressively toward a production start with a script by Ehren Kruger about the big-eared, lovable elephant.This was an intriguing family film option for Smith, but he had not committed and it didnt work out for the usual reasons, including salary and scheduling. 11th January 2017 - Disney Eyes Will Smith to Star Plot details are being kept under wraps, but sources say that one thing the new version does is expand and deepen the circus aspect of the story. The character that Smith would play, if a deal is made, is that of a father who works at the big top and whose children develop a relationship with the pachyderm. No offer has been made, but conversations have taken place. Source: The Hollywood Reporter Plot details are being kept under wraps, but sources say that one thing the new version does is expand and deepen the circus aspect of the story. The character that Smith would play, if a deal is made, is that of a father who works at the big top and whose children develop a relationship with the pachyderm.No offer has been made, but conversations have taken place. A number of hurdles would have to be overcome here, but the Disney live-action transfer of its animation library has generated the kind of hits that are good for any stars resume. Smith, whose latest film, Collateral Beauty, opened in the holiday onslaught and didnt connect with audiences, would be joining Burton, whose last fairy tale adaptation Alice In Wonderland grossed $1.02 billion (Burton didnt direct the sequel misfire) Smith would join a parade of big stars whove starred in these Disney films, who have included Angelina Jolie in Maleficent, Johnny Depp in Alice, with Emma Stone to star as 101 Dalmations villainess Cruella De Ville and Dwayne Johnson aligned with Jungle Cruise. Stay tuned on this. Source: Deadline EXCLUSIVE: Disney is circling with Will Smith to star for director Tim Burton in Dumbo, the live-action adaptation of the classic 1941 animated film. The studio is moving aggressively toward a production start with a script by Ehren Kruger about the big-eared, lovable elephant. This is an intriguing family film option for Smith, who is also working toward a start date with Sony Pictures on Bad Boys For Life, a reteam with Martin Lawrence which has Joe Carnahan directing his script.A number of hurdles would have to be overcome here, but the Disney live-action transfer of its animation library has generated the kind of hits that are good for any stars resume. Smith, whose latest film, Collateral Beauty, opened in the holiday onslaught and didnt connect with audiences, would be joining Burton, whose last fairy tale adaptation Alice In Wonderland grossed $1.02 billion (Burton didnt direct the sequel misfire)Smith would join a parade of big stars whove starred in these Disney films, who have included Angelina Jolie in Maleficent, Johnny Depp in Alice, with Emma Stone to star as 101 Dalmations villainess Cruella De Ville and Dwayne Johnson aligned with Jungle Cruise. Stay tuned on this. Kirkman Agonistes was written by the team of Pierluigi D Cothran and Patrick Cunnane and was directed by Leslie Libman. The episode features the introduction of Michael J Fox as Ethan West, a somewhat shady lawyer who is brought on by the Cabinet to determine Toms (Kiefer Sutherland) mental fitness. Fox is always a joy to watch, and Ive really been looking forward to his arc. The episode somewhat drops the ball on the opportunity to address mental health issues, but Im hopeful we will see more of this in the coming episodes. We also finally get back to the hacking storyline.As the episode opens, Aaron (Adan Canto) and Hannah (Maggie Q) brief the senior staff on the investigation into the hack and take their cell phones. Chuck (Jake Epstein) has already checked their computers to make sure none of them are involved. I was really happy to see Chuck getting more to do in this episode!Tom tells the senior staff that he wants the hack dealt with already. He also tells them that hes not going to deny having been in therapy because he doesnt want to stigmatize people who use therapy and theres no denying that it has helped him. I liked what the show did with this issue, but Im hoping to see an even more positive light shone on the issue as the story moves forward.We quickly see the hack of Toms therapy and subsequent questioning of his fitness is having an immediate impact. Kendra (Zoe McLellan), Emily (Italia Ricci), and Aaron are all turned down in various meetings due to a loss of leverage, impact on career by association, and confidence in who theyre doing business with. I thought Ambassador Woos (Albert Chung) remarks that therapy is seen differently by different cultures added another layer to the discussion.Lyor (Paulo Costanzo) tries to get Dr Louden (Timothy Busfield) to issue a statement, but hes reluctant, seeing it as inappropriate to issue a public clarification. He cant comment on a patients sessions or health. Lyor pressures him into providing a more complete picture. Tom also asks Louden for clarification, and he assures Tom that he is getting better. He also tells Tom that Toms actions will speak louder than the Doctors words in regards to his mental health and fitness.There are seven hours worth of tapes, so the leaks continue throughout the episode. The next one concerns the intimation that Tom as PTSD-like symptoms and brings up his friendship with Andrea Frost (Kim Raver). In fact, Tom has had to pull out of judging the National Science Fair with her in order to avoid the press. We get three really good scenes between Raver and Sutherland.Of course, Andrea really seems too good to be true. In their first meeting, she asks him how hes doing. Tom confides that hes embarrassed more than anything. He tells her that he cant judge the fair but maybe she can bring the winner to the Oval office for a personal tour. She is completely understanding.In their second encounter, she sees that hes upset. He tells her that he became President under the worst possible conditions. He should have died in the bombing he was supposed to go until the last minute. He had begun to believe that it was fate for him to lead, but now, all he has is his kids, and hes not so sure that he wants to do it anymore. She assures him that that is a decision only he can make, but shes there for him any time he wants someone to listen. Theoretically, that is also the role that Trey (Breckin Meyer) is fillingMeanwhile, for the hacking investigation, Hannah has let Damian (Ben Lawson) follow up on leads on his own. Of course, she hasnt given him the free rein that he and Aaron think she has, so she knows when he meets with Valeria Poreskova (Nora Zehetner) again. Valeria gives him her intel in exchange for a heads up about Gamine. She also tells him that the US will kill him when hes done, but she is willing to give him a deal afterwards. Her information lead to Chuck and Hannah realizing that that the hacker had to be someone who was in the White House and close to the Oval office during each of Toms therapy sessions.Lyor figures out that the Cabinet and Vice President Darby (Aunjanue Ellis) are meeting to have Tom ousted. Sure enough the VP shows up and tells Tom that the Cabinet has voted on the 25th Amendment section 4 to have Tom declared unfit due to mental defect. Tom is furious. She tells him that she hasnt signed the letter yet and that he deserves the right to present his case. Tom is angry that she didnt come to him first but shes not able to do that.Enter Michael J Fox as Ethan West has been appointed the facilitator of the confidential inquiry. He tells them all that its not a legal proceeding, so legal protections dont apply. Hes determined to be thorough, so he asks for documents going back to the swearing in. He also wants access to all the senior staff and Doctor Louden.Emily is suddenly panicking about what she did to investigate Moss and tells Seth (Kal Penn). He is shocked and tells her that all of her decisions about this were bad. She is determined not to let them affect the President whom she was trying to protect. Seth urges her to talk to Kendra.Emily does talk to Chuck first. I loved this scene! Chuck tells Emily that he found a legal way to get the information she needed. Yeah, Chuck for being a smarter and better person than Emily and having better judgment! He also tells her that hes not just a computer drone he can do other stuff to help the White House! Awesome! Lets bring him to work at the White House and get him away from Hannah who doesnt appreciate himEmily tells Kendra that Chuck did the right thing, but Kendra points out that Emily still ordered an illegal action, shes still guilty. Emily admits that she screwed up, and Kendra doesnt disagree. Kendra tells her not to quit or throw herself on her sword just yet theyll wait and see how things unfold.Lyor tries to get Tom to fire enough Cabinet members to sway the vote. His enemies arent showing scruples, so why should Tom? Tom points out that he is President thats why. He refuses to fire anyone. Lyor meets at a restaurant with West and tries to get him off the case with a huge dossier hes compiled on him but West has just as big a dossier on Lyor! Tom eventually does go to Lyor for advice, and Lyor tells him that sometimes you lose a battle even when you win. If Tom wins, hes still tainted by the investigation and if he loses, hes relegated to obscurity. Lyor seems to have an epiphany when he remembers that Tom isnt a politician hes a teacher. And in fact, he was brought in to do the job under extreme circumstances Toms a hero and they need to spin it that way.True to his word, Tom refuses to hide and grants an interview to Carson Kramer (John Ralston). He points out that like everyone, he is a work in progress. He tells Kramer that the American people should have confidence in him because of what hes gone through the emphasis being on the past tense hes come out the other side. He tells Kramer that we arent defined by the difficulties we face, but by how we respond to those difficulties. Tom tells him that hes chosen to fight and will continue to fight for the American people.We see Seth come under fire at several press briefings, and I loved the one where he finally lost it. It seems like hes taken the last question and is heading out, but then suddenly goes back to the podium and gives the press a piece of his mind! Penn is terrific in this scene. He tells them that Tom Kirkman has given everything to his country even his wife! And he then berates the press for judging Tom because he sought help.Tom also refuses to completely by-pass the Science Fair. As he arrives, we see that Andrea is absolutely terrific at handling the press. We get another terrific couple of scene with the two of them as they make their way around the Fair. Tom finally tells her that there will be more leaks and he wants her to be prepared for what hes said about her. He tells her that he told Louden they were friends, but he also said that she was special, and that brought up feelings of guilt around Alex. Andrea assures him again that he doesnt have to explain she knows that hes a good man.Meanwhile, Chuck, Hannah and Damian discover the bank account of Mia Eng (another Enigma anagram) who likes to by Turing memorabilia and track Gamine to an auction house in Baltimore that has recently sold some Turing memorabilia. Hannah and Damian go to investigate. I did like how they manipulated the guy into giving them information. They head to check out the address of where the memorabilia was delivered. They discover that the only person to appear twice on the list is Andrea Frost! I really, really hope that there is going to be some explanation for this.The other super-annoying plot twist is that Damian jumps in front of Hannah when a drive-by shooter attacks them on a deserted street. And apparently, Damian is once again dead or is he? Is this Valeria? We dont see a dead body after all. Is she rescuing him and liberating the information he found from the Americans? Whether hes dead or alive, shooting the guy again is just lazy.There is yet another sweet scene between Tom and Penny (Mckenna Grace). These two have great father/daughter chemistry, and Im really impressed with Graces performances. He tells her that hes not going to talk to her like a child anymore good call, Tom, cuz shes had to grow up. He tells her that he was depressed after Alex died and talked to a therapist. She knows he was sad and she tells him that she knows hes not crazy. She then reveals that the kids at her school have been saying it to her and she has kept it to herself. Maybe you need to check in with Penny a little more often?!Tom meets with Seth, Kendra, Aaron, Emily, and Lyor who are discussing how the hearing will go. Theres a bit of an embarrassing moment when Seth is giving a realistic spin to events theyll likely be out of jobs when Tom walks in. Tom simply praises him for his honesty which he really values. He also tells them that he admires all of them and that its been a privilege to serve with them. Tom also goes to the VP and apologizes, telling her that he knows that she treated him fairly.Tom and the staff meet again with West. Tom hands West his terms for the inquiry. Its a nice moment as West blusters about no terms and opens the file to see that it is a blank sheet of paper. West reassures him that hes not going to pull any punches. But thats not how Tom operates. Hes going in fighting.This episode really managed to integrate the two storylines a bit better. Im very much looking forward to Michael J Foxs run. Im hoping that the Andrea storyline is another red herring but she really did seem to be too good to be true in this episode. Is anyone that pleasant? Its hard to believe that after all that they would just kill Damian off after all. Im annoyed whether hes alive or dead. It seems stupid to bring him back from the dead just to kill him, but it also seems equally stupid to use the same plot device again. But no body and no head shot Yeah for Chuck getting more to do! I also thought that this was one of Paulo Costanzos best episodes. Rather than annoying humor, we actually get to see him do his job. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Thanks to Alias for the heads up. Remember Melrose Place? At least the first version of Melrose Place before Amanda Woodward/Heather Locklear came in, which was more a relationship drama with young people living in the same residence than a super crazy soap? It was not very good and it didnt work, thats why it changed so much, but we can say The Village is more in this vein, with a similar concept, though the characters are from different age, race, culture and lifestyle. For this reason, you cant mistake it with a show from the 90s! Its diverse and very rooted in our modern world. I dont think its plausible in any way. I dont think there are buildings where neighbours are so friendly with each other. Thats certainly not what Im experiencing. I dont live in New York but I went there and as in every big city in the world, neighbours dont interact that much. The Village plays more like an utopia. Thats how things should work. People should talk, and help each other, and be kind and patient and open and generous. In a way, The Village wants to send the same message as This Is Us: were stronger when were all together, as a family, as a team. Its a bit naive and cliche, and so what? Cynicism is gone for good. CHRISTOPHER J FOSTER A Westport venture capital fund is among the investors in Rallybio, a Farmington startup that announced on Wednesday initial funding totaling $37 million under former research heads of Alexion Pharmaceuticals. RallyBio is developing drugs for rare diseases, with investors including Canaan Partners in Westport, 5AM Ventures in Boston, New Leaf Venture Partners in New York City, and the state-backed Connecticut Innovations fund in Rocky Hill. The states transportation commission is warning of a economic death spiral to our economy if rail and bus fares are raised and service cut. James P. Redeker said the state Department of Transportation would have no choice but the raise the fares July 1 without action by the General Assembly to fix long-term issues with the Special Transportation Fund. Rail fares would increase by 10 percent July 1, 5 percent on July 1, 202, and 5 percent July 1, 2021. A 14.3 percent bus fare increase (25 cents per ticket) would take effect July 1, 2018. The rail service proposals include the elimination of off-peak trains on the New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury branch lines as well as Shore Line East. The General Assembly will end its session on May 9. It could go into special session if a budget plan requires more time. Redeker said the enormous harm the proposals would inflict include the loss of 6.5 million train and bus trips annually; the inability for many to get to doctors appointments, school and work; decisions on buying a home or starting a business in Connecticut; and an annual economic impact of $117.8 million. Redeker added that he cannot support the proposed fare increases and service reductions because they would undo decades of investment in our transportation infrastructure and initiate an economic death spiral for our economy. However, I may have no choice, Redeker said. The obvious alternative to these draconian actions is to fully support the revenue needs of the Special Transportation Fund in this legislative session to fully avoid the fare and service cuts and to restore funding for the critical capital investments needed for our transportation system. If the Legislature does not act to solve the Special Transportation funding shortfall by mid-May, the Department of Transportation will reluctantly take every step necessary to implement the changes in compliance with the commitments made to support the January 2018 sale of Special Transportation Obligation bonds. Earlier this week at a town hall meeting in New Canaan, Sen. Toni Boucher, R-26, said she expects there will be no fare increase or service cuts. Democrat and Republican alternative budgets, though not the same, all include the return of the service and the reduction of any cost increases on the part of commuters, Boucher said. At the end of the day, one of those budgets is going to get passed or a compromise of the two. STAMFORD Dudley Williams isnt one to cast himself into the spotlight, but the title Citizen of the Year isnt for the bashful. Williams learned he was picked for the award the same way as those before him including his wife, Juanita James, who was Stamfords Citizen of the Year in 2009. Williams helped plan her surprise COTY reveal at Pitney Bowes, where she was chief marketing and communications officer, but it didnt prepare him for what was about to happen in the mayors conference room Wednesday night. He didnt see it coming. Most never do. This was a surprise, he said, moments after entering the room and seeing his name on a banner proclaiming the title. Im overwhelmed. I didnt think this was going to happen. Wow. On the receiving end of this years hallmark COTY surprise (organizers call it an ambush, which might be too severe a description of the lighthearted event) is CEO of the Mill River Collaborative, an elected official on the Board of Finance and a longtime volunteer who moved here with his wife 28 years ago, raising one son, Dudley Williams III. It seems like every year I keep wondering how theyre going to pick somebody of the stature of the last few years, and every year you keep coming up with somebody who has done so much to help this community, Mayor David Martin said. Last years COTY honoree, land-use consultant Rick Redniss, was on the committee that chose Williams, the 75th person to get the award. Its sponsored by the city and Jewish War Veterans Post 142, which will host a COTY dinner for Williams in the spring. When people looked at the nominations they said, We didnt honor him already? The body of work hes done for this community and continues to do is just crazy, Redniss said. Williams, 62, got involved in education and activism 25 years ago, running for a seat on the Board of Education as a Democrat after learning of funding cuts threatening the preschool program. He served for three terms, two as board president, before joining the Planning Board. In 2015, he was elected to the Board of Finance. He also has served in leadership and volunteer roles for various organizations, including the Center for Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling and Education, Childrens Learning Centers of Fairfield County, Stamford Achieves, Urban League of Southwestern Connecticut, Connecticut Science Center and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. He currently serves on the boards of The Avon Theatre, Connecticut Center for School Change, Ferguson Library and Stamford YMCA. After retiring as senior vice president of citizenship and diversity from GE Asset Management, Williams became CEO of the Mill River Collaborative in the fall, overseeing the ongoing restoration of Mill River Park. Mill River is a tremendous undertaking, he said. I wish more people knew or remembered what that park looked like 15 years ago. Ive only just been involved in it directly, but the programing were doing now and the plans going forward its going to be a real jewel. Williams is the first Mill River CEO from Stamford, said Nia Rhodes Jackson, director of programs and visitor services. I was really thrilled when he came over because hes always been passionate about the program and he really understands the project, Jackson said. After being introduced through a former colleague, Jackson said Williams was one of the first people she met after moving to Stamford in 2005. She said, Youve got to meet this great couple, Dudley and Juanita, Jackson said. Williams joins his wife as a leader in the nonprofit scene. Since 2011, James has been CEO of Fairfield Countys Community Foundation. Hes so deserving. Im very excited for him, said James, echoing what her husband said after she received the honor eight years ago. Im good at keeping surprises, and he was clueless. Milling around the 10th floor Government Center conference room before Williams arrived, his staff had their phones set to record when he arrived. They wondered about his reaction. Hes the guy who gets things done behind the scenes, versus being the center of attention, office administrator Karen Steger said. eskalka@stamfordadvocate.com STAMFORD Rapists rape people, not outfits. This phrase was written on the backs of Stamford High students wearing halter tops, emphasizing the point that what people wear does not justify sexual assault. The same group of students from the Mayors Youth Leadership Council at Stamford High have also handed out information about rape kits and rape kit backlog and laid on couches and chairs on Bedford Street to raise awareness to how people cant consent to sex while drunk. One of the focuses of the MYLC chapter at Stamford High is to make students aware of what constitutes sexual assault and harassment. When you dont know what sexual assault and harassment is, you cant address it, said Mileena Donawa, an executive council member of MYLC. But the students in the executive committee of MYLC are now going a step further to educate their classmates on sexual assault and harassment by updating the districts Title IX policy. The Stamford Public Schools Title IX policy, which prevents discrimination on the basis of gender, was last readopted in 2015, according to the districts website. However, it does not outline a clear course of action for people whove been sexually assaulted or harassed and it does not even mention that sexual assault and harassment are covered under Title IX. No means no wasnt even in it, said Bob Kocienda, MYLC program coordinator at Stamford High. Consent wasnt even addressed...we just had to do a whole rewrite. Before this initiative, most MYLC students only knew what Title IX was from history courses that explained the law was passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. One of my friends was being harassed and I didnt know who to come to, MYLC executive committee member Destiny Rodriguez said. The executive committee examined the Title IX policies at other high schools and colleges as well as state guidelines. They then adapted college Title IX policy guidelines to fit a high school setting. The result was a policy that includes a step-by-step process to report sexual harassment or assault. It outlines the right for female reporters to speak with a female administrator. It also explains the persons rights after filing the report and how they can obtain a written copy. The big thing we focused on was making people more aware, MYLC executive committee member Isabella Sorial said. The MYLC executive committee has since submitted the updated policy to the districts Title IX coordinator and legal counsel to review it and compare to a model policy from the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education. erin.kayata@stamfordadvocate.com; (203) 964-2265; @erin_kayata Governments across the world award contracts worth billions of dollars each year. Despite the obvious opportunities that exist here, launching and growing a B2G startup is not for the faint-hearted. For one, the tendering process can take several months to complete. This is not a happy position to be in for bootstrapped startups. Secondly, government agencies tend to favor businesses that have prior experience working on government projects. This is a catch-22 situation that startups have a tough time negotiating. Related: How to Let Passion Lead Your Life For this article, I talked to founders who run successful B2G businesses to understand how they got their first government contract. Here are a few takeaways from my discussions with them. Register on all the relevant registries. When a federal or state agency is hiring a new contractor for one of their upcoming projects, they post these opportunities on one of the dozens of government sites including FedBizOpps (for US federal projects) and the NYS Contract Reporter (for New York State). As a B2G business, you may apply for inclusion on the registries maintained on each of these government websites. Agency users looking for new contractors begin their search on such registries. Being included here provides you with a much-needed advantage over competitors who are not listed. This is especially useful if you are a minority or woman-owned enterprise. Such businesses are favored by government agencies for certain projects, and being listed in the registry helps you stand out from the competition. Subcontract. Like any client, government agencies prefer hiring a contractor with whom they have the highest chance of success. Prior experience on government projects can thus be a tremendous advantage while bidding on agency projects. As a startup entity, you can work around this catch-22 situation by partnering with other contractors on their government projects. Subcontracting is extremely common in B2G projects. It's easier to secure a subcontracting project than winning one directly from the government agency. It is, however, worth pointing out that subcontracting is not nearly as profitable as winning a project from the government agency. Subcontracting on government projects is thus a good strategy to build a portfolio that you may use to bid on future projects. Related: 10 Lessons From Billion-Dollar 'Unicorn' Startups Having said that, subcontracting is not the only way to gain experience on government projects. Mehul Sanghani, one of the B2G entrepreneurs I talked to, said that he previously worked on an OSHA project as an employee of a larger consulting firm. After he had worked with OSHA for a while, he was asked by the government agency if he had ever considered starting a business. In short, you can also gain experience on government projects as an employee of an organization that does this. Establish credibility outside. You do not always have to work with government agencies to prove your credibility and authority. Working on projects of public interest can help, too. One company made use of big data solutions to analyze over a million vehicle stops in Toronto over a weeks period. The results of the study, which were made public, helped the local transit authority understand that less than half of the stops were on time. In addition to receiving viral publicity through the assignment, the company also succeeded in working with a handful of government agencies on transit monitoring projects. Depending on your industry, there are other ways to establish credibility. An organization looking to work on public school projects may pursue private schools for similar projects. This gives them experience and credibility to bid on similar projects. While this strategy may not solely be adequate to help you win government projects, they establish your legitimacy through the vetting process. Make cold calls. Cold outreach is often frowned upon. Yet, it can be an extremely effective strategy in pursuing government projects. The trick here is to target the right agency at the right time. Skyler Ditchfield, who runs a telecom solutions company, said that he once read a news article about funds being made available for rural schools in California. Related: This Is How You Cold-Call Your Entrepreneurial Heroes Without Annoying Them He made more than 16 cold calls before he could identify the government group that was responsible for the fund. His organization then took part in close to a dozen vetting calls before a new RFP was raised and they were asked to bid. Winning government projects can be an extremely painful process and is definitely not for the faint-hearted. However, the billion dollar projects make the pursuit worthwhile and profitable for interested entrepreneurs. Related: How This Indian Health-tech Startup Roped in Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone How Ideas are Just like Lego blocks 15 Traits of Failing Entrepreneurs You Should Avoid Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved HARTFORD The Department of Public Health issued a warning Tuesday after conforming two cases of measles in New Haven County, according to a press release. The two infected individuals are children under 12 months who live in the same household, traveled internationally and acquired their infections outside of the country, the release said. DPH is collaborating with local partners to identify contacts and implement control measures. Any exposures occurred within New Haven County between April 11 and 17, the release said. Measles is a highly contagious disease that can spread quickly among unvaccinated people, but most of those who are exposed to measles are not at risk, because they are either vaccinated or have had measles in the past, the DPH said. The single best way to protect yourself and your children from measles is to be vaccinated, DPH Commissioner Dr. Raul Pino said in a statement. While most people have had the measles vaccination, its important to know your vaccination status and to be aware of the signs and symptoms of measles so you can get medical attention. Symptoms of measles usually begin seven to 14 days after a person is exposed. A typical case of measles begins with a mild to moderate fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and a sore throat. Three to five days after the start of these symptoms, a red or reddish-brown rash appears, usually starting on a persons face at the hairline and spreading downward to the entire body. At the time the rash appears, a persons fever may spike to more than 104 degrees Fahrenheit, the state said. The rash typically lasts at least a few days and then disappears. People with measles may be contagious up to fours days before and after the rash appears, according to the release. Most Connecticut residents have been vaccinated. Individuals who are unsure of their vaccination status are encouraged to check with their physicians. People who have had measles in the past or who have been vaccinated against measles are considered immune, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommends all children get two doses of MMR vaccine, starting with the first dose at 12 through 15 months, and the second between 4 and 6 years of age, the release said. Adults should have at least one dose of MMR vaccine, with certain groups such as college students, health-care workers, international travelers and people at high risk for measles complications needing two doses. Adults born in the United States before 1957 are considered immune to measles from past exposures, but in situations where exposure to measles is likely, these adults may benefit from a dose of MMR vaccine to be safer, officials stated. International travelers should be up-to-date on their vaccinations. Most cases of measles are acquired or linked to international travel. Most of those diagnosed with measles are not vaccinated or did not know their immunization status, the release said. Measles is very easily spread from person to person. If an individual has a fever and a rash and suspects measles, he or she should avoid public settings and call a physician before going directly to a health-care facility, the release said. For information, visit portal.ct.gov/dph. Running a startup in the social media space has led to numerous conversations with founders, professionals and others about the significance and value of social media. Social media is the digital representation of your brand. Whether you like it or not. Its the easiest way to communicate with your customers, users or fans of your brand. Its also the easiest way to shape the perception of your brand. I began to realize some intriguing similarities between how a business owner would treat the physical representation of a business such as a storefront and its representation on social media. Related: The Modern Storefront: What Instagram Could Mean For Your Business Name One of the most exciting moments for a business owner is naming his or her business. Its typically an AHA moment when the right words roll off your tongue. Then you start to immediately think about the next steps in protecting your name. But what about social media handles on Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, etc.? Its important to make sure you reserve the name of your business on all social media platforms as soon as you can. This goes for your personal brand online as well. The brand consistency makes it easy for your fans to be able to discover your brand and engage. Ive seen businesses (personal and company) begging Instagram owners with particular handles to retrieve them. Related: 8 Ways to Pick a Great Name for Your Business Location Location is critical for any storefront. Deciding where to establish your business has an impact on the type of customer you will attract, how your storefront is perceived and how respected it is. When considering location for your social media content consider what your primary platforms are. If you are creating content geared towards business professionals perhaps you should consider making LinkedIn a primary focus. That isnt to say there arent business professionals on Twitter or Instagram, but theres a chance you can build an audience more quickly through Linkedin with written content appealing to a business-centric platform. If you are in the fashion industry or building a attractive aesthetic is important Instagram should play a role. Knowing where to focus your attention is crucial. Long form video content may make Youtube compelling. On the other hand short digestible video clips may be better served on Instagram. Related: How to Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business Aesthetic/Brand Think about all the business establishments you have gone to. If the decor seemed off or the branding wasnt well put together it would be quite noticeable. Whether it was the color scheme, logo, lighting, etc. These all play a role on our thoughts about the business. It can be somewhat of an indicator to us as to how seriously the company cares about its perception and may even affect our spending behavior. The same applies to social media. How carefully a brand depicts itself on Instagram gives users a good idea of how seriously they take their brand and its perception. On Instagram use consistent editing with regards to content (video or images). Consider following a particular style or format and stick with it. On Twitter use hashtags associated with your brand to help people keep tabs. Related: 20 Tips to Organically Market Your Brand on Instagram (Infographic) Consistent Content/Product Consistency is key. Imagine going to a restaurant and every time you went they didnt have what you wanted on the menu. Sorry we ran out. It would be pretty annoying and not to mention frustrating. Or every time you went to your favorite boutique shop for that shirt you want to wear on a date and they dont have it in stock. On social media if you arent consistently creating and posting it makes it difficult to justify users or fans coming to your page. They never know if there will be content for them to consume or if you are just on hiatus. It doesnt always have to be original content. You can repost content and give credit to the original creator as well. Just make sure to have a content creation schedule and stick to the schedule. Related: Treat Your Social Media Like the Storefront You Want Customers to See 4 Ways Modern Entrepreneurs Break Through Old Barriers to Start New Businesses Que necesitas para empezar tu negocio online? Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved C omcast formally kick-started its bid to takeover Sky today with a 22 billion bid that would effectively side-line Rupert Murdoch from the business he founded in 1990. The US cable giant is promising to protect the editorial independence of Sky News and fund the channel for at least ten years. Comcast, run by Brian Roberts, thinks it can find $500 million (360 million) of cost-savings from combining the two businesses, but promised a limited impact on headcount. Investors will be offered 12.50 a share plus a final dividend of up to 21.8p a share. There is a competing offer for Sky from 21st Century Fox at 10.75 a share which would see Murdoch grab the 61% of the shares he doesnt already control. Comcast plans to delist the company, potentially leaving Fox and Murdoch -- as disgruntled minority owners of a business regarded as dear to his heart. Comcast, which owns NBC and CNBC, employs 1300 people in the UK already. It sees Sky as a way to expand rapidly in Europe and increase the content it offers its 30 million US cable subscribers. Both bids need approval from the government. Culture secretary Matt Hancock today declined to speculate on the outcome, telling the Standard: All I can say is we will follow the process laid out by law very carefully. Regulators are concerned about media plurality given Murdochs ownership of newspapers including The Times. Comcast promised today not to take a controlling stake in a UK newspaper for five years. It also pledged to keep Skys Osterley headquarters for at least five years. Fox is pursuing a separate deal to sell most of its assets to Walt Disney, including Sky. Disney has claimed to be interested in owning Sky, but its commitment is unclear. Analysts predict a bid war, with UBS saying the bid could go to 1500p. Some City sources think Skys highly rated management including chief executive Jeremy Darroch, might be keen to move on whoever owns the company in the future. Roberts said he was optimistic they would stay. Weve had several contacts. We have expressed to the board that we feel the management team is outstanding. We see a good fit, he added. Comcast said its promises to protect Sky News match or exceed those from Fox. Its budget would be no lower than it was last year for the ten year period, it pledged. Fox has called on regulators to submit Comcast to the same lengthy scrutiny it received. Some competition lawyers think the Comcast offer is easier to approve and could gain clearance relatively quickly. Murdoch first tried to buy up Sky in 2010. The deal collapsed when the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World emerged, sparking criminal trials. Roberts, the chairman and chief executive, said in a statement: Sky has a strong business, excellent customer loyalty, and a valued brand. It is led by a terrific management team who we look forward to working with to build and grow this business. He added: The combined customer base of approximately 52 million will allow us to invest more in original and acquired programming and innovation as we strive to deliver a truly differentiated customer experience. B rokers dealing on the Alternative Investment Market - known as AIM - come in for some heavy stick from their cousins at the Citys more blue-blooded institutions. AIMs full of Essex barrow boys. Seen that film The Wolf of Wall Street? - no different, the blue-chip boys and girls will tell you. But the small-cap traders deserve credit for being genuine stock-pickers - finding the next Fever-Tree or Boohoo is harder work than sticking money on BP and watching its stock track the oil price over a five-year period. Yet where AIM has always had a serious problem, since its inception in 1995, is in generating enough interest from investors - which makes it hard for small and medium-sized enterprises to gain access to cash. Companies list on a stock exchange primarily to raise money and grow. For blue-chip stocks on the main market, the easiest and quickest way to do this is by raising money by placing new shares. Well-known FTSE 100 stocks such as Anglo American or Rolls Royce have the luxury of tapping large financial institutions such as pension and equity funds for money instantly, and the process can happen overnight. But for relatively unknown companies on AIM, drumming up support for placing new shares can take weeks, leaving the process open to foul play. AIM companies that have decided to raise money will usually approach their broker, who in turn will sound out well-known small-cap backers such as Hargreave Hale , Miton or Legal & General to see if they are interested in buying new shares. If they show no interest, the broker has to turn to the retail investor market - 74-year-old Mrs Smith in Somerset, perhaps. To approach the general public, a specialist retail broker must be brought in who could have 40,000 to 50,000 individuals on their books. The specialist will at this point suspect that the company is having trouble raising funds and ask for a heavy discount on the current share price by way of commission. If the shares are trading at 1.9p, the broker may ask for a discount price at 1.6p. It is at this stage the placing can become murky, with sources in AIM accusing some brokers of peddling the new shares to retail investors at a price way above the 1.6p they paid for them. Some will arrange to sell the new shares to Mrs Smith at 1.7p, 1.8p or even 1.9p. Fractions of pennies, perhaps but multiply them by millions of shares and youre soon talking hundreds of thousands of pounds in profit. The brokers defend their actions on the grounds that this is their fee for bringing in investors and making the placing happen. The system also gives Mrs Smith direct access to more shares in a company that she wants to back and believe can grow, they say. But some argue that the brokers are deliberately taking advantage of the public in order to line their own pockets. One source at a well-known retail broker says: Look, does the retail investor get as good a deal as the broker? No. But does Mrs Smith get her hands on more stock at a price that is affordable and without having to chase the offer price on the open market? Yes. Ultimately, the company gets its money and is recapitalised, the broker makes commission and Mrs Smith is given access to new stock. A good example of where shares were sold at above discount price took place on April 9 when Armadale Capital raised 963,500 through the placing of 58.3 million new shares at a price of 1.65p. On the day the placing was announced, 29.3 million shares were sold in the market at an average price of 1.79p. While selling above the discount price may be the norm at the bottom end of the market, it does raise questions around best execution policies and how retail brokers earn their fees from placings. Financiers are legally required to follow Mifid regulations, which state that brokers carrying out transactions on their clients behalf must take all reasonable steps to obtain the best possible result, taking into account price, costs, speed, likelihood of execution and settlement, size, nature or any other consideration relevant to the execution of the order. Many in the market say that brokers who sell to the public at a higher price than the discount at which they buy the stock are treading a thin line with Mifids best execution policy. Andrew Monk, chief executive at VSA Capital, said: Retail has always been important, and also a major source of funding, and so a practice grew up where larger brokers would place stock with the retail brokers. This is totally legal but it does mean that an element of control is lost down the chain and this can cause issues and an almost underground world has grown up. Other tactics that are said to be used around placings include retail brokers deliberately shorting a companys stock so that they can receive a better discount price. This is done by approaching an individual who holds a heavy chunk of the stock and notifying them that a placing is coming up. The holder will then sell some of their shares, knowing they can get their hands on a chunk of the stock at cheaper price at a later date through the placing. All this behaviour further damages a market which is periodly criticised for allegedly allowing cowboy tactics. It should have more respect for the end retail investor, who suffers from a vacuum of information. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 29.7% of shares on AIM are owned by individuals, yet not enough is being done to protect them fully. So far, the only broker to have action taken against it was Cornhill in January last year, when the London Stock Exchange fined the firm for mis-selling placing shares. Cornhill was acting as a broker for New World Oil and Gas, which was seeking to raise funds through a placing of more than two billion shares twice the amount of stock it already had in issue. The placing needed approval by investors at the companys general meeting, before the shares were due to be issued in May 2015. But Cornhill sold a significant quantity of placing shares to its private clients a month before the general meeting was scheduled to take place. When shareholders did not approve the placing, Cornhill was unable to settle with investors for the shares it had sold in advance, leading to massive volatility in New Worlds share price. The London Stock Exchange fined Cornhill 210,000. Plenty of other high profile results out there. Let's start with Boohoo. Online fast-fashion retailer Boohoo today turned the screw on the High Street as it said sales had almost doubled. The company, which owns PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal, reported pre-tax profits grew 40% to 43.3 million and sales jumped 97% to 579.8 million for the year to February. The results contrasted starkly with the travails suffered by many bricks-and-mortar rivals as they grapple with changing consumer habits and higher business costs. Finance chief Neil Catto stated: People enjoy shopping online. Boohoo has had a strong start to the year and it now expects a rise of up to 40% in sales thanks, in part, to PrettyLittleThing. Set up by Boohoos co-founder Mahmud Kamanis son in 2012, the fledgling brand had revenues of 181.3 million, up 228%. Although shares have been down 40% since June, they rose 22.2p, or 14.4%, to 176.6p today. D rugs group Shire on Tuesday said it is prepared to back Takedas fifth offer for the business and has agreed more time to thrash out the details of the 46 billion deal. However, Japanese investors are not yet won over and sent shares in Takeda 9% lower overnight. Takedas shares plunged to their lowest point in five years, potentially making the acquisition even harder for the Japanese pharma company to pull off. Investors in Japan are concerned that this deal, one of the biggest takeovers of a foreign firm by a Japanese company, could be too big for Takeda and might put too much pressure on its finances. Takeda has now offered slightly more than half the 46 billion in new Takeda shares, which will be listed in New York and Tokyo. The two companies have agreed a new deadline of May 8 to complete discussions. The Japanese company is offering the equivalent of 49 a share, which is a 60% premium to Shires closing price on March 27, before Takeda revealed its first approach. Putting Takeda and Shire, the Irish maker of ADHD drug Adderall and a specialist in rare diseases treatments, together would create a global pharma giant, with close to 22 billion of annual sales. The new company would be similar in size to AstraZeneca. The prospect of a bidding war for Shire can not be overruled. Irish rival Allergan said it was interested in making an offer last week, but did a u-turn hours later after a shareholder backlash. W hat is it about world leaders and their obsession with male grooming products? Tony Blairs friendship with new President George W Bush was sealed at Camp David with a conversation about their choice of toothpaste. Yesterday Donald Trump, an expert on hair applications, flicked the dandruff off the shoulders of Emmanuel Macron during his visit to the White House. It was just one of many physical signs of the bromance between the two Presidents as they held hands, pecked each others cheeks, slapped each others backs and kissed the proffered hands of their glamorous wives. Britain looked on like the cheated partner as Mr Trump described his French counterpart as his special friend and described the two countries as each others oldest allies. This wasnt in the Brexiteer script. Trumps America and Brexit Britain were supposed to be inseparable partners in touch with popular anger about remote global elites and partners in the crusade against globalisation. Thats what Theresa May intended when she rushed to meet Mr Trump in his first week in office with the promise of a full state visit; thats what Boris Johnson was thinking as he headed off to Trump Tower to cosy up to fellow Right-wing populist Steve Bannon. Now its the Marseillaise being played on the White House lawn, and its the self-appointed French leader of the liberal internationalist world order who has the ear of the President. He used it to good effect, using his visit to try to corral the US President into a new international nuclear deal with Iran. Mr Trump is attracted to power, and Monsieur Macron exudes it. No wonder the American President is in no rush to visit the British government. For back home, it looks like our economic policy is being written by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who killed off months of Downing Street work on a customs partnership with the EU by calling it cretinous; while our foreign policy with our neighbours like Ireland is being dictated by a tiny number of DUP MPs, who today threatened to bring down the Government unless they got their way on the Irish border issue. Everything about Monsieur Macron says, Letat, cest moi. Who is in charge of the British state is less clear. Trump and Macron meet 24/04/2018 1 /6 Trump and Macron meet 24/04/2018 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron prepare to have their picture taken on a visit to the estate of the first US President George Washington in Mount Vernon, Virginia. REUTERS President Donald Trump greets French President Emmanuel Macron with a kiss. AP President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron kiss during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. AP Brigitte Macron and first lady Melania Trump look on as President Donald Trump hugs French President Emmanuel Macron during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, AP President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands. AP President Donald Trump playfully reaches over to cleans lint off French President Emmanuel Macron's suit jacket during their meeting in Oval Office of the White House. AP Honouring the Anzacs Prince Harry and Meghan Markle led the tributes on Anzac Day today, an event to mark the start of the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign in which Australians and New Zealanders played an heroic part. It was, militarily, a catastrophic failure, but the campaign was formative in creating a sense of national identity for both nations. This dawn ceremony , in which the Speaker of the New Zealand parliament paid tribute to the dead, was Miss Markles first Anzac Day, and she seemed visibly moved by it. This is the way the Royal Family is evolving, with younger members, including Prince Harry and Meghan, playing greater roles in public life, including ceremonial events to honour the military especially apt for Prince Harry and the Commonwealth. The Queen remains well loved but the popularity of the younger royals can help to bring events such as these to a new generation. Anzac Day 2018 - In pictures 1 /52 Anzac Day 2018 - In pictures Prince William, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle walk with each as they leave after attending a service of commemoration and thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day in Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images A band plays during an Anzac Day service on Whitehall Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk with each as they leave after attending a service of commemoration and thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day AFP/Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Meghan Markle leaving the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Prince William greets his brother Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle as they arrive for an ANZAC day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince William greets Meghan Markle as they arrive for an Anzac day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey Getty Images Prince William greets his brother Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle as they arrive for an Anzac day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge (left), Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, London, to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehal PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attend a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehal PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Chelsea Pensioner Dave Thomson speaks with Lieutenant Colonel Rebecca Talbot from Australia before the wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry lays a wreath during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry's wreath Ian Vogler Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters The couple after sunrise Arthur Edwards Prince Harry is greeted at the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Meghan Markle is greeted during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day Arthur Edwards A general view as Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk together during Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Ian Vogler Prince Harry lays a wreath during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Ian Vogler Meghan Markle reads the official programme of events during the Dawn Service for Anzac Day at Wellington Arch Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand together during the Dawn Service Reuters Prince Charles delivers a speech during the wreath-laying ceremonies at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, France to commemorate Anzac Day AP Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sits next to Prince Charles during the dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France to commemorate Anzac Day EPA Australian military veterans fire into the air at Elephant Rock in Currumbin on the Gold Coast, Australia AP Anzac Day dawn service in Canakkale AFP/Getty Images A young girl watches sailors march during the Anzac Day parade in Melbourne AFP/Getty Images A member of the Catafalque party is seen nect to the Roll of Honour at the Australian National Memorial during the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux EPA Mounted defence force soldiers deliver the Anzac Day match trophy during the round eight NRL match between the St George Illawara Dragons and Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium Getty Images Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop lays a wreath at the Redfern Park World War Memorial during the Coloured Diggers March in Sydney Getty Images People take part in a smoking ceremony during the Coloured Diggers March in Sydney Getty Images Australian military veterans participate in the Anzac Day dawn service at Elephant Rock in Currumbin AP People attend the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux EPA A Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) on April 25, 1915, in Gallipoli AP A couple draped with an Australian flag, participate in the Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) in Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey AP War veterans make their way down Elizabeth Street during the Anzac Day parade in Sydney Getty Images Participants march in the Anzac Day parade in Sydney AFP/Getty Images A contingent of flag bearers marches past during an Anzac Day parade in Sydney Reuters Clares Core values Clare Smyth, who has been given the Worlds Best Female Chef Award 2018 for her extraordinary achievements, including her Notting Hill restaurant, Core, says she is accepting it on behalf of all women in the hospitality industry. The accolade, which was previously given to Helene Darroze at the Connaught, is part of a series of annual awards by the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants Academy. Smyth brings local and seasonal produce centre stage, which is exactly where restaurants should be going, and Core is, moreover, unusually informal for a haute cuisine restaurant. She is, then, very much her own woman, and a brilliant role model for others. I used to joke in my stand-up routine that post-Brexit, I was really worried that my dad was going to get deported mainly by my mum. And that they were really worried about travelling because they were scared they wouldnt be allowed back into the country they loved the most which is Spain. Those slightly crap jokes dont seem quite so funny any more in light of the Windrush scandal. These heart-breaking cases have moved many people to tears but sent a shiver down the spine of anyone who is an immigrant or the child of one, because it confirmed that dark niggle that you were only ever here temporarily and that eventually they would tell you to go back to where you came from (insert your own Glasgow/Wolverhampton gag). Fifty years from Enoch Powells Rivers of Blood speech and 25 years on from the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, the uncomfortable truth is that this country is still not at ease with immigration and race relations. Of course we have made progress. We have more black and brown MPs plus a Muslim mayor, interracial marriage is no longer frowned upon and that lovely Nadiya won Great British Bake Off. But we have a long way to go make people feel welcome here and to make them feel like they truly belong. India is a faraway country full of wonder and intrigue for me but Britain is my home. But how to find your place here can be hard. The yoke of being an immigrant involves a lot of trying to fit in and failing; hiding your heritage because people fear it or find it odd; and making your poor children do weird things to integrate. My parents really went for it. On a Saturday morning, I would learn how to read the Koran and then my mother would drive me to Scottish country dancing lessons where I kind of stood out. And dont even start me on the mental scars of being the only brownie at the Brownies But they were trying hard to make sure we were the good immigrant family playing by the rules, as politicians love to say. The logic was if you worked hard, which is why you were invited here, were assimilated, paid your taxes and kept out of trouble, there would be none. That was the deal. And you could exist in happy invisibility from the state, because being noticed as an immigrant rarely ends well. But that social contract has been shattered by the Windrush scandal. Those men and women who, like my parents, did everything right are now fighting to be British and to stay on this soil. My parents are terrified by this story even though their paperwork is all up to date unless theyve gone mad with the shredder. There but for the grace of God, they said although my dads so sick of the weather up in Glasgow that if they offered him a business-class flight back to India he might just take it. Spare me the new Konscious Kardashian Kourtney Kardashian is planning to hit Washington DC. Im praying this isnt the precursor to At the White House with the Kardashians but maybe it would be an improvement Hey, Kimmy wanna bomb Syria later? OMG, I totally cant today I gotta work out, contour and post some naked selfies. Tomorrow? Getting lippie: Kourtney Kardashian / Dave Benett Kourtney is off to Washington to lobby members of Congress to regulate and reform laws on cosmetics. She and her half-sister, Kylie, have just launched a make-up collaboration and apparently Kourtney is passionate about using environmentally friendly produce and natural ingredients. This is commendable but isnt making sure your lippie is gluten-free slightly hypocritical when your family has been a global fiscal stimulus for the plastic surgery industry? I can think of many words to describe the undeniable beauty of the Kardashian sisters but natural aint one of them. * The UK will hold its first conference on hoarding later this year. Experts say the condition is becoming a public-health issue. Tell me about it. I have so much clutter that I decided to take action. I used a neighbourhood app to advertise some stuff I was giving away. There was a flurry of interest and I found myself messaging people saying its gone so sorry for your loss. I felt like Lady Bountiful. When people turned up to collect the items, I was expecting love, gratitude or at least a posy of flowers There was none. Does the remote work? theyd say. Do you need an aerial? Then they were gone. With my telly. The final insult came when I saw one of my jackets in a charity shop. It's a quiet Saturday morning in Portland, Oregon, and coffee professionals Lucy Alvarez and Angel Medina are settling in for the day at their 14x 14 coffee bar. The duo are glad to be homethey just arrived back in the city from a trip to Mexico, visiting coffee farmers in the Colima region, in the villages of Arrayanal, Yerba Buena, Cofradia, and Suchitlan. Alvarez and Medina pride themselves on their personal connection between the origin of the roast, their coffee shop, and their families. You can taste it in every cup of coffee served at Kiosko, their small coffee shop nestled on the SW bank of the Willamette River. Alvarez and Medina opened back on July 1, 2017 with intentions to infuse the Mexican-American experience into Portlands coffee scene. Starting out as a fundraiser for a national pro-DACA initiative, Alvarez and Medina went from small-scale roasting to shop owners overnight. Throughout the process, theyve stayed true to their roots as small business owners with a deeply felt Mexican heritage. Back in 2016, Alvarez was in school for pre-med, while Medina worked at the Portland headquarters for Airbnb. His role there was as a tech-y sounding Launch Experience Agent, focused on advancing the customer experience in Latin American countries. But then coffee started creeping into their lives in a big way. At home, Medina fell in love with roasting coffee on his Behmor roaster. At first he primarily roasted for personal use, but eventually started sharing with friends, and that soon led to other opportunities. Angel Medina unveiled his roast to the public for the very first time in support of United We Dream, an immigrant youth-led foundation built to recognize and support DACA recipients. When customers donated $10 to United We Dream, they received a half-pound bag of Medinas Kickstarter Blend. The couple received 48 orders during the initial roll-out, with Medina and Alvarez hand roasting and bagging their coffees in half-pound batches on the Behmor, 15 minutes at a time. When I grew up, my family had this saying do what you can with what you have, Medina states. This would be the beginning of their aptly-named roasting company, Smalltime Roasters. The couple went on to open Kiosko a few months after that to have more space to function and to establish their identity within the community. Slowly but surely they were falling into coffee as a life pursuit. We didnt have as much experience with espresso machines because were pour-over people, Medina tells me. So we got a machine a week before we opened hoping people wouldnt be turned off by our latte art, he laughs. Once a loose end in their launch plan, espresso drinks are now a favorite at Kiosko. Here in Portland, the shop has built a glowing local reputation for their innovative and boundary-pushing latte creations, including fan favorites like the mango sticky rice latte, maple bacon latte, and candied yam latte. The most popular drink here is the True Mexican Mocha, made with espresso, textured milk, house-made Mexican hot chocolate powder, cocoa nibs, freeze-dried raspberry dust, and dark chocolate shavings. Kioskos creative approach also extends to their pour-over methods. Medina constructed a new contraption called the Copper Flower (pictured below), which he's convinced is the optimal way for expressing his coffees as pour-over. The science behind it is to extend the extraction process without compromising the taste, Medina says. A washed process Mexico Colima is the most common brewed cup served in this method. Since Kiosko has found their rhythm, theyve had the ability to shift their daily focus to providing a unique experience. We wanted to create the warmth and passion for coffee. Its an extension of our home, Alvarez says. The reciprocity can be seen in Kiosko daily; as Alvarez and Medina learn more about the community they serve, the city of Portland is exposed to the couple's unique take and hospitality and heritage. We feel love from the community, Medina tells me. When people walk by, we want it to feel like they are in a different country. Not only is Kiosko enticing new customers, they also attracted a staff of like-minded coffee professionals from similar backgrounds. Alvarez and Medina are both descendants of Mexican immigrants from the Jalisco areaa three-hour bus ride from their last round of farm visitsand the baristas on staff at Kiosko are of Puerto Rican, Peruvian, and Guatemalan lineages. Amid their shop growing in popularity, Alvarez and Medina still support groups that align with their personal upbringing. Last winter, they raised money for We The Dreamers, an undocumented-led group focused on their narrative through art. Kiosko bagged and sold single-origin Mexican coffee and donated the sales to the group. These days, Kiosko is trading in what they deemed starter equipment for better options to support their workflow. They recently added the La Marzocco Linea Classic espresso machine, installed by Black Rabbit Service Co. They have the Zenith Eureka high-speed grinder and the G4 ThermoPro brewer from Wilber Curtis Company to round out the gear in their shop. This story would be enougha tiny cafe with deep roots and a huge heart, putting out some of the most innovative coffee drinks in the competitive Portland market. But there are no signs of slowing down for Kiosko. Alvarez and Medina are working on plans for their second and third locations, focused on a bigger footprint, improved efficiency, and a focus on highlighting the coffees of Mexico. Kiosko is creating a buzz in the community around their experience, and Portland is a better place for it. Giovanni Fillari is a social media manager at Nike and the publisher of @coffeefeedpdx. Read more Giovanni Fillari for Sprudge. I t may be the biggest accolade in British art, but winning the Turner Prize isnt the be all and end all of an artists career. In fact, it can be just the beginning. From 1991 until last year, the prize was restricted to artists under the age of 50, meaning that younger winners were often still to make some of the most defining work of their career. In the week that we learn who has made the shortlist for the 2019 prize, we decided to take a look at what the Turner Prize winners did next. From controversial artwork to Oscar winning films, take a look at some of the artists who have continued to make headlines since scooping the prestigious honour. Anish Kapoor Since winning the 1991 Turner Prize for an untitled sculptural work, Kapoor has since produced myriad public commissions. These have included the Cloud Gate (or The Bean) in Chicago, a weird and wonderful installation in Tates Turbine Hall in 2002, and the ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture for the London 2012 Olympic Park. In 2014, he controversially acquired the exclusive licence for the pigment Vantablack, which is known for being the blackest black available. Rachel Whiteread Getty Images Whiteread made history when she became the first woman to win the prize in 1993 (eight whole years after the prize began) for her extraordinary work House, which consisted of a full cast of the inside of a Hackney home. She has she has ticked off multiple British art accolades from her list, with commissions including a Turbine Hall installation and a sculpture on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. Whiteread was recently the subject of a 2017 retrospective at Tate Modern. Damien Hirst Getty Images Hirst won the Turner Prize in 1995 for Mother and Child Divided, a sculpture which depicted a cow and calf cut in half and suspended in formaldehyde. The win led him to become probably the most famous artist in the UK, and one of the richest, with his controversial work commanding record breaking prices (he sold an entire show at auction in 2008, making 111 million in total.) In 2017, Hirst put on a mysterious show at the Venice Biennale that was 10 years in the making, consisting of an array sculptures which Hirst implied had been dragged from an ancient shipwreck. Gillian Wearing AFP/Getty Images In 60 Minutes Silence, Wearing filmed a group of police officers, posed as if for a portrait, for an hour. It won her the Turner Prize in 1997, and since then Wearing has continued to work with ideas of identity and human relationships in her work. The Whitechapel Gallery opened a major survey of her career in 2012, her work was paired with Claude Cahun's in a big National Portrait Gallery show last year, and most recently, Wearing has unveiled her statue of Womens Suffrage campaigner Millicent Fawcett, the first statue of a woman to stand in Parliament Square. Chris Ofili PA Archive/PA Images Ofili won the Turner Prize in 1998, becoming the first black artist to do so, for paintings covered in both glitter and elephant dung (yes, really). A year later Ofili faced a lawsuit from New York mayor Rudy Giuliani for exhibiting The Holy Virgin Mary as part of Charles Saatchis Sensation exhibition in the city. The black Madonna was displayed in the work surrounded by scenes from Blaxpoitation movies, images of female genitalia and chunks of elephant dung. He was the subject of a retrospective at Tate Britain in 2010, and was awarded a CBE in 2017. Last year he unveiled a new tapestry at the National Gallery entitled The Caged Bird Sings. 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures 1 /11 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures Guernica, 1937, Pablo Picasso Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia/Sucesion Pablo Picasso. VEGAP. 2017 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love, Dmitri Vrubel Getty Images 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures The Problem We All Live With, 1964, Norman Rockwell Norman Rockwell Museum 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures Campbell's Soup, Andy Warhol AFP/Getty Images 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum?, 1989, Guerrilla Girls Tate 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures Lascaux Cave Paintings AFP/Getty Images 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures Olympia, Edouard Manet 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures Las Meninas, Diego Velazquez Museo del Prado 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures Studies of the foetus in the womb, Leonardo da Vinci 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures Death of Marat, Jacques Louis David Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels / photo: J. Geleyns - Ro scan - or RMFAB, Brussels / photo: J. Geleyns 10 paintings that changed the world - In pictures Black Square, Kazimir Malevich Tretyakov Gallery Steve McQueen Getty Images Video artist Steve McQueen won the 1999 Turner Prize for short film works shown in an exhibition at the ICA, but you might know him for quite a different reason. He's gone on to become better known for his work in the film industry, and as director of award-winning feature film 12 Years A Slave he became the first black filmmaker to earn an Oscar for Best Picture. Prior to this feat, McQueen had also earned acclaim for his films Hunger and Shame, both of which also starred actor Michael Fassbender. Jeremy Deller Getty Images Performance, video and installation artist Deller picked up the 2004 prize for a video work examining the reaction to President Bush in his home state. His eclectic practice has seen him produce a bouncy castle Stonehenge in Glasgow, and a survey of British culture in his 2013 Venice Biennale show English Magic. A 2016 performance work commemorated the 100 year anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, and saw 1600 motionless volunteers stand at Kings Cross station representing individuals who died on the first day of battle. Most recently, he we created leaflets that were handed out in public places telling people how to leave Facebook. Wolfgang Tillmans AFP/Getty Images German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans became the first non-British artist to win the Turner Prize in 2000. He won the accolade for work that could be seen in both exhibitions and numerous magazines that year. Tillmans has since continued to work across both graphic media and fine art, and in 2016 he produced a series of free-to-download Anti-Brexit campaign posters which carried slogans including No man is an island. No country by itself. Grayson Perry Getty Images Possibly the most recognisable of all the Turner Prize winners is artist Grayson Perry, who has gone on to full blown national treasure status. Upon winning in 2003 for an exhibition of pots decorated with politically charged illustrations, he famously declared, "well, it's about time a transvestite potter won the Turner Prize." Since then, he has penned several books, including a memoir, and hosted several TV documentaries. (In the Channel 4 series Who Are You? he famously created a pot for politician Chris Huhne that was covered in penises.) He gave the Reith Lectures in 2013, discussing populism on contemporary art, and went on to develop them into a book. Last year, he opened an exhibition at the Serpentine Galleries in 2017 called The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! and this year will curate the Royal Academy's annual Summer Exhibition. Assemble AFP/Getty Images A is for artisanal ryes. Hackneys East London Liquor Company will soon be releasing the first whisky to be made in East London in over 100 years, aged in chestnut, wine, rye and bourbon barrels. B is for biodegradable. Now you must drink from bubbles too. Ooho! is a biodegradable, edible water container made of plants and seaweed: it sold out at Borough Market and Macron is a fan. Meanwhile, Drake & Morgan serves its Plenty More Fish in the G&T in a biodegradable plastic bag instead of a glass. C is for craft mixers. Ethical water brand Dashs new range of craft sodas uses fruit saved from farms think knobbly lemons, wonky cucumbers and squashed raspberries. D is for detox drinks. Dont worry, they are still boozy. Lucky & Joys Gordons Matcha May is crafted with matcha-infused gin with ginger and citrus. At Cinnamon Kitchen in Battersea, the detoxifying Vodka Chaas is blended with black tea, vermouth and black cardamom, a natural anti-depressant that kills harmful bacteria. E is for elderflower. Harry and Megs are putting it in their wedding cake but this summer youll be getting royally wedding-ed on cordial too: Simpsons in the Strands Dont Make A Fuss cocktail combines it with gin, grapefruit bitters and sparkling wine. Swift mixes its with Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto, lemon sorbet and prosecco in a sgroppino. Food. Bars. Going out. Delivered weekly Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}} The 10 best bars in London 1 /10 The 10 best bars in London Scarfes bar Scarfes always packs out for good reason. From early difficult days, when it was a den of garishness, its become something magnificent, elegant, revered. This seemed to go to their head at the last list change, when they were charging 10 for a beer a tenner! but things have just been changed again and theyve wiped a little smugness off the prices. While there are still elements of the wrong crowd coming through the doors (lawyers are very hard to shake), mostly it is now a low-lit library of charm. The new menu is a marvel, Gerald Scarfes work still sharp and gorgeous to look at (and now for sale, after all the old lists got nicked). The mixes inspired by the drawings are even better to drink. See for yourself with the Naturalist, inspired by Sir David Attenborough: the back story is in the book, but a spirit made from soil burns cold in this twist on a Martini that is ice-white intense and blindingly strong in a way that puts Dukes Bar to shame. Untitled Bar Tony Conigliaros Dalston spot is similar to Matt Whileys Scout in Shoreditch, in that both are technical; drinks arent the comforting kind made up of familiar flavours, they're potions. This can be odd, disconcerting and occasionally unpleasant, but when they get things right, its a revelation. Scout is the more experimental of the two but Untitled gets the nod here as the place is more versatile, and is presently refurbishing its garden for the summer from late May, expect to find a Japanese inspired stretch of calm. Food is terrific (try it all for about 26 a head between two) and even if its altogether a bit too pleased with itself, theres lots to like. Try the Violin: though the description (dark oak, pine, beeswax, benzoin, black pepper vodka infusion) reads like something youd find on the back of Pledge bottle, and the flavour is one of old wooden cases, workshops, libraries. It's delicious: drinking it feels like reading a murder mystery under the blankets. Dandelyan Any of Ryan Chetiyawardanas excellent bars could have made this list and probably they all deserve to. Super Lyan is a Hoxton basement, built for beers and trying spirits youll never remember the names of. Cub is one of Londons most exciting restaurants, and one of the most sustainable, too. Dandelyan, though, arguably serves the best drinks in its if-Sweden-did-Vegas surrounds, which look out over the Thames. The menu has a helpful flavour map that signals what to have and when; sadly, theres too much to fit into one night, so have a couple a time and come back when you can. Theres lots to like: the Nitrate Manhattan is hoppy and spicy, full of red hot chilli flavour blended with a pleasing herbiness, while the Concrete Sazerac is as strong as its name suggests. Still, the best of the bunch is the Paperclip (rye, gunpowder, herbal beurre blanc, paper fibre). It is odd, distinct, minty but slightly creamy and slightly oily, though much tastier than any of those words suggest. The Coral Room This newly opened bar has things right. Its entirely gorgeous and not in that "built for the Gram" way of things while the menu does its own thing without either going to into the realm of impressive-but-undrinkable, or easing back to be just-another-clone-of-the-classics. It is all very grand but all very playful too, and for a hotel bar, downright reasonable. There is a lot to drink here (including a hefty selection of English fizz), and theyre a dab hand with mezcal, but weve picked the espresso martini here for a reason: our experience sums up their attitude to their guests. They make one exactly to order, not too sweet, not too frothy, and if it isnt right, they do it again with no fuzz and a garland of apologies. Thats how the place is run, and its a reason to come back. Their sister, the terrific Bloomsbury Club Bar downstairs, is also a must ask for Brian. Swift Now we have it, how Soho survived without Swift for so long is a mystery. There have always been drinking dens and battered pubs and good restaurants, but a smart, straight up-and-down cocktail bar was missing. Making up for lost time, Swift effectively put two in: upstairs is light, airy, somewhere for sharp drinks (try the Piccolina), downstairs is cosier, darker, sexier. Who wouldnt want to ask for a Silver Pistol (montelobos, dry vermouth, kummel, celery bitters, absinthe)? Cool name, cool drink. Better still is the Bazaar (silver tequila, saffron, mandarin sherbet, Suze, tonic). Its refreshing and bright and crisp and full of zip. Its easy enough to have one too many, so be careful. Not a bad price, either, at 10. Nuala London does well with Guinness we were the first place outside of Ireland to get the stuff, at the Tipperary on Fleet Street and weve got plenty of decent Irish pubs, but Irish bars are harder to come by. Underneath the excellent Nuala restaurant is this (fully wheelchair accessible) Celtic hangout, which does its theme gently; there are no shamrocks or clovers about, instead its all dark wood and fiddles on the sound system. The Guinness is excellent and the natural wine selection is among the best in the capital, but come here for a punch. Not the most sophisticated of cocktails, perhaps, but good fun. These arent American style-party-juice mixes: Punch Number 3 is a mix of sherry, rum and cognac. One to be savoured. If youre just after the one drink, have the Manhattan Serve (Irish single malt, armagnac, sherry, squash seed oil, honey). Nola Lists like these can be imperfect in many ways; theyre subjective in many different directions. Theres a basic sense of taste, for both flavour and decor, then theres considerations of budget (itself a slightly different concern to value for money). Then come the other things; are you on a date, out with friends, on your own? Whats the weather like? (The greatest speakeasy in the world has nothing on the worlds worst pub garden when the suns out). Are you celebrating or commiserating? You get the idea. Does the new Nola serve technically better drinks than, say, the excellent Connaught Bar? Probably not but then, its a different place. Its not pricey, is proudly quirky and overflows with New Orleans inspired charm. Its very relaxed but gets lively and their Sazerac is world class; Im not sure theres a better one in town (though Sohos Cafe Boheme rarely disappoints if your order is precise enough). Nola is very easy to love. What else matters? The American Bar The American Bar seems to warrant a place on these sorts of a lists as if by law. Given its routinely declared the best bar in London, there is something of the must-see about it and in all fairness, they do step up to the challenge. Bar manager Declan McGurk and his only-completely-intimidating head barman Erik Lorincz have an ever changing menu; updates are regular and always theatrical, usually drawing on the Savoys endless stories, whether its Fred Astaire and his sister tap-dancing on the roof or Marilyn Monroe and Lawrence Olivier bickering through a press tour. Though their innovations tend to be tremendous, the classics (which are off menu) are always done expertly. Early evening, have a Negroni its the favourite of bartender Pippa Guy, who says: It epitomises beauty in simplicity. Three ingredients in equal parts , a perfect bitter harmony. Cant argue with that. Bar Americain There will be those who dont think Bar Americain deserves a spot on this list, perhaps because it's not all about change or innovation. Theyre right; it isnt, but to criticise the place on such grounds is like wondering when Cartier are going to branch out into dating apps. For those who dont miss the point, it is an art deco den of decadent charm, all twinkling bottles and waiters who gave up walking long ago in favour of gliding. Classics are their strong suit; their Aviation (gin, maraschino cherry, lemon juice) is nicely bracing, while the Old Fashioned is exactly that, with no modern messing about. After a few of whatever, see out the night with a Black Pearl (scotch, vermouth, chocolate liquer, punt-e-mes). It is perfect for the last drink of the night. Coupette This Bethnal Green bar has established itself as a favourite. Its French feeling (though, thankfully not where the musics concerned), and big on Calvados, which is a criminally underrated drink over her (just ask Gerald at Bistro Mirey). Chris Moore, once of the Beautfort Bar (see below), has done wonders with stuff try Apples, which tastes just like them, if apples could leave you all happy and buzzing. The star drink is the Champagne Pina Colada, though, which deservedly is an award-winner. It feels wonderfully over the top: who puts champagne with such a silly little holiday drink? Nevertheless, it works beautifully. And if the song gets stuck in your head, then that can only be a good thing. Coupette F is for frozen. At Super Lyan in Hoxton the ice is particularly nice this summer because bar supremo Ryan Chetiyawardana will be serving slushy cocktails. At Sohos Pastaio, you can slurp on a blood-orange prosecco slushy. Ice can change a cocktails whole complexion. Hide barman Oskar Kinberg uses frozen tapped birch sap instead of ice for a smoother finish. G is for garnish walls. At No 29 Power Station West in Nine Elms the final twist on your vodka and soda is at your discretion: Ketel One's living garnish wall means you can pluck your own produce. H is for highballs. The vertiginous highball has a new sidekick at Bar Three in Spitalfields, with tequila highballs becoming the signature drink of the summer. These combine green tea, honey, ocho blanco and soda. I is for Ireland. Specifically Guinness, which is once again showing off its undersold versatility at Nuala in Shoreditch. It claims to serve the best Guinness outside Dublin, and there are few Irish comforts better than its bars Black Velvet, in which Guinness and champagne share a glass. J is for jaggery. The hero ingredient in Hoppers sweet and comforting non-alcoholic cocktail, Wattalapam Milk, made with malt, coconut, sweet jaggery treacle, cinnamon and salted cashew. K is for Kanye. The Piano Works Gold Digger is inspired by K Wests love of slushies when hes performing. Sip on a blend of Grey Goose vodka, gomme syrup, elderflower, lime sorbet, lime juice and gold powder. L is for Lambrusco. The fizzy red wine has been reincarnated. Provisions on Holloway Road does a bottle of Denny Bini Lambrusco dellEmilia for 16. Its the brands party label: a dry, sparkling red made from organic grapes. It shows lots of blackcurrant fruit on the nose, which is offset by an earthy bitterness. M is for marmalade mimosas. At Sparrow in Lewisham, syrup is made in-house from freshly squeezed orange and grapefruit juices, reduced with sugar and a couple of scoops of marmalade. A double measure is mixed with a swig of Campari, topped with sparkling white wine. N is for new-gronis. New season, new reasons to fall for this mainstay. Keep things fresh with one of Forza Wins fruity glasses in Peckham, from cherry to peach negronis. O is for Oriole Top Trumps. Drinking games are taken up a notch at Oriole, where the cocktail menu is a card game. Drinks are scored in four categories: fruity, boozy, complex and refreshing, simultaneously giving you the chance to compare the cocktails and score a free round from your pals. P is for pink gin. The ubiquitous millennial pink has hit the drinks menu. Selfridges has fresh citrus Williams Pink Grapefruit Gin and Pinkster sells its raspberry-infused gin on tap in a three-litre box thats 100 gin servings. Q is for quince. Shoreditchs Callooh Callay mixes quince with cognac, amaro, black pepper, lemon and egg white in its French Coin, and the Oriole in Smithfield serves it with cognac, vermouth, crab-apple jelly and lemon. R is for royal. Cocktails fit for a queen? At Ritorno in Chelsea, the Right Royal cocktail menu has been curated with a nod to the drinking habits of the Royal Family, to wet the new babys head. To wit, the bar serves the Queen Mothers Tipple, a potent mix of gin and Dubonnet. S is for savoury. Dont stop at a Bloody Mary: try the Sofia Spritz at Carluccios, with artichoke-infused gin. The Gibsons range includes the Some Moth Cocktail with crushed green pepper in brine and chilli pearls. The London Cocktail Club has a full savoury collection: try the Bacon and Egg Martini. T is for tequila. Tequila is no longer a spirit to be slammed. Tequila Enemigo is an ultra-premium tequila you sip through champagne glasses. Its just launched its summer serve, Mineral 89, at only 62 calories a glass. Mix it with sparkling water and a dash of lime. U is for unsung heroes. Creative muscles are being flexed on mocktail menus. Dishooms Virtuous Tulsi Sour is a non-alcoholic blend of juniper, ginger, lemon and basil. Lets hear it, too, for aquafaba, a vegan alternative to egg white derived from chickpeas, shaken up in The Spread Eagles signature Tequila Sour out in Homerton. V is for vending machines. At Brigadiers, the sprawling new Indian regimental mess bar in Bloomberg Arcade, there is a whisky vending machine stocked with premium blends so you can serve yourself. W is for wine in cans. Try Most Wanteds new Pinot Grigot. X is for Xeco sherry cocktails. Not only is sherry being used in cocktails by leading bartenders but it fits in to the low ABV trend. Head to new coffee and cocktail spot Over Under at the Ham Yard Hotel for their Xeco ginger Xeco fino sherry, ginger ale and peach bitters. This is the perfect way to try its dry, nutty fino. Y is for yuzu. The citrus fruit from Asia adds a juicy zestiness to gin try the Yuzu Smirnoff Collins at Lucky & Joy. Freak Scene in Soho has a yuzu-spiked beer cocktail, built on Yokai from The Wild Beer Co, and topped with a frozen head of lemonade. The frozen head keeps the pint cold as it goes down, and the acidity of the lemon brings out the yuzu notes in the beer. E leven short stories inspired by the Tube, presented by the Evening Standard and Borough Press. This collection of short stories distills the sweat and tears of the daily commute, along with the occasional magic of a Tube journey. Loading.... Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk. We kicked off with The Piccadilly Predicament by Lionel Shriver and a new story will be available to download each week. The below extract is the sixth story in our series and is based on real events. In January 1862, Frederick Leyland, director of the National Telephone Company and one of the wealthiest men in England, mysteriously died on the platform at Blackfriars 4 January 1892 The president arrived in the lobby at a brisk pace, his boot heels clacking down the marble staircase. He was exactly as hed been described: tall and uncommonly thin, about sixty years old, with a broad forehead and a silvery, scrupulously neat beard. His suit was black, cut close and worn with a frilled dress shirt, an eccentric touch that somehow increased the severity of the overall effect. The clerk at the desk whod been eyeing Merrill from time to time, as if suspecting that he might try to pocket an inkwell was off his stool immediately, retrieving coats and hats from a small chamber beside the doors. Merrill rose to his feet, doing his best to appear alert and useful. Uncle Bob, descending a few feet behind the president, gave him a weary look. This is James Merrill, Mr Leyland, he said. My nephew. The clerk helped the president into a black overcoat, which was buttoned up to the neck, and then handed over a spotless black topper. After fitting this carefully on his head, the president turned towards Merrill for a momentary appraisal. There was an odd blankness about his eyes, and when he spoke his voice was devoid of interest. He dresses well. Author, Matthew Plampin / Karolina Webb Uncle Bob accepted his own coat and shrugged it on. Dressing, he replied, Merrill can do. Before joining the National Telephone Company Uncle Bob had been an officer of infantry, ranking somewhere in the middle, and you could see it in him now that deep-dyed regard for hierarchy that soldiers were prone to have. Attending on this Mr Leyland, he was every inch the loyal lieutenant, moving aside smartly as the president made for the doors. Only then did Merrill realize that someone else had come down with them, another junior like himself; this man was older, though, thirty-five at least, blond-whiskered and bordering upon portliness. I am Mr Carlens, he said, skirting the desk to fetch a grey coat and bowler. Mr Leylands private secretary. Was that condescension in Mr Carlens expression a shade of scorn, even? Merrill could hardly blame him if it was. His situation was plain enough, there for anyone to divine: that stale story of hapless youth, surrendered to an upstanding family elder for correction and supplied with an unearned career in business for which he was proving markedly ill-suited. Merrill wasnt at all proud of this. There were days, in truth, when he could scarcely bear the sight of his own reflection. The two juniors went out into the dull January evening. Uncle Bob had been summoned to Leylands office in the City only an hour or so before, to escort him back to the telephone companys premises on Temple Lane. No cab was being called, however, nor was there any sign of the grand private carriage that the president was said to keep on hand both day and night. Merrill saw that Leyland and Uncle Bob had turned to the left, and were following the crowds that tramped down towards Cannon Street. Are we not he began. Forgive me, Mr Carlens, but isnt there a Mr Leyland wishes to take the underground. Merrill managed to contain his disbelief merely to nod, as an unquestioning subordinate should do. Frederick Richards Leyland was, without doubt or exception, the richest man in England. Some at the telephone company claimed that by the end of that year he would be the richest man alive. He had millions in the bank. Carriages and country houses. A Kensington mansion in which the finest modern paintings were displayed like stamps in an album. This surprises you, Carlens observed. They started out in pursuit of their employers. Merrill watched the presidents pristine topper shimmer as it passed beneath a street lamp. I havent been with the company very long, Mr Carlens. There is much I do not It is true that Mr Leyland is averse to crowds, generally speaking. The private secretary lowered his voice; Merrill sensed that he relished his position at the presidents side and the insights it permitted. There are a good number who conduct their business hereabouts whom he would not care to meet. Who might well seize upon the chance to speak with him. Carlens surveyed the hundreds streaming around them: this world of men, emptying out at the days end, tramping off to stations and omnibus stands. The chances are slight, of course but still, eyes peeled, eh? To hear the rest of the story, listen to the podcast above. Underground: Tales for London is available to listen online at standard.co.uk/podcasts. Subscribe on iTunes and other podcast apps. E ver since she wrote her essay We Should All Be Feminists, novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been hailed as an unofficial womens laureate. Beyonce sampled her in the song Flawless, sending Adichies novels Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah to the top of bestseller lists, and she has given TED talks that have been cited all around the world. When we meet for an apple juice at The Rosewood Hotel, Adichie, 40, has regal poise and a direct manner. Her hair is combed back into high bunches on top of her head and she proudly wears clothes by Nigerian designers a tailored green top and a skirt made of red and blue ribbons. But she wasnt always so confident. We are talking about how the #MeToo movement is redefining whats consensual when she says she has experienced an abuse of power herself. If I talk about it, its going to become the news in Nigeria and I dont know if I have the energy for that. But it happened. When she was 17, she met a powerful man in the media back in Nigeria to ask for support launching her poetry book. They had a pleasant conversation. But before she knew what was happening, he slipped his hand under her shirt, squeezing her breast. Taken aback, she froze. Then she pushed his hand away, but gently, so as not to offend. The #MeToo movement is long overdue, she says now, sliding her red flip-flops off, a plaster on her little toe. It is a chronicle of inhumane injustice. For so long women didnt tell their stories because someone wouldnt believe them, or would blame them. Now that women are telling their stories and there are consequences for perpetrators I feel a cautious optimism. I want more accountability for people in positions of power, and for people to become more aware of subtleties. People often meet their spouses at work, so its important to make that distinction about whats consensual. Its almost as though many men dont know the difference. Women are bright enough to know. She acknowledges, though, that conversations about feminism are currently being carried out at a high pitch. Thats why its important to talk about things in detail. It gives people less of a reason to say theres a witch hunt going on. Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd Adiche is familiar with backlashes. Last year, she said that the experiences of transgender women are distinct from those who are born female and as a result was inundated with hate mail. Somebody told me, You are a murderer because your words are violence and your violence is killing trans women. I didnt think I had said anything bad and was hurt that I had been attacked by my tribe, who believe the same things about life. I am fundamentally very supportive of transgender rights but I dont think I said anything wrong. Its strange to me that we cannot acknowledge difference because we want to be inclusive. How can we talk about issues if we dont acknowledge difference? It was isolating but in the end it felt liberating because if you are so terrified of falling, not that I was, but if you dont expect to fall and then you do you know its not that much of a big deal. There is a wider point about the political Left. Adichie calls it her ideological home but adds: Its closed debate. You cant question anything. People are terrified of saying what they think even though they might mean well. I sometimes feel it trivialises the big things. The noise around it felt like a deliberate misunderstanding. Theres a mob mentality. She stands by her views, adding that she received supportive emails from the trans community as well. So how is she bringing up her own daughter, aged two and a half? I dont want to be the crazy feminist mother; if she decides she wants a doll Ill grudgingly give her a doll. Im keen to raise her not thinking of gender, not whether she is doing what a girl should do. Im just going to let her follow her own interests. So far she seems to likes tools and her fathers keys. Her daughter enjoys being read to. Shes started to make thing sup, shell turn the pages and just blather on. Its become normal to her that Im on TV she probably thinks all mothers have their pictures in magazines. I wonder if thats healthy and if I need to hide the pictures. Oh, the anxiety of being a mother. Dave Benett Adicihe is in London for the Malaria Summit London, where she read out two stories she has written about her experience of the disease. Bill Gates, Prince Charles and 15 Commonwealth country leaders assembled to take action on malaria and on Friday the UK government and Commonwealth leaders pledged to halve malaria by 2023. This could save more than half a million lives. Because I grew up in Nigeria, malaria was a part of my childhood, says Adichie. I dont remember a time when I didnt know malaria, it was an inevitable part of our lives. Malaria was the reason you missed school and it takes up a lot of your life. Mine would start with this horrible aching feeling in my stomach. Then I would sometimes have nausea, fever and this heavy headache that would just not go away. You would feel utter exhaustion, like something had just been sucked out of you. Now, Adichies family mock her for how obsessive she is about protecting her daughter from the disease. They live between Maryland, near Washington DC, and Lagos. My daughter smells like insect repellent all the time when were in Lagos. She hasnt had malaria yet. I kind of know she will get it being in Nigeria but I dont want her to until shes at least five. She jokes that her focus on eradicating the disease is self-interested. I find it exciting, just because Im thinking about how it will affect my life. I wont have that level of anxiety. My family was fortunate my father was a professor and I grew up on a university campus where there was a medical centre but there are many people who dont have access to medicine. Because malaria is not a disease that is endemic in countries that are wealthy there is a difference in how its seen. Its not a priority for wealthy countries because its not a disease there. I think thats affected how it hasnt yet been stamped out everywhere in the world. The Commonwealths approach is multi-faceted. Its not just about medicine, its also about prevention, getting people to know that stagnant water is a bad idea because thats how mosquitoes breed. What does she make of the Commonwealth? Its a strange thing to me. There are still cultural connections. When I meet people from Kenya or India who grew up at the same time as I did they all read Enid Blyton as children, as did I. Thats what it means to have come from the Commonwealth, to have aspired to ridiculous things such as drinking ginger beer because we didnt have it in our countries and in the books we read about people in England they did. Adichie was in the headlines this month for saying Meghan Markle should be the next Commonwealth leader and roars with laughter that her suggestion was taken seriously. I wanted to be ridiculous. This is why I should stop my stupid jokes. Shes sad about the Windrush generation being deported. Its deeply immoral. Its important to ask questions about race. If these people were from Australia, would they be deported? Its a question of are these people somehow less worthy of Britishness. It makes no sense. Does she have time to write in between campaigning? I cant tell you what Im working on because Id have to kill you. She grins. I dont like talking about work in progress; Im superstitious. Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd She has a writing room in the US; in Nigeria she works in her bedroom. I need time and space and quiet. Some people can cram it in and write anywhere and I envy them. I need physical space and creative space. With a heavy voice, she says shes not immune to the draw of internet-based distraction. Thats part of the reason Im not writing as much as I want to. I look something up and before I know it three hours have gone. Its ridiculous, I just click on rubbish. She is still adjusting to fame. There are times when I dont want to be recognised because Im in a bad mood or my vanity isnt happy with me looking schlumpy, or Im in my pyjamas or I havent put on lipgloss. Literary news bores her but she always has a few books on the go, non-fiction, fiction and poetry, and recommends The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert. Its about people trying to make sense of their grandparents complicity in the Holocaust. The US is as much home as Nigeria but she doesnt even want to talk about Trump, telling me she is sleep-deprived. The standard is so low, the discourse is so crude. I think thats probably why Ive switched off. Im just waiting for these four years to pass. I n less than three weeks, Muslims across the world will take part in Ramadan. The annual fast is integral to Islamic faith and will take place from mid-May to mid-June. What is Ramadan? Ramadan is held during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is a time for spiritual reflection, acts of charity and spending time with loved ones. It is also a period of time where Muslims fast. This means they dont eat or drink between sunrise and sunset, which is important during Ramadan as it allows them to devote themselves further to their faith, ultimately becoming closer to Allah, or God. The reason why Muslims fast is because it is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, the other pillars being faith, prayer, charity and making the pilgrimage to Mecca the Holy City. Mayor Sadiq Khan's Ramadan message Before sunrise, they will have a meal (suhoor) and another meal (iftar) after sunset. The only people that do not have to fast during Ramadan are children, elderly, pregnant women and those who are travelling or who are ill. When does Ramadan start in 2018? This year Ramadan begins on Tuesday May 15 and ends on Thursday June 14. Ramadan falls at a different time each year because the Islamic calendar is based on lunar cycles, which means there isnt a fixed date. What happens when Ramadan ends? T he summer days are drawing to a close, which means the kids head back to school and the early morning commute to work gets a little darker. Thankfully, before we have to face September, we've got an August bank holiday to spare. Whether you're spending the weekend partying at Notting Hill Carnival or just relaxing at home, here's everything you need to know about the August bank holiday: What is a bank holiday? A bank holiday essentially means a public holiday. Launched by Liberal politician and banker Sir John Lubbock in 1871, it was introduced as a way of giving workers respite. It was stated that on four days across the year, people shouldnt be expected to do what they wouldnt do on Christmas Day. Now, England has eight bank holidays across the year including Good Friday and Christmas Day and they differ in Ireland and Scotland. Why is it called a bank holiday? The reason its called a bank holiday is because historically it was the day banks closed and that meant nobody else could work - there were no computers back then and business tended only to be able to function when other services were open but dont highlight that too much to your employer Does everyone get a bank holiday? Under law, employers arent obliged to give you bank holidays off so make sure you find out what youre entitled to before you sign your contract. When is the August bank holiday? This year the August bank holiday will fall on Monday 27. When are the rest of the bank holidays in 2018? So far weve had New Year's Day: Monday 1 January Good Friday: Friday 30 March Easter Monday: Monday 2 April Early May bank holiday: Monday 7 May Late May bank holiday: Monday 28 May Coming up Summer bank holiday: Monday 27 August Christmas Day: Tuesday 25 December Once dubbed the coolest neighbourhood in Mexico City, Condesas tree-lined boulevards continue to attract a young, bohemian and artsy crowd. Heres a whistle-stop tour of its greatest hits... Sleep The areas original boutique option, Hotel Condesa DF, is as spectacular as when it first opened in 2005. The brainchild of interior designer India Mahdavi and native architect Javier Sanchez, the property is part of the trendy Habitas group that owns three other design-led hotels in and around the city. Dont miss the oft-Instagrammed rooftop bar, with its impressive views over the citys iconic skyline. People. Fashion. Power. Delivered weekly. Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}} Eat Mexico City is a gourmands dream, with no shortage of fine dining options. But if street food is more your vibe, then book yourself onto Eat Mexicos renowned tour of the best taco spots in Condesa. Run by Lesley Tellez, the Chilango 101 tour will ensure you can tell your al pastor from your arab taco in no time. For something a little more fancy, theres Contremar - which specialises in seafood and does the best fish tacos in town. Opt for the signature tuna tostados topped with crispy leeks. Sounds weird, tastes heavenly. Hotel Condesa DF, Mexico - in pictures 1 /19 Hotel Condesa DF, Mexico - in pictures Bar Hotel Condesa DF Room with a balcony Seating area Bathroom Outside terrace Bathroom view Bedroom with an outside area Bedroom The patio The patio seating area Dining Seating area in the bar Lounge area Hotel Condesa DF Entrance to Hotel Condesa DF Lounge area Hotel Condesa DF Green terrace above the patio Brunch Lardo sits between Condesa and achingly trendy Roma, which explains why there are often queues snaking around the block to get into the vibey brunch spot. Theyve got eggs down to a fine art - huevos rancheros, shakshuka or your standard-issue poached with avo on toast - while the rustic-chic interiors look like something straight out of a Nancy Myers movie. Drink Mezcal. And lots of it. Theres lots of buzz around El Palenquito at the moment, a mezcaleria in Rome Norte, which serves some of the best Oaxacan varieties with a side of fried grasshoppers (the chapulines are a Mexican delicacy and make for a surprisingly moreish bar snack). See Parque Espana, the sprawling oasis in the middle of the neighbourhood, flanked by some of the best kept Art Nouveau buildings the city has. Originally built in the 1920s to mark the 100th anniversary of Mexicos independence, today its a dog lovers paradise that provides perfect respite from the mayhem of nearby Avenue Nuevo Leon. Mexico Spring Equinox - In pictures 1 /15 Mexico Spring Equinox - In pictures Thousands of people meet to to celebrate the spring equinox in Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico EPA Visitors conduct a ritual beside ruins at the base of the Pyramid of the Sun during Spring equinox celebrations in Teotihuacan, Mexico AP People surround the Kukulcan Pyramid at the Mayan archaeological site of Chichen Itza in Yucatan State, Mexico, during the celebration of the spring equinox AFP/Getty Images Visitors hold their hands out to receive the sun's energy as they celebrate the Spring equinox atop the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico AP A man lifts a little boy in the air atop the Pyramid of the Sun at the archaeological site of Teotihuacan, in the municipality of Teotihuacan, northeast of Mexico City, to "get energy" from the sun as it rises during celebrations of the spring equinox AFP/Getty Images A hot air balloon floats above the Pyramid of the Sun during the spring equinox in the pre-hispanic city of Teotihuacan on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico REUTERS Thousands of people meet to to celebrate the spring equinox in Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexic EPA Visitors soak up the sun's energy as they celebrate the Spring equinox atop the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico AP Claudia Meneses of Colombia holds up crystals as she soaks in the sun's energy while celebrating the Spring equinox atop the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico AP Visitors hold soak up the sun's energy as they celebrate the Spring equinox atop the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico AP Visitors hold soak up the sun's energy as they celebrate the Spring equinox atop the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico AP A man atop the Pyramid of the Sun at the archaeological site of Teotihuacan, in the municipality of Teotihuacan, northeast of Mexico City, "gets enery" from the sun as it rises during celebrations of the spring equinox AFP/Getty Images A woman holds a pyramid figure towards the sun to welcome the spring equinox in the pre-hispanic city of Teotihuacan on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico Reuters Visitors look toward the sun as they celebrate the Spring equinox atop the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico AP A woman raises her arms towards the sun to welcome the spring equinox while she is standing on the Pyramid of the Sun in the pre-hispanic city of Teotihuacan on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico REUTERS Art fix Arguably Mexicos most famous modern artist - and the subject of the V&As upcoming blockbuster spring show - a pilgrimage to Frida Kahlos Casa Azul in Coyoacan is a must. Furnished with unique personal artefacts and belongings that celebrate traditional Mexican handicrafts, the Blue House is a stunning and impeccably preserved testament to Fridas life. The added bonus is nearby Coyoacan Market, where you can pick up sumptuous tostadas and piping hot churros from the famous Churreria General De La Republica. Getting there A graduate shot dead on his doorstep had been living in fear for a decade after giving evidence in a rape trial involving a neighbourhood gang, his mother has revealed. Abraham Badru , 26, was gunned down at close range after stepping out of his car in Dalston last month. His mother today spoke for the first time about the murder of her son, who was working as a personal trainer, in an emotional appeal for witnesses. Ronke Badru said: My life is now empty. I dont feel like theres anything left for me in this world now that hes gone. Mr Badru 'lived in fear for a decade', his mother said The mental health support worker added: This is the longest Ive ever gone without seeing him. Even when he was at university, I would visit. Mr Badru, whose father Dolapo Badru, 62, is a politician in Nigeria, won a bravery award after he intervened in a sex attack on a teenage girl. He then gave evidence against a gang that committed rape on the Frampton Park Estate in 2007. Mrs Badru, 50, added: Since the attack Abraham was always scared. I am pleading with anyone who knows anything to come forward. It would relieve me a little to know we at least caught who did this. Scotland Yard, which is offering a 20,000 reward for information, today said they believe the killer made off on a white bicycle. Police were called at 11.11pm on March 25 to Ferncliff Road following reports of gunshots. Mr Badru was pronounced dead at the scene. D anish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering journalist Kim Wall on his submarine. Prosecutors said Madsen killed Wall either by cutting the throat or strangling her. The Swedish journalist's headless torso washed up in Copenhagen, weighed down with metal on August 23 last year. Judge Anette Burkoe said at the Copenhagen City Court that she and the jurors agreed her death was a murder. Peter Madsen, right, builder and captain of the private submarine UC3 Nautilus / AFP/Getty Images She said Madsen did not given "a trustworthy" explanation. It was a "cynical murder" of a journalist who was performing her duties, the court said in its ruling. Eccentric engineer: Peter Madsen aboard one of the submarines that he built / AP Ms Wall, 30, planned to interview Madsen on board his 18-metre long, 40-tonne submarine for a magazine feature on August 10. But after UC3 Nautilus failed to return, her boyfriend alerted the authorities in the early hours of the following day. A man and a woman standing in the tower of the UC3 Nautilus in Copenhagen Harbour / AFP/Getty Images Madsen denied murder throughout the trial, claiming Miss Wall died accidentally inside the submarine while he was on deck. He had confessed to cutting up Ms Wall's body and throwing the body parts into the sea. The 47-year-old stood quietly listening as the judge read out the verdict on Wednesday. Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen claimed Ms Wall's murder was sexually motivated and premeditated because Madsen brought along tools he normally didn't take when sailing, including a saw and sharpened screwdrivers. Madsen's defense lawyer had argued for his acquittal on the charge of murder, saying he should only be sentenced the lesser charge of cutting Wall's body into pieces. The cause of death has never been established but the court found that Madsen "cut the body into pieces to hide what had happened". A senior DUP MP today warned Theresa May that his party is prepared to bring down the Government rather than see Northern Ireland fracture away from Britain. Nigel Dodds, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party at Westminster, said his party would enforce its red line that Brexit must not lead to a rift between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. EU leaders are pushing for the province to effectively remain in the customs union and single market if the Government fails to come up with a solution to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Mr Dodds said: If, as a result of the Brexit negotiations for instance, there was to be any suggestion that Northern Ireland would be treated differently in a way, for instance that we were part of a customs union and a single market and the rest of the UK wasnt ... for us that would be a red line, which we would vote against the Government. Flying the Unionist flag: Nigel Dodds leads DUP members at a press conference last year / Getty Images Speaking to the Conservativehome website, he added: You might as well have a Corbyn government pursuing openly its anti-Unionist policies as have a Conservative Government doing it by a different means. Giving evidence to MPs today, Brexit Secretary David Davis gave no indication that any breakthrough is imminent in the stalemate over the Irish border. He was giving evidence to the Brexit committee before a Cabinet-level meeting to discuss technological issues relating to the departure from the EU. Thousands of anti-Brexit activists march to Parliament in protest 1 /12 Thousands of anti-Brexit activists march to Parliament in protest Demonstrators head towards Parliament Square. REUTERS Signs include 'I love EU' REUTERS The pro-EU march began in Hyde Park Corner. Si Carrington 'NHS? Brexit Wrexit' Oliver Day The march took protesters through the streets of London. Oliver Day One protester brought along a papier mache Queen, in reference to the blue and yellow hat she wore at the State Opening of Parliament. Peter Bailey 'Exit Brexit' Jonathan Hawley The September sun shone as activists marched through the streets. Martin Tod Roads were blocked during the protest. Maggie Jones The campaigners set off shortly after 11am from Hyde Park Corner. Maggie Jones The rally saw the activists march through the streets of central London. Johann Ketel EU colours of blue and yellow were seen throughout the march. Judi Conner In a sign of the tensions over the Irish border impasse, Mr Dodds accused the Irish government of using very aggressive terms. He added: Theyve talked about almost the annexation of Northern Ireland. He also made clear that the DUP is strongly opposed to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. One of the reasons why we entered into the confidence and supply agreement was to keep Corbyn out of No 10, to avoid an early general election, he said. Corbyn being in No 10 would be a disaster not just for Northern Ireland but for the UK, and actually dangerous for the UK in every sense. The Government has suffered defeats on its Brexit plans in the Lords, with peers seeking to force remaining in a customs union back on the agenda. But the EU is not holding its breath on the issue. EU Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt said today: We are not working [] on the idea, Oh maybe they will change their mind, and if they change their mind, what are we gonna do? Mr Verhofstadt also warned the UK to propose a solution for the Irish border by June, and not October, a date floated by Mr Davis. Its clear that the ball is now on the side of the UK to come forward with a satisfactory solution he said. We will not give our consent to a withdrawal agreement without a guarantee, a 100 per cent assurance, that there will be no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. J eremy Corbyns bid to heal relations with Jewish leaders foundered today amid scenes of protest and recriminations. Dozens of Labour MPs staged a symbolic show of discontent against Labours failure to crack down on anti-Semitism by marching alongside Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth when she went to give evidence at an expulsion hearing against activist Marc Wadsworth, who is accused of abusing her. Outside the hearing, Momentum activists and a group called Labour Against The Witchhunt shouted free Marc Wadsworth and free Palestine outside Church House, Westminster, leading to complaints from one centrist MP of an intimidating atmosphere. Labour MP Jess Phillips said: We are making sure she isnt walking into a protest on her own. Fellow MP Wes Streeting said it was intimidating. Mr Wadsworth was suspended in 2016 after accusing Ms Smeeth of working hand in hand with the Telegraph newspaper at the launch of Shami Chakrabartis review into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. He today told reporters: Im not guilty. Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn came under fire from the same Jewish community leaders who met him at his office last night. One accused him of repeatedly shrugging his shoulders when asked to act firmly against anti-Semitism. An account of the private meeting claimed Mr Corbyn was frequently mute when asked to take specific action.Writing in tonights Standard, Jonathan Arkush, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: Our sole objective from this meeting was to build trust with Mr Corbyn, but this will not be possible until he and his party brings about a deep cultural change in his supporters attitude to Jews. The expulsion of former Mayor Ken Livingstone, suspended for saying Adolf Hitler supported Zionism, was demanded. But Mr Corbyn, a friend of Mr Livingstone, said he could not interfere with Labours internal processes. He engages in a conversation until you ask him to do something... and he has this habit of just staring and basically just shrugging, Jonathan Goldstein, president of the Jewish Leadership Council, said. When it comes to calling out people that he knows... he finds it impossible to take that leadership action. The ferocity of the criticism surprised Labour figures who thought the two sides moved closer together when Mr Corbyn wrote an article in yesterdays Standard that gave his most heartfelt apology yet and an admission Labour had not acted strongly enough. At the meeting Mr Goldstein is said to have described his elderly parents being jeered by Labour supporters during a protest against anti-Semitism, and asked: Why wont you stop these people? Mr Corbyn replied: Its not in my name. Mr Goldstein then demanded: So why are you not saying that loud and clear, with the passion you have shown over the Windrush scandal? Mr Corbyn is said to have shrugged. S cotland Yard is probing allegations of postal vote malpractices in a key borough for the May 3 local elections, the Standard reveals today. Eleven cases in Hammersmith and Fulham have been reported to police including some where residents say they have been issued with postal votes they did not request. Officers are understood to have spoken to some individuals who believe they were tricked into applying for a postal vote. One woman thought that she was signing a petition about Charing Cross Hospital, it is claimed. The allegations come amid a surge in people applying for postal votes in some marginal wards in the Labour-run borough. The Conservatives claim there have been huge increases in postal vote registration on several estates where Labour is strong. Figures compiled by the Tories show postal vote registrations in Town ward, which has three Conservative councillors, rose from 1,268 before last years general election to 2,005 this month. More specifically, in the Town ward C polling district which runs from Fulham Road towards Putney Bridge, the number jumped from 307 in March 2017 to 758 this month. Conservatives say that on four estates in this district there have been big rises in postal vote registrations to 50 per cent of the electorate in Pulton Place, 42 per cent in Fulham Court, and 35 per cent on Barclay Close and Lancaster Court. Greg Hands, Tory MP for Chelsea and Fulham, said: Some people were signed up by the Labour Party and are telling us that they had not knowingly requested one [a postal vote] and do not want one. The Conservatives referred their concerns to the police. The London Labour Party rejected accusations of wrongdoing against its campaign teams. A spokesman said: This is a completely baseless allegation and a desperate, politically-motivated attempt by a Tory MP to use the police to grab a headline during a closely-fought election campaign. T he parents of severely ill toddler Alfie Evans have reportedly claimed they had to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to keep him alive after his life support was switched off. His father Tom Evans made the claim to reporters gathered outside the Liverpool hospital where the child remained on Tuesday night, the Mirror reported. Mr Evans was reported as saying: "Both Kate and I had to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation to keep him alive because his lips turned blue." Photos circulated on social media showing the little boy being hugged by his mother, with no ventilation tube obvious. Alfie Evans' life support machine has now been switched off / PA The Standard has approached the hospital for comment. Mr Evans and Alfies mother Kate James sought permission from a High Court judge to take the 23-month-old out of Liverpools Alder Hey Childrens Hospital. His father had said Alfies life support machine was switched off on Monday evening, but that he had been breathing on his own since then. The boy has been at the centre of an ongoing legal battle over treatment administered to him. Alfie Evans' father says son has been breathing unassisted for nine hours But judge Mr Justice Hayden said on Tuesday: This represents the final chapter in the case of this extraordinary little boy." He added that Alfie was "a fighter, resilient, courageous" and said he should be "cared for, on his final days or hours, however long it may be, in a hospice or home or on a ward". But Mr Justice Hayden ruled there was no substance to the parents' application by the Christian Legal Centre, representing Alfie's parents, to move him to a hospital in Italy. Alfie Evans protesters try to storm hospital 23/04/2018 1 /6 Alfie Evans protesters try to storm hospital 23/04/2018 Police block protesters from the entrance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool PA Police block protesters from the entrance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool PA Protesters gather outside Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool PA Police block protesters from the entrance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool PA Police block the entrance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital PA Police block protesters from the entrance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool PA Mr Justice Hayden was asked to allow medical experts in Italy, where he has been offered treatment and granted citizenship, to examine Alfie. Judges have heard that Alfie, born on May 9 2016, is in a "semi-vegetative state" and has a degenerative neurological condition doctors have not definitively diagnosed. Mr Justice Hayden said at Tuesday's hearing that Alfie's brain had been "damaged entirely and so too had the capacity of sight, hearing, taste and sense of touch". P iers Morgan has thrown his support behind Alfie Evans parents who wish to take their critically ill son to Italy for further treatment. The Good Morning Britain presenter said the couple should be allowed to do everything in their power to try and save their sons life and added miracles do happen. On Wednesday, Alfies parents were set to issue a last ditch court bid to gain permission to take their son to Italy for treatment despite the High Court ruling that the child could not leave hospital on Tuesday. His parents revealed that they were forced to give the 23-month-old mouth to mouth in order to keep him alive after he was taken off life support. Engaging in a heated exchange with TV Doctor Hilary Jones and pro-life campaigner Caroline Farrow, Mr Morgan said: "Alfie's parents want the final choice. Why shouldn't they be allowed that? Shouldn't love be the ultimate way?" But Dr Jones disagreed and said the kindest thing to do would be to let the child die. She told Mr Morgan that miracles dont happen. To which he replied: You dont believe any children ever recover when [doctors] medically believe they cant? She said: "In cases like this where there is a consensus among a lot of experienced doctors they are very rarely wrong." Alfie Evans has been taken off life support / PA Speaking outside the Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool, Alfie's father Tom Evans said that he would continue to fight to keep Alfie alive. We were doing what a nurse should have been doing to sustain his life. Alfie Evans: The story so far Now they are saying that he looks really good but we all know he should be in Italy right now, he said outside the hospital yesterday. The High Court said on Tuesday that doctors should consider letting the child, who has been in a semi-vegetative state for over a year, go home. Mr Morgan tweeted: "At least let his parents take him home to die, for goodness sake. Y outuber Mark Meechan has raised tens of thousands of pounds to pay for his legal defence after he was fined 800 for teaching his girlfriends dog to perform a Nazi salute. Mr Meechan, 30, from Coatbridge in Lanarkshire was handed the fine at a Scottish court on Monday. He quickly set up a fundraising page on website GoFundMe with the aim of raising 100,000. The comedian claims the amount was quoted by his lawyer. Writing on the page he said: On the 23rd of April 2018 I was sentenced to an 800 fine after being found guilty of being "grossly offensive" under section 127 of the Offensive Communications Act 2003due to me creating a clearly comedic video where I trained my girlfriends pug to be a Nazi. He said that he felt he was wrongfully convicted and that the court willingly ignored (sic) the clear context of the video. YouTuber found guilty of hate crime after teaching dog nazi salute He continued: This conviction will be used as an example to convict other people over the things they say and the jokes they make, it sets a standard where courts will be able to wilfully ignore the context and intent of a persons words and actions in order to punish them and brand them as criminals. So far Mr Meechan has raised more than 72,000 on his GoFundMe page. He was found guilty of communicating a "grossly offensive" video on Tuesday March 20. The video which showed Mr Meechan coerce the dog into performing the Nazi salute 23 times, was watched by more than 3 million people on Youtube. Mr Meechan was arrested after sharing the footage in April last year. He told Airdrie Sheriff Court that he made the video to annoy his girlfriend Suzanne Kelly, 29, and denied any wrongdoing. The dog was taught to perform a Nazi salute / Youtube/CountDankula Speaking after his sentencing, he said: "There has been a huge miscarriage of justice. "I think it is a very, very dark day in terms of freedom of speech and freedom of expression. "One of the primary things that must be considered in cases like this is context and intent and today context and intent were completely disregarded. "For the system to disregard such things means that your actions no longer matter - they decide what your context and intent is. "For any comedians making jokes in Britain, I'd be very, very worried about your future because - the context and intent - apparently they don't matter anymore." Comedian Ricky Gervais rallied to Meecham's defence, writing on Twitter: "A man has been convicted in a UK court of making a joke that was deemed 'grossly offensive'. R eports suggesting US President Donald Trump will visit the UK in July sparked outrage online, with many promising mass protests "like we have never seen before". Sky News quoted sources as saying that he would carry out the trip in mid-July of this year. The visit is expected to be officially announced in the coming days. The US president previously cancelled a trip to open his country's new embassy in London, citing its move from Grosvenor Square to the Nine Elms site, near Battersea, as a "bad deal". In a wave of online anger, Twitter user Beluga Hugh wrote: "I'm looking forward to being part of the biggest anti Trump rally seen so far. I hope it is the most peaceful and positive 'f*** off' the world has ever seen." Sadiq Khan: Trump should expect protests if London visit happens Christopher Newell said: "This man should not be allowed into this country. I care not a jot about the politics. It's simple - he is evil." @OdetoaKoalaBear added: "If Trump sets foot on UK soil there will be mass protests like this island has never seen." Meanwhile Stephanie Wooton said: "Trump wants to visit the UK? Yet no-one from the UK wants him near, he knows this...Unless he's taking May with him, he can stay away." Some were more positive about Trump's visit, however, denouncing his detractors as "leftists". @Sgt_Yoda said: "Please have a UK rally for us supporters when you visit [Donald Trump.] Disregard the pretentious London leftist elites." Kevin Thomas added: "Looking forward to President [Donald Trump] visiting the UK... "Hopefully the hysterical anti-Trump morons won't spoil too much with their temper tantrums." Penny Warbeck, on the other hand, wrote: "I don't care much for the man but thousands of people who would never dream of protesting against the leader of an Islamic country that executes LGBT people will take to the streets of London to protest." London Mayor Sadiq Khan reaffirmed his view at the weekend that Mr Trump should expect loud protests if he visits the capital He said: "We have got a great history in our city of protests... we have got a great history in our city of bringing about change by protest, the key thing is for it to be lawful, for it to be peaceful. "I have no doubt that if he does come, there will be some people who want to express their views loudly and peacefully to the president." This week French president Emmanuel Macron made the first US state visit of Mr Trumps administration. The pair met in the Oval Office on Tuesday to discuss trade, Syria and the Iran nuclear deal. They were welcomed in the early hours of the morning for the moving service, near Hyde Park, which is attended by hundreds of Australians and New Zealanders each year. The couple, who will marry at St George's Chapel, Windsor, on May 19, were paying tribute to the hundreds of Kiwi and Australian soldiers who lost their lives in the First World War. They were greeted by a representative from Ngati Ranana - the London Maori Club - with a traditional hongi, the soft pressing of noses and the sharing of each other's breath. Anzac Day 2018 - In pictures 1 /52 Anzac Day 2018 - In pictures Prince William, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle walk with each as they leave after attending a service of commemoration and thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day in Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images A band plays during an Anzac Day service on Whitehall Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk with each as they leave after attending a service of commemoration and thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day AFP/Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Meghan Markle leaving the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Prince William greets his brother Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle as they arrive for an ANZAC day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince William greets Meghan Markle as they arrive for an Anzac day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey Getty Images Prince William greets his brother Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle as they arrive for an Anzac day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge (left), Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, London, to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehal PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attend a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehal PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Chelsea Pensioner Dave Thomson speaks with Lieutenant Colonel Rebecca Talbot from Australia before the wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry lays a wreath during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry's wreath Ian Vogler Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters The couple after sunrise Arthur Edwards Prince Harry is greeted at the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Meghan Markle is greeted during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day Arthur Edwards A general view as Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk together during Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Ian Vogler Prince Harry lays a wreath during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Ian Vogler Meghan Markle reads the official programme of events during the Dawn Service for Anzac Day at Wellington Arch Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand together during the Dawn Service Reuters Prince Charles delivers a speech during the wreath-laying ceremonies at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, France to commemorate Anzac Day AP Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sits next to Prince Charles during the dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France to commemorate Anzac Day EPA Australian military veterans fire into the air at Elephant Rock in Currumbin on the Gold Coast, Australia AP Anzac Day dawn service in Canakkale AFP/Getty Images A young girl watches sailors march during the Anzac Day parade in Melbourne AFP/Getty Images A member of the Catafalque party is seen nect to the Roll of Honour at the Australian National Memorial during the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux EPA Mounted defence force soldiers deliver the Anzac Day match trophy during the round eight NRL match between the St George Illawara Dragons and Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium Getty Images Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop lays a wreath at the Redfern Park World War Memorial during the Coloured Diggers March in Sydney Getty Images People take part in a smoking ceremony during the Coloured Diggers March in Sydney Getty Images Australian military veterans participate in the Anzac Day dawn service at Elephant Rock in Currumbin AP People attend the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux EPA A Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) on April 25, 1915, in Gallipoli AP A couple draped with an Australian flag, participate in the Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) in Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey AP War veterans make their way down Elizabeth Street during the Anzac Day parade in Sydney Getty Images Participants march in the Anzac Day parade in Sydney AFP/Getty Images A contingent of flag bearers marches past during an Anzac Day parade in Sydney Reuters As the sun rose over the capital, Prince Harry, 33, and Ms Markle, 36, joined with singing hymns and watched Maori dancers performing the Haka, the traditional war cry and dance in Maori culture. Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the start of the First World War Gallipoli landings, and is a national day of remembrance for Australia and New Zealand. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a dawn Anzac Day service in Hyde Park / Ian Vogler Organised by the New Zealand and Australian High Commissions, Anzac Day has been commemorated in London since the first anniversary of the landings in 1916. Harry, who had a stint serving with the Australian military, later laid the wreaths at both the New Zealand and Australian war memorials in tribute to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the war and subsequent conflicts. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch / REUTERS Ms Markle, dressed in a long grey military style coat - adorned with a red poppy - and black hat for the occasion, looked on. Both then signed a book of remembrance - the first time Ms Markle would have done so in her role as a soon-to-be member of the Royal Family. The couple joined Sir Jerry Mateparae and Alexander Downer, the high commissioners of New Zealand and Australian respectively, for the service of remembrance. Later in the day, the prince and Ms Markle will attend a Westminster Abbey congregation for a service of commemoration and thanksgiving. The couple were were greeted by a representative from Ngati Ranana - the London Maori Club - with a traditional hongi / Arthur Edwards And, at a wreath laying and parade service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, Harry will leave a floral tribute on behalf of the Queen. Thousands of Anzac troops - Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - died in the ill-fated 1915 campaign on the Turkish peninsula. Organised by the New Zealand and Australian High Commissions, Anzac Day has been commemorated in London since the first anniversary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli. Anzac Day 2018 - In pictures 1 /52 Anzac Day 2018 - In pictures Prince William, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle walk with each as they leave after attending a service of commemoration and thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day in Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images A band plays during an Anzac Day service on Whitehall Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk with each as they leave after attending a service of commemoration and thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day AFP/Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Meghan Markle leaving the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Prince William greets his brother Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle as they arrive for an ANZAC day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince William greets Meghan Markle as they arrive for an Anzac day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey Getty Images Prince William greets his brother Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle as they arrive for an Anzac day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge (left), Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, London, to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehal PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attend a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehal PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Chelsea Pensioner Dave Thomson speaks with Lieutenant Colonel Rebecca Talbot from Australia before the wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry lays a wreath during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry's wreath Ian Vogler Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters The couple after sunrise Arthur Edwards Prince Harry is greeted at the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Meghan Markle is greeted during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day Arthur Edwards A general view as Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk together during Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Ian Vogler Prince Harry lays a wreath during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Ian Vogler Meghan Markle reads the official programme of events during the Dawn Service for Anzac Day at Wellington Arch Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand together during the Dawn Service Reuters Prince Charles delivers a speech during the wreath-laying ceremonies at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, France to commemorate Anzac Day AP Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sits next to Prince Charles during the dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France to commemorate Anzac Day EPA Australian military veterans fire into the air at Elephant Rock in Currumbin on the Gold Coast, Australia AP Anzac Day dawn service in Canakkale AFP/Getty Images A young girl watches sailors march during the Anzac Day parade in Melbourne AFP/Getty Images A member of the Catafalque party is seen nect to the Roll of Honour at the Australian National Memorial during the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux EPA Mounted defence force soldiers deliver the Anzac Day match trophy during the round eight NRL match between the St George Illawara Dragons and Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium Getty Images Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop lays a wreath at the Redfern Park World War Memorial during the Coloured Diggers March in Sydney Getty Images People take part in a smoking ceremony during the Coloured Diggers March in Sydney Getty Images Australian military veterans participate in the Anzac Day dawn service at Elephant Rock in Currumbin AP People attend the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux EPA A Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) on April 25, 1915, in Gallipoli AP A couple draped with an Australian flag, participate in the Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) in Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey AP War veterans make their way down Elizabeth Street during the Anzac Day parade in Sydney Getty Images Participants march in the Anzac Day parade in Sydney AFP/Getty Images A contingent of flag bearers marches past during an Anzac Day parade in Sydney Reuters The then reigning monarch King George V attended a service at Westminster Abbey and more than 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets. Since then, the services have become an important moment to recognise the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who died during the landings. Hundreds are expected to take part in the parade including members of veterans associations and ex-service personnel and their families. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are greeted by Malcolm Turnbull In 2015 Harry had a four-week stint with the Australian Defence Force before he left the army. He was embedded with several Australian army units and regiments in Sydney, Darwin and Perth during his exchange. For Australians and New Zealanders the Gallipoli campaign was nothing less than an affirmation of nationhood. A Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) on April 25, 1915, in Gallipoli / AP Over half the Allied casualties, 73,485, were British and Irish troops. New Zealand suffered around 8000 killed and wounded, about 5.6 per cent of Allied casualties on Gallipoli. The whole Gallipoli operation cost 26,111 Australian casualties, including 8,141 deaths. A man fined 800 for filming a pet dog giving Nazi salutes and posting the footage online has raised more than 100,000 to fund an appeal against his conviction. Mark Meechan recorded his partner's pug responding to statements such as "gas the Jews" and "sieg heil" by raising its paw before putting the clip on YouTube in April 2016. He was found guilty of breaching the Communications Act by posting material that was "grossly offensive" and "anti-Semitic and racist in nature", in an offence aggravated by religious prejudice, following a trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court. Meechan, 30, said he made the video as a joke to annoy his partner and has raised issues about freedom of speech. YouTuber found guilty of hate crime after teaching dog nazi salute He has found support among British comedians such as Ricky Gervais, David Baddiel and parody news presenter Jonathan Pie, on the basis of "freedom of speech". The 30-year-old has also received support from Tommy Robinson, founder of the EDL, on the same basis. Meechan emerges from court / PA Following his sentencing on Monday, an online fundraiser was launched to help pay the costs of an appeal, estimated to be 100,000, and surpassed the target within 24 hours. The GoFundMe page, set up by Meechan and featuring an image of him and a pug, reads: "This conviction will be used as an example to convict other people over the things they say and the jokes they make, it sets a standard where courts will be able to willfully (sic) ignore the context and intent of a persons (sic) words and actions in order to punish them and brand them as criminals. The dog was taught to perform a Nazi salute / Youtube/CountDankula "This is the amount that has been quoted by my lawyer, the reason it has been quoted so high is my lawyer wishes to bring in top legal representatives to ensure that we have the highest chance of reversing the standard that this case sets. "I cannot allow the two years of litigation I went through and having my life put on hold, to happen to anyone else." T he Duke and Duchess of Cambridge today ended days of speculation by revealing the name of their new baby son as Prince Louis Arthur Charles of Cambridge. William and Kate's third child was born on Monday, St George's Day, weighing in at 8lb 7oz. The couple showed off their new son to adoring crowds for the first time on the steps of the Lindo Wing at St Mary's hospital, Paddington, hours after the birth. But they kept the world waiting for four days before announcing the name they had chosen for their newborn son. The name is clearly in honour of Lord Louis Mountbatten who both Prince Philip and Prince Charles regarded as a great mentor. Charles often referred to the war hero - murdered by the IRA - as his honorary grandfather." Mountbatten counselled Charles on a great many things, most famously his love life. It was also Mountbatten who had arranged the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Dartmouth Royal Naval College on 22 July 1939. Louis, the new Royal baby - in pictures 1 /23 Louis, the new Royal baby - in pictures The Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William leave the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital with their new baby boy Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their newborn son outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London Jeremy Selwyn The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their newborn son outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London Jeremy Selwyn The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their newborn son outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London John Stillwell/PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their newborn son outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their newborn son outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (not pictured) and their newborn son outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London Jeremy Selwyn The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their newborn son outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington PA The Duchess of Cambridge with her newborn son outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London Jeremy Selwyn The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their newborn son outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London PA The Duchess of Cambridge with her newborn son outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London PA Wellwishers await the departure of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge with their newborn son from the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cambridge show their newly-born son, their third child, to the media outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital AFP/Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their newborn son outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital PA Princess Charlotte of Cambridge turns to wave at the media as she is lead in with her brother Prince George of Cambridge by their father Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge arrives with Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the Lindo Wing Getty Images Town Crier Tony Appleton announces that the Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a baby boy outside the Lindo wing at St Mary's Hospital in London AP A notice is placed on an easel in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace in London to formally announce the birth of a baby boy to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at St Mary's Hospita PA Prince William waves as he leaves the Lindo wing at St Mary's Hospita AP The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their newborn son leave the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington PA A waxwork of Queen Elizabeth II sits in a black London taxi as it drives past the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in central London following the news that the Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a baby boy AFP/Getty Images A general view of the BT Tower as it announces the birth of the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge's newborn son Getty Images Included in these plans were Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, who were to be entertained by his nephew, Cadet Prince Philip of Greece while their parents toured the college. It was the first meeting of the then 13-year old Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. The bookies said the name Louis sat way back in 10th place in terms of bets placed - being as big as 20/1 following the birth. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with their newborn son / PA Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: "Prince Louis has caught both bookies and punters by surprise. With it being one of Prince George's middle names fans didnt see it as an obvious front runner for Kate and Wills second son." It looks like we made the right decision to keep betting open until the very end for royal punters, rather than suspending the market or paying out early due to the rumour mill going into overdrive, as we so often saw over the last few days. Bookies made Albert the new favourite name for the Royal baby after a web page on the official family website sent the public into a frenzy on Thursday night. Post-baby glow: the Duchess of Cambridge with her new baby Prince / Jeremy Selwyn Some bookies even closed name betting on William and Kates second son on Thursday night, with a Coral spokesman stating: "We are expecting to discover the outcome tomorrow and at the moment Prince Albert looks likely." The message Access denied and You are not authorised to access this page appeared when trying to access the web address www.royal.uk/prince-albert. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Family Album - In pictures 1 /53 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Family Album - In pictures Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, (2R) and Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, (L) and their three children Prince Louis of Cambridge (2L), Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (C) and Prince George of Cambridge (R) posing for a photograph at Anmer Hall in Norfolk in the Autumn of 2018 Matt Porteous via AFP/Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, in Norfolk, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, in Norfolk, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge Their Royal Highnesses Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge kiss on the balcony at Buckingham Palace on April 29, 2011 in London, England Getty Images Prince George's first birthday AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with their two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, in a photograph taken late October 2015 at Kensington Palace in London. PA Prince William and Kate Middleton pose for photographs in the State Apartments of St James Palace on November 16, 2010 in London, England. After much speculation, Clarence House today announced the engagement of Prince William to Kate Middleton Getty Images TRH Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge smile following their marriage at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011 in London, England Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge drive from Buckingham Palace in a decorated sports car on April 29, 2011 in London, England Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge leaving the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in London, with their newborn son Prince George of Cambridge on July 23rd, 2013 Jeremy Selwyn Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as they sit with their son Prince George in the garden of the Middleton family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire surrounded by Tilly the retriever (a Middleton family pet), and Lupo the cocker spaniel, the couple's only dog in their first five years of marriage PA Prince George, at Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, ahead of the christening of the then three month-old Prince by the Archbishop of Canterbury PA Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge reacts as their son Prince George of Cambridge bites a small present that was given to him at the enclosure of an Australian animal called a Bilby, which has been named after the young Prince, during a visit to Sydney's Taronga Zoo on April 20, 2014 in Sydney, Australia Getty Images Prince George sits for his official Christmas picture in a courtyard at Kensington Palace in late November of 2014 in London, England HRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge depart the Lindo Wing with their newborn daughter at St Mary's Hospital on May 2, 2015 in London, England John Stillwell/PA Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge depart the Lindo Wing with their newborn daughter at St Mary's Hospital on May 2, 2015 in London, England Getty Images Prince George looking at his sister Princess Charlotte as she was pushed to church by the Duchess of Cambridge in a vintage 1950s Millson pram once used by the Queen Elizabeth II for her children, during Princess Charlotte's christening at St Mary Magdalene in Sandringham, Norfolk PA Prince George and Princess Charlotte. The photograph was taken by the Duchess in mid-May at Anmer Hall in Norfolk HRH The Duchess of Cambridge Princess Charlotte of Cambridge is pushed in her silver cross pram as she leaves the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham Estate after her Christening on July 5, 2015 in King's Lynn, England Getty Images Prince George gives his little sister Princess Charlotte a kiss HRH The Duchess of Cambridge Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George attend the Gigaset Charity Polo Match with Prince George of Cambridge at Beaufort Polo Club on June 14, 2015 in Tetbury, England Getty Images Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge arrive at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham Estate for the Christening of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge on July 5, 2015 in King's Lynn, England Getty Images Prince George on his first day at the Westacre Montessori nursery school near Sandringham HRH The Duchess of Cambridge Prince George of Cambridge looks at his sister Princess Charlotte of Cambridge in her pram as he leaves the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham Estate for the Christening of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge Getty Images Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, with their children, Princess Charlotte and Prince George, enjoy a short private skiing break on March 3, 2016 in the French Alps, France Getty Images Princess Charlotte of Cambridge plays with a teddy as she is seen at Anmer Hall HRH The Duchess of Cambridge Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge holds her daughter Princess Charlotte and strokes her son, Prince George's head as they stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch a fly-past of aircrafts by the Royal Air Force, in London on June 11, 2016. AFP/Getty Images The Duke of Edinburgh, The Duchess of Cambridge holding Princess Charlotte, Prince George and The Duke of Cambridge on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in 2017 PA A family picture at Pippa Middleton's wedding. Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge with their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte at a children's party for Military families at Government House in Victoria during the Royal Tour of Canada PA Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte leave from Victoria Harbour to board a sea-plane on the final day of their Royal Tour of Canada on October 1, 2016 in Victoria, Canada Getty Images William, The Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George, and Princess Charlotte visit Canada Mark Large/Daily Mail Prince William, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Princess Charlotte arrive at a children's party at Government House in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Reuters Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, his wife Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Princess Charlotte arrive at Tegel airport in Berlin, Germany, July 19, 2017 Reuters The Duchess of Cambridge speaks to Princess Charlotte and Prince George after the wedding of Pippa Middleton and James Matthews at St Mark's Church Getty Images Prince George (centre) stands with other page boys and flower girls following the wedding of Pippa Middleton and James Matthews, as they leave St Mark's church in Englefield, Berkshire PA Prince George who celebrates his fourth birthday Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge depart from Hamburg airport on the last day of their official visit to Poland and Germany on July 21, 2017 in Hamburg, Germany Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (L) and Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge aka Kate Middleton show their newly-born son, their third child, Britain's Prince Louis of Cambridge to the media outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital AFP/Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge carries his newly-born son, Britain's Prince Louis of Cambridge from the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images Prince William arrives at Lindo wing at St Mary's Hospital with Prince George and Princess Charlotte to meet new baby brother. Jeremy Selwyn Prince William, Duke of Cambridge arrives with Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the Lindo Wing where Kate had just given birth to Prince Louis in London Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PA Princess Charlotte of Cambridge and Britain's Prince George of Cambridge hold hands with their father, Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, as Britain's Prince Louis of Cambridge is carried by Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge on their arrival for his christening service at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, London on July 9, 2018 AFP/Getty Images Princess Charlotte playing as her father, the Duke of Cambridge, takes part in the Maserati Royal Charity Polo Trophy at the Beaufort Polo Club, Downfarm House, Westonbirt, Tetbury PA Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Princess Beatrice, Lady Louise Windsor, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, Savannah Phillips, Prince George of Cambridge and Isla Phillips watch the flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after attending the St Patrick's Day parade at Cavalry Barracks in Hounslow, where they presented shamrock to officers and guardsmen of 1st Battalion the Irish Guards PA The Duchess of Cambridge (L) smiles as she and Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge arrrive for the Easter Mattins Service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle AFP/Getty Images Prince Louis pictured in the garden of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's Norfolk home earlier this month HRH The Duchess of Cambridge An emerged photo of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's 2019 Christmas card PA Royal visit to The Palladium PA Prince Louis, photographed by his mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, at Kensington Palace PA Media Others said it was actually just a page set up for those looking for information on Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert. It prompted a number of Betfair punters to put their money on the moniker. William and Kate proudly introduced their baby son to the world on Monday following his safe arrival. Lord Louis Mountbatten - In pictures 1 /11 Lord Louis Mountbatten - In pictures 1965 Admiral of the Fleet Lord Louis Mountbatten (1900 -1979) at the Ministry of Defence, London, after his retirement from the office of Chief of the Defence Staff Getty Images 1923 Lord and Lady Louis Mountbatten attend the wedding of his sister, Lady Louise Mountbatten to Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden at the Chapel Royal, St Jame's Palace, London PA 1922 Lord Louis Mountbatten and Edwina Ashley (later Lady Mountbatten) in India, during the visit of The Prince of Wales PA 1956 Lord Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900 - 1979), Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, on naval exercises at Malta and Gibraltar Getty Images circa 1970 Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900 - 1979), British naval commander and statesman Getty Images 1959 Admiral of the Fleet Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who took over as Chief of the Defence Staff, sits at his desk at the Ministry of Defence. He replaces Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William Dickson PA 1957 Earl Mountbatten of Burma of shakes hands with English footballer Johnny Haynes as he goes down the line of the English team which includes Stanley Matthews PA 1947 Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900-1979), takes the salute from the Governor General's bodyguard at Viceroy House in New Delhi, as he takes up his position as Viceroy of India Getty Images 1948 Lord Louis Mountbatten (1990 - 1979), 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the last Viceroy of India and overseer of the partition of India into India and Pakistan Getty Images 1946 Lord Louis Mountbatten speaking at the Royal Marines Association Ball at the Lyceum Ballroom in London PA 1904 Louis Francis Victor Albert Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and Admiral of Fleet, as a young boy in a sailor suit Getty Images Then William told reporters that they would "very soon" to hear the name chosen for the little boy. He jokingly hinted that the newborn may be called Alexander during his public engagement at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday to attend the Anzac Day commemorations. Both Prince George and Princess Charlottes names were announced two days after their arrivals. Kensington Palace announced the baby's name on Friday morning. "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles," Kensington Palace said in a statement. "The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge." T he Duke of Cambridge joked with a member of the public that he had a strong name as he and the Duchess remained tight-lipped over what their newborn son was to be called. But on Wednesday there was yet to be an announcement about what the new royal would be called. As he attended an Anzac Day service with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, William joked about being keen on the mans name and then told well-wishers mother and baby were very well thanks". The couple have not yet announced the name of the baby / AP As he met Sir Jerry Mateparae, New Zealand High Commissioner to the UK, the Dean of Westminster joked about the eagerly anticipated name, saying: "Jerry would like it to be Jerry." William replied: "Jerry's a strong name." The royal baby leaves hospital He added that Kate, who was pictured looking radiant outside the Lindo Wing hospital ward just hours after she had given birth, and her baby son were in good form, luckily". He then said: "Sleeping's going reasonably well so far, so he's behaving himself which is good news." Prince Jerry? William joked about naming the baby / Reuters The new baby is the third child of William and Kate, who are already parents to Princess Charlotte, 2, and Prince George, 4. As William met Sir Jerry Mateparae, New Zealand High Commissioner to the UK, the Dean of Westminster joked about the eagerly anticipated name, saying: "Jerry would like it to be Jerry." Prince William greeted Ms Markle with a kiss outside the service / AFP/Getty Images William replied: "Jerry's a strong name." As William arrived at the memorial service paying tribute to the fallen troops from New Zealand and Australia he was greeted warmly by his soon-to-be sister-in-law Meghan. Anzac Day 2018 - In pictures 1 /52 Anzac Day 2018 - In pictures Prince William, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle walk with each as they leave after attending a service of commemoration and thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day in Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images A band plays during an Anzac Day service on Whitehall Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk with each as they leave after attending a service of commemoration and thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day AFP/Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Meghan Markle leaving the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Prince William greets his brother Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle as they arrive for an ANZAC day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince William greets Meghan Markle as they arrive for an Anzac day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey Getty Images Prince William greets his brother Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle as they arrive for an Anzac day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge (left), Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, London, to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehal PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attend a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehal PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Chelsea Pensioner Dave Thomson speaks with Lieutenant Colonel Rebecca Talbot from Australia before the wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry lays a wreath during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry's wreath Ian Vogler Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters The couple after sunrise Arthur Edwards Prince Harry is greeted at the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Meghan Markle is greeted during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day Arthur Edwards A general view as Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk together during Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Ian Vogler Prince Harry lays a wreath during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Ian Vogler Meghan Markle reads the official programme of events during the Dawn Service for Anzac Day at Wellington Arch Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand together during the Dawn Service Reuters Prince Charles delivers a speech during the wreath-laying ceremonies at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, France to commemorate Anzac Day AP Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sits next to Prince Charles during the dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France to commemorate Anzac Day EPA Australian military veterans fire into the air at Elephant Rock in Currumbin on the Gold Coast, Australia AP Anzac Day dawn service in Canakkale AFP/Getty Images A young girl watches sailors march during the Anzac Day parade in Melbourne AFP/Getty Images A member of the Catafalque party is seen nect to the Roll of Honour at the Australian National Memorial during the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux EPA Mounted defence force soldiers deliver the Anzac Day match trophy during the round eight NRL match between the St George Illawara Dragons and Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium Getty Images Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop lays a wreath at the Redfern Park World War Memorial during the Coloured Diggers March in Sydney Getty Images People take part in a smoking ceremony during the Coloured Diggers March in Sydney Getty Images Australian military veterans participate in the Anzac Day dawn service at Elephant Rock in Currumbin AP People attend the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux EPA A Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) on April 25, 1915, in Gallipoli AP A couple draped with an Australian flag, participate in the Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) in Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey AP War veterans make their way down Elizabeth Street during the Anzac Day parade in Sydney Getty Images Participants march in the Anzac Day parade in Sydney AFP/Getty Images A contingent of flag bearers marches past during an Anzac Day parade in Sydney Reuters Do you eat, sleep and breathe harness racing? Do you enjoy promoting harness racing and have exceptional customer service skills? If this sounds like you and you feel like you have the potential to be an outstanding ambassador for Canadian harness racing, read on. Standardbred Canadas Industry Marketing Department is seeking a summer student/intern to assist with various marketing activities. Knowledge of horse racing is an asset. The position requires an energetic self-starter with strong interpersonal and computer skills, outstanding organizational and presentation skills, and experience in social media applications. This individual will have the ability to work independently while contributing to a team. The work environment will be a combination of SCs office in Mississauga, Ont., events at Ontario racetracks and community outreach events. Some of the duties include: Assist with special events and promotions as required Writing for websites and blogs Assist with industry research Data entry Assist with off-site events (weekends) Administrative duties Photography & Videography taking photos & videos at special events Qualifications Currently enrolled in a Marketing, PR, Event Management, Journalism, or business program Knowledgeable about horse racing or willing to learn Past hands-on experience with Standardbreds would be an asset Computer Skills Required Excel/MS Office/Power Point Experience with Social Media Tools Experience working with InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop an asset Applicants must be returning to a post secondary program in the fall of 2018. Access to a car would be an asset, and the applicant would be willing to work some evenings and many weekends. Duration: mid May mid August Please submit applications via email no later than Friday, April 27 at 5 p.m. to: Industry Marketing - Kathy Wade Vlaar Standardbred Canada 2150 Meadowvale Blvd. Mississauga, ON L5N 6R6 email [email protected] We thank all those who apply, but only those applicants who are selected for an interview will be contacted. T SB's computer "meltdown" has entered a fifth day with thousands of customers still locked out of accounts and unable to make payments. The bank today said its mobile banking app and online services are "up and running" but frustrated customers are still reporting receiving an error message when trying to log on. The number of customers able to log in at once has been limited as the bank expects a surge in people attempting to get online. Chief executive Paul Pester said on Tuesday he was "deeply sorry" for the problems, which left some customers able to see other people's accounts, as data and banking watchdogs confirmed they were looking into the situation. Paul Pester: TSB's boss was 'deeply sorry' for the problems' / PA Wire/PA Images It follows a shift to a new IT system after TSB's split from the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank had told its account holders that some of its services, including online banking, making payments or transferring money, would not be possible over the weekend. The upgrade window was scheduled between Friday at 4pm and Sunday at 6pm. But thousands complained of problems with mobile and online accounts three days after the upgrade was supposed to have been completed. One customer said they had "access" to other customers' accounts totalling more than 20,000 and another reportedly discovered they had been credited with 13,000 after logging back in. The bank's boss announced on Twitter on Wednesday morning that the services had been restored and thanked customers for their "patience and bearing with us". But a number of frustrated customers on social media said they were still unable to access their money. Using the hashtag #TSBFail many said they encountered an error message when trying to log in. The Information Commissioner's Office, which monitors data and privacy, said: "We are aware of a potential data breach in relation to TSB and are making inquiries." Banking regulator the Financial Conduct Authority said: "We are aware of the issue and are liaising with the firm." MPs demanded answers from the bank about the IT meltdown. Treasury Select Committee chairwoman Nicky Morgan wrote to Mr Pester asking for details of the problems and the bank's response. She said: "This is yet another addition to the litany of failures of banking IT systems. "Potentially millions of customers could be affected by uncertainty and disruption. "It simply isn't good enough to expose customers to IT failures, including delays in paying bills and an inability to access their own money. "Warm words and platitudes will not suffice. TSB customers deserve to know what has happened, when normal services will resume, and how they can expect to be compensated." TSB said a "tiny fraction" of customers saw accounts belonging to other customers and the issue was resolved in about 20 minutes. TSB's social media team faced a stream of complaints from customers, including several who said they could see other people's accounts after logging back in on Sunday evening. Craig Malcom tweeted: "@TSB I currently have access to 20k+ of other peoples money. "This is a MASSIVE breach of data protection! If i have access to their account they could have to mine as well!" Another Twitter user called Bex said: "@TSB so go to my app and have someone else's accounts there!!!! Serious dpa (Data Protection Act) breach! Want to speak to someone now and a half an hour wait!! What would the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) say about this!!! Might just inform them a bank is giving away other people's account numbers". Laim McKenzie, from Paisley in Scotland, told the BBC he had been unexpectedly credited with thousands of pounds after logging back in after 6pm on Sunday. H eavy-handed State restrictions and hostility towards journalists were today blamed for the UKs poor record on protecting press freedom. It was ranked second-worst in Western Europe and only 40th the same as last year out of 180 nations, in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) world press freedom index. The RSF highlighted Conservatives and Labour restricting media access during last years General Election. BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg received online abuse, and had a bodyguard at the Labour Party conference. The RSF said an alarming proposal to replace the Official Secrets Act with an Espionage Act could result in journalists who obtain leaked information being jailed as spies. T he actor who is the voice of Apu on The Simpsons said he is willing to step down from the role following controversy surrounding his portrayal of the character. Hank Azaria addressed the recent backlash over the voice of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon in the show. Speaking on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Mr Azaria said he had given the issue a lot of thought. The portrayal of Apu came under scrutiny after the documentary The Problem with Apu was released in November 2017. Many people pointed out that the character was a stereotypical depiction of an Indian migrant and described it as problematic. Mr Azaria said: I think the most important thing is to listen to Indian people and their experience with it, I really want to see Indian, South Asian writers in the writers roomincluding how [Apu] is voiced or not voiced. Im perfectly willing to step aside. It just feels like the right thing to do to me. He said that the controversy surrounding the character had come to his attention more and more over the years. The idea that anyone young or old, past or present, being bullied based on Apu really makes me sad, he continued. It certainly was not my intention. I wanted to bring joy and laughter to people. The Simpsons writers released an episode entitled No Good Read Goes Unpunished as a response to the mounting controversy. In the episode Marge decided to read a book which was a childhood favourite of hers to Lisa. However during the story-telling, Marge realised the book was culturally offensive. Speaking to camera, Lisa addressed the audience and said: Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do? The Simpsons respond to Apu stereotype controversy during new episode The episode received criticism by some who said the show was making light of the situation. Charles to mark 100th anniversary of key WW1 battle The Prince of Wales will take part in an early morning memorial to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Described as a crucial turning point in the First World War, Australians fought alongside British troops in the night time attack which saw the French town of Villers-Bretonneux, near Amiens, recaptured from the Germans in April 1918. Later today, Charles will visit the Australian National Memorial, which sits just outside the town, to honour those who died in the conflict. The commemorations coincide with the Anzac Day remembrance. On April 24 1918, the Australian 13th and 15th Brigades took part in a counter-attack to recapture Villers-Bretonneux from German forces alongside three British battalions. Its success effectively put an end to the Germans' 1918 spring offensive. T he Prince of Wales today put duty first as he was up at dawn in northern France to lay a wreath to The Fallen ahead of seeing his baby grandson. Prince Charles travelled to the Anzac Day commemorations for the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux last night, meaning he did not get time to see the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges as yet unnamed baby. The heir to the throne, who was last week confirmed as the next Head of the Commonwealth, laid a wreath at the foot of the Australian National Memorial in memory of those who died in the bloody World War I battle. Charles yesterday described the birth of his third grandchild as a great joy but added the only trouble is I dont know how I am going to keep up with them. Prince Charles put duty first as he was up a dawn to speak at the service in France, he has not yet met his baby grandson / Getty Images He is expected to meet the baby, fifth in line to the throne, for the first time either tomorrow or at the weekend. The baby was born on Monday at the Lindo Wing of St Marys Hospital in Paddington, weighing 8lb 7oz. Betfair say Arthur is the favourite for his name, ahead of James and Phillip. Charles today praised the courage of troops who made the ultimate price on the Western front a century ago. Anzac Day 2018 - In pictures 1 /52 Anzac Day 2018 - In pictures Prince William, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle walk with each as they leave after attending a service of commemoration and thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day in Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images A band plays during an Anzac Day service on Whitehall Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk with each as they leave after attending a service of commemoration and thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day AFP/Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Meghan Markle leaving the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey PA Prince William greets his brother Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle as they arrive for an ANZAC day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince William greets Meghan Markle as they arrive for an Anzac day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey Getty Images Prince William greets his brother Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle as they arrive for an Anzac day service at Westminster Abbey Reuters Meghan Markle attends an Anzac Day Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey Getty Images The Duke of Cambridge (left), Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrive for the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, London, to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehal PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attend a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehal PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Prince Harry attends a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Chelsea Pensioner Dave Thomson speaks with Lieutenant Colonel Rebecca Talbot from Australia before the wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry lays a wreath during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry's wreath Ian Vogler Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters The couple after sunrise Arthur Edwards Prince Harry is greeted at the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Meghan Markle is greeted during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day Arthur Edwards A general view as Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk together during Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Ian Vogler Prince Harry lays a wreath during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Arthur Edwards Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Ian Vogler Meghan Markle reads the official programme of events during the Dawn Service for Anzac Day at Wellington Arch Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand together during the Dawn Service Reuters Prince Charles delivers a speech during the wreath-laying ceremonies at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, France to commemorate Anzac Day AP Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sits next to Prince Charles during the dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France to commemorate Anzac Day EPA Australian military veterans fire into the air at Elephant Rock in Currumbin on the Gold Coast, Australia AP Anzac Day dawn service in Canakkale AFP/Getty Images A young girl watches sailors march during the Anzac Day parade in Melbourne AFP/Getty Images A member of the Catafalque party is seen nect to the Roll of Honour at the Australian National Memorial during the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux EPA Mounted defence force soldiers deliver the Anzac Day match trophy during the round eight NRL match between the St George Illawara Dragons and Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium Getty Images Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop lays a wreath at the Redfern Park World War Memorial during the Coloured Diggers March in Sydney Getty Images People take part in a smoking ceremony during the Coloured Diggers March in Sydney Getty Images Australian military veterans participate in the Anzac Day dawn service at Elephant Rock in Currumbin AP People attend the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux EPA A Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) on April 25, 1915, in Gallipoli AP A couple draped with an Australian flag, participate in the Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) in Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey AP War veterans make their way down Elizabeth Street during the Anzac Day parade in Sydney Getty Images Participants march in the Anzac Day parade in Sydney AFP/Getty Images A contingent of flag bearers marches past during an Anzac Day parade in Sydney Reuters He told a dawn service: The Australians who served on the Western Front were not professional soldiers. They were not conscripted but were volunteers from all walks of life, in uniform until the war ended or until death or wounds claimed them. Those who survived would return to rebuild their lives and forge their character into the great country they would help build. They would remember forever their many comrades, their fellow diggers, they left behind here and before in places like Gallipoli, and whose spirit will forever be part of Australias identity. Today, as we mark a century since they gave their lives, let us resolve to continue to fulfil their trust, so that every passing year will only add to the measure of their honour, he said. Prince Charles has yet to meet his new baby grandson (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) / Getty Images Among those attending this mornings service were Australian and French representatives, ambassadors and descendants of those who fought in the battle. The Australian National Memorial, north of the village of Villers-Bretonneux, marks the site of an intense battle fought during the First World War as part of wider efforts to halt a German spring offensive. Later Charles, along with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe attended a reception. They also opened the Sir John Monash Centre museum, which is named after the Australian general responsible for taking the town. Mr Turnbull and his wife Lucy also visited the grave of her great-uncle Roger Hughes who was killed by a German shell in 1916, five days after arriving on the Western Front as a 26-year-old military doctor. T he moment Donald Trump awkwardly tried to hold his wife Melanias hand during Emmanuel Macrons visit to the White House was caught on camera. In the brief clip Melania does not respond as the US President is seen fondling her hand with his little finger. As she fails to reciprocate, Mr Trump clasps at his wifes hand however she remains seemingly uninterested. She finally relents second later, ending the peculiar exchange. The footage emerged as the French president made the first state visit of Mr Trumps administration. The pair met in the Oval Office on Tuesday to discuss trade, Syria and the Iran nuclear deal. Trump and Macron meet 24/04/2018 1 /6 Trump and Macron meet 24/04/2018 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron prepare to have their picture taken on a visit to the estate of the first US President George Washington in Mount Vernon, Virginia. REUTERS President Donald Trump greets French President Emmanuel Macron with a kiss. AP President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron kiss during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. AP Brigitte Macron and first lady Melania Trump look on as President Donald Trump hugs French President Emmanuel Macron during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, AP President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands. AP President Donald Trump playfully reaches over to cleans lint off French President Emmanuel Macron's suit jacket during their meeting in Oval Office of the White House. AP They pledged to try to resolve US-European differences on Iran but Mr Trump gave no clear signal about whether he would carry out a threat to abandon an international nuclear deal with the country. After lengthy talks, Mr Macron said at a joint news conference that they had discussed "a new deal" that would strengthen the 2015 accord along the lines Mr Trump wants, such as by addressing Iran's expansion in the Middle East and its ballistic missile program. Mr Trump remained firm in his criticism of past and enduring American undertakings in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East. However he appeared open to Mr Macron's pleas to maintain US involvement in Syria and expressed openness to negotiating a new agreement with Iran P resident Donald Trump left the door open for a possible new deal to curb Irans nuclear ambitions today after blasting the original 2015 agreement as insane and ridiculous. He appeared to dash President Emmanuel Macrons hopes of salvaging the existing deal after talks at the White House during the French leaders state visit. But his admission that he would be flexible about the possibility of a revamped, tougher version meant Mr Macron may not go home empty-handed from his three-day trip to Washington. Mr Trump has derided the three-year-old deal signed by his White House predecessor Barack Obama for failing to tackle Irans ballistic missile programme or its support for terrorist groups. Trump and Macron meet 24/04/2018 1 /6 Trump and Macron meet 24/04/2018 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron prepare to have their picture taken on a visit to the estate of the first US President George Washington in Mount Vernon, Virginia. REUTERS President Donald Trump greets French President Emmanuel Macron with a kiss. AP President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron kiss during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. AP Brigitte Macron and first lady Melania Trump look on as President Donald Trump hugs French President Emmanuel Macron during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, AP President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands. AP President Donald Trump playfully reaches over to cleans lint off French President Emmanuel Macron's suit jacket during their meeting in Oval Office of the White House. AP However, both Mr Trump and Mr Macron who went to great lengths yesterday to emphasise their political bromance hinted an updated deal may be on the way. Speaking before last nights first state dinner of the Trump presidency, Mr Macron said he was open to a new agreement built around the existing deal that his American counterpart is threatening to tear up on May 12. In turn, Mr Trump spoke cryptically about doing a much bigger, maybe, deal. He insisted: They should have made a deal that covered Yemen, that covered Syria, that covered other parts of the Middle East. German chancellor Angela Merkel will visit the US on Friday to exert extra pressure on Mr Trump not to torpedo the agreement, in which Tehran agreed to mothball its nuclear ambitions in return for relief from tough economic sanctions. Macron said he was open to a new agreement / Getty Images Nobody knows what Im going to do on the 12th, Mr Trump said yesterday, referring to the deadline he has set to pull out of the agreement. This is a deal with decayed foundations. Its a bad deal, its a bad structure, its falling down. It should have never ever been made. But after talks in the White House Cabinet Room later with Mr Macron, he conceded: We could have at least an agreement among ourselves fairly quickly. I think were fairly close to understanding each other. And I think our meeting, our one-on-one, went very, very well. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani yesterday threatened severe consequences if the US withdrew from the deal. Mr Trump hosted his first state dinner in honour of President Macron / Getty Images Despite their divergent views on Iran, Mr Trump is pulling out all the stops to cement a deeper bond with President Macron, who has himself gone out of his way to form a stronger relationship with Mr Trump than other European heads of state. At one point yesterday, Mr Trump ostentatiously brushed what appeared to be dandruff from his opposite numbers jacket, saying: We have a very special relationship, in fact Ill get that little piece of dandruff off. We have to make him perfect he is perfect. At last nights extravagant state dinner Mr Trump and his wife stood hand-in-hand, with Melania hogging the limelight in a black Chanel chantilly lace haute couture gown that was hand-painted with silver and embroidered with crystal and sequins. Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived and posed for photographs, with Mrs Macron wearing a white Louis Vuitton dress with gold embroidery. White House State Dinner with France 2018 1 /26 White House State Dinner with France 2018 Donald Trump hosted his first state dinner with France Getty Images It was held in honour of French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Images The event marked the end of a visit by Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte to the White House Getty Images The leaders professed a best-friends relationship Getty Images Mrs Trump wore a Chanel gown in a nod to France Getty Images She wore a black Chantilly lace Chanel haute couture gown, hand-painted with silver and embroidered with crystal and sequins Getty Images The White House stressed that Mrs Trump had a hand in every aspect of the social occasion Getty Images There were 123 guests in attendance Getty Images It was a smaller affair than dinners under President Barack Obama Getty Images Guests at Mr Trump's table included Apple CEO Tim Cook and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, the president's nominee for secretary of state, as well as Mr Macron and his wife Getty Images Mr Trump hailed the bonds between the US and France in his toast Getty Images In his toast, Mr Macron talked about the countries' "unbreakable friendship" Getty Images The president lavished praise on his wife Getty Images Mr Macron said of his and Mr Trump's rapid political ascents, saying: "On both sides of the ocean some two years ago, very few would have bet on us being here together today." Getty Images Among those attending were Vice President Mike Pence, Chief Justice John Roberts, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and two Winter Olympians, who flashed their gold medals on their way into the pre-dinner reception AFP/Getty Images Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Murdoch arrive AFP/Getty Images IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde arrives in the Booksellers Area of the White House AFP/Getty Images Henry Kissinger and his wife arrive AFP/Getty Images US President Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state, Mike Pompeo arrives AFP/Getty Images CEO of Apple Tim Cook arrives to attend the dinner AFP/Getty Images Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump arrive Getty Images The guests, seated at round candle-lit tables decorated with bouquets of white flowers, dined on rack of lamb and nectarine tart Getty Images Food was served on a mix of china settings from the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W Bush Getty Images Mrs Trump shared a clip online showing her working on the details with her staff, including the menu and the table settings Getty Images The place settings were accentuated with gold Getty Images After-dinner entertainment was courtesy of the Washington National Opera Getty Images The dinner was a rare opportunity for Mrs Trump to stamp her mark on her husbands rollercoaster presidency. The former model has kept a relatively low profile since he took office and has stayed silent as he has faced claims that he had flings with an ex-Playboy Playmate and porn actress Stormy Daniels. Mrs Trump was heavily involved in organising the dinner, picking the menu and the gold-trimmed table settings. The president lavished praise on his wife in his toast, calling her Americas absolutely incredible First Lady. He went on to hail the bonds between the United States and France, saying: May our friendship grow even deeper, may our kinship grow even stronger and may our sacred liberty never die. With 123 attendees, including Mr Trumps 36-year-old daughter Ivanka, the event was smaller and more intimate than the White House dinners held by President Barack Obama. Although there were no showbiz celebrities, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 86, and his wife Jerry Hall, 61, were guests, along with Apple chief Tim Cook. U S President Donald Trump will visit the UK in July, according to reports. Sky News quoted sources as saying that he would carry out the trip in mid-July of this year. The visit is expected to be officially announced in the coming days. Mr Trump has not visited the UK since he was elected to the White House in November 2016, with a potential visit to London to open the US Embassy in January not taking place. Donald Trump waxwork outside the new US Embassy, London 1 /9 Donald Trump waxwork outside the new US Embassy, London People take selfies with the Madame Tussauds wax figure of US President Donald Trump outside the new US Embassy in Nine Elms, London, after Mr Trump confirmed he will not travel to the UK to open the new building - and hit out at the location of the 1.2 billion dollar (886 million) project PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA He cancelled the visit to open the new embassy, criticising its move from Grosvenor Square in the prestigious Mayfair district of central London to an "off location" at Nine Elms, south of the Thames. The president blamed the cost of the new embassy and its location south of the River Thames, saying it was a "bad deal". Trump awkwardly tries to hold Melanias hand His cancellation prompted media speculation that reasons for the snub included that Mr Trump had been offended by perceived slights against him by UK public figures. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson accused London Mayor Sadiq Khan of endangering the so-called "special relationship" after he said the president had "got the message" from Londoners and would have been met by "mass peaceful protests" if he was to visit. Sadiq Khan: Trump should expect protests if London visit happens Mr Khan reaffirmed his view at the weekend that Mr Trump should expect loud protests if he visits the capital. He said: "We have got a great history in our city of protests... we have got a great history in our city of bringing about change by protest, the key thing is for it to be lawful, for it to be peaceful. "I have no doubt that if he does come, there will be some people who want to express their views loudly and peacefully to the president." The president has also endured a turbulent relationship with Theresa May since taking office, with the Prime Minister publicly criticising statements he has made on Muslims, terrorism and climate change. However Mr Trump said he was grateful for the support from the UK and France when a coalition of the three countries conducted targeted air strikes in Syria last weekend. This week French president Emmanuel Macron made the first US state visit of Mr Trumps administration. The pair met in the Oval Office on Tuesday to discuss trade, Syria and the Iran nuclear deal. F rench President Emmanuel Macron urged the US to reject fear and isolationism in an apparent rebuke to Donald Trump. He urged the US President to continue his countrys tradition of playing an active role on the world stage. Addressing the US Congress at the end of his visit to the country, Mr Macron quickly turned to topics where he and Mr Trump disagree, including Syria, the Iran nuclear deal, free trade and the Paris accord on climate change. He urged the United States not to retreat from its historic and military role in world affairs. "We are living in a time of anger and fear" because of "global threats", Mr Macron said. "You can play with fears and angers for a time, but they do not construct anything." Macron addressed US politicians in Congress, and won repeated standing ovations / Rex Features With a nod to great American leaders, including former president Franklin Roosevelt, he warned against withdrawing from the world in fear. "We have two possible ways ahead. "We can choose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism. It can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy to our fears," he said. "But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world." He proposed a "new breed of militarism" that was more effective, accountable and results-oriented. Trump and Macron meet 24/04/2018 1 /6 Trump and Macron meet 24/04/2018 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron prepare to have their picture taken on a visit to the estate of the first US President George Washington in Mount Vernon, Virginia. REUTERS President Donald Trump greets French President Emmanuel Macron with a kiss. AP President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron kiss during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. AP Brigitte Macron and first lady Melania Trump look on as President Donald Trump hugs French President Emmanuel Macron during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, AP President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands. AP President Donald Trump playfully reaches over to cleans lint off French President Emmanuel Macron's suit jacket during their meeting in Oval Office of the White House. AP "This requires more than ever the United States involvement," he said. In a near hour-long speech, he reiterated French support for US sanctions on Pyongyang toward the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and said as for Iran: "our objective is clear: Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons". But he warned against simply abandoning the multi-nation Iran nuclear deal, as Mr Trump has considered, promoting a "more comprehensive deal" he has been discussing with White House officials during his US visit. Mr Macron also warned that lies disseminated online are threatening freedoms worldwide, and in a play on Mr Trump's famous campaign slogan, he said he was confident the US will re-join the Paris climate agreement. "Let us work together in order to make our planet great again and create new jobs and new opportunities while safeguarding our earth". If Earth's climate continues to warm, "there is no Planet B," he added. The independent centrist president, who does not always receive such a robust welcome at home, was greeted with repeated standing ovations from members of Congress, including Republicans, who have not always aligned with French leaders on policy. In recounting common bonds from the earliest days of the United States, Mr Macron talked about a meeting between Ben Franklin and the French philosopher Voltaire, "kissing each other's cheeks". In an apparent reference to his friendly meetings this week with Mr Trump, he said: "It can remind you of something." Mr Macron was speaking as part of his visit to the United States. F rench has banned "misleading" phrases containing meat and dairy-related words such as sausage and milk" from vegetarian and vegan food packets. The ban was proposed by National Assembly member Jean Baptiste Moreau who said it is important to combat false claims. The amendment, approved last week, claimed that using words associated with animal products to describe meat and dairy substitutes was misleading French consumers. Terms such as vegetarian sausage", meatless bacon", cashew cheese and soy milk are now off-limits. Manufacturers who break the rule could be fined up to 300,000 (263,000). Mr Baptiste Moreau, who is a member of president Emmanuel Macrons centrist La Republique En Marche party, shared details of the legislative accomplishment on Twitter. He said: Adoption of my amendment in order to better inform the #consumer about what they are eating! It is important to combat false claims. Our products must be designated correctly: the terms #cheese and #steak will be reserved for products of animal origin! One person replied on Twitter: "When is the word 'carcinogenic' or processed meats Mr . Le . MP who doesn't want to mislead consumers?" Another added: "Instead of encouraging plant food (especially in children), France adopts a position of aggressive paranoia. But no matter how you name these products, it will not stop the growth of vegetable food (delicious, nutritious, sustainable and ethical)." Mr Baptiste Moreau's argument was based on ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union passed this year that said soy and tofu products could not be marked as "milk" or "butter". The measure is another attempt by French rule-makers to stop their language from evolving naturally. Politicians and scholars at the Academie Francaise frequently try to combat changes that they believe harm the integrity of the French language. Co-Ed Scouting Move is Latest Strike in 'War on Boyhood,' Says Leadership Champion 'Struggling' boys continue to lose out when their unique needs are overlooked, warns Trail Life USA CEO Mark Hancock Contact: Adam McManus, 210-373-7499 BELTON, S.C., April 25, 2018 /Standard Newswire/ -- The leader of a boys-only outdoor adventure program has warned of the consequences of what he says is the latest strike in the "war on boyhood." Photo: Trail Life USA CEO Mark Hancock Trail Life USA CEO Mark Hancock spoke out after reports of how the Boys Scouts of America (BSA) has welcomed hundreds of girls to local groups since doing away with its boys-only policy last fall. Hancock said the way the BSA move is playing out has confirmed fears that boys would be further marginalized. He referenced how in one media report, a BSA den leader said that the new girls had been calmer and easier to manage, while the boys were more easily distracted. "Can you imagine what's going to happen in that co-ed environment, where girls raise their hands to answer questions while boys squirm and poke each other?" Hancock commented. "In no time at all, the adults will be saying, 'Why can't you behave like Susie?' That previously all-boy environment will favor the compliance of girls and, once again, boys will be told they can't quite cut it." Hancock said this latest development is another move negatively impacting boys who, according to government statistics, are: three times more likely to be enrolled in special education four times more likely to be diagnosed ADHD outnumbered two to one in top-10 senior rankings "Confined to classroom settings more suited to girls and denied rough-and-tumble experiences that help them learn and grow, it is no wonder boys are struggling," Hancock said. "They are losing out and not developing as strong, capable men because we are not letting them be fully-boys. "Weakened expectations and participation trophies have led to our culture producing unproductive narcissists. They are unproductive because we don't sufficiently challenge them, and they are narcissists because we don't let them fail." Since it was founded in 2014, Trail Life USA has been embraced enthusiastically by families seeking a faith-based, nurture-and-activity program based on traditional values. Today there are almost 30,000 members in over 750 troops across 48 states. The organization has seen significant growth since the BSA's decision to welcome girls. "Boys love boy-focused, outside challenge in hierarchically structured environments," said Hancock. "They thrive there. They need clear boundaries and designated leadership. If it's unclear, they will create this structure in a way that looks like rebellion or resistance or apathy." In contrast, Trail Life USA "offers challenging outdoor and character-buildingaccountability from mentors and peersand leadership opportunities." Typically chartered by local churches, Trail Life USA troops offer a K-12 program centered on outdoor experiences that build young men's skills and help them grow on a personal level and as role models and leaders for their peers. Trail Life USA was described as "the now preferred organization for Christians" by Walker Wildmon, assistant to AFA president Tim Wildmon, in the organization's recent "Reason & Company" video update. The report also recommended Trail Life USA's sister organization, American Heritage Girls (www.americanheritagegirls.org), for parents of girls. With more than 43,000 members in 50 states, the movement offers a similar gender-appropriate, values-based environment for growth. "It's good to know that these new organizations are growing like wildfire," said Tim Wildmon. "We say, may their tribe increase." Trail Life USA (www.traillifeusa.com) is a Christian outdoor adventure, character and leadership program for boys and young men, K-12. Chartered through churches in 48 states, the program centers on outdoor experiences and biblical values that build a young man's skills and allow him to grow on a personal level and as a role model and leader for his peers. T hey have been a fixture of transport in London for a century, but only now is New York turning to double-decker buses to solve its transit crisis. City officials said they would be trialling double-deckers on express lines to and from Staten Island in the hope they would ease congestion. If the plan is a success it will be rolled out across the city, but it will be a real back-to-the-future moment for the man behind it. The programme was drawn up by Andy Byford, the former London Underground station manager turned transit czar who has been hired to fix New Yorks transport woes. He is the new head of New York City Transit Authority, arguably the toughest job in city transport, and appears to be taking inspiration from Londons iconic red buses. TTC head Andy Byford is using London's transport network as inspiration for work in New York / Toronto Star via Getty Images New Yorks version will be a blue double-decker with a yellow stripe down the side and I NY on it. It will be electric, as Londons have been for two years. Under Mr Byfords plan riders will be able to buy tickets before they board from machines and download an app that tells them if theres a seat available on the bus. There will be new bus lanes, priority to buses at traffic lights and countdown clocks at bus stops for when the next one arrives. Mr Byford said he wanted to completely overhaul the bus network and change how the city sees them: If we dont do anything, this city will achieve complete gridlock, it will grind to a halt. So we need to give buses a super-efficient way of getting about, a fighting chance of getting through the traffic. Bus ridership in New York City has dropped about 14 per cent since 2007 due to lack of investment across the whole transit system. Last summer New York governor Andrew Cuomo declared a transport state of emergency, and announced a big increase in funding. The Straphangers campaign group called the bus plan one of the biggest wins for our citys 2.5 million daily bus riders in more than half a century. Omar Vera, a transit enthusiast and regular attendee at transit board meetings, said Mr Byford was amazing. Mr Byford said that he would be looking to London for inspiration about how to fix New Yorks transportation. T he Queen has sent a heartfelt message of condolence to the people of Canada following the deadly Toronto attack. A Buckingham Palace statement read: Prince Philip and I join all Canadians in expressing our sadness following the terrible tragedy that occurred in Toronto yesterday. Her Majesty, who is also Queen of Canada, issued the statement after police confirmed that the 10 dead and 14 wounded were "predominantly" women. They said the youngest were in their twenties and the eldest in their eighties. The scene of the attack in Toronto / AP The driver of the van, Alek Minassian, 25, was charged on Tuesday with 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. Police say he appeared to intentionally strike pedestrians after mounting a busy pavement in a rental van. He was arrested several blocks away after a tense standoff with police. Toronto van incident - in pictures 1 /15 Toronto van incident - in pictures Police are seen near a damaged van after a vehicle mounted a pavement crashing into pedestrians in Toronto AP Emergency services close Yonge Street in Toronto after the van mounted a sidewalk AP A rented van sits on a sidewalk about a mile from where several pedestrians were killed EPA Toronto police talk to a woman in the aftermath of the crash Rex Features Police investigate at the scene EPA A couple look down the road after an incident where a van struck multiple people at a major intersection in north Toronto Reuters A police officer speaks with a witness Reuters The road was closed off following the horrifying incident Getty Images Emergency services closed Yonge Street while police investigated AP A Toronto police officer patrols along Yonge Street EPA The front end damage of the van AFP/Getty Images People react to an incident where a van struck multiple people at a major intersection in Toronto's northern suburbs, in Ontario, Canada Reuters Police work the scene on Yonge Street at near Finch Avenue Getty Images People light candles at a makeshift memorial to the victims after a van mounted a sidewalk crashing into pedestrians in Toronto AP The front end damage of the van sits on a sidewalk about a mile from where several pedestrians were injured EPA He showed little overt emotion as he made a brief appearance in a Toronto courtroom on Wednesday in a white jumpsuit and handcuffs. The judge ordered him detained without bond and scheduled the next hearing for May 10. "It was like he was playing a video game, trying to kill as many people as possible," said Panna Patel, 42, who stopped by the memorial and had been at the scene a day earlier, getting cash from an ATM as it occurred. "He was looking people directly in the eye, making eye contact, it was so scary. He wasn't remorseful at all." Suspect: Alek Minassian / LinkedIn Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dismissed the possibility of terrorism, saying that authorities see no national security element in the case. He told a news conference that the incident "hasn't changed the overall threat level in Canada", though it occurred as Cabinet ministers from the G7 nations were meeting in Toronto. Authorities so far had not disclosed a possible motive or cause, though "the incident definitely looked deliberate," Police Chief Mark Saunders told reporters at a late-night news conference. Saunders said Minassian, who lives in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, had not been known to police previously. An online social media profile described him as a college student. A van driver accused of killing 10 people by driving into pedestrians in Toronto posted praise for misogynistic killer Elliot Rodger online moments before the attack. Mr Minassian's Facebook post praised the 22-year-old who killed six people in a shooting rampage through Isla Vista, California in 2014 before turning the gun on himself. It read: "The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!" Suspect: Alek Minassian / LinkedIn The term "incel" refers to a now-banned group on the website Reddit, used by Rodger, where young men discussed their lack of sexual activity and attractiveness to women, often blaming women for the problem. Toronto Police Detective Sergeant Graham Gibson said the 10 dead and 14 wounded were "predominantly" women. He said the youngest were in their twenties and the eldest in their eighties. Toronto van incident - in pictures 1 /15 Toronto van incident - in pictures Police are seen near a damaged van after a vehicle mounted a pavement crashing into pedestrians in Toronto AP Emergency services close Yonge Street in Toronto after the van mounted a sidewalk AP A rented van sits on a sidewalk about a mile from where several pedestrians were killed EPA Toronto police talk to a woman in the aftermath of the crash Rex Features Police investigate at the scene EPA A couple look down the road after an incident where a van struck multiple people at a major intersection in north Toronto Reuters A police officer speaks with a witness Reuters The road was closed off following the horrifying incident Getty Images Emergency services closed Yonge Street while police investigated AP A Toronto police officer patrols along Yonge Street EPA The front end damage of the van AFP/Getty Images People react to an incident where a van struck multiple people at a major intersection in Toronto's northern suburbs, in Ontario, Canada Reuters Police work the scene on Yonge Street at near Finch Avenue Getty Images People light candles at a makeshift memorial to the victims after a van mounted a sidewalk crashing into pedestrians in Toronto AP The front end damage of the van sits on a sidewalk about a mile from where several pedestrians were injured EPA Minassian showed little overt emotion as he made a brief appearance in a Toronto courtroom in a white jumpsuit and handcuffs yesterday. The judge ordered him detained without bond and scheduled the next hearing for May 10. Killing spree: Elliot Rodger slaughtered six people in California after posting sinister messages online "It was like he was playing a video game, trying to kill as many people as possible," said Panna Patel, 42, who stopped by the memorial and had been at the scene a day earlier, getting cash from an ATM as it occurred. "He was looking people directly in the eye, making eye contact, it was so scary. He wasn't remorseful at all." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dismissed the possibility of terrorism, saying that authorities see no national security element in the case. Toronto attack: Police name man arrested as 10 confirmed dead He told a news conference that the incident "hasn't changed the overall threat level in Canada", though it occurred as Cabinet ministers from the G7 nations were meeting in Toronto. P eople across Australia, New Zealand and around the world will mark Anzac Day this weekend. The poignant annual event honours Australia and New Zealands war dead, who lost their lives in the Gallipoli landings during the First World War. In the UK, a service of commemoration and thanksgiving takes place at Westminster Abbey to mark Anzac Day but this year, as with most other events, it is cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus lockdown. Heres everything you need to know about Anzac Day, why it is remembered and how memorial services are adapting due to the pandemic. When is Anzac Day? A young girl watches sailors march during the Anzac Day parade in Melbourne / AFP/Getty Images Anzac Day was first made an official day of remembrance on April 25, 1916, and has been celebrated on that day every year since. For Kiwis and Australians, Anzac Day is an important time to remember those lost in all conflicts, much like Remembrance Day in the UK. Anzac Day 2019 - In pictures 1 /31 Anzac Day 2019 - In pictures The Duke of Cambridge walks with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern during an Anzac Day service at the Auckland War Memorial EPA The Duke of Cambridge meets five year old Alen Alsati and her father Wasseim, who are recovering in Starship Childrens Hospital in Auckland after being injured in the Christchurch mosques terrorist attack Kensington Palace Prince William greets New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden during the service Reuters The Duke of Cambridge laying a wreath at the Auckland Anzac Day Civic Service PA A member of the 324 Squadron pictured during the Anzac Day dawn service at Coogee Beach in Sydney EPA A soldier raises an Australian flag before a ceremony at Lone Pine, at Canakkale on the Gallipoli Peninsula AFP/Getty Images Australia's Chief of Defence Forces Angus Campbell visits the Lone Pine Australian memorial to attend a ceremony to mark the 104th anniversary of the World War One battle of Gallipoli, in the Gallipoli peninsula in Canakkale, Turkey REUTERS Gypsy O'dea (left), granddaughter of late Australian second world war veteran and former prisoner of war Neil Macpherson, is consoled by a member of Australia's Defense Forces at the Hellfire Pass section of the Thai-Burma railway, following the Anzac Day war memorial service at Hellfire Pass in Kanchanaburi province, Thailand EPA Soldiers march during the Anzac Day parade in Brisbane EPA Australian servicemen take part in Anzac Day ceremonies at the military cemetery of the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, northern France AFP/Getty Images Prince William attends an Anzac Day service in Auckland Reuters The Duke of Cambridge lays a wreath during an Anzac Day service at the Auckland War Memorial EPA Visitors from Australia and New Zealand attend a dawn ceremony marking the 104th anniversary of the World War One battle of Gallipoli, at Anzac Cove in the Gallipoli peninsula in Canakkale, Turkey Reuters People walk among gravestones after an Australian Memorial service at Lone Pine, at Canakkale on the Gallipoli Peninsula AFP/Getty Images Australia's Defence Force Chief Gen. Angus Campbell stands in attention during a ceremony at the Lone Pine Cemetery, in Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey, AP Visitors from Australia and New Zealand attend a dawn ceremony marking the 104th anniversary of the World War One battle of Gallipoli, at Anzac Cove in the Gallipoli peninsula in Canakkale, Turkey Reuters People visit the Lone Pine Cemetery in Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey AP Australian visitors attend a dawn ceremony marking the 104th anniversary of the World War One battle of Gallipoli, at Anzac Cove Reuters Australian visitors attend a dawn ceremony marking the 104th anniversary of the World War One battle of Gallipoli, at Anzac Cove Reuters Visitors from Australia and New Zealand attend a dawn ceremony at Anzac Cove Reuters Visitors from Australia and New Zealand wait at Anzac Cove to attend a dawn ceremony Reuters The Auckland Anzac Day Civic Service at Auckland War Memorial PA People participate in the Anzac Day march in Sydney, Australia EPA Soldiers march during the Anzac Day parade in Brisbane EPA People attend he Dawn Service ceremony at the Anzac Cove beach, the site of World War I landing of the Anzacs AP Participants take part in the Anzac Day parade in Sydney AFP/Getty Images A woman carries a photo of a veteran during a march celebrating Anzac Day in Sydney AP People attend the Anzac Day war memorial service at Hellfire Pass in Kanchanaburi province, Thailand EPA Visitors from Australia and New Zealand gather during a Dawn Service ceremony at Anzac Cove Beach, at Canakkale on the Gallipoli Peninsula AFP/Getty Images People attend the Australian Memorial Service at Lone Pine in commemoration of the Gallipoli War on Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey EPA Australian soldiers take part in Anzac Day ceremonies at the military cemetery of the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, northern Franc AFP/Getty Images ANZAC is an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. On April 25, 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. These became known as Anzacs. What were the Gallipoli landings? Dawn: people walk at the Anzac Cove cemetery by the site, in Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey / AP On the morning of 25 April 1915, the allies, including the Anzacs, launched an expedition to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. Their aim was to gain access to the Dardanelles - a strip of water the peninsular and mainland Turkey - which leads to the Black Sea and thus free it up for their navy. This would then give them direct access to Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey) which, at the time, was the capital of the Ottoman Empire a key ally of Germany during the war. The plan was to hit Ottoman troops hard with a surprise attack and knock them out of the war whilst capturing their capital. What happened? Remembrance: People attend an Anzac Day dawn service in Canakkale, Turkey / AFP/Getty Images The Anzacs were met with fierce resistance from the Ottoman Turkish defenders. The expedition quickly entered a stalemate which then dragged on for eight months leading to huge losses and casualties on both sides. By the end of the year, when Allied forces were evacuated, their deaths totalled over 56,000, including 8,709 from Australia and 2,721 from New Zealand. Why is it an important day for New Zealand and Australia? ar veterans make their way down Elizabeth Street during the ANZAC Day parade in Sydney / Getty Images News of the events at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders and April 25 became the day on which they remembered the sacrifice of those killed. On 30 April 1915, when the first news of the landing reached New Zealand, a half-day holiday was declared and impromptu services were held. The actions taken by Anzac troops went down in history for their bravery and the hardships suffered, with many seeing their heroism as being key to national identity. Following the Second World War, Anzac Day was used to commemorate the lives of Australians who died in both wars and now all military operations. How is Anzac Day commemorated? Memorial services are usually held at dawn to mark the time of the original landing in Gallipoli in which those in attendance sing hymns and lay wreaths. The last post is played by military trumpeters. This year, the Covid-19 pandemic has ensured that no events will take place and no veterans will march with New Zealand under strict lockdown and social distancing measures in force across Australia. Instead, Australians and Kiwis have been asked to stand at the end of their driveways or on balconies at 6am on Saturday to mark their respects. This is followed by marches which take place in cities across Australia and New Zealand and commemorative services at churches and war memorials. H old the coke. If youve only been drinking rum with mixers, this weekend's celebration of the golden spirit is a good time to change that. Here are eight sensational rums each with their own distinct flavours and characteristics that are worth taking time over, sipping and savouring. 1. FAIR rum This rum comes from a line of socially responsible spirits that also includes a quinoa vodka. It is made in Belize with organic sugar cane, the growers of which belong to the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association and work to fair trade standards. This is a golden-coloured five-year-old rum which is bottled only after being aged in bourbon barrels. Coffee, chocolate, banana and vanilla are all prominent on the palate, while its rich smoothness is its winning feature. 2. Rum Sixty Six Family Reserve Made and bottled at the one of the Caribbeans oldest rum-making sites the Foursquare Distillery in Barbados this rum was originally reserved solely for the family who distilled it. Thankfully, not any more. The result of at least 12 years maturing in American oak barrels is a complex, rounded rum with big-hitting flavours of dried fruits and molasses along with vanilla and a little nutmeg. 3. Ron Zacapa Centenario Sistema Solera 23 Rum This well-known Guatemalan rum has won countless medals and awards, and it is easy to see why. Apricot, citrus and vanilla are among the most prominent characteristics, but theres so much more than that going on chocolate, black pepper, almond, Bourbon, the list goes on. It is rich, luxuriously velvety and has a long finish, thanks largely to the amount of age on it it is made using a solera system (commonly associated with sherry) and blends rums aged between 6 and 23 years. 46.45, The Whisky Exchange, Buy it now 4. Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva This is a rich, sweet, stunner of a rum which is ideal enjoyed after dinner or at the end of the night. Flavours of raisins, ginger, cinnamon and cloves swirl with honey, caramel and orange think a cross between a calvados and a dessert wine. 35, Waitrose Cellar, Buy it now 5. Plantation Extra Old Barbados Rum Tropical flavours of bananas, coconut and pineapple give an exotic edge to this toffee-sweet rum, while added complexity comes in the form of dark chocolate, tobacco and treacle notes. The rums which go into it are aged twice: first in the Caribbean in ex-Bourbon casks and then in Charente in southwestern France in small French oak casks at the home of Plantations owner, famed Cognac producer Pierre Ferrand. The decanter-style bottle is a bonus. 6. Kraken Black Spiced Rum Despite being relatively new to the UK market, Kraken has made a name for itself thanks in part to its distinctive bottle, which makes it a back bar favourite. But this is a rum with substance to back up its style. It teems with nutty, peppery, black coffee and cherry flavours and boasts a long finish. It is punchy enough to stand up to a mixer, but also rewarding straight-up. 7. El Dorado 12 Year Old This rum hailing from Guyana is among the most decorated from the Caribbean, with those in-the-know praising its complex flavours, long finish and rounded taste it is very good value given the quality, too. Tropical fruit, dark sugar and fragrant honey mingle on the palate along with raisins and hints of tobacco. It boasts a velvety mouthfeel, while its long, rich finish is the piece de resistance. 8. The Duppy Share This recently released tropical-tasting golden rum is a blend of five-year-old Bajan rum and three-year-old Jamaican rum, which is then aged in Bourbon barrels. Pineapple and mango notes dominate, creating a rum that is reasonably complex yet incredibly smooth and easy to drink. Follow Ben Norum on Twitter @BenNorum A manda Holden has begged fans not to hate her after she posted a picture of herself sunbathing abroad. Holden, 47, sent pulses racing with a picture of herself in a bikini as she lounged at the side of a pool. She told fans she is currently enjoying a detox ahead of her return to Britains Got Talent. She captioned the snap: #detox in the #sun #dont #hate #me. Detox: Amanda Holden chilling poolside abroad / Instagram/ Amanda Holden Fans hailed her a goddess and branded her stunning after being left in awe by the post. Holden also shared a picture of herself working out on a treadmill with her personal trainer Judge Rinder. The post comes days after Holden poked fun at her three chins after her husband snapped a picture of her sleeping on a plane. Holden shared the hilarious image on Instagram, posting: So my hilarious #husband takes pictures of me asleep on various #trips across the #world .. there are loads! Amanda Holden faces backlash for wearing revealing dress on Britain's Got Talent Hes thinking of publishing a #coffee table book! #3chins @thepiersmorgan has fierce #competition #notpictureperfect #icansleepanywhere. Holden will return to the Britains Got Talent live shows later this year when the auditions wrap up. She provoked outrage on last years series when a plunging gown she wore sparked 665 complaints to Ofcom. Viewers dubbed the dress inappropriate for a family show. Britain's Got Talent 2018 Manchester Auditions - In pictures 1 /8 Britain's Got Talent 2018 Manchester Auditions - In pictures Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon attend the auditions for Britain's Got Talent at The Lowry in Salford PA Anthony McPartlin, Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell, Declan Donnelly and David Walliams attend the auditions for Britain's Got Talent at The Lowry in Salford PA Anthony McPartlin attends the auditions for Britain's Got Talent at The Lowry in Salford. PA Declan Donnelly attends the auditions for Britain's Got Talent at The Lowry in Salford PA Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon attend the auditions for Britain's Got Talent at The Lowry in Salford PA Amanda Holden attends the auditions for Britain's Got Talent at The Lowry in Salford PA Alesha Dixon attends the auditions for Britain's Got Talent at The Lowry in Salford. PA Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon attend the auditions for Britain's Got Talent at The Lowry in Salford PA M ichelle Keegan has revealed that she would love to go back to Coronation Street. The English actress rose to fame following her portrayal of Tina McIntyre in the ITV soap. Keegan, who now plays a soldier in BBC drama Our Girl, has revealed that she wouldnt shut down the opportunity to return to the show. The 30-year-old told the Press Association: I always say that Id love to go back to Corrie I was always a massive fan of Coronation Street growing up and Ill never say never. 2008-2014: Keegan rose to fame on the show You never know what happens in the future. The news comes after Keegan admitted that she won't ever move to LA with husband Mark Wright. The former Coronation Street actress revealed she is finding her long-distance relationship with her other half difficult as he hosts an American show called Extra across the pond. Mark Wright says marriage to Michelle Keegan will always come first The pair have spent eight months flying back and forth between LA and London, although she has started looking for work in America so that she can be with her husband. Speaking about whether she has considered moving permanently to be with former The Only Way is Essex star Wright, she explained: Of course Ive thought about it. But its not that simple. Im auditioning for work out in LA and if something good comes up I will take it and that will be great. But it has to be something I want to do. Ive held out for really good parts on British television and I love working here. I think we make great drama in this country. I do love LA. It's always so sunny; it's so easy to be healthy and happy there. But I'm a northern girl. C laire Foy has revealed she was left embarrassed by the pay disparity between herself and co-star Matt Smith on The Crown. The actress, 34, was paid a lower wage than Smith, who played Prince Phillip, despite having the leading role as Queen Elizabeth II in the hit Netflix drama. Foy previously said she wasnt surprised by the backlash sparked. She has now admitted the pay gap revelation "opened her eyes". Speaking to The Telegraph she said: It definitely opened my eyes to a lot. And I certainly wont be naive about those things. Leading role: Claire Foy as Her Majesty the Queen in The Crown Its really opened my eyes about what I am allowed to have an opinion about, and what Im allowed to stand up for myself about. She continued: And I think thats really changed my approach to myself and other women in this industry. Its been only a positive thing even though, embarrassing. Her comments come days after Smith, 35, finally broke his silence on the issue after fans launched a petition, calling on Smith to make up for the sexist pay gap by donating the difference in his and Foys paychecks to The Times Up movement. Interview with Claire Foy and Matt Smith ahead of The Crown S2 release Speaking at the premiere of his latest film Mapplethorpe he told Hollywood Reporter: Claire is one of my best friends, and I believe that we should be paid equally and fairly and there should be equality for all. I support her completely, and I'm pleased that it was resolved and they made amends for it because that what's needed to happen. Going forward, I think we should all bear in mind that we need to strive to make this better and a more even playing field for everyone involved but not just in our industry, in all industries. The Crown cast and their real-life counterparts - In pictures 1 /25 The Crown cast and their real-life counterparts - In pictures Queen Elizabeth II Portrayed by Olivia Colman in season 3 Netflix/PA The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret Marion Bailey as the Queen Mother and Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret in season 3 Netflix/Getty Images Princess Anne Erin Doherty as Princess Anne in season 3 Netflix/Getty Images Prince Charles Josh O'Connor as Prince Charles in season 3 Netflix/PA Prince Philip Portrayed by Tobias Menzies in season 3 Netflix/PA Queen Elizabeth II Portrayed by Olivia Colman in season 3 Netflix Prince Charles Portrayed by Josh O'Connor in season 3 Netflix Prince Philip Portrayed by Tobias Menzies in season 3 Netflix Lord Mountbatten Portrayed by Charles Dance in season 3 Netflix The Duke of Windsor Portrayed by Derek Jacobi in season 3 Netflix The Queen Mother Portrayed by Marion Bailey in season 3 Netflix Harold Wilson Portrayed by Jason Watkins in season 3 Netflix Camilla Shand (later Parker Bowles) Portrayed by Emerald Fennell in season 3 Netflix Antony Armstrong Jones, Lord Snowden Portrayed by Ben Daniels in season 3 Netflix Princess Margaret Portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter in season 3 Netflix Queen Elizabeth II Portrayed by Claire Foy in season 1 & 2 Netflix/PA Duke of Edinburgh Portrayed by Matt Smith in season 1 & 2 Netflix/PA Queen Elizabeth and Jackie Kennedy Portrayed by Claire Fore and Jodi Balfour n season 1 & 2 Netflix/Getty Images The Queen Mother Portrayed by Victoria Hamilton in season 1 & 2 Netflix/PA Winston Churchill Portrayed by John Lithgow in season 1 & 2 Netflix/Getty Images Princess Margaret Portrayed by Vanessa Kirby in season 1 & 2 Netflix/Getty Images King George VI Portrayed by Jared Harris in season 1 & 2 Netflix/Getty Images Duke of Windsor Portrayed by Alex Jennings in season 1 & 2 Netflix/Getty Images Antony Armstrong-Jones Portrayed by Matthew Goode in season 2 Netflix/Getty Images Anthony Eden Portrayed by Jeremy Northam in season 1 & 2 Netflix/Getty Images Show producers Suzanne Mackie and Andy Harries made the revelation about Foys pay during a panel discussion, saying Smith had made more due to his Doctor Who fame. Mackie then added: Going forward, no one gets paid more than the Queen. Left Bank Pictures, which makes The Crown on behalf of Netflix, apologised for the pay disparity and subsequent fall out. J ay-Z has celebrated the release of Meek Mill from prison, claiming the US rapper was incarcerated unjustly. Rapper Meek Mill was jailed last November for violating the terms of his historic probation when he was arrested for recklessly driving a dirt bike through the streets of New York while filming an Instagram live. He was first jailed in 2008 for drug dealing and illegal possession of a gun when he was 18 years old and has been caught in the probation system ever since. Fellow rapper Jay-Z told his 20 million Facebook followers that today, Meek Mill, a son of Philadelphia, is a free man. He was incarcerated unjustly and caught in a probation trap for years by a broken system, the rap music heavyweight said. Now we can celebrate his release. We thank every individual that has supported and fought alongside Meek every step of the way. Meek Mill, real name Robert Rihmeek Williams, is signed to Jay-Zs Roc National management company. The star and his wife Beyonce have led the campaign to release Mill from prison. Meek Mill performing on stage / Neilson Barnard/Getty Images In the same month he returned to prison, Jay-Z penned an opinion piece for the New York Times titled The Criminal Justice System Stalks Black People like Meek Mill, in which he argued that the US system harasses hundreds of thousands of black people and claimed probation is a trap. The rapper himself took to Twitter following the Supreme Courts decision to thank fans for their prayers, visits, calls, letters and rallies which helped [him] stay positive. Mill described the past five months as a nightmare. He said: Id like to thank God, my family, and all m public advocates for their love, support, and encouragement during this difficult time." M odel Selena Forrest says being discovered at 16 helped her escape a life of poverty after her family were forced to flee Hurricane Katrina. The rising star, 18, was spotted by a scout two years ago and has already modelled for Chanel, Louis Vuitton and DKNY. But previously, she said, she was living a different life in a drugs den. In America its hard my family fell on hard times, thats what happened. Its not about how I got there, its about how I got out of there, Forrest tells ES Magazine, out tomorrow. I was in a bad environment before I was blessed with my job. I lived in a straight trap house a place where people buy drugs and shit like that. I tried to keep my mind right and have faith in myself and believe in myself. Forrest grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, but the family relocated in the wake of the devastation left by Katrina in 2005. We had to get out of our neighbourhood. But it wasnt like a tragic time. I was so young that it was fun we were eating military-style rations that came with candy bars, so I was super-happy about that. She was spotted by the scout as she was drinking with friends in Huntington Beach, California: A security guard stopped us and took the alcohol, which was the downside. But there was a lady who came running out of a restaurant and said, Have you ever thought of modelling? Initially Forrest could not afford to get herself ready for casting calls and removed her own braces with pliers after a dentist quoted $1,100 to do it. She said she had noticed the competitive streak among models at casting calls and went out of her way to be friendly: I make sure I say good luck to everybody. There needs to be a lot less taking each other down. Theres definitely enough room for all of us at the top. I hope we all make it Im not in competition with anybody but my old self. J ennifer Lopez praised women for standing up against sexual harassment as part of the MeToo movement as she spoke on the red carpet at the Time 100 gala. The singer performed at this years celebration of Time Magazines annual list of the worlds most influential people, along with Shawn Mendes, in New York on Tuesday night. Speaking on the red carpet, Lopez said: Watching everything thats happening with women, finding their voices, standing up for themselves, all of the groundwork that was laid last year and into this year the world is changing. And its changing for our daughters and we are super excited about that, the performer, who herself made the magazines top 100 most influential list, added. Former MLB baseball player Alex Rodriguez performer Jennifer Lopez arrive for the Time 100 Gala / EPA Millie Bobby Brown this year became the youngest person to be named by Time as one of the worlds most influential people of 2018. The 14-year-old Stranger Things star joined the likes of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and rapper Cardi B on this years prestigious list. S tephen Mulhern has appeared to confirm that Ant McPartlin will be back on television screens next year, but wont be returning for the 2018 series of Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. The presenter and good friend of the troubled star has said that he needs to be left alone for a while after being charged with drink-driving earlier this month. McPartlin confirmed that he would be taking a break from his TV commitments for the foreseeable future, but it was unknown whether or not he would return for his annual presenting gig in the Australian outback. Fingers crossed, Ant will get the treatment he needs and be back to his old self for next year, Mulhern told Best. Charged: Ant McPartlin leaves court (Steve Parsons/PA ) / Steve Parsons/PA He added: But he does need the rest and to be left alone, and given the time to recover. According to the Daily Mirror, no decisions have been made about McPartlins work schedule and it is unknown when hell make his return. Piers Morgan Ant McPartlin doesn't deserve sympathy Hell be off for as long as it takes him to get better. Work is not even being discussed with him. The only priority is him getting better, said a source. McPartlin was fined 86,000 and banned from driving for 20 months after he crashed his Mini into two vehicles in Richmond last month. Ant McPartlin at Kingston Police Station - In pictures 1 /4 Ant McPartlin at Kingston Police Station - In pictures Ant McPartlin seen leaving police station in Kingston, London Splash News Ant McPartlin seen leaving police station in Kingston, London Splash News Ant McPartlin seen leaving police station in Kingston, London Splash News Ant McPartlin seen leaving police station in Kingston, London Splash News His presenting partner Declan Donnelly hosted the remainder of Saturday Night Takeaway solo and is expected to do the same with the Britains Got Talent live show. A court hearing earlier this month found he was twice the legal limit when he caused the collision which resulted in a four-year-old girl being taken to hospital. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila on Wednesday toured the Yad Vashem Memorial, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, and attended the lighting of the Eternal Flame, laying a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance and signing the guestbook. According to a Government press statement, the visit represented an opportunity to reiterate Romania's commitment to penalise all forms of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. "The Romanian PM mentioned that Romania plans to open a national Jewish history and Holocaust museum, with support from Israel and the Yad Vashem Institute," reads the statement.On her visit to Israel, Dancila had a meeting with ambassador Colette Avital, who is also secretary general of the World Jewish Restitution Organization and head of the Center Organisation of Holocaust Survivors in Israel."Also tackled was the return of Jewish property which was abusively confiscated by the Communist regime, and co-operation inside the working group created with the Romanian Government for the return of Jewish properties and pensions for the Holocaust survivors was noted."PM Viorica Dancila is paying an official visit to Israel on Wednesday and Thursday, at the invitation extended by her counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu On an official visit to Israel, Romania's Prime Minister Viorica Dancila had a meeting on Wednesday with her Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, who hailed the adoption by Romania's Government of a framework launching the debate on relocating Romania's Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Romanian government reports that the two officials mentioned the traditional friendship relations between the two countries and highlighted the excellent level of bilateral relations between Romania Israel, buttressed by a tradition of 70 years. "The Romanian PM voiced satisfaction over the interest showed by Israel in the proposal of Romanian for a Romania -Israel partnership to be concluded in the area of new technologies, which will allow the drawing up of new joint projects in its main areas, namely research, healthcare, telemedicine, high-tech entrepreneurial innovation, all of which will stimulate the mutual interest of business communities of the two countries."Also discussed was co-operation in defence strategy and cyber security.An interest of both countries in organising the third joint high-level government meeting (G2G) in 2018 was highlighted, while underscoring the necessity to organise some business contacts.The two officials also talked about the existing good co-operation in the multilateral collaboration format, including mutual support for candidacies, the Gov't says.PM Viorica Dancila was paying an official visit to Israel. Serbia will accept an even stronger support on behalf of Bucharest, Athens and Sofia on its path to the EU, the Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic stated at the end of the high-level quadrilateral meeting Romania-Bulgaria-Greece-Serbia, which took place on Tuesday at Victoria Palace. "These meetings are highly relevant for our countries, Serbia being the only one of them which is not a EU member state yet. It is very important that we benefit from the support of Romania, Bulgaria and Greece for Serbia's European path so that Serbia, in its turn, will do everything in its power to help these friend countries and we will do in a direct manner. We will accept an even stronger support on behalf of Bucharest, Athens and Sofia on our European path. We would like you to help us, if we were in your place, we would. We want to become a member state of the EU, but without your firm support we wouldn't be able to do this," Aleksandar Vucic stated. The Serbian President specified that "very concrete discussions" were carried out during the meeting in Bucharest ."The conclusion is that we will establish a joint working group, in which the Communication and Transport Ministers in our countries will be represented, we will talk more concretely the joint projects and we will work closely to prepare for the organisation of the 16+1 format meeting, due to take place in July, in the course of this year. We have also discussed matters related to financing and a series of common activities. The commodities exchange between Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece has increased in the last years. The flow of tourists to Serbia has also grown and as well from Serbia to these three countries. We deem these meetings very relevant for our countries," Vucic mentioned.The Serbian President also referred to the common projects discussed at the meeting."I am pleased with the concrete results that we have recorded today. For Serbia's citizens we have discussed about opportunities such as Moravita - Timisoara motorway, also the construction of a motorway to link us to Bulgaria, the finalisation of our section of motorway that leads to Skopje. We have talked about possibilities to modernise the railway towards the Bulgarian border. Additionally, we discussed about ways to improve the digital infrastructure and cooperation with these states within the EU. We have talked about the possibility to solve common issues and the implementation of joint working groups can help," Vucic further said. The White House has had a hot new idea to leave Syria but also stay there at the same time by deploying an Arab contingent to US military bases, primarily from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). So to Arabize one of the bloodiest wars of our time in keeping with the bitter memory of Vietnamization. It seems that the plan was worked out during the almost month-long stay of Saudi Arabias defence minister, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in America. And the plans existence was announced on 17 April by Saudi Arabias foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, during a joint press conference with the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres. Following the missile attack on Syria, the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, reiterated that President Donald Trump still wants an early withdrawal of US troops from the country. The introduction of a Saudi contingent in their place seems to Washington to be in the interests of the United States. And the US government has not just suggested to Saudi Arabia that it replace the American contingent, but to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as well. They would take a back seat to the Saudis, however. There is also talk of these regimes providing money to rebuild Syrias destroyed north. It seems they wouldnt just be counting on military force, but on buying the local population as well. It does raise a question, of course: have the Americans asked the Syrian government or its own allies the Kurds and, at the very least, Turkey, Russia and Iran about the desirability of such a replacement? No, of course they havent. Even while withdrawing, the US is unable to forget about its exclusivity. For many reasons, however, the idea of replacing Americans with Arabs is doomed to failure. That Damascus will resolutely resist the proposed reoccupation of its territory by the forces of a fraternal country is obvious. It can only lead to more fighting and a rise in regional tensions. Almost as well-equipped as the Americans, the Saudis will never be a worthy opponent of the battle-hardened Syrian army. They have already shown what theyre capable of in the endless war in Yemen, where barefoot Houthis are inflicting one embarrassing defeat after another. Riyadhs intention to fight a decisive battle against Iran on foreign soil will not be realised, either. With its ally Iraq behind it, Tehran would soon have the advantage. All in all, not a single one of Syrias neighbours is in favour of the arrival of Saudi troops to replace the Americans except Israel. Iraq is categorically against the idea, since it wants to avoid having to deal with an upsurge in fighting between Sunnis and Shiites on its borders. Turkey has no need for the Saudis either, because they would undermine its influence in the Ankara-controlled area of northern Syria. Suffice it to say that the nearly 30,000 troops now under Turkeys wing from Eastern Ghouta, which was recently liberated by government troops, have been on Riyadhs payroll for the entire war. Turkey has every reason to fear that Saudi Arabia will use these and other groups to assert its dominance over the area. Libya is also against the appearance of Saudi Arabia on the Syrian stage, fearing that clashes between Sunnis and Shiites will move to within its own borders. Even Jordan, which is dependent on Washington and London, is weary of the initiative. As a pragmatic politician, King Abdullah II of Jordan has a good idea of all the possible negative repercussions of such an undertaking. The proposals have also been criticised by Egypt, which has completely ruled out its involvement in their realisation. Mohammad Rashad, a senior official in Egypts General Intelligence Directorate, expressed himself in no uncertain terms: The Egyptian Armed Forces are not mercenaries and cannot be leased or ordered by foreign states to deploy in a certain area. Rashad continued: This is not acceptable. No one should dare to direct or give orders to Egypts army. The statement is an indirect response to an appeal by the US presidents new national security advisor, John Bolton, to the head of Egypts intelligence services, Abbas Mustafa Kamil, inviting Cairo to be involved in the project. Just as many problems await the Saudis in and around the area of their proposed location. To begin with, the Kurds from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who control the area with the help of the US will certainly not welcome their arrival. It would mean the Kurds giving up control of the local Arab population in favour of the incoming contingent and losing most of the power they have won. It is quite possible that the Americans are secretly pushing for a scenario in which, as well as Arabization, there will also be a dekurdization of northern Syria, but at someone elses hands. Then it would seem as if they are not betraying the Kurds, while calming Arab national feelings and ironing out differences with the Turks at the same time. Dont think that the Kurds will remain passive bystanders in this situation, however. Chances are they will occupy the vacated US bases and refuse to let anyone in. It is even possible they will finally realise that, in the current situation, the most sensible course of action to resolve the Kurdish national question would be an alliance with Damascus. For the time being, Damascus is prepared to extend the rights of Kurds, but should they find themselves on the losing side later on, their window of opportunity will gradually close. And for Saudi Arabia, a direct clash with the Islamic State (IS), which, according to the official version, is the terrorist group that the Saudis must go to Syria to fight, could prove fatal. The truth is that many of the IS militants still fighting in Syria are mujahideen from Saudi Arabia and their ability to indoctrinate their fellow countrymen should not be underestimated. It could happen that any direct contact between the Saudi contingent and IS militants will eventually extend the latters influence to the Kingdom, something that the Islamic State has long dreamed of. In the countries of the Persian Gulf, there are already some who think it would perhaps be better to hire Sudanese nationals, Pakistanis or some other poor souls for the operation. The new plan for America to save face in the Middle East is just as chimerical as all of Americas previous attempts at a global reorganisation of the region. The outcome of Arabization will not be any better than the outcome of Vietnamization was all those decades ago. And this will continue to be the case until Washington starts taking into account the positions of all interested parties, including Damascus. The UN is trying to raise an additional $1.7 billion for emergency aid in Congo. The aid will be directed toward helping refugees and internally displace people (IDPs) who have fled fighting in northeast Congo (Ituri province) and the southwest (Kasai region). An estimated 13 to 14 million people have fled the violence. Some have begun returning home but right now Congo has almost six million IDPs. The refugees have fled to Uganda, Angola, Tanzania and Zambia. A few thousand fled into the Central African Republic (CAR) which is in many respects experiencing more chaos than Congo. Congo's situation has led foreign aid agencies (both secular and sectarian) to call for new economic and political reforms. A couple of aid groups claim they have evidence that the government of President Joseph Kabila is stirring violence in order to justify an delay in national elections. There are also allegations by Congolese opposition groups and UN personnel that some of the recent fighting in Ituri province was stirred by corrupt Congolese elites (to include members of the military) who want to retain control of Ituri's mineral deposits. Ituri, like Katanga province in the southwest, has several large mining operations. April 23, 2018: The UN has called for "urgent reconciliation" among tribes in Congo's Ituri province. Foreign aid groups claim in the last month another 300 people have been murdered in Ituri. April 22, 2018: The Angolan government is continuing to pursue the anti-corruption program it began in late 2017. Earlier this month government officials accused the son of former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos of stealing $1.5 billion from Angolas sovereign wealth fund. The fund is currently valued at $5 billion. The government also charged a former governor of the Bank of Angola with being involved in the theft. The International Monetary Fund recently praised the Angolan government for taking significant steps to improve the country's "macroeconomic stability." That noted, anti-corruption activists say bribery is still a common practice in Angola. Government bureaucrats seek facilitation payments." Dos Santos was president from 1979 to 2017. When he left office in 2017 one of his daughter's was worth an estimated $2.6 billion. April 20, 2018: Botswana has become the first sub-Saharan Africa country to directly criticize President Joseph Kabila for remaining in office illegally. Botswana's president asked Kabila to refrain from running for office again in the national election scheduled for December 23, 2018. Then he added that Kabila should not attempt to retain power in any fashion. Botswana had previously accused Kabila of being responsible for Congos humanitarian crisis. April 19, 2018: Rwanda is still trying to address the issue of property stolen or destroyed during the 1994 genocide. The government recently acknowledged that 54,160 cases remain unsettled. Of that number almost 29,000 will never be resolved because the perpetrators are either dead or have no way of paying off the just claims. Most of the claims are being addressed in community courts, called "Gacaca courts." April 18, 2018: The U.S. said that Congo's recent decision to establish a fund to manage aid donations was a good one. Actually, the decision was long overdue. Donor nations and private aid groups have been demanding the government provide more transparency and accountability for aid that flows through Congolese government channels. Theft by bureaucrats is a concern, however, the biggest worry is redirection of aid donations from region's needing humanitarian assistance to areas controlled by supporters of the Kabila government. April 17, 2018: Foreign aid groups are accusing the Burundi government of using violent attacks and murder to intimidate political groups who oppose a referendum that would extend presidential terms from five years to seven years. If it passes, President Pierre Nkurunziza could remain in office through 2034. The foreign aid groups are asking for an investigation into "state sponsored crimes" committed by police and members of the ruling party's Imbonerakure youth organization. April 12, 2016: Political opposition groups are criticizing Congo's national election commission (CENI) for insisting on using electronic voting machines. So far CENI has held two demonstrations and the electronic machines have failed to function properly. April 11, 2018: UN officials claimed protestors in the CAR have used dead bodies as "propaganda" in order to accuse UN personnel of murdering civilians. The UN responded after a group of protestors placed 17 dead bodies outside the UN headquarters building in Bangui, capital of the CAR and claimed the dead had been slain by UN troops. The UN said the dead were "armed criminals" who had launched attack on UN peacekeepers and CAR security personnel. Some of the dead were killed on April 10 when UN peacekeeping troops disarmed militiamen (vigilantes according to one report) who were operating in Bangui's PK5 district. PK5 is a predominantly Muslim area. The UN operation in PK5 began on April 8. UN sources reported 21 people died in clashes in PK5. A foreign aid group reported that it had treated over 40 people for gunshot wounds. April 10, 2018: Some 6,000 refugees have left a refugee camp in Betou (northern Republic of Congo-Brazzaville) and returned home to the CAR. The refugees are from an area in the western CAR. Several of the returning refugees have been living in Republic of Congo since 2013. April 9, 2018: In eastern Congo (North Kivu province) a militia operating in Virunga National Park murdered five park rangers. The militia is involved in the "illegal charcoal trade." In other words, militiamen cut down trees and turn the wood into charcoal. The charcoal is then sold throughout eastern and northeastern Congo. It may not seem like a big business, but it has become a major problem in Virunga. The militias involved in the trade are usually involved in other smuggling operations. April 8, 2018: In eastern Congo (North Kivu province) the Catholic Church in Congo reported gunmen attacked a church and killed the priest after he had finished Mass. Over the last six months attacks on priests and church workers have once again increased. Catholic bishops mediated the December Accord (December 31, 2016) that was supposed to frame a process for removing Kabila from power. April 6, 2018: The Congolese government accused political opposition leader Moise Katumbi of maintaining Italian citizenship from October 2000 until January 2017. The move is an attempt to keep Katumbi from running for president. Many Congolese have dual citizenship. However, the constitution says Congolese cannot hold dual citizenship. If they do they must petition the government to have their Congolese citizenship reinstated. April 4, 2018: In northeast Congo (Ituri province) fighting continues. The UN and the Catholic Church claim nearly 400,000 people have been displaced by renewed violence. More than 40,000 of them have fled Congo to Uganda. Security officials report that someone has supplied warring ethnic groups with light weapons. The weapons may have come from South Sudan. April 1, 2018: The government of the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) and rebels in the Pool region have reached a disarmament agreement. Between April 5 and mid-May, fourteen sites in the Pool region will be established where rebels may assemble and disarm. They will also be eligible for re-integration training. March 31, 2018: In eastern Congo (North Kivu province) ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) Islamist rebels killed at least 11 civilians in an attack on the city of Beni. The Spanish Army has ordered 17 American CH-47F transport helicopters for $76.5 million each. That includes spare parts, maintenance equipment and tech support. The Spanish Army already has 17 older CH-47s, delivered in several purchases from 1973 through the mid-1990s. These were all upgraded to CH-47Ds by 2011 although two were lost in service. Spanish CH-47s served in Afghanistan several times, starting in 2007. Spain has climate and geography (hot and high) similar to Afghanistan and the Spanish pilots quickly adapted to the Afghan conditions. The Spanish used their CH-47s a lot throughout the years and that made it more practical to buy new CH-47Fs rather than upgrade the current ones. Meanwhile, the United States has many more recent CH-47s being upgraded to the F standard in addition to ordering some new CH-47Fs. The development of the F model was the result of discovering that the huge projected cost of developing a new transport helicopter was not worth it compared to spending $11.4 billion dollars to refurbish its fleet of existing CH-47s instead. This decision was driven largely by the success of the CH-47F model, which first flew in 2001 and by 2003 demonstrated that a new helicopter design would not be practical in the face of the much cheaper F model. None of the proposed CH-47 replacements was dramatically better than an upgraded CH-47. This upgrade effort has led to a U.S. Army fleet of 513 CH-47F helicopters (including 397 rebuilt CH-47D choppers, 55 new build 47Fs ones, plus some special versions). The CH-47F has been so successful that the army was able to persuade Congress to allow the fleet to be expanded with more new choppers as well. The rebuilt CH-47Ds became CH-47Fs that are good for another twenty years of service. The F model CH-47 has up-to-date digital communications, is easier to maintain, and cheaper to operate. The CH-47F can carry up to 55 troops and has a maximum range of 426 kilometers. Its max speed is 315 kilometers an hour. Typical missions last no more than 2.5 hours. In 2010 the CH-47F helicopter got its first sustained experience in a combat zone and performed well. This was a major factor in getting the money to buy more of them. A company of 20 CH-47Fs arrived in Afghanistan during 2009, and soon found themselves often flying eight missions a day, day after day. The CH-47Fs had a 90 percent availability rate. Although the CH-47F has been flying since 2001 and were first delivered to the army in 2009, it takes sustained use in a combat environment to smoke out the last bugs and maintenance problems. In Afghanistan, there were some problems with the flat panel displays, but these were quickly worked out. There were several other minor problems, mostly having to do with all the dust in the environment and the temperature extremes (often below freezing in Winter and over 45 degrees/113 Fahrenheit in Summer). This was tough on the maintainers and manufacturers' reps initially, but after a year maintenance problems were no longer an issue. This is important because in Afghanistan the CH-47 is a critical form of air transportation, including combat assault. Since the 1990s, the U.S. Army had used UH-60 "Blackhawk" helicopters for combat assault missions, while the larger CH-47 "Chinook" was used just for moving cargo. But the army found that, in the high altitudes of Afghanistan, the more powerful CH-47 was often the only way to go in the thin mountain air. While doing that the army found that the CH-47 made an excellent assault helicopter. In many ways, it was superior to the UH-60, mainly because the CH-47 carries more troops and moves faster and farther. The CH-47F has even more powerful engines and is even more valuable for high altitude assaults. It is the best helicopter for use in Afghanistan, having proved able to deal with the dust and high altitude operations better than other transport choppers. The first CH-47s entered service in 1962, able to carry only five tons. Some 750 saw service in Vietnam and 200 were lost in action. During 1982-94, 500 CH-47s were rebuilt to the CH-47D standard. SOCOM operates 31 MH-47Ds and Es, which have additional navigation gear. These are being upgraded to MH-47F standards and the fleet expanded to 61 helicopters. As a result of all this, the CH-47 will end up serving at least 75 years. The original CH-47F upgrade program and new builds will not be completed until 2018. A new contract extends production into the 2020s. An MV-22 Osprey lands aboard the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS New York during routine flight deck operations in the Mediterranean Sea, April 15, 2018. The Osprey is assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Juan A. Soto-Delgado X 0 20 Help Keep Us Soaring We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling. We need your help in reversing that trend. We would like to add 20 new subscribers this month. Each month we count on your subscriptions or contributions. You can support us in the following ways: by Austin Bay April 24, 2018 By May 12 the Trump administration must once again review American participation in the deceitfully named Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Obama administration's so-called "nuclear weapons deal" with Tehran's terrorist regime. Indeed, the JCPOA is deceitfully named, so let's address that problem before returning to President Donald Trump and the decision the JCPOA stipulates he must make every 90 days. Incorporating "comprehensive" in the agreement's official name is reprehensibly dishonest, for Barack Obama's deal is anything but comprehensive. Here are some more accurate descriptions of this arms-control monstrosity: sketchy, incomplete, imprecise and spineless. Saudi Arabia, Israel and the UAE understand the grave geo-strategic danger Obama's Disjointed Non-Comprehensive Fake Deal has produced: an Iranian dictatorship with global ideological pretentions that has the cash to seed terror, topple fragile states, build long-range ballistic missiles, operate criminal-terror networks around the world and -- on the sly -- continue to pursue nuclear weapons. "Spineless" is a critical description, and the JCPOA's spinelessness is multidimensional. The Senate never ratified the JCPOA per the U.S. Constitution, so it is not a treaty. Since it is not a treaty, the JCPOA lacks sustaining domestic political spine. Major flaw? Yes. It means the JCPOA amounts to little more than Obama administration verbal vaporware. In 2015, the ayatollahs lived in world of increasing domestic opposition, corruption and crimped finances. Obama's "deal" immediately rewarded the corrupted and crimped ayatollahs with billions of dollars in cash and sanctions relief. Follow the timeline and it appears Tehran's bad guys got cash before the agreement was officially concluded. Giving crooked dictators billions to agree to vaporware was a spineless and stupid act -- an act that segues into the JCPOA's most grievous weakness. The JCPOA fails, utterly, to punish Iran's robed dictators and their clique for their unacceptable misbehavior, such as sponsoring state-supported terrorism. Since 1984 Iran has been on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. The ayatollah dictatorship also engages in what some analysts refer to as "violent meddling operations." Iranian intelligence operatives and its Quds special operations section callously seed chaos in vulnerable, impoverished countries throughout the world, because the regime believes it benefits from instability where human beings die violently. Why was this agreement ever made? President Trump damned it during the campaign as one of the stupidest deals ever made. Trump may have gone too far; history has witnessed a lot of stupid and grandiose diplomatic deals, such as the one Neville Chamberlain made with Adolf Hitler in Munich in 1938 that guaranteed Western Europe "peace for our time." But if he was limiting his comment to U.S. presidents, he has an argument at least worthy of cable television. Requiring Senate ratification of treaties creates a handy institutional brake on U.S. presidents with grandiose visions of their history-shaping genius. In January of this year, President Trump reluctantly agreed to extend the agreement, but indicated it would be the last time he did so. That was not a surprise. In October 2017 Trump made it clear the U.S. would counter Iran's "destabilizing" activities (think Iraq and Syria) and its "support for terrorist proxies" and "proliferation of missiles" (think Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen). He also said that "serious flaws" in the JCPOA had to be fixed. Failure to penalize Iran's violent misbehavior is the major flaw. On April 17 the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence held a hearing that focused on Iran's global terrorism and crime network. Witnesses accused Iran of directing organized criminal syndicates engaged in narcotics, weapons and human trafficking. These syndicates extend to South America and Central America. Is Iran a direct threat to the U.S.? Yes. One witness reminded the subcommittee that in 2011 an Iranian operative was arrested before he could assassinate a Saudi diplomat in a Washington, D.C., restaurant. The Iranian operative intended to kill him with a bomb. Russia is hustling to carry out some damage control in Syria after two embarrassing defeats. First, there was the loss of several hundred Russian military contractors during a failed February attack on American and Kurdish forces in eastern Syria. In April there was the U.S., British and French attack on Assad chemical weapons facilities with 105 smart bombs and missiles. The Syrian air defense system, using recently updated equipment, failed to stop any of the incoming missiles, all of which apparently hit their targets and did so nearly simultaneously. Russia later admitted it did not use its S-400 air defense system in Syria because the incoming missiles, as per previous agreements, avoided all Russian facilities. Russia still insists that the Syrian air defense system shot down a lot of the incoming missiles but has not provided any proof. Such proof would be easy to locate and display if it existed, but it doesnt and Russia is left insisting that its S-400 system, which it recently sold to Turkey, could have shot down the incoming missiles. Meanwhile, Russia says it is sending some S-300 batteries to Syria to upgrade the Syrian air defenses and that these would also knock down incoming missiles. It is uncertain when the S-300 systems will arrive in Syria, or whether they will be sent at all. The fact remains that Russia had a chance to demonstrate the effectiveness of the S-400 and refused to engage. Finally, there was the event that triggered the American led missile attack and that was the frequent recent use of nerve gas by the Assad government. Russia denies this is happening but the UN investigators are convinced and this puts a bad light on the Russian effort in 2013 to avoid Western air attacks on Assad by guaranteeing that the Assads would dismantle their chemical weapons facilities and account for all their chemical weapons so they could be destroyed. The continued use of nerve gas and other chemical weapons by the Assads shows the 2013 Russian guarantee to be worthless. Russia says it is all part of a NATO plot to discredit Russia. Despite the confrontational situation leading up to the missile attack and its aftermath (Russia insisting the gas attack was staged by Britain) the Russians and Americans kept their liaison channels open and active. Some with Russia and Israel. There is a growing list of failures outside of Syria. Russia recently told Angola it would build them to new communications satellite to replace the one lost during a late 2017 effort to get it into orbit. There have been a number of embarrassing failures in their space program and Russia admits it is losing satellite launch business to China and the United States (with their cheaper SpaceX tech). Russia has also been canceling ICBM programs for lack of cash and qualified technical personnel. Same thing with their warship construction efforts. Aircraft development is doing no better. India recently withdrew from the joint development agreement for the Su-57 stealth fighters. This project is way behind schedule while the Chinese already have one stealth fighter in service and others about to be. The American F-35 is getting good reviews and Russia is getting a close up view because Israel recently put its first F-35s into service. Meanwhile, the Russian GDP ($1.3 trillion) is stagnant and the population continues to shrink because more people are leaving and not enough children are being born. Few want to move to Russia, at least not for economic opportunities. Russia projects a more powerful image than it can sustain. Russia needs a win but so far can only manage some feeble spin. Russia is trying to dissuade Israel and its Western allies from attacking more Syrian targets, especially those that harm the many Iranians and Iranian mercenaries supporting the Syrian forces. Russia also does not want to put its high tech weapons to the test because so far these electronic and anti-aircraft systems have proved ineffective against Israeli attacks and probably wont do much better against the Americans. This is bad for business, as Russia has been touting the combat experience in Syria to get more sales for their new stuff. It would also be disastrous for Russian diplomacy which has presented Russia as a powerful and technically advanced ally for Syria, Iran and Turkey. Although Russia talks tough against Israel and the Americans it does not want to take this any further, nor does it want to appear like Russia is backing off. Russia is in an embarrassing situation and not getting much sympathy from anyone, not even Russians. The Invisible War In March 2018 a cell phone photo of a Russian Mi-8 helicopter equipped with the new Rychag-AV appeared on the Internet. This Mi-8 was operating in northwestern Syria, where it would be used to jam enemy aircraft and missiles that depend on wireless communications. Russia first announced the Rychag-AV jammer in 2015 and in 2016 Russia announced that a custom version of the M-8 transport helicopter (Mi-8MTPR-1) equipped with Rychag-AV was delivered to army units operating near Ukraine. In 2017 Mi-8MTPR-1 was seen operating over Crimea and local Ukrainian hackers, using custom hardware and software they had built, reported details of Rychag-AV in operation over Crimea. Russia claims Rychag-AV can automatically detect and jam enemy radar and other electronic signals up to 400 kilometers away. Rychag-AV is designed to be operated from aircraft, trucks and ships but it can detect more signals and farther away if airborne or having its sensors and jammers mounted on a high portion of a ship (where radars have long been mounted). In addition to the Ukrainian hackers, NATO has had EW (Electronic Warfare) personnel in Ukraine for several years to monitor local Russian EW efforts. Not many details of what these monitors detected is made public since EW works best if its capabilities are a surprise. It is unknown if Russia has actually used Rychag-AV in Syria or Ukraine. Or if they did use it was it on a sustained basis (required to disrupt a large scale air operation, like the April 13 attack on Syrian chemical warfare facilities) or for short periods, just to test the equipment. Because EW is largely invisible it doesnt get much media attention. Yet the most active form of combat the Russians engage is EW and it is an area where they feel they are competitive. Problem is, the more you use it the more you erode your opportunities to surprise your opponent. The opportunity to test new EW gear and tactics was too great to pass up and, as the Russians have discovered, it may be the only military edge they have in Syria (and the world). Moreover, Syria is the only place where Russia can confront their two most powerful potential EW opponents (the United States and Israel). Syria is second to Donbas as an area where Russia is honing its new EW hardware and how best to use it. Russia could still turn an EW edge into a more visible victory but at the moment EW is the only edge they have and these invisible battles continue. Iraq The New Customer Iraq ordered 73 Russian T-90 tanks in mid-2017 and 36 arrived in February. The rest were to arrive by the end of April. The T-90 is one of many upgraded T-72s available on the market. Until 2003 the Iraqi Army operated hundreds of older T-72s, which proved no competition for the American M-1. The T-90 has been produced in large quantities since the 1990s but not for Russia. It is mostly an export item. The T-90 was a late 1980s project that was to incorporate T-80 features into many upgrades of the T-72. Originally it was designated the T-72BU but when Russia finally began production in 1993 it was renamed the T-90. That succeeded in making the tank an export success with most (84 percent) of those produced going to export customers. In fact, India and Algeria each have more T-90s in service than Russia. Worse Russia has quietly put over a third of its 550 newly built T-90s into reserve. While the T-90 was loudly proclaimed to be the next big thing the Russian army preferred the refurbished T-72s in the form of the T-72B3. These proved to be cheaper and more reliable than T-90s, something that got little publicity. While all the upgrades (new engine, gun, fire control and protection) made it nearly as expensive as the T-90 it was preferred by the troops and the older officers quietly agreed that it was a better tank than the new T-90/T-72BUs. This apparently has something to do with the design of the T-72BU (trying to merge T-80 elements into the T-72 design) and the decline in manufacturing quality in Russian the defense industry after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Since the T-72B3 was introduced in 2013 it has been produced in far greater numbers than any other tank and that continues. Especially telling was how T-90s began to be taken out of service (and put in reserve) as soon as enough T-72B3s became available. At the same time, the most popular Russian tank for export customers is the T-72B (a B3 with fewer of the upgrades) and these cost nearly two million each but can be delivered in a few months after the contract is signed. The T-72B3 has been so popular with Russian troops that the government is giving it more publicity in the state-controlled mass media. India The Former Customer 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. If India and China did not have some many border disputes India would be buying Chinese weapons in place of the increasingly shoddy ones Russia is offering. Ukraine The war in Donbas drags on without much result. The Russians are keeping the conflict going but holding back on any decisive moves because of the more volatile situation in Syria and the fact that the Ukraine related sanctions are a continuing headache that cannot be easily solved. Russia says the government has managed to overcome the ill-effects of the sanctions but the government knows better. Efforts to impose more control over the Internet and electronic communications has had some impact but has largely failed. One benefit of all this is steady intel reports (from the FSB and the censors) about what Russians really think in this neo-Soviet police state. Most Russians are not happy. They know they are suffering from lower living standards because of the sanctions and persistent corruption. Government efforts to mask economic failures with claims of foreign victories are not working. Most Russians are against foreign military adventures and the government already acknowledges that by minimizing the number of Russian troops sent to Syria or Donbas and keeping military casualties low. The recent death of over 200 Russian military contractors in Syria did not trigger calls for revenge among Russians. Instead, the attitude was that these guys took a chance to make a lot of money and it didnt w0rk out. There are a lot of dangerous jobs in Russia that pay well to compensate for the risk. Those who do that work are opportunists, not patriots. So the government has to go easy in Ukraine and Syria. Russians can take some comfort that the corruption in Ukraine is worse, even though the country is under attack. The extent of the damage can be seen in the higher rate of population loss in Ukraine than in Russia. Both countries are losing many of the young people, especially those with skills that are needed elsewhere and provide the migrants with jobs, higher living standards and more personal safety than back home. Its mostly about the corruption, which most former parts of the Soviet Union have been unable to control. There are exceptions. The Baltic States have coped, as have most East European nations. But the Soviet Union collapsed mainly because of uncontrollable corruption. The problem is still with the post-Soviet states. April 24, 2018: Israeli leaders again publicly warned Russia not use their air defense systems against Israel because if that happened Israel would retaliate (go after those air defense systems). The Israelis have developed SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) techniques for the latest Russian air defense systems (S-400) but would rather not use them because that would reveal surprises that the Russians could develop countermeasures for. That would be a consolation prize because if the Israel SEAD worked it would make the S-400 a difficult export sale. Israel makes these threats to make sure potential export customers are reminded of what is at stake here. April 23, 2018: There was a massive and unexpected disruption of Google services in Russia. This was related to Russian attempts to shut down the encrypted messaging app Telegram in Russia. The company that runs Telegram refused to provide the Russian government with a way to read encrypted Telegram messages. The government ordered hundreds of IP addresses blocked, believing that would block Telegram. It did, but not for everyone. An unexpected side effect of this censorship campaign was to disrupt a lot of vital (for many Russian users) Google services. Telegram was founded by a Russian entrepreneur after he fled Russia in 2014 because of disagreements with the government over censorship and corruption. April 22, 2018: Using security system video and records of Russians entering and leaving the country British investigators believe they can identify which Russians were involved with the use of nerve gas to try and murder Sergei Skripal on March 4th. Skripal was a former Soviet intelligence officer, who worked for Britain as a double agent. He was found unconscious on March 4th, with his adult daughter, on a park bench near a British pub they had visited. The two were hospitalized and survived what was apparently an assassination attempt using a form of nerve gas developed in Russia and, as far as anyone knows, not possessed by anyone but Russia. Three of the police officers who responded to the call about the unconscious people on the park bench also fell ill, one of them seriously. Everyone recovered and provided information on what happened. Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats suspected of being intelligence agents and Russia responded by expelling 23 British diplomats. More nations said they would expel Russian diplomats. This assassination effort was nothing new for Russia. Skripal was still working for British intelligence when he was arrested in Russia at the end of 2004 and prosecuted for espionage. He was sent to prison in 2006 but got out in 2010 when Russia agreed to use him as one of the three imprisoned spies to get back several Russian illegals who were caught in the United States. Russia was reluctant to part with Skripal, who had apparently done enormous damage to Russian overseas spying efforts. But they wanted their imprisoned agents in the U.S. back. This was not the first time Russia had gone after people like Skripal in Britain. This sort of thing has happened elsewhere in Europe before and after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Russia insists that it does not do this and have been saying that since the Soviets started hunting down and killing traitors overseas back in the 1930s. British police and intelligence officials continue to compile proof that senior officials of the Russian government are responsible for death squads operating in the West, in order to kill defecting Russian officials and businessmen with intimate knowledge of corruption in Russia. Several victims who survived these assassination attempts in Britain (a favorite refuge for exiles) have provided British police with details of how government tolerated (or sponsored) corruption works in Russia. April 21, 2018: In the south (Dagestan) police, acting on a tip, raided two locations where Islamic terrorists were said to be planning major attacks. The information was correct but the Islamic terrorists refused to surrender and after gun battles, nine of them were killed. Weapons, documents and bomb components were seized. India revealed that it had, in February, withdrawn from the joint development and manufacturing agreement with Russia regarding their Su-57 stealth fighter. That agreement committed India to eventually contribute over $8 billion to developing and building Su-57s. India said they might still purchase the Su-57 once it is ready for sale and might even rejoin joint development efforts. But for now, India is writing off nearly $300 million it has already invested but is no longer obligated to spend over $8 billion to develop and manufacture an aircraft they have lost confidence in. April 20, 2018: In a continuing effort to discredit claims that Russian air defense systems failed in Syria a Russian official revealed that Russia had told the Americans where Russian forces were in the area where the missile attack was aimed and the American, British and French missiles avoided the Russian forces. This has been the agreement with Russia in Syria for years. The Americans have observed this protocol although the Russians have violated it a few times. Meanwhile, American military analysts are openly claiming that the Russian air defense systems did not perform and the Russians want to counter this any way they can. April 19, 2018: So far in 2018, the Russian navy has received a refurbished Delta IV class SSBNs (ballistic missile nuclear subs, or boomer) and many other new ships. The Delta IVs are getting old, and the six ones remaining in service were not expected to last much beyond the early 2020s. The two year refurbishment and upgrade of this Delta IV will keep it in service at least until 2030. A new class of Borei SSBNs is under construction but are having reliability problems. There are also problems with the new Bulava SLBM (sea launched ballistic missile) for the Boreis. So refurbishing the remaining Delta IVs makes sense. The navy also received 46 new Kalibur submarine launched cruise missiles so far this year. The Kalibur has proved particularly effective and has been used frequently against targets in Syria. So far this all of the other new ships the Russian navy has received are small coastal patrol types. April 18, 2018: The Ukrainian government released the results of their investigation of Russian military contractor firm the Wagner Group. Ukraine has captured a number of Wagner Group contractors operating in eastern Ukraine and some have been forthcoming with details of how Wagner operates. For example, Russia transported a number of Wagner Group men via the Russian missile cruiser Varyag. This is a large ship (11,000 tons) with a crew of 480. The Russian navy has been short of sailors and many ships go to sea short 10-20 percent of their crew. So it made sense that the government could fill some of those empty berths with Wagner men which Russia wanted to keep quiet about. Many more Wagner men were flown to Syria via a Syrian airline that operated a flight to Rostov-on-Don, an out of the way city where it is easier to hide things. April 17, 2018: Russia has launched an effort to persuade Russians studying overseas to return to Russia to complete their education. At its peak, in 2014, some 60,000 Russians were studying abroad. Some are believed to work part time for Russian intelligence. Because of economic problems, the number of Russians studying abroad has declined since 2014. April 16, 2018: South Korean officials meeting regularly with their North Korean counterparts report that North Korea leaders were impressed with how the Americans and their European allies launched a missile attack on Syrian chemical warfare facilities and blew right past Russian and Iranian defenses. It was also noted that the Americans were abandoning the 2015 treaty that lifted sanctions on Iran in return for abandoning their nuclear and missile programs. The Iranians cheated, as far as the Americans are concerned, and that means the 2015 deal is history. The North Koreans take this as an example of how the Americans will deal with similar behavior on the part of North Korea. April 15, 2018: A Russian Alligator class amphibious ship as well as a Ro/Ro cargo ship were seen headed for Tartus with a cargo of armored vehicles (mostly various wheeled armored vehicles), heavy trucks, at least one coastal patrol boat, electronic gear, engineering equipment and much more. Israel has told Russia that the proposed sale of S-300 systems to Syria was unacceptable for Israel and would not be allowed. April 14, 2018: The United States, Britain and France launched 105 cruise missiles and glide bombs at three Syrian facilities that developed, produced and stored Syrian chemical weapons. Satellite photos later showed that all of the missiles and smart bombs apparently hit their targets. This was backed up by cell phone photos that got out of Syria showing the damage in great detail. Russia had immediately announced that the Russian supplied Syrian air defense system had performed as designed and shot down 71 of the missiles. This was an attempt to protect the reputation of the Russian air defense systems and even though there will be no wreckage of the 71 missiles Russian insists their systems shot down they will continue with the invented story. The Americans revealed that the Syrian air defense system went into action after the missiles hit and the coordinated attack had all the missiles hitting their targets with a few minutes of each other. French, British and American aircraft delivered some of the missiles and they all returned safely. There was no response from Russian naval forces against the American and British warships that launched most of the missiles. The attack used a clever deception by pretending an attack would be launched by American and allied warships in the Mediterranean. The Russians fell for this and tried to harass these ships. But in the meantime, another force of warships was moved into the Red Sea and launched most of the missiles from there or from warplanes flying in from outside the region. The only one to keep believing the Russian version are many Russians who depend on state controlled media for all their news. There Russians are also told that the Syrian use of chemical weapons in Douma was a hoax perpetuated by the British, as was the earlier incident in Britain where someone (apparently a Russian agent) tried and nearly succeeded in killing a former Russian intelligence agent who had defected to the British. The failure of Russian air defense systems in Syria is going to cost Russia export sales as well as much embarrassment. All Russian claims about the success of their new weapons in Syria will be devalued. This is something Russia cant even discuss publicly because the official Russian position is that none of their systems have failed. Iran has been a big customer for Russian air defense systems and Turkey has indicated interest in buying the S-400 system. Turkey and Iran have to reconsider in light of recent experience. So far Iran and Turkey are officially believing the Russian version of what happened. The Syrian government considers the loss of their chemical weapons facilities a minor setback. Russia or Iran will pay to have the facilities replaced. Meanwhile, the April 7th chemical weapon attack on Douma caused rebel resistance in the area to collapse and within a few days, Syrian troops were able to move in, even though that violated terms of a peace deal the Russians had worked out. That was nothing new, Syria had regularly violated the Russian peace deals and it was no secret that the Russians created these ceasefires and safe zones mainly as propaganda and never as something that would prohibit Syrian forces from advancing. The civil war is not over but there is little to stop Assad from regaining control over most of Syria. Russia continues pushing the accusation that the Syrian chemical attack on Douma was actually a fake. Syria has joined in and made a film about this fraud. But the Syrian video was quickly exposed as providing fake evidence of the staged attack when it was pointed out that the video proof the Syrians broadcast was from an earlier Syrian propaganda film that was presented as staged. The Russians were somewhat more successful as they unleashed an enormous bot campaign in support of its conspiracy theory. This bot campaign could be seen throughout the English language web as robotic accounts quickly provided scripted messages in support of the conspiracy theory in any public site where people were discussing the Syrian chemical attacks and using certain words and phrases that the Russian Internet monitoring system was set to seek out so the bots (programs pretending to be people posting messages) could be sent to support the claim that the chemical attack was faked to justify illegal air strikes on Syrian. It was an impressive disinformation campaign and part of a larger Russian effort to distract those asking why Russian air defense systems failed to perform when the air strikes hit and have been similarly ineffective against Israeli attacks. April 12, 2018: in the east (Yekaterinburg) a Russian journalist, Maksim Borodin, died after he fell, or was pushed, from his fifth floor balcony. He was found unconscious and died, without regaining consciousness, three days later. The government ruled it a suicide but a friend of Borodin got a call from him the night before the fall. Borodin said it appeared his apartment building was surrounded by masked military men and feared he was going to be arrested, or worse. Thats because Borodin had investigated Russian government use of military contractors, especially the Wagner group. Borodin knew this was dangerous because several other journalists had, since the 1990s, investigated and reported on matters the government found embarrassing. These journalists tended to have fatal accidents. This discouraged many Russian journalists from doing similar investigations and Borodin was reminded by friends and associates that his work was probably still dangerous. April 11, 2018: The Turkish foreign minister accused the Assad government of having killed over a million Syrians since 2011 and that it had no legitimate claim on being the government of Syria. Turkey has never had good relations with the Assads but was thought to have eased up a bit to get along with their Russian and Iranian allies, who are strong supporters of the Assads. But now Turkey has reverted to its normal attitude, that the Assads are a bunch of opportunistic, unreliable and murderous thugs. The current Turkish government has been unpredictable but the distrust of the Assads is a lot older than the Erdogan government, which took power in 2003. The Turks later elaborated that they are still Russian allies, aside from the support for Assad issue. The Turks would be pleased if the Russians arranged some other group to take control of the Syrian government. Russia has to proceed with care here because the Iranians are big fans of the Assads which may play a role in Turkish attitudes. Turkey and Iran have been foes for centuries and most of the time Iran got the worst of it. That sort of thing is not forgotten, especially in this part of the world. At the moment Turkish and Iranian troops are stalemated in northwest Syria where Iran is backing Assad efforts to take control of the area. The Turks refuse and, as it has for centuries, that causes mighty Iran to pause. Russia resumed commercial flights to and from Egypt after a two year suspension because of ISIL getting a bomb aboard a Russian airliner in 2015. That brought down the aircraft and killed 224 Russians returning from vacations. Egypt has handled ISIL and improved security since 2015 April 10, 2018: In Syria, Russian ships have left the Russian naval base at Tartus. This is considered a standard move if major attacks are expected. European air control warned airlines to be careful over the eastern Mediterranean for the next 72 hours because there might be more air or missile strikes that would result in electronic countermeasures that could disrupt commercial navigations systems on airliners. Russia admitted that its electronic countermeasures were unable to stop the missiles, which they say were launched over Lebanon by Israeli F-15Is, during an earlier attack. April 9, 2018: In central Syria, several missiles hit the Iranian T4 airbase near Palmyra. Four Iranian IRGC personnel were killed, including a colonel known for his work with Iranian UAVs. There were at least ten other dead, all believed to be Iranian mercenaries. This is where Iran moved its UAV operations after its original UAV base in Syria was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on February 10th. The Americans said they had advance warning of todays attack while Russia complained that it was not advised even though it has some personnel at the T-4 base. Israel did not take credit for the attack, which is how Israel handles most of its airstrikes in Syria. Russia later revealed that its electronic jammers, which were supposed to disrupt the guidance systems of missiles attacking Syrian bases failed to do so during the T-4 attack. Details were not given, only that the Russian jammers were interfered with by external forces. April 7, 2018: In Syria, an airstrike against Douma, a rebel held town east of Damascus, apparently involved some type of chemical weapon. Medical aid workers report at least 70 dead, including many civilians. The airstrike, like many Syria, carries out against pro-rebel civilians, involved a barrel bomb (an empty oil barrel filled with explosives and whatever else was available). These are pushed out of helicopters or transports and are equipped with a contact fuze so they explode on impact. Russian and Iranian military personnel work closely with the Syrian air force and know what goes on (and into barrel bombs). Iran has military advisors assigned to all the senior Syrian military commands and many of the lower level ones. Syria has been accused of using primitive (World War I type) chemical weapons that attack the respiratory system. These older chemical weapons are often nothing more than industrial chemicals (like chlorine) in large (and dangerous) doses. But this new attack and one before it apparently also included some nerve gas. Russia believes that industrial chemicals (like chlorine) dont count as chemical weapons (according to the 2013 Russian brokered deal to rid Syria of chemical weapons) and the Iranians apparently dont care. When prodded Iran will blame Israel or the Americans. In response, the United States said it would retaliate if the Douma attack did involve any kind of chemical weapon. The evidence indicates that the Douma attack involved a combination of chlorine and a nerve gas. Israel fears Iran is permitting Syria to use these chemical weapons to test their effectiveness and the degree of international outrage. Israel has always believed Iran planned to provide Syria and Hezbollah with chemical weapons for use in a major attack on Israel. April 5, 2018: In Syria Turkey, Russia and Iran again agreed to put aside their differences and help each other in order to defeat the remaining rebels while also preventing Syrian Kurds from controlling any part of the country. The three agreed to tolerate Turkish operations (to build a Turkish controlled buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border) and cooperate to force American forces out of Syria. While this session was held in Turkey this is an extension of the talks that began in late 2017 in the Central Asian city of Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan). There the pro-Assad coalition of Russia, Turkey, Iran and the Assad government began their negotiations (also called peace talks) with each other about how to achieve everyones goals. From the beginning, Iran wanted access to the Israeli border and suppression of the Syrian Kurds. Turkey wanted an end to Kurdish autonomy in northern Syria. Russia wants to get whatever it can at the least cost. The public sessions were propaganda and details of the private meetings, the ones that mattered, were largely kept secret but it has always been clear that the Astana talks are about how to restore Assad rule to Syria, or at least most of it. March 30, 2018: Ukrainian officials revealed that they had earlier arrested several Iranians, including at least one diplomat, after catching them trying to smuggle Kh-31 missile components and technical documents back to Iran. The Kh-31 was originally developed in the 1980s as an anti-ship missile. The Russians quickly realized that, with a different seeker, the missile would also work well as an ARM (anti-radiation) weapon. The anti-ship version has a range of 50 kilometers, while the ARM version is good for 110 kilometers. The 600 kg missile has an 87 kilogram (191 pounds) warhead and is used by Russia, China, Serbia and India. Ukraine inherited some Kh-31s when the Cold War ended but never put them into service. In the Persian, Gulf Kh-31s would make Iran even more of a threat to commercial and military shipping. TICKERS: MOL; MOLOF Source: Maurice Jackson for Streetwise Reports (4/24/18) Molori Energy CEO Joel Dumaresq, in conversation with Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable, discusses his company's newest exploration focus. Maurice Jackson: Today we will discuss a company that presents a unique value proposition in oil and gas. I'm speaking of Molori Energy Inc. (MOL:TSX.V; MOLOF:OTCQB), which trades on the TSX-V under MOL and on the OTCQB under MOLOF. Joining us for a conversation is Joel Dumaresq, the CEO of Molori Energy. Joel, we had quite a bit of delay in getting news out of Molori on this first Red Cave Appraisal wellcan you talk a bit about these delays? Joel Dumaresq: Admittedly it did take us longer than we anticipated to get a handle on the well. As I recall, we completed and logged the 23-1R well in mid-January. However, shortly after that, we got hit with historically low temperatures up in the Texas Panhandle, which ended up delaying our efforts to frac the well. You'll recall Maurice, that the frac is really the silver bullet when it comes to getting a Red Cave well to flow oil, or for that matter gas. Credit goes to our neighbors in Moore County"Adams Affiliates"who were first to demonstrate that by employing fracs the size of which you see in the Permian Basin, they could get their Red Cave wells to flow at 4050 barrels of oil a day. So, getting back to our well, when we came to frac, the air temperature was simply too low and the ground too hard for the almost 300,000 gallons of water we were to inject. As a matter of fact, our workaround ended up being that we heated the water before injecting it into the formation. By the time we completed the frac, we were well into February. Once the well went into production, it was evident we had oil along with some gas. However, what we didn't expect was the volume of water that flowed back from the frac. These Red Cave wells typically have a low water to oil ratio, so we weren't expecting to have watering issues. However, when you pump that much water downhole, you are going to get a lot of it back, and that's exactly what happened. The next challenge we encountered was with the amount of sand in the well. We pumped approximately 300,000 lb of sand into the well during the frac. What we've found is that the sand is falling back into the well and being picked up by the oil, which has presented a challenge for the pump. We've been experimenting with different pumps to get around the sanding issue, and we believe we will get that challenge licked as well. So that's all a long way of telling you that indeed it did take longer than what we expected. However, this was our first well of this type into this zone of the Red Cave and just like Adams, we are learning as we go. With what we've learned on this first well, we will surely streamline and refine our completion strategy going forward. Maurice: Let's talk about the production we are seeing from this first well. From Molori's announcement on Wednesday, that number looks to be 28 boepd? Are you happy with that number, Joel? More specifically, in previous interviews, you stated production numbers that Adams Affiliates were getting out of their Red Cave program. Is Thompson 23-1R behaving like a ''typical Adams Affiliates'' well? Joel: Maurice, what's most important from our perspective is that we found oil, and, yes, some gas. When we talk of proof of concept, that's what we were after. If you'll recall from our prior discussions, the Red Cave is a complex formation and Adams Affiliates were the first to demonstrate that they could economically build production from the Red Cave. For Molori's part, no one has spent more time or money studying the Red Cave to get a sense of where the ribbon of oil sits. But that said, we are learning about the characteristics of producing oil from the Red Cave, and just as Adams has, our results will get better and better with the more wells we drill. Adams has drilled over 50 wells into the Red Cave. At the outset, they also had issues with sand collapsing into the well and they learned to overcome them. As they improved upon their completion techniques, their IPs consistently improved to where the average Adams well into the Red Cave now initially produces about 4050 barrels of oil. Let's also not forget that the oil is there in the 23-1R well. All we are talking about is how fast we initially recover that oil. It may impact the short-term economics of the well, however, the long-term economics remain unchanged. These are very inexpensive wells to drill in comparison to the wells in the Permian: only about $250k$300k per well, so the payback, even at 25 boepd, is still only a little over a year. With the land position we've assembled and are continuing to assemble, we expect to have access to several hundred well locations. More importantly, the first 50100 locations we are focused upon are simply "offset" locations relative to Adam's best wellsthat's about the lowest hanging fruit you can get in the oil development business. We can all do the math on what even just 100 locations look like with 25 barrels a location, and when you think we are almost at $70 a barrel oil, the economics really begin to shine. At the end of the day, we have to remember why we are in the Red Cave in the first place: This is 'virgin' pressure and the formation has not been depleted the way the brown dolomite formation has in North Texas. You just don't find opportunities like this "onshore" in your own backyard with land acquisition costs of 1/100th of what it would cost you to get into the Permian. This play is an exceptional opportunity. Maurice: Continuing on with the matter of production, in Molori's announcement on Wednesday you discussed that Molori's technical team will be revising completion techniques. Can you talk about what this all means and ultimately do you and your team believe that revising the completion techniques will significantly affect the production numbers from future wells? Joel: Simply put, yes. When you compare the logs from the 23-1R well to some of Adams recent wells, you would anticipate that our well should be flowing at between 30 and 40 barrels a day. Now, the logs aren't a perfect barometer and sometimes you can get false readings. However, we believe that by reducing slightly the amount of sand and water we applied to the frac, by dropping balls and diverting the water and sand to specific perforations during the frac process, and by running resin sand so that it holds better within the formation, we will almost certainly improve results. Statistically, there's just no reason why our production numbers shouldn't reflect Adam's performance as we drill more and more wells. Maurice: Now that Molori's further demonstrated ''proof of concept'' per Molori's announcement on Wednesday, can you discuss the future wells planned and provide some sort of road-map as to what we can expect from Molori in the next 90 days? Joel: I've been promising for some time announcements with regards to our land position. I know I need to do a better job of setting expectations, however, acquiring land always takes longer than expected. Much of the land in this part of Texas, like other parts of Texas, is held by ranchers in some cases, by investors in some cases and by oil companies in some cases. To put together a land package takes a great deal of effort and patience. That said, we are now where we want to be and we will be sharing that with the markets in the next several days. When we began following Adams, we only had data and locations on a small handful of their wells. Now, over a year later, we have data and IP rates on almost 50 wells, and we've employed this intel in our land acquisition strategy. Some of these sections arein the minds of our technical teammuch closer to the sweet spot of the Red Cave than the lease upon which we just drilled the 23-1R. Better yet, they are direct offsets of some of Adam's best wells. So, we plan to focus the next phase of our development on those sections, which means more new wells for Molori. Maurice: Tell us why Molori is a ''Buy'' at $0.28 cents today? Why should new investors get excited about Molori and why should current shareholders remain excited and committed to Molori? Joel: I was a buyer at $0.45, so it's not difficult for me to argue that there is better value at $0.28. When we were at $0.40$0.50 a share, we had only just come to learn about the Red Cave. We had a small land holding that frankly we "acccidented" into, as a result of another transaction, and we were just beginning the study that we completed a few months back that I understand to be the definitive analysis of where the ribbon of Red Cave oil is concentrated. As a result of that work, as well as the data we've collected from the Texas Railway Commission on Adam's successes, we've developed and orchestrated upon a successful land acquisition strategy. We've had to keep quiet about those efforts in order to ensure we didn't simply drive up the cost of that land as we progressed. But now we are ready and positioned to talk about it. Getting back to a point I made earlier, there just aren't many oil focused, untapped onshore development opportunities in North America with the low costs of the Red Cave, in-place oil and virgin pressures. In fact, I can't think of another one off the top of my head. Shallow, inexpensive wells; an extremely high re-cycle rate with paybacks inside a year as we improve upon completion; several hundred potential drill locations with dozens of infill drilling sites adjacent to Adams best production. We've admittedly had a few missteps with our communications strategy and I've heard from shareholder about that. We are committed to improving upon that, and as we share the full extent of the opportunity with investors, I believe we will be rewarded with a much improved valuation. Maurice: Joel, before we close, what keeps you up at night that we don't know about? Joel: I think the last time you asked me that question, I said it was something I couldn't control, something like the world energy prices, and really, that still remains the number one consideration. You'd think that higher oil prices play into our favor. However, they are a bit of a double-edged sword. Good for overall economics of the project, yes, but counterproductive when it comes to securing the land and opportunities. So, when you're out there, and landholders whom you're trying to buy land from see higher prices, it makes it challenging to secure the opportunities or at times, make it more expensive. We've dealt with that to the best of our abilities. That said, we're now in a position where we have largely put our land package in place, and I think now, I can sleep much more comfortably. Maurice: Last question here for you. Talk to us about the share structure for Molori Energy. Joel: The current share structure is what I think people in the markets would say extremely tight. We have about 38,500,000 shares issued and outstanding, which means we've got a $10 to $12 million market cap, which is extraordinarily modest in this marketplace and I don't think really reflects what's happened with energy prices. When we started looking at the Red Cave many, many months ago, oil was in a range of $40 to $45 a barrel. Here, it's now touching on $70 a barrel, so there's been a huge improvement in the potential economics of the project and the economics of, quite frankly, virtually all oil and gas development projects. I think, from our shareholders' perspective, they stand in good position to benefit from that as we start to fully develop the opportunity, and people start to recognize that with hundreds of well locations and the potential, whether it's 20 barrels a day per well, 40 barrels a day per well, 50 barrels a day per well like Adams, or potentially even higher, there are tremendous economics in this project. And if we're able to execute the way we should execute over the next 12 to 36 months on this play, you could see very good returns for shareholders over that period of time, given how inexpensive our company is at this juncture. Maurice: Would you share contact details for Molori? Joel: What I'd recommend for investors, Maurice, is that they visit the company's website, www.molorienergy.com, and the information is there for getting in contact with our investor relations specialist or myself. Maurice: Investors can get more information regarding Molori Energy from Judy-Ann Pottinger. Her phone number is 604 617-5290, and her email is [email protected] And last but not least, please visit our website, www.provenandprobable.com, where we interview the most respected names in the natural resource space. You may reach us at [email protected] Joel Dumaresq of Molori Energy, thank you for joining us today on Proven and Probable. Maurice Jackson is the founder of Proven and Probable, a site that aims to enrich its subscribers through education in precious metals and junior mining companies that will enrich the world. Want to read more Energy Report articles like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you'll learn when new articles have been published. To see a list of recent articles and interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our Streetwise Interviews page. Disclosure: 1) Maurice Jackson: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Molori Energy. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: None. Proven and Probable disclosures are listed below. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Molori Energy. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. As of the date of this interview, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports has a consulting relationship with Molori Energy. 3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. 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You understand that you are using any and all Information available on or through this forum AT YOUR OWN RISK. Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday reached Russian on an official visit. In a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the COAS met Commander Russian Federation Ground Forces Colonel General Oleg Salyukov in Moscow. Durign the meeting, the Russian Commander said that said that he wanted to build strong relations between Pakistan and Russian armed forces. He also acknowledged achievements of Pakistan Army in fight against terrorism. Speaking on the ocassion, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa thanked Col Gen Oleg Salyukov and said that Russia has played a positive role in improving the regional situation. He said that Pakistan will continue to play its role in keeping the region united and for the resolution of regional issues. Minutes after his arrival at the Data Darbar shrine, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan cancelled his planned political engagements in Lahore s Bhati Gate, Mochi Gate, Sherawala Gate areas and departed for Islamabad. It is believed that Khan hads cancelled his politicial engagemnts and departed for Islamabad to get what he said a big wicket. Khan was to address party workers in Lahore and mobilize them for the PTIs upcoming mass gathering in the city on April 29 at Greater Iqbal Park. He was also due to inspect preparations underway for the PTIs mass gathering in Lahore. Earlier in the day, the PTI chief along with other party leaders paid a visit to the shrine of Hazrat Data Gunj Bukhsh (RA) and offered prayers for the sovereignty of the country. Khan commuted to the Lahore airport via Ring Road. The latest development has cast doubt over Imran s participation in the upcoming mass gathering in Lahore. There were no comments from PTI leaders on the lastest development. Also the party s official Twitter page was silent about Imran s departure to Islamabad. The decision came after at least five policemen martyred in multiple suicide bombings in Quetta and Mian Gundi areas on Tuesday. However, talking to journalists before leaving for the capital, the PTI chief hinted at PTI s joining of a political bigwing. "A tusnami is ready to hit the party while another one is ready to hit the masses," he siad while referreing to the PTI s upcoming mass gathering in Lahore. When asked if former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was going to join the PTI, Khan opted to offer no comments. Also two Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders Azeem ud Din Lakhwi and Hashim Dogar jumped ships on Tuesday and joined the PTI s bandwagon. Another veteran politician from Bahawalpur Malik Usman Channar also defected to the PTI. Bay of Plenty If you love working out doors and in a small team then we have the role for you. We are needing someone who has either maintenance... View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz A busload of Kiwis and Australians on an Anzac tour of Turkey had to leap off their bus after it caught alight. "We were driving up a hill, then everything just shut off," says Melissa Peters, who is from Christchurch but has been living in London. "We turned around and theres smoke. Someone yelled out, theres a flame. We all just bolted off the bus." The 42 Australian and New Zealand passengers, along with one person from Italy, a driver and a tour guide, all escaped unhurt, but many had lost their luggage, and their passports and mobile phones. "It started from the back. All the tyres popped. It didnt actually explode. Lucky the bush didnt catch on fire," says Melissa. "Then it slowly made its way to the front, and the glass shattered and melted. "There was a concrete truck behind us. They had water and started putting it out. Then the fire engines came, and police came." Speaking from Turkey, where the time was about 11.30pm on Tuesday, Melissa says the tour group was about to catch a boat over to Gallipoli and would then be sleeping outside for the rest of the night. In the morning the New Zealanders would be walking to Chunuk Bair and the Australians to Lone Pine. She says she was lucky enough to get off the bus with her day bag. She still had her passport and, as the plan had always been to sleep outside overnight, some warm gear. "Ive got my thermals, so Im sweet. Many people had lost all their luggage, including their passports and sleeping bags. "Some of us were asleep, some in a daze, some didnt grab their cell phone. I was lucky. I was holding my bag," she says. "We were on our way to Troy. We were supposed to look around there today. Now were just catching a ferry tonight over to Gallipoli to make the service in the morning." The passengers were taken to a hotel after the fire and were being helped by New Zealand and Australian officials, who were sorting out passport issues and providing food and clothing, Melissa says. She had lost her UK residence card but expected to be able to sort that out. Fortunately she had travel insurance. After the fire was out, the luggage hold was opened but almost everything was smoke-damaged or burnt or wet. Her bag was melted. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it has consular officials at Gallipoli to provide emergency assistance. "They are working closely with their Australian counterparts and Turkish authorities and with representatives of the New Zealand Embassy to provide consular assistance to the tour group." - Stuff The self-proclaimed King of All Witches, Magus Lynius Shadee, has created controversy after claiming to have summoned a demon in a Cambridge Church. He claims to have conjured the demon to cleanse the Church by possessing parishioners and driving them to suicide. The Cambridge Student (TCS) last week reported on Mr Shadees intentions to open a new centre for the occult in Cambridge, which has been widely condemned by local Christians and Pagans alike. He has now announced that he has released a demon in the Church of our Lady and English Martyrs on Hills Road. Father Dick Healey told the Cambridge News he plans to report him to the police for practising witchcraft in a church. A visitor to the church last Sunday, Will Mari, told TCS The priest said they were calling in the Diocesan exorcist as a precaution to conduct an investigation. Mr Shadee claims to have performed the incantation while visiting Cambridge to look for a site for his occult centre. He claims the demon is a hunter that will attach itself to an individual, then try to take the person, send them insane, and the worst is to cause them to take their physical life. Mr Shadee has also been condemned by local Pagans. Gwendolyn Triahna, a pagan student in Cambridge, was appalled by Mr Shadees action. She told TCS: Traditionally, witches have not always enjoyed a positive relationship with the Catholic Church, and this will only make things worse for us. All we ask for is mutual respect. If Shadee continues to alienate the Church, then Catholics and Witches will never be able to achieve our dream of living side by side in harmony. Ms Triahna went on to question Mr Shadees beliefs. She explained: As a wiccan, my magic involves ritualised ceremonies to banish negative influences from my life. Whats really stupid about what this Shadee character says is that he actually seems to be taking a very Christian view of theology. The idea of the witch as a demon-summoner is the kind of prejudiced stereotype that was historically used by the church to persecute suspected witches. Hoards of devils and pitchfork-wielding demons are the bogey-men of medieval Christianity, not a part of the belief system of real witches. Rejecting his authority as a king of witches, she added: Im offended that Shadee would lead people to believe that his offensive and childish views are shared by all witches. Alastair Cliff Deputy News Editor Back in 2016, one of the changes in iOS 10 was the swapping of Apples realistic-looking revolver emoji with a green water gun. Its taken a couple of years, but it seems other companies are now following in the iPhone makers footsteps. Twitter replaced its pistol emoji with a water gun just a few days ago. The icon had been a popular way for the platforms many trolls to harass and threaten people, so the change wasnt too surprising, though Twitter said it was made in the interests of consistency. Samsung made the same switch in the Samsung 9.0 update earlier this year. Now, Google has updated its Noto Color Emoji repository with a new design, according to Emojipedia. The companys pistol emoji, which has changed several times over the years but always resembled an actual gun, has turned into what looks like a super soaker, complete with bright orange/yellow colors and a water reservoir. Apple had been under pressure from campaigners when it changed its gun emoji, though it never said if the decision was a reaction to organizations such as New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, which sent an open letter asking for the revolver to be removed. Companies make the change to avoid cross-platform communication issues: sending a toy gun emoji in a message and having it shows up as a real gun on a different platform could cause problems. The only two major companies still using the pistol emoji are Microsoft and Facebook, though the social network confirmed to Emojipedia that it would also be replacing it with a water gun. Microsoft, which had used a toy ray gun before switching to a realistic-looking weapon in 2016, declined to comment. Expect Googles new emoji design to arrive with the launch of Android P later this year. Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has come out with an interesting proposition right before its initial public offering. Any income beyond five percent of after-tax profits will be given back to users. The five percent profit cap is only applicable to Xiaomi's consumer hardware products and does not include revenue from microprocessors or chipsets. There has been no mention of how owners of products will receive their compensation should record profits be posted. During the first three quarters of 2017, Xiaomi brought in $15.84 billion from all of its divisions combined. The upcoming IPO is sponsored by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, and could value the company at nearly $100 billion. Such a valuation is most impressive considering the business was a startup company in 2014 operating on extremely thin margins. Although it sounds as if Xiaomi is looking to share its own success with loyal fans, there is little chance of any substantial payouts. Chinese smartphones compete mainly on price while attempting to match the performance and design of flagship phones. Actual profit on a per-device basis remains razor-thin compared to competitors. Despite accounting for only 17.9 percent of smartphones sold, it's estimated that Apple captures 87 percent of the industry's profit. Samsung sells more devices in total capturing 18.2 percent of the market, but accounting for just 10 percent of the profits due to the wide variety of less expensive devices sold. A quick look at those numbers reveal that an astronomical number of inexpensive smartphones would need to be sold in order for Xiaomi to have any hope of offering sizable returns to customers. 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But demonstrations are planned throughout the region, from Orange County to the Inland Empire, from Redondo Beach to the San Gabriel... There is no shortage of people saying the major banks should be forced to divest their financial advisory businesses. Not a lot of thought, however, has been given to what the industry landscape might look like if that were the outcome of the royal commission. What if it's worse than the status quo? As it happens, this question might be largely academic. All the major banks have been questioning the future of their wealth management businesses, which have never quite fulfilled the original ambition of creating successful ''bancassurance'' models. The damage and costs from the controversies and scandals of recent years, which have culminated in the brand and reputation-shredding royal commission, may be the final straw for some, if not all of them. ANZ is already exiting the sector. NAB is well down the track in planning its exit. The Commonwealth Bank is committed to a sharemarket float of its asset management division, and it would be surprising if new chief executive Matt Comyn wasn't considering a more complete withdrawal. Only Westpac appears, for the moment, determined to stick with its wealth management operations. Whether voluntary or forced, the exit of the major banks from the business of manufacturing and distributing wealth management products through small armies of in-house or ''aligned'' advisors would transform the landscape - and not necessarily for the better. Speaking to Fairfax Media, Tom Zaller said the claims contained in the letter are "ridiculous" and have "no basis". "I've been doing these exhibitions in one form or another since 2003," he said. "We have been down this road so many times. "There's absolutely no truth in what's being said. The bottom line is all of the specimens used in our exhibition are legally sourced and they have all died from natural causes, which has been expressed since the beginning of these exhibitions touring as well as forensic anthropologists." Zaller said the exhibition is educational and there was no "foul play" whatsoever. "Everything is done through the right processes," he said. The chief executive said it was untrue that the plastination process needs to start 48 hours after a person has died. "Plastination, in layman's terms, is the removal of any liquids," he said. "It doesn't matter how old it [the specimen] is; that's the process. It could be 100 years old." The specimens for the Real Bodies exhibition were sourced from Dr Hong-Jin Sui, an anatomy expert from China's Dalian Medical University. In 2008, the organisers of an unrelated anatomy exhibition but one that Zaller worked on were forced to add a disclaimer to their website saying they were unable to independently verify their exhibits were not the bodies of executed Chinese prisoners. The statement came after a US congressional inquiry, as well as an investigation by New York's then attorney-general. An exhibit from the Real Bodies exhibition, now showing in Sydney. Credit:Supply The inquiries were sparked by a story on the ABC's 20/20 program. The American public broadcaster later reported that a source lied to its journalists because Dr Sui was a competitor. France and Israel have banned similar exhibitions featuring preserved bodies. The group of concerned Australian lawyers and academics argue local lawmakers should follow suit. "We are astonished that visas and permits for bringing this exhibition into Australia were issued by the Australian government given the lack of documentation demonstrating ethical and legal sourcing of each body," the group wrote. "No motivation for profit or political sensitivities could ever justify such a crass and undignified violation of human rights." Various human rights organisations have raised concerns about an alleged black market for cadavers in China over the years. Others have said that even if the specimens come from uncollected bodies, they should only be displayed if it can be absolutely verified that the person wanted their corpse donated to science. Details of a human body as seen at the Real Bodies exhibition at Kennedy Hall. Credit:AAP But not everyone believes such exhibits are offensive. The Real Bodies exhibits have been inspected by the NSW health department and are suitable for people aged four years and over, according to organisers. In a statement promoting the exhibition, Gavin Burland from the Sydney School of Veterinary Science said the show is a great educational experience. "These plastinates provide a unique view into the human body that is normally reserved to the medical field," he said. "The public will be able to explore and interact with these displays to better understand what's inside that makes us function as people." The Real Bodies exhibition is currently showing at Sydney's Byron Kennedy Hall from 10am to 5pm, with tickets selling from around $30. The occupants of a crashed car responsible for lengthy northbound congestion on the Bruce Highway on Wednesday remain unaccounted for, despite police divers and SES personnel being called in to search the crash site. Police were unsure how many people may have been in the car when it rolled down an embankment about 5.15am in Elimbah and were also investigating a possible connection with a car theft from a nearby farm after the crash. About eight kilometres of northbound delays had formed at the height of the congestion. Credit:Paul Rovere Emergency services were called to the scene, about 500 metres north of the Pumicestone Rd exit, and found the car resting on its side in a small creek off the highway, but nobody inside. A Queensland Police Service spokesman said the crash car was "substantially damaged" and first responders were concerned occupants could be trapped inside or laying in the creek. Many veterans in their 90s refused offers of wheelchairs and cars to walk the whole of the two kilometres down St Kilda Road to the Shrine of Remembrance. Little children held up photos of their soldier great-grandfathers as they marched in Melbournes Anzac Day parade. While crowd numbers were down on decades past, their energy, combined with marching bands and colourful banners, made for a lively and heartfelt spectacle. The rain held off and it was balmy for April, with the temperature hovering at about 17 degrees. The parade of more than 370 groups, from descendants of World War I veterans to current soldiers lasted four hours, including a march past Governor Linda Dessau and Premier Daniel Andrews on the Shrine forecourt. Sailors marching to the shrine. Credit:Eddie Jim Jess Flanders, 97, the sole marcher under the banner of the Womens Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS), was determined to walk the entire march, with granddaughters Samantha and Emma Patterson as chaperones. Sir John Monash. In its proposed new electoral boundaries for Victoria, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has recommended that the federal seat of McMillan in Gippsland be renamed Monash in recognition of Sir John Monash. The AEC is right to recognise that Monash was a great Australian who is deserving of a federal electorate named in his honour. However, the place to do that is in the heart of the City of Monash and not in some other place hundreds of kilometres away. Renaming a Gippsland-based seat as Monash is a recipe for confusion. Monash is a well-known geographical area based around the City of Monash in Melbournes south-east and comprises well-known places like Monash University, Monash Medical Centre and the busiest section of the Monash Freeway. Mr Doyle was seen as a successful salesman during his reign as Melbournes longest-serving lord mayor, the city snared The Economist magazines coveted award for worlds most liveable city a record seven times in succession but he was criticised for being too close to big business. Given Mr Doyles dramatic resignation after a number of women complained of sexual harassment and abuse, the incoming civic supremos first challenge will be to reform a culture blighted by allegations of excessive alcohol consumption, sexual misconduct and intimidation. Only a few of the 14 candidates seeking to replace Robert Doyle as Melbournes lord mayor have sufficient heft to be seriously in contention. His replacement is required to govern not only for businesses but for residents, tourists, CBD workers, homeless people and students. That calls for vision and an infallible moral compass. So, who might be able to deliver the stability, experience and leadership to restore calm within the council and respect for it within the community? Property Council chief Sally Capp, 50, is the favourite. She has supported intensifying property development, but she is seeking to assuage concerns about bias and conflict of interest by standing aside as the property development industrys top Victorian lobbyist during the election and by declaring she will not accept campaign financing from property developers. She has an extensive executive CV and wants a cleaner, greener city with better care for the homeless. Ms Capp, who is backed by former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett, is a former member of the Liberal Party but she is also considered close to the ALP. In light of the circumstances of Mr Doyles downfall, there is a valid argument that a woman would be well placed to calibrate the culture of the council, which has had only two female mayors since its inception in 1842. One of them, Lecki Ord (1987-88), is backing the second-favourite, Rohan Leppert, 33, a councillor for the Greens since 2012 and a well-regarded deputy chair of planning since 2016. He wants to limit the building of shoddy, shoebox apartments, and to augment childcare, aged care and affordable housing. The ALPs Jennifer Yang, 41, twice the mayor of Manningham Council, has emerged as a contender after rejecting Ms Capps plan to run as a dummy candidate to funnel preferences to the Property Council chief. She is promising to freeze rates until 2020, reduce bureaucratic burdens on businesses and ban alcohol for councillors on Town Hall business. Manila: The Philippines has ordered an Australian Catholic nun to leave the country within 30 days after the immigration bureau revoked her missionary visa for joining protest rallies, an immigration official says. Patricia Anne Fox, a 71 year-old superior of the Notre Dame de Sion in the Philippines, a congregation of Catholic nuns, was detained for a day last week after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered her investigation for "disorderly conduct". Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox gestures as she is interviewed by reporters after she was released from custody at the Bureau of Immigration in Manila. Credit:AP In a one-page order, immigration bureau head Jaime Morente asked Fox to leave the Philippines after "she was found to have engaged in activities that are not allowed under the terms and conditions of her visa." Fox, who has been in the country for more than 27 years, has 30 days to exit the Philippines after receipt of the order. Managua: Authorities have released some student protesters arrested during anti-government demonstrations over the past week and the Roman Catholic Church agreed to act as a mediator as President Daniel Ortega seeks to lower tensions in Nicaragua. Demonstrators protesting government repression wave Nicaraguan flags in Managua. With freshly shaved heads and some bearing bruises they said were inflicted by police during their captivity, students were dropped along a highway on the outskirts of the capital. Police said in a statement that students were handed over to their families and religious committees. At midnight on Tuesday, a man looked down at the traffic from an overpass on Interstate 696 in northern Detroit and considered the fall, police said. From the photos, it looked like a drop of more than seven metres. By the time the first officers got to the Coolidge Highway bridge - about 1am, Fox 2 reported - the man was still there, deciding which way to go. Police blocked off the lanes under the bridge, and negotiators started to talk to the man. They urged him to walk off the bridge and continue his life. Below, the highway was closed in both directions, Fox 2 reported. Trenton, New Jersey: The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug to slow kidney decline in patients with the most common inherited kidney disease. Jynarque, from Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceutical, has been approved for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. The FDA had initially rejected the application for the medicine, but approved it after additional studies. The progressive genetic disorder is the fourth-leading cause of kidney failure. It causes fluid-filled cysts to develop in and damage kidneys. The FDA rejected it in 2013 but approved it after the drugmaker did an additional study. That one-year study, involving 1370 patients with advanced disease, found the drug on average slowed kidney function decline about 35 per cent more than dummy pills. Toronto: The deadly van rampage in Toronto is training attention on an online world of sexual loneliness, rage and misogyny after the suspect invoked an uprising by "involuntary celibates" and gave a shout-out to a California killer who seethed at women for rejecting him. The world of self-described "incels," where sexual frustrations boil over into talk of violent revenge against women, has become a virtual home for some socially isolated men like the 25-year-old computer science student charged in Monday's carnage on Toronto's busiest thoroughfare. Minutes before ploughing a rented van into a crowd of mostly women, killing 10 people and injuring 14, suspect Alek Minassian posted a Facebook message that seemed to offer one of the few clues so far to what was on his mind. "The Incel Rebellion has already begun!" it read. Police confirmed Minassian posted the message but have declined so far to discuss a motive for the attack as they continue investigating. But the post has revived concerns about the anti-woman vitriol embraced by California mass killer Elliot Rodger and invoked by Minassian in his post. French President Emmanuel Macron has told US legislators they must join with the international community to help preserve and extend the benefits of the postwar world order. Addressing a joint session of Congress on Wednesday on the third day of a state visit, Macron appealed to the US not to turn inward as he listed a host of threats facing the world from climate change and rogue nuclear weapons to inequality and fake news. "We have to keep our eyes wide open to the new risks right in front of us," he said. "The only option is to strengthen our cooperation. We can build the new 21st century world order on a new breed of multilateralism." Macron's trip has been dominated by rifts between the US and the European Union stemming from President Donald Trump's "America First" foreign policy. With the US threatening to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and impose tariffs on its trading partners, the French leader set out an alternative world view in which nations act together to control dangers and help the middle classes. Photo: Hulu Its an impressive feat: The creators of The Handmaids Tale have somehow managed to take TVs darkest thought experiment and make it even more harrowing to watch. The first two episodes of the second season, which premiered last night, are the first to go beyond the material in Margaret Atwoods book, and they are a ceaseless cavalcade of grisly feminist torture porn to rival our greatest misogynist auteurs: horrifying, nauseating, and uncannily familiar in equal measure. Its not wall to wall brutality, but its that intense, as Margaret Atwood told the Cut the other day. The most horrifying moments of the show continue to be those that present a warped nightmare version of a world very similar to our own: The Boston Globe offices turned into a massacre site; Fenway Park turned into an executioners field; the airport customs line turned into, well, the airport customs line. Is it appropriately haunting, given the subject matter and its uncanny real-world parallels, or does it veer too far into televisual sadism? Heres our rundown of the moments that made us reach for the fast-forward button with our eyes covered, so you can ponder that question for yourself. (Of course, spoilers abound.) Gallows in Fenway Park The opening scene of season two is our first clue that were in for a particularly rough ride this season. After refusing to stone their friend Janine (Madeline Brewer) in the finale of last season, the rest of the Handmaids are escorted to a darkened, overgrown Fenway Park, which has been turned, like any pre-Gilead site of pagan delight, into a site of state-sponsored terror. A long row of nooses is set up across the outfield; the Handmaids quivering in terror, screaming and sobbing through their gagged mouths, wetting themselves in fear, chased by barking dogs are lined up to be executed. Its one of the most upsetting and visually unsettling things Ive seen on TV all year, one made no less traumatic when we find out that Aunt Lydia is just punking them. Let this be a lesson to you, she bellows, as we see her strolling across the bases in an ominous wide shot. (The Kate Bush music cue is a nice touch, though.) The hand on the burner But those rebellious Handmaids arent getting off that easy. After Aunt Lydia pulls her dramatic fake-out, she leads her charges into a dimly lit school cafeteria, where we see one of the Handmaids get taken into the kitchen, with the others presumably soon to follow. There, she has her hand shackled to a stove top, as Aunt Lydia turns the heat up high. Perhaps even worse than hearing her screams is watching Offred/June (Elisabeth Moss) exempt from punishment due to the fact that shes pregnant being forced to sit and eat soup while she listens to her friends being mutilated. (Of course, its all her fault, as Aunt Lydia takes pains to remind her, given that she was the one who incited the mass refusal to stone Janine.) The ear-severing As June prepares to escape, she has to figure out a way to deal with the microchip that Handmaids have embedded into their ears like wayward house cats. Her solution? Cut off the top of her ear with a pair of scissors, Reservoir Dogs style. The bloody fingernail Junes ear isnt the only body part thats shed in the new seasons first two episodes. In season two, were taken to the colonies, a postapocalyptic, radioactive wasteland where Unwomen like Emily (Alexis Bledel) are forced to spend their days cleaning up toxic waste. This is a more traditional horror setting than the well-manicured mansions of Brookline, Massachusetts, and The Handmaids Tale doesnt skimp on the visual unpleasantness. Atwood has said that she got all her inspiration for the books dystopia from real historical events, and its hard to ignore the visual echoes of familiar nightmare spaces like concentration camps, Russian Gulags, and slave plantations. Poisoned by radiation, the Unwomens bodies begin to visibly decay, from their scabby lips to their raw, chapped skin. At one point, we watch a woman peel off a bloody fingernail and leave it resting on a bar of soap. The university hanging And you thought we were going to make it through the first two episodes with just an almost-hanging? Cue the flashback: When Emilys boss at the university tells her that she wont be teaching next semester because shes gay (as is he), she thinks hes overreacting to the regimes scare tactics. When she sees his body strung up in a noose from the university walls, as students gather around in horror and fear, she realizes its time to flee. Just like the protest scenes from last season, its these uncanny flashbacks to a world much like our own, teetering on the brink of destruction that are likely to leave the bitterest taste in viewers mouths. The border-control scene In a scene likely to be particularly triggering for anyone who has ever been pulled into that little back room at JFK, the second episode shows what happens when Emily, her wife (Clea DuVall), and son attempt to flee from Bostons Logan Airport. The airport is a claustrophobic nightmare in itself: Thousands of people rushing to cross the border, as ICE agents patrol menacingly, detaining travelers without the right papers. Given the many contemporary news stories that this plays on about the refugee crisis, ICEs immigrant roundups, and people being held at airports during Trumps travel ban the scene hits uncomfortably close to home. After being offered a conditional boarding pass and a dash of hope, Emily is taken to an interrogation room, where ICE agents rip up her marriage license, interrogate her about her fertility, and tell her that she wont be crossing any borders today. Her wife and son, who arent American citizens, are forced to go on without her. The Boston Globe massacre In perhaps my least favorite scene of the whole series, June finds herself in hiding at the old Boston Globe offices. Shes rooting around the reporters desks and looking at their old mementos a novelty mug, a Red Sox pennant, family photos when something awful catches her eye. We watch her face contort in horror, and then the frame reveals what shes seeing: a row of nooses, next to a wall pockmarked by bullets and sprayed with blood. This is presumably where the publications employees were lined up to be killed when the regime began its purge of the free press. Do you know what this is? Do you know what happened here? she tells Nick, through tears. Its a slaughterhouse. The fact that the specifics of the massacre are left up to the imagination just renders the scene even more chilling. The poisoning in the colonies Back in the colonies, exiled Gilead Wife (Marisa Tomei) thinks Emily is befriending her when she arrives there, giving her antibiotics and showing her the ropes. Actually, shes feeding her poison, so that shell die a slow and painful death as punishment for her crimes. When the woman begs for her to stay and pray with her, Emily spits: Every month, you held a woman down while your husband raped her. Some things cant be forgiven you should die alone. To be honest, given how awful the rest of the episode was, watching a regime collaborator get her just deserts was practically a moment of levity although seeing her strung up on a crucifix the next morning was a particularly nasty finishing touch. Alek Minassian. Photo: Alek Minassian/LinkedIn Before he allegedly plowed a rental van into pedestrians, killing ten people and wounding 14 more, Alek Minassian, the suspect in Mondays Toronto van attack, reportedly struggled with anxiety when it came to interacting with women. Im afraid of girls, his former classmate Ari Blaff recalled him saying. She told the Toronto Sun, It was almost like a catchphrase or a tick. He was genuinely terrified with interacting verbally or physically [with women] at all, except for his mother, another classmate told CNN. Over time, this anxiety seems to have morphed into something darker. At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Toronto detective Graham Gibson confirmed the victims were predominantly women, and before his attack, Minassian, 25, wrote a Facebook post praising Elliot Rodger the gunman who killed six people in Santa Barbara in 2014 and announcing the beginning of the Incel Rebellion. Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry 00010, wishing to speak to Sgt 4chan please. C23249161. The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger, Alek Minassian wrote. Facebook confirmed the now-deleted post is authentic, and told the Daily Beast that Minassians profile has been removed from the site. Weve just obtained this Facebook post from the accused Alek Minassian, suspected in the #yongeandfinch mass casualty. Posted early this afternoon. FYI Incel=involuntarily celibate. Elliot Rodger killed 6 ppl at UCSB in 2014 before killing himself @globalnewsto pic.twitter.com/W84xt3D85I Catherine McDonald (@cmcdonaldglobal) April 23, 2018 Minassians posts suggest he was influenced by the rhetoric of incels, or involuntary celibates on sites like 4chan and Reddit men who believe nobody will have sex with them, and blame women and what they see as an oppressive, feminist society for turning them into second-class citizens. And while so far its unclear just what Minassians involvement in incel groups was what drew him to them, how active he was, what prompted him carry out Mondays attack based on the language in his post, he is certainly familiar with the toxic, anti-feminist, misogynistic hate-speech of these online communities. Although incels are primarily men, this wasnt always the case. The term was initially coined by a Canadian woman who, in the 90s, launched the website Alanas Involuntary Celibacy Project as a place for people to discuss and explore their own struggles with sex and sexuality. But soon, it was coopted by men, and online incel forums quickly became incubators of misogyny, and in some cases, users advocated rape, and derisively referred to conventionally attractive men and woman as Chads and Stacys respectively. Before it was shut down in November 2017, Reddits r/Incels board included threads with titles like all women are sluts, women shouldnt be allowed to go to college, and proof that girls are nothing but trash that use men. Related Stories Reddit Just Banned This Controversial Forum for Hating Women Some incels took their frustration one step further, advocating for anincel rebellion or beta uprising that would up-end the current sexual status-quo, often through violent means. In one thread on incels.me, a user called BlkPillPres writes about an incel uprising that would punish society, with mass rapes. He also advocates killing people with vans, as Minassian did, and using flamethrowers. If he was radicalized by incel rhetoric, Minassian would not be the first young man to act on this violent ideology. After his murderous rampage in Santa Barbara, during which he killed six people before taking his own life, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger became a popular figure in these forums. Before his attack, Rodger posted a video in which he bemoaned the fact that he was still a virgin, and said that he was the perfect guy and that he would punish all of you [women] for not seeing that he is the supreme gentleman. Minassian has been charged with ten counts of first-degree murder, and 13 counts of attempted murder. Authorities say they expect to charge him with a 14th count of attempted murder as well. CA Technologies today released the findings of its Digital Impact and Readiness Study with India set to lead the wave of digital disruption in the next five years across Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ). Currently, 73 percent of Indian business and IT leaders surveyed believe that the digital order has already impacted their organizations and the same number agree that their markets have been directly affected due to it. In a study commissioned by CA Technologies, over 900 business and IT leaders representing mid to large organizations across India, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand concur that the digital transformation journeys of most organizations have just started. The study shows that only 17 percent of organizations across APJ have fully formed digital transformation strategies. In India, while this figure is higher at 22 percent, but it shows that 78 percent of organizations do not have fully formed digital transformation strategies today. According to the survey findings, 88 percent consider that they are equipped to tackle the digital disruption in the ensuing three years while indicating strong leadership as a crucial element in contributing to the success of digital transformation. The objectives of the study were to measure the impact of digital disruption in the region and understand how organizations are managing their digital transformation. They agree that the impact of digital disruption will be greater in the next five years. In India, it is a 13 percentage point increase. Business and technology leaders need to start creating the organizational foundation for a digital era, where for companies to be built to last, they have to be built to change, said Sunil Manglore, Managing Director- India, CA Technologies. India is set to go through a drastic change in the next five years with more organisations embracing digital disruption. Businesses need to display stronger leadership in planning, organizing and executing the digital transformation strategies of their organizations. India being one of worlds fastest growing major economies, business and industry leaders sense that the impact of the digital wave hasnt affected the overall industry yet, and its bearing will be felt in the next five years. However, the dynamic socio-economic conditions are creating a unique window of opportunity for disruptors and next generation of competitors to emerge. The survey findings also revealed that improving workforce productivity and collaboration, enhancing customer experience and optimizing operational efficiency are the top three priorities for Indian businesses during this period. Other crucial elements such as attracting and retaining workforce, reducing operational costs and creating different business models and/or revenue streams are less significant. Respondents from India do not have confidence that their organizations have strong digital transformation capabilities and values. Indian businesses are placing greater focus on improving customer experience, which is contrasting when compared to the APJ respondents who are likely to concentrate on operational elements. Software is now the centre of all businesses. This study reinforces the need for technology to be part of a holistic business strategy that starts from the boardroom and progresses through every facet of an organisation, rather than considered as an afterthought. Ensuring organisations are working in an agile and collaborative environment sets them up for success today and into the future, concluded Manglore. About the CA Technologies Asia Pacific & Japan Digital Transformation Impact and Readiness Study CA Technologies commissioned a survey of 900 business and IT leaders across nine markets in the APJ region Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand in late 2017. All survey respondents came from mid- to large-sized organizations with more than 250 employees, with almost half (47 percent) of those interviewed representing large organizations with more than 1,000 staff. All respondents were decision makers 74 percent for business decisions and 26 percent for IT decisions. All surveyed leaders were also involved in digital transformation initiatives in their organizations, with 74 percent being key decisions makers in digital transformation projects. For the India edition of the report, 100 Business and IT leaders across IT, education, BFSI, manufacturing, healthcare, retail and other verticals, were interviewed. The representation included managers, directors, LOBs, CXOs, board members and owners who are currently involved in digital transformation initiatives in their organizations. Majority of respondents are directly involved in deciding, designing or creating software for their organizations. @Technuter.com News Service FILE PHOTO: Flight test engineers drive the Airbus A320neo (New Engine Option) after its first flight in Colomiers near Toulouse, southwestern France, Sep. 25, 2014. (REUTERS/Regis Duvignau) Airbus Confirms Plans to Raise A320 Output to 63 a Month PARISAirbus plans to increase production of single-aisle A320-family aircraft to 63 a month, a company spokesman said. The production increase, first reported by Frances La Tribune, will take effect in 2019, accelerating previous plans to lift output to 60 aircraft a month by the same deadline. The plans were unveiled to suppliers in a letter earlier this month, the spokesman said. Airbus currently produces 55 A320-family aircraft a month, according to an industry source. However, one of Airbuss leading engine suppliers declined to endorse the new production plan publicly, saying it was too early to make such a commitment amid a switchover between engine models taking place as assembly lines run at record speeds. As of today, we are not in a position to commit ourselves to higher volumes, Safran CEO Philippe Petitcolin said. We understand the needs of our client and if we are able to respond favorably we will do so, but we dont want to start discussions on a commitment beyond what was agreed 18 months ago, (before)early 2019, Petitcolin told reporters. It was not immediately clear whether a higher Airbus target of 63 jets a month, which has been circulating for some time, had already been anticipated in those previous discussions. Through their CFM joint-venture, Safran and GE are changing models to the LEAP engine, which has faced some delivery delays. The engines power the latest version of Boeing 737 and about half of the A320neo line sold by Airbus. Petitcolin said Safran was predicting 1,100 LEAP engine deliveries in 2018 a number slightly shy of GEs forecast as a matter of caution, but did not exclude output touching 1,200. Safran has previously adopted a conservative view on production increases as engine makers adapt to the new models and put increased demands on an already stressed supply chain. Looking beyond 2019, Airbus is studying long-term plans to raise output of its best-selling jet to as high as 75 a month, said the industry source, who is familiar with the companys planning. Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders has spoken of proposals to raise production to 70 a month over an undefined period, reflecting rising air travel and strong commercial jet demand. In the United States, his counterpart at Boeing said on Wednesday it continues to see upward pressure on production rates of the 737, but held short of announcing a production hike. Boeing is successfully coping with recent supply problems with 737 engines and fuselages and will make disciplined output decisions, CEO Dennis Muilenburg told analysts. Boeing aims to reach production of 57 of the narrow-body jets per month in 2019. (Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Bate Felix and Adrian Croft) Recommended Video: Why is Falun Gong persecuted? Falun Gong practitioners commemorate a peaceful appeal for freedom of belief that took place on April 25, 1999, in Beijing, China, at a gathering to raise awareness of the ongoing 19-year persecution of their faith by the Chinese regime, in Montreals Chinatown on April 21, 2018. (Yi Ke/The Epoch Times) Anniversary of Huge Rights Protest in Beijing Marked Across Canada Hopes that 1999 appeal would result in the right to freely practise Falun Gong were soon dashed On April 25, 1999, more than 10,000 Falun Gong adherents gathered outside the central government compound in Beijing to peacefully petition for the release of arrested fellow adherents and the right to practise their faith after several years of state harassment. It was by far the biggest freedom-of-belief protest in Chinas history, and although it ended with the issues seemingly resolved, three months later the regime launched a sweeping nationwide campaign of persecution against Falun Gong that continues today. What should have been a great opportunity for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to embrace a group of 100 million people who believe in truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, instead turned into 19 years of terror, torture, and murder, said a statement issued by the Falun Dafa Association of Canada. To mark the 19th anniversary of the protest, Falun Gong practitioners and supporters held rallies in various cities across the country, including Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, and Vancouver. Speakers called for an end to the persecution campaign and the release of the 11 practitioners with Canadian ties currently imprisoned in China, including Sun Qian, a Vancouver resident and Canadian citizen who was arrested while in China last February. Sun has since endured abuse at the Beijing No. 1 Detention Centre where she is being held, including being forced to undergo brainwashing sessions while waiting for a show trial scheduled for sometime in early May. In life, you have to support the causes that leave a good legacy, said retired senator Consiglio Di Nino at the Toronto rally in front of the Chinese consulate. Im proud to be here, and Ill continue to be here to stand with my friends, the practitioners of Falun Gong, and say China, its time that you treat all of your citizens as human beings, said Di Nino, one of the founders of the Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong. Li Jianfeng, formerly a judge in China who spoke at the Vancouver rally, said the April 25 protest was the largest appeal for civil rights in Chinas historyrights that are guaranteed by the constitution. But the regime went against its own constitution when it launched its persecution campaign on July 20, 1999. From the very beginning, the Chinese Communist Party has been an enemy of justice and goodness, he said. Due to its very nature, it fears truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, and views Falun Gong with hatred. But evil can never triumph over goodness, righteousness. Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a traditional spiritual practice handed down from ancient China that teaches living by the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It became immensely popular after it was made public in 1992 and grew rapidly. It was supported, awarded, and even endorsed by Chinese authorities for the benefits it brought to society. But in the mid-1990s, when the regime discovered that approximately 100 million people were practising Falun Gong and that it wasnt controlled by the state, practitioners across the country began to be harassed, attacked in the news, and sprayed with fire hoses when they gathered in parks to do the Falun Gong exercises. Some were beaten up and arrested. The peaceful gathering on Aril 25, 1999, was an attempt to gain official recognition and halt the harassment. Vancouver practitioner Zhang Li, a former teacher in China, was there that day. She heard that some practitioners had been arrested in Tianjin and she immediately decided to go to the government compound of Zhongnanhai to join the appeal. The date April 25 is forever remembered in my heart, she said at the rally. Zhang explained that at around 9 p.m. that night, a Falun Gong representative who had met with the authorities came out of Zhongnanhai and told those nearby to spread the word that the government had agreed to release the 45 arrested practitioners, allow Falun Gong books to be published again, and give practitioners the right to freely practise. The crowd then quietly dispersed. It could have ended there, but instead the opposite happenedthe regime began its campaign to crush the practice in July, just three months later, resulting in widespread arrests, torture, and brainwashing, fuelled by an intensive propaganda campaign. On top of that is the evidence uncovered by independent researchers estimating that at least 45,000 Falun Gong prisoners of conscience have been killed for their organs between 2000 and 2008 to feed Chinas multi-billion-dollar transplant industry. [Forced organ harvesting] has to stop, said Trevor Skillen, a local resident who attended the Vancouver rally. Its an evil thing that theyre doing, theres no question. This means the government doesnt even realize the humanity of their own citizens, so this is a government that should not be allowed to govern. Ms. Zhang, a volunteer with Tuidang (Quit the CCP movement) who spoke at the Montreal rally, said the Party is pushing down the Chinese people and destroying peoples morality. This is precisely the evil of the Communist Party, she said. It makes people not believe in god and the ancient belief that good will be rewarded and evil punished. This is precisely how the Party destroys people. Chinese journalists pore over a copy of the government work report before the opening session of the National People's Congress, the Chinese regimes rubber-stamp legislature, in Beijing on March 5, 2018. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images) China Remains Worlds Biggest Prison for Journalists, While Beijing Exports Media Censorship Overseas China continues to be among the worlds worst abuser of press freedom and jails the largest number of journalists in its prisons, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on April 25. In addition, the press freedom watchdog warned that authoritarian countries across Asia seeking to further consolidate their rule are copying Beijings model of media control and censorship. In its newly released 2018 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders evaluated 180 countries in terms of journalistic freedom and the degree to which governments across the world censor their own press. China is ranked 176th, with only Syria, Turkmenistan, Eritrea, and North Korea ranked worse. China is the biggest prison in the world for both professional and non-professional journalists, said Margaux Ewen, North America Executive Director of Reporters Without Borders, during the presentation launching the organizations 2018 index in Washington D.C. According to the index, Chinas state- and privately owned media are now under the Chinese Communist Partys tight control. Foreign reporters trying to do reporting in China are encountering more and more difficulties due to the regimes censorship and suppression. More than 50 Chinese journalists and bloggers are currently detained in conditions that pose a threat to their lives, the index says, as evidenced by the fact that two imprisoned bloggers died last year due to untreated cancer while in detention. Ewen also said that a grave concern for press freedom in the Asia-Pacific region is the export of the Chinese regimes exploitation of authoritarian model of information. Cambodia and Vietnam have adopted this model and imposed extensive suppression of the media. Cambodia, for example, closed more than 30 media outlets in 2017, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had been very outwardly insulting toward media and media freedom, according to Ewen. Among the Southeast Asian countries, Cambodia is generally seen as having been dragged closest to Chinas orbit. The index also says that under tougher internet regulations by Beijing, Chinese citizens can now be jailed for the comments they make on news items that they post on a social network or messaging service, or even for sharing content the regime doesnt approve of. The Reporters Without Borders index echoed another report also published on April 25 by Freedom House in advance of World Press Freedom Day, which says that internet censorship and surveillance reached new heights in China in 2017. Chinese bloggers and social media users continued to be censored and arrested by the Chinese regime for critical online comments or efforts to share information about human rights. Taiwan, the democratic island nation that Beijing claims as part of its territory, is ranked 42nd in the latest World Press Freedom Index, an improvement of 3 places over 2017 and the highest score for press freedom in Asia. The index says the main threat to media freedom Taiwan faces comes from China, which has been exerting growing economic and political pressure on the Taiwanese media. Recommended video: Memoir of a Communist Slave The Ningbo Port, a major storage and transshipment base for crude oil, iron ore, containers, and liquid chemical products, in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, China, on June 9, 2005. (Guang Niu/Getty Images) Chinas Many Ways of Evading Expensive Import Tariffs The United States recent tariffs on Chinese imports has led to new scrutiny of Chinas trade practices. One persistent problem has been Chinas methods of evading import duties. On April 20, European Union and Italian authorities revealed that they were investigating possible wide-scale tax fraud by Chinese criminal gangs who import goods via Greeces largest port, Piraeus, a trade gateway between China and Europe, officials said. An official at the Italian Central Anti-fraud Offices special investigative unit, Fabio Botto, said the suspected scam at Piraeus had cost Italy tens of millions of euros in unpaid value-added taxes (VAT), though the total could be far higher, as the investigation was not over. Italy began investigating the Piraeus case in late 2017 after seizing falsified invoices at customs offices, Botto said. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) confirmed it was working with Italy on the investigation but declined to give details, citing confidentiality. Botto said his agency had evidence that Chinese-owned firms run by the criminal groups were fraudulently avoiding import duties and VAT on large shipments of goods through Piraeus. The groups import goods, often counterfeit clothing and footwear, and massively understate their value to EU customs to avoid import duties, he said. They also lie about the firms that receive the goods, enabling them to avoid VAT. Greeces Financial Crime Unit is conducting a separate investigation into a suspected tax fraud case involving Chinese goods imported via Pireaus. The Greek unit has had little contact with Italian and EU authorities and has not been informed about the wider investigation, an official there said. Chinas state-owned shipping company, COSCO Shipping, has held a majority stake in Piraeus since 2016. The port is part of the Chinese regimes One Belt, One Road (also known as Belt and Road) initiative. China has invested millions in the port as a means of boosting trade and exerting geopolitical influence in the region. Profiting From Evading Tariffs In China, tariff evasion has become a full-fledged business. As first highlighted by The New York Times, a number of Chinese broker companies openly advertise their services of disguising the true origins of Chinese-made products by shipping them to another country. Shipping goods to another country before they land at the destination country, a practice known as transshipment, is a typical part of trade, but if one disguises the true intent of the transport of goods, it is considered illegal. The Chinese firm Settle Logistics, for example, notes on its website that it can help companies evade import duties by transferring goods to Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, and India. Settle Logistics explained that it had registered subsidiary companies, representatives, and factories in Malaysia, which would allow its clients goods to receive official certification and thus pass any potential inspection. In addition, the company noted that shipping to India is less likely to attract scrutiny from European Union authorities, making it an ideal transit point for clients goods. Meanwhile, the Guangdong-based CT-Chan Supply Chain Management Co. advertised on its website, Transshipment is the only method for getting rid of high tariffs and import restrictions. Past Transgressions Recently, China has also been accused of transshipping steel to Vietnam in order to circumvent antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese imported steel, imposed by the U.S. Commerce Department in 2015 and 2016. The Commerce Department had taken action after finding that the Chinese regime dumped government-subsidized steel. Research firm IHG Markit explained the Chinese regimes methods of avoiding tariffs, in an article on its website. Sometimes transshipped goods are minimally transformed and slapped with a new origin label, and sometimes they spend a short holiday in port storage and then are moved along to their final destination, it said. China had shipped steel to Vietnam, where it was coated with zinc and other products before being transported to the United States, according to IHG Markit. The firm also found that exports of Chinese steel to Vietnam grew at the same time that exports of Vietnamese steel to the United States increased: Chinese steel exports grew from 3.2 billion kilograms (about 3.5 million tons) in 2013 to 6.7 billion kilograms (about 7.4 million tons) in 2017, while Vietnamese exports grew from 13.3 million kilograms (about 14,660 tons) to 516.4 million kilograms (about 569,000 tons) during the same period. In December 2017, the Commerce Department announced the United States would impose import duties on Vietnamese steel, citing findings that the steel had originated from China and had evaded U.S. duties. Prior to discoveries of transshipping steel, a honey expert at Texas A&M University uncovered that a great deal of honey sold in the United States had actually originated in China, despite labels claiming it was produced in other countries. The United States had imposed high tariffs on Chinese honey due to the regimes dumping practices, according to expert Vaughn Bryant. After that, Chinese honey was too expensive to import, so one solution was to sell it to other countries. Some of those other countries then resold the Chinese honey to the U.S., he said. Reuters and Epoch Times staff member Xue Fei contributed to this report. Recommended Video: 5 Imported Foods From China You Should Avoid Comeys Memo Leak Conduit Was a Special FBI Employee The friend whom Former FBI Director James Comey used in order to leak classified information to The New York Times also worked as a special government employee (SGE) for Comeys FBI. The friend, Columbia Univesity law professor Daniel Richman, confirmed to Fox News that he worked for the FBI on an unpaid basis. Richman had a security clearance, a badge to access the FBI building, and worked on special projects for the agency, according to sources familiar with his status at the FBI. I did indeed have SGE status with the Bureau (for no pay), Richman wrote in an email to Fox. A spokesperson for the FBI said that the agency has employed a number of special government employees. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told Fox that Richmans special status was revealed during closed-door testimony by Comeys former chief of staff James Rybicki. Its certainly interesting that Director Comey would offer a special job and give full access to his friend when there are 35,000 employees at the FBI, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C) told Fox News in a statement. And it isnt just that he gave these memos to a friendhe gave them to another FBI employee he had hand-picked to act as a special government employee of the FBI. The question becomes: how many other people did he give these memos to? A special government employee is an officer or employee who is retained, designated, appointed, or employed to perform temporary duties, with or without compensation, for not more than 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days, according to the Office of Government Ethics. Comey leaked memos he drafted about conversations hed had with President Donald Trump. Comey is now under criminal investigation by the Inspector General at the Justice Department because the memos contained classified information, sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News and The Wall Street Journal. At least two of the memos Comey leaked contained classified information. Comey redacted parts of one memo before he handed it to his friend. The other memo was classified confidential after Comey was fired from the FBI. The notes were released to the public last week. The memos show that President Donald Trump directed Comey to thoroughly investigate if anyone in his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the election. That revelation shatters the narrative that Trump tried to obstruct Comeys Russia-collusion investigation. The FBI and New York Times had the memos for almost a year. According to Foxs sources, as a special employee, Richman was also sent talking points about the FBIs investigation into Hillary Clintons potentially felonious use of a private email server for sensitive government communications. Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton, was also a special government employee. Her special status enabled her to work at the State Department and private entities. Recommended Video: Trump Wants to Create a Space Force People pay their respects to the victims of the van attack at a makeshift memorial site at Olive Square in Toronto on April 24, 2018. (Lingxi Zheng/The Epoch Times) Toronto Van Attack: Coming to Terms with a Tragedy Torontonians cope with the horror of the senseless van attack as a community TORONTOA speeding van plowing into a crowd of unsuspecting pedestrians is a scene you would expect in a Hollywood thriller, not in real life. Not in your own backyard. With the nation still reeling from the tragic loss of 16 people in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Saskatchewan earlier this month, another tragedy struckthe van attack in Toronto on Monday, April 23, which claimed the lives of 10 and left more others injured. Alek Minassian, a resident of Richmond Hill, Ont., has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder after he allegedly ran down pedestrians with a rental van near the busy intersection of Yonge St. and Finch Ave. in the North York area of Toronto. In the days following the attack, more details are emerging about the victims but few about Minassians motive, as police continue their investigation. But the community has come together to honour the lives lost. The service of the first responders and care providers has been highly commended, as has the officer who arrested Minassian, Const. Ken Lam, for his remarkable restraint in how he handled an extremely tense situation. Although Minassian had an object in his hand that looked like a gun and was threatening to shoot, Lam kept his cool and arrested Minassian without firing a shot, proving the value he placed on the sanctity of life in the face of a man who seemingly had no such sentiment. Well persevere through this Local residents created an impromptu memorial site shortly after the attack, lighting candles, laying flowers, and writing tributes to the victims of the carnage. With a bouquet of flowers in hand, local resident Lazar Mile made his way to the makeshift site the next day. My wife was walking by. She ended up seeing some of the bodies that were covered in tarps and stuff, so it was a little devastating, said Mile, who has lived in the neighbourhood for five years. It was heartbreaking to see it happen, not just for the neighbourhood, but Toronto as a whole. Still, the incident doesnt change how he feels about the safety of the city he calls home. I think Toronto is still a very safe city. I think well persevere through this and well stick together, he said. For some, the healing process will take time. I dont know what the healing process would be for this. This will take some time, said Mary Lou David, a music teacher who came to pay her respects at the memorial site. Right now, all I can do is pray. Monica Yeoh said people in the area are really stepping forward to give neighbourly support to each other at this difficult time. People are helping one another. I definitely noticed that, even last night, when I paid my respects at the memorial, said Yeoh. I like the fact that everybody helps one another. This sense of community and caring is one way Torontonians can preserve the norm and help each other cope with the violence of the attack. Its a really sick man, this man who took out his anger on everybody else, Yeoh said. Mentally Unstable Minassian, 25, made a brief court appearance on April 24, the day after the attack, speaking only his name. His next court appearance will be via video on May 10. Minassians LinkedIn profile lists him as a student at Seneca College from 2011 to this year. Details emerged on April 24 from the Department of National Defence that Minassian was briefly a member of the Canadian Armed Forces last year but quit before finishing his training. A Facebook post reportedly by Minassian shortly before the attack makes reference to the 2014 Isla Vista tragedy in California, where a gunman killed six people and injured several more before turning the gun on himself. In a video before the attack, the gunman said his reason was rejection by women. Minassians reference to the incident may suggest he had a similar motive. Alexander Alexandrovitch, who says in his Facebook profile that he attended the same high school as Minassian, describes the suspect as mentally unstable. He was known to meow like a cat and try to bite people, he wrote on Facebook. Minassians neighbours have said they didnt know the family well and that the family members usually kept to themselves. Minassians family is thought to consist of four people, with another young male besides Minassian living in the household. We have a very quiet community, and nobody really bothers anybody else very much, said Wes Mack, a neighbour of the family. Its very tragic, very, very sad, and its hard on the community as well. Additional reporting by Carrie Gilkison and Becky Zhou Driven by strong growth in the memory market, worldwide semiconductor revenue totaled $420.4 billion in 2017, a 21.6 percent increase from 2016 revenue of $345.9 billion, according to final results by Gartner, Inc. 2017 saw two semiconductor industry milestones revenue surpassed $400 billion, and Intel, the No. 1 vendor for the last 25 years, was pushed into second place by Samsung Electronics, said George Brocklehurst, research director at Gartner. Both milestones happened due to rapid growth in the memory market as undersupply drove pricing for DRAM and NAND flash higher. The memory market surged nearly $50 billion to reach $130 billion in 2017, a 61.8 percent increase from 2016. Samsungs memory revenue alone increased nearly $20 billion in 2017, moving the company into the top spot in 2017. However, Gartner predicts that the companys lead will be short-lived and will disappear when the memory market goes into its bust cycle, most likely in late 2019. The booming memory segment overshadowed strong growth in other categories in 2017. Nonmemory semiconductors grew $24.8 billion to reach $290 billion, representing a growth rate of 9.3 percent. Many of the broadline suppliers in the top 25 semiconductor vendors, including Texas instruments, STMicroelectronics and Infineon, experience high growth as two key markets, industrial and automotive, continued double-digit growth, buoyed by broad-based growth across most other end markets. The combined revenue of the top 10 semiconductor vendors increased by 30.6 percent during 2017 and accounted for 58 percent of the total market, outperforming the rest of the market, which saw a milder 11.0 percent revenue increase. M&AS ARE TAKING LONGER 2017 was a slower year for closing mergers and acquisitions (M&As), with roughly half the deal value and number of deals compared with 2016. However, the semiconductor industry continues to see escalating deal sizes with greater complexity, which are becoming more challenging to close. Avago set a record in its acquisition of Broadcom for $37 billion in 2016, and this record should soon be broken by Qualcomms acquisition of NXP Semiconductors for $44 billion. THE IOT IS STARTING TO PAY VENDOR DIVIDENDS Growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) is having a significant impact on the semiconductor market, with application-specific standard products (ASSPs) for consumer applications up by 14.3 percent and industrial ASSPs rising by 19.1 percent in 2017. Semiconductors for wireless connectivity showed the highest growth with 19.3 percent in 2017, and topping $10 billion for the first time, despite reduced component prices and the static smartphone industry. @Technuter.com News Service Nikolas Cruz, facing 17 charges of premeditated murder in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, appears in court for a status hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Feb. 19, 2018. (Mike Stocker/Pool via Reuters) Florida Shooting Suspect Qualifies for Public Defender, Judge Rules FORT LAUDERDALE, FloridaThe man charged with killing 17 people at Florida high school qualifies to have a public defender represent him at taxpayer expense, even though he may inherit money from his late mothers estate, a Florida judge ruled on Tuesday. The 19-year-old suspect, Nikolas Cruz, has a current net worth of about $28,000 and access to only part of that sum, Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer wrote in a court ruling. As a result, paying for a private lawyer would impose a substantial hardship on the defendant, she said. The judge said she would reconsider the question of whether Cruz qualified for a public defender should he inherit money from the estate, according to a court filing. Cruz is accused of using an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Feb. 14 to kill 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and wound 17 others. Cruz is a former student at the school in Parkland. At an April 11 hearing on Cruzs finances, Melissa McNeil of the Broward Public Defenders office told the court that Cruz wanted to donate to charity any money left to him in a trust set up by his mother. Before the shooting, Cruz told the parents of a schoolmate who took him in after his mothers death that he would inherit $800,000 when he turns 22. His mother died in November 2017, according to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper. His father died a few years earlier. Any money that Cruz inherits would have to be split with his younger brother, Zachary. Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein also said in an email on Tuesday that the attorney handling the estate has not yet filed to open it for administration. Prosecutors have signaled their intention to seek the death penalty for Cruz in the massacre, which was the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. His public defense attorneys have said he would plead guilty if prosecutors withdrew the threat of capital punishment, but they have declined to do that. We still stand ready to plead guilty to 34 consecutive life sentences without parole, Finkelstein said in an email to Reuters on Tuesday. We still believe it is in the best interests of the families and the community to end this case, he wrote. By Bernie Woodall Recommended Video: Ivanka Trump Asked About Lessons She Learned From Her Dad, She Listed 5 Principles A sign is seen outside a Canyon Bridge office in Beijing, China, on September 14, 2017. The private equity firm's co-founder Benjamin Chow has been found guilty of insider trading related to his firm's attempted acquisition of Lattice Semiconductor, a top American chipmaker. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images) Founder of China-Backed Equity Firm Is Found Guilty of Insider Trading The firm tried to acquire American top chipmaker, Lattice Semiconductor, before US blocked deal NEW YORKA partner of a private equity firm with backing from the Chinese regime was found guilty in a U.S. court of insider trading related to the attempted acquisition of American chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor Corp., prosecutors in New York said on April 24. Benjamin Chow, who co-founded Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy by a jury in Manhattan federal court, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in a statement. Chow is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 20 by U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods. Canyon Bridges financing can be traced back to Chinas State Council, the top administrative authority of the Chinese central government, Reuters had previously reported. Acquiring foreign semiconductor technology via investments in foreign firms is part of the Chinese regimes strategy to develop its semiconductor industry. China has lagged behind in innovation, and relies heavily on foreign imports of the chips, which are used to power many electronic devices. The regimes centerpiece economic plan, Made in China 2025, includes the goal of dominating global supply chains in high-tech sectors such as semiconductor-manufacturing. Lawyers for Chow, 45, could not immediately be reached for comment. While we have been informed of the verdict, we have not had the opportunity to review the courts ruling, Canyon Bridge said in an emailed statement. We will be assessing the situation. Prosecutors charged Chow, a U.S. citizen born in China, with tipping a friend in 2016 about Canyon Bridges planned acquisition of Oregon-based Lattice before it was announced, allowing the friend to make about $5 million in profits. The friend was identified in a separate lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year as Michael Yin, a former Hong Kong-based private equity executive who had become a hedge fund manager. U.S. President Donald Trump blocked the Lattice deal in September. Since then, Canyon Bridge has set its sights on acquisition targets outside of the United States. It closed on the purchase of British chipmaker Imagination Technologies Group for 550 million pounds ($718 million) late last year. The sale did not include a unit of the company, U.S. chip designer MIPS, which was divested to an investment firm. According to Canyon Bridges website, Chow previously ran semiconductor investments for private equity firm Warburg Pincus in Asia, and was a managing director of China Reform Fund Management, a private equity investment firm financed at least in part by Chinas government and its state-owned firms. Two former business partners of Chow who declined to be named said he is a native of Tianjin, a port city 30 minutes from Beijing by high-speed train, and has relatives who work in the Tianjin government. Epoch Times staff member Annie Wu contributed to this report. A special invited Buddhist monk delegate (C) reads the Communist Party of China Central Committee report during the closing session of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) inside the Great Hall of the People on November 14, 2012 in Beijing, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images) How do Chinas Top Officials Get Their News? Chinas state-run media are notorious for their false reporting and blatant propaganda to spread the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) agenda. Whereas ordinary citizens can only get their news from these sources and whatever information passes through the Partys strict censorship, where do the CCPs high-level officials turn to for real information? When Zhu Rongji, former premier, made a speech at Tsinghua University during the centennial celebration of the universitys founding on April 22, 2011, he said that after he retired, he watched the CCPs state-run broadcaster CCTV at seven oclock after dinner every evening. I simply watch to see what nonsense it says, he said. So where do high-level officials such as Zhu get their news? They learn true information about the outside world via a special publication called Internal Reference. It is a collection of news and notices from top Party leaders, domestic news, and international news that is forbidden for Chinese media to report on. Internal Reference is considered a confidential document and old copies are mandated to be destroyed. Over the years, from the Partys Central Committeea 200-plus body of top officialsto provincial and central state media, and different central state agencies, they have all published their versions of Internal Reference for their eyes only. The versions of Internal Reference are classified according to officials ranking: theres one that only provincial or ministerial level officials are allowed to read, and another for the Politburo, a 25-member group of elites. The highest level is only for the very few members of the Party leadership. The highest level Internal Reference includes a section on domestic affairs published daily. What kinds of Internal Reference CCP officials can read is also closely related to their political status. For example, former Party leader Mao Zedongs secretary, Tian Jiaying, was disqualified from reading a high-level Internal Reference just before he committed suicide. Deng Xiaoping, the CCPs leader from the late 1970s to 1980s, was given permission to read high-level Internal Reference before he was appointed Party leader. When the CCPs current leader, Xi Jinping, visited the state-run Xinhua News Agency on February 19, 2016, he especially visited the department that edits the Internal Reference. When I worked in local government, I began paying more attention to the Internal Reference, he told Xinhua reporters, according to a Xinhua report. When I worked in central government, I especially paid attention to it. Xinhua News Agency reporters have often boasted to their colleagues working in Chinese media that the first thing the central, provincial, and municipal leaders do when they get to their office is read the internal reference documents compiled by Xinhua. High-level officials also turn to the Chinese versions of this publication and its sister media, New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), which were established in the United States in 2000 and 2001 respectively. The Epoch Times has learned from authoritative sources within the Party leadership that top officials often turn to Epoch Times and NTD for truthful reporting on current affairs. When the Politburo holds meetings, the Chinese Epoch Times is placed on the desk, those sources said. Hao Fengjun, a former police officer in Tianjin City, defected to Australia in February 2005, taking many confidential documents with him. Those records revealed that police officials often read the Chinese Epoch Times and watched NTD in order to find ways to suppress or undermine their truthful reportage about China. Those sources added that the Chinese consulate in New York City collected the Chinese Epoch Times and periodically sends the copies to Beijing. In addition, a current member of the Politburo Standing Committeethe very top echelon of the Partyrecords NTDs programs regularly to watch. After entering the internet era, the Partys high-level officials can directly browse blocked websites, such as the Chinese Epoch Times, NTD, and Voice of Americausing special software to circumvent the firewall. After Xi Jinping took power in 2012, officials were instructed to collect Epoch Times and NTD reports, and regularly present them to Zhongnanhai, the Beijing compound where the Party leadership convenes, according to anonymous sources. Recommended Video: How Doctors in China Turn into Murderers Saudi men take the escalator during a cinema test screening in Riyadh on April 18, 2018. The terrorist group ISIS has discussed on private communications about threatening the theater. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images) Internal ISIS Communications Reveal Plan to Threaten to Bomb Saudi Cinema A recent spike in internal communications of the ISIS terrorist group, using social media platforms, allegedly includes a planned threat to bomb a new, co-ed movie theater in Saudi Arabia. An anonymous user on an internal ISIS chat network, translated from Arabic, stated on April 22 that for Muslims near the cinema in the Arabian Peninsula, it is necessary to issue a threat to blow it up because of proximity to it and Muslims are quick to remind you. The communications were intercepted by the scanning tool MORSE used by private darknet intelligence company BOC Intel, which currently logs in real-time the communications of 200 terrorist groups on WhatsApp and gives alerts when chats begin to surgesomething that often takes place ahead of terror attacks or during new terror campaigns. A translator with BOC Intel notes there were other mentions of the movie theater in Saudi Arabia, which appears to be something that got one of them upset. A spokesperson with BOC Intel said in an email that MORSE alerted us yesterday to an increase of Twitter links than normal in terrorist group channels on WhatsApp. He said the terrorists have launched a new strategy on Twitter, in which they use random accounts to post terrorist propaganda as comments on the posts of other users, rather than posting the propaganda as standalone posts. After the terrorists post their comments with the propaganda, they share the link to the comment on their internal WhatsApp and Telegram chat groups. Among the individuals on the internal terrorist chat networks is one who calls himself Abu Walid al-Shami and uses a Swedish phone number. The user writes in run-on sentences, and praises the terrorist social media campaigns, stating that posting the entries on Facebook and Twitter terrifies them and that the platforms try by any means to stop you and spend great money to repel you. The terrorist adds, You have them, O Messenger of Allah, invaded and stormed the means of social communication. The more you enter and the more your number has been useful in reducing the deletion. The BOC Intel translator said the terrorists are posting about running social media campaigns despite having their accounts banned, and that the terrorists are posting that its good to have their accounts banned, as they believe it causes Twitter and Facebook to spend money. The BOC Intel spokesperson noted that a large number of the accounts use Swedish phone numbers, although the spokesperson could not confirm whether they were temporary burner phones. The terrorist group member, Abu Walid al-Shami, states in the internal chats that our loved ones are # media accounts and some fools, and then lists Twitter comments from other members, which he tells the chat group to reply to, to copy, and to repost directly on their own channels. Another member of the group, called Fathers, who was using a New Jersey phone number, sent a message stating, Dear brothers in the Brigades of the invasion and publishing in Twitter within the confidentiality of the certificate to enter the battalions of the invasion tighten the bond and raise the burden and the support of your religion. The post gives links to different users and tools, which includes a bot network users can access. The user, Fathers, describes it as a tool to invade Twitter in the following battalions. Other users post propaganda images for other members to spread. One user calling himself ABD Faqeer published a propaganda image titled For the sake of Allah we will march through the gates of the paradise. Another user, Carol Sanders, posted a propaganda image titled You brought death to yourselves. The other propaganda images are of a similar nature. Other tweets are propaganda on terrorist killingsmainly in Iraq, Egypt, and other countries in the regionmeant to inspire potential terrorists. The BOC Intel spokesperson noted, What is particularly interesting is that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, sat in front of Congress recently and told the world they are doing all they can to protect users data and remove hate/extremist content from their platform. Well, obviously they are not doing enough, as the extremist groups on WhatsApp exceed 200, the spokesperson said, noting that WhatsApp is owned by Facebook. WhatsApp is a well-known platform for human trafficking, drug transactions, fraud, child exploit, as well as terrorists. WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 02: North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho listens as U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean defectors in the Oval Office of the White House on February 2, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Zach Gibson-Pool/Getty Images) North Korean Defector Hopes Human Rights Issues to Be Discussed During Inter-Korea Summit North Korean defector Ji Seong Ho, who came to South Korea in 2006, hopes that human rights issues in the North will be discussed during the inter-Korea summit later this week. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will sit down at the border truce village of Panmunjom on Friday, April 27, to discuss a range of issues, including North Koreas nuclear weapons program. Ji said he hopes that human rights issues will be one of the discussion points. People [in North Korea] cannot speak out [on human rights issues], they will probably face death if they state their views. People outside of North Korea should tell the world about their human rights and hopefully lead to changes, he said. Ji who heads Now, Action and Unity for Human Rights (NAUH), a group that rescues and resettles North Korean refugees, also said defectors have expectations that the summit can lead to the unification of the Korean peninsula so that they can revisit their homes and families in the North. North Korean defectors have expectations that the day of unification will come sooner (through this summit) so that they can go to the homeland [North Korea] and meet their loved ones, Ji said. Ji Seong-hos story is a testament to the yearning of every human soul to live in freedom. pic.twitter.com/ptighgJaGR The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 1, 2018 Ji was a child beggar tortured and starved in North Korea who managed to escape the country after he was run over by a train while trying to steal coal. Ji, who lost his left hand and leg after he fell from the moving freight train, appeared at U.S. President Donald Trumps State of the Union address in February. In one emotional moment, he held up his crutches after Trump mentioned him during his speech. Ji also had a one-on-one meeting with Trump. The total number of North Korean defectors in South Korea stood at 31,339 as of the end of December 2017, according to government data. Recommended Video: Australias China Experts Discuss Chinese Communist Party Infiltration in Australia The officer who arrested Alek Minassian in Mondays deadly van attack in Toronto is being praised for his remarkable restraint in how he handled the extremely tense situation. (The Epoch Times) Officer Hailed for Taking Down Toronto Van Attack Suspect Without Gunfire The officer who arrested the suspect in Mondays deadly van attack in Toronto is being praised for his remarkable restraint in how he handled the extremely tense situation. Video footage shows the officer, gun drawn, approaching the driver of the van, who had just mowed down pedestrians along a stretch of Yonge Street, killing 10 and injuring 15. Kill me, person believed to be suspect in Toronto van attack can be heard yelling as Toronto police arrest him. Get the latest: https://t.co/GrjDJcMPfg pic.twitter.com/RCRVeTWRgP CBC News (@CBCNews) April 24, 2018 The driver, Alek Minassian, was in turn pointing a black object that looked like a gun at the officer, his arm outstretched. But the officer didnt falter and didnt fire, even when Minassian twice made like he was quick-drawing a gun from his pocket. Come on, get down, the officer shouts. Kill me, Minassian says. No, get down, the officer responds as he steadily half-circles the driver. I have a gun in my pocket, he yells. I dont care, the officer replies. Get down or youll be shot. Get down. Still pointing the object, Minassian starts to approach the officer. It was as though he wanted to be shot. It may have been at this time that the officer realized the black object wasnt a gun, because he holsters his own gun and pulls out a baton. He walks toward Minassian, who drops the object and gets on the ground where the officer handcuffs him. Police now say theres no evidence Minassian was armed, according to news reports. The officer, who has since been identified as Const. Ken Lam, is being praised for not shooting Minassian in the standoff. His restraint seems especially notable at a time when police in various North American cities have faced public condemnation for shooting unarmed or mentally ill suspects. Mike McCormack, the president of the Toronto Police Association, said the officers actions serve as a glimmer of hope for a city caught in tragedy. Its one shining moment in an absolutely game-changing, abysmal, horrific day in the city of Toronto, McCormack said in a phone interview. The one positive to take away from that day was his behaviour. With the city still on edge following the midday massacre, many social media users have hailed the officer as a paragon of restraint in the face of abject terror based on footage of his tense standoff with Minassian. It could have gone either way. Any time, if that threat escalated, we could have had a different outcome, McCormack said of the arrest. He reacted to what he was seeing, what his training taught him, and were extremely proud of him. He may have prevented additional deaths. With files from The Canadian Press Germany is refusing to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital. Indeed, while its foreign ministry acknowledged that every country has the right to name its own capital, it said that this is not the case for Israel, insisting that the status of Jerusalem can be settled only through negotiations with the Palestinians. As a matter of principle, every state has the right to determine a city in its territory to be its capital, Niels Annen, a minister of state in Germanys Foreign Ministry, said in response to a query by a lawmaker from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party last week, The Times of Israel reported. Since the eastern part of Jerusalem that Israel occupied in 1967 contrary to international law is not part of Israels sovereign territory, the international community, including Germany, has not recognized this declaration, he added. [...] Petr Bystron, who submitted the query, responded that the German governments answer was almost identical with that of the Palestinian Authority, which has been protesting US President Donald Trumps decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem. Since Trumps announcement in December that the US recognizes Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and will move its embassy there, a number of countries have followed suit. Leave it to Germany's government, what with all the trouble they're already brought upon their own "fatherland" to take the PLO's side on the issue of Jerusalem And one day, Germany's going to move it as well, if they really want to apologize for all the anti-semitic trouble they caused for decades on end. If this is how they intend to continue acting, then nobody with common sense should do business with Merkel's awful regime.Update: see also this report about how the leftist Ir Amim and NIF are trying to exploit Israel's court system to stop the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem. So far, the court's not helping them, but still, an eye must be kept open considering those leftists can still be a danger. Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, germany, islam, Israel, Jerusalem, jihad, Moonbattery, political corruption, United States, White House Toronto Police Eye Deadly Van Attack Suspects Cryptic Message TORONTOThe man accused of plowing a rental van into pedestrians on a crowded Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people in Canadas deadliest mass killing in decades, left a cryptic message on social media before his attack, police said on Tuesday. Suspect Alek Minassian, 25, was charged with 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder in the incident. One possible clue to his motive emerged on Tuesday as Facebook confirmed Minassian wrote a post before the incident that referenced an incel rebellion. The term is shorthand used in some online message boards for involuntary celibacy, a loose social media movement of men who blame women for their celibacy. Canadian authorities have declined to say whether anger toward women had motivated the attack. The post also voiced admiration for a man who killed six college students before taking his own life in California in 2014 and who cited the cruelness of women for his virgin status. The accused is alleged to have posted a cryptic message on Facebook minutes before the attack, Graham Gibson, a Toronto police detective sergeant, told a news conference. The majority of the victims were women, ranging in age from their mid-20s to early 80s, Gibson said. He said the question of whether the attack was driven by anger against women was going to be part of our investigation. Facebook has since deleted Minassians account, a representative said. There is absolutely no place on our platform for people who commit such horrendous acts, she said in an email. Minassian kept his shaved head down during a brief court appearance in Canadas largest city, speaking quietly with a defense lawyer and stating his name in a steady voice when asked to do so. The incident had the hallmarks of deadly vehicle assaults by Islamic State supporters. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was no reason to suspect any national security connection. Trudeau called on all Canadians to stand united with Toronto as flowers and scrawled messages in multiple languages piled up at a makeshift memorial in the citys north end, an ethnically diverse neighborhood of towering office buildings, shops, restaurants and homes. We cannot as Canadians choose to live in fear every single day as we go about our daily business, Trudeau told reporters outside of parliament in Ottawa. The prime minister said the incident had not changed the countrys threat level or security preparations for a G7 summit in Quebec in June. Minassian had briefly served in Canadas armed forces in late 2017 but asked to be voluntarily released after 16 days of training, defense ministry spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande said. The suspects two-story red-brick home in a suburb north of Toronto was a crime scene Tuesday, taped off and surrounded by police vehicles. Officers went in and out of the house. South Koreans Among Victims Details about the dead began to emerge on Tuesday, with a South Korean foreign ministry representative saying that two of that countrys citizens were killed and one injured in the attack. The representative spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. A Jordanian citizen was also killed, said an official at the countrys embassy in Ottawa. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp identified one of the victims as Anne Marie DAmico, an employee of asset manager Invesco Canada. In a statement, Invesco confirmed that one of its employees had been killed but did not name her. It could be days before all the victims are publicly identified, said Ontario Chief Coroner Dirk Huyer said, adding that the extent of their injuries was making some identities difficult to determine. It ranges from scrapes and bruises to terrible injuries that I wont get into discussing here, Gibson added. The attack shook the usually peaceful streets of Toronto, which recorded 61 murders last year. The drama started at lunchtime on a warm spring day, when the driver drove his vehicle into the crowds. The street was soon covered in blood, empty shoes and bodies. Last October, eight people died in New York when a man driving a rented pickup truck mowed down pedestrians and cyclists on a bike path. The ISIS terrorist group encourages its supporters to use vehicles for attacks. By Anna Mehler Paperny and Nichola Saminather Recommended video: After Tragedy, Torontonians Reflect on Van Attack This photo illustration shows the Whatsapp application logo (C) on a smartphone screen in Beijing on September 26, 2017. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images) WhatsApp Raises Minimum Age Limit to 16 in European Union WhatsApp has announced it will ban people under the age of 16 from using its service in the European Union. Following changes in European data privacy rules coming into force next month, European users will now be asked to confirm they are at least 16 years old when they agree to new terms of service. It is unclear how the new age limit will be enforced. Currently, users need to be at least 13 years of age, but WhatsApp said they are changing the rules for EU users ahead of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on May 25. The company plans to keep the age limit at 13 for the rest of the world. The new rules mean that Europeans will have more control over how companies can use personal information. They can, for example, request their data is erased. There are also rules designed to protect children from having their data collected. The U.S. Childrens Online Privacy Protection Rule currently bans online companies from collecting data about users who are under 13. However, Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, launched Messenger Kids, which is aimed at children as young as 6, in December 2017. Facebook has a separate data policy, relying on 13 to 15-year-olds to nominate a parent or guardian who can grant permission for them to share on the platform. If they dont do this, they wont see a fully personalized version of the site. WhatsApp announced the new policy in a blog post, saying it did not intend to ask for new rights to collect personal information. Our goal is simply to explain how we use and protect the limited information we have about you, it said. Neuroscientist Dr. Tara Swart, who has studied the impact of social media and new technology on children, said that although the age limit would be easy to circumvent, it would help parents protect their children online. People get random messages through Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp from people saying, Ive seen your profile picture, you look really pretty, Id like to be friends,' Dr. Swart said. Thats very dangerous for a 13 to 16-year-old to make a decision about whether they should be in contact with that person or not. She continued: As a societyand [this is] backed up by the neurosciencewe have a bigger-than-ever responsibility to protect childrens, not just privacy, but safety. The world is so different to what it was like when anybody thats a parent of a 13-year-old now was 13 themselves. The EUs GDPR is the biggest overhaul of online privacy since the birth of the internet, giving Europeans the right to know what data is stored on them and the right to have it deleted. Other tech firms like Apple have said they will implement the protections provided by the GDPR worldwide. Woman Dies on Alaska Airlines Flight. Heres How It Happened A woman has died on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Kansas City, according to reports. A spokesperson for the Kansas City International Airport said that a woman on Flight 478 couldnt be resuscitated, Fox 4 Kansas City reported. The woman was already dead when emergency workers reached her, the Fox report stated. The woman apparently suffered cardiac arrest during the flight. The passenger has not yet been identified. Woman dies on Alaska Airlines flight to Kansas City https://t.co/O0z4rugE44 FOX 4 News (@fox4kc) April 24, 2018 Im just really sorry for the family of this lady, passenger Jan Andrews was quoted by the Fox affiliate as saying. Police added that there was no foul play involved in the death. The Kansas City Police Department is investigating the matter. Its standard procedure, KMBC reported. The flight landed at the airport at around 3:50 p.m. local time. An autopsy was ordered for the woman, KCTV5 reported. Earlier this month, a Southwest Airlines plane engine exploded mid-air, sending shrapnel into the plane, breaking a window. A passenger, Jennifer Riordan, died in the incident, according to reports at the time. The plane made an emergency landing in Philadelphia. Southwest announced that it would cancel some U.S. flights to inspect plane engines, Reuters reported. The firm stated on Monday, April 23, that it anticipated minimal delays or cancellations each day due to the inspections. The Federal Aviation Administration said that the engine failure was triggered by a fan blade that broke away. In 2016, a Southwest flight made an emergency landing in Florida without incident after a fan blade separated from the same type of engine, Reuters noted. Recommended Video: Why is Falun Gong persecuted? With Ann Taylors closure in downtown Westport as part of a national contraction by its parent company, a replacement could be on the horizon in short order with a link to a familiar name. Sundance, created nearly 30 years ago by actor and director Robert Redford as an apparel catalog company, is eyeing space at 97 Main St. vacated by Ann Taylor, according to a source knowledgeable with the towns retail scene, with the company not responding immediately Tuesday to a Hearst Connecticut Media query. Sundance is notable for an unconditional guarantee of quality that some other retailers have backed away from, to include L.L Bean earlier this year. Redford is no stranger to Westport, having performed at the Westport Country Playhouse in 2011 alongside his Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid co-star Paul Newman, and with Redford once owning a home himself in Weston. Any Sundance arrival would provide a fresh boost for Westport, which has seen the recent departures of The Nike Store and Allen Edmonds among others on Main Street, but where the new Bedford Square development has helped compensate as a magnet for multiple retailers new to southwestern Connecticut, including the new Anthropologie & Co. concept store and Nic+Zoe selling womens apparel. An Ascena spokesperson did not respond immediately Monday to a query on why the company chose to close in Westport, which has a median household income of $120,000. The Ann Taylor store is part of a retail row owned by Empire State Realty Trust extending from the vacated Nike Store to Athleta, with Main Street the only locale where Empire State Realty has stand-alone retail properties outside New York City, where it is based. Ascena acquired Ann Inc. in August 2015, adding the Ann Taylor, Loft and Lou & Grey retail brands, with Loft having a location a few blocks from the former Ann Taylor in Westport. Other Ascena stores with multiple locations in southwestern Connecticut include Dressbarn, Justice and Lane Bryant. Ann Taylor has remaining Connecticut locations in Danbury, New Canaan and Stamford, among others. Midway through a three-year plan targeting $300 million in cost savings by 2019, in March Ascena executives said the company has closed 400 of nearly 670 locations across its brands, including more than 100 stores between November and January as part of a fleet optimization program that left it with 4,600 locations entering 2018. CEO David Jaffe expressed confidence on a March conference call that women will continue to want to shop in local stores for the ability to touch clothes and try them on, and for the social aspects of the shopping experience. I think the retail apocalypse is vastly overstated I think that womens apparel may still be coming out of a little bit of a doldrums over the last number of years, Jaffe said in March. I think the winners are going to be the guys that deliver great product. ... Where weve had great product, weve had great success. Our challenge is to become a little more consistent in that. Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman DERBY Anyone who has been a cop for more than 30 years has stories to tell. But being a cop for more than three decades with six different law enforcement agencies should make Michael Bouchard the life of any party. Just talk to the Bridgeport police officer for 10 minutes and youll hear how he nabbed the longest active Army deserter living in the U.S., helped stop a planned gang murder and riddled a rabid woodchuck. Or hell tell you why why Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster dont exist; that the Lindley Street poltergeist was just a young girl or about his research on the Philadelphia Experiment, Area 51 and the Roswell crash. Ive done a lot more than most police officers, said Bouchard, a 55-year old Valley native. Ive worked in small towns and big cities. Ive been on the street, in schools, out in the woods and on the water... Everywhere Ive been, Ive learned something. Much of his experience and many of his stories have been put in print. Bouchard is the author of four books with a fifth on the way. For a man who has worked for the Shelton police department auxiliary, the Lake Housatonic Marine auxiliary and the Regional Water Authority, as a state game warden and in the Bridgeport Police Department as Park police, a School Resource officer and now at the information booth in the Margaret Morton Government Center, Bouchard remains a man of action. Its not as fast paced as I would like, he said of his current post. But in todays society, you have to be a little more on guard than you did 10 years ago. Here its important to interact with people. While Bouchard loves writing, the research interests him at least as much. The older cases are more interesting, he said. You have less to go on. You have to dig deeper and you have to think outside the box. I was always interested in science, always interested in research, said the author/cop whose self-published books are available through Amazon. What happens is you get addicted to it. I think everybody is capable of writing a book. Book number five will be about 105 missing people in Connecticut, including one man he found living in New York. Its due out mid-summer. Among the cases: a cluster of eight missing girls in the Vernon-Tolland area. He plans to plot selected cases on a map to see if there are geographical similarities. He admits he isnt out to solve cases. What I will do is provide information that may help solve cases, he said. Most officers are interested in chasing criminals, my interest is in tracking them. The one difference between tracking people compared to hunting animals is the mere fact that animals are much smarter. What Bouchard hopes to do is bring closure to some families, he said. It was one reason he began writing in the first place. His first book, Forever Searching: Missing in the Smoky Mountains, the story of the 1969 cold case file of 6-year-old Dennis Lloyd, was hatched by emails from a friend. Bouchard obtained numerous reports, interviewed living witnesses and came to the belief the boy may have been abducted, got away and became lost and possibly injured before dying. A claim that skeletal remains of a young boy were found a few years later in the area Bouchard had pinpointed was never investigated. As a School resource officer, I got a lot of missing kids, mostly runaways, he said. Fortunately within a few days, most are found. I would notice the fear and panic in the parents eyes. Think about it your kid goes missing for a few minutes and the anxiety you feel. Imagine if your kid goes missing and is never found. His second book, So You Want to Be A Cop, includes 36 of his strangest police cases. Like discovering James Gilbert Carmona during a 2004 minor traffic stop. Carmona had been AWOL since leaving a California Army base in January 1970. Carmona was driving a car with no front plate and the back plate of another car when Bouchard stopped him. His wallet contained ID for Jesus Gonzalez and both a California and a Massachusetts license and two Social Security cards. He was eventually identified as James Carmona. He said he was married for 18 years and his wife didnt know his real name, Bouchard said. So I gave him a summons for the motor vehicle violation, advised him that the military police would get him, but more importantly told him: You can thank me for one thing. After 34 years I gave you back your real name. It closed the book on the longest active deserter in the U.S., Bouchard said. Another of Bouchards stories: While working as a game warden, Bouchard was called to Wallingford on report of a rabid woodchuck caught inside a box. The front yard was huge... the lawn looked like someone cut it with a pair of scissors it was so neat, Bouchard recalled. As he opened the box the animal leaped out frothing at the mouth. His first two shots didnt stop it so I put down a line of fire that looked like strafing from a machine gun. Chunks of lawn went flying, Bouchard said. As he walked away with the dead animal, he saw the homeowner on his hands and knees trying to put the plugs of grass back in. Well I hoped he washed his hands... or he might start foaming from the mouth and scratching for flees, Bouchard wrote. Then there was the day in Seaside Park when Bouchards stomach started churning from a greasy cheeseburger he ate forcing him to pull over. His radar unit started humming as a car sped by. He stopped the car and asked the unlicensed driver for the keys. Officer I have to ask you a serious question. Why is your gun pointed at me? the driver asked. I said: I have to ask you a serious question. Why is there an AK-47 and a ski mask on the back seat? At that point the driver punched his passenger in the face and said: I told you to hide that....in the trunk. A search uncovered the AK-47, a sawed off shotgun, two semi-automatic handguns, a MAC-10, two ski masks, a bullet-proof vest and marijuana. He said the pair were recruited to shoot a rival gang member, his family and the police officer guarding them. All because of a greasy cheeseburger, he said. That would have made a hell of a headline. Then there was 966 Lindley St. the home of the legendary 1974 poltergeist that brought out crowds, ghost busters and an exorcist. Bouchard believes it was a hoax confessed to by the familys adopted daughter. Still a day after a snowstorm, he found himself driving by the house and spotting an elderly woman in a pink housecoat sitting on the porch. After driving again he stopped to talk to her. I knew you were coming, he recalled her saying. So I asked her if she was calling about the snow, he said. She again said, I knew you were coming and very bad things happened here. So thats one time too many, Bouchard said. I know Im leaving. He found no police calls for the house so how did she know I was coming? Bouchard also is a practicing archaeologist and anthropologist who has written extensive reports on excavations and discoveries at the Trap Falls Reservoir in Shelton and Mildords Baldwin Station site along the north shore of the Housatonic River. His third book, Paleo Project: A Review and Interpretation of Paleo-Indian Site Distribution Patterns in Connecticut, leans heavily on his own research. His fourth book, My Abstract Thoughts: Life Quotes and Creatures of Folklore Fact or Fiction, is exactly what it says its about 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. Read More American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. Wall Street analysts have given Greencore Group a "Buy" 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 Greencore Group wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. Ad All Marijuana Stocks New this week - 87 interested Could This Seattle Pot Stock SOAR as Legal Weed Market Expands? Fifteen states plus the District of Columbia now permit the recreational use of cannabis and Congress is on track to decriminalize marijuana possession on the federal level. As a result, the North American cannabis market is expected to TRIPLE in size from $30 billion to $100 billion by the year 2027 and one Seattle manufacturer is poised to cash in! Ormat Technologies, Inc. operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the provision of geothermal and recovered energy power business. It operates through the following segments: Electricity, Product and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment focuses in the sale of electricity from the company's power plants pursuant to PPAs. The Product segment involves in the manufacture, including design and development, of turbines and power units for the supply of electrical energy and in the associated construction of power plants utilizing the power units manufactured by the company to supply energy from geothermal fields and other alternative energy sources. The Energy Storage segment consists of battery energy storage systems as a service and management of curtailable customer loads under contracts with U.S. retail energy providers and directly with large commercial and industrial customers. The company was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Reno, NV. Read More Travel + Leisure Co. is a membership and leisure travel company, with a portfolio of nearly 20 resort, travel club, and lifestyle travel brands. The company provides outstanding vacation experiences and travel inspiration to millions of owners, members, and subscribers every year through its products and services: Wyndham Destinations, the vacation ownership company with 230 vacation club resort locations across the globe; Panorama, the membership travel business that includes the vacation exchange company, industry travel technology, and subscription travel brands; and Travel + Leisure Group, featuring online and print travel content, online booking platforms and travel clubs, and branded consumer products. Travel + Leisure Co. is a membership and leisure travel company, with a portfolio of nearly 20 resort, travel club, and lifestyle travel brands. Travel + Leisure was founded on July 31, 2006 and is headquartered in Orlando, FL. Read More US High Court reviews Trump's power to block Muslim immigrants Demonstrators in Washington DC last October protesting the newest version of President Donald Trump\'s travel ban, which blocked immigrants from six mostly-Muslim countries. AFP, Washington : President Donald Trump's effort to ban immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries heads to the Supreme Court Wednesday, which will decide if his argument asserting national security interests was tainted by religious bias. The case, known as Trump v. Hawaii, will address the president's broad powers to set immigration policy, which the administration says permit Trump's travel ban, one of his hallmark policies since taking office in January 2017. Legal experts say the court is usually loathe to rule on executive powers. But the travel ban's focus on Muslim countries has left Trump the target of allegations that it violates constitutional religious protections, which led lower courts, including the federal court in Hawaii, to rule it illegal. "This case has everything: weighty constitutional issues, complex statutory questions, and a fight over whether there are any real limits on a president's power to control immigration," said Cornell University law professor Stephen Yale-Loehr. "Whichever way the court rules, the decision will have profound implications for Americans, immigrants, and the president." One of Trump's first acts upon entering office in January 2017 was to announce a 90 day ban on travelers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The sudden move caused chaos at airports, with people unable to enter despite holding visas, and some families sent back to their homelands. Tens of thousands of legal visas were revoked. The order was made on national security grounds-purportedly to protect the country from terror attacks-and officials said the time limit would allow for a review and improvement of immigration vetting in those countries. But critics alleged in court, successfully, that it essentially targeted Muslims. They noted that during the election the previous year Trump repeatedly attacked the Muslim immigrants, whom he said "don't assimilate" and "hate us." And his campaign website stated that Trump "is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." Lower courts ruled that Trump's ban was illegal because of what they called an implicit bias against Muslims, violating the US Constitution. The ban was reissued twice, each time with adjustments aiming to get around such rulings. The So-called Version 3.0 in September was open-ended and changed the countries. It included Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Syria and added Chad, another predominantly Muslim country. It also included North Korea and certain officials from Venezuela. Those additions, rights groups said, were cosmetic: North Koreans were already essentially blocked from the United States, and economic sanctions have limited Venezuelan officials from coming. Man working at Hazel elevator dies after 50-foot fall 50-year old man fell to his death while working on an elevator. Trump, Russia and China media attacks `threaten democracy` Protestors held a rally to defend press freedom in Manila in January, following accusations of a crackdown by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte\'s government AFP, Paris : Press freedom around the world is under threat from a triple whammy of US President Donald Trump, Russia and China's bid to crush all dissent, a watchdog said Wednesday. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned that a "climate of hatred and animosity" towards journalists combined with growing attempts to control the media pose a "threat to democracies". Its annual report said that reporters were the target of a growing wave of authoritarianism with leaders whipping up hostility against them. The group accused the world's three superpowers-the US, China and Russia-of leading the charge against press freedom, with Trump regularly launching personal attacks on reporters and Beijing exporting its "media control model" to strangle dissent elsewhere in Asia. The slide towards "strongman" and populist politics in Europe, stoked by Moscow, was threatening freedoms in the region where they were once safest, it added, with Hungary, Slovakia and Poland setting off alarm bells. Czech President Milos Zeman turned up at a press conference with a fake Kalashnikov inscribed with the words "for journalists" while Slovakia's former leader Robert Fico called journalists "filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes" and "idiotic hyenas". "The unleashing of hatred towards journalists is dangerous and a threat to democracy," RSF chief Christophe Deloire told AFP. "Political leaders who fuel loathing for reporters... undermine the concept of public debate based on facts instead of propaganda. To dispute the legitimacy of journalism today is to play with extremely dangerous political fire," he added. RSF said that hostility towards the media is "no longer confined to authoritarian countries such as Turkey and Egypt", but was poisoning the political atmosphere in some of the great democracies. "More and more democratically elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracy's essential underpinning, but as an adversary to which they openly display their aversion," the report said, picking out Trump, India's Narendra Modi and Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte for particular criticism. The US president had referred to reporters as "enemies of the people", a term once used by Stalin, it said. RSF accused Vladimir Putin's Russia of "stifling independent voices at home... and extending its propaganda network by means of media outlets such as RT (Russian Today) and Sputnik." It had even harsher words for Beijing, saying "Xi Jinping's China is getting closer and closer to a contemporary version of totalitarianism. "Censorship and surveillance reached unprecedented levels thanks to the massive use of new technology" in his first term in office, the report said. Marcel Distributors vow to reach summit Business Desk : The Distributor Conference of Marcel, one of the fastest growing Bangladeshi brands, was held Wednesday (25 April, 2018) at its own factory in Chandra of Gazipur with the vow to reach summit in the vast changing market trends of electronics and technological products industry. During the conference, Marcel authorities advised distributors to create 'Customer Bank' in order to reach the goal, says a media release. The day-long conference was attended by Marcel distributors and top officials came from all over the country. Group Vice-Chairman SM Nurul Alam Rezvi, Chairman of Marcel Enterprise SM Shamsul Alam, Managing Director SM Ashraful Alam, Executive Directors Eva Rezwana, Nazrul Islam Sarker, SM Zahid Hasan, Sirajul Islam and Humayun Kabir, Head of Marcel Marketing Dr. Md. Shakhawat Hossen, First Senior Additional Director Firoj Alam, actors Ilias Kanchan and Amin Khan along with other top officials spoke in the function. Participants of the conference paid rich tribute to Founder Group Chairman late SM Nazrul Islam and prayed for the eternal peace of his departed soul. Then they cut a cake to officially begin the conference. Copyright 2021 New Nation. All Rights Reserved by thedailynewnation.com Indian Guru gets life term over teen rape Guru Asaram Bapu AFP, Jodhpur, India : An Indian guru with millions of followers was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for raping a teenage devotee on the pretext of ridding her of evil spirits, his lawyer said. Asaram Bapu, one of India's most charismatic and controversial "godmen", was given the maximum sentence at a closed jailhouse hearing in Rajasthan state, where hundreds of police were on high alert for a backlash from his disciples. "Asaram has been sentenced for life until death," Rajendra Singh, a lawyer for the defence team, told AFP outside the court in the western city of Jodhpur. The white-bearded guru, 77, who urges followers to live a pious life free of sexual desires, has always denied raping the then 16-year-old in 2013 during a spiritual retreat at his ashram in Jodhpur. His lawyer said they would appeal the sentence. Asaram is just the latest high-profile guru jailed for sex crimes, and his conviction comes as India reverberates with anger over a series of child rapes in recent weeks. TORONTOCanadian toymaker Spin Master Corp. is suing industry giant Mattel, Inc. in California in the next stage of a high-stakes battle to defend its rights to a patented mechanism used in its Bakugan transforming robots. The Toronto-based companys claim, filed Tuesday, asks a U.S. district court to recognize the validity of its patents and seeks an injunction preventing Mattel from using the patented mechanisms used in its Mecard transformable toys. Its also asking for unspecified compensation for losses that it claims will result from Mattels launch of the Mecard toys. Read more: For Toronto toymaker Spin Master, innovation is key to success in post-Toys R Us world Why the worlds biggest toymakers arent having much fun Spin Master to buy stuffed-toy brand Gund Spin Master will suffer and is suffering irreparable harm from Mattels infringement of Spin Masters patents due to, among other things, lost business opportunities, lost market share, and price erosion, according to court documents. Mattel Inc. has not filed a response to the allegations with the court and has yet to reply to requests for comment. Spin Masters Bakugan toys were launched in 2007 in conjunction with a Japanese-Canadian anime series called Bakugan Battle Brawlers and, according to the Toronto companys claim, global sales reached more than $1 billion (U.S.). Last year, Spin Master announced plans to refresh the Bakugan brand, with a reboot of the anime series slated for release in the 2019-2020 time frame. It claims that Mattel launched the Mecard line of transforming toys in the United States in late March or early April this year, although the toy line and associated anime series were available earlier in South Korea. In March, an article by Lauren Orsini in Forbes business magazine declared that Mecard could be the the next it toy from Asia on a scale comparable to Pokemon and Yokai Watch, judging from its success in South Korea. Spin Master alleges that the Mecard toys infringe on at least two U.S. patents, one issued in 2013 and the other issued this year in January. None of Spin Masters claims has been proved in court. The company says three other patent suits were filed last year by Spin Master against Mattel in Canada, Mexico and Australia. Records from California Central district federal court show Spin Master also filed a similar suit in February against Alpha Group US LLC, alleging that its Screechers Wild! line of transformable toys infringes on one of its patents. EDMONTON Protesters have clustered for weeks at the end point of Kinder Morgans Trans Mountain pipeline in Burnaby, B.C., to voice their opposition to its expansion. But 1,150 kilometres away, at the other end of the line, feelings flow in the opposite direction. The current pipeline begins in Sherwood Park, a suburb east of Edmonton that constitutes the urban core of Strathcona County. As host to the starting terminus of the Trans Mountain pipeline, the town or technically, hamlet is ground zero for a proposal to twin the existing pipeline that has sparked off a row between the provincial governments of Alberta and British Columbia. Built in 1953, the pipeline sends approximately 300,000 barrels of oil a day from its Sherwood Park terminus to Burnaby, B.C. A proposal to create a second pipeline that would nearly triple that amount is on tenterhooks because Alberta and B.C. are at loggerheads over the fate of the project. Premier Rachel Notley, who has thrown her support behind the project, announced legislation to restrict the flow of oil to B.C., and has signalled that the Alberta government is willing to buy the project outright, if necessary. B.C. Premier John Horgan, for his part, says he is willing to go to court to challenge the project over environmental hazards he says the project could pose to the B.C. coast. Notley spoke at a Sherwood Park Chamber of Commerce event Tuesday to signal to the community that she stands behind the project. Residents, however, say theyre fed up with squabbling politicians. I dont believe that B.C. should hold Alberta hostage, said Jim Travnik, a millwright who has lived in the community for 25 years. We have a right to use that coastline. While pipelines should go through strict regulatory approvals, Travnik added, its crucial that theyre built to get Alberta oil to tidewater. Citing numbers released by Kinder Morgan, the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce says the Trans Mountain pipeline extension if built would create 700 construction jobs over two years. Last week, the chamber voiced its support for the project and announced it was banding together with business groups from other municipalities that fall on the pipeline route. Failing to build this pipeline sends dangerous signals to investors that you can follow the rules and get all the required approvals, but still see your job-creating investment stalled to death, said Janet Riopel, president and CEO of the Edmonton chamber, in a statement. Canadas track record as a serious international trading partner hangs in the balance. Many of the announced construction jobs would be in Sherwood Park, where several residents rely on the oilpatch for their livelihood. Oil and gas has fed me and raised my kids, said Cheri Dodds, an accountant who moved to Sherwood Park 15 years ago from B.Cs Fraser Valley. A single parent, Dodds said the industry has helped countless people in the community provide for their families. When I moved out here, it gave us everything, she said. I think that it needs to get built and B.C. fails to see that a lot of their people need it to be built, too. Dodds said she understands B.C.s environmental concerns, but points out that moving oil in pipelines is safer than the available alternatives. I would say that the hazards of it not being underground are probably a lot more, she said. I would rather see oil in a pipeline than above ground in a train. Sitting in the northeast corner of Sherwood Park, Willys Restaurant and Lounge is a popular lunch spot for oilpatch employees and refinery workers. On Tuesday, Karl Horak who runs a soup and sandwich shop in town was at the restaurant with a few friends. He said people in the community are hurting because the pipeline hasnt been built. A lot of people who I talked to feel kind of betrayed because the pipelines not being built, he said. Last week, Horgans government announced it will file by the end of April a long-promised court reference to clarify questions around provincial authority over such interjurisdictional megaprojects. The CEO of Kinder Morgan said events in recent days have reinforced his concerns about the viability of the Trans Mountain expansion project. Its become clear this particular investment may be untenable for a private party to undertake. The events of the last 10 days have confirmed those views, Steve Kean said on a conference call Wednesday. Despite the setbacks, Horak is optimistic the pipeline will be built. We have to get our oil to market, he said. Were giving so much to the rest of Canada and now we need a little bit of their help. With files from The Canadian Press Read more about: EDMONTON A city naming committee has selected names for 14 stops along the future Valley Line West LRT, with one of them paying tribute to Canadas first Indigenous police officer. The committee announced approved names for the street-level stops and two elevated stations along the future LRT line. Among the announced station names are Alex Decoteau Stop and The Yards/116 St. Stop both selected to pay respect to our history, according to Cory Sousa, a principal planner with the city. Decoteau was Canadas first Indigenous police officer and an accomplished athlete who served overseas in the military. In 2014, the city named a park after him on the northwest corner of 105 Street and 102 Avenue. It was a great opportunity to pay respect to our history and an individual who is someone that we almost forgot about in recent years, said Sousa. The Yards/116 St. Stop is a historic reference to the CN Rail Yards that previously operated in the area. The stop names were primarily chosen based on location to support passenger way-finding. We sometimes lose what made Edmonton, Sousa said, noting that names reflecting local history are important. The name committee approves names for municipal facilities, new neighbourhoods, parks and roads. This name selection process involves input from city administration and consultation with citizen working groups along the Valley Line route. The 14-kilometre Valley Line West extension is the second stage of the Valley Line LRT, an urban-style 27-km line that will operate between Mill Woods in southeast Edmonton and Lewis Farms in west Edmonton. The project team is reviewing the preliminary design completed in 2013 and is working to be procurement-ready later this year. Once procurement begins, the Valley Line West LRT project will take approximately one year to select a contractor and another five years for construction, according to the city. Read more about: HALIFAX Due to concerns about infringing on a corporations Charter rights, Halifax regional councillors werent able to ban flyer delivery in the municipality on Tuesday. Regional council voted instead in favour of two recommendations to try to cut down on the amount of litter caused by the flyers. The first directs staff to draft a bylaw to regulate flyer delivery in the municipality, including delivery standards and a requirement to not deliver flyers to properties that have a No Flyers sign posted. The second directs staff to work with flyer distributors to install flyer boxes, like newspaper boxes, at community mailboxes to replace end of driveway delivery in rural areas. Councillor Lisa Blackburn brought the motion to HRMs environment committee last year, asking for a staff report on a bylaw requiring people opt into flyer delivery, rather than opt out, as they do now. Municipal legal staff said that would amount to infringing on the distributors Charter right to freedom of expression. A municipal bylaw, the staff report said, can only place reasonable limits on Charter rights. An opt-in system would be unreasonable, but a bylaw regulating delivery is reasonable. I think this recommendation strikes a good balance, and gives teeth to what now really is only an industry guideline, Blackburn said on Tuesday. It ensures proper delivery standards. Thats not only good stewardship for the environment, but its important for the distributor to protect revenue and reputation. Councillor Matt Whitman called the first part of the motion a status quo recommendation from staff. I think weve gotta send a message, he said. Theyve told us before that theyll do better and then they dont. There is a voluntary newspaper stewardship agreement between newspaper publishers, the staff report said, and the Chronicle Herald, the largest distributor in HRM, has met with staff to discuss opportunities and challenges around flyer delivery. There is no requirement that is backed up by anything other than a wink and a handshake from the company, who says, Yeah, yeah, yeah, well do better next time, Blackburn said. A bylaw would give clear direction on the expected behaviour and the possible consequences if they dont follow the rules. It imposes standards for delivery that dont exist now. Councillor Richard Zurawski said he wished the municipality could do more, but he supported the recommendation. This is something that really ticks me off, Zurawski said. I support this totally. No flyers. Dont wanna see them. Were getting away from paper, and I think they have to take responsibility for this. Municipal staff will bring the bylaw back to council for a first and second reading before any new regulations are placed on flyer delivery in the municipality. Read more about: TORONTOAbout a month ago, a frustrated Emma Schmidt turned to Google for help. The 28-year-old Regina teacher was tired of the acne-related dark spots on her face. A few keystrokes later, she found a remedy: a dab of lemon and honey on each spot before bed each evening. But she managed to stick to the routine for only a couple of days before she developed painful sores. "I was panicking," Schmidt said. "I pretty much killed the first layer of skin." Schmidt said the doctor she consulted for her acne five years ago didn't seem to know how to treat her black skin. "We didn't talk about spots or how to prevent them," she said. The spots that Schmidt developed are common in patients with acne and can be treated by dermatologists who have training in treating dark-skinned patients. Schmidt's experience highlights mounting concern that Canadian doctors don't know enough about the special needs of dark-skinned people. According to the 2016 Canadian census, more than 7.5 million people belong to a visible minority such as South Asian, Chinese or black, and the number is steadily growing. Yet many doctors appear unaware that visible minorities are at much higher risk than Caucasians of some skin conditions, ranging from relatively harmless dark spots to more serious problems, like late-stage melanoma. Dermatologists are urging family doctors and others to learn more about these conditions. Mitchell Shannon, head of the Chronicle Companies, which organize an annual conference on skin ailments in people with different complexions, confirms Schmidt's concern. "The approach to dermatology has been one size fits all," he said. "Health-care providers know that's not the case." The symptoms of skin conditions in patients with darker complexions are often different from those who are white, said Dr. Bolu Ogunyemi a resident in dermatology at the University of British Columbia. For example, doctors are typically trained to look for redness as a sign of skin inflammation. Yet black and other dark skins mask lighter colours, such as red. "In dark skin, it doesn't look red," said Dr. Ogunyemi, a Nigerian-Canadian who has received special training in London for skin conditions in patients with darker skin. "Sometimes it can have a purple hue. Sometimes it can look brown, like the rest of their skin colour," he notes. If a doctor is unfamiliar with the symptoms of inflammation in darker skin, it can mean an incorrect diagnosis, with potentially serious consequences, said Dr. Marissa Joseph, a pediatric dermatologist at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. Dr. Joseph has treated many dark-skinned children who turned out to be suffering from eczema after being diagnosed as simply having dry skin. "It's really inflamed and it causes a lot of problems for the child," she said. The condition is severe enough to disrupt sleep and can develop into a skin infection if it is left untreated. Doctors can also miss lethal skin cancers in visible minority patients. One reason is a common misconception that these patients don't get skin cancers. "That's simply not true," said Dr. Joseph. "They get it to a lesser degree, but still can get it." Doctors may also not be looking in the right places. In white patients, potentially deadly melanomas tend to show up on the torso, limbs and face, but in people with darker skin they are often found in fingernails, soles of the feet, and hands. Dr. Ogunyemi published a review last year highlighting the inadequate training that doctors receive to identify and treat skin conditions in dark-skinned patients. There are signs, however, of change. Resident physicians are now encouraged to do elective rotations in neighbourhoods with diverse populations, said Dr. Kerri Purdy, director of Dalhousie University's dermatology training program. A growing number of practising physicians have signed up for the annual Skin Spectrum Summit conferences put on by Shannon's company in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. More than 130 people registered for the latest conference in Toronto earlier this month. The hope is that as more doctors learn about darker skin, patients like Ms. Schmidt will have less to worry about. Her sores have healed, and she's been advised to see a specialist with expertise in her skin type. She's now hopeful that the spots can be treated, when just weeks ago she wasn't. "I thought they were scars and no one can help me," she said. Dr. Tola Afolabi is a plastic surgeon and reconstructive surgeon praticising in southwestern Ontario who is also a fellow in global journalism at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. Read more about: Define it. Define him. Define us. These seemed to be the three morally urgent stages of how we first dealt, individually and as a city-a large sprawling and diverse one at thatwith Mondays horrific van attack in North York. On the kind of sunny spring day weve longed for, a young man driving a white rental van allegedly plowed through pedestrians, killing 10 and seriously injuring another 14. But with details flowing in, victims being slowly identified, and charges now laid against the alleged driver, Alek Minassian, 25facing 10 counts of murder and 13 of attempted murder what strikes me is our immediate need for definition, as if once we settle on what this incident is, and who its perpetrator may be, we can contain our fear, focus on our citys good qualities, and get on with the healing. Alas, its not nearly so easy. We may be able to describe the event, but were only beginning to grasp who the accused isand even then there is still so much to sort through. The details ranged from information he very briefly joined the Armed Forces, included a chilling report that, based on his own Facebook post just before the attack, now deleted, he identified with a misogynistic online group of incelsinvoluntary celibates-men who feel frustrated by their inability to find romantic relationships or sex. Cue the online social theorizing, everything from young men need to be taught that young women dont owe them sex, to references to the 1989 mass shooting of 14 female engineering students at Montreals LEcole Polytechnique. Dont misunderstand. Every bit of it may well be grimly pertinent. Its just too soon in the immediate aftermath to call it. I prefer to heed the wise words of Jamil Jivani, Toronto community organizer and author of the just released book Why Young Men: Rage, Race and the Crisis of Identity. Jivani makes the case in his book that across the Western world, an increasing number of young men are feeling disconnected from the countries they call home. They fall prey to negative or destructive influences. You cant argue with that. Nor Jivanis thoughts expressed on CBC Radios Metro Morning that we should take our time to discuss this violent crime and city tragedy. He tweeted: This is the part after tragedy when we look for political angles. And many hope the perpetrator has as little in common with themselves as possible so your identity group isnt unfairly implicated. His advice? Let yourself be sad, mourn the lives lost and wait for the facts. But, along with the grieving for victims we are only beginning to learn about, we cant get quickly enough to the definition of us, the one that comforts us most. This is not who we are, I heard so many peopleincluding some of our leaderssay. I was having a brief exchange on Twitter with this woman, Jeanne, and she didnt feel, on the bleak morning after the attack, that those representing us are relaying the depth of what has happened up here! You could certainly understand what she meant in a larger emotional sense. Perhaps there is no way to capture the depth of it all. We tried with words, searching on social media for the correct term to describe what happened--an attack filled with terror but perhaps not terrorism. A strange parsing. We tried with flowers and cards at a growing memorial to the victimsWe dont know you, but we love you- near the crash site, and with expressions of our feelings to forge a connection, not just to the grief of those directly affected, but to our civic sense of outrage, solidarity and resilience. One of the stunning things most of us realize when we privately lose someone we love, when were first shattered, is that life relentlessly goes on around us. Have you ever looked out of a car window on your way to a significant funeral and marvelled that everyone on the street hasnt stopped what they were doing? Its different when you lose a beautiful daughter like Anne Marie DAmico, a vibrant grandmother like Dorothy Sewell, a talented chef like Chul Min Eddie Kang, to a widely traumatizing public act of violence. The community does stop and grieve with you. Society has become very good at this public grieving and it not insignificant. Our donations and kind gestures acknowledge the terrible pain, the deeply arbitrary and unfair loss. Families devastated, want the world to know just who theyve lost to history. The dismal truth is Toronto has joined a club we never wanted to belong to. Weve seen this weaponized vehicle before, sometimes a different size or color, in European citiesNice, Barcelona, Londonleaving citizens dead and devastated by drivers with similar intent if not motive. To kill and to maim, to punish those for just living and enjoying their lives. But unfortunately its now a part of who we are. It is us. I have since 9/11 always assumed that any act of homegrown violence or international terrorism that happened anywhere else could happen here. Why should we be exempt? Are we not part of the modern world? A text in the night from my daughter put it into perspective. She lives in Paris, and for the past few years, it has been her worried parents calling and sending her a message in the wake of horrific attacks: Are you ok? This time, even though we dont live near the scene of the van attack, the questions were for us: Are you guys okay? And everyone in the family? This is the modern world. OTTAWACanadas air travel industry is urging the federal government to pull back on its plan to impose rigid new limits on how long commercial pilots are allowed to keep flying. Transport Canada is expected to unveil new regulations in the coming months that will determine how long pilots can remain at the controls without a break the first such update in more than 20 years. The change, meant to address lingering concerns about pilot fatigue, has been welcomed by pilots unions and others who say safety standards in Canada have fallen behind many other countries around the world. Read more: Popular airlines flagged for safety system non-compliance But the Air Transportation Association of Canada and the Helicopter Association of Canada, which represent many of the countrys smaller passenger and cargo carriers, fear the new limits will go too far. They say proposed regulations unveiled last year suggest carriers will be forced to hire more pilots, increasing costs and affecting their ability to provide affordable services, particularly in the north. The associations say tired pilots are not a crisis in Canada, and while some changes are necessary, Transport Canada should consult with all stakeholders to figure out a better approach. A Toronto jury has convicted Hamilton police officer Craig Ruthowsky of four corruption-related charges after a six-week trial, including the essential counts of bribery, obstruction of justice and breach of trust. The jurors verdicts mean they believed a cocaine trafficker who testified that he paid the 17-year veteran officer money in return for sensitive police information that allowed him to sell drugs in Hamilton with impunity. Ruthowsky, 44, was also found guilty of trafficking, the jury accepting the prosecutions position that he took a cocaine-cutting agent to a private lab for testing, and then shared that information with the dealer, whose identity is covered under a publication ban. Read more: Jury hears final arguments in Hamilton police corruption case Cop on trial says he violated chief's order so he could save lives Craig Ruthowsky spars with Crown over dirty cop allegations Jurors found Ruthowsky not guilty of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, which was trafficking marijuana. The jury retired to deliberate late Monday afternoon and returned to court Wednesday just before 3 p.m. Ruthowsky looked stunned as the foreman read out the verdicts, while several family members, who had been present every day during the trial, bolted from the courtroom. Some remained during a break, either bowing their heads or weeping quietly. Defence lawyer Greg Lafontaine told Superior Court Justice Robert Clark he plans to bring an abuse of process motion and ask that the charges be stayed. Those arguments will happen May 10. Ruthowsky and his lawyer left the courthouse without speaking to reporters. Crown attorney John Pollard, who prosecuted the case with Phil Tsui, called the outcome a bit of a dark verdict, because you dont like to get a finding from a jury that a peace officer has engaged in this kind of conduct. But its an important case, both in terms of the rule of law and for the people of Hamilton, as well as a vindication for all the officers who do the right thing everyday, Pollard said outside the Superior Court in downtown Toronto. Whats happened here is an outlier. I think if you scour Canadian criminal law youre not going to find another case quite like this one. So I think you can still have faith in what the police are doing. Pollard said he expects he will be seeking a penitentiary sentence. Robert Hansen, Ruthowskys former partner in the guns and gangs unit, is already serving a five-year penitentiary sentence. He was found guilty of encouraging an informant to plant a gun at a suspected drug dealers home and lying to secure a search warrant. Hamilton Police Service Chief Eric Girt released a short statement Wednesday. We respect the decision of the jury. As the matter remains before the courts for sentencing, the Hamilton Police Service will not be making any further comments. Ruthowsky still faces 16 more charges laid last August, including bribery, two counts of breach of trust, two counts of obstructing justice, public mischief, two counts of weapons trafficking, fraud under $5,000, trafficking marijuana, perjury, two counts of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, robbery and two counts of trafficking cocaine. Reports the man connected to Mondays van rampage on Yonge St. may suffer from Asperger syndrome, have shaken advocates in Ontarios autism community. Asperger syndrome has been associated with autism spectrum disorder, a complex neuro-biological disorder that affects the ability to verbalize thoughts, manage anxiety, cope with changes to routine and participate in unstructured social situations. Symptoms also include repetitive behaviours and fixations. But violent behaviour is not typically associated with the disorder, said Margaret Spoelstra executive director of Autism Ontario. Autism and mental health (problems) are not synonymous. Autism is a neuro-biological disorder. But it is not about violence, she said Tuesday. Autism is not the reason someone gets behind the wheel of a van and plows through a crowd of people. Alek Minassian, 25, of Richmond Hill, is alleged to have been behind the wheel of a white rental van that struck pedestrians at Yonge St. and Finch Ave. He is facing charges in the deaths of 10 people, and attempted murder charges for 13 others who were injured. In 2009, the Richmond Hill Liberal quoted Minassians mother Sona in a story about the loss of Helpmate, a local social service organization that helped her son, who she said has Asperger syndrome. The story did not name the son. A 25-year-old who plowed a van into a crowded Toronto sidewalk was ordered held Tuesday on 10 counts of murder 13 of attempted murder. (The Associated Press) However, Minassians classmates at Sixteenth Ave. Public School, Thornlea Secondary School and Seneca College, described him as socially awkward, someone who kept to himself and who would frequently fidget or twitch. He was also a computer whiz. Asperger syndrome was dropped from the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) in 2013. Any previous subcategories of autism, such as Aspergers, are now defined as autism spectrum disorder or ASD. Obviously, this is such a tragedy at every level. I cannot even begin to imagine these families going through such an awful time realizing their loved ones are gone, Spoelstra said in an interview. Then, of course, I think of this young man and his family and what sounds like . . . a very complex-needs young man who was, indeed, participating in society, she added, referring to Minassians years as a student at Seneca College Read more: Many acts of kindness and courage followed Yonge St. rampage Van rampage another tough test for Toronto police homicide squad as complex cases pile up Opinion | Emma Teitel: Its hideous to think that right-wing media were hoping for a Muslim villain after the van rampage Spoestra said she does not know Minassian or any of the challenges he may have been facing. But what we can say is that diagnostic criteria for autism does not include violent behaviour, she said. Clearly something was happening for this young man that was disturbing him in a serious way, she said. What that was, is not known or understood at this point. We feel the same sense of shock and would never make an assumption that someone with autism would do this. So the reasons for this are something else. Mark Mendelson, a former lead detective with the Toronto Police homicide squad, said it is too early to speculate about motive. But a key part of the investigation in the coming days will be a forensic analysis of online activity, examining the websites he visited and posts he made online. Minassians mental health will be an important factor going forward, he said, predicting that the accused killer may attempt to claim to be not criminally responsible in the deaths a legal defence known as NCR. If you look at it for what it is, it would not surprise me if an NCR defence is on the minds of any lawyer he is going to get, Mendelson said. The Canadian Mental Health Association has also urged people against connecting mental illness with violence, noting that those who suffer from mental health challenges are far more likely to self-harm or be a victim of violence than to be violent themselves. With files from Wendy Gillis Bdjobs CEO freed hours after arrest Under Section 57 Staff Reporter : AKM Fahim Mashroor, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of job site bdjobs.com, was freed hours after arrested on charge of spreading derogatory Facebook status on Prime Minister from the city's Karwanbazar on Wednesday "The CEO, who was arrested in a case filed Under Section 57 of the ICT Act, was released after interrogation. Enough evidence to prove the allegations brought against him could not be found in his Facebook account," said Nazmul Islam, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Cyber Security & Crime Unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. Mashroor was detained for allegedly mocking the Prime Minister and the government on Facebook, he said. "Further investigation into the case is going on. Actions will be taken under the Information and Communication Technology Act against him if he is found guilty in the investigation report, he added. Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC) of DMP arrested him from his office, on the 7th floor of Bangladesh Development Bank Limited (BDBL) building in Karwanbazar around 11:3am, according to DMP news. According to the case statement, he has been accused of creating anarchic situation. Earlier, Md Sadik, a former Chhatra League mass education secretary of the Dhaka University unit, had filed a case against Fahim on April 22 on charges of defamation of the prime minister on Facebook. Mashroor launched the job site about 18 years ago. He is also the chief executive of social media Beshto and e-commerce site Ajkerdeal.com. He is the ex-president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the country's biggest platform of the software and information technology from 2013 to 2015. Misinformation abounded on social media amid Mondays deadly van rampage, from unconfirmed descriptions about the suspects race and religion to talk of terror. Alek Minassian, 25, was charged Tuesday with 10 counts of first-degree murder. He is accused of jumping the curb with a rental van and ramming pedestrians along a 2.2-kilometre stretch on Yonge St. in the citys north end before a tense exchange with police. Much remains unknown, including the motivation. A Facebook post from an account with Minassians name and photo that circulated social media Monday afternoon referred to an incel rebellion and invoked U.S. mass murderer Elliot Rodger. Incel refers to the involuntary celibate, or men who feel frustrated by their inability to find romantic relationships or sex. The image was also posted to 4chan, an online community forum associated with troll culture. Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry 00010, wishing to speak to Sgt 4chan please. C23249161. The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger! the post reads. Read more: Van rampage another tough test for Toronto police homicide squad as complex cases pile up Sunny spring day turns to unforgettable tragedy as van driver kills 10 and injures 14 A curb-jumping Ryder van barrelled through pedestrians along Yonge St., killing at least 10 people on Monday. Opinion | Emma Teitel: Its hideous to think that right-wing media were hoping for a Muslim villain after the van rampage Social media users, academics and media manipulation experts were quick to question its authenticity, and some warned of online hoaxes during mass shootings. On Wednesday, the Star reported the numbers in the Facebook post matched Minassians service number from his brief time in the Canadian military, which is akin to a social insurance number and subject to privacy restrictions. The post was also acknowledged by police and verified as legitimate by Facebook. When mass shootings occur, fake profiles tend to crop up and disinformation spreads quickly, often without being properly fact-checked. As Mondays tragedy unfolded, a tweet from CBC News reporter Natasha Fatah referring to a witnesss description of the driver as wide-eyed, angry and Middle Eastern was retweeted more than 1,500 times and liked by more than 2,000 accounts. Fatah also tweeted another eyewitness account of a white driver committing a terror attack that garnered a paltry 124 shares. Her first tweet was shared and referenced by many on the far-right, and some more mainstream media. Faith Goldy, formerly of Rebel Media, tweeted Terror in Toronto with a Periscope video from the scene just before 2 p.m. that by Tuesday night gained more than 55,000 views. After getting backlash on social media, she defended herself and said Lefty Twitter is on a witch hunt re this report. Officials have not said the incident is related to terrorism. Infowars editor-at-large Paul Joseph Watson tweeted: 9 dead in Toronto, authorities confirm it was a terrorist attack. Terrorist described as Middle Eastern. Motive unknown. It was shared 1,500-plus times before 4 p.m. CBS was first to report Minassians name around 4:30 p.m. There were also false reports that Minassian was known to police, though Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said later he was not. Laura Loomer, a conservative political activist once banned by Uber and Lyft for complaining she couldnt find a non-Muslim driver after a suspected terror attack in Manhattan, tweeted a report from MSNBC in which former New York police commissioner Bill Bratton had cited sources in Canada saying Minassian was known to police and they considered it a terrorist attack. Misinformation can be used to amplify or suppress certain political ideas on both the left and right, said Becca Lewis, one of two researchers at the Data & Society institute in New York who wrote an exhaustive report on media manipulation tactics applied by the alt-right in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In those scenarios, facts tend to come second to emotion. (The messages) do appeal to emotion, they appeal to stereotypes, they appeal to tropes ... Some of them do say outright untrue facts, she said. The man accused of the mass murder of 10 innocent people and the attempted murder of more than a dozen others wore a white jumpsuit and a blank expression when he appeared Tuesday in a small courtroom packed with journalists. His quick appearance took place inside the 1000 Finch Ave. W. court building, a few kilometres west of where Alek Minassian, less than 24 hours earlier, allegedly mowed down pedestrians along Yonge St., in the north end of the city. A throng of photographers was lined up outside the lowrise building, though the accused entered and left the building in a prisoner transport vehicle. The 25-year-old from Richmond Hill said his name clearly and quickly as he stood stiffly in the prisoners box, his wrists handcuffed behind his back. Read more: Police arrested suspect 7 minutes after 911 call Who is Alek Minassian, the man accused in the van rampage? Sunny spring day turns to unforgettable tragedy as van driver kills 10 and injures 14 With his hair cropped short and chin dark with stubble, Minassian leaned forward slightly to listen to duty counsel Georgia Koulis as the proceeding got underway. Mr. Minassian is the alleged driver of the van that killed 10 people and injured many others on Yonge St. yesterday afternoon, Crown attorney Joe Callaghan told justice of the peace Stephen Waisberg. Minassian has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder along with 13 counts of attempting to murder people by hitting with a motor vehicle. Police said they anticipate laying a 14th count of attempted murder. Court documents didnt identify the names of the murder victims, referring to each as an unknown person. However the document, known as the information, did include the names of the attempted murder victims, with whom Minassian was ordered not to have any indirect or direct contact. When asked if he understood, he sharply said, Yes. Callaghan told the justice of the peace that Minassian needs to retain a lawyer and while the disclosure process will begin soon, the investigation is in its infancy. Waisberg said Section 515(11) of the Criminal Code requires that a detention order be issued at this stage because of the seriousness of the charges. He may have a bail hearing if he brings an application for one in Superior Court at a later date. His appearance lasted about eight minutes. Minassian was ordered to return May 10 in video remand court at 1000 Finch. Court records indicate Minassian has no criminal record. A man believed to be Minassians father was in court, but went undetected by most reporters, until he was escorted out of the building by police. The carnage on Yonge St., was a reminder that we are capable of great bravery, says Mayor John Tory, as political leaders everywhere offered condolences to Toronto. Tory praised the police, first responders and city staff for their response in a speech at a special council meeting Tuesday morning. He commended the great bravery of the first responders police officers who quickly and safely apprehended the suspect; the calm displayed by paramedics and firefighters who hurried from victim to victim; heroic efforts of hospital staff; and extraordinary examples of ordinary citizens who comforted those who were injured. I know that I speak on behalf of all of the members of city council and city staff when I say that our hearts are with all of those affected, Tory said. The people who call this city home are shaken and we mourn together but we are not broken and we will not be broken. After a moment of silence for the victims, council recessed for the day. Former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman called Const. Ken Lam, who arrested Alek Minassian, the suspected van driver charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder his hero. Try to imagine for yourself what that must feel like, being in a standoff with a suspect, Lastman said in a statement. Despite thinking that the suspect was armed with a gun, he did not shoot the suspect. He was brave and managed to keep him alive. It is this sole act that will allow the city of Toronto to get to the bottom of this horrific crime. At Queens Park, Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford said our hearts break for the victims of this terrible tragedy and their families. A memorial has sprung up along the stretch of Yonge Street in Toronto where Mondays deadly van attack occurred. One resident who lives near Yonge and Finch says the area is usually very safe. (The Canadian Press) I want to thank the first responders, and give special thanks to Constable Ken Lam, what a true hero, Ford said. This is a tough time but in these moments our country, our province and our city come together. There has been an outpouring of support right across the province. Our prayers and our thoughts are with the families and the victims. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said what happened Monday was senseless and horrific. The entire community of Toronto has shown strength and determination in the face of this tragedy, Trudeau said in the House of Commons foyer. All Canadians stand united with Toronto today. U.S. President Donald Trump offered his deepest sympathies to the Canadian people following the horrendous tragedy in Toronto that claimed so many innocent lives. Our hearts are with the grieving families in Canada, he said at a White House ceremony as he welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron for a state visit. The Queen also sent her sympathies. Prince Philip and I join all Canadians in expressing our sadness following the terrible tragedy that occurred in Toronto yesterday, the statement said. We offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who were lost, as well as our hopes for full recovery to all who were injured and affected by this incident. You are all in our thoughts and prayers. Code orange minor. Please work with your departments to stand by. This is not a drill. When the announcement came over the public address system at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre at 1:48 p.m. Monday, chief of surgery Dr. Avery Nathens shifted gears. He jumped up from his desk where he had been doing paperwork and changed into scrubs. The code meant mass casualties were en route to Canadas largest trauma centre. Knowing nothing of the incident that prompted this rare emergency alert, Nathens quickly switched on the TV in his office. But all he learned from a 24-hour news service was that a royal baby had been born. That 25 individuals had been mowed down by a van on Yonge St. had not yet hit the news. Read more: Van rampage another tough test for Toronto police homicide squad as complex cases pile up Sunny spring day turns to unforgettable tragedy as van driver kills 10 and injures 14 Many acts of kindness and courage followed Yonge St. rampage As Nathens made haste down a flight of stairs to the hospitals emergency department, he wondered how many surgeons he would need to rally for the convoy of ambulances that was soon to arrive. With scant details, it was hard to know. As you are walking down, you are asking yourself, how is this going to play out and do we have the capacity? Then you just do it, he said, describing a day later how he threw himself into the biggest trauma response the hospital has ever encountered. Like a large number of hospitals across the country, Sunnybrook operates at full tilt most of the time. On Monday, immediately prior to the van attack, the hospital was already running at 111-per-cent capacity. There were patients lying on gurneys in the ER hallway, waiting for in-patient beds. And there were patients occupying in-patient beds, waiting to move to long-term care and other community settings. Despite these stresses, Sunnybrook responded to the Code Orange superbly, Nathens said. Thankfully, our senior leadership team is committed to preparedness. We drilled and we learned from those drills, he said, referring to regular mock disasters carried out to test the hospitals ability to respond to mass casualty events. We have joined the club unfortunately, but we were ready, continued Nathens, who also serves as medical director of trauma quality programs of the American College of Surgeons. He was referring to recent mass casualty events in the United States, including last years shooting in Las Vegas and the 2016 shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. In the 18 minutes between the Code Orange being called and the first patient from the Yonge St. carnage being rolled into the ER, staff and doctors sprang into action. Hospital vice-president Ru Taggar and director of emergency preparedness Rob Burgess converted a boardroom into an operations centre. They got the ball rolling to ensure the hospital would be able to attend to the 10 patients being transported from the scene. Patients who could be discharged were sent home. Other patients were transferred to nearby hospitals. And elective surgeries were cancelled so that operating rooms would be free for the incoming. Taggar said there was no problem getting extra hands on deck. Staff and doctors who were not working Monday offered to come in. The chief medical executive at a Toronto hospital where many victims were taken after a van hit pedestrians is calling the situation unprecedented. Police say there were multiple deaths following the incident in north Toronto. (The Canadian Press) Sunnybrook president Dr. Andy Smith said he was awestruck by the response. He received phone calls and emails from other hospital CEOs, offering the help of their facilities. Despite the maligning of our system and god knows there are a lot of things we have to fix and we have a lot of work ahead of us the reality is that when bad things happen to you in Toronto or Ontario, you are going to get world-class care, guaranteed. Toronto needs to know that, Smith exclaimed. The last time there was a major Code Orange at Sunnybrook was in 2012, when six victims of the Danzig St. shooting in Scarborough were transported there. But Mondays Code Orange was the largest that veteran trauma surgeon Fred Brenneman has seen: We get three (trauma patients) at a time sometimes, but this? It was pretty much unprecedented. All of the patients arrived in the span of 45 minutes. Nurse Miranda Lamb, a team leader in the emergency department, served as the incident commander on Monday. She said she knew it was just a matter of time before the hospital would see an emergency of this scale. I have had sleepless nights, wondering what my response would be if I was the one in charge. Recalling the minutes leading up to 2:06 p.m., when the first patient was rolled into the ER, Lamb said: I literally took a moment and took a deep breath. I said to myself, Here we go, this is it. She marvels at how the legion of workers involved in the response jumped into their various duties. Everybody just went into the roles that they needed to go into, from environmental services to portering, to lab technicians, to nurses and doctors, x-ray technicians, CT techs, everybody, she said. Everybody was on task. We were in our bubble. Brenneman helped triage patients, determining who needed the most urgent attention. He sent some directly to the OR, some to imaging and others to the trauma bay for immediate intervention. Two patients arrived at the hospital vital signs absent and were pronounced dead. The identities of most patients were unknown at first. Brenneman said one of the most difficult parts of the day was dealing with frantic loved ones. There was a lot of confusion and uncertainty. You see the pain and anxiousness in the faces of the families It is extremely important to match the right patient to the right family. To get that wrong is horrible, he said. Indeed, there was such a mix-up following the Humboldt Broncos bus crash earlier this month. Despite the intensity of the day, Brenneman said there was no sense of panic among the doctors and staff. Although they had never encountered that number of traumas in such a short timeframe before, they were able to focus on their individual tasks. When it hit the fan, this hospital stepped up amazingly well. It was incredible to watch. There were so many people involved. Everyone upped their game. The otherwise hurried Finch and Yonge intersection, cornered by a Korean barbecue restaurant and international student centre, was mostly empty Tuesday afternoon save for a police cruiser, caution tape and a smattering of people who looked overhead as a helicopter whirred by. Just 24 hours before, a tragedy began not far from that spot. On Monday afternoon a van drove down Yonge St., crossing the Finch Ave. W. intersection. For the next 2.2 kilometres, the van veered onto the curb, hitting pedestrians, killing 10 and injuring 14. Police arrested a suspect just south of Sheppard Ave. On Tuesday afternoon, people who work and live in the area emerged onto Yonge St. and gathered near caution tape and watched the quiet street. This is an all-inclusive, friendly, tight community, and the best part of the city, said resident Stephen Voget, standing near Mel Lastman Square. Read more: Opinion | Willowdale is a strong, beautiful community and it will survive Who is Alek Minassian, the man accused in the van rampage? She was the best grandma anyone could ever ask for. More victims of van rampage identified He was relieved to discover the owners of a foodtruck near Finch Ave. were safe. I bring them popsicles in the summer, he said, his voice thick with emotion. Mark Ankrh moved to the area 15 years ago from Ghana and watched as buildings were added and the neighbourhood became busier, denser and more diverse. Its very multicultural here, Ankrh said. Koreans, Iranians, Africans its very busy as people have moved into new buildings. A memorial has sprung up along the stretch of Yonge Street in Toronto where Mondays deadly van attack occurred. One resident who lives near Yonge and Finch says the area is usually very safe. (The Canadian Press) A 2016 Statistics Canada neighbourhood profile of Willowdale East, which includes the centrally located Yonge St. at Finch Ave., is a picture of the diversity within the ward and reflects the demographics along the stretch of Yonge St. where the incident occurred. Fifty-one per cent of respondents in the StatsCan survey listed a language other than English or French as their home language. This is more than Torontos average of 28 per cent of respondents who speak a nonofficial language at home. Within the ward, the top five languages spoken at home are Mandarin, Persian (Farsi), Korean, Cantonese, and Russian for close to 19,000 people surveyed. About 6.4 per cent of survey respondents do not speak either official language. Coun. John Fillon said there are large Chinese, Korean and Persian communities within his ward, which likely represent at least half of its residents. The ethnic makeup allows for an exposure to people from different parts of the world, the culture they bring with them, the stories they bring with them, he said. It gives you a much better experience of the world. (Its) much larger than your little neighbourhood. Businesses along Yonge St. reflect this diversity. Across the street from a spot where the van struck, a Persian book and magazine store is sandwiched between a Korean restaurant and Asian beauty store. The van sped past sushi, rice noodle and tea places before coming to a halt beside a Japanese cafe. At the window of H Cafe was employee Tomoko Zumi. She said she was alone and busy making rice cakes as the sunlight streamed through the glass making it hard to see outside. She saw the shape of a van pull up, but didnt see the driver or police standoff and didnt hear shouts or sirens. It wasnt until her boss called her 20 minutes later and asked if she was OK that she found out what had happened. I became very scared, Zumi said Tuesday. If the van came through to inside, maybe Id have died. In the area, spaced between office buildings are condominiums, and the Yonge St. stretch is surrounded by single family homes. The tragedy has left its mark on the school community. The incident unfolded outside the front door of the Toronto District School Boards head office at 5050 Yonge St. and in an area where hundreds of students go back and forth to school every day. Teenagers from the nearby Earl Haig Secondary School and Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts frequent that part of Yonge St. at lunchtime. Both schools, along with several elementary schools, were put on hold and secure status, with doors locked, for part of the afternoon after reports of the carnage. Jonathan Gogek, a 15-year-old Earl Haig student, said he wasnt allowed to leave the school for most of the day Monday. Its insane, why would somebody do this? Gogek asked Tuesday, gesturing toward Mel Lastman Square before making his way home. About half of the ward lists its marital status as married, with close to the same percentage of people classified as working age, namely between 25 and 54 years old, according to the survey. The top three income brackets within the ward are $60,000 to $79,999; $80,000 to $99,999; and under $5,000. Police stood at points along the stretch, monitoring the cordoned off areas as mourners walked by carrying flowers as they made their way to the memorial at Olive Square and city workers swept the streets and restrung caution tape. Local resident Clita Saldanha was among many who stopped to thank police for their work Monday. We never see the police force around here, but they were yesterday, she said. They give me pride, these are my cops taking care of my city. With files from Vjosa Isai and Andrea Gordon The cryptic numbers in the Facebook post attributed to Alek Minassian C23249161 are the same as his service number with the Canadian military, a defence department source confirmed to the Star Wednesday. Minassian was in the Canadian Armed Forces between Aug. 23 and Oct. 25, 2017 and did just 16 days of recruit training before he voluntarily withdrew. But on Monday afternoon, the identification number assigned to him by the military appeared in an enigmatic Facebook post that referenced an incel rebellion and invoked U.S. mass murderer Elliot Rodger. The post began circulating on social media shortly after a rented van drove into pedestrians on Yonge St. south of Finch Ave., killing 10 people and leaving 14 injured. Minassian, 25, now faces 10 charges of first-degree murder. Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry 00010, wishing to speak to Sgt 4chan please. C23249161, read the message. The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger! Read more: He was the best hire we never hired recruiter says of Alek Minassian Virulent and hateful incel movement condemned by Edmonton womens rights advocates Sunny spring day turns to unforgettable tragedy as van driver kills 10 and injures 14 While many people have questioned the authenticity of the Facebook post including media manipulation experts, who warned of online hoaxes in the wake of mass killings few people can access Minassians service number, which is akin to a social insurance number and subject to privacy restrictions. The Facebook post has also been acknowledged by Toronto police and verified as legitimate by Facebook. Incel refers to the involuntarily celibate, or men who feel frustrated by their inability to find romantic relationships or sex. In many online communities, Chads and Stacys refer to attractive people who have no problem meeting partners of the opposite sex. Online incel forums are frequently characterized by misogynistic rhetoric and hatred towards women. According to an online petition last year, urging Reddit to shut down its incel subreddit, incels believe that they are entitled to the experience of sex. This flawed way of thinking leads most incels to self-professed depression that has turned into bitterness that floods the subreddits posts, the petition stated. All sexually active women are routinely called whores. Violence against women is encouraged. Rape against women is justified and encouraged. An excerpt from TPS press conference on Tuesday, April 24th, 2018, 3:00PM. Video courtesy of TPS via YouTube. The petition wrote that many incel commenters have canonized Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old California man who killed six people in 2014, shortly after posting a video ranting about his sexual frustration and the women who rejected him. He is sometimes referred to as Saint Elliot, with some incels even calling on others to follow in Rodgers footsteps. On the website We Hunted the Mammoth, which tracks online misogyny, writer David Futrelle noted that commenters on the forum Incels.me have celebrated the Toronto van attack, writing posts like I really want it to be true that the guy was an incel lmao and joyous day. The incel revolution has begun, wrote one commenter, who changed his avatar to a picture of Minassian. Another commenter, writing under the username BlkPillPres, mused that perhaps Minassian saw his post from late March, where he hoped for more mass killings. This st right here is lifefuel for me and exactly what I was talking about, BlkPillPres wrote about the van attack in Toronto. This is literally what I asked for, finally somebody breaking the mold. The BlkPillPres posts were screengrabbed by Futrelle but were no longer accessible on the forum as of Wednesday. This week, a forum administrator posted a message that being incel has no relation whatsoever with violence, aggression, misogyny, or any other negative connotation. The administrator also wrote that Minassian has never posted on Incels.me and as far as we are concerned, no one on the forum heard of him before these latest news. While he may have called himself an incel, he does NOT in any way represent the community, the administrator wrote. There have been reports that Minassian had a form of autism called Asperger syndrome, though experts stress the neurobiological disorder is not linked to a propensity for violence. Former classmates have described Minassian as a socially awkward person who often twitched or fidgeted. They said he was part of a special needs program in high school before attending Seneca College, where he demonstrated a knack for computer programming. To get into the military, Minassian would have passed a process that involves online applications, aptitude testing, a medical and an interview to determine an applicants fitness for military service. Potential recruits are required to write the Canadian Forces Aptitude Test multiple choice questions that test verbal skills and problem solving to help determine what trades they are best suited for. According to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, the military saw no red flags during Minassians recruitment. We have a very rigorous process when it comes to how people are selected, everything from the medicals, to the security clearances that are needed, the interviews, the testing process, Sajjan said Wednesday. We want to select the best of Canada, he said. But Minassian struggled during his short stint in the regular force basic training. He was assigned to the infantry, a choice that may been influenced by the results of his aptitude test, a source told the Star. His performance was judged to be below average in training, a gruelling period when new soldiers are schooled in the regimen and rigours of military life. You have to adapt to a different way of being and for good reason. Thats how militaries are run. To get people to obey orders, you need that, the source said. It wasnt for him. In the Facebook post on Minassians profile, the message is directed at Sgt 4chan, a reference to an online message board that has become notorious for its association with trolling culture and far-right views. There is extensive overlap between 4chan and incel communities, said Whitney Phillips, an assistant professor with Mercer University who studies online communities and media manipulation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other politicians were asked about the possibility the suspect in Torontos deadly van attack was targeting women, after a Facebook post was attributed to Alek Minassian. (The Canadian Press) She was deeply skeptical of the Facebook post when it first emerged on social media including on 4chan because there has been a standard and steady effort over the past decade to connect 4chan with mass killings and other atrocities. Members of 4chan have long delighted in tricking journalists into mentioning the website in their news reports, to the point where claiming a 4chan connection in the wake of a high-profile atrocity has become a recurring trope or meme online. The meme is then further amplified by inaccurate media outlets reporting the alleged 4chan connection. On Wednesday, Phillips said she is devastated for the victims in Toronto and their families. And if the Facebook post is indeed real, it is also devastating for all of us. If its true, its internet culture, fully metastasized, Phillips wrote in an email. If its true, its the collapsing of all boundaries between online play and offline terror. If its true, it is also a logistic question: what responsibility will Facebook now have, or Twitter now have, in responding to similar kinds of rhetoric within these and other communities? There are other concerns too, about precedent. The social media contagion effect is real, she continued. How this story is reported will shape the contours of the meme. We therefore need to be very careful about how the story is reported. There is nothing new about young men feeling sexually frustrated or gathering to complain about their problems, said Dr. James Cantor, a clinical psychologist and sex researcher with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. But what is new in 2018 is the existence of social media and the toxic echo chamber it can sometimes create. They can gather in larger numbers than ever before and talk themselves into crazier and crazier ideas, he said. Or at least, the idea stopped sounding so crazy to them because theyve put together a community where thats all that they hear. The decision to make a psychological support team available to police officers on site in the aftermath of Mondays van rampage is being lauded by a psychologist specializing in first-responder mental health. Its a good sign that theyre being proactive, that theyre not waiting, said Dr. Jeff Morley, a former RCMP officer who works as a psychologist helping police officers, soldiers and other emergency personnel process traumatic incidents. It validates that these scenes are horrific, not only for the officers, but for fire, ambulance, for the civilians and witnesses of these atrocities, Morley said. Toronto police Deputy Chief Peter Yuen told reporters at a press conference Wednesday that mental health staff were quickly made available to front-line officers, who were coming off a shift that saw scenes unprecedented in Toronto. Among the cops who received psychological support is Toronto police Const. Ken Lam. He is the officer who apprehended Alek Minassian after he is alleged to have deliberately struck pedestrians on a busy stretch of Yonge St. on Monday, killing 10 and injuring 14. Lam, 42, who joined the Toronto police in 2011, has been praised for his calm takedown of Minassian. He was working as a traffic response officer Monday and was not assigned to Yonge and Finch but ran in to help when the call went out, Yuen says. Worldwide attention has been drawn to Lam since the arrest, but the officer hopes the focus will shift to other first responders on scene that day, said Yuen, who knows Lam well and spoke on his behalf. Yuen has called Lam regularly since Monday and says he is doing well. But the incident is weighing on his mind. Right now hes still asking me, asking his colleagues: Did I make the right decision? What if I opened fire that day, what would have happened? These are things that are still going through his head. The mental health support for police is to ensure the officers know help is available, Yuen said. The debriefers are trained to observe certain behavioural signs, because some officers are very talkative that might not be a good thing. Some officers are very quiet that might not be a good thing. Some aspects of whats called critical incident debriefing including discussing what transpired during a traumatic event are mandatory for officers, while other forms of treatment will be optional, Yuen said. In todays day and age, officers do take up that program, he said. Crime Reporter Wendy Gillis talks her about time training with the Toronto Police Service and how this training helped during the van attack arrest in Toronto. Morley said theres no doubt an officer will be affected by a high-adrenaline, high-risk situation like Minassians arrest. But we should not presume that he is going to develop post-traumatic stress disorder from that, he said. Most officers or soldiers or civilians that go through a traumatic event recover. That recovery is all the more likely when there are mental health supports in place. Morley said he hopes that, from now on, such support is simply part of the response to similar mass-casualty incidents part of a big investigation, just like we have operational needs and investigators. I hope it just becomes normal its just part of how we do business, he said. Read more: Sunny spring day turns to unforgettable tragedy as van driver kills 10 and injures 14 Emotions were high as about 1,000 Liberals rallied in Vaughan with former prime minister Jean Chretien. Grits gathered Tuesday night for Economic Development Minister Steven Del Ducas nomination meeting in the new riding of Vaughan-Woodbridge, where Chretien struck a reflective tone. One day after the Yonge St. van attack that left 10 people dead and 14 injured, the former prime minister said despite the sad and terrible events, he was heartened by how Torontonians have reacted. We live in a big land separated by mountains, prairies, and rivers separated sometimes by language, sometimes the colour of the skin and religion, Chretien said. Read more: Kathleen Wynne blasts Doug Ford as a bulldozer in a china shop in post-budget speech Ontario budget to fund free child care for preschoolers as part of $2.2B plan Kathleen Wynne announces $2.4B for Sick Kids patient care centre We are all together in good times, in bad times. In days like yesterday, all the people of Toronto came together, said the man who governed from 1993 until 2003. At the packed Montecassino Place Banquet Hall, Del Duca urged attendees to pause and reflect on Mondays horrific events. It is so important for communities to come together, the minister said, appealing to the crowd to help. If youre able and willing, help donate blood to the cause, he said, pointing out signs placed throughout the hall directing people on how to donate blood to Sunnybrook hospital and Canadian Blood Services. Despite public-opinion polls suggesting Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford could topple Premier Kathleen Wynnes Liberals in the June 7 election, Del Duca implored supporters to work hard. There are ebbs and flows to every campaign, there are ups and downs, said Del Duca, praising Wynne for helping deliver the subway extension to Vaughan as well as a new hospital, while also raising the minimum wage to $14 an hour while also delivering free tuition for hundreds of thousands of college and university students. Chretien also touted the premier, who has been in office since 2013. She has shown a lot of courage in front of very difficult files, he said. But not everyone was in Vaughan to boost the governing party Outside the hall, several hundred members of LiUNA Local 183 protested labour changes in last months budget bill that open up some of the work sites to unionized carpenters. They also demonstrated Monday morning at Queens Park. Read more about: The names of those killed in Mondays van attack will not be officially released until the coroners office has confirmed the identities of all victims, Premier Kathleen Wynne said Wednesday. Speaking to reporters outside her Queens Park office, the premier also said it is very, very disturbing that there may be links between the accused and a misogynistic online group, but stressed that police are still in the early days of their investigation. Im not going to speculate on what the investigation will be, but it sounds as though that is one thought that has emerged in this, she said. ... But what we know is that the police will be investigating everything, they will be looking at everything to try to find the motivation, to try to find the roots of this very violent act. However, she added, I think the reason that that notion has emerged is because of this horrible, hateful site. My response to that, as the first female premier of Ontario ... as a mom, as a grandmother, is its very disturbing its very, very disturbing that we have venues where this kind of hateful, misogynistic language is used, where those attitudes are given permission ... Im not going to pretend that I dont find it disturbing. Wynne also said that while the identities of some victims have become public, the chief coroner is working very closely with families. Many families have asked for privacy, and the official list of names will not be released until they have all been confirmed. On Tuesday, the premier had a brief conversation with Toronto police Constable Ken Lam on Tuesday, the police officer who earned widespread praise for his handling of the arrest of the suspect in such a volatile situation. I wanted to let him know that he is thought so highly of, that I am getting comments, consistently, from people about how courageous he was, how well he performed, how calm he was under such pressure. I wanted him to hear from me, on behalf of the government, that we are so proud of the work that he did. She said Lam was quick to praise the entire team, and they did wonderful work. We know that all first responders ... everyone did amazing work. Wynne also said provincial and federal officials continue to be in close contact and there remains no threat to national security at this time. Read more: Number cited in cryptic Facebook post matches Alek Minassians military ID: Source He was the best hire we never hired recruiter says of Alek Minassian Virulent and hateful incel movement condemned by Edmonton womens rights advocates Read more about: BRUSSELSAny talks between France and the United States on crafting a new nuclear deal with Iran can only build on on the current terms, the European Unions chief policy chief said Wednesday. Federica Mogherini spoke after U.S. President Trump again showed dissatisfaction with the international agreement during a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, highlighting a trans-Atlantic rift on the issue. Macron said the current deal should not be ripped apart without a clear path to the future, and said after talks with Trump that there could be a way to move to a new agreement, building on the one in place. Trump has been a consistent critic of the international agreement, calling the 2015 pact insane and ridiculous. However, he has declined to say whether he will withdraw the U.S. by the May 12 deadline he has set. Macron said during his state visit to the U.S. that the current deal should not be ripped apart without a clear path to the future. Read more: Trump warns Iran it will have bigger problems if it restarts nuclear program Macron takes aim at Trump on climate change in speech to U.S. Congress: There is no Planet B U.S. to hit Russia with new sanctions for aiding Syrias Assad We are not discussing renegotiating the agreement that is not what the two presidents were talking about, Mogherini told reporters after an international conference on Syria. There will be more discussions between the French president and the president of the U.S. and those discussions can build on the continued implementation of the Iranian nuclear agreement. Germany, which was part of the agreement along with Iran, the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France, has thrown its weight behind Mogherinis position. We want to preserve it, and we want to contribute to the United States remaining in this agreement after May 12, said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. Trump said key flaws in the agreement are the failure to address ballistic missiles and Irans activities in Yemen and Syria. The European Union wants those issues addressed in other negotiations which would not muddle the nuclear agreement itself. In Iran, President Hassan Rouhani sought to temper any ambition that the current deal could be changed, or even built on. We will not add anything to the deal or remove anything from it, even one sentence, Rouhani said he told Macron in the past. The nuclear deal is the nuclear deal. Read more about: Iran rejects any new N deal proposed by US, France AFP : Iran's President Hassan Rouhani rejected any hopes of rewriting a nuclear deal with world powers Wednesday, after the leaders of the United States and France called for a new pact covering Tehran's missile programme and regional interventions. "We have an agreement called the JCPOA," said Rouhani in a fiery speech, using the technical name for the 2015 deal that curbed Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. "It will either last or not. If the JCPOA stays, it stays in full." He was responding to statements in Washington by French President Emmanuel Macron and his US counterpart Donald Trump, in which they proposed a new deal with tougher restrictions on Iran. Trump called the existing accord "insane" and "ridiculous", despite European pleas for him not to walk away, and demanded fresh curbs on Iran's ballistic missile programme and support for militant groups across the Middle East. Macron said the new agreement should include a settlement on Syria, where Iran backs President Bashar al-Assad. In Iran, Rouhani responded by ridiculing Trump, saying: "You have no expertise in politics, nor in law, nor in international accords. "A tradesman, a businessman, a high-rise builder, how can he judge about global issues?" Iran has the support of all other parties to the accord, who say it is working and Tehran has stuck to its commitments. On Wednesday, EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini insisted the deal must be maintained. "On what can happen in the future we'll see in the future, but there is one deal existing, it's working, it needs to be preserved," the former Italian foreign minister said as she arrived for a donor conference on Syria in Brussels. Moscow also reiterated its support, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters: "We believe that no alternative exists so far" and demanding that Iran be involved in any further discussions. Macron, who has built a warm rapport with Trump, has positioned himself as an emissary for European officials seeking a compromise that allows the mercurial US president to claim a public victory, while keeping the deal intact. But he admitted after meeting Trump that he still did not know whether the US president would walk away from the nuclear deal when the next deadline for renewal comes up on May 12. Trump-true to his background in reality TV-teased his looming decision. "This is a deal with decayed foundations. It's a bad deal, it's a bad structure. It's falling down," the US leader said. "We're going to see what happens on the 12th." Putting on a brave face, Macron said he wished "for now to work on a new deal with Iran" of which the nuclear accord could be one part, but neither leader indicated what Iran might get in return. Iran, meanwhile, has warned it will ramp up enrichment if Trump walks away from the accord, prompting a blunt warning from the US leader. "They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before. And you can mark it down," Trump said. Trump had earlier said his predecessors should have made a deal that "covered Yemen, that covered Syria. No matter where you go in the Middle East, you see the fingerprints of Iran behind problems." German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to press the case for staying in the agreement again when she visits Washington on Friday. Macron was also due to appear before Congress on Wednesday, and his entourage told AFP he would address the challenges eroding historically warm Franco-US ties, including economic inequality, climate change, how to tackle terrorism and the rise of nationalism. The French president's pomp-filled, three-day visit was not welcomed by one long-time critic of US foreign policy, Oliver Stone, who happened to be in Tehran for a film festival on Wednesday. Stone told AFP he was "particularly shocked" to see Macron standing alongside President Donald Trump, calling for a revision of the nuclear deal. "To see this young man, who doesn't have much of a sense of history or memory of the great traditions of France... was very depressing," Stone said. Meanwhile, hawkish American officials accuse Europeans-particularly Germany-of putting business interests ahead of security, and of opposing a tougher stance against Iran to safeguard investments in the Islamic Republic. That charge is sharply rejected by European officials, who are increasingly frustrated at spending time dealing with Trump's complaints rather than tackling Iran's behaviour. The disagreement threatens to plunge transatlantic relations to their lowest point since the Iraq War. But for now, Macron's visit has been marked by the exuberant welcome given the French leader as the Trumps rolled out the red carpet for a lavish state visit. WASHINGTON As Donald Trump tweets go, this one on Saturday sounded especially uninteresting. Fantastic crowd and great people yesterday in Key West, Florida, Trump wrote. Thank you! But Trump was not in Key West yesterday at all. He came and went two days prior. On Wednesday, the day before he actually visited Key West, Trump spoke at a news conference about a deadly clash in Syria between U.S. forces and Russian mercenaries. He said it occurred recently, a month ago. It occurred more than two months prior. Little errors, no doubt. But Trump has made these kinds of errors so frequently that you can almost set your watch to them. The president of the United States, who has boasted that he has one of the great memories of all time, has a problem with time itself. Trump has inaccurately stated a date or time period on at least 51 occasions since he took office. It is not exactly clear why. It is entirely possible that at least some of the date errors are honest mistakes. Trump has shown genuine confusion about a wide variety of subjects, and he has shown little interest in checking information before he speaks. It seems likely, though, that at least some of the errors are deliberate, a particularly bizarre element of Trumps comprehensive assault on facts. One theory: Trump, a master salesman, believes his stories sound more compelling if he says they happened more recently. Almost every time he has given an inaccurate date, Trump has moved the date forward to make an event seem as if it occurred closer to the present. As far as hes concerned, thats the only issue ever: the transactional aspect of it. Round up, round down, round sideways. Eliminate, add, flat-out lie. Doesnt matter. Shape it so its the shape it needs to be to get to be what the target market wants to hear what voters want to hear. Massage it, pummel it. Why would time be any different than any other fact? said Gwenda Blair, the author of two books on Trump. Trump is known for his regular promises to release plans two weeks in the future, then failing to do so. But he also has issues counting weeks in the past. When Trump mused in a March 29 speech about the spectacular SpaceX rocket launch, he said, When I looked at the rocket that went up three weeks ago, where the tanks came back The launch occurred seven weeks prior, not three weeks. When Trump claimed at a Republican fundraiser on March 14 that he deserved credit for North Korea taking part in the Olympics, he said, Everybodys saying, Oh, hes going to get us in trouble, in trouble. Then three weeks ago, you hear, Wed love to go to the Olympics and participate. North Korea made this announcement nine weeks prior, not three weeks. On March 7, Trump told a Latino group of a Chrysler decision to move production of a truck from Mexico to Michigan, saying, You saw, two weeks ago, Chrysler announced... The company made this announcement eight weeks prior, not two weeks. Trump got even more wrong in a speech the next day, saying, The other day, Chrysler announced... In February, Trump phoned a Fox News show and mocked a congressman for getting prank-called by Russian pranksters: If you look at Adam Schiff, last week, two weeks ago, he got scammed by somebody. The call happened 10 months prior, not two weeks. In some cases, using inaccurate dates serves to make Trump look better. Amid chatter about Oprah Winfrey as a possible presidential candidate, Trump boasted in March that he had appeared on her last show, or one of the last, I guess the last week. In fact, he appeared at a decidedly less prestigious time, three and a half months before the show ended. In December, when Trump was trying to minimize the importance of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who is charged with crimes, he claimed Manafort worked for him for a mere three and a half months. It was more than four and a half months. Trump has been particularly creative in identifying the date at which he claims it was revealed that the U.S. has spent $7 trillion on wars in the Middle East. (In reality, he made up that figure.) In April, he said $7 trillion was correct as of three months ago, putting the date in January. In February, he said the figure was correct as of about two months ago, putting the date in December. And in December, he said it was true as of two months ago, putting the date in October. Atttaching a fake date to a fake estimate makes it sound more real. There is no good explanation for some of Trumps other date errors. For no apparent reason, the president has even managed to mess up the date of his own political anniversary. Reminiscing in June 2017 about the speech in which he announced his campaign, Trump told members of Congress, In three days its exactly three years. So were very happy about that. He launched his campaign in June 2015 two years prior, not three. Read more about: What happened this week in Toronto was nothing short of surreal. A neighborhood most Torontonians have been through at some point, assailed by a man gone mad, waging ruthless carnage on our fellow citizens. The same streets we all know the most famous street in the the country soaked in blood, littered with mangled bodies of innocent people. A ghastly tragedy, and one that we always knew theoretically could happen in a mega metropolis that truly is one of the great cities of the world, but a tragedy we never quite thought we would actually experience in our lives. Not in our city. At this time, as the city of Toronto and all of Canada grieves standing in solidarity with the victims, their loved ones, and with each other there is something that we can truly be proud of; something that we can build upon, to march courageously forward toward what has always been our history, and what is certainly our destiny: to be an example for the whole world to follow, a beacon of light in a time of darkness. Read more: He was the best hire we never hired recruiter says of Alek Minassian Thousands raised through #TorontoStrong, GoFundMe campaigns to help van victims Heres what Yonge St. looked like the day after the van rampage They say you cannot truly know who someone is until they pass through adversity; through the mill of trials and hardship. Well now, we really know who we are and the world likes what it sees, and it wants to follow. When the United States and the West went into Iraq to wreak havoc on a people that did not deserve it, Canada didnt. As the entire West, including the U.S., push forward a horrific scenario in Syria which is rapidly moving us toward global war, Canada did not go along and remains committed to doing its part for world peace. But this week I realized that legacy is now cemented. Canada truly is different; Canada is a leader for the world. On Monday night, I decided to go down to the scene of the carnage. The sight was mobbed by media. All the major Canadian outlets. There must have have been a dozen cameras and reporters. CBC, CTV, CityTV, the list goes on. What surprised me was meeting a reporter from USA Today, who had just flown in from Chicago and come straight to the site. He told me something that I never thought Id hear from an American reporter. He said, quite literally, and with great admiration, its different here than in the U.S. He said, when Trump came into office, and closed the U.S.s doors, Americans and the world came to you. In a new era, in which lone-wolf random terror is becoming normal, its a model the world needs right now. This week we have seen everything great about Canada on display. From the officer who is making headlines around the world, for his incredible, poise, patience, courage and self-control, to the way Toronto officials and federal officials refrained from even a single premature statement or assumption about the assailant. During the many hours that nothing was known about the motives of the assailant, nobody lashed out or made accusations or fanned the flames of hatred. And from the way people from all over the city came to together, irrespective of race or religion, to rally together, not through hate, but through love. Love for all, hatred for none. This is how we will build our strength, and march forward, as the world watches with respect. Thats Canada. Correction - April 30, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Canada did not send troops to Afghanistan. The standard of care in Ontarios hospitals, especially those in the Toronto area, has been getting a lot of bad press lately. Patients and politicians alike have been railing against so-called hallway medicine. Theres been no end of stories about patients stranded for hours, even days, in hospital hallways because there arent enough proper beds to accommodate them. Its not a pretty picture. This week, though, weve witnessed a textbook example of our medical system at its best. Weve seen health care workers go above and beyond to respond to the kind of emergency that is (fortunately) extremely rare in our city. And weve seen hospitals and health authorities work together to make sure the professionals had everything they needed to do their jobs. The Stars Theresa Boyle reported on Wednesday how emergency teams at Torontos Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre jumped into action when they received a Code Orange alert minutes after the deadly van attack on Yonge St. The hospital was already running at over-capacity when the alert came in. Its emergency room was jammed, as it usually is. Yet when the first of 10 injured patients began arriving only minutes later, nurses and doctors were able to give them the highest standard of care. Others performed magnificently. Start with the paramedics who arrived at the scene to find more than two dozen people badly injured or dead, an unprecedented and indeed unthinkable situation. Toronto Paramedic Services also diverted ambulances dealing with unrelated emergencies to other hospitals to make sure Sunnybrook could handle those coming in from Yonge St. Other hospitals, including University Health Network and St. Michaels, accepted some critically-injured patients from Sunnybrook, creating space there for surgeons to handle the stream of incoming trauma cases. At the same time, health-care administrators from the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network worked in the background to move elderly patients waiting for long-term care out of Sunnybrook to make space for the injured arriving from the attack on Yonge. The lesson is clear: when the chips are down and lives are at risk, our health care system is able to perform at the highest level. The system has lots of problems, and we may grouse about long wait times and bottlenecks in hospitals. But in critical situations we are well served by professionals at all levels. Its particularly important to keep this in mind at a time when politicians may be tempted to exaggerate the problems to score political points. Doug Ford, for one, has made dealing with hallway health care one of the biggest talking points of his campaign. Its a real problem, and its been getting worse. So its no wonder that all three Ontario parties are promising more money for hard-pressed hospitals. The system can and should be better. But the response to Mondays rampage showed thats not the whole story, far from it. It demonstrated that weve built a health care system capable of meeting the most difficult challenges. Legal Aid Ontario is stretched thin trying to help the lowest income Ontarians with cases of domestic violence, child custody battles, unfair evictions, serious criminal matters and refugee claims. More people need help to navigate the increasingly complex justice system than government funding will allow. Legal Aid must routinely make tough decisions about the cases it can represent with the money it has. That makes it all the more extraordinary that it spent years supporting a woman who surreptitiously married her ex-boyfriend after he suffered a catastrophic brain injury to gain control of his assets. The promise of $25,000 in legal aid allowed Kathleen Worrod to spend six years fighting Kim Kevin Hunts family in court, forcing them needlessly to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal bills. If it was Worrods intent to wreak financial havoc on Hunt and his family she could not have found a more co-operative and loyal ally than Legal Aid Ontario, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward J. Koke wrote in his decision. Legal Aids ongoing support of Worrod, he ruled, amounted to an abuse of process that undermined the public interest and wasted judicial resources meant for low-income Ontarians. And sadly, that waste may not be over since the judge ordered Legal Aid to pay half of the $385,000 in legal costs he awarded to Hunts family. This is the first time Legal Aid Ontario has been ordered to pay costs in a losing case and, in the first step to an appeal, it has asked the court to revisit the decision. Whether Legal Aid ends up paying those costs or not, it needs to review its own internal workings to make sure it never again supports for so long what the judge rightly called a meritless case. Unfortunately, instead of admitting that it messed up, Legal Aid is busy arguing that it has a process with checkpoints along the way to approve funding, and that was all followed. If the systems checks and balances let this case of a predatory bride keep going for six years without any alarm bells, thats even more cause for concern. Legal Aid Ontario provides a fundamental service access to justice for some of our poorest and most vulnerable citizens and to keep doing that important work it will need increased government funds in the future. But squandering money on a case such as this one wont help its case one bit. A city bonded in blood, our innocence lost, DiManno, April 24 I was proud of the way Torontonians from all political parties and walks of life came together in response to the unspeakable violence that was let loose on the city by this senseless act. I was all the more saddened, therefore, when that response was besmirched by Rosie DiManno, who described it as mealy-mouthed non-speak. The source of her disdain was the avoidance of the word terrorism. There is no evidence that this act, appalling as it was, fits this definition. This does not lessen its horror. This was the deliberate murder of multiple innocent individuals. It does not need to be called terrorism in order for us to recognize how appalling it is. The key issue, however, is that of connotation. To use the word terrorist carelessly in our current social and political climate does little more than stoke our collective rage and give voice to our demand that something be done about whoever we perceive to be threatening. Rather than work toward bringing people together, it joins the purported terrorist in seeking to drive them apart. After the May 2017 bombing of the arena in Manchester, the crowds gathered in St. Anns Square did not join the calls for revenge but together sang the Oasis hit, Dont Look Back in Anger. This is far from mealy-mouthed. It is a sign of great courage, and of the determination that our society will not be determined by violence and counter-violence, or by the language of the dog whistle. Rev. Eric Beresford, Toronto Im a big-city man with a small-city heart. Which means that when one of our own is hurt, my own world grows dark. We will never take for granted our citys spirit, for it is our familial mark. You may rattle us but you will never be able to tear us apart. I love this city and the city loves me. It is the only place in the world where Ive felt like everyone was free. Stephen Mighton, Toronto A sad, sad day. We see ourselves in Toronto just slightly removed from the horrors of the rest of the world. When something like this happens, it brings us closer. It proves one thing, though: we have the best police force in the world. The officer who made the arrest is a perfect example of exemplary police work. Whatever the reasons this madman did what he did will be known in the future; now is time for holding the victims and their loved ones in our hearts. Our first responders and emergency health responders are an example to the world. We need to hold them close and be there for them as they deal with the impact of this unprecedented situation. They are all heroes. Roy Dean, Toronto Horror, and resolution, Editorial, April 24 Thank you for your thoughtful editorial acknowledging the wisdom and grace that our beloved city has shown during this terrible time. I am also truly proud of our citys reaction. I would also like to acknowledge the measured and calm response of Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale. He showed true leadership. Finally, the police officer who arrested the suspect demonstrated a high level of exemplary professionalism that should be publicly recognized by Toronto Police and the citizens of the city. Nadia Mazaheri, Toronto Your editorial acknowledges the importance of professional ethics, maturity and the crisis-handling skills of Toronto police. The pain of human suffering is deep and immeasurable, but the way this crisis was handled in the first few hours deserves appreciation and praise. We managed to face it without over-reacting and without connecting it to any particular community or giving it a religious/political colour, which could have created an atmosphere of division and hate in a peaceful nation. Mehdi Rizvi, Pickering Anti-collision devices are coming, but for all the cars and trucks without them, what is needed is an inexpensive, add-on motion sensor that detects a hit to the front, rear or side of the vehicle and instantly turns off the ignition. Hit-and-run and mass murder would then be impossible. Simon Leigh, Toronto Cop who faced down suspect in Yonge St. carnage an example for all of us, April 24 This officer not only deserves the Order of Canada, but should also be put in charge of training other police officers. A true pro. This is a city that embraces pluralities not just among its populace, but even in its monikers: Toronto the Good, Hogtown, The 6, The 416 and simply YYZ, among others. On Monday, within hours of witnessing a senseless 26-minute carnage after a van plowed into pedestrians, leaving 10 citizens dead and 14 injured, a new descriptor became apparent: Toronto The Giving. That giving by helping began even as events were unfolding: Henry Yang, who was driving behind the Ryder van just after it jumped to the sidewalk, who began honking and making noise to alert people to get out of the way. Later, family offering water to those walking up the streets because public transit was shut down. Today, a florist offered free flowers to passersby to make the world feel better, my colleague Tamar Harris reported. Read more: Most victims in van rampage on Yonge St. were women, police say Opinion | Emma Teitel: Its hideous to think that right-wing media were hoping for a Muslim villain after the van rampage Opinion | Martin Regg-Cohn: Torontos diversity offers a degree of immunity during times of terror In the face of sudden tragedies, kindness prompts people to allay a feeling of helplessness. After my yoga class Tuesday that the teacher dedicated to the victims, I overheard three women who were heading out to volunteer at a womens aid agency. We have so much, one of them said. Were blessed. Were alive. Organizations sprung up to raise funds. Canada Zakat has raised more than $50,000 since yesterday. It helped raise more than $800,000 after last years mosque shooting in Quebec City. The Islamic Relief Canada also launched a fundraiser. The group raised tens of thousands of dollars after the Fort McMurray wildfire and thousands after the Humboldt Broncos tragedy. If you, like me, were fortunate enough to avoid much of social media Monday, you would likely be able to process the tragedy with a purer sense of grief, spared from feeling anger at the indecent, the ones who opportunistically exploited the tragedy for their personal gain. Some jumped in with a nudge-nudge description of an angry, Middle Eastern man. Others vulgarly denounced Muslims and called it a terror attack all this before the police even had a chance to speak to the public. On CBC radio Tuesday morning, commenter Jesse Wente aptly called this behaviour speculative hate. A memorial has sprung up along the stretch of Yonge Street in Toronto where Mondays deadly van attack occurred. One resident who lives near Yonge and Finch says the area is usually very safe. (The Canadian Press) A vehicle being deliberately driven to kill people strikes terror no matter what the motive is. That doesnt always make the killers terrorists. But since 9/11, the politicization of the word terror and its interchangeability with terrorism has meant it is selectively used to enhance a clash-of-civilizations narrative. An attacker who reads Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL) pamphlets or follows them digitally is just as much of a terrorist or a lone wolf or a depressed individual as the selectively applied nomenclature goes as one who follows white supremacist teachings or the apparently misogynistic and racist ideologies of Alek Minassian, the driver now facing multiple charges of murder and attempted murder. That is never apparent to social media parasites who feed off grief and on Monday were keen to blame the tragedy on multiculturalism as if the coexistence of more than one race of people is cause for alarm. As if homogenous societies anywhere exist without violence. Thoughtful Torontonians pushed back against the hatemongers. My colleague Victoria Gibson offered this antidote with a photo of a poster of condolence notes on the sidewalk south of Yonge St. and Finch Ave. Something lovely, she tweeted. Take note of how many languages these condolence notes are written in. She saw at least three or four different scripts there. Thought it was a great little slice of sweetness in all this, she told me Tuesday. That heterogeneity is in Torontos DNA, here to stay, resisting the calls of the fearful to return to a past when the humanity of others didnt have to be considered. Toronto police Const. Ken Lam, who arrested Minassian, showed courage and composure. But as the cop himself said, he was just doing his job. Yet, we live in a time when the restraint he showed is not the norm. It comes against a backdrop of Toronto police shooting down, among others, 18-year-old Sammy Yatim in 2013 and 45-year-old Andrew Loku in 2015. Both mentally ill men, one wielding a knife, the other a hammer. They hadnt killed anyone nor was anyone in imminent danger of being killed. Could Torontonians, who have shown such heart after the Yonge St. and Finch Ave. horror, be persuaded to extend their compassion to marginalized communities repeatedly torn apart by tragedy that is often inflicted by law enforcement? To not see protestations against violence as divisive or the violence as deserved? In our moment of vulnerability, are we able to empathize with the perpetually vulnerable? Correction - April 25, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version that misstated the name of Islamic Relief Canada. Terror in Toronto is unlike terror anywhere else. The impact here is more piercing, for we Canadians imagine ourselves to be exempt from terror at a safe distance from the geographical and political hot spots that make targets of global cities. Yet we are blessed with a collective defence unique to Toronto. The difference is that we are different for our diversity offers immunity, at least partially, from the bigotry and blaming that erupt in times of trouble elsewhere. Read more: Opinion | Edward Keenan: Cop who faced down suspect in Yonge St. carnage an example for all of us Opinion | Heather Mallick: No elitism in response to carnage, only compassion Opinion | Rosie Dimanno: Toronto van tragedy bonds city in blood. But no one will say the word terrorism Stop for a second, look and listen to what happened, who it happened to, how the city responded. Who were these people? The victims, eyewitnesses, police and paramedics on the scene were all Torontonians, yes. But the names and faces featured in the news reports, and producing the news reports eyewitnesses like Ali Shaker, Amir Bahmeyeh, Ham Yu-Jin, Amir Farokhpour; Deputy Chief Peter Yuen remind us that we are, uniquely, a people from around the world. A memorial has sprung up along the stretch of Yonge Street in Toronto where Mondays deadly van attack occurred. One resident who lives near Yonge and Finch says the area is usually very safe. (The Canadian Press) From every place, every race, every faith. Which means that while the terror hurts all of us, most of us are in no rush to demonize any one of us. In Toronto, everyone is a target yet no one is a target. We are so many people that we are almost indivisible, or at least indecipherable. The old slogan, unity in diversity, is here a reality. If only because we are today too melded to be divided. The old terminology of terrorism may or may not apply to what befell Toronto this week. The difference between terror (overwhelming fear and anxiety) and terrorism (the calculated use of violence and terror to achieve defined political goals) is a clearly defined distinction. We wont know whether the motives were to merely terrify, or to achieve terrorist goals, until police disclose the results of their investigation. But the effect on the victims the dead, the wounded, the grieving, the traumatized is little different whether the motives were political or criminal. You cant massacre 10 people on a citys main street and you cant be a copycat killer mowing people down in a van in much the same way as terrorists have in Britain and France without having a colossal impact. Terror and terrorism have different motives but similar methods, and Torontos resilience is likely to be much the same regardless. Consider how Canadas multicultural reality helps mute the backlash against a massacre, and also makes us a less obvious target for terrorists trying to make a statement. For who do you kill when you kill Canadians, if we are everyone and no one by which I mean, no one particular people? As a foreign correspondent, I had to cover suicide bombings in the Middle East with a recurring rhythm: A thundering explosion would shake the ground, followed by the cacophony of wailing sirens, and the sight of dismembered bodies strewn across food markets, or buses, or residential neighbourhoods, depending on that days terror target. In Israel, the victims were largely Jews (only sometimes did the terrorists miscalculate when their victims were Arab Christians or Muslims killed as collateral damage). The target was obvious, the method unmistakeable, the terrorism undeniably brutal for the victims and appealing to the perpetrators. Message sent and received.We are a world away from the conflict zones, but not insulated from the fallout. The latest death toll reminds us that the world has changed, leaving no one at a safe distance. For todays internet is the ultimate enabler, linking every loner to global epicentres of terror directly or indirectly. Individual plotters no longer require collaboration from terror cells to forge intricate conspiracies that required complex explosive devices and specialized knowledge. Now a man with a plan in a van is all it takes to mow people down with deadly certainty. In Europe, vehicular terrorists have been lone wolfs who were kindred spirits; in Toronto, the terrifying killer may have been a crazed spirit alone in his thoughts. Either way, it is the new terror, everywhere unstoppable for no amount of metal detectors, pat-downs, computer searches or water bottle bans can prevent a determined driver from mounting a sidewalk to kill pedestrians, whether on a London bridge or a Toronto street. Anyone behind a steering wheel now wields a potential weapon of mass destruction, anywhere at any time. The difference is that here in Toronto he can kill people but not turn them against one another. That is our unique strength. Canadian multiculturalism is a model to the world, an experiment in integration that remains unrivalled. Now it is being tested, not by the conventional strains of immigration and resettlement, but the unpredictable trials of terror and terrorism which rely on provocation for a reaction, that we might turn against one another. That is not who we are, nor who we will become. The warm weather is finally arriving and with it, the question of what to do about refugees walking across the border. The RCMP reported earlier this month that in January and February it had intercepted 3,000 people crossing from the U.S. to Canada to claim asylum. Compared to the same time last year in the months following Donald Trumps arrival in the White House the number of migrants walking across the border has tripled. Refugee lawyers and advocates have called for Canada to suspend its involvement with the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA). Because of its rules, the STCA incentivizes migrants seeking asylum to not claim at official ports of entry, such as official border stations. The influx of people to Canada both predates and is a symptom of current American foreign policy. The Trump administrations hostility toward migrants whether it is expanding deportation or rescinding temporary protected status for more than 200,000 individuals is influential. However, there has long been a sizable migrant crisis; globally the number is 60 million people, including refugees and internally displaced people. Refugees make up at least one third of that group. Grappling with this historic moment in the movement of people has had massive ramifications on countries around the world. Australia has chose outright xenophobia, imprisoning thousands of people on offshore islands. Germany has selected a pragmatic openness, opening its borders to more than 800,000 in 2014 the largest acceptance rate by far in the EU. Many countries, including Canada, have opted for some answer in between. For Canada, however, the problem has largely been one of geography. That is, its very hard to walk from Sudan to Canada. But the closures and heightened security around popular overland and overseas migrant routes are forcing us to contend with the ineffectiveness of the Canadian answer to the global migrant crisis. The American problem a president and an administration that is xenophobic and racist means a solution must be more urgent. Instead, we have been leading with bureaucracy, not vision. In the last budget, the department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship was given $74 million to clear its massive backlog of cases. A report by Robert Vineberg at the University of Calgary School of Public Policy attributes much of the existing backlog to an overreaction on the part of the government to a Supreme Court ruling. Vineberg argues the ruling was applied too widely to ensure everyone physically in Canada had the right to an in-person hearing. There is now at least a two-year delay for claimants to be heard by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). Vineberg suggests shifting the responsibility for hearing most asylum claims away from IRB and over to public servants within the immigration department. That would, he argues, create a more efficient system as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship has more office space and more staff. It is a valid suggestion but it only adds to the list of technocratic solutions that have been put into place. Recently, the IRB changed its scheduling system to a first-in-first-out process. Nevertheless, the backlog persists. For now, Canada has evaded the political strife arising from immigration that has rattled other countries. An Environics poll from March found that Canadians remained broadly supportive of immigration and refugees. Whether that humanitarian attitude will remain is not a certainty, especially in Quebec where the province and municipalities near the border have asked the federal government for help in resettling migrants elsewhere across the country. I hope it does not devolve into the anti-migrant politics weve seen around the world. But hope is not vision. Canadian policy on migrants, especially refugees, has not responded to this moment in time. The immigration targets for the next two years represent less than 1 per cent of our population. Canada has coasted globally on an acceptance of immigrants that is nowhere near the scale of other nations. Canada is back only if that includes doing our part in protecting some portion of the refugees in flight around the world. So many are going to come here anyway. The Canadian thing to do is to welcome them with open arms. Vicky Mochama is a co-host of the podcast, Safe Space. Her column appears every second Thursday. She also writes a triweekly column for Star Metro News. is a co-host of the podcast, Safe Space. Her column appears every second Thursday. She also writes a triweekly column for Star Metro News. Read more about: With time fast running out and polls showing shes headed for a major defeat, Kathleen Wynne is desperately trying to find a way to beat Doug Ford in the June 7 Ontario election. The embattled Ontario premier has read Hillary Clintons book, What Happened, looking for clues about what worked and didnt work for Clinton against Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Wynnes also studied the televised debates between Trump and Clinton as she gets ready for a series of debates with Ford and NDP leader Andrea Horwath. Clinton is considered to have won all three debates, with Trump lashing out at Clinton while Clinton remained cool and calm even though her campaign was faltering. In addition, Wynne has tried to appeal to lower- and middle-income voters who might lean Fords way by promising everything from free tuition for many post-secondary students, expanded daycare, pharmacare, higher minimum wages and more. And shes test-run several differing campaign styles, at first taking the high road in her approach to Ford, but lately switching to openly tough attacks on the Tory leader. None of it, though, is working. Simply, Wynne is flummoxed on how best to go after Ford. Privately, senior Liberals concede one of the main reasons Ford has maintained his solid lead in the polls is that his supporters simply dont care what he has done or said in the past. Thats true even if it is shown that hes a badly flawed candidate with a long, well-reported background of bullying, abusive behaviour and questionable judgment. Indeed, this I-dont-care attitude toward Ford by his loyalists is hauntingly similar to the attitude toward Donald Trump by his fans while he was campaigning for the U.S. presidency. It was so pronounced that Trump famously declared at a rally in Iowa that his supporters were so loyal theyd stick with him even if he were to shoot someone in downtown New York. Its the same phenomenon with Ford supporters. Here are some examples: Ford was reported by the Globe and Mail to have been a drug dealer for a number of years in the 1980s. Ford denied the allegations, but never sued the paper for libel or challenged them in court, later suggesting a lawsuit would be a waste of time. But Ford fans dont care. He accused the father of an autistic boy of waging a jihad and told him to go to hell. But Ford fans dont care. In 2016, Ford was found by Torontos integrity commissioner to have broken the citys code of conduct when he was a councillor by improperly using his influence in municipal matters pertaining to two firms that were clients of his Deco Labels, his family-owned company. But Ford fans dont care. While a councillor he urged the city to consider an expensive, laughable plan to develop the Toronto Port Lands area with a monorail, a boat-in hotel and the worlds biggest Ferris wheel. Ford fans still dont care. After attacking the leadership of his own party about how they ran the central party operations, Ford took the unprecedented step last weekend of appointing 11 Tory candidates, including the son of former premier Mike Harris, who had lost a nomination contest in a nearby riding, to run in the June election. But Ford fans dont care. He has said he wants to fire the head of Hydro One because of his big salary, even though he has no authority to do that. Hes vowed to cut $6 billion in spending, although he had no plan to do so. Hes vowed to slash Ontarios corporate tax rate although it already is the lowest in Canada. He has yet to unveil his campaign platform. But Ford fans dont care. Hes called a Toronto Star reporter a little bitch, told a Globe and Mail reporter to get off her lazy ass, and called journalists a bunch of pricks. But Fords fans dont care. With attitudes like that, it seems Ford supporters will stay with him regardless of what happens in the official campaign period. If that happens, defeat is certain for Wynne. Bob Hepburn is a politics columnist and based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @BobHepburn is a politics columnist and based in Toronto. Follow him on Read more about: VANCOUVERAs accident injury claims and public insurer losses skyrocket in British Columbia, so has spending on both sides of a fiery dispute over how to fix what the attorney general has called a $1.3 billion dumpster fire. According to data obtained by StarMetro, personal injury law firms advertising in traditional media outlets rose by roughly $850,000 between 2016 and 2017, a 56 per cent increase, reaching $2.4 million in total. Attorney General David Eby alluded to the figures ahead of introducing legislation capping minor injury payouts in the province and creating a new claims resolution process, tabled Tuesday in the legislature. He said the move would cut massive annual losses by the Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC) by up to $1 billion. We recognize there will be unhappiness on the part of many lawyers who engage in personal injury practice, he told reporters. In the last year alone, Ive seen information that advertising by personal injury lawyers is up 50 per cent in the last year the minor injury trend for B.C. is up over 200 per cent in the cost of administration and awards for minor injuries. Were not excited about this shift. We have to do this. ICBCs in financial crisis. When StarMetro inquired about Ebys remarks, a ministry spokesperson responded that the spending was recorded by Market Track, a private advertising monitoring service to which ICBC subscribes. ICBC has access to a third party media tracking service, which provides advertising spending data by B.C. law firms that offers personal injury legal services, read an emailed statement, attributed to the Ministry of the Attorney General, which oversees ICBC. In addition to the personal injury law firms, there have also been advertisements in many media outlets by a group created to fight Ebys proposed caps. The group, called Rights Over Arbitrary Decisions for British Columbians (ROAD), ran a recent newspaper ad bearing the messages, Has ICBC earned your trust? and Say no to injury caps in B.C. On its website, ROAD listed a number of supporters, for the large part medical, pain advocacy, rehabilitation and physiotherapy practitioners. The list includes the Trial Lawyers Assocation of B.C. (TLABC). Neither TLABC nor ROAD were available for interviews Tuesday. A spokesperson for ROAD phoned StarMetro from a number listed as a phone line at the TLABCs offices. But the Crown corporation itself has been waging its own advertising campaign on the hot-button political issue, in many of the same media outlets as ROAD. One ad from February reads, Put simply, premiums arent enough to cover the cost of payouts. According to an ICBC spokesperson, the publicly funded corporation had spent roughly $795,000 as of last month on that advertising campaign, run by Wasserman and Partners Advertising. The Vancouver-based ad agency has done previous campaigns for ICBC including on the costs of injury claim fraud and another B.C. agency, WorkSafeBC. (Both ROAD campaign and ICBC have purchased advertisements related to the provinces proposed changes in StarMetro in the past year, including the two ads described above). According to lawyer Bill Veenstra, president of the Canadian Bar Associations B.C. branch, theres good reason for all British Columbians to be concerned about Ebys reforms, not just personal injury lawyers. Veenstra, who said he doesnt practice personal injury law, said his association is neither a member nor funder of ROAD, and has not placed advertisements on the issue, but believes the proposed injury caps and new claims process put actual accident victims rights at risk. Theyre saying those who are injured should be forced to accept less in order that the rest of the public pays less in the way of premiums, he said in a phone interview. People hope theyre not going to be involved in a motor vehicle accident, but if they are they need to understand they will have appropriate and fair compensation for the injury they suffer. The new legislation purports to take that away. Eby countered that his legislation would do the opposite, improving coverage for major, life-altering injuries and speeding up compensation for victims out-of-pocket costs incurred from accidents many of which stall for long periods of time as they are disputed by injury lawyers, who are often paid a percentage of ICBCs eventual payout under B.C.s current system. Read more about: BSTI asks names of unsafe water sellers Staff Reporter : Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) asked the traders to inform about the unsafe water sellers. The Director General of BSTI Sardar Abul Kalam told it to the real traders in a discussion at the institution's office at Tejgaon in the city on Tuesday to ensure marketing of safe water. Businessmen concerned took part in the meeting. "We have taken action against those traders who were involved in selling water without taking BSTI licenses. Now, we are seeking your hands to ensure providing safe water to the citizen," the BSTI DG said. The DG presided over the meeting while its Director (CM) Engineer SM Ishaque Ali, among others gave speech. The business leaders from Association of Bangladesh Mineral and Purified Drinking Water, Pure Drinking Water Manufacturers Association and other companies' representatives took part. SURREY Are they gone? Gabriel Holecz swivels his head back and forth, scanning the length of 135a St. in Surrey, looking for police. Theyre gone, replies a friend, who did not give StarMetro her name. The pair dashes down the walkway leading from the SafePoint overdose-prevention site and hurries across the street. Slipping between tents crammed together along the sidewalk, they duck through a hole cut in the fence behind. As he clears the fence, Holeczs shoulders begin to relax, though his eyes are still darting. At 55 years old, Holecz has been addicted to drugs for most of his adult life and has a lengthy rap sheet of minor crimes. Today, though, he could get busted for simply trying to get clean needles. Holecz is under a spatial restriction order a so-called red zone as part of his two-year probation for petty theft and driving with a suspended licence. He tried to run from police, earning him additional charges for fleeing and resisting arrest. His probation bars him from entering a two-block radius along 135a St. between 106th and 108th Aves. The area is known as the Surrey Strip. Along with being an open-air drug market and homeless camp, it also happens to be where Holecz goes to work. Its where he goes to get food, access housing support and collect his methadone doses. Its where his sister lives, where his friends live. In many ways, its central to his entire life. Most mornings Holecz, who uses heroin about once a day, knowingly violates his red zone. He works doing manual labour under the table: renovations and custodial work for the most part. His jobs are located on the fringes of the red zone, but when he needs to inject, he has to go right into the centre to get to SafePoint, dodging the police cruisers that patrol the street from an RCMP detachment a couple hundred metres away. Everywhere I work is in the red zone, Holecz says. I have to. I gotta work, right? Holecz is far from the only person in this situation. There is a growing body of evidence showing that red zones are not only ineffective but may actually contribute to crime and put people at risk. A study released in October by researchers at Simon Fraser University and the University of Ottawa slammed the use of red zones in Vancouvers Downtown Eastside. Absolutely these things are contributing to the problems with our justice system, said report co-author and SFU professor Nicolas Blomley. A soon-to-be-released report by Pivot Legal Society will add weight to that argument. Clearly (red zones) are being overused, says DJ Larkin, a lawyer with Pivot and an author of the forthcoming report. We dont think thats in keeping with the Supreme Courts recent decision that marginalized people have an inherent right to be in public spaces, Larkin said. For their report, Larkin and her colleagues spoke to more than 100 marginalized or street-involved people in 10 cities across B.C. They profiled one large city and one small centre in every health authority region and also surveyed more than 100 harm-reduction and outreach service providers. What they found is a system that routinely applies ham-fisted restrictions that make no sense in the context of peoples lives. Someone arrested for drug possession, for example, would likely be released under the condition that they stay away from an area where drugs are sold, like Vancouvers Downtown Eastside or the Surrey Strip. But those areas are also where harm reduction, housing, mental health and outreach services are concentrated. In many cases its where people live. The research shows that pushing accused people away from services they need actually increases the likelihood they will commit more crimes, undermining the entire purpose of the red zone itself. Thats what happened to one woman who calls herself Lil One, who agreed to speak with StarMetro on the condition she be referred to by her popular pseudonym. She lives in a tent on the Surrey Strip and says she got busted for selling heroin to an undercover officer last year. Its her only way of making money, she said. When she was released, she had a red zone in place for the whole Strip. My doctor is here. The womens outreach is here, the medical clinic. Its like you made me go from being homeless to even more homeless, she said. Red zones create a cycle of arrest, breach, repeat something Blomley calls a revolving door in the justice system. According to the B.C. Prosecution Service, cases in which breached conditions (including breach of release conditions but also breaches of probation, conditional sentences and court order) were the most serious charge accounted for 33 per cent of all cases in the province in both of the past two years. There are situations where red zones do make sense. As defence lawyer Eric Warren explained, they are a good and often necessary tool for restricting the movements of an abuser in cases of domestic violence or other violent crimes, for example. But about 90 per cent of the time they are stupid, Warren said. They do more harm than good. Like many B.C. cities, Surrey is policed by the RCMP. The force has a specialized outreach team dedicated to policing and protecting the Strip. Its a 12-officer unit that operates out of a mobile trailer in the centre of the 135A block. StarMetro asked for an opportunity to accompany these officers during their patrols as part of the reporting for this story. Our request was denied. We also requested an interview with the officer in charge of the outreach team, Sgt. Trevor Dinwoodie, but that request was also denied. Instead, Surrey RCMP media relations emailed a written statement attributed to the detachments Proactive Enforcement Officer, Insp. Shawna Baher. With respect to the vulnerable people in our community, like those who live on 135A St., surviving with addictions and mental-health concerns, we face challenges in policing, the statement reads. We do our best to try to find a balance in our legal obligation, our duty to protect and our compassion for those in need. The statement said there have been a few people red zoned from the Surrey Strip for drug trafficking and violent assaults. The statement said all the people who have been restricted are in the area to prey upon the residents and directly profit off of human misery. The force does an extensive background check on people it arrests to determine if they truly need the services located within an area restriction, the statement said. A person under an area restriction ordered by a police officer can be escorted to the facility they require, the statement said. They will not be arrested or charged. Whether that means police would personally escort people in possession of illegal drugs to a supervised injection facility, the statement did not say. Twenty-one days after StarMetro sent follow-up questions seeking clarification, there has been no response. The Vancouver Police Department did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Red zones can be issued in a number of ways, official and unofficial. The first is a court-ordered condition connected to a bail or probation release. These conditions are meant to be used sparingly and only when crafted to fit the accuseds circumstances. Larkin and other experts say that is no longer happening; release conditions have become routine over time, chosen from a list and rubber-stamped by an overtaxed justice system. The second way is by a police officer right on the street. They have the authority to arrest someone and, rather than hold them in custody, release them on whats called a promise-to-appear. That can include a number of conditions, including a red zone. Both Blomleys study and the forthcoming Pivot Legal report found many police forces in B.C. are also issuing informal red zones orders that are not connected to any paperwork or formal proceeding and thus lack oversight. Certainly police are imposing conditions that can be quite vague, Pivot Legals DJ Larkin said. Things like, Dont come back here, youre not allowed in this area, I dont want to see you in this area, etc. It creates a very strong sense of insecurity about where people are allowed to go or not. Squatting in the alley outside SafePoint, a man who would only give his first name as Lane said hes been red zoned from all of Vancouver, where he normally lives. Lane said he wasnt sure whether his red zone was official or not; an officer on the street told him he wasnt allowed to stay in the city. Official or not, the order has left him homeless and he now lives on the Strip. Larkin said that claim, being effectively banished from an entire city, was a common complaint among the people she interviewed for the Pivot study. Spatial red-zone restrictions are often accompanied by orders to abstain from using drugs or carrying drug paraphernalia such as needles and crack pipes. Police in some jurisdictions, they confiscate harm-reduction supplies. Theyll take clean syringes and smash them on the ground, Larkin said. In the context of Canadas ongoing opioid crisis, that kind of policing can cost lives, Larkin said. A number of people StarMetro spoke to said friends of theirs had died of an overdose after being red zoned from the Downtown Eastside or the Surrey Strip. Red zones are basically sentencing people to death, said a man who goes by Diablo, standing outside Surreys SafePoint supervised consumption site. He also refused to give his legal name, asking instead to be referred to by a pseudonym. Theyll go off (alone) and use dope in the woods, or in an alley and theyll die. In the Vancouver study, Blomley and his colleagues were concerned to find that police, lawyers, Crown attorneys, judges and other justice-system workers mostly held the belief despite the evidence that red zones were reasonable, were being applied correctly and that they worked. One of the legal actors we spoke to said, I dont get it. All I see in my courtroom are breach of bail and breach of probation charges, Blomley said. Like most pre-trial conditions, red-zone use is increasing, he said. Yes, they actually generate criminal statistics, Blomley said. But theyre not crime in the way most people would understand them. Thats because its not inherently illegal to stand in the middle of Surreys 135A St. or visit the nearby food bank unless a court or a police officer has ordered you not to. Pre-trial release conditions create crimes out of marginalized peoples daily lives, Blomley said. So why are they still being used? A soon-to-be-released update to the October study by Blomley and one of his co-authors, University of Ottawa professor Marie-Eve Sylvestre, helps shed some light. The pair examined how red zones are used in Montreal. They found many of the same problems associated with red zone use in Vancouver are also common there, with one surprising exception. Unlike legal actors in the Vancouver justice system, those in Montreal largely agreed that red zones are ineffective. They knew they were putting people at risk of failure, Sylvestre said. But they felt quite limited in terms of the tools that they are able to use. For example, Sylvestre said many workers in the Montreal system seemed open to crafting more carefully circumscribed probation orders, like requiring someone go to a harm-reduction service like SafePoint, or follow a prescribed program to first stabilize and then slowly reduce their drug use. But they cant include that order, Sylvestre said, because consuming drugs is illegal, so thats just not an option. Jesse Winter is an investigative reporter and photographer based in Vancouver. He can be reached at jesse.winter@metronews.ca Read more about: VANCOUVERNew numbers to be released Thursday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) show buying a home in Vancouver is getting easier if you happen to have more than a million dollars budgeted for the purpose. Typically, demand for high-end homes has played the biggest role in price increases within the housing market, explained CMHC market analyst Keith Stewart in an interview. For sure that was the case following the financial crisis, he said. Not so, anymore. The segment of the housing market that is leading price increases consists of homes priced up to, but not exceeding, $1 million. By the end of March 2018, the proportion of Metro Vancouvers housing inventory priced above $1 million far exceeded sales of homes in that price range, while the reverse was true for homes priced less than $1 million. That means, for example, that someone looking for a home with a budget between $23 million by the end of March 2018 had 16 per cent of Vancouvers housing inventory available to them, while only 4 per cent of sales in that month were of homes in that price range. But, a home seeker with a budget between $700,000$1 million in the same month had just over 15 per cent housing inventory within their budget, while 24 per cent of the sales that month were of homes in that price range. The latter buyer, in other words, faced much greater competition for their prospective purchase. That rings true for Metro Vancouver home seekers. Heather Patel, an administrative assistant who was looking at the possibility of buying a home with her husband, an engineer, in March, said they were told by a financial adviser they could afford a home worth $500,000 with their two incomes. But Patel knows that budget is not likely to go far in the city, or even in broader Metro Vancouver. If we ever own, it will be outside the city, she said. Weve thought about jumping ship even to the states, she said, but the desire to stay close to family has kept them renting in south Burnaby. In 2018, in the case of homes for sale under the $1 million mark, you still have a chance of multiple offers and possibly a bidding war, Stewart said. That marks a change within Metro Vancouvers housing market. Under 14 per cent of all the housing inventory in March 2014 was priced above $1 million. Four years later, that number is 45 per cent. A number of possible factors have contributed to this shift, Stewart said, including government policies intended to cool the real estate market, such as the mortgage stress test brought in by the federal government and B.C.s 2016 property transfer tax on foreign nationals. Those measures seem to have eased the market for high-end homes, while the market for less expensive condominiums boomed as an option for both investment and prospective owner-occupiers. Theres a record amount of apartments under construction right now, said Leonard Catling, a spokesperson for the CMHC. The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation will release their quarterly housing market assessment Thursday. Alex McKeen is a Vancouver-based reporter covering wealth and work. Follow her on Twitter: @alex_mckeen Read more about: VANCOUVERThe cost of living in Vancouver, especially the cost of housing, has increased so much that living wage advocates have found the wage required for families to get by has gone up for the first time in three years. According to the calculation by Living Wage for Families and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Vancouver families with two parents working full-time need to earn at least $20.91 per hour each in 2018 in order to be able to buy necessities and have enough stability to be active in the community. The rate, released Wednesday, is 29 cents higher than last years living wage. Their calculation is based on the expenses associated with a bare bones budget for families that includes shelter, clothing, food and child care but not debt payments or savings for retirement. Living Wage for Families calls on employers to commit to paying employees wages and benefits equal to the calculated amount. Over 80 Metro Vancouver employers certified by the Living Wage for Families campaign, including the City of Vancouver and Vancity Credit Union, are committed to paying a higher hourly wage this year. For 10-year Vancouver Public Library employee Gary Jarvis, thats the difference between being able to plan ahead and always making himself available for shifts at work, where hes a part-time employee. The library became a living wage employer in 2017. I can cover my rent, I can cover my food, Jarvis said, so he can now make the decision to buy tickets to a show he wants to go to with his girlfriend. It kind of increases your joy of life. Surviving to a little bit more than surviving. Campaign organizer Deanna Ogle said this years calculation goes to show that a living wage is about more than pay commitments by employers. Its also about policies that get costs under control. A ministry may make a decision that impacts us but we dont experience that in isolation, she said. The government, she said, needs to be acting across ministries looking at how costs intersect and making policies that are meaningful in that way. Ogle said the campaign is pleased about the provincial policies to make child care more affordable and reduce and eventually eliminate Medical Services Plan premiums, but because there was no real substantial change in the housing landscape, those initiatives were swamped. Using data from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the group found a $100 monthly increase in the median cost of a three-bedroom home in Vancouver. For B.C., overall the increase was $64 per month, while Chilliwack had the highest increase in the province at $563 more per month. Jarvis said workplaces can do more too. He notes hes fortunate to be covered by a union and to be paid higher than minimum wage, but even he has to scramble to piece together enough shifts to make a living wage. We all have a role to play in poverty reduction, Ogle said. Some employers committed to the living wage reported an upside to doing so. Hilary Statton, vice-president of operations and human resources at PARC Retirement Living, said after reviewing the requirements of the Living Wage campaign certification, PARC found the commitment both the right thing to do and feasible. She added employees and residents alike responded positively when they implemented the living wage. We develop special relationships with staff and they give us their hearts, said Sandra Whyte, a resident at the Westerleigh location. If they cannot afford to stay because of a low wage, we lose an important part of our family. Alex McKeen is a Vancouver-based reporter covering wealth and work. Follow her on Twitter: @alex_mckeen Read more about: GODFREY A now-reorganized association, formerly involved in supporting Southwest and Southern Illinois, left a void now filled by a new, regional nonprofit organization, started by a staunch supporter of asthma education. The LungSmarter Foundation, founded and led by Godfrey resident Jaris Waide, also carries on the tradition of the former American Lung Association (ALA) Asthma Awareness and Education Walk, also known as the Alphabet Asthma Awareness Walk among its regular participants, at Godfreys Glazebrook Park. Now organized by the LungSmarter Foundation as its own event, the Alphabet Walk continues with the purpose of continuing asthma education, taking place as usual the first Saturday in May, thanks to Waide and those involved in the new nonprofit organization. The May 5 walk event is free and open to the public. Waides Alphabet Team formed in 2000 with A is for Asthma as the walks inaugural theme. The team has been walking through the alphabet year-by-year ever since, with a theme each year for each subsequent letter of the alphabet. This year, the theme is R for Revitalize with proper hydration, eating good nutrition, along with doing Regular fitness Right for each individual. Some years ago, close to 20 years now, I heard the advice that one should hitch your wagon to something bigger than yourself to bring purpose, a deeper meaning to your life, and that resonated with me, recalled Waide, who is the LungSmarter Foundations president. Within the same time, I heard on the radi0 an announcement about a start-up event a walk for the American Lung Association (ALA) its purpose described as for asthma awareness. I am passionate about asthma education. And, with good reason for Waide is an acute asthma attack survivor, who suffered traumatic brain injury during the attack. But, years of therapy and self-determination got her back on her feet, though she still struggles with some motor function, speech and vision, and, in fact, she is legally blind. This led Waide to begin working vigorously to combat asthma ever since. Thus, Waide forged a plan for asthma education, especially among youth. She formed a walk team, which became known as the ALA Alphabet Team, representing the American Lung Association in the region of Southwest Illinois, and the Godfrey ALA walk was born in 2000 because of Waides efforts. When the American Lung Association adopted a horizontal re-organization discontinuing its role in Southern Illinois last July, Waide found herself at a crossroads, feeling abandoned. As of last summer, over the walk campaigns 17 years, the Alphabet Team raised $40,000. But, with Waide committed to a total fundraising goal of $50,000 for an intended multiple-years-long campaign, she still has a way to go with her team to complete walking A through Z and, more importantly, the commitment to asthma education and raising awareness about untreated or unattended asthma. And, though the American Lung Association no longer is active in Southern Illinois, the ALA is donating a number of ALA T-shirts the day of the LungSmarter Foundation Asthma Education & Awareness Walk, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, May 5, at Glazebrook Park. With a lot of help, I was able to participate in that first American Lung Association asthma walk by walking my wheelchair the four-mile trail and raising $714 under the team of A is for Asthma, noted Waide, who now actually can walk with aid. More Information If you go: What: LungSmarter Foundation Asthma Education & Awareness Walk When: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., Saturday, May 5 Where: Glazebrook Park's concession stand, Godfrey Info: This event is free and open to the public. An educational Puppet Show, by the Southwest Illinois Asthma Coalition, will start promptly at 10 a.m.; each child will have a finger puppet to encourage interaction. Adults also are encouraged to wear a finger puppet to motivate youngsters to ask questions for Puppet Show responses. Also Madison County's 911 Emergency Telephone System representatives will be present making 911 test calls to teach children, as well as adults, how to place such a call. And, the Godfrey Fire Protection District will have its fire truck at this event. Share personal experiences and enjoy the LungSmarter Celebration Meal provided immediately following the walk, delivered by Alton's Franklin Lodge No. 25's Bill Perkins. Visit www.lungsmarter.com for more information or contact LungSmarter Foundation President Jaris Waide at jaris@piasanet.com to learn how to donate to the LungSmarter Foundation or for more information. See More Collapse The LungSmarter Foundations mission to promote preventative education such as knowing who should, when and how to make a 911-call particularly has to do with the numbers of children dealing with asthma and breathing difficulties, and that there is no cure for asthma. Waides decision to continue the mission without the American Lung Association with a new focus of asthma education debuted last fall as ABCs-plus of Asthma, a childrens emergency educational program, at a Godfrey Fire Protection District Open House. We feel the commitment to this community, Waide said. After all, it is different when its you or your child who cant breathe. Waide, a Madison County native, graduated from Alton High School. She began taking dance lessons at age 3 and performed for two summers at St. Louis historic Muny Opera in the Childrens Chorus. She received her bachelors in Creative Art Expression from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where she also was a member of SIUCs modern dance troupe. She received a masters in telecommunications management from Los Angeles Golden Gate University. Waide was diagnosed asthmatic at age 34, while making a swift climb to the top of the telecommunications industry becoming a top executive. Years later, she suffered the acute asthma attack while working and living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I called 911 that morning in 1998, she recalled. I felt some tightness in my lungs while laughing outside. So, I quickly closed the sliding door, grabbed my inhaler, but there was no breathing relief like usual. Suddenly, I realized that I was in big trouble and dialed 911. I heard the siren, but I collapsed. As documented, paramedics arrived in three minutes time, but were unsuccessful in attempts to revive Waide. Records show that the first responders didnt know what to do, making calls to an emergency room physician. Waides jaw had locked and she needed oxygen. They should have used an EpiPin, or something like that, to relax my jaw, noted Waide, indicating why she is passionate about preventative asthma education in conjunction with awareness. Other paramedics tell me I might have escaped permanent injury with the use of an EpiPen. Last year, Waide set out to find help in setting up the LungSmarter Foundation as a nonprofit, for which Husch Blackwell LLP in St. Louis, stepped up. Then the foundation had logo stickers made, with design provided free by Abbey Inc. Graphic Design and Support Services in Godfrey. LungSmarter is going to fight back for our kids and continue to fund raise to benefit those in need, to save lives and help kids to breathe easier, Waide said. Were not going to stand-down while thousands of our children continue to struggle to catch their breath, while parents struggle with medical bills, health care expenses and juggle to pay for multiple prescriptions, not to mention hospitalizations, expensive trips to the E.R. for an emergency breathing treatment. All the while, children continue to miss school days and suffer with breathing difficulties, asthmatic or not. Other of Waides efforts include creating an Asthma Awareness patch, introduced by the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois; receiving an American Lung Association Lung Health Hero Award; acting as Childrens Lung Hero and Childrens Ambassador volunteer; leading the American Lung Associations top Southwest Illinois fundraising team; and, through funds raised by the team making a difference in two different Illinois asthma education programs. Contact LungSmarter Foundation President Jaris Waide at jaris@piasanet.com to learn how to donate to the LungSmarter Foundation or for more information. EDWARDSVILLE Approximately 244 students in the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) were honored for their outstanding achievements during CAS annual Honors Day program held Sunday, April 15 on campus. CAS Honors Day is the largest single celebration of student achievement held annually, outside of commencement. This year, nearly 300 awards and scholarships were presented from 22 departments and programs. The students we honor today have successfully begun a journey of intellectual transformation that will continue throughout their educational and professional careers, and we couldnt be prouder of them, said CAS Dean Greg Budzban, PhD. Budzban expressed his deep appreciation to sponsors whose contributions help transform students lives. More than 50 were in attendance during the program. Your continued generosity has a profound impact on the lives of our students, an impact that could not be replicated without your support, Budzban said. We are extremely grateful. Tanadja Barber was the programs student speaker. She is pursuing a masters in art therapy counseling. Barber received the Carol Lark Art Therapy Award, sponsored by the Missouri Art Therapy Association. Todays scholarships and awards are given to those who have demonstrated an unrelenting commitment to higher education, despite all obstacles, Barber said. I challenge my peers to take this moment and use it when you feel like its impossible to thrive. Think about all the people that support you and your success, and believe in yourself in a way that makes you fearless. To award and scholarship sponsors, Barber said, Your generosity and vote of confidence stand against our insecurities and give us the courage to believe in ourselves the way you do. We are eternally grateful and can only aspire to make you proud. At Honors Day, several new awards were presented, including the Buchta 1852 Quercus Grove Scholarship, which will alternate between the Departments of Art and Design, and Theater and Dance. Dr. Lois Ladd sponsored the award that was presented to Elizabeth Virgl, a senior in the Department of Art and Design. The $1,000 Rhine Latowsky Harrison Scholarship in Mass Communications was also awarded for the first time in CAS. Senior Catharine Camero earned the scholarship, sponsored by Martha Rose Rhine. Several CAS students were recognized for awards in two different departments, including but not limited to: Jon Garrett was recognized by the Departments of Music and Foreign Languages and Literature Joseph Strohmeyer received awards from the Departments of Applied Communication Studies and Biological Sciences Willem Devin earned an award from the Department of Philosophy, as well as two awards from the Department of Historical Studies Felicia Johler was recognized by the Departments of Philosophy and Criminal Justice Studies CAS Associate Dean Wendy Shaw, PhD, was honored during the ceremony for her 15 years of service in that role. She will relocate to her home department of geography in July. Notably, two students were recognized for receiving the Peace Corps PREP status. Claire Schneider and Erika Bainbridge are the first SIUE students to attain this status. ALTON Two individuals were taken into custody Wednesday after a narcotics-related raid, and subsequent traffic stop, in Alton. A multi-agency Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS) team, in conjunction with Alton police and Illinois State Police, raided a house in the 100 block of West Ninth Street in Alton at approximately 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, according to Alton Police Chief Jason Jake Simmons. The narcotics-related search warrant was executed and an individual was taken into custody without incident, Simmons said. ALTON The distinctive honky tonk sounds of Mickey Gilley will come to Grafton Friday, June 8, as the legendary country crooner presents a benefit concert for the Grafton Police Department. Mickey Gilley will appear in An Evening With Mickey Gilley at the Historic Boat Works in Grafton located adjacent to The Loading Dock. Doors will open for general admission seating at 7 p.m. and the show will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at www.TicketWeb.com One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Grafton Police Department. ALTON The president of Madison Countys SNIP (Spay/Neuter Illinois Pets) Alliance fears the coming days could be the organizations last Hail Mary as it faces a funding shortage. Due to two economic factors spay/neuter clinics may only be offered through July, Evelyn Shermer, president of SNIP Alliance, said. In October 2017 the Board of Madison County elected to divide the Madison County Animal Care and Control grant between SNIP Alliance and two other organizations who may use those grant funds for their own adoptable animals. SNIP Alliance only uses these grant funds for the public. Also, due to the 2017 hurricane season most grantors that we relied on in the past are focusing their efforts in hurricane-ravaged areas of the country. After being routed in the 2016 presidential primaries, a motley band of unreformed Never Trump Republicans gathered this week to make their last stand in the Supreme Court. They are asking the court to overturn what, other than the wall on the Mexican border, was the most decisive promise of the Trump campaign. The group includes Republicans who were prominent on the national scene ten, twenty and even thirty years ago, including former New Jersey Governors Tom Kean and Christine Todd Whitman, who publicly declared in February 2016 that I know I wont vote for Trump. Others, such as failed Utah candidate Evan McMullin, had a brief flicker of fame in 2016 before flaming out. In case anyone needed a reminder why grassroots conservatives support Trump, the divide in the GOP on this case is conclusive evidence. Phyllis Schlaflys classic book, A Choice Not An Echo, explained how an Establishment within the Republican Party works perpetually to withhold power from the conservative wing of the party. Trump ended the insiders control of the GOP. These filings by Republicans of yesteryear, however, illustrate that the Establishment is still fighting back. Trumps proposal for a temporary halt to immigration from Muslim countries was first announced in December 2015, following the massacre in San Bernardino, California, where a husband-and-wife team of legal Muslim immigrants shot and killed 14 people and seriously wounded 22 others at a Christmas party. It was one of Trumps campaign promises that drew wide support and helped Trump win the primaries and then the election. After Trump became president, the campaign promise was refined (some would say watered down) in versions 1, 2 and 3 of an executive order, which is now before the Supreme Court. Trump tweeted that his restrictions should be far larger, tougher and more specific. Polling showed the public agreed more with Trump than with his detractors on this issue. A Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted immediately after Trump signed the first and strongest version of what has come to be known as the travel ban, found that 48 percent of Americans agreed and only 41 percent disagreed. A Rasmussen poll of likely voters found 57 percent agreed and only 33 percent opposed. Support for Trump increased when the current version of the policy was issued last summer. Some 60 percent of Americans in an AP-NORC poll said they support the new guidelines which say visa applicants from six predominantly Muslim countries must prove a close family relationship with a U.S. resident in order to enter the country, while only 28 percent were opposed. Among Republicans surveyed in the same poll, 84 percent of respondents supported the policy, while 9 percent opposed it. That poll demonstrates that liberal Republicans who signed the briefs in the Supreme Court are out of step with the base, even in California where a recent poll by the University of California at Berkeley showed that 59 percent favor an increase in deportations. Yet that public sentiment has not taken hold in many federal courts, and particularly not in the Obama-dominated Fourth and Ninth Circuits of the U.S. Court of Appeals. The federal judiciary, which is supposed to be the least dangerous branch in terms of power, has embraced a relentless agenda to block Trumps actions at every turn. Time and time again, from as faraway places as the federal district court in Hawaii, activist judges repeatedly enjoined Trumps travel ban. Hawaii, of course, sees little harm from illegal aliens because so few can travel there, and California already benefits from a southern fence to stem the flow of illegal migration from Mexico. The Supreme Court has allowed Trumps restrictions to go into effect during the pendency of this appeal, so the Court should have no difficulty affirming presidential power to control our borders in this manner. President Trump acted property to suspend, temporarily, migration from North Korea, Syria, Iran, Libya, Venezuela, Somalia and Yemen. Yet the resistance to Trumps protection of our country against foreigners continues to be intense, as the briefs filed in the Supreme Court opposing Trump far outnumber those which support him. Even a group of former national security and so-called intelligence officials ask the Supreme Court to strike down Trumps travel ban, despite how it obviously enhances our security by keeping potential enemies out. Andrew C. McCarthy, as the former prosecutor of a terrorist, filed a brief in support of Trumps position. At the end of the day, he points out, it is not the role of the judiciary to intercede in such matters, and this Court should clearly say so. Fourteen states, including immigrant-popular Texas and Arizona, weighed in with the Supreme Court to support President Trumps travel ban. The Court should listen to these States that are on the front lines of illegal migration into our country, and to the grassroots that support Trump. John and Andy Schlafly are the sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work. Sustainable rural development containing global warming Dr. M. Abul Kashem Mozumder, Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque : Sustainable development focuses on inclusive development that allows people to contribute to and benefit from development and at the same time preserves and conserves the natural ecosystems. The long term development vision of Bangladesh has been set in the Perspective Plan as transformation from a low income economy to the first stages of a middle-income nation by 2021. Bangladesh in 2021 is expected to be a country in which (i) every citizen has equal opportunities to achieve his/her fullest potential, (ii) all citizens enjoy a quality of life where basic health care and adequate nutrition are assured, (iii) all citizens have access to a modern, technical, and vocational education tailored to meet the needs of a technologically advancing nation, (iv) sustainability of development is ensured through preserving and conserving natural ecosystems and better protection from climate change and natural disasters, (v) there is respect for principles of democracy, rule of law, and human rights, (vi) gender equality is assured; so are the rights of ethnic populations and of all other disadvantaged groups including persons with disabilities, and (vii) diversity and creativity of all people are valued and nurtured, (viii) effective participation in equitable and rules based multilateral trading system will be promoted, and (ix) people will have respect and tolerance for others, understanding, moderation, religious freedom and human dignity. In the transformation process the government will play the role of facilitator of private initiatives and innovation while the private sector will serve as an engine of growth. The public and private sectors will collaborate effectively and efficiently through public private partnerships and other innovative models to deliver infrastructure, utility and other services (GoB. 2012). The global environment is changing due largely to 'the rapid sea-level rise occurring in all climate models whether they depict low, medium or high rates of greenhouse-gas emissions. In a medium greenhouse-gas emission scenario, the coastal areas would see an additional rise of about 8.3 inches above the mean sea level rise that is expected around the globe because of human-induced climate change' The scientists express grave concern over coastal belts. This is because of the fact that 'about half of the world population live in coastal belts. Of course there is a large variation among countries. Changes in climate will affect coastal systems through sea level rise and increase in storm-surge hazards and possible changes in the frequency of extreme antecedents. The people in developing countries are four times more likely to die in natural disasters than people in developed countries. An increase in the global temperature is likely to potentially result in a sea level rise as much as one meter that may cause inundation of coastal areas and high frequency of submersion of vast area under water. The consequences are being faced by the people in different parts of the world regarding health hazards, natural calamities, draught, acid rain, desertification, sea level rise and so many greenhouse effect Contemporary global warning stemming from global warming and rising seas is a veritable reflection of experts' concerns calling attention of the policy level political and official high-ups. Fast changing rainfall pattern showing decreasing trend in monsoon and increasing trend during post monsoon period is a danger sign. Unexpected heavy rainfall as a mark of capricious play of nature threatens to lead to increasing runoffs causing devastation of flood. There has been increasing debate over global warming. . Poor regions, particularly Asia and Africa, are vulnerable to 'the projected effects of global warming despite the fact that their emissions have been small compared to the developed world. The exemption of developing countries from Kyoto Protocol restrictions has been used to justify non-ratification by the U.S. and a previous Australian Government. Australia has since ratified the Kyoto protocol. Another point of contention is the degree to which emerging countries such as India and China should be expected to constrain their emission.' A host of global warming skeptics in the political community debated 'all or some of the global warming scientific consensus, questioning whether global warming is actually occurring, whether human activity has contributed significantly to the warming, and on the magnitude of the threat posed by global warming. According to the latest UN Global Warming report underlining facts and predictions 'the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) delivered a huge blow to global warming skeptics. Leading climate scientists are now 90 percent sure that human activity is heating up the planet. The concerns of the government of the small island states deserve mention. Maldives, for illustration, is a small island state vulnerable to changes in sea level. Due to climate change there are possibilities of being badly damaged by cyclone, floods, tidal surge, and tsunami. The Maldives and Bangladesh are among the SAARC countries with clean air having much less incidence of emission of greenhouse gas. Despite this reality these two countries are going to be the worst victims of global warming and 'consequential sea-level rise'. Scientists apprehended Maldives would go under sea water and one third of Bangladesh would go under sea water. The state of governance will be a matter of grave concern if it does not avoid stoic indifference to the damages already taking place unplanned urbanization with growing urban jungles and industries is polluting and suffocating air. The deluge of urbanization is beginning to adversely affect the countryside. Development under rural modernization experiment has by now shown many a contraindication. There has been wanton destruction of forest trees in costal belts that serve to absorb carbon and the scorching heat of sun. So think of green beckoning to prevent global warming. Environment economists advocate 'carbon-neutral economic production system'. Local administration at the upazila level must be quick at responding to the need for rehabilitation of climate change displaced families with global climate change fund or green fund. This is the need of the hour. At times local administration can well do to conduct policy advocacy for sustainable development and conserving bio-diversity. Rural development ceases to be sustainable without reference to the involvement of major stakeholders and beneficiaries in policy formulation and policy implementation process. In recent years the national and donor agencies, too, have been at the forefront of the growing international consensus that participatory approach and sustainable development are indivisible. The belief is that developing capacity building or learning by doing through participation can be and should be the primary way to eliminate poverty. It is increasingly realized that only participatory approach underpins understanding of the beneficiaries understanding their predicaments. It gratifies villager's needs for self-development. Also it paves for social mobilization and wider network of communication involving the cross section of the rural populace. The policy goal, as it is clearly visible in recent policy dialogue, put the last first through participation in mandatory areas of development. We define sustainable rural development in terms of sustaining livelihoods, reducing poverty, protecting and regenerating environment, intergenerational justice in resource use, conservation of bio-diversity, expansion of green and bio-technologies, institutional viability, resound economic growth, social and political stability. Developing capacities for good governance underpins all participatory elements in sustainable development process. By now campaign for sustainable rural livelihoods (CSRL) has organized a shadow climate change tribunal as a part of its series of events on climate change. The tribunal is expected to provide necessary directions on the issue of climate change afflicting the poor, especially women and child. Of late OXFAM has undertaken extensive activities on climate change working with the government and the people. This to think of sustainable rural livelihoods. Agriculture is the key to rural livelihoods; according to the size of the farms, small and marginal farmers are the key to agricultural production. And agriculture is an interaction between people and nature Sustainable rural development is influenced by the cultural, socio-economic and political characteristics of the community organization. Such characteristics vary at various cultural sets and sub-sets. Ad times, PR seems to be the function of the society exposed to the forces of political development. Here the individuals as policy consumers are both individually and collectively aware about their own problems and predicaments and about human rights and public affairs. PRD by implications involves all promotional activities and modern extension services tilting policy intervention to the favour of community interests. Organizationally linked both horizontally and vertically participatory institutions are effective tools for communications, networking and planning and directing all promotional and extension functions at the rural-local point.(Mashreque 2015) According to World Bank rural development is "a strategy designed to improve the economic and social life of the rural people" (The World Bank, 1975).. Some degree of Development administration at the micro level is present in all instances of decision making at least theoretically. Decision-making with regard to rural development program seems to be the functions of political leaders. Their participation in various organizations and committees is a key component of development administration. It is heartening to note that the proximate policy officials and policy adviser mainly agronomists have given concepts notes about sustainable agriculture trough proper irrigation. Green landscapes are of course the blessings of god. All the same deep as well as shallow tube wells supplying water to land under cultivation are really producing the benefits of cost s of production. Especially during boro season . modern irrigations like deep and shallow tube wells have been installed by BADC, Krishi bank and BRD. The role of BARD as a think tank cannot be left out of equation. Based on Comilla model it has long been experimenting with sustainable irrigation with a commensurate results. It enable the implementing agencies, BRDB and Thana agricultural extensions to follow up according to policy guidelines of BARD. The rural sector in Bangladesh continues to be underdeveloped despite the fact that it feeds its national economy. Until and unless rural economic can be improved to a certain standard any institutional intervention to develop the country will be thwarted. For this reason. Any successive regime in Bangladesh stresses the imperatives of development administration and governance at the micro-level for the implementation of participatory rural development programs. For an agro based economy it is imperative that the creation of local institutions will succeed in educating the people about the changes in the social outlook towards modern development projects in the rural areas of Bangladesh. Our local administration needs to be revamped with the components of development administration to facilitate good governance for a desirable rural transformation To ensure sustainable rural development rural people need scope for developing local initiative. Participation as individuals in local or national programs contribute to rural development nut rural people need increasingly to take initiative rather than just wait for the national government to organize programs. So the question of involvement of the people at grass root level into production and development comes in. The government has been taking effective steps to bring all sections of the people the educated, the scientists, the technologists, the students, the political leaders, the illiterates, in other words the people of all community and classes in their respective spheres of production and development process. Thus effective participation of the rural masses is shaping their own destiny is important. Involvement of the people at all the stages of planning implementation and in organizing production and distribution system must form the basis of the rural development strategy. There should be a large scale of mobilization of the masses for participation in the building of rural infrastructure such as roads, canals, irrigation facilities, schools, horticulture, fisheries etc. (Dr. M. Abul Kashem Mozumder, Pro-VC , BUP, Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque , Ex-professor, Chittagong University) One of the reasons for weaker GST collections in all states could be the tedious and elaborate process involved in it, observed a panel of tax experts and officials administering the single indirect tax regime. The good news is that this is likely to be resolved soon. The present system requires one to file 37 returns in a year. The Sushil Modi-chaired group of ministers (GoM) is working to reduce that effectively to half or even lesser, said Arun Goyal, special secretary, GST Councilthe administrative body that regulates and sets rules for the national indirect tax network. Earlier, trade bodies and tax experts had approached the GST Council, seeking to reduce the compliance burden for adhering to the new indirect tax regime. Subsequently, the GST Council formed a group of ministers, comprising finance ministers and revenue officials of seven states, under the chairmanship of Bihar Finance Minister, Sushil Modi. The GoM, during its meeting last week, had failed to reach a consensus on simplifying GST return forms. The ministerial panel, assisted by technocrat and Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani, was looking at two options to simplify the returns earlier. Now a hybrid or combination of this two systems is being finalised to be presented as the third option for the GST Council to consider, said Goyal, speaking on the sidelines of Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZ in Delhi on Wednesday. In the first model, the GoM is considering the buyer needs to upload all the invoices, and get GST credit for inputs only after those invoices are verified by the seller. The second option require the seller to get provisional GST credit, even if all the invoices have not been uploaded. The third model is likely to be a combination of these two, Goyal indicated. Among other things, the GST Council also wants the government to increase its stake in the Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN)the privately held body where government has 49 per cent stakewhich monitors, controls, and runs the IT-backbone of the newly introduced indirect tax system. After the Facebook Cambridge Analytica leaks, national security concerns is becoming an issue among the council members. Therefore, it was felt that the stake in GSTN should be increased to 51 per cent and make it a government-owned setup, said Dheeraj Rastogi, joint secretary, GST Council. We are looking at the options that could be explored to increase this stake, said Rastogi, adding that the suggestion in this regard has also came from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is also the chairman of GST Council. Currently, states and Central government own 24.5 per cent each in GSTN. The rest 51 per cent is jointly held by LIC Housing Finance, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and NSE Strategic Investment Co. If such an arrangement is to be made, either LIC Housing alone, which is government-held, could sell the remaining equity to government or each private entities could sell 0.4 per cent equity each to the government. The GST Council, which is the highest decision making body of the indirect tax regime, is likely to deliberate on these and more issues during its 27th meeting to be held on May 4. As per finance ministry sources, Jaitley is still restricted to move out of his sanitised zone at home, and so the meeting is likely to be done through video conference. In a bid to regain market share in the commercial vehicle segment, and meet the changing market requirements, Tata Motors is betting on new modular platforms as well as de-bottlenecking supply chains and adding capacities wherever required. The country's largest commercial vehicle maker lost market share in segments like medium and heavy commercial vehicles and pickups in the last few years as competition rose and existing players too became more aggressive. Tata Motors rolled out its Turnaround 2.0 strategy, aimed at the reversing the trends, a move that has started bearing fruits. In the year-ended March 31, the company's overall CV market share has picked up to around 44 per cent. However, it still lost some market share in the MHCV segment, which currently stands at around 51 per cent. Therefore, the company will look to do more of de-bottlenecking and enhancing capacities this year. "One may not see a big announcement that we are putting up a big plant. But, what we are doing consistently is lot of actions in terms of de-bottlenecking. De-bottlenecking can happen through continuous improvement, which is at one end of the continuum, to investment into new capacity, new machinery or new equipment, which is other end of the continuum. We have been doing this past one year to some extent and we will be doing it more this year," said Girish Wagh, president of Tata Motors' commercial vehicle business. The de-bottlenecking was also necessitated with the company running at full capacity in some of the lines, where the product demand was high. "On some of the lines, our capacity utilisation went even beyond 100 per cent. In some of the lines, we even introduced a second shift and third shift as it demanded. The restrictions were more on the suppliers side," said Guenter Butschek, MD of Tata Motors. Additionally, within its existing plants, the company is creating capacities for new products like the Ultra range of trucks, which come with a completely new driver cabins. So, the company is investing in capacities for these cabins and new three litre and five litre engines that power these new range of trucks. The company typically invests close to Rs 1,500 crore in its commercial vehicle business each year. This investment will be increased over the next 2-3 years to develop products and engines that will meet the BS-VI emission norms kicking in from 2020. As India's economy picks up pace and new segments like e-commerce emerge, demand for new products is on the rise. To meet the rapidly evolving market Tata Motors is now focusing on modular platforms, one platform with multiple applications, so that customer demands can be met faster. The Ultra range of intermediate and light commercial vehicles is the best example. The company has been test marketing Ultra range of trucks with select customers for near a year now. On Wednesday, it formally launched the range nationally. In all, the Ultra range will consist of 14 trucks, which have over 50 applications like refrigerator vans, water tankers, poultry trucks, containers, tippers etc. Emergence of hub and spoke models will lead to increasing demand for more small and medium duty trucks and the Ultra range (products in the 7 tonne to 16 tonne gross vehicle weight) will fit in there. The modular technology will also be increasingly looked at other segments too. "If I have modularity, higher carry on content, then I can de-risk myself (to market cycles) much better. I can give better economies of scale to the supplier, I can also have better economies of scale and therefore, I can also manage my operations better. So, this whole modularity and commonisation that we are doing is therefore meant to address a lot of this, whether de-risking or improving reliability of the product, reducing the time to market...," said Wagh. Overall, the ILCV industry grew by more than 20 per cent last year, to around 105,000 units, while Tata Motors saw its ILCV sales rise 37 per cent. The company is hopeful that the Ultra range will help it gain overall market share further. "This market segment is expected to further grow. We have seen a very nice growth rate last year, higher than the market actually grew and we expect continuation of the journey for the market as well as to us. Now that we have the full product range of the Ultra available, then we have a much more aggressive play in the ILCV segment and then we can again outpace the market, which effectively means we expect a significant gain in market share in the fiscal year," said Butschek. The Special Task Force of Madhya Pradesh police on Wednesday arrested four employees of Amazon's Gwalior distribution centre for allegedly siphoning off mobile phones and precious electronic goods before delivery to the end customer. On a complaint from Amazon India, Madhya Pradesh police had assigned the investigation into the alleged theft of electronic goods to the STF. The STF in a detailed inquiry found that the fraud was committed at the distribution of centre of Amazon itself. According to police, it was found that four employees of the Gwalior distribution centre, including its manager, were part of the racket which used to fraudulently generate reports of missing goods between Amazon's Delhi hub and Gwalior centre. The manager took care in reporting only fifteen per cent of such goods as missing to avoid any suspicion. During last three months, goods worth over Rs 1.5 crore were siphoned to private businessmen who in turn sold those items to general customers. According to STF Inspector Aijaz Khans statement to media, We found that goods sent from Gurgaon hub of Amazon were claimed as missing but actually they landed up with a few businessmen. The IMIE numbers of missing phones were traced to certain individuals who claimed that they had bought them from shopkeekers of Gwalior. Police arrested Neeraj Chourasia, owner of SS Mobile shop and Aditya Agarwal of Morena who used to purchase goods from the employees of the distribution centre. Later the manager Sahil Gupta and team leader Upendra Dubey, along with two others, were also arrested. All of them were remanded to judicial custody. Police confiscated 26 mobiles and two laptops from the accused who had been duping the company through this modus operendi for last six months. Nearly a thousand of such electronic items were siphoned during last six months. The Congress party under Rahul Gandhi would be a more democratic and a collective force. The Sultanate-model Congress is a thing of the past, says Jairam Ramesh. It would be easier for the Congress and the Left to come under a single platform as the Congress is increasingly becoming a centrist party with left-of-centre moorings. But the Left will have to shed its ideological rigidity,'' he added. Ramesh was in Thiruvananthapuram to delivery the keynote address in the 25th anniversary celebrations of Panchayat Raj, being organised by KILA under the Left Front government in Kerala. Ramesh, a key player in the Congress 'war room', which devised strategies for the 2009 and 2014 elections, talked about the Congress' prospects in an exclusive conversation with THE WEEK. The CPI(M) party congress has finally agreed upon having a political alliance with the Congress... It is good that some sense has prevailed upon the CPI(M). It is the need of the hour that all secular and democratic forces must come together to counter the BJP. At present, Left is the only national force in the country other than Congress and the BJP, regardless of the fact that they are in power only in Kerala. As I had said earlier, India cannot afford the demise of the Left. The support of the Left gives an ideological boost to any political composition. So, do you mean that the stage is set for a UPA-1-model alliance with the Left? Not yet. Because the Left in Kerala still considers Congress and the BJP as two sides of the same coin. They still treat us like enemies. The CPI(M) in Kerala is trying to shatter the Congress-led UDF and this would only help the BJP. The Left in Kerala will have to come clean on this. Otherwise, the comrades are nice people with integrity and honesty. But they have this natural propensity to commit historical blunders as they did by opposing Jyoti Basu becoming the PM and also when they quit UPA-1. I strongly feel the Indian Left needs to chuck their rigid ideological positions if they are to hold hands with the Congress. But the main criticism against the India Left now is that they are increasingly becoming social democratic parties... The Left have to be more flexible, ideologically, if they are to become a mainstream party. I would rather if they become like the social democratic parties in Europe. There are many areas where Congress and the Left can work together as they did in UPA-1. The contribution of the Left in UPA-1 in creating people-friendly policies was quite commendable until their foolish decision to quit. Many Left leaders now admit that leaving the UPA was a blunder. Do you think the Congress under Rahul Gandhi, with a little extra push from the Left and other parties, would be able to take on the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combo? Amit Shah is a man with a killer instinct. To counter somebody like that, we need equally combative strategies. I believe the Congress is capable of having cutting-edge sharpness. But all will have to put their heads together to develop effective counter-strategies. You had once said that the Congress is facing an existential crisis after the 2014 defeat. Does that hold true even now? The Congress leadership has gone through a lot of introspection and that is important to overcome any crisis. The new Congress party under Rahul Gandhi is a democratic one and it gives a lot of focus on collective leadership. Also, many new leaders have come up and they have brought a fresh wave of ideas. It is a great beginning... The new Congress is a great combination of change with continuity. Way back in 2012, you had predicted that Modi could be a formidable challenge to the Congress and you were lampooned by many Congressmen at that time. Many get this wrong idea of invincibility when they are in power. It happened with the Congress and now it is happening with the BJP. Any party with a strong connect with the common man will not have such wrong notions of power. The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite... In a bonanza to more than five lakh state government employees and pensioners, the Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday approved implementation of the 7th pay commission recommendations with effect from January 2016. Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Syed Altaf Ahmed Bukhari said that the decision was taken by the state cabinet meet headed by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. The finance minister claimed that Jammu and Kashmir is the first state to implement the 7th pay commission proposals. Here's what the 7th pay commission means to more than five lakh Jammu and Kashmir government employees: With the immediate implementation of revised pay scale, employees will get more than 20 per cent hike in the salary for the month of April. The 7th pay commission recommendations will be implemented with effect from January 2016. The measure, however, would put extra burden of Rs 4,201 crore per year and Rs 7,477 crore in one-time arrears on the exchequer. The implementation of the 7th pay commission recommendations will benefit both Jammu and Kashmir government employees and pensioners. Jammu and Kashmir government employees can now draw the salary for the month of April 2018 as per the revised scales. For the purpose of implementation of the 7th Pay Commission Recommendations, basic pay as on December 31, 2015, of employees shall be multiplied by uniform factor of 2.57 and then adjusted in the matrix recommended by the Pay Committee. The benefit of House Rent Allowance on revised pay shall be available from April, 2018 and all allowances except Dearness Allowance (DA) shall continue as before while DA from January, 2016 onwards shall be paid on revised pay on new rates to be notified by Finance Department. Gratuity shall be enhanced from the existing ceiling of Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh with effect from January 1, 2016, with increase in the ceiling on gratuity by 25 per cent whenever DA rises by 50 per cent as recommended by 7th Pay Commission/as per Central Government pattern. The pensioners shall be given option to choose revision of pension by any of the two formulations suggested by the Pay Committee. Arrears of pensioners shall be paid in cash in three six monthly instalments while arrears of all employees shall be drawn and credited to their G.P Fund accounts with moratorium of 3 years for withdrawal of same. There will be no moratorium for withdrawal in case of employees retiring up to March 31, 2021. The implementation of 7th pay commission recommendations for PSUs and autonomous organisations will depend on the availability of resources with the respective organisations, said Bukhari. Regarding pay anomalies, the Jammu and Kashmir cabinet decided that the existing Pay Committee shall look into and address the issue of anomalies starting with the issue of anomalies of the clerical cadre, he added. The cabinet also approved a slew of administrative reforms to streamline the functioning at various levels in the government. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Hours after President Donald Trump suggested his embattled nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, should step aside, the White House is now saying the president will fight for him. "The president will be defending him," White House Director for Legislative Affairs Marc Short told ABC News just moments after Jackson emerged from a late afternoon meeting with Trump at the White House. A White House official added that Jackson will not be withdrawing his name from consideration. Those comments came after the president said Jackson, his White House physician and hand-picked nominee to head the VA should withdraw his name from consideration. "I wouldn't if I were him, actually in many ways I'd love to be him, but the fact is I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it," Trump said in the East Room of the White House during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. "What does he need it for? To be abused by a bunch of politicians that aren't thinking nicely about our country? I really don't think personally he should do it, but it's totally his. I would stand behind him. Totally his decision," Trump said. The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is reviewing what it calls "serious allegations" surrounding Jackson that include claims he created a hostile work environment and improperly dispensed medication as a White House physician, congressional and administration sources tell ABC News. The sources said the medication in question is the prescription sleep aid Ambien. Committee leaders announced Tuesday that they had postponed Wednesday's confirmation hearing while they reviewed the allegations. As part of its defense of Jackson, the administration has just released official copies of 2012 and 2013 "command climate assessments" for the White House Medical Unit as well as signed performance reviews of Jackson by Presidents Obama and Trump. Dr. Jackson is a great doctor + leader 2-star material, President Trump wrote in his own handwriting in a 2017 fitness report and counseling record. The administration says that the claims against Jackson of a hostile work environment result from a personal feud Jackson had with another doctor in the White House Medical Unit -- a dynamic which was ultimately resolved and morale improved, according to one of the assessments. Dr. Jacksons record as a White House physician is impeccable," a senior administration official said. "He has improved unit morale, received glowing reviews and promotions under Republican and Democrat presidents, and has been given a clean vet from the FBI. He has never even been the subject of an Inspector General review and he will certainly not be railroaded by a bitter ex-colleague who was removed from his job. Earlier this afternoon, just moments before the president suggests he not go through with the confirmation process, ABC News spotted Jackson on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers about his nomination. He ignored questions about the allegations and said, "I'm looking forward to re-scheduling the hearing and getting the process moving." Asked whether the hearing would be rescheduled he said, "That's going to be up to the committee." President Trump praised Jackson as "a fine man" and a "great doctor, great everything," but said wouldn't want Jackson to go through a politically damaging nomination process. "I don't want to put a man through who's not a political person. I don't want to put a man through a process like this," Trump said. "It's too ugly and too disgusting. So we'll see what happens. He'll make a decision." Trump also addressed concerns that Jackson, who is currently the president's personal White House physician, lacks the overall management qualifications to head the second largest agency in the federal government, saying simply "there's an experience problem." In a letter to Trump, the top Republican and Democrat on the committee ask the White House to turn over "any and all allegations and documents, including those developed during the course of an investigation" related to Jackson's service in the White House Medical Unit. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, would not discuss details of the allegations but told ABC News "they go to his integrity and his management ability and his credibility to manage that department." Committee chairman Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson shared concerns about the allegations but cautioned to ABC News "not everything you read in the news is true." The White House was standing by the nomination of Jackson earlier Tuesday, but senior aides concede privately that there is a chance the nomination goes down. Deputy secretary Hogan Gidley released a statement Tuesday morning on Jackson after news of the allegations broke, saying "He's served as the physician to three PresidentsRepublican and Democratand been praised by them all. "Admiral Jacksons record of strong, decisive leadership is exactly whats needed at the VA to ensure our veterans receive the benefits they deserve, the statement said. Jackson has spoken publicly about prescribing Ambien during White House international trips, a common practice for overcoming jet lag. "When we travel from one time zone to another time zone on the other side of the planet, I recommend that everyone on the plane take a sleep aid at certain times so that we can try our best to get on the schedule of our destination," Jackson said at a press briefing earlier this year. Several lawmakers said the White House should be held responsible for the delayed nomination because of a failure to properly vet the nominee. "It is really frustrating to me that this administration continues to not vet or sloppily send over a nominee that leaves us having to really vet them and look at serious questions, which this Senate is now doing, and that's the right step," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., told ABC News. Asked if he should withdraw his nomination, she said, "that is up to the White House." "But I will assure you that every one of us as members of the committee are looking at every allegation and we have a responsibility to do so," she said. President Trump nominated Jackson last month after he fired his first VA secretary, David Shulkin, amid allegations Shulkin misused taxpayer funds and faced growing tension with other senior Trump staff. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. 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. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday met her counterpart Damdin Tsogtbaatar ahead of the 6th round of India-Mongolia Joint Consultative Committee meeting. Swaraj, who is the first Indian foreign minister to visit in Mongolia in 42 years, is on a two-day visit to the Buddhist nation. Earlier, she commenced the day with a visit to Gandan Tegchenling Monastery, where she was welcomed by the chief abbott of Mongolian Buddhism, Hambo Lama D. Choijamts. "The Gandan Tegchenling monastery is known to be the centre of Mongolian Buddhist and a treasure house of a valuable Buddhist heritage, knowledge and unique rituals." as said by Kumar," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. Later in the day, the foreign minister is scheduled to address a gathering to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of Buddhist Lama Kushok Bakula at Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar. She will also hold a meeting with the senior dignitaries and diplomats followed by an interaction with members of the Indian diaspora residing in Mongolia. Sushma Swaraj arrived Mongolia on Tuesday after wrapping her China visit where she attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers' meeting in Beijing. Swaraj is the first Indian foreign minister to visit in Mongolia in 42 years. She will emplane for India on Thursday. Iran has invited Gulf countries to open talks on regional security, telling the United Nations it was time to move away from "hegemonic illusions" that have fueled devastating wars. Addressing a UN meeting on Tuesday on sustaining peace, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif proposed the creation of a "regional dialogue forum." "We here invite our neighbors in this volatile waterway, which has seen too many wars, to join us in this endeavor," Zarif added. The initiative came as US President Donald Trump met his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Washington to discuss shared concerns about Iran's behavior in the region. Trump is threatening to scrap the 2015 nuclear deal reached with Iran unless concerns about Tehran's missile program and military role in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon are addressed. "All over, no matter where you go in the Middle East, you see fingerprints of Iran," Trump told a news conference with Macron in Washington. In a UN General Assembly speech, Zarif said "advancing hegemonic illusions or attempting to achieve security at the expense of the insecurity of others" had caused conflict, in an apparent reference to arch-rival Saudi Arabia. The foreign minister said it was crucial to "now shift to a new paradigm based on combining our forces... instead of any one of us seeking to be the strongest in our region." He suggested creating new security networks to replace what he termed as "security blocs." Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, supports Hezbollah militias in Lebanon and backs Yemen's Huthi rebels, who are locked in a war with a Saudi-led coalition. The United Nations is pushing for political talks to end the war in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country that has been brought to its knees in the three-year conflict. UN diplomats say Iran has signaled it is ready to put pressure on the Huthis to go to the negotiating table, in what some see as a sign that Tehran wants to confront US complaints about its behavior. Zarif met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has held recent meetings with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to press for an end to the war in Yemen. On the sidelines of the UN meeting, Zarif also held talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to discuss the fate of the Iran nuclear deal as Chancellor Angela Merkel prepares for her White House visit on Friday. Pakistan is well on its way to amassing the world's third largest nuclear weapons stockpile and its decision to deploy low-yield (5 to 10 kiloton) battlefield weapons, represents a dangerous new strategy that could have a telling impact on South Asia's future stability, claims a military history and world affairs expert. In an article written for the www.military.com website, Joseph V. Micallef, a best-selling military history and world affairs author and a keynote speaker, warns that if Islamabad continues in this vein, there is every possibility of nuclear device or devices falling into the hands of militant jihadist organisations, both in Pakistan and in other parts of the world. In his article, Micallef says, "Pakistan's past ties to militant jihadist groups like the Afghan Taliban, Tehreek-e-Jihad Islami, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba or Hizbul Mujahideen, to name a few, and the emergence of al-Qaida affiliated Ansar Ghawzat-Ul-Hind, have added an additional element of conflict into Indian-Pakistani relations." "They have also led to a significant deterioration" in bilateral ties between Pakistan and the United States, he adds. He says this conflict between Pakistan and India must be seen in a larger context, i.e., expanded to a "larger rivalry between China and India in Asia and the Indian Ocean basin." "The military intervention by the United States and its allies to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the role of both India and Pakistan in that conflict, have added a further layer of complexity between the two countries," Micallef maintains. Micallef suggests that what concerns him most is that Pakistan continues to engage in a nuclear arms build-up, which it has been doing clandestinely and illicitly for the past 48 years, and that these arms could be accessed by rogue elements, both in Pakistan and abroad. Between 1971 and 2016, Islamabad has been developing its own nuclear arsenal, "both plutonium and enriched uranium-based weapons." Micallef assesses that Pakistan reportedly has four plutonium production reactors and three plutonium reprocessing plants. Pakistan is also producing highly enriched uranium (HEU), using gas centrifuge enriched uranium. "The specially designed centrifuges spin uranium hexafluoride gas at high speeds to increase the concentration of the uranium 235 isotope. This is the same technology that Iran had been using in its nuclear weapons program," Micallef states. "There continue to be reports, however, that rogue elements of that (A.Q. Khan) network continue to operate clandestinely. According to unconfirmed media reports, as recently as 2014, the Islamic State (IS) reached out to former members of the Khan network for assistance in securing atomic weaponry," he says. "While the design and construction of a nuclear device is very likely beyond the capabilities of al-Qaida, IS or any other militant jihadist group, the use of radiological dispersal devices, so called dirty bombs, is well within their capability," he cautions. He also makes a worrying mention of China's considerable help to Pakistan in supplying "a broad array of missile and nuclear weapons related assistance." Micallef, cites various intelligence sources to say that Pakistan currently has between 140 and 150 nuclear weapons in its control, but has, it is believed, produced and stockpiled around 3,000 to 4,000 kilograms (6,600 to 8,800 lbs) of weapons grade HEU and about 200 to 300 kilograms (440 to 660 lbs) of plutonium. "The current stockpile is enough for an additional 200 to 250 weapons, depending on the warhead's desired yield.. As of the end of 2017, Pakistan has enough HEU and plutonium to produce an additional 230 to 290 warheads. This number could be higher if Pakistan opts for smaller warheads intended for battlefield weapons. This would raise the Pakistani nuclear arsenal to between 350 and 450 nuclear warheads. Pakistan is adding enough HEU and plutonium to its stockpile to produce around 10 to 20 additional bombs a year." Micallef mentions that since the late 1980s, Pakistan has used a variety of militant organisations as proxies in its ongoing struggle with India over Kashmir and elsewhere. He certifies that the Pakistan Army's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) sponsors, organises, trains and funds terror outfits operating from its soil such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Omar, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Sipah-e-Sahaba, the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jamaat-ud-Da'wah, Harkat-ud-Jihad al-Islami, the Haqqani Network, Jamaat-ud-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and the Afghan Taliban, and uses them as proxies for its covert military operations. According to Micallef, since 1990, Pakistan's military strategy has followed a three-fold approach (1) use militant proxy organizations to strike at Indian military positions in Kashmir (2) rely on the threat to deploy nuclear weapons should India try to retaliate with a military invasion of Pakistan and (3) rely on the U.S. and China, in particular, and world opinion in general, to restrain India from attacking Pakistan. He says that the Indian Army has come up with a comprehensively developed "Cold Start," Doctrine to make its offensive capabilities more aggressive, while the Pakistani response has been to emphasize the development of so called "theater nuclear weapons" to be in a position to meet the challenge of India's rapid deployment forces with a series of limited nuclear strikes and then rely on international pressure to restrain India from escalating the confrontation into a full blown nuclear conflict. Micallef says it is important to note that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are kept disassembled at separate facilities, which technically prevents a terrorist organisation from obtaining a functional nuclear weapon. "The combination of a multi-branch command authority and the fact that the weapons are kept in a disassembled state makes it extremely difficult for rogue elements within Pakistan or for militant organizations to secure, divert or launch a nuclear weapon," he adds. "Battlefield weapons, on the other hand, by their very nature, are more at risk for theft, diversion or unauthorized use," because while they are under the control of the national command authority, their actual use is left to the commander in the field. He concludes by saying, "the future direction of Pakistan's nuclear weapons policy is going to be a function of the state of Indian-Pakistan relations on the subcontinent. In turn, this will be shaped both by the state of U.S.-Pakistan relations over the ongoing conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan, as well as the broader challenge to India of China's ambitions in Central Asia and the Indian Ocean Basin." The United States is not seeking to reopen or renegotiate the JCPOA Iran nuclear deal, but hopes to stay in it to fix its flaws with a supplementary agreement, US non-proliferation envoy Christopher Ford said on Wednesday. We are not aiming to renegotiate the JCPOA or reopen it or change its terms, Ford told reporters on the sidelines of a nuclear non-proliferation conference in Geneva. We are seeking a supplemental agreement that would in some fashion layer upon it a series of additional rules restrictions, terms, parameters, whatever you want to call it that help answer these challenges more effectively. US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday to seek stronger measures to contain Iran, but Trump refrained from committing to staying in a 2015 nuclear deal and threatened Tehran with retaliation if it restarted its nuclear programme. Macron said he spoke to Trump about a new deal in which the United States and Europe would tackle the outstanding concerns about Iran beyond its nuclear programme. Under Macrons proposal, the United States and Europe would agree to block any Iranian nuclear activity until 2025 and beyond, address Irans ballistic missile program and generate conditions for a political solution to contain Iran in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. If we were able to meet that challenge of bringing our partners together ... President Trump made it clear that his decision not to renew the sanctions waivers would be revised, and that is where I hope we are now today, Ford said. Asked if Macron had saved the JCPOA in talks with Trump, Ford said, I hope the JCPOA has been saved in the context of the challenge that President Trump set for us, of trying to remain within the deal but in the context of moving forward with our partners on an approach that stands a pretty good chance of turning what was in effect a temporary postponement ... into a more enduring answer. The Capital Region's gasoline prices are among the lowest in the state, according to the latest figures from AAA's Fuel Gauge Report. But they're up nearly nine cents in the past week, and will likely rise higher before Memorial Day. "They're $2.81 right now" for a gallon of unleaded regular in Albany, said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com. "They could get a little closer to three dollars a gallon." A shrinking supply of oil and higher prices for crude are helping push prices higher. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries urged its members to reduce output to eliminate an overhanging glut, and they apparently complied. "They've had a lot of success, controlling supply, surprisingly so," DeHaan observed. Meanwhile, demand reached the highest level ever for April, according to the Energy Information Administration, topping typical summer demand, according to AAA. DeHaan expects gasoline prices to peak sometime before Memorial Day before falling back a bit in time for the summer driving season. But he said there are some "what ifs." "Where they go after that is really up to the price of oil," he said. Domestic oil production has climbed as drillers ramp up output to take advantage of the higher crude prices resulting from OPEC's production cuts. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "U.S. oil production is at its highest level since 1970," DeHaan said, and unlike then, more domestic oil is being exported. Wednesday's Albany price was 35 cents higher than a year earlier, according to AAA. Locally, Saratoga County, at $2.798 a gallon, had the state's second lowest average price, while Schenectady County, at $2.803, was fourth lowest. So far, higher prices haven't had much impact on consumer behavior. DeHaan said that could change as prices approach the $3 mark. Morgan Waite has a new perspective on life and a new set of wheels. The former is made possible by the latter. Waite, a 30-year-old chef, in August suffered a severe spinal-cord injury after diving into an unmarked pool. A Capital Region native who worked in area restaurants before moving to San Francisco to further her culinary career, she had spent less than a year in her first job as an executive chef. That fateful day, she was in wine country, north of San Francisco, and winery staff invited visitors to use the pool. More for you 'All the right ingredients' Waite's accident happened in seconds. Her recovery is eight months and five days old. But now, living in her grandmother's house in Halfmoon, she's seeing things in a way that literally was never before possible, courtesy of her new, powered wheelchair. Besides being able to drive around under her own direction, the chair also allows Waite to tip herself backward necessary several times a day to relieve pressure and prevent sores from constant sitting and it also can elevate the seat by about a foot. This means Waite can, for the first time since August, see into pots and pans on the stove while her mother cooks. When the chair is at its highest, Waite's eyes are several inches above where they were when she could stand upright at 5-foot-2. And they are gratifyingly higher than the normal chair height when, she says, "I'm next to everybody's butts." Waite expects to be up at eye level for several hours next week when she is the guest of honor at a fundraiser at Angelo's 677 Prime in Albany, one of her former employers. Proceeds will to go a fund for her medical care. Although she has private health insurance, she has virtually exhausted it and is transitioning to Medicare coverage. Beyond that, everything, it seems, is expensive, from the wheelchair to health aides to devices to help her with everyday tasks to her second new set of wheels, a wheelchair-accessible van with a ramp that enables her to drive right into the van. Her previous van had an aging hydraulic lift that, especially in the cold, strained to lift the combined 400-pound powered chair and 100-pound Waite. More Information If you go Morgan Waite spring fundraiser When: 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 3 Where: Angelo's 677 Prime, 677 Broadway, Albany Fare: Passed hors d'oeuvres and food stations featuring classics from 677 Prime. Soft drinks included; cash bar available. There will also be a silent auction and 50/50 raffle. Tickets: $107.62 including online service charge Info: Visit eventbrite.com and search for "Morgan Waite spring fundraiser" Deadline: Ticket sales end Sunday. See More Collapse In December, on the day of her first visit to an occupational therapist at Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital in Schenectady, Waite for the first time was able to feed herself, using a spoon slotted into a brace on her wrist. Doing so required laborious effort, but even that was a thrilling achievement, considering that her paralysis immediately after the accident had been so extreme that doctors had warned she might never be able to breathe on her own again, spending the rest of her life on a ventilator. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Waite now has good control of her upper torso, arms and wrists, sufficient that she can brush her teeth or scratch a facial itch, though manual dexterity remains minimal. She estimates she spends six to eight hours a day on activities related to recovery and rehabilitation, at home and during twice-weekly visits to Sunnyview, and she tries to get out of the house, for shopping or dining out or the movies, whenever possible. She's planning to launch a blog that reviews restaurants, with special consideration given to accessibility issues. "We're going to be OK, and I'm going to be OK," says Waite. Rehab has taught her to moderate her expectations without limiting her goals. "There are some physical capabilities that I'd hoped to have by now that I don't," she says. "I try not to set a timetable on things I want, but I keep them in my eyesight. 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Alejandro del Peral, owner of Nine Pin Cider, has not tired of making his wildly popular hard cider yet. He just likes to color outside the orchard lines sometimes. Once in a while, he brings his friends. That was the case last fall, when the Nine Pin staff invited chefs and restaurant professionals from the Capital Region to Samascott Orchards in Kinderhook for a day of picking wild apples on the perimeter of the farm. The refuse from pressing cider on the farm gets distributed to decompose and enrich soil in pastures and fallow farmland and as a result, seeds germinate and occasionally become trees. Each seed is its own genetic individual, taking half of its DNA from the mother tree, and half from the pollen father. The trees that spring up produce feral fruit that is a brand new cultivar. After more than 100 years of this process, the trees that border Samascott Orchards in this biodynamic compost heap are prime for cider exploration. As the first farm cidery licensed in New York State, Nine Pin (which gets 95 percent of the 1.5 million pounds of apples that Nine Pin uses annually come from Samascott Orchards) often leads the industry in creativity and innovation. Nine Pin was ahead of the bell curve in releasing cider in cans and in making Cidre Rose, a cider that is co-fermented with grape skins to produce a pink-tinged cider that followed the rose wine trend. The latest Nine Pin release is the result of that Samascott picking day in 2017 and forges the path in cider collaboration and experimentation with apple varieties. Staff from Sildin' Dirty (Troy and Schenectady), The Towne Tavern (Averill Park), The City Beer Hall and Wellington's (both in Albany) assisted in the picking process, collecting hard, scraggy apples the size of marbles in most instances. Eight hours of picking resulted in just 60 gallons of cider, but after blending and conditioning the cider, 150 gallons of foraged cider is being released under the Capital Community Craft Cider Collection name. "The straight blend was pretty intense, almost undrinkable," said del Peral of the tannic, acidic cider that came from the pressing. Each restaurant that participated was given an equal portion of cider to blend and personalize as desired. Four unique ciders from the same blend of apples are being released this month and in May from this project, each representative of each restaurant's style. The City Beer Hall smoked mangoes that were added to the cider to produce a flavor del Peral called, "bizarre, but with this delicious smokey quality. It is fruity but it doesn't taste like mangoes." Wellington's allowed for wild fermentation in second-run bourbon barrels, offering a balance between tannins and sweetness with subtle vanilla notes. The Towne Tavern will be releasing its cider later this spring after it steeps with wild foraged New York berries, and Sildin' Dirty will debut its cider in a few weeks, after Mosaic hops are added to lend a dry bitterness that keeps with the restaurant's focus on craft beer. Each cider is offered exclusively at Nine Pin's tasting room and the respective restaurant that collaborated on each variety. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "The concept is cool. I would make cider out of those apples anytime," said del Peral, despite the hard work put into foraging the apples and the low yield the harvest produced. New York State is a leader in hard cider production, with the more hard cideries (88 as of December 31, 2017, according to cydermarket.com) than any other state. Projects like Capital Community Craft Cider Collection keep New York cidermakers in the forefront of industry progress. Plus, said del Peral, it's just fun. Now that it's finally spring, del Peral can start looking ahead to what this year's apple crop might produce. "Every single year it will be slightly different," said del Peral and it's still too early to know what wild apples will appear on these biennially-producing trees come fall, but Nine Pin and the restaurants it supplies look forward to enterprising new versions of cider and perhaps discovering the next great cider-marking apple. Deanna Fox is a food and agriculture journalist. @DeannaNFox, www.foxonfood.com ALBANY State Sen. John DeFrancisco's bid for the Republican nomination for governor dimmed this week as the leaders of eight county GOP committees shifted their endorsements to Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro. Two Republican county leaders who had previously back DeFrancisco, Fred Beardsley of Oswego County and Mike Sigler of Tompkins County, announced that they had changed their endorsements on Tuesday. Another six GOP chairpersons, some of them the earliest backers of DeFrancisco, also announced this week they had changed their votes to Molinaro. The Dutchess County executive's newest backers are Todd Rouse of Madison County, Pete Sobel of Oneida County, Don Coon of Jefferson County, Bijoy Datta of Broome County, Tom Morrone of Chenango County and Maria Kelso of Delaware County. "Marc Molinaro is a dynamic leader who can get New York state turned around after years of corruption from Andrew Cuomo," Datta said, adding that he believes upstate Republican support will be critical in the election. The new endorsements give Molinaro nearly 75 percent of the weighted vote from Republican State Committee members who will nominate a candidate for governor at the end of May, according to his campaign. At least 50 percent of the weighted vote is needed to secure the GOP nod, but with at least 25 percent of the vote a second Republican candidate may run a primary, according to state GOP rules. "I'm deeply humbled by the outpouring of support we are receiving from every corner of the state. Together, Democrat or Republican, whether you live upstate or downstate, we will make New York more affordable, accessible and accountable for all," Molinaro said in a statement. DeFrancisco had initially pledged to take his fight for the nomination to the Republican convention in May by persuading committee members to break with their party leaders. He has since walked back those statements, saying he was considering his options after Conservative Party leaders announced they were endorsing Molinaro for governor over DeFrancisco last week. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "Ultimately, Marcus Molinaro presented the best opportunity to win this election," Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long said. DeFrancisco told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday that he would not primary Molinaro if his opponent prevails in May, but reiterated that he is not bowing out yet. "I'm still in the race -- people could change their minds," DeFrancisco said, conceding, "It's very unlikely; the odds are very very slim. " TROY - Republicans in the Capital Region appeared to beat back the Democratic wave that hit the rest of the state in special elections on Tuesday. The state Assembly seats formerly held by Steve McLaughlin and Peter Lopez are almost certain to remain in Republican hands, as Chris Tague and Jake Ashby held narrow but significant leads. In the 107th Assembly District, which includes parts of Washington, Rensselaer and Columbia counties, Ashby had 7,797 votes and Democrat Cindy Doran had 7,517 votes. Approximately 1,000 absentee ballots were cast in the race, but Ashby's 280-vote lead is virtually insurmountable. Democrats fared better downstate, flipping an Assembly seat on Long Island and cruising to victory in a hard-fought state Senate race in Westchester County. Democrats also held onto a Senate seat in the Bronx with a victory Luis Sepulveda. Elsewhere in New York, Democrats held on to three Assembly seats in New York City, Democrat Steve Stern pulled of an upset in an Assembly seat on Long Island that Republicans held for more than three decades, and the GOP Republicans defended two other Assembly seats on Long Island. In the Buffalo area, Democrat Erik Bohen, who ran on the Republican line, won an Assembly seat that Democrats previously held. All the winners in Tuesday's special elections will have to run in November for a full two-year term. The petitioning process to get on the ballot will begin on June 5. Ashby, who grew up in Castleton and lives in Schodack, was deployed twice to Iraq as a member of the Army Reserves and runs his own occupational therapy practice. He won his first election last year with a seat on the Rensselaer County Legislature, representing Schodack, Nassau and Sand Lake. As a member of the Assembly, his votes will likely mirror McLaughlin's record of opposition. Ashby has pledged to be a voice for the Second Amendment and wants to focus on environmental, business and veteran issues. Looming over the race was McLaughlin, who gave up the seat to win election in 2017 as Rensselaer County executive and actively campaigned to make Ashby his successor. Ashby said during the campaign that McLaughlin was a positive influence and helped his chances for victory. Doran remarked during the campaign, "I feel like at times I'm running against Steve McLaughlin." McLaughlin first won the seat in 2010, defeating incumbent Tim Gordon, and was re-elected without opposition in 2016. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Turnout for the race was almost 18 percent, which was actually higher than expected for a special election, where voters are much less likely to vote. In the 102nd Assembly District, a sprawling a seven-county area that includes Schoharie and Greene and parts of Albany, Columbia, Ulster, Delaware and Otsego counties, Tague collected 8,547 votes and Democrat Aidan O'Connor had 8,259. Third-party challenger Wes Laraway also amassed 1,809 votes. Tague is the Schoharie town supervisor and said he plans on being a voice for rural upstate in the Assembly, which is dominated by Democrats from New York City. His priorities in office include expanding access to high-speed internet, supporting dairy farmers and controlling state spending. "You won't find anyone who will work harder or be more dedicated," Tague said during the campaign. The Capital Region Assembly races garnered the attention of labor organizations, which threw their support behind Doran and O'Connor, and mobilized members to knock on doors, volunteer for phone banks and vote. With such low voter turnout on Tuesday, the union members likely made up a disproportionate percent of the vote. Additionally, in the weeks leading up to the election, the powerful New York State United Teachers union's political action committee spent more than $78,000 on mail and advertising for Doran, according to the state Board of Elections. The Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee also invested its resources in the races, spending more than $55,000 for Doran and $62,000 for O'Connor, according to the most recent filings with the state BOE. By contrast, the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee reported spending about $25,000 on Tague and less than $4,000 on Ashby. MOHAWK (AP) Democratic U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer is pursuing a memorial in New York to honor an astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. Gregory Jarvis was raised in the Herkimer County town of Mohawk. He lost his life in 1986 when the shuttle exploded shortly after launch. A man accused of hacking a computer system at a Plattsburgh area gaming arcade is among the suspects State Police said they are looking for as part of their Warrant Wednesday effort. Michael P. Dowling, 31, is wanted by State Police in Plattsburgh on grand larceny and forgery charges tied to a March 28, 2017 arrest. Dowling hacked a computer system at an arcade, altered the system and created forged gaming cards, troopers said. He then used the forged cards to purchase games and merchandise at the arcade, troopers said. Shawn Kydd, 19, is wanted by State Police in Wurtsboro for a felony drug charge. Troopers said a warrant was issued for Kydd after he failed to appear in court to answer a drug charge that stems from a traffic stop on Route 17. Kasandra Haberek, 26, is wanted by State Police in Horseheads on a misdemeanor drug possession charge. State troopers said she is also wanted on charges of driving under the influence of drugs and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Steven K. Reardon, 42, is wanted by State Police in North Syracuse on a warrant that accuses him of ripping off another person he met on social media. Troopers said a warrant was issued for Reardon's arrest in Cicero Town Court in January after an investigation into an allegation he was paid $600 for an item he never delivered. Eugene L. Davis, 51, is wanted by State Police in Latham for allegedly failing to appear in Albany City Court in to answer an allegation tha het used someone else's identity during a 2004 traffic stop. The warrant was issued in 2006. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Elshamar R. Thornton, 25, is wanted by State Police in Livingston on a felony drug charge. Troopers said Thornton was arrested in 2017 and a warrant was issued after he failed to appear in town court. Elizabeth Hill, 33, is wanted by State Police in Oneonta on a charge of petit larceny. The warrant, issued on Feb. 8, 2017, accuses her of shop lifting from a local Walmart. Curtis Brown, 63, is wanted by State Police in Tarrytown on a driving while intoxicated charge. Troopers said they arrested him on the Thruway on June 5, 2006. Two of the country's leading farm organisations have called for any deal on Mercosur to be parked following the EU's decision to delist 20 Brazilian meat processors. The decision showed the commercial and environmental absurdity of continuing with the process, said ICMSA presiednt Pat McCormack. IFA beef chair Angus Woods said the decision to ban the meat plants because they failed to meet EU standards fully backed up its repeated calls to reject any increase in meat imports from Brazil in the Mercosur negotiations. A Mercosur delegation arrived in Europe this week to meet EU officials. ICMSA president Pat McCormack said that the trade talks must be parked immediately and indefinitely and that it was time for the EU Commission to tell the Mercosur negotiators the hard truth. Mr McCormack said that in the context of what was a queue of massive problems facing the EUs farming sector and specifically, Irelands beef sector that anyone could contemplate negotiating a deal that would at a stroke hugely multiply the amounts of beef that would be imported from very questionable sources in Brazil and other Mercosur states was staggering. Referring to the decision by EU Commission to delist 20 Brazilian meat processors on grounds of their association with malpractice, Mr McCormack asked how the Commission could still carry on believing that these were simply individual problems as opposed to demonstrating a systemic and fundamental flaw in the whole Brazilian beef sector. And how, he continued, was the Commission satisfied that the Brazilian meat sector was so different to the meat sectors of the other Mercosur countries? The idea that the Commission could announce that emissions and sustainability must become even more important in deciding CAP while at the same time negotiating with a trade bloc whose agricultural sectors were internationally notorious for their irresponsible attitudes to the environment beggared belief said the Tipperary farmer. There were no grounds on which the continuation of these talks made any sense and Ireland must demand that the Commission immediately and indefinitely suspended the talks, he said. Meanwhile, speaking from Brussels this Monday, Mr Woods said EU Trade Commissioner Malmstrom needed to realise that the Brazilians will continue to fail on standards and she should pull the plug on any additional beef imports in the negotiations. brazil's record on beef The IFA Livestock chairman said the EU Commission was too easy on Brazil and was listening too much to their Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggo, who was in Brussels last week lobbying heavily for increased imports of substandard beef and poultry. Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom was extremely naive to believe that the Brazilians were going to conform to the rules in any Mercosur trade agreement, especially on meeting EU standards on beef or other meat imports. He said it was clear Commissioner Malmstrom was out of her depth in the negotiations and the Brazilians were pulling the wool over her eyes on the critical issue of standards. He said the record spoke for itself. EU audits showed that for the last 18 years the Brazilians had consistently failed to meet EU standards on traceability, food safety, animal and plant health, environmental and labour standards. The Brazilians have thrown away the rule book. The latest example being the major meat scandal and fraud Weak Flesh from this time last year, which is still running at the very highest administration and political levels in Brazil, he said. Mr Woods said that the only thing we had seen from Commissioner Malmstrom in these negotiations was giveaway after giveaway of the European meat sector, with little or nothing in return. The Commissioner had already capitulated to the Brazilians, he said. Mr Woods said Commissioner Hogan had to face down the Trade Commissioner and insist that the EU did not give any more concessions to the Brazilians. IFA Poultry chairman Andy Boylan warned the European poultry industry must not be used as a pawn in the Mercosur negotiations. Standards in the poultry production chain in Mercosur nations, especially Brazil, have been proved to be completely substandard and bear no resemblance to the high standard that Irish poultry producers operate to under the Bord Bia Quality Assurance standard, he said. Yes, the decision belongs on the local level No, no one should be able to dictate whether people wear masks Vote View Results Nothing gets the creative juices flowing quite like a good mystery. Consider the following: In 2003, a Finnish security researcher named Tomi Tuominen was in Berlin with a friend of his to attend a conference. During the day, his friend's laptop mysteriously disappeared from one of their hotel rooms even though no one had entered the room aside from hotel staff. (Image credit: Assa Abloy) Was this simply a case of a malicious staff member taking something expensive from a room? Possibly, but the researchers had been staying at an upscale chain hotel with no reputation for anything along those lines. Tuominen found the possibility of an unauthorized electronic entry troubling, but gripping. For the last 15 years, he's been attempting to find a way to reprogram a hotel key to allow entry to any room, and he's finally succeeded. MORE: Best Antivirus Software and Apps This information comes from Safe & Savvy, a blog run by Helsinki-based security firm F-Secure. Tuominen teamed up with Timo Hirvonen, a fellow F-Secure researcher, to see whether a sophisticated hacker could compromise an entire hotel. The target: VisionLine/VingCard, a software system that manages hotel locks, owned and run by the Swedish lock maker Assa Abloy. (The same company owns the Medeco and Yale brands in the U.S., as well as the HID company that may keep your office locked.) Without going into the gory details of how Tuominen and Hirvonen got the job done, they did eventually succeed in their task. They discovered that any hotel key would work, not just staff keys, and that fishing an expired card out of a trash can or simply staying in a hotel for one night and keeping the card would be enough to get started. The researchers then needed access to card-writing hardware, but that is available for a few hundred dollars online. A reprogrammed card, ready in less than a minute, could theoretically open any room in the entire hotel. Understandably, Tuominen and Hirvonen were much less open to discussing the software they created, since it would create an enormous security risk for any hotels using Assa Abloy technology. (In a comment to Wired, Assa Abloy estimated there were between 500,000 and 1 million vulnerable locks; the number could be much higher, though.) The one hint the researchers gave was that a door's keycode was based on its physical location in the hotel, allowing them to match values and reverse-engineer data for specific floors and sections of a hotel. There is some good news: The two researchers notified Assa Abloy of the flaw back in 2017, and the company worked quickly to develop a patch. However, Assa Abloy's locks don't run on a network. Installing patches means going to each lock, wiring it up to a laptop and running a manual update. In a hotel with hundreds of rooms, it's easy to understand why managers might not devote a ton of resources to an esoteric project like this. All in all, there are more factors against a hotel-room hacking entry than for one. The issue has been patched, first and foremost and even if it hadn't, it took two researchers more than a decade to come up with the technology to replicate it. Still, electronically breaking into hotel rooms is not unheard-of. In 2010, Israeli assassins leveraged a VingCard vulnerability to take out a Palestinian official in a Dubai hotel. A vulnerability in a hotel-lock brand called Onity, unearthed by a hacker and publicized in the tech press but ignored by many hotels, led to a thief taking advantage of the flaw to burglarize dozens of U.S. hotel rooms in 2012 and 2013. Keeping yourself safe from electronic keycard hackers, then, involves largely the same precautions you'd use to keep yourself safe from any would-be hotel intruder. Lock your deadbolt when you're in the room, and put your valuables in the safe when you're out of it (although some hotel-room safes have their own security flaws). This has the added advantage of also keeping your valuables safe from thieves of the more traditional variety. Clutter: The Next Generation You already have some multi-port AC adapters, but they just aren't enough for your needs. Youd like to keep all of your devices in one location for convenience. However, you don't want the ugly pile-up that I snapped a picture of for today's tear-down. What can you do to reduce clutter, while staying better-organized? The logical next step is to get some sort of device organizer. Or how about a device organizer with a built-in power supply? Today, we're looking at PrimeCables $25 Cab-C05132-BK 10-Port USB Smart Power Station with Slot Dock (or C05132 for short). An extremely similar device is also sold by iKits in the U.S. for $35. Organized Mess Although my USB-powered gadget collection is slowly growing, I don't need 10 ports for myself. So, I had to bury the station under a pile of power banks, most of which are too thick to fit neatly between its supports. This setup uses half as much total desk space while providing direct access to everything. While using short cables goes a long way towards tidying things up, there is still such a thing as too short, even when using a desktop charger. I had to put my Bluetooth keyboard port-side-down because the cable was too short to loop over the top otherwise. Box Unfortunately, PrimeCables didnt waste a penny asking a technically competent English writer to look over its machine-translated Chinese product description and rewrite everything properly. I specifically dislike the Quantities section, which I intuitively associate with a list of contents instead of output specifications. My favorite line is "User Manual: Included." How often do you see boxes that single out the user manual as a featured selling point? Packaging PrimeCables charging station fares better in the packaging department, where each part gets its own dedicated cut-out in the foam block to keep everything separate during transit, including a foam sheet to protect against impacts from the top. Manual The manual does a decent job of covering the most important features, albeit with a healthy dose of redundancy and exaggerated merits, such as Intelligent LED power indicators when there is only one, and it is nothing more than a dumb on/off indicator. Output protections also get mentioned four times in the feature list. Two of those bullet points are "Short circuit protection," even though this is nothing more than over-current and should be covered under intelligent multiple safety protection anyway. USB Cables While I've mentioned that I'm not a huge fan of really short cables, there are situations where they do make sense. A desktop charging station would lose much of its appeal by cluttering a desk with excess wiring, and a handful of short cables go a long way toward minimizing cable sprawl. Excluding the connectors up to their strain relief molding, these cables are 15cm (6) long, making them my shortest micro-B cables yet. Power Cord Just like SilverStones UC01, the C05132s power brick comes with a modular IEC C7 cord for convenient replacement in case it gets damaged, you want a different length or color, or you'd rather switch between country-specific plug styles instead of using travel adapters. At 110cm (43) long, this 18-gauge cord should provide sufficient freedom to drop the brick in a convenient location. AC-DC Adapter PrimeCables universal input power brick with 19V/3.78A output claims Level VI efficiency and appears to be a proper UL/TUV-listed part manufactured by Dongguan Guanjin Electronics in China. Why are such bricks still so common in a world of high-powered AC-DC converters that could easily be built in? Simple: it frees device designers from the regulatory and liability burdens of creating their own AC-DC power supplies, leaving only their low-voltage application to worry about. Permanently attached 18-gauge coaxial cord is 145cm (57) long, which should be plenty for most situations. Top How many slots do you see? I only count eight storage slots on this 10-port charger, which means youll either have two devices spilling over or sharing slots if you want to use all of the ports simultaneously. Dividers are molded together as a single top piece, which means there's no convenient way to redistribute storage space. Neoprene strips on the sides provide a soft grippy surface to keep devices from sliding around. With the strips about one centimeter away from the bases sides, and assuming the internals arent using the space, the station could have been made that much narrower, saving many square inches of desk space without affecting its form or function. Front From the front, you can see PrimeCables logo, the power button, and the brick cable poking out of the right side. If you are like me and prefer keeping cables out of the way, the "front" may actually end up being the back, moving that power cord off the back of your desk or table where it won't interfere. From this angle, there's another reason for my width reduction: less of a hard plastic lip between the walls and neoprene strips to bang devices on when you put them down. Port Side As far as the exterior tour is concerned, this is the angle you're likely most interested in. From left to right, we have the 5.5/2.1mm 19V DC-in barrel jack, six 5V/1A USB ports, two ports sharing 2.4A, and a pair of ports capable of 2.4A each for a grand total of 13.2A, as advertised on the box and stated inside the manual. I would have been happier with a few extra 2.4A ports and a slight chance of overloading the station than dealing with an inflexible power distribution. The 970 EVO 500GB matches the SMI SM2262 512GB SSDs in performance, but it also brings a longer warranty, a great software package, and a massive endurance increase. Pricing is more competitive here, but you are not going to store many games on this one. Features & Specifications Update 5/7/2018: We have updated the article with testing of the 512GB and 256GB 970 EVO models. The new models begin on page three. Samsung's new 970 Series comes with EVO models for the mainstream and Pro models for enthusiasts and professional users. Samsung's latest NVMe SSDs come as the company is facing renewed competition from companies armed with 64-layer flash. In recent months, products from several companies have gained ground on Samsung's once-dominant 960 EVO that comes with 48-layer flash. Capacities Rated Samsung 970 EVO (2TB) View Site Behind closed doors at CES, several third-party SSD manufacturers (companies without their own controller or flash production) told us their future products could match Samsung's 960 EVO. These claims crop up every few years as technology improves, but third-party companies usually have a tough time matching Samsung's pricing. The advent of 64-layer flash from several fabs changes that: new third-party SSDs perform as well (if not better) than the two-year-old 960 EVO but cost significantly less. Samsung has an answer, and it starts with its own 64-layer flash. The 970 EVO features the new flash and the same five-core Phoenix controller as the Pro model. The higher-priced 970 Pro delivers exceptional sustained write performance for advanced workstation-class workloads while the 970 EVO slots in for mainstream applications. The Pro is faster during extended workloads, which largely stems from the type of flash Samsung uses with the two models: The Pro has pricey MLC flash while the EVO uses less-expensive TLC. You can read all about the 970 Pro in our full review here. Samsung designed the 970 EVO for 99% of us, but is it the SSD that 99% of us should actually buy? We will answer that question today. The 970 EVO models span from 250GB to 2TB, which sets a new high-capacity watermark for the EVO series. The 2TB's $849.99 price tag will keep most from venturing into this spacious territory, but it's a much-needed addition to the EVO series. The high-end 2TB model reaches peak read/write throughput of 3,500/2,500 MB/s, while random read/write performance weighs in at 500,000/480,000 IOPS. The 970 EVO SSDs offer differing levels of performance for each capacity point, as listed in the table above. The gaps appear meaningful on paper, but in practice, factors beyond the SSDs' control, such as operating system bottlenecks, minimize the differences. Samsung also spec's its drives with four workers at a queue depth of four (apiece) to extract the most performance, but that's far more stringent than normal desktop applications. Pricing, Warranty, And Endurance 970 Series EVO 250GB EVO 500GB Pro 512GB EVO 1TB Pro 1TB EVO 2TB Price $119.99 $229.99 $329.99 $449.99 $629.99 $849.99 Endurance 150 TBW 300 TBW 600 TBW 600 TBW 1,200 TBW 1,200 TBW The 970 EVO starts out at just $119.99 for the 250GB model and spans up to $849.99 for the 2TB. Every drive in the new 970 Series (including the 970 Pro) carries a five-year warranty. The differences between the Pro and EVO series boil down to endurance, cost, and sustained performance. NVMe SSDs are getting very close to the performance limits of the PCIe 3.0 x4 bus, and other companies have closed the performance gap. Now Samsung is using its endurance advantage as a selling point as shoppers start to look for more value-add features rather than just chart-topping performance. The 970 EVO builds on Samsung's endurance lead and offers 1.5x more endurance than its predecessor. Intelligent TurboWrite SSD vendors use SLC-programmed buffers to improve the write performance of TLC SSDs. Samsung introduced the concept of a two-tiered SLC buffer on the 960 EVO and continued the practice with the 970 Series. The EVO's fixed buffer is either 4GB or 6GB depending on the SSDs' capacity. This small buffer absorbs random write traffic and is even sufficient for heavy multitasking workloads. Product EVO 250GB EVO 500GB EVO 1TB EVO 2TB Static Buffer Capacity 4GB 4GB 6GB 6GB Intelligent TurboWrite Capacity 9GB 18GB 36GB 72GB Total Capacity 12GB 22GB 42GB 78GB TurboWrite Performance 1,500 MB/s 2,300 MB/s 2,500 MB/s 2,500 MB/s Native Flash Performance 300 MB/s 600 MB/s 1,200 MB/s 1,250 MB/s The dynamic Intelligent TurboWrite buffer kicks in when you transfer a large file to the drive and expands if the drive has enough unused space. This also varies by drive capacity, as outlined in the table above. Using the extra performance is difficult unless you are transferring data from a high-speed device or over a fully-saturated 10-gigabit Ethernet network. The 970 EVO comes armed with the new five-core Phoenix controller that dedicates one core to communication with the host PC via the NVMe 1.3 interface. We tested the Phoenix controller after acquiring a pair of SSDs released to the system builder market. We still don't know a lot of details about the new eight-channel controller even though Samsung uses it in several new products that range from the PM981 to its enterprise-class products. Samsung's 64-layer V-NAND flash increases raw performance while also reducing power consumption. Samsung's 64-layer flash has already made an appearance in the Portable T5 SSD that we tested in late 2017 and the 860 EVO from early 2018. The new 2TB EVO has a new 512Gbit die that is twice as large as the 256Gbit die. To our knowledge, this is the first retail SSD to use the denser die. Features The 970 EVO supports Microsoft's eDrive and TCG Opal 2.0. eDrive is an encryption feature found on Windows 8, 8.1, and 10. Businesses often use TCG Opal to secure notebooks and desktops because it provides remote administration features. [766779 - Thermal_Performance] Chart Provided By Samsung The new Phoenix controller has a nickel cover that aids in thermal dissipation. Samsung also carried over the thin copper strip on the back of the drive from the 960 EVO. The strip wicks heat through the circuit board and away from the controller. The improved thermal performance allows the drive to transfer more data before the Dynamic Thermal Guard (thermal throttling) kicks in. Samsung tells us the 970 EVO's trigger point comes 12 seconds later than it did with the 960 EVO, thus allowing you to transfer 26% more sequential data at maximum throughput. The improved cooling, controller, and flash also offer increased sustained random performance. Samsung says the EVO boosts sustained random write performance by 27% over the previous-gen model. It also provides better performance consistency. Software Samsung's next Magician and Data Migration Software release will support the 970 Series. Magician allows you to view SMART information, test the drives with a load generator (benchmark), secure erase the drive, and update the firmware. The Data Migration Software speeds your migration to the new SSD by allowing you to clone data from an existing drive. Samsung also released a its new NVMe Driver 3.0, which is a step forward from the 2.3 version. In the past, Samsung's NVMe driver has increased performance in random workloads. This time, the company is very vague about the details: Together with the 970 EVO, Samsung is launching the Samsung NVMe Driver 3.0, which amidst a hugely diverse ecosystem for NVMe technology, is designed for maximal compatibility between the users system resources and the Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSD. For example, through the use of the Samsung NVMe Driver 3.0, it becomes possible to operate the 970 EVO with Windows 7. The new 3.0 NVMe driver will become an important topic later in this review when we look at the performance results. Packaging Image 1 of 2 Image 2 of 2 Samsung uses its standard color scheme for the 970 Series' packaging. Samsung lists the five-year warranty period on the package, but it doesn't list any performance or endurance specifications. The fine print points you to the Samsung website for more information. A Closer Look Image 1 of 6 Image 2 of 6 Image 3 of 6 Image 4 of 6 Image 5 of 6 Image 6 of 6 All 970 Series drives have the same hardware layout. The PCB has just two flash packages, a single DRAM package, and a nickel-coated Phoenix controller. To the naked eye, it appears that Samsung uses a thicker copper strip on the back of the drive than it did with the 960 Series. MORE: Best SSDs MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs MORE: All SSD Content Africas energy landscape is changing, but not in a uniform direction. New discoveries of oil and gas are accompanying the expansion of renewable energy generation. What does the continents energy transition hold for jobs and sustainable development? Because of its vulnerability to climate change, Africa as a whole is facing the double challenge of tackling climate change and coping with its consequences on production, growth, and employment in all economic sectors. While adaptation efforts are already, and will continue to be needed, preventing the worst possible impacts of climate change from materialising is also critical. Otherwise, the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development may be compromised. Indeed, over the past decade, climate change and extreme weather events have caused unprecedented damage in African countries, ruining infrastructure, threatening economic activity, and destroying jobs. The most visible manifestations are the droughts in southern Africa, floods in West Africa, and desertification of entire areas in the Maghreb region. To be sure, African countries focus most of their attention on adaptation to climate change. At the same time, however, an increasing number of governments across Africa consider a sustainable energy transition as a central aspect of their climate strategies. In this regard, several questions remain to be answered. How to achieve a sustainable energy transition that delivers inclusive growth and jobs? How to reduce the gap in skills in order to unleash the potential for vibrant enterprises and green jobs? And finally, how to develop public policy frameworks that are conducive to a just transition for workers, enterprises, and communities? This article touches upon these issues. Context and issues in Africas energy transition Compared to the majority of fossil fuel-dependent industrial countries, the energy transition in Africa presents a distinct feature. With the exception of a few countries such as South Africa, most African countries are not in a situation of pressure where they need to phase out of coal to meet their energy needs through alternative energy sources. Africas energy transition rather faces two important challenges: modernisation and expansion. Modernisation is about exploiting the continents vast endowment of renewable energy resources, including biomass, wind, solar, and hydro-power potential. It also implies moving away from the use of inefficient and hazardous forms of energy by over 700 million people and towards the deployment of modern fuels and sources of energy for cooking, heating, and lighting. In the fossil fuel sector (especially oil and gas), both resource and labour productivity need to be improved. Expansion is about bringing to scale adapted technologies to meet the energy needs of a growing population of 1.2 billion people, of which only 30 percent have access to reliable electricity. Globally, we are witnessing a shift in the energy landscape, away from fossil fuels and towards less-polluting sources of energy. In Africa, however, a closer look reveals a different picture. On the one hand, there is an expansion in energy generation from renewables. For example, the recently launched Taiba Ndiaye Wind Project in Senegal will generate 158-megawatt of additional capacity. In Ghana, the planned Nzema Solar Power Station will be the largest installation of its kind in Africa, and it is expected to increase Ghanas electricity generating capacity by 6 percent and allow nearly 100,000 homes to benefit from clean energy. Morocco, a pioneer in this area, seeks to deploy about 1.5 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity across the country to meet its goal of increasing the share of renewables in its energy mix to 42 percent by 2020. In April 2018, South Africa signed contracts with 27 independent renewable energy power producers, worth US$4.6 billion, to produce 2,300 megawatts of electricity over the next five years. One the other hand, since 2004, there has been a wave of oil and gas discoveries in countries such as Chad, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Sao Tome Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. According to the Africa Energy Outlook 2014, 30 percent of global oil and gas discoveries made between 2010 and 2014 have been in sub-Saharan Africa. A number of countries that were previously net energy importers will become energy exporters in the next five years due to increasing oil exports. And based on certain estimates, sub-Sahara Africa is expected to outpace Russia as a global gas supplier by 2040. Therefore, while the African energy landscape is changing, it is not in a single direction. The energy transition is complex and has important ramifications for the structure of economies and future development prospects. Climate change is an essential aspect to it, but so are many other key aspects of the sustainable development goals, such as reducing the health impact on women and children of the use of inefficient cooking fuels; powering productive industries in rural areas and modernising agriculture; and the overall improvement of living conditions. What are prospects for new job creation? Studies by the International Labour Office and other institutions have pointed to four types of possible impacts of climate change and greening policies on labour markets.[1] Firstly, the expansion of greener products, services, and infrastructure will translate into higher labour demand across many sectors of the economy, thereby leading to the creation of new jobs. Examples include jobs in renewable energy, energy efficiency, manufacturing, transportation, and building and construction. In addition to direct jobs, indirect employment is created along the supply chains, including in the building of necessary infrastructure.[2] And as new income is generated and spent across the economy, further employment is created. Secondly, some of the existing jobs will be substituted as a result of transformations in the economy from less to more efficient, from high-carbon to low-carbon, and from more to less polluting technologies, processes, and products. Examples include the shift from the manufacturing of internal combustion engines to the production electric vehicles, as well as the energy transition itself, as clean energy replaces fossil fuels. Thirdly, certain jobs may be eliminated, either phased out completely or massively reduced in numbers, without direct replacement. This may happen where polluting and energy- and materials-intensive economic activities are reduced or phased out entirely, such as in the closing of inefficient coal mines. Finally, many, and perhaps most, existing jobs (such as plumbers, electricians, metal workers, and construction workers) will simply be transformed and redefined as day-to-day workplace practices, skill sets, work methods, and job profiles are greened. For instance, plumbers and electricians can be reoriented to carry out similar work with solar water heating or solar photovoltaic systems. On the energy transition more specifically, two common questions are whether clean energies generate more employment than fossil fuels, and whether this applies in the context of Africa. Several studies indicate that renewable energy technologies create more jobs than fossil fuel technologies. One study concludes that per dollar of expenditure, spending on renewable energy can produce nearly 70 percent more jobs than spending on fossil fuels. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimated that the renewable energy sector employed nearly 10 million people worldwide in 2016, with 62,000 jobs in Africa. Nearly half of these jobs are in South Africa and a quarter in North Africa.[3] In relation to the notion of modernisation mentioned above, replacing the millions of kerosene lamps, candles, and flashlights used in many African countries with modern solar lighting can provide a cheaper alternative and stimulate green jobs. A study found that replacing these lighting systems with modern solar lighting technologies for people living outside the grid could create 500,000 new jobs related to lighting in countries of the ECOWAS region. Bridging skills and capacity gaps to reap the employment dividend More than 10 million young African men and women are expected to enter the labour market each year over the coming years. Most analysts tend to agree that the traditional public sector will not be able to absorb this new work force. Entrepreneurship and self-employment are indispensable to create quality jobs in large numbers, and the energy transition can play a central role in this regard. For that to happen, skills development and upgrading, entrepreneurship promotion, and enabling policy and governance frameworks are required. A global review of skills for green jobs including four countries in Africa (Egypt, Mali, South Africa, and Uganda) revealed the existence of a gap between the goals and targets set in environmental policies and the human resources available for their implementation.[4] The same applies in the energy sector. Some skills gaps already exist for technical and engineering positions and could grow as the renewable energy sector continues to expand. Skills gaps could lead to project delays or even cancellations, cost overruns, and faulty installations. Efforts are needed in education and training systems to develop renewable energy curricula, integrate modules into vocational training courses, support apprenticeships, and establish common quality standards.[5] Nonetheless, there are promising experiences. For example, Cape Verde launched a Renewable Energy and Industrial Maintenance Center (Cermi), whose main activity is the training of professionals in the areas of design, assembly, and maintenance of photovoltaic installations. Various intervention models and programs to promote job creation in clean energies have shown a clear advantage of combining technical and vocational training with entrepreneurship training. Particularly for African countries, entrepreneurship and self-employment are becoming priorities in youth employment strategies and policies. In view of Africas specific business environment, micro-enterprises have an important role here. In general, micro-enterprises are defined as businesses with up to 10 employees, small businesses as those with 10 to 100 employees, and medium-sized enterprises as those with 100 to 250 employees. In Africa, the majority of job creation is coming from the smallest businesses (less than 19 employees). In the East Asia and Pacific region, job growth is mostly concentrated in enterprises with 20-99 employees, while in Latin America and Eastern Europe/Central Asia, more than 40 percent of job creation is by businesses with more than 100 employees. Typically, young entrepreneurs in the energy space face challenges related to (1) access to finance, (2) lack of technical knowledge, and (3) lack of experience in business management. It should also be noted that because of the prevalence of unemployment and underemployment, there are some entrepreneurs by vocation, but also a large number of entrepreneurs by necessity. As a result, in the absence of strategies and tools to support entrepreneurship, a large proportion of young entrepreneurs remain in the informal economy. Nevertheless, many young African women and men see the potential associated with the development of micro and small enterprises in the renewable energy sector. Remarkable initiatives are underway throughout Africa, with dynamic companies such as M-Kopa Solar, which operates in East Africa in the distribution and installation of solar kits. Many such small and micro enterprises active in the distribution of energy systems, maintenance and operation, and sometimes in assembly would benefit from policies to support their integration in value chains and the development of local supply chains. Government policies favouring local content and after-sales services can be helpful. Through the use of such policies, for example, the Tunisia Solar Plan enabled the development of joint ventures and local manufacturing of solar water heaters. Conclusion Africas energy transition is well underway, structured by national and regional contexts and priorities, as well as global policy frameworks and commitments that countries have made. Critical to its success is the fine combination of new fossil fuel discoveries and the expansion of renewables across the continent. A critical dimension of the energy transition for Africa also has to do with cost of technologies. As Collier and Venables have put it, Africa cannot afford cost-increasing mitigation: any measures that it takes to green its energy usage must also be cost-reducing. Although most studies indicate net job gains in the energy transition, in Africa as in other parts of the world, issues of temporal and geographical disconnect exist. These refer to the fact that new jobs are not necessarily created in the same locations and regions, and at the same pace as other jobs may be displaced or eliminated in the energy transition. The notion of a just transition for all implies that policies are in place to manage social and employment impacts carefully, in order to avoid social and economic disruptions.[6] The fear of job losses can act as a powerful social and political force to maintain the status quo and slow progress. Effective social dialogue, planning for a just transition, and social protection policies are all elements of a just transition framework that can help African countries manage their energy transition well. Moustapha Kamal Gueye is Coordinator, Green Jobs Programme, International Labour Office. The views and opinions in this article are those of the author and do not represent views or opinions of the International Labour Office. This article is published under Bridges Africa, Volume 7 - Number 3, by the ICTSD. [1] International Labour Organization (ILO). A just transition to climate-resilient economies and societies: Issues and perspectives for the world of work. Geneva: ILO, 2016. [2] International Labour Organization (ILO). Rural Renewable Energy Investments and their Impact on Employment. STRENGTHEN Publication Series, Working Paper No. 1, 2017. [3] International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Renewable Energy & Jobs Annual Review 2017. Abu Dhabi: IRENA, 2017. [4] ILO. Skills for Green Jobs: A Global View. Geneva: ILO, 2011. [5] High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Interlinkages between energy and jobs. Policy Brief No. 13, forthcoming. [6] ILO. Guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all. Geneva: ILO, 2015. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. HERE are two terms you dont see often in the same sentence: menstruation and mental health. Yet, it is a topic worth discussing, says womens counselling psychologist Oraine Ramoo. Hormones can have an effect on a womans moods and emotions and can even impact the quality of ones life. Do you have a news tip? Want to share good news story, or do you have information that should see the light of day? Then we want to hear from you. More here Even before Covid-19 Trinidad and Tobago was in serious financial difficulties. A declining energy sector and the persistent growth of public expenditure fuelled by reckless spending and incompetence explain the large fiscal gaps. Re: July 2018 - One Month in Australia and New Zealand 1. Re: July 2018 - One Month in Australia and New Zealand "My key questions for you are: (i) is it too ambitious to see that much of Australia in 2.5 weeks," Way too ambitious if you plan to drive from Sydney all the way to the far north. Hiking in NZ in July is not what I would choose to do there. July is perfect time to visit Far North Queensland. All- I'd love to get some advice. I plan on surprising my husband with a trip to Australia for his birthday. It's his first time there (I've been before) and I want to make sure its a memorable one. Like most, I'm torn over the question whether to visit NZ or not. We will be there the last three weeks in Dec. Could folks look at my schedule and provide input: 4-Days: US to New Zealand (thinking of Auckland, but most things I've read say Christ Church or someplace else on the southern island is better). Any thoughts? 5-Days: Cairns (visit the reef, enjoy the rainforest). We will also be hear Christmas Day. 2- Days: Ayers Rock (mixed emotions about this one). Any recommendations on weather to see or skip? 5-Days: Sydney I'd really like some solid advice on what we should and shouldn't do. We are also thinking of doing VBRO's in New Zealand and Sydney. We are both larger guys that need a king size bed and it appears most hotels only have queens. Thoughts on the trip? -:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:- This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one. To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason. A couple of things here. I think it is better to have the car delivered to you when you come out from Tortuguero. Some rental companies will charge for this, some won't. But even then, the fee is small. Certainly not $165.00. Incidentally, it is against the forum rules for us to quote a price. But some self promoters still find excuses to sneak them in. I have to say that quote is a little high for this service anyway. Do your own research away from TripAdvisor. This is an extremely valuable tool. But the last I checked, no one has the Rosetta Stone in their back pocket. So don't limit your search for correct info to one forum. There are lots of transportation companies out there with transparent pricing, and verifiable reviews over multiple platforms. Do a google search of what you find, then google that company. Look for reviews from multiple sources. Once you start poking around, it is easy to tell the pretenders from the pros. Take a good look at their web sites. Are the pictures of their actual vehicles? Or a bunch of stock photos from dealer brochures? Are the "signs" or logo license plates on the cars genuine, or badly photo shopped fakes? The larger companies have modern equipment with internet and cell service for the clients. Some even offer free international calling. They also have multiple vehicles, in case there is a problem. Transportation is important. It cost the same to ride in old worn out equipment, as it does to ride in modern equipment. Knowing there is a back up plan if something goes wrong gives a lot of peace of mind. But why pay anything for a transfer, when you can simply drive yourself? That is a beautiful drive, and through rolling green hills. It is only about three hours.. You can stop along the way for a nice lunch. Should be a very nice day. Regarding money exchange, you can probably use your debit card from the UK in Costa Rica. All of the ATM major networks are served, Cirrus, Mistro, etc. Check with your provider to be sure. You can also get cash advances with your Visa card. Just make sure the providers know that you will be traveling in Costa Rica. So they don't turn the card of for suspected fraud. The ATMs give the bank rate. Most are now bi-lingual and dispense both USD and Colons. ATM machines are widely available around the country. When you are using the ATM look into the bank window. You will see rows of seats. That illustrates how crowded a bank can get on a busy day! The ATM is a great solution. I hope this helps. Let me know if I can offer any further advice. Warm Regards, Pat Hewitt Costa Rica Travel Exchange Dishonesty, lack of integrity catches up with you. ~Dawn Steel~ We would be visiting in Aug and wondering if gunacaste beaches would be good for swimming and snorkeling. itinerary we are thinking is somewhat like SJO to gunacaste beaches to Arenal to Manuel Antonio.( 3 nights at each hop and 12 days in total) I was considering Puerto Viejo but due to weather in Aug and some safety concern in purto viejo we like to consider gunacaste area. Please let us know beaches, town for accommodation and kids friendly hotels in gunacaste. "The tour company will pick us up from our hotel and transfer us to airport at the end." To HCMC airport? "Would you get rid of the stay in Hue to add extra time in Hoi An (to do a day trip to Hue) and add a day to our Mekong tour?" I'm probably not the best to ask on Hue. :-) It didn't do much for me, but if you're into history / temples / pagodas, etc, then I think you'd be in your element. I hate one night stays, (just not worth the travel time, imo) and not much of a fan of two night ones either, but understand that sometimes something has to give. If I was heading to Can Tho to see the Mekong, then I would want to utilise Can Tho airport to remove the time consuming road travel back to HCMC. (apologies if you're already doing that) Vietjet flies from CT to Danang. Decisions, hey? ;-) Scott If you want to meet in the terminal here is another suggestion: when your daughter gets off the bus, have her ask a cop for the way to the SOUTH (main) terminal (between Eighth and Ninth and 40th and 41st). The north terminal tends to be more deserted and has far fewer stores etc. A cop told me to ask cops for the south terminal instead of the main terminal and it works! Be sure she knows to go to the main level (with the shorter haul bus ticket windows and information) of the south terminal. Once there, she should locate the area with information, the shorter haul ticket counters (Coach USA booths are very visible in red, white and blue lettering). In front of those is a sculpture by George Segal of thee figures entering a bus door. Stand there. There are no seats or waiting area at Port Authority other than eateries as noted above-- but the sculpture is visible, central and easy to ask about if needed. I have done this several times and have never failed to meet my party or be met. And I am not alone in doing so. Here is a photo: The list of unique Swahili baby names is always fun to look at, whether you're searching for a name for your soon-to-be-born baby boy or girl, wondering about the popularity of your own Swahili surname, or just curious about what baby names are currently hot. Like in all the communities, Swahili names are, in most cases, derived from the vast cultural and social fabric of the Swahili traditions. Image: instagram.com, @labeautecongolaisee Source: UGC Swahili baby names are no doubt one of the Kenyan names that are rich in history. Some names bestowed on kids are so common that they cease being fancy or unique. This piece is in response to the desire to unravel one of a kind Swahili names that are unique but equally impressive. If you are a mother or father to a lovely newborn, you are definitely in the right place! The Swahili people at a glance Swahili people are known to inhabit majorly the Swahili Coast, which is a part of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Mozambique. They are also residents of adjacent islands and remote areas of Zanzibar, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Malawi. Most of these areas are predominantly Swahili inhabited, and the residents speak Swahili as their native language or mother tongue. The Swahili language is definitely one of the popular dialect spoken in East and Central Africa. It is claimed to have a total of 140 million speakers in Africa alone. The Arabic language has some overwhelming bearing on the Swahili language as it is known today. Consequently, a significant percentage of the Swahili vocabulary is Arabic. This influence has roots during the Arab's trade expeditions to the eastern coast of Africa, including Kenya. The Swahili people are known to have exquisite culinary skills that are reflected in their tasty cuisines and dishes. The use of special spices makes their best and most popular foods, including biriani, vitumbua, kaimati, mshikaki, mahamri, and pilau, to be delicious. They have a rich oral heritage-proverbs (methali), poets, and music. The Taarab rhythm goes without mention as unique to the Swahili people. Their enterprise in garments is reflected in the good-looking 'Kangas' that are in mainstream women fashion. Swahili baby names and meanings No doubt that the name which a child bears is a reflection of his identity. Forget about the baby clothing or whether delivery through Cesarean section is safe. The biggest, and normally the critical decision that parents have to grapple with is the exact name to give their bundle of joy. Image: instagram.com, @ola_pelo Source: UGC Settling on a Swahili last name can be difficult. It is believed that the name bestowed on the child has a profound influence on the child in all phases of his/her life. The name is pegged on the circumstances during birth or the physical attributes of the newborn. For instance, the Swahili people will often name their child either Khamisi or Mwanajuma indicating they were born on Thursday and Friday, respectively. Swahili names for girls Bring up a princess who will not shy away from the public eye. Her name will be one of the most recognizable aspects you cannot ignore. Without further ado, let's look at a number of gorgeous and unique Swahili baby girl names and their meanings. Afiya/Afia: The name represents health or wellness. The name represents health or wellness. Sanura : The name refers to a kitten. : The name refers to a kitten. Kamaria : It's one of the Unique Swahili baby names. It simply means bright as the moon : It's one of the Unique Swahili baby names. It simply means bright as the moon Tawa : The name alludes to being devoted or committed. : The name alludes to being devoted or committed. Raziya : This unique name implies to the principle of being good-natured or pleasant. : This unique name implies to the principle of being good-natured or pleasant. Shani : The rare word refers to being marvelous or wonderful. : The rare word refers to being marvelous or wonderful. Marjani : The word Marjani is in reference to corals : The word Marjani is in reference to corals Kebibi/Kibibi : "Little girl" is the real expression for the name Kibibi. : "Little girl" is the real expression for the name Kibibi. Ramla : Its meaning is a fortune-teller. : Its meaning is a fortune-teller. Baya : The name Baya means, 'ugly-looking.' : The name Baya means, 'ugly-looking.' Farisi : The seldom-used feminine name is in reference to capability. : The seldom-used feminine name is in reference to capability. Hafidha: The Swahili name suggests a mindful or thoughtful person. READ ALSO: Best unisex names with their meanings and origin Bamba : The unisex name means advice. : The unisex name means advice. Duni : Means little or insignificant. : Means little or insignificant. Bopo : The Swahili name Bopo means depression. : The Swahili name Bopo means depression. Amali : The rare Swahili name means "hope." : The rare Swahili name means "hope." Busara : This seldom-used name denotes wisdom and shrewdness. : This seldom-used name denotes wisdom and shrewdness. Busu : A Swahili name that is often rare. Its meaning is a kiss : A Swahili name that is often rare. Its meaning is a kiss Dalili : This unique baby girl's name means a sign. : This unique baby girl's name means a sign. Bayyina: This Swahili name signifies evidence or proof. Image: instagram.com, @zed_fashion1 Source: UGC Hartha : An uncommon name for a baby girl that implies fertility. : An uncommon name for a baby girl that implies fertility. Jokha : Jokha name insinuates a jeweled robe : Jokha name insinuates a jeweled robe Inaya : It means Prudence and guardianship. : It means Prudence and guardianship. Adhra : This rarely used girl name means an apology : This rarely used girl name means an apology Fadiya : This is a very unpopular name, which means savior or liberator. : This is a very unpopular name, which means savior or liberator. Halili : A rare, unique name meaning the adored. : A rare, unique name meaning the adored. Amne : This uncommon name signifies safety. : This uncommon name signifies safety. Alama : Alama, 'symbol' is an infrequent name that also happens to be unisex. : Alama, 'symbol' is an infrequent name that also happens to be unisex. Fahamu : A unique word that means intelligence. : A unique word that means intelligence. Maulidi : The uncommon name is associated with a baby girl born in the month of Maulidi, as the name suggests. : The uncommon name is associated with a baby girl born in the month of Maulidi, as the name suggests. Afua : This baby girl's name means either Mercy or protection. : This baby girl's name means either Mercy or protection. Munira : This name point to something bright or luminous. : This name point to something bright or luminous. Amwa : Amwa in Swahili means 'she is suckled.' It is a unisex name. : Amwa in Swahili means 'she is suckled.' It is a unisex name. Amne : The name denotes safety. : The name denotes safety. Anga : A nice name representing the "sky." : A nice name representing the "sky." Asili : An uncommon name which stands for a beginning. : An uncommon name which stands for a beginning. Auni : A unique name of Swahili origin that means help. : A unique name of Swahili origin that means help. Kesi : The unique name means that she was born at a time of great trouble. : The unique name means that she was born at a time of great trouble. Lakeisha : The name means joyful. : The name means joyful. Adia : The rare name means a gift from God. : The rare name means a gift from God. Hasnaa : This unique name means very beautiful. : This unique name means very beautiful. Kichaka . The name means the one who blushes. . The name means the one who blushes. Nalla : An uncommon name which stands for a successful person, who achieved everything. : An uncommon name which stands for a successful person, who achieved everything. Tabia : The name means polite behavior and talented. : The name means polite behavior and talented. Sikudhani : An uncommon name used to denote a pleasant surprise. : An uncommon name used to denote a pleasant surprise. Tishala: The beautiful name stands for one who has strong will power. READ ALSO: Beautiful Brazilian girl names and their meanings Swahili names for boys Baby boys are destined to take on important roles once they mature. Start by giving them a wonderful name that echoes the intended personality. It is a good way to lay a good foundation in the effort to mould them into respectable adults. Here goes a list of Swahili baby boy names and their meanings to choose from. Shomari : This rare word means being forceful : This rare word means being forceful Sadiku : The name means being faithful. : The name means being faithful. Machupa : Machupa suggests to an individual who enjoys drinking. : Machupa suggests to an individual who enjoys drinking. Mhina : Mhina means delightful. : Mhina means delightful. Jahi : This major boy's name epitomizes dignity. : This major boy's name epitomizes dignity. Tajiri : The name denotes wealth or fortune. : The name denotes wealth or fortune. Amri : The masculine name refers to power and authority. : The masculine name refers to power and authority. Tarishi : Means a messenger. : Means a messenger. Fumo : The name best represents a warrior. : The name best represents a warrior. Asili : The unisex name means origin or native. : The unisex name means origin or native. Damu : The name refers to blood. : The name refers to blood. Hashil: Means to be joyful. Image: instagram.com, @larrypop_photography Source: UGC Rubama : The masculine name stands for a possibility. : The masculine name stands for a possibility. Keto : The Swahili name meaning depth. : The Swahili name meaning depth. Chadu : Infers to Octopus. : Infers to Octopus. Thani : Refers to the second one. : Refers to the second one. Jelani : This cute name Implies to someone mighty. : This cute name Implies to someone mighty. Jawaad : The Swahili name stands for being generous. : The Swahili name stands for being generous. Zahir : The rare word means to shine or sparkle. : The rare word means to shine or sparkle. Rejalla: It stands for, "God wills it." READ ALSO: Popular South African girl names with meanings Azizi : This unique name means precious, beloved, or treasure. : This unique name means precious, beloved, or treasure. Djimon : It denotes a powerful person. : It denotes a powerful person. Elewisa : It means a mindful and intelligent person. : It means a mindful and intelligent person. Hami : It means defender, protector, or supporter. : It means defender, protector, or supporter. Ayubu : A unique name that stands for patience and perseverance. : A unique name that stands for patience and perseverance. Ramadhani : The name means the child was born during the month of Ramadan. : The name means the child was born during the month of Ramadan. Russom : An uncommon name that stands for one who is a leader or head of the charge. : An uncommon name that stands for one who is a leader or head of the charge. Abedi : The name means worshipper. : The name means worshipper. Akida : Infers to the one who is determined and diplomatic. : Infers to the one who is determined and diplomatic. Amaziah : The unique name means one who has the strength of God. : The unique name means one who has the strength of God. Asani : The name means rebellious. : The name means rebellious. Hashaan : It means good-looking. : It means good-looking. Jabori : One who brings comfort to people. : One who brings comfort to people. Kamili: The name means one who has no flaws. READ ALSO: Cute Taita baby names and their meanings Swahili names for business Coming up with a great name for your company can be a challenge. Of course, you can bypass this task by naming your company after yourself, but where's the fun in that? The scary truth is that most consumers make purchases on the basis of a brand name. So a great name can make a real difference. If your business is serving Swahili customers, you should use the Swahili dictionary to look up for the words that can be used as business names. Examples of such names include: Simba - It means lion. For example, you can name your business Simba hardware if you are selling hardware materials. - It means lion. For example, you can name your business Simba hardware if you are selling hardware materials. Mzalendo - It means patriotism. For example, if you are operating a dry cleaning business, you can give it the name Mzalendo drycleaners. - It means patriotism. For example, if you are operating a dry cleaning business, you can give it the name Mzalendo drycleaners. Ushindi. It means the winner. If you are operating a hairdressing business, you can give it the name Ushindi salon. Swahili name generator If you're looking for Swahili names, the Swahili name generator is a good starting point. The name generator will give you random Swahili names and their meanings. To start, simply click on the button to generate random names. In case you don't like the names, click again to get new random names. READ ALSO: 50+ funny names you can only find in Africa Frequently asked questions Here are some of the questions that people ask on the topic of Swahili baby names: What are some Swahili names? The list of Swahili names is endless. Some of the common Swahili names for boys include Azizi, Ayubu, Abedi, Jamal, Jabali, Rashid, Kamari, Hodari, Issa, and others. On the other hand, the most common Swahili names for girls include Neema, Aisha, Kaluwa, Kamaria, Bahati, Adila, Afiya, Lulu, Kanzi, Nina, Nuru, Penda, Safiyah, Zuwena, and Zuri. What name means beautiful in Swahili? There are several Swahili names that mean beautiful. Zuri is the most common Swahili name that means beautiful. Chaurembo is another baby girl's name that translates to a beautiful girl. For baby boys, the names Jamal and Hasani mean beautiful. What are common African names? The list of common African names is endless. For girls, the most common names include Adah, Aaliyah, Adana, Abiola, Zendaya, Ashanti, Makena, Asha, Lulu, Zola, Nala, Afia, Adora, Kissa, and so on. The common African names for boys include Chege, Juma, Selassie, Sultan, Jelani, Ayodele, Chibuzo, Ekene, Jabali, Kofi, Kwame, Olamide, Talib, and so on. READ ALSO: Best Kisii baby boy names and their meaning Choosing a baby name can be one of the most fun and challenging aspects of having a new baby. You can check out these unique Swahili baby names if you are stuck on how to name your baby boy or girl. Before you pick on a name, ensure that you understand the meaning so that you can choose the right name for you and your baby. READ ALSO: Best futuristic boy names that are cool Source: Kenyan Breaking News - Kirinyaga's number two was heavily criticised by a large section of Kenyans - This was after a video of him alongside a married woman surfaced online - The two were busted having an illicit affair - Kenyans were typically unimpressed by Ndambiri's acts and made their feelings known online Kirinyaga Deputy governor Peter Ndambiri has become the subject of mass criticism from Kenyans after a video of him in a compromising situation emerged. The deputy governor, on Tuesday, April 24, received a heavy dress down from Kenyans for allegedly sleeping with a married woman. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Viagra sasa sio ya kuongeza nguvu kitandani tu; watafiti wapata matumizi mapya Ndambiri was busted in bed with a married woman. Photo: United states of Kiambu/Facebook Earlier TUKO.co.ke reported of an apologetic Ndambiri who is seen in the video trying to beg forgiveness from a man believed to be the husband of the woman in the video. While the deputy governor maintains that he did not know the lady was someones spouse, unforgiving Kenyans were relentless in their online attacks on him. Majority of Kenyans could not hide their distaste in the respected politician who just might have thrown away his reputation. Here are some the reactions from Kenyans: READ ALSO: Matiang'i should deputise Ruto in 2022 - Kisii leaders Some were of the opinion that Ndambiri should resign because of the shameful situation he was caught in. READ ALSO: Ruto not looking for sympathy vote - top Opposition leaders defend DP Others could not help but tackle the deputy on a more personal level: READ ALSO: Sonko installs CCTV cameras to monitor pedestrians stepping on grass 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 Kenya's Oldest Makanga ( Documentary) | Faces of Kenya: Source: Tuko - The Interior Cabinet Secretary said the government will not pay for the lost livestock - He argued compensating the residents would mean the government was responsible - Baringo residents had accused security officers of shooting and killing their livestock - Tiaty MP Kamket alleged the security officers were responsible for the deaths of 6000 livestock in Baringo No compensation! Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i told Parliamentary Committee on Security and National Administration on Tuesday, April 24. Tiaty Member of Parliament (MP) William Kamket, had sought to know the government's position on the compensation of Baringo residents who lost livestock during security operations last year. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 told the National Assembly Security and National Administration Committee there would be no compensation. Photo: TUKO. READ ALSO: "Shoot to kill" - crowd turns against William Ruto in Baringo According to the Interior CS, compensating the residents would justify claims that security officers shot dead livestock in Baringo. Kamket had told the Security Committee Baringo residents lost over 6000 livestock when Matiang'i sent soldiers to the conflict-torn, drought-ravaged and poverty-stricken County to restore order. The deaths of livestock left many residents in abject poverty. Their only source of livelihood is livestock, which is why we should give this matter the seriousness it deserves, Kamket said. READ ALSO: Schools Forced To Close Due To Rampant Insecurity But Matiang'i stood his ground insisting the government will not pay a dime for the livestock lost because there was no proof the animals were killed by security officers. "The information we have is that no livestock was lost in the hands of our security officers. We will investigate further and come back to you with a response to the issues raised by the MP, Matiangi told the Committee. READ ALSO: TENSION as armed bandits attack primary school Baringo County has been struggling with insecurity. Bandits have been unleashing terror on the predominantly pastoral communities. The security situation worsened last year, especially during the electioneering period, forcing the government to intensify operations in the region. The situation was so dire that at some point the Deputy President William Ruto issued a shoot-to-kill order, a directive that sparked angry reactions from Kenyans and local leaders. 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. Top 5 Facts About Uhuru Kenyatta - Raila Odinga Pact - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko.co.ke The opposition UNC is urging the population to stand up and fight for their rights. During this morning's weekly press briefing, one opposition Senator and an opposition member of the house highlighted issues of mandatory vaccination and the PSC fiasco. Service personnel of the 79th separate air assault brigade and tank platoon of the 14th separate mechanized brigade have begun participating in the Combined Resolve X international exercises in Germany. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko wrote this on his Facebook page "Our servicemen of the 79th separate air assault brigade and tank platoon of the 14th separate mechanized brigade started participating in the Combined Resolve X international exercises," the head of state noted. This years Combined Resolve X brings together nearly 3,700 service personnel from 13 allied and partner nations. ish Ukrainian documentary The Invisible Battalion has been screened at the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg. The screening was organized by the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "I believe that everybody in the Council of Europe should watch this documentary, because it tells about war, about people and, most importantly, about the role of a woman in the war," Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Dmytro Kuleba told Ukrinform. "The Council of Europe very actively advocates the gender equality. We should remember that there should be the equality for the right to protect the country along with men. Therefore, this movie, its idea resonates with the Council of Europe," the diplomat said. The Invisible Battalion is the Ukrainian documentary almanac about women amid the military hostilities in eastern Ukraine. This is the first Ukrainian documentary about war and women in the war, which is made by women. ol About eleven people die as a result of traffic accidents in Ukraine every day, more than twice the number of people killed similarly in the countries of the European Union. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelian said this at the government meeting, presenting the state program to improve the road safety in Ukraine until 2020, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "About eleven people die as a result of traffic accidents in Ukraine every day, more than twice the number of people killed similarly in the countries of the European Union. Most accidents with severe consequences occur due to speeding, poorly equipped pedestrian crossings, dangerous crossroads, drunk driving," Omelian said. ol Ariev also said PACE had taken into account an amendment proposed by the Ukrainian delegation. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted a decision recognizing the Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine as "effectively controlled" by Russia. While considering a resolution on Ukraine, PACE nearly unanimously supported two amendments stating that the uncontrolled areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine (also known as the "DPR" and "LPR," or "ORDLO") are "territories under effective control by the Russian Federation," the Ukrainian news outlet Yevropeiska Pravda reported. Previously, the document used the notions "government-controlled and non government-controlled territories." The final wording of the resolution does not mention the ORDLO as "occupied terriitory" the amendments were changed at the last moment to "effectively controlled." PACE Vice President Volodymyr Ariev wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, April 24, to comment the event: "It's a victory! An important amendment proposed by the Ukrainian delegation to PACE was adopted in the report 'State of emergency: proportionality issues concerning derogations under Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights,' and the Assembly voted to recognize the actual occupation (effective control) by Russia of part of Donbas! Fairy tales about coal miners, tractor drivers and post exchanges are no longer part of international documents." Read alsoUkraine's envoy: PACE corruption report "beginning of a major scandal" As UNIAN reported earlier, Ariev said on April 23 PACE had rejected Ukraine's request to hold an urgent debate over the illegal election of the Russian president in occupied Crimea and other aspects of Russian policy. Skadden was hired as part of a pro-Yanukovych lobbying campaign orchestrated by Paul Manafort. A Skadden partner whose work for the Ukrainian government attracted the attention of special counsel Robert Mueller is no longer with the law firm, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. Gregory Craig, a former White House counsel under Barack Obama, spearheaded Skadden's 2012 engagement with Ukraine, then led by Russia-backed president Viktor Yanukovych, The Financial Times (FT) reported. Read alsoThe Guardian: Former Trump aide approved 'black ops' to help Ukraine president Yanukovych Skadden was hired as part of a pro-Yanukovych lobbying campaign orchestrated by Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chair, according to Mr Mueller, who is investigating potential links between Russia and Trump campaign officials. Skadden did not comment on why Mr Craig had left the firm. Mr Craig could not be reached immediately. There has been no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Mr Craig. In 2012, Mr Craig led a team of Skadden attorneys who wrote a report for the Ukrainian government about the prosecution of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Ms Tymoshenko claimed her conviction was politically motivated, a view shared by the EU and the U.S. government. Skadden found that her trial was flawed but said Ms Tymoshenko had not provided "specific evidence of political motivation" sufficient to overturn her conviction if judged by U.S. standards. The report was used by Mr Manafort and Rick Gates, former Trump campaign aides indicted by Mr Mueller, as part of a lobbying campaign they allegedly ran on behalf of the Yanukovych regime. The work was an unusual step for a firm best known for its core capital markets and litigation practice, and drew criticism when the report was released. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said in 2012 the report "was incomplete and doesn't give an accurate picture". Last month, a former Skadden attorney who worked on the Tymoshenko report was sentenced to 30 days in jail by a U.S. court. Alex van der Zwaan was convicted of lying to prosecutors in the special counsel's investigation about his contacts with Mr Gates and an unnamed business associate of Mr Gates and Mr Manafort. U.S. prosecutors have said the business associate had active links to Russian intelligence. Skadden was paid $4m for the report, according to a court filing by Mr Mueller this month. The money largely came from an unnamed Ukrainian oligarch and was funnelled through a Cyprus bank account controlled by Mr Manafort and Mr Gates, according to the U.S. government's sentencing memorandum in Van der Zwaan's case. The firm returned $567,000 to Ukraine last year. "We returned the balance of Ukraine's payment, which had been held in escrow for future work," a spokesperson said in February. The Ukraine government led by Mr Yanukovych is alleged to have recorded a payment of just $12,000 to Skadden for the report, a sum below the level where an open procurement process would be required. In a filing in Mr Manafort's case this month, the special counsel said the former Trump campaign chairman had caused Skadden to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (Fara), a U.S. law that requires lobbyists for foreign powers to register with the government. The filing did not name Skadden but refers to a "U.S. law firm" hired to write a report for the Ukraine government about Ms Tymoshenko's prosecution. The firm declined to comment on the filing. In September, it denied it had violated Fara and told The New York Times that "none of our attorneys engaged in any activity that required them of the firm to register under Fara." Skadden had not wanted its work on the Tymoshenko case to be viewed as a "whitewash" or as a public relations exercise for the Ukrainian government, according to the sentencing memorandum filed by the special counsel's office in Van der Zwaan's case But when the report was released the Yanukovych-led Ukrainian government issued a press release that suggested Skadden's analysis was proof that Ms Tymoshenko's prosecution was not driven by politics. The report drew the attention of Mr Mueller as he investigated the lobbying activities of Mr Manafort and Mr Gates in Ukraine. Mr Gates has pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the U.S. and making a false statement. He is co-operating with the special counsel's investigation. Mr Manafort is accused of money laundering, making false statements and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government in relation to his lobbying for the Ukrainian government. He has denied the charges and is fighting to have them thrown out. Mr Craig spent much of his career as a litigator at Williams & Connolly and in the late-1990s helped Bill Clinton fight his impeachment. He joined the Obama White House in 2009 but left a year later and joined Skadden. Hungary says it will continue to veto Ukraine's accession to NATO until it restores the rights that were previously afforded to national minorities. Hungary is disappointed with Ukraine's plans to sanction dual nationality, as is proposed in amendments prepared by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to the law on citizenship. Ukraine is taking "unprecedentedly hateful and premeditated" action against national minorities, the Ukrainian President and parliament are stripping national minorities of their acquired rights step by step, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said in response to the proposal to pass a law that will introduce sanctions against citizens of Ukraine who have dual citizenship and participated in other countries' elections, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on its website. "The 'first strike' against minority rights was the Education Act, in which they significantly restricted the rights of national minorities to receive education in their native language, and despite international pressure Ukraine continues to refuse to begin negotiations on the issue with minority representatives," the ministry quoted Szijjarto as saying. Read alsoHungary once again blocking Ukraine-NATO Commission The Hungarian minister said the "second strike" was declaring the Language Act to be unconstitutional, with relation to which he indicated that there are currently three pieces of draft legislation on a possible new Language Act before Ukraine's parliament and "each one is worse than the next." According to the minister, the "third strike" is the fact that the Ukrainian president has asked parliament to accelerate the adoption of legislation on the sanctioning of dual nationality. "While Ukraine is striving to join NATO at the earliest opportunity, it is attempting to ensure that if someone is also a citizen of another NATO member state then they should be stripped of their Ukrainian citizenship, because it claims dual nationals represent a risk to national security," Szijjarto said. He also pointed out that Hungary is under significant international pressure to retract its veto of further NATO-Ukraine negotiations, and Hungary views this international pressure as unfair in view of the fact that Ukraine is responsible for the situation that has arisen. "Hungary will not bow to international pressure and sacrifice the rights of the Hungarian people living in Ukraine on the altar of geopolitical interests," the Hungarian minister said. "Hungary will continue to veto Ukraine's accession to NATO until it restores the rights that were previously afforded to national minorities. If Hungary were to bow to pressure and 'forego' the veto it would remain without instruments with which to protect the rights of Hungarians living in Ukraine," he said. As UNIAN reported earlier, Poroshenko on April 19 tabled a bill in parliament that proposes stripping of Ukrainian citizenship for, among other things, participation in "elections" in Russian-occupied Crimea. G7 foreign ministers discussed their shared concerns about international peace and security issues, including Syria, Ukraine and North Korea. G7 foreign and security ministers have called Russia's actions in Ukraine and Syria unacceptable. Read alsoG7 summit: Russia must be held accountable for aggression in Ukraine U.S. State Dep. "G7 foreign ministers discussed their shared concerns about international peace and security issues, including Syria, Ukraine and North Korea. In discussing common challenges to the rules-based international order, the ministers broached the concerning pattern of destabilizing Russian behaviour, including Russia's unacceptable actions in Syria, Ukraine and other neighbouring countries, its interference in democratic processes, and its disinformation campaigns," the Government of Canada said in a release, following meetings of G7 foreign and security ministers in Toronto, Canada, on April 22-24, 2018. As UNIAN reported earlier, the G7 foreign ministers announced they stand ready to step up economic sanctions against Russia if the conflict in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, escalates. Sytnyk also briefed on the bureau's results for three years. Director of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Artem Sytnyk has said the agency will open cases against a number of lawmakers, members of the Cabinet of Ministers and judges. "Cases against officials from a number of ministries and departments, lawmakers, judges, heads of large state-owned enterprises are in the pipeline," Sytnyk said at a briefing on April 25, the Ukrainian news outlet Gazeta.ua reported. Read alsoNABU to probe into reports about Gaddafi's sponsoring Tymoshenko campaign in 2010 He also briefed on the results of the agency's work in the past three years. "As of early March, based on the evidence collected by NABU and SAPO [the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office], almost 200 people have been indicted on charges of corruption, while more than 160 are suspects," Sytnyk said. As UNIAN reported, NABU has recently detained an officer of the SBU Security Service in a $47,000 bribery case. According to the NABU chief, the SBU agent demanded this money from citizens who had received residence permits in Ukraine on the basis of fake documents. The distressed woman was simply trying to find out where the law enforcers had taken her son and never gor a response from the "victim" of a "verbal abuse." A 49-year-old Zarema Kulametova has been convicted in Russian-occupied Crimea of "insulting" a police officer on the day her son has gone missing for several hours after being apprehended by armed enforcement operatives. The woman was sentenced to 250 hours of community service and ordered to pay RUB 20,000 in "compensation" to the officer who had claimed to have been "depressed" for several months over the insult, according to the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. While convictions on absurd charges as a form of intimidation have become a norm in the occupied Crimea, said case sets an ominous precedent where an enforcement officer sues for "compensation." The woman's son, a 27-year-old activist Girai Kulametov, was taken away by law enforcers following a search in their home on January 18, 2018. Kulametov was one of two young men whose houses were searched that day, with both men having taken part in the single-person pickets on October 14, 2017, in defense of political prisoners. Although the officers who burst into Kulametovs home did admit that he was facing administrative, not criminal, proceedings, still, under Russian occupation, there have been a number of cases where Crimean Tatars were abducted and never seen again, or tortured by the FSB, and the hours of uncertainty would have been hellish. It was during this period that Zarema Kulametova went to the police station in hysterical distress, and that is where the incident with the "insulted" police officer took place. The woman denies charges, saying that her behavior that day was motivated solely by her wish to find out where her son was. Read also"It's better to die": Ex-political prisoner Chiygoz on conditions in Simferopol's remand facilityThe "claimant," Lieutenant Andrei Rogozhin, who the woman assumed was a guard, never answered her repeated questions on where her son was. Not only did he fail to answer her but ostentatiously kept chewing his gum in her face and started filming her despite her distressful state, which she considers to have been clear provocation. The Crimean Tatar woman acknowledges she should have kept her cool in that situation, but explains that this seemed impossible at the time as she had earlier seen her son being brutally taken away in an intimidating fashion, in front of her, his pregnant wife and their small children. She says that at first they suggested that she "admit guilt" and theyd terminate the case and then, during one of the hearings, it was proposed that she apologize to Rogozhin. She had nothing to admit to or apologize for and she refused. Read alsoCrimean Tatars sacked from jobs for refusing to vote in "election" lawyerThe so called court's willingness to allow a "compensation" claim is worrying. In comments to Krym.Realii, Kulametovas lawyer Emil Kurbedinov said that the claims made by Police Lieutenant Rogozhin should raise questions about his professional fitness. Rogozhin asserted the two or three words that he had heard had thrown him into a depression which had supposedly lasted several months Kurbedinov has said that they will be lodging an appeal against what he calls an absolutely lawless ruling. The diplomat accused the deputy of deliberately playing into the Kremlin's hands in Moscow's efforts to legitimize annexation of the Ukrainian territory. In an open letter, Ukraine's Ambassador to the UK, Natalia Galibarenko, shamed MEP Bill Etheridge over his recent visit to the Russia-occupied Ukrainian Crimea where he attended an economic forum. Condemning the visit in her opening remarks, Galibarenko went on: "You perfectly know that by visiting Crimea without official consent of the Government of Ukraine you not only violated the Ukrainian legislation but disrespected the official position of Her Majesty's Government." The diplomat added that Mr Etheridge "abhorrently neglected the international law and blatantly demonstrated disregard of its key principles, namely the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of an independent state." She noted that, while the international community condemns Russia's occupation of Crimea and Donbas as an act of aggression, "illegal visit to Crimea is nothing more but a recognition of Russia's hostile policy which inter alia is aimed at systematic and large-scale disgusting human rights violations on the peninsula." Read alsoHow Russia tried to legitimize illegal election in Crimea - Hromadske InternationalThe Ambassador recalled the official position of the UK Government which says that "it's illegal under Ukrainian law to enter internationally recognised Ukrainian territory through a border point that isn't currently controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. If you do so, you risk arrest of a fine, and you may be subject to a travel ban. International border points that aren't currently under control of the Ukrainian authorities include all air and sea ports in Crimea. To enter of exit Crimea, foreign nationals will need to provide their passport and a special permit issued by the State Migration Service of Ukraine." The diplomat concludes: "It is without a doubt that Russia is trying to legitimize the illegal annexation of Crimea which is condemned by not only Western Governments but all the leading international organizations, including the United Nations. By illegally visiting the occupied territory you deliberately play into Kremlin's hands which is nothing but a disgrace." As UNIAN reported earlier, occupation authorities in Crimea on April 19-21 held an international economic forum in Yalta attended by a number of pro-Russian European politicians. A massive delegation has also arrived from Syria. The organization recommended that CoE member states establish observatories to monitor disinformation. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on supporting the efforts to counter Russian propaganda at the level of the European Union. "Another small victory," Ukraine delegation chief Volodymyr Ariev wrote on Facebook. Read alsoTED 2018: Ukrainian journalist fights fake news"PACE has just unanimously adopted a resolution on my report: they expressed support for countering Russian propaganda at the EU level and recommended that member states of the Council of Europe establish observatories to track disinformation and fake news," the Ukrainian delegate wrote. As UNIAN reported earlier, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on April 24 adopted a decision recognizing the Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine as "effectively controlled" by Russia. Sytnyk says the recordings, if they even exist, must be verified to establish their authenticity. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) is not yet seeing any concrete facts pointing at violations of law in conversations with "Petro Poroshenko" allegedly recorded secretly by a fugitive MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko, the agency chief, Artem Sytnyk, told a Kyiv briefing Wednesday. "We expect that Mr. Onyshchenko will elaborate on at least one case, along the lines of 'I gave this or that deputy this much for [his vote for] this or that law' so that this could be verified," says the Bureau director, according to Ukrayinska Pravda. According to Sytnyk, now detectives are in back and forth contact with Onyshchenko via mail, trying to get this information, but so far without result. Sytnyk said that Onyshchenko has long been making such "loud statements," and even a criminal case has been launched into them that is still being investigated, but the deputy has so far failed to provide neither specific information nor tapes with records of conversations in question. "There have been statements about bribery of deputies, lobbying of laws and plenty of other things, but these statements were of a general nature, without specific names, locations where money was handed over, and without references to the equipment used," said the NABU director. Read alsoUPDATE: NABU charges against Kholodnytsky backed by records from planted bugAccording to the anti-corruption watchdog's chief, Onyshchenko has been questioned but he never uncovered any details of his allegations. "We put forward proposals to have these tapes handed over to us but there's nothing," Sytnyk said. He noted that this time, the MP is once again not providing the recordings to the investigation. "In order to establish the authenticity of tapes, if they even exist, these tapes Onyshchenko should hand them over, in a procedurally correct manner, for the examination. So far, we haven't heard his consent to that in any legal way," said Sytnyk. He believes that Onyshchenko's tactic is to make loud statements and not to confirm them in any way at all. "When it comes to specifics, he starts his game. I don't know if he's aware of that but he is also part [of those recordings]. And we can't be sure that, if Onyshchenko comes, the recordings or the recording device will also be there on him," the NABU chief said. Read alsoFugitive MP Onyshchenko claims he secretly recorded talks with Poroshenko: Administration calls out report as fakeAs UNIAN reported earlier, a fugitive MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko unveiled part of the recording of the conversation he allegedly had with President Petro Poroshenko. A male voice resembling that of the president is heard discussing with Onyshchenko agreements with ex-minister of ecology Mykola Zlochevsky regarding the closure of criminal cases against the latter and also talking business. The dialogue is conducted in Russian. The presidential administration dismissed the recordings as "fake." Read alsoOnyshchenko ready to hand over original recordings with "Poroshenko" voice to NABU for verificationA month ago, the deputy stated that he had at least one record of the conversation, where the president threatened him with criminal cases, "if somebody fails to vote for his legislation." The enemy used proscribed 122mm artillery systems, 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns. Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 69 times in the past 24 hours, with 11 Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action (WIA). Read alsoUkraine envoy: Switching to Joint Forces Operation in Donbas not to affect Minsk process "In the Donetsk sector, the enemy fired proscribed 122mm artillery systems, 120mm and 82mm mortars and grenade launchers at our positions in the village of Lomakyne. The aggressor also used 120mm mortars against the defenders of the villages of Vodiane, Novotroyitske, Hnutove and Pyshchevyk, as well as 82mm mortars near the villages of Shyrokyne and Vodiane. Moreover, the militants opened fire from grenade launchers at the Ukrainian fortified positions near the towns of Avdiyivka and Maryinka, and the villages of Lebedynske, Talakivka, Hnutovo and Pyshchevyk, from heavy machine guns near the town of Krasnohorivka, Butivka coal mine and the villages of Pavlopil and Pervomaiske, from infantry fighting vehicles near Vodiane, Pyshchevyk and Hnutove, and from small arms near Avdiyivka and Maryinka, and the villages of Kamianka, Novomykhailivka, Talakivka and Vodiane. In addition, the defenders of Talakivka, Pavlopil and Shyrokyne were attacked by enemy snipers," the press center of the headquarters of Ukraine's military operations reported on Facebook on Wednesday morning. In the Luhansk sector, the Ukrainian positions near the village of Luhanske were repeatedly shelled by militants who used banned 122mm artillery systems, 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers, and heavy machine guns. "The militants also used 120mm and 82mm mortars against the defenders of the villages of Novoluhanske and Troyitske. Furthermore, the enemy opened fire from 82mm mortars at our positions near the village of Novoselivka, they used cannons of infantry fighting vehicles to attack Ukrainian positions near the villages of Krymske and Troyitske, grenade launchers were used near the village of Valuiske, heavy machine guns near the villages of Stanytsia Luhanska, Krymske and Novoselivka, and sniper weapons near the village of Novhorodske," the report says. The defendant pleaded not guilty to separate murder charges in the deaths of two Qaraghandy residents in 2016. The trial of a Kazakh citizen who fought alongside Russia-backed militants in eastern Ukraine has started in Kazakhstan's central city of Qaraghandy. The 31-year-old defendant, whose identity the court ordered not to be released by media, pleaded guilty to "participation in an armed conflict in the foreign country" in 2015 and 2016 as the trial started on April 24, RFE/RL wrote. Read alsoTeenager fighting for Russian-led militants in Donbas (Photo) He pleaded not guilty to separate murder charges in the deaths of two Qaraghandy residents in 2016. A co-defendant pleaded guilty to failing to report a crime. Several Kazakh citizens have been tried and convicted on charges related to the war in eastern Ukraine, including joining the Russia-backed militants and inciting ethnic hatred by discussing the conflict on the Internet. UNIAN memo. After the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, Ukraine's east was seized by Russian-backed militants, and on April 15, 2014, the Ukrainian government had to launch its first formal military action against the militants who had seized government buildings in towns and cities across eastern Ukraine. Less than a month later, militants in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk declared independence after unrecognized referendums. In the early hours of Wednesday, occupation forces engaged Ukrainian troops from multiple rocket launchers. Since midnight, Russian-occupation forces have shelled Ukrainian positions 33 times, blatantly violating the Minsk agreements, Ukrainian military officials report. "In the Luhansk direction, the aggressors shelled our fortifications from multiple rocket launchers, as well as 152 mm artillery, 120 mm mortars, and a tank, near Novoluhanske," the ATO press service reported on Facebook. Also, occupation forces employed 120 mm and 82 mm mortars in the vicinity of Troyitske. In addition, the enemy opened fire from 120 mm mortars, an IFV, grenade launchers, and large-caliber machine guns at the defenders of Novozvanivka, and 120 mm mortars at the defenders of Luhanske, while 82 mm mortars, rocket-propelled guns and IFV arms were used near Novoselivka. Read alsoUkraine envoy: Switching to Joint Forces Operation in Donbas not to affect Minsk processOn the Donetsk line, banned 120 mm mortars and grenade launchers were fired on the defenders of Verhniotoretske, the Butivka coal mine, and Vodiane. Also, 82 mm mortars, grenade launchers of various systems, and small arms, were fired on the defenders of Avdiyivka and the Butivka mine. The enemy IFV opened fire near Talakivka and Bohdanivka, and large-scale machine guns were fired near Pavlopil, Hnutove, Slavne and Krasnohorivka, Occpiers shot at the defenders of Shyrokyne from automatic weapons. In addition, in the Talakivka area, the enemy used an antitank missile complex, while a sniper was active near Hnutove. Four Ukrainian defenders were wounded in enemy fire. Another soldier suffered an injury in combat. All wounded soldiers were immediately evacuated to hospitals. Experts believed that Israel would react negatively to any decision to supply the missiles. Defense Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman warned Tuesday that if Syria uses Russian-made air defense missiles against Israel, the IDF will strike back. "What's important to us is that the defensive weapons the Russians are giving Syria won't be used against us," Lieberman told Ynet. "If they're used against us, we'll act against them." Russia's daily Kommersant newspaper, citing unnamed military sources, reported earlier on Monday that Russia might start supplying the anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria in the near future. Kommersant said that experts believed that Israel would react negatively to any decision to supply the missiles and might bomb the area where they would be deployed. A Russian diplomat told Reuters on Monday that Israel has asked Moscow not to supply the Syrian military with the advanced S-300 missile systems. "I hear and read most of these reports, (but) they have no basis in reality," Lieberman said. "One thing should be clear if anyone's shooting at our planes, we'll destroy them." The defense minister went on to say that while Israel "doesn't interfere in Syria's internal affairs, but on the other hand we won't allow Iran to flood (the country) with advanced weapons systems that would be aimed against Israel." Read alsoThe signs, options and risks of a U.S. strike on Syria Stratfor He argued that Iran was the problem and not Russia, as Russian air defense systems have already been stationed in Syria and have not been used against Israel. "We have an open line; we really do have discourse (with the Russians). Sometimes it's a complicated discourse, but it is open," he explained. "For several years we've been constantly in coordination and able to avoid friction with the Russians." "The only ones to act against us are the Syrians. When the Syrian systems acted against us, we destroyed them," the defense minister stressed. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah blamed Israel for the mysterious assassination of Palestinian Hamas electrical engineer Fadi Albatsh in Malaysia over the weekend. "This is an expression of the ongoing Israeli plan that does not spare any Arab mind a mind that contains knowledge, expertise, experience, or a mind that may one day be part of the Arab nation," Nasrallah said in a speech. According to the Hezbollah leader, "this is the reason that they are pursuing Arab scientists and academics, from Iran to Tunisia to Malaysia. Even a number of Lebanese minds were killed in the last weeks and months under mysterious circumstances around the world." Lieberman rejected the allegation, saying "I have no idea what he's talking about. He's in the middle of a campaign (for Lebanese parliament elections in May ed)... I don't know what they made up. He needs to give some speech, make some headline every now and again, I wouldn't treat it very seriously." US President Donald Trump is set to decide next month whether to withdraw from the nuclear deal signed with Iran. Lieberman said the US "doesn't ask us" what to do, "and it'll act based on its own considerations." "The US president will make his decision regardless of pressures put on him, and there is a lot of pressure," the defense minister added, noting current and upcoming visits to Washington by French President Macron, German Chancellor Merkel and likely British Prime Minister May. Regardless of the decision, "We're prepared for any scenario," he said. President, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Muffasar Atta Malik has urged for provision of reliable and affordable energy to industry to increase the productivity and to ensure its competitiveness. KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Apr, 2018 ) :President, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Muffasar Atta Malik has urged for provision of reliable and affordable energy to industry to increase the productivity and to ensure its competitiveness. He also put emphasis on protecting environment while generating energy to meet the increasing demand for energy in the country. KCCI President was speaking at 'Management Awareness Training Session on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency' organized by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) here, said KCCI statement on Tuesday. He said that Pakistan had large and economically viable resources for energy generation in wind, solar, biomass, waste, geothermal and hydel power and only proper utilization was needed. Renewable energy was a viable option for enhancing access to energy at energy intensive sectors and businesses like SMEs. Malik said that by shifting to renewable energy sources for power generation, industries could generate sufficient electricity for their own use and avoid fuel price volatility. They would sell the excess electricity through the grid. Sindh Special Secretary of Energy Department Rashid Hussain Qazi spoke on the importance of using the renewable energy resources in the country like solar, wind and hydro. He applauded UNIDO for its efforts to promote the inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID). National Project Coordinator for Sustainable Energy Initiative for Industries in Pakistan, Masroor Ahmad Khan highlighted UNIDO's contribution to sustainable development goal No. 9 under the policy of ISID. He briefed the participants on the key features of the project and emphasized their importance at a time when new opportunities were arising in the country. A high level delegation of Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka this week to explore new avenues for cooperation in various fields. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :A high level delegation of Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka this week to explore new avenues for cooperation in various fields. According to a press statement issued here, the delegation would explore possibilities for cooperation in infrastructure development, policy and institution development, superior technological capabilities, modernizing workforce in knowledge, skills and attitudes, and marketing and investment opportunities in furniture sector. PFC Chief Executive Mian Kashif Ashfaq informed the board of directors of the council Wednesday about the possible potential of furniture trade with Sri Lanka, the statement added. He said this was an opportunity to expand Pakistani handmade world class furniture export and help boost economy besides generating new jobs in Pakistan. He said Pakistan can easily double exports to Sri Lanka in a year's time by effectively using the duty concessions under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), adding that if steps were taken timely in right direction, Pakistan's exports to Sri Lanka could touch $500 million from the current $267 million within a year. He said the trade balance was heavily in favour of Pakistan. "Its exports to Sri Lanka amounted to $267 million while Sri Lankan exports to Pakistan were worth just $58 million," he added. "Sri Lanka mainly exports textile products like men's T-shirts while it imports bed wear, trousers, silk and synthetic textile and other ready-made garments. "Pakistan's exports are slowly growing and it can further increase its share," Mian Kashif said. Mian Kashif said furniture trade with Sri Lanka was at its lowest level and there was a dire need to explore furniture markets in this part of the region. A delegation of Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) will visit Sri Lanka to explore new avenues for cooperation in infrastructure development, policy and institution development, superior technological capabilities, ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :A delegation of Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) will visit Sri Lanka to explore new avenues for cooperation in infrastructure development, policy and institution development, superior technological capabilities, modernizing work force in knowledge ,skills and attitudes,and marketing and investment opportunities in furniture sector. In a statement PFC Chief Executive Mian Kashif Ashfaq said that the possibilities of usurping the potential of furniture trade with Sri Lanka to expand Pakistani handmade world class furniture export would be discussed, which will be helpful for boosting of the economy besides generate new jobs. He further said Pakistan can easily double exports to Sri Lanka in a year's time by effectively using the duty concessions under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and if the steps would be taken timely in right direction, Pakistan's exports to Sri Lanka to be $500 million from the current $267 million. He said the trade balance is heavily in favour of Pakistan. "Its exports to Sri Lanka amounted to $267 million while Sri Lankan exports to Pakistan were worth just $58 million," he added. "Sri Lanka mainly exports textile products like men's T-shirts while it imports bed wear, trousers, silk and synthetic textile and other ready-made garments. "Pakistan's exports are slowly growing and it can further increase its share." Mian Kashif said Pakistan needed to move from traditional cotton cloth to value-added furniture products to increase its exports. Mian Kashif said furniture trade with Sri Lanka is at its lowest level and there is a dire need to explore furniture markets in this part of the region. He said "we should focus on intra-regional trade so that this South Asia can foster to meet the modern challenges." He said Sri Lankan furniture producers are targeting middle East and European markets but Pakistani furniture industry is also equally enjoying a superb potential to compete. Therefore, efforts must be made to promote furniture exports by more regular participation in international shows. All this can happen if there is government's strong will for it and a vision among furniture traders. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said it was important to prepare budget for the whole year. It was the national assembly which approves the development budget, he said while talking to a private news channel ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Apr, 2018 ) :Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said it was important to prepare budget for the whole year. It was the national assembly which approves the development budget, he said while talking to a private news channel. National Economic Council could not hold the authority to approve the budget, he added, adding it was the prerogative of the national assembly to approve it, he added. The federation could not implement the tax or any policy for a short period, he said. Commenting on a press conference addressed by chief ministers, he said it was the election year and they were busy in point scoring. During senate elections, he said, Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf had become political allies. To a question about press briefing conducted by the chief ministers of three provinces, he said we will try to remove the reservations of them if any. To another question, he said after the 18th Amendment, the provinces had the authority for development schemes in their respective areas. Minister for Education Baligh ur Rehman on Wednesday said the present government had spent Rs.900 billion to bring improvement in education sector. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :Minister for Education Baligh ur Rehman on Wednesday said the present government had spent Rs.900 billion to bring improvement in education sector. Double budget had been provided to all the provinces for enhancing quality of education in their respective areas, he said talking to a private news channel. The Punjab had played leading role and performed well in the education sector, he said. The government had provided the missing facilities and furniture to educational institutions besides ensuring wash rooms there, he said. The minister said the Federal government had supported the Sindh province in various projects including modern transport system. To a question regarding Quetta blast, he said it was a tragic incident in which several people had lost their lives. The minister said the present government after coming into power had invited all the stakeholders and formulated a policy to eliminate the menace of terrorism in the country. The law and order situation in Balochistan areas had been improved due to the efforts of the Army and law enforcement agencies, he added. To another question, Baligh ur Rehman said people would vote to those parties and leaders who had performed and delivered well in their respective areas of governance. The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), government after coming into power in 2013 elections had focused on many sectors and worked for the welfare of masses, he added. Minister for Education and Professional Training Engr Muhammad Baligh ur Rahman on Wednesday said number of out of school children had been dropped more than thrice, a positive development in history of the country. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :Minister for Education and Professional Training Engr Muhammad Baligh ur Rahman on Wednesday said number of out of school children had been dropped more than thrice, a positive development in history of the country. He shared these facts while addressing the launching ceremony of a nation wide project titled "Education One Million Out of School Children" organized here on Wednesday. In this regard an agreement has been signed between American Refugee Committee (ARC) and Foundation of Qatar to support the education of one million out-of-school children across the country in conjunction with the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training. Saqr Bin Mubarak Al Mansouri, Ambassador of Qatar was guest of honor on the occasion while a large number of officials from the key offices of provincial government departments, International Developmental Organisations and civil society were also present on the occasion. Baligh ur rehman stated that around five million Out Of School Children (OOSC) had been admitted to the schools during last four years which decreased the OOSC figure. He informed that after 18th amendment, education had become provincial subject but the provinces refused to take responsibility of such students due to lack of capacity, adding that the federal government took their responsibility and work hard to protect future of such children. The minister appreciated the Qatar government and Qatar Foundation for helping Pakistan to achieve the 100 percent literacy rate at our homeland. The minister while highlighting the achievements of present government in education sector said, "We have set education standards first time in the history of country". "We had introduced modern curriculum from class one to five at par with international standards", he elaborated. The ministers also lauded the role of private sector for the promotion of education through public-private partnership. Earlier, in his address Joint Education Adviser, Muhammad Rafiq Tahir said out of school children was a big challenge but with the efforts of government their ratio has been decreased. Speaking on the occasion, Chairperson National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), Former Senator Razina Alam Khan said it is encouraging to observe that the issue of Out of School Children is now attracting the attention of planners, donors and the government. She said the education ministry, provinces and civil society organizations are now focusing more on bringing every child into the school. The chairperson further said that NCHD has been contributing significantly in introducing and popularizing Enrollment Campaign in the country. (@ChaudhryMAli88) On the pretext of ongoing protests against the murder of Kathua girl and surge in killing of innocent civilians, India has decided to deploy additional companies of paramilitary forces in occupied Kashmir ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :On the pretext of ongoing protests against the murder of Kathua girl and surge in killing of innocent civilians, India has decided to deploy additional companies of paramilitary forces in occupied Kashmir. According to Kashmir Media Service, the decision for deployment of additional personnel of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Border Security Force (BSF) has been taken in the name of security for the upcoming annual Amarnath Yatra starting from June 28. An Indian government official while talking to media outlets in New Delhi said that for incident free and secure Amarnath yatra, the home department of occupied Kashmir had written to New Delhi seeking additional deployment of the forces' personnel. He said that agreeing to the plea made by the puppet authorities, Modi government would deploy 80 additional companies in the occupied territory. "Out of total 80 companies, 35 will be deployed in Jammu region and 45 in the Kashmir," he said. This year the Amarnath Yatra will commence on June 28 and conclude on August 26. President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Sardar Masood Khan reiterated Wednesday that Pakistan and Kashmir were inseparable and enjoyed a symbiotic relationship that could not be severed by any subversion or intimidation by India. MIRPUR (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) , :President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Sardar Masood Khan reiterated Wednesday that Pakistan and Kashmir were inseparable and enjoyed a symbiotic relationship that could not be severed by any subversion or intimidation by India. "We are united in our freedom struggle form the oppressive Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir", he said while talking to the participants of the National Security Workshop Balochistan at Quetta on the topic, "Kashmir its Genesis, Global Perspective and way forward". The workshop is being jointly organized by the Pakistan Army's Southern Military Command and National Defense University, AJK Presidential office officially said here on Wednesday. Addressing the participants, President Masood Khan said that the people of Kashmir had been striving for their freedom, first, during the Maharaja's regime and now from India's illegal occupation. Their struggle, he said, was the tale of sacrifice and suffering spanning almost two centuries. Seventy years ago, in 1947, the Dogra forces, Indian Army and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ruthlessly butchered over 247,000 Kashmiris in the first planned ethnic genocide -post World War II - all the while displacing another 250,000 Kashmiris to Pakistan, he said. The people of Kashmir and Pakistan, he said, shared the same aspirations and were united towards the realization of the right to self-determination of Kashmiris in accordance with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions. "On 19th July 1947, Kashmiris had made a conscious decision to join Pakistan and till this day they are striving for the same by demanding their right to self-determination", he said. The President said that India is propagating a false narrative that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral issue. He added that current Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has even said that the issue has nothing to do with the people of Kashmir as it is a bilateral issue. "Kashmiris cannot be excluded from this conflict and only they can decide their political future and the destiny of their state", he said. India, he added, has been using bilateral talks to maintain the status quo and has been trying to dilute the political dimensions of the Kashmir issue. The issue is a quadrilateral matter comprising Pakistan, India, Kashmiris and the United Nations, he reiterated. President AJK said that the Indian occupation forces kill and maim innocent Kashmiris; incarcerate them arbitrarily and torture them; they stage encounters to eliminate those who demand freedom; they molest, rape and dishonour womenfolk. India claims Kashmir as their integral part, yet despite a passage of 70 years, India after using every means of coercion, economic blandishments and political manoeuvring has not been able to able to win the hearts of the people of Kashmir, he said. The President said that senior Indian army officials have claimed that there are no more than 150 ill-armed resistance fighters in Indian Occupied Kashmir. He quizzed his audience as to why over 700,000 Indian army personnel armed - with the latest weapons - have been deployed in IOK. This, he said is the highest concentration of any army in an occupied territory. President categorically denied any terrorism in IOK, saying that there are no supply chains for arms and India boasts that it has erected a 550-kilometre long electrified fence connected to motion sensors, thermal imaging and lighting so claims of cross-border infiltration are not possible. The only terrorism in IOK is the state terrorism under the patronage of the central government. President Masood Khan informed that India has launched a three-pronged war against Pakistan. First, Indian occupation forces have imposed a brutal reign of terror on the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir. Second, India is targeting civilians along the Line of Control. Third, India has started a systematic proxy war in Pakistan to destabilize its cities, regions and institutions by engineering, abetting and sponsoring terrorism inside Pakistan, he said. The President stressed that we need to intensify our outreach to the parliamentary members, civil society and the diaspora community, wherein we must leverage their strengths for the awareness of the human rights violations taking place in Kashmir. He said that Pakistan is Kashmir's only advocate in the international forum and we should focus on making Pakistan stronger both politically and economically. President Masood Khan proposed that we must take the issue back to the UNSC with renewed vigour as it is still an unresolved agenda item. He urged that, first and foremost, by unifying our ranks and reaching out to the Kashmiris in IOK, we must use modern and traditional mediums of communication in raising our voices for the innocent Kashmiris. On the occasion, he thanked the people and Government of Balochistan for their resolute support to the Kashmir cause. He said that people of Balochistan and other provinces have displayed their solidarity with the Kashmiris. The President said that economic landscape of Balochistan and whole of Pakistan is changing as we are passing through a phase of immense development. He said AJK is also on the cusp of an economic revolution and will be an asset to Pakistan. He said that the Government focusing on a three-point agenda which includes; firstly, accelerating the freedom struggle in IOK; secondly, striving for good governance by ensuring accountability, transparency and meritocracy; and thirdly, economic development. He said, Azad Kashmir is on track towards economic prosperity and AJK's formal inclusion in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has assured 4 major projects for energy production, promotion of industry and road infrastructure. CPEC is an economic corridor connecting Gwadar to Khunjarab and will be instrumental in bringing the people of Pakistan even closer. The President congratulated the organizers for successfully organizing this event. He said this was a landmark step helping create awareness on pertinent issues. The event was attended by Members of the Balochistan Assembly, Brigadier Liaqat Mahmood, Brigadier Muhammad Imran, senior bureaucrats, academicians from various universities of Balochistan, researchers and media representatives. (@FahadShabbir) The civil society including lawyers, parents and politicians here Wednesday strongly deplored the strike of private schools and colleges in the province and demanded implementation of Peshawar High Court's decision in letter and spirit. Endorsing Peshawar High Court's (PHC) decision PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :The civil society including lawyers, parents and politicians here Wednesday strongly deplored the strike of private schools and colleges in the province and demanded implementation of Peshawar High Court's decision in letter and spirit. Endorsing Peshawar High Court's (PHC) decision, they said private schools were sucking blood of people in the name of quality education and made education as a business by charging parents heavily, which can't be tolerated anymore and demanded strict action against violators of the court orders. On Tuesday, Peshawar High Court has directed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regulatory Authority (KPPSRA) to takeover administration of private schools and colleges and take hold of their accounts if they went on strike against implementation of the court decision restraining them from charging high fees from students. The Court ordered Managing Director KPPSRA to takeover the private educational institutions and freeze their bank accounts if they resort to strike against the court's decision and sought a report on the issue. Former Advocate General KP, Muhammad Esa Khan advocate told APP that PHC's decision was inclusive and clear and now KP Government, District Governments, Police and KPPSRA was bound to implement the court order in letter and spirit that had restrained the private educational institutions from charging high and extra fees from students. "Private schools cannot be left unbridled and unchecked," he said, adding high tuition, promotional and transport fees during summer vacations by private schools had increased financial problems of parents besides their mental agony that can't be accepted. "If private schools association has any problems should raised it before court rather giving unnecessary calls for strikes and agitations," he said, adding strikes was no solution of problems rather it would complicate the situation. "Under Article 25-A of the Constitution, right to free and compulsory education to students aged 5 to 16 was the responsibility of state and no student can be deprive of this fundamental right," the noted lawyer maintained. "Certainly unprecedented increase in tuition, transport and other education services fee was a clear violation of the constitution and court orders and government can't allow such unlawful practice now." "What is the justification of annual promotional fee charged by private schools from students upon promotion to higher grade," he questioned. "The precious time of students was being wasted due to extended strikes and agitation by private schools and who will be responsible if studies days of students were not completed." Esa Khan said unfortunately education was made a business in the country and all those elements involved in looting of people on name of quality education should be dealt with iron hands. Former PPP KP President and veteran politician, Rahimdad Khan has also deplored the strike of private schools and termed it irrational and totally unjustified. He said presently around 30,000 registered and unregistered private educational institutions are working in KP and its extended strikes would make very negative effects on studies and performance of students. "I demand owners of private educational institutes to return money to students whose studies days were wasted due to their unjustified strike," he maintained. Rahimdad Khan said PTI Government has habit of taking decision in haste and it would have been better if KPPSRA has taken reduction of fees related decision after consultation with all stakeholders. He said widespread protest demonstrations were taken out against private schools and colleges in Peshawar, Charsadda and Mardan districts where people deplored the strike and high fees. Khan said the private schools and colleges should stop using education sector for their business gains and looting public in the name of quality education. He said private schools were earning millions of rupees annually and can afford to pay monthly salaries to teachers and other utility bills. Most of private schools have their own buildings, vehicles and notion of paying high rent was also irrational and unjustified claims. Jamaat e Islami leader and Spokesman, Israr Ahmed advocate said strike of private educational institutes were illogical and urged private schools association to sit together with the government and resolve the issue amicably. "PHC's decision is binding on all institutions, peoples and urged the private schools association to present their arguments in the court rather than using energy in aimless strikes as it would waste students' time," he suggested. "The objectives of most private educational institutes were making business gains and seemed uninterested in resolution of student's problems. Those schools that do not implement PHC's decision should be exposed and boycotted," he opinioned. Misal Khan, a retired Government servant also supported PHC decision and termed it highly praised worthy. He said civil society wanted implementation of the court judgment in letter and spirit as private educational institutions had charged promotional and annual fee from the parents and needed to be checked. "All those private schools who obtained promotional fee from students should be given back to parents," he maintained. Unless people cooperate with Government, dream of affordable quality education could not be realized. President Pakistan Muslim League (Q), Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain, on Wednesday said, all orphan children are our own children and everyone has to play his role for their welfare and ensuring better future for them. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :President Pakistan Muslim League (Q), Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain, on Wednesday said, all orphan children are our own children and everyone has to play his role for their welfare and ensuring better future for them. Addressing a ceremony organized here to commemorate international orphan day, he lauded the services of Khubaib Foundation and stated that they are rendering remarkable services for rehabilitation of such children. "I often visit centers of Orphan children run by the foundation and found their work satisfactory as they did untiring efforts to give them better atmosphere and good services like their own children", he said. Chairman Khubaib Foundation, Nadeem Ahmed Khan welcomed the Ambassador of Turkeyn, Ahsan Mustafa and Ambassador of Azerbaijan, Ali Zada and all the members of a delegation from Turkey to attend the ceremony for encouragement of these children. He stated that both the governments of our brotherly countries always took active part in volunteer programs in Pakistan and always stood with us in hard times. Around 3000 children from different centers of Khubaib Foundation attended the ceremony. (@rukhshanmir) Pakistan and Afghanistan should work together for curbing the menace of terrorism that has been engulfing the entire region into its grip. Dialogue is the only solution and the intellectual input should come through the academic activities including seminars, workshops, conferences and people to people contact. PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :Pakistan and Afghanistan should work together for curbing the menace of terrorism that has been engulfing the entire region into its grip. Dialogue is the only solution and the intellectual input should come through the academic activities including seminars, workshops, conferences and people to people contact. This was the crux of a national conference held at the Area Study Center, University of Peshawar to debate "The British Treaties, FATA and Pak-Afghan border management: Perceptions and Reality". The conference attracted academicians, legal and political experts, ex-bureaucrats, media men, research scholars and media men beside a large number of civil society organizations. The conference discussed at length the perceptions and reality knitted around the geographical dimensions of the issues in the Afghan- Pak region. Speaking on the occasion, the Vice Chancellor Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar, Dr. Razia Sulatana said that the dilemma comes when states are not ready to come out of the past legacy. She said the legacy of cold war is still haunting the two neighboring states Afghanistan and Pakistan. She further said that FATA became a global flash point soon after the Taliban government was toppled in the wake of US-led coalition forces attacks in late 2001. She said this was the appropriate time to come up with political solution to the border management and specially the FATA region to offer its war-hit citizens decent life opportunities. Renowned journalist RahimullahYousufzai while lauding the government's contributions towards border management said that we still have a long way to go on securing the 2500 kilometer long pours border. He further said the strong voice emerging from FATA could hardly be silenced now. The pace of the reform process may be slow but this must have to happen in the time ahead. Yousufzai informed the floor that some 2386 development projects were in progress in FATA. Pakistan has fenced a total of 209-kilometerborder in selected areas in FATA besides building posts and forts along the Pakistani border. Earlier, in his welcome address the Director of the Area Study Center Dr. Shabir Ahmad Khan while welcoming the distinguished guests said that the basic objectives of the conference was to develop better understanding of the issues and draw a difference between misperceptions and reality in FATA and Pak-Afghan border region. The Lahore Police are actively facilitating the heirs of martyred policemen and the retiring staffers on medical grounds through its unique SMS service "Welfare Eye". LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :The Lahore Police are actively facilitating the heirs of martyred policemen and the retiring staffers on medical grounds through its unique SMS service "Welfare Eye". Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Amin Wains expressed these views at a ceremony arranged for handing over of motorcycle keys to Wajahat Ali, son of a martyred sub-inspector Abdul Majeed, here on Tuesday. The CCPO said the police officers and officials are assets of the department and Lahore police appreciate their services. He vowed that the department will not leave alone the heirs of martyred and retired policemen while maintaining a constant liaison with them besides extending all possible assistance and cooperation to these families. It is pertinent to mention here that in a very shot span of time a number of financial assistance matters of policemen have been resolved through welfare eye. On this occasion, the heirs of the martyred sub-inspector thanked the CCPO and SSP Admin Rana Ayaz Saleem for their great efforts in this regard. (@FahadShabbir) Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that Pakistan's close association with Russia is very important in the emergence of a multipolar world and changing power configurations world-wide and the cooperation between both the countries would bring prosperity to the entire South Asian region. KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that Pakistan's close association with Russia is very important in the emergence of a multipolar world and changing power configurations world-wide and the cooperation between both the countries would bring prosperity to the entire South Asian region. This he said while talking to a high-power delegation of Saint Petersburg, Russia led by its Vice Governor Sergej N. Movchan here at CM House, said a statement on Wednesday. The delegation consisted of leading companies from St. Petersburg, Russia in the fields of energy, oil and gas, textile and fashion industry, light industry, pharmaceuticals and others. The objective is to create business linkages to enhance bilateral trade leading to meaningful cooperation. He said that the current phase between the two countries is very promising and very encouraging. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Vice Governor of St Petersburg, Sergej N. Movchan signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) for further cooperation in education, energy, oil, & gas, textile, water filtration and pharmaceutical field. The CM Sindh said that the trade links have existed historically between the two countries, but the volume of trade needs to be increased exponentially so that both countries can reap more benefits from it. In the meeting it was agreed that the Saint Petersburg would provide technical assistance and technology in the treatment of waste water and desalination of sea water. The CM Sindh also invited Saint Petersburg and Russian business community to invest in Thar Coal mining and power generation. He also added that Russians have expertise in ports and shipping sector. The Sindh government is interested to develop Keti Bander ports and jetty, he said. He invited Russian firms to come over and take benefit from business opportunities in Sindh. There have been frequent high-level visits over the past few years, and interaction between the two-sides compared to the past has been intense, he added. It may be noted that that on the occasion of 70th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between Pakistan and Russian Federation the reciprocal visit by Vice Governor of Saint Petersburg, Sergej N. Movchan along with a high-level business delegation is visiting Karachi, from April 24-26 is being carried out to Sindh as part of strengthening the relationship between Province of Sindh, Pakistan and St. Petersburg Russia APP/ars/rap (@rukhshanmir) Pakistan's Ambassador to Oman Ali Javed said the Embassy of Pakistan had launched an individual "Whatsapp Exchange Program" for community welfare. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Apr, 2018 ) :Pakistan's Ambassador to Oman Ali Javed said the Embassy of Pakistan had launched an individual "Whatsapp Exchange Program" for community welfare. These WhatsApp numbers will assist in resolving queries for Community Welfare Wing (manpower, deaths, transfer of human remains compensations, medical emergencies and destitute cases), MRP (MRP,CNIC, PoC), immigration Wing (visa violator, illegal entrants, prisoners, detainees, and deportations), to bring further strength to our outreach efforts, said a handout received here on Tuesday. He said an extraordinary outreach initiative of Whatsapp Broadcast was launched in January 2017. Whereas one message consumes 9 hours to broadcast to our near 13,000 voluntary subscribers, we additionally have amassed 11,000 subscribers to our E-mail Bank. He said relations between the two sides were historic and unique and that the friendship, cooperation between both the countries serve the fundamental interests. Moreover, the Pakistani ambassador expressed hope that a ferry from Gwadar to Oman would soon become a reality, noting that the two governments were working together to begin the service. The ambassador said Pakistani expatriates in Oman were playing an important role in economic activity in the country. Javed noted that "I would like to praise the efforts of the Pakistan Oman Investment Company (Pak-Oman). He had a vision of setting up a company that would act as a vehicle of investments between the two nations. It deals mostly in micro-financing. Meanwhile, the ambassador of Pakistan Received Dr.S.M. Junaid Zaidi Founder Rector Institute of Information Technology and Executive Director COMSATS (Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development). The delegation was visiting Oman at the invitation of Oman Nat'l computer emergency readiness team and held significant meeting with the Sultan Qaboos University. Like other parts of the globe, World Intellectual Property Day (IP) will be mark April 26 (Thursday) in Pakistan and with aims to increase people's awareness and understanding of intellectual property (IP). ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :Like other parts of the globe, World Intellectual Property Day (IP) will be mark April 26 (Thursday) in Pakistan and with aims to increase people's awareness and understanding of intellectual property (IP). World Intellectual Property Day focuses on increasing people's awareness and understanding of all aspects of intellectual property. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) works together with various government agencies, non-government organizations, community groups and individuals to hold different events and activities to promote World Intellectual Property Day each year. Activities and events may include stage concerts or other public performances centered around the World IP Day theme, with the performers delivering messages which encourage respect for creators and creativity. Seminars or free lectures in universities to build awareness of intellectual property and its benefits among students, faculty and researchers. Some educational institutions may choose World IP Day as a time to celebrate the works of a notable inventor, artist, designer, or entrepreneur, and link discussions with the important role of intellectual property. WIPO decided in 2000 to designate an annual World Intellectual Property Day to address the perceived gap between IP as a business/legal concept and its relevance to people's lives. April 26 was chosen as the date upon which the convention establishing WIPO first entered into force in 1970. China is to launch Gaofen-5, a hyperspectral imaging satellite for Earth observation, at the beginning of May. Beijing, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018) : China is to launch Gaofen-5, a hyperspectral imaging satellite for Earth observation, at the beginning of May. The new satellite, capable of obtaining spectral information from ultraviolet to long-wave infrared radiation, can be used to survey inland waters and mineral resources, said Tong Xudong, director of the Earth Observation System and Data Center, China National Space Administration, at a conference on Tuesday. The satellite can also monitor air pollutants, greenhouse gases and aerosol particles, Tong said. To make the best use of observational data and serve countries covered by the Belt and Road Initiative, the CNSA released an international cooperation plan for Gaofen-5, specifying fields that will be open for cooperation and commercial service. The administration also plans to launch Gaofen-6 this year, so as to form a constellation with other Gaofen satellites in orbit. Since the Gaofen project began in 2010, China has had an increasingly clearer view of the planet. Launched in April 2013, Gaofen-1 can cover the globe in just four days. Gaofen-2, sent into space in August 2014, is accurate to 0.8 meters in full color and can collect multispectral images of objects greater than 3.2 meters in length. Gaofen-4, launched in late 2015, is China's first geosynchronous orbit high-definition optical imaging satellite. Gaofen-3, launched in August 2016, is China's first Synthetic Aperture Radar imaging satellite. Meanwhile, China is planning four deep space exploration missions before 2030, including probes to Mars, asteroids and Jupiter, says Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration. China would launch its first Mars probe in 2020, and it was expected to orbit around, land and put a rover on the Red Planet, Pei told a space conference on Tuesday, China's Space Day. It also plans to probe asteroids around 2022, followed by a probe in 2028 to bring Mars samples back to Earth. An exploration mission to the Jupiter system was planned around 2029. Lunar and deep space exploration were important for China's endeavor to become a major space power, Pei said. (@FahadShabbir) Mozambique has yet to find evidence of any criminal activity over its $2 billion hidden debt crisis that has threatened the country's economy, the attorney general said Wednesday. Maputo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Apr, 2018 ) :Mozambique has yet to find evidence of any criminal activity over its $2 billion hidden debt crisis that has threatened the country's economy, the attorney general said Wednesday. President Filipe Nyusi has been accused of being reluctant to expose those in the ruling Frelimo party responsible for the debt scandal before elections next year. "Facts have been identified that indicate practices that could lead only to financial offences," attorney general Beatriz Buchili told parliament, after two years of investigations. Mozambique was forced to admit in 2016 that the loans had been kept secret and were spent on fishing and military ships and equipment. The government later said it did not disclose the debt as a matter of national security linked to unrest between 2013 and 2016 that echoed the country's civil war, which ended in 1992. The loans were supposed to be repaid via an anticipated windfall from recently discovered natural gas deposits -- but that has so far failed to materialise. "Organised crime will continue to rule and to laugh at the courts and on our judicial institutions," Silverio Ronguane, of the opposition MDM party, said after the attorney general's speech. "What happens to those who indebted our country and dragged us into misery?" Analysts say that the failure to disclose full details about the debt scandal and to prosecute those responsible has delayed a possible International Monetary Fund aid package. (@FahadShabbir) Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila is due to start a two-day visit to Israel Wednesday, as a political row brews at home over the possible transfer of Romania's embassy to Jerusalem. Dancila, Bucharest, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila is due to start a two-day visit to Israel Wednesday, as a political row brews at home over the possible transfer of Romania's embassy to Jerusalem. Dancila, from the leftwing Social Democrats (PSD), will have lunch with her Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu before visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, according to Israeli officials. On Thursday she is due to visit the Western Wall and meet President Reuven Rivlin. The visit comes days after PSD party chief Liviu Dragnea kicked off a political row in Romania by announcing the government's "decision" to move the country's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The move would follow in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump, who took the controversial decision in December of recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital. According to Romanian media, Netanyahu has invited Dragnea to visit Israel "towards the end of the month" and welcomed his stance on the embassy question. However, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is from the centre-right and has frequently clashed with the government, protested that he had not been informed and emphasised that any such move could only happen after Israel and the Palestinians had agreed the status of Jerusalem amongst themselves. Caught in the middle of the argument between the two men, Dancila has sought to reassure that her government was trying simply to create a "platform for discussions" on the possible transfer of the embassy. Dragnea was not able to take up the post of prime minister after the party won polls in 2016 due to a conviction for electoral fraud. But he is still seen as having a key role in government affairs. Dragnea "is looking for recognition on an international level and to present himself as a privileged interlocutor with Israel and the US within Romania," political analyst Radu Magdin told AFP. Dragnea also hopes that "the US will be less critical of the government's reforms" of the judiciary, according to Magdin. The EU has criticised the government's plans and opponents say they will weaken judicial independence. Romania was the only country in the former communist bloc to maintain relations with Israel after the Six Day War in 1967. Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu also maintained close ties to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation under Yasser Arafat. The House of Peace in the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, where the April 27 summit is scheduled to take place. (ANSA) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are scheduled to meet in Panmunjom, on 27 April, the first such summit in more than a decade between the two neighbours that are technical still at war. As North and South Koreas are preparing for their first summit in more than a decade on Friday, the Catholic Church in the peninsula is pinning its hope on prayers for peace. "It is a very important, historical occasion. We, as the Catholic Church, are praying for peace in Korea, and we ask Our Lady to help us find the agreement, a path to peace," Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik of Daejeon said about the upcoming summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Panmunjom, on 27 April. "Until last year, the situation on the Korean peninsula was a major problem for humanity. But, after the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, new hope for dialogue and reconciliation was born, noted bishop You, the president of the Committee for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Korea (CBCK). The summit comes in the wake of former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung meeting Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang in 2000, and Roh Moo-hyun doing the same by venturing out to the North Korean capital in 2007. Both of those summits ultimately led to nowhere. Interest of all Bishop You noted that Moon has always the path of dialogue to resolve peacefully the situation on the Korean peninsula. According to him the future of the two Koreas also depends especially on the Chinese and the Americans, besides the Japanese and the Russians. North Korea's announcement on Saturday to suspend further nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and close its nuclear test site raised hopes for a breakthrough in the upcoming nuclear negotiations. However, the North's statement stopped well short of suggesting it has any intentions to give up its nuclear weapons or halt its production of missiles. Bishop You pointed to North Korea insisting on maintaining its weapons for its security. The summit will serve to find a way to solve these problems which he said is very important, not just for the two Koreas alone. Progress on the nuclear front between the two neighbours is seen as a possible way for a possible first summit between North Korea and the United States. According to the bishop, Pyongyang will call for the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula as a condition for improved relations with the US. North South technically at war Seoul and Pyongyang remain technically in a state of war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a ceasefire and an armistice only. It is hoped a peace treaty could be declared at Fridays summit. While hoping for a final peace treaty, Bishop You also hoped the international community will come forward help the economic and social development of North Korea rather than imposing sanctions on it. All these changes seem difficult, but with the certain desire for peace, they are absolutely possible." Prayer "The Korean people rely heavily on the prayer of the Holy Father Francis, who is loved and respected even by Buddhists and atheists, Bishop You noted. The CBCKs Commission for the Reconciliation of the Korean People is encouraging everyone to pray, and recite an Our Father, a Hail Mary and a Gloria every evening, for the success of the April 27 summit. Earlier on April 13, Bishop Peter Lee Ki-heon of Uijeongbu, the president of the Committee expressed belief that Fridays summit will end decades of struggle and open a new era of peace on the peninsula. "With the inter-Korean summit, as well as the ensuing summit between North Korea and the U.S., expectations are growing that the 65-year-long confrontation and struggle will end and a new era of peace will come," Bishop Lee wrote in a statement titled, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." He hopes the prayers of the Korean faithful will help bring the desired fruits from the upcoming summit. "Our prayers are making an incredible miracle through God, who makes the impossible possible," Bishop Lee said urging Catholics to have faith. (Source: AsiaNews, UCANEWS) The Night Openings of the Vatican Museums kicks off with a concert by the Marksmen from the Italian city of Aprilia, who played their anthem while running through the galleries of the Chiaramonti Museum and the Pine Tree Courtyard. The Vatican Museums began the summer season of Night Openings with a special show put on by the Italian militarys Marksmen (Bersaglieri) from the city of Aprilia. The Raphael Rooms, Sistine Chapel, and other treasures of art and history can be admired from 7:00 PM until 11:00 PM every Friday evening until October 26th. The final evening-entrance is at 9:30 PM. One-off show Thousands of lucky spectators witnessed the one-off show on Friday, April 20th, the first of the Night Openings of the Vatican Collections for the 2018 season. Aprilias Adelchi Cotteri Marskmen played their traditional anthem in typical form, running through the Chiaramonti Museum and the Pine Tree Courtyard. Afterwards, they entertained visitors with an original concert of rock and pop songs. The yearly Night Openings are a unique opportunity for tourists to visit the Popes Museums at an unusual time, away from the dizzying crush of tourists. The less-crowded spaces, the particular light, and the nighttime silence makes the visit a thrilling experience. Music and Art Music takes center stage again this year, and is offered by the Museidisera Art & Music Troupe, a collaboration between the Vatican Museums and the Italian National Music Committee (CIDIM). The evening visits are enriched by a series of concerts consisting of styles ranging from Argentinian tango to choir singing, from the trumpets of Nello Salsa to big band music, and from the Salento pizzica to the famous masterpieces of classical music. Concerts begin at 8:00 PM and last an hour, taking place in the Pine Tree Courtyard amongst the famous Greek and Roman sculptures on display. Online bookings are required for Night Openings. To find out more about the complete program, consult the official website at www.museivaticani.va. Reports came Tuesday of an attack against St. Ignatius Catholic church in Mbalom in Nigerias central Benue state. Two priests and 16 parishioners were murdered. By Joachim Teigen The parish church of St. Ignatius was surrounded during morning Mass. As the faithful were leaving the church the perpetrators started shooting against the congregation. This is only the most recent in a series of attacks in Nigeria over the last few years. Nigerias leaders respond Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari strongly condemned the attack, as did the local diocese of Makurdi who also expressed their grievance over the insecurity of the population. Breadbasket of Nigeria Fr. Patrick Alumuku, Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Abuja, spoke with Vatican News. He explains that the attack happened in what is referred to as the breadbasket of Nigeria. Groups of nomadic shepherds are forced to move south because of desertification, resulting in conflicts over lands and resources in this fertile region, he says. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 3000 persons have been killed in attacks since 2010. Boko Haram ideology While Boko Haram has not taken responsibility, this is clearly Boko Haram ideology Fr. Alumuku says, adding that these people are attacked because they are Christians, in a region where they constitute 95 percent of the population. While Nigerian leaders have condemned the attack, Fr. Alumuku finds a proper response from the Nigerian government wanting, saying that nothing has been done to stop the killings that are going on day in and day out. French President Emmanuel Macron wraps up his first official visit to the United States on Wednesday with an address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress and a town hall event with Georgetown University students. During the three day visit, Macron and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed bilateral trade, climate, Iran and Syria. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports the two leaders downplayed disagreements and highlighted historically close ties between their two countries. U.S President Donald Trump Tuesday praised the strength of America's partnership with France and the personal friendship he has developed with his French counterpart. President Emmanuel Macrons visit to Washington will be closely followed by the arrival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel later this week. And, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London, the two European leaders are lobbying hard for President Trump to shift his position on trade tariffs and the Iran nuclear deal. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the discovery of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Visiting Malawi this month, one of the pioneers of that research, the American scientist Jay Levy, said Malawi could be among the countries in Africa on track to eradicate the virus, though he said the battle is still far from over. For VOA, Lameck Masina has the story from Blantyre. The United Nations looks into allegations of sexual misconduct by a peacekeeper in South Sudan; for the second year in a row, South Sudan is ranked the most fragile country in the world; and traders in Bor accuse police officers of stealing cash and food items from their shops. Unknown gunmen shot and killed an Afghan journalist Wednesday in southern Kandahar province. Members of the media in the province are calling the attack an attempt to silence the freedom of expression. The incident is under investigation, and officials are not ruling out possible involvement by militants in the attack. Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said Tuesday that it was right that big companies are scrutinized and that his firm would respond to any new regulations by finding new ways to please its customers. Bezos was speaking in Berlin, where he received an award from German media company Axel Springer, and was responding to a question about how seriously he took recent criticism of Amazon by U.S. President Donald Trump. "All large institutions should be scrutinized or examined," Bezos said. "It is not personal." "We have a duty on behalf of society to help educate any regulators without cynicism or skepticism," he added. "We will work with any set of regulations that we are given. ... We will follow those rules and find a new way to delight customers." Trump has said he would take a serious look at policies to address what he says are the unfair business advantages of Amazon, accusing the firm of not operating on a level playing field and not paying enough sales tax. "We humans, especially in the Western world, especially inside democracies, are wired to be mindful of big institutions. ... It doesn't mean you don't trust them or they are evil or bad," Bezos said. Amazon has also come in for criticism elsewhere over its tax policies and treatment of warehouse staff, with hundreds of European workers protesting on Tuesday outside the building where Bezos was speaking over pay and conditions. "I'm very proud of our working conditions and I'm very proud of the wages we pay," Bezos said. "We don't believe we need a union to be an intermediary between ourselves and our workers." Post ownership Bezos also defended his ownership of The Washington Post, which Trump has called the "chief lobbyist" for Amazon. The Post is privately owned by Bezos, not Amazon. Bezos said the need to scrutinize large organizations was one of the reasons that the Post's work was so important, adding he had no problem with the newspaper pursuing critical reporting about Amazon and said he would never meddle in the newsroom. "I would be humiliated to interfere," he said. "I would turn bright red. I don't want to. It would feel icky, it would feel gross. "Why would I? I want that paper to be independent." Bezos, the world's richest person with a fortune of more than $100 billion, added that he was not interested in buying other newspapers, despite receiving monthly requests to bail out other struggling media organizations. He said he would keep liquidating about $1 billion of Amazon stock a year to fund his Blue Origin rocket company, saying he hoped to test a tourism vehicle with humans at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. Asked about the scandal over the alleged misuse of the data of nearly 100 million Facebook users, Bezos said Amazon had worked hard on security: "If you mistreat your data, they will know, they will work it out. Customers are very smart." President Donald Trump likes to tell a story about the U.S. paying out billions of dollars to Iran as part of the multinational deal freezing its nuclear program and easing sanctions against it. What he doesn't say is that most of that money was Iran's to begin with. The rest relates to an old debt the U.S. had with Iran. The numbers and some details change in his retelling dating back to the 2016 campaign but his bottom line is always the same: The Obama administration was hoodwinked into giving Iran all that money, some of it in a huge and hidden bundle of cash. The latest iteration of his claim Tuesday and the reality behind it: TRUMP: "The Iran deal is a terrible deal. We paid $150 billion. We gave $1.8 billion in cash. That's actual cash, barrels of cash. It's insane. It's ridiculous. It should have never been made. But we will be talking about it." remarks before a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. At a news conference Tuesday, he spoke about "giving them, Iran, $150 billion at one point." THE FACTS: There was no $150 billion payout from the U.S. treasury. The money he refers to represents Iranian assets held abroad that were frozen until the deal was reached and Tehran was allowed to access its funds. The payout of about $1.8 billion is a separate matter. That dates to the 1970s, when Iran paid the U.S. $400 million for military equipment that was never delivered because the government was overthrown and diplomatic relations ruptured. That left people, businesses and governments in each country indebted to partners in the other, and these complex claims took decades to sort out in tribunals and arbitration. For its part, Iran paid settlements of more than $2.5 billion to U.S. citizens and businesses. The day after the nuclear deal was implemented, the U.S. and Iran announced they had settled the claim over the 1970s military equipment order, with the U.S. agreeing to pay the $400 million principal along with about $1.3 billion in interest. The $400 million was paid in cash and flown to Tehran on a cargo plane, which gave rise to Trump's dramatic accounts of money stuffed in barrels or boxes and delivered in the dead of night. The arrangement provided for the interest to be paid later, not crammed into containers. Read more AP Fact Checks. The U.S. Secret Service says it arrested a person with a weapon for assault in the vicinity of a Washington office building housing Iran's interests section. In a statement on Twitter Wednesday, the Secret Service said its agents detained the individual after reports of shots fired near the Iranian diplomatic office which is located inside the Pakistani embassy. Thousands of anti-government protesters marched in Armenia's capital on Wednesday after planned talks between an opposition leader and the country's acting prime minister were canceled. The meeting was meant to discuss steps for a political transition following Monday's resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetian, a Sargsyan ally, said the opposition was making new demands. He also proposed holding snap parliamentary elections as a way to resolve the political turmoil. WATCH: Armenia's 'Velvet Revolution' Prompts Comparisons With Ukraine, Georgia Opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan of the Armenian National Congress said his side would boycott such an election if a member of the ruling Republican Party remains prime minister. He earlier said he was prepared to lead the country. Largely peaceful protests began two weeks ago, triggered by accusations that Sargsyan, who served as president for a decade, manipulated the constitution to remain in power. To the Trump administration, the recovered missile fragments were incontrovertible proof that Iran was illicitly arming Yemen's Houthi rebels. Yet Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is brushing it off as little more than cheese puffs. During a visit to New York, the Iranian diplomat accused U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday of displaying fabricated evidence that missiles lobbed by the Houthis at civilian areas in Saudi Arabia originated in Iran. Though Tehran supports the Shiite rebel group, it firmly denies giving them missiles. But Haley has invited journalists and U.N. Security Council diplomats to inspect missile parts recovered after strikes on Saudi Arabia, bearing what U.S. military officials said were Iranian markings and characteristics. Zarif, in an Associated Press interview, said that one such logo was from the Standard Institute of Iran, which he said regulates consumer goods not weapons. "It's a sign of quality," Zarif said. "When people want to buy it, they look at whether it's been tested by the Standard Institute of Iran that your cheese puffs are good, your cheese puffs will not give you a stomach ache." He laughed and added, "I mean, nobody will put the logo of the Standard Institute of Iran on a piece of missile." The United States stood by its claims, pointing out that the evidence Haley presented went far beyond a single logo. "The evidence in the Iranian Materiel Display is not fabricated," said Defense Department spokeswoman Laura Seal. She said the U.S. had shown the evidence to 65 countries, allowing the world to "assess the evidence for themselves." But Zarif also pointed to a truck-size section of a missile that the U.S. said was recovered in Saudi Arabia and was transferred to a military base near Washington, where it was on display behind Haley for a photo-op. Zarif noted that the missile had been supposedly shot down in mid-air. "I'm not saying Ambassador Haley is fabricating, but somebody is fabricating the evidence she is showing," Zarif said. Some of the fragments Haley presented, if authentic, would implicate Iran's military industry more directly, including some with the logos of Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group and Shaheed Hemat Industries Group, Iranian defense entities under U.S. sanctions. Others had what Haley called ``Iranian missile fingerprints,'' such as short-range ballistic missiles that lacked large stabilizer fins a feature she said only Iran's Qiam missiles have. Haley's office responded to Zarif's comments by calling the evidence of illegal Iranian weapons shipments "overwhelming and beyond dispute." "The fact that the Iranian regime insists on lying about that only highlights its lack of trustworthiness on every international agreement it is party to," the U.S. Mission to the U.N. said. Tehran's denials aside, there's broad agreement among the United Nations, Western countries and the Persian Gulf's Arab leaders that Iran has armed the Houthis with ballistic missiles, even though U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibit it. With U.S. support, a Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen's civil war has been bombing the Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen. Yet Iran's opponents have struggled to provide foolproof evidence to back up their claims, creating an opening for Iran to deny. After Haley's presentations at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, some national security experts raised questions, even drawing parallels to Secretary of State Colin Powell's 2003 speech to the U.N. making the case for the Iraq War. The fragments Haley presented were turned over to the U.S. by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates two of Iran's fiercest critics and U.S. military officials had trouble tracing the fragments' chain of custody. Nor could they say when the weapons were transferred to the Houthis or, in some cases, precisely when they were launched. Deep inside mountains along the China-Myanmar border, a 26-year-old ethnic Lisu villager, surnamed Zhang, sharpens his crossbow arrows to prepare for a hunt. For Zhang and many other Lisu, a mostly Christian minority who inhabit the border region, the crossbow is an indispensable part of their culture dating back to 200 BC. In a country that often bans the sale of kitchen knives during political summits, it's still normal to see ethnic Lisu openly carrying the weapon in public. Despite a decades-old hunting ban, law enforcement remains lax and Zhang and his friends still hunt birds and rodents for sport. Before the ban, Lisu hunters traditionally went for larger game such as bears and wild boar. Lisu technically must have a crossbow license, which are regulated by district crossbow associations. As more young people move to urban areas for work, Cha Hairong, head of the Liuku Township Crossbow Association of Lushui city, fears the crossbow is dying out. Cha wants to preserve the tradition by promoting crossbow shooting as a sport and attract new enthusiasts far beyond the Nu River Valley. "Our people's crossbow culture must enter the National Games of China. It must enter the Asian Games. It must enter the Olympic Games! So that people all over world will understand our people's culture," said Cha. The Lushui government has said it is committed to the preservation of the crossbow culture. Crossbow tournaments offering cash prizes have been held in recent years in a bid to boost interest in the sport. Some competitors simply enjoy the camaraderie at these events. "This is just a time where we come here to chat and tell stories," said Zuo Zhenfu, 27, who attended a crossbow tournament in late March. The Czech Republic's president suggested Wednesday that his country was considering joining the U.S. in moving its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But the Czech government, which controls foreign policy, didn't confirm the announcement. President Milos Zeman spelled out the process of moving the embassy, saying it would take place in three steps: An honorary consulate will be opened in Jerusalem next month, followed by other Czech institutions before the embassy's actual transfer. Beyond the consulate's opening, he gave no further timetable. He ended his speech at the Prague Castle at a party to celebrate Israel's 70th anniversary by saying: "Next year in Jerusalem.'' In a letter to Zeman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped he would jointly open the new embassy in Jerusalem at the end of this year. The Czech foreign ministry didn't immediately confirm the embassy's move, though it did say that the opening of the consulate and the Czech cultural center in west Jerusalem was the first step toward having its embassy in the capital of the host country. But it also said the Czech Republic "fully respects'' the common position of the European Union that Jerusalem must be the joint capital of Israel and a future Palestinian state. As that's unlikely to happen soon, the embassy transfer Zeman hopes for is far from being imminent. The Czech presidency is a largely ceremonial post. Zeman previously voiced support for President Donald Trump's decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which sparked outrage among Palestinians and across the Muslim world. Palestinians claim eastern Jerusalem, territory captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 war, as their future capital. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its eternal capital. Rice farmers in Kafr Ziada village in the Nile River Delta have ignored planting restrictions aimed at conserving water for years, continuing to grow a medium-grain variety of the crop that is prized around the Arab world. A decision thousands of kilometers to the south is about to change that, however, in another example of how concern about water, one of the world's most valuable commodities, is forcing change in farming, laws and even international diplomacy. Far upstream, close to one of the sources of the Nile, Ethiopia is preparing to fill the reservoir behind its new $4 billion Grand Renaissance Dam, possibly as soon as this year. How fast it does so could have devastating consequences for farmers who have depended on the Nile for millennia to irrigate strategic crops for Egypt's 96 million people, expected to grow to 128 million by 2030. Safeguarding Egypt's share of the Nile, on which the country relies for industry and drinking water as well as farming, is now at the top of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi's agenda as he begins a second term. At the same time, authorities are finally tackling widespread illegal growing of the water-intensive rice crop, showing a sense of urgency that even climate change and rapid population growth has failed to foster. The crackdown means Egypt will likely be a rice importer in 2019 after decades of being a major exporter, rice traders say. Cairo has decreed that 724,000 feddans (750,000 acres) of rice can be planted this year, which grain traders estimate is less than half of the 1.8 million feddans actually cultivated in 2017 far in excess of the officially allotted 1.1 million feddans. Police have started raiding farmers' homes and jailing them until they pay outstanding fines from years back. "The police came to my house at three in the morning and took me to the station to pay the fine," said Mohamed Abdelkhaleq, head of the farming association in Kafr Ziada, some 125 km (80 miles) north of Cairo in Beheira governorate. "Even if the fine is 1 Egyptian pound (5 U.S. cents), they'll come to your house." Three other farmers reported similar experiences and said this year they would not plant rice. Reda Abdelaziz, 50, said some people have become afraid to leave the village. "If you're traveling and they take your ID card and see you have a fine on you, they'll put you in jail," he said. Abdelkhaleq took to the local mosque's loudspeaker last month to say the government was doubling the fine for unauthorized rice cultivation to 7,600 pounds per feddan. Mostafa al-Naggari, who heads the rice committee of Egypt's agricultural export council, says if the government sticks to the new approach Egypt will likely have to import as much as 1 million tons of rice next year. "The dam has opened the door for there to be more of an awareness of water scarcity issues, but Egypt has for a long time needed to review its water allocation policy," he said. No Agreement Egypt has long considered the Nile its own, even though the river and its tributaries flow through 10 countries. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat famously said in 1979 that he was prepared to go to war over the Nile if its flow was ever threatened. But any threat from Ethiopia in the past was empty until now. The new dam, cutting through the Blue Nile tributary just before its descent into southeastern Sudan, will offer Addis Ababa immense political leverage over its downstream neighbors. Sudan and Egypt are the biggest users of the river for irrigation and dams. Egypt wants to be assured that the dam will not affect the river's flow, estimated at about 84 billion cubic meters on average per year. Ethiopia aims to use the dam to become Africa's biggest power generator and exporter, linking tens of millions to electricity for the first time. The two countries have not been able to agree on a comprehensive water-sharing arrangement despite years of negotiations. Ethiopia was not party to and does not recognize a 1959 agreement between Egypt and Sudan that gave Cairo the rights to the lion's share of the river. For its part, Egypt refuses to sign on to a 2010 regional water-sharing initiative that takes away its power to veto projects that would alter allocations. Ethiopia says that its dam won't affect the Nile's flow once its 79-billion-cubic-meter reservoir is filled. The issue is over how fast that happens. Ethiopia wants to do it in as little as three years; Egypt is aiming for seven to 10, sources close to the matter said. There's no doubt the flow of the Nile will be affected during those years. What's not known is how dramatically, and there is little data available to answer that question. Sources at Egypt's irrigation ministry have estimated the loss of 1 billion cubic meters of water would affect 1 million people and lead to the loss of 200,000 acres of farmland. On that basis, "if (the dam is) filled in 3 years it might destroy 51 percent of Egypt's farmland, if in 6 years it will destroy 17 percent," said Ashraf el Attal, CEO of Dubai-based commodities trader Fortuna and an expert on Egypt's grain trade. Be Ready to Adapt The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization has said Egypt requires an "urgent and massive" response to maintain food security in coming years for a number of reasons, including water scarcity, urbanization and the effects of climate change. Talks among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on the dam in early April stalled over what Sudan's foreign minister called "technical issues". No date has been set for the next round. "The filling of the GERD is just the most critical issue for the three countries to decide upon, and now, ahead of the first filling," said Ana Cascao, an independent researcher on Nile hydropolitics. "A fair and equitable filling strategy must take into account different scenarios on climate and rainfall variability if it will be one of drought, then the three countries are ready to agree on a slower filling," said Cascao. Rice farmers, who typically begin planting at the end of April, said they may now leave their lands fallow given the difficulty of quickly switching to other summer crops like cotton and corn that require different machinery and techniques. Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Aty told Reuters the situation posed a big threat to crops, livelihoods and even political stability if efforts to coordinate fail. "Imagine to what extent these people will become vulnerable," he said. ($1 = 17.6400 Egyptian pounds) Authorities in Senegal have arrested a former Guinean military leader long sought in connection with a 2009 stadium massacre that killed more than 150 people, Guinean officials confirmed Tuesday. Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite was the head of the presidential guard at the time of the massacre, and an investigative commission later determined he was to blame for ordering the violence. An Interpol notice was issued for him five years ago. Ibrahima Beavogui, spokesman for Guinea's justice ministry, confirmed that Diakite had been arrested in Senegal's capital, Dakar, where he had been living under a fake name for an undetermined amount of time. "Toumba was arrested thanks to the solidarity of international justice," he said. "He will be tried in Guinea. That is our wish." Diakite went into hiding in late 2009 after he tried to assassinate coup leader Moussa "Dadis" Camara by shooting him in the head several months after the massacre. He emerged briefly at one point to do an interview with Radio France Internationale in which he said he had shot Camara because the junta leader tried to blame him for the massacre. The news of Diakite's arrest was welcomed by a group representing survivors of the massacre and victims' families. "We have confidence in the Guinean justice system to hold this trial in Guinea," said Asmaou Diallo, the group's president. The theme of this year's World Malaria Day, Wednesday April 25th, is Ready to Beat Malaria. Along with medical advances, beating the disease will take money. After sixteen years of steady decline, malaria cases are on the rise again globally, and experts warn that unless efforts to tackle the disease are stepped up, the gains could be lost. Henry Ridgwell reports from a malaria summit earlier this month in London, where delegates called for a boost in funding for global anti-malarial programs. Incessant attacks on the media by populist politicians are posing a threat to major democracies, two international watchdogs said on Wednesday. In their annual reports on the state of press freedom around the world, Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House harshly criticized Western populist leaders for discrediting the media, berating journalists, and threatening to impose restrictions. As recently as five years ago, global pressure on the media did not appear to affect the United States or the established democracies of Europe in any significant way, Freedom House said in its report, State of Global Press Freedom, 2017-2018. Today, populist leaders constitute a major threat to free expression in these open societies. Reporters Without Borders offered a strikingly similar assessment, warning that more and more, democratically-elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracys essential underpinning, but as an adversary to which they openly display their aversion. President Donald Trump came in for harsh criticism from both organizations. Reporters without Borders called him a media bashing enthusiast, while Freedom House warned that Trumps characterization of the media as the enemy of the American people and his disparagement of journalists and media organizations have undermined public trust in fact based journalism. The White House could not be immediately reached to respond to the criticism. Reporters Without Borders annual Press Freedom Index evaluates press freedom in 180 countries on a scale of 1 to 180, with 1 being the freest and 180 the least free. In this years index, Norway stole the top spot from Finland while North Korea remained at the bottom at No. 180. The U.S. ranked 45th , down two places, continuing a trend that started under the administration of former President Barack Obama but accelerated under Trump.The ranking puts the United States in the same camp as Belize, Italy, Romania, and South Korea. Europe, which historically has had the freest press in the world and had eight of the freest press sectors in the world, notched the largest decline in its regional indicator. In France, a journalist was hustled out of a press conference last May when he asked a politician about involvement in a scandal. In Poland, regulators fined a leading TV station for promoting illegal activities through its coverage of antigovernment protests, Freedom House said. And in Hungary, the free press has all but vanished as businessmen associated with the ruling party have acquired most of the last bastions of independent media, according to Freedom House. Thats what we mean when we talk about hatred of journalists coming from political leaders in non authoritarian regimes which is really concerning, said Margaux Ewen, North America director for Reporters Without Borders. The Trump Effect rippled into countries such as Turkey, which remains the worlds biggest jailer of journalists and the Philippines where President Rodrigo Duterte has openly threatened journalists. In Cambodia, which fell ten places in the RSF index, the government has used Trumps criticism to justify a major crackdown on independent media. Sarah Repucci of Freedom House said the comparison is misleading. While the Cambodian press is highly restricted, she said, the U.S. media has vigorously pushed back against Trumps attacks. While every region of the world saw declines in press freedom, there were some bright spots in parts of Africa where several authoritarian leaders have left office. Among them: Gambia, where a new president has promised a less restrictive press law and the inclusion of freedom of expression in the countrys constitution, jumped 21 places, Africas biggest leap forward, according to Reporters Without Borders. Hamblen County, Tennessee, has entered a new era, the one that began after the immigration raid on Thursday, April 5. In the early morning of that day, dozens of law enforcement agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stormed all entrances of the Southeastern Provisions meatpacking plant perched on a hill in the mostly rural town of Bean Station, TN. With roads blocked off and a helicopter hovering overhead, ICE agents removed about 100 people, suspected of being undocumented, and took them to a nearby National Guard armory for questioning. News reports later revealed that the family-owned plant is under investigation for evading taxes, filing false tax returns and hiring undocumented immigrants. ICE said it conducted the operation along with the Department of Homeland Security investigations branch, the Internal Revenue Service and the Tennessee Highway Patrol. It was the largest workplace raid since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, vowing to crack down on illegal immigration. Last October, ICE Director Tom Homan announced a new push to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Homan said the goal was to eliminate the "magnet" drawing undocumented workers to the U.S. In east Tennessee, word spread quickly through the community, including nearby Morristown, Hamblens county seat, where many of the workers and their families live. That day and the next, Morristown residents say, it was as if the Hispanic population was on lockdown. "The worst part was the rumors," said John Gullion, editor of the local newspaper, the Citizen Tribune. He said he "got rumors of every factory in town" being raided. In fact, the only raid taking place was at the meat processing plant in Bean Station, just over the line in Grainger County. The paper's coverage led commenters on the Citizen Tribune's Facebook page to air their frustrations about illegal immigration. "I'm sure there are hundreds of others that need to be deported," said Trista Shaver, also of Morristown. "Hopefully they keep up the good work! And prosecute anyone who is illegally hiring them to work." "If they're here illegally then they should be deported. No matter what," said Matthew Gilbert of Rogersville, Tennessee. "Great work," said Carolyn Gilliam of Morristown. "Don't forget to send their kids with them." Aftermath A town of 29,000, Morristown was previously a sleepy, insular city in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. But in the past two decades, new industries have brought jobs and growth. Earlier this month, a Belgian bus manufacturing company announced plans to open a plant in the area. With the new jobs have come new workers. Between the censuses of 2000 and 2010, the Hispanic population in the area nearly doubled as workers came to take jobs at a new poultry-processing plant, auto-parts manufacturers, and furniture companies. Hispanics now make up nearly 21 percent of Morristowns population. The influx brought new tensions among community members, as the mostly-white population adjusted to a growing Hispanic population in its midst. But with the raid, came some solidarity. An employee at a local staffing agency said the agency's office was dead quiet that Thursday afternoon, at a time when it was usually bustling with Hispanic workers coming in and out. Teachers and other school staff members rode buses home with Hispanic students to make sure their students weren't coming home to empty houses. Meanwhile, friends and families of the detainees gathered across the road from the armory, filling the parking lot of a local pizza joint for hours, some remaining until 3 a.m. for word of their loved ones. KC Curberson-Alvarado, head of local Latino interest group HOLA Lakeway, heard about the raid around midmorning, an hour or two after it happened. She contacted a statewide immigration rights group for legal aid and then set up operations at the national guard armory, helping family members get information and provide documentation and, in some cases, medicines for their loved ones in custody. "We're still conducting interviews with workers who were released to learn exactly what happened," said Stephanie Teatro of the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition, talking about sorting out the details of the raid. While more than 100 are believed to have been rounded up and taken to the armory, she said, 97 were formally arrested and charged. Of those, 54 have been placed in ICE detention centers in Louisiana and Alabama. Thirty-two were released, but will still have to fight deportation in court. "It's just a matter of whether they can fight here with their family," Teatro said, "or in a detention center in Louisiana" where the Southern Poverty Law Center is aiding the detainees with bond hearings and legal defense. Teatro said it can cost thousands of dollars for the detainees to obtain release from the ICE facilities. Meanwhile, some of the families of the detainees are struggling to make ends meet, in many cases having lost their breadwinner. My heart, shattered Beatrizs uncle is one of 11 detainees held at the ICE immigration facility in Louisiana. On the day of the raid, she said, her father called her while she was in class at the local community college. He told her that some detainees had been taken to the armory. "It just felt like my heart shattered," Beatriz said. "I didn't know what was going on." Her dad didn't know much either. "He just heard it from the news, because obviously our family members couldn't contact us." Beatriz, a U.S. citizen, grew up in Morristown as part of an immigrant family originally from Mexico. Because of her familys situation, the 18-year-old prefers not to use her last name. Following her dad's direction, Beatriz drove to the armory, where she was turned away when she tried to see her family members. She waited across the street, along with crowds of others, for news. In the wee hours of Friday morning, Beatriz's aunt was released one of the last few to be set free. But her uncle never came out. Since then, Beatriz's aunt has been caring for her seven-year-old son with the help of her family. But when he asks when his dad is coming home, nobody has the answer. Relationships change everything Seventy-seven percent of Hamblen Count citizens voted for Trump in the last presidential election. But Gullion, the Citizen Tribune editor, said most of the anti-immigration rhetoric has been confined to social media, where "one person says it, and you get the Hallelujah Chorus," he jokes wryly. While the community is conservative, he said, it is also deeply humane. "I have been surprised by how many . . . people have expressed sympathy for the children or expressed that whatever way this was done was wrong." Curberson-Alvarado, in the thick of the group grieving for its lost members, is similarly grateful for the community response, and even that of the government agents who conducted the raid. "I will not demonize ICE," she said. She allows that she doesn't know what conditions were like during the raid itself, but commended ICE agents on how they allowed her group to act as go-betweens for the detainees and their families at the armory. "If this could be cordial, they were cordial." Meanwhile, the same community that voted overwhelmingly for Trump and his promised crackdown on illegal immigration has provided $60,000 to the affected families, many of whom have lost their principal source of income. They donated truckloads of diapers, hygiene items, and food, Curberson-Alvarado said. Teachers showed up at a couple hours' notice for a workshop on how to help the students affected by the roundup. Many of the longtime Morristown residents "vote Republican, they're very conservative, but they understand this thing doesn't make sense," she said. "Relationships change everything." As for Beatriz, even though she has citizenship, she said the shock of April 5 has planted a seed of fear that will not go away. She says she worries all the time that she'll come home and find that something else catastrophic has happened to her family. Her uncle remains jailed, along with dozens of other people she has known for years. "All we do is pray to God for something good," she said. An Indian spiritual guru with millions of followers was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for raping a teenage girl. Asaram Bapu, one of India's most charismatic and controversial "godmen," was sentenced at a closed hearing inside the prison where he is being held in the city of Jodhpur due to concerns his followers may resort to violence. The trial was the most recent in a string of high-profile rape cases in India that have sparked public protests and raised questions about how law enforcers handle rapes and treat victims. The 77-year-old self-styled religious preacher, who urges followers to live a life free of sexual desires, has repeatedly denied raping a then 16-year-old girl five years ago during a spiritual retreat. In response to outrage over recent rapes and killings of young girls and other attacks on children, the Indian government approved the death penalty last week for convicted rapists of children under the age of 12. The move to introduce the death penalty is seen as an effort to signal the government's commitment to fight crimes against young girls and infants as it comes under mounting criticism for not doing enough to tackle what some call India's epidemic of sexual violence. The government order also said more fast-track courts will be established for speedy trials and it set a two-month time limit on investigations. Indian cities in recent weeks saw street protests by agonized citizens after details emerged about the horrific gang rape of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in Kashmir in January, who was kidnapped, drugged, and raped for days and then murdered. Anger grew because Hindu activists had demonstrated in support of the eight arrested men who are now being tried in a fast-track court. Iran's exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, says he believes Iranian authorities have found the remains of his grandfather, a former ruler of the nation, at the site of a destroyed tomb where he had been buried. In a Tuesday statement posted on Twitter, the U.S.-based Pahlavi said he believes the mummified body discovered the previous day during construction at a shrine near Tehran "most probably" belongs to Reza Shah Pahlavi. He said he and his family had been collecting and assessing information to verify reports of the discovery at the Abdul Azim shrine, first reported Monday by IRNA, Iran's main news agency. IRNA quoted the head of Tehran's cultural heritage committee, Hassan Khalilabadi, as saying the mummy found by construction workers at the site "possibly" is that of the former shah but that authorities would examine it to be sure. Photos of the mummy taken by the construction workers and posted on social media went viral in Iran. Speaking to VOA Persian's Late News show on Tuesday, a senior member of an exiled Iranian dissident group founded by the crown prince said the mummy's neck and skull resemble that of Reza Shah. "The pictures that we saw on social media are heartbreaking," said Nazila Golestan, a Paris-based political officer of the Iran National Council for Free Elections. "Whatever you think about him, Reza Shah belongs to Iranian history it is our duty to respect our heritage." Reza Shah came to power in 1925 and ruled for 16 years, helping to modernize Iran until abdicating in favor of his son in 1941 under pressure from British forces who were part of an Allied invasion of the country that year. Reza Shah died in exile in South Africa in 1944 and was mummified in Egypt. His remains were flown back to Iran in 1950 and buried in a mausoleum at Shahr Rey, south of Tehran city. A year after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution deposed and exiled Reza Shah's son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iranian cleric Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali led a group of Islamists in demolishing the mausoleum. Khalkhali later wrote that he regretted not finding and desecrating Reza Shah's body, and suspected that the deceased monarch's family members had taken it with them into exile. In his Twitter statement, Reza Pahlavi reiterated his family's denial that it had removed Reza Shah's body from the mausoleum. He called on Iran's government to rebury his grandfather in a marked grave. "Reza Shah must ultimately be buried again in Iran in an appropriate manner respecting the wishes of our family and the Iranian people if not as the father of modern Iran or as a king, [then] only as a simple soldier and servant of his country and his people," Pahlavi wrote. U.S. President Donald Trump vowed on Tuesday to look for common ground with his French counterpart in dealing with Iran but made no commitment to stick with the nuclear agreement he described as "insane" and "ridiculous." Alongside visiting French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump repeated his criticism of the agreement to freeze Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, saying it does not address Iran's missile program or attempts to stir up unrest in the region. Macron, who will address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday before returning home, has tried to persuade Trump not to withdraw from the 2015 agreement struck between Iran and a group that includes the United States, France, Britain, China, Russia and Germany. WATCH: Macron visit The French leader said he discussed with Trump the desire for "a new deal with Iran" that would also address the country's ballistic missile program and include a political solution to constrain Iran's activities in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini defended the existing Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), telling reporters Wednesday it needs to be preserved. "The deal is working," she said. "President Macron stressed it yesterday in the White House very clearly that we believe that the full implementation of the JCPOA is essential for European security and for the security of the region, and the Europeans will stick to that." Trump gave no indication Tuesday as to whether he will pull the U.S. out of the existing nuclear deal with Tehran, but he issued a warning to Iran. "If they restart their nuclear program, they will have bigger problems than they have ever had before," Trump said during a meeting with Macron in the Oval Office. "You can mark it down." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani dismissed talk of a new deal, questioning Wednesday what right the United States and France have to make decisions about a seven-nation agreement. Rouhani warned earlier of severe consequences if Trump does pull out of the deal. U.S. withdrawal could create major discord between key trans-Atlantic partners and throw the Middle East into even deeper turmoil. "Macron essentially dangled the prospect of a grand bargain with four pillars the JCPOA, a promise by Iran to never develop nuclear weapons, preventing Iran from further expanding its ballistic missile technology, and addressing Iran's broader role in the Middle East in order to try and keep Trump on board and to stop him from withdrawing from the JCPOA on May 12," American University School of International Service Professional Lecturer Garret Martin tells VOA. "It remains to be seen whether that will be enough to sway Trump, and if other major powers and regional players, including Iran, would even be open to a grand bargain." Macron also wants Trump to keep American forces in northern Syria to avoid the risk of giving up the country to the Assad regime and Iran. Trump told reporters that "I'd love to get out" of Syria, where the United States has 2,000 U.S. troops seeking to eradicate the Islamic State terror group. "We want to come home. We'll be coming home," predicted Trump. "But we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint." The U.S. president also criticized other countries in the region for not doing enough with their own forces to fight terrorism and to counter the Iranian threat. Trump said the United States had spent seven trillion dollars in the Middle East over an 18-year period and has "less than nothing" to show for it. Some wealthy countries there "wouldn't last a week" without the United States ensuring their security, according to Trump who declared without naming any particular states that they would have to step up and pay and put soldiers on the ground. "President Trump agreed that he didn't want to give Iran a free hand in Syria, but his solution was to have regional states presumably Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries fund the reconstruction and humanitarian expenses and to provide their own troops to stabilize the country," said Jeffrey Rathke, the deputy director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Rathke, a former U.S. diplomat, tells VOA that Trump's idea "has currency in some Washington quarters at the moment, but is unlikely to gain traction in the region." WATCH: Trump's Interactions With Macron, Merkel Tell Different Stories A 21-gun salute echoed across the South Lawn on Tuesday morning while nearly 500 service members from the five branches of the U.S. military stood at attention to officially welcome Macron to the White House. Tuesday night, Trump hosted Macron and his wife Brigette for the first state dinner of his administration. The dinner came 15 months after Trump's inauguration, relatively late compared to previous administrations which typically hosted elaborate ceremonial sitdowns by the end of their first year in office. Tuesday's dinner was a relatively low-key affair, with few celebrities and big Washington names on the guest list. VOA's Victor Beattie contributed to this story. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's weeklong visit to New York to defend Iran's nuclear and regional policies has drawn protests from an Iranian American group. Several dozen supporters of the Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) joined a demonstration Monday across the street from New York's Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) as it hosted a discussion with Zarif on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and U.S.-Iran relations. The demonstrators had hoped to confront Zarif, but the diplomat entered and departed through a back entrance to the venue. Zarif has spoken at CFR, an independent foreign policy research group, several times in recent years. In an interview with the Associated Press published Tuesday, Zarif said that if U.S. President Donald Trump withdraws from the nuclear deal, Iran "most likely" would abandon it as well. Trump has threatened to withdraw from the deal by May 12 if European powers do not accept changes to make it tougher on Iran. During his CFR talk, Zarif accused the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of violating the nuclear agreement by refusing to license any U.S. transactions with Iran in the past 16 months. He said Iran's lack of economic dividends from the nuclear deal has caused resentment within the population. Under the deal, the U.S. Treasury Department continued to broadly prohibit Americans from engaging in dealings involving Iran with the exception of a few specific categories of transactions. Shirin Nariman, the organizer of Monday's protest, told VOA Persian that her group objected to Zarif's invitation to speak at CFR. "The people of Iran have spoken [through anti-government street protests] in the last few months and showed that they don't want this regime at all not even a part of it," Nariman said. Demonstrators at Monday's rally chanted, "Death to [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei" and "Death to [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani," echoing similar chants heard during nationwide anti-government protests in Iran from late December to early January. Zarif has made several media and public appearances since arriving in New York last Thursday. He also is participating in an April 24-25 U.N. meeting on peace-building and sustaining peace. OIAC is allied to exiled Iranian dissident movement Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which leads the France-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and advocates the "overthrow" of "religious dictatorship" in Iran. Dozens of steel workers in northern Iran have staged a public protest outside government buildings to call for pressure on their employer to hand over several months worth of unpaid wages. Iranian state-run news agency ILNA said about 100 workers of the Qazvin Steel Company rallied on Wednesday outside the provincial governors office in Qazvin, before moving on to a judiciary building. ILNA said the demonstrators, representing about half of the companys workforce, raised several complaints, including months of nonpayment of salaries and premiums for working in hazardous conditions, and years of nonpayment of corporate contributions for health insurance. The workers also demanded job security. The report said Iranian judicial authorities had ordered a transfer of the Qazvin steel plants ownership six months ago to a private company named Rahe Abrisham, or Silk Road. It quoted workers as saying conditions at the plant have become worse since then. Iran has seen a wave of public protests in recent months by Iranians with various grievances, not just against employers but also against local and national leaders who they accuse of mismanagement, corruption and suppressing freedoms. This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Persian Service. Israel has abandoned a plan to deport thousands of African migrants. About 37,000 African migrants have gotten a reprieve after Israel canceled deportation orders that had left the community in limbo. In February, the government handed out papers to thousands of African males, which amounted to an ultimatum: leave the country in two months or go to prison. The plan was abandoned when Rwanda backed out of a deal to take the migrants in, saying it could not guarantee their safety. In a radio interview, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan admitted that the government has "no solution" for the problem of the "infiltrators," as they are called here. He blamed Israel's Supreme Court and human rights groups, which warned that forcibly deporting the migrants back to Africa would endanger their lives. Most of the Africans came from war-torn Eritrea and Sudan, and entered Israel illegally over the past decade. Teklit Michael, who came from Eritrea, breathed a sigh of relief. "I am very happy to see the deportation policy is canceled," said Michael. "And now is the right time for the Israeli government to give a solution for the asylum seekers who came from Africa: a refugee status or to answer their asylum claim application." But the Israeli government rejects the Africans' claim they are refugees, with this legislator describing it as a "lie." Yoav Kish of the ruling right-wing Likud party said they are economic migrants seeking to escape poverty in Africa, and therefore Israel is not obligated to take them in. Officials blame the Africans for rising crime in southern Tel Aviv and accuse them of damaging the Jewish character of the state. So the government is looking for new ways to pressure them to leave voluntarily. But many Israelis are sympathetic toward the migrants. They say Israel has a moral responsibility to offer them asylum because the country was built by Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust. A U.S. federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to keep in place deportation protection for 700,000 young undocumented immigrants known as "dreamers." In a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump's efforts to end the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, District Judge John Bates also ordered the Department of Homeland Security to accept new applicants to the program. The 2012 policy enacted under former President Barack Obama allowed undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as minors, were enrolled in or completed high school and did not have a serious criminal record to live and work in the country for two-year renewable periods without the fear of deportation. DHS rescinded the program in 2017, arguing the prior administration lacked the legal authority to create it. Trump gave lawmakers a March deadline for coming up with a permanent fix for DACA recipients, but the Republican-led Congress has not acted. Several federal courts have also ruled existing DACA protections must remain in place while the overall legal challenges continue. Judge Bates wrote in the Tuesday decision that the DHS decision to rescind DACA was "arbitrary and capricious because the department failed to adequately explain its conclusion that the program is unlawful." He put his ruling on hold for 90 days to give the department a chance to "better explain its rescission decision." There was no immediate response from the Trump administration. A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to keep deportation protection for 800,000 young undocumented immigrants known as "dreamers." In a sharp rebuke to President Trump's efforts to end the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, District Judge John Bates also ordered the Department of Homeland Security to accept new applicants to the program for the first time since it became law in 2012. The judge said Trump administration efforts to scrap DACA were illegal. He called it "arbitrary and capricious because the department failed to adequately explain its conclusion that the program is unlawful." But the judge stayed his ruling for 90 days to give officials more time to come up with a good reason for ending DACA. There has been no response so far from the administration. DACA shields about 800,000 young people who were illegally brought to the United States as children from deportation. For the majority of these immigrants, the United States is the only home they know. They are taxpayers, business owners, have families, college graduates, and have served in the military. While professing love for DACA recipients, Trump has called the Obama-era program illegal. But he has challenged the Republican-led Congress to come up with a better plan something it has so far failed to do. The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy 50 years ago this June fractured the nation just two months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and five years after his brother John F. Kennedy was killed. But RFK's funeral, particularly the train that took his body from New York City, following a funeral Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, to Washington, D.C., brought the country together. An estimated 2 million ordinary Americans gathered beside railroad tracks to honor him as the train passed by. An exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, "The Train: RFK's Last Journey," displays 21 of the 1,000 unique color slides made by photographer Paul Fusco on June 8, 1968. The images captured America's grief in a way that was unusual in photography, by seeing the events through the eyes of ordinary people. The photos show Americans of all colors and classes. Catholic schoolgirls, field hands, firefighters, blue-collar workers and housewives in their bonnets create a tableau of those who came to say farewell to the man many knew simply as "Bobby." Some climbed fence posts to get a better view. Some saluted. Others stood rock-ribbed straight. Some waved American flags or handmade posters: "So Long Bobby." Others turned from work to see what was happening as the maroon train car holding his coffin rolled by en route to Washington, and from there to his final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Fusco, at the time a staffer for Look magazine, made the images from his unique position aboard the funeral train. He said he was astonished when the train emerged from a New York City tunnel to see hundreds of people gathering beside the tracks. At times he used a panning motion to isolate certain people and scenes, creating a blur around the edges of the images. The exhibit also shows the importance of the day for those who were there, through a collection of personal images sought out by Dutch artist Rein Jelle Terpstra, who became fascinated with Fusco's photos and launched a research project in 2014 to collect pictures and films from the observers who watched the funeral procession go by. Among the most striking is a carefully labeled page from a photo album collage decorated with red, white and blue construction paper. The moving exhibit also includes a 70 mm film reconstruction of the day by French artist Philippe Parreno, complete with the haunting sound of a train clacking through fields and cities. So many people came to say goodbye to Bobby Kennedy on June 8, 1968, that the train slowed and the journey took nearly twice as long as usual, nearly eight hours to travel a typically four-hour route. The RFK funeral train echoed a similar journey more than 100 years earlier when Abraham Lincoln's body was transported by train from Washington to his home state of Illinois in 1865, with scheduled stops along the way where crowds of people turned out to pay their respects. The trip took nearly two weeks. Kennedy, a U.S. senator from New York, was running for president and had just won the California primary when he was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy died June 6, 1968. "The Train: RFK's Last Journey" is on display at the museum through June 10. French President Emmanuel Macron urged U.S. lawmakers Wednesday to ensure that the United States does not to abandon the deal to restrain Iran's nuclear weapons development. "Iran shall never possess nuclear weapons, not in five years, not in 10 years, never," Macron declared in a ringing 49-minute speech to both chambers of Congress. The French leader did not directly address U.S. President Donald Trump's vocal opposition to the 2015 pact. Trump is set to decide next month whether to renew sanctions relief for Iran. The agreement lifts sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limits on the country's nuclear development. The U.S. president called the agreement "insane" and "ridiculous" and has threatened to withdraw from it. WATCH: Macron on Iran nuclear deal Instead Macron, as he did in talks with Trump on Tuesday, called for negotiations for a new agreement with Iran over its ballistic missile tests and its military involvement in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq. Lawmakers cheered robustly as Macron praised America's history of multilateralism, saying Europe and the United States must together face the "new threats and challenges" of the 21st century. "We can choose isolationism, but it will not stop the evolution of the world," he said. Western allies cannot let nationalistic impulses take over and "undermine the liberal order we set after World War II. It is a critical moment." "I thought on balance his speech was right on target and he had the courage not to trim on issues which he thought were important," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told reporters shortly after the speech. Representative Chris Collins, a Republican from New York and the first member of Congress to endorse Trump in 2016, told VOA he saw Macron's comments as a positive step in addressing the problems with the Iran nuclear deal. "Now that we've got France saying, 'Yeah, we can negotiate a better deal,' I think that's in response to Trump's position," Collins said. But Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday rejected the idea of a new deal or any changes in the current pact negotiated by the Obama administration and Britain, Germany, Russia, China and France. Trump stands alone among the signatories to the Iran deal in opposing it. The French president also pressed lawmakers to support a return to the Paris climate agreement, saying "there is no Planet B." Trump withdrew from the accord in 2015, following an intense effort by the Obama administration to strike the sweeping agreement. "I'm sure one day the U.S. will come back again to join the Paris agreement," Macron predicted. The French leader delivered his speech on the final day of a three-day visit to Washington, the first state visit of Trump's presidency. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will pay a one-day working visit to the White House on Friday following a three-day state visit by French President Emmanuel Macon. The back-to-back visits are seen a tag-team effort to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump not to abandon the Iran nuclear deal and to grant permanent exemption of the steel and aluminum tariffs to EU member countries. While Trump and Macron's 'bromance' was on full display during the French president's visit, Trump's relationship with Merkel is unquestionably cooler. It is widely reported that during their inaugural meeting in March 2017, Trump appeared to withhold a handshake with Merkel, and the two leaders did not speak for five months until a phone call on March 1. "Where Emmanuel Macron is much more successful at charming President Trump, Angela Merkel doesn't really make the charm offensive a priority and works instead on the basis of principle, common values, and shared interests," said Eric Jones, Director of European and Eurasian Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Nile Gardiner, Director of Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at Heritage Foundation told VOA he expected Merkel to take a more confrontational and adversarial approach towards the Trump administration than her French counterpart. "The Germans have been a lot more critical of Trump's foreign and economic policies," he said. "And I think Angela Merkel is likely to be adopting a harder line than Macron on certain issues, but she'll also be keen to make an effort to save the Iran nuclear deal," he said. Gardiner added that "it would be interesting to see the degree to which Merkel and Macron put forth the same proposals with regard to strengthening the Iran nuclear deal." Indeed, Center for Strategic and International Studies Europe Program Director Heather Conley told reporters the visits by two European leaders this week will be dubbed "the save the Iran nuclear agreement trip." During his visit, Macron repeatedly urged Trump and U.S. Congress not to walk away from the 2015 deal the six major powers the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China made with Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions that hobbled its economy. Trump has called the agreement crafted under the Obama administration "the worst deal ever negotiated." He contends Iran would quickly achieve nuclear capability at the end of the 10-year agreement and often assails its current military adventures in Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon. Trump again called the deal as "insane" and "ridiculous" during Macron's visit, but gave no indication as to whether he will pull the U.S. out of the existing nuclear deal with Tehran. Trans-Atlantic trade Trans-Atlantic trade will be another crucial issue during Merkel's visit. Jeff Rathke, Deputy Director of Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies emphasized that this issue is particularly crucial for Germany. "Germany is the largest EU economy. It is a trade-driven economy," he said. "I would highlight that the European Union is poised to retaliate if the United States does not extend the exemption on aluminum and steel tariffs, so there is a bit of a threat there of reaction." Rathke pointed out Germany has the same concerns as the United States regarding China's trade practices and its economic role. "The question is whether they can put aside the relatively less important trans-Atlantic trade disagreements and focus on addressing those much larger and longer-term issues " he noted. NATO, Syria Other issues expected to be discussed during the bilateral meeting include the importance of the NATO alliance and the way forward in Syria. Johns Hopkins University professor Erik Jones said he doesn't think the Europeans have high expectations of changing Trump's mind on these issues at the end of Merkel's visit. "If they get an extension of the waiver on US sanctions, that's a big deliverable; if they were to get a formal commitment to extend the exemptions on steel tariffs, that would be a deliverable; if they were to get a firm commitment on a potential to restart Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks; that would be a deliverable as well," he said. But Jones said he doubts the Europeans "are bringing a big bag to carry these things home with." He said they are going to bring "a very small folder and hope they've got at least something in it when they leave at the end of the day." North Korea should give up five nuclear bombs, which would make up an estimated ten percent of its estimated arsenal, to prove it is serious this time around about halting its nuclear program. This would be an initial trust building step in the long-term negotiation process to follow, according to a proposal from Bruce Bennett, a defense analyst and expert on the North Korea military at the RAND Corporation research organization in California. What the U.S. is looking for is real denuclearization. So my proposal has been, if Kim Jong Un is serious, he probably has 30 or 50 or 60 nuclear weapons, why doesnt he take five of them and give them up? asked Bennett at the Asan Plenum security forum in Seoul on Tuesday. Broken promises North Koreas pivot this year from confrontational nuclear and ballistic missile tests to diplomatic outreach has greatly reduced the potential for military conflict in the region. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seems to be pursuing a peaceful resolution to the nuclear stand-off by expressing a willingness to give up his countrys nuclear weapons program for security guarantees and sanctions relief, and to engage in high level talks, recently with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, later this week with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and with U.S. President Donald Trump soon after. However North Koreas reassuring words and actions, including its recent decision to suspend further nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests, and to shut down its nuclear test site, has been met with skepticism by many analysts and officials, who say these measures were part of failed nuclear deals of the past. For those of us who have been following this issue for many years, if not decades, thus far we have not heard anything new, said North Korea scholar Victor Cha at the Asan forum in Seoul on Tuesday. Cha, a professor at Georgetown University and national security adviser to former President George W. Bush, was recently dropped from consideration to be named U.S. Ambassador to South Korea over a policy difference with the Trump administrations emphasis on the possible use of force against North Korea. Back in 1994, North Korea agreed to freeze its fledgling nuclear capabilities, and dismantle its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon for international aid. It was later discovered that Pyongyang was secretly continuing work on its nuclear program and restarted the nuclear site in 2003. North Korea followed the same pattern in 2007, by promising again to shut down its nuclear reactor for financial assistance, and then later walking away from the deal. While this weeks inter-Korean summit is expected to produce a joint commitment to denuclearization, it is unclear that a deal can be developed that would satisfy Washingtons demand for complete, verifiable and irreversible nuclear dismantlement before reducing sanctions, yet still provide Pyongyang significant incentives to comply. 10 percent solution Bennetts suggestion for a 10 percent solution, giving up five of its 50 or so estimated nuclear devices, would be a grand gesture on Kims part that would move beyond past proposals. Such a move could be implemented quickly, and would actually reduce North Koreas nuclear capability, although not significantly. In accordance with the international Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the nuclear devices would then be transferred to a recognized nuclear state, perhaps France, said Bennett, as it might be seen as a neutral party. One benefit in this for North Korea is that international experts could study the devices, and possibly verify Pyongyangs claims to possess the capability to mount miniaturized nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles. Demonstrating a real North Korean nuclear reduction could also give President Trump the tangible proof of denuclearization progress that he is demanding. I do think that its something President Trump is looking for. He is looking for a bold gesture, something that he could point to, that shows that he has really achieved something, and that North Korea is in fact moving towards denuclearization, said Bonnie Glaser, a security analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Asymmetrical concessions Kims motivation for engaging in nuclear talks is to end the tough international sanctions imposed in the last year that banned billions of dollars of North Korean exports, including its lucrative coal and seafood industries. However, Bennett notes that offering North Korea a 10 percent reduction in economic sanctions for five nuclear weapons would not be a fair trade, as sanctions relief would provide significantly more benefit, while the loss of a few nuclear bombs would not reduce the threat level. It is asymmetric. It is a small change for them. It may be a big change on the sanctions, which is why I believe the administration is talking about waiting on the sanctions until much more is done, said Bennett. The U.S. and South Korea could offer diplomatic incentives instead, he said, such as increasing official contacts through third party embassies in Pyongyang until a detailed denuclearization framework is in place. Lee Yoon-jee in Seoul contributed to this report. Prosecutors in Peru suspect that a Canadian man murdered a revered indigenous medicine woman in an Amazonian village last week before being lynched in retribution, a spokesman for the attorney general's office said on Tuesday. Olivia Arevalo, an 81-year-old shaman of the Shipibo-Conibo tribe, was shot to death near her home in the region of Ucayali on Thursday, prompting outrage from villagers who blamed Sebastian Woodroffe, a native of Vancouver Island. Prosecutors had initially been pursuing several potential leads into who killed Arevalo. But their main hypotheses now is that Woodroffe murdered Arevalo because he was upset that her son had not repaid him 14,000 soles ($4,335), said Ricardo Jimenez, the head of a regional group of prosecutors. Authorities found a document showing that Woodroffe bought a gun on April 3 from a police officer, Jimenez said, adding that the police officer is now being sought for questioning. A witness also testified that a silver-colored pistol fell from a backpack that Woodroffe was carrying as villagers grabbed him before the lynching, Jimenez said. We want to see if that weapon actually existed. We havent found it yet but were looking, Jimenez said. With the new evidence that has appeared, he is the main suspect. Neither Woodroffe's nor Arevalo's family could be reached for comment. Arevalo was considered a wealth of knowledge about Amazonian plants and native traditions. Yarrow Willard, a friend of Woodroffe's in Canada, said Woodroffe was not violent and had never used a gun. He was a loving father and kind man who was not capable of the crimes he was accused of, Willard said in an email. Willard said Woodroffe had gone to Peru seeking healing as he was feeling troubled and slightly lost.The case has spotlighted surging tourism in Perus Amazon related to the hallucinogenic plant brew ayahuasca, which has long been used by tribes in spiritual and healing rituals and is now popular among foreigners seeking vivid spiritual experiences or help with addiction. Woodroffe traveled to Peru to learn about ayahuasca and plant medicine so he could become an addictions counselor, according to his post on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo.com. Tests of Woodroffe's remains are expected to determine if he fired a weapon or was intoxicated before dying. Authorities have expedited the laboratory work and results are now expected this week, instead of in more than two weeks as initially estimated, Jimenez said. Two men sought by police for allegedly lynching Woodroffe appear to have fled, Jimenez said. In 2015, a Canadian killed a friend in self-defense during an ayahuasca session. In 2012, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen died after taking the drug and workers at an ayahuasca retreat tried to hide his body. Comments by U.S. President Donald Trump about "immensely wealthy Gulf states" having to "pay more for their protection," has stirred a firestorm between rivals Qatar and Saudi Arabia. According to Saudi media, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir is claiming the Qatari government would "fall in under a week," if the United States removed its airbase from Doha. The ongoing spat between Qatar, and Saudi Arabia and its allies Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt, blew into the open again Wednesday after comments by U.S. President Donald Trump that unspecified Gulf states "wouldn't last a week" without U.S. protection. "Countries in the area, some of which are immensely wealthy, would not be there except for the United States and to a lesser extent France, but they wouldn't be there except for the United States. They wouldn't last a week. We are protecting them. They have to now step up and pay for what is happening," he said. Trump added the United States had spent $7 trillion in the Middle East over 18 years, without getting much in return and stressed it wants more help from unspecified Gulf states that he says it supports. Egyptian commentator Said Sadek tells VOA that Trump has also put Qatar on the spot by asking it to send troops to Syria to replace U.S. forces in the north and east of the country. "This is pure political bullying and military power, and now, if this illegal presence of the Americans in north Syria is going to be replaced, by another illegal presence of Qatari or any other force, again this is a violation of international law and a recipe for continuing instability inside Syria," he said. Sadek questions whether Qatar would have sufficient manpower to replace U.S. forces, which now number around 2,000 men. He also wonders if Qatar would have air support for its troops if Russia or Iran chose to attack them inside Syria. Washington-based Gulf analyst Theodore Karasik thinks that Saudi Foreign Minister Jubeir's comments about the Qatari government falling "in under a week" is a reference to the recent embarrassing comments by Qatar's al-Jazeera TV over an alleged "coup" in the capital, Riyadh, after a drone inadvertently flew over the royal palace. "The Qatari side in this incident pushed the "coup" language very strong[ly] even minutes before the announcement of what the event in Riyadh was to begin with," he said. "Al-Jubeir's comments should be seen in the context of this event in Riyadh and how Riyadh now sees Qatar as being a country interfering in Saudi's internal affairs." Karasik believes that Trump is "putting pressure on the Gulf states to resolve their differences," while Said Sadek says the United States has given up on trying to get the rivals to patch up their differences quickly, since "the U.S.-Gulf summit scheduled for May," he notes, "has been postponed until the Fall." Editor's note: This story contains images some readers may find disturbing. This week, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, opens to the public, paying tribute to thousands of African Americans who were lynched by white mobs from the close of the 19th century Civil War through the 1960s. While lynching is most commonly associated with blacks in the southern United States, little attention has been paid to the lynching of other minorities, among them, Native Americans. In his 2011 book, the Roots of Rough Justice: Origins of American Lynching, Michael J. Pfeifer, history professor at the City University of New Yorks (CUNY) John Jay College of Criminal Justice, describes lynching as informal group murder. The definition that I and many scholars have used stipulates that there has to be an illegally-obtained death perpetrated by a mob -- three or more persons -- and that the collected killing must be in service to justice, race or tradition, he said. Mapping mob violence The end of the Civil War in the U.S. triggered an uptick in mob violence as whites sought to assert power over African Americans freed from slavery. The Chicago Tribune newspaper, Tuskegee Institute (now University) sociologist Monroe Nathan Work and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People began tracking lynchings in the late 1800s. Their work is the foundation of Monroe Work Today, an interactive map created by R.J. Ramey, founder of San Francisco-based Auut Studio. The map details racially-motivated mob violence between 1835 and 1964. Ramey said he was inspired to create the map after reading a book about lynching. I realized that there really wasnt visualization out there that showed how pervasive lynching was. Initially, perhaps naively, we started thinking the Tuskagee Institute archives would make up the vast majority of the work, he said. But soon we found a number of works by academic scholars who had also researched archival records and gone back to original accounts and newspaper reports and validated the vast majority of the data. In all, Rameys team pulled data from about 60 scholarly works. We found hundreds more lynchings that had taken place that we didnt know about, he said. The project lists 4,800 individual lynchings by race or nationality; 137 are Native American. At odds over lands, resources As white settlers were coming into western territories, they fell into conflict with native communities, said CUNY historian Pfeifer. Access to land was an issue, but also alleged criminality with regard to livestock and resources on the land. Thats something we didnt see with lynchings of African Americans in the South. Sometimes settlers moved west faster than police and legal systems could be put in place. In April, 1890, an angry group of Banning, California, ranchers pulled a Native American man named Tacho from a boxcar at the local railroad depot, dragged him about a mile down the track and hanged him from a telegraph pole. Described by Sacramentos Daily Record-Union as a desperado of the worst type, Tacho was alleged to have stolen a horse and cattle. In June 1848, a St. Croix Valley, Wisconsin, group of local businessmen conducted a thorough, dispassionate and impartial murder trial, according to the Wisconsin Tribune newspaper, of a 22-year-old Anishinaabe man known as Paunais or Little Saux, accused of murdering a white man. They hanged him in front of as many as 300 spectators, including his mother, brother, wife and several tribal leaders. The citizens are without a state or even a territorial government, with no courts or judges to hold them, and so frequent has been the case that Indian murderers of white men have gone unpunished that citizens were determined to show to the Chippeways [Anishinaabe] that their barbarous acts can no longer be committed with impunity, read the paper's report. There were also questions of complex legal jurisdiction between territorial law, federal law and sovereign indigenous law, explained Pfeifer, that could lead to legal delays which frustrated angry citizens. In November 1897, for example, masked men stormed a Williamsport, North Dakota, jail, dragged three Native American prisoners from their cells and hanged them from a nearby beef windlass a device used to hoist cattle carcasses. Paul Holy Track, Alex Cadotte and Phillip Ireland had been implicated in the murder of a white family; after Cadotte was granted a retrial, citizens worried all three would go free. Tip of the iceberg Pfeifer suspects that the 137 Native Americans identified in the MonroeWorksToday map project are only the tip of the iceberg. He said he has unearthed dozens more cases of lynched Native Americans and has only just begun to scratch the surface. Some date back to the earliest colonial times: In July 1677, a group of women settlers in Marblehead, Massachusetts, beat to death and decapitated two Wampanoag Indian captives. Sometimes, said Pfeifer, the line between lynchings and massacres can be fine. And some of this anti-Native violence can look like a lynching, but then shades into a massacre where multiple Natives are killed by white communities, he explained. Speaking as a scholar of lynching, if a lynching was done through state authority, it would not fit the definition of lynching," he added. "But sometimes state actors acted in a way that was unlawful. Perched on a dirt tower on the edge of a bog in Kivoo village, eastern Kenya, Erastus Njiru applies finishing layers of mud to a pile of bricks. "I can sell up to 3,000 of these per week," said the 34-year-old, inspecting his work as he dried his muddy hands with a worn towel. "Each brick goes for 8 Kenyan shillings ($0.08), so in a good week I can make up to 24,000 Kenyan shillings ($240.00)," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Njiru is one of an increasing number of Kenyans selling and buying earth bricks to build homes which are cooler, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the more typical stone houses. About 15 percent of new homes are now built with mud bricks, compared to less than 1 percent in 2010, according to Aidah Munano, a senior official at the Kenyan ministry of land, housing and urban development. Unlike quarrying, which involves clearing trees to make room for excavations, mud bricks only require a bit of dirt and water, said Gitonga Murungi, a Kenyan conservationist. "Demand for mud bricks is on the rise in rural Kenya because they cool homes during hot days and keep them warm at night," he said. They also cost about half as much as bricks made from stone quarrying, he added. Njiru agrees. "People are giving up on building homes with quarry stones because they are expensive," he said. "And the government says that quarrying and sand harvesting damage the environment," he added. Having dropped out of high school due to a lack of funds, the former farmer now proudly pays for his children's education. "I used to barely get by when growing maize and beans," he explained. "But now I make a lot more by selling mud bricks to residents and property developers in the area." Rising Heat Extreme heat across the country is a threat to many Kenyans as "their crops and livestock waste away due to a lack of water," according to Ayub Shaka, deputy director at the Meteorological Department. Rising temperatures made Milka Njeri, a sorghum farmer from nearby Kanyuambora village consider brick-making as a way of making extra money. Njeri said some days are so hot she has to stay indoors and can only start work in her fields as the sun sets. Like Njiru she has started molding bricks at home using mud from a nearby bog to compensate for the lost income from farming while sheltering from the heat. "It is not much but I can make an extra 2,000 Kenyan shillings ($20) a week by selling bricks at construction sites," she said. Protecting the Environment Brick makers should ensure their work does not end up damaging the environment as well, said Violet Matiru, a conservationist at the Millennium Community Development Initiatives, a local charity that raises awareness of environmental issues. "We need to be careful that brick-making doesn't use up all the soil in bogs because it stores excess water during floods and helps limit their impact," she explained. James Nyang'aya, a researcher at the University of Nairobi, thinks that while mud-brick homes can help communities adapt to rising heat, they are not the only solution. "People should not just change their homes, but (also) their way of life," he said. Wearing light clothes and planting trees around homes to provide shade can also help cope with extreme temperatures, he said. "You can even build your home's doors and windows according to the wind direction to create your own air conditioning," he added. ($1 = 100.0000 Kenyan shillings) A customer from Beijing and one from Hong Kong walk into Starbucks. A chair blocks the path between the counter and their seats. Who of the two moves the chair? It's not a joke. It's a psychology experiment, designed to test the long-lasting imprints of a culture's agrarian past. A new study in the journal Science Advances says that over thousands of years, rice farmers in southern China have evolved a culture of interdependence not found in northern, wheat-growing parts of the country. The authors say those influences persist even in China's modern, relatively wealthy cities, among people who have never farmed. And they show up in how people behave in their daily lives even as they navigate their local coffee shop. Rice theory The study found people were much less likely to move the Starbucks chair in southern China, where rice has been the staple crop for thousands of years, than those in the wheat-farming north. According to what the researchers call the "rice theory of culture," growing rice demands more cooperation than growing most other crops. Neighbors in rice-farming villages have to coordinate when they will flood and drain their paddies, for example. And since rice requires about twice as much labor as wheat, rice-growing villagers often share the workload. Over the centuries, people developed "folkways and habits of thoughts and behavior norms that, once they're established, you're not even thinking, 'I'm doing this because I'm a rice farmer.' If you're thinking about it at all, you're thinking about it as, 'I'm doing this because I'm a good person. Because that's how I was raised. Because that's what they talk about in school,' " said psychologist Andrew Ryder at Concordia University in Montreal, who was not part of the research team. Moving the chairs To test their theory, University of Chicago psychologist Thomas Talhelm and colleagues went to Starbucks in five cities: Beijing and Shenyang in the wheat-growing north; and Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong in the rice-growing south. They chose the Western coffee chain for its uniformity, introducing fewer variables in the environment that might complicate the results. Researchers put two chairs a hip's width apart in high-traffic aisles and watched how customers got past them. In southern China, almost everyone squeezed through them. Just 6 percent moved a chair. In the north, on the other hand, 16 percent were chair-movers. "Previous research has found that when people in independent cultures like the United States encounter a problem, they're more likely to want to change the environment to solve that problem," Talhelm said. "But when people in interdependent cultures like Japan encounter problems, they're more likely to try to fit [themselves] into the environment." Moving the chair rather than squeezing past it suggests a more independent mindset, he said. The study also found northerners were more likely than southerners to sit alone: There were about 10 percent more singletons in northern Starbucks shops compared with southern ones during the week, and about 5 percent more on weekends. Modernization Talhelm said the findings go against the common theory that "as areas become more wealthy, more modernized [and] more urbanized, people become more individualistic or more Western." Even in Hong Kong, among the wealthiest, most modern and most urban cities in China, chair-movers were rare and few people sat alone. "People's farming legacies seem to be more important than GDP in explaining their behavior," he added. The researchers also checked population density, age, gender, climate and disease presence. Nothing explained the results as well as the rice versus wheat split. The findings fit with a different type of study Talhelm and colleagues did that tested students on measures of thinking style. They found the same cultural differences between rice-growing regions and wheat-growing regions, even among students from rice-growing or wheat-growing regions of the same county. The rice theory had been "floating around for quite a long time," Ryder said, but "I think people hadn't even necessarily expected that it would be all that testable." Now, he noted, several studies from different approaches are converging on the same results. And, he added, it's an important reminder that China is not a cultural monolith. No country is. "Get away from 'one country equals one culture,' " he said. Next, Talhelm is testing the theory in India, another country with a rice/wheat split. The Taliban insurgency announced the commencement of its annual spring offensive in Afghanistan, dealing a blow to weeks of renewed hopes for possible peace negotiations. The move comes as preparations are gaining momentum to organize long-delayed Afghan parliamentary and district council elections scheduled for October 20. The new insurgent operations, dubbed Al Khandaq, went into action early Wednesday and the American invaders and their intelligence agents will be its primary target, said a Taliban statement. The move came weeks after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, at an international conference in Kabul, offered to engage in unconditional talks with the Taliban for ending the 17-year-old increasingly deadly conflict. While Ghanis overture was widely welcomed by domestic and international stakeholders, the insurgent group had since been silent amid speculations the Taliban could be mulling joining the talks. Afghan ambassador to neighboring Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal, has acknowledged the Talibans spring offensive is a rejection of the governments peace overture. In an interview aired late Wednesday by Pakistan's private AAJ TV, Zakhilwal insisted the Taliban is not capable of winning militarily and they will have to come to the table to find a negotiated end to the ugly Afghan war. We do hope that they (the Taliban) come to their senses and choose the right path, and that is peace. We will never give up on that hope. While we continue to defend ourselves against their onslaught and defend the population we would also be seeking continuously peace with them, said the Afghan ambassador. The Taliban has repeatedly offered to engage in direct talks with the U.S. to resolve the conflict but wants all foreign forces to withdraw from Afghanistan before engaging in any intra-Afghan dialogue. The insurgent group justified its Wednesdays offensive, saying the country remains under an illegitimate foreign occupation. Thousands of additional foreign forces, it maintained, are being deployed inside Afghanistan under President Donald Trump's new war strategy and they are supplied with new devastating weapons and vast military authorities. The Taliban, through its statement, encouraged Afghan civilians to fully partake in the offensive by supporting the fighters and remaining at a sufficient distance from U.S. and Afghan military bases as well as convoys. Trump unveiled his strategy for Afghanistan back in August to try to reverse Taliban battlefield gains by intensifying military operations to pressure the insurgents to come to the negotiating table for a dialogue with the Afghan government. While American military commanders have since reported progress on the battlefield, the Taliban has responded by increasing attacks against Afghan security forces and making territorial gains. The insurgent group currently controls or contests more than 44 percent of Afghanistan, according to recent U.S. military assessments. Afghan security forces while tackling the Taliban also have to deal with growing influence of Islamic State terrorists in the country. The group claimed responsibility for Sundays deadly attack on an election-related center in Kabul that left more than 60 Afghans dead. Afghan elections Earlier this month, the Afghan Independent Election Commission launched a voters registration process for the October parliamentary and district council elections. The insurgent offensive, analyst say, will pose a major challenge for Afghan security forces to ensure voters security. The Taliban has rejected the democratic process as stage-managed by the U.S.-led foreign occupiers and urged Afghans to boycott the polls. The United Nations has warned civilians continue to bear the brunt of the Afghan armed conflict and documented a record 2,260 civilian casualties in the first three months of 2018. More than 10,000 civilians were killed or wounded in the previous year in Afghanistan. Tensions with Pakistan The intensification in Afghan hostilities in the wake of the new Taliban offensive is likely to raise Kabuls tensions with Pakistan. Afghan and U.S. officials allege insurgent sanctuaries in the neighboring country have enabled the Taliban to sustain and expand its violent campaign. Ambassador Zakhilwal maintained Islamabad can still pressure and persuade the Taliban to respond positively to peace overtures by his government. We do believe Pakistan has influence (over the Taliban). We certainly agree that may be it is not to the degree that we believe it is. But it certainly is not at the level that Pakistan claims that it is none whatsoever, the Afghan diplomat asserted. Trump earlier this year suspended military assistance to Pakistan until the country takes decisive action against terrorist sanctuaries on its territory. Islamabad rejects the charges, saying Pakistani security forces have cleared all terrorist infrastructure from their soil. It says Taliban leaders and fighters have moved back to Afghanistan because the group is in control of a vast territory there and Pakistan has lost whatever influence it had with the insurgents. Pakistani officials say their country is being blamed because international efforts have failed to secure and stabilize Afghanistan and the U.S. is looking for a scapegoat. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States stood with the people of Armenia on Armenian Remembrance Day the 103rd anniversary of the start of the massacre of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks. "As we honor the memory of those who suffered, we also reflect on our commitment to ensure that such atrocities are not repeated," Trump said in a White House statement. "We underscore the importance of acknowledging and reckoning with the painful elements of the past as a necessary step towards creating a more tolerant future." Trump also said he deeply respected the "resilience" of the Armenian people, who he said built new lives in the United States and made countless contributions to the country. By the time the forced deportation and massacre of Armenians from the Ottoman Empire ended in the early 1920s, more than 1.5 million people were dead. Like his predecessors in the White House, Trump stopped short of calling the Armenian massacre a genocide. Historians regularly use the term when writing about the killings. But U.S. ally Turkey denies there was any deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing. Turks say Armenians died during the upheaval of World War I, including the Russian invasion. Turkey also contends that far fewer than 1.5 million Armenians died. The United Nations human rights office says some of the more than two dozen deaths of peaceful protestors in Nicaragua may amount to unlawful killings. U.N. human rights spokeswoman, Liz Throssell, says reliable sources report Nicaraguan police and other security forces killed at least 25 people during recent nationwide protests against planned social security reforms. We are particularly concerned that a number of these deaths may amount to unlawful killings. We call on the Nicaraguan authorities to ensure that there are prompt, thorough, independent and transparent investigations into these deaths, said Throssell. This deadly crackdown occurred during a week of peaceful protests aimed at getting the Nicaraguan government to back down from its proposed changes to the countrys social security system. Under this plan, citizens in this impoverished Central American nation would be required to contribute five percent of their pensions to help reduce a ballooning national deficit. Throssell says her agency has received disturbing reports that dozens of people have been injured or detained over the past few days. She says other acts of violence and cases of looting allegedly took place during the protests. It is essential that all allegations of excessive use of force by police and other security forces are effectively investigated to ensure those responsible are held to account," she said. "Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has announced a halt to the planned reforms. However, we understand that further demonstrations are likely. The U.N. human rights office is urging demonstrators to protest peacefully. At the same time, it is calling on Nicaraguas government to abide by its international obligations and allow people to exercise their right to freedom of expression and assembly. The U.N. agency says this also applies to human rights defenders and journalists. It says they have the right to monitor developments and report on events without being harassed and attacked in the course of their work. President Donald Trump's trade fight with China moved inside the white marble walls of the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, where lawyers for both countries faced off over whether Chinese companies can be held liable for violating U.S. antitrust laws. The nine justices heard arguments in an appeal by two American companies of a lower court ruling that threw out claims of price fixing against two Chinese vitamin C manufacturers based on submissions by China's government explaining that nation's regulations. The arguments provided both countries an opportunity to air their differences over an aspect of their trade relationship. The Supreme Court took the unusual step on April 13 of granting China the ability to present arguments even though it is not an official party in the case. Typically, only the U.S. government is reserved that privilege. The world's two economic superpowers are engaged in an escalating trade fight. The United States, accusing China of unfair trade practices and theft of intellectual property, has threatened to impose tariffs on up to $150 billion of Chinese industrial and other imports. China has threatened comparable retaliation against U.S. exports if Washington pushes ahead with the tariffs. None of the heated rhetoric over tariffs trickled into Tuesday's arguments, which remained respectful. The lawyer representing China, Carter Phillips, urged the justices to defer to China's explanation about Chinese regulations. A U.S. Justice Department lawyer said that such deference comes with limits. The U.S. government is conducting an intensive investigation into allegations of heinous crimes against Rohingya Muslims in the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar. According to a Reuters report, two U.S. officials said more than 1,000 Rohingya men and women in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh have been interviewed, detailing allegations of killings, rape, beatings and other possible crimes against humanity by Myanmar's military. About 20 investigators with expertise in areas of international law and criminal justice conducted the interviews in March and April. When asked to confirm details of the investigation, a State Department official told VOA "the program details are accurate." "We strongly believe that Burma's [Myanmar's] government and security forces must respect the human rights of all persons within its borders, and hold accountable those who fail to do so," he added. Reuters says the findings will be reviewed and included in a report that will be sent to the State Department's leadership in May or early June, the officials said. It is not known if the Trump administration will publicly disclose the results or whether it will use the information to push for sanctions against the Myanmar government or a recommendation for international prosecution. Almost 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after the Myanmar government's crackdown last year in its northwestern Rakhine State. The Myanmar government has said its Rakhine operations were lawful responses to attacks on security forces by Rohingya rebels. The Rohingya are a small Muslim minority in Myanmar, a predominately Buddhist country. Although the Rohingya have been in Myanmar for generations, much of the country's population considers them intruders. Violence against the Rohingya has escalated in recent years as the country has made a partial transition to democratic governance. Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson followed the U.N. in November by declaring the Myanmar government's actions constituted "ethnic cleansing." Both declarations have increased the prospects of more sanctions against the government's military commanders and increased pressure civilian leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The Myanmar government has denied the the allegations. A steep drop in U.S. travelers to Cuba after a tightening of travel restrictions by President Donald Trump helped drive a 7 percent slide in foreign visitors to the Caribbean island in the first three months of 2018, Cuban official data showed on Tuesday. The U.S. restrictions and warning on travel to the Communist-run island were to blame for the lower number of U.S. arrivals from the same period a year ago, the Cuban Tourism Ministry's commercial director, Michel Bernal, told a news conference in Havana. Another issue affecting Cuba's tourism sector is unjustified worries about the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma last September, he said, given that the country had long since fixed its tourist installations. The total of U.S. clients is only 56.6 percent of what it was in 2017, Bernal said. The state-run Cuban News Agency published the percentage decline in overall foreign visits separately, citing tourism authorities. The number of Americans traveling to Cuba surged after former U.S. President Barack Obama reached a landmark detente with then-Cuban President Raul Castro in 2014 and eased travel restrictions while maintaining a ban on tourism. Increased U.S. arrivals to Havana in particular fostered the rapid growth of the country's fledgling private sector, with many Cubans rushing to open bed-and-breakfasts and restaurants. Tourism became one of the few bright spots in an economy struggling with heavy state controls, a difficult market reform process, a decline in aid from ally Venezuela and lower global commodity prices. But Trump last year made it harder again for individual Americans to travel to Cuba, as part of his tougher stance on the country. A few months later, his administration issued a warning on travel there because of a mysterious spate of illnesses among U.S. diplomats stationed in Havana. Cuban officials and many foreign tourism experts maintain Cuba is one of the safest destinations in the world. The government still hopes the number of foreign visitors will reach the 5 million mark this year, Bernal said. It rose 16.2 percent to a record 4.7 million in 2017. The number of Cubans living abroad who traveled back to the island jumped 21 percent in the first three months of the year, he said, and was showing steady growth. Other top markets were Russia and Mexico, which grew 32 and 23 percent respectively. Bernal said Canadians still made up the largest group of visitors to Cuba by far, although he did not give any specifics. President Trumps choice to head the Department of Veterans Affairs may soon withdraw his name from consideration because he is frustrated by the confirmation process, The Washington Post reports. The newspaper cites two White House officials who say Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson is wavering between dropping out and defending himself against Democratic allegations of professional misconduct and excessive drinking. The Senate indefinitely postponed Jacksons confirmation hearing as it investigates so-far unsubstantiated charges he has overseen a toxic work environment at White House, where he is Trumps personal doctor. Trump has said he was leaving it up to Jackson to decide whether to step aside, while at the same time appearing to nudge him toward pulling out instead of putting himself through painful confirmation hearings. The fact is I wouldnt do it, Trump said. What does he need it for? To be abused by a bunch of politicians that arent thinking nicely about our country, I really dont think personally he should do it, but its totally his decision. ... I dont want to put a man through a process thats too ugly and too disgusting. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders calls Jacksons record as White House physician impeccable and noted he got enormous praise in past employment reviews. But according to U.S. news reports, others in the government called Jackson candy man for overprescribing drugs and passing out sleeping pills and stimulants wholesale during long official flights. CNN reported one 2015 incident in which Jackson was allegedly drunk when he banged on the hotel room door of a female employee in the middle of the night on an overseas trip. The Secret Service intervened so then-President Barack Obama, sleeping in another hotel room, would not be awakened. Senator Jon Tester, the lead Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said more than 20 current and former military members complained about Jackson. We were told stories where he was repeatedly drunk while on duty, where his main job was to take care of the most powerful man in the world, Tester said. Thats not acceptable. Jackson has declined to publicly comment on the accusations, but has rejected some of the claims to senior aides and says he is being unfairly attacked. Jackson is also facing scrutiny over his lack of experience managing an agency as large as the VA, whose 377,000 employees oversees health care for 13 million U.S. veterans. Trump scoffed at that concern, saying, You could run the biggest hospital system in the world and its small time compared to the Veterans Administration. So nobody has the experience. Critics also say the only reason why Trump nominated Jackson is because the doctor gave Trump a physical and appeared on television, saying the president is in excellent health and mentally sharp. The White House is rejecting accusations President Donald Trump and his administration are hampering freedom of the press in the United States. A media watchdog and advocacy group has dropped the United States two places to 45th in its annual press freedom rankings, blaming Trump's repeated verbal attacks on reporters, publications and TV news networks. "I think we're one of the most accessible administrations that we've seen in decades," replied White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at Wednesday's briefing just hours after the release of the Reporters Without Borders 2018 World Press Freedom Index. "I think by my mere presence of standing up here and taking your questions unvetted is a pretty good example of freedom of the press and I think it's ridiculous to suggest otherwise," Sanders said, responding to a question from VOA. The response did not satisfy the chief White House correspondent for the Cable News Network, which has been repeatedly singled out by the president as a purveyor of "fake news." Jim Acosta, who sits in the front row for the White House press briefings, asked Sanders whether she was trying to say, in response to VOA's question, whether the Trump administration was a champion of the free press. "We support a free press, but we also support a fair press," Sanders replied. "And I think that those things should go hand in hand and there's a certain responsibility by the press to report accurate information." The press secretary then said she frequently finds herself "taking your questions in a tone that's completely unnecessary, unneeded and frankly doesn't help further the conversation or help the American people get any more information in a better way, which is your job and my job." Sanders then moved on to another reporter as Acosta attempted to continue his line of questioning, but not before Acosta interjected with a comment of his own that "the president's tone toward the press obviously is not helpful at times, and I think that's plain to see." Such testy televised exchanges between prominent American journalists and the White House press secretary and sometimes the president himself have further polarized Americans about both the conduct of the administration and the media since Trump's surprise election victory in 2016, which followed an unconventional campaign filled with the candidate's criticism of the press. Reporters Without Borders, for the second year in a row, dropped the United States two places in its survey of press freedom in 180 countries, citing Trump's labeling of the press as an "enemy of the American people," his routine use of the "fake news" term, and the calling for media outlets' broadcasting licenses to be revoked. In a February 2017 memo, the then-director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, wrote that Trump had suggested reporters might need to be jailed to send a message about classified information being leaked to the media. Sanders on Wednesday called it "ridiculous" that the United States fell in the index. In response, Margaux Ewen, the organization's North American director, cited "an increase in arrests, violent attacks, and online harassment at the local level," pointing out there were 34 documented arrests of journalists in the country last year. "It's hard to believe how anyone could look at those numbers and find a decline in press freedom in this country ridiculous,'" Ewen told VOA. The organization in its annual report blames Trump for routinely singling out news organizations and journalists for their coverage of him, specifically noting that the president retweeted several violent memes targeting CNN. According to Reporters Without Borders, the decline in press freedom in the United States "is not simply bad news for journalists working inside the country; the downward trend has drastic consequences at the international level," noting that the term "fake news" has become "a trademark excuse for media repression, in both democratic and authoritarian regimes." In the RSF 2018 index, Norway is considered the top nation for press freedom while North Korea ranks last. The World Health Organization is joining a worldwide call to stop a resurgence of malaria that threatens much of the progress made over the past decade. To mark World Malaria Day, WHO is pushing for urgent action - and money - to get the global fight against this ancient scourge back on track. For many years, World Malaria Day has been a cause for celebration, but not this year. World Health Organization data show that starting in 2016 progress has been at a standstill and hopes of ending the global epidemic by 2030 are slipping away. Watch: Fears Grow Over Malaria Resurgence, London Summit Urges Global Action Director of WHO's Global Malaria Program, Pedro Alonso, says some of the gains made in reducing the number of cases and deaths in countries across all regions of the world are being reversed. "As a consequence, we now have about 260 million cases of malaria every year, in excess of 440,000 deaths every year13:52History has told us very clearly that when we stop making progress, it is not that we just stand still, but we go backwards and then malaria comes back, and comes back with a vengeance," Alonso said. About 90 percent of all malaria cases and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Children under the age of five, pregnant women and patients with HIV-AIDS are most at risk. Alonso says global political commitment must be renewed and donors and affected countries must increase the financial resources needed to successfully tackle malaria. "And, we need new and improved tools to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria," Alonso said. "Our sense is that with the resources available today and with the tools we have today, we have seen the limit of what can be achieved." The issue of malaria's resurgence came up on the sidelines of a Commonwealth summit in London this month, where Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates who has invested billions of dollars in fighting malaria pledged yet another one billion dollars to the effort. WHO estimates $5.5 billion are needed each year to wage a successful global fight against malaria. However, only about half that amount has been pledged. Vector control is the main way to prevent and reduce the spread of malaria. Alonso says better insecticides, better insecticide-treated mosquito nets as well as better drugs are essential in combating the disease. The World Bank has disputed U.S. government findings that billions of dollars of donor funds flowing into Afghanistan are at risk due to lack of oversight and transparency. The project in question is called Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, or ARTF, and is being administered by the World Bank. It is one of the largest sources of funding to Afghan government operations outside the security sector. The U.S. has paid about $3 billion of the total $10 billion in direct assistance to Kabul since 2002, making it the largest contributor. On Wednesday, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, released its audit of the project, saying that once the U.S. or any donor provides its contributions to the fund, neither the World Bank nor USAID can account for where and how the funds are being spent. SIGAR noted in its audit report that the World Bank is unable to accurately measure ARTF sector-level performance. Without an accurate, reliable evaluation, the World Bank will be unable to determine the impact the roughly $10 billion in donor funding has had in improving Afghan development, said the U.S. government watchdog. SIGAR is tasked with auditing U.S.-funded reconstruction programs and providing recommendations for preventing waste and corruption. In its quarterly reports submitted to the U.S. Congress, the agency has been critical of the mismanagement of reconstruction funds, and it disclosed massive corruption in certain areas, including Afghanistans security sector. While the World Bank swiftly questioned the report, it welcomed the watchdogs recommendations an opportunity to strengthen the focus on the funds results and accountability. Most of the findings, however, are somewhat anecdotal, and do not fully take into account measures taken to improve the reporting on how funds are used, the Bank noted in a statement sent to the media on Wednesday. The program focuses on improving and expanding access to health care and education, developing rural infrastructure, and improving farmers crops and incomes. "We are proud of the tangible results Afghanistan has achieved with the support of ARTF for Afghans in the past 15 years and continues to deliver, the World Bank asserted. The United States has spent about $1 trillion overall to secure and stabilize Afghanistan. Most of the funds have been devoted to creating and training Afghan National Defense and Security Forces so they could tackle the Taliban-led insurgency. Security has deteriorated in recent years, though, with the insurgents controlling or contesting more than 44 percent of the country. SIGAR has routinely identified and blamed corrupt practices by Afghan security institutions and forces for battlefield setbacks. Congolese opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi rejected suggestions that he might make a deal with President Joseph Kabila, at a rally which passed off peacefully Tuesday. Tshisekedi is one of two main figures expected to seek to run in a delayed election scheduled for December. Exiled businessman Moise Katumbi is the other. Tshisekedi dismissed speculation he might accept the post of prime minister, something Kabila has offered in the past to appease opponents. "There is nothing like any dialogue for a prime ministerial post," Tshisekedi told the cheering crowd. "The [party] elected me to be presidential candidate, so how can I be lowered to prime minister? Rather, let me be led to the final victory in the presidential election." Kabila's opposition is weak and divided. Many opposition politicians joined a power-sharing government after the death of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, Felix's father, last year. Dozens have died in protests, most shot dead by security forces, since Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate in December 2016. But Tuesday's rally was unusual in that it was permitted, watched closely by armed police. Popular anger could easily boil over if elections are delayed again or are not perceived to be fair. In addition, several parts of the country are dealing with armed rebellions. Donors have expressed concern about plans to use new electronic voting machines, saying the system is untested and could allow fraud. Congo's government reacted by saying it would reject foreign aid for the poll. "Their machine is a machine to cheat. The electoral register is corrupt and merits a serious audit," Tshisekedi said. The electoral commission has denied accusations of bias. The Botswana government says it will cancel citizenship for all persons above the age of 21, born to a local and a foreigner, who have not renounced citizenship for another country. A child born to a Motswana and a foreigner has dual citizenship or is considered to assume the nationality of both parents until the age of 21. At 21, the person is expected to choose between the two countries and renounce citizenship of the other. When an individual with dual citizenship fails to renounce citizenship at age 21, it will result in the loss of the Botswana citizenship because the law will presume that the citizenship has been renounced as per the Citizenship Act, reads a press statement from the Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs. With a number of marriages between Zimbabwe and Batswana, there are children who might be affected by this regulation. A Zimbabwean man, who married a local woman and the couple have a son, said, We appreciate the governments efforts to ensure people regularize, since some people believe that once they have a Botswana identity card, they automatically become citizens, without renouncing their other nationality once they reach the age of 21. An affected young man noted that we are worried that the regulation will have an effect on those who are above 21, but did not renounce the citizenship of their other country, meaning they will lose their rights as Botswana citizens. My father is a Zimbabwean and my mother is a Botswana citizen. Department of Immigration officials have urged those affected to visit their offices and ensure compliance. The ministry advises those affected to renounce citizenship at the age of 21, the government statement reads. Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue. 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Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy A surge in anti-Semitic vandalism across the country, including several incidents in Winnipeg, is an indication of a troubling trend, B'nai Brith Canada said Tuesday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/4/2018 (1258 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A surge in anti-Semitic vandalism across the country, including several incidents in Winnipeg, is an indication of a troubling trend, B'nai Brith Canada said Tuesday. In its Annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, the service organization reported that 2017 was the second consecutive year that reported incidents hit record levels; there were 1,752 last year, a 1.4 per cent increase over 2016. But vandalism to homes, schools, parks and highways rose 107 per cent. The findings were released at news conferences held simultaneously in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. The League for Human Rights B'nai Brith Canada compiles the audit each year this was the 36th based on reports made to its 24-hour-a-day anti-hate hotline. The number is particularly disturbing when compared to the 1,986 incidents reported last year in the United States which has a population more than nine times the size of Canada's, national B'nai Brith director Aidan Fishman said. "The aftershocks of Charlottesville were felt here in Canada as the Jewish community endured a massive wave of vandalism featuring swastikas and other pro-Nazi imagery," he said, referring to a Unite the Right neo-Nazi rally last August in Virginia. Race riots erupted the day after after white supremacists marched through the town with torches. A counter-protester was killed and more than a dozen from both camps were injured. Winnipeg experienced a wave of anti-Semitic vandalism in the days after Charlottesville. Slogans painted on pavement and park benches on Wellington Crescent, West Broadway and the Omand's Creek trail promoted white-supremacist anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, some of them cryptically linked by name to George Soros, an American philanthropist billionaire who's a target of neo-Nazi hate groups. "Almost all the (prairie) incidents occurred in Winnipeg, which is home to the region's largest Jewish community. Among them, those that transpired in the Prairies were the most concerning," B'nai Brith regional director Ran Ukashi said, noting the year began on an ominous note in a "particularly egregious" incident in which a rock painted with the message "Die Jew Bitch" was left on a woman's front porch in Wolseley on New Year's Eve. The organization is calling for stricter enforcement of existing anti-hate laws and for new measures, including anti-hate crime units in every major Canadian city, as part of a wider plan to tackle the problem. The vast majority of the reported incidents 73 per cent occurred in Ontario and Quebec, home to Canada's largest Jewish populations. They were followed by smaller reported increases from Alberta and British Columbia. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The number of incidents in the Prairies dropped from 74 in 2016 to 54 last year. Tuesday's event in Winnipeg included a roundtable of Christian humanitarian leaders and political figures including provincial Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler and NDP Leader Wab Kinew who echoed the league's concerns in a Q&A session. Schuler delivered a tough-talk message on behalf of the Pallister government afterward, but acknowledged the challenges police face in tracking down the sources of hate speech online. "To be very clear, if you are engaging in anti-Semitic activity and we catch you, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law," he said. "What the Internet has provided a lot of these hate groups (with) is such anonymity that its very difficult to find them. They can organize without us having an ability to catch them. Thats one of the problems." alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca In light of Mondays van attack in Toronto, police are tweaking their security plans for upcoming Winnipeg Jets whiteout street parties. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/4/2018 (1258 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In light of Mondays van attack in Toronto, police are tweaking their security plans for upcoming Winnipeg Jets whiteout street parties. Insp. Dave Dalal, a Winnipeg police special event commander, told reporters theres always a re-evaluation of whats needed for each street party, adding that police take into consideration events like what happened in Toronto on Monday. "Were all Jets fans," Dalal said. "So we need to make sure that anybody who wants to be involved has a safe place to enjoy the Jets. "So our operational plan continues to reflect the changing footprint that the Jets host, the changing dynamics of the crowd, what weve seen. So we continually adjust our plan to make sure that we have resources on scene, to make sure everybody who comes down has a good time." On Monday afternoon in Toronto, a 25-year-old man drove a white rental van down a Yonge Street sidewalk, killing 10 and injuring at least 15 people. Alek Minassian is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. Dalal said while police have measures to deal with all types of threats, he was fairly tight-lipped about specific tactics being taken. Aside from police presence, some measures taken include placing concrete barriers around the venue perimeter and placing large vehicles, such as garbage trucks, at each of the four street party entrance points. Dalal said the large vehicles act as a movable barrier, should an emergency arise and emergency response vehicles need to be let through. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. A police spokesperson later said that a final cost estimate for street party security has not yet been calculated. Matt Schaubroeck, a spokesperson for Economic Development Winnipeg, backed up that statement, saying the cost of police, cadets and emergency services is still being discussed. "We need to figure what the final tab on those costs is going to be, then we need to figure out how that tab is getting paid," Schaubroeck said. Schaubroeck said until the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins determine their first-round victor in Wednesdays Game 7, it is unclear when the next Whiteout street party will be. nicholas.frew@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @n_frew6 At the end of a court hearing permeated by both grief and horror, one of Serena McKays killers turned to the victims family, and offered an emotional apology for her part in the Sagkeeng teens murder. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/4/2018 (1258 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. At the end of a court hearing permeated by both grief and horror, one of Serena McKays killers turned to the victims family, and offered an emotional apology for her part in the Sagkeeng teens murder. "There are no words to describe how sorry I am," she told McKays family. "I broke your heart." In the hush of a first-floor courtroom, the 18-year-olds voice quivered. She was still a minor in April 2017, when McKay was killed, and so cannot be named; in December, she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Tuesday, she told the court, her crime still haunts her. She "cant imagine how much pain" McKays family is enduring, she said, and she acknowledged that seeing her face must be hurtful to them. "I still have nightmares of what happened," she said. "Theres not a day that goes by that I dont think of what Ive done. Ive hurt a lot of people. Ive hurt my community, my loved ones... "I dont want to touch a drop of alcohol again. I want to do things in Serenas honour. I pray for you guys to have strength and guidance through this healing." Tuesdays sentencing hearing arrived exactly one year and one day after McKays battered body was found in a yard on Sagkeeng First Nation, about 120 kilometres north of Winnipeg. The 19-year-old had been badly beaten and left to die outside in the April chill. A pathologist later determined that McKay died from hypothermia in the hours after the assault. Temperatures that night dipped below freezing, and her injuries likely prevented her from seeking help or shelter, court heard. Another Sagkeeng teen involved in the beating pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year. In the wake of the girls slaying, the communitys grief turned to horror as they learned that two short videos of the fatal assault were circulating across social media. Both videos were taken on the 17-year-old attackers phone. McKays mother, Delores Daniels, saw one of the videos when it popped up on her Facebook feed. On Tuesday, Daniels told the court about the trauma of that grisly discovery, and the "nightmare" of a parents grief. Holding an eagle feather, she remembered her only daughter as being beautiful and kind. "I dream about her," Daniels said, breaking into tears. "I wake up crying and sad that she is not here and wonder what she would have become in life." Including Daniels, 24 of McKays loved ones submitted victim impact statements. The Crown also submitted statements from people who felt traumatized after seeing the video online, including two outside of Canada. Judge Rocky Pollack will decide which of those statements to accept in the court record. I still have nightmares of what happened. Theres not a day that goes by that I dont think of what Ive done. Ive hurt a lot of people. Ive hurt my community, my loved ones..." One of Serena McKays killers' apology for her part in the teens murder Now, the judge must decide the teens sentence. The Crown is asking for the maximum youth sentence, which would include four years in custody and 1 1/2 years in a supervised home, in addition to time served. Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky is seeking one year in custody, plus probation. To inform Pollacks sentencing decision, which will be delivered Thursday morning, both videos were shown in court. As they played, the teen doubled over in the prisoners box, laid her face in her hands and sobbed. Court also heard what led to the assault, according to the facts agreed upon by both defence and Crown. On the night of April 22, 2017, a small group had gathered at a home in Sagkeeng, where an argument erupted between McKay and the other girl, then 16 years old, who pleaded guilty in her killing. McKay was "aggressive," court heard, and at first, the 17-year-old tried to get her to "calm down." To defuse the situation, she initially tried to isolate McKay in a bathroom. Later, she wanted to call police, but the 16-year-old who instigated the assault urged her not to, as the younger girl had outstanding warrants. When tensions continued to escalate, they locked McKay outside. The 16-year-old then began to assault McKay outside; at some point she requested the 17-year-old, who had remained in the house, to join her in the attack. Initially, court heard, the 17-year-old took the videos to show McKay "not to get into trouble again, because this is what happens." After the attack, she sent the videos to a shocked friend, along with a series of text messages. "(The 16-year-old) was hold her down for me. I stomped her the f--- out," one read. In another message, she remarked "my bloody hand lmao," an acronym which means "laughing my ass off." She also texted a friend that "if you go outside you can probably hear Serena screaming." Despite the offenders recent expressions of remorse, the Crown pointed out, those messages are anything but remorseful. Brodsky noted that at that time, the youths did not think that McKay would die. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Brodsky also told the court about the pain that shaped the young womans own life. After her father died of an overdose in 2014, she fell into alcohol and drug use, and was hospitalized after multiple suicide attempts. Her life took a positive turn when she became pregnant at age 16: that was "the best year of my life," Brodsky quoted her as saying. She now has a 15-month-old son, who is currently in her mothers care. That all went away, the night she helped kill McKay. "I ruined my life over nothing," Brodsky quoted her as saying. "(McKay) didnt have to die." Court also heard that, since she was arrested last year, the teen has been a "model prisoner" at the Manitoba Youth Centre. She is respectful and helpful with staff, and a positive role model to other incarcerated youths. She has participated in extensive therapeutic and rehabilitative programming, and is attending school. Psychological assessments have declared she is not a risk to reoffend, Brodsky told court. melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew is accusing the provinces health-care system of deliberately keeping emergency nurses vacancy rates high at Concordia and Seven Oaks hospitals to justify the imminent closures of their emergency departments. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/4/2018 (1258 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Wab Kinew, Leader of the Manitoba New Democratic Party and Leader of the Opposition is accusing the provinces health-care system of deliberately keeping emergency nurses vacancy rates high at some city hospitals. Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew is accusing the provinces health-care system of deliberately keeping emergency nurses vacancy rates high at Concordia and Seven Oaks hospitals to justify the imminent closures of their emergency departments. But Manitoba Nurses Union president Sandi Mowat said she doesnt believe theres a deliberate government policy to keep jobs vacant, and she wouldnt expect nurses to apply for ER jobs that are going to disappear soon. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen supplied the nursing job statistics in estimates, Monday. Kinew said Tuesday that he hadnt consulted the union before jumping all over the nursing job statistics, which Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen supplied in estimates Monday. Kinew told the legislature that vacancy rates are typically in the single digits, but theyre 19 per cent at Seven Oaks and 14 per cent at Concordia. "It seems the premier really is in a rush to close those emergency rooms, keeping those nursing jobs empty," Kinew said. "It seems to me theyre keeping these positions vacant. It seems like another sign of where the government is going." MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Sandi Mowat, Manitoba Nurses Union president, said she doesnt believe theres a deliberate government policy to keep nursing positions vacant at some Winnipeg hospitals. Goertzen supplied the data Monday in response to an NDP request. The official Hansard transcript shows that NDP health critic Andrew Swan did not follow up with questions after Goertzen tabled the numbers. Goertzen told his estimates hearings that the figures from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority fall within normal ranges: Concordia, 13.81 per cent; Grace, 5.7 per cent; Health Sciences Centre, 6.7 per cent; St. Boniface, 7.2 per cent; Seven Oaks, 19 per cent; and Victoria, five per cent. "It does confirm what weve been hearing," Mowat said, adding the WRHA has 99 nurses jobs currently posted at city facilities. "The challenges were really facing are Concordia and Seven Oaks. I can see it would be difficult to fill those jobs." Mowat said that with the two ERs scheduled to close Goertzen said last week hed have a timeline in May it is not surprising that nurses arent applying to work there, which is resulting in a lot of overtime for the remaining staff. The high vacancy rate "pertains to the pending changes," Mowat said. "The nurses are concerned about job security. " Some have gone to other jobs in the city, some to other hospitals outside Winnipeg, she said. An official with the WRHA said that there has been no direction made to keep jobs vacant at the two hospitals. "While the region recognizes maintaining staff at Concordia and Seven Oaks has been more challenging due to program and service changes in the coming months, the job vacancy rate at both facilities continue to fall within a normal range and both continue to actively recruit to fill positions. "No direction has been provided to or by the WRHA to any facility regarding a hiring freeze for front-line staff," she said. "If you access our online job posting website today, there are currently five positions posted for external candidates at Concordia and two postings for external candidates at Seven Oaks. There are also other vacant positions that are currently in various stages of the hiring process. Additionally, some of the vacant positions across our sites are term or temporary vacancies that are available as existing staff are on pre-approved leaves, such as maternity leave generally it takes longer to fill temporary vacancies." Mowat said that with Victoria now an urgent-care centre, it has relatively few emergency positions and a low vacancy rate, and many of the ER nurses have gone elsewhere. The crunch will come when the expanded Grace ER opens and needs more emergency nurses, she said. In question period, Kinew said that closing the two ERs would put far too much pressure on St. Boniface Hospital. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Its going to throw St. Bonifaces emergency department into chaos," he said. Goertzen did not address the nursing vacancies in question period, instead arguing that the Tories health-care system changes are reducing what had been Canadas worst wait times under the former NDP government. "People were waiting hundreds of thousands of hours collectively," he said. "We dont blame the flu, we dont blame the staff, we blame the NDP." nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Mayor Brian Bowman says he doesnt have the authority to release United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrests attendance records on city committees so that taxpayers can see what if anything theyve been paying for. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/4/2018 (1257 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Mayor Brian Bowman says he doesnt have the authority to release United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrests attendance records on city committees so that taxpayers can see what if anything theyve been paying for. When asked Wednesday if he would commit his administration to releasing Forrests attendance records proactively, Bowman pointed his finger towards the citys corporate communications office, saying the decision doesnt fall under his purview as mayor. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Alex Forrest, head of the local United Firefighter's Winnipeg Union. "It really is a question for corporate communications and probably our (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act) office. I would ask that you speak to them.... Its not something I have the authority to determine," Bowman said. When pressed on the matter, the mayor reiterated hes on public record in saying he wants Forrests controversial salary deal scrapped, but that he can't intervene politically on the release of the attendance records. "Obviously, the more information that can be made publicly available would be something that I would welcome, but I respect the fact that its not something that doesnt fall on members of council, or me, to direct those decisions," he said. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Committee minute forms from between 2006 and 2017 that list members of the Fire Committee for the Manitoba Labour and Immigration Workplace Safety and Health Division and wither they were present or absent for each of the meetings. "On the specific request youre asking for, its one really where Id direct you to corporate communications, as well as our FIPPA office. Hopefully they can help you out and hopefully they can make it available for you." On Monday, the Free Press reported Forrest hasn't attended a single joint safety committee meeting since at least December 2006, and possibly before that. The joint safety committee is one of eight city committees Forrest has pointed to as justification for why the city paid the entirety of his salary, including benefits and pension payments, from 1997 to 2014. In 2014, that arrangement was renegotiated, with the city agreeing to pay 60 per cent of Forrests salary for however long he remains union president. Other civic unions in the city reimburse taxpayers for their union presidents salary. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman won't release United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrests attendance records on city committees. The citys corporate communications office was informed of the mayors comments and a request was made for the release of Forrests attendance records from 1997 to the present. In response, a city spokesman said he was unsure whether that information could be made available or whether a freedom of information request would need to be filed. Coun. Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan) said he sees no reason why the documents cant be released, adding theres obvious public interest in them being made available to taxpayers. "I think the public has a right to that information. The city should be able to compile that information and provide it in a reasonable amount of time. It shouldnt take months and months to release information like this that should be public," Browaty said. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Alex Forrest, Winnipeg firefighters union president, is listed on each of the forms. "I think in some ways the mayor is hoping this story will just go away if he doesnt comment. Thats my opinion. Im hearing from taxpayers that they dont think (Forrest's salary deal) is appropriate and this is the mayor who made no progress on this file in the last collective agreement." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Browaty added that if there are legitimate privacy concerns related to releasing the documents, then the city could withhold the minutes of the meetings while making the attendance records public. In addition, he claims the UFFW rank and file should be as interested in what Forrest has been up to as the average Winnipeg taxpayer. "If I was a union member I would be asking the question: what did my union trade off to basically set up the situation where Alex Forrest got this advantage?" he said. Todd MacKay, prairie director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, says Bowman shouldnt be directing people to file freedom of information requests when asking for information that should be publicly available in the first place. "Its unfortunate that the mayor isnt more energetic in saying: Yeah, well get those for you. That should be the response. They shouldnt be foot-dragging. It shouldnt be a bunch of red tape or bureaucratic nonsense," MacKay said. "If someone wants to know whos at a committee meeting for the City of Winnipeg, the response should be: Heres the document. It shouldnt be: We dont know. Talk to this guy. Fill out this form. Jump through this hoop." ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca @rk_thorpe BRIAN Pallister says he feels vindicated by a report from the provinces conflict of interest commissioner which says that recreational properties should not have to be disclosed in conflict of interest filings. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/4/2018 (1258 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. BRIAN Pallister says he feels vindicated by a report from the provinces conflict of interest commissioner which says that recreational properties should not have to be disclosed in conflict of interest filings. But the NDP Opposition counters that commissioner Jeffrey Schnoors recommendations for new and improved conflict of interest legislation have nothing to do with the premiers current obligations to declare his Costa Rican properties on his annual disclosure forms. A discussion on the conflict of interest commissioners 53-page report took up almost the full hour devoted to executive council estimates on Tuesday, with Pallister answering questions posed exclusively by NDP Leader Wab Kinew. The session was abbreviated it normally runs for two hours because of the premiers attendance at a funeral. Pallister pointed to a section of Schnoors report that said MLAs should not be required to disclose assets and liabilities where there is little likelihood of them giving rise to a conflict of interest. This includes a principal residence and "real property that the member of the members family uses for recreational purposes." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Pallister owns a vacation home in Costa Rica through a holding company. He has repeatedly insisted that he need not disclose the property, although he has "voluntarily" done so in recent years. Pallister has said he has been given verbal advice from Schnoor and Schnoors predecessor that he neednt disclose his Costa Rican home. However, when NDP MLA Andrew Swan asked for written advice last year from Schnoor based on a hypothetical situation that parallelled the premiers, the commissioner said that such a property should be disclosed. On Tuesday, however, Pallister declared victory. "Theres no conflict in owning a vacation property," he said after the estimates meeting. "What legislation could possibly come forward here that would impact on this property that we (he and his wife Esther) saved for almost three decades to invest in?" Kinew said the premier should postpone his celebration. He said the commissioners report has nothing to do with Pallisters obligations to declare his corporate holdings. In fact, he said, the commissioner recommends that MLAs file a disclosure statement that includes the names of all corporations or other organizations in which the MLA or anyone in his or her family is an officer or a director. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca THE leaders of the four largest unions at city hall have taken an unusual step and appealed directly to Mayor Brian Bowman to restore labour peace. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/4/2018 (1258 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. THE leaders of the four largest unions at city hall have taken an unusual step and appealed directly to Mayor Brian Bowman to restore labour peace. The presidents of CUPE 500, the police, firefighters and transit unions signed the letter, alleging the number of labour issues sent to arbitration has skyrocketed since the city hired Robert Kirby as its labour relations manager in December 2016, increasing costs to both the unions and city hall. The union leaders say repeatedly going to arbitration has been unproductive and unnecessarily damaging to relations and the unions have been winning the majority of the cases. "We are taking the unusual step of jointly writing you to request your assistance in tackling a major issue facing our relationship moving forward," states the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Free Press. "This year, despite having no more grievances than previous years, we have had significantly more issues referred to arbitration. This isnt a case of our members or leaders demanding more, or being less reasonable. Issues that used to be solved at the labour relations table are now being solved by arbitrators." The union presidents also allege that the hard tactics from the citys labour relations division have had a negative impact on employees within that department, saying theres been an almost complete turnover of staff in the past year. "The City of Winnipegs corporate labour relations department is in chaos," the letter states. "Since the change in leadership at corporate labour relations, you have had a near 100-per-cent turnover rate in that department. There are career civil servants who are choosing to leave the City to escape a department in crisis." The letter signed by Gord Delbridge, CUPE 500 president; Aleem Chaudhary, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505; United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrest; and Maurice Sabourin, president of the Winnipeg Police Association asks for a meeting with the mayor to resolve the situation. "We want to work with you," the union leaders state. "We have the same goals a city that works for the families that live here. But working in a state of conflict isnt a sustainable working relationship moving forward. We are requesting a meeting with you to discuss how we can rectify this relationship, and move forward in a productive and meaningful partnership to serve Winnipeg." Bowman said he expects to meet individually with the four union leaders at some point, but added he was pleased with the outcome of bargaining last year with three of those unions CUPE 500, police and firefighters. "Ill have discussions with some of the signatories as well as with our labour relations department to better understand (the issues), he said. "Well look at ways to keep the dialogue going with them and see how we can continue to improve relations with them.... Well see what we can do to try to address some of the concerns theyve raised." The letter, dated April 19, echoes concerns raised last year during bargaining by CUPE 500 and the police union. Both unions blamed Kirby for what they said were the citys unreasonable demands. Talks with CUPE, the citys largest union, deteriorated to the point where a strike seemed likely. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. However, both CUPE 500 and the police association, along with the firefighters, eventually settled for long-term contracts that included wage freezes. Bowman later credited the unions with saving city hall $16 million in unspent salary costs in 2017. In an opinion piece printed in a Canstar community newspaper in November, councils finance chairman Coun. Scott Gillingham praised the work of Kirby and his bargaining team for securing wage increases with the three unions that were, on average, lower than what had been negotiated in the past. Other unions are also at odds with city hall. The union that represents the 300 paramedics has been involved in a series of bitter disputes with Fire Paramedic Chief John Lane that included an arbitrator imposing a financial penalty of about $115,000 against the city because of Lanes interactions with the paramedics. Their union, MGEU Local 911, is also involved in disputes over work clothing and are currently in negotiations. Kirbys hiring came out of the blue. He had spent the previous four years in senior positions with the RM of Wood Buffalo in Fort McMurray, Alta., including director of the departments of transit and public works, and manager of labour and employee relations. Before that, he was in Halifax, where, according to his profile on LinkedIn, he operated limousine and janitorial services, acted as a labour relations consultant and had a brief stint with the Regional Municipality of Halifax as the supervisor of employee services. aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca NDP Leader Wab Kinew tabled a private members bill Tuesday that would change Manitobas Vital Statistics Act allowing people to amend their birth certificates through the added option of a gender-neutral X, in addition to the current M for male and F for female. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/4/2018 (1257 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. NDP Leader Wab Kinew tabled a private members bill Tuesday that would change Manitobas Vital Statistics Act allowing people to amend their birth certificates through the added option of a gender-neutral X, in addition to the current M for male and F for female. That would then allow self-described non-binary Manitobans to check off an X when applying for a drivers licence and other government documents. Kinew was inspired by local queer advocate Sam MacKinnon, who works as a freelance writer and creative. Non-binary people dont identify themselves as either male or female. The term is defined as "not relating to, composed of or involving just two things." "This should have happened already I cant believe its still an issue," Kinew told reporters Tuesday at the Rainbow Resource Centre. "Its time government sends a signal that non-binary people are accepted." "This is not a partisan issue, this is human rights," said MacKinnon, who uses the pronouns they, them and their when self-describing or when referring to other non-binary people. Kinew predicted that Premier Brian Pallisters government would endorse his bill and expedite matters so that it becomes law a month after the legislative session ends June 4, though he said that at a news conference without first having run the proposed legislation past the Tories. Kinew said it wouldnt take much effort to alter basic government forms to include an X. "Thats pretty reasonable" to expect the change in a month, he said. He said Canadian society is getting onside with the reality of and respect for non-binary people; Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Northwest Territories all have the X option. Canadians can apply for an "observation" notation in their passports indicating their desire for their gender to be unspecified. In the legislature, Pallister said his government is proud of its record of improving inclusion, citing gender-neutral washrooms and full accessibility to the legislative chamber. "I welcome any advances on inclusion in our province," he said, adding Kinews party had 17 years in power to pass the legislation. And if the NDP leaders intention was to promote unity, he asked, why didnt Kinew let the government read the bill "before he takes it out for a public-relations exercise?" "The NDP has never failed to create a wedge issue and division where unity would be better," the premier said. "I havent had a chance to read the bill. The media have been well-briefed the chamber has not." Pallister asked Kinew whether he wants results or just media attention. MacKinnon said that Manitobas human rights legislation protects people on the basis of gender identity, but the Vital Statistics Act offers only "male" or "female" as options. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. However, MacKinnon said, non-binary people dont legally exist across Canada yet. In the last census, Statistics Canada offered only a space to indicate why someone had not checked off either male or female, but did not count non-binary Canadians in its national tally. "Our government recognizes that gender identity and expression is an important and evolving issue," Manitoba Justice Minister Heather Stefanson said in a release issued before seeing the wording of Kinews bill. "We are actively monitoring emerging Canadian developments and regularly consulting with our counterparts in other jurisdictions. "The Manitoba government is represented on the Vital Statistics Council for Canada, which is an inter-jurisdictional advisory group that meets to discuss best practices and emerging topics related to vital statistics. Provincial implementation of gender-neutral birth certificates is an ongoing discussion in this advisory group." nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca If the model is broken, should you try to fix it, or should you scrap it and get a new one? Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/4/2018 (1258 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion If the model is broken, should you try to fix it, or should you scrap it and get a new one? In questions of technology, increasingly the answer is: scrap it. Computer repair shops are dying out; if your laptop doesnt work, just buy a new one. What applies to consumer technology, however, does not necessarily apply to politics. The political model of Western-style democracy, which grew up alongside and then within a capitalist economic model, is now broken. Exhibit No. 1 is U.S. President Donald Trump, but theres lots of other evidence too. One-third of French voters backed Marine Le Pen, a cleaned-up, user-friendly neo-fascist, in last years presidential election. In last Septembers German election, one-eighth of the electorate voted for Alternative for Germany, a party whose more extreme wing is neo-Nazi but it now leads the opposition in the Bundestag, the German parliament. Last month in Italy, the two biggest parties to emerge from the election both were led by populist rabble-rousers, one from the left and one from the right. Not to mention Brexit in Britain. And in every case, the themes that dominated the populists rhetoric were racism, nationalism, hostility to immigrants and wait for it jobs. Trump rarely talked about anything else during the presidential election campaign: immigrants are stealing the jobs, free-trading American businessmen are exporting the jobs, the foreigners are eating Americas lunch. Down with free trade! America First! Etc.! (Hint: Donald Trump is not a Republican. He is a populist.) Trump may not know a lot, but he knows One Big Thing. We are living in a new era of mass unemployment and nobody has noticed. As Trump said the night after he won the New Hampshire primary in February 2016: "Dont believe those phoney numbers when you hear 4.9 and 5 per cent unemployment. The numbers probably 28, 29, as high as 35. In fact, I even heard recently 42." Its not really 42 per cent, but its not 4.1 percent (the current official U.S. rate), either. According to Nicholas Eberstadts Men Without Work, the real unemployment rate among American men of prime working age (24-55) including those who dont get counted because they have given up looking for work is 17 per cent. Why didnt we notice? Because the unemployed werent protesting in the streets as they did in the Great Depression of the 1930s, although the rate is getting up to Depression-era levels. After the Second World War, all the Western democracies built welfare states, mainly so a new generation of radical populist leaders would not come to power the next time there is mass unemployment. It has worked, in the sense that there is not blood in the streets this time around, but the jobless millions are very angry, even if the welfare state means that they are not starving. They do vote, and unless something is done to ease their anger, next time they may vote for somebody who makes Trump look good by comparison. But if the problem is unemployment, then the answer is not obvious, because the main cause of unemployment in Western countries is not immigration or "offshoring" jobs, as Trump pretends. It is computers. One-third of American manufacturing jobs have vanished in the past 20 years and the vast majority of them (85 per cent) were destroyed by automation. The algorithms and the robot arms have already killed the Rust Belt and there is a plausible prediction that almost half of existing American jobs may be automated out of existence in the next 20 years. What would our politics look like then? Not very democratic, unless we do something to ease the anger of the unemployed. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. This doesnt just mean giving them more money a massive expansion of the welfare state but also finding a way of taking the shame out of unemployment, because it is the humiliation of being seen as a loser that breeds the anger. The leading proposal on the table right now is called universal basic income (UBI). Every citizen would get enough to live a decent life whether they are working or not, although most people would probably keep working as well in order to have more money. And making it "universal" takes the shame and anger out of it: UBI would be a birthright, not charity handed down to those who have lost their jobs. UBI may not work in practice, but at least it is addressing the right problem. And there is enough money to take this approach: the jobs are being destroyed, but Western economies are still growing richer. Whatever the solution is, it has to tick two boxes: putting money in the pockets of those without work (which is very much in the interest of the owners and managers, whose business model is also broken unless their customers have money to buy their goods and services) and doing it in a way that does not breed humiliation, resentment and radicalism. Some may argue that this is saving capitalism, not smashing it. They would be right. But evolution is better than revolution and fixing the model that is currently broken, essentially by a major expansion of the welfare state, is a better bet than abandoning it. Gwynne Dyers new book, Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work), is published this month by Scribe in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Theres an outdated notion that support for business growth and success comes at the expense of social programs and community well-being and vice versa. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/4/2018 (1258 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Theres an outdated notion that support for business growth and success comes at the expense of social programs and community well-being and vice versa. Nothing could be further from the truth. Business and community prosperity are interwoven. We are in this together. Thats one reason the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce weighed in during the provinces just-concluded consultation phase on a new poverty-reduction strategy. The Winnipeg chamber believes the best way out of poverty remains a good job. Median household incomes are close to 10 per cent lower in Manitoba than in Saskatchewan and we lag below the Canadian average. Raising Manitobas median household income levels to the national average would constitute an income increase of more than $1 billion. To create the jobs that foster this rise in income, weve pushed the province to develop a provincial economic development strategy one that works in lockstep with a poverty-reduction strategy. Weve also advocated for actions that improve educational outcomes, given the well-documented link between higher education and good incomes. Among other suggestions, we recommend re-profiling the Manitoba Scholarship and Bursary Initiative and increasing investment by $14 million a year to offer significant tuition reductions to students from Manitoba families earning less than $70,000 a year. We should also ensure younger students can actually get to the place of considering post-secondary education. Its critical we address a childs physical needs so they can bring their whole selves to class. The chamber strongly recommends Manitoba strengthen breakfast and lunch programs with a focus on our most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, setting the conditions for young minds to excel. In a recent Toronto study of over 6,000 students in a high-poverty neighbourhood, a breakfast program was credited with increasing high-school graduation rates by 20 per cent. Not only were there more graduates, but they had higher test scores, as well. Statistics show Indigenous Manitobans face disproportionately higher poverty rates. A specific focus in Manitobas strategy is required. Our full submission included a number of suggestions around culturally appropriate, specifically tailored training programs to elevate education and employment outcomes aligned with Indigenous communities needs and aspirations. Likewise, new immigrants who are projected to be a growing part of our community and workforce need tailored programs to address the disproportionate poverty they face. We also believe its time to revisit "mincome" and an overhaul of our social support framework. Other Canadian jurisdictions have drastically raised the minimum wage in a misguided effort to address poverty the right objective, but the wrong tool for the job. The Winnipeg chamber believes a guaranteed annual income is a more targeted tool that may prove to be more effective in helping people meet their basic living needs. Such a study was done in Dauphin in the 1970s. It is time for another, evaluating measures such as social outcomes and employment impacts. Perhaps the study may find a guaranteed minimum income actually works in reducing poverty while reducing administrative costs of the current myriad of social supports. That is the key to the new strategy: focusing on what works. The province has limited resources at its disposal, and it should only put them into programs that have shown to have the greatest impact. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The province doesnt have to go it alone and it shouldnt. Delivering an effective poverty-reduction strategy will require partnering with the private and non-profit sectors. Both are ready and willing to lend their expertise and knowledge. The private sector is well positioned to build affordable housing options if the right regulatory and tax regimes are in place. The new federal housing strategy provides an ideal opportunity for collaboration and we recommend moving to a housing-first model. While there is a higher upfront cost in providing housing for homeless individuals, having them housed can drop the cost of delivering services by 70 per cent. The long-term savings are immense; Alberta recently estimated a fully implemented housing first model could save that province billions over the long term. Another example of a skilled partner is Manitobas growing social-enterprise sector. Several organizations, for example, have demonstrated effectiveness in reintegrating those with a history in our justice system into the workforce. The province has made steps in reforming our justice system and we encourage them to work with our social-enterprise sector members to reduce recidivism, which leads to savings for taxpayers. There are no easy, quick fixes. We all need to pull in the same direction and the province needs to provide guidance on what that direction is. That direction needs to be grounded in a concrete, measurable goal. So why not be bold? If Manitoba is to be Canadas most-improved province, let it be in changing the lives of the far too many Manitobans for whom daily life is a constant hardship. If we can do that, then Manitoba will be more than the most improved province it will be the model for shared prosperity. Loren Remillard is the president and CEO of The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. This week, the Progressive Conservative government of Manitoba received a collection of thoughtful, practical and potentially effective recommendations on how to modernize and improve conflict of interest legislation. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/4/2018 (1258 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion This week, the Progressive Conservative government of Manitoba received a collection of thoughtful, practical and potentially effective recommendations on how to modernize and improve conflict of interest legislation. Now, all it has to do is follow through and pass a law that puts these recommendations into effect. Conflict of Interest Commissioner Jeff Schnoor. The report from conflict of interest commissioner Jeff Schnoor, tabled on Tuesday, is really more than any fan of democracy could have hoped for. It contains a total of 84 recommendations that confront the litany of shortcomings in current legislation governing conflicts of interest for MLAs and cabinet ministers, and proposes real-world solutions that would bring Manitoba into the 21st century of ethics laws. That government asked Schnoor to review existing legislation and make any recommendations he felt necessary following, but likely not directly because of, a series of controversies involving Premier Brian Pallister and his corporate and real estate holdings in Costa Rica. Although there remains a deep difference of opinion between Pallister and opposition critics about exactly what he was obligated to disclose, the war of words that erupted certainly underlined the lack of clarity in current legislation. In his report, Schnoor did not mince words when he assessed the current state of affairs in Manitoba. "Manitobas current conflict of interest legislation," Schnoor concluded, "is outdated and probably the weakest in Canada." How exactly did he come to that conclusion? After examining what other provinces were doing, it became clear that there were three key problems with the antiquated laws that govern conflict of interest guidelines for members of the legislative assembly. First, the definitions in current legislation of conflict of interest, and the scenarios under which an MLA or cabinet minister could be in conflict, and what things they should and should not disclose to the public, are extremely limited and outdated. In short, they simply dont anticipate the full range of situations and issues that confront elected officials today. Second, the current legislation provides no real place for people to lodge their complaints. As it stands, someone concerned about a conflict of interest must go to the Court of Queens Bench, pay to file their complaint, and then represent themselves in a court proceeding. Its so expensive and time-consuming that it effectively frustrates anyone from pursuing a conflict allegation. Last, the penalties for violation of current laws are too limited and, in many instances, too severe to be practical. Elected officials found guilty of a conflict of interest must vacate their seats. In many instances, the severity of that remedy has, in and of itself, discouraged both citizens and the courts from prosecuting conflicts of interest to the full extent of the law. These shortcomings are not only a problem at the provincial level; the conflict of interest legislation governing municipal elected officials is a mirror image of the provincial law. As such, it has created just as many failed opportunities to police the transgressions of elected officials. That was certainly the case in 2013 when former mayor Sam Katz used city money to pay for a staff Christmas party at a restaurant he co-owned. A Court of Queens Bench judge decided not to find Katz guilty of a conflict of interest despite finding him guilty of "bad political and ethical behaviour" largely because the penalty available under the law, removal from office, was excessive. Schnoors proposed regime addresses all these issues by modernizing the definitions of conflicts of interest. He also proposes a wider range of punishment that includes everything from a public apology to restitution, a fine, suspension or in those instances where the nuclear option is appropriate forcing someone to give up their seats. Schnoor also correctly positions his office as the appropriate body to investigate and report on allegations of conflict of interest. Dan Lett | Not for Attribution A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world that is sent every Tuesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Currently, Manitoba is the only province in Canada that does not allow its conflict of interest commissioner to receive and investigate individual allegations. Under the proposals, Schnoors office would vet all complaints and then would be given full legal authority to compel evidence and testimony in an investigation. The results of any investigation would then be reported to the legislature, rather than directly to government. The regime that Schnoor has imagined is, at the very least, the foundation for the system that Manitoba desperately needs. Despite that, the Tory governments response to his report was a bit underwhelming. It will be referred to an all-party committee for study and comments, a scenario that should be some cause for concern as politicians rarely do a good job of forging ethical rules and guidelines for politicians. If the Pallister government is smart about its next move, it will express broad, general support for the Schnoor proposals. And, if there is true justice in this world, the premier will consider extending the reforms Schnoor has proposed to amend and modernize the Municipal Officials Conflict of Interest Act. Given its similarities to provincial legislation, the need for reform is just as great. It will take some time to realize the conflict commissioners vision, and there will have to be some difficult discussions around resources; the new conflict of interest regime as proposed will require resources to vet and investigate complaints in a timely fashion. When it comes time to draft legislation, the government will have to put a wee bit of its money where its mouth is if it wants to convince anyone it really cares about this issue. The blueprint for a more effective conflict of interest regime is now within the current governments grasp. The citizenry should settle for nothing less than a full-throated endorsement followed up by a swift plan of action. dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca 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. 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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. Cenovus Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in Canada, the United States and the Asia Pacific region. The company operates through Oil Sands, Conventional, and Refining and Marketing segments. The Oil Sands segment develops and produces bitumen in northeast Alberta. Its bitumen assets include Foster Creek, Christina Lake, and Narrows Lake, as well as other projects in the early stages of development. The Conventional segment holds assets primarily located in Elmworth-Wapiti, Kaybob-Edson, and Clearwater operating areas of British Columbia and Alberta, as well as various interests in natural gas processing facilities. The Refining and Marketing segment transports and sells crude oil, natural gas, and NGLs. This segment owns a 50% ownership in Wood River and Borger refineries located in the United States; and owns and operates a crude-by-rail terminal in Alberta. Cenovus Energy Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Read More USG Corporation, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells building materials worldwide. The company's Gypsum division manufactures and markets gypsum and related products to construct walls and ceilings of residential, nonresidential, and institutional buildings; and agricultural and industrial customers. This segment offers gypsum wallboards and compound portfolios, as well as corner beads, joint tapes, and plasters under the USG Sheetrock brand; glass mat sheathing portfolios under the Securock brand; construction plaster products under the Red Top, Imperial, Diamond, and Supremo brands; and lightweight gypsum panels under the USG Sheetrock brand, as well as ultralight panels, USG Sheetrock brand ecosmart panels, and industrial gypsum. Its Performance Materials division manufactures and markets products for interior and exterior building applications of residential and nonresidential buildings, as well as industrial applications. This segment provides cement boards, backer boards, shower systems, performance floorings, air barrier systems, roof board portfolios, and structural panels under the USG Durock, Fiberock, Levelrock, Securock, ExoAir, Securock, and USG brands. The company's Ceilings division manufactures and markets ceiling tiles under the Radar, Eclipse, Mars, and Halcyon brands; ceiling grids under the Donn, DX, Fineline, Centricitee, and Identitee DXI brands; specialty ceilings under the Curvatura, Compasso, Radians, Illusions, Multiples, Runways, Barz, Planx, Mirra, Corniche, Wallforms, and Parti brands; and acoustical drywall ceilings under the Ensemble brand. Its USG Boral Building Products division manufactures, distributes, and sells building products, mines raw gypsum, and sells natural and synthetic gypsum under the USG Boral Sheetrock, USG Boral NextGen, Elephant, Jayaboard, Durock, and Donn DX brands. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Read More 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. The following companies are subsidiares of Ecolab: AO Ecolab, Abednego Environmental Services, Abednego Environmental Services LLC, Abednego Mexico Holdings LLC, Abednego de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Alcide Corp., Anios America S.A., Anios Diffusion SAS, Anios Manufacturing SAS, Bioquell, Bioquell Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Bioquell Global Logistics (Ireland) Ltd., Bioquell Holding SAS, Bioquell Inc., Bioquell Limited, Bioquell SAS, Bioquell Technology (Shenzhen) Ltd., Bioquell Technology Canada Ltd., Bioquell UK Limited, Bioxyquell Limited, CALGON EUROPE LIMITED, CALGON LLC, CID LINES HOLDING NV, CID LINES INVEST NV, CID LINES NV, CID Lines, CID Lines Beijing Animal Hygiene Co Ltd., CID Lines France Sarl, CID Lines Iberica SL, CID Lines LLC, CID Lines Mexico S.A. DE C.V., CID Lines R&D NV, CID Lines Sp. z o. o., CORPAK MedSystems, Cascade Water Services, Champion Technologies, Chamtech L.L.C., Chemlawn, Chemstaff Inc., Chemstar Corporation, Cirlam BVBA, Copal Holding NV, Copal Invest NV, DERYPOL SA, DMD, E&M Bio-Chemicals LLC, ECOLAB NL 10 B.V., ECOLAB PEST FRANCE SAS, Ecolab (Antigua) Ltd., Ecolab (Aruba) N.V., Ecolab (Barbados) Limited, Ecolab (China) Investment Co. Ltd, Ecolab (Fiji) Pty Limited, Ecolab (GZ) Chemicals Limited, Ecolab (Guam) LLC, Ecolab (Proprietary) Limited, Ecolab (Schweiz) GmbH, Ecolab (St. Lucia) Limited, Ecolab (Taicang) Technology Co. Ltd., Ecolab (Trinidad and Tobago) Unlimited, Ecolab (U.K.) Holdings Limited, Ecolab A.E.B.E., Ecolab AB, Ecolab AP Holdings LLC, Ecolab AT 2 GmbH, Ecolab AU2 Pty Ltd, Ecolab Acquisition LLC, Ecolab ApS, Ecolab Argentina S.R.L., Ecolab Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Ecolab B.V., Ecolab B.V.B.A./S.P.R.L., Ecolab Bahrain S.P.C., Ecolab CDN 2 Co., Ecolab CDN 4 ULC, Ecolab CH 1 GmbH, Ecolab CH 2 GmbH, Ecolab CH 3 GmbH, Ecolab CH 5 GmbH, Ecolab CH 6 GmbH, Ecolab Chemicals Limited, Ecolab Co., Ecolab Colombia S. A., Ecolab DE 1 GmbH, Ecolab Deutschland GmbH, Ecolab EOOD, Ecolab East Africa (Kenya) Limited, Ecolab East Africa (Tanzania) Limited, Ecolab East Africa (Uganda) Limited, Ecolab Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Ecolab Engineering GmbH, Ecolab Europe GmbH, Ecolab Export GmbH, Ecolab FR 1 SAS, Ecolab FR 4 SAS, Ecolab Finance Company Designated Activity Company, Ecolab Food Safety & Hygiene Solutions Private Limited, Ecolab G.K., Ecolab Global Business Services LLC, Ecolab GmbH, Ecolab Gulf FZE, Ecolab HK 1 Limited, Ecolab HK 2 Limited, Ecolab Hispano-Portuguesa S.L., Ecolab Holding Italy S.r.l., Ecolab Holdings (Europe) LLC, Ecolab Holdings Inc., Ecolab Holdings Mexico S. de R. L. de C. V., Ecolab Hygiene Kft., Ecolab Hygiene d.o.o., Ecolab Israel Holdings LLC, Ecolab JVZ Limited, Ecolab Korea Ltd., Ecolab LLC, Ecolab LUX & Co Holdings S.C.A., Ecolab LUX 1 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 2 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 4 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 7 Sarl, Ecolab LUX Sarl, Ecolab Limited, Ecolab Ltd., Ecolab Lux 10 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 12 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 13 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 14 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 15 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 9 S.a.r.l., Ecolab Lux Partner LLC, Ecolab MT Holdings LLC, Ecolab MT Limited, Ecolab Malta 1 Limited, Ecolab Malta 2 Limited, Ecolab Malta GPS, Ecolab Manufacturing IE Limited, Ecolab Manufacturing Inc., Ecolab Manufacturing UK Limited, Ecolab Maroc Societe a Responsabilite Limitee, Ecolab NL 11 B.V., Ecolab NL 15 BV, Ecolab NL 16 B.V., Ecolab NL 23 B.V., Ecolab NL 3 BV, Ecolab NL 4 BV, Ecolab Name Holding Limited, Ecolab New Zealand, Ecolab Peru Holdings S.R.L., Ecolab Pest Deutschland GmbH, Ecolab Philippines Inc., Ecolab Production Belgium B.V.B.A., Ecolab Production France SAS, Ecolab Production Italy Srl, Ecolab Production LLC, Ecolab Production Netherlands B.V., Ecolab Production Poland sp. z o.o., Ecolab Pte. Ltd., Ecolab Pty Ltd., Ecolab Quimica Ltda., Ecolab S. de R.L. de C.V., Ecolab S.A., Ecolab S.A. de C.V., Ecolab SAS, Ecolab SIA, Ecolab SNC, Ecolab SRL, Ecolab Sdn Bhd, Ecolab Services Argentina S.R.L., Ecolab Services Poland Sp. z o o, Ecolab Sociedad Anonima, Ecolab Sp. z o o, Ecolab Spain Services S.L.U., Ecolab Temizleme Sistemleri Limited Sirketi, Ecolab U.S. 2 Inc., Ecolab U.S. 6 LLC, Ecolab U.S. 7 LLC, Ecolab US 1 GP, Ecolab USA Inc., Ecolab Viet Nam Company Limited, Ecolab Water Holding LImited, Ecolab a.s., Ecolab d.o.o., Ecolab s.r.l., Ecolab s.r.o., Ecolab y Compania Colectiva de Responsabilidad Limitada, Ecolab-Importacao E. Exportacao Limitada, Ecolabone B.V., Ecolabtwo B.V., Endoclear Equipamentos Medicos Hospitalares Ltda., Enviroflo Engineering Limited, Food Protection Services, GCS Service, Gallay Medical & Scientific Pty Ltd, Gallay Medical & Scientific Pty Ltd., GallayTrac Pty. Ltd., Georgia-Pacific - Paper Chemicals Business, Gibson Chemical Industries, Green Harbour Mainland Holdings Ltd, Guangzhou Green Harbour Environmental Operation Ltd., HYDROSAN LIMITED, Henkel-Ecolab, Hicopla SL, Holchem Laboratories, Huntington Laboratories, Hydenet SAS, INDUSTRIAL) UNIPESSOAL LDA, INTERNATIONAL WATER CONSULTANT B.V., Immobiliare R.E.O.P.A. SRL, Instrunet Hospital SLU, Jianghai Environmental Protection Co., Jianghai Environmental Protection Co. Ltd., KATAYAMA NALCO INC., Kay BVBA, Kay Chemical Company, LHS (UK) Limited, Laboratoires Anios, Laboratoires Anios-Distribution SAS, Les Produits Chimiques ERPAC Inc., Lobster Ink, Lobster Ink Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Lobster International S.A., London & General Packaging Ltd, MALAYSIA SDN. BHD, MANUFACTURING S.R.L., MOBOTEC AB LLC, Master Chemicals OOO, Meratech Rus Group LLC, Microtek Dominicana S.A., Microtek Italy S.R.L., Microtek Medical B.V., Microtek Medical Europe Limited, Microtek Medical Holdings, Microtek Medical Holdings Inc., Microtek Medical Inc., Microtek Medical Malta Holding Limited, Microtek Medical Malta Limited, Midland Research Laboratories, Midland Research Laboratories UK Limited, NALCO (SHANGHAI) TRADING CO. LTD., NALCO AB, NALCO ACQUISITION ONE, NALCO ACQUISITION TWO LIMITED, NALCO AFRICA (PTY.) LTD., NALCO ASIA HOLDING COMPANY PTE. LTD., NALCO BELGIUM BVBA, NALCO CHINA HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO COMPANY OOO, NALCO DANMARK APS, NALCO DE MEXICO S. de R. L. de C.V., NALCO DELAWARE COMPANY, NALCO DEUTSCHLAND GMBH, NALCO DEUTSCHLAND MANUFACTURING GMBH UND CO. KG, NALCO DUTCH HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO EGYPT LTD., NALCO EGYPT TRADING, NALCO ESPANOLA MANUFACTURING S.L.U., NALCO ESPANOLA S.L., NALCO EUROPE B.V., NALCO FINLAND MANUFACTURING OY, NALCO FINLAND OY, NALCO FRANCE, NALCO FRANCE SNC, NALCO GLOBAL HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO GLOBAL HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO HOLDING B.V., NALCO HOLDING COMPANY, NALCO HOLDINGS G.m.b.H., NALCO HOLDINGS UK LIMITED, NALCO HONG KONG LIMITED, NALCO INDUSTRIAL OUTSOURCING COMPANY, NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES, NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (NANJING) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (SUZHOU) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (THAILAND) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES CHILE LIMITADA, NALCO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO INVESTMENTS U.K. LIMITED, NALCO ISRAEL INDUSTRIAL SERVICES LTD, NALCO ITALIANA, NALCO ITALIANA HOLDINGS S.R.L., NALCO ITALIANA SrL, NALCO KOREA LIMITED, NALCO LIMITED, NALCO LUXEMBOURG HOLDINGS SARL, NALCO MANUFACTURING BETEILIGUNGS GMBH, NALCO MANUFACTURING LTD., NALCO NETHERLANDS B.V., NALCO NORTH AFRICA LIMITED, NALCO OSTERREICH Ges m.b.H., NALCO OVERSEAS HOLDING B.V., NALCO PAKISTAN (PRIVATE) LIMITED, NALCO PHILIPPINES INC., NALCO PORTUGUESA (QUIMICA, NALCO PWS INC., NALCO SAUDI CO. LTD., NALCO TAIWAN CO. LTD., NALCO TWO INC., NALCO U.S. HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO UNIVERSAL HOLDINGS BV, NALCO WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO ZAO, NALFLOC LIMITED, NALTECH INC., NANOSPECIALTIES LLC, NLC PROCESS AND WATER SERVICES SARL, Nalco (BN) SDN BHD, Nalco (China) Environmental Solution Co. Ltd., Nalco Anadolu Kimya Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Nalco Canada ULC, Nalco Company LLC, Nalco Contract Operations LLC, Nalco Grundbesitz GmbH & Co. KG, Nalco Gulf Response Corp., Nalco Japan G.K., Nalco Libya, Nalco Middle East FZE, Nalco Polska Sp. z o. o., Nalco Production LLC, Nalco Real Estate GmbH, Nalco Schweiz GmbH, Nalco US 1 LLC, Nalco Wastewater Contract Operations Inc., Nalco Water India Limited, Nalco Water Pretreatment Solutions LLC, Nalco Worldwide Holdings S.a.r.l./B.V., Nigiko, Nuova Farmec S.r.l., Oksa Kimya Sanayi A.S., Oy Ecolab AB, PT Ecolab International Indonesia, PT Ecolab Technologies and Services, Purate business - AkzoNobel, Quantum Technical Services LLC, Quimicas Ecolab S.A. de C.V., Quimiproductos S.A. de C.V, RP Adam Ltd, Research Fumigation Co., Royal Pest Solutions, Shield Holdings Limited, Shield Medicare Limited, Shield Salvage Associates Limited, Soluscope International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Soluscope SAS, Swisher Hygiene, Technical Textile Services Limited, Techtex Holdings Limited, Terminix, Ultrafab, Wabasha Leasing LLC, and vanBaerle Hygiene AG. Sony Corporation designs, develops, produces, and sells electronic equipment, instruments, and devices for the consumer, professional, and industrial markets worldwide. The company distributes software titles and add-on content through digital networks by Sony Interactive Entertainment; network services related to game, video, and music content; and home and portable game consoles, packaged software, and peripheral devices. It also develops, produces, markets, and distributes recorded music; publishes music; and produces and distributes animation titles, game applications based on animation titles, and various services for music and visual products. In addition, the company offers live-action and animated motion pictures, as well as scripted and unscripted series, daytime serials, game shows, animated series, television movies, and miniseries and other television programs; operates a visual effects and animation unit; manages a studio facility; and operates television and digital networks. Further, it researches, develops, designs, produces, markets, distributes, sells, and services video and sound products; interchangeable lens, compact digital, and consumer and professional video cameras; display products, such as projectors and medical equipment; mobile phones, tablets, accessories, and applications; and metal oxide semiconductor image sensors, charge-coupled devices, large-scale integration systems, and other semiconductors. Additionally, it offers Internet broadband network services; creates and distributes content for various electronics product platforms, such as PCs and mobile phones; and provides life and non-life insurance, banking, and other services, as well as batteries, recording media, and storage media products. It has collaboration with The UNOPS. The company was formerly known as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha and changed its name to Sony Corporation in January 1958. The company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Waste Management: 635952 Ontario Inc., 8242348 Canada Inc., Acaverde S.A. de C.V., Access Computer Products, Advanced Environmental Technical Services L.L.C., Akron Regional Landfill Inc., Alliance Sanitary Landfill Inc., Alpharetta Transfer Station LLC, American Landfill Inc., American Oil Recovery LLC, Ameriwaste LLC, Anderson Landfill Inc., Anderson Rubbish Disposal, Antelope Valley Recycling and Disposal Facility Inc., Arden Landfill Inc., Atlantic Waste Disposal Inc., Automated Salvage Transport Co. L.L.C., Avalon South LLC, Azusa Land Reclamation Inc., B&B Landfill Inc., Big Dipper Enterprises Inc., Bluegrass Containment L.L.C., Burnsville Sanitary Landfill Inc., CA Newco L.L.C., CR Group LLC, CWM Chemical Services L.L.C., Cal Sierra Disposal, California Asbestos Monofill Inc., Canadian Waste Services Holdings Inc., Capels Landfill LLC, Capital Sanitation Company, Capitol Disposal Inc., Carolina Grading Inc., Cedar Ridge Landfill Inc., Central Disposal Systems Inc., Chadwick Road Landfill Inc., Chambers Clearview Environmental Landfill Inc., Chambers Development Company Inc., Chambers Development of Ohio Inc., Chambers of Georgia Inc., Chambers of Mississippi Inc., Chemical Waste Management Inc., Chemical Waste Management of Indiana L.L.C., Chemical Waste Management of the Northwest Inc., Chesser Island Road Landfill Inc., City Environmental Services Inc. of Waters, Cleburne Landfill Company Corp., Coast Waste Management Inc., Coastal Recyclers Landfill LLC, Connecticut Valley Sanitary Waste Disposal Inc., Conservation Services Inc., Coshocton Landfill Inc., Cougar Landfill Inc., Countryside Landfill Inc., Curtis Creek Recovery Systems Inc., Cuyahoga Landfill Inc., DHC Land LLC, Dafter Sanitary Landfill Inc., Dauphin Meadows Inc., Deep Valley Landfill Inc., Deer Track Park Landfill Inc., Deffenbaugh Disposal Inc., Deffenbaugh Group Holdings Inc., Deffenbaugh Industries Inc., Deffenbaugh Recycling Company L.L.C., Deffenbaugh of Arkansas LLC, Del Almo Landfill L.L.C., Delaware Recyclable Products Inc., Dickinson Landfill Inc., Disposal Service Incorporated, Dolphin Services & Chemicals LLC, Dolphin-One LLC, ELDA Landfill Inc., Earthmovers Landfill L.L.C., East Liverpool Landfill Inc., Eastern One Land Corporation, Eco-Vista LLC, Elk River Landfill Inc., Energy Injection Services of Mississippi LLC, EnviroSolutions Dulles LLC, EnviroSolutions Holdings Inc., EnviroSolutions Real Property Holdings Inc., Envirofil of Illinois Inc., Evergreen Landfill Inc., Evergreen Recycling and Disposal Facility Inc., Finch Waste Co LLC, Firetower Landfill LLC, Fred J. Eckert Sanitary Service Inc., Furnace Associates Inc., G.I. Industries, GA Landfills Inc., Gallia Landfill Inc., Garnet of Maryland Inc., Gateway Transfer Station LLC, Georgia Waste Systems Inc., Giordano Recycling L.L.C., Glades Landfill LLC, Glen's Sanitary Landfill Inc., Grand Central Sanitary Landfill Inc., Greenbow LLC, Greenleaf Compaction Inc., Greenstar Allentown LLC, Greenstar Georgia LLC, Greenstar LLC, Greenstar Managed Services - Connecticut LLC, Greenstar Managed Services - RLWM LLC, Greenstar Mid-America LLC, Greenstar New Jersey LLC, Greenstar Ohio LLC, Greenstar Paterson LLC, Greenstar Pittsburgh LLC, Greenstar Recycled Holdings LLC, Greenstar Recycling LLC, Guadalupe Mines Mutual Water Company, Guadalupe Rubbish Disposal Co. Inc., Ham Lake Haulers Inc., Harris Sanitation Inc., Harwood Landfill Inc., Hedco Landfill Limited, High Mountain Fuels LLC, Hillsboro Landfill Inc., Holyoke Sanitary Landfill Inc., IN Landfills L.L.C., Illini Disposal, International Environmental Management Inc., Jahner Sanitation Inc., Jay County Landfill L.L.C., K and W Landfill Inc., Keene Road Landfill Inc., Kelly Run Sanitation Inc., King George Landfill Inc., King George Landfill Properties LLC, Kirby Canyon Holdings LLC, L&K Group Holdings LLC, LCS Services Inc., Lakeville Recycling L.P., Land South Holdings LLC, Landfill Services of Charleston Inc., Laurel Highlands Landfill Inc., Liberty Landfill L.L.C., Liquid Logistics, Liquid Waste Management Inc., Longleaf C&D Disposal Facility Inc., Looney Bins Inc., Mac Land Disposal Inc. II, Mahoning Landfill Inc., Mass Gravel Inc., Mc Ginnes Industrial Maintenance Corporation, McDaniel Landfill Inc., McGill Landfill Inc., Meadowfill Landfill Inc., Michigan Environs Inc., Midwest One Land Corporation, Modesto Garbage Co. Inc., Moor Refuse Inc., Mordell, Mountain Indemnity Insurance Company, Mountainview Landfill Inc., Nassau Landfill L.L.C., National Guaranty Insurance Company of Vermont, New England CR L.L.C., New Milford Landfill L.L.C., New Orleans Landfill L.L.C., North Manatee Recycling and Disposal Facility L.L.C., Northwestern Landfill Inc., Nu-Way Live Oak Reclamation Inc., OAKLEAF Waste Management LLC, OGH Acquisition Corporation, Oak Grove Disposal Co. Inc., Oakleaf Global Holdings Inc., Oakleaf Waste Management Inc., Oakridge Landfill Inc., Oakwood Landfill Inc., Okeechobee Landfill Inc., Ozark Ridge Landfill Inc., P & R Environmental Industries L.L.C., Pacific Waste Management L.L.C., Pappy Inc., Peltz H.C. LLC, Pen-Rob Inc., People's Landfill Inc., Peterson Demolition Inc., Phoenix Resources Inc., Pine Grove Landfill Inc., Pine Tree Acres Inc., Prime Westport LLC, Quail Hollow Landfill Inc., Questquill Limited, R & B Landfill Inc., RAA Colorado L.L.C., RAA Trucking LLC, RCI Hudson Inc., RTS Landfill Inc., Recycle America Co. L.L.C., Recycle America Holdings Inc., Redwood Landfill Inc., Refuse Inc., Refuse Services Inc., Reliable Environmental Transport, Reliable Landfill L.L.C., Remote Landfill Services Inc., Reno Disposal Co., Resco Holdings L.L.C., Resource Control Composting Inc., Resource Control Inc., Richland County Landfill Inc., Riverbend Landfill Co., Rust Engineering & Construction Inc., Rust International Inc., S & J Landfill Limited Partnership, S & S Grading Inc., S&T Materials LLC, SC Holdings Inc., SF Land Acquisition LLC, Sanifill de Mexico (US) Inc., Sanifill de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Shade Landfill Inc., Shawnee Rock Company, Sierra Estrella Landfill Inc., Southern Alleghenies Landfill Inc., Southern One Land Corporation, Southern Waste Services L.L.C., Spruce Ridge Inc., Stony Hollow Landfill Inc., Suburban Landfill Inc., Summit Energy Services Inc, Swire Waste Management Limited, TN'T Sands Inc., TX Newco L.L.C., Texarkana Landfill L.L.C., Texas Pack Rat - Austin #1 LLC, Texas Pack Rat - Dallas #1 LLC, Texas Pack Rat - Houston #1 LLC, Texas Pack Rat - Houston #2 LLC, Texas Pack Rat - Houston #3 LLC, Texas Pack Rat - San Antonio #1 LLC, Texas Pack Rat Service Company LLC, The Peltz Group LLC, The Waste Management Charitable Foundation, The Woodlands of Van Buren Inc., Thermal Remediation Solutions L.L.C., Trail Ridge Landfill Inc., TransAmerican Waste Industries, Transamerican Waste Central Landfill Inc., Trash Hunters Inc., Twin Bridges Golf Club L.P., USA South Hills Landfill Inc., USA Valley Facility Inc., USA Waste Geneva Landfill Inc., USA Waste Landfill Operations and Transfer Inc., USA Waste Services of NYC Inc., USA Waste of California Inc., USA Waste of Texas Landfills Inc., USA Waste of Virginia Landfills Inc., USA Waste-Management Resources LLC, USA-Crinc L.L.C., USB LIHTC Fund 2010-1 LLC, UWS Barre Inc., United Waste Systems Leasing Inc., Valley Garbage and Rubbish Company Inc., Vern's Refuse Service Inc., Vickery Environmental Inc., Vista Landfill LLC, Voyageur Disposal Processing Inc., WM Avon Inc., WM Bagco LLC, WM Billerica Inc., WM Biloxi Hauling LLC, WM Biloxi Transfer Station LLC, WM Boston CORE Inc., WM CCP Solutions LLC, WM Conversion Fund LLC, WM Corporate Services Inc., WM Curbside LLC, WM DC 1 LLC, WM Emergency Employee Support Fund Inc., WM Energy Resources Inc., WM Energy Services Holdings LLC, WM Energy Services of Ohio LLC, WM Energy Solutions Inc., WM GTL Inc., WM GTL JV Holdings LLC, WM GTL LLC, WM Green Squad LLC, WM GreenOps LLC, WM Healthcare Solutions Inc., WM Illinois Renewable Energy L.L.C., WM Intellectual Property Holdings L.L.C., WM International Holdings Inc., WM KS Energy Resources LLC, WM LNG Inc., WM LampTracker Inc., WM Landfills of Ohio Inc., WM Landfills of Tennessee Inc., WM Leasing Services of Texas LLC, WM Leasing of Arizona L.L.C., WM Leasing of Texas L.P., WM Logistics India Private Limited, WM Logistics LLC, WM Mercury Waste Inc., WM Middle Tennessee Environmental Center L.L.C., WM Mobile Bay Environmental Center Inc., WM ND Energy Resources II LLC, WM ND Energy Resources LLC, WM Nevada Renewable Energy L.L.C., WM North Broward Inc., WM Organic Growth Inc., WM PA Holdings LLC, WM PRG L.L.C., WM Pack-Rat LLC, WM Pack-Rat of California LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Illinois LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Kentucky LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Maryland LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Massachusetts LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Michigan LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Nevada LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Ohio LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Rhode Island LLC, WM Partnership Holdings Inc., WM Phoenix Energy Resources LLC, WM Propane LLC, WM Quebec Inc., WM RA Canada Inc., WM Recycle America L.L.C., WM Recycle Europe L.L.C., WM Recycling Latin America LLC, WM Refined Coal LLC, WM Renewable Energy L.L.C., WM Resource Recovery & Recycling Center Inc., WM Resources Inc., WM Safety Services L.L.C., WM Security Services Inc., WM Storage II Inc., WM Storage Inc., WM TX Energy Resources II LLC, WM TX Energy Resources LLC, WM Texas Pack Rat LLC, WM Trash Monitor Plus L.L.C., WM WY Energy Resources II LLC, WM WY Energy Resources III LLC, WM WY Energy Resources LLC, WM of North Dakota Energy Disposal Solutions LLC, WMI Mexico Holdings Inc., WMNA Container Recycling L.L.C., WMRE of Kentucky LLC, WMRE of Michigan LLC, WMRE of Ohio LLC, WMRE of Ohio-American LLC, WMSALSA Inc., WTI Air Pollution Control Inc., WTI Rust Holdings Inc., Warner Company, Waste Away Group Inc., Waste Management Arizona Landfills Inc., Waste Management Buckeye L.L.C., Waste Management China Holdings Limited, Waste Management Collection and Recycling Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Colorado Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Maine Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Maryland Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Massachusetts Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Oregon Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Pennsylvania Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Virginia Inc., Waste Management Energy Services of Texas LLC, Waste Management Holdings Inc., Waste Management Inc. of Florida, Waste Management Inc. of Tennessee, Waste Management Indycoke L.L.C., Waste Management International Inc., Waste Management National Services Inc., Waste Management National Transportation Services Inc., Waste Management Partners Inc., Waste Management Recycling and Disposal Services of California Inc., Waste Management Recycling of New Jersey L.L.C., Waste Management Service Center Inc., Waste Management of Alameda County Inc., Waste Management of Alaska Inc., Waste Management of Arizona Inc., Waste Management of Arkansas Inc., Waste Management of California Inc., Waste Management of Canada Corporation, Waste Management of Carolinas Inc., Waste Management of Colorado Inc., Waste Management of Connecticut Inc., Waste Management of Delaware Inc., Waste Management of Fairless L.L.C., Waste Management of Five Oaks Recycling and Disposal Facility Inc., Waste Management of Georgia Inc., Waste Management of Hawaii Inc., Waste Management of Idaho Inc., Waste Management of Illinois Inc., Waste Management of Indiana Holdings One Inc., Waste Management of Indiana Holdings Two Inc., Waste Management of Indiana L.L.C., Waste Management of Iowa Inc., Waste Management of Kansas Inc., Waste Management of Kentucky Holdings Inc., Waste Management of Kentucky L.L.C., Waste Management of Leon County Inc., Waste Management of Londonderry Inc., Waste Management of Louisiana Holdings One Inc., Waste Management of Louisiana L.L.C., Waste Management of Maine Inc., Waste Management of Maryland Inc., Waste Management of Massachusetts Inc., Waste Management of Metro Atlanta Inc., Waste Management of Michigan Inc., Waste Management of Minnesota Inc., Waste Management of Mississippi Inc., Waste Management of Missouri Inc., Waste Management of Montana Inc., Waste Management of Nebraska Inc., Waste Management of Nevada Inc., Waste Management of New Hampshire Inc., Waste Management of New Jersey Inc., Waste Management of New Mexico Inc., Waste Management of New York L.L.C., Waste Management of North Dakota Inc., Waste Management of Ohio Inc., Waste Management of Oklahoma Inc., Waste Management of Oregon Inc., Waste Management of Pennsylvania Gas Recovery L.L.C., Waste Management of Pennsylvania Inc., Waste Management of Rhode Island Inc., Waste Management of South Carolina Inc., Waste Management of South Dakota Inc., Waste Management of Texas Holdings Inc., Waste Management of Texas Inc., Waste Management of Tunica Landfill Inc., Waste Management of Utah Inc., Waste Management of Virginia Inc., Waste Management of Washington, Waste Management of West Virginia Inc., Waste Management of Wisconsin Inc., Waste Management of Wyoming Inc., Western One Land Corporation, Western Waste Industries, Western Waste of Texas L.L.C., Westminster Land Acquisition LLC, Wheelabrator Technologies, Wheelabrator Technologies International Inc., White Lake Landfill Inc., Willow Oak Landfill LLC, and eCycling Services L.L.C.. The following companies are subsidiares of Archer-Daniels-Midland: ADM (Shanghai) Management Co. LTD, ADM (Thailand) Ltd, ADM Ag Holdings Ltd, ADM Agri-Industries Company, ADM Agriculture Limited, ADM Agro Iberica S. L. U., ADM Agro Indust Latur and Vizag Pvt Ltd, ADM Agro Industries India Private Limited, ADM Agro Industries KOTA and AKOLA Pvt. Ltd., ADM Agro SRL, ADM Agroinvestimentos LTDA, ADM Alliance Nutrition of Puerto Rico LLC, ADM Americas S de RL, ADM Andina Peru SRL, ADM Antwerp NV, ADM Arkady Ireland Limited, ADM Asia-Pacific Trading Pte. Ltd., ADM Australia Holdings I PTY Limited, ADM Bio Science And Technology (Tianjin) Co Ltd, ADM Bioproductos SA DE CV, ADM CZERNIN SA, ADM Caribbean Inc, ADM Chile Comercial LTDA, ADM Clinton Bioprocessing Inc, ADM DO Brasil LTDA, ADM Direct Polska SP. ZO.O, ADM Dominican Holdings Inc., ADM Dominicana SA, ADM Edible Bean Specialties Inc, ADM Europe HoldCo SL, ADM European Holdings LLC, ADM European Management Holding GMBH, ADM Export Co, ADM Food Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., ADM France, ADM Germany GmbH, ADM Grain River System Inc., ADM Hamburg Aktiengesesllschaft, ADM Holding (Thailand) LTD, ADM Holdings LLC, ADM Hungary Agro Trading LLC, ADM Industries Centers Ltd, ADM International Holdings Inc, ADM International SARL, ADM Interoceanic LTD, ADM Investments LTD, ADM Investor Services Inc, ADM Investor Services International LTD, ADM Ireland Receivables Company Limited, ADM Israel, ADM Japan Ltd, ADM MALBORK SA, ADM Mainz GMBH, ADM Medsofts Sarl, ADM Mexico Inc, ADM Mexico SA DE CV, ADM Milling Co, ADM Milling LTD, ADM New Zealand Limited, ADM Olomouc S.R.O., ADM Paraguay SRL, ADM Protexin Limited, ADM Pura Limited, ADM Receivables LLC, ADM Rice Inc, ADM Ringaskiddy Unlimited Company, ADM Romania Logistics SRL, ADM Romania Trading SRL, ADM Specialty Ingredients - Europe BV, ADM Spyck GMBH, ADM Szamotuly SP Z O.O, ADM Trading Australia Pty. Ltd., ADM Trading Co, ADM Transportation Company, ADM Trucking Inc, ADM Vietnam CO. LTD, ADM WILD Europe GmbH and Co. KG, ADM WILD Ingredients GmbH, ADM WILD Nauen GmbH, ADM WILD Valencia S.A., ADM Wild Netherlands BV, ADM Worldwide Holdings LP, ADMIS Holding Co Inc., ADMIS Hong Kong LTD, ADMIS Singapore Pte Limited, AOR, AT Holdings II Company, Agri Port Services Investments Ltd., Agri Port Services LLC, Agricolas Madagascar SARLU, Agrinational Insurance Co, Agriserve, Agrograin LTD, Alfrebro LLC, Alfred C Toepfer International Netherlands BV, Alimenta USA, American River Transportation Company LLC, Ameriseed, Amylum Bulgaria EAD, Amylum Nisasta Sanayi Ve Ticarek Anonim Sirketi, Archer Daniels Midland (UK) Limited, Archer Daniels Midland Asia Pacific Ltd., Archer Daniels Midland Erith LTD, Archer Daniels Midland Europe BV, Archer Daniels Midland Europoort BV, Archer Daniels Midland Nederland BV, Archer Daniels Midland Singapore PTE LTD, Arinos Unlimited, Aston Foods & Food Ingredients, Balanceados Nova SA Balnova, Barbados Mills Limited, Bela Vista Bio Etanol Participacoes LTDA, Bern Aqua, BioPolis SL, Biopolis, Campa Sued GmbH & Co KG, Cattleman's Choice Loomix LLC, Chamtor, Ci ADM Colombia Ltda., Controladora ADM Sa De Cv, Crosswind Petfoods Inc., Daavision BV, Eaststarch, Eatem Corporation, Eatem Foods, Elstar Oils, English River Pellets Inc., Epicore Bionetworks INC, Epicore Networks (USA) INC, Erich Ziegler GmbH, Evialis France, Fasco Mills Co., Filozoo SRL, Florida Chemical, Florida Chemical Company LLC, GP Blanching Inc., Global Cocoa Holdings LTD, Golden Peanut Company LLC, Golden Peanut and Tree Nut Seed SA (PTY) LTD, Golden Peanut and Tree Nuts SA, Group Lysac, Guyomarc'h - VCN Company Limited, Guyomarc'h Vietnam CO LTD, HFR Shipping Company Ltd, HRA Shipping Company Ltd, HTI Shipping Company Ltd, Harvest Innovations, Hilltop Grain and Feed, Holding P and A Asia Company Limited, Hubei Meiweiyuan Biotechnology, Ilitchevskiy Maslo Extractionniy Zavod (IMEZ), Invivo NSA Asia PTE LTD, Invivo NSA Philippines Inc, Jamaica Flour Mills Limited, Julius Meijer-Alpharma BV, LLC ADM Ukraine, Liquid Feed Commodities, Malta Industries SA de CV, Malta-Texo De Mexico SA de CV, Master Mix of Trinidad LTD, Medsofts Investment Co, Medsofts L.L.C., Medsofts Trading Co, Mepla Comercio e Navegacao Ltda, NRG Inc, Naviera Chaco SRL, Neovia, Neovia Latina SL, Neovia Nutricao E Saude Animal LTDA, North Star Shipping S.R.L., P and A Marketing SA, PJSC ADM Illichivsk, PT Wirifa Sakti, Pancosma (Shanghai) Feed Additives CO LTD, Pancosma France SAS, Pancosma SA, Premiere Agri Technologies of Mexico Inc, Pura Foods LTD, Rodelle Inc., Schokinag-Schokolade-Industrie Herrmann, Sermix, Setna Nutricion SA, Societe Industrielle Des Oleagineux, Southern Cellulose Products Inc, Soy Investors LLC, Specialty Commodities, Specialty Commodities LLC, Sul Mineira Alimentos LTDA, SzSzV Kft, Toepfer International, Toepfer International Trading (Shanghai) Co. LTD., Vantage Corn Processors LLC, WILD Amazon Flavors Ltda, WILD Flavors, Wild Flavors Inc., Wild Flavors International GmbH, Wild Flavors Singapore Pte. Ltd., Wild Intermare GmbH, Wild Russia LLC, and Wisium SA (PTY) LTD. 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. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. After almost two weeks of mass protests, Armenias prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan, announced on Monday, April 23, that he would step down. Commentators in Russia and internationally expressed fears that the political crisis could lead to a renewed escalation of the frozen military conflict over Nagorno-Karabkh with neighboring Azerbaijan with potentially far-reaching consequences for the entire region. The protests started 11 days earlier, after Sargsyan announced he would be the countrys prime minister after serving 10 years as president. In 2015, Sargsyan had pushed for changes to the constitution that would give him the same powers as prime minister that he had wielded as president. Initially limited to a few hundred people, drawn largely from supporters of the liberal, pro-EU opposition, the protests rapidly embraced broader sections of the population and spread to cities other than the capital, Yerevan. By April 21, about 100,000 people had joined the protests across the country. Thousands of students at the countrys most important universities went on strike. There were also reports of strikes by workers at a number of factories. In a country of just under 3 million people, the protests involved a significant portion of the population and are among the largest in Armenian history. Nikol Pashinian, who has been celebrated in the Western media as the opposition leader, announced on April 17 that the protest movement constituted a non-violet velvet revolution. The scope of the protests, which took virtually everyone by surprise, and the involvement of sections of the working class indicate that more was involved than just the machinations of the pro-EU opposition, which has received barely 8 percent of the votes in the countrys last parliamentary elections. After over a decade in power, Sargsyan was widely associated with a state of corruption and ill-begotten wealth at the top side-by-side with desperate poverty for the majority of the population. The official unemployment rate stands at almost 18 percent, and almost every third Armenian lives beneath the very low poverty line. The average salary in the capital Yerevan was just $390 a month in 2016. Unlike Russia, Azerbaijan or Kazakhstan, Armenia does not have any significant raw material resources, making it one of the poorest and economically most underdeveloped states that emerged out of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, about a third of the population has left the country because of the lack of jobs in Armenia. Hundreds of protesters were arrested by the government, including several opposition leaders. The situation tipped after the release of the opposition leader Nikol Pashinian on Sunday, April 22, failed to quell the protests. In a televised debate between Sargsyan and Pashinian on April 22, the opposition leader said, You do not understand the situation in Armenia, the power is now in the hands of the people, to which Sargsyan replied: a party that has registered only 8 percent at the [legislative] elections cannot speak in the name of the people. On Monday, up to 200,000 peoplealmost a tenth of the countrys populationagain took to the streets calling for Sargsyan to step down. Hundreds of members of the armed forces as well as clergy joined the protests, indicating that important sections of the state apparatus had by then also turned against Sargsyan. However, the biggest fear of the Armenian bourgeoisie as a whole was that the protests would turn into a full-blown movement by the working class. In a desperate attempt to regain control over the situation, Sargsyan announced his resignation, describing the demonstration as a turning point for the country. Tens of thousands of people celebrated his resignation. Pashinian immediately stepped forward, demanding snap elections and for allies of Sargsyan in the government to step down. Protests in support of Pashinian and the opposition on Tuesday drew significantly fewer people than those of the previous days, with about 10,000 supporters marching in Yerevan. The Russian government has issued statements, insisting that the demonstrations were a matter of Armenias internal affairs, and indicating Moscows hope for a smooth and peaceful political transition. There is little question that the Kremlin, like the Armenian political establishment, fears a movement of the working class in the Caucasus that could quickly spread beyond the borders of the small country. The US government and the European Union (EU) are closely following the situation, hoping that a change in government will further their own interests in the region by bringing the liberal opposition into power. US media like the Atlantic have celebrated the demonstrations as Armenias Democratic Triumph. While broader sections of the working class and youth were involved in the protests, under conditions of the absence of any political organization that expresses their interests, the liberal opposition has been able to step forward in an attempt to reassert control over the situation in the interests of the bourgeoisie and to advance its own foreign policy agenda. The political crisis in Armenia has implications far beyond the borders of the country. Due to its geographic location in the Caucasus, which functions as a bridgehead between eastern Europe and the Middle East and possesses some of the worlds largest oil reserves, developments in the region have far-reaching implications for the geopolitical situation internationally. Ever since 1991, the Armenian government has maintained very close ties to Russia, by far its most important economic and military partner. Russia also has an important military base in southern Armenia. In recent years, however, the Armenian government has undertaken tentative steps toward a rapprochement with the EU. Yet in 2013, the government backed away from signing an Association Agreement with the EU, and instead joined the Russia-led Eurasian Union. The liberal opposition has sharply criticized this move and has continued to advocate for an Association Agreement with the EU. In February 2017, the Armenian government announced that it wanted to work within both the EU and the Eurasian Union, and signed an agreement for closer economic and political ties with the EU. The liberal opposition advocates a pro-market platform and deeper cooperation with the EU, including EU membership. Several members and trustees of the opposition party Civil Contract, which Nikol Pashinian represents, are entrepreneurs, current or former members of the Armenian political establishment, or are working in the US. The tactical differences over foreign policy within the Armenian bourgeoisie have been significantly exacerbated by the escalating war drive of US imperialism against Russia in both eastern Europe and the Middle East, while the development of growing working class struggles in both Europe and the Middle East has sent shock waves through the ruling class in the region. Armenia is surrounded by Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran. Turkey is a NATO member and has historically had hostile relations with Armenia, while Georgia and Azerbaijan are closely aligned with US imperialism. Iran, Armenias only foreign policy ally among its neighbors, was shaken by mass working class protests last winter. At the same time, the increasingly aggressive posture of US imperialism, which threatens all-out war with Iran, has exacerbated nervousness and tensions in the entire Caucasus. Russian media have been running reports that US-backed Israel and Iran are standing on the brink of war. Armenia itself has been in a state of war with its neighbor, Azerbaijan, over Nagorno-Karabakh, a small mountain enclave in southern Azerbaijan, since the late 1980s. The war over the territory from 1988 to 1994 took the lives of 20,000 to 30,000, wounded 50,000 and permanently displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The conflict was never resolved, and border clashes have occurred repeatedly in recent years. Both in the Russian media and in Armenia there were warnings that the current political crisis might fuel a renewed outbreak of the conflict. Thus, the Russian online newspaper Gazeta.Ru warned that the South Caucasus could become something like a Middle East in miniature, the hearth for a new war, if Azerbaijan were to exploit the current political crisis in Armenia and intervene militarily to reestablish control over Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan, one of the most important oil-producing countries in the world, has maintained close ties to both the EU and especially US imperialism, which has built up extensive ties with Azeri oil and gas companies since 1991. Azerbaijan has also been an important ally in the US war preparations against Iran and would likely receive US backing in any open military clash with Armenia. Barely in office, the grand coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats is pushing ahead with its military upgrade plans. Eighteen major contracts, each exceeding the 25 million hurdle, and which must therefore be approved by the Parliamentary Budget Committee, should be awarded this year to the defence industry. The project list, which was given to members of parliament in February, has been published by the Bild newspaper at the weekend, described as a secret order list of the minister of defence. This was preceded by a months-long propaganda campaign about the ailing state of the Bundeswehr (armed forces), which was to prepare the population for a drastic increase in military spending. The massive rearmament programme is to enable the Bundeswehr to pursue the interests of German imperialism worldwide by military means. Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen told Bild am Sonntag it concerned the future viability of our Bundeswehr and the reliability of Germany to our close partners. The upgrade was an urgent programme for future European projects with France, Norway, the Netherlands or the personal equipment of our soldiers. She boasted that the Bundeswehr was already in a position to have taken part in the recent Western air strikes on Syria: Whatever Britain has done from the air, we can do too. We were not asked this time. She continued, A special responsibility is expected from a country seeking a seat on the UN Security Council. A country with such high political and economic weight as Germany would have to face such expectations, she said. The most significant item on the now-publicized shopping list is the contract for leasing Israeli Heron TP drones. For these alone, more than 1 billion are planned over a term of nine years. In contrast to the Heron 1 drones previously used in Afghanistan and Mali, whose lease is also being extended, the Heron TP is not only capable of reconnaissance but can also be armed. The Bundeswehr would then be able to fly unmanned attacks over long distances, as the US is currently doing, to assassinate real and supposed political opponents. The leased Heron drones are to bridge the time that Germany needs to develop its own combat drone in cooperation with France and Italy. Other acquisitions on the Ministry of Defence shopping list include: Seven light helicopters for search and rescue; six C-130J Hercules transport aircraft, which are to be stationed in France as part of the Franco-German cooperation; the development of a new radar system for the Eurofighter; container-based command posts for land operations; 18 Mars II medium-range rocket launchers; 258 training simulators for the Puma infantry fighting vehicle; 32 articulated trucks for transporting weapon systems; as well as combat clothing and protective vests for the soldiers. In order to transport large military equipment, the contract for the use of Antonov wide-body aircraft, which are stationed at Leipzig/Halle Airport, is also to be extended. Previously, this contract was with a Russian and a Ukrainian company. Now, because of the Ukraine crisis, it is being extended only with the Ukrainian Antonov Airlines. The list of projects that has now become known includes only a fraction of the military spending agreed upon by the grand coalition. For example, other plans include the development of a new fighter aircraft (along with France) to replace the Tornado, new tanks, heavy transport helicopters and a new assault rifle to replace the G36. In addition, the order for several new MKS180 multi-purpose combat ships, is out to tender, which will likely be won by a consortium of the Dutch manufacturer Damen and the German manufacturer Blohm & Voss. The government has also agreed to a change in the award of defence contracts. In future, important armament contracts will no longer be tendered out, but will be awarded nationally. The experts of the Koblenz Bundeswehr Procurement Office are to negotiate the contracts directly with representatives of the defence companies. In this way, not only will procurement be accelerated, but also dependency on the US will be reduced and technological know-how protected. The government regards key technologies to be submarines, battle tanks, encryption technologies, reconnaissance sensors, protective technologies and, more recently, warships such as the MKS180. The grand coalition wants to double the military budget to over 70 billion a year. In addition, half of all additional revenue is to be channelled into the military budget and development aid, which is closely interlinked with military policy and used to fend off refugees. For example, Development Minister Gerd Muller plans to invest 1 billion this year to fight the causes of flight in Africa. More details will be announced on Friday, when the finance ministry presents its financial planning up to 2022. By the end of April, Finance Minister Scholz will then draft the federal budget for 2018 and submit it to the Bundestag for decision in early July. Long-standing Indian plans to build a naval base on Assumption Island in Seychelles have stalled amid mounting resistance throughout the sparsely-populated 115-island, Indian Ocean nation. Seychelles is strategically situated in the western Indian Ocean, about 1,500 kilometres east of Kenya. Its 94,000 people live on a group of 42 islands that sit astride east African and south Asian sea lanes, amongst the busiest in the world. Wavel Ramkalawan, leader of the Linyon Demockratik Seselwa (LDS), a four-party opposition alliance, declared on March 22 that it will not ratify the India-Seychelles base agreement. Other political activists also have denounced the deal. The LDS holds a majority in the countrys parliament, after winning 15 positions in the 25-seat legislature in 2016. The construction of an Indian base was first agreed between then Seychelles President James Michel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2015. The first visit to Seychelles by an Indian prime minister in more than 30 years was part of New Delhis drive to dominate the Indian Ocean and boost its strategic influence in Africa and the Middle East. India has promised to invest $US550 million in the project. This includes renovating Assumption Islands airstrip, upgrading its jetty and constructing new buildings for the Seychelles Coast Guard. Indian soldiers would also train archipelago forces as part of the 20-year agreement. The Seychelles government hoped that the military base would increase the countrys capacity to patrol its 1.3-million square kilometre exclusive economic zone against illegal fishing, drug trafficking and piracy. Full details of the agreement, however, were kept secret and not presented to the parliament as legally required, even when the Michel administration had a majority. Information about the deal was then leaked and published on YouTube. This forced some revisions, including the insertion of clauses preventing India from using the base in times of war and disallowing nuclear-armed vessels at the facilities. LDS leader Ramkalawan declared, however, that the alliance would still not back the agreement in its current form. If established, the base would dramatically increase Indias military presence in Seychelles, which has had a military cooperation deal with New Delhi since 2003. India built the Coastal Radar Surveillance (CRS) system in Seychelles in 2016 and has given the Seychelles Defense Forces three fast-track patrol vessels and one Dornier aircraft. While the CRS is supposedly assisting Seychelles to combat piracy it also helps India track the movement of Chinese navy and merchant vessels across the Indian Ocean. A March 29 article by Abhishek Mishra in the Diplomat noted that apart from assisting ensure safe passage of shipping vessels, the base could counter Chinese unilateralism and increasing securitisation of the Indian Ocean Region. Ralph Volcere, a Seychelles opposition activist, who has led protests against the base agreement, told Al Jazeera that Indias principal aim was to monitor the energy transport of China. Volcere said Seychelles cannot afford to be taking sides in the rivalry between China and India over geo-strategic influence in the Indian Ocean. [The] Chinese also wanted to build a base here, but we turned that down we dont want foreign military personnel here, he said. Although the anti-base opposition of Volcere and others is premised entirely on nationalist considerations, it reflects growing popular concern about the dangerous consequences of escalating rivalry between major powers in the Indian Ocean. Washingtons strategic aim is to diplomatically and militarily isolate Beijing. It has enlisted India as a frontline state in this geo-strategic manoeuvring. India, however, is facing a lot of blowback in the region, Delhi-based foreign policy commentator Manoj Joshi warned recently. China is a subtext in Indias troubles in both Maldives and Seychelles, he told Al Jazeera, adding: China offers a leverage [for small countries] against a big neighbour like India. New Delhis attempts to strengthen military relations with Seychelles include offering assistance in health, science and technology, and renewable energy. It has promised also to invest $8.36 million in various civilian projects. The Seychelles government is maintaining its political and economic relations with Beijing, however. Congratulating Xi Jinping on being reappointed Chinese president last month, Seychelles President Danny Faure said: The One Belt, One Road initiative, in particular, reflects Chinas determined willingness to play a more important role to improve the infrastructure for facilitation of world trade and integration. India is continuing its efforts to revive its stalled agreement with Seychelles. On April 10, the Wire, an Indian-based web site, reported apparent closed door activity between the two countries. The report quoted Seychelles Vice President Vincent Meriton who said: A declaration will be made very soon to find a feasible way to build this facility because the country really needs it. On Tuesday, on the second day of his three-day state visit to Washington, French President Emmanuel Macron held a joint press conference with US President Donald Trump to discuss the content of their talks on the Middle East and global trade. At the press briefing, Macron sought to adapt to Trumps threats to scrap the 2015 Iranian nuclear treaty and pledged Frances continued support for US wars in the Middle East. Paris is joining Washington in telling Iran it must comply with US dictates in the Middle East or face the renewal of trade sanctions that were in place before the signing of the treaty and the possibility of military attack. Despite the debacle of the seven-year NATO proxy war for regime change in Syria, the US and France, the former colonial overlord of Syria, cannot accept any strengthening of the position of Iran, the Syrian regimes key backer alongside Russia. Instead, barely 10 days after the US-UK-French missile strike on Syria, they are paving the way for a renewed military confrontation with Syria, Iran and nuclear-armed Russia. The move was a significant shift by Macron, who has publicly supported the Iranian nuclear deal and, in an interview with Fox News prior to his visit, claimed there was no plan B to replace it. This position received statements of support from governments around the world. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on a visit to Beijing, said that he and his Chinese counterparts would oppose any attempt to scrap the deal. Key US allies also opposed terminating the agreement. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson stressed his strong view in favor of the treaty, and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned that ditching the Iranian nuclear treaty would have dangerous consequences for the military situation in the Middle East. We believe it is extremely important to uphold this agreement, he declared. Were it to fail or the US to drop out, we would not have anything comparable to it and we fear that the situation would significantly deteriorate, with everything that goes with it. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned that while he would scrupulously respect the existing treaty, Iran would shred it if Washington pulled out. It is either all or nothing. European leaders should encourage Trump not just to stay in the nuclear deal, but more important, to begin implementing his part of the bargain in good faith, he wrote on Twitter. Tuesday morning, when Macron restated his support for the treaty at a photo-op before his private talks with Trump, the US president exploded, indicating this position was unacceptable. Macron declared, What I just said is that the Iran deal is an important issue. Well discuss that. But we have to take it as a part of the broader picture, which is security in the overall region. And we have the Syrian situation, we have an upcoming election in Iraq, and we have the stability to preserve for our allies in region. And what we want to do is to contain the Iranian presence in the region, and [the Iranian nuclear deal] is part of this broader picture. Trump responded: It just seems that, no matter where you go, especially in the Middle East, Iran is behind it, wherever theres trouble: Yemen, Syria. No matter where you have it, Iran is behind it. And now, unfortunately, Russia is getting more and more involved. But Iran seems to be behind everything where theres a problem And the Iran deal is a disaster. Theyre testing missiles. And what is that all about? You look at the ballistic missiles that theyre going and testing, what kind of a deal is it where youre allowed to test missiles all over the place? After Trump and Macron emerged from their private talks, however, the French president appeared to have aligned himself with Trumps positions. Trump began by hailing the unprovoked April 14 US-UK-French missile strikes on Syria based on fraudulent and unsubstantiated claims that the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons: President Macron, I thank you for your leadership in this effort, he said. The United States and France are also cooperating to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. We are grateful for Frances key partnership in our campaign of maximum pressure on the North Korean regime. Trump also applauded Macrons crackdown on immigrants in France, calling it a battle against uncontrolled migration, and adding, Mr. President, I admire the leadership you have shown in addressing this in a very honest and direct fashion, and not always popular. Macron then suggested that he was prepared to accept Trumps opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal: I can say that weve had very a frank discussion on that, just the two of us. You consider that the Iranian deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), the one negotiated in 2015 with Iranis a bad deal We therefore wish, from now on, to work on a new deal with Iran. He laid out what he claimed a new treaty with Iran would have to address: What we need is to cover four topics. The first one is to block any nuclear activity by Iran until 2025. This is feasible thanks to the JCPOA. The second is to make sure that, in the long run, there is no nuclear Iranian activity. The third fundamental topic is to be able to put an end to the ballistic activities of Iran in the region. And the fourth one is to generate the conditions for a solutiona political solution to contain Iran in the regionin Yemen, in Syria, in Iraq and in Lebanon. The position outlined by Macron constitutes a reckless threat against Iran that risks provoking a violent clash between it and the NATO powers. It amounts to an ultimatum to Iran that, despite the victory of its forces fighting alongside pro-regime forces on the ground in Syria, it must completely surrender to US and European terms. The Iranian regime has previously stated that it will oppose limits on its ballistic missile program. The US and French presidents, shaken by their defeat in Syria, are indicating that they will stop at nothing to crush opposition to US-led imperialist hegemony in the Middle East. After a quarter-century of war in the Middle East since the Stalinist dissolution of the Soviet Union eliminated the main counterweight to US military action, millions have been killed or displaced in wars from Iraq and Afghanistan to Libya, Syria and Yemen. Yet what is being prepared is an even greater escalation, as the NATO powers threaten Iran and, implicitly, its ally Russia. Asked by Agence France-Presse why he suddenly changed his position on the Iranian nuclear treaty after telling Fox News that he had no Plan B ready if the treaty was scrapped, Macron brazenly denied that he had used the term Plan B in relation to the Iranian nuclear treaty. I usually refer to the fact that there is no Plan B planet, he said. It was about climate rather than Iran. He then went on to insist that the final decision on the Iranian nuclear treaty rested with Washington. Now, regarding Iran, he declared, Ive always been coherent, and you can go back to what I said at the UN General Assembly in September. I always said that there was the JCPOA, but we needed to add three pillars post-2025including the ballistic issue and regional influence. I do not know what President Trump will decide regarding the JCPOA and it is his responsibility. The resistance movement of teachers in the United States is entering a new stage. On Thursday, nearly 60,000 educators in Arizona are scheduled to launch the first statewide teachers strike in the history of that southwestern state. They are demanding a 20 percent raise and the restoration of more than $1 billion in school funding cuts over the last decade. On Friday, thousands of teachers in neighboring Colorado are expected to converge on the state capitol in Denver to demand improved wages and pensions. On Tuesday, 3,000 teaching and research assistants began a four-day strike at Columbia University in New York City. The wave of teachers strikes, which began in West Virginia and Oklahoma over the last two months, is an expression of an objective process with far-reaching consequences. As the Trump administration and its opponents in the ruling class remain locked in a ferocious conflict centered on issues of foreign policy and war, an altogether different conflict has emerged between the working class and the entire capitalist ruling elite. The teachers revolt in the US is part of an international resurgence of the class struggle that has drawn in educators and public- and private-sector workers across Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australia. The decades-long period in which the unions could suppress the class strugglegiving the ruling class a free hand to drive down the social position of the working class and transfer wealth to the corporate and financial oligarchyis coming to an end. The teachers strikes are the precursors of immense class battles on the horizon. This makes it all the more urgent that teachers and the entire working class carefully review the lessons of the struggle up to this point. First, as the World Socialist Web Site anticipated and warned, the development of the class struggle has placed workers in direct opposition to the pro-capitalist and corporatist syndicates that call themselves trade unions. The struggles of teachers were initiated by rank-and-file workers, not the unions. Far from leading the resistance, the National Education Association (NEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and their state affiliates have functioned as strikebreakers on behalf of the corporate and political establishment. In both West Virginia and Oklahoma, the unions proceeded from the same playbook. First they opposed teachers going on strike, and then, when they were not able to stop it, they worked systematically to isolate, smother and crush the strikes. As one Oklahoma teacher observed, The OEA [Oklahoma Education Association] ran out in front of our train, which was gaining momentum, and started acting like they were leading the train, and then said they were stopping the train. In both states, the union executives put into practice the principle they spelled out in their argument to the US Supreme Court in the case of Janus v. AFSCME, which threatens to ban contracts requiring that public employees who choose not to join the union nevertheless pay so-called agency or union security fees to the union bureaucrats. Union security is the tradeoff for no strikes, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) lawyer declared. AFT President Randi Weingarten went even further in comments to the Washington Post when she warned the Supreme Court justices that the type of activism and political action seen among West Virginia teachers will be multiplied and magnified across the country if the financial stability of the unions is further weakened. The NEA and AFT are playing the same role in Arizona, Colorado and other states. Whatever meager pay increases teachers receive will be paid for by slashing other essential services and imposing regressive taxes on workers, while leaving the cash hoards of the gas, coal and oil industries unscathed. The unions are, above all, determined to prevent the unification of the struggles of teachers in different states, and the struggle of teachers with those of other sections of the working class. Second, the strikes in West Virginia and Oklahoma revealed the role of auxiliary agents of the unions, including those running nominally independent Facebook groups, which won support from teachers who were initially able to express through them their opposition to poverty wages and school cuts and their support for strike action. However, the individuals leading Oklahoma Teachers United and Oklahoma Teacher WalkoutThe Time is Now!, like those who currently lead Arizona Educators United (AEU), handed control of the movement to the unions and the Democratic Party. The leader of OTU, who has close connections to the International Socialist Organization (ISO), censored the WSWS on the reactionary grounds that the struggle for public education is not political. This was aimed at reinforcing the politics of the Democratic Party and cordoning teachers off from socialist politics, which insists that workers must break the stranglehold of the two corporate-controlled parties and build a politically independent movement of the working class against the banks and big business. After ignoring workers in red states like West Virginia and Oklahoma, whom they denounced as racist Trump supporters, the ISO, the Democratic Socialists of America and similar upper-middle-class groups around the Democratic Party are now doing everything they can to reassert the control of the unions over the working class. The teachers strikes, the ISOs Socialist Worker website recently wrote, point toward a strategy for public-sector unions to survive if the Janus Supreme Court decision comes down as expected. That is, they hope that the struggle of teachers, which has developed in opposition to the unions, can be redirected to bolster the unions authority. Third, the struggle of teachers and the entire working class brings them into direct conflict with the Democratic and Republican parties and the entire state apparatus, which represents the interests of the ruling class. At every rally, union bureaucrats shout ad nauseam the stupidest of all slogans, Remember in November. That is, teachers should shut down their struggle and take up an electoral campaign for the Democratic Party. The line of the unions and their political allies is that the crisis of public education is entirely the fault of the Republicans. This position was summed up Tuesday by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who claimed that the war on education, and in particular a war on school teachers, is being waged solely by right-wing Republicans. While acknowledging that teachers wages have been falling since the mid-1990s, Krugman left out the fact that the war against teachers has conducted no less ruthlessly by Democratic governors and presidents, from Clinton to Obama. While the Republicans have sought to undermine the unions, the Democrats have relied on the NEA, AFT and other unions to suppress strikes and implement their corporate-driven school reform agenda, including merit pay and charter schools. The NEA and AFT are constituent parts of the Democratic Party, with AFT President Weingarten (annual income, $500,000) serving on the Democratic National Committee. From these lessons, the following tasks emerge. First, teachers and all workers require independent and democratic organizations of struggle: rank-and-file committees that are completely independent of the unions. These committees will provide a means for linking up struggles across state and national lines and mobilizing teachers throughout the US and internationally in a common movement. The struggle of teachers requires not only the moral support of workers in other industriesincluding autoworkers, telecommunication workers, health care workers, service workers and public-sector workersbut their active participation. Every section of the working class faces the same issues and the same enemies. The organization of factory and workplace committees is the prerequisite for the preparation of a general strike. Second, the eruption of the class struggle must be developed into a conscious political movement against the capitalist system and its state. As teachers are coming to realize, any effort to implement desperately needed social reforms requires the expropriation of the fortunes of the capitalist oligarchy and a frontal assault on the dictatorship of the banks and giant corporations. Such measures are impossible, however, so long as the capitalist class holds state power. The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality seek to broaden support for the teachers among all sections of the working class, raise the class consciousness of workers, clarify the political issues raised by the struggle, and explain the connection between the teachers strikes and the struggle against capitalism and for socialism in the United States and internationally. Recent reports in the Seattle Times illustrate the way that the unions function essentially as labor contractors, offering up workers as a cheap labor force and suppressing resistance in exchange for the right to extract dues payments. According to the Times, unionized baggage handlers employed by Alaska Airlines subsidiary McGee Air Services and cargo-ramp workers directly employed by Alaska Airlines have been working for less than the minimum wage levels established by local ordinances in the cities of SeaTac, Washington; San Francisco and San Jose, California. In SeaTac, McGee baggage handlers earn 20 cents less than the present minimum of $15.64 an hour while new hires start at only $14.94 per hour. Alaska Airlines workers who unload and load cargo planes start at a measly rate of only $11.74 per hour. The work is backbreaking and grueling, and quite frequently done under adverse weather conditions. The attrition rate is high. Alaska guarantees that bags will be delivered to luggage carousels within 20 minutes of the plane landing, thus creating onerous speedup conditions for the handlers. In 2013 residents of the city of SeaTac voted for Proposition 1, which mandated employers in the hospitality and transportation industries pay approximately 6,000 workers at least $15 per hour. SeaTac was one of the first municipalities to implement this ordinance in the US. The $15 per hour minimum wage effort resulted from the legitimate grievances of some of the most exploited sections of the working class but was subverted by the unions, specifically the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), as a way of lining their pockets with the dues money of the workers. Five years ago, the $15 minimum was a paltry sum in every part of the country, especially in Seattle, whose cost-of-living index trails only New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Now $15 an hour is a starvation wage, leaving airport workers needing food stamps and housing assistance just to survive, condemning them to a hand-to-mouth existence. Alaska, which had a net income of just over $1 billion for 2017, has been able to egregiously exploit the baggage handlers and cargo-ramp workers through the anti-worker, corporatist policies of the unions. After laying off 900 managers, mechanics, and plane cleaners in late 2004, Alaska initially demanded more than $2 million in concessions in the 2005 contract negotiations. Then Alaska, with no opposition from the International Association of Machinists (IAM), outsourced its baggage handling to Menzies Aviation, a nonunion vendor. The already penurious wages of the baggage handlers were slashed by 40 percent. Alaska then demanded $112 million in concessions from the pilots and flight attendants. The airline also closed the flight attendant base in Portland, Oregon, forcing the flight attendants to relocate, commute from Portland on their own time, or quit. In August of 2008, a federal arbitrator ruled that Alaskas offloading of the baggage handling operation was in violation of its contract with the IAM. In December of 2013, Alaska and local businesses filed a motion in King County Superior Court to strike down the ordinance. The court upheld the ordinance but ruled that some 4,700 workers employed by vendors, contractors, and car rental outfits were not covered by the law. King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvas stated that the ordinance was not enforceable at the airport because of a decades-old law which granted the Port of Seattle sole jurisdiction over airport operations. In August of 2015, the Washington State Supreme Court overturned Darvas decision in a 5-to-4 judgement, but then the workers had to file class-action lawsuits to win back pay due them from January 1, 2014. Menzies Aviation agreed to pay $8.2 million in back wages to 738 then current and previous employees while Prospect International Airport Services, a provider of assistance to the handicapped and luggage handling, paid out $1.98 million to 291 then current and former employees. The awards were not made until a year later in September of 2016. In February of 2016, SeaTac workers filed class action lawsuits on behalf of 1,500 workers against 14 companies for being paid less than the $15 per hour minimum. Included in the list of companies are the Hertz, Fox, National, and Alamo car rental agencies, GCA Services, Shuttle Express, baggage handlers Menzies Aviation and Bags Inc, international shipper Hanjin, aviation-services company ASIG, and other food service, logistics and rental car outfits. Some workers wages were as low as $9.75 per hour, with most getting only $12 an hour. Lawyers representing the cheated workers speculate that some employees were robbed of as much as a third of their income and had as much as $20,000 in unpaid salaries during the two years that the ordinance had been in effect. Many of the workers are immigrants who are challenged with respect to the English language and who also live in fear of retaliation from their employers. On January 11 of 2017, US District Judge Robert Lasnik ordered Menzies Aviation to pay out $8.2 million to the workers paid less than SeaTacs $15 per hour minimum wage requirement. That thousands of workers had to resort to legal action against such ruthless employers is a damning indictment of the unions. In May of 2017, just two months after the court ruled that airport workers were covered in general by the ordinance, Alaska ended its baggage handling contract with Menzies and restored it to McGee Air Services. The company was legally permitted to pay baggage handlers less than minimum wage due to the collective bargaining pact. SEIU Local 775 President David Rolf, one of the main proponents of Proposition 1, justified the exemption for unions claiming that it allowed for useful flexibility in labor negotiations. Rolf never specified what flexibility and how it benefitted workers. The only flexibility that the union bureaucracy has shown over the last 40 years is in bending to all the dictates of management. It is clear that the IAM agreed to the exemption in return for Alaska returning the baggage handling to McGee Aviation. Alaska contracts with other baggage handling vendors, pitting the workers of each subsidiary against those of other subsidiaries. Alaskas director of operations support, Cees Verkerk, stated that Menzies still handles baggage for Alaska in other US cities and Mexico and continues as a very strong business partner. Verkerk stated that Alaskas switching to McGee from Menzies would be considered on a case-by-case basis or, in other words, on the ability of one vendor to force down its labor costs lower than the other. The second exemption to the ordinance agreed to by the IAM involves the 75 cargo handlers directly employed by Alaska. The companys contract with the cargo handlers expires this year. The IAM has made it patently clear that Alaska can depend on it to do everything it can to betray the airport workers again. After the IAM agreed to the sweetheart contract with McGee Aviation in 2017, IAM Assistant Airline Coordinator James Carlson smugly stated that the union had formed a very collaborative relationship with the leadership of McGee. They seem like a good bunch of people that care about their workers. Actress Allison Mack has been granted bond in her sex trafficking case and will relocate to California where she will remain under house arrest as her prosecution proceeds, PEOPLE confirms. A federal judge in New York on Tuesday afternoon granted Macks release on $5 million bond, authorities say. Mack, 35, faces three charges in connection with Nxivm, a controversial self-help group based out of Albany, New York, whose co-founder Keith Raniere was arrested in Mexico in March on the same three accusations. Both Mack and Raniere, 57, are accused of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy for their alleged roles in running a secretive sub-group within Nxivm involving masters and slaves. Mack, who appeared for years as Chloe Sullivan on Smallville, faces at least 15 years in prison if convicted on all of her charges. She reportedly pleaded not guilty during her first court appearance in the case, in New York City, on Friday. She has previously discussed her connection with Raniere. Over the course of several years, Mr. Raniere mentored Allison in her study of acting and music, her website stated until her arrest (after which it was taken offline). It was unclear later Tuesday if Mack has yet posted her bond amount, authorities say. As a condition of her release, she will be under home detention and be monitored electronically. She will also be barred from associating with any former or current members of Nxivm. Allison Mack in 2017 Keith Raniere Once she is released, Mack will stay in the Central District of California, a court jurisdiction that covers both Central and Southern California, according to authorities. Authorities tell PEOPLE that Macks original bond request was denied Friday because the judge wanted to ensure a substantial monetary amount. The $5-million amount was agreed upon by both the defense and the prosecution. Macks next court date, a status conference on her case, is set for May 3. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Story continues On Friday, Mack and federal prosecutors disclosed that they were negotiating her possible plea. In a joint petition, obtained by PEOPLE, both sides asked the court to exclude the next several days from the larger period of time under which Macks speedy trial must begin. The application shows the parties sought the exclusion because they are engaged in plea negotiations, which they believe are likely to result in a disposition of this case without trial. The prosecution and defense require an exclusion of time in order to focus efforts on plea negotiations without the risk that they would not, despite their diligence, have reasonable time for effective preparation for trial, the petition continues. Allison Mack in 2010 A representative for Mack has declined to comment to PEOPLE on her arrest. Her attorney, Sean Stephen Buckley, has not returned requests for comment. Ranieres lawyer could not be reached by PEOPLE. He has yet to be arraigned. Nxivm did not respond to numerous requests for comment from PEOPLE but issued a statement in support of Raniere soon after his arrest, writing in part: We are currently working with the authorities to demonstrate his innocence and true character. In the fall, the group denounced a New York Times article about them as a criminal product of criminal minds. Dana Carvey impersonated George H.W. Bush for a number of years on Saturday Night Live, but says he still had a great relationship with the 41st U.S. president. The 62-year-old comedian was a guest on Monday's Conan, and talked about spending time with Bush and his wife, Barbara, who died just last week at 92. While the late show was taping, Carvey and host Conan O'Brien heard that the 93-year-old former politician was hospitalized for a blood infection. "We had so many warm moments, Carvey recalled. It was a different time; it wasnt scorched earth, angry politics." Carvey said he and his wife were even invited to the White House when Bush was in office. "We really hung out with them," he shared. "Id never seen a marriage that was so effortless. They were so much fun together." Further gushing over George and Barbara Bush, Carvey continued, "They did not demonize the other side. It was a different time. I just love them and wish the best for everybody." Barbara Bush, the former first lady and mother of former president George W. Bush, died on April 17, following the announcement that she had decided to forego further medical treatments for her failing health and spend her remaining days with family. Over the weekend, her funeral was attended by all living former presidents, including her husband, their son George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as former first ladies Laura Bush, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama. First lady Melania Trump also came out to pay respects on behalf of herself and President Donald Trump. Here's more on the life and legacy of the late Barbara Bush: RELATED CONTENT: Jenna Bush Hager Remembers Late Grandmother Barbara Bush: This Force of a Woman Melania Trump Happily Poses With The Obamas and The Clintons at Barbara Bush's Funeral Barbara Bush Dead at 92: A Look Back at the Former First Lady's Life and Impact Related Articles: By J'na Jefferson A viral promposal from a Sarasota, Florida high school student is now under investigation by his school district, due to the blatant racism it portrays. To ask his girlfriend to prom, Noah Crowley, 18, of Riverview High School made a sign involving a slavery joke that read: If I was black, Id be picking cotton, but Im white, so Im picking u 4 prom. Shortly after, the girl, Isabella, posted the picture to Snapchat with two heart-eye emojis. According to the Herald Tribune, the photo made rounds around the school, and Crowley and his parents were spoken to by the administration. School district spokeswoman Tracey Beeker confirmed that the sign was under investigation by the district, and additionally, the district is talking with local and national civic organizations to determine the best opportunities for creating a conversation about racial relations. [The post] was racial in nature and the administration became aware of it last night, said Riverview acting principal Kathy Wilks in a mass call to the families of students. Many who saw the post are understandably upset with its contents as well as the subsequent commentary to the post. Riverview High School absolutely does not condone or support the message conveyed in this post. It shows that racism is still alive and well in our society, and it shows that racism is still alive in my generation and it is something that we as the youth will have to continue to fight against, said senior Anton Kernohan, who told reporters that everyone hes talked to at school was disgusted by the sign. According to social media posts from students at the school, there is a race war of sorts occurring at Riverview. Crowley not only made the racist sign, but he allegedly threw a banana at a mixed race student and told him to go fetch. [School administrators are] letting these kids walk freely around expressing racism a post said. Story continues WHOOOOOS KID? on what EARTH is this okay? Mr Noah Crowley from Riverview High, i HOPE you get banned from going to that prom pic.twitter.com/6Re8J923yv Trinity (@t_homie13) April 23, 2018 He also threw a banana at a mixed race student and told him to fetch it. According to a student at #Riverviewhighschool, racist acts have been happening for 2 wks. Officials said they have a right to say what they want. #noahcrowley Reese (@Mshadz) April 24, 2018 What about addressing what goes on beyond the photo? pic.twitter.com/k6863w7VUe Devin Siebold (@DevinSiebold) April 23, 2018 This post Florida Student Under Investigation After Racist Promposal Goes Viral first appeared on Vibe. Guillermo del Toro is mourning the deaths of three film students from his hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico. Aspiring directors Javier Salomon Aceves Gastelum, Daniel Diaz, and Marco Avalo went missing on March 19 while filming a project near the city of Tonala during their Spring Break vacation. All three filmmakers were students at the Universidad de Medios Audiovisuales. Authorities confirmed this week the students were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which is one of the largest drug gangs in all of Mexico. CJNG gunmen reportedly confused the teenagers with members from a rival gang. The students bodies were dissolved in acid. Words are not enough to understand the dimension of this madness, del Toro wrote on Twitter after the tragic deaths were confirmed. Three students are killed and dissolved in acid. The why is unthinkable, the as is frightening. Read More:Guillermo del Toro Picks 11 Criterion Collection Movies You Need to See The Oscar-winning filmmaker has used his social media page over the last month to raise awareness about the three students disappearance. Kidnappings in the state of Jalisco (Guadalajara is the capital) are all too common, with 5,000 disappearances reported as of February 2018, according to NBC News. Reports estimate that 36% of all missing peoples are ages 16 to 28 years old. Apparently students being disappeared and dissolved in acid in Mexico is so normal that the fact that Jalisco government has declared this was the fate of Javier, Marco & Daniel has barely made international headlines and caused little stir in national ones, read a tweet that del Toro shared to his 1.4 million followers. Del Toro has been using the hashtags #NoSonTresSomosTodxs (which means were not three, its all of us) and #LosTresEstudiantesDeCine (which means the three film students) in an attempt to make the news story a trending topic around the world. His Twitter page is full of news stories about the murdered students and re-Tweets sharing information about the tragedy. Story continues The director shared a tweet by British journalist Duncan Tucker: Apparently the film students were shooting a homework project at a property in Guadalajara, which, unbeknownst to them, was a cartel safe house. It seems thats all it takes to get you killed and dissolved in acid in Mexico today. The disappearances of the students launched numerous protests and calls to action in Jalisco over the last month. Other students at the Universidad de Medios Audiovisuales published a video online on March 23 asking for help in finding their classmates. Both Avalo and Diaz were 20 years old, while Salomon was 25. Las palabras no alcanzan para entender la dimension de esta locura. 3 estudiantes son asesinados y disueltos en acido. El porque es impensable, el como es aterrador. Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 24, 2018 Sign Up:Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. Launch Gallery: 'The Shape of Water': 16 Beautiful Shots That Prove Guillermo Del Toro Is A Fairy Tale Master Related stories Jordan Peele Honors Guillermo del Toro in TIME 100 Essay: 'To Watch His Masterpieces Is an Experience in Wonder' Guillermo del Toro Makes Fox Searchlight His Studio Home Following 'The Shape of Water' Oscar Wins 'Pacific Rim Uprising' Review: This Bland Sequel Is Only a Minor Improvement on Guillermo del Toro's Original The Kardashians are taking a moment to reflect on their cultural roots. Kim Kardashian West, 37, and her brother Rob Kardashian, 31, took to Twitter to remind followers that Tuesday is Armenias Genocide Remembrance Day. Today marks 103 years since the start of the #ArmenianGenocide perpetrated by the Turkish Ottoman Empire that killed up to 1.5 million Armenians. Turkey to this day denies a genocide took place, read a post retweeted by Kim and Rob. Kim Kardashian in Armenia On Monday, Kim applauded Armenian citizens after Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned after 11 days of protest. Its so inspiring to see all Armenians united in peaceful protests making a difference. Its a historic day for Armenia, the mother of three captioned a photo of herself from a 2015 family trip to the country. I used this image of me in Armenia because this woman touched my heart and to me she represents the heart of so many strong Armenians! Its so inspiring to see all Armenians united in peaceful protests making a difference. Its a historic day for Armenia. ?????????????? I used this image of me in Armenia because this woman touched my heart and to me she represents the heart of so many strong Armenians! pic.twitter.com/a00Z5al46N Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) April 23, 2018 Today marks 103 years since the start of the #ArmenianGenocide perpetrated by the Turkish Ottoman Empire that killed up to 1.5 million Armenians. Turkey to this day denies a genocide took place. pic.twitter.com/VZ0QX6a3j2 Armenian Genocide (@Genocideof1915) April 24, 2018 Robert Kardashian Sr., who died in 2003, was Armenian: Kims great-great-grandparents immigrated to Los Angeles in 1914, just one year prior to the genocide. Story continues We have no existing family left in Armenia. Had they not escaped, we wouldnt be here, she wrote in a 2015 piece for Time. There are so many people who lost their families, and the stories of how they were killed are so heartbreakingthey should never be forgotten. The whole point of remembering the genocide is to make sure it doesnt happen again. A million-and-a-half people were brutally massacred, and a country can just pretend like it never happened? I dont think thats right. RELATED: Inside Kim Kardashians Emotional Family Trip to Armenia The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star visited Armenia with sister Khloe, husband Kanye West and daughter North in 2015. The trip was filmed for the familys hit E! show and coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. My family wanted to go back to Armenia for the longest time, Kim wrote for Time. My dad would have loved to go. My grandparents would have loved to go. My great-grandparents would have loved to go. None of them were able to go. RELATED VIDEO: Kourtney and Kim Kardashian Join Cher at Premiere of Armenian Genocide Film The Promise During the trip, they visited their dilapidated ancestral home and saw the Mother Armenia statue in Yerevan, a memorial commemorating the victims of the Armenian genocide. The Mother Armenia statue symbolizes peace through strength, wrote Khloe in the caption of an Instagram photo. The Mother Armenia statue symbolizes peace through strength. It can remind viewers of some of the prominent female figures in Armenian history. Who took up arms to help their husbands in their clashes with Turkish troops and Kurdish irregulars. I am woman hear me roar! Blessed to be here!!! The trip also included a meeting with then-Armenian Prime Minister, Hovik Abrahamyan. He expressed how proud they are that we are proud Armenians and we have not forgotten our roots! Kim tweeted of their conversation. Stephen Colbert mocked President Donald Trump on Tuesday after his wife appeared to reject his attempts to show affection. The awkward exchanges happened during a photo-op on the South Lawn Tuesday afternoon as the president and first lady, Melania Trump, welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, according to social media footage. Cameras recorded the president as he worked to grab Melania's hand, which she appeared to move away from his. Trump even wiggled his pinky finger toward her at one point, but she still refused to clasp hands with him. "Trump tried to hold Melania's hand. And -- nope! She is not having it, man," Colbert said during his opening monologue on "The Late Show." "He's, like, trying to arouse a dead trout. You can't blame her, though. She watches '60 minutes.' She knows where that hand has been. Allegedly. "Trump is like, 'Come on, Melania, I want to hold your hand!' It reminds me of that Beatles song." TONIGHT: Stephen can hardly contain his excitement as the Trump family hosts French President Macron and his wife for this administration's first White House state dinner. #LSSC pic.twitter.com/M1ysoJDNan The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) April 25, 2018 Colbert, who played a clip of the cringeworthy exchange, also showed his audience video that purportedly showed the first lady reject a kiss from her husband during the well-publicized state visit. "Trump goes in for the kiss and -- oh, saved by the hat!" Colbert said, referring to the first lady's broad-brimmed hat. "That is more than a hat. That is a defensive perimeter. Their deal is, either she wears the hat, or Trump has to wear a cone." She REALLY didnt want to hold his hand... pic.twitter.com/CWUeDlN6RE UnsilentMajority ?? (@The_UnSilent_) April 24, 2018 The Macrons' visit marked the Trump administration's first state dinner after the president closed out his first year in office without receiving a foreign leader on a state visit, the first U.S. president in nearly 100 years to fail to do so, according to the Associated Press. Danish inventor Peter Madsen was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison today for killing and sexually abusing Swedish journalist Kim Wall. Wall, 30, had disappeared in mid-August 2017 after boarding Madsen's submarine while researching a story. Her remains were later found in plastic bags in the Bay of Koge, southwest of Copenhagen, but authorities have been unable to establish a specific cause of death. Madsen "brought a saw, knife, sharpened screwdrivers, straps, strips and pipes" aboard his submarine as part of a plan to kill Wall, the prosecutor has said. PHOTO: A courtroom sketch shows Peter Madsen during the trial regarding the killing of Swedish journalist Kim Wall in Copenhagen, Denmark, April 25, 2018. (Anne Gyrithe Sch'tt/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) The main charges against Madsen, 47, were murder, indecent handling of a corpse and "sexual relations other than intercourse of a particularly dangerous nature." He was found guilty of all three. The prosecutor had asked for a life sentence for Madsen. People who receive a life sentence in Denmark spend 16 years in prison on average. A life sentence is the harshest penalty in Denmark and is normally reserved for people convicted of more than one murder. "In determining the punishment, the court emphasized that it was a cynical and planned sexual assault and killing of a very brutal character on a random woman who, in connection with her journalistic work, had accepted an offer of a trip in the defendant's submarine," the City Court of Copenhagen said in a statement in Danish released after the verdict. Madsen plans to appeal the verdict, defense attorney Betina Hald Engmark told reporters today. Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen said he is satisfied with the verdict. "I think it was crucial to the court that it was a premeditated murder and that there are sexual violations of serious character," he told reporters. When asked what it was like to work on a case of this nature, Buch-Jepsen said it has affected him more than others. "I am not made of steel so, of course, this case affects me on a personal level, but I have a professional role I need to carry out," he said. "But there's no doubt that after going home from work, this case has gotten under my skin more than other cases." Story continues PHOTO: Press gather outside of the courthouse for the verdict in the case of Peter Madsen, in Copenhagen, April 25, 2018. (Mads Claus Rasmussen /Ritzau Scanpix via AP) PHOTO: This file photo taken on Aug. 13, 2017 shows police technicians investigating the rescued private owned submarine UC3 Nautilus, in Copenhagen Habour. (Jens Noergaard Larse/AFP/Getty Images, FILE) Journalist who died on submarine texted 'I'm still alive' day she disappeared As Kim Wall's murder trial begins, friends seeking 'justice' hope her legacy empowers women journalists Submarine inventor accused of killing journalist Kim Wall says he dismembered her body, police say Madsen, who has offered shifting explanations about what happened on the submarine, had denied abusing and killing Wall, but admitted dismembering her body and pleaded guilty to the indecent handling of a corpse charge. His defense lawyer had said he should only be found guilty of indecent handling of a corpse, which carries a jail term of up to six months in Denmark. She said the prosecutor hasn't proved Madsen murdered Wall. Wall graduated with a bachelor's degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She then obtained a dual master's degree in journalism and international relations from Columbia University in New York City. PHOTO: Kim Wall, left, and Justin Chan are seen in this undated photo in New York, New York. (Justin Chan) She traversed the globe to cover stories about, as she described, "the undercurrents of rebellion." Before her death, she reported on identity, gender, pop-culture, social justice and foreign policy from China, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Haiti, North Korea, India as well as the United States and the Marshall Islands. Updated February 12, 2019 Less than a year after Hawaii voted to ban all chemical sunscreens known to harm the coral reef, Key West has officially decided upon a similar vote. The Key West City Commission has decided that the sale of sunscreens containing oxybenzone or octinoxatetwo ingredients linked to coral bleachingwill officially be banned within city limits, the Miami Herald reports. The new ban, which is set to go into effect in January, 2021, is intended to protect North America's only living coral reef, which is located about six miles off the keys. "We have one reef, and we have to do one small thing to protect that," said Mayor Teri Johnston. "It's our obligation." While this ban only affects Key West and does not apply to anywhere else in the state of Florida, we can't help but wonder if other areas in the state will push for the same ban. Only time will tell. Updated May 6, 2018 It's official: Hawaii has banned all chemical sunscreens deemed dangerous to the coral reef. On May 1, Hawaii became the first state to pass a bill prohibiting the distribution of sunscreens containing the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate due to their harmful effects on both the coral reef and other marine life, the New York Times reports. With an estimated 14,000 tons of sunscreen deposited into the ocean every year, scientists believe this ban is vital to saving the already-damaged coral reef. The new bill will officially go into effect January 1, 2021 and has already caused major waves within the sunscreen industry, mainly because these banned chemicals are currently used in over 3,500 sunscreen products. With Hawaii's steps to reduce the degradation of the coral reefs officially in motion, it's only a matter of time until other states follow suit. We'll be sure to update if more information arises. Originally Published April 24, 2018 Its not uncommon for some long-standing beauty products to eventually become bannedafter all, sometimes ingredients are found to be harmful to humans long after the product has been put on shelves. However, Hawaii is now proposing to ban a product for a totally different reason that's unrelated to its effect on humans. More specifically, Hawaii wants to remove certain sunscreens from stores due to their detrimental consequences on the coral reef. Story continues Newly proposed Senate Bill 2571 is aiming to prohibit the sale and distribution of any sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate, which scientists say damage reefs and are toxic to marine life. You May Also Like: The FDA Now Recommends This Once-Illegal Product As proof, Craig Brown, executive director of Haereticus Environmental Laboratory, conducted a study of Hanauma Bay in Oahu to determine the levels of harmful oxybenzone in the water. The research revealed that the lowest levels of oxybenzone were 30-parts-per-trillion and the highest levels were 29,000-parts-per-trillion. However, Downs claims the toxic limit of the ingredient is 10-parts-per-trillion, proving that these high levels of toxins could completely kill the reef. If it continues, all of the near shore stone structures or reef structures will begin to disappear within the next 10 to 15 years," Downs told Honolulu local newstation, KHON2. "That will cause massive erosion of the beach when you get a swell. The pollution will cause Hanauma Bay to lose its value as a major tourism attraction." However, not everyone is supporting the ban. Tina Yamaki, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, doesnt believe there are enough sunscreens on the market to allow this ban: "We are conscious about the environment and the aina [land], but we also have to have a balance on that too," Yamaki said. "People have to be able to use sunscreen to prevent skin cancer and that's what we are looking at...now they're going to be very limited in what they can use." State lawmakers must make a decision by April 27 and, if passed, the ban would go into effect in July 2019. An employee at Lucky Juju holds a JUUL vape in his hand. The store started stocking the vapes last month, and Purington said that they are flying off the shelves because they are discreet, easy to use, and powerful. (Photo: Getty Images) Its been a big month for the e-cigarette brand JUUL and not necessarily a good one. First there was the robust New York Times piece, detailing rampant teen use of the e-cigarette at schools nationwide. Next, news from the Food and Drug Administration that it was ramping up efforts to stem the tide. Today # FDA is announcing several new actions and efforts to stop youth use of, and access to, JUUL and other e-cigarettes, the FDAs head, Scott Gottlieb, said in a Twitter thread. We mustand willmove quickly to address the surging youth uptake of JUUL and other products. #FDAs actions on youth e-cigarette use include retailer blitz to crack down on illegal sale of JUUL to minors. Were also requiring JUUL Labs to submit important documents to better understand reportedly high rates of youth use/appeal of these products: https://t.co/vlwBMXvLK1 Scott Gottlieb, M.D. (@SGottliebFDA) April 24, 2018 Then on Wednesday came an announcement from the company itself that it will support raising the minimum purchasing age for tobacco to 21, as well as hand over $30 million over the next three years to fund independent research, youth and parent education, and community engagement efforts. Finally, in perhaps the most telling development of all, a letter from the companys CEO on its website. Let me be clear: we do not want teens or any other non-smokers to ever use our product. Im not only a JUUL employee, but more importantly I am a parent of teenagers, the letter from Kevin Burns reads. I never want my 18-year-old-son or 15-year-old daughter to try JUUL. The product was designed with adult smokers in mind and their need to break the grip of cigarette dependency. Whether or not the product was designed strictly for adults, as Burn alleges, remains to be seen. (The company had not responded to Yahoo Lifestyles request for more information at the time of publishing). But the claim is one critics have dismissed in the past. Who over 25 is looking for creme brulee as part of a smoking experience? a child psychiatrist said to the New York Times in February. Story continues But if the companys marketing techniques remain a mystery, their hold over young people does not. In some ways, the story of JUUL is one of a perfect storm. The product, created by the founders of the popular Pax (cannabis) vaporizer, hit the market in 2015, just one year after e-cigarette use surpassed all other forms of tobacco use among teens. When a survey at the time (later published in a 2016 Surgeon Generals report) asked teens why they were trying it, they answered: curiosity and flavor. Enter JUUL, an enticing nicotine alternative thateven todayis in a class all its own. The small device is affordable ($50), discreet, and incredibly potent. At 59 mg/mL of nicotine in each pod, it offers twice the nicotine of many e-cigarettesthe equivalent of a pack of cigarettes in 200 puffs. Add to that flavored cartridges, with names like cool cucumber and creme brulee, and youve got a fan base. The problem is, the things that make JUULing (the term now used for smoking JUULs) dangerous, are the same things that make it attractive. Its small, sleek design resembles a USB flash drive, allowing students to sneak it easily into school. Its powerful dose of nicotine creates only a tiny puff of smoke, making it easy for teens to use everywhere from the school bathroom to their own. For all of these reasonsand probably for others, too young people have been flocking to JUUL for years. But although it may appear like a safe, fun alternative to cigarette smoking, studies have shown that JUUL and other e-cigarettes come with their own risks. A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine this year found that e-cigaretteswhile safer than cigarettesstill emit dangerous toxins and carcinogens. Another from the journal Pediatrics this April tied e-cigarette use among non-smoking teenagers to later, regular use of cigarettes in the same population. These studies, and the many that have preceded them, raise serious red flags about not only teen use of JUUL, but of other e-cigarettes. But these concerns, according to the New York Times piece this month, dont seem to worry their teen devotees. I like the feeling of it. The lightheadedness. It makes me feel sober and high at the same time, a high school student named Sebastian told the Times. Plus it looks sleek you smoke it, you look kind of bougie. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Legendary investor Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is bullish on the potential of women in the U.S. to boost the economy. I have two sisters that are absolutely smart as I am and better personalities, Buffett told Yahoo Finances editor-in-chief Andy Serwer in a wide-ranging interview. And, they were born around my time of 1930. And they were told, Marry early and marry well. According to Buffett, 87, that was the unseen message his sisters received growing up. I mean, nobody ever said it that way. So, I have seen half of the United States talent basically put off to the side, he said. That means that women hold the key to unlocking economic growth in the U.S. A recent report from S&P Global argued that promoting the entry and retention of more women in the workforce in the U.S., particularly in STEM fields, could create a substantial growth opportunity, with the potential to add 5% to 10% to nominal GDP in a just few decades. Its one of the things that makes me optimistic about America because when I look at what we have accomplished using half our talent for a couple of centuries, and now I think of doubling the talent that is effectively employed or at least has the chance to be it makes me very optimistic about this country, Buffett said. Watch Warren Buffett LIVE at the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting exclusively on the Yahoo Finance app and desktop. Coverage begins May 5 at 9:45am ET. Set a reminder now! Berkshire Hathaways annual meeting will be held on May 5. Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter. A Dallas police officer has died and another remains in critical condition after a shooting at a Home Depot on Tuesday. A civilian guard was also critically injured, according to authorities. Officer Rogelio Santander, 27, died Wednesday morning, the Dallas Police Department told multiple media outlets. The other officer, 26-year-old Crystal Almeida, remains in critical condition. The wounded civilian, a Home Depot loss prevention officer, has not been identified. The two officers were responding to a call from an off-duty officer to assist in an arrest at the store late Tuesday afternoon, Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall told reporters at a news conference that day. Hall did not disclose details of the shooting, but said the gunman had fled the scene. Fire Dallas Rescue took the injured officers to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The off-duty officer was not injured. Hall said at a later news conference on Tuesday evening that the three people whod been shot were out of surgery. She asked for continued prayers for them and their families. We can confirm that two @DallasPD officers have been shot and critically wounded. We will provide updates as we get them. Please pray for our officers and their families. Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) April 24, 2018 A civilian was also shot in this incident. The condition of the civilian is unknown at this time. Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) April 24, 2018 The Dallas Police Departments helicopter unit said that, after a lengthy car chase, a suspect was arrested in connection with the shooting about 9 p.m. on Tuesday. Hall confirmed that police officers spotted a white pickup matching the description of one linked to the shooting and chased the car to an area in northwest Dallas, where police officers were able to arrest 29-year-old Armando Juarez and a female passenger. Story continues Juarez, whom police had identified earlier Tuesday as a person of interest, was arrested and faces multiple counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, Hall said, adding that he had an outstanding warrant for felony theft. She did not release details on the female passenger. The Dallas Police Department worked with other state, local and federal officials to find Juarez, Hall said. Armando Juarez L/M/29, is a person of interest in the Attempted Capital Murder of 2 Police Officers that occurred at the Home Depot located at 11682 Forest Central Drive. Anyone with information regarding this offense is encouraged to contact 9-1-1 pic.twitter.com/rbmwmMv2JC Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) April 25, 2018 While addressing reporters on Tuesday, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings alluded to the sniper shootings in July 2016 that left five police officers in the city dead. That gunman, Micah Xavier Johnson, was an Army veteran who said he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers, according to the Dallas Police Department. Johnson was killed by police. Once again, Dallas is at the precipice looking into the hell of heartbreak as our police department was attacked this afternoon, Rawlings said during the news conference. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Los Angeles (AFP) - A 72-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of being the "Golden State Killer," a notorious rapist and murderer who terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s. Joseph James DeAngelo, of Citrus Heights, California, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with two counts of murder, officials said at a press conference in the state capital Sacramento. According to local television stations, DeAngelo was a former policeman. "The magnitude of this case demanded that it be solved," Sacramento County district attorney Anne Marie Schubert said at a press conference. "This case deeply affected this entire state." Schubert said DNA helped bring the authorities to DeAngelo 40 years after his first attack. "The answer was and always was going to be in the DNA," she said. Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said DeAngelo had been arrested for the February 2, 1978 murders of a newlywed couple, Brian Maggiore and his wife, Katie, who were shot to death in Rancho Cordova while walking their dog. Also known as the "East Area Rapist" and "Original Nightstalker," the Golden State Killer carried out at least 12 murders, more than 50 rapes and 120 home burglaries in California between 1976 and 1986, according to the FBI. His victims ranged in age from 13 to 41. "Everyone was afraid," FBI special agent Marcus Knutson was quoted on the FBI website as saying. "We had people sleeping with shotguns, we had people purchasing dogs. People were concerned, and they had a right to be. This guy was terrorizing the community. He did horrible things," Knutson said. The Golden State Killer was the subject of "I'll Be Gone in the Dark," a best-selling book published earlier this year by true crime writer Michelle McNamara. McNamara died two years ago at the age of 46 but her book helped spark renewed interest in the case. McNamara's husband, actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, welcomed the news of the arrest and said on Twitter he was flying to Sacramento for the press conference. Story continues "I hope you got him, Michelle," Oswalt tweeted. "I hope THEY got him." "She would be beyond excited about this. I think this is the definition of bittersweet," Oswalt said. - Last known attack in May 1986 - Two years ago, the FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. According to the FBI, the Golden State Killer carried out his attacks starting in the summer of 1976 in the suburbs of Sacramento, California's state capital. The assailant would break into homes during the night and tie up and rape his female victims, investigators said. He would take items from the residences including coins, cash, identification and jewelry. Most of the early attacks occurred in the area of Sacramento, but the FBI said DNA evidence had connected the suspect to a series of rapes and murders in the San Francisco Bay area and the southern part of the state. The last known case linked to the Golden State Killer was the May 1986 rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl in Irvine. The Golden State Killer's fifth victim, Jane Carson-Sandler, told The Island Packet newspaper that she had been informed by detectives that there had been an arrest. "I just found out this morning," she said. "I'm overwhelmed with joy. I've been crying, sobbing." Carson-Sandler was attacked by the Golden State Killer in her Citrus Heights home on October 5, 1976. She has written a book about the rape and appeared on a documentary aimed at catching the man behind it. Former Smallville cast member and accused sex trafficker Allison Mack was released on Tuesday to the custody of her parents in exchange for $5 million bail. The 35-year-old was charged with sex trafficking on Friday in connection with her alleged involvement with Nxivm (Nexium), an alleged cult run by Mack and founder Keith Raniere. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Judge Viktor Pohorelsky of U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York, said Mack would be allowed to travel only for court appearances, attorney meetings and other approved reasons. Mack is prohibited from using cellular services or the internet while she is at her parents home, and is forbidden from communicating with former or current members of Nxivm, according to NBC News. Authorities said Mack recruited women to join what she claimed was a female mentorship group called Jness. She and Raniere are accused of exploiting the women who joined, both sexually and for their labor, according to BuzzFeed. Mack was Ranieres direct slave but acted as master to other female members, often forcing them to have sex with Raniere and have his initials branded into their pubic region with a cauterizing pen, according to the criminal complaint obtained by the New York Post. During the branding, Mack told the women to feel the pain and to think of [their] master, the criminal complaint said. Mack is accused of cajoling her victims into posing for nude photos for Raniere, which reportedly were also used as blackmail. If convicted, Mack faces at least 15 years in prison, but People.com says the actress may be working on a plea deal. Once Mack is released, she is limited to the Central District of California, a jurisdiction that covers parts of Southern California up to the Central Coast, authorities told People.com. Her next court date is May 3. Also on HuffPost Actor John Scheneider poses with co-stars (L-R) Allison Mack, Kristin Kreuk and Annette O'Toole from the series "Smallville." at the network's summer All-Star party at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, July 15, 2001. The series depicts the classic Superman character as a teenaged Clark Kent. RMP/HK Actress Allison Mack, known for her role in the TV series "Smallville", departs after being granted bail following being charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy in New York, U.S., April 24, 2018. Ashley Boettcher (L) and Allison Mack Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Christine Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - As North and South Korea gear up for their first summit in over a decade this Friday, many South Koreans have lowered their expectations since previous summits, hoping for peace rather than any swift reunification. While often still couched in the rhetoric of eventual unification - especially by the North Koreans - this round of inter-Korean detente has seen South Korean President Moon Jae-in target peace and reconciliation as a more pragmatic goal. Moon will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the border village of Panmunjom in Friday's summit. Previous summits between the two sides were held in 2000 and 2007. To many South Koreans, the idea of unification has grown distant, if not far-fetched, over the 65 years since the war with North Korea ended in a truce. Legacies of the bloody Korean War, decades of military provocations and threats, and Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons have left deep divisions. There's no idea on how the autocratic Kim and his regime will fit into a unified Korea. At another level, the South has grown to become Asia's fourth-largest economy, leaving many South Koreans feeling they may have more to lose than gain from any merger with the poverty-stricken North. "South Korea now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with advanced countries after having climbed up from being one of the poorest countries in the world, thanks to the blood and sweat of our parents' generation," said Park Jung-ho, a 35-year-old office worker in Seoul. "After unification, everything will go back to as it was when we were a developing country," Park said. It was not possible to gauge how people in secretive North Korea feel about the summit. But the North's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said last week there was "steel-strong will for reunification" and described Kim as "the peerlessly great man taking the helm of the history and steering the trend of the world". In Seoul, office worker Suji Lee, 31, said unification would only bring about economic havoc in the South and suggested the two Koreas would be better off as separate countries. "Remoteness and damage," Lee said, when asked the first thing that came to mind when she thought of unification. An annual report by the Seoul National University (SNU) on how South Koreans perceive unification said South Koreans are roughly equally divided on whether unification is necessary, but the percentage of those who strongly support it has fallen steadily from when the report was first published in 2007. Last year, 53.8 percent of respondents said they view unification as "necessary," compared with more than 63 percent in 2007. SAME ETHNICITY The fact that Koreans on both sides of the peninsula are of the same ethnicity has always been the biggest reason for supporting unification, the report said, but this has lost backing over the years. In 2007, 50.7 percent of South Koreans who supported unification pointed to ethnic identity as the biggest reason, while in 2017, 40.3 percent did. Over the same period, reducing military tension has gained support as a reason for unification, according to the SNU survey. A quarterly poll conducted by the South's National Unification Advisory Council in March showed 50.3 percent of those surveyed believe denuclearization should be the top agenda at the summit, while easing military tensions followed with 36.8 percent. Those who projected unification would happen within the next decade accounted for 23.5 percent of those polled, while those who saw unification would never come accounted for 18.3 percent, the second largest portion. The rest of the respondents forecast unification in other time periods. Daniel Han, a 37-year-old who works for a state-run company, said he supported eventual unification because of the potential economic opportunities of a unified Korea. "There are many worries over the cost of unification, but when looking at the miracle on the Rhine in Germany, or the geopolitical location of the Korean peninsula, unification has more benefits than losses," Han said. Older South Koreans tend to lean more toward unifying the two Koreas, as they or their parents still remember what it was like when North and South were one. "We're the same people. We use the same language, we look the same. Of course we should unify," said 89-year-old Korean War veteran Kim Yong-cheol. "Why should we, as a same people, live as enemies? All we have to do is forgive a little." Corporate manager Kwon Tae-yun, 54, said he was for unification, although it could come at a price. "We would have more places to go on the weekend and could take the train to China, even to Europe," he said, since unification would provide a land link with China. "At the same time we probably won't get our pensions and I'll end up farming potatoes in the countryside." (Additional reporting by Hyunyoung Yi; Editing by Josh Smith and Raju Gopalakrishnan) The White Sands National Monument in New Mexico is a vast, barren landscape of sparklingly bright sand twisted by the wind into slowly morphing dunes. Between about 10,000 and 15,000 thousand years ago, it was a very different place, with large animals like mammoths, giant ground sloths and humans leaving ghostly footprints etched in the crusty ground. If scientists can catch sight of the delicate tracks, they can make incredible discoveries about the past. Scientists now believe humans stalked and then confronted a giant ground slothwith that story repeating itself several times over with different slothsthanks to a striking set of prints at White Sands. That finding was reported in a paper published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. It took some time for the team to recognize what they had foundat first it seemed like just one species had been present. It was when we suddenly realized that the two things were interacting that the story got really exciting, co-author Matthew Bennett, a scientist at Bournemouth University, in the U.K., who focuses on fossilized human footprints, told Newsweek. He was called in to analyze the traces after the discoverers of the new prints realized that humans had also been wandering across the site. Trending: Winds of Winter Release Date 2018? Nope, but GRRM Reveals Fire & Blood Related: Mammals have been shrinking for thousands of years and its all humans fault We did have some really nice sloth prints, co-author David Bustos, chief of resources at the White Sands National Monument and the person who first discovered the tracks, told Newsweek. You could see the claws and all the different features. These prints werent left by anything like the chill tree hangers alive today: Extinct giant ground sloths could reach 10 feet tall and weigh more than a ton. Scientists found the traces of bare human feet nestled inside some of those giant sloth paw prints. The scientists didn't see any evidence that the larger prints had been filled with water or dirt before the humans came through. That made them think the humans were purposely following in the footsteps of the sloth, perhaps stalking it as prey or even playing with it, although other experts say it's impossible to assign motives. Story continues As the scientists followed the paths of the tracks across the landscape, they saw that the sloths usually ambled along in more-or-less straight lines. But where human tracks lined up with the sloths, the animals started moving differently, stopping and veering abruptly, as if turning to face a threat. Don't miss: Rachel Weisz on Filming Vulnerable Lesbian Sex Scene with Rachel McAdams in Disobedience The sloth appears to have reared up on its hind legs and swung its arms behind it at whatever was following it in some sort of defensive gesture, Bennett said. How closely that story matches what really happened is difficult to know all these years later. Its impossible to say with any absolute certainty whats going on, said ReBecca Hunt-Foster, a paleontologist with the Bureau of Land Management who wasnt involved with the new research, adding that she thinks the authors interpretation overall makes sense. Sometimes we see animals making sharp turns that arent associated with any type of prey. The difference in behavior between sloth tracks on their own and sloth tracks near humans suggests the animals were there at the same time, at least, said Spencer Lucas, a paleontologist at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science who wasnt involved in the new research. He said hes hesitant, however, to agree with all of the details of the interpretation of the prints. The two species could have been responding to each other without explicit hunting having been involved, he said. These sloths were wild animals, so theyre probably not exactly excited to see people, Lucas said. Most popular: Nintendo E3 2018 Rumor: Booth to be Super Smash Bros. and Pokemon Themed 04_25_human_sloth_footprints Matthew Bennett, Bournemouth University And vice versa, he notes, given the huge size and dangerous claws of the sloths. The sloths were not the only animals that were concerned about the situation, he said. Those people would have been vigilant at the very least. Lucas adds that even though footprints are often overlooked, they can reveal the sort of action-packed scenario that scientists typically cant glean from skeletons. Barring rare exceptions like a fossilized bison with a spearpoint still sticking out from its ribs, typically remains just show that certain species lived in the same general region during a certain periodthey can't speak to actual interactions like hunting. The footprint is fossilized behavior, Lucas said. Footprints are going to give you a lot more than the bones usually do. Although fossilized interactions are rare, this isnt the only example of its typeHunt-Foster notes that there are dinosaur tracks near Moab, Utah, that show first a large meat-eating dinosaur passing through, then a large vegetarian dinosaur following precisely in its footsteps, suggesting some connection between the animals. If the scientists are right about their interpretation of the sloth and human prints, they reveal an incredibly vivid scene of these prehistoric interactions. Its close-quarter combat, Bennett said. Theres a dance, and its probably done to life and death, and its written in the mudso its a lovely story. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is facing fierce criticism from progressives who say his climate policies don't go far enough. (Photo: Spencer Platt via Getty Images) ALBANY, N.Y. Since 1970, New Yorks average statewide temperature has climbed 2.4 degrees Fahrenheit, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is just starting to feel the heat. On Friday, Cynthia Nixon, the activist and actor whose progressive primary challenge to Cuomos bid for a third term is garnering surging support, unveiled one of the most ambitious climate platforms in the nation, calling for 100 percent renewable energy, a ban on all new fossil fuel infrastructure and penalties for polluters. And on Monday, 19 buses carrying more than 1,500 activists from across the state converged on the state capital to protest Cuomos failure to do more about climate change in his eight years in office, and make demands that looked identical to Nixons platform. It was the largest environmental protest against Cuomo since anti-fracking activists staged demonstrations in 2014. The protest started in a historically black neighborhood on Albanys Sheridan Avenue. The state plans to build a 16-megawatt gas-fired power station there in the same location where, until 1994, a trash incinerator plant had showered the neighborhood with soot. Nixon joined the activists shortly after noon, and though she didnt formally address the crowd, she took photos with activists and spoke to reporters. The neighborhood has a really terrible racist history of environmental pollution, Nixon said, and reiterated her call to move the state to 100 percent renewable energy. Fracked gas is not a bridge to a cleaner energy economy. After a few speeches, the protesters marched about a mile under a blistering sun to the state capitol, chanting, Heyo Cuomo, walk the talk, the power of the people cannot be stopped to a tune similar to Queens We Will Rock You. To some, Cuomos status as a climate pariah may be surprising. In 2014, he put a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas in the state. In 2015, Al Gore joined the governor as he announced plans to cut the states greenhouse gases emissions 40 percent by 2030. Last June, Cuomo loudly rejected President Donald Trumps move to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, ramping up New Yorks pledge to produce half its electricity from renewables by 2030 and forging a new alliance with the governors of Washington and California to stick to the goals agreed to by former President Barack Obama. Climate change is a reality, and not to address it is gross negligence by government, said Cuomo, according to a new page on the state website with the banner: Environment Leadership. Story continues Cynthia Nixon, who is challenging Cuomo in September's Democratic primary, unveiled a climate platform Friday that wowed environmentalists who feel frustrated with the incumbent governor. (Photo: Shannon Stapleton / Reuters) But Cuomos policies still fail to meet even the baseline targets scientists say are needed to make a difference on global warming. His reduction targets focus exclusively on power plants, ignoring the majority of the states emissions that come from buildings and vehicles. He has no plan to get the state to 100 percent renewable electricity, and has offered little to protect low-income communities and neighborhoods of color that suffer most from the impacts of climate change. The states pension funds remain invested in fossil fuels, and polluters face no penalties in the form of fines on climate-linked damage or taxes on emissions. Cuomos press office did not respond to a request for comment. As Nixon gains in the polls and lands magazine covers, Cuomo is scrambling to act on long-neglected progressive demands. Three weeks ago, over coffee and cookies at a Manhattan steakhouse, the governor made a deal to disband the Independent Democratic Conference, known as the IDC. The group of eight breakaway Democrats in the state Senate caucused with Republicans, guaranteeing a conservative majority in the chamber now only one holdout, Brooklyn Democrat Simcha Felder, has left Republicans with a flimsy one-vote majority. Cuomo also signed an executive order last week restoring voting rights to felons on parole and voiced support for legalizing recreational marijuana, a policy Nixon made a platform issue in her campaign. On Friday, almost simultaneous to the release of Nixons climate platform, Cuomo denied a water quality permit to a new natural gas pipeline environmentalists have protested for months, and announced a new energy efficiency initiative that would account for one-third of the emissions cuts required to meet his 2030 target. On Monday, Cuomo announced plans to introduce a state ban on plastic bags, despite signing a moratorium to block New York City from putting a 5-cent fee on plastic bags last year. But Cuomos next big test on climate change is one he has already failed twice. For the third time in as many years, the state assembly is slated to vote this week on the latest version of the New York State Climate and Community Protection Act, known as the CCPA. The bill is widely considered the most ambitious and egalitarian climate legislation introduced anywhere in the nation. Heather McGhee, president of the left-leaning think tank Demos, and the economist Robert Reich called it the most progressive climate-equity policy weve seen. The legislation, first introduced in 2016, calls for 100 percent renewable energy statewide by 2050 and orders state agencies to draft plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, buildings and vehicles. It requires 40 percent of state energy funding to go to the low-income neighborhoods and communities of color most vulnerable to sea level rise and extreme weather, and includes wage standards backed by labor unions for all state-funded green energy projects. If enacted, the bills proponents say it would create more than 100,000 jobs. Protesters march through Albany on Monday. (Photo: Alexander C Kaufman / HuffPost) Cuomo has never come out in support of the CCPA. He refused for years to crack down on the IDC, which has until now blocked the bill from ever coming to a vote in the Senate. So far its been a failure of leadership, said Dan Sherrell, campaign coordinator at the nonprofit New York Renews. The governor has remained deafeningly silent on it. Sherrell said state legislators plan to introduce a bill to levy penalties on corporate polluters before the end of the session, but declined to comment on which lawmakers with whom New York Renews was in talks. For Assemblyman Steve Englebright, the Long Island Democrat who first introduced the CCPA, the bill is 20 years overdue. The 71-year-old lawmaker from Setauket, a coastal hamlet on Long Island Sound, started warning about the threat of runaway global warming two decades ago. He has since sponsored several bills to support solar and wind production, at least three of which became laws. In 2016, he became chairman of the Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation and moved swiftly to draft and introduce the CCPA. Now, on his third attempt, he has more than two dozen co-sponsors and support from Nixon, who pledged in her platform to fight to pass the bill. There needs to be some adjustments made in the perception of how important this bill is to bring it into the executive chamber, ready for the governors signature, Englebright said Friday. If we can get it onto his desk, hell have no choice but to sign it. Enacting legislation like the CCPA should prove popular. New York is among the most progressive states in the country on climate change according to polling data. Seventy-seven percent of New Yorkers understand global warming is happening, according to 2016 survey data from Yale Universitys Program on Climate Change Communication, putting the state second only to Hawaii. Eighty-six percent of New Yorkers backed funding research into renewable energy, 81 percent supported regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and 79 percent called for strict emission limits on coal-fired power plants. New Yorkers overwhelmingly support environmental regulations even at an economic cost. Seventy-one percent of New Yorkers support expanding renewable energy generation even if it raises electricity prices, compared to 61 percent nationwide, according to Cooperative Congressional Election Studys 2016 survey results analyzed for HuffPost by Data for Progress, a left-leaning think tank. That support cuts across demographics, including 75 percent of people aged 18 to 29 and 67 percent of people 65 years and older; 73 percent of urban dwellers and 67 percent of rural New Yorkers; and 74 percent of black people and 69 percent of whites. Sixty-seven percent of New Yorkers support strengthening enforcement of clean air and water regulations even if it costs U.S. jobs, compared to 58 percent nationwide. The support breaks down similarly across the state, with 73 percent of people aged 18 to 29 and 61 percent of people 65 and older; 71 percent of urbanites and 60 percent of rural people; and 75 percent of black people and 64 percent of whites. Cuomo is fundamentally a safe governor, and a safe governor should support this, said Sean McElwee, the New York-based political analyst and co-founder Data for Progress. Hes an anti-progressive, and hes someone who reflexively despises and tries to undo any progressive policy. Cuomo has faced criticism over other environmental issues, notably his administrations shortcomings in dealing with a toxic drinking water in two northern New York municipalities. In February, the City of Newburgh, an impoverished community of color in the Hudson Valley, announced plans to sue the governor to force the state to clean up the site where a cancer-causing chemical spilled into a stream feeding its aquifer. The protest Monday put a spotlight on a bribery scandal that has dogged Cuomo for the past year. A former top aide stands accused of taking $287,000 in bribes from Competitive Power Ventures, a Maryland-based company bidding to build a natural gas plant in Orange County, in New Yorks Hudson Valley. The firm made more than $94,000 in donations to Cuomos campaign, plus another $50,000 to the state Democratic Committee in 2013. Signs reading Stop CPV and No Fracking Gas Power Plants! bristled from the crowd as the protesters marched. But Cuomos penchant for emissions-heavy travel may be the most damning indictment of his climate record. In 2011, Cuomos regular use of government aircraft to fly between Albany and his home in Westchester cost the state about $13,000 at a time when the governor was cutting the budget. He took an average of 10 flights per month in his first four and half years in office, and sent a State Police helicopter to bring actor Robert De Niro to a tourism promotion event in the Catskills, according to a Politico report published in 2016. That could come back to haunt Cuomo a time when embattled Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, considered the vanguard of Trumps rollback of climate policies, is under fire for taking frequent flights and costly airfare. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Related... Northeast States Talk Big On Climate. This Is Their First Serious Test. Northeast States Just Delivered A Major Victory Against Climate Change The Tainted Water Crisis In Upstate New York That Andrew Cuomo Cant Shake Also on HuffPost Can you save your "Too many celebrities in politics right now" rant for a day when a queer woman with years of public schooling advocacy isn't stepping up? Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) March 19, 2018 Me to Cynthia Nixon after she announced shes running for governor of New York. pic.twitter.com/gd0hxVPWsN Danny Pellegrino (@DannyPellegrino) March 19, 2018 Moves like @CynthiaNixon's are inspiring on a few different levels. To see a queer woman without the "conventional" professional background challenge the political status quo is an important thing to see. That she's also qualified only strengthens the power of her example. Jean-Paul Bevilacqua (@jpbevi) March 19, 2018 (Quick reminder that Cynthia Nixon identifies more as bisexual than a lesbian, thank you for your time) Caroline Framke (@carolineframke) March 19, 2018 Cynthia Nixon is very smart, and Andrew Cuomo deserves to be primaried. Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) March 19, 2018 *gets on a soapbox, having never seen a single episode of Sex and the City, clears throat into a megaphone* CYNTHIA NIXON IS BISEXUAL, NOT A LESBIAN. THANK YOU. Ryan Smith (@wryansmith) March 20, 2018 i've just seen a tweet saying that rushing in to correct people who call cynthia nixon a lesbian makes bisexuals look like we don't like lesbians. this is incorrect. what we don't like is erasure. VIVA LA BISEXUAL REP (@Jennirrific) March 20, 2018 Yes, @CynthiaNixon is a celebrity, but she's also a proud queer woman, and the optics of that alone are admirable Xorje Olivares (@XorjeO) March 19, 2018 @CynthiaNixon was one of the first openly and unapologetically queer public figures i ever looked up to or discovered for myself and it's really rad to see her running on such a progressive and equity (!!!!!!) driven platform. madeline but not the cartoon (@fatherqueerest) March 19, 2018 Former 'Sex and the City' actress Cynthia Nixon is running for governor of New York. She would be the state's first female and first openly LGBT governor. https://t.co/TZRYBw4dKT Mary Emily OHara (@MaryEmilyOHara) March 19, 2018 a twitter bot that just replies "cynthia nixon is bisexual" to every publication on the internet Danny Nett (@dannynett) March 19, 2018 Gay Twitter is hilariously shook about Cynthia Nixon announcing her candidacy. You'd think Cher just won the Nobel Prize or something. Tom & Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo) March 19, 2018 As a single father, as a gay man and as a black man Im excited by @CynthiaNixon being a candidate because I love what she represents. Now its time to dive deep and research her political agenda. That will be the determining factor. https://t.co/7FahHaWUQv Karamo Brown (@KaramoBrown) March 19, 2018 Cynthia. A person Im lucky enough to call my friend. And, better yet, a person New York would be lucky to call their governor. Good luck. X, SJ. pic.twitter.com/MjMYqyo5Tv Brian Burns (@brianTburns_) March 19, 2018 Every single gay in all five boroughs made a Cynthia Nixon/Laura Linney governing in rep joke today but not one of you asked her where she stands on legislating a Sex and the City sequel. Alan Henry (@AlanHenry) March 19, 2018 This article originally appeared on HuffPost. A combination image shows FBI sketches of the East Area Rapist: FBI/Handout via REUTERS A man suspected of being the "Golden State Killer" who terrorised California with a string of rapes and murders in 1970s and the 1980s, has been arrested. Thought to have been responsible for dozens of rapes and multiple homicides, as well as a number of burglaries, he earned the additional nicknames of the "Original Night Stalker" and the "East Area Rapist", as his victims mounted and the geographical area in which they were targeted expanded. Footage from the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights showed dozens of law enforcement officials, many of them with the FBI, outside a home surrounded by yellow tape. One of the alleged rapists victims told the Island Packet newspaper that she was overwhelmed with joy after detectives contacted her this week to inform her of the arrest. I've been crying, sobbing, Jane Carson-Sandler said. Authorities had redoubled their efforts to catch the suspect in recent months, with the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office last year releasing a list of items believed to have been stolen by the killer in the hopes someone would recognise them. We are in the hunt for a serial killer here in California, Sacramento district attorney Anne Marie Schubert said at the time. The Australian reported that authorities in California and Australia had spoken to explore links between the East Area Rapist and and a man called Mr Cruel, who is suspected of committing a series of violent attacks in Australia in the 1980s. An Australian police spokesman told the paper that any connection has been ruled out. Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump's Republicans won a closely watched congressional election Tuesday in Arizona, but by a single-digit margin in a district the president won easily in 2016, as Democrats made a strong showing ahead of mid-term elections. Former state lawmaker Debbie Lesko, a Trump supporter, kept the House seat safely in Republican hands in a conservative leaning district that saw a spirited challenge from Democratic political novice Hiral Tipirneni, a cancer researcher and former emergency room physician. US media called the race based on the Republican's lead in early voting, with Lesko ahead by a margin of 52.9 percent to 47.1 percent. That margin was far leaner than the party breakdown of early voters, which was put at 48.3 percent Republican and 27.9 percent Democrat, suggesting Tipirneni overwhelmingly won independent or crossover voters. Trump won the district by 21 points 18 months ago. But an energized Democratic grassroots movement -- fueled by the president's relatively poor approval rating and the general sense of chaos in the Trump administration -- has been able to make even the reddest regions of the country competitive. The race is being seen as another national litmus test of Trump's popularity -- and Democratic strength -- ahead of November's mid-term elections when Democrats will seek to regain control of the House and Senate. It follows a series of Democratic victories including a Senate contest in Alabama, various local and statewide races in Virginia and most recently a hotly contested House seat in southwestern Pennsylvania Trump country that have rattled Republicans and emboldened Democrats. Lesko acknowledged on the day of the vote that her race was "a bellwether" for the midterm elections. GOP groups reportedly poured about $1 million into the race to replace conservative congressman Trent Franks, who quit in December over a sex scandal. The effort was aimed at putting the party back on an even keel after recent shock election losses, as well as the sudden announcement by US House Speaker Paul Ryan this month that he will not seek re-election. Ryan insisted that Tuesday's Arizona victory "proves that Republicans have a positive record to run on this fall, and we need to spend the next seven months aggressively selling our message to the American people." By Margarita Antidze and Hasmik Mkrtchyan YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia's acting prime minister on Wednesday suggested calling a parliamentary election as tens of thousands staged a new protest in the capital against the ruling elite. Two weeks of demonstrations looked to have peaked on Monday when Serzh Sarksyan quit as prime minister. But the protesters have made clear they consider the whole government tainted by his drive to shift power to the premier from the president. "The fight is not over!" said 21-year-old Susana Adamyan, clutching a placard calling on others to take a stand. Although the protests have been peaceful, the upheaval has threatened to destabilize Armenia, an ally of Russia, in a volatile region riven by its decades-long, low-level conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan. Moscow has two military bases in the ex-Soviet republic, and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Armenian President Armen Sarkissian by phone on Wednesday. They agreed that political forces must show restraint and solve the crisis through dialogue, the Kremlin said. Hours later, opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan, organiser of the protests, said he had met a Russian official and received an assurance that Moscow would not intervene in the crisis. Many of the protesters are young, and some held portraits of government officials with faces crossed out with red paint. When senior members of the ruling Republican Party appeared nearby, people shouted: "Go home! You're a disgrace!" The main opposition bloc plans to nominate Pashinyan to be the next prime minister, opposition lawmaker Edmon Marukyan told Reuters. "Pashinyan has the people's trust. I don't think there will be any problems and, taking this situation into account, lawmakers will vote for his candidacy," he said. His campaign received a boost when the second biggest party in parliament said it was joining the protest movement and would support a "people's candidate". In addition, the Dashnaktsutyun party said it was formally leaving the governing coalition and favored an early election. "Parliament must choose a prime minister who has the people's trust," it said in a statement. 'PEOPLE'S PRIME MINISTER' Pashinyan said he had also received promises of support from Republican Party lawmakers. Ruling party lawmakers in parliament said they were "ready to hold talks with any political forces in the country without preconditions." The legislators also said in a statement that after meetings with Sarksyan, who is still leading the ruling party, and acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, "the agreement was achieved to replace the leader of the party." The demonstrators had accused Sarksyan of manipulating the constitution to cling to power, and celebrated after he quit. Pashinyan had been due to hold talks on Wednesday with Karapetyan, but they were canceled when the two sides failed to agree an agenda, and Pashinyan declared on Tuesday he was ready to become "the people's prime minister". Karapetyan suggested on Wednesday that a parliamentary election be held to test how much support Pashinyan really had. "What does 'people's candidate' mean?" he told a news conference. "I don't know any country where a prime minister is chosen like that. There are elections for that. If he is the people's choice, that means the people will choose him." In response to the statement, tens of thousands of protesters greeted Pashinyan with chants of "Nikol - prime minister!" when he appeared on the central Republic square. "That is what 'people's candidate' means," said Gurgen Mkrtchyan, a 24-year-old doctor, as supporters hugged and kissed Pashinyan on his way through the crowd to the stage. Karapetyan did not specify when an election might be held, but said the economy of the landlocked country of 3 million people would suffer if the crisis continued. Pashinyan said on Wednesday that protesters had blocked a customs post at the border with neighboring Georgia. Sarkissian said he would start talks with political forces inside and outside parliament to try to resolve the crisis. The Kremlin said in a statement that in their call, Sarkissian and Putin had "underlined that all political forces in the country need to exercise restraint and responsibility and a readiness to solve existing problems via constructive dialogue, strictly in the framework of the constitution." (Reporting by Margarita Antidze and Hasmik Mkrtchyan; Writing by Andrew Osborn and Margarita Antidze; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Peter Cooney) By Margarita Antidze and Hasmik Mkrtchyan YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia's acting prime minister on Wednesday suggested calling a parliamentary election as tens of thousands staged a new protest in the capital against the ruling elite. Two weeks of demonstrations looked to have peaked on Monday when Serzh Sarksyan quit as prime minister. But the protesters have made clear they consider the whole government tainted by his drive to shift power to the premier from the president. "The fight is not over!" said 21-year-old Susana Adamyan, clutching a placard calling on others to take a stand. Although the protests have been peaceful, the upheaval has threatened to destabilise Armenia, an ally of Russia, in a volatile region riven by its decades-long, low-level conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan. Moscow has two military bases in the ex-Soviet republic, and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Armenian President Armen Sarkissian by phone on Wednesday. They agreed that political forces must show restraint and solve the crisis through dialogue, the Kremlin said. Hours later, opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan, organiser of the protests, said he had met a Russian official and received an assurance that Moscow would not intervene in the crisis. Many of the protesters are young, and some held portraits of government officials with faces crossed out with red paint. When senior members of the ruling Republican Party appeared nearby, people shouted: "Go home! You're a disgrace!" The main opposition bloc plans to nominate Pashinyan to be the next prime minister, opposition lawmaker Edmon Marukyan told Reuters. "Pashinyan has the people's trust. I don't think there will be any problems and, taking this situation into account, lawmakers will vote for his candidacy," he said. His campaign received a boost when the second biggest party in parliament said it was joining the protest movement and would support a "people's candidate". Story continues In addition, the Dashnaktsutyun party said it was formally leaving the governing coalition and favoured an early election. "Parliament must choose a prime minister who has the people's trust," it said in a statement. 'PEOPLE'S PRIME MINISTER' Pashinyan said he had also received promises of support from Republican Party lawmakers. Ruling party lawmakers in parliament said they were "ready to hold talks with any political forces in the country without preconditions." The legislators also said in a statement that after meetings with Sarksyan, who is still leading the ruling party, and acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, "the agreement was achieved to replace the leader of the party." The demonstrators had accused Sarksyan of manipulating the constitution to cling to power, and celebrated after he quit. Pashinyan had been due to hold talks on Wednesday with Karapetyan, but they were cancelled when the two sides failed to agree an agenda, and Pashinyan declared on Tuesday he was ready to become "the people's prime minister". Karapetyan suggested on Wednesday that a parliamentary election be held to test how much support Pashinyan really had. "What does 'people's candidate' mean?" he told a news conference. "I don't know any country where a prime minister is chosen like that. There are elections for that. If he is the people's choice, that means the people will choose him." In response to the statement, tens of thousands of protesters greeted Pashinyan with chants of "Nikol - prime minister!" when he appeared on the central Republic square. "That is what 'people's candidate' means," said Gurgen Mkrtchyan, a 24-year-old doctor, as supporters hugged and kissed Pashinyan on his way through the crowd to the stage. Karapetyan did not specify when an election might be held, but said the economy of the landlocked country of 3 million people would suffer if the crisis continued. Pashinyan said on Wednesday that protesters had blocked a customs post at the border with neighbouring Georgia. Sarkissian said he would start talks with political forces inside and outside parliament to try to resolve the crisis. The Kremlin said in a statement that in their call, Sarkissian and Putin had "underlined that all political forces in the country need to exercise restraint and responsibility and a readiness to solve existing problems via constructive dialogue, strictly in the framework of the constitution." (Reporting by Margarita Antidze and Hasmik Mkrtchyan; Writing by Andrew Osborn and Margarita Antidze; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Peter Cooney) Vienna (AFP) - Austrian explosives experts began on Wednesday blowing up 18 tonnes of unexploded ordnance from both world wars found around the country since the beginning of 2017. First to go up at the Allentsteig military training ground was a 500-kilo (1,100-pound) bomb dropped by a US aircraft in World War II and three tons of hand grenades. More than 70 years after World War II and a century after World War I, unexploded bombs still regularly turn up across Austria and Germany, often during construction work. Earlier this month German authorities had to evacuate thousands of people after a World War II bomb was found near Berlin's main train station. Last year, 11 tonnes were recovered from Austrian lakes and rivers and 659 kilos in the mountains dating from fighting between Austrian and Italian troops in World War I. "Hand grenades can turn up a metre away from a path in the middle of Vienna," said Werner Tobisch from the EMD bomb disposal authority. It blows up ordnance twice a year at Allentsteig -- also home to a large World War II German military cemetary -- north of Vienna. Local wildlife has become used to the noise, with rabbits returning to hopping around several minutes later, Tobisch said. The start of the two-day operation on Wednesday was watched at a safe distance in a bunker by Austria's defence minister, journalists and others. Debris landed up to 1,000 metres (yards) away, craters as deep as five metres (30 feet) were left behind and the shock waves could be felt in the bunker, the Austria Press Agency reported. Image of circles in Arctic sea ice. On April 14, a group of NASA scientists were flying over the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska and the Canadian border, when they saw something puzzling: Three holes in the sea ice with what look like rings around them and some wavy ice to their left. I dont recall seeing this sort of thing elsewhere, John Sonntag, a meteorologist with NASA who took the above photo, said in a statement. At first glance, it may look like the frigid equivalent of crop circles, but scientists are pretty sure that in this case theres a simple explanation. My first guess is that these are seal breathing holes, says Walt Meier, an atmospheric scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center who focuses on sea ice. Harp and ring seals have been known to make these kinds of holes in thinner Arctic sea ice, and then use those holes repeatedly to come up for air. For that theory to hold, there needs to be a good explanation for why the sea ice in this particular spot is thin enough for the seals to break through. Meier says these holes could be the result of warmer water coming in from the nearby Mackenzie delta, the shallow outpouring of the Mackenzie river from the nearby Canadian coast. According to Meier, warmer water from the river flows into the ocean, and then, because warm water is less dense than cold water, it naturally floats to the surface in plumes. That, in turn, thins out the ice at the surface, and could have drawn seals to the spot since the sea mammals more likely to pick spots to come up for air where the ice is already thin. There are formations near the holes that look like waves, which the scientists say could be the result of water sloshing over the edgesa sign that warm water was rising up through the holes. On their own, these holes dont tell us all that much about the Arctic sea environment. Theyre more spectacle than anything else, Meier says. But they do point to a trend in sea ice in general. Story continues The photo above shows ice with evidence of finger raftingwhich is when the wind pushes together two ice sheets, causing them to overlap like clasped hands. The likeliest explanation, says Meier, is higher Arctic temperatures. In the pastas recently as the 1980s, sea ice in the region would be thick enough to withstand the southern winds that begin to blow north at the start of the winter. But in recent years, thanks to warmer Arctic waters, the ice tends to be less stable and more easily blown away by the wind. Then, over the winter, the exposed water freezes but only into thin sheets. Those thin sheets are more likely to get blown together, creating the finger rafting phenomenon, and to be susceptible to melting due to plumes of warm river water from the shores. In recent years, how often that happens and the scale of [this pattern] is much more than it used to be, Meier says. Its impossible to directly connect this photojust one data pointto climate change or warming Arctic waters. However, the photo does suggest that future research in the region may find a trend of diminishing ice over these waters. Read this next: The Arctic may have ice-free summers if Paris climate goals are exceeded a half-degree Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: The body of an assassinated Palestinian scientist was Wednesday driven through the Malaysian capital accompanied by a crowd shouting "God is greatest", as mourners accused Israel of killing him. Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh's corpse was set to be flown to Egypt later in the day before being transported on to Gaza for burial. Batsh, a member of Islamist militant group Hamas and said to be a rocket-making expert, was murdered in a hail of bullets by motorbike-riding attackers Saturday as he walked to a Kuala Lumpur mosque for dawn prayers. Family and friends of the 35-year-old have accused Israel's Mossad spy agency of carrying out the killing but the Jewish state has denied the claims. Hundreds of mourners marched through the capital under Palestinian flags accompanying a van holding the body, as they carried placards showing the victim's face. The remains were taken to a mosque, where prayers for the dead were performed before about 500 mourners. "Every Palestinian who has heard of this assassination is saddened and shocked," said Muslim Imran, chairman of the Palestinian Cultural Organisation of Malaysia. "This crime, I believe, is another reflection of the nature of the Israeli occupation. They carry out crimes, massacres, not only in Palestine but also in the rest of the world." Malik Taibi, an Algerian student who was Batsh's neighbour, added the victim was a "very kind man". "We hope that the ones that killed him are caught by the Malaysian government." Earlier Wednesday police said they believed the two suspects accused of carrying out the hit were still in the country, and released a photograph of one of them. The men were believed to have entered Malaysia in January but their nationalities were still not known, police said. The motorbike they were allegedly riding was found abandoned Tuesday not far from where the assassination took place, and police were able to trace the photo. Story continues It showed a man with wavy black hair, glasses and a goatee beard. Police previously released two computer-generated images of the suspects, showing two light-skinned men with beards. Mossad is believed to have assassinated Palestinian militants and scientists in the past, but rarely confirms such operations. Batsh's expertise in making weapons could have made him a target -- militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza regularly fire rockets at southern Israel, usually without causing casualties. But Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has denied claims of the state's involvement, suggesting instead that it was a "settling of accounts" between factions of a terror group. Brussels (AFP) - International donors on Wednesday pledged $4.4 billion in aid for 2018 for civilians caught up in the Syrian civil war -- well short of what the UN says is needed for humanitarian work in Syria and neighbouring countries. The sum committed at a two-day conference in Brussels was less than half of the $9 billion the United Nations says is needed this year to help those in need inside Syria and living as refugees in neighbouring countries. The head of the UN aid agency UNOCHA called the $4.4 billion "a good start" but Oxfam slammed the international response as "tragically inadequate". "My best guess is that by the end of the day we will have heard pledges for 2018 of $4.4 billion," Mark Lowcock, the head of UNOCHA, told a news conference. The EU's aid commissioner Christos Stylianides said later that pledges of a further $3.4 billion for 2019 and after were made at the conference, attended by more than 80 countries, aid groups and agencies. Britain announced 450 million pounds ($630 million, 515 million euros) for 2018 and another 300 million pounds for 2019, while Germany said it would donate more than a billion euros and the EU pledged some 560 million euros. But several major donors including the United States have not yet confirmed their pledges, Lowcock said, because of ongoing internal budget wrangling. - 'Tragically inadequate' - Lowcock earlier told AFP he hoped to see $8 billion pledged on Wednesday, warning that funds were "desperately short" and some programmes may need to be cut if money was not found. The figure was also far short of the $6 billion pledged at last year's Brussels gathering, and aid group Oxfam said governments had not done enough. "The response of the world's richest countries to the conflict remains tragically inadequate -- insufficient aid, not enough help for refugees and no meaningful peace process," Oxfam's Shaheen Chugtai said. Story continues David Beasley, head of the UN's World Food Programme, warned that without proper funding he would be forced to start cutting rations "to just barely keep people alive". Some 6.1 million people are now internally displaced in Syria, more than five million have fled the country and 13 million including six million children are in need of aid, according to the UN. More than 700,000 people have been displaced since the start of this year alone as Assad has stepped up his offensive against rebel forces, intensifying the humanitarian crisis. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura warned that the military campaign would lead only to a Pyrrhic victory for the regime. "History has shown us that what that can lead to is permanent guerilla movements, instabilty, the inability for reconstruction and above all the risk that Daesh will take advantage to return," he said. Daesh is another name for the Islamic State group. - Struggling peace talks - Europe hoped to use the conference to reinvigorate the faltering UN-led peace process in Geneva, but it was not clear how effective the push was. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini urged Moscow and Tehran, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's key supporters, to help bring him to the negotiating table, saying they had a duty to help wind down the war, now in its eighth year. "We need in particular Russia, Iran to exercise pressure on Damascus so that it accepts to sit at the table under UN auspices," Mogherini said as she arrived for the gathering, the seventh of its kind. Damascus has shunned the Geneva talks and Russia, Iran and Turkey launched a rival process in the Kazakh capital Astana last year. Moscow was represented at the conference by its ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov, who gave a scathing assessment of the event in his address to the other delegates. "I am perplexed by the format of todays meeting that does not include official representatives of the Syrian government," he said, according to a text released by the Russian embassy. He accused countries maintaining sanctions on Syria -- which includes all 28 EU members and the United States -- of "suffocating the Syrian people". SOFIA (Reuters) - It is unlikely that five Bulgarians will be extradited to the United States to face charges of exporting aircraft parts to Syria's national airline in violation of a U.S. embargo, Bulgarian chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said on Wednesday. Washington has sought the arrest and extradition of Zhelyaz Andreev and four other Bulgarians who worked at the Sofia office of the Miami-based export company AW-Tronics. "There are not enough legal prerequisites for the extradition," Tsatsarov told reporters after a meeting with the prime minister, the justice minister and the U.S. ambassador. "The chance that the extradition requests will be respected by the Bulgarian court is, in our view, minimal," he said. Andreev has already been released from detention and Tsatsarov had said he would not detain the others for now. Andreev, 29, has denied the accusations, saying he did not take any managerial decisions at the company and was not aware of a U.S. embargo. Consultations between the U.S. Department of Justice and Bulgaria's Justice Ministry started on Monday, and U.S. officials had agreed that there was no need to detain the suspects, Tsatsarov said. The United States has about two months to send detailed extradition requests. Tsatsarov said he believed they lacked a legal basis as the offences in question did not appear to be crimes in Bulgaria. A total of 11 people have been indicted in the case, including two AW-Tronics managers, Miami residents of Iranian origin. They, along with the company's export compliance officer, pleaded guilty last October to conspiracy to defraud the United States and illegally export aviation parts and equipment to Syrian Arab Airlines. They were sentenced to up to two years in prison. (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Kevin Liffey) By Edgardo Garrido TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Dozens of Central American migrants from about 600 traveling in a "caravan" through Mexico arrived at the border city of Tijuana late on Tuesday despite warnings it would be futile to try to cross to claim asylum in the United States. By evening, two busloads of men, women and children arrived in Tijuana, a city that grazes southern California. U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered officials to repel them. The arrivals spilled into the streets and gazed toward San Diego, visible at spots through a rusty barrier or across a pedestrian bridge, exhausted after their trek that began a month ago near Mexico's southern border with Guatemala. Another four busloads were making their way north from Hermosillo, a city 432 miles south of the border, where the migrants had been stalled for days. Many who fled their homes in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras because of what they described as lethal threats or political persecution have clung to the hope of receiving asylum in the United States. But their prospects dimmed after U.S. authorities released statements on Monday saying they would driven back. Rodrigo Abeja, a coordinator from immigrant rights group Pueblo Sin Fronteras that has been organizing similar caravans for several years, said the caravan planned to regroup before making any decisions. "They will wait for all those seeking asylum to be together," Abeja said. A third group, resigned to staying in Mexico, awaited processing for year-long visas by immigration authorities in Hermosillo. Traveling as a group for safety, their numbers were down from a peak of about 1,500 people, dwindling under the twin pressures of waiting for transportation and attacks by Trump, who began lashing out at the caravan on Twitter in early April. After Trump's comments, Mexican authorities stalled the caravan in a southern town and began handing out temporary visas that gave them legal status to travel to the border. Story continues Video: Inside the Migrant Caravan Traveling to the U.S. Border For more news videos visit Yahoo View. (Reporting by Edgardo Garrido; Additional reporting by Delphine Schrank in Mexico City; Editing by Toni Reinhold) Ottawa (AFP) - The Canadian man accused of killing 10 people when he drove a rental van onto a busy Toronto street praised an "Incel Rebellion" in his apparent final social media post just prior to the massacre. So what does incel mean? Alek Minassian, 25, has been charged with 10 counts of murder over Monday's incident, in which police say most of the victims were women. Here are a few facts about incels and what they stand for: - What does 'Incel' mean? - A Canadian woman reportedly coined the term "involuntary celibates" when she launched a website more than 20 years ago to offer support to people struggling to find partners. But since then, the 40-something woman, who asked to be identified only as Alana, said she had been saddened to see the phrase -- shortened to "incel" -- coopted by online trolls and misogynists. It now generally refers to men who feel unable to enter into sexual relationships -- and they generally blame women. "It was meant to be a helpful, supportive movement," she told The Globe and Mail newspaper, explaining the term was meant to include "people of all genders who find themselves celibate or lonely and not dating." "It was a shock to discover that there was someone whose particular reason for violence was that they were lonely and celibate," she added. - Online forums - Incels have taken to internet message boards and forums to vent their frustrations and anger. Sexist, racist and homophobic comments are apparently common. Anti-feminist screeds are also frequent. Lead investigator Detective Sergeant Graham Gibson on Tuesday revealed Minassian's 11th-hour Facebook post, which referred to 4chan, an online bulletin board where people post anonymously. "The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys!" Minassian's post read. Incels refer to attractive sexually active men as "Chads" and attractive women as "Stacys." Story continues Sites devoted to incel have been criticized for hosting violent content, and increasingly are earning police attention. In November, online forum Reddit banned a controversial subgroup dedicated to incels -- which counted tens of thousands of members. - US killer a role model? - In the Facebook post, Minassian praised "Supreme Gentleman" mass killer Elliot Rodger -- a 22-year-old American who murdered six people and then killed himself in California in 2014. Rodger -- something of a hero among incels -- had professed frustration over his virginity and women rejecting him. In a disturbing video posted on YouTube, Rodger ranted about women who rejected and ignored him, vowing to "punish you all for it." "I will slaughter every single spoiled, stuck-up blonde slut I see inside there. All those girls that I've desired so much, they have all rejected me and looked down upon me as an inferior man," he said. Facebook said it had quickly identified Minassian's last post as hateful, and deleted his account. LIMA (Reuters) - Prosecutors in Peru suspect that a Canadian man murdered a revered indigenous medicine woman in an Amazonian village last week before being lynched in retribution, a spokesman for the attorney general's office said on Tuesday. Olivia Arevalo, an 81-year-old shaman of the Shipibo-Conibo tribe, was shot to death near her home in the region of Ucayali on Thursday, prompting outrage from villagers who blamed Sebastian Woodroffe, a native of Vancouver Island. Prosecutors had initially been pursuing several potential leads into who killed Arevalo. But their main hypotheses now is that Woodroffe murdered Arevalo because he was upset that her son had not repaid him 14,000 soles ($4,335), said Ricardo Jimenez, the head of a regional group of prosecutors. Authorities found a document showing that Woodroffe bought a gun on April 3 from a police officer, Jimenez said, adding that the police officer is now being sought for questioning. A witness also testified that a silver-colored pistol fell from a backpack that Woodroffe was carrying as villagers grabbed him before the lynching, Jimenez said. "We want to see if that weapon actually existed. We haven't found it yet but we're looking," Jimenez said. "With the new evidence that has appeared, he is the main suspect." Neither Woodroffe's nor Arevalo's family could be reached for comment. Arevalo was considered a wealth of knowledge about Amazonian plants and native traditions. Yarrow Willard, a friend of Woodroffe's in Canada, said Woodroffe was not violent and had never used a gun. "He was a loving father and kind man who was not capable of the crimes he was accused of," Willard said in an email. Willard said Woodroffe had gone to Peru "seeking healing as he was feeling troubled and slightly lost." The case has spotlighted surging tourism in Peru's Amazon related to the hallucinogenic plant brew ayahuasca, which has long been used by tribes in spiritual and healing rituals and is now popular among foreigners seeking vivid spiritual experiences or help with addiction. Woodroffe traveled to Peru to learn about ayahuasca and plant medicine so he could become an addictions counselor, according to his post on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo.com. Tests of Woodroffe's remains are expected to determine if he fired a weapon or was intoxicated before dying. Authorities have expedited the laboratory work and results are now expected this week, instead of in more than two weeks as initially estimated, Jimenez said. Two men sought by police for allegedly lynching Woodroffe appear to have fled, Jimenez said. In 2015, a Canadian killed a friend in self-defense during an ayahuasca session. In 2012, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen died after taking the drug and workers at an ayahuasca retreat tried to hide his body. (Reporting by Mitra Taj; editing by Dan Grebler and Leslie Adler) Asia Times Security, Asia Taiwans small fighter fleet faces wear and tear. China's Greatest Wish: Is Taiwan's Air Force Dying? Now the Taiwanese military is looking to boost its surface-to-air missile deterrence to fend off incoming Chinese warplanes, as its relatively small fleet of fighters is becoming overstretched. The wear and tear on Taiwans military aircraft are increasing, as they need to take off to intercept or monitor Chinese bombers or spy planes whenever they approach, an almost daily occurrences now that Beijings breaches of the islands airspace is so frequent that its no longer news. Taiwans air force has more than 110 F-16 Fighting Falcons and 46 Mirage 2000 multi-role fighters, and the fleet is facing higher service and maintenance costs due to the increasing age of these planes. Now the Taiwanese military is looking to boost its surface-to-air missile deterrence to fend off incoming Chinese warplanes, as its relatively small fleet of fighters is becoming overstretched. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is scheduled to inspect an MIM-104F Patriot missile system imported from the US and installed at Taichungs Ching Chuan Kang Air Base, during the annual Han Kuang military exercises to be held in June that will see more airmen and weaponry mobilized than in previous years, Taipei Times and Central News Agency reported on Monday. Recommended: The Fatal Flaw That Could Take Down an F-22 or F-35 Recommended: Smith & Wesson's .44 Magnum Revolver: Why You Should Fear the 'Dirty Harry' Gun Recommended: 5 Best Shotguns in the World (Winchester, Remington and Beretta Make the Cut) This years drill is aimed at identifying loopholes in air defense at a time when many are concerned over whether the islands feeble air force could fend off or delay Peoples Liberation Army air raids in the event of a war. Among the islands tactics to foil invading PLA warplanes is the seemingly whimsical use of inflatable, highly convincing models of fighters, tanks, missile vehicles etc deployed at frontline locations to perplex and fool the enemy, in a bid to protect vital air bases. Story continues A source familiar with the tactic was quoted as saying that the focus of this years exercises would be subterfuge. The source also admitted that the increasing number of PLA maneuvers and their quick succession had increased the wear and tear of Taiwanese fighters and other aircraft, straining repair and maintenance work as well as the militarys annual budget, which stood at NT$327.8 billion (US$10.7 billion) for 2018. Last year, Taiwans Defense Ministry had to fill a gap of NT$590 million, from its own reserve fund, for more interception missions. This article originally appeared on Asia Times. Image: Reuters Read full article Asia Times Security, Asia The planned carrier is bigger and features aircraft launch padssome of which could be powered by electromagnetic motors. China Is Building Another Aircraft Carrier (and It Could Be a Game Changer) Despite having similar steam turbo engines, the new carrier will do away with the curled-up bow as aircraft will be catapulted from launch pads, although it remains to be seen if the novel electromagnetic system which the Chinese military has been testing for years will be put into use on the carrier. While China is readying its first home-built aircraft carrier now doing sea trials in the Bohai Sea for delivery to the navy by the end of the year, preparations are also underway to build a second carrier in Shanghai. Hong Kong-based Kanwa Defense Review reported that construction could start as early as this summer, as design and construction drawings of the second homemade carrier had been finalized and about 1,000 workers onsite had signed confidentiality contracts. Recent satellite images of the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard on Changxing Island reveal major works at No. 3 berth there. The berth has been extended to about 620 meters with the addition of a scaffolding shelter structure some 390 meters in length, with signs of a possible further expansion in size. Analysts say the humongous shelter could be an indication that the future carrier will be bigger than its two predecessors, the Liaoning and its homemade sister ship, both of which are of the Soviet-era Kuznetsov-class. Recommended: We Went Aboard the Most Powerful Aircraft Carrier Ever Built Recommended: This Is How China Would Invade Taiwan (And How to Stop It) Recommended: North Koreas Most Lethal Weapon Isnt Nukes Despite having similar steam turbo engines, the new carrier will do away with the curled-up bow as aircraft will be catapulted from launch pads, although it remains to be seen if the novel electromagnetic system which the Chinese military has been testing for years will be put into use on the carrier. Story continues There are rumors that while most launch pads will be of the conventional steam powered type, one or more pairs of linear induction motors for the experimental use of an electromagnetic launch system may also be mounted on the carrier. The magazine also noted that the third carrier was designed to carry a total of 48 fighter jets, almost twice the capacity of the Liaoning, and another breakthrough could be that the future carrier may have its own long-range early warning aircraft. More shipboard aircraft necessitate a bigger hangar, meaning a full load displacement of 85,000 tons, putting it on a par with the Kitty Hawk, the last oil-fired carrier in the US Navy. The Kitty Hawk was decommissioned in May 2009. This article originally appeared on Asia Times. Image: Reuters Read full article SheKnows Code names and nicknames the White House Secret Service give to those they are sworn to protect might seem inconsequential, but they can actually reveal a lot about the person. Over the years, there have been some interesting code names for members of the first family, which is why its only a bit surprising that [] Bogota (AFP) - Colombia on Monday extradited to the United States a former right-wing paramilitary leader who is accused of having headed one of the country's largest drug cartels. Daniel Rendon Herrera, also known as "Don Mario," was handed over to agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and "is en route to the United States," said Colombia's police chief General Jorge Nieto. A former leader of Colombia's "united self-defense forces," the right-wing paramilitary groups that formed to fight Marxist rebels, Rendon is due to appear before a US federal judge in New York on drug trafficking charges. Rendon was captured in a jungle raid in 2009 but the Supreme Court initially ruled that he could not be extradited until he had taken part in the country's reparations process, which provides a degree of amnesty for former fighters who testify about crimes committed during the country's half-century of civil war. Rendon had commanded a paramilitary outfit in the Eastern Plains region of Colombia before forming one of the most powerful and feared drugs cartels in the country, known as the Gulf Clan. The self-defense groups had been formed in the 1990s to fight the Marxist guerillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and were disbanded in 2006 during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe. The FARC signed a final peace deal with the Colombian government in 2016, but the country remains the world's leading supplier of cocaine, much of which is smuggled to the United States, the world's leading consumer of the drug. Congresswoman Maxine Waters shared a message for President Donald Trump during the TIME 100 Gala on Tuesday night. Asked if she had any advice for Trump, Waters, who represents Californias 43rd District, issued a request. Please resign, said Waters, who was named one of the most influential people of the year in the 2018 TIME 100. So that I wont have to keep up this fight of your having impeached because I dont think you deserve to be there. Just get out. Waters is one of the most vocal politicians calling for Trump to be removed from office, and has suggested impeaching the president multiple times since his inauguration. In the 2018 TIME 100, actor Yara Shahidi commended Waters for saying what many of us are thinking, from her declaration of reclaiming my time to her dedication to taking Trump out of the office of the presidency. She is adored and admired by people who care about social justice and is oh so eloquent in letting the world, particularly the white men of Congress who dare test her acumen, know that she is not here for any nonsense, Shahidi said. (DUBAI, United Arab Emirates) A mummified body discovered near the site of a former royal mausoleum in Iran may be the remains of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty and the father of the countrys last shah. The recent find of the gauze-wrapped body and the speculation it triggered puts new hurdles in the way of the Islamic Republics efforts to fully erase the countrys dynastic past, which includes the jack-hammered destruction of the autocrats tomb immediately after the 1979 revolution. Yet, as disaffection and economic problems grow ahead of the Islamic Revolutions 40th anniversary, mystique around Irans age of monarchies persists even with its own history of abuses. Reza Shahs grandson, the U.S.-based exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, already tweeted about it as forensic experts in Iran try to determine whose body they found. Construction workers discovered the mummified remains while working at the Shiite shrine of Abdul Azim, whose minarets once rose behind Reza Shahs own mausoleum. A digger pulling away dirt and debris uncovered the body, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. Pictures of the body, as well as construction workers posing with it, quickly ricocheted across social media in Iran. A spokesman for the shrine dismissed the idea of a mummy being found there. However, Hassan Khalilabadi, the head of Tehran City Councils cultural heritage and tourism committee, was quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency on Monday that its possible the mummy is the body of Reza Shah. Story continues Authorities say theyll need to conduct DNA tests to confirm whose body it is. State television has yet to report on the find, likely due to complications that mentioning the Pahlavis can entail. State media typically refer to the Persian dynasties, including the Pahlavis, as despotic, focusing on the abuses of the monarchys feared SAVAK intelligence agency and their once-lavish lifestyles. Reza Shahs own rise gave birth to modern Iran itself, then still called Persia until he ordered foreign diplomats to cease using the name. He came to power in 1925, ruling as an absolute autocrat who used taxes and the countrys burgeoning oil revenues to rapidly modernize the nation. His decisions echo today, particularly his 1936 decree banning women from wearing long, flowing black robes known as chadors. He ordered men to wear Western clothes and bring their wives to public functions with their hair uncovered, borrowing from the secularization of Turkeys first President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a contemporary. The ban became a source of humiliation for some pious Muslim women in the country. Shiite clerics, angry over his secular beliefs, purges and mass arrests of opponents, held grudges that would foment the coming revolution. Controversies over the chador and hijab persist in Iran today. Irans strong trade ties with Germany, Reza Shahs push for neutrality amid the coming of World War II and Western fears over its oil supplies falling to the Nazis ultimately sparked a Russian-British invasion of the country in 1941. Reza Shah abdicated in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, at the insistence of the occupying British forces. Reza Shah ended up in South Africa, dying there in 1944. His body was taken to Cairo, mummified and held for years before returning to Iran. A grand mausoleum near Tehran held his body for years, which then-President Richard Nixon visited in 1972. After 1979, however, Islamists viewed the mausoleum as an affront. Iranian cleric Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali, who ordered the executions of hundreds after the revolution, led a mob of supporters who used sledgehammers, jack hammers and other tools to demolish the mausoleum. Khalkhali later would write in his memoirs that he believed the shahs family took Reza Shahs body when they fled the country. The shahs family, however, maintained the body remained in Iran. His son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was buried in Cairo after dying of cancer in 1980. Today, Irans youth remain fascinated by the time before the revolution. Television period pieces have focused on the Pahlavi dynasty, including the recent state TV series The Enigma of the Shah, the most expensive series ever produced to air in the country. While incorporating romances or mobsters into the tales, all shows uniformly criticize the royal court. Reza Shahs grandson, Reza Pahlavi, has seen his profile rise following the election of President Donald Trump, who appears to hold the future of the Iran nuclear deal in the balance. From exile, the crown prince has agitated for an end to Irans theocracy though gauging national sentiment about restoring the monarchy remains impossible. Pahlavi took to Twitter on Monday night to tell Iranian officials he is watching what they will do next with the body. I warn the responsible authorities not to hide anything, he wrote. The Hague (AFP) - A British and Dutch-led operation on Wednesday brought down a website linked to more than four million cyberattacks around the world, with banking giants among the victims, European law enforcement agencies said. "Authorities in five countries including the Netherlands, Serbia, Croatia and Canada, with support from Police Scotland and Europol, targeted six members of the crime group behind webstresser.org," Britain's National Crime Agency said in a statement. Cybercriminals used the website's services, which could be rented for as little as $14.99 (12.31 euros), to launch so-called distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, which swamp targets with spam traffic and disable their IT systems. British police searched an address in Bradford, northern England, and seized a number of items, while Dutch police, with assistance from Germany and the United States, seized servers and took down the website. British police believe an individual linked to the address used the site, the world's largest illegal DDOS seller, to hit seven of Britain's biggest banks in November, forcing them to reduce operations. "Stressers" services give users the ability to stress-test the resilience of servers, causing disruption to the target. Police also arrested two suspects, aged 19 and 21 in Serbia and a third, aged 19, in Croatia, Serbian and Croatian authorities said in separate statements. The Croatian national faced a sentence between "one and eight years in prison," the Croatian interior ministry added. Two men have also been arrested in Scotland, police said. - 'Warning to all DDOS-ers' - Europol, which set up a command and control post in The Hague on Tuesday to coordinate the operation, said "further measures" would be taken against the online marketplace's top users in Australia, Britain, Canada, Croatia, Hong Kong, Italy and the Netherlands. "This could include arrests or just 'knock-on-door' operations but it depends from country to country," Europol spokeswoman Claire Georges told AFP in The Hague. Story continues "A significant criminal website has been shut down and the sophisticated crime group behind it stopped as a result of an international investigation," said the NCA's Jo Goodall. "The arrests made over the past two days show that the internet does not provide bulletproof anonymity to offenders and we expect to identify further suspects linked to the site in the coming weeks and months as we examine the evidence we have gathered," Goodall added. Dutch national police's Gert Ras was quoted in the NCA statement as saying the operation had had "an unprecedented impact on DDOS cybercrime." "This is a warning to all wannabe DDOS-ers... we will identify you, bring you to court and facilitate that you will be held liable by the victims for the huge damage you cause". But Steven Wilson, who heads up Europol's EC3 Cybercrime Centre, warned in a statement that DDOS and other malicious online activities were on the rise, "victimising millions of users in a moment." Law enforcement cooperation needs to be "as good as" the collaboration between criminal gangs "to turn the tables on these criminals and shut down their malicious cyberattacks," Wilson said. Prague (AFP) - The Czech Republic announced on Wednesday the reopening of its honorary consulate in Jerusalem as President Milos Zeman reiterated his wish to move the Czech embassy to the city from Tel Aviv. "The Czech Republic has decided to open in May an honorary consulate in West Jerusalem, and before the end of the year a Czech centre, also in West Jerusalem," the ministry said in a statement. Opened in the early 1990s, the Czech honorary consulate in Jerusalem was closed in 2016 due to the death of the honorary consul, spokeswoman Michaela Lagronova told AFP. US President Donald Trump broke with decades of policy in December to announce US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and a pledge to move the embassy, drawing near global condemnation and enraging the Palestinians. It ruptured generations of international consensus that Jerusalem's status should be settled as part of a two-state peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. President Zeman, known for his pro-Israel stance, repeated Wednesday evening his desire to see his country's embassy transferred to Jerusalem. Speaking at Prague Castle, he said he remembered discussing it with Benjamin Netanyahu, quoting the Israeli Prime Minister as saying: "If you do, I will give you my own house." Zeman added: "By the way, I strongly refuse the accusation that we copy the United States of America. Contrary to that, the United States of America copied my proposal." He also criticised objections to the idea from European nations, calling them "cowards". The Czech Embassy (of Czechoslovakia then Czech Republic) has been in Tel Aviv since 1949, except during the interruption of diplomatic relations under the former communist regime in Prague between 1967 and 1990. Netanyahu responded in a letter, in which he said: "I am delighted that I will be able to welcome you towards the end of this year to Israel, where, as I hope, we can open the Czech Embassy in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish state." Any decision to move the embassy would first need to be approved by the Czech government. (Reuters) - One of the two Dallas police officers shot outside a Home Depot store died on Wednesday and the man suspected of the crime was being held on a capital murder charge, which can bring the death penalty, officials said. Armando Juarez, 29, was caught after a high-speed chase following Tuesday's shooting at a Home Depot store, Dallas police said. The officer who died was identified as Rogelio Santander, 27. Officer Crystal Almeida, 26, remained in critical condition, police said. "We come before you this morning with broken hearts," Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall said in announcing Santander's death. A Home Depot security officer, Scott Painter, who also was shot, remained in critical condition, Hall told reporters outside Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. Hall said Almeida and Painter were "making remarkable recoveries." Both police officers had been with the department for three years, officials said. Juarez was being held at the Dallas County Jail on $1 million bond. He was also wanted on a prior felony theft warrant. "Ive assigned a team of prosecutors from my office to assist the Dallas Police Department in our mutual pursuit of justice," Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson said in a statement. A woman, who was not identified, was also taken into custody with Juarez, Hall said. Local media reported she was a passenger in the pickup truck. Local media reported Juarez was being represented by a public defender. The Dallas County Public Defender office did not immediately return a call for comment. Hall said the shooting began at about 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday after an off-duty officer working at the store detained a man and called for help. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Wis., Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas, and Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago; Editing by Bill Trott) Copenhagen (AFP) - Danish submarine builder Peter Madsen was well-known at home for his eccentric ambitions to develop rockets and space travel, but few knew about his macabre fantasies involving violent sex, beheaded women and snuff films. On Wednesday, the 47-year-old self-taught engineer was sentenced to life in prison after a Copenhagen court found him guilty of the premeditated murder and sexual assault of Swedish journalist Kim Wall onboard his homemade submarine last year. Nicknamed "Rocket Madsen", he has described himself to friends as a "psychopath, but a loving one". But a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation found him to be "dangerous", a "perverse polymorph" with "psychopathic traits" and at "high risk" of recidivism. Madsen insisted Wall's death was accidental, but he confessed to chopping up her body and stuffing her head, arms and legs into plastic bags, weighing them down with metal pipes before tossing them into the sea. The high-profile trial unveiled his interest in violent sex and snuff films of women being beheaded, skinned, tortured and impaled. Prosecutors said Madsen tied Wall up before beating her and stabbing her repeatedly in the genital area and that he planned it all along. But Madsen said Wall died when the air pressure suddenly dropped and toxic fumes filled the vessel while he was up on deck. - Rocky past - Peter Langkjaer Madsen grew up in the small town of Saeby, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Copenhagen. His parents divorced when he was six and Madsen went to live with his father, whom he has described as authoritarian and violent. "When I think about my father, I think how children in Germany must have felt if their dad was a commandant in a concentration camp," Madsen said in a 2014 biography. At 15, he started his first company, Danish Space Academy, to buy spare parts to build a rocket. He studied engineering, but quit once he thought he knew enough to build submarines and rockets. Story continues "My passion is finding ways to travel to worlds beyond the well-known," Madsen wrote on the website of his now-defunct Rocket Madsen Space Lab. In 2008, he launched the Nautilus, the biggest privately made submarine whose ownership was later transferred to him after a row with former colleagues. Around the same time, he developed his idea for private space travel and in June 2011 successfully launched a rocket from a floating platform on the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm. Madsen reportedly had an open marriage. Some of his ex-girlfriends have told the media he was into sado-masochism and erotic asphyxiation. - 'Untrustworthy' - His half-brother Benny Langkjaer Egeso told AFP after his arrest that Madsen is "very strange", but also "very open and likeable". But others describe him as an erratic person who had spats with former colleagues and an interest in violent pornography. "His sexual fantasies slowly got out of hand," an associate, who had worked in Madsen's laboratory, told the Copenhagen court. The associate said Madsen toyed with the idea of making a pornographic film showing acts of torture and was "interested in snuff films," movies where a person is really killed or kills themself. Madsen denied searching for or downloading such films but admitted to watching them "to be able to feel emotions and to cry" about the women's suffering. The court found Madsen's explanations "untrustworthy" after he changed his version of events several times, and provided no reasonable explanations for why he brought a saw, plastic strips and a sharpened screwdriver on board just before the voyage with Wall, nor why he dismembered her or threw her overboard. "He committed a cynical, planned murder, of a particularly brutal nature," the judge said. Paris (AFP) - Syria's southern province of Daraa, which could be the regime's next target after its bloody reprisal of Eastern Ghouta, is the birthplace of the uprising which erupted in 2011. This agricultural region lies south of Damascus and also shares borders with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. - First spark - In early March 2011 more than a dozen Daraa youths, influenced by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, scribbled slogans hostile to President Bashar al-Assad on the wall of their school. The regime reacted brutally, jailing them, and according to activists, torturing the boys. The repression sparked an unprecedented uprising. On March 15, in the wake of the Arab Spring, the first demonstrations for "a Syria free of tyranny... a Syria without corruption or theft or monopoly of wealth" erupted in Damascus. - Heart of the protests - Back in the province's main town, which has the same name, demonstrators attacked symbols of the regime, before the protest movement spilled over into neighbouring towns. On March 23 security forces killed at least 100 people, according to activists and witnesses. Assad fired the unpopular town governor and local intelligence chief, but did not manage to calm the situation. On April 26 the regime sent in the army as it sought to stamp out pockets of resistance. The Daraa protest movement was crushed at the end of a 10-day military operation in which hundreds were arrested. Human Rights Watch denounced "crimes against humanity", pointing to systematic killings, beatings and torture. - Rebel bastion - Daraa province is one of the last centres of rebel forces in Syria, after they lost vast swathes of territory to the regime. It is divided up between different opposition groups that control nearly 70 percent of it. The Islamic State group and the regime retain a lesser presence. Daraa town, the regional capital, is mainly in the hands of pro-government forces. Story continues The province has regularly been the scene of fighting between regime forces and insurgents. In 2016 loyalist forces, backed by Russian air power and fighters from the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah, retook Sheikh Miskin, a strategic crossroads from the north to Damascus and to regime-held Sweida in the east. They then seized Atman village, a key location in the province. In July 2017 a ceasefire came into force in Daraa as well as in the southern provinces of Quneitra and Sweida, brokered by Russia, Jordan and the United States. These three provinces are also among a series of "de-escalation zones" established by Russia and Iran, allies of the regime, and rebel-backer Turkey. - Poverty and world heritage - In the first months of the protests the demonstrators in Daraa denounced the economic policy of the government. This included the telecoms company Syriatel, in which a cousin of Assad has a majority stake. Anti-corruption slogans were chanted in neighbouring towns. Daraa, a Sunni Muslim town which counted 75,000 inhabitants before the conflict began, had fallen into poverty, worsened by a years-long drought which prompted a rural exodus. The province's ancient city of Bosra al-Sham was capital of the Roman province of Arabia and an important staging post on the old caravan route to Mecca. Famous for its Roman theatre and its paleochristian ruins, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In March 2015, rebels drove pro-regime forces out of Bosra's Shiite neighbourhoods. Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron plant a tree on the grounds of the White House, as their wives watched on - AFP Strong roots are essential for any blossoming relationship. Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macrons growing friendship was cemented further with the acceptance of a tree sapling gift brought to the White House from France. Ahead of the pomp and ceremony of Tuesdays lavish state dinner, the two world leaders got their hands dirty when they planted a tree together on the White Houses South Lawn. They grabbed some brass shovels and threw dirt over the newly installed tree as their wives, Melania Trump and Brigitte Macron, watched on. The European Sessile Oak was selected by Mr Macron for its historical significance having come from Belleau Wood in northern France, a First World War site where thousands of US Marines lost their lives during a battle in 1918. 100 years ago, American soldiers were fighting in France, in order to defend our freedom, tweeted the French president, who is enjoying a three-day state visit to the US. Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron plant a tree on the grounds of the White House, as their wives watched on Credit: AFP / Getty Il y a 100 ans, des soldats americains se battaient en France, a Belleau pour defendre notre liberte. Ce chene (mon cadeau a @realDonaldTrump) sera un rappel, au cur de la Maison Blanche, de ce lien qui nous unit. pic.twitter.com/7uJcAclPBR Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 24, 2018 This oak (my gift to @realDonaldTrump) will be a reminder, in the heart of the White House, of this bond that unites us. Mr Trump told reporters that France is a very special country and was impressed with the gift, adding: I love the tree. It's a great honour. Social media users flippantly compared it to a scene from HBO mafia drama The Sopranos, while others joked the environmentally friendly gift was a dig at the US withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. Pres Trump and Pres Macron shoveling dirt on oak tree that Macron brought as a gift pic.twitter.com/E4FXEVGfEY Steve Holland (@steveholland1) April 23, 2018 The new Sopranos season is the best pic.twitter.com/IAgj3gLvm3 Mathieu von Rohr (@mathieuvonrohr) April 24, 2018 Macron bringing Trump a tree as a gift is the PERFECT way to troll him over leaving the Paris Climate Agreement. pic.twitter.com/GhfRDgBTIy Adam Best (@adamcbest) April 24, 2018 After the photo opportunity they boarded Trump's Marine One helicopter for a scenic tour of Washington DC before flying to Mount Vernon, the riverside home of George Washington, for a private dinner. Mr Macron has the honour of being the first world leader to get a US state visit under America's 45th president having earned a reputation as being a Trump whisperer. Talks between the leaders will focus on the Iran nuclear deal, the Syrian conflict, US steel tariffs on the EU and the Paris climate change agreement. Sometime before Donald Trump picked dandruff off Emmanuel Macrons shoulder and engaged in a bizarre handshake/cheek kiss moment with the French president on Tuesday, Trump tried to hold his wife Melanias hand. The moment was not a smooth one, and MSNBC cameras picked up the awkward attempt in excruciating detail. Video shows Trump using a few fingers to initiate holding hands to no response. Then he tried again with his pinky, which also didnt work. Then he put multiple fingers in Melanias palm, which finally resulted in what looked like two people mutually agreeing to join hands. First Lady Melania Trump had another awkward hand-holding moment with husband Donald Trump as they welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte. pic.twitter.com/RyWEhi8uYE People (@people) April 24, 2018 The footage of Trump attempting and eventually succeeding spread around the internet quickly, with people focusing on the presidents insistence despite his wifes seemingly unhelpful reaction. I know Ive been an absentee dad and a horrible husband - including flagrant affairs while you were pregnant - but lets just hold hands at this event... pic.twitter.com/gLDCs40iCk Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) April 24, 2018 Trump trying to hold Melanias hand reminds me of Pepe le Pew chasing a bewildered Le Cat. pic.twitter.com/ZlhbtAJDuH laney (@misslaneym) April 24, 2018 Melania refusing to hold Trump's hand with a ghastly expression on her face, and then him creepily grabbing it, is America 2018. pic.twitter.com/YPq3TFYlmJ Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) April 24, 2018 Because Melania wont hold his hand. pic.twitter.com/MGyJnpxBrh (@SillyTrumpMemes) April 24, 2018 The Daily Show went one step further, dubbing the moment with music from Jaws, which happens to sync up pretty perfectly. Story continues Though the president and first lady seemed slow on the hand-holding uptake while welcoming Macron and his wife, Brigitte, on Tuesday, the Trumps were in fact photographed multiple times holding hands during the French leaders visit. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Also on HuffPost A model of President Donald Trump from Madame Tussauds waxwork attractions stands outside the new U.S. Embassy in London on Jan. 12, 2018. People take photographs of the wax figure. Uncanny. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Donald Trump will reportedly visit the UK in July (Rex) Donald Trump is to visit the UK in mid-July, in his first visit since being elected President, according to reports. A full announcement about Trumps visit is set to be made over the next few days but the date is rumoured to be 13 July, according to Sky News. The President had been due to visit the US Embassy in London in February but cancelled after tweeting that he was not a big fan of its change of location. The President reportedly told the Prime Minister of his plans several weeks ago (Rex) Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for peanuts, only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018 He reportedly told Prime Minister Theresa May at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year that he plans visit the UK this summer. Potential plans for a full state visit for the President were scrapped after nearly two million Brits signed a petition opposing it. Trump reportedly told the Prime Minister that he would not make a state visit to Britain until there is support for it from the British public. Latest on Donald Trump at Yahoo News UK He apparently told Mrs May in a phone call that he does not want to come if his arrival will be met by protests. The Prime Minister had faced calls to cancel Trumps planned visit after the US President launched a Twitter attack on London Mayor Sadiq Khan in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack. Story continues Trump is currently hosting French president Emmanuel Macron, in the first state visit of his administration. Trump is currently hosting French president Emmanuel Macron in the first state visit of his administration (Rex) Support for Trump has increased among Brits since he became President. Although his starting approval rating in the UK just 12% in October 2016 before the presidential election wasnt a very high starting base, in December 2017, his popularity among Britons had risen to 18%, according to a YouGov survey. Among Brexit voters, Mr Trumps popularity is at 33%, but only 4% of Remainers back him. Ronny Jackson, pictured on Tuesday after meeting individually with some members of the committee which would vet him - AP President Donald Trump has suggested his embattled nominee to lead the veterans affairs department could withdraw his candidacy, after lashing out at the "ugly and disgusting" vetting process that saw serious concerns raised about Ronny Jackson's drinking and management. Dr Jackson, 50, has found his candidacy to lead the second largest department in the federal government on hold, with a hearing scheduled for Wednesday postponed, and no new date scheduled. Mr Trump defended him, but hinted that Dr Jackson could withdraw his nomination, saying: I would always stand by him. Hes a fine man. He has to listen to the abuse. The fact is, I wouldnt do it. What does he need it for, to be abused by a bunch of politicians? I wouldnt do it. But the decision is totally his. The Texan retired navy admiral was a surprise nominee to replace the respected David Shulkin, an experienced hospital administrator with a deep understanding of the veterans affairs medical system, who was fired last month. Dr Jackson, appointed as White House physician by Barack Obama in 2013, has no experience of running a large government department and is widely believed to have been nominated to lead the department of 370,000 employees thanks to his annual report on the presidents health, which delighted Mr Trump. "He's like central casting - like a Hollywood star," said Mr Trump, praising Dr Jackson in a speech to donors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in February. Ronny Jackson on January 16, delivering the annual assessment of the president's health The White House is believed to have done little or no vetting of his background before announcing his nomination on Twitter. Before serving as a White House physician, Dr Jackson had deployed as an emergency medicine physician to Taqaddum, Iraq, during the Iraq war. But Dr Jackons hearing has been postponed after the Senate veteran affairs committee was made aware of serious concerns about his background. The New York Times reported that whistleblowers told the committee of a hostile work environment, over-prescription of drugs, and Dr Jacksons drinking. Story continues The Senate committee on veterans affairs is postponing the hearing to consider the nominee to be secretary of the US department of veterans affairs in light of new information presented to the committee, said Johnny Isakson, Republican senator for Georgia, the committee chairman, and Jon Tester of Montana, its top Democrat, in a joint statement. We will continue looking into these serious allegations and have requested additional information from the White House to enable the committee to conduct a full review. Donald Trump shakes hands with White House physician Dr Ronny Jackson as he boards Marine One to leave the Walter Reed national military medical center in Bethesda, Maryland, after his first medical check-up as president Credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP A 2012 watchdog report obtained by AP found that Dr Jackson and Jeffrey Kulham, who led the White House medical team at the time, both exhibited "unprofessional behaviours" as they engaged in a power struggle. The six-page report found a lack of trust in the leadership and low morale among staff members. The report says staff members described the working environment as "being caught between parents going through a bitter divorce." Mr Trump on Tuesday defended Dr Jackson. I havent heard of the particular allegations but he is one of the finest doctors I have met, he said, speaking at a White House press conference with the French president, Emmanuel Macron. I know there is an experience problem. But there is an experience problem we will take great care of our veterans, and weve done a great job. You could run the biggest hospital in the world and you still wouldnt have the experience. I told Admiral Jackson what do you need this for? This is a vicious group of people, that malign. He is an admiral and a great leader and they question him for every little thing. Its totally his decision and hell be making a decision. Dr Jackson refused to discuss the allegations on Tuesday, but instead told reporters: Im looking forward to the hearing. I was looking forward to doing it tomorrow, so Im looking forward to getting it rescheduled and answering all the questions. His troubles with the nomination process came as Mike Pompeo, Mr Trumps nominee for secretary of state, secured the surprise approval of the Senate foreign relations committee. The approval was secured when Rand Paul, a Republican senator for Kentucky, was won over by Mr Pompeo and agreed to his nomination. Brussels (AFP) - International donors are expected Wednesday to pledge billions of dollars for Syria after the UN's special envoy warned of a looming humanitarian disaster in the rebel-held region of Idlib. The UN's aid agency says some $8 billion is needed from the gathering of ministers and aid organisations in Brussels for work both inside Syria and with refugees in neighbouring countries. As forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad wage a new offensive against Islamic State jihadists entrenched in a southern district of Damascus, the conference will also try to re-energise the floundering UN-led peace process in the hope of ending the bloody war, now in its eighth year. Idlib, on the Turkish border in northwestern Syria, is held by an array of rebel, Islamist and jihadist forces and has seen an massive influx of people fleeing the conflict. "We were and are concerned on the humanitarian side by Idlib. Because Idlib is the big new challenge, 2.5 million people," UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told the first day of the conference on Tuesday. "We hope that this would be an occasion for making sure that Idlib does not become the new new Aleppo, the new Eastern Ghouta, because the dimensions are completely different." Some 6.1 million people are now internally displaced in Syria, more than five million have fled the country and 13 million including six million children are in need of aid, according to the UN. More than 700,000 people have been displaced since the start of this year alone. The head of UN aid agency UNOCHA Mark Lowcock said the gathering needed to raise some $8 billion for work inside Syria and with refugees in neighbouring countries, warning that some programmes may have to be cut back if funds are not forthcoming. "We are quite desperately short of resources," he told reporters, saying UNOCHA managed to raise only half of the funds it needed in 2017. - Political pressure - Story continues Europe is also keen to use the conference to restart UN-led talks in Geneva which have made little progress in eight rounds, with Assad's government paying little interest and Russia, Iran and Turkey launching a rival process in the Kazakh capital Astana last year. Russia and Iran are Assad's key allies and their military intervention in Syria is widely seen as tipping the balance in the civil war. Mogherini and de Mistura both called on Moscow, Tehran and Ankara to do more to reach a ceasefire. "The main message is that Syria is not a chessboard, it's not geopolitical game," Mogherini said. Moscow has repeatedly defended its Syrian ally at the UN, most recently over the suspected chemical attack in the town of Douma, blamed by Western powers on Assad's forces. Britain's development minister Penny Mordaunt is expected to urge delegates at the conference to step up the pressure on Moscow. "In wielding its UN veto 12 times on Syria, (Russia) has given a green flag to Assad to perpetrate human rights atrocities against his own people," Mordaunt will say, according to her office. "We're here to address the urgent humanitarian needs in Syria and the wider region, but all of us here know that the only solution to end the suffering in Syria is a political settlement that brings peace." A UN Security Council retreat in a secluded farmhouse in Sweden at the weekend, called in a bid to overcome its paralysis on Syria, had lowered the "temperature" but failed to find a political solution, Mistura said. But it is not clear how effectively the Brussels conference will be able to mobilise political pressure on Assad and his backers. As with previous editions, neither the Syrian government nor opposition groups will be represented and it also remains unclear who, if anyone, will come for Russia, Turkey and Iran. By Eric Knecht and Maha El Dahan KAFR ZIADA, Egypt/DUBAI (Reuters) - Rice farmers in Kafr Ziada village in the Nile River Delta have ignored planting restrictions aimed at conserving water for years, continuing to grow a medium-grain variety of the crop that is prized around the Arab world. A decision thousands of kilometers to the south is about to change that, however, in another example of how concern about water, one of the world's most valuable commodities, is forcing change in farming, laws and even international diplomacy. Far upstream, close to one of the sources of the Nile, Ethiopia is preparing to fill the reservoir behind its new $4 billion Grand Renaissance Dam, possibly as soon as this year. How fast it does so could have devastating consequences for farmers who have depended on the Nile for millennia to irrigate strategic crops for Egypt's 96 million people, expected to grow to 128 million by 2030. Safeguarding Egypt's share of the Nile, on which the country relies for industry and drinking water as well as farming, is now at the top of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's agenda as he begins a second term. At the same time, authorities are finally tackling widespread illegal growing of the water-intensive rice crop, showing a sense of urgency that even climate change and rapid population growth has failed to foster. The crackdown means Egypt will likely be a rice importer in 2019 after decades of being a major exporter, rice traders say. Cairo has decreed that 724,000 feddans (750,000 acres) of rice can be planted this year, which grain traders estimate is less than half of the 1.8 million feddans actually cultivated in 2017 far in excess of the officially allotted 1.1 million feddans. Police have started raiding farmers' homes and jailing them until they pay outstanding fines from years back. "The police came to my house at three in the morning and took me to the station to pay the fine," said Mohamed Abdelkhaleq, head of the farming association in Kafr Ziada, some 125 km (80 miles) north of Cairo in Beheira governorate. "Even if the fine is 1 Egyptian pound (5 U.S. cents), they'll come to your house." Three other farmers reported similar experiences and said this year they would not plant rice. Reda Abdelaziz, 50, said some people have become afraid to leave the village. "If you're traveling and they take your ID card and see you have a fine on you, they'll put you in jail," he said. Abdelkhaleq took to the local mosque's loudspeaker last month to say the government was doubling the fine for unauthorized rice cultivation to 7,600 pounds per feddan. Mostafa al-Naggari, who heads the rice committee of Egypt's agricultural export council, says if the government sticks to the new approach Egypt will likely have to import as much as 1 million tonnes of rice next year. "The dam has opened the door for there to be more of an awareness of water scarcity issues, but Egypt has for a long time needed to review its water allocation policy," he said. NO AGREEMENT Egypt has long considered the Nile its own, even though the river and its tributaries flow through 10 countries. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat famously said in 1979 that he was prepared to go to war over the Nile if its flow was ever threatened. But any threat from Ethiopia in the past was empty until now. The new dam, cutting through the Blue Nile tributary just before its descent into southeastern Sudan, will offer Addis Ababa immense political leverage over its downstream neighbors. Sudan and Egypt are the biggest users of the river for irrigation and dams. Egypt wants to be assured that the dam will not affect the river's flow, estimated at about 84 billion cubic meters on average per year. Ethiopia aims to use the dam to become Africa's biggest power generator and exporter, linking tens of millions to electricity for the first time. The two countries have not been able to agree on a comprehensive water-sharing arrangement despite years of negotiations. Ethiopia was not party to and does not recognize a 1959 agreement between Egypt and Sudan that gave Cairo the rights to the lion's share of the river. For its part, Egypt refuses to sign on to a 2010 regional water-sharing initiative that takes away its power to veto projects that would alter allocations. Ethiopia says that its dam won't affect the Nile's flow once its 79 billion cubic meter reservoir is filled. The issue is over how fast that happens. Ethiopia wants to do it in as little as three years; Egypt is aiming for seven to ten, sources close to the matter said. There's no doubt the flow of the Nile will be affected during those years. What's not known is how dramatically, and there is little data available to answer that question. Sources at Egypt's irrigation ministry have estimated the loss of 1 billion cubic meters of water would affect 1 million people and lead to the loss of 200,000 acres of farmland. On that basis, "if (the dam is) filled in 3 years it might destroy 51 percent of Egypts farmland, if in 6 years it will destroy 17 percent," said Ashraf el Attal, CEO of Dubai-based commodities trader Fortuna and an expert on Egypts grain trade. BE READY TO ADAPT The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation has said Egypt requires an "urgent and massive" response to maintain food security in coming years for a number of reasons, including water scarcity, urbanization and the effects of climate change. Talks among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on the dam in early April stalled over what Sudan's foreign minister called "technical issues". No date has been set for the next round. "The filling of the GERD is just the most critical issue for the three countries to decide upon, and now, ahead of the first filling," said Ana Cascao, an independent researcher on Nile hydropolitics. "A fair and equitable filling strategy must take into account different scenarios on climate and rainfall variability if it will be one of drought, then the three countries are ready to agree on a slower filling," said Cascao. Rice farmers, who typically begin planting at the end of April, said they may now leave their lands fallow given the difficulty of quickly switching to other summer crops like cotton and corn that require different machinery and techniques. Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Aty told Reuters the situation posed a big threat to crops, livelihoods and even political stability if efforts to coordinate fail. "Imagine to what extent these people will become vulnerable," he said. (GRAPHIC: The Nile's troubled waters - https://tmsnrt.rs/2qq8XGc) (Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union asked on Monday to join a dispute brought by China to the World Trade Organization over U.S. import tariffs on steel and aluminium, just over a week before U.S. President Trump decides whether they should apply to Europe. The U.S. administration has set duties of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium on grounds of national security, but provided a temporary exemption until May 1 for the European Union. China has taken the United States to the WTO over the measures. The first step in the WTO process involves consultations. The WTO said on Monday that the European Union had made a formal request to join the consultations as a party with a significant trade interest in the matter. The EU noted, according to the WTO, that its interest was substantial because if the exemption ended then the U.S. measures would hit EU exports. Hong Kong, India, Russia and Thailand have all filed requests to join the consultations. The EU is the first of the parties granted an exemption to seek to join the dispute. Canada, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and South Korea also received temporary exemptions. South Korea's has since been extended indefinitely. The European Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the 28-member EU, said that the bloc wanted to be granted a permanent exemption without conditions. Separately on Monday, India, Russia, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey and Venezuela joined China in expressing their concerns or disappointment at the U.S. metals tariffs. A European Commission source said it was normal for the EU to seek to observe consultations and be able to submit its own views if it had a substantial interest and considered the WTO as the appropriate forum to settle disputes. (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Tom Miles; editing by Andrew Roche) Farm workers carry crates of freshly picked avocados on a farm in Tacambaro, Mexico. The new EU-Mexico deal opens up trade in agricultural produce for the first time between the two countries: REUTERS Mexico and the European Union have agreed a new trade deal that virtually eliminates tariffs between the two blocs, as Europe forges ahead with setting up new trade links around the world ahead of Brexit. The deal, inked at the weekend, took two years to negotiate and eliminates tariffs practically across the board, including the agriculture. The British government has staked its economic fortunes on negotiating new free trade deals around the world, but also hopes to piggy-back on the dozens of deals already signed by the EU which the UK currently benefits from. Liam Fox, the UK trade secretary, visited Mexico in July last year, stating that he hoped to replicate the then pending EU deal for Britain after it leaves the bloc. The latest agreement also gives some clues to the requirements the EU could impose on Britain when Theresa May seeks to negotiate a free trade agreement with the bloc after Brexit. The Mexican government has agreed to recognise 240 geographical indications regional products protected by EU rules like Champagne and ban Mexican imitations from using the same names. The UK government has been resisting signing up to such rules, with a view to signing a deal with the US, which regards them as protectionism. The deal also includes a passage on financial services, but provisions are based on the idea of equivalence which City of London bosses have said would be insufficient for UK firms because it can be revoked by the EU at any time if rules are not deemed to meet European standards. In less than two years the EU and Mexico have delivered a deal fit for the economic and political challenges of the 21st century Cecilia Malmstrom, EU trade commissioner Trade can and should be a win-win process and today's agreement shows just that, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said. Mexico and the EU worked together and reached a mutually beneficial outcome. We did it as partners who are willing to discuss, to defend their interests while at the same time being willing to compromise to meet each other's expectations. With this agreement, Mexico joins Canada, Japan and Singapore in the growing list of partners willing to work with the EU in defending open, fair and rules-based trade. Story continues Cecilia Malmstrom, the EUs trade commissioner added: In less than two years the EU and Mexico have delivered a deal fit for the economic and political challenges of the 21st century. Liam Fox visited Mexico to drum up trade for Brexit Britain in July 2017 (Reuters) We now open a new chapter in our long and fruitful relationship, boosting trade and creating jobs. Today's agreement also sends a strong message to other partners that it is possible to modernise existing trade relations when both partners share a clear belief in the merits of openness, and of free and fair trade. The deal also opens up Mexican government procurement to EU companies, and slashes tariffs on European goods such as pasta, pork, cheese, chocolate, and milk powder. A previous trade deal signed 21 years ago mostly covers industrial goods. Mexico is expected to get better access for products including orange juice, tuna, asparagus, honey, egg white albumin, and meats. It needed to be more ambitious in the agricultural sector, it needed to be more ambitious in services, it needed to be more ambitious in many of the elements that in the end we managed to agree on after two years of work, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said. EU officials said earlier this year that the bloc should accelerate talks with Mexico, among other countries, in response to threats by Donald Trump to impose tariffs on EU goods. Mexicos government is also pursuing the deal under the pretext of diversifying the countrys trade away from the US, which is taking an increasingly hard protectionist line under the right-wing president. The trade deal must now be translated into legal text and signed off by the European Council and European Parliament. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Europe will not choose sides in the trade dispute between the United States and China, a top European official said on Saturday, adding that the European Union's temporary exemptions from U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs should become permanent. European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici said trade was one of the main issues discussed with U.S. officials on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings this week in Washington. Moscovici told Reuters he had met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow. "Trade wars are like all wars - they are destructive," he said in an interview. "We must find a soft landing in the debate that is ongoing. This means first finding a way between the U.S. and the EU to ... move from a temporary exemption to a definitive exemption," he said. "We are discussing it actively in a quite constructive spirit with our American friends and I am hopeful that we will have this decision by the 1st of May," he said, referring to the date on which the temporary exemption for the EU expires. EU anger was stoked last month when President Donald Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent tariff on aluminium imports to counter what he has described as unfair international competition. A number of countries, including those in the EU, were granted temporary exemptions. Trump also has announced tariffs on Chinese goods, prompting retaliation by Beijing and fuelling fears of a global trade war. Moscovici said China needed to implement reforms and show openness in trade and solve the question of over-capacity in steel production, but he added that it should be done through the World Trade Organisation rather than a trade war. Europe would not side with either the U.S. or China, he said. "This is not the way things need to be addressed." "Choosing one side would mean that we enter into the climate of confrontation and this is not the way things need to be handled. Certainly there are imbalances and they need to be addressed, certainly there are problems and they need to be resolved, but not through confrontation," he said. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Paul Simao) BELGRADE (Reuters) - The European Union aims to further strengthen economic and other ties with Serbia and other nations in the Western Balkans as they edge toward eventual membership, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Wednesday. Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are all candidates to join the EU, but the region remains badly scarred by the ethnic wars of the 1990s and struggles to overcome a reputation for lawlessness. Tusk, who chairs EU summits, said their membership bids would be promoted at a planned EU-Western Balkans summit on May 17 in Sofia, capital of neighboring Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007 and holds the bloc's rotating six-month presidency. "The EU is ready and it wants to remain the most trustworthy partner of Serbia and the entire Western Balkans region," Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, told reporters after talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade. "At our summit in Sofia we will reaffirm that readiness to work on EU integration," Tusk said, speaking Serbian. The European Council headed by Tusk groups the EU's 28 national governments. Serbia and Montenegro are the frontrunners for EU membership and the EU's executive Commission has set a tentative target accession date of 2025. All six Western Balkan nations seeking EU membership must tackle corruption and organized crime, improve human rights and media freedoms and resolve any disputes with their neighbors before they can join. "There's a lot of work ahead of Serbia .. We have started to work on the rule of law ... and on cooperation with journalists' associations," Vucic said. EU members such as Poland, Italy and Austria want the bloc to expand into the Western Balkans, which has seen growing Russian and Chinese influence. The EU remains the region's main investor and trade partner. Vucic said he and Werner Hoyer, head of the European Investment Bank [EIB.UL], had signed a 45 million euro ($54.82 million) loan deal to upgrade joint air traffic control of Serbia and Montenegro to meet EU regulations. Since 2007, the EIB and other EU financial institutions have invested more than 7 billion euros in the region. The EIB plans to extend about 700 million euros ($861.98 million) in 2018 for infrastructure in the Western Balkans. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Gareth Jones) Washington (AFP) - Former FBI chief James Comey's book "A Higher Loyalty," which details his soured relationship with US President Donald Trump, sold 600,000 copies in its first week, publisher Flatiron Books told AFP on Tuesday. The highly-anticipated book, released April 17, debuted at the top slot on Amazon's bestseller list, but by Tuesday had slipped to second place. More than a million copies of "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership" have been printed to date, Flatiron Books said through a spokesperson. The book is available in print and digital formats. Despite the blockbuster figures, fueled in part by his barrage of media interviews and a high-profile book tour, Comey's work is not even the bestselling political tell-all of 2018. "Fire and Fury," the explosive tell-all by journalist Michael Wolff, which also focuses on Trump, had a stronger start in January, with over one million copies sold in its first week, according to his publisher. So far, Wolff's controversial account of life in a chaotic White House has sold over two million copies, according to The New York Times. The sales figures are welcome news for Macmillan Publishers, the parent company of Flatiron Books and Henry Holt and Company, which published "Fire and Fury." In the book, Comey, 57, writes at length about his life as a federal prosecutor and senior Justice Department official, the cases he encountered during his career, and his thoughts on "ethical leadership." But he also addresses his relationship with Trump, whom he portrays as dishonest and egocentric. He compares the president's methods -- particularly his demand for loyalty -- to those of a mafia boss. The book, which was also in the top 20 in Britain, Germany and Australia on Tuesday, has infuriated Trump, who blasted its author as an "untruthful slimeball" on Twitter. Paul Manafort was interviewed twice by the FBI before he joined the Trump campaign, according to a court filing by the Mueller investigation. Manafort, 69, joined President Donald Trumps campaign in March 2016, becoming its manager in June until he resigned in August after his links to the Russia-allied Ukrainian government were revealed. The political consultant, who made millions of dollars through his work for the disgraced former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, was interviewed by the FBI on March 13, 2013, and again on July 30, 2014, the Mueller court filing on Monday confirmed. Trending: Delta Staff Tied Passenger With Multiple Sclerosis to Her Wheelchair, Family Claims The Mueller inquiry into suspicions of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government is defending a warrant attached to an FBI raid on Manaforts home in July 2017. Paul Manafort Russia Alex Wong/Getty Images The FBI were hunting for records of the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 between campaign representatives, including Manafort, and two Russiansa Kremlin-linked lawyer and a former Soviet counterintelligence officer. The Russians allegedly promised dirt on Trumps rival, Hillary Clinton. Don't miss: The Internet Got Hacked for Two Hours This Week, and at Least $150,000 in Cryptocurrency Was Stolen Investigators were also searching for documents relating to Manafort and his associates' financial dealings, bank accounts, payments made by foreign individuals, and work on behalf of foreign entities, such as governments or officials. Manafort is indicted on five counts, among them conspiracy against the United States, money laundering, and acting as an agent of a foreign government without registering as such. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Story continues His business partner Rick Gates has also been indicted on two counts, one of conspiracy against the United States and another of making a false statement. Gates has pled guilty in a plea deal. Most popular: Melania Trump's State Dinner Menu Slammed As 'Froo-froo Garbage' By Pundit Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating if there was any collusion between the Trump campaign for president in 2016 and the Russian government. U.S. intelligence agencies say the Kremlin sought to undermine American democracy through hacking and the spread of disinformation on the internet. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Finland has decided not to extend its trial in universal basic income, the first welfare experiment of its kind by a European government that gave citizens an unconditional monthly payment. The government rejected a request from Kela, the countrys social security agency, for additional funding to expand the innovative two-year pilot program, meaning it will come to an end in January 2019, the Guardian reports. The program, which Finland inaugurated in January 2017, saw 2,000 jobless people receive 560 ($685) per month without requiring them to work or seek employment. Recipients who found a job continued to receive the payments. In 2015, Finlands unemployment rate had hit a 17-year high of 10%, prompting calls for welfare reform. But in December 2017, the Finnish parliament introduced legislation requiring jobless people to work at least 18 hours every three months to qualify for unemployment benefits, signaling that the welfare regime could be shifting in the opposite direction. Read more: Universal Basic Income: How It Works Advocates of universal basic income (UBI) programs, which have become more popular in recent years, argue that guaranteeing a baseline pay for adult citizens can help alleviate social issues like crime, poverty and chronic unemployment. But critics contend that UBI programs are costly and ineffective. Other countries including Holland, Canada, and Kenya have also experimented with basic income schemes. Billionaire SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a supporter of the universal basic income - REUTERS Finland has decided to end its experiment with a universal basic income, in which people are paid an unconditional salary by the state instead of benefits. The idea of a universal basic income has high-profile champions such as Richard Branson, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But the Finnish government's enthusiasm for a pilot scheme, a European first which garnered worldwide attention, is petering out. Calls for extra funding for it were rejected and the two year trial will not be extended after next year. The scheme saw 2,000 unemployed Finns, picked at random, receive a flat monthly payment of 560 (490). The government will now look at other ideas to reform its social security system. Supporters argue that a universal basic income would provide a safety net and boost innovation, creativity and personal well-being, as well as helping the unemployed find temporary work. It would counteract the insecurity of increasing number of short term contracts offered employees and boost labour mobility by encouraging workers to take the risk of moving jobs. The eagerness of the government is evaporating, Olli Kangas, one of the experiment's designers told the BBC. Professor Kangas said the government had turned down a request to expand the scheme to pay up to 61 million to fund the basic income for employed Finns rather than the group of 2,000 unemployed people. Finlands unemployment rate of 9.2 per cent, higher than its Nordic neighbours, and complex benefits system had fuelled calls for an ambitious rethink. We cannot be tempted by a Universal Basic Income - it would do huge damage to the economy A report by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce said in February that the British government should consider giving 10,000 to every British citizen under the age of 55 as part of a universal basic income fund. Nicola Sturgeon called for research into the idea for Scotland in 2017 and the idea was part of the UK Green Party's manifesto that year. Story continues In February, the OECD think tank said that a universal credit system replacing benefits payments with a single sum, such as that being introduced in Britain, would work better than a universal basic income. In 2016, Swiss voters rejected a plan to introduce a guaranteed basic income for all, regardless of whether or not they were employed. More than three quarters of referendum voters opposed a plan offering an unconditional monthly income of 1,755 for each adult and 458 for each child. At a glance | Universal basic income BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - A fire erupted at an illegal oil well in Indonesia on Wednesday killing least 18 people and injuring 41 as they scrambled to collect oil after the well overflowed, authorities said. Firefighters struggled all day to put out the blaze in the northwestern province of Aceh and were still working as darkness fell. Dozens of people suffering from burns were taken to hospital in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, several hours away from where the accident happened. "There was panic among the public because the fire is in a residential area," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency. The fire broke out early on Wednesday after a well of depth 250 meters (820 ft) overflowed and residents gathered to collect the oil, the agency said. Earlier, Nugroho posted pictures on social media that showed flames towering over houses and trees as firefighters hosed down the area while villagers looked on. "This is illegal drilling," said Roberth MV Dumatubun, a spokesman for at PT Pertamina EP, a subsidiary of state oil firm Pertamina. "It was a well made and managed by the residents there. Incidents like these are likely to happen because they don't pay attention to elements like safety." Pertamina, which has operations in the area, was providing equipment to help fight the fire. At least eight fire trucks had been deployed to try to douse the blaze. The head of police in the area said the fire might have been sparked by a careless smoker. "We suspect there was someone smoking," said police official Wahyu Kuncoro. (Reporting by Reuters stringer in Banda Aceh; Additional reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel) Washington (AFP) - France's President Emmanuel Macron urged the United States to embrace multilateralism and warned of the perils of trade war and "extreme nationalism" in an address to Congress pushing back against Donald Trump's "America First" agenda. The French leader's feisty speech to lawmakers was a dramatic twist near the end of a three-day visit that had showcased his warm personal relationship with Trump, despite the gulf between their visions of world affairs. In one of his final appearances of the trip, he expressed pessimism about the future of the Iran nuclear deal, saying he believed Trump may end up pulling out of the agreement. The two presidents had literally embraced each other, repeatedly talking up their much-vaunted friendship during the trip, but in his speech to Congress Macron rigorously pushed back against Trump's trade, climate and non-proliferation policies. "We can build the 21st century world order based on a new breed of multilateralism, based on a more effective, accountable, and result-oriented multilateralism," Macron said, defending the rules-based world order. Trump has threatened to tear up international trade deals, scorns the United Nations, accuses US allies of not pulling their weight, walked away from the Paris climate accord and hates dealing with transnational bodies like the European Union. But Macron, who one day earlier had appeared hand-in-hand with Trump at the White House, received applause from the US leader's domestic Democratic opponents by calling for a "strong multilateralism" and avoiding an isolationist approach akin to "closing the door to the world." He declared that France would not pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, warned against imposing trade tariffs on allies and stressed that global action on climate change is vital because there is "no Planet B." - 'He is perfect' - "The United States is the one who invented this multilateralism. You're the ones now who have to help to preserve and reinvent it," he said, in a tacit nod to Trump's efforts to shake off international shackles. Story continues In doing so, he flipped the script of the trip -- the Trump White House's first full state visit -- which was until now dominated by intimate images of the French and US first couples planting trees, exchanging kisses and socializing. Trump at one point brushed Macron's shoulder and said: "He is perfect." Transatlantic political reality reasserted itself Wednesday, however, as Macron -- speaking in an accented but increasingly confident English -- recalled the glories of past US-French cooperation. Trump's trade sanctions against European steel and aluminum will enter into force in coming weeks unless Trump agrees to sign a waiver. Despite his affection for Macron, he has not yet said he will do so. Macron hit back. "We need a free and fair trade, for sure," Macron said. "A commercial war opposing allies is not consistent with our mission, with our history, with our current commitments for global security." Trump has also warned he may not renew sanctions waivers on Iran next month, which would effectively torpedo the 2015 nuclear deal, a triumph of multilateral diplomacy. Macron has more sympathy than perhaps any other foreign leader for Trump's arguments that the deal falls short of sealing off Iran's alleged quest for a nuclear weapon -- which the French leader vowed before lawmakers that Tehran would "never" be allowed to possess. But after his meetings with Trump and his speech to Congress, Macron told reporters that while he had no "inside information" on what Trump will decide, he believes the US leader "will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons." Together with Trump, Macron called Tuesday for a more comprehensive "new" deal with Tehran, but made clear to lawmakers that France would not be walking away from the existing accord. "We should not abandon it without having something substantial and more substantial instead," he told Congress. - 'Uncomfortable moments' - Several Democrats said they were impressed by Macron's impassioned call for US engagement on multiple fronts, particularly on climate change and Iran. House Democrat Adam Schiff judged that Macron had offered "more of a direct contradiction of the president than I was expecting." "There were more than a few uncomfortable moments on the GOP side of the aisle," he told AFP. But Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he didn't feel Macron had rebuked his host. "He said in there that he believes in free and fair trade. That's exactly what the president asked for," McCarthy said. Macron's provocative speech came after he enjoyed an exuberant welcome from the Republican president -- an elaborate state dinner, an intimate get together for four with their wives at George Washington's Virginia estate Mount Vernon, and repeated vows of friendship. The 40-year-old French leader spoke at length of "how deep, how strong, and how intense the relationship is between our two countries," and marveled at the unforeseen rapport he has forged with the 71-year-old Trump. But while the "bromance" has provided plenty of material for late night TV comedy, the key question is whether Macron can translate the privileged relationship into concrete results -- be it on trade, Iran or the climate. After his Congress speech, Macron addressed students at George Washington University, where he pledged to help "win peace" in Syria by defeating Islamic State extremists in the war-scarred nation. He also spoke of the "tremendous challenge" facing America's younger generation as it grapples with global issues like climate change and geo-politics, but offered words of encouragement. "At the end of the day you will be the ones to decide," he said. Tehran (AFP) - Analysts fear a wider Middle Eastern war is brewing between Iran and its rivals, Israel and Saudi Arabia, warning that their failure to understand each other's intentions threatens to tear the region apart. "We will not allow Iranian entrenchment in Syria, no matter the price to pay," Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman declared this month. His comments followed air strikes on Syria's T-4 airbase, which killed seven Iranian personnel. Israel did not claim responsibility, but the raid was widely seen as its first direct attack on Iranian assets and a worrying sign of how Syria's seven-year conflict could escalate into a wider regional war. The Middle East is mired in what the International Crisis Group calls a dangerous "gap in perceptions that has locked Iran and its rivals in an escalatory spiral of proxy fights that is destroying the region". With Iranian-backed militias entrenched in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Iran's rivals worry it is seeking to dominate the region and gather forces for an attack on Israel. But the ICG said Iran sees quite the opposite, "a region dominated by powers with superior military capabilities", and only supported the Syrian government because it feared losing one of its few allies and being encircled by jihadist forces. Many Iranians find the idea they are the destabilising force in the region hard to stomach, given recent actions by Saudi Arabia. "It's not Iran who imprisons foreign prime ministers like Saudi Arabia does," University of Tehran professor Mohammad Marandi told AFP, referring to Lebanese premier Saad Hariri who announced his resignation from Riyadh last year, followed by a lengthy stay in the Saudi capital. "And in Yemen, despite three years of imposing starvation and war with Western help, the Saudis have failed to gain any significant victory," Marandi added. "They engage in war, they kidnap prime ministers and they spread Wahhabi extremism... and somehow Iran is the one portrayed as pursuing some sort of expansionist policy." Story continues - Contradictions - The Saudi position on Iran can appear contradictory. Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman told CBS News last month that Iran's army and economy were greatly inferior to those of the Sunni kingdom, but he also presents Shiite-dominated Iran as seeking control of the whole region. "Critics may downplay Saudi concerns about Iranian expansionism, accusing Riyadh of 'seeing an Iranian behind every tree'," said Ali Shihabi, director of the pro-Saudi, Washington-based think tank, Arabia Foundation. "But... one by one the Saudis watched as (Iran's) proxy forces captured their neighbours: Lebanon, Iraq, Syria," he told AFP. Iran's position has its own contradictions. It says it will never initiate conflict with Israel, but its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned the "Zionist regime" will not exist in 25 years. Marandi, at the University of Tehran, says this is not a threat of military action. "Iran has never, despite all the Western media misinformation, threatened to initiate conflict with the Israeli regime, despite the fact it sees it as illegitimate in the same way as apartheid South Africa," said Marandi. "The threat to Israel has nothing to do with Iranian military might. It has to do with increasingly being seen as illegitimate by many of its international friends." That was rejected by Dore Gold, Israel's former United Nations ambassador, who said Iran's leaders amounted to a "really aggressive ideological movement" with a "very difficult attitude when it comes to Jews". Iran has "been building bases in Syria for ground troops," he said. Combined with Tehran's Lebanese ally Hezbollah, that represents "a permanent direct threat to Israel". - Military balance - Adding to uncertainty over each player's intentions are their vastly different military capabilities. Saudi Arabia has the latest Western hardware and spent five times more than Iran on defence in 2016, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Israel also has the ultimate deterrent: nuclear weapons. That has forced Iran to use proxy forces in the hope that they can attack its opponents without triggering a direct conflict. But this has only added to the perception that it is quietly destabilising its neighbours from within. Finding a way to rebuild trust looks near-impossible when the key players lack any forum for discussions or even basic diplomatic relations. On a trip to Washington this week, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called for a "regional dialogue forum... so we can talk to each other, not about each other". But Iran's opponents dismiss him as the friendly face of a regime that is complicit in mass slaughter in Syria and is masking its true intentions. Nonetheless, many feel that continuing to exclude Iran from regional decision-making is unsustainable. "Iran should recognise that the more its military doctrine promotes expeditionary warfighting, the more it will prompt aggressive pushback by its adversaries," the ICG report said. But "Iran is an integral part of the region and cannot be excised from it. "Iran will need to be more systematically engaged by its neighbours (and by the US) on regional issues such as the future of Yemen, Syria or Iraq." burs-er/par/dv/ceb The head of the Jewish community in Germany has urged Jews to not to wear kippahs traditional skullcaps due to heightened concern over recent anti-Semitic attacks. Defiantly showing your colors would in principle be the right way to go, Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said on Berlin public radio, according to the BBC. Nevertheless, I would advise individual people against openly wearing a kippah in big German cities. Last week, video footage surfaced that showed two men wearing kippahs being attacked with a belt. Jewish organizations have also voiced concern over other recent anti-Semitic incidents. Over the weekend Chancellor Angela Merkel denounced what she characterized as another form of anti-Semitism, saying threats were coming from both right-wing groups and some Muslims refugees in the country, BBC reports. Schuster added that our democracy would be at risk if Germany does not fight anti-Semitism. This is not only about anti-Semitism it goes along with racism, it goes along with xenophobia. You need a clear stop sign here. His remarks come ahead of the Berlin Wears Kippah march on Wednesday, which was organized in response to the assault. Other Jewish organizations, however, advise a different approach. We must take up this fight and be visible again in public, a spokesperson for the Berlin-based Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Anti-Semitism said, according to the BBC. A suspect in the notorious East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer case a series of murders, sexual assaults and home burglaries that gripped California in the 1970s and 80s has been arrested, officials said. Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested at his home in Citrus Heights late Tuesday. "The answer has always been in Sacramento," Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said. "We all knew that we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we also all knew that the needle was there." DeAngelo was charged with two counts of murder in the killings of a young couple gunned down while walking their dog on Feb. 2, 1978. USAF Sgt. Brian Maggiore, 21, and Katie Maggiore, 20, were shot as they tried to get away. They were just two blocks from their Rancho Cordova home. DeAngelo was booked into the Sacramento County jail and is ineligible for bail, online records show. DeAngelo has also been charged with two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstance for the killings of Lyman and Charlene Smith in 1980 in Ventura County, officials said. The couple was living in a gated community when Charlene Smith was raped and she and her husband were brutally murdered. "This 1980 murder has long been a source of fear and angst in the neighborhood in which it occurred, in the community and indeed throughout all of Ventura County," Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten said. Totten was among several district attorneys, law enforcement officials, families of the victims and advocates who gathered at the Sacramento County crime lab Wednesday to announce DeAngelo's arrest. "Joseph James DeAngelo has been called a lot of things by law enforcement; he's been called the East Area Rapist, he's been called the Visalia Ransacker, the Original Night Stalker and the Golden State Killer," Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said. "Today, it's our pleasure to call him 'defendant.''' Story continues Commonly referred to as the EAR/GSK, the rapist and murderer is believed to have killed at least 12 people, raped between 45 and 51 women and burglarized 120 homes throughout California. His reign of terror lasted at least 12 years and began with a series of burglaries and rapes in Rancho Cordova and Carmichael, both suburbs of Sacramento, in the summer of 1976, the FBI said. The EAR/GSK gained entry into the homes of his victims by prying open a window or door while they slept," the FBI said. "He would then shine a flashlight into the face of his victims, tie up the female victim and, if a male victim was present, tied him up as well." The EAR/GSK would ransack the home and rape the woman before eventually leaving with small items taken from the victims, including coins, cash, identification and jewelry, authorities said. In some instances, he would place dishware on the backs of the tied up men, warning them that if he heard plates break as a result of the man moving, he would kill the woman. Some victims also reported receiving phone calls from the EAR/GSK after the crimes. The EAR/GSK raped at least 37 people in the Sacramento area and Central Valley before he is believed to have moved on to the Bay Area and Southern California. The man continued to rape and kill individuals and couples in Southern California from 1979 to 1981. No additional incidents related to the EAR/GSK were reported until the rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl living in Irvine in May 1986. "This was the last known incident related to the EAR/GSK in California," the FBI said. All crimes linked to the EAR/GSK have been linked through DNA left at the scenes or by the patterns used in the crimes, officials said. DeAngelo's DNA was a match to that collected throughout the years investigating the EAR/GSK, authorities said. "It is fitting that today is national DNA day," Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said at Wednesday's press conference. Police first zeroed in on DeAngelo six days earlier. They watched his movements at his home for several days and collected a DNA sample from something DeAngelo discarded in that time. "We were able to confirm what we thought we already knew that we had our man," Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said. DeAngelo was arrested outside of his home Wednesday. "We had a team in place that was able to take him into custody," Jones said. "He was very surprised by that. It looked as though he might have been searching his mind [on what to do]." DeAngelo worked as a police officer with the Exeter Police Department near Visalia from 1973 to 1976, when a serial prowler and voyeur dubbed the Visalia Ransacker was active, Jones said. The Visalia Ransacker typically broke into single-family homes and tore apart the house's contents while stealing small items. The Visalia Ransacker's crime spree is thought to have begun in 1974 and ended in late 1975, when he was spotted trying to kidnap the 16-year-old daughter of Claude Snelling. Snelling confronted the masked man, who shot the father and journalism professor twice. Snelling staggered back into his home and later died. DeAngelo also worked as a police officer with the Auburn Police Department from 1976 to 1979, during the time in which the rapes committed by who was then known as the East Area Rapist. It was during this time that the Maggiores were also killed. "He was committing the crimes during the times he was employed," Jones said. DeAngelo was fired from the Auburn Police Department in August 1979 following his arrest for shoplifting dog repellent and a hammer from a Sacramento drug store, news reports at the time said. DeAngelo was accused of failing "to answer any of the city's investigations and did not request an administrative hearing so he was dismissed." "It is very important that the community have the utmost trust and faith in its officers' integrity; when this trust and faith has been compromised, officers can no longer effectively function in the community," then-Auburn Police Chief Nick Willick said at the time. It was after DeAngelo was fired from the Auburn Police Department that attacks connected to the EAR/GSK moved to Southern California. There, Keith and Patrice Harrington were among the couples murdered in a serious of heinous crimes originally attributed to the Original Night Stalker. Patrice was also raped. Keith Harrington's brother, Bruce Harrington, was among those present at the announcement of DeAngelo's arrest. "Fifty-one rapes and 12 murders; today, I'd like to speak to the multi-generational... victims of this staggering crime spree," Harrington said. "It is time for all victims to grieve and to take measure one last time. To bring closure to the anguish that we've all suffered for the last 40-some-odd years. "For law enforcement: Bravo, bravo, bravo. (For) their tenacity, their patience, their unrelenting focus... today is also a reaffirmation in the power and the public safety that is associated with forensic DNA technology," he added. Harrington long advocated for the use of DNA in solving and investigating crimes, spending nearly $2 million to support the passing of California Proposition 69, which allows for the collection of DNA samples from all felons and from people who have been arrested for certain crimes. "This isn't a current crime, it's an old crime, but it's finally solved by DNA," he said. "To the entire reservoir of victims out there, my sadness is with you. To the 51 ladies [raped by the EAR/GSK] ... sleep better tonight. He isnt coming through the window. Hes now in jail and hes history." Jane Carson Sadler was among the women attacked by the EAR/GSK, surviving a brutal encounter with the rapist in 1976. She was attacked in bed while her 3-year-old son lay beside her. "He gagged us, tied us and blindfolded us," she told Inside Edition. "He was holding a large butcher knife and said, 'I'll kill you.' I was frozen with fear." She was overjoyed after learning of DeAngelo's arrest. "So over, overwhelmed by this news," she said. "It's the best news... such a joyous occasion." Officials thanked the public for its commitment to seeing the case solved, saying they had sorted through thousands of tips in recent years. They also thanked the media for remaining interested in the case's progress. The case also saw considerable renewed interest by the public after true crime writer Michelle McNamara's book "Ill Be Gone in the Dark" was released in February. McNamara worked with investigators as she searched for the person behind the decades-old crimes, but she died in 2016, before the book could be published. "I wish Michelle were still alive because she worked so diligently on this case," Carson Sadler said. It was completed by McNamaras friends Billy Jensen, an investigative journalist who focuses on unsolved murders and missing persons, and researcher Paul Haynes. It was framed by an introduction by author Gillian Flynn and an afterword by McNamaras husband, comedian Patton Oswalt. The book reached the No. 1 spot on The New York Times bestseller list last month and was acquired by HBO with plans to adapt it as a docuseries. "HBO taking on this story will advance the passionate pursuit that Michelle shared with dozens of men and women in law enforcement to solve the mystery of one of Californias most notorious serial killers, Oswalt said at the time. Four days after the second anniversary of McNamara's death, it appeared officials may finally have the answers for which she had long searched. "I hope you got him, Michelle. I hope THEY got him," Oswalt tweeted after news of a possible arrest in the case. He also took to Instagram, saying "Looks like they caught the East Area Rapist, which means they have caught the Golden State Killer. Looks like you've got him, Michelle." He also said he is checking McNamaras notes to see if the man arrested was among those she included on her list of possible suspects. "She would be beyond excited about this," Oswalt said. "I think this is the definition of 'bittersweet.'" RELATED STORIES 'Clown Killer' Cold Case: Person of Interest Mike Warren Speaks to '48 Hours' DNA Used to Create Sketches of Suspect in 1987 Cold Case Killings of Couple Outpouring of Celebrity Support After Wife of Comedian Patton Oswalt Found Dead at 46 Related Articles: Paris (AFP) - The legendary Iranian-born photographer Abbas, who covered wars and revolutions across the world during a glittering career behind the lens, died Wednesday in Paris, his Magnum photo agency said. Abbas, who was 74, joined Magnum in 1981 and covered conflicts and unrest in Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Middle East, Iran, Chile and Cuba as well as documenting South Africa under apartheid. "He was a godfather for an entire generation of young photographers," Magnum president Thomas Dworzak said. "An Iranian transplanted to Paris, he was a citizen of the world who documented without rest wars, disasters, revolutions and uprisings." Abbas was "a great gentleman and one of the best photographers I have ever met," Jean-Francois Leroy, director of the 'Visa pour l'image' photography festival in Perpignan, southern France, wrote on Twitter. "Abbas was a great among the greats," Reporters Without Borders president Pierre Haski said on Twitter. "His work was huge and covered so many areas." Abbas travelled the world to learn about religion, a fascination born out of the Islamic Revolution in his home country, which he covered from 1978 to 1980, before exiling himself for 17 years. "He is someone who had big and very committed documentary projects, and for the long term," said photography historian Clara Bouveresse, author of a reference book on Magnum. "His book on the Iranian revolution in 1980 was a way of telling this event in detail with a sequence, a narration. He was someone for whom the way of organising images, of sequencing them, counted enormously," she said. Abbas documented Islam around the world from 1987 to 1994, publishing "Allah O Akbar: a journey in militant Islam", before focusing on Christianity, animism, Buddhism and Hinduism. "For him, the work of the photographer did not stop at the moment when he pressed the shutter. It continued in the selection of images, the proofreading of the work and in the production of a story," added Bouveresse. By Josh Smith SEOUL (Reuters) - Is unification of North and South Korea the solution or the problem? The recent detente between North and South Korea has given new life to talk of unification for the two countries divided since the 1950s. It's a term that conjours up visions of the Berlin Wall falling, families reunited and armies disbanded. Both Koreas have repeatedly called for peaceful unification and marched together under a unity flag at the recent Winter Olympics. And when a group of K-pop stars visited the North recently, they held hands with Northerners and sang, "Our wish is unification." But on a peninsula locked in conflict for 70 years, unification is a concept that has become increasingly convoluted and viewed as unrealistic, at least in the South, amid an ever-widening gulf between the two nations, analysts and officials say. The South has become a major economic power with a hyper-wired society and vibrant democracy; the North is an impoverished, isolated country locked under the Kim family dynasty with few personal freedoms. Unlike East and West Germany, which were reunited in 1990, the Korean division is based on a fratricidal civil war that remains unresolved. The two Koreas never signed a peace deal to end the conflict and have yet to officially recognize each other. Those unresolved divisions are why seeking peace and nuclear disarmament are President Moon Jae-in's top priorities in Friday's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Moon Chung-in, special national security adviser to the president. Unification - a key topic at the two previous summits, in 2000 and 2007 - isn't expected to be discussed at any great length, he said. If there is no peace, there is no unification," Moon Chung-in told Reuters. In the past, some South Korean leaders have predicated their reunification plans on the assumption the North's authoritarian regime would collapse and be absorbed by the South. But under the liberal President Moon, the government has softened its approach, emphasizing reconciliation and peaceful coexistence that might lead to eventual unity, current and former officials say. THREE NOES Public support for reunification has declined in the South, where 58 percent see it as necessary, down from nearly 70 percent in 2014, according to a survey by the Korea Institute for National Unification. A separate government poll in 1969 showed support for unification at 90 percent. The economic toll would be too great on South Korea, says Park Jung-ho, a 35-year-old office worker in Seoul. I am strongly against unification and dont think we should unify just for the reason we come from the same homogenous group," he said. "I just wish we live without the kind of tensions we have today. To ease the animosity, "our government should acknowledge North Korea as an equal neighbor like China or Japan," he said. Estimates of the cost of reunification have ranged widely, running as high as $5 trillion - a cost that would fall almost entirely on South Korea. In a speech in Berlin last July, Moon outlined what he called the "Korean Peninsula peace initiative" with three Noes: No desire for the North's collapse, no pursuit of unification by absorption, and no pursuit of unification through artificial means. "What we are pursuing is only peace," he said. "SUPREME TASK" Both Koreas have enshrined reunification in their constitutions, with North Korea describing it as "the nations supreme task". Like South Korea's Ministry of Unification, the North has its own Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, and state media has mentioned unification more than 2,700 times since 2010, according to a Reuters analysis of articles collected by the KCNA Watch website. North Korea does not make officials available for comment to media inquiries. A North Korean statement in January urged "all Koreans at home and abroad" toward a common goal: "Let us promote contact, travel, cooperation and exchange between the north and the south on a wide scale to remove mutual misunderstanding and distrust and make all the fellow countrymen fulfill their responsibility and role as the driving force of national reunification!" North Koreans on both sides of the border appear to be more supportive of unification, with more than 95 percent of defectors polled in the South in favor. In 1993, North Korea's founding leader Kim Il Sung proposed a 10-point program for reunification, which included a proposal for leaving the two systems and governments intact while opening the borders. Until the 1970s North Korea - officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea - constitutionally claimed Seoul as its capital, and to this day the South Korean government appoints symbolic governors of Northern provinces. "Reunification ultimately complicates a lot of the more immediate, short-term goals, whether it is denuclearisation or the human rights issue, or even just developing stable communications between North and South Korea," said Ben Forney, a research associate at Seoul's Asan Institute. STUMBLES The two sides have run into problems on even small-scale cooperation, such as the Kaesong joint industrial park where workers from both sides labored together until it was shut down in 2016 amid a row over the North's weapons development. Recently, they failed to agree on a program to allow divided families to communicate with each other. Mistrust runs deep. Some South Koreans and Americans remain convinced Kim Jong Un has amassed his nuclear arsenal as part of a long-term plan to control the peninsula. And Pyongyang worries the American military presence in South Korea is an invasion force intent on toppling Kim. When East and West Germany reunited in 1990, some believed it could be a model for the Korean Peninsula. However, the two Germanies had not fought a civil war and East Germany had a far looser grip on its population than North Korea, former unification ministry official Yang Chang-Seok wrote in a 2016 report. Chief among the obstacles may be Kim Jong Un himself, who analysts say has little incentive to accept the compromises necessary for peaceful reunification. And South Korea is unlikely to agree to any deal that allows Kim meaningful control. China also has a vested interest in maintaining North Korea as an independent state and buffer between the U.S.-allied South. In the long run, abandoning the more strident calls for full unification could allow the two Koreas to mend relations, said Michael Breen, an author of several books on Korea. "Its a kind of a contradiction, that unification is seen as a kind of romantic, wholesome, nationalistic dream," Breen said, "where in fact its the source of many of the problems." (Additional reporting by Soyoung Kim, Hyonhee Shin, Haejin Choi and Christine Kim in SEOUL; Editing by Malcolm Foster and Lincoln Feast.) Copenhagen (AFP) - Greenland's tiny electorate went to the polls Tuesday with independence the key issue for the vast self-ruled Danish territory now threatened by global warming and struggling with youth suicides and sex abuse among its indigenous people. Rich in natural resources, Greenland gained autonomy from Denmark in 1979 and was granted self-rule in 2009, although Copenhagen retains control of foreign and defence affairs. The giant ice-covered island between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans is home to just 55,000 people. Denmark provides some 3.6 billion kroner (483 million euros, $591 million) in subsidies each year, equivalent to 60 percent of the budget and which would be cut if Greenland opted for full independence. So the main issue is when and how to break the Danish link without impoverishing the island. A gross domestic product of $2.2 billion, according to figures for 2015, puts Greenland in the same economic league as San Marino. Of the seven political parties, six favour independence. Some are keen to declare independence by 2021 to coincide with the 300th anniversary of Denmark's occupation though most have not set a timeline. Opinion polls suggest the left-green Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) party will win Tuesday's election, where 31 seats in the local parliament are up for grabs. A poll published Friday gave IA with 31 percent of votes, ahead of its main rival, the social democratic Siumut party which has dominated Greenland politics since 1979 and is currently in power. Seen garnering 27.4 percent of votes, Siumut could find itself relegated to the opposition -- though one in four voters is still undecided. The two parties are at odds over the use of the island's lucrative natural resources and the thorny issue of uranium mining, which IA, with strong support among urban youth, opposes. Meanwhile, polls show the newly-formed Cooperation Party, the only anti-independence party, with around 2.9 percent of votes. Story continues Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, a lawmaker for IA, told AFP that before setting a timeline for independence, the island should first lay the financial groundwork. "Foreign investments are going to be crucial when you talk about the development of Greenlandic society," she said. Her party wants to see a diversification of investments, as rising temperatures in the Arctic melt Greenland's ice sheet, exposing mineral riches -- and drawing eager glances from the West, Russia and China. - Economic assets - "Economic development the last (few) years has been rather good; the fishing industry has been doing quite well ... Employment has been increasing and unemployment is low," said Torben Andersen, Aarhus University economics professor and chairman of the Greenland Economic Council. Fishing, which accounts for 90 percent of Greenland's exports, is benefiting from climate change as rising temperatures bring new species to fish to its waters but that is likely to change over time. While Greenland may have a wealth of untapped natural resources that could help finance its independence, "it suffers from a lack of infrastructure and a qualified labour shortage," said Mikaa Mered, an Arctic expert and economics and geopolitics professor at France's School of International Relations. - Social woes - Heidi Moller Isaksen, a 51-year-old secretary who lives in the capital Nuuk, said breaking free from Denmark is a long-term goal. "I do want independence one day but we've got to be realistic and take one step at a time," she told AFP. "We can never have independence as long as we have so many social problems." The Inuit like other indigenous populations are torn between tradition and modernisation. That tension has led to Greenland having one of the world's highest suicide rates, and a third of children are victims of sexual abuse. In addition, global warming has sparked an exodus from isolated villages to the few urban areas, said Mered. It is "wreaking havoc on Greenland's culture: young people are losing interest in traditional hunting and fishing, it's difficult to travel by dogsled from one village to another, and wild animals are moving further and further away from the regular hunting grounds," he said. All of this leads to "numerous new problems, such as youth suicides." Voter turnout is typically high in Greenland at around 70 percent. The polls close at 2200 GMT. vcbw/po/ik/bmm An Indian guru with millions of followers was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for raping a teenage devotee on the pretext of ridding her of evil spirits, his lawyer said. Asaram Bapu, one of India's most charismatic and controversial "godmen", was given the maximum sentence at a closed jailhouse hearing in Rajasthan state, where hundreds of police were on high alert for any backlash from his disciples. "Asaram has been sentenced for life until death," Rajendra Singh, a defence lawyer, told AFP outside the court in the western city of Jodhpur. The white-bearded guru, 77, has always denied raping the then 16-year-old in 2013 during a spiritual retreat at his ashram in Jodhpur. His lawyer said they would appeal the sentence. Asaram is just the latest high-profile guru jailed for sex crimes, and his conviction comes as India reverberates with anger over a series of child rapes in recent weeks. Two of the four other co-accused, including a woman, were also found guilty and sentenced to 20 years. Two others accused in the case were acquitted. The hearing was closed to media and the prison surrounded by tight security, with thousands of police deployed across parts of India amid fears his devotees could riot. The influential guru, who has been in custody since 2013, had called the trial a political conspiracy and refused to cooperate with a police investigation. A perceived reluctance to bring the charismatic leader to account sparked public outrage. He still commands a devoted following even though his star power is fading following the rape charges and other controversies. Asaram's followers have been accused of using violence against those who have spoken out against the guru. Two close aides who turned key witnesses against him were murdered in 2014 and 2015. Asaram is also accused of raping another devotee and suspected of involvement in the killing of two other people. His son is also on trial for rape. Story continues But this conviction was the first for the Hindu televangelist and yoga guru, who once attracted seas of fans to hear his sermons. "We argued that Asaram is not a saint," public prosecutor Pokar Ram Bishnoi told reporters after the sentencing. - Controversial 'godman' - Asaram became restless in his teens and ran away from the family home in Gujarat state. He flitted between jobs, selling liquor and fixing bicycles, before landing in an ashram where he found his true calling. He established his first spiritual retreat in Ahmedabad in the 1970s with just 10 members, extolling a simple life and urging his followers to control their lust. A particular target was Valentine's Day, which he decried as a corrupting force luring youth into "dirty acts". Dressed in a crisp white sarong and signature red turban, his daily sermons -- later televised to millions -- offered yoga instruction and tips on celibacy. He recommended cow's milk for appendicitis and honey to treat cancer. He attracted friends in high places and many of the ashrams which mushroomed in his heyday were on land donated by successive state governments. Asaram's movement grew from India's rural heartland to an empire with 400 ashrams and Ayurveda health centres estimated to be worth more than half a billion dollars. India is already outraged at the gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old and a separate assault on a teenager by a ruling party politician. Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- who was criticised for a slow response to the crimes -- last week approved the death penalty for child rapists, vowing to hang those "of demonic tendencies who misbehave with daughters". Officials from Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party responded angrily Wednesday as the main opposition Congress party distributed photos of the prime minister alongside Asaram. Asaram's website boasts of many high-profile believers and admirers, including Modi and other past prime ministers. Many of India's numerous "godmen" have been embroiled in scandal. Last year, when a spiritual leader was jailed for 20 years for rape, his devotees went on a rampage that left 38 dead. In 2014 the guru Rampal Maharaj barricaded himself in his ashram surrounded by armed devotees after a court issued a warrant for his arrest. Six people died during the siege. South Korea has custom-made furniture for Friday's summit between President Moon Jae-in and the North's leader Kim Jong Un -- with chairs featuring disputed islands controlled by Seoul but claimed by Tokyo. One thing the rival Koreas share is a resentment of Japan, which imposed brutal colonial rule on the peninsula from 1910 to 1945, and the gesture is likely to irritate Tokyo. Japan has already lodged a strong protest over photos of a summit dessert dish which also marks the disputed islands. Japan and the South are both US allies but their relationship is strained by historical and territorial issues including Dokdo -- islands controlled by Seoul but claimed by Tokyo, which calls them Takeshima. The new walnut chairs to be used by the two leaders at Friday's summit at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) both feature a map of the peninsula. The tiny disputed islands are clearly marked, pictures released by the presidential Blue House showed Wednesday. Photographs of the dishes planned for the summit dinner show a mango mousse dessert that also displays a stylised map of the peninsula with the islands prominently marked. Japanese media reported on the dessert map, though not the chairs, on Wednesday, and Tokyo said it had formally complained to South Korea. The Japanese foreign ministry said it had lodged a protest Tuesday with its counterpart in Seoul as well as with Seoul's embassy in Tokyo. "It is regrettable and we cannot accept this in light of our position over the sovereignty of Takeshima," said a ministry spokesman, reading from a brief prepared statement. "We issued a strong protest" and reiterated Japan's position to South Korea, the statement said. Symbolism also abounds in other aspects of the summit layout, with the seven-strong delegations meeting in the Peace House around an oval table 2,018 millimetres wide to mark the year. "The oval table reflects the wish to see the North and the South sit down together and hold frank talks without any feeling of distance despite 65 years of division," the presidential Blue House said. Story continues Traditional white porcelain vases will decorate corners of the room, filled with flowers including peonies to symbolise greetings, daisies for peace, and wild blooms from the DMZ. The two previous inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007 both took place in Pyongyang. It is not the first time Seoul has made a point of including the islands in diplomatic processes. When US President Donald Trump visited Seoul last year, his meal included a prawn caught in waters around Dokdo, sparking protests from Tokyo. At the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in February, the two Koreas marched together behind a unification flag that did not include Dokdo, after Tokyo denounced the emblem used at a practice event. Japan's chief Cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga described that flag, which did show the islands, as "unacceptable". A Tehran city official thinks its "possible" that a recently-discovered mummified body might have belonged to Reza Shah Pahlavi, next-to-last last shah of Iran, Associated Press reports. DNA tests will be needed to confirm the identity of the body, unearthed near the site of a royal mausoleum destroyed during the 1979 revolution. Hassan Khalilabadi, the head of the Tehran City Councils cultural heritage and tourism committee, told the state-run IRNA news agency the remains might belong to the late shah and founder of the Pahlavi dynasty, the Associated Press reported. While they have yet to be covered on state television, photographs of the body have flooded social media, the AP reported. Trending: At-Home Genetic Testing Is Blurring Lines Between Patient and Consumer Reza Shah ruled the country from 1925 until his abdication at the behest of British forces in 1941, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Although Iran remained neutral during World War II, British and Soviet forces invaded the country, considering Reza Shah friendly toward Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan. Reza Shahs son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, stepped into his vacant position. 4_24_Mohammed Reza Pahlavi Pierre Guillaud/AFP/Getty Images Reza Shah died in 1944 at the age of 66 in exile in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mummified in Egypt, he was eventually interred in a mausoleum near Tehran. He was reviled by Islamists as a despot, and an extremist mob led by cleric Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali tore his tomb apart with sledgehammers in the wake of the 1979 revolution. Don't miss: Russia and China Militaries Reach 'New Heights' Together, Agree to Challenge U.S. in Middle East Story continues The overthrow forced Reza Shahs sonthe last shah of Iraninto exile. He died shortly after in 1980, and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was buried in Cairos Al Rifa'i Mosquethe place his father was interred before his return to Iran. 4_24_Reza Pahlavi Hyungwon Kang/Reuters Reza Shah wielded absolute power over the country, AP reported, spending taxes and oil revenues on modernization. Reza Shah famously banned women from wearing body-length chador robes in 1936. The move towards secularization angered Shiite clerics. In 1935, the monarch asked foreign diplomats to forgo the Western name Persia in favor of Iran. Most popular: Bernie Sanders Camp Says Ending Superdelegate Debacle Key to Defeating Trump in 2020 Reza Shahs grandson, Reza Pahlavi, is now the final heir apparent to the defunct monarchy. According to his website, he now lives in exile, having left Iran for pilot training in the U.S. shortly before the 1979 revolution. AP reports he commented on the potential discovery of his grandfather's body on Twitter on Monday, writing: I warn the responsible authorities not to hide anything." Reza Pahlavi did not immediately respond for comment. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has delivered a series of stinging insults to President Donald Trump, dismissing him as a tradesman with none of the experience necessary to deal with international treaties. Speaking as French President Emmanuel Macron visited the U.S. to encourage support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Rouhani said Western nations have no right to dictate a new agreement, the BBC reported. He reserved his insulting remarks for Trumpa longtime critic of the JCPOA. You dont have any background in politics. You dont have any background in law. You dont have any background on international treaties, Rouhani said. How can a tradesman, a merchant, a building constructor, a tower constructor make judgments about international affairs? Trending: Human Consciousness: What Are the Ethics of Experimenting with Brain Tissue? The JCPOA agreed to lift international sanctions on Iran in exchange for a curb on the countrys nuclear program until 2025. It requires the U.S. to waive sanctions every 120 days as long as Iran is adhering to the agreement. The next sanctions waiver deadline is May 12, but Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from what he has described as the worst ever agreement. Hassan Rouhani REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Trump has been critical of terrible flaws in the plan, including its exclusion of Irans ballistic missile research program. On Tuesday, Trump said it was insane that the JCPOA did not stop weapons development or address Irans expanding influence into Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Don't miss: Most Russians Think Putin Is Doing a Great Job As Support for Government and Parliament Plummets Speaking alongside Macron on Tuesday, Trump said the JCPOA should never have been negotiated and warned, If Iran threatens us in any way, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid. Story continues All other signatories to the dealRussia, China, Germany, U.K. and Francehave said they want it upheld. Without it, Iran may pursue nuclear weapons and potentially spark a regional atomic arms race with Saudi Arabia, further destabilizing the Middle East. Much of Macrons visit will be spent trying to soothe Trumps opposition to the agreement. The two presidents have reportedly discussed renegotiating the deal to block Iranian nuclear activity beyond 2025, put limits on its missile development and curb its growing influence. Most popular: Watch: Emmanuel Macron Mentions Science, Gets Cheers from Democrats, Hesitance From Some Republicans Trump Macron REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst But Rouhani was dismissive of the suggestion, saying: They say that with the certain leader of a European country we want to make a decision about a seven-sided agreement. For what? With what right? Iran has repeatedly said it will not consider a deal that includes its ballistic missiles. Earlier this month Rouhani vowed: We will produce any weapons necessary to defend our country in such a volatile region. But we will not use our weapons against our neighbors. Tough talk has been coming out of Tehran as the waiver deadline approaches. Rouhani said Trump will regret it if the U.S. withdraws from the deal, and threatened a response stronger than what they imagine and they would see that within a week. At the start of March, a spokesman for Irans Atomic Energy Organization claimed Tehran could restart its nuclear program within 48 hours if the deal fell through. Rouhani has said that the deal will not necessarily collapse without U.S. support, and that Iran is preparing for all eventualities. The new U.S. presidentwho has big claims and many ups and downs in his words and actionshas been trying for 15 months to break the JCPOA, he said in a televised speech on April 9. But the structure of the JCPOA is so strong that it has not been shaken by such quakes. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Tabriz (Iran) (AFP) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday questioned the legitimacy of demands for a fresh nuclear agreement with Tehran, after the leaders of the US and France called for a "new" deal. "Together with a leader of a European country they say: 'We want to decide on an agreement reached by seven parties'. What for? With what right?" Rouhani said in a speech. US President Donald Trump has fiercely criticised a three-year-old deal reached by world powers to curb Iran's nuclear programme, and threatened to pull the US out of the agreement. Trump is eyeing a broader pact that also limits Iran's ballistic missile programme and support for armed groups across the Middle East. European signatories to the 2015 deal have been scrambling to salvage it, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying Tuesday after talks with Trump that he wished "for now to work on a new deal with Iran". Iran has repeatedly insisted it is sticking to the nuclear deal and will not negotiate over its missile programme. Rouhani took aim at Trump -- a former real estate mogul and TV reality star -- and accused him of lacking in experience. "You are just a businessman... you have no experience in politics or law or international agreements," he said. "How can he pass judgements on international affairs?" Rouhani insisted that by agreeing to the nuclear accord in 2015 Tehran "showed goodwill to the world". "We wanted to prove to the world that Iran does not seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction." Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq said Wednesday it had launched commercial production at its Siba gas field in the southern province of Basra in a joint venture with Kuwaiti, Turkish and Egyptian firms. The oil ministry said initial production at the field is expected at 25 million cubic feet per day (700,000 cubic metres) and will eventually reach 100 million cubic feet (2.8 million cubic metres). Energy-rich Iraq is looking to boost oil and gas production as it rebuilds its economy following years of turmoil, including the takeover of large parts of the country by the Islamic State group in 2014. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is seeking re-election next month, declared victory over IS in December after the jihadists were ousted from their major strongholds including second city Mosul. The Siba field is jointly managed by Kuwait Energy, Turkey's TPAO, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and Iraq's Maysan Oil Company (MOC). Gas from the field is expected to be used for domestic electricity supplies. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel announced on Tuesday it has abandoned controversial plans to expel African migrants who entered the Jewish state illegally, after failing to find a country willing to host them. The plan had targeted some 42,000 migrants of Eritrean and Sudanese origin currently living in Israel and denied refugee status. Government legal advisers informed the Supreme Court of the plan's cancellation after certain unspecified countries refused to host the migrants, a government source said. "At this stage, the possibility of removal to a third country is no longer relevant," the advisers said in a statement. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously mentioned Rwanda as a possible host country and, earlier this month, Uganda said it was "considering" an Israeli proposal to accept the deportees. The deportation plan has attracted a wave of criticism, including from the UN refugee agency, Holocaust survivors, and parts of Israeli civil society. The government originally announced a plan under which it would present migrants with $3,500 (2,800 euros) and the opportunity to leave on their own accord, or face indefinite imprisonment with eventual forced expulsion. In early April, Netanyahu agreed to cancel the plan, saying a new agreement with the UN would allow 16,000 migrants to be transferred to "developed countries like Canada, Germany or Italy". In exchange, Israel would give residency to an equal number of migrants. But the premier cancelled the plan several hours later, after caving to pressure from his right-wing base. - 'Reopen detention centres' - Shortly after news of Tuesday's cancellation broke, Netanyahu tweeted that he had instructed Interior Minister Aryeh Deri "to immediately prepare for the reopening of the detention facilities to the infiltrators" and to set up "means to find a solution to the problem". The prime minister was referring to the February closure of the Holot detention centre in southern Israel. Story continues The presence of migrants in Israel has become a key political issue, and Netanyahu is already under heavy pressure due to a string of graft probes. He has repeatedly referred to them as "not refugees but illegal infiltrators". Some 200 migrants detained for refusing to leave Israel were released in mid-April following a Supreme Court ruling. Israel's highest judicial authority had ordered their release because of the government's inability to conclude an agreement with third-party host countries. Human rights groups have long condemned Israel for its immigration policy and treatment of Africans seeking asylum. Most of the migrants arrived to Israel after 2007, mainly from the Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Security along the once porous border has since been signficantly tightened. Many of them settled in a number of poor neighbourhoods in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, the country's economic capital. Amnesty International welcomed the cancellation, but voiced concern over the continued practise of "voluntary" expulsions. "Israel is still conducting what it calls 'voluntary' deportations, though in reality there is nothing voluntary about them," the London-based rights watchdog said in a statement. "Israel remains under the obligation not to transfer anyone to a country where they would be at real risk of serious human rights violations," it added. The UN has accused the Eritrea government of committing "widespread and systematic" crimes against humanity. Rome (AFP) - Italy's former president Giorgio Napolitano has had to undergo emergency open-heart surgery but is in a stable condition, doctors said Wednesday. The 92-year-old had suffered a ruptured aorta, the largest artery in the body. "The surgery was a success, it was a complex intervention," said Francesco Musumeci who runs the cardiac surgery unit at the Saint Camillo hospital in Rome. "The heart has resumed its function, now we need to wait." In office between 2006 and 2015, Napolitano was considered a stalwart of stability during a particularly turbulent period in Italy -- from the truncated premiership of Romano Prodi to the curtailed mandates of Silvio Berlusconi, Mario Monti and Enrico Letta. The country also experienced its gravest economic recession since the post-war period. In 2013, Napolitano agreed to serve an unprecedented second term amid a fierce political deadlock, but resigned two years later because of his advancing age. Born in Naples on June 29, 1925 into a family of intellectuals, Napolitano took part in the resistance against Nazi and fascist troops during World War II, founding a communist group. At the end of the war, he joined the Italian Communist Party and was elected to parliament in 1953 after earning a law degree. Napolitano was one of the most influential leaders of the party's reformist wing, although he notoriously supported the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary in 1956 to crush a liberal revolution. With the collapse of the USSR, the Italian Communist Party was officially disbanded in 1991. The current Democratic Party is its main heir. After turns as lower house speaker, interior minister and leftwing MEP, he became Italy's first ex-communist to be elected president in 2006. The veteran held the rare quality of being respected by both right and left and an ability to stay above the party political fray. Earlier this month, he assisted talks with President Sergio Mattarella who seeks to break the current government deadlock after last month's election left a hung parliament. (NASHVILLE, Tenn.) The man who snatched an AR-15 rifle away from a gunman at a Nashville restaurant told Tennessee lawmakers Tuesday he faced the true test of a man, drawing a standing ovation during his brief address. As the House hailed him as a hero, James Shaw Jr. said he acted to save his own life early Sunday at a Waffle House, and saved others in the process. I never thought Id be in a room with all the eyes on me, but you know, Im very grateful to be here, Shaw told House members. The 29-year-old said he has since gone to see some of the shooting victims in the hospital and they all remembered him. He apologized to the people whose loved ones died in the attack. The Senate also honored Shaw on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the co-owner of a Colorado crane company where Travis Reinking once worked says she urged federal officials to keep Reinking in custody after he was arrested at the White House last July. Darlene Sustrich said: We told them, Hang onto him if you can. Help him if you can.' Federal officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said Tuesday that Reinking, 29, has been compliant and cooperative since he was transferred to the jail late Monday after he was captured near the apartment where he lived. Reinking is wearing a vest known informally as a suicide smock and will remain under close observation at a maximum-security facility in Nashville. Also on Tuesday, a Nashville judge revoked the shooting suspects bond. Court records show that a judge struck Reinkings $2 million bond until a hearing can be held in May. An attorney listed as Reinkings lawyer did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Read more: Waffle House Shooting: What to Know about James Shaw Jr. Reinking, 29, is charged with four counts of criminal homicide. Police say he opened fire outside the Waffle House with an AR-15 rifle and then stormed the restaurant, wearing only a green jacket. Four other people were wounded in the shooting. Story continues Reinking escaped on foot from the restaurant and shed his only item of clothing. By the time he was captured in the woods nearby, police had searched his apartment, and found the key fob to a stolen BMW they had recovered in the parking lot days earlier. The BMW theft had not initially been tied to Reinking. Police seized multiple items from his apartment including: a Remington rifle with a magazine, cartridges for different calibers of guns, two rifle scopes and gun cleaning equipment. Police also found three books on patents in the apartment, along with a sketchbook, two iPhones and a number of pieces of computer equipment, court records show. Nashville Police Department Lt. Carlos Lara told reporters Reinking was arrested Monday after detectives were tipped to the suspects presence by some construction workers. He carried a black backpack with a silver semi-automatic weapon and .45-caliber ammunition. The arrest ended a 24-hour manhunt involving more than 160 law enforcement officers, but it left troubling unanswered questions about official responses to months of bizarre behavior before the restaurant attack, including encounters with police in Illinois and Colorado and an arrest at the White House that raised red flags. Darlene Sustrich, Reinkings former boss, described him as appearing paranoid and delusional at times. A former co-worker told a Salida, Colorado, police detective Reinking was infatuated with Taylor Swift and claimed to be a sovereign citizen. Last July, Reinking was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service after he entered a restricted area near the White House and refused to leave, saying he wanted to meet President Donald Trump. The suspect told Washington, D.C., police he was a sovereign citizen and had a right to inspect the grounds, according to an incident report. Reinking was not armed at the time, but at the FBIs request, Illinois police revoked his state firearms card. Four guns, including the AR-15 used in the shootings, were transferred to his father, a procedure allowed under Illinois law. Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston said Jeffrey Reinking pledged he would keep the weapons secure and out of the possession of Travis. Don Aaron, a Nashville Police spokesman, said Reinkings father has now acknowledged giving them back to his son. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special Agent Marcus Watson said Monday that his fathers action is potentially a violation of federal law. Phone calls to a number listed for the father went unanswered. LGBT advocacy group PFLAG National rescinded Joy Ann Reids ally award yesterday after she claimed that homophobic posts discovered on her former blog were "fabricated." Reid apologized last December when a Twitter user uncovered posts containing homophobic remarks on The Reid Report, a blog she ran before became an icon of the #Resistance movement. As someone who is not a member of the LGBT community, I regret the way I addressed the complex issue of the closet and speculation on a persons sexual orientation with a mocking tone and sarcasm, Reid wrote in her statement. Trending: Delta Staff Tied Passenger With Multiple Sclerosis to Her Wheelchair, Family Claims She added: It was insensitive, tone deaf and dumb. GettyImages-949193750 Getty Earlier this month the MSNBC host backtracked on her apology. In an interview with Mediaite, Reid claimed the posts were fabricated by an external party who intended to paint her as offensive and harmful. Don't miss: The Internet Got Hacked for Two Hours This Week, and at Least $150,000 in Cryptocurrency Was Stolen I began working with a cyber-security expert who first identified the unauthorized activity, and we notified federal law enforcement officials of the breach. The manipulated material seems to be part of an effort to taint my character with false information by distorting a blog that ended a decade ago, Reid said. On Tuesday, PFLAG National revoked the Straight for Equality in Media award that Reid was set to receive in May at the organizations 45th anniversary. When we extended our invitation to Ms. Reid to honor her at our 45th anniversary celebration, we did so knowing about the blog posts from the late 2000s regarding Charlie Crist. We appreciated how she stepped up, took ownership, apologized for them, and did betterthis is the behavior and approach we ask of any ally, Jean Hodges, PFLAG National president, said in a statement. Story continues Most popular: Melania Trump's State Dinner Menu Slammed As 'Froo-froo Garbage' By Pundit Hodges added: However, in light of new information, and the ongoing investigation of that information, we must at this time rescind our award to Ms. Reid. In December, a Twitter user uncovered homophobic posts from 2007-2009 about Congressman Charlie Crist on The Reid Report. In the posts that were found using The Wayback Machine, Reid joked that Charlie Crist, the then-Florida Governor, was a closeted homosexual. Now that hes married to a girl, she wrote in one of the posts. Charlie Crist is being sought out for all KINDS of good stuff [The GOP] are wooing Miss Charlie to run. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek By Anna Mehler Paperny TORONTO (Reuters) - The van that killed 10 in Toronto on Monday plowed through the heart of a vibrant Korean community in Canada's largest city, barreling past a cluster of Korean restaurants, a grocery store and a popular street vendor that sells red bean waffles shaped like fish and other Korean treats. The attack killed two South Korean citizens and one Canadian Korean, and injured at least one South Korean citizen, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A fifth person, listed among the injured, appeared to have a Korean name. Among the dead was Chul-min "Eddie" Kang, 40, a chef with a local restaurant chain, local media reported. Toronto's Korea Times Daily reported that another victim was an international student. On Wednesday, authorities in Toronto worked to formally identify victims, a process they have said will take a number of days. Local news media reported that Renuka Amarasingha, an employee with a local school board and a single mother, grandmother Dorothy Sewell, and Anne Marie D'Amico, an employee of asset manager Invesco Canada, had died. June Hur, who works at a local library, said the area around Yonge Street and Finch Avenue is increasingly thought of as the city's new Koreatown. An older Korean neighborhood, which dates back to the 1970s, is located in the city's downtown. "To see such violence happen right in that area, it just feels like something was stolen from us," said Hur, after visiting the site on Tuesday. Standing on the street, she said, her knees felt weak. Oh Seong Kim was in his second-floor salon Monday afternoon when he heard loud thunks, ran to the window and saw six or seven bodies on the ground as the van hurtled down the sidewalk. He watched the van hit a young woman who worked at a Korean food cart, he said "a very good person," he said, someone he would see often when she came in to use the washroom but whose name he did not know. Reuters could not confirm her name or condition. Kim froze, he said. Hours later he lay awake in bed, and every time he closed his eyes, he returned to the scene. He has worked in the area for a quarter century. "It's a good community. Everybody gets together and helps," he said. In the wake of the attack, a tarp covered a body outside Ssam, a Korean barbecue restaurant just north of the food stall. None of the staff were hurt, but by coincidence manager Jay Kang shares a Korean given name with one of the victims. "I got a lot of phone calls that day," he said. "Everyone thought it was me, because I'm always in this area." Kang said the neighborhood was very quiet on Wednesday. He expects it to stay that way for several weeks, but "it's not the important thing right now." According to Canada's 2016 census, about two-thirds of the people in that Willowdale district where the attack took place have a first language other than English or French. More than 10,000 people out of close to 118,000 surveyed identified Korean as their first language. Along with a community of immigrants from North and South Korea, Canada hosts a significant number of international students. According to government data there were 27,816 Korean international students in Canada in 2015, the third-highest of any country, behind China and India. "I can't believe this horrible incident happened in our community," said Hanna Lim, a Korean-Canadian who used to live near Yonge and Finch and still has friends there. "This used to be a really nice area very cheerful, bright, full of Korean, Chinese people. Now look at this: It's empty." (Additional reporting by Hyungwon Kang in Toronto and Joori Roh in Seoul; writing by Allison Martell; editing by Jonathan Oatis) Kuwait City (AFP) - Kuwait said Wednesday it is expelling the Philippine ambassador and recalling its own envoy from Manila as tensions rise over the treatment of domestic workers. Official news agency KUNA said the Philippine ambassador had been given a week to leave, amid a diplomatic row between the two nations sparked by the murder of a Filipina maid in the oil-rich state. An official at Kuwait's foreign ministry told AFP that Philippine ambassador Renato Pedro Ovila had been summoned to be informed of his expulsion. On April 1, a Kuwaiti court sentenced to death in absentia a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife for the murder of maid Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found in a freezer in February. Announcement of the diplomatic expulsion comes despite an apology to Kuwait on Tuesday by Philippine foreign secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, after videos emerged of embassy staff helping Filipinos flee from allegedly abusive employers. "I apologise to my counterpart and we apologise to the Kuwaiti government, the Kuwaiti people and the leaders of Kuwait if they were offended by some actions taken by the Philippine embassy in Kuwait," Cayetano told reporters in Manila. One of the clips, released by the Philippine foreign ministry last week, shows a woman running from a home and jumping into a waiting vehicle, while another depicts a person sprinting from what appears to be a construction site to a black sport utility vehicle. Cayetano said the Philippine embassy staff were responding to complaints of abuse from some of the 260,000 Filipinos working in Kuwait. Three Filipinos who drove vans for the embassy in the operations were believed to be held by Kuwaiti authorities. Kuwait was furious about the videos, saying the rescues amount to a violation of its sovereignty, further straining ties already hit by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte imposing a ban on Filipino workers moving to the Arab Gulf state. Duterte alleged that Arab employers routinely rape their Filipina workers, force them to work 21 hours a day and feed them scraps. Story continues The two countries had since been trying to work out an agreement to protect the rights of Filipino workers in Kuwait, particularly some 170,000 maids. Human Rights Watch and other groups have documented extensive mistreatment of expatriate maids and other foreign workers from the developing world in several Middle East states, drawing attention to abuses including sexual assault and confiscation of passports. Some 10 million Filipinos work abroad and the money they remit back is a lifeline for the Philippine economy. KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait on Wednesday ordered the ambassador from the Philippines to leave within a week and recalled its own envoy for consultations after embassy staff tried to "rescue" Filipino domestic workers amid reports of abuse. The decision was the latest episode in a three-month conflict sparked by reports that several Filipinos had been driven to suicide by the abuse of Kuwaiti employers. The two countries have been working on a pact to protect expatriate workers after the Philippines banned the dispatch of workers to Kuwait, after reports of abuse. The Philippines had apologized on Tuesday for what Kuwait viewed as a "flagrant" violation of its sovereignty. The Philippine foreign secretary said the embassy was forced to "assist" Filipino workers who sought help as some situations were a matter of life and death. Kuwait's foreign ministry said it had given the ambassador three days to provide the names of Filipino residents in Kuwait who had "kidnapped" domestic workers from their employers' homes, adding it had yet to receive a response from the embassy. Kuwaiti security forces "will continue to chase down those who violated the security of the country" and put them on trial, the ministry added in a statement. In a statement, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said the action taken by the Kuwaiti government was "deeply disturbing" and inconsistent with assurances given by the Kuwaiti ambassador during his meeting with Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano on Tuesday. "In discussions at every level with Kuwait, the Philippines has always emphasized that the well-being of Filipino nationals wherever they may be will always be of paramount importance," the statement said. Domestic helpers account for more than 65 percent of the more than 260,000 Filipinos in Kuwait, according to the Philippines' foreign secretary. In February, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called on Filipino workers in Kuwait to return home after the discovery of a domestic worker's body in a freezer in an abandoned home. He said then that a list of both reported and unreported cases of mistreatment of Filipino migrant workers would be prepared. Foreign workers in many Gulf states are employed under a sponsorship system that gives employers the right to keep their passports and exercise full control over their stay. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have long complained that Gulf states do not properly regulate working conditions for low-income domestic workers and laborers. They say excessively long hours and insufficient flexibility to change contracts or return home contravene international labor laws and deprive workers of their human rights. (Reporting by Ahmed Hagagy, with additional reporting by Manuel Mogato in Manila; writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi and Sarah Dadouch; editing by Larry) Los Angeles (AFP) - Thousands of Armenian-Americans marched in Hollywood on Tuesday in their annual commemoration of the massacres perpetrated under the Ottoman Empire. The event came just after major protests led to the shock resignation of Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, following eleven days of protests against his rule. Reality star Kim Kardashian, who is of Armenian origin, tweeted: "It's so inspiring to see all Armenians united in peaceful protests making a difference. It's a historic day for Armenia." Aroutin Hartounian, president of the Unified Young Armenians, told AFP the atmosphere was "more positive" because "there was a victory for the youth, the new generation, the democratic ideals" -- referring to Sarkisian's resignation. "I believe the new generation was able to topple the government without firing a shot." "We hope it serves as an example for all democratic revolutions in the world." Armenia is home to some 3 million people, but the diaspora numbers 8 million people, the largest population of which is in Russia and second largest in the United States. Armenians worldwide hold annual commemorations on April 24 marking the mass killings, which remain a diplomatic minefield amid a lack of international consensus over Armenia's bid to get the deaths recognized internationally as a genocide. Armenia says an estimated 1.5 million people were killed by Ottoman forces in 1915, and has labeled the massacre a genocide. Modern Turkey has always rejected the term, putting the toll at 500,000 and blaming their deaths on war and starvation. Washington (AFP) - Billions of dollars of reconstruction cash are flowing into Afghanistan with limited accounting of where and how the funds are being spent, a US government watchdog warned Wednesday. At issue is the World Bank-administered Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) that comprises 34 donor nations and agencies and has contributed more than $10 billion to Afghanistan's reconstruction effort. The largest contributor is the United States, which has paid in more than $3 billion since 2002. According to a new audit by the office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the World Bank is unable to accurately evaluate the impact of the funds, or monitor where the money goes. "Billions of dollars of donor funds contributed to the ARTF are at risk due to continued limitations on, and lack of transparency into, monitoring and accounting of ARTF funding by the World Bank and the government of Afghanistan," SIGAR said in a statement. As an example, SIGAR said that when the World Bank approves reimbursements for Afghan workers, such as teachers, it does not require a third party monitor to check that the salary recipients actually exist -- despite acknowledging a risk of "undetected ghost workers." The report also found that donors are unable to specify where they want funds to go, with the result that some monies are being spent in regions controlled by the Taliban or other insurgent groups. The US Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides the US contribution to the reconstruction fund, told SIGAR it is "no longer preferencing funds by geographic location," the report noted. SIGAR added that once the US or any other donor provides its contributions to the fund, "neither the World Bank nor USAID can account for how those funds are specifically spent." In its written response to the audit, the World Bank said it laid "out an opportunity for the government of Afghanistan, ARTF donors and the World Bank to strengthen the focus on results and accountability." The United States has spent 16.5 years and about $1 trillion overall in Afghanistan, including warfighting and aid, yet the Taliban and other insurgent groups still control or are pushing for influence in large swaths of the country. Banda Aceh (Indonesia) (AFP) - The death toll from a blaze at an illegal Indonesian oil well on Wednesday has jumped to 18 with dozens injured, authorities said, warning there could be yet more victims. Images from the accident showed a towering flame shooting some 70 metres (230 feet) above homes and palm trees dotting a small community in Sumatra island's Aceh province. Firefighters on Wednesday afternoon were still battling the blaze sparked by an oil spill at about 1:30 am in a residential area. Several homes were destroyed. "We're still unable to control the fire," said Syahrizal Fauzi, head of the local disaster mitigation agency. "We don't know if there are still victims because we cannot get any closer." Authorities initially said at least 10 people died and some 40 "severely injured" victims were being treated. The jump in the death toll was due to the subsequent deaths of eight victims who had been rushed to hospital, authorities said. "There was a group of people digging in the old well but suddenly a huge fire was sparked and it exploded," said national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto. The victims were collecting oil from around the entrance of a well bore when the blaze erupted, police said. It was not known how much oil was spilled or what ignited the fire, but authorities suggested a lit cigarette as a possible cause. "There were many people there who were smoking," Wasisto said. "It's a village, so many were scrambling to get oil and it was crowded." East Aceh is dotted with numerous small-scale oil drilling operations, which are often run illegally by local villagers. There are reportedly tens of thousands of such wells across the Indonesian archipelago. Abandoned oil wells are sometimes re-tapped while locals also drill into fresh sites to find new sources. Deadly fires are not uncommon in Indonesia, a sprawling country of more than 260 million people where safety regulations are often flouted. Story continues In October 47 people died after a blaze tore through a fireworks factory outside Jakarta. Workplace safety is often lacking in Indonesia and there are also concerns about lax building standards. This year Jakarta temporarily halted all elevated transportation projects after a dozen major accidents killed five and wounded dozens more. That directive followed a balcony collapse at the Jakarta Stock Exchange building which injured dozens. Beirut (AFP) - Six thousand dollars can buy a minute of air time, but a talk show episode can cost $240,000. In Lebanon, media outlets are charging parliamentary candidates exorbitant prices for coverage. Whether beamed into living rooms on television screens or heard over the radio, legislative hopefuls are keen to get their messages out to their constituents before the May 6 election. The long-awaited vote is the first since 2009, and marks the end of a years-long political stalemate that had paralysed Lebanese government institutions. The deadlock had also left news organisations across Lebanon starving for both content and funds. Most of their financial backers are politically affiliated and have found little use for their media arms in a time of muted political rivalry. But now that elections are on, the competition, the news cycle, and the money are flowing again. In addition to paid campaign ads, private outlets are also charging candidates for one-on-one interviews and appearances on talk shows. "Election season has prompted Lebanese media outlets to offer packages that can reach up to $1.5 million per electoral list," says Roula Mikhael, who heads Maharat, a civil society group monitoring Lebanon's upcoming vote. The price lists are only recited verbally, to avoid being traced, but Maharat received a detailed breakdown from some campaigners. "A month and a half ago, a minute on a morning television programme could cost you $1,000. But the prices go up steadily as the elections get closer," says Mikhael. Now, a minute of air time on some privately owned television channels will rack up a $6,000 bill. Radio stations charge $3,000 for a 15-minute interview. And channels perceived as independent can charge more than those with clear political affiliations. - No air time - In a first, Lebanon's new electoral law has set a spending limit on campaigns and established an electoral commission to monitor media appearances. Story continues Paying for coverage is not illegal, according to the law, but channels are required by the commission to identify sponsored media appearances and specify who paid for them. Its chief, former judge Nadim Abdulmalak, told AFP the amounts cited by Maharat were higher than those reported to the commission. But he did admit outlets were violating other parts of the legislation. "Media organisations are not abiding by the law. They are not identifying paid advertisements or saying who placed the ad," says Abdulmalak. "They are also, more generally, not fulfilling the requirement of presenting a weekly report to the commission of what ads they broadcast," he says. The commission has struggled since its delayed inception to properly flag any violations. Its only member to have come from outside the political elite resigned on April 20, blaming a shortage of resources that left the body "unable to monitor media, campaign ads, or spending." At its headquarters, 25 employees are silently scrutinising a mix of media. One unfurls a newspaper and squints her eyes at the text. Another is glued to a laptop screen, jotting down how long candidates appear on air. "As monitors, we've noticed that media outlets host some guests more than others based on their political affiliation," says commission member Manal Ezzedine, 34. "There are some candidates that you've never heard of or seen, because they don't have media coverage." - 'For the wealthy only' - A total of 597 candidates are running for parliamentary office, including many newcomers who have railed against rampant corruption and clientelism in Lebanon. Those first-time candidates say they struggle to get coverage because it's too expensive. "Who can pay $20,000 these days for half an hour on air, besides the traditional parties that we've known for years?" says Laury Haytayan, a candidate running in Beirut on the Kulluna Watani list. "Elections can't be for the wealthy only," she says. Maharat's Mikhael said the prices asked by Lebanese media outlets risked turning the elections into a race among the rich. "Everyone knows Lebanese media has been going through a very serious financial crisis," she says. "Today, we're returning to a situation where people with money are the only ones able to actually come to power in Lebanon, where the rich alone are allowed to have media appearances." Lists like Kulluna Watani and other non-traditional parties are targeting first-time voters -- those that were not 21 in the 2009 election -- through social media. Raed Ataya, who is running in southern Lebanon on a list bringing together communists and local figures, announced his candidacy through a free live-streaming option online. He and fellow candidates were primarily funded by donations and could not afford the "ridiculous" press price lists. "When we announced our list, we did so on Facebook Live, without a single media outlet present," Ataya says. Vienna (AFP) - Macedonia and Greece are "very dedicated" to resolving their long-running name spat, the UN mediator said Wednesday following talks between the two countries' foreign ministers in Vienna. "We discussed the open issues between the parties including the name issue," Matthew Nimetz said after the talks between Nikos Kotzias of Greece and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Dimitrov. "It was an intense discussion, very cordial and... both sides are very dedicated to reaching a solution. The process will continue in the next weeks," the veteran American diplomat told reporters. The government of Macedonia, which is formally known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), is hoping to resolve the dispute this year. The long-running name dispute between Macedonia and EU-member Greece dates back to 1991 when Skopje declared independence following the collapse of communist Yugoslavia. Athens objects to Macedonia's name because it has its own northern province called Macedonia, and fears it may imply territorial ambitions. The spat has hampered Macedonia's ambitions to join the European Union and the NATO military alliance. The negotiations have made progress after Macedonia agreed in February to change the name of the capital's Alexander the Great airport to Skopje International Airport, in a goodwill gesture to Greece. The motorway linking Macedonia with Greece was also renamed the Friendship Highway. Several possible new names have been floated, with Gorna Makedonija or Upper Macedonia the most frequently mentioned. "I believe that we have never had better circumstances to find a complete solution that will last for centuries and will remain forever," Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told AFP earlier this month. Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said Wednesday that Athens "has advanced to half-way along the bridge and expects FYROM to do the same". burs-stu/pg Washington (AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday rejected the prospect of meeting with the Dalai Lama, saying doing so without consulting Beijing first would trigger a "crisis" with China's government. Macron, speaking at a town hall with George Washington University students in the US capital at the tail end of his state visit, said he met in Paris with the "very inspiring" exiled Tibetan spiritual leader when Macron was a candidate. "Now I'm president of the French republic. If I meet him it will create indeed a crisis with China," Macron said. And doing so "without any precondition," just to send a signal to China, would be "useless and counterproductive," he said. "Is it good for my people if I have a sort of countermeasures coming from China" as a result of the meeting? "For sure no." But Macron, fresh from a rare address to lawmakers in the US Congress, also opened the door for deeper engagement on the issue. "If France could be useful in order to fix the situation between the Dalai Lama and his people, and China, I will do my best," he said, adding that he perceives "some early signals" that Chinese President Xi Jinping may be open to addressing the issue. "I hope so for China, I hope so for the Dalai Lama, I hope so for Buddhist people," he added. Beijing accuses the Nobel Peace Prize laureate of seeking Tibetan independence through "spiritual terrorism." The Dalai Lama says he seeks only greater autonomy. French President Emmanuel Macron told Congress Wednesday hes positive that the United States will return to the Paris Agreement on climate change, after spending several cordial days with President Trump. Speaking to a joint meeting of Congress, Macron emphasized the importance and history of the Franco-American alliance, which dates to the American Revolution. He expressed pride that both nations still uphold many of the same values and safeguard liberty by fighting terrorism. The main topic of his discussions with Trump was the pact to freeze Irans nuclear program, which the U.S. president has threatened to scrap but France wants to keep in force. But as he wraps up a three-day visit to Washington, Macron also hinted at his profound disagreement with Trumps decision to pull the U.S. from the international accord to limit the increase in average global temperature to less than 2C during this century. What is the meaning of our life, really, if we work and live destroying the planet while sacrificing the future of our children? What is the meaning of our life if our decision, our confused decision, is to reduce the opportunities for our children or grandchildren? he said. By polluting the oceans, not mitigating CO2 emissions and destroying our biodiversity, we are killing our planet. Lets face it. There is no Planet B, Macron said, to extended applause. Slideshow: French President Emmanuel Macron visits Trump in 3-day trip to Washington >>> Frances President Emmanuel Macron addresses joint meeting of Congress in the House chamber in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2018. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) Representatives of 196 countries negotiated the climate agreement at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Macrons capital. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump aligned himself with the oil and gas industry, dismissed climate change as a hoax and vowed to remove the U.S. from the Paris Agreement if elected. On June 1, 2017, Trump followed through on that promise and announced that he was beginning that process. However, under the agreement, a nation cannot submit its withdrawal until three years after it enters into force for that party which was Nov. 4, 2016, for the U.S. Therefore, Trump needs to wait until Nov. 4, 2019, to formally request the nations removal. It would become official on Nov. 4, 2020. Story continues During his speech to Congress, in reference to Trumps Make America Great Again campaign slogan, Macron said, Let us work together in order to make our planet great again and create new jobs and new opportunities while safeguarding our Earth. Last December, Macron awarded eighteen American climate scientists Make Our Planet Great Again grants worth millions of euros to relocate to France for the rest of Trumps term. Macron acknowledged this disagreement between the U.S. and France before Congress, but said that these are bound to happen in all families. He said the current disparity in the nations directions on environmental concerns is only short-term. We will have to face the same realities and were citizens of the same planet, so we will have to face it, he said. And Im sure one day the United States will come back and join the Paris Agreement. And Im sure we can work together to fulfill with you the ambitions of the global compact on the environment. Frances President Emmanuel Macron told a joint meeting of Congress that we are killing our planet on April 25, 2018, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images) Read more from Yahoo News: Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron stand during the playing of national anthems at the official arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump has given his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron a red carpet welcome at the White House. The US president and first lady greeted Mr Macron and his wife, Brigitte, in a ceremonial welcome Tuesday morning which saw nearly 500 US service-members from all five military branches participate in a Review of the Troops. The two leaders later held a joint press conference in which they announced progress on a range of issues, including the potential that they could begin negotiating a "new" Iran nuclear deal that would leave the current one largely in-tact. Mr Macron is on a three-day official state visit to the US, the first in Mr Trumps presidency. On Monday, the presidents took a helicopter tour of Washington monuments and then went on a trip to the Potamic River home of George Washington for dinner. Aside from the pomp and ceremony, Mr Trump and Mr Macron agree on some fundamental issues. One main point of contention is the multinational nuclear deal aimed at restricting Irans development of nuclear weapons, which Mr Trump wants to abandon. Mr Trump ended his first year in office without receiving a foreign leader on a state visit, making him the first president in nearly 100 years to fail to do so. Last July, he was Mr Macrons guest at the annual Bastille Day military parade in the centre of Paris. Eighteen years after two girls vanished following a fire that destroyed an Oklahoma home and left one of the girl's parents dead, police have arrested one of the three men they say killed the teens after torturing them for days. Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible, both 16, were last seen alive on Dec. 29, 1999. The girls planned to celebrate Ashleys birthday with a sleepover at her Welch home. But it immediately became clear to emergency responders who rushed to the Freeman home after receiving calls about a fire the next morning that the previous evening had gone horribly wrong. The bodies of Danny and Kathy Freeman, Ashleys parents, were discovered in their burned mobile home. An accelerant had been placed near the homes wood-burning stove. Both Danny and Kathy Freeman had been shot in the head, according to autopsy reports. Laurias car was still parked in front of the Freeman home with her keys in the ignition. Her purse, which contained money, was found in the rubble. And Ashley and Lauria were gone. For nearly two decades, mystery surrounded the fates of the girls. But on Monday, officials announced that they finally had answers to questions that have dogged them for nearly two decades. For 18 years the community in Craig County ... have followed the case of the deaths of Danny and Kathy Freeman, the mysterious disappearance of their 16-year-old daughter, Ashley Freeman, and Ashleys friend, 16-year-old Lauria Bible, and the arson of the Freeman family home. Yesterday, there was an arrest in the case," Craig County District Attorney Matt Ballard said at a press conference Monday. As he spoke, the parents of Lauria and relatives of Ashley stood nearby. Theyve (the Bible and Freeman families) learned these young ladies final days were certainly horrific and todays announcement no doubt comes as little solace to their grief," he continued. Story continues In the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 1999, Ronnie Dean Busick, Warren Philip Phil Welch II and David A. Pennington visited the Freeman home either to sell drugs to one of the parents or settle a drug debt when the teens unexpectedly walked in, according to an affidavit filed by the state of Oklahoma. Witnesses told police the men spoke of what they did to the girls numerous times over the years, calling Ashley and Lauria "two little b*****s" and saying, "Yeah, we got them, didnt we?" the affidavit said. Witnesses told police they had been told the girls were kept for several days in a trailer, where they were raped and tortured, the affidavit said. The girls were then strangled and their bodies were dumped in an undisclosed location. Welch had about 10 to 15 pictures depicting the girls lying on a bed, facing each other, with their hands tied and their mouths gagged," and duct-taped to chairs, witnesses said. The girls appeared to be held against their will and emaciated, and in some of the photos, Welch was lying next to the teens, witnesses said. "Polaroid photos of the girls and their final days were seen by multiple people, Ballard told reporters. The photos were kept "like a trophy" and stored inside a leather briefcase, the affidavit said. Investigators have not found the photos, but numerous people confirmed they saw the disturbing images. The photos were tied to an insurance card found by private investigators along the road near the Freeman home a few days after the 1999 killings. The insurance card belonged to Welchs ex-girlfriend, whose dark blue sedan was frequently driven by Welch and was believed to have been seen near the Freeman home around the time of the murders and abduction. Witnesses told police Welch, Pennington and Busick were holy rollers who cooked methamphetamine, labeling Welch as the mastermind behind the killings. Welch is believed to have shot Danny and Kathy Freeman, while Pennington and Busick are thought to have set fire to the home, the affidavit said. Described as "evil," Welch reportedly kept a missing poster of Ashley and Lauria offering a $50,000 reward for information tacked up in his Picher mobile home. Several witnesses told police they were threatened by Welch to keep quiet about what they may know and said they were afraid for their lives. Both Pennington and Welch were also said to have been abusive toward former girlfriends, whom they also threatened, the affidavit said. Welch died in 2007, while Pennington died in 2015. In several interviews with police in 2017, Busick said he hung out with Pennington and Welch, saying, "We were pretty tight back in those days." He denied any involvement with the killings or abductions of Ashley and Lauria, oftentimes not responding to the investigators questions, according to authorities. Much of the time he would just stare at the reward poster," the affidavit said. In a third interview, Busick said he was scared of what his sister would think if he told the truth, but refused to elaborate, the affidavit claimed. Busick, 66, was charged on Monday with four counts of first-degree murder and malice aforethought, four counts of accessory to first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, one count of arson and one count of accessory to first-degree arson. Although the criminal case against Mr. Busick has commenced, we must stay focused on the recovery of Ashley and Lauria for the sake of the families and our entire community, Ballard said. The families of Lauria and Ashley welcomed the arrest years in the making, but also noted there was still much work to be done to get closure. "Somebody knows where these girls are," Lorene Bible, Laurias mother, told reporters. "And for me, I need to bring my daughter home." Should Busick be convicted, Bible said she wants the death penalty for him, whom she hopes to one day speak with directly. "Hopefully Ill get to look at him, right in the eye, and (say), 'You need to tell me,'" Bible said. "'You tell this mother to her face, where my child is.'" Witnesses told police the suspects said the girls bodies were dumped in a mine shaft or cellar that was later covered in concrete. In his threats to keep others quiet, Welch reportedly told one witness, "Dont you ever tell anybody or you will end up in a pit in Picher like those two girls. Bible said she will not rest until her daughters body is found and she and her family have a place to lay their grief. "Lauria turned 35 on the 18th of April," Bible said. "Shes been gone more than half her life. I need a place that I can go and say, 'Thats where my daughter is.' "I used to go to the end of the Freemans driveway and Id put up wreaths," she continued. "But its just a driveway. When you lose a loved one, you can go to a cemetery. I dont have that. And thats what I want." Busicks arrest comes after years of investigating by several law enforcement agencies and in spite of roadblocks encountered by many. Private investigators Joe Dugan and Tom Pryor, who found the insurance card days after the murders and abductions, went on to find the blue sedan linked to the card in a Picher salvage yard. Pryor was told the vehicle had gone through too many hands to be processed, for evidence, according to the affidavit. Pryor held onto the insurance card and went on to give it to investigators in August 2017. He also gave the car registration and rental receipts naming Welch to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the affidavit said. Pryor said he and Dugan abandoned their investigation after being told by law enforcement that they were interfering and if they continued their probe, their private investigator licenses would be canceled, the affidavit said. Dugan died in 2009, and his family said they attempted to turn over his files on the investigation to the Craig County Sheriff's Office, which was under the leadership of Sheriff Jimmie Sooter at the time, the affidavit said. The sheriff's office turned them down and the family eventually destroyed the files, according to the affidavit. Then on Feb. 11, 2017, not long after he assumed office, Craig County Sheriff Heath Winfrey discovered a crate containing reports and files on the Freeman murders and missing girls. He turned over the long-lost investigative notes to the OSBI, which reviewed the files and found critical information not previously known, including the names of people they have since interviewed. In the decades since the murders, countless tips and areas have been investigated, divers have explored Grand Lake, cadaver dogs and drones have been utilized and cameras have been dropped down mineshafts to search for Lauria and Ashley, officials said. We will not rest until Ashley and Lauria are brought home to their families," said Aungela Spurlock, OSBI Assistant Special Agent in charge of the northeast regional office. Officials and family members urged anyone with information to come forward. They can contact the OSBI at 1-800-522-8017 or email tips@osbi.ok.gov. A $50,000 reward still remains. "There are people out there... that are afraid to talk, because theyre fearful for their lives," Lorene Bible said. "They can remain anonymous." She and Laurias father, Jay Bible, remain steadfast that their daughter will be brought home. Weve missed her for a long time, but were going to bring her home and were going to hold on to that, Jay Bible said, his voice cracking. "We might as well be up at the Freeman farm, digging through the ashes right now again," he later said. Thats kind of what it feels like. At least were doing something and were making some progress now. We werent back then." RELATED STORIES Newly Found Investigation Notes Provide Leads in 1999 Cold Case of Missing Girls DNA Used to Create Sketches of Suspect in 1987 Cold Case Killings of Couple Cold Case Murder Victim Identified After 37 Years Related Articles: Five months after his sentencing, Philadelphia-based rapper Meek Mill was released from prison Tuesday afternoon, according tomultiple reports. Mill, also known as Robert Rihmeek Williams, was freed after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overruled Judge Genece Brinkleys prior decision to deny Williams bail last week. Brinkley, who initiallysentenced Williamsto two to four years in prison in November, had previously denied abail request in December. Williams November sentencing stemmed from two arrests earlier in 2017. One was for a fight and another was for popping wheelies on a dirt bike. Based on these new charges and a failed drug test, Brinkley had found Williams in violation of probation from a 2008 gun and drug case. The rapper tweeted out a statement Tuesday afternoon thanking his supporters. Id like to thank God, my family, and all my public advocates for their love, support and encouragement during this difficult time. While the past five months have been a nightmare, the prayers, visits, calls, letters and rallies have helped me stay positive. Meek Mill (@MeekMill)April 24, 2018 To the Philly District Attorneys office, Im grateful for your commitment to justice. I understand that many people of color across the country dont have that luxury and I plan to use my platform to shine a light on those issues. Meek Mill (@MeekMill)April 24, 2018 In the meantime, I plan to work closely with my legal team to overturn this unwarranted conviction and look forward to reuniting with my family and resuming my music career. Meek Mill (@MeekMill)April 24, 2018 Williams legal team had filed a petition in February that questioned the credibility of a police officer involved in the rappers 2007 arrest. The Philadelphia District Attorneys Officefiled a responseto that petition in March, saying there is a strong showing of likelihood of the Petitioners conviction being reversed (in whole or in part). Story continues Williams sentencing led many to voice their support both in person and on social media. Novembers #Rally4Meek in Philadelphia saw protestersmarching through the streets, chanting Free Meek Mill and rapping his song Dreams and Nightmares. Rapper Jay-Z, aka Shawn Carter, has been a staunch supporter of Williams,arguing in a New York Times op-ed in November that whats happening to Meek Mill is just one example of how our criminal justice system entraps and harasses hundreds of thousands of black people every day ... A person on probation can end up in jail over a technical violation like missing a curfew. As of 2015, one-third of the 4.65 million Americans who were on some form of parole or probation were black, Carter continued. Black people are sent to prison for probation and parole violations at much higher rates than white people. Most recently, Carter advocated for Williams while speaking to David Letterman for the former Late Night hosts Netflix show. Many on social media, including a slew of celebrities, expressed their excitement Tuesday about Williams release. BREAKING: MEEK MILL IS OFFICIALLY FREE FROM PRISON pic.twitter.com/M1zoZ9quQQ SEASONS (@04SEASONS)April 24, 2018 They made you a political prisoner to silence you... you stood tall and stayed SOLID!!! They cant stop you now lil bro!!!! Its almost OVER!!!#MeekOTWpic.twitter.com/B5bndoebx7 T.I. (@Tip)April 24, 2018 Justice for our friend. Finally free.pic.twitter.com/5RLkcBgohu New England Patriots (@Patriots)April 24, 2018 Williams first post on social media after his release was dedicated to the 76ers, posted mere hours before the team would face the Miami Heat in a playoff game. Many speculated that Williams might appear at the Tuesday night game, especially after 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin said that he would be picking up the rapper from prison. Meek Mill is free! Rubin wrote on Instagram. Just left visiting Meek with [Kevin Hart] and Im on the way back to pick him up as we speak. A post shared by Michael Rubin (@michaelgrubin)on Apr 24, 2018 at 12:37pm PDT Joe Tacopina, Williams lawyer, said he was thrilled that the court released Williams on bail. As we have said all along, Meek was unjustly convicted and should not have spent a single day in jail, Tacopina said, according to 6ABC, later adding, Meek is excited to be reunited with his family, and we, along with Meek, intend to continue to shine the light on a justice system in need of reform to prevent any other citizen from being put through what Meek has endured. A spokesperson for the D.A.s office told HuffPost that the courts decision on Meek Mill being released on bail is consistent with the position of the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office. As this is a pending matter, we have no further comment on what may occur in the future in this case, the spokesperson said, noting that the office had similarly agreed to withdraw prosecution from three lesser-known cases that were also tainted by potential police credibility issues by following the same procedures and analysis. Even the Philadelphia Eagles celebrated Meek Mills release on social media, tweeting not long after the rapper released his own statement. In the tweet, a video shows the team running onto the field during Super Bowl LII, which they would later win, with Williams song Dreams and Nightmares playing in the background. Hold up, wait a minute.pic.twitter.com/qYsk9RsCgg Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles)April 24, 2018 Aint this what theyve been waiting for? CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story indicated Williams sentencing in November 2017 stemmed from arrests earlier in 2018 instead of earlier in 2017. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Updated | Hundreds of Central Americans determined to seek asylum in the U.S. have arrived in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, despite President Donald Trump's recent orders for the Department of Homeland Security to stop migrants entering the country. Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the immigrant rights group that organized the caravan, posted a video to Facebook on Tuesday evening of people arriving at a shelter run by Juventud 2000. Juventud 2000 is an organization dedicated to assisting migrants in Tjuana. They wrote that this was the "first big part of [the] refugee caravan" to arrive in the border town. As many as 600 asylum seekers have already made their way to the shelter, traveling by bus, according to Reuters. The news agency said another four buses were also making their way to Tijuana from Hermosillo, a city 432 miles south of the border, where migrants had been held up for days. Trending: PUBG Miramar Test Server Update Live on Xbox One - Patch Notes & Fixes Smaller groups of people traveling with the caravan had already made it to the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this week, with organizers telling Newsweek some had been turned away by border officials after trying to request asylum. Trump said on Monday morning that he had directed Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen to block as many as 50 asylum seekers from entering the country, calling the caravan a "disgrace." GettyImages-944873746 ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty The caravan began its journey towards the U.S. border from southern Mexico in late March, with the group growing to include as many as 1,500 people at one point, before its numbers started to dwindle after Trump vowed to take action and pushed Mexican migration authorities to crack down on the group. Story continues Despite gaining international attention this year, the caravan is something that happens annually as a symbolic event to raise awareness around the plight of asylum seekers. Don't miss: Kate Middleton's Luxury Birth Was Cheaper Than the Average Delivery in the U.S. Read more: Trump Brands Migrant Caravan a Disgrace, Orders Homeland Security Officials to Turn Away Immigrants at Border In previous years, participants have for the most part held marches in Mexico, rather than making the journey all the way to the U.S. border. This year, however, a large number were desperate to make it to the U.S., with many asylum seekers coming from Honduras in a bid to flee the instability and violence that has followed the contested reelection of President Juan Orlando Hernandez. While members of the caravan have arrived in Tijuana, they are not expected to make it to the U.S.-Mexico border for several days, according to CNN. It is expected that at least some asylum seekers will arrive at the border on Sunday, with local communities on the U.S. side of the border organizing to meet at Border Field State Mark early that morning. "We will have a friendly encounter at the border and exchange welcoming words of solidarity and hope," community organizers have said on a Facebook event page called "Welcome the Refugee Caravan." Read more: Migrant Caravan Asylum Seekers Being 'Illegally' Turned Away at Border, Rights Group Say Most popular: GOP Senate Candidate Calls Mitch McConnell's Father-in-Law 'Wealthy Chinaperson,' Refuses to File Financial Disclosures Community members have been asked to wear white and will be joined by people who have been marching from Los Angeles to the U.S.-Mexico border since last Sunday, in a show of solidarity with those traveling with the caravan. The Seed Project, an advocacy group fighting for permanent protection of undocumented youth in the U.S., said on its Facebook event page that it launched the 7-Day March Without Borders event "in the name of refugees who suffer repression and violence in their own country and for their human right to seek asylum in the country of their choice." Immigration advocacy groups have hit out at the Trump administration's response to the caravan, calling on the U.S. government to uphold due process. "It is not illegal to seek asylum and due process should be upheld," Latin America Working Group Senior Associate Daniella Burgi-Palomino said in a statement earlier this month. She added that the Mexican government should not prevent asylum seekers from approaching the U.S. border and "should not send people back to their death, and instead uphold its responsibility under international and national law to screen and recognize peoples concerns." "Doing otherwise will only leave families, individuals, and children between a wall and a dangerous place and fuel the vicious cycle of displacement and migration," Burgi-Palomino said. Pueblo Sin Fronteras and The Seed Project have not responded to a request for comment. This article has been updated with more information on asylum seekers arriving in Tijuana. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Lima (AFP) - Peru's President Martin Vizcarra, in office for only a month, suffered his first setback as leader Wednesday when one of his ministers was forced out in a scandal. Production Minister Daniel Cordova resigned after a Sunday television program aired a video in which, during a conversation with union officials, he offers to sack his deputy minister to prevent a strike. "I had a conversation (with Cordova) and obviously he understood, he has made his position available, and his resignation has been accepted," Prime Minister Cesar Villanueva told state broadcaster TV Peru. The videotaped conversation between Cordova and the leaders of the Federation of Artisanal Fishermen took place April 4, two days after he took office. "I put my position at the disposal of President Vizcarra so the political issue won't interfere with the need to solve the problem of artisanal fishing," Cordova wrote on Twitter. Vizcarra, who was ambassador to Canada as well as vice-president, took office on March 23 after his predecessor Pedro Pablo Kuczynski stepped down amid corruption allegations, shortly before he was to face impeachment. Maputo (AFP) - Mozambique has yet to find evidence of any criminal activity over its $2 billion hidden debt crisis that has threatened the country's economy, the attorney general said Wednesday. President Filipe Nyusi has been accused of being reluctant to expose those in the ruling Frelimo party responsible for the debt scandal before elections next year. "Facts have been identified that indicate practices that could lead only to financial offences," attorney general Beatriz Buchili told parliament, after two years of investigations. Mozambique was forced to admit in 2016 that the loans had been kept secret and were spent on fishing and military ships and equipment. The government later said it did not disclose the debt as a matter of national security linked to unrest between 2013 and 2016 that echoed the country's civil war, which ended in 1992. The loans were supposed to be repaid via an anticipated windfall from recently discovered natural gas deposits -- but that has so far failed to materialise. "Organised crime will continue to rule and to laugh at the courts and on our judicial institutions," Silverio Ronguane, of the opposition MDM party, said after the attorney general's speech. "What happens to those who indebted our country and dragged us into misery?" Analysts say that the failure to disclose full details about the debt scandal and to prosecute those responsible has delayed a possible International Monetary Fund aid package. Seoul (AFP) - North Korea condemned US criticism of its human rights record as "ridiculous" as a diplomatic whirlwind accelerated ahead of leader Kim Jong Un's summits with the South and with US President Donald Trump. In the latest sequence of messaging before Friday's summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the Demilitarized Zone, Trump demanded the North give up its nuclear weapons -- while describing its leader as "very open" and "very honourable". Seoul said Moon will brief Trump by phone immediately after Friday's summit, and promised "close coordination" with the United States. The isolated North has been accused of a litany of state-sanctioned rights abuses including extrajudicial killing, torture, brutal crackdowns on dissent and even kidnapping foreign citizens. The US State Department's latest rights report on the North, released last week, described "egregious human rights violations" in the authoritarian state from public executions to widespread surveillance of citizens. In recent weeks Pyongyang has been uncharacteristically reticent in its criticisms of Seoul and Washington, sometimes casting their actions as "chilling the atmosphere for dialogue" as it mounts a charm offensive ahead of the summits. But it angrily slammed the State Department report for "viciously slandering" the nation, accusing the US of being a "hotbed" of rights abuses itself, beset by "cancer-like" gun violence and "all sorts of injustice, deprivation of rights". Washington was appointing itself as a "human rights judge", the official KCNA news agency said in a commentary late Tuesday, adding that its "true aim" was to "create a pretext for political, military and economic aggression and pressure". The remarks came days before only the third-ever inter-Korea summit, in which Moon will focus on persuading Kim to give up his widely condemned nuclear weapons and easing military tension between the two Koreas. Story continues They could discuss a path towards a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, which stopped with a ceasefire, and reunions of families left divided by the conflict. Moon told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he would raise the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the North's agents to train Pyongyang's spies -- an enduring issue in Tokyo. Seoul said Moon's national security advisor Chung Eui-yong had met his US counterpart John Bolton in Washington. The two promised to coordinate closely and discussed a possible meeting between Moon and Trump before the US-North Korea summit, it added. - Testing moratorium - The US president's praise for Kim on Tuesday was in marked contrast to the colourful personal insults he hurled last year, when he dubbed the young leader "Rocket Man" and warned of "fire and fury" against the North. But he insisted: "I want them to get rid of their nukes." Kim has overseen a rapid acceleration in the North's weapons capabilities, with Pyongyang last year carrying out by far its most powerful nuclear test to date and launching missiles bringing the US mainland within reach. Pyongyang announced a moratorium on testing at the weekend and said its nuclear proving ground at Punggye-ri would close. But two studies by Chinese seismologists have concluded the site has partially collapsed following last year's massive test, making it unusable. Landslides and earthquakes following the explosion had led to speculation that the site was suffering from "tired mountain syndrome". The respected 38 North website said work had been observed at the test site up to March but had since slowed. A day before Kim's announcement, satellite images showed "unusual activity" involving a dozen mining carts, it said Wednesday. - Political symbolism - Friday's summit will be held on the southern side of the border truce village of Panmunjom, with symbolic gestures like food from both Koreas and chairs engraved with a map of the peninsula. That depiction includes the Seoul-controlled islands of Dokdo, at the heart of a decades-long territorial row with Japan, which claims them as its own. The two Koreas share a common resentment of Tokyo's brutal 1910-45 colonial rule of the peninsula, with Pyongyang sometimes threatening attacks on Japan -- which is within range of its missiles. Trump has occasionally slammed the North's dire rights record, prominently featuring a North Korean refugee in his State of the Union address. But the US president has avoided the issue in the build-up to the summit and Seoul's foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said earlier that Pyongyang's human rights record would not be on the agenda. The UN's expert on human rights in North Korea on Wednesday said rights abuses must be on the talks agenda from the outset. "A denuclearisation deal will remain fragile if it sidelines the rights and needs of the DPRK population," said Thomas Ojea Quintana, using the North's acronym. "Not even mentioning human rights at this very first stage of negotiations would be a misstep and a lost opportunity." A senior Israeli minister has compared Stars Wars actor Natalie Portman to the movie's villain Anakin Skywalker over her decision to boycott an awards ceremony in Israel. Gilad Erdan, internal security and strategic affairs minister, spoke following Portman's decision not to attend Israel's Genesis Awards. GettyImages-852698758 Getty Images Trending: What's Going On In Armenia? Leader Resigns Following Violent Protests In an Instagram posting Saturday, Portman said she backed out of the award because she didnt want to appear with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a letter to Portman Sunday, cited by Israeli media, Erdan said Anakin Skywalker, a character you know well from Star Wars, underwent a similar process. He began to believe that the Jedi Knights were evil, and that the forces of the Dark Side were the protectors of democracy, Erdan wrote. I call upon you not to let the Dark Side win. He accused Portman of having been duped by Hamas propaganda with regard to clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians on the Gaza-Israel border that have left 35 protesters dead, claiming that Hamas was using the riots as a cover to carry out armed terror attacks. Later, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Portman had played into the hands of the worst of our haters and of the worst of the anti-Semites in the Middle East. Don't miss: Video: Milo Yiannopoulos Forced Out of New York City Bar by Patrons Chanting 'Nazi Scum Get Out' The Genesis Awards are awarded annually to those who inspire others through their dedication to the Jewish community and Jewish values. A representative for the U.S.-Israeli actor, who starred in the late 1990s Star Wars prequel trilogy, initially said that Portman had decided to withdraw from the awards because of distressing events in the country, leading to critics interpreting her decision as indicating support for the movement to boycott Israel. Story continues Portman said Saturday she did not support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to isolate Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians. Like many Israelis and Jews around the world, I can be critical of the leadership in Israel without wanting to boycott the entire nation, she said. Most popular: Trump Is Putting Foreign Students Off Coming To America, Universities Claim Israel was created exactly 70 years ago as a haven for refugees from the Holocaust, she said. But the mistreatment of those suffering from todays atrocities is simply not in line with my Jewish values. Because I care about Israel, I must stand up against violence, corruption, inequality, and abuse of power. The Genesis Prize has been awarded since 2014 to individuals for excellence in their professional fields and who inspire others through their dedication to the Jewish community and Jewish values. Previous winners have included former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, sculptor Anish Kapoor, violinist Itzhak Perlman and Hollywood actor Michael Douglas, all of whom donated their prize money to charitable causes. Portman was born in Jerusalem and moved to the United States at the age of three. She won the Best Actress Oscar in 2010 for her role in Black Swan. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Europe and the United States are not authorized to change the Iran nuclear deal without the input of Russia and China, a top Russian diplomat said Wednesday. "If the European trio reaches an agreement with the Americans on something, neither our Chinese counterparts nor we have anything to do with that. Everyone signed the agreement, and no one has authorized the European trio to talk on behalf of a group of six nations," Vladimir Chizhov, Russias permanent representative to the European Union, said during a visit to Brussels. The comments were made one day after President Donald Trump met with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Washington, D.C., where the French leader stressed the importance of maintaining the deal. The Iran nuclear deal, known more formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed in 2015 by the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and Germany. It agreed to lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for imposing limitations on the countrys uranium enrichment, which could lead to the development of nuclear weapons. Trending: Eating Protein Supplements With Your Meal Linked to Weight Loss in New Study Trump is a longtime opponent of the deal, which was brokered under his predecessor Barack Obama. European leaders have consistently argued, however, that the deal should be preserved. In order to placate Trump, some have floated the idea that the Europeans would meet with American negotiators to discuss potential modifications. You consider that the Iranian deal, the JCPOAthe one negotiated in 2015 with Iran is a bad deal. For a number of months, I've been saying that this was not a sufficient deal, but that it enabled us, at least until 2025, to have some control over their nuclear activities, Macron said to Trump on Tuesday. We therefore wish, from now on, to work on a new deal with Iran. Don't miss: Hillary Clinton Tried to Cancel Interview Over Harvey Weinstein Reporting, Ronan Farrow Says Story continues Macron then went on to outline topics that he said would shed light on the places where U.S. and European views on the issue converge, including the importance of blocking Irans nuclear activity until 2025, putting an end to Irans ballistic missile activities, and countering Iranian influence in the wider Middle East, including countries such as Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. European allies have until May 12 to convince Trump not to impose economic sanctions on Iran again, a move that would effectively kill the Iran deal by removing incentives for Tehran not to develop its nuclear capabilities. Trump has shown few signs that he is willing to modify his hardline stance against the deal. Standing next to Macron during a press conference Tuesday, he said the deal should never have been made. But he did suggest that he might be open to what he called a much bigger deal, which would include Macrons suggestions about addressing Irans ballistic missile program and curbing its interference in the Middle East, both of which are excluded from the current agreement. Both leaders signaled that further discussions were forthcoming. Later this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will also visit Washington and is expected to broach the same topic with Trump. Most popular: Ancient Rome: Pompeii Archaeologists Unearth Child Skeleton From Ashes of Vesuvius Who knows what I am going to do on the 12th, he said Tuesday, referring to the deadline for a decision on sanctions. Even Russias officials acknowledged that the European leaders and Trump probably dont see eye to eye. "I believe it is premature now to say who struck a deal with whom. Judging by reports from Washington on the French presidents visit, so far they have been talking about somewhat different things, Chizhov said Wednesday. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek A South Korean soldier stands guard before the military demarcation line and North Korea's Panmun Hall, in the truce village of Panmunjom - AFP Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un caught the world by surprise last month with the sensational announcement that the pair are to hold unprecedented talks. And now attention is shifting to where the most intensely-watched political event for years will be held. Mr Trump this week said there were five locations under consideration, and none of them were in the United States. Neutral venues in Asia and Europe are now considered the most likely options, but given that both Mr Trump and Kim have a reputation for enjoying the limelight, the meeting will almost certainly need to have a dramatic backdrop. Europe Officials in the US and North Korea would almost certainly be trying to identify a neutral venue which would not afford the other side a propaganda victory. Kim studied at a Swiss school, and Geneva has been mooted as a possible location. The city hosted talks between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 as the US and Soviet leaders sought to limit the arms race. The men met in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, a year later, for another breakthrough summit. Speculation that Sweden could play host to the Kim-Trump summit mounted following a visit last month by North Koreas foreign minister to the Scandinavian country. Sweden, which has an embassy in Pyongyang, has frequently been used as a communication channel between the US and North Korea. Oslo has also been mooted as a possible contender. Officials from North Korea and the US met in the Norwegian capital over the release of Otto Warmbier, the American student who was brought back to the US last year in a coma after he was imprisoned for stealing a propaganda poster form a hotel. Elsewhere in Scandinavia, Helsinki could also be another option, as the city has also hosted unofficial talks between US experts and North Korean delegates. Finland's capital could also provide a historic backdrop for the talks as it was the site 1975 Helsinki Accords, which were seen by some as helping to ease Cold War tensions. Story continues Other European cities reported to be under consideration include Warsaw and Prague. However, Kim might favour a 'neutral' venue closer to home. Ulan Bator Mongolia has long regarded itself as being non-aligned, but the country has strong links with North Korea. It was the second state to formally recognise the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and in 2013, then-Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj visited the North. Mongolia also has good rail links with Pyongyang, and trains are the favourite form of transportation for North Korean leaders. Recent reports also suggest that Kim may not have an aircraft capable of flying him to distant locations. He could, therefore, be forced to use the train that took him to Beijing last month for any overseas summit he attends. "Mongolia has long offered its good relations with all parties involved in tensions on the Korean peninsula to provide a neutral venue for any discussions and negotiations," said Julian Dierkes an expert on Mongolia at the University of British Columbia. "Beyond a formal offer to host any meetings conveyed to US and DPRK diplomats in Ulan Bator a month ago, the Mongolian government is keeping its offer to host a summit very quiet." The North-South Korean border Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, is already scheduled to meet Kim at the Panmunjom Peace House in the heavily-fortified border between the two countries. Panmunjom, which is located in the 4-km (2.5 mile) wide buffer zone between the North and South, is the focal point for one of the world's most dramatic borders. Panmunjom - locator map The demilitarised zone is also highly symbolic and relevant to the current tensions, as it is a modern day reminder of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended only with an armistice, not a peace treaty. Mr Trump had planned to visit Panmunjom during his visit to Seoul in November, but had to cancel at the last minute due to adverse weather conditions. However the prospect of him finally getting his day at the popular tourist spot appear to have faded in recent weeks. China Beijing has long sought to deflect accusations that it is not doing enough to rein in North Korea by saying that the key players in the crisis are Pyongyang and Washington. However, Chinese officials will feel a loss of face with its position as a spectator in the emergence of talks which could have huge repercussions for north-east Asia. One such way to boost China's status as a key player is to act as host. However, the likelihood of China staging the talks have also decreased as tensions with the US linger over security and trade. It is also unlikely that Kim would welcome China stealing some of his attention on his big day. North Korea | Kim Jong-uns fiery relationship with the US North Korea It seems highly unlikely that US officials would welcome the president handing the North Koreans a propaganda coup with a visit to North Korea, but it would certainly appeal to Mr Trump's sense of drama - and perhaps his curiosity. Washington had apparently considered a visit by President Bill Clinton to Pyongyang, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was supposedly laying the groundwork for this during her trip to the North Korean capital in 2000. Mr Clinton eventually visited when after had left office in 2009, but US officials would almost certainly rule out a sitting president visiting Pyongyang over security concerns. Kim would have the same worries if the US invited him to hold talks in the US, or indeed, on an aircraft carrier anchored in waters near the Korean Peninsula. Other possible Asian venues Japan has much to gain from a de-escalation of tensions in north-east Asia, but it is seen by Pyongyang as one of its historic enemies. Singapore held landmark talks between the leaders of China and Taiwan in 2015, but acting as host for Mr Trump and Kim would be an entirely different matter. Vietnam is also reportedly under consideration. The Communist state has seen relations with the US improve markedly since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Thailand is also another option. There is a huge US Embassy in Bangkok and the North Koreans might feel more at ease in a country ruled by a military dictatorship. ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian lawmakers voted on Wednesday to invite President Muhammadu Buhari to the House of Representatives to discuss a spate of killings in central Nigeria. Hundreds of people have died in clashes this year between semi-nomadic herdsmen and settled farmers in central states, including 16 killed in an attack on a church in Benue on Tuesday. The violence has raised questions about the government's ability to maintain security in the country, putting pressure on Buhari less than a year before an election he wants to contest. The motion in the lower house called for the president to appear to discuss the situation in Benue, where the highest-profile killings have taken place, and other states in the region, including Taraba, Nasarawa and Kaduna. No date was suggested for his appearance. Buhari's spokesmen did not respond to text messages and phone calls seeking comment. (Reporting by Camillus Eboh and Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos, editing by Catherine Evans) ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian lawmakers voted on Wednesday to invite President Muhammadu Buhari to the House of Representatives to discuss a spate of killings in central Nigeria. Hundreds of people have died in clashes this year between semi-nomadic herdsmen and settled farmers in central states, including 16 killed in an attack on a church in Benue on Tuesday. The violence has raised questions about the government's ability to maintain security in the country, putting pressure on Buhari less than a year before an election he wants to contest [nL8N1S18P7]. The motion in the lower house called for the president to appear to discuss the situation in Benue, where the highest-profile killings have taken place, and other states in the region, including Taraba, Nasarawa and Kaduna. No date was suggested for his appearance. Buhari's spokesmen did not respond to text messages and phone calls seeking comment. (Reporting by Camillus Eboh and Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos, editing by Catherine Evans) About 80.7 per cent of UAE residents would recommend their bank to others, while 76.4 per cent would recommend their car insurer to others, according to a survey conducted by yallacompare, a leading comparison site in the Middle East. The survey, conducted as part of the yallacompare Banking and Insurance Awards 2018, sought to ascertain the leading banks and financial products in the UAE by popular vote, and was taken by over 5,100 UAE residents. Awards were handed out recently at a glittering ceremony held at the Capital Club, Dubai. According to the results of the survey, just under 10 per cent said they would not recommend their bank to others an improvement on the survey results collected for the yallacompare Banking Awards 2017, in which 12 per cent said they would not recommend their bank to others. With the amount of research we do, and our direct contact with consumers, were incredibly well placed to work out how Middle Eastern customers perceive their financial providers, said Jon Richards, CEO of yallacompare. Im pleased to report that, on the whole, the UAEs banks and insurance companies continue to enjoy high levels of customer satisfaction. Were looking forward to further deepening our partnerships with these institutions so that, together, we can bring greater value to Middle Eastern consumers. The survey quizzed respondents on what they deem to be the nations best financial and insurance products, providing the basis for the results of the yallacompare Banking and Insurance Awards 2018. This follows on from the first large survey that yallacompare conducted last year, which polled 3,500 UAE residents on their preferred banks. This year, the survey was widened to include categories for insurers as well, given that yallacompare is, by some margin, the largest online seller of insurance products in the UAE. In the insurance categories, RSA picked up the award for General Insurer of the Year, while Noor Takaful was named Takaful Provider of the Year. Daman picked up the award for Health Insurer of the Year, and Adamjee Insurance scooped the Breakthrough Insurer of the Year prize. Watania was named Most Progressive Insurer, and the Most Policies Sold award, based on the number of policies sold through yallacompare, went to Union Insurance. Finally, i-Insured picked up the Insurance Innovation of the Year award for its WhatsApp claims service. In the credit card categories, it emerged that airline co-branded products once again proved popular with consumers. The Emirates-Citibank Ultimate Card was voted as Air Miles Credit Card of the Year, building on the success seen by the Emirates-Citibank Ultima Card, which picked up the same award last year. And in the Debut Credit Card of the Year category, open to credit cards launched last year, First Abu Dhabi Banks Etihad Guest Platinum Card picked up the win. In terms of cashback credit cards, users unsurprisingly voted for the cards that gave them the largest sums of cashback. Standard Chartereds Titanium Card was named winner for the second year in a row, thanks largely to the fact that it offers a market-leading 10 per cent cashback on a variety of purchases. Likewise, rewards figured highly in the mortgage and Islamic home finance categories, with RakBanks Home In One and DIBs DIB Home products both bagging honours in their respective categories for the second year running. As opposed to being standard, long-term home loans, these products offer complete personal finance packages that allow borrowers to earn benefits from their mortgage repayments. yallacompares comprehensive survey also polled respondents on general satisfaction levels. The results found that 83.4 per cent of UAE residents are either very satisfied or satisfied with their bank, and 78.1 per cent are either very satisfied or satisfied with their insurer. The UAEs banks and insurers also scored highly on brand perception. Over 75 per cent of respondents said they had a favourable view of their banks brand, and over 72 per cent said the same for their insurer. The yallacompare Banking Awards were founded in 2017 to recognise the efforts made by UAE banks in providing high-quality banking services. In 2018, insurance categories were added as well. With 21 categories in total, the awards are an opportunity for UAE banks and insurers to celebrate their achievements in creating and maintaining solid products that deliver outstanding value and high levels of customer satisfaction. TradeArabia News Service Stockholm (AFP) - The Swedish Academy, plunged into crisis over allegations of rape and sexual assault by the husband of one its members, may postpone the 2018 Nobel Literature Prize, Swedish Radio reported on Wednesday. "We're thinking about it. We'll let you know soon," said Anders Olsson, the Academy's interim permanent secretary. According to Swedish Radio, several members of the Academy have suggested reserving this year's prize, and awarding it alongside the 2019 prize next year. "Given the situation the Academy currently finds itself in, and given the best interests of the prize, it might be best to postpone it for a year," said Peter Englund. Englund is one of five Academy members who have stepped down in recent weeks over the scandal, including permanent secretary Sara Danius. But another member, Goran Malmqvist, rejected the notion, telling news agency TT it would go ahead as planned this year. Technically, the Academy's 18 members are appointed for life and cannot resign, but they can choose not to participate in its meetings and decisions. Currently, a total of seven are no longer active members which poses a real headache: according to its statutes, 12 members are needed in order to vote in a new member. Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf, who is the patron of the Academy founded in 1786, has agreed to change the statutes to allow members to resign and be replaced, thereby ensuring the institution's survival. - Academy torn apart - The scandal centres on allegations by 18 women in November -- in the wake of the #MeToo campaign -- that they had been subject to sexual harassment and assault by Jean-Claude Arnault, the French husband of Academy member and poet Katarina Frostenson. Arnault denies the allegations. After the women spoke out in the media, the Academy cut all ties with Arnault's cultural club Forum in Stockholm, which it had subsidised for years and which was a key meeting point for the country's cultural elite. Story continues But the affair divided the Academy, with disagreement on how to draw a line under the row, and on what measures to take after a report it commissioned revealed conflicts of interest and the fact that Academy members leaked Nobel winners' names. One camp defended Frostenson and the Academy's old guard, while the other camp supported Danius, who wanted to carry out reforms. Prosecutors have dropped parts of the investigation against Arnault -- concerning allegations of rape and assault between 2013 and 2015 -- due to lack of evidence. The rest of the investigation is still ongoing. The scandal has dragged the Academy's reputation through the mud. "This is devastating for the reputation of the Nobel prize," Mattias Berg, who covers cultural affairs for SR radio, told AFP. The Nobel Literature Prize has been reserved on seven occasions since it was first awarded in 1901: in 1914, 1918, 1935, 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1943. Beijing (AFP) - North Korea's underground nuclear test site has partially collapsed following a massive bomb blast last year, making it unusable, Chinese seismologists have concluded. The North's leader Kim Jong Un declared last week that his regime would halt nuclear and long-range missile tests and shut down its nuclear site at Punggye-ri under Mount Mantap in the country's northeast. The offer came days before his summit this Friday with the South's President Moon Jae-in, which is scheduled to be followed by a summit with US President Donald Trump. North Korea conducted five of its six nuclear tests at the site, with the biggest blast last September 3 triggering a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that was felt across the northern border with China. The North claimed it tested a hydrogen bomb. Landslides and earthquakes following the explosion led to speculation that the site was suffering from "tired mountain syndrome". Two studies involving Chinese experts have found that a 4.1-magnitude aftershock that took place 8 1/2 minutes after the first quake caused the collapse of rock inside the mountain. "It is necessary to continue monitoring possible leaks of radioactive materials caused by the collapse incident," said the University of Science and Technology of China in a summary of one study posted on its website. The university said the study would be published in Geophysicial Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. An English-language abstract by the study authors in another section of the university's website concluded: "The occurrence of the collapse should deem the underground infrastructure beneath mountain Mantap not be used for any future nuclear tests." The line about the site being unusable does not appear in the Chinese-language summary and it was unclear whether it would be included in the journal. One of the study's authors, Lianxing Wen of New York's Stony Brook University, did not immediately respond to emailed questions. Story continues A second study led by Chinese scientists, including experts from the China Earthquake Administration, also concluded that the September aftershock had caused a collapse. "The aftershock was neither a secondary explosion nor a triggered tectonic earthquake," said the second study, published last month, also in Geophysicial Research Letters. "It occurred due to a process comparable to a 'mirror image' of the explosion, that is, a rock collapse, or compaction, for the rst time documented in North Korea's test site," it said. The second study, however, did not determine whether the site was unusable or leaking radiation. "Seismic models, like in this paper, provide only partial understanding of the underground explosions," it said, adding that further studies are necessary to look at radioactive leaks or possible groundwater contamination. The two studies reached their conclusions by looking at data from seismic monitoring stations. China has deployed radiation monitoring stations along its border with North Korea. A state-run newspaper in the northeastern province of Jilin last year published a list of tips on how civilians can protect themselves in the event of a nuclear attack. Mere hours after Prince William and Kate Middleton left St. Marys Hospital with their newborn son on Monday, the Obamas were already making plans to meet the third royal baby. Following the still unnamed princes introduction to the world outside the hospitals private Lindo Wing, Michelle Obama took to Twitter to congratulate the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the newest addition to their family and lay the groundwork for a future visit with the young royal. Barack and I are thrilled to congratulate The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their newest arrival, she wrote. We hope to meet him soon for a Kensington Palace pajama party. Ill wear my robe! The former First Ladys proposal included a photo of the Obamas meet and greet with Kate and Williams first child, Prince George, at Kensington in 2016an occasion for which the then 2-year-old prince donned an adorable mini white robe. Police in Ohio have arrested a 13-year-old boy on suspicion of shooting his 11-year-old brother dead in what appears a deliberate attack. Streetsboro Police were called to reports of gunshots at Alden Drive just after 9:30 p.m. on April 23, the department confirmed in a statement. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the 11-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound. The boy was sent to University Hospital in Ravenna, Ohio, where he later died from his injuries. Trending: Amazon Car Delivery: How to Get Packages Delivered to Your Trunk with New Key Service Police then took the victims 13-year-old brother was taken into custody on suspicion of aggravated murder for what they said appears to be a premeditated shooting. Lieutenant Patricia Wain, of the Streetsboro Police Department, said that officers have spoken to the family, reports WEWS-TV. "It doesn't happen here. It's traumatizing. A lot of our officers here have kids that age so to have to walk into that and see that and take that call, it's very difficult," said Wain. Don't miss: Waffle House Shooting Suspect Travis Reinking's $2 Million Bond Revoked, Judge Orders GettyImages-52245874 Larry W. Smith/Getty Images Wain also confirmed that the boy died after being shot in the back, reports WJW. Investigators believe the 13-year-old used a gun he stole from his grandfather's home for the attack. In a statement, the force added: We ask that you keep the family in your thoughts during this difficult time. While we respect that everyone may have strong feelings about the incident, we request that you keep comments positive with respect to the family and our community as they grieve their loss. Most popular: Destiny 2 Warmind DLC Livestream Recap - Hive Mode, Exotics & More Streetsboro City Schools also confirmed in a tweet: Last night we lost one of our 5th graders in a tragic incident. Grief counselors will be available at Henry Defer Intermediate and the Middle School. Story continues Police are not releasing the name of the victim or his brother as they are both juveniles. The department added additional information will be released as it becomes available, pending notification of family members. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Kanye West in February 2017 in New York City (Photo: Marc Piasecki/GC Images) Was Kanye Wests 2016 hospitalization due to opioid addiction? Thats allegedly what Kim Kardashians husband told Hot 97 radio host Ebro Darden. On Mondays Ebro in the Morning show, Darden detailed a conversation he claimed to have had with West in which the rapper supposedly said he was suffering from opioid addiction at the time of his breakdown. He went on to talk about [how] Nobody really showed love for me when I was addicted to opioids and in the hospital,' Darden recounted, saying that he then told West that was a lie. The radio host said he personally knew people who tried to reach out through mutual connections, like Pusha T and Scooter Braun. In November 2016, West was hospitalized following a string of outbursts during his Life of Pablo world tour, which he abruptly canceled. This is the first time opioid addiction has been publicly mentioned in relation to Wests breakdown. At the time, reports claimed he was hospitalized due to exhaustion and sleep deprivation. Kardashians robbery in Paris also supposedly put a strain on him and their relationship. Yahoo has reached out to a rep for West, but did not immediately receive a response. It doesnt seem like the 40-year-old rapper is upset with Darden for bringing up their purported conversation about opioids on air. On Tuesday, West called in to Dardens show to repeatedly say, I love you. West had a few buzzy comments during his private chat with Darden. The rapper apparently made it clear he (still) loves President Trump. Dardens co-host found that to be the biggest moment from the convo. Biggest take away from Ebro in the Morning today Kanye West is still an avid Donald Trump supporter..you can process that however you like but if youre waiting for him to say my bad about his trump statements dont hold your breath RosenbergTelevision (@Rosenbergradio) April 23, 2018 West, who is back on Twitter, has yet to address any of the headline-making comments himself. Story continues Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistan police Wednesday exhumed the body of an Italian national over claims she had been murdered by relatives in a so-called honour killing, in a case that has made headlines across Italy. Police in the eastern city of Gujrat launched an investigation earlier this week into the death of Sana Cheema -- of Pakistani origin and believed to have been in her mid-twenties -- after allegations she had been murdered went viral online. "After the news of her death spread on social media, police found the family and started an investigation," said police officer Waqar Gujjar. Cheema's father, brother and uncle are currently being held in custody for questioning but have not been charged, added Gujrat police officer Mudassar Sajjad. "Now it depends on the post mortem report. If it determines the cause of death is due to murder, only then will police charge the suspects," said Sajjad. According to family members, Cheema died earlier this month after succumbing to an unspecified illness, said police officer Syed Mobarak. Police said Cheema's father Ghulam Mustafa brought her back to Pakistan to get married. This ultimately led to a confrontation with a nearby family who spurned the offer of a match, according to the woman's family. Because of the rejection Cheema refused to eat, fell ill and died, relatives told police. Reports in Italian newspapers alleged Cheema was killed because she wanted to marry a man in Italy against her family's wishes. Hundreds of women in Pakistan are killed by their relatives each year after allegedly bringing shame on their families in the deeply conservative Muslim country. Under previous legislation the culprits -- usually men -- could escape punishment if pardoned by members of their own family. A new law removes the power to forgive culprits in such cases but critics contend some loopholes still exist. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A Palestinian journalist shot two weeks ago by Israeli forces on the Gaza border has died, Israeli and Palestinian sources said Wednesday, the second journalist killed in a month of unrest. Ahmed Abu Hussein, 25, was shot on April 13 while covering protests along the Gaza border for a radio station based in the Palestinian enclave. The Gaza health ministry announced he had died after receiving treatment inside Israel, which the Sheba hospital near Tel Aviv confirmed. His brother Diaa told AFP they were preparing to transfer the body to Gaza for burial. Abu Hussein worked for Radio Shaab, a Gazan radio station, as well as being a photographer for another local news agency. He was shot in the stomach while covering protests near Jabalia in northern Gaza, the health ministry in Gaza said. Fellow journalist Yasser Murtaja was killed earlier this month while covering the protests. Abu Hussein's death brought the toll of Palestinians in Gaza killed by Israeli fire since March 30 to 41. Most of the Palestinians killed by Israel since the start of "March of Return" protests on March 30 were shot by snipers on the border, while a few others were killed by Israeli artillery or air strikes. The Israeli army says its troops only open fire in self-defence or to stop protesters attempting to breach the barrier separating the territory from Israel. ASUNCION (Reuters) - The candidate who finished second in Paraguay's presidential election said on Tuesday he had evidence of fraudulent voting and demanded a recount of ballots. Efrain Alegre, a lawyer from the centre-left GANAR coalition, said on social media that the country's official elections tribunal was too quick to announce that Mario Abdo of the conservative Colorado Party won the election. "We already have very clear samples of fraud that we are going to denounce case by case," Alegre said. "We are going to participate in the recount." International observers who monitored Sunday's election reported no major irregularities. Abdo, a 46-year-old former senator who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, is scheduled to be sworn in as president in mid-August. With 97.67 percent of ballots counted on Sunday, the tribunal said Abdo won 46.44 percent to Alegre's 42.74 percent. (Reporting by Mariel Cristaldo; Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by James Dalgleish) Paris Jackson is trying to explain herself after disturbing video showed her dancing on the ledge of a New York City high-rise. "People are saying that I've lost my mind and I've gone crazy," she said on Instagram Tuesday. "I apologize for freaking people out." In the video, taken during last week's New Yorks Spring Fashion Week, the only daughter of the late Michael Jackson loses her balance and nearly falls. "I almost died," the 20-year-old said in a caption on the video. But in her video posted to Instagram Stories Tuesday, she said that wasn't really the case. "I wasnt being super, super unsafe. I wasnt being the safest but I wasn't being super, super unsafe," she said. "I lost my balance for two seconds and I leaned towards the safe side which was half a foot at that not towards other side where I could have fallen several stories to my death." "Shes lost it," a Jackson family source told the New York Post. After acknowledging her young fans, Paris Jackson ended the video by lighting up a cigarette and telling people to back off. "I understand I have a young following and it's prob not a great move to walk across a ledge," she said. "Please stop making a big deal about it." Relatives are reportedly comparing the video to a 2002 incident in which her father dangled his son, Blanket, over a hotel balcony in Berlin. But this is worse than that because I still think Michael had control of Blanket and they werent nearly as high up as Paris is in this video, a Jackson relative told Page Six. "Shes lost it. She really has." RELATED STORIES Where Are Michael Jackson's Kids Today? Paris Jackson Shares New Family Photo Paris Jackson Suggests Late Father Played a Role in Wendy Williams' Onstage Halloween Collapse Paris Jackson Spotted Hanging Out With Her Godfather, 'Home Alone' Star Macaulay Culkin Related Articles: MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines has revoked the visa of an Australian Catholic nun and ordered her out of the country in 30 days, an immigration official said on Wednesday, after President Rodrigo Duterte complained about her participation in protest rallies. Patricia Anne Fox, a 71 year-old superior of the Notre Dame de Sion in the Philippines, a congregation of Catholic nuns, was detained for a day last week after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered her investigation for "disorderly conduct". Immigration bureau head Jaime Morente issued an order telling Fox she had to leave the Philippines after "she was found to have engaged in activities that are not allowed under the terms and conditions of her visa". Fox, who has been in the country for more than 27 years, has 30 days to leave. Her renewable missionary visa, which was due to expire in September, was cancelled on Monday, but an immigration spokeswoman said she could still return to the mainly Catholic Southeast Asian country as a tourist, not as a missionary. "We will file a motion for reconsideration on this order," said Jobert Pahilga, a lawyer for the nun. "She has not participated in any partisan activity. She is a nun." The immigration department said she had engaged in activities not allowed under the terms of her visa. It did not elaborate but Duterte had accused her of violating Philippine sovereignty with criticism of the government. A presidential spokesman recently showed journalists photos of Fox speaking at a rally by farmers and workers. Fox said in a statement posted on her social media page she was "surprised" about the cancellation of her visa, which she had heard about from media. "I had thought the process was that I would have 10 days to put in a counter affidavit to answer the charges," she said. "I am very sad that the decision at present is that I leave the Philippines. I may lose my right to be in the Philippines but I can never lose the learnings and beautiful memories." The left-wing activist group Bayan (Nation) condemned the expulsion order of the nun who "has done so much for Philippine farmers in her nearly three decades stay here". "The Duterte regime is paranoid and afraid of an elderly nun working for human rights and social justice for the poor," Bayan leader Renato Reyes said in a statement. "The deportation order of Sister Pat is indeed despicable and utterly shameful," said Reyes. Duterte said last week he had ordered immigration authorities to look into Fox's political activity. "It's a violation of sovereignty," Duterte said, accusing Fox of badmouthing his administration. "You do not have that right to criticize us. Do not insult my country." The pictures presidential spokesman Harry Roque showed journalists were of Fox speaking at a rally in Duterte's hometown of Davao early this month. (Reporting By Manuel Mogato and Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel) Leading legal firm Al Tamimi & Company said it had played a key role in helping Bahrain's Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera) draft the implementing regulations in line with Law 27 of 2017 concerning the Promulgation of the Real Estate Sector Regulation Law. Rera was established in October last year to improve real estate regulation throughout Bahrain and stimulate investment opportunities within the sector. The board of directors was constituted with Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Abdulla Al Khalifa appointed as the chief executive officer. Lauding the company's work, Sheikh Mohammed said: "Al Tamimi have worked tirelessly with Rera since their appointment in drafting the resolutions and providing their legal and regional experience. The Authority looks forward to continuing to work with Al Tamimi in the years to come." The new law, together with the resolutions, will provide comprehensive legislation for the real estate sector in Bahrain. The establishment of Rera creates the necessary government authority to implement the law, with such regulation providing greater structure to and confidence in the real estate market. Tara Marlow, a partner and head of Al Tamimis Real Estate practice, said: "The real estate sector in Bahrain is continuing to develop and mature. We are delighted to be part of this important project and the exciting future of Bahrains real estate market." Foutoun Hajjar, partner and head of office at Bahrain, congratulating Rera on its successful operational launch on March 1, said: "Al Tamimi looks forward to supporting the authority with continued efforts to enhance efficiency and further stability in the real estate sector."-TradeArabia News Service Police are investigating after a pit bull was seen viciously attacking a woman inside a New York City subway car last week. On Friday, a straphanger was standing on the 4 train that afternoon when the dog, which was on its owners leash, clamped down on the riders foot and would not let go. Other riders tried to free the womans foot from the dogs grip. The whole incident was caught on tape, and authorities are now trying to identify the dog's owner. Would you know how to escape a dog attack in a closed space like the subway? To find out, Inside Edition turned to Los Angeles-based veterinarian, Dr. Jeff Werber. "Get their back legs if you can and lift them off the ground, if they start losing that sense of stability, they release as well," Dr. Werber said. "Good tips would be to remain calm. Don't agitate the dog or don't scream and don't get the dog worked up and certainly ask for help." Like most cities, dogs are banned from the New York City subways unless they're small enough to fit into a carrier. Large dogs are permitted only if they're guide dogs or service animals for those with disabilities. Tahsyi King recorded the shocking video of the pit bull attack. He says the dispute started when the woman found the dog actually sitting on the seat next to her. "She pushes it, What is this dog doing on the chair? He was like, 'Yo! Do not push my dog! She just does it one more time and just goes swinging," she told CBS New York. Witnesses say the dog's owner never instructed the pit bull to let go. Finally the woman's sneaker came off and the owner threw it at her. He also argued with other irate passengers. Luckily, the woman did not sustain any injuries in the attack. RELATED STORIES Now That's a Birdie! High School Golfer Gets Dive-Bombed by Angry Goose Man Charged With Attacking Woman With Pizza, and Looks Pretty Happy About It Soccer Fans Throw Flares and Bottles at Rival Team's Bus Related Articles: VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis has invited leaders of all Christian denominations in the Middle East to join him in Italy in July to discuss how they can help bring peace to the region, the Vatican said on Wednesday. The meeting will take place on July 7 in the southern Adriatic port city of Bari, chosen because it is home to the relics of St. Nicholas, a figure venerated in both the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity. Nicholas, who lived about 1,700 years ago in what is today Turkey, is particularly honored by Christian Orthodox Churches in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon in the Middle East. Nicholas is also widely venerated among Orthodox Christians in Russia, which is Syria's ally in the civil war. The Vatican said the encounter would be an "ecumenical meeting for peace" where the religious leaders would discuss "the dramatic situation of the Middle East that afflicts so many brothers and sisters in the faith". (Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Andrew Heavens) President Donald Trump refused to answer whether he would pardon his personal attorney, calling it a stupid question. Sitting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House on Tuesday, Trump was asked if he would consider pardoning Michael Cohen, whose home and offices were raided by federal prosecutors earlier this month. Thank you very much, he said. Stupid question. Go ahead, anybody else please? Cohen has not yet been charged with any crimes, although the President can preemptively pardon people even if they have not yet been charged with a crime, as President Gerald Ford famously did for former President Richard Nixon. Immediately after the Cohen raid, Trump responded angrily, calling it a disgrace and an attack on our country. He later complained on Twitter that attorney-client privilege is dead! Over the weekend he also harshly criticized a New York Times report on Cohen, arguing that reporters were trying to destroy his relationship with Trump in the hope that he will flip.' White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders would not rule out a pardon during a recent press briefing, calling it a hypothetical situation. (CANBERRA, Australia) Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, will become the next U.S. ambassador to South Korea instead of Australia, the Australian foreign minister said Wednesday. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she had been informed of the decision by Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan on Tuesday. While we would have welcomed Adm. Harris here as ambassador to Australia, we understand that there are significant challenges for the United States on the Korean peninsula, Bishop told reporters in Sydney. We of course have a very strong and deep relationship with the United States and I am sure they will choose a very appropriate ambassador to take his place in due course, she added. Bishop said Sullivan made it clear a new appointment would be a priority for the next secretary of state. President Donald Trump nominated Harris in February to become Australias next ambassador. The United States had not had an ambassador in Australia since John Berry, president of the American Australian Association, left the post in September 2016. Andrew Shearer, a former Australian government security adviser and now an adviser on Asia-Pacific security at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the change of ambassador plans made Australia appear to be a second-class ally of the United States. Australia really is a collateral casualty here to the shambolic practices of the Trump Administration, Shearer told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. I dont think theres anything sinister to it. I think its much more typical of the ad hoc, moment-to-moment decision making if this particular administration, he added. Bishop noted past appointments for U.S. ambassador to Australia took time. In the meantime, Charge dAffaires Jim Caruso will continue to act in the role. Opposition defense spokesman Richard Marles said the sooner Australia got a new U.S. ambassador the better. Story continues Were close friends, I dont think anyone is taking offense, Marles told Sky News television. Former government minister and the current Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson said while he wouldnt describe it as a snub, the United States should have proper representation in Australia. I say to President Trump and those who are advising him: we need an ambassador, we deserve an ambassador and wed like one soon, Nelson said. Former deputy prime minister and diplomat Tim Fischer said the delay in appointing an ambassador reflected its low priority in Washington. Nigh on two years will be an insult with impact, notwithstanding the good work of the acting ambassador in Canberra, Fischer said of the absence of an ambassador. (WASHINGTON) Praising the strength of Americas oldest alliance, President Donald Trump welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House Tuesday with a pomp-filled ceremony on the South Lawn. Then they plunged into a day of talks on the future of the Iran nuclear deal and the crisis in Syria. Trump said the relationship he forged with Macron at the start of his presidency was a testament to the enduring friendship that binds our two nations. He thanked the French leader for his steadfast partnership in the recent missile strike in response to the chemical attack in Syria. Macron told Trump that together the U.S. and France would defeat terrorism, curtail weapons of mass destruction in North Korea and Iran and act together on behalf of the planet, a reference to Macrons work to revive a U.S. role in the Paris climate accord. History is calling us. It is urging our people to find the fortitude that has guided us in the most difficult of times, Macron said. France and with it, Europe, and the United States have an appointment with history. The social highlight of Macrons visit, the first state visit of the Trump presidency, comes Tuesday night with a lavish state dinner at the White House. About 150 guests are expected to dine on rack of lamb and nectarine tart and enjoy an after-dinner performance by the Washington National Opera. On Monday night, the leaders took a helicopter tour of Washington landmarks and had dinner at the Potomac River home of George Washington in Mount Vernon, Virginia. Tuesdays meetings follow the collaboration by the U.S., France and Britain in missile strikes in Syria earlier this month to respond to the alleged chemical weapons attack. The U.S. has 2,000 troops in Syria assisting local Arab and Kurdish fighters against IS, though Trump has resisted a deeper U.S. involvement and is eager to withdraw completely from Syria. Macron was also expected to lobby Trump to maintain the Iran nuclear deal and reconsider his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. Story continues Macrons pomp-filled three-day visit to Washington underscores the importance that both sides attach to the relationship: Macron, who calls Trump often, has emerged as something of a Trump whisperer at a time when the American presidents relationships with other European leaders are more strained. Trump, who attaches great importance to the optics of pageantry and ceremony, chose to honor Macron with the first state visit of his administration as he woos the French president. For all their camaraderie, Macron and Trump disagree on some fundamental issues, including the multinational nuclear deal, which is aimed at restricting Irans development of nuclear weapons. Trump, skeptical of the pacts effectiveness, has been eager to pull out as a May 12 deadline nears. Macron says he is not satisfied with the situation in Iran and thinks the agreement is imperfect, but he has argued for the U.S. sticking with the deal on the grounds that there is not yet a Plan B. Trump ended his first year in office without receiving a foreign leader on a state visit, the first president in nearly 100 years to fail to do so. He was Macrons guest last July at the annual Bastille Day military parade in the center of Paris. Macron and his wife also took Trump and first lady Melania Trump on a tour of Napoleons tomb and whisked them up in the Eiffel Tower for dinner overlooking the City of Light. Macron was welcomed back to the White House on Tuesday with a traditional arrival ceremony featuring nearly 500 members of the U.S. military and a booming 21-gun salute. He was also attending a State Department lunch hosted by Vice President Mike Pence. The state dinner honoring Macron will be served in the State Dining Room, which will feature more than 2,500 stems of white sweet pea flowers and nearly 1,000 stems of white lilac. Separately, more than 1,200 branches of cherry blossoms will adorn the majestic Cross Hall. The first lady opted for a cream-and-gold color scheme, and will use a mix of china services from the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. State dinner tickets are highly sought after by Washingtons political and business elite. A few of those expected to attend: Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund and a former top French government official; House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton; Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Mike Pompeo, Trumps choice to be the next secretary of state. In a break with tradition, Trump has invited no congressional Democrats or journalists, said a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the arrangements publicly. But some Democrats did make the cut, including Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, whose office confirmed his attendance. Future king Prince George and his sister Princess Charlotte stopped by the Lindo Wing of St. Marys Hospital in Paddington to visit their mom, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and meet their newly-born royal brother for the first time. George, whos now 4, and Charlotte, whos 2 years old, have long been apples of the publics eye. But now theyll be sharing the spotlight with the fresh addition to their family. If their own relationship is any indication, we have plenty of sweet sibling moments in store between the three and lots of photo opportunities of ideal kids fashion. See their appearance in the video above. Middleton gave birth to the newest royal baby, boy at the Lindo Wing on Monday. Its the same spot she went for her delivery of both George and Charlotte. Its shaping up to be an eventful spring for the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and their growing family. Next up: the royal family will be gearing up for their appearance at Prince Harrys hotly-anticipated wedding to Meghan Markle at St. Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle on May 19. San Francisco (AFP) - Facebook reports quarterly results Wednesday as it grapples with a data privacy scandal that strikes at how the huge social network makes money from what it knows about people. The earnings release comes just two weeks after Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced questioning in two congressional panels about revelations that personal data was harvested on 87 million users by Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy working for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Whether the scandal is taking a toll on membership or advertising at the online social network was not likely to be revealed in earnings numbers from the first three months of this year, but hints might be found in the company's financial forecast. Using information about people's lives to target advertising is a standard internet business model, and any effort to rein it in could ripple through the industry. A freshly released eMarketer report downplayed the threat that the scandal could cause an exodus from Facebook. "Facebook is so large that it would take a lot of user defections to make a difference," eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson said in the report. But Williamson said some of Facebook's momentum was already fading due to other factors such as disinformation, social media fatigue and new platforms attracting young people. "Facebook has already essentially maxed out its penetration in the US," she said. - Stormclouds gathering? - Zuckerberg has said he sees no major impact on Facebook's business from the privacy controversy. Yet some analysts say Facebook's stunning growth pace of recent years, which has vaulted it to the top ranks of players in digital advertising, may be threatened. An eMarketer report last month said the so-called "duopoly" of Google and Facebook would capture 56.8 percent of the US digital ad market this year, compared with 58.5 percent last year, as rivals like Amazon and Snapchat experience faster-than-expected growth. Story continues Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group said in a recent report that he sees "downside from the Cambridge Analytica episode" for Facebook, which relies on advertising for most of its revenues. "Our guess is that reduced trust in the platform paired with increasing awareness of toxicity of the platform... could mean ongoing erosion of usage throughout 2018," he said. Mark Mahaney of RBC Capital Markets said in a note to investors that the financial outlook for Facebook is unchanged for now but that "the very recent negative publicity may have removed 'upside' ad revenue opportunities and likely added uncertainty around user engagement and growth." - Regulators take aim - Facebook also faces a specter of regulation at home and abroad. Two US senators introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at better protecting online privacy in response to the Facebook data scandal. The "Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act" introduced by Republican Senator John Kennedy and Democrat Amy Klobuchar would require terms of service agreements to be in plain language, and enable users to see what information about them has already been collected and shared. "I don't want to hurt Facebook, and I don't want to regulate them half to death, either," Kennedy said in a statement. "But I have a job to do, and that's protecting the rights and privacy of our citizens." Facebook announced last week it would begin rolling out changes to how it handles private data to comply with forthcoming EU rules, with European residents seeing the measures first. Meanwhile, the California-based company has opposed calls by Australian media companies for digital platforms to be regulated, amid an inquiry into their impact on competition in news and advertising markets. The European Parliament last week demanded Zuckerberg appear in person to answer questions about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, rejecting his offer to send a more junior executive in his place. The EU is introducing tough new data protection rules, which Facebook has said it will comply with. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into effect on May 25, aims to give users more control over how their personal information is stored and used online, with big fines for firms that break the rules. New York (AFP) - Rapper Meek Mill won freedom from prison Tuesday after an unusually harsh sentence triggered protests that pointed to racial biases in US probation laws. The 30-year-old Philadelphia rapper, who was jailed in November over a case from his teenage years, was ordered out on bail by Pennsylvania's Supreme Court. As he walked at least temporarily free, Mill thanked supporters who campaigned for him as well as the Philadelphia district attorney's office that sided with him. "I understand that many people of color across the country don't have that luxury and I plan to use my platform to shine a light on those issues," Mill wrote on Twitter. "In the meantime, I plan to work closely with my legal team to overturn this unwarranted conviction and look forward to reuniting with my family and resuming my music career," said Mill, whose last album "Wins and Losses" reached number three on the US chart. Mill, raised by a single mother after his father was killed, was thrown into jail over his arrest on drug and gun possession charges in 2008, well before the rapper born as Robert Rihmeek Williams achieved stardom. At what had looked like a routine hearing, Philadelphia judge Genece Brinkley handed Mill a term of between two and four years for violating terms of parole, including scheduling shows that conflicted with the court schedule and entering a publicized scuffle in St. Louis. Ordering Mill out on bail, the state's Supreme Court cited "credibility issues" over a police officer who was a witness. Mill has said he was badly beaten during the 2008 arrest and placed a bloody mugshot of himself as the cover of his "DC4" mixtape. The Supreme Court did not throw out the case but asked the local court to reach a resolution within 60 days. It also did not remove Brinkley but noted she "may opt to remove herself from presiding over this matter." In addition to street rallies, Mill enjoyed the support of celebrities including hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, whose Roc Nation management signed Mill. Story continues In an op-ed last year for The New York Times, Jay-Z said that Mill's case was "just one example of how our criminal justice system entraps and harasses hundreds of thousands of black people every day." Probation, which dates from English common law, was initially seen as a compassionate way for courts to grant freedom to people who pose little risk. But a survey by The Marshall Project, a non-profit news organization that covers the US judicial system, found that at least 61,250 people -- and probably far more -- are in prison across the United States for minor parole violations like missing appointments, failing drug tests or staying out past curfew. (GLENDALE, Ariz.) Republican Debbie Lesko won the special election in Arizonas 8th Congressional District on Tuesday, keeping the U.S. House seat in GOP control but by a much narrower margin than expected. The former state senator defeated Hiral Tipirneni, a former emergency room physician who had hoped to replicate surprising Democratic wins in Pennsylvania, Alabama and other states in a year where opposition to President Donald Trumps policies have boosted the partys chances in Republican strongholds. Trump won the district by 21 percentage points in 2016, but early returns show Lesko winning by just 6 percentage points. Republican political consultant Chuck Coughlin called the margin not good for national Republicans looking at their chances in November. They should clean house in this election, said Coughlin, longtime adviser to former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. Theres a drag on the midterms for Republican candidates thats being created by the national narrative. And it would be very hard to buck that trend if youre in swing districts, much less close districts, if you cant change that narrative between now and November. Lesko replaces former Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican who resigned in December amid sexual misconduct allegations. At a victory party in her Glendale neighborhood, Lesko greeted supporters and looked back in wonder. Ive really come a long way and this is really quite overwhelming, its very surreal, she said. Twenty-five years ago I left an abusive husband and I sure as heck never would have dreamt in a million years that I would be running for Congress to be a congresswoman. I mean, thats right, now Im actually running for Congress, I won! The district sprawls across western Phoenix suburbs, covering some of the most conservative areas of the red state, including the retirement community of Sun City. Tipirneni worked the district hard, making inroads rarely seen in an area that hadnt elected a Democrat since the early 1980s. She was seen as a fresh Democratic face with relatively moderate views that could get support in the district. Making a push for older voters, she had said Lesko would vote to go after entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts that mainly benefit the wealthy. Shes pushed a plan to allow some people to buy into Medicare. Story continues Tipirneni said she still plans to run again in November. She said she wasnt shocked to see her close to Lesko, despite the big GOP advantage in the district, saying people were ready for a change. We werent surprised, were not surprised, Tipirneni said. And were still waiting to see the rest of the votes. Were not conceding. Were still waiting for votes to be counted so this isnt over. The Associated Press called the race for Lesko after state officials released tallies of more than 155,000 mail-in ballots, which represent about 75 percent of the votes expected. National Republican groups spent big to back Lesko, pouring in more than $500,000 in the suburban Phoenix district for television and mail ads and phone calls to voters. National Democratic groups didnt commit money to the race, a sign they didnt believe the seat was in play. In the Feb. 27 primary, two out of every three ballots were cast for a Republican. The seat became open when Franks stepped down after acknowledging that he had discussed surrogacy with two female staffers. A former aide told The Associated Press that he pressed her to carry his child as a surrogate and offered her $5 million. Lesko slammed Tipirneni as being out of touch with voters who oppose government-run health care. She called the Democrat too liberal for the area, and pointed to Tipirnenis opposition to a wall on the Mexican border. Several Republican voters who spoke with AP said they backed Lesko primarily because she supported Trumps border security plans. David Hunt, a 64-year-old retired construction and warehouse worker from Glendale, said he cast his vote Tuesday for Lesko because he believed that immigrants in the country illegally are creating unfair competition for jobs for recent high school students in Arizona. Shes the best candidate to deal with the porous border, Hunt said. His views were echoed by Larry Bettis, a retiree from Glendale. Immigration the fence, Bettis said. Thats all I really care about. Democrats said they wanted to send a message to Trump and supported Democratic health care plans. I dont like the president and felt it was time to take a stand, said Nikole Allen, a 45-year-old medical assistant from New York now living in Glendale. Its time for us to vote the Republicans out. Seeley International, a leading air-conditioning manufacturer in Australia, said it has completed the worlds largest order for evaporative air-conditioners, resulting in around 50,000 Breezair air-conditioners being installed in the tent city of Mina Valley, Saudi Arabia. Seeley is a market leader in the design and manufacture of ducted and portable heating and cooling products for the domestic, commercial and industrial markets in Australia. Renowned for its innovation, Seeley boasts major brands including Breezair, Braemar, Climate Wizard, Convair, Coolair, Braemar, Aira ICI and Coolerado. The enormous bulk order of Breezair evaporative air-conditioners by the Saudi government and Ministry of Hajj provides state-of-the-art cooling for Makkah Pilgrims during their stay in the Mina Valley tent city, stated the Group Managing Director Jon Seeley. The tent city is a fascinating logistics exercise involving more than 100,000 tents and houses, approximately three million people in over 20 sq km, he explained. Seely said the company won the Saudi order after the Breezair evaporative air conditioner was found to outperform more than 200 other air conditioning brands and delivered spectacular results against a comprehensive set of criteria that included energy-efficiency, reliability, performance and low environmental impact. "The three-year tender evaluation process saw Breezair and other contenders tested on site over several months, in all conditions and seasons, including comparative tests done during a pilgrimage to assess performance under realworld conditions," explained the top official. According to Seely, the in-built safety mechanisms, economical use of water, ease of control and compact design were critical in Breezair being successfully selected. The harsh summertime temperatures in the Mina Valley, which can easily reach more than 45C, were overcome by the capability of Breezair evaporative air conditioners, which kept people comfortable and provided them with fresh naturally cooled air, he added. Xavier Delaigue, the sales director for EMEA region, said being awarded the significant supply contract reflected the strength, innovation and durability of Breezair evaporative air conditioning, and provided an opportunity for the Australian company to showcase its ability to deliver on the large scale order within a very short timeframe. As part of a commitment by the Saudi government to improve accommodation for pilgrims in the Mina Valley, a four year air conditioner replacement plan was started in 2015. Seeley International fast-tracked production and installation so the project is now well ahead of schedule and expected to be completed this year, he added. Alsaeed HVAC, the company's distributor for Saudi Arabia, provided a turnkey solution on time and within required specifications. Alsaeed Trading Group CEO Salman Alsaeed said: "We have enjoyed a long and highly successful partnership between our two companies, and the success of this project is because of the excellence of Seeley International in delivering the most reliable coolers on the market with the highest levels of energy efficiency." Breezair air-conditioners feature unique Mini-cell Chillcel pad technology developed by Seeley, the only manufacturer able to offer evaporative cooling pads that are fully manufactured in Australia and specifically designed to maximise cooling in harsh climates.-TradeArabia News Service By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - Republicans were heading for victory in an Arizona election for a U.S. House of Representatives seat, early results suggested on Tuesday, after a tight race that may still bolster Democratic momentum heading into Novembers midterm vote. Republican Debbie Lesko was leading Democratic Hiral Tipirneni, a former emergency room doctor, by about 9,100 votes with about 10,500 votes still to be counted at 11 p.m. local time, according to the Maricopa County Recorders Office. "I want to promise you that I am going to continue to work hard for the people of my district and continue to represent you with the values that have continued to make our nation great," Lesko told her supporters in a speech. Tipirneni said on Twitter that she was still waiting for the results in the vote to replace U.S. Representative Trent Franks, a Republican, in Arizona's 8th District seat. Whatever happens tonight or tomorrow, we're not giving up. Regardless of the outcome, we're taking this to November," she said. Lesko's 5-point margin over Tipirneni, if maintained, would be much closer than the 21 points President Donald Trump won the district by in 2016 and may give Democrats more momentum heading into Novembers midterm elections. Democrats launched a last-minute blitz to try to pull off a win, hoping to replicate strong performances by the party in Pennsylvania and Alabama, partly fueled by opposition to Trump. The party must pick up 23 seats nationally to reclaim control of the House of Representatives and two seats to regain a majority in the Senate. Franks resigned on Dec. 8 from the Phoenix district where he has served since 2003 amid allegations that he made improper advances to female staff and that he offered a female staff member $5 million to act as a surrogate to bear a child for him and his wife. He denied any wrongdoing. Trump called for a strong Republican turnout for Lesko in a Tuesday tweet. Lesko has said she supports Trumps proposal for a border wall between the United States and Mexico, tightened border security and tax cuts. She is also against abortion and is a staunch gun-rights advocate. Tipirneni largely focussed her campaign on the need to improve healthcare for all consumers, including pushing to expand Medicare by allowing anyone to buy into the system. She opposes building of a wall. (Reporting by David Schwartz; Editing by Bill Tarrant, Cynthia Osterman and Andrew Heavens) By Alistair Smout and Douglas Busvine LONDON (Reuters) - A researcher at the center of a scandal over the alleged misuse of the data of nearly 100 million Facebook users said on Tuesday the work he did was useless for the sort of targeted adverts that would be needed to sway an election. Aleksandr Kogan, who worked for the University of Cambridge, is at the center of a controversy over Cambridge Analytica's use of millions of users' data without their permission after it was hired by Donald Trump for his 2016 election campaign. Kogan said it was unlikely Cambridge Analytica had used the data in the Trump campaign, although he also said that its suspended CEO Alexander Nix had lied to a committee of British lawmakers about how the two worked together. Kogan said that even if the dataset he compiled was used in a political campaign, it would be little use for targeted advertising. "Quite frankly, if the goal is micro-targeting using Facebook ads, (the project) makes no sense. It's not what you would do," he told a parliamentary committee, adding that Facebook itself had better tools for such adverts and that the work was worth "literally nothing". "If the use case you have is Facebook ads, it's just incompetent to do it this way." Facebook has said that the personal information of about 87 million users may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, after Kogan created a personality quiz app to collect the data. Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have blamed Kogan for alleged data misuse, but he has said that he was being made a scapegoat by the companies for the scandal. Kogan said that former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix, who was also a director of the consultancy's parent firm SCL Group, had previously lied to lawmakers when he said he had not received data from Kogan. "We certainly gave them data, that's indisputable," Kogan told lawmakers. Asked if Nix had lied, Kogan answered: "Absolutely." A spokesman for Cambridge Analytica declined to comment on Nix's testimony, noting that he was suspended pending an investigation. Story continues Kogan said Facebook provided him data in an email, and he had not needed to sign an agreement to use it. However, he said that he did not sell the data provided to him by Facebook. Instead, Kogan said he collected new data through an app for work with SCL, Cambridge Analytica's parent company. He hired a market research firm called Qualtrics to recruit 200,000 to 300,000 people to take the quiz to collect the data, resulting in expenses of $600,000-$800,000. Kogan's company was paid 230,000 pounds ($320,643.00) by SCL for its predictive analysis based on the findings, Kogan said. In written evidence to parliament, Kogan said that all of his academic work was reviewed and approved by the University's ethics committees. However, a letter from 2015, published by the Guardian, shows that the ethics committee rejected one of Kogan's projects in 2015 and said that Facebook's privacy project was "not sufficient protection" to address concerns. Kogan said that the data he collected had now all been deleted, to the best of his knowledge, but he would double check that none remained. Cambridge Analytica also said that it had deleted the data when asked to by Facebook. "We're extremely sorry that we ended up in possession of data that clearly had breached Facebook's terms of service," spokesman Clarence Mitchell told reporters. "That's something that we wouldn't have wanted to happen. But we have put in place the procedures to begin to rectify it." Mitchell also said that the data was not used in the Trump campaign after it had been demonstrated to be ineffective. "Any suggestion that the GSR Kogan data was used in that campaign is utterly incorrect. Its effective uselessness had already been identified by then," he said. Kogan said that he never drew a salary from GSR, the company that he founded to do the research that was wound up last year. Most of the money received from SCL was spent on coding work, acquiring data and legal fees. He was allowed to keep the data he gathered on the project. Kogan said that GSR had a close relationship with Facebook, and one of his partners at the firm, Joseph Chancellor, now worked for the social media giant. "This has been a very painful experience, because when I entered into all of this, Facebook was a close ally," Kogan said. "I was thinking this would be helpful to my academic career and my relationship with Facebook. It has very clearly done the complete opposite" ($1 = 0.7173 pounds) (Reporting by Alistair Smout and Douglas Busvine; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Matthew Mpoke Bigg) The police officer killed in a shooting at a Home Depot in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday was identified as Rogelio Santander, reports local affiliate KDFW. Mayor Mike Rawlings said during a city council meeting that Santander died around 8 a.m. Wednesday, reported the New York Daily News. The shooting took place at around 5 p.m. local time. Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall said officers were called to the store for assistance for an arrest when they were shot. Two other people were also shot: another police officer, who remained in critical condition, and a civilian identified as a loss prevention officer at the store, whose condition remained unknown. Dallas Police identified Armando Juarez, 29, as a person of interest in the shooting during a press conference Tuesday evening. Juarez, whom police considered armed and dangerous, reportedly fled the scene in a white pickup truck. After a manhunt, authorities arrested Juarez. Trending: Director William Friedkin Revisits The Exorcist, Cuts Through The BS I do not have all the details of how he was able to get a gun and shoot all three of the officers at the Home Depot location, Hall said. Were still investigating and reviewing video. Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to call 911. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Bucharest (AFP) - Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila is due to start a two-day visit to Israel Wednesday, as a political row brews at home over the possible transfer of Romania's embassy to Jerusalem. Dancila, from the leftwing Social Democrats (PSD), will have lunch with her Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu before visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, according to Israeli officials. On Thursday she is due to visit the Western Wall and meet President Reuven Rivlin. The visit comes days after PSD party chief Liviu Dragnea kicked off a political row in Romania by announcing the government's "decision" to move the country's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The move would follow in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump, who took the controversial decision in December of recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital. According to Romanian media, Netanyahu has invited Dragnea to visit Israel "towards the end of the month" and welcomed his stance on the embassy question. However, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is from the centre-right and has frequently clashed with the government, protested that he had not been informed and emphasised that any such move could only happen after Israel and the Palestinians had agreed the status of Jerusalem amongst themselves. Caught in the middle of the argument between the two men, Dancila has sought to reassure that her government was trying simply to create a "platform for discussions" on the possible transfer of the embassy. Dragnea was not able to take up the post of prime minister after the party won polls in 2016 due to a conviction for electoral fraud. But he is still seen as having a key role in government affairs. Dragnea "is looking for recognition on an international level and to present himself as a privileged interlocutor with Israel and the US within Romania," political analyst Radu Magdin told AFP. Dragnea also hopes that "the US will be less critical of the government's reforms" of the judiciary, according to Magdin. Story continues The EU has criticised the government's plans and opponents say they will weaken judicial independence. Romania was the only country in the former communist bloc to maintain relations with Israel after the Six Day War in 1967. Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu also maintained close ties to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation under Yasser Arafat. Ronan Farrow has been busy, even by his standards. About a week after winning the Pulitzer Prize for articles in The New Yorker that exposed the alleged sins of Harvey Weinstein (which Weinstein has denied) and helped inspire the ascension of the #MeToo movement, the 30-year-old Farrow is publishing a major book on a different topic entirely. War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence draws on Farrows tenure at the State Department, where he worked after graduating from Bard College at age 15 and going on to a law degree at Yale, on the staff of the late Richard Holbrooke and in other positions, before launching his career as a journalist. He spoke with TIME on April 23. War on Peace. Can you explain the title? The United States is undergoing a transformation in how it relates to the rest of the world. We are becoming a nation that has no more negotiators and peacemakers, that shoots first and asks questions later. You talked to every living former Secretary of State, who all agree with your observation that the military has overtaken functions of the State Department. But active senior military officers often say that they dont want to be doing everything and wish they were turned to less. Have you been told that? Yes. You look at [Defense Secretary James] Mattis track record of statements [If you dont fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition ultimately], and you see a more robust defense of the importance of diplomacy than weve gotten from the more recent Secretary of State. Across the board, youve got generals who understand the importance of diplomacy. What you see in crisis after crisis is when the balance out of whack, you end up routing everything through the military in a way that has pretty disastrous consequences. Youve seen that in Afghanistan and Somalia, for instance. I was once told by an Army major with a Ph.D. that the destination of choice for the best and the brightest was the CIA in the 1950s and the State Department in the 1960s, but in recent decades its been the U.S. military. How much of this is about an organization being a magnet for talent? Story continues Thats a really interesting historical view. I havent seen the research on hiring at the various agencies over time, but certainly since the end of the Cold War the State Department has been less and less of a talent magnet, and thats had dramatic repercussions on our ability to confront a whole range of challenges. Nathan Thrall wrote a book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict called The Only Language They Understand, making what may be the opposite argument of your book. He observed that diplomacy around that issue was largely hollow, while real movement had invariably resulted from force. I dont think that anyone in the pages of War on Peace is arguing that diplomacy is the replacement for military power. But, correctly, the job of the military is to think tactically. The much longer-term strategy say, the question of how does a development agenda fare 10 or 20 years down the line those are perspectives that come to the fore when you have an empowered core of experts an diplomats. And thats what youre giving up now. Youre not hearing people like Madeleine Albright argue that the budget of the State Department should be as large as the Defense Department. The Pentagon is going to be larger, by its nature. Its going to have more people. State can operate on much less, but it needs to be looked to. The balance is way out of whack. Muammar Gaddafis Libya was quietly persuaded to give up its nuclear program. South Africa did too. Have some diplomatic successes failed to be noted simply because a crisis averted doesnt make news? Sure. Nuclear disarmament is a great illustration. But the U.S. State Department under this Administration cut its top disarmament official [Thomas Countryman, whose January 2017 dismissal shapes the books prologue]. There may be a summit between Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump. Is Trumps kind of madman approach on North Korea working? Obviously, time will tell. What the experts say about the prospect of a direct meeting between leaders is: Could there be a place for that in a strategic diplomatic approach? Sure. Are we seeing that in the current approach? North Korea has often had a two-faced approach. It has often made these kinds of promises and not delivered. The danger is you could end up giving North Korea an extra measure of legitimacy as a nuclear power. The book alludes to you receiving a job offer from the CIA. Were you not tempted? [Laughing] Ill leave my complete thoughts about the CIA to the exact wording in that paragraph. Your mentor, Richard Holbrooke, famously wrote an article titled The Machine That Fails in the 1970s, about the State Department. How much of the departments pain is self-inflicted? The State Department is a profoundly flawed, perhaps even broken system right now. No one is arguing that we dont need to reform the State Department and USAID. I do think whats happening right now is not reform. Its the wholesale immolation of our diplomatic apparatus. And if you look at during World War II, when there was similar crisis of The State Department isnt working, its a bureaucracy in crisis, what we were able to do at that time was re-invent the agency, adapt it to the modern era, and it was crucial in creating much of the architecture of the world that the U.S. did so much to create after the war. Is there an opportunity like that now? I absolutely think theres an opportunity now. This is a moment of crisis, but that makes it all the more urgent that we turn to solutions. American forces in Syria are increasingly facing attacks from Russian and Syrian electronic warfare weapons, as Moscow uses the conflict to test its future arsenal. General Raymond Thomas, head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, said that Syria has become the most aggressive electronic warfare environment on the planet, Breakingdefense.com reported. Speaking at a geospatial intelligence conference in Florida, Gen. Thomas said that Russian and Syrian regime forces are testing us everyday, knocking our communications down, disabling our [EC-130 aircraft]. Trending: What Happens Offred in 'The Handmaid's Tale' Season 2 Premiere? The Lockheed Martin EC-130 Compass Call is one of Americas most advanced electronic warfare weapons. Based on the C-130 Hercules, the plane was developed to disrupt enemy communications, radar and command operations. The crafts presence in Syrian skies gives Russia the chance to test its weapons against the best the U.S. has to offer, whether directly or through its Syrian allies. EC-130 Jonathan Hehnly/U.S. Air Force Earlier this month, four anonymous officials told NBC News that Russia has also been regularly targeting smaller U.S. surveillance drones. One of those quoted said Russian operations were having a significant impact on U.S. capabilities. The sophisticated attacks were even successful against encrypted signals and anti-jamming devices, the official said. Don't miss: Fortnite Meteorite Theories Swirl As TV Alerts Begin in Tilted Towers In Syria, the Russian military is bringing to bear the lessons learned from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which provided invaluable electronic warfare experience. Throughout the fighting in the east of the country, jammers have been used to disrupt Ukrainian communications and disable surveillance drones. Even Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe drones monitoring the area were affected, grounded by a combination of Russian conventional and electronic weapons. Story continues Ukraine drone PETRO ZADOROZHNYY/AFP/Getty Images According to a 2017 report by Roger McDermott of the Estonia-based International Centre for Defence and Security, Moscow invested heavily in electronic warfare in response to NATOs dominance in conventional weaponry. The operations in Ukraine and Syria have allowed the Russian military to use electronic weapons in combat scenarios, and electronic warfare systems and units have now been introduced at every level of the Russian military. Most popular: Plane Passenger Dies While Traveling From Seattle to Kansas City Initially such weapons were used to protect Russian troops and bases. McDermott said their use had almost certainly reduced personnel and material losses. In January, Moscow displayed several drones it said were launched by militants and shot down near its Khmeimim air base in Syria, through a combination of electronic jamming and intercepting missiles. Electronic attacks are politically more acceptable than conventional ones; knocking out a spy planes jamming systems does not carry the same risk as shooting it down with a missile. Moscowalongside the other powers fighting in Syriahas been expanding its electronic footprint, gathering information on its own abilities and the responses of its adversaries. With the battlefields of Syria busier than ever, the war offers valuable testing ground for the weapons of tomorrow. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Russia and China have pledged to strengthen their bilateral military and political ties as part of a strategic cooperation that challenges U.S. interests, especially to Washington's stance on Middle East allies Syria and Iran. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met Tuesday with Air Force General Xu Qiliang, deputy vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, and other regional military officials as part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the eastern city of Qingdao. As increasingly powerful Russia and China build up their clout on the world stage, they sought a more united front against the U.S., which frequently challenged their rise. "Time changes everything," Shoigu said, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. "But, fortunately, it does not change our relations both personally between us and between our states, and the very close, friendly relations of the heads of our states serve as a guarantee of this." Trending: Stormy Daniels Lawyer Michael Avenatti Claims Sean Hannity Agreed To On-Air Showdown As They Partied Together Shoigu praised "the privileged character of intergovernmental ties" evidenced by numerous meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, both of whom secured enough national support to extend their terms last month. He said the two nations were continuing "their strategic course toward further boosting friendly and trustworthy ties in the defense sphere," calling this relationship "an important factor for maintaining global and regional security." "In contemporary global politics, our countries are in similar positions," he told Xu. ShanghaiCooperationOrganization Russian Ministry of Defense Story continues Shoigu also praised China's position on Syria, where Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues to battle the remnants of an uprising by rebel and jihadi groups. The 2011 rebellion was supported and sponsored by the West, Turkey and the Gulf Arab states but was deeply opposed by Assad allies Russia and Iran. When the West sought to condemn the Syrian government's crackdown at the United Nations Security Council in the early years of the conflict, China joined Russia in vetoing resolutions targeting Assad. As fundamentalist organizations such as the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) began to dominate the fight, the focus switched to defeating the jihadi forces, and both the U.S. and Russia staged military interventions. ISIS has since lost at least 90 percent of its territory in both Iraq and Syria, and the rivalry between the U.S., and Russia has again risen to the forefront of the issue. Don't miss: World Malaria Day 2018: Facts, Symptoms of Disease Carried By Mosquitoes The U.S. and its allies have accused Assad of using chemical weapons in rebel-held territory, and President Donald Trump has twice ordered missile strikes against Syrian government facilities. The U.K. and France joined in the latest and most intense round earlier this month, despite warnings not only from Russia and Iran, but China as well, all of whom doubt Assad's role in alleged toxic gas attacks. China has also joined Russia, Iran and other countries in investing in the war-torn country's reconstruction. Related: U.S., Saudi Arabia and France talk military action in Syria as Russia, China and Iran warn against it "I am grateful to you for the support you have provided to us at the United Nations Security Council meeting dedicated to the missile attack on Syria. It undoubtedly was a violation of all the international and humanitarian rules," Shoigu added, describing the attack as "Western-style" in the way it occurred before an international inquiry could be conducted. "I would also like to thank our friend China for supporting us on the Syria issue and condemning the irresponsible behavior of some Western countries that, under a false pretext, attacked a sovereign state," he added. ChinaRussiaMilitaryInstruct Wang Huawei/Wang Tao/Zhou Huancheng/China Military Online Most popular: Ronny Jackson Known as Candy Man, Would Allegedly Go Through Plane Giving Drugs to Passengers, Democrat Says In his own remarks to the Russian general, "Xu said the Sino-Russian relationship has reached new heights, thanks to a strong push by leaders from both countries. Sino-Russia bilateral relations are now at an all-time high, characterized by deepening strategic mutual trust and expanding cooperation," the official Chinese Military Online reported. Xu also reportedly recognized "new security challenges and issues are emerging due to growing uncertainties around the world." As a result, "China is willing to deepen mutual support with Russia, increase comprehensive cooperation and enhance bilateral relations, especially in military relations, Xu said, according to the state-run defense website. "China and Russia also will jointly protect the security interests of both countries and maintain regional strategic balance." To illustrate this point, Xi met with Shoigu as well as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The Chinese leader said Monday that "a high level of Sino-Russian relations is a precious asset of both countries," according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and her stressed deepening this cooperation, as well as ties to all eight nations of the SCO. The group was first established in 2001 and now includes China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. When asked if the alliance was attempting to forge a direct challenge to the West, Lavrov told reporters Tuesday that they "do not contain anyone; our role is to uphold the principles of international law in the political, military-political and economic areas," according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. Lavrov did emphasize that SCO countries "also maintain military cooperation" and prioritized global security, including the fight against ISIS and other designated terrorist groups. Lavrov complained that "several countries openly adopted a policy of Syrias disintegration" and accused the U.S. going beyond its stated mission of fighting ISIS by maintaining a military presence and "creating local governments" in an attempt to challenge Assad. After meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi the previous day, Lavrov said Russia and China would also work together to prevent the U.S. from disrupting the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was a multinational nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran. Trump has said the deal was too lenient on Iran, which received sanctions relief in exchange for promising to cut nuclear production, but the deal's other signatoriesChina, Russia, France, Germany and the U.K.have fought to keep it alive. GettyImages-950225874 MADOKA IKEGAMI/AFP/Getty Images The U.S. military has maintained a sizeable lead over its top two competitors, Russia and China, respectively. The two Eastern powers, however, have moved to expand and modernize their own military forces in an effort to close the gap. Despite Trump and Putin's efforts to reconcile their nations, both leaders have noted an all-time low in relations. When asked by the state-run Tass Russian News Agency, Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said Washington still valued a relationship with Moscow but saw it mainly as a competitor. "Russia continues to be a strategic competitor. And its efforts undermine the West," he said during a Defense Writers Group on Tuesday, according to Tass. "Relationships are important. We all understand their value, he added. [But] we are in a strategic competition, and I'll just leave it at that." This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Russia has pledged to send new air defense weapons to the Syrian military after the U.S. and its allies hit regime forces this month. Although Russia is a major provider of arms for the Syrian military, Moscow has stopped short of supplying Damascus with its most advanced weapons, including anti-aircraft arms. Speaking in a televised briefing on Wednesday, one of Moscows top military officials has suggested this could change. Russian specialists will continue educating Syrian military personnel and will also provide assistance in the mastery of new means of anti-aircraft defense, the deployment of which will be implemented in the near future, Sergei Rudskoy, head of the operations directorate at Russias General Staff said, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. Trending: What Happens Offred in 'The Handmaid's Tale' Season 2 Premiere? The military official said that Moscow was still analyzing the aftermath of the attack, in which the U.S., U.K. and France fired cruise missiles against Syrian facilities suspected of orchestrating an alleged chemical attack against civilians. As part of the briefing, Rudskoy showed what he claimed were parts of a downed American Tomahawk missile currently in Russias possession, state-run TV channel Zvezda reported. Related: Russia tells U.S. that risk of direct clash over Syria is real and cannot exclude war On its basis a range of changes to the countrys anti-aircraft defense system have been introduced, in order to increase its reliability, Rudskoy said, adding that Syrian forces shot down the missile with 40-year-old Soviet anti-aircraft systems. Don't miss: Fortnite Meteorite Theories Swirl As TV Alerts Begin in Tilted Towers Rudskoys remarks are the latest and most direct hint that Russia could supply the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with newer and more advanced anti-air systems. Before and after the U.S.-led hit against Syrian facilities, Russian officials issued repeated but unclear warnings that Moscow will respond in support of Assads forces. The most significant upgrade that Russia could provide to enhance Syrias ability to shoot down jets and cruise missiles would be its S-300 and S-400 systems. Russias bases in the country have elements of each system, but so far Moscow has not attempted to stop U.S. airstrikes on its ally. Story continues 04_25_Russian_s400 RIA Novosti/Reuters Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RIA last week that his country opened the door to a deployment, saying Russia now felt no moral obligation to deny Syria the S-300 system. He then added earlier this week that Moscow had not actually taken a decision to supply the regime with the weapons after all. The S-300 and S-400 systems present a definite danger to hostile aircraft and are advertised as equally competent at taking out cruise missiles, but questions remain over whether they can stop airstrikes. Recent analysis by Londons Royal United Services Institute argued that if fired from different directions and in great volume, Western cruise missiles would be likely to overwhelm both systems. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Russia's ambassador to Israel on Wednesday played down tensions between the countries over Israeli attacks in Syria, saying they were not the reason for Moscow's proposed supply of an advanced air defense system to Damascus. Since intervening in Syria's civil war on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad in 2015, Russia has generally turned a blind eye to Israeli air strikes there against suspected arms transfers and deployments by his Iranian and Hezbollah allies. But Russia was quick to blame Israel for an April 9 raid that killed seven Iranian military personnel, and which came as the United States, France and Britain faced off with Damascus and Moscow over an alleged gas attack on a Syrian rebel area. Asked whether Russia would now curtail Israel's freedom of action in Syria, Ambassador Alexander Shein sounded circumspect. "It is of course in our interest that these actions not take place, because they worsen the Syria situation," he told Israeli news site Ynet. But he added: "We of course understand the reasons for Israel deciding to carry out actions of this kind, and would of course also prefer that these reasons not exist." The Israelis say their strikes aim to prevent Irans pro-Assad garrison from entrenching in Syria and linking with Hezbollah in Lebanon to form a broad front against them. Russia has said it might provide Syria with the S-300 missile defense system, which could clip the wings of Israel's air force. Israel has warned against any such deal. "If anyone shoots at our planes, we will destroy them," Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Ynet on Tuesday. Shein said the idea of the S-300 delivery - on which Russia has yet to decide - was a result of the punitive April 14 missile strikes by U.S., British and French forces on Syria. "I emphasize that the question arose in the context of Western aggression against Syria, and has nothing to do with Israel," he said. The ambassador also played down the risk of a physical confrontation between Russia and Israel over Syria. "I can't imagine any such scenario," he said in response to Lieberman's threat. "We are mutually coordinating and updating about Syria ... So far, there have been no incidents between us, nor even hints at incidents, and I hope there will not be." (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Andrew Heavens) Pidilite Group, a leader in adhesives and construction chemicals in Asia, said one of its units, Pidilite MEA Chemicals Company, has joined forces with Stauf Klebstoffwerk, a leader in adhesive technology across Europe and North America, to launch its commercial flooring business in the GCC region. Pidilite already has a significant presence in Middle East since 2003 through its adhesive, construction chemical and Industrial products businesses. Through partnership with Stauf Klebstoffwerk, Pidilite aims to strengthen its presence in commercial flooring business in Middle East, said a top official. "Pidilite's edge comes from its deep understanding and connect with the consumers. Through this alliance, we will be introducing a wide range of technically-strong commercial flooring solutions from Europe and North America," remarked Bharat Puri, the managing director of Pidilite Industries. "The users will surely benefit from more choice, easy availability through Pidilites strong distribution and strong technical support as well as after sales service," he added. Pidilite Industries is a leading manufacturer of adhesives and sealants, construction chemicals, craftsmen products, DIY (Do-It-Yourself) products and polymer emulsions in India. According to him, the commercial flooring offering is resilient flooring which requires soft cover with self-leveling compound and adhesive. As part of partnership, Pidilite MEA Chemicals Company will produce self-levelling compound and primers at its Dubai facility in collaboration with Stauf. Further, it will also import adhesives for various applications from Germany. On the strategic tie-up, Volker Stauf, the managing director, Stauf Klebstoffwerk, said: "We believe that this partnership will be long and sustained one. Since Pidilite has an established brand image, there is an excellent value match between the Indian group and Stauf to meet the future needs of customers for quality products." "The companys core competence lies in innovation in both technology and research and development (R&D) and providing effective training to the applicants," stated Stauf. "The collaboration is for the long term, and leverages the well-known strengths and capabilities of the two companies. It aims to provide best-in-class technology and products to customers through this collaboration," he added. The companys product range also includes paint chemicals, automotive chemicals, art materials and stationery, fabric care, maintenance chemicals, industrial adhesives, industrial, textile resins and organic pigments and preparations. The companys principal brand Fevicol has become synonymous with adhesives to millions in India. The brand is ranked amongst the most trusted brands in the country. Some of the companys other major brands are M-Seal, Fevikwik, Fevistik, Roff, Dr. Fixit, Fevicryl, Motomax and Hobby Ideas. Stauf Klebstoffwerk, founded in 1828, is one of the leaders in adhesive technology in Europe and North America.-TradeArabia News Service In regulating air and water pollution in the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) leans on scientific studies to guide the writing of regulations. The agency is still relying on landmark studies, such as one conducted by Harvard University in 1993, that established the link between air pollution and premature deaths, in order to justify air pollution rules. However, in a move claimed to make the agency more "transparent," embattled EPA administrator Scott Pruitt announced on Tuesday a proposal to prevent the use of studies that don't make their underlying data publicly available. SEE ALSO: Scott Pruitt used a clean water law to give a staffer a $56,765 raise This might seem like a common-sense proposal, but it could have major ramifications on how the agency governs everything from water quality to auto tailpipe emissions. Public health studies, especially ones that follow subjects over long periods of time, typically have participants sign confidentiality agreements with the researchers, and studies are published and used by the government without requiring the data be turned over. Court decisions have backed up the governments ability to use such studies, which constitutes a potential impediment to this new proposal. Under the proposed new rule, the EPA would bar the use of such studies when formulating regulations. The ink hasn't dried, however a 30-day comment period has begun and if finalized, the the rule will likely be subject to lawsuits from environmental and scientific groups. The rule proposal fulfills a longtime goal of some conservative politicians, who believe that the EPA has gone too far in its efforts to reduce pollution. Today is a red-letter day. Its a banner day, Pruitt said in a hastily announced ceremony at EPA headquarters, with few if any reporters present. The science that we use is going to be transparent. Its going to be reproducible. Story continues Tim Huelskamp, president of the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank that has worked closely with the Trump White House on climate issues, endorsed the EPA's move. A factory emits smoke on January 18, 2018 from Newark, New Jersey. Image: Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images "For decades, the EPA has improperly claimed massive power to regulate nearly every aspect of our economy and lives. It is long overdue that the EPA should make such data and collection methods available for public review and analysis," he said in a statement. The new rule amounts to a federal agency's implementation of a bill that was proposed, but never passed, by both houses of Congress. That legislation was sponsored by Republican Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, who praised Pruitt at the announcement ceremony Tuesday. For too long, the EPA has issued rules and regulations based on data that has been withheld from the American people," Smith said. "Today, Administrator Pruitt rightfully is changing business as usual and putting a stop to hidden agendas. Scientists are unified in their opposition to the proposal, warning that it would severely limit the research the agency could draw from and unravel bedrock public health protections dating back decades. On Monday, nearly 1,000 scientists signed onto a letter to Pruitt urging him not to move forward with the proposed rule. "... Many public health studies cannot be replicated, as doing so would require intentionally and unethically exposing people and the environment to harmful contaminants or recreating one-time events (such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill)," the letter states. The letter continues: American Lung Association National President and CEO Harold P. Wimmer had a similar take. Todays proposal would prevent the best science from informing policy decisions and result in weaker health safeguards. This approach must not stand. Pruitt may face questions about this proposed rule when he testifies before two House committees on Thursday, where he is likely to be pressed on his many ethical scandals that have come to light in the past two months. Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, narrowly won approval from a Senate panel Monday, paving the way for the CIA director to become America's top diplomat. A dramatic last-minute flip by Republican Senator Rand Paul, who for weeks had expressed opposition to Pompeo over his stance on the Iraq war and surveillance issues, gave the spy chief a narrow edge. That allowed Trump to avoid an embarrassing setback as he sought to replace Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state he fired in March. If Paul had not reversed his position, Pompeo would have become the first secretary of state-nominee on record to be rejected by the committee, according to the Senate Historical Office. Paul said he changed his vote after speaking to Trump "several times," and after meeting with Pompeo. The maverick Republican said he was assured that Trump believes the Iraq war was a mistake and wants to end the US presence there and in Afghanistan. "I haven't been given anything, haven't been promised anything," Paul said. "The president has assured me there is going to be a discussion" on those issues. As for Pompeo, Paul said, "He's assured me that he's learned the lesson" of Iraq and "has incorporated the idea that the Iraq war was a mistake." Pompeo's nomination will now proceed to a vote by the complete Senate, where the support of at least three Democrats guarantees its passage. - Leader of talks with North Korea - A negative vote could have unsettled delicate negotiations with North Korea. Pompeo has taken the lead in arranging a historic summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader. The summit aims to reduce tensions brought about by Pyongyang's development of a nuclear weapon and ballistic missiles powerful enough to deliver it to American soil. Pompeo secretly traveled to Pyongyang in late March to meet with Kim to lay the groundwork for the meeting, which could take place in early June. Story continues Director of the Central Intelligence Agency since the beginning of the Trump administration, Pompeo has become one of the president's closest advisors. He would replace Tillerson, the former oil executive who was pushed out in March after a rocky relationship with the White House and a management approach that left the State Department understaffed and demoralized. But Democrats have assailed Pompeo for a record of bellicose statements they say are at odds with his prospective job as the top US diplomat, and also have cited anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ statements he has made in the past. Others, like Senator Maggie Hassan, said they worried Pompeo was too close politically to the president to stand up to him if need be. Hassan said she was "concerned that Mr Pompeo would be unable to rise above a partisan perspective when making foreign policy decisions." Just a day after his wife of 73 years was laid to rest, former President George H.W. Bush was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital with an infection, according to family spokesman Jim McGrath. McGrath said the 93-year-old was hospitalized Sunday with an infection that had spread to his bloodstream. McGrath said Monday evening that the 41st presidents health was improving. GettyImages-949684558 Brett Coomer - Pool/Getty Images Trending: Organ Donation: 7-year-old Boy Becomes First Child to Undergo Five-organ Transplant President Bush was admitted to the Houston Methodist Hospital yesterday morning after contracting an infection that spread to his blood. He is responding to treatments and appears to be recovering. We will issue additional updates as events warrant, McGrath said in a statement. McGrath emphasized that the former president was eager to visit the familys summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. "Hes the most goal-oriented person on the planet and I would not bet against him, he told The Houston Chronicle. A spokesperson for Houston Methodist Hospital declined to provide an update Tuesday on Bush's current condition. Don't miss: How Exercise Can Change the Human Brain and Prevent Disease | Opinion Sepsiswhich is most common and dangerous in older adults and those with weakened immune systemsoccurs when chemicals released into the blood to fight off an infection trigger inflammatory responses throughout the body, according to the Mayo Clinic. The most likely causes of sepsis are pneumonia, abdominal infections, kidney infections and bloodstream infections (bacteremia). Dr. Coburn Allen, an infectious disease specialist with the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Houston Chronicle that mild blood infections do not always develop into sepsis. Story continues It sounds like [Bush] was septic at first because they said he was stabilizedand generally if they say youre stabilized it means you werent at one point, Allen said. Although little is known about the presidents condition, an infection to the blood can be dangerous and even life-threatening, Dr. Nathan Shapiro from Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center in Boston told Newsweek. Most popular: Debbie Lesko Holds Arizona House Seat for GOP in Closely Fought Special Election Shapiro noted it was unclear "how sick [Bush] is." However, he pointed to Bush being taken to the ICU as a sign that he was most likely suffering from sepsis. "Cases that are severe enough to require treatment in an intensive care unit" tend to be sepsis, Shapiro told Newsweek. Treatment for sepsis begins immediately at the hospital, Dr. Laila Woc-Colburn, a Baylor College of Medicine associate professor of infectious diseases, told KHOU-TV. If you have low blood pressure, we start them with IV fluids, and then we give them what we call broad-spectrum antibiotics. Meaning that it covers all bases, it covers the staph, the strep and e. Coli, Woc-Colburn said. McGrath declined to elaborate on Bushs condition and told Newsweek that the familys previous statement still stands. The elder Bush has previously been hospitalized for respiratory issues. According to the Associated Press, he uses a wheelchair and an electric scooter for mobility after he developed a form of Parkinson's disease. Bush's wife, Barbara Bush, died on April 17 at their Houston home. Her funeral, which was held on Saturday, was attended by former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, along with their wives and current First Lady Melania Trump. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek coal miners american flag Justin Sullivan/Getty Images There are some signs that President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel, aluminum, and other imports are slowing hiring in manufacturing-heavy states, according to Deutsche Bank. Warnings that Trump's trade policies could produce this kind of result have been pouring in from economists. Its still early days, but there are some signs that the Trump administrations approach to trade is hurting jobs in the most affected states. Since announcing tariffs on steel and aluminum in March, the US has rolled out import taxes on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, and threatened an additional $100 billion in tariffs. In response, China announced plans to impose tariffs on more than 100 American products worth $50 billion annually, including important exports like soybeans and autos. The chart below shows employment growth in states that have a higher-than-average volume of trade in steel, aluminum, airplanes, cars, and soybeans all products that are impacted by tariffs. In recent months, they've accounted for a smaller share of total job growth, according to Torsten Slk, Deutsche Bank's chief international economist. "The bottom line is that continued corporate uncertainty about input costs and output demand is likely to weigh on job growth going forward," Slk said. Warnings that Trump's trade policies could have this kind of outcome have been pouring in from economists. The World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund are among the major institutions that have warned a trade war between China and the US would hurt the global economy. Also, the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book of feedback from businesses across America released last week mentioned the word "tariff" 36 times. There were no mentions in the March document. This is what a Fed contact in Boston said: Story continues "In general, respondents were optimistic in their outlook. However, two contacts brought up the proposed China tariffs and said they represent a major risk. One was a toy manufacturer who sources 75 percent of their production from China. The second said that punitive tariffs on Chinese aluminum had already had a big effect: "Thin gauge foil" is produced only in China and tariffs raised the price three-fold; the contact argued that "these tariffs are now killing high-paying American manufacturing jobs and businesses." 1 Deutsche Bank NOW WATCH: Wall Street's biggest bull explains why trade war fears are way overblown See Also: SEE ALSO: One of Trump's biggest accomplishments could make the next recession worse DON'T MISS: Trump's trade fight is getting blasted by some of the most powerful economic groups in the world By Ian Simpson (Reuters) - A federal grand jury has indicted 14 former South Carolina corrections employees on charges of taking bribes to smuggle drugs, cellphones and even a hamburger into prisons, authorities said on Wednesday. The charges were unsealed little more than a week after seven inmates were killed in a riot sparked by a fight among prison gangs over turf and contraband at South Carolina's Lee Correctional Institution. The indictments of former guards, a nurse, a groundskeeper and service workers were filed on April 18. They are accused of taking bribes, wire fraud and smuggling cellphones and cocaine, methamphetamines and marijuana into prisons from April 2015 to December 2017, court filings showed. "These investigations have been going on a while and they continue," U.S. Attorney Beth Drake said at a news conference in Columbia, the state capital. Drake said the contraband had been intercepted before it reached inmates, and officials had seized food - including a hamburger - and liquor along with other banned items. The former employees worked at eight prisons across the state, including Lee Correctional Institution, Drake said. The documents did not list attorneys for them. The melee that erupted on April 15 at the Lee prison was the deadliest U.S. prison riot since 1993, when nine inmates and a corrections officer died at an Ohio institution. Prison experts said the South Carolina riot exposed the vulnerability of understaffed prisons in the state and across the country. Forty-four officers were guarding 1,583 prisoners at the South Carolina prison when the riot broke out. Bryan Stirling, head of the state Department of Corrections, told the State newspaper in January that about a quarter of all guard jobs were unfilled. In a bid to stanch the flow of contraband, Governor Henry McMaster issued an executive order on Monday aimed at speeding up the hiring of prison guards by raising pay and other reforms. The order would also boost security measures, such as putting up netting to keep contraband from being thrown over fences. McMaster has also asked federal officials to allow him to block cell signals on prison property. South Carolina officials have said for months that inmates used smuggled cellphones to engage in crimes committed outside prisons. (Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney) Sayyed Dakhil (Iraq) (AFP) - Abu Ali carefully crank-starts a generator to pump water from a well out into his parched field in southern Iraq. There used to be no need for a well in his village, but a creeping drought is now threatening agriculture and livelihoods in the area. "Last year, the river started to dry up and today we only have wells to supply us with water," the 73-year-old farmer told AFP. Since childhood, Abu Ali and his family have lived off this land in the village of Sayyed Dakhil, to the east of Nasariyah city some 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of Baghdad. It cost him $1,600 (1,290 euros) to dig the well, a lifeline that provides access to the water table deep below. "The water that we draw serves as drinking water for our cows and our sheep, and despite the bitter taste, we also use it to cook and even drink ourselves," said Abu Ali, dressed in a traditional beige robe. But his family's main supply of drinking water comes from six small reservoirs that are refilled at least once a week for around 20,000 dinars ($17 or 13.50 euros). Abu Ali is determined to stay put, but the drought has already forced dozens of families to flee more than 20 villages in the area. Weather patterns are largely to blame for the crisis, according to an engineer with Iraq's ministry of water resources. "For the second consecutive season, the rains have been poor and temperatures have risen," Mehdi Rashid told AFP. - Marshes under threat - But while rain accounts for 30 percent of Iraq's water resources, the remaining 70 percent is drawn from rivers and marshes shared with Iran, Turkey and Syria, he said. The diversion of these shared waterways has played a part in Iraq's drought. "Iran has completely re-routed the course of the Karun river," he said, once a cross-border river and a key water source for Iraqis. Rashid said Iran had also "built three big dams on the Karaj river", significantly reducing water levels in cross-border wetlands shared by the two countries. Story continues Of the 45 tributaries once shared by Iran and Iraq, only three or four remain viable, said added. The famous marshes of Mesopotamia, among the largest in the region, are victims of the "worst drought in their history," according to Jomaa al-Daraji. He works with an organisation trying to protect the UNESCO world heritage site, which stretches from Basra into Dhi Qar province. Meanwhile, Iraq and Turkey are locked in talks over the latter's controversial Ilisu dam project on the Tigris, which began in 2006. The Iraqi stretch of the Tigris is downstream from Turkey, leaving it vulnerable to reduced flows. Along with the mighty Euphrates, the enduring presence of the Tigris river helped give Iraq its nickname: "the land of two rivers". With water increasingly scarce, Iraq's three major dams and 20 smaller ones are running low. According to Rashid, the government engineer, the country's reservoirs currently hold about 12 percent of their total collective capacity. The southern agricultural provinces of Diwaniyah, Muthanna and Missan, home to nearly a quarter of Iraq's population, are also suffering from the drought. Some 80 percent of the province's agriculture depends on generators and pumps to draw water, according to Ismail Abdel Wahed, head of water resources with Diwaniyah's provincial council. And with warming temperatures, less rain and progressively dryer riverbeds, "the struggle is increasing each year", added his colleague Safa al-Janabi. By Margaryta Chornokondratenko KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian military pilot Mykola Volkozub could barely move under the weight of a lead vest meant to protect him from radiation as he prepared for his first flight over the Chernobyl reactor after the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986. Remembering the incident still brings tears to the eyes of Volkozub, who survived the risk of radiation poisoning to live to a ripe age of 86 and still supervises test pilots for Antonov, a state-run aircraft manufacturer. Volkozub was deployed in a team of two pilots, an engineer and a scientist, to fly an MI-8 helicopter over the reactor to measure the temperature and composition of gases inside. Thursday marks the 32th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster in then-Soviet Ukraine, caused by a botched safety test in the fourth reactor of the atomic plant that sent clouds of nuclear material across much of Europe. The accident killed dozens right away and forced tens of thousands to flee. The final death toll of those killed by radiation-related illnesses such as cancer is subject to debate. Speaking ahead of the anniversary, Volkozub called it "a planet-sized tragedy" and recalls agreeing to fly the mission despite knowing his life would be at risk. "For some reason, I thought I would feel bad if something happened to someone else there and I am not there. That's why I took such a decision immediately," he told Reuters in the hangar at an Antonov factory, where he has worked for 23 years. Volkozub was awarded a 'Hero of Ukraine' medal for his efforts. After performing three flights which lasted for 19 minutes 40 seconds in total, Volkozub was exposed to such a high dose of radiation that some dosimeters went haywire when he tried to measure his exposure. The helicopter was also exposed to radiation and had to be buried at a so-called cemetery for decommissioned equipment, something he recalls with tears in his eyes. "I landed there, near (the site). And when I left the place, I felt very sorry for the helicopter. It seemed to me it had not failed me, but I had to throw it away," he said. Right after his third flight on May 10, 1986, Volkozub was sent to Moscow for medical tests. He remembered how nurses, afraid of contamination, pushed food toward him with the help of a long stick to avoid physical interaction with him. (Editing by Matthias Williams, Editing by William Maclean) Yahoo News photo Illustration; photos: AP, Getty WASHINGTON Should campaign statements made by a presidential candidate be considered relevant to actions taken once that person is in office? That was one of the key questions facing the Supreme Court on Wednesday, as justices heard oral arguments in the highly anticipated case concerning President Trumps travel ban, which primarily affects citizens of Muslim-majority nations. Appearing first in support of keeping the ban in place, Solicitor General Noel Francisco argued for treating campaigning and governing as unrelated. Francisco, who maintained that the version of the travel ban currently in place the third iteration was issued in response to a worldwide, multi-agency security review, argued that a candidates comments made during a presidential campaign should be considered simply as statements made by a private citizen, and that taking the oath of office marks a fundamental transformation. To test Franciscos view, Justice Elena Kagan offered a hypothetical situation in which a vehement anti-Semite is elected president sometime in the future following a campaign in which he provokes hatred. Once in office, this hypothetical president asks his staff to issue recommendations so that he can issue a proclamation of this kind, Kagan posits. They do, and what emerges is a proclamation banning people from Israel. In such a scenario, Kagan asked, would the presidents proclamation be subject to review by the court? Francisco replied that if this hypothetical presidents staff came to him and said there was a serious national security threat that warranted such a ban, it would be valid regardless of any anti-Semitism in that presidents heart of hearts. Neal Katyal, an attorney who argued against the Trump administration in Trump v. Hawaii, arrives outside the Supreme Court, April 25, 2018. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) Justice Sonia Sotomayor interjected, arguing that the hypothetical presidents anti-Semitic background does raise questions about the validity of the process that led his staff to come up with that policy, considering that those conducting the review work for the president and have been given orders with a known desired outcome. Story continues In this situation, Sotomayor suggested, there may be the need for an independent arbiter to see if the proclamation process is what it says it is. Francisco dismissed this hypothetical scenario, noting that in the U.S. today, We dont have something like this where the president says I want to block Jews. But the presidents challengers would disagree. During his time before the bench, Neal Katyal, the attorney representing the state of Hawaii and other challengers to the ban, argued that not only did Trump explicitly call for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States as a candidate, but once in office, he and his staff have rekindled those views. Katyal pointed to the presidents own active Twitter feed as evidence of this, noting that Trump retweeted three virulently anti-Muslim videos. Before the review process that led to the current ban, which was promulgated last September, the president tweeted that he wants a tougher, less politically correct ban, Katyal noted. The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017 The president could have moved away from his anti-Muslim campaign statements, said Katyal, but instead he has embraced them. Given a final opportunity to address the court before the end of Wednesdays hearing, Francisco suggested that President Trump has, in fact, disavowed his previous comments. On September 25, the president made crystal clear that he never intended to impose a Muslim ban, Francisco said. He paraphrased Trump as saying there are many, many Muslims who love this country, and he has praised Islam as one of the great countries [sic] of the world. Responding to Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito, who observed that the text of the proclamation does not mention Islam, Katyal argued that you need to look beyond the text of the ban. The argument, in what is slated to be the last major case before the court this term, drew intense interest and attracted more than 50 friend-of-the-court briefs. One was written by Khizr Khan, the Pakistani immigrant whose son, a U.S. Army captain, was killed serving in Iraq. The elder Khan became famous for his speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, denouncing Trumps immigration policy. Gold Star parent Khizr Khan speaks to activists as the Supreme Court hears arguments in Hawaii v. Trump, April 25, 2018. (Photo: Andrew Caballlero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images) They are trying to find a legality somewhere to support their bigotry, Khan told Yahoo News after the hearing, citing remarks by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who said Trump called him shortly after his inauguration to ask for his help in legally enacting the Muslim ban hed promised during the campaign. He wanted to ban all Muslims and he wanted to find a legal way of doing it, he said. Its so evident. As reporters, attorneys and members of the public filtered out of the courtroom, several people stopped to greet Khan, who stood quietly by himself near the steps to the courtroom, a Gold Star pin in his lapel. Youre an inspiration, said one man, who identified himself as an immigration attorney and son of Pakistani immigrants, before asking to take a selfie. Kahn obliged, before walking outside and down the iconic front steps of the Supreme Court, where he addressed a group of protesters who chanted No Muslim ban ever! Thank God I havent had any personal interaction [with Trump], but in the spirit of our son, Capt. Humayun Khan, I remain concerned for the sake and for the condition of others that are under threat, that feel afraid, he said. But we are hopeful that rule of law will prevail. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: As the Supreme Court gets ready to consider the legality of the travel ban set into effect by President Trump and his administration, theres something Id like you to consider, whether youre the parent or family member of a child with a disability or illness, or whether you face health challenges of your own. My daughter, Chloe, was diagnosed with a rare and terminal disease at the age of 2in a miraculously short time due to the brilliance of her neurologist. The neurologist was Canadian. Chloes only hope of survival was a bone marrow transplant, a risky and arduous procedure. We put our youngest childs life in the hands of a capable and caring surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. She was Pakistani. Throughout the transplant there were long days of agony and fear as we awaited the outcome. Since her immune system was completely gone, neither she nor I could leave our tiny ICU room. The resident on the medical team brought me a Starbucks coffee each morning. He was the son of Egyptian immigrants. When it became clear that Chloes chances for survival were non-existent, we met with the team to decide whether to try a risky and painful second transplant or let her go. I shared with the doctors that I believed deeply in medicine but also that at the end of the day, my Christian faith informed me that it is God who decides how many days we have on Earth. I sensed my decision resonated deeply with my Pakistani doctor as well. Her surname indicated she was Muslim. Related: Using My Son's Bravery to Find Strength After Chloe passed away, my husband and I decided that we would dedicate our lives to finding a cure to the disease that took her in such a horrific way. We have formed deep and meaningful relationships with two amazing researchers in whom we have the utmost confidence. One is Czech. Our medical advisory board is made up of three men we have met on our journey who are volunteering their time and energy with no compensation other than helping grieving parents realize their dream of finding a cure for metachromatic leukodystrophy. Two of the three are immigrants. One is a green card holder. At a recent Christmas party, I bumped into a colleague of our Czech researcher. We chatted about the exciting research at the University of Minnesota and its potential to save lives. He was Syrian. Story continues In thinking through the list of medical professionals I have met throughout my experiences with rare diseases, I am struck with the truly international nature of medicine and I worry about the impact that the Trump administrations travel ban could have on scientific collaboration. President Trump continues to craft policies that restrict the flow of foreigners to the United States. In addition to severely hindering the influx of researchers and medical professionals from the seven banned countries, his sweeping approach to immigration has the potential to discourage physicians from other countries such from pursuing medical careers in the United States. The Mayo Clinic alone employs 80 medical staff, physicians, or scholars with ties to the seven restricted countries and these individuals could face logistical nightmares should they seek to travel outside the United States. Los Angeles, Dayton, Detroit, Cleveland, and Toledo have the most physicians from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen (the countries included in the administrations second travel ban). Medical conferences are held around the world, and the ability to come in and out of the United States is of critical importance to researchers ability to collaborate on vital medical discoveries. Related: What the Hardest Parts of Parenting a Rare Child Has Taught Me The image of immigrants evoked by the current administration is often one of free-loaders and criminals who come here to take our jobs or worse. Trumps protectionist policies benefit from the publics perception that immigrants are often uneducated, low-wage drains on our economy. It is proven that this isnt true. We must recognize the American medical community employs a significant number of immigrants. Often these physicians work in rural communities where there are already doctor shortages. According to the American Medical Association, one in every four physicians practicing in the United States is foreign-born, with a high percentage being from Muslim-majority countries. The consequences of a reduction in doctor supply from countries that perceive the United States no longer welcomes foreigners would be very serious. A large number of people reading this post will face a medical crisis at one point or another. I will tell you from experience, in that moment of life or death, you will not care if the first (or middle) name of your doctor is Hussein. Related: To the Parent on the Other Side of the Treatment Room Door You will not be interested in an extended theological discussion about Islam. You will want the very best physician who will care for you with knowledge and compassion. Today, amidst all of our countrys racial tensions, I invite you to challenge the administrations image of the foreigner. Today, I remind every American that a large number of Americas immigrants wear white lab coats and have stethoscopes hanging around their necks. Read more stories like this on The Mighty: What Really Goes Through My Head When Others Ask 'How Are You?' When I Realized I Need to Change How I Talk About My Medically Complex Daughter The Never-Ending Battle of Not Letting Your Illness Define You Organizations in the Middle East need to recognize the added value of female talent in the Arab world to the economy as a whole and to their business, and invest in their attraction, recruitment, development, and retention, said an industry expert. The role of men and of leadership commitment and inclusive leadership, in particular, are crucial to this process, added Rana Salhab, partner and Talent and Communications leader at Deloitte Middle East, a leading provider of audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax and related services. What are the biggest barriers to womens access to leadership positions? How will cryptocurrencies and Fintech affect the business landscape in the Middle East? These are some of the topics discussed in the Salhab was commenting on the Spring 2018 issue of Deloittes quarterly publication, the Middle East Point of View (ME POV), now in its 25th edition. The Spring 2018 issue tackles several hot topics: from diversity, agility in the public sector, to the Middle East retail sector, business continuity, and Dubais affordable housing sector. Changes are also being felt across the Public Sector in the Middle East, explained Ghassan Turqieh, partner and Human Capital leader at Deloitte Middle East in his article Agile in the public sector. Leaders need to consider modernizing their approach to managing the day-to-day business. Particularly in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, women are becoming increasingly involved, heavily encouraged and expected to participate in the workforce. These dynamics will inevitably drive public sector leaders to modernize, embrace changes and deploy appropriate talent solutions, not only to maintain a motivated workforce internally but also to address their citizens needs, he added. Digital evolution is also analyzed in this issue of Deloittes MEPOV, with Fintech and cryptocurrencies main topics of analysis. On Fintech, Rajeev Patel, director and Uthman Al-Basri, manager, Financial Advisory, Deloitte Middle East said that failure to address it early, can trounce even the most dominant of companies [] The use of blockchain technology has enabled the rapid ascent of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin into public discourse, igniting a frenzy of interest while creating fundamental challenges to regulators and money markets. On cryptocurrencies, Nipun Srivastava, director, and Saad Qureshi, assistant director, Financial Advisory, Deloitte Middle East noted that cryptocurrencies are still highly volatile and outline some of the challenges regarding the adoption of cryptocurrencies and some of the ways forward in regulating them. E-commerce has drastically changed the global retail market said Anish Mehta, director, and Sachin Bhandari, senior manager, Deloitte, UAE in their article, Going digital: the next frontier for Middle East retail. But this megatrend, which has transformed the dynamics of consumer behaviour and business models in retail, remains untapped in the Middle East and offers huge potential for industry players, they said. Martin Cooper, director, Financial Advisory, Deloitte Middle East concluded the Spring 2018 issue with his article The development of Dubais affordable housing sector, where he addresses some of the challenges facing this vital yet troubled sector. TradeArabia News Service Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, has been arrested on suspicion of being the Police in California have arrested a former police officer believed to be the "Golden State Killer", apparently solving a notorious decades-old mystery over the identity of the man behind dozens of rapes and multiple murders in California in the 1970s and 1980s. Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested at his home and he initially was charged with eight counts of murder and could face dozens more charges, authorities said. Anne Marie Schubert, Sacramento County district attorney, was joined by officials from across the state and relatives of victims on Wednesday to announce that DNA evidence developed in the past six days had led to his arrest. She added he had lived for more than three decades on a quiet suburban street in Citrus Heights. Neighbours said DeAngelo had been living in the neighbourhood for 30 years and described him as a relatively nice guy who was prone to cursing outbursts you could hear down the street. Police and television crews at DeAngelo's house in Citrus Heights, California The Golden State Killer, also known as the "East Area Rapist" and "Original Nightstalker," is suspected of carrying out at least 12 murders and 45 rapes in California between 1976 and 1986, according to the FBI. The armed and masked prowler sneaked in through windows at night and surprised sleeping victims who ranged in age from 13 to 41. When encountering a couple, he was known to tie up the man and pile dishes on his back. He threatened to kill both victims if he heard plates crash to the floor while he raped the woman. He then ransacked the house, taking souvenirs, notably coins and jewellery before fleeing on foot or bicycle. Despite an outpouring of thousands of tips over the years, DeAngelo's name had not been on the radar of law enforcement before last week, Ms Schubert said. "We knew we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we also knew that needle was there," she said. "It was right here in Sacramento." A break in the case and the arrest came together in "light speed" during the past six days, Schubert said, though authorities refused to reveal what led to DeAngelo. Story continues Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, left, talks to reporters about the arrest Joesph James DeAngelo, seen in photo, on suspicion of committing a string of violent crimes in the 1970s and 1980s Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones said detectives with "dogged determination" were able to get a sample of DNA from something DeAngelo discarded, though he wouldn't say what the item was. The genetic material was not a match, but there were enough similarities for investigators to return for more and they said they were able to get a conclusive match. After watching DeAngelo for several days, deputies took him by surprise on Tuesday. "It looked as though he might have been searching his mind to execute a particular plan he may have had," but never had time to act, Jones said. DeAngelo was arrested on suspicion of committing double-killings in Sacramento and Ventura counties and later charged with four counts of murder in Orange County, officials said. Ventura County District Attorney Gregory Totten said prosecutors would seek the death penalty. The Golden State Killer was the subject of "I'll Be Gone in the Dark," a best-selling book by Michelle McNamara. McNamara died two years ago at the age of 46 but her book helped spark renewed interest in the case. Michelle McNamara, and her husband, comedian Patton Oswal Credit: AP DeAngelo was once a policeman, who was reportedly fired from Auburn police in 1979, accused of stealing a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a Sacramento shop. The city manager was quoted in a newspaper article as saying that DeAngelo was dismissed after he failed to answer any of the citys investigations and did not request an administrative hearing. At one point back in the 1970s, DeAngelo asked his brother-in-law what he thought about the crime spree committed by the person then best known as the East Area Rapist, Oxygen.com reported. DeAngelo is believed to be originally from Bath, New York. He served in Vietnam after graduating from Folsom Senior High School in June 1964 and on his return completed an associates degree with honours in police science at Sierra College. He then graduated from California State University at Sacramento with a degree in criminal justice. At some point, he had also interned with the Roseville Police Department. Western countries are reportedly planning to bypass Russias veto at the UN security council over Syria by referring concerns about the suspected use of chemical weapons to the UN general assembly. Russia has used its veto 12 times to block UN action targeting the regime of its ally, Bashar al-Assad. In November, it used its veto to block the extension of a UN mechanism to attribute responsibility for chemical weapons attacks. Western nations blamed the Syrian government for a poison gas attack on the town of Douma earlier this month, which killed dozens of people and led the US, Britain and France to launch 105 missiles targeting chemical weapons facilities in retaliation. The Syrian regime and Russia deny involvement or the use of chemical weapons. Western officials are reportedly supporting the idea of turning to a rarely used diplomatic route in order to clear the impasse, known as uniting for peace, which would allow nine members of the security council to refer their concerns to a vote at the general assembly, bypassing Russias veto. A two-thirds majority in the general assembly would then be required to agree upon an attribution mechanism. The Russian veto need not be the end of efforts for collective action by the UN, Ian Martin, a human rights activist and former UN official, told The Guardian. The responsibility of asserting accountability for the use of chemical weapons, and for bringing an end to the horrors of the Syrian conflict, rests with the world community as a whole. A toddler needs oxygen following a suspected poison gas attack in Douma (Syrian Civil Defence/White Helmets via AP) It comes as the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, stressed that the latest territorial gains by the Syrian regime and its allies have not brought peace any closer to the country. Were seeing in last few weeks, days ... that military gains, territorial gains and military escalation does not bring a political solution, has not brought any change. On the contrary, he said. On Monday, foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialised nations united to condemn Russia for what they said was a pattern of irresponsible and destabilising behaviour. Story continues They urged Moscow to help resolve the conflict in Syria and agreed to create a working group to study the Kremlins malign behaviour. John Sullivan, the acting US secretary of state, called on Moscow to stop creating impediments to peace in Syria, and to play a role in ending the seven-year-long conflict. Russia must be a constructive partner in Syria or will be held accountable, he said. Speaking to reporters on the margins of the meeting, foreign secretary Boris Johnson said G7 ministers had agreed on the need to be vigilant about Russia. What we decided ... was that we were going to set up a G7 group that would look at Russian malign behaviour in all its manifestations whether its cyber warfare, whether its disinformation, assassination attempts, whatever it happens to be, and collectively try to call it out. Germans foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said the meeting established again that there will be no political solution in Syria without Russia ... and that Russia has to contribute its share to such a solution. While supporting the air strikes in Syria, the G7 statement said they were limited, proportionate and necessary and taken only after exhausting every possible diplomatic option to uphold the international norm against the use of chemical weapons. Daraa (Syria) (AFP) - On a tense urban frontline in Syria's Daraa, rebel Atallah Qutayfan has been steadily reinforcing his defensive post for weeks in anticipation of a looming assault by government troops. The 25-year-old spends his days stacking sandbags to shore up his post overlooking a market in the southern city, and monitoring the amassing regime forces nearby. "Their reconnaissance planes are constantly above the city. There are daily clashes and they try to infiltrate our positions, but we've stopped them," says Qutayfan. "Our commanders told us to be ready for an attack by regime forces -- and we're on high alert." As loyalist forces mop up the last pockets of resistance around the capital, President Bashar al-Assad appears to already have set his sights on his next target: Daraa. The city is split between rebels, who hold the southern Old City, and regime forces who control the modern districts and government posts to the north. Opposition forces still hold more than two-thirds of the surrounding 3,730-square-kilometre (1,490-sq-mile) province which borders Jordan. Seizing the border area could bring the regime both military and economic security, analysts have said. And a victory in Daraa city would carry symbolic weight -- it was the cradle of Syria's seven-year uprising against Assad's rule. The resurgent regime just this month dealt rebels their biggest blow yet by recapturing Eastern Ghouta, the former opposition stronghold outside Damascus. That freed up troops who had spent years bombing the Ghouta front. - Mass mobilisation - "After Ghouta, the regime escalated its bombing against us with surface-to-surface missiles, machine-gun fire, mortars, tanks, and heavy artillery," says rebel fighter Fahed Abu Hatem. In response, Abu Hatem says, his forces reinforced their positions, dug trenches and erected fresh barricades. Gritting his teeth, rebel field commander Ibrahim Musalima, 27, insists the extra measures are necessary. Story continues "It's not fear, it's readiness," says Musalima. "We're setting up lines of defence and attack, and upping our coordination with the Quneitra rebels to the west, all the way to the border with Suweida to the east." Quneitra is the province directly to Daraa's west, and Suweida neighbours it to the east. Sections of the three provinces make up a "de-escalation zone" agreed in May 2017 by rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran. The US and Jordan have also backed the zone, announcing alongside Russia in July that a cessation of hostilities would begin in the southern sliver. Despite the steadily increasing violence, Musalima says the south's rebel factions had been "advised" by their foreign backers not to provoke the regime or its loyalist militias, and to preserve the de-escalation zone. The subtle warning belies the region's importance to rival actors in Syria's complex war. Assad is keen to recapture the strategic Nasib crossing with Jordan, which the regime lost to rebels in 2015 but whose recapture could generate desperately needed income from cross-border trade. Meanwhile, the presence of Iran-backed militias in southern Syria, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, has irked neighbouring Israel. - 'Daraa is not Ghouta' - Far away from these geopolitical interests, civilians are worried about what the escalation could bring. Umm Mohammad al-Baghdadi, a 45-year-old nurse in a field clinic in Daraa, describes a constant stream of wounded from shelling and bombing. "We can't say we're not scared of more escalation. After the end of Ghouta, of course the regime is going to go for any area that opposes it," she says. "It wants to snuff out the uprising generally, and in Daraa especially." Around 30,000 people live in rebel-held parts of Daraa city, according to the local opposition-run council. Its head Mohammad Abdulmajid al-Musalima, 38, says residents struggle to cope with severe shortages of water and electricity, and widespread destruction. "Women and children will bear the brunt of any military escalation, because they're the main pressure point used by the regime against opposition groups," says Musalima. Rebels and local opposition officials alike insist Daraa's fate will not resemble Ghouta's, where a five-year siege had worn down rival rebel groups. "We're saying to the regime: Daraa is not Ghouta. The armed opposition here is holding it together," says Mohammad al-Masri, 60, a member of the local council . "Here, the front lines are holding on. Our popular base and the rebels are in agreement: Daraa is our city, and we will stand firm in it," says Masri. Damascus (AFP) - Syria's regime on Wednesday moved to tighten its grip on the capital as it retook a new region outside Damascus from rebels and pounded southern districts to oust jihadists. In the town of Douma retaken more than a week ago, global chemical weapons experts visited a second site after an alleged toxic gas attack there on April 7. In Brussels, international donors were expected to pledge $4.4 billion (3.6 billion euros) in aid for Syrians, a senior UN official said. Seven years into the civil war, President Bashar al-Assad's regime has ramped up efforts to secure the capital with backing from ally Russia. The regime took control of Eastern Qalamun northeast of the capital on Wednesday, state media said, after the last rebels left on buses under an evacuation deal. At the same time, regime air strikes and rocket fire pounded southern areas of the capital held by the Islamic State jihadist group after regime raids there killed six civilians overnight. The retaking of Eastern Qalamun follows the latest in a string of deals between opposition fighters and the regime for rebels to withdraw from areas near the capital. "The operation to bring terrorists with their families out of the areas of Eastern Qalamun has ended and the region is free of terrorism," state television said, using its usual term for rebels. Government security forces entered the region's town of Al-Ruhayba, some 60 kilometres (35 miles) northeast of Damascus, after the last rebels departed, it said. Earlier this month, Assad's forces announced their reconquest of the key rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta east of the capital, after a blistering offensive and evacuation deals that saw thousands of people transferred to northern Syria. - Second 'trauma of displacement' - Rebels withdrew from its main town of Douma last, after medics and rescuers said more than 40 people were killed on April 7 in an alleged chlorine and sarin attack in the town. Story continues Damascus has rejected the accusations as "fabrications", but invited the global chemical weapons watchdog to visit the town. "Today, the FFM (fact-finding mission) team carried out a visit to a second location in Douma. It also collected samples at this site," the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Wednesday. On Saturday, the team had visited a first site in the bombed-out town after weeks of delay. In the south of the capital, regime air strikes late Tuesday killed six civilians in the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk, a Britain-based monitor said. The latest deaths bring to 19 the total number of civilians killed in regime bombardment on the capital's south since Thursday last week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Yarmuk -- now IS's last urban redoubt in Syria or Iraq -- was once Syria's biggest Palestinian refugee camp, home to around 160,000 people. But the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said most of the 6,000 refugees still living in the camp last week have since fled and just a few hundred remain. UNRWA commissioner-general Pierre Krahenbuhl said Palestinian refugees in Syria were living for the second time in their history as a community "the trauma of displacement". Yarmuk was set up in 1957 less than a decade after the founding of Israel sent hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing from their homes. - 'Population replacement' - Since April 19, at least 61 pro-regime fighters and 49 jihadists have been killed in the capital's southern suburbs, the Observatory says. There are an estimated 1,000 IS fighters left inside Yarmuk and the adjacent districts of Hajar al-Aswad and Qadam. IS has lost much of the land it once held after sweeping across large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, but has managed to stay on in Yarmuk. More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. In Brussels, international donors gathered to raise money for humanitarian aid in the war-torn country and for Syrian refugees. "My best guess is that by the end of the day we will have heard pledges for 2018 of $4.4 billion," Mark Lowcock, the head of UN aid agency OCHA, said. In northern Syria, a final convoy carrying hundreds of fighters and civilians from Eastern Qalamun was heading to the region of Afrin held by pro-Turkey rebels, the Observatory and a rebel commander said. Last month, Ankara-led forces seized Afrin from Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers to be "terrorists", after an almost two-month assault that forced tens of thousands of civilians from their homes. The Observatory says three of the convoys that have left East Qalamun since Saturday went to the Afrin region. Syria expert Fabrice Balanche said the new arrivals are tantamount to "population replacement" -- albeit without the regime's agreement. "Turkey is ousting the Kurds from the region and settling people it considers to be more reliable" there, he told AFP. Beirut (AFP) - Syrian regime air strikes have killed six civilians in southern Damascus where government forces are fighting the Islamic State group, a war monitor said Wednesday. The six, including two men and their wives, were killed in the strikes on the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk late Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Regime strikes and rocket fire Wednesday morning targeted the neighbouring districts of Hajar al-Aswad and Qadam, the Britain-based monitor said. The latest civilian deaths bring to 18 the total of non-fighters killed in regime bombardment on the capital's southern neighbourhoods since Thursday last week. Yarmuk, which is now IS's last urban redoubt in Syria or Iraq, was once Syria's biggest Palestinian refugee camp, home to around 160,000 people. But the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA says most of the 6,000 refugees still living in the camp last week have since fled. At least 52 pro-regime fighters have been killed in fighting to expel IS from the capital's southern suburbs since April 19, the Observatory says. Syrian officials do not usually disclose losses within army ranks. The monitor has said at least 35 jihadist fighters were also killed during the same period. There are an estimated 1,000 IS fighters left inside Yarmuk and the adjacent districts of Hajar al-Aswad and Qadam. IS swept across large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, declaring a cross-border "caliphate" in areas the jihadists seized. At its height their pseudo-state covered an area the size of Italy, but IS has since lost most of the land it controlled in both countries. More than 350,000 people have been killed since Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-regime protests. Yerevan (AFP) - Armenia's political turmoil deepened with fresh protests set for Thursday after the opposition accused the ruling party of refusing to cede power following the resignation of veteran leader Serzh Sarkisian. Protesters clapped, whistled, beat drums, banged pots and tooted car horns in demonstrations that underscored the political crisis gripping the impoverished former Soviet republic. Many raised their hands in the air -- a sign that the protest movement led by opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan is peaceful -- and robed priests joined the rallies in an apparent attempt to prevent possible clashes. Led by 42-year-old Pashinyan, thousands of demonstrators earlier in the day marched through Yerevan against the ruling Republican Party's unwillingness to transfer power after its leader and former president Sarkisian stood down Monday from his new post of prime minister. Pashinyan sported his trademark khaki-coloured T-shirt and clutched a megaphone as protesters chanted "Nikol for prime minister" and "We are the masters of our country". Stepan Grigoryan, a political analyst who joined the rallies, said it was a do-or-die situation, describing the current system as "criminal". "The head has been chopped off," he said, referring to Sarkisian's resignation Monday, "but the body -- the Republican Party -- remains and it needs to be removed." - Negotiations cancelled - In a surprise move, Sarkisian, who served as president for a decade, stood down as prime minister just a week after being elected by parliament, following days of protests by demonstrators who accused him of a blatant power grab. Pashinyan, leader of the Civil Contract Party, had been due Wednesday to hold talks with acting government head Karen Karapetyan to discuss a "peaceful" power transfer. But the negotiations were cancelled late Tuesday. Addressing supporters on Wednesday night, he called on Karapetyan to "immediately recognise our revolution's victory and abandon his ambitions. Story continues "If the Republican Party dares to present a candidate the people will surround the parliament and government buildings," he said. Pashinyan has insisted the new premier must be a "people's candidate" and not a member of Sarkisian's party, and has said he is willing to lead the impoverished country. "We need the Republicans to leave, or else nothing will change," said Varazdat Panoian, 28, who joined the crowds gathered in the capital. The Yelk opposition bloc said Wednesday it would nominate Pashinyan for prime minister. But a lawmaker from the bloc, Edmon Marukyan of the Bright Armenia party, said Pashinyan was currently 13 votes short of a majority. A candidate would need 53 votes to get elected. - Overcome crisis - A small member of the current ruling coalition, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, said it was leaving the coalition on Wednesday evening calling for a new prime minister to be elected to "overcome the political crisis." But the move posed no immediate threat to the Republican Party's rule as it still held 58 seats in parliament. On Wednesday, Serzh Sarkisian called a meeting with Republican MPs to explain the reasons for his resignation and discuss the party's future in a statement reported by Armenian media. "As much as I am determined not to interfere in political processes after my resignation, I now believe that I must do this," Sarkisian said. "I invited you to talk about peace and stability," he said. Karapetyan, who has accused Pashinyan of promoting his own agenda, proposed holding a snap election so voters themselves could decide on the new leader under a parliamentary system of government. Armenia's President Armen Sarkisian, who is no relation to Serzh Sarkisian, and is a ceremonial figurehead, urged compromise. The Kremlin on Wednesday said Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke to Armen Sarkisian, urging "all political forces in the country to show restraint and responsibility." Russia -- which has a military base in Armenia -- earlier said it was watching the situation "very closely" but reiterated it would not interfere. Russia hopes that a "stable solution" can be found, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, stressing that it was however an "internal matter" for the country to deal with. The opposition had accused 63-year-old Serzh Sarkisian of wanting to extend his grip on power under a new parliamentary system, saying he failed to tackle a litany of problems including poverty and corruption. mkh-im-as-oc/pg/har/ceb This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. UPDATE: 9:08 p.m. EDT In a press conference Tuesday evening, police identified Armando Juarez as a person of interest in a shooting that took place at a Dallas, Texas, Home Depot. Three people, including two police officers, were shot. The two police officers were in critical condition. The condition of the third person, a loss prevention officer at the store, was not released. Trending: Final NFL Consensus Mock Draft Results: Who's Going Where? Juarez, 29, was described by police as armed and dangerous. Authorities said he may have left the store in a white pickup truck. Original story: At least two police officers were shot Tuesday evening in Dallas, Texas, police confirmed on Twitter. The unidentified officers were critically wounded. A civilian was also shot, police said. The condition of the civilian remained unknown. Don't miss: Syria Chemical Attacks Are Happening All the Time and Will Keep Happening, Says Journalist Who Exposed Assad Assaults The shooting reportedly occurred at around 5 p.m. local time at a Home Depot located at U.S. 75 and Forest Lane, WFAA-TV reported. Authorities were reportedly still searching for the suspect. At least one person was taken to Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, KXAS-TV reported, citing a hospital spokesperson. Most popular: What Is an 'Incel?' Violent Misogynist Subculture Referenced by Toronto Van Attack Suspect Explained The Home Depot store, located in the northeast Dallas, was evacuated as authorities responded to the situation. Police announced they would give updates on the ongoing situation. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was also responding to the scene. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said on Twitter he was "closely monitoring the situation in northeast Dallas and praying for our officers and their families." Story continues This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Thailand on Tuesday volunteered to host the hotly-anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as speculation swirls about the venue. "Thailand is ready to facilitate and host the talks," Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told reporters, though he stressed that the kingdom has not been contacted about the possibility. The US embassy declined to comment. Kim is set to meet South Korea's president Moon Jae-in on Friday, an event seen as a major stepping stone towards the summit with Trump. Earlier this month Trump said five locations were under consideration for a summit "probably in early June", which he hopes will result in a denuclearisation deal with North Korea. But he did not specify where, leaving observers to speculate on anywhere from Mongolia to Scandinavia and Singapore. Thailand is a historic US ally which also has diplomatic relations with North Korea. The Thai junta number two Prawit Wongsuwon is currently in the US where he has met Defense Secretary James Mattis and senior Homeland Security officials, according to the Thai defence ministry. Over the weekend Pyongyang announced a moratorium on nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile launches. Analysts are divided over the headline-grabbing offer, with many noting it is reversible and did not signal any intention of actual nuclear disarmament. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Thousands of people attended dawn war memorial services on Wednesday across Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Britain, France and in Thailand to commemorate ANZAC Day, the Gallipoli landings and the centenary of the final year of World War One. On April 25, 1915, thousands of troops from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey, where they fought under their own flags for the first time. The date is seared into the national consciousness as a point where the two nations emerged from the shadow of the British empire, and has become a solemn anniversary to remember troops from both countries who served and died in all wars. An estimated 44,000 Allied soldiers were killed in the Gallipoli campaign, according to the Australian War Memorial. They included British, Irish, French, Indians, Gurkhas and Newfoundlanders as well as the ANZAC troops most indelibly associated with the battle. At least 85,000 Turkish soldiers died. At the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, World War One soldiers were honored with excerpts from their diaries, read before the dawn service, to commemorate 100 years since the last battles before the Armistice was declared in November 1918. In France, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull took part in a dawn service to mark the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux in World War One. Some 2,400 Australians died in the overnight battle on April 24, 1918, to retake the town from German forces. "We particularly remember those who lost their lives or came home wounded, and we acknowledge the hardship and pain borne by their families and loved ones," Turnbull said in a video message posted on Facebook. In Britain, Prince Harry and his fiance, Meghan Markle, paid tribute to Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women at the dawn service. Prince Harry laid a wreath to honor the fallen at Hyde Park Corner in London. World War Two veterans, some of them former prisoners of war (POWs), gathered in Thailand's western province of Kanchanaburi to remember the thousands of POWs and Asian laborers who died when Japanese occupying forces put them to work on the infamous "death railway", a supply route to Japanese troops in the then Burma, now Myanmar. I get quite emotional at the dawn service as dawn is breaking. I think of all of the friends, and my mates, as we call them, that were left on the railway, said Australian Neil McPherson, 96, a former POW. Harold Martin, aged 101, said: Id like to say a word for the ordinary soldiers that were up there because there were a lot of heroes that were never mentioned." (Reporting by Alison Bevege in SYDNEY, Juarawee Kittisilpa in Kanchanaburi,and Amy Sawitta Lefevre in BANGKOK; Editing by Michael Perry) Yerevan (AFP) - Armenia's crisis deepened Wednesday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets after the opposition accused the government of refusing to negotiate a transfer of power following the resignation of veteran leader Serzh Sarkisian. Authorities beefed up security in the capital Yerevan, cordoning off buildings housing the government and the ruling Republican party, and deploying hundreds of police and several armoured personnel carriers. Protesters shouted, clapped, whistled, beat drums and tooted car horns in demonstrations that underscored the political turmoil gripping the impoverished former Soviet republic. Led by 42-year-old Nikol Pashinyan, thousands of demonstrators marched through Yerevan against the Republican Party's unwillingness to facilitate the transfer of power after former president Sarkisian stood down Monday from his new post of prime minister. Pashinyan sported his trademark khaki-coloured T-shirt and clutched a megaphone as protesters chanted "Nikol for prime minister" and "We are the masters of our country". Demonstrators warned of possible clashes with the authorities if a solution to the crisis was not found quickly. "There is a danger that riots, clashes could start if the Republicans do not leave in a calm manner," 40-year-old lawyer Ruzanna Vartanyan told AFP. Stepan Grigoryan, a political analyst who joined the rallies, said it was a do-or-die situation, describing the current system as "criminal." "The head has been chopped off," he said, referring to Sarkisian's resignation Monday, "but the body -- the Republican Party -- remains and it needs to be removed." - Russia watching closely - Russia -- which has a military base in Armenia -- said Wednesday it was watching the situation "very closely" but reiterated that it would not interfere. "We believe this to be Armenia's internal affair," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Story continues In a surprise move, Sarkisian, who served as president for a decade, stood down as prime minister just a week after being elected by parliament, following days of protests by demonstrators who accused him of a blatant power grab. Pashinyan, leader of the Civil Contract Party, had been due Wednesday to hold talks with acting government head Karen Karapetyan to discuss a "peaceful" power transfer. But the negotiations were cancelled late Tuesday. Pashinyan accused the authorities of wanting to nominate a Republican Party candidate for prime minister, warning that the opposition would boycott snap parliamentary elections in that case. "I want to tell Karen Karapetyan: I want you to understand that we will of course not allow you to implement such steps and the sooner you understand this the better it will be for everyone," he said. Pashinyan has insisted the new premier must be a "people's candidate" and not a member of Sarkisian's party, and told reporters he was himself willing to lead. Most political parties sided with the protest movement, and Edmon Marukyan of the Bright Armenia party, said the Yelk opposition bloc would nominate Pashinyan for prime minister. But he said the opposition supporters were currently 13 votes short of a majority. A candidate would need 53 votes to get elected. Karapetyan, who has accused Pashinyan of promoting his own agenda, proposed holding a snap election so voters themselves could decide on the new leader under a parliamentary system of government. - 'Dialogue extremely important' - Armenia's President Armen Sarkisian, who is no relation to Serzh Sarkisian, and is a ceremonial figurehead, urged compromise. "It's extremely important to begin dialogue," he said in a statement. The opposition had accused 63-year-old Serzh Sarkisian of wanting to extend his grip on power under a new parliamentary system, saying he failed to tackle a litany of problems including poverty and corruption. Protests broke out several days before his election on Tuesday last week, with tens of thousands of people eventually taking to the streets of Yerevan and other cities in largely peaceful rallies. Armenia's arch-foe Azerbaijan has expressed hope that a new Armenian government would adopt a "constructive" approach over the breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh. Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), a major industrial company in the UAE, has completed the construction work on the calcination process facility of the Al Taweelah alumina refinery after more than 2.4 million hours of work. Al Taweelah alumina refinery is the first to be built in the UAE, and will refine bauxite ore into alumina, the feedstock for aluminium smelters. Sections of Al Taweelah alumina refinery will be completed in sequence to enable the carefully-planned pre-commissioning and commissioning of the thousands of pieces of equipment that make up the huge plant. The calcination process facility alone contains more than 1,700 instruments, over 100 motors, and some 165 km of cabling. First alumina from Al Taweelah alumina refinery is expected during the first half of 2019. More than 11,000 people are currently working on the project, which has a total budgeted project cost of approximately $3.3 billion. Overall construction completion of the project currently stands at 82 per cent. Completion of the calcination process facility was marked at a ceremony attended by Riita Swan, the Finnish Ambassador to the UAE, EGAs managing director and chief executive officer Abdulla Kalban, and Kalle Harkki, executive vice president , Metals, Energy & Water of Outotec, the Finnish minerals and metals technology company that is the main contractor on the calcination process facility. Construction work on the calcination process facility was completed without a single Lost Time Injury. The project as a whole recently passed 20 million hours worked without a Lost Time Injury. The first completion of a major section of Al Taweelah alumina refinery is a significant milestone in the development of this huge project, which will secure for EGA the competitive supply of the feedstock for aluminium smelters. We continue to make good progress on the project as a whole. I congratulate everyone who has contributed to this achievement, Kalban said. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and is developing two major projects to expand its business upstream and internationally. Once full ramp up is achieved, Al Taweelah alumina refinery is expected to produce some 2 million tonnes of alumina per year, meeting 40 per cent of EGAs alumina requirements. Some 490 people are working in the operations team, preparing to run Al Taweelah alumina refinery, including over 60 UAE Nationals. Over 400,000 hours of operational readiness work has been completed to date, including 13,600 days of training. EGA has signed an agreement with Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee for the supply of bauxite for Al Taweelah alumina refinery from the Republic of Guinea in West Africa. EGA is also developing a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in Guinea, in one of the largest greenfield investments in the country in the last 40 years. Calcination is the final stage in the process of refining bauxite ore into alumina, and is a roasting process to remove remaining water. The calcination process facility at Al Taweelah alumina refinery has two calciners, which are each 84 metres long, 46 metres high, and have stacks that reach 60 metres high. Each calciner has a production capacity of 3,500 tonnes per day. The facility uses Outotecs Circulating Fluid Bed technology. Outotec has installed more than 60 calciners using this technology worldwide. Al Taweelah alumina refinery is located next to EGAs Al Taweelah aluminium smelter in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi. TradeArabia News Service Washington (AFP) - Victims of attacks in Israel cannot use an 18th century law to sue the Arab Bank, a multinational financial institution, the US Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday in a precedent-setting case for other foreign businesses. The decision rests on a legal provision almost 230 years old. Plaintiffs accused the Jordan-based bank of facilitating transfers to Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls the Gaza Strip and which Israel and the United States label a terrorist group. A majority of five conservative judges on the top US court outnumbered four others who dissented. The Arab Bank was founded in Jerusalem in 1930 when Palestine was under the British Mandate, and now has more than 600 branches worldwide. It hailed the decision as a "historic victory" and insisted it would continue to carry out its activities in accordance with "international banking norms". The bank plays a central role in the Palestinian territories where it works with major international development agencies. The roughly 6,000 foreign claimants in the case included victims of militant attacks in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, primarily during the second Intifada from 2000 to 2005. They said the Bank contravened international laws by allowing financial transfers aimed at funding the violence to be made to accounts held by Hamas leaders. The plaintiffs based their action on the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) of 1789, which was adopted following an altercation some five years earlier in which a French diplomat was assaulted by a French national in the US. The statute was largely dormant for nearly 200 years before reemerging onto the legal scene. Various legal actions were begun against foreign dictators and multinational corporations implicated in cases outside US territory. But the judges on Tuesday, worried over the risk of diplomatic tensions, refused to extend application of the ATS to multinationals with no link to the United States. Story continues "The Court holds that foreign corporations may not be defendants in suits brought under the ATS," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. He said it is up to Congress to revise the law if it sees fit. In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority ruling "absolves corporations from responsibility under the ATS for conscience-shocking behavior" and human rights violations. burs-del/mm The driver of a van that ploughed into people on a busy downtown Toronto street has appeared in court where he was charged with 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. Alek Minassian of Richmond Hill, Ontario, appeared in the courtroom in Toronto wearing a jumpsuit, handcuffs, and said little except to confirm that he understood the proceedings. Police are still not clear what led the 25-year-old to allegedly drive a rented Ryder van down the busy thoroughfare of Yonge Street. Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said: Obviously all Canadians continue and will continue to have questions about why this happened, what could possibly be the motive behind it. The suspect fled the scene in the vehicle but was caught by police on a nearby street less than 30 minutes after the incident. Mr Minassian allegedly drove half mile to one mile down the street, district chief for Toronto Fire Stephen Powell told CNN. Mobile footage captured him shouting at police to kill me. Toronto police chief Mark Saunders said the act looks intentional, but stopped short of officially referring to it as an attack or an act of terrorism. Canadian public safety minister Ralph Goodale confirmed there did not appear to be any national security connection. Police are still investigating whether Mr Minassian had acted with someone else. Mr Minassian had a scant online presence; his LinkedIn profile showed that he may have been training to be a software developer. The National Post reported someone with his name had registered a mobile app for online parking in the Google Play app store. He also listed himself as a student at Seneca College in Toronto from 2011 to 2018. The school did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation or comment on whether Mr Minassian had graduated. A former high school classmate wrote in a Facebook post: He was mentally unstable back then. He was known to meow like a cat and try to bite people, this is one sad and confusing story. Though, Alexander Alexandrovitch said his former classmate was never intentionally violent. Story continues Another Facebook clue for investigators came when they found a page believed to be Mr Minassians. The user posted on the day of the incident: Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry 00010, wishing to speak to Sgt 4chan please. C23249161. The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger! Police say it could have been a reference to a 2014 attack using a vehicle on the campus of the University of California Santa Barbara. Rodger shot and killed six people while injuring 14 before turning the gun on himself. Police said Rodgers motivation was probably his involvement in the mens activist movement, comprised of people who think women do not actually want gender equality but have been brainwashed by society and propaganda. Some of the activists believed women should be punished for their success or for rejecting them, as had happened with Rodger. The social media giant has since deleted the account in question. Mr Saunders said theres nothing that indicates Mr Minassian had a gun during the incident he is suspected of carrying out. Mobile video has surfaced of an arrest during which it appeared the person arrested may have had a weapon, however. The man appeared to be pointing an object at an officer, who has his own weapon drawn on the man. The officer did not fire a single shot despite the tense back and forth between he and the man, who claimed to have a gun in his pocket. He later managed to arrest the man without further incident. Mr Minassian is reportedly of Armenian descent. The Armenian Community Centre of Toronto issued a statement saying it and all of its constituent organisations are deeply saddened and disturbed by the senseless deaths and injuries. It is unclear at this time if the suspect was associated with the organisation. We unequivocally condemn this and all acts of violence. We commend the bravery and dedication of our first responders who, despite being faced with an unprecedented tragedy, saved lives with their heroic actions and rapid response, the group said in a statement. As the investigation continues, we stand united with our neighbours in the City of Toronto and across Ontario and Canada in mourning the lives taken. We pray that God will heal the survivors and illuminate the souls of the victims and bring peace to their families. The suspect is set to be in court on 10 May for a bail hearing. The officer, identified as Ken Lam, arrested Alek Minassian, who allegedly drove a van into pedestrians, killing 10 and injuring dozens A Canadian police officer is being hailed for the restraint and professionalism he showed in arresting the suspect in the Toronto van attack without firing a single shot. On Monday afternoon, a white van ploughed into pedestrians along one of Torontos busiest streets, killing 10 people and injuring more than a dozen others in what one official described as pure carnage. Soon after, the alleged driver of the van was arrested by a lone police officer in a confrontation lasting less than a minute and caught on video by bystanders. Get down, the officer, identified by sources as Ken Lam, shouts repeatedly. Kill me, the man responds. I have a gun in my pocket. Lams voice remains calm as he again orders the man to get down, warning that he will shoot if the man does not cooperate. Shoot me in the head, the suspect replies. The officer then begins advancing towards the suspect. The suspect steps backwards, dropping what he was holding and raising his hands in the air. Lam proceeds to single-handedly arrest the suspect. The arrest came as police forces across North America including in Toronto have been criticised for using excessive force to subdue mentally ill or unarmed suspects. Police identified Alek Minassian, a 25-year-old from the nearby town of Richmond Hill, as the man who had been arrested. He appeared in court on Tuesday, charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. Officials refused to comment on a motive, but said the suspect did not represent a threat to national security. Video of the dramatic confrontation between the suspect and the police officer was hailed on social media, where praise poured in for Lam. Many said he deserved a medal. A columnist for Macleans magazine contrasted Lams calm demeanor with the chaos and horror that had unfolded minutes earlier. I am paid to explain things and sound confident doing so, he wrote. But I honestly dont know what to make of this terrifying, remarkable moment. Story continues Mark Saunders, the citys police chief, credited the forces high calibre of training. The officer did a fantastic job with respect to utilising his ability of understanding the circumstance and environment and having a peaceful resolution at the end of the day, he said. Mike McCormack, the president of the Toronto Police Association, said Lam a constable who has been with the force for more than seven years would have been justified if he had decided to fire at the suspect. He was constantly assessing, constantly watching what was going on and determined he could handle it the way that he did, he said. People are right: this guy is a hero. He had spoken to Lam, who was left shaken. Its stressful enough when youre confronting somebody who is trying to get you to kill them, said McCormack. And then you add the layer that this person that youre dealing with has just murdered 10 innocent people, injured another 15. It really is sinking in with him right now. As commendations poured in from the around the world, Lams focus was on the many residents affected by the attack. He was more concerned about the victims. He was devastated when we kept hearing the casualties going up, as we all were. It was a horrific scene, said McCormack. He said Mike, I followed my experience and my training. Okay I made this arrest, which is great, but Im just doing my job. Alek Minassian, the man charged with killing ten and injuring 15 during a Monday van attack in Toronto, wrote a Facebook post the same day that referenced a mens rights community with a history of advocating for rape and violence against women. Global News reporter Catherine McDonald posted a screenshot of the Facebook post on Twitter late Monday. The post was later verified by Facebook as belonging to Minassians account. Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry 00010, wishing to speak to Sgt 4chan please. C23249161, it reads. The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger! Weve just obtained this Facebook post from the accused Alek Minassian, suspected in the #yongeandfinch mass casualty. Posted early this afternoon. FYI Incel=involuntarily celibate. Elliot Rodger killed 6 ppl at UCSB in 2014 before killing himself @globalnewsto pic.twitter.com/W84xt3D85I Catherine McDonald (@cmcdonaldglobal) April 23, 2018 What is Incel? There is a lot to unpack in his post, but the first thing is incel. The term is shorthand for involuntary celibate, and its a moniker used by a subsection of mens rights activists that blame women and alpha males for their inability to have sex. The groups subreddit, r/Incel, which Business Insider claims had around 40,000 members, was shut down by Reddit in November of 2017. The move came after Reddit updated its content policies, prompting a wave of bans on communities that incited hate speech or violence. The subreddit served as one of several online spaces for self-described incels to mope about not being liked by women, and the forum apparently often veered into territory that was aggressive and misogynistic enough to merit being banned. According to Business Insider, the subreddit also often praised Elliot Rodger, the 22-year-old who killed six people and wounded 14 near the University of California in 2014. Rodgers killing spree ended with him turning the gun on himself, but he left behind a 107,000-word manifesto detailing his inability to lose his virginity because of the cruelness of women. R/incel often referred to Rodger as Saint Elliot. Story continues There is still an incel subreddit on Reddit, called r/braincels, which doesnt explicitly advocate for violence but remains problematic in terms of the language it expresses about women. A sample of the kind of content on r/braincels, posted by EvilBananaManRD. Chads and Stacys are 4chan-bred terms; the former is used to refer to attractive, normative, popular men who are good at attracting women for sex, while the latter refers to the female counterpart of one of these men. Police havent released a motive in Mondays attack, which saw Minassian, 25, drive a van onto a crowded sidewalk at a busy intersection. Minassian is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. Photos via Reddit Photos via Reddit Written by Grace Lisa Scott More articles by Grace Lisa Facebook Page Twitter tweetshare More From Inverse Could a mass murder four years ago be the twisted inspiration behind Monday's massacre in Toronto that left 10 pedestrians dead? In 2014, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was later found by police, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. His motive for the 2014 shooting was believed to be the fact that he couldn't get a girlfriend. He aimed his pent-up fury at the girls of the Alpha Phi sorority on the University of California, Santa Barbara campus. Now, 25-year-old Alek Minassian claims he drove a rented van down 16 blocks on a busy street in Toronto to take out anyone in his path because he was rejected by girls. It's believed he was inspired by Rodger to exact revenge. Just before the massacre, he tweeted: "The rebellion has begun! All hail the supreme gentleman Elliot Rodger!" Minassian also describes himself as an "incel," or an involuntary celibate. He apparently saw himself as a member of an army of vengeful virgins. Rodger is seen as a poster boy for the movement. "They project their self-loathing on others and unfortunately, we have many people killed and this can happen again and again," Forensic psychologist Dr. Keith Ablow told Inside Edition. Minassian's arrest was caught on video. He begged cops to shoot him and pointed what looked like a gun at them. He was actually unarmed, and was overpowered by a police officer, who has been commended for his remarkable bravery and restraint. RELATED STORIES 25-Year-Old Suspect Named in Toronto Van Attack as First of 10 Victims Identified Memorial Held for 10 Victims as Witnesses Recall Moment Van Plowed Through Toronto Pedestrians Coachella Attendees Say They Were Groped at Famed Music Festival Related Articles: Jack Keane, Danielle Pletka Security, Middle East Free Syrian Army fighters prepare mortar shells during clashes with forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the Handarat area, north of Aleppo There is a way forward in Syria, and Donald Trump has more than once had the courage to stand up to those inside and outside his administration who have urged retreat. How Trump Should Define Success in Syria Give credit to Donald Trump for a moral clarity that eluded his predecessor about the Assad regimes use of chemical weapons on innocent civilians. The president stood by his word and didnt tolerate the Syrian dictators use of weapons of mass destruction. But while the recent strike on Syria was important and necessaryit was far from sufficient. The consolidation of Iranian and Russian military bases there is disastrous for the security of the U.S. and its allies. And the ongoing conflict, which Assad will not end anytime soon, fuels the global jihadi movement more than any other single factor. It pays to review the origins of the conflict: In the full winds of the Arab Spring, the people of Syria stood up against one of the most brutal and oppressive Arab dictatorships with peaceful demonstrations. The Assad regime, however, chose a course of violence, suspecting rightly that without a decisive response it might go the way of Muammar el-Qaddafis rule in Libya. In the ensuing civil war, outside sponsors and Salafi-jihadi groups made their way to the Syrian battleground. Assad himself deliberately fueled the increase of jihadists in order to discredit the entire rebellion and hold the West hostage to his own survival. He released Al Qaeda members from Syrian prison and replaced them with peaceful protestors. Iran stepped in early; its Hezbollah terrorist proxy essential to Assads survival. Soon Hezbollah was not enough, and Iran began to send its own soldiersdrawn largely from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)going so far as to mobilize Afghans, Iraqis and Pakistanis to save their Syrian crony. Even then, Assad could not stabilize the conflict, and Russiainvited by President Obama to assist with the elimination of Assad's chemical weaponsintervened on his behalf with airpower. Story continues Far from bringing the war in Syria to a rapid close, Russian and Iranian assistance has produced a horrific, grinding, humanitarian catastrophe that shows no signs of ending. The astonishing brutality of Assad and his Russian and Iranian partners has radicalized the opposition. While the United States stood by, both ISIS and Al Qaeda captured and held ground, hijacking the originally secular Sunni Arab opposition. This history contradicts those who suggest that Syria is vital to Moscows national security, and others who insist that once ISIS is gone, the future of Syria is irrelevant to Americas allies or interests. The Russian presence is mostly gain and little pain: Vladimir Putin has established the first major Russian military base in the Mediterranean since the end of the eighteenth century. The Salafi-jihadi movement is there and will be for as long as Assad rules, whether as ISIS, or son-of-ISIS, or Al Qaeda. And Iran and Hezbollah are there because without Assad at the helm in Syria, Iran will forfeit the critical anchor of its effort to build an integrated security architecture beyond its borders: a plan that allows for further force projection and domination. In short, there is no end to ISIS without an end to Assad. And there is no surer blow to the terror masters in Tehran than taking out their most vital Arab ally. Lastly, only expelling Iran from Syria will prevent an inevitable wider war with Israel. We have written several times over the years about the imperative of removing Assad and restoring Syria to its people. In each case, however, there have been naysayers who have suggested that arming Free Syrians is tantamount to arming terrorists; that taking sides in the civil war risks conflict with Iran or Russia or both; or, most reprehensibly, that it is in Americas best interests to keep Assad in power. None of this is true, and there remains a path forward in Syria. But it requires a serious strategy, determination to carry it out notwithstanding objections from guardians of the status quo, and a genuine desire to deal with both Iran and Russia in a way that will cause them to think twice about other such adventures. The first question any commander in chief must ask himself is what is his desired outcome? The best option is a Syria without Assad, committed to a future without Iranian or Russian influence. This is not a Pollyanna-like prescription; there are substantial obstacles in the way, not least those we have encountered in Iraq. It is not easy to shepherd a nation from tyranny towards a pathway to democracy. Only such a Syria can guarantee an end to Iranian interference, to the transshipment of weapons for Hezbollah, and to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction of the kind we saw used at Douma (Iran has been instrumental in Syrias chemical weapons program for many years). And most importantly, only such a Syria can disenfranchise the Al Qaeda and ISIS affiliates that have found a foothold by exploiting the Syrian peoples desperation. How do we get there? The United States must first consolidate and strengthen its position in eastern Syria from the Euphrates river to the eastern Syrian border. This involves clearing out the remnants of ISIS, some several thousand, and ultimately eliminating pockets controlled by the Assad regime and the IRGC in north eastern Syria. This would enable the creation of a control zone in the East as a base from which to build a credible and capable partner that is not subordinate to the Kurdish chain of command, while effectively shutting down Irans strategic land bridge from Iran to the Mediterranean. A regional Arab force, reportedly suggested by Trumps new national security advisor, would be a welcome addition. But we should seriously doubt they will participate without American ground leadership and air support. In western Syria, the United States should rebuild a Syrian opposition force with advisers, weapons, and air power while upping the pressure on Assad and his cronies to select a pathway to a negotiated peace. Pursuing a settlement in Geneva without such leverage over the Assad regime is pure fantasy. Finally, the United States and other western powers must impede Irans and Russias ability to be resupplied. Syrias airfields must be destroyed, and Syrias airspace must remain clear. A campaign against Assad will help in gaining the support of Syrian Arab allies against Salafi-jihadi groups. Earlier efforts to build such support failed because of America's insistence that those we helped against ISIS refrain from fighting Assad. Even though these potential allies understood that Assad was the real existential enemy. The recipe for gaining allies among the Sunni, therefore, includes pushing back on Assad and the Iranians. Yes, we will need some more troops on the ground in Syria. Thousands, not tens of thousands. They will face risks, as all our military does when defending our national security. And we will need to manage the concerns of our NATO ally Turkey, which has played both sides in the Syria conflict and neither wishes to enable Assad nor his Kurdish enemies who have so capably held Syrias north. Ankara will need assurances that the United States will support Syrias territorial integrity, as we have Iraqs. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will need to make a choice, and must know that the choice is between friendship with poor and oppressive regimes whose interests are deeply at odds with his own, or remaining a meaningful member of the strongest and wealthiest alliance in history. There is a way forward in Syria, and Donald Trump has more than once had the courage to stand up to those inside and outside his administration who have urged retreat. Russia will not go to war over Syria. Iran is much more invested in Assad than Russia, and likely to put up a determined resistance if we are not serious and committed. But with a strategy which consolidates and strengthens moderates who reject jihad and tyranny, and engages our Arab regional allies, we can help Syrians win back their nation and turn the tide once and for all against ISIS, Russia, and Iran in the Middle East. Until now, no leader has tried. A leader with vision can try and succeed. Gen. Jack Keane, a retired four-star general and former Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, is the chairman of the Institute for the Study of War. Danielle Pletka is the senior vice president for Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. The authors are grateful to Jennifer Cafarella of the Institute for the Study of War for her invaluable expertise. Image: Reuters Read full article By Steve Holland, Marine Pennetier and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday to seek stronger measures to contain Iran, but Trump refrained from committing to staying in a 2015 nuclear deal and threatened Tehran with retaliation if it restarted its nuclear program. At a news conference with Macron, the U.S. president kept up his blistering rhetoric against the nuclear accord between Iran and world powers that he says does not address Tehran's rising influence in the Middle East or its ballistic missile program. He called it insane, terrible and ridiculous. "This is a deal with decayed foundations," Trump said. "It's a bad deal. It's falling down." With a May 12 deadline looming for Trump to decide on restoring U.S. economic sanctions on Tehran, Macron said he spoke to Trump about a "new deal" in which the United States and Europe would tackle the outstanding concerns about Iran beyond its nuclear program. Macron is using a three-day state visit to the United States as a high-stakes bid to salvage the Iran nuclear deal, which many in the West see as the best hope of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb and heading off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Under Macron's proposal, the United States and Europe would agree to block any Iranian nuclear activity until 2025 and beyond, address Iran's ballistic missile program and generate conditions for a political solution to contain Iran in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. It was unclear whether Macron made substantial progress in his efforts to prevent Trump from pulling out of the 2015 deal, and Trump stressed there would be repercussions should Iran restart its nuclear program. "If Iran threatens us in any way, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid," Trump said. But Trump said: "We will have a great shot at doing a much bigger, 'maybe deal, maybe not' deal." The French believe progress had been made. "What was important and new this morning was that President Trump was OK with putting on the table, with France, the idea of a new agreement that should be proposed to, and worked on with, the Iranians," a French official said. It was unclear what that would mean for the fate of the 2015 accord and whether the other countries that signed it, such as China and Russia, would agree to new measures against Iran. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was expected to also make a case for the accord during a lower-key visit to the White House on Friday. A source familiar with the internal debate at the White House said one option under discussion was giving Europe more time to toughen the terms of the current Iran deal. Iran has said it will ramp up its nuclear program if the deal collapses and a senior Iranian official said Tehran might quit a treaty designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons if Trump scrapped the agreement. BACKSLAPPING Trump and Macron have developed a strong relationship at a time when many European leaders have kept a certain distance from Trump. "On both sides of the ocean some two years ago, very few would have bet on us being here together today," Macron told Trump in a toast at a glittering state dinner, Trump's first since he took office in January 2017. "I got to know you. You got to know me. We both know that none of us easily changes his mind," Macron said with a smile. Trump, 71, and Macron, 40, were remarkably chummy through the day, repeatedly shaking and grabbing each other's hands, exchanging kisses on the cheek and slapping each other's backs. At one point in the Oval Office, Trump brushed what he said was dandruff from Macron's jacket, saying: "We have to make him perfect - he is perfect." Macron hopes to leverage their friendship into progress on not only Iran but exempting Europe from steel tariffs, and protecting the 2016 Paris climate accord. Their talks also covered the U.S. presence in Syria weeks after the United States, France and Britain launched air strikes in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack blamed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Trump wants to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, believing Islamic State militants are largely defeated, but Macron and other allies argue they should stay to ensure militants do not resurface and to block Iran from strengthening its foothold. Trump made clear troops would not be withdrawn imminently. "We want to come home. We'll be coming home. But we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint," Trump said. The two leaders also discussed European calls for exemptions from Trump's plan for 25 percent tariffs on steel imports. BUSINESS AND STYLE Later on Tuesday, Trump hosted Macron at a formal candlelit dinner featuring spring lamb and New Orleans-style jambalaya before a performance by the Washington National Opera. More than 1,200 fragrant branches of cherry blossom filled the hall. First lady Melania Trump drew attention with a wide-brimmed white hat worn to welcome the Macrons. At the state dinner, she wore a black Chantilly lace Chanel haute couture gown, while Brigitte Macron wore Louis Vuitton. Chief executives in the room included Tim Cook of Apple, Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin, Fred Smith of FedEx and Ginni Rometty of IBM. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch attended, as did private equity executives Henry Kravis of KKR, David Rubenstein, co-founder of Carlyle Group, and Blackstone Groups Stephen Schwarzman. (Writing by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Doina Chiacu, Makini Brice and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney) Tehran (AFP) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani rejected any hopes of rewriting a nuclear deal with world powers Wednesday, while his French counterpart vowed to US lawmakers that everything would be done to stop Iran ever acquiring atomic weapons. In their different ways, Europe, Iran and Russia are all seeking to convince US President Donald Trump not to abandon the landmark 2015 deal that curbed Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump has called the existing accord "insane" and "ridiculous", in part because its restrictions start to expire in 2025. But addressing the US Congress at the end of his pomp-filled, three-day visit to Washington, French President Emmanuel Macron said: "Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons. Not now. Not in five years. Not in 10 years. Never." He has proposed an additional deal that extends Iran's nuclear restrictions while also curbing its ballistic missile programme and support for militias in the Middle East. In Iran, Rouhani took a more aggressive tack, reiterating that the Islamic republic would not accept any changes to the deal. "We have an agreement called the JCPOA," said Rouhani in a fiery speech, using its technical name. "It will either last or not. If the JCPOA stays, it stays in full." From Europe, a host of voices have urged Trump to build on the deal, rather than tear it up. "There is one deal existing, it's working, it needs to be preserved," said EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini. Moscow also reiterated its support, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters: "We believe that no alternative exists so far" to the nuclear deal, and demanding that Iran be involved in any further discussions. The next to press the point will be German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she visits Washington on Friday. "The biggest priority is maintaining the existing nuclear accord. It was negotiated by seven countries and the EU and can't be renegotiated by one or other party," said German foreign spokesman Rainer Breul. Story continues "President Macron... spoke of the need for supplementary agreements. The question is whether, and in what circumstances, Iran would be ready to enter into such a process," he added. - 'A high-rise builder' - Rouhani's speech was particularly fiery, ridiculing Trump as "a trader, a businessman, a high-rise builder, how can he judge about global issues? "You have no expertise in politics, nor in law, nor in international accords," he said. Iran has the support of all other parties to the accord, who say it is working and Tehran has stuck to its commitments. Macron, who has built a warm rapport with Trump, has positioned himself as an emissary for European officials seeking a compromise that allows the mercurial US president to claim a public victory, while keeping the deal intact. But for now, even Macron had to admit he could not read whether Trump would simply walk away from the existing deal when the renewal deadline arrives on May 12. True to his background in reality TV, Trump has kept everyone guessing. "This is a deal with decayed foundations," he said. "We're going to see what happens on the 12th." Iran has warned it will ramp up enrichment if Trump scraps the accord, prompting a blunt warning from the US leader. "They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before. And you can mark it down," Trump said. The proposal that Macron put forward to his US counterpart involves preserving the existing agreement on the first of "four pillars" of a future deal. The others would address the period after 2025, when certain clauses concerning nuclear activities will sunset; Tehran's highly controversial ballistic missile program; and its "destabilizing" role in the region. "For me it's progress, it avoids falling into the complete unknown if the US decision is a hard exit," said Macron, who confirmed that the proposal was a strategy coordinated with European partners and not a unilateral one. Some hawkish American officials argue that the Europeans, particularly Germany, oppose a tougher stance against Iran to safeguard their business interests there. That is sharply rejected by European officials, who are increasingly frustrated at spending time handling Trump's complaints rather than focusing on the deepening crises of the Middle East. The disagreement threatens to plunge transatlantic relations to their lowest point since the Iraq war, despite the lavish welcome Trump put on for Macron's state visit. And meanwhile, Western countries have found themselves increasingly sidelined from issues such as the Syrian war -- underlined again on Wednesday when Iran, Russia and Turkey announced a new summit to discuss the conflict this Saturday in Moscow. burs-er/dv/ceb The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) is highlighting the importance of prioritising health and safety, during its participation in the EmiratesSkills 2018 National Competition, being held in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The event which opened on April 23, will conclude later today (April 25), at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. ENEC is the official Health and Safety sponsor and exhibitor, emphasising the importance of establishing a strong culture of safety in everyday life as well as in the workplace, said a statement. Around 600 UAE nationals are competing in the 2018 edition of the EmiratesSkills National Competition, which is held under the patronage of HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation and the head of the General Womens Union, it said. Participants will demonstrate their skills in 30 different categories in the fields of craftsmanship and technology, by challenging their peers based on the standards and criteria set out by WorldSkills International, it added. Enec is participating in EmiratesSkills with an interactive display stand, where attendees and participants will be able to learn about the strategic importance of the UAE Peaceful Nuclear Energy Program. Enec and its operating subsidiary Nawah Energy Company will demonstrate how the construction and commissioning of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant are being done in accordance with the highest global standards of quality and safety. Enec will also promote the Higher Diploma in Nuclear Technology (HDNT) programme scholarships to develop qualified and reliable UAE professionals who will lead the nuclear energy industry, and contribute to the transformation of the UAE into a knowledge-based economy, in line with the Abu Dhabi Plan. Since its inception in 2009, Enec has focused on the safe delivery of the UAE Peaceful Nuclear Energy Program. The four units of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Program will deliver approximately 25 per cent of the UAE electricity requirements, providing clean, efficient and reliable electricity to the UAE grid while saving up to 21 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year, equivalent to removing 3.2 million sedan cars from the roads, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Paris (AFP) - Press freedom around the world is under threat from a triple whammy of US President Donald Trump, Russia and China's bid to crush all dissent, a watchdog said Wednesday. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned that a "climate of hatred and animosity" towards journalists combined with growing attempts to control the media pose a "threat to democracies". Its annual report said that reporters were the target of a growing wave of authoritarianism with leaders whipping up hostility against them. The group accused the world's three superpowers -- the US, China and Russia -- of leading the charge against press freedom, with Trump regularly launching personal attacks on reporters and Beijing exporting its "media control model" to strangle dissent elsewhere in Asia. The slide towards "strongman" and populist politics in Europe, stoked by Moscow, was threatening freedoms in the region where they were once safest, it added, with Hungary, Slovakia and Poland setting off alarm bells. Czech President Milos Zeman turned up at a press conference with a fake Kalashnikov inscribed with the words "for journalists" while Slovakia's former leader Robert Fico called journalists "filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes" and "idiotic hyenas". "The unleashing of hatred towards journalists is dangerous and a threat to democracy," RSF chief Christophe Deloire told AFP. "Political leaders who fuel loathing for reporters... undermine the concept of public debate based on facts instead of propaganda. To dispute the legitimacy of journalism today is to play with extremely dangerous political fire," he added. - China's 'oppressive' order - RSF said that hostility towards the media is "no longer confined to authoritarian countries such as Turkey and Egypt", but was poisoning the political atmosphere in some of the great democracies. Story continues "More and more democratically elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracy's essential underpinning, but as an adversary to which they openly display their aversion," the report said, picking out Trump, India's Narendra Modi and Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte for particular criticism. The US president had referred to reporters as "enemies of the people", a term once used by Stalin, it said. RSF accused Vladimir Putins Russia of "stifling independent voices at home and extending its propaganda network by means of media outlets such as RT (Russian Today) and Sputnik." It had even harsher words for Beijing, saying "Xi Jinping's China is getting closer and closer to a contemporary version of totalitarianism. "Censorship and surveillance reached unprecedented levels thanks to the massive use of new technology" in his first term in office, the report said. Now the Chinese government "is trying to establish a 'new world media order' under its influence, by exporting its oppressive methods, information censorship system and Internet surveillance tools," it added. "Its unabashed desire to crush all pockets of public resistance unfortunately has imitators in Asia," the RSF said, condemning Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's "ruthless offensive" against the media. It said Beijing's influence and tactics were also being felt in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. - Turkey falls further - Turkey -- the world's biggest jailer of journalists -- has fallen into the most repressive 25 countries in the world. The watchdog said that "media-phobia" there is now so pronounced that journalists are routinely accused of terrorism and "those who don't offer loyalty are arbitrarily imprisoned." North Korea remains the most repressive country on Earth closely followed by Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Syria and then China. Saudi Arabia, Bahrein, Vietnam, Sudan and Cuba also remain among the worst offenders, according to the RSF ranking of 180 countries. Malta tumbled 18 places to 65 after the assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. But not all the news was bad. Ecuador jumped 13 places after tensions eased between the government and privately-owned media, while Justin Trudeau's Canada entered the European-dominated top 20. Jamaica climbed to eighth overall, above Belgium and New Zealand, and Gambia jumped 21 places -- the biggest rise in Africa -- just ahead of Angola and Zimbabwe. The departure of the three African countries' "predatory presidents" was the main reason for their improved performance, the RSF said. As usual, Scandinavian countries topped the list with Norway deemed as having the world's freest press for the second year in a row. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "very honorable" and said he thinks a meeting with the dictator will happen "as soon as possible." "He really has been very open and, I think, very honorable from everything we're seeing," Trump told a group of reporters during a brief question-and-answer period at the White House with French President Emmanuel Macron. "A lot of promises have been made by North Korea over the years, but they've never been in this position. We have been very, very tough on maximum pressure, we've been very tough on trade..." Trump added that he would be forceful during the planned meeting with North Korea, which is supposed to happen in late May or early June, and would be prepared to walk away. Trending: The Devil and Father Amorth Review: New Documentary from The Exorcist Director Isnt as Fun as Pea Soup Vomit "I will leave the table," he said. "But I think we have the chance to do something very special." In a break from previous administrations, Trump is attempting to negotiate with the dictator and convince him to end his fledgling nuclear program. Both Trump and the North Korean leader have traded barbs in the past, with Trump calling Kim a "lil' Rocket Man" and a "sick puppy." In turn, Kim reportedly called Trump "mentally deranged" and a "dotard." "Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!" Trump tweeted in September, referring to numerous reports of abuses inflicted on the North Korean people by the government. Don't miss: Splatoon 2 Update: X Rank, New Gear and Everything Included in Version 3.0 Trump has previously said that no sanctions will be lifted until "concrete actions" have been made in the path to denuclearization. Kim has pledged to suspend nuclear and missile tests ahead of the meeting. Story continues Despite the apparent signs of progress, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday cautioned that theres still a long way to go in negotiating with Kim. Most popular: Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty for Man Who Said He Has 'No Remorse' for Killing Deputy "Look, were not naive in this process," she said at the White House press briefing. "We've seen some steps in the right direction but we have a long way to go. GettyImages-837567644 Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek (Updates with more details) By Steve Holland and Marine Pennetier WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday to seek stronger measures to contain Iran but Trump refrained from committing to staying in a 2015 nuclear deal and threatened Tehran with retaliation if it restarted its nuclear program. At a joint news conference with Macron, Trump kept up his blistering rhetoric against the nuclear accord between Iran and world powers that the U.S. president says does not address Tehran's rising influence in the Middle East or its ballistic missile program. He called it insane, terrible and ridiculous. "This is a deal with decayed foundations," Trump said. "It's a bad deal. It's falling down." With a May 12 deadline looming for Trump to decide on restoring U.S. economic sanctions on Tehran, Macron said he spoke to Trump about a "new deal" in which the United States and Europe would address the outstanding concerns about Iran beyond its nuclear program. Macron is using a three-day state visit to the United States, in a high-stakes bid to salvage the Iran nuclear deal, which many in the West see as the best hope of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb and heading off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Under Macron's proposal, the United States and Europe would agree to block any Iranian nuclear activity until 2025 and beyond, address Iran's ballistic missile program and generate conditions for a political solution to contain Iran in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. It was unclear whether Macron made substantial progress in his efforts to prevent Trump from pulling out of the 2015 deal, and Trump stressed there would be repercussions should Iran restart its nuclear program. "If Iran threatens us in any way, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid," Trump said. But Trump said, "We will have a great shot at doing a much bigger, 'maybe deal, maybe not' deal." The French believe progress had been made. Story continues What was important and new this morning was that President Trump was OK with putting on the table, with France, the idea of a new agreement that should be proposed to and worked on with the Iranians," a French official said. It was unclear what this would mean for the fate of the 2015 accord and whether the other countries such as China and Russia that signed it would agree to any new measures against Iran. A source familiar with the internal debate at the White House said one option under discussion was giving Europe more time to toughen the current Iran deal's terms. Iran has said it will ramp up its nuclear program if the deal collapses and a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday that Tehran might quit a treaty designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons if Trump scraps the agreement. BACK SLAPPING Trump and Macron have developed a remarkably strong relationship at a time when many European leaders have kept a certain distance from Trump. On Tuesday evening, the Trumps are to host the Macrons at the first state dinner conducted by Trump since he took power in January, 2017. Macron's visit will be followed by one on Friday from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Trump, 71, and Macron, 40, were remarkably chummy, repeatedly shaking hands, slapping each other's backs and extolling each other's friendship. At one point Trump brushed dandruff from Macron's suit coat, saying: "We have to make him perfect -- he is perfect. Macron hopes to leverage their friendship into progress on not only Iran but exempting Europe from steel tariffs, and protecting the 2016 Paris climate accord. Their talks also covered the U.S. presence in Syria weeks after the United States, France and Britain launched airstrikes in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack blamed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Trump wants to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, believing Islamic State militants are largely defeated, but Macron and other allies argue they should stay to ensure militants do not resurface and to block Iran from strengthening its foothold there. Macron urged Trump to keep U.S. forces in Syria for the time being. Trump did not promise to leave the troops in Syria but made clear they would not be withdrawn imminently. "We want to come home. We'll be coming home. But we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint," Trump said. The two leaders also discussed European calls for exemptions from Trump's plan for 25 percent tariffs on steel imports. Trump said chronic trade deficits with U.S. allies around the world are "unacceptable." (Writing by Steve Holland Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Doina Chiacu, Makini Brice and Roberta Rampton Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Alistair Bell) Silivri (Turkey) (AFP) - Defence lawyers for journalists from one of Turkey's biggest opposition newspapers on Wednesday called for their acquittal of terror-related charges in a case condemned by critics as an attack on press freedom. The closing defence arguments for seventeen journalists, lawyers and executives from Cumhuriyet, Turkey's oldest daily, were made at the courthouse in Silivri on the outskirts of Istanbul. A final verdict is due to be delivered shortly. The controversial case has raised alarm bells over the state of press freedom in Turkey as Cumhuriyet is one of the country's few newspapers to have been deeply critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The paper's chairman, Akin Atalay, has already been in jail for more than 500 days, but other members of the paper's staff have been gradually released during the trial. Kadri Gursel, a veteran journalist and columnist released last year after 11 months in jail, told the court that "journalism has been put on trial". "We will walk away from here with our heads high and continue to do journalism no matter how hard it is to do so in an environment deprived of law and democracy." "I demand acquittal for myself and my colleagues," Gursel added. All defendants are charged with supporting, through their coverage, organisations that Turkey views as terror groups -- the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the ultra-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front. They are also accused of supporting a movement led by Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen which Ankara blames for the failed 2016 coup. If convicted, they could face sentences of up to 15 years in prison. Supporters of the accused have repeatedly said the charges against the journalists are absurd and that the trial is political, noting that the outlawed groups cited in the indictment are themselves at odds with each other. "You don't have an easy job because you will decide based on empty dossiers," Gursel told the judge, describing the indictment as "rotten". Story continues Cumhuriyet's editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, who was released in March pending the conclusion of the trial, said journalism was not a crime. "We only did journalism and will continue to do so under all circumstances." "Accusation is not a proof," said defence lawyer Fikret Ilkiz, referring to the indictment, earlier in the hearing. "Journalists are accused of doing journalism in this case. The presence of Cumhuriyet newspaper is seen as a crime," he said, demanding acquittal of all the defendants. According to the P24 press freedom group, there are 165 journalists behind bars in Turkey, most of whom were arrested under the state of emergency imposed after the coup attempt on July 15, 2016. (Reuters) - Two Dallas police officers were shot and critically wounded on Tuesday at a Home Depot Inc store and a civilian was also shot in the incident, Dallas police said on Twitter. Officials were searching for a suspect, according to the local CBS affiliate. Live television footage from the local Fox affiliate, KDFW, showed several police cars outside the Home Depot store. Police said they did not know the condition of the civilian. One of the officers was taken to a local hospital, the CBS station said. (Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago; Editing by Scott Malone) (Reuters) - A suspect was arrested on Tuesday after two Dallas police officers were shot and critically wounded at a Home Depot Inc store and a civilian was also shot in the incident, police said. Armando Juarez, 29 was arrested and being held on multiple counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall said during a news conference. Juarez, who was also wanted on a felony theft warrant, was taken into custody after a five-hour man hunt that included a high speed vehicle chase, police said on Twitter. A woman was also taken into custody, Hall said. She was not identified. At about 4:15 p.m. local time, an off-duty officer working at the store detained a man and called for help, Hall said. The man had a handgun and shot two responding officers and a store loss-prevention officer, the Dallas Morning News reported. Dallas police "have taken a punch and come out fighting," Mayor Mike Rawlings told a news conference. "We got our man." The city did not intend at this time to release the names of the officers or their medical status at the hospital because that would be inconsiderate to the families, the mayor said. "Once again, Dallas is at the precipice, looking into the hell of heartbreak as our police department was attacked this afternoon," Rawlings said at a news conference. Five police officers in Dallas were killed by a sniper in 2016 in an attack that sent shockwaves through the city and nation. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago and Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Michael Perry) By Sarah N. Lynch and Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Questions about President Donald Trump and the investigation into whether his 2016 election campaign colluded with Russia overshadowed a Senate hearing on Wednesday with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has been a frequent target of Trump's wrath. Sessions was the sole witness at the hearing on the Justice Department's proposed 2019 budget, where Democrats repeatedly drew the spotlight to the Russia probe. In ways that could keep Trump's fury in check, Sessions delicately navigated questions on recusals, pardons and even the possible firing of high-ranking officials. Sessions would not say if he had recused himself, or would, from an ongoing criminal investigation into Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen or if he would consider resigning in protest should Trump decide to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia probe. He did risk irking his boss when he said he had full confidence in Rosenstein. Trump has frequently railed against Sessions, saying he regretted tapping him as the country's top lawyer because of Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. The president has also openly targeted other officials, including Mueller, and labeled the Russia investigation a "witch hunt." "That calls for a speculative answer," Sessions told Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, when asked if he would resign if either Rosenstein and Mueller was fired. "I am not able to do that." When asked later for his legal opinion about the open question of whether Trump had the power to dismiss Mueller, Sessions said he was recused from answering. Sessions declined to discuss any possible recusal in the Cohen probe, because that could lead to confirming or denying an investigation. The department has strict prohibitions against publicly discussing investigations. "I have sought advice on those matters. I have not met with the top ethics person on it, but I can assure you I have not violated my recusal," he said. The FBI raided Cohen's home and office earlier this month, partly on a referral from the special counsel, sending Trump to Twitter to bash the probe and department. Trump's unorthodox attacks have prompted some critics to worry about to the independence of Justice Department investigations. The hearing touched on almost every budget line for the department, from databases to immigration policy, frequently forcing Sessions to defend the Trump administration. In one combative exchange with Democrat Chris Van Hollen, Sessions backed Trump's decision to pardon former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Lewis "Scooter" Libby, an adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney, without consulting Justice Department experts. In the same exchange, he attacked former President Bill Clinton for similar pardons. "The pardons President Clinton made were stunning, shocking and unacceptable on the merits," Sessions said. "Arpaio was 80-something years of age and he was convicted of a misdemeanor." (Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Leslie Adler and Peter Cooney) By Valerie Volcovici and Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule on Tuesday that would limit the kinds of scientific research it can use in crafting regulations, an apparent concession to big business that has long requested such restrictions. Under the new proposals, the EPA will no longer be able to rely on scientific research that is underpinned by confidential medical and industry data. The measure was billed by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt as a way to boost transparency for the benefit of the industries his agency regulates. But scientists and former EPA officials worry it will hamstring the agency's ability to protect public health by putting key data off limits. "The science that we use is going to be transparent, it's going to be reproducible," Pruitt told a gathering at the EPA. "It's going to be able to be analyzed by those in the marketplace, and those that watch what we do can make informed decisions about whether we've drawn the proper conclusions or not," said Pruitt, who has been pursuing President Donald Trump's mission to ease the regulatory burden on business. The EPA has for decades relied on scientific research that is rooted in confidential medical and industry data as a basis for its air, water and chemicals rules. While it publishes enormous amounts of research and data to the public, the confidential material is held back. Business interests have argued the practice is tantamount to writing laws behind closed doors and unfairly prevents them from vetting the research underpinning the EPA's often costly regulatory requirements. They argue that if the data cannot be published, the rules should not be adopted. But ex-EPA officials say the practice is vital. "Other government agencies also use studies like these to develop policy and regulations, and to buttress and defend rules against legal challenges. They are, in fact, essential to making sound public policy," former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and former assistant administrator for air and water Janet McCabe wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times last month. The new policy would be based on proposed legislation spearheaded by the chairman of the House of Representatives Science Committee, Lamar Smith, a Republican who rejects mainstream climate change science. Emails obtained through a public records request last week showed that Smith and his staff met with Pruitt's staff in recent months to craft the policy. Those emails also showed that Pruitt's staff grappled with the possibility the policy would complicate the chemicals industry, which submits reams of confidential data to EPA regulatory programs. Pruitt's proposal "ensures that data will be secret no more," Smith said in remarks introducing Pruitt at the EPA gathering. "For too long the EPA has issued rules and regulations based on data that has been withheld from the American people." But a letter signed by 985 scientists on Monday said the proposal would "greatly weaken" the agency's ability to consider all the scientific information needed to form rules and implored Pruitt not to go through with the restrictions. The proposal will be open for a 30-day comment period and would have to be finalized before entering into force. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Leslie Adler and Rosalba O'Brien) By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States is not seeking to reopen or renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal but hopes to stay in it to fix its flaws with a supplementary agreement, U.S. non-proliferation envoy Christopher Ford said on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday to seek stronger measures to contain Iran, but Trump refrained from committing to staying in the 2015 nuclear deal and threatened Tehran with retaliation if it restarted its nuclear program. "We are not aiming to renegotiate the JCPOA (nuclear deal) or reopen it or change its terms," Ford told reporters on the sidelines of a nuclear non-proliferation conference in Geneva. "We are seeking a supplemental agreement that would in some fashion layer upon it a series of additional rules - restrictions, terms, parameters, whatever you want to call it - that help answer these challenges more effectively." Macron said he spoke to Trump about a "new deal" in which the United States and Europe would tackle the outstanding concerns about Iran beyond its nuclear program. "If we were able to meet that challenge of bringing our partners together ... President Trump made it clear that his decision not to renew the sanctions waivers would be revised, and that is where I hope we are now today," Ford said. Asked if Macron had saved the JCPOA in talks with Trump, Ford said: "I hope the JCPOA has been saved in the context of the challenge that President Trump set for us, of trying to remain within the deal but in the context of moving forward with our partners on an approach that stands a pretty good chance of turning what was in effect a temporary postponement ... into a more enduring answer." Some diplomats have expressed concern that reopening the Iran deal could undermine Trump's talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which Trump has said could take place in May or June. But Ford said fixing the flaws in the Iran nuclear agreement would provide a model for other deals, including one with North Korea, which should aim for complete, irreversible and verifiable dismantlement of any nuclear threat. "They (the North Koreans) have given us very hopeful and interesting signs that it may be possible to negotiate towards that end. We are determined to pursue that as best we can and make sure we have an enduring solution ... in ways we think the JCPOA did not do," Ford said. (Reporting by Tom Miles, Editing by Catherine Evans, Editing by William Maclean) By Andrew Chung WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday gave its stamp of approval to a government review process prized by high technology companies as an easy and cheap way to combat "patent trolls" and others that bring patent infringement lawsuits. The justices ruled 7-2 that a type of in-house patent review at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not violate a defendant's right under the U.S. Constitution to have a case adjudicated by a federal court and jury. The court ruled against Oil States International Inc , a Houston-based oilfield services company that had challenged the legality of the process, called inter partes review (IPR). Justices John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the decision authored by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas. While the ruling gave Silicon Valley reason to celebrate, it displeased name-brand drugmakers, which had called the IPR process a threat to innovation. Firms dubbed "patent trolls" have a business model based on suing other companies over patents rather than actually making products. The U.S. Congress created the reviews in 2011 to handle the perceived high number of flimsy patents issued by the patent office in prior years. Since then, the agency's Patent Trial and Appeal Board has cancelled all or part of a patent in about 80 percent of its final decisions. In 2015, it cancelled an Oil States patent on protecting wellhead equipment after an IPR proceeding. These reviews have been especially popular with companies like Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS> frequently hit with patent infringement suits. But pharmaceutical companies like AbbVie Inc , Allergan plc and Celgene Corp called for scrapping the IPR system. Oil States argued that patents are private property that may be the revoked only by a federal court, where the standard for cancelling a patent is higher than in the review proceedings. Story continues Thomas, writing for the court, called the IPR process an extension of the Patent and Trademark Office's decision to grant a patent. 'SIMPLY A RECONSIDERATION' "Inter partes review is simply a reconsideration of that grant, and Congress has permissibly reserved the PTO's authority to conduct that reconsideration," Thomas wrote. Though it upheld the IPR process, the court in a separate 5-4 ruling on Tuesday faulted one aspect of how the reviews are carried out. The justices ruled that when several parts of a patent are challenged, the patent office does not have the discretion to review only some of them. Patent office spokesman Paul Fucito said his agency is "carefully considering" Tuesday's rulings and determining their impact on proceedings before its administrative tribunal that conducts the reviews. More than 30 appeals raising similar questions piled up at the Supreme Court while the justices were preparing to decide the Oil States case, underscoring the continuing impact of these reviews across industries. A ruling striking down the reviews could have diverted the bulk of patent disputes back to federal courts, where litigation is more drawn out and expensive. A patent office review costs about $350,000 to litigate fully, whereas in district court it could be $3 million, according to Apple. The case began when an Oil States subsidiary sued in 2012 claiming Houston-based rival Greene's Energy Group infringed its patent for use in the hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of oil wells. Greene's responded by filing an inter partes review. The patent office tribunal later cancelled key parts of the patent. A federal appeals court upheld that decision in 2016. Backed by the President Donald Trump's administration, Greene's Energy also had the support of large technology firms including Alphabet's Google and Intel Corp. (Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham) Toyota Motor Corporation recently announced that it reached a landmark milestone in annual sales of electrified powertrains in 2017, with over 1.52 million sold worldwide as of February 2, surpassing the prior record set in 2016 by 8 per cent. The numerical milestone marks back-to-back years of growth and the accomplishment of one of Toyotas Environmental Challenge 2050 goals, selling more than 1.5 million electrified vehicles in a single year, three years in advance of the original target set for 2020, said a statement. Additionally, cumulative sales of electrified vehicles now exceed 11.47 million, which represents a reduction of more than 90 million tonnes of CO2 compared to sales of equivalent conventional vehicles, it said. Yugo Miyamoto, chief representative of the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) representative office, Toyota Motor Corporation, said: We are excited to achieve this significant milestone, which reinforces our commitment to tackling environmental challenges. Toyota has the competitive expertise and know-how in the core technologies of electrification, thanks to its experience in developing, producing, and improving major electrified components and many years of collecting feedback from markets around the world, he said. We are deeply grateful to our customers in the Mena region for being an integral part of our journey of success, and for continuously extending their support towards our commitment to ?environmental sustainability, he added. Since the introduction of its first commercially available electrified powertrain on the Prius in Japan in 1997, Toyota has worked on improving the technology as the basis for its electrification efforts, having launched the first mass-produced Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV), the Mirai, in 2014, the fourth generation of the Prius hybrid electric vehicle in 2016, and the second-generation Prius Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) in 2017. The company will continue the development and diversification of electrified vehicles as it now turns its sights to include the mass production of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) from 2020. Toyota also aims to further expand sales of Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) in emerging markets to further contribute to lowering CO2 from new vehicles sales worldwide. The efforts to improve and increase the diversity of electrified powertrain options is tied directly to Toyota's Environmental Challenge 2050, wherein the Company aims to achieve annual electrified vehicle sales of 5.5 million units by 2030, as announced in December 2017. To achieve its goal, Toyota unveiled plans to have 10 BEV models available worldwide by the early 2020s, and by approximately 2025, the company aims to have an electrified version available for all vehicle models across its global lineup. Nadim Haddad, general manager, Markazia, said: We are encouraged by the promising results achieved in 2017, and look forward to further growth in years to come. Hybrid electric vehicles are our focus moving forward, as we believe they are the way of the future. They are both economically and environmentally friendly, benefitting drivers as well as the community at large. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers for their loyalty and commitment to a greener Kingdom moving forward, he added. TradeArabia News Service By Jason Szep, Matt Spetalnick and Zeba Siddiqui WASHINGTON/COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - The U.S. government is conducting an intensive examination of alleged atrocities against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, documenting accusations of murder, rape, beatings and other possible offenses in an investigation that could be used to prosecute Myanmar's military for crimes against humanity, U.S. officials told Reuters. The undertaking, led by the State Department, has involved more than a thousand interviews of Rohingya men and women in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, where almost 700,000 Rohingya have fled after a military crackdown last year in Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine State, two U.S. officials said. The work is modeled on a U.S. forensic investigation of mass atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region in 2004, which led to a U.S. declaration of genocide that culminated in economic sanctions against the Sudanese government. The interviews were conducted in March and April by about 20 investigators with backgrounds in international law and criminal justice, including some who worked on tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, the U.S. officials said. The information will be analyzed in Washington and documented in a report to be sent to the State Department's leadership in May or early June, the officials said. It's unclear whether the Trump administration will publicly release the findings, or whether they will be used to justify new sanctions on the Myanmar government or a recommendation for international prosecution. "The purpose of this investigation is to contribute to justice processes, including community awareness raising, international advocacy efforts, and community-based reconciliation efforts, as well as possible investigations, truth-seeking efforts, or other efforts for justice and accountability," said a document used by the investigators in the sprawling refugee camps and reviewed by Reuters. Three U.S. officials in Washington and several people involved in the investigation on the ground in Bangladesh disclosed details of the fact-finding operation to Reuters. A State Department official, asked to confirm the specifics of the investigation conducted in the refugee camps as reported by Reuters, said "the program details are accurate." The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. government was using all available information and a wide range of tools, but added: "We cannot get ahead of the deliberative, policymaking process." As of publication, the Myanmar government and military had not responded to questions from Reuters. Myanmar has said its operations in Rakhine were a legitimate response to attacks on security forces by Rohingya insurgents. The interviewers in the camps asked the refugees basic demographic questions, the date the person left Myanmar, and to recount their experiences during the wave of violence unleashed against the Rohingya in Rakhine State by the Myanmar military and local Buddhist residents. The investigators also asked refugees to describe the battalions and weaponry used by the Myanmar military in Rakhine State during operations against the Rohingya, said one person involved with the investigation in the camps, which are located in the Cox's Bazar district in southern Bangladesh. The investigators have received names of individual perpetrators and the identities of specific battalions allegedly involved, this person said. A second person involved in the project on the ground said 1,025 refugees have been interviewed and the assignment may include a second phase focused on military units. Zohra Khatun, 35, a Rohingya refugee in the camps, said she told investigators that soldiers waged a campaign of violence and harassment in her village in Rakhine State starting last August. They made arrests and shot several people, driving her and others to flee, she said. "One military officer grabbed me by the throat and tried to take me," she told Reuters, clutching her shirt collar to demonstrate. The military, she said, burned homes in the village, including hers. The investigation coincides with a debate inside the U.S. government and on Capitol Hill over whether the Trump administration has done enough to hold Myanmar's military to account for brutal violence against the largely stateless Rohingya. The Rohingya are a small Muslim minority in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. Though they have been present in what's now Myanmar for generations, many Burmese consider them to be interlopers. Violence against them has increased in recent years as the country has made a partial shift to democratic governance. In November, following the lead of the United Nations and the European Union, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared that the Rohingya crisis constituted "ethnic cleansing," a designation that raised the possibility of additional sanctions against Myanmar's military commanders and increased pressure on its civilian leader, Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The Myanmar government has denied the accusations. The United States responded in December by imposing targeted sanctions on one Myanmar general and threatening to penalize others. Washington has also scaled back already-limited military ties with Myanmar since the Rohingya crisis began. Human rights groups and Democratic lawmakers in Washington have urged the Republican White House to widen sanctions and designate the violence as "crimes against humanity," a legal term that can set the stage for charges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. "No decisions have been made on that front, but it's something being looked at very carefully," a senior Trump administration official told Reuters. A Reuters investigation published in February provided the first independent confirmation of what had taken place in the village of Inn Din, where 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys were hacked to death by Rakhine Buddhist villagers or shot by security force members. The story was based on accounts not only from Rohingya refugees but also from soldiers, police officers and Buddhist locals who admitted to participating in the bloodshed. Pictures obtained by Reuters showed the men and boys with their hands tied behind their backs and their bodies in a shallow grave. Two Reuters journalists were jailed while reporting the story and remain in prison in Yangon, where they face up to 14 years in jail on possible charges of violating Myanmar's Official Secrets Act. So far, there has been resistance by lawyers in the White House and State Department to adopt the terms "crimes against humanity" or "genocide" in describing deaths of Rohingya in Myanmar, the U.S. officials said. The State Department itself has been divided over how to characterize or interpret the violence against the Rohingya, the officials said. The East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, staffed largely by career diplomats and representing the view of the embassy in Myanmar, has held at times "to a success narrative" on Myanmar since the lifting of sanctions was announced in October 2016 and the strong public role played by the U.S. government in the historic 2012 opening of the country after decades of military rule, one official said. Diplomats in Yangon have also been reluctant to jeopardize Washington's relationship with Suu Kyi, a democratic icon who has faced criticism for failing to do more to rein in the violence against the Rohingya. Some senior U.S. officials still believe Suu Kyi remains the best hope for a more democratic Myanmar, one official said. "They are reluctant to upset that relationship." That contrasts with the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, based in Washington, which has pushed for tougher sanctions, the officials said. Bridging that gap has been made more difficult because the State Department under President Donald Trump has yet to fill many important diplomatic positions, the officials said. Officials described the process in the refugee camps of documenting the abuses as rigorous. Each interview was coded with key words according to the alleged crime, such as killing, rape, sexual violence and lynching. Different categories of alleged perpetrator also have codes from civilians to insurgents, Myanmar military personnel and police. "After the 1,000 interviews and statistical analysis, we can draw certain conclusions about the perpetrators of crime and patterns of crime," one official said. The official said one possible result from the documentation of abuses against the Rohingya could be a vote by the United Nations General Assembly to establish an international body to investigate the most serious crimes committed against the Rohingya, similar to what it's done with Syria. The State Department did not respond to questions about divisions within the administration over how to characterize the violence and criticism that the administration was too slow in acting to halt abuses. Subiya Khatun, 29, who fled her Rakhine home in September and reported seeing three dead bodies in a canal on her way to the Bangladesh border, said she hoped for justice and a safe return to Myanmar. "They said they have come from America. 'This investigation will be used for your help,'" she said she was told by the people who interviewed her in the camps. "If Allah wishes, we will get justice and our demands will be fulfilled." (Additional reporting by Clare Baldwin in Cox's Bazar. Edited by Peter Hirschberg.) BRUSSELS, April 24 (Reuters) - The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, stressed on Tuesday the latest territorial gains in the war by Damascus and its allies do not bring peace any closer in the country. De Mistura spoke at an international donor conference on Syria hosted by the European Union in Brussels. "We're seeing in last few weeks, days... that military gains, territorial gains and military escalation does not bring a political solution, has not brought any change. On the contrary," he told a joint news conference with the EU's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini. Mogherini also said it was crucial to restart the U.N.-led talks to end the war that is now in its eight year. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, Robert-Jan Bartunek) Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump's effort to ban immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries heads to the Supreme Court Wednesday, which will decide if his argument asserting national security interests was tainted by religious bias. The case, known as Trump v. Hawaii, will address the president's broad powers to set immigration policy, which the administration says permit Trump's travel ban, one of his hallmark policies since taking office in January 2017. Legal experts say the court is usually loathe to rule on executive powers. But the travel ban's focus on Muslim countries has left Trump the target of allegations that it violates constitutional religious protections, which led lower courts, including the federal court in Hawaii, to rule it illegal. "This case has everything: weighty constitutional issues, complex statutory questions, and a fight over whether there are any real limits on a presidents power to control immigration," said Cornell University law professor Stephen Yale-Loehr. "Whichever way the court rules, the decision will have profound implications for Americans, immigrants, and the president." - Muslim ban promise - One of Trump's first acts upon entering office in January 2017 was to announce a 90 day ban on travelers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The sudden move caused chaos at airports, with people unable to enter despite holding visas, and some families sent back to their homelands. Tens of thousands of legal visas were revoked. The order was made on national security grounds -- purportedly to protect the country from terror attacks -- and officials said the time limit would allow for a review and improvement of immigration vetting in those countries. But critics alleged in court, successfully, that it essentially targeted Muslims. They noted that during the election the previous year Trump repeatedly attacked the Muslim immigrants, whom he said "don't assimilate" and "hate us." Story continues And his campaign website stated that Trump "is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." Lower courts ruled that Trump's ban was illegal because of what they called an implicit bias against Muslims, violating the US Constitution. The ban was reissued twice, each time with adjustments aiming to get around such rulings. The So-called Version 3.0 in September was open-ended and changed the countries. It included Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Syria and added Chad, another predominantly Muslim country. It also included North Korea and certain officials from Venezuela. Those additions, rights groups said, were cosmetic: North Koreans were already essentially blocked from the United States, and economic sanctions have limited Venezuelan officials from coming. Lower courts again blocked Version 3.0, but the administration has successfully brought its appeal to the highest court, persuading the court to allow implementation while it reviews the case. That has made it impossible for family members, businessmen and students from those countries to come to the United States even if they have been cleared by security reviews. - 'Legally unworkable orders' - Normally the court should review the specifics of just the third travel ban version. But lawyers say it cannot ignore the haphazard issuance of the first two versions and the ties to trump's election promises and anti-Muslim statements. "The court should take note of the breakdown of internal norms and legal processes within the executive branch that have led to a series of legally unworkable orders in the administration's first year -- as well as the president's long public record of animus against the minority groups affected by those policies," said lawyers W. Neil Eggleston and Amanda Elbogen in an analysis on Just Security. Nevertheless, Trump's case could be bolstered by the lifting of the ban on travelers from Chad on April 10. The government announced that the country had cleared up questions on immigrant vetting -- suggesting that the security issue, and not Muslims, is behind the ban. By Vivian Sequera and Francisco Aguilar SOCOPO, Venezuela (Reuters) - It is mid-morning on a weekday yet all that can be heard in the once-bustling corridors of the Orlando Garcia state primary school is the swish of palm trees outside in the wind. The white, tin-roof building in the town of Socopo once held nearly 400 children, yet closed two months ago in a protest by teachers and parents at low salaries and lack of school lunches. Nearly 3 million children are missing some or all classes in Venezuela, according to a study by universities, in a depressing knock-on from a deepening economic crisis that could cause long-lasting damage to the South American country. Venezuela has about 8 million school children in total, and free education was a cornerstone of ex-President Hugo Chavez's 1999-2013 socialist rule of the OPEC nation. Now, along with hospitals and other flagship welfare projects, the education sector is in crisis, heaping pain on Venezuelans and eroding Chavez's legacy as his successor Nicolas Maduro seeks re-election in a May 20 presidential vote. In Socopo, in the agricultural savannah state of Barinas that was once home to Chavez, half of the 20 public schools, including Orlando Garcia, closed completely in February, mid-term. They have since reopened, but, along with the rest of Barinas' approximately 1,600 public schools, they are operating just three days a week. Venezuela's economic implosion has led to millions suffering food shortages, unable to buy basic goods. Prices double every two or three months and the currency is worth less every day. Education experts fear a stunted generation. "Hungry people aren't able to teach or learn," said Victor Venegas, president of the Barinas chapter of the national Federation of Education Workers. "We're going to end up with a nation of illiterates." A major bonus for school children was once free food but state food programs are now intermittent, and when lunches do come, they are often small and missing protein. The problems are felt across the country, with children often falling unwell or dizzy due to poor nutrition. "We were singing the national anthem and I felt nauseous. I'd only eaten an arepa (a local cornbread) that day, and I fainted," recounted Juliani Caceres, an 11-year-old student in Tachira state on the border with Colombia. "BACK TO THE 19TH CENTURY" While critics lambast him for incompetence and corruption, Maduro blames Venezuela's crisis on Washington and the opposition, accusing them of waging an "economic war." Officials constantly downplay the social problems. "There may be weaknesses in the food program in some municipalities, but we are always attentive and looking to improve the situation," Education Minister Elias Jaua said in an interview in Barinas. The government insists education remains a priority and says that 75 percent of the national budget goes to the social sector. "Amid the economic war, the fall of oil prices, international harassment and financial persecution, not a single school has closed," Maduro said at a Caracas rally last month, referring to U.S. sanctions against Venezuela. His Barinas governor, Argenis Chavez, however, acknowledged the closures in Socopo, blaming them on the opposition as part of a plan to sabotage the upcoming election. Despite Venezuela's plethora of problems and Maduro's personal unpopularity, he is widely expected to win re-election, given that the opposition's most popular leaders are banned from standing and the main anti-Maduro coalition is boycotting the vote on grounds it is rigged in advance. One opposition leader, former state governor Henri Falcon, has broken with the boycott and is hoping Venezuelans' fury at their economic woes will translate into votes for him. According to the opposition, prices rose more than 8,000 percent in the 12 months to March. Teachers in the public sector earn around four times the minimum wage of just over a dollar a month at the black market exchange rate. That is nowhere near what Venezuelans need to feed themselves and their families. "With my last paycheck, I was able to buy a kilo of meat and a kilo of sugar," said Roxi Gallardo, a 35-year-old teacher in the Andean city of San Cristobal who, like so many others, is looking to leave Venezuela. In addition to food shortages, school communities are suffering from a collapse in transport systems and inability to pay bus fares, plus frequent water and power-cuts. "We're heading back to the 19th century," said Luis Bravo, an education researcher at Caracas' Central University. Doctor Marianella Herrera, at the same university, said the combination of inadequate nutrition and patchy education would cost Venezuela dearly in the future, depriving it of skilled workers. "The longer this goes on without reversing the situation, the tougher it will be," she said. Eudys Olivier, a 39-year-old homemaker in a poor area of San Felix in southern Bolivar state, and her two children, live off her husband's bakery wage of just under $5 per month. "If there isn't enough food, I prefer to leave the children at home," she said. "I want them to go to school every day because it's their future. But I can't send them hungry." (Reporting by Vivian Sequera and Francisco Aguilar, Additional reporting by Maria Ramirez in Bolivar and Anggy Polanco in Tachira; Writing by Girish Gupta; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Daniel Flynn and Rosalba O'Brien) A worker vacuums up shattered glass outside a Waffle House restaurant in Antioch, Tenn., on April 23, 2018. (Photo: Mark Humphrey/AP) The Waffle House in Tennessee where four people were killed and four others wounded in a shooting will donate 100 percent of its proceeds over the next month to the families of the victims, its management announced Wednesday. The restaurant had been closed since Sunday, when police say a 29-year-old gunman, Travis Reinking, opened fire with an AR-15 rifle outside before storming the popular 24-hour diner in Antioch. Inside, James Shaw Jr., a patron, was able to snatch the weapon away from Reinking, who fled the scene on foot. He was captured in the woods near his apartment after a 30-hour manhunt and taken into custody. Slideshow: Waffle House shooting in Nashville Suspect in custody >>> Reinking was charged with four counts of criminal homicide and four counts of attempted murder. Shaw was honored by state lawmakers who hailed him as a hero at an event at the state Capitol in Nashville on Tuesday. I never thought Id be in a room with all the eyes on me, but you know, Im very grateful to be here, Shaw told the lawmakers. The Antioch Waffle House is one of more than 1,500 operated by the Norcross, Ga., company. Employees from the Atlanta area were brought in to assist the reopening. Shortly after the shooting, Shaw launched an online campaign to raise money for the families of the victims. It has raised more than $135,000 so far. Separately, a campaign launched by freelance journalist Yashar Ali has raised more than $125,000 for Shaw and his 4-year-old daughter. James Shaw Jr. put his life on the line when he took on the gunman who killed four people at a Nashville area Waffle House, Ali wrote on the campaigns Go Fund Me page. Since that horrific shooting, he has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the victims and shown a level of humility that has inspired many of us. I normally dont get involved directly in these matters, Ali added, but James grace has inspired me to start this page to give him the support I feel he deserves. Read more from Yahoo News: By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 600 weapons were stolen in the past week from a former United Arab Emirates-run training center in Somalia's capital Mogadishu and are for sale in the city, weapons dealers said on Wednesday. The weapons, including new Kalashnikov assault rifles and Chinese versions of them, were stolen by Somali National Army soldiers who had been trained by the UAE at its facility, three Somali men who purchased weapons from the soldiers told Reuters. The Gulf nation has trained hundreds of Somali troops since 2014 as part of an effort boosted by an African Union military mission to defeat an Islamist insurgency and secure the country for the Somali government, which is backed by Western nations, Turkey and the United Nations. The UAE ended the program on April 15, shortly after security forces at Mogadishu's airport seized millions of dollars and temporarily held a UAE plane. The escalating diplomatic dispute is one aspect of the fallout in volatile Somalia from a crisis in the Gulf region that has spilled into the Horn of Africa. Somalia's relations with the UAE are strained by a dispute between Qatar and Saudi Arabia because Mogadishu has refused to take sides. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have strong trading links with and influence in Somalia, offset by the sway of Qatar and its ally Turkey, one of Somalias biggest foreign investors. Neither Somalia nor the UAE is showing urgent interest in resolving their dispute, said Rob Malley, president of the International Crisis Group, a think-tank. Somali officials wanted to be seen "standing up" to the UAE, "and the Emirati officials' position is, 'If Somalia doesn't want our money, fine, we'll take it elsewhere,'" Malley told Reuters in Nairobi after returning from a trip to Mogadishu. The UAE-trained troops began stealing weapons from the facility shortly after the program was disbanded, the dealers said. The soldiers sold guns directly to the dealers and indirectly via their brokers. The looting appears to have occurred while the UAE was in the process of emptying its training center. On Sunday night a ship docked at Mogadishu's port was loaded with equipment from the UAE's training center, including several dozen shipping containers of weapons, dozens of armored vehicles fixed with anti-aircraft guns and hundreds of cars, a port staff member told Reuters. On Monday, gunfire broke out at the former training center where some of the troops were still camped out, and UAE-trained troops who were still there fled with as many weapons as they could, before a rival group took over the facility. Residents in the area told Reuters they saw UAE-trained forces discarding their military uniforms and fleeing the facility in three-wheeled rickshaws with guns in their laps. [L8N1S0508] After 90 minutes of sporadic gunfire, the facility was secured by presidential palace guards, a Reuters journalist at the scene said. UAE officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Officials from Somalia's defense ministry did not immediately answer phone calls requesting comment on the weapons theft. Defense Minister Mohamed Mursal resigned this week to contest for the vacant position of parliament speaker. Army commander General Abdiweli Jama Gorod said on Monday that some soldiers who were behind the attempted theft of equipment from the facility had been arrested. "The Somali national forces now have in hand the few soldiers and officers who were behind todays incident and we assure we shall bring them before justice, he said in comments reported by the state-run Somalia News Agency. Gorod did not answer phone calls on Wednesday afternoon seeking comment. Due to the diplomatic dispute, the UAE-trained troops are being called "rebels" by some elements of the army, a security analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity said. The dealers showed Reuters five weapons they said they bought from the soldiers. They all bore the marking "SO XDS", indicating that they belonged to the Somali army. An arms expert said this was consistent with the previous arrangement between the two countries. "The weapons belonged to the SNA, which distributed them to the UAE training center. So they are marked SO XDS," he said. "About 600 to 700 AK-47 and (other) guns were looted from the former UAE training camps," weapons dealer Jama Ali told Reuters, speaking from a home in Mogadishu where he and two other men presented the weapons. Ali said they purchased the weapons for $700, a significant discount on the current price of $1,350 in Mogadishu for a new Kalashnikov. The dealers then began last night reselling the weapons at $1,000 each, he said. "The best day for business is when there is government infighting," said Hassan Abuja, another dealer. "Prices of weapons and ammunition go up." (Additional reporting and writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Peter Graff) In response to the Syrian governments alleged use of chemical weapons in the city of Douma on April 7 2018, the US, the UK and France recently launched missile strikes against targets in the cities of Damascus and Homs. The coalition fired around 100 missiles in total, reportedly destroying key chemical weapons research and production facilities. The ensuing domestic and international debates about whether this should have been done have largely neglected an arguably much more important fact: in one way or another, the US, the UK and France and many countries besides have been involved in a concerted bombing campaign in Syria since 2014. In 2012, President Barack Obama told the world that the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime in Syria would be a red line for us. Almost exactly a year later, Syria launched a brutal chemical attack in Ghouta, killing more than 1,500 people. Obama promised a response, but not without Congressional authorisation, which was not forthcoming. When the British House of Commons voted down then Prime Minister David Camerons motion to intervene in Syria, it seemed to take the wind out of Obamas sails. Instead of military action, the West opted instead to endorse a Russian-brokered plan to remove and destroy the Syrian governments chemical weapons stocks. According to the US Department of Defence, the arsenal was fully destroyed within a year. There would be no military intervention, for now. But things changed in June 2014, when the so-called Islamic State (IS) seized control of Mosul and other cities in Iraq and proclaimed itself the centre of a worldwide caliphate. This time the US moved swiftly, and by August 2014 was conducting airstrikes on IS targets. Most of the initial strikes were focused on Iraq, but the bombs followed the terrorist group as it captured territories in Syria. What began as a series of ad hoc US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria soon turned into something much more. Story continues In October 2014, the US established the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, a coalition with a mission to degrade and ultimately destroy IS. In December 2015, just a year after voting against military action against the Assad regime, the UKs House of Commons approved military strikes against IS in Syria. Bombing together Now well into its fourth year, Operation Inherent Resolve consists of more than 60 coalition partners, including all NATO members and many local forces on the ground and in the region. Thirteen of these coalition members are bombing in Syria, as are the air forces of Russia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, and the Assad government. The UK plays a key role in the coalition and is second only to the US in terms of the number of airstrikes it has conducted in Iraq and Syria. Airwars.org, a not-for-profit transparency project aimed both at tracking and archiving international military actions in conflict zones such as Iraq, Syria and Libya, has been tracking the coalition bombing campaign since it began in 2014. Its reports are an important reminder that there is an extensive and concerning recent history to the bombing of Syria. As of August 9 2017, Operation Inherent Resolve had conducted 13,331 strikes in Iraq and 11,235 strikes in Syria. According to the US Air Force, the coalition has fired well over 100,000 weapons as part of the operation. Thats a lot of bombs by any measure but especially concerning is the fact that they have caused a high number of civilian casualties. Airwars found that between August 8 2014 and March 31 2018, 6,259 to 9,604 civilians are likely to have died in coalition actions. The organisation urges caution with these numbers because of the significant challenges of casualty verification, but their rigorous methodology classifies these as a combination of confirmed and likely. The coalition itself confirmed that as of March 2018, at least 855 civilians have been killed as a result of its operations, but it is currently investigating over 500 more reports of civilian casualties. The US and UK pride themselves on their commitment to minimise civilian casualties, but warfare inevitably carries the risk that civilians will be killed. Neta C. Crawford, a political scientist at Boston University and director of the Costs of War Project, put it this way: How Many Iraqi and Syrian civilians is it acceptable for the US to put at risk of injury or death in air strikes against IS militants? This is not an easy question to answer, but it points to an inevitable cost of the ongoing bombing campaigns in Syria and beyond. This cost is seldom discussed outside of a small group of concerned organisations, but it should surely factor into any future decisions about bombing Syria or indeed, anywhere else. The people of Syria have now endured eight years of devastating war. Its true that the Syrian regime is responsible for the overwhelming majority of the death and destruction, with Russia and Iran complicit thanks to their support for Assad. In terms of civilians killed, Russias track record of bombing in Syria is no better than the US-led coalitions; indeed, its probably worse. But that doesnt imply that the US-led bombing campaign in Syria was born out of some humanitarian concern for the people of Syria, or a desire to stop the Syrian regime from using its chemical weapons and barrel bombs. It was born of an imperative to halt ISs steady advance and ultimately destroy it. The UK government justified its latest strikes as an attempt to alleviate the extreme humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people, but this is certainly not what convinced the West to start bombing Syria in the first place. If gross humanitarian suffering is whats at issue here, the coalitions nearly four years of aerial strikes deserve serious scrutiny too. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The Conversation Craig Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Sydney (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Australians and New Zealanders turned out Wednesday for Anzac Day dawn services and marches to honour their war dead and pay tribute to serving soldiers, with women leading some parades for the first time. Anzac Day, named for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) marks the April 25 anniversary of the ill-fated 1915 landing of troops belonging to the two nations in Turkey's Gallipoli peninsula during World War I. Commemorations this year focused on the final campaigns ahead of the November 1918 Armistice that ended the fighting, including the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, with Australian leader Malcolm Turnbull attending the dawn service in France. "While the fateful landing at Gallipoli lies at the heart of the Anzac remembrance, over the years and across the generations the Anzac legend has come to encompass far more," Turnbull said. It was a day to remember "all those from every generation and every conflict who have put their lives on the line". The chief of the New Zealand defence force, Lieutenant-General Tim Keating, paid tribute to the sacrifices made by servicemen and women. "We do not, as New Zealanders, seek to glorify war but we can acknowledge the courage, the commitment the sacrifice of those who have served their country well, with honour and with pride," he told a dawn service in Wellington. The Australian national march in Canberra was led by former army apprentices, while women were at the forefront of marches in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth as part of a "By the Left" campaign by the Women Veterans Network Australia. Some female veterans have said they had stopped going to Anzac Day marches after being repeatedly challenged about wearing their medals on the "wrong side" as people did not believe they had served in the military. Veterans wear their medals on their left chest while their family members wear the medals on the right. Story continues "Female veterans do not want to be different, we want to be viewed the same -- as veterans," campaign organiser Kellie Dadds, who has been deployed eight times including to Iraq and Afghanistan, said. "But to achieve this, we must first be seen." About 15 percent of serving Australian Defence Force personnel are women. Security measures had been stepped up, with concrete barriers reinforced with steel to protect crowds against vehicle attacks in Sydney. Authorities said no specific terrorism threats had been received, but added that the deadly van crash in Toronto on Monday was a "salient reminder" of what could occur. World War I was devastating for Australia, which had a population of just five million at that time, in terms of deaths and casualties. Of the more than 400,000 men who enlisted, over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. Of the almost 100,000 who served in New Zealand forces, more than 18,000 lost their lives and 41,000 were wounded. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Blockchain adoption continues to grow across industries world-wide with total spending on blockchain solutions set to grow to $9.7 billion in 2021, said the organisers of the upcoming Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai, UAE citing an IDC report. Future Blockchain Summit will host the Global Blockchain Startups Marketplace at its inaugural edition on May 2 and 3 at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). The event, hosted by the Smart Dubai Office and organised by Dubai World Trade Centre, is slated to be the worlds most influential and creative blockchain festival. Startups in the nascent blockchain industry are driving this growth and new innovations have attracted high-growth capital with investments reaching $3 billion at the end of 2017, according to the IDC report. In line with Dubais role in creating a world-class innovation environment, foster local entrepreneurship and attract international innovators, Future Blockchain Summit will see ground-breaking local and international startups seeking to showcase their solutions, attract investments and disrupt industries. With 47 per cent of the startups coming from overseas, the Summit showcases the worlds best blockchain innovators from Estonia, Serbia, Singapore, China, India, UK, USA and Australia, in addition to homegrown entrepreneurs from the UAE. With a commitment to drive wide-spread adoption of blockchain solutions, Dubai is unlocking unique opportunities for innovative startups to partner with and shape the future of the Emirate from across sectors including retail and ecommerce, creative economy, healthcare, transportation, education, food, hospitality and tourism, energy, fintech and banking as well as safety and security. Dr Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, director general, Smart Dubai Office said: Blockchain is poised to create multibillion dollar industry-wide impact, and startups from across the world are accelerating the growth and adoption of this innovation. HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President & Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai recently announced the Emirates Blockchain Strategy, committing to 50 per cent of government transactions over the blockchain platform by 2021. This is yet another step we have taken to embrace this breakthrough technology. With Dubai as the host of the Future Blockchain Summit, we look forward to welcoming innovative entrepreneurs, demonstrate our citys progress, and drive dialogue about opportunities that this game changing technology presents, she added. Matthew Van Niekerk, co-founder and CEO of SettleMint, a Belgian startup active in the Middle East for over a year, and an exhibitor at the Summit said: It is predicted that the global blockchain industry will expand 43 percent on average every year until 2022 and it is poised to create a monumental global impact to transform traditional industries. As a fast growing startup, we recognise the opportunities that the Future Blockchain Summit will create, allowing for access to potential partners, innovators, investors and more. Leveraging blockchain technology will help organisations in the middle east improve operational efficiency or reinvent their business model at a fraction of the cost. Firms at the Future Blockchain Summit include: Block Gemini, a Dubai based blockchain development and consultancy firm; and Medical Chain, a platform that provides personalised healthcare to optimise patient outcomes by improving the visibility of electronic health records for patients and providers. Other notable startups in participation are: Arabian Chain Technology, Alissia, VR 360 Tech, Block Obi, FEGI (Future Edutainment Games Innovator), SettleMint, and Xeru. The Summit also features the Smart Dubai Blockchain Challenge Grand Finale and Award Presentation on May 4, the largest and most prestigious blockchain startup challenge in the world, where 15 blockchain startups from around the world vie for the $20,000 prize and the chance to meet world-leading investors, network with VIPs and connect with potential customers. The Future Blockchain Summit will be a world-class confluence of the brightest minds, industry leaders, and innovators, who are leveraging blockchain solutions to reimagine how we will engage with technology in the future, said Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice president, Events Management, DWTC. The UAE is in the vanguard of global blockchain adoption and has fostered a strong community of local entrepreneurs. We have reached out far and wide to find the best startups from across the world and expect a lot of organisations to source their Blockchain solutions at the summit. TradeArabia News Service Saudi Arabias Council of Economic Development and Affairs (CEDA) announced the official launch of the nation's Privatization Programme. Led by the National Center for Privatization & PPP (NCP), the initiative aims to boost the contribution of sectors to the national economy through a range of qualitative programmes that seeks to transform the economy and make it more robust and dynamic. Turki A Al Hokail, the CEO and board member of NCP, said the Vision 2030's Privatization Programme will focus on 10 government sectors, including environment, water and agriculture; transportation; energy; labour and social development; telecommunications and IT; education; municipalities; health; housing; and Haj and Umrah. "The Privatization Programme aims to enhance competitiveness, elevate the quality of service and economic development, and improve the business environment through privatizing government services," said Al Hokail. "It seeks to eliminate all obstacles that may limit the private sector from playing a larger role in the development of the Kingdom's economy, including developing and operationalizing the legal system related to markets and businesses and drafting a public-private-partnership law that will protect the rights of both users and investors." "The Privatization Programme is in the interest of Saudi citizens, will bring many benefits, and improve the investment climate," Al Hokail noted. "The programme's strong governance foundation effectively will be a strong pull factor for global investors and large corporations because it sets the guidelines that will make the programme attractive. It will also allow the government to focus on overseeing and monitoring progress." Ultimately, NCP's Privatization Programme aims to help increase the percentage of private sector contribution to GDP from 40 per cent to 65 per cent. TradeArabia News Service They call it The March of Return . We refer to the military activity on the Gaza border fence as the gatekeepers. These are two sides of the same coin. They march, we guard. They initiate, and Israel responds. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In the past week, Israeli officials have been trying to create the impression that the gatekeepers have overpowered the March of Return. Fewer people are flocking to the the fence protests; Hamas has failed. Thats a dangerous delusion. In recent days, the Palestinians have advanced their jumping-off points towards the border and set up tents 100-200 meters from the fence. Up until recently, the five meeting points, which included large tents, were located more than 700 meters away. Palestinian protestors on Gaza border. The main goal of the riots is to break through the fence (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit) Palestinian media are presenting the new deployment as broadcasts from the front, showing ambulances and civilian vehicles moving closer and closer to fence. The sight of Palestinian vehicles right on the borderline with Israel is something that has not been seen in the area for a long time. According to Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam, teams for breaking through the fence have been training under the auspices of the organizersin other words, Hamasand are supposed to throw hooks at the fence and pull it down until it collapses. Parts of the looped barbed fence installed by Israel along the border have already been removed in different places. The Palestinian side has also appointed teams to handle the gas grenades and has built sort of catapults to launch Molotov cocktails at Israeli fields. The main goal of the riots, orchestrated by Hamas, was and remains to break through the fence, allowing hundreds and thousands of civilians to run into Israeli territory. Thats the victory picture Hamas is looking for ahead of Nakba Day on May 15. Whatever happens until then is intended to keep the momentum of riots and capture the public interest, the global one too. Each week has its own symbol: A disabled protestor in a wheelchair, a journalist and a 15-year-old boy who have been killed. It doesnt matter if there were 3,000 or 10,000 people there, as long as the fire and the public awareness havent died out. Meanwhile, Hamas has distanced itself from any external influence: It has completely cut ties with the Palestinian Authority, and the Egyptian intelligence chief who arrived at the strip about a week ago to try and lower the flames was sent back empty-handed. The Egyptians have forced Hamas to send a delegation to Cairo this week, but Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar wont be there. Israeli officials have been trying to create the impression that the gatekeepers have overpowered the march of return. Thats a dangerous illusion (Photo: AFP) On the eve of the riots, the European Union presented Hamas with a tempting offer: Half a billion euro to rebuild Gazas water and electricity infrastructures. The money could be used immediately, in cooperation with the Gulf States and under the auspices of Israel and the United States. Hamas ignored the offer. It wants to break through the fence in order to change the awareness to the strips situation and it is willing to pay a heavy price for that, and not just in casualties. Hamas paid more than $2 million this week to the casualties families. It paid double that sum last week, and a triple sum the week before. Not to mention the huge current and future expenses on the rehabilitation of hundreds of people who suffered injuries. Hamas and the Gaza street are acting like a revolutionary society willing to pay heavy personal prices to achieve a national result. That isnt music to our ears, but thats the way it is. On the day thousands of people leap to their feet undauntedly from the new tent line and start running towards the fence, the death toll from Israeli fire will grow from 40 so far to hundreds. Those who cross the fence will run amok into Israel to evade the fire. Thousands will walk about on the main routes between the communities, and maybe even inside the communities. This isnt an imaginary scenario. It has already happened in the Golan Heights. If that happens, Hamas will be able to declare a perceptual victory of breaking through the siege and then start making demands in light of everyones shock. Israel, on the other hand, will be accused of massacring Gazas starving residents and will pay a heavy price. If thats what happens on Nakba Day, a flare-up in the West Bank seems very likely as well. To avoid reaching that point, the IDF must start thinking differently. No more gatekeepers. It must start looking for something more creative than leaflets explaining to the Palestinians why it isnt worth their while. A mistake made by a soldier in the 98th Paratroopers Division's recruitment center was the reason for the severe failure that led to calling up thousands of the division's reserve soldiers on Independence Day morning. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Division 98 has the reputation of being one of the IDF's most important reserve divisions, and those who serve in it come from elite units. On Independence Day morningamid high tension due to a possible Iranian retaliation to Israel's alleged attack of the T-4 airfield in Syria5,000 reserve soldiers from Division 98 were called up via an automatic dialer system. IDF soldiers in training (Photo: George Ginsberg) "An emergency recruitment has been activated, present yourself immediately at the gathering point," the automatic message said. But the message that caused great concern to the soldiers and their families turned out to be false. The division's commander Brig. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, who was parachuting over the Kinneret at the time, was surprised by the false message, which required him to quickly restore order and explain the situation to his commanders and subordinates. Finkelman led an inquiry into the incident, which found that a soldier in the division's recruitment center, who was doing a routine morning procedure to check the new recruitment system, accidently pressed the emergency dialer that activates the emergency recruitment order. "All reserve soldiers were shortly notified that a mistake was made," the IDF said. Four kites affixed with burning objects were flown from Gaza at a wheat field in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council Monday. While there were no casualties, the consequent fire caused immense damage, torching an estimated 100 dunam (equal to 1,000 square meters) of wheat. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Farmers in the region who noticed the kites quickly reached the wheat field and put out the fire using tractors and water hoses, while fire teams were called to the scene to assist in taming the flames. An incendiary kite torched a Sha'ar HaNegev wheat field (Hebrew) X On the backdrop of the weekly Friday " March of Return " protests near the Gaza border, dozens of burning kites were flown into Israel from the strip recently. In a previous incident, one such kite set fire to 200 dunam of natural wood in Be'eri Forest. A Sha'ar HaNegev wheat field caught fire after a kite from Gaza landed on it A farmer residing in one of the Israeli communities surrounding Gaza told Ynet, "We're dealing with a new phenomenon, one which is destructive, dangerous and quickly gaining momentum." "We see kites flying towards us on a nearly daily basis. We monitor them to see that they don't land in fields just nowduring the harvestwhen everything's dry and highly combustible. It may seem like a gimmick to a lot of people, but for us it's a serious threat," he stated. Other Gaza perimeter farmers echoed his opinion, estimating the damage caused by the incendiary kites to reach the thousands of shekels, with torched chickpea and wheat fields in their wake. A tractor attempting to put out the blaze "At first we really did think it was a gimmick, some kind of jokean incendiary kitebut it turns out we were wrong in a big way. This antiquated weapon is giving us serious trouble and causing heavy damages," a longstanding farmer said. Preparations are now underway throughout the region's Israeli communities. "When you see a burning kite flying through the air, everyone is immediately on edge and stops working. Everyone tracks it to make sure it lands in an open field and not on our crops. It's absurd," another farmer lamented. "Sometimes you see several kites coming in quick succession," he added, noting his own wheat field was burned last week. In their conversations with army chiefs, heads of Gaza perimeter local authorities raised their concerns at the growing danger. The IDF, for its part, cautioned that the kites' success incentivized Palestinians to continue using them. Incendiary kites aside, the Palestinian protests near the fence over the past month are a relatively minor occurrence, despite the participation of thousands. After more than four weeks of said protests, it seems the wind has somewhat left their sails. 'March of Return' protests seem to be dying down, fostering fears within the IDF of Hamas becoming desperate to reignite them (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit) Israeli officials, however, voiced concern that Hamas may interpret the protest wave dying down as a resounding failure, a sentiment that may engender frustration. The terror group's Gaza leadership, headed by Yahya Sinwar, is disappointed with Gazans' disinclination to break through the fences. The IDF and defense establishment thus fear frustration will push the group to a move that may cause a massive conflagrationcarry out a terror attack in order to harm Israel on the one hand and reinvigorate the lagging protest on the other. Readiness within the army remains high, and soldiers are briefed accordingly. "Don't let the weakening protest deceive you," soldiers were told. "It can come at a moment's notice." President Donald Trump and Iran's top diplomat have traded sharp warnings, with Trump threatening "bigger problems" than ever if Tehran restarts its nuclear program. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif put the president on notice, telling The Associated Press if the US pulls out of the nuclear deal, Iran "mostly likely" would abandon it, too. In a wide-ranging interview Tuesday, Zarif said a US withdrawal from the landmark 2015 accord would undermine Trump's talks with North Korea by proving that America reneges on its promises. He said if Trump re-imposes sanctions, "basically killing the deal," Iran would no longer be bound by the pact's international obligations, freeing it up to resume enrichment far beyond the deal's strict limits. "If the United States were to withdraw from the nuclear deal, the immediate consequence in all likelihood would be that Iran would reciprocate and withdraw," Zarif said. He added: "There won't be any deal for Iran to stay in." France-based Switch Made, a leading manufacturer of LED lighting solutions, revealed it is further expanding its operations in the UAE with the opening of a new global hub office in Dubai. This coincides with the 10th anniversary of Switch Mades operations in the UAE, with the new global office being beefed up with a dedicated team of experts from the companys France office taking up positions in Dubai, said a statement. The unveiling of the global base of Switch Made in the UAE complements the call by French President Emmanuel Macron to enhance the role of French companies in international entrepreneurship, it said. The French Ambassador to the UAE, Ludovic Pouille, marked the new expansion and opening of the global office and congratulated the company for its strategic focus on expanding its presence in the country. He was accompanied by Emmanuel Mayer, vice consul general of France in Dubai, and other dignitaries and business leaders, it added. Pouille said: This is a commendable example of French companies strengthening their international footprint and sharing invaluable French expertise for supporting the development of the UAE. Over the past years, France-UAE ties have grown manifold, with French business expertise, especially in areas such as sustainable development and renewable energy, complementing the development vision of the UAE, he added. Switch Made has an accomplished track-record in delivering energy-efficient lighting solutions and the new office will enable it to further contribute to the UAEs Vision 2021, he said. Jeremy Loisel, CEO, Switch Made, said: With our expanded presence, we are building on 10 strong years of operations in the UAE, marking a new milestone in our growth journey. We are bringing top-notch French experts to support our business growth in the UAE, complementing the development goals of the nation. French companies already play a significant role here by providing cutting edge technology and expertise, and through our enhanced local presence, we can be more agile and closer to our customers in meeting their requirements, he said. Our French headquarter is currently being restructured, and reflecting the consequent change of business model, focusing on manufacturing LED luminaires for projects. We are also in the final stages of partnering with a reputable industrial group, which will take our growth to the next level. 2018 is a decisive year for our French market, he added. Switch Made has already been associated with several landmark projects in the UAE including the provision of energy-efficient sustainable lighting solutions for the facade of The Dubai Mall, supplying more than 52,000 LED luminaires. It also delivered over 8,800 LED light fittings and over 2 km of linear solutions for the Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai, which is the Middle East regions first low-energy building that complies with the MINERGIE Ecolabel, a Swiss sustainable building standard. Several flagship projects in the UAE have been developed through close co-operation with France, such as Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, the only French-language university in the Gulf. Total trade between the two countries was estimated at $5.6 billion in 2016. The UAE is Frances second-largest trading partner in the Gulf, and is also the second largest Gulf investor in France. There are over 600 French subsidiaries in the UAE. The UAE has outlined a clear vision to be among the best nations in the world, and has set tangible targets in reducing energy consumption and promoting sustainable solutions. As a French company with proven expertise in supporting the needs of nations and companies with sustainable lighting solutions, we are committed to be a partner in the progress of the UAE by bringing French expertise to the nations development projects, concluded Loisel. TradeArabia News Service South Korea and the United States are likely to hold a summit in mid-May, a South Korean presidential official said on Wednesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, ahead of a separate proposed summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump. South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Trump are also scheduled to speak by a phone shortly after the inter-Korean summit this Friday wraps up, the presidential Blue House said. Tourism Minister Yariv Levin met on Tuesday with the president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez. During the meeting, Levin emphasized to Hernandez the importance of moving the Embassy of Honduras to Jerusalem and said Israel will not allow other countries to define its capital for it. Levin also told the president that he is convinced other countries will move their embassies to Jerusalem soon, and that he is hopeful Honduras won't take too long before moving its embassy as well. The two men suspected of gunning down a Hamas engineer in Kuala Lumpur were still in the country, Malaysia's police said on Wednesday, as they released a fresh image of one of the men. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Two men on a high-powered motorcycle fired at least 14 shots at Fadi Albatsh , an electrical engineering academic studying drones , outside his apartment building on Saturday, killing him on the spot. A Kawasaki motorcycle was found abandoned near a lake about nine minutes from the scene, from which police were able to trace a photo of one of the suspects, Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun told reporters. Photos of the two suspects (Photo: AP) The suspects were believed to have entered Malaysia sometime in late January, but it was not known what nationalities they were or where they had traveled from, said Mohamad Fuzi. "We believe the suspects are still in the country," he said. "We have yet to identify them, but we suspect that they used fake identification either when entering the country or when they were here." Authorities had originally released computer-generated photographs of the suspects, who witnesses described as well-built and light-skinned, possibly Middle Eastern or European. Malaysia Police press conference about Fadi Albatsh (Photo: AP) A new photo of one of the suspects shows a light-skinned man with dark, wavy hair and a prominent goatee. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Saturday the suspects were believed to be Europeans with links to a foreign intelligence agency. Hamas have accused Israel's Mossad spy agency of assassinating Albatsh, who they say was a member of their group. Israel dismissed the charge. Mohamad Fuzi said the killing appeared "very professionally done," but declined to comment on reports it was a Mossad operation or that it was carried out by trained assassins. Motorcycle used by the assassins Albatsh was a lecturer at Universiti Kuala Lumpur, specializing in power engineering, according to the university. Albatsh's body will be returned to Gaza via Cairo, Egypt on Wednesday evening, after a funeral ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Palestine's ambassador to Malaysia Anwar Al Agha told Reuters. Albatsh's coffin (Photo: AP) Mossad has been accused of several high-profile killings involving Palestinians around the world, although Israel has consistently denied the accusations. On Wednesday, National Police Chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said investigators found a motorcycle abandoned near the murder scene and were able to trace a photo of one of the suspects. He said the men were believed to have entered Malaysia in late January and could still be in the country. Two cars were torched overnight Tuesday in the northern region village of Iksal and a stone fence was sprayed with "Jews, let's win" in a suspected hate crime. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Police were called to the scene, collected evidence, searched for suspects and opened an investigation into the incident. Police noted the investigation will receive top priority, with several similar such incidents taking place around the West Bank recently, the last of which happened Wedesnday as wellthe walls of residences in the village of Jalud in the Binyamin region were sprayed with "Let us handle them" and "Take our destiny in our own hands." Footage of the Iksal hate crime (Hebrew) X Adham Habash, the owner of the vehicles, said Wednesday morning, "My father went outside at 2:30am after hearing a noise and saw a man escaping into an olive orchard. He then saw our two vehicles on fire and started putting it out. After finishing, he noticed the graffiti on our house's wall and realized it was a 'price tag' attack." The vehicle torched in the northern village of Iksal Joint List MK Ahmad Tibi said the attack was serious and racist and that it "necessitated determined police action to end hate crimes towards Arab citizens." Just as police cannot root out crime in Israeli-Arab communities, the MK said, so it has failed in blocking "price tag" attacks targeting the same population. The northern district's firefighting services said firemen from the Afula regional station were rushed to the scene of a vehicle fire between Iksal and Daburiyya. The team found two vehicles on fire and put them out. An arson investigator was dispatched as well, the service said. The fire's aftermath Security officials have warned of escalation in the north, brought about by the actions of right-wing vandals. The string of hate crimes perpetrated by Jews over the past few weekswhich continued last Tuesday with the spraying of graffiti and the torching of a mosque's door near Nablus a week and a half agohas been a cause for concern for the IDF, police and Shin Bet, due to the fear the "price tag" operations will be countered by Palestinian terrorist attacks. CCTV footage of the arsonists X About a week ago, the epithet "Arabs out" was sprayed on the wall of the Abu Abu-Bakr Al-Siddiq mosque in Umm al-Fahm and the entrance door to the place of worship was torched. The Umm al-Fahm police said an investigation was underway and a "price tag" operation was suspected. This past March, anti-Arab graffiti was sprayed in Jaljulia and 20 vehicles were vandalized. The writing "Arab criminal" was sprayed on one of the town's homes, cars' tires were slashed and other epithets were sprayed on windows. Tensions have also grown between police and Shin Bet and Hilltop Youths recently. In the past month, for example, hateful graffiti was sprayed in east Jerusalem's Beit Hanina and in the village of Fara'ata, in the Samaria region of the West Bank, with the latter incident seeing "Stop administrative orders" and "Administrative price tag" inscribed. In the villages of a-Lubban ash-Sharqiya and Aswiya, meanwhile, "Deport or kill" and "Stop administrative orders" were sprayed. 'Stop administrative orders' Several weeks ago, three settlers received serious punishments for taking part in hate crimes, when the Lod District Court handed down jail terms ranging from 32 months to five years. One of the defendants, who was a 16-year-old minor at the time the crimes were committed, was convicted as part of a plea bargain of membership in a terrorist organization, arson, assault under aggravated circumstances motivated by racism, sabotage with aggravated intent and other offenses. The court sentenced him to five years in prison. Another defendant, who was a soldier at the time of the offenses, was convicted of arson, vandalism with racist motives, assault under aggravated circumstances motivated by racism and other offenses. The court sentenced him to 4.5 years in prison. Car owned by Palestinians torched by the defendants A third defendant was convicted of offenses that resulted in malicious damage stemming from racist motives, stone-throwing at vehicles and other offenses, and the court sentenced him to 32 months in prison. The defendants were also required to pay an agreed-upon compensation of NIS 50,000 to their victims. The trial of three additional defendants is still ongoing. Neo-Nazis in the Ukraine were out in force last Friday, Adolf Hitler's birthday, and desecrated monuments, spray painted memorials and made anti-Semitic Facebook posts. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The "Grieving Mother" monument, a memorial in Poltava in eastern Ukraine to 8,000 of the city's Jews murdered by the Nazis in 1941, was desecrated with the writing "Heil Hitler" and a swastika. The two Poltava monuments defaced with Nazi inscriptions Not far from the monument, unknown perpetrators sprayed "Death to Jews" on the marker denoting a mass grave of Holocaust victims, 76 years after their extermination. A source within Poltava's Jewish community told Ynet that a police investigation was underway, and that communal services had the epithets removed. In the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa, meanwhile, graffiti saying "A world without Jews. Kill the kike" was sprayed on a large beachfront wall. Anti-Semitic graffiti on the Odessa beach's wall Ukrainian teacher gives Nazi salute with students No less of a public outcry was engendered by a Facebook post of a Ukrainian history teacher, who also serves as vice principal of a Lviv high school in western Ukraine. Teacher Mariana Batyuk published the Nazi leader's photo and wrote he was "a great man whatever one may say." Batyuk, also a member of the city's council on behalf of the far-right Svoboda party, added, "The nation and homelandthat is the only doctrine truly important to me and all true national-socialists." Teacher Marina Batyuk (circled) and her students giving the Nazi salute She concluded her post with a quote from Mein Kampf, Hitler's treatise that later served as the Nazi's regime's guidebook: "He who would live must fight. He who doesn't wish to fight in this world, where permanent struggle is the law of life, has not the right to exist." Following the outcry created by her post, Batyuk deleted all incriminating evidence from her Facebook profile shortly thereafter and claimed, following inquiries from the media, that her account was hacked by provocateurs. She did not, however, delete the various neo-Nazi groups in which she was a member. Nevertheless, many intrepid users managed to take screenshots of her posts, including a photo of her standing with her students and giving the Nazi salutea screengrab taken by director of the Board of Ukrainian Jews Edward Dolinski. Batyuk's post "Immediately after she published (the initial post) I went into her profile and took screenshots," he told Ynet. "Her post was in blatant violation of Ukraine's laws, and denigrated the memory of millions of victims. It was a crime against all moral and ethical values." His organization sought an urgent response from the state attorney, law enforcement authorities and Education Ministry, he added. Russia said on Wednesday that it expected to sign a deal with India this year on the sale of S-400 surface-to-air missiles, the Interfax news agency reported. It cited Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation as saying that all the technical aspects of the contract had been agreed and a price just needed to be decided. "I think that in the current year we will sign the corresponding contract document," Interfax quoted Dmitry Shugaev, the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, as saying. A informant of Israeli security forces, who is on trial for a hate crime in Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in December 2017, apparently notified law enforcement authorities before and while the crime was being committed, but they did nothing to stop it. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter According to the indictment filed against the informant, several days prior to the incident the defendant conspired with another man to commit a "price tag" attackan act of vandalism committed by Jewish fundamentalist settler youths against the Palestinian population. He prepared a bag with a spray can and a bottle with flammable liquid, which he stashed in a hiding place in Jerusalem's Old City. 'Price Tag' crime X On the day of the crime, the other man met with the informant, who showed him the hidden bag. When the accomplice saw the bag had also contained a gasoline bottle, he refused to go along with arson and took the bottle out. The informant tried to convince him to use the flammable liquid. Later, the accomplice arrived at the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, chose a complex housing Arabs and sprayed graffiti in line with what he and the informant had agreed on. Moreover, the informant allegedly prepared another bag with a Molotov cocktail, hid it in a settlement in the Samaria region of the West Bank, and tried to solicit his partner in crime to commit a second "price tag" crime. Graffiti writing saying: 'Price tag', death to Arabs The informant had told security forces about the planned crime before and even while it was being committed, however they did not prevent it for an unknown reason. The Israel Police rejected the report, saying it is "based on erroneous facts that are not in line with reality." "Contrary to what has been claimed, the prisoner has never been employed as a police agent. Furthermore, this is a prisoner who was accused, convicted and is serving a prison sentence due to his involvement in a 'price tag' attack, and his arrest is the result of determined police activity against such crimes. "Naturally, we will not divulge classified information, but we will state that any complaint or information received in the police that raises suspicion of a criminal offense is thoroughly checked and translated, when the need arises, to investigative or enforcement activities accordingly. "The Israel Police will continue acting with determination against any hate crime and bring any lawbreaker taking part in such wrong actions to justice, at any time and any place," the police concluded. Israel and the United States suspect a series of cargo flights from Iran to Syria may be transporting weapons to Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iranian forces in his country, CNN reported on Wednesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Jerusalem and Washington are worried the cargo planes could be carrying arms that would be aimed at Israel. Among the flights that caught the attention of US intelligence were two flights by Syrian Air Force IL-76 cargo jets and at least one of an Iranian cargo jet, according to CNN. Syrian President Assad and Iranian President Rouhani (Photos: AP, EPA) A YK-ATD plane has been making regular flights between the two countries in the wake of the Western strike. A look at its flight routes shows the plane took off last week from Damascus to Tehran, a two hour flight. Six hours later, the plane was back in the air returning to Syria, but this time to an airport in Aleppo, north of Homs. After several hours on the ground, the plane took off again to a Syrian air force base in Damascus. This unusual flight route was repeated at least three times over the past week, and it is believed the plane was transporting military equipment from the Revolutionary Guards to Assad's forces. Another Syrian cargo plane, a YK-ATB, has also been making regular flights over the past week between Aleppo and Damascus. While arms transfers between Iran and Syria are not unusual, American intelligence has been monitoring these flights in light of Iranian threats to retaliate for an attack on the T-4 airbase in Syria , which has been attributed to Israel. Seven Iranian military personnel involved in the Revolutionary Guards' drones program were killed in the strike, which led to an escalating exchange of threats between Iran and Israel. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the target of the strike was an advanced Iranian air-defense system that was recently installed at the base. An intelligence official speaking to the Journal said Trump administration is working with Israel to blunt Tehrans expanding influence in the Middle East. Russian IL-76 cargo jets (Photo: shutterstock) Russias daily Kommersant newspaper, citing unnamed military sources, reported on Monday that Russia might start supplying the anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria in the near future. Kommersant said that experts believed that Israel would react negatively to any decision to supply the missiles and might bomb the area where they would be deployed. A Russian diplomat told Reuters on Monday that Israel has asked Moscow not to supply the Syrian military with the advanced S-300 missile systems. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned on Tuesday that if Syria uses Russian-made air defense missiles against Israel, the IDF will strike back. "What's important to us is that the defensive weapons the Russians are giving Syria won't be used against us," Lieberman told Ynet in an interview. "If they're used against us, we'll act against them." American intelligence has been tracking transport flights leaving Iran to Syria due to the suspicion they carry weapons systems, according to CNN reports. An official in the American administration said Israel and the US are concerned that the alleged weapon systems will jeopardize Israel's safety. Thirty children from Al Oula, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to lift youngsters out of poverty, met with WWE superstars Mark Henry and Mojo Rawley in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as part of WWEs 'Be A Star' programme, which carries an anti-bullying message. Athletes Henry and Rawley are both competing in this Fridays Greatest Royal Rumble but ahead of the showdown they met with the children from Al Oula to open up about the adversity in their lives, telling the children how they had each faced bullying when they were young. The meeting was held at the King Abdullah Stadium, where the giant stage is being set for the huge event. As well as posing for countless selfies with the children the pair also presented the youngsters with VIP tickets to the show. Border Policeman Ben Deri, who was convicted of the negligent homicide of 17-year-old Nadim Nuwara during Nakba Day clashes in Beitunia four years ago, was sentenced to nine months in prison on Wednesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Jerusalem District Court also handed Deri an additional six-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay the Palestinian teen's family NIS 50,000 in compensation. Because the sentence includes time served, Deri will only have to spend seven months in prison. Ben Deri (Photo: Amit Shabi) Prosecutors had originally filed full manslaughter charges against Deri, accusing him of deliberately switching his rubber bullets for the live round. The amended indictment, agreed to by Deri and approved by Jerusalem District Court as part of a plea deal, described the switch as accidental. Negligent manslaughter carries a maximum three-year jail term in Israel. Manslaughter, by contrast, carries a maximum 20-year sentence as that charge can apply to deliberate killings where there is no clear evidence of premeditation. Deri was convicted of aggravate injury after the court determined that he had aimed what he thought was a rubber bullet at Nuwara's chest at Beitunia on May 15, 2014. A second teenage protester was killed in the Beitunia incident but Israel did not pursue charges in that case, citing lack of evidence as an autopsy was not carried out. The court statement on Wednesday said the shooting took place after the stone-throwing by the protesters had ceased. "Contrary to regulations, and despite the fact that the deceased posed no threat to the (Israeli) unit, the defendant aimed his weapon at the torso of the deceased and fired at the deceased with the intent of injuring him." The deaths stoked Palestinian fury at Israel in the weeks after US-sponsored peace talks collapsed in April. The shooting ( ) X During the sentencing hearings, Nuwara's father Issam pleaded with Judge Daniel Teferberg to sentence Deri to a tougher punishment. "After Nadim, many others were killed or murdered, and their trial ended very fast. If Nadim had been the one to have killed Ben Deri, and if he had negligently killed him, would the court have treated Nadim the same way it has been treating Deri?" the father wondered. "I lost my son, and I turned to the law... but I was surprised that after all of the evidence we submitted, the decision in the end was to convict of negligent homicide, and this caused a lot of problems for us. I'm asking that justice is served just once. At the end of the day, this is about killing innocent children," Issam continued. "I never expected the Israeli court to do justice for my martyred son, but I had to do all I can to present a solid case and to expose the Israeli judicial system before the world, and I did," he went on to say. Deri's attorney, Zion Amir, said following the sentencing that he was happy his client was cleared of the manslaughter charge, but he came out against the fact soldiers are prosecuted in such circumstances. The police are investigating on Wednesday a suspected hate crime committed in the West Bank village of Deir 'Ammar after several tires were punctured. Malicious graffiti was also sprayed saying, "We'll take our destiny into our own hands" and "Let us take care of them." One of the inscriptions said, "Say hello to Abraham Rabin," who was arrested on Tuesday for committing a hate crime. This is the second hate crime to take place Wednesday, the first one involving the arson of a vehicle in the northern village of Iksal. Secretary of Russia's Security Council Nikolai Patrushev met separately on Tuesday with his Israeli and Iranian counterpartsEytan Ben-David and Ali Shamkhani. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter According to an official Security Council statement, the meetings were held in the Russian resort town of Sochi, and Patrushev discussed "Middle East developments" with the two officials. The Russian chief visited Israel this past January, and reportedhe had tried to prevent harm from coming to Iranian installations in Syria. On President Putin (foreground)'s orders, Secretary of Russia's Security Council Patrushev met with his Israeli and Iranian counterparts in Sochi (Photo: Reuters) Earlier Wednesday, the outgoing Russian Ambassador to Israel, Alexander Shein, expressed concern in an interview with Ynet at recent actions in Syria that have been attributed to Israel, while voicing his sympathy for Israel's own concerns at the goings-on in its neighboring country. As to Israel's fears at the ever-growing Iranian presence in Syria, especially following recent Iranian threats to destroy Israel, the ambassador said, "Russia constantly takes into account Israel's concerns and interests vis-a-vis preserving its national security." "We are, of course, concerned with the state in which the bilateral relations between Israel and Iran are in, in light of mutual threats and rejection by both countries," he added. "We must also be concerned with Iran's presence in Syria now. It may lead to a worsening of the situation and a conflagration in the entire Middle East." Ambassador Shein called on both Israel and Iran to exercise restraint (Photo: : Gil Yohanan) The ambassador then called for both sides to exercise immediate restraint. Shein was then asked on the possible sale of the S-300 missile defense system to Syria and the prospects of a deal actually going through. The ambassador evaded the question, merely speaking generally about the defense system and its relevance to recent events. "The question you're asking about the supply of the S-300 system to Syria has been raised through the years, and again recently in the wake of the belligerent action by the United States, France and Britain against Syria on April 14, when the three countries' air and naval forces fired rocket salvos at Syria," he said. "In said action, 105 cruise missiles were launched, 71 of which were intercepted by the Syrian army's outmoded aerial defense system. In this context, in order to prevent such aggression from recurring and in light of debates as to the best manner to protect Syria from Western aggression, the question of selling the S-300 system arose." Echoing statements by his country's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, the Russia ambassador noted that "no decision has been made as yet. It isn't even negotiated yet. As far as I know, the question has not been raised." The alleged Israeli strike in Syria Asked whether Israel could nonetheless feel safe operating in Syria airspace, Shein said, "We are disinterested in such actions occurring since they exacerbate the situation in Syria and in the region and increase tensions. This does not gel with our efforts, chiefly the attainment of a political settlement of the Syrian conflict." "We do understand the reasons Israel feels obligated to carry out such actions in the first place, and it would of course be preferable if they were avoided as well," he added. The diplomat was next confronted with Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman's threat to destroy Russian defense systems operated from Syria against Israe. "I can't imagine such a scenario," Shein countered. "We have coordination and mutual updates regarding Syria. The two countries' defense ministries are cooperating." "It is unclear to me what possessed Mr. Lieberman to express thusly. We have not had any incidents with him, nor even the hint of incidents, and I hope we won't have any in the future," he noted. Defense Minister Lieberman said Israel will destroy Russian S-300 defense systems in Syria if they were turned against it (Photos: EPA, Shamir Elbaz) Lastly, Shein was polled on whether Russia believed US President Donald Trump would truly withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal. "We cannot rule out such an eventuality despite the fact it will mark a very negative turn of events," he replied. "When any decision is reached by the US, we will decide how to proceed but Russia has not intentions of following the American lead and withdrawing. We will first see how Iran and other Eastern countries react to such a decision and think of a way to proceed along with China." Ambassador Shein will be replaced in the near future by Anatoly Victorov, considered a confidant to Russian President Vladimir Putin who possesses little foreign policy or diplomatic experience in the Middle East. Russia questioned on Wednesday whether it would be possible to repeat earlier work to clinch a new Iran nuclear deal, commenting on US President Donald Trump's stance on the deal. "We know that the nuclear deal was the meticulous work of a number of countries. Is it possible to repeat that work -- that is a question," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. Peskov said the Kremlin supports keeping the current Iran nuclear deal in place. "We do not know what is being talked about, we support the nuclear deal as it is today. We think that there are no alternatives," said Peskov. WASHINGTON During French President Emmanuel Macrons visit to Washington, US President Donald Trump spoke about the nuclear agreement with Iran in several contradicting voices. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The two leaders have managed to create a friendship and an alliance of interests, despite the age difference (Trump is 71 years old, Macron is 40). Macron credited it to their past, saying they are both mavericks who managed to beat the political system in their countries. Trump and Macron. A warm meeting at the White House (Photo: EPA) But Macron didnt come to Washington merely to give Trump a hug in front of the cameras, an act which is going to cost him dearly among his voters in France, who despise the American president. He arrived on a missionto convince Trump not to walk away from the nuclear agreement with Iran. The moment of truth is approaching. On May 12, Trump will have to decide whether to sign a fresh waiver to suspend US sanctions on Iran. If he fails to sign, it will indicate that the United States is withdrawing from the agreement. If the US is no longer part of the agreement, Iran wont feel obligated to comply with it either. Iran has already announced that its all or nothing. And thats the purpose of Macrons visit to Washingtonto stop Trump. Trump and Macron meet to discuss Iran nuclear deal () X Its unclear whether Macron will accomplish his mission, but after the first day of meetings between the two leaders, it was evident that Macron had managed to charm Trump. The American president, who isnt quick to commend anyone, neither friends nor leaders, showered his French counterpart with praise. Throughout the entire day, Trump spoke in several different voices, which might imply that his firm stance in favor of withdrawing from the agreement at this time has been slightly undermined. He began by defining the agreement as insane and ridiculous and saying it should have never been made. Several hours later, he sounded more appeased, suggesting he was open to "doing something" on the Iran agreement and telling Macron in front of the cameras: "We could have at least an agreement among ourselves very quickly." When he was asked by a reporter what that agreement would be, he refused to elaborate, saying: "You'll find out." That was before the official press conference with Macron, in which he conveyed a direct message to Iran. If Iran threatens us in any way, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid, he warned. Macron stood next to Trump and said he was willing to discuss a new deal with Iran, but he has no intention of withdrawing from the current agreement. Macron wants to return home, to France, with some sort of achievement in his hand, an achievement which Trump can provide him with: If Macron is able to say that he influenced the presidents stand, it will help him with his voters. Trump, for his part, will be able to say that threats managed to change the agreement. Meanwhile, Macron isnt planning to cancel the current agreement, but to add to it. In other words, to honor it until 2025, while adding clauses dealing with the Iranian presence in Syria and with its missile program. Macron will continue his US visit in this spirit when he addresses the two Houses of Congress. The clock is ticking, and Trump has to make a decision by May 12. His close associates say the president is determined to walk away from the agreement, unless he is presented with a better alternative that meets his demands. Messages in this spirit have also been conveyed to Israel, which is applauding Trump for his decision to withdraw from the agreement. Such a decision, however, would deepen the crisis between the US and the European Union. Experts in the American administration have also warned Trump against freeing Iran from its obligations. If that happens, they say, Iran will rush to resume its nuclear program, which was suspended after it signed the agreement. Donald and Melania Trump host Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron (Photo: AP) There is absolutely no chance that Trump will announce that he is reneging on his decision to withdraw. That wont happen. What could happen is that he will postpone the deadline. In other words, he will sign a waiver suspending the sanctions on Iran and will let Macron work to achieve agreements on his idea to expand the deal in the next few months. For that to happen, Macron will have to convince all the parties that signed the agreementincluding Iranthat it is in their best interest to do so. Trump will agree to postpone the deadline only if he receives conclusive proof that there is a willingness to expand the agreement. Macron, with all his goodwill, will likely be unable to provide such proof. Trump is convinced that if he withdraws from the agreement, Iran will make dramatic mistakes and reactivate its nuclear facilities in full force, giving him just cause to strike in Iran. His new national security adviser, John Bolton, is an enthusiastic supporter of the military option against Tehran. It wouldnt be far-fetched to say that the nuclear agreements fate is now in Macrons hands. It wouldnt be far-fetched to say that his chance of accomplishing his mission to keep Trump in the current agreement (without any amendments) is very slim, and that was reinforced by Trumps statements against Iran on Tuesday. But there is another element in this gameTrumps personality. The American president has earned a reputation of someone who is capable of making contradicting comments and doing the exact opposite of what he has promised to do. Leah and Simcha Goldin, the parents of Lt. Hadar Goldin whose body has been held by Hamas in Gaza since the 2014 Operation Protective Edge , criticized the Israeli government on Wednesday in the wake of Egypt's decision to allow the body of the Hamas engineer killed in Malaysia to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter At a press conference, Goldin's parents blasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government for their mishandling of the affair, while the bodies of Goldin and Sgt. Oron Shaul are still being held by Hamas, as well as living Israeli civilians Avera Mengistu, Hisham Shaaban a-Sayed and Jumaa Ibrahim Abu Ghanima. Egypt has agreed to permit the entry of the body of Fadi Albatsh , a Palestinian living in Malaysia and assassinated there Saturday, into Gaza for burial. Albatsh was said be heavily involved in Hamas's surging drone program, hinting at a possible motive for his assassination. Simcha (L) and Leah Goldin blasted the government and PM Netanyahu for their mishandling of their son's return (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Leah spoke first, directing her comments at the premier's performance. "It should be honestly said that in this instance, the majority of the prime minister's failures are in his role as foreign affairs minister. Netanyahu, the (POW and MIA coordinator Yaron Blum ) and the Cabinet failed in stopping the body of the terrorist Albatsh from entering Gaza, especially in the diplomatic field," she accused. "The hazing Egyptian leadership put Netanyahu and Lieberman through stemmed from the fact that the government never demanded (the MIAs and POWs') return," she added. Hamas engineer Fadi Albatsh was killed in Malaysia Saturday (Photo: EPA) She continued, "Not permitting Albatsh's body to be buried is immoral and violates the tenets of Islam. Not allowing Oron and Hadar to be buried is also immoral and against Judaism. The Egyptians don't know that, because Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Affairs Minister Netanyahu never contacted (Egyptian President Abdel Fattah) al-Sisi or any other international entity about it." PM Netanyahu (L) and Defense Minister Lieberman were not doing enough, Goldin's parents said (Photo: Reuters, Alex Kolomoisky) Moreover, the bereaved soldier's mother said that the Foreign Affairs Ministry headed by Netanyahu "just gets in the way in most cases." "This past week alone, the European and Canadian parliaments passed resolutions at our behest tying the return of Israeli soldiers and civilians held by Hamas to all other humanitarian issues in the strip," she concluded. The Goldin family contacted coordinator Blum this week, as well as Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai and the prime minister's Military Secretary Brig.-Gen. Eliezer Toledano, requesting that the government not allow Albatsh's body entry into Gaza. Simcha Goldin: 'No stone left unturned' Hadar's father Simcha spoke next, and said, "Since Saturday night, we have left no stone unturned with the Israeli government in the attempt to harness it to a clandestine move to block or delay the arrival of the terrorist for burial in Gaza." "Our experience has led us to the understanding that Hamas's interest in bringing him to a Gaza burial was an opportunity to solve the issue of Israeli soldiers and civilians held by the terror group," he added. "Three days on," he continued, "it's clear the end result is a resounding failure. In a few hours, the terrorist's body will pass through the Rafah crossing and his funeral will become a psychological victory and a media carnival presenting both the Palestinians and the Western world with the victory over Benjamin Netanyahu. Yet another Hamas victory against the Israeli government." L-R: Hadar Goldin, Oron Shaul and Avera Mengistu Goldin's father then blamed the premier and Israeli leadership in general for not doing everything they could to prevent the return of the terrorist's body. "It has become apparent in the clearest possible terms that Oron, Hadar, Mengistu and a-Sayed are not at the top of the prime minister and defense minister's list of priories," he charged. Echoing his wife's words, Goldin said the matter was a resounding failure by Netanyahu, Lieberman and Yaron Blum, but qualified by saying they "honestly believed Yaron truly wants to get Hadar and Oron back home." "He simply can't, we realized. It's up to the defense minister and prime minister," Simcha Goldin finished his appeal. Ilan Mengistu: 'Hope actions are forthcoming' The family of missing Israeli Avera Mengistu met with Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday. Avera's brother Ilan said following the meeting that they had been notified of developments and that the government hopes it will be able to move forward on returning all of the Israelis. While he didn't wish to elaborate, Ilan mentioned the family demanded the prime minister to state unequivocally that "an innocent civilian was being held against all laws and that the government demands his unconditional return." A second demand, Ilan Mengistu said, was to utilize all of the humanitarian organizations to provide assistance in his brother's case. Avera's mother Agernash Mengistu at the family's protest camp Wednesday (Photo: Yishai Porat) "Thirdly," he continued, "we wish for the prime minister to mention Avera at any chance. Every person has a name, an identity and a country, and Avera is a Jewish Israeli citizen. By my understanding, Netanyahu accepted this, and we hope actions will soon follow." "In the meantime," Ilan Mengistu vowed, "we will continue sitting in our protest tent until we know what befell my brother." Mengistu then tackled the claim that creating a media furor around the issue of POWs and MIAs drove up the price for their release. "We have stressed there is a citizen who is uninvolved in the conflict and that the government should cry out the humanitarian injustice done," he opined. "I think the government is also beginning to understand the family's cries. The defense establishment has power and a long reach, but unfortunately I have no new information about my brother. We assume he went in alive and is being held by Hamas. There is no information contradicting this assumption, and that gives us hope." Iran's president poured scorn on Wednesday on US and European discussions over Tehran's nuclear agreement, and dismissed Donald Trump as a "tradesman" who lacked the qualifications to deal with a complex international pact. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Hassan Rouhani spoke after French President Emmanuel Macron flew to Washington to try to persuade Trump not to scrap the 2015 agreement - under which Iran curbed its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. Hassan Rouhani dismisses Trump as tradesman (Photo: AFP) "They say that with the certain leader of a European country we want to make a decision about a seven-sided agreement. Why? With what right?" Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state TV. He reserved particular scorn for the US president, who has called the agreement one of the worst deals ever negotiated and has threatened to restore US sanctions next month unless what he sees as severe flaws are fixed. "You don't have any background in politics. You don't have any background in law. You don't have any background on international treaties," Rouhani said. "How can a tradesman, a merchant, a building constructor, a tower constructor make judgments about international affairs," he added referring to Trump's career as a property developer. In a bid to salvage the deal while satisfying Trump's call for tougher action, Macron has proposed that the United States and Europe block any Iranian nuclear activity until 2025 and beyond, address Iran's ballistic missile program and generate conditions for a political solution to contain Iran in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Trump and Macron (Photo: AP) The other powers that signed the agreement with Iran - Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France - have all said they want to preserve it. Many in the West see it as the best hope of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb and heading off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks with Trump in Washington later in the week. Heavy rain, golf ball-sized hail and flash floods assailed Israel Wednesday, catching many already used to summer weather by surprise and even claiming the lives of two. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Kais Alwashla, a 16-year-old Bedouin resident of the south, was swept away by the Mamshit River and was later found in critical condition. He was evacuated to a hospital via helicopter but was later pronounced dead. A young woman around the age of 18 from the village of Arab al-Rashayida in the Bethlehem Governorate, central West Bank was also swept away by a flash flood when she apparently went to tend to her sheep near the village. She was carried off about 8.5 kilometers with her sheep in a stream near Amos, east of Gush Etzion. Palestinian search and rescue teams pulled her body out of the water, pronouncing her dead at the scene. Spring storm hammers Israel (: , , ) X About 80 students from the Bnei Arazim boarding school in Rishon LeZion were stranded near the village of Nokdim due to a flood and had to be rescued, some suffering from light hypothermia. Hail in Kibbutz Lahav Shizafon Armor Corps Training Base flooded, soldiers forced to take refuge on top of tank Storm clouds blot out the sun in Tel Aviv (Photo: Motti Kimchi) In addition, the Rothschild Mall in the city was completely flooded, and children trapped in a flooded shelter in a school on Hayarkon Street in Tel Aviv had to be evacuated. Mall flooded after freak storm X Rishon LeZion submerged (: ) X Dozens of others had to be rescued from various flooded areas throughout the country. In all the incidents, no casualties were reported. Kibbutz Lahav flooded (Photo: Amit Ari) Golf ball-sized hail in Dimona (Photo: Avia Hadad) The police reported that Highway 40 was blocked to traffic from Mitzpeh Ramon to Tzihor junction following floods. Route 90 was also closed from the area of the Dead Sea area to the north, after Nahal Rahaf overflowed. Hail in Tel Aviv Car's tail light struck by hail in Dimona (Photo: Tali Ashkenazi) The Water Authority said the rivers of Ramon, Mamshit and Paran have overflowed. Mamshit River (Photo: Herzl Yossef) Hail in Dimona (Photo: Rotem Adri) "The floods in these areas will continue in the next few hours and will spread northward to the Dead Sea area, as well as to the southern Negev near Eilat," said the Water Authority. Flooded road in Rehovot (Photo: Arad David) Snow in Lahav, southern Israel (Photo: Marina Levy) Bicycle races scheduled to take place this week in Ramat Gan and Jerusalem were postponed by a week. Tel Aviv municipality flooded (Photo: Haim Ohana) Collapsed trees in Tel Aviv (Photo: Hila Benaim) Heavy hail fell at noon in Dimona and Arad and property damage was caused, among other things to cars. Roads and streets in the south were flooded. Flood in Dimona (Photo: Sigalit Daniel) Mishmar HaYarden village (Photo: Neta Bazon) Sde Dov Airport in Tel Aviv was closed due to the storm. GAZA - A Palestinian journalist, shot by IDF snipers while covering a violent protest along the Gaza-Israel border nearly two weeks ago, died of his wounds on Wednesday, Palestinian health officials said. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Ahmed Abu Hussein, 24, worked for Gaza's Al-Shaab ("Voice of People"), a radio station linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, considered a terrorist group by Israel, the US and the EU. He also worked as a photographer for another local news agency. Photos and video from the scene show that he was in a group of bystanders far from the border and wearing a blue protective vest marked "Press" and a helmet marked "TV" when he was shot on April 13. Clashes on the Gaza border (Photo: EPA) He was the second journalist killed by Israeli gunfire since the weekly Friday protests, for a right of return of Palestinians refugees and their descendants to homes in what is now Israel, began on March 30. He was shot in the stomach while covering protests near Jabalia in northern Gaza, the health ministry in Gaza said. He was moved from Gaza to a hospital in the West Bank and then transferred to the Sheba Medical Center in Israel, where he died. His death raised to 38 the number of Palestinians killed in the protests near the border. An IDF spokeswoman had no immediate comment on Abu Hussein's death. Yaser Murtaja , 30, a cameraman for Palestinian Ain Media, was shot on April 6 and died the next day. After his death, the IDF said it does not intentionally target journalists and that it would look into the circumstances of the shooting. The Palestinian journalists' union accused Israel of "deliberately" targeting Abu Hussein and Murtaja, vowing to seek to bring "leaders of the occupation" to justice. His brother Diaa told AFP they were preparing to transfer the body to Gaza for burial. His funeral will be held on Thursday. Israel's live-fire response to the protests has drawn international criticism. Israel has been warning Gazans not to approach the border fence and has been doing what is necessary to stop the barrier from being damaged or breached. The Palestinians said Israel, which has deployed army sharpshooters along the frontier, used "excessive force against unarmed protesters." Some protesters have hurled stones and rolled burning tires towards the fence. Gaza is run by the Hamas Islamist movement, designated by Israel and the West as a terrorist group. Israel's intelligence minister said on Wednesday that a proposed new US-European deal over Iran's nuclear program might dissuade US President Donald Trump from abandoning the current agreement between world powers and Tehran. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The minister, Yisrael Katz, did not say, in a radio interview, whether Israelwhich has called for the 2015 nuclear deal to be "fixed or nixed"backed a separate arrangement put forward by French President Emmanuel Macron. "President Trump's inclination is not to extend the deal's termin essence, to return to the sanctions trackunless a European-backed proposal is placed before him, for an alternative agreement between the United States and Europe," Katz said. (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) "(It would contain) complementary steps which will remove the grave dangers in this (2015) nuclear agreement, which he defined as a bad deal." With a May 12 deadline looming for Trump to decide on restoring US economic sanctions on Tehran, Macron, on a visit to the United States , said on Tuesday he spoke to the president about a "new deal" in which Washington and Europe would tackle the outstanding concerns about Iran beyond its nuclear program. Macron is using the state visit as a high-stakes bid to salvage the Iran agreement, which many in the West see as the best hope of preventing Tehran from getting a nuclear bomb and heading off an atomic arms race in the Middle East. Israel and the Trump administration, however, have argued that the deal paves the way to Tehran's eventual development of the bomb. Under Macron's proposal, the United States and Europe would agree to block any Iranian nuclear activity until 2025 and beyond, address Iran's ballistic missile program and generate conditions for a political solution to contain Iran in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called specifically for cancelling a core "sunset clause" that removes caps on Iran's nuclear projects after a number of years. Katz said the West had signed the 2015 agreement "too soon" and should have maintained tough economic sanctions that were suspended in return for Tehran agreeing to roll back technologies with bomb-making potential. "The president of France and his colleagues in Europe must understand that putting heavy pressure on Iran today can prevent violence and perhaps war tomorrow," the minister said. It was unclear whether Macron made substantial progress in his efforts to prevent Trump from pulling out of the deal, and Trump stressed there would be repercussions should Iran restart its nuclear program. Iran has said it will ramp up that program if the agreement collapses. Meanwhile, Western envoys said Britain, Germany and France were nearing a package to put to Trump to try and persuade him to save the Iran deal, even as Tehran poured more scorn on the president, dismissing him as a "tradesman". Western envoys said on Wednesday that three months of meetings behind closed doors were culminating in a package of separate measures that could be taken against Iran in the hope they would satisfy Trump while keeping the nuclear deal intact. "This is about convincing President Trump, it's not a new deal with Iran," a senior European Union diplomat said. SriLankan Airlines is firmly focused on increasing its foothold in the Middle East travel market with a concerted promotional effort at the 25th Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai. Having served the sector for years, SriLankan Airlines is a known entity on the Middle East- Colombo route, with the airline's famed standards of service and hospitality being one of the chief attractions for tourists and business travellers choosing to fly SriLankan Airlines. Significantly, 23 per cent of the total passenger count on the Middle East-Colombo sector comprises of Middle Eastern business and leisure travellers, either making a vacation trip to enjoy some of Sri Lanka's many-splendoured delights, or business visitors travelling to make deals in Colombo or other Asian or Australian destinations. The tie-up with the Oneworld alliance has further enhanced traffic flows to the airline from their partners, making Colombo a growing transport hub. At ATM, the airline has pulled out the stops to attract even more tourists and business travellers from the region by leveraging the enormous pulling power of the Indian Ocean island paradise combined with seamless onward connections to India, Southeast, East Asia as well as to Australia. With inbound tourist numbers on the upswing, SriLankan Airlines is engaged in active interactions with travel industry decision makers from across the wider region, most of whom will be attending Arabian Travel Market, the leading international trade event for travel and tourism industry in the Middle East and beyond. We regard Arabian Travel Market as an important stage to reach the travel industry professionals in the Middle East, which is one of our most important source destinations, said Dimuthu Tennakoon, head of Worldwide Sales and Distribution, SriLankan Airlines. It is important to be present here to both interact and network with our regional travel trade partners as also acquaint them with our latest product offerings and future developments. Responding to growing demand from the region, SriLankan Airlines has recently boosted its services with daily flights to Colombo from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Muscat, Bahrain and Kuwait to 68 flights a week. The airline is also looking at increasing connectivity to other parts of the Gulf depending on demand. SriLankan Airlines today flies an all Airbus fleet, which includes the state-of-the-art A330-300 and A320neo aircraft connecting to 105 destinations in 47 countries (including codeshare operations). Launched in 1979, Sri Lankas national carrier is an award-winning airline with a solid reputation for service, comfort, safety, reliability, and punctuality. - TradeArabia News Service African asylum seekers who were marked for deportation from Israel are celebrating as a life-saving moment the states announcement on Tuesday that it would refrain from issuing further expulsion orders to Eritrean and Sudanese migrants, and that all orders already served will be rescinded. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The migrants and their Israeli support groups are hailing the decision, despite government efforts to ensure that it is temporary and to find a new solution that would entail the illegal migrants mass deportation. Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Aryeh Deris subsequent announcements that immediate preparations for the reopening of detention facilities will commence in light of Uganda and Rwanda's refusal to take in the migrants under the terms Israel demanded, joy still prevailed among the people who for weeks were slated for deportation. (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch) Halfum Sultan, a 37-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker who was set to be deported, told Ynet that our lives have been saved. Netanyahu and Deri also announced they will begin promoting the override power to set the stage for the facilities' operation, alongside other measures to be taken to solve the problem. With Rwanda and Uganda backing out of the deal last minute for absorbing the migrants, Jerusalem has also begun making contact with two other African countries in a bid to reach a similar agreement. Associates close to Netanyahu have said that they believe there is a reasonable chance that the two new countries will agree. (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch) We want to thank the citizens of Israel who helped us get to this moment in which the deportation, which was an immediate danger to our lives, was canceled, Sultan said with relief. Now I really hope that they will spread us around the country and that our lives here will improve. That will help both us, and the neighborhoods of south Tel Aviv, for whom I also hope there is a solution. We will also continue to pray for the situation in the countries we came from to get better so we can return to them, he continued. Sultan also said that he believes the government will continue in it attempts to breath new life into a deportation program, but does not believe that it will succeed. Halfum Sultan I dont think there is a country in Africa which will agree. There is no state that can take us in better than Israel, because some of the countries are themselves the sources of the refugees and some already took in many refugees, he explained. Attorney Itay Mack, who submitted petitions to the High Court of Justice on behalf of 119 human rights activists which led efforts to bring about the cancelation of the deportation program, praised the human rights groups for their role in stopping the state in its tracks. It is frightening that without demands by human rights organizations and our warning about this contemptible behavior, the state would have continued as usual to carry out forced deportations, by exerting illegal pressure and issuing false deportation decrees, Mack said. After attacking Netanyahu for his efforts to deport the migrants, a representative from one of the rights groups praised the African countries that refused to take part in the plan, while lamenting the fact that the crisis demanded court intervention to make Israel abandon its controversial policy. Echoing the sentiments of Sultan, a representative from the pro-migrant Stop the deportation group said that no third state existed that would agree to act as a partner in Israels mass expulsions. There is no third country and there wont be a third country. The sandstorm in the publics eyes has to stop. Every shekel that is wasted on the incitement campaign which sows hatred is a shekel that should be invested in absorption and moving the asylum seeker population (around the country), the representative said. Shula Keshet, one of the leaders of the South Tel Aviv Against the Expulsion group, described the states cancelation of the deportation plan as a happy day for Israeli democracy. Now is the time to deal with the crisis responsibly and to begin a serious plan for distributing the refugees and asylum seekers throughout the country, including to established locatilites, Keshet urged. For activists fighting for the deportation plan, however, the states latest announcement and retreat from the plan represents a betrayal of south Tel Aviv, where the majority of the migrants live. The government of Israel betrayed the residents of the south Tel Aviv neighborhood, vented Sheffi Paz, who leads the South Tel Aviv Liberation Front. We no longer believe in any promise, only real action. Dont tempt us anymore with fairytales. Today, more than ever, we know everything depends on us and only us. Sheffi Paz (Photo: Yariv Katz) Pazs comments came weeks after she held a meeting, together with anti-migrant activists, with Netanyahu after he outraged supporters of the deportation policy by announcing an unexpected decision that he was replacing the plans to deport the migrants with a deal struck with the United Nations, according to which the latter would work to reach agreements with different Western countries to take in at least 16,250 of the Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers. At the opening of the two-hour meeting in the Kirya IDF headquarters with the angry residents, Netanyahu informed them that he had once again reversed his position and had decided not only to suspend the UN deal, but annul it altogether Romania's most powerful politician has missed a hearing on corruption chargesby going on a surprise visit to Israel. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Liviu Dragnea, chairman of the ruling Social Democratic Party, is charged with official misconduct. He was expected to attend court Wednesday, but Parliament confirmed just as the hearing began that he was in Israel at the invitation of Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu. Dragnea is accused of intervening to keep two women on the payroll of a family welfare agency, even though they were employed by the party. He denies wrongdoing. Liviu Dragnea (Photo: AFP) Dragnea, who effectively controls the government, can't be prime minister due to a 2016 conviction for vote-rigging. The court scheduled another hearing for May 15. Premier Viorica Dancila also began a two-day visit to Israel Wednesday. Netanyahu, who met with her Wednesday, thanked his Romanian counterpart for her government's stand on possibly moving Romania's embassy to Jerusalem. "I welcome Romanian government's approval of a draft decision on initiating the transfer of the Romanian Embassy to Jerusalem," he told her. Romanian Premier Viorica Dancila (Photo: AFP) Earlier this month, Dragnea said Bucharest is ready to follow the US and move its embassy to Jerusalem. But Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is in charge of foreign policy, later downplayed the announcement. Palestinians claim eastern Jerusalem, territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War from Jordan, as their future capital. Israel has long said that it is its eternal and united capital. Czech President Milos Zeman said on Wednesday his country is planning to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter During a reception making Israels 70th Independence Day in Prague Castle, the official office of the President of the Czech Republic, Zeman reiterated his intention to move the embassy. Shortly after, the Czech Foreign Ministry published a statement clarifying the matter, saying that the fate of Jerusalem will be decided in a final status agreement. The Czech Republic fully respects the joint policy of the European Union, which sees Jerusalem as the future capital of the State of Israel and the future State of Palestine, the statement read. Czech President Milos Zeman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO) Speaking at the70th birthday celebration, Zeman said that it was a great honor to invite Israeli representatives to the capital. As you know, this is the first opportunity at the Prague Castle to host a celebration for any country. So dear friends from Israel, welcome to Prague, the president continued. The second step, he noted, would include the transfer to Jerusalem of the Czech Center for Culture, Economics and Tourism. In a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, he said I will give you my home. The Czech Republic is not so rich that it can refuse such a generous offer. This is wonderful, he quipped. In any event, I hope that Bibi will fulfil his promise in four years. Then I said we would transfer the embassy to Jerusalem, Zeman said, using Netanyahus nickname. By the way, I rejected the claim that we had imitated the United States of America. On the contrary, the US is the one who imitated my suggestion. Many Europeans, Zeman pointed out, along with other leaders, had condemned the Jerusalem move, who he slighted as self-styled moderates. But I call them cowards. It isnt popular but I think that its the right thing. In any event, allow me to finish with one sentencenext year in Jerusalem. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman praised Zeman for taking the lead in Europe on the Jerusalem issue. I praise the Czech president for his decision to transfer their Czech Embassy to Jerusalem, Lieberman said. The step of leadership by US President Donald Trump foreshadows a change in the attitude of the countries of the world toward Jerusalem. Jerusalem is our eternal and cherished capital, and we will continue to strengthen it and build in it. Zeman says the move will take place in three steps: An honorary consulate will be opened in Jerusalem next month followed by other Czech institutions before the embassy's actual transfer. Prague Castle (Photo: Czech President's Office) Beyond the consulate's opening, which he said would open next month, he gave no further timetable. In a letter to Zeman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped he would jointly open the new embassy in Jerusalem at the end of this year. The Czech foreign ministry says the opening of the consulate and the Czech Cultural center in Jerusalem is the first step on the way of having its embassy in the capital of the host country. But it didn't immediately confirm the transfer of the embassy. Inside Prague Castle (Photo: Czech President's Office) In April, Zeman expressed his desire that his country would transfer its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and that it is a "top priority" for him. The decision, he noted at the time, is in the hands of the government but according to a newspaper report in the country, also at the same time, "the subject is not currently on the agenda." Israel's ambassador to the Czech Republic, Daniel Meron, said that "the Czech Republic is one of Israel's closest allies in Europe and President Zeman himself is a true friend of the Jewish people." Zeman would be the third political domino to fall behind Trump, with Guatemala announcing almost immediately after the US president that it would follow suit. Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said at a conference in Washington that his country plans to move its embassy in May, two days after the US embassy makes the same move. BERLIN I met George and Alexander Soros in Berlin early last week, at a conference held by an international organization which has them on its board of trustees. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter George Soros, 87, is a Hungarian-born Jew, a Holocaust survivor and a billionaire who once ranked 22nd on Forbes magazines World Billionaires List. He is a very generous philanthropist. The Open Society Foundations (OSF), an international grantmaking network founded by Soros, has donated $14 billion so far to different programs and individuals in 43 countries. Its the second largest family foundation in the world (the largest is Microsoft Corporation founder Bill Gates foundation) and the largest political foundation. It grants a total of $1 billion a year. This makes George Soros the most hated man in the worldhated because of the causes he supports, hated for his opinions, hated because of his money, hated for being Jewish, and hated for all these reasons in Israel too. Several months ago, I asked him to give Yedioth Ahronoth an interview. He thought it over and eventually suggested that I interview his son, Alexander. George and Alexander Soros in Berlin last week. My father is completely different from the image people have of him (Photo: Nahum Barnea) Alex, 32, is Soros son from his second marriage to American historian Susan Weber. George serves as OSFs chairman and Alex is vice chairman. Soros has been married three times and has five childrenthree from his first wife and two from his second wife, who is also Jewish. Alex was his first son to celebrate a bar mitzvah. He says that after the ceremony, his father asked to talk to him. If youre serious about being Jewish, you might want to consider immigrating to Israel, he said. While Alex did not make aliyah, he has visited Israel several times. He invested (and lost) money in Israeli companies and he founded his own philanthropic foundation, which grants millions of dollars to Jewish organizations, including J Street. (Soros Sr. has invested large sums of money in the Israeli high-tech industry, including in companies like Indigo, Teva and Allot Communications). The Soros donations go to organizations that preach human rights, democracy, transparency, freedom of speech, supporting minorities and fighting tyranny and corruption. In other words, left-wing organizations. That explains the hatred, but it doesnt explain the extent of the hatred. Head of the Jewish mafia Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban based his last election campaign on huge posters featuring George Soros laughing face, accusing him of being part of a dark plot to destroy Christian Hungary. A parliament member representing Polands ruling party referred to Soros as the most dangerous person in the world. American radio show host Alex Jones, whose conspiracy theories are often quoted by US President Donald Trump, announced that the head of the Jewish mafia is George Soros. Right-wing politicians in Europe have called for a global de-Sorosization. OSFs activity has been banned in Russia. A hate campaign was launched against the foundation in Italy over its support for refugees, an emotionally-charged issue in the country. Soros is described as a monster in Romania, Macedonia, Croatia and Belarus, as well as in America. We are being used, Alex Soros told me. We are the excuse for every crisis, for every error, for every corruption scandal. In Israel, Knesset Member Miki Zohar (Likud) came up with the Soros law, aimed at terminating the foundations activity, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Soros as an enemy of Israel, and the prime ministers son posted a sickening anti-Semitic cartoon starring Soros on his Facebook page. What do you think about Yair Netanyahu's post, I asked. Alex gave a bitter smile. It seems Yair Netanyahu hasnt learnt a thing from history, he said. "A Jew who embraces such a cartoon has no sense of solidarity with his people; he hurts every person who appreciates freedom and tolerance. From Yair Netanyahu's Facebook page How have you dealt with the waves of hatred towards your father, I asked. Since I was a child, I realized thatbeyond all political reasonsthe attacks against my father have an anti-Semitic tone, he said. I read what they said about him in Hungary. They described him as the creator of an international Jewish plot. All the Elders of Zion and the Protocols in one man, in my father. They asked how dare this man come to central and Eastern European countries and dictate norms to them; who is this immigrant fighting against the discrimination of Muslims in America. They stepped up the attacks on him because they saw how influential he was. Have you ever supported a right-wing association, I asked. Of course, he replied. We helped centrist-rightist organizations in European countries that introduced a democratic regime after the Communist governments fall. We offered grants to right-wing people in the Balkans. Do you oppose any military operation, I asked. No, he said. We were in favor of NATOs military intervention in Kosovo. Our foundation worked with the army in Afghanistan. We fought against the religious discrimination of Muslims, but the war on al-Qaeda and ISIS is a different thing. No opposition, no future Your father and Trump belong to the very small circle of New York-based billionaires, I said. How were the relations between them? Soros smiled. You know Donald Trump is the son of a rich father, who was raised on money since he was a child, he said. I grew up in wealth too. My father would jokingly warn me when I was a child, Dont be like Trump. There was a time when Trump suggested that my father rent offices in one of the buildings bearing his name. He thought my fathers name would attract more tenants. You set the price, he said, and my father refused. Like everyone else in New York, my father knew that Trump was a chronic bankruptcy filer who marketed himself to the public as a success story. My father didnt take Trump seriously. In the 2008 presidential election, Soros donated a large sum to Barack Obama. He favored him over Hillary Clinton. In the 2016 election, he was one of Clintons biggest donors. He favored her over her left-wing rival, Bernie Sanders. The money was donated from his personal fortune, not from the foundations coffer. Hungarian government poster saying 'Don't let George Soros have the last laugh' (Photo: AFP) Governments in central and southern Europe are fighting you over your support for refugees and migrants, I said. Russia has no immigration problem. Why have you been outlawed by (President Vladimir) Putin? Our activity in Russia started off on the right foot, he said. After the Soviet Unions collapse, my father established a branch of the foundation there. He came up with a Marshall Plan for Russia, a wide-scale plan to rebuild the country with Western finding. The American administration showed no interest, and the plan failed. My father was accepted by Russia also thanks to his support for Andrei Sakharov and other dissidents in the Soviet era. That all ended when Putin shut the Russian society against. My father chose to openly attack Putin, and that was the turning point. In addition, my father opposed Putins occupation spree in Ukraine. And there was another point: Khodorkovsky, the oligarch who tried to fight Putin, saw my father as a role model. Putin never forgave him. Hungary took things even further. Soros initiated the establishment of the Central European University in Budapest and invested $250 million in it. The universitys official language is English, the degrees are American and the values are liberal, Western. The lecturers included Israeli professors like Yehuda Elkana and Shlomo Avineri. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban plans to shut it down, Alex Soros told me. We have been given a one-year extension, but the intention is clear: He want to ban the university from granting American degrees and lead to its closure. The foundation is still active in Hungary, but Orban won a large majority in parliament with a law forcing its employees to register as foreign agents. The law also imposes a 25-percent tax on NGOs that receive donations from the foundation, and they will be banned from working with migrants. People ask my father, Why do you invest so much money in a county that has persecuted and is persecuting you? Alex said. He replies, I want to help those who suffer and are deprived in that country. Thats what Jewish tradition has taught hima personal fortune cant replace values. Orban won a crushing victory in the elections, I said. The Hungarian people are with him, not with your father. I dont think he won because of his attacks on my father, he said. There is no longer an opposition in Hungary, there is no free media. There is no future for young people, and they are leaving the country rapidly. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. 'He went mad' (Photo: Reuters) Why, I asked, has Orban gone to the trouble of waging a campaign against your support for migrants. There are very few refugees from Muslim countries in Hungary. "Because he stopped acting rationally, he replied. He went mad, he became a maniac. Orban was one of 3,200 Hungarians who received scholarships to study abroad from the Soros foundation. Some say his hatred for Soros is driven by the scholarship he received. He is biting the hand that fed him. Netanyahu, I said, was asked about the posters against your father when he traveled to Budapest in July 2017. During the visit, the posters were removed from the billboards. The Israeli Embassy in Budapest condemned the anti-Semitic attack on my father, said Soros. Netanyahu did things differently. Following the embassys statement, the Foreign Ministry spokesman issued a clarification statement, saying that my father undermines Israels democratically elected governments and funds organizations that seek to deny Israel the right to defend itself. In spite of Orbans anti-Semitic campaign, Netanyahu invited him and his colleagues from Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to hold one of their next meetings in Israel. I was very disappointed by that. I was disappointed by the Israeli prime ministers cynical conduct, his failure to help Jews and to stand behind them. This isnt Israel, this is Netanyahu. His ties with radical right-wing, anti-Semitic and corrupt elements contradicts Israels commitment as a Jewish state. Mostly unfounded hatred My father is completely different from the image people have of him, Alex said. They think hes an insensitive, solemn person, who analyzes everything rationally. I know a different Soros. Hes much more sentimental than people think. The experience that led him to philanthropy was his life as a teenager during the Holocaust. The war in the Balkans reminded him of his days during the war. I was first introduced to Soros power in the Yugoslav Wars, in the 1990s. Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, was under a heavy siege. The only entry route I found was a jeep that somehow managed to bring medications and medical equipment to the city. The Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish aid organization, was involved; Soros was the funder. We entered the city under shelling. People used to say at the time that when the war ended, Soros would win all the reconstruction contracts. That didnt happen. The motive was political and humanitarian. Soros did his business elsewhere. George Soros is one of the prominent figures in the International Crisis Group, an organization that investigates global ocnflicts and recommends ways of dealing with them. As part of this organization, which I am also a member of, I got to chance to listen to his estimates in recent years. He analyzes the international arena with a sharp, sober scalpel, lacking any sentimentality. His recommendations are deeply rooted in action. He is a businessman, not Che Guevara. What does your father think about the attacks against him, I asked. Isnt he alarmed? He only enjoys it, Alex said. His character was shaped during the war. There are Jews, in my family too, who still live in hiding. Theyre afraid. My father swore he would never hide again. Alex usually sits next to his father during meetings, his fingers dancing on the computer keyboard. Like people his age, he shaves every three days. He has a slim and youthful figure. He sometimes considers his words carefully but has a proper doctrine. Unlike other people in his position, he works hard: Apart from his work in his fathers foundation and in his own foundation and his business involvement, he is completing his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. The gossip column of the New York Post, Rupert Murdochs newspaper, has published several stories depicting him as an unmarried partygoer, a man about town. Alex says the stories have been blown out of proportion to harm his father. What does George Soros think about Israel, I asked. He thinks Israel has a right to exist, he replied. Thats not much, I said. Does he care about Israel? If he didnt care, he wouldnt have advised me at the time to immigrate to Israel, he said. My father would like to see Israel in Yitzhak Rabins image. His views are more or less the common views in Meretz and in the Labor Party. We support a two-state solution. US President Donald Trump. My father would warn me, dont be like Trump (Photo: EPA) You have helped fund organizations like J Street, which worked in America for the approval of the nuclear agreement with Iran, I said. Yes, he replied, we have helped organizations that worked for the agreements approval. Whats wrong with that? Many of the heads of Israels security organizations shared the same opinion. I have read the investigations about you conducted by right-wing bodies in Israel, I said. I have spoken to Itai Reuveni from NGO Monitor, who studied you thoroughly. He says the big problem in investigating your foundations activity in Israel is lack of transparency. Its possible that some of the NGOs enjoying your funds support the BDS movement. In my opinion, the call for boycott and divestment of Israel is wrong, Soros said. This movement is trying to follow in the footsteps of the South African precedent. Israel is a different story. I believe the occupation is bad, but we cant hold every Israeli accountable for the occupation. What are your red lines, I asked. When do you stop supporting an organization or an association? We dont support terror organizations, he said. We dont support organizations that call for violence. We support Al-Quds University, although the American administration has stopped supporting it, arguing that some of the students support Hamas. We are in favor of academic freedom. We wouldnt boycott an American university if it turned out that some of its students were anti-Semitic. Personally, I prefer to help organizations that foster democracy and support the two-state solution, but you cant remove other organizations from the public discourse, especially if they arent violent. The foundations regional office is located in Amman and is run by a Palestinian jurist who studied in the US. The foundation doesnt have an office in Israel. It lets the regional office decide who is worthy of funding. It has no way of supervising comments made by those who receive its funds. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His ties with radical right-wing, anti-Semitic and corrupt elements contradicts Israels commitment as a Jewish state (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) According to a rumor circulated via social media, the foundation supports African refugees struggle against the deportation. Its true that the foundation has been active in this area in Europe, but not in Israel. I asked foundation officials to specify how much money it invests in Israel and in the territories every year, and who receives the funds. The answer surprised me: The foundation is investing only $3 million in Israel and in the territories in 2018. Compared to the funds remitted to Israel by right-wing foundations, this is a ridiculous sum. Its also ridiculous compared to the $1 billion the foundation spends around the world every year. Miki Zohar and Yair Netanyahu can calm down: Their hatred is mostly unfounded. Who enjoys the money, I asked. The Al-Quds Bard College for Arts and Science in east Jerusalem tops the list. Al-Quds Universitys Arts and Science Faculty signed a comprehensive partnership with Bard College in New York. Second on the list is Adalah, a legal center founded by Israeli Arabs; third is Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organization; and BTselem is fourth. This isnt the most shocking list Ive seen in my life. Alex Soros doesnt rule out a change of direction. I may increase our activity in Israel, he said. If Sheldon Adelson can invest in Israeli politics, so can I. Im young. Im open to a change of policy. 'The world is in danger' Its possible, I told him, that youre not the story. You invest $1 billion every year in Tikkun Olam (repair of the world), but the world doesnt want your repair. I certainly hope that isnt true, he replied. Were in a war. If we dont fight, if we dont take risks for our values, catastrophe will come. Every generation must fight for its values all over again. When Trump was elected, I wasnt surprisedI was sad. Since Trumps election, I have been waking up every morning and saying to myself, the world is in danger. I have to do whatever I can to prevent that danger. The New South Wales government needs to correct its antiquated stamp duty brackets, according to the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW). Leanne Pilkington, president of the REINSW, said the industry body has continuously lobbied the state government in an effort to persuade them to address the punishing effects of stamp duty bracket creep. To date, government has chosen to ignore the damage these outdated tax rates are causing, Pilkington said. By doing nothing the government is simply profiteering at the expense of the consumer. The current NSW transfer duty brackets (other than the top bracket for residential land over $3 million) have been in place for more than 30 years. The Second Reading to the 1986 Bill, which on enactment increased NSW transfer duty rates and introduced the current base thresholds, included the following statement: The increased rates for conveyances only affect properties worth more than $300,000 and thus will not affect the average home purchaser. The median house price in Sydney is now at $1,179,519 [according to Q4 2017 data from the Real Estate Institute of Australia]. This clearly shows that the government is ignoring the market in which the current stamp duty rates were to apply. Last financial year, more than $7.3 billion was collected in stamp duty and to February 2018 the government has raised in excess of $4.7 billion, on par with the same amount collected in the first 8 months of that financial year. Pilkington added that there was empirical evidence available that suggests reducing transfer duty will create greater volumes of transactions, which in turn will generate more revenue for the government. It is completely disingenuous for government to express sympathy for our first-home buyers and other property consumers and then rip them off with outdated stamp duty rates. The NSW government needs to search for its conscience and fix these outdated stamp duty brackets. Related Stories: Stamp Duty Concessions Impact Auction Markets NCAT Cannot Resolve Disputes Between Interstate Parties Arizona News Phoenix, Arizona - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Arizona consumers will receive up to $130,000 in restitution as part of a settlement with ABC Nissan, an auto dealer in Phoenix. When Arizonans shop for a car, they deserve an honest, transparent, and fair car buying experience, said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Advertising fake prices and falsifying consumer information on credit applications are completely unacceptable practices. The States complaint alleged ABC Nissan previously engaged in false advertising practices, including internet advertising that listed vehicles at prices that included all possible rebates and excluded mandatory dealer add-ons that had already been applied to the vehicles. The State also alleged that ABC Nissan previously misrepresented consumers financial information on loan applications in order to obtain financing for vehicle purchases. Under the settlement resolving the complaint, ABC will pay Arizona consumers up to $130,000 in restitution. The settlement notes that ABC Nissan has changed some of its practices after becoming aware of the Attorney Generals investigation. The settlement requires court approval before it is final. If the court approves the consent decree, consumers who believe they may be eligible for restitution will have 90 days from that date to file a complaint with the Arizona Attorney Generals Office. Hundreds of consumers may have been affected. Consumers who purchased cars from ABC Nissan and believe they are victims of consumer fraud should contact the Arizona Attorney Generals Office by calling in Phoenix at (602) 542-5763, in Tucson at (520) 628-6648, or outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas at (800) 352-8431. Consumers can also file a consumer complaint online at https://www.azag.gov/complaints/consumer . This case was handled by Matthew du Mee, Unit Chief Counsel of the Consumer Litigation Unit. Pictures of alleged misleading online ads: Arizona News Phoenix, Arizona - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced a State Grand Jury indicted Karen L. Hartwell for allegedly altering water sample test results. Hartwell is accused of changing test results for drinking water samples that tested positive for bacteria. Hartwell is facing felony charges of Fraudulent Schemes & Practices and Forgery. Hartwell allegedly altered 13 drinking water test results for 6 different southern Arizona water districts that were clients of her company, YL Tech. The State alleges Hartwell then submitted the altered results to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. It is alleged that in each of the 13 altered test results, Hartwell modified the testing paperwork with a computer program to replace a positive coliform test result with a negative result. Coliform is a category of bacteria that drinking water quality rules require be tested for on a monthly basis. All defendants are presumed innocent until convicted in a court of law. Assistant Attorney General Adam J Schwartz is prosecuting this case. Latest News Washington, DC - President Donald J. Trumps action to restrict the entry of individuals from certain countries is working to strengthen our screening and vetting capabilities. On September 24, 2017, President Donald J. Trump signed a Proclamation establishing entry restrictions for nationals from certain countries. The Proclamation followed an extensive, world-wide review, which determined that the selected countries were not adequately sharing information about their nationals with the United States or presented other risk factors that threatened our national security. Following President Trumps actions, other countries have adopted new security measures, strengthening our ability to identify and properly vet individuals entering or seeking to enter the United States. Information-sharing and identification practices between the United States and foreign governments have significantly improved as a result. For example, in response to the Presidents actions, 29 countries produced example travel documents that can be used to combat fraud, and 11 countries agreed to share information on known or suspected terrorists. One country addressed by the Proclamation, Chad, made such significant strides in improving its information-sharing that the entry restrictions were lifted. The significant steps taken by Chad and other nations make clear that the Administrations efforts to enhance our national security are working. The restrictions established by President Trump are needed to prevent individuals who pose a threat to our safety and security from entering the United States. President Trumps top priority is the safety and security of the American people. The Proclamations entry restrictions advance that priority. Without them, dangerous criminals or terrorists could evade detection and enter our country from nations that fail to fully provide the information we need for our screening and vetting processes. Further, without the Proclamation, foreign governments would have little incentive to improve their information-sharing practices moving forward, only making the problem worse. Simply put, the entry restrictions are needed to strengthen our national security and are succeeding in doing exactly that. Yuma News Yuma, Arizona - On Tuesday, at approximately 4:10 p.m., a ten year old male was walking home from school, in the 2600 Block of South 34th Avenue. He was contacted by two male subjects in an older black van. They told the juvenile that his parents asked them to pick him up and take him home. The juvenile refused to enter the van and left the area on foot. The subjects were described as males wearing black ski masks and spoke English. There is no further description on the subjects. The vehicle is described as a black older van with no windows, unknown make, model and license plate. There was no physical contact between the male subjects and the ten year old male and no injuries reported. The victim did not know the suspects. This case is currently under investigation. The Yuma Police Department encourages anyone with any information about these incidents to please call the Yuma Police Department at (928) 373-4700 or 78-Crime at (928) 782-7463 to remain anonymous. Employment is a vast chasm since every youth completing their higher education expects to get a job after graduation. Having a job is one thing while going through the process of getting one is another unfortunate exhausting period for a majority of the people. Ghana youth employment registration is a puzzle that every person seeking work is wondering how to go about. Here is all you need to know about youth employment in 2018 Source: Ghana News Online The youth in Ghana have been empowered to participate meaningfully in the socio-economic and sustainable development of the whole country. This has been made possible through the establishment of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) under the (Act 887) of 2015. Its primary focus is to support individuals aged between 15-35 years through internship modules and skill training by providing them with employment opportunities. The Ghana youth employment agency registration is carried out yearly. It is one of the top-rated institutions in Africa offering youth empowerment. The entire process has been made successful through advancing the curriculum and providing integrated programs. Just in 2012 alone, the agency drove over 600, 000 youth in paid internship in Ghana. So far, there has been a significant improvement in the economy while enhancing the lives of students in all sectors. Programs from the agency include vocational courses, trade, and security helping the students to be self-sustainable and get much out of their daily lifestyle. The agency is mandated to carry out the following functions: Provide training and develop support to the youth Offer the youth with requisite skills while training them. Facilitate and monitor the employment of youth in Ghana Ghana Youth Employment Registration 2018 Source: Ghana Live Tv Although the placement process is for 2018, the youth employment programme registration in Ghana was carried out in September 2017. A long process commences once they are open for registration. The announcement is made on television and radio stations. To get detailed information, one can visit the agency offices located on the ground floor at Liberation Towers along castle road in Accra. When applying for Ghana youth employment online registration, the following must be observed to the latter: You must be between the age of 15-35 before you enroll in this program Be a Ghanaian citizen and provide the national identity card for proof. Upon receiving a receipt from YEA, an applicant is deemed engaged A person in the running or existing module cannot apply. It is the sole right of YEA to shortlist and hire an applicant A successful application does not guarantee a person engagement To complete the registration process, an applicant must have a working phone number During the registration process, women are encouraged to participate more in the youth employment program since the field is flooded with men. The objective of the youth employment agency 2018 is to benefit the youth while alleviating issues arising from unemployment. Before someone is placed permanently on the payroll, there is a training period. Be aware of fraudsters who post wrong dates on social media. The best source of information is the radio, newspaper, or television. READ ALSO: Best weekend jobs in Ghana 2018 Source: NIIT Ghana Ghana national youth employment online registration The application process to the youth employment registration in Ghana is simple. Log into www.yea.gov.gh and print out the application form provided. Attach your contacts, a valid national identification card, and an authentic passport photo to the forms. Fill it out appropriately and drop the forms at the district office of the youth employment agency. Successful candidates are contacted after that for further details including interview dates. Once you send your application, it is advisable to check on the website from time to time to confirm new developments such as if people are shortlisted or not. Ghana youth employment registration form Several youth employment modules are available. In turn, there are many beneficiaries, assured of getting jobs after passing out from their training school. Among the different modules for the youth employment programs provided by YEA include: Youth in agriculture and afforestation-The aim of the program is to provide the youth with job opportunities. At the same time, it will boost the nations food security. The module consists of afforestation and greening in Ghana. Coastal assistants and sanitation-It creates youth employment 2018 for a majority of job seekers. Through maintaining the cleanliness of the environment especially the coastal belt, Ghanaians will be earning a living. The module is categorized into water bodies protection, coastal protection assistants, youth in sanitation, and coastal sanitation assistants. Source: Class fm online Apparel and textiles-Those with prowess in sawing can make clothes locally and sell in Ghana or export the products. Another option is they can be absorbed easily by garment manufacturing companies. Entrepreneurship-The aim of the module is to get a new crop of business minded people who will create employment in the long run. Other categories that are likely to suit the youth enrolled in the national youth agency jobs include; : Community teaching assistants Trade and vocation Community service and security Community and health assistants Information communication and technology-the module helps the youth to be equipped with technology skills for self-employment. Industrial attachment-Lastly industrial attachment gives the youth who have completed higher education a chance for hands on experience. Employment is vital to enable the growth of Ghana as a nation. YES has pursue all avenues possible to ensure the dream is achievable by enrolling the youth in paid internship in Ghana 2018. We wish you all the best in Ghana youth employment registration 2018. READ ALSO: Top companies in Ghana for employment Source: Yen Swiss-Belhotel International recognised its strategic trade partners and key associates with Excellence Awards at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), taking place in Dubai. The awards were presented by Gavin M. Faull, chairman and president of Swiss-Belhotel International, and Laurent A. Voivenel, senior vice president, Operations and Development for the Middle East, Africa and India for Swiss-Belhotel International. The leading names among the recipients of the award were Gulf Air's Falconflyer loyalty programme, Alpha Destination Management, Hotelbeds Group, Noor Consultancy, Department of Culture - Government of Sharjah UAE, The Consulate General of United Republic of Tanzania and Air India. Faull said: The Middle East, Africa and India are key expansion markets for us where we are enjoying tremendous growth. This would not be possible without the support of our esteemed partners and the strong industry network. ATM is the perfect platform to thank our valued partners who are instrumental in our success in the region and allow us to deliver an outstanding experience to our guests. Voivenel stated: These strategic alliances demonstrate our commitment to ensuring excellence in every aspect of our business. As we expand our footprint in the region adding exciting new destinations, our focus remains on providing great value to our owners, guests and associates with customised solutions. We are truly grateful to our associates and partners for their valuable support and look forward to building on these precious relationships. Swiss-Belhotel International currently has an extremely strong development pipeline in the Middle East and Africa with a portfolio of over 3,500 rooms across 12 cities. - TradeArabia News Service President Akufo-Addo in accordance with section 11 of the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463), presented the list of presidential staffers to Parliament. The huge number of workers at the seat of government has led a section of the public to described the number as outrageous and an overburden on the national purse. Nana Akufo-Addo revealed that 998 people have been employed as staff at the presidency and have been working under him since he became president in 2017. President Nana Akufo-Addo READ ALSO: Full video of Moesha Boduongs 'controversial' interview with CNN The list comprises, 9 ministers of state, 27 presidential staffers and aides, 256 junior political appointees and 706 civil servants on attachment at the presidency. Not forgetting, the 110 ministers working under the president already. YEN.com.gh takes a look at five names on the 998 list who Ghanaians knew on social media before their current roles at the presidency. 1. Samuel Bryan Buabeng He was popular for texting into scores of radio political talk shows in support of Nana Addo and in opposition to Mahama on a daily basis prior to election 2016. he further doubled his efforts to make flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo very popular. Samuel Bryan Buabeng 2. Nana Hesse Ogyiri He also worked very hard to promote NPP policies and publicised the activities of the party on social media. Nana Hesse Ogyiri and President Akufo-Addo 3. Evron Hughes He was and still central to the NPP's social media strategy, especially where the issues relate to finance. He is very effective for the party on Facebook. Evron Hughes 4. Kow Essuman He is a member of a capable team that manages social media pages for key leaders of the party. Kow Essuman 5. Sandra Ewool She is also the brain behind Nanas brilliant use of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to propagate his messages. Sandra Ewool Meanwhile, Director at the Centre for European Studies (CES) of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ransford Gyampo, says some politicians criticizing the controversial 988 workers under the Presidency are being hypocrites. Watch the trending news on YEN.com.gh this week: READ ALSO: Actress Baby Blanche goes without clothing Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook or Instagram now. Source: Yen Respected Ghanaian dancehall artiste, Stonebwoy was part of a tall list of people to wish the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu a blissful birthday after he clocked 99 years. The musician paid a visit to the house of the respected and learned Chief Imam at Fadama in Accra, as he celebrated another milestone. Stonebwoy in a handshake with the National Chief Imam READ ALSO: Charterhouse responds to gospel musician, Patience Nyarko after VGMAs President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, on the other hand joined the National Chief Imam to celebrate his birthday by cutting his cake in commemoration of his birthday. Dr Sharubutu, who is a member of the National Peace Council, was born in Old Fadama in Accra on April 23, 1923. President Akufo-Addo, Dr Bawumia joined the Chief Imam earlier today The Vice President, Dr Bawumia in an earlier message prayed for long life for the Islamic leader to continue contributing to national development. READ ALSO: Zylofon Music logo 'missing' in Stonebwoy's 'Tomorrow' music video It is my prayer that the Almighty Allah grants you long life to continue to bless this nation with your wisdom and significant contributions toward national development, Dr Bawumia said in a Facebook post. Nana Addo congratulating the Chief Imam on his 99th birthday Meanwhile, former President John Dramani Mahama also in a Facebook post prayed for Allah to continue to grant him good health, more wisdom and increase his blessings READ ALSO: Popular Ghanaian lawyer reveals 'dirty secret' about CNN's Christiane Amanpour In this video, Ebonys father names some people he believes are guilty of his daughters death. The question of whether homosexuality should be legalized in Ghana becomes a bone of contention: 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 - Ghana's military deal with the US is said to have exposed the country to terrorism - A security analyst has expressed worry over how the issue is now partisan - The NDC says the 20 million dollar deal is a sell-off Security analyst, Dr. Kwasi Aning, says Ghana's controversial military deal with US has exposed the country to terrorism. The security analyst believes the way the whole deal was handled by government and the minority NDC could spark some tensions in the country which terrorists could capitalize on. This agreement has exposed the dangerous bipartisanship in our politics; so dangerous that the stability of this country does not matter in the calculus of those who play these games insofar as they will hurt their political opponents. That is dangerous, that threatens you and [me]," he revealed in an interview with Starr FM. So far, America remains the major country in the world very exposed to terrorist groups like ISIS. It is for this reason that almost all countries that openly declare their allegiance to America expose themselves to terrorist attacks from the enemy of America. YEN.com.gh has read portions of this memo which also reveals that the agreement was finalized by the cabinet on Thursday, March 8, 2018. Also, we are learning that this engagement between Ghana and the US started way back in the last eight months. In fact, excerpts from the agreement show that the U.S. Forces may also import into and export out of, and use in Ghana any personal property equipment supplies material technology, training or services in connection with the agreement. This controversial decision by the government to grant the US all these permits has been described by a senior Ghanaian academician and jurist, Dr. Akilagpa Sawyerr, as a serious national security issue. READ ALSO: Rainy season:There will be no floods in Accra - Mayor 'boasts' Speaking on Joy FM, the academic revealed that this agreement with the US jeopardizes Ghana's sovereignty as an independent country. In this video, Ebonys father names some people he believes are guilty of his daughters death. The question of whether homosexuality should be legalized in Ghana becomes a bone of contention: We are looking for unique stories and photos about developments happening in your area. Get in touch with YEN on Facebook or Instagram. Source: Yen Communications Director at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, has refuted claims that government of Ghana will soon legalize homosexuality. Mr. Eugene Arhin has advised Ghanaians to desist from making speculations about issues like this and always verify the source of any information they receive. He therefore called to disregard any circulation on social media to the effect that the Nana Addo led administration has initiated processes to legalize same sex relationship. Homosexuality: Government is not starting any process to legalize it - Communications Director READ ALSO: Ibrah One weeps in new confession video All official releases from the Communications Directorate at the Presidency are put on the official letterhead, and can be found on website of the Presidency, i.e. www.presidency.gov.gh, Mr. Arhin said. No statement has been issued by Government to initiate process of legalizing same sex marriage in Ghana. Please disregard any story to that effect. The issue of homosexuality has become an important social discussion in the past months. The debate was further sparked when the British Prime Minister, Theresa May said Britain would help Ghana and other African countries accept homosexuality at the meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of State. Several prominent Ghanaians including politicians and the clergy have added their voice to the debate. Days ago, the head of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Professor Opoku Onyinah said that it was disrespectful for the British Prime Minister to say that she will help Ghana legalize homosexuality. READ ALSO: Bulldog reveals Zyolofon Media CEO's source of wealth but warns Ghanaians to shut up Watch the trending news on YEN.com.gh this week: Want to tell about a local problem? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YENs official Facebook page. Source: Yen.com.gh - Media personality, Afia Schwar, has claimed that Moesha Boduong did not intend to speak the way she did during her CNN interview - According to her, it was because Moesha lacks command over the English Language Celebrated media personality, Afia Schwarzenegger, has disclosed the possible reasons why actress and model, Moesha Boduongs interview with the CNN generated controversy in Ghana. According to a report by MyNewsGH.com, Afia Schwar stated that Moeshas interview turned out the way it did because she faced challenges with expressing herself in the English Language. Afia Schwar, who is reported to have three jobs, added that after watching the video, she concluded that Moesha had no intention of generalizing her statement, but her lack of command over the language betrayed her. Afia Schwar READ ALSO: Fans are drooling over Maame Serwaa's red hot photo Moesha didnt want to insult all Ghanaians, but her lack of command over the English language betrayed her. I have watched the video severally and I can say its a pity and its pathetic, she noted. Moesha Bodoung was heavily criticized for her general statement that painted Ghanaian ladies as people who depend on married men for their daily bread. She consequently issued an apology for her comments. READ ALSO: NDC man teases Akufo-Addo with crazy dance moves In this video, Ebonys father names some people he believes are guilty of his daughters death. The question of whether homosexuality should be legalized in Ghana becomes a bone of contention: Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook or Instagram now! Source: Yen News YEN.com.gh has sighted a photo by Ghanas self-acclaimed Dancehall King, and it has so much to speak of his wealth. Shatta Wale is spotted matching his footwear with his car, as he goes without a shirt revealing his six-packs. Wale is spotted sitting on the bonnet of his car, with his eyes on phone. Shatta Wale READ ALSO: Tell the world how your 2 mansions came about Shatta Michy dares Shatta Wale Interestingly, the photo has so much to speak of Wales opulence and luxurious lifestyle that some bystanders stopped to watch him in sheer amazement. Three of these bystanders spotted in the picture look intently at Wale with their mouths opened, with one of them having a hand over his mouth as if to express deep surprise at seeing the Dancehall King. READ ALSO: Im single and free from oppression -Shatta Michy declares Obviously, this photo would also make Wales haters more envious of him. Shatta Wales photo has also triggered many comments from his fans and followers. Read some of the comments here: mardroid47: Guy You Dey Worry oooO #SMFORLIFE abass_abdullah: Champiooooon super star . mqtempo: Ma popee dat...Chaaampiiioon.. rufusvarmuyan: my best Ghanaian star. ruthaciabab: Sm for life. Ka ne wu but Ghanaians hate people who don't hide the fact. Love u waa CU's we bear same name and from one place. amakyekwaku355: U this man eee u go kill us with ur movement. READ ALSO: Latest photo by Ahuofe Patri proves she is indeed not pregnant Shatta Wale has said he is the richest musician in Ghana. He owns two mansions in East Legon, and he has often boasted that he is the only musician with two swimming pools. Wale has been in the news recently following his harsh breakup with his long time baby mama, Shatta Michy. READ ALSO: Ebony's response to her managers when they asked her about her 17 tattoos Ghana trends: Ebony's father names the guilty | Homosexuality legalized in Ghana? READ ALSO: Maame Serwaa sets the internet ablaze again with new attractive red photo Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook now! Source: Yen.com.gh YEN.com.gh has sighted a post by Shatta Michy in which she praises her son Shatta Majestys adorable looks. Michy made a collage of Majestys photo with her own childhood photo and they look so much alike. She shared this photo to her Instagram page with the caption: Once upon a time , I birthed my twin isnt he adorable? Shatta Michy with Shatta Majesty championing family goal READ ALSO: Video of King Promise teaching his mom the Akwaaba dance is so adorable Judging by the caption, it seems Shatta Michy seems to be excited about the fact that her son does not look like Shatta Wale. Shatta Wale has often been trolled of his looks with many name calling. He has been tagged a big mouth Gbee Naabu, while others have said plainly that he is not handsome. READ ALSO: Shatta Wales latest photo matching his grooming with his car sets social media on fire READ ALSO: Im single and free from oppression -Shatta Michy declares However, recently, Wale shared a video of himself saying he is a fine boy and that he had been lied to for a long time that he was ugly. Shatta Michy and Shatta Wale have enjoyed a rosy relationship until just April 16, 2018, when the news of their breakup rocked social media. READ ALSO: Maame Serwaa sets the internet ablaze again with new attractive red photo According to Shatta Wale, Michy had been chasing him around with a knife. Michy also claimed that Shatta Wale is woman beater, and that he had been beating her up, pulling a gun over her whenever they had issues as a couple. Michy also released a bombshell about Shatta Wales dealings, daring him to tell the world how his two mansions came about. READ ALSO: Latest photo by Ahuofe Patri proves she is indeed not pregnant Ghana trends: Ebony's father names the guilty | Homosexuality legalized in Ghana? READ ALSO: Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook now! Source: Yen Ghana On Friday April 20, Nana Adoo Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo submitted the list of all staff members at the Jubilee House to the parliament of Ghana. The presidents release of this information is in compliance with Section 11 of the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463), which requires the President to submit annually to Parliament, a report on the staffing position of the Office of the President. The presidents report indicated that there are 998 workers at the presidency including senior ministers and civil or public servants. Kwame A-Plus READ ALSO: Old Fadama boys reveal how tramadol makes them high and stronger in bed but kills them later The release of this list has generated a lot of controversy with more of it coming from members of the biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress. It is on the back of this list that outspoken musician and politician, Kwame A-Plus, has jabbed his own party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), describing their decision to justify governments appointment of 998 Staffers at the Jubilee House as nonsense. A-Plus said one of the reasons why they voted Mahama and his incompetent cohorts out of power is the same thing the NPP have started doing, which include having as many as 998 people working at the seat of government and milking the hard-earned money of the tax payer. Like he always does, A-Plus resorted to Facebook to make his grievances known to the world. He wrote: READ ALSO: Driver who survived acid attack recounts dark moments of life without eyes I went live on Facebook countless times to tell the world how tax payers money was being wasted on unwanted presidential staffer Fortunately, we got the change we cried for. Instead of reducing the number to a reasonable one or at least maintaining the same number we increased it and told Ghanaians that we have added only a little over 220, he wrote. Most of them were appointed by Mahama. Such nonsense. Did you call for change to continue Mahamas incompetence or to make things better? A-Plus until this time had been a heavy anti-NDC campaigner on social media. In 2016, he did several live videos to throw punches at the Mahama-led NDC administration. READ ALSO: Nana Ama McBrown looks stunning in cute red dresses Check out some of the trending news in Ghana in YEN.com.gh's video below: Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on our Facebook page now. Source: Yen.com.gh Orient Travel and Orient Tours emerged as big winners at the recently held World Travel Awards (WTA), scooping awards in four categories. Orient Travel was awarded UAEs leading travel management company 2018 and Dubais leading travel management company 2018. Its sister concern Orient Tours took home UAEs leading Desert Safari Company 2018and Dubais leading Destination Management Company 2018. The World Travel Awards acknowledge, award and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the global tourism industry. These awards signify our hard work and commitment to service excellence and reaffirm our position as market leaders in the region said Sheikh Faisal Bin Khalid Al Qassemi president, Orient Group. Orient Travel, partnering with Carlson Wagonlit Travel in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, has been a consistent winner at the World Travel awards over the years. Celebrating 55 years of existence, it has continually maintained high standards of service delivery within the business and leisure travel markets, offering its discerning customers the latest in travel technology and innovative travel programs. The inbound division, Orient Tours - a full service Destination Management Company for UAE & Oman since 1982 - is celebrating nine World Travel Awards in as many years. The young and highly experienced team provides bespoke itineraries and seamless travel solutions, making this multi-awarded DMC a byword for quality and professionalism. Asim Arshad, Group CEO, said: These awards are an endorsement of our passion and commitment to our clients and their continual support over the years. It is yet another proud moment for our network of over 400+ staff and teams for their part in this momentous win. - TradeArabia News Service Leading hotel management company Rotana has signed a management agreement for a new 200-key five-star hotel in Egypt's capital city. The new hotel, which was announced at the recently concluded Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, will bring the companys total inventory in the country to 726 keys. Marking the companys strong presence at the annual industry event, Rotana shared key updates about its robust pipeline of 48 properties that are scheduled for opening before 2020. The company currently operates 16,161 keys across its 60 hotels in 23 cities and with the launch of the hotels under construction, Rotana will have a presence in 40 cities globally. Among key Rotana hotels on display at the high-profile exhibition were the companys three latest openings in the UAE. Saadiyat Rotana Resort & Villas, a luxurious five-star hotel in Abu Dhabi, took centre stage at the exhibition. Soft-opened in March, the luxury resort is situated on Saadiyat Beach, a nine-kilometre stretch of pristine white sand on the sprawling Saadiyat Island and features 354 luxurious rooms and suites in addition to 13 private beach villas. To make it appealing to discerning leisure, business and Mice guests seeking a new resort and destination experience, the one-of-a-kind five-star property features seven modern dining options, three fully-equipped banquet and event rooms, an elegant ballroom and a spectacular outdoor event venue, among several other amenities. Visitors to the Rotana stand at ATM 2018 were also given a glimpse of its two stunning new hotels in Dubai, Al Bandar Rotana, and Al Bandar Arjaan by Rotana. Strategically located in Dubais booming business and leisure hub on Baniyas Road, the modern, architecturally-striking five-star hotel Al Bandar Rotana, and the hotel apartment complex Al Bandar Arjaan by Rotana feature 190 uniquely-designed rooms and suites and 90 fully-furnished studios and apartments. Offering expansive views of Dubai Creek and Burj Khalifa, the hotels feature six state-of-the-art meetings rooms, five restaurants, and the Bodylines Fitness & Wellness Club, making them an ideal destination for events, dining, and recreation. Rotana also highlighted its newly opened four-star property in Abu Dhabi, Pearl Rotana Capital Centre, at the exhibition. Located near Rotana Centro and Capital Centre Arjaan by Rotana, the new hotel features 315 rooms, five restaurants, a club lounge, and a Bodylines Fitness & Wellness Club. Firmly aligned with our long-term growth strategy, Rotana continues to expand global footprint by opening new hotels in strategic markets that offer seamless opportunities for business growth. The hospitality sector is on a strong growth trajectory across the world, and in the Middle East and North African markets in particular. The regional governments have been promoting the tourism sector as part of their increased economic diversifications efforts. This, coupled with massive investments in infrastructure developments, has led to an uptick in the number of both leisure and business travellers to the region and, as a result, we have witnessed huge demand across various segments of accommodation," said Omer Kaddouri, president and CEO, Rotana. "The announcement of our second five-star hotel in Egypt rightly reflects the rising market demand in the country and the wider region. With our robust pipeline, we are aiming to address the supply gap to support the development of the economies in our home markets, he said. As a market-leading hospitality company, we stay on course and remain committed to the development of the hospitality industry through innovative design and product offerings and technology-driven guest experiences, Kaddouri said. With the aim of extending its geographic reach, Rotana will expand to new markets in Africa with hotels planned in Luanda, Dar Es Salaam, Nouakchott, Lagos, and Cairo. Marking its entry into Europe and South Asia, the company has planned properties in Iskenderun, Istanbul, and Mumbai. Within its home region, Rotana will add 32 new hotels in existing markets as well as new cities such as Madinah, Dammam, and Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia; Sohar, Barka, and Duqm in Oman; and Baghdad and Suleimaniyah in Iraq. In 2018, Rotana will open nine new properties. Hotels set to be launched in Q2 2018 include Centro WestSide, Istanbul, Turkey (152 keys) and WestSide Arjaan, Istanbul, Turkey (153 keys); Centro Salama, Jeddah (189 keys) and Johari Rotana, Dar Es Salaam (256 keys). In Q3 2018, Rotana will open Beach Arjaan by Rotana, Abu Dhabi (326 keys); Centro Olaya, Riyadh (156 keys); Centro Corniche, Al Khobar (253 keys) and Imam Reza Rotana, Mashhad, Iran (272 keys) and in Q4 2018, Al Jaddaf Rotana, Dubai will welcome guests to its 338 rooms. - TradeArabia News Service Traveling to the Caribbean offers a plethora of opportunities to visit gorgeous seaside communities where sandy shores are washed by quiet turquoise waters, snorkeling is plentiful, and relaxing is a way of life. Cruising is the perfect venue to check out these coastal ports of call for even the most budget-friendly traveler. Options for Caribbean cruises come in a couple of different sailing itineraries Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean. If youre thinking to sail to the Western Caribbean, look for exotic destinations like Mexico, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Central American hot spots, such as Honduras and Belize. Planning and traveling on a Western Caribbean cruise are made easier if you take a few simple steps. Research Ships Most folks will research cruise lines, which is important, but not necessarily the individual ships. The abundance of cruise ships today makes it imperative to look at multiple options before booking to ensure an experience that will create lasting memories. Its easy to determine which ships on what cruise lines sail to the Western Caribbean by using the filtered searches on their websites. Once you determine that, narrow the search by your budget. Larger, newer ships will offer tons of amenities, but if your budget is smaller, dont overlook the value of a recently renovated, older ship. Third-party booking sites offer a convenient way to compare different cruise lines, ships and rates all in one forum. Make a Reservation Once youve decided on your specific ship, choose a date. Youll have to consider your hard and fast schedules (such as vacation time from work), but if you have some flexibility, take advantage of any last-minute deals. A travel agent is a wealth of knowledge in leading vacationers through the purchase of a cruise vacation, particularly because they know the ropes and are paid on commission by the cruise lines, not by the consumer. Before you book your Western Caribbean cruise, youll have to consider holidays and weather. Bear in mind that holidays and summertime school breaks create more of a demand for cruising, and thus, prices are driven up. Cruise ships are equipped with state-of-the-art weather equipment and are fully prepared to navigate around and away from storms. To remain free of hurricane season worries, a December to April cruise date is the ticket. Ports and Planes If youre driving to the ships home port, check the website (or with your travel agent) for directions concerning parking and the rate per day. When flying in to the home port city, most cruise lines have transfer shuttles (for a fee) that take passengers to the cruise terminal. Book in advance for a smooth, worry-free experience. Packing The Western Caribbean is known for warm, sunny days with temperatures ranging from the low- to high-80s during the day and high-60s to mid-70s at night. Pack accordingly, starting with shorts, T-shirts, swimsuits, cover-ups, flip-flops, hats and sunglasses. Also, remember that, depending on which excursions, if any, you choose, you may need long pants (horseback riding or exploring jungle areas), comfortable walking shoes (touring historic ruins or towns) and/or water shoes. Evening wear for dinner should be a little dressier if you plan to eat in the dining rooms. Throw in a couple of casual outfits for meals on the lido deck or hanging out in common areas after dark, and bring a sweater or light jacket just in case you need it. Dont forget your camera (most smartphones suffice today), sunscreen (more than you think youll need), a small emergency bag (filled with Band-aids, pain relievers, upset stomach and motion sickness medications, anti-itch cream, baby wipes, hand sanitizer, a small sewing kit, lip balm and cough drops), and a tote bag for carrying necessary items into the ports of call. Also, a power strip is a good idea since most cabins have a limited number of outlets. Cruise ships provide beach towels for everyday and port use, so free up valuable luggage space by leaving those at home. Extras Plan ahead with a budget that makes sense and stick to it. Once aboard, keep receipts in one place and tally them at the end of the day for accountability. Keep in mind that most people blow their budgets with alcohol spending, so adding up day-by-day purchases will help keep that to a minimum. Souvenir shopping can be overwhelming in Western Caribbean ports of call, and price haggling is expected. Dont be afraid to make an offer on something. Carry lots of smaller bills for tipping port baggage handlers, port of call excursion operators, small souvenir purchases and taxis. Often, these destinations will offer change back in their currency, so stick with smaller bills that wont require change. iStock/Thinkstock(SEOUL) -- When South Korea's president meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday, they'll be dining on some of Korea's most famous dishes. Cold buckwheat noodles from Pyongyang's famous restaurant, Okryugwan, will be served and its head chef will bring a noodle-making machine to the demilitarized zone, where it will be delivered to the House of Peace building, the location of the historic summit. South Korea's presidential office publicly released the menu for the multi-course meal, along with envy-inducing photos. "We have sincerely prepared (dishes) from the sea and land of South and North carrying all people's wishes towards peace," according to a statement posted on the office's Facebook page. Here's a glimpse of what dishes will be prepared: - Cold octopus appetizer from Tongyeong, a port at the southern tip of South Korea. It is the hometown of a famous composer, Yun I-sang, who is beloved by all Koreans. - Swiss rosti with a Korean twist, in tribute to Kim's early school years spent in Switzerland. - Pyeonsu dumpling made of croaker and sea cucumber from the hometown of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung who met with Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong Il, for the first historic summit in 2000. - Grilled dalgogi from President Jae-in Moon's hometown, Busan. - Barbecued beef from a famous ranch in Seosan, in the western province. The founder of Hyundai gave hundreds of cows from this ranch to North Korea in the 1990s. - Bibimbap made of vegetables grown inside the demilitarized zone and rice grown from former South Korean President Ro Moo-hyun's hometown in Bongha village. Ro had also met Kim's father in 2007 for the second inter-Korean summit. - Steamed red snapper and catfish, a common dish during feasts for Koreans. It is to symbolize similarities between the two Koreas, the president's office said. - Mango mousse dessert decorated to convey the wishes of reunification. - Pine mushroom tea from the Baekdu Mountains in the far north of North Korea and citrus cake from the island of Jeju in the far south of South Korea. It represents the "the mood of peace transferring down from the North's Baekdu Mountain to the end of Jeju," the president's office said. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. By Nadeem Jilani On Thursday, April 19, over 150 delegates met at the Plaza Inn Hotel, Doha to discuss and address the problems pertaining to the education of minority community in India. It was an evening with lots of practical ideas to work for the educational upliftment of the community, said the press statement released after the event organised and conducted by Khalid Saifullah of mazameen.com. Support TwoCircles Faizan Mustafa, the scholar, and vice-chancellor at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, spoke on the subject of future of minority education giving legal perspective over the same. He also discussed current court cases regarding minority character of both Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia and seemed optimistic for a favourable outcome. Zaigham Murtaza, a Delhi-based journalist with Rajya Sabha TV, discussed social and financial challenges of minority education. Other Doha dignitaries like Hasan Abdul Karim Choghle and Zamir Abbas also shared the dais on the event. An Android app of mazameen.com was also launched on this occasion. Panellists argued that arbitrary differentiation between Ilm-e-Deen and Ilm-e-Dunya has caused immense damage. Muslims shouldnt shy away from gaining any beneficial knowledge. Although there are many private institutions in South India, they are costly and hence out of reach of poor or lower-middle-class students. Therefore state-funded minority institutions like AMU and JMI are very important. Muslims should open more institutions of higher education as well as primary schools utilizing existing constitutional provisions and Right to Education with fundings from the government, said the press statement adding that activists should make organized efforts to make the students aware of various loans and scholarship schemes. According to the program brief, the audience was exhorted to help at least one child in their locality complete high school and encourage them for further education, giving examples like how girls in villages could be taught computers, and who in turn would teach another ten girls in six months. Emphasis should be on rural areas of West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh, they added. Encouraging students to study law and sit in Judicial recruitment exams besides Civil Service, Medical & Engineering was also discussed as the need of the hour when it comes to minorities education in the country. The panellists also stressed on the need to establish think-tanks in Universities like AMU, JMI and overseas places like Doha to counter anti-muslim prejudice, which is being spread by media. To move from Facebook Activism to writing for newspapers and online news portals on issues of concern was also put as a necessity, added the press statement. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Sometimes I dont like social media, but other times, I love it because I come across stories like this one. Apparently, there arent enough problems in Uganda, which is why the President, Yoweri Museveni has taken it upon himself to warn the citizens of the practices that these Outsiders are bringing into the nation. What practices, you ask? Why, oral sex, of course! According to the President, the citizens of Uganda should stop doing oral sex upandan because the mouth is for eating. In response, I say, But Sir, they are eating. Also Sir, I have some questions: 1. Who will enforce this ban? 2. How will they enforce this ban? 3. Will this ban change the price of fish in the market? 4. Will the enforcers still enforce if offered said oral sex? 5. Please, Sir, is it your mouth or their mouth they will be using for the oral sex? 6. Sir, so youve never eaten this food before? 7. Lastly, Sir, may I speak to your wife, please? I just want to ask her one small question. Thank you, Sa! Ehm, one last thing again, Sir. I want to report Wizkid and YCEE to you. They recently sang a song called, Aphrodisiac, and in the song, they are being very naughty. They have joined bad gang, Sir, especially that YCEE one. He said in the song, catch my head between your thighs all night and every time I hear it, I blush. In fact, this song has been on repeat. Please, Sa, come and scold them. You can read the full story here on DailyMail. So, do you have any questions for the President too? P.S. YCEE can get all of it. He can give me wicked vibes all night. Uncle Sam has raised the possibility of sanctions against Turkey for buying Russian anti-aircraft missile systems putting the UK's supply of overhauled F-35 fighter jet engines at risk.The Register reports in its article US sanctions on Turkey for Russia purchases could ground Brit F-35s that US government official Aaron Wess Mitchell threatened action if the Middle Eastern/ European nation completed its purchase of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft defence systems. "Ankara claims to have agreed to purchase the Russian S-400 missile system, which could potentially lead to sanctions under section 231 [of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act] and adversely impact Turkey's participation in the F-35 programme," Mitchel said. This is because Turkey is an F-35 customer. Testing F-35s against a Russian-made air defence system inevitably raises fears that vital information on neutralising the F-35 threat would then be handed to the Russians on a plate. The situation is a sticky one. Turkey is a vital NATO ally: it has the ability to bottle up Russia's southern naval fleet in the event of WWIII breaking out by closing the Bosphorus, the strait between Europe and the Middle East. Recognising its position, Turkey has received great quantities of mostly American largesse, mainly consisting of top-end military technology, through the simple method of batting its eyelashes at Russia while pointedly glancing back at the US. The country builds components for the F-35 fighter jet and also, critically, is the American-designated engine overhaul plant for European F-35 customers. That means any US efforts to put sanctions on Turkey would have a big impact on Britain's F-35s, which will be the only fast jets capable of flying from our Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. Though it is quite unlikely that the US will actually put sanctions on Turkey (something that would almost certainly push Turkey, and all its sensitive American tech, even closer to Russia), such a move would, in the medium term, leave increasing numbers of vital British-owned fighters grounded. While one trusts that the Ministry of Defence has thought of this and has plans to keep a suitable stockpile of engines handy along with a pre-written begging letter to the US to a) drop the sanctions and b) flog us new engines direct from their factories, it is not exactly inspiring to hear an American minister casually threatening to throw his country's allies and customers overboard, apparently having not realised the wider impact of his threat. The Netherlands, Italy, Denmark and Norway are the other European countries buying the F-35, and would be similarly affected. Happily, we can (probably) conclude for now that the US isn't going to slap sanctions on Turkey. Not only would that cause an almighty logistical headache for half a dozen American allies, but it would also result in the very thing the US is keen to prevent. When you rattle your sabre, you should be careful you don't accidentally whack your mates with it. The Youth Initiative of Greater Eurasia conducted a social survey "Caspian Region: vision of future" and presented its results during a video conference between Moscow, Baku, Astrakhan and Atyrau. During a video conference, Russian, Azerbaijani and Kazakh experts, political scientists, sociologists, representatives of state authorities and NGOs, professors and students shared their vision of the youth dimension of regional cooperation of the Caspian countries. According to the governor of the Astrakhan region Alexander Zhilkin, "the region successfully cooperates with all the Caspian countries, so we can only welcome the desire of the young people of the Caspian countries to establish close cooperation within the framework of the "Youth Initiative of Greater Eurasia," and create conditions for communication on a personal level to implement joint youth initiatives." Presenting the results of the survey, editor-in-chief of the "Press Club Unity," Ekaterina Shishkina, noted that the respondents' answers allow them to fix the ideal model for interaction between the youth projects of the Caspian countries: "Choice of the strategic priorities by the youth audience in Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is linked to the emphases identified by state strategies and development programs. This circumstance can explain the Kazakh audience's accentuated attention to green economy issues and the focus of the Baku youth to the prospects for the development of the energy sector of the Caspian region. This circumstance shows that the level of involvement of the youth audience of all three countries in the system of public policy priorities is high. The survey showed that the youth of the three countries consider it possible to implement the model of effective cooperation at the regional level. Joint youth initiatives in the format of Russian-Azerbaijani-Kazakh projects are in greatest demand, but in view of the increased activity of Iranian youth structures, prospects for this interaction to develop into the format of Greater Eurasia are evident." According to Shishkina, the main direction of joint youth projects should be creating of the most pragmatic formats of cooperation, for example, project activities in advanced training of young professionals, whether journalists, political scientists or historians. "Topics of joint projects should be based on a value understanding of the region's prospects through resolving the Caspian's environmental problems, ensuring security, developing tourism resources and increasing power capacities of the Caspian region. Up to 2030, educational initiatives will become an important direction of youth projects. These can be network universities, multilateral models of online learning, as well as the formation of new competencies, those in demand on the labor market," Shishkina said. Director of the Center for International Programs of the Russian Youth Union, Alexei Ezhov, expressed the opinion that youth can solve many problems on traditional principles of friendship, good-neighborliness and international cooperation. "The Youth Initiative of Greater Eurasia project is a humanitarian platform for creating projects," Yezhov said. The representative of the "Youth Initiative of Greater Eurasia" project Jamilya Alekperova is sure that the youth of the Caspian countries have a common view and approaches to the development of the Caspian region as a territory for peace, stability and development: "In Astrakhan, Baku and Atyrau, young people demonstrate similar positions in assessing key areas of cooperation in the field of ecology, trade, infrastructure projects and education. There is an important emphasis on expanding humanitarian youth initiatives and educational projects. The "Youth Initiative of Greater Eurasia" project will allow to consolidate the potential of youth organizations, which already work in this sphere, and involve new partners into this interaction. The majority of respondents believes that there will be a common information space between the Caspian littoral states in 5-7 years." The coordinator of the "Greater Eurasia" expert platform Sergei Masaulov believes that the study titled "Caspian Region: vision of future" is interesting because it has some difference in views, but there is a general set-up of student youth of the three countries for joint activities. "We have entered a complex period of world development. Wars are fought in various forms, and one of the most difficult and most serious forms of war is the so-called futuricide, when people are deprived of the future. It was important to understand whether this future can be built on the basis of partner organizations, on opportunities of partners. The search showed that the Caspian region is a very important region for us in geostrategic terms, the formation of a possible future partnership. It is impossible to create effective structures from above. It should be based on a real initiative... It was very nice to see what the youth of the three countries think about it," Masaulov said. According to an associate professor of the Russian State University for the Humanities, an expert of the Russian International Affairs Council, Alexander Gushchin, joint youth projects of the Caspian countries allow us to reveal the potential of the idea of creating Greater Eurasia. "Sociological research has shown that young people have an understanding of the common neighborhood ... For whom the Greater Eurasia initiative is being formed? It will be realized in a deferred perspective. The young people themselves will implement this initiative. A sociological survey shows, on the one hand, the relevance of this idea, and, on the second hand, it involves the part of society, which will be the beneficiary of this partnership in several decades in our common Eurasian space. Such initiatives will also help to attract countries of neighboring regions, the South Caucasus, Central Asia, because the Caspian region is a link between other Eurasian regions." According to Gushchin, it is necessary to develop an educational and scientific cluster in this process: "It is hardly possible to talk about progress without implementing specific educational programs related to obtaining bachelor's and master's double diplomas. We should think about implementing such initiatives both in the humanitarian and in the natural sciences. Then in a few years we could say that we already have a certain concrete result in the educational and scientific sphere, whether joint educational programs or an organization of funds and grant support for research in the Caspian countries." The Armenian Revolutionary Federation decided to withdraw from the ruling coalition amid ongoing political tensions, ARF said in a statement, News.am reported. According to the statement, over the past days the ARF has been trying to find a solution though dialogue in the interests of the country and the people. We are convinced that the current situation should be solved exclusively within the legal, constitutional framework, the statement reads. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian held a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, News.am reported citing the Office of the Armenian President. The sides discussed Armenian-Russian bilateral agenda. The interlocutors also referred to the situation in Armenia and mentioned that all processes should be in line with requirements of the Constitution. Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on Wednesday received US Ambassador Richard Mills, and they discussed the internal political situation in Armenia, News.am reported. Karapetyan underscored the resolving of internal political matters by way of dialogue and the Constitution, and thanked the US government for the position it has expressed regarding this issue, press office of the government informed. Ambassador Mils, in turn, once again reaffirmed the US governments respective stance, and stressed that all processes in Armenia need to take place pursuant to the Constitution. He added that there is no alternative to dialogue to normalize the political situation. Russia considers the events in Armenia, where the opposition is continuing protests, as the countrys domestic affair and expects that the situation there will be solved soon based on a consensus decision, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Peskov stressed that the Kremlins position on Armenia remains unchanged. "We still consider that this is a domestic affair (of Armenia) and hope that our Armenian friends will be able to solve this situation and find a stable structure and a consensus decision soon," he said. "We are very carefully monitoring this situation," TASS cited Peskov as saying. On Monday, Serzh Sargsyan, formerly the president who was elected as the prime minister by the parliament on April 17, resigned amid mass protests that started across the country on April 13. The protests are led by opposition leader from the Elk bloc Nikol Pashinyan. Today, Pashinyan and Acting Prime Minister Karen Karpetyan were scheduled to hold talks, but the meeting was canceled. French President Emmanuel Macron stood before a joint session of Congress to argue that the U.S. should remain a part of the Iran nuclear deal. Macron said that France's objective for Iran is clear -- "Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons. Not now, not in 5 years not in 10 years, not ever." He added, "It is true to say this agreement may not address all concerns and every important concerns, this is true, but we should not abandon it without having something substantial and more substantial instead." Macron again suggested a new deal that France and the U.S. can write together to address existing concerns, CBS News reported. "France will not leave JCPOA because we signed it," said Macron, using the acronym for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. "But what I want to do and what we decided together with your president is that we can work on a more comprehensive deal addressing all these concerns." The new US National Defense Strategy has a priority goal of reversing the loss of the United States military advantage to Russia and China, Defense Secretary James Mattis said in a congressional testimony on Wednesday, Sputnik reported. "The National Defense Strategy prioritizes major power competition and, in particular, reversing the erosion of US military advantage in relation to China and Russia," Mattis said in prepared testimony to the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on Wednesday. The combination of rapidly changing technology, the negative impact on military readiness resulting from the longest continuous period of combat in US history, and a prolonged period of unpredictable and insufficient funding, created an overstretched and under-resourced military, Mattis warned. "[O]ur competitive edge has eroded in every domain of warfare air, land, sea, space, and cyber Modernizing the Nations nuclear deterrent delivery systems, including our nuclear command and control, is the [Defense] Departments top priority," Mattis said. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the current deal with Iran is working effectively to keep Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and should be preserved for the future. Speaking in Brussels, Mogherini said that "on what can happen in the future we will see in the future. But there is one deal, existing, it is working, It needs to be preserved," the Washington Press cited her as saying. Mogherini spoke after US President Donald Trump again showed dissatisfaction with the international agreement during a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, highlighting a trans-Atlantic rift on the issue. Macron said the current deal should not be ripped apart without a clear path to the future, and said after talks with Trump that there could be a way to move to a new agreement, building on the one in place. One of the most important results of dialogue between people and authorities of Armenia this week was that the country that was on the verge of civil war managed to prevent bloodshed, deputy of the Tsarukyan bloc, member of the Prosperous Armenia party Naira Zohrabyan said today in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza. "First of all, we managed to avoid civil war and bloodshed, and this is very important, because we're already at war with Azerbaijan and it would be absolutely unacceptable to fight among ourselves," she said. Naira Zohrabyan also explained the decision of her party to join protest movement, headed by deputy from the smallest faction in the parliament - the Yelk bloc - Nikol Pashinyan. "Prosperous Armenia has always been with the people. Voice of the people is the very important for us, so we couldn't just stand aside," she said. "When our parliamentary colleagues were detained, political council of the Prosperous Armenia issued a statement demanding to immediately release them. We appealed to authorities to not use force against peaceful protesters. It's great that we managed to avoid bloodshed," she noted. As for the candidacy of a new prime minister, it hasn't been determined yet. "As the second largest faction, we must discuss appointment of a new prime minister with all political forces of the country. Right now there are no specifics, but everything will be clear soon," she stressed. The protest action, led by opposition Civil Contract Party Political Council member and National Assembly Yelk Faction head, Nikol Pashinyan, is headed to the headquarters of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) from Republic Square. Several opposition parties joined the movement, the member of the board of Pashinyan's Civil Contract Party, Alen Simonyan, said. "Many political parties joined our movement on April 25: Prosperous Armenia party, Heritage, Republic, Enlightened Armenia, Social Democratic, Armenian National Congress, etc. Our revolution has won, the Republican Party should realize it," Simonyan stressed. Armenian police surrounded the headquarters of the RPA on Melik Adamyan street. The police managed to get out of the blockade near the Central Bank and to transport the armored vehicles and barbed wires to the RPA office. Today, Armenias Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan has called on the countrys President Armen Sarkisyan to hold snap parliamentary elections. Karapetyan admitted that opposition leader Pashinyan may secure victory in the polls. "This is a deadlock situation. Pashinyan declares that the acting premier should be a candidate of the people, and he is the one. I asked the countrys president to seek advice of political forces and set new parliamentary polls. If Armenias citizens want to elect Pashinyan, he will become the prime minister," Karapetyan said. Earlier, the opposition leader said would not back early elections unless a candidate of the people became the prime minister. Pashinyan called on supporters to stage a rally today after planned talks with the ruling Republican Party were canceled. "The Republican Party is thinking about taking advantage of Serzh Sarksyans resignation and wants to keep power,"Pashinyan said in a video appeal posted on his Facebook page after he led thousands of people on a march. "We cant agree on the appointment of this partys representative as prime minister and we cant allow this corrupted system to continue to exist, he said, urging supporters "to come to the square and finish the velvet revolution." Pashinyan also said that he had a talk today with the European Union ambassadors accredited in Armenia. "A short time ago, we had a meeting with the EU ambassadors accredited in the RA. Soon, we are going to meet also with Russias and the US ambassadors to the RA," Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page. On Wednesday, Pashinyan and Karapetyan are expected to launch talks. However, on Tuesday evening Pashinyan refused to hold dialogue and called to continue protests. On Monday, Serzh Sargsyan, formerly the president who was elected as the prime minister by the parliament on April 17, resigned amid mass protests that started across the country on April 13. The protests are led by opposition leader from the Elk bloc Nikol Pashinyan. First Deputy Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan was appointed Acting Prime Minister. OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger has congratulated President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in connection with his victory in the April 11 presidential election, Trend reported. "Your Excellency, I convey my most sincere congratulations on your re-election as the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan," reads the congratulatory message. Greminger stressed that Azerbaijan's long-standing commitment to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) deserves appreciation. "I highly value your efforts to create a democratic, secure and stable environment for all citizens of your country," he said. The OSCE is committed to further strengthening its cooperation with Azerbaijan in comprehensive security and implementation of the Organization's commitments, as well as efforts of Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and his special envoys in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group for peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Greminger said. He stressed that the OSCE is also ready to support further strengthening of the reforms in democratic governance, security and economic development in Azerbaijan at any moment. "Your Excellency, please accept my highest esteem," reads the congratulatory message. Opposition Civil Contract Party Political Council member and National Assembly Yelk Faction head, Nikol Pashinyan, had a talk today with the European Union ambassadors accredited in Armenia. "A short time ago, we had a meeting with the EU ambassadors accredited in the RA. Soon, we are going to meet also with Russias and the US ambassadors to the RA," Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page. After 11-day protest rallies by the Nikol Pashinyan-led movement, two-term-ex-President Serzh Sargsyan on Monday resigned from his recently-elected post of Prime Minister. Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, announced that they are resuming their protests, since the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) wants to retain power at the expense of Sargsyans resignation. And he called on people to resume the civil disobedience actions on Wednesday, so as not to allow the RPA to remain in power. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev decorated Chief of Azerbaijans presidential staff Ramiz Mehdiyev with the Order of Honor on Wednesday on the sidelines of 9th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues, Russian Security Councils Spokesman Yevgeny Anoshin told reporters on Wednesday, TASS reports. "During his meeting with the chief of presidential staff of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Nikolai Patrushev presented Ramiz Mehdiyev with the Order of Honor awarded by Russias president," Anoshin said. Russia calls on all countries to do their utmost in order to preserve and implement the Iran nuclear deal, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. Commenting on French President Emmanuel Macrons words after his talks with US President Donald Trump, Ryabkov said, "We believe it as an irrevocable condition that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) should be strengthened, preserved and that its functioning in its current form should be ensured in the future." "Currently, it is crucial for all those who understand the JPCOAs worthiness and significance to deal with what the situation dictates, that is to exert any effort for the agreement to be preserved and successfully and sustainable implemented in the future," TASS cited him as saying. According to him, Russia needs to sort out mixed statements on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for Irans nuclear program made by the US and European countries. Ryabkov stressed that the JCPOA is "a tool for returning the whole situation around Irans nuclear program to political normalcy." Qatar is obliged to send its troops to Syria if the country does not want to lose the military protection of the United States, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said. "Qatar must send its troops to Syria before the US president denies US protection for Qatar, which is represented by a US military base on its territory," the Saudi Foreign Ministrys media center cited Jubeir as saying. The minister stressed that if the United States ceased to ensure security to Qatar, the government of that country would be overthrown in less than a week. Yesterday, US President Donald Trump said that he wants countries in the Middle East to pay for what is happening in the region, and also wants those wealthy states to put soldiers on the ground, apparently referring to the fighting in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres believes the Iran nuclear deal must be preserved but that this achievement can be strengthened, his spokesman said Wednesday, Expatica France reported. French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday opened the door to a new deal with Iran that would build on the nuclear agreement, following talks at the White House with President Donald Trump. Guterres believes that the Iran nuclear deal is "very important and it should be maintained," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. But he added: "We must build on this important achievement to preserve the non-proliferation regime which is a cornerstone of our global security." The Armenian opposition united around the Nikol Pashinyan protest movement, as the goals of all opposition parties, including the largest "Prosperous Armenia", coincided in the desire to rid the republic of the oppression of the ruling Republican Party and establish a truly democratic regime in the country, a member of the Armenian National Congress, ex-mayor of Yerevan Vahagn Khachatryan, who is taking part today in protests against the RPA, told Vestnik Kavkaza. "On Monday, our party officially announced that it joins the protests, and the day before we issued a call to the government not to use force. The opinion of our party coincides with Nikol Pashinyan's current actions - we have always wanted the power that came as a result of the massive falsification of the parliamentary election in April last year, resigned and announced new elections. All the time that the ANC has been in opposition, we perfectly know how the system built by the Republican Party works, and how it harms not only Armenian citizens, but also the whole state," he said. An important event is joining of "Prosperous Armenia", which has a significant number of seats in the parliament, to the protests, as its solidarity with Pashinyan's Yelk faction allows to achieve a change of power in the country by constitutional means. The former mayor of Yerevan said he expects that the government could be completely disbanded in the near future. "So far, we know that the authorities are ready to resign, but only if early elections are announced - but that's not enough. It would be wrong, because as long as electoral legislation allows oligarchs to participate in elections, especially such people like Karen Karapetyan and Samvel Karapetyan, the new election would be a loss of everything we have achieved over these days. Now, we and Nikol Pashinyan advocate forming a provisional government that will take several steps," he said. "First, all members of the incumbent government must resign, then the legislation on elections must be changed, and only after that the new parliamentary election can be announced. Yesterday the RPA was not ready for talks on these issues, but today, apparently, they realized that they have no choice. The authorities should simply decide to leave quietly and peacefully and give an opportunity to hold free elections," Vahagn Khachatryan called on. The former mayor of Yerevan also drew attention to changes in police behavior. "There were police officers here in the morning for two hours, I asked them not to use force in my political statement, and now there is no police here, no one is guarding government buildings. It means that something has changed in the authorities' readiness to use force for suppressing the population," he concluded. HA NOI Vietnamese enterprises must band together with their Asia-Pacific partners for stronger growth. Said conclusion was reached at yesterdays conference on strengthening the connection and partnership between Viet Nams firms and members of the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI). Speaking at the conference, oan Duy Khuong, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)s Vice Chairman, appreciated the important cooperation between the VCCI and the CACCI, and between Viet Nam and regional countries. Khuong emphasised the importance of such regional collaboration, especially in the context of increasing international economic integration. Jemal Inaishvili, President of the CACCI, noted the Vietnamese business communitys effort in recent years, with significant economic development progress. He believed such growth has demonstrated the governments efforts to create a smooth and favourable business environment for both local and international firms. Seeing how the Asia-Pacific region can be considered the largest consumer market in the world with a multitude of rising powers such as Japan, China and South Korea, and a total GDP accounting for 60 per cent of the worlds, the area is full of potential, added Khuong. He also mentioned that since the signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), cooperation with major economies and markets would soon be virtually unlimited for Vietnamese businesses, in order for them to accelerate operations, trade, while gaining access to advanced production technology and improved management and administration. Coupled with collaboration from Asia-Pacifics enterprises, Khuong was certain that Viet Nams firms will gain competitiveness and the whole economy will be significantly improved. Organised by the VCCI, yesterdays event aimed to create a bridge between and to help both sides businesses find suitable cooperation and investment opportunities. At the same time, the VCCI hoped to reach out to senior members of CACCIs, one of the largest organisations representing the Asia-Pacific regions business community. The event was part of Inaishvilis visit to Viet Nam, along with over 30 representatives from CACCIs member corporations, most notably from Australia, India and Nepal, specialising in textile, garment, cosmetics, consumer goods, food distribution and processing, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, industrial products distribution, construction, IT, and tourism. Inaishvili expressed his wish to invite representatives from the VCCI and other Vietnamese business delegations to join the CACCI Summit later this year in Istanbul, Turkey. Earlier in April, VCCI had worked with the CACCI and the General Department of Customs of Vietnam on a project to update the 2010 Incoterms, or International Commercial Terms, and a 2020 draft, in order to update and discuss previous experiences and mistakes in the fields of import, export, insurance, banking and finance. VNS SINGAPORE Vietnamese enterprises operating in food and hospitality are attending the trade show, Food and Hotel Asia (FHA) 2018, in Singapore. The event will conclude on April 27. This is the first time Vietnamese firms have participated in Asias largest exhibition in the food and hospitality sector. There are 14 Vietnamese enterprises featuring products in the Viet Nam Food Pavilion, which covers an area of 200sq.m. Through its 40 years of development, FHA has grown in tandem with Asias food and hospitality industry and has earned itself the reputation of being the most comprehensive premier international food and hospitality trade show in the region. This years event is expected to attract over 4,000 businesses from more than 70 countries worldwide. Some 50,000 enterprises have registered to visit the show and sign contracts, according to the organising board. Tran Thu Quynh, trade counsellor at the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore, said together with several businesses which had export activities and commercial presence abroad, such as TH True Milk, Co May and Trung Nguyen Coffee, the trade office prioritised introducing small- and medium-sized start-ups operaring in intensive agricultural processing field, especially in coffee, cocoa, cashew nut, fruits, rice and seafood. The office will help connect Vietnamese enterprises with others through the Vietnam Food Pavilion, Quynh said. Ho Si Bao, director of Amazon Vietnam Food Company, said the trade show offered a good opportunity for participating companies to introduce their products and learn about international tastes to build an appropriate marketing strategy to increase their exports. This year, the company plans to increase its capacity to produce cocoa and sochola to five tonnes per month to meet local demand and exports. VNS HA NOI The International Beauty Artists Contest 2018 presented entrants with a chance to learn more about their profession, beauty trends around the world and the experiences of South Korean experts. Nguyen uc An, 22, said as much when he won the top prize at the contest held on Tuesday in Ha Noi. The prize for runner-up went to Hoang Thi Dung from Bac Giang Province. This is the first time Vietnamese and Korean beauty centres and salons have joined hands to organise the event with aim to create chance to upgrade skills for Vietnamese beauty artists in the field of tinting and sculpting for eyebrows, eyelashes and lips. The contest attracted 120 beauty artists nationwide to join. The jury included plastic surgery specialist Kim Yun-ho, Park Jeong-geun, Choi Moon-seop and Vanessa Lee from South Korea, and Khai at and Luong Huyen Trang from Viet Nam. Tran Thanh Thuy, head of the organising board, said there is a great demand for human resource in the art of facial tinting and sculpting in Viet Nam. More and more people find facial tinting as the way to help them become beautiful and confident, and not spend much time for make-up. It is estimated that the number of 2,000 spas and beauty salons in the whole country and new ones mushrooming require about 10,000 employees for this field, said Thuy. In my opinion, this is the attractive occupation for a young workforce. They certainly should upgrade their professional skills and update new trends. On the occasion, Thuy connected many directors of beauty salons and cosmetic surgery centres nationwide to establish an association for beauty artists. Organising the contest is a platform to connect people working in the field. In the near future, we want to organise free workshops to train and bring them knowledge and experience to become more professional. VNS NGHE AN The Peoples Court of the central province of Nghe An on Tuesday upheld a lower courts verdict, sentencing Hoang uc Binh to seven years in prison on the charge of resisting on-duty officials and another seven years for abusing the rights to democracy and freedom to infringe on the interests of the State, and legitimate rights and interests of organisations and citizens. The sentence was made in line with points c and d, clause 2, Article 257; clause 2, Article 258 and Article 50 of the 2015 Penal Code. The jail term was counted from May 15, 2017 when Binh was put in temporary detention. Binh, born in 1983, residing in Hung Trung Commune, Hung Nguyen District of the central province Nghe An, joined a number of politically reactionary organisations, associations and groups such as NoU Saigon, and Phong trao Lao ong Viet (Viet Nam Workers Movement). He was arrested to serve investigations into his delivery of leaflets in HCM City to call on people to join Nghiep oan oc lap (independent trade union), and received admnistrative punishment for his violation of regulations on keeping and distributing illegal publications and printed materials that are not publications. However, he refused to pay the fine and fled back to Nghe An. After returning to Nghe An, Binh regularly posted and shared information and documents that slander the administration and advocate pluralism and multi-party movements via his Facebook account. On February 6, 2018, the Peoples Court of Dien Chau District sentenced Binh to seven years in prison for resisting on-duty officials and another seven years for abusing the rights to democracy and freedom to infringe on the interests of the State, and legitimate rights and interests of organisations and citizens. On February 12, 2018, Binh filed an appeal against the decision of the Peoples Court of Dien Chau District. According to Dien Chau District Peoples Court, on the morning of February 14, 2017, Binh and another man named Nguyen Nam Phong, along with 300 people departed from Song Ngoc parish in Quynh Luu District to Ky Anh District of central province Ha Tinh on the pretext of lodging a complaint about Taiwanese Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Co. Ltd., which caused an environmental incident affecting four central provinces two years ago. With banners, the crowd travelled by different means of vehicles, and intentionally caused traffic jams. Binh requested Phong, the driver, to ignore the instruction of traffic policemen who were working to ensure traffic order. Binh was alleged to have incited Phong to resist on-duty officials. He also called on Facebook users to keep track of, publish and share the comments to defame the administration and the police force. His acts have seriously affected the prestige, honour and interests of Nghe An police in particular and the peoples police force in general, stirring bad opinions both at home and abroad. At the trial on February 6, 2018, Phong was also sentenced to two years in jail on the charge of resisting on-duty officials. VNS HA NOI Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh received Moroccan Secretary of State to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Mounia Boucetta on Tuesday. Boucetta is visiting Viet Nam to co-chair the fourth meeting of the Viet Nam - Morocco Joint Committee and the fifth political consultation between the two foreign ministries. Hailing the development of bilateral cooperation in all fields, Minh praised Moroccos efforts to deepen relations with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with a view to becoming its Sectoral Dialogue Partner. He said the two countries should increase the exchange of delegations at all levels. The two officials stressed the need to take practical measures to foster trade and investment ties, increase the exchange of business delegations to explore each others markets, and develop economic ties with other African countries. Viet Nam welcomed Morocco to open its honorary consulate in HCM City in a bid to boost economic and trade cooperation with Viet Nams southern provinces and cities. The two sides agreed to grant more scholarships to their students, increase the exchange of researchers, hold more academic workshops and sign agreements between research institutions. Alongside this, the two countries are set to accelerate negotiations and sign cooperation deals in other fields such as labour, finance-banking, tourism, aviation, and renewable energy. At the meeting, Minh also lauded the signing of the memorandum of understanding on cooperation between Viet Nams Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs and Moroccos Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs and the establishment of the Viet Nam - Morocco Friendship Association. He also suggested stronger cooperation between two countries localities like Nha Trang-Agadir, HCM City-Casablanca, and a Nang-Tangier. During the political consultation, the two sides also discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern. VNS HA TINH Agencies in the central province of Ha Tinh have been trying to identify the cause of the mass fish deaths in the local coastal breeding cages on Saturday. Phan Duy Vinh, deputy chairman of the provinces Ky Anh Town, was quoted by local newspapers as saying the town authorities and the provinces Department of Natural Resources and Environment had taken samples of dead fish in the town for testing. Earlier on Saturday morning, breeders and traders who own cages placed in the waters of Vung Ang sea zone found that their fish and squid had died en mass. A report released by the town authorities said they had found 240kg of dead fish and squid. However, all the dead fish were those that had been bred. The report also mentioned the fish died because of oxygen shortage. It said the construction of habours in nearby Hoanh Son Port had obstructed the natural flow of sea water. Further, waste dumping and their daily release into the sea zone at the same time had reduced the oxygen in the water. Ky Anh Town is home to the Hung Nghiep Formosa Steel Plant, whose toxic spill killed fish en mass in the ocean bordering four central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien- Hue in April 2016. VNS THUA THIEN- HUE A scaffolding collapsed in the central province of Thua Thien- Hue leaving 11 construction workers injured on Sunday. The case has raised concerns regarding safety at construction sites in the province. The scaffolding set for the construction of a gas station in Truong An Ward in the provinces municipal Hue City collapsed on Sunday morning, left seven workers trapped at the site. Witnesses said the scaffolding collapsed when the workers were moulding a concrete porch at a height of some 3m at around 8am in the morning. Firefighters and rescuers spent nearly four hours to rescue the trapped workers, of whom 11 were sent for treatment to a local hospital. Of these, 10 were discharged with light injures while a woman, who was working under the scaffolding, continues to receive medical attention as she had sustained heavy injuries. Col Hoang Long, head of the city police, said the investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the collapse, as well as to ensure workers safety once the work is resumed. Two men representing the investor and contractor at the site have been detained for investigation. Construction activities are at their peak in Hue thanks to the sunny days. At the locality, contractors often use timber to make scaffoldings instead of steel. VNS GPA Attends Bunkering Conference in Jamaica The Gibraltar Port Authority recently attended the International Bunkering Industry Association (IBIA) Caribbean Regional Bunker Conference in Jamaica, held in partnership with Maritime Authority Jamaica. John Ghio, Deputy Captain of the Port (Acting) was invited to give a presentation on Gibraltars regulatory regime for bunkering activities as part of the conference programme. Manuel Tirado, CEO and Captain of the Port (Acting) stated that Gibraltars reputation as the premier centre of excellence for bunkering services in the Mediterranean has once again been highlighted and he is keen that the Gibraltar Port Authority continues to promote its services and the solid reputation that the Port enjoys globally. This participation also highlights the partnership which the Gibraltar Port Authority and IBIA enjoy and continue to develop. The annual Airborne Awards Festival took place over the weekend of April 19th 21st, 2018 at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia. Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment hosted the event, which featured a jump onto the historic Fryar Drop Zone by the Liberty Jump Team, a Memorial Wreath Laying Ceremony, and a skit by Soldiers of the 1-507th PIR among other highlights. The festival gathers former and current members of the Airborne community together to honor those that they have lost, to share and learn from their experiences, and to celebrate the proud tradition of airborne soldiering. This year marked the 41st edition of the Annual Airborne Awards, and the D-Day Squadron, with their WWII combat-veteran Douglas C-47 Skytrain named Placid Lassie, had the distinct privilege of participating in the festivities last week. WWII, Korean War, Vietnam and other airborne veterans had the opportunity to tour Placid Lassie prior to the ceremony. The historic transport plane also provided the backdrop for a re-enlistment parade and the presentation of honorary jump wings to two members of the Liberty Jump Team. D-day Squadron Executive Director Moreno Aguiari stated, It was truly awe inspiring to watch over 20 jumpers parachute out of Placid Lassie and float safely to the ground. The ceremony afterwards, commemorating the paratroopers who lost their lives in service to their country, and the road naming dedication was a solemn moment and was executed beautifully. Another element of pride and excitement was the fact that our C-47 stood next to the current generation of troop carriers, the C-17 and C-130. Placid Lassie flew from Lawson Army Airfield, located within Fort Benning. Operating from this historic site added another important element to the heritage lineage, because C-47s flew from this exact airfield during WWII to train airborne troops in the art of the combat drop. Lawson Field dates back to 1919, when the U.S. Army built a crude landing field at Fort Benning. Comprising just two small hangars, the fields initial occupant was a balloon unit which was charged with determining whether observers in balloons could assist the infantry in prosecuting enemy land forces. Lawson field was pretty quiet between the wars, but expanded hugely in size and importance during WWII. The Army dramatically upgraded the facilities, constructing new barracks, runways, parking aprons etc. Parachute Training soon became a primary function for the field, with the Army handing the field over to I Troop Carrier Command on August 26th, 1942. The four C-47 squadrons which comprised the 316th Troop Carrier Group had arrived on site earlier that month. Lawson Field has continually grown since those days, and still plays an important role in Airborne Operations. The Lawson Army Airfield management and personnel showed us their southern hospitality and toured us around the WWI and WWII buildings still standing today, along with attending to all the needs of the aircraft and crew, added D-day Squadron Executive Director Moreno Aguiari, Working with the Liberty Jump Team was exciting, and they executed their mission flawlessly. HHC Commander, CPT Darren Cinatl, his NCOs and troopers are impressive! We look forward to visiting Ft. Benning again! Headquarters & Headquarters Company Commander, Captain Darren Cinatl contributed, The 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry regiment opened the 41st Annual Airborne Awards Ceremony in support of the Don Lassen 82nd Airborne Association Chapter with a C-47 paradrop mission over Fryar DZ. The HHC Commander, two HHC Operations NCOs and jumpers from the Liberty Jump Team conducted a jumpmaster directed airborne operation to honor our WWII, Korean War and Vietnam veterans in attendance, and enable the commemoration of Drop Zone roads in honor of paratroopers who passed away during training from 1941-1942. The Liberty Jump team was formed in 2006 and conducts airborne operations around the United States, France and the Netherlands to honor our veterans, especially those who fought in World War II. The team is comprised of veterans and civilians alike who have participated in airborne training. All in all, the Annual Airborne Awards weekend was a hugely successful venture. It also provided excellent additional training to the Placid Lassie team as they build up to Daks Over Normandy next June in Europe. This event will see the convergence of several dozen C-47s in the 75th anniversary celebrations of the D-Day invasion. The D-Day Squadron will be in the thick of the action in what promises to be an extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime event. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 24, 2018 | 04:40 PM | GRAVES COUNTY, KY The owners of a Marshall County funeral home pleaded guilty to fraud charges Tuesday in Graves County. Tim and Becky King, owners of Filbeck, Cann and King Funeral Home in Benton, entered six guilty pleas Tuesday as part of a plea deal. Each pleaded guilty to two felony counts of fraudulent insurance acts over $500, a felony count of theft by unlawful taking or disposition all others between $500-$10,000, a felony count of criminal possession of a forged instrument and two misdemeanor counts of fraudulent insurance acts $500 or less. Tim King is facing 60 days in jail, 100 hours of community service and diversion of five years. Becky King faces 30 days of home incarceration, 200 hours of community service and diversion of five years. Both must also pay restitution to all victims. Sentencing is set for Aug. 14 at 9:00 am. The case was moved to Graves County because Marshall County Circuit Court Judge Jamie Jameson recused himself in September of last year. Last May, Kentucky Department of Insurance investigators served search warrants at the funeral home and seized documents and electronic files. They were investigating complaints from customers who allegedly paid the funeral home to buy insurance policies that were never actually purchased. By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 25, 2018 | 06:01 AM | MAYFIELD, KY A Mayfield woman found guilty of murder in the stabbing death of her boyfriend last year was sentenced on Tuesday. A Graves County jury convicted 48-year-old Tammy Roberts of wanton murder in February. On Tuesday, Roberts was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She must serve a minimum of 85 percent of her sentence. Police say Roberts stabbed James Pinion during an argument in February 2017. Deputies found Pinion bleeding on the kitchen floor, and he was taken to Jackson Purchase Medical Center, where he died a short time later. An autopsy revealed that Pinion died from sharp force trauma to the chest. Police said Pinion suffered a knife wound to his upper chest. The Wetzel Chronicle mailed questions to all political candidates in New Martinsvilles Municipal Election to be held Tuesday, May 8. Current New Martinsville Police Chief Tim Cecil is running for re-election. He is being opposed by Daniel Eastham. New Martinsville Police Chief Tim Cecil is 47-years-old and is a lifelong, born and raised, resident of New Martinsville. He grew up on North Street and has resided a block away, on Eliza Street, for the past 14 years. Chief Cecil is married to Maureen (Winkler) Cecil. Together, the two have been very blessed with four beautiful children Lakyn, 22; Autumn, 19; Gabby, 18; and Kolbee, 15. The Cecils also have a Golden Retriever, Paris. Chief Cecil graduated from MHS with the Class of 1988. He then enlisted in the United States Military and served three years active duty in the Army, and five years inactive with the National Guard. During that time, Cecil earned his associates degree in Criminal Justice from WVU at Parkersburg. He then went on to work at Ormet Primary Aluminum Corporation. Cecil said he worked at Ormet until the opportunity arose and my family and I decided I should follow in the footsteps of my uncle, the late Carl Kocher. Daniel Eastham is currently employed at Bethlehem PD (Wheeling Area) as a Patrolman. Eastham has worked at West Liberty University PD, McMechen PD, and Brooke County Sheriffs Office, where he became a West Virginia certified law enforcement officer in 2015. Eastham has recently received his Bachelor Degree in Criminal Justice/Homeland Security at Waldorf University. Eastham said his campaign focuses on dedication, integrity, and professionalism in public safety. Easthams agenda consists of tackling the drug problem, by doing more patrols, traffic enforcement and better communication with the public. **Why do you want to be New Martinsvilles police chief, and what makes you qualified to serve in that capacity? * Tim Cecil: Since I was in high school, I have wanted to be New Martinsvilles Police Chief. Looking back, I guess it was the influence of my Uncle, the late Carl Kocher, that led me to want to follow in his footsteps. He was a good man, involved in our community and always there when you needed him. He taught you lessons and it wasnt always easy lessons, he was stern but fair. Observing his actions throughout the years, I knew that was exactly who and what I wanted to be. I wanted to make a difference in others lives and help to protect and serve the town I grew up in. In 2003, the voters of this wonderful community that I reside in, made that dream come true and elected me as Chief. As for what makes me qualified to serve as Police Chief, I believe 15 years of experience already in this position, my background in the US Army and National Guard, and my degree in Criminal Justice has helped me to be successful in carrying out my duties as Chief while managing NMPD. Also, the ongoing certification classes, workshops and seminars I attend to better myself and my department, and the self-development and resourcesfulness are necessary when managing a department. I am a hands-on Chief that works around the clock. I never have my officers perform a duty that I will not do myself. I continue to be at the top of the department in leading arrests every year. I am not an office-dwelling Chief. I am out patrolling our streets and visible to the public. I am an available Chief, answering my phone all hours of the night, either responding to back up my officers, going to help someone who needs some assistance in getting home, or talking to someone who just needs a friendly voice to hear their concerns. * Daniel Eastham: I have chosen to run as New Martinsvilles Chief of Police, after growing up in the area and serving on the New Martinsville Volunteer Fire Department for a few years, prior to receiving a law enforcement job out of the area. Over my years of living in New Martinsville, I have seen an increase in crimes being committed. I would like to bring my experience I have gained back to New Martinsville from a more proactive approach in tackling these current issues in the city. I am giving the citizens of New Martinsville opportunity to make the change in leadership that is needed to make the city a safer place for everyone. If elected, New Martinsville Police Department will be my only job, so I can dedicate my time giving back to the city, where I live and call home. As for my qualifications to serve as Chief of Police, consist of my experience as a certified officer that was received from the West Virginia State Police Academy. While I continue to work in law enforcement at two police departments in the Wheeling Area, full time and part-time. This has allowed myself to learn from some great leaders in my current and past police departments. Last, I have a bachelor degree in criminal justice/ homeland security that taught me different styles of management in the criminal justice system. Also, I have attended many other law enforcement trainings. Some of these courses are the FBI Crisis Negotiator Course, Ohio State Highway Patrol Criminal Interdiction Course, and the West Virginia Narcotics Officers Association Conference, just to name a few. **Give a specific example of a time when you were proud of your work. * Tim Cecil: Having been the Chief for the last 15 years, there is not a time that I can say that I wasnt proud of the work I have done. I show nothing but pride for this community and the job that I do. I guess my proudest moment is knowing that this town has put the trust in faith in me for the last 15 years to be their Chief of Police. * Daniel Eastham: Over my years of serving as a police officer, there have been many times I was proud of my work. While I cannot just give just one example, here are two memorable moments. Recently, I worked a case of a missing juvenile who had left a suicide note. I passed on information to the surrounding agencies to be on the lookout for the missing juvenile, possible suspects, and a possible vehicle involved, later we located the juvenile alive. The juvenile was with one of the suspects in the vehicle that we were looking for during a traffic stop. The suspect had a warrant and was arrested. After working this case it ended up closing two cases. The second example had occurred while I was patrolling the streets. I was stopped by a resident that advised me they had a dog that came off its leash. Shortly after checking some other areas for the dog with no results, I stopped to check in at a gas station and spoke to a gas station attendant, I brought up about a missing dog. The gas station attendant advised me that a lady had stopped in telling him that she picked up a loose dog along the road. The lady left her contact information with the gas station attendant, in case the owner stops in to inquire about a missing dog. I went back to the residents house and provided them with the information. The joy of getting to help the people get their dog back was priceless. As the dog was like a family member to these people. In short, every day I work in the law enforcement field, I am proud to be able to serve the people and help them solve problems both big and small. Democrats Greg Morris and B.B. Smith are campaigning for a seat on the Wetzel County Commission. This seat will be vacated by current commissioner, Robert Gorby, when he retires at the end of December 2018, the end of his current term. The Wetzel Chronicle recently e-mailed simple questionnaires to each commission candidate, along with a request for a brief biography. Greg Morris has been a lifelong resident of Wetzel County. Morris has been on the Wetzel County Democrat Executive Committee, serving as a chairman for several years. While this is Morris first foray in seeking public office, he feels he can represent the citizens of the county by drilling down and listening to their needs. I have been fortunate to be able to live, work, worship and spend recreational time in the county. Morris said he feels the countys best asset is its people, and we should make sure we are boosting each other up, by helping those struggling with addiction, funding veterans and senior services and continuing to support EMS and police departments and providing safe spaces for kids and families to enjoy. B.B. Smith has a strong record of supporting local working men and women, and he wants to continue serving residents as a member of the Wetzel County Commission. Smith is a lifelong Democrat. During his entire adult life, he has supported and actively fought for the rights of unions and the betterment of working men and women in Wetzel County and throughout West Virginia. Smith has worked in State government for 11 years, and he is a 50-year member of Boilermakers Local 667. Smith is the current President of the Marshall, Wetzel, Tyler Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and has served in this position for 14 years. While working for the State Auditors office, B.B. was instrumental in passing legislation giving local government entities the ability to use purchasing cards. This legislation resulted in millions of dollars in savings and rebates to county government, boards of education, and municipalities. He is one of the organizers of the annual Paden City Labor Day celebration, the largest in West Virginia, and regularly supports events in Wetzel County. Smith is a member of a number of local organizations including, the American Legion, VFW, and the Moose Lodge in New Martinsville, and the Fraternal Order of the Eagles in Paden City. He also serves on the Board of the Paden City Economic Development Authority. Smith is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. He is a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry. Smith is the proud father of two children and has two grandchildren. **The county has been blessed in the past few years due to revenue from the oil and gas industry. The extra funds have allowed for improvements and purchases for various organizations. Is there a particular area where you feel money should be invested? * Greg Morris: This county has absolutely been blessed by the oil and gas industrys presence here. This development occurs largely out in the county on the ridges and in the hollows. These are the people who are lacking most in regards to things like reliable high speed internet access and cell phone usability. I would like to see the money used to help the people in rural Wetzel County catch up to the towns such as New Martinsville and Paden City. With reliable internet and cell service, the smaller towns may be able to attract more business and even oil and gas offices that turn to other places which have the basic infrastructure. * B.B. Smith: Oil and gas will continue to provide opportunities in Wetzel County. We need to be fiscally responsible and plan ahead, and protect the interests of Wetzel County and all residents. We have some of the hardest working people in the State, but it has been difficult for some to find work. I support working families and will work hard to bring new jobs to Wetzel County. The county commissioners have worked hard to put in new water lines in various parts of the county, I support continuing these water lines. As we all know, our county has been devastated by floods and other tragedies over the past year. Im a believer that we need to support those on the front lines protecting our families. I will continue to support our EMS, fire departments, and all first responders so we can make Wetzel County safe and secure for all residents. Its hard to believe that in some parts of Wetzel County there is no cell service, or service is poor at best. **Name a few goals you would have for the county, as a commissioner. * Greg Morris: As stated previously, reliable high speed internet and improved cell service are two goals I hope to work with the existing county commissioners to make reality for so many that need it. I would like to help combat the local drug problem by working to get a treatment facility here in the local area. So many of our citizens need help that is difficult to get because there are so few facilites with vacancy, and the distance they would have to travel to get there. Another goal is to continue to expand and build up our facilities to give families and youth safe places to spend their time. Last year, the county commissioners gave the money to have a kayak launch installed at the 4-H Grounds, this is a project I would like to see expanded out into the county. It would be nice to have more bike trails throughout the county as well. I would like to see funding continued for the county pools and parks. I would like to see a full-time staffed EMS squad in Hundred. They already have facilities available in the Hundred Fire Department. Hundred sometimes has to relay on EMS services from Pennsylvania in times of emergency. I would like to support the local fairs and festivals to help them to grow as these are where some families spend their vacations. Tourism has an 8 to 1 rate of return on investment. We should be promoting our county and our festivals in oder to gain more money for other endeavors and to boost local businesses. * BB Smith: First and foremost, protection and safety of our residents and children should be of utmost important. Like many others in Wetzel County, I have family members and friends that work in the schools and my grandchildren attend school in Wetzel County. One goal of mine is to work with law enforcement to ensure that our children, teachers, and service personnel are safe and they feel secure in the schools. In addition, many families in our community have been hit hard with the opioid epidemic sweeping our area. It is costing lives, and costing our county millions of dollars. We need to work closely with law enforcement and local agencies to continue to combat this issue and support those families in need. The oil and gas industry has provided many opportunities, but with those opportunities brings challenges. Another goal is to develop much needed infrastructure to support those activities, which will create more jobs for hard working Wetzel County residents. Our county commission has done an incredible job putting in and extending new water lines in Wetzel County. My goal is to work with commissioners and local businesses to continue to extend these water lines throughout Wetzel County. Another goal of mine is to improve communication throughout the county. Its hard to believe that some areas of our county are without cell phone service. My goal is to improve broadband service to those areas that have service, and eventually obtain cell phone service to all part of Wetzel County. Frustrations with oil and gas industry traffic were apparent April 20 at the Wetzel County Oil & Gas Task Force meeting. The meeting was held at the Mollohan Center and was attended by local and state officials, along with industry representatives. Ray Renaud, with Wetzel County Office of Emergency Management, noted oil and gas development started in the area 12 years ago, while task force meetings began seven years ago. Renaud said these meetings were dominated by safety issues involving trucks. He said, at this point, the task force elected to start a road safety committee. After listening to residents concerns and conducting research, this committee decided to establish some best practices for using trucks on our highways. Renaud said the committee tried to approach the state Department of Highways, which is in charge of road use permits, to see whether or not the DOH would recommend the committees best practices. We arent asking for legislation. We are asking to look at the best practices and do what we can to keep the roads safe. Renaud said the DOH follows recommended federal guidelines; however, according to Renaud, these guidelines mainly pertain to oversized vehicles on major highways. Also, federal guidelines pertain mainly to reporting procedures, according to Renaud. Renaud said, from the meeting with the DOH commissioner, He has not assented to distributing our best practices. They said the federal guidelines are good enough. Bob Ashley, representative of Governor Jim Justices office, asked why the local DOH district was not represented at the April 20 task force meeting. Renaud noted the DOH was invited, but the representatives had prior commitments. Renaud shared video, which monitored the road below his home. The video appeared to show oil and gas traffic constantly traveling the roadways. Renaud said the video goes on for half an hour. I dont want to bore you with this, but remember, I cant stop this at my house. I have to watch this all the time. Renaud gave examples of the impact of gas development truck traffic. He said there are safety concerns, such as the danger of accidents and/or vehicle damage, or danger to pedestrians, children, and pets. He noted the traffic inhibits the quality of life, such as traveling delays. He said he is unable to open his windows for fresh air or sit on his porch. Renaud said there have been cases of drainage ditches collapsing and ruptures in water lines. I am an emergency responder; I have to get my truck aligned twice a year, Renaud also noted. As to traffic accidents, Renaud said around four years ago, Southwestern Energy came to the area and started requiring the use of pilot vehicles. He said the amount of emergency calls related to oil and gas traffic incidents dropped dramatically. This shows how effective best practices can be, Renaud said. One of the committees best practices is to use a pilot car escort for any truck that cannot maintain a turn. Also, Renaud recommends adequate distance between the pilot vehicle and the first truck so that traffic does not become gridlocked. Furthermore, We are proposing a maximum of three 18-wheelers in a convoy or five 10-wheelers, Renaud said. The problem is, they arent separated by enough distance to allow trucks to pull over for incoming traffic. Renaud showed a video example of a convoy that measured more than one mile long. He noted it took him 20 minutes to travel three miles due to the convoy. Another recommended practice is for the trucks to utilize a placard on the front of the truck, to note the number of vehicles in the convoy. However, Renaud noted, he has found the placards are inaccurate. Therefore, Renaud recommended that the last truck in the convoy flash its lights. He also recommended CB radios, requiring them and standardizing the use of frequencies. Consider road signs to let truckers know what channel to use, Renaud added. He also requested trucking coordination. When multiple companies or multiple activities are taking place, we need to develop a system of scheduling so that the trucks dont cause gridlock. Brian Jones, Director of Transportation for Wetzel County Schools, also expressed his frustrations with oil and gas industry traffic. He noted busses have been unable to complete routes due to oil and gas trucks getting stuck in the roadways; therefore, parents have to pick up their children to take them home. Asking parents to drive a number of miles to pick kids up it can produce a hardship, maybe not to you and maybe not to me You deal with coils, and I deal with kids, said Jones. He noted trying to move loads at two in the afternoon, when school is about to be released for the day, is poor judgement, at very best. Jeremy Shepherd, bus driver, noted he has had near-misses due to smaller company trucks being driven by workers hurrying to get to the job site. County resident Bill Hughes said he has attended task force meetings for seven years. He said many would readily admit traffic management has gotten better. He noted one current issue is that seven years ago there was one company. Its now gotten a lot more complicated with a lot more drillers, operators, and subcontractors in many more areas of the county. Hughes suggested coordination, communication, and cooperation to make the traffic flow better. He said certain companies utilize certain CB channels, which arent posted along the routes drivers use. I think we can do some of these things, provide maps and directions, require CB radios, make sure drivers know the channels, and post mile markers along the road, Hughes suggested. Get rid of the phones and give good directions. The companies are paying good money for expensive equipment on the back of the truck. It is probably important the driver gets to your site and doesnt wander around without an escort, getting lost and getting the way of other residents and causing harm to themselves and others. As to a road repair update, Delegate Dave Pethtel noted he had spoken with Gus Suwaid, District Sixs DOH engineer. Pethtel said Suwaid is retiring from his position. Pethtel said Suwaid reported he had requested that OH/WV Excavating begin repairs to American Ridge. (Suwaid) told me on Schupbach Ridge, that slip was so bad they are still trying to figure out what engineering technique to use to fix that slip. I know people are really frustrated on both American and Schupbach ridges, especially American, because it has been closed for quite a while, way over a year, Pethtel said. Wetzel County Commissioner Larry Lemon agreed, noting the commission is applying its pressure and influence, to highlight the need for repairs. Senator Charles Clements noted he had talked to representatives from the DOH, who noted they were moving equipment and supplies to American Ridge. Our hearts are broken as we think of the late Mr. Leroy McElrath a United States veteran, an American hero. He was living in a shed, no running water and no heat He was left unnoticed until it was too late. How does this happen? McElrath served his country, willing to give all for his country and her people. Yet he was left alone, without even the very basic essentials. The loss of Mr. McElraths life is tragic. The fact he was seemingly forgotten about is absolutely tragic and rather enraging. However, we must say we are grateful to live in a community whose people stepped forward and took quick, and proper, action. From county law enforcement who first responded to the call regarding a deceased man, to the Valley High School Sportsmans Club which ensured McElrath had replacement dog tags, each party involved deserves a sincere Thank You. So many organizations and community members stepped in and assisted in their own unique ways. Though we cannot imagine the trials he lived, the folks in our community ensured an American hero received a proper and respectful fairwell. The 22nd Annual Sons of the American Legion Fishing Derby is Saturday, April 28, and Dominion Energy Transmission Inc. Supply Header Project is helping to ensure every area youngster has the opportunity to reel in some fun. The Dominion Energy Inc. Supply Header Project donated $1,000 to buy fishing poles for the child participants. Additional poles were donated by Hastings Operation. The fishing derby begins at 10 a.m. with registration starting at 9 a.m. The derby is located at the Pine Grove Byrd Center, and all fishing regulations apply. In an effort to address the many issues currently plaguing our state and local communities, the Wetzel County Board of Education will be hosting a public event Thursday evening, April 26, at Magnolia High School in New Martinsville from 6:30-8 p.m. Through a partnership made possible with the American Foundation for Suicide Preventions West Virginia Chapter, Wetzel County will be host to two national speakers to help open the dialogue about these important topics that affect the lives of individuals around us daily; the opioid crisis and overall addiction issues, in additional to mental health conditions, lack of care, suicide prevention and bullying. As a dedicated advocate, Taryn Aiken-Hiatt shares her story and passion to give hope and educate our communities about suicide. She is a survivor of her own attempts as well as a survivor of suicide loss, losing her father Tarry Aiken in October of 2002. Taryn is a founding member of the Utah Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and has tirelessly volunteered for the past 14 years. She believes in the power of HOPE to save lives. Taryn has found her way out of the darkest night of the soul and found healing and recovery from trauma and addiction. Taryn knows that we are our greatest healer when we face the darkness and open the wound to allow light to fill every corner. She believes we must create a culture that is smart about mental health. A cosmetologist for 20 years, spending most of her time as an educator for the Paul Mitchell School, Taryn now dedicates her time in schools and communities across the nation regarding mental health matters and suicide prevention. She has facilitated hundreds of seminars while sharing tools and resources to help build resiliency in communities. Taryn recently completed her bachelors degree in Psychology at Utah Valley University and is currently pursuing her Masters in Social Work. Taryns efforts have spanned the gamut of participating in national Out of the Darkness Overnight Walks while walking all night long to raise awareness for suicide prevention, to testifying on Capitol Hill for Mental Health Care Reform and so much more in between. An advocate for not only others but also for herself, Taryns openness about her experiences and the need for self-care in todays world is awe-inspiring. As a person in long-term recovery from substance abuse, Ryan Hiatt shares his story to help educate our communities and provide a message of hope that recovery is possible, and worth it. His addiction to opiates, cocaine and alcohol left him in multiple hospital beds due to overdoses, then finally landed him in the Utah State Prison system. On May 5, 2018, Ryan will celebrate seven years of continuous sobriety. He wrote a book about his journey through addiction and in recovery Have I Had Enough? which he published this year. He believes in the power of faith over fear and is an advocate for self-discovery and the power of change. I spent so much of my life trapped in the clutches and chains of addiction the whispers in my mind that came from my addiction nearly killed me and caused a swath of pain to all those around me. But today, I live in the solution. says Ryan. I fight for something different because I am worth it, you are worth it, and all of us are worth it. The husband-wife warriors are often the light on a dark night for others. Their voices of reason come from the experiences of knowing a darkness that many who havent ever been in that place struggle to comprehend. Through research and education, we have learned the importance of listening to those whove walked this journey and found hope through recovery for us to move forward and help others around us. stated Ed Toman, Superintendent of Wetzel County Schools. It is a great honor to have both Taryn and Ryan here in the days ahead. I only know them as they incredible advocates and human beings they are today, to know the depths of where theyve come from, to understand the programs and tools they utilize to live in recovery and to see them dedicate their lives to helping others, that gives me hope for our state moving forward. I cant put into words what this could mean for some of the families here in our communities struggling through these same issues the same things Taryn and Ryan have worked diligently to overcome. They ARE hope and proof that recovery is possible. The community presentation will last approximately 90 minutes with an open-forum type of opportunity for questions after. The first 25 attendees will receive a free autographed copy of Ryans book. Additional books will be available for purchase and light refreshments will be served. It is Wetzel County Schools hope that families and individuals who have been impacted by addiction, overdose or mental health conditions and suicide will feel compelled to join for a night of Hope Through Recovery where there is no stigma, no shame only understanding, help and ultimately hope for the days ahead. This invitation to participate is open to the public individuals, families, first responders, mental health professionals, civic/ faith-based organizations, etc. For questions, please contact Tammy Wells, Todd Barcus, or Teresa Standiford at the Wetzel County Central Office at 304-455-2441. If you or someone you know is struggling, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or visit www.AFSP.org/FindSupport. For help with addiction or for a treatment referral resource, please contact the National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). CALIFORNIA A new proposal to cut California loose from the other 49 United States has been getting more traction than most similar past suggestions, prompting the question of what consequences of an independent California might be for Pagans. Under the banner of Yes California, proponents of the so-called Calexit have secured the right to collect petition signatures. If they succeed in obtaining 365,880 by October, there will be a vote in 2020 on whether or not to open a secession discussion. A second vote a year later would be to declare California an independent country. The Pagan residents of the state reached for comment have no expectation that the measure would ever pass, but some of them were willing to imagine what it might be like. Its treason, said Aline Macha OBrien, and we probably cant. Sean Harbaugh had a similar thought, saying that the likelihood of California secession is almost zero. Even if the voters pass the bill which is doubtful the federal government would never allow it. There was a civil war fought over this very thing. Angus McMahan acknowledged that most believe it a long shot. Well, the conventional wisdom would be, Yeah, right, but then I never thought Id see a black president or legalized marijuana or gay marriage in my lifetime. Its important to note that California secession is not the only proposal out there, said Tim Titus. There are at least three other plans to split up California into two or three or six different states. In the end, all of these plans fail because no one can agree. In the absence of a clear second choice, voters tend toward what they know. These movements come up often and they invariably fail. Jason Mankey agreed, saying, I dont think theres any chance that this happens. I dont think it will be approved by a majority of voters in California, and I dont think the national government would be in favor of it either. California has a big, diverse economy, something which was raised again and again among interviewees. All touted the states standing as sixth-largest economy in the world, as reported by Forbes in 2018. The many climates and ecological zones of California give it a natural diversity of special value, OBrien noted. The agricultural output supplies some 90% of the crops in her estimation. Alone, were the worlds [sixth] biggest economy, and I think we could get by just fine without the East Coast, the South and the Midwest, said McMahan. Wed still have our own Disneyland. Well be fine. Titus brought forth a factor that intersects ecology and economy: fights over water rights. [If] California fully seceded from the union, this would intensify, he said. Arizona and California have a history of battling over access to Colorado River water, and if the two were different countries that would only get worse. On the other hand, since California is the worlds sixth-largest economy, its loss would substantially harm the coffers of the United States. OBrien praised the fact that a high percentage of residents are [socially and politically] engaged, a fact reflecting their largely progressive values. Its a sanctuary state, which should tell you something, she said, and home of some of the strictest environmental laws on the books. Those laws make California an example, she said, which is one reason to remain part of the U.S. Californians pay more in federal tax dollars than is received back in aid, but none of those interviewees reached specifically had a problem with that fact. The flip side of the outflow of tax dollars is the relative influence one residents vote gets in the presidential election, and thats something which could get resolved by a parting of ways. The electoral college was designed to prevent outsized influence from large population centers, and that means Californians dont always feel their voice is heard. My vote would be worth as much as a North Dakotan. said McMahan. Wyoming gets an electoral vote for every 188,000 citizens, California gets one electoral vote for every 677,000 citizens, said Mankey. That wouldnt matter if the popular vote was in sync with the electoral college, but that hasnt happened in two out of the last five elections. The United States is being governed by a minority of voters, a minority vastly out of step with the values of most Californians. The result of that friction can be plans like last years tax reformation, which Mankey said was designed to punish residents of high-tax states like his. As many Pagans have an environmental focus, concerns for the environment were raised again and again. California seceding would not affect the redwood forests and sparkling ocean where I work my craft, and so I think the impact would be minimal, from a Pagan point of view, said McMahan. As a Pagan, an independent California would probably disrupt my life to some degree because I travel a great deal, said Mankey, acknowledging this as a first-world problem. On the flip side, I think an independent California would be a real win for the values many of us hold dear in Paganism. It would mean more separation of church and state, and protections for people of color, immigrants, women and the LGBTQ community, as well as environmental regulation. In terms of Pagan ministry, it would not make much difference, thought Titus. We are such a large state, we are used to huge sections with different cultures. Harbaugh agreed, saying, I couldnt see anything changing, when it comes to Pagans. However, OBrien thought that it might just increase the chances of Pagans being elected to higher office. I have strong support of the union, she said, and wouldnt vote in favor of leaving. Thats libertarian, and I dont subscribe to that. McMahan, for his part, suggested a different tack, asking, why stop at seceding from boring backwards old America? I would go further, and break up California into 4 different pieces: past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) May 09 (7) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (5) May 05 (8) May 03 (9) May 02 (1) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (8) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (10) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (7) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (8) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (12) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (8) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (1) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 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Denmark) -- Danish inventor Peter Madsen was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for killing and sexually abusing Swedish journalist Kim Wall. Wall, 30, had disappeared in mid-August 2017 after boarding Madsen's submarine while researching a story. Her remains were later found in plastic bags in the Bay of Koge, southwest of Copenhagen, but authorities have been unable to establish a specific cause of death. Madsen "brought a saw, knife, sharpened screwdrivers, straps, strips and pipes" aboard his submarine as part of a plan to kill Wall, the prosecutor has said. The charges against Madsen, 47, included murder, indecent handling of a corpse and "sexual relations other than intercourse of a particularly dangerous nature." The prosecutor had asked for a life sentence for Madsen. Madsen was found guilty of all charges. People who receive a life sentence in Denmark spend 16 years in prison on average. A life sentence is the harshest penalty in Denmark and is normally reserved for people convicted of more than one murder. "In determining the punishment, the court emphasized that it was a cynical and planned sexual assault and killing of a very brutal character on a random woman who, in connection with her journalistic work, had accepted an offer of a trip in the defendant's submarine," the City Court of Copenhagen said in a statement in Danish released after the verdict. Madsen said he plans to appeal the verdict. Madsen, who has offered shifting explanations about what happened on the submarine, had denied abusing and killing Wall, but had pleaded guilty to the indecent handling of a corpse. His defense lawyer had said he should only be found guilty of indecent handling of a corpse, which carries a jail term of up to six months in Denmark. She said the prosecutor hasn't proved Madsen murdered Wall. Wall graduated with a bachelor's degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She then obtained a dual master's degree in journalism and international relations from Columbia University in New York City. She traversed the globe to cover stories about, as she described, the "undercurrents of rebellion." Before her death, she reported on identity, gender, pop-culture, social justice and foreign policy from China, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Haiti, North Korea, India, United States and the Marshall Islands. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Alison Abbot in Nature: Neuroscientist Michael Heneka knows that radical ideas require convincing data. In 2010, very few colleagues shared his belief that the brains immune system has a crucial role in dementia. So in May of that year, when a batch of new results provided the strongest evidence he had yet seen for his theory, he wanted to be excited, but instead felt nervous. He and his team had eliminated a key inflammation gene from a strain of mouse that usually develops symptoms of Alzheimers disease. The modified mice seemed perfectly healthy. They sailed through memory tests and showed barely a sign of the sticky protein plaques that are a hallmark of the disease. Yet Heneka knew that his colleagues would consider the results too good to be true. Even he was surprised how well the mice fared; he had expected that removal of the gene, known as Nlpr3, would protect their brains a little, but not that it would come close to preventing dementia symptoms. I thought something must have gone wrong with the experiments, says Heneka, from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn. He reanalysed the results again and again. It was past midnight when he finally conceded that they might actually be true. Over the next couple of years, he confirmed that nothing had gone wrong with the experiments. Together with his colleagues, he replicated and elaborated on the results1. Since then, numerous studies have bolstered the link between dementia and the brains immune system, highlighting the cells and signals involved2. But none has managed to fully pin it down the link seems to be slippery and dynamic, changing as the disease progresses. More here. Susan Watkins in The New Left Review: Of all the opposition movements to have erupted since 2008, the rebirth of a militant feminism is perhaps the most surprisingnot least because feminism as such had never gone away; womens empowerment has long been a mantra of the global establishment. Yet there were already signs that something new was stirring in the US and UK student protests of 2010, the 2011 Occupy encampments at Puerta del Sol and Zuccotti Park. In India, mass rallies condemned the gang rape of Jyoti Pandey in 2012 and feminist flash-mobs have disrupted the moral-policing operations of Hindutva fundamentalists. The protests against sexual assault on US campuses blazed across the New York media in 2014. In Brazil, 30,000 black women descended on the capital in 2015 to demonstrate against sexual violence and racism, calling for the ouster of the corrupt head of the National Congress, Eduardo Cunha; earlier that year, the March of Margaridas brought over 50,000 rural women to Brasilia. In Argentina, feminist campaigners against domestic violence were at the forefront of protests against Macris shock therapy. In China, the arrest in 2015 of five young women preparing to sticker Beijings public transport against sexual violencemembers of Young Feminist Activism, an online coalition thats played cat-and-mouse with the authoritieswas met with web petitions signed by over 2 million people. In January 2017, a feminism of the 99 per cent declared itself with the million-strong march against the Trump Administration in the US. In Poland, mass womens protests forced the Law and Justice government to retreat from tightening the already restrictive abortion law. Italy, Spain and Portugal saw huge marches against domestic violence and economic precarity. On 8 March 2017, these movements came together to put International Womens Day back on the radical calendar, with demonstrations and strikes on three continents. The eruption of #MeToo in October 2017 and the convulsions that have followed are only the latest in a string of mass events around the world. Yet any attempt to renew feminist strategy today confronts a series of dilemmas. First, we lack convincing assessments of the progress already made. What results have the old feminisms produced and how adequate have these been in meeting womens needs? How, exactlyby what processes, to what extenthave conditions improved? What changes have been brought about, globally, in gender relations, and where do these now stand? More here. If you've ever visited Headlands Center for the Arts, you'll appreciate it as a place to expect the unexpected, starting with its buildingsformer military barracks that open to reveal interiors reimagined by renegade artists like David Ireland, populated by current artists in residence working at the leading edges of their fields. A favorite in the lineup of spring fundraisers, Headlands' annual Benefit Art Auction brings that spirit to San Francisco, where the party at Fort Mason always includes interesting artist projects. This year, even the food will make a statement: social practice artist and Headlands alum Dawn Weleski is teaming up with local incubator kitchen La Cocina to create a delicious and thought-provoking culinary experience. As an artist in residence at Headlands, Dawn Weleski staged a Conflict Kitchen dinner in which half the guests had food from North Korea and half had food from South Korea, divided across each table. (Photo: Andria Lo) Weleski is best known for her work with Conflict Kitchen, a Pittsburgh eatery with a changing menu of gourmet take-out cuisine only from nations with which the U.S. is in conflict, such as Afghanistan, Cuba, Palestine, and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Food is delivered in wrappers printed with interviews and quotes that encourage questions and dialogue. As an artist in residence at Headlands in 2013, Weleski produced a similar dinner, called The Two Koreas, where diners were assigned either North or South Korean dishes depending on where they sat, and printed placemats spurred conversation. "With food, it's so easy to come in and have a quick story bite," says Weleski. "My challenge as an artist is to help people consume in a slightly different way." If you think about Weleski's work as art, food is the medium of expression, but engagement is the substance. When Headlands approached Weleski about the auction, San Francisco's La Cocina was a natural choice for collaboration. The nonprofit helps low-income and immigrant women entrepreneurs launch and grow food businessestheir many success stories include favorites like El Buen Comer and Reem's. Like Weleski, La Cocina's staff spends a lot of time thinking about how to bring underrepresented voices to the table and open economic opportunity, with the side benefit of feeding the Bay Area's culinary vibrancy. For the auction, Weleski is working with La Cocina chefs to create a dining experience that helps tell a story of food and culture. While they're not yet divulging details on what cuisine will be highlighted, it's sure to break from standard gala fare. As at Headlands, where communal meals served in the artist-renovated Mess Hall are key to the program, this will be a food experience that inspires community, conversation, and thought. As La Cocina director Caleb Zigas puts it, "These women are cooking something that is incredibly personal and often radically different than what you would find at any other formal event. The upside is that, not only is it delicious, and not only is it warm and inviting, but it's also part of an intimate, human conversation about what it means to strive, and it's an exciting vision of what makes California innovative at its core." // Headlands Center for the Arts 2018 Benefit Art Auction, Wednesday, June 6, 2018, at Fort Mason Festival Pavilion (Marina); tickets at headlands.org/auction. The Shasta County Sheriff's Office is looking for the individual or individuals responsible for the theft of thousands of dollars in firefighting equipment from the French Gulch fire station. Cal Fire public information officer Cheryl Buliavac says one or more thieves stole around $40,000 of life-saving equipment from the French Gulch fire station. Often times in rural areas, volunteer fire companies are the first units at scene, Buliavac said. So it has a tremendous impact to have that many dollars in firefighting tools and equipment stolen. And for the small community of French Gulch, it's a big loss. Without them, the people wouldn't be too secure in their homes, resident Robert Stoughton said. Because by the time Cal Fire came up, you know, what a half hour drive, the house would be gone by then probably. Stoughton lives right across the street from the fire station and was disappointed to learn the news. So that's really sad, that in a small community that they would do that, he said. According to a Facebook post from one volunteer, the incident occurred sometime between early morning Friday and early morning Saturday. Some of the equipment stolen includes a brand new red Honda generator with light attached, jaws of life equipment, three Toshiba computers, a defibrillator and many more tools. Many of those tools are essential in helping save lives when it comes to collisions. If there's a wreck or something, they don't just do fire, Stoughton said. They do rescue and things like that. But this isn't the first time thieves have targeted small town fire companies. Last month, Cal Fire law enforcement officers arrested five in connection with a burglary in both the Shasta Trinity unit and the Tehama Glenn unit fire stations, Buliavac said. She said many of the items stolen from those fire stations we recovered. So we're very hopeful that will be the same outcome, Buliavac said. Sheriff's investigators are asking anyone with information to reach out to them. They also ask the public to be on the lookout for fire equipment for sale on marketplace sites like Craigslist, LetGo, and Facebook. Related: Arrests Made in Connection to Cal Fire Station Burglary WASHINGTON (NBC) - French President Emmanuel Macron is giving a rare address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday as he wraps up his state visit to Washington. Macron has already charmed President Donald Trump. On Monday and Tuesday, the pair talked up their close friendship and shook hands, hugged, kissed each other on the cheek and toasted each other over a lavish dinner. Trump even called Macron "perfect" after playfully brushing a bit of dandruff from the French leader's shoulder in the Oval Office. "Looking forward to watching President Macron of France address a Joint Session of Congress today. This is a great honor and seldom allowed to be done...he will be GREAT!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. The last foreign leader to address a joint session of Congress was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2016. Macron will be the seventh president of France to do so. Macron came to Washington to solidify his close relationship with Trump and to try and convince him to stick with the Iran nuclear deal that Trump has derided from the campaign trail to the White House. After a couple of meetings, Trump declined to say whether he would withdraw the U.S. from the international Iran accord, which restricted Iran's development of nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions. But Trump said Macron knows what he plans to do, and hinted at the possibility of a new deal. Macron is also set to speak at George Washington University Wednesday afternoon. The report revealed that more than half (56%) of employers believed that the government should extend the tax exemption for employer-provided pensions advice to more than 500. The cost of advice varies depending on the situation but it can be anything between 75 - 350 an hour, with the average cost of advice in the UK being around 150 an hour.** The employer-arranged pension advice exemption is the amount an employer can spend on pension advice per employee in a year, without the individual incurring tax as benefit in kind. It can be used to provide workplace advice on pensions, and on general financial and tax issues relating to pensions, to help employees make informed decisions on saving for retirement. 500 is unlikely to meet the financial pension planning needs of most employees. There needs to be a real incentive to make a difference for employees. The report also revealed that nearly half (49%) of employers want greater clarity around the regulations for providing pension information in the workplace, so that businesses are able to talk openly to their employees about the value of the pension scheme without stumbling into giving financial advice. Kate Smith, Head of Pensions at Aegon said: Employers play a vital role in the retirement savings of their workforce, but they need a helping hand from the government to ensure employees are on the right track to financial security in retirement. While many employers are taking positive steps to raise awareness and improve their employees engagement with workplace pensions, there is a very real fear among employers that they could stray into regulated advice if they try to promote their pension plans to staff. Greater clarity of what they can and cannot say would be helpful. It would be great if the regulators could revisit this as part of their joint pension strategy. One way for employers to avoid this concern is to offer access to professional financial advice in the workplace. Some employers are prepared to pay for this. However, under current rules, if the advice costs more than 500, employees are liable to tax as a benefit in kind' on the excess. Advice typically costs more than this which means employers are less likely to offer this valuable service. Doubling it to 1,000 could remove that barrier and create an incentive for employers to offer further support. Auto-enrolment has been a great start in getting more people saving for their retirement. But too many people undersave. We need to try to change peoples mind-sets and get them starting to think earlier about what they want from their pension. Helping people to access advice via the workplace could make all the difference. *Engaging with saving workplace pensions report Data for the report was collected in the Autumn of 2017. Research was conducted in two parts: A survey with 189 participants from a mix of small to large businesses and across all industry sectors (2nd 20th October 2017); and 15 in-depth interviews with participants from a range of business sizes and sectors (30th October 24th November 2017). Almost 25% of survey respondents were micro, small or medium-sized businesses reflecting the requirement for all existing employers to automatically enrol staff into a pension from 2017 onwards. Interviewees included a mix of pension technical specialists, reward managers and respondents from the boardroom to provide insight into the understanding of pensions engagement at every level. **Money Advice Service website Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning science journalist and book author, Fulbright grantee, and sought-after speaker. Her writing has appeared in many of the nations most respected and credible publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and featured on the cover of Smithsonian Magazine. A meticulous researcher whos not afraid to be controversial, she is nationally known as a journalist who opens peoples eyes to the realities behind accepted practices in health care and medicine. Fluent in French, Jennifer Margulis has appeared live on prime-time TV in Paris, France to talk about child slavery in Pakistan. She was prominently featured in a PBS Frontline TV documentary, The Vaccine War, and has appeared on CNNs Anderson Cooper 360. One blogger, who disagreed with her point of view, wrote: A woman like this probably has considerable influence, more than she rightly deserves. Shes articulate, she has the letters Ph.D. after her name to show that she is educated, and she looks good on camera Shes more of a danger than Jenny McCarthy because most of us cant relate to Jenny McCarthy, but we can relate to [her]. A writer who is not afraid to stick her neck out, Jennifer Margulis does not court controversy for its own sake. She is passionate about investigating the overlooked dangers of mainstream practices, especially when scientific evidence has been brushed aside in favor of special interests. Uncovering these issues is a matter of social justice. Through her writing she champions the rights of societys most vulnerable: children, mothers, the working poor, older adults, and others on the social or economic margins. Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) today announced that John M. Turner Jr. will become chief executive oficer of Regions Bank and Regional Financial Corp. July 2. Turner, 56, who currently serves as president, will succeed chairman and CEO Grayson Hall, 60. Hall will serve as executive chairman through the end of the year. Turner joined Regions in 2011 as the regional president of the South region and led banking operations in Alabama, Mississippi, South Louisiana, and the Florida panhandle. He was named head of Regions' corporate bank in 2014 and president in 2017. Before joining Regions, Turner was named president of Whitney National Bank and Whitney Holding Corporation in 2008. He previously spent nine years at AmSouth Bank, where he held senior consumer, commercial and business positions. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia, and a former chairman of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. He said he was honored to succeed Hall as CEO and "excited about the opportunity." "I admire his integrity, business judgment, and his commitment to provide what he calls 'decent returns in a decent way.' That leadership is rooted in his humility and in a deep passion for our customers, associates, and communities," Turner said. "The strength of his character is reflected in the culture of our company." Hall said Turner's experience and leadership skills will mean the company is well positioned for sustainable growth. Meanwhile, Lead Independent Director Charles McCrary praised Hall for leading the company "out of a very difficult time for the financial services industry by doing what's right for our customers and providing the services and advice they needed to succeed financially. "That visionary leadership helped create the foundation for the company's success today," McCrary said. Grayson Hall Hall joined AmSouth Bank, a Regions predecessor, in 1980 as a participant in the management trainee program. He was elected vice chairman and a member of the boards of directors of Regions Financial Corporation and Regions Bank in 2008 and was named president and COO in October 2009. He became president and CEO in April 2010 and assumed the role of chairman, president and chief executive officer in May 2013. In Dec. 2017, he became chairman and chief executive officer. Evangelist Acton Bowen, currently facing sex abuse charges in connection with five teenage boys in two counties, is being investigated in three other jurisdictions. Youth minister Acton Bowen remains held on $500,000 cash bond but his attorney is seeking a reduction. That's according to an Etowah County prosecutor, who said in court today that additional charges could come against Bowen as early as this week. Deputy District Attorney Carol Griffith, arguing why Bowen's $500,000 bail should not be reduced or changed, said Bowen is being investigated by the FBI and in Orange Beach, as well as in Florida and Colorado. "The true extent of these crimes is not yet known," Griffith said. "Under the guise of leading children to the Lord, he was abusing them and leaving them more lost than ever before." District Attorney Jody Willoughby was even more forceful in arguing before Presiding District Judge David Kimberley. "Acton Bowen is a danger to every child in this community," he said. "The only place he remains not a danger is in the Etowah County Detention Center." The comments came during a hearing this afternoon in Gadsden on Bowen's Etowah County charges. Bowen's attorneys argued that Bowen's bail should be reduced, given bond guidelines, and that Kimberley, like other Etowah County judges, should recuse himself from the case. Bowen, dressed in orange jail coveralls, sat shackled at the defense table with his attorneys during the hearing. Earlier this month, Bowen, a speaker and author, was arrested by Hoover police on charges of second-degree sodomy, enticing a child to enter a vehicle or house for immoral purposes and second-degree sex abuse. The Hoover victim is a boy under the age of 16 and over the age of 12. Court records in the Jefferson County case say he engaged in deviate sexual intercourse with the teen boy, and also enticed him into getting into a 2010 Jeep Wrangler for the purpose of sodomy. Police have said the Hoover victim is a family acquaintance of Acton Bowen. A week later, Bowen was arrested in Etowah County on seven new charges - second-degree sodomy, enticing a child to enter a vehicle or house for immoral purposes and second-degree sex abuse. Five of the charges are felony crimes, and two are misdemeanors. A day later, his wife, Ashley Nabors Bowen, filed for divorce. She is the daughter of Etowah Count District Judge Joe Nabors. Five Etowah County judges then recused themselves from the case. Bowen's attorneys, Michael Whisonant and John Floyd, argued that Kimberly should also recuse himself from the sex abuse charges to avoid an appearance of favoritism or impropriety. Kimberly is expected to rule on that and the bond arguments later. In comments from the bench, Kimberley said he was inclined to believe he was "not necessarily conflicted out of consideration." He also said an advisory opinion from the Judicial Inquiry Commission, which he sought, came to a similar conclusion. While he agreed that he, as a judge, could not sit over Bowen's divorce case, he could sit during the criminal case. Whisonant said, given the publicity surrounding Bowen's case, it would be better to avoid any question of propriety, either for or against. Willoughby argued that Kimberley's actions already avoided any appearance of confliction. During the portion of the hearing dealing with bond, Bowen's attorneys called his father, Paul Bowen, to testify that he was not a flight risk. Paul said, if his son was released, Bowen would live at his home in St. Clair County. He said the family has received "hundreds" of messages of support for his son. During questioning by Griffith, Paul Bowen said Acton Bowen had made "dozens" of trips to different parts of the country and abroad with young men, but no young women accompanied. Acton also did not make any of these trips with his wife along, he said. Some young men had also spent the night at Paul Bowen's home, but he had "no reason to suspect" anything inappropriate had happened, he said. The first he heard of the Jefferson County charges, Paul said, was when Acton's father-in-law, Nabors, called to tell him. Griffith also asked if Paul Bowen was aware that his son had left his previous job at a Gadsden church because of allegations regarding pornography. He said that was the first time he'd ever heard of anything about his son and pornography. Bowen's attorneys objected to the questions, saying they were irrelevant to the question of bond. Kimberly allowed them. Later, Griffith argued that the case is still being investigated and Bowen's bond should remain as it is. Floyd, however, said Bowen is presumed innocent, and can't be held on excessive bond because of possible charges. He said Jefferson County had already released him on bond, ruling him not a flight risk. However, Willoughby said he had a "moral duty" and a responsibility to make sure Bowen is not released, even on misdemeanor charges. "The fact that he didn't make it as far with that victim doesn't give me comfort," he said. The leader of a Birmingham-based drug ring has been sentenced to federal prison. Anthony Levy "Amp" Ward, 37, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler to a total of 20 years and 10 months in prison. Last year, Ward pleaded guilty to multiple counts of conspiracy to distribute and intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl, using a telephone to commit a drug trafficking crime, carrying a firearm during drug trafficking, and being a convicted felon with a gun. Ward, of Chelsea, is the eighth of nine defendants to be sentenced in the case. U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bret Hamilton announced the sentence Tuesday morning. "A tiny fraction of a gram of fentanyl can be lethal and Ward was found with 17,000 pills cut with this illicit narcotic," Town said. "It was his intent to make this poison available to an alarming number of people, which could have resulted in an equally alarming number of fatal and non-fatal overdoses. Judge Coogler's sentence today justly sends the message that the death and destruction of this criminal behavior will not be tolerated, will not be excused, and will be severely punished." According to court records, 7.1 kilograms (or more than 350,000 doses) of fentanyl was trafficked through the group. During their investigation, DEA agents seized 8.8 kilograms of cocaine intended to be delivered to Ward from Arizona, and 4.6 kilograms of fentanyl delivered from Mexico. An additional 254.9 grams of fentanyl from China were delivered to a Birmingham address for Ward, records state. He and the other eight defendants were ordered to pay a $1.7 million judgment in the case. The other defendants are as follows: Anthony Levy Alexander, Betty Levy Alexander, Ferlando Carmise Mims, Onandas Carmece Beard, Corey Darnelle Haynes, Jesus Ubaldo Montoya, and Marahai Ardizo Enriquez. The sentences for the previously sentenced defendants, who are from Birmingham and Arizona, range from two to 15 years in prison. Another man in the scheme, Jose Agustin Gutierrez, will be sentenced next month. Hamilton said Ward has distributed drugs across Birmingham for years. He said, "There is no telling how many families have been destroyed by Ward's actions. But with this sentence, the residents of Birmingham have one less drug dealer to worry about for years to come. I hope that those who looked up to 'Amp' will see the futility in the life Ward has lived thus far. Otherwise, DEA will not hesitate in giving them the opportunity to live in federal prison, too." The DEA, Birmingham and Hoover police departments, and the U.S. Marshals Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys prosecuted the case ; Ward was represented by Randy A Dempsey. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the conviction of a Birmingham in the 2011 murder-for-hire of a Sylacauga lawyer. Charles Andrew Joseph Hendrix, 27, was convicted last year in Talladega County of three counts of capital murder in the shooting death of Blake Lazenby. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and remains behind bars at the St. Clair Correctional Facility. Sylacauga police found Lazenby dead, shot three times and stabbed five times, in his Stonehill Road home in Sylacauga on July 27, 2011. Police began looking for Lazenby after his burning car was found by Tarrant police about 7 p.m. that night. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said evidence was presented at trial that Hendrix participated in killing Lazenby in a murder-for-hire agreement. The man who initiated the murder-for hire, Ernest "L.A." Files, told another man, Charles "Boobie" Haynes, that he was looking for someone to kill Lazenby for $40,000. Haynes told Hendrix and others about the murder-for-hire offer. Hendrix, willingly and without hesitation, agreed to participate in the murder for a portion of the $40,000, authorities said. On July 27, 2011, Hendrix and an accomplice, Ocie Lynch, also of Birmingham, committed the physical act of murdering Lazenby. The two men hid and waited for Lazenby to arrive at his home, and then confronted Lazenby in the driveway. Lazenby, Marshall said, was able to get inside his kitchen when Lynch, who was still outside, shot him in the face through the glass storm door with a .38 pistol. Lazenby fell by the door and the killers pushed their way inside. When they discovered that Lazenby was alive, Lynch shot Lazenby in the face but that did not kill him. Determined to kill Lazenby, Marshall said, Lynch asked Hendrix to hand him a knife that was in the kitchen. Hendrix did so, and Lynch cut Lazenby's throat. Lazenby bled to death. Blake Lazenby Hendrix and Lynch subsequently stole Lazenby's vehicle and drove to Birmingham where they burned it. Hendrix and Lynch also stole Lazenby's wallet, I.D. and cellular telephone. Talladega County District Attorney Steve Giddens prosecuted the case against Hendrix. The jury convicted Hendrix on three counts of capital murder: murder for pecuniary gain, pursuant to a contract for hire; murder committed during a first-degree burglary; and, murder committed during a first-degree robbery. Hendrix sought to have the convictions reversed on appeal. The Attorney General's Criminal Appeals Division defended the verdicts before the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. The court issued an opinion on Friday, April 20, affirming Hendrix's capital murder convictions. The others who participated in the murder-for-hire also were convicted, Marshall said. Lynch, the man who committed the physical act of the killing along with Hendrix, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Files, the man who hired Lynch and Hendrix, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Haynes, who was the go-between in arranging the murder-for-hire, testified for the state and ultimately pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Judith Ann Neelley is set for a parole hearing next month, but even if her request is granted she likely wouldn't be a free woman. Neelley, 53, was convicted in 1982 for the murder of 13-year-old Lisa Ann Millican. She was originally sentenced to death, but former Alabama Gov. Fob James commuted her sentence to life in prison before he left office in 1999. His order, however, did not specify whether Neelley would be eligible for parole. The legislature changed state law in 2003 specifically to block Neelley from the possibility of parole, but earlier this year a federal judge ruled that law unconstitutional. Last week, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles set Neelley for her first parole hearing on May 23, at the protest of Lisa's family. Even if she is granted parole, though, Neelley may not be a free for long. According to parole board Executive Director Eddie Cook Jr., Georgia has a detainer warrant pending for Neelley. She does not have any pending cases in Georgia, but she was given a consecutive life sentence there for a 1999 kidnapping case. If she is granted parole and released from Tutwiler prison, authorities in Georgia could come arrest her and take her to a Georgia state prison. Neelley, originally from Murfreesboro, Tenn., was convicted of capital murder for the 1982 slaying. She and her then-husband, Alvin, kidnapped the girl from a Georgia shopping mall and brought her to Alabama, where Neelley injected her with drain cleaner, shot her, and then shoved her into Little River Canyon in DeKalb County. While Neelley was convicted in Alabama, her husband was convicted for a subsequent murder in Georgia that happened shortly after Lisa's killing. Neelley pleaded guilty to kidnapping the woman her husband was convicted of murdering, and was sentenced to life in prison in Georgia. Neelley hasn't served any time for that conviction. Following her Alabama trial, a jury recommended life without parole then-18-year-old Neelley, but the judge sentenced her to the electric chair. On Jan. 15, 1999, James commuted her sentence. According to court records, this is what happened in late September 1982, after Neelley kidnapped Lisa from the Riverbend Mall in Rome, Georgia: Neelley took the girl to a motel room for her husband to rape. Over several days, Alvin raped Lisa four times while Neelley assisted by beating Lisa and handcuffing her to the bed. Neelley then took Lisa to Little River Canyon, and injected her six times with liquid drain cleaner. Then, she led Lisa to the canyon and shot the girl in the back, shoving her into the canyon. The Alabama Attorney General's Office declined to comment for this story. The Georgia Attorney General's Office and Neelley's attorney did not respond to request for comment prior to the publication of this story. This post will be updated. Extending protections to the LGBTQ community in Montevallo, has provoked mixed reactions. Some say it has united the city. A councilman says it has divided it. A split Montevallo City Council passed the ordinance with a 4-2 vote during a meeting Monday night, making it the second municipality in the state to revise its city laws to include protections for LGBTQ individuals. Montevallo, located south of Birmingham in Shelby County, is a small town of more than 6,700 residents. It's also home to the University of Montevallo. Mayor Hollie Cost told Al.com she considers Montevallo an inclusive and diverse town, but having a law puts teeth behind the city's welcoming demeanor. "We can say we are a safe place, but unfortunately without ordinances that communication is limited," Cost said. "So when you have an ordinance in place, it is a true testament of Montevallo being an inclusive place and our LGBTQ friends can know and believe that it is a safe place for them." But Councilmen Rusty Nix, who voted against the ordinance along with councilmen Willie Goldsmith, said the ordinance isn't needed. "We don't have any problems in this town and we don't have the money if this is challenged," Nix said. "You don't need a piece of paper to make you feel safe in Montevallo." The new ordinance prevents discrimination in housing, public accommodation and employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, familial status or veteran status. While the current municipal code already includes protections required by federal law for certain classes, such as race or religion, multiple LGBTQ advocates are calling on cities and other jurisdictions to include LGBTQ protections. The Montevallo Acceptance Project, a local LGBTQ advocacy group that started three years ago, proposed the ordinance in May 2016. MAP Spokesperson Greg Reece said they were both joyful and relieved when it passed. He said there were moments when some of the members were losing hope as time stretched on without passage. When Birmingham became the first city in Alabama to pass an LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance last fall, Reece said it did give them a sense of renewed hope. "One of the criticisms we kept hearing was, 'No one else has tried this. No one else is doing this. Why do we want to be out front on this? We're just a small college town.'" Reece said. "When Birmingham led the way on it, it gave us some hope that people would come around and see that this is the trend of the future. This is where we're going." After MAP's proposal in 2016, Nix said he contacted the Montevallo police, the housing authority, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, local realtors and the university's police, who told Nix there haven't been any complaints of discrimination. He said half of the 160 names on a petition for the ordinance don't live in Montevallo, which he described as a welcoming city. The city attorney said Montevallo could face lawsuits challenging the ordinance because it is not backed on a state or federal level. The town's ordinance will be implemented differently than the one in Birmingham. Birmingham's ordinance called for the creation of the Human Rights Commission. The city's HRC would be responsible for receiving complaints under the ordinance and, in partnership with the city's legal department, investigate and attempt to mediate the complaints before sending them to municipal court. Cost said Montevallo's complaints will be brought to the city clerk, who will then determine if the complaint is valid. The complaint will then be sent to the municipal court. Cost said if the judge determines the act is discriminatory the perpetrator will pay a $100 fine for each day the discrimination continues. Along with ensuring protections for all citizens, Reece said MAP was also concerned about the environment they were leaving behind for the next generation. Reece, who is a straight ally, said he was proud of his eighth-grade daughter, Olivia, who voiced her support of the ordinance. "We really want to send a message to the youth in our community that no matter their identity, they are accepted, loved and protected in their hometown," Reece said. The final draft of the ordinance was a result of multiple community conversations, including two formal forums, Cost said. According to a statement from the mayor's office, citizens were concerned. "Many citizens of Montevallo expressed their concerns about the ordinance, citing religious convictions, as well as safety concerns about opening up all public accommodations, including restrooms, to transgender individuals. Others felt that such an ordinance was unnecessary," the statement reads. "Some cautioned that taking some formal action to address a concern that many do not feel is an issue in our community could have unintended consequences, such as creating more fear and disharmony." During the forums, Cost said over 200 community members and stakeholders listened to LGBTQ member's stories of discrimination. Those who were for or against the ordinance sat in the same small groups to hear each other opinions and to give feedback to the council about how the ordinance. Council members used that feedback from both sides as they revised MAP's original proposal. After a second draft was created, another community forum was held to discuss the language of the ordinance. Additional feedback from the citizens was given to the council and the ordinance was refined again before it was passed. Cost said the original ordinance did call for the creation of the town's own Human Rights Commission, but she said the community preferred the clerk to handle the complaints. Cost said she was fine with the HRC's creation, but she was willing to compromise. "With ordinances like this, there's a lot of give and take," Cost said. "But I'm not going to dig my feet into the sand so much that I'm not willing to be flexible either because the most important thing was to have something that would work with our community." Nix said the debates divided the town and that city leaders should work together to unite the citizens. "During the discussions it has turned neighbor against neighbor, citizens against the university, some citizens against churches, and a few people talking about boycotting business or moving out of town," Nix said. "Now that the ordinance has passed, (this) is where the healing begins." Although its been a long time since the initial proposal, Reece said he appreciated the "neighborly" process. He said he had conversations with people he hasn't met before during his 20 years as a Montevallo resident. "We have had disagreements with neighbors and it's been educational for all of us as we learned more about the issue and one another," Reece said. "I'm confident enough that when I walk down our sidewalks and I see these folks I have met over the past two years, I'm going to stop and say hello. So it's been a difficult, but good process for the town as we have all gotten to know each other a lot better." A 17-year-old Birmingham student clung to life overnight Tuesday, but lost the fight Wednesday morning, about 14 hours after she took a bullet to the head meant for someone else. Nyteria Spigner, a junior at Huffman High School, was pronounced dead at UAB Hospital. She is the city's 35th homicide in 2018, and the second Huffman student to die by gunfire in less than two months. Family said Spigner was shot in the jaw and the bullet then traveled to her brain. They said she was outgoing, made good grades and was set to graduate next year. She was close to her mother and her sisters, and she loved children. Birmingham City Schools officials described her as a "scholar" and offered their prayers to the family. Spigner's mother, Latasha Spigner, was at the rec center with her daughte when the shooting happened, posted this on Facebook hours later: "I'm going to miss your beautiful smile your cooking and everything about you.You had a heart good as gold you will give the shirt off your back your up there with your big guy and the rest of our love ones now I have two angels watching over me rest on my sweet Ny Ny I will give anything to have you back here with me and your family baby why didn't you fight y didn't you fight.You will always live through me and you will never be forgotten I promise you that baby LongLive My Sweet NY NY." The shooting happened shortly before 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. Police said there were 30 to 40 people gathered outside the rec center on 37th Avenue North when two women got into an altercation over a man. At some point, guns were drawn, and shots rang out. Spigner was trying to flee the melee when she was struck by a bullet. The driver of the vehicle drove to a nearby Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service Station No. 23 to get help. From there she was rushed to UAB Hospital where she was placed on life support. Prayers for all of our students and faculty today, especially Huffman High School. This violence must stop! Jerry Tate (@MrJTate) April 25, 2018 Lt. Pete Williston said Spigner was not involved in the fight and was an innocent bystander. Police said that interviews with witnesses led detectives to a 26-year-old female suspect. As of Wednesday morning, she was being held in the Birmingham City Jail but later released after authorities said new information eliminated her as a suspect. Williston said investigators are following all leads to identify those involved. Just last month, on March 7, 17-year-old Courtlin Arrington, a senior at Huffman, was killed in a shooting inside the school. It was about 3:45 p.m. on a Wednesday and school was dismissing for the day when the gunfire erupted. There were other students in the classroom - some just feet away - when the shooting happened. Authorities have not said where Arrington was shot, but rescue workers said she was given CPR at the scene and en route to UAB Hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival at 4:16 p.m. Classmate Michael Jerome Barber, a junior at the school, Barber suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg. He has since been charged with manslaughter and certain persons forbidden to possess a pistol for bringing a gun onto campus. "Last night's tragedy in Inglenook is heart breaking,'' said Birmingham police Deputy Chief Henry Irby. "As a result of not being able to peacefully resolve issues without violence, families are now grieving." "There are better ways to handle conflict without violence,'' Irby said. "Working through conflict by communication is the best way to resolve them. Violence is never the answer." Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. Visitors spent an estimated $1.9 billion in the greater Birmingham area in 2017, according a new economic impact study from the Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau. This is a 5 percent increase over 2016 spending totals, according to the study, which is commissioned annually by the CVB and is conducted by Davidson-Peterson Associates, a national travel research firm with headquarters in Maine. 2017's spending is a record-level for the Birmingham area. The study also found an increase in tourist-generated taxes, with total taxes for the state reported at $158.9 million, a 5 percent increase over 2016. Local government received more than $85.5 million in taxes produced by tourism in Jefferson County, another 5 percent increase over the previous year. Tourism-related jobs totaled more than 29,000 in 2017, showing a nearly 6 percent increase. The greater Birmingham area had more than 4.6 million overnight visitors in 2017, an increase of 4.5 percent from 2016, according to the study. "We are welcoming more visitors than ever before," J. John Oros, Jr., CVB president and chief executive officer said. "Last year was a strong year for travel to Birmingham for a number of reasons. Successful events like the Senior Games brought in new visitors as did national and international media attention. Business travel is up, along with meetings and conventions, and amateur sporting events and tournaments, creating a strong demand for hotel rooms." Birmingham area tourist spent more money on dining at 28 percent and then shopping at 25 percent, which followed 2016 trends. "It's not surprising that dining is the strongest spending category," Oros said. "We heavily market award-winning cuisine and chef-owned restaurants in the greater Birmingham area. Dining experiences remain a list-topper for reasons people travel." It's estimated that 50 percent of the guests at Jefferson County hotels were staying for business. The rest were leisure travelers. And, 55 percent of visitors in Jefferson County in 2017 were from out of state, a reversal from previous years when most visits were in-state travel. "Tourism expenditures in 2017 reflect the general trend of nationwide increases in travel. As long as the economy and consumer confidence remain strong, we expect 2018 to meet and surpass 2017's record numbers." Oros said. "The growth of tourism in Jefferson County is a solid indicator of tourism's value as an economic generator." Last week's Republican debate was marked by overwhelming agreement - - among those on stage. The same can't be said for Tuesday night's Democratic gubernatorial debate. Attending the Reckon by AL.com debate were Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox; former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb; former Alabama state Rep. James Fields; former gubernatorial aide Doug "New Blue" Smith; and Dothan activist Christopher Countryman. Maddox and Cobb entered the debate as front runners and that was apparent Tuesday. Setting the stage for a heated primary, Maddox and Cobb squared off in a series of pointed exchanges, none more so than comments about Tuscaloosa's recovery following the devastating 2011 tornadoes. Cobb said Maddox's recovery efforts represented a disaster of "commercial capitalism" that overtook Tuscaloosa. Maddox fired back. "You've been ruling from the marble castle in Montgomery and it's really beneath you to make these allegations. Let's go to your record. You told the people of Alabama on June 29, 2011 (that you were leaving). You quit when it mattered the most to the people of Alabama." As for his work on the recovery, Maddox said all Cobb had to do was "ask the voters of Tuscaloosa because they re-elected me twice" since the storms. "Ask the people who lost their homes who weren't rich and who couldn't donate to a campaign," Cobb shot back. The exchange didn't play well for Cobb, who up until that time had remained as poised as any candidate on any of the debate stages. She continued her assault on Maddox, hitting on Tuscaloosa's public schools to the point the mayor thanked her "for her newfound interest in Tuscaloosa." "I feel like I'm running for mayor again," Maddox quipped. "We wish you were," Cobb shot back. Before the fireworks, Cobb and Maddox had been mostly in lock step on major topics such as a lottery, possibilities for tax increases and the need to build bridges with Republicans, who control both houses of the state legislature. It was the fireworks, however, that people will remember. Maddox emerged as the winner Tuesday night and that's good news for Democrats in Alabama - he's a viable candidate in a state that has seen few strong Democrats in recent years. In the end, however, the biggest winners from Tuesday night were perhaps Alabama Republicans. Still smarting from the loss of the U.S. Senate seat to Democrat Doug Jones, nothing would make the state's GOP happier than an all-out primary battle among the Democrats. Missed the debate? Catch up here. Coal ash in Alabama will likely soon be regulated in the state just like many other pollutants. Alabama became the third state to approve a state-level program to manage coal ash last week, after Oklahoma and Georgia. The Alabama Environmental Management Commission voted Friday to create a program to manage how utilities in the state handle their coal ash, more formally called coal combustion residuals (CCR). Under the new program, utilities that burn coal for electricity will need to secure permits from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management on how they dispose of their ash, and how they deal with existing ash ponds, some of which have collected millions of tons of coal ash over fifty years or more. Those permits will be subject to public comment before approval by the department, much like the state's existing permits for solid waste landfills or discharges into surface water. Utilities will pay a fee when applying for a permit that will cover ADEM's staffing and other costs associated with the program. Many of the finer details of the plan remained a mystery, however, even as the commission voted 5-0 to approve a modified version of the proposal that was announced earlier this year. ADEM Land Division Chief Stephen Cobb told commissioners before the vote that the department had made some changes to the proposed version of the rule based on public comments received, but the final version of the rule was not published ahead of the vote. ADEM adamantly states that the final state plan is "at least as protective" of human health and the environment as the federal coal ash rules that were finalized in 2015. By federal law, it is required to be. But several environmental groups expressed concerns with the rule as initially proposed, that "flexibilities" written into the rule for utilities are more like loopholes that will allow pollution from the coal ash to enter groundwater or surface water in perpetuity, and be less protective than the federal rules. Those concerns remain. A statement from the Southern Environmental Law Center said the final version included "significant loopholes." "Rather than extending essential protections to Alabama's waters and the communities that depend on them, signing off on significant loopholes in our state coal ash storage and disposal rules basically amounts to a permitting program that favors utilities and requires them to do less," said Keith Johnston, managing attorney for the SELC's Birmingham office. "These rules seek to further rollback and weaken federal coal ash protections, and fly in the face of concerned citizens following recent reports of ongoing groundwater contamination at all of these ponds." Wilsonville Mayor Lee McCarty, who has been a vocal critic of Alabama Power's plan to cover in place an ash pond at the E.C. Gaston Electric Generating Plant in Wilsonville, put it more succinctly after the commission voted Friday. "It seems like [the rule] is aiding and abetting in the poisoning of my constituents," McCarty said. "That's a pretty strong way to put it, but somebody needs to point that out. "It's not just a rule change. It's a highly impactful thing that is harming people." But what's in the final version of Alabama's CCR rules? AL.com examined ADEM's 18-page reconciliation statement -- which includes responses to comments filed by environmental and industry groups -- to get a better idea of what made it through and why. Why does Alabama need a state program? If Alabama's rules have to be as protective as the federal rules, why are they necessary? ADEM says the federal coal ash rules were "self-implementing," and a state CCR program is needed to lay the legal framework for "clear and direct oversight," of facilities that generate coal ash. The department says the federal coal ash rule "does not include many elements that a state program can provide to ensure non-compliance with state or federal requirements is identified and resolved in an efficient and effective manner." The state CCR rules borrow many aspects of Alabama's existing solid waste landfill regulations, which have already been approved by the EPA. The department took language from its landfill program to fill in the details on groundwater monitoring and closure plans. No excavation required One of the most substantial requests for environmental groups who made formal comments on the proposal was that the state require utilities to excavate existing coal ash ponds and move the material to a lined CCR landfill. The 2015 EPA coal ash rules do not require this, but the groups cited the $1.5 million in fines levied against Alabama utilities last month over pollution from coal ash ponds, as evidence that coal ash left in these unlined ponds pollute groundwater. ADEM, in the reconciliation statement, addressed those comments, saying cover in place or removal are both approved methods under the EPA rule and neither state nor federal CCR rules "specify the selection of one method or another." The new rules do require utilities to submit closure and post-closure plans for their ash pond sites to ADEM, which would have to specifically approve those plans, a step not required under the federal rule. If coal ash is relocated, it will have to be stored in a lined landfill, but closing the unlined ash ponds in place, as Alabama utilities have said they plan to do, remains an approved option for long-term disposal. Some 'flexibilities' remain Several "flexibilities," remain in the final version of the state rule, allowing utilities to suspend groundwater monitoring requirements in certain scenarios, or use alternative groundwater protection standards. The department left these flexibilities, based on provisions designed for standard municipal solid waste landfills, saying those provisions met the standard of being "at least as protective as" the federal rule. But not cost The department did make one substantial change in response to environmental groups' comments by removing language implying that utilities could avoid remediation of coal ash sites because it would be too expensive. According to the reconciliation statement, "costs cannot be considered when making the determination that no remediation is necessary." To reflect this, the department changed some language in the rule, for example changing "practically" to "feasibly," since practical often refers to cost. No more ash ponds In response to a comment, ADEM clarified the state rule "does not provide the opportunity for a utility to use the ash pond," due to a lack of dry handling capability at the plant. The 2015 federal rules required utilities to cease using wet ash ponds and begin transitioning to dry storage instead. The state rule does not provide a reprieve from those requirements, as the department said it "does not have sufficient information" that wet ash storage was as protective as dry. Landfills not included The new rule does not apply to municipal solid landfills that accept coal ash, which already have to comply with state rules for waste disposal. Those existing rules for landfills were determined to be as protective as the federal CCR rules. To accept coal ash, a landfill must have CCRs listed in its general operating permit or receive a special waste approval from the department. Groundwater monitoring The department, at the request of a commenter, added boron to the list of contaminants that must be monitored at CCR sites and increased the required background monitoring. Utilities will have to submit a groundwater monitoring plan to ADEM for approval, and take corrective action and remediation if necessary. The test results will be publicly available on web sites as required in the federal rules. The first round of groundwater monitoring results required by the federal coal ash rule were published in March. Those results showed elevated levels of arsenic or other contaminants at all active coal ash ponds in Alabama, resulting in $1.5 million in fines, the maximum amount allowed under the law. Public notice required Before issuing a coal ash permit, ADEM is required to have a 30-day public notice and comment period. The permits are active for five years and renewal of the permit, as well as certain modifications to a permit, also have to undergo the 30-day comment period. ADEM notes that public notice provisions are not included in the federal CCR rules and describes them as "more stringent," than the required federal standard. The required information by the federal rule will be posted online, as stipulated by the EPA, and additional permitting information will be available through the ADEM website. One commenter requested the department remove the online posting requirements in the state program, which it did not do. Variances According to the department, multiple commenters objected to ADEM's ability to grant variances to specific provisions of the federal rules. The department altered the language to clarify that it could only grant variances to provisions that were "in addition to or more stringent than" the federal rules. Changing federal rules The state rules are required to be as protective as federal rules, but those federal standards could change soon. The current EPA leadership under Administrator Scott Pruitt has proposed revisions to the 2015 coal ash rules designed to save utilities money on compliance costs. Cobb said any future changes made to the federal rules would require separate actions by ADEM to update the state program to reflect those changes. Apple CEO Tim Cook will have a private meeting with President Donald Trump today, according to the White House. No details of the meeting have been released, though the president said in a tweet the conversation will involve trade. Looking forward to my meeting with Tim Cook of Apple. We will be talking about many things, including how the U.S. has been treated unfairly for many years, by many countries, on trade. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2018 Cook, an Alabama native, was among the 125 attendees for Trump's first state dinner Tuesday night, when the President and First Lady hosted French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte. Others attending included Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, FedEX Corp. CEO Fred Smith and Bernard Arnault, chairman of luxury-goods maker LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. According to reports, Cook sat at the head table with Trump and Macron. Tim Cook sat at the state dinner table tonight with Trump and Macron. And now this on the presidents schedule tomorrow: 1:45PM THE PRESIDENT meets with Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, Inc. Oval Office Closed Press Jon Passantino (@passantino) April 25, 2018 Cook was joined by Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment and government affairs and Obama's former head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sue Bell Cobb pulled no punches in Tuesday's debate, accusing rival and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox of mishandling the city's redevelopment after the 2011 tornado. Meanwhile, Maddox punched back, accusing Cobb of "quitting" on the state when she resigned from her post in 2011, saying the episode calls into question whether she would serve a full term if elected governor. During the Democratic debate, presented by Reckon by AL.com and ABC 33/40 at the Lyric Theatre in downtown Birmingham, Cobb cited a study by University of Alabama professors to claim that the reconstruction of Tuscaloosa did not benefit the city's working class. "They called the redevelopment of Tuscaloosa 'disaster capitalism' ... and what they concluded looking at the rezoning ... the only people who benefitted from the tornado and redevelopment were wealthy developers and wealthy students," Cobb said. "The working people that were going to work every day, cleaning the university, doing the yard work ... they lost their homes. They lost their homes." Maddox said Cobb's comments "illustrate the differences between your experiences and my experiences," adding that his two re-elections since the tornado back up his record. "While you've been sitting behind the marble castle of Montgomery, ruling from the bench up high in your black robe, I've been out where real problems need real solutions," he said. "Leaders don't quit in crisis, and when Tuscaloosa faced its crisis I stood tall for the people of Tuscaloosa." Cobb then implored Maddox not to question those who voted for his re-elections, but to "ask the people who lost their homes that didn't have money to contribute to campaigns" if their lives improved under Maddox. The Tuscaloosa mayor accused Cobb of hitting below the belt. "It's really beneath you that you've become this desperate to make allegations that you could not uphold," he said, again jabbing at Cobb for resigning. "You quit when it mattered most to the people of Alabama." Cobb then took a shot at Maddox's political ambition. "Another definition of quitting would be when you're running for mayor and then announce you're running for governor six, seven months later. That would be another definition of quitting," she said. When they were not attacking each other, Cobb, Maddox and three other Democratic candidates were grilled by AL.com columnist Kyle Whitmire, AL.com contributor Cameron Smith and ABC 33/40's Lauren Walsh. Whitmire asked Cobb how could she convince the Republican-dominated state Legislature to sign off on her policy proposals when she told Democrats in 2011 that she was resigning from the bench because she did not think she could convince Republicans to pass sentencing reform legislation. Cobb said being governor would give her greater influence. "It was not my role to go and step on a soapbox against the legislature" as chief justice, Cobb said. "I couldn't ride the roads taking the legislature to town. I could do that as governor." When Whitmire asked the candidates what their 'Plan B' is if a statewide lottery is rejected by voters, Maddox did not have specific policy proposals. "If it fails, then certainly we'll have to put a lot of different options back on the table," Maddox said. James Fields, a former state representative from Cullman County who is trailing both Cobb and Maddox in the money race but has the support of the state Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said he would look into the state's tax structure as a fallback option. He also criticized Maddox's plan to set up a constitutional amendment - contingent on legislative approval - on a lottery in 2020. "We got to do something immediately, and that's going to take a leader to step in with integrity and commitment to make sure that all of Alabama is whole," he said. A suspected California serial killer who committed at least 12 homicides and 45 rapes throughout the state in the 1970s and '80s was identified Wednesday as a former police officer, an official said. A law enforcement official identified Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, who was fired from the Auburn (California) Police Department, as the Golden State Killer. The official confirmed the identity on condition of anonymity before an official news conference Wednesday. Armed with a gun, the masked attacker terrorized communities by breaking into homes while single women or couples were sleeping. He sometimes tied up the man and piled dishes on his back, then raped the woman while threatening to kill them both if the dishes tumbled. He often took souvenirs, notably coins and jewelry, from his victims, who ranged in age from 13 to 41 DeAngelo was fired from the Auburn Police Department in 1979 after he was arrested for stealing a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a drug store, according to Auburn Journal articles from the time. The FBI says it has a team gathering evidence at a Sacramento- area home linked to DeAngelo. Sacramento County jail records show DeAngelo was arrested overnight on suspicion of two counts of murder cited in a Ventura County warrant. Jane Carson-Sandler, who was sexually assaulted in California in 1976 by a man believed to be the so-called "East Area Rapist," said she received an email Wednesday from a retired detective who worked on the case telling her they have identified the rapist and he's in custody. "I have just been overjoyed, ecstatic. It's an emotional roller-coaster right now," Carson-Sandler, who now lives near Hilton Head, South Carolina, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I feel like I'm in the middle of a dream and I'm going to wake up and it's not going to be true. It's just so nice to have closure and to know he's in jail." Carson-Sandler was attacked in her home in Citrus Heights. A home in that community belonging to a former police officer was being searched Wednesday by FBI investigators and police from several agencies. Two neighbors who declined to give their names said authorities arrived at the scene before midnight. Sacramento County Jail records show the man who lives at the home was booked into the facility at 2:30 a.m. on suspicion of murder. Sacramento County district attorney's spokeswoman Shelly Orio declined to comment before the news conference. FBI and California officials in 2016 renewed their search for the attacker dubbed the East Area Rapist and announced a $50,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. He's linked to more than 175 crimes in all between 1976 and 1986. As he committed crimes across the state, authorities called him by different names. He was dubbed the East Area Rapist after his start in Northern California, the Original Night Stalker after a series of Southern California slayings, and the Diamond Knot Killer for using an elaborate binding method on two of his victims. Most recently called the Golden State Killer, he has been linked through DNA and other evidence to scores of crimes. Authorities decided to publicize the case again in 2016 in advance of the 40th anniversary of his first known assault in Sacramento County. Neighbor Kevin Tapia, 36, said when he was a teenager, DeAngelo falsely accused him of throwing things over their shared fence, prompting a heated exchange between DeAngelo and Tapia's father. He said DeAngelo could often be heard cursing in frustration in his backyard. "No one thinks they live next door to a serial killer," Tapia said. "But at the same time I'm just like, he was a weird guy. He kept to himself. When you start to think about it you're like, I could see him doing something like that but I would never suspect it." Kayla Moore, wife of former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, said first lady Melania Trump - and her hat - are welcome to ride her horses any time. A parody account, @MelaniasHat, referenced Moore's horse, Sassy, in a tweet yesterday as the first lady made a sartorial statement in a wide-brimmed white hat. Melania and I look forward to escaping on @RoyMooresHorse Melanias Hat (@MelaniasHat) April 24, 2018 Kayla Brooks responded to the account via Facebook. "Love the hat! Have a few myself," she said, adding she and the first lady have birthdays on the same day (April 26). Moore then added her invitation. "(The Trumps) are welcome to come ride our horses anytime," she said. Roy Moore, who lost the December Senate race to Democrat Doug Jones, famously rode Sassy to the polls on election day. President Trump had backed Moore during the campaign, despite allegations the former Alabama Chief Justice had sexual contact with teenage girls in the 1970s. The National Rifle Association is accusing YETI of "damage control" as protests against the outdoor company continue. NRA President Marion Hammer said she does not believe YETI's claims it was ending an agreement with the firearms group as part of changes to "outdated discounting programs." "YETI severed ties with the NRA and is now engaging in damage control after a backlash from many of its customers," Hammer told Florida Politics. "In early March, YETI refused to place a previously negotiated order from (the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action), citing 'recent events' as the reason - a clear reference to the tragedy in Parkland, Florida. YETI then delivered notice to the NRA Foundation that it was terminating a 7-year agreement and demanded that the NRA remove the YETI name and logo from all NRA digital assets, as well as refrain from using any YETI trademarks in future print material. While YETI is trying to spin the story otherwise, those are the facts." Last week, the NRA sent an email to members claiming YETI was severing ties with the gun rights' group. YETI said the NRA's claims were "inaccurate" and stressed it was "unwavering in our belief in and commitment to the Constitution of the United States and its Second Amendment." Those statements weren't enough to satisfy NRA backers, who have taken to social media to show their displeasure with YETI's decision. Videos posted to social media show people crushing YETI tumblers and blowing up the brand's coolers. To all law-abiding gun-owning Americans: @YETICoolers declines to do business with freedom's safest place. We guess they don't support America's oldest civil rights organization and your #2A rights. Tell @YETICoolers you are upset by using the hashtag #BadChoiceYETI. pic.twitter.com/LSQiSMFBK4 NRA (@NRA) April 24, 2018 One video of an exploding cooler has garnered almost 200,000 page views. (Warning - some language may be offensive). The South Carolina video drew attention of local law enforcement. Mobile's Capital Improvement Plan is a massive undertaking. Now Mayor Sandy Stimpson says the city needs an effort just as big -- and just as expensive -- to rehabilitate its portfolio of crumbling properties. But where the CIP has a guaranteed stream of sales tax revenue, finding the money for this second effort is an open question. Stimpson didn't have an answer for that question on Tuesday, though he did say that raising taxes wasn't a viable approach and diverting CIP funding was all but unthinkable. He said the effort he anticipates will involve hard choices but also will present the city with a huge opportunity to improve its footing for the future. "It will cause us to think differently," he said. "It will cause us to do some things differently." The immediate impetus is the conclusion of a lengthy Facilities Condition Assessment conducted by an outside firm, Jones Lang LaSalle. According to the major's office, it found that the city faces deferred maintenance costs of $83 million, plus an expected building maintenance bill of $142.5 million over the next 10 years. Addressing those needs will require about $20 million a year for maintenance, according to the mayor's office. CIP, now in its third year with planning under way for its fourth, allots $3 million per year for capital improvements in each of the city's seven council districts. Failing to act means the city will face snowballing costs to keep up buildings it might not even need, including bills for "catastrophic" problems fueled by a prolonged lack of maintenance. "We've got to come up with a program that we can implement," Stimpson said. On Tuesday, as Stimpson and Mobile Fire-Rescue Chief Mark Sealy led reporters on a tour through Central Fire Station, the mayor repeatedly emphasized that his immediate goal is simply to make the city aware of the magnitude of the problem. Finding the answers will be an ongoing process, he said. Central Fire Station exemplified the challenges. It is a historic property that dates back to the 1920s and in many aspects is practically a living museum of city history. One room, for example, contains old electromechanical equipment from an early citywide fire alarm system. Yet it's also a working fire station that has seen countless modifications, remodelings and adaptations over the year. Many of its working areas cry out for modernization, and it has suffered any insult an old building can suffer, from termites to water damage. Fixing everything would cost millions. "We love this old building so we want to preserve the character of it," said Sealy. "The firefighters at this station will fight for this station." Careful to stick to general terms, Stimpson said the effort he envisions could involve selling off excess properties. (Overall, according to the mayor's office, the city owns 367 buildings, 1,159 parcels of land and 4,417 acres of mostly vacant land.) He also said it could involve an effort to shift "nonessential city services" to the private sector. He offered no examples. "Raising taxes to solve this problem is not going to happen," he said at one point in Tuesday's presentation. "CIP dollars would be a last, last, last resort," he said at another. He acknowledged that CIP is a very popular program with passionate council support. In all likelihood, he said, the money will come from a combination of sources. Identifying them is part of the work to come. "This will not be a one-time conversation," he said. "There will be ongoing stories about this. There will be ongoing public conversations about what to do." "It's going to take some creative thinking," Stimpson said. Results of the Public Facility Assessments can be found at http://www.cityofmobile.org/public-facility-assessments.php. A black woman that was arrested by Saraland Police officers at a Waffle House Sunday was "assaulted," "choked," and "brutalized," by law enforcement, according to a prominent civil rights attorney at a press conference in Mobile Wednesday. Ben Crump, a Tallahasee-based attorney, stood alongside the mother of Chikesia Clemons and presented new witness testimony that contradicted Saraland Police Department's version of events. In the photocopied statements, one woman said that a Waffle House employee told Clemons that she should "know your place," which Crump believed had racial overtones. Both witnesses said in their statements that Clemons did not appear to be drunk and was speaking clearly and concisely before and after officers arrived. They also said that police officers entered the premises and went for Clemons immediately, before slamming her to the floor, threatening to break her arm and then arresting her. Both statements also agreed that no person mentioned a weapon, which was previously claimed by witnesses interviewed by law enforcement. "I would have promptly left if there had been a mention of a weapon," said one woman in her statement. The two white women said they did not come forward as the arrest was being made becuase they were afraid of the agression being used by the offciers. Crump said, in front of a crowd of around 50 African-Americans, that he had seen white murders treated with more respect than Clemons and that the arresting officers should have established both sides of the story before immediately going after her. The press conference was hosted at the open-air rear of Bar Kazoola, named after Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis, the last survivor of the slave ship Clotilda. The ship is thought to be the last ship to brings slaves into the United States after slavery was abolished. The press conference, which was also attended by Mobile-based attorney Marcus Foxx, comes two days after Saraland Police Department undertook its own investigation into the events of Sunday morning. Over 20 minutes investigators justified the actions of the three officers involved and said that Clemons had been charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Detectives also accused Clemons and two people she was with of directing profanities at Waffle House staff, before presenting video evidence that only showed Clemons and her friends enter the restaurant and leaving after she had been arrested. It did not show the aggressive arrest similar what was captured on a cell phone and has since gone viral on social media. The police video, obtained from Waffle House, did not have audio and showed footage from three different angles. AL.com verified that there are four cameras in the Waffle House, located at 1204 Industrial Parkway. Police did also not voluntarily address the alleged threat by one of its officers that he would break Clemons' arm. Once asked by media, Det. Collette Little said that it was not a threat but a warning of what could happen if Clemons continued to resist arrest. Much of the press conference led by Crump Wednesday sought to contradict the one given by Saraland police Monday. Crump said that he was not happy with the Saraland Police Department investigating itself and called on the Alabama Bureau of Investigation to open another investigation. He is also planning to speak with the Dept. of Justice and the U.S. Attorney General in Alabama. Stopping just short of calling for a boycott of Waffle House nationally, Crump said that the national organization for the NAACP, a legal defense fund for racial inequality, would be looking at the restaraunt to see if other evidence existed that showed discrimination against African-Americans. He said that black men at a Waffle House in Oklahoma were asked to pay for food ahead of it being prepared. Should there prove to be a trend, Crump said that African-Americans should thing carefully about continuing to eat there. Foxx said that the footage and witness testimony show that police did not show both parties equal respect and that exhibited a preexisting prejudice against Clemons. "Just should be balanced, as the symbol and the law dictate." Waffle House's corporate office said in a statement Monday that it stood behind the Clemons' mother wept as she appraoched the micrphone. She spoke about the strain that had been put on her family, before claiming that her daughter hadn't slept for four days. The Mobile branch of the NAACP will host a press conference in Saraland Thursday at 4 p.m. Northport police are looking for an 82-year-old man who went missing Tuesday morning. Richard Bell Little was last seen around 10 a.m. Tuesday in Northport, police said. Officers believe he may be driving a silver 2017 Toyota Rav 4 with Alabama tag number 63JR512. Police also said Little may have a condition that impairs his judgement. Anyone with information on Little's location should contact Northport police at 205-339-6600 or call 911. Dear Rick, Great seeing you last night at your book signing. If I forgot to say it: Congratulations on your cookbook/memoir 'The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma's Table.' How many were there at Alabama Booksmith in Homewood to get a book signed? Looked to be about 200. Amazing. Sorry I couldn't stay. Greg Garrison, his son Wes, and I were on the way to a debate sponsored by AL.com, and we would have slowed your two-hour signing process way down. You and me made note of not seeing each other in a long time. Last I remember was lunch at Niki's West, your favorite Birmingham dining spot. But that was a few years ago. Mike Oliver, Rick Bragg at Alabama Booksmith in Homewood We talked about getting together and having a sit-down talk to catch up. I joked we could spend two hours alone talking about our ailments. And, hell, we're only 58. This writing thing, or more specifically, the living thing, hasn't always been easy but I want to compare your memories to mine over a cup of something, probably coffee. The goal: Find lots of stuff to laugh about. I want to reminisce about when we went on tour of West Jefferson Correctional Institution and had lunch with the inmates. Yeast rolls and butterbeans. There was Juicy and the Captain. Walking out in the yard, the inmates shouted at us: "And the walls came tumbling down." This was in the wake of the St. Clair prison riot in 1985 and the reason you and I went on this tour of West Jefferson. It led to a story on how the riot went down and prison conditions, which alas, haven't changed much. By the way, that Biblical quote (and John Cougar-Mellencamp song) shouted by the prisoners: You turned that into the opening of the story - another Rick Bragg special. I remember when we got in some pretty big trouble for publishing the inmate's list of demands. I remember when we wrote together you'd tap something on the keyboards of our old VDT's, look at me with a smile, stand up and say: I've got to walk that one off. We can reminisce about the series of stories on foster children lost in the system which won some awards and a big luncheon thank-you from the National Social Workers Association. We can talk about going to see Tom Petty in Atlanta. Road trip with several other Birmingham News folks, Dennis Love maybe? We'll remember it. We can talk about the big party after your first book signing for "All Over But the Shoutin'." It was Atlanta and several of us ended up crashing on your floor. Or maybe it was you crashing on the floor. We'll remember it. Luckily you lived right across the street from one of the oldest if not THE oldest Krispy Kreme establishment in America. Rick Bragg goes for a walk with his mother, Margaret Bragg, who is the inspiration for his new book, "The Best Cook in the World." (Photo by Terry Manier) I remember you, me and Howard joining up and navigating the streets of San Francisco. We were looking for fine dining and wound up in a burger joint. I can remind you of how my wife, Catherine, pointed out with semi-feigned indignation because my name was in the "Shoutin''' book (page 158) but NOT her name. You grabbed a book and wrote on the title page: 'Dear Catherine, You're in the book now, Sunshine.' She loved it. We got plenty to talk about, my time in California, your wedding in Memphis, Randy, families and friends. I mainly just want to follow up and make sure we do make a plan. So, Niki's? I'll tell Greg. (I'll need a ride). Contact Mike Oliver at moliver@al.com. See his blog at www.myvinylcountdown.com With a New York Police Department patch clutched in one hand, 9-year-old Kaden Rogers waved with the other to first responders who drove by him. Dressed in a shirt that said I Back the Blue, Kaden stood at the edge of South Main Street outside the Bell High School gymnasium Tuesday morning. Im thinking about being a police officer when I grow up because they are the real superheroes without powers and stuff, Kaden said. Kaden said Deputy Taylor Lindsey, 25, and Sgt. Noel Ramirez, 29, were brave. The deputies were eating at Ace China restaurant on Thursday when John Hubert Highnote, 59, of Bell, Florida, shot and killed them, according to Alligator archives. Five days after the shooting, Kaden and thousands of others holding American flags, black and blue ribbons and We Back our Blue and Gilchrist Strong signs watched the procession of more than 100 law enforcement agencies from across the country escort two black hearses from the school for about 45 minutes down small country roads to Bronson Cemetery. Before the procession, the deputies were memorialized in a service in the schools gym. About 2,000 people, including law enforcement officers from Florida, New York, Illinois and Massachusetts, filled the gyms bleachers and folding chairs on its court. Those who spoke at the ceremony, including Gilchrist County Sheriff Bobby Schultz and Gov. Rick Scott, talked about the sacrifices both men made. Scott said the most difficult part of his job is attending officers funerals. Schultz said Lindsey told his mother when he was young that he wanted to ptrol, before he could say the word patrol. He said Ramirez once read that his name was on the Outstanding List and was so excited that he went to lunch to celebrate but was less thrilled when told that meant he had outstanding reports. Theres no way that I could do them justice. Theres no way that I can articulate what they meant to us, Schultz said. Kim Davis, a High Springs resident and UF alumna from the 1980s, stared at the two caskets on the stage in front of her, each covered in an American flag, and the four deputies silently guarding them. She knew the men inside both caskets. She used to hire Ramirez, when he wasnt working for the Gilchrist County Sheriffs Office, on the weekends at Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now The deputies may be gone, but theyll never be forgotten here in Gilchrist County, Davis said. After the ceremony ended at about noon, attendees exited and stood outside the gym as both caskets were carried to the hearses and about 45 bagpipers and drummers from different agencies played Amazing Grace. Members of the Patriot Guard Riders stood on both sides of the road leading to Bells South Main Street holding American flags. The music stopped, and the only sound was Ramirezs father crying and calling out in Spanish. As one deputy held him, he said My son, they killed my son. At the cemetery, three helicopters from the Alachua County Sheriffs Office and Gainesville Police Joint Aviation Unit flew overhead after bagpipers and drummers played for the deputies one last time. Gainesville Police Sergeant Renee Guyan was one of the seven GPD officers that fired three ceremonial shots into air to end the funeral service at about 3:30 p.m. with a 21-gun salute. Its a way to support the family and show how much their family members service means to the community and to us, she said. Contact Robert Lewis at rlewis@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter at @Lewis__Robert. A group of law enforcement officers drive under the U.S. flag hoisted by Alachua County Fire Rescue and Gainesville Fire Rescue fire engine ladders as part of the funeral procession on South Main Street in Bell, Florida for the two deputies who were shot in Trenton. Former Student Body President Smith Meyers completed his term Tuesday, and President-elect Ian Green will take over today. Heres a review of what suggestions the Impact Party made during Meyers campaigning that were accomplished or are in progress: Spring 2017: Simplify the degree audit so it is easier for students to understand completed Meyers made the degree audit program user-friendly by working with the One.UF committee to offer the degree audit and other student services through the new UF COMPASS program. Improve crosswalk and traffic safety on campus completed Meyers and the UF Office of Transportation and Parking worked together to increase crosswalk safety on Gale Lemerand Drive by adding crosswalks and medians between Museum Road and Stadium Road. Provide healthier food options at campus gyms completed Freshens was replaced with Shake Smart at the Reitz Union and the Southwest Recreation Center, which would bring healthier food options to students on campus. Designate online testing locations completed Six rooms in Library West were designated for ProctorU and online exams where students can reserve the rooms to take exams. The room is equipped with a computer and webcam for testing needs. Expand scooter parking completed Scooter parking for 45 to 55 scooters was added by Library West. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Fall 2017: Ensure the input of students is taken into account through a campus-wide referendum regarding the location of a 24/7 SG-funded library completed A survey was created to consider which library to fund. In December, it was announced Library West and Newell Hall would be open 24/7. Lobby for expansion of the Bright Futures Scholarship Program completed This was approved by Gov. Rick Scott at the end of the Florida legislative session. Alleviate mental health concerns of students through the hiring of new psychologists for the Counseling and Wellness Center continuously over time to reflect the growing Student Body - completed Eight new mental health counselors were funded permanently in November. Enhance the student experience by introducing the first ever UF spring music festival completed The Wetlands Music Festival took place at the end of February, attracting about 3,000 attendees, according to Alligator archives. Other: Laundry grant complete Former Student Body Treasurer Revel Lubin started a program to offer students in need a free $30 laundry card for washers and dryers in residence halls. Lobby for health and wellness center completed Although the funding wasnt approved, Meyers lobbied for the funding for a new center that would include a gym, infirmary and a counseling and wellness hub on Norman Field. It wouldve cost about $90 million and been about 260,000 square feet. Contact Christina Morales at cmorales@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @Christina_M18. A noose in Weimer Hall. Slurs on a whiteboard. Richard Spencer. One racially charged incident after another, and Bianka Ramirezs perception of UF was changing. So she sought answers. Where could students of color, like herself, go to feel safe? Where could they find people who let them feel confused, angry or alone together? It was like something woke up in me, Ramirez said. She soon learned the place she sought, a two-story wooden building that stood along West University Avenue, was demolished in August. Now the space is an empty lot encased by green mesh, littered with Bud Light cans and crabgrass, awaiting a $7.8 million reconstruction. The Institutes of Hispanic-Latino Cultures, commonly known as La Casita, and the Institute of Black Culture, known as the IBC, were some of the first spaces at UF dedicated to racial identity. Now demolished and a year behind reconstruction schedule, some students like Ramirez feel pressured to keep memories alive. The 90-year-old buildings, crumbling and termite-infested by the time of their demolition, had hard-fought histories that students like Ramirez worry wont be passed down, especially as more students who never learned about the old spaces come in. On April 15, 1971, more than a decade after UF desegregated, black students planned a peaceful protest to occupy UF President Stephen OConnells office and demand an African American cultural space on campus, but the demonstration quickly escalated when a rock was thrown and police were called, according to Alligator archives. By the end, 66 students were arrested, many of whom were either expelled or left school. Ten months later in February 1972, OConnell formally dedicated the Institute of Black Culture. La Casita, founded in May 1994, was given by the university unfurnished, leaving its student founders to fend and piece together the home on their own, according to Alligator archives. Ramirez worries the university isnt doing enough to pass on the legacy. Currently, most students rely on word of mouth, she said. We need more of an institutional memory, she said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now The last time students were allowed in the buildings was December 2016. In the meantime, students have been using La Salita or the Black Enrichment Center, spaces within UFs Multicultural and Diversity Affairs, on the second floor of the Reitz Union. Kalimah Ujaama, a UF political science and African American studies junior, said she went to the IBC nearly every day before it closed and still visits the office space in the Reitz. Ujaama said the absence of the house gives more power to MCDA because the longer it takes to build, the further removed incoming students are from the history. Its kind of like slave logic to be honest, the 22-year-old said. Its not with malicious intent, but it something thats being created by the lack of urgency. When she can, Ujaama tries to tell younger students about the history of the old buildings. The buildings histories havent been formally taught until this Spring through a course titled Black and Latinx History of the Gator Nation, said Ryan Morini, the associate director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History program and professor of the class. To be blunt, UF has been afraid of confronting its history, Morini said. Weve gotten some support in specific places, but I wouldnt say this institution as a whole has been supporting it. Will Atkins, the senior director for Multicultural and Diversity Affairs, said his office and UFs administration are working to make the construction process as transparent as possible. The office faced backlash in June 2017 when they pitched combining the two cultural spaces into one building. The proposal sparked No La IBCita, a student movement that fought to keep the houses separate. In July 2017, MCDA announced the buildings would stay separate but the redesign would setback the project nearly a year, according to Alligator archives. UF never set a specific start date for the construction, but its expected to start this Summer and finish in about a year, Atkins said. Since October, the office has held eight interactive feedback sessions with students and the architectural firm designing the institutes, DLR Group. The process went on longer because proposals went over budget, which Atkins said was expected. He said they wanted to listen to all student suggestions, then go back and adjust. We want to do it right, and we dont want to rush through it, he said. Beaudelaine Mesadieu, a UF construction management and interior design freshman, joined the project committee to get more experience. She said there arent as many freshmen who go to planning meetings compared to upperclassmen who knew the old institutes. At meetings, students can spend up to three hours debating color schemes and room arrangement, she said. Im not so emotionally attached, so Im not so biased with it, Mesadieu said. While the designs await approval for construction, many younger students continue to find comfort and a sense of home in the Reitz Union offices. Keanna Nembhard, a UF political science freshman, said the Black Enrichment Center helped her transition to UF, the first predominantly white institution she attended. I was really concerned about having a community here or feeling included, Nembhard said. Before arriving on campus in August, much of what she knows about the IBC came from the outraged No La IBCita movement she saw on Twitter. It showed her how important the spaces were to some people, she said. David Rojas, a UF biomedical engineering senior who used to frequent La Casita, said he thinks the office in the Reitz is serving current Hispanic and Latino students. He said after the protests, the tears and sense of loss, everyone had to return to their schoolwork, seniors had to prepare to graduate and people had to leave behind the building that once was. The reality is that we do have to move on with our lives, he said. Now, Rojas, 21, claims the same gray desk in the Reitz Union space, nestled against the rooms far wall, nearly every Monday and Wednesday. When he looks up from his biochemistry book, he sees freshmen Mauricio Perez Rodriguez and Mayra Rodriguez laughing about the day, or stressing about their class registration. He sees Alberto Barcenas napping on the rooms blue carpet, which he insists is more comfortable than the couches. He knows there are still old friends who havent stopped by the office, either too busy or too angry with how things ended with how things are going. But Rojas doesnt blame them. Theyre attached to the old building, he said. And he hopes the newer students will find their home, whether its in the office spaces now or the future building. Contact Elliott Nasby at enasby@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter at @_ElohEl. Daniel Clayton, 23, UF electrical engineering senior, speaks to Ashley Marceus, 21, UF triple major in political science, African American studies and womens studies third year about organizational planning inside the Black Enrichment Center on Tuesday afternoon. For the past 45 years, 2 months and 25 days, The Alligator has been independent. Its a title we earned one we made the second word on our masthead after an editor in 1971 published a list of abortion clinics in protest of state law. The rift between the student staff and then UF president, Stephen C. OConnell, got so tense that the state attorney general ruled that to protect the First Amendment rights of the student journalists, UF and The Alligator should split. Though the editors didnt plan the papers independence, they saw the value: the freedom to cover UF without restriction, to not worry about budgetary slashes if reporters offended the administration or Student Government. But if you look at the editorial in our first independent paper on Feb. 1, 1973, much of the editors concerns could be copied and pasted into todays. It talks about the need for editorial freedom but also the need for financial support. Forty-five years later, its not only a concern of ours but of student-run newspapers across the country. A few weeks ago, the board of The Daily Campus at Southern Methodist University voted to dissolve its paper and go back to the university in face of financial woes. Alligator editors have a well-founded history of being bold. After seeing the Daily Campus re-affiliate with its university, we started a campaign to #SaveStudentNewsrooms, highlighting nationwide concerns of editorial independence and financial stability. Its made a considerable amount of noise in the last 20 days, and in that time weve seen numerous other papers recount how their staff works for no pay, how administrations have prevented interviews with university employees and even universities suing their own students. We work hard to keep you informed so you can cast your ballots in local elections, SG elections and even the presidential election. We have writers run out of class for breaking stories, and some wake up at the crack of dawn to pursue others. In between classes, exams and life, our staff is here because the long hours and low pay are worth it. We want you, dear reader, to know that we hope you hear our message in our last paper of the semester: We need your help in making sure The Alligator is here to stay for years to come. If you pick up a paper, thank you. If you reach out to share your stories, thank you. As The Alligator joins other student-run publications in the push for more awareness, we ask that you help us transition into a digital-first publication. We still provide content online every day. In that first editorial in 1973, one of the ending lines read, For years The Alligator has come to you free. And it will continue to do so. Now we need your financial support. Forty-five years later, were echoing the call of past editors. Our staff earns meager wages for the work they put in. Newsprint costs are going up from tariffs. We will continue publishing for free, but independent student journalism comes with a cost. It needs your support. Viva the Independent Florida Alligator. You can donate to The Alligator here Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now UFs Danza Dance Company, a premiere student-run performance dance company, will celebrate 20 years with its Anniversary Showcase on Saturday. The show will include performances from Danza members as well as a guest performance from IndepenDANCE studio in Gainesville, said Gaby Carballo, the public relations chair on the executive board for Danza. There is a lot more importance on this showcase in the company because it is the 20th anniversary, Carballo said. Carballo, a 19-year-old UF theatre and English major, noticed a lot more involvement this semester from an executive members perspective because the members know its the anniversary, and people are trying to leave their legacies. Multiple styles of dance are highlighted within the show with every dance member showcasing their strong suits, Carballo said. When Danzas executive board was choreographing the finale, they made sure to include multiple dance styles and to showcase how Danza has grown over the past 20 years, she said. Carballo said she feels a personal connection to this showcase. I thought it was really nice that Danza and I have the same birthday, she said. Were both turning 20 this year, so it was really special that I got to be here and be on the executive board and help make sure the show is really special. The audience will be able to see how Danza is special in terms of the different styles of dance, Carballo said. Danza doesnt stop with just one style of dance; theres many styles in the show. Carballo personally choreographed a musical theater number for the showcase something she has never done with Danza before. To prepare for the anniversary showcase, the dancers rehearse every Monday from 7 to 10 p.m. with one member teaching a class at the beginning and everyone working on their dances in the second half of rehearsal. We have all been working super hard to show everyone how great Danza is, Carballo said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now The 20th Anniversary Showcase is different from previous showcases mainly because it is advertised differently, said DiDi Paulino, a 21-year-old UF health education and behavior major. Danza is focusing a lot on their alumni connections for this specific showcase. We are just celebrating 20 years of this organization, which is a great milestone, said Paulino, who will be serving as Danzas president starting Fall 2018. This will be Paulinos sixth semester in Danza, and she believes Danza is special because it acts as a stress reliever. This event is very special because I think a lot of times college students dont really have a stress reliever, Paulino said. Twenty years ago people brought this organization to campus as a stress reliever and as an activity that they can do in college to help students physically, emotionally and mentally. This show represents the members appreciating their past, enjoying the present and looking at the future of the company with hope, according to the Facebook event for the anniversary showcase. People coming to the showcase should expect to see some great dance moves and a lot of love and passion for the dance company, Paulino said. Danzas 20th Anniversary Showcase will be held at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts at 7 p.m. Saturday. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. The show is free and open to the public. Thursday marks Swamp Records fifth annual showcase with performances from both local and out-of-state talent. Swamp Records, the UF student-run record label, will present a lineup of 10 local artists headlined by Sam Stan of Fort Lauderdale and Netherfriends of Chicago. Local performing artists are flipturn, Retrolux, The Hails, Just Neighbors, The Forum, Hugo $anchez, Rollin Cobson, DJ Robzilla, Nick Natural and Side Trakd. Our headliners are really fun and relatable artists and are more genre-bending, Swamp Records President Mika Sheerin said. Local acts will represent a variety of genres including indie, rap, punk, rock and house music. The Swamp Records Showcase will be held at Heartwood Soundstage from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tickets for the show are available at Eventbrite.com or from Swamp Records staff for $8 in advance. Tickets will also be available at the door for $10. We just want to showcase underground music to the Gainesville population, Sheerin said, having one night to kind of show the community what Gainesville has to offer, especially to those who have never been to a local show. In addition to music, the Swamp Records Showcase will have Dank Cakes and Off The Griddle selling food, as well as merchandise vendors from Always True Collective, Zen Crystals and The Terp Market. Sheerin said the Swamp Records Showcase event directors are working to bring their graphics and art to life with a 90s theme and various photo opportunities. Netherfriends is the stage name for the Chicago one-man-band created by Shawn Rosenblatt. Netherfriends is an artist known for homemade beats, relatable lyrics and a penchant for releasing new music as often as possible. Because of his constant musical experimentation and evolution, Netherfriends style can be difficult to label. He often jumps from genre to genre or creates a new genre altogether, like Blues Trap, he said. After college, Netherfriends quit his day job, gave up his lease and broke all personal ties to tour the 50 states and record music in each state. For the next six years, Netherfriends toured constantly without a home base to return to. Netherfriends has performed in Gainesville on numerous occasions, but to those who havent seen him before, Netherfriends said, I dont use backing tracks. I play everything live. Im not going to stand still. Im going to be dancing with everybody and just have a good time. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Flipturn signed on as a Swamp Records flagship artist in fall 2017. In the past 6 months alone, the five-piece alternative indie rock group has performed regularly in the area, won a spot at Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival and released a single and their sophomore EP Citrona. Before flipturn signed on to Swamp Records, bassist Madeline Jarman worked with the label. If I wasnt going to be in the music scene with my band, I wanted to be in it any way I could, Jarman said. When one Swamp Records artist, The Delta Troubadours, left the label to move to Nashville, Jarman quit her job at the label to vie for the open spot. Flipturn won their place. Now flipturn is preparing for their first tour extending into the Northeast. The first leg of their Citrona Tour includes performances in Fernandina Beach; Awendaw, South Carolina; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Easton, Massachusetts; and Cambridge, Massachusetts. The group will release the second leg of tour dates in the coming week. While the labels current focus is centered on this years showcase, Sheerin said Swamp Records may be looking to bring a new artist onto the label in the near future. The United States government has been pushing to apply quotas to steel exports from Brazil following negotiations stemming from the Section 232 investigation, according to Brazilian steel institute Aco Brasil. "The US government has flagged it plans to work with quotas," Aco Brasil executive president Marco Polo de Mello Lopes said on Tuesday April 24. Brazil was temporarily excluded from a 25% Section 232 tariff on steel shipments to the US while negotiations between the countries are being held. The exemption is valid until May 1. "Surprisingly, we have only one week left to reach an agreement," Aco Brasil president Alexandre de Campos Lyra said. If applied, the quotas would have to be broken down by company, according to the institute. "There will be [a breakdown of the quotas] by company," Lopes said. "Once a global quota is defined, we will sit down with associated companies in Aco Brasil and it will be difficult to define how the quota will be distributed." The institute continues to demand that semifinished steel products, such as billets and slabs, should be exempted from any tariffs or quotas. Brazilian steel exports to the US are comprised mostly slabs, which are rerolled by US mills. The institute argues that blocking exports of the product would hurt US steel producers who depend on these shipments. "The US is not self-sufficient in slab," Lopes said. Metal Bulletin's weekly assessment of Brazilian slab export prices surpassed $600 per tonne fob after deliveries from the country to the US were temporarily exempted from tariffs. The definition of negotiations over measures related to the Section 232 investigation puts at risk an Aco Brasil forecast for an 8.6% increase in crude steel production this year. "Depending on the result of negotiations, there might be a huge impact in steel exports and also in crude steel production," Lyra said. At the turn of the last century, when aviation was still in its infancy, a German named Julius Neubronner submitted a patent for a new inventiona miniature camera that could be strapped to the breast of a pigeon so that the bird could take flight and snap pictures from the air. Julius Neubronner was an apothecary who employed pigeons to deliver medications to a sanatorium located near his hometown Kronberg, near Frankfurt. An apothecary is one who makes medicines. A pharmacist is a more modern word, but in many German speaking countries, such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland, pharmacies are still called apothecaries. Apothecary was Julius Neubronners family profession. His father was an apothecary, and so was his grandfather. In those days, homing pigeons were used extensively to carry messages and small supplies. It was Juliuss fathers idea to use pigeons to receive prescriptions from the sanatorium and send out medicinal supplies in a hurrya practice that continued for more than half a century until the sanatorium closed. One day, Neubronner let out a pigeon on an urgent errand but it didnt return. When several days passed and there was still no sign of the bird, Neubronner assumed the pigeon was lost, or it got caught and killed by predators. A month later, the lost messenger showed up unexpectedly at Neubronners place. The bird appeared well fed, which got Neubronner into thinking. Where had he gone? Who had fed him? Neubronner decided that he would start tracking his pigeons future travels. Julius Neubronner with one of his pigeons. Being a passionate do-it-yourself amateur photographer, it didnt take long for Neubronner to fashion a miniature wooden camera which he fitted to the pigeons breast by means of a harness and an aluminum cuirass. A pneumatic system in the camera opened the shutter at predetermined intervals and the roll of film, which moved along with the shutter, took as many as thirty exposures in a single flight. The entire rig weighed no more than 75 gramsthe maximum load the pigeons were trained to carry. The pictures turned out so good that Neubronner started making different models. One system, for instance, was fitted with two lenses pointing in opposite directions. Another one took stereoscopic images. Eventually, Neubronner applied for a patent, but the patent office threw out his application citing that such a device was impossible as they believed a pigeon could not carry the weight of a camera. But when Neubronner presented photographs taken by his pigeons, the patent was granted in 1908. Aerial photograph of Frankfurt. Aerial photograph of Schlosshotel Kronberg. Neubronner exhibited his photographs in several international photographic exhibition gaining him accolades. In one such exhibition in Dresden, spectators watched as the camera-equipped carrier pigeons arrived at the venue, and the photos were immediately developed and turned into postcards which they could purchase. The technology was soon adapted for use during the First World War, despite the availability of surveillance aircraft then. Pigeons drew less attention, could photograph enemy locations from a lower height, and were visibly indifferent to explosions on a battlefield. Neubronners avian technology saw use in the Second World War too. The German army developed a pigeon camera capable of taking 200 exposures per flight. The French too claimed they had cameras for pigeons and a method to deploy them behind enemy lines by trained dogs. Around this time, Swiss clockmaker Christian Adrian Michel perfected a panoramic camera and an improved mechanism to control the shutter. Pigeon photography was in use as late as the 1970s, when the CIA developed a battery-powered pigeon camera, though the details of the camera's use are still classified. Aerial photographs of Dresden. Today, aerial photography has been replaced by aircrafts, satellites, and more recently, by affordable drones. But the legacy of Julius Neubronners pigeon photography lives on in these images which are among the very early photos taken of Earth from above. Bonus fact: So what happened to Neubronners pigeon who stayed away from the owner for a month and returned fattened up? It had flown away to Wiesbaden, some twenty kilometers away, and was taken care of by a restaurant chef. Reflecting on last weeks Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London, the Anglican Communions director for Women in Church & Society, the Revd Canon Terrie Robinson, asks why there were so few men at the Commonwealth Womens Forum. We are family. Ive got all my sisters and me. Playing this rousing chorus from the Sister Sledge classic is how the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Baroness Patricia Scotland QC, opened the first session of the Commonwealth Womens Forum in London. Baroness Scotland certainly set the tone and the pace for the three days of the Forum during which delegates with leadership roles in politics, industry, civil society, education and faith institutions and members of the UKs royal family shared experience and ambitions for the empowerment of women and girls, and gender equality in the Commonwealth, at every stage and age of life. But the fact that we were all my sisters and me did present the first challenge of the Forum. Why is it that we say gender equality is not a womens issue, but then organise womens forums to discuss it? Of course its vital that women should be able to meet together to share stories and solidarity, and to plan their contributions to dismantling unjust power relations and securing gender equality particularly for women and girls. But the guys have to get involved. The problem isnt men per se, it is power who has it and how it is used. And in spite of progress, men have most of it. Also, patriarchy, present in nearly all our societies, can distort the lives of men and boys, and even destroy them. There were a handful of men in the Womens Forum, active champions of gender equality. They were applauded and we need many more like them, not least in our Churches. A second challenge was the low esteem in which faith institutions are still often held when it comes to gender justice. In the Forum, those of us representing faith organisations had to struggle against assumptions among delegates from organisations working for the human rights of women and girls, that we had little to offer. Faith leaders are still seen as part of the problem rather than part of the solution, and horrible stories abound. So many of us have worked so hard for years to change that narrative, but we havent yet done enough. We must do more to teach, preach and model just power relations in our ministries and our social outreach and we need to do a better job of telling others what we are striving to do, and indeed succeeding in doing, otherwise we will not be seen as credible leaders and co-workers in liberating women and girls from structures and cultures which hold them back. We have our belief that women and men have equal God-given dignity, and we have the Jesus model of masculinity so we have no excuse. The Bishop of Swaziland, Ellinah Wamukoya, was one of a plenary panel of speakers reflecting on Overcoming Barriers: Ending Violence against Women and Girls, joining Lord Bates, UK minister for International Development, Ghanas minster for Gender, Children & Social Protection, the UN Secretary Generals special representative on sexual violence in conflict, and Australias minister for International Development and the Pacific. Bishop Ellinah spoke as a faithful Christian leader about the role of faith leaders in sensitising their communities, changing attitudes and behaviours, and advocating for legislation relating to the rights and wellbeing of women and children, or the implementation of existing legislation. She ended with a strong appeal, If you come to me and call me a stereotype in a purple shirt, I wont hear you. Make me understand. Walk with me. . . Faith leaders are left behind in these fora and yet we are in the core of things and if you don't include us and walk with us, how can you expect us to help you. A third challenge is how we ensure gender equality for our youth so that they grow up with this as the norm and have every opportunity to fulfil their potential as adults. The Commonwealth has a huge young population India alone has 600 million under the age of 25 and, as we met in the Womens Forum, 500 exceptional young people determined to make their countries, the Commonwealth and the world a better place, were meeting in the Commonwealth Youth Forum. Twelve years of quality education for all our girls and boys would be a great place to start. There are still tens of millions of young people, mostly girls, unable to complete their education because of poverty or the expectations of their cultures. This is something for all governments to grasp urgently, and civil society and faith communities will surely support them. Sometimes we will just need to get out of our young peoples way! Young people have huge potential to be agents of change in their communities and as one speaker noted, Magic happens not when adults are reaching young people on issues of social justice, but when they are in touch with each other through social media platforms. Of course some support and advice in the background is a good thing, and this is where our church leaders and communities can help young people to understand the world they are living in. My prayers are with the Commonwealth Heads of Government. They have an enormous task ahead as they discern concrete measures that leave no one behind and ensure the common and the true wealth are built into the Commonwealth. Posted on: April 23, 2018 12:27 PM Immigration and minorities were chief topics of discussion at a meeting of the Anglican-Jewish Commission last month in Jerusalem. One particular focus was the situation facing Christians in the Middle East. They agreed that any responses to the situation must be grounded in an understanding and affirmation of human life and freedom. This was the first time the group had met since 2014. Speaking afterwards members said they had been encouraged and hopeful about gathering more often in the future. The Commission expects to reconvene again in 2019. The Archbishop of Canterburys Programmes Coordinator for Inter Religious Affairs, Katie Hodkinson, said the meeting was very significant. "It was something that the Archbishop of Canterbury agreed with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel whilst on his two-week visit to the Holy Land last May, " she said. "This renewed energy and commitment was warmly welcomed by both the Christian and Jewish communities. The Commission has now released a communique which can be viewed here. Posted on: April 25, 2018 10:56 AM [Anglican Journal, by Joelle Kidd] Tragedy has struck our city today. These were the words of Archbishop Colin Johnson, archbishop of the dioceses of Toronto and Moosonee and metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario, in a statement released on Monday (23 April 23). Around 1.30 pm that day, in the North York area of Toronto, a white rental van drove onto the sidewalk of busy Yonge Street and accelerated. Witnesses reported watching the van intentionally plow into the crowds of pedestrians who were outside enjoying the warm spring weather, in a rampage that lasted 26 minutes before police apprehended the driver. At least 10 people have been declared dead, with 15 more being treated for injuries. The alleged driver of the vehicle, Alek Minassian, has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder, according to the Toronto Star. I weep for those who have died. I join in prayer for those who are physically injured or suffering emotionally from having witnessed such carnage, and for having lost loved ones, said Johnson in his statement. It is hard to comprehend such violence. Vigils were held Monday night at Church of the Incarnation and Church of the Redeemer Toronto. Throughout the city, a number of Anglican churches have opened their doors, offering prayer and pastoral care. At the national office of the Anglican Church of Canada, Primate Fred Hiltz led a time of reflection at noon Tuesday, with a prayer, hymn and Scripture reading, with Church House staff. In a statement released before the gathering, Hiltz characterised the tragedy as an attack that can only be described as an act of terrorism, stating, So often it is somewhere else New York, Boston, Paris, London, Brussels, Frankfurt, Jerusalem, Yemen. . . Yesterday it happened here at home. Hiltz said, as people of faith our first response is to uphold all those affected by this tragedy in prayer, including those who died and were injured, the families of those affected, medical teams and first responders, and faith leaders providing support. As Toronto weeps, we know so many others weep with us. As we turn to God for consolation, we know so many others turn with us and we are grateful, the statement said. To that day when violence shall no longer be heard and seen in our streets we look with hope; and for its coming let us pledge our best efforts so that the safety of all people, the freedom of our neighbourhoods, the peace of our cities can be secured. Johnsons statement recalled the lesson of the previous Sunday, Good Shepherd Sunday, which celebrates Jesus as the one who cares for all his people in times of anguish, and quoted from the days reading, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, a verse from Psalm 23. In the midst of such trauma, in the fear and confusion, anger and heartache, may we know that God is with us, with mercy and justice, healing and compassion. As the events unfold may we find ways to comfort one another in grief and support each [other] in our resolve to be a community of freedom, unity and peace. Hank Azaria says sorry The Simpsons Abu is upsetting Hank Azaria says hes willing to step aside from voicing the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon in TVs The Simpsons. Azaria is pressured by a Indian-American comic Hari Kondabolu (The Problem with Apu), who claims the Indian character who knows more about the USA than Homer Simpson (fat, yellow ignorant, child-throttling and lazy) is founded on racial stereotypes. Azaria says his eyes have been opened by the debate. No offence was intended. He thought it was a jokey show about a 2D family of yellow-faces and blue hair. But he now knows that The Simpsons is slice-of-life stuff. Azaria, who also voices porcine Chief Wiggum (a snout-face, slow-witted copper), Comic Book Guy (a fat pedantic slob) and bartender Moe Szyslak (a cranky, wire-haired batchelor) could soon be out of work unless the shows writers can shoehorn a part for a slim actor who wants to write his own lines. Azaria goes on the record: The idea that anyone young or old, past or present, being bullied based on Apu really makes me sad. It certainly was not my intention. I wanted to bring joy and laughter to people. He did. He has. Hes not the writer, though. And Azarias reaction to criticism explains why actors should be wary of rewriting their own parts. Ive given this a lot of thought, and as I say my eyes have been opened, he continues. I think the most important thing is to listen to Indian people and their experience with it. I really want to see Indian, South Asian writers in the writers room including how [Apu] is voiced or not voiced. Im perfectly willing and happy to step aside, or help transition it into something new. It not only makes sense, it just feels like the right thing to do to me. Hear that, Indians. Form a queue. The Simpsons has been dying on its feet for years. As Lisa Simpson puts it in reply to this pathetic furore: Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do? The camera then pans to a photo of Apu. (Bart Simpson has been 8 for years which is both weird and perverted!) Anorak Posted: 25th, April 2018 | In: Celebrities, News, TV & Radio Comment | TrackBack | Permalink Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Bahrain is to recapitalise its ageing fighter force with the purchase of 19 new-build Block 70 F-16Vs and via the upgrade of its 20 surviving Block 40 F-16C/Ds to the same standard. Bahrain originally acquired 12 aircraft (including four two-seat F-16Ds) under the Peace Crown programme in 1990, and received 10 more (all single-seaters) under Peace Crown II in 2000. Two aircraft have been lost in service, the most recent in December 2015 while supporting the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. The aircraft are used as multi-role tactical fighters providing air defence armed with Sidewinder and AMRAAM missiles but also able to fulfil ground-attack duties using 500lb GBU-12 and 2,000lb GBU-10 laser-guided bombs, TV-guided AGM-65B and IR-guided AGM-65G Maverick missiles. Lockheed Martin AN/AAQ-14 Sharpshooter low altitude navigation and targeting infrared for night (LANTIRN) targeting pods can also be carried. Bahrain has been seeking further F-16s for some time and a sale of up to 19 further aircraft was submitted to the US Congress for approval in September 2016, though the White House blocked this until it saw progress on human rights issues after the protests of 2011. Finally, in September 2017, the US State Department approved the sale of 19 Block 70 Lockheed Martin F-16V aircraft to Bahrain, though different sources gave different numbers of aircraft, varying from 16-22. Approval was also given for a deal to upgrade the existing fleet of 20 Bahraini F-16 aircraft to the same standard under the designation F-16V. The two separate contracts were valued at a combined $3.86 billion. The Block 70/F-16V configuration includes the AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, which leverages technology from the F-35s AN/APG-81, and an automatic ground collision avoidance system (GCAS). The new variant has a 50% longer airframe life (12,000 hours, rather than 8,000 hours) and addresses some obsolescence (diminishing manufacturing sources) issues. The F-16 production facility will be transferred from Fort Worth, Texas to Greenville, South Carolina, in order to make room for the expanding F-35 Joint Strike Fighter production line. The Bahraini order will take F-16 production out to 2022, facilitating further exports. Lockheed is currently pursuing F-16 sales in Indonesia and Colombia, Slovakia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Austria and Poland, while the F-16V upgrade has been sold to Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Greece. Posted on Feb 4, 2015 in Carlo D'Este A Reminiscence of General James M. Gavin My first association with Lt. Gen. Jim Gavin occurred in 1979 when, as a fledgling researcher in the early stages of a PhD dissertation (which instead became my book Decision in Normandy four years later), I wrote to him to request an interview, mentioning that I was doing graduate work at Kings College, London, on World War II in Europe. After his retirement from the Army in 1958, Gavin was recruited by the consulting firm Arthur D. Little, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he rapidly rose to become president and chairman of the board. Even though he had retired from his full-time role at Arthur D. Little, and was now a consultant, my letter was hardly a reason for him to take time out to be interviewed by an unknown like myself. Hence, I was more than a little astonished when he promptly replied to my letter and agreed that I should come and see him at his office. {default} Upon arrival I was ushered into a small conference room to meet the general who said he said he could only give me about forty minutes because he had to attend a meeting. Wow! I thought forty minutes was pretty darned generous. The time went all too quickly and as he got up to leave, Gavin said if I wouldnt mind sticking around hed come back for more discussion. And he did! Throughout my time with him there was no doubt that he was deeply interested in discussing World War II. Nevertheless, I never anticipated that someone of his stature would give so generously of his valuable time to a fledgling researcher who probably asked more than a few inane questions of him. But that was Jim Gavin. During the time I spent with him that day he gave me his full attention and responded candidly to my questions. It was an awesome experience, the first of others that occurred in subsequent years. Just before it was published in 1983, my publisher sent Gen. Gavin a copy of my first book, Decision in Normandy, and asked for an endorsement for the dust jacket, which, to our surprise and delight, he duly provided, calling it Splendid a must book about Normandy, praise that meant the world to a first-time author. When I was researching my second book about the Sicily campaign (Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943) that Gavin played such a key role in, I again wrote and asked for another interview. He had retired from his second career at Arthur D. Little and had a summer home not far from mine on Cape Cod. Before long I had an invitation to visit him. Taking no chance of being late (or lost!) on the appointed day, I made a reconnaissance several days in advance to be certain of the location of his home in Osterville, Massachusetts that turned out to be difficult to locate behind a grove of trees along the oceanfront. My first thought upon seeing the house and its great view was that no one Ive ever met worked harder or was more deserving of such a fine summer home than Jim Gavin. During this and subsequent discussions, as he had during my first interview, Gen. Gavin never ducked the issues, no matter what the subject under discussion. We talked a great deal about leadership in World War II and beyond. Gavin was unsparing in his criticism of the way American senior battlefield commanders were, in his opinion, too often relieved of command for what he believed was insufficient time to prove themselves. In his exceedingly frank war memoir, On To Berlin, Gavin has written: I have a haunting memory that does not diminish with the passage of time of how unfairly and thoughtlessly we treated some of our senior officers. Although not mentioned by name in Gavins memoir, the person he most had in mind was Omar Bradley, who was notorious during World War II for relieving senior officers with little time in their command positions or for reasons Gavin considered unfounded. Gavin cites the case of Maj. Gen. Alan Jones, the commanding general of the 106th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Bulge. In the case of General Jones and his 106th Division, higher headquarters knew no more about the German plans than he did. Higher command also knew of his dispositions and approved them. His leading green regiments were overwhelmed before they could offer much resistance, and there is little he or anyone else, for that matter could have done about it. Summarily relieving senior officers, it seems to me, makes others pusillanimous and indeed discourages other potential combat leaders from seeking high command It must be changed Summarily relieving those who do not appear to measure up in the first shock of battle is not only a luxury that we cannot afford it is very damaging to the Army as a whole. The system, Gavin has argued, must be changed. Since these words were written in 1978, there is not much, if any, evidence it has changed for the better. Over the next few years we had other illuminating and engaging discussions. On one occasion I learned of his quest to learn the truth about his ancestry. Jim Gavin was born in Brooklyn in 1907. His birth name was not Gavin. The name that appears on his birth certificate is James Nally Ryan. He was placed in an orphanage before being adopted at the age of two by Mary and Martin Gavin of the small Pennsylvania coalmining town of Mt. Carmel, where he was raised under very hardscrabble conditions. He had spent many years seeking the truth of his birth and had even hired private investigators to assist him in his quest for the truth about his birth. He told me his birth certificate had been doctored and that he was certain that his mother and father were clerics of the Catholic Church. Despite a lifetime of great accomplishment and heroic status as one of the most revered figures of World War II, what mattered most to him at this stage of his life was to learn the truth about his birth and his birth parents. Sadly, about this time, Gavin developed Parkinsons disease, and as his condition worsened, he was no longer able to drive. On one occasion we both were both being interviewed at a local TV station as part of a program on the war, and I was asked to drive him to the interview. As his condition worsened, Parkinsons began to affect his ability to speak and he became increasingly difficult to understand. He once telephoned me with some questions that I simply could not decipher because the disease had caused him to speak only with great difficulty, and with slurred words. Most were queries that required a yes or no answer but because Parkinsons had so impaired his speech I had to guess what to reply unsure if Id given a correct response. Gen. Gavins affliction led to me investigate Parkinsons and its awful effects on the human body. Its not a pretty picture. According to the Mayo Clinic website: Parkinsons disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects your movement. It develops gradually, sometimes starting with a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. But while a tremor may be the most well-known sign of Parkinsons disease, the disorder also commonly causes stiffness or slowing of movement. In the early stages of Parkinsons disease, your face may show little or no expression or your arms may not swing when you walk. Your speech may become soft or slurred. Parkinsons disease symptoms worsen as your condition progresses over time. And so it inevitably did with Jim Gavin. There is as yet no cure for Parkinsons. What turned out to be my last visit with him was over lunch. It was heartbreaking to see this brilliant, vibrant, successful man, and great leader, gradually slowed and brought down by a dreaded disease over which he had no control. Time passed, and we lost track of one another until one day in 1990, when I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of this extraordinary man. You can read his obituary that appeared in the New York Times by clicking here. Next month the first of a two-part article about Gen. Gavins remarkable leadership in World War II, and his many accomplishments in the postwar years. Posted on Jun 5, 2015 in Front Page Features, War College Battle of Waterloo Summary, Analysis and Assessment for the 200th Anniversary BATTLE OF WATERLOO: FAST FACTS Date: June 18, 1815 Location: near Waterloo, Belgium, 15 kilometers south of Brussels Commanders: French, Emperor Napoleon; Anglo-Allied, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington; Prussian, Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher Forces: French 73,000 troops, 252 guns; Coalition 118,000 (68,000 Anglo-Allied and 50,000 Prussian) troops, 156 guns Casualties: French 41,000; Coalition 24,000 (17,000 Anglo-Allied and 7,000 Prussian) Results: On a soggy field of rolling farmlands an Anglo-Allied army commanded by Britains Duke of Wellington, bolstered by the timely arrival of a Prussian army under Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher, decisively defeated Frances Army of the North personally led by Napoleon. The furious combat that began in earnest at about 1:00 p.m. featured massed French infantry and cavalry attacks that nearly broke through the Anglo-Allied line before Bluchers Prussians arrived around 7:30 p.m. to tip the scales of battle in the Coalitions favor. Wellington, acknowledging how close Napoleon came to victory, famously described the Battle of Waterloo as the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life. Significance: The Coalition victory at Waterloo proved to be the decisive battle ending the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). With his French army defeated at Waterloo, Emperor Napoleon I abdicated and was sent into his final exile on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena where he died from the effects of arsenic poisoning on May 5, 1821. (Top image: The Battle of Waterloo, by William Sadler II) BATTLE OF WATERLOO: SUMMARY Background: Horrified by the progressive ideals unleashed by the French Revolution, spread throughout the Continent by Frances brilliant leader, Napoleon, Europes reactionary kings and princes allied to from a series of Coalitions that waged wars against Napoleon for over a dozen years. In the War of the Sixth Coalition (1812-1814) Britain, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Portugal, Sweden and Spain defeated Napoleon and sent the Emperor into exile on the island of Elba. Napoleon escaped from Elba on February 26, 1815, returned to France and reclaimed his empire in Paris on March 20. Napoleons return prompted Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Portugal and several duchies and principalities to form the Seventh Coalition. The total number of French troops available to Napoleon was 250,000 while Coalition forces would number 850,000 when fully mobilized and moved to the frontiers of France which was expected to be accomplished by July 1. Therefore, in early June, assessing that his greatest immediate threats were the Anglo-Allied army of Wellington and Bluchers Prussian army, both located in the general vicinity of Brussels, Napoleon led his French Army of the North (120,000) to attack and defeat Wellington and Blucher before the Coalitions remaining armies could arrive. Prelude: Two days prior to the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleons army had won a tactical victory by defeating but not destroying Bluchers Prussian army at Ligny, 25 kilometers southeast of Waterloo. Napoleon dispatched Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy with 33,000 troops to follow the retreating Prussians while shifting the French armys axis of advance northwest to attack and defeat Wellingtons Anglo-Allied army at Quatre Bras. Wellington, however, upon learning of Bluchers defeat and with no interference by French Marshal Michel Neys troops holding Quatre Bras had already withdrawn his army 15 kilometers north and arrayed it in defensive positions in the vicinity of Waterloo. Wellingtons Position: The Anglo-Allied armys defensive position was a strong one featuring a 4-kilometer long main line of troops placed along the reverse slope of a low ridge running generally east-west and bisected near the center by the main road leading north to Brussels. Additionally, many of the Anglo-Allied troops were positioned behind a sunken lane that ran for much of the length of the ridge along its crest. In front of Wellingtons main line were three heavily-garrisoned, stone and brick farmstead strongpoints: Hougoumont (west); La Haye Sainte (center); and Papelotte hamlet (east). Hougoumont and Papelotte served as anchors for Wellingtons right and left flanks, respectively, and La Haye Sainte allowed defenders to subject French troops attacking Wellingtons center to a deadly crossfire. Finally, torrential rains that drenched the area throughout the night of June 17-18 favored the defenders since the soggy conditions the downpour produced hindered the mobility of cavalry and infantry and greatly reduced the effects of the superior French artillery cannonballs plowed harmlessly into the muck instead of bounding across the ground causing casualties. Battle Highlights: Although Napoleon wanted to begin the battle as early as possible on June 18 in order to defeat Wellingtons army before Bluchers Prussians could arrive, he delayed the start of his armys main attacks for several hours (first to around 11:00 a.m., then to about 1:00 p.m.) in an attempt to allow the waterlogged ground to dry. [NOTE: the times given in this article for various events of the battle are those which seem to be now generally accepted despite the presence of discrepancies regarding times in some battle participants individual accounts.] In general, the fighting featured these principal highlights: Hougoumont: Recognizing that the fortified farmstead and surrounding grounds of Hougoumont anchored Wellingtons right flank, Napoleon ordered about 12,000 soldiers supported by artillery to attack it. The fighting for control of Hougoumont began around 11:30 a.m. and continued throughout the course of the battle. Yet, despite repeated attacks by French forces, Hougoumont remained in Anglo-Allied hands. First French Infantry Attack: After a French artillery bombardment of Wellingtons center by a Grand Battery of 80 guns, Napoleon sent DErlons infantry corps to attack the center and left of the Anglo-Allied line at 1:00 p.m. Although DErlons tightly packed infantry formations gave French attackers the advantage of mass, the formation also allowed little room for maneuver and made the French infantrymen vulnerable to Anglo-Allied musket fire. Additionally, Anglo-Allied soldiers occupying La Haye Sainte which the French repeatedly tried but failed to capture caught DErlons attackers in a deadly crossfire. Anglo-Allied resistance, bolstered by a rash charge by British heavy cavalry, rallied to defeat DErlons attack. French Cavalry Charge: Mistaking the shifting of Anglo-Allied forces and the evacuation of Coalition casualties as the beginning of a general retreat by Wellingtons army, Ney unwisely organized and led a massed French cavalry charge at the Anglo-Allied center at about 4:00 p.m. However, it was unsupported by French infantry and artillery and cavalry alone could not break the formidable British infantry squares Wellington had ordered formed. Ney finally called off the futile cavalry attack and then managed to bring forward French artillery protected by infantry that at last poured a punishing fire on the Anglo-Allied infantry squares. The French seemed on the verge of breaking Wellingtons center (and had finally captured La Haye Sainte), but on the right rear of Napoleons eastern flank the first Prussian unit (Friedrich Bulows IV Corps) entered the battle and by about 5:30 p.m. began drawing off French forces, relieving the pressure on Wellingtons center. French Imperial Guard Attack: Napoleon still hoped to break Wellingtons center and win the battle before the entire Prussian army could arrive on the battlefield. Therefore, at about 7:00 p.m. he threw his last reserve, the Imperial Guard, led by Ney at Wellingtons center. This final French attack was supported by French troops on its right who had been fighting at Hougoumont and on its left by those of DErlons units that had been reconstituted after their earlier defeat in the first French infantry attack. The Imperial Guard attack advanced deep into Wellingtons right center and, in fact, had succeeded in breaking the Dukes line; but several well-timed Anglo-Allied counterattacks, coinciding with the arrival on the eastern flank of the battlefield of Bluchers Prussian army (between 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.), repelled the Imperial Guard attack and forced the French into a general retreat. Coalition Counterattack and French Retreat: As the Imperial Guard began its retreat, Wellington ordered a general advance by the Anglo-Allied army which, soon joined by the Prussians, turned the French retreat into a rout. Sometime between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Wellington and Blucher met at La Belle Alliance, Napoleons headquarters during the battle, as their victorious forces continued pursuing the defeated French army fleeing south. BATTLE OF WATERLOO: ANALYSIS Strategic and tactical decisions and factors beyond the control of both sides commanders led to the Waterloo campaign and determined its historic outcome. Strategic Decisions: Napoleons strategic decisions made the Battle of Waterloo inevitable: Escape from Elba (February 26, 1815) There would have been no Battle of Waterloo had Napoleon decided to remain passively in exile on Elba. With King Louis XVIII on the French throne, however, the restored aristocracy resumed their pre-Revolution oppression, and the overwhelming majority of Frenchmen desired the Emperors return. Napoleon considered it his imperial duty to fulfill his countrymens expectations and end foreign interference in Frances internal affairs. Return to Paris Napoleons triumphal return to Paris without a single musket being fired confirmed the good sense of his decision. Louis fled and Napoleon offered peace and constitutional reform to Europes monarchies they responded by declaring him an outlaw. With war again forced upon him, Napoleon chose to lead Frances army to resist the coming onslaught. Defeat the Coalition in Detail England, Russia, Austria and Prussia (and smaller nations) formed the Seventh Anti-Napoleon Coalition and began mobilizing to attack France. Yet, historys greatest military strategist would not sit idly by while his enemies leisurely massed their forces. Napoleon decided to seize the initiative, strike north toward Brussels, and defeat the most dangerous immediate threat Anglo-Allied and Prussian armies in detail (destroy a portion of the enemy force before it could fully mass against him.) Using the strategy of the central position that had served him well in all his wars, Napoleon intended to place his army between two enemy armies, and while holding one at bay, defeat the other before turning on the former. Tactical Decisions and Factors: Once the armies met on the battlefield, tactical decisions and the bad luck of torrential rain determined the Waterloo campaigns outcome. Missed Opportunity at Ligny Napoleon chose to target Bluchers Prussians at Ligny by placing his French army between the Prussians and Wellington, a brilliant tactical move that, had it totally crushed the Prussian army, would have won the war. He fixed them in place with part of his force, expecting Marshal Ney to move his troops from Quatre Bras and take the Prussians in the rear. Although Napoleon defeated Bluchers Prussians, he did not crush them an apathetic Ney failed to appear and a thunderstorm hindered French pursuit. Instead of winning the war at Ligny, Napoleon had to repeat his defeat in detail strategy, this time against Wellingtons Anglo-Allied army at Waterloo. Waterloos Delayed Beginning Heavy rains fatefully intruded again on tactical plans, soaking the Waterloo battlefield the night of June 17-18, and preventing movement of artillery to support a massive attack. Napoleon delayed military operations until the ground had dried somewhat several critical hours allowing Wellington to perfect his defenses while giving Bluchers Prussians time to arrive just in time to tip the battle in the Coalitions favor. Neys Tactical Blunder Bravest of the brave Ney followed his June 16 failure at Quatre Bras-Ligny by committing another egregious tactical blunder about 4:00 p.m. June 18. Neys foolishly unsupported massed cavalry charge against Wellingtons well-sited infantry squares robbed Napoleon of the critical combat power he needed later to seal a victory before the Prussians arrived. Although Napoleons Imperial Guard attack in fact cracked Wellingtons line about 7:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m., Bluchers arrival unbalanced French tactical dispositions, reversing the battles outcome. Grouchys Double Failures Marshal Grouchy, sent with one-third of Napoleons army to pursue the beaten Prussians after Ligny, could have ensured Napoleons Waterloo victory had he accomplished one of two tasks: prevent Blucher linking up with Wellington; or move to the sound of the guns and join Napoleon at Waterloo. He did neither. When large numbers of troops began approaching Waterloo from the east around 7:30 p.m., Napoleon was horrified and Wellington greatly relieved to discover they were Bluchers Prussians, not Grouchys French. The Prussians saved Wellington, snatching allied victory from the jaws of defeat. BATTLE OF WATERLOO: ASSESSMENT The Battle of Waterloo bottom line is best summarized by the late Dr. Ben Weider (1923-2008), CM, CQ, SBStJ, Founder and President of the International Napoleonic Society and the worlds foremost Napoleon expert: In his final campaign, Napoleon encountered an accumulation of setbacks and misadventures that were beyond his control and indeed beyond all comprehension. The war should have ended at Ligny (June 16) if Ney had been true to his potential. Two days later, victory would have been won [at Waterloo] if Ney had not bungled his tactics and above all if Grouchy had been at the top of his form. Despite Neys failure, victory might yet have been won if not for the untimely rain that delayed the start of the attack by three hours. Considering the precarious Anglo-Allied position when Blucher arrived, Wellington could not have held out for three more hours. Waterloo was an unthinkable disaster, as if the gods had willed it to be so. Despite all this, Napoleon did not fail his reputation as a great captain. Jerry D. Morelock, PhD, HISTORYNET Editor at Large. For additional information see Napoleonic WarfareIts Strategy and Tactics; Napoleon Versus Wellington; and Recommended Books on the Battle of Waterloo. Posted on Jun 30, 2015 in Stuff We Like David Hackett Fischer Receives Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing ArmchairGeneral.com received the following media release, and we extend our congratulations to historian David Hackett Fischer. * * * Pritzker Military Museum & Library Announces 2015 Literature Award Recipient David Hackett Fischer wins $100,000 prize for lifetime achievement in military writing CHICAGO, June 30, 2015Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, best-selling author, and Brandeis University professor David Hackett Fischer is the recipient of the 2015 Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. The Pritzker Literature Awardwhich includes a medallion, citation, and $100,000 honorariumrecognizes and honors the contributions of a living author for a body of work dedicated to enriching the understanding of military history. Museum & Library Founder & Chair Jennifer N. Pritzker, a retired colonel in the Illinois National Guard, will formally present Fischer with the award at the organizations annual Liberty Gala on Nov. 7 at the Hilton Chicago, where he will be joined by past winners. First presented to historian James McPherson in 2007, other past recipientsseveral of whom served as members of the awards 2015 screening committeeare Allan Millett, Gerhard Weinberg, Rick Atkinson, Carlo DEste, Sir Max Hastings, Tim OBrien, and Antony Beevor. The Pritzker Literature Award is deeply meaningful to meit comes as the judgment of colleagues who have set the highest standards in my field by the excellence of their research and writing, said Fischer. It inspires a sense of obligation in work to come. Author of 15 major publications on topics ranging from the American Revolution to the logic of historical thought, Fischer received the American Enterprise Institutes Irving Kristol Award in 2006 for his pivotal role in reviving popular and academic interest in American history and its lessons for the present. Among his notable works are bestsellers and award-winners like Washingtons Crossing (Oxford University Press, 2004), a National Book Award finalist and 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner for history; Paul Reveres Ride (Oxford, 1994), a 1996 Boston Globe Top 10 Book of the Year; Champlains Dream (Simon & Schuster/Knopf Canada, 2008), an internationally acclaimed biography published in English and French; and Albions Seed: Four British Folkways in America (Oxford, 1989), a groundbreaking study of the roots of essential American traitsa second volume of which is now in progress. Dr. Fischer has made extraordinary contributions to the field of military historyhe is a master story teller and a brilliant teacher, said Pritzker Literature Award Screening Committee chairman John W. Rowe. The committee members take great pride in recommending a deserving candidate for selection each year, and Dr. Fischer is an undeniably worthy choice. A graduate of Princeton University (A.B., 1958) and the Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D., 1962), Fischer is University Professor and Earl Warren Professor of History at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, where he has served on the faculty for more than 50 years. A recipient of numerous teaching awards over his long and distinguished careerincluding the 1990 Carnegie Prize as Massachusetts Professor of the Year and the Louis Dembitz Brandeis Prize for Excellence in TeachingFischer has held visiting professorships at Harvard University, The University of Oxford, the University of Washington, and several institutions in New Zealand. He and his wife, Judith Hummel Fischer, have two children and two grandchildren. The Pritzker Literature Award is sponsored by the Tawani Foundation. To learn more about the award or the selection process, or to watch 2014 Literature Award recipient Antony Beevor announce David Hackett Fischer as this years winner, visit www.pritzkermilitary.org. ABOUT THE PRITZKER MILITARY MUSEUM & LIBRARY The Pritzker Military Museum & Library is open to the public and features an extensive collection of books, artifacts, and rotating exhibits covering many eras and branches of the military. Since opening in 2003, it has become a center where citizens and Citizen Soldiers come together to learn about military history and the role of the Armed Forces in todays society. The Museum & Library is a non-partisan, non-government information center supported by its members and sponsors. ABOUT THE TAWANI FOUNDATION Founded by Colonel (IL) Jennifer N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Retired), Tawani Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) grant-making organization whose mission is to enhance the awareness and understanding of the importance of the Citizen Soldier; to preserve unique sites of significance to American and military history; to foster health and wellness projects for improved quality of life; and to honor the service of military personnelpast, present and futurethrough an awards program that includes the JROTC/ROTC Award for Military Excellence and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. Posted on Jul 2, 2015 in Front Page Features, History News Dwight D. Eisenhower National Memorial Design Approved On June 18, the design for the National Eisenhower Memorial (eisenhowermemorial.gov) received final approval from the United States Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), moving the project to honor the former President who in World War II had led Allied forces to victory in Europe another important step closer to becoming reality. U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission (EMC), explained: Todays vote of final approval by the CFA helps to ensure a lasting and fitting tribute to President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower who 71 years ago this month made the D-Day decision that led us to victory in Europe. With a memorial to Ike, not only will the surviving 2 million U.S. troops under his command have the place to remember his service and valor, but so will generations to come. My grandkids today are too young to understand what Ike gave to them in the peace and freedom they enjoy. But with a permanent memorial, its my hope they will come to understand and appreciate what he meant to our country and to the entire world. The next milestone for the National Eisenhower Memorial will take place on July 9 when the memorials CFA-approved design will appear before the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) for final approval. Eisenhower Memorial Commission Vice Chairman, Congressman Mike Thompson, stated: The EMC looks forward to appearing before the NCPC in two weeks where we hope to receive the second and final of our federal approvals. Many of the design edits that received CFAs final approval today come from the EMCs close work with the NCPC late last yearWe look forward to taking a fully approved design forward to funding, construction and dedication. The National Eisenhower Memorial Eisenhower Square is designed as a four-acre urban park at the base of Capitol Hill. The design includes a memorial at the center of the square to recognize Eisenhowers accomplishments as both President and Supreme Allied Commander. Ike as 34th U.S. President is commemorated in a bronze sculpture flanking the President are abstract figures representative of civilian power and military power with Eisenhower symbolizing the delicate balance between them. Eisenhower as the Supreme Allied Commander during World War II is commemorated in a bronze sculpture inspired by the famous photograph of him with 101st Airborne Division paratroopers before their jump into France to spearhead the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion. AMERICAN HISTORY MAGAZINE SPECIAL ISSUE How Eisenhower Shaped Our World: Ike takes center stage in the August 2015 issue of HISTORYNETs American History magazine in a special issue featuring articles on his life as a Wartime leader, Peacetime visionary the architect of victory in Europe who built peace, prosperity and equality at home. Contributors to this issue published during this 125th anniversary year of Eisenhowers birth include Carlo DEste (author of Eisenhower: A Soldiers Life), Evan Thomas (author of Ikes Bluff: President Eisenhowers Secret Battle to Save the World), David A. Nichols (author of A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution), Ikes granddaughter Mary Jean Eisenhower (chief development officer of Outreach International and chairman emeritus of People to People) and Jerry D. Morelock (HISTORYNET Editor at Large). Read an article from this Ike Special Issue on historynet.com. All images are taken from artist conceptions for the Eisenhower Memorial design. Click on link to learn more. Posted on Jan 6, 2015 in Carlo D'Este Some Reflections The New Year is always a good time for me to step back and count my many blessings. I feel especially privileged to write for Armchair General and to share my occasional ramblings with a dedicated audience of knowledgeable readers. This time last year I was grateful merely to be free of a cast on my leg and broken ankle that hobbled me for six weeks during the initial healing process. If 2014 has taught me anything, it is to be very careful where I step. When I began a second career as a military historian and biographer nearly thirty-six years ago, that journey has taken me to places I never expected to be able to visit and to meet people Id only read about, including Princess Margaret of Britain and Pres. Bill Clinton in the White House. Ive also had the great privilege of meeting and getting to know some of the key players of World War II. Many of them I met while living in England during the research for my first book. Little did I know that it was perhaps the perfect time to be investigating World War II. Many of the top figures had recently died, and private papers (particularly their important diaries and letters, unpublished memoirs and recollections) were becoming more and more available to researchers like myself. Also, a number of years had passed since the end of the war, which seemed to make those men more inclined to talk freely about their experiences, and their impressions and recollections of many of the top players of the war, such as Montgomery, Eisenhower, Bradley, and others. {default} This is an excellent time to acknowledge what all of us in this profession have come to understand and appreciate is the lifeblood of what we do. In an age before the Internet, most on this list were contacted the old-fashioned way by letter. What was so gratifying was that, virtually without exception, their responses were positive. Among those who were instrumental in enlightening me were: Air Chief Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst (1905-1995) was a pioneer airman, fighter ace, the commander of the Desert Air Force in North Africa and the 2d Tactical Air Force in Northwest Europe. Sir Harry had a very successful postwar career both in the RAF and as the managing director of Hawker Siddeley Aviation. Sir Harry Broadhurst was also the subject of a 2007 article on the Armchair General . Please click here to read it. Gen. Sir Charles Leslie Richardson (1908-1994), a Royal Engineer officer, was one of Montgomerys senior staff officers and a postwar full general, who also served on the staff of Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander during the Italian campaign. Sir Charles was an invaluable resource not only of Montgomery and Alexander but also of the North African, Sicily, Italian, and Northwest Europe campaigns. Brigadier Sir Edgar Bill Williams (1912-1995), Field Marshal Montgomerys brilliant chief intelligence officer in North Africa and Northwest Europe was always affable, candid and forthcoming about his war experiences and his close relationship with Monty, and others such as Harold Macmillan. Lt. Gen Sir Ian Jacob (1899-1993), a Royal Engineer, was the exceptionally effective Military Assistant Secretary to the War Cabinet of Winston Churchill, a post that brought him in frequent contact with not only Churchill but also many of the other key players of the war such as Montgomery, Alanbrooke, and the U.S. and British chiefs of staff. Sir Ians life has been ably recounted by his friend and fellow Royal Engineer, Sir Charles Richardson, who also wrote Send For Freddie, a memoir of Montgomerys chief of staff, Major General Sir Francis deGuingand. Gen. Bruce C. Clarke (1901-1988), then a brigadier general, organized and led the gallant, undermanned and outgunned task force that defended St. Vith in the Bulge in what was one of the wars finest small unit actions. In the postwar years Clarke became a four-star general and the Commander in Chief of U.S. Army Europe. Gen. J. Lawton Lightning Joe Collins (1896-1987) was one of the few U.S. Army officers who served in both the Pacific and European theaters during World War II. He commanded VII Corps during the Normandy campaign, and the campaigns that followed. After the war he held a variety of increasingly important posts, including U.S. Army Chief of Staff during the Korean War. Gen. Isaac D. White (1901-1990) was commissioned a cavalry officer in 1922 from Norwich University, my alma mater, and during World War II served in a variety of command positions, including the 2d Armored Division. I.D. White knew Patton well and was an excellent source during my research not only of Patton but also the Sicily and Northwest Europe campaigns. In the postwar years, Gen. White was commandant of the Armor School at Fort Knox, Kentucky, commanding general of X Corps and the Eighth Army in Korea, and the CG of the U.S. Army Pacific. Gen. Andrew J. Goodpaster (1915-2005). Ive also been privileged to have served with Gen. Andrew Goodpaster on the Eisenhower Legacy Committee that prepared an assessment of Ike for the new Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, DC. A self-effacing soldier and statesman, Gen. Goodpaster was one of the most remarkable men Ive ever met. His record of service was extraordinary and included the Distinguished Service Cross received while in command of an Engineer combat battalion in North Africa and Italy during World War II (where he was severely wounded twice), Commander in Chief of the U.S. European Command, NATO Supreme Allied Commander, and Superintendent of West Point in the wake of the notorious cheating scandal. In that role he was instrumental in restoring the reputation of the military academy. Gen. Goodpaster also served in the White House as a staff secretary and advisor to Eisenhower for seven years during his presidency. On several occasions during my tenure with him on the Eisenhower Legacy Committee he telephoned me to discuss Ike. At the outset he always asked me to please call him Andy. I had too much respect for him and simply couldnt do it. Instead, I called him Sir it was the right thing to do. A number of others who survived the war are not as well known but each helped me to tell their stories. Among them was Brigadier Shelford Ginger Bidwell, a veteran of the Italian campaign, and a brilliant postwar military historian who became one of my closest friends. His wise counsel was invaluable during my research not only for my Anzio book but also about all aspects of World War II and its personalities. Lt. Gen. James M. Gavin (1907-1990). One of the finest battlefield commanders of World War II was Lt. Gen. James M. Gavin, who earned the nickname Jumpin Jim for his heroics and unflinching courage as an airborne commander in many of the wars bloodiest campaigns. Ive been blessed to have interviewed and known Jim Gavin, who excelled at everything he ever undertook, including writing. As a rather forgettable year has now passed into history, Im grateful to be able to give thanks for the privilege of having known and of being able to write about such exemplary men, several of whom will return in future articles. Happy New Year! Posted on Dec 4, 2014 in Tactics101 Tactics 101 103 Bradley Platoon Attack Bradley Platoon Attack A view from the Platoon Leaders Cupola/Foxhole Since I joined the Marines, I have advocated aggressiveness in the field and constant offensive action. Hit quickly, hit hard, and keep right on hitting. Give the enemy no rest, no opportunity to consolidate his forces and hit back at you. This is the shortest road to victory. {default} General Holland M. Howlin Mad Smith LAST MONTH In our last two articles, we dissected the Bradley platoon. We looked at several areas in our discussion. This included the organization of the platoon, the roles and responsibilities of the platoons key leaders, the maneuver techniques and formations a platoon may utilize, and the challenges a platoon has in maneuver. We believe these articles provided a solid foundation for you in your understanding of the Bradley Platoon. We will now expand on that foundation. THIS MONTH In this months article, we will take a little different approach than normal. We will look at an attack with the perspective of the Soldier who will lead his unit. In this case, we will focus on the Bradley Platoon Leader who will lead his Soldiers in the attack. We will get into the head of the Platoon Leader and address his thoughts on how he will plan and prepare for this offensive operation. Tough Stuff! Even tougher when you are a young, relatively inexperienced second Lieutenant. Fortunately, he has good NCOs to help him. He must listen and utilize their incredible experience. Lets mount up and cross LD! THE PRELIMINARIES Lieutenant Duffer got his OPORD from the Old Man (Company Commander) at o-dark-thirty in the am. His platoon was to initially lead the company attack in about 24 hours. They were to seize Objective Red (1) in order to allow the rest of the company to continue the attack south to seize Objectives White and Blue (2). By seizing Objectives Red, White and Blue, Bravo Company would effectively eliminate the enemys security zone. This would clear the path for the rest of the Battalion Task Force to attack south in order to destroy the enemys main belt defensive position (3). This would ultimately open the valley for maneuver for the rest of the Brigade Combat Team. It was all nested and the platoon would have an important purpose and task. The Platoon Leader crafted up the following sketch with some notes to aid in his planning and preparation: Duffer wrote his platoon MISSION statement: The 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion attacks at 0300 13JUNE2014 to seize Objective Red in order to facilitate the Company attack to seize Objectives White and Blue. Duffers Platoon was a supporting effort. The fighting 3rd Platoon would clear the way for the main effort 1st Platoon to seize Objective White. The 2nd Platoon was also a supporting effort. They would follow and support the 1st Platoon, then would maneuver to the south of them to seize Objective Blue and block any enemy counterattacks. The company scheme of maneuver is as shown to the left. The 3rd Platoon leads the attack in time and space. They cross the line of departure (LD) at 0300 in the morning. They have until 0445 to seize Objective Red and establish an overwatch position overlooking White and Blue 500 meters to the southeast. Duffer will call in and observe artillery and smoke and will use his platoon weapon systems to suppress the enemy while the rest of the company maneuvers to seize White and Blue. The 3rd Platoon will stay on Red while Bravo Company (-) suppresses the enemy main belt during the battalion attack. Its basically a three step attack led off by 3rd Platoon, B Co. Although Duffers men are only a supporting effort, they will set the tone for the mission. Now that Duffer understood the missions of his platoon, company, and battalion and how they fit together (nesting), he needed to analyze the ENEMY. The Battalion S2, Intelligence Officer, said Objective Red was held by a motorized rifle squad. They were an LP/OP: Listening Post and Outpost. They were the eyes forward of a motorized rifle platoon combat outpost (COP); a rudimentary security zone. The enemy squad was dug into a trench that connected to their BMP1 which is dug in. The trench has three bunkers, probably sheltering a few ATGM (Anti-tank Guided Missile) gunners and a machine-gunner. There also appeared to be four parapets thought to be firing points for individual riflemen. They are surrounded by wire and mines with an opening to the rear believed to be an escape route. The wire is simple concertina and the mines are surface laid; this is a hasty and temporary obstacle meant to disrupt and slow movement, not to stop it. A BMP1 with a 73mm main gun, Sagger anti-tank missile and 7.62 coax machine gun is dug in on the eastern tip of the hilltop, allowing it to overwatch the gap. A squad of 9 to 12 Soldiers is dug in a trench line with three bunkers, probably with two RPGs and two machineguns. BMP 1 This is LT Duffers Endstate for this Vehicle Lt Duffer had a pretty good idea about how the enemy was arrayed, equipped, and armed. He knew where they were and why they were there. He knew their Saggers could kill Bradleys out to 2 kilometers and their RPGs ranged out to 400 meters. He knew enough about the enemy to get started on the plan of attack, but he needed to review his own TROOPS to make sure he hadnt overlooked anything. Its easy to neglect this simple step. The 3rd Platoon was at full strength and morale was high. His NCOs were experienced and they knew their jobs. The BFVs were well maintained as were the platoons mounted and dismounted weapons systems. The role of the BFVs was not to fight like a little tank. Their job was to provide mobility, extra firepower and protection to the infantry squads so they can close with the enemy. Thats what the Infantry does. The Infantry squads dismount and take objectives; tanks and Bradleys support. Once in a position to deploy the Infantry on the ground, the BFVs provide suppressive fire so the Infantry can maneuver. The BFVs suppress enemy armored vehicles and Infantry Fighting Vehicles and kill tanks with their Tow missiles. Lt Duffer learned early on that the Brads have excellent cross-country mobility and can fire with pinpoint accuracy while on the move. He also understood the following: Their armor can stop anything up to 30mm rounds all around. They have protection inside and overhead. They pack a 25mm Bushmaster Chain Gun capable of firing armor piercing (AP) or high explosive (HE) rounds at 200 per minute out to 2 kilometers great for fixing and suppressing the enemy. The big guns are backed up by a 7.62mm coax machine gun mounted to the right of the Bushmaster which is highly effective against dismounted enemy infantry. The BFV also comes with the aforementioned TOW Anti-Tank Guided Missile. Two are loaded in the hammerhead at all times and are ready to fire with 7 more ready as reloads. The one thing to remember is that the BFV has to stop to fire the TOWs which means this should be pre-planned when on the attack against a fixed position. The TOW reaches out almost 4 kilometers and travels at speeds approaching Mach 1. They are wire guided by the gunner making them deadly accurate. All vehicle combat systems are backed up with state of the art optics for both day and night. The Bradleys wide tracks and 600 horsepower engine makes it fast and maneuverable over rough ground. The BFV has a venerable record. In their first combat test during Desert Storm, only 3 of the 2,200 were disabled and accounted for more armor kills than their partner the M1A1 Abrams tank. Duffer has 4 Bradleys but, as impressive as they sound, the meat and potatoes are the three Infantry squads. Theyre the ones he uses to close with and destroy the enemy or to hold ground; close combat is the only way to gain the decision in battle. The platoon is most effective when it operates at night or during limited visibility. They can penetrate and hold obstacles and difficult terrain, attack over ground that stops tanks, seize or secure forested and built-up areas, and can control restrictive routes all of which are elements of this mission. Lt Duffer and the third herd can usually count on artillery, mortars, close air, air defense and engineer support, but not this time. Duffer would get flares over the objective; smoke in front of it, and a few rounds on top of it and that was about all. Most of the combat support was being held for the larger attacks to the south. The mortars were, of course, always on call. He would depend significantly on them. He knew the key stats of his weapon systems: 25-mm chain gun: reaches out to 2,500 meters . . The TOW tanks and armor killer: reaches out to almost 4,000 meters . . The dismounted Javelin tank and armor killer: reaches out to 2,000 meters . Javelin tank and armor killer: reaches out to . Dismounted SAW and M60 reaching out to 1,000 meters . . Infantry small arms reaching out to 400 meters. Loads of grenades; HE, smoke, and incendiary. LT Duffer knew he possessed the firepower required to achieve his purpose and task. He also knew the organization of his platoon. This included: The mounted element consists of four BFVs divided into two sections of two BFVs each (A and B). The Platoon Leader leads section A and the platoon while the Platoon Sergeant leads section B. The Platoon Leader dismounts when the squads dismount and he, along with the Squad Leaders, lead the fight on the ground. The Platoon Sergeant remains mounted and continues to maneuver his section while guiding the mounted element and ensuring its direct support to the ground troops. The Platoon Sergeant also uses the vehicle radios to maintain contact with the company and provides situation reports (SITREPS) and calls for fire. The A and B wingman Bradleys are controlled by their Bradley Commander (BC). Their job is to follow the directions of the Section Leader and the Platoon Leader while fighting their Bradley. He acquires targets for his gunner who remains inside the turret with his eyes glued to his sights. The BC commands his BFV and keeps it properly oriented relative to the section and the platoon. He also controls vehicle fires in support of mounted and dismounted maneuver and places his BFV in position within platoon formations. The BC doesnt just follow the guy in front of him, he navigates, sends SITREPs, and supports the Infantry he carries. The dismounted element consists of the three nine-man rifle squads. The squad has two, four-man fire teams and a squad leader. Each squad has an Anti-Tank weapon and squad automatic weapon or SAW. Two riflemen train on the SAW and Javelin. Rifleman. Each squad has two riflemen equipped with an M16A2 or M4. One rifleman is designated as the anti-armor specialist. The other is assigned the M240B. Antiarmor Specialist. The designated Javelin and AT4 gunner provides lethal fire-and-forget, man-portable, top attack anti-armor capability to defeat enemy main battle tanks during day, night, and adverse weather conditions up to 2,000 meters. Grenadier. The grenadier has an M203 which consists of an M16 with attached 40-mm grenade launcher. The M203 gives the fire team indirect-fire out to 350 meters. He can fire high-explosive (HE) or can employ smoke to screen and cover his movement, fire, and maneuver. During night and adverse weather conditions, he can fire illumination rounds to increase visibility and mark enemy or friendly positions. Automatic Rifleman. Each squad has two automatic weapons. The automatic rifleman mainly uses the M249 squad automatic weapon. The M249 gives the squad a high volume of sustained, long-range, suppressive, or lethal fires far beyond the range of the M16 or M4 rifle. The automatic rifleman uses the M249 to suppress enemy infantry and bunkers, to destroy enemy automatic rifle and antitank teams, and to enable other teams and squads to maneuver. LT Duffer considered the following guidelines for tactical employment of his platoon: Fight through contact at the lowest possible level. Upon contact, act at once and follow up. Battle drills help take immediate action. Before the platoon maneuvered, he knew the platoon must establish suppressive fire and gain fire superiority. If the platoon cannot move under its own fire; he should request support from the company. Once they gain fire superiority, he continues maneuver. When he must dismount, the BFVs suppress and build a base of fire for squads to maneuver. Duffer contemplatedso much for the upside. The platoon seems more than capable for this mission, but a responsible leader also reviews the downside. As Clint Eastwood said once, a mans got to know his limitations. He know his limitations were: The BFVs are vulnerable to anti-tank systems . The approach to the objective must minimize exposure to ATGMs. The BMP will have to be heavily suppressed and well have to stay out of range of the infantry ATs. . The approach to the objective must minimize exposure to ATGMs. The BMP will have to be heavily suppressed and well have to stay out of range of the infantry ATs. The rifle squads are vulnerable to small arms fire and artillery when on the ground . While small arms fire is always a problem, artillery can be devastating. We need to dismount as close as possible or infiltrate on a route masked from enemy observation. . While small arms fire is always a problem, artillery can be devastating. We need to dismount as close as possible or infiltrate on a route masked from enemy observation. Once the infantry dismounts, they set the pace . As always, one of the biggest issues is how to synchronize the ground and mounted elements. Dismount too soon and the attack loses momentum; dismount too late and you deny the infantry the ability to develop the situation. In this case, the infantry might have to go on foot early on and move to an attack position. Once ready to initiate the assault, the BFVs could move forward and begin target suppression. . As always, one of the biggest issues is how to synchronize the ground and mounted elements. Dismount too soon and the attack loses momentum; dismount too late and you deny the infantry the ability to develop the situation. In this case, the infantry might have to go on foot early on and move to an attack position. Once ready to initiate the assault, the BFVs could move forward and begin target suppression. Swimming BFVs is slow and difficult, but doable. Fording sites have to be found and validated while bridges have to be checked to see if they meet weight classification. Luckily these are not problems on this mission. After having considered the platoons strengths and weaknesses, capabilities and limitations, Duffer had to roll it all up and consider how to maximize the pluses and minimize the minuses so he could begin making a plan. The platoon is not a tank platoon; its not designed to overrun enemy positions mounted. Duffer learned this lesson the hard way at the National Training Center when he tried to do just that as a Green newbie. The platoon got smoked in a matter of minutes and the shiny new lieutenant had an uphill battle ahead of him to rebuild credibility with his guys. He wasnt gonna bum rush another objective againat least not without a tank escort. This isnt the NTC and the enemy isnt firing lasers. There would be a well-orchestrated mix of mounted and dismounted action with smoke obscuration, artillery and direct fire suppression at play in order to let the Infantry get up to the enemy position. He needed to fight through contact at the lowest possible level. If he made contact on the way, the lead section would act and the trail would follow up. The platoon would need to rehearse its mounted and dismounted battle drills and immediate action. Smoke first, suppression next, and fire superiority last; thats the sequence hed use to close on Objective Red. If the platoon finds out that it cannot move under its own fires, Duffer would request additional fire support beyond what was already preplanned. Once they gain fire superiority theyd maneuver. The BFVs build a base of fire for squads to maneuver. The simple rules of thumb are: Support the rifle squads with direct fire. Suppress or destroy enemy IFVs and light armored vehicles. Destroy enemy armor with TOW. Success hinges on the actions of the mounted sections, and dismounted rifle squads. BFV Infantry relies on the use of both the rifle squads and the BFVs. Dont leave anything out of the fight. Assault enemy positions with small arms and indirect fire. Conduct dismounted patrols to collect intel and to reinforce security. Organize for and over-watch obstacle breaching: AssaultSupportBreach. Be prepared to defeat enemy counter-attacks. The enemy position provides visibility to the north and northeast, allowing the squad to observe anyone approaching and to direct fires and artillery on them as they move south towards and through the gap. Its a pretty good position. Theres a wooded ridge to the west and the squad was nestled into the hilltop spur at the end of the ridge. The only concealed approach is down the ridge. Duffer had 24hours to be on the objective. Hed backwards plan to make a schedule that gave his subordinates the maximum amount of time necessary to prepare their squads and sections. The typical rule is 1/3rd to 2/3rds leader to subordinate time although the best shoot for 1/5th 4/5ths. Lets see LT Duffer assessed the TERRAIN on and around Objective Red. The approach is wide open which means no hindrance to the Bradleys on the attack, but which also means the enemy BMP can fire on them as they approach. Hed need smoke to hinder visibility and artillery to keep the BMP and dismounted AT gunners heads down. If the Bradleys can get into range without taking effective fire, they will be able to put a high volume of suppressive fire on the defenders. The enemy position provides visibility to the north and northeast, allowing the squad to observe anyone approaching and to direct fires and artillery on them as they move south towards and through the gap. Its a pretty good position. Theres a wooded ridge running downhill from the west ending in a hilltop at the end. Objective Red is the squad defensive position on that small hilltop. The only concealed approach is down the ridge. The ridge runs west to east and is wooded up to the hilltop. This gentle downward slope though the trees offers an excellent dismounted avenue of approach for the dismounted Infantrymen. To save time, the BFVs will need to put the troops on the ground at the base of the ridge. They could then use the cover and concealment to close in on the eastern flank of the position. They would be able to breach the wire and mines on a narrow front and would gain direct access to the flank position. The mixture of a relatively flat and open approach to the gap and the wooded ridgeline off to the east makes for an excellent pair of exploitable approaches. The mission TIME is 0300 or 25 hours from receipt of the order to crossing the Line of Departure (LD). According to the 1/3rd : 2/3rd Rule, 8 hours would go to LT Duffer and 17 hours would go to his squad leaders. The thirds is the rule of thumb, but the fourths is the goal: 1/4th : 3:4th. That would mean roughly 5 hours to Duffer and 20 to his subordinates. That was better since the squad leaders had to plan, issue orders, rehearse and make sure everyone had the right basic load. Duffer figured he could prepare and brief a solid plan in 5 hours. THE PLAN IN A NUTSHELL. As per Platoon standard operating procedure (SOP); the Platoon Sergeant (PSG) would lead the Bradleysthe mounted element. Duffer would lead the dismounted element. The artillery would open fire on Objectives White and Blue at 0245 and would shift fires north to Objective Red at 0300hrs while the Third Herd was crossing the LD as per the Company Commanders timeline. Smoke would be mixed into the fires on Red and mortar flares would pop over the hilltop every 10 minutes or so. The platoon would use the flares as a reference point as they headed to the dismount point to the northeast of Red, at the base of the ridgeline. Once the Dismounted Infantry was on the ground, the PSG would move the mounted element into place. The PSGs section would overwatch as the PLs section moved into a firing line north of the objective. The PSGs section would follow. The Brads would be 2.5 kilometers out and would keep 200 meters between them. All would fire; two firing Armor Piercing (AP) rounds at the BMP and two firing High Explosive (HE) rounds at the trenches and bunkers. The PSG would also report to Battalion and monitor the mortar fires being called by the dismounts. When the BMP gets hit, whether by the Brads or the Infantry, the PSG would begin maneuvering on the objective. Hed drive right up to the base of the hill as soon as practical, using his 7.62mm in support of the Infantry. The three dismounted squads would be 2 kilometers from the objective. Theyd have to move quickly, but cautiously since there could be a listening post (LP) hiding in the woods looking for them. All in all, it would take 60 to 90 minutes. No problem; the hush that comes over the battlefield after an arty prep is eerie and unsettling to the defender who knows something is afootbut what? The squads were broken down to assault (1st Sqd), support (2nd Sqd), and breach (3rd Sqd) teams. The support team got extra machinegun ammo and was given control of battalion mortar fires. The breach team was given rope with grappling hooks, mine probes, chemlites to mark the lane, and other special gear. The assault team was beefed up with a few troops from the support team. Duffer would lead a leaders recon once they were 400 meters out from Objective Red. The support team would get in position first, while everyone else dropped their gear. The breach team would use the grappling hooks to drag the wire back, figuring some of the mines to be tethered to the wire as booby traps. The mines were surface laid so they would be marked to be avoided. The assault team would charge through the breach as soon as it was open and gain a foothold in the eastern most end of the trench line. The breach time would follow them in while the support team would reposition to keep fires on the west side. The Brads would come up when Duffer called them or at the Platoon Sergeants discretion. The pre-requisite to their arrival is the destruction of the BMP. Once there, they would put fire on Objectives White and Blue, while LT Duffer called the commander who would begin the attack through the gap. BFV Platoon Planning. Remember the basics, they apply to all units; large and small, light and heavy: METT-T: Mission, Enemy, Troops, Terrain, Time Troop Leading Procedures The BFV specific planning considerations include: The Dismounted Element of three rifle squads The Mounted Element of 4 BFVs Maneuver, Firepower, Protection, Leadership, Information Supply Class I, III, V, IX: food, fuel, ammo, and medical supplies Remember that your Bradleys are not little tanks. They are Infantry fighting vehicles. They provide mobility, firepower and protection and their primary purpose is to SUPPORT the infantry when they dismount. Bradley platoons have fewer troops to put on the ground given the need to crew the IFVs. They typically field 27 or fewer ground troops. The Infantry deficit is made up by tactical mobility and tempo, armored protection, devastating long range suppressive fires, and TOW ATGMs. Care must be taken to synchronize the slower ground movement and shorter range weapons with the faster mounted movement and longer range systems. The Dismounted Infantry and Bradleys allow the platoon to balance the close fight and the longer range armored fight. Each element, when used properly, mitigates the others weaknesses. The BFV platoon is uniquely capable to work on the armored and infantry battlefields. They typically partner with M1A1 Abrams Tanks; making one of the most lethal and capable modern conventional combat teams ever fielded. When you properly plan a Bradley Platoon attack you are delivering a highly capable force that can create multiple dilemmas for any opponent. Be sure to use all your combat power; dont park your Brads and dont leave your infantry mounted; use both to their fullest advantage! SUMMARY In this article, we wanted to provide you a look into the thought process a Bradley Platoon Leader goes through in planning an attack. Obviously, there is much to think about and not a lot of time to do it. As you can surmise, the growth process a Platoon Leader goes through is tremendous. He is greatly assisted every step of the way by a crusty old Platoon Sergeant who will take him under his wing. Surely, LT Duffer has a Platoon Sergeant who has taught him well! NEXT MONTH In our next article, LT Duffer will address how he plans and prepares for the defense. We will dissect his thought process and how he and his platoon will achieve their purpose and task. LT Duffer has an incredible amount of firepower that he can utilize in accomplishing his mission. As is the case with the Bradley Platoon Leader; he must synchronize the strengths of both his mounted and dismounted elements. He must capitalize on their capabilities and ensure that he minimalizes their weaknesses. In the defense, he must also be a master of time management. He and his Platoon have an enormous amount of work to be done in minimal time. LT Duffer will show you how to accomplish all of this. Posted on Oct 7, 2014 in Tactics101 Tactics 101 101 The Mechanized Infantry Platoon THE MECHANIZED INFANTRY PLATOON Battles are won by slaughter and manoeuvre. The greater the general, the more he contributes in manoeuvre, the less he demands in slaughter. Sir Winston Churchill LAST MONTH In our last article, we celebrated our 100th installment. Again, thanks to all who have made this series possible! When we started, we never thought we would move into triple digits in terms of individual articles. As they say, anything is possible! Our hope is that the series has informed and entertained. {default} THIS MONTH Beginning this month, we will make a shift from light infantry to mechanized infantry operations. There are many differences, but lots in common as well. A good commander will be able to take advantage of the capabilities that mechanized infantry offers. This includes the strengths of both the mounted and dismounted elements of mechanized infantry. In our initial article, we will address the organization of the mechanized infantry platoon. Just as we did in our dissection of the light infantry platoon and company, we will get into significant detail. Within our discussion of mechanized infantry, we will use the US Army and the Bradley Fighting Vehicle BFV (M2) as our model. We will start with the Mechanized Infantry Platoon. Much to discuss, so LETS MOUNT UP! What Puts The Mechanized in Mechanized Infantry? The History Throughout history, we have sought ways to maneuver our Infantrymen quicker and safer. In earlier times, it was generally tied to some sort of animal who could carry the Infantryman or if water was available we could utilize rafts or ships. As technology progressed so did our options for maneuvering our Infantrymen. At the end of World War I, as both sides began moving out of the trenches, options were needed to maneuver the Infantry. With the inception of the tank, something was needed to keep the Infantry in pace with advancing tanks and not be totally exhausted once they reached an objective. The obvious course of action was to put the mechanized in mechanized infantry. In the beginning it was basically having Infantrymen find somewhere to hang onto on a moving a tank. Not a good thing for the Infantrymen. It was a very uncomfortable ride and extremely dangerous. Since tanks were obvious artillery magnets; it made riding on tops of the tanks not a pleasant experience. With that said; it was a start. During the 1920s, there was much thinking going on the subject of warfighting. With men such as Fuller, Hart, Guderian, Chafee speaking; many started listening. They understood that for a force to fight in a combined arms style and be effective; the concept of Mechanized Infantry must be embraced. Their thoughts paved the way for the development of vehicles which could maneuver Infantry. With the onset of World War II, we began to see mechanized infantry move from theory to application. During the course of the war, we saw various vehicles utilized to maneuver Infantrymen. These included among many the German SdKfz 251 half-track APC, the American M2 and M3 halftracks, and the British Bren Carriers. There was now no question that Mechanized Infantry were a staple in most nations armies. M2 Halftrack After World War II, the evolution of vehicles designed to maneuver the Infantryman clearly took off. Like any area tied to warfighting; it was a heavily contested competition between the USA and the USSR. For the US Army it was a progression from the M75 to the M59 to the workhorse the M113. It was during the Vietnam War, where the US began to experiment with variants of the M113. With the addition of some different weapon system platforms; the US was beginning to move from an Infantry carrier to an Infantry Fighting Vehicle. THE M113 On the other side, the Soviet Union was progressing even faster than their ideological foe. During the World War, the USSR was one of the least advanced countries in regards to maneuvering their Infantrymen. They basically relied on trucks and riding atop tanks. Following the War, they were extremely busy in their design and implementation. Its beyond the scope of this article to get into all the vehicles developed by the Soviets, but we will highlight some of the more significant ones below. In 1950, the BTR (Bronetransporter or Armored Transporter) 152 was produced. It was a wheeled transporter, but because of added armor protection it was very heavy and not extremely mobile. With machine guns attached, it had some punch, but was not real threatening on the battlefield. All that said, it was a marked improvement to what they had. In the 1960s, this wheeled transporter was replaced by the BTR 60. It was a significantly better vehicle in all regards to its father. The mid 1960s saw an incredible transformation in the ability of the Soviets to maneuver their Infantry. With the production of the BMP- 1 (Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty), the Soviets moved from utilizing an Infantry carrier to using an Infantry Fighting Vehicle. With the advent of the BMP-1, the Russians could use the vehicle to support the maneuver of the Infantry. This was because the vehicle was tracked and fairly mobile and was equipped with a main gun (originally 73mm), an anti-tank weapon system and machine guns. The complexion of the battlefield had truly changed. This complexion was exhibited during the 1973 Yom Kippur War when Egyptian and Syrian forces were both equipped with BMPs courtesy of the USSR. BMP 1 For the next several decades, the Soviets made improvements to the BMP and these resulted in the BMP-2 and BMP-3. The changes focused on all aspects of the BMP. These included engine advancements, significant upgrades in all weapon systems, and far more armor protection. The end result was a formidable and highly productive Infantry Fighting Vehicle. The lessons learned of the 1973 Yom Kippur weighed heavily on all aspects of warfighting within the US Army. Even before the War, the Army was working on replacements for the M60 Tank and M113 APC. The War simply sped up the process. The fruits of their labor were the M1 Abrams tank and M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Each saw its introduction into the field in the early 1980s. For the Bradley, its moment of truth was Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and it did not disappoint. The Bradley Companion The M1 Tank As with the BMP, the Bradley has gone through many transformations. These include the M2A1, M2A2, M2A2 ODS (Operation Desert Storm), and the M2A3. The interworking of the Bradley was also utilized as the body for many other vehicles utilized by other branches (Air Defense, Engineer, etc). It has been a stalwart of the force and combined with the M1 Tank they are a devastating pair. The pair clearly influenced the development of other tanks and Infantry Fighting Vehicles within other countries. We will address the particulars of the M2 momentarily. As noted above, for brevity sake we will not go in to detail on the Infantry Fighting Vehicles of today. These vehicles have the same purpose as the original BMP or Bradley to assist in the maneuver of Infantryman getting them to the right location at the right time. Since the prototype for our discussion on Mechanized Infantry is a unit equipped with the Bradley; lets highlight the Bradley below utilizing the categories of survivability, mobility, reliability, and lethality. Desert Storm The M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle Desert Storm highlighted the survivability, mobility, reliability, and lethality of the Bradley. Lets address each below. Survivability The Bradley will not protect you from every weapon out there, but an Infantryman feels pretty safe inside the vehicle. It has standard armor and can be fitted with more protection if needed and other types of armor. Another asset the Bradley can call upon for protection is smoke. The Bradley has two ways to produce smoke. First, it is equipped with a couple of M257 smoke grenade dischargers that are each loaded with four smoke grenades. Second, the Bradley has the ability to generate smoke via its engine which has a smoke-generating system. Mobility Having been on a Bradley in all types of terrain; we can verify the ability of the Bradley to operate in a wide variety of environments. Its versatility comes from a powerful engine and wide tracks which truly grip the ground. This enables it to keep up with the M1 tank! It can climb hills, motor on rough surfaces and even swim if required (not optimal, but feasible as we can verify!). Reliability Maintenance wise the Bradley is very reliable. In terms of keeping it running; it is hard to bring it down. As with all technological savvy combat vehicles; there can always be some issues with the electronics and the weapon systems. As you can expect, quality mechanics and technicians diagnose problems quickly and fix the issue. Roughly tied to reliability is the fact that the Bradley can be deployed to any environment via rail, truck, ship and aircraft. Lethality The Bradley has a group of weapon systems which give it much versatility. It is highly effective against thin-skinned vehicles, other types of fighting vehicles, suppressing enemy Soldiers, and can destroy or disable enemy tanks. Lets detail its weapon systems below. The M242 25mm Bushmaster Chain Gun The Bushmaster is the perfect weapon to support the maneuver of the Infantryman. There are numerous reasons for this. First, the chain gun can fire a wide variety of ammunition. If an enemy bunker needs to be destroyed, high explosive (HE) ammo is the call. If thin-skinned vehicles must be destroyed, then HE again would be highly effective. Depending on the type of tank; armor piercing (AP) rounds are available to disable tanks or even destroy it. The beauty of the Bushmaster is that you can change the type of ammunition with the simple flick of a switch. Second, depending on the ammunition the Bushmaster can push out rounds to around 2000 meters. That is a significant overwatch capability when the Infantryman is on the ground. Third, and related to above is the fact is that it can pump out rounds at a very healthy pace. It can fire single or multiple shot and has a standard rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute. Thus, the Bushmasters ability to serve as both an assault and overwatch weapon make it the perfect Infantry Fighting Vehicle weapon. The M240C Machine Gun Inside the Bradley, to the right of the Bushmaster is the M240C 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun. It is obviously an excellent suppression weapon and is generally utilized against the enemys infantry. On a good day, a round could travel up to 3,700 meters. For planning, it is best to figure up to 800 meters for a point target and 1,800 for an area target. TOW Anti-Tank Missile When the enemy possesses formidable tanks or armored vehicles which can impact mission accomplishment; the TOW can be the weapon of choice. Each Bradley is equipped with a twin tube launcher. The missiles themselves are already loaded into the launchers and are ready to be fired. The system is highly accurate and the missiles range is almost 4 kilometers. The Bradley itself must be stationary in order to fire the TOW. Firing Port Weapons On the sides of the Bradley are firing ports in which the M231 Firing Port Weapon can be shot by the Infantrymen riding on the back. It is essentially an adaption of the M16. To be honest, these weapons are seldom fired and if they are you are probably in a little more trouble than you want to be. With a brief history of mechanized infantry and a discussion of the Bradley complete; we can move on to addressing the Mechanized Infantry Platoon (Bradley Equipped). Capabilities The combination of a platoon full of highly skilled Infantryman and four BFVs can be lethal if utilized properly. Lets highlight some of these key capabilities below. The combination of dismounted infantry and the weapon systems existing on the Bradley enable the platoon to be an excellent force to assault enemy positions (size dependent of course). The combination is superb in an urban environment. Can be utilized to deny enemy infantry the ability to achieve their purpose and task. Block dismounted avenues of approach. Depending on the size of the enemy can block mounted avenues of approach. Seize key or decisive terrain which will facilitate success for the company or battalion. Can conduct various types of mounted or dismounted patrols in support of stability operations. Operate superbly during the night and limited visibility conditions. Can be utilized to conduct various security and recon operations if required. In a defense, can be used to occupy a strongpoint if a piece of terrain is critical to overall mission accomplishment for the company or battalion. Can infiltrate enemy positions to set the conditions for success. May be used to overwatch an obstacle or to secure it. Can be the assault force or the actual breaching force in a breaching operation. Utilize its various weapon systems to destroy or disable a wide variety of enemy vehicles. We addressed these above. Limitations Sure, mechanized infantry has numerous capabilities associated with it. However, there are some limitations in its use that you must keep in mind during planning and execution. These limitations include the following: Vehicles are maintenance intensive. This not only includes maintenance to repair vehicles, but preventative maintenance to stop potential problems. Vehicles require fuel. Some such as the BFV require more than others. You cant leave fuel solely to the logisticians to figure out. Commanders must know enough so they can determine what is possible. If a Commander has tanks with his carriers then the issues are multiplied significantly. Some carriers are of considerable size which obviously affects their ability to maneuver in difficult terrain. The BFV in particular cannot be considered a very stealthy vehicle. You are not going to sneak up on an enemy in the middle of the night. This noise signature must be discussed in planning and executing a mission. In most cases, while the carrier is maneuvering; the Infantry Soldiers are buttoned up inside. Not good for situational awareness and not good for those who may be a bit claustrophobic! Infantry Carriers are certainly susceptible to anti-armor weapons. The impact is far greater if Infantry Soldiers are inside the vehicle. The Bradley Platoon (In a Perfect World!) Organization The Mechanized Infantry Platoon is a robust fighting unit comprised of 40 Infantrymen when fully manned. Within the platoon, there are two distinctive elements the mounted element and the dismounted element. The beauty of the platoon is that the elements can fight separately or in combination. This flexibility is a tremendous asset, but one that must be utilized properly. In other words, they must capitalize on the strengths of each other and mitigate the weaknesses of each. Below we will dissect each of the elements. THE BRADLEY PLATOON MOUNTED SECTIONS Mounted Element The Mechanized Platoon is comprised of four Bradleys. These four vehicles are divided into two sections of two Bradleys each. The platoon itself will normally maneuver as a platoon as part of a company. However, there are instances where the platoon may maneuver independently. Within the sections, the Bradleys will operate on the wingman concept. We will dissect the maneuver of the mounted element both formations and techniques in our next article. Lets get into a little more detail into the manning of the crew and then each section. A Bradley Crew The crew of a Bradley normally consists of three Infantrymen. These are the driver, the gunner, and the Bradley Commander (BC). In the instance of the platoon leaders vehicle, there are four. This is in case the Platoon Leader dismounts the vehicle to maneuver with the dismounted element. This allows the Bradley to continue to be crewed by 3 Infantrymen. Lets highlight the duties of each of the crew members. Bradley Commander As the name suggests, is responsible for everything that relates to the vehicle. As the name suggests, is responsible for everything that relates to his crew. Assists the gunner and the driver in acquiring targets. Issues fire commands to the gunner to engage targets. Ensures the vehicle is in the correct location in formations and maneuver techniques. Oversees all maintenance of the vehicle (hull, turret, weapon systems, etc). Navigates the Bradley. Provides Platoon Leader with situational updates as warranted. Provides Platoon Leader with recommendations if necessary. Gunner Continually scans the battlefield searching for targets or threats. If directed by the BC engages targets. This happens several ways. First, the BC may detect the target, provides the gunner the location, and then provides the fire command to the gunner to engage. Second, if the gunner detects the target; he will ask the BC for permission to engage. If the BC departs the vehicle for any reason; will take over the BC duties. Performs unit-level maintenance on the turret and the weapon systems. Must be an expert on the turret and the weapon systems. Assists the BC in a wide variety of duties. This could include navigation and communications operations. Should be an accomplished driver of the Bradley. This allows him to drive the vehicle when the driver may need a break during long marches that have little chance of enemy contact. Driver Will normally be one of younger Infantrymen in the platoon. It is beneficial when he has some experience with the dismounted element. Two key things to remember. First, not all Infantrymen want to be a driver. Second, not all Infantrymen can be good drivers. Obviously, the driver operates the Bradley. He will receive much guidance from his BC as to where to go, stop, start, etc The more experience the two have together; the less guidance the driver will require. He will understand what the BC wants. A good driver understands how to utilize the terrain and how to drive in different types of terrain. Experienced drivers can detect targets for the BC. Experienced drivers will observe rounds fired down range to determine accuracy. Must be dedicated to preventative maintenance on the Bradleys hull. A good driver should be handy with the wrench so he can make some on the spot fixes. A good driver knows his Bradley. He knows the sounds it makes and how it runs. He should know immediately when something is not right. Alternate Gunner/Loader There is one unique crew member who resides on the Platoon Leaders Bradley. This position is called the alternate gunner or loader. When the Platoon Leader is in the vehicle; this Soldier is located in the back of the vehicle. In this location, his principle duty is handling ammunition and assisting the crew in reloading weapon systems that are out of ammunition. This may include any of three major systems the Bushmaster, the TOW, or the COAX Machine Gun. A good loader saves incredible time for the crew when time is of the essence. When the Platoon Leader is out of the vehicle (normally when he is with the dismounted element on the ground), this Soldier will assume the role of the gunner. This is because the normal gunner becomes the Bradley Gunner with the Platoon Leader now on the ground. The Platoon Master Gunner Within each Bradley Platoon there exists the Bradley Master Gunner. This is a critical position in the platoon. The Master Gunner is the Bradley Commander for the Bradley which is the wingman of the Platoon Leaders Bradley. His primary duties include: The platoon expert on the Bradley. Must know each of the weapons systems intimately. Just as importantly, must be able to communicate his knowledge to his platoon members. The platoon expert on Bradley crew operations. Must be able to assist the other Bradley crews in improving their teamwork within the Bradley. In combat, advises the platoon leadership on the capabilities of the Bradley and its weapon systems. In the defense, advises leadership on fire control measures and assists in the planning of the engagement area. Assists the platoon leadership in the training of the mounted element. A Bradley Section Within the platoon, the Bradleys are organized into two sections with two vehicles each. Just as an individual Soldier has a battle buddy; a Bradley has a wingman. This allows the section to work in tandem during maneuver. We will discuss this further in our next article. The two sections within the Bradley are aptly named Section A and Section B. Within Section A you will find the Bradley of the Platoon leader and the Bradley of the Platoons Master Gunner. Within Section B you will have the Platoon Sergeants Bradley and the remaining Bradley in the Platoon. THE BRADLEY PLATOON DISMOUNTED ELEMENT Dismounted Element Obviously, the Bradley itself packs tremendous combat power. Now combine that with the dismounted element and you have something special. When fully manned, the Platoon can utilize three nine-man rifle squads or 27 Soldiers. These squads essentially operate just like their brothers in the rifle platoons. Of course, the Bradley and its capabilities changes the dynamics in many aspects. Lets briefly discuss each since we have gone into significant detail during our treatment of the rifle platoon. Squad Within the Platoon, you will find three nine-man rifle squads. Each of the squads is led by a squad leader. The squad is broken down into two fire teams. Lets highlight the members of the Squad below: THE SQUAD LEADER Squad Leader There are three rifle squad leaders in the platoon. As always, a leader is responsible for all that occurs or doesnt happen in the unit he leads. Thus, the squad leader is responsible for those eight Infantrymen and two fire teams which he leads. We will not go over all the duties of the rifle platoon leader. They are essentially the same as the squad leader in the rifle platoon. Obviously, the differences that exist relate to areas tied to the Bradley. Fire Team Leader Within the platoon, there exist six team leaders (two per squad). Again, his responsibilities basically mirror those of the rifle squad leader. One of the key differences is that a good Team Leader will keep his Soldiers informed as to what is happening when they are riding inside the Bradley. Nothing is worse than dismounting the Bradley and not knowing what you are getting into. Rifleman The heart and soul of any Infantry organization is the rifleman. This is normally the Infantrymans first position. Once he learns the ropes and shows his wares; he will move on to other positions in the platoon. This rifleman will also likely carry a powerful M240B machine gun. Anti-Armor Specialist Each squad possesses an AT Specialist. In our organization that is the Javelin. When taking out enemy armor is imperative on the ground, he will be called upon. We addressed this highly lethal system in our treatment of the rifle platoon and company. Grenadier Each fire team has a grenadier. He utilizes an M203 weapon system. This is basically an M16 with a 40 mm grenade launcher attached to it. This is a versatile weapon which can fire high explosive rounds when opposing an infantry or light skinned vehicle threat. It can also fire smoke rounds when required and even illumination rounds. It has a range of about 350 meters. Automatic Rifleman Each fire team possesses an automatic rifleman. The weapon of choice here is the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon or SAW. This system puts out rounds quickly and at a good distance. This is really the weapon you utilize against the enemys Infantryman. How do you Organize the Infantrymen Inside the Bradley? So you have these 27 Infantryman and three squads. How do organize them into the four platoon Bradleys? The numbers and the space in the Bradley do not equate to complete squad integrity in a Bradley. Below is a way to make it happen. BFV 2 (Platoon Master Gunners Bradley) The first squad leader is the lead dismounted Infantryman inside the vehicle. He is joined his Alpha Fire Team and half of his Bravo Fire Team. BFV 1 (Platoon Leaders Bradley) The lead Infantryman is the Alpha Fire Team Leader for Second Squad. He is joined by his squad and the Fire Team Leader and Automatic Rifleman from Bravo Team/First Squad. Also remember that in the Platoon Leaders Bradley there is a loader who also rides in the back. BFV 4 (Wingman Bradley) The second Squad Leader is the lead Infantryman. He has his entire Bravo Team and the grenadier and riflemen from the Alpha Team of Third Squad. BFV 3 (Platoon Sergeants Bradley) The third squad leader has his Bravo Team in entirety and the Team leader and Automatic Riflemen from Alpha Team. Again, this organization is based on a full-up platoon. In reality, there are likely to be shortages and consequently, many adaptations to the above organization. The Platoon Leadership There are two more Infantrymen in the platoon we must discuss the Platoon Leader and Platoon Sergeant. Obviously, two pretty important Infantrymen within the platoon. Lets highlight their key responsibilities. Again, the foundation of their duties is no different than their rifle platoon counterparts. We will focus on those duties focused on mechanized infantry. Platoon Leader Must understand the capabilities of all his weapon systems. Able to employ weapon systems so they complement one another. Able to successfully maneuver his mounted and dismounted elements. This may be separately, in combination, or just mounted (when Soldiers are inside Bradleys). Serves as the Bradley Commander when mounted. Understands the capabilities of the operating systems tied to mechanized and heavy operations. When all three rifle squads dismount, will normally dismount with them. Makes the decision to dismount his rifle squads. This is a significant decision and must be thought about carefully. Of course, many times this will ordered by the Company Commander. However, there may be times when the decision will be made by the Platoon leader. So what are those situations that may warrant dismounting your Infantryman? Below are a few that may arise: Operating in terrain which greatly restricts the ability of the Bradley to maneuver. This could be forested areas, rocky terrain, urban terrain, compartmentalized areas etc. In hilly terrain, you may not want to silhouette the Bradley; but you require better observation or fields of fire. Consequently, you may dismount Infantry to maneuver to these areas. If the platoon is taking highly effective anti-armor fire, it may be necessary to dismount the Bradley. This is if the terrain is conducive to protecting the Infantry. Certainly one of the most common situations is to clear an objective or to assault it. Many times this is planned; at other times it may be an opportunity. In a hasty defense, you will likely dismount Infantrymen so you can make use of their firepower. When an obstacle must be breached. Crossing danger areas. Conducting patrols. Providing security when the Bradleys will be at the halt for a period of time. We will discuss how the dismounting of the Bradley occurs in a future article. The Platoon Sergeant There is no more experienced Infantryman in the platoon than the Platoon Sergeant. As we discussed in our article on the rifle platoon, he has an extremely challenging position. A good platoon sergeant is a combination of expertise, leadership and trainer. Oh by the way, he must also be ready to take a young Lieutenant under his wings and prepare him to lead Soldiers in combat. Clearly, there is much on his plate. Below lets highlight some of his key responsibilities tied a Bradley platoon: The platoon expert on dismounted operations. The platoon expert on maneuvering the mounted element. Advise and assist the Platoon Leader in integrating the mounted and dismounted elements in combat. If the Platoon Leader is located with the dismounted element; commands and controls the mounted element. If the Platoon Leader is located with the mounted element; commands and controls the dismounted element. Is obviously the Bradley Commander of his own vehicle. REVIEW The Mechanized Infantry Platoon is a powerful unit. Its combination of dismounted Infantry and the Bradley can be highly effective on the battlefield. This is of course if they are used in complement. We will discuss this in far more detail in the upcoming articles. One area we addressed this month which we want to highlight is the situations in which the Platoon Leader may dismount his Infantryman. Again, this is an important decision which is extremely timely. NEXT MONTH Our next article will continue our dissection of the Bradley Platoon. Our focus will be on the mounted maneuver of the platoon. We will discuss formations, techniques and challenges the platoon faces during maneuver. Posted on Feb 25, 2015 in Tactics101 Tactics 101 105 The Bradley Infantry Company THE BRADLEY INFANTRY COMPANY Those who go on foot or on a war-horse, with the mettle to take on a hundred men, who are skilled in the use of close-range weapons, swords, and spears are called Infantry generals. {default} Zhuge Liang (AD 180-234) LAST MONTH For the past months, we have focused our attention on the mechanized infantry platoon. We first dissected the organization of the platoon and how the platoon maneuvers when mounted. Next, we examined how a platoon plans and executes offensive and defensive operations. We did this by examining the thought process of a Bradley Platoon Leader LT Duffer. In both types of operations, LT Duffer displayed an excellent understanding of analyzing the capabilities and limitations of his forces, the enemy, and the terrain. With a true appreciation of the platoon, we will now progress to the mechanized infantry company. THIS MONTH In our discussion of the mechanized infantry company, we will focus on a Bradley equipped organization. We will additionally limit our discussion to a pure mechanized company. In other words, it does not have any attached tanks to it. Future articles will address company/team operations. We will dissect the following two areas: 1) The organization of the company. 2) The key personnel in the company. The Organization of the Company Graphically Depicted Company Organization The mechanized company is a robust organization as the graphic above alludes to. It is comprised of three mechanized platoons with each platoon having 4 Bradleys and 3 Infantry squads. There are also two additional Bradleys in the company (one for the Commander and one for the Executive Officer). Put it all together and a full-up Bradley Company can place 14 Bradleys and 9 Infantry Squads on the battlefield impressive combat power. Along with the Bradleys, the company also possesses other organic vehicles. These include: 1) An M113 (Armored Personnel Carrier) for use by the Company First Sergeant. 2) There are two M998 HMMWVs (wheeled vehicles) in the Company Headquarters. One is for use for the Company Commander. The other one is normally shared by the Executive Officer and First Sergeant for use in making logistical runs to the rear. 3) The company has two cargo trucks utilized in its supply section. One carries a water buffalo/trailer with it and the other a cargo trailer. Besides the organic vehicles in the company, the Commander will or may receive other vehicles and personnel to accomplish his purpose and task. Lets address some of the more common relationships. Almost always, the company will be augmented by a team from the Field Artillery Battalion. The team consists of a group of artillerymen led by a Lieutenant. They will travel in their own APC. Many times, a company will receive additional engineer support. This could be an engineer platoon, engineer squad or even a piece of specialized engineer equipment. This augmentation occurs when the company has a purpose and task that may require the need for additional engineer support. Depending on their location within the battalion maneuver formation or in the defense, the company can be augmented with air defense support. This support generally comes in the form of a Stinger Team. The team usually maneuvers in its vehicle. In most cases, this is a specially equipped Bradley. The mission may require that the company receive additional support such as radar and sensor systems, additional medical or maintenance support, civil affairs team, linguistic teams, counterintelligence teams, etc. Each of teams will maneuver in their own organic vehicles and may bring various pieces of equipment with them. With all this said, you can see that the footprint or formation of a mechanized company can get pretty big. The challenge for the Company Commander is that in many cases; this support may be the first time they have been part of the company. Obviously, this can create some issues that must be worked out quickly. Key Company Personnel Below we will discuss the key personnel in the company and their major roles and responsibilities. Company Commander As we always say, the Commander is responsible for everything the unit does and just as importantly, what it doesnt do. Being a mechanized infantry company commander is a great job, but it comes with significant responsibilities and duties. Lets review some of those below: Must understand how to blend the capabilities of his mounted and dismounted elements so they complement one another. Just as importantly, must understand the limitations of the elements, so the enemy cannot exploit them. Listens to his First Sergeant and his NCOs. Develops his Lieutenants. A good Company Commander plays well with his fellow Company Commanders. That means he shares ideas, assists them when it is needed, and is a good team player. These combine to make the Battalion a better unit. Keeps his Commander always informed. This means informing him on bad news. As we always say, bad news doesnt get any better with age. During combat operations, the Company Commander will normally use the company radio frequency as his primary net so he can fight the company. He will then monitor the battalion radio frequency so he understands the bigger picture. Will normally position himself with the main effort of the company during the fight. This enables him to truly understand the environment if a critical decision must be made which impacts the ability of the company to achieve their purpose and task When the company dismounts its Infantry; will normally dismount himself. Must understand how to employ tanks Must understand the nuances of how the company operates supply, maintenance, administration, etc . Must understand how to employ tanks and integrate them with his mechanized and dismounted forces. Many times, he will command a company/team that consists of two mechanized platoons and one tank platoon. Must understand how to incorporate other combat multipliers into his company. This could include engineer assets, air defense assets, different types of radars and sensors, indirect fire assets, etc. Depending on his mission, he could receive various resources from his higher headquarters to assist him in achieving his purpose and task. Company Executive Officer The Xo wears many hats (or helmets) within the company. The XO will normally have a great deal of experience within the company. This is because he will generally have been a platoon leader in the company and then promoted to XO. A good company commander will utilize this experience; especially in the early months of his command. The XOs roles and responsibilities include: Second in command of the company. When the Commander is out of the net; the XO will assume command and control of the company. If the Commander dismounts, will lead the mounted element. Assists the Commander in the tactical planning of the mission. The amount of this assistance will depend on what the Commander requires. Is the primary logistical planner and coordinator for the company. He will receive great support from the First Sergeant, who is normally the logistical doer. In this role, he will normally craft paragraph 4 (service support) of the Operations Order. Based on their personalities, can be a great sounding board for the Company Commander. Is a great source of information for the companys platoon leaders. After all, in most cases, he has been there and done that. If critical coordination is required with various units (supporting, adjacent, or higher headquarters, etc); is the likely person to conduct this. During the conduct of the operation, will normally provide situation reports to higher headquarters. This allows the Company Commander to fight the company. Many times during an operation, will be positioned near the weakest platoon in the company. This provides a little extra oversight on what is going on or what isnt taking place. May be in charge of missions that do not involve the entire company. This could include things such as leading a quartering party, conducting a reconnaissance, being part of a stay-behind force, etc. Company First Sergeant In most instances, he is the most experienced Soldier in the company. He has seen it all and his experience is vital to the success of the company. The roles and responsibilities of the First Sergeant will vary based on the working relationship between the Company Commander, Executive Officer, and the First Sergeant. Lets highlight some of these roles and responsibilities below: The company expert on individual Soldier skills. If he sees the company is lacking in certain areas will work with the Commander in developing training to remedy this. The standard-bearer within the company. Keeps his Company Commander straight. Offers the Commander advice on various areas and subjects. The Company executer on all things logistics. Assists the XO in logistical planning. Leads the company LOGPAC (Logistical Package) Operations. Will assist the attached Company Medics in the execution of medical evacuation. Supervises, inspects, corrects. Ensures Soldiers are executing field hygiene during combat. This is critical in keeping Soldiers available to conduct operations. Along with the Commander, sets the standard for field discipline. Works with the Battalion Command Sergeant Major in getting the best available Soldiers assigned to the Company. Many times will lead the Company Quartering Party. During operations, may be located at a key position or oversee a critical event. Platoon Leaders Each company has the aforementioned three mechanized platoons. Each led by a Platoon Leader. In our last mini-series, we addressed the roles of the Platoon Leader. Consequently, we will not rehash this. The dynamics between the Platoon Leaders in the company is always interesting. There will always be competition between Platoon Leaders and that is healthy. The Company Commander must ensure that this competition doesnt turn unhealthy. Platoon Sergeants Three platoons three Platoon Sergeants. Between them and the First Sergeant; they are the group that make or break a company. They are the experience which the Officers must rely on to set the conditions for success on the battlefield. The Fire Support Officer (FSO) This is an incredibly important position in the company. With his assistance, he can get the Company out of trouble or can assist them in exploiting success. He will normally come attached to the Company from the Field Artillery Battalion that is part of the Brigade. Will come with his own vehicle and a team of three or four Soldiers which assist him in planning, preparation, and execution. He and his team have the following roles and responsibilities: Assists the Commander in planning, coordinating, and executing all of the Companys fire support requirements. With guidance and intent from the Company Commander, develops and continually refines the Companys Fire Support Plan. Ensures it is synchronized with the maneuver plan. Once a plan is developed; coordinates with the Battalion FSO with feasibility and implementation. Expert on the capabilities and limitations of all fire support assets that may be available to the company. Should also be an expert on the capabilities and limitations of the enemys fire support assets. Provides the Commander with the above information and the status of their availability to the company. Expert on the fire support assets of the enemy that the Company faces. Ensures Company Commander understands how these assets can affect the accomplishment of his mission. Assists the Commander in the development of the Company Operations Order. Obviously, he is critical in those portions tied to fire support. However, he is also a good sanity check on the rest of the order. Recommends to the Commander various things tied to the fire support plan including specific targets, fire control methods, how they will engage targets, and who is responsible for firing those targets. Based on the above information, he develops the company target worksheet. He will send this worksheet to his own Field Artillery Battalion. Assigns responsibility within the Company and who will observe targets. If the Company has Platoon Forward Observers attached to it; he will brief them on the plan and ensure they completely understand their responsibilities in executing the plan. Cannot stress enough that the FSO must continually refine the plan and always anticipate. As the tactical situation is constantly changing; so must the fire plan. Communications Chief Clearly one of the craftiest Soldiers in the company. His job is seemingly never done. There is always someone out there who cant communicate. With technology, his job has gotten tougher not easier! Here are some of his significant responsibilities: Supervises the installation of communication equipment within the company. This includes a wide variety of stuff. Obviously, the more complex it is; the more hands on he will be. Oversees the operation of the communication equipment in the company. Ensures operators are trained to perform their level of maintenance on their equipment. Conducts spot checks on equipment to ensure it is being conducted. Responsible for all area tied to the secure communications equipment possessed by the company. This includes among other things: requisitioning needed equipment, receiving it once it comes in, conducting training on it, implementing it in the company, and performing maintenance on it. Advises the Company Commander on all things communication related. This includes providing expertise on how to best utilize communications within a specific mission. As the saying goes, Move, Shoot, and Communicate. A Commander should ask the Commo Chief for his recommendations on what should be included in Paragraph 5 (Command and Signal) of the Company Operations Order. An excellent way to utilize the Commo Chief is to place him in charge of the Company Command Post (CP). This is of course if the Commo Chief has the skill set to execute this important role. The rank and experience of the Commo Chief can vary significantly. He can be a relatively young Soldier or may have many years under his belt. In the role of CP Chief, he would normally be responsible for the following: moving the CP, setting-up the CP, establishing the security plan for the CP, developing and implementing the CP radio watch schedule, and being the Companys Information Manager. Supply Sergeant The old wily Supply Sergeant. He can have a huge impact on the morale of the company and in their ability to achieve their mission. The Supply Sergeant has many roles and responsibilities. These include: Certainly, he is highly engaged in anything tied to supplies and equipment. This includes requisitioning, receiving, issuing, and storing. He must obviously be well-organized in how he executes each of these critical tasks. The results of a poorly organized Supply Sergeant normally translate to poorly equipped Soldiers. This correlates directly to combat power. In regards to requisitioning, the good Supply Sergeant is proactive, not reactive. Reactive is not a good word in the supply world. In regards to all the above, the Supply Sergeant must have solid working relationships with several people. These include the Company XO, the Company First Sergeant, the Platoon Sergeants, and the leadership of the Battalion S4 Shop. During combat operations, the Supply Sergeant will generally position himself in the Battalion Field Trains. This will be some distance away from the front lines, but close enough so that he can get supplies, equipment, food, water, etc to the Company in a timely manner. Inside the Battalion Field Trains, he is under the watchful eye of the Headquarters Company Commander or Support Platoon Leader depending on how the Battalion operates. Within the Field Trains, he is normally accompanied by the Company Armorer and any Supply Clerks or cargo truck drivers the Company may have. Most times, these Supply Clerks come directly from the Platoons to assist in supply operations. From experience, two Soldiers (Supply Sergeant and Armorer) is not sufficient to conduct supply effectively in a Bradley Company. Consequently, you will take out of hide to support these critical operations. The Supply Sergeant should be in constant communications with the company. This will generally be the Company First Sergeant. This aids in being proactive and when necessary, reactive. The bottom line is that the Supply Sergeant should always have a good understanding of tactical situation up forward in regards to his Company. In regards to transportation, the Supply Sergeant will utilize a cargo truck and trailer. He will also have another cargo truck and a water buffalo under his control. When the Supply Sergeant moves forward it is normally done in conjunction with other vehicles from the Field Trains. Clearly, there is safety in numbers. Two lone cargo trucks moving down a trail or road is a lucrative target. If the Supply Sergeant must move forward without other Field Trains vehicles; the company may send a combat vehicle or two as escort depending on the tactical situation. When the Supply Sergeant moves forward, it is normally as part of a Battalion LOGPAC (Logistics Package) operation. In simple terms, this is when the each of the Battalions Companies supply vehicles move forward to resupply their respective companies. This resupply will generally constitute chow, water, supplies, ammunition, barrier material etc. There may also be a fueler attached to Supply Sergeant which will be used during the LOGPAC. We will address the intricacies of a LOGPAC in a future article. NBC NCO The overlooked Soldier in the company. That is until there is the slightest potential that biological or chemical weapons could be used on the battlefield. Then, the entire company wants to ensure all their protective gear is in outstanding working order. Lets address his roles and responsibilities in combat and just as importantly, prior to combat. These include: Much of his work is conducted well before the company is deployed for combat operations. Specifically, he develops and implements a training program that focuses on improving Soldiers and the company as a whole proficiency in NBC tasks. Tied directly to this is building the confidence in everyone that they can operate and survive in an NBC environment. The training plan should be a two-pronged strategy. First, to incorporate individual training as much as possible. Second, to incorporate NBC related tasks in all company training. For example, if the company is training on maneuver formations; then conduct it in NBC posture. During combat, makes recommendations to the Commander as to what type of NBC protection Soldiers should wear during a mission. Often neglected is that the NBC NCO should be the company expert in the use of smoke. Consequently, the Commander should seek his advice when the use of friendly smoke is considered. Vice versa, when the enemy is using smoke; the Commander should discuss the ramifications with him. Requisitions, receives, issues and stores all NBC related equipment. Keeps Commander abreast of anything NBC related (friendly or enemy) that has, is or will occur on the battlefield. If the company or parts of the Company must go through decontamination operations; he will coordinate, monitor, and oversee these operations. Establishes a good working relationship with the Battalion NBC NCO. Company Armorer An often underappreciated Soldier in the company is the Armorer. This is normally a younger Soldier in the company. A good Armorer can clearly have a positive impact on the ability of the Company to generate combat power. Among his significant roles and responsibilities are: Should work with the Platoon Sergeants in aiding them in their preventive maintenance operations in the Platoons. Must know the companys weapons and weapon systems inside and out. Ensures Soldiers have the supplies required to perform good preventive maintenance on their particular weapon or weapon systems. Should be handy with the tools so you can fix maintenance issues so that weapon systems do not have to be sent to the rear area to be repaired. If a system or weapon must be sent to the rear; it must be done quickly. It is not getting fixed if it is staying with the Armorer. Tied to this is ensuring the Armorer keeps good paperwork on what has been sent back and he continually follows up on the status of its repair. As highlighted in our discussion of the Supply Sergeant; the Armorer will normally be under the control of the Supply Sergeant in the Battalion Field Trains. He will assist the Supply Sergeant and drive one of the Companys cargo trucks. Company Master Gunner One of the most important Soldiers within the company tied to generating the fire in fire and maneuver is the Company Master Gunner. This Soldier is an established NCO who normally has been part of the company in other roles (usually a Bradley Commander). He has proven himself and now is the Company Master Gunner. As the Master Gunner, he has several critical roles and responsibilities. These include: Is the company expert on Bradley gunnery. Must know the intricacies of the Bradley turret, its weapon systems, and how a Bradley crew operates effectively. Prior to any combat operations, he will be the Commanders go to guy in developing, planning, and executing all Bradley crew training. The goal of this training is to make certain each Bradley crew has the confidence and expertise to deliver lethal fires down range. A big challenge for the Master Gunner is to make training as realistic as possible. It is one thing for a crew to be able to perform effectively in a fairly sterile gunnery range. It is another thing for them to perform effectively in a combat environment. A good Master Gunner should know the skill level of all crew members in the company. This will enable him to make recommendations to the Platoon and Company leadership on crew manning. As addressed earlier, the Master Gunner should have an excellent understanding of the turret and Bradley weapon systems. This will allow him to troubleshoot and even repair some problems. With this knowledge, he can work with the turret mechanics to assist in getting repairs done as quickly as possible. Again, it is all about getting combat power into the fight. A smart Company Commander will utilize the Master Gunner in his planning for both offensive and defensive operations. Within the defense, he can aid in engagement area planning because of his expertise on the companys weapon systems. In the offense, he can offer advice on the utilization of the weapon systems during the attack. Before a mission, he can assist the company leadership in observing preparation (troop leading procedures) and offering advice to the Platoon leadership. During operations themselves, there are many ways to utilize the Master Gunner. Many times, the Company Commander will use him as his gunner on his vehicle. Then, when Commander dismounts with the Infantry; he moves up to command the Bradley. Another position for the Master Gunner is to lead the Company Command Post during mission execution. This could include the wheeled vehicles in the Company. Because of experience and talents it would be inexcusable not to use him in a way that assists the company. Maintenance Team Chief In a mechanized or armor unit, the importance of the Maintenance Team Chief cannot be overstated. A good Team Chief and his Team is critical in ensuring the company has as much combat power in the fight as possible. The principle duties of the Team Chief include: Is obviously the Commanders expert on maintenance. Keeps him updated on status of his vehicles. What is up What is down When will the down vehicles be mission capable. When a vehicle is damaged or maintenance down; determines if the repair can be done on site or if the vehicle must be evacuated to the rear. Keeps his maintenance team motivated. This is a challenge because they have a challenging job that is not very glamourous. Keeps the company well-stocked in repair parts. To achieve this, he must be organized, understand the requisition process, be a scrounger, and be a dealer. Must be an expert in vehicle recovery. Must understand what can be accomplished with the recovery equipment he possesses. Creativity is the norm when a vehicle must be recovered in challenging terrain and circumstances. Trains his team on all Soldier skills Soldiers first/mechanics second. Keeps abreast of the tactical situation, so he and his team can be at the right place at the right time. Usually has an excellent relationship with the First Sergeant. Will normally lead the companys combat trains when the First Sergeant is not in the area. Keeps a positive relationship with the Battalions maintenance leadership. Dont want to get on their bad side! Medical Team The Company will receive medical support from the Medical Platoon attached to the Battalion. This will normally consist of a Medic for each Platoon and potentially a Senior Aidman who will work with the Headquarters and oversee the other medics. He will work closely with the Company First Sergeant on all things medical. As a group, the Medical Team has many key roles and responsibilities. These include: Administers initial first aid and life-saving actions to any casualties. Must have situational awareness of the tactical situation at all times. Makes determination if injured Soldiers will be medevaced to the rear area for treatment. Assists in the coordination of medevac actions. Works in conjunction with the First Sergeant in all medical actions. Trains Company Soldiers in basic first aid and buddy aid. Trains Company Soldiers to become combat lifesavers. Trains Company in the execution of a mass casualty event if required. During the planning of an operation provides Company Commander with expertise on the medical aspects of the mission. Requests the medical supplies for the Company. Once received, provides appropriate supplies down to the Platoons. SUMMARY 14 Bradleys, 9 Infantry Squads, and substantial combat multipliers make for some significant combat power. There is no question the Bradley Company Commander and his Company can have a huge impact on the battlefield. In this article, we focused on the leaders that make the Company so effective. It is at this level where all the pieces can come together. It is up to the Commander and his leaders to make it come together. NEXT MONTH Our next article will continue our discussion on the mechanized infantry company. In it, we will address how the mechanized company maneuvers. We will look at the maneuver formations and techniques available to the company commander. Additionally, we will discuss some of the challenges the company may face in maneuver. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian minister of Foreign Affairs, warned there exist a certain risk of more provocations by Western countries against Syria. But the question of providing S-300 air defense systems to Syria has not been settled yet, Lavrov told the media in Beijing on 22 April. S-300 air defense system (Picture source: Army Recognition) "I cannot say that this question has been settled," Lavrov said. "We know what Russian President Vladimir Putin said. He has discussed such matters with an official of our Defense Ministry from the standpoint of preventing a situation where Syria might turn out insufficiently prepared for aggressive attacks, like the one that occurred on April 14. It remains to be seen what decisions will be made by the Russian leadership and Syrian officials. Apparently, no secrets are due here. All this can be announced." He warned there existed a certain risk of more provocations by Western countries against Syria. "Certainly, one should be prepared to see more provocations, although we have warned our US and European counterparts who participated in that adventure," he said. Moscow finds worrisome "the plans regarding Syrias future our Western counterparts are hatching." "Just recently I heard French President Emmanuel Macron urge the United States not to pull troops out of Syria even after the last terrorist has been eliminated or driven out of that country. The French leader was very close to saying foreign presence there should remain permanent for building new Syria," Lavrov said. "Thats colonial stance." "We will ask our French partners what specifically they have in mind, because so far they have said at all levels that the US-led coalition in Syria pursues exclusively the elimination of the threat of terrorism coming from the Islamic State (outlawed in Russia) and other organizations the UN Security Council has identified as terrorist. This is a very serious question. We will keep working," Lavrov said. Earlier, the daily Kommersant quoted its sources as saying that Russia would provide S-300 systems to Syria on the disinterested basis. The newspaper said this would make it possible to create a multi-tier system of air defense in Syria capable of protecting Damascus and air bases from attacks. The Russian military command said such a decision might be made after the missile attack the United States and its allies dealt against military and civilian facilities in Syria. On April 14, the United States, Britain and France dealt a massive strike on Syria without approval from the UN Security Council. The Russian Defense Ministry said the attack lasted from 03:42 to 05:10 local time. Of the 103 missiles launched, the Syrian air defense claims to have shot down 71, which is firmly denied by the US, UK and France. Washington, London and Paris said the strikes were in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syrias Douma on April 7. According to sources, CM Adityanath will campaign for six days in Karnataka during which he will address more than 35 rallies. Lucknow: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath will be amo-ng the star BJP campaigners in the upcoming Karnataka Assem-bly elections, while Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will campaign for the Congress. According to sources, the chief minister will campaign for six days in Karnataka during which he will address more than 35 rallies and hold road shows too. The chief minister will be in Karnataka on May 3 and 4 and then from May 7 to 10. After Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Tripura, chief minister Yogi Adityanath is one of the most sought after leaders in the Karnataka campaign, said a party leader. The chief minister had visited Karnataka in January and had even addressed a BJP rally in Bengaluru. Meanwhile, Samajw-adi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will ca-mpaign for the Congress in the Karnataka assembly polls. SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary confirmed that Mr Yadav will be touring Karnataka for the Congress campaign. 77-year-old Asaram was sentenced to life imprisonment in the rape of a minor schoolgirl in 2013. Apart from the witnesses, the Uttar Pradesh school principal was also threatened to prove that the girl was 18 years old. (Photo: File) Jodhpur: Threats and attacks were not just extended to the witnesses of the Asaram rape case, revealed the victim's school principal, who said that he was also threatened mentally and physically and pressured to prove that the girl was 18 years old. In a historic verdict, the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court on Wednesday held guilty Asaram Bapu and two others in the rape of a 16-year-old girl at his ashram in 2013. 77-year-old Asaram was sentenced to life imprisonment while the other two accused were awarded a 20-year jail term each by the court. Speaking to NDTV, the Uttar Pradesh school principal said that he was under constant pressure to fudge the girl's date of birth in school records. "I was pressured, threatened... have suffered mentally and physically... I received threatening letters. I was to mention the date of birth as in the records, they wanted it to be manipulated," the principal said. The verdict was pronounced by Judge Madhusudan Sharma inside the Jodhpur Jail due to security reasons. Also Read: Asaram rape case verdict: Self-styled godman sentenced to life in prison In the case registered in Rajasthan, a 16-year-old girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15, 2013. The girl was brought to the ashram by her parents. During these five long years, a number of key witnesses in the case were attacked or went missing. In 2014, Asaram's personal aide was shot dead, while another associate was killed in 2015 in Muzaffarnagar. In the same year, two more witnesses were attacked by unidentified individuals, while another witness went missing from Lucknow. While the self-styled godman has filed a number of bail petitions, a total of 12 applications were rejected by the trial court, the Rajasthan High Court, and the Supreme Court. The other two accused, Shilpi and Sharad, have been sentenced to 20 years each in jail. Asaram has been convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradeshs Shahajahanpur in 2013. (Photo: PTI | File) Jodhpur: In a much-awaited verdict, the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court on Wednesday sentenced self-styled godman Asaram Bapu to life imprisonment for the rape of a 16-year-old girl at his ashram in 2013. Earlier on Wednesday, the court had held guilty Asaram and two others in the case. The other two accused, Shilpi and Sharad, have been sentenced to 20 years each in jail. The verdict was pronounced by Judge Madhusudan Sharma inside the Jodhpur Jail due to security reasons. Two other attendants of Asaram Bapu were acquitted by the Jodhpur court in the case. In the case registered in Rajasthan, a 16-year-old girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15, 2013. The girl was brought to the ashram by her parents. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He has been under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. After the conviction, Asaram's spokesperson Neelam Dubey said after discussion with their legal team, a future course of action would be decided. Hailing the verdict, the victim's father said the family had finally got justice. "I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice," he said. Asaram was taken into police custody in August 2013, following which he was taken to Jodhpur Central jail. A month later, a potency test was conducted on him and was produced before a Jodhpur court. In November the same year, the chargesheet filed against Asaram and four others -- Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash -- had indicated blackmail in exchange of sexual favours, after which the former was booked under Sections 342, 376, 506 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). In the years that followed, a number of key witnesses in the case were attacked or went missing. In 2014, Asaram's personal aide was shot dead, while another associate was killed in 2015 in Muzaffarnagar. In the same year, two more witnesses were attacked by unidentified individuals, while another witness went missing from Lucknow. While the self-styled godman has filed a number of bail petitions, a total of 12 applications were rejected by the trial court, the Rajasthan High Court, and the Supreme Court. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. Two Surat-based sisters had lodged separate complaints against the self-styled godman and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape. Previously on Tuesday, the Centre asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana to tighten security and deploy additional forces ahead of the verdict. This is the fourth case in the history of Indian judiciary that verdict has been pronounced inside the jail The others were former Prime Minister Indira Ganshis assassinators (Tihar Jail), Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab (Arthur Road Jail) and Gurmeet Ram Rahim (Sunaria Jail Rohtak). Media too was bared from entering the jail as the Rajasthan High Court dismissed all appeals for coverage inside the premises. Asaram Bapu was represented by top lawyers Ram Jethmalani and Subramanian Swami. In a first, the CRPF has trained about 20,000 fresh troops to bring renewed vigour in its operations. An analysis of casualties in the force, both fatal and non-fatal, in the past encounters reflect that a number of aged troops were victims. (Photo: Representational) New Delhi: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has decided to replace about 12,000 of its aged troops with young and freshly inducted recruits to bring agility and renewed strength in its anti-Naxal operations in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-hit areas of Chhattisgarh. The paramilitary, designated as the lead force against LWE in the country, has recently recruited and trained about 20,000 fresh troops and has now planned to deploy the 'young blood' in these strenuous operations that require personnel to be out in jungles for days together, in harsh climatic conditions. The first-time measure, a senior official said, is part of the forces' strategy to bring renewed vigour in its operations by posting young and motivated personnel and having the least amount of casualties and injuries on its side. "About 12,000 freshly trained young recruits, in the age group of 18-21 years, will be deployed in Chhattisgarh soon by replacing their older colleagues who are in the age-group of 45-50 years." the official said. The aim of the exercise is to keep the combat profile of the force young, he said, adding the move has been approved by CRPF Director General (DG) RR Bhatnagar. An analysis of casualties in the force, both fatal and non-fatal, in the past encounters reflect that a number of aged troops were victims. "There can be no doubt that a young age profile for a fighting force will result in better successes. The older age profile of troopers will be taken out from this LWE-affected region and deployed in other locations where the battle is not that tough and demanding," the official said. Another official deployed in the anti-Naxal operations grid of the force said while this first lot of young troops will go to Chhattisgarh, especially the south Bastar region that comprises districts of Sukma and Dantewada, the next batches could be sent to other states affected by LWE violence like Jharkhand and Odisha. "Some of this young personnel would also be sent to the Kashmir valley which is another important theatre of operations for the CRPF," the second official said. About 12,000 new personnel will be deployed in such a fashion, across various units of the CRPF in Chhattisgarh, that the overall profile of the battalion remains experienced and conversant with the area they are operating in and at the same time fighting fit, the officials said. The CRPF has about 31 battalions deployed in the central Indian state for these operations including special teams of its jungle warfare squad-- CoBRA. Each battalion has over 1,000 personnel. Last year, the CRPF lost 37 men in two Naxal ambushes in the state while 9 men were killed this year when the Maoists blew off their mine protected vehicle (MPV) in Sukma district in April 2017. Sources said India wants to New Delhi: In a clear indication that India is lukewarm to the Chinese proposal of construction of an India-Nepal-China economic corridor with multi-dimensional connectivity through the Himalayas, sources said on Tuesday that India would prefer to focus on strengthening bilateral connectivity projects with Nepal. This assumes significance as PM Narendra Modi is expected to visit Nepal next month. China had apparently made the proposal recently to Nepal. Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli is widely regarded as pro-China in his policies and approach but had chosen India to make his first visit recently after becoming Prime Minister in the Himalayan nation. Nevertheless, China is rapidly increasing its influence in Nepal after the landslide victory of the Nepalese Communists in the recent general elections there. Sources said India wants to "strengthen" bilateral connectivity links with Nepal, thereby indicating that it is not focusing on any trilateral connectivity initiative involving China as well. In what was seen as an attempt to forget the bitterness of the recent past and build a "forward-looking relationship", visiting Nepalese Prime Minister Oli and PM Modi had held talks earlier this month in New Delhi and decided on new game-changer initiatives in the field of connectivity including a proposed new electrified railway line with Indian financial support that will connect Raxaul in Bihar with the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. The two countries had also decided to develop inland waterways for the movement of cargo, thereby providing additional access to the sea for land-locked Nepal. India is "not alone" in voicing certain concerns about the state of affairs in the Maldives. New Delhi: The military option of India forcibly dislodging Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen from power through use of force is "not on the table" as this will have "consequences" in the global arena, sources have said, adding that New Delhi does "not want to be looked at as a country that says one thing and does another". Sources further said there is "longer-term thinking about how to deal with the situation" in the tiny archipelago nation of Maldives which is India's south-western maritime neighbour and also a member of SAARC, the south Asian grouping. Sources also admitted that the "India-Maldives relations are not in the best of health". Sources alsopointed out that New Delhi "has not taken any action that has affected people-to-people ties" between India and the Maldives and that supplies of goods too continues. India is "not alone" in voicing certain concerns about the state of affairs in the Maldives. The admission is proof that India does not want to use the military option to dislodge Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen from power despite demands from the Maldivian Opposition that India should intervene in some form to save democracy. Gunmen believed to be separatist militants shot Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Patel at main square of Rajpora. Two of Ghulam Nabi Patel's Personal Security Officers were also injured in the shootout.(Photo: ANI/Twitter) Srinagar: A mainstream political activist was killed by suspected militants in Jammu and Kashmirs southern Pulwama district on Wednesday. Ironically, both Congress and J&Ks ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which he had remained associated with have disowned him yet condemned his murder as deplorable. The police said that gunmen believed to be terrorists shot Ghulam Nabi Patel at the main square of Rajpora, a Pulwama suburb. Two of his Personal Security Officers (PSOs) were also injured in the shootout. Patel succumbed to his injuries on way to hospital, the police said and added that his PSOs Imtiyaz Ahmed Zargar and Bilal Ahmed Mir have been admitted to hospital. Witnesses said that Patel, a resident of Pulwamas Dangarpora, Shadimarg village, was travelling in Scorpio SUV which was fired upon at Rajpora Chowk, leaving him and his two PSOs injured. They were removed to hospital but Patel succumbed to his injuries on way. No militant outfit has, so far, admitted responsibility to killing the activist. While Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, while condemning Patels murder said that he was a senior leader of the Congress party, the latter termed him a senior activist of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Ms. Mufti who is also president of the PDP tweeted, Heartfelt condolences to the family of senior Congress leader, G. N. Patel who was killed by militants today in Rajpora. Such cowardly acts achieve nothing but leave one more family devastated. A spokesman of the J&K PCC in a statement while condemning the incident said that the party expresses profound grief and sorrow over the killing of senior PDP activist Ghulam Nabi Patel. It added that killings in any form are highly condemnable and must be condemned by every section of the people. The police sources said that a former state health department employee, Patel had joined Congress in 1991 and unsuccessfully contested both Lok Sabha and J&K Assembly elections more than once on party ticket and as independent. He later joined the PDP. A minor, who was staying at his ashram, had accused him of raping her on Aug. 15, 2013. Jaipur: Self-styled godman Asaram was convicted of raping a minor girl and sentenced to life imprisonment till death by a Pocso court in Jodhpur on Wednesday. Asaram, 77, broke down after the sentence was pronounced and said, Jaisi uparwale ki marzi (Its gods wish). We (sic) will stay here in jail. His legal team is expected to file an appeal in high court today. According to sources, Asaram was restless the entire Tuesday night and got up early on Wednesday morning. In the verdict pronounced at a specially-convened court inside Jodhpur Central Jail, where Asaram has been lodged for the last five years, additional sessions judge Madhusudan Sharma also convicted two of Asarams accomplices Shilpi and Sharad, who were hostel wardens in Chindwara. They were given 20 years jail term each for same charges in addition to Section 109/120B, Section 7/8 read with Section 17 of Pocso Act. Two other co-accused, Shiva and Prakash, were acquitted by the court. Prosecutor Pokar Ram Bishnoi told reporters soon after the court pronounced its judgement that Asaram would be in prison till his natural death. The court, he said, had also imposed a fine of `1 lakh on Asaram. Asaram was arrested from Indore in August 2013, after a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, filed a police complaint accusing him of raping her at his Jodhpur ashram. The victim was a student at Asarams ashram. The victim had alleged that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. After he was arrested from Indore, Asaram was brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013, and has been lodged there since. Following a through probe, the Jodhpur police had chargesheeted Asaram and four others Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash on November 6, 2013. The police had charged Asaram under IPC Sections 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 376 (rape), 354A (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 509/34 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman read with Section 36 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), as well as under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and Sections 23 and 26 of the Juvenile Justice Act. During the trial, the rape survivor and her family were threatened allegedly by the supporters of the godman. There were also lethal attacks on nine witnesses who had testified against Asaram. Of these, three could not survive the attacks. The victim, however, didnt waiver from her statement during the cross examination which went on for 27 days. The defence deployed delay tactics by calling the investigation officer several times, however, he too remained firm during the cross examination which went on for 60 days and is recorded over 204 pages. One witness was called 104 times. The Jodhpur administration had made unprecedented security arrangements following an alert from the Central government to avoid Panchkula like situation when followers of Gurmeet Ram Rahim went on a rampage after his conviction. Prohibitory orders were imposed and all roads leading to the Central Jail were blocked. Barring a few sevadars, the police got Asarams Pal ashram evacuated. His supporters living on rent in surrounding areas were also asked to leave. The police also arrested eight supporters of Asaram, including four women, from the railway station, his ashram and outside the jail. Media was also barred from entering the jail premises. Rajasthan high court had dismissed applications from media persons for permission to cover the verdict inside the jail. Talking to reporters outside his house in Shahjahanpur district, the victims father said they had full faith in the judicial system. Lucknow: The father of the girl who was raped by Asaram Bapu in 2013, on Thursday, welcomed the conviction of the god man and said he was happy to get justice. Talking to reporters outside his house in Shahjahanpur district, the victims father said they had full faith in the judicial system. However, he said that that their struggles during the period had tested their grit and patience. We were living in constant terror and our business was adversely hit. Since the past four months, our family members had not been coming out of our house. It is satisfying to know that the verdict has gone against him, he said. The rape survivors father, who had lodged complaint on August 20, 2013, also thanked the media for relentlessly pursuing the matter and the district administration for providing them security all through the judicial process. It may be recalled that the rape victim was a Class 12 student at Asarams Chhindwara Ashram in Madhya Pradesh and he had summoned the girl and her family to his ashram in Mania village in Jodhpur when he came to know that the girl was not keeping well. The girls father said that the ashram authorities had claimed that his daughter was besieged by spirits. Toward them off, he had taken her to meet Asaram and seek his blessings. Farhan Akhtar took the twitter route to flay those who were posting old pictures of Asaram with politicians. New Delhi: Controversial godman Asaram Bapu, who was convicted in a rapes case on Wednesday, rubbed shoulders with the high and mighty of Indian politics. In their bid to woo Asaram, who had crores of followers, political heavyweights ranging from former Prime Ministers, chief ministers, top political leaders of every hue and colour made a beeline to pay their obeisance to this man. During the 2015 Bihar Assembly polls, striking back at the BJP for its against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on the issue of meeting a tantrik, the JD(U) had dug out an old photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting Asaram Bapu. Mr Kumar was with the JD(U)-RJD-led grand alliance. After the conviction, the Congress released a video of Mr Modi with the controversial preacher. The video shows that Mr Modi, during his tenure as Gujarat chief minister, shared dais with Asaram. The Twitter handle of Congress tweeted, A man is known by the company he keeps. However, actor-director Farhan Akhtar took the twitter route to flay those who were posting old pictures of Asaram with politicians. According to him, it wasnt a crime if someone was associated with Asaram before he was accused or found guilty. So, Asaram is a child rapist. And he has been found guilty. Good. But can people please stop sharing images of him with PM Modi. Patronising him before he was exposed to be a pervert is no crime. Lets be fair and give him the benefit of doubt that he, like us, did not know, tweeted Akhtar. Abdullah said injustices of the past needed to be acknowledged and cannot be repeated. Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and president of opposition National Conference (NC), Dr. Farooq Abdullah, has welcomed Congress leader Salman Khurshid's assertion that his party's hands are stained with the blood of Muslims and said that introspection at a national level was important to initiate reconciliation between various communities in the country. Mr Abdullah said injustices of the past needed to be acknowledged and cannot be repeated. Muslims in India have contributed vastly and selflessly towards the progress and the integrity of the country but the past is replete with various instances where they have been at the receiving end of injustice, inequality and prejudice at the policy level, he said in a statement on Wednesday. The NC leader added that Mr Salman's statement is introspective and should be welcomed and that other political parties at the national level should also acknowledge the injustices of the past so that such mistakes are not repeated in the future. He also said that inclusivity, respect and dignity should form the cornerstones of a policy outreach towards Muslims in India as also other minorities. A sense of dignity and inclusivity needs to be restored, especially in the face of divisive rhetoric and communal ploys as a result of which Muslims are faced with a new challenge of political and economic disempowerment, he said. Mr Abdullah added that at regular intervals various committees were formed to formally analyse the systemic socio-economic disempowerment of minorities in the country but despite credible and conclusive reports, no significant movement was made towards the path of affirmative action, redressal and closure in the context of various injustices of the past". He said that similarly the national political leadership, cutting across political and partisan lines, should introspect about the injustices meted out in Jammu and Kashmir and accept the mistakes of the past. The Centre said this in an affidavit filed in response to a notice issued on a PIL filed by advocate Ashiwni Kumar Upadhyaya. New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday made it clear in the Supreme Court that it is not possible to amend the law to equate the removal proceedings of Chief Election Commissioner, a permanent constitutional functionary with that of two Election Commissioners. The Centre said this in an affidavit filed in response to a notice issued on a PIL filed by advocate Ashiwni Kumar Upadhyaya seeking a direction to amend the Constitution to grant protection to two Election Commissioners from arbitrary removal on par with the CEC. The petitioner pointed out that the protection that ECs shall not be removed except on the recommendations of the CEC would not amount to equal treatment of two ECs with that of CEC. He submitted that the CEC and ECs enjoy the same decision-making powers, which is suggestive of the fact that their powers are at par with each other. However, Clause (5) of the Article 324 of the Constitution does not provide similar protection to the ECs and it merely says that the ECs cannot be removed from office except on the recommendation of the CEC. Twenty-three girls of Classses 6, 7 and 8 met the district collector to narrate their ordeals, the police said. The district collector also ordered action against five female teachers of the school who tried to defend the headmaster. (Representational image) Bhopal: In a shocking incident of sexual abuse in the name of teaching, a headmaster of a school in Chhattisgarh district was arrested for touching girl students inappropriately under the pretext of explaining magnetism, the police said on Wednesday. Ajey Shukla, headmaster of a school in district headquarters town of Rajnandgaon, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of molestation of girls of the school after the alleged victims took up the matter with local district collector Bheem Singh. Twenty-three girls of Classses 6, 7 and 8 met the district collector to narrate their ordeals, the police said. The victims narrated how the headmaster was putting his hand under their shirts on the pretext of explaining magnetism, the police quoted the victims as saying to the district collector. The district collector also ordered action against five female teachers of the school who tried to defend the headmaster, dubbing the charges against him as lies, the police said. Election related issues were also part of the agenda during the meeting between Amit Shah and the RSS top brass, sources said. New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday met RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat at the Sangh headquarters in Nagpur, as the saffron party gets battle ready for coming crucial assembly polls and also the Lok Sabha polls scheduled by next year. During his nearly four hour long stay in the RSS headquarters, Mr Shah also met Bhaiyya Joshi, second-in-command in the Sangh Parivar. The RSS and its cadre play a key role in saffron party's election related strategies and campaiging. Election related issues were also part of the agenda during the meeting between Mr Shah and the RSS top brass, sources said. While Congress ruled Karnataka will be going to polls next month, three BJP ruled states namely, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh will see assembly elections by the end of this year. Amid poll predictions suggesting a hung assembly in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to interact with Karnataka BJP leaders, including the party's candidates for the May 12 assembly polls, elected members and office-bearers, through his mobile application on Thursday. Mr Modi would also speak to party workers and provide them guidance as they campaign for the polls to the 224-member assembly. The ruling Congress and its strategists, it is learnt, are giving a tough time to the BJP poll managers in this southern state where the RSS cadre has also been actively involved. Mr Modi will also start his campaign in the state from May 1 and is expected to address anywhere between 15-20 rallies. Sources disclosed Mr Shah also discussed about Rajasthan, where a majority section within the BJP wants a leadership change. However, the central leadership is said to be gauging the likely impact as chief minister Vasundhra Raje has a strong support base and still considered as the tallest leader in the current scenario. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP leadership recently wnet in for a key organisational change by replacing the state unit chief. The evidence is clear that people that are more active have a lesser risk of developing depression. Researchers found that higher level of physical activity protected from future depression in children, adults and older adults globally. (Photo: Pixabay) Physical activity can protect against the emergence of depression, regardless of age and geographical region, a study has found. Researchers, including those from King's College London in the UK, pooled data from 49 unique cohort studies of people free from mental illness that examined if physical activity is associated with a decreased risk of developing depression. In total, 266,939 individuals were included, with a gender distribution of 47 per cent males, and on average the individuals were followed up after 7.4 years. Once the data was extracted they found that compared to people with low levels of physical activity, those with high levels had lower odds of developing depression in the future. Physical activity had a protective effect against the emergence of depression in youths, in adults, and in the elderly and across geographical regions, (in Europe, North America, and Oceania). "This is the first global meta-analysis to establish that engaging in physical activity is beneficial for protecting the general population from developing depression," said Felipe Barreto Schuch from Universidade La Salle in Brazil. "The evidence is clear that people that are more active have a lesser risk of developing depression," said Schuch, lead author of the study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. "We have looked at whether these effects happen at different age groups and across different continents and the results are clear. Regardless your age or where you live, physical activity can reduce the risk of having depression later in life," Schuch said. "Our robust analysis of over a quarter of a million people found consistent evidence that people who are more active are less likely to develop depression in the future," said Schuch. Researchers found that higher level of physical activity was protective from future depression in children, adults and older adults, across every continent and after taking into account other important factors such as body mass index, smoking and physical health conditions. "Given the multitude of other health benefits of physical activity, our data add to the pressing calls to prioritise physical activity across the lifespan," Schuch added. Snap of Antelo holding hoe and gazing into distance on her farm has gone viral after an interview with local newspaper. Some netizens are questioning whether Trump has a long lost relative in Spain. (Photos: AP/ Twitter) New Delhi: The Internet has found United States President Donald Trump's doppelganger in Dolores Leis Antelo, a farmer from Nanton, La Coruna. A snap of Antelo holding a hoe and gazing into the distance on her farm has gone viral after an interview with a local newspaper, La Voz de Galicia. According to the Spanish news outlet, Antelo has been branded as the "Donald Trump of the Costa da Morte." "My photo seems to have traveled far. I say it is because of the colour of my hair," she told. One twitteratti wrote: "If ONLY he were just an Spanish lady working on a small farm, and not the "leader" of the free world @realDonaldTrump". If ONLY he were just an Spanish lady working a small farm, and not the leader of the free world.@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/b9ZfiZLADT David N (@DNealeColorado) April 24, 2018 Meanwhile, some netizens are questioning whether Trump has a long lost relative in Spain. A government source, however, said, The letter of a private individual has no legal sanctity. New Delhi: A meeting of the Tihar Jails sentence review board, which was scheduled for Tuesday to decide on the release of some prisoners, including model Jessica Lal murder convict Manu Sharma, has been postponed. An official, who is a member of the sentence review board, said the meeting had to be postponed as home minister Satyendra Jain did not give his consent. A Delhi government spokesperson claimed that there wasnt any meeting scheduled for Tuesday as the minister had not given his consent in the first place. The sentence review board is a statutory body which has a judge, Delhi home minister, law secretary, and the home secretary among its members. The board was to consider Manu Sharmas release. Last month, Jessica Lalls sister, Sabrina Lall, wrote a letter to the Tihar Jail authorities saying that she had no objection to his release. A government source, however, said, The letter of a private individual has no legal sanctity. Manu Sharma, son of former Union minister Venod Sharma, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the high court in December 2006 for killing Jessica Lall in 1999. The trial court had acquitted him. However, the Delhi high court reversed the verdict and the Supreme Court upheld the life sentence in April 2010. Jessica Lall, who was tending a bar at the Tamarind Court restaurant owned by socialite Bina Ramani at the Qutub Colonnade in South Delhis Mehrauli area was gunned down by Sharma on April 30, 1999, after she refused to serve him alcohol. A call was received by police about a quarrel over parking between two families in Gauram Puri in south east Delhi. Anil received head injuries and was taken to a hospital. Nitin, his brother Mithun and their nephew Vishal attacked Ashok with a knife. (Representational Image) New Delhi: A man has been arrested for allegedly killing his neighbour over a parking dispute in Dwarka area of New Delhi last week, police said Tuesday. A call was received by police about a quarrel over parking between two families in Gauram Puri in south east Delhi on April 18. The two sides, including the family of a local Ashok and his neighbour Anil and Nitin, were fighting over parking a scooty, they said. In the fight, Anil received head injuries and was taken to a hospital. Nitin, his brother Mithun and their nephew Vishal attacked Ashok with a knife and he was taken to Apollo hospital, where he was declared dead, said Bhisham Singh, DCP (Crime Branch). A case was registered at Badarpur police station and a dedicated team of Crime Branch was formed to arrest the accused as the killing had created a huge public outrage in the area, he said. The Crime Branch team received an input that the accused Vishal would come in front of the Delhi Jal Board office on Old Kakrola Road in Najafgarh, to meet someone. The team immediately swung into action and Vishal was arrested from there, the official said. The accused worked as a parking attendant at a municipal corporation facility. In 2016, he was arrested in a case of the POCSO Act and the Arms Act and was jailed for three months. After coming out of jail, he started living in Noida. On the day of the incident, he had gone to Gautam Puri to visit his parents house where the incident took place, he added. The girl was sick and her mother had brought her to a government dispensary for treatment. He was allegedly sexually abusing the girl and was threatening her to not reveal about the incident to anyone. (Representational Image) New Delhi: A 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her stepfather for the past two years in south east Delhi's Jaitpur area, police said on Wednesday. The 38-year-old accused, a painter by profession, was arrested, they added. On April 20, the police were informed that a girl was raped by her step-father for the past two years, they added. The girl was sick and her mother had brought her to a government dispensary for treatment. The dispensary informed the Delhi Child Protection Unit (DCPU) for further action, police said. Subsequently, a case was registered and the accused was arrested on April 22. He was allegedly sexually abusing the girl and was threatening her to not reveal about the incident to anyone. In the Bawana module, three persons, including two teachers of a private school, were involved. Police said that the investigation team at their office in Shakarpur summoned Rana who was in charge of the exam centre from where Class 12 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Economics paper was leaked. (Representational image) New Delhi: A special investigation team (SIT) of the Delhi police crime branch on Tuesday has summoned the suspended CBSE official K.S. Rana for questioning. Police said that the investigation team at their office in Shakarpur summoned Rana who was in charge of the exam centre from where Class 12 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Economics paper was leaked. Rana was suspended by the CBSE after the SIT had arrested three persons, including two teachers of a private school in the Outer Delhi for allegedly leaking the question paper nearly 90 minutes before the scheduled time of the exam, the police said. The police busted the second module in Una town in Himachal Pradesh earlier this month. A woman was among the six persons arrested in connection with leaking the CBSE question papers. In the Bawana module, three persons, including two teachers of a private school, were involved. The teachers Rishabh and Rohit had taken photographs of the economics paper and sent it to Tauqeer. He circulated the paper among his students about an hour before the examination commenced, police said, adding, he had received the paper via WhatsApp from Rishabh and Rohit. DCP G Ramgopal Naik confirmed that Rana had been questioned for three hours in Shakarpur, but he refused to divulge the details. He was the centre supervisor and was questioned to clarify certain things told by the school rincipal during his questioning. He was asked about the papers accessed by the accused before the scheduled time, he added. The residents alleged that the construction activities related to the underground Metro-3 project could have led to the collapse. Mumbai: A 65-year-old music school, popularly known as Wadia Musical Classes, which was run by Indias first female tabla player, the late Dr Aban Mistry, shut down after a slab from Jer Mahal, the three-storey residential structure, also a cessed Maharashtra Housing And Area Development Authority (Mhada) building, collapsed in Dhobi Talao on Saturday morning. The residents alleged that the construction activities related to the underground Metro-3 project could have led to the collapse, while a few also claimed that Mhada did not conduct repairs on time. Commenting on the residents allegations, a Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) source said, The collapse did not occur due to tunnelling because the operations were stopped on April 19. When The Asian Age visited the site, it was discovered that a notice had been put by Mhada on April 21, the day of collapse, warning residents about the structures weak condition. The 400-sq-ft office of Swar Sadhna Samiti, an organisation founded by Mistry and her guru, late Jijina in 1953, was located on the first floor of the Jer annexe building. The tunnelling process of Mumbai Metro-3 (Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ) was 120 metres away from the site of collapse. However, residents claim vibrations were felt before collapse. A slab had collapsed from the third floor of the building in the wee hours of Saturday last week, which led to the housing authority taking steps to evacuate the residents from the structure. The apartment housed several old musical instruments like tanpuras, harmoniums and tablas which were used by Mistry. Students were taught western classical music here, but from past few years, the centre was organising events to promote Indian classical events. Also next month, we had 676 music events lined up, said Yamini Zaveri, a member of the Samiti. She added, Now we dont know where to shift all these instruments as we do not have any alternate option. All the instruments, old research papers and books of Mistry have been packed to be relocated. Mistry who passed away in 2012, was the first professional female tabla player of the country, and was honoured by the president recently. A division bench of Justices A.S.Oka and Riyaz Chagala was hearing a bunch of petitions filed for strict implementation of the noise pollution rules. Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked the state government to clarify whether it will take any action against officers of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) if the noise generated at its construction sites for the metro project is higher than the prescribed limit as per the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Amendment Rules, 2017. During the last hearing, the court had directed the police to record the noise level at sites located at Churchgate, Cuffe Parade and Mahim, where the metro- project work is going on. A division bench of Justices A.S.Oka and Riyaz Chagala was hearing a bunch of petitions filed for strict implementation of the noise pollution rules. During the last hearing, Sumaira Abdul Ali had informed the court that the noise levels due to the construction of the Metro 3 Colaba-Andheri-Seepz was very high. On Wednesday, the state filed a report before the court saying noise decibel levels at all the three spots were higher than the permissible limit. Additional government pleader Manish Pabale, told the High Court that the police followed a standard procedure in such cases by which noise levels are recorded thrice and the average is then taken. Hence in this particular case, the police cannot register an offence, he said. The bench directed the government to file the affidavit by May 4 when it will hear the petitions. The investigators said that more than 160 bank accounts were in laundering money. Mumbai: Enforcement Directorate (ED)s interrogation of the citys arguably biggest hawala operator Mohammad Farooq Shaikh, who was arrested on Tuesday, revealed that the quantum of his money-laundering business is worth over Rs 5,000 crore. The ED officials said that the accused hawala operator worked for traders who imported consumer durables from China and helped them in laundering money. The modus operandi of Shaikh's operation was Trade Based Money Laundering (TBML) which is basically done by importing goods and declaring their value lower than the actual price (market value). Chunk of the money went to Hong Kong and Dubai. We have identified many of the traders who would launder their money with Shaikh's help, however, there is no complete clarity on what happened to money overseas as yet, said an ED officer. The investigators said that more than 160 bank accounts were used to launder money. Apart from laundering, he would also take cheques from some corporate houses and give cash after deducting his percentage. The cheque and money were later used for separate transactions by him, which amounted to violation of laws. The officials said that apart from laundering of Rs 2200 crore since 2015, they have also come across Foreign Exchange Management Act violations to the tune of equal amount taking the total beyond Rs 5000 crore. The importers and traders who dealt with him are now under scanner and they will be questioned. The dummy directors he appointed for his over 16 shell companies will also be identified and summoned," added the ED officer. The officials are now ascertaining how his firms remitted about Rs 2,252 crore funds between 2015-16 without showing enough collaterals, when the actual bills of entry were only for Rs 24.64 crore. The same was done by submitting non-existent and forged import documents to the banks, which never raise alarm. The reasons for Britain wooing India in the post-Brexit scenario have been well articulated. Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared with the Indian audience at Londons historic Westminster Hall last week how Prince Charles had travelled to New Delhi to invite him to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and how Queen Elizabeth II had written to him extending a personal invitation. He went on to say this was because India was a respected country, and he implied this enhanced respect had been the outcome of the four years he has been in office as Prime Minister. It was clear Mr Modi was flattered by the gestures of Prince Charles and the Queen, but he was quick to impute it to the country and not himself, though he would have loved to say it was due to him and he half-believes that its he who has changed Indias status for the better. The reasons for Britain wooing India in the post-Brexit scenario have been well articulated. Britain is looking for a big market in place of the European Union. Britain wants places where it can invest. The terms of engagement between Britain and India have changed radically as India is poised to go past Britain as the fifth largest economy after the United States, China, Japan and Germany. It is interesting to note that Britain looked to 17th century Mughal India for trade opportunities with an opulent country, and 400 years later Britain is still eyeing the economic advantages of connecting with India. But it is important to understand the reasons why India is becoming important in the world. India, along with China, is moving back to its dominant position in the global economy that it held in the beginning of the 18th century, as indicated by Angus Maddison. It was nearly a quarter of the worlds GDP in 1700 Common Era (CE). By the middle of the 21st century, India could move back to the position it had held in 1700. In 2017, Indias share of world GDP stood at 7.46 per cent. It will be useful to remember that Indias share of world GDP stood at 6.23 per cent in 2013, 6.41 per cent (2013), 6.66 per cent (2014), 6.97 per cent (2015), 7.24 per cent (2016) and 7.46 per cent (2017). It would be futile to argue that India has made impressive gains from 1991 onwards when economic reforms were ushered in by the Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao-finance minister Manmohan Singh duo. In case of China it will be argued that growth began only in 1979 under Deng Xiaoping, who had introduced economic reforms. It is now recognised that Chinas Maoist period from 1949 to 1976, with all its disastrous turns, served as a building block because of the achievements in basic education and healthcare sectors, and the industrialisation that had occurred in those years. India-watchers will have to reckon with the fact that Indias socialist period from 1951 to 1991 had helped in preparing the base for the post-1991 growth. The other major reason for Indias growing importance in the present global context is that India is a democracy. It will be argued that what matters in the world is not whether India is a democracy but whether it is an economic power, and that China commands respect in the world despite it not being a democracy. As a matter of fact, Indias hard-nosed realists are likely to argue that India would have done better on the economic growth front if it had not been a democracy. But this anti-democratic assumption is not even counter-intuitive. Indias brainpower bloomed and flourished in a democratic setup, and it had expanded the socio-economic base through affirmative action. The reservations policy is usually blamed for Indias supposedly retarded growth rate, but the reverse is actually true. India has got a larger science and technology workforce base because of reservations over the decades. What makes a national economy vibrant and powerful is its large base. India is a rising economic power because Indias potential producers and consumers run into hundreds of millions of people. Reservations had facilitated economic inclusion. This was achieved through democratic means. Political egalitarianism has tremendous economic advantages. If India were to weaken its democracy, it would not be an economy to reckon with because the market base of consumers would be much too small. One of the problems that China faces is that its domestic market of consumers is not large enough. Chinas growth rate might be better, but India is the larger market in terms of consumers. On a smaller scale, the Asean (Asso-ciation of Southeast Asian Nations) lose the economic growth race because their domestic consumer base is small because of a smaller population and limited consumer base. Democracy means rule of law, and it is important for global investors as well as those who want to sell goods in India. Ease of doing business is linked to the rule of law, which in turn is an offshoot of democratic governance. It would be a folly to believe that the speed of clearance of business projects is what the ease of doing business is all about. If this were the only criterion, then undemocratic countries are the best places to do business. In undemocratic countries, political power and economic wealth is not diffused, and they turn out to be a major bottleneck for growth. Freedom political, economic and social is the engine of economic innovation and growth, and freedom is guaranteed only in a democracy. It would be salutary if a section of Indias intelligentsia stops bemoaning the fact that India is a democracy and therefore it is not able to achieve economic growth rates comparable to China. Market economies flourish only in a free society. Free market economies need new ideas and they in turn presuppose the freedom to think of new ideas and options. Indias destiny is intertwined with that of democracy. In ancient Greece and Rome, democracies degenerated into political anarchy and necessitated the rise of militarised states. In the modern world, states are prosperous and they succeed because they are democratic and they are free. Hackers have advertised databases of private information on the social platform. This file photo shows a Facebook logo being displayed in a start-up companies gathering at Paris Station F, in Paris. (Photo: AP) Facebook has removed a number of accounts and pages that advertised and sold social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and alleged credit card numbers of dozens of people, following a report by news website Motherboard. Posts containing information like social security numbers or credit card information are not allowed on Facebook, and we remove this material when we become aware of it, a Facebook spokesman said on Tuesday. A Google search still pulls up a few public Facebook posts that offer to sell personal details including credit card numbers. Hackers have advertised databases of private information on the social platform and Motherboard reported on Tuesday that Facebook has held stolen identities and social security numbers for years. The report said at least some of the data in these posts appeared real. The news website said it was able to confirm the first four digits of the social security numbers, names, addresses, and dates of birth for four people whose data appears in a post from July 2014. Shares of Facebook were down 3.9 percent at $159.32. Last week, Facebook deleted almost 120 private discussion groups of more than 300,000 members, after being alerted by a report from journalist Brian Krebs that the groups flagrantly promoted a host of illicit activities, including spamming, wire fraud, account takeovers, and phoney tax refunds. The biggest collection of groups banned were those promoting the sale and use of stolen credit and debit card accounts, and the next largest collection of groups included those facilitating takeovers for online accounts such Amazon, Google, Netflix, and PayPal, the report said. Tech companies are under intense scrutiny about how they protect customer data after Facebook was embroiled in a huge scandal where millions of users data were improperly accessed by a political consultancy. Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees interviewed former Cambridge Analytica employee. House Democrats, frustrated by what they see as GOP inaction and with an eye on midterm elections, held the first of what they hope to be several interviews with witnesses who have not been interrogated in the Republican-led Russia investigations. Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees interviewed former Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie, who sparked a global debate over electronic privacy in March when he revealed that a data-mining firm affiliated with President Donald Trumps campaign gathered millions of Facebook profiles to influence elections. Wylies visit is part of a Democratic attempt to keep the congressional focus on Russian meddling in the 2016 election and on whether Trumps campaign was involved. Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee plan to meet with Wylie on Wednesday. Republicans were invited to both meetings but declined to attend. It was unclear if there were any new revelations in a closed-door meeting, which lasted less than three hours and was attended by a handful of lawmakers. The Democrats said they would like to hold additional interviews, but it was unclear if any were scheduled. At least one House Democrat who attended signalled a larger strategy was at play. The Republicans arent always going to be in the majority, said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, a member of the Oversight panel, after he left the interview with Wylie. So I think we have to do our due diligence, we have to lay the groundwork for what we would actually want to do if we take back the House and we are operating in the majority in the committee. The GOP-led House Intelligence Committee shut down its Russian meddling probe last month, concluding after dozens of interviews that they didnt see any evidence of collusion or coordination between Trumps campaign and Russia. Democrats were furious, arguing that Republicans hadnt subpoenaed many witnesses they considered essential. The Republican chairmen of the Judiciary and Oversight panels declined to investigate the election meddling at all, saying they would instead leave that to special counsel Robert Mueller. Still, Republicans on all three committees are investigating the Justice Department, looking into whether employees conspired against Trump in beginning its Russia investigation and whether the departments employees were biased in its investigation of Trumps 2016 opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. In a joint statement after the Wylie interview, Democrats on the Judiciary and Oversight committees said he raised serious questions about security. We must do more to learn how foreign actors collect and weaponize our data against us, and what impact social media has on our democratic processes, the lawmakers said in a joint statement. Wylie worked for the UK-based Cambridge Analytica from 2013 to 2015. In several interviews last month, he said the firm sought information on Facebook to build psychological profiles on a large portion of the US electorate. He said the company was able to amass the database quickly with the help of an academic, Aleksander Kogan, who developed a Facebook app called This is Your Digital Life that appeared to be a personality test. Wylie has said he fears that data may have been turned over to Russians who aimed to interfere with the US election. Cambridge Analytica was backed by the conservative billionaire Robert Mercer, a hedge-fund manager who supported the Trump campaign. The firms vice president at one point was Steve Bannon, who later became Trumps campaign chairman and White House adviser. Leaving the interview, Wylie declined to say what was discussed but said he hopes that Congress can investigate Cambridge Analytica and whether the firms actions were compliant with American law. I hope so, he said. Thats why I came. Between 1971 and 2016, Islamabad has been developing its own nuclear arsenal, 'both plutonium and enriched uranium-based weapons.' In an article written for the www.military.com website, Joseph V Micallef, warns that if Islamabad continues in this vein, there is every possibility of nuclear device or devices falling into the hands of militant jihadist organisations, both in Pakistan and in other parts of the world. (Photo: PTI | Representational) Washington: Pakistan is well on its way to amassing the world's third largest nuclear weapons stockpile and its decision to deploy low-yield (5 to 10 kiloton) battlefield weapons, represents a dangerous new strategy that could have a telling impact on South Asia's future stability, claims a military history and world affairs expert. In an article written for the www.military.com website, Joseph V Micallef, a best-selling military history and world affairs author and a keynote speaker, warns that if Islamabad continues in this vein, there is every possibility of nuclear device or devices falling into the hands of militant jihadist organisations, both in Pakistan and in other parts of the world. In his article, Micallef says, "Pakistan's past ties to militant jihadist groups like the Afghan Taliban, Tehreek-e-Jihad Islami, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba or Hizbul Mujahideen, to name a few, and the emergence of al-Qaida affiliated Ansar Ghawzat-Ul-Hind, have added an additional element of conflict into Indian-Pakistani relations." "They have also led to a significant deterioration" in bilateral ties between Pakistan and the United States, he adds. He says this conflict between Pakistan and India must be seen in a larger context - expanded to a "larger rivalry between China and India in Asia and the Indian Ocean basin." "The military intervention by the United States and its allies to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the role of both India and Pakistan in that conflict, have added a further layer of complexity between the two countries," Micallef maintains. Micallef suggests that what concerns him most is that Pakistan continues to engage in a nuclear arms build-up, which it has been doing clandestinely and illicitly for the past 48 years, and that these arms could be accessed by rogue elements, both in Pakistan and abroad. Between 1971 and 2016, Islamabad has been developing its own nuclear arsenal, "both plutonium and enriched uranium-based weapons." Micallef assesses that Pakistan reportedly has four plutonium production reactors and three plutonium reprocessing plants. Pakistan is also producing highly enriched uranium (HEU), using gas centrifuge enriched uranium. "The specially designed centrifuges spin uranium hexafluoride gas at high speeds to increase the concentration of the uranium 235 isotope. This is the same technology that Iran had been using in its nuclear weapons program," Micallef states. There continue to be reports, however, that rogue elements of that (AQ Khan) network continue to operate clandestinely. According to unconfirmed media reports, as recently as 2014, the Islamic State (IS) reached out to former members of the Khan network for assistance in securing atomic weaponry," he says. "While the design and construction of a nuclear device is very likely beyond the capabilities of al-Qaida, IS or any other militant jihadist group, the use of radiological dispersal devices, so called dirty bombs, is well within their capability," he cautions. He also makes a worrying mention of China's considerable help to Pakistan in supplying "a broad array of missile and nuclear weapons related assistance." Micallef cites various intelligence sources to say that Pakistan currently has between 140 and 150 nuclear weapons in its control, but has, it is believed, produced and stockpiled around 3,000 to 4,000 kilograms (6,600 to 8,800 lbs) of weapons grade HEU and about 200 to 300 kilograms (440 to 660 lbs) of plutonium. "The current stockpile is enough for an additional 200 to 250 weapons, depending on the warhead's desired yield... As of the end of 2017, Pakistan has enough HEU and plutonium to produce an additional 230 to 290 warheads. This number could be higher if Pakistan opts for smaller warheads intended for battlefield weapons. This would raise the Pakistani nuclear arsenal to between 350 and 450 nuclear warheads. Pakistan is adding enough HEU and plutonium to its stockpile to produce around 10 to 20 additional bombs a year." Micallef mentions that since the late 1980s, Pakistan has used a variety of militant organisations as proxies in its ongoing struggle with India over Kashmir and elsewhere. He certifies that the Pakistan Army's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) sponsors, organises, trains and funds terror outfits operating from its soil such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Omar, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Sipah-e-Sahaba, the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jamaat-ud-Da'wah, Harkat-ud-Jihad al-Islami, the Haqqani Network, Jamaat-ud-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and the Afghan Taliban, and uses them as proxies for its covert military operations. According to Micallef, since 1990, Pakistan's military strategy has followed a three-fold approach (1) use militant proxy organizations to strike at Indian military positions in Kashmir (2) rely on the threat to deploy nuclear weapons should India try to retaliate with a military invasion of Pakistan and (3) rely on the US and China, in particular, and world opinion in general, to restrain India from attacking Pakistan. He says that the Indian Army has come up with a comprehensively developed "Cold Start," Doctrine to make its offensive capabilities more aggressive, while the Pakistani response has been to emphasize the development of so called "theatre nuclear weapons" to be in a position to meet the challenge of India's rapid deployment forces with a series of limited nuclear strikes and then rely on international pressure to restrain India from escalating the confrontation into a full blown nuclear conflict. Micallef says it is important to note that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are kept disassembled at separate facilities, which technically prevents a terrorist organisation from obtaining a functional nuclear weapon. "The combination of a multi-branch command authority and the fact that the weapons are kept in a disassembled state makes it extremely difficult for rogue elements within Pakistan or for militant organizations to secure, divert or launch a nuclear weapon," he adds. "Battlefield weapons, on the other hand, by their very nature, are more at risk for theft, diversion or unauthorized use," because while they are under the control of the national command authority, their actual use is left to the commander in the field. He concludes by saying, "the future direction of Pakistan's nuclear weapons policy is going to be a function of the state of Indian-Pakistan relations on the subcontinent. In turn, this will be shaped both by the state of US-Pakistan relations over the ongoing conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan, as well as the broader challenge to India of China's ambitions in Central Asia and the Indian Ocean Basin." Suspect Alek Minassian had the hallmarks of deadly vehicle assaults by ISIS supporters. Suspect Alek Minassian, 25, was charged with 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder in the incident. (Photo: LinkedIn) Toronto: The man accused of ploughing a rental van into pedestrians on a crowded Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people in Canada's deadliest mass killing in decades left a "cryptic message" on social media before his attack, police said on Tuesday. Suspect Alek Minassian, 25, was charged with 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder in the incident, which had the hallmarks of deadly vehicle assaults by ISIS supporters. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was no reason to suspect any national security connection. One possible clue to his motive emerged on Tuesday as Facebook confirmed Minassian said in a post before the incident that referenced an "incel rebellion," referring to a shorthand used in some online message boards for "involuntary celibacy." The post also voiced admiration for a man who killed six college students before taking his own life in California in 2014. "The accused is alleged to have posted a cryptic message on Facebook minutes before" the attack, Graham Gibson, a Toronto police detective sergeant, told a news conference. The majority of the victims were women, ranging in age from their mid-20s to early 80s, Gibson said. He declined to answer a question about whether anger against women motivated the attack, saying, "that's going to be part of our investigation." Facebook has since deleted Minassian's account, a representative said. "There is absolutely no place on our platform for people who commit such horrendous acts," she said in an email. Minassian kept his shaved head down during a brief court appearance in Canada's largest city, speaking quietly with a defence lawyer and stating his name in a steady voice when asked to do so. Trudeau called on all Canadians to stand united with Toronto as flowers and scrawled messages in multiple languages piled up at a makeshift memorial in the city's north end, an ethnically diverse neighbourhood of towering office buildings, shops, restaurants and homes. "We cannot as Canadians choose to live in fear every single day as we go about our daily business," Trudeau told reporters outside of parliament in Ottawa. The prime minister said the incident had not changed the country's threat level or security preparations for a G7 summit in Quebec in June. Minassian had briefly served in Canada's armed forces in late 2017 but asked to be voluntarily released after 16 days of training, defence ministry spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande said. The suspect's two-story red-brick home in a suburb north of Toronto was a crime scene Tuesday, taped off and surrounded by police vehicles. Officers went in and out of the house. South Koreans among victims Details about the dead began to emerge on Tuesday, with a South Korean foreign ministry representative saying that two of that country's citizens were killed and one injured in the attack. The representative spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. A Jordanian citizen was also killed, said an official at the country's embassy in Ottawa. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp identified one of the victims as Anne Marie D'Amico, an employee of asset manager Invesco Canada. In a statement, Invesco confirmed that one of its employees had been killed but did not name her. It could be days before all the victims are publicly identified, said Ontario Chief Coroner Dirk Huyer said, adding that the extent of their injuries was making some identities difficult to determine. "It ranges from scrapes and bruises to terrible injuries that I won't get into discussing here," Gibson added. The attack shook the usually peaceful streets of Toronto, which recorded 61 murders last year. The drama started at lunchtime on a warm spring day, when the driver drove his vehicle into the crowds. The street was soon covered in blood, empty shoes and bodies. In October 2017, eight people died in New York when a man driving a rented pickup truck mowed down pedestrians and cyclists on a bike path. The Islamic State militant group encourages its supporters to use vehicles for attacks. Trump upon entering office in Jan 2017, announced a 90 day ban on travellers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The travel ban's focus on Muslim countries has left Trump the target of allegations that it violates constitutional religious protections, which led lower courts, including the federal court in Hawaii, to rule it illegal. (Photo: AP) Washington: President Donald Trump's effort to ban immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries heads to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, which will decide if his argument asserting national security interests was tainted by religious bias. The case, known as Trump v Hawaii, will address the president's broad powers to set immigration policy, which the administration says permit Trump's travel ban, one of his hallmark policies since taking office in January 2017. Legal experts say the court usually loathes to rule on executive powers. But the travel ban's focus on Muslim countries has left Trump the target of allegations that it violates constitutional religious protections, which led lower courts, including the federal court in Hawaii, to rule it illegal. "This case has everything: weighty constitutional issues, complex statutory questions, and a fight over whether there are any real limits on a president's power to control immigration," said Cornell University law professor Stephen Yale-Loehr. "Whichever way the court rules, the decision will have profound implications for Americans, immigrants, and the president." Muslim ban promise One of Trump's first acts upon entering office in January 2017 was to announce a 90 day ban on travellers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The sudden move caused chaos at airports, with people unable to enter despite holding visas, and some families sent back to their homelands. Tens of thousands of legal visas were revoked. The order was made on national security grounds -- purportedly to protect the country from terror attacks -- and officials said the time limit would allow for a review and improvement of immigration vetting in those countries. But critics alleged in court, successfully, that it essentially targeted Muslims. They noted that during the election the previous year Trump repeatedly attacked the Muslim immigrants, whom he said "don't assimilate" and "hate us." And his campaign website stated that Trump "is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." Lower courts ruled that Trump's ban was illegal because of what they called an implicit bias against Muslims, violating the US Constitution. The ban was reissued twice, each time with adjustments aiming to get around such rulings. The So-called Version 3.0 in September was open-ended and changed the countries. It included Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Syria and added Chad, another predominantly Muslim country. It also included North Korea and certain officials from Venezuela. Those additions, rights groups said, were cosmetic: North Koreans were already essentially blocked from the United States, and economic sanctions have limited Venezuelan officials from coming. Lower courts again blocked Version 3.0, but the administration has successfully brought its appeal to the highest court, persuading the court to allow implementation while it reviews the case. That has made it impossible for family members, businessmen and students from those countries to come to the United States even if they have been cleared by security reviews. 'Legally unworkable orders' Normally the court should review the specifics of just the third travel ban version. But lawyers say it cannot ignore the haphazard issuance of the first two versions and the ties to trump's election promises and anti-Muslim statements. "The court should take note of the breakdown of internal norms and legal processes within the executive branch that have led to a series of legally unworkable orders in the administration's first year -- as well as the president's long public record of animus against the minority groups affected by those policies," said lawyers W Neil Eggleston and Amanda Elbogen in an analysis on Just Security. Nevertheless, Trump's case could be bolstered by the lifting of the ban on travellers from Chad on April 10. The government announced that the country had cleared up questions on immigrant vetting -- suggesting that the security issue, and not Muslims, is behind the ban. Abdul Manan Arghand, who worked for Kabul News TV, was shot by gunmen as he was driving his car, police spokesman Zia Durani said. The attack came the same day as a meeting in Kabul to discuss how to safeguard journalists. The UN mission in Afghanistan issued a statement condemning the killing. (Photo: File | Representational) Kandahar: Gunmen killed an Afghan journalist on his way to work in the southern city of Kandahar on Tuesday, officials said, an attack that highlights the risks faced by media workers in Afghanistan. Abdul Manan Arghand, who worked for Kabul News TV, was shot by gunmen armed with AK-47s as he was driving his car, police spokesman Zia Durani said. The attack came the same day as a meeting in Kabul to discuss how to safeguard journalists. The UN mission in Afghanistan issued a statement condemning the killing. Year 2017 was the bloodiest for journalists in Afghanistan, according to the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, with at least 20 killed and 169 cases of violence or threats. Col Gen Sergei Rudskoi said in a statement on Wednesday that Russia will supply Syria with 'new missile defence systems soon.' Rudskoi did not specify the type of weapons, but his remarks follow reports in the Russian media that Moscow is considering selling its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. (Photo: AP | Representational) Beirut: The Russian military has indicated it will supply the Syrian government with a sophisticated air defence system, after condemning a missile attack launched by the US, Britain and France earlier in April. Col Gen Sergei Rudskoi said in a statement on Wednesday that Russia will supply Syria with new missile defence systems soon. Rudskoi did not specify the type of weapons, but his remarks follow reports in the Russian media that Moscow is considering selling its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. Also Read: Russians helping Assad in Syria use military base at home, say witnesses Top Russian officials said earlier in April, that Moscow may reconsider a pledge it gave a decade ago not to provide Syria with the S-300 system in light of the air-strikes on Syria in April. Russia is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Sushma Swaraj highlights UNSCs unresponsiveness in her SCO address. Beijing: The UN Security Council is "increasingly unable" or "sometimes unwilling" to respond to the current security challenges with tragic consequences, external affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Tuesday as she pushed for the reform of the world body's powerful organ. Ms Swaraj, during her address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting here, raised the issue of global terrorism and protectionism. India along with Brazil, Germany and Japan has been seeking expansion of the permanent and non-permanent seats of the UNSC to make the powerful UN body more representative and reflective of the changing global order. Continuing to push for the reform and expansion of the UNSC, she said: "it is clear to many of us that the Security Council is increasingly unable, or sometimes unwilling, to respond to the security challenges of our times, with tragic consequences. "We must not lose sight of the fact that reforms of the UN will be incomplete, without reforms in the Security Council to make it more representative of contemporary realities". Since 2008, the international community has carefully nurtured the ongoing Inter governmental negotiations at the UN to take our discussions on UN Security Council reforms forward, she said. The members have expressed their desire to see these negotiations continue on the basis of a text, Ms Swaraj said. China, along with US, Russia, France and the UK, has not openly supported India's bid for a permanent seat in the UNSC, and instead called for a "package solution" . The meeting was also attended by foreign ministers Wang Yi of China, Khawaja Muhammad Asif of Pakistan, Kairat Abdrakhmanov of Kazakhstan, Abdyldaev Erlan Bekeshovich of Kyrgyzstan, Sergey Lavrov of Russia, Sirodjidin Muhridinovich Aslov of Tajikistan, Abdulaziz Khafizovich Kamilov of Uzbekistan, Wang Guangya, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, made a statement to that effect. Last March Xi Jinping reiterated the Partys monopoly and leadership in society. The goal is to prevent the democratic election of Hong Kong lawmakers. Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) People who chant end one-party dictatorship slogan are breaking the law and should be banned from seeking political office, this according to Wang Guangya (pictured), a member of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress (NPC) and a former head of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office until last year. The national constitution stipulates the country is led by the Chinese Communist Party, Wang Guangya told reporters in Beijing. Hence, those who call for the end to the dictatorship should not be allowed to run for office in the Autonomous Region. [They] shouldnt, because this contravenes the national constitution. Its a lawbreaking act, he said. Wang Guangyas statement comes after the NPC almost unanimously approved some amendments to the Constitution of China, and Xi Jinping reiterated the monopoly and leadership of the Communist Party in all domains of society. Hong Kong politician Tam Yiu-chung had sparked the debate last month when he said that those who called for an end to one-party dictatorship risked disqualification from elections. For his part, Wang Zhimin, the current head of Beijings liaison office in Hong Kong, said it was politically unethical to call for an end to one-party dictatorship. Defining those who call for the democratic election of Hong Kong lawmakers as lawbreakers is just another way of undermining those who dream of a multi-party China. by Mathias Hariyadi Setya Novanto was found guilty of rigging a government contract to buy electronic identity cards. He is the fourth defendant found guilty in the case, following the conviction of Irman and Sugiharto, two former senior officials with the Interior Ministry, and businessman Andi Agustinus (aka Andi Narogong). Jakarta (AsiaNews) The Jakarta Corruption Court judges sentenced Setya Novanto, Golkar party chairman and former speaker of the People's Representative Council, to 15 years in prison on Tuesday. The court found the important businessman guilty of rigging a tender of 5.9 trillion rupees (US$ 424 million) in connection with the purchase of electronic identity card (e-ID), amounting to 2.3 trillion rupees (US$ 170 million) in losses for the state. The court also ordered him to pay 500 million rupees in fines and restitution amounting to the US$ 7.3 million he obtained as intermediary. The road to justice was long and arduous since the politician came into the crosshairs of the Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi, KPK) in July 2017. On two occasions, Setya Novanto was able to skip a summons by the KPK for health reasons. Eventually, the authorities issued a warrant for his arrest on 15 November. The next day, before the warrant could be carried out, the former speaker was involved in a car accident that critics deemed very suspicious. Still, despite being in hospital, he was formally arrested on 19 November. His alleged poor health conditioned the first interrogations, following which his defence lawyer and the treating physician were accused of obstructing justice. Forced to resign as speaker of the People's Representative Council on 15 January 2018, Setya Novanto was replaced by Bambang Soesatyo. As he read out the courts decision, Chief Judge Yanto recommended that the now convicted felon be barred from elected office in the future since he broke parliaments code of ethics in favour of personal gain. Setya Novanto is the fourth person found guilty in this case. The others are Irman and Sugiharto, two former senior officials with the Interior Ministry, also sentenced to 15 years in prison, as well as businessman Andi Agustinus (aka Andi Narogong). The Golkar party dominated Indonesian politics from 1971 to 1999. Afterwards it has pursued shifting alliances with other parties in power. They are Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton and Jose Andres Murillo. They will be guests at Santa Marta residence and will meet individually with the pontiff, who will listen to "all their suggestions in order to avoid repeating such reprehensible facts". The declaration of the Holy See Press Office director underlines "pain" and "shame", as in the letter of Francis to the Chilean bishops. Vatican City (AsiaNews) - This weekend, Pope Francis will meet three victims of abuses committed by the Chilean clergy in the Santa Marta residence. These are Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton and Jose Andres Murillo. The director of the Vatican Press Office, Greg Burke, communicating the news today, states that "the Pope thanks them for accepting his invitation: during these days of personal and fraternal encounter, he wants to ask them for forgiveness, to share their pain and his shame for what they suffered and, above all, to listen to all their suggestions in order to avoid repeating such reprehensible facts ". It is not the first time that Pope Francis has expressed "pain" and "shame" towards the victims of abuse in Chile, after an interview on his return from Chile, he had defended Msgr. Juan Barros, bishop of Osorno on charges of having covered the abuse by the priest Fernando Karadima, his friend and mentor. The Pope had dismissed the accusations against Msgr. Barros as "slander" and had demanded "proof". In reality, the "evidence" had been received at the Vatican, so much so that Fr. Karadima was relegated to a life of penance and prayer. Because of the criticism aroused by his position, Francis then sent Msgr. Charles Scicluna, archbishop of Malta and expert in investigations on abuses, to Chile, who reported a long dossier confirming the violence. The Pope then apologized, expressing "pain" and "shame" in a letter of 11 April, addressed to the Chilean bishops, in which he admits that he "made serious errors of assessment and perception of the situation, in particular from a lack of truthful and balanced information ". The statement published today stressed that the three will have "personal meetings" with the pontiff, for "all the necessary time", concludes: "The Holy Father asks for prayers for the Church in Chile at this painful moment, hoping that these meetings can take place in a climate of serene trust and be a fundamental step to find a solution so that abuses of conscience, of power and especially sexual abuse in the Church never happen again. At the end of the general audience, Pope Francis launched an appeal for peace on the Korean peninsula, assuring his prayer for the Summit. Catechesis on baptism focused on "the strength to overcome evil". The value of the anointing with the oil of the catechumens, similar to the oil used by the ancient wrestlers. "It is difficult to fight against evil, to escape from its deceptions, to regain strength after a tiring struggle, but we must know that all of Christian life is a fight. But we must also know that we are not alone ". Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The Holy See supports and accompanies every peace initiative for the Korean peninsula and in particular the inter-Korean Summit, set for April 27, which will see the meeting between the two presidents of the South and the North , Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un. This is what Pope Francis said at the end of the general audience held today in Saint Peter's Square. An appeal by the pontiff was expected and hoped for by the Church of Korea. Speaking in front of over 30 thousand faithful, the pontiff said: "Next Friday, 27 April, an Inter-Korean Summit will be held in Panmunjeom, which will be attended by the leaders of the two Koreas, Mr. Moon Jae-in and Mr. Kim Jong -un. This meeting will be a favorable opportunity to start a transparent dialogue and a concrete path of reconciliation and newfound fraternity, in order to guarantee peace in the Korean Peninsula and in the whole world. To the Korean people, who ardently desire peace, I assure my personal prayer and the closeness of the whole Church. The Holy See accompanies, supports and encourages all useful and sincere initiatives to build a better future, in the name of encounter and friendship among peoples. I ask those who have direct political responsibilities to have the courage of hope by becoming "artisans" of peace, while I exhort them to continue with confidence the path undertaken for the good of all ". Previously the Pope had focused his audience on the subject of baptism and in particular on "the strength to overcome evil". Above all, the pontiff described the path that the catechumens walk to receive baptism, a "sacrament of faith": "Educated by listening to Jesus, by his teaching and his works, the catechumens relive the experience of the water-thirsty Samaritan woman, of the blind man born who opens his eyes to the light, of Lazarus coming out of the sepulchre. The Gospel carries within itself the strength to transform those who welcome it with faith, tearing them from the dominion of evil so that they learn to serve the Lord with joy and newness of life ". "One never goes alone to the baptismal font, but is accompanied by the prayer of the whole Church, as the litanies of the saints who precede the prayer of exorcism and pre-baptismal anointing with the oil of the catechumens recall. They are gestures that, since ancient times, assure those who are preparing to be reborn as children of God that the Church's prayer assists them in the fight against evil, accompanies them on the path of good, helps them to escape the power of sin to pass into kingdom of divine grace. For this reason, the path of adult catechumens is marked by repeated exorcisms pronounced by the priest (cf. CCC, 1237), that is, by prayers that call for liberation from everything that separates them from Christ and prevents intimate union with Him. Also for children God is asked to free them from original sin and consecrate them as the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit (see Rite of the Baptism of Children, No. 56). As the Gospels testify, Jesus himself fought and cast out demons to manifest the coming of the kingdom of God (cf. Mt 12,28): his victory over the power of evil leaves free space to the lordship of God that gladdens hearts and reconciles with the life". "Baptism is not a magic formula, but a gift of the Holy Spirit that enables those who receive it" to fight against the spirit of evil ", believing that" God has sent his Son into the world to destroy the power of Satan and bring 'man from darkness into his kingdom of infinite light' (see Rite of the Baptism of Children, No. 56). We know from experience that Christian life is always subject to the temptation to separate itself from God, from His will, from communion with Him, to fall back into the bonds of worldly seductions ". Pope Francis explained that in the rite of baptism there is the anointing on the chest with the oil of the catechumens: "Because of oil's property to penetrate the bodily tissues bringing benefit, the ancient wrestlers used to sprinkle themselves with oil to tone the muscles and to escape their opponent's grip more easily. In light of this symbolism, Christians of the first centuries adopted the use of anointing the body of candidates for baptism with oil blessed by the bishop, in order to signify, through this "sign of salvation", that the power of Christ Savior strengthens us to fight against evil and overcome it (see Rite of the Baptism of Children, No. 105) ". "It is tiring - he concluded - to fight against evil, to escape his deceptions, to regain strength after a tiring struggle, but we must know that all of Christian life is a battle. But we must also know that we are not alone, that the Mother Church prays so that her children, regenerated in Baptism, do not succumb to the snares of the evil one but defeat them through the power of the Passover of Christ. Strengthened by the Risen Lord, who has defeated the prince of this world (cf. Jn 12: 31), we too can repeat with the faith of St. Paul: "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13) " . By Renmart Buhay Special to The Post Why isnt mommy coming with us? Those were my last words before I departed the Philippines, the country I had known all my life. I was heading to this unfamiliar place called Canada, alone except for my frowning older brother and my father. And there was some real culture shock on arrival. I struggled with poor English. I was living in a cramped apartment while sharing a bed with my brother. I found the local culture to be completely alien to me. I was usually the only Filipino student in my class and I found talking to my teachers and peers difficult. I was hesitant to speak English and felt like I didnt relate to anybody in the room, so I kept quiet during class and to myself at lunch. I felt so overwhelmed trying to adjust to a new school environment that I gave up trying to form new friends and relationships. Like many immigrants, I suffered from social anxiety and lacked the tools to cope with the stresses in my new environment. Family separation, limited social networks and difficulty integrating to a new culture are perfect breeding grounds for loneliness. Back in the Philippines I had community, family and friends. Now living in Metro Vancouver, I felt disengaged, alone and unwelcome. Were caught between being isolated from our birthplace and feeling unwanted within our new Canadian community, regardless of whether those feeling are truly warranted or not. These struggles all contribute to mental health problems for new immigrants. Such issues are well documented in destination countries like Canada, the US, and in Europe. But how can you address the mental health struggles of your children when your primary need is to find a job to put food on the table? So this became my story from the ages of 6 to 12. During these years, I lacked healthy role models and came to see the Canadian dream was not easy to achieve. My father, meanwhile, became resigned to cleaning toilets, unloading boxes and selling Kentucky Fried Chicken for a living where previously he was a respected engineer. Family separation worsens this feeling of social isolation. My aunt arrived alone in Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program, and it took years before she was reunited with her children. The years apart contributed to the childrens distrust and worsening mental health in her family. Its no surprise immigrant youth feel lonely with parents working long hours, multiple jobs, or living in another country. Outside of the family, there is no one with whom they can discuss their mental health concerns, while inside the family discussing mental health issues is considered taboo. According to the Canadian Journal of Sociology, Filipino children of educated immigrants achieve a lower education level then their parents, with only 38% having university degrees. Research from Dr. Geraldine Pratt also shows that Filipino children in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto have lower high school graduation rates compared to their peers. Adding to this problem is being stuck in English Language Learning (ELL) or ESL programs. ESL does not count for graduation credits, so for newcomers this may further delay high school graduation, especially since many youth already are required to repeat grade levels when entering the Canadian school system. From my personal experience, ESL contributed to my feeling of social isolation. It added the stigma of being perceived as a second-tier student. I actually learned more when trying to speak English outside of ESL classes. One solution to issues facing newcomers would be community-based mentorship. Initiatives such as the Kababayan Academic Mentorship Program (KAMP) pair newly immigrated Filipino high school students with university mentors. Filipino mentors are considered kuyas and ates, big brothers and big sisters. In addition to providing a social support, mentors provide academic tutoring, English learning and post secondary guidance. Having a consistent date to make connections with other young adults from your cultural community also provides a beneficial safe haven and sense of security. Moving around schools from Burnaby to Vancouver to New Westminster, I never had the opportunity to form strong connections with these adult support networks but I was able to find my way through high school with the help of caring counselors and teachers who took the time to get to know me. Now as a Simon Fraser University student, I credit a lot of my academic success to my facultys peer mentorship program for first year students. I had a 4th year mentor guide and support me during the difficult period of transitioning to post-secondary. The lasting impact of mentors in my life now motivates my passion in mentoring newcomer youth. Representation matters. Creating ethno-specific community based mentorship for more refugee and immigrant youth would be a good start at facilitating the excellence of the next generation. Renmart Buhay is a student in Simon Fraser Universitys Semester In Dialogue. Photo via Tripp/Flickr. About 40% of motor vehicle accidents are work-related, which poses a significant risk to employees who drive for their jobs, according to a new report based on U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. Additionally, only 42.6% of companies currently mandate driver safety programs for employees in company-owned vehicle programs and just 19.5% require them for employees in mileage reimbursement programs, notes the report. The "2018 Driver Safety Risk Report" released by Motus, a vehicle management and reimbursement platform paints a picture of rising accident frequency and mounting costs. The overall number of traffic accidents and injuries remains at a record high. As the number of collisions increases, so do physical injuries to employees who drive for work. The report notes that since 2013, the annual number of motor vehicle-related injuries has risen by 6.2%. Motor vehicle accidents cost employers over $56 billion in 2017, with 53% of vehicle accidents causing employees to miss work. According to the Motus research, 68% of companies reported recent on-the-job accidents in company-owned vehicles and 41% of companies reported recent on-the-job accidents in employee-owned vehicles. Companies can reduce the accident rates for their employees by as much as 35% by expanding their driver risk management approach beyond basic Motor Vehicle Record (MPV) checks, says Motus. Proactive steps to reducing accidents among a mobile workforce include individualized training and insurance verification. The report also finds that U.S. collision insurance claims remain at the highest levels of the past 10 years and have steadily increased over the past five years. Read the full report here. The Massachusetts state house. Photo via Cburnett/Wikimedia. A piece of legislation currently under consideration in Massachusetts House of Representatives would tack a $2 assessment fee to all vehicle rentals to directly fund police training, according to Boston 25 News. The Chiefs Association estimates the proposal, which was the brain child of Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes, would generate about $7-8 million in funding; about $10 million is needed every year to provide proper training. Kyes came up with the idea after seeing charges on his car rental bill while in California. While the proposal did not pass the State House last year, it is gaining traction this year following the murder of a police officer who was carrying out a warrant earlier this month. A TALE OF A CITY The Kern County grand jury's report begins in unusually dramatic and mysterious fashion. Here is the preface to the report: "'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,' as the story goes. The City of California City (City) is a tale of a City. Depending on whom you want to believe, or which social media you watch, the government of the City is working to improve it, or they are working to destroy it." Bakersfield, CA (93308) Today Cloudy. Expect widespread areas of smoke and haze, reducing visibility at times. High 91F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. For its 13th year, the Sunscreen Film Festival once again delivers to St. Petersburg an eclectic mix of feature films, documentaries, and short films thats sure to have something for every cinephile. Looking at the festivals schedule, theres a clear effort to hold features with Hollywood star power in reserve for Saturday night, but that doesnt mean you should wait until Sunday to enjoy what the weekend has to offer. Below youll find five selections spread out in the schedule over all four days of the event. If youre limited on time but you want to make sure you see some of this years most memorable selections, try to make time for these films, at the very least. Thursday, April 26 (Opening Night) Wild Honey Starring Rusty Schwimmer, Todd Stashwick, Stephnie Weir and Timothy Omundson. Directed by Francis Stokes. 88 minutes. Venue: AMC Sundial, 7 p.m. The festival kicks off its 2018 schedule with a film about a lonely Chicago woman (Rusty Schwimmer) working as a phone sex operator who after becoming enamored with a caller decides to drop everything in her messy real life to venture to L.A. and meet the object of her affection. Schwimmer carries this sharply written and very funny piece with charm, wit, and heart. Though shes a mess and just about everything goes sideways for her character, youll be cheering for her from start to finish. This ones a crowd pleaser that should get the festival off to a great start. Friday, April 27 Captain Black Starring Jeffrey S.S. Johnson, Georgia Norman, Linara Washington, Joaquin Camilo, Charley Koontz, Liesel Kopp, Nico David, Kirsten Roeters, and Robert Maffia. Written and directed by Jeffrey S.S. Johnson. 86 minutes. Venue: AMC Sundial, 6 p.m. Captain Black has already scored 3 award nominations and 2 wins, including Best Director at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival and Best Actor at the Myrtle Beach International Film Festival, and once you see the film its easy to see why. Writer/director/star Jeffrey S.S. Johnson plays Mike, a likeable restaurant manager who unexpectedly develops an interest and fantasy life built around the comic book adventures of the films titular Captain and his femme fatale love interest, Kitt Vixxen. Sparks fly in Mike's real life when he dresses up as his new hero for a Halloween party and runs into another guest dressed at Kitt (Georgia Norman). Their night together turns out to be the stuff of fanboy-fangirl fantasies, but it also comes with real-world consequences. Mikes actions once he realizes whats happened take audiences down a compelling journey of fear, anxiety and, finally, a sort of redemption. Thoughtful and well-acted, Captain Black should leave audiences talking and provide plenty of fodder for discussion with Johnson, who will be attending the festival this weekend. Saturday, April 28 Our New President Directed by Maxim Pozdorovkin. 78 minutes. Venue: AMC Sundial, 5:15 p.m. Think our media coverage here in the U.S. of the 2016 Presidential Election was out of control? One look at the footage of Russian news coverage of the election and its aftermath included in Our New President and you may come away thinking our cable network news is tame in comparison. Film maker Maxim Pozdorovkin builds this documentary feature around footage from Kremlin-controlled news sources produced both for the nation and for international audiences, appearances by Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Kiselyov, the head of the nations government-owned news agency, and YouTube videos made by Russians themselves, all of which proclaim their tremendous affection for one Donald J. Trump. Aside from the YouTube videos, which are often really funny, whats illuminating here are the statements by Kiselyov defining the editorial approach of the news outlets under his control, an approach that regards journalistic impartiality as antiquated and useless in the modern world and embraces the opportunity 24-hour media offers to shape cultural values and attitudes. Kiselyov even openly dismisses the term propaganda, saying it, too, and its negative connotations are obsolete notions, and that news media should be driven by nationalistic fervor. Once you grasp what Kiselyov, and by extension Putin, are out to accomplish with these governing ideas, it's easy to understand where all that goodwill in the YouTube videos comes from, and why our president might wish the government's relationship with the media worked here a little more like it does in Moscow. Butterfly Kisses Directed by Erik Kristopher Myers. 91 minutes. Venue: AMC Sundial, 8 p.m. The best way to explain Butterfly Kisses is say that it seems to aspire to be the end-all, be-all of found footage suspense thrillers. See if you can follow this: the film follows a documentary crew filming a character study about an amateur film maker who becomes obsessed with material shot ten years before by a pair of student film makers exploring a Maryland urban legend surrounding a supernatural being known as Peeping Tom. Having literally discovered the student-shot footage in his parents-in-laws home, he undertakes to finish the students work, then release it to a mass audience to unravel the mystery surrounding not only Peeping Tom, but also the students themselves, who now seem to have disappeared. Theres just one large problem since he cant find the original film makers or just about anyone else involved in the original production, he cant prove the materials hes found are actually genuine, and since hes a film maker himself, experts he talks to about his finding suspect he in fact created them as part of some grand hoax/publicity stunt to promote a found footage horror film. Got all that? Admittedly, this one gets a little tiresome in its meta approach to the found footage genre. It is memorable, however, for a few good scares and in just how far the film takes its approach, including appearances in its cast by real-life local history chroniclers, mythbusters, ghost-hunting groups and even one of the directors of The Blair Witch Project. Sunday, April 29 Getting Naked: A Burlesque Story Starring Darlinda Just Darlinda, Miss Jezebel Express, Gal Friday, James Habacker, Murray Hill, Hazel Honeysuckle, and Perle Noir. Directed by James Lester. 85 minutes. Venue: AMC Sundial, 5 p.m. One of two documentary features selected to wrap up this years festival, Getting Naked is easily the more fun selection. A fascinating and beautifully constructed glimpse into the lives of four very different New York-based burlesque performers, the film examines the rise of Neo-Burlesque in the 1980s to the current day, and how each of the performers define their identities and their daily lives within the context of the burlesque art form. Director James Lester treats his subjects and their respective journeys, challenges, triumphs and setbacks with reverence, humor, and humanity. The stories the women tell, covering everything from costume making to juggling jobs, struggling to make rent, effects on their personal lives and relationships, and of course performing on a nightly basis in the toughest city in the world weave a compelling and unforgettable narrative as well as a vivid portrait of their world and their place in it. Does it have a lot of nudity? Sure its a documentary about burlesque dancers, of course it does. But the women getting naked is only the beginning of the story, and its a story that, if you give a chance, youll want to see to the end. For more information and a full schedule of events at the 13th Annual Sunscreen Film Festival, visit sunscreenfilmfestival.com. DADE CITY, Fla. -- Dade City commissioners recently approved a six-month extension on its medical marijuana dispensary moratorium. Extension on Dade City marijuana moratorium First moratorium came in a 2016 ordinance Commissioners will use time to make sure everything in place with dispensaries Rules are changing. Its kind of like a fluid process and we want to, again, make sure we have all the information, said Dade City Manager Billy Poe. An agenda memo on the proposed extension notes that the first moratorium came in a 2016 ordinance. It followed the November 2016 amendment of Floridas constitution to allow the dispensing and use of marijuana for medical purposes by persons with debilitating diseases. The moratorium was supposed to give them time to look into the impact the amendment would have on the city. The memo says when the state legislature enacted SB-8A last July to put that amendment into effect, it laid out regulations about where dispensaries could be located and noted that, unless a municipality banned the facilities, local governments could limit how many could open there. It seems like were ready to make a decision, and then something different comes from the state a different rule, a different direction. We want to make sure we have everything in place before we make that decision, said Poe. The original moratorium was extended twice most recently on April 10. Poe said this will give city commissioners the chance to look into how state regulations will impact the city. There are currently no medical marijuana dispensaries in Pasco County, but Dr. Tanmay Patel said he sees a demand. A lot of my patients, thats the first question they ask, Patel said. Patel opened his New Port Richey medical marijuana clinic, Natural Clinic MD, last July. He said he now sees 15-20 new patients weekly to determine if they qualify for medical marijuana. There are a lot of my patients who say, I cant drive to Clearwater. Its an hour drive, and theyre just usually driving locally, Patel said. One of my patients has ALS, so hes on a wheelchair always. He has to physically call a bus or somebody to take him over there. Elsewhere in the county, Zephyrhills has a moratorium on dispensaries thats set to expire this month, and San Antonio banned the facilities last year. Port Richey and New Port Richey have no moratorium. A county spokesperson said one dispensary is in the early stages of looking to opening a location in Pasco. A pre-application meeting has been held regarding a Surterra dispensary that could be located at 4218 US Highway 19 in New Port Richey. The dispensary also applied for a building permit at the site. People who live in Dade City will get the chance in the coming months to weigh in on the medical marijuana issue. The city commission is holding a workshop on June 12 at 4 p.m. in city hall. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. For Immediate Release, April 25, 2018 Contact: Randi Spivak, (310) 779-4894, rspivak@biologicaldiversity.org House GOP to Consider Half-million-acre Public-land Giveaway to Alaska Company WASHINGTON The House Natural Resources Committee will consider a bill Thursday to allow more than 500,000 acres of public land to be swapped with a private corporation in exchange for lands the company owns in Alaska. Under H.R. 211, sponsored by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), the Chugach Alaska Corp. could frack, mine or log pristine public lands in the lower 48 states in exchange for Alaska acreage. These private lands in Alaska would become public lands. The bill does not disclose which public lands in the lower 48 would be turned over to the company and does not allow any public input on that. Youngs massive land grab would destroy public lands and wildlife in other states to benefit a private corporation in his state, said Randi Spivak, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Its disturbing that Alaskas congressman wants to sacrifice wild places that belong to all Americans, but wont even tell the public what wed lose. People have a right to know exactly which public lands would be lost to the fossil-fuel and timber industries. Under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the federal government transferred tens of millions of acres of public lands in Alaska to private corporations. These companies, including the Chugach Alaska Corp., were established to settle aboriginal land claims and provide economic benefits to native communities in Alaska. Young is helping special interests abuse the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to enrich themselves, said Spivak. Its absurd for the federal government to retake possession of lands this private corporation was given years ago and then hand the company vast tracts of public land in other states to log, frack and mine. This kind of backdoor land swap is exactly why people dont trust government to act in their best interest. Since January 2017 Republicans have introduced more than 120 bills that attack public lands, weaken environmental safeguards on those lands or turn over control to states and local governments. These attacks come despite the fact that the vast majority of voters across political parties support protecting and maintaining forests, national parks, monuments and other public lands and waters. For Immediate Release, April 25, 2018 Contacts: Elise Bennett, Center for Biological Diversity, (727) 755-6950, ebennett@biologicaldiversity.org Glen Hooks, Sierra Club, (501) 744-2674, glen.hooks@sierraclub.org Arkansas Moves Toward Ban on Unlimited Commercial Trapping of Wild Turtles Thousands Have Been Caught, Sold From State Waters LITTLE ROCK, Ark. In response to a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and several Arkansas-based environmental organizations, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has agreed to consider ending unlimited commercial collection of the states wild freshwater turtles. Under current law, trappers can legally collect unlimited numbers of 14 types of turtle to sell domestically or export to foreign food, pet and medicinal markets. Harvest records show thousands of turtles were caught and sold in Arkansas from 2014 to 2016. Arkansas turtles belong in the wild, not in shipping containers, said Elise Bennett, a Center attorney dedicated to protecting rare reptiles and amphibians. Im hopeful officials will move forward with a ban to ensure the Natural State will always have its beautiful diversity of turtles. Arkansas allows turtle trapping in waters across roughly half the state, including the entirety of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers. According to self-reporting by Arkansas trappers, 126,381 freshwater turtles were harvested from 2014 to 2016. This harvest was geographically concentrated, with two-thirds of those turtles taken from only five counties. It also focused heavily on medium and large turtles, which are most important for turtle populations to reproduce. Scientists have repeatedly documented that freshwater turtles cannot sustain any significant level of wild collection without population-level impacts and declines. For example, a study of common snapping turtles demonstrated that a modest harvest pressure of 10 percent per year for 15 years could result in a 50 percent reduction in population size. And an Arkansas study found that turtles from populations in heavily harvested areas were significantly smaller than those from areas where harvesting is not permitted. The commission has taken an important step toward protecting Arkansas turtles from unlimited harvesting, but the next steps are critical, said Glen Hooks, director of the Arkansas Sierra Club. A growing number of states are taking sensible, science-based action aimed at protecting these populations. Arkansas should do the same, and we look forward to helping make that happen. If Arkansas bans collections, it would join a growing number of states preserving important wildlife and natural resources. In February Missouri banned commercial turtle trapping, and in March Texas proposed a ban. In 2017 New York ended commercial collection of diamondback turtles, Nevada halted commercial reptile collection, and Iowa reined in trapping with new harvest limits. All of these actions were in response to work by the Center for Biological Diversity. We need to keep our wild turtles here in Arkansas where they help keep our rivers clean and healthy, said Debbie Doss, director of Arkansas Watertrails Partnership. Im glad Arkansas officials are considering rules to protect Arkansas turtles and Im hopeful they will follow through. The petition to end unlimited wild turtle trapping in Arkansas was submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity, Arkansas Sierra Club, Arkansas Watertrails Partnership, Audubon Society of Central Arkansas, Environmental Resources Center, Kory Roberts and John Kelly, a biologist who recently studied Arkansas turtle harvest. Background As part of a campaign to protect turtles in the United States, the Center has been petitioning states that allow commercial turtle collection to improve their regulations. In February Missouri banned commercial turtle harvest. In 2017 Iowa adopted new regulations setting closed seasons and possession limits for commercial turtle trappers. In 2012 Georgia approved state rules restricting commercial turtle collection and Alabama completely banned it. And in 2009 Florida banned almost all commercial turtle collection from public and private waters. For Immediate Release, April 25, 2018 Contact: Greer Ryan, (812) 345-8571, gryan@biologicaldiversity.org 10 Sunny States Get Failing Grade for Rooftop-solar Policies Texas, Florida Make List for Hostile Approach to Distributed Solar Despite Potential PORTLAND, Ore. Ten of the nations sunniest states get a failing grade for policies that actively block, or dont encourage, rooftop-solar development, according to Throwing Shade, a new report from the Center for Biological Diversity. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin account for more than 33 percent of the total rooftop-solar potential of small buildings in the contiguous United States but less than 8 percent of net generation in 2017. All of them get an F in todays report. Instead of leading us out of the climate crisis, these sunny states are casting a long shadow across our potential for rooftop solar, said Greer Ryan, a renewable energy and research specialist with the Center and author of the report. The Trump administration certainly isnt going to fix our climate, so its vital that these states step up. In the Centers analysis, states were graded based on the presence and strength of key policies that aid solar expansion. Other considerations were regulatory barriers that hinder distributed-solar markets and anti-solar campaigns pushed by fossil fuel and monopoly utility companies. These factors, along with the technical potential for rooftop solar on small buildings, determined which states were the country's worst offenders. Key findings include: All 10 states are falling far behind states with stronger policies in meeting their technical potential for rooftop solar. Texas and Florida stand out as two of the states with the most potential but the worst distributed-solar policies. Among the most common barriers to the expansion of distributed solar in the 10 states are a lack of community solar policies, poor compensation policies, and prohibited or unclear rules for third-party ownership. By blocking solar expansion, states threaten the swift transition to a just and fully renewable energy system, said Ryan. That transition is whats needed to stave off the worst impacts of climate change and protect the health of communities, wildlife and the planet. The tourism sector a rising opportunity for all Africa needs closer collaboration to grow its market As the economy continues to shift from being resource-based, knowledge industries such as tourism will become more sophisticated and important and while business travel makes up just a quarter of the overall tourism pie, its potential extends far beyond its current nominal contribution.During the recently held Meetings Africa 2018 conference it was indicated that business tourism contributed R115bn to the South African economy, with the overall travel and tourism industrys contribution amounting to R412.2bn in 2017, or 9.4% of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP).According to a Statistics South Africa report , the tourism sector is a major job creator, employing over 686,000 people in 2016, outnumbering utilities (118,000) and mining (444,000). People working in tourism made up 4.4% of the South African formal and informal workforces, up from 3.8% in 2015, and this continues to rise, with newly-appointed President Cyril Ramaphosa aiming for 700,000 direct and indirect jobs in the sector this year.First-time visitors to South Africa are often people on business, who would otherwise not think of visiting a country so far to the south of the continent, and one, unfortunately, often covered by bad press. In gaining a first-hand experience of the country, however, business travellers often have their pre-conceived notions about the country strongly challenged, and major investment decisions can be made based on a single visit whether that investment is in a major job-creating project or in a family holiday.Visitors are surprised that, not only is South Africa a beautiful place to visit, its commercial centres of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town are also some of the most sophisticated cities on the continent, with infrastructure that rivals and even surpasses more developed countries. Their personal experience flies in the face of media reports that represent Africa as a homogenous, backward and violent place, home to the starving and corrupt.In this regard, business tourism is fundamental to the growth of African economies and Africa-focused business events, need to be hosted in a more diverse range of locations in Africa and beyond to create a more even spread of exposure.In the coming months, for instance, South Africa will play host to a number of events across a variety of sectors attracting experts from around the world. Africa needs to be marketed (and managed) as a destination that is easily accessible and safe to visit, which offers an amazing experience and is full of possibility not only for Africa-related conferences but for global conferences as well.The bulk of these events, however, remain concentrated in the major business centres of Johannesburg and Cape Town.Sisa Ntshona, CEO of South African Tourism, stated during Meetings Africa 2018 that the key to growing the South African MICE sector was closer collaboration between nations in positioning Africa as a diverse but integrated whole. The continent, not just South Africa, boasts the facilities, infrastructure and expertise to pull off world-class conferences, coupled with a variety of unforgettable leisure activities.While there may be practical reasons for Africa-focused events to be hosted at locations off the continent, wouldnt it be great if the worlds influential leaders had a chance to experience Africa up close? How would the African air, sounds and people inspire the economic and trade discussions that could affect the lives of millions of people living in the continent?This means more work needs to be done to attract more people to lesser-known cities and towns, not just in South Africa but across sub-Saharan Africa. The MICE industry is a great opportunity to display the diversity of Africas landscape, cultures, and especially its commerce and industry to a highly influential audience. It's been six months since I left my comfy job at a giant tech company and I've had a decent amount of time to reflect. It was an experience for which I will always be grateful, however there are some telling truths about what matters most to a tech giant that I've needed to reconcile. Jared Molko. Image by Gregor Rohrig The only non-replenishable resource Taking time to "tune out" is necessary. Escapism allows us to cope with the demands and stresses of everyday life, and thats how it has been for centuries. Time diminishes, which means our attention is precious. Tech companies understand this, but we as individuals so readily hand over this most rare commodity, often to our own detriment. So why am I writing about this now? I had various roles at this company but my longest serving and most challenging role was to drive mobile monetisation for YouTube across the EMEA region.I was based in Paris, which would have been a far more pleasant experience bar the Parisians to negotiate!The primary metric - to maximise 'user watch time'. It wasn't about growing our user base. That we believed would take care of itself.The emphasis was on how we could optimise the experience on YouTube to take up more and more oftime. I didn't see a problem. It was just a metric and I was just doing my job.But at some stage in your career, reflection kicks in and it dawned on me that Tristan Harris , former Google design ethicist, might just be right when he called out tech giants for knowingly manipulating human psychological vulnerabilities.It's hard to realise you are part of a much broader endemic sweeping across the globe, consuming the only non-replenishable resource we have at our disposal, our time.Its harder to leave that familiar and comfy job to push back.When I dissected my own screen time, it was blatant that at least half of that time was wasted scrolling down a rabbit hole. While traversing this digital 'la la land', my state of being started to resemble what I can only describe as a mildly induced coma.I was distracted, sometimes absent.The evidence is unanimous, those that spend more time in front of screens are less happy . This could be for a variety of reasons; external validations, self- comparisons, lack of human connection or information overload.But let's not throw the baby out with the recycled grey water just yet (#livingincapetown, #newnormal). Shame on you - that water is precious!But its a strange kind of Stockholm Syndrome now. We carry a little "frenemy" in our pockets all the time. This frenemy can be our closest ally helping us navigate through the dangers and pitfalls of everyday life and at other times our most vehement temptress leading us into a swirl of self-doubt and discontent.Oh you naughty little cell phone, how I love to loathe thee.Calling for a digital purge isnt the solution here. The tech solutions, opportunities and services that come with connected devices have changed the way we experience and understand the world for the better, but there has to be a balance.Maintaining balance allows us to lead a full life, this we know. To achieve this we need to assign importance and dedicate the proportionate amount of time and attention to the things we value most.Firstly; for people to become more aware that these tech companies to which we give so much of our free time, dont necessarily have our best interest at heart.Secondly, to start to value your attention and your time more.Maybe on reflection right now you realise you're missing out on so many other opportunities.Ive started enjoying the sounds of city streets when I walk to work. Im paying more attention to the people around me and enjoying just watching people interact with each other. In quiet moments Im finding comfort in just being with my thoughts, how novel.All these kind of activities are proven to bring about a greater sense of wellbeing, the opposite of which is true for screen-time and in particular social media.As much as tech companies have a responsibility for the wellbeing of society, which they absolutely do, we as individuals have a responsibility to ourselves and to those around us. In doing so I'm trying to reduce my screen-time by switching off all notifications, removing addictive apps from my phone, putting my phone on aeroplane mode during "non-distraction" times of the day, I now have a bedside alarm so that my phone is no longer needed in the bedroom, what a difference that's made!To end off, I'd love to hear more ideas on how people have safe guarded their most precious of commodities, I'm always looking out for nifty new tricks.You only live once - #YOLO, so make it time well spent! Hundreds of disabled learners had the opportunity to meet corporates seeking to employ people with disabilities at the recent SABC Disability Summit. Disability 360 Campaign Hosted by the SABC Foundation, the summit aims to catalyse transformative change in the disability space by sharing lessons learnt, unpacking the latest B-BBEE legislative policies and their impact on businesses, identifying unique opportunities for collaboration and promoting corporate career prospects for South Africas youth.The event brought together 500 Grade 9-12 learners, 100 graduates and 150 entrepreneurs with disabilities, to engage one-on-one with some of South Africa's corporates, many of which are struggling to meet the disability requirements on the B-BBEE scorecard.In particular, the summit is aligned with the SABC Foundations Disability 360 campaign, which aims to empower people with disabilities by providing ongoing information online and on the ground, in all 11 official languages.Being heard, respected and valued is a basic human right for all, and we hope that through initiatives such as Disability 360 and the SABC Disability Summit, we will support this right and pave the way for enhanced training and job opportunities for South Africans with disabilities, says Iris Cupido, CEO of the SABC Foundation.The SABC Disability Summit, presented in partnership with Creative Space Media, represents the evolution of the Hope-Mandeville Disability Careers Expo, an event first launched in 2012 by Paddy Slattery, stemming from his work with public benefit organisation and Section 21 company Mandeville Disability Swimming.Having taken the expos as far as we could within our capacity limitations, the Hope-Mandeville team invited Creative Space Media to take over the organisation of the event with effect from this year. We believe the new management will help the event achieve its full potential for sophistication and growth. The move is already bearing fruit Creative Space Media brought in the SABC as the primary sponsor of the event, and has upgraded the event to full conference status, Slattery says. By following the process of creating a solid brand for your company or product at the outset, you will have a clarity of purpose that will serve your business well. Be clear on your purpose, and get the naming right Understanding the branding toolbox A brand architecture that provides room to grow Alignment of brand and corporate culture Investec had already established their identity as an out of the ordinary financial institution when I was tasked with overhauling the brand. My team and I found the ideal icon in the zebra each animals stripes are unique, and the association with Africa and its diversity reinforced their South African origins as the company grew globally. Investec had established their core purpose, and the various branding elements fell into place because this fundamental was in place.This clarity of purpose and the naming of a brand, is one of the four fundamentals that needs consideration.You need to start by taking a critical look at the purpose of your business or product and make sure your naming receives the attention it deserves. Snapscan is a fine example of a South African brand that has achieved this. The naming of Snapscan is spot on. The name tells you what it is, the functionality of purpose is so astonishingly clear, and the simplicity of their communication reflects the ease of use of the app.Knowing what brand architecture is and the tools used to create it, gives you a big picture view of the role branding plays in your business. The physical aspects of a brand include the logo or the typography, and an understanding of the purpose of iconography and the psychology of branding, provides valuable insight. The toolbox includes your advertising, social media and public relations, and how they fit together.A strong foundation will stand you in good stead when your business grows the structure created by this process helps you maintain brand integrity when developing new products and it facilitates brand extensions, partnerships and endorsements.Now that Snapscan is associated with Standard Bank, for instance, their brand clarity ensures that it is not drowned out by the Standard Bank brand. They appear to be seamlessly maintaining their brand identity while partnering with a powerful brand.The visual and verbal language you have developed using the branding toolbox should then be used to convey the tone that suits who or what you are as a brand.If you create a brand that says informal and open, and your corporate behaviour and messaging is formal and aloof, your clarity of purpose is lost, both for your customers as well as for your employees, who are an integral reflection of a brand.If owners, managers and product developers can be involved at the inception of a brand, and have buy-in to everything the brand represents, many potential problems can be avoided. I feel that branding, therefore, is not just for marketers, but also for top executives at big brands, small and medium-sized business owners, as well as for the entrepreneurs who are about to go guns blazing into a new venture.This solid foundation functions as a reference point for all aspects of running and growing the business. This job expired on 4 May 2018. This job expired on 17 May 2018. This job expired on 23 May 2018. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her bilateral meeting with the Chinese Defence Minister, Gen. Wei Fenghe, in Beijing. Photo: MoD/Twitter BEIJING (PTI): Differences should not lead to disputes in relations between India and China, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday as she met her Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe in the backdrop of the strain in ties between the two countries after the Dokalam standoff. Sitharaman, who arrived in Beijing on Monday, attended the SCO defence ministers' meeting on Tuesday. During her meeting with Fenghe, Sitharaman said that differences should not lead to disputes in relations between India and China, officials said. In August last year, India and China ended their 73-day standoff between their troops in Dokalam. The standoff had strained ties considerably between the two countries. The annual summit of the SCO, in which India is the latest entrant along with Pakistan, will take place in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend it. The SCO, headquartered in Beijing, was founded in 2001. Comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan, the SCO aims at military cooperation between the member states and involves intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism operations in Central Asia and joint work against cyber terrorism. LCA Tejas taking part in the Gagan Shakti exercise of the IAF which concluded on April 22. Photo: IAF/Twitter NEW DELHI (PTI): The Indian Air Force tested its capability in dealing with a possible scenario of nuclear and biological warfare during a 13-day-long mega military exercise whose aim was to sharpen its war waging capability in the wake of fast evolving regional security situation. Official sources said the focus of the Gagan Shakti exercise from April 8 to 20 was to check the viability of IAF's operational plans to deal with any kind of challenge including nuclear warfare and a possible situation of a two-front war with China and Pakistan. A major focus of the exercise was to check combat capability of the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas and their performance was satisfactory, IAF sources said. They said eight Tejas were deployed during the exercise and some of these had reported minor technical issues, adding each of the six Tejas had flown six sorties daily like any other platforms including Sukhoi, Mirage 2000 and MiG 29 jets. In a statement, the IAF said the drill provided an excellent opportunity to practice the force's war time drills and undertake operations in realistic scenario. "Activities were undertaken in a cohesive manner to achieve the stated objectives of the Indian Air Force, in case of any contingency," it said, adding the exercise also enabled the force to validate operational efficacy of new platforms. The IAF said all qualified and medically fit crew up to 48 years of age were made "proficient" by giving them re-validation training on combat assets. The sources said aim of the exercise was to test IAF's combat readiness in a real time scenario, adding it had never carried out an exercise of this scale earlier. A key focus of the exercise was to check IAF's readiness to deal with a biological, chemical and nuclear war and we were satisfied with our capability to deal with such situations, they said. They also said all types of aerial weapons, including standoff and precision weapons were deployed to validate their use in the air operations matrix. As part of the massive drill, the IAF deployed its entire assets for the pan-India exercise with fighter jets, equipped with strategic weapons like BRAHMOS and Harpoon anti-ship missiles, carrying out deep penetration strikes to revalidate its strategic reach. NEWTOWN BOROUGH >> Sunny skies and comfortable autumn temperatures combined to bring out the crowds for this years Market Day. Hundreds strolled through the quaint, tree-lined streets in and around the Half Moon Inn as a day of historic exploration and treasure hunting unfolded in the heart of historic Newtown, melding 21st century America with Colonial times. Organized by the... Markets for European Oak are facing increased pressure on price and availability. This was the key message at the European Oak Conference held in London last week. The event organised by the Timber Trade Federation and the European Organization of the Sawmill Industry featured high-profile speakers and expert panellists from top supplying countries such as Croatia, France, Poland and Ukraine. More than 100 people attended the Conference, raising questions and engaging in the debate. The speakers agreed that a combination of increased demand and market restrictions have been affecting oak wood prices over the past few years. Significantly, as highlighted by the EOS Secretary General Silvia Melegari, exports of logs from the EU to China have soared by 181% in the last ten years. This growing demand is having major impacts on European Oak producers, particularly France. The availability of European Oak is also affected by log bans in supplying countries such as Croatia and Ukraine due to the impact of pests (Croatia) or governmental measures to improve domestic Industry (Ukraine). This shortage of raw materials is causing several sawmills to keep production low, preventing the sector from achieving its full potential. Melegari reminded the audience that the concerns of the hardwood sawmill sectors have been voiced in several occasions and that both the EU Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee have invited Member States to ensure that wood supply from the region's forests is sufficient to satisfy, on a sustainable basis, local industries' needs and society's needs. The conference also featured a panel discussion in which attendees addressed some key issues and debated them with the speakers. The main topics included trade post-Brexit; oak wood price and availability; transport bans; pest control, and international cooperation in the sector. For its aesthetic and technical qualities, oak remains a prime product for UK timber importers and traders, said TTF Managing Director David Hopkins. However, material shortage and international trade dynamics are likely to drive prices higher in the near future. This may open the market for alternative hardwood species. The TTF - in collaboration with European partner organisations - will be monitoring market trends as well as providing assistance and guidance to members and stakeholders. A Highbridge business has received its second Queens Award in the space of five years. Jo Bird, a company specialising in the design and manufacture of storage cabinets to protect vital lifesaving and fire safety equipment, has received official notification to say it has won The Queens Award for Enterprise in Innovation. The Queens Awards for Enterprise are the UKs most prestigious business awards to celebrate and encourage business excellence. The news is particularly welcome at Jo Birds HQ in Highbridge as it is five years to the day that the company received its first Queens Award for Enterprise in International Trade. The company exports its products across the globe to over 30 different countries. The Queens Award in Innovation recognises the redesign and manufacture of a high volume/lower margin fire safety cabinet. Jo Bird has employed the latest technology to develop a product that saves lives by protecting essential fire and safety equipment in hazardous environments. In doing so the company has also achieved the remarkable feat of doubling productivity. Cllr Anne Fraser, Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth at Sedgemoor District Council, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: Not only have Jo Bird used the latest technology in designing this fire safety cabinet, which will be an addition to their products already available on the global market, but they have also doubled their productivity on this product whilst up-skilling their workforce. To receive the accolade of The Queens Award for Enterprise in Innovation is richly deserved and Sedgemoor are proud to have such an aspirational and successful company in their District. The spur to innovate was a combination of a desire to embrace new technology and increased competition for its smaller cabinets from overseas competitors in the oil & gas industry. The company decided to look at the smaller cabinets as the basis for innovation, and ensure that its competitive advantage was not only maintained but improved. The composite material used for these products is Glass Reinforced Plastics (GRP) manufactured using resin transfer moulding (RTM) to provide products that are high quality, with zero corrosion, lightweight, exhibiting high specific strength and stiffness, maintenance free, together with long term cost saving. The cabinet range is designed to protect fire safety equipment at risk of prolonged exposure (10-15 years) to harsh environments such as high winds, tropical rain, salt water spray and extremes of heat and cold (-40C to +50C). These are the first cabinets in this market segment to use advanced RTM technology to create a structure based on advanced composites. As MD Guy Atkins explains, the development process wasnt always plain sailing: The biggest difficulty we had was with production. When we started running the process, there were high occurrences of defects and scraps. I enrolled on a mentoring scheme run by the National Composites Centre to improve my composites knowledge. We decided to sponsor an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) student through the University of Bristol to overcome the production issues and to transfer knowledge to the companys staff. As a result of this sponsorship, three years ago graduate engineer Laxman Sivanathan joined the team at Jo Bird and quickly implemented significant changes to reduce the direct costs in the manufacture of the cabinets, as well as integrating product innovations as they occurred. Commenting on the decision by the company to sponsor an Engineering Doctorate, Guy Atkins told Burnham-On-Sea.com: Despite being a small company with around 20 full time staff, we decided that working with Bristol Universitys Industrial Doctorate Centre (IDC) in Composites Manufacture and sponsoring Laxman Sivanathan would fast-forward the uptake of new technology and materials, accelerate R&D, and increase knowledge transfer to our staff. I am delighted that this has proved to be very successful. We are the internationally recognised leader in the design and manufacture of life saving and fire safety equipment storage. This innovation enhances our reputation as the market leader in quality and in being at the forefront of design in our market. Being successful in winning a second Queens Award for Enterprise is a huge achievement and could not have happened without the ambition, determination and hard work of our staff and particularly Laxman Sivanathan. Pictured: Jo Bird staff celebrate on hearing the company has won its second Queens Award; Guy Atkins, MD of Jo Bird; Laxman Sivanathan who has been sponsored by Jo Bird A brand new Highbridge youth club is to launch this week on a bus! The Mayor of Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge, Cllr Bill Hancock, and town crier Alastair Murray will formally launch the new Alpha Point bus this Friday, 27th April, in the towns Bank Street car park. Highbridges Gospel Tabernacle Evangelical Church group has acquired the bus, which was formerly used by Bristol Youth Project. The bus is equipped with its own generator and provides wi-fi, computers, a TV, and gaming facilities, and it will be used to provide safe and accessible support for young people in Highbridge and the surrounding area on Friday evenings in the Bank Street car park. Both the Somerset Rural Youth Project and YMCA are providing qualified youth workers, spokesperson Pastor Kelton Black, pictured above, told Burnham-On-Sea.com. They will help with running two evening sessions. We invite volunteers to join and help with the youth activities and driving the bus. This new initiative is a good example of what can be achieved when local community groups work together. The Highbridge Youth Provision Network is the first of its kind in Sedgemoor and was set up in response to the need for a co-ordinated approach, for supporting young people to access meaningful and responsive activities. Following a six-month trial of a junior youth club at Highbridges Morland Hall, funded by Knightstone Housing (now Liverty), from January to July 2017, the network was established in order to bring key people and stakeholders together. During the past twelve months meeting every 4 6 weeks, the network has helped to secure funding towards carrying out consultation with young people to find out what they want; creating Active communities funded street games being offered on a couple of estates and soon to be offered more widely; working with the All Churches team, to prepare and launch the Alpha Point bus. Pastor Kelton Black added: We want to create a mobile drop-in facility, initially two nights a week, with the bus in the Highbridge area. Youths will be invited aboard to enjoy the facilities on the bus which will include six desktop computers, a large presentation TV and group/individual gaming systems. We will have catering available for drinks and snacks and we propose to have wi-fi available. Alpha Point Bus will also act as signpost service for young people, helping with community information including housing, finance, health, job search, and other social matters. The bus could also host job clubs, Community Training Courses/workshops and other similar activities. Other community groups could apply to have the bus available to support other community activities. This project has potential to grow and develop to serve Highbridge and surrounding area with much wider community services. It proposes to operate 46-48 weeks each year. Pastor Kelton adds: We are still looking for a secure parking space in the Highbridge area. If any local business or company has secure hard standing where the bus could be housed when not in use. We need to have out of hours access, as the bus will often be used on evenings. The Highbridge Youth Provision Network includes support from Burnham and Highbridge Town Council, Somerset County Council, Sedgemoor District Council, Liverty (formerly Knightstone Housing), Homes in Sedgemoor, Shal Housing, Wilstock Hub Bridgwater, YMCA, Somerset Rural Youth Project, Burnham Together Team, Sedgemoor Community Partnership and local Churches. Fridays launch will be at 6.30pm. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is planning to scrutinise functioning companies to weed out shell firms. While there will not be any investigation, the registrar of companies will use artificial intelligence to keep a close eye on the numbers companies report. The ministry has so far identified or taken action against dormant companies, those that have not filed statutory returns. We will use artificial intelligence to alert us if any suspicious activity takes place in a company, a source in the know of the matter said. After the first alert, investigating ... The Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has questioned the basis on which the resolution professional (RP) arrived at the liquidation value of Rs 23.65 billion for Monnet Ispat. It is learnt that the plan submitted before the Bench, which had 98.97 per cent approval from lenders comprising the committee of creditors (CoC), takes into account the mining rights and future revenues of its mines. The Bench sought to know whether the mining rights for one of its mines in Chhattisgarh, which Monnet won in 2015, was included for the valuation, and if it reflected in ... Wipro Chief Financial Officer JATIN DALAL tells Bibhu Ranjan Mishra and Samreen Ahmad in an interview that even though a couple of past buyouts have not done well, it will not turn away from inorganic opportunities. The focus, however, would be to grow capabilities organically. Excerpts: Your growth in FY18 slid to 4.6 per cent from 4.9 per cent in the previous year, and based on the outlook you have given for Q1, will that growth decelerate? Our digital growth has been building well at 27 per cent, farming (growing client accounts) has been good; growth in Europe has been ... The government on Tuesday served second set of notices to Cambridge Analytica and Facebook over the recent after finding discrepancies between the earlier responses given by the two companies, sources said. The companies have been asked to reply to the additional queries by May 10. Flagging the "cryptic and evasive" reply given by Cambridge Analytica to the first notice, the government has sought responses for five more posers from the company, they added. The sources said there were discrepancies in the responses received earlier this month from the British data analytics firm and American social networking giant. "...It is self-evident that apart from being very cryptic, the unstated intention was to conceal more than reveal," said the latest notice to Cambridge Analytica. The notice said that given the Facebook submission and following the public apology by the US giant, the onus now lies with Cambridge Analytica. While Facebook had admitted that nearly 5.62 lakh people in India were "potentially affected" by the incident, Cambridge Analytica had claimed that it does not have any Facebook data on Indian citizens. In its fresh notice to Cambridge Analytica now, the government has asked that what kind of data was collected in India and the research instruments used to capture such data. It also asked whether the company has harvested any data through third party app and whether or not mining of such data was done with user consent. A senior IT Ministry official aware of the development said that the government wants to send out a strong signal to international bodies operating in IT and data platform that any manipulation of data of Indians, in violation of law and privacy norms, will be viewed "seriously". "Any abuse of sanctity and fairness of electoral process through digital platform will also be treated seriously," said the official, who did not wish to be named. The government has also asked Cambridge Analytica whether data collected by the company "under the garb of research" have been used for any election-related work. It has also sought information on entities operating under the umbrella of Cambridge Analytica and details of directors. Quizzing the British company on the non-disclosure pacts signed by the company with its associates and clients for Indian assignments, the government has asked it to share the templates that were used in signing such agreements. ALSO READ: How brands should engage with digital media amid data privacy row The notice to Facebook takes note of the candid admission by the US company of unauthorised use of its user data by Cambridge Analytica, and asks it to list out security architecture proposed to be created "so that data concerning Indians are not pilfered or manipulated again for extraneous purposes including to influence the elections". The government also asked Facebook about steps it plans to take to clamp down on any unauthorised use of data or manipulation, and fixed a deadline of May 10 for responses for both the companies. It has also sought from Facebook details of its privacy policy, extent of data collected by the company, consent mechanism, authorisation mechanism that allows apps to collect user data, and reasons for failure to check the past breach. ALSO READ: How a data breach affects the bottom line The government asked Facebook about corrective actions that are being introduced in future to ensure that privacy of Indian data as also maintaining integrity of electoral process. "Questions also include as to whether Facebook has initiated any civil or criminal action against entities that have violated the Facebook platform policy and whether changes in Facebook policies were insufficient to deter misuse of its platforms," the official said, noting that Facebook in its previous reply has already owned up on the extent of data breach, while Cambridge Analytica's replies had been "unsatisfactory". Facebook has been facing intense scrutiny from its users as well as governments across the globe after a data leak scandal hit about 87 million users. British data analytics and political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica has been accused of harvesting personal information of millions of Facebook users illegally to help political campaigns and influence polls in several countries. Meanwhile, Cambridge Analytica has said that all its activities around the world, including in India, will be investigated and reported on. Facebook, which is facing probes in multiple markets over potential breach of user confidentiality, had earlier this month said it is introducing a third-party fact-checking programme in India to combat the spread of "false news" on its platform, starting with a pilot in Karnataka, which goes to polls next month. Under fire from the Indian government on charges of influencing elections, Facebook on Tuesday said views on politics and political parties would be vetted carefully to ensure that news articles and posts did not sway polls. The social media giant said it was working internally as well as through third parties to prevent misinformation from making its way to the platform. We take it very seriously. There is an election integrity effort going on in Facebook. We are dealing with misinformation and disinformation on our service. It is on top of mind for us. We are ... The indigenously-manufactured Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas has performed well while it was put to trial by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in war-like operational conditions during Gagan Shakti, its biggest ever 14-day war exercise. "We did trials and validation of operational efficiency of LCA Tejas. We were able to generate six sorties per platform per day. In this exercise, we had deployed eight platforms," said an IAF official who was associated with this exercise. The exercise started on April 8 and concluded on April 21. On the first day, six of Tejas jets reported "snag" which were of a different kind. "But we were able to get those rectified soon," said the official. The officials associated with the exercise expressed satisfaction regarding the performance but were also worried about the slow production rate. "We are happy with the Tejas. We are looking for fast production and also induction into the force," they said. The Tejas LCA is a supersonic, single-seat, single-engine multirole light fighter jet that has been under development since 1983 by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The ninth IAF Tejas LCA completed its maiden flight in March. On July 1, 2016, the LCA Tejas was inducted into the 'Flying Daggers' 45 Squadron of the IAF and has been placed to replace the MiG-21 aircraft. In Gagan Shakti 2018, the IAF displayed its might and conducted the biggest ever exercise with a focus on key areas like long distance operations, aerial combat, air to surface combat, paratrooper assault and medical evacuation. In this exercise, the Air Force validated its 'Swing Capability' where the IAF can get ready and reach from Western to Northern sector within 48 hours. On being asked about a two-front war-like situation, the sources said, "We have tried to maximise what we have. We have to fight with what we have." In this exercise, 1,400 officers and 14,000 men participated. There were a total of 11,000 sorties conducted within days, which otherwise are done in a month's time. 9,000 sorties done by the fighter aircraft alone were conducted in the pan-India peacetime air operations. All qualified and medically-fit crew up to 48 years of age were made proficient and were employed during the exercise. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Chinese city of Wuhan for an 'informal summit'. The meeting comes after India and China were engaged in a border standoff in Doklam between June and August, 2017. With the relations between the two countries deteriorating, the meeting marks an effort on both sides to reset the relations. What are the expectations from the meeting? In this Business Standard special, the writer analyses whether any big breakthrough is likely in the meeting. China has many ways of affecting Indian politics. Indeed, an ... Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal. They do not reflect the view/s of Business Standard. The upcoming informal meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will help improve bilateral economic ties and bring more Chinese investments in India over the next two years, a Chinese diplomat said here on Wednesday. "This (the meeting) is something very significant and it signifies a new era for China-India relationship...It will also help in developing economic ties between the two countries," Chinese Consul General in Kolkata Ma Zhanwu said. He also emphasised on the principle of "acting together" for improving the bilateral relationship between two Asian giants. Modi will travel to China's central city of Wuhan this week for an informal summit with Xi. Referring to Chinese foreign policy, Ma said: "The policy stated that we must have a good relationship with major powers and neighbouring countries. India is both a major power and a neighbouring country of China. So the relationship between two countries is even more important." He said that the growth of Chinese investments to India has been steady but was affected in 2017 due to "Doklam stand-off". "Chinese investments to India had grown by 700 per cent in 2016 over the previous year but the (Chinese) investments to India in the last year grew by 20 per cent due to Dokalam stand-off," he said at an interactive session organised by Merchants' Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kolkata. "The meeting will boost the investment in next two years, mainly in 2019 and 2020 as such meeting cannot boost investment overnight," he said. On India's trade deficit with his country, Zhanwu said the increase in India's exports to China will narrow it down. "It (India's trade deficit with China) will not last long. India has so many things to offer to China. Many Chinese come to India for medical treatment and anti-cancer drugs are also imported to China. Starting from May, there will be a kind of zero duty on importing such drugs," he said. The pace of road construction by the Union road ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is not proportionate with the award of road contracts, official data has revealed. However, experts believe the record is much better than what was it prior to 2013-14 since that time project award had slowed down considerably. Since 2013-14, there has been a 77 per cent increase in highway contract award and 38 per cent rise in construction. Though this could largely be due to a slowdown in award of contracts in earlier years, experts said construction record after three ... North Korea must get rid of its nukes, President said on Tuesday and expressed hope that the US would be able to deal in a very open and honourable fashion with the reclusive nation over the issue. Trump's remarks came during a joint news conference with the French President Emanuel Macron at the White House. Trump said his administration had made no concession to North Korea. A lot of concessions have already been made. We have made no concessions, despite some of the media saying that I've made concessions. I haven't even discussed a concession. Other than the fact that meeting is a great thing, Trump told reporters. Trump said he believed in complete denuclearization. "It means they get rid of their nukes. Very simple, they get rid of their nukes and nobody else would say it. It'd be very easy for me to make a simple deal and claim victory, I don't want to do that. I want them to get rid of their nukes," he said in response to a question. Trump has agreed to meet the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The venue of the meeting has not been decided yet, but it would not be in the United States. I hope that we will be able to deal in a very open and honorable fashion with North Korea. I started a process, and when I did everybody thought I was doing it absolutely wrong, he said. The United States, he said, put the strongest sanctions on a country that it ever has had. China supported the US effort, he said, as he praised Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders also hinted about a new deal with Iran that includes a solution to the Syrian crisis, as the two leaders to contain Iran in the region and prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Trump in fact warned Iran of grave consequences if it threatened the United States. France and the United States, Trump said agree that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, and that regime must end its support of terrorism. No matter where you go in the Middle East, you see the fingerprints of Iran behind problems, he alleged. He also said countries in the Middle East, who have a lot of money, need to pay for the security that America provides to them. Countries that are in the area, some of which are immensely wealthy, would not be there except for the United States and to a lesser extent France. But they wouldn't be there except for the United States, they wouldn't last a week, Trump said. We are protecting them. They have to now step up and pay for what's happening. Because I don't think France or the United States should be liable for the tremendous cost. The United States is embarrassingly into the Middle East as of a few months ago, he said in response to a question. The US has spent USD 7 trillion for the war in the middle east. And when we want to build our infrastructure, everybody says that we want to be careful with our money. When we want to fix a highway or we want to build schools and lots of other things, tunnels, bridges, they say oh, let's be careful with our money, he said. Korea Development Bank (KDB) may sign a preliminary agreement by April 27 to financially support General Motors Co's troubled South Korean unit, provided interim due-diligence on the unit is satisfactory, the chairman of the lender said. This is the first time KDB has offered a time-frame for a decision on whether to financially back GM Korea, in which the state-run lender has a 17 percent stake. The bank and government officials have so far been non-committal. GM proposed in February an investment of $2.8 billion into its money-losing South Korean operations over 10 years, ... It may be some time before we hear the full story from the Toronto police constable who apprehended the suspect in Mondays van attack that left 10 people dead and several others injured. But many are rightfully praising the policemans actions, and at the same time comparing them to the actions taken in other situations that have had significantly different outcomes. This begs the question: Why didnt the police officer, now identified as Const. Ken Lam, shoot the suspect? The suspect appeared to be wielding a weapon as he walked toward Lam, and atthe one point ... Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu was found guilty in a 2013 rape case by Jodhpur Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Court, on Wednesday. He has been convicted for raping a minor girl in Manai village near Jodhpur on August 15, 2013. He is lodged in Jodhpur Central jail. Asaram's spokesperson Neelam Dubey said they will talk to their legal team and decide future course of action. "We will discuss with our legal team and then decide our future course of action. We have confidence in our judiciary," Dubey said. Earlier in the day, people were seen offering prayers at the godman's ashram in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal, Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, Gujarat's Ahmedabad and Punjab's Ludhiana for his acquittal. A follower of Asaram even reached the jail with a garland in the morning. He, however, was detained by police. The judgement in the case was pronounced inside the Jodhpur Central Jail, keeping in view the law and order in situation in Rajasthan and neighbouring states. Asaram is also facing a trial in Gujarat for raping two Surat-based sisters. His son, Narayan Sai, is also an accused in the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu was found guilty along with two others by Jodhpur Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Court in a 2013 rape case, on Wednesday. Self-styled godman has been convicted for raping a minor girl in Manai village near Jodhpur on August 15, 2013. He has been found guilty under various charges, including sections 370(4) (trafficking), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354A (outraging modesty, 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation), 109, 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. The controversial godman has also been found guilty under some sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He is currently lodged in Jodhpur Central jail. In the case, out of the five accused, including Asaram, two have been acquitted of all charges. Asaram's spokesperson Neelam Dubey said that they will talk to their legal team and decide future course of action. "We will discuss with our legal team and then decide our future course of action. We have confidence in our judiciary," Dubey said. Earlier in the day, people were seen offering prayers at the godman's ashram in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal, Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, Gujarat's Ahmedabad and Punjab's Ludhiana for his acquittal. A follower of Asaram even reached the jail with a garland in the morning. He, however, was detained by police. The judgement in the case was pronounced inside the Jodhpur Central Jail, keeping in view the law and order in situation in Rajasthan and neighbouring states. Asaram is also facing a trial in Gujarat for raping two Surat-based sisters. His son, Narayan Sai, is also an accused in the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dr Kafeel Khan, who was arrested in connection with the death of over 70 children at the Baba Raghav Das (B.R.D.) Medical College Hospital in September last year, was on Wednesday, granted bail by the Allahabad High Court. In August 2017, as many as 70 children died, allegedly due to lack of oxygen supply, followed by another 70 in just four days, 15 of which passed away due to Encephalitis. The hospital, as well as the government, had received flak over the negligence. FIRs were registered against nine persons including the suspended principal of B.R.D. Medical College, Dr Rajiv Mishra, Dr Satish, in-charge of oxygen supply and head of the anaesthesia department, Dr Khan, in-charge of the 100-bed AES (acute encephalitis syndrome) ward and two officials from the oxygen supplying agency the Pushpa Sales Private Limited. Khan was also reportedly accused of stealing oxygen cylinders for his private clinic from the BRD hospital. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After the conviction of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu in a rape case, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation on Wednesday evening took down and demolished signboards of a bus stop named after him. As per the local body, all signboards and crossings named after him would be taken down, and new names would be assigned to them. "Asaram Bapu has insulted the saint community and has caused shame to the society by doing wrong to a young girl. Therefore, it is our decision to eliminate all signboards and crossings bearing his name. We will decide upon a new name for them soon," Bhopal Deputy Mayor Alok Sharma told ANI. On Wednesday, Asaram was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Jodhpur Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Court after he was found guilty of raping a minor girl in Manai village near Jodhpur on August 15, 2013. The court also sentenced the two others accused, Shilpi and Sharad, to 20 years each in jail with respect to the same case. The self-styled godman was found guilty under various charges, including sections 370(4) (trafficking), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354A (outraging modesty, 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation), 109, 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and some sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Asaram, along with his son, Narayan Sai, is also facing trial in Gujarat for raping two Surat-based sisters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) There are still educational institutions in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, excluding Singapore, that are still partially insufficient in keeping up with the latest trends in mathematics and educational institutions in developed countries. The quality of teaching in the classroom needs to be improved. Japan's Casio Corp. is helping to improve mathematics quality in these countries. The company has been focusing on the development of a teacher's guide to demonstrate how to use a scientific electronics calculator in mathematics classes. It's the first time for emerging countries. To improve mathematics education, Casio invited mathematics teachers from around the to attend the company's second Scientific Electronic Calculator Seminar held at its Tokyo headquarters in order to demonstrate how to use a calculator to improve mathematics skills. "Most importantly, we have learned that the calculator is not just a device for doing calculations, but is a device to help students to learn mathematics," Barry Kissane, Murdoch University, Australia, said. "By using calculator in my classroom, students are really know the deeper concept on mathematics through it," a trainee from Indonesia said. "In Bangladesh, mathematics teachers are little bit far from learning mathematics in a real life way. I think if Bangladesh mathematics teacher can teach mathematics by using scientific calculator, not just calculator as an educational tool, than I think the classroom is more effective and enjoyable," a trainee from Bangladesh said. As a result of their successful seminar in Tokyo, a teachers' guide was completed in Bangladesh ahead of other countries. To date, 40 seminars have been held in Dhaka. Teachers participating in the development of the teacher's guide have held lectures about the teacher's guidebook and scientific calculator classes for mathematics teachers at 430 schools. By using the guidebook and scientific electronic calculator, teachers learn how to use a scientific calculator during the teaching. Also, scientific calculators are already being used in high schools in Bangladesh. "All the teachers after ending the workshop, told me that they felt motivated because of the workshop, and that they can change our issue dynamically," a trainee from Bangladesh said. Casio has made it a priority to support Mathematics by cooperation with educational institutions and teachers in the emerging countries. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Soon after self-styled godman Asaram Bapu was found guilty in a 2013 rape case on Wednesday morning, the victim's father expressed relief to finally get justice for the same. The father sought strict punishment and hoped that the witnesses who were murdered also get justice. "Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice," said the father. In the case registered in Rajasthan, a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of 15 August 2013. Asaram was arrested after the teenage girl had filed a complaint against him. The judgment in the case was pronounced inside the Jodhpur Central Jail, keeping in view the law and order in a situation in Rajasthan and neighbouring states. Earlier in the day, people were seen offering prayers at the godman's ashram in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal, Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, Gujarat's Ahmedabad and Punjab's Ludhiana for his acquittal. Asaram is also facing a trial in Gujarat for raping two Surat-based sisters. His son, Narayan Sai, is also an accused in the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After the signing of a four-nation transnational bus service agreement between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal, a trial service was finally launched on Tuesday. Two passenger buses launched under the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement June 2015 reached Jalpaiguri yesterday night. The buses started their journey from Dhaka with 49 official delegates from three nations on-board. Two more batches of buses will depart from Nepal's capital Kathmandu and the other one from Siliguri's mini-secretariat Uttarkanya. The agreement has been ratified by India, Nepal and Bangladesh only; Bhutan is yet to follow the suit. As of now, the trial service only includes only these three countries and has been undertaken to find out the difficulties and possibilities associated with the route. "During the journey, the team will do route survey, immigration formalities, border checkpoints and other facilities," said Bangladesh Road Transport and Highways Division Deputy Secretary Sultana Yasmin. Nepal's Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Under Secretary Gobinda Prasad Kharel told ANI, "It has touched my soul. This will not only develop our cordial relation, (it) will develop culture, trade and public transportation (too). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Today online real estate platforms are giving the ease of information to home buyers at their fingertips. These mobile applications allow you to search listings, designs, cost and other details of properties as per preferred locations. These real estate apps are bringing more awareness to potential buyers than ever before and creating more opportunities for the overall market. Here is a list of platforms which will ease your home search troubles: NoBroker.com A Home rental platform that helps you save brokerage by connecting genuine house owners and genuine tenants directly without a broker. Renting out or finding a flat, apartment, house, home and flatmate without a broker was never so easy. Owners of flats and tenants looking for flats can talk directly thus saving on brokerage. NoBroker App lets the house owner list their property for free in 5 quick steps. The tenant can look at the properties with photographs in their preferred locality or near a landmark and see details and amenities. They can explore the neighborhoods and travel distances to shops, schools, restaurants and other utilities NestAway NestAway has housing for everyone. Furnished houses, no brokerage, no maintenance hassles, a better alternative to PG. Rentals start as low as Rs 6,000 per month. Every NestAway home is equipped with TV, Sofa, Bed, Cupboards, Washing Machine, Fridge, Wi-Fi & more. And we also take care of all maintenance hassles. They provide you home-like environment and hassle-free life. MagicBricks MagicBricks, one of the best property apps in India, puts all complex parameters of property search in a simple and intuitive interface. Whether you are looking to buy property or rent it out, MagicBricks can help you save both time and money. USP of MagicBricks is Smart integration and multiple views of the properties in one touch. Another feature of MagicBricks is intelligent searches, which narrow down your options and provide you the best of the information. Trulia Trulia gives detailed information to individuals, who are hunting for a place to stay permanently or temporarily. This provides inside scoop on properties, location, and real estate professionals. With this application user can see the nearest homes, apartments for sale or rent, nearest restaurants, educational institutions, grocery stores, directions, crime maps, local scoops, open houses and many. Moreover, this app will allow you to search houses with latest price discounts for you to make a decision by comparing the best price homes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) [India], April 25 (ANI): Hailstones weighing up to three kilograms were recently discovered in Odisha's Mayurbhanj and Balasore districts. Several septuagenarian residents of Bhimdaa village, which is located along the banks of the Gangahara River in Mayurbhanj district, told this correspondent that in their memory they had not seen storms of this kind. They said they the heavy hailstones making holes in asbestos and CGI sheeted roofs, and causing damage to property in several villages. Badasahi block and Remuna experienced the brunt of nature's fury. The possible impact of climate change was also seen in Arunachal Pradesh. This north eastern state is experiencing a severe cold wave since the start of the year. For example, the village of Chambang, criss-crossed by the Rivers Chatey, Peri, Patee and Kurung, has been experiencing heavy snowfall since January 4. Mechuka and Damin also experienced heavy snowfall this year. Earth scientist Professor Trilochan Singh said, "Climate change is the buzz word today. Though the weather continues to change every moment, changes in the climate take place over a long period of time." He added, "The earth existed 4.5 billion years ago, though human life came into existence only about 10,000 years ago. Climate change is a circle known as the Glacier Phase and the Inter-Glacier Phase. Glaciers are formed in the first phase and melt in second phase due to various factors. This melting has not been uniform," he discloses. Scientists have found that the present inter-glacier phase begun 11,000 years ago and will continue till 18,000 years. However, because human activity has a direct bearing on the climate, the period may extend to 20,000 years, they added. Professor Singh was a member of the Gondwanaland Expedition, an international expedition from Shimla to Cape Agulhas in South Africa to trace the great Gondwanaland that existed as a single landmass about 250 million years ago and drifted to its present position in different continents. 'Lucy' fossils in Addis Ababa's National Museum provide a link between man and the ape, he informed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Less than two weeks after launching airstrikes on Syria, United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he "would love to get out," but wanted to do so only once after "having accomplished what we have to accomplish." Trump's comments came in the context of the US troops, who are currently in Syria. At a joint press conference with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in the White House, Trump said, "As far as Syria is concerned, I would love to get out. I would love to bring our incredible warriors back home. They have done a great job. We'll see what happens. But we're going to be coming home relatively soon. We finished at least almost our work with respect to ISIS in Syria, ISIS in Iraq," CNN reported. "And we have done a job that nobody has been able to do. But with that being said, I do want to come home, but I want to come home also with having accomplished what we have to accomplish," he added. Macron also pressed for an international consensus for achieving peace in the war-torn country and said, "Together, in the long run, we can find a solution to the Syrian situation." Lauding France and Britain on the coalition strikes on chemical weapon targets in the war-torn country, the US President asserted that "it established a strong deterrent to their future use," CBS News reported. On April 7, an unconfirmed chemical strike was carried out in Syria's Douma, a rebel-controlled town in Eastern Ghouta, claiming the lives of over 70 civilians, including children. The White Helmets, a voluntary aide group, pinned the blame for the assault, which claimed more than 70 civilian lives, on the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. However, the regime has rejected the claim, calling it a "fabrication" by Jaish al-Islam, the Islamist group controlling the area. Russia, which has backed Assad throughout the seven-year-long civil war, rejected the claim too. The US President was left infuriated by the attacks and blamed Assad for the chemical attack in Douma. In response, airstrikes were launched by the US, the United Kingdom and France, on targets in Syria's capital Damascus on April 14. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Mongolia have "crucial" role to counter growing radicalism given their Buddhist traditions, underscored External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday. "Many regions of the today, including our own region, is witnessing a trend of radicalism. Such radicalism provides a fertile ground for terrorism to flourish. It then spreads to the neighbouring areas and engulfs the entire region. In such difficult times, there is a need for a philosophy that teaches peace and tolerance. Countries like India and Mongolia with our strong Buddhist traditions have a crucial role to counter this trend of radicalism," Swaraj, said, in her keynote speech at an event to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Late Venerable 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche in Mongolian capital city, Ulaanbaatar. "In today's times, when there is rising violence and extremism spread in the name of faith, there is increasing need to follow the Buddhist path of peace and tolerance," the EAM added. Kushok Bakula, who served as India's Ambassador to Mongolia from 1990 - 2000, is a highly revered figure in that country. A distinguished parliamentarian and diplomat, Bakula also served as a Minister in the government of Jammu and Kashmir and headed the National Commission for the Welfare of Religious Minorities in India. "He was a proud embodiment of India's age-old Buddhist traditions and our message to the of peace, amity and humanism,'' Swaraj said. "India recognized Venerable Kushok Bakula's great contribution towards the promotion of peace and welfare of common people by conferring on him, in 1988, the prestigious Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India," she said. The minister further stressed upon endeavouring to carry forward the legacy of Kushok Bakula . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The World Bank on Wednesday announced signing of a loan agreement with India for IBRD credit of USD 125 (equivalent) for the "Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project". The Loan Agreement was signed by Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of Government of India and Hisham Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank (India) on behalf of the World Bank. With objectives to nurture indigenous innovation, foster local product development and accelerate commercialization process by bridging critical skill and infrastructure gaps to promote affordable and innovative healthcare products generation for inclusive development and increasing competitiveness in India, the agreement will support consortia of public, private, and the academic institutions to overcome the key market failures currently holding back the development of an innovative biopharmaceutical and medical devices industry in India. The project consists of the following parts: -Strengthening of pilot-to market innovation ecosystem -Acceleration of the pilot-to-market process for specific products and -Project Management and monitoring & Evaluation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Government of India, the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the World Bank signed a 210 million dollar loan agreement for the The project is expected to improve the durability, resilience, and safety of the gravel-surfaced rural roads and enhance the capacity of the state to manage its rural roads network. The new joint project will cover 10,510 km stretch of rural roads in Madhya Pradesh that fall under the Chief Minister's Gram Sadak Yojana (CMGSY) programme. Of this, 10,000 km will be upgraded from existing gravel to bituminous surface roads, while 510 km of new roads will be built to the same bituminous surface standard. "Government of India is making all efforts to ensure that communities in the most remote areas across the country are connected through a road network. All weather road connectivity is crucial for economic growth, especially in the rural areas. The Madhya Pradesh roads project will enhance rural road connectivity in the state which will open up opportunities for economic development and access to social services for beneficiary communities in the state and help in reducing poverty," said Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs. "This project will leverage resources to support innovations in road construction, improve road safety, and reduce carbon footprint in the transport sector by mainstreaming climate resilient technology in road design and construction," added Hisham Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank India. Gravel surfaced roads are more prone to washouts than paved roads during flood seasons. This project will undertake resilience measures such as surface sealing of roads, embankment pitching, and balancing culverts to prevent damages caused by extreme flood events. The transport sector is one of the most significant emitters of greenhouse gases. Alternate sealing options for road construction like polymer modified asphalt, asphalt blended with plastic waste, and multiple surface treatment to be piloted on approximately 20 per cent of the length will not only be more cost-effective but will also reduce the carbon footprint of the transport sector. This project, on a pilot basis, will engage women self-help groups (SHG) in the post-construction maintenance activity. This will involve routine maintenance of off-carriageway parts of the road, while the main carriageway maintenance will remain part of the original contractor's contract. The SHG members will be trained through the project, and their work will be directly supervised and managed by the Madhya Pradesh Rural Road Development Authority (MPRRDA) field offices. In fact, a direct maintenance contract will be executed between the SHG group and MPRRDA for 3-5 years. The project will also strengthen road safety management systems with the objective of reducing fatalities and serious injuries from road accidents. The focus will be on improving road accident data collection and analysis at central and state levels through implementation of the Road Accident Database Management System (RADMS); strengthen road safety capacity at the central level, and focus on training. The state will pilot a comprehensive Road Safety Program (PCRSP) in districts with most fatal and serious injuries recorded in the recent past. It plans to undertake a bottom-up approach to engaging and empowering local communities to develop customised solutions to improve road safety. "The Project will benefit the rural people residing in very small villages in Madhya Pradesh. The construction of sealed roads under the project will help reduce transport costs, improve road safety and minimise post-harvest losses for farmers by ensuring transport services in all seasons. The project will also help in reducing pollution and increase access to jobs, markets, schools and health facility for the rural population thus reducing the migration towards urban areas. It will implement a range of contracting and institutional reform measures and update standards and specifications, with a particular emphasis on road safety," said Pankaj Jhawar, Chief General Manager (MPRCP), Madhya Pradesh Rural Road Development Authority. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently met with the members of Indian Ladies in the United Kingdom (ILUK), Britain's largest Indian women's group in London. Prime Minister Modi, who was on a bilateral visit to Britain from April 16-20, met with the group on the last day of his visit for the bi-annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2018, which was held in the British capital. The women, led by ILUK founder Poonam Joshi, presented the Prime Minister with a special chest containing messages collected from Indian women across the UK, outlining their hopes and aspirations for the future of India, and appealing to Prime Minister Modi to continue his work to safeguard, empower and educate women across India. The box, created by the London-based artist and long-standing ILUK member Komal Hoskotii, was called #WomanKiBaat - an allusion to Prime Minister Modi's weekly address to the nation - "Mann Ki Baat". The group informed the Prime Minister about ILUK's new initiative 'Beta Padhao, Beti Bachao' - an extension of the Modi government's widely promoted, 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' initiative, which aims to improve the education, welfare and well-being of girls in India. Joshi explained the Prime Minister that ILUK aims to promote the message that the most important factor in improving the circumstances of the girl child in India is to educate their male siblings, friends and peers, not only on vital issues like equality and empathy, but apparently on "taboo" subjects such as female menstrual and reproductive health. Three days after the meeting, Prime Minister Modi took that message to the Indian masses. At an election rally in Madhya Pradesh, the Prime Minister called on families to better educate their sons and make them more responsible when it comes to the treatment of their female peers. Joshi said, "As Indians, we take a great deal of pride in our Prime Minister and the importance that he merits here in the UK. And we have been hugely encouraged by the work that he has carried out in India, whether it is with his 'Swachh Bharat' initiative or his measures to improve the circumstances of the girl child. The challenges are many as we have seen in recent days. So it is vital that we support Prime Minister Modi and work with him to bring about change and create a modern, progressive India." Speaking of the 'Beti Bachao, Beta Padhao' initiative, Joshi said, "India is the most dynamic and talked-about country in the right now. There is so much hope and potential for the future of our country. And yet, the global discourse about India is dominated by stories of oppression against women and minorities. We believe that the only way to change that conversation is by promoting education, specifically the education of our boys." "As a mother of three boys, there is no greater duty for me than to educate my sons, not just to have amazing jobs in the future but to respect and empathise with their female counterparts. I was born and raised in India, so I understand the inequality that has become second nature for us - not just on the part of men but the women who turn a blind eye to inequality. That has to stop," she continued. "And the only place to begin is in our homes. It is imperative for all of India's mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters to stop passing on the stigma of inequality and injustice to our boys and start educating them from when they are toddlers that a better is possible if they treat their female counterparts with generosity, empathy and equality," she added. ILUK's meeting with Prime Minister Modi came a day after the group welcomed the Prime Minister to the UK with a large and colourful "flash mob", featuring dozens of women in colourful saris. On his visit to Britain in 2015, Prime Minister Modi was presented with a gargantuan blanket, called the 'Unity in Diversity' blanket, made up of 3,500 individual crochet squares handcrafted by members of the fledging ILUK, which at the time comprised some 5,000 members. Three years later, the group boasts of more than 27,000 first generation migrant Indian women representing all walks of life and hailing from all corners of the Indian sub-continent. What began as a social network for newly arrived migrant women has today grown to a major not-for-profit organisation that helps victims of domestic violence, spousal abandonment and dowry abuse in the UK. The group also helps promote awareness of Indian culture in the UK and aims to help shape a progressive future for India, the cornerstone of which, its members believe is, gender equality. During their first meeting with Prime Minister Modi, ILUK members highlighted some of the challenges faced by first-generation NRI's (Non-Residential Indians) in the UK. In the interim, the Indian government has introduced a number of measures to assist the NRI's, including the introduction of stricter laws governing spousal abandonment. ILUK has also begun working closely with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which helped to facilitate the return of a number of women abandoned in India, as well as the High Commission of India in the UK, which has started working closely with ILUK. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Visa-related cooperation between Kazakhstan and India will undergo a further positive change with the Government of Kazakhstan introducing a 72-hour-long transit visa free regime for Indian citizens from April 17 to December 31, 2018. Kazakhstan's Ambassador to India Bulat Sarsenbayev told ANI on Wednesday only those citizens of India would be eligible for this facility who fly with Kazakhstan's national carrier Air Astana or any other Kazakh airline and are transiting via international airports in Astana and/or Almaty to a third country or returning from a third country via Astana and/or Almaty. The 72-hour transit visa free regime is generally applicable to both individual passengers and tour groups. He said that Kazakhstan and India are very keen to simplify the existing visa regime and are working towards offering the facility on a reciprocal basis. Ambassador Sarsenbayev said Almaty has emerged as a cost-effective and attractive travel/transit hub for airline passengers. "This 72-hour transit visa free regime will help people going to Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Previously, when applying for visa, the process would take between 10 to 14 days. Now, a visa is issued in two days. Last year, from January, we changed the visa regime to make it easier for Indian businessmen. They now just have to approach the consular section of the embassy to apply for the visa and they get a single entry visa in two days. Before, they had to get letters of permission from companies they were planning to visit or interact with as proof to establish that their visit was a bonafide one," said the Kazakh envoy. "There are only two countries - China and India - that have this facility of transit visa free regime in this region. Also, India has included Kazakhstan on its list for giving visas online since March 2017. Kazakhstan is planning to do so, in two or three months. We want this to be a reciprocal arrangement," he added. "The number visas that are now being granted by Kazakhstan has increased over three-fold in the last three years. In 2014, we issued a total of 6000 visas; in 2017, we have issued over 19000 visas. In terms of visa cost, it is only now that there is some sort of equality. Previously, the Indian visa cost USD 100 and our visa cost USD 60. Now, with the introduction of electronic visa, the cost of an Indian visa is USD 50 and ours is still USD 60," Ambassador Sarsenbayev said. He also informed that now there are 11 flights every week between India and Kazakhstan - seven to Almaty and four to Astana. Last year, there were only seven flights. Talks are on with GMR Group, which manages infrastructure-related operations at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to give more space for Kazakh airlines, he added. A statement issued by the embassy said: 1. In order to ensure the 72-hour transit visa free entry, please inform the Kazakh airlines staff at the check-in desk at the airport in your departure city. 2. If you plan to stay in Astana or Almaty, please book hotel in advance and make sure you contact Kazakh airline representative office before departure and provide the name of the hotel where you are staying and its address information. 3. Upon arrival at Almaty or Astana Airport, you will need to provide the following items to register at the border security station of the Kazakhstan National Security Council and obtain a transit card. a. Valid air ticket or boarding pass to a third country where you are planning to go within 72 hours. b. Boarding pass receipt of the previous flight. c. Valid passport with at least one blank page in it, visa for the final destination country (if the country requires a visa). 4. Please note that the stay beyond 72 hours will result in fines and deportation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Global terrorist Hafiz Saeed's brother-in-law and the second-in-command of terror outfit LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), Abdul Rehman Makki, has used foul language against Guru Nanak Dev, the first Sikh Guru, at an event in Multan city of Pakistan. Makki's remarks are an eye opener for those Sikh militants who have taken shelter in Pakistan to wage acts of terror against India in the name of the so-called Khalistan movement. Makki has lashed out against the Sikh faith and has even gone to the extend of calling them " infidels ". Makki, in his speech delivered to the LeT/JuD followers in Multan said , "The dirty conspiracy of denigrating Islam has been continuing for centuries. The emergence of Guru Nanak, the first Guru of Sikhs, was also part of the conspiracy and he (Guru Nanak) was equally a culprit of maligning Islam." He also made derogatory remarks against the Sikhs, their faith and ideology and accused them of hatching conspiracy against Islam. "About 350 years ago, someone called Baba Nanak appeared and people started calling him pro-Muslim and his teachings similar to Islamic teachings. The moulvis (Muslim religious scholars) and intellectuals developed an affinity towards him and quoted his (Nanak Dev's) sermons while describing a few 'aayats' (verses) of Quran," said Makki, who has a bounty of 2 million dollars on his head, announced by the United States Department of the Treasury a few years ago. "At that time (350 years ago), the Hindus hatched the worst ever conspiracy against Islam to weaken Muslims and to compel them to embrace Hinduism. It was the conspiracy of Guru Nanak," Makki said in his hate speech. Makki added, "Baba Nanak was fostered in Punjab in order to spread Sikhism up to Peshawar. Efforts were made to convince the Muslims that Sikhism believes in 'towheed' (oneness of God), keeping beard (like Muslims) and use some phrases of 'Quran'. People did not understand, they (Sikhs) were infidels, fraudsters and completely un-Islamic". Guru Nanak was born in 1469 at Rai Bhoi ki Talvandi, present-day Nankana Sahib, near Lahore city. He was the founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. At present, very few thousand Sikhs live in Pakistan and they continue to face persecution by Islamic fundamentalists. A majority of Sikhs remained in India during the partition in 1947. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Rashtriya Basava Sena on Tuesday claimed that the Lingayat community in poll-bound Karnataka no longer sees former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa as a leader. "Lingayats are not very supportive of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This is mainly because, in spite of many people bagging seats in 2014, not many ministers were appointed to the central cabinet. While the BJP has indicated Yeddyurappa as its chief ministerial candidate, Lingayats do not see him as a leader and have no faith in him anymore. They are more supportive of incumbent chief minister Siddaramaiah, who has been a follower of Basava philosophy for many years," Rashtriya Basava Sena General Secretary AP Basavaraj said. Ahead of the Assembly polls in Karnataka, the Siddaramaiah-led government in March had declared minority status to the Lingayat community. However, the move was seen by many, including the Opposition, as one to garner votes in favour of the Congress Party. On a related note, Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect representatives to the 225-member state assembly. The results will be out on May 15. Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur attended the preview of the exhibition 'Treasure from The Al Thani Collections' at Beijing, China as a special invitee of His Highness Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani of the Royal Family of Qatar on 16th April 2018. The exhibition showcased a comprehensive collection of India and India-inspired gems and jewels along with masterpieces from the royal collection at Meridian Gate Gallery of the Palace Museum, the Forbidden City, Beijing, China. The Al Thani collection is part of a Foundation dedicated to promoting art and culture much like Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, Udaipur of which Shriji is the Managing Trustee. The event was also attended by many members of the Royal Family of Qatar, the Chinese minister of culture and tourism and prominent individuals from the and art world. Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur, Managing Trustee of Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, Udaipur said, "It was a pleasure to attend the prestigious Al Thani exhibition at Paris last year and now in Beijing, China. This exhibition showcased objects of superlative beauty from disparate cultures and periods. Events such as these contribute enormously in understanding and promoting Indian art and culture abroad." Representing the grace and glory of India, the exhibition also showcased miniature painting of Maharana Karan Singh of Udaipur Mewar taken from the folio of the late Shah Jahan Album India; Mughal, c. 1625-50. Among the notable exhibitors and the distinguished guests present at the occasion were: His Highness Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, HE Sheikha Hussah bint Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, Her Highness Sheikha Amna bint Muhammad Al Thani, Yue Sai Kan, eminent woman and pioneer of the cosmetic revolution in China, Baobao Wan, China's most notable jewellery designer and founder of the Bao Bao jewellery line, just to name a few. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said that Mongolia is not only India's "strategic partner" but also a "spiritual neighbour" because of the common Buddhist heritage. Heading the 6th Joint Committee for Cooperation, Swaraj said, "Mongolia is well known in India for the valour of her kings and her strong Buddist heritage". Owing to the common Buddhist heritage shared by the two countries, Swaraj said that the Indian government encourages "students from Mongolia to visit India for further study and research in the field of Buddhist studies." The minister also shared in her speech that she will attend a birth centenary of a 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche who happened to India's ambassador to Mongolia. Further, in her speech, she mentioned that both she and Mongolian Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar are committed for capacity building programmes for the people of Mongolia specifically in the areas of English language training and Information Technology. Thwarting terrorism was also one of the most important highlights of the joint summit. Both the foreign ministers also held discussions for economic cooperation in areas including infrastructure development, energy, services and Information Technology. In her speech, she highlighted the collaborative projects including the on-going refinery projects in Mongolia. India had provided one billion dollar Indian Line of Credit for the construction of the oil refinery in the mineral and oil-rich country Mongolia. The two foreign ministers also inked several bilateral agreements. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has announced the launch of its "e - Gsec" platform for facilitating the non-competitive bidding in Government of India Dated Securities (G-Sec) and Treasury Bills (T-Bills). This will allow retail investors to invest in Government Securities and hold them in existing demat accounts. The non-competitive bidding facility was introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to encourage retail participation in the primary market for Government Securities. In continuation of this endeavor, the Union Budget 2016-17 had announced, inter-alia, that RBI will facilitate retail participation in the primary markets through stock exchanges. The RBI conducts auction for G-Sec and T-Bills on a weekly basis where five percent of the notified amount is allotted for eligible investors under the scheme for non-competitive bidding facility. Today's launch of NSE's e - Gsec platform provides investors an opportunity to participate in the G-Sec auction of April 26, 2018 and the subsequent weekly auctions of G - Secs and T-Bills. "Non-competitive bidding through exchanges is an efficient mechanism for delivering government securities to retail clients. Promoting retail participation in government securities benefits both the issuer and the investor. For the Government it provides a diversified investor base and for retail investors an ability to diversify their investment portfolio to an asset class providing capital protection and decent returns. NSE will continue to offer simple retail products leveraging on its robust technology and retail distribution capabilities," said MD & CEO, NSE, Vikram Limaye. Investments in Government Securities are one of the safer investment options available to retail investors. Government Securities are risk free instruments, provides portfolio diversification and are available for longer investment durations. NSE's wider presence and reach through its members along with investor awareness and education initiatives may bring higher participation by retail in this asset class. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday met Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan and touted strong bilateral relations between the two sides. During the meeting, the two leaders called for deeper cooperation in various sectors to further strengthen bilateral relations between Pakistan and China, Xinhua reported. "Pakistan stands ready to deepen bilateral cooperation in various fields and firmly supports China on issues concerning China's core interests," Asif said. Calling Islamabad as an "all-weather ally," Qishan added, "China-Pakistan relations should take the lead in building a community with a shared future for humanity." Asif and Pakistan Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers and Defence Ministers meetings' of the SCO member states respectively from April 23-24 in Beijing. On a related note, the Ministry of External Affairs had earlier confirmed that there would be no bilateral meeting between Sushma Swaraj, Nirmala Sitharaman, and their Pakistani counterparts on the sidelines of the SCO. The annual summit of the SCO, in which India and Pakistan became full members last year, will take place in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June. The SCO, which is headquartered in Beijing, was founded in 2001. It comprises of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan, and aims at military cooperation between the member states. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday slammed the country's security agencies over its failure to present a subsequent report on the Faizabad sit-in which took place last year. A two-member bench comprising Justices Mushir Alam Qazi Faez Isa and Musheer Alam resumed hearing a suo motu case on the sit-in, reported the Dawn. Pakistan's government and protesters, after a weeks-long protest at the Faizabad interchange, reached an army-brokered agreement in November 2017, in which the former had agreed to the latter's demands. According to the report, Justice Isa asked the Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Raja Khalid if the agencies had a report to submit, to which DAG had replied in negative, saying that the court had not issued any orders for the same. "Who is paying you? Who is paying the Inter-Services Intelligence? No one should consider themselves above the law," Justice Isa told the DAG, adding that last month's rejection of should have prompted submission of a new report on the same issue. The SC, last month, had rejected Pakistan's intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence's (ISI) report on the Faizabad sit-in, branding it "unsatisfactory". "This report is deeply unsettling: it has been prepared by one of the premier agencies of the country, yet a journalist could have given more details [about the protests] than this report," Justice Isa had said after reviewing the document. The court will resume hearing in the case after 10 days. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj, who is on a two-day visit to Mongolia, on Wednesday, addressed the Indian community in the Buddhist nation. "I am glad to see that the Indian community in Mongolia has already made a strong bond with the people of Mongolia. All of us gathered here will continue to work to further deepening and diversifying these ties," Swaraj said while addressing the Indian community in Mongolian capital city, Ulaanbaatar. "India and Mongolia are strategic partners and fellow democracies. Our relationship is based on firm foundation of our historical ties and mutual trust," the EAM added. Official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Raveesh Kumar took to Twitter and wrote, "No visit is complete without an interaction with our own abroad!" Earlier in the day, Swaraj delivered a keynote speech at an event to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Late Venerable 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche. This is Swaraj's maiden visit to Mongolia after she joined the office as the EAM in 2014. She arrived Mongolia on Tuesday after wrapping her one-day China's visit where she attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers' meeting in Beijing. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday led the delegation at the on-going 6th Joint Committee for Cooperation with Mongolian Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar informed about the commencement of the meeting via his official Twitter handle. "Reviewed all aspects of bilateral relations, especially in trade & investment, energy, mining, animal husbandry, education & capacity building & tourism," Kumar tweeted. Earlier in the day Swaraj visited the Gandan Tegchenling Buddhist Monastery where she was felicitated by the monks. This is Swaraj's maiden visit to Mongolia after she joined the office as the External Affairs Minister in 2014. She arrived Mongolia on Tuesday after wrapping her one-day China's visit where she attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers' meeting in Beijing. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hours before mowing down pedestrians with a van in a busy Toronto street on Tuesday, 25-year-old Alek Minassian had posted a 'cryptic' message on Facebook, police said. In one Facebook post, Alek praised a man who killed six college students in California in 2014, before taking his own life, newstalk.com reported. The Toronto Police have suspected that the post might have inspired Alek to carry out the attack. Meanwhile, the nationalities of the four victims have been identified by the police. According to CBC, the first victim to be identified was Anne Marie D'Amico, an American national who worked at Invesco, a US-based investment management firm in Toronto. D'Amico's colleague at Invesco, Jon Tam told, CBC's Metro Morning, "She was a very warm, friendly presence in the office. Always smiling. I'll definitely be missing seeing that smile around the office." The Jordanian Embassy in the city confirmed that its national was killed in the van attack. Meanwhile, according to Yonhap and South Korea's Foreign Affairs Ministry, two of its nationals were confirmed dead, while three more were unaccounted for. On Monday, the Toronto van rampage at Yonge Street claimed at least 10 lives and left 15 others injured. The accused has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder. He is also facing 13 counts of attempted murder. The motive behind the attack is yet unclear. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered condolences to the loved ones of those who were killed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Once again, handholding has turned awkward for United States President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump. The US President was captured circling his pinky in a bid to hold Melania's hand as they welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron to the White House on Tuesday. Melania, who donned a white outfit and a brimming white hat, stood next to her husband rigidly as he appeared to make a subtle effort to hold her hand - first extending his pinky finger and then gently giving her hand a little shake before she finally placed her hand on his. After which Trump was seen mouthing "Thank you." This isn't the first time the US first lady appeared reluctant to hold her husband's hand. In May, she was caught on camera clearly swatting away his hand during a trip to Tel Aviv, Israel. Then in February, as the couple departed from the White House for a trip to Ohio, Trump once again tried but failed to make hand-to-hand contact with his wife. On Tuesday, netizens were quick to take note of the Trumps' latest awkward hand-holding moment. "That moment when your wife resists holding your hand... PRICELESS. ???? @realDonaldTrump," wrote a user. Another Twitterer posted a picture, where the Trumps could be seen staring at each other nervously, while Macron kissed his ever-smiling wife's hand. "Visual juxtaposition," the caption read. A third user posted two contrasting pictures of Melania and Trump, along with a pontiff couple. The user also compared the First Lady's hat with that of the Pope's hat. "Melania with the Young Pope hat", read the tweet of the user. Another user posted a picture of Trump holding Macron's hand at the White House. "Who needs Melania's hand holding when I've got Macron," the user tweeted. American broadcaster, Live Satellite News captured a video, where Trump was unable to kiss his wife, due to the brimming hat. He, however, kissed Macron's wife. The French President is currently on a three-day visit to the US to coax Trump on not leaving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The deal was signed between six countries - Iran, US, Britain, Germany, Russia, France and China for lifting economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limitations to the country's nuclear programme. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Following the clashes that erupted over the filing of fresh nominations for the panchayat elections in the state, the victims are scheduled to meet President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday. On Monday, nearly 30 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers were attacked after violence erupted in West Bengal's Birbhum district, claiming one life. The clash broke out between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP supporters during filing of nominations for the panchayat elections. In this regard, West Bengal BJP Vice President Biswapriya Roy Chowdhury said the affected victims will address the matter before President Kovind as well as in the party office, for which they are being brought to New Delhi. Terming the clash an "attack on democracy," Chowdhury said that such a situation was not new to the state. "In West Bengal, democracy is under threat in the reign of the TMC government. This situation has been prevalent in the state for long, but the administration has not taken any action. 30-35 BJP workers have been attacked, who did not go for nominations. We will go to Delhi and present the case before the President and in the party headquarters," he said. Echoing a similar view, the wife of the man who was killed in the clashes alleged that the death of her husband was an attack by the TMC. She further alleged that she was threatened by the ruling party. Incidents of violence were reported from Murshidabad, Malda and South 24 Parganas districts on Monday. Earlier in the month, six policemen were injured when the BJP and TMC workers engaged in a clash that broke out at Usti in South 24 Parganas district over the filing of nominations. On a related note, the panchayat polls in West Bengal will take place between May 1 to May 7 and the counting will take place on May 8. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At a time when the political temperature in Karnataka is soaring and the Lingayat issue is adding on to the heat, Siddalinga Swami, the junior pontiff of the influential Lingayat - Siddaganga mutt, clarified that "the mutt only blesses politicians for their future endeavours and does not make any attempt to influence the voters." In the light of the Siddaramaiah government's decision to accord 'religious minority' status for Lingayat, politicians have been thronging the Siddaganga mutt to lure the community. Earlier this month, both Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah and Congress President Rahul Gandhi called on the seer of the prominent mutt, Shivakumara Swami. The 111 year old seer is considered to be one of the most esteemed living religious and social practitioner of the Lingayat-Veerashaiva faith. Thousands of young children, mostly orphans are educated in the Siddaganga ashram in Tumkur. Abandoned widows, senior citizens find solace in the calmness and service oriented ashram premises. Gowramma who came here eleven years ago cooks for the little children who live and study here. Several IAS, IPS officers besides state administration officers, lawyers, accountants have had their early education in this ashram claims one of the functionaries. But the mutt, like all the other Lingayat mutts in Karnataka is now is in the eye of the storm after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah raked up the issue of separate religion status for the community, a demand they have been making for decades, but rushed through by the Congress government apparently in an election gimmick. However, when asked why mutts in Karnataka played an important role during elections, Siddalinga Swami told ANI, "There is no political connection, but on the religious front and spiritual front, they (the politicians) come to seek blessings." Further, when asked whether Siddaganga mutt politically influenced the people, the junior Pontiff told Smita Prakash, Editor, ANI, in an exclusive interview, "No, we (mutt) only encourage voting, we never take sides, we don't ask anyone to choose a specific party. As a citizen of the country, we must vote. The Constitution of India has given us the right and we must perform our duty and exercise our franchise. We only advocate and appeal to the people to come out and vote where ever may be." "None of the mutts supports any party or vouch for them. But yes, the government (whichever comes in power) does support all the mutts which are running, as a noble cause," he added. While commenting on the political parties trying to use the Lingayat-Veerashaiva debate and the decision to accord minority status to the Lingayat community as the basis to make or mar the chances of parties, Siddalinga Swami dashed the idea and asserted, "All this is completely political, common people know nothing about it. This will not affect anything." Further, condemning the tactics of polarisation, communalisation commonly used during elections to syphon votes, Siddalinga Swami underscored that one must not resort to such negative campaigning, as it adversely affects the society and the nation. "For political gains, some people will resort to this, but this is not good for the society and the country also. We are Indians first, we must love India first and try to become a good human being despite the religion or community we belong to. We are human beings first and we must realise that," he said. Lingayats, who make up for 17 percent of Karnataka's population and are considered a sub-sect within the Hindu faith, on March 19 this year, were proposed to be given minority status as members of a separate religion by the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah government. The final decision regarding the same would be taken by the BJP-led Central government. Reportedly, the Lingayats are known to influence at least 100 out of 224 constituencies in the state. The Assembly election will be held in Karnataka on 12 May 2018 in all 224 constituencies of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The counting of votes and announcement of the results will take place on 15 May 2018. The Union Cabinet Chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given approval to the declaration of Scheduled Areas in respect of Rajasthan under Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India by rescinding the Constitution Order (C. O.)114 dated 12th February 1981 and promulgation of a new Constitution Order. The promulgation of new C. O. will ensure that the Scheduled Tribes of Rajasthan will get benefits of protective measures available under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India. The Rajasthan Government has requested for extension of Scheduled Areas in the State of Rajasthan under Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India. Beneficiaries: The Scheduled Tribes residing in Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh, and partial areas of Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Pali and Sirohi districts of Rajasthan will get benefits of protective measures available under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India. The areas comprising of 3 complete districts namely,Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh; 9 complete tehsils, 1 complete block and 46 complete gram panchayats covering 227 villages in district Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Pali and Sirohi of Rajasthan, would be included in the Scheduled Areas in the State of Rajasthan. No additional funds are required as to be expended on account of declaration of Scheduled Areas. This will be part of Tribal Sub-Plan (now renamed as Tribal Sub-Scheme) within existing schemes of Central and the State Government for more focused attention in Scheduled Areas for effecting speedy development. Background: As per paragraph 6(1) of the Fifth Schedule {Article 244(1)} to the Constitution of India, the expression 'Scheduled Areas' means 'such areas as the President may by order declare to be Scheduled Areas'. In accordance with the provisions of paragraph 6(2) of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution, the President may at any time by order increase the area of any Scheduled Area in a State after consultation with the Governor of that State; rescind, in relation to any State or States, any order or orders made under this paragraph, and in consultation with the Governor of the State concerned, make fresh orders redefining the areas which are to be Scheduled Areas. The Scheduled Areas were first notified in the year 1950. Subsequently, Constitution Orders specifying the Scheduled Areas were issued for State of Rajasthan in1981. Due to reorganization/creation of new districts and changes in population of Scheduled Tribes as per 2011 Census, the Government of Rajasthan has requested for extension of Scheduled Areas in the State of Rajasthan. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Raw Jute for 2018-19 season. The Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Fair Average Quality (FAQ) of Raw Jute has been increased to Rs.3700/- per quintal for 2018-19 season from Rs. 3500/- per quintal in 2017-18 season. The MSP would yield returns of 63.2 percent over the weighted average A2+FL cost of production. The MSP of Raw Jute is expected to ensure appropriate minimum prices to the farmers and step up investment in Jute cultivation and thereby production and productivity in the country. The increased MSP is based on recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) which while recommending MSP takes into account the cost of production, overall demand-supply, domestic and international prices, inter-crop price parity, terms of trade between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and the likely impact of MSP on the rest of the economy. The Jute Corporation of India would continue to act as Central Nodal Agency to undertake price support operations at the Minimum Support Prices in the Jute growing states. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Loan Agreement for IBRD credit of US$ 125 (equivalent) for the Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project was signed with the World Bank on 24th April, 2018 in New Delhi. The Loan Agreement was signed by Mr. Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of Government of India and Mr. Hisham Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank (India) on behalf of the World Bank. The Objectives of the project is to nurture indigenous innovation, foster local product development and accelerate commercialization process by bridging critical skill and infrastructure gaps to promote affordable and innovative healthcare products generation for inclusive development and increasing competitiveness in India. The project would support consortia of public, private, and the academic institutions to overcome the key market failures currently holding back the development of an innovative biopharmaceutical and medical devices industry in India. The project consists of the following parts: (i) Strengthening of pilot-to market innovation ecosystem (ii) Acceleration of the pilot -to-market process for specific products and (iii) Project Management and monitoring & Evaluation. The closing date of Innovate in India for Inclusiveness project is 30 June, 2023. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Board of Directors of Tejas Networks at its meeting held on 24 April 2018 approved the appointment of Chetan Gupta as Additional Director (DIN- 07704601) of the Company. The Board accepted the vacation of office as Director by Shirish Saraf by Operation of Law. The Board approved grant of 11,000 Restricted Stock Units, under Tejas Restricted Stock Unit Plan 2017 to new employees based on the recommendations of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. The Board approved the allotment of 62,027 Equity Shares of the Company pursuant to exercise of stock options by eligible employees under the respective Stock Option Plans. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Actress Allison Mack walked out of Brooklyn federal court after posting a $5 million bond and agreeing to stay under house arrest in California. Lawyers for the "Smallville" actress-turned-alleged-cult leader have been in plea talks on the sex-trafficking and forced labour conspiracy charges against her. Both sides agreed to allow Mack, 35, to be released while awaiting trial, and a judge then officially approved the deal, reports pagesix.com. As part of the agreement, Mack has to wear a GPS ankle bracelet and not have contact with the cult's other members, who reportedly include Seagram's liquor heiress Clare Bronfman and India Oxenberg, the daughter of "Dynasty" star Catherine Oxenberg. "Basically, avoid contact with anyone you know associated in any way with NXIVM. Do you understand?" Judge Viktor Pohorelsky asked Mack on Tuesday. "Yes, your honour," Mack responded. Mack's whereabouts will be monitored by California officials while she stays in her parents' Los Alamitos, California, home awaiting her next hearing, officials said. She will only be allowed leave the house for pre-approved activities, including travelling to Manhattan to meet her lawyers or Brooklyn for court appearances. Pohorelsky also forbade her from using the internet without approval. Mack did not respond to reporters' questions as she walked out of court on Tuesday evening. Mack's mother Melinda secured the $5 million bond using Mack's house in upstate Clifton Park, the family's Los Alamitos home and a retirement account, authorities said. Mack and NXIVM leader Keith Raniere kept women as "slaves", prosecutors say. Raniere was arrested in March, and Mack was arrested last week. Both have pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking. Mack's next court date is May 3. --IANS nn/rb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Araku coffee to Bongu chicken, the specialities of the picturesque Araku valley in the eastern ghats, are set to get a push as part of ambitious plans by Andhra Pradesh to promote tourism. Araku, about 100 km from this port city, is rich in bio-diversity and natural beauty -- and is known for Araku coffee, one of the finest in the world. Riding on the popularity of the high quality speciality Arabica coffee, the state's Tourism Department plans to reach out to tourists, telling them the story of Araku and marketing the product. Passengers flying into Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati on Spicejet flights from 27 destinations in the country will soon start getting a complimentary cup of Araku coffee from the Tourism Department. The organic coffee is grown by tribals at an elevation of 1,100 metres above the mean sea level under the shade of jackfruit, silver oak, mango and banana trees. It has a delicious, fruity flavour intertwined with caramel and a finish of bitter sweetness. About 90 per cent of the total Araku coffee production is exported to countries like Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and the United Arab Emirates. Along with the coffee, every passenger will also told the Araku story as the department will showcase through publicity material the things the tourists can see and do in the scenic valley. "If a passenger is lucky, he may get a fully-paid complimentary holiday," Kaushik Mukherji, Principal Advisor to the Andhra Pradesh Ministry of Tourism, told IANS. This comes as part of the efforts by the tourism authorities to rebrand the state with a focus on developing products for different segments of the market. As Araku coffee has emerged as a popular brand in recent years, the authorities decided to use it to attract more tourists to the valley. Mahindra group Chairman and Managing Director Anand Mahindra, who is promoting Araku coffee along with some others, last year set up a retail store in Paris. Mukherji feels local entrepreneurs can take Araku coffee forward and make it desirable at par with some of coffee brands coming from the African market. The Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) last year procured more than 1,500 metric tonnes of coffee beans. Both GCC and the Coffee Board have separately applied to register Araku coffee under Geographical Indications (GI) to protect its unique identity. The Araku story will also tell air passengers about Bongu chicken, another specaility of Araku. Bongu, or bamboo, chicken is a traditional tribal cuisine cooked inside a piece of green bamboo stalk without oil, making it healthy and delicious. Locally found herbs are used in its preparation, giving it a unique taste. "The Tourism Department has to bat on a multi-sensory level to create a brand," Mukherji pointed out. As part of the brand-building, the authorities last year organised the Araku Balloon Festival. The move was aimed at promoting adventure sports. The department is creating other products as well to turn Andhra Pradesh into a compelling destination. The Vizag Music Festival and the Vizag Yatching Festival were the other events launched to promote tourism. "People ask, 'What is there in Andhra Pradesh?' Charminar and Hussain Sagar and even the famous Hyderabadi biryani have gone to Telangana. What is worth seeing in Andhra Pradesh? We are telling them what they can see and what they can do here," Mukherji explained. Currently tourism contributes seven per cent of the state's GDP. He believes powerful tourism brands can help the sector contribute 24-25 per cent. Out of India's 29 states, four states earn 82 percent of the total national tourism revenue while the remaining 25 fight for18 percent Mukherji is confident that with new initiatives and an approach like a marketing company, Andhra Pradesh can leave the four leading states behind. "If we can't do it, it will be an opportunity lost because Andhra Pradesh, with a nearly 1,000 km coastline, has the best tourism products," he said. He pointed out that one of the biggest current holiday craze in the world is tree-top living as it takes mankind back to its early footsteps. Thus, at Tyda, a small village on the way to Araku from Vizag, the Tourism Department has built cottages on trees. Mukherji proposes to build similar tree cottages in Bhavani island in Vijayawada, where each tree is 150 years old. Explaining the idea behind developing different tourism products for different segments, he said selling Andhra Pradesh as one tourism product will be wrong strategy as the state has much more to offer. "There are different products for different segments and for different reasons. For instance, some can send their parents for spiritual tourism as the state offers a full circuit from Simhachalam to Tirupati. Or send their son on his 18th birthday for an adventure holiday like Tyda treetop living or ziplines or diving," added Mukherji. (Mohammed Shafeeq visited Visakhapatnam at the invitation of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department. He can be contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in) --IANS ms/vm/ky/tb (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five years after charges of rape were levelled against Asaram Bapu, the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court on Wednesday convicted the self-styled godman. Four others were also in a 2013 rape case. Asaram was convicted under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) act and Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act. The judgement was pronounced by Judge Madhusudan inside the Jodhpur Central Jail, where Asaram is lodged. Asaram Bapu was arrested in 2013 on the complaint filed by a teenage girl from Uttar Pradesh's Shahajahanpur. She had accused him of raping her at his Jodhpur ashram in August. The victim, was a Class 12 student at his Chhindwara Ashram in Madhya Pradesh. The 77-year-old godman is facing trial in two other sexual assault cases: one in Rajasthan here and the other in Gujarat. He was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He has been in judicial custody since September 2, 2013. He also faces multiple charges, including wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy and sexual harassment. The chargesheet named Asaram and four others -- Sanchita alias Shilpi, Sharad Chandra alias Sharat Chandra, Prakash and Shiva alias Sava Ram Hethvadiya. The quantum of punishment will be announced later. --IANS som/in/hs (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.) Delhi's ruling AAP on Wednesday said that the BJP was lying to people that the former was responsible for allotment of two landfill sites in the city, saying the decision was taken by the Central government-controlled Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Earlier this week, DDA had given in principal approval for allotment of land for two landfill sites in Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujran in the city. "Sonia Vihar and Ghonda are densely populated areas and lakhs of people stay in nearby areas. By dumping waste there, lakhs of people will be affected," Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Dilip Pandey told media here. He said that though it was done by the DDA, which was under the Central Government, the Bharatiya Janata Partys' (BJP) Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari was blaming the AAP for it. "So how did DDA give land for landfill sites? Manoj Tiwari himself is an MP from trans-Yamuna region and he is lying to his people," Pandey said, adding the BJP was misleading the people and lying as its incompetence has come to people's notice. --IANS nkh/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP of using a photograph of violence in Bangladesh in their election manifesto for the coming state Panchayat polls. In a bid to reinforce its claim that there is lawlessness in the state under the current regime, the BJP manifesto released on Tuesday has used a number of pictures of violence and vandalism, one of which was allegedly of the 2013 Bangladesh violence. "That is not a photograph of Bengal. They have used a 2013 photograph of Bangladesh in the manifesto and claimed it to be a picture of violence here. No party in the history of Bengal has constantly made such false, malicious and instigating statements. We are ashamed of their actions," Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee told reporters here. "Such falsehood under the banner of a political party is an insult of democracy in Bengal," he addeed. The alleged photograph was taken by a news agency and its image description reads as: "Supporters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) shout slogans near a bonfire during a protest in Dhaka on March 11, 2013." The BJP, however, claimed that the images portray the real picture from Bengal. "Our manifesto talks about how lawlessness and violence has taken over Bengal under the current government and how the Chief Minister and the administration are constantly backing the trouble mongers. In several places in the state communal violence took place and the Hindus were attacked like in Bangladesh. In that context the picture was used," state BJP President Dilip Ghosh said. --IANS mgr/ssp/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Bodo militant, who was arrested by the NIA, on Wednesday escaped from police custody while he was being produced in a Guwahati court in connection with the killing of five tribal villagers in Assam's Kokrajhar district in December 2014, officials said. An National Investigation Agency (NIA) official in New Delhi, requesting anonymity, said that the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB-S) militant Kamakhya Daimary alias Kwnasong escaped from police custody while he was being taken from jail to court. According to the NIA official, he was found missing while they were taken into the bus during the counting of the prisoners. Daimary was arrested by the counter-terror probe agency on December 14, 2015 and a supplemntary chargesheet against him was filed in 2016. According to the NIA official, at least 14 heavily armed NDFB-S militants belonging to the 'Serfanguri Platoon' descended on Pakriguri village of Kokrajhar on the evening of December 23, 2014 and started firing indiscriminately, leaving at least five persons, including women and children, dead and another four persons were injured. On December 23, 2014, the NDFB-S had killed over 70 people in several areas of Bodoland Territorial Area Districts in a series of attacks upon the tribal community. The NIA has earlier arrested 16 persons out of 23 accused. Four members of the NDFB-S are still absconding while the three were neutralized. --IANS aks/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved renewal of long-term agreements for export of iron ore to Japan and South Korea through the state-run trading company MMTC, according to an official statement. The Commerce Ministry release said that the cabinet had approved the renewal of the previous long-term agreements for export for another five years following their expiry at the end of last month. "Cabinet has approved renewal of long-term agreements (LTAs) for supply of iron ore (lumps and fines) to Japanese steel mills and POSCO, South Korea for another five years (from 1.4.2018 upto 31.3.2023) through MMTC Ltd," it said. "The current LTAs with Japanese steel mills and POSCO for supply of iron ore for a period of three years expired on March 31, 2018." The range of quantity of iron ore to be exported would be from a minimum of 3.8 million tonnes per annum to 5.5 million tonnes per annum, it added. According to the ministry, the high grade "+64% Fe" content iron ore will be supplied to Japanese and Korean steel mills from the state-run NMDC's Bailadila mines in Chhattisgarh. The existing policy of single-agency operation and exports through MMTC, with a trading margin of 2.8 per cent of free on board (FOB) price, will be continued, it said. "Export of iron ore under the LTAs would help to strengthen India's bilateral ties with long-standing partner countries, Japan and South Korea," the statement added. --IANS bc/qd/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday questioned a former Left Front minister in Tripura in connection with the Kolkata-based Rose Valley chit fund scam case. The CBI officials will question another senior former Left Front minister on Thursday on the same issue. "The two CBI officials interrogated former Social Affairs and Social Education Minister Bijita Nath at the MLA Hostel here for about two hours. As the CBI is collecting facts from various states as part of their probe into the Kolkata-based Rose Valley chit fund scam, they also talked to Nath," the former minister's lawyer Haribal Debnath told the media. After the questioning, Nath told the media the officials recorded her statements which she shared with the investigating agency in June last year. The CBI had earlier told Tripura Assembly Speaker Rebati Mohan Das about their intention to interrogate former Left Front ministers Badal Chowdhury and Bijita Nath. Chowdhury, a former Finance, Health and PWD Minister, and Nath separately told IANS that they are ready to share any information in connection with cases related to the Rose Valley chit fund scam. Both the former ministers, currently CPI-M legislators, said that they would cooperate with the CBI officials to probe the chit fund related cases. The CBI in June 2017 questioned Nath and CPI-M central committee member Gautam Das in connection with the cases of the Rose Valley chit fund scam. CPI-M central committee member and party's state secretary Bijan Dhar said it was widely known that the CBI has been used by the ruling parties at the Centre. "No CPI-M leader and former Left Front ministers were involved with any chit fund organisations," Dhar told the media adding that "if CBI wants any information from the party leaders they would share, there is no problem in it". The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) separately charged the previous Left Front government with promoting illegal chit fund organisations and unauthorised Non-Banking Financial Organisations (NBFCs) in Tripura. The erstwhile Left Front government in Tripura had enacted a law in 2000 to deal with the illegal NBFCs and chit fund organisations and since 2016 began confiscating all movable and immovable properties of the Rose Valley chit fund organisation in the state. The chit fund organisation -- Rose Valley -- is now under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI, and its sole proprietor and Chairman Gautam Kundu was arrested in Kolkata in 2015. The Tripura High Court had in 2015 asked the state government to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe unlawful NBFCs and chit fund organisations. In May 2013, the earlier Left government had referred 37 cases related to chit fund companies and NBFCs to the CBI. The central probe agency, however, took up only five cases. Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has also asked the central government to widen the CBI probe into all the chit fund related activities. "The CBI questioning the CPI-M leaders as per their investigation. There is no question of political vindictiveness in this regards," Deb told the media on Wednesday. --IANS sc/pgh/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday demanded that crossings named after self-styled godman Asaram in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal as well as Indore city be changed after his conviction by a Jodhpur court in a 2013 rape of a minor girl. "Both cities have crossings named after Asaram. Authorities should ensure that their names are now changed after Asaram's conviction," AAP state leader Alok Aggarwal said in a press statement here. "Roads and crossings are named after historical and other personalities so that the coming generations can take inspiration from them. But crossings named after Asaram project the country in a bad light and hence their names should be changed," the AAP leader added. --IANS hindi/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Danish inventor Peter Madsen was on Wednesday sentenced to life in prison without parole for the mutilation and murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his submarine. Peter Madsen, 47, was found guilty of the charges of premeditated murder, sexual assault and desecrating the corpse of Wall, who was last seen boarding his UC3 Nautilus submarine in Copenhagen on August 10 to interview him for an article, CNN reported. Wall was declared missing on August 11. Later, her torso washed up on an island near Copenhagen on August 21. Her head and legs were found weeks later. After his arrest, Madsen gave differing accounts of what had happened on board his submarine. He consistently denied charges of murder and sexual assault, claiming Wall died by accident from carbon dioxide poisoning, although he admitted to dismembering her body and tossing it into the sea in a state of panic. "There is clear evidence that the accused has shown an interest in killing and dismembering people," said Judge Anette Burkoe while announcing the verdict. Burkoe, described the crime as "a cynical and planned sexual murder of a severe brutal nature against a random woman". The morning after Wall's disappearance, Madsen's self-engineered submarine sunk in suspicious circumstances. It later turned out that he had scuttled the vessel. During the opening session of his trial in March, prosecutors said there was a suspicion that Madsen had "psychopathic tendencies" after investigators discovered films on his computer showing women being tortured and mutilated. Wall graduated from Columbia University and the London School of Economics. At the time of her death, the journalist's work had appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian and Time magazine, among other publications. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dell on Wednesday introduced its latest commercial PC portfolio with advanced versions of the existing Dell Latitude, OptiPlex, Dell Precision and P-Series workstations. The new "Dell Precision mobile workstations" are smaller, lighter and will be able to take workloads that were previously not possible with a mobile workstation, the company said in a statement. The products will be made available globally from May 22 on the company's official website, except P-Series monitors which will be available on June 25, the statement said. The Dell Precision 7730 and 7530 mobile workstations house latest 8th Gen Intel Core and Xeon processors, AMD Radeon WX and NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics, industry-leading "3200MHz SuperSpeed" memory and the largest memory capacity for a mobile workstation up to 128GB. The Dell Precision 7530 is the industry's first 15-inch "Ready for VR" mobile workstation. The Dell Precision 5530 2-in-1 with a flexible 360-degree hinge enables multiple modes of interaction, including support for touch and pen. With the "Latitude laptops, OptiPlex desktops and thin P-series monitors," Dell aims to improve and deliver better security, management, reliability and experience in areas like multi-display configurations. "IT departments are working with Dell to build a technology strategy that gives employees the power and flexibility to get their jobs done, whenever and wherever it best fits their lifestyle, while keeping data secure and TCO low," said Jay Parker, President, Client Product Group, Dell. To ensure data protection, Dell also said its "Dell Data Guardian" and "Dell Encryption" will safeguard file types including in-house, proprietary applications, standard Office and PDFs to deliver control and enforcement options beyond a company's network. --IANS rp/na/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Jammu & Kashmir High Court Bar Association on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it has not obstructed police from filing charge sheet in the Kathua minor rape and murder case. Filing an affidavit before the apex court, the Association vehemently denied that its President, senior advocate B.S. Salathia, and other office bearers threatened a woman lawyer from appearing for the family of a rape victim, terming the allegation as "false and baseless". The affidavit stated: "So far as the issue of causing any obstruction or extending any threat to advocate Deepika Singh Rajawat (victim's lawyer) from appearing in the High Court on behalf of the victim in the alleged Rassana rape and murder (Kathua) case by the office bearers or any other member of the Association is concerned, it is totally false and baseless and the same is vehemently/specifically denied." Rajawat had complaint that Association members had threatened her not to appear for the victim's family but the Association claimed that her statements in this regard were "contradictory". "She alleged a threat on April 4, 2018 whereas in media, the alleged threat is on April 11, 2018. The statement is itself contradictory and misleading. It is further submitted that the office bearers of the Association including the President have been requesting the members of the Bar to respect and abide by the resolution of general house meeting but never obstructed from causing appearance in any case," the affidavit stated. The top court had earlier pulled up Jammu lawyers for obstructing the filing of charge sheet in the case even as they claimed they were protesting on a different issue. The Association said it was protesting against growing illegal presence of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals in Jammu and also demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Kathua rape-cum-murder, but it was was wrongly being portrayed as "communal". It claimed its demand for CBI probe was done "in order to ensure that the victim gets justice and the said demand was never to support the alleged rapists", adding, now the same demand has been dropped, even though it still believes that the justice shall be done to the victim only after a fair and impartial probe by the CBI. The Association criticised the national media claiming that they were unfairly projected as sympathising with the rapists. "A motivated and malicious campaign by some national media channels created an erroneous impression about the motives of the bandh call in Jammu by projecting the legal fraternity and also the people supporting bandh as pro=rapists which is factually incorrect and misleading as such denied," it added. The apex court on April 19 asked High Court Bar Association at Jammu and Kathua District Court Bar Association, to file response about the incident and the conduct of protesting lawyers before April 26, the next date of hearing. On April 13, the apex court took suo motu notice of an incident of lawyers of Jammu and Kathua bar associations preventing the victim's lawyer from appearing in the case. In January, an eight-year-old girl went missing while grazing horses in Rassana forest in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district. A week later, her body was recovered. --IANS gt/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An elderly man was arrested on charge of sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl living in his neighbourhood in west Delhi, police said on Wednesday. Police said accused Amarjeet, 60, committed the crime on Monday after luring away the girl while she was playing outside her residence in Mangolpuri. The crime came to light when the girl's mother took her to a doctor after she complained of abdominal pain. Amarjeet was arrested on Monday night from his residence after her parents registered a police complaint. Deputy Commissioner of Police M.N. Tiwari said that police investigations revealed that Amarjeet was an alcoholic and unemployed. He committed the crime under the influence of alcohol. Amarjeet, who earlier operated an e-rickshaw, was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act at Mangolpuri police station. --IANS sp/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Sahibabad MLA and Congress leader Amar Pal Sharma, who was arrested in connection with the murder of BJP leader Gajendra Bhati, was bailed out by the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday, officials said. Bhati was murdered on September 2, 2017, in Khoda locality, bordering Delhi. Commenting on the development, Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said that the former MLA could not be a free man despite bail since the National Security Act was invoked against him. "We are checking when his detention under the NSA is ending. If it is a short period, we will take take legal steps to ensure he is kept behind bars," the SSP said. Ghaziabad Police had arrested sharpshooters Narendra Gurjar alias Narendra Fauzi and Raju, the two contract killers who shot dead the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in lieu of Rs 10 lakh. Narendra Gurjar, who had been Sharma security officer , had allegedly confessed that he along with Raju killed Bhati at the behest of the former legislator. Sharma was represented Sahibabad as Bahujan Samaj Party MLA in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly but joined the Congress after he was denied a ticket in the 2017 Assembly elections. He contested on a Congress ticket but lost the seat to Bharatiya Janata Party's Sunil Sharma. --IANS sps/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) He wove a film, "Unfreedom", with lovemaking scenes, depicting lesbian relationships, Islamophobia and religious fundamentalism, and it was banned by the Indian censor board in 2015. Indian-American filmmaker Raj Amit Kumar is appalled by the lack of freedom filmmakers have in India and wonders how much self-censorship they have to do in the face of the industry's "moral police". The censor board's reason for keeping "Unfreedom" away from the big screen was the fear that the film would "ignite unnatural passions and incite rapes and communal violence in India". However, now the movie has an avenue to reach audiences on online streaming giant Netflix. When the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), then led by Pahlaj Nihalani, banned the film, the first thought that came to Kumar's mind was: "How will I make my cinema in India?" "It hit me hard: How much of self-censorship Indian filmmakers must be involved in so they do not have to face this. We do not even have a basic human right to freedom of speech and expression in India when it comes to cinema! "Is that how we should keep making films in India -- that we should first think what the censor board will approve and our films should be limited to those boundaries? It became very clear how subservient Indian filmmakers have been to the moral police of Indian cinema for seven decades," he added. Last year, the film was under review by CBFC, which wanted Kumar to cut crucial elements from the movie in order to be shown to the Indian public. Later, Kumar appealed to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), which too banned the film. A campaign was also run by the makers for a year during which they did around 100 screenings of the film in India and in the US, among other countries. Following this, the film was released internationally by Netflix. After Nihalani was replaced by Prasoon Joshi as CBFC Chairman, did Kumar try to get a censor certificate again? "No, I did not," said Kumar. He believes that the idea that a new jury or a new chair will bring any change to censorship in India is "only laughable". "It is ridiculous to frame censorship in India like that and hope for 'improvements' (when people in the board change)... It is all ridiculous and a sham that is against our basic human right of freedom of expression," he said. Kumar believes that, at this point, the very existence of the censor board needs to be addressed. "Not that the people in it should be changed, but the censor board (as an) institution needs to be abolished and thrown in the garbage. How can you expect someone to be put in the job of censoring, and them not doing that job? The existence of that job itself is wrong, no matter who does it and at what levels of leniency," he added. Can platforms like Netflix, which are devoid of censorship, be called a boon for the cinema lover? "By boon, if you simply mean helpful, then yes. Something is better than nothing. But by boon, if you mean a Godsend, a blessing, an alternative, then no," said Kumar. "Regardless of people being able to see it online, the key question is still that we should not see anything as an alternative to freedom of expression. It's the most basic human right that we need to have, and we should not divert our attention from that," he added. "You can't come and say, hey look, you have freedom of expression on Netflix but not in cinema theatres". Besides the critically lauded actor Adil Hussain, the film also features veteran actor Victor Bannerjee, Bhavani Lee, Preeti Gupta and Bhanu Uday. (Kishori Sud can be contacted at kishori.s@ians.in) --IANS ks/rb/vm/tb/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Online search engine Google is the most trusted Internet brand in India, followed by Facebook, a report said on Wednesday. "With 1.2 trillion searches per year, it (Google) has become the first port of call for all things on the Internet," the TRA Brand Trust Report 2018 said here. It further said: "Facebook, ranked second in the list, has been steadily climbing the trust ladder over the years (ranked seventh in 2015, fourth in 2016 and third in 2017 BTR reports)." The survey, however, was carried out during November 2017-January 2018 and did not take into account the recent reports of data breach and privacy involving Facebook, said N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Advisory. He further said the impact of privacy concerns are likely to affect Facebook's ranking in the next survey. According to the report, e-commerce major Amazon ranked third among the most trusted Internet brands in the country and e-Bay ranked fourth. The other major e-commerce brand Flipkart was positioned sixth in the brand trust report. Among the online taxi aggregators, Ola ranked seventh in the list, surpassing Uber which took the fifteenth position. "Internet brands yet have much scope for disruption. Initially Internet disrupted the traditional businesses, and now new models are threatening other Internet businesses with better and more efficient models," Chandramouli said. "Only the Internet brands with a prudent business model, one which focusses on brand trust along with profits and growth will survive the next couple of years," he added. --IANS rrb/qd/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment, has sold his Manhattan townhouse for $25.62 million, according to property records. The home's new owner shielded their identity by using a limited liability company for the off-market deal. It is not clear which brokerages or agents represented either party in the transaction, reports people.com. Located on Bank Street in the West Village, the home spans a little over 5,000 sq. ft. and was built in 1915, listing records show. Weinstein, 66, bought the home in 2006 for $14.95 million using the LLC, Thirban Realty Holdings, property records show. He was terminated from his film company The Weinstein Co in October, following a deluge of sexual harassment, assault and rape allegations from women including prominent actresses and former employees. The Los Angeles Police Department recently submitted three alleged sexual assault cases against Weinstein to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office for possible charges. Beverly Hills Police also presented two cases involving Weinstein to prosecutors in last December. Weinstein is also in the midst of a divorce from wife Georgina Chapman. The former couple announced their divorce shortly after the allegations came to light. He has been parting with properties ever since. Earlier this month, Weinstein reportedly sold two neighbouring properties in Westport, Connecticut, for $16 million. Then in January, he sold his Hamptons home in Amagansett, New York, for $10 million, less than the $11.65 million he paid for it in 2014, according to records with PropertyShark. A representative for Weinstein did not respond to request for comment. --IANS nv/rb/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Hugh Jackman has thanked Indian fans for supporting him during his journey as Wolverine. The actor thanked the fans by posting a video on Twitter after seeing a tribute video of his fans made by Star Movies as part of #OneLastTime campaign, read a statement. In the video, he said: "To all my fans in India, I just saw that incredible compilation, thank you so much it means the world to me. It's been an amazing journey and your support over 17 years, honestly it touches me. So thank you so much for sending me that video, I'll keep it forever." "The Wolverine" film saga started 17 years ago. Jackman appeared as Wolverine in nine of the "X-Men" sagas. He played the character for the last time in the 2017 film "Logan", which was aired on the channel as part of the campaign. --IANS sug/nn/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday discussed terrorism with her Mongolian counterpart Damdin Tsogtbaatar and the two agreed to collaborate to confront those who design and support terror outfits. Sushma Swaraj, who arrived in the Mongolian capital here on Tuesday after wrapping up her China visit, also called upon the country's business community to seize economic opportunities from India's growth. She co-chaired the sixth round of the India-Mongolia Joint Consultative Committee (IMJCC), focusing on a range of issues including economic, energy, political, strategic, educational and cultural ties along with Tsogtbaatar. She is the first Indian Foreign Minister to visit Mongolia in 42 years. In 2015, Narendra Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit this landlocked Asian country. It had ruffled China's feathers. Addressing the media here after the IMJCC meeting, Sushma Swaraj said: "We discussed global challenges affecting humanity, particularly terrorism, and agreed to collaborate bilaterally in the international arena to root out this evil." She said India sees Mongolia as a factor of stability in East Asia, adding that the country's social and economic development is the key to peace and prosperity in the region. India is currently helping Mongolia build its first oil refinery with a $1 billion line of credit, to reduce its dependence of neighbouring nations. "We reviewed the progress in our on-going collaborative projects, including the refinery project selected by the government of Mongolia for implementation with the support of $1 billion dollar Indian line of credit. "We directed our officials to coordinate follow up action on each side for the expeditious implementation of these projects. Our strong political ties must be complemented by commensurate levels of trade, economy and investment." Stating that India has today emerged as one of the fastest growing large economies in the world, Sushma Swaraj said that with its rich natural resources and strong aspiration for development, Mongolia can be an important partner in India's growth story. "Foreign Minister Tsogtbaatar and I agreed to explore possible ways to identify new areas of cooperation in all sectors of mutual interest and to enhance our bilateral trade and investments. We discussed economic cooperation in areas such as infrastructure development, energy, services and IT," Sushma Swaraj said. "I call upon the Mongolian business community to seize economic opportunities arising out of India's growth." In Wednesday's meeting, both sides agreed to remove institutional and logistical impediments to boost trade, tourism and people-to-people contacts. "I reiterated to Foreign Minister Tsogtbaatar our continued commitment for capacity building programmes for the people of Mongolia, including in areas such as, training in English language and IT," the Indian External Affairs Minister said. She said both the nations have identified new areas of cooperation that include IT, infrastructure, energy and services. "We look forward to more students visiting India for pursuing vocational education & training under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme, also known as ITEC, and through scholarships offered by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations," she said. "We would encourage students from Mongolia to pursue studies in Indian art, music and culture which would further reinforce our cultural links." Sushma Swaraj also encouraged Mongolian students to visit India and enroll in fields like Buddhist studies. --IANS ab-kd/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday discussed terrorism with her Mongolian counterpart Damdin Tsogtbaatar and the two agreed to collaborate to confront those who design and support terror outfits. Sushma Swaraj, who arrived in the Mongolian capital here on Tuesday after wrapping up her China visit, also called upon the country's business community to seize economic opportunities from India's growth. She is here to co-chair the sixth round of the India-Mongolia Joint Consultative Committee (IMJCC), focusing on a range of issues including economic, energy, political, strategic, educational and cultural ties. She is the first Indian Foreign Minister to visit Mongolia in 42 years. In 2015, Narendra Modi was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit this landlocked Asian country. It had ruffled China's feathers. Addressing a press conference here after holding talks with Tsogtbaatar, Sushma Swaraj said: "We discussed global challenges affecting humanity, particularly terrorism, and agreed to collaborate bilaterally in the international arena to root out this evil. She said India sees Mongolia as a factor of stability in East Asia, adding that the country's social and economic development is the key to peace and prosperity in the region. India is currently helping Mongolia build its first oil refinery with a $1 billion line of credit, to reduce its dependence of neighbouring nations. Sushma Swaraj said that she had reviewed the oil refinery project and other ongoing projects. "India has emerged as the fastest growing economy in the world. With its rich natural resources and strong aspiration for development, Mongolia can be an important partner in India's growth story," she said. She said both the nations have identified new areas of cooperation that include IT, infrastructure, energy and services. Both the countries agreed to remove institutional and logistical obstructions to boost trade and tourism. She also announced new scholarships for Mongolian students visiting India and enrolling in fields like Buddhist studies. --IANS kd/pgh/in/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved two agreements between India and African island nation Sao Tome and Principe to cooperate in traditional medicine and medicinal plants. "The Union Cabinet ... has given its ex-post facto approval for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Sao Tome and Principe for cooperation in the field of traditional systems of medicine and homoeopathy," said an official statement. The MoU, signed in March, will promote and globalize traditional medicines like ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha, sowa-rigpa (known as Tibetan system of medicine) and homoeopathy, the statement said. The Ministry of AYUSH has signed similar agreements with countries like Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Hungary, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mauritius, Mongolia and Iran. Another MoU is proposed to be signed with Sri Lanka, it said. India is blessed with well-developed systems of traditional medicine including medicinal plants, which hold tremendous potential in the global health scenario, it added. A second MoU between the two countries for cooperation in medicinal plants was also approved, said another statement. "There is global resurgence in traditional and alternative health care systems resulting in world herbal trade which stands at $120 billion and is expected to reach $7 trillion by 2050. Moreover, there are a large number of medicinal plants, particularly those found in tropical region, which are common to the two countries given similar geo-climatic factors," it said. India has a rich bio-diversity with 15 agro-climatic zones. Of the 18,000-odd species of flowering plants, around 7,000 have medicinal usage in folk and documented systems of traditional medicine. The statement said about 1,178 species of medicinal plants are in trade of which 242 species have annual consumption levels in excess of 100 metric tonnes per year. "Medicinal plants are not only a major resource base for the traditional medicine and herbal industry but also provide livelihood and health security to a large segment of Indian population," it said. --IANS mgu/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Democrat Indian-American doctor has narrowly lost a by-election to Congress in a heavily Republican constituency in Arizona but dramatically increased her party's support in what was seen as a referendum on Donald Trump's presidency. Hiral Tipirneni lost by only six per cent of the votes in Tuesday's by-election from a constituency that was considered so heavily Republican that the Democratic Party did not even bother to run a candidate there in 2016 considering it futile. The by-election in the constituency, which covers the suburbs of the state's main city Phoenix, was caused by the resignation of Trent Franks, the sex scandal-tainted long-time Republican member of the House of Representatives. Trump polled 21 per cent more votes in the constituency against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Had Tipirneni won, she would have joined the four Indian-Americans in the House of Representatives -- Ami Bera, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna. Kamala Harris is a senator of part Indian-American heritage. Despite Tipirneni's defeat, her polling 47 per cent of the votes in a constituency that had previously been written off as unwinnable by the Democrats was seen as a boost for the party working hard to capture Congress in the November elections. "Win or lose, we're taking this to November," Tipirineni told her supporters after the election, according to a report. Arizona's Republican Senator Jeff Flake conceded that Tipirneni's showing was a warning to his party, saying that the six per cent margin signalled a threat. Franks, who had served in the House of Representatives for 14 years, resigned in December when he faced charges of sexual harassing his employees, including offering one of them $5 million to be impregnated by him. With the rising awareness of sexual harassment in the US and a rejuvenated women's movement, the Republicans also fielded a women, Debbie Lesko, to run against Tipirneni. Both parties poured a lot of money and resources into the campaign that followed two humiliating by-election defeats for Republicans in Alabama and Pennsylvania. Pre-recorded calls by Trump flooded voters' phones and House Speaker Paul Ryan held fundraisers for Lesko, a former state senator. While rejecting corporate-linked contributions, Tipirneni raised $734,937 according to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission reported by the political finance monitoring site OpenSecrets.org. Lesko brought in $564,404 to her campaign. In addition, groups outside the state were reported to have spent about $1 million to support Lesko. Supporters from around the nation mobilised to canvass for Tiprineni. She immigrated to the US as a three-year-old with her parents. She lost her mother to cancer and has been an advocate for cancer research and care. A political novice, she worked as an emergency room doctor. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in) --IANS abl/soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday accused the US and its European allies of violating their commitments with regards to a nuclear deal that Tehran signed with world powers in 2015. US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday that they were working on a "new deal" that would expand and extend the terms of the deal, also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The JCPOA is an international agreement reached on July 14, 2015 between Iran and six world countries -- China, France, Russia, Britain, the US and Germany, plus the EU. Rouhani in a televised speech in Tabriz city said that Iran won't accept to add or omit even a simple sentence from the JCPOA. "If Europe minds to please Trump, they should mind its costs and avoid putting their hands in the pocket of noble Iranian people," he was quoted as saying by Islamic Republic News Agency. The Iranian President said they (Trump and Macron) had no "right" to renegotiate a seven-party agreement. He also dismissed Trump as a "tradesman" not qualified to comment on global treaties, according to a BBC report. "You don't have any background in politics," he said. "You don't have any background in law. You don't have any background on international treaties." Trump said the US will reimpose sanctions on Iran suspended under the deal on May 12 unless Congress and European powers fixed its "disastrous flaws". US and European officials were reported to have made progress on two of his demands -- for Tehran to give international inspectors immediate access to all sites they want to see and for Iran to halt development and testing of ballistic missiles. "Together with a leader of a European country (the Americans) say: 'We want to decide on an agreement reached by seven parties,'" Rouhani said. "For what? With what right?" Rouhani said Iran had "shown goodwill to the world" when it signed the accord and had wanted to prove it did "not seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction". He had earlier warned the US of "severe consequences" if it reimposed sanctions. --IANS soni/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israel's Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday that Israel will strike back if Syria uses Russian S-300 missiles against its air force. "There has to be one thing clear: if someone shoots at our planes, we'll destroy them," Lieberman told the Hebrew-language Ynet news site, Xinhua reported. The minister referred to comments by top Russian officials to the Kommersant newspaper that Russia is expected to provide Syria with S-300 anti-aircraft defence systems. "Russian systems are there (in Syria) and are not being used against us, and if the Syrian systems act against us, we will destroy them," said Lieberman. "We are not interfering in Syria's internal affairs, but on the other hand, we will not allow Iran to flood Syria with sophisticated weapons systems aimed at Israel," he added. On the Israeli-Russian ties, the Israeli defence minister said Israel maintains "an open line with the Russian army in Russia." "I think Russians have no reason to seek friction with us, and we are not looking for friction with them," he said. Israel has been carrying out occasional airstrikes against Syrian army positions, usually in response to errant fire from the Arab country plagued by a seven-year-long war between the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups. Tensions between Israel and Iran have been on the rise following an alleged Israeli attack on the T-4 air base in Syria earlier in April. --IANS ahm/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir sparred over the affiliation of senior political activist Gulam Nabi Patel, who was killed by militants in Pulwama district on Wednesday. Critically injured in a militant attack at Rajpora Chowk of Pulwama, along with two of his security guards, Patel later succumbed in the hospital. Ironically, as Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) condoled Patel's death as that of "a senior Congress leader", the state Congress issued a statement condoling the death of the "PDP leader". At this, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, of the National Conference, intervened. "How tragic that Patel Sahib, a political worker assassinated by militants in Kashmir is being disowned by both the PDP & Congress. "If neither party is willing to own him as one of their own let's just call him a NC worker so his death is not in vain," he tweeted. --IANS sq/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Joint training exercise Harimau Shakti, which is a part of ongoing Indian-Malaysian defence cooperation, will be conducted in the dense forests of Malaysia's Sengai Perdik from April 30 to May 13, said a defence statement. As per the statement, the exercise is aimed at bolstering cooperation and coordination between armed forces of both the nations and to share the expertise of both the contingents in conduct of counter-insurgency operations in jungle terrain. "Indian contingent is being represented by one of the oldest infantry battalions, 4 Grenadiers having rich operational experience in conventional as well as counter insurgency warfare. The Malaysian contingent is being represented by soldiers from 1 Royal Ranjer Regiment and the Royal Malay Regiment, known for their experience in jungle warfare," it said. "This is the first instance wherein a joint training exercise of this magnitude involving Indian and Malaysian soldiers is being organised on Malaysian soil." As per the statement, the exercise will involve a cross training phase followed by a field training phase of seven days in the jungles of Hulu Langat wherein both armies will jointly train, plan and execute a series of training activities. "The focus will remain on tactical operations in jungle warfare. Overall, the exercise will not only provide an excellent opportunity to both the armies to hone their operational skills but will also contribute to enhance the strategic partnership between India and Malaysia," the statement said. --IANS spk/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Special Court in Jodhpur on Wednesday convicted self-styled godman Asaram for raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013 and sentenced him to a prison term for life till his natural death. The judgment was pronounced by Special Judge for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe cases, Madhu Sudan Sharma, inside the Jodhpur Central Jail, where Asaram is lodged. The court also awarded 20 years in jail each to Shilpi, the warden of Asaram's ashram, and associate Sharad. The court, however, acquitted Asaram's 'sevadar' Shiva and cook Prakash. Asaram was arrested in 2013 after the then 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur, a Class 12 student at his Chhindwara Ashram in Madhya Pradesh, filed a complaint and accused him of rape at his ashram in Manai village on the Jodhpur outskirts on August 15, 2013. "Asaram has been sentenced to life imprisonment till natural death... Shilpi and Sharad have also been directed to pay Rs one lakh fine each," said defence lawyer Sushma Dhara, adding an appeal would be filed in the Rajasthan High Court against the judgment and for Asaram's bail. The 77-year-old godman and two others were convicted under Section 376D of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, the 474-page judgment said. The defence lawyer said that Asaram appeared normal in the court but became sad and worried when the court convicted him. Talking to reporters outside his house in Shahjahanpur in uttar Pradesh, the victim's father welcomed the court verdict and said "their struggles and ordeal during the period they were seeking justice tested their grit but they had full faith in the judicial system". The Communist Party of India-Marxist welcomed the judgment and demanded justice for three witnesses -- godman's former aide Amrut Prajapati, cook Akhil Gupta and Kripal Singh -- who were shot dead in separate incidents between June 2014 and June 2015. "Nine witnesses were attacked, of which three died... the courts should ensure that the other related cases, including those of killing of witnesses, should also be completed without delay," a CPI-M statement said. The CPI-M said Asaram deserved the strongest punishment, adding that "the victim girl is a symbol of the fight against sexual exploitation". Former Deputy Inspector General of Gujarat Police D.G. Vanzara, who was accused of fake shootouts in the past, stepped into controversy by saying that it is "improper to dub Asaram as a rapist". The police charge-sheet against Asaram and four co-accused was filed on November 6, 2013, under the Pocso Act, the Juvenile Justice Act and the IPC. Asaram is facing trial in another sexual assault case in Gujarat. The final arguments in the case were completed in the Jodhpur court on April 7 and the order was reserved for Wednesday. After the registration of a rape case, Asaram was arrested from Indore in Madhya Pradesh and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He is under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. He was earlier denied bail by the Supreme Court. Apprehending threat to law and order from the followers of Asaram, high security was in place in Jodhpur, with prohibitory orders enforced in the city. The Union Home Ministry on Tuesday also issued an advisory to Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana to step up security/vigilance to prevent any untoward incident in the wake of court verdict. --IANS rak/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to China will help in promoting trade and bringing investments in the state, a Chinese diplomat said here on Wednesday. "We are working on the details of the visit. I believe this will greatly promote trade in Bengal. We have been inviting her for the past 3-4 years. She will be going this year," said China's Consul General in Kolkata Ma Zhanwu. He also said Chief Ministers from other Indian states would also visit China. Emphasising on the importance of such visits to bring investments in the respective states, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, had visited China nine times to promote trade ties between China and the western state. "Gujarat is a good example. Many Chinese companies are investing there. You need to go there and make sure that the government is there to help investors..I believe more Chinese companies come in (the state)," Ma said at an interactive session organised by Merchants Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Banerjee has said she would like to meet industrialists in Shanghai during her visit to China soon. --IANS bdc/ssp/vd (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress party on Wednesday slammed the Narendra Modi government for compromising Indias position as "tech giant", saying it "failed" Indian immigrants as the US clamped down on various visa categories. The party also slammed the Prime Minister for staying "silent" on the issue. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: "PM Modi and BJP must answer to India's, especially Karnataka's IT industry, IT professionals and the young, the reason for bartering India's interests and compromising India's position as tech giant." Noting Bengaluru emerged as the 'IT hub' of the world and Karnataka tops India as the top state in 'Software and Services Exports', generating $40 billion revenue," he said: "India's growth story on the world stage as a tech power is under a cloud as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP government flounders and fails India's young, standing as a mute spectator to the clamp down by the United States on H4, H1-B and L1 Visas for Indians." "Hugplomacy, trumpeting rhetoric and beating drums, while staying mum is the only delivery by PM Modi in the last year," he said. --IANS sid/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India dropped down to 138th rank, two points below the previous year, in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index released by global watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Wednesday. The report blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "troll army" for sharing and amplifying hate speeches targeting journalists on social networks. "In India (down from 136 ranking in 2017), hate speech targeting journalists is shared and amplified on social networks, often by troll armies in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pay," it stated. "With Hindu nationalists trying to purge all manifestations of 'anti-national' thought from the national debate, self-censorship is growing in the mainstream and journalists are increasingly the targets of online smear campaigns by the most radical nationalists, who vilify them and even threaten physical reprisals," the report said. It mentioned that at least three of the journalists, including Gauri Lankesh murdered in 2017, were targeted in connection with their work. "Prosecutions are also used to gag journalists who are overly critical of the government, with some prosecutors invoking Section 124a of the penal code, under which 'sedition' is punishable by life imprisonment," it stated. The report said that although "no journalist has so far been convicted of sedition, but the threat encourages self-censorship". It also said "Kashmiri journalists were often the targets of violence by soldiers acting with the central government's tacit consent". The Reporters Without Borders warned that "hostility towards the media, openly encouraged by political leaders, and the efforts of authoritarian regimes to export their vision of journalism posed a threat to democracies". Coming to international stage, the report accused US President Donald Trump, Russia and China of perpetrating anti- rhetoric and actively seeking to curb press freedom. It said that Trump's presidency fostered further decline in journalists' right to report. "It appears the Trump effect has only amplified the disappointing press freedom climate that predated his presidency". The report voiced concern about the "censorship and surveillance" of journalists in China, as well as President Xi Jinping's efforts to export its " control model" to strangle dissent across Asia. "Xi Jinping's China is getting closer and closer to a contemporary version of totalitarianism," the report read. Out of the top five countries where the press freedom situation deteriorated the most, four of them are in Europe. Malta, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Serbia all fell substantially in their ranking. "With the rise of populist and 'strongman' leaders, Europe's downward trend will likely continue, the RSF said. The situation in Poland and Hungary was also particularly concerning, the watchdog said. Norway held its place at the top of the World Press Freedom Index for the second year in a row, while North Korea remained in last place out of the 180 countries ranked. --IANS soni/hs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Korea and the US will push for a meeting between their Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump before the latter meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in May, the South Korean President's office said on Wednesday. South Korea's National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong and his US counterpart John Bolton met in Washington on Tuesday and agreed that Moon and Trump should exchange views after the Seoul-Pyongyang summit through a possible meeting between the two in May. "They agreed that President Moon and President Trump will hold a telephone conversation immediately after the South-North Korea summit and share the outcome of the meet," Presidential spokesperson Yoon Young-chan said in a press statement. "The two have also agreed to push for a meeting between the two Presidents before the US-North Korea summit," he was cited as saying by Efe news. The planned meeting between Moon and Trump is set to follow a historic summit between Seoul and Pyongyang -- to be held on Friday -- to discuss the denuclearization of North Korea. The bilateral summit will be the first between leaders of the two Koreas in 11 years and will be held on the border separating North and South. Trump had confirmed that he will meet Kim to discuss North Korea's nuclear programme in late May or the beginning of June, although the venue and exact date of the summit is not announced. This would be the first meeting between the leaders of North Korea and the US after almost 70 years of confrontation that began with the Korean War (1950-1953) and 25 years of failed negotiations and tensions due to Pyongyang's nuclear activities. --IANS soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State-owned Paradip Port Trust, which has been focusing on promoting competition and bringing down costs to users, is looking at 17 per cent growth in cargo handling -- touching 120 million tonnes (mt) in 2018-19, according to a top official. Betting big on the ongoing capacity-building projects and upcoming industrial parks along with multi-modal logistics parks, which are expected to boost cargo flow, the leading dry-bulk handing port in the country remains bullish on achieving significant growth in its revenue, the official said. "Our goal for the current fiscal is to become the number one port in the country overtaking Kandla Port (located on the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat). On the basis of current trends in cargo handling, we are looking at a 16-17 per cent growth in the current fiscal. Cargo handling should reach around 118-120 mt in 2018-19," Paradip Port Trust Chairman Rinkesh Roy told IANS. The port, on the eastern coast, has taken "positive strides" in terms of growth in cargo handling in the last three-four years and it had handled 102 mt of cargo in the last fiscal, achieving a growth of about 15 per cent. "Our main focus has been on getting higher volume of cargo and our topline has improved significantly. We clocked close to Rs 1,500 crore of revenue in 2017-18 with all income put together. If we are able to touch 118 mt cargo handling, the topline would be to the tune of Rs 1,750-Rs 1,800 crore," he said. Roy said the port rates have not been revised from 2012-13 onwards and would continue to be the same till 2019-20. While other ports had hiked their rates, Paradip Port has kept its rates steady. "We introduced a fair degree of competition. There were anti-competition activities which we were able to sort out. "This is one of the few ports where the cost to the customers came down by 30-40 per cent from 2012-13 to 2017-18. For example, the companies which have been importing coal had incurred a cost of around Rs 600-650 per tonne in 2012-13 and that has come down to Rs 250-280 a tonne. The cost of our services came down through better efficiencies," Roy said. The port, according to its chief, remains focused on its laid-down strategy because its competition is "not only limited to Dhamra and Gopalpur port (in Odisha) but also Gangavaram Port" located in Andhra Pradesh. "If any competitor offers cheap prices and gets large capesize vessels, there is every possibility of cargo diversion to the most competitive ports," Roy said. The port has taken up a host of projects to increase its capacity from the existing 277 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 325 mtpa by 2025. The projects, with a total investment of around Rs 4,000 crore, include development of multi-purpose berths to handle clean cargo, deep draught coal berth for handling imported coal with 10 mtpa capacity and also an iron ore berth. Other projects are mechanisation of the EQ (East Quay) 1,2,3 berths and development of an 0.75 mtpa capacity LPG terminal at the South Oil jetty. "All are ongoing projects. One part of the container-cum-clean-cargo terminal is already ready and we should be getting the first ship by end of this month. This facility will boost cargo handling by another 3-4 million tonnes," Roy said. The port has also made progress in setting up a multi-modal logistic park (MMLP) with the Container Corporation of India (Concor), a public sector unit under the Ministry of Railways, and also an industrial park covering about 600 acres of land. "We have plans to set up the MMLP with Concor and we have given 100 acres of land to them. Concor will be floating a tender shortly and the work should start from June for setting up the park, Roy said. The port has also allotted 277 acres of land to industries, out of 600 acres, for the industrial park. "A large chunk of land was allotted to a consortium for setting up a pellet plant of four mtpa capacity and this would help cargo flow to the port. We have got expression of interests for a food park and for which, we are in process to take permission from the Centre to increase the lease period. We are also planning to set up a wood park," Roy added. (Bappaditya Chatterjee's visit to Paradip was at the invitation of the Odisha government) --IANS bdc/ssp/vm/tb (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More than one million children in the US fell victim to identity fraud in 2017, an American advisory firm has said in a report. Javelin Strategy & Research, a research-based advisory firm that offers consulting business, said on Tuesday that about 39 per cent of children became victims of fraud, compared with 19 per cent of notified adults in 2017. It caused total losses of $2.6 billion and over $540 million in out-of-pocket costs to families, Xinhua news agency reported citing the report. More than 60 per cent of child identity fraud victims personally knew the perpetrator while only seven per cent of adult victims of fraud knew their victimizer, the company said by referring to statistics from its online survey of 5,000 adults in 2017. Two-thirds of the children were under the age of eight and many of the perpetrators had legitimate access to the personal information of victims, it said. The advisory firm found that minors bullied online were over nine times more likely to be victims of fraud than those who were not. "In many cases, fraud and bullying are not perpetrated by the same individual but arise from the same underlying vulnerabilities," said Al Pascual, senior vice president of research and head of fraud and security at the company. On average, fraudsters were able to steal $2,303 when they misused the identity of a minor, more than twice the fraud amount for adult victims. The families of child identity fraud victims paid an average of $541 out of pocket, according to the company. It urged adults living with minors to protect private data and identity of their children in the digital world and keep a close watch on banking statements and their children's online financial activities. --IANS soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Painstaking scientific investigations virtually starting from the scratch, including use of advanced DNA mapping and technical surveillance, and spread over nearly nine months in complete secrecy helped the CBI finally crack the sensational Kotkhai rape-murder case. Narcoanalysis and polygraphy and technical data also helped the agency come to the conclusion that those accused by Himachal Pradesh Police in the rape-murder case of the 16-year-old girl in Shimla's Kotkhai area in 2017 were not the culprits, an official told IANS on Wednesday. "When we took over the case, there were already six accused named by police," he said, adding that one of the accused had died in police custody. The Class 10 student went missing on July 4 last year while returning from school, five km from her home. Two days later, her body was found in the Halaila forest area. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the case on July 22, 2017, after the Himachal Pradesh High Court's orders. "After taking over, we started collecting digital footprints of the accused named by Himachal Police," the official said. The official said that the agency officials soon found that the accused had never visited the area where the crime occurred. "We matched their blood samples with DNA found on the girl and from blood samples collected from the spot and other material like liquor bottles and the victim's clothes. All the results were again negative," he said. "The CBI carried out four polygraphy and narcoanalysis tests on the accused which too were negative. Thus, we gave clean chit to them," he said. The official said that the agency had to then start all over again from the scratch. "We started investigation afresh, thoroughly combing the area. The agency questioned over 2,000 area people and recorded the statements of over 400 persons," he said. The CBI official maintained that area residents didn't cooperate as the case had gained wide publicity. The CBI also didn't take police help as it had arrested nine police officers, including Inspector General of Police Zahur H. Zaidi, for the custodial death of one of the accused. "However, the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) team's help proved very important as it gave a lot of clues initially about the age group of the prepetrator. We collected blood samples of over 250 persons from the area around the crime spot but DNA tests did not provide any clue," he said. The CBI also followed persons with criminal antecedents to Kashmir and Uttarakhand. He said that when effort proved futile, the CFSL team suggested more advanced DNA analysis technique on 250 blood samples collected earlier on. And in one case, the blood sample matched with the crime scene to a significant extent. It was of a family from Kangra district. The CBI team visited the family's house and profiled its members and found that one of them was an accused in several criminal cases but was out on bail. He was also absconding since September 2016. "More blood samples of the family members were drawn, which confirmed that we had identified the right suspect," the CBI official said. The official said accused Anil Kumar alias Neelu -- who was finally arrested on April 13 -- was not in touch with his family and did not even keep a mobile phone. The official said that Anil first contacted one of his probable contacts in August 2017, followed by in February 2018, early March, and early April by using mobile phones of others. "The CBI identified the mobile owners, mapped their movements on call days and got the sketches of the suspect made with the help of mobile owners. "In mid-April, he made another phone call, and a CBI team rushed immediately to a farm in Rohru area of Shimla and arrested on the basis of a sketch prepared earlier. The official said that Anil Kumar had gone to the village only four days ago to work as a farm labourer. He was brought to Delhi for questioning, and presented in the High Court on Wednesday. The official said when the crime was committed, Anil Kumar was working only eight km away from the girl's house in Shimla district. Anil Kumar was very clever as he never left any footprints -- digital or otherwise -- on his whereabouts, due to which the CBI kept its operation a total secret, he added. He was very clever no doubt, but the CBI team outfoxed him -- of course, with the help of painstaking scientific investigations. CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma expressed satisfaction over the work done by the team of CBI officials and forensic experts. CBI Spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said: "The CBI Director was monitoring the case progress from day one." He said that over 40 CBI officials worked round the clock to crack the case. (Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in and Rajnish Kumar Singh can be contacted at rajnish.k@ians.in) --IANS aks-rak/tsb (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Industry veteran Anupam Kher, whose career has spanned over three decades and over 500 films, says playing the role of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been the most difficult one in his career. Anupam spoke to the media on the sidelines of the the Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Smruti Pratishthan Awards 2018 held here on Tuesday. Asked whether he has completed shooting of ambitious film "The Accidental Prime Minister", Kher said: "No... Only 40 per cent of the film shoot has been completed. I have studied the character of Manmohan Singh for four months and it is the most difficult role that I have done. I hope the audience will see his journey on-screen really soon. A video of Anupam in the midst of the film's shoot was met with appreciation for how well the actor has tried to mould his walk and demeanour to match Singh's distinct style. At the awards ceremony, Anupam received a special honour for his contribution to Indian theatre and cinema. "I have come straight here only to receive this award from England after completing my shooting (schedule) for 'The Accidental Prime Minister'. I am really honoured and fortunate to receive this award. "The kind of contribution that the Mangeshkar family has in the world of music is really unbelievable. They have not only won our hearts with their music, but with voices of Mangeshkar sisters, they have united the nation and that is their achievement. It's a great feeling to receive an honour by them." Anupam dedicated the award to youngsters from rural parts of India. "Whenever I receive an award for my work, it motivates me to do even better. I always say that it s not my lifetime achievement award because I feel like I have started my career just now. This award I have dedicated to youngsters from rural parts of India who come here (to Mumbai) and work hard towards achieving success. "I just want to advice them that if a boy like me who was son of clerk from forest department of Shimla can receive this award, then they can also achieve many things in their life." --IANS iv/rb/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a fresh plea seeking a CBI probe into the CBSE paper leak case and re-examination. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud posted the plea for hearing next week. The plea filed by social activist Sanjoy Sachdev, moved the apex court seeking direction to strike down the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) order to conduct the re-examination of the class 12 economics paper which was allegedly leaked last month. However the exam was conducted on Wednesday across the country. The plea asked to order an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in all the cases of paper leak in various states in order to the fix the criminal liability of the Central government, the CBSE, Controller of Examination of the Board and the Director of CBSE and nexus involved. It said the order of re-examination appears to have been issued in order to save the skin of real culprits within the CBSE or their subordinates or affiliates. Re-examination order was "bad in law" and "against the principles of law of natural justice" as it was taken without the students being heard, said the plea, adding, the order penalises the innocent and harmless students without their faults. The CBSE had on March 30 had ordered re-examination of CBSE's Class 12 economics paper on April 25. --IANS gt/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) While China saw smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2018 dropping below 100 million units for the first time since Q1 2013, Huawei continued to lead with 22 per cent market share, a new report said on Wednesday. Huawei was followed by OPPO and Vivo with 18 per cent and 16 per cent share, respectively, said Counterpoint Research. At fourth position, Apple with 14.3 per cent share was back to YoY growth since Q1 2015. At fifth spot, Xiaomi (over 51 per cent) and Apple (over 32 percent) were the fastest growing brands among the top five. "Apple still holds a large user base in China who haven't upgraded in the past two years. Apple is now back to YoY growth in the first quarter since Q1 2015, which is an indication that its older generation iPhone user base is now upgrading," said Tarun Pathak, Associate Director. China, the world's largest shipper of smartphones, suffered its first-ever decline in the entire year 2017 as device shipments fell four per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) to reach 459 million units. According to Counterpoint's Market Monitor service, Chinese smartphone shipments slowed in Q1 2018 with YoY decline of 8 per cent and sequential decline of 21 per cent. The top five brands captured a record 82 per cent of the market with other OEMs struggling to grow. "The slowdown can be attributed to lengthening smartphone replacement cycle for the Chinese consumers. Additionally, lack of product launches in Q1 2018 with OEMs focusing on inventory clearance, especially for non-bezel-less display devices, were other key factors impacting shipment volumes," explained James Yan, Research Director. Huawei's Honor brand continues to do well in China with almost two-third of Honor sales coming from online channels. "Additionally, the brand also carried out heavy promotions for its Nova series during the quarter, which drove volume. OPPO and Vivo were the second and third largest brands in China in Q1 2018, capturing a combined one third of the smartphone market," Yan added. Xiaomi was the fastest growing brand in China during the quarter. "The growth was driven by Xiaomi's expansion in the offline segment with aggressive promotions," Yan said. --IANS na/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pulsus Group, a health informatics and healthcare services company, on Wednesday announced the expansion of its scientific research and publication activities to Europe. Pulsus Group employs over 5,000 employees, across its offices in London, Chennai, Gurugram and Hyderabad. To establish its operations in new markets like Germany, Spain, Netherlands, France and Portugal, the Singapore-headquartered company has inked a mutual partnership agreement with 25 scientific and healthcare societies. The expansion to Europe will be in addition to Asia Pacific, Middle East and America. "The latest addendum to this initiative is support from the European region which includes Polish Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, European Biotechnology Thematic Network Association, World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies, International Society for Ceramics in Medicine, Thalassaemia International Federation and World Association of Integrated Medicine and Switch Biotech Association," said a company statement here. "By such partnership with societies, Pulsus Group is inclined to increase scientific compliance by creating networks, coordinating with peers and mutual cooperation," said Srinubabu Gedela, CEO of Pulsus. "This expansion will create another 1,000 jobs in Hyderabad to provide the backend Knowledge Process Outsource (KPO) support services from our Hyderabad SEZ Units," he added. A Belgian Embassy team recently visited the Pulsus office at Hyderabad to sign an arrangement to establish Pulsus center in Belgium. --IANS ms/qd/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The remains of an Italian woman of Pakistani origin, who was killed in an alleged case of honour killing, were exhumed by police on Wednesday. Sana Cheema, 26, died while visiting family in Pakistan's Gujrat district and was buried last week without an autopsy. Police launched an investigation earlier this week after allegations she had been murdered went viral online. It was reported on Tuesday that the woman was killed by her father, brother and uncle over "honour". But her family said she died of an "unspecified illness" and buried the body on April 18, the Pakistan media reports said. Geo News cited police as saying that the girl's father, identified as Ghulam Mustafa, wanted to marry her off to one of his relatives in Pakistan but Cheema wanted to get married in Italy. The father then took on board his son, Adnan Mustafa, and brother, Mazhar Iqbal, and hatched a plan to kill her. A case was registered against three suspects on April 23, who were yet to be arrested. Police said they were awaiting results from a post-mortem examination to determine whether Cheema was murdered and whether her relatives should be charged. The case made headlines across Italy and a campaign to find out the truth about Cheema's death went viral on social media. Women's March -- Milan called people to post pictures demanding #JusticeforSana and #TruthforSana. The Italian Foreign Ministry said that it was keeping an eye on the case, adding that it was determined to reach to the bottom of it. It also offered to cooperate with Pakistani authorities over the issue. --IANS soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, whose "Officer" is coming up for release in May, may find his release plans road-blocked by film associations in Andhra Pradesh which have taken offence to his unabashed support and endorsement of actress Sri Reddy's protests against casting couch. He says he's ready to direct her if there's a suitable role. "Of course I will work with her if there's a role for her," Varma said. Varma denies all apprehensions of a boycott of his film, saying: "That's all social media gossip. There's no person in the Telugu film industry or any organisation within the Telugu film industry which has said that I should be boycotted. On the contrary, they are forming committees to address the issues brought forward by her." He feels Reddy's protests have paid off. "They already are in the process of forming committees that she demanded. One of them being CASH (Committee Against Sexual Harassment) to address sexual harassment. They put a ban on her some 15 days back and two days later they cancelled it and apologised to her," said Varma. Reddy created a sensation by resorting to strip protest against casting couch in the Telugu film industry in front of the office of Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce here earlier this month. --IANS skj/rb/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Global semiconductor leader Samsung Electronics on Wednesday introduced Samsung 970 PRO and EVO -- the third generation industry-leading consumer solid state drive (SSD) line-up -- in the Indian market. The new generation of SSDs is built for the community of gamers, videographers and VFX designers. The 970 EVO will come in 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB[8] capacities and 970 PRO will be available in 512GB and 1TB capacities. The 970 PRO and EVO will be available for purchase worldwide starting May, starting at Rs 29,000 and Rs 10,500, respectively. "The new line-up is aimed at consumers looking for ground breaking performance and high-power efficiency while processing massive volumes of data including 3D, 4K graphics work, high-end games and data analytics," said Sukesh Jain, Senior Vice President, IT & Mobile Enterprise Business, Samsung India. "These latest SSD offerings further reinforce our commitment towards bringing in meaningful innovations in the SSD space and drive growth of the overall memory industry for years to come," Jain added. The 970 series maximizes the potential of "NVMe" bandwidth, delivering unparalleled performance for processing large volumes of data, including 3D, 4K graphics work, high-end games and data analytics. The 970 PRO enables sequential read speed of up to 3,500 MB/s and sequential write speed of up to 2,700 MB/s. The EVO features sequential read speeds of up to 3,500 MB/s and sequential write speed of up to 2,500 MB/s[2]. The devices come with a five-year warranty or up to 1,200 terabytes written -- 50 per cent higher than those provided for the previous generation. Samsung Electronics with 14.2 per cent share surpassed Intel as the top vendor for the global semiconductor market in 2017 -- a feat that took 25 years to happen -- Gartner said earlier this week. The memory market surged nearly $50 billion to reach $130 billion in 2017 -- a 61.8 per cent increase from 2016. Samsung's memory revenue alone increased nearly $20 billion in 2017, moving the company into the top spot in 2017. --IANS na/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Wednesday accused the Narendra Modi government of not confronting China during visits of two union ministers to the neighbouring country over "full-fledged military complex" in Doklam and a new road to the south of the plateau. In a statement, the party said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited China for bilateral meetings with their counterparts but did not raise the two issues while accusing the Modi government of "compromising" country's security and national interests. "Every patriotic Indian was deeply distressed and surprised by complete omission of the two cabinet ministers to confront China on creation of full-fledged Chinese military complex in Doklam right up to 10 metres from an Indian Army post," said the statement issued by Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Rajeev Gowda. It said the two ministers also also failed to confront China over "a new road South of Doklam plateau to provide easy access to China to Jhamperi Ridge overlooking the Siliguri Corridor i.e strategic Chicken's Neck, which is India's gateway to the northeastern states". Noting Modi was slated to visit China later this month for an informal summit meeting with President Xi Jinping, it asked if he will take up the issue. The Congress said that tri-junction at Doklam was an all-important issue for Bhutan and even more important for India's strategic interests in relation to the "chicken's neck", adding it will support every endeavour to protect the country's security and strategic interests but hoped that Modi government will provide the answers. Congress leaders said that in June last year India's armed forces stopped China from building a road in Doklam plateau, which led to a 73 day stand-off and the government subsequently issued a statement that both sides have agreed on "expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off site at Doklam". The statement said that while Modi even came close at claiming "victory" at Doklam last October, media reports and satellite imagery suggested that the Chinese Army has not only built a full-fledged military complex in Doklam but also occupied the entire plateau right up to a short distance from an Indian Army post, while latest latest satellite imagery taken from Google Earth on Wednesday shows further construction. The Congress said that Modi government had in January denied any such construction and the apparent Chinese threat in response to questions posed by it, but later admitted in Parliament that the Chinese Army "had undertaken construction of some infrastructure". --IANS ps/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Swiss institute of hospitality has launched a scholarship competition for Indian students for a new course on the subject of luxury brand management. The Glion Institute of Higher has its campuses in Switzerland and London. Applicants to the new Master of Science (MSc) in International Hospitality Business with Luxury Brand Management are eligible for a 25 per cent scholarship and will win a Frederique Constant watch and a full-day visit to the manufacturer. "The Swiss model of provides a unique combination of rigorous theory with experiential learning in real-world settings. Through this approach, students gain the skills and confidence needed to succeed professionally," said Benoit-Etienne Domenget, CEO of Sommet Education, the parent company of Glion. To participate in the scholarship competition, Indian students applying to the first intakes in September 2018 and February 2019 are required to submit an 800-word essay on their assessment of the opportunities and challenges of the luxury industry in India. --IANS mg/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a move that can be seen as an attempt to correct the mistakes of the past, top officials of a Russian university say that the country wants to leave the "closed" system of Soviet-era universities behind and embrace increased internationalisation in its system of education, including in science and technology. Talking to a select group of journalists from around the world on Tuesday, Alevtina Chernikova, Rector of National University of Science and Technology (NUST) MISIS, advocated "opening up of borders". "Even as the politicians the world over seem to be busy defending borders, we want opening up of borders. We belive that the world is our common house," said Chernikova, under whose leadership the university came to be known as one of the leading universities of the world as per the QS World University Rankings and Times Higher World University Rankings. Commending India's achievements in the information technology (IT) sector and speaking of the importance of Indian students in the university, she said that the university hopes India's partnership with Russia to strengthen even further. "Russia is already in a strategic partnership with India," she pointed out. Emphasising that Russia will gain from opening up of its universities, Mikhail Filonov, Vice Rector of NUST MISIS said that the country "lost a lot" due to the earlier "closed" system. "Soviet-era science and technology universities were closed to international students as they wanted to generate secret scientific results for the defence of the union," Filionov said. "Until recenty, Russian universities were also 'closed'. Things have changed only in the past 8-10 years as Russian government belives that it was a bad practice. "We were confined to our own silos. This is our problem and we are trying to change that," Filonov said, adding that NUST MISIS makes no distinction between Russian and foreign students," he added. NUST MISIS, which became the first Russian University to have a foreign Vice Rector -- Timothy O' Connor who hails from the US -- has nearly 20 per cent foreign students. The university has a total of 17,000 students, including 3,300 foreign students from 69 countries. In 2017, for the first time ever, the university was simultaneously featured in several subjects of the Times Higher Education, QS and Shanghai Ranking Consultancy's Academic Ranking of World Universities. In 2018, the university meade it to the "Top-30" world universities specialising in mining engineering, as per the QS World University Rankings by Subject. Connor, who preferred to make his presentation in front of the visiting journalists in the Russian language "as a mark of respect" to the country, said that the university offers nine Masters' programme in which, English can be used as a medium of instruction. Chernikova, however, said that the focus of the university is currently not on increasing the number of foreign students but on attracting the best talents -- whether they are from Russia or anywhere else. "We are focused more on quality than quantity," she said. The university specifically focuses on integrating science, and innovations, and has partnership with about 1,600 companies in areas of research and development. By 2020, NUST MISIS aims to further consolidate its strong positions in a number of areas, including in material sciences, metallurgy and mining, as well as strongly strengthen its presence in bio-materials, nano- and IT-technologies. The university recently established a centre to produce state-of-the art industrial prototypes. With its digital ecosystem and 3D-printing technology, the centre is designed to build sophisticated functional digital outputs and systems for multiple sectors including aerospace industry, biological engineering, medicine, space exploration and defence technologies. (Gokul Bhagabati is in Moscow at the invitation of National University of Science and Technology MISIS. He can be contacted at gokul.b@ians.in) --IANS gb/na/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The man accused of driving a van to attack pedestrians in Toronto was charged on Tuesday with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. The 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, plowing a rented van into pedestrians on a crowded Toronto sidewalk on Monday, killed 10 people, injuring 15 others in Canada's deadliest mass killings in decades, Xinhua reported. Minassian made a brief court appearance in a Toronto courtroom Tuesday to hear the charges against him. He appeared to understand what was happening and spoke softly to the duty counsel lawyer representing him. His next court appearance is currently slated for May 10. He was not known to them before this incident and had no previous criminal record, according to Toronto police. Minassian was a student at Seneca College in Toronto, enrolled between 2011 and 2018. He is also listed as a research assistant in a software development project on a Seneca website. Minassian was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces for two months in late August and October 2017. He underwent a basic training but did not perform well and failed to complete the training because he requested to be released after 16 days. His neighbours describe him as quiet, with one neighbour saying he seemed "a bit odd," and shook his hands about while walking. A neighbour of his told CTV News that his daughter had gone to the same high school as Minassian and said that he had had problems and needed "a special teacher." Minutes before the attack began, a post was made to Minassian's now-deleted Facebook page that read, in part, "the Incel rebellion has already begun!" The term "Incels" refers to a group of "men's rights activists" who are "involuntarily celibate" and who commiserate together about their lack of sexual activity. The post also praised Elliot Rodger, a self-confessed virgin who killed six people and injured 14 others before shooting himself to death near the campus of US University of California, Santa Barbara in 2014. --IANS ahm/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump on Tuesday called the top leader of North Korea Kim Jong Un "very honourable". Speaking before an expanded meeting with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House, Trump said that Kim "really has been very open and I think very honourable from everything we're seeing." "We have been told directly that they would like to have the meeting as soon as possible. We think that's a great thing for the world," he said. However, Trump repeated that he was willing to walk away from the talks if they are not fruitful. "Unlike past administrations, I will leave the table. But I think we have the chance to do something very special," he said. "We'll see where that will all go". Positive momentum around the Korean Peninsula has been built up in recent months thanks to the diplomacy around the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and efforts toward denuclearising the peninsula. South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet with Kim on April 27. Trump said his meeting with Kim could happen in May or early June. --IANS ahm/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have suggested there could be a new agreement on Iran's nuclear programme, media reports said. The visiting French President on Tuesday proposed to work with other parties to forge the new deal amid bilateral divergences on several issues remaining, as his state visit drew to a close, Xinhua news agency reported. Speaking at a joint press conference with Trump, Macron said the current Iran nuke deal, internationally known as the JCPOA signed in 2015, was not "sufficient". However, it still "enabled us, at least until 2025, to have some control over their nuclear activities", he added, saying: "We therefore wish, from now on, to work on a new deal with Iran." After the talks, Trump, who is sceptical of the 2015 accord, also spoke about "doing a much bigger... deal", the BBC reported. Macron said a new pact must cover Iran's ballistic missile programme and its role in the Middle East. Iran had warned of "severe consequences" if the US withdrew from the deal. In 2015, Iran had agreed to mothball its nuclear programme in return for an easing of economic sanctions on Tehran. Trump has been threatening to reject an extension of the Barcak Obama-era nuclear pact reached between Tehran and world powers by a May 12 deadline, the BBC report said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is due to visit the US on Friday, will make a last-minute bid to dissuade Trump from potentially torpedoing the agreement. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was quoted as saying that Tehran would "most likely" abandon the accord if the US pulled out. Macron agreed that Tehran's influence in the region must be part of negotiations. He stressed that the 2015 deal controls Iran's nuclear programme for the next decade, but the fresh deal must cover its nuclear activities longer-term, the BBC said. Macron also talked about working with Trump to build a "new framework" in the Middle East -- and especially in Syria. The French President said he did not know whether Trump would extend the May 12 deadline, adding: "I can say that we have had very frank discussions on that, just the two of us." Trump earlier warned Iran against resuming its nuclear programme. "They're not going to be restarting anything. They restart it they're going to have big problems, bigger than they've ever had before." --IANS in/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As the deadline for European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) inches closer, Twitter has updated its "Terms and Privacy Policy" to give its users more transparency over their data. Twitter is also giving users more control over how it shares certain non-public data. The updates will take effect on May 25, when the GDPR comes into force, and will apply globally. "We've updated our Privacy Policy to make it visually clear and easy to use. You'll see a download button at the top of the page that allows you to get a plain text version if you prefer. It's optimised for both mobile and web," Damien Kieran, Global Data Protection Officer at Twitter, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. "We believe you should know the types of data you share with us and how we use it. Most importantly, you should have meaningful control over both," he added. On May 25, people who live in the EU who log into their Twitter account will see a prompt that will explain that we've updated our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to reflect the EU's GDPR. "We'll also show you a simple chart that categorizes the legal basis for the personal data we process. You'll then be brought to your individual Settings and Privacy section, where we will ask you to review your key current settings. "You can leave them all as they are, modify each, and learn more about any of the individual settings before making a change - the choice is entirely in your hands. "Remember, everyone around the world can use the controls we highlight to limit the information we collect about you or how we use it, and change the settings at any time," Kieran wrote. After four years of debate, the GDPR was finally approved by the EU Parliament on April 14, 2016. Organisations that fail to comply with the new regulation may face hefty fines. The EU data regulators are chiefly concerned over WhatsApp's sharing of user data with parent company Facebook. --IANS na/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Wednesday issued the list of 24 fake Universities across the country, an official statement said. "In the interest of students and public at large, the University Grants Commission has released the list of 24 fake Universities. "UGC has said that these 24 self-styled, unrecognized institutions functioning in contravention of the UGC Act have been declared as fake and are not entitled to confer any degrees," the Human Resource Development Ministry said in a statement. The listed universities were found to have been operating in states such as Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal and the union territory of Puducherry. The maximum were in Uttar Pradesh (eight) and Delhi (seven). --IANS vn/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UN's peacebuilding efforts are struggling due to a lack of political will to back them up with sufficient funds, India has told a high-level meeting here. "The funds available for UN peacebuilding efforts are not even one per cent of the annual budget for UN peacekeeping," A. Gitesh Sarma, Additional Secretary in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, told the high-level meeting on peacebuilding and sustaining peace here on Tuesday. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and President of the General Assembly Miroslav Lajcak also bemoaned the lack of funding for the peacebuilding efforts. Lajcak pointed out that the Peacebuilding Fund was struggling to meet its $500 million target because the international community was not investing enough in efforts to prevent conflicts. Guterres spoke of the high cost -- $233 billion -- for dealing with conflicts and their aftermath through humanitarian interventions, peacekeeping and hosting refugees. He suggested that it made more sense to invest in preventing conflicts through peacebuilding because it saved lives and averted conflicts spiralling dangerously requiring greater outlays to deal with the consequences. He, therefore, appealed to UN members to come up with $500 million every year for the Peacebuilding Fund. Backing Guterres's appeal, Sarma welcomed the financing options he presented in his report in January and said these need to be considered seriously to deal with inadequate funding. India has so far given $5 million to the Peacebuilding Fund -- the latest contribution was $500,000 made in July 2017. While the UN has been largely successful in containing conflicts between nations, it is struggling with dealing with chronic armed conflicts within countries despite large-scale deploying troops as peacekeepers and other resources, Sarma said. "The concept of Peacebuilding, that expanded the focus to post-conflict situations and led to the establishment of UN's Peacebuilding architecture around a decade ago, is struggling due to lack of adequate funding that betrays a lack of genuine political will," he said. Two Presidents, a King, a Prime Minister and more than 25 Ministers are attending the two-day high-level meeting, which is a signature event of Lajcak's presidency. While peacekeeping operations now overwhelmingly deal with civil conflicts, peacebuilding activities work to prevent such internal conflicts from flaring up or recurring. Sarma said that India was helping other developing countries with sustainable development programmes through the India-UN Development Partnership Fund for which it has pledged over $150 million. The International Solar Alliance with the participation of 60 countries is another New Delhi effort to assist developing nations promote development and simultaneously fight climate change. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in) --IANS al/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Uttar Pradesh government has issued 150-time bound clearances sought by investors in the past two months, an official said on Wednesday. All these clearance, he added, were made through the single window portal that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 'UP Investors Summit' in February this year. Secretary, Infrastructure and Industrial Development Santosh Kumar Yadav said that as an important component of improving ease of doing business in the state, 150 clearances had been issued through the new 'Single Window Portal' within the timelines specified under the UP Janhit Guarantee Act 2011, since the launch of new system, while 100 applications were under process. Speaking after chairing a meeting of nodal officials of 20 departments, he noted that the single window portal has been improved and strengthened to offer facility for providing 69 services of 20 Departments against 40 services of 12 Departments in its previous version. The departments coming under it include Labour, Stamp and Registration, Forest, Environment, Public Works, Food Safety and Drugs Administration, Energy, Urban Development, Housing, Revenue, and Excise among others. Yadav further said that this system is equipped with online facilities for application, fee payment, tracking and monitoring without any physical interface. It provides facility of an online common application form to the entrepreneur along with easy selection of required clearances according to the sector of the industrial unit. Thereafter, the entrepreneur can upload the necessary documents and make payment of stipulated fee online to get clearances online within the specified time period. The applicant can download the approvals, NoCs and other things from the portal to commence implementation of the project. He also said that the system was being monitored at the highest level of Chief Minister's office. --IANS md/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US has pulled out its incoming ambassador to Australia, Admiral Harry Harris, and assigned him to the post in South Korea, media reports said. President Donald Trump's administration took the call on Tuesday, just hours before his confirmation hearing. The move has come as a shock to the Australian government, which had welcomed Harris' appointment to the post which had been left vacant for 18 months, Xinhua news agency reported. Last envoy John Berry left the role in 2016. Tapping top US military official, Harris, who is overseeing operations across Asia for Seoul, was Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo's idea, the CNN said. It comes ahead and in view of potential talks between Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, informed sources told CNN. Pompeo proposed the switching of the destination for Harris, commander of US Pacific Command, pending Trump's blessing. His confirmation hearing to be ambassador to Australia was scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed. "At the request of the administration, the hearing has been postponed until early May," said Micah Johnson, a spokeswoman for Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker. While Seoul is arguably the most important diplomatic post with potential Kim talks looming, Australia is also a "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing partner of the US. Australia has played down the diplomatic hassle. Julie Bishop, Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, said she "understands" the decision but expects the appointment of a new ambassador to become a "priority". Bishop downplayed the significance of the move which some have described as disrespectful, Xinhua said. "I understand when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is confirmed as we assume he will be over the next few days then the appointment of an ambassador to Australia will be a priority." "(Australia) is a victim of the Trump administration's shambolic personnel practices," said Andrew Shearer, a former national security adviser to Australian Prime Ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott. Harris' nomination had strong bipartisan support. He would have been an effective advocate at a time when the US alliance is a topic of increasing debate because of China's rise and its economic importance to Australia," Shearer added. The White House did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. The Washington Post had first reported plans to move Harris to South Korea. During his tenure at Pacific Command, Harris has not minced words about North Korea's ambitions. --IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is likely to meet BJP President Amit Shah here on Thursday to sort out the differences over appointment of the new state BJP chief. According to sources in BJP, Shah wants Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to be appointed as state BJP chief while Raje is not in his favour. The new state BJP chief will replace Ashok Parnami, who resigned from his post on last Wednesday. Sources said that Raje is throwing her weight behind her colleagues in state council of ministers Arun Chaturvedi although the central leadership was in favour of Shekhawat. Chaturvedi is considered close to RSS. The development comes in wake of Shah's meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Nagpur. The BJP government in Rajasthan has been facing the ire of the Rajput community and its attept to appoint Shekhawat, a Rajput, is seen as an attempt to pacify the community. The decision to appoint a new party chief has been made keeping in mind the assembly polls slated for later in 2018. In recent bypolls in Alwar and Ajmer Lok Sabha constituencies and the Mandalgarh Assembly segment, the BJP had suffered a jolt as the voters of these constituencies elected Congress candidates. --IANS bns/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The body of another woman Maoist was found in the forests of Kasnasur in this Maharashtra district, four days after she was shot in an operation by security forces on Sunday, taking the total toll to 38, an official said here on Wednesday. Security officials suspect she may have tried to escape the volley of bullets fired by the commandos, or may have been dragged some distance away by her associates before she succumbed to her injuries or they abandoned her. As many as 20 women and 18 men Maoists were gunned down in the twin-operations on Sunday morning and Monday evening in Gadchiroli, considered the worst Maoist-affected district in the country. Search efforts, deploying technology and gadgets, continue even in the Indravati River from where 15 bullet-ridden Maoists were fished out on Monday-Tuesday, with the waters reportedly infested with crocodiles, snakes and other deadly creatures. The successful operations came after the security forces landed an accurate tip-off well in advance about a proposed jungle meeting of around four dozen Maoists scheduled on Sunday morning and the exact venue - catching the rebels virtually by surprise and little time to hit back. However, there are conflicting reports of the purpose of the meeting, including a marriage celebration or to plan out some major offensive, but officials remain tightlipped. The operation - the biggest in the anti-Maoist war since the past over 38 years - saw the elimination of at least four prominent commanders, and dealt a body blow to their rebellious activities in the district. The prominent leaders eliminated include: south region chief Srikant alias Ravtu Vijendra, 50, known as Srinu, besides the commanders of the Aheri, Gatta and Permili dalams (Maoist fighter units), including a woman chief, a deputy commander and prominent members of various groups. The dalam commanders have been identified as: Dolesh Madi Atram alias Sainath (Permili), Mangli Pada alias Shantabai, 31, (Aheri), the wife of Srinu (above), Naresh Kutke Yeladi alias Raju/Ramesh, 29, (Gatta), and Vasudevo Bichha Atram alias Nandu, who is the Aheri dalam's DVC (killed in the Monday night battle). Police officials surmise that the Aheri and Sironcha dalams have been totally wiped out in the two-day operations which claimed four out of five of their top leaders. Police have also recovered a cache of sophisticated arms and ammunition, including two AK-47s, two INSAS, three SLRs, three .303s, a 58-mm gun, eight 12 bore rifles, a musket, and detonators, besides Maoist literature from these two operations. --IANS qn/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Xiaomi Chairman, CEO and Founder Lei Jun on Wednesday announced that the company will forever limit the net profit margin after tax for the entire hardware sales -- including smartphones, Internet of Things (IoT) and lifestyle products -- to a maximum of 5 per cent. Jun promised its users that the company's hardware business will have an overall net profit margin that will never exceed 5 per cent. "If the margin crosses 5 per cent, then we will find a way to return the excess above 5 per cent to our users," he said in an email to all Xiaomi employees. "If we sell our products at close to cost and return value to our users, then we can earn the long-term support of our users. Aiming for large volumes with small profit margins will still result in suitable hardware profits for us in the long term," the Xiaomi CEO added. According to Jun, the company has created a unique "triathlon" business model, encompassing hardware, Internet service and new retail. "In the past eight years, our business model has been challenged again and again. Xiaomi is the only smartphone in the world that has rebounded after a decline in sales. This miracle, coupled with the results we have achieved as of today, shows how relevant and advanced our model is," the CEO said. The company launched Mi 6X in Wuhan on Wednesday which is equipped with the high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor and the latest AI technology. "Xiaomi is an engineering-led company. Engineers are constantly looking for the latest technologies to benefit the public and change the world," Jun said. "At present, the company has exceeded 100 billion RMB in annual revenue and has nearly 20,000 employees," he added. In the first quarter of 2018, Xiaomi with over 51 per cent growth was at fifth spot in China, Counterpoint Research reported. The growth was driven by Xiaomi's expansion in the offline segment with aggressive promotions. It also refreshed its Redmi Note series and now has a very strong product portfolio in the mid segment, giving more choice to budget-conscious consumers. --IANS na/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One of two police officers critically wounded in a shooting at a home improvement store in US state of Texas died today, authorities said. Officers - Rogelio Santander (27) and Crystal Almeida (26) - were critically injured in the attack yesterday. A third person who works as a loss-prevention officer at the store was also wounded. Officer Santander, a three-year police veteran, died at 8:11 a.m. today, the Dallas Police Association said. "We ask that you please continue to pray for Officer Santander's family and our department as we all try to cope with this tragic loss," police said on the department blog. Santander is the ninth North Texas officer to be killed in the line of duty in about two years, the Dallas Morning reported. Flags flew at half-staff at Dallas City Hall and the Northeast Patrol Division, where the two officers were based. Police arrested Armando Luis Juarez, 29, on charges of aggravated assault on a police officer and felony theft. He was taken into custody shortly before 10 p.m. yesterday after a lengthy car chase involving officers of various law enforcement agencies. "We got our man," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said at a late-night press conference. The incident began in afternoon yesterday when an off-duty officer at the Home Depot called to request backup officers for an arrest. The two officers who responded to the call were wounded, police chief Renee Hall said. "Armando Juarez was arrested," said Hall. "He is facing multiple counts of aggravated assault on a police officer. He had an outstanding warrant for felony theft as well. Going forward, we will make sure this individual is questioned and taken to Lew Sterrit jail for processing." Armando's bond has been set at USD 1 million. Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent "thoughts and prayers" to the officers in a tweet. Five Dallas officers were killed and seven others injured in July 2016 when a military veteran who had served in Afghanistan fired on them. The shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of Mesquite, Texas, was killed after a lengthy standoff with police. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eleven people have been killed in central Nigeria, the Benue state government said today, a day after at least 18 people died in an attack on a church that caused widespread outrage. Rilwanu Adamu, an adviser to the Benue governor Samuel Ortom on Islamic affairs, said the attack happened in the state capital, Makurdi, and targeted ethnic Hausa traders. "We lost 11 of our people.... We have five people also hospitalised in Makurdi," he said, warning that the death toll could yet rise. Two mosques were razed to the ground and traders' goods ransacked, said Adamu. The latest deaths came in the wake of an attack on a church in the Mbalom community south of Makurdi on Tuesday, which left 16 worshippers and two Roman Catholic priests dead. President Muhammadu Buhari described the attack, which locals blamed on nomadic herdsmen, as "evil and satanic" and said it was designed to whip up religious conflict. Riots erupted in Makurdi following the deaths, forcing police to fire teargas to disperse the crowd. Hundreds of people have been killed in tit-for-tat violence in Benue and other central states since the start of this year in an escalation of a decades-old dispute over land and water. The attacks have been given an ethnic and religious dimension because the herdsmen are Fulani Muslims from northern Nigeria while the farmers are largely Christian. Buhari has been criticised for failing to stop the violence because he is also a Fulani Muslim from the north. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Using words like 'mafia' against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, an Andhra Pradesh Minister today accused the Centre of hatching conspiracies against the Chandrababu Naidu government through Governor E S L Narasimhan. "It"s a mafia team of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah in New Delhi. They will hatch any conspiracy It is clear conspiracies are being hatched against the AP government. And, the Governor is the key man in this for the Centre," Social Welfare Minister Nakka Anand Babu alleged. His sharp attack came three days after N Chandrababu Naidu held a one-on-one meeting with the Governor in Vijayawada for over 90 minutes, during which Narasimhan reportedly asked the Chief Minister to tone down his outbursts against the BJP and the Centre. Addressing a press conference in the state secretariat here, Babu also accused Narasimhan of interfering in political affairs and sought to know how he was being continued as the Governor for over 11 years now. "Does the Narendra Modi government has any shame? How is it continuing a Governor appointed by another government? It is only because he is acting as a stooge," he charged. The Minister said TDP always opposed the institution of Governor. "We are reacting now as his (Narasimhan's) real face has been exposed," he added. His outburst came in the backdrop of the TDP"s growing displeasure with Narasimhan, particularly after the ruling party snapped its ties with BJP. This is the first time a Minister in the Naidu government has made a public statement against Narasimhan. As per the AP Reorganisation Act, Narasimhan has been continuing as the common Governor for both Andhra and Telangana since the bifurcation of the state in June 2014. Interestingly, it was the BJP " when it was still in alliance with the TDP " that sought the appointment of an exclusive Governor for Andhra, accusing him of being biased against the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The father of the teenager raped by Asaram today expressed satisfaction over the Jodhpur court verdict convicting the self-styled godman and thanked the judiciary and the media for it. "I am happy to get justice," the rape victim's father said after Asaram's conviction by a Jodhpur court. "We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice," he told mediapersons soon after the court verdict. "For the past four months, our family members had not been coming out (of our house)...it is satisfying that the verdict has gone against him," he said. "We were living in constant terror, our business was adversely hit," he said. The Jodhpur court found 77-year-old Asaram guilty of raping a teenager five years ago. The teenager from Shahajanpur in Uttar Pradesh was studying at the self-styled godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. The victim had alleged that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. Ahead of the pronouncement of the judgement, the district administration had extended security to the victim's family. The administration had also stepped up vigil at Asaram's ashram at Rudrapur, about two km away. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He is under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The principal of the school where Asaram's victim studied was a much-relieved man today with a Jodhpur court pronouncing the self-styled godman guilty of her rape. The teacher, who is also a witness in the case, said he had been facing threats from Asaram's followers to change the child's date of birth to help the godman evade stringent punishment under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. "There was pressure on me to change the date of birth mentioned by the guardian in the form at the time of admission. The disciples wanted me to show the age to be more than it actually was so as to suit them," he said after the verdict. "But society has a lot of faith in schools and it was my moral duty to live up to it and I fulfilled my responsibility," he added. The principal, who is not being identified by PTI to protect the victim's identity, said he had received threatening letters and was sent a packet with cartridges to put pressure on him. The teacher said the security provided to him by the district administration was inadequate in the backdrop of deaths of some witnesses in the case. Three witnesses have been killed and several others attacked and threatened for speaking against the 77-year-old godman. Followers of Asaram and his son Narayan Sai were accused of threatening people who testified against the "guru". "Only one constable has been given to me for my security," the teacher said. "The administration needs to look into it." He termed the conviction of Asaram as the victory of truth and justice. A Jodhpur court today held Asaram guilty of raping a teenage girl in his ashram five years ago, the second case of a powerful spiritual leader being convicted of a sexual offence in less than a year after Gurmeet Ram Rahim last August. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment. The verdict was delivered amid tight security arrangements in Jodhpur and in other parts of Rajasthan, as well as Gujarat and Haryana. The teenager had said in her complaint that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. The girl from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh was studying at Asaram's ashram in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. Final arguments in the Asaram case were completed on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved for April 25. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He has under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. He is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat. Asaram unsuccessfully moved 12 bail applications, of which six were rejected by the trial court, three by the Rajasthan high court and three by the Supreme Court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gujarat police has stepped up security outside two of the prominent ashrams of self-styled godman Asaram in the state, as a court in Rajasthan convicted him in a rape case today. Asaram was convicted by a court in Jodhpur for raping a teenager at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013. Over 50 policemen, led by a deputy commissioner of police, were deployed outside Asaram's ashram in Motera area of Ahmedabad city, DCP H R Muliana said. Around 100 policemen as well as personnel from the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) were deployed at various places in Chandkheda area to keep an eye on followers coming to the ashram, he said. Since Sabarmati area is also close to the ashram, around 40 policemen were maintaining vigil at strategic locations and on connecting roads, the official said. "All the police stations in the city have been given orders to remain alert and conduct patrolling in their respective areas to prevent any unwarranted situation," Muliana said, adding that the situation at the ashram was calm. Besides, adequate police force was deployed since early morning outside Asaram's another prominent ashram in Jahangirpura area of Surat district, a police official said. Continuous police patrolling was on in the diamond city, he said. The Home Ministry had yesterday asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana to tighten the security and deploy additional forces in wake of the verdict by the Jodhpur court. The three states were also told to deploy additional forces in sensitive places, a Home Ministry official said. Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana have a large number of followers of Asaram. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Jodhpur court on Wednesday sentenced self-styled godman Asaram to life in prison after finding him guilty of raping a teenage girl in his ashram five years ago, the second case of a powerful spiritual leader being convicted of a sexual offence in less than a year. Special judge Madhusudan Sharma's verdict, which comes as the debate over sexual violence, particularly the rape of minors, intensifies across the country, was read out in the Jodhpur Central Jail where 77-year-old Asaram has been kept for over four years. Police had stepped up security around Asaram's ashrams to prevent the kind of violence that was unleashed by followers when another so-called godman, Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, was convicted of rape last August. Apart from Asaram, two other accused were convicted by the special court for SC/ST cases. It acquitted two others. "Asaram was given life-long jail term, while his accomplices Sharad and Shilpi were sentenced to 20 years in jail by the court," public prosecutor Pokar Ram Bishnoi told reporters, soon after the court pronounced its judgment on the quantum of sentence to the three convicts. Asaram would be in prison till his natural death, said Bishnoi, adding the court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him. He said the prosecution demanded the maximum sentence. We argued that Asaram is not a saint and he, under a conspiracy, called the victim from the hostel and raped her." he said. "Sharad and Shilpi were also the part of the conspiracy, he added. Arguments for the quantum of sentencing were held inside the heavily fortified jail premises, where the trial court delivered its verdict in accordance with the directions of the Rajasthan High Court. Asaram, who started from a hut on the banks of the Sabarmati, created a Rs 10,000-crore empire with 400 ashrams in India and other parts of the world in four decades. The charge sheet against Asaram and the four other co-accused was filed by the police on November 6, 2013 under various sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, the Juvenile Justice Act and the Indian Penal Code. The teenager had said in her complaint that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. The 16-year-old girl from Shahjahanpur in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was studying at Asaram's ashram in Chhindwara in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. "We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice," her father told journalists after the verdict. The family, he said, was living in constant terror and their business was hit. Ahead of the verdict, security was stepped up in Jodhpur where prohibitory orders were imposed. Apprehending a threat to law and order, the Centre had asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana governments to tighten security and deploy additional forces as the three states have a large number of Asaram followers. The Union Home Ministry had sent an advisory fearing a repeat of the violence in the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana that followed the conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in August last year, when several people were killed. He was convicted in a 2002 rape case and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Final arguments in the Asaram case were completed on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved for April 25. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He was under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat. Asaram unsuccessfully moved 12 bail applications, of which six were rejected by the trial court, three by the Rajasthan High Court and three by the Supreme Court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Self-styled godman Asaram was today found guilty of raping a teenager near here five years ago by a Jodhpur court. Judge Madhusudhan Sharma of the court of SC/ST cases also convicted two other accused Shilpi and Sharad while two others Prakash and Shiva were acquitted. Further details are awaited. The counsels for the accused are arguing on the quantum of sentence. As per the directions of the Rajasthan High Court, the trial court delivered its verdict in the Jodhpur Central Jail premises where the 77-year-old Asaram has been lodged for the past over four years. The victim had said in her complaint that Asaram called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. The teenager from Shahajanpur in Uttar Pradesh was studying at the self-styled godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. Ahead of the verdict, security was stepped up in Jodhpur where prohibitory orders have been clamped. Apprehending a threat to law and order, the Centre had asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana governments to tighten security and deploy additional forces as the three states have a large number of followers of Asaram. In a communication, the Union Home Ministry had told the three states to beef up security and ensure that no violence takes place after the judgment tomorrow. The three states were also told to deploy additional forces in sensitive places, a Home Ministry official said. The Union Home Ministry's advisory was sent in view of the fact that large-scale violence was witnessed in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh after a special court in Mohali convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim last year. Final arguments in the Asaram case had been completed by the special court for SC/ST cases on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved for April 25. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He is under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. The chargesheet against Asaram and four other co-accused Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash was filed by the police on November 6, 2013 under various sections of the POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. Asaram unsuccessfully moved 12 bail applications, of which six were rejected by the trial court, three by the Rajasthan high court and three by the Supreme Court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Jodhpur court today held self-styled godman Asaram guilty of raping a teenage girl in his ashram five years ago, the second case of a powerful spiritual leader being convicted of a sexual offence in less than a year after Gurmeet Ram Rahim last August. Special judge Madhusudan Sharma's verdict, which comes as the debate over sexual violence, particularly the rape of minors, intensifies across the country, was read out in the Jodhpur Central Jail where 77-year-old Asaram has been kept for over four years. The special court for SC/ST cases convicted two other accused, Shilpi and Sharad, and acquitted two, Prakash and Shiva. Arguments for the quantum of sentencing were going on inside the heavily fortified jail premises, where the trial court delivered its verdict in accordance with the directions of the Rajasthan High Court. Asaram, who started from a hut on the banks of the Sabarmati and created a Rs 10,000 crore empire with 400 ashrams in India and other parts of the world in four decades, faces a minimum sentence of 10 years. The chargesheet against Asaram and the four other co-accused was filed by the police on November 6, 2013 under various sections of the POSCO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, the Juvenile Justice Act and the Indian Penal Code. The teenager had said in her complaint that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. The young girl from Shahajanpur in Uttar Pradesh was studying at Asaram's ashram in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. "We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice," her father told journalists after the verdict came in. The family, he said, had been living in constant terror and their business was hit. Ahead of the verdict, security was stepped up in Jodhpur where prohibitory orders were imposed. Apprehending a threat to law and order, the Centre had asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana governments to tighten security and deploy additional forces as the three states have a large number of Asaram followers. The Union Home Ministry had sent an advisory fearing a repeat of the violence in Punjab and Haryana that followed the conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim in August last year, when 13 people were killed. He was convicted in a 2002 rape case and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Final arguments in the Asaram case were completed on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved for April 25. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He has under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. Asaram unsuccessfully moved 12 bail applications, of which six were rejected by the trial court, three by the Rajasthan high court and three by the Supreme Court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) From meditating in a small hut on the banks of the Sabarmati River to commanding a sprawling Rs 10,000-crore business empire, self-styled guru Asaram Bapu soared high -- only to plunge into ignominy after his conviction today for raping a teenaged minor. School dropout Asaram, once called Asumal Sirumalani, is believed to own 400 ashrams spread across India and some abroad and has a legion of followers, many of whom still revere the controversial preacher, sentenced to life by a Jodhpur court. The 77-year-old guru also wielded considerable political clout till his arrest in 2013. He was seen at public events with politicians cutting across parties -- from Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi of the BJP to Digvijaya Singh of the Congress. Asaram owed his immense wealth to buildings, stocks and shares, a lucrative money-lending practice and by selling Ayurvedic products and religious booklets, investigators had said after his arrest. Documents seized by the police from his ashram in the Motera area here had revealed that he also owned vast tracts of land. The grey-haired and bearded guru, who studied till Class 4, started attracting attention when he began meditating by a modest hut near the Sabarmati River way back in the Seventies. Soon, people were flocking to his hut and he had begun gaining popularity as Sant Asaramji Bapu. His official website states that he was born in 1941 in Berani village of the Sindh province in Pakistan. After the partition of India in 1947, he came to Ahmedabad with his parents and studied in a school in the Maninagar area, but dropped out when he was 10 after the death of his father, Thaumal. He did odd jobs in his early youth, including a reported stint as a tongawallah in Ajmer, and then, the website states, went towards the Himalayas on a spiritual quest, where he met his Guru, Lilashah Bapu. It was Lilashah Bapu who apparently gave him the name 'Asaram' in 1964 and "commanded him to carve his own path and guide people". Asaram came to Ahmedabad in the early 70s and set up 'Moksha Kutir', a small hut on the banks of river, in 1972. It wasn't long before the hut had spawned into a full-fledged ashram. Soon, new ashrams had come up in various parts of the country, including a sprawling complex in Delhi's protected Ridge area. Even today, many of his disciples believe that he was jailed and convicted on false charges. "Even if Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh came and told me that Bapu had done this, I would not believe them. I would say, 'no, no, no' an infinite number of times," follower Jyoti (not her name) told PTI in front of his ashram on the Ridge in Delhi. Asaram is married to Laxmi Devi and they have two children - son Narayan Sai, who is also behind bars, and daughter Bharti Devi. The guru first ran into trouble in 2008, when two pre-teenagers -- cousins Dipesh and Abhishek Vaghela who lived in Asaram's gurukul in Motera -- were found dead on the riverbed near his ashram. The two cousins' parents had alleged that they were killed in the ashram where they claimed black magic was practised. The state CID had in 2009 booked seven followers of Asaram in the case. But Asaram fell from public grace in 2013, after he was arrested for a minor teenager's rape in Rajasthan. After that, two Surat-based sisters also accused him and his son of sexual exploitation. The police on October 6, 2013, registered complaints filed by the two sisters - one against Asaram and the other against Sai - of rape, sexual assault, illegal confinement and other charges. The case is being tried in the Gandhinagar court. Follower Jyoti reiterated that Asaram could not have committed a sex crime. "When Bapu began his search for God, his wife had asked him not to go but he had said he would start a family as a married man only after he found God. So how can a pure man like him, who would not even touch his wife, be accused of doing something so disgusting to a girl," Jyoti asked. Asaram was also accused of grabbing land for building his ashrams in Surat and Ahmedabad. His followers were held for threatening and assaulting witnesses in rape cases against him and his son after they were arrested. He has also courted controversy in recent years with his outspoken -- and debatable views -- on issues such as Valentine's Day and the Nirbhaya killing. Valentine's Day should be marked as the day for worshipping parents, he had said a few years ago. In 2013, he told a gathering in Rajasthan that if Nirbhaya had chanted the 'Saraswati mantra', she would not have boarded the bus where she was brutally raped and assaulted by a group of men. "She should have taken God's name and could have held the hand of one of the men and said, I consider you my brother and should have said to the other two, brother, I am helpless, you are my brother, my religious brother," the media had quoted him as saying. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The verdict of a lifetime in jail slapped on self-styled godman Asaram for raping a 16-year-old girl has turned the spotlight on two other women who have charged the 77-year-old preacher with sexual assault and are awaiting justice. A Jodhpur court today convicted and sentenced Asaram to a life in jail for the assault on the teenager, but another matter relating to the alleged sexual exploitation of two sisters is still pending before a court in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The sisters, based in Surat, had alleged they were raped and illegally confined by Asaram and his son Narayan Sai. While Asaram was arrested in September 2013 in connection with the Jodhpur rape case, his son Sai was arrested in December 2013 over the complaint lodged by the sisters. While the elder sister had accused Asaram of repeated sexual assaults in 19972006 at the Motera ashram in Gujarat, the younger sister had alleged that Sai sexually assaulted her from 2002 to 2005 at an ashram in Surat. One of the sisters also alleged that Asaram's wife and daughter helped the two men rape the women. Besides Asaram, the state police in its chargesheet filed in 2014 had mentioned among the accused his wife Lakshmi, daughter Bharti and four women followers --Dhruvben, Nirmala, Jassi and Meera. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had adjourned the bail plea of Asaram and pulled up the Gujarat Police for the delay in the completion of recording evidence in the case and directed it to conclude the process within five weeks. "It cannot go like this for months," the top court had said while asking the state police about the status of the trial. The government had informed the apex court that the victims' statement has been recorded. Asaram's counsel had told the court that in the Gujarat case, out of 92 witnesses, 22 material witnesses had been examined, 14 of them dropped and the rest needed 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 a report. 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. But rape is not the only charge against Asaram. He is also facing prosecution in a Rs 700-crore land grab case of 2000 in Madhya Pradesh. The case pertains to 200 acres of land in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh. Asaram and his son Sai were accused of grabbing the land located on the Delhi-Pune freight corridor, which, it was said, belonged to a company, Jayant Vitamins Limited. PTI AG RRT RKS VL is a public limited company which was delisted from the Bombay Stock Exchange in 2004 for defaulting on the mandatory listing fees which companies pay to the stock exchanges to list themselves. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The ashram of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu at a village near here wore a forlorn look today as a Jodhpur court sentenced him to life imprisonment for raping a teenager in 2013. Not many people know that it was the rape victim's father, then a staunch Asaram loyalist, who got the 'Rudrapur ashram' built. With thousands of Asaram disciples in the town, the ashram once buzzed with activity. But not any longer with the villagers not keen on going anywhere near it. When the controversy surfaced, the ashram earned the ire of the local people who even threatened to pull it down to avenge the rape of "our daughter". Up to about four years ago, there used to be long lines of cars around the ashram whenever an event was organised there. But now even the local people refuse to speak about the ashram or the 'dhongi baba', as they began calling Asaram. Today the ashram is a picture of absolute neglect. Two caretakers, Darshan and Devendra, hung around the place when a PTI correspondent visited the place after today's court order. "The ashram was a matter of pride at one time but today it has only earned a bad name for the village," a local resident said. The administration had made elaborate security arrangements at the ashram ahead of the court verdict. Meanwhile, people living around the victim's house in the city have welcomed the life sentence served on Asaram, terming it better than the death penalty. "The life term is better than death penalty for this will ensure that he regrets his action every living moment," said Dr Anurag Agarwal, a professor at SSPG college. Journalist Jogendra Yadav, who was once attacked by Asaram's followers, said it was good that he got the life sentence as this will remove the fear in the area that one day he could be set free. The victim from Shahjahanpur was studying at the godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. In her statement, the girl alleged that Asaram called her to his ashram and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of US forces in the Pacific, will become the next US ambassador to South Korea instead of Australia, the Australian foreign minister said today. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she had been informed of the decision by Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan on yesterday. "While we would have welcomed Adm. Harris here as ambassador to Australia, we understand that there are significant challenges for the United States on the Korean peninsula," Bishop told reporters in Sydney. "We of course have a very strong and deep relationship with the United States and I am sure they will choose a very appropriate ambassador to take his place in due course," she added. Bishop said Sullivan made it clear a new appointment would be a priority for the next secretary of state. President Donald Trump nominated Harris in February to become Australia's next ambassador. The United States had not had an ambassador in Australia since John Berry, president of the American Australian Association, left the post in September 2016. Andrew Shearer, a former Australian government security adviser and now an adviser on Asia-Pacific security at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the change of ambassador plans made Australia appear to be a second-class ally of the United States. "Australia really ... is ... a collateral casualty here to the shambolic practices of the Trump Administration," Shearer told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "I don't think there's anything sinister to it. I think it's much more typical of the ad hoc, moment-to-moment decision making if this particular administration," he added. Bishop noted past appointments for US ambassador to Australia took time. In the meantime, Charge d'Affaires Jim Caruso will continue to act in the role. Opposition defence spokesman Richard Marles said the sooner Australia got a new US ambassador the better. "We're close friends, I don't think anyone is taking offence," Marles told Sky television. Former government minister and the current Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson said while he wouldn't describe it as a snub, the United States should have proper representation in Australia. "I say to President Trump and those who are advising him: we need an ambassador, we deserve an ambassador and we'd like one soon," Nelson said. Former deputy prime minister and diplomat Tim Fischer said the delay in appointing an ambassador reflected its low priority in Washington. "Nigh on two years will be an insult with impact, notwithstanding the good work of the acting ambassador in Canberra," Fischer said of the absence of an ambassador. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was today booked by the SIT of Uttar Pradesh Police for alleged irregularities during recruitment in Jal Nigam under the previous regime. Khan was booked along with others under IPC section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating)and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) besides section 13(1)(D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, official sources said here. The SIT is probing complaints of anomalies during the recruitment of 1,342 persons inJal Nigamunder the Akhilesh Yadav regime. "Khan, then urban development minister, along with officer on special duty (OSD)Syed Afaq Ahmed, then secretary urban development department Prakash Singh, managing director of Jal Nigam Prem Kumar Assudani, chief engineer Anil Kumar Khare among others have been named in the FIR," sources said. The firm Aptech which conducted the online exam for the recruitment was also named in the FIR, they said. An inquiry was set up by the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government in July last year to find out whether people were given jobs in an illegal manner between November, 2016 and February, 2017 for different positions at the Jal Nigam. Khan was the chairman of the body when the recruitment drive was conducted. Set up in 1975, the Jal Nigam, an autonomous body, looks after the water distribution network in the state. It is also responsible for the maintenance and providing sewerage services. The BJP government had terminated 122 Jal Nigam assistant engineers in August last year, while the fate of others would be decided once the SIT completes the probe. Khan was questioned by the SIT on January 22 in this regard, wherein he had claimed that the recruitment was done as per law and that the BJP government was hell bent on tarnishing his image. The Allahabad High Court had ordered a probe into the allegations after some candidates who were not selected in the recruitment drive moved the court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Following Asaram's conviction in a rape case and a demand that the places named after him be rechristened, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation today removed a hoarding from a bus stand bearing the name of the controversial self-styled godman. Earlier in the day, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had promised "appropriate action" when activists demanded renaming of the landmarks named after Asaram. "No one is above the Constitution, the law, and public sentiments. It is a country where the name of Aurangzeb Road has also been changed. Soon, we will take appropriate action on this matter too," Chouhan tweeted. The bus stand and a road crossing, both located close to Asaram's ashram near the Raja Bhoj Airport on the city outskirts, had been named after the self-styled godman. Shortly after the chief minister's tweet, Bhopal Mayor Alok Sharma himself went to the bus stand and removed the board bearing Asaram's name. "All places named after Asaram in the city will be renamed. I have removed the board from the bus stand. The new names of the bus stand and the intersection will be decided later," Sharma said. Activist Rachna Dhingra, who works for the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster, made the demand of renaming them in a video posted on social media. "I am asking the chief minister who claims to be a big proponent and protector of girls' rights that the names of this crossing and bus stand be changed," she said. Another activist, Akshay Hunka, tagged the chief minister in his tweet and asked to spell out the government's stand on Dhingra's demand. Replying to it, Chouhan assured that appropriate action would be taken. A court in Rajasthan today sentenced Asaram to life in jail for raping a minor girl. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief ministers of Bihar and Chhattisgarh today rejected Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's remarks that these were among the states that were keeping India backward and said their states have made tremendous progress. On Monday, Kant said states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are keeping India backward, especially on social indicators. Against this backdrop, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said his state was making rapid progress despite being in need of more assistance than it had been receiving so far. Delving into history, Kumar said the British rulers had meted out a harsh treatment to the state following its active participation in the Revolt of 1857, which led to its relative backwardness. Speaking at an event in Patna, Kumar said, "Even today, Bihar is making progress mainly through its own resources though it needs and deserves help". Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said the state has made tremendous progress in the areas of health and road-rail connectivity. Talking to reporters in the national capital, he also said there should be an analytical study about the fast growth achieved by Chhattisgarh after its formation in 2000. Chhattisgarh has made tremendous progress in health indicators like IMR (Infant Mortality Rate), MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) and malnutrition as well as in road and rail connectivity, Singh said. In response to a query about Kant's comments, Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria told a press conference in Jaipur that the state was lagging behind other states in sectors such as education and health although it had made considerable progress in the last few years. On Tuesday, Kant said India's eastern states have done remarkably well on ease of doing business index, but stressed that they need to repeat their progress on the human development index as well. "Eastern part of India, particularly states like Bihar, UP, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, is keeping India backward especially on social indicators. While we have have improved on ease of doing business, we have remained backward on human development index. We are still 131 out of 188 countries in HDI," he had said on Monday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Britain's first turbaned Sikh MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, along with two NGOs, has started a campaign for the launch of a direct flight between London and Amritsar, a long pending demand of the British-Punjabi diaspora. The Labour party MP for Slough joined hands with the UK-based NGO, Social Education Volunteer Association (SEVA) Trust and the UK chapter of the Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM), at an event within the House of Commons complex recently to initiate efforts to push for starting of the non-stop flight services with the Indian and Punjab governments. "In 2016, even with no direct connectivity, approximately 188,869 passengers (517 per day) travelled between Amritsar and the UK as transit passengers, via other Indian and foreign airports. The demand is there and we hope the supply will come soon," Dhesi said. His campaign has found the backing of other British and Indian MPs, including fellow Labour Party MP Seema Malhotra and Congress MP for Amritsar, Gurjeet Singh Aujla. They believe that in addition to better connectivity for millions of passengers, a direct air link between Punjab and Britain holds immense potential to boost trade and tourism as well a strengthen the India-UK relationship. The MPs believe that London Heathrow, one of the world's biggest aviation transit hubs, will open up new onward connections to Europe, Canada and the US. It will also enable farmers and businessmen from Amritsar and adjoining regions to resume export of dry and perishable goods to the UK, noted Sameep Singh Gumtala, Overseas Secretary of Amritsar Vikas Manch. An official of India's flag carrier, Air India, Deepak Chudasama acknowledged growing demand of the Punjabi community for the direct flights and assured MPs in Britain that their proposal would be raised with the airline's senior management. Dhesi's team has also submitted a memorandum, addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to the Indian High Commission here and the second one, addressed to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, has been handed over to Aujla. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government today gave an ex-post facto approval for an agreement signed between India and an African island nation, Sao Tome and Principe, to increase cooperation in the field of medicinal Plants. The memorandum of understanding was signed on March 14 this year, an official statement said. The decision was taken in the Union Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. The MoU assumes significance as there is global increase in traditional and alternative health care systems. It is resulting in world herbal trade which stands at USD 120 billion and is expected to reach USD 7 trillion by 2050, it said. "Moreover, there are large number of medicinal plants, particularly those found in tropical region, which are common to the two countries given similar geo-climatic factors," it added. India is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of biodiversity, having 15 agro-climatic zones. Out of the 17,000-18,000 species of flowering plants, more than 7000 are estimated to have medicinal usage in folk and documented systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha & Homoeopathy. About 1178 species of medicinal plants are estimated to be in trade of which 242 species have annual consumption levels in excess of 100 metric tonnes per year. Medicinal plants are not only a major resource base for the traditional medicine and herbal industry but also provide livelihood and health security to a large segment of Indian population. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Canadian man who apparently had a grudge against women was charged with murder after allegedly plowing a rented van onto a crowded Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people -- an incident that shocked the nation. Police said the suspect, 25-year-old Alek Minassian, was not known to them before Monday's carnage in Canada's most populous city, which also left 14 people injured. Most of the victims were women. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale played down any suggestion that the attack bore the hallmarks of those carried out by truck-driving extremists in London, Nice and other cities, saying "there is no discernable connection to national security." But authorities said the incident during the busy lunch hour Monday was undoubtedly deliberate. Lead investigator Detective-Sergeant Graham Gibson said Minassian had posted a "cryptic message on Facebook minutes before he began driving the rented van" along a long stretch of Yonge Street, eventually jumping the curb onto the sidewalk. In the post, Minassian praised mass killer Elliot Rodger -- a 22-year-old American who murdered six people and them himself in California in 2014, and who had professed frustration over his virginity and women rejecting him. The suspect's post also referred to the "Incel Rebellion" -- "incel" is short for "involuntarily celibate" and is often used in connection with online groups of men who are known to rant against women. Gibson said the victims of the Toronto attack were "predominantly women" and they ranged in age from the mid-20s to 80s. Minassian also referred to himself on social media as a private in the army. Canadian military spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande confirmed that he enlisted last August but asked to be discharged after only 16 days of basic training. A shaven-headed Minassian appeared in court yesterday to hear the charges against him -- 10 counts of premeditated murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. A 14th count of attempted murder was pending after the toll of injured was revised down. Minassian stood impassively with his hands behind his back, wearing a white police jumpsuit. He was calm as he was led away. The suspect is scheduled to return to court on May 10 for a bail hearing. Several of the victims were named in court documents, but others were still being identified by the coroner, who brought in extra help overnight. The first of the dead to be publicly identified was Anne Marie D'Amico, who worked at an investment management company near the scene. Her family called her a "shining light," saying in a statement: "We hope that in this time, people fight with the same altruism (she had) rather than anger and hatred." Two South Koreans were among the dead, a foreign ministry official in Seoul told AFP, adding that another of the country's citizens was seriously injured. A Jordanian national was also killed. Minassian lived with his father in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, and police searched the home today. Students who attended a vocational school with the suspect described him as withdrawn and awkward. Ari Blaff, who went to high school with Minassian, told public broadcaster CBC that his behavior "was usually quite strange." But Blaff said he'd "never noticed anything violent" -- the suspect just "made people feel uneasy around him." Minassian's mother told a community newspaper in 2009 that he suffered from a form of autism known as Asperger's syndrome. Today, police continued to comb the crime scene for evidence, while crowds gathered at a makeshift memorial to leave messages of condolences and flowers. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne was among those who stopped to leave flowers, pausing to read cards left in remembrance of the dead. In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a conference: "Canadians across the country are shocked and saddened by this senseless attack." But, he added: "We must not start living in fear and uncertainty every day as we go about our daily lives. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Central Bureau of Investigation today questioned former Tripura minister Bijita Nath in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam. Nath was the social welfare minister in the previous Manik Sarkar government in the state. "They questioned me on the Rose Valley issue. This time they recorded my statement, stating that earlier they had questioned me but did not record the statement," she told PTI. Nath was grilled by the CBI in connection with the scam in June last year. A CBI sleuth questioned her at her official residence at the MLA hostel here. Her lawyer Horibal Debnath, who was present in the MLA hostel during the questioning, told reporters that she was questioned as a witness and not as an accused. Tripura Speaker Rebati Mohan Das yesterday said the CBI had informed him that it would quiz Nath and another senior CPI(M) MLA s Badal Choudhury, in connection with the multi-crore Rose Valley chit fund scam. Choudhury, the former finance minister, would be questioned tomorrow, official sources said. In the run up to the Assembly polls held in February, the BJP-Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) alliance had announced to hand over the investigation into the Rose Valley scam to the CBI immediately after coming to power. Assets of Rose Valley in 20 locations across Tripura were attached by the state government in 2016. Thirty-seven cases related to the chit fund companies were forwarded to the central investigating agency in 2013 by the Tripura government, but the CBI is investigating only five of them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Centre's special envoy on Kashmir Dineshwar Sharma today called on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and apprised her about his recent interactions in the state. Sharma was appointed as the Centre's special representative last year to hold talks with all stakeholders in an effort to find lasting peace in Kashmir. An official spokesman said the centre's representative had arrived here on April 13. He later visited Kashmir and held wide range of discussions with a cross section of the society. Sharma called on the chief minister and apprised her about his interactions with people from different areas of the state, the spokesman added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chhattisgarh has made tremendous progress in the areas of health and road-rail connectivity, Chief Minister Raman Singh said here today. Singh was responding to Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's recent remark that states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are keeping India backward, especially on social indicators. The chief minister also said there should be an analytical study about fast growth achieved by Chhattisgarh after its formation in 2000. Chhattisgarh has made tremendous progress in health indicators like IMR (Infant Mortality Rate), MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) and malnutrition as well as in road and rail connectivity, Singh told reporters here. Earlier this week, Kant had said: "Eastern part of India, particularly states like Bihar, UP, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, is keeping India backward especially on social indicators. While we have have improved on ease of doing business, we have remained backward on human development index. We are still 131 out of 188 countries in HDI." Yesterday, Kant said India's eastern states have done remarkably well on ease of doing business index, but stressed that they need to repeat their progress on the human development index as well. Raman Singh also met Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in the national capital to discuss various matters related to the development of his state. The Centre today approved road development and expansion projects worth over Rs 3,000 crore in Chhattisgarh, according to a statement issued by the state government. During the meeting, consent was given on construction of an inter-change flyover worth Rs 95 crore at Raipur's busiest Tatibandh Chowk, where five roads intersect, Singh said. "Proposal of constructing four-lane from Raigarh to Dharamjaigarh was also discussed at the meeting and the Union minister assured that the work for the same will start very soon," the statement said. The chief minister drew the attention of Gadkari towards pending proposal of constructing bypasses in 17 cities of the state and stated that these will help in easing traffic. Gadkari instructed senior officials of his ministry to look into the matter, the statement said. The road transport minister also gave instruction on including the 210 km-long Rs 6,600 crore Purur-Jhalmala-Kusumkasa-Sherpaar-Mainpur NH 930, Bilaspur-Mungali-Pandariya-Ponda NH 130 A and Abhanpur-Rajim-Gariyabandh-Devbhog Marg NH 130 C in Annual Plan 2018-19. Singh apprised the union minister about construction of a 36 km-long stretch between Bhopalpatnam and Tarlaguda in NH 202 crossing Chhattisgarh's most Naxal-affected region. In his meeting with Paswan, Raman Singh raised various issues including decentralised paddy procurement and transport expenses. The Union Food Ministry will soon address the issue of transport expenditure amount spent by states on paddy procurement, the statement said. "The chief minister informed the union minister that there is extra burden on Chhattisgarh as over Rs 1292 crore spent on transport expenditure for paddy procurement has been pending since last 10 years due to lack of decision," it added. Singh also met Union Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar here. The chief minister said Chhattisgarh is the first state in the country to construct more than 6 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana. On the chief minister's demand, the union minister assured him that sanction will soon be given for constructing three lakh additional houses under the scheme. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress today alleged that India's national security and strategic interests had been compromised in Doklam with the Narendra Modi government maintaining a "conspiratorial silence" on it during the China visit. "Both Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had completely omitted confronting China on creation of full-fledged Chinese military complex in Doklam right upto 10 metres from Indian army post," Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters here. He alleged that both omitted confrontation with China over the building of a new road south of Doklam platform to provide easy access to China to Jhamperi Ridge overlooking the Siliguri Corridor, a gateway to North-Eastern states. Surjewala also asked whether Modi would take up the issue in the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 27-28. Sitharaman and Swaraj had attended the meetings of the defence and foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which began at Beijing yesterday. The congress leader said he wondered how the Modi government would settle the issue of tri-junction at Doklam in this scenario as it is an all-important issue for Bhutan and India's strategic interests viz-a-viz the "chicken neck." Surjewala said the party hoped that the Modi government would protect national security and strategic interests of the country when he meets the Chinese President. In the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Modi had made several insinuations on Congress and spoken about "red eye" to China, Surjewala said. On the Modi government's policy on saving Indian jobs, Surjewala said BJP government had failed Indian immigrants as the US has clamped down on H-4, H1-B and L1 visas. "India's growth story on the world stage as a tech power is under a cloud as Modi and BJP government flounders and fails India's young, standing as a mute spectator to the clampdown by US on H4, H1B and L1 Visas for Indians," he said. He said the Congress govermment in Karnataka created 15 lakh jobs in five years, while Modi government has snatched jobs of IT professionals. Modi and BJP must answer to India, especially Karnataka IT industry, IT professionals and the young, the reason for "bartering India's interests and compromising India's position as tech giant,@ Surjewala said. "Hugplomacy, trumpeting rhetoric and beating drums, while staying mum is the only delivery by Modi in last years," he added. An estimated 7.5 lakh Indians may consequently get deported after losing H1B status, Surjewala claimed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tamil Nadu's principal opposition party DMK today said it "endorsed," the efforts of West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to bring together various parties against the BJP. "DMK has always stood for the unity of regional parties and stronger federal co-operation," DMK working president M K Stalin said in a tweet. "I endorse the efforts of @MamataOfficial to bring together various political parties to oppose the autocratic and antidemocratic rule of the BJP," he said. Responding, Mamata tweeted saying,"Thank you. We extend our full support." For the DMK, Congress party is a key ally in Tamil Nadu and have faced several polls together in the past. Mamata Banerjee, who has been working on the idea of a "third front," against the BJP, recently said the Congress had to decide whether it should join her party-led federal front. The West Bengal Chief Minister had asked it to toe its "one-on-one fight," line in all the states. According to her, the forumula meant nominating one candidate on behalf of the opposition against the BJP. West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, however, has maintained that an anti-BJP front in the country "can succeed only under party president Rahul Gandhi's leadership". Chowdhury claimed that Banerjee was trying to project herself as a pan-India leader. On March 23, Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi got elected to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal with the support of the Trinamool Congress. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court today questioned a trial court's order extending the period of investigation in a terror funding case, allegedly involving Syed Shahid Yousuf, son of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen founder and globally-wanted terrorist Syed Salahuddin. The high court said that a special judge has no power to extend the period of investigation in a case and it only has the power to extend the judicial custody of the accused. "What business a judge has to say that the period of investigation is 180 days for completion of probe," a bench of justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta said. The court's remarks came while hearing the bail plea of Yousuf whose counsel said he was a government employee and was posted as agricultural assistant in Budgam of central Kashmir when he was arrested by the NIA on October 24 last year. The accused challenged the trial court's two orders of February and March -- rejecting him bail and extending judicial custody. The counsel said Yousuf's only crime was that he was son of a person who was also an accused in the case and the allegations against him are that he was a terrorist. The allegations were that Yousuf received money from his father which was terror fund and purportedly sent from Pakistan, advocate Rajat Kumar said. The NIA, however, opposed the plea saying it was not maintainable and there can be no appeal against an interlocutory order passed by the trial court. Additional Solicitor General Maninder Acharya, representing the NIA, said the application filed in the trial court by the agency was badly worded and it had submitted that as its investigation could not be completed in 90 days, it required the custody of the accused for completion of the probe. The bench, however, said it was clearly mentioned in the NIA's application that it was seeking extension of time to complete the investigation and the trial court also allowed its prayer and extended the time to complete the probe by 180 days. "How can the court pass this order? You made a wrong prayer and the judge also allowed it without applying its mind. I don't think, any judge can control the period of investigation. What is worrying us is not only your (NIA) mistake but that our judicial officers mistake," the bench said. It added that the statutes, especially relating to terror matters, should be taken lightly and they agencies and prosecutors should apply their minds. The court listed the matter for further hearing on May 2. Forty-two-year-old Yousuf is in judicial custody and his bail plea was dismissed by the trial court here on March 7. He had sought bail saying that he was not required further by the investing agency and no purpose will be served by keeping him in custody. The NIA had earlier alleged that the accused had links with proscribed terrorist organisations like Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. The NIA had on April 20 filed a charge sheet before the trial court and charged Yousuf with indulging in unlawful activities and raising funds for terror operations in a 2011 case. The final report has alleged that Yusuf had hatched a conspiracy to received funds from Pakistan through hawala channels to spread terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. The NIA has accused him of committing various offences punishable under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The NIA had earlier said that the case was registered on the basis of information regarding funds from Pakistan being sent to Jammu and Kashmir through hawala channels via Delhi to spread terrorism. The NIA had in 2011 arrested several persons including Ghulam Mohd Bhat with Rs 21.2 lakh, alleging that Yousuf was "one of the several Indian contacts of Bhat" who had been in touch with him for receiving money transfer codes. It had alleged that Yousuf's involvement was found in collecting funds from a terrorist outfit in Saudi Arabia as well as from other accused on directions of his father Mohd Yousuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, self-styled supreme commander of the Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen. Syed Salahuddin was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Department of State in June last year. The NIA has claimed that so far Yousuf has received a total of nearly Rs 4.5 lakh through eight international wire transfers. It had also registered two other cases related to terror funding -- one in November 2011 and the other in May 2017. It had filed a charge sheet against 10 people including Salahuddin in the April 2011 case. In the recent case, the NIA arrested various people including some close relatives and aides of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Barred from parking his vehicle in his office premises, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation Mayor-in-Council Rajesh Chirimar today lied down in protest for an hour, blocking movement of other vehicles. As soon as Chirimar reached the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation office gate at around 2 pm, the security guards rushed in to stop his vehicle. Chirimar, MIC (Mass Education), rang up higher officials, but none of them came to his rescue. Left with no other option, Chirimar lied down in front of the gate. Chirimar alleged that the parking issue has been bugging him for long. "I raised my voice repeatedly, but nothing materialised as yet," he said. Chirimar withdrew only after his colleague, Mayor-in-Council (Lighting and Parks) Sujit Saha, intervened. However, Chirimar did not enter his office and preferred to return home. Mayor of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation Sabyasachi Dutta, however, expressed his ignorance on the matter. Local residents and TMC party workers, however, described it as a result of the party's internal squabble. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) International donors today pledged USD 4.4 billion in aid for 2018 for civilians caught up in the Syrian civil war -- well short of what the UN says is needed for humanitarian work in Syria and neighbouring countries. The sum committed at a two-day conference in Brussels was less than half of the USD 9 billion the United Nations says is needed this year to help those in need inside Syria and living as refugees in neighbouring countries. The head of the UN aid agency UNOCHA called the USD 4.4 billion "a good start" but Oxfam slammed the international response as "tragically inadequate". "My best guess is that by the end of the day we will have heard pledges for 2018 of USD 4.4 billion," Mark Lowcock, the head of UNOCHA, told a conference. The EU's aid commissioner Christos Stylianides said later that pledges of a further USD 3.4 billion for 2019 and after were made at the conference, attended by more than 80 countries, aid groups and agencies. Britain announced 450 million pounds (USD 630 million, 515 million euros) for 2018 and another 300 million pounds for 2019, while Germany said it would donate more than a billion euros and the EU pledged some 560 million euros. But several major donors including the United States have not yet confirmed their pledges, Lowcock said, because of ongoing internal budget wrangling. Lowcock earlier told AFP he hoped to see $8 billion pledged on Wednesday, warning that funds were "desperately short" and some programmes may need to be cut if money was not found. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Egyptian Army has killed 30 terrorists and lost three of its soldiers during a major military operation against the Islamic State terror group in the restive central and north Sinai Peninsula, an official statement said today. North Sinai has witnessed many terror attacks since the January 2011 revolution. The attacks, mainly targeting police and military, increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by the military following massive protests against his rule. Hundreds of police and army personnel have been killed since then. A total of 173 suspects have also been arrested and two defence personnel were injured during the raids, the Army statement said, adding that Nasser Abu Zaqoul, a top commander of a terrorist group in central Sinai, was among those killed. The military and police forces, in the joint operation, also destroyed three militant hideout and destroyed 10 vehicles carrying arms and ammunitions, it said, without mentioning when the raids were carried out. The security forces have also seized and destroyed 26 cars and 25 motorbikes without number plates during the raids. A total of 437 hideouts, warehouses, a number of tunnels in Rafah in North Sinai were destroyed during the raids, the statement said. The military has launched security campaigns in the restive North Sinai area. The security forces have arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to file a detailed affidavit on emission standards for thermal power plants after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) said it has received comments from the Ministry of Power on the issue. A bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta also sought the response of court-mandated Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) on a separate plea filed by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) seeking its nod to use a low sulphur content fuel. During the brief hearing, Additional Solicitor General A N S Nadkarni, appearing for the MoEF&CC, placed before the bench the comments received from the Ministry of Power on the EPCA report on emission standards for thermal power plants. Advocate Aparajita Singh, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, said that MoEF&CC should be asked to file an affidavit giving all the details since their earlier affidavit does not give the entire information as to by when the emission standards would be implemented. Singh said that the ministry has said that the emission standards would be implemented by 2022 but they should explain and give details as to how it would be done. "You file a proper affidavit," the bench told Nadkarni and posted the matter for further hearing in July. The top court had earlier in December last year said that thermal power plants using furnace oil would have to switch over to alternate low polluting fuel within a year. It had permitted the Centre to modify the notification banning use of pet coke and furnace oil in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana for industries like cement, lime stone and thermal power plants. While cement and lime industries use pet coke, thermal power plants use furnace oil. The order was passed after the Centre had said that the Central Pollution Control Board had issued a direction prohibiting the use of pet coke and furnace oil until further orders in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. The use of pet coke and furnace oil is already prohibited in Delhi. The government had earlier this month informed the apex court that it was considering a nationwide ban on the use of pet coke by various industries and a decision is likely to be taken soon. The court was hearing a PIL filed in 1985 by environmentalist M C Mehta who had raised the issue of air pollution in the Delhi-national capital region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With temperatures soaring in the country, Europe continued to be the hot favourite destination among Indians this summer, however, there is a preference for shorter holidays, according to a survey by travel company Cox and Kings. Overall, the demand for summer holidays has increased by around 20 per cent compared to the same period last year, the survey said. "This summer, there is a subtle shift in travel pattern. We have observed that those opting for a two-country or three-country holiday, which translates to a seven-night or an eight-night holiday have risen by almost 50 per cent compared to the same period last year," the survey said. The main reason for this is that now Indians are taking more than one holiday in a year and they would like to space out their vacations, it added. The survey is based on actual bookings on Cox and Kings for this summer. France and Switzerland are the two hot-selling European destinations this summer, with some people combining these two with one more country like Austria, Italy, Netherlands or Germany, it added. Destinations such as Iceland, Ukraine, Greece and Croatia are popular with individual travellers. People from western India such as Gujarat and Maharashtra are mostly heading for cooler beach destinations overseas like Mauritius, Reunion Islands and Seychelles. The demand for these destinations from these two state have gone up by 15 per cent compared to the same period last year, it added. "Travel trends have become extremely volatile nowadays because travellers are always in pursuit of new destinations. While the demand for Europe during summer season continues this year as well, lately island hideaways such as Mauritius, Reunion Island and Seychelles are also catching the attention of summer travellers from India. Improved air connectivity and simplified visa processes have fuelled the interest even further for the Indian Ocean Islands," Cox and Kings head, relationships, Karan Anand said. Another reason why Indian travellers are finding these islands attractive is 'ease in visa processes', he said. "Both Mauritius and Seychelles offers visa on arrival to Indian travellers. While for Reunion Island, Indian nationals no longer need a visa for stays of up to 15 days," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior politician and former MLA, Anam Vivekananda Reddy, died today at a private hospital here after prolonged illness, family sources said. The 67-year-old Reddy, who was Congress MLA in undivided Andhra Pradesh, had joined the Telugu Desam party after the 2014 assembly elections which he did not contest. A three-time legislator, Reddy is survived by wife and two sons. He was elder brother of Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, former Finance miinister of undivided Andhra Pradesh. The body is being shifted to his native place Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and cremation would be held tomorrow, a senior TDP leader said. Several leaders cutting across parties have expressed grief over the death. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An armed gang opened fire on a high school in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, wounding five students, prosecutors said. Witnesses of the attack yesterday said the gunmen arrived at the entrance of the Federalized High School in the state capital Ciudad Victoria and opened fire. They then entered the school and fired more shots. The five injured students, two females and three males aged 15-18, were given first aid by members of the Red Cross and taken to a hospital across the street from the school. One of the injured is thought to be in a serious condition. Five people -- three men and two women -- were arrested in a police operation in a neighborhood of the same city following the attack, the state prosecutor's office said. Police do not know the motive for the shooting but say organized crime groups operating in the state recruit young students as drug dealers. In other Mexican states affected by drug-related crime such as Baja California Sur, primary school children participate in mock shootings where they learn to protect themselves by playing dead, in the event of being victims of an attack. Tamaulipas is one of the regions most affected by crime linked to drug trafficking, where armed clashes in public areas between drug gangs are common. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) French President Emmanuel Macron told the US Congress today that Iran will "never" be allowed to develop atomic weapons, as the fate of a landmark 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran hangs in the balance. "Our objective is clear," Macron told lawmakers on the final day of a state visit during which he and President Donald Trump called for a broader "deal" that would also limit Iran's ballistic missile program and support for militant groups across the Middle East. "Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons. Not now. Not in five years. Not in 10 years. Never," Macron said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A high level delegation from France visited Sri City near here today to assess the business potential offered by it. Consul General of France in Puducherry and Chennai, Catherine Suard along with her team of officials today, witnessed the infrastructure available there and assessed the business potential, a press release said. "We are inspired by Sri City's vision and its achieved developments. Future will give more opportunities for French companies to enjoy the integrated business park," she said. Sri City, situated about 125 km from here, has a multi-product special economic, free trade and warehousing, domestic tariff zone and electronics manufacturing cluster. About 150 companies from 27 countries have set up base in Sri City campus, Tada. On the delegation's visit, Sri City, Founder-Managing Director, Ravindra Sannareddy said, "We feel honoured. France is very keen on investing big in India and several French firms have made a choice to invest in Chennai region." The delegation later undertook a visit to various industries including the facility of France-based engineering major Alstom located at the campus, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Crime Branch team today visited a madrassa in Ghaziabad where a 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a juvenile after being taken form her house in east Delhi's Ghazipur, police said today. The team visited the madrassa and questioned the residents and visitors in connection with the case that has created tension in Ghazipur. The girl was rescued on April 22 from the madrassa by a Delhi Police team. The police were informed on April 21 by the girl's father that his daughter had gone missing after she went to the market. Subsequently, she was recovered from the madrassa and the accused juvenile was apprehended. Meanwhile, locals staged protest at the NH 24 and held a candle light vigil demanding action in the case. The protest led to severe traffic jam on the stretch. Yesterday, the case was transferred to the Crime Branch for a thorough probe. The victim had recorded her statement in front of a magistrate on April 23 and stated that the juvenile had taken her to the madrasa after telling her that he would make her meet his friends. The girl's parents are alleging that the madrassa's cleric also knew about the girl being kept captive there and are demanding his arrest. A senior official said that he is being questioned in the matter. The accused juvenile's family members are also being questioned whether they were in touch with him while the girl was missing. Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari, along with East Delhi MP Maheish Girri, today met the girl's family and assured them of all the support. Tiwari assured the family that even though the Delhi Police has handed over the case to the Crime Branch, he will talk to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for proper help in investigation of the matter as the madrassa is located there. In a letter to Union Home minister Rajnath Singh, Girri demanded a CBI inquiry into the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) While tourists from across the world come to Goa to enjoy on its picturesque beaches, the locals have of late been holidaying in the state's hinterland to get respite from the summer heat and humidity. Several Goans have been rushing these days to the river fronts in the rural talukas of Sanguem in South Goa district and Sattari in North Goa district, thus encouraging a new trend of 'agro-tourism' in the state. There are at least 100 farms in Goa, which operate seasonally, mostly in summer, away from the beaches, a senior state tourism official said. "While foreign and domestic tourists enjoy on the beaches, the locals in the beach belt try to search for something else. The agro-tourism has, thus, come as a good alternative," Goa's tourism minister Manohar Ajgaonkar said. The state government plans to provide all possible help to boost this hinterland tourism, he said. "We aim to provide a diverse experience to the visitors. They should know all facets of Goa, right from beaches to our green hinterland," Ajgaonkar said. Prashant Desai, the son of former panchayat minister Venkatesh Desai, has turned a bushy patch at Advai village in Sattari into an agro-tourism destination. "The initial concept was to have modern farming with the cross plantation of banana, areca nut, coconut, papaya, lemon and other trees. But, a few of my well-wishers suggested that I should develop this place into a farm to attract tourists," he said. Now, the locals in large numbers throng the place, famous as the 'peacock farm'. "My weekends since last four months have been full and now with the vacations on, we have advanced bookings even on weekdays," Desai said. He claimed that about 90 per cent of the people coming to his farm were locals, while 10 per cent were visitors from other places, including Mumbai, who got to know about it through the social media. In the hinterland, one can also find inspirational stories of aspiring tourism entrepreneurs. Ramchandra Salgaoncar, who manages a papaya farm at Bhironda village in Sattari, left his cushy corporate job to venture into 'agro-tourism'. "I left my job in October last year and since then have been associated with this project of agro-tourism. It is a satisfying experience," Salgaoncar said. While Goa has the image of being a beach destination, several hotel owners from the coastal belt drive to Salgaoncar's farm to enjoy a quiet vacation during weekdays. "The hoteliers are busy during weekends at their own resorts, so they can spare time to visit the farm only on weekdays," he said. The agro-tourism concept has been welcomed by professionals from various fields in the state and also young students, who prefer to skip weekends and get some discounts during weekdays to enjoy at these farms, Salgaoncar said. "The concept of tourism has changed. Now, people don't want to go to public places with their families. They want a private space where their families can safely enjoy. That is where small farms like ours flourish," he said. The Tanshikar farm in Sanguem taluka has been among the first few 'agro-tourism' ventures. Chinmay Tanshikar, who turned his ancestral farm into a tourist attraction, claimed that the number of visitors to his place has been increasing every year. "The word of mouth publicity works better than any other media campaign," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi today awarded a youth club of Sandeshkhali in South 24-Parganas and district wings of Nehru Yuva Kendra for contributing towards development and empowerment of rural youth. At a programme in Raj Bhavan, three youngsters from Bankura, South Kolkata and Purulia were awarded cash prizes for holding first, second and third positions in a state-level declamation contest on patriotism and nation building that was organized by Nehru Yuva Kendra last December. Jay Gopal Youth Development Centre at Sandeshkhali, South 24 Parganas, bagged state level outstanding youth club award which included a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh. The first prize of state documentation award of Rs 50,000 went to Darjeeling wing and the second prize of Rs 25,000 was given to Burdwan wing of the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan. The governor praised the efforts undertaken by the youth volunteers of Nehru Yuva Kendra, especially for their activities on upliftment of rural and tribal youth and those living in far flung areas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government today banned import of yellow peas for a period of three months - April to June this year. Such measures help in curbing cheaper imports and boost local prices. Last year, the government had imposed 50 per cent import duty on yellow peas. Other pulses, however, attract zero duty. "Import policy of yellow peas is revised from free to restricted for a period of three months only," the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in a notification. India is the largest producer of pulses in the world. The target for pulses production is 24 million tonnes for 2018-19, marginally up from 23.95 million tonnes in 2017-18. In a separate notification, it said that in case of change in policy of export and import of any item, inbound or outbound shipments already made "before the date of such regulation/ restriction will not be affected". "However, the import through high sea sales will not be covered under this facility," the DGFT added. It also said that whenever brings out a policy change, that will be applicable prospectively. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government is considering clearing the appointment of senior advocate Indu Malhotra as Supreme Court judge while keeping on hold the collegium's another recommendation to elevate Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph to the apex court, sources in the Law Ministry said today. On January 22, the Supreme Court collegium's file recommending the elevation of Justice Joseph and Malhotra reached the Law Ministry. After processing the file in the first week of February, the recommendations were kept in abeyance as the government wanted to elevate only Malhotra. But now, the government is considering to go ahead with the appointment of Malhotra and keep on hold the elevation of Justice Joseph. The government feels that while recommending the name of Justice Joseph, the collegium has disregarded seniority and regional representation. He is 42nd in the seniority list of 669 high court judges. If the government goes ahead with "segregation" of the recommendations --- proceeding with one and keeping on hold the other, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad may write to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra about its intention. There is a feeling within the government that the issue cannot be prolonged and a final decision has to be taken. Earlier, legal experts had cautioned the government against accepting one of the recommendations of the Supreme Court collegium while keeping the other one on hold, pointing that a Chief Justice of India had told the Law Ministry not to "segregate" names sent for appointment together. The sources said when legal exerts were asked whether the collegium's recommendation could be segregated, they reminded the government of a letter written by then Chief Justice of India R M Lodha in June 2014, in which he had made it clear that the executive cannot segregate recommendations without prior approval of the collegium. Justice Lodha had written to the government when it had decided against elevating senior lawyer and former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium to the Supreme Court, while accepting other recommendations of the collegium. But in the meantime, Subramanium withdrew his consent to be recommended for judgeship. A previous recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium made in 2016 proposing transfer of Justice Joseph from Uttarakhand to Andhra Pradesh remains on hold with the government. The Uttarakhand High Court chief justice had set aside the imposition of President's Rule in the state in April, 2016. While recommending the name of Justice Joseph for the top court, the collegium had said that he is "more deserving and suitable in all respects than other chief justices and senior puisne judges of high courts for being appointed as judge of the Supreme Court of India". The collegium had taken into consideration combined seniority on all-India basis of chief justices and senior puisne judges of high courts, apart from their merit and integrity, the body of top five judges of the Supreme Court had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government today increased the minimum support price (MSP) of raw by Rs 200 per quintal to Rs 3,700 per quintal for the 2018-19 crop season, an official release said. The decision to increase the MSP for fair average quality (FAQ) of raw to Rs 3,700 per quintal for 2018-19 season from Rs 3,500 per quintal in 2017-18 was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. The MSP would yield returns of 63.2 per cent over the weighted average A2 + FL (covers actual paid-out costs plus an imputed value of unpaid family labour) cost of production, the release said. "The increased MSP is based on recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP)," it said. The decision would benefit farmers mainly in West Bengal, Assam and Bihar which account for 95 per cent of the country's jute production. The government in the Budget for 2018-19 had announced fixing MSPs at 1.5 times the cost of production for various crops. The Jute Corporation of India would continue to act as central nodal agency to undertake price support operations at the MSP in jute growing states, according to the release. Presently, the CACP gives three definitions of production costs: A2, A2+FL and C2, the report said. OTHER CABINET DECISIONS APPROVED * Long-term pacts for export of iron ore to Japan, South Korea through state-owned trading firm MMTC * Ex-post facto nod for MoU between India and an African island nation, Sao Tome and Principe, to increase cooperation in the field of medicinal plants * Signing of pact with BRICS nations for regulation of medical products for human use A2 costs cover all paid-out expenses, both in cash and kind, incurred by farmers on seeds, fertilisers, chemicals, hired labour, fuel and irrigation, among others. A2+FL covers actual paid-out costs plus an imputed value of unpaid family labour. C2 costs are more comprehensive, accounting for the rentals and interest forgone on owned land and fixed capital assets respectively, on top of A2+FL. The Himachal Pradesh High Court today expressed its dismay at the leak of the CBI's status reports on the probe into the rape-and-murder of a teenaged schoolgirl in the Kotkhai area of Shimla that were filed in sealed covers, and asked the central agency how contents of these reports were being published in the media. The observations were made by a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Sharma after the CBI submitted a fresh status report on the progress of the probe. On being asked, the CBI told the bench that it was the last report and the charge sheet against the accused arrested in the case would be filed within the prescribed time period of 90 days, by July 11. The court, however, did not change its earlier order summoning the Director of the CBI to appear before it on May 9. The bench asked the CBI Director to file a personal affidavit by May 8 and in case, the court was not satisfied, the Director would have to appear on May 9 as directed earlier. The CBI has arrested a 25-year-old woodcutter, Anil Kumar, in connection with the rape-and-murder case, after his DNA sample matched the genetic material found on the body of the victim and the crime scene. The accused was produced in a local court which remanded him in 14-day judicial custody. Meanwhile, the local court today extended the judicial custody of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Z H Zaidi, then Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Manoj Joshi and six other policemen till May 1. They were arrested in connection with the custodial death of one of the six accused arrested earlier by the state police. The CBI has not found any evidence of their involvement in the gruesome rape-and-murder in July last year, which had become a rallying point against the then Congress government in Himachal Pradesh. Zaidi was heading a Special Investigation Team (SIT) which was initially probing the rape-and-murder case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Allahabad High Courttoday granted bail to Dr Kafeel Ahmad Khan, one of the accused in the B R D Medical college case of Gorakhpur. Khan wasarrestedin connection with the death of several children in Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in Gorakhpur allegedly due to interrupted oxygen supply to the hospital and was in jail for the last seven months. Justice Yashwant Verma granted the bail after hearing the counsels representing Khan as well as the state government. Over 30 children died at the medical college on August 10-11, last year allegedly due to the disruption in oxygen supply. The Uttar Pradesh Police Special Task Force (STF) had arrested Khannear Kalesar in Sahjanwa when he was on the way to Gorakhpur. Khan was the nodal officer of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in the medical college. While granting bail to Khan, thecourt laid down several conditions including that the applicant shall not tamper with the records or documents andthathe will not threaten or influence any witnesses in the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court today directed the Jawaharlal Nehru University to treat the representations of women students as complaints and initiate a probe against its professor on charges of sexual harassment, while questioning the varsity for not taking any steps in the matter. The court also sought the response of the varsity on the petition by the women students seeking suspension of the professor Atul Kumar Johri and to restrain him from entering the campus. The plea has sought that a safe working environment be provided to the students there. Justice Rajiv Shakdher also issued notice to the professor on the plea which alleged that despite making various representations to the varsity, it has not taken any action against Johri. "Can't you (JNU) advise him to stay outside the campus till the enquiry is completed? ... Can't you treat the representations as complaints? The core issue is that the students should feel safe in the campus. I am not saying you completely trash the professor. Take his defence, give him a preliminary hearing. Do something, you can't expose your students like this," the judge said. The court directed the university to treat the representations of the women students as complaints for initiating action against Johri and also asked the Delhi Police to show the statements of students recorded before a magistrate to the JNU vice chancellor so that he can initiate preliminary enquiry against the professor. On being asked about the steps taken by the university, its counsel said the students have not made any complaint before the varsity or the Internal Complaint Committee due to which it cannot take any action. JNU's counsel Ginni Rautray said how could the university take any action when there was no complaint before it. The students have directly approached the police for loding of FIR, so the law will take its own course, she said. However, advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the women students, said they have given several representations to the university and by lodging FIR with the police, the victims have taken upon themselves the task of discharging the higher burden of proof. She said it is a case where eight FIRs of sexual offences have been lodged against the professor based on the complaints of eight women students. The issue is of grave nature and the university should provide a safe environment to the students, Grover said. She said the professor continued to visit the Department of Life Sciences and has access to all documents. The affected students and scholars are directly working under him and they do not feel safe, she added. The professor was arrested in March and granted bail by the court, but the authorities had not taken any action against him, the complainants stated. On the submission of JNU's counsel that the university cannot take action unless a complaint is made to them, the judge said, "Are you saying that the vice chancellor has no power to restrain a professor on the basis of an FIR?... Don't give up on your power. You are trying to tell me that the vice chancellor has no power." The varsity's counsel said if such a precendent is set, then anybody can come and say an FIR has been lodged against a professor and he should be suspended. The counsel said she will facilitate the vice chancellor in taking a decision if the police allows him to peruse the statements of the students. Advocate Satyakam, appearing for Delhi Police, said the statements of students were recorded before the magistrate and they have so many details. The court asked the police to file a status report in the matter and listed the case for hearing on May 2. Students, professors and women rights organisations have been demanding his arrest, after several students had accused him of sexual harassment. Johri had claimed before the trial court in his bail plea that in compliance with certain UGC guidelines regarding compulsory attendance and leave pattern, he had sent an e-mail on February 27 to certain students, including a complainant student, warning them against their irregular attendance pattern. He had said the allegations levelled by the woman pertained to 2013-14 but the FIR was registered in 2018. He had said the FIR was a counterblast to falsely implicate him. Before receiving the e-mail pertaining to her attendance, the complainant had cordial relations with him and his wife, and she had even celebrated birthdays and festivals with them, he had claimed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The HRD ministry today launched the second edition of the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan under which students from 750 higher educational institutions from across the country will adopt villages and visit them to get acquainted with lifestyle of people there and the problems faced by them. The minister advised the students to involve local village people at every stage of problem identification and solving issues relating to health, cleanliness, waste management, plantation, financial inclusion, women and child development. The mission involves students from colleges and universities will go to nearby villages to get acquainted with the life of village people and the problems faced by them in day-to-day life. Students are the real agents of change who can develop, empower and brighten the future of the country, Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said while addressing the launch ceremony. He said that this was also an opportunity for them to learn about the basic challenges faced by the rural people and to bring out practical solutions for their betterment. "India had witnessed the migration of rural population in the past, but now the process of sustainable development through the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 will help to reverse this migration, Minister of State for HRD Satya Pal Singh said. Secretary (Higher Education), HRD ministry, R Subrahmanyam appealed to the student community to take the lead of this programme to make it a national movement. 750 institutions chosen in the first lot have participated in today's seminar; however, thousands of institutions have offered their willingness to joint this movement. To cover the 45,000 villages of the country under this movement, we need the participation of 8,252 higher institutions, he said. Under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0, the institutions have been selected on a Challenge Mode and the scheme has been extended to 750 reputed Higher Educational Institutes (both public and private) of the country. Also, scope for providing subject expert groups and regional coordinating institutes to handhold and guide the participating institutions has been strengthened. IIT Delhi has been designated to function as the mational coordinating institute for this programme and the ministry intends to extend the coverage to all the reputed higher educational institutes, in a phased manner. Each selected institute would adopt a cluster of villages/panchayats and gradually expand the outreach over a period of time, Subramaniam said. Institutes through their faculty and students, will carry out studies of living conditions in the adopted villages, assess the local problems and needs, workout the possibilities of leveraging the technological interventions and the need to improve the processes in implementation of various government schemes, prepare workable action plans for the selected villages. The institutes would be expected to closely coordinate with the district administration, elected public representatives of panchayat/villages and other stakeholders and will become a part of the process of development planning and implementation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Newly-appointed Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Vishnu Kokje today welcomed conviction by a Rajasthan court of self-styled godman Asaram in a rape case, saying it is a "lesson" to the hypocrite godmen who defame the Hindu religion through such "immoral" acts. A Jodhpur court today sentenced the self-styled godman to life in prison after finding him guilty of raping a teenage girl in his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur five years ago. Kokje today called upon top office-bearers of the RSS at its headquarters here. "Some hypocrites under the garb of Hindu religion commit such disgusting acts. They should get strictest punishment. There are many such people who are defaming the Hindu religion and it (the court verdict) is a lesson for such hypocrites," he told reporters. Responding to a query, Kokje said the people should not "run after so called sadhus blindly". He also said that many seers have set examples to emulate by preaching spiritualism and doing selfless service for the society. When asked about the VHP's stand that a law be passed in Parliament for constructing a Ram temple on the disputed site in Ayodhya, Kokje said, "We are hopeful of a fast decision on the Ram temple issue without any further delays. The introduction of law will be dependent upon the decision of the (supreme) court (hearing the pending title suit)". "We will have to wait for the decision of the court. Why should we think that we will lose. We may win the case," he said. Responding to a query on the purpose of his visit to the Sangh leaders, he said it was for seeking guidance, which is a norm. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), along with the Thomson Reuters Foundation and UNICEF, has launched an online course on critical appraisal skills (CAS) for healthcare journalists which aims to enhance capacities of media professionals to generate factual and non-sensational reports, according to a release today. The launch coincides with the World Immunization Week, being observed worldwide from April 24 to 30, it added. The course provides a specialised set of skills and competencies to the journalism students and enables them to research and analyse health-related information for credibility and relevance thereby improving the accuracy in reporting, the IIMS release said, quoting its Director General K G Suresh. The course is available for entry and mid-level health reporters and aims to enhance the capacities of media representatives to generate factual and non-sensational reports, the release said. Thomson Reuters Foundation Director (Journalism and Media Programmes) Nicolas Ballet said, With this initiative, we are training Indian journalists to apply the Reuters principles of accuracy and impartiality to their reporting on immunisation and mother and child health. UNICEF Representative in India Yasmin Ali Haque said, "This course will be an opportunity for health journalists across the country to add a critical dimension of evidence in their reporting and support in disseminating credible messages on the value of vaccines and how immunisation saves the lives of millions of girls and boys. The free online course is launched in the backdrop of UNICEF's Every Child, Alive' campaign which focuses on reducing newborn mortality, ensuring that every child is alive and healthy in the days, weeks and months after birth, the release said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Suspended after the Doklam face-off, the bilateral military exercise of India and China is likely to resume this year, in sync with renewed efforts by both the countries to reset ties hit by a tense standoff between their troops, government sources said today. The exercise 'Hand-in-Hand' between the armies of the two countries will take place within next 4-5 months in China and an announcement is likely to be made very soon, sources told PTI. It is learnt that the issue of resumption of the annual exercise had figured during talks between Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe in Beijing yesterday. Sitharaman was in Beijing to attend a meeting of defence ministers of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) countries. Prime Narendra Modi is travelling to Chinese city of Wuhan on Friday on a two-day visit to hold an "informal summit" with Chinese President Xi Jinping, seen as an effort to build mutual trust between the two sides. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said the two leaders will try to reach important consensus to resolve outstanding issues and build mutual trust during their talks in Wuhan. The government sources said both sides want to resume the military exercise as it will act as a confidence building measure between the two armies. The annual exercise was to be hosted by China in 2017 but it did not take place due to the Doklam standoff. So far, both sides have participated in six editions of the exercise. India had hosted the exercise in 2016. Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face off was "resolved" on August 28 last year. The area in Doklam where China tried to construct a road is a disputed territory claimed by both China and Bhutan. India sent its troops to stop the Chinese construction activity, saying it could be a threat to its strategic interests in the region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian and Malaysian armies will hold a two-week military exercise beginning April 30 in Malaysia as part of efforts to bolster defence cooperation. The joint exercise 'Harimau Shakti' will take place in the dense forests of Sengai Perdik in Hulu Langat district of Malaysia, the Defence Ministry said. "The exercise is aimed at bolstering cooperation and coordination between the armed forces of both the nations and to share the expertise of both the contingents in conduct of counter-insurgency operations in jungle terrain," it said. The Indian Army will be represented by 4 Grenadiers, one of the oldest infantry battalions which has rich operational experience in conventional as well as counter- insurgency warfare. The Malaysian contingent is being represented by soldiers from 1 Royal Ranjer Regiment and the Royal Malay Regiment, known for their experience in jungle warfare, said the Ministry. "This is the first instance wherein a joint training exercise of this magnitude involving Indian and Malaysian soldiers is being organized on Malaysian soil," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's ranking in the Press Freedom Index has fallen two places to 138, a watchdog said today in an annual report, blaming "physical violence" against journalists like Gauri Lankesh as the key reason behind the country's low ranking. Norway topped the list of having the world's freest press for the second year in a row, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said while North Korea remained the most repressive country followed by Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Syria and then China. India's ranking has fallen two places to 138th position in a ranking of 180 countries. The report warned that hatecrime is another issue plaguing India. "Hate speech is also an issue in the continent's other giant, India, which has fallen another two places to 138th. Ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014, Hindu fundamentalists have been referring to journalists in extremely violent terms," the report said. "Any investigative reporting that annoys the ruling party or any criticism of Hindutva, elicits a torrent of online insults and calls for the death of the reporter or writer responsible, most of it coming from the prime minister's troll army," the report said. The RSF cited the case of the killing of journalist- activist Gauri Lankesh who was shot down outside her house in Bengaluru in September last year. "The newspaper editor Gauri Lankesh was gunned down outside her home in September after being the target of hate speech and death threats for criticising Hindu supremacy, the caste system and discrimination against women," the report said. "The physical violence against journalists is largely responsible for India's low ranking. At least three journalists were murdered in connection with their work. More were killed in circumstances that were unclear, as is often the case in rural areas, where reporters are poorly paid," according to the RSF ranking. China's ranking remained unchanged at 175th position for the second year. Underlining that China's censorship and surveillance has reached unprecedented levels due to the massive use of new technology, the RSF said foreign reporters are finding it harder to work and ordinary citizens can now be jailed just for sharing content on a social network or during a private chat on a messaging service. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A two-day-long multilateral meet on evolving an effective mechanism to contain terror financing began today in Paris which is being attended by a high level Indian delegation. India is likely to press for tougher norms for financial transactions at the conference to choke flow of funds to terror organisations globally, officials said. The conference, being organised by the French government, is being attended by over 70 countries and nearly 30 international organisations including the International Monetary Fund, United Nations, Interpol, League of Arab States World Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Indian delegation is headed by Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar and it comprised Deputy NSA Rajinder Khanna, Joint Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry Mahaveer Singhvi, Director-General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) Yogesh Chander Modi among others, according to a release by French Embassy here. Welcoming India's participation at the conference, Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler said France was delighted that India is sending a high-level, comprehensive delegation to the event. "This impressive participation is both a reflection of counter-terrorism being a shared priority for our two countries, and the excellence of our partnership in this regard," the release quoted him as saying. The conference will cover aspects of terror financing and deliberate on ways to stop flow of funds to the terror groups, according to a brief note on the conference. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be the likely destination for the BCCI if next year's Indian Premier League dates clash with the country's general elections. The 12th edition of the IPL will be held from March 29 to May 19 next year but BCCI are aware that there remains a possibility of elections happening around that time of the year. "Well, we will only take a call when the situation arises, but we are ready for any such eventuality. United Arab Emirates looks to be the most likely country where it would be shifted if need be," a senior BCCI official told PTI on the condition of anonymity. "UAE's time zone suits the Indian audience unlike South Africa," he stated. In the UAE, matches are played at three venues -- Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The IPL has been shifted twice in the past due to general elections. In 2009, the entire tournament was shifted to South Africa while in 2014, the first part of the league was held in the UAE. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) ISRO has rescheduled the high-profile launch of its advanced communication satellite GSAT-11, the heaviest made in India, from Kourou, French Guiana, for additional technical checks, weeks after its communication satellite with military applications GSAT-6A went missing after a perfect launch. GSAT-11, with a lift-off mass over 5,700 kg, was initially planned to ride piggyback with co-passengers on Ariane space rocket on its mission on May 25. "The launch of GSAT-11 scheduled during May 2018 from Kourou, French Guiana is rescheduled. The revised launch date will be communicated subsequently," the city headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a brief statement. The space agency gave no reason for rescheduling the launch. However, in a statement on its website, European space transporter Arianespace said the Ariane 5 launch numbered VA243 had been postponed due to additional technical checks the satellite needs to undergo. It said the Ariane 5 launch was initially planned for May 25. Arianespace was also scheduled to put into space Azerspace-2/Intelsat-38 along with GSAT-11, which is designed to provide 12 Gbps (gigabit per second) capacity and multi-spot beam coverage over the Indian mainland and nearby islands, bringing significant advantages to the user community. GSAT-11 had arrived at the European spaceport in French Guiana in South America on March 30. According to ISRO, GSAT-11 is a multi-beam high throughput communication satellite operating in Ka and Ku-bands employing a new bus. It provides 32 user beams in Ku-band and 8 gateway beams in Ka-band. The payload includes Ka x Ku-band forward link transponders and Ku x Ka band return link transponders. ISRO had recently reported it had lost contact with GSAT-6A, which was lauched on March 29, and was making efforts to link with it. The contact with GSAT-6A was snapped when ISRO scientists attempted to ignite the engine in the third and final move to put the satellite in its desired location after its textbook launch from the space port of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. In August last year, India's mission to launch its backup navigation satellite IRNSS-1H on board PSLV-C39 ended in a failure after a technical fault on the final leg following a perfect launch. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A political activist was killed and two police personnel were injured today in a militant attack in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, police said. The militants opened fire near the Rajpora Chowk in Pulwama in which three persons were injured, a police official said. He said one of the injured was political activist Ghulam Nabi, a resident of Shadimarg area, who succumbed to injuries while being taken to a hospital. The official said both the injured policemen are being treated at the hospital and their condition is stated to be stable. The security forces have cordoned off the area and a search has been launched to nab the attackers, the official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president Rahul Gandhi will release the party's manifesto for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls on April 27 in Mangalore, sources said today. During his two-day seventh leg of campaigning in the southern state, which starts tomorrow, Gandhi would also visit parts of Uttara Kannada like Ankola city, Mastikatte Circle (Kumta), Saraswati Circle (Honnavar) and hold a corner meeting at Bhatkal, the party said in a statement today. "Rahulji will release the manifesto in Mangalore the day after tomorrow. It will be an all-encompassing document," a Congress leader said, requesting anonymity. He refused to divulge more details, but added that the manifesto would have "something" for all sections of the society. In the run-up to the high-stakes Karnataka polls, Gandhi had asked the Congress leaders to prepare a "people's manifesto", after taking the feedback of all the stakeholders. On Gandhi's campaigning, the Congress leader said the party workers wanted him to focus on the areas he was yet to visit. So far, the Congress chief has held six rounds of campaigning in the southern state. The sixth phase of campaigning was on April 7-8. The election to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly will be held on May 12. The southern state is slated to witness a three-corner contest involving the ruling Congress, the BJP and the H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S). The result of the polls will be announced on May 15. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP MLA Surender Singh today sent NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar a dissent note against the civic body's decision that audio and video recording of the council meetings should not be made public. Following the development, the NDMC chairman has directed concerned officials to include the dissent note in minutes of the meeting, which was held on April 23. Kejriwal is a presiding officer of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) meeting while Singh is a member of the council. "In the instant case, whereas some BJP members had been publicly taking a stand in favour of the 3 issues...however, they said exactly the opposite side inside the council meeting. "In meeting, dated February 3, 2018, these BJP members strongly opposed DTL scales, 100 per cent employment to death cases and regularisation of RMR employees," the note read. It also said that this is the reason why the BJP members are so "adamant" that the recordings of this meeting should not be made public, else their "duplicity" would get "exposed". Earlier this month, Kejriwal had asked the NDMC to provide the video recording of its meeting held in February 3 this year. The move comes after the Delhi chief minister, who presided over the meeting, was denied the video recording by the NDMC, citing that some members have objected to the sharing of the recording. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Following the conviction of Asaram in a rape case, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said today the places named after the controversial godman would be rechristened. Nobody is above the law, Chouhan said and promised "appropriate action" on an activist's demand that two places in Bhopal named after 77-year-old Asaram be renamed. "No one is above the Constitution, the law, and the public sentiments. It is a country where the name of Aurangzeb Road has also been changed. Soon, we will take appropriate action on this matter too," Chouhan said. A court in Rajasthan today sentenced Asaram to life in jail for raping a minor girl. Bhopal has two places named after Asaram -- a road crossing and a bus stand, both located near the godman's ashram near the Raja Bhoj Airport on the city outskirts. Activist Rachna Dhingra, who works for the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster, made the demand in a video on social media. "I am asking the chief Minister who claims to be a big proponent and protector of girls' rights that the names of this crossing and bus stand be changed," she said. Another activist, Akshay Hunka, tagged the chief minister in his tweet and asked to spell out the government's stand on Dhingra's demand. Replying to it, Chouhan assured to take appropriate action. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, Jammu, today told the Supreme Court that advocate Deepika Singh Rajawat, who is representing the victim's family in the Kathua gangrape and murder case, was not threatened by any member of the lawyers' body. It further said there was a need for a "fair and impartial" CBI probe into the gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl, while maintaining that it had not obstructed smooth functioning of the justice delivery system in any manner. In an affidavit filed before the apex court, the lawyers' body has said neither its office bearers nor any member of the association had obstructed or threatened Rajawat from appearing in the court. It has claimed that a "motivated and malicious campaign" by some media channels has created an "erroneous impression" about the motives of the 'bandh' call in Jammu by projecting the legal fraternity and also the people supporting it as "pro-rapists, which is factually incorrect and misleading as such denied." "However, in order to ensure justice to the victim, the demand for a CBI enquiry in the Kathua rape and murder case was disassociated from the on-going agitation, as the matter had already landed before the court of law and the remedy, if any, was within the competence of the court of law, but still the association believes that the justice shall be done to the victim only after a fair and impartial probe by the CBI," the affidavit said. With regard to the allegation of obstruction or extending threat to Rajawat, the association said, "It is totally false and baseless and the same is vehemently/specifically denied". It said after the apex court had taken cognisance of the matter, members of the bar association have resumed their work after receiving a letter from the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and request from the Bar Council of India in this regard. The lawyers' body said there was real grave threat to their life and national security in wake of illegal settlement of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis near strategic locations in Jammu, including Indian Army camps, the railway station, the airport, bridges, on Jammu's hills and along the national highway. It alleged that state sponsored attempts were being made from time to time to create a Kashmir like situation by ensuring the demographic change in the Jammu region. The lawyers' body said that District Bar Association, Kathua, was also supporting the demand of transfer of probe in the case to the CBI. The charge sheet in the matter was filed in the court of chief judicial magistrate in Kathua, which is situated at a distance of about 100 km from Jammu, it said. It denied the allegations that any member of the bar association had caused any obstruction in filing of the charge sheet in the court. "As the charge sheet was filed in Kathua, and the alleged obstruction, if any, caused in filing the same can be better explained by the members of District Bar Association, Kathua," it said. The affidavit has alleged that after the forcible exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley, organised state sponsored attempts were being made from time to time to create a Kashmir like situation by ensuring the demographic change in Jammu region, where about 20 lakh kanals of state and forest land had been found to be illegally occupied. "The members of the association would highlight that they feel grave threat to their security, life and property in the given circumstances where the state has miserably failed to perform its constitutional duty. "In fact, by this act of omission and commission it has the effect of encouraging certain forces that are hell-bent to change the Jammu's demography so that the people living in Jammu region are made to feel insecure and toe line of anti-national forces, which are duly encouraged and patronised by foreign powers, especially Pakistan", it said. The affidavit further said, "The fact of the matter is that there is real grave threat to our own life and national security that the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, Jammu, took the plunge in view of the recent attack on February 10, 2018 on an army camp at Sunjwan, Jammu." On April 13, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had taken a serious note of lawyers obstructing the judicial process in the case and had initiated a case on its own accord saying such impeding of the process of law "affects the delivery of justice". The apex court had also ordered the state police to grant security to the family of the victim, their friend and their lawyer. The minor girl went missing from a forested area near her home in Kathua on January 10 and her body was found in the same area a week later. The Jammu and Kashmir Police Crime Branch, which probed the case, has filed a main charge sheet against seven persons and a separate case against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district. The charge sheet revealed chilling details about how the girl was allegedly kidnapped, drugged, raped inside a place of worship before being killed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Lokayuta police today conducted searches at the residences of a senior official of the Ujjain Municipal Corporation and unearthed alleged disproportionate assets, an official said. Based on a complaint, the raids were conducted at the residences of UMC additional commissioner Ravindra Kumar Jain in Indore and Ujjain. "We unearthed properties worth over Rs two crore from the premises," Ujjain Lokayukta Superintendent of Police Gitesh Garg told PTI. Jain had joined the service in 1983 and so far earned nearly Rs one crore from his known sources of income, he said. However, the searches revealed that he has properties and assets worth over Rs 2 crore, Garg said. During the searches, the Lokayukta police found that Jain owned a flat, a three-storey hostel and a commercial space in Indore, he said. Besides, cash worth around Rs 3 lakh was recovered from his residences and the Lokayukta police also got information about 10 bank accounts of his family members, Garg said. An investigation was on to ascertain the exact value of Jain's properties and assets, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court today questioned the need for doctors to be on duty for 24 hours or more and said that it should be changed. Referring to the shortage of medical professionals, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar observed that in a country "blessed with human resource" the relatives of hospitalised patients need to lug around medicines and reports from one department to another in a hospital. "Why do we have 24 hour or 30 hour long shifts for doctors? It should be changed," the court said. The bench made the observations during a brief hearing of a PIL initiated by it after perusing a report on the rise in violent attacks on doctors by attendants or relatives of patients. The court from time to time, through the plea, has been issuing directions for ensuring safety and security of doctors and other medical staff. As part of its directions, the court had asked the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH), a body under the Quality Council of India (QCI), to assess the quality of health care and working conditions of medical professionals at three hospitals in the national capital. The hospitals to be inspected were All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Safdarjung Hospital and Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan. Today, NABH informed the bench that it has inspected the hospitals and sought time to submit its report. Granting time to the organisation the court listed the matter for further hearing on May 14. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) French President Emmanuel Macron today rejected the prospect of meeting with the Dalai Lama, saying doing so without consulting Beijing first would trigger a "crisis" with China's government. Macron, speaking at a town hall with George Washington University students in the US capital at the tail end of his state visit, said he met in Paris with the "very inspiring" exiled Tibetan spiritual leader when Macron was a candidate. "Now I'm president of the French republic. If I meet him it will create indeed a crisis with China," Macron said. And doing so "without any precondition," just to send a signal to China, would be "useless and counterproductive," he said. "Is it good for my people if I have a sort of countermeasures coming from China" as a result of the meeting? "For sure no." But Macron, fresh from a rare address to lawmakers in the US Congress, also opened the door for deeper engagement on the issue. "If France could be useful in order to fix the situation between the Dalai Lama and his people, and China, I will do my best," he said, adding that he perceives "some early signals" that Chinese President Xi Jinping may be open to addressing the issue. "I hope so for China, I hope so for the Dalai Lama, I hope so for Buddhist people," he added. Beijing accuses the Nobel Peace Prize laureate of seeking Tibetan independence through "spiritual terrorism." The Dalai Lama says he seeks only greater autonomy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court has sentenced a man to seven years in jail for raping of a 20-year-old woman in 2014, observing that rape is one of the most barbaric and heinous crimes and the loss suffered by the woman cannot be forgotten or forgiven. The court, which awarded a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the woman, an east Delhi resident, also termed rape as a "gruesome" and "abhorring" act which instills a feeling of fear, insecurity and a brooding sense of shame and guilt for no fault of the victim. Additional Sessions Judge Anurag Sain awarded seven-year rigorous imprisonment to Bihar-resident Md Javed and said it was a "devastating moment" in the woman's life which can neither be repaired nor forgotten or forgiven. "The rape is a gruesome, abhorring and ghastly act wherein a man acts as slave of his martinet and lowers himself to a baffling extent for the sole purpose of achieving gratification of his carnal desire. It leaves a permanent scar on the personality of the woman, inhibiting growth and development. "It instills a feeling of fear, insecurity and a brooding sense of shame and guilt for no fault of the woman. Rape is one of the most barbaric and heinous crime. It is a devastating moment in the life of the prosecutrix, which cannot be repaired and the loss cannot be forgotten or forgiven," the court said. Advocate Varsha Ahluwalia, the counsel for Delhi Commission for Women, sought maximum compensation for the victim considering the mental trauma suffered by her. The court asked the Delhi State Legal Service Authority to pay the compensation amount to the victim after noting that the convict was not in a position to pay any compensation. "The convict is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of seven years and a fine of Rs 25,000 for the offence...," the court said. While awarding the sentence, the court said that the convict disregarded the "moral and social values" and ruined the life of the woman. The court also added that it was evident that the convict treated the woman only as an object to fulfil his lust. According to the complaint, on December 29, 2014, Javed, a contractor who was at the house of the victim to oversee some construction work, had raped the woman and escaped when her mother came looking for her. However, during the trial, he pleaded not guilty saying it was a false case and the woman established sexual relationship with him out of her own free will. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Meghalaya government has launched a mission to register a five-fold increase in the production of Lakadong turmeric, an organic variety grown in the state, to at least 50,000 metric tonne per year in the next five years. It also plans to more than double the crop area from the current 2,577 hectare to 6,070 hectare over the next five years, according to a 'Mission Lakadong' document. Jaintia Hills District is home to one of the finest turmeric varieties in the world and the most famous one being the Lakadong turmeric with the highest curcumin content, according to a study by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Launching the 'Mission Lakadong', Governor Ganga Prasad said yesterday that at least 1,000 farmers currently engaged in the cultivation of the Lakadong turmeric in about 2,500 hectare in Laskein and Thadlaskein blocks are producing about 10,000 metric tonne in a year, he said. "This kind of volume is not sufficient to create a global footprint for our Lakadong variety. There is a necessity to undertake a mission mode intervention to increase the production of Lakadong turmeric to at least 50,000 MT and more than double the area of cultivation," the governor said. Speaking on the occasion, Prasad said that he was taken aback by the plight of the turmeric farmers who had not been able to realise the full economic potential of the crop as most of them were small and marginal farmer. Non-availability of planting material and low volumes were also the other problems of the turmeric cultivators, he said. The productivity of the crop will also be improved from 6 MT per hectare to 8 MT per hectare area with the introduction of the latest technologies of plant propagation and post harvest technology induction. The main objective of 'Mission Lakadong' is to enhance the livelihood and income opportunities of the farmers engaged in the cultivation of this variety by leveraging on the uniqueness of Lakadong to tap the current and emerging opportunities in the spice sector, the document said. The mission will be implemented by the directorate of horticulture, the Community and Rural Development department, the Forest department, the North Eastern Hill University and the Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship under the direct supervision of the Governor"s secretariat. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Meghalaya government will send a team to Alappuzha city in Kerala next week to study the waste management programme adopted by it, Urban Affairs Minister Hamlet Dohling said today. Alappuzha is also known as the cleanest city in India, he said, adding that a team will go there with an objective to study the technique adopted by the city for handling waste. "The objective of the study visit to Alappuzha is to find out if the same model can be replicated in Shillong. The team will interact with the municipal corporation of Kerala on the subject and explore all possibilities," Dohling said. Dohling said the state government is concerned about Shillong and its cleanliness since the National Games are supposed to be held in the state in 2022. Alappuzha has been recognised by the United Nations Programme (UNEP), among five cities in the world, which are working towards curbing pollution through their sustainable solid waste management practices, Dohling said. Alappuzha produces 58 tonne of solid waste per day and it has been implementing a project called Nirmala Bhavanam Nirmala Nagaram (Clean Homes Clean City) since November 2012, the minister said. In 2016, the Centre for Science and had rated Alappuzha, considered to be the oldest planned city, as the top cleanest city in India followed by Mysuru and Panaji, Dohling said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court today sought to know from the Maharashtra government if there is any violation of noise pollution norms at three spots in the city, where construction work for Metro-III line is underway, as claimed by petitioners. The HC directed the state government to file an affidavit stating whether it intends to take any action against the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), in case there is violation of noise level norms. A division bench of Justices A S Oka and Riyaz Chagla had last week directed police to conduct checks at Churchgate and Cuffe Parade in south Mumbai, and in Mahim, a western suburb. The direction was given while hearing a bunch of petitions on strict implementation of the Noise Pollution Rules. One of the petitioners, Sumaira Abdulali had told the high court that the noise levels due to the construction of the Metro III Colaba- Andheri- Seepz line are very high. A report was today submitted to the court giving details of the noise readings taken at the above three spots. As per the report, noise decibel levels at all the three spots was way higher than the permissible limit. Additional government pleader Manish Pabale, however, told the high court that the police followed a standard procedure in such cases by which noise levels are recorded thrice and the average is then taken. Hence in this particular case, the police cannot register an offence, he said. The HC said the government should put this stand in an affidavit and some senior official should take responsibility. "File an affidavit..tell us if there are violations. If yes, then is the government ready to take action?" the HC asked. The bench directed the government to file the affidavit by May 4 when it will hear the petitions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Technology giant Microsoft India is the most 'attractive employer brand', followed by e-commerce major Amazon India, says a survey. According to the findings of Randstad Employer Brand Research (REBR) 2018, the other most attractive employer brands in India include Hindustan Unilever, IBM India, ITC Group, Larsen & Toubro, Mercedes-Benz India, Samsung India, Sony India and Tata Consultancy Services. The sectoral specific winners for the most attractive employers this year are Tata Consultancy Services for IT, Larsen & Toubro for Infrastructure & Construction and Hindustan Unilever for FMCG. "Employer Branding has never been more important than it is now. Candidates have choices, not only where they decide to work but in what capacity," said Paul Dupuis, MD & CEO Randstad India. The survey further noted that the top three sectors in India by awareness and attractiveness are companies operating in sectors like IT & ITeS cited by 69 per cent of respondents, followed by Automotive (68 per cent) and Retail & FMCG (67 per cent). The REBR covered 75 per cent of the global economy with 30 participating countries and more than 1,75,000 respondents worldwide. As per the survey, salary and employee benefits continue to be the top driver among the Indian workforce across all profiles while choosing an employer. Work-life balance, job security, career progression and strong management are the other influencing factors for the Indian workforce. Job security emerged as the top factor for an employee to stay with the current employer, with 45 per cent of the survey respondents indicating this. As per the survey, providing increased career growth opportunities could be a great asset for organizations to attract at least 43 per cent of the workforce, who said they left their employers for this reason. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A local Congress leader was killed and two policemen injured in a militant attack in south Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district today, officials said. Three persons were injured in firing by militants near the Rajpora Chowk in Pulwama district, a police official said. One of the injured, a political activist identified as Ghulam Nabi Patel, resident of Shadimarg area, succumbed to injuries while being taken to a hospital, he added. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti condemned the killing. "Heartfelt condolences to the family of senior Congress leader G N Patel who was killed by militants today in Rajpora. Such cowardly acts achieve nothing but leave one more family devastated," she tweeted. The other two injured both policemen - were being treated upon at a hospital and their condition was said to be stable, according to the police official. Security forces have cordoned off the area and a hunt has been launched to nab the attackers, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid mounting complains of monkeys and dogs attacking people on AIIMS premises, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi has suggested that a place be demarcated where people can eat food as leftovers strewn on the campus attract these animals. The minister also invited suggestions from the resident doctor association over the issue. President of the resident doctors association of the AIIMS, Harjit Singh Bhatti, had written to the Union Women and Child Development minister seeking her intervention in keeping patients and staff safe from dogs and monkeys at the institute's premises. In the letter, Bhatti stated that there has been a steep increase in the number of dogs and monkeys in hospital premises and that the patients are being attacked by them on a regular basis. In her response, Gandhi said she was distressed to know that dogs and monkeys have increased in the campus and offered to provide the help of NGOs to deal with the dogs by sterilizing and vaccinating them. However, she said the same cannot be done with monkeys as this has no effect on their behaviour.In fact it makes them more aggressive as they get separated from their troop. "The basic problem in AIIMS is the easy availability of food. If this is strictly monitored then all these animals will disappear overnight. Otherwise we can keep removing dogs and monkeys but they will be replaced overnight by new groups. Is it possible for you to do anything about the food?," she asked. She suggested demarcating areas where people can eat and closed dustbins where leftover food and wrappers can be thrown. She also suggested that an audio message be played through loudspeakers telling people the dangers of sharing food with animals and throwing food on the premises. "They can be asked to eat at a particular place. I suggest you think about this and come up with doable ideas. Then I would be happy to have the meeting at your premises or at my office and call all the people necessary to help you. "AIIMS is one of the best and most necessary institutions in India. I would be happy to do anything to make it safer," she said in her letter. According to the RDA's letter, around 3-4 persons (including patients, doctors, student, professors) per day and around 100 persons per month are bitten by these animals and receive anti-rabies vaccine from the emergency medicine department. Doctors had complained about the persistent dog and monkey problem on the premises when the Union Women and Child Development minister was admitted to the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in June last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The mortal remains of Sepoy Ajay Kumar, who was killed during an encounter in a forest area of Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, were today cremated. In the fierce exchange of fire, Kumar and a policeman were killed yesterday. Kumar, 25, was cremated at a Devthal on the bank of a local Kwal river near his native village Thuran Dhar. Local MLA from Pacchad Suresh Kashyap, former speaker of HP Vidhan Sabha Gangu Ram Musafir, SDM Rajgarh Naresh Verma and DSP head quarter Babita Rana, Army and police officers were among a large number of officials who bid adieu to the martyr. Kumar, of 42 Rashtria Rifles, had joined the Indian Army in September 2013. He is survived by his parents as his younger brother Sanjay Kumar also died a few months earlier after protracted illness. His mortal remains were flown to Nahan from Jammu and Kashmir in a helicopter this afternoon. Military officers of First Para, police officers and officers of the civil administration paid floral tributes to him. Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur have expressed grief over the death. The governor said Kumar laid down his life for the cause of the nation and people of the country would always remain indebted to him for this supreme sacrifice. In his condolence message, the chief minister said that Himachal Pradesh has been a land of brave soldiers and Kumar sacrificed his life for the integrity of the country. He expressed sympathies with the bereaved family members. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 60-year-old man, who was arrested in connection with a murder case, today allegedly committed suicide at the Atchutapuram police station in the district. The deceased Ramunaidu was suspected to be the prime accused in the murder of a 30-year-old man on April 3. " Ramunaidu, a daily wage worker, was arrested along with two others last evening, police said. Sub-Inspector B Deena Bandhu said Ramunaidu went to the bathroom around 5.30 am and didn't return. Constable G Harikrishna, who went to check, found him hanging from the hook of the bathroom door by a coir rope. Though Ramunaidu was rushed to a private hospital, he was declared brought dead. """ Suspecting that he may not secure bail, Ramunaidu might have taken his life, the SI said. The police officer said there was no angle of police torture in the case, adding, all the accused had confessed to the crime. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Myanmar firefighters said today they have brought under control a blaze in a massive garbage dump on the edge of the country's biggest city Yangon after several days of battling the flames. The conflagration started Saturday and quickly spread across an area of some 100 acres -- a third of the garbage dump -- blanketing parts of the commercial hub with foul smelling smoke. Some 160 soldiers yesterday joined 450 firefighters and their dozens of fire trucks to help fight the blaze around the clock while local people and monks have brought food and water to those on the frontline. Even away from the flames, temperatures have rocketed in recent days to a sweltering 38 degrees as the country hits peak hot season. "The fire is now under control," Deputy Director of Myanmar Fire Service Department Win Win told AFP, adding that they would need "some time" to put it out completely. As night fell, small pockets of flames fanned by the breeze continued to burst up around the troops and firefighters from the vast, putrid pile of smouldering garbage. There have been no casualties and the cause of the blaze is still unknown -- an investigation will be conducted once it is fully extinguished. "There are small fires every year at this dumpsite but this year is the biggest we have seen," Win Win said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has asked Village Development Boards (VDBs) and village councils to use technology to improve the quality of implementation of schemes and projects. The use of technology by the VDBs will benefit villagers and reduce spillage at various levels, Rio said at the state level conference of VDBs and Village Councils yesterday. The chief minister urged the VDBs to ensure that all VDB secretaries are well educated and literate and conversant with IT and ITes. "We need to adapt to the rapid ever changing facets of development," he said. Funds should not be diverted by the VDBs for recovery or payment of community loans nor used for contrition/repair, maintenance of churches, temples, or mosques buildings, he said. As the VDB handle enormous amount of fund, Rio suggested that the Rural Development department frame rules and procedures for handing over charge of VDB secretaries since the tenure is just 3 years. Considering the vast amount of record keeping required at the block and VDB level, a stringent methodology has to be evolved immediately to ensure transparency and accountability, the chief minister said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Naxals allegedly killed two men, including a village head, accusing them of being police informers, in separate incidents in Chhattisgarh, police said today. They added that the rebels had called for a day-long bandh in the south Bastar region today against the Supreme Court's recent ruling on the SC/ST Act. Somaru Ram Mandavi (28), the "sarpanch" of Darbha village under the Kutru police station in Bijapur district, was attacked by the ultras last night, Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohit Garg told PTI. "A few armed Naxals stormed into his village, located around 450 kms from Raipur, and attacked him with an axe and sticks," the SP said, adding that Mandavi was killed on the spot. The Naxals accused him of being a police informer before killing him, the SP said, adding that a search was launched in the area to nab the assailants. In another incident, an unidentified man was allegedly hacked to death by the Naxals in the insurgency-hit Dantewada district. A Maoist pamphlet found from the spot claimed that the slain man was a police informer, the police said. Other Maoist pamphlets recovered from the spot criticised the recent Supreme Court order, "modifying" the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, they added. "The body was found in a pool of blood on a road near Gadhmeri village under the Kuakonda police station," Dantewada Additional Superintendent of Police (Anti-Naxal operations) Gorakhnath Baghel told PTI. A Maoist pamphlet recovered from the spot claimed that the deceased was "Saddu Raj" of Latur and acting as a police informer, Baghel said, adding that the police were yet to confirm his identity. The police also got in touch with the road contractors operating in the area to find out if the deceased was employed by any of them, but they could not identify him, the officer said. Another senior police official posted in the insurgency-hit Bastar region said the Naxals had called for a day-long bandh in south Bastar, in protest against the apex court's last month ruling on the SC/ST Act. Maoist pamphlets and posters in support of the bandh call were found in the area where the body of the deceased was lying, he added. The apex court had last month introduced certain conditions before taking government servants and others into custody under the SC/ST Act. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun today said the company will keep its net profit margin at under five per cent to earn the "long-term support" of its customers. "If we sell our products at close to cost and return value to our users, then we can earn the long-term support of our users," Jun said in a letter to employees. He added that large volumes with small profit margins will still result in "suitable hardware profits" for the company in the long term. Jun said the company's "triathlon business model -- involving hardware, internet service and new retail -- had helped sell products as close as possible to their cost price. At present, the company has over RMB 100 billion in annual revenue and has nearly 20,000 employees. Xiaomi entered the Indian market in 2014 and has gradually secured the top spot in the market. While it started as an online only player, it has expanded its presence in offline retail through Mi Preferred Partners. The company has also invested in setting up local manufacturing across various locations in the country with partners like Foxconn and Hipad. According to Canalys, Xiaomi increased its lead on Samsung in India, grabbing 31 per cent market share and the top spot with shipment of over 9 million units. The Korean company, it said, had shipped 7.5 million units in the first quarter of 2018, followed by Oppo and Vivo. The overall smartphone market in India grew at 8 per cent to 29.5 million units in the said quarter. India is among the fastest growing smartphone markets globally. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Job creation slowed down in non-farm sectors during February as new member registrations with the EPFO for its various schemes declined to a four-month low of 4,72,075 during the month, according to the monthly data released by the retirement fund body today. As many as 6,04,557 such members were registered in January 2018 and 5,57,633 in December 2017, the latest data by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) about all non-zero contributors or new members that are registered with the body every month showed. The number of all non-zero contributors registered with the EPFO was 647,019 in November, 3,93,904 in October and 4,35,283 in September last year. The EPFO said that these estimates may include temporary employees whose contributions may not be continuous for the entire year. All establishments across the country with 20 or more employees whose basic wages are up to Rs 15,000 are required to be mandatorily covered under the social security schemes run by the EPFO. The EPFO manages social security funds of workers in the organised/semi organised sector in India and has more than 6 crore active members (with at least one month contribution during the year). The maximum employment of 139,032 was generated in age bracket of 22-25 years in February, 2018 while in January, 2018, the highest number of new registered members were in 18-12 year age bracket. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The names or photographs of a sexual abuse victim should not be revealed as such actions have long term "detrimental consequences", the Delhi High Court said today. The observation by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar was directed at a media house, which apologised for revealing the identity of the eight-year-old girl who was raped and killed in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. The bench made the remark when the media house expressed reservation in paying the Rs 10 lakh compensation as ordered by the court, claiming it had revealed the identity of the victim to "arouse public sentiments and sympathy". Strongly disagreeing with the stand of the media house, the bench said,"The long term consequences of revealing a victim's identity are drastic and detrimental to the victim and her family. We do not need photographs of the victim for people to be sympathetic. As a result of revealing the identity of the victim, her whole family is ostracised and suffers." The court directed the media house to make the payment within 10 days from today, saying it cannot be put on a "special pedestal" when others have agreed to pay the compensation. In its affidavit, the media house said it had published the name and photograph to "arouse public sentiments and sympathy", ensure justice and under the belief that such publication was permitted in the instant case as the victim's name and photos were circulating in the social media since January when her body was found. It also said that referring to the girl by another name or non-publication of her photographs or redacting them from photos of the agitations, "would not have done justice to the victim". The court pulled up the media house for continuing to carry an article in one of its online blogs where the victim's name was revealed, saying what was being advocated in the report was that "the law can be changed by publication". After the amicus curiae and senior advocate Arvind Nigam informed the court about other media houses, including some Hindi newspapers, which also had revealed the victim's identity, the bench issued notice to them and sought their replies by the next date of hearing on May 18. The court also said that under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, even intermediaries like social media platforms Google, Facebook and Yahoo could be held liable for penal action for display and circulation of photos and name of the victim by others. It issued notice to several social media platforms, including Google and Facebook, and sought their replies by the next date of hearing. Meanwhile, several other media houses filed affidavits indicating they have complied with the court's April 18 order. The court on April 18 had directed 12 media houses to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for revealing the identity of the minor rape victim. It had also indicated that it may enhance the amount that has to be deposited by the media houses in the Jammu and Kashmir Victim Compensation Fund. The court, which had initially suggested imposition of Rs 25 lakh cost on each of the concerned media house, later said for the time being, they should deposit Rs 10 lakh each. The bench had directed that wide and continuous publicity be given to the statutory provisions of the law regarding the privacy of victims of sexual offences and punishment for revealing their identities. While Section 23 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act lays down the procedure for the media to report cases of sexual offences against child victims, Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) deals with disclosure of identity of victims of such offences. The penal law provides for jail term of two years with a fine. On April 13, the high court had issued notices to 12 media houses for disclosing the identity of the eight-year-old Kathua rape victim. In its reports connected with the case, The Press Trust of India has not disclosed the name or put out a photograph of the victim. The court had prohibited all media houses "from effecting any publication including the name, address, photograph, family details, school details, neighbourhood or any other particulars which may have an effect of leading to the disclosure of the identity of the child victim". The eight-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community had disappeared from near her home in a village near Kathua in Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later. The state police's Crime Branch, which probed the case, filed the main charge sheet against seven persons and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district last week. The charge sheet revealed chilling details about how the girl was allegedly kidnapped, drugged and raped inside a place of worship before being killed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) There was no scope for manipulation during an Army recruitment rally, Brigaider P S Bajwa, Deputy Director General (Recruiting) Bangalore Zone, said here today. Addressing reporters here, Bajwa said the recruiting officials were managing all the activities with complete transparency by using fully-automated system and information technology. His statement assumes significance in the backdrop of police taking into custody six youth from Uttar Pradesh for allegedly producing fake domicile documents, including Aadhaar cards, during the Army recruitment rally held here on Sunday last. The forgery came to light as Army recruiting officials detected that documents submitted by two of the qualified candidates were not genuine. Further questioning revealed that four others from the state had also come to participate in the rally with forged documents, but had failed to pass the physical test. The 10-day Army recruitment rally, which began on April 18, is for those from seven southern districts of Kerala. Out of 31,000 candidates registered at the rally, about 16,000 candidates were physically present upto today, Bajwa said adding 4,000 more were expected in another two days. A total of 1,800 candidates have passed the physical test, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Swedish Academy, plunged into crisis over allegations of rape and sexual assault by the husband of one its members, may postpone the 2018 Nobel Literature Prize, Swedish Radio reported today. "We're thinking about it. We'll let you know soon," said Anders Olsson, the Academy's interim permanent secretary. According to Swedish Radio, several members of the Academy have suggested reserving this year's prize, and awarding it alongside the 2019 prize next year. "Given the situation the Academy currently finds itself in, and given the best interests of the prize, it might be best to postpone it for a year," said Peter Englund. Englund is one of five Academy members who have stepped down in recent weeks over the scandal, including permanent secretary Sara Danius. But another member, Goran Malmqvist, rejected the notion, telling agency TT it would go ahead as planned this year. Technically, the Academy's 18 members are appointed for life and cannot resign, but they can choose not to participate in its meetings and decisions. Currently, a total of seven are no longer active members which poses a real headache: according to its statutes, 12 members are needed in order to vote in a new member. Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf, who is the patron of the Academy founded in 1786, has agreed to change the statutes to allow members to resign and be replaced, thereby ensuring the institution's survival. The scandal centres on allegations by 18 women in November -- in the wake of the #MeToo campaign -- that they had been subject to sexual harassment and assault by Jean-Claude Arnault, the French husband of Academy member and poet Katarina Frostenson. Arnault denies the allegations. After the women spoke out in the media, the Academy cut all ties with Arnault's cultural club Forum in Stockholm, which it had subsidised for years and which was a key meeting point for the country's cultural elite. But the affair divided the Academy, with disagreement on how to draw a line under the row, and on what measures to take after a report it commissioned revealed conflicts of interest and the fact that Academy members leaked Nobel winners' names. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) French President Emmanuel Macron told US lawmakers today there is "no Planet B," acknowledging a disagreement with President Donald Trump, who pulled his nation from the landmark Paris accord on climate change. "Let us face it. There is no Planet B," Macron said in an address to Congress on the final day of his state visit to the United States. "We have disagreements between the United States and France. It may happen, like in all families," he said -- but such differences would be short-term. "We're just citizens of the same planet," Macron said. "With business leaders and local communities, let us work together in order to make our planet great again and create new jobs and new opportunities while safeguarding our Earth. And I'm sure one day, the United States would come back and join the Paris agreement." Trump said last year that his country would withdraw from the accord, which aims to reduce damaging emissions and was signed by almost 200 countries. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh has called upon opposition parties to sink their differences and pave the way for a grand alliance at the national level to ensure the BJP meets its Waterloo in 2019 general elections. The former Union minister claimed that beneath the calm surface, a major anti-BJP wave was sweeping across the country, and it is for the opposition to ensure that the saffron party loses by preventing a split in anti-BJP votes. The BJP government has failed completely on all fronts, especially on farmers' issues and unemployment, Singh told reporters here last night. He claimed the dismal failure of the government was reflected by the fact that over 170 engineering colleges were forced to close down in Uttar Pradesh alone because of lack of job opportunities. Singh said the BJP's promises to farmers on the issue of minimum support price of crops like sugarcane and wheat were totally unfulfilled. The flawed policies of the BJP can be seen, especially in western Uttar Pradesh, which has suffered severe economic woes because of the devastation caused by "engineered riots" shortly before the 2014 general elections, he alleged. Singh said it would be tragic if the opposition parties fell prey to the designs of the BJP strategists who would leave no stone unturned to prevent the opposition parties from getting together on a single platform based on a minimum common programme. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The country's premier scientific body today entered into a memorandum of understanding with DoT for synchronising the telecom network with Indian Standard Time to efficiently handle cyber-related events in the country. The MoU was signed between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) and the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) on knowledge sharing for establishing a nationwide time stamping and time synchronisation network. "The primary purpose of synchronising the telecom network with the IST time stamp is to enable the security agencies to overcome the difficulty in analysing and correlating the cyber events in this era of greatly increasing network speed with advancement of telecom technology (2G to 3G to 4G to 5G etc.)," said a government statement. The implementation of the project will also improve the telecom network efficiency by reducing packet loss due to reduced slips in better synchronised digital network," the statement said. Girish Sahni, DG, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR, on the occasion said the time set on Indian telecom networks should be in the IST zone to uniquely identify the user (subscriber) of network on tracing of the IP address and other parameters. Presently, the telecom service provider and the Internet service provider are taking the reference time from different sources such as Global Positioning System (GPS), he pointed out. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Are Pakistani politicians worse than their Indian and Bangladeshi counterparts? This was the strange query of Pakistan's Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal as he attacked Supreme Court Chief Justice Saqib Nisar for allegedly exceeding his brief. Chief Justice Nisar is under attack ever since the apex court disqualified prime minister Nawaz Sharif last year and ended his political career by barring the three-time premier from holding public office for life. Sharif had been criticising the judiciary, especially chief justice Nisar, accusing him of imposing the "worst kind of dictatorship" in the country. Sharif told reporters yesterday that suo motu actions of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) against the federal and provincial governments in the country were nothing less than a "judicial martial law". Joining hands with Sharif, Ahsan said: "If a judge is patriot, so is a politician." Ahsan, who is also the minister for planning, development and reforms, said one has to understand that politicians also have self-respect and dignity just as much as any army official or any judge. Addressing a seminar on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor here, the interior minister wondered if politicians in Pakistan are worse than their Indian and Bangladeshi counterparts, the Express Tribune reported. "Look, the chief justice can sit on the bench and say Ahsan Iqbal got a vice chancellor appointed," thundered Iqbal, referring to Chief Justice Nisar's remarks during a case. "Mr Chief Justice have a heart. When you are disrespected, we are also disrespected," he was quoted as saying by Geo TV. "You have no right to name-call people. You must issue me [a] charge sheet. If you have evidence, produce it before me but enough is enough." The 59-year-old leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) further said if he had levelled baseless allegations against anyone, evidence should be given to substantiate them instead of insulting him. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The national security advisers of Pakistan and Russia have met in Moscow and discussed the situation in South Asia and the main challenges and threats to global security, media reports said. Russia-Pakistan ties has been improving steadily since the two signed a military cooperation agreement in 2014. The two countries also held joint military exercises in 2016 and last year, as Moscow and Islamabad made efforts to move past their bitter Cold War hostilities. Pakistan's National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. (Ret) Nasser Khan Janjua visited Moscow this week and met Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, The reported. Janjua, who led a high-level inter-ministerial delegation, reaffirmed Pakistan's desire to continue to work together with Russia for further improvement in relationship and to seek enduring peace and stability in the region, it said. This is the first-time ever that inter-ministerial level delegations led by national security advisers of the two countries met each other, the Pakistani newspaper reported. Russia's state-run Tass agency reported that Patrushev and Janjua stressed their interest in further security cooperation between Moscow and Islamabad. "Issues of bilateral military cooperation in information security and countering international terrorism were studied," it quoted the Russian Security Council press service as saying. "The general situation in South Asia and the main challenges and threats to global security were discussed," it added. Janjua arrived in Russia to take part in the ninth international meeting of security chiefs that will be held in Sochi on April 24-26, Tass reported. Janjua gave an elaborate presentation on trends of global power He shared his strategic thinking about evolving security challenges around the globe with particular focus on the region, The reported. He also highlighted the common opportunities for Russia and Pakistan. Regional connectivity and prospects of closer cooperation in the fields of space, defence, security, economy and trade, cyber security, intelligence-sharing remained the main focus of the delegation level talks, it said. Both sides expressed their satisfaction at the positive trajectory and progression of mutual relationship at bilateral and multilateral levels including at the Shanghai Cooperation Organistation and the United Nations. Meanwhile, Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has met Russian Army Commander-in-Chief Colonel General Oleg Salyukov and discussed security and defence-related issues. Salyukov said Pakistan is a geo-strategically important country and Russia is keen to expand its existing bilateral military-to-military cooperation, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan Army's media arm, said in a statement yesterday. Bajwa said that Pakistan "reciprocates desire of enhanced bilateral military engagements" with Russia, the statement said. Bajwa said that Russia has recently played a positive role to help resolve complex situations in the region. He also said that Pakistan will continue to play its part to keep conflicts away from the region and seek approaches which bring regional convergences into play rather that the divergences, the statement said. The chill Pak-US ties, especially after President Donald Trump warned Islamabad against providing safe havens to terror groups, has further pushed Pakistan towards Russia and China. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A ministerial committee proposed three names, including Gandhara - the name of the land and its associated civilisation - for Islamabad's new state-of-the-art airport, but all the names were rejected by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. The four-member ministerial committee was constituted by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif just two weeks prior to his disqualification by the Supreme Court in Panama Papers case in July last year. During one of the recent meetings of the federal Cabinet, Abbasi after listening to the arguments of his colleagues rejected all the three names that had been proposed by the committee under Ports and Shipping Minister Hasil Bizenjo "without giving any specific justification", Dawn reported, citing sources in the government and ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The committee had suggested the names of Liaquat Ali Khan, the first prime minister of Pakistan, Fatima Jinnah, one of the leading founders of Pakistan and the younger sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and Gandhara, the name of the land and its associated civilisation that existed in the areas now situated in northern Pakistan and Potohar plateau. The sources said the cabinet members in the presence of the officials of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had a thorough debate on the issue of the name of the new airport which is set to become operational from May 3, the paper said. They said a majority of the members were of the view that they should name the new facility after some Pakistan Movement personality so that no one could dare change its name later on political grounds, it said. A number of cabinet members, when contacted, confirmed that there was almost a consensus among them on the name of Liaquat Ali Khan because of his contribution to the Pakistan Movement. "There were very strong arguments in support of Liaquat Ali Khan's name, but it seems that the prime minister had come with a prepared mind," said a federal minister, while recalling the proceedings. The sources said the officials of the CAA told the cabinet members that in their correspondence with national and international organisations, they had been using the name of the airport as Islamabad International Airport. The Pakistan Peoples Party has been demanding that the new airport should be named after former party chairperson Benazir Bhutto since it is the name of the present airport in Islamabad. The committee had been formed under Ports and Shipping Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo and it comprised Adviser on National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddiqui, Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Law Barrister Zafarullah. When contacted, Irfan Siddiqui confirmed that his committee had presented three names to the cabinet, but the prime minister rejected them. The new airport is Pakistan's largest international airport, designed for up to 15 million passengers annually in the first phase, and up to 25 million in future. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A fresh plea has been moved in the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe into the CBSE paper leak case and its order to conduct re-examination saying it was done to protect the "real culprits" in the Board. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra has said that the plea would be taken up for hearing next week. Meanwhile, the CBSE conducted the re-examination of the economics paper of class 12 across the country today. The petition sought to strike down the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) order to conduct the re-examination of the class 12 economics paper which was allegedly leaked last month. The plea filed by a social activist Sanjoy Sachdev, also sought to declare the results of the students who have already appeared in the test "in good faith and trust". "Order an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation to take charge of all the cases of leakage from police of various states in order to the fix the criminal liability of the respondent no.1 to 4 (Centre, CBSE, Controller of examination of the Board and the Director of CBSE) and nexus involved," the plea said. "This order (re-examination order) appears to have been issued in order to save the skin of real culprits within the central board of secondary education or their subordinates or affiliates," the plea added. The petition said that the re-examination order was bad in law and against the principles of law of natural justice as it was taken without the students being heard. It said the order penalises the innocent and harmless students without a fault of theirs. "No authority or the respondents ever gave any chance of hearing in the matter to lakhs of students from all over India," the plea said. Sachdev, in his plea, said that the action of the respondents (Centre and CBSE) has put a black scar on the lives of innocent and harmless students majority of whom are minors in age throughout the country as being convicts in paper leakage, which is totally in contrast to the law of natural justice. "If the majority of these minor students have not committed any offence or crime then why are they being treated like that and being forced to undergo re-examination," the plea said. It also suggested that the affected students and their parents should have been given ample opportunity to appear before competent authorities in person and state truthfully in the matter, but that was not done. Amid widespread outrage over the paper leak issue, the CBSE had on March 30 said that the re-examination of CBSE's Class 12 economics paper will be held on April 25 i.e., today. The Delhi Police had registered separate cases on March 27 and March 28, respectively, to probe the leak of the Class 12 economics paper and Class 10 mathematics paper, following a complaint by the regional director of the CBSE. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistani police today exhumed the body of a 26-year-old Pakistani-Italian woman who was killed allegedly by her father and brother in the name of so-called honour in Pakistan's Punjab province. Ghulam Mustafa along with his brother Mazhar Iqbal and son Adnan Mustafa allegedly killed Sana Cheema after they failed to persuade her not to marry an Italian man. The incident took place in Kunja, Gujrat, some 150-km from Lahore, on April 18. "The body of Cheema was exhumed in the presence of a woman judge and samples have been sent for forensic text in Lahore," Kunja police station official Waqar Ahmad told PTI. He said the "real cause" of her death will be known after her autopsy. Police initiated the probe after reports published in Italian media that Cheema was killed by her family members over the marriage issue, Ahmad said. Cheema's family declared her death "accidental" and buried her in a graveyard far from their residence, raising suspicion. On police's application a sessions judge allowed to exhume Cheema's body. To a question about arresting the suspects, Ahmad said: "We have not taken the three suspects into custody as we do not have any evidence against them as yet. However, we have told them not to leave their residence till the investigation is finalised." He said the Cheema family claims that "she fell ill and died within few days despite receiving medical treatment". Reportedly, Cheema was taken to a hospital in Gujrat on April 11 seeking treatment for blood pressure and stomach ache. The police received doctor's prescription along with hospital and medical store bills. The grave-digger who buried Cheema's body has reportedly said that the relatives of the deceased were in a hurry to bury her as they brought two labourers with them to expedite burial. According to reports, Cheema had been living in Italy since 2002 and was to return to Italy on April 19 but she was killed a day prior to her return. She wanted to marry an Italian man and had turned down proposals from within her family. She came to Pakistan some two months ago. Cheema was working as a driving instructor in Italy. The Italian foreign ministry said it is keeping an eye on the case. "We are determined to reach the bottom of the case and are in contact with the Pakistani authorities in this matter," the ministry said. There has been demonstrations in Milan by the Pakistani community demanding justice for Cheema. In 2016, the death of 28-year-old British national Samia Shahid and the shocking murder of social media star Qandeel Baloch by her brother had turned the spotlight on the so-called honour killings in Pakistan, sparking a fresh push to close loopholes allowing the killers to walk free. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, as many as 50 honour killing cases have been recorded in the country till April 1 this year, while 460 such killings came to light in 2017. Around 1,000 women are killed in Pakistan every year in the name of honour. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police have rescued a 16-year-old girl, who was brought to Delhi on the pretext of a job and was subsequently "sold" and sexually exploited for a year, from outer Delhi's Nihal Vihar. Three persons, including two women, were arrested by the police after the girl managed to flee from the clutches of her tormentor and sought help from an acquaintance, police said. The girl, who belongs to a village near Begusarai in Bihar, was brought to Delhi in March last year by a woman after assuring her family that she would work here as a domestic help. The woman kept her at her house in Nihal Vihar where her live-in partner sexually exploited the girl for a month. He worked as a driver and after a month left the house. The woman then took the victim to another woman in Paharganj and "sold" her. The girl was told by the woman, who had brought her from Bihar, that she would return soon to take her back, according to the police. The girl was pushed into prostitution by the other woman, who used to pay Rs 10,000 to the woman who had brought the girl from Bihar, said a senior police officer. The girl was kept captive in a room in Nabi Karim and was not allowed to meet or talk to anyone. Whenever she would ask for the woman who had brought her there, she would be given vague answers, he added. Last week, the girl managed to flee from Paharganj and reached Nihal Vihar. The girl was sold by the woman again, this time to one Vivek, who sexually abused her three-four times, he added. Three days ago, the girl again manged to free herself and sought help from a woman who lived near the accused woman's house. The neighbour brought the girl to the police station, following which the girl was sent for medical examination and a case was registered, he said. Rajender Singh Sagar, additional deputy commissioner of police (Outer), said, "Three of the accused have been arrested in the case. We are on the lookout for the man who had sexually exploited her last year. The girl has been sent to Nirmal Chhaya (shelter)." Police said that they have found the girl's address in Bihar and will be contacting her family. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri today flagged several flaws in the sealing drive in Delhi and said there had been instances of properties for which conversion charges were paid being shut. The Housing and Urban Affairs Minister's remarks came a day after he had said that the members of the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee for carrying out sealing drive worked from air-conditioned offices and did not know ground realities. "Do you know how many people have lost their jobs? I am not criticising sealing but saying that sealing has to be situated in larger human reality. Till you don't understand the ground realities, there is no point talking on technicalities," Puri told reporters on the sidelines of an event to mark the 48th Foundation Day of Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO). "There have been instances of those properties being sealed for which the conversion charges have already been paid. There are many cases where the properties sealed had to be de-sealed later," he added. The sealing drive by the BJP-run municipal corporations in Delhi was initiated in December last year on the direction of the apex court. Commercial premises, including shops and restaurants, were sealed for failing to deposit conversion charges according to provisions in the Delhi Master Plan 2021. Noting that Delhi Master Plan 2021 was prepared in 2006 and there have been massive demographic changes since then, Puri said the problem of Delhi has to be solved in "humane and constructive manner". "I don't want to interfere with the process or direction of the Court. But it is our responsibility to understand the issue holistically," he said. Puri said nobody disagrees with the court's order to stop construction-related activities in the unauthorised colonies. "But there are ground realities. Why are people poor? Why are they living in sub-standard houses? These are real human issues and need to be resolved," he said. The minister also exuded confidence that the Supreme Court would lift a stay on proposed amendments by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in the Delhi Master Plan which was aimed at granting protection from the ongoing sealing drive in the national capital. The proposal included bringing a uniform floor-area ratio (FAR) for shop-cum-residence plots and complexes at par with residential plots. The FAR is the ratio of a building's total floor area to the size of the piece of land on which it is built. Stressing that the government will not allow encroachment on its land, Puri said there has been a "culture" of encroachment in government land whenever one gets a chance to do that. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is currently in Jammu and Kashmir and the actor has started shooting for his upcoming film "Race 3". According to an official, the 52-year-old actor, who was recently granted bail in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case by a Jodhpur Court, arrived here on Monday. The actor is shooting for the final lap of the third installment of action-thriller "Race", which is produced by Ramesh Taurani. The crew is currently shooting in the picturesque Sonamarg meadow in Ganderbal district in central Kashmir. Actor Jacqueline Fernandez is also in Kashmir for the filming. The official said the crew is most likely to film a song sequence in Ladakh region of the state after wrapping up the shoot at Sonamarg. This is Salman's second visit to Sonamarg for shooting. He shot Kabir Khan-directed "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" at the meadow in 2015 and the movie went on to become a blockbuster. Salman and Taurani called on Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday. While, the officials have been tight-lipped about the meeting, a picture of the meeting was shared by Taurani on his Twitter account. "We thank the Chief Minister Madam Mehbooba Mufti for welcoming us in Kashmir for the Final Lap of Race3 with Salman Khan," he wrote on Twitter. In the picture, Salman along with his bodyguard Shera, producer Taurani and others are seen with the chief minister. Directed by Remo D'Souza, "Race 3" also features Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem. The film is scheduled to be released on Eid this year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Justice J Chelameswar, the senior-most Supreme Court judge who led a virtual revolt against the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, was on leave today when all judges met for their customary Wednesday lunch. Two days after Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu rejected the Congress-led opposition parties' notice of impeachment against the CJI, there were speculations whether Justice Chelameswar would attend the lunch meeting today. As part of a tradition, the apex court judges meet for lunch every Wednesday, with each of them taking turns to bring 'ghar ka khana' (home food) from his or her home state. Today, it was the turn of Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar to bring the food, sources said. Justice Shantanagoudar hails from Karnataka. When contacted, Justice Chelameswar's office merely said the judge did not go to work today but did not give a reason. His absence from the court today assumes significance as sources had said that Justice Chelameswar was present in the morning meeting on Monday when the Naidu had rejected the impeachment notice. Sources said while Justices Ranjan Gogoi and M B Lokur had favoured moving forward by keeping behind the impeachment issue, Justice Chelameswar remained quiet at the meeting. He was not a signatory to the letter written on Sunday by Justices Gogoi and Lokur, who had asked the CJI to hold a full court to address the institutional issues plaguing the higher judiciary. The issue of impeachment and related development happened in the backdrop of the controversial January 12 presser when justices Chelameswar, Gogoi, Lokur and Kurian Joseph had launched a public attack against the CJI, listing a litany of problems, including the issue of assigning of cases. They had also raised the listing of special CBI judge B H Loya's death case to a particular bench. Later, a bench comprising the CJI, Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrchud rejected the pleas seeking an independent probe into the Judge Loya's case which evoked sharp criticism from activist lawyers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two senior judges of the Supreme Court, Justices Ranjan Gogoi and M B Lokur, have urged the Chief Justice of India to hold a full court to discuss the institutional issues plaguing the higher judiciary. The letter was written a day before Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu rejected the opposition impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. The issue raised in the letter is understood to have come up on Monday morning at the tea meeting attended by all the judges, which had delayed the start of the day's court proceedings by about 15 minutes. Sources said that Justices Gogoi and Lokur signed the joint two-line letter on April 22 in which they spoke about holding of a "full court". The same issue was for the first time raised by Justice J Chelameswar on March 21, which was followed by a similar missive on April 9 by Justice Kurian Joseph who had sought the setting up of a bench of seven senior most judges to deal with the issues plaguing the top court. The short letter by Justices Gogoi and Lokur urged the CJI to convene a full court on the judicial side to discuss institutional issues and the "future" of the top court, they said. As per convention, a full court meeting of the Supreme Court, involving all judges, is usually convened by the CJI when a matter of public importance relating to the judiciary comes up. The Monday morning tea meeting of all the judges was held just after Naidu had announced rejection of the impeachment notice. The sources said the CJI did not say anything about the outcome of the meeting, especially relating to the full court.ALSO READ: Naidu rejects CJI impeachment notice; Cong to move SC challenging decision However, Justices Gogoi and Lokur were of the view of leaving behind the issue of impeachment and moving forward by holding a discussion among the judges to overcome the issues plaguing the highest judiciary. Justice Gogoi is the next in line to take over the mantle of the CJI from Chief Justice Misra who retires on October 2. Irked over the government's delay in clearing the Collegium's recommendation to elevate a judge and a senior woman advocate to the apex court, Justice Joseph had also written to the CJI contending that the "very life and existence" of the institution was "under threat" and a "surgical intervention" is required. He had requested the CJI to set up a bench of seven senior-most judges to take up the matter of appointments to its logical conclusion. ALSO READ: CJI Dipak Misra impeachment suicidal, hara-kiri: Top 10 law experts' quotes In his letter to all the judges on March 21, Justice Chelameswar had urged the CJI to convene a full court to take up the issue of alleged executive interference in judiciary. The Supreme Court on Wednesday raised questions over the government's decision ordering mandatory seeding of mobile numbers with Aadhaar and said its earlier order on mandatory authentication of the users was used as a "tool". A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, hearing a clutch of petitions challenging Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law, said its order on a PIL filed by 'Lokniti Foundation' had said that mobile users needed to be verified in the interest of national security. "In fact, there was no such direction from the Supreme Court, but you took it and used it as a toll to make Aadhaar mandatory for mobile users," the bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, said. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), said the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) notification talked about re-verification of mobile numbers by using e-KYC process and the Telegraph Act gave "exclusive power to central government to decide license conditions" of service providers. "How can you (DoT) impose condition on service recipients for seeding Aadhaar with mobile phones," the bench said, adding that license agreements were between the government and the service providers. Dwivedi said the direction to seed mobile with Aadhaar was taken in pursuance of TRAI's recommendation. Besides, the government was entitled and had legitimate state interest to ensure that a sim card is given to only those who applied, he said, seeking to allay apprehensions that the State would will surveil the people 24x7. "My submission is that the government had a legal basis to link Aadhaar with SIM by virtue of section 4 of the Telegraph Act and also, the measure is reasonable in the interest of national security," the lawyer stressed. Dwivedi, at the outset, alleged that the Aadhaar scheme was being unfairly targeted as nobody was questioning the banks and the telecom firms on collection of information. The banks and telecom companies have much "bigger data base" about the citizens, he said, adding, "For example, Vodafone has much bigger data base of information even without Aadhaar. The Aadhaar data is immaterial for them." "Appreciate the fact as to how much information a bank possesses about its customers. Every transaction as to what I purchase by using cards, where and when, all this information is with banks. Aadhaar does not tell all this. This information are already there and is being used for commercial purposes," he said, adding that a person starts getting numerous calls before their car insurance expire. He said people are being "scared" about Aadhaar but "nobody questions the telecom companies, banks.... Their single target is Aadhaar". Dwivedi informed the bench about an app, available on Google Playstore and said it has so many personal information about a person. He gave details, procured by using the app, about him, his family members to the bench. The bench was pleasantly surprised. Dwivedi said it has details regarding how much he charged from the Jammu and Kashmir government for appearing in a case. The lawyer referred to the control being enjoyed by the UIDAI over entities, private and government which seek Aadhaar authentication for providing services and benefits to citizens. These entities cannot track any individual by using these information and moreover, they themselves have enough information with them, he said, adding that Aadhaar cannot lead to surveillance as apprehended by the petitioners. "Vodafone can do targeted advertising using the data which is already happening without Aadhaar. Vodafone has far more demographic data about an individual than UIDAI has," Dwivedi said, adding that at the most, such details can lead to formation of a directory and targeted advertisements is happening already. "Google and Facebook process tremendous data on a daily basis. UIDAI does not have that kind of algorithm," he said and urged the court to save the Aadhaar law and suggest measures, if any, to make it work. He referred to a list of entities and said most of them required one-time authentication and hence there was no question that State will surveil the people 24x7. He also referred to inbuilt security features in the law and system of Aadhaar authentication. Dwivedi concluded his arguments on behalf of UIDAI saying that CIDR was safe, data was encrypted and was held offline and above all, the Aadhaar scheme was safer than smart cards as there was no chance of data breach. Lawyer Gopal Shankarnarayan, who started his submissions, said the right to identity was an "absolute fundamental right" and Aadhaar provided a kind of proof of identification to all Indians. The State Election Commission (SEC) is yet to take a decision on the dates for the panchayat polls in West Bengal as the issues of security arrangements and concluding the election either before or during the month of Ramzan remain to be settled. According to official sources, the SEC and state government officials are likely to meet tomorrow afternoon to discuss the matter. Apart from the security arrangements in the over 58,000 polling booths, the issue of whether to conduct the election during the month of Ramzan also needed to be discussed, the sources said. Asked when the new dates would be announced, a senior SEC official said, "It is a million dollar question. Let us discuss the matter and hope that everything will be sorted out." The representatives of various Muslim organisations today met the SEC officials and urged the poll panel not to hold the panchayat election during the month of Ramzan, which is scheduled to start from May 16-17. The entire election process should end before May 16-17 as during the month of Ramzan, after an entire day of fasting, Muslims could find it difficult to take part in the voting process and that too, in such hot and humid conditions, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, general secretary of the All Bengal Minorities Youth Federation, said. The imams of various mosques of Kolkata also met the SEC officials with a similar demand. Incidentally, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leadership had, during its meeting with the SEC officials last week, said their main concern was that the panchayat polls were not held during the month of Ramzan or the monsoon. According to the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 2003, there has to be a gap of at least 21 days between the last date for filing of nominations and the date of polling. According to this rule, the election cannot be held before May 14. The panchayat polls were earlier scheduled to be held on May 1, 3 and 5. However, following a Calcutta High Court order, the SEC had announced April 23 as the extended date for nomination-filing for the three-tier rural election. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Security forces have nabbed two militants of different factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland during separate operations in Arunachal Pradesh, a defence spokesman said. Arms and ammunition were found from their possession and the cadre confessed their plans of extortion from the locals, the spokesman said. The Assam Rifles personnel nabbed NSCN(IM) cadre Wangphai Wangsu from Longding district yesterday and NSCN (K) militant Wangphiak Lowang from Muktwa village in Tirap district on Monday. Wangsu was apprehended during an operation in Longphong area of Longding district, the defence spokesman Col Chiranjeet Konwer said. Arms and ammunition were recovered from his possession. During interrogation the cadre confessed that he was trying to carry out extortion from locals and businessmen of Longphong area, the spokesman said. The cadre was recruited by the banned outfit in 2015 and was wanted by the police in connection with extortion. Based on specific informamation about the presence of the NSCN(K) rebel at Muktwa village, the Assam Rifles carried out an operation in Tirap district. The NSCN(K) cadre was nabbed when he tried to run away after being challenged by the Assam Rifles personnel. A large quantity of explosives and detonators were found in his possesion. He was also carrying ledger of extortion and extortion letters meant for illegal collection of money from villagers, shopkeepers and businessmen of the area, the spokesman said. The two rebels were handed over to the police. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Assam DGP Mukesh Sahay today said the banned militant group of ULFA(I) still had the strength to carry out terror attacks in some pockets of the state, and that the security forces still needed the controversial AFSPA for operations. "Union home ministry has said that militancy in Assam has gone down significantly, say about 70 per cent. But some pockets are still there, where some groups are active," he said at a press conference here. ULFA(I) is active in some areas of upper Assam i.e. along the inter-state border with Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, he said. "Due to its proximity with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and easy access to the Myanmar border, ULFA(I) is still in a position to create problems in some pockets. We are coordinating with Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland in our counter-insurgency operations," Sahay said. Regarding the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), the top cop said Assam still required it during its operation against banned groups. "At this time, we need AFSPA. About withdrawal of the Act from Assam, the government will take the right decision in the right time," he added. On the recent withdrawal of the AFSPA from neighbouring Meghalaya despite an active presence of a number of insurgent groups in that state, Sahay did not give a direct answer. "These are strategic decisions. Facts may say that militancy has come down, but interpretation may vary," he said without elaborating. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The rejection of the Opposition's notice to impeach the Chief Justice of India by the Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu was not surprising, the Shiv Sena said today as it targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. The ally of the ruling BJP said "the four pillars of the democracy have been made hollow by termites" and "nobody can rule for long after having lost the trust of the people." In an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamna', the Shiv Sena referred to rejection of the notice of seven opposition parties, led by the Congress, to impeach the chief justice on five grounds of "misbehaviour" and said the decision taken by Naidu should not be surprising. "There have been many technical and legal reasons stated for rejecting the motion. Even if there wasn't any reason, the impeachment motion would not have been accepted," it said. The party said that apart from technical reasons, Naidu himself did not believe the charges levelled by the Opposition against the CJI Dipak Misra. "Nowadays, words like merit have no meaning left. Whatever PM Modi or BJP chief Amit Shah decide is the only merit," it said. The Rajya Sabha chairman had said the notice lacked substantial merit and that the allegations were neither "tenable nor admissible". He had said his decision was in strict conformity with the provisions of the Constitution and the Judges (Inquiry) Act of 1968. "Naidu says the importance, rights, freedom and prestige of judiciary should be retained. But, who is finishing this prestige (of the judiciary)," the Shiv Sena asked. The party said the CJI had come under the cloud of suspicion when four senior judges of the Supreme Court rebelled against him and claimed wrongdoings in the top judiciary. "The judiciary should function efficiently, without taking sides. However, the crimes of big politicians are being ignored and they are being given a new political direction by the judiciary," the Sena alleged. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After studying the Bofors deal for almost 27 years, a Parliamentary panel today pressed the need for a legislative review to shield the CBI from political obstruction in cases related to the Howitzer gun purchase and urged the agency to investigate the matter without "fear or favour". All ongoing cases related to the Bofors contract should be swiftly investigated by the CBI, a six-member PAC sub-committee headed by the BJD's Bhartruhari Mahtab said in its draft report adopted at the sub-panel's meeting here. The need for necessary legislative reviews was emphasised in the draft report which will be finalised after it gets an approval from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The sub-committe is looking into the non-compliance of certain aspects of CAG reports of 1989 and 1990 on the Bofors Howitzer gun deal. The meeting today was attended by, among others, Ponnusamy Venugopal of the AIADMK and Mohammed Ali Khan of the Congress. "The Committee desires that necessary legislative reviews be made to ensure unencumbered freedom of investigation and prosecution by the CBI, shielding the agency from political or executive obstructions in its functioning within the law," the PAC sub-committee said. The CAG report on Bofors is the oldest pending matter before PAC, whose main function is to examine a CAG audit report after it has been placed in Parliament. The report had been delayed as action-taken notes had not been submitted to the panel by the defence ministry and government organisations, a member of the sub-committee said. While deliberating over the defence deal, the panel had asked several top government officials to appear before it and to brief the members about the matter. The report will now be sent for approval to the main committee, where, a member said, Congress MPs may oppose parts of the draft. The main committee is headed by Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress. The Bofors scandal, relating to the alleged payment of kickbacks in the procurement of Howitzer artillery guns, had triggered a massive political storm and is believed to have led to the fall of the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1989. The CBI recently filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a 2005 order of the Delhi High Court quashing all charges against those accused in the politically-sensitive pay-off case. The filing of the appeal came after Attorney General KK Venugopal had advised the agency against moving a petition 12 years after the High Court's verdict. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Pakistani court today ordered that former Jamaat-ul Ahrar (JuA) and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan remain imprisoned while he is undergoing trial. A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court comprising justices Qaisar Rashid and Ikramullah Khan said that if Ehsan had taken responsibility for the TTP-claimed attack on an army run school, "the parents of the victims - and not the state - hold the right to pardon him". The court was hearing a petition filed by the father of an Army Public School (APS) attack victim. In the petition, the victim's father had asked the court to ensure that Ehsan is not pardoned as he had claimed responsibility for the 2014 attack on Peshawar's APS in which at least 144 people, mostly children, were killed. Ehsan, a TTP spokesperson until 2014, joined the splinter group JuA following a split in the TTP. The army in April 2017 announced his surrender to security forces and released a 'confession video' of Ehsan. During the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Musaratullah Khan assured the court that the government does not plan to release Ehsan anyway as he is already undergoing an inquiry. Fazal Khan, the father of another APS victim, had petitioned the PHC in 2017 against Ehsan's release as he believed the government intended to give clemency to the ex-militant who is reportedly in the custody of security agencies. Subsequently, the PHC in December last year barred the government from releasing Ehsan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A prominent Indian-American cancer and gene therapy scientist in the US has been placed on administrative leave following allegations of "inappropriate conduct" against him. Inder Verma, a cancer and gene therapy scientist at the prestigious Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation into the allegations against him. The institute did not give any reason for suspending 70-year-old Verma, who is considered as one of the world's leading authorities on gene therapy and cancer. The institute has hired The Rose Group, a San Diegobased international employment law and consulting firm, to investigate allegations, not yet made public, that were reported to the institute in February. "Recently, the institute became aware of allegations concerning Inder Verma. Consistent with Salk's policies governing workplace conduct, the institute has undertaken a formal investigation that is being led by an independent outside party," Dan Lewis, chairman of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies said in a statement. Verma has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation. He will not be performing scientific or administrative roles on behalf of the institute during this period," he said, without referring to the nature of the investigation. The action against Verma comes nearly four months after he was placed on temporary leave as editor of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a prestigious scientific journal. The allegations of inappropriate conduct against Verma were first reported by Science magazine, according to which last summer, three female Salk senior scientists sued the institute for gender discrimination calling it an "old boys club" that had systematically impeded their careers because they were women. The lawsuits are set to go to trial next December. Verma told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the leave had stemmed from the lawsuits that Salk professors filed against the Institute in July. Verma, 70, who is also on the boards of several Indian scientific institutes, has denied the allegations. "I have never used my position at the Salk Institute to take advantage of others. I have also never engaged in any sort of intimate relationship with anyone affiliated with the Salk Institute, he said in a statement to Science through his attorney. "I have never inappropriately touched, nor have I made any sexually charged comments, to anyone affiliated with the Salk Institute. I have never allowed any offensive or sexually charged conversations, jokes, material, etc. to occur at the Salk Institute, said Verma who earned his MSc in Biochemistry from the Lucknow University. Denying misconduct allegations to the Union-Tribune, Verma said, "I believe that it is inappropriate for an individual in a position of authority to engage in any intimate relationship with a direct report or to use that position of authority to take advantage of others." In 2005, he was appointed as foreign fellow by the Indian national Science Academy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Army today paid floral tributes to Sepoy Ajay Kumar, who was killed during an encounter with militants in Tral area of south Kashmir. The Army paid befitting tribute to late Sepoy Ajay Kumar who attained martyrdom during counter-terrorist operations in Tral, an Army spokesman said in a statement. He said General Officer Commanding of Chinar Corps Lt. Gen A K Bhatt led all ranks in paying homage to the jawan on behalf of the nation in a solemn ceremony at Badamibagh Cantonment here. "In a show of solidarity, representatives from other security agencies also joined in paying their last respects to the martyr, the spokesman said. Kumar sustained bullet injury during the fierce operation in Laam forest in Tral in Pulwama district. He was provided immediate first-aid and evacuated to the 92 Base Hospital, but died later. Four militants were killed in the encounter, in which a policeman also lost his life. Kumar (25) had joined the Army in 2013. He belonged to Panjola village in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh and is survived by parents and a brother. The mortal remains of the soldier were flown to his native place for last rites. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two police officers were shot and critically wounded outside a home improvement store in the US state of Texas, police said. Armando Juarez, 29, earlier identified as a person of interest, and an unidentified female were apprehended after a police pursuit that ended near uptown, authorities said. "We got our man," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said at a press briefing. The incident began yesterday when an off-duty officer at the Home Depot called to request backup officers for an arrest. The two officers who responded to the call were wounded, police chief Rene Hall said. A civilian who was working as a loss prevention officer at the store was also injured, police said. The three injured were being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, police chief Rene Hall told reporters. She declined to give their names or more details about their condition. Earlier yesterday, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings also tweeted on the shooting: "We are closely monitoring the situation in northeast Dallas and praying for our officers and their families." Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent "thoughts and prayers" to the officers in a tweet. "Texas honours all the men and women who protect and serve our communities, and justice will be served," he said. Five Dallas officers were killed and seven others injured in July 2016 when a military veteran who had served in Afghanistan fired on them. The shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of Mesquite, Texas, was killed after a lengthy standoff with police. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two police officers were shot and critically wounded outside a home improvement store in the US state of Texas, police said. The suspect, identified by police as 29-year-old Armando Luis Juarez, is still at large. Police said he may have fled in a white pickup truck. A civilian was also shot and the incident sparked a manhunt, police said. The incident began yesterday when an off-duty officer at the Home Depot called to request backup officers for an arrest. The two officers who responded to the call were wounded, police chief Rene Hall said. A civilian who was working as a loss prevention officer at the store was also injured, police said. The three injured were being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, police chief Rene Hall told reporters. She declined to give their names or more details about their condition. The suspect is considered dangerous, Hall said, adding it is unclear, "how he was able to get a gun and shoot all three of the victims". Earlier yesterday, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings also tweeted on the shooting: "We are closely monitoring the situation in northeast Dallas and praying for our officers and their families." Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent "thoughts and prayers" to the officers in a tweet. "Texas honors all the men and women who protect and serve our communities, and justice will be served," he said. Five Dallas officers were killed and seven others injured in July 2016 when a military veteran who had served in Afghanistan fired on them. The shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of Mesquite, Texas, was killed after a lengthy standoff with police. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Describing Uttarakhand as the cradleof Indian forestry, Governor K K Paul today advocated for green accounting in the state and introduction of a forest growth index. He also said the Chipko Movement, recognised globally as the first conservation movement, had its originsin the hill state. Expressing concern over Greenhouse gas emissions, the governor said a concept ofgreen accounting,on the lines of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), should be introduced as forest growth index. The idea of green accounting is very important fora hill state like Uttarakhand where much depends on the condition of its forests, he said. The governor was addressing a convocation of IFS probationers at the Indira Gandhi National Forestry Academy here. Emphasising on research in the field of forestry, he said it will lead to major changesin the management of forest resources. Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Harsh Vardhan, who also addressed the convocation, asked the probationers to find methods to empower the population which depends on forests for livelihood. People living in forests can be taught howforests can be conserved as a means of livelihood and as a weapon to fight climate change, he said. The Union minister expressed hope that the probationers will rise to the country's expectations. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said the importance of forests was rising with time. He said 71 per cent of Uttarakhand's total area is forested with forest resourcesforming the basis of the existence of its people. Striking a balance between forests and the basic needs of human life is a big challenge which IFS probationers were going to face as they went out in the field, Rawat said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today called for shifting the proposed oil refinery project from the coastal Ratnagiri district to Vidarbha, saying that the investment-starved eastern Maharashtra needs it more. Thackeray was speaking to media-persons at his residence 'Matoshree' here, after dissident BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh -- who hails from Vidarbha -- met him to discuss the project. "Deshmukh has given me a well-studied proposal. I feel proud of him. It is now clear that Nanar refinery project will not happen at any cost. A picture was being created that this project will be shifted to Gujarat (if it was opposed at Nanar in Ratnagiri). But there are other places in Maharashtra where this project can be shifted," Thackeray said. In the past no attempts were made to develop the Vidarbha region, and as the project will generate around one lakh jobs, Vidarbha needs it, Thackeray said. "The chief minister (Devendra Fadnavis) has assured that the project will not be forced upon people if they do not want it....Laws are for people and not the other way round. We will continue to voice the sentiments of people," Thackeray said and added he would speak to Fadnavis over the issue. "Holding Monsoon session (of state legislature) in Vidarbha will do no good," Thackeray said, referring to a demand by some BJP MLAs. "Many good decisions can be taken while sitting in Mumbai as well....We will support the CM in holding the session in Nagpur, if he is willing to announce that the refinery project will be shifted to Vidarbha," Thackeray said. The Shiv Sena, a partner in the BJP-led state government, has been opposing the oil refinery project at Nanar in coastal Ratnagiri, citing the local people's opposition and a possible threat to the (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres believes the Iran nuclear deal must be preserved but that this achievement can be strengthened, his spokesman said today. French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday opened the door to a new deal with Iran that would build on the nuclear agreement, following talks at the White House with President Donald Trump. Guterres believes that the Iran nuclear deal is "very important and it should be maintained," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. But he added: "We must build on this important achievement to preserve the non-proliferation regime which is a cornerstone of our global security." Guterres met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif yesterday to discuss the landmark 2015 deal that calls for curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. The agreement was endorsed in a resolution adopted by the Security Council. In his meeting with Zarif, Guterres also stressed the importance of political talks to end the wars in Syria and in Yemen, where Iran is involved militarily. Trump has set a May 12 deadline for the Europeans to "fix" the agreement or else he will not waive sanctions on Iran or could ditch the deal altogether. Macron said a "new deal" with Iran would keep the nuclear add and three other "pillars" in response to Trump's concerns: Tehran's missile program, its regional influence and restrictions on its nuclear program that expire in 2025. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday rejected changes to the nuclear agreement saying that if the deal stays in place "it stays in full. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UN Mission in South Sudan said a teenage girl was touched inappropriately by a member of the Nepalese contingent in exchange for money and the matter is being probed as a case of sexual assault, noting that no allegation of rape has been made. The UNMISS said that on April 13, four teenagers were caught trying to enter the United Nations base in Aweil in South Sudan through the perimeter fence. It was alleged that one of the teenaged girls had been touched inappropriately by a member of the Nepalese contingent in exchange for money. "There was no allegation made of rape, the UN mission said in a statement. The UNMISS deployed a Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Immediate Response Team (IRT) to Aweil to gather information and preserve evidence prior to the launch of an investigation by Nepal. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here yesterday that the allegations were initially reported on the UN website for Conduct in UN Field Missions as "including an allegation of rape" and this had been the interpretation made based on the information available at the time of posting. However, now the matter is being investigated as sexual assault. "The nature of the sexual activity has now been clarified and, therefore, the matter is being recategorised as sexual assault and attempted sexual assault, pending further information that may arise through the investigation," Dujarric said. The UN spokesman had earlier said that any act of sexual abuse is "horrendous", in particular "one involving a child is especially heinous". The UN has been informed that the Nepalese Government has appointed a national investigative team within the required timeframe of 90 days, as requested by the UN Secretariat. "Any information on allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse are reported as quickly as possible as part of the Secretary General's transparency initiatives," Dujarric said, adding that the investigation is ongoing and updates in the case could be available in the future. As of March 2018, Nepal had 1710 troops and 344 police personnel deployed with the UNMISS. The matter has also been reported to the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), an agency that is independent from UNMISS. UNMISS said it has a zero tolerance, no excuses and no second chances approach to sexual exploitation and abuse. "It is committed to putting the victims' rights and dignity first and ensuring that there is transparency and accountability for such actions," the UN mission said. The allegation comes two months after 46 Ghanaian peacekeepers were recalled after some members allegedly paid local women living in a protection camp in the town of Wau for sex. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMSS) has said that a teenage girl was touched inappropriately by a member of the Nepalese contingent in exchange for money and the matter is being probed as a case of sexual assault. The Nepal Army unit in South Sudan also formed a board of inquiry to look into the allegations against its peacekeepers deployed in the African country. On April 13, four teenagers were caught trying to enter the United Nations base in Aweil through the perimeter fence. It was alleged that one of the teenage girls had been "touched inappropriately" by a member of the Nepali contingent in exchange for money, the UNMISS said in a statement. "There was no allegation made of rape," the statement said. The UNMISS deployed a Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Immediate Response Team (IRT) to Aweil to gather information and preserve evidence prior to the launch of an investigation by Nepal. In Kathmandu, Nepali Army spokesperson Brig Gen Gokul Bhandari in a statement today said, "a board of inquiry comprising our officials in South Sudan has been investigating into the case of alleged sexual exploitation and abuse that took place on April 13." However, it was not clear from the statement that how many army personnel were involved in the incident. "Nepal Army's attention has been drawn to the reported sexual abuse. We are observing zero tolerance in such cases. Legal action will be taken as per the military act if anyone is found guilty after receiving the report of the investigation," said the Nepal Army in the statement. Nepal has been contributing to the UN peacekeeping mission since 1958. Currently, 4,832 troops are on duty in 12 different war-affected countries. Preliminary investigation suggested that there was no incident of rape involved in the incident, said the army spokesperson. "However, we are investigating into the matter to find out the truth," he added. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here yesterday that the allegations were initially reported on the UN website for Conduct in UN Field Missions as "including an allegation of rape" and this had been the interpretation made based on the information available at the time of posting. However, now the matter is being investigated as sexual assault. "The nature of the sexual activity has now been clarified and, therefore, the matter is being recategorised as sexual assault and attempted sexual assault, pending further information that may arise through the investigation," Dujarric said. The UN spokesman had earlier said that any act of sexual abuse is "horrendous", in particular "one involving a child is especially heinous". The UN has been informed that the Nepalese Government has appointed a national investigative team within the required timeframe of 90 days, as requested by the UN Secretariat. "Any information on allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse are reported as quickly as possible as part of the Secretary General's transparency initiatives," Dujarric said, adding that the investigation is ongoing and updates in the case could be available in the future. As of March 2018, Nepal had 1710 troops and 344 police personnel deployed with the UNMISS. The matter has also been reported to the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), an agency that is independent from UNMISS. UNMISS said it has a zero tolerance, no excuses and no second chances approach to sexual exploitation and abuse. "It is committed to putting the victims' rights and dignity first and ensuring that there is transparency and accountability for such actions," the UN mission said. The allegation comes two months after 46 Ghanaian peacekeepers were recalled after some members allegedly paid local women living in a protection camp in the town of Wau for sex. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two victims of the Una Dalit flogging incident in Gujarat today alleged that one of the accused, who is on bail, threatened them and tried to pressurise them into withdrawing the FIR lodged in the case. Ramesh Sarvaiya, who was among the four Dalit youths allegedly beaten up by cow vigilantes in Mota Samadhiyala village of Una tehsil in 2016, alleged that one Kiran and another unidentified person threatened him and his cousin Ashok today, and asked them to withdraw the FIR lodged in 2016. "When I and Ashok were returning to Mota Samadhiyala from Una town on our motorbike this evening, one Kiran, who is out on bail and another person from nearby Samter village stopped us. They asked us to withdraw the case, as Kiran is one of the accused, and threatened us," said Sarvaiya. He and Ashok then went to the Una tehsil police station to lodge a complaint, he said. "I have learned that the victims were threatened. I have directed the concerned police station to register their FIR....More policemen would be provided for their protection, in addition to four personnel currently deployed," said Gir-Somnath district Superintendent of Police Hitesh Joysar. Four Dalit men were allegedly beaten up by cow vigilantes near Mota Samadhiyala when they were skinning a dead cow on July 11, 2016. The assailants alleged that the victims had killed the cow. The four victims -- Vashram Sarvaiya, his brother Ramesh and cousins Ashok and Bechar -- were all residents of Mota Samadhiyala. Later, the accused took them to nearby Una town and once again thrashed them with sticks and iron rods after tying them to a vehicle. A video of this thrashing went viral and created nationwide outrage. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Influential self-styled godman Asaram was today sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a teenaged minor girl, putting the issue of sexual offences and other crimes by spiritual leaders under the scanner once again. Rape, murder and money laundering, crimes that could well be part of a hardened offender's rap sheet, are some of the charges against a bunch of India's powerful 'gurus' who have political clout, wealth and a following of many thousands. Hailing from across the country, some of them are more high profile than others while some come into the national limelight when their alleged crimes are exposed. Asaram, the latest in the list, is accused in another rape case in Gujarat along with son Narayan Sai, who is also in jail. Three of the witnesses in the case, being tried in a Gandhinagar court, have wound up dead. In 2008, two pre-teenagers -- cousins Dipesh and Abhishek Vaghela who lived in Asaram's gurukul in Motera -- were found dead on the riverbed near his ashram. The two cousins' parents alleged that they were killed in Asaram's ashram where they claimed black magic was practised. The state CID had in 2009 booked seven followers of Asaram in the death case. He was also accused of grabbing land for building his ashrams in Surat and Ahmedabad. In August last year, another 'godman', Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, was put away in jail for 20 years for rape by a special CBI court in Mohali, Punjab. Gurmit Ram Rahim has also been named in cases of land grabbing, murder and forced castration. His conviction triggered violent protests by his followers, claiming the lives of more than 38 people in Punjab and Haryana. While Asaram and Gurmit Ram Rahim are the most high profile, commanding empires running into many crores and lakhs of followers across the country, there are many others. In December last year, the lesser known Virendra Dev Dixit was accused of rape and illegal confinement. Over 100 women were freed when a raid was conducted at his ashram in north Delhi. The story came to light when a Rajasthan family, whose daughter was at one of his ashrams, approached the Delhi High Court. In 2014, Haryana police found the bodies of five women and an 18-month-old child at self-styled guru Rampal's Satlok ashram in Hisar. A stand-off between his followers and paramilitary forces led to the death of six people that year. Rampal was later arrested and jailed for 22 months. In 2010, Swami Nithyananda from Karnataka hit the headlines when a sex tape of him with an actress was shown on a TV channel. Nithyananda, who faces allegations of rape and land grabbing, has served two stints in jail, including 53 days in 2010. The year before, Santosh Madhavan aka Swami Amrita Chaitanya from Kerala was found guilty of sexually exploiting two minor girls in 2009. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. A wanted man by Interpol for duping an NRI woman, his other transgressions include making pornographic videos and financial fraud. In 2006, Swami Vikasanand, a self-styled godman from Jabalpur, was found guilty of sexually abusing minors. Pornographic films that he had allegedly made with the minor girls were discovered from his ashram in Jabalpur. In the 1990s, there was also the case of Prem Kumar aka Swami Premananda who moved from Sri Lanka to establish an ashram near Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, and later opened branches in foreign countries. His ashram had women and orphans, many of who had accompanied him from Sri Lanka. In 1997, the godman was sentenced to life imprisonment for 13 counts of rape, molestation of two girls and a murder. He continued to maintain his innocent till he died in in Cuddalore jail in 2011. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's advice to partymen to refrain from making controversial statements, Surendra Singh, a BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh, targeted West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee calling her 'Surpanakha' while comparing opposition Congress to 'Ravana'. Surpanakha is the sister of demon king Ravana in Hindu epic 'Ramayana'. The first-time MLA from Bairia, made the controversial remarks against Banerjee while raising questions over the law and order situation in West Bengal. "All the terrorists belonging to BJP-ruled states have fled to West Bengal and if such a situation continues to prevail, Bengal will also turn into a Jammu and Kashmir one day...Mamata Banerjee has turned into Surpanakha and the Congress (into) Ravana," the MLA said at a zila panchayat programme here last night. He also made some comments about the safety of Hindus in the state and said terrorists from Bangladesh were infiltrating West Bengal. "Mamata Banerjee is playing the role of Surpanakha. People are being killed and even though she is the chief minister, she is doing nothing," Surendra Singh said. "Just as Hindus were thrown out of Jammu and Kashmir, they will be forced out of West Bengal...terrorists from Bangladesh have infiltrated into West Bengal and are troubling Hindus, but it is our good fortune that we have a leader like Narendra Modi...we will be able to remove foreign powers from West Bengal," Singh claimed, adding that 'Surpanakha' will be defeated by Modi and Amit Shah. The BJP MLA also attacked Congress president Rahul Gandhi, saying he will have to face Narendra Modi in the coming Lok Sabha polls. In the past too, Surender Singh had invited controversy by defending Unnao rape accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and also when he claimed that India will become a Hindu Rashtra by 2022. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China's plan to transform itself into the global technology nexus is a "frightening" one that puts American intellectual property at risk, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has said. "It's a huge, huge problem," Ross told a gathering of fabric industry executives Tuesday about the repeated theft of technology. "And it's not going away." He said Beijing's development plan -- Made in China 2025 -- maps out the country's strategy to dominate "every hot industry" from space to telecommunications to robotics to electric cars. "They have been the factory floor of the world, now their vision is to be the technology center for the world," Ross said. "What they are really trying to do is take their immense trade surplus from the conventional industries of today...and plow them into semiconductor research and every kind of research you can imagine." Washington last month threatened steep tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods, because of policies it says aim to steal technology, and also filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization. That ratcheted up tensions between the two countries and they have exchanged increasingly severe tariff threats. But US President Donald Trump yesterday confirmed that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to Beijing in "a few days" at China's request. Ross also warned the fabric industry representatives on Tuesday that China was even reviewing US patents and filing them in their home country to prevent the legitimate owners of the technology from selling their ideas in China. He warned them to think about "protecting your own assets" as they try to export their products. Influential lawmakers and representative of the American IT industry, including Facebook, have opposed the Trump administration's proposed plan to withdraw work permits to H-4 visa holders, who are spouses of H-1B visa holders. "Rescinding this rule and removing tens of thousands of people from the American workforce would be devastating to their families, and would hurt our economy, Silicon Valley-based FWD.US, which was founded by top IT companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft, said in a report released yesterday. It comes a day after the American media reported a letter from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services about its decision to terminate the Obama-era regulation that granted work permits to H-4 visa holders, a majority of whom are Indian professionals, and are mostly women. "This policy is important because it allows certain individuals to secure gainful employment without having to wait for their spouses to receive permanent residency, many of whom are experiencing a processing backlog of more than a decade," FWD.US argued. Roughly 80 per cent of H-4 visa holders are women, and many had successful jobs and held advanced degrees in their native countries before coming to the US with their H-1B spouses, it said. Without the H-4 work authorisation rule, the spouses of H-1B high-skilled employees would be unable to work legally and contribute financially to their households and communities, as well as pay taxes on their wages, unless they had alternate immigration avenues for work authorisation, FWD.US added. "H-4 work authorisation has allowed an estimated 100,000 people to begin working and further integrate into their communities," the report quoted a group of 15 top American lawmakers from California as saying. In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M Nielson, the lawmakers argued that the Obama-era H-4 rule lessened the burden on thousands of H-1B recipients and their families while they transition from non-immigrants to lawful permanent residents by allowing their families to earn dual incomes. Many entrepreneurs used their EADs to start businesses that now employ US citizens. "Eliminating this benefit removes an important incentive for highly skilled immigrants to remain here to invest in and grow our economy to the benefit of all Americans," the letter signed by, among others, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, said. "The H-4 rule is a matter of both economic competitiveness and maintaining family unity. The United States has already invested in these workers with years of expertise and we should not be sending them abroad to innovate and use their experience and talents against US businesses. We ask that you reconsider the revocation of the H-4 rule," the lawmakers said in the letter dated March 5. As the issue affects a large number of highly qualified India professionals, mostly women, the Indian Embassy too has been engaging with lawmakers and officials of the Trump Administration. "Eliminating work authorisation for roughly 100,000 H-4 visa holders, most of whom are educated women like me, will hurt our country and have negative consequences on tens of thousands of American families. We must protect legal immigration channels that will help the US remain at the forefront of innovation for generations to come," said Dr Maria Navas-Moreno, Co Founder of Lever Photonics and an H-4 visa holder. As employers continue to navigate the outdated immigration system, the administration should "reconsider its likely rescission" of the H-4 visa rule, that granted work authorisation to a limited subset of spouses and was critical in helping employers recruit and retain a high-skilled workforce, as well as in keeping the United States competitive in the global innovation race, Government Affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council director Karolina Filipiak said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) IPS officer Ajay Pal Lamba, who supervised the investigation in the rape case against self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, today hailed the court verdict in the matter saying it showed that even the weakest can take on the might of the most influential as truth had prevailed. A Jodhpur court had awarded a life term to the godman after finding him guilty of raping a teenage girl in his ashram five years ago. It is heartening to witness that if the law of land is implemented impartially, then even weakest can afford to take on the might of most influential persons like Asaram, Lamba said in a Facebook post. Finally truth prevailed. Justice delivered in Asharam Bapu case with conviction of accused Asharam in a case of sexual assault on a minor girl during the night of Independence Day of 2013. Judgement is a landmark in criminal jurisprudence in the country, he added. Lamba had supervised Asaram's arrest from Indore as well as the investigation when he was posted as Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) in Jodhpur city. The 2005-batch IPS officer, currently posted as SP, Anti Corruption Bureau, in Jodhpur, also thanked members of his team members associated with the probe. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Raising Uttarakhand's hopes for a "long overdue" green bonus, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu today said the states contributing to forest conservation must be given incentives. "Giving incentives to the states which are making their precious contribution to forest conservation will encourage them to expand the green cover further," said Naidu, addressing the Indian Forest Service probationers during the convocation ceremony at Indira Gandhi National Forestry Academy here. He mooted the idea of extending the incentives even to the local people, besides civic bodies and panchayats for tree plantation and forest conservation. "We have to save the forests for the future generations. If we protect our trees, they will protect us," he said. "Panchayats have a big role to play in conservation of the forest cover and enhancing it. There can be no two opinions on giving them incentives for this," Naidu said. A green bonus in return for its forest conservation endeavours has been a long- pending demand of successive state governments in Uttarakhand. Congratulating the IFS probationers, the Vice President said they had joined the forest services at a crucial time when India was one of the fastest growing economies in the world and the development versus conservation debate was at its highest pitch. "You have to find the method to strike a balance between ecological security and development. Man-animal-wildlife balance has to be maintained through scientific management of our forest resources," the Vice President said. Asking the probationers to involve the local populace, especially tribals who depend on forests for their livelihood, in conservation efforts, he said, adding no national programme can be successful without involvement of people. "Involving people is the most effective way of governance. National programmes can succeed in achieving their objectives only when they become people's movement," he said. Giving his own interpretation to the word forest, he said it meant "far from rest" because managing the forest resources was a challenging task. Remembering forest officers who had made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty, the Vice President asked the IFS probationers to pay special attention to the tribal population living in forests. Give them assistance, train them to conserve the resources and be a facilitator in their all round development," Naidu said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A fully refurbished Dakota DC3l, a World War II-era vintage military transport aircraft, landed at the Air Force station in Jamnagar in Gujarat today. The aircraft will fly to the Air Force Station at Hindan in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh tomorrow for induction into the Vintage Aircraft Fleet of the IAF formed in 2012, a Defence release said here. Dakotas had played a crucial role in the 1947-48 Indo-Pak war, especially in ferrying the Indian troops to Srinagar. The aircraft commenced its flight from Coventry in the United Kingdom on April 17 and reached IAF station Jamnagar today where it was received in the presence of Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Air Marshal R K Dhir, Air Officer Commanding (South Western Air Command) Sanjai Chauhan, among others, the defence release said. The aircraft has been gifted to the IAF by Chandrasekhar, whose father, Air Commodore M K Chandrasekhar was a Dakota pilot in the IAF. "Post completion of custom formalities, the aircraft is planned to ferry from Jamnagar to Hindan Air Force Station on April 26, for its induction into the Vintage Aircraft Fleet of the IAF formed in 2012," the release stated. During the first Indo-Pak war (in 1947-48), besides carrying supplies and refugees, Dakota aircraft carried the troops of 1st Sikh Regiment to Srinagar on October 27, 1947 to intervene in time to save the Kashmir valley and Poonch from Pakistan, the release stated. A large fleet of Dakota DC-3 served in the IAF till 1988. It was one of the most versatile transport aircraft of its time. The aircraft was obtained from scrap in 2011 and was restored to flying condition in the UK by Chandrasekhar for gifting it to the IAF. The induction ceremony is scheduled to take place on May 4 at Air Force Station Hindan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) " Even if I die now, I will have no regret as we have got justice for our daughter." The father of the teenager raped by 77-year-old Asaram said this soon after a Jodhpur court sentenced the self-styled godman to life imprisonment. "We are very happy with the punishment given by the court to Asaram," he said. "Now we do not have any fear as the administration and the court are with us," he said, looking much relieved. "We had always stated that we have faith in the judiciary and it has been proved correct," he told media persons who mobbed him for his comments. "My daughter is very courageous and it is because of her courage that we have managed to ensure that the 'dhongi baba' (fake godman) got punishment for his wrongdoings," he said. "We have won this fight as Asaram will not be able to come out of jail," he said. "The people of the town and the media have given us all the help," he added. Earlier, when the reports of Asaram's conviction first came, the victim's father expressed satisfaction over the verdict and demanded the "strictest punishment" for him. "I am happy to get justice, I thank the judiciary and the media for it," he said. "We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice," he said. "For the past four years, our family members had not been coming out (of our house)... it is satisfying that the verdict has gone against him," he said. "We were living in constant terror, our business was adversely hit," he said. He spoke about the hardships faced by the family during the trial of the case, saying he was given "allurements and threats to life". "He men asked me to go before the media and say that he is innocent, and the court will free him and they will give me as much money as I want," the victim's father said. "With police security at our place, threats were also sent through our relatives," he added. Terming the self-styled godman as a "fraud", the father said such men brainwash god-fearing people and gradually win over their loyalty, making them believe that "the guru is supreme". "People like us are brainwashed into believing that they are the incarnation of God. Their so-called mystic powers are repeatedly mentioned and they become the focus of their disciples," he said. "When we got completely brainwashed, we were told that there are gurukuls where our children will do well," he said. "When I came to know what had happened to my daughter, it was shattering for us... we lost all faith in him when we learnt about his misdeeds," he said. The Jodhpur court found 77-year-old Asaram guilty of raping the 16-year-old girl five years ago. The teenager from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh was studying at the self-styled godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. The victim had alleged that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. Ahead of the pronouncement of the judgment, the district administration had extended security to the victim's family. The administration had also stepped up vigil at Asaram's ashram at Rudrapur, about two kilometres away. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013 and was sent to judicial custody the next day. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's financial regulator has launched a nationwide inspection of banks' risky business practices, focusing on consumer loans and real estate lending in regions with high levels of household debt, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The local branches of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) have deployed teams of officials to commercial banks where they will stay for at least a week and assess bank loans and client information, the sources said.In cities with highly leveraged households, the CBIRC officials are seeking ... By Paul Sandle and Sheila DangLONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. media group Comcast submitted a 22 billion pound($30.7 billion) bid for Sky on Wednesday, prompting the European pay TV group to drop its support for a lower offer from Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox.Sky's independent directors welcomed Comcast's 12.50 pound per share bid and said they would now engage with both Comcast and Fox. They cautioned that neither bid could yet be put to shareholders and advised them to take no action for now.The bid formalises an offer first made in February and puts pressure on Fox, which ... By Manoj KumarNEW DELHI (Reuters) - More than three million workers joined India's state-run social security fund in six months through February, giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi some ammunition to defend his record on creating jobs ahead of a general election due next year.A new data series on payrolls released by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for the first time on Wednesday, however, gives an incomplete picture of how many new jobs are being created in the non-farm sector.The provisional data showed 472,075 employees were added to the state-run social security fund in February, and ... LOGAN Utah State University police have arrested a 22-year-old man suspected of raping someone on campus last year. Tyler Call was booked into the Cache County Jail Tuesday. The Logan resident is being held on suspicion of 1st Degree rape. USU spokesman Tim Vitale said the alleged assault occurred in the fall of 2017. He could not provide details of whether or not the alleged victim was a student, or where the assault took place, citing the ongoing investigation. Records show that Call is originally from Brigham City but was living in Logan at the time the allegations occurred. Vitale said Call was not attending USU at the time and has never been enrolled as a student. Call is being held on $20,000 bail. He will likely be arraigned in 1st District Court on formal charges Thursday. Calls arrests comes just weeks after USU president Noelle Cockett held a press conference addressing the dismissal of two facility members in the schools music department, accused of sexual assault and harassment. She later announced the school will look to hire a new Title IX coordinator and that former Logan City Police Department Detective Scott Bodily will serve in the interim position. will@cvradio.com PROVIDENCE City Council member Jeff Baldwin informed Mayor John Drew Tuesday that he will be resigning from his office due to a terminal illness, Drew told KVNUs Jason Williams. Drew said he met with Baldwin and his wife midday Tuesday when he was informed of the bad news. He told Drew that he visited his doctor earlier that morning, was diagnosed with leukemia and told he has 10 days to live. Speaking to the city staff I have to say that we were totally shocked and stunned by the news and its pretty quiet around here, Drew said. Drew on Baldwin resignation Baldwin joined the City Council in 2014 and was reelected during the most recent election. According to USU.edu, Baldwin is a professor in the Agricultural Systems Technology and Education Department at Utah State University. We asked if there is anything we can do for the family and they said just your thoughts and prayers at this point, Drew said. We offered anything we, the city, can do for the family. Mark Bareta W. Musa The mother of Cameroonian Activists based in Belgium, Mark Bareta has allegedly been arrested by Police in Buea Tuesday April 24, 2018. She was taken to the Buea Central Police station for questioning. Police reportedly asked Mrs Agbor Ruth Ayuk to produce her son Mark whom Government has labeled terrorist. She is also accused of sponsoring the rise of the Anglophone crisis with money sent by Mark Bareta. Another Activist, Eric Tataw wrote on his facebook page, I just got off the phone with Mark, I have also spoken to sources at the Buea Central Police Station; Bareta's mother is being held for questioning, Tuesday April 24, 2018. My sources say everything being equal, she should be released soonest. According to preliminary investigations, she's being accused of sponsoring the Anglophone Struggle with money from her son, Mark Bareta. Reacting on his Facebook page, Mark Bareta, onetime interim leader of Civil Society Consortium said his mother is innocent and has never controlled his actions, Like every parent, you give birth to a child. You don't give birth to his or her heart/mind, or control their actions. As a strong CWA (Catholic womens association) woman, she believes in justice and lives her own small life going to bed everyday worried to death, wondering whether I am safe or not. She has numerous times over the years requested that I slow down but came to the conclusion that I am responsible for my own actions. He added that his mother is just a victim of circumstances, Just like any mother, father, boy, girl out there, she is the latest victim of the system. A system that has caused untold damages and heartache to several families on our land. She may not even be the last in my family that is targeted. Mark Bareta insisted that no one has ever controlled his actions and that he has been doing so even before the outbreak of the Anglophone crisis, My actions are entirely mine. No one person in my family controls what I do. They can't, even if they try as some have done because political activism is my food and my life; for which I have sacrificed a great part of my personal life and I cannot rest, not when there is so much injustice in my country. The former University of beau Student leader is wanted by the government for his role in fueling the Anglophone crisis according to judicial documents. An International Arrest Warrant was served for that purpose months back. The arrest of his mother observers hold could be a means to make him retract. Her arrest however has not been confirmed by Government Andek School Building W. Musa Death stroke twice in one day, in two Government owned schools in the two English speaking regions, Wednesday April 25, 2018. Confrontations between Cameroons Defense Forces and Ambazonia fighters got two senior school administrators dead. Since Tuesday night, gun shots were heard all over Andek, in Ngie subdivision, Momo division in the Northwest region. Denizens got up early Wednesday to find the Principal of Government High School Andek, Sango Mathew Anjue lying critically injured. He was certainly shot during an all night battle between Amabzonai fighters and Military. What remains unclear is who shot him and for what reasons. Sango Mathew was later declared dead according to sources. His evacuation for better medical attention was a daring attempt. Just like him another school administrators was shot dead early Wednesday in Meme division. The Senior Discipline Master of Government Bilingual High School, Kosala, Ashu Thomas Nkongho was shot dead by unknown men at about 8 AM. According to information gathered, Thomas Ashu was in his office when he heard cries from a student who had been shot by two men onboard a bike, as he stepped out to find out, he was shot on the head, rushed to the Kumba District Hospital where he died. Immediately after the incident, soldiers invaded the campus as teachers and students ran into bushes while parents stormed the premises to take their children home. This incident took place in the absence of the principal, Mwelle Kunz Mbai, an alternate Senator who was in Yaounde to witness the opening session of the Senate. Sen. Kemende talking to the press after stormy Senate opening W. Musa Just like Hon. Wirba Joseph took the Lower House of Parliament by storm in November 2016 on the Anglophone crisis, Senator Kemende of the Social Democratic Front party, SDF, has made an unprecedented outing at the opening of the Senate Session, the first for the five year mandate of newly elected and appointed Senators. The legal Mind was interested in the standing orders of the house which prohibits a Senator from holding other functions other than which he was elected. In this regard, he challenged Senator Nfon VE Mukete who is the eldest member of the Senate but still enjoying his functions as Board Chairman of Cameroon Telecommunication Company, CAMTEL. He also challenged the eligibility of the youngest member of the Senate.By questioning the position of the Paramount ruler of the Bafaws, Senator Kemende has just exposed an old practice which has eaten deep into the bones of law makers. They make laws but fail to abide by them. Holding an elective position and an appointed position like that of Senator Nfon VE Mukete is not accepted by the law but he held both position for five years of the existence of the Senate. Senator Kemendes action made him man of the day and has been likened by Social Media users to be the Wirba Joseph at the Senate House. The Senate provisional Bureau has been constituted while waiting for May when the Commission of inquiry must have scrutinized the files of all Senators to fish out cases of incompatibility. It is expected that the case of Senator Nfon VE Mukete will be looked into. 8 Great Getaways for Fall Fall in B.C. is about snuggling up, enjoying a hearty meal, and enjoying the outdoors despite or maybe because of the rain. There is no shortage of places to celebrate; October is BC Craft Beer Month and BC Wine Harvest Month, so raise a glass in celebration of the season. And pack your sense of adventure. Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at 9:32PM Google is making it easier for Android users to listen to podcasts right from their mobile devices. All you need to do is search for the podcast you want to listen to and your search result will float at the top or near the top information about the podcast you were looking for. Itll also show the latest episodes with a play button to their right. This provides a simple playback options but also the ability to download podcast episodes for offline listening. You can even subscribe to these podcasts and these will be added into a list you can curate. The easiest way to access the podcasts you subscribe to (or what looks like the only way to access at the moment) is adding the podcast shortcut to your homescreen. The feature also lets you find and return to episodes you havent finished listening to. The podcast page also shows you suggestions based on genre, publisher, and popular ones based on the podcasts youre subscribed to. As expected, the feature also works with Google Assistant, so you can use voice commands to find, play, and resume episodes. It isnt clear yet if this is getting a full app experience or whether its coming to iOS. For now, its an easy way to get into podcasts or check out shows you dont want to commit to yet. Source: The Next Web news, latest-news Mateship, courage and sacrifice were honoured at the Australian War Memorial on Anzac Day, with almost 50,000 people attending its two services to pay their respects to Australian servicemen and women. Addressing a dawn service crowd of about 38,000, retired colonel Susan Neuhaus highlighted the contribution of women to the armed forces by remembering 22 nurses who were ordered into the sea and executed by Japanese troops during World War II. "When their ship, the Vyner Brooke, was torpedoed in the Banka Strait, they swam through the night to the shore," Colonel Neuhaus said. "There, on Monday, the 16th of February 1942, shortly after 10am, they were lined up along the beach, still in their uniforms, a red cross emblazoned into their left sleeve and at bayonet point they were ordered into the sea. "They were under no illusion as to their fate. "In those last moments before the machine guns opened fire, Matron Irene Drummond turned to her nurses with words of comfort and of courage and her words speak for a nation: 'Chins up, girls. I'm proud of you, and I love you all'." It was seven degrees as Colonel Neuhaus told her Canberra audience that while the Gallipoli landings were fading further into the past, the significance of the sacrifice made by those veterans, and all who have followed them, would never diminish. "Like most Australians today, I have no faded photographs of men or women in uniform on my mantelpiece and don't know of any family members who served on the beaches of Gallipoli, on the muddy fields of the Somme or indeed the jungles of south-east Asia," she said. "And yet, like all of us, I benefit from what they have done." Pre-service ceremonies began at 4.30am on Wednesday, with representatives of each of Australia's armed services reading excerpts from the letters and diaries by war veterans. Among the first to arrive was Canberra man Neil Anstey, who served for more than 40 years in the Australian Army. Mr Anstey, whose service included tours in East Timor and Sinai, said Anzac Day was always an emotional occasion. "It means a lot because we're remembering those who have gone before us," he said. "It's great to see more young kids getting involved and wanting to know what it's all about." Mr Anstey was part of the lead contingent in the march down Anzac Parade later on Wednesday morning, along with about 800 others representing the army apprentices. Another of those was Geoff Wilson, who enlisted as an army apprentice in 1977 and went on to become a member of the Royal Military College Band. He travelled from Wagga Wagga for the dawn service and to attend an army apprentices reunion that marks 70 years since the first school for apprentices opened. "We owe the guys before us a lot, in terms of our lifestyle in Australia," Mr Wilson said. The 2018 crowd matched that of last year, when rain hit the dawn service, but again fell well short of the almost 130,000 who attended to mark the centenary of Anzac Day in 2015. Wednesday marked 103 years since troops from Australia and New Zealand landed at Gallipoli during World War I. About 11,500 people attended the Australian War Memorial's national ceremony, which started with an address from Rat of Tobruk Bob Semple. The 97-year-old reflected on his service in the Middle East, New Guinea and Borneo during World War II. "Appreciation of mateship, reliability and unquestioned trust in each other seemed to characterise the overall casual nature of the Australian make up, and was certainly experienced with my unit and the division as a whole throughout the war," he said. "These dualities and feelings were of great assistance in designing life after the war, and in the following rehabilitation process. "To experience by circumstance, and not by design, something money could not buy, something which could not be artificially created, and certainly one of the reasons why we want to get together as often as possible in the bond of special comradeship centered on a cause which had a focus for a particular reason is good for the soul, and l believe rewarding to the inner person. "l am sure when we pause and reflect from time to time, why we come together, it has a great deal to do with circumstances and mateship." Australian War Memorial director Dr Brendan Nelson said Anzac Day had endured through "existential questions" about its relevance in the past, and would always have a place in Australia no matter how many people attended the dawn service. "What's much more important than physical attendance at any of these ceremonies is what is appearing in people's hearts, and the extent to which people are prepared to stop, reflect and think about what Anzac Day is and what it means," he said. "Anzac Day asks of every one of us, 'What does it mean to be Australian?' and it also answers it. In the end, what we need most is one another, and whatever we do with our lives, we need to do something that is in service of other Australians and other human beings." /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/94928683-a676-4de2-8cd4-f38f9f7fee72/r0_278_5472_3370_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, act-politics ACT Greens Minister Shane Rattenbury has refuted claims he left last Friday's COAG meeting during critical energy discussions to do a doorstop with his federal party colleagues. Mr Rattenbury has been an outspoken critic of the proposed National Energy Guarantee, saying the overall emissions target was weak and there were unresolved questions around how offsets could be used. But Victorian Labor Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio took to Twitter to lash Mr Rattenbury for "going missing during 40 minutes of COAG and not once opposing the NEG when you were in the room". The tweet was seized on by the Canberra Liberals, with leader Alistair Coe calling on Mr Rattenbury to explain his absence. "While many Canberrans are struggling with soaring energy prices, Mr Rattenbury is far more interested in attending rallies with the Federal Greens," Mr Coe said. "Rather than fighting for the best deal for ACT residents, Shane Rattenbury was off grandstanding with his political mates. "Mr Rattenbury must explain why he thought it was appropriate to leave the COAG table and leave the ACT unrepresented on such an important matter." However, Mr Rattenbury said he only left the room briefly during discussions that were not relevant to the ACT. "The assertions in Minister D'Ambrosio's tweet are simply wrong. I was in the room for the entire NEG discussion, and outlined in clear terms the ACT concerns with the current design," Mr Rattenbury said. "I was out of the room for about 20 minutes for another commitment during the Resources Council section of the meeting - but the ACT is not a member of the Resources Council as we don't have mining in the ACT." While a COAG agenda obtained by Fairfax Media shows the Resources Council discussion was scheduled to run from 11.30am to 11.50am, a spokeswoman for Mr Rattenbury said the meeting was running late and began just after 12pm. If the meeting had been running on time, it would have wrapped up by midday. A Facebook Live on Mr Rattenbury's Facebook page shows Mr Rattenbury answering questions from the media with federal Greens leader Richard Di Natale and deputy leader Adam Bandt at 12.11pm. Mr Rattenbury said on Friday state and territory energy ministers had agreed to continue negotiations about the NEG up until their next meeting in August. He said he made a "strong input" into the meeting about the "significant outstanding questions" surrounding the energy agreement and that he could not support it in its current form. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/8b62658e-6192-423a-b785-20870f8f5437/r0_233_4529_2792_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg comment, editorial On Sunday, May 13, hundreds of veterans of the Battle of Coral-Balmoral will gather in Canberra to mark the 50th anniversary of the engagement, which was marked by some of the fiercest fighting involving Australians during the Vietnam War. The commemoration will come hot on the heels of the publication of findings from the latest Defence Honours and Awards Tribunal inquiry into whether a joint unit citation for gallantry should be awarded to the Diggers who took part over the 26 days of fighting. The report must be released by May 3. While some veterans, such as former 2nd Lieutenant Norm Peatling, think there is only a "snowball's chance in hell" the tribunal will come down on the side of the Diggers, he said he owed it to the men he served alongside to roll the dice. Mr Peatling who took over organisation of the 50th-anniversary commemoration following the recent death of Canberra's highly regarded Lieutenant-Colonel Mark John MC is concerned that unless some form of group recognition is granted soon, the opportunity for a meaningful gesture will be lost. "This could well be the last occasion this many veterans of the battle will be able to get together," he said. "Mark's death came as a wake-up call." Mr Peatling, like many of the men who made submissions, is of the view no one unit should be singled out. He said all the units that took part 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment; 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment; A Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment; C Squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment; and the 12th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery contributed to the success of the taskforce against the numerically superior North Vietnamese Army Force. Ray Payne OAM, who fought with Charlie Company, 1 RAR, spoke for many of the veterans in his submission last October. "We have maintained ... that all of the sub-units that came together in this operation, from May 12 to June 6, 1968, performed as a combined force," he said. "Each sub-unit functioned as a cog in a wheel. Without any one of these the outcome would not have been possible in the way it was. "We achieved a strategic win over the NVA, forcing them to move. This was from an initial position of somewhat dire circumstance." That is an understatement, as anybody who was present during the first assault on Fire Support Base Coral by the NVA, in the early hours of June 13, 1968, can tell you. The Australians, handicapped by poor preliminary reconnaissance and a late arrival at the site, did not have time to set up adequate defences before the enemy attacked in force. FSB Coral came within an ace of being overrun. Eleven of the 25 Australians who lost their lives over the 26 days of fighting were killed that first night. Given Australia has only awarded four unit citations for gallantry dating back to 1942, it would be unprecedented for the tribunal to recommend honouring five separate units for a single action. That said, there is an argument that acts of unique courage and gallantry deserve to be recognised in unique and unprecedented ways. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/c67221e6-2a17-483a-ba81-3a43a126d5dc/r0_37_353_236_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, latest-news The Abbott and Turnbull governments will be remembered for their Royal Commissions, both those they inherited from Julia Gillard, into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, but also their own into Trade Union Governance and Corruption and now into Banking and the Financial Services Industry. The rule seems to be that Governments only appoint a Royal Commission when they know the likely outcome or when the topic cant possibly hurt it more than the Opposition. But this hardly applies when you are forced by the Parliament to appoint a Royal Commission against your wishes as the Turnbull government has been on this occasion. It was Labor, the Greens and some independently-minded Nationals backbenchers who have best predicted these appalling revelations. They have been proven in the long run to be right. Why then did the government resist the pleas for a Royal Commission for so long? There are three possible explanations, which are not mutually exclusive. First, perhaps it truly believed its own arguments that other means to investigate and regulate the banks were preferable, perhaps misled by misinformation from their trusted friends in the banks themselves. Maybe they were just too trusting. Secondly, perhaps they were so much in the pockets of the big end of town, many of whose major boardroom players mix regularly with the PM and Treasurer in Sydney, that they failed to exercise any independent judgement. Maybe they were puppets. Thirdly, perhaps in the way of modern party politics they were unwilling to give the under-resourced Opposition and Greens any moral or political credit at all for having a good idea. Maybe they opposed for the sake of it, victims of their own over-confidence and arrogance. Whatever the explanation(s), the news from this Royal Commission for the Turnbull government is as bad as it gets and likely to become even worse. Another major set of trusted institutions has now bitten the dust. This time it is a string of banks and financial institutions, including insurance companies, which have been revealed as self-serving criminal law-breakers. The revelations are two-fold. Just as in the case of those institutions with responsibility for the welfare of children, like churches, the revelations are of misdemeanours and criminal actions by employees, serious enough in themselves, as well as cover-ups, inaction and/or lies at the highest levels, which are even more serious. The comparisons are striking with the Sexual Abuse Royal Commission. Nothing can be worse than the abuse of children, but there are aspects of these revelations in the financial sector which may mean they have greater political impact. The victims are more numerous and even more widespread. They number in the hundreds of thousands and all of them are voters. The crimes are generally more contemporary and more of the perpetrators are currently holding office compared to those in institutions responsible for historical sexual abuse. The community no longer expects moral leadership from business, unfortunately. Still more heads should roll and there will be many resignations and sackings in the financial sectors. The more there are the greater the possibility that attention will be diverted away from the government. The biggest difference this time is that this is a hot party-political issue pitting the government against the Opposition, whereas there is no obvious political advantage emerging from the Sex Abuse Royal Commission. In the short to medium term the government will not live down its role in resisting this Royal Commission. The worse that future revelations turn out to be, the worse it will be politically for the government, which will be on the defensive on this and related issues until the next election. What can the government do to improve its situation apart from muddying the water and spreading the blame to other political players? Two types of responses are already becoming evident. One is to express outrage at the revelations and to take an especially hard line with the guilty parties. Banking and financial institution leadership and senior management, as well as failed government regulators, can now expect no mercy. The Treasurer has already begun to talk up increased penalties and possible jail sentences for these crimes. Ministerial language will harden and become more aggressive in tone as time goes on despite some calls from some friends of the industries against over-reaction. A second approach would be to admit its mistake and to apologise. The immediate model here, admittedly on a far less significant issue, has been Peter Beatties apology for his responsibility for the weaknesses of the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony. Beattie has always had a reputation for being a master of apologies and it is an example worth following. But unlike Barnaby Joyce, Deputy PM at the time, the Treasurer has been unwilling so far to go down this path. Joyce, freed up by no longer holding an executive government position, has admitted he was wrong. Scott Morrison and Kelly ODwyer, on the other hand, have refused to do so when given that opportunity, instead preferring to allege that Bill Shorten was only ever playing populist games. While that tactic may fudge responsibility somewhat, coming clean with a quick apology would be welcomed. Malcolm Turnbull must exercise greater leadership than the tentative steps he has initially taken. Already behind in the polls, he cannot afford to be caught up in the mire of this Royal Commission. It would be ironic if it ensured his downfall given that that was just what the Abbott government hoped the Trade Union Governance and Corruption Royal Commission would do to Shorten and the Labor Party. John Warhurst is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/0a766e84-5af3-4320-b179-7d86caf23c68/r0_154_3031_1867_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg Photo: GoFundMe Liam, 7, and Mia, 9, in photograph. An Abbotsford mother is desperately trying to get her children home after their father allegedly abducted them to the Middle East. Nine-year-old Mia and seven-year-old Liam were visiting with their biological father Wissam Tarabichi for a one week-holiday from March 24 to 31. Their mother, Shelley, was told he was taking them to Seattle and they would return to school on April 3. He allegedly abducted them to the Middle East and the three are in Beirut, Lebanon, reads a statement on a GoFundMe account by Heather Drader. According to Drader, Tarabichi sold his home in Abbotsford and all the contents inside. Their exact whereabouts are currently unknown, states Drader. Confirmation has been provided to the family that Mia and Liam did cross the border from Abbotsford to Washington State on March 24. The three then flew from Seattle to Paris and Paris to Beirut. The two children have only ever lived in Abbotsford. Mia and Liam, we love you and will see you soon, said Shelley. The GoFundMe account has raised over $28,000 and will be used to help relieve financial pressure as the family looks into legal representation in Lebanon to bring the children home. Photo: Wayne Moore Kelowna's mayor isn't surprised construction of a major downtown hotel is being delayed. Edmonton-based developer Westcorp officially put the brakes on the project last week because of uncertainty surrounding B.C.'s new real estate speculation tax. Late last week, VP of operations Gail Temple said the company was delaying the sale of 44 luxury condo units after prospective buyers indicated they were having second thoughts. Mayor Colin Basran says the announcement by Westcorp is one of the "unintended consequences" of the tax announced in February. "One of them (consequences) would be the loss of potential jobs. There would be hundreds of people working on this job site, and now those jobs are no longer required, at least for now," said Basran. "And, we know the long-term impact, at least for now, is the fact our community was looking forward to having another high-end hotel in our community that would attract people from right across North America and the world, spending dollars in local businesses, potentially falling in love with this city, then eventually becoming part-time, then full-time residents." Temple has indicated Westcorp will go to market with the condos next spring, once there is certainty around the tax, after it is debated in the legislature this fall. The City of Kelowna has sent letters to both Premier John Horgan and Finance Minister Carole James, seeking a face-to-face meeting. Basran says the city has not yet received a response. Madison Erhardt Carter Milaney is able to celebrate his 13th birthday this week thanks to a life-saving treatment. Milaney was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer called Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma a year and a half ago. As part of his treatment, Milaney endured more than 12 rounds of chemotherapy, and 15 blood transfusions. It ultimately was the stem cell transplant that saved his life. The teenager is now two years post-transplant and cancer-free. ''It is a true gift and blessing," Milaney's mother, Marla, said. "I'm emotional just thinking about it because we could have been down a very different path. Darren and I and Carter's sister were not a match for Carter. We had to go internationally. We found out that there was this incredible 21 year-old young man that donated his marrow." Milaney said he can't thank his donor enough. "Why would a 21 year-old guy donate his bone marrow to me. He saved my life. It means everything. It's pretty crazy," he said. For more information on giving blood, click here. Photo: canadianinmatesconnect.com The Parole Board of Canada's appeal division has upheld a decision to deny parole to a sexual offender in British Columbia who has been behind bars since becoming the country's youngest dangerous offender in 1999. Adam Laboucan was 17 when he was handed an indeterminate prison sentence for sexually assaulting a three-month-old boy in Quesnel. Laboucan now identifies as female and has changed her name to Tara Desousa. Desousa's last unsuccessful application for parole was in November 2017, and she appealed that decision on several grounds, including bias on the part of the board. A decision from the appeal division released Tuesday rejects Desousa's appeal, dismissing claims that incomplete or erroneous information was used in reaching a quick decision and saying there was "no reasonable apprehension of bias." The earlier board decision said it was concerned that Desousa was unable to manager her anger after she flung another inmate by her hair, then kicked her in the face. The appeal division also noted the board had factored in Desousa's Indigenous background. "The board found that you have experienced negative intergenerational effects as a result, and acknowledged the linkage between your involvement in the criminal justice system and a number of elements in social and family history, including your substance abuse issues." The appeal division said the parole board assessed Desousa's risk to reoffend, and found that rejecting full and day parole was reasonable. Photo: HelloBC.com The provincial government is moving to ease B.C.'s housing crisis by cracking down on tax evasion in the condominium market and giving municipalities more control over the protection and development of rental housing. Finance Minister Carole James says proposed changes to the Real Estate Development Marketing Act will require developers to collect and report buyer information on the purchases of pre-sale condominiums to ensure the proper amount of tax is paid when the units are sold. James says the prices of pre-sale condominiums are inflated by people who buy and sell the properties without ever living in them or paying capital gains tax. Cameron Muir, chief economist at the B.C. Real Estate Association, says compiling data to track pre-sale condominium sales is a long overdue move. Housing Minister Selina Robinson says the government has also introduced legislation that would give municipal governments stronger zoning tools to protect and improve the supply of rental properties. The proposed legislation follows the New Democrat's pledge earlier this year to invest more than $6 billion in affordable housing over the next decade. Photo: Contributed The New Tenancy Law Could Mean bump in equity for Landlords OK, its a little off topic, but I think the metaphor works: Professional race-car drivers are all about maintaining momentum not slowing down. They know the particular track theyre on. They know every turn, every braking zone, every acceleration point, and every passing zone. They practise hard and they have a plan, and team, that will give them their best chance at winning the race. But, the most important ability they possess is the ability, in spite of changes in track conditions and rules, to adjust instantaneously to stay out front. Landlords and rental property owners have something in common with race-car drivers. Having a strategy, executing it on time, knowing when to put on the brakes or accelerate, and having a stellar team are all keys to successful property investing. But, when conditions change, can you adjust and keep on winning? Time to Accelerate and Grow Your Investment If you are currently a landlord or own rental property, then its likely youve heard about the recent changes to our tenancy law. The bottom line is that the changes make fixed-term tenancy agreements a thing of the past. This is, of course, a form of rent control intended to take away a landlords option of raising their rents to match market value when the market value of their unit(s) has increased during tenancy. Essentially, what this means is that all tenancy agreements will become month to month at the end of their term. So now, moving forward, in order for a landlord to retake control of their unit, they must choose one of two options: move into the unit themselves renovate the unit. The first, while it is an option, is highly unlikely. And option two sounds costly and time consuming. But lets take a closer look. Renovation Can Equal Better Cash Flow and More We talked above about how both race-car drivers and property owners must be good at taking advantage of changes in conditions in order to stay out front. Lets examine the renovation option and see how property improvements can, and should, be viewed as an investment opportunity even a win/win. Lets break down the numbers and figure out if this really is better than accepting below market value rents while waiting, sometimes for a long period of time, for a tenant to move on. For our example, lets assume this is an older rental unit, say 30 plus years old, and that its been some time since the last cosmetic overhaul. The rents are appropriately low due to the age and condition. Its a 1,000 square foot, two-bedroom, one bath apartment that is rented at $1,200 per month. Our renovation plan: Find a cost-effective handyman, replace the tired flooring, paint, and install all new hardware and fixtures. When it's done, the unit will look and feel completely refreshed and will be renter desirable." The Budget Flooring $5/sq.ft = $5,000 Paint $2/sq.ft = $2,000 Baseboards = $1,000 Fixtures (lights, door knobs, faucets, etc.) = $2,000 Total @ $10,000 The ROI With your $10,000 investment, you are now able to re-rent the unit at market value. And, with its fresh new look, it will now rent toward the top of the two-bedroom apartment price range more than likely at around $1,700 per month. Thats a $500 per month improvement in cash flow. Not bad. The example renovation can be completed in a month. And with the inclusion of the free months rent, required when ending a tenancy for this purpose, you are out two months income or $2,400 based on the old rent figure. But stay with me here. With a new tenant at $1,700 per month, it will take five months to recoup your lost revenue (5 x $500 = $2,500). Once paid back, the additional $6,000 per year in rent equates to a 60 per cent ROI on the $10,000 investment in the property. Thats an amazing return for sure, but its only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. What you now have is what we in the business call forced appreciation. This means that you have increased the value of your investment considerably. So, how much did our $10,000 increase our example projects property value? More Good News: GRMs One way that rental and investments properties are valued is by using whats called a gross rent multiplier or GRM. If youve read my articles in the past, youve heard me talk about rent multipliers. The GRM will vary from market to market. It will go up in boom times and down in bust times. It might be as low as 10 in bear markets and as high as 20 in bull markets. Currently, in Kelowna, we aim for a GRM of 15 on cash-flow property. What this means is that an investor would be willing to pay a multiple of 15 on the gross annual rent. Lets apply this valuation method to our example: When rented at $1,200 per month, our property produced an annual revenue of $14,400. Using a GRM of 15, the price an investor would pay for this revenue would be $216,000. When rented at $1,700 per month, our refreshed property is producing a annual revenue of $20,400. Using a GRM of 15 the price an investor would pay has increased to $306,000 a $90,000 increase over the value of the old/original property. New laws bring new opportunities The B.C. government is proposing several changes in order to protect tenants from landlords who might use renovation as an excuse to evict tenants while having no intention on doing any renovations at all. Follow the rules and youll have no problems. In fact, part of the new law allows the tenant first right of refusal, at the new rental price, when the renovations are complete and the unit is available again. So, you just may have a built in instant tenant no advertising required. Impact on Your Net Worth and Future Investments My strategy clearly shows how you can proactively use the new Tenancy Law as an opportunity to affect a major, positive difference in what an investor would pay for your property(s) although once you are enjoying the significant additional cash flow, you may never sell. And, when the bump in equity finds itself onto your net worth statement you can leverage it for future investments. Is that a win/win or a win/win/win? Either way, its a great strategy and a smart way to move forward. Photo: Pixabay Two energy-saving projects at local schools are officially in the works following Monday evening's Okanagan-Skaha school board approval of a new capital bylaw allowing the projects. At Summerland Secondary School, a complete overhaul of the mechanical and heating systems will take place, costing around $2 million. It will give the school better air distribution throughout classrooms, which will allow for better temperature control and efficiency. "We're also putting in a geothermal field, so we can draw heat out of the ground, or when we need cooling, draw the cooling out of the ground," said director of facilities with School District 67 Doug Gorcak. The project is expected to be completed sometime in the fall, and will save the school around $60,000 per year in utility bills as well as reducing its carbon footprint by 200 tonnes annually. In Penticton, Skaha Lake Middle School will be getting a large, $250,000 solar array on its roof with around 125 kilowatts of panels, which director of facilities Doug Gorcak said will save the school $15,000 to $16,000 per year in utility costs. "It's going to look very similar to the project we did at Penticton Secondary about a year and a half ago," Gorcak said, adding that the same contractor, Terratek, is already lined up to do the job. "We're hoping to have the project completed by the end of May so we can collect all the sunlight through the summer months." They won't have capacity to store energy themselves, but if the school creates more energy than it is using, the excess goes back into the grid and banks with the City of Penticton as a credit toward future utility bills. Though the money saved is a huge part of the array's attraction, Gorcak said it is also about education for the students, as demonstrated by the Penticton Secondary project. "We got to take [Grade 9 students] up and show them the solar panels and walk through the processes of how we get that energy from the sun into the system and into the school,' Gorcak said. "We want to make sure we're taking all opportunities to not just make this about saving money, but also about really focusing educational processes on these things that we're doing," he added. "That way the same philosophies we're using today, they can carry through the rest of their lives." Photo: Trevor Nichols For a decade and a half, Leos Video in Kelowna has been catering to a slice of the citys movie lovers, renting out DVDs and Blu-Rays as illegal downloading forced rental giants to close and viewers ditched discs for streaming services. The independent video store celebrated its 14-year anniversary today with a barbecue and special sale at its Pandosy Street location. Owner Leo Bartels says the shop has survived by adapting to a changing movie landscape, but a wide selection and passionate staff have helped him along the way. For more on the shop's decade-and-a-half run in Kelowna, including one customer who's rented nearly 5,000 titles from the shop, check out the full story on Castanet's sister business news website, Okanagan Edge. Photo: Wayne Moore - File Photo School District 23 Supt. Kevin Kaardal School District 23 Supt. Kevin Kaardal describes the budget he will present to the full Board of Education Wednesday night as a "good news budget." The 2018-2019 budget will come in at $256.1 million, $5.2 million more than the current year. "It's a good news budget. We're not in a position where we have to layoff staff or reduce staff. We're not reducing services. Those are very positive things," said Kaardal. "We're having to use surplus to meet our budget on one-time purchases, in particular the capital costs. That's always worrisome...if we have those cost going forward, we would love to see the quantum of the budget change from government, but that's not in the cards right now." Kaardal says much of the increase is due to growth, partly brought on by the Memorandum of Understanding dealing with class size and composition. He says the district is growing in some areas, and not others, resulting in capital costs around portables. "Our cost pressures are around $1.5 million. If you put in requests people have, it jumps to $2.3 million, but we're not approving all the requests. "The actual cost pressures are less than one per cent of our budget. We are able to manage that through surplus because it's a one-time cost in regard to the capital cost of growth, that's portables. Part of that need for portables is also because we have smaller class sizes due to the MOA, so we need more space." Teachers salaries, at $106.1 million, accounts for 41 per cent of the overall budget. Employee benefits, at $41.9 million, makes up more than 16 per cent. Photo: BC Legislature The former head of multiple community organizations has been sworn in as British Columbia's newest lieutenant governor. Janet Austin officially took on the role of the Queen's representative in B.C. on Tuesday with a ceremony in Victoria. Following the event, the new lieutenant governor inspected a 100-person guard of honour and received a 15-gun salute. Austin previously worked as the CEO of the Metro Vancouver YMCA, the executive director of Big Sisters of B.C. Lower Mainland, and for B.C. Housing. Premier John Horgan says she brings an "extraordinary list of accomplishments and tireless advocacy" to the appointment. Austin is the province's 30th lieutenant governor and follows Judith Guichon, who held the post for six years. Guichon praised her successor when the appointment was announced earlier this year. "As someone who has dedicated her career to championing women's equality and social change, she is a wonderful choice to represent Her Majesty the Queen in this great province,'' Guichon said in a news release. "Ms. Austin will continue to inspire and connect British Columbians in this role.'' Alanna Kelly Get out your cowboy boots and get ready to rock the night away to country music in true Okanagan fashion. Kelowna is getting its own country music festival, Denim on the Diamond. The event will take place Sept. 1 at King Stadium, from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m., showcasing the Okanagans best artists and local businesses. There is an opportunity and a need for an event that is produced by locals, for locals and that supports local business, said organizer Mitch Carefoot. What we have in mind is bringing all these different businesses from around the Okanagan to Kelowna and over the next few years build something we are proud of (that) is a representation of Kelowna and what we love to do. Mayor Colin Basran said King Stadium used to be a community hub. I am really excited about the fact that this place has so much history and we are going to write a few more chapters, said Basran. The headliner for Denim on the Diamond will be Kelownas Chad Brownlee. Chad has spent time on the diamond, and his dad used to be a ball umpire here, said Carefoot. CCMA Rising Star nominated artist Jojo Mason, Devon Coyote, Ben Klick, and Tiger Moon round out the line up. Covering the food front will be Surfside California & Crasian and Dunnenzies. Local brew pub BNA is partnering with the concert, along with Kitsch Winery, Dirty Laundry Winery and B.C. Tree Fruits. Early bird tickets will be available online at www.denimonthediamond.com starting Wednesday. Photo: The Canadian Press The man accused in a van attack that left 10 people dead in Toronto had spent two months with the Canadian Armed Forces last year, and was considered a below-average recruit who wasn't adjusting well to military life, a defence source said Tuesday. Alek Minassian was a member of the forces from Aug. 23, 2017, until Oct. 25, 2017, a spokeswoman with the Department of National Defence said. "He did not complete his recruit training and requested to be voluntarily released from the CAF after 16 days of recruit training," said Jessica Lamirande. Minassian, a 25-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., was charged on Tuesday with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder in Monday's alleged van attack. Police said he will soon face an additional count of attempted murder. A source with the military told The Canadian Press that Minassian attended the leadership and recruit school at St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and noted that he did not receive any weapons training while there. The source said Minassian was assessed as a below-average recruit but noted that there were no red flags to suggest something like the van incident he's alleged to have been involved in was coming. Ten people were killed and 14 people injured after a van mounted a sidewalk and drove into pedestrians along a busy stretch of a north Toronto street Monday afternoon. Minassian was arrested a short time later. Photo: Facebook It was a series of unfortunate events that led to the mixup, and Alex Minassian has spent the last 24 hours trying to set the record straight he's not the driver of a van that mowed down pedestrians on a busy Toronto street. Minassian, 24, shares a last name with 25-year-old Alek Minassian, who is now charged with 10 counts of murder in connection with the incident, which took place Monday afternoon on a busy street in north Toronto. Alek Minassian is also facing 13 counts of attempted murder. Both men are from Richmond Hill, Ont. Shortly after the van attack, Alex Minassian said he was contacted by several American news outlets that assumed he was the van driver police had taken into custody. His Facebook profile was posted on several social media sites including Reddit, 4Chan and Twitter, naming him as the suspect in the tragedy. But that one different letter was important to Alex Minassian who said he is not related to the alleged killer and that Minassian is a common name in Armenia and Iran. NBC first contacted him and his family, he said. Then other news agencies followed. His family was worried, he said. "They knew I was innocent, but feared the negative backlash," he said. It didn't help that later in the afternoon Facebook shut down Alek Minassian's profile, leaving just Alex Minassian from Richmond Hill, Ont., on the social media site. By 5 p.m., Alex Minassian had had enough. "Not me. No connection. NBC, ABC, CBC, stop harassing my friends and family," he wrote in a public Facebook post that received thousands of likes and dozens of messages of support. But he also received about 150 messages from members of the public who thought he was the man behind the attack. "For the most part, the mistaken identities and negative reactions have been asking me 'why,'" he said. "People are just looking for answers." At 8 p.m., police Chief Mark Saunders held a news conference announcing the name of the man arrested as Alex Minassian. Reporters, noticing the different first name, asked Saunders on live TV spell the suspect's first name. A-L-E-X, Saunders responded. "I was shocked," said Alex Minassian, who was watching the news conference live with his family. Just minutes later, Toronto police corrected the chief, saying in a tweet that the name of the man in custody was in fact Alek Minassian. "I hold no ill-will towards Saunders, but I do wish they'd take more care before announcing the names of suspects," Alex Minassian said. Photo: CTV Three-year-old Kaden Young. Ontario provincial police confirm that remains found last Saturday are that of Kaden Young, a three-year-old boy who had been missing since being swept from his mother's arms during a flood on Feb. 21. A fisherman had found the remains of a boy in the water near a bridge in Belwood, Ont., about 30 kilometres north of Guelph. A post mortem was conducted Monday in Toronto where the remains were positively identified. Kaden was swept out of his mother's arms when their vehicle entered the Grand River during a flood. Police, along with hundreds of volunteers, have been searching the river each day since the boy disappeared. "After 2 months of searching, we can finally #BringKadenHome," said OPP Commissioner Vince Hawkes on Twitter. "Thank you to the tireless efforts of #OPP members, emergency crews and countless volunteers, who never gave up hope." Photo: The Canadian Press Monday's deadly rental van rampage in Toronto shows how quickly a vehicle can be turned into a weapon, but rental agencies are finding few clear options to prevent their property from involvement in such violent acts. The urgency to find solutions is increasing, however. The attack in Toronto that left at least 10 people dead and several injured is only the latest of a spate of vehicle attacks including one in Edmonton last September that have security experts grappling with solutions. Efforts are further along in Europe, which has seen a rash of vehicle attacks across the continent. In the U.K., vehicle rental companies were asked to conduct tougher background checks following two separate van attacks in London last June. But rental agencies are still limited in how well they can screen customers, said Toby Poston, director of communications at the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association. "Members aren't experts at profiling customers," said Poston. The British association is, however, looking to better co-ordinate with law and security officials to make it easier to share data. Poston said rental agencies wouldn't have access to terror watchlists or the like, but could potentially feed information to authorities for better monitoring. Member companies are also looking to potentially institute other record searches like credit and criminal background checks, but even then there is no clear way to determine that a vehicle shouldn't be rented, said Poston. Photo: The Canadian Press Negotiations have entered an around-the-clock phase in an effort to get a new NAFTA agreement within days, with top political staff converging in Washington for meetings stretching into the night Tuesday and beyond. Top officials in the office of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew down to join Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland for talks at the U.S. trade building, and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner also made an appearance. After a three-hour meeting with her U.S. counterpart Robert Lighthizer, Freeland emerged to announce that she was remaining in Washington for at least another day. "At this point everyone is working 24-7," Freeland told reporters. "It's about sending each other proposals and being ready to respond to them ... We are going to be working hard late into the night based on some of the points that were raised today. "We'll be back at it tomorrow." The source of this flurry of activity is the political calendar, with a confluence of events about to hit: a legislative deadline next month for the current Republican-led Congress to vote on the deal, the Mexican presidential elections, a short-staffed U.S. trade team trying to shift its focus to Asia and fresh news that Lighthizer is being sent to China for talks next week. Four people briefed on the NAFTA developments said they see a deal being possible as early as this week, based on a variety of factors. For one thing, the talks are drawing the political heavy-hitters of each country. Photo: The Canadian Press People bow their heads in silence at a vigil on Yonge Street in Toronto, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Much of the yellow police tape is gone, a subway station has reopened, and a stretch of Yonge Street in north-end Toronto where a van was used to run down pedestrians on Monday afternoon has been fully reopened to traffic. But police say they still have an "investigative presence" in the area where 10 people were killed and more than a dozen injured and are asking people to avoid the area unless they live there or have business in the area. A police statement added: "We ask this just for the next few days." However, police activity and a light rain on Tuesday night failed to deter grieving residents from visiting a growing memorial site honouring the victims of Monday's carnage. Hundreds of notes expressing both sorrow and hope have been written on dozens of poster boards lining a low wall amid flickering candles and bouquets of flowers. Alek Minassian, 25, is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. Police said a 14th attempted murder charge would be laid following further investigation. Authorities have not yet released the names of the 10 people killed, but other sources say the dead include Anne Marie D'Amico, who worked at an investment firm in the area. Dorothy Sewell's grandson identified her as one of the victims and Seneca College said a female student was among those killed. A South Korean news agency said two Korean nationals were killed and Jordan's state-run news agency said one of that country's citizens died. Ontario's Chief Coroner Dirk Huyer said Tuesday that investigators have yet to formally identify those killed, citing the complexity of the investigation and the sheer size of the crime scene. In the meantime, Toronto Mayor John Tory said Tuesday that while residents may be shaken, they have not been broken. "Toronto was a great city yesterday, it is a great city today and it will be a great city tomorrow," Tory declared. Photo: The Canadian Press UPDATE: 1:05 p.m. Jamal Hammoud woke up about 5:45 a.m. on Wednesday to get a drink of water when he saw the flashing lights of fire trucks outside his window. At first, he thought there was trouble with the light-rail train that runs along the busy boulevard right by his northeast Calgary home. But when he went out to see what was going on, he was surprised to see a plane, intact aside from a damaged wing, parked on 36th Street N.E. "It's something that you see in movies, not in real life," he said. Police say the twin-engine plane was coming in from the south, heading for a landing at the Calgary airport, when a pilot radioed in that the aircraft was low on fuel. Sgt. Duane Lepchuk said the aircraft came down on a two-lane stretch of road about five kilometres south of the airport and not far from the Trans-Canada Highway. There were no injuries among the four passengers and two crew members on the Piper Navajo. Lepchuk said there was minimal traffic on the street at the time and no reports of drivers having to swerve to miss the plane. Hammoud said security footage from his home captured the plane passing right over a car. By early afternoon, the plane was still there and the scene was abuzz with investigators and passersby snapping photos, he said. Jason Hollyoak told CTV Calgary that he saw the plane make an incredible landing. "I would say he was just trying to keep it underneath all the light poles and street lights and everything. He had to have flown over probably two or three cars," Hollyoak said. Super T Aviation of Medicine Hat, Alta., said in a statement that the plane was forced to land "due to a loss of power of unknown cause." The Canadian Press UPDATE: 6:50 a.m. A small plane carrying six people made an emergency landing on a Calgary street Wednesday morning. Police say the twin-engine plane was coming in from the south, heading for a landing at the Calgary airport, when the pilot radioed in that the aircraft was low on fuel. Sgt. Duane Lepchuk said the plane came down shortly before 6:00 a.m. on a two-lane stretch of 36th Street, about five kilometres south of the airport and not far from the Trans-Canada Highway. There were no injuries among the four passengers and two crew members. Lepchuk said there was minimal traffic on the street at the time and no reports of drivers having to swerve to miss the plane. "36 (Street) is an overpass that goes over the Trans-Canada," noted Lepchuk, who said there was no indication the plane was damaged during the landing. - with files from CP ORIGINAL: 6:34 a.m More small plane issues forcing highway landings, this time in Calgary. A private dual prop Piper Navajo, based out of Medicine Hat Alberta made an emergency landing in northeast Calgary after the dual prop plane experienced engine trouble. The Piper Navajo was forced down in the northbound lane of 36 Street between 12 Avenue and 16 Avenue NE just before 6 a.m. "Remarkably, there was no injuries of anyone aboard the aircraft," said EMS Public Education Officer Stuart Brideaux. "But also, no injuries to anyone on the ground or involving any other vehicular traffic on 36 Street. It is quite extraordinary." Witnesses report seeing the plane fly beneath the traffic signals at the intersection of 36 Street and 12 Avenue NE, in fact, the wing made contact and damaged several signs. - with files from CTV Photo: CTV The Port Mann Bridge had to be shut down at both ends overnight as police had their hands full with a person requiring assistance. Police received a complaint about a person requiring assistance and the deemed the incident a threat to the travelling public. The incident was resolved peacefully before 11 p.m. and the bridge has since re-opened. One person has been taken into custody. There were no injuries sustained by the person requiring assistance or the police that responded to the complaint. Photo: CTV Vancouver Police have issued a public safety warning in the wake of Toronto's deadly van attack. If you're walking by yourself on the street, don't have your head down, be aware of where you are and what you're doing, Sgt. Jason Robillard told The Canadian Press. The VPD said it doesn't have enough information to determine if the attack will change its security measures, but it can't predict when a driver might target public spaces. Police have escalated security at special events following similar attacks in other cities, including placing garbage trucks and other barriers at public gatherings such as on Canada Day and at the Celebration of Light fireworks. Vancouver's former chief planner says barricades have started appearing worldwide to defend against such attacks. "There's the great risk we will try to turn our streets into bunkers, not only to feel safe but to look safe, like the street is impregnable," Brent Toderian told CTV. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: Contributed The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a recall warning for numerous salad-type greens produced by Ontario-based Greenbelt Microgreens. The agency says the greens were distributed in Alberta and British Columbia and may be contaminated with Listeria. There have been no illnesses linked to the microgreens. A release from the agency says Greenbelt Microgreens triggered the recall and an investigation is underway. Nineteen types of microgreens, sold in packages from 75 grams to 454 grams are included in the recall. Products range from argula, broccoli, pea shoots, sunflower and wheatgrass microgreens to various mixes, all sold under the Greenbelt Microgreens brand. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Listeria contamination can can cause fever and diarrhea similar to other food borne illnesses, but it is especially dangerous for pregnant women and can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth or complications for the newborn. Photo: Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure Construction on a section of Highway 1 west of Golden is underway. During the Donald to Forde Station Road project, crews will expand a 2.5 km stretch of the highway to four lanes, as well as improving access to the commercial vehicle safety enforcement inspection station. The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure posted on its website the work will improve safety and free-flow of traffic, particularly trucks, to and from the Golden weigh scale. "This weigh scale is designed to enable more efficient movement of commercial vehicles through the province. Once a commercial vehicle has been checked through this weigh scale, it can bypass all subsequent scales for up to 12 hours." This project is part of a much larger project providing upgrades along Highway 1 between Kamloops and the Alberta border. The Province has committed $464 million to this program over the next three years under Budget 2018. The $10.3-million contract for the Donald to Forde Station Road project awarded Barrie Mackay Contracting Ltd. of Cranbrook. "The total estimated project of $19.4 million is cost-shared, with the Government of Canada contributing up to $7.27 million through the Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component of the New Building Canada Fund, and the Province providing the remaining $12.13 million," stated the ministry. The Province has committed $464 million to this program over the next three years under Budget 2018. Photo: TransBC Summer must be right around the corner because construction season appears to be kicking into high gear. Work to expand and improve safety on the Trans-Canada Highway to four lanes, between Donald and Forde Station Road, near Golden is set to get underway. "The Government of Canada is making unprecedented investments in infrastructure, to promote economic growth and create middle-class jobs across the country, said Amarjeet Sohi, federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities. I am very pleased to see that construction has begun to upgrade this busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway, which is vital to the movement of goods between Alberta and British Columbia. Widening this stretch will not only increase driver safety, but also help ensure residents in the region enjoy a high quality of life for years to come." The Donald to Forde Station Road project is located 20 kilometres west of Golden and features the widening of a 2.5 kilometre stretch of the highway to four lanes. "The Trans-Canada Highway is a vital link for the people of British Columbia, and this is the first of many four-laning projects between Kamloops and the Alberta border in the next three years, said Claire Trevena, B.C. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. Widening the highway to four lanes, right through to the Golden weigh scale, will make the corridor safer for people and support our trade network. The cost of the project is estimated to be $19.4 million, with the cost being shared between the Government of Canada contributing up to $7.27 million through the Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component of the New Building Canada Fund, and the Province providing the remaining $12.13 million. The B.C. government is committed to upgrading the highway between Kamloops and the Alberta border and has so far committed $464 million to this program over the next three years under Budget 2018. Construction also means drivers can expect delays and are reminded to follow traffic control at all times. Photo: CTV Gas prices are inching closer to $1.60 a litre in Metro Vancouver. Lower Mainland commuters woke up Wednesday to fuel prices at 158.9 cents a litre at some stations. That's another record high for the region, breaking this week's 157.9. Gasbuddy.com's Dan McTeague told CTV the switch to summer-blend fuel, rising crude oil prices and a drop in the loonie's value are all contributing to the increases. And, he predicts pump prices will climb even higher over the spring and summer. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: Contributed Civilians helped apprehend the suspect in a short-lived crime spree in Vancouver, Tuesday. The suspect allegedly stole a purse, a van, and robbed a restaurant before he was detained. The first incident occurred at 3:20 p.m., when a 64-year-old woman had her purse grabbed from behind on Main Street, near East King Edward Avenue. Police say the male suspect took off with the purse after a brief struggle that knocked the woman to the ground. She was taken to hospital with minor injuries. About five minutes later, a 1999 Toyota van left running was stolen on Main Street, near East 19th Avenue. Finally, about an hour later, a male suspect allegedly grabbed money from an open cash register at a restaurant on Kingsway, near Fraser Street. When the man fled, two witnesses chased him down and held him until police arrived. The witnesses suffered minor injuries in the altercation. Walker Franciscas Frijters, a 23-year-old man from Calgary, has been charged with six offences, including assault with a weapon, robbery, and assault causing bodily harm. He is currently in custody. Photo: Contributed An Enderby man wanted for several serious charges has been arrested. Vernon North Okanagan RCMP say the man was arrested after a brief manhunt on a rural property in Enderby. On April 21, The 25-year-old was spotted by an officer while riding a motorcycle along Watershed Road. He was recognized for being wanted on several outstanding warrants. The man tried to take off on police by riding onto a rural property but wiped out on his bike. He then fled on foot. RCMP surrounded the area and brought in the Police Service Dog Unit and the Air Services Unit. Police were eventually able to find the man hiding behind a shed. He was arrested without incident. "This particular male has been at large for several months on outstanding warrants for serious offences committed in the Enderby and North Okanagan area," says Const. Kelly Brett. "A considerable amount of hours were spent in attempting to locate this individual, by Vernon North Okanagan RCMP Members and on this particular day, the wanted mans luck ran out." The man remains in custody and will be facing possible charges relating to firearm, drug and failing to comply with probation order offences. Photo: Thunder Bay Police Police say a driver pulled over in Thunder Bay, Ont., had an unusual seating arrangement a folding lawn chair where a driver's seat should have been. They say an officer stopped a pickup truck on Monday afternoon after noticing the licence plates were allegedly not authorized for that vehicle. Upon approaching the driver, police say the officer noticed the suspicious seating arrangement the driver was sitting in a lawn chair placed behind the steering wheel. And investigators say that wasn't the only thing wrong with the pickup. They say it was impounded for a multitude of defects, including a broken windshield blocking the driver's view, a defective door handle that effectively trapped the driver inside the truck, and no seatbelt buckles. Police say a young driver is charged with a number of offences related to the condition of the truck, as well as driving while suspended, and operating a vehicle on a highway with no insurance. Photo: Google Maps Two mountaineers from Poland unintentionally sparked an international rescue effort after being caught in an avalanche in eastern B.C. Robson Valley Search and Rescue manager Dale Mason says the men were climbing Whitehorn Mountain in the Canadian Rockies on Monday when they were hit by a major avalanche that tumbled them "quite a distance." Mason says it's amazing the men were not buried or stripped of their packs. When the snow stopped moving they were on top and able to reach their satellite phone and place a call to Poland. A spokesman at the Polish embassy in Ottawa says the quick-thinking colleague who received the call immediately dialled the embassy in Canada, which linked up with B.C. Emergency Health Services, who then began dispatching rescuers. Shannon Miller, of emergency health services, says it was very unusual to learn via Poland that both climbers had broken bones and were badly hurt. Miller says the climbers were plucked from their remote location and flown to hospital in an outcome the Polish embassy says makes it grateful to the Canadian responders. Photo: Sudbury Police Police say a 55-year-old Sudbury, Ont., man is in hospital after being rescued from a sinkhole. Spokeswoman Kaitlyn Dunn says police got a call late Wednesday morning about a homeowner looking at a hole in the ground by his fence when the ground gave way and he fell in. Dunn says when officers arrived, they found the man was being crushed as soil in the hole shifted. She says officers found a blanket, extended it down the hole to the man and were able to pull him to safety. Dunn says the man was in hospital being treated for undetermined injuries. She says city workers have stabilized the sinkhole. Photo: CTV Charges have been laid against a B.C. man who allegedly trafficked more than 100 kilograms of drugs between the United States and Canada. RCMP Chief Supt. Keith Finn says a six-month, cross-border investigation with authorities in the United States found two vessels meeting on multiple occasions just south of San Juan Island, between Vancouver Island and Washington state. Finn says police seized 55 kilograms of cocaine, 47 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and more than a kilogram of heroin in February 2017 after one of the vessels docked in Canada. Two high-speed vessels, firearms and $150,000 in cash were also seized. Mounties say 51-year-old William Barnes of Saanich has been charged with multiple drug trafficking and firearms offences. U.S. officials say Gary Horton of Washington state has pleaded guilty to trafficking-related charges and will be sentenced in September. Photo: The Canadian Press Alek Minassian A message allegedly posted by the accused in Toronto's deadly van attack is shedding light on a mostly male online community that an expert says endorses violent rhetoric against women. Police have said they are looking into a "cryptic" message about an "incel rebellion" posted on Alek Minassian's Facebook profile minutes before pedestrians were mowed down on a northern stretch of Yonge Street. Facebook has said it deleted the account associated with the widely circulated post, which refers to involuntary celibacy, often shortened to "incel." Ryan Duquette, of the Toronto-based digital forensics consulting firm Hexigent, says it's not clear who accessed the account when the message was posted based on the information that's publicly available. Both Facebook and police declined to provide more information about the post's origins. An associate professor at Dublin City University who studies gender and social media says incels mostly consist of men who are resentful of their inability to find a partner and typically blame women for their sexual rejection. Debbie Ging says the post's warning of an "Incel Rebellion" echoes violent language used on incel forums, most of which she ascribes to "venting." The post also refers to Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and then himself at the University of California in 2014, as a "Supreme Gentleman," a moniker Ging says is often used by incels. She says the post has generated a discussion about violent sentiment in male-dominated online subcultures, reinforcing the need to take these communities seriously as a "political entity." Police have said those who were killed or injured in Monday's attack were "predominantly female." Minassian, 25, is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. Police said a 14th attempted murder charge would be laid following further investigation. Photo: BC SPCA The B.C. SPCA is asking for help in finding the person who tied up a cat and left it to die under a pile of garbage. The society says a man collecting bottles behind a motel in Pouce Coupe, B.C., on Monday heard a soft mewing coming from a dumpster, then uncovered a box with the cat inside. It says the box was taped shut and when the man opened it, he found a female muted tortoiseshell with her legs forced behind her neck and restrained with zip ties. The man brought her into the South Peace SPCA, where staff discovered the cat had a microchip and her owner had already reported that Rosie was missing from Dawson Creek, 10 kilometres west of Pouce Coupe. The SPCA says the case is a deliberate act of animal cruelty, and the group is looking for any information about why the cat was taken and how she ended up in the dumpster. The society says Rosie has no lasting injuries or medical concerns. David J. Phillip-Pool/Getty Images(HOUSTON) -- President George H.W. Bush honored his late wifes passion for literacy by wearing socks with books on them to her funeral last weekend. The socks were a gift from 22-year-old John Cronin, an entrepreneur with Down syndrome who serves as the co-founder and Chief Happiness Officer of Johns Crazy Socks. Cronin had previously learned President H.W. Bush has an affinity for fun socks and sent him a box of the colorful socks. The president tweeted a photo of himself wearing a pair of Cronins Down syndrome awareness superhero socks on World Down Syndrome Day and thanked the young entrepreneur. After the first lady passed away, Bush contacted Cronin to see if Johns Crazy Socks had any socks he could wear on the day of the funeral. Cronin sent him a few pairs to choose from, including the book socks, along with a letter expressing his sympathy. "I feel sad for President Bush, but I feel happy that he wore my socks," Cronin told ABC affiliate WABC in New York. "I want him to feel happy." Founded in 2016, Johns Crazy Socks said they donate five percent of profits to the Special Olympics and hire people with disabilities, currently employing a workforce thats half people with alternative abilities. The company said 100 percent of the proceeds from the book socks will go to the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, a nonprofit organization Barbara Bush started while she served as First Lady. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Photo: City of Penticton The City of Penticton has already been getting plenty of feedback in response to a request for input on legal cannabis distribution protocols. The city's online survey was launched April 16, and received nearly 800 responses within its first week. The city's online engagement platform, Shape Your City Penticton, also obtained hundreds of new registered users. The slogan WEED like to hear from you seems to be setting the right tone as we are hearing from all walks of life including many people that have not previously been involved in city engagement activities, said JoAnne Kleb, engagement strategist with the City of Penticton. T-shirts printed by the city to promote the campaign, reading "Weed like to hear from you," have also been in high demand. Just about everywhere we go online and in person, we get requests for extra t-shirts, says Kleb. We are going to see how we can turn that interest into more survey completions. City staff were active on 4/20 this past week, a day on which many marijuana enthusiasts celebrate. They were out in the community discussing what legal cannabis could mean to Penticton, visiting the Okanagan lakeshore, downtown businesses and a 4/20 gathering at Okanagan Lake Park, followed by a visit to the Penticton Seniors' Drop-In Centre Tuesday. Early results indicate that Penticton believes the regulation of cannabis sales will be good for Penticton. "There is more alignment on this topic than one might expect, said Kleb. Were off to a good start but would like to hear from more citizens. Its important that we hear from as many people as possible as the feedback we gather will be shaping the citys policies. The survey is only the first step in the city's engagement program. Policies will be developed based on community feedback, and will be further discussed before being presented to city council. Anyone who shares the city's survey on Facebook or Twitter, or completes the survey, before May 4 will be entered in a draw to win one of the promotional t-shirts. Photo: Oliver Daily News Two pumps installed on Lower Island Way Road have been successful at increasing the amount of water emptying from the Sportsmens Bowl area into the Okanagan River channel in Oliver. At 9 a.m. Wednesday, the new pumps began operating and have dropped the Park Rill Creek oxbows by approximately 2 centimetres per hour. The pumps are part of a larger plan to divert floodwaters from Sportsmens Bowl Road, where flooding is currently problematic, into the oxbows through to the channel. Residents in the area currently under evacuation order will remain so, as will those under evacuation alert. Plans to reduce creek flow restrictions are also in place, and concerned members of the public are encouraged to attend the public information event planned by the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen Wednesday evening for more details. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Oliver Community Centre. Photo: Colin Dacre A Penticton man was found guilty Wednesday of armed robbery for the 2014 stick-up of a local pharmacy and sentenced to five years in prison. Shayne McGenn, 34, was convicted primarily on the grounds that his DNA was found on a hat and bandana near the crime scene by a police dog after the robbery. The pharmacy workers robbed by McGenn reported the suspect was wearing a very similar disguise. The Crowns case here is anchored by the DNA evidence, Justice Alison Beames said in her decision. Without the DNA evidence, the Crown would have essentially no case. While the robbery occurred in 2014, McGenn wasnt arrested until 2016, when his DNA was entered into a national database during a murder investigation in the Lower Mainland. McGenns 13-week, second-degree murder trial for the 2016 killing of an Abbotsford man is set to start next week in New Westminster. Justice Beames dismissed the defences main argument that the adjustable ball cap found near the crime scene couldnt fit on McGenns head in the condition it was found by police. During the trial, the Crown maintained that McGenn must have adjusted the hat before disposing of it. This robbery was clearly a planned event. The robber obtained a gun and a disguise. He used information personal to [the store clerk] gathered in some fashion to assist him in the robbery, Beames said. I do not conclude that the sizing of the hat, when found, gives rise to a reasonable doubt, she added. The defence never disputed the DNA evidence, Beames said, noting the odds of a false positive in a case like this are one in 130 trillion. Immediately after the verdict was delivered, both parties agreed to move on to sentencing immediately. Crown prosecutor John Swanson and defence counsel Don Skogstad presented a joint submission for a total sentence of five years, which the judge accepted. "It was impulsive, it was a spur of the moment thing," Skogstad said, explaining his client had no previous criminal record. After credit for time already served, McGenn has another two years and 11 months to serve on the sentence. McGenn opted to say nothing during the sentencing but was visibly shaken, weeping at the guilty verdict. Photo: RCMP B.C. is cracking down on pill presses in a bid to ease the ongoing opioid overdose crisis gripping the province. The provincial government says in a news release that it has introduced legislation restricting the ownership, possession and use of equipment that can be used to make illicit drugs. Under the new rules, only authorized individuals or corporations would be allowed to own pill presses, gel cap machines and pharmaceutical mixers, and anyone wanting to sell the equipment would be required to register and agree to a criminal record check. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says police have asked for greater control and monitoring of pill presses in order to disrupt the supply of illicit drugs and get counterfeit pills off the streets. The federal government banned the importation of pill presses without a licence in 2016. More than 1,400 people died of illicit drug overdoses in B.C. last year. Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy says the new legislation would make it harder for people to produce and distribute illegal drugs. "We are losing too many people from all walks of life friends, neighbours and loved ones whose lives have been tragically cut short by a toxic, illegal drug supply," she said in a statement. "We need to approach this problem from all sides and at all levels to save lives and prevent future tragedies." Chesterfield now offering Pfizer booster shots The Chesterfield Health District is now offering booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for those 65 and older and those 18-64 with underlying medical conditions. The booster shot, administered... Vaccine policy stirs tension between county, commissioner of the revenue In early June, Chesterfields commissioner of the revenue, Jenefer Hughes, found herself swimming against the current. With COVID-19 cases plummeting and vaccination events inoculating thousands in Chesterfield and across the... Guest Commentary Audio Article This is a short history of the Morgan family farm before the possible development of the remaining 49 acres east of Chesterton. Jesse and Jane Morgan arrived in Northwest Indiana in 1833 after traveling through Ohio, northern Indiana, stopping off in LaPorte County for a... 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... Fahmina Muhit of Second City Diamonds, also on the third floor, said Wednesday when reached by phone that she was preparing to head to the building and hoped to be able to assess the damage. Muhit said her store is near where the fire started, but she didn't know how much damage was done. As the airline swaps old seats for Polaris seats in business class, it will also make changes throughout the plane. On 777-200s, for instance, aircraft that had 221 or 217 economy seats will get 242. The new layout includes rows with 10 seats across instead of nine, matching a layout United uses on domestic 777-200s. Economy seats in the 242-seat layout don't recline as far 3 inches instead of 4 or 5 but the distance from the back of one seat to the front of the next won't shrink. After we closed on the house, we painted. After pulling away the painter's tape, we discovered mold on the ceiling under the upstairs hallway bathroom. We ran the dishwasher and it leaked all over the kitchen floor. Then after taking our very first showers in our new home, we noticed the ceiling below the master bathroom had a stain. When my husband touched it, water seeped out. We had plumbers and mold mitigators in to investigate and repair the issues. They immediately recognized that the ceiling had been patched and painted over in places, and when they cut into the ceiling under the master bathroom, we saw that the shower drain pipe had been covered with clear tape! All agreed it was a recent cover-up job. They also found additional leaks from corroded pipes. She is so detailed about her volunteer work with students from Columbus North, Columbus East and Hauser high schools and surrounding cities that she mentally keeps track which dresses ended up at which proms "so you do not see that dress at the same school the following year," she said. They call it a bitters according to the dictionary, "a liquor in which bitter herbs or roots are steeped." It doesn't taste bitter, though. Well, OK: It's slightly bitter, sort of the way licorice is bitter. And it's citrus-y. And a little sweet. Or bittersweet. It's really indescribable. It's just Campari. Gaspare Campari invented it a century and a half ago in Novara, Italy. Those were exciting times on the Italian peninsula. Italy was moving toward political union under the rule of King Vittorio Emanuele II. In 1860, as unification approached, Campari celebrated by concocting a new drink his eponymous bitters. This must have been good luck; Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed king of Italy the next year. The recipe for the liqueur comprised 60 ingredients herbs, spices, tree barks, fruit peels. One of the key components may be chinotto, a kind of citron. Nobody knows for sure even today, except the custodian of the secret recipe. A few years after inventing his bitters, Campari opened a cafe in Milan in the elegant new Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. The galleria was the epitome of chic then as now. Campari's cafe became a preferred watering hole for Italy's elites. The king himself was a frequent visitor. Davide Campari joined his father's business toward the end of the 19th century. While dad concentrated on developing drink recipes, Davide took charge of marketing, a task for which he displayed remarkable aptitude. He required bars and cafes that sold his father's bitters to display Campari signs. He commissioned prominent artists to create posters for the brand. Nobody in Italy had done that before. Sales soared. Even today, bars all over Italy sport Campari awnings and umbrellas and display Campari posters. The Campari company is not shy about suggesting ways in which we can put its product to use. It has promoted quite a few Campari-based cocktails over the years including the Americano and the negroni. Still, for sheer liquid delight, nothing beats the sophisticated elegance of Campari and soda. There is no more refreshing drink to sip on a sunny afternoon or any afternoon. And that refreshing quality is only the beginning. Try sipping it with your significant other some evening. The color is positively amorous by candlelight. After all, Campari is a little like love itself concocted of myriad mysterious ingredients, rich and refreshing, and a little bittersweet. Campari and soda Pour 1 part Campari over ice in a Collins or rocks glass. Add 2 parts club soda. Garnish with an orange slice or lemon wedge. "We wanted to explore the topic of bullying while having the most iconic bully of all time at the center of it," Hurwitz said. "You always think when you're in high school that there are guys who are jerks that you hope to never see again, and years down you get to see what happened to Johnny Lawrence. Can he turn his life around? Can he be a better man than he was than he was a teenager?" During the presidential transition, West made a high-profile trip to Trump Tower a couple of weeks after he was met with a chorus of boos at a concert in San Jose, California, when he shared that he would have voted for Trump - had he voted. West has more recently mused about running for president himself in 2020. "I come from the South Side myself. One of the things we're trying to show people is that you may have seen only limited things in your life, but we show people what you can do. We're saying: You can be whatever you want to be, if you want to imagine it. This week, Mediaite revealed a set of other supposed blog posts, pictures of which were sent via the Twitter account @Jamie_Maz. In one of these posts, Reid supposedly notes that "most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing" and that she couldn't see the movie "Brokeback Mountain" because she didn't want to watch two male characters having sex. Another post says that a lot of heterosexuals find the idea of homosexual sex to be gross and that there are concerns that gay men tend to be attracted to young, post-pubescent types and want to bring them "into the lifestyle." Mattel, whose brands include the iconic Barbie doll, American Girl, Fisher-Price and Hot Wheels, already was struggling when Georgiadis, a former Google executive, joined Mattel in February 2017. Her challenge was exacerbated by the bankruptcy filing of retailer Toys R Us Inc. last September. The toy chain, which accounts for 15% to 20% of Mattel's U.S. sales, is now liquidating its U.S. operations. A: I am, because I have children, and we cannot do this to them. We cannot raid the country and give tax breaks to ourselves and saddle them with a credit card that is maxed. That's not acceptable. In Guyana, you can't have hundreds of billions of dollars of resources, right off the coast, and have outsiders come in and take them and the locals don't benefit. We just can't accept it. And for those who lay down and say, This is how it is, that's the problem. Whatever it is you can do, do your part. It is not just about poetry or painting; it's about radical imagination. It's about being able to imagine a world that is different. It's about being able to transcend current positions, and it's every citizen's responsibility. She said of President Bill Clinton, "If left to my own devices, I'd spend all my time pointing out that he's weaker than bus-station chili. But the man is so constantly subjected to such hideous and unfair abuse that I wind up standing up for him on the general principle that some fairness should be applied. Besides, no one but a fool or a Republican ever took him for a liberal." "At the end of the day, we have to get this corrected, because right now we have individuals who are in a situation where because we don't have this bill, they're not necessarily being seen by the most qualified professional," he said in an interview. About 40 percent of women who give birth do not attend a postpartum visit and rates are lower in areas with limited resources. The new guidelines would help reduce health disparities by supporting a mother when she needs it and keeping her under care afterward, according to the guidelines, which will be published in the May edition of the college's journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. "We said, if we're going to make this museum successful, if we're going to make it meaningful in the community, we've got to increase the number of people we're reaching and we have to diversify who they are," says Simon, who explores the concept of audience engagement and participation in her books "The Participatory Museum" and "The Art of Relevance," as well as on her blog, Museum 2.0. She says that the museum made changes in hiring and board recruitment practices, and invited the community in to help reshape the facility into a place that reflected and represented its people and their interests. CAIRO In efforts to revive its tourism sector, Egypt passed a bill this week imposing fines on overly aggressive touts. The law approved this week could see anyone found pestering tourists "with the intention of begging or promoting, offering or selling a good or service" fined up to 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($567). The legislation has still to be ratified by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. The news has already raised concerns among Egyptians working in the area of the famed pyramids at Giza, offering souvenirs, carriage or camel rides. Ahmed, one of the workers, said the bill will impact the source of livelihood for thousands like him. "The new rules will only affect poor people struggling to feed their families," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday, declining to give his full name for fear of retribution. Former antiquities minister and famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass said the fines would be insufficient to deter harassment of tourists. "A prison sentence should have been included because such practices harm Egyptian tourism," he said in TV remarks late Tuesday. Visitors to the pyramids at Giza and other major historical sites in Egypt are routinely harassed and followed by young men offering tours, souvenirs, carriage or camel rides. Scams are common, and the tourism police rarely intervene. Egypt's vital tourism industry has been hit hard by extremist attacks and political turmoil following the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The once multibillion tourism industry, a vital pillar of the country's economy and source of work for millions of people, has been decimated. The tourism sector suffered a further blow after an Islamic State bombing brought down a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai Peninsula in 2015, killing all 224 people on board. Russia, which subsequently banned all flights to Egypt, only resumed Moscow-Cairo flights in April. The Egyptian national carrier is still barred from flying to Russia. Last year, 8.3 million tourists visited Egypt, compared to 15 million in 2010, according to official figures. Egypt's government has also tried to lure tourists back by promoting new archaeological discoveries and boosting security around historical sites. "I think one of the big misnomers of this program is that it serves only one population," said Kate LeFurgy, spokeswoman for City Clerk Anna Valencia, who is formally in charge of the CityKey program. "This will be beneficial to all residents, to the released offenders who need an ID to get a job, to survivors of domestic violence. I think it's unfortunate that it's been used to divide people." Congress had until March 5 to enact a legislative fix but did not reach a deal. A federal judge ordered the administration to continue accepting renewal applications while a lawsuit proceeds that seeks to keep DACA in place. On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration should accept new applications as well, but stayed the order for 90 days to allow the Department of Homeland Security time to respond. Officials previously confirmed that tests detected the deadly anticoagulant brodifacoum in the man's body, suggesting it was from fake weed, but now they have concluded that it caused nontraumatic retroperitoneal hematoma, or bleeding in the abdomen, with synthetic cannabinoid use as a contributing factor. In the carjacking, police said 20-year-old Lazarick West was shot around 7:20 p.m. Wednesday in the South Side's Bridgeport neighborhood, police said. He was with two other males when he approached the retired officer while he sat in a car in the 2900 block of South Shields Avenue, according to police. Monterrey first hired Santos in February 2014 when he was a young deputy with the Indiana sheriff's office. Three months later, Santos was criminally charged in Hammond with domestic battery and strangulation after a fight with his wife. She later changed her testimony and the charges were dropped. The sheriff's department fired Santos in July 2015, but he kept working for Monterrey without disclosing his arrest. The company never found out on its own despite being required to verify a police officer's status every year by collecting employment documents. In a little more than a year in office, the Democratic state comptroller has become a chief foil of Rauner. She kept it up in her latest report, saying that it is "asinine" that "the state allowed its bill backlog to grow to a point where we incurred nearly two decades' worth of late payment interest penalties in just over two years." "As much as we want to care for people, show them that we care, we as a government just cannot change everything," McCarter, R-Lebanon, said. "This is one of those times we need to step back and say 'Let people make their choices.'" Williams' Facebook page features photos of him smiling at a graduation ceremony as well as other photos of him hiking, hanging out with friends and dressed in a suit at a wedding party. His last post in 2017 noted how he was starting a new job in nearby Anson, Maine. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood set a hearing for Thursday. She said she wants prosecutors to tell her how fast a copy of materials seized in the raid two weeks ago are being given to Cohen's lawyers. Taylor's attorney, Vince Bobot, said police cited Taylor after she got into an argument with a teller at a Wells Fargo bank branch on April 6. He says the city attorney's office decided late Monday afternoon to prosecute the citation in municipal court. The White House apparently did a scandalously careless job of vetting the nominee, and now claims are emerging that should have been discovered before. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, told NPR that more than 20 current or former members of the military have come forward to accuse Jackson of various types of misconduct including inappropriately handing out prescription drugs to White House staffers, getting drunk on foreign trips with the president and screaming at subordinates. Sadly, the strong bias against conservative beliefs on campus is not just in the classroom. Loyola seems to support illegal immigrants more than its own students. The school has repeatedly taken political stands and encouraged students to get involved with the political stances the administration holds, but it will not permit students to bring opposition views to campus. The school has invited speakers who have been given leadership awards by a former general secretary of the Soviet Union, and it invited as its 2018 commencement speaker a man who said he would have killed Donald Trump had he been in the room when he was born. Loyola provides one side of the political spectrum to its students, while the school finds itself in a financial crunch with alumni not giving back. Maybe if administrators and professors did not anger us as students, we would be more willing to give back. There is a financial benefit to not harassing us. Whatever. The question of whether to believe and forgive you lies with your fans. Me, I'm just intrigued by what is being revealed about the state of the Union and, frankly, about the state of me. I mean, I get that politics is divisive by design. But the division of this era is something new, something off the charts. It sends you scrambling back through history for suitable parallels. Blue Line rider and Twitter user @mehow87 display name Michal Wilczewski posted a photo of a chalk-drawn door on the side of a brick building next to the Damen Blue Line stop, tweeting it at Rowling to ask, "@jk_rowling can you tell me more about this door to Hogwarts at the Damen Blue Line stop in Chicago?" A: Absolutely not. I was never involved in anything like this, and neither are most kids across the country. Even undergraduates don't get this kind of experience. They are even subject to peer review and have to answer questions like, "Did you think about how this would affect insurance coverage?" I run the Women in STEM club here at Prospect, and we're always looking for guest speakers. So, when the students came across the (Mentor Matching Engine) program, they said, "Hey, Mrs. Page, can you look into this?" It was a natural connection, and it came about in a way that was very organic. Holloway said while she was unable, in less than a week's time, to check into every area mentioned in the email, she did note that the problems dated back to 2015, and that a specific person involved is no longer with the school. "Usually we hear from the same local circle of preservation advocates. This is an unaffiliated group that recognizes the historic value of the building. It has the potential to carry some weight with members of the City Council," Bruno said. "On July 28, 2017, I lost another friend of mine to suicide and since then I have been unable to shake the idea that I should be doing something to help stop these preventable tragedies from happening," he said in the letter. Roth said early on that she and other staff were dealing with those who were upset by the poem on a "one on one basis," inviting them to come in for a discussion about its meaning. After the poem found its way to someone's Facebook page and began drawing so many comments, both positive and negative, she noticed there "was a problem" that needed to be addressed. The library brought up the subject on a post on its Facebook page, pointing to the "good discussion going both ways," Roth said. "This award positively impacts our core team and myself," she said. "It's great to be recognized for our efforts in the communities we serve. We know in our hearts that God is leading this ministry and we will continue to serve meals to our neighbors in the future." Concussions have increased in the past 20 years among athletes playing high school sports. Neural Effects scrubbed data from the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance to determine which sports have the highest concussion rates. Neural Effects analyzed data from the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study , which collects injury data on nine common high school sports, to determine the concussion rates for each. Neural Effects used data from 2018-19 to account for the cancellation of spring sports in 2020.Visit thestacker.com for similar lists and stories. I have enjoyed your recent columns that provide a lot of consumer education. Please do one about prepaid legal services with monthly fees. I was looking into revising my very old will and trust and was surprised by lawyer fees. I then checked a subscription service that has been very helpful to a friend in Maine. Two Illinois law firms belong to the one I contacted, but I could not determine whether the model is a lure to use full-cost services. My situation is simple: I've downsized to a rental residence and I have an adult daughter who is on Social Security Disability Insurance so I believe she needs the protection of a special needs trust. DuPage County prosecutors said that they dropped the charges because the informant in the case, who had been dealing drugs for the three ex-Schaumburg police officers, had also been accused of committing other crimes, which had not been disclosed to defense attorneys. Court documents later showed that the informant had been accused of stealing exercise equipment and credit card information from a health club where he worked. Clingingsmith posted a $40,000 bond on those charges, but the bond was revoked in March when he was arrested again for driving without a valid license, Piper said. In that case, Clingingsmith was stopped by police after he was observed driving near the scene of an accident involving his wife, authorities said. He had pleaded guilty in federal court to mail fraud and, as part of his conviction, Agpawa avoided jail time but was ordered to pay restitution, serve three years of probation and perform 200 hours of community service. He would need a presidential pardon to hold municipal office, and Agpawa and his attorney, Burt Odelson, said they are working on the necessary paperwork. Derby Day Party The fourth annual Derby Day Party from 2 to 6:30 p.m. May 5 at Frankfort Spirits, 23320 S. LaGrange Road in Frankfort, will have southern fare, Best Hat and Best Dressed contests, a bluegrass jam session, performance by Britt Dignan, raffles, games, televised horse racing and the world release of Emil Stimple Bourbon High Wheat. The distillery crafts Emil Stimple and Horsebox whiskeys and Verdict Vodka. Tickets for the indoor/outdoor party, including two specialty cocktails, are $60, or $50 for individuals in a group of four. Details at 779-205-5320 or 815-200-1992 or www.frankfortspirits.com. "We had a finalist that had 20 years experience in education in Illinois, which included teaching administration as well as seven years experience as a superintendent, doctorate in educational leadership, astute knowledge of Illinois School Code and Illinois policies and its impact on our district, and a strong network of resources in Illinois," she said. "Yet, we are going to offer the superintendent position to a person who has no superintendent experience, no teaching or administration experience in Illinois, no working knowledge of Illinois school code, no doctorate and not likely to have a strong network of Illinois resources." That 10 percent equates to $295,000 less than the city received last year, Julian said, and state officials didn't inform Oak Forest of the reduction until March. She said emergency funds the city has developed in recent years will have to be tapped to cover the city's expenses in the upcoming fiscal year. Purses with a Purpose, designed as a woman's giving circle, is a nonprofit group associated with the Elgin Community College Foundation. Each of the 29 members donates $1,000 every year for a fund through which 15 to 18 scholarships of between $250 and $3,000 are awarded annually to female ECC students, Randall said. A: I would talk at technology conferences, and teachers would ask me to come to their schools to speak. I couldn't do it, obviously, because I was teaching. Eventually, I had enough requests where I could make it a full-time business. Dulany Consulting began in 2010. "It's something that will really grab their attention," she said, adding that she wishes the devices were something she had in her classroom. "They got the experience of exploring, going to a planet, talking about the solar system, and actually seeing it right before their eyes versus reading it in a book. It makes it come alive." In a second interview, Booker admitted the bag was his and that he'd taken that route but said the backpack had been stolen from him about a year earlier after he had left it in the Pinckney's armory. He said he was especially upset about the theft because the bag had a gunner's mate pin on the front that was hard to replace. That's part of the past we learned in Mr. Miller's U.S. history class during junior year. We also learned that while the rest of the nation moved on to build a country spanning from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific (where Californians now speak of seceding), the South remained an occupied region. In 1877, the last Union troops left New Orleans, ending the U.S. government overseeing the post-Civil War South. That left southerners clinging to their Confederate heroes, whose statues still grace town squares. "The owners of the library agree on the importance of preserving the structure and have been working very close with city officials and the Historic Preservation Commission as they develop new plans," said Lissa Druss with Serafin and Associates, the company representing the investors and developers on the project. "They have been listening and will continue to listen to input from others." "As a result, one of the students made a threat that was heard by several witnesses," she related. "We take these threats very seriously and contacted police and this student's parents. This morning, we, in partnership with the Norridge police, continued our investigation, and determined that there is no credible threat from this student." "If they were going to grant the variance, then let them do that and own it," he said. "The way we have appeared during this process is despicable. We are losing the trust of the residents, and rightly so." "I support the village manager taking this action in keeping with routine policy and procedure when the police chief is unavailable for an extended time," Ambrose said. "Deputy Chief Reynolds has my full support and confidence. Knowing he is in charge will allow me to focus on personal maters that need my full attention. I can say, without hesitation, that the people of Oak Park will be in good hands during my absence." On the menu: "There are three things we're known for: our pizza, of course; our broasted chicken and our Italian beef," said Benedetto Ciannamea, of Schererville. "We've got a good, well-balanced pizza sauce between a little bit of sweetness and a little bit of spicy. I love it. It's just got the right amount of sweetness without being overly sweet. There's nothing like our Italian beef. The au jus is homemade. We actually have a little bit of spice in our beef juice. It's really got a lot of flavor. As far as broasted chicken, it's cooked in a pressure cooker. Unlike fried chicken, you're getting a crispy outside that's not greasy. You get a juicy piece of chicken." "I don't think it's fair to be going back to the taxpayers and asking for more and more money," she said. "So many people are moving in. I really think they (should) look within their budget, like everybody else." Ivy Tech Community College will host Express Enrollment Day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday at four area campuses: 1440 E. 35th Ave., Gary; 410 E. Columbus Drive, East Chicago; 3100 Ivy Tech Drive, Valparaiso; and 3714 Franklin Drive, Michigan City. In addition to registering for classes, students can complete FYIvy, an online introduction to the college, obtain financial aid information, meet with an advisor and sign up for an in-person orientation. Those who have not yet completed an assessment can do that as well. To meet the assessment requirement, students are asked to bring SAT/ACT/PSAT scores and high school or college transcripts, or take the Accuplacer if needed. More information and registration are at www.ivytech.edu/EEDay. Co-workers described how Giro came into work with a black eye. Giro's best friend said Giro was "not herself" at a bachelorette party. Another woman said the man accused of killing Giro said she had caught him with child pornography and that he had to get rid of her. When Williams returned to the house on Nov. 3, 2016, the bullet hole that went from the bedroom to the kitchen had been punched out into a larger hole, making him unable to take a portion of the wall as evidence, he said. Williams said that made him more convinced the bullet hole was connected to Giro's death. Has anybody else noticed that Trump supporters constantly accuse people opposed to Trump of that which they are guilty? These are the same people who would take umbrage to Obama saying the sky was blue, just because Obama said it. Trump is a hateful, ignorant, corrupt pig of a man who represents everything America has traditionally stood against, but his followers refuse to even acknowledge that most Americans love freedom, and therefore, have no love for Trump. "I was recruited and asked to run because I think I reflect that," Rodriguez said a day after his election. "I'm young, I think I am the youngest person to ever sit on the executive committee of the party. I have lived in the neighborhood all my life. I'm committed. I am a community guy and having that represented in the number two position of the party is pretty damn good," he added. Poo, who visited Chicago last weekend as part of the Define American Film Festival's "The Women's Movement: Where do we go from here?", said that the "cruel immigration enforcement policies have started to undo decades of work on the part of the Women's Movement, (regarding) breaking the silence around violence against women." Zero is the name of the game for Centennial goalkeeper Helen Kong, Human Resources Manager at Dezan Shira & Associates offers eight quick tips to handle the fundamentals of hiring staff in China. A firm understanding of Chinas laws and regulations relating to human resources and payroll management is essential for foreign investors who want to establish or are already running foreign-invested entities in China. In China, there are a wide range of government institutions involved in HR processes, and while key laws are drafted by the central government such as the Labor Contract Law numerous bylaws and regulations are instituted at the local level. Nevertheless, many HR laws and principles are fairly universal across China. Here, we offer eight quick tips to handle the fundamentals of employing staff in China. 1. Mandatory written contracts All employees must be given a written contract within one month of hiring; if not, the employee is entitled to double salary. 2. Probation period The range of legitimate grounds for dismissing an employee is considerably wider during his or her probation period. The employer may also pay only 80 percent of the employees contractual salary during this time. 3. Regional variation National laws are often intentionally broad and vague, leaving a lot of room for local interpretation or additional legislation. Regulations and practices differ per city on issues such as minimum wage, work visa policy, social security contributions, and maternity leave. 4. Representative offices The simplest of foreign investment vehicles in China, the representative office (RO) is not permitted to directly hire staff in China; instead, they need to use dispatch agencies, the agencies must hold a government issued special license that allow them to hire employees on behalf of their clients (e.g. Dezan Shira & Associates has dispatch licenses). 5. Leave during the first year of employment Employees are not entitled to any mandatory minimum number of leave days during their first year of employment, except those during major holidays such as Chinese New Year around February, and the National Day celebrations in early October. 6. No at-will termination Terminating employees in China is both difficult and expensive. Employees may resign with 30 days notice, but for employers, there are limited grounds for terminating an employee before his or her contract has come to an end. 7. Non-fixed term contract after two fixed term contracts After an employee finishes his or her second contract with your company, he or she generally shall be offered a lifetime contract as the third unless he or she wants another fixed term contract instead. Such non-fixed term contract can only be terminated if there are grounds for dismissal. Notably, some regions, such as Shanghai, offer more flexibility on this rule. 8. Severance payments mandated by law In practice, severance payments are even higher than the law prescribes, and can comprise a significant part of overall HR costs. A day after it was announced that President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would meet for talks over the weekend in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj emphasized the importance of learning Hindi to Chinese college students in Beijing. Hindi, India's official language alongside English at the national level, is being promoted at home and abroad by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Dozens of other languages are used by Indians across the states, making India perhaps the most linguistically diverse country in the world. "The relations between India and China are strengthening, trade is increasing and we are working together at international forums - it is becoming increasingly important that you learn Hindi and Indians learn Chinese," Swaraj told the Chinese students in Hindi at the event organized by the Indian embassy in a Beijing hotel. She said direct communication might be more effective for the two countries rather than through translators because the emotions behind words can't often be conveyed in translation. Swaraj, who was in China mainly to attend the foreign ministers meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Tuesday, said on Monday that India would soon invite a batch of 25 Chinese students learning Hindi to visit the country. Students from Peking University and Yunnan Minzu University, among others, were present at the embassy event. Some of the Chinese students recited Indian poetry and prose in fluent Hindi. Many female students wore the traditional Indian sari. The earliest Hindi studies department on a Chinese campus was set up by Peking University in 1917, while the latest is Shenzhen University. At least 11 universities on the Chinese mainland are known to offer Hindi as a major course today. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, whom she met on Sunday, mentioned to her about Hindi films that have done well in China recently, Swaraj told the students' gathering. But there is a difference in understanding the movies between those who know the language and those who read the subtitles, she said at Monday's event. "India is China's neighbor. Plus, it is an ancient civilization. Chinese need to understand Hindi to understand India better," Chen Lixing, an octogenarian scholar, told China Daily. In the 1950s, there were few scholars of Hindi like him. Now, hundreds of students in China are learning Hindi, he said. An executive at the Walt Disney Studios, China on Monday admitted "big mistakes" to disappointed Chinese fans for an event held at the Shanghai Disney Resort last week to promote the much-anticipated film "Avengers: Infinity War." Marvel Studios' parent company, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, summoned local media and fan club leaders on Monday in Shanghai for a media briefing to explain the situation, apologize and listen to fans' suggestions. The executive, who asked to remain anonymous, said the event was held with good intentions to "expand the influence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe," but many aspects of the premiere spiraled out of control and the event "didn't live up to Disneys standards." He admitted the company made mistakes during the organizing process, and committed to studying and learning lessons from the fiasco in order to prevent such situations from happening again in the future. He promised to listen to and communicate with fans more in the future, and said he will try to find more "appropriate ways" to promote their films. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo as well as actors Robert Downey Jr., Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland appeared at the Chinese premiere of "Avengers: Infinity War" on Thursday to sign autographs and pose for photos, but later found Chinese fans flocking to their social media accounts to apologize. Qiu Meizhen, 28, currently expecting her second child, feels at ease when walking alone in her neighborhood, as she can press an SOS button installed on smart lamp posts if there is an emergency. In her "smart neighborhood" in Mawei District, Fuzhou, capital of east China's Fujian Province, Qiu is able to open the door of an elevator using facial recognition technology. She will be alerted if her apartment catches fire even when she is not at home, as a smart fire detector is connected to her mobile phone. Qiu's "smart life" is just part of China's efforts to develop information technology and digitalization. China is the world's largest e-commerce market, accounting for more than 40 percent of the value of worldwide transactions, and in terms of mobile payments, China has a transaction value 11 times that of the United States, according to a recent report by McKinsey Global Institute. During the first Digital China Summit, which was held in Fuzhou from Sunday to Tuesday, the latest technology such as unmanned stores, driverless vehicles, and delivery robots attracted thousands of visitors. Customers can enter Tencent's unmanned store after scanning their face, then pick up items and head for the exit, where their face is scanned again and payment is automatically deducted from their account. Jack Ma, founder and chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, said in a speech at the summit that e-commerce is just the prelude to and a small share of digital economy, which will have a profound influence on all aspects of people's lives. Industrial internet, 5G, and the Internet of Things were also buzzwords at the summit. Kelvin Wu, president of 360 Enterprise Security Group, said unlike the World Internet Conference, an annual event held in east China's Wuzhen, the Digital China Summit focused more on e-governance and industrial internet as China enters a new phase of digitalization. "For example, in recent years, China has seen an increasing number of collaborations between real economy and digital enterprises," said Wu, adding that it showed the need for more efforts in industrial internet. Test-rides of China's first commercial driverless shuttle bus Apolong, co-developed by tech giant Baidu and automaker Kinglong, were offered to the public during the event. With no steering wheel or driver, the vehicle made perfect turns and was able to give way to pedestrians during a two-minute drive on a 600-meter-long route. Digitalization, networking, and the application of intelligent technology, are also modernizing China's governance system and capacity. No counters, no queues, no paperwork -- in less than 10 minutes, Gao Pingping completed the registration of his business and obtained a license at a self-service registration machine in the city of Pingtan in Fujian. The machine, connected to government data and supported by facial recognition technology, streamlines the application process and reduces the procedure from days to just minutes. At the Alibaba exhibition booth, a big screen demonstrated how ambulances and fire engines in the east China city of Hangzhou avoid gridlock and all red lights turn green as they approach with the aid of "City Brain," an artificial intelligence platform aimed at improving city management. The "brain" collects traffic and weather data, analyzes traffic flow, and adjusts traffic lights accordingly to ease traffic congestion. Like Alibaba, several leading technology companies have rolled out "smart city" solutions. However, progress is limited and there are several technological breakthroughs to be made, according to Guo Renzhong, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. "For instance, existing information transmitting technology is not able to meet some requirements of smart cities," said Guo, adding, "outdated laws and regulations concerning access and use of government and citizens' information may also pose obstacles in the future." China's space authority said on Tuesday it plans to build a manned scientific research outpost on the moon. In a video displayed at a ceremony in Harbin, provincial capital of Heilongjiang, the China National Space Administration published the country's achievements and development road maps in the space sector, including a plan to construct and operate a scientific research station on the moon. The ceremony was held to mark the third China Space Day, April 24, the date in 1970 when China launched its first satellite. "We believe that the Chinese nation's dream of residing in a 'lunar palace' will soon become a reality," the administration said in the video. The video envisions the lunar outpost having multiple tube cabins that interconnect and provide oxygen to people inside. One of the facility's major energy sources will be solar power, according to the video. The administration did not reveal a schedule for the construction and operation of the outpost. It added in the video that the country also plans to explore the two lunar poles. This is the first time that China has made public a plan to have a manned lunar outpost. In November, administration officials said at an international space forum in Shanghai that China "is conducting a feasibility study for a robotic outpost on the lunar surface to conduct scientific research and technological experiments". Wang Liheng, a senior space scientist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told China Daily it has become the consensus among Chinese space researchers that a manned lunar station is necessary so scientists can deepen their lunar research and explore ways for the exploitation of lunar resources. Such a facility will also help to accumulate experience that can be used for manned missions to Mars, he said. "The first step, our researchers suggest, will be sending our astronauts to the moon to perform short-term explorations," said Wang, referring to a manned lunar program, which has been called for by Chinese scientists for a long time. China started sending robotic probes to the moon in 2007 and has carried out several lunar missions since then. It landed the Chang'e 3 probe, which carried the first Chinese lunar rover, on the moon in December 2013. Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center, told those at Tuesday's ceremony that the Chang'e 4 probe will be launched before the end of this year and will land on the far side of the moon. Before it, a relay satellite named Queqiao, a legendary bridge in the Milky Way, will be launched in May. Tidal forces on Earth slow the moon's rotation to the point where the same side always faces Earth. The other face, most of which is never visible from Earth, is the far side of the moon. Bao Weimin, head of science and technology at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp and academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the probe will land on the Aitken Basin of the south lunar pole and will explore the sphere's early history. "The mission will enable us to discover what we haven't known about the moon. Moreover, we can take advantage of the far side's shield against Earth's interference to make clearer observation into the deep space," he said. In addition to Chinese equipment, Chang'e 4 also will carry scientific payloads developed by the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Saudi Arabia, according to Pei. Police seized more than 4.1 metric tons of drugs, mostly crystal methamphetamine, in Guangdong province in the first three months of this year. Some 3,490 suspected drug traffickers were detained, including residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, in the course of busting 2,790 drug-related cases in the first quarter, the Guangdong Public Security Department's head of drug enforcement, Zhai Kaixia, said. Police also investigated 20,360 drug addicts during a campaign code-named Guangdong's Anti-Drug Sword from January to March. "A number of cross-border trafficking channels and distribution centers have been broken up, while several drug trafficking gangs were busted after we deepened cooperation with foreign counterparts," Zhai said in Guangzhou on Tuesday. "We have achieved a very good beginning in the fight against drug crime this year, but we will not relax our vigilance." He said Sino-foreign cooperation will be expanded and hinted that more targeted campaigns will be launched to crack down on drug-related crimes in the months ahead. You are here: Travel Flash China is set to emerge as the Philippines' top tourist source thanks to "exceptionally stronger government to government relations," according to a Philippine lawmaker on Saturday. "In a matter of months, we could see China dislodging South Korea as our number one supplier of foreign tourists," said Lito Atienza, a member of the Philippine House of Representatives, in a statement. Atienza credits President Rodrigo Duterte's "wisdom and foresight" in reaching out to China. "Foreign tourists create a huge demand for goods and services that we as a country have ample supply of, so our economy is benefiting in a big way from the influx of Chinese visitors," he added. "The Philippines and China have long had very warm people to people relations, considering our extensive Chinese ancestry, so we definitely welcome the surge in Chinese holidaymakers," Atienza said. Citing data from the Department of Tourism (DOT), Atienza said China dislodged the United States for the first time as the Philippines' second-biggest supplier of foreign visitors in 2017. He said DOT statistics show that the Philippines received a total of 6,620,908 foreign visitors in 2017, up 11 percent from 5,967,006 in 2016. The number of Chinese tourists surged by 43.33 percent to 968,447 in 2017 from 675,663 million in 2016, Atienza said. The rapid growth in Chinese tourists continued in the first two months of 2018, Atienza said. This year, Atienza said the DOT hopes to draw in 7.4 million foreign tourists, including 1.5 million from China. Flash Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu in Beijing on Tuesday. China-Russia relations have reached a new level thanks to the push by the heads of state of both countries in recent years, said Xu, adding that bilateral military cooperation has consistently maintained positive development momentum. China and Russia need to strengthen strategic coordination to further enhance the cohesion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which has entered a new development phase, said Xu. Russia has made it its diplomacy priority to strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination with China and will continue to deepen cooperation with China so as to jointly tackle new security threats, and maintain regional and world peace and stability, Shoygu said. Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold an informal meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from April 27 to 28 in Wuhan, and the meeting will set new goals and break new ground for bilateral ties, a Chinese vice foreign minister said on Tuesday. The upcoming meeting has attracted great attention from the two countries and the international community, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said at a press briefing. As the two largest developing countries and important emerging markets in the world, China and India each have a population of over one billion, Kong said. As the mainstays for a multipolar world and economic globalization, China and India are important champions for regional and global peace, stability and prosperity, Kong said, noting that the strategic and global significance of bilateral ties has become more prominent. In recent years, China-India ties have maintained a momentum of development under the strategic guidance of their leaders, and both countries have made new progress in various cooperation, Kong said, noting that bilateral ties are facing opportunities for improvement. The two leaders will meet in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province. Kong said Modi has visited the Chinese cities of Beijing, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Hangzhou, and Xiamen, and the upcoming visit to Wuhan will increase his understanding of China. When the two leaders meet, they will have strategic communication on the most profound and unprecedented changes the world has seen in a century and thoroughly exchange views on the overall, long-term, and strategic issues of China-India relations, Kong said. The meeting will enhance mutual trust, chart the course, set new goals, and break new ground for bilateral ties, Kong said, noting that it will not only benefit the two countries and two peoples, but also exert significant and positive influence on regional and global peace and development. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Asociatia Obsteasca DEMOS anunta concurs pentru angajarea unui expert/grup de experti/a unei companii care sa presteze servicii pentru lansarea afacerii sociale BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- Drug abuse, Cedar Road: At 6:20 p.m. April 20, police arrested at Beachwood Place mall, 26300 Cedar Road, a Maple Heights man, 24, for drug trafficking and child endangerment. With the man were a Cleveland man, 25, and a Garfield Heights woman, 26, as well as a girl, 16. The second man and woman were arrested and charged with possession of drugs, child endangerment and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The girl was charged with drug possession. Theft, Orange Place: At 1 p.m. April 18, two men and two women left Bob Evans Restaurant, 3700 Orange Place, without paying their tab. The bill was for $51. Fraud, Buckhurst Drive: At 3:15 p.m. April 18, a woman reported that someone used her Social Security number to file their taxes. Theft, Cedar Road: At 6:20 p.m. April 19, a man stole a pair of Gucci sunglasses from Sunglass Hut at Beachwood Place. The glasses had a value of $400. Theft, Old Green Road: At 3:15 p.m. April 19, a woman reported that $350 worth of clothes and jewelry were stolen from her home. Domestic violence, Enterprise Parkway: At 1:25 p.m. April 20, a woman reported that her husband hit her in the face while the two were in their car. The husband, 49, of Euclid, was charged with domestic violence. Falsification, Cedar Road: At 12:15 p.m. April 20, an officer stopped two men inside Beachwood Place because one of them smelled of marijuana. The man who smelled of marijuana, 18, of East Cleveland, went on to give false personal information. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance and falsification. The second man, 23, of Cleveland Heights, fled shortly after the officer stopped the men. Police learned his identity and are seeking him on charges of falsification and obstructing official business. Theft, Cedar Road: At 5:45 p.m. April 21, a Brunswick woman, 36, was arrested for stealing $294 worth of merchandise from Dillard's at Beachwood Place. She was also cited for drug possession. Theft, Cedar Road: At 8:30 p.m. April 21, a Columbus woman, 22, was arrested for shoplifting merchandise worth $231 from Dillard's. OVI, Interstate 271: At 1:25 a.m. April 22, police arrested a Woodmere man, 53, for drunk driving. OVI, Chagrin Boulevard: At 2:55 a.m. April 22, police pulled over a car driven by a Bedford man, 29, due to several marked lane violations. The man was subsequently found to be intoxicated. He was cited for the traffic infractions and charged with OVI. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND -- FirstEnergy's power plant subsidiary announced this morning that it has certified to federal regulators the definite shut down of its three nuclear power plants. In a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission today, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., or FENOC, certified that the companies will begin the shutdowns as early as May 31, 2020. FirstEnergy Solutions, its subsidiaries and FENOC, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors on Mar. 31, the weekend before FES faced an April 2 deadline to make a $100 million debt payment. Donald Moul, president of FES and chief nuclear officer, wrote in today's letter that because of "severe economic challenges" the company "has decided to permanently cease power operations:" At the Davis-Besse plant near Toledo by May 31, 2020; At the Perry plant in Lake County and unit one of the Beaver Valley plant near Pittsburgh by May 31, 2021; At Beaver Valley unit two reactor by Oct. 31, 2021. The shutdowns would affect about 2,300 employees. FirstEnergy Solutions initially announced its intentions to close the plants on Mar. 28. The company also on Mar. 28 phoned the NRC with its decision that it was planning the shutdowns. The agency requires a letter certifying such a decision within 30 days of an announcement. The certification letter is the signal for the NRC and the company to begin a lengthy series of inspections designed to reveal problems the company may encounter following the shutdown. A plant owner can rescind a certification letter if its conditions change, or if it were to sell the plants. Also on Mar. 28, the company informed PJM Interconnection, the grid manager in Ohio and 12 other states, that it intended to close the three plants, which generate a combined 4,048 megawatts. PJM has already begun the evaluation of the impact the closings would have on the grid and could ask the company to postpone the shutdowns until additional power lines are built to move electricity into the northern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania. If the plants were asked to stay open temporarily, PJM would pay the company the additional money it needs to operate. The company has tried to find a way to funnel additional cash to the power plants at least since 2014 because the plants can no longer compete effectively in wholesale power markets where prices are set by new gas turbine plants and at times by wind farms. FirstEnergy and now FirstEnergy Solutions have appealed to Ohio regulators, then lawmakers and federal regulators to develop special rates to subsidize the nuclear as well as old coal plants. The U.S. Department of Energy is currently considering an appeal from FES to invoke emergency provisions in the Federal Power Act and order federal regulators and PJM to develop subsidies for the old plants. Opponents argue such a move would destroy competitive wholesale markets which are designed to favor the lowest cost power that can reasonably be expected to meet demand. Parent company FirstEnergy this week announced an informal agreement had been reached between key creditors and FES and that FirstEnergy itself would face no future claims. That agreement must still be formalized and approved by the bankruptcy court. A second hearing in the case has been set for Thursday. The certification closing announcement, made before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, did not appear to affect the share price of parent company FirstEnergy. The stock closed on the New York Stock Exchange at $34.16, down 13 cents from Tuesday's closing price. About 5.6 million shares traded. Nearly 8.5 million FirstEnergy shares traded on Tuesday, well above the average over the last several weeks of about 5.5 million shares, signaling new investor interest in the company. FirstEnergy's share price has been as high as $35.56 and as low as $27.93 over the last year. Click for a copy of the FES/FENOC letter to the NRC. CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- City Council has introduced a "Complete and Green Street Policy" to improve the economic, environmental and social well-being of its residents -- as well as complement the city's Master Plan. Introduced April 16 on the first of two readings, the legislation caps several years of work by the Transportation Advisory Committee, a coalition of residents, business owners, bicyclists and other shareholders seeking harmony on the city's roadways. In another "green" initiative, the Doan Brook Watershed Partnership hosted an Earth Day Stream Sweep and volunteer cleanup of the gorge on April 22. "We actually have 'complete and green streets' already, but this will codify it in Cleveland Heights," TAC co-chairman Howard Maier said, thanking council for "believing in this issue enough to appoint a committee and provide staff resources -- and then listening to what we had to say." Maier retired in 2012 as the executive director of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), a planning organization that helps line up infrastructure grants over a five-county region. The local resolution aims for "multi-purpose streets that better accommodate walkers, cyclists and public transportation while reducing the environmental impact of our transportation infrastructure, incorporating 'green' strategies to reduce waste, stormwater runoff and energy consumption." As the sustainability director at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and also a frequent user of the roadways as a bicyclist, TAC co-chairman Marc Lefkowitz said there are still some "glaring inequities" for bikes. Cyclists are seen by many motorists as "an inconvenience at best" and are subsequently treated as "second-class citizens," he said. Lefkowitz believes the solution that would bring more infrastructural equity is a network of fully-separated bike lanes. But in the meantime, he called the proposed policy a "boon to the city." As a business representative on the TAC, Sam Bell, owner of The Lusty Wrench, noted that "where you see bicycles, you see vibrant business communities, and we're happy about that. "This will help all of us, and from a sustainability standpoint, it makes a lot of sense," Bell added. The TAC representatives also thanked two more avid cyclists, City Planning Director Richard Wong and Councilwoman Mary Dunbar, who introduced the legislation, saying she hopes to have it passed at council's May 7 meeting. "We believe this policy is state-of-the-art, and the goal is to boost the livability and environmental needs of our community," Dunbar said, adding that another objective is to reduce the amount of runoff water that winds up in storm sewers. City Manager Tanisha Briley said the Complete and Green Streets Policy already ties in with a number of focal points in the updated Master Plan, which was adopted just over a year ago with the help of a grant through the Cuyahoga County Planning Department. Those include providing a "complete transportation network," as well as "environmentally sustainable goals," "high-quality infrastructure" and, on various fronts, a "safe, engaged and healthy community." Although an earlier proposal had to be shelved around the time of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland back in 2016, Briley said the city may be revisiting the possibility of Bike Share stations around town. Briley will continue to provide council with quarterly updates on progress in meeting the Master Plan goals. Vice Mayor Melissa Yasinow thanked her on April 16 for "hitting the high notes" in her update, to which Briley replied that she "cannot give the staff enough justice." CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cuyahoga County's Department of Public Works failed to get approval from County Council before paying nearly $62,000 in rent and utilities for some office space, a move that has angered County Council members. Two council members, Michael Gallagher and Jack Schron, also accuse the department of unfairly withholding the rent payments for 13 months in an effort to coerce the landlord into extending the lease on the office space. "If I am that landlord, I would really feel as though the county was holding me hostage over the payment," Schron said at a Tuesday night council meeting. The dustup over the rent payment comes just two months after County Executive Armond Budish's administration angered council members by asking them to retroactively approve changes Budish had made to the employee handbook. Council adopted a new employee handbook that includes overtime for salaried employees with significant restrictions. Members added an amendment to let salaried employees keep $1.7 million in overtime that they were improperly given. How did Council learn about the unapproved rent payment? The Budish administration had asked council to approve payment of $332,365.20 to extend a lease for 4,980 square feet of space at 21100 Southgate Park Boulevard, Maple Heights through December 2022. The legislation also asked Council to "reaffirm a payment" of $61,897.90 that the administration made two months earlier to cover rent payments that had been withheld since February 2017. Public Works Director Michael Dever told council that the county's 10-year lease for the Juvenile Court probation office in the former medical building had expired on Feb. 1, 2017 and the owner had a prospective new tenant that wanted to use the entire building. But the county didn't want to leave because it would have cost hundreds of thousands to relocate and renovate a new office, Dever said. So it continued to negotiate for a five-year extension and remained in the building without paying rent. Dever said the contract had a "holdover" provision that allowed the county to remain in the space. Such provisions are generally used for a only a couple of months to allow negotiations for a new lease to conclude, he said. Why were the rent checks withheld? "We were not going to give him the check until he signed the document for the five-year extension," Dever told council members on Tuesday. The department had money in its budget for the rent, he said. A check for $61,897.90 was cut in December to meet end-of-the year financial requirements. But it was not given to the landlord until the end of March, after the county received an eviction notice and shortly before the lease extension was signed. "This was not the ideal situation," Dever said. "It made sense to stay in the facility and we believe we did have the authority." What did the law director say? Law Direcrtor Robert Triozzi told Council it has the authority to retroactively approve the rent payment. Triozzi also said making the payment without County Council approval is not recommended but that action is defensible because of the holdover provision in the lease contract. "This was not the appropriate way to proceed with this (lease) but I think that message was delivered," he said. "We can retroactively fix the problems." What did council members say? Council voted Tuesday to retroactively approve the payment, but after many harsh words for the administration. Scott Tuma: "You paid rent without authorization. There is a process in place for payments to be made. How could this go through the system without anyone noticing? This body will not approve of this type of action moving forward. We need better communcation." Sunny Simon: "I do not want to see this coming to us with this situation going forward. What's to stop this from happening again and again?" Michael Gallagher: "The chain of what took place really bothers me. I believe we owed the money and had the check but held it hostage until we had what we wanted." Dale Miller: "It's not defensible. I don't know why you couldn't say we made a mistake and you had the authority to clean it up and ask for our help to do so." Council President Dan Brady: "Clearly the council is between a hard place and a rock. We will move this forward and try to take this as a lesson learned and have internal discussions about the future." CLEVELAND, Ohio-- Almost all chronic pain patients who now take prescription opioids for relief are asked by their doctors to sign a document in which they agree to submit to random urine drug screens, pill counts and other conditions in order to receive their medication. The "opioid contracts," or "pain contracts," were designed to deter abuse and the sale of prescription painkillers amid the heroin and fentanyl overdose epidemic. There is little solid evidence that they are effective, according to research on the topic . Many patients with chronic pain who have been taking the medications for years and feel victimized by the increasing restrictions on opioid prescribing, say the contracts often contain threatening and coercive language and have made them feel mistrusted by their doctors. "It becomes a very unhealthy dynamic right away," when the contracts are introduced, said Stephen Newman, 32, who for years managed two conditions, ankylosing spondylitis and common variable immunodeficiency, in part with opioid medications. "It's a moral shaky ground. It's definitely not a mentally healthy relationship." Good intentions, little evidence Opioid contracts have been around since the 1980's, when they were known as "narcotic contracts" and used more selectively for patients thought to be at higher risk of addiction when using controlled substances. As deaths due to heroin overdose and synthetic, illicit opioids such as fentanyl have skyrocketed in the past decade, the contracts have become increasingly popular. In Ohio, the Governor's Cabinet Opiate Action Team in 2013 strongly suggested, but did not require, the use of pain management contracts in its chronic pain guidelines. The contracts are also recommended by The Federation of State Medical Boards, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the American Pain Society and Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, among others. CHRONIC PAIN: Previous coverage Suffering and abandoned: Patients cut off in the opioid era Off opioids, chronic pain sufferers find new ways to cope In at least six states, patients seeking opioid medication for chronic pain are required by law to sign the contracts: Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The contract's purpose is to provide complete information about the risks and benefits of the medication, deter abuse and improve safety, and mitigate the legal risk to the doctor or other healthcare provider prescribing the medication, said Dr. Daniel Tobin, Medical Director for the Adult Primary Care Center at Yale New Haven Hospital and an expert on opioid safety. It's this last motivation that rubs many patients the wrong way. Many said they felt they had little choice but to sign the contracts, and that their doctors were looking for infractions as an excuse to terminate their care. "Doctors will drop you at the drop of a hat because they need to protect their license and the medical board will suspend their license during an investigation," said Newman, who now controls his pain with acupuncture. "Who are they looking out for, then?" Paul Ford, director of the NeuroEthics program at the Cleveland Clinic, said that formal guidelines like those recommending pain contracts "quickly become adopted when there are fears of risk of things like criminal prosecution or malpractice." According to the National Practitioner Data Bank, adverse actions by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) against physicians quadrupled from 88 to 371 cases from 2011 to 2014. In January, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that a "surge" of DEA agents and investigators would intensify their efforts to identify doctors and pharmacies who may be responsible for dispensing too much opioid medication. A small 2014 survey of family doctors found that the majority believed pain contracts don't reduce opioid abuse but do offer some protection against liability. Despite their near universal implementation and perceptions of their effectiveness, "there are very few studies as to how using these documents affect care," said Tobin, who wrote a 2016 review article in the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine discussing the shortcomings of the contracts and how to improve them. "It's an area that needs more research." A problem of language Dr. Tim Lahey, an infectious disease doctor and bioethicist who practices in New Hampshire at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, felt compelled in 2016 to write about one of his patients he believed was harmed by an opioid contract. The young woman with a history of addiction was dropped by doctors who had prescribed her pain medication for a nerve condition once after a relapse and once when she was accused of selling the medication. She died of a heroin overdose a few days after the second doctor stopped prescribing to her, Lahey said. "I think it's really difficult to know if that was a cause and effect relationship... but there were certainly moments when I heard very legalistic terms coming out of the mouths of [doctors] who I know are very compassionate people," said Lahey, including terms such as "contract violation." "When a doctor who is hoping to be in a healing relationship is using words like that, I start to worry there's something wrong with the relationship or that something has become polarized in the conversation," he said. Tobin said using the term "contract" for the documents patients sign is in itself a problem. "It implies it's a legally binding document that lays out a set of conditions that must be followed and if they're not, you're essentially fired or we can't treat you." "That's not what this is supposed to be, but that's the experience of many patients in the community." Many of the more than 20 opioid contracts reviewed by The Plain Dealer contained inflammatory and threatening language instructing patients that deviations from the contract would be grounds for the prescriber to stop prescribing opioids "at any time." A template contract provided by the American Academy of Pain Medicine includes the bolded line: "You understand and agree that failure to adhere to these policies will be considered noncompliance and may result in cessation of opioid prescribing by your physician and possible dismissal from this clinic." 76-year-old Sandy Morris, of Painesville Township, said the pain contract she signed with a Mentor pain management doctor was used as an excuse to end her care when she used extra pills on a rainy day when the arthritis in her feet and hands was bad. "I hurt really bad when it's raining. I told him that, and he wouldn't listen," she said. "For two years before that I'd had no problems. It seemed he was overjoyed to catch me doing something wrong." Communication breakdown Ford said that when used well, pain contracts can increase transparency and help doctors talk to patients about using a potentially dangerous medication. But he and fellow Clinic bioethicist Jane Jankowski said that the way a doctor presents the contract is key to how it is received. "Simply being handed a document without the concurrent discussion, I can see where a patient might feel that this was intended only as a punitive measure, rather than a collaborative measure to responsibly use these strong medications," Jankowski said. "One ought not replace the other." Elliott Ingersoll, a Cleveland State University professor and psychologist, said signing a contract with his general practitioner didn't bother him. Ingersoll, 56, of Kent, is weaning off of prescribed opioid medications for chronic low back pain caused by disc degeneration and arthritis. "I signed one with [my current doctor], but he didn't treat me like a criminal," he said. "He explained it and I really liked him... If you don't have a history of addiction, why start out a relationship with suspicion? I didn't have a problem signing it, but I also didn't feel like he was Jim Rockford looking for holes in my story." Unfortunately, said Ford, despite their widespread use, "I suspect there's almost no or very little guidance on how to have that conversation once [doctors] implement the contract." Dr. Ali Mchaourab, chief of pain medicine at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, said his institution calls the contracts "opioid treatment agreements" and that while none of his patients have expressed unhappiness with signing them, he understands why some would. "I don't disagree with how patients feel, and I can mostly blame physicians for not doing the job they are capable of doing," in explaining the agreements, he said. But he added that signing such an agreement, even if it's uncomfortable, is just part of life now. "This is our society today, and that's what's required," Mchaourab said. "If you were in Germany you probably wouldn't experience that because they don't have an epidemic." A better tool? Still, some doctors are pushing for a more patient-friendly solution to the contracts, one that emphasizes the relationship between doctor and patient over the consequences of breaking rules. In 2012, a Food and Drug Administration working group of pain and addiction specialists, primary care doctors, research organizations, professional groups, government agencies and patient advocacy groups came up with a patient-focused document that could replace current pain contracts. When tested among FDA employees, the agreement was found by more than 60 percent to be neutral in tone, and by 90 percent to be easy or very easy to read. Similar results were later replicated in a university setting. Many pain contracts are difficult to understand, said Yale's Tobin. A 2007 study of more than 160 contracts found that they were written, on average, at a college level. The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends all patient materials be written at a sixth-grade reading level or lower. "Many patients are experiencing these agreements written in a way that they just wouldn't understand," Tobin said. "And that's counterproductive. It actually needs to be something that's understandable, or why use it?" Like the FDA's patient-friendly agreement, there are other pain contract alternatives available to doctors who want to use them, Tobin said. Still, there are no uniform guidelines on which contracts are best, what to include in them, what language to avoid, or research on how different contracts affect patients and their care. "I think it's just a low priority for a lot of states and policy makers to tackle this," Tobin said. "But when it's done wrong, which it often is, it leads to issues of trust and problems dealing with patients who are really suffering." Ohioans are right to wonder how Dennis Kucinich, a vocal advocate for human rights in his years in Congress, can justify accepting a speaking fee from an organization that supports, in the PD's words, "Syrian butcher Bashar Assad." Over the past seven years, Assad's regime has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Syrian citizens and displaced an estimated 11 million. Just last weekend, more Syrian citizens were killed in a chemical weapons attack. Politics aside, it is time for Mr. Kucinich to unequivocally disavow the murderous Assad regime. Ms. Lee C. Shapiro, Regional Director AJC Cleveland CLEVELAND, Ohio - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Wednesday unveiled a legislative proposal that would triple rents for many of those receiving federal housing subsidies and encourage public housing authorities to require their tenants to work. The proposed Making Affordable Housing Work Act calls for subsidized renters to pay the greater of either 35 percent of their monthly gross income toward rent or 35 percent of what a person would earn working 15 hours a week at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. That amounts to about $150 a month. Recipients of federal housing assistance currently spend 30 percent of their adjusted income on housing or pay $50 minimum monthly rent -- whichever is greater -- with subsidies picking up the rest. The rental-assistance reforms, crafted in conjunction with the White House Budget Office and now on their way to Congress, are part of a broader policy agenda of President Donald Trump's administration aiming to rein in anti-poverty programs. Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order giving all cabinet departments 90 days to produce plans that impose work requirements on able-bodied recipients of federal aid. To help "encourage families to achieve self-sufficiency," the bill also would give housing authorities or landlords accepting federal housing vouchers the option of charging rents that are tiered or increase over time. Housing authorities also could require their tenants to work a minimum number of hours, excluding those who are disabled or over 65 years old. The bill would empower Carson to set guidelines governing those work requirements, including establishing the "definition of work." During a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Carson touted the reforms as a means of improving HUD's bottom line and its service to 4.5 million low-income families, while encouraging those families to earn more and become self-sufficient. "Every year HUD's budget supports these families through a number of rental assistance programs," Carson said. "But every year it takes more money, millions of dollars more, to serve the same number of households. Our budget continues to grow just to keep pace." Carson pointed to the millions of families who are eligible for housing subsidies but remain on waiting lists nationwide because the current system is too costly and doesn't push families toward supporting themselves. "It's clear that from a budget perspective and from a human point of view, the current system is unsustainable," Carson said. "The system we use today to calculate families' rental assistance is broken and holds back the very people we're supposed to be helping." Carson also said the reform package is a step toward simplifying a system that tenants and landlords alike find confusing and convoluted. He highlighted a provision of the bill that would require housing authorities to verify a family's income every three years, rather than yearly - a change that, Carson says, would save families from a constant slog of paperwork and the federal government's annual invasion of their privacy. The longer cycle also gives families a chance to boost their income with a three-year reprieve from rent increases on account of it, Carson said. Tenants would be able to request an interim reassessment if their income were to drop. A spokeswoman from the Cuyahoga County Metropolitan Housing Authority - one of the 10 largest housing authorities in the country, serving 55,000 households -- said in an email Wednesday that the agency "will be looking at this more closely as more information comes out." The National Low Income Housing Coalition released a written statement Wednesday arguing that the proposal to increase rents impedes low-income families from investing in their future with education, training, retirement savings and health care. "Despite claims that these harmful proposals will increase 'self-sufficiency,' rent hikes, de facto time limits, and arbitrary work requirements will only leave more people without stable housing, making it harder for them to climb the economic ladder," said Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the coalition. "Proposing these changes under the guise of saving the government money, just months after giving massive tax breaks to wealthy people and corporations, is the height of cruel hypocrisy." WASHINGTON - After informally indicating his support for Wadsworth Republican Rep. Jim Renacci's bid for U.S. Senate, President Donald Trump made his backing official on Tuesday by posting a statement on Twitter. "Jim Renacci has worked so hard on Tax Reductions, Illegal Immigration, the Border and Crime," Trump's statement said. "I need Jim very badly to help our agenda and to keep MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! He will be a fantastic Senator for the Great State of Ohio, and has my full endorsement!" .@JimRenacci has worked so hard on Tax Reductions, Illegal Immigration, the Border and Crime. I need Jim very badly to help our agenda and to keep MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! He will be a fantastic Senator for the Great State of Ohio, and has my full endorsement! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2018 Before departing a crowded primary field for Ohio governor to enter the Republican race to take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in November, Renacci said he obtained assurances that he had Trump's support and would get his assistance. "We've always known that Washington Republicans and outside special interest groups would use their resources to prop up our opponent," said Brown's campaign communications director Preston Maddock. He said the endorsement "won't change the fact that Sherrod is fighting for hard-working Ohioans every day -- including working with this Administration when it's best for Ohio." The other Republicans who are seeking their party's nomination to run against Brown are Cleveland investment banker Mike Gibbons, Marysville small business owner Melissa Ackison, Cincinnati-area financial management company founder Daniel Kiley and Don Elijah Eckhart, a retired public administrator from Galloway, near Columbus. A spokesman for Gibbons - the best funded candidate among Renacci's GOP rivals for the nomination - pooh-poohed the endorsement's importance. "Voters already know that Mike Gibbons is the only conservative outsider in the race," said his spokesman, Chris Schrimpf. "Mike served as a co-chair of the Trump campaign and has a plan to have Mexico pay for the border wall." Great being with @IvankaTrump, as always! When Im elected your next Senator, I will work with @realDonaldTrump to make sure the Senate fights for the America First agenda.https://t.co/K0Y7z7eJ3i Jim Renacci (@JimRenacci) April 20, 2018 While Trump's endorsement might help Renacci win primary support from the president's Republican admirers, it could work against him in November if the larger pool of general election voters are sour on Trump. Recent polls show that voters disapprove of Trump's job performance by a margin higher than 12 percent, according to a RealClearPolitics compilation of polls. That hasn't kept Renacci from aligning himself with Trump at every turn as he campaigns for Senate. Renacci's first television ad asserts the "Trump agenda works for Ohio," and features video clips of Trump saying Renacci has been behind him "from day one," and urging Renacci to "get in there and fight." "Jim Renacci: Supported by President Trump," the ad says. Renacci released a statement on Tuesday that said he's "honored" to have Trump 's full endorsement. "As Ohio's next U.S. Senator, I look forward to fighting alongside the President to advance a conservative agenda that will put Ohio first," Renacci's statement said. WASHINGTON - Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, on Wednesday said Mick Mulvaney should resign as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after telling a group of banking industry executives that he only met with lobbyists who gave him campaign donations when he was a member of Congress. "Deciding who you will meet with based on campaign contributions is the kind of 'pay to play' that understandably makes Americans furious," said a statement from Brown. "Mr. Mulvaney should resign, and the White House should quickly nominate a permanent CFPB Director with bipartisan support and a moral compass. Banks and payday lenders already have armies of lobbyists on their sides - they don't need one more." LIVE: after Mick Mulvaney bragged about only meeting with lobbyists if theyd donated to his campaign, Sherrods calling for his resignation. The White House should quickly nominate a permanent @CFPB Director with bipartisan support and a moral compass." https://t.co/zyjNZUUFE9 Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) April 25, 2018 According to The New York Times, Mulvaney told 1,300 bankers and lending industry officials at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington that when he was a congressmen representing South Carolina: "If you're a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn't talk to you. If you're a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you." He also said his constituents from South Carolina were his top priority, regardless of whether they gave him financial contributions and he would talk to them "without exception." During his time in Congress, Mulvaney was an outspoken critic of the consumer bureau. When Ohio's Richard Cordray left his job leading the agency to run for Ohio governor, Mulvaney took control and immediately cut back its enforcement activities. Mulvaney's defenders say his remarks were meant to stress the importance of people meeting with their own Congress member not to imply political donations are required for access. "It is a breath of fresh air to hear Sen. Brown acknowledge Mick Mulvaney as the acting director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection," said a statement from Mulvaney spokesperson John Czwartacki. "That's a big step forward." WASHINGTON - To help police officers breathe easier when they find suspicious white powders at crime scenes, Sen. Sherrod Brown says he'll introduce a bipartisan bill to fund purchases of high-tech portable drug screening devices for local law enforcement. In a telephone call with reporters organized by the Ohio Democrat's office, Cuyahoga Falls Police Chief Jack Davis said stories of officers in Norwalk, East Liverpool and Cleveland being hospitalized after on-the-job fentanyl exposure have stopped police from conducting field tests on unknown powders they encounter. That can delay filing of criminal charges until lab testing occurs. If local police could purchase the portable drug screening tools - which cost between $40,000 and $60,000 each - Davis said they could prevent further spread of drugs by charging suspects earlier. The devices also would provide another layer of safety for police officers who fear contact with the powerful synthetic opioid. The Drug Enforcement Administration warns that "any substance suspected to contain fentanyl should be treated with extreme caution as exposure to a small amount can lead to significant health-related complications, respiratory depression, or death." Brown said the Providing Officers with Electronic Resources, or POWER Act, that he's introducing with Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman would give Ohio law enforcement officers access to the same high-tech screening devices secured for Customs and Border Protection agents in the INTERDICT Act that President Trump signed into law earlier this year. Brown and Portman cosponsored that bill with a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators. Brown said the new bill would start with a roughly $20 million grant program to be administered by the Department of Justice. He said it would probably not cover demand for the devices, but would help. Brown's office said more than a dozen police groups including the Buckeye State Sheriffs' Association and the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police support the legislation. "When fighting the opioid epidemic, we put partisanship aside," said Brown. "This is about officer safety and medical worker safety." WASHINGTON - Even as partisan infighting has stalled much of Washington's legislating, some Democrats and Republicans are still trying to work together. A new study from Georgetown University and a public policy group founded by former Indiana GOP Sen. Richard Lugar attempts to quantify which members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives behave in a bipartisan fashion by co-sponsoring legislation with their opposite party counterparts. According to the ranking released Tuesday, Ohio Republican Rob Portman is the second most bipartisan legislator in the U.S. Senate. Only Maine Republican Susan Collins scored higher. Ohio's other Senator, Democrat Sherrod Brown, ranked 61 out of the 98 Senators examined, while Vermont Democrat Bernie Sanders had the Senate's lowest score. Portman works hard to find common ground with his colleagues, said his press spokeswoman, Emily Benavides. "Whether it's securing opioid funding or fighting to stop online sex trafficking, he's been able to navigate a challenging political environment and deliver results for the people of Ohio," Benavides said. Bipartisanship scores for Ohio's U.S. Senators Nat Rank Name Hometown Party Index 2 Rob Portman Cincinnati area R 2.22445 61 Sherrod Brown Cleveland D -0.50071 The most bipartisan Ohio legislator in the U.S. House of Representatives was Columbus-area Republican Rep. Steve Stivers, who ranked 37th overall, the survey said. Stivers chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee - which aims to ensure election of GOP members of Congress. He nonetheless has co-founded a "Civility and Respect Caucus" with his Democratic counterpart in the Columbus area, Rep. Joyce Beatty. Stivers said he tries to ensure that any bill he introduces has a Democrat as lead cosponsor, and says he strives to "find common ground and" work across the aisle, because I believe it is the best and most effective way to do my job for the people of my district. "There are good Members of Congress in both parties, and I appreciate the opportunity to share ideas and find solutions to the issues that face our country alongside them," he continued. Jim Renacci of Wadsworth was next in Ohio - ranked 60th in the House and Dave Joyce of Bainbridge Township was behind him, with a 70th ranking. Champaign County GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, one of the most conservative House of Representatives members, did the least outreach across party lines of any Ohioan, according to the study, ranking 419 out of the 438 it examined. Rep. Tim Ryan of the Niles area was Ohio's most bipartisan Democrat, ranking 86th in the study, while Rep. Marcia Fudge had the lowest score among Ohio Democrats, with a 292 ranking. Among all U.S. House of Representatives members, the study said Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson was the most bipartisan, and Alabama Republican Mo Brooks was the least. The survey rated only 98 Senators and 438 House of Representatives because it excluded each legislative body's top party leaders, as well as Congress members who served fewer than six months in 2017. Bipartisanship score for Ohio's U.S. House of Representatives members Nat Rank Name Hometown Party Index 37 Steve Stivers Columbus area R 0.93341 60 Jim Renacci Wadsworth R 0.64951 70 Dave Joyce Bainbridge Twp R 0.59443 86 Tim Ryan Niles area D 0.41719 89 Steve Chabot Cincinnati R 0.38837 121 Joyce Beatty Columbus area D 0.14503 180 Bill Johnson Marietta R -0.15478 190 Mike Turner Dayton area R -0.21615 221 Marcy Kaptur Toledo D -0.34806 264 Brad Wenstrup Cincinnati area R -0.52968 292 Marcia Fudge Warrensville Hts D -0.62736 293 Bob Latta Bowling Green R -0.62786 378 Warren Davidson Miami County R -1.03025 383 Bob Gibbs Holmes County R -1.06116 419 Jim Jordan Champaign County R -1.36666 The "Bipartisan Index" used in the study measures how often members of Congress introduce bills that draw co-sponsors from members of the other party, and how often they co-sponsor a bill introduced from across the aisle. A 0.00 score represents the average for a member of Congress over a 20-year statistical baseline. Scores above 0.00 are judged to be bipartisan, those below 0.00 are partisan. "Members of Congress, from the most progressive to the most conservative can score well on the Index if they dedicate themselves to seeking bipartisan support for their own legislation and give fair consideration to a variety of legislative initiatives," said a statement from Lugar, who spent 36 years in the U.S. Senate. Overall, the survey found significant shifts in bipartisan behavior in the Senate, where Republican scores improved to their highest levels since 2008, while scores of Senate Democrats declined sharply to near record lows. "Index data shows that Senate Republicans are cosponsoring Democratic bills in much higher percentages than is normally the case for the majority party, while Democrats are cosponsoring Republican bills at a lower frequency than is normal for the minority party," the study said. "The motivations of each member are unique, but the gap in Senate scores between the parties must be seen in the context of relative election vulnerabilities and reactions to the first year of the Trump Administration." In the House, the study found that Republicans as a group scored slightly better than Democrats (-.14 to -.34) with 89 Republicans earning bipartisan scores, compared to 60 Democrats. DENVER, Colorado -- Public teachers who go on strike could be fined and jailed up to six months under legislation proposed by two Colorado lawmakers, reports say. According to ABC News, the proposed law threatens jail time for any educator caught "directly or indirectly inducing, instigating, encouraging, authorizing, ratifying, or participating in a strike against any public school employer." The bill would allow school districts to seek a court injunction against teacher strikes, according to The Hill. Teachers who went on strike could be considered in contempt of court and would be subject to fines and jail time. "I started thinking about the bill when I saw the news about teacher strikes in West Virginia," GOP Sen. Bob Gardner, who is one of the measure's prime sponsors, tells the Denver Post. "... It's a wise thing to do, in some shape or form, in the state of Colorado because we have one district that's already voted to strike. We have others discussing a strike. Strikes are not good for children." GOP Rep. Paul Lundeen is the bill's other sponsor, the Coloradoan reports. The proposal comes as thousands of teachers in Colorado plan to demonstrate Thursday and Friday for increases in education funding. "Clearly it's an attempt to limit the voices of educators," Kerrie Dallman, president of the Colorado Education Association, tells ABC News. "All we want to do is talk to our elected representatives about funding our schools appropriately. And here are two Republican legislators who've come out with a bill that is a clear attack on public school teachers in the state." Gardner says the bill is not intended to prevent teachers from demonstrating. The Coloradoan says the bill is unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled legislature. OLMSTED FALLS, Ohio -- In an effort to gauge the district's anti-bullying efforts, rules and practices, Olmsted Falls City Schools spent the better half of the school year examining its initiatives. Student Services Director Shannon Goss recently presented the Board of Education with the 2017-2018 Anti-Bullying Policies & Practices Review results. "What we did was an inquiry with staff and students on their perceptions of bullying in the district as it relates to preventative and intervention programming," Goss said. "We know while this is a topic of interest right now, it's something we should always be looking at. "What we learned from this work is we tend to front-load our educational efforts with students at the beginning of the school year. One of the big things that came out of this was just having a better forum to clarify student understanding," Goss said. Superintendent Jim Lloyd added, "While student learning is our core business, there are so many important factors that influence the school and learning experience. "Ensuring that we are doing all that we can to connect adults to students and students to one another in the most caring way continues to be a priority for our school district," he said. While the National Center of Educational Statistics reported nationally that 20 to 30 percent of students directly experience bullying annually, Olmsted Falls City Schools revealed seven bullying/harassing incidents for the first half of the 2017-2018 school year. This included one at Falls-Lenox Primary School (grades 1 through 3), four at Olmsted Falls Middle School (grades 6 through 8) and two at Olmsted Falls High School (grades 9 through 12). Goss pointed out that the district's seven occurrences are out of roughly 3,500 students. "Keep in mind we can only report what is reported to us," Goss said. "We want to create an environment where students feel like they can speak up if they see something or experience something. "So these numbers were reported to us, investigated and substantiated. We have a lot of great programming in the district. The question is how do we build upon that?" Each school building has a Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) team that continually examines all behavior trends. "PBIS looks at how we do promote positive behavior to lessen the disruptive behavior in the school day," Goss said. "There's research to show when you front-load the efforts with the positive, you'll see less office referrals for discipline." Current districtwide PBIS efforts include peer mediation, Buddy Bench (pre-kindergarten through grade 5), Helping Hands (kindergarten through grade 12), Signs of Suicide (grade 7), Life Act (grade 8) and classroom guidance lessons (pre-kindergarten through grade 8). There are also small group guidance lessons focusing on social skills and friendship groups, WEB (Where Everyone Belongs) and LEAD (Lead-Educate-Advocate-Do). Goss noted that the administration and staff feel confident about their efforts, with an eye on increasing programming beyond first-quarter handbook assemblies and school counselor-led guidance lessons. "When these different things happen in the school day, it's an interruption for the student who was bullying, it's an interruption for the student who is the bullying victim and the bystanders," Goss said. "We need to continue to look at how do we support all of the students that are involved when this is happening. We also need to provide booster sessions to remind students what bullying is and what it isn't." In 2007, our editorial board condemned Dennis Kucinich's "pseudo-diplomacy in the Middle East." Instead of assisting the cause of peace, he'd allowed himself to be used as a propagandist for the vile Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. That was compounded by the tone-deaf way Kucinich financed a number of his Syria trips with special-interest cash, undercutting any pretense to an untainted view of the Syrian conflict. Regarding the 2007 trip, Kucinich told The Plain Dealer's Stephen Koff it was paid for out of his presidential campaign funds -- although a campaign spokeswoman later said she'd "heard that a group of people in Cleveland were paying for it." Kucinich's prior trip to Syria, Lebanon and Jerusalem, in 2006, had been financed by AACCESS-Ohio, a local Arab-American group with pro-Assad views. In 2011, Kucinich was back in Syria "and in the wrong" again, our editorial board wrote - a trip also courtesy of AACCESS-Ohio, according to Kucinich's 2011 financial disclosure statement. That Kucinich continues to take money from pro-Assad groups is shameful. And it's equally troubling - and revealing - that he would prefer to skate on the need to reveal this influence. Kucinich's Ohio Ethics Commission Financial Disclosure Statement, required now that he's a candidate for Ohio governor, and filed April 9, wrongly omitted the sources of his earnings last year for "paid speeches." OEC Executive Director Paul M. Nick by letter of April 13 asked Kucinich for the missing info and, in a supplement filed April 17, Kucinich supplied it: He earned $33,00 for speeches last year, including $20,000 from the "Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees" -- a gobbledygook name for a group that says it's an umbrella organization for other nonprofits, among them, cleveland.com reported, the Syria Solidarity Movement, which labels Amnesty International as among "'Human Rights' Front Groups" on Syria policy. Also paying for Kucinich speeches last year were Nexus Earth ($10,000) and Marianne D. Williamson ($3,000), an American spiritualist, author and lecturer. In endorsing Kucinich in the Democratic primary for Ohio governor, our editorial board wrote "he must never again make nice with Syrian butcher Bashar Assad." It's doubly important for his credibility and integrity that Kucinich now also sever his financial ties to Assad apologists. Our board still feels Kucnich is the best Democratic candidate, but his financial links to pro-Assad groups diminish him and harm his ability to be a disinterested voice for peace and justice. He must end these connections. About our editorials: Editorials express the view of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer -- the senior leadership and editorial-writing staff. As is traditional, editorials are unsigned and intended to be seen as the voice of the news organization. Have something to say about this topic? Use the comments to share your thoughts. Then, stay informed when readers reply to your comments by using the "Follow" option at the top of the comments, and look for updates via the small blue bell in the lower right as you look at more stories on cleveland.com. * Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication. * Email general questions about our editorial board or comments on this editorial to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com. Reilly Wieland is a student at Kenyon College. GAMBIER, Ohio -- More than 45 years since the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion in the United States, Ohio is moving to implement yet another restriction on this safe and legal health care. Ohio is one of many states -- including Arkansas, Hawaii and Maine -- where ongoing lawsuits challenge restrictions that could disproportionately impact women in rural areas. While rural women's reproductive health isn't often discussed, it's important to understand the challenges women in these areas face in accessing abortion. This is particularly relevant given the recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling upholding a state order that would have forced the last abortion clinic in Toledo to close. The clinic was saved from closing at the 11th hour by a hospital agreement, but the ruling remains a cause for concern. According to the most recent information available from the Guttmacher Institute, from 2014, 93 percent of Ohio counties had no clinics that provided abortions, and 56 percent of Ohio women lived in those counties. One in five Ohio women must travel more than 45 miles for abortion care. To make matters worse, Ohio law requires that a woman make two separate appointments for abortion care - meaning that, for some women, getting an abortion involves more than 180 miles of round-trip travel. Women living in rural areas are among the least likely to live near an abortion provider, but living in a remote area shouldn't put abortion out of reach. While innovations in medical service delivery and proactive policy solutions can have a significant impact on abortion access for rural communities, these solutions are unavailable to Ohio women because of existing restrictions on abortion. As a student at Kenyon College, I am working to raise awareness among my peers about the importance of keeping abortion legal, affordable, and accessible. But it's frustrating that laws in our state seem to only make things harder. One example of a medical innovation that is a potential game-changer for women living in rural areas or far from an abortion provider is telemedicine abortion. The process is simple: A woman goes to a clinic, receives the appropriate counseling and examination from a qualified health professional, and then an in-clinic video conference with a physician is conducted and an abortion pill is provided by the physician through a device that opens a drawer with the pills inside. A study by researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and Ibis Reproductive Health found that providing the abortion pill by telemedicine is just as safe as when women are in the same room as the medical provider, refuting claims by state lawmakers that restrictions on telemedicine abortion promote patient safety. Just last year, the State Medical Board of Ohio set new policies that allow doctors to prescribe a wide range of medications via telemedicine -- but providing the abortion pill remains banned despite a lack of medical evidence for this restriction. Another way to improve access to abortion is to allow advanced-practice registered nurses (APRNs) to provide abortion care. Like telemedicine, this allows for more health-care options in areas where physicians may be in short supply, and like telemedicine, the safety of allowing APRNs to provide abortion is backed up by medical evidence. Peer-reviewed medical literature - including a study published in the American Journal of Public Health - confirms that APRNs can safely and effectively provide early abortion care. The World Health Organization agrees that, because abortion is one of the safest medical procedures performed, equivalent to insertion of an IUD or a colonoscopy, there is no reason to restrict qualified medical providers who are not physicians from performing it. Unfortunately, Ohio law takes this option off the table. When I learned how far some women in our state have to travel for an abortion, it broke my heart to think of what those women must go through, taking extra time off of work, finding transportation, and everything else it takes to make two significant trips. When I found out that Ohio lawmakers have banned some of the potential solutions to this problem, I was appalled. The last thing we need is for politicians to make barriers to health care even worse. In order to increase access to abortion in rural areas, the procedure should be treated like the routine procedure it is. Reproductive health is a part of a woman's health and women should not have to bear the burden of a politician's ideological views. The first step to solving this problem is putting an end to politically motivated restrictions in Ohio. The next step is taking advantage of innovations such as telemedicine, and allowing trained, qualified providers such as nurse practitioners to serve women in rural areas. We need to tell our elected officials that science and women's health should guide how abortion is provided, not politics. We can't continue to allow politicians to stand in the way of abortion access for rural women. Originally from Austin, Texas, writer and feminist Reilly Wieland is completing her first year at Kenyon College. ************* Have something to say about this topic? Use the comments to share your thoughts. Then, stay informed when readers reply to your comments by using the "Follow" option at the top of the comments, and look for updates via the small blue bell in the lower right as you look at more stories on cleveland.com. CLEVELAND, Ohio - Wow Air, the Iceland-based carrier that starts flying from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport next week, announced a new sale on Tuesday, with one-way fares for as low as $69 to Reykjavik. The fares - available on a select number of dates only - are good for travel in May, June, September and October, according to the airline. A quick check online found available $69 fares from Cleveland for these upcoming dates: May 6, May 21, June 6, June 18, June 20, June 25, June 27. But be careful: Wow, like other ultra-low-cost carriers, charges fees for many basic amenities, including advanced seat assignments and carry-on and checked bags. In addition, passengers who want to use Wow to travel elsewhere in Europe will pay more. The carrier's inaugural flight from Cleveland is Friday, May 4. Forget about getting a low fare on that date - the price listed is $999. Icelandair, also based in Reykjavik, starts flying from Cleveland on May 16. Related: Cleveland Hopkins' new carriers to Europe: What to know before booking on Wow, Icelandair County partnership creates medical assistant apprenticeship program Oakland County Michigan Works! has partnered with The Henry Ford Health System, Oakland Community College and Henry Ford College in order to address a shortage of in-demand talent. For the first time in southeast Michigan, a no-cost medical assistant apprenticeship program will be available to college students. The program provides $8,000 worth of classroom instruction, on-the-job training as well as a $12 hourly wage to students enrolled in the program at either college. County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said medical assistants are among the top-10 in-demand jobs in the healthcare sector nationwide. The program will be accepting 10 students this summer, with plans to expand next year. According to The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the need for medical assistants across the country will grow by 23 percent through 2024. In Michigan, it is expected 720 medical assistant jobs will be added annually in the states healthcare sector over the next six years. Interest students are being asked to attend one of three informational sessions at the Henry Ford Medical Center, 2825 Livernois Road, in Troy. Session times include: * April 24, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. * April 27, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. * Attendees are required to register for these meetings by calling (248)-691-8437 (ext. 2970). In order to enroll in the program, applicants get pre-screened at the Oakland County Michigan Works! Oak Park service center. The centers staff works with the Henry Ford Health System and the two colleges to select students for the program. After completing the program, all students will receive a U.S. Department of Labor certificate and one from either Oakland Community College or Henry Ford College. They will remain with The Henry Ford Health System if they successfully complete all program requirements, which includes passing a national certification examination. APPLICANT REQUIREMENTS * 18 years or older * High school diploma or GED * Official transcript of any post high school education * Criminal background check * Physically capable of performing essential functions of medical assistant apprentice with or without reasonable accommodation and without posing a direct threat to the health and safety of the individual or others * Pass pre-employment health screening: nicotine, urine drug testing, MMR, Varicella and hepatitis B, flu injection, TB skin testing, respirator fit testing and color vision testing COUNTY FOCUSING ON MEDICAL FIELD IN 2018: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20180405/oakland-county-investment-tops-140-million-for-2018 COUNTY ECONOMIC FORECAST MEETING: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20180404/university-of-michigan-economists-presenting-oakland-countys-economic-forecast-april-26 MEDICAL MAIN STREET GOES GLOBAL: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20171030/oakland-county-medical-main-street-connecting-global-manufacturers-with-local-healthcare-suppliers 2017 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20171205/oakland-county-business-roundtable-committees-make-joint-recommendation-to-top-county-officials IN-DEMAND SKILL SETS: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20180118/oakland-community-colleges-new-scholarship-an-opportunity-for-students-with-in-demand-skill-sets OCC CHANCELLOR Q&A: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20180101/qampa-with-new-oakland-community-college-chancellor-peter-provenzano SKILLED TRADES FUNDING: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20171205/86-oakland-county-businesses-to-share-more-than-2-million-in-state-skilled-trades-training-funds IN-DEMAND JOBS REVEALED: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20170321/results-of-countys-skills-needs-assessment-reveals-most-in-demand-jobs 100% Website arlsura.com uses latest and advanced technologies like: Boostrap and Php. It is very popular on the web, it's within the 1 million most visited websites of the world at position 174606 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 103449 bytes (101.02 kb uncompressed) and 21581 bytes (21.08 kb compressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-09-29, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. A mother of two with two uteruses has opened up about her decision to have a third-trimester abortion after learning that the fetus wasn't developing properly. The mother, identified only as Tara, detailed the procedure in an honest essay for The Cut, explaining that she married her high school sweetheart aged 24 before she and her husband started trying to conceive when she was 27. Tara thought she might have a hard time getting pregnant because she has two uteruses, a condition that typically occurs when the tubes that are supposed to join to form a uterus do not join completely, forming two cavities instead of one. Procedure: A mother of two with two uteruses has opened up about her decision to have a third-trimester abortion after learning that the fetus wasn't developing properly (stock image) But Tara became pregnant within a month. She and her husband had a son, and three years later, a daughter. The mother's third pregnancy, which was unplanned, was the first one to occur on the right side, since she had carried both her son and her daughter on the left. While women with two uteruses can often have successful pregnancies, the condition can also come with a higher risk of premature birth or miscarriage, as noted by the Mayo Clinic. On week 22 of Tara's pregnancy, her doctor noticed that the fetus' head appeared 'kind of small', she wrote in her essay. However, it wasn't until week 28 that the doctor 'pushed the alarm button' and told the mother to get an MRI and a level-three ultrasound. The tests confirmed that the fetus wasn't growing accordingly, and doctors told Tara that if the pregnancy reached its term, her child would have significant difficulties. 'I remember asking what the baby would be like, if I carried to term. I wanted to know if he would be like a child with Williams or Down syndrome,' Tara recounted. There was a significant chance he would never regulate his own breathing. He would never reach for or see objects 'And the neurologist just looked at me and said, "No." Children with Down syndrome are very capable. They do lots of thingsthey express themselves, they move around, they eat on their own. 'He said that based on his experience, my baby would never develop language, never walk, never swallow. There was a significant chance he would never regulate his own breathing. He would never reach for or see objects.' Tara thus asked her doctors what she and her husband should do, at which point they told her she would either speak to a social worker or get a referral for a clinic located in Colorado, which provides late-term abortions. The decision, she said, was 'fairly easy' and 'not really a question' for her. In October 2017, Tara and her husband flew to Colorado, leaving their children with a close friend, then with Tara's mother-in-law. In order to pay for the abortion, Tara said the pair were 'fortunate enough' to be able to rely on their family's help. 'It was $11,500, up-front, for the procedure, and at least $5,000 for the travel arrangements,' she wrote. 'It's an insane amount of money. Most people wouldn't even be able to think about doing itthis is so far from being a choice, it's obscene.' Anatomy: While women with two uteruses can have successful pregnancies, the condition (illustrated in a file sketch) can also come with a higher risk of premature birth or miscarriage In her essay, Tara described the procedure, which occurred over the course of four days. Day one, known as the 'feticide', consists in the injection of a chemical to stop to the fetus' heart. That day was 'the most emotionally difficult' for Tara, who underwent an ultrasound while a doctor performed the injection. 'The doctor missed, the first time,' the mother wrote. 'No one talked about it. I think they didn't want to upset me. I mean, he was trying to hit a moving target that he could only see on what must have been a 30-year-old ultrasound machine. 'But what was so hard about it, for me, was the baby had woken up. He'd started moving. That was really, really hard. 'It goes against every human instinct, to lie there and let someone do that. You're not supposed to move, so I was trying not to cry and not to move. I just remember thinking, "Go to sleep. Don't move, because we have to do this." I think the fact that I believed that and still do, helps. That this was the best of all possible decisions. But it was still really f****d.' The doctor managed to perform the injection the second time, and Tara left the clinic later that day. She returned on the second and third days just as the House voted to pass a bill that would impose a 20-week ban on abortion across the U.S. The Senate blocked that same bill in January this year. Tara's doctor placed a dilator on her cervix to help it open, and gave her medication. Those steps were supposed to enable her to have an induction abortion, but on the fourth and last day of the procedure, the induction turned out to be unsuccessful. Instead, the doctor performed a dilation and evacuation (D&E), during which a suction device and surgical tools are used to remove the fetal tissue from the uterus. 'Sometimes the very physical parts of having this kind of abortion feels like something we're not supposed to talk about, especially if we want to keep laws off our bodies,' Tara wrote. It should have been done at a hospital! But hospitals won't do this 'I think the fact that this feels like a visceral horror to some womenthough not alland then is used as an excuse to write disgusting legislation is awful. But I don't know that the solution is to not talk about it.' The mother took 'a lot' of painkillers prior to the procedure, but she couldn't have an anesthesia because the clinic doesn't have an anesthesiologist, nor resuscitation equipment. She described the D&E as 'quite painful', though not as much as natural labor. After the procedure, Tara and her husband returned home with the remains wrapped in a prayer shawl and placed in a coffin. They held a burial four days later. The mother also had to be hospitalized after developing an infection, which she said likely stemmed from the fact that she 'had lost a whole bunch of blood and then had to get on a plane to go home'. Tara and her husband were able to get more information about why the fetus didn't develop as expected. They found out there was a problem with Tara's placenta, which had aged prematurely, meaning the fetus was probably not receiving nutrients and oxygen. An amniocentesis also showed that the fetus had a genetic mutation, indicating that 'something went wrong', Tara wrote. While the mother said she still experiences sad days, she is now 'learning how to live life again'. 'I think being busy helps. I think having living children helps,' she wrote. 'I think the fact that I've been able to channel a lot of my anger into writing and activism has helped.' Tara spoke to a therapist after the abortion and was told the procedure 'should have been done at a hospital. 'And yes! It should have been done at a hospital! But hospitals won't do this,' she wrote. 'In my fantasy, this doctor is the chair of Family Planning at a big hospital with a lot of resources to make the procedure even safer and do research. But that's not reality. Instead, there's just one old bastard who's braver than anyone else and has a clinic that hasn't been renovated in decades. He's not the only one; there are a few others. But none of them have hospital positions. None of them are chaired or funded.' In the future, Tara believes she and her husband would both like to try to have another child, although her last pregnancy has left her 'a little gun-shy'. 'With that pregnancy, the most unlikely things just kept happening,' she added. 'I think that after three babies, we'll be done. I know I don't want more than three, but I would like to try again.' The BBC's glossy new legal drama The Split has divided viewers, with some quick to hail star Nicola Walker's performance, while others couldn't help but take issue with its 'inaccurate' portrayal of divorce law. From BAFTA and Emmy award-winning Abi Morgan, the original new drama explores modern marriage and divorce seen through the lens of the Defoes a family of female lawyers at the heart of Londons emotionally-charged divorce circuit. Last night's opening episode saw Hannah - played by Walker - and her sister go head to head representing two halves of a couple in their bitter divorce battle, and prompted real lawyers watching at home to take to Twitter to point out a string of 'ethical breaches'. They highlighted the fact Hannah had spoken to her client's former husband without his lawyer present, which would not be allowed in reality, and questioned whether it was appropriate for members of the same family to represent opposing sides. Another lawyer joked that the fact none of the characters were worrying about 'chargeable hours' or dashing to Pret was a major oversight. But others were won over by the glossy representation of legal life in London - and in particular by Walker's portrayal of a high-flying lawyer juggling her career, marriage and motherhood. 'I'd watch Nicola Walker mop her kitchen floor,' said one fan. Hannah, played by Nicola Walker, met with her sister's client and her own client's soon-to-be ex-husband in what some said was legally 'inappropriate' The Split is a new BBC law drama that shows an all-female family of divorce lawyers who go head-to-head with each other Viewers complained about the legal inaccuracies with one lawyer saying that scenes between Hannah and her sister's client were an 'ethical breach' The show opened with Hannah navigating a move from the family firm to its direct competitor, and her frosty relationship with her mother Ruth, who had refused to step down as head of the practice so her daughter could take her place. After losing her multi-millionaire client, sportswear mogul Davey McKenzie (Stephen Tomkinson) to her mother, she takes on his childhood sweetheart wife Goldie (Meera Syal) instead and promises to rinse her husband of everything he has. They embark on a painful divorce and a wrangle for control of the family business after Goldie discovered he was having an affair with her best friend and had paid for her boob job. Some lawyers took to Twitter to complain that one scene was a clear 'ethical breach', but other layman viewers were thrilled with the twists and turns in the jam-packed one-hour programme. During one scene Hannah had to face her sister Nina in a bitter custody battle who was representing Rex Pope, a well-known stand-up comedian, who took on his angry estranged wife and former comedy agent. But when they failed to reach an agreement on custodial arrangements Hannah said she would speak to Rex - despite him not being her client and without his own lawyer present. 'Nooo. Not allowed to speak to other party if they are represented. Ethical breach!' said Elizabeth Sulkin, who is listed on Twitter as a 'family lawyer, mediator and collaborative practitioner'. Other viewers were thrilled with the drama of the new BBC series praising the show and said they were enjoying it A Professor of socio-legal at Exeter University, Liz Trinder also slammed the inaccuracies: 'It's not the legal inaccuracy so much as the painful writing and acting. Its really hard work.' 'She has now met twice with her clients' soon-to-be exes on her own, this is so inappropriate,'complained another viewer. One woman called Kate who described herself as a 'small lawyer' joked: 'No one has been to Pret and no one is worrying about chargeable hours. 'The two key elements in life as a lawyer in London, family law or otherwise.' Viewers also praised the show for being 'bloody good' with others saying they were thrilled with the casting: 'Nicola Walker is consistently one of the best actors on television full stop capital letter.' Goldie, played by Meera Syal, was left devastated when her multi-millionaire husband sprung a divorce on her She discovered that he was having an affair with one of her best friends and he'd even paid for her boob job Comedian Rex Pope is going through a bitter split with his wife and former comedy agent, who is represented by Nina's sister Hannah Hannah's sister Nina is also in a spot of hot water after it's revealed she has been dating her own client who is going through a divorce Nina looks set to make the risky decision to date her client Rex, even though he appears heartbroken over his soon-to-be ex-wife and former comedy agent, who is represented by Hannah. Emotions ran high in the episode in the fallout from leading divorce lawyer Hannah walking out on the family firm, Defoes, to join rival company Noble & Hale. Sister is pitted against sister during litigation - and struggle to keep their personal business from seeping in and affecting their decisions. Hannah has to navigate a tricky relationship with her mother Ruth after she decided to walk away from the family firm and is enlisted by Goldie to help her with her divorce She has to face her sister Nina and mother Ruth, also successful family lawyers, on the opposing side of high-profile divorce cases Hannah's new job as a senior partner places herself back in the orbit of old flame, fellow lawyer Christie Carmichael Their father Oscar (played by Anthony Head) returns after a 30-year absence, Hannah, Nina and youngest sister Rose are thrown into turmoil And when their father Oscar (Anthony Head) returns after a 30-year absence, Hannah, Nina and youngest sister Rose are thrown into further turmoil. Meanwhile at new firm Noble & Hale, Hannah has placed herself back in the orbit of old flame, handsome fellow lawyer, Christie Carmichael. The Split returns to BBC One next Tuesday at 9pm By mid-afternoon yesterday, the blue lettering from the Save Alfie banners outside Alder Hey Childrens Hospital was running in the rain. The posters were sodden. The candles from Mondays all-night vigil had long burned out and the clusters of purple, gold and blue balloons were sad and deflated. But unlike Monday, there were no violent scenes. No 200-strong crowds of Alfies Army protesters limbering up for a fight. No supporters running at the main doors of the hospital, blocking the road, trapping an ambulance and chanting Save Alfie Evans before police officers intervened. Just wet clusters of supporters smoking heavily and waiting silently in the hope that judges in Manchester might grant a last-minute reprieve to Alfie. Alfie Evans lay in his mother's arms after being taken off a ventilation machine The same little boy who, despite all the odds and exceeding all medical expectations, has clung on to life after his ventilator was turned off by court order on Monday night. Yesterday morning his thin, drawn and incredibly young father Tom announced to crowds outside that Alfie was breathing on his own. [Alfie] is now on oxygen. Its not changing his breathing but its oxygenating his body, he said. Doctors are gobsmacked! Alfie is still in Alder Hey Hospital and is on oxygen Which wasnt quite true many terminally ill patients continue to breath unassisted for hours, days, even weeks after their ventilator has been switched off. But the crowd cheered enthusiastically. Of course they did. They had come from all over locally but also from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, the south coast hoping and praying for the same thing: that Alfies life would be saved and Mr Justice Hayden would grant an extraordinary 11th-hour legal plea for him to be airlifted via helicopter and Italian governmental private jet to Pope Franciss hospital in Italy. There, his short, difficult life would be prolonged. Some, such as Hayley Alderson and Heather Duncan, who had come from Darlington a five-hour round day-trip were mums with their baby sons in prams. It struck a chord, says Hayley, 28. Weve got young lads and weve sat at home reading about it at night and crying because we think what the Government and the courts are doing is wrong. Many more appeared to be linked with the Christian Legal Centre, the pro-life outfit behind Alfies legal team that has been supporting Alfies parents, Tom Evans, 21, and Kate James, 20. Yesterday morning his thin, drawn and incredibly young father Tom announced to crowds outside that Alfie was breathing on his own Inside the hospital, family members and supporters huddle round smartphones to look in awe at a photo of Alfie free, for once, from tubes and medical paraphernalia lying peacefully on his mothers chest, posted on Facebook by his mum with the words: How amazing is he. How beautiful does he look? No matter what happens he has already proved these doctors wrong. The photo gives no inkling of either Alfies desperately serious illness or the drama surrounding his short, brave little life. Not the Alfies Army Facebook account with more than 332,000 followers, the Twitter presence, the Justgiving accounts set up in his name. Alfies parents and Alder Hey must reach an agreement to work out a palliative care plan in the lads best interests Or the tweets of support from the Pope, the granting of Italian citizenship this week, the offers of transfer to a hospital in Rome and the endless legal wrangles over whether he should or should not be allowed to live, however poor his prognosis or extreme his disabilities. Alfie was born with a rare undiagnosed degenerative neurological condition and, for more than a year now, has been in a semi-vegetative state. In a series of hearings in the High Court, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights, judges agreed with the Alder Hey doctors that there is no hope of him getting better and that it would be unkind and inhumane to keep him alive. But quality-of-life concerns got little traction in the hospital forecourt yesterday. Its not about the quality of life. Its about being alive, says Ray, 68, a retired homeopath. At 6pm, everyone was watching the clock and not just for the results of the hearing in Manchester. Hes proven he can breathe, says Ray. If he passes the 24-hour mark, were told the hospital has an obligation to try to keep him alive! Finally, word seeped through that a judicial decision had been made. It isnt popular. Alfies parents and Alder Hey must reach an agreement to work out a palliative care plan in the lads best interests. So there will be no ventilator, no helicopter, no private jet, no Vatican-approved hospital after all. And when, at 8.45pm, a tired and pale Tom addressed Alfies sodden army and promises to fight on for permission to take his son to Italy, it is clear there will be no immediate solution to this tragic situation, either. Have you ever wondered how your sex life stacks up in comparison to ladies around the world? One company wanted to get to the bottom of our differing - or similar - bedroom habits and conducted a survey of international women to uncover what their perceptions of sexual satisfaction, masturbation and vibrators are. Smile Makers found some significant variances between Australia and their UK counterparts. Scroll down for video But more of us (76 per cent) have used a vibrator in comparison to Switzerland (60 per cent), France (54 per cent) and Belgium (53 per cent) For example, more people Down Under have masturbated (67 per cent against 58 per cent), but more women in the Northern Hemisphere use a vibrator (56 per cent to 47 per cent). The countries aren't equal when it comes to the topic of being sexually satisfied either, with more women in Australia (58 per cent) more inclined to say they were than those in the UK, who were at 41 per cent. In comparison to European countries Australians masturbate more than women in Belgium but less than the Swiss. But more of us (76 per cent) have used a vibrator in comparison to Switzerland (60 per cent), France (54 per cent) and Belgium (53 per cent). Smile Makers found some significant variances between Australia and their UK counterparts Across the board Asian countries like Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong were more sexually adventurous than Aussies were (in terms of masturbation and feeling satisfied by a partner). But those that hadn't tried a vibrator weren't interested in general. Mattias Hulting, the founder of Ramblin' Brands, who own Smile Makers, said that countries are more similar than they are different. 'In general, the majority of adult women are either using or open to using a vibrator,' he told FEMAIL. 'More than nine in 10 across cultures view women who own a vibrator neutrally or positively, and there is a major opportunity to improve sexual satisfaction. Across the board Asian countries like Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong were more sexually adventurous than Aussies were (in terms of masturbation and feeling satisfied by a partner) 'Before we did these surveys, we almost assumed more conservative places like Malaysia or Hong Kong would have a significantly lower percentage of women who masturbate or use a vibrator, and that they would be more judgmental against sex toys. 'But it's actually not the case; it's more unpredictable than that. For example, far fewer French or Belgian women are open to using vibrators than in Taiwan or Hong Kong. 'Fewer UK women masturbate than in Malaysia despite a much lower sexual satisfaction rate. So we go into countries with a very open mind and no pre-conceptions to try to understand how our products can make a difference.' Sarah Hawthorn from Cobram, Victoria, was eight months pregnant with her first child when she caught last year's deadly strain of influenza. A recent report by 60 Minutes revealed Ms Hawthorn's illness started with mild cold symptoms and ended with her having a near-death experience. Her symptoms were so bad she was placed in an induced coma for three months and doctors were forced to deliver her child prematurely. With winter about to hit, doctors are putting out the call for people to get their yearly flu shot especially in the wake of last year's killer flu. Scroll down for video Sarah Hawthorn (pictured) was eight months pregnant with her first child when she caught last year's deadly strain of influenza According to figures from the Australian Medical Association, a particularly deadly strain of the virus H3N2 killed 1100 people and hospitalised 30,000 last year. In case you have any doubts as to who should get the shot, or why, Dr Preeya Alexander has everything you need to know for a safe and sickness-free winter. How do flu vaccines work? Flu vaccines help the body to develop immunity through antibodies and offer protection against infection from the viruses that are in the vaccine. And while there's a myth the vaccine can actually give you the flu, Dr Alexander said this isn't true. In the days after you have a shot you may have some muscle aches or fever (most likely you will just have a sore arm) however a full-blown attack of the flu from the vaccine is not possible. 'If you do develop something like this you have likely caught it from someone else and the vaccine cannot be blamed.' Dr Preeya Alexander has explained everything you need to know about the flu vaccine - from who should have it and why to whether or not it's really effective Do I need a new flu vaccine every year? The simple answer to this question is yes, said the GP. She explained the reason for this was that each year the contents of the flu vaccine are changed depending on which strains of the virus the medical community think will be a problem. 'Each year the vaccine contains 4 strains of the flu virus; this year 2 influenza A and 2 influenza B strains are covered.' Can I get a flu shot if I have an egg allergy? Previously, there was a lot of concern about those with allergies to egg receiving the flu vaccine, said Dr Alexander. 'The current recommendation is that even those with anaphylaxis [allergies] to eggs are safe to receive the flu vaccine. 'Like everyone else, they should remain in the medical centre for 15 minutes after the vaccine in case an allergic reaction develops and an intervention is required,' she added. With winter about to hit, doctors are putting out the call for people to get their yearly flu shot especially in the wake of last year's killer flu (stock image) Are there specialised flu vaccines for children or the elderly? Dr Alexander said doctors will give specialised flu vaccines to children, depending on their age. Also, this year people over 65 will also receive a unique vaccine called either Fluad or Fluzone - which are the most potent versions of the flu vaccine. 'These are designed to mount a better immune response and protect the elderly against complications of the flu including death,' she said. Are all kids aged over six months are safe to receive the flu vaccine? If your child is receiving the flu vaccine for the first time and they are under nine years old when they require two doses of the vaccine at least four weeks apart. Who should have the flu vaccine? Ideally everyone should have the flu vaccine The more people who get vaccinated the less likely the flu is to wreak havoc in the community The government funds the vaccine for those over 65, pregnant women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (aged 6 months to 5 years, and those over 15 years old) and anyone with a chronic medical condition such as diabetes or asthma Most state governments are also funding the vaccine for children aged six months to five years this year Advertisement 'Two doses are required to mount an appropriate immune response in children under nine in the first year they receive the vaccine,' said Dr Alexander. Every year after, however, they only need one dose of the flu vaccine. Should pregnant women get the flu shot? Pregnant women are more likely to suffer complications of the flu due to changes in their immune system so all women who are pregnant during flu season should get a flu shot, said the GP. 'The government funds this and it is safe to have at any stage of pregnancy.' When is the right time to get the flu shot? Anytime from now until the end of April is the ideal time to vaccinate. Dr Alexander said the effectiveness of the vaccine starts to wane after three to four months so if you vaccinate too early then you won't be protected in peak flu season which is usually August. Anytime from now until the end of April is the ideal time to vaccinate, said Dr Alexander (stock image) Is the flu vaccine 100 per cent effective? Although people may think the shot will protect them completely from the flu, Dr Alexander revealed this isn't the case: 'This year it is being suggested that the flu vaccine will reduce your risk of contracting the flu by 30 to 60 per cent.' Who shouldn't get the flu shot? The only people who should get the flu vaccine are those with a previous allergic reaction to the vaccine, the doctor said. 'Even for those who have an impaired immune system (from chemotherapy or HIV for instance), it is still safe to vaccinate in most instances. 'For everyone else, a flu shot is strongly recommended,' she concluded. A review page for Great Britain has been unearthed online - and it features some dismal feedback from underwhelmed tourists. A Reddit user who stumbled across the online review page - of the sort more typically used by customers to comment on hotels or restaurants - on the Google Maps page for Great Britain shared it on the forum. And while the country has a respectable average rating of 4.2 stars, visitors have also complained about everything from its rainy climate to its roundabouts. One apparently disappointed tourist posted on the page to suggest it should be renamed 'just alright Britain'. Google Maps has a review page for Great Britain, which includes many bizarre one star reviews This review complained that there was 'too much water' in a review of the entire country Someone calls Rhys Allaway got a bit confused with the names of the different nations A Reddit user posting under the handle Flashmanual shared the page, pointing out that it had been flooded with negative reviews from visitors. They wrote: 'Today I discovered that 'Great Britain' has a review page on Google Maps. Seems it isn't to everyone's taste.' One review was from a particularly disgruntled Italian tourist, who vented about several aspects of British life. They wrote: 'They do not understand Italian, they do not have a bidet, they are dirty, they fill the streets with roundabouts and then they do not know how to do them and they form long lines of cars without motive. Someone called Blaze who claimed to be a local guide said Britain was a 'bit rainy' for him Sarah Keating was left so unimpressed by her visit to the country that she simply called it 'bad' Josh Hamilton didn't agree with the name, and suggested it be called 'Just Alright Britain' 'They put the pineapple on pizza, they use flip-flops as winter shoes, they walk in the rain with the hood of the giaccavento (hoodie) lowered without notice, use the garages as dumps, park in the most improper places, eat everything as long as it is fried, take a bath 12 months a year everywhere.' And it wasn't just Italians who were unimpressed by Britain, others agreed it couldn't compare to others part of the world. One said: 'I wanted to go on a European vacation, ended up here instead. 0/10.' 'United Kingdom is smaller than the greatest country in the world India,' another posted. This person seemed guilty about only leaving a one star review, writing: 'God bless you so much' This person complained that the United Kingdom was too small in comparison to their home country India This reviewer said they 'hated' visiting Great Britain because they'd never been there before A third (seemingly misguided) reviewer said: 'England is the worst city.' Other comments were rather short, and in some cases, cryptic. '1/5 too much water,' one wrote. Another said: 'hated it because I've never been.' 'Bit rainy,' a third wrote, in a short and not so sweet review. Royal Mail has been mercilessly mocked on Twitter after unveiling a postbox emblazoned with a quote from Romeo and Juliet in celebration of Shakespeare's birthday. The postal service marked the occasion with a limited edition postbox decorated with iconic lines from the Bard's most famous plays. But Twitter was quick to point out the irony in including the tragic love story - remarking that in the tale a letter from Romeo fails to reach Juliet in time to prevent their demise. The company took to Twitter on Monday to share photos of the letterbox which sits in his birthplace of Stratford-Upon-Avon. Royal Mail has been mercilessly mocked on Twitter after dedicating a postbox to Romeo and Juliet in celebration of Shakespeare's birthday Captioning the photos it said: 'It's Shakespeare's birthday today, so to mark the occasion we've decorated a postbox! 'Lead actors from 'Romeo & Juliet' are here next to the postbox, which features quotes from some of Shakespeare's most famous work.' The storyline sees Juliet Capulet send a letter to Romeo Montague informing him of her plans to fake her own death in order for the star-crossed lovers to be together. The postbox is decorated with famous quotes from the Bard's plays and sits in his birthplace of Stratford-Upon-Avon The postal service shared photos of actors playing Romeo and Juliet alongside the postbox on Twitter on Monday However, the note fails to reach Romeo before he heard of his beloved's 'death' ultimately resulting in his suicide and therefore tragic end. With this in mind many felt that the Royal Mail had made a bizarre choice when it came to remembering the playwright. One responded to the Tweet writing: 'The letter, um, it didn't make it in time.' Another soon added: 'Did anybody there actually read the play? Twitter users were quick to point out that the play ends in tragedy after a letter fails to reach Romeo in time, leading him to believe that Juliet is dead 'The entire point of the last two acts is that the letter is too late. The whole tragedy is a bloody advertisement for texting.' Others suggested that the Royal Mail was suggesting that using the service could have evaded tragedy. 'Or maybe the point is R&J didn't use Royal Mail & look where they ended up' suggested one. Several Twitter users suggested that the Royal Mail was making the point that the couple should have used the postal service Responding to the uproar the Royal Mail said: 'Hi all! Our postbox celebrates The Bard's birthday, citing many works. 'In Romeo and Juliet, the letter was delivered by hand from Friar Lawrence to Friar John. 'As poor old John was quarantined against the plague, it seems slightly unfair to blame the postal service in this case!' However, one quick-witted Twitter user pointed out that the Royal Mail backdates the famous play. They responded: 'Yes, they didn't have an organized postal service in Italy until the country was consolidated in 1862. The Royal Mail has been around since 1516 in England, so Shakespeare could have sent a letter to Stratford if he wanted.' A Royal Mail spokesperson said: 'We are glad that this postbox has captured the public imagination. In Romeo And Juliet, the letter in question was hand delivered from Friar Lawrence to Friar John. 'Once in possession of the letter, poor Friar John was quarantined against the plague, so in these circumstances, it seems slightly unfair to blame the postal service! 'The postbox, sited in Shakespeare's birthplace of Stratford-Upon-Avon, has been specially commissioned to celebrate his birthday. Up for a month, it also references plays including A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night.' A young woman has told how she nearly died when she developed toxic shock syndrome while using tampons - after doctors initially dismissed her flu-like symptoms as signs of a throat infection. Waitress Brooke Wilson, 23, from South Lyon in Michigan, started feeling ill while on her period with a sore, swollen throat, and assumed she was coming down with a cold. She removed her tampon that day, but her symptoms worsened over night, and she went to the doctor after waking with a burning fever. Brooke says she was sent home by doctors who told her it was likely to be strep throat, but she later developed diarrhoea and began vomiting, until she was too weak to leave her bed. Her boyfriend at the time rushed her to the A&E department, where Brooke was drifting in and out of consciousness before being admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. It was two days - during which doctors worked furiously to hydrate Brooke - before she was ultimately diagnosed with toxic shock syndrome in a case that left her 'knocking at death's door'. After a six-day battle Brooke made a full recovery, and four years on she has decided to share her experience to make other women aware of the symptoms. Brooke Wilson, 23, from Michigan, nearly died after contracting toxic shock syndrome from a tampon after doctors initially dismissed her flu-like symptoms for strep throat (seen this year, after recovering) The young waitress was then rushed to hospital again and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit as her body began to fail (seen in hospital in 2014) Recalling her initial symptoms, Brooke said: 'When I started to feel sick, I thought I was coming down with a regular cold again because my throat was hurting and swelling. 'Over time, it became difficult to eat and I woke up the next morning twitching and sweating with a fever of 105.9. I did everything possible to bring it down. Tylenol, a cold shower, water, cold towel on my head and nothing worked so we decided to go to hospital. They said I had strep throat and sent me home immediately. 'I went back home and laid in bed all day. My boyfriend at the time left for work that day at 10am and came home at 9pm and I didn't eat that whole time because I was so weak. I began having diarrhoea, I would crawl to the bathroom because of my muscle fatigue. 'I had to use every last ounce of energy to pull myself up onto the toilet because I couldn't walk anymore. When you get TSS you get confusion, so obviously that didn't click as a red flag in my mind.' Her then boyfriend decided to take Brooke back to the hospital after seeing Brooke deteriorating. Brooke said: 'My boyfriend got home and asked if I even turned the TV on all day and I said I couldn't do it, it was too hard to even lift up my arms. He made me soup and a Gatorade, and I instantly threw it up and started shaking. 'We decided to go to the emergency room. He drove me there going ninety-miles-per-hour because I couldn't keep my head up. 'As I sat in my wheel chair, pale skin and eyes rolling back, I could feel myself fading in and out and told my boyfriend we have to go back there now or we're leaving. I'm dying. Then the lady up front picked me out of everyone and said "bring her back now" they checked my vitals and everything was gradually failing. After a six day battle, which saw Brooke close to death, she made a full recovery, and has now shared her experience with other women to warn them against the symptoms (seen in 2014) 'The doctors were trying so hard to find out what was wrong with me, but they continued to give me antibiotics and bags of fluid because I had severe dehydration. It took about two days in the ICU for me to get diagnosed because one day, my ICU nurse saw the 'sun burn' symptom on my private area while working and said that she had seen it before. 'She'd been an ICU nurse for twenty-five-years and remembered back in the '80s when toxic shock syndrome was high back then. She immediately told someone. They all came to see, and they finally found out what was wrong because no one ever saw this type of situation.' TSS is caused by either staphylococcus or streptococcus bacteria which usually live harmlessly on the skin, nose and mouth but if they get deeper into the body can release harmful toxins that damage tissue and stop organs from working. She made a full recovery, and has now shared her experience with other women to warn them against the symptoms Traumatised Brooke refuses to wear tampons anymore and only uses pads now Using tampons, especially if they are left in for longer than recommended or using 'super absorbent' ones can raise the risk of contracting TSS. Brooke's horrific ordeal happened in July 2014 and she was in hospital for six days. She only now feels ready to share her story to raise awareness for the potentially fatal condition. She discussed her fear of leaving hospital and the paranoia she felt when she came on her period. 'Recovery was scary because I was scared to be back home wondering if it was going to flare up again. I decided to stay at my mum's for the week so she could keep an eye on me and help me take the different medications I needed. I required tons of rest and I had to take a month off of work,' said Brooke. Brooke (seen making the most of life now) told how it took doctors days to correctly diagnose her She told how her symptoms were 'flu-like' and included a sore throat, weak limbs and vomiting 'I was traumatised. I had nightmares and was always paranoid when having my monthly cycle. Even though I can't wear tampons anymore just pads. It took me years to reach a comfortable state to tell my story and not get upset. 'I actually enjoy now telling my story to help raise awareness to other women. Today, I feel extremely grateful knowing how healthy I am even after a condition like that. 'I feel this happened to me to be a walking miracle to inform other women of this deadly, rare situation. This is something women put themselves at risk every single month and a simple knowledge of it can save your life. 'They told my mom that I was knocking at death's door and to be prepared for the worst. But I won this battle and want other women to win it as well. Her near-death experience has taught her the importance to live every day to the full, she urged other women to get to know their bodies WHAT IS TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME? Toxic shock syndrome is a highly dangerous bacterial infection - but it can be misdiagnosed because the symptoms are similar to other illnesses and because it is so rare. It occurs when usually harmless staphylococcus aureus or streptococcus bacteria, which live on the skin, invade the bloodstream and release dangerous toxins. TSS' prevalance is unclear but doctors have claimed it affects around one or two in every 100,000 women. It has a mortality rate of between five and 15 per cent. And reoccurs in 30-to-40 per cent of cases. Symptoms usually begin with a sudden high fever - a temperature above 38.9C/102F. Within a few hours a sufferer will develop flu-like symptoms including headache, muscle aches, a sore throat and cough. Nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, feeling faint, dizziness and confusion are also symptoms. Women are most at risk of getting toxic shock syndrome during menstruation and particularly if they are using tampons, have recently given birth or are using an internal barrier contraceptive, such as a diaphragm. While tampon boxes advise to change them between four to eight hours, it is common for women to forget and leave them in overnight. Treatment may involve antibiotics to fight the infection, oxygen to help with breathing, fluids to prevent dehydration and organ damage, and medication to control blood pressure. Dialysis may also be needed if the kidneys stop functioning. In severe cases, surgery may be required to remove dead tissue. In rare incidences, it may be necessary to amputate the affected area. To prevent TSS, women should use tampons with the lowest absorbency for their flow, alternate between a tampon and a sanitary towel, and wash their hands before and after insertion. Tampons should also be changed regularly, as directed on the packaging - usually every four to eight hours. Advertisement 'I raise awareness for TSS to women around me but a goal of mine would be to raise a bigger awareness around the world.' Brooke is a keen explorer, sharing her travels on social media. Her near-death experience has taught her the importance to live every day to the full, she urged other women to get to know their bodies, so they can pick up on the symptoms and learn what is and isn't normal for them. 'Be aware of the symptoms and listen to your body. Your body is always telling you something so get to know it. Understanding these symptoms and being tampon smart is a must for women,' she said. 'My mum warned me of TSS and the information on the side of the box that none of us cares to notice but I was the typical girl who thought that it wouldn't happen to me. 'I meet women all the time including my own friends that have the same reaction when I tell them I got TSS - they can't believe that it actually happens. 'I almost lost my life so I use that as an eye opener. I have been forever grateful since then for my health. Since then, I've been enjoying and living my life to the fullest because I was given a second chance.' Advertisement Residents in Croydon have been watching on in stunned bemusement as filming for the latest series of Black Mirror has hauled the South London town back to the 1980s. Filming is already underway on the fifth season of Charlie Brooker's Emmy-winning drama - episodes of which are more often set in an alternative present or the near future - and Croydon's brutalist architecture is apparently the perfect backdrop for a quick, and utterly authentic, transformation. Crew from the satirical Netflix show, which has bagged creator Brooker critical acclaim aplenty, have been spotted transforming modern shops on St George's Walk into erstwhile brands that were a common sight for shoppers 30 years ago - including Chelsea Girl, burger bar Wimpy (a few outlets of which still actually exist) and tanning salon Soleil. And while WHSmith remains a staple of the British high street, only those of a certain age will recognise the old brown and orange sign that was revived for the set. Pizza Hut also reappeared with yesteryear's red-and-white branding. Scroll down for video Welcome to the '80s! The gritty architecture of Croydon was deemed ideal for winding the clock back 30 years to film a new episode of Charlie Brooker's sci-fi anthology Black Mirror; in recent days modern shop names have been covered with retro signs - much to the amusement of local residents Fancy a Wimpy burger? The Black Mirror production crew were seen putting up this retro sign in the George Street area of the South London town ahead of filming; the erstwhile burger chain was the forerunner in the UK for McDonald's and Burger King Remember Chelsea Girl? The fashion store - aimed at young women - was re-branded as River Island in 1991...but has found itself resurrected temporarily in Brooker's latest work Charlie Brooker announced that filming of the fifth series of Netflix hit Black Mirror, which features stand-alone episodes exploring often dystopian themes, was underway back in February, and that he was in the process of writing a sixth (Pictured: Actress Andrea Riseborough, who appeared in the fourth series) Retro tanning salon Soleil has also cropped up, temporarily replacing Excel Education in the town; residents were told filming will take place from Wednesday to Friday this week Some residents have found it hard not to poke fun at the transformation, with one saying there's little difference between 80s Croydon and 21st century Croydon Croydon residents realised they were about to get a front-row seat to Brooker's latest work after a letter was posted through letterboxes announcing the Netflix series was rolling into town. Twitter has been awash with images and videos showing the transformation taking place - although several residents said they couldn't actually tell the difference between 21st century Croydon and the dated version created for television. @CosmicScale wrote: 'Hive of activity at St. Georges Walk Croydon. Its Christmas at WH Smith. Theres a Wimpy, Chelsea Girl clothes store, FADS DIY Store, Soleil travel agency, Pizza Hut. Its gone complete 80s #blackmirror.' There were plenty of quips too about how the South London town, parts of which have been regenerated in recent years, was perfect for Brooker's particular brand of dystopia. WHAT IS BLACK MIRROR? Charlie Brooker's career masterpiece (so far) is now in its fifth series - with a sixth in the pipeline. Although the word series is a misnomer, for each of the hour-long episodes are stand-alone programmes, each exploring a different theme. The first series of Charlie Brooker's sci-fi anthology aired in 2011 and is now in its fifth series (Actor Daniel Rigby starring as Jamie in a Black Mirror episode) Episodes of the series are usually set in an alternative present and often involve paranoia over technology (Pictured: Daniel Kaluuya and Jessica Brown Findlay) Netflix announced in March that it has re-commissioned another series, much to fans' delight (Pictured: Hayley Atwell and Domhnall Gleeson in series two) From plots about dating apps that put an expiry date on relationships, to stories about computer hacker blackmail, and tales about memory chip implants, the show has explored a variety of contemporary topics since it debuted in 2011. Essentially an anthology about the modern world, the content often involves techno-paranoia. Ordinarily dark and unsettling, Brooker has been lauded for making people think twice about contemporary culture and the planet we live on. Netflix re-commissioned Brooker's work earlier this year, saying: 'Patience is a virtue, but rest easy knowing there is more Black Mirror on the way. 'The utterly addictive, Emmy Award-winning anthology series has been renewed for a much-anticipated Season 5.' Advertisement @bloomingcontent wrote: 'Love the retro 80s storefronts sowing up in #Croydon for #BlackMirror filming. Someone of us lived them! #Nevergoingback' Others were delighted Brooker had chosen the London town. @karthictweets wrote: 'So awesome to see #croydon back on the map #BlackMirror' @thecroydonface added: 'Exciting to see Croydon is adding Black Mirror to its list of television appearances. I'd be more excited if the Wimpy were real though! #croydon #blackmirror #wimpy' Black Mirror is an anthology series about the modern world...each episode is independent pf previous ones and all explore contemporary techno-paranoia Who was number one in 1983? Vinyl records are seen on display in the window of WHSmiths Black Mirror is an anthology series about the modern world, with each stand-alone episode exploring themes of contemporary techno-paranoia. Ordinarily dark and unsettling, the show has been lauded for making people think twice about contemporary culture and the planet we live on. Episodes of the hit show - which used to be broadcast on Channel 4 - have explored a variety of themes. From plots about dating apps that put an expiry date on relationships, to stories about computer hacker blackmail, and tales about memory chip implants, the showhas explored a variety of contemporary topics since it debuted in 2011. This way for crew dining! @boskee_voitek posted this photo on Twitter of One Croydon, a tower block in the town, being used to host crew Brooker has become the toast of Hollywood in recent years and confirmed a fifth season was in the pipeline in February. He said: 'We're about to start filming another one imminently. I'm writing the next one then it gets a bit foggy beyond there.' Charlie scooped two awards at the Primetime Emmys in September, winning both Outstanding Television Movie and an Outstanding Writing award for the episode San Junipero. Charlie gave wife Konnie Huq a shout-out in his acceptance speech, including her in the thank yous, finishing off with 'and finally, my wife Konnie who is down there, who I love very much'. The couple share two sons Covey, five and Huxley, three. Meghan Markle may now have official residence in the UK but video footage of the royal bride-to-be suggests her love affair with London pre-dates her romance with Prince Harry. In a prophetic red carpet chat filmed back in 2013, Meghan reveals that she plans to 'stick around a while in London.' The now 36-year-old, who will marry her prince at St George's Chapel, Windsor on May 19th, is seen joking during the brief interview at the Global Gift Gala that the UK weather 'is cold but the people are so warm'. The glitzy chat, with presenter Lizzie Cundy, also sees Meghan, who was mid-way between filming the third and fourth series of US legal drama Suits, reveal that she had never been called 'love or darling' as much as during her visits to the UK. Scroll down for video Prophetic? The red carpet footage, filmed at the ME hotel in London during the Global Gift Gala in 2013, sees a gushing Meghan tell presenter Lizzie Cundy about her love for the UK, saying: 'The weather is cold, but the people are so warm.' Meghan also revealed that she planned to 'stick around a while' in London and had never been called 'love or darling' so many times as during that visit Meghan, who was between filming series three and four of US television smash Suits at the time time of the interview, said the reaction to the show in the UK had been 'tremendous' She says: 'It is very cold, but the people are so warm. 'As cheesy as that sounds I was joking today that I've never been called love or darling more in my life so it makes me want to stick around for a while.' The interview took place at the ME Hotel in the UK capital, with Victoria Beckham and Eva Longoria also both in attendance at the event. Meghan has opted for a simple black off-the-shoulder dress, with some show-stealing pendant earrings. The then actress has her glossy black hair sleekly swept and pinned to the side with big, impact curls below. The footage sees Cundy introduce Meghan as 'the hottest girl in the US', referencing her role as a paralegal in the US television smash. Meghan blushes before responding: 'We are very lucky and fans have been so supportive and the fact that it's doing so well here in the UK is just tremendous. 'I've had the best time in London. The fans are amazing!' The 36-year-old, who will officially join the royal family when she marries Prince Harry on May 19th at St George's Chapel, Windsor, looked to blush when told by Cundy that she was the 'hottest girl in the US' Meghan also said she's enjoyed spending time in the capital with actress Eva Longoria's family, who she described as 'salt of the earth' 'The hottest girl in the US' Meghan during her role as Rachel Zane, which catapulted her into the spotlight Markle also raves about actress Eva Longoria and her family, whom she described as 'salt of the earth, lovely people.' It's been a busy week of royal duties for the soon-to-be newlywed. Earlier today, the 36-year-old took part in her first official service of remembrance as she joined her fiance Prince Harry at an Anzac Day Dawn Service. Organised by the New Zealand and Australian High Commissions, the couple arrived at Wellington Arch in central London for the Service of Commemoration. Meghan, 36, looked suitably sombre in a grey coat, black hat and heels, with her hair loose, as the couple sang hymns including Abide With Me. She's staying now! Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle arrive at a service at St Martin-in-The Fields church in London on Monday The couple attending a memorial to mark the 25th anniversary of Stephen Lawrence's death on Monday As the sun broke over the London skyline, Harry, a former army officer who served for 10 years in the forces, laid his floral wreath at one of a group of metal crosses near Wellington Arch in central London. On Monday, Prince Harry and Meghan marked their first public appearance since becoming uncle and aunt to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's third baby. The couple arrived at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in London, following the birth of the Duke and Duchess' third child, for a memorial service to mark the 25th anniversary of Stephen Lawrence's death. A plus-size model and Meghan Markle lookalike has posed in a bridal-themed photo shoot giving an intimate look into what final wedding preparations might look like for the actress. Erica Lauren, from Pasadena, California, appears in a newly released campaign for Simply Be, modeling a wide range of bridal stylesfrom classic gowns to an edgy white jumpsuit. The model, who shares Meghan's home state, also bears an uncanny resemblance to the 36-year-old Suits star, leaving those who look at her photos with the eerie feeling that they are getting a sneak peek into what Meghan might be up to in the lead-up to her wedding with Prince Harry. Uncanny: Model and Meghan Markle lookalike Erica Lauren has posed in a bridal-themed photo shoot giving an idea of what wedding preparations might look like for the actress Date: Meghan (pictured wearing a wedding dress in an episode of Suits) is set to marry Prince Harry on May 19 at Windsor Castle in England Edgy: Erica's photo shoot includes a modern take on bridal style thanks to a wide-legged jumpsuit with spaghetti straps and a plunging neckline Prep: The model also posed with her hair pinned back as if she were getting her make-up done, like a bride just a few hours ahead of her wedding celebration Sartorial: Erica modeled a wide range of bridal styles, including this classic white dress Tradition: During the wedding-themed session, Erica also posed in an afternoon tea setting as a nod to Prince Harry's native country Likeness: The model, who studied music before earning her MBA, is one of many Meghan lookalikes gaining attention in light of the actress' engagement to Harry Erica's facial features closely echo Meghan's, with both women sharing near-identical lips, delicate profiles, and arched eyebrows. The model can be seen in a series of shots donning classic bridal styles, including a strapless white gown paired with a metallic belt around her waistline. She also donned an A-line dress with a lace bodice, holding a small bouquet in her left hand much like a bride would just as she is getting ready to walk down the aisle. Erica's photo shoot also includes a modern take on bridal style thanks to a wide-legged jumpsuit with spaghetti straps and a plunging neckline. During the wedding-themed session, Erica also posed in an afternoon tea setting as a nod to Prince Harry's native country, giving an idea of how Meghan's bridal shower might unfold if it were hosted over finger sandwiches and pastries. Look: Erica's facial features closely echo Meghan's, with both women sharing near-identical lips, delicate profiles, and arched eyebrows Quintessential: The model posed in a classic strapless, ankle-length white gown with a metallic belt around her waistline Tones: Erica donned a variety of white dresses, including this draped number paired with white sandals and a coordinated nail polish Accessory: She held a small bouquet in her left hand much like a bride would just as she is getting ready to walk down the aisle Sneak peek: The close-up shots, which highlight her likeness to Meghan, give an idea of what the actress could be up to moments before her ceremony Job: Erica has been modeling since 2015 after 'deciding to give [herself] a shot in the industry' Gathering: The afternoon-tea-themed shots give an idea of how Meghan's bridal shower might unfold if it were hosted over finger sandwiches and pastries Honest: Erica explained on her website that she used to struggle with 'shyness, confidence and body image issues' before realizing she had opportunities as a model Face of the brand: The model was tapped to represent Simply Be's bridal range, whose sizes go from six to 28 Erica also posed with her hair pinned back as if she were getting her make-up done, like a bride just a few hours ahead of her wedding celebration. The close-up shots, which highlight her likeness to Meghan, give an idea of what the actress could be up to moments before her May 19 ceremony at Windsor Castle in England. Erica, who studied music before earning her MBA form the University of Redlands, is one of many Meghan lookalikes gaining attention in light of the actress' engagement to Harry. She has been modeling since 2015 after 'deciding to give [herself] a shot in the industry', and she was tapped to represent Simply Be's bridal range, whose sizes go from six to 28. 'Like so many, I struggled with shyness, confidence and body image issues throughout and beyond school (and still), and while I knew modeling was an interest, I never considered it a real opportunity for me,' Erica explained on her website. 'Now I'm excited to join the exploding plus-size fashion industry and body-positive movement, and I hope to inspire others to prove themselves wrong, put themselves out there, and embrace their unique beauty, flaws and all.' A former nurse has spoken for the first time about a night shift she spent with killer doctor Harold Shipman during which three patients died, which still haunts her today. Sandra Whitehead, was just 18 when she worked with the serial killer, and says she was 'too young and too naive' to take her concerns to hospital management after the trio of deaths at Pontefract General infirmary in 1972. She makes her revelations in ITV's Harold Shipman: Doctor Death airs as part of ITV's Crime & Punishment season, which investigates how he got away with murdering 250 patients on the 20th anniversary of his arrest. Shipman went undetected for three decades until he was convicted of murdering 15 of his patients in 2000, and a later inquiry into his patient deaths discovered he had killed an estimated 250 in total. One of Britain's most prolific serial killers, the trusted family doctor, murdered his patients with lethal doses of the drug Diamorphine - 80 per cent of whom were elderly women. Scroll down for video Harold Shipman was convicted of murdering 15 of his elderly patients and an inquiry found he murdered an estimated 250 people across his career Nurse Sandra Whitehead worked with Harold Shipman in the early 1970s at Pontefract General Infirmary Opening up for the first time, Sandra recalled: 'One night we had three deaths, we just went from room to room and the patient had died. 'It just didn't seem any reason. They were ill but they didn't look on death's door. It just seemed a high proportion of deaths out of a 32-bedded ward.' 'I think I was too young and too naive, I didn't have the knowledge and experience to maybe turn round and see senior management and say, "I am not happy about this".' The information that Sandra later provided led a public inquiry to investigate Shipman's time at Pontefract General, uncovering further victims. On the 20th anniversary of the arrest of Britain's biggest serial killer, the ITV documentary offers a unique insight into how Shipman got away with secretly poisoning and murdering more than 250 of his patients across three decades before his arrest in 1998. Greater Manchester Police detective Dave O'Brien reveals the emotional toll investigating Britain's most prolific serial killer took on him and the rest of his team Harold Shipman got away with secretly poisoning and murdering more than 250 of his patients across three decades before his arrest in 1998, pictured just some of his victims Former Greater Manchester Police detective Sally Reid reveals the resistance they faced from some people in the local community of Hyde when they first started investigating the murders carried out by Harold Shipman BRITAIN'S WORST SERIAL KILLER: WHO IS HAROLD SHIPMAN? Harold Shipman was convicted of 15 murders, before an inquiry later found he had killed an estimated 250 of his patients Killer GP Harold Shipman killed an estimated total of 250 patients over a 27-year period stretching back to 1971, using the drug Diamorphine. Around 80 percent of his victims were elderly women with his youngest victim a 41-year-old man. Shipman was convicted of drug offences in 1976 after becoming addicted to pethidine as a young doctor, but he was allowed to carry on practising by the General Medical Council (GMC). He began his killing spree in Pontefract General in the early seventies, and was eventually arrested in September 1998 aged 52, and was jailed for life in January 2000. He was convicted at Preston Crown Court of the murders of 15 elderly women: Marie West, Irene Turner, Lizzie Adams, Jean Lilley, Ivy Lomas, Muriel Grimshaw, Marie Quinn, Kathleen Wagstaff, Bianka Pomfret, Norah Nuttall, Pamela Hillier, Maureen Ward, Winifred Mellor, Joan Melia and Kathleen Grundy. Ten days after his whole life-term conviction plus a four-year sentence for forgery, the GMC struck Shipman off the register. A year after his sentencing an inquiry was launched which concluded that the family doctor had killed at least 215 of his patients between 1975 and 1998, during which he had also practised in Todmorden, West Yorkshire (19741975), and Hyde, Greater Manchester (19771998). A sixth and final report in 2005 found further suspicions about other deaths in his early career and Dame Janet Smith, the judge who submitted the report, estimated his total victim count over that 27-year period was 250. On the eve of his 58th birthday Shipman was found hanged in his cell in Wakefield Prison in January 2004. His wife Primrose Shipman, who maintained her husband's innocence after his conviction, received his full NHS pension, which she would not have been entitled to had Shipman lived past age 60. Advertisement WORKING THE CASE Sally Reid, a former detective, revealed that police faced widespread resistance during their investigation as the people of Hyde found it hard to accept that their respected doctor could be a murderer. She said: 'We were met by some who were really aggressive. 'How dare we come and suggest something about Shipman because he was "their doctor",' she said. 'They thought he had done a fabulous job with their parent, they thought it was obscene that we should be questioning anything to do with Shipman.' Her fellow colleague detective Dave O'Brien, concurred: 'They thought the world of him, his patients thought he was God's gift. 'People to this day, still think he was the best doctor ever,' he explained. EMOTIONAL TOLL He also revealed the emotional toll investigating the serial killer took on him and the rest of his team. 'I can remember sat at home one night with the wife, and I just broke down in tears. Im just sick of all this death and destruction.' He added: 'I personally had never worked on anything like that before in my life. I had worked on a lot of murders, but nothing like Shipman had ever happened you know, it was massive.' Speaking for the first time former West Yorkshire detective George McKeating revealed how he arrested Doctor Harold Shipman in 1975 for illegal possession of drugs and forging prescriptions Under the radar and above suspicion Harold Shipman was already killing when he appeared on a documentary to discuss mental health on World in Action ITV, in 1982 DRUG CHARGES Former detective George McKeating, speaking for the first time, said he expected Shipman to be struck off by the General Medical Council in 1975, before he committed many of the killings, after he had uncovered that Shipman was addicted to drugs. But when he went along to the hearing, waiting to give evidence, McKeating was told that it had already finished. 'The chairman says he doesn't think he's a danger to the public so he's not going to strike him off, so I was a bit flabbergasted to say the least. 'In my experience addicts very rarely rehabilitate. I thought I'm going to see this man again.' Shipman was fined just 600 and sent to rehab, and the following summer in 1977 he re-appeared 30 miles away in Hyde where he had moved with his wife Primrose and their four children and quickly rebuilt his reputation as a trustworthy doctor. In 1982, his credibility beyond question, Shipman even appeared in an ITV documentary on mental illness - under the radar and above suspicion, a serial killer hid in plain sight. Harold Shipman: Doctor Death ITV 9pm tonight (Thursday) A first-time mother who was in denial about her pregnancy couldn't deny it any longer when she went into labor and found herself delivering her own baby, alone, in a hotel room halfway around the world. Tia Freeman from Nashville, Tennessee gave birth to a healthy baby boy seven weeks ago, but the 22-year-old's birthing story is bound to be a lot different from the ones the other mothers tell at future Gymboree classes. Tia learned she was expecting late into her pregnancy, and continued to push it from her mind until she went into labor on a flight oversees. She ended up making it to a hotel in Istanbul, Turkey before drawing herself a bath, safely delivering her own child in the tub, and falling asleep. Surprise! Tia Freeman, 22, gave birth by herself in a hotel room in Turkey Fam photo: She thanked the crew at Turkish Airlines who helped her out the next day Tia's story first made national news in Turkey, and has now gone viral in the US thanks to an animated Twitter thread but the young mom insists she still doesn't get why her tale is such a big deal. 'I still really dont understand whats so shocking about my delivery story. Lol maybe itll set in one day,' she began the thread, which makes it immediately clear to everyone else just what is so shocking. Tia was already into her third trimester when she found out she was pregnant. She was taking birth control, but says the one she was on didn't require her to menstruate every month. (Later, she identified it as Microgestin Fe, which actually shouldn't have stopped her from menstruating unless she chose to skip the placebo week at the end of the pack.) 'Not having a period wasnt an indicator for me,' she explained. 'On top of that I didn't really gain any weight.' The tale... The first-time mom has made international headlines with her incredible birth story, which she shared on Twitter this week No way... Tia didn't know she was pregnant until her third trimester, and was in denial for a while after When she did find out she was pregnant, she spent the next month 'in denial,' insisting to herself that there was 'no way' she was carrying a baby. She was working away from home, and decided not to tell anyone about it, either. 'My dumba** was like, maybe itll just go away...' she wrote. Toward the end of her pregnancy, she had plans for a trip to Germany, and 'ya girl was not about to waste international flight money' so she hopped on a plane before her due date and headed away for her vacation. 'So everything is going well, no biggie, but dawg this is a 14hr flight & there was a complimentary meal, but everything had meat in it & you know Im a vegetarian, so I was like, "I cant eat this,' she recalled. 'But 14 hrs was too long to wait so I decided to eat the salmon hoping I wouldnt get sick. Now I dont know if it was the salmon, the flight, or it was just my time, but out of nowhere I start cramping up.' She assumed she had food poisoning from the salmon and decided to go to sleep for the last hour of the flight. Caution to the wind: She had plans to go on vacation to Germany, and decided to go ahead with them Something's fishy... She started to feel sick on the plane but was convinced it was because of the salmon she ate Building up: When she landed in Istanbul, where she had a 17-hour layover, she was feeling much worse When she landed in Turkey for her 17-hour layover, though, her cramps had worsened. She just wanted to make it to the hotel she'd booked for the night, but customs was taking a long time and she was feeling terrible. 'Im literally gripping the railing trying to make it through the lines. At this point I feel like Im about to pass out. Im sweating. I feel like I have to vomit. Im going through it. Then Im like, "Wait a minute, b****, are you in labor?!" After the thought hit her, she decided to Google it. But still unsure if it was real labor or she was having Braxton Hicks contractions, she painfully made her way to the hotel. 'Either way it goes Im not giving birth in this airport, so I start gassing myself up because I am NOT having a baby in this airport,' she said. 'I make it to my hotel & now Im sure Im in labor. There is no way in the world Im not in labor because I can barely stand up at this point. 'So Im in a foreign country, where no one speaks English, I dont know this countrys emergency number, & I have no clue what to do. Scary... She realized she was in labor but didn't want to give birth in the airport, so gave herself pep talks until she made it to her pre-arranged hotel DIY: Because of the language barrier and her fear of asking for help, she decided to deliver her own baby turning to YouTube for instructions Wow: She described the intense pain as she delivered her son in the bath tub of the hotel room 'So in true millennial form, I decided to Youtube it. If no one else had my back, the internet would! So here my a** is in my hotel room, all by my lonesome learning, how to deliver my own baby.' Tia filled up the bath tub for a water birth, grabbed a towel to bite down on while fighting the pain, and found another towel to wrap the baby in. 'Its weird how focused a person becomes when theyre adrenaline starts going. Because at no point ever did I freak out. Like, I just did what I had to do,' she said. She followed the instructions she found online, which said to start to push when the contractions were two minutes apart. By the time she was in the tub, they were just a minute apart, meaning her baby was moments away from making his entrance into the world. 'I have NEVVVVEEERRRR felt any pain like this in my life. I felt like I was being split open. WHERE WAS MY EPIDURAL?!' she wrote. 'Luckily it happened pretty quickly. I only had to push about 5-6 times before a baby popped out,' she went on. 'Now let me tell you, babies are buoyant. That little joker said bloop and floated right on up to the top of the water.' Next step: Luckily, the birth went quickly, and she knew from the internet to wait for the afterbirth Smart: She was nervous about cutting the cord, but sliced it with a knife and tied it off with her shoelaces, which she had sterilized in the room's kettle After noting that she'd had a boy, she knew she needed to wait until the placenta, attached to the umbilical cord, followed him out. She again followed along with what she read online, rubbing her lower abdomen to 'persuade my placenta to come on out' while holding her baby with the other hand. The placenta came out, and she used knives to cut it. 'Youre supposed to measure off like 2 inches from the stomach and tie one lace and then tie the other inch another inch from there. Now you cut the cord in between,' she said. 'Now, I havent been nervous this whole time but cutting this cord is freaking me out ... like what if I hurt this man?! So Im poking the cord with the knife to see if it affects him. Fortunately it doesnt (which the internet said it wouldnt) so I cut right into that thang! And its tougher than it look.' Using shoelaces, which she had sterilized in boiling water in the hotel room's electric kettle, she clamped the end of the cord. Though she was now exhausted, she needed to clean the bathroom 'because it looked like the set of a horror movie,' so she scrubbed everything down, breastfed her new baby, and went to sleep. Experts: The next day, she went back to the airport not for the next leg of her flight, but to ask officials there what to do next Safety: After police, customs, and a doctor determined she was not trafficking the baby and it was indeed hers, they sent her to the US Consulate Official: There, she got a birth certificate and passport for her baby Still, her story wasn't over. The next morning, she was meant to go to the airport to catch her connecting flight. Though she knew she wouldn't actually be flying on to Germany, she also had questions about leaving the country with her new baby and figured there was no better place to ask than the airport. 'When I get there the airport workers are freaking out because you can tell this baby is fresh. I legit didnt have any baby clothes & made him something out of my favorite blue oversized button down,' she wrote. 'Anyway, they thought I was a human trafficker trying to smuggle out a baby.' After having a doctor and nurse check her out to determine that she had in fact just given birth, she also spoke with customs, the police, and higher-ups at the airline. During this time, someone tipped off the press, who turned up in full force to take her picture. All good! Xavier Ata Freeman was later checked out at the hospital and found to be healthy Congrats! Tia spent two weeks in Turkey recovering before going home, with a free flight upgrade Shock: Her family, who didn't know she was pregnant, learned she gave birth a few days after it happened Tia then headed over to the US Consulate, who asked her a lot of questions and issued her a birth certificate and passport for her new little one. They also insisted on taking her and the baby to the hospital for a check-up, where they found out for sure that the baby was healthy. Tia ended up staying in Turkey for two weeks to recover, during which time Turkish Airlines paid for her hotel. They also comped her meals and upgraded her and her friend whom she was supposed to meet in Germany to first class for their flight home. 'Oh and no one knew I had a baby until days after I gave birth to him (not even my mom) so I sprang this story on everyone,' she concluded. 'Here he is Xavier Ata Freeman born March 7, 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey! My little surprise bundle of international joy! (His middle name is Turkish).' A former BBC high flyer who felt like 'death was following her' after losing her husband and ex-partner within the space of 15 months has finally found peace after moving to Goa and training as a 'soul midwife'. Dee Delaney's husband Tony, 41, died suddenly from a heart attack eight years ago after leaving their home in St Albans, Hertfordshire to take part in charity mountain climb, when their son was just two-years-old. Fifteen months earlier, her ex-partner Martyn - the father of her daughter Millie, then 11 - committed suicide. After Tony's death, Dee went through a period of dating someone who was wrong for her and drinking too much, and even trained as a yoga teacher in the hope of finding some peace. But it was only when she travelled to India where she studied Tibetan Buddhism that she was inspired to study as a 'soul midwife' with the am of becoming a friend to the dying and helping them leave their physical body without fear. Dee studied the different stages of the dying process, including how the dying persons senses break down and their breathing changes. I hadnt been there for Tonys death and in a way it helped me to know what would have happened to him at the point of death, she explained. It was liberating. Dee's book about her experiences is published next month, and she has started a new life in Goa with her son. Dee Delaney, 48, from Hertfordshire with her husband Tony who died from a heart attack during a charity mountain climb almost eight years ago Dee now with her two children Fionn and Millie, whose fathers have both passed away Dee with her ex-partner Martyn and their daughter Millie. He committed suicide, 15 months before her husband Tony died from a heart attack On the day Tony died in June 2010 Dee sent him a final text, saying: Take care up those mountains. Im not ready to lose you just yet. Hours earlier, he had left to take part in the Three Peaks Challenge the aim of which is to climb the highest peaks of England, Scotland and Wales within 24-hours for charity. The couple had argued the previous evening and spent the night in separate beds for the first time in their six-year marriage. We rowed about mundane things such as the washing up and whose turn it was to clean the house, Dee recalled. Dee has moved to Goa with her son Fionn to begin a new life after finally overcoming her grief after two bereavements in quick succession Despite the bad atmosphere, Dee couldnt help noticing that Tony wasnt his usual self. She saw him clutching the console table at the bottom of the stairs, as if he needed to get his balance. He looked grey too, Dee explains. I remember telling him that he didnt have to do the walk if he didnt want to. I even offered to take his place, but he was adamant he didnt want to let down his supporters. The row was a rare down in a marriage that was otherwise full of ups. The couple had good jobs Dee was Head of Media Planning for BBC Radio and Tony worked in procurement for the global firm KPMG and was the proud parents of Fionn, who was nearly two. They had also just finished renovating their dream house. What is a soul midwife? A soul midwife is a friend to the dying who helps them leave their physical body without fear. Dee studied the different stages of the dying process, including how the dying persons senses break down and their breathing changes. There are five stages to the dying process, Dee explained. First the elements of the body earth, water fire and air break down. The air stage is when the person takes their last breath. Finally, the soul midwife understands that there is a fifth stage, which involves the separation of the spirit and soul from the body. The role of a soul midwife, or anyone who is sitting at the bedside of a dying person, is to create a sacred and healing space for them using sounds, oils, touch and meditation. 'We sit in vigil with the dying person at each stage. For instance, at the fire state its common for people to become agitated and display uncharacteristic behaviour, such as yelling out using colourful language and calling for help, as they think someone is trying to harm them. I learned a simple technique to help them relax. First you take hold of their right hand and lock your thumb with theirs so that your palms touch. Then you gently rotate their hand clockwise while maintaining eye contact. 'During the water stage, the person might become emotional, so its important to lend a listening ear at this time and provide comfort. In the West, people can be very frightened of death, but the soul midwife understands that there is no need to be afraid of it. 'We are in tune with the natural stages of the dying process and we help the dying person let go and their families and loved ones let go of them. Our aim is for them to have a good death, and that means there has to be an element of acceptance. 'Towards the end, many dying people will acknowledge that they are about to die and their relatives will often go into denial, telling them that they will pull through. However, its important that the person is allowed to let go. 'As well as offering spiritual guidance, a soul midwife can also help with the practical aspects of dying, helping the dying person to come up with a plan for leaving the world as a midwife might help an expectant mother come up with a birth plan.' Advertisement Tony had said to his dad that it was his time now to get on and live, Dee said. Hed just been promoted at work and the house had been taking up most of his spare time. Tragically, Tony didnt get to enjoy the fruits of his labour. The day after he left for the walk, on Saturday 26th June 2010, Dee heard a knock at the door. When she opened it and saw two police officers, she instinctively knew why they were there. I said to them, Its Tony, isnt it?,' she recalled. 'I refused to let them in because I knew they were about to shatter my world. When they saw Fionn playing in the corridor behind me I could see in their faces that they felt crushed by the news they had been sent to deliver. Dee with her family: She and Tony had argued the night before he died and slept in separate beds for the first time in their six-year marriage, which she now believes was a type of premonition It transpired that Tony had collapsed from a heart attack and died just an hour into the walk, despite being worked on by two coronary specialists who by coincidence were taking part in the challenge, too. A coroner later confirmed that Tony had been suffering from Coronary Heart Disease and that his arteries had been 95 per cent occluded at the time of his death. I was told his early death was part lifestyle and part genetics, Dee explains. He didnt smoke and had never taken drugs, but he was a typical burly bloke who liked to go to the pub. He enjoyed his food and carried a bit of weight around the middle, but nothing that would really make you worry. Both Tonys father and his brother had suffered heart attacks around the same age, but had survived. Fionn was two-years-old when Tony died and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy eight months later The news that Tony was never coming home plunged Dee into a dark hole of grief that took her years to emerge from and it wasnt her only experience of bereavement. Just 15-months earlier, her former partner Martyn, with whom Dee had a daughter Millie, then 11, had taken his own life. Dee had to break the news to her daughter on Mothers Day. Following Tonys passing, she felt that somehow death was following her around, but she tried her best to carry on as normal. At first I went into survival mode, she explains. Everyone remarked how well I was coping. I concentrated on doing the right thing for Tony and threw myself into organising his funeral and making sure he got the send off he deserved. The BBC told Dee to take off as much time as she needed but she returned after just two months. Between nine and five I could almost be normal again, Dee says. I didnt have to sit alone with the pain. Dee said that training to be a 'friend' to the dying helped her come to terms with her losses More heartache was in store when, eight months on, Fionn was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Dee went through this entire period without turning to antidepressant, but her husbands untimely death forced her to reassess her entire way of life. In a way the second year was even worse than the first, she said. I expected to feel awful and cry all the time for the first one, but by year two I thought Id be starting to feel better. 'By the end of that year I adopted the attitude of life is too short and became determined to find love again. That led to me dating someone who was wrong for me and drinking way too much. Dee and Tony on their wedding day: The mother-of-two had already lost her ex-partner, the father of her daughter, just a year before Tony died After being made redundant from work, Dee decided to take a more spiritual path and retrained as a yoga teacher. But she still felt out of whack. The pendulum had swung in the opposite direction, she says. Id gone from living the corporate, materialistic life to centering everything round spirituality. I needed to find a balance. This reassessing continued when Dee travelled to India and confronted the thing that had loomed so large in her life. She studied Tibetan Buddhism and the idea that rather than being the end, death is merely a transition point to the next life and one that you can prepare for in this one. Back in the UK, she signed up to a Soul Midwifery course in Dorset, which finally helped her to come to terms with what happened to Tony. Dee's book The Truth is published next month She now believes that the fear she felt before Tony left for his charity walk and the argument they had was a type of premonition about what was about to happen. Its common for people to withdraw before they die, Dee said, and thats what Tony did. He wouldnt even let me drive him to the train station the following morning. He took a taxi instead. Shortly after attending the course, Dee rented out her house in St Albans, finally letting go of the life she shared with Tony, and relocated with Fionn to Goa. She has also written a book called The Truth: My journey to the other side, which chronicles her experiences with grief and death, and she is planning to bring out two more. Everyone is going to die and everyone is going to lose someone they love, Dee said. My aim is break the taboos surrounding death and help people heal, as I now have. The Truth is published by Garnet Press and is due for publication in May. For more information about her work, see www.deedelaney.co.uk Queen Letizia of Spain looked pretty in pink today as she welcomed the glamorous First Lady of Spain to the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid. The Spanish Queen and King extended a warm welcome to Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife, Angelica Rivera de Pena who are on a whistlestop tour of Europe. Mother-of-two Letizia, 45, went for a softer look than her usual business-like glamour in a pink floral sprigged coat dress, teamed with heels in a matching shade. It was up to former former television actress and model Mrs Rivera de Pena to dail up the glamour in a figure-hugging white pencil skirt with a sheer overlay. She added a pop of vibrant collar with a red pussy bow blouse, teaming the ensemble with glamorous snakeskin heels. King Felipe VI of Spain and Queen Letizia (R) pose with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (2ndL) and his wife Angelica Rivera (L) upon their arrival at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid Mother-of-two Letizia, 45, went for a softer look than her usual business-like glamour in a pink floral sprigged coat dress The two women have met on many occasions in the past and share a common history. They came from relatively humble backgrounds and went on to marry powerful men, and both combine stunning looks with a seriously sophisticated sense of style Both chose to make their mark in the media before marriage, with Letizia working as a television news anchor and journalist. Ms Rivera started her career as a bikini model before carving out a career as a soap actress The First Lady of Mexico amped up the glamour in a red blouse and white pencil skirt The couples, who have met on several previous occasions, looked pleased to see each other again The President and his wife have a busy schedule of engagements this week as they make their way across Europe. On Tuesday, they were welcomed in The Netherlands by Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander. The visit was designed to strengthen political ties between the two nations and expand economic cooperation. And on Monday the couple visited Germany where they attended the Hanover Fair. King Felipe kissed Ms Pena on the hand as her husband greeted the Spanish Queen The King and Queen of Spain emerging from Zarazuela Palace to meet the visiting Mexican president FEMAIL tested eight different fake tans on one volunteer (pictured) to uncover if spending more really delivers the best results 1: TRUSTED STREAK-FREE MOUSSE St Tropez Self-Tan Classic Bronzing Mousse, 31, sttropeztan.co.uk (Models right arm) THEY SAY: Our most iconic, natural and healthy-looking tan, no self-tan smell, lightweight, streak-free, easy to apply, quick-drying and non-sticky. WE SAY: This is the UKs best-selling brand, and its the flagship product so you expect it to be good. It smelled nice on application, but as it developed it had more of the classic biscuity odour. The colour has green undertones, which stops it looking orange, and as the product is tinted, its easy to see what youre doing. (The best way to apply evenly is to use a tanning mitt apply the tan to the mitt then smoothe it over the skin, blending with a circular motion.) The colour looked good and even you could go straight out wearing it. BEST FOR: Absolute beginners who dont mind paying a bit extra for guaranteed results. St Tropez Self-Tan Classic Bronzing Mousse (pictured) gives guaranteed results and is perfect for beginners 2: LONG-LASTING BUDGET BUY St Moriz Tanning Mousse, 4.99, superdrug.com (Models chest) THEY SAY: Specialist multi-tasking formulation will provide extra moisturisation, a luxurious luminous finish and a longer lasting tan. WE SAY: This is one of the best budget tan brands, and this formula claims to be longer-lasting, moisture-rich, skin-smoothing, give a BB skin finish, and include a mood-enhancing fragrance. St Moriz Tanning Mousse (pictured) is perfect for bargain hunters in search of a dark tan Whew! Although not overpowering, the smell didnt seem that mood-enhancing clean, with nutty undertones. The tinted formulation meant you could see where it was going, but the guide colour was a bit streaky until washed off. Its not the sort of tan you could apply and then go out in, and it got noticeably greener as it developed. However, it ended up very even after a good rinse, and was the darkest of all the ones we tried. BEST FOR: Bargain hunters who dont have to be in public after applying it. 3: NATURAL-SMELLING ORGANIC GEL Green People Self-Tan Lotion, 19, greenpeople.co.uk (Models torso) THEY SAY: A revolutionary natural self tan the first certified organic one in the UK, quick-drying, non-greasy, and lightly scented with natural essential oils. Green People Self-Tan Lotion (pictured) was difficult to assess if evenly applied WE SAY: A gel-cream that glides easily over the skin. It smells very naturally of geranium. The only issue is not knowing if its gone on evenly, and whether it will turn out patchy. Fortunately it developed into an even, natural golden shade. BEST FOR: Charitable types (10 per cent of profits go to charity) who dont normally like the smell and feel of fake tans. 4: INNOVATIVE BUT PRICEY ROLLER-BALL Tan-Luxe Wonder Oil in Medium to Dark, 45, tan-luxe.com (Top of models right leg) THEY SAY: The worlds first true oil-based self-tanner with a cooling roller-ball applicator. Slims and stimulates skin to improve elasticity and texture, hydrating for up to 48 hours. Tan-Luxe Wonder Oil in Medium to Dark (pictured) delivers a luxurious feel WE SAY: The roller-ball is a fun innovation, but the product drips a little so you need to rub it in carefully as you go along. They suggest using your hands, but a mitt is a better option as youre less likely to end up with brown palms. It feels very moisturising and soft, and gives a good sheen, but as its clear when you first apply, its hard to see where youve done already. It smells good like a sweet lemonade and although it was an oil, it didnt feel sticky. The colour developed over time to a pleasant golden brown. At 45 it was more than six times the price of our cheapest tanning product although on the plus side, it was the only product packaged in a glass bottle, rather than plastic, and would look very elegant on a bathroom shelf. BEST FOR: Luxury-lovers who want the spa-like feel of an oil-based massage, and hang the cost! 5: HYDRATING COCONUT SERUM Fake Bake Flawless Coconut Tanning Serum in Medium, 29.95, fakebake.co.uk (Bottom of models right leg) THEY SAY: With superfood coconut oil, a fast- drying, refreshing, hydrating and moisturising serum that takes luxury tanning to the next level. Fake Bake Flawless Coconut Tanning Serum in Medium (pictured) is perfect for those with olive skin tones WE SAY: This comes out looking like molasses. It makes it very easy to see where its been applied, and it rubs in easily with no streaks. In fact, the guide colour was quite a bit darker than the finished result, so dont panic if it looks strong at first. Compared to other products, the undertones were a little red, and while the coconut fragrance was strong, there was still a waft of fake tan. BEST FOR: Those with olive skin tones the red undertones wont flatter people who are already rosy, and could make them look sunburned. 6: FRAGRANCED WATER Isle of Paradise Medium Self-Tanning Water, 18.95, isleof paradise.co.uk (Models left arm) THEY SAY: Self- tanning water with colour correcting actives and a violet base for a natural, bronzed glow with no streaks, no smells or orange tones. Isle of Paradise Medium Self-Tanning Water (pictured) is difficult to see when applying but delivers a subtle finish WE SAY: Really fresh smelling, almost like a deodorant or facial spritz you wouldnt think it was a tan and, despite being very liquid, i t doesnt drip off the skin. The clear colour makes it hard to see where its been applied, though, and despite giving the impression of being very light, it didnt feel like it dried quickly. The end result was pretty subtle although, like most of the tans we tested here, there are darker formulations available. BEST FOR: Anyone who hates the classic smell of fake tans, and wants the look to err on the side of weekend in Brighton rather than fortnight in Barbados. 7: MOISTURISING MIST THE DRIES FAST Bondi Sands Self-Tanning Mist Light/Medium, 10.49, bondisands.co.uk (Top of models left leg) Bondi Sands Self-Tanning Mist Light/Medium (pictured) is ideal for an instant glow THEY SAY: Enriched with Vitamin E to moisturise and rejuvenate your skin, goes on light and leaves skin glowing. Almost effortless application results in a natural bronzed look. WE SAY: A tinted spray that smells of sun cream with a slight chemical undertone. The instructions say to spray it on from 12 inches away but its much easier to spray on to a mitt then apply as normal, otherwise you could easily coat the bathroom, plus you feel like youre inhaling quite a lot of it. The shade is a cool brown with ashier undertones, but it dried quickly to give a non-streaky, natural colour. Vita Liberata Invisi Foaming Tan Water in Medium/Dark (pictured) had a tacky touch after the tan dried Again, the guide colour was darker than the end result I thought it was going to make me look like a bronzed goddess, but it didnt, said our model Amber. BEST FOR: When you want to walk out the door looking tanned straightaway. 8: ECO-FRIENDLY ANTI-AGEING FOAM Vita Liberata Invisi Foaming Tan Water in Medium/Dark, 25, vitaliberata.co.uk (Bottom of models left leg) THEY SAY: Full of organic botanicals . . . for the most hydrating and anti-ageing skin treatment. Clear as water and super-fast drying. WE SAY: Clear water-like formulations are a big tanning trend this summer this one looks like water in the bottle but is dispensed as a light foam. That makes it easier to apply, but its difficult to see where its gone already. The citrus scent was one of our favourites although it did develop the classic fake tan smell later. The makers say its fast drying, but it felt tacky to the touch long after other tans had dried. BEST FOR: Those who want to go green not literally. Most ingredients are organic. Brigitte Macron took a break from her visit with President Donald Trump to spend time with another Mr. T on Wednesday. The French first lady, 65, toured the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., and while there, she met with the 1980s icon. She and Mr. T shook hands while both seemed delighted to interact with each other, with Mr. T grabbing both of the first lady's hands while she flashed a bright smile in his direction. Meeting: Brigitte Macron took a break from her visit with President Donald Trump to spend time with another Mr. T on Wednesday Greeting: The French first lady, 65, toured the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., and while there, she met with the 1980s icon Pleased: She and Mr. T shook hands while both seemed delighted to interact with each other Talk: Brigitte and Mr. T appeared to share a lively conversation while at the school Mr. T dressed casually for the occasion, donning sweatpants and a hoodie along with an orange beanie. Brigitte, meanwhile, stuck to the chic style she has favored throughout her state visit and went for a classic black dress brightened with a metallic belt around her waist. The former literature teacher paired the dress with a dark double-breasted coat and finished off her outfit with black stilettos, wearing her hair in her trademark blonde bob and bangs. Located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., just a few minutes away from the French embassy, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts gives its student a full academic course along with an arts major. Outfit: Mr. T dressed casually for the occasion, donning sweatpants and a hoodie along with an orange beanie Style: Brigitte, meanwhile, stuck to the chic style she has favored throughout her state visit and went for a classic black dress brightened with a metallic belt around her waist Conversation: The French first lady, who taught literature in middle and high school for more than two decades, chatted with members of staff Throwback: Mr. T, pictured in an archive photo dating back to 1985, partly rose to fame as B. A. Baracus in The A-Team Students at the school can pick between visual arts, theatre, technical design and production, instrumental or vocal music, museum studies, dance, as well as literary media and communications. The public school, which was established in 1974, is the alma mater of comedian Dave Chappelle. During her visit, Brigitte watched as some students from the dance program performed and chatted with members of staff. She also got to listen to a music performance and see some of the students' art. Her tour came on day three of her state visit in D.C. She and her husband, French president Emmanuel Macron, 40, arrived in the nation's capital on Monday. Brigitte was a middle and high school teacher for more than two decades before quitting her job to support her husband's political career. Show: She also watched as some students from the dance program performed Tuning in: Brigitte looked focus as the students danced in front of her In high spirits: The former teacher appeared at ease as she toured the D.C. school Listening: She got to hear students from the music program perform as well during her tour Visual: Brigitte saw some of the students' art as she visited the public school, which is comedian Dave Chappelle's alma mater On Tuesday night, Brigitte and Melania Trump both attended a lavish state dinner at the White House, with the French first lady opting for a Louis Vuitton cream full-length gown with long sleeves and gold brocade detail. Melania, meanwhile, wore a Chanel black Chantilly lace haute couture gown that had been hand-painted with silver and embroidered with crystal and sequins, which she paired with a pair of gunmetal stilettos. The dinner for 123 guests marked Melania's highest-profile hostess gig to date as first lady. The White House had stressed that Melania, who planned her 2005 wedding, had a hand in every detail of the dinner from the place-settings to the giant flower arrangements greeting guests. In a toast before Tuesday's dinner honoring France, President Trump described his wife as 'America's absolutely incredible first lady'. He thanked her for her efforts on the dinner and said she had created an evening that everyone will always 'cherish and remember.' State visit: On Tuesday night, Brigitte and Melania Trump both attended a lavish state dinner at the White House with their husbands Start of the evening: Melania exchanged hugs and kisses with President Macron and his wife Brigitte ahead of the glitzy White House state dinner Earlier on, the White House had released some details about the dinner, including the menu. Goat cheese gateau, tomato jam, buttermilk biscuit crumbles, young variegated lettuces were served, along with a rack of spring lamb, burnt cipollini soubise and Carolina gold Rice Jambalaya, with a nectarine tart and creme fraiche ice cream for dessert. Two wines from Oregon were served and a demi-sec champagne. The meal was prepared by White House Executive Chef Christeta Comerford, who was hired during President George W. Bush's administration, and stayed through the Obama years. Matching first ladies: Brigitte and Melania matched in their all-white ensembles on Tuesday Pomp and circumstance: The two women accompanied their husbands to an arrival ceremony at the White House Melania's glittering gown was her second big fashion statement of the day. She had earlier worn a stylish white belted suit with a broad-brimmed chapeau for her public appearances, including on a brief outing to the National Gallery of Art with Brigitte to view an exhibit of works by French painter Paul Cezanne. The hat stayed atop her head as she returned to the White House and took her front-row seat in the East Room for the president's joint news conference with Macron. It bobbed up and down across the bottom of television screens as she entered the room and again as she rose to leave, spawning many a Twitter meme. The hat was designed by Herve Pierre, the first lady's French-born stylist, according to Melania's office. The skirt suit was a creation of Michael Kors, a designer the first lady has worn in the past. Brigitte also opted for all-white on Tuesday morning. The 65-year-old chose a more classic Chanel-style boucle dress and jacket Her white, above-the-knee dress had black accents at the pockets, as well as a white suit jacket with black piping and chain detailing. She accessorized with black pumps. More and more teenagers are engaging in a new form of self-harm: bullying themselves online. One of the most harrowing stories of this trend is that of Hannah Wright, a 14-year-old from the UK who committed suicide in 2014 after writing hateful messages about herself on social media. Research has revealed that the practice known as 'digital self-harm' is far more common than experts had previously thought, and could be a cry for help to draw attention to other bullying that's gone unnoticed. Experts warn the key danger of the trend is that it is incredibly difficult to spot, and uncharted territory that parents have no experience with. However, there are some key things parents can look out for to protect and help their children. A survey last year found that six percent of teens had written mean and defamatory things themselves online, a growing trend known as 'digital self-harm' (stock image) A 2017 cyberbullying survey of more than 5,500 middle and high school students across the US found that had practiced digital self harm, which involves creating anonymous accounts on social media and posting derogatory comments about oneself. The lead authors on the study, co-directors of the Cyberbullying Research Center Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin, said they were stunned to learn the practice was so prevalent. 'This finding was totally unexpected, even though I've been studying cyberbullying for almost 15 years,' said Hinduja, a professor of criminology at Florida Atlantic University. 'Everyone including us is shocked that this is a thing. Now that we know it is happening, we need to get these kids help,' added Patchin, a professor of criminal justice at University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. Teens have been engaging in self-harm for decades, but the world of social media has opened up new avenues for aggression, according to Titania Jordan, Chief Parenting Officer for Bark, an app that puts parental controls on social media. 'Seeking attention is not something new for teens, but digital self-harm is the new way it manifests itself,' Jordan told Daily Mail Online. This generation of middle and high schoolers grew up is more digitally connected than any group to come before them. Studies have shown that the majority of social interactions among teens occur in this digital world, one that is often hidden from their parents. Sheryl Gonzalez-Ziegler, a child psychologist from Denver, said she's seen the self-bullying behavior in a growing number of teens that she counsels, including one girl who is gay. It's a way to bring attention to the bullying that no one else sees. 'She set up ghost accounts on Instagram and posted mean comments about herself, saying things like: "I think you're creepy and gay" and "Don't sit next to me again",' Ziegler told NPR. 'She said these things because she feared being mocked by her peers. 'She thought their teasing wouldn't be so bad if she beat them to the punch.' The survey published last fall found that the most commonly-cited reasons for cyberbullying oneself involved low self-esteem and a desire for attention from classmates and friends. However, it may serve as an indicator of more serious mental health problems including depression and suicidality. 'Digital self-harm is real and not something to be taken lightly,' Jordan said. 'While more research is needed as this is a relatively new phenomenon, we know that teens with existing mental health or bullying issues are more likely to be involved in this activity.' The research also revealed that teens who engaged in digital self-harm were 12 times more likely to have experienced cyberbullying from someone else. Signs of self-bullying While digital-self harm doesn't leave physical scars, there are a few things parents should look out for, according to Bark executive Titana Jordan. Decreased appetite Trouble sleeping Lack of interest in social activity Withdrawal from friends and family Expressions of sadness, anxiety and agitation when receiving texts or notifications on devices Inability to detach from devices A drop in grades Advertisement 'Our theory is that the previous bullying or cyberbullying may be taking place in the dark corners of the school or online in places that no one else sees,' Patchin said. 'Sending hurtful messages to themselves in a more public way may be a way to make the other bullying more visible. 'It's a way to bring attention to the bullying that no one else sees. In other words, it's a cry for help.' Unlike traditional forms of self-harm such as cutting, digital self-harm is often invisible, making it more difficult for parents to detect. Hinduja told Daily Mail Online that because there is not much research on the topic of self-bullying, very little is known about the warning signs. 'I honestly don't think that we can spot if a teen is cyberbullying themselves,' he said. There are, however, common signs associated with regular bullying and cyberbullying that parents can look out for, Jordan said. These include decreased appetite, trouble sleeping, withdrawal from friends and family and drops in one's grades. Patchin added: 'We need public discussions about the issue so we can help people better identify problems before they escalate. We need to build awareness.' Patients with dental pain are overdosing on painkillers because they are unable to access professional treatment, claims a new report. The two-year study found that 38 per cent of emergency admissions for paracetamol overdose were a direct result of dental pain. Paracetamol overdosing can occur after taking too much paracetamol over a number of hours or days, leading to liver failure, which may be fatal. The study comes as Britain is gripped by a dental crisis, which has meant charities, normally assisting third world countries, have been forced to step in and help British patients as dentists are too busy to treat them. Researchers looked at 436 patients who presented at Nottingham's Queen' Medical Centre A&E from May 2014 to April 2016 with accidental paracetamol overdose. Self-medicating: patients unable to access dental services in an emergency are accidentally overdosing on paracetamol in an attempt to relieve pain, caused by a shortfall of NHS dentists Some 164 of these admissions were patients with toothache, of which over half had contacted their dentist beforehand and 62 per cent required medical admission. Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, the British Dental Association's chairman of general dental practice told The Times that 'lives are at risk'. He explained: 'Failure to invest in both routine and emergency dental care is jeopardising appropriate diagnosis and treatment, and heaping needless pressure across the NHS.' The authors of the study, published in the British Dental Journal, wrote that dental pain contributes to a 'significant' number of paracetamol overdose A&E admissions, which highlights 'a lack of public awareness surrounding safe self-medication and inadequate access to timely emergency dental care' What is the UK dental crisis? Last year a BBC study found that 48 per cent of the 2,500 dental practices listed on the NHS choices website were not accepting new patients There were reports of people pulling out their own teeth as they were unable to see a dentist The British Dental Association (BDA) found that half of newly qualified and young (under 35) dentists were planning to leave the NHS in five years According to the BDA, these figures reflect an 'emerging crisis' in the UK dental sector Third world charity Dentaid has begun operating in the UK to provide free dental care to low-income families in West Yorkshire The BDA reports that 68% of NHS dental practices in England were struggling to fill vacancies This may be due to falling pay and low job satisfaction Advertisement Study co-author and consultant Andrew Sidebottom told the BBC that emergency cover is often 'overbooked', making treatment difficult, as well as patients being afraid to see a dentist. The maximum safe dose of paracetamol for adults is eight 500mg tablets spread out over 24 hours. The usual dose is one or two 500mg tablets at a time, with a four to six hour break between doses. An investigation by The Times in November found millions of Brits were unable to access their local NHS dentist, as they were not accepting new patients. Dentists in the UK described being so inundated with targets and admin that they did not have time to focus on the dental health of their patients, resulting in a 'national disaster'. More than 400 dentists signed a letter which said the system is 'under-resourced and focused more upon experimental targets and tick boxes than patients' and was sent to The Telegraph. Dentaid, a charity which works across parts of Africa, Asia and Central America, set up its first UK-based scheme in West Yorkshire two years ago, providing low-income patients with free care. One in six areas of the UK have no dentists left taking new patients, previous research has shown. NHS dentistry is also facing a recruitment crisis, with over two thirds of practices struggling to fill vacancies, according to the British Dental Association. Theresa Ferris White, 48, developed pyoderma gangrenosum from a cat scratch A mother-of-two was left fighting for her life after developing a deadly fleshing-eating disease from a cat scratch on her breast. Theresa Ferris White, 48, developed pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) from the scratch, which happened while she was working in an animal shelter. The condition, which can be triggered by insect bites and any skin damage, struck her right breast, where she was clawed. Ms White, from Nova Scotia, Canada, who said PG caused her skin to 'slide off', had to have her rotting flesh replaced with that from a dead body. Doctors even warned her family she may not pull through. She took months off work because of her condition and has been left self-conscious as the condition still causes flare-ups of painful ulcers. Speaking about her 10-year battle with PG for the first time, she said: 'This is a very painful disease. It's a rare condition and it's hard to go through it by yourself.' Ms White was working in an animal shelter 11 years ago when she and a colleague were trying to dry one of the cats with a towel. Recalling the moment she was scratched, Ms White said: 'He started going crazy, clawing my arms and chest, when he caught right breast. 'The next day I noticed a lump on my right breast where the cat had clawed me, I kept an eye on it, as it was starting to get very painful.' Five days later, Ms White was admitted to Dartmouth General Hospital and given antibiotics through an IV drip amid fears she had an infection. Her skin had began to blister and fall away from her right breast. Doctors sent her home after she was given the antibiotics. However, Ms White had to return to the same hospital when she began vomiting and had signs of a fever. The condition, which the NHS states can be triggered by insect bites and any skin damage, struck her right breast, where she was clawed Recalling the moment she was scratched, Ms White said: 'He started going crazy, clawing my arms and chest, when he caught right breast' (stock) There she was diagnosed with PG, which is thought to be caused by an overactive immune system, according to the NHS. Fighting for her life She said: 'They decided to operate, which made the wound worse, and my skin and breast tissue began to slide off. 'I spent a month in the hospital, having my daily dressing changes as I was loosing skin and doctors thought I might not pull through. "It wasn't until I was seen by more doctors and dermatologists that I was eventually told I had pyoderma gangrenosum. 'My right breast was unrecognizable. I had lost all the skin and the top part of the tissue from my breast and it was extremely painful.' Skin from a deceased body Ms White underwent a procedure to replace her lost skin with that from a deceased human body, meaning the body is less likely to reject it. Speaking about the operation, she said: 'In April of 2007 I needed to have an operation in order for my skin to grow back again. 'The donated skin from a deceased person was traumatic to have to deal with and the surgery was very painful. Ms White who said PG caused her skin to 'slide off', had to have her rotting flesh replaced with that from a dead body. Doctors even warned her family she may not pull through WHAT IS PYODERMA GANGRENOSUM? Pyoderma gangrenosum is a rare skin condition that causes painful ulcers. Estimates suggest it strikes around one in 100,000 people. It is usually treatable but may take some time to heal and may leave some scarring. It often starts as a small pimple, red bump or blood blister. The skin then breaks down into a painful ulcer with a purple or blue edge, which may ooze fluid. The ulcer can rapidly get bigger and deeper, and several may develop in the area. If the ulcer gets infected, it can cause fever. It usually affects the legs, although it can affect any area of skin, including around the head and neck, arms and genitals. It can be fatal, if untreated. Pyoderma gangrenosum is seen in men and women of any age, but usually affects young and middle-aged adults. People with conditions including inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, blood dyscrasia, hepatitis and cancer affecting the blood cells, are at increased risk of developing it. The exact cause of pyoderma gangrenosum is not understood, but it's thought to be a reaction to a disease or illness. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement 'I have managed to keep the condition under control, treating small flare-ups quickly, but have been left with scarring on my breast. 'I have a hard time with relationships as I am very self-conscious about my appearance now.' Ms White was also diagnosed with PTSD and depression as a result of her battle with PG, which strikes one in 100,000 people, according to estimates. A supportive family Praising her partner Blaine Cruickshank, 47, Ms White added: 'He is very supportive of my PG symptoms, depression and PTSD. 'With my second flare up on the right side of my stomach, he actually did all the dressing changes every day. 'He is always telling me I'm beautiful just the way I am and he loves me for me. Always trying to build up my self-esteem. Ms White also credited her daughter, Genieve, 31, who 'has been there through it all, right from the start of this battle'. And she explained her son, Thomas, 30, 'has had a very hard time dealing with my diagnosis' because he didn't like to see her suffering. Raising awareness Ms White, who claims she was lucky to find a dermatologist who specialises in the condition, is now desperately trying to raise awareness of PG. She said: 'I wish more doctors knew about this disease so people don't have to suffer as much as I did.' CBD oil is being hailed as the 'go to' supplement of 2018. Here in a piece for Healthista, we explain what it is, who uses it and how you can get your hands on some. Jennifer Aniston takes CBD for pain, stress and anxiety. Olivia Wilde sloughs it onto her skin. Meanwhile Victorias Secret stunner Alessandra Ambrosio uses it to relax and unwind before her stomp down the runway. But what exactly is CBD oil (thats short for Cannabidiol) is it actually marijuana? What are the benefits? Are there any risks? CBD helps with pain, stress and anxiety, Jennifer Aniston told US Weekly, it has all the benefits of Marijuana without the high. If there is anything working with CBD Oil has shown me, its that there is always hope. Even for the hopeless. says Back to the Future actor Michael J. Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease at 29 years old. Not just for relaxation: Back to the Future actor Michael J. Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at 29, has said that CBD oil showed him that there is hope, 'even for the hopeless'. Maybe they're born with it, maybe it's CBD oil: Jennifer Aniston, 49, (left) at the 21st Annual Critics' Choice Awards in Los Angeles in 2016 and Olivia Wilde, 34, (right) at the UK Premiere of Horrible Bosses 2 in 2012. Both actresses are advocates of CBD oil as a natural health remedy Olivia Wilde: CBD lotion helps me relax Ive been using this body lotion that has CBD in it, Olivia Wilde told the New York Times. Recently I did a play on Broadway for six months, and my body was wrecked my neck was really tight. The CBD has relaxing benefits, and the idea is to avoid using too many painkillers. I feel like if you dont want to get high, this is a product specifically just to get rid of discomfort, said Whoopi Goldberg. Nate Diaz (Lightweight and Welterweight UFC fighter) claims; Itll make your life a better place. Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio, 37, on the catwalk during the 2017 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Shanghai Alessandra Ambrosio: It helps me sleep when Im anxious Victorias Secret Angel Alessandra Ambrosio revealed recently, The most important thing to do (to prep for the Victorias Secret Show) is to sleep eight hours the night before but its hard because the mind gets anxious, so I try CBD oil and I think it helps. These A-listers are not alone. A survey by Healthspan found that Brits have lost the knack of relaxation, with three quarters of people admitting they dont get any down or relaxation time. Three in 100 have turned to CBD oil, to help themselves calm down. Hailed as the new go-to, CBD is claimed to help lift your mood, support feelings of well-being and relaxation along with a whole host of other benefits. Cannabidiol or CBD oil naturally sourced from hemp plants, is one of the fastest growing well-being supplements in both the US and the UK says Dr Sarah Brewer (GP and medical director of Healthspan) and is perfectly legal to take. But despite its recent popularity in the US, CBD oil is still relatively unknown in Britain. CBD is a naturally sourced ingredient that is set to take centre stage in 2018 as a nutritional supplement. Although they belong to the same family, CBD oil sourced from hemp plants, is very different from CBD sourced from marijuana. In growing CBD oil, hemp plants have been bred to contain only trace amounts of THC (the ingredient prevalent in the similar marijuana cannabis plant that is associated with the so called high) that will have zero impact on your psycho-active state. CBD oil will not make you high, despite connotations from the assumption that CBD oil stems from cannabis. WHAT IS CBD OIL AND IS IT LEGAL IN THE UK? Government advisers made it legal to buy CBD supplements in 2016 CBD oil is a legal cannabinoid that can be sold in the UK. CBD contains less than 0.2 per cent of the psychoactive substance THC. Although the oil has been thought to have some medicinal properties, including relieving inflammation, pain and anxiety, there is no conclusive science. Suppliers in England and Wales have to obtain a licence to sell CBD as a medicine. Manufacturers are able to avoid the strict regulation by selling it as a food supplement - ignoring the lengthy process of gaining a medicinal licence. CBD products comes in many forms, the most popular being an oil - which users spray under their tongue - or gel tablets which melt slowly in the mouth. Government advisers at the MHRA found that CBD has a restoring, correcting or modifying effect on humans. Cannabis oil, which is different to CBD oil because it contains THC - the compound that gives users a 'high' - is illegal under UK laws. Billy Caldwell, from Castlederg, Northern Ireland, made headlines last April when he became the first Briton to be prescribed it on the NHS. Cannabis oil, which reportedly has no side effects, influences the release and uptake of feel good chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin. Advertisement What can CBD oil do? CBD does have beneficial psychological effects and is particularly helpful for reducing anxiety, promoting relaxation and restful sleep. says Dr Brewer. CBD also appears to reduce the perception of pain, and many people take it to help relieve muscle aches and pains. CBD oil relieves anxiety and stress by having a beneficial effect on the brain. It works in a natural way by enhancing the effects of other brain chemicals such as serotonin, without stimulating the receptors that make marijuana psychoactive and addictive. The effects of CBD last for around three to five hours, says Dr Brewer. After this, the dose will have fallen below levels that produce noticeable benefits, it will take one to two days for all the CBD to disappear from the body. 'For optimal results, you should take CBD at regular intervals throughout the day. Cannabidiol users claim its anti-inflammatory effects may help with joint pain and stiffness along with supplements such as glucosamine, chondroitin, turmeric and omega-3 Are there risks or side effects? its important to purchase a product made to pharmaceutical (GMP) standards to obtain a consistent dose and guaranteed purity. Multiple small studies suggest that cannabidiol (CBD) is effective and well tolerated with no significant side effects at usual doses. A recent World Health Organisation report on cannabidiol confirms that controlled human studies have not found any potential for physical dependence, withdrawal or tolerance, and that it is not associated with abuse potential. CBD oil is safe to use, but anyone who has a medical condition or who is taking prescribed medicines should check with their doctor before taking any supplement, including CBD. High doses of cannabidiol may affect the way certain drugs are metabolised in the liver. Advertisement CBD Benefit #1: JOINT PAIN The biggest motivator for taking CBD oil is for help with muscle and joint pain. If left untreated, muscle and joint ache can be detrimental to your quality of life and leave you feeling unmotivated. Although there are plenty of remedies for joint problems, people assume they cannot continue with hobbies that benefit their mental and physical health, such as walking or running. Exercise is beneficial for maintaining joint flexibility and building muscle strength, as well as supporting the oiling and regeneration of joint cartilage. CBD hemp extracts have anti-inflammatory effects on joints, that help to improve pain and stiffness, says Dr Brewer. They also have pain-relieving effects due to their interaction with certain parts of the brain. You can take CBD oil capsules in addition to other joint supplements such as glucosamine, chondroitin, turmeric or omega-3 for additional pain relief. Popular with celebs, Skin lotions, balms and salves that contain CBD are popular for easing muscle aches and joint pains. They can be used in addition to taking CBD orally to aid relaxation, reduce discomfort and fatigue, as well as promoting general feelings of wellbeing, says Dr Brewer. CBD Benefit #2: ANXIETY REDUCTION Anxiety is an increasing problem in modern life with a staggering 8.2 million cases in Britain alone, most of them women. Whether its associated with an addiction to social media, encouraging young people to compare themselves to others on a daily basis, or down to the pressures of modern life such as finding the perfect work/life balance. Cannabidiol helps to reduce muscle tension, restlessness and fatigue. Stressed out? Struggling to sleep? Experts claim cannabidiol supplements can help with relaxation In a study involving people with social anxiety, taking CBD supplements before a public speaking engagement reduced anxiety, anticipatory anxiety, social discomfort and clarified muddled thoughts significantly more than placebo. CBD may also help with the anxiety that can occur when stopping smoking, says Dr Brewer. CBD Benefit #3: PANIC ATTACK AND OCD TREATMENT Higher doses of cannabidiol are being investigated as a promising treatment for panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but should not be used except under medical supervision, adds Dr Brewer. PTSD is a result of a stressful event that is outside the realms of normal human experience. CBD Benefit #4: AIDS SLEEP CBD is a popular treatment for insomnia, Dr Brewer says. It promotes refreshing REM sleep to reduce excessive daytime sleepiness. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement, a term for deep sleep. When you dream you experience REM sleep and this is the kind of sleep we hope to get every night. Recently it has become clear that our circadian rhythms (internal body clocks that control the times of day you feel sleepy or wakeful) have a huge impact on the entirety of our health. CBD is particularly helpful for sleep disorders in people with neurological conditions such as Parkinsons disease, says Dr Sarah Brewer. But this should only be used under medical supervision, especially if you are taking any prescribed medicines. CBD oil helps to lift mood and promotes general feelings of well-being, says Dr Sarah Brewer, GP and medical director of Healthspan. CBD Benefit #5: MOOD BOOSTER 12 million adults in the UK see their GP with mental health problems each year, research from the The Mental Health Foundation has found. Most of these suffer from anxiety and depression and much of this is stress-related. A shocking 13.3 million working days are lost per year due to stress alone. CBD is believed to enhance the effects of your natural brain chemicals and receptors within the bodys own endocannabinoid system (a collection of cell receptors related to mood). CBD oil helps to lift mood and promotes general feelings of well-being, claims Dr Brewer. While CBD oil is by no means a cure for any form of stress, anxiety or depression, it can assist with symptoms and provide support to improve mood and wellbeing. Endometrisos affects 1 in 10 women of reproductive age in the UK, and has no cure. It is a condition which causes the uterus lining to grow outside of the womb, causing pain, infertility and bladder and bowel problems CBD Benefit #6: ENDOMETRIOSIS RELIEF CBD oil is a supplement that helps you relax, lifts mood and promotes general feelings of wellbeing, says Dr Brewer. Manufacturers are not allowed to make any claims relating to CBD oil, but anecdotal evidence suggests it can help to relieve discomfort in some long-term pain conditions. Some research suggests that the bodys own endocannabinoid system is involved in endometriosis pain, and cannabinoid receptors have been found in nerve fibres within endometriosis lesions. The only way to know if it will help your particular condition is to try it. This piece originally appeared on and has been reproduced with the permission of Healthista. At just 23 years old, Victoria Arlen is a Paralympic gold-medalist, host on ESPN and the face of Jockey. Looking at her impressive resume it's hard to believe that less than 10 years ago Victoria couldn't even control her own eyes, let alone move or speak. At age 11 she was struck with two autoimmune diseases that caused severe inflammation in her brain and spinal cord, triggering rapid deterioration to the point that she was in a vegetative state. On Wednesday the retired athlete from Exeter, New Hampshire, opened up about the horror of being locked in her own body for four years, completely aware but unable to assure her family that she was still there. Four-time Paralympic gold medalist and former Dancing With The Stars contestant Victoria Arlen, 23, spoke out about the four years she spent in a vegetative state on Wednesday At 11 years old rare autoimmune conditions caused Victoria's health to deteriorate rapidly to the point that she slipped into a vegetative state for three years Two years after she came out of the vegetative state Victoria swam her way to four medals at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London Growing up, Victoria was an active child who loved to dance and swim, until around 11 years old when she came down with the flu and started experiencing asthma and fainting spells that gradually escalated into paralysis. 'When I started getting sick I was just confused. I was asking why can't I get out of bed? Why can't my legs move?' she said in an interview with Megyn Kelly TODAY. Victoria's mother Jacqueline said: 'It was like a circuit board. Slowly things were getting switched off her legs were dragging, then her legs went, then her swallowing started to go and then I noticed that she was becoming less and less engaged. 'There's nothing worse in the world than watching your child deteriorate in front of your eyes.' Over the span of just two weeks Victoria was paralyzed from the waist down, and within months she slipped into a vegetative state that would last for four years as doctors struggled to understand what had caused her rapid decline. They told her parents that she would be in a vegetative state for the rest of her life, conversations that Victoria herself heard. After three years she was ultimately diagnosed her with two equally rare conditions: Transverse Myelitis and Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis. Myelitis refers to inflammation of the brain and spinal cord that damages or destroys myelin, protective substance that insulates nerve fibers, inhibiting communication between the brain and body. Some people recover from transverse myelitis with minor or no long-term problems, but most suffer permanent impairments that affect their ability to perform ordinary tasks of daily living. An estimated 33,000 Americans are living with some type of disability as a result of myelitis, which is not thought to be genetic. There is no cure for the disease, but it was later revealed that if Victoria had been diagnosed correctly when she was first hospitalized in 2006, a simple steroid treatment would have prevented the vegetative state. Victoria is pictured left just months before the autoimmune disorders triggered swelling in her brain and spinal cord and right while in the hospital when her condition was bleak Victoria and her mom Jacqueline, left, appeared on Megyn Kelly TODAY on Wednesday A movie about Victoria's experience was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival last weekend. She is pictured on the event's red carpet Today, Victoria remembers almost everything that happened during the three-year period when her parents and doctors were doubtful that she was still in her body. 'At first I didn't realize I was locked in, I had sort of a fuzzy distorted memory. 'Then all of the sudden my mom's not responding, no one's responding and I can't move my eyes. 'That's when I realized they don't know that I'm in here, they don't know that I'm locked in. 'I was terrified. There's no worse feeling than being aware but not being able to communicate or give your family any sign that you're in there.' One of the memories that stands out for Victoria was the moment she decided she was going to recover. 'We were in the ICU and the doctor walked in and said: "This is what I think she has, and you need to accept the fact that your child is going to die." And then he left. 'I saw my mom cry, and that's when I decided: "I'll be damned if this is how my story is going to end. I don't want to see that again,"' she said. Jacqueline said that the Victoria's mysterious illness was very hard on their family. 'Just because they didn't understand what was going on, they couldn't help us and we were very much alone,' she said. 'It's different if you have a diagnosis of cancer or something [doctors] understand because they wrap around and have a plan.' Before she became ill, Victoria was a very active child who loved to dance and swim. Jacqueline said it painful to watch her daughter's condition deteriorate at just 11 years old Victoria posted the photo above of her and her mom on Instagram last week By the time she was 15 in late 2009, Victoria's conditioned had worsened and she was having nonstop seizures 20 hours per day. She hadn't been sleeping so doctors gave her medication that ultimately didn't put her to sleep but did stop the seizures by targeting the neurotransmitter that had been causing them. Shortly after being given the medication, Victoria realized that she could control her eyes. 'I took a look around and was like: "This is freedom,"' she said. When her mom walked into the room Victoria locked eyes on her and tracked her, which Jacqueline quickly noticed. 'I have these big brown eyes so ever since I was a baby you could tell what I was feeling and thinking based on my eyes,' she said. Jacqueline walked over to her daughter and asked her if she could blink to send a signal that she was in there. Victoria to blinked furiously, and for the first time in years the family had hope. 'I looked in her face and there was this calmness for the first time,' Jacqueline said. For the next six months Victoria had to slowly relearn everything from wiggling a finger to making noises with her vocal cords. Because of the extensive damage to her spinal cord, Victoria's doctors said she would be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of her life, but she was determined to not let that slow her down. Victoria is pictured above splashing around in the swimming pool at a very young age In 2012 she won three silver medals and one gold in the 100-meter freestyle at the Paralympic Games in London Within less than a year of regaining control of her eyes, Victoria was back in the swimming pool. At age 17 in 2012, she competed on the USA Paralympic swim team at the London Games, bringing home three silver medals and a gold in the 100-meter freestyle, setting a world record in the event. Victoria experienced all of the swimming success from her wheelchair, which she was determined to one day get out of. 'I was told I would never walk again but I'm kind of stubborn in that sense. I mean, you're not God you cant tell me what I can and can't do,' she said. By April 2016 she proved the doctors wrong and was finally able to walk again. Last fall she even competed on Dancing With The Stars, making it to the semi-finals. Today she's a sportscaster on ESPN and recently became the face of Jockey underwear. 'By the grace of God I am in the best health I have ever been in,' she said. Victoria recently became the face of Jockey underwear, shown above in an ad campaign Postpartum depression may affect as many as 70 percent of mothers whose newborns have to be kept in intensive care units in the days following their births. Babies that end up in the unit are born early or sick (if not both), adding even more stress to new mothers whose hormonal changes already leave them vulnerable to depression. This week, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released new guidance, urging doctors to see women within three weeks after they give birth. The group's new standards are aimed at women at high risk for postpartum issues, including depression, but do not speak directly to the needs of women whose babies' first days are spent in the NICU. Women whose babies have to spend their first days in the NICU are more vulnerable to postpartum depression, but the setting may stress them more rather than provide more care Every year, about seven percent of babies born in the US wind up in the neonatal intensive care unit. Usually, these infants are there because they were born to early, with heart or breathing problems, birth defects, infections or some combination thereof. Survival rates for babies who have to stay in the NICU after birth are now quite high - somewhere around 70 percent or higher - but these numbers are unlikely to do much for their parents' peace of mind. Postpartum depression can affect men or women, but is known to affect between 10 and 15 percent of women, regardless of how healthy or not their babies were. That number nearly quadruples once babies have to spend time in the NICU, according to one 2014 study. 'People who are under stress and had premature babies clearly have higher risks for postpartum depression,' American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) president Dr Haywood Brown told Daily Mail Online. 'That's why we as OBGYNs have to avert it, screen them and not take it for granted,' he adds. 'We recommend that anybody that's had a baby early needs to be seen [by their OBGYN] within two weeks not six weeks.' Beyond the obvious stress of watching one's baby being hooked up to machines and tubes and fighting for its life, the NICU 'is a particularly challenging environment for new mothers as several natural processes are disrupted,' wrote researchers from Mercer University earlier this year. The study asked mothers what factors made the NICU such a stressful environment for them. They responded that they tended to feel poorly supported by both the medical staff and mothers and families of other NICU babies and that the NICU environment was cold and alienating. For one, the very nature of spending the first days, weeks or even months of a baby's life meant that women were more likely to miss out on or feel less a part of milestones like a first bath or more mundane, but intimate experiences like feeding. Breastfeeding, for example, has been shown in many studies to help prevent postpartum depression. Women are allowed to breastfeed in the NICU - assuming their children are not on feeding tubes - but the time and space constraints of a hospital setting mean that moms can easily miss out on meal time. So suddenly, a nurse doing her job and simply caring for a hungry baby becomes an act that alienates a mother from her child. Bedside manner and communication from the nurses and medical staff at the NICU also had a huge impact on how the mother felt. Often, the women felt excluded, 'in the way,' and out of the loop of information shared by the medical personnel. The women who got more support from doctors - and other NICU - families fared better, but for most, the physical and regulatory restrictions on the facilities were inevitably stressful. Many women reported that they were not allowed to stay the night at the hospital with their babies, and even when they were at the hospital, logistical issues like the locations and availability of bathrooms and food required them to go farther and be away from their babies longer than they would have liked. Worryingly, parents' depression risks don't end when their baby's hospital stays do, according to a study published last year. In a study of 300 infants and their parents, doctors at Children's national Health System found that nearly half - 45 percent - were depressed, anxious and stressed after they took their newborns home from the NICU. Dr Brown says that the 'majority' of hospitals with NICUs have social workers or some other personnel who can provide mental health support to women spending much of their days in the NICU. But, he acknowledges that their OBGYNs need to share this role, 'developing a relationship with their patients' - especially the high risk ones - 'where they want to talk about it.' Three of Britains biggest power firms are reserving their cheapest deals for customers who agree to have a digital smart meter installed in their home. It means that loyal British Gas, EDF Energy and First Utility customers who do not want the new technology are being denied savings of up to 111 a year. Another supplier, E.ON is forcing customers who sign up to its deals to agree to being contacted about smart meters at any time. Experts say suppliers have started using smart meter-only tariffs as the latest tactic to pressure customers into changing their meters. Loyal British Gas, EDF Energy and First Utility customers who do not want smart meters in their homes are being denied savings of up to 111 a year Suppliers have been told by the Government to try to install smart meters in all the UKs 50 million homes and businesses by the end of 2020. If they fail to do enough, they face fines of up to 7 billion. However, customers can refuse to have the new technology, and suppliers are becoming desperate to persuade more people to sign up. Last week, as part of Money Mails Stop The Smart Meter Bullying campaign, we handed the energy watchdog a dossier of damning complaints about the bullying tactics suppliers are using to get homeowners to install smart meters. We revealed that firms were misleading customers into thinking the new meters are a legal requirement, and bombarding households with calls and texts even after they have said they dont want one. Now, it has emerged that providers are locking loyal customers out of their best deals. First Utilitys cheapest tariff costs the average family 906 a year, according to figures from comparison site Energyhelpline. But it is available only to people who agree to have a smart meter installed within six months of signing up. If you do not get a smart meter in this timeframe, you will be charged an exit fee of up to 60 and moved onto a different tariff. They will then be offered First Utilitys next best deal, currently 111 more expensive at 1,017. Anyone who already has a smart meter in their home is barred altogether from signing up to the firms Smart First June 2019 tariff. At British Gas and EDF Energy, customers can only get the best deals if they have a smart meter or agree to have one installed. Suppliers have been told by the Government to try to install smart meters in all the UKs 50 million homes and businesses by the end of 2020 The cheapest tariff on offer to British Gas customers with old meters is HomeEnergy Secure Apr 2020 at 1,126 a year for the average family. This is 71 more expensive than their smart meter deal, HomeEnergy Plus Cover May 2019, at 1,197. British Gass FreeTime energy tariff which includes eight hours of free energy each Saturday, and which is said to save customers around 60 a year is also reserved for households with smart meters. EDF Energy customers without smart meters pay 1,065 a year on its Blue Price Protection tariff 65 more than homeowners with smart meters on its Easy Online May19 plan at 1,000. Meanwhile, E.ON includes a clause in the small print of its six dual-fuel tariffs that says: We may contact you at any time to offer you a smart meter. E.ON customers have sent reams of evidence to Money Mail showing how the firm has bombarded them with letters and emails about smart meters. This clause appears to give the company the green light to ignore your complaints. SSE offers two deals at 1,108 but only one of them Fix & Shop Paperless Billing requires customers to give permission to be contacted about the rollout. You are registering your interest for a Smart Meter. This means we may contact you in the future to discuss a smart meter installation as and when you become eligible, it says. Reader Stuart Cunningham received a letter from SSE saying he needed to show an interest in having a smart meter installed to switch to its cheapest tariff. It smacks of coercion, and energy providers shouldnt be allowed to act in such an underhand way, he says. Martyn James, of the complaints website Resolver, says: Smart meters once promised to be the great hope for householders wanting to reduce their bills. But their introduction has been marred by bully-boy businesses pressuring people to take them out, technical troubles, and confusion about whether theyre worth having. Offering incentives to people who take out smart meters is fine as long as it doesnt create a two-tier system where older and more vulnerable people once again pay the price for not switching. An EDF Energy spokeswoman said: We are trialling a number of ways to encourage customers to have a smart meter installed, and including the opportunity in one of our most competitively priced tariffs is just one of them. A spokesman for First Utility says: As part of the Government roll-out, we are looking at a number of ways to engage customers who dont have a smart meter yet, and this offer is about helping to do that. We make it clear when customers are free to change their mind. An E.ON spokesman said: If customers do not want a smart meter, they can contact us. A spokesman for SSE said: Customers are not obliged to have a smart meter installed. If a customer tells us they dont want to receive communications relating to smart meters then we will flag this in our customer database. The clause in the contract is the equivalent of marketing consent, a common practice in most sectors. Robert Cheesewright, of Smart Energy GB, which promotes the roll-out, says: Its a win-win situation if you can get a cheaper tariff and a smart meter at the same time. A spokesman for British Gas declined to comment. s.smyth@dailymail.co.uk Drivers in Wales will see the introduction of 50mph speed limits over five stretches of road, including two sections of the M4, as part of a wider government plan to tackle emissions. These temporary speed limits are expected to come into force in June and are aimed to reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels on roads where levels are currently above legal limits. The Welsh government claims the speed limits should reduce emissions by up to 18 per cent. They will be introduced on the A494 at Deeside, A483 at Wrexham, M4 between junctions 41 and 42 Port Talbot, M4 at Newport and on the A470 between Upper Boat and Pontypridd. Speed limits: The Welsh government claims they should reduce emissions by up to 18% The measures are part of the Welsh government's 20m Clean Air Fund, which include the creation of 'Clean Air Zones', where access for the most polluting vehicles is either restricted or banned. The Welsh Government said the fund should help local authorities to comply with nitrogen dioxide limits and improve air quality in their areas. Public consultations on the proposals have begun today and come after the High Court ordered ministers to act after they failed to meet EU targets on air pollution. Minister for Environment Hannah Blythyn said: 'We will encourage local authorities to introduce Clean Air Zones, where evidence suggests they are needed to reduce harmful emissions, as well as launching a new website which allows people to check the air quality in their area.' RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said that they were supportive of the creation of Clean Air Zones but said the decision to introduce speed limits was 'questionable'. New 50 mph speed limits A494 at Deeside (from B5125 St David's Interchange to A458 Deeside Park, 5.9km) (from B5125 St David's Interchange to A458 Deeside Park, 5.9km) A483 at Wrexham (from J5 Mold Rd to J6, Gresford, 2.6km) (from J5 Mold Rd to J6, Gresford, 2.6km) M4 between junctions 41 and 42 Port Talbot (extending the current 50mph section, from Baglan to Earlswood, 5km) (extending the current 50mph section, from Baglan to Earlswood, 5km) M4 at Newport (to the east of J25 to J26, 1.4km) (to the east of J25 to J26, 1.4km) A470 between Upper Boat and Pontypridd (to A4058 roundabout, 4.2km) 'Air quality clearly needs to be improved, but it's questionable whether reducing the speed limit to 50mph on two stretches of the M4 in Wales which are regularly subject to major jams is likely to make a difference to harmful nitrogen dioxide levels,' he said. 'Slowing down traffic can help to improve flow, but if there are simply too many vehicles for the road space, then jams are still likely to occur so this is as much a question of capacity as anything else. 'The issue affecting these two areas, which are both close to urban areas, must be solved in the long term not just temporarily, if indeed the speed limit reduction has the desired effect.' Emissions: The High Court ordered ministers to act after they failed to meet EU targets Under the measures, a new website will allow people to check live air quality information for their area and provide local data on current and forecasted air pollution levels, as well as historical data. Lyes added: 'A website indicating air quality in local areas is extremely positive news, but consideration should be given to extending these to electronic roadside signs so motorists are made aware of air quality issues where they actually occur. 'Increasing awareness among motorists of this problem will help to change behaviour. 'The RAC is supportive of anti-idling measures which encourage drivers to switch off their engines or engage stop-start technology as this is a relatively simple solution to immediate improve air quality. 'We would encourage Welsh authorities to adopt such measures.' Soon after Catalonian bankers Sabadell spent 1.7billion on buying TSB, two executives came a-calling and gave a demonstration of the brilliance of the bank's online service. Out came the smartphones and on a single screen we were shown how customers could access all financial needs, from mortgages to current accounts and deposits. Funds could be moved between accounts and savings products or to pay bills at a touch of the screen. Even to a technophobe this looked like the kind of banking that British consumers deserved. If TSB could replicate what Sabadell claimed they were doing, it could jump ahead of other banks offering online services. TSB's online banking plan turned into a nightmare after the system it got from new owners Banco Sabadell failed leaving customers frozen out of their accounts One cannot blame TSB chief executive Paul Pester for chasing this goal. He had real incentive to do so in that TSB remained a prisoner of Lloyds Bank, paying its previous owner 200million a year to run IT. TSB has wooed customers with promises of transparency and consumer friendly offerings and had been preparing to replicate Sabadell's digital model in the UK. What persuaded Pester and his colleagues to cancel the Lloyds contract and press ahead with the Sabadell model before it was fully confident that it would work is a mystery. Large scale tech migrations have a habit of going wrong and that is why responsible managements go slowly and keep back-up systems running. TSB is not the first enterprise to get its IT wrong. In recent times Barclays had trouble when it moved equity customers onto its Smart Investor system. Royal Bank of Scotland had serious problems with its legacy IT systems and confessed to failure when it couldn't migrate RBS customers in England onto a new Williams & Glyn platform. TSB thought it was smarter than anyone else and the result has been catastrophic. Customer privacy has been trashed, bills have remained unpaid, debit and credit cards have been rendered worthless, mortgage deals have unravelled. Triathlete Pester urgently must restore order and stop customers from fleeing elsewhere. The bank cannot escape offering compensation to all those out of pocket and may have suffered trauma. He should then consider his own position. The authorities bear responsibility for a starry-eyed welcome of Sabadell to the UK when directors were looking to escape from a messy Catalonia divorce from Spain. And TSB needs to show it has a robust UK board willing to stand up to Spanish masters. Fibre push Chief executive Greg Mesch of Cityfibre cannot be blamed for enthusiastically accepting a bid from infrastructure funds Anton and Goldman Sachs' West Street. The premium to Tuesday's opening share price is 87 per cent and shows again that many London stocks are undervalued. The real worth to Cityfibre and its broadband partner Vodafone is the access to capital, which will allow the group to pursue its ambition of controlling up to 20 per cent of the UK's superfast broadband, throwing down the gauntlet to BT. Cityfibre is less regulated than BT and is able to take advantage of existing ducts in cities and towns, ranging from Edinburgh to Milton Keynes, to lay its fibre. BT reckons it would take 30billion of investment to cover the country with fibre and that would be impossible given current pricing constraints imposed by Ofcom. Chairman Jan du Plessis is on a mission to win government support for a great push forward. Blame game Much of what has gone on at Melrose in the past has been under the public radar. Not any longer. Added to the commitments the company has already made about not selling aerospace for five years, it has now had to sign up to national security stipulations. The company may seek to throw up flak by accusing the previous GKN management of wasting shareholder funds on bid defences. But if the super-rich Melrose bosses hadn't gone hostile in the first place such costs would not have arisen. Perhaps Chris Miller and friends should subtract the 'surprise' extra costs from their future bonus pot. No chance. Party time: British Airways boss Alex Cruz is looking forward to the firm's centenary British Airways Alex Cruz, 52, the 1.36million a-year bearded hombre whos overseen the once great brands steady demise, boasts: British Airways is such a great place to work. Were currently enjoying planning the celebrations for our centenary next year. An ageing BA ground staffer sniffs: Weve been warned to brace for some hefty redundancies next month, so hell forgive us were hardly in the mood for celebrating. Metro Bank investors are unhappy at the lavish 21million fees paid to hammy chairman Vernon Hills wife Shirley for architectural, design and branding. Redoubtable Shirley, a no-nonsense blonde with an eye for fancy schmutter, is not one of lifes scrimpers. After designing one of her hubbys banks in Philadelphia, Vern, 72, joked: I gave her an unlimited budget and she exceeded it. Deposed WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrells wedding anniversary in Rome was according to friends ruined by recent misconduct allegations, as he spent most of his time communicating with his advisers. How did that differ from the rest of the famous workaholics rare sojourns? Former WPP chairman Philip Laders wife Linda once sat behind Sorrell at Wimbledon, whispering to her husband after the match: Did he ever look up from his Blackberry? Hounded from his role in the Trump administration last month, ex-Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn, 57, is now touted as a possible chairman of Citigroup. After his humiliating experience at the White House, he might feel theres more mischief to be had in the same role at Deutsche Bank, where Paul Achleitner is vulnerable over the John Cryan sacking fiasco. Cohns tormentor Donald Trump still owes the German lender over 200million. Regarding the meltdown at TSB, spare the smallest of thoughts for the banks effervescent head of communications, Charlotte Sjoberg, 36. Shes been juggling phone calls about the spectacular failure of the banks IT upgrade with being seven months pregnant. She was hardly helped by TSBs owner Banco Sabadell issuing an idiotic press release bragging about the new systems successful completion. Enough to make even a Franciscan nun go into labour. Smyths has bought 93 shops and four online stores from Toys R Uss German division Smyths is preparing to close in on the hole left by Toys R Us in Europe after snapping up its operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The Irish toys retailer has bought 93 shops and four online stores for an undisclosed sum from Toys R Uss German division marking its first move into mainland Europe. Smyths has 110 stores across the UK and Ireland and plans to keep on all Toys R Uss staff and management. The retailer was founded by four brothers in 1986 who continue to run the business. Toys R Us is preparing to close its remaining stores in the UK after falling into administration in February. The tycoon waging war on BTs dominance of UK broadband is set for a 10million payday after his firm was taken over by Goldman Sachs for nearly 540million. Greg Mesch, the boss of Cityfibre, will pocket the cash in exchange for his 12m shares in the company. Other top investors who will make millions include Invesco and funds run by Neil Woodford and Crispin Odey. Greg Mesch, the boss of Cityfibre, will pocket 10m in exchange for his 12m shares in the Cityfibre after it was taken over by Goldman Sachs for nearly 540m Goldmans consortium of West Street Infrastructure Partners and Antin Infrastructure Partners yesterday said they planned to buy Cityfibre for 81p per share a 93 per cent premium on its Monday closing price. Mesch said the deal would supercharge his companys building efforts and heap further pressure on its arch-rival, BT. Cityfibre, which makes its money from providing cable infrastructure, is in a race with the telecoms giant to lay cutting-edge internet cables across the country. Mesch, 58, said: Britain relies on Victorian-era cables for its broadband network and that has to change. Weve been building our business here now for seven years and our mantra is still the same the UK needs to break its dependence on BT. Goldman Sachs is one of the largest infrastructure investors in the world, so we will now have as much capital to bring to bear on this problem as BT does. Mesch has led the charge in Cityfibres battle against BT, with both companies pledged to give millions of homes and businesses fibre-optic internet connections the best kind available by the mid-2020s. At the moment most households still rely on copper wires for their phone and internet services, with Openreach, BTs cables arm, managing them and charging providers such as Sky, Talk Talk and Vodafone for using the network. Cityfibre has sought to snatch market share from Openreach by building fibre-optic networks in areas where the service is not available, with Mesch positioning his company as the alternative provider to its much bigger competitor. The straight-talking American, who lives with his wife Niamh and their three children in North London, will remain in his post for at least five more years under the proposed takeover. He has spent the past 25 years building broadband networks in Europe and founded Cityfibre in 2011 with business partner Mark Collins. The company has grown rapidly and now controls fibre networks in more than 40 UK cities and towns. Its efforts won a major vote of confidence last year when it was hired by Vodafone to provide fibre connections to 1m homes and businesses by 2020. News of Cityfibres proposed takeover sent shares soaring by 88 per cent, or 36.8p, to 78.8p. However, Guy Peddy, an analyst as Macquarie, claimed the deal significantly undervalued the business. Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska aluminium firm EN+ has been hit by US sanctions More senior bosses have deserted Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaskas sanctions-hit aluminium firm EN+. Chief executive Vladislav Solovyev, 44, and finance chief Andrey Yashchenko, 44, have both stepped down in the wake of US sanctions slapped on the firm three weeks ago. David Camerons former energy minister Lord Barker remains as chairman. Despite pressure to step down Barker, 52, has so far maintained that he plans to stay on to protect the interests of minority shareholders. He was hired last October to help reassure the City as EN+ listed on the London Stock Exchange. Shares have been suspended in the wake of the sanctions. Yesterday EN+ appointed Mikhail Khardikov as chief finance officer and Vyacheslav Solomin as chief executive. The US announced sanctions on Deripaska and his eight companies including EN+, along with other Russian individuals and firms, in response to malign activities by Russia and Deripaskas closeness to Putin. It sent reverberations around the world as Deripaskas business empire includes the worlds second largest aluminium producer Rusal and counts major international companies as customers. Ivan Glasenberg, the billionaire chief executive of mining titan Glencore, has quit the board of Rusal. Glencore also stopped plans to swap its 8.75 per cent stake in Rusal for a stake in EN+. EN+ independent director Dominique Fraisse and non-executive director Guang Ming Zhao have also both stepped down from the board. Victims of Britains biggest mis-selling scandal are having their compensation claims rejected by computers. Money Mail can reveal that the Financial Ombudsman Service is relying on computer software to decide whether banks should pay redress to people who were flogged payment protection insurance (PPI) alongside their credit cards or loans. We have seen documents in which senior figures at the Ombudsman, which settles disputes between banks and customers, state that PPI case documents are fed into a computer programme which generates a suggested outcome. They admit that although staff can make decisions on whether to force banks to pay redress, they almost always use the verdict spewed out by the computer. The Financial Ombudsman Service is relying on computer software to decide whether banks should pay redress to people who were flogged PPI alongside their credit cards or loans In the documents, a manager admits his staff are so reliant on this technology that even the phrases in the letters sent to inform PPI victims of the decision are being generated by the computer. It is the latest controversy to hit the Ombudsman after an undercover probe last month revealed that overwhelmed staff were throwing out PPI complaints to clear an enormous backlog. It comes as record numbers of bank and credit card customers rush to claim compensation ahead of the August 2019 deadline for PPI claims. Figures published last week showed 1.55 million people asked their bank for redress in the last six months of 2017 equal to one every four seconds. That was a 40 per cent rise on the same period in 2016 and the highest total for four years. Yet the number of people winning PPI mis-selling cases after taking their complaint to the Ombudsman which steps in after customers have been fobbed off by banks has plunged from seven in ten in 2015 to just three in ten this year. Marc Gander, of the Consumer Action Group, which has campaigned for years for victims of the PPI scandal, says that using computers to make decisions is a breach of trust. People who appeal to the Ombudsman believe their case is being considered by a human, he says. But this suggests that the Ombudsman is applying little judgment before throwing out cases. People who have been refused compensation should write to the Ombudsman and ask whether the decision was made by a computer and if so demand it is reconsidered by a human. The workings of decision-making at the Ombudsman were laid bare at an employment tribunal case in February. The ruling has been seen by Money Mail. A new campaign from the FCA urging people to claim PPI was launched last month The documents show a former staff member tried to claim compensation for constructive dismissal after he was moved from investigating complex cases of investment mis-selling to PPI rulings. He argued that working on PPI cases was lower status as it demanded less intellectual judgment because workers relied on a computer programme called Navigator to make decisions. Richard Whinder, a manager at the Ombudsman, says in the ruling that an adjudicator would obtain documents from a complainant and the bank or credit card company. He adds: The adjudicator would enter it (the documents) into Navigator, which gives a suggested outcome. I have not seen a case yet where the adjudicator disagreed with the outcome. Mr Whinder told the tribunal that he could only assume that Navigator was an accurate system. He added that Navigator produces suggested paragraphs for the letters sent to customers with the outcome of the case. The judge ruled that it was self evident that the level of intellectual input from adjudicators using Navigator will be lower than in cases where they are required to make an assessment and draft adjudication letters from scratch. PPI was widely sold alongside credit cards, loans and store cards in the Nineties and 2000s. The insurance was supposed to pay out if someone fell ill or lost their job and was unable to make repayments. But many customers were ineligible to claim because they were self-employed or suffered from an existing illness. Banks have so far paid out 30 billion for mis-selling and are desperate to turn off the compensation tap. Customers who believe they were mis-sold must initially contact their bank or credit card company with their complaint. But at some banks, as many as eight in ten claims are rejected. The next step is to approach the Ombudsman. The service gets around 3,000 PPI complaints a week and is understood to be struggling to cope. In an undercover probe by Channel Four Dispatches in March, employees admitted making decisions without investigating properly. They said they were under pressure to hit targets and threatened with losing pay-rises and promotions. Some said they leaned towards rejecting complaints as this was quicker than challenging banks. The Ombudsman has since launched an investigation into the allegations. In documents submitted to the Treasury Select Committee, which is also examining the findings, experts queried some of the rulings. In some cases, the Ombudsman has ruled that a bank did not treat a customer fairly when it sold them PPI, but has allowed the firm to avoid paying compensation. This happens when the Ombudsman decides the customer would have taken the cover anyway. In one case, an MBNA customer had his claim rejected for PPI sold alongside a credit card in the Nineties, despite the Ombudsman ruling that the credit card provider did not give him sufficient information about the costs, benefits, exclusions and limitations affecting the cover in a clear, fair and not misleading way. A spokesman for the Ombudsman says: Firms have learned from our feedback and decisions, which means more people now get the right answer and fair compensation directly from a business. Where that doesnt happen, we look at the facts of each individual case before giving an answer and the sophisticated support tools weve developed help us do that consistently and fairly. It adds that Navigator was used by the more junior adjudicators and not in cases where the customer went on to challenge the Ombudsmans decision. r.lythe@dailymail.co.uk Whitbread has announced plans to demerge Costa Coffee from Premier Inn, following the recent arrival of activist investors Elliott Advisors on the shareholder register. The group said the break up, which will see Costa listed separately on the stock market, will be completed in two years. Whitbread will remain the owner and operator of Premier Inn. It comes after Elliott revealed only a few weeks ago it had acquired a 6 per cent stake in the group, becoming the largest shareholder. The US hedge fund has been pushing for a break-up in the belief this would increase share prices. Break up: Costa Coffee will be listed separately on the stock market Shares in the FTSE 100 listed company fell 1.5 per cent, or 64p, to 4,122p in morning trading. Whitbread chief executive Alison Brittain said the separation will create 'long-term value' for stakeholders. She added: 'Given the progress Whitbread is making, we are confident that both Premier Inn and Costa will soon be businesses of sufficient strength, scale and capability to enable them to thrive as independent companies. 'The board, therefore, believes that it is in the best long-term interests of Whitbread's many stakeholders to separate Premier Inn and Costa, via a demerger of Costa.' Costa is thought to be worth between 2billion and 3billion on a standalone basis while Premier Inn is valued at up to 8billion. Alongside the announcement, Whitbread reported annual sales growth of 6.1 per cent to 3.3billion while pre-tax profits rose 6.4 per cent to 548million. Annual figures also showed that Costa booked a 1.2 per cent rise in like for like sales over the year, ahead of expectations. Withbread chief executive Alison Brittain said the separation will create 'long-term value' for stakeholders Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'The break-up will provide each of the two emerging companies with greater strategic focus on their own goals, and will allow investors to choose which of the two distinct brands they actually want exposure to. 'There are issues to addressed, such as the pension scheme and the process of setting up a separate board, though the 24 month target for the demerger allows plenty of time for these matters to be resolved. He also noted that the split could lead to a shake-up of the top brass at Whitbread and added: 'Elliott and Sachem Head will no doubt still try to influence proceedings, particularly in respect of the timing of the split, as two years is longer than they would have wanted for the deal to be completed. 'Indeed the fairly lengthy timeline looks very much like Whitbread's attempt to maintain control of proceedings. In essence management has agreed to go with the flow, but isn't relinquishing command of the vessel.' Boohoo has seen profits jump 40 per cent and sales nearly double as it keeps benefiting from an unstoppable shift towards online shopping and recent acquisitions. The online fashion retailer, whose designs are popular with twentysomethings, reported a 97 per cent increase in revenue to 579.8million in the year to the end of February, while pre-tax profit rose 40 per cent to 43.3million. Boohoo said growth was helped by its recent acquisition of PrettyLittleThing, which saw sales jump by a whopping 228 per cent to 181.3million. Shares in Boohoo rose 14 per cent to 176p following the annual results. Sunny: Boohoo is cashing in on shoppers increasingly shopping online, especially for clothes The firm, like its bigger online rival Asos, is cashing in on shoppers increasingly shopping online, especially for clothes. The online shift has contributed to the decline of traditional fashion stores on the high street, which have seen sales slump as they struggle to attract customers. Last week Debenhams reported a 52 per cent slump in first-half profit and warned on the full-year outlook for the second time in four months. Last month, New Look agreed a deal with creditors to shut 60 of its 788 shops and axe 980 jobs in exchange for continued financial support. Boohoo joint bosses Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane said the results had been achieved against the backdrop of difficult trading in the UK clothing sector. They added: The group made great progress during the year, integrating a new company, PrettyLittleThing, and a new brand, Nasty Gal, into the boohoo group. Revenue from boohoo continued to grow strongly, whilst there has been an exceptional performance from PrettyLittleThing, and Nasty Gal exceeded our estimates in its first year. Our international business showed higher growth rates and we are pleased with its gathering momentum. Boohoo said it now has 6.4million active customers, up 22 per cent on last year. Earlier this year Boohoo raised 50million to help fund a new warehouse which would nearly double its existing storing capacity, in a bid to keep up with soaring demand. The 'automated super-site' will provide Boohoo with more than 2billion of sales capacity. It's a tale of two markets for Britain's property sector, with housebuilders on the up and estate agents in the doldrums. Estate agency chain Countrywide reported a 10 per cent drop in revenue in the first quarter, driven by a slump in house sales. That probably wasn't too much of a shock to shareholders: last month it scrapped its dividend as it reported losses of more than 200million. Housebuilder Persimmon, on the other hand, reported 'robust' figures for the first three months of the year, with demand for new homes soaring. Housebuilder Persimmon reported 'robust' figures for the first three months of the year, with demand for new homes soaring The FTSE 100 firm may be facing a revolt from shareholders over executive pay, but it is flying. It reported total forward sales revenue, which includes completions, of 2.76billion up 8 per cent year-on-year. In a note published last week, analysts at broker Peel Hunt said: 'The February and March results season did little to change our bullish view on the UK's new housing market. It also did little to change our more cautious view on transactions in the second-hand housing market. 'News flow from the housebuilders has been consistently robust, while the estate agents have been struggling with softer volumes.' Stock Watch - Feedback Shares in Feedback spiked after it inked a software licence and distribution agreement with General Electric Healthcare. The deal gives GE the global rights to distribute Feedbacks medical imaging analysis software, Texrad, with India first on the list. Used by 40 research institutions worldwide, it allows researchers to analyse the textures in radiological scans to detect the presence of cancer. Shares rocketed 71.2 per cent, or 1.3p, to 3.15p. Countrywide's shares slid 3.8 per cent, or 3.9p, to 98.1p, while Persimmon climbed 0.2 per cent, or 4p, to 2694p. The FTSE 100 was dragged lower by basic materials producers and technology stocks, ending the day down 0.62 per cent, or 46.08 points, at 7379.32, while the FTSE 250 was down 0.87 per cent, or 176.23 points, at 20,019.08. Anglo American warned profits would be up to 290million lower in 2018 because a burst pipe in an iron ore mine in Brazil halted production. It is carrying out an inspection at the site and is not expecting production to restart for at least another 90 days. Shares fell 4.2 per cent, or 72.6p, to 1675p. Antofagasta reported a 10.5 per cent fall in copper production and a whopping 39.4 per cent slide in gold production in the first quarter. But despite the fall, the firm says it is on course to meet full-year production guidance. Shares dipped 1.8 per cent, or 17.4p, to 960p. A strengthening pound dealt a blow to drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline. It reported a 2 per cent fall in turnover to 7.2billion and a 29 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to 1.1billion. Shares fell 3.4 per cent, or 50p, to 1412.2p. In the small caps, shares in struggling Carpetright jumped after it emerged hedge fund Meditor Capital Management had increased its stake in the firm. Meditor now holds 29.9 per cent in Carpetright, just shy of the threshold at which it would be forced to make a formal bid. Carpetright shares rose 5.3 per cent, or 1.9p, to 38p. On Aim, Crawshaw shares avoided the butcher's cleaver despite disappointing sales. The butcher posted a 13.5million loss in the year to January 28, resulting largely from a 10.6million writedown in the value of its 40 underperforming high street shops. But out-of-town factory outlets are doing better and Crawshaw plans more of them. Shares rose 11 per cent, or 0.5p, to 5.05p. It was a good day of trading for the UK's small drug firms. Futura Medical shares rose following 'highly encouraging' results for its erectile dysfunction gel. The trial suggests that its gel, MED2002, works faster than Viagra. Someone clearly dumped a bucket of MED2002 on Futura shares, which rose 8.5 per cent, or 2.75p, to 32.25p. The EU granted Aim-listed drug firm ValiRx a patent for its prostate cancer treatment, and shares ticked up 15.2 per cent, or 0.48p, to 3.6p. Facebook shares climbed more than 5 per cent after the market closed last night as it reported sales of 8.5billion for the start of 2018. It represented a revenue boost of nearly 50 per cent at the tech giant which is now raking in 96million a day for the three months to the end of March. Profits rose 63 per cent to nearly 3.6billion. Facebook shares climbed more than 5 per cent after the market closed last night as it reported sales of 8.5billion for the start of 2018 Facebook also said the number of people logging on each day rose 13 per cent to 2.2billion. It comes as the social network is trying to recover from weeks of bad publicity caused by a data scandal. Last month it was accused of allowing British firm Cambridge Analytica to hoover up information on 87m people. This was then allegedly used to target voters in the US presidential election. It sparked outrage and led to a series of apologies to users and politicians from Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder. Last night the 33-year-old, estimated to be worth 46billion, said: 'Despite facing important challenges, our community and business are off to a strong start in 2018. We are taking a broader view of our responsibility and investing to make sure our services are used for good. But we also need to keep building new tools to help people connect, strengthen our communities and bring the world closer together.' Last night's figures smashed Wall Street's expectations and shares in the company, which have fallen 9.5 per cent this year, were up 5.5 per cent to $168.50 after the bell. There was speculation Facebook's advertising revenues could be hit amid outrage over its handling of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which caused some advertisers to boycott it. However reports about the issue only surfaced in the final two weeks of the period covered by last night's earnings report. The company revealed it boosted its headcount by nearly 50 per cent, to 27,700, as well. It is hiring more staff to help spot extremist and abusive content. By contrast, hours earlier, shares in rival social network Twitter slid after it warned revenues would fall and costs go up because of its work to tackle hate speech and abuse. Warnings: Andrew Bailey spoke out against Brussels's protectionism The boss of the City watchdog has rebuked Brussels for its determination to put up barriers for finance firms after Brexit. Andrew Bailey spoke out against protectionism at the annual City Week conference yesterday, warning it will only hurt businesses inside the European Union if they are cut off from London's world-leading markets. Bailey said: 'Unfortunately, I have heard the argument made that the best way to preserve financial stability would be to become less open. 'Let me reiterate, to do this means restricting the activity of parties in the EU.' Bailey praised officials under Prime Minister Theresa May for negotiating a transition deal which means nothing will change until the end of 2020, and for tweaking the rules to avoid disruption this side of the Channel. But he added the EU should make more efforts to adjust its own rules. Thousands of Armenian-Americans took to the streets of Los Angeles on Tuesday to commemorate the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire a century ago. The demonstrations came hours after Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned following 10 days of large anti-government protests in that country. Marchers in Los Angeles demanded that the 1.5million deaths starting in 1915 be recognized by Turkey as genocide. Although Armenians and many historians consider it to be genocide, Turkey - successor of the Ottoman Empire - contends those who died were victims of civil war and unrest. Los Angeles demonstrators waved Armenian and American flags and carried signs that read '1915 never again' and 'Turkish denial must end.' Thousands attend a march in Hollywood, Calif., on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, to commemorate the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide The demonstrations came hours after Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned following 10 days of large anti-government protests in that country The demonstrators waved the Armenian and American flags and carried signs Demonstrators protest outside the Turkish Consulate during a march and rally commemorating the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian genocide People attend a ceremony marking the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide Mayor Eric Garcetti is speaking at the BANC of CALIFORNIA Stadium ribbon ceremony, the new home of the LA Football Club in Expo Park in Los Angeles on April 18, 2018 Marie Keshishian, an 18-year-old student at Glendale College, said all four of her great-great grandparents were killed in the genocide and that she was marching in their honor. 'I'm out here today to march for justice, to march for recognition, to march for the people - my ancestors, my great-great grandparents who lost their lives ... to hopefully get more people to recognize and accept that there was a genocide,' Keshishian said. Andrew Antaramian, a 32-year-old Pasadena attorney, said he joins in the marches every year to honor his ancestors, who fled Armenia and escaped death. 'It's important to always commemorate what our ancestors have gone through because if this is not going to occur again, we have to remind the world what our people went through,' he said. Armenian Genocide: Hanging on tripods. Systematic killing of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I, 1915 - 1923. Also known as Armenian Holocaust Armenian Orphans are being deported in 1915, at time of Armenian Genocide Henry Morgenthau included this photograph in his 1918 book Ambassador Morgenthau's Story with the following caption: 'Scenes like this were common all over the Armenian provinces in the spring and summer months of 1915' Mayor Eric Garcetti marched alongside demonstrators, saying in a speech that the genocide was 'a human tragedy.' 'To be a part of the human family we must accept our tragedies,' Garcetti said. 'And all of us will say, 'Never again.'' City Attorney Mike Feuer told demonstrators that 'today here in Los Angeles, we are all Armenians.' 'Look around,' he said as the crowd cheered. 'You are the answer to Hitler.' Kim Kardashian West, one of the most famous Armenian-Americans in the U.S., tweeted an old photo of herself in Armenia and praised global demonstrations calling for the genocide to be recognized. 'It's so inspiring to see all Armenians united in peaceful protests making a difference,' she said. 'It's a historic day for Armenia.' Armenian-Americans march in protest through the Little Armenia neighborhood of Hollywood, California on April 24, 2018 Thousands attend a march in Hollywood, Calif., on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, to commemorate the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide A terrified witness captured the moment a driver recklessly used his mobile phone while swerving his car between lanes, almost causing multiple collisions during peak-hour traffic. The startling moment, which lasted about 30 minutes, was captured on camera by Angela Cooke, a passenger of the car the dangerous driver was tailgating. The driver appeared to be looking down at his mobile phone while the car moved in and out of the lane and towards the barriers. Scroll down for video A terrified witness captured the moment a driver recklessly used his mobile phone while swerving his car between lanes (pictured) during peak-hour traffic The startling moment, which lasted about 30 minutes, was captured on camera by Angela Cooke, a passenger of the car which the dangerous driver (pictured) was tailgating Seeming unphased, the driver - who was wearing dark sunglasses - continued to drive the car with his right hand on the wheel along the Perth highway. The frightened passenger shared the two minute video to a Facebook group where she claimed the 'd***head was on his phone and nearly hit us a dozen times'. '(We) had a pretty scary experience,' Ms Cooke wrote. At one point the hazardous driver, who was driving a dark coloured Holden sedan, appeared to shove a couple of notes under his watch and showed passing drivers during the incident last week. A voice could be heard during the video saying: 'This is driving me nuts, f***ing hell'. The passenger told 7 News the incident was 'scary' because the car came 'really really close', forcing her to film the act in case he hit their car. The frightened passenger shared the two minute video to a Facebook group where she claimed the 'd***head was on his phone (left) and nearly hit us (right) a dozen times' 'He was swerving all over the road,' Ms Cooke said. 'He nearly hit the barrier, he was trying to get into the next lane, cutting people off.' Western Australian Police have reportedly been handed the footage. Controversial Muslim activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied appears to have gained support on Twitter for the #lestweforgetmanus campaign she infamously kicked off last year. On Friday Ms Abdel-Magied retweeted a suggestion for thousands of people to tweet 'Lest we forget (Manus)' on April 25. And her call hasn't gone unanswered. On Friday Ms Abdel-Magied retweeted a suggestion for thousands of people to tweet 'Lest we forget (Manus)' on April 25. 'And think about paying respect to Australia's obligations under the Convention against Torture #Lestweforgetmanus #Nauru,' one person tweeted. '#LestWeForget We're told to remember wars that weren't of our making We're told to remember the history of other nations While we ignore our own genocide & ethnic cleansing Wake up people #LestWeForgetAboriginals #LestWeForgetManus #LestWeForgetNauru,' tweeted another. Others put their spin on the hashtag - but sent the same message. '#AnzacDay Let's remember the horror of #Manus and Nauru where Australian government ministers inflict daily cruelty on vulnerable fellow human beings. Reflect on the lack of humanity in this nation.' Last year, the Sudanese-born former engineer was slammed nationally for her 'disrespectful' and 'malicious' comment after she used the national day to draw attention to other conflicts across the world. 'And think about paying respect to Australia's obligations under the Convention against Torture #Lestweforgetmanus #Nauru,' one person tweeted. Last year, the Sudanese-born former engineer was slammed nationally for her 'disrespectful' and 'malicious' comment after she used the national day to draw attention to other conflicts across the world Ms Abdel-Magied retweeted a suggestion for thousands of people to tweet 'Lest we forget (Manus)' on April 25 'Lest we forget (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine)', Ms Abdel-Magied infamously wrote on Anzac Day 2017. The Brisbane-raised writer moved to London months after the heated backlash she received following the Twitter post - which she quickly deleted. 'It was brought to my attention that my last post was disrespectful, and for that, I apologise unreservedly,' she said. However, on Remembrance Day just seven months later, the Muslim activist was again slammed for a similar post: '#LestWeForget (Manus)'. The former Queensland Young Australian of the Year was last week denied entry into the United States at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport because she didn't have a work visa. She suggested U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials sent her back to London because of her skin colour. The Brisbane-raised writer moved to London months after the heated backlash she received following the Twitter post - which she quickly deleted 'Lest we forget (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine)', Ms Abdel-Magied infamously wrote on Anzac Day 2017 In a satellite chat from London, she made the claim to Pen America, who had planned to pay her to deliver two New York lectures titled, 'No Country For Young Muslim Women'. 'If you are, again, a person of privilege in terms of you are a white, straight male, for example, going through border security you have a sense of, kind of, assuredness that the system has your back,' she told American Muslim activist Amani Al-Khatahtbeh on Wednesday night. However, U.S Customs said Abdel-Magied was deported for having a tourist and business conference visa, known as a B1-B2, instead of a working visa. Ms Abdel-Magied, a Sudanese-born former ABC-TV host, said minorities often feared for their lives going through border security. 'It's a very different experience as a person like that who is accustomed to understanding their place in the world versus someone who has never known that there is a very real danger to their lives and their livelihood because of the situation at hand,' she said. Police have arrested a man suspected of shooting two Dallas police officers following a major manhunt. Armando Juarez, 29, is accused of shooting the cops and a loss prevention officer at around 4.30pm on Tuesday in the Home Depot in Dallas, Texas, before fleeing in a white Ford truck. Juarez was detained on Tuesday evening after a high-speed chase and is now in custody. Scroll down for video. Armando Juarez, 29, is accused of shooting the cops and a loss prevention officer at around 4.30pm on Tuesday in the Home Depot in Dallas, Texas, before fleeing in a white Ford truck. He is seen in a police mug shot released before his arrest, and in store surveillance camera video The white Ford truck cops say Juarez used to drive away from the Home Depot in Dallas following the incident. It is seen here in surveillance camera footage released by Dallas PD Home Depot employees comfort one another outside the store in Dallas following the shooting on Tuesday Dallas Police Department said on Tuesday evening the two officers had been taken out of surgery at Presbyterian Hospital. The condition of the loss prevention officer is still not known. A local news channel previously quoted 'multiple sources' saying one of the officers had died. A police spokesman said the two officers were called to Home Depot by the loss prevention officer this afternoon. According to an employee, Mercedes Espinosa, the cops tried to arrest a man before 'around seven shots' rang out. Espinosa then saw the police officers in a 'pool of blood', he told CBS News. Police quickly named Armando Juarez as a 'person of interest' and dispatched a helicopter and sniffer dogs to look for him. Heavily armed officers wearing masks were also seen searching a creek bed behind the store. At around 9.30pm Juarez was brought into custody following a high-speed case that ended at the intersection of Lemmon Avenue and Versailles Avenue, just 10 miles away from the scene of the shooting. The suspect pleaded guilty of stealing a car last November and was still wanted by police on Tuesday for skipping a sentencing hearing in February, according to court records seen by WFAA.com. His grandmother, Janie Longoria, told NBC 5 she 'backed the blue' before adding, 'I couldn't believe that one of my family could have done that'. Officers comfort each other outside the emergency room at Presbyterian Hospital on Tuesday where their coworkers are being treated A Dallas Police officer walks towards Presbyterian Hospital on Tuesday where the three victims are being treated Officers print from the Presbyterian Hospital to their cars on Tuesday evening after receiving an emergency call Dallas cops are using a helicopter to search for the shooting suspect, who has now been taken into custody Governor Gregg Abbot tweeted shortly after the shootings: 'Our thoughts and prayers are with @DallasPD and the two officers shot and critically wounded. 'Texas honors all the men and women who protect and serve our communities, and justice will be served.' The Home Depot is off the 11600 block of Forest Central Drive in Dallas' northern suburbs. The Assist the Officer Foundation has opened a fund to help Dallas police officers. People watch as the Texas Department of Public Safety rolls in heavy duty vehicles to the Home Depot parking lot on Tuesday Governor Gregg Abbot tweeted: 'Our thoughts and prayers are with @DallasPD and the two officers shot and critically wounded' A husband who was allegedly drunk when he got behind the wheel of a car that crashed and killed his wife has been charged over her death nine months after the accident. Peter Dowker was charged with killing his wife after crashing their car while taking a long left-hand bend in the Gold Coast suburb of Tallai last year. Police have alleged the 47-year-old got behind the wheel drunk before smashing the vehicle about 8pm on July 9, killing retired school teacher Lana Hufnagl, 57. Peter Dowker was charged with killing his wife, Lana Hufnagl (pictured), after crashing their car while taking a long left-hand bend in the Gold Coast suburb of Tallai last year He has been charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance and driving under the influence of alcohol, the Courier Mail reported. Dowker was also injured in the collision and received treatment at Gold Coast University Hospital before being released. He is next due to face court June 5. The mother-of-two's family said they were relieved Dowker had been charged, saying 'we feel like justice needs to be served'. She was remembered as 'the most caring, outgoing, fit 57-year-old who would talk to anyone and was a very trusted person' by a family member who chose not to be named. Police have alleged the 47-year-old got behind the wheel drunk before smashing the vehicle (pictured) at about 8pm on July 9, killing his retired school teacher wife 'People would instantly warm to her and she'd light up a room. She'd take the shirt off her own back to help someone, she was so selfless.' The mother had returned from a cruise around the Pacific Islands with one of her daughters, Ursula, just hours before she was killed in the crash. Ms Hufnagl and Dowker had been married two years and known each other about six. The family, including her twin grandsons who still 'cried for her every day', had been 'suffering really badly' since losing Ms Hufnagl. 'We are finding it hard to cope every day without her,' they said. Sir Simon McDonald, permanent under-secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, made the embarrassing gaffe in a tweet on Monday A top Foreign Office official has apologised after causing offence by mistaking a major Sikh temple for a mosque. Sir Simon McDonald, permanent under-secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, made the embarrassing gaffe in a tweet on Monday. He referred to a picture of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, as the Golden Mosque. The Golden Temple is one of the most sacred sites in Sikhism. Realising his mistake, Sir Simon wrote: I was wrong: I am sorry. I should of course have said the Golden Temple or, better, Sri Harmandir Sahib. Bhai Amrik Singh, chairman of the Sikh Federation, said: This was a major gaffe by a top civil servant and totally unacceptable. It demonstrates a remarkable level of ignorance from someone in his position. In our view, a public apology and admitting the mistake is not enough. What we need is a commitment from the UK Government and senior civil servants to root out such ignorance and discrimination or we will continue to face hate, abuse and threats of violence. He referred to a picture of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, as the Golden Mosque The mistake is particularly sensitive because of suspicions of British involvement in the Indian armys deadly 1984 raid on the Golden Temple. At least 400 people were killed in the attack, aimed at flushing out armed separatists. The error follows criticism of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who risked offending Buddhists during a 2017 visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda, the religions most sacred site in Myanmars capital, Yangon. Andrew Patrick, the UK ambassador, had to tell Mr Johnson to stop reciting Rudyard Kiplings The Road To Mandalay which has inappropriate echoes of Britains colonial past. Those who travel by train should expect weeks of disruption as the biggest timetable overhaul in UK rail history is set to be introduced next month. The changes to train services will affect almost one million rail journeys a day across a large swathe of the UK. The UK's largest rail franchise yesterday urged passengers to plan ahead. Govia Thameslink Railway which includes Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express warned that not a single train service that is operating now will be unaffected when the new schedule is introduced, at 2am on Sunday, May 20. The changes to Govia Thameslink Railway train services will affect almost one million rail journeys a day across a large swathe of the UK Govia boss Charles Horton (pictured) says changes will create space for 40,000 more passengers to travel into London at peak times Govia boss Charles Horton acknowledged there would be 'teething problems', describing it as 'the biggest shake-up in UK rail history' The changes will create space for 40,000 more passengers to travel into London at peak times. But Govia boss Charles Horton acknowledged there would be 'teething problems', describing it as 'the biggest shake-up in UK rail history' with a new timetable, new routes and new trains. He said: 'Passengers will see a transformation in services in May next year, when 70 per cent of the overall capacity benefits of this exciting programme will be delivered including the full implementation of the new more reliable Southern timetable, extended routes, additional services and new trains. 'Overall there will be a massive increase in capacity for passengers into London on an expanded Thameslink network that will give passengers at Cambridge, Peterborough, Littlehampton, Medway Towns, East Grinstead and Horsham new services north-south across London.' The expansion of services in the south marks a major milestone in the government-backed 7billion Thameslink project, which includes the 1billion upgrade of London Bridge. Passengers have put up with disruption for more than a decade as stations have been rebuilt and power supplies boosted for longer trains. But the prospect of more delays while the new schedule beds in will cause dismay among commuters particularly for those on Southern which has been affected by two years of strike action. CHANGES TO GOVIA THAMESLINK RAILWAY TRAIN SERVICES There will be direct Thameslink trains from Peterborough and Cambridge to Horsham or Brighton for the first time In the morning peak there will be 15 Thameslink trains from Brighton to London Bridge, compared with five now Southern trains on the West London line are to increase from five to eight carriages The doubling of off-peak capacity on the Catford loop New Thameslink services between Luton and Rainham Services from Horsham and Littlehampton to London Bridge will switch from Southern to Thameslink Commuters can expect up to a third more seats and carriages on services going between Bedford, Luton and St Albans and St Pancras Thameslink services previously diverted via Crystal Palace will call again at London Bridge Advertisement Chris Gibb, Chair of the Thameslink Programme Industry Readiness Board, added: 'By phasing the introduction of the new timetable in this way, we have front-loaded the benefits for passengers and then spread further changes in such a way that they can be more reliably introduced. 'Passengers will still enjoy almost as many additional trains in May as previously planned and we are doing some things earlier with an early introduction of some off-peak Thameslink trains through to the East Coast Mainline in April and the early use of the London Bridge route to give performance improvements. 'We have also spread out the introduction of the rest of the cross-London services over three further timetable changes instead of just one. This will reliably embed new operating principles in a progressive manner, enabling a smoother introduction with reduced risk of passenger disruption from too much change at any one time.' A minister yesterday pledged to do everything he could to save the Open University. Giving evidence to MPs, Sam Gyimah said ensuring its survival was a matter of social justice because of the support it provides for disadvantaged students. The universities minister is to meet OU leaders to discuss a rescue package. His comments are the strongest indication so far of Government backing for an institution hit by falling numbers. Earlier this month, Mr Gyimah joined Theresa May in pledging the OU would be a priority in a review of higher education due to be published next year. The Daily Mail has been campaigning for the OU to get more help after student numbers dropped by 28 per cent over five years. The decrease coincided with fees trebling to make up for lower Government subsidies. Sam Gyimah (left), pictured with former Prime Minster David Cameron, is due to meet OU figures to discuss a rescue package The OU has been known as the university of the second chance since many of its students are older and hold down jobs while they study part time. During a hearing of the Commons education committee yesterday, Gateshead Labour MP Ian Mearns asked Mr Gyimah what had gone wrong with the OU. He replied: There are obviously serious concerns there. Thats why a major issue in the terms of reference for the post-18 review is to look at part-time study. He added that the OU had received 48million in the last year from the Government and more support was in the pipeline. And he revealed he had arranged to meet Peter Horrocks, who resigned as OU chief a fortnight ago, as well as his replacement. I am meeting with the outgoing vice-chancellor, and I will also meet with the incoming vice-chancellor as well to make sure that the Open University gets the support it deserves, he insisted. I absolutely agree with the committee that if we are talking about real social justice then at all the different points in the education system weve got to make sure that we are responding to peoples needs. Open University is obviously one of the largest providers of part-time education, its not the only one. But it is of such significance that I will do everything I can to make sure the Open University carries on doing the good work that it has been doing for the past 40 years. Mr Gyimah said he accepted that subsidy cuts had not helped the trend of part-time numbers unacceptably declining. Sam Gyimah (left) taking part in an event with Priti Patel (centre) on the future direction of the Tory Party The Mails campaign has garnered support from MPs from all parties including Justine Greening, Nicky Morgan, Robert Halfon, Vince Cable, Lucy Powell, James Frith and Gordon Marsden. Mr Horrocks resigned almost two weeks ago following a vote of no confidence from staff unhappy about his plans to cut jobs and courses to save money. During yesterdays wide-ranging hearing, Mr Gyimah hinted there could be a possibility of maintenance grants being re-introduced following the higher education review but said he did not want to second guess the result. He also said universities should not be penalised for failing to admit enough poor students because the fault lay in long standing issues within the education system including poor performance at schools. Mr Gyimah vowed to focus laser-like on high executive pay following figures showing the average vice-chancellor salary is 268,000. He said he wanted vice-chancellors kicked off remuneration committees to stop them having a hand in setting their own pay. Mark Zuckerberg appeared two weeks ago before the US Congress Just two short weeks have passed since Facebook founder and boss Mark Zuckerberg, trussed up in a blue suit and tie, was hauled before the U.S. Congress. His appearance followed the disclosure that his company had handed the private data of 87 million of its users to UK-based political data-crunching firm Cambridge Analytica. The billionaire boss apologised several times for the frequent privacy breaches and pledged to put matters right. Yet he resolutely declined to support new legislation to curb abuses. But then, why should we be surprised? The Silicon Valley giants Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google known by the vampirish acronym FANGs steadfastly refuse to be bound by moral scruples. They cant be doing with the rules and conventions to tame the wildest extremes of capitalism which, for decades, have been accepted by enterprises across the globe. In the name of progress and freedom of access to their global community of users, the digital behemoths demand the right to flout every rule. In pursuit of profit and global domination, they show a reckless disregard for systems designed to prevent criminality and unethical business practices, while avoiding paying taxes. Only this week, a Mail investigation revealed that Amazon and eBay brazenly allow the sale of gadgets which enable car thieves to silently break into sophisticated vehicles by hacking into their electronic locking systems and driving off. The availability of such devices has eliminated the need to break a window, drill through a lock or bypass the ignition using hot-wiring. And police believe car thefts have soared up 30 per cent in three years. Almost as shocking is another story that emerged this week of how Martin Lewis founder of the advice website MoneySavingExpert and one of the countrys top finance advisers claims Facebook published fake adverts seeking to cash in on his good name. Facebook handed over private data of 87 million of its users to UK-based Cambridge Analytica In his case the social media company may have made an enemy it could do without. The pugnacious entrepreneur has helped consumers in Britain and across the world save millions of pounds in excessive charges on financial products and household utilities. He is now suing Facebook for publishing dozens of adverts using his image to promote scams designed, he says, to rip off vulnerable people. He discovered individuals were targeted with commercials for bogus get-rich-quick schemes which he supposedly endorsed. Lewis says he knows of one woman who lost 100,000 in a scam which temporarily had attached his name to the product to give it credibility. Facebooks failure to banish such adverts highlights its unending greed, he says. He repeatedly asked Facebook to remove the adverts, he claims, but they were left online for days or weeks. And when they were taken down, another one, almost identical, would appear in its place. And this, surely is the point. Time and again, individuals, politicians, business leaders and the police have asked the web giants to mend their ways. But they are ignored. Martin Lewis, pictured, is suing Facebook for defamation after it published adverts which used his image on commercials for bogus get-rich-quick scheme David Jamieson, police and crime commissioner of the West Midlands, where car theft has soared by 80 per cent, wrote to eBay and Amazon asking them to remove the sale of car-hacking devices from their websites. Nothing happened. The fact that they have yet to respond or take them down means theyre helping criminals, he surmised. The trouble is that, at every turn, the web giants seem to prefer to help criminals rather than inconvenience themselves by limiting untrammelled access on the web. It required years of enormous media and political pressure to persuade the digital giants and computer manufacturers to make even the slightest concessions towards blocking access to the most vile forms of online child pornography. Despite incessant demands from the police and politicians to prevent terrorist recruitment online, Islamic State and other militant groups around the world are still connecting with each other, accessing bomb-making advice or buying detonators and other equipment to commit acts of violence. And, of course, the abuse is not confined to crime. Many of us have suspected it for years, but the Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed how cynically and blatantly our personal data is harvested for commercial purposes without permission. Facebook and other social media sites such as WhatsApp (bought by Facebook for 11 billion in 2014) ruthlessly pillage our communications with friends and family to understand our likes and dislikes and pass data to advertisers. What is so amoral about the behaviour of the web giants is that, despite their endless protestations that they cannot control activity on the web, the reverse is the case. The same technological brainpower the FANGs use to take personal data and make us fodder for their greed could be directed towards curbing the criminal and intrusive behaviour they facilitate. The trouble is that these Silicon Valley giants are now so unimaginably wealthy, have such clout and so much job-creating capacity, that they can ignore the demands of politicians and policy-makers all over the world. Twenty North American cities from Toronto in Canada to Austin, Texas are currently engaged, for example, in a tawdry battle to be home to a second vast technological headquarters for Amazon. With the promise of $5 billion of investment to create 50,000 jobs, local politicians are falling over themselves to woo the web giant and in such circumstances, who would dare raise the issues of tighter regulation or stricter taxation rules? Likewise, in Britain an open-door policy for Google at No 10 when David Cameron was Prime Minister almost certainly helped persuade the company to build magnificent European offices at Kings Cross in London which will eventually employ up to 9,000 people. Is it any wonder, therefore, that it has taken HMRC so long to get its teeth into alleged tax avoidance by the company and others like it? The extraordinary economic firepower which makes each of the digital giants unassailable has just been quantified by the International Monetary Fund. In 2017, sales of smartphones, the device of choice for online access, reached 1.5 billion units or one for every fifth person on Earth. Indeed, smartphones accounted for one-sixth of total world trade last year. Amazingly in Ireland, where Apple houses its intellectual property (the patents and know-how behind the iPhone), exports related to the phone accounted for one-quarter of the countrys economic expansion last year. That is why the Irish government objected when the European Commission one of the few institutions trying to take on the web giants gave Apple a 11.2 billion tax bill. So far, American politicians, like our own, have failed to show steel in the face of companies which, in their search for profits, have gone rogue, abandoning any pretence at ethical business practices. But there is a precedent for doing so. In the late 19th century, there was a giant company which the whole world thought was unassailable, so big and powerful was its size, scope and virtual monopoly. At the time, J. D. Rockefellers Standard Oil controlled 90 per cent of the U.S. oil market. Critics accused Rockefeller of engaging in unethical practices, such as predatory pricing and colluding with railroads to eliminate his competitors. But the U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt had the resolve to take it on. He used legislation to break it up into 34 separate companies and reduce its monopoly power. If only todays policy-makers had the same gumption. Boris Johnson clashed with Theresa May yesterday after he demanded a broader immigration amnesty for Commonwealth migrants. During a tetchy Cabinet meeting, the Foreign Secretary told colleagues he didnt believe Home Secretary Amber Rudds measures to help the Windrush generation went far enough. It is the second time in recent weeks that Mr Johnson has clashed with the PM in Cabinet. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, pictured arriving at Downing Street yesterday, clashed with the Prime Minister over the handling of the Windrush scandal Mr Johnson wants a more liberal approach to Commonwealth immigrants compared with Prime Minister, Theresa May, pictured outside Number 10 yesterday On Monday, Miss Rudd announced a package of measures following the Windrush scandal. She said West Indian migrants who came here before 1973 can get a free passport and be allowed to stay. Those who arrived between 1973 and 1988 will receive less help they will merely be able to access a helpline to secure their citizenship status. According to The Telegraph, Mr Johnson argued that illegal immigrants from Commonwealth countries who have not committed a crime for more than ten years should be allowed to remain. Yesterday ministers discussed the fallout from the Windrush scandal at Cabinet. The Spectator reported that Mr Johnson made the point that there needed to be a broader immigration amnesty for long-standing Commonwealth migrants. The Foreign Secretary argued that this was necessary to prevent others getting caught in the same situation in future that is, having to produce large amounts of evidence to show they have lived here for years. The amnesty that Mr Johnson had in mind would not apply to those with a criminal record. According to The Spectator, Mrs May then rather acidly remarked that the Foreign Secretary had previously called for an amnesty for all migrants. He first applied for the amnesty in 2008 and again in 2016 when he privately proposed one for those who had been here for over a decade. Last night a Whitehall source insisted the Cabinet discussion on Windrush was not a tense one, with Mr Johnsons proposal discussed briefly.Boris is on the record as having quite liberal views on immigration and has called for an amnesty in the past, the source said. Mrs May framed the argument as being about making sure members of the Windrush generation are properly treated, but also recognising that people have legitimate concerns about illegal immigration. It is understood Mrs May also ticked off ministers for briefing the Press over the customs union. A blood-stained driveway and police tape mark the home where a 13-year-old girl was shot overnight in a 'targeted attack'. According to neighbours there were 'five or six pops' as the unknown gunman shot at the garage, where the young girl was sitting with a group of people. 'There were just sounds of screams. It was pandemonium,' a neighbour said as police investigated the crime scene. The 13-year-old was shot in the thigh, when a car drove past and shot at the home in Constance Street in Guildford, western Sydney at 9.45pm. Blood-stained cement and police tape mark the home where a 13-year-old girl was shot in a drive-by shooting overnight The 13-year-old was shot in the thigh, when a car drove past and shot at the home in Constance Street in Guildford, western Sydney at 9.45pm She was taken to hospital in a serious condition - as police hunt for the shooter responsible for her injuries - as they reveal it was not a random attack. NSW Police said the girl was treated at the scene by ambulance paramedics before being taken to the Children's Hospital in Westmead. Police received reports a number of shots had been fired into the garage of a home where a group of people were sitting. Police believe the shooting was not a random attack. Neighbours came onto the street to speak to police about the incident while traffic was diverted away from the scene. A teenage girl has been shot during a drive-by shooting The girl was shot late on Tuesday night about 11pm on Constance Street in Guildford, western Sydney Police and emergency services are at the scene of the shooting Neighbours have come out onto the street to speak to police about the incident while traffic is diverted away from the scene An ambulance was seen driving away from Constance Street with its sirens blaring Diane, who lives nearby, said she 'heard a big bang, it sounded like fireworks' An ambulance was seen driving away from Constance Street with its sirens blaring. Diane, who lives nearby, said she 'heard a big bang, it sounded like fireworks'. 'It was like a couple of bangs, like three or four bangs. 'I got scared, and later on I came out. I seen all police cars everywhere. They blocked the street off.' Another neighbour said she was sitting at home watching television when she heard 'five or six pops'. 'I said to my partner: "That didn't sound like a car backfiring, that sounded like gunshots'. She said she could hear about three or four bangs from the street outside Diane said after she came outside she could see scores of people and police officers Another neighbour said she was sitting at home watching television when she heard 'five or six pops' She said her and her partner could hear screaming so they immediately went outside 'We heard a bit of screaming... down the street there's ambos coming up and down. 'It's the sort of area where it happens all the time, it's another night in Guildford,' she said. Officers from Cumberland Police Area Command established a crime scene which will be examined by forensic specialists. A man could be seen being directed away from the cordoned-off area by police. The neighbour said the area was notorious for similar incidents and that it was just 'another night in Guildford' Ivanka Trump pulled out all the stops in a $14,600 dress as her father hosts his first ever state dinner for the French president. The first daughter stunned in a pink polka-dot gown by Rodarte with ruffles along the top and a blossom embellishment at the pleated waist. The 36-year-old completed the look with a pair of black shoes, drop earrings and her blonde hair in an updo. She was accompanied by her husband and Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner in a tuxedo as they were photographed in the Booksellers Area of the White House heading to the dinner. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS Ivanka Trump pulled out all the stops in a $14,600 dress as her father hosts his first ever state dinner for the French president The first daughter stunned in a pink polka-dot gown by Rodarte and completed the look with a pair of black shoes, drop earrings and her blonde hair in an updo She was accompanied by her husband and Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner in a tuxedo as they were photographed in the Booksellers Area of the White House heading to the dinner At the end of the night, Ivanka shared a photo of her and Jared on social media and captioned: 'Memories from a wonderful State Dinner' along with emojis of the US and French flags President Donald Trump and his wife Melania were exchanged hugs and kisses with President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte on the steps of the White House ahead of the glitzy state dinner. Melania stole the show in a Chanel haute couture silver gown that had been embroidered with crystals and sequins. The Trumps and Macrons then headed inside for the festivities. Reporters were left off the invite list but one media mogul was an exception: the owner of Fox News Channel, Rupert Murdoch. He held the hand of his wife, Jerry Hall, as they made their way into the White House. Other notable guests include CEO of Apple Tim Cook and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. President Donald Trump and his wife Melania were exchanged hugs and kisses with President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte on the steps of the White House ahead of the glitzy state dinner Melania stole the show in a Chanel haute couture silver gown that had been embroidered with crystals and sequins Ivanka and Jared were among the 130 guests invited to the state dinner on Tuesday night Jared seemed to crack a smile as someone speaks at the White House state dinner on Tuesday The White House will release the full guest list, which is expected to number around 130, directly before the dinner, but Congressional Democrats and White House reporters are already known to have been left out. The only Democrat known to be in attendance is Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, because it is custom to invite Louisiana politicians to state dinners with France due to the state's Cajun-French roots. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Steven Mnuchin and his colorful actress wife Louise Linton were also among the arriving guests. Reporters were left off the invite list but one media mogul was an exception: the owner of Fox News Channel, Rupert Murdoch. He held the hand of his wife, Jerry Hall, as they made their way into the White House Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen (left) and Steven Mnuchin and his colorful actress wife Louise Linton (right) were also among the arriving guests The only Democrat known to be in attendance is Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, because it is custom to invite Louisiana politicians to state dinners with France due to the state's Cajun-French roots Linton, wearing a champagne and silver gown by Italian designer Roberto Cavalli, told reporters she was looking forward to 'everything French' upon arrival. The White House showed off the finishing touches of first lady Melania Trump's decor on Monday night, from the place-setting to the giant flower arrangements greeting guests. Reporters were briefly allowed into the White House and were greeted by gold table settings, gold silverware, gold candlesticks, gold wine glasses, gold chairs situated elegantly around bouquets of green and white flowers in the candlelit state dining room. At each of the place settings was a menu with the White House seal and the French fleur-de-lis, which were also in gold. Reporters were briefly allowed into the White House's state dining room Monday night to take in the first lady's designs for the Trump administration's first state dinner Touches of gold were used on the menu too, including a golden presidential seal, and a golden fleur-de-lis Earlier in the day, the first lady tweeted pictures of herself huddling with her social secretary Rickie Niceta (right) as the two women went over last minute details for Tuesday's state dinner with France Melania Trump's vision for her first state dinner included golden place settings, puffs of white and light green flowers and dinner by candlelight Just outside the state dining room, the first lady went with a different theme, using some 1,200 cherry blossoms in giant black vases that would greet guests as they entered. Earlier on Monday, the White House had released some details about the dinner, including the menu. Goat cheese gateau, tomato jam, buttermilk biscuit crumbles, young variegated lettuces will be served, along with a rack of spring lamb, burnt cipollini soubise and Carolina gold Rice Jambalaya, with a nectarine tart and creme fraiche ice cream for dessert. For drinks, two wines from Oregon and a demi-sec champagne are on the menu. Business Secretary Greg Clark was under intense pressure to review takeover rules last night after he gave the green light to the controversial 8billion sale of engineering giant GKN. Mr Clark faced calls from MPs on all sides to look again at rules that allow ruthless hedge funds to snap up shares at the last minute to force through a hostile takeover. He confirmed that he will not intervene in the sale of the 259-year-old firm to asset-stripper Melrose. MPs have asked Business Secretary Greg Clark to review takeover rules following his decision to allow a hostile bid for 259-year-old GKN by asset-stripper Melrose GKN - which can trace its history back to supplying cannon balls to the armed forces at the Battle of Waterloo, is being taken over by asset-stripper Melrose But he also confirmed that Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has secured a veto on the sale of sensitive parts of the business by Melrose to protect Britains national security. The move, revealed by the Daily Mail last week, is a significant victory for this papers campaign against the sale of a firm that has been supplying our Armed Forces since it produced cannonballs for the Battle of Waterloo. Whitehall sources acknowledged the deal would have just gone through on the nod if no one had kicked up a fuss. An ally of Mr Williamson said he had to dig his heels in to secure concessions, with both Mr Clark and the Cabinet keen to wave the deal through. In total, Melrose had to agree a further seven concessions to win Government approval, on top of five guarantees previously secured by Mr Clark. The Business Secretary said the final package of commitments from Melrose went beyond those given by the previous management team. He said there were no legal grounds for blocking the deal. But a string of MPs urged him to change the law to prevent further predators snapping up key British firms. Hedge funds bought up 25 per cent of GKNs shares in a few weeks to help force through the takeover, helping seal a deal that was approved by a margin of 52 to 48. Tory MP Lucy Allan said the future of GKN was determined by speculators who came on to the share register in the final weeks of the bid process to make a quick profit. She said this was no way to determine the future of a great British manufacturing company and called for a review of takeover rules. Labour MP Rachel Reeves, chairman of the Commons business committee, asked the Government to look again at the takeover code, particularly for businesses so integral to our industrial strategy and for businesses that have received a lot of taxpayer funding. Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said the role of hedge funds had been highly destabilising. He suggested shareholders should be forced to wait a certain period before qualifying for a vote. Mr Clark said he was open to looking at takeover rules again, but suggested he thought they were working well. He also suggested hedge funds would have been unable to snap up shares if long-term investors had had more confidence in GKNs management. Melrose has previously said it was willing to make a legally-binding commitment not to sell GKNs aerospace division before April 2023. For a period of five years, Melrose will keep its headquarters in the UK and its shares listed on the stock market in London. It will also ensure the majority of its directors live in the UK. Melrose will also ensure that spending on research and development at GKN will equal at least 2.2 per cent of GKN sales every year up to 2023. Comment Page 16 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge greeting supporters outside of the Lindo Wing Picture the scene at Kensington Palace on Monday. No, not Apartment 1A, the grand, 21-room home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge where their still-to-be-named baby prince was waking up for the first time yesterday. But around the corner from Clock Court, at Nottingham Cottage, the cosy retreat that Prince Harry shares with Meghan Markle. There, in between finalising next months wedding plans and attending an official engagement with her fiance, the American actress was no doubt glued to the TV catching up with events in the Lindo Wing at St Marys Hospital, Paddington. How could she not have taken it all in? The poised perfection of her soon-to-be sister-in-law Kate cradling her newborn, the cheers of the crowds of well-wishers, and the beaming pleasure of proud father William. There, in a snapshot, was Meghans future. Not yet a royal bride, but surely a taste of things to come. Harry has made no secret of his longing to start a family of his own. He adores being an uncle, but what he really wants is to be a father, says one of his Army friends. He used to love it when any of the chaps pulled out pictures of their kids. He always wanted to have a look. He also has happy childhood memories of playdates and holidays with his Spencer cousins, and looks forward to the day when his children are playing with William and Kates. The Duke of Cambridge entering the hospital holding the hands of his two eldest children Prince George and Princess Charlotte But with George nearly five and Charlotte three next week, the gap between Williams children and Harrys hoped-for family is growing. And there will surely be no greater incentive for Harry, 33, and Meghan, 36, to start their own brood than by visiting William and Kate, and spending time with theirs. For the new parents, however, there is only one question pending: Do we stop now or try for baby number four? Despite suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, an extreme form of morning sickness in the early stages of all three of her pregnancies, Kate bloomed as she came closer to her delivery dates. Within a year of Charlottes birth, she confessed to feeling broody again and would need to have a word with William. The Queen gave birth to four children which begs the question will Kate follow suit? As the eldest of three herself, she was determined that they would not stop at two. For William the prospect of having a fourth child just as the Queen did opens up the possibility of some potential conflict with his father. He would love to emulate his grandmother and have four children and he would be very happy if it was another girl, says one of his circle. Having Charlotte was an improving effect on George who was a bit of a tearaway in the early days, so he knows the benefit a second daughter might bring. While the Queen doubtless would be thrilled, Prince Charles might have different ideas. As someone who has frequently spoken out about the global population explosion, he has, say friends, strong views about big families. Certainly Princess Diana believed that this contributed to his refusal for them to have a third child. But even if tempted to say something to William, Charles would almost certainly keep his opinions to himself, friends believe. He has a tricky relationship at the best of times with his eldest son and wouldnt want to make things more difficult, says an aide. A couple of years ago Charles complained that he didnt see enough of his first grandson, and that it was Kates family who were perceived to have the greater influence over George and his sister. The family stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Trooping of the Colour (2016) The youngsters have been regular visitors to the Middletons Berkshire home, Bucklebury Manor, and with the couple reportedly virtually retired from the day-to-day running of their business, Party Pieces, they are free to be hands-on grandparents whenever they are needed. It is understood that Mr and Mrs Middleton were among the first family members to meet the new baby yesterday just as they were with George along with Kates pregnant sister Pippa, who was photographed driving out of Kensington Palace smiling broadly. As for Prince Charles, who has been in Scotland on a private break this week, he is unlikely to see the new arrival until tonight or tomorrow at the earliest. Today he is attending a dawn service in France to mark the centenary of the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, alongside the Australian and French prime ministers. Kate confessed that she felt 'broody' just a year after giving birth to her daughter Charlotte. Pictured at the Trooping of the Colour (2017) However, he has declared himself overjoyed at becoming a grandfather again, while admitting: The only trouble is, I dont know how I am going to keep up with them! With more than 600 public engagements a year plus a growing number of official duties on behalf of the Queen, the prince has to ask his diary team to schedule time with his grandchildren. He may need to take a leaf out of his wifes book. The Duchess of Cornwall always finds time for her grandchildren. The Queen and Prince Philip, who are at Windsor this week, are expected to meet their new great-grandson at the weekend, when William and Kate visit the castle. Thus far, William has been calling all the shots with the new arrival and thats how he intends to continue. As the couple gave the world its first glimpse of the fifth in line to the throne on Monday evening, it was he who dictated proceedings. William had waited until Kate was ready before she and their new son faced the glare of the cameras outside the hospital. And, just as he did with George and Charlotte, he chose to drive Kate and the baby home to Kensington Palace rather than use a chauffeur a small statement, perhaps, that he intended to treat this most intimate moment as any ordinary family would. But then William is very much his own man. Hes been like that from the moment he left school, says a royal aide. Charles has never put pressure on him, probably because there was so much pressure on the boy already after his mother died. The loss of his mother when he was 15, and his determination afterwards to care for his younger brother, is seen in royal circles as having given William a fierce independence. Friends have always said that the circumstances of his mothers death made William resolve never to allow his official duties to overwhelm his family life, or to allow the outside world to pry too intimately into it. William adores being a father and is very hands-on with all the children, says the aide. This is something he learned not from his father but from his father-in-law, Mike Middleton. It was, for example, expected that the couple would hire a maternity nurse to help Kate through the early weeks following the birth of their third child. George was a handful as a baby and cried throughout his first meeting with the Queen when she came to see her new great-grandson, according to an insider. It turned out he was hungry and their then-nanny Jessie Webb soon got on top of that. This time around and with the experience of two babies behind them, William is confident that as long as he is at his wifes side, he and Kate can cope in the nursery. In the meantime, it is likely that the emotional ripples of this latest royal birth will not just be affecting mother and father but Uncle Harry and soon-to-be Aunt Meghan, too. PALACE CASHES IN WITH 39 CHINAWARE Official Commemorative Tankard 39.00 The new baby wasnt yet even a day old when Buckingham Palace had brought out a selection of commemorative gifts including a 125 teddy bear. There is also a range of chinaware including a pillbox costing 35, a 49 plate and a 39 tankard, left all featuring a lion cub and baby unicorn based on the Royal Arms. Everything has been gilded with 22-carat gold. The bear was made by Merrythought, which has produced toys since 1930. In addition to pure mohair plush made from the fleece of the Angora goat, the teddys paws are made from pure wool felt. Cheaper gifts include a 14.95 golden pram decoration and a unicorn decoration for 12.95. Advertisement Outrage has flooded social media after comedian and ABC regular Catherine Deveny continued her attacks on Anzac Day and Australian soldiers. Just hours after claiming the dangers faced by soldiers are no different to other jobs, the ex-television joke writer went on the attack again, calling the historic day 'bogan Halloween'. In response furious social media users bombarded her Twitter with replies, dubbing Ms Deveny everything from an 'attention seeker' to a 'bigot' and even 'un-Australian'. Comedian and ABC regular Catherine Deveny (pictured) has been slammed by punters after a series of Tweets attacking Anzac Day Throughout the day on Tuesday, Ms Deveny took to Twitter to slam the historic day - dubbing it 'bogan Halloween' Ms Deveny first riled up the Twittersphere on Tuesday morning with: 'Why do people in the armed forces use the word 'serve' to describe their work despite it being no more dangerous or prone to upheaval than many other jobs?' That attack was followed by several more during the day. In response, Ms Deveny's feed was filled with angry responses from punters, media personalities and ex-service personnel alike. 'My grandad's right leg was torn apart by a Japanese bayonet whilst "serving" on the Kokoda Trail... reminds me of an epic struggle I had with a Microsoft Word document yesterday,' wrote one furious punter. 'Catherine Deveny doesn't even have a good point or anything... just a poor attempt to be provocative,' said another. Senator Derryn Hinch joined the disapproving chorus: 'You work. They serve and many died while serving. Deveny, what a disgusting Anzac week tweet.' One angry ex-soldier asked Ms Deveny how many years she had served in the armed forces, to which she responded: 'You didn't "serve your country", you chose a job in the violence industry'. The daughter of a former solider also abused the comedian, calling her a 'bigot'. Twitter users slammed Ms Deveny in their thousands, saying she was simply attempting to be 'provocative' Other Twitter users encouraged people to simply 'ignore' the former newspaper columnist Family members of former soldiers didn't hold back, slamming her disrespectful views Federal Senator Derryn Hinch described Ms Deveny's social media rants as 'disgusting' A former soldier was accused of 'choosing a job in the violence industry' by Ms Deveny Australia's involvement in the First World War, at the Battle of the Somme in France (pictured), demonstrated the young nation's commitment to global security 'My father... joined up after the fall of Singapore when it looked as if Australia might be invaded and was killed in action... you're a bigot,' she wrote. In one of her rants, Ms Deveny defended her initial tweet by listing all the professions she believed were just as dangerous as the army. 'Firefighters, paramedics, police, doctors, social workers, nurses, window cleaners, miners, arborists, labours, farmers, construction workers, people who work with those suffering severe mental illness, prison officers, roofers, teachers (in American schools), loggers, fishermen,' she said. She then went further, suggesting soldiers were 'sucked in with the glamour of war and racism under the guise of patriotism'. Australia has been involved in a series of major overseas conflicts since the turn of the twentieth century, but its the nation's involvement in the WWI at Gallipoli and in WWII in the Pacific and Europe, that are best remembered on Anzac Day. Ms Deveny's initial Tweet on Tuesday morning claimed the army was 'no more dangerous' than other jobs At least 27,000 illegal immigrants have been arrested across the UK in the past four years, new figures reveal. The figures disclose the true extent of the immigration crisis with a total of 28 forces from across Britain arresting migrants 'without leave to enter'. At estimated 27,109 illegal immigrants have been picked up by forces including the Met, Gwent in Wales, Thames Valley and North Yorkshire. This excludes a further 1,144 people who have conspired to help the immigrants sneak into the UK. Migrants climb in the back of a lorry on the A16 highway leading to the Eurotunnel A Freedom of Information Request suggested that the Met has arrested a total of 21,967 for immigration offences since 2014. These arrests are understood to be made after 'lorry drops' and raids, they can also be discovered after committing a low level crime. The alarming figures suggest that more money needs to be funnelled into Britain's porous borders ahead of Brexit, MPs and union leaders claim. Tory backbencher Philip Hollobone said: 'These people should be stopped at the border it shouldn't be up to police to arrest them', reports the Sun. Migrants sit watching lorries driving towards the port where ferries sail to Britain Lucy Moreton, of the ISU union for borders, immigration and customs workers said that she wasn't shocked by the figures claiming that the border was more like a colander than the odd hole. Immigrants try to access the UK via the back of a lorry or underneath the van however there are also small ports and private airfields to consider. Ms Moreton adds that Border Force needs more investment if the Government wants the immigrants to be picked up at the border. Migrants open the back doors of a lorry in Calais in an attempt to reach England Only 28 of the 42 police forces in England and Wales replied to the Freedom of Information Request therefore the actual figures are likely to be higher. The forces that did reply revealed that 933 have been arrested in Warwickshire, 872 in Leicestershire, 440 in Cheshire, 1,271 in West Yorkshire and 2,685 in Thames Valley. Across the police forces, some 933 illegal immigrants 'without leave to enter' have been arrested in Warwickshire since 2014, 872 in Leicestershire, 440 in Cheshire, 1,271 in West Yorkshire and 2,685 in Thames Valley. Ex-director of general immigration enforcement at the Home Office, David Wood, claimed that there will be a million illegal immigrants in Britain who will never be deported. The Government's right to tackle illegal immigration was defended by the Home Office last week as Home Secretary Amber Rudd faced backlash over the 'Windrush' furore. It said illegal immigration 'impacts the whole of society, putting pressure on taxpayer-funded public services, leaving vulnerable people at the mercy of exploitative employers or landlords and, at worst, fuelling the abhorrent crimes of modern slavery and human trafficking'. Advertisement Thousands of Australians lined the lawn at Anzac Cove in sleeping bags in preparation for the famous Gallipoli ANZAC Day dawn service on Wednesday morning. Moving photos taken in darkness showed the tourists' dedication to paying their respects to the servicemen lost in the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign during World War One. Early-risers who had travelled across the world stayed rugged up as they waited for daybreak over Gallipoli, with many huddling together in blankets and covering their heads in cozy beanies. Thousands of Australians lined the lawn at Anzac Cove in sleeping bags to experience the famous Gallipoli ANZAC Day dawn service on Wednesday morning Moving photos taken in darkness showed tourists' dedication to paying their respects to the servicemen lost in the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign during World War One Early-risers stayed rugged up as they waited for daybreak at Gallipoli, with many huddling together in blankets and covering their heads in cozy beanies Crowds of travellers in a tour group painted Anzac Cove blue in their distinctive jumpers Friends laid close to keep warm as they prepared for the ceremony dedicated to the servicemen lost during WWI Those who made the pilgrimage to Turkey spent the night huddled out in the open before the service marking the 103rd anniversary of the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign. The grounds were jam-packed with children and adults, who sacrificed sleep to witness what has become a renowned once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Turkey and former World War I Commonwealth foes of the Ottoman Empire joined together in honour of the thousands killed at the Battle of Gallipoli 103 years ago. 'Lest We Forget' was written in bold across the back of jumpers worn by tourist group members There were scenes of many looking sleepy after they braved the chilly night at Anzac Cove Comfy warm clothing as well as thick sleeping bags seemed to keep most of the crowd happy There were seas of bedding across the lawn at Anzac Cove, where crowds gathered early morning One woman was spotted having to step over people as she made her way across the lawn as hundreds laid sprawled out comfortably Members of tour groups were spotted soaking up the atmosphere in cozy ensembles and matching hoodies. One woman was spotted having to step over people as she made her way across the lawn where hundreds laid sprawled out comfortably. Many marked the occasion by purchasing Anzac 2018 memorabilia, including jumpers in an array of colours with poppy detailing. A keen service-goer was spotted keeping her whole body warm as she walked through the crowd with her sleeping bag pulled up to her waist. Members of tour groups were spotted soaking up the atmosphere in cozy ensembles and matching hoodies Many marked the occasion by purchasing Anzac 2018 memorabilia, including jumpers in an array of colours with poppy detailing Friends trod carefully to find an open piece of grass they could sit at watch the service A group of young Australians and New Zealanders nearly had their Gallipoli experience ruined when the bus taking them to the dawn service at Gallipoli burst into flames. The 45 passengers were four hours into the journey in Turkey when smoke started belching from the engine and they were told to get off, Nine Network reported. The bus and their belongings were destroyed but organisers transferred the group to a hotel nearby where they received clothes and blankets before boarding another bus to get to the service on time. One woman wore a jumper belonging to a tourist group calling itself the 'Fanatics' A keen service-goer was spotted keeping her whole body warm as she walked through the crowd with her sleeping pulled up to her waist Advertisement A massive crowd has gathered in Sydney's CBD for this year's Anzac Day parade which, for the first time, is being led by hundreds of female veterans. Rain has not deterred crowds from lining Elizabeth Street to watch more than 16,000 servicemen and women march to commemorate 103 years since troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. Among those at the head of the parade will be 100-year-old Molly Cummings, who is honouring her many family members who have served for Australia. Scroll down for a video Thousands of female veterans are leading Anzac Day parades around Australia to honour those who have served and to raise the profile of women in the military (pictured is a former servicewoman waving during the parade in Sydney) This year, for the first time, women's service groups will march consecutively as part of the By The Left campaign Women are seen marching through Brisbane as part of the By the Left group during commemorations A girl looks round as she watches the Anzac Day march in Sydney on Wednesday Musicians from the Hills District Pipe Band march during the Anzac Day march in Sydney Two little girls can be seen holding Australian flags as they watch the parade Tens of thousands rose early on Wednesday to attend dawn services - big and small - across the country, including many children. This year, for the first time, women's service groups will march consecutively as part of the By The Left campaign, which aims to raise the profile of female veterans. Australian military Major Kelliegh Jackson led this year's march in Sydney, alongside 500 female veterans to mark 103 years since Anzac troops landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, and the centenary of the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. She said on Tuesday she hopes by doing so she'll change people's traditional view of the Australian military. 'So many women won't put their uniform on and won't wear their medals because of the perception this is a warlike culture,' Maj Jackson said. 'But this isn't about war. We are a much bigger machine. 'It doesn't matter who marches at the front or the back - we're all there as a team,' she said. Karyn Hinder, who spent 25 years in the Australian Defence Force, has opened up about how female veterans have long avoided commemorative events because they are pressured to prove they earned their medals. Women dressed as WWI nurses take part in the parade in Brisbane A woman carries a framed photograph of what is assumed to be a family member Men dressed as WWI soldiers take part in the parade in Brisbane A couple hold hands as they march in the Sydney parade on Wednesday War veteran Robert Walker gives a big wave to the roaring crowd in Brisbane Rain has not deterred crowds from lining Elizabeth Street to watch more than 16,000 servicemen and women march HMAS Waterhen is a Royal Australian Navy base located in Waverton on Sydney's lower north shore Musicians from the Hills District Pipe Band march during the parade Ex-servicemen and women march with current military personnel through Elizabeth street People stand in the rain as they watch the parade. A woman can be seen holding a spotted umbrella A veteran is escorted by another serviceman and a woman in Sydney A group of sailors are seen marching through Elizabeth street during Anzac day Tens of thousands of people flocked to Sydney's inner city for commemorations 'I just didn't think I deserved to march, and that's just because of a feeling I had when people are sort of questioning your medals,' Ms Hinder, who lives in Perth, told ABC. WA Women's Royal Australian Army Corp Association president Judy Welch said female veterans are often 'asked "why are you wearing those medals, you should be wearing them on the right hand side because they'll be your husband's or somebody else's". 'And, no, they belong to them and rightly so.' Women make up 15 per cent of the armed forces in Australia. Ian Smith, chair of the RSL SA's Anzac Day committee, told the thousands who gathered for Adelaide's early morning ceremony that women who served in the armed forces needed greater recognition. Women were restricted to nursing roles prior to the WWII, when all three services introduced women's branches, he said. 'Women were fully integrated during the 1970s and 80s, and since then have continued to make their mark with a full range of responsibilities across all three services,' he told the crowd. Members of the Albert Battery shoot a volley of fire at Anzac Day dawn service on Wednesday in Currumbin, Queensland Anzac Day dawn services have begun in the county's capital cities, marking 103 years since the Gallipoli landings (pictured are children at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne) Anzac day is a national holiday in Australia, marked by a dawn service held during the time of the original Gallipoli landing and commemorated with ceremonies and parades throughout the day A member of the Australian Air Force salutes during dawn service in Sydney (pictured) Bugler CPL Aaron Madden is seen during Anzac Day commemorations in Brisbane Air Vice-Marshal Steven Roberton told the large crowd at Sydney's Martin Place that 'Anzac day is not about glorifying war, but about celebrating the Australian spirit.' 'Anzac signifies strength and quality of character, attitude and action that transcends time.' The challenge, he said, was to make sure the spirit of Anzac was passed on to Australia's children and to honour the fallen and their sacrifice. Suzanne and Paul Smith, who for decades took their now-adult son Matthew to dawn services this year brought their five-year-old grandson Xavier for the first time. Ms Smith, whose own father was a serviceman, agreed that it was important that future generations appreciate the sacrifices of those who came before them. 'They're growing up in a different world now, so it makes a big difference,' she said. Crowds are seen ahead of the dawn service at the National War Memorial in Canberra People attend the dawn service marking Anzac Day in Gallipoli A girl can be seen waiting for the sunrise in Gallipoli on Wednesday Armed forces past and present are being commemorated around the country for their service (pictured is the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne) Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek, NSW Governor David Hurley were among the thousands gathered for the service in Sydney on Wednesday morning (pictured is the dawn service in Sydney) Later on Wednesday, female veterans will lead the march in Sydney for the first time to mark 103 years since Anzac troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915 In drizzling rain in Brisbane's CBD, brothers Finn and Rhys McNeil, aged nine and seven, remembered their great, great uncle at Anzac Square. Patrick Joseph Delacour went to France with the 41st battalion in WWI, aged 25, but never returned. 'We wanted to show respect to the soldiers, the men and women, the nurses that served in WWI and WWII to keep us safe,' the boys' mother Tracey told AAP. A beachside service was also held at Currumbin on the Gold Coast. An estimated 38,000 people braved the cold in Canberra, as Colonel Susan Neuhaus reflected on a century of severed limbs and broken bodies. Australian TV veteran, most recently known for his stint on I'm A Celebrity, Jay Laga'aia, proudly sang the Australian and New Zealand National anthems to a 10,000-strong audience at Dee Why Beach Massive crowds began gathering in Sydney around 5am for the dawn service and following march Thousands of people have started gathering in drizzling rain in Brisbane's CBD for the dawn service (pictured) A framed photograph tribute sits on the cenotaph during the Anzac Day Dawn service in Sydney Members of the Mudgeeraba light horse troop take part in the dawn service in Currumbin A young member of the Mudgeeraba light horse troop takes part in the dawn service in Currumbin The words Lest We Forget are projected onto a building during the Anzac Day Dawn service at Martin Place in Sydney The veteran surgeon, who returned from active service in Afghanistan, said she - like many Australians - had no faded photographs of men or women in uniform at home or relatives who served on the beaches of Gallipoli, muddy fields of Somme or the jungles of South East Asia. 'And yet like all of us I benefit from what they have done,' she said as dawn broke over the Australian War Memorial. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is in France to attend the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian War Memorial just outside Villiers-Bretonneux. Both he and French Prime Minister Edouard Phillipe will give commemorative addresses, while Prince Charles will deliver a reading. Eight year-old Henry Case and his grandfather Michael Case attend Anzac Day commemorations in Brisbane Members of the armed forces are seen during Anzac Day commemorations in Brisbane A soldier stands guard at the cenotaph during Anzac Day commemorations in Brisbane NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian speaks with with 95 year old Wal Scott - Smith, who retires after being Custodian of the Cenotaph for the past 78 years, after the Anzac Day Dawn service A burial at sea is seen as part of the Anzac day dawn service at Elephant Rock in Currumbin Advertisement All eyes were on First Lady Melania Trump on Tuesday night as she stole the show in a glittering Chanel gown for their first White House state dinner. Mrs Trump wore a Chanel black Chantilly lace haute couture gown that had been hand-painted with silver and embroidered with crystal and sequins, which she paired with a pair of gunmetal stilettos. France's First Lady Brigitte Macron opted for a Louis Vuitton cream full-length gown with long sleeves and gold brocade detail. The US First Lady clearly embraced her moment in the spotlight during the French president's state visit. All eyes were on First Lady Melania Trump on Tuesday night as she stole the show in a glittering Chanel gown for their first White House state dinner Melania upstaged France's First Lady Brigitte Macron who opted for a Louis Vuitton cream full-length gown with long sleeves and gold brocade detail The dinner for 123 guests marked Mrs Trump's highest-profile hostess gig to date as First Lady. The White House had stressed that Melania, who planned her 2005 wedding, had a hand in every detail of the dinner from the place-settings to the giant flower arrangements greeting guests. In a toast before Tuesday's dinner honoring France, President Trump described his wife as 'America's absolutely incredible first lady'. He thanked her for her efforts on the dinner and said she had created an evening that everyone will always 'cherish and remember.' The FLOTUS released a brief video showing her working on the details with her staff, including the menu and the cream-and-gold table settings prior to the event. Reporters were briefly allowed into the White House ahead of the dinner to see the gold table settings, gold silverware, gold candlesticks, gold wine glasses, gold chairs situated elegantly around puffs of green and white flowers in the candlelit state dining room. At each of the place settings there was a menu, with the White House seal and the fleur-de-lis, which were also in gold. Just outside the state dining room, the first lady went with a different theme, using some 1,200 cherry blossoms in giant black vases that would greet guests as they came in. Donald and Melania Trump greeted French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte ahead of their first White House state dinner on Tuesday evening Melania exchanged hugs and kisses with President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte ahead of the glitzy White House state dinner Trump and his wife, Melania, exchanged hugs and air kisses with the Macrons before going inside the White House for the festivities Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived at the White House as a light rain fell Tuesday evening All eyes were on Melania as she stole the show in a Chanel black Chantilly lace haute couture gown that had been hand-painted with silver and embroidered with crystal and sequins The Trumps held hands as they made their way into the state dinner on Tuesday, which Melania played a central role in planning The White House showed off the finishing touches of first lady Melania Trump's decor on Monday night, from the place-setting to the giant flower arrangements greeting guests. Earlier on Monday, the White House had released some details about the dinner, including the menu. Goat cheese gateau, tomato jam, buttermilk biscuit crumbles, young variegated lettuces were served, along with a rack of spring lamb, burnt cipollini soubise and Carolina gold Rice Jambalaya, with a nectarine tart and creme fraiche ice cream for dessert. Two wines from Oregon were served and a demi-sec champagne. The meal was prepared by White House Executive Chef Christeta Comerford, who was hired during President George W. Bush's administration, and stayed through the Obama years. Matching first ladies: Brigitte Macron and Melania Trump matched in their all-white ensembles on Tuesday morning Pomp and circumstance: The two women accompanied their husbands to an arrival ceremony at the White House Shield: Melania also donned a dramatic white hat with a wide brim Twins: Melania and Brigitte made for a chic matching set Mrs Trump's glittering gown was her second big fashion statement of the day. She had earlier worn a stylish white belted suit with a broad-brimmed chapeau for her public appearances, including on a brief outing to the National Gallery of Art with Mrs Macron to view an exhibit of works by French painter Paul Cezanne. The hat stayed atop her head as she returned to the White House and took her front-row seat in the East Room for the president's joint news conference with Macron. It bobbed up and down across the bottom of television screens as she entered the room and again as she rose to leave, spawning many a Twitter meme. The hat was designed by Herve Pierre, the first lady's French-born stylist, according to Mrs Trump's office. The skirt suit was a creation of Michael Kors, a designer the first lady has worn in the past. Mrs Macron also opted for all-white on Tuesday morning. The 65-year-old chose a more classic Chanel-style boucle dress and jacket Brigitte's white above-the-knee dress had black accents at the pockets, as well as a white suit jacket with black piping and chain detailing. She accessorized with black pumps. Reporters were briefly allowed into the White House's state dining room Monday night to take in the first lady's designs for the Trump administration's first state dinner Melania Trump's vision for her first state dinner included golden place settings, puffs of white and light green flowers and dinner by candlelight Earlier in the day, the first lady tweeted pictures of herself huddling with her social secretary Rickie Niceta (right) as the two women went over last minute details for Tuesday's state dinner with France A vile act of racism has left a family completely shell-shocked after being told they weren't welcome to park or live in the country they have called their own for 15 years. An Iranian woman was busy working at her family's restaurant in West Auckland, New Zealand, on April 21 when someone slid a racist letter under her windscreen wiper. 'This is NZ Not Your country our land our carpark!!,' the note, written in messy blue texta, read. Parviz Khorakchi's wife was the recipient of the cruel letter and he said he was confused at why someone would do such a thing, given he and his family are citizens. An Iranian woman was busy working at her family's restaurant in West Auckland, New Zealand, on April 21 when someone slid a racist letter (pictured) under her windscreen wiper Mr Khorakchi moved to New Zealand from Iran with his wife and two children, a boy and a girl, in early 2003 in search of a better lifestyle. 'My boy and girl are adults now but they grew up here, went to school here, they are Kiwis,' he told New Zealand Herald. He said the incident was 'so disappointing' and the family was 'so upset' at their first experience of racism since moving to the country. 'We park in that spot all the time, this had never happened before,' Mr Khorakchi said. He thought perhaps the author was jealous of the family's successful business, Arum Restaurant, which they built by working seven days a week. Mr Khorakchi thought perhaps the author was jealous of the family's successful business, Arum Restaurant (pictured), which they built by working seven days a week 'I work hard, I don't expect government help, we are all New Zealand citizens and we never did anything wrong to the country, which is why this is really upsetting.' The letter was shared to the business's Instagram page and attracted many messages of support. 'Just disgusting. So sorry this happened to you. I'm disappointed in New Zealanders,' someone wrote. Another added, 'Disgraceful, unfortunately there is always an idiot somewhere. Stay strong this is our land yours and mine.' 'So sorry to hear this happened to you, not OK. Racism is disgusting. Much love to your family.' A senior Australian citizen who acted as official caretaker of the Sydney Anzac Cenotaph for the past 78 years retired this morning at the age of 96. Wally Scott Smith enlisted in the war effort in 1937 with the hope of following in his father's footsteps and becoming a serviceman in the Australian army, Nine News reports. But when he was diagnosed with cancer a week later - eventually causing him to have 12 inches of his bowel removed - Wally was deemed medically unfit for service. Wally Scott Smith, 96, retired as official caretaker of the Anzac Sydney Cenotaph after 78 years Mr Smith enlisted in the war effort in 1937, but was deemed medically unfit for service after he was diagnosed with cancer. Nine years later 'he was asked if he would like to take over the job as caretaker of the cenotaph' But as the Last Post signalled his final day on the job on Wednesday morning, Mr Smith received a standing ovation for having contributed to the Anzacs in another way. 'All Wally wanted to do was serve his country so in 1946, he was asked if he would like to take over the job as caretaker of the cenotaph,' the crowd heard. 'He thought maybe this was his way of serving the country.' The Anzac Cenotaph, located in the heart of Martin Place, is one of the oldest WWI monuments in Sydney and the centrepiece for the city's main Anzac dawn service ceremonies The Anzac Cenotaph, located in the heart of Martin Place, is one of the oldest WWI monuments in Sydney and the centrepiece for the city's main Anzac dawn service ceremonies. For Wally, it was his life's work. 'Since Wally has been the caretaker of the cenotaph, he's escaped from hospital twice with morphine drips no less just to get here and do his job,' the crowd heard. 'Not many people realised that he stayed all day and all night at the cenotaph every one of those years. 'Wal Smith thank you for a job well done.' During the tribute, Mr Smith was presented with a gift from the Anzac Day Trust by NSW Governor General David Hurly. An investigation is underway after police seized 17 mobile phones, methamphetamine, cannabis and a python at a home on Wednesday. NSW officers with the Port Stephens/Hunter Police District raided the home in Raymond Terrace, north of Newcastle, at 4.30am. As well as the unlicensed reptile, officers said they found a sum of cash, a replica gun, what is believed to be marijuana seeds and an extendable baton. The items will not undergo forensic examination, police said. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers. A young thug brutally killed six little penguins to death as he bashed them over their heads with a stick during a beach camping trip. Joshua Leigh Jeffrey has been convicted of aggravated cruelty to animals which left the penguins dead, deformed or seriously disabled after the horrific incident two years ago, The Mercury reported. The small bodies of nine penguins were found lifeless on the beach following the 'random attack' at Sulphur Creek, near Burnie, on New Year's Day. Joshua Leigh Jeffrey brutally killed six little penguins to death as he bashed them over their heads with a stick during a beach camping trip in 2016 in Tasmania, near Burnie Prosecutor Harry Virs said the creatures, who were found by a local resident the following day, had head fractures and suffered from trauma. Last year it was heard Jeffrey, aged 19 at the time, and three other teenagers were camping near the penguins, ABC News reported. Another local, Luke Williams, said he found an axe alongside the dead penguins. 'To get a couple of bags of dead penguins dropped off was of concern and disappointment to think a human could have done this,' Preservation Bay Coast Care Group President Frank Wilson testified. The now 21-year-old pleaded not guilty and claimed he was not on the beach the night of the killing, Burnie Magistrates Court heard. The Tasmanian man's lawyer, Greg Richardson, said he was drug addicted and had a mental health disorder. The matter was adjourned so Jeffrey could have a forensic mental health pre-sentencing report made. He is expected to be sentenced on June 20. Former President George H.W. Bush paid a thoughtful tribute to his late wife, Barbara Bush, during her private funeral on Saturday - by opting for book-themed socks provided by a young entrepreneur with Down syndrome. The 41st President opted for the knitted stacks of blue, red and yellow books during the ceremony in Houston as a nod to the former First Lady's family literacy campaigns. Bush, who is known for his love of colorful socks, ordered the pair from 22-year-old John Cronin, who lives in Huntington in New York. George H.W. Bush opted for the knitted stacks of blue, red and yellow books (pictured) during Saturday's funeral in Houston as a nod to the former First Lady's family literacy campaigns Bush, who is known for his love of colorful socks, ordered the pair from 22-year-old John Cronin, from Huntington in New York (left, undated). Pictured right: Barbara Bush in February 2016 at a campaign event for Jeb Bush in Greenville, South Carolina Cronin runs John's Crazy Socks with his father, Mark, and gifted the wacky ensemble to Bush after his office requested a pair last week especially for the funeral. 'It made me feel sad and I cried because he lost his wife,' John told CBS News. 'But it made me feel good, too, because I wanted the socks to make President Bush feel better. I wanted the socks to make him happy.' John's company sells more than 1,900 types of 'colorful and fun' socks and donates five per cent of its profits to the Special Olympics. Cronin runs John's Crazy Socks with his father, Mark, and had the wacky ensemble delivered to Bush after his office requested a pair last week especially for the funeral The specific pair Bush wore are called 'Library for Literacy', with all profits going to the Barbara Bush Foundation. Bush first discovered John's socks after the young entrepreneur sent him a pair last year - and has remained a loyal customer. About 1,500 people attended Saturday's private funeral in Houston, Texas, to pay their respects to the much-loved matriarch. Mourners included First Lady Melania Trump, former President Bill Clinton, former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama. Family spokesman Jim McGrath tweeted a photo of the former president's attire and explained: 'To honor his wife of 73 years and her commitment to family literacy, for which she raised over $110 million over the course of over 30 years, will be wearing a pair of socks festooned with books at today's funeral service for former First Lady Barbara Bush.' Barbara Bush was adamant that teaching people to read could help decrease the other major problems. 'After much thought, I realized everything I worried about would be better if more people could read, write and comprehend,' she wrote in her 1994 autobiography, 'Barbara Bush: A Memoir.' Bush seen wearing the colorful socks during Saturday's funeral at St Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston John's company sells more than 1,900 types of 'colorful and fun' socks (including these ones, pictured, and donates five per cent of its profits to the Special Olympics Family spokesman Jim McGrath tweeted a photo of the former president's attire and explained it was a tribute to Barbara Bush's literacy campaigns It would be another decade before Bush became first lady, but, in the interval, she was active in literacy programs. In March 1989, mere weeks into her husband's presidency, she founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. The foundation's programs include classes to help teenage mothers who left high school earn GED diplomas in Georgia, and teaching non-English speakers in Alabama. One in four American adults can't read above a fifth-grade level, the foundation says. A 2003 study by the National Center for Education Statistics found that nearly 15 percent of Americans lacked basic reading and comprehension skills. It took more than a decade to compile, though, and hasn't been repeated. Barbara's Bush's casket sits near her husband inside St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston Bush remained active with the foundation until as recently as two months ago, participating via video chat at one of its reading events. Her daughter, Doro Bush Koch, is now the foundation's honorary chairwoman, and it is based in Tallahassee, where her son, Jeb, lived as Florida governor from 1999 until 2007. Bush also wrote two books about her dogs' lives, 1984's 'C. Fred's Story' and 'Millie's Book,' in 1990, and donated the proceeds to family literacy programs. In 2013, her son Neil, and his wife Maria, created the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, which promotes literacy among people of all ages in the country's fourth-largest city. Laura Bush, who was first lady while Barbara's son George W. was president, told Fox Business Network on Wednesday that her mother-in-law believed 'if everyone could read and write, a lot of problems would be solved.' A man who chased his terrified, homeless partner into a school armed with a large knife before threatening to kill her, and himself, won't spend time in jail. The terrifying incident unfolded at a Gold Coast primary school where the man had followed his partner after whipping and punching her during an argument hours later. The man, who can't be named, whispered 'I'm going to kill you if you don't come outside,' to the woman as she hid inside a 'safe place at the school', a court was told. A man who chased his terrified, homeless partner into a school armed with a large knife before threatening to kill her, and himself, won't spend time in jail According to the Gold Coast Bulletin the man had followed his partner to the school where she was picking up her daughter. He grabbed her from behind just outside the school, trying to kiss her and bite her ear before other mums intervened and she was safely hidden from him inside the school chaplain's office. But this didn't deter the man, according to the court documents. He went on to reveal his 35 centimetre knife, and threatened her life as well as his own. He also smashed her laptop outside the window of the office where she was hiding. 'I know where you are staying and I know where your kid goes to school,' he said during the attack. The terrifying incident unfolded at a Gold Coast primary school where the man had followed his partner after whipping and punching her during an argument hours later The area was declared 'out of bounds' to the school children, doors were locked and the lights were switched off to deter the man. At some point he left the grounds and discarded the knife on the path, where police later found it. Judge Catherine Muir sentenced him to six months prison after he pleaded guilty in the District Court yesterday to making threats, common assault and wilful damage. The jailtime is suspended and he is out on immediate parole. Defence barrister John Cook said the man was taking steps to see to his drug addiction. Apple CEO Tim Cook managed to bag a seat next to Frances First Lady Brigitte Macron during the White House state dinner Tuesday night. Photos taken from France 24's White House correspondent Philip Crowther show Cook chatting with Macron as President Donald Trump stood at a podium directly behind them. 'Trumps toast has begun. Apple CEO Tim Cook is sitting next to Brigitte Macron,' Crowther tweeted in one of the photo's captions. Scroll down for video Apple CEO Tim Cook managed to bag a seat next to Frances First Lady Brigitte Macron during the White House state dinner Tuesday night Photos taken from France 24's White House correspondent Philip Crowther show Cook chatting with Macron as President Donald Trump stood at a podium directly behind them 'Trumps toast has begun. Apple CEO Tim Cook is sitting next to Brigitte Macron,' Crowther tweeted in one of the photo's captions Another photo shows Trump standing beside France's President Emmanuel Macron as they lift their glasses for the toast In a toast before Tuesday's dinner honoring France, Trump described his wife First Lady Melania Trump as 'America's absolutely incredible first lady' before he raised a glass to President Macron Another photo shows Trump standing beside France's President Emmanuel Macron as they lift their glasses for the toast. Meanwhile, Cook toasts with First Lady Brigitte and pianist Helene Arnault, who attended the state dinner with her husband Bernard Arnault, the CEO of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. In a toast before Tuesday's dinner honoring France, Trump described his wife First Lady Melania Trump as 'America's absolutely incredible first lady' before he raised a glass to President Macron. He thanked her for her efforts on the dinner and said she had created an evening that everyone will always 'cherish and remember'. The dinner for 130 guests marked Melania's highest-profile hostess gig to date as first lady. Trump went on to raise a glass to President Macron saying: 'May our friendship grow even deeper'. In his toast, Macron, who spoke in French, thanked Trump for making him the first world leader honored with a state visit. Meanwhile, Cook toasts with First Lady Brigitte and pianist Helene Arnault, who attended the state dinner with her husband Bernard Arnault (both pictured), the CEO of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Cook and Lisa Jackson are seen arriving for the state dinner in honor of French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House Among the guests were Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner who were among the first to arrive at the White House shortly after 6pm. They were followed closely by Vice President Mike Pence and wife Karen Reporters were left off the invite list but one media mogul made the list: the owner of Fox News Channel Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch held his wife Jerry Hall's hand as they made their way into the White House He added that he and Trump had pledged to work together and listen to one another. 'Thank you for the quality of our exchanges,' he said before toasting the 'unbreakable friendship' of the US and France. Among the guests were Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner who were among the first to arrive at the White House shortly after 6pm. They were followed closely by Vice President Mike Pence and wife Karen. Reporters were left off the invite list but one media mogul made the list: the owner of Fox News Channel Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch held his wife Jerry Hall's hand as they made their way into the White House. David Copperfield has been forced to reveal more of his carefully guarded secrets in court as the 61-year-old testified in the lawsuit brought by a British man against the magician. Insisting on Tuesday in a Las Vegas court that no one has been injured in 20-years of his signature vanishing act, the multi-millionaire explained how audience members were picked for the illusion, which is known as 'Lucky#13'. He divulged to the court how the audience of thousands in the purpose built Vegas theater were screened by dozens of his team to pick the right participants in the magic trick. Copperfield (pictured, April 18) stopped performing the illusion about two years after Cox's injury He was asked then what he and his employees look for when they select an audience member as the $400,000 lawsuit launched by a British tourist who claims he was seriously hurt in a fall rumbles on. David Copperfield insisted that no one was injured the 20 years he performed a vanishing act. The magician took the stand on Tuesday (pictured) as he was forced to defend himself after a participant claimed he was injured 'Seven times, we make an assessment,' said Copperfield. 'Visually watching them interact with their footwear. It's like seven different screening moments.' 'If those shoes created a challenge, I would look carefully and see how they rock those shoes and I would know whether or not they would be able to do the piece.' He then compared his final questions to those asked of passengers at the airline exit row and if they are comfortable sitting there and understand the responsibility. The magician told the court he would joke 'there may be violence' to check their reactions and then would obviously ask, 'are you 18 or older and in good health?' Amid complaints from his lawyers about widespread media coverage, the world-famous illusionist returned to the witness stand, telling a Nevada jury about the trick that makes people seems to disappear on stage and reappear in the back of the theater. Gavin Cox (pictured), a British tourist, sued Copperfield after claiming he was seriously hurt in a fall during a Las Vegas performance in November 2013 At least 55,000 audience volunteers have taken part in the illusion over 17 years, according to Copperfield and show executive producer Chris Kenner, who testified last week. In 60 to 90 seconds, stagehands with flashlights ushered randomly chosen participants past dark curtains, down passageways, around corners, outdoors, indoors and through an MGM Grand resort kitchen to re-enter the theater and reappear for the show finale, according to testimony. Copperfield remains on stage the entire time. Benedict Morelli, attorney for plaintiff Gavin Cox, has characterized the route as an obstacle course and the pace as dangerously fast for people who might not have appropriate footwear and are not told in advance what they will encounter. Copperfield said he and stagehands assessed the capabilities of audience volunteers as they approached the stage, climbed stairs and seated themselves in a boxy 13-seat apparatus for the illusion. The trick is dubbed The Thirteen, for the number of seats. A court in Nevada heard some of the secrets behind the signature 'Lucky 13' act in which 13 audience members disappear from the stage and seemingly reappear at the back of a theater The jury has been told that some volunteers were turned away. Over the objections of Copperfield attorney Elaine Fresch, Morelli asked Copperfield if he thought the number of people not injured by the illusion over the years suggested it was safe. Im not in the business of hurting people, Copperfield said. The illusion must be safe because of how many people have done it without getting injured? Morelli asked. Stage 1: Video footage of the 'Lucky 13' trick being performed shows audience members sitting on a platform on stage after being randomly selected from the audience Stage 2: A curtain drops over the platform on stage during which time the participants are ushered through secret passageways and even outside the building Numbers are not a defense, Copperfield said, adding he couldnt remember hearing of anyone getting hurt. Copperfield said he didnt know Cox claimed to have been injured in November 2013 until he was sued the following year. He said he stopped performing the illusion a year later. Cox alleges he fell after being hurried by stagehands through an alleyway coated with a powdery residue near a trailer-sized trash bin. The resident of Kent, England, claims lasting brain and bodily injuries from his fall have cost him more than $400,000 in medical care. Fresch lost a bid Tuesday for a mistrial based on the amount of media coverage about the case, including interviews involving Morelli. Stage 3: Copperfield lifts the curtain from the platform to reveal the volunteers have 'vanished' (pictured) only to point to the back of the hall where the participants reappear Copperfield (picture, Tuesday) said they are at least seven tests for audience members to show how they dealt with the seats, the stage and stairs before they are selected for participation Clark County District Court Judge Mark Denton allowed testimony to resume after asking jurors if they saw news items about the case during a five-day break in the civil trial. Three said they turned off broadcasts when they encountered them. Copperfields lawyers lost pretrial motions to close proceedings to the public to avoid giving away performance secrets. A state appeals court ruled Friday that Denton can close the courtroom to the public for some testimony to protect tradecraft. Administrators recommended Tuesday that Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio be removed from office following her few-year string of unruly behavior. The announcement was made by New York State Commission administrators who said the suspended Astacio will get to keep her $187,200 salary while she awaits news of the final decision. Astacio had been arrested over two years ago for drinking and driving. She mouthed off to an officer, who she told to 'mind his own f---ing business' while also attempting to use her position to her advantage. Following her DUI arrest, the judge neglected court orders and instead went on a trip to Thailand. 'Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio should be removed from office,' New York State Commission administrator Robert Tembeckjian said in a statement. Scroll down for video Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio may be removed from office, officials say. The judge spoke to WHAM-TV about the matter this week The judge in January 2015 encouraged police to 'shoot' and 'punch' a teenage girl who was causing them troubles by acting out while being taken into the court room for a hearing. During another hearing, Astacio cackled while listening to a defendant's lawyer say his client's alleged victim had 'buyers remorse'. In yet another incident, the judge led an arraignment of one of her former clients, Tembekcjian said. Tembeckjian added in the statement the commission had only learned of Astacio's other outbursts after she was arrested for the DUI. In an interview with WHAM-TV, Astacio said: 'I have my own opinions of why they made the decision. Sometimes the more media attention the case gets, the more punishment is given.' 'Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio should be removed from office,' New York State Commission administrator Robert Tembeckjian said Tembeckjian added in the statement the commission had only learned of Astacio's other outbursts after she was arrested for the DUI She added: 'I've always wanted to do my job and that's why I ran for it. The City of Rochester voted me in. 'It is a very odd thing to see when the voters will is subverted by a group of individuals who decide they know what the voters want better than they do.' Tembeckjian expressed the judge's response to her wrongdoings as alarming. 'That tends to make an impression on the commission... because if a judge doesn't recognize their wrongdoing, doesn't accept responsibility for their wrongdoing, then there's every likelihood to expect that that misconduct will recur,' he said. 'This particular case, in our experience, I think is in a class by itself.' Astacio now has 30 days to accept the commission's decision or appeal to it. One of Australia's busiest airports is pulling in up to $400,000 every day in parking fees alone. New statistics have revealed Melbourne Airport made a total of $145.1million in 2017 from short and long-term parking - a jump of more than $10million on the year prior. And Tullamarine's windfall is in part due to the laziness of commuters, with a growing number preferring to pay more to be able to park closer to the terminal, according to the Herald Sun. Melbourne Airport is raking in as much as $400,000 a day in parking fees, it has been revealed The airport (pictured) made a total of $145.1million in 2017 from short and long-term parking - a jump of more than $10million on the year prior During the 2016-17 financial year the airport raked an average of $397,000 each day in parking. It then made a profit of 60c from every dollar coming to a total of $86.7million over those 12 months - an increase of $6.8million on the previous year. Gerard Brody, the chief of the Consumer Action Law Body, told the publication such huge profits could only be described as 'price gouging'. 'They get away with it because there's a lack of other accessible options,' Mr Brody said. 'They can clearly afford to do more to reduce costs for travellers.' Parking rates at Melbourne Airport range from $4 for 15 minutes at the terminal to as much as $684 for a fortnight in valet parking. But the airport's chief of parking Lorie Argus has defended their record profits, claiming the fees it charges for parking are fair. 'The T4 car park was open for the full financial year, unlike a year earlier,' Ms Argus said. Commuters wiling to pay more to park closer to their departure terminal has in part resulted in the increase Parking rates at Melbourne Airport range from $4 for 15 minutes at the terminal to as much as $684 for a fortnight in valet parking 'There has also been more than 30 per cent growth in travellers choosing to pay higher rates for premium and valet parking to guarantee the closest access to terminals.' Just last month the airport slashed short-term rates by up to 20 per cent bringing the cost of one hour down to $12. In recent years it has also opened free 10-minute pick-up areas in all four terminals, in addition to one-minute pick-up lanes. Advertisement Meghan Markle has taken part in her first official service of remembrance as she joined her fiance Prince Harry at an Anzac Day Dawn Service. Organised by the New Zealand and Australian High Commissions, the couple arrived at Wellington Arch in central London for the Service of Commemoration. The American passed a cultural milestone when she, and Harry, were welcomed by Te Ataraiti Waretini, a member of the London Maori Club, with a traditional hongi, the soft pressing of noses and the sharing of each other's breath. Ms Waretini, a New Zealander living in London, said about Meghan: 'She was amazing. I'm not sure if it's her first time at a Maori ceremony but she did very, very well. 'It was really lovely to meet her and share the breath of life and share our culture with her and Harry.' Prince Harry previously met Ms Waretini through her association with the London Maori club, which was invited to New Zealand House to meet with the royal in 2014 as part of preparations for the Invictus Games. Scroll down for video The American passed a cultural milestone when she, and Harry, were welcomed by Te Ataraiti Waretini from Ngati Ranana with a traditional hongi Prince Harry was also given a hongi to Te Ataraiti Waretini from Ngati Ranana, which involves the soft pressing of noses and the sharing of each other's breath Ms Waretini (shown left), a New Zealander living in London, said Meghan was 'amazing', adding that she took to the Maori ceremonies 'very well' Prince Harry previously met Ms Waretini (pictured middle) through who association with the London Maori club, which was invited to New Zealand House to meet with the royal in 2014 Prince Harry poses with Ngati Ranana Maori dancers (including Ms Waretini, front row, middle) as he meets the New Zealand Invictus Team at New Zealand House A smiling Prince Harry seems happy to be joined by his fiancee Meghan Markle, who was attending her first official memorial service this morning Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle walk with New Zealand's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Jerry Mateparae, after commemorations at Hyde Park Corner Prince Harry lays a wreath at the Australian War Memorial during an Anzac Day dawn service at Hyde Park Corner in London Kensington Palace said the Duke of Cambridge hoped to join Harry and Meghan at the afternoon Anzac Day service Meghan impressed delegates with her first official appearance at a memorial service, as she prepares to be formally welcomed into the royal family next month Meghan Markle took part in her first official service of remembrance as she joined her fiance, Prince Harry , at an Anzac Day Dawn Service Prince Harry and his fiance Meghan Markle exchange a glance during the service, which represents the American's first ever remembrance event The pair, who are set to marry next month, both wore long coats this morning for the moving dawn service at Wellington Arch As the sun broke over the London skyline, Harry, a former army officer who served for 10 years in the forces, laid his floral wreath at one of a group of metal crosses near Wellington Arch in central London. A handwritten note from the prince, attached to a wreath of red roses, read: 'For all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of our freedom. Thank you, Harry.' Ms Markle may not yet be a member of the royal family but she has attended a large number of official events in the run-up to her royal wedding on May 19. There were other Maori elements during the dawn service including a haka performed at the end, a longer version of the one displayed by the famous New Zealand rugby team the All Blacks before matches. Ms Waretini said about Meghan: 'She was amazing. I'm not sure if it's her first time at a Maori ceremony but she did very very well. 'It was really lovely to meet her and share the breath of life and share our culture with her and Harry.' Anzac Day has been commemorated in London since the first anniversary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli in 1916, when King George V attended a service at Westminster Abbey and more than 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets. Harry was joined by fiancee Meghan Markle for the early-morning event at the New Zealand war memorial where thousands had gathered to pay their respects Harry and Meghan are due to tie the knot in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in Berkshire in only a few days' time in May Anzac Day has been commemorated in central London since the first anniversary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli in 1916 The US actress, who wore a grey coat and large brimmed hat, passed a cultural milestone when she, and Harry, were welcomed by Te Ataraiti Waretini from Ngati Ranana - the London Maori Club - with a traditional hongi Meghan wrapped up against the morning chill for the service, wearing a thick grey coat, a black hat, matched with a black top Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were joined by hundreds of others in commemorating all Australians and New Zealanders 'who served and died in all wars and conflicts' Since then, the services have become an important moment to recognise the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who died during the landings. Anzac Day is commemorated as a public holiday in both countries with memorial ceremonies held at various locations. The Dawn Service at Hyde Park Corner lasted 45 minutes. The service began at the New Zealand memorial and included readings, the Last Post, silence, reveille and national anthems, before the couple moved to the granite Australian memorial. Meghan Markle signs her name in a remembrance book for the first time, before she becomes a bona fide royal next month As the sun broke over the London skyline, Harry, a former army officer who served for 10 years in the forces, laid his floral wreath at one of a group of metal crosses near Wellington Arch in central London The service began at the New Zealand memorial and included readings, the Last Post, silence, reveille and national anthems, before the couple moved to the granite Australian memorial At the conclusion of the main service in front of the New Zealand war memorial, Harry and Meghan walked over to pay their respects to the Australian troops just the other side of Wellington Arch Ms Markle may not yet be a member of the royal family but she has attended a large number of official events in the run-up to her royal wedding on May 19 Meghan Markle looks on as she attends her first ever official service of remembrance this morning as part of Anzac Day Meghan Markle stands and joins her hands as part of proceedings as the dawn service continues first thing this morning in central London Harry and Meghan were joined by the New Zealand and Australian High Commissioners and both signed a book of remembrance. Later in the morning at the Parade Service at the Cenotaph, Prince Harry will lay a wreath on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen. Between 300 and 400 participants will take part in the parade, including member of veterans' associations, service and ex-service personnel and their families. Following this parade, he and Meghan will be joined by new father Prince William at the Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey. This will be a traditional church service, incorporating an 'Act of Remembrance', the Last Post and Kemal Ataturk's words from Anzac Cove read by the Turkish Ambassador to the UK. The actress braved the brisk spring morning in April to pay her respects to the Australian and New Zealand troops who died during the landings at Gallipoli in 1916 Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day Meghan, 36, looked suitably sombre in a grey coat, black hat and heels, with her hair loose as she attended the service this morning Meghan wears a poppy as she commemorates Anzac Day, which has been acknowledged in London since the first anniversary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli in 1916 The Australian War Memorial was dedicated in 2003 to the 102,000 Australian dead of the First and Second World Wars. Harry took the lead, although glanced several times behind him to make sure his fiancee was following At the conclusion of the main service in front of the New Zealand war memorial, Harry and Meghan walked over to pay their respects to the Australian troops just the other side of Wellington Arch. The Australian War Memorial was dedicated in 2003 to the 102,000 Australian dead of the First and Second World Wars. Harry took the lead, although glanced several times behind him to make sure his fiancee was following. The couple first went to sign a book of commemoration together - believed to the first time Miss Markle has done so. She then watched from the side as Harry laid a beautiful wreath at the base of the granite memorial with a hand-written card which read: 'In loving memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice and the many whose lives were changed forever. Harry.' He bowed and then waited for Miss Markle to join him before they thanked their hosts and walked off to their waiting car for the short drive back to Kensington Palace. The service began at the New Zealand memorial and included readings, the Last Post, silence, reveille and national anthems, before the couple moved to the granite Australian memorial Harry and Meghan were joined by the New Zealand and Australian High Commissioners and both signed a book of remembrance The couple sang hymns including Abide With Me before Prince Harry lay wreaths at both the New Zealand and Australian memorials Prince Harry studies his order of service as Meghan Markle sits by his side, during what is her first ever outing for a official remembrance service Thousands of women finally take the lead at Anzac Day marches in Australia as commemoration services take place across the world Australians gathered at pre-dawn services on Wednesday to commemorate the moment when Australian and New Zealand Army Corps troops waded ashore at the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey 103 years ago in their first major battle of World War I. Because extremists have targeted annual Anzac Day ceremonies in the past, concrete barriers were placed around the service in downtown Sydney to protect those who gathered at Martin Place. Among those at the head of the parade was 100-year-old Molly Cummings, who is honouring her many family members who have served for Australia. This year, for the first time, women's service groups marched consecutively as part of the By The Left campaign, which aims to raise the profile of female veterans. Prince Charles delivers a speech during the wreath-laying ceremonies at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, northern France People take part in a smoking ceremony during the Diggers March in Sydney, Australia. The annual march started 15 years ago, to recognise and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who served in the Australian Armed Forces Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop lays a wreath at the Redfern Park World War Memorial in Sydney, Australia This year, for the first time, women's service groups will march consecutively as part of the By The Left campaign Thousands of female veterans are leading Anzac Day parades around Australia to honour those who have served and to raise the profile of women in the military (pictured is a former servicewoman waving during the parade in Sydney) Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, his French counterpart Edouard Philippe and the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, will mark Anzac Day in France with a service that also commemorates the 100th anniversary of Australian troops taking the town of Villers-Bretonneux from the Germans. Villers-Bretonneux is now home to the main Australian Memorial of the Western Front. At Villers-Bretonneux, Turnbull and Philippe on Tuesday unveiled a memorial plaque at the new Sir John Monash Centre museum which is named after the Australian general responsible for taking the town. Turnbull and his wife, Lucy, also visited the grave of her great uncle Roger Hughes who was killed by a German shell in 1916 five days after arriving on the Western Front as a young military doctor. Turnbull said in an Anzac Day message that Australians remember veterans of every generation who risked their lives for their country. Prince Charles was among those to attend Anzac Day services, which honours the men of the Australia-New Zealand Army Corps who died in World War I at the 1915 battle for Gallipoli, Turkey Men dressed as WWI soldiers take part in the parade in Brisbane. Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance to commemorate the service and sacrifice of Australian service men and women A woman carries a framed photograph of what is assumed to be a family member, as thousands gathered to commemorate one of Australia's most important annual events A girl looks round as she watches the Anzac Day march in Sydney on Wednesday morning, as is customary every year Musicians from the Hills District Pipe Band march during the Anzac Day march in Sydney, one of several cities across the world to mark the event Australians and New Zealanders arrive at memorial after attending the traditional Anzac Dawn service at Anzac Cove in Canakkale, Turkey 'We best honor the Anzacs of 1918 and the First World War by supporting today's service men and women,' Turnbull said on social media. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton represents the Australian government at a service at ANZAC Cove at Gallipoli, where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed under British command in an ill-fated attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war. More than 44,000 Allied soldiers were killed at Gallipoli. Turkish casualties were estimated at 250,000. At the Australian War Memorial in the capital Canberra, an estimated crowd of 38,000 - 10 percent of the city's population - gathered in the cool autumn darkness for the dawn service which began with a lone soldier playing a didgeridoo. 'The attendance at this year's dawn service shows the enduring connection so many people have to Anzac Day,' Memorial Director Brendan Nelson said in a statement. Armed forces past and present are being commemorated around the country for their service (pictured is the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne) HMAS Waterhen, which was involved in this morning's commemorations, is a Royal Australian Navy base located in Waverton on Sydney's lower north shore A married Oklahoma high school teacher who is mother to three children has been arrested after filing for a marriage license so she could wed a 16-year-old student. Cassandra Renae White, 34, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with four counts of soliciting sexual conduct or communication with a minor by use of technology. News of the arrest was reported by KXII-TV. White was fired from her job as a teacher at Davis High School after a concerned parent contacted police regarding a possibly inappropriate relationship. Cassandra Renae White, 34, a married Oklahoma high school teacher who is mother to three children, has been arrested after filing for a marriage license so she could wed a 16-year-old student White, 34, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with four counts of soliciting sexual conduct or communication with a minor by use of technology According to her Facebook page, White is mother to three children (seen above) She has been married to Nick White for the past 12 years, according to her Facebook page White and the male high school sophomore filed for a marriage license in Cleveland County on December 13, KFOR reported. The news station further reports that the boy's father signed off on the marriage license. White was terminated by Davis High School the following day, Davis Public Schools said in a statement. In December, she was fired from Davis High School (pictured) after allegedly filing for a marriage license with a 16-year-old student Per KTEN, their policy on such matters reads in part: 'Any romantic or sexual affiliation between school personnel and students, including students who have reached the age of majority (18) during school hours will have a negative impact on the educational process and shall constitute a violation and suspension or termination for the employee.' 'The District is currently cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation of these allegations,' the statement read. A person who is 16 years old may be married provided there is parental consent. However, Oklahoma law dictates that rape charges can be filed in cases where a teacher has sex with a student in the same school system who is between 16 and 20 years old. According to her Facebook page, White has been married 12 years to Nick White, with whom she has three children. Rosemary Gibson, pictured, was murdered by her husband of 44 years - because he wanted to go on holidays A man who killed his wife in front of their young grandson, shooting her twice in the head as she slept in an armchair, has told a court he did it because she wouldn't go travelling with him. Alan Charles Gibson, 67, used a .22 calibre rifle to kill Rosemary, his wife of 44 years, at their home in Traralgon, Victoria on April 15, 2016, a court has been told. Gibson, who has pleaded guilty to his wife's murder, told the court he was 'sorry' his actions hurt his family, the ABC reports. 'I only wanted to go on holidays,' he said. Mrs Gibson had been caring for her elderly parents before her death. Alan Gibson, left, pictured alongside his wife, right in happier times, shot her in the head while she slept She didn't want to travel in their retirement, as they had planned, because she couldn't bear to leave her mother and father unassisted. This led to Gibson resenting his wife for not spending time with him. Mrs Gibson had been caring for her elderly parents before her death Then, after an argument about Gibson cleaning up the house and 'burning the waste, he shot her. 'I just know things were getting to such an extreme turning point it was just, it just, it but then to come home and after I'd cleaned up, the house looked immaculate and she went right off,' he told police. Doctor Danny Sullivan assessed Gibson following the murder. He wrote to the court to say he believed Gibson to be suffering from depression at the time of the attack. Gibson will be sentenced at a later date. Advocates pushing to have California secede from the rest of the United States have been given the green light to collect signatures for their longshot initiative. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced on Monday that a secession ballot proposal had been cleared that allowed a group called Yes California to start collecting signatures. Backers of the initiative, which has been dubbed 'Calexit', are aiming to collect enough signatures in a bid to place it on a ballot. This most recent effort is the third Calexit proposal since President Donald Trump took office. Advocates pushing to have California secede from the rest of the United States have been given the green light to collect signatures for their initiative for independence Prior efforts for independence - in 2015 and 2017 - have failed to collect signatures or simply been withdrawn. The newest proposal with ask voters about a 2020 secession. If it gets passed, a second election would be held the following year to affirm the decision. Yes California has until October to collect nearly 366,000 signatures. Calexit enthusiasts are pushing for independence on grounds the state is out of step with the rest of the US and could flourish on its own. Yes California co-founder Louis Marinelli said: 'We realize it may seem like a long time to wait but we need time to have a serious dialogue with the people of California about why they should support the independence referendum by voting yes. Prior efforts for independence - in 2015 and 2017 - have failed to collect signatures or simply been withdrawn. The newest proposal with ask voters about a 2020 secession 'The voters need to make an informed decision when they go to the polls to determine California's political future.' Fellow organizer Marcus Ruiz Evans said the timing of the referendum was strategic. 'It is very possible that President Trump will be reelected in 2020. Dont tell us it wont happen because frankly people said it wouldnt happen in 2016,' he said. 'If President Trump is reelected in 2020, Californians will want to secede from the United States just as they wanted to following the 2016 election. This ballot measure we are now circulating will make this vote possible. 'We are asking the people to hedge their bet in 2020: vote against Donald Trump, but at the same time vote to schedule an independence referendum for six months later on May 4, 2021. You may end up wanting the referendum if he is reelected.' With nearly 40 million people, Democratic California is the country's most populous state and the sixth largest economy in the world. It has been at loggerheads with President Donald Trump's administration over its immigration and environmental policies as well as other issues. Police in Florida have arrested two men for allegedly gang-raping a woman this past Friday night, leading to the suspension of a college fraternity for the second time in less than a year. The alleged rape took place near the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Orange County Sheriffs Deputies arrested David Anthony Kirk, 20, and Jack Ryan Smith, 26. They have been charged with sexual battery, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Kirk is enrolled at UCF as a junior pre-marketing major. Jack Ryan Smith (left), 26, and David Anthony Kirk (right), 20, were arrested Saturday by Orange County Sheriff's deputies in Florida Smith (seen right) is a sophomore pre-business major at the University of Central Florida in Orlando Kirk is enrolled at UCF as a junior pre-marketing major. He and Smith have been charged with sexual battery Smith is a sophomore pre-business major. The alleged victim told investigators that she went to a party at a home that is used by members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. She says she drank vodka and flavored water on the way to the party. According to the arrest report, she continued drinking at the party. She had green apple-flavored shaved ice with vodka. During the party, she spent most of her time with Kirk and Smith in the backyard, according to authorities. At one point, she began to stumble and slur her words. Soon, she blacked out, according to authorities. Last August, Alexander Garces, 22 (left), and Antonio Candido, 22, (right) were charged with sexual battery and false imprisonment for allegedly raping a woman at their fraternity party. Those charges were dropped months later Deputies said she only remembered snapshots of the night. The woman told deputies that she then remembers waking up naked in a bedroom on her stomach in a queen-sized bed. While Smith was raping her, Kirk was forcing her to perform oral sex on him, according to the arrest report. The woman told deputies she was numb, in shock, and in tears. She said she heard the two men say my turn, my turn before switching positions. The arrest report did not say if the woman was a student. The woman said that after the alleged rape, she sat on the bathroom floor across the hall and texted her friends for help. She then met them and went home. The next day, she went to Florida Hospital East Orlando. The fraternity was placed on interim suspension on Tuesday. This is the second time in less than a year - and the fourth time in the last five years - that ATO has been temporarily suspended. In August, two men - Alexander Garces and Antonio Candido, both 22 - were charged with sexual battery and false imprisonment. A woman accused the two men of raping her at a New Years in July party at the on-campus home. The charges against the two men were dropped a few months later. The national organization of ATO released a statement on Tuesday saying it supports the woman alleging sexual assault. The fraternity says that the party where the alleged rape took place was not an official event. The party was not planned or coordinated by the chapter, was not sponsored by the chapter, was not sanctioned or promoted by the chapter, the statement read. This was not an ATO event. Kirk was expelled from the UCF chapter of the ATO, though no reason was given as to why. It is not known if Smith is a member. A woman left with her great grandfather's WW1 diary has put the call out for someone to help her decode his blurred hand-written messages. Jodi Shepherd's great grandfather, Fredrick Shepherd, served for the British army in 1914 and noted his experiences in a book, now in the hands of his great granddaughter. But while Ms Shepherd can make sense of the odd sentence, she said his older style handwriting used made it hard for her to get through a page at a time. Jodi Shepherd has put the call out for someone to help her decode her great grandfather's blurred hand-written messages (pictured) in a diary he kept during WWI in 1914 'I can make sense of some words ... I've had it for a while and would love to be able to just read one page,' she told Cairns Post. Ms Shepherd said the diary was too fragile to pass around or send out to people, but she had a managed to photocopy its pages. '(My grandfather's name) was Fredrick Shepherd or on his records he is known as 'Captain Fredrick Francis Cherrett Shepherd' he served for the British army. 'He was 15-years-old when he joined and funnily enough we share the same birthday.' Ms Shepherd has already received several messages from people saying they can read a page from her great grandfather's diary she shared online. Ms Shepherd said the diary was too fragile to pass around or send out to people, but she had a managed to photocopy its pages (pictured: war veterans take part in an Anzac Day) 'Fight from 2am to 6am. Like hell. Germans rotten Germans shelled us 4 days. Germans target stranded fixed about 6pm. Awful sight passed heap of dead and wounded. All cheerful shouted good luck ... they are still shelling as we all smile,' someone suggested it read. She said from what she could tell, her great grandfather met his wife - a nurse for the Russian army - during the war, and they both later settled in France. They were there, she believed, for long enough to have her grandfather, who moved to Australia when he was three. Ms Shepherd has since got her hands on the original discharge summary from WW1 as signed by King George, and some of her grandfather's WWII photos and medals. She wore them proudly in both her great grandfather and grandfather's honour at Wednesday's Anzac Day dawn service. Popular Instagram comedian Johnny 'Danger' Bennett has reportedly been killed in a catastrophic motorcycle crash. Emergency services were called to the site of a single-vehicle crash at a highway intersection in north Auckland, New Zealand at about 2.30pm on Tuesday. While police are unable to confirm the identity of the crash victim at this time, a close friend has claimed that it was in fact Mr Bennett who lost his life in the accident, Stuff.co.nz reports. Popular Instagram comedian Johnny 'Danger' Bennett (pictured) has reportedly been killed in a catastrophic motorcycle crash Emergency services were called to the site of a single-vehicle crash at a highway intersection in north Auckland, New Zealand at about 2.30pm on Tuesday 'He was a lovely and caring person,' said friend Julian Rivers-Smith. Another motorcyclist who was riding with Bennett at the time of the crash claimed he was in a group of 30 to 50 riders who had all come together for an Anzac Day ride. 'I only knew his name was Johnny, because everyone was calling him that,' the man said. 'I didn't know he was anyone famous until later.' Bennett's close friend, Julian Rivers-Smith, claims that he was killed in the road accident The New Zealand social media sensation was well-known for his tongue-in-cheek comedy and stuntman antics. He had more than 287,000 likes on Facebook and 203,000 followers on Instagram. Today, Johnny Danger's social media pages are being inundated with heartfelt tributes and commiserations. 'Thanks for bringing an unbelievable amount of laughs into my life,' wrote one fan, while another said: 'You lived more in your short life than most live in there [sic] entire life. 'Cheers for the good times, laughs and smiles dude.' The New Zealand social media sensation was well-known for his tongue-in-cheek comedy and stuntman antics A popular vegan cafe has been left outraged after it was forced to ban dogs from its eatery following a neighbour complaint. Smith and Deli was served with a council non-compliance order for welcoming dogs into its shop in Melbourne's inner-east. Now cafe owners plan to fight the order, which they say was issued following a complaint from a 'miserable' neighbour, Herald Sun reported. Vegan cafe Smith and Deli (pictured) plans to fight a council non-compliance order for welcoming dogs into its shop in Melbourne's inner-east Owners of the popular vegan cafe have been left outraged after it was forced to ban dogs from its eatery Cafe owners plan to fight the order, which they say was issued following a complaint from a 'miserable' neighbour Co-owner Mo Wyse said on Wednesday: 'Don't stand between vegans and their dogs. 'Sometimes you can't tie up outside and this was a safe place for people to bring their dogs.' Last week, Smith and Deli owners took to social media to vent their outrage over the neighbour's complaint. 'We love your dogs but they're no longer allowed at the deli ... because of one miserable neighbour who continuously throws the council book at us and would rather us be shut,' it posted. Deli owners said they were 'devastated' by the order to ban dogs, which they say are a 'part of their culture'. Owners added: 'This is a public statement so we don't have to break hearts in person, but a plea... if anyone who can help us fight this... HELP! Please?!' Deli owners posted to social media (pictured), saying they were 'devastated' by the order to ban dogs An online petition has since been launched, receiving more than 2,300 digital signatures out of its 2,500 goal Dog-loving, loyal customers have thrown their support behind the eatery, saying the order has hurt the community A Yarra Council spokesperson said food standards dictate that live animals aren't allowed inside food premises An online petition has since been launched, receiving more than 2,300 digital signatures out of its 2,500 goal. Dog-loving, loyal customers have thrown their support behind the eatery, saying the order has hurt the community. 'It's crazy seeing how the front of house and wait staff know all the dogs and it creates a really positive community,' customer Bella Yann told the Herald Sun. She added that she was left 'upset' and 'shocked' after learning dogs would be banned from the shop. A Yarra Council spokesperson said food standards dictate that live animals aren't allowed inside food premises. They are however allowed in outdoor dining areas, the spokesperson said. The husband of the Southwest Airlines passenger sucked out of a plane window mid-flight has spoken for the first time of the heartbreaking moment he learned she was dead and revealed their final words to one another. Wells Fargo executive Jennifer Riordan, 43, was fatally injured when one of the plane's twin engines exploded at 32,000 feet. The impact showered the jet in debris and shattered the window next to her, sucking her partway through it. Passengers rushed to help but it was too late. Mrs Riordan, a mother-of-two, was the only victim of the 149 people on board the flight to Dallas who died. Now, her husband Michael has described his grief in a series of media interviews. Scroll down for video Michael Riordan fought back tears as he spoke out about losing his wife Jennifer for the first time in a string of interviews on Tuesday and Wednesday Michael and Jennifer Riordan with their two young children. They will remember her as 'kind, loving, caring and sharing', he said 'I just dropped the phone,' he told CBS, describing the moment a doctor from the hospital she was taken to in Philadelphia delivered the life-changing news. He said he first received a call from the hospital to say she had been taken there and that the doctor needed to speak to him but he was hopeful she would survive. 'The chaplain at the hospital called and he said the doctor needs to speak to you. 'Before I could speak to the doctor I clicked on one news site and I saw one passenger was brought to the hospital. Bank executive Jennifer Riordan who was sucked out of a window on a Southwest Airlines plane on her way to Dallas 'I was just like, "She can't be injured that bad, she's just in the hospital and I can get out there and hold her hand and love on her." 'Then two minutes later I got a call from a doctor saying, "I'm sorry, we tried everything we could but she couldn't make it,"' he told Good Morning America in a separate interview. Afterwards, he phoned her parents to give them the devastating news then pondered how to tell their two young children. Before she boarded the flight, the couple's final words to one another were 'I love you, safe travels'. Mr. Riordan said their final conversation is now a comfort to him. 'One of the most comforting things through all this is she called me that morning. 'She just called to check in on the day, how, what we were going to do that night when she got home and we ended with "I love you, safe travels".' How do you tell your kids that their mom is gone? Asked what he would tell her now if he could, he said: 'I love you. I have no idea how I can do this without her but because of her I know I can. 'It's the love affair that will never end and it won't. No one can take her from my heart and no one can take her from our family.' The father-of-two also described having to tell their son and daughter that their 'mommy wasn't coming home'. 'To lose your wife and partner of 29 years and the mother of your children is an impossible task. How do you tell your kids that their mom is gone? 'I just held their little hands and we took a knee and I said, "mommy is not gonna come home guys."' The Row 14 seat which Mrs Riordan was sitting in when she was sucked through the window at 32,000 feet A harrowing image taken before the plane made its emergency landing in Philadelphia shows one of the twin engines after it exploded Mr. Riordan said he wanted to thank the other passengers on the plane for trying to save her and for comforting her in her final moments. 'I received the names of the people who were sitting next to her. At some point I really need to reach out to them . As a family we're just thankful for them being there with her. 'Knowing that they were showing the kindness and care that they were,' he said. Mr Riordan said he knows there will be dark days ahead as he and their two children, 12-year-old Averie and 10-year-old Josh, continue to grieve. Describing how their children will remember their mother, he said: 'Kind, loving, caring and sharing - 100 per cent. 'When I have those four little eyes look at me thinking how we're going to get through, that's going to make me a better dad and a better husband and a better person.' In a later interview with NBC, he said he had not yet felt angry but 'it was coming'. 'I have not been angry yet. I'm sure it's coming. I'm keeping my love for her in my heart and I'm staying strong for my children,' he said. Mrs Riordan's husband Michael speaks at her memorial service in Albuquerque, New Mexico A Government scientist who branded a colleague a 'larda**e' and another a 'f***wit' has been sacked. Biomedical scientist Michael Hampton, 61, also described a worker as 'the monster from Zagreb' and another staff member as 'idiotic' and 'stupid' while working for Public Health England. Hampton, who worked as a bacterial resistance scientist in North London, was today struck from the medical register over the insults. The Health and Care Professions Council also heard that Hampton refused to attend work meetings. Michael Hampton, a Public Health England scientist who branded a colleague a 'larda**e' and another a 'f***wit', has been sacked. Concerns were raised by colleagues over his offensive language while at work and with regard to his refusal to comply with work-related requests. (File photo) Hampton was a high-ranking scientist who had worked for Public Health England since 1990. Concerns were raised by colleagues over his offensive language while at work and with regard to his refusal to comply with work-related requests. Hampton, 61, was a high-ranking scientist who had worked for PHE since 1990 The distress caused to one colleague was 'tantamount to bullying', the report said. Hampton was cleared of calling another colleague 'vinegar t*ts' and another a 'backstabbing f***wit'. Panel chair Lesley White said: 'A reasonable person aware of all the circumstances of this case would expect a finding of impairment to be made so that colleagues and service users were not put at risk and confidence in the profession is maintained, and proper professional standards are upheld. 'The lack of evidence of any insight, remorse and reflection led the panel to conclude there is a real risk of repetition in this case.' Hampton was not present at the hearing. Piers Morgan has come out fighting for Alfie Evans and his parents and said today: 'Sometimes miracles do happen'. The Good Morning Britain presenter and father-of-four has backed calls for Tom Evans and Kate James to decide the fate of their son, who had life support withdrawn 36 hours ago. Alfie's doctors at Alder Hey have won the right to let him die and told a court last night and said abuse from some protesters made this 'impossible'. Suggesting the couple should be able to take 'their boy home to die', Piers Morgan said: 'If it was my child I would like the final say. Alfie's parents want the final choice. Why shouldn't they be allowed that? Shouldn't love be the ultimate way?' Many viewers backed his call for Alfie's parents to decide - but others said it was 'cruel' to prolong the toddler's life when doctors say he is brain-damaged and has no hope of recovery. Piers Morgan has come out fighting for Alfie Evans and his parents and said today they should have trhe final choice on his care, adding: 'Miracles do happen' The family of terminally ill toddler Alfie Evans have released pictures of the little boy clinging to life in his mother Kate's arms Viewers have praised Piers' words about giving parents the final say on their child In a fiery debate with TV doctor Hilary Jones and pro-life campaigner Caroline Farrow, Mr Morgan also said that medics sometimes do get things wrong, adding: 'sometimes miracles do happen'. Dr Hilary responded: 'No they don't', adding: 'In cases like this where there is a consensus among a lot of experience doctors they are very rarely wrong'. Piers hit back: 'You dont believe any children ever recover when [doctors] medically believe they cant?', to which Dr Hilary told him: 'Thats not a miracle - thats maybe a misdiagnosis'. He added: 'Real love is letting go and letting go of your actual feelings for the benefit of your child'. Mr Morgan said: 'I feel incredibly sorry for Alfie Evans parents who have shown such extraordinary courage and determination. 'I also feel incredibly sorry for all the wonderful staff at Alder Hey Hospital. This is a desperately sad situation for everyone involved'. Ms Farrow, who has been one of Alfie's most vocal supporters, accused Alder Hey of making 'value judgments' in condemning him to death. She said Tom and Kate should have the right to take him to Italy and pursue other treatment. 'They know he won't suddenly get out of bed and walk', she said, adding: 'But the parents want a different form of care and quality of life for him. It should be their choice'. Dr Hilary said the parents were suggesting doctors in Italy wanted to cut into his windpipe to help with his breathing and said: 'Why would you want to do that? It could cause more distress'. Pro-life campaigner Caroline Farrow, journalist Hilary Freeman and Dr Hilary Jones (left to right) were involved in a heated debate on Alfie's life on GMB today Tom Evans, Alfie's father, pictured speaking to supporters outside the Liverpool hospital last night, but the family will return to court again later Journalist Hilary Freeman spoke about aborting her unborn child after doctors advised her it would be severely disabled if it was born. She said: 'I took that decision on medical advice. I spoke to experts, read papers and spoke to parents with severely disabled children. How do medics reach decisions in cases such as Alfie Evans? Why would the decision to withdraw treatment from a child be made? Professor Russell Viner, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: 'Every action and decision is taken in the best interests of the child, and decisions on care, including the withdrawal of treatment, are always made with the involvement of parents. 'We can't comment on the specifics of the case, only the medical team treating Alfie, and the legal team, will know the exact details and they are bound by patient confidentiality. 'However, we feel it is important for the public to know that decisions to withhold or withdraw treatment from a child are not made lightly.' In what circumstances does it happen? According to the UK's framework, treatment is withdrawn if it is unable or unlikely to result in the child living much longer, where it may prolong life but will cause the child unacceptable pain and suffering, or if an older child with a life-limiting illness repeatedly makes it clear they do not want treatment and this decision is supported by parents and doctors. How often are decisions like this made? Prof Viner said decisions on withdrawing treatment from children are made 'frequently'. He said: 'In the vast majority of cases an equal decision is made to withdraw treatment and it is rare that there is disagreement. 'The cases where this is a significant difference in view are the ones that grab the media headlines.' Why is Alfie continuing to breathe after life support treatment has been removed? Professor Dominic Wilkinson, consulant neonatologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital and director of medical ethics at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, said: 'In the last few hours, news reports have indicated that life support has been withdrawn from Alfie, and that he is breathing by himself. 'That does not mean that doctors were wrong, and it does not mean that breathing support should be restarted. 'The reason for stopping the breathing machines is simply that his serious condition is not treatable, and will not improve.' He added: 'Given the nature of Alfie's condition, the doctors have wanted to provide him with palliative care, focused on his comfort, and focused on making his remaining time as good as possible.' Is it euthanasia? Prof Wilkinson said: 'Providing palliative care is not euthanasia. 'It is about providing 'intensive caring' rather than intensive medical care. 'It does not end the child's life. 'Rather, it supports the child, and the child's family, for as long or as short as they remain with us.' Advertisement 'I didn't want to do it. Every fibre in my body wanted to keep and love my daughter but I made that decision'. Ms Freeman pointed to the Hippocratic oath taken by medics, which forces them to 'promises first, do no harm'. When asked about even Pope Francis getting involved, she said: 'Yes but the bishops of England and Wales say we should listen to the hospital doctors and they know what they are doing. We should take the doctors' authority and the judges. This has nothing to do with the church'. Alfie Evans has survived the night and is breathing unaided almost 36 hours after his life support machine was switched off. The toddler's parents Kate James and Tom Evans are not giving up their fight to get him to the Pope's children's hospital in Rome and will fight a ruling against them at the Court of Appeal this afternoon. Yesterday a High Court judge refused their legal challenge to release him Alder Hey in Liverpool and fly the toddler to Italy during an emergency hearing held in Manchester. Mr Justice Hayden said this should be the 'final chapter' for Alfie, who he called 'a fighter, resolute, courageous and a warrior', and asked his doctors whether he could be allowed to go home. The judge also slammed Christian pro-life supporters including law student Pavel Stroilov who he accused of giving Mr Evans 'false hope'. The judge described him as a 'fanatical and deluded man' after he filed a private prosecution accusing doctors treating Alfie of murder and said his legal advice had come 'perilously close' to contempt of court. 'The court of appeal have reached out to us and said they are going to set back three judges to hear the case,' Mr Evans told reporters outside hospital on Tuesday night. 'In reality, he could be in Italy right now. We all know the military air force are ready to take him and a team of doctors are there. 'We've also got a German air ambulance team, who attempted to take him in the first place, ready... the reality is these people are eager to get him out of the country and I'm not giving up because Alfie's breathing away, he's not suffering' Alfie, who suffers from an undiagnosed degenerative neurological condition, is clinging to life more than 30 hours after the doctors stopped providing 'ventilation support'. Alfie's parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, still want him moved to a hospital in Rome, with an air ambulance on standby to fly him there after the Italian government granted him citizenship in a bid to have him transferred. Doctors in Liverpool, who believe it is in Alfie's best interests to have life support switched off, say he cannot survive and that the trip would be wrong and pointless. At a special High Court hearing in Manchester yesterday afternoon, Mr Justice Hayden refused to let him fly to Rome, saying the long-running case had reached its 'final chapter'. One of the hospital doctors said the soonest they could move him home would be three to five days, but that 'hostility' to doctors would make that impossible and that there was 'genuine fear' among medics. Mr Evans claimed that he and Alfie's mother 'had to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation to keep him alive because his lips turned blue'. A doctor giving evidence, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: 'If I was being honest I think in Alfie's situation [a return home] would have to be staged. I do not feel confident that we can say right now we can just send him home. 'We have to be sure we can work with the family and we are not going job obstructed by the supporters who are threatening us and posting things on Facebook.' Around eight police officers in riot gear guarded the courtroom at the Manchester Civil Justice Centre, with police also stationed outside the hospital where protests continue. Mr Justice Hayden said he had told Mr Evans, who was not in court this afternoon, that not everyone in the Army [Alfie's Army, a supporters' group], 'had his back'. Donald Trump's budding bromance with Emmanuel Macron looked stronger than ever as he arrived in Washington for the first state visit of the Trump presidency. The French President, 40, and his wife Brigitte, 65, were the first to be invited to the White House by Trump, 71, and his First Lady Melania, 47. The world was left stunned at their open display of affection during their glamorous state dinner last night as their 'special relationship' continues to make headlines across the globe. Today President Macron addressed both houses of Congress, but not before social media exploded with 'Macrump' mania. MailOnline brings you all the latest updates here: If you are reading this on the app, please click here An Indian guru with 40 million followers has been jailed for life after being found guilty of raping a teenage devotee while pretending to rid her of evil spirits. Asaram Bapu was convicted at a closed jailhouse court hearing in Jodhpur, India, while hundreds of police stood guard. The 77-year-old leads more than 400 ashrams in India and around the world. Bapu reportedly raped the girl while her parents waited outside his room chanting prayers as he 'cured' her and threatened to kill her family if she told anyone. Indian guru Asaram Bapu, 77, was found guilty of raping a teenage devotee after telling her it would rid her of evil spirits The white-bearded guru, who urges followers to live a pious life free of sexual desires, has always denied raping the then-16-year-old at an ashram in the city. He can appeal the verdict and forthcoming sentence for the 2013 crime to a higher court. 'He has been convicted for rape and sections of stringent child protection law,' the victim's lawyer Utsav Bains said. Several Indian states were put on high alert and thousands of extra police deployed ahead of Asaram's trial with authorities fearing riots if 'Babuji' was found guilty. The hearing was closed to media and the prison surrounded by tight security, with his sentence to be announced later in the day Indian spiritual leader Asaram Bapu is pictured in 2008 addressing supporters at the sect's ashramon the outskirts of Ahmedabad Devotees of another self-styled Hindu guru Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, who was jailed in 2017 for 20 years for rape, went on a rampage that lasted days and left 38 dead. Asaram still commands a huge following but his star power has faded following the rape charges and other controversies. He is also on trial for raping two sisters along with his son Narayan Sai, and involvement in the killing of two students at another of his Hindu retreats. Meanwhile, the gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old and a separate assault on a teenager by a ruling party politician has sparked revulsion in recent weeks and angry marches across India. Under pressure to respond, the government last week approved the death penalty for those convicted of raping children under 12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi - who was criticised for a slow response to the protests - has since promised 'to hang the people of demonic tendencies who misbehave with daughters'. 'There is a government in Delhi which listens to the hearts of the people and decides on the basis of it,' he told a political gathering Wednesday. Officials from Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) responded angrily Wednesday as the main opposition Congress party distributed photos of the prime minister alongside Asaram. Asaram's website boasts of many high-profile devotees and admirers, including Modi and other past prime ministers. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been found guilty of the murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall on-board his home-made submarine in Copenhagen last year, and sentenced to life in prison. Copenhagen District Court ruled that Madsen had planned Miss Wall's murder and brutally sexually assaulted the 30-year-old before dismembered her body to cover his tracks. Madsen, 47, stood quietly listening as the judge read out the verdict on Wednesday, and his defense lawyer Betina Hald Engmark later said they will appeal. Guilty: Peter Madsen has been found guilty of sexually assaulting Swedish journalist Kim Wall onboard his home-made submarine in Copenhagen last year, and sentenced to life in prison. Jailed: Peter Madsen is seen in a court sketch from Copenhagen District Court today 'After a total assessment, the court finds that the defendant murdered Kim Wall,' Judge Anette Burkoe said. The court decided that Madsen had 'dismembered the body to conceal the evidence from the crime he had committed,' she said. Miss Wall's were found submerged in the water off Copenhagen after she interviewed Madsen on his submarine on August 10. Madsen had admitted to dismembering Miss Wall's body, but during the course of the trial repeatedly denied murdering her. During the trial, Prosecutor Jacob Buch-Jepsen had claimed Madsen had tied up and tortured Miss Wall before murdering her in a sexually motivated killing. Appeal: Madsen's defense attorney Betina Hald-Engmark, seen arriving at the courthouse in Copenhagen today, has said they will appeal the ruling One of the last photos taken of Miss Wall shows her standing in the tower of the private submarine with Madsen on August 10 Murder trial: Kim Wall, a 30-year-old freelance reporter from Sweden, died Madsen's homemade submarine on August 10, 2017 During the trial, a coroner testified about numerous lesions found on Wall's torso and head, including more-than two dozen stab wounds to her genital area. The court heard that there was no conclusive evidence to prove the cause of death beyond doubt, but that coroners believed she had her airways 'cut off [...] due to either strangulation, throat cutting or drowning.' The court also heard that Miss Wall had several lesions on her neck and jaw which would have been inflicted while she was still alive. Just hours before Madsen met Miss Wall, he searched the internet for 'beheaded girl agony', and watched a video of a girl having her throat slit. Peter Madsen has been found guilty of Miss Wall's murder and sentenced to life in prison Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen, seen arriving at court today, had argued that Madsen murdered Miss Wall as part of a sexual fantasy WHO IS PETER MADSEN? THE SELF-TAUGHT ENGINEER WHO BECAME A BRUTAL MURDERER Peter Madsen on May 31, 2017, in Copenhagen Peter Madsen was well-known in Denmark before his arrest as an inventor who dreamt of exploring worlds beyond. The 47-year-old grew up in the small town of Saeby, 60 miles west of Copenhagen. His parents divorced when he was six and Madsen went to live with his father, whom he has described as authoritarian and violent. 'When I think about my father, I think how children in Germany must have felt if their dad was a commandant in a concentration camp,' Madsen said in a 2014 biography. At 15, he started his first company, Danish Space Academy, to buy spare parts to build a rocket. He studied engineering, but quit once he thought he knew enough to build submarines and rockets. 'My passion is finding ways to travel to worlds beyond the well-known,' Madsen wrote on the website of his now-defunct Rocket Madsen Space Lab. In 2008, he launched the Nautilus, the biggest privately made submarine whose ownership was later transferred to him after a row with former colleagues. Around the same time, he developed his idea for private space travel. In June 2011, he successfully launched a rocket from a floating platform on the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm. Submarine UC3 Nautilus with Madsen and a team member in the tower on May 31, 2017 Madsen reportedly had an open marriage. Some of his ex-girlfriends have told the media he was into sado-masochism and erotic asphyxiation. His half-brother Benny Langkjaer Egeso told AFP in August that Madsen is 'very strange', but also 'very open and likeable'. But others describe him as an erratic person who had spats with former colleagues and an interest in violent pornography. 'His sexual fantasies slowly got out of hand,' an associate, who had worked in Madsen's laboratory, told the Copenhagen court, adding that the inventor called himself a 'psychopath, but a loving one.' The associate said Madsen toyed with the idea of making a pornographic film showing acts of torture and was 'interested in snuff films,' or movies where a person is really killed or kills themself. Madsen has denied searching for or downloading such films but admitted to watching them 'to be able to feel emotions and to cry' about the women's suffering. But another apprentice engineer who had worked with him told the court the inventor was a 'kind, empathic, passionate man who was ready to listen'. Advertisement Madsen changed his story of how Miss Wall died several times during the course of the investigation. At first he claimed that she died after she was hit over the head when the hatch door slammed shut unexpectedly. When no such injuries were found on Miss Wall's cranium, he said she had been inside the vessel when a fault meant exhaust fumes filled the craft, causing a vacuum effect which meant that he was unable to open the hatch door to save her. However, the coroner told the court that this was an unlikely scenario as 'the air seems not to have been able to leave the lungs, which is not the case with lack of oxygen or inhalation of gases.' Miss Wall had been trying to get Madsen to agree to an interview for months before her death, and so when the opportunity arose, she left her own goodbye party on August 10. She and he boyfriend were moving to China, and she kept in touch with her partner over the evening. Tragedy: After dismembering Miss Wall's body, Madsen sunk the UC3 Nautilus, in a Copenhagen harbour on August 11, 2017 'SHE TALKED ABOUT THE MANY STORIES SHE WANTED TO TELL': FRIEND PAYS EMOTIONAL TRIBUTE TO 'INSPIRATIONAL' KIM WALL Malin Franzen, 29, who had known Kim Wall since they were teens, posted an emotional tribute on Facebook shortly after her death, honouring her friend, 'Inspirational': Miss Franzen, right, described Miss Wall, left, as an inspiration with a wicked sense of humour who made 'anything seem possible' 'The last 12 days have been a never-ending parade of one unfathomable event after the other. Just three weeks ago, she was at on our sofa and told us about her new house in China where according to her cats sometimes fall thought the roof, showed us pictures of Chinese t-shirts with inappropriate English text on, and demonstrated translation apps. 'She talked about her love, of how many stories there are to tell, about the future, about her life. You always listened to her wide-eyed, because how many people do you know who can give you first-hand information about both the Ugandan film industry, the mass graves of Sri Lanka and the Cuban police force? Who had been accepted and graduated from not one, but two, super schools? 'I was looking over her shoulder when she read her acceptance letter for Columbia, and almost fainted when I saw their term fee, but she just said something along the lines of 'oh right, yes, I gotta sort that'. And she did that because what she has achieved, she has achieved on her own merits, nothing has been served up for her. 'Despite this, she never acted superior or was pretentious (but also never falsely humble) and kept the same humour (without competition the most inappropriate I've ever encountered) that she had when we worked as telemarketers in a shabby callcentre. 'It is impossible to describe her. And I doubt anyone could paint a complete picture of her. Losing her is not just the loss of a dear friend, but also of a source of inspiration. 'A couple of times a year, she swooped into the flat, dragging her gigantic suitcase. And when she left again, you were filled with a feeling like anything is possible. It is hard enough to comprehend that her adventure is over, it is flat out impossible to understand that is how it ended. Rest in peace, dear Kim. 'That's just the way it is, things will never be the same.' First published with the permission of Malin Franzen in August, 2017. Advertisement Her boyfriend received several text messages from her which were read out in court earlier this month. 'I'm still alive btw (by the way),' one of her last messages read, adding 'But going down now! I love you!!!!!!' A minute later, she added: 'He brought coffee and cookies tho.' Her partner called police after the messages suddenly stopped coming, and authorities launched a search for the submarine, which did not have a satellite tracking system. The 33-ton submarine sank south of Copenhagen on August 11 and Madsen was picked up unharmed. Initially, he told police he had let Wall off on Refshale island several hours into the trip. Investigators found dried blood inside the submarine and on Madsen's face and clothes, and divers eventually found Miss Wall's body parts in plastic bags held down on the Baltic Sea-bed by metal pieces. Kim Wall grew up in southern Sweden, and studied at Paris' Sorbonne university, the London School of Economics and Columbia University in New York, from where she graduated with a master's degree in journalism in 2013. She wrote for The New York Times, The Guardian and other publications, reporting on topics such as tourism in post-earthquake Haiti and nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. Debbie Stevenson, 37, pictured with her husband Michael, stole the cash from the firm where she worked in Glenrothes, Fife A mother who was desperate for another child embezzled more than 92,000 for IVF, a court heard. Debbie Stevenson, 37, of Boldon Colliery, Tyne and Wear, started stealing the cash from the firm where she worked as a bookkeeper in 2014. She used the money to pay for costly fertility treatment, involving trips to Greece, and gave birth to twins in 2015. But she continued siphoning off money from packaging firm The Pitreavie Group in Glenrothes, Fife, until January 2017, Stevenson, who also has an 18-year-old son, feared she would be sent to prison and parted from her children, Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court was told. A judge deferred sentence to allow assessment of suitability for a restriction of liberty order. Stevenson admitted embezzling a total of 92,181.64 from her employers. Scott McKenzie, defending, said: 'She started embezzling from the company primarily to fund IVF treatment.' Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court (above) was told Stevenson, who has two-year-old twins and an 18-year-old son, feared she would be sent to prison and parted from her children He said the treatment involved significant costs, but her offending continued even after her children, now aged two-and-a-half, were born. Stevenson's husband Michael was training to be an engineer, and Mr McKenzie said: 'She did end up under significant financial pressure.' He said she was ashamed about her behaviour, particularly in relation to the company director, and added: 'She does realise the company suffered financial losses. She appreciates this is not a trivial offence.' Mr McKenzie said Stevenson posed a low risk of reoffending and stressed the impact on the family if she was behind bars. He said: 'As far as the twins are concerned, there is no familial support in the area. Her husband works full time. He would have to give up his work to look after the children.' Sheriff Gilchrist deferred sentence for three weeks to allow for assessment of the suitability of Stevenson's home for the curfew order. Brian Parker, who is stepping down after 12 years on Pendle Borough Council, said he respected Jeremy Corbyn for not being a 'warmonger' like Theresa May The BNP's last remaining elected official has announced he will vote for Labour in the upcoming local elections. Brian Parker, who is stepping down after 12 years on Pendle Borough Council, said he respected Jeremy Corbyn for not being a 'warmonger' like Theresa May. In a letter to voters, he lavished praise on the leadership of the local Labour Party who he said had been 'grown up enough' to work with him, unlike the Tories who 'refused even to speak to me'. He wrote: 'It's not my place to tell you how to vote but as your councillor I never had any cooperation from the Conservative Party in Pendle.' Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr Parker added: 'The Conservatives have been quite hostile and have never cooperated in any way. 'They are more politically correct than Labour and the Liberal party. 'I have got to hand it to Jeremy Corbyn, he is not a warmonger. 'I class May, Cameron and Blair as murderers, whereas you cannot say that to Corbyn. He is against interfering in other countries' affairs, which is BNP policy.' Mr Parker blamed Labour's anti-Semitism problem on the number of Muslims in the party. He said: 'Labour, whether you like or not, has got a large Muslim following who are very anti-Semite. 'I think the Muslims - you cannot say this of all Muslims - do have an intense loathing of Jews.' Mr Parker said the Labour leader (pictured in London yesterday) had the same policy on not taking part in foreign wars as the BNP When Mr Parker stands down next Thursday the BNP will no longer have any borough or country councillors anywhere in the country. Former party leader Nick Griffin lost his seat as an MEP in the European Parliament in 2014. Andrew Stephenson, the Tory MP for Pendle, said: 'It is fantastic that the British National Party is no longer alive as a political force in Pendle, Lancashire or the United Kingdom.' Andrew Stephenson, the Tory MP for Pendle, said it was 'fantastic' the BNP was losing its last councillor Meanwhile, a Labour parliamentary candidate has been forced to apologise after it was revealed that she had previously joked about wanting to 'beat up' Prince William. Tara-Mary Lyons, who has been selected to stand for the party in Welwyn Hatfield, has posted dozens of offensive messages on Twitter laden with swear words. In one post, she wrote: 'I'm in the mood to beat up Prince William.' The candidate, who is currently a local councillor, told the Welwyn Hatfield Times: 'I apologise for the language and aggression suggested in the tweets. 'They are inappropriate, unbecoming of a parliamentary candidate, and not representative of who I am.' Former Tory minister Grant Shapps held the seat in last year's general election with a majority of 7,369. This is the heart-stopping moment a have-a-go hero disarmed a gun wielding robber and then tackled him to the ground as he tried to escape. The brave cowboy, who coolly removed his sunglasses before leaping into action, even managed to snatch a kitchen knife from the hands of the desperate criminal. Captured on CCTV from inside a convenience store in Mexico, footage shows the young, armed robbed burst into the store waving a revolver pistol at the attendant. This is the heart-stopping moment a have-a-go hero disarmed a gun wielding robber and then tackled him to the ground as he tried to escape from a convenience store in Mexico The mugger then points the gun at the hero, who is wearing a beige cowboy hat with denim biker coat, before turning away to threaten the shoppers in the store. But taking his eyes off the cowboy proves to be a costly mistake as the hero takes his chance, rushing the criminal and smashing the revolver out of his hand. Panicked and realising he's bitten off more than he can chew, the robber tries to sprint to escape but the cowboy grabs him in a chokehold while tries to flee. The brave cowboy, who coolly removed his sunglasses before leaping into action, even managed to snatch a kitchen knife from the hands of the desperate criminal Captured on CCTV from inside a convenience store in Mexico, footage shows the young, armed robbed burst into the store waving a revolver pistol at the attendant In the meantime two store workers rush over to help, with one picking up the gun for safety. The robber reappears on camera again, minus a shirt which has been ripped from his back by the hulking cowboy. But desperately trying to flee, the robber then brandishes a long kitchen knife in a bid to escape. The mugger then points the gun at the hero, who is wearing a beige cowboy hat with denim biker coat, before turning away to threaten the shoppers in the store But taking his eyes off the cowboy proves to be a costly mistake as the hero takes his chance, rushing the criminal and smashing the revolver out of his hand Undeterred, the cowboy manhandles the robber again while the two store workers also step in to disarm the now defeated criminal. The footage ends with the three men holding the robber down while the store worker is seen on the phone calling for the police. The clip, which was shared on Reddit.com, appears to have been recorded on April 23 this year just after 11am local time. Panicked and realising he's bitten off more than he can chew, the robber tries to sprint to escape but the cowboy grabs him in a chokehold while tries to flee Desperately trying to flee, the robber then brandishes a long kitchen knife in a bid to escape Applauding the cowboy's heroics, Reddit users were quick to praise the cowboy. One said jokingly: 'When you threaten an old man, and he takes his glasses off, you might want to reevaluate your life choices.' Another quipped: 'He didn't even lose his hat - not his first rodeo.' Union baron Len McCluskey today defied Jeremy Corbyn to brand anti-Semitism allegations by Labour MPs as 'smears'. The Unite leader's incendiary intervention came just hours after Mr Corbyn failed to convince Jewish leaders he would stamp out abuse - but did warn his supporters the allegations were not smears but a real issue. Mr McCluskey said a 'small number' of 'entirely unacceptable anti-Semitic' incidents were being 'used' by MPs opposed to Mr Corbyn to 'attack and undermine him'. He was immediately by moderate MPs for intervening on the row. He said anti-Semites should be kicked out of Labour but warned the issue of Labour MPs exploiting the allegations also needed to be 'grappled' with. Last night Mr Corbyn failed to defuse the anti-Semitism crisis that has engulfed his leadership when a meeting with Jewish leader backfired spectacularly. The veteran left-winger was said to have 'shrugged' when told at a meeting with Jewish community leaders that he was failing to condemn a wave of abuse from supporters. He also refused to agree to expedite investigations into cases of alleged anti-Semitism, ban MPs from sharing platforms with those accused of it, or adopt an international definition of the vile behaviour. Union baron Len McCluskey (file image) today defied Jeremy Corbyn to brand anti-Semitism allegations by Labour MPs as 'smears' The Unite leader's incendiary intervention came just hours after Mr Corbyn (picured at PMQs today) failed to convince Jewish leaders he would stamp out abuse - but did warn his supporters the allegations were not smears but a real issue Writing for the New Statesman today, Mr McCluskey said: 'Here are two truths about the state of the Labour Party today. 'First, there are a small number of members expressing entirely unacceptable anti-Semitic views and attitudes, especially on social media. 'The second is that this issue has joined a line of others in being used by a group of backbench Labour MPs to attack and undermine Jeremy Corbyn and the progressive leadership of the party.' He added: 'I do not doubt they are sincere in their opposition to anti-Semitism, but they need to understand that if you attack your party leader about everything, it devalues your criticisms concerning anything in particular.' Mr McCluskey said a hard core of MPs were opposed to Mr Corbyn and routinely rebelled against the leadership. And he said: 'You would have to go back a long way to find such a sustained smearing by MPs of their own leader and their own party as we are seeing now.' Mr McCluskey's comments will heighten a row over how Mr Corbyn tackles the problem of anti-Semitism in his party. Barrow MP John Woodcock - one of those highlighted by Mr McCluskey - tweeted: 'Len McCluskey should focus on jobs for Unite members while he remains in post... 'I'm very happy to compare our records standing up for the programmes that support Unite members' jobs in Barrow shipyard, Samslesbury and Warton.' Former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie told HuffPost: 'I make no apology for speaking out against anti-Semitism in Labour. 'Len McCluskey's threats will only strengthen my determination to fight it.' Barrow MP John Woodcock - one of those highlighted by Mr McCluskey - immediately hit back at the Unite leader Mr Corbyn agreed to last night's hour-long meeting Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council after an unprecedented storm of protests. Labour MPs are among those who have demanded action to root out anti-Semitism they say has risen to the surface since Mr Corbyn took over as leader. But Jonathan Goldstein of the JLC said Mr Corbyn 'engages in conversation until you ask him to do something'. 'When you ask him to do something he has this habit of staring and just shrugging,' he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. Members of the Board of Deputies addressed the media last night after the meeting with Mr Corbyn. Picture left to right are Gillian Merron, Jonathan Arkush, Jonathan Goldstein, and Simon Johnson Heads of the Jewish Community speak to the media last night following a meeting with Jeremy Corbyn after weeks of criticism of his party's handling of anti-Semitism allegations Ruth Smeeth (pictured in the black and white dress) was escorted by Labour MPs past a noisy picket of Corbynistas as she arrived to testify at a disciplinary hearing against an activist today Labour MP for Ilford North Wes Streeting said it was a sad state of affairs that a victim of anti-Semitism abuse had to be escorted in case they were intimidated to a Labour disciplinary hearing In a statement after the private meeting last night, Mr Goldstein and Jonathan Arkush of the Board of Deputies said: 'We are disappointed that Mr Corbyn's proposals fell short of the minimum level of action which our letter suggested. What are the anti-Semitic incidents in Labour that have reached a crisis under Corbyn's watch? Jeremy Corbyn defended an artist who painted an anti-Semitic mural in 2012, questioning why the offensive art should be removed He was a member of a Facebook group which was awash with anti-Semitic rhetoric, and he has described anti-Semitic groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as 'our friends' The Labour leader stood by when a speaker disrupted the launch of his party's anti-Semitism policy by accusing a Jewish MP of colluding with the press Labour has still failed to expel former London mayor Ken Livingstone, two years after he claimed Hitler supported Zionism. He has still not apologised Delegates at last year's Labour conference complained of a 'witch hunt' against anti-Semitism and heard from a speaker who said it was legitimate to question the Holocaust The problem is so rife in the party the Jewish Labour Movement has had to hold training sessions for party members on how not to be anti-Semitic Labour members and councillors have shared disgusting messages and images on Facebook describing Jewish people of controlling world capitalism and being to blame for the policies of the Israeli government The party is failing to deal with a huge backlog of complaints and has failed to expel people even though they have committed offences such as referring to Jewish people as Yids Corbyn ally Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has dismissed anti-Semitism claims as 'mood music' spread by Blairites. Labour's new general secretary Jennie Formby was accused of recruiting a party member suspended for saying Hitler was a Zionist god. Advertisement 'In particular, they did not agree in the meeting with our proposals that there should be a fixed timetable to deal with antisemitism cases; that they should expedite the long-standing cases involving Ken Livingstone and Jackie Walker; that no MP should share a platform with somebody expelled or suspended for antisemitism; that they adopt the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism with all its examples and clauses; that there should be transparent oversight of their disciplinary process.' The pair warned Mr Corbyn that 'letter and words will never be enough' and told him: 'We welcome the fact that Mr Corbyn's words have changed but it is action by which the Jewish community will judge him and the Labour Party. 'Our sole objective from this meeting was to build trust with Mr Corbyn, but this will not be possible until and unless he and the party turn their many strong words against antisemitism into equally strong actions in order to bring about a deep cultural change in his supporters' attitude to Jews.' Labour tried to limit the damage today by suggesting that the bulk of anti-Semitism disciplinary cases will be dealt with by July. But it has emerged that frontbencher Chris Williamson, an ally of Mr Corbyn, is planning to share a platform with Jackie Walker, who was suspended by Labour over allegedly anti-Semitic comments in 2016. Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner said he did not support Mr Williamson's decision. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It's right that when somebody has been found guilty nobody should share a platform. 'My own view, my personal view, is that Chris is wrong to share a platform with somebody who has expressed the views that she has.' Dozens of Labour politicians marched across Westminster today in an extraordinary show of support for Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth ahead of an anti-Semitism hearing. Ms Smeeth came face to face with Marc Wadsworth - the activist who left her in tears at the launch of the Labour anti-Semitism report after accusing her of working 'hand in hand' with the press - at the hearing. Jonathan Goldstein (left), from the Jewish Leadership Council, and Jonathan Arkush (right), from the Board of Deputies, arrived at Parliament last night for show down talks Around 50 MPs and peers escorted Ms Smeeth from Parliament to the hearing held nearby to show that they support her. Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North who organised the march, said it is an 'appalling state of affairs' that a Labour MP must be escorted for fear of intimation. A small group of Corbynista activists had gathered outside the hearing shouting and chanting as Ms Smeeth walked in to the hearing, where Labour chiefs will decide whether or not to kick Mr Wadsworth out. In his own statement after the talks with Jewish leaders last night, Mr Corbyn said it had been a 'positive and constructive meeting' and reiterated his commitment to 'rooting out anti-Semitism from Labour. He warned his own supporters the claims were not 'smears' and vowed not to fail the Jewish community. But he laid out no new measures to tackle the problem, adding: 'I have charged our new General Secretary Jennie Formby with improving our disciplinary procedures as her top priority to ensure all complaints are dealt with swiftly and fairly. 'We are grateful for the input from Jewish community groups, who we will continue to listen to carefully. 'We will lay out the further steps we are taking in the coming weeks. We will continue to engage and work with Jewish community organisations to deal with this issue. 'Our party will not fail our Jewish brothers and sisters.' However, Mr Arkush and Mr Goldstein said that after 'two years of inactivity' by the Labour leadership, such statements were no longer enough.' Mr Corbyn pre-empted the meeting last night by penning an article saying sorry to the Jewish community for Labour's anti-Semitism problem. The Labour leader admitted there is a 'clear' problem inside his party and apologised for the 'hurt and distress' caused by the failure to tackle it. For the first time Mr Corbyn took aim at pro-Palestinian groups for blaming Jews for the actions of the Israeli government. Susan Pollack, 87, a survivor of Auschwitz, said yesterday that 'kind words are not enough' and Mr Corbyn must show he is a real leader. Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in Parliament Square yesterday) has faced widespread criticism for effectively turning a blind eye to the abuse spouted by his supporters in his name Ms Pollack, 87, a survivor of Auschwitz, told the BBC Mr Corbyn's 'kind words are not enough' and demanded he show he is a real leader. Describing her message to the Labour leader, Ms Pollack said: 'My message is clear to say - act. Do something.' She added: 'Kind words are not enough. Apologies accomplishes nothing, you have got to act and act as a leader and give an example - that in Britain or anywhere in the world anti-Semitism is a vile, evil kind of behaviour. 'He has to act and show his leadership and I think that's the only way he will have respect.' Ms Pollack was sent to Auschwitz and was later forced on the infamous death march to Bergen-Belsen. She was liberated by British troops in April 1945 but had lost all her family in the horrors of the Holocaust. Jewish groups called an extraordinary protest on Parliament Square earlier this month to warn Mr Corbyn 'enough is enough'. In the aftermath of the meeting, Mr Corbyn sought face to face talks with mainstream community leaders. And ahead of the meeting, Mr Corbyn wrote in the Standard: 'We have not done enough fully to get to grips with the problem, and for that the Jewish community and our own Jewish members deserve an apology. 'My party and I are sorry for the hurt and distress caused.' He admitted the party's internal checks have 'been simply not fully fit for purpose' and 'we did not look closely enough at ourselves' Susan Pollack (pictured), a survivor of Auschwitz, said 'kind words are not enough' and Mr Corbyn must show he is a real leader and root out the 'vile evil' of anti-Semitism Labour has been dogged by accusations of anti-Semitism ever since Mr Corbyn became leader in 2015. Jewish MPs have told how they have received hate mail, death and rape threats after daring to speak out against the abuse. Jewish MPs Luciana Berger and Ruth Smeeth read out examples of the shocking barbs they have received from activists in a debate in Parliament last week. MPs on all sides broke with convention to give the pair standing ovations in the Commons. Some MPs were reduced to tears by their harrowing stories. Fellow backbencher John Mann revealed his wife had been sent a dead bird through the post, and that she had been threatened with rape. Party veteran Margaret Hodge said she 'didn't feel at home' and felt a 'bit of fear' about anti-Semitism in the party she has been a member for more than 50 years. Jewish leaders took the unprecedented step of calling a demonstration outside Parliament last month to protest at Mr Corbyn's lack of action on the issue. The 'enough is enough' protest saw hundreds descend onto Parliament Square to demand tougher action to tackle the abuse. Former Tory minister Sir Desmond Swayne insisted after the event it was an 'off the cuff' remark and the children at the Walhampton School were 'robust' enough to handle it Tory grandee Sir Desmond Swayne turned the air blue on a visit with 10-year-old school children as he raged against litter louts. On a school visit in his New Forest West, the former minister branded people who dump rubbish or animal waste 'b*******'. He insisted after the event it was an 'off the cuff' remark and the children at the Walhampton School were 'robust' enough to handle it. Sir Desmond told the Mirror: 'We were taking about littering the Forest, referring to anyone who dumps stuff all over the Forest. 'Have you been down to the New Forest recently? 'I cycle to and from the station when I'm on my way and I do a great deal of dog walking. 'Even in the middle of nowhere you will find people who have gone to the trouble of putting their dog poo in a little bag and then hanging the bag on a tree branch or on a bush. 'I was referring generally to anyone who pollutes the place. 'This is the most magnificent, rarest landscape, lowland heath and people are trashing it, people throw stuff out their cars the whole time. 'We had a discussion with the children - you know, what is the solution to this? - and I just said off the cuff, ''We've got to get the b******s who dump their litter everywhere''.' Defending the language used in front of the kids, he said: 'I think they were OK, I think they are strong enough to handle it. 'Put it this way, there appeared to be no sense of shock either amongst their teacher or the students themselves.' On a school visit in his New Forest West, the former minister branded people who dump rubbish or animal waste 'b*******' (file image of the New Forest in Hampshire) The 17,000-a-year private school, near Lymington, Hants, teaches youngsters aged two to 13. The school highlighted the visit on its Facebook page, posting: 'Six Year 6 pupils from Walhampton attended a presentation to MP's (sic) in the House of Commons. 'We were invited by Keep Britain Tidy, supported by Brita, who had run two Plastics Challenge workshops at the school last term. 'Walhampton was one of two schools talking about ideas to reduce single use plastic waste at the event.' Sir Desmond was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Mr Cameron for two years after the then PM entered No 10. He was promoted to a become a Government whip in charge of party discipline. He held the role for two years before becoming a Minister in the Department for International Development. A 13-year-old girl has been left with bullet-riddled legs after she was shot in a 'targeted' drive-by attack. The teenager has revealed the extent of her injuries after she was pummeled by a hail of bullets at a home in Guildford, western Sydney, about 9.45pm Tuesday. The girl, who cannot be named, took to social media from her hospital bed where she showed the bullet wounds in her thigh and calf, Network Ten reported. Scroll down for video A 13-year-old girl has revealed the extent of her injuries (pictured) after she was pummeled by a hail of bullets in a Sydney drive-by shooting The girl, who cannot be named, took to social media from her hospital bed where she showed the bullet wounds in her thigh and calf (pictured) The teenager was left with bullet-riddled legs after she was shot at a home (pictured) in Guildford, western Sydney, about 9.45pm Tuesday Despite having holes in her legs, the 13-year-old remained in high-spirits, writing: 'Getting shot in the leg feels fineee (sic).' A blood-stained driveway and police tape mark the home where she was shot in what police have labelled as a 'targeted attack'. Superintendent Matt Appleton said it was hard to describe the actions of the shooter and their alleged accomplice, who police say was driving a silver SUV, according to the network. 'It's a cowardly act for someone to fire into a house in any circumstances, but to put children at risk is hard to describe in words,' he said. According to neighbours, there were 'five or six pops' as the unknown gunman shot at the garage, where the young girl was sitting with a group of other teenagers. 'There were just sounds of screams. It was pandemonium,' a neighbour said as police investigated the crime scene. Blood-stained cement and police tape mark the home where the 13-year-old girl was shot Superintendent Matt Appleton said it was hard to describe the actions of the shooter and their alleged accomplice, who police say drove from the home (pictured) in a silver SUV The 13-year-old was taken to hospital in a serious condition - as police hunt for the shooter responsible for her injuries. New South Wales Police said the girl was treated at the scene by ambulance paramedics before being taken to the Children's Hospital in Westmead. Police received reports a number of shots had been fired into the garage of a home where a group of people were sitting. Police believe the shooting was not a random attack. Neighbours came onto the street to speak to police about the incident while traffic was diverted away from the scene. The girl was shot late on Tuesday night on Constance Street in Guildford, western Sydney (scene pictured) According to neighbours, there were 'five or six pops' as the unknown gunman shot at the garage, where the young girl was sitting with a group of other teenagers (scene pictured) Neighbours came out onto the street to speak to police about the incident while traffic was diverted away from the scene An ambulance was seen driving away from Constance Street with its sirens blaring Diane, who lives nearby, said she 'heard a big bang, it sounded like fireworks' An ambulance was seen driving away from Constance Street with its sirens blaring. Diane, who lives nearby, said she 'heard a big bang, it sounded like fireworks'. 'It was like a couple of bangs, like three or four bangs. 'I got scared, and later on I came out. I seen all police cars everywhere. They blocked the street off.' Another neighbour said she was sitting at home watching television when she heard 'five or six pops'. 'I said to my partner: "That didn't sound like a car backfiring, that sounded like gunshots'. She said she could hear about three or four bangs from the street outside Diane said after she came outside she could see scores of people and police officers Another neighbour said she was sitting at home watching television when she heard 'five or six pops' She said her and her partner could hear screaming so they immediately went outside 'We heard a bit of screaming... down the street there's ambos coming up and down. 'It's the sort of area where it happens all the time, it's another night in Guildford,' she said. Officers from Cumberland Police Area Command established a crime scene which will be examined by forensic specialists. A man could be seen being directed away from the cordoned-off area by police. The neighbour said the area was notorious for similar incidents and that it was just 'another night in Guildford' A knife-wielding robber was caught red-handed in more ways than one... after shop staff threw chilli powder over him. Video footage captured the moment workers hurled the spice at Paul Christian Callaghan, 45, and also fended him off with a ladder and stick at Ernie's News in North Ormesby, Middlesbrough. After grabbing the till, Callaghan tried to flee on his bicycle - at which point shopkeeper Ramyamuki Ithlayanathan took hold of the back wheel and pulled him towards her. Callaghan dropped the till and fled when Ms Ithlayanathan then hurled an advertising sign at him and her husband hit him with more chilli powder. This is the moment knife-wielding robber Paul Christian Callaghan, 45, confronted shopkeeper Ramyamuki Ithlayanathan at Ernie's News in North Ormesby, Middlesbrough The shop worker called her husband, Thilepan Thillainanathan, who can be seen throwing handfuls of eye-watering chilli powder at Callaghan Callaghan grabbed the till, left the shop and got on his bike with the till under his arm - but the shopkeepers fought back during the incident last July Callaghan faces a long prison sentence after pleading guilty to the robbery. He was caught on CCTV walking into the shop, on King's Road, while covering his face and carrying a large yellow-handled knife and a bag. He pointed the knife at Ms Ithlayanathan saying: 'Give me all the money.' She called her husband, Thilepan Thillainanathan, who told the robber he could have the money, at about 5pm on July 23 last year. Ms Ithlayanathan grabbed a stick to hit the robber when he grabbed the till. After leaving the shop, Mr Thillainanathan threw a ladder at Callaghan, who left but then returned and repeated his demands. (Pictured, the couple in their shop) When Callaghan fled from the shop (pictured), Ms Ithlayanathan followed him, grabbed the bicycle's back wheel and threw an advertising sign at him. Callaghan then swung the knife at her, dropped the till and made off But the couple fought back. Ms Ithlayanathan grabbed a stick while Mr Thillainanathan threw a ladder at Callaghan, who left but then returned and repeated his demands. Mr Thillainanathan then threw handfuls of the eye-watering chilli powder at him. Callaghan grabbed the till, left the shop and got on his bike with the till under his arm. Ms Ithlayanathan followed him, grabbed the bicycle's back wheel and threw an advertising sign at him. Callaghan then swung the knife at her, dropped the till and made off. He was later arrested covered in powder, saying: 'I'm sorry I did it. I never hurt anyone.' Ms Ithlayanathan said after the robbery: 'We keep the chilli powder in the kitchen. It is quite strong so it will hurt if you get it in your eyes.' Callaghan, of Grangetown, went on to deny charges of robbery and threatening a person with a knife. His trial was cancelled twice before as the defence awaited forensic inquiries and analysis of samples. Ms Ithlayanathan said after the robbery: 'We keep the chilli powder in the kitchen. It is quite strong so it will hurt if you get it in your eyes' Inquiries were made about whether Callaghan was 'subjected to involuntary intoxication at the time of the offence'. He was finally set to stand trial at Teesside Crown Court yesterday. Through his lawyer Andrew Turton, he asked a judge for an indication of the maximum sentence he would receive if he pleaded guilty. He had a previous conviction for robbery in the 1990s as well as for theft and assaults. Judge Sean Morris said the jail term would be no less than five years and one month. He said he would give a 15 per cent discount on sentence for a guilty plea, which would prevent the victims having to give evidence. No trial took place as, after discussions behind the scenes, he admitted both offences. Mr Turton said Callaghan was under two community orders at the time of the robbery. He asked for a pre-sentence report in the 'unusual circumstances' of the case. Judge Morris remanded Callaghan in custody until sentencing on May 15. He told the defendant of his pleas: 'It means that two very hard-working people have not had to give evidence. They come first in my book. 'But you will receive a lengthy prison sentence. And hopefully this time it might actually teach you a lesson. Take him down.' A tough obesity crackdown could see bans on buy-one-get-one-free deals for junk food and and pre-9pm adverts. Celebrities could be barred from endorsing sugary products and taxes on unhealthy food may be levied in supermarkets and restaurants, under the plans. The new strategy for tackling obesity could be unveiled within weeks after opposition parties gave Theresa May their backing. In a letter co-ordinated by TV chef Jamie Oliver, Labour, the SNP, and the Liberal Democrats have told the Prime Minister that failure to take action would condemn a generation of children to shorter lives than their parents. The new strategy for tackling obesity could be unveiled within weeks after opposition parties gave Theresa May their backing (file picture) The letter calls for 13 measures which intend to limit the sale of unhealthy food products across the country. Drafts of Mrs Mays obesity strategy are already circulating Whitehall and restrictions on buy-one-get-one-free deals for fatty foods are understood to be central in planned legislation. This is because Public Health England have previously said these kind of measures would be the most effective in tackling the UKs obesity problem. But details on the new measures are yet to be confirmed. Obesity rates have more than trebled in the past 30 years with 26 per cent of adults in England now obese, costing the NHS more than 1billion a year. It is thought that opposition support will be particularly valuable in enforcing the ban of promotional deals. These could raise weekly shopping bills for millions of people. And about 40 per cent of food is brought through promotional deals. Most of these products are unhealthy. Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon and Sir Vince Cable say they will back Mrs May if she takes bold action to tackle one of the greatest health challenges of our time. The opposition leaders also demanding a 9pm watershed for junk food adverts, to prevent children from seeing them. A third of children in the UK are too fat by the time they leave primary school and those from poor families are twice as likely to become obese. In a letter co-ordinated by TV chef Jamie Oliver, Labour, the SNP, and the Liberal Democrats have told the Prime Minister that failure to take action would condemn a generation of children to shorter lives than their parents The letter also demands a ban on cartoon characters and celebrities promoting unhealthy products and calorie labels on restaurant menus. The leaders also want the sugar tax to be extended to include junk food. Government sources have not ruled this out but it has not been included in the plans at present. Tim Rycroft, of the Food and Drink Federation, said that it was much too early for more regulation when the industry was trying to make food healthier. He told The Times: It is time for government to resist calls for headline-chasing measures that affect all consumers and instead to invest money behind specific, targeted measures for those people and areas most affected by obesity. An Aboriginal activist has shared a social media post saying 'lest we forget the fallen blacks' in protest on Anzac Day. Elizabeth Jarrett posted a message to Facebook on Wednesday, including the hashtag #frontierwars. The message was in relation to the conflict between colonials and Aboriginal people. A page linked to the post says the conflict is 'more significant' than World War I and other overseas wars, news.com.au reported. An Aboriginal activist has shared a social media post saying 'lest we forget the fallen blacks' in protest on Anzac Day Elizabeth Jarrett posted a message to Facebook on Wednesday, including the hashtag #frontierwars The page she linked to calls for people to remember the Frontier Wars fought between 1788 and 1934. It says by 'only recognising wars and conflicts since World War I, it effectively erases the history of conflict between First Nations People and colonial settlers'. In January, Ms Jarrett called for Australia Day to be abolished altogether. She said she was not content with a change of date, and no date should be celebrated while Aboriginal people continue to suffer. Ms Jarrett, who describes herself as a 'warrior' and worked at the Indigenous Social Justice Association, said the Hawaiians 'did us a favour' by killing Captain Cook She called January 26 the date when massacres and rapes began and said it marked the beginning of 'ongoing genocide' Ms Jarrett, who describes herself as a 'warrior' and worked at the Indigenous Social Justice Association, said the Hawaiians 'did us a favour' by killing Captain Cook. She called January 26 the date when massacres and rapes began and said it marked the beginning of 'ongoing genocide'. 'There are so many days to choose. This day is just offensive and most people think they are celebrating Captain Cook. They are wrong, although he was the first to invade,' she said. Ms Jarrett has been a fixture at Australia Day rallies, and performed a poem she wrote about Australia Day at the 2016 event. She has previously said that the murder and rape being committed against black Australians was being carried out by white people who were 'like the Ku Klux Klan'. Ms Jarrett has been a fixture at Australia Day rallies, and performed a poem she wrote about Australia Day at the 2016 event This is the shocking moment a group of men violently clashed on a residential street in Luton as a petrified woman screams in the background. A stunned neighbour, who recorded the incident, captured the ugly scenes in which a maniac driver rammed into two cars and tried to mow down his rivals in anger. While a gang of men responded with bats, clubs and even a bike as they tried to shatter the window of the silver Audi A4 in order to get to their foe. Scroll down for video This is the shocking moment a group of men violently clashed on a residential street in Luton, leaving a petrified woman screaming in the background. A stunned neighbour, who recorded the incident, captured the ugly scenes in which a maniac driver rammed into two cars The clip, which was shared on Facebook titled 'Romanian gypsies were on a mad one last night', is 90 seconds long and involved up to a dozen men who shattered the quiet street's peace. Beginning with a stand-off between two cars - the driver of the Audi is filmed crashing into the black Vauxhall Astra in front amid angry shouts between rival men. The crazed Audi driver then reverses and speeds on to a driveway seemingly belonging to his rivals, smashing into a white van. In the meantime a group of men race over to the driver and begin peppering the car with bats and even a bike in a bid to get inside and attack the driver. Then, as the Audi pulls off, appearing to flee, the group of men are seen standing in the middle of the road arguing as the Audi driver reverses trying to run the men over. Two of the men, who had been wrestling in the street, narrowly avoid the reversing car and then turn back to attack the driver. A gang of men responded with bats, clubs and even a bike as they tried to shatter the window of the silver Audi A4 in order to get to their foe During the bitter dispute, a woman can be heard shrieking while the neighbour captures the clash - which has since been viewed 1.6 million times During the bitter dispute, a woman can be heard shrieking while the neighbour captures the clash - which has since been viewed 1.6 million times since being shared on Friday. The clip, titled 'Romanian gypsies were on a mad one last night' saw the men throwing a mountain bike at the car passenger window, while another kicked and punched the bonnet. Theresa May doubled down on her vow to leave the EU customs union today amid pressure from her Brexiteer ministers not to soften her stance. The Prime Minister seized on the chance at PMQs to restate her belief that Brexit means quitting the EU's tariff zone and striking new trade deals. Mrs May set out her plans amid warnings from Brexiteers a Government policy to pursue a 'customs partnership' risks leaving Britain bound by EU rules by the back door. Brexit Secretary David Davis warned today that a failure to take Britain out of the customs union would mean he had 'failed' in the negotiations. And Commons leader Andrea Leadsom warned Remain supporters in Parliament they would leave Britain in the 'worst of all worlds' if they try to force Britain to stay inside the customs union. Today's interventions come ahead of a series of contests in Parliament with Mrs May challenged to back down on leaving the customs union. A symbolic vote will be held tomorrow and a dangerous amendment could be debated as soon as next month. Theresa May (pictured today at PMQs) doubled down on her vow to leave the EU customs union today amid pressure from her Brexiteer ministers not to soften her stance Commons leader Andrea Leadsom today warned Remain supporters in Parliament they would leave Britain in the 'worst of all worlds' if they try to force Britain to stay inside the customs union At PMQs, Mrs May said: 'The British people voted to leave the European Union, in voting to leave the European Union they voted to leave the single market and the customs union. 'What we want to ensure is that we as a country are able to independently negotiate free trade deals around the rest of the world, that we are also able to ensure that we deliver on our commitment for no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland and that we have as frictionless a border as possible between the United Kingdom and the European Union. 'What businesses tell me is that they want that tariff-free, frictionless border and that's what we're negotiating for them.' Her intervention came Mr Davis rejected Brexit committee chairman Hilary Benn's suggestion that the UK solutions had been 'emphatically' ruled out by Brussels, insisting that the EU was simply setting out an 'opening position' in negotiations. In a further intervention, Mrs Leadsom told the BBC: 'With regards to being in a customs union, once you leave the European Union if you stay in the customs union you cannot negotiate your own free trade agreements. .Genuinely, I cannot understand why anybody accepts leaving the EU but staying in the customs union. 'That's the worst of all worlds.' David Davs took a bullish stance as he gave evidence to the Commons Brexit committee this morning (pictured) David Davis accused the EU of posturing by dismissing UK plans for keeping a soft Irish border today. WHEN WILL BRITAIN BE OUT OF THE EU? Britain triggered Article 50 on March 29, 2017, starting a two year process for leaving the EU: March 2018: Outline transition deal agreed, running for about two years June 2018: EU summit that Brussels says should consider broad principles of a future trade deal. October 2018: Political agreement on the future partnership due to be reached Early 2019: Major votes in Westminster and Brussels to ratify the deal March 29, 2019: Article 50 expires, Britain leaves the EU. Transition is expected to keep everything the same for about two years December 31, 2020: Transition expected to come to an end and the new relationship - if it has been agreed - should kick in Advertisement The Brexit Secretary said Brussels was engaging in negotiating tactics by rubbishing the ideas Britain had put forward for a so-called 'customs partnership' or streamlined arrangement. He stressed that technology could solve many of the problems and held prevent a return to a hard border. Mr Davis also admitted that there would not be a full legal text of a future trade deal by time the Withdrawal agreement - including the controversial divorce bill - is voted on by parliament. The bullish stance, in an appearance before the Commons Brexit committee, came as the DUP upped the pressure by making clear it is ready to bring down the government if Theresa May puts the integrity of the UK at risk. The fate of the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland has emerged as the biggest sticking point in the Brexit talks. The line will be the UK's only land link with the EU once any transition period is over. Mrs May has repeatedly ruled out staying in a customs union with the EU - pointing out that it would prevent Britain striking deals with other countries. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said it is up to the UK to come up with a workable solution on the border Mr Davis was giving evidence to the committee chaired by Labour's Hilary Benn (pictured) But critics say that could be the only way to maintain a free flow of goods and people on the island of Ireland, which was guaranteed in the Good Friday Agreement that brought an end to the Troubles. The UK side has set out two options for how the border could work after Brexit. One would see a highly streamlined customs arrangement, using a combination of technology and goodwill to minimise the checks on trade. There would be no entry or exit declarations for goods at the border, while 'advanced' IT and trusted trader schemes would remove the need for vehicles to be stopped. The second option has been described as a customs partnership, which would see the UK collect tariffs on behalf of the EU - along with its own tariffs for goods heading into the wider British market. However, this option has been causing deep disquiet among Brexiteers who regard it as experimental. They fear it could become indistinguishable from actual membership of the customs union, and might collapse. Visiting the Northern Ireland border for the first time last night, Mr Davis was shown an autism centre and a former customs post between counties Armagh and Monaghan Mr Davis said he was determined to get a deal with the EU on the post-Brexit Northern Ireland border by October Both options were apparently comprehensively rejected by EU officials at a bad-tempered meeting last week. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said it is up to the UK to come up with a workable solution on the border. 'We have done our share of the work,' he said. The DUP leader at Westminster, Nigel Dodds, told the ConservativeHome website that Northern Ireland must not be 'treated differently' from the rest of the UK. 'If, as a result of the Brexit negotiations for instance, there was to be any suggestion that Northern Ireland would be treated differently in a way, for instance that we were part of a customs union and a single market and the rest of the UK wasn't ... for us that would be a red line, which we would vote against the Government.' He added: 'You might as well have a Corbyn government pursuing openly its anti-Unionist policies as have a Conservative Government doing it by a different means.' In his evidence to MPs today, Mr Davis rejected chairman Hilary Benn's suggestion that the UK solutions had been 'emphatically' ruled out by Brussels, insisting that the EU was simply setting out an 'opening position' in negotiations. He told the committee the technology to deliver a near frictionless border - including number-plate recognition, authorised economic operator systems and electronic pre-authorisation - already exists and the Government has started talks with potential suppliers. Mr Davis said it was his 'hope' that the first trade deal could come into force the day after the UK leaves. Asked if there was a risk of Britain staying in the customs union for an indefinite period while an problems with customs were resolved, he replied: 'I do not expect the solution to that to be extension of membership of the customs union. 'I would view that on my part as a failure.' The DUP leader at Westminster, Nigel Dodds (pictured centre), told the ConservativeHome website that Northern Ireland must not be 'treated differently' from the rest of the UK The Brexit Secretary insisted the deal that is agreed by October would be 'substantive'. 'We will be voting for a bill of 35-39billion. People want to know on the other side what we are getting in exchange. 'The hardest time I'm going to have in October is people saying 'what have we got for this?'' He denied the government was 'winging it' and describing the possibility of 'no deal' as 'tiny', Mr Davis added: 'I think the massively higher probability is a deal.' Mr Davis was speaking ahead of a the Brexit 'war cabinet' to discuss progress in negotiations. The customs union is not on the formal agenda, but the issue is expected to surface again in the coming weeks with senior Brexiteers like Boris Johnson and Liam Fox wary of any concessions. Addressing the Brexit Committee, Mr Davis restated Government promises of a 'meaningful vote' on the final deal, but confirmed that MPs and peers are likely at that stage to be presented with 'a political declaration rather than a treaty draft'. Asked by Mr Benn whether the motion would be amendable, the Brexit Secretary replied: 'If you can tell me how to write an unamendable motion, I will take a tutorial.' And pressed on whether ministers will regard the outcome as binding, Mr Davis said: 'The Government is unlikely to put a vote to the House which it doesn't intend to take properly seriously. If the House rejects the proposed negotiation, that negotiation will fall.' EU admits its own Northern Ireland border plans are flawed The EU has admitted that its own proposals for the Northern Ireland border are flawed. Brussels has demand a 'backstop' protocol in the withdrawal treaty that would create a 'common regulatory area' between the north and south covering customs, agriculture, VAT, energy and product standards. The arrangement would be implemented unless the UK comes up with any other workable solution. But a confidential memo obtained by The Times shows that the European Commission fears the plan could undermine the single market. It suggests Northern Ireland could become a back door into the EU as there will be no border checks to prevent goods and services coming in. 'A solution for the Irish border does not solve problems related to necessary alignment with the whole EU acquis (law),' the diplomatic note said. 'Many goods have a considerable services component and a level playing field is not covered by alignment with relevant EU rules as foreseen in the backstop.' Advertisement Visiting the Northern Ireland border for the first time earlier this week, Mr Davis was shown a former customs post between counties Armagh and Monaghan. He tweeted: 'As we leave the EU it's essential both the UK and EU do what it takes to keep the border, which I saw this morning, free from physical infrastructure. 'We are determined to get this agreed by October.' Mr Barnier stepped up the pressure in a speech in Germany earlier this week, warning that Britain's position on quitting the single market and customs union means it is 'closing doors'. 'The European Council has made clear that, if the UK's red lines were to evolve, the Union would be prepared to reconsider its offer,' he said. 'We are flexible, never dogmatic. We are open for business. 'But of course any change from the UK must respect our principles, the principles we have built with the UK over 45 years.' Mr Barnier said it was up to the Government to come up with its vision for the future that either finalised or changed the UK's red lines. 'It is now up to the UK to come up with its vision for the future, which should confirm the UK's red lines or adapt them,' he said. 'Once we have more clarity from the UK, we will prepare a political declaration on the framework for the future relationship to accompany the withdrawal agreement in the autumn.' The government suffered a big defeat in the House of Lords this week over the customs union issue. There will be an important test of whether she can hold the line later this week when MPs stage a non-binding debate and vote - with crunch amendments to the Brexit and Trade Bills due to come to the Commons next month. Theresa May, pictured at a memorial for Stephen Lawrence yesterday, has insisted Britain will leave the EU single market and will not be in a customs union with the bloc What are the options for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit? Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker agreed the outline of a divorce deal in December Theresa May and the EU effectively fudged the Irish border issue in the Brexit divorce deal before Christmas. But the commitments to leave the EU customs union, keep a soft border, and avoid divisions within the UK were always going to need reconciling at some stage. Currently 110million journeys take place across the border every year. All sides in the negotiations insist they want to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, but their ideas for how the issues should be solved are very different. If they fail to strike a deal it could mean a hard border on the island - which could potentially put the Good Friday Agreement at risk. The agreement - struck in 1998 after years of tense negotiations and a series of failed ceasefires - brought to an end decades of the Troubles. More than 3,500 people died in the 'low level war' that saw British Army checkpoints manning the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. Both London and Dublin fear reinstalling a hard border - whether by checkpoints or other means - would raise tensions and provoke a renewal of extremism or even violence if people and goods were not able to freely cross. The DUP - which opposed the Good Friday Agreement - is determined to maintain Northern Ireland inside the UK at all costs, while also insisting it wants an open border. The UK blueprint: The PM has made clear her favoured outcome for Brexit is a deep free trade deal with the EU. The UK side iniset out two options for how the border could look. One would see a highly streamlined customs arrangement, using a combination of technology and goodwill to minimise the checks on trade. There would be no entry or exit declarations for goods at the border, while 'advanced' IT and trusted trader schemes would remove the need for vehicles to be stopped. Boris Johnson has suggested that a slightly 'harder' border might be acceptable, as long as it was invisible and did not inhibit flow of people and goods. However, critics say that cameras to read number plates would constitute physical infrastructure and be unacceptable. The second option has been described as a customs partnership, which would see the UK collect tariffs on behalf of the EU - along with its own tariffs for goods heading into the wider British market. However, this option has been causing deep disquiet among Brexiteers who regard it as experimental. They fear it could become indistinguishable from actual membership of the customs union, and might collapse. Brussels has dismissed both options as 'Narnia' - insisting no-one has shown how they can work with the UK outside an EU customs union. The EU blueprint: The divorce deal set out a 'fallback' option under which the UK would maintain 'full alignment' with enough rules of the customs union and single market to prevent a hard border and protect the Good Friday Agreement. The inclusion of this clause, at the demand of Ireland, almost wrecked the deal until Mrs May added a commitment that there would also be full alignment between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. But the EU has now translated this option into a legal text - and hardened it further to make clear Northern Ireland would be fully within the EU customs union. Mrs May says no Prime Minister could ever agree to such terms, as they would undermine the constitutional integrity of the UK. A hard border: Neither side wants a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. But they appear to be locked in a cyclical dispute, with each adamant the other's solutions are impossible to accept. If there is no deal and the UK and EU reverts to basic World Trade Organisation (WTO) relationship, theoretically there would need to be physical border posts with customs checks on vehicles and goods. That could prove catastrophic for the Good Friday Agreement, with fears terrorists would resurface and the cycle of violence escalate. Many Brexiteers have suggested Britain could simply refuse to erect a hard border - and dare the EU to put up their own fences. Advertisement An Oregon State University student experiencing a mental health crisis ignited a fire in his dorm room before jumping from the fifth-floor window. University officials say Oregon State Patrol troopers responded to campus in Corvallis Tuesday evening involving the welfare of a student and resident of Hawley Hall. OSU's vice president for marketing and university relations Steve Clark told the Gazette Times that there were statements made that could be construed as aggressive and threatening so officials weren't taking anything for granted. Scroll down for video Emergency: Oregon State University student experiencing a mental health crisis ignited a fire in his dorm room before jumping from the fifth-floor window Oregon State Patrol troopers and firefighters responded to Hawley Hall on Tuesday nights for reports of a student in distress Oregon State Police crisis communicators and Benton County Mental Health Department representatives spoke with the student while he was in his locked room for more than three hours on Tuesday evening, according to KVAL. The unidentified male student refused to come out and leaped from the dormitory's top floor at around 10.30pm. He survived the fall and was taken into custody and then to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, reported Oregon Live. There is no word on his condition at this time. The fire in the residence hall was extinguished by the sprinklers system. The fifth floor of the dorm was evacuated and people were asked to stay away from the area during the incident. Kim Jong-un only agreed to freeze his missile tests because his underground nuclear test site has collapsed, Chinese experts have suggested. The North Korean dictator announced on Saturday he would halt nuke trials and intercontinental missile launches ahead of an expected summit with US President Donald Trump. His regime also vowed to dismantle the atomic facility at Punggye-ri in the country's north east to 'transparently guarantee' the end of testing. But the surprise announcement comes after reports last year of major earthquakes and landslides in the mountainous area in the wake of five test blasts carried out by the secretive state in recent years. Kim Jong-un agreed to freeze his missile tests because his underground nuclear test has collapsed, Chinese experts have claimed Slide me Satellite images appeared to show multiple landslides in the wake of the hydrogen bomb blast, with green mountains reduced to muddy hillsides. The mountain range is pictured days before the September 3, 2017 blast (left) and a day after (right) with discolouration caused by landslides According to the South China Morning Post, two groups of Chinese experts say the military facility has collapsed 'putting China and other nearby nations at unprecedented risk of radioactive exposure'. One of the experts said this could be the real reason behind Kim Jong-un's decision to end his missile and nuclear trials. The tyrant had claimed that the freeze was because he had now successfully developed the country's arsenal, including miniaturising warheads to fit them on to rockets. But Wen Lianxing, from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, and his researchers have concluded that a major collapse took place at Kim's atomic site after the country's sixth nuclear test in September. At the time, Japan estimated that the blast was measured at 120 kilotons, eight times the size of the US device that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. Satellite images appeared to show multiple landslides in the wake of the hydrogen bomb blast, with green mountains reduced to muddy hillsides. Weeks later, unverified reports emerged that up to 200 workers may have been killed during the construction of a new tunnel at the site. Wen's team said the September 3 trial had reduced the mountain to 'fragile fragments', with the heat from the blast 'vaporising' rocks and creating a huge space measuring 650ft in diameter, which was then filled by a landslide from the mountain above. The surprise announcement comes after reports last year of major earthquakes and landslides in the mountainous area in the wake of five test blasts carried out by the secretive state in recent years. Satellite images appeared to show how there had been multiple landslides in the area Pyongyang has made rapid technological progress in its weapons programmes under Kim, which has seen it subjected to increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the United States, the European Union, South Korea and others Three small earthquakes then hit nearby regions, it is claimed. A second team of experts at Jilin Earthquake Agency and the China Earthquake Administration made similar findings, adding that the collapse created a 'chimney' that could potentially allow fallout to seep from the site. Zhao Lianfeng, from the Institute of Earth Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, said there was general agreement among experts that the site was 'wrecked' beyond repair, SCMP reported. Chinese expert Hu Xingdou, who follows Pyongyang's nuke development, said Kim Jong-un may have been warned by Beijing amid fears the September test had increased the risk of an active volcano erupting on the China-North Korea border. He said the collapse would have been a hammer blow to Kim Jong-un's nuclear ambitions with international sanctions meaning cash may not be readily available to resume tests any time soon. Despite Kim's announcement over the weekend, he gave no indication Pyongyang might be willing to give up its nuclear weapons, or the missiles with which it can reach the mainland United States. He said Kim offered no sign he might be willing to give up what he called the North's 'treasured sword', saying its possession of nuclear weapons was 'the firm guarantee by which our descendants can enjoy the most dignified and happiest life in the world'. Kim's regime has vowed to dismantle the atomic facility at Punggye-ri (pictured) in the country's north east to 'transparently guarantee' the end of testing Pyongyang has made rapid technological progress in its weapons programmes under Kim, which has seen it subjected to increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the United States, the European Union, South Korea and others. Last year it carried out its sixth nuclear blast, by far its most powerful to date, while Kim and Trump traded threats of war and personal insults as tensions ramped up. Even when there was an extended pause in testing, US officials said that it could not be interpreted as a halt without an explicit statement from Pyongyang. Kim told the Workers' Party meeting: 'A fresh climate of detente and peace is being created on the Korean peninsula and the region and dramatic changes are being made in the international political landscape.' For years, the impoverished North has pursued a 'byungjin' policy of 'simultaneous development' of both the military and the economy. But the leader said that as it was now a powerful state, 'the whole party and country' should concentrate on 'socialist economic construction'. Several factors have driven the Korean rapprochement, including the North feeling that it can now negotiate from a position of strength, concern about the belligerence of the Trump administration, and the looming impact of sanctions. The British Army now has more than 17,000 troops unfit to fight - with just 60,000 soldiers available for action, it was revealed today. Among the 77,467 soldiers, there are about 7,000 men and women labelled as 'non-deployable' - while another 10,000 are deemed 'medically limited deployable'. The Army should officially have 82,500 soldiers - but the figure is now so low that the deployable force is below that of Spain and Poland, which both have 77,500. There are 7,000 soldiers among the 77,467 men and women labelled as 'non-deployable' (Pictured: Soldiers take part in a training exercise at Otterburn Ranges in Northumberland) British forces are on deployment on 11 operations around the world including in Afghanistan, where Prince Harry served two tours. The royal is pictured there in November 2012 British forces are on deployment on 11 operations around the world including in Iraq, Kenya, Cyprus, Belize, Canada, Afghanistan and the Falkland Islands. But the 60,000 British troops available for front-line action is now the lowest number since the First World War, reported the Daily Mirror. Some soldiers who cannot be deployed have fractures and illnesses while others have short-term medical problems and are listed only for 'limited operations'. In WWI from 1914 to 1918, soldier number soared to more than three million, while there were 300,000 soldiers in the 1960s and 163,000 in the late 1970s. An Army spokesman told MailOnline today: 'Most medical downgrades are temporary, including to allow for recovery/rehabilitation. Huge effort is put into high quality healthcare and rehabilitation programmes to get all of our soldiers fully fit.' In February, it was claimed by the Sun that fewer than 8 per cent of people who applied to the Army last year went on to become soldiers. How many soldiers do other countries have? China: 2,200,000 North Korea: 1,200,000 US: 1,100,000 India: 1,100,000 South Korea: 950,000 Pakistan: 725,000 Russia: 400,000 Turkey: 391,000 Iran: 350,000 France: 100,000 Spain: 77,500 Poland: 77,500 Advertisement The Army received more than 100,000 applications but took on just 7,500 new recruits, and they waited an average of 300 days between applying and joining. SAS veteran Andy McNab has branded military recruitment 'madness' and a 'bureaucratic nightmare' as many were put off by delays in their applications. It comes after MPs criticised the Armed Forces' 1.3billion recruitment strategy, claiming the services are facing a 'manpower crisis'. They have demanded a review of the system outsourced to private firm Capita in 2012 in a bid to boost numbers as the Army, Navy and RAF remain below targets. The Ministry of Defence has already handed 752million to Capita 54million more than planned at this stage of a ten-year contract. Recent attempts to recruit soldiers from different backgrounds have been condemned for neglecting those who traditionally join the Armed Forces. Each year around a third of applicants are turned down because they are too old, do not have the right education or are not fit enough for active service. A High Court judge has harangued 'pro-life' campaigners advising Alfie Evans' parents especially the 'malign hand' of a Russian-born law student he branded 'fanatical and deluded'. Mr Justice Hayden slammed Pavel Stroilov, who works for the Christian Legal Centre (CLC) and believes Alfie's doctors should be prosecuted for murder if he dies at Alder Hey in Liverpool. CLC is part of a Christian campaign group called Christian Concern known for its opposition to abortion, homosexuality and 'gender identity' issues, which its supporters claimed has been 'promoted globally by influential child abusers'. Mr Stroilov, who is not a practicising lawyer but has been advising Alfie's father Tom Evans, was accused of giving him 'false hope' by the High Court judge. On Monday Mr Stroilov filed a private prosecution accusing doctors treating Alfie of murder and yesterday the judge described him as a 'fanatical and deluded man' whose advice had come 'perilously close' to contempt of court. The family's former lawyer Mary Holmes, who took their fight to the High Court and Strasbourg, has also said the pro-life lobby are exploiting the little boy and his 'desperate' parents. She said: 'These people I don't believe are in it because they love Alfie - when this case is over they'll move on to the next'. Mr Justice Hayden slammed Pavel Stroilov, pictured outside Alder Hey, who was accused of not having the best interests of Alfie or his parents Tim and Kate at heart The family of terminally ill toddler Alfie Evans have released pictures of the little boy clinging to life in his mother Kate's arms Mr Justice Hayden expressed worry that people like Mr Stroilov were trying to 'peck away at the good advice' given to Tom Evans and Kate James. Stroilov had also helped Alfie's father write a witness statement trying to convince the judge to let his son go to Italy. Justice Hayden said the statement did 'far more harm [to Alfie's parents] than it does them good', adding: 'The statement is littered with bile, critical of those who have done so much to help Alfie'. He also accused Stroilov of trying to 'undermine the relationship between the parents and their official legal advisers and seriously distorted their views about their legal rights' because Alder Hey was offering 'world class' care to Alfie and other children. Referring to a statement which the parents' representative Paul Diamond believed had been posted to the supporters' Facebook group by Mr Stroilov and another supporter, the judge said he hoped it did not reflect Kate and Tom's position. The judge said: 'This document does Mr Evans and Miss James far more harm than it does them good. 'It is peppered with language that is inappropriate and obviously injudicious to their own cause. If it really reflects [the parents'] position, if they are wholly unreceptive to proper advice, then I suppose it has validity. 'I would like to think they are receptive to good advice.' He judge added: 'I told [Tom} when he was here that not everyone in the Army [supporters' group] has Tom's back. 'I hope this message can get to him.' Mr Stroilov is the author of a 2011 book called 'Behind the Desert Storm' about Russian and American involvement in the Middle East. It was described as being 'devoid of any scholarly analysis', 'full of nonsense' and ideas 'borrowed from popular conspiracy theories'. Alfie's parents' barrister, Paul Diamond (left), was told by the judge that he must avoid 'emotive nonsense'. The Christian Legal Centre, whose director is Andrea Minichiello Williams (right), believes Alfie's doctors should be prosecuted for murder if he dies at Alder Hey CLC is part of Christian Concern, a religious campaign group, and handles religious discrimination cases in the UK. It says its purpose is 'to defend Christians in the public sphere and to protect the freedom of Christians to live their lives in accordance with their Christian beliefs.' Alfie's parents' barrister, Paul Diamond, had asked the judge to lift a court order stopping him leaving Alder Hey so he can travel to the Vatican's Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital for care because he is still breathing without a ventilator. At the start of the ongoing hearing, Mr Diamond said: 'It's really an application for common humanity and common sense.' Mr Justice Hayden expressed worry that people like Mr Stroilov were trying to 'peck away at the good advice' given to the parents But the judge interjected and told the lawyer to 'confine himself to the law' and avoid 'emotive nonsense', later adding: 'I don't need to be reminded we have a human being. You do not have the moral high ground in this court. It is treacherous terrain.' The lawyer who previously represented the family, Mary Holmes from MSB Solicitors in Liverpool, claims that the family are being exploited by the pro-life movement in Britain and abroad. She told The Times: 'These people I don't believe are in it because they love Alfie. When this case is over they'll move on to the next. Or they'll find some other cause they can ride on the back of. I just think they pick on the vulnerable and they are easy prey', adding they would 'keep this child alive at any cost and not for the right reasons'. She added: 'It's getting them in the public eye it's like, we've got involved, look what we've done, we've got an audience with the Pope.' She said Tom Evans is a 'desperate young man, and Kate's [James] this desperate young woman' who would do anything and turn to anyone if they thought it could save Alfie. CLC's executive director is Andrea Minichiello Williams, who reportedly has said it was a 'big lie' people are born gay and blamed the 'lack of the father' and 'sometimes a level of abuse' for it. According to Buzzfeed she used British diving hero Tom Daley as an example of this saying he was 'loved by all the girls and had girlfriends' but had 'lost his father to cancer just a few years ago'. CLC's top lawyer Roger Kiska said a friend of the family suggested that Tom Evans and Kate James contact them about supporting their son's case. Their intervention was followed by a campaign from within the Catholic Church and high profile support by Pope Francis. Mr Kiska, who also spoke out during the tragic case of Charlie Gard, has denied they are exploiting Alfie's case. He told The Times: 'We believe that Alfie deserves a fighting chance. The parents have every reason to believe he can get treatment abroad', adding that Alfie's parents were 'fully aware' of CLC's views on various matters. Andrea Minichiello Williams said: 'Alfie continues to fight for his life in an extraordinary way, as do his parents and our lawyers.' A Russian scientist was mowed down by a car near his house days after he claimed to have helped develop the nerve agent that almost killed the Skripals. Vladimir Uglev was rushed to hospital in his hometown of Anapa on the Black Sea after he was struck while walking over a pedestrian crossing on Tuesday. He suffered bruises to his head, right arm, and right leg and was in a stable condition while doctors awaited the results of head scans. Russian scientist Vladimir Uglev, 71, was mowed down by a car near his house days after he claimed to have helped develop the nerve agent that almost killed the Skripals The 71-year-old less than a week ago said he was certain Russia was behind the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia (pictured) Mr Uglev told The Bell he noticed the car wasn't slowing down and started running across the road and almost made it when the car hit him. He jumped on to the bonnet as he was hit to avoid going under the wheels and slammed his head into the windscreen, breaking it. The 71-year-old said less than a week ago that he was certain Russia was behind the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Mr Skripal, a former GRU spy, spent weeks in intensive care and has yet to speak publicly after the poison was sprayed on his doorknob in Salisbury. Mr Uglev suffered bruises to his head, right arm, and right leg and was in a stable condition while doctors awaited the results of head scans. The former scientist Uglev said he helped create nerve agent A-234 at a secretive Soviet laboratory (pictured in 1987) in Shikhany, near Saratov Vladimir Uglev was rushed to hospital in his hometown of Anapa on the Black Sea after he was struck However, he said Britain would never be able to prove it was Russia's doing unless it found the container the poison was administered from. The former scientist Uglev said he helped create nerve agent A-234, which was used to poison the father and daughter on March 4. 'I can tell by the mass spectrometry readings, the presence of fluorine, by its molecular weight, and from all the spectrum data I was sent recently.' he told the BBC. He said the Skripals only survived because they received a 'small dose, close to threshold level' in the botched assassination. Mr Uglev said he worked at a secretive Soviet laboratory in Shikhany, near Saratov, producing Novichok nerve agents that would still be active today. The aim of the 'newcomer' program was to create poisons 10 times more deadly than VX, which the scientists succeeded in doing. He said the Skripals only survived because they received a 'small dose, close to threshold level' in the botched assassination Soldiers in breathing apparatus replacing the paving where Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter collapsed after their nerve agent attack Mr Uglev said about 200lbs of A-234 and similar nerve agents were produced and never entered mass production 'Judging by how pure their test sample proved to be, this may well have been from a batch made by my own hands. It has a long shelf life, and virtually no expiry date,' he said. Mr Uglev said about 200lbs of A-234 and similar nerve agents were produced and never entered mass production. However, it was enough to kill hundreds of thousands of people and his conscience was weighed by at least a dozen he believed were murdered using it. The scientist was a victim himself, as he was splashed with a similar agent, A-240, in the lab when a container boiled over. 'I put my hand into hydrochloric acid, then washed it with an alkaline peroxide solution and put it under the tap. You could say the Skripals and I are baptised by the same Novichok,' he said. A city council has been forced to withdraw hundreds of parking fines after they were slammed by dawn service attendees. Western Australia deputy Premier Roger Cook has asked the City of Perth to reconsider $200 fines given to drivers at Kings Park on Wednesday morning, ABC News reported. Alan Nelson, 75, said he and his 86-year-old wife - who uses a wheelchair - were parked on Ord Street near the service and were outraged when they returned to find they had been ticketed. A city council has been forced to withdraw hundreds of parking fines after they were slammed by dawn service attendees Western Australia deputy Premier Roger Cook has asked the City of Perth to reconsider $200 fines given to drivers at Kings Park on Wednesday morning RSLWA president Peter Aspinall said issuing the tickets was unacceptable (Pictured: Perth dawn service) RSLWA president Peter Aspinall said issuing the tickets was unacceptable. 'The parking opportunities around Kings Park were obviously quite difficult and to think at four o'clock in the morning people are going to be penalised, on such a day, quite frankly I think is disgraceful,' he said. Brendan Fisher said he had been visiting the dawn service at Kings Park for six years, but it was only this year that he saw 'no parking' signs being put up. 'There's not much I can do as I'm in the wrong, but it's pathetic to target people paying their respect to the Anzacs,' he said. In a statement, the City of Perth said parking inspectors used discretion when giving out infringements. In a statement, the City of Perth said parking inspectors used discretion when giving out infringements 'Given recent world events and Anzac Day being a mass public gathering event, security is a top priority,' the statement said. Western Australia opposition leader Mike Nahan said profits from the fines should be donated to the RSL. Some disgruntled attendees took to Twitter to express their frustration. 'It's Anzac Day and drivers who attended Kings Park Perth Dawn Service came back to their cars and [found] $200 fines levied,' one person posted. 'Questions will be asked I'm sure. Greed reigns supreme.' Western Australia opposition leader Mike Nahan said profits from the fines should be donated to the RSL The City of Perth have since withdrawn all the fines issued at the dawn service at Kings Park on Wednesday morning. 'The City has liaised with event organiser RSLWA to ensure traffic management plans are clearer for residents and visitors attending future Anzac Day events in the city,'they said in a statement. 'It is important to note several thousand motorists were not fined for illegal parking on verges and footpaths and only those in the exclusion zones were fined as matter of safety given the traffic management plans. However given the circumstances fines issued will not be enforced.' A mother has spoken of her heartbreak after claiming her baby boy's death 'could have been prevented'. Charlotte and Robert Smith's son Finley was stillborn on January 19 after a newly-qualified midwife is said to have missed vital signs that he was stressed during labour. Colchester Hospital University Foundation NHS Trust in Essex has now apologised 'unreservedly' after admitting that it 'did not provide the high standard of care we expect'. Colchester Hospital said it had taken immediate action to prevent another similar death. Charlotte and Robert Smith's son Finley was stillborn on January 19 after a newly-qualified midwife missed vital signs that he was stressed during labour. Pictured: The devastated parents with Finley Charlotte gave birth to the couple's first son Luca, now 20-months-old, after conceiving through IVF, and were delighted to find out nine months later that they were expecting another baby. Charlotte, 32, from Tiptree, Essex, said: 'We are grieving for a baby but have the added anger that everything was preventable. 'Luca was an IVF baby. We tried for a few years to have him and we naturally fell pregnant with Finley. 'We were really looking forward to this year, having two babies close in age.' Charlotte gave birth to the couple's first son Luca, now 20-months-old, after conceiving through IVF, and were delighted to find out nine months later that they were expecting another baby As the months went by, baby Finley was doing well and the couple were getting more excited to welcome him into the family. Charlotte said: 'I was due on January 11, and everything was really straight forward. I was having growth scans because I have a hormone deficiency. 'As per guidelines, I had to have growth scans regularly to make sure he was growing well and he was tracking on the average line. There was never any indication of any problems.' On January 19, eight days after her due date, Charlotte went into labour. When she first arrived at Colchester Hospital at around 6pm, heart rate tests showed Finley was coping well. Following their baby son's death, Charlotte and Robert would learn that Finley died as a result of stress caused during labour Charlotte said: 'At about 7.45pm, my waters broke and my contractions intensified. 'There was no indication anything was wrong and then it got to 9.30pm. I delivered his head and the midwife said with the next push she would bring him up to me.' However, Charlotte claims a state of panic swept over the delivery suite. Charlotte said: 'They pushed the alarm and rushed him away. They began resuscitating him, but after 30 minutes they stopped. 'When you are not even aware that there was any issue, for the birth to end like that was a complete shock. It was horrific.' Over the next few weeks, Charlotte and Robert would learn that Finley died as a result of stress caused during labour. Tests showed that his heart rate had drastically jumped from extremely high to low rates, which the midwife had failed to notice. Charlotte said: 'We got a copy of the hospital notes and had a look through. We are not midwives but the heart rates were all over the place. 'Sometimes the midwife did not even get a reading. It was up and down, up and down. 'We expected that the hospital had followed procedure and that this was just a tragic accident. 'But they were open and honest and there were lots of signs but the newly qualified midwife didn't pick them up.' There were two other senior midwives checking up on Charlotte during her labour, but they too failed to spot the vital signs Finley was in trouble. Charlotte said: 'I hope they cannot sleep,' 'The two senior midwives are meant to supervise the newly qualified one. They failed to have conversations about the heart rate so they left her to it. 'If one of them had had the conversation and had a look, then maybe he would still be here now.' Test results showed Finley began to get distressed when Charlotte's waters broke, nearly two hours before she gave birth. After buying the materials online and watching several YouTube tutorials, the couple successfully cast their baby boy's hands and feet A spokeswoman for Colchester Hospital University Foundation NHS Trust said: 'This is a tragic event which has deeply saddened everyone involved. 'We accept that we did not provide the high standard of care we expect on this occasion and have apologised unreservedly to the family. 'Immediate action has been taken to make sure that our junior staff are well supported by their senior team and we will make sure that the things we learn from this sad event improve the care we provide. 'We aim to be open, transparent and honest in all we do when there are any issues with care in our maternity service.' Now, Charlotte and her family are coming to terms with the tragic loss of their baby boy. Charlotte said: 'Losing a child completely breaks you. We have that missing piece for the rest of our lives because of someone's incompetence and Luca is missing a brother. 'Leaving the hospital without your baby, this has been our worst nightmare.' The family have put their energy and heartbreak into setting up a charity in Finley's name to help other parents of stillborn babies. Charlotte said: 'We only got a few days with Finley so we tried to create as many memories as possible. 'The hospital were really good with that and we had photos taken. 'We wanted to have his feet and hands cast but most casters were really uncomfortable so we decided to do it ourselves.' After buying the materials online and watching several YouTube tutorials, the couple successfully cast their baby boy's hands and feet. Now, they want to do the same for other families. The couple are offering the service themselves, and are rolling it out at Basildon Hospital in the coming weeks. They hope for it to grow and gain volunteers to take part across more hospitals. Charlotte said: 'We don't want our son to die in vain. We want to continue his memory and help other bereaved parents.' Hank Azaria may quit his controversial role of voicing Apu on The Simpsons after almost 30 years as the race row over the character continues to rage. Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, the actor said he was 'perfectly willing to step aside' so someone else could play the Kwik-E-Mart owner. Azaria, 54, has voiced numerous Springfield residents for the show during the last 30 years, including morbid bartender Moe and hapless policeman Chief Wiggum. Hank Azaria, the voice of The Simpsons shopkeeper Apu, addresses the controversy surrounding the character on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert But his portrayal of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon came under scrutiny after comedian Hari Kondabolu made a documentary in 2017 titled 'The Problem with Apu'. He argued that the character - who rips off customers and says 'Thank you, come again' with a heavy accent - was a stereotypical depiction of Indian immigrants. 'I think the most important thing is to listen to Indian people and their experience with it,' Azaria told Stephen Colbert. 'I really want to see Indian, South Asian writers in the writers roomincluding how [Apu] is voiced or not voiced. Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the notorious Springfield shopkeeper who rips off customers and sells out-of-date food 'I'm perfectly willing to step aside. It just feels like the right thing to do to me.' He added that he was aware of the recent controversy surrounding the character. 'The idea that anyone young or old, past or present, being bullied based on Apu really makes me sad,' he said. 'It certainly was not my intention. I wanted to bring joy and laughter to people.' The Simpsons showrunners responded to the criticism of Apu with an episode on April 8 titled 'No Good Read Goes Unpunished'. Trademark blue-haired mother Marge tries to edit her favourite childhood book so it will be less offence when she reads to her daughter Lisa. Lisa addresses the camera, saying: 'Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?' .@TheSimpsons I truly appreciate all responses pro and con. Will continue to try to find an answer that is popular & more important right Al Jean (@AlJean) April 13, 2018 Lisa Simpson tells viewers: 'Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?' Responding to criticism of the episode, showrunner Al Jean tweeted that he will try to find another answer to the 'Apu problem'. Azaria said he had no voicing roles in that episode and did not want to send out a dismissive message. Thank you, @HankAzaria. I appreciate what you said & how you said it. https://t.co/Otmxygf3DP Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) April 25, 2018 'I think if anyone came away from that segment thinking they need to lighten upthat's definitely not the message that I want to send,' he said. Hari Kondabolu posted a tweet in support of Azaria's comments, saying he appreciated how the US actor had addressed the subject. Robert Peters, 56, throttled daughter Sophia for more than 20 minutes with a dressing gown cord A wealthy antiques dealer who throttled his seven-year-old daughter with a dressing gown cord, also strangled his second wife. Robert Peters, 56, attacked daughter Sophia while alone with her at his 1million family home in Wimbledon, south west London, last November. But it can now be revealed that Peters strangled his second wife, Francine Peters, when they were married between 1994 and 2009. The throttling was said to have happened roughly 20 years ago, and no report was ever made to police or medical staff. She only brought it up in her police interview on 24 November while they were investigating the killing of Sophia. Prosecutor Mukul Chawla, QC, said Peters beat Francine 'physically and mentally' until they divorced in 2009. He headbutted her and slapped her mouth, according to her statement. Mr Justice Andrew Edis said: 'In her witness statement she describes a number of episodes of violence directed against her by her then husband. 'In particular there was one episode so she says when he grabbed her round the neck and strangled her.' Sophia was found with a black dressing gown cord wrapped and knotted around her neck The judge said that the central issue the jury must decide is what state of mind Peters was in when he strangled his daughter, which he admits doing. But as Peters admitted the murder charge the allegation of physical and mental abuse can be revealed. Peters changed his plea to guilty today having admitted manslaughter but denied murder, saying he was depressed and hearing voices at the time. His first wife Krittiya Promsat was at the Old Bailey today and due to give evidence against him today - but Peters dramatically change his plea before she took the stand. Peters had claimed he was worried about his finances in the days leading up to the attack. However, the court was told that investigators found that he had money in the bank and was not in debt nor on the verge of being made bankrupt. Peters had previously tried to strangle his second wife Francine (pictured) and abused her both 'physically and mentally', the court heard The court also heard Peters had also embarked on an affair with another woman for two and a half years before ending that relationship. Peters waited until his Thai-born wife had left the family's home before launching his breakfast time attack on the little girl on November 3, last year. He went to wake Sophia up in her bed and then strangled her for up to half an hour, she woke and pleaded: 'What are you doing?,' he later told police. Sophia's mother Kittiya Promsat attended the court hearing today as her husband suddenly changed his plea After the killing, Peters called 999 and told police to come to his home as he told the operator: 'There's been a murder.' After explaining a child had been killed he was asked who had committed the crime and calmly replied: 'I have.' When officers arrived at his home minutes later he simply said: 'She's upstairs. I've strangled her. My daughter, she's upstairs in her bedroom.' The child was found lying in a foetal position on a single bed wearing a nightie. She had a weak pulse and was rushed to the nearby St George's Hospital in Tooting, South-West London, and treated in intensive care. She died the following day and a post mortem found she had suffered fatal brain damage. The court heard that after his arrest, Peters claimed he had suffered a 'breakdown' and said he had tried to commit suicide twice last year. He denied being 'an aggressive person.' The troubled antique dealer also said he had been thinking of killing his wife and family for several weeks so they could be 'spared the pain and upset when he became bankrupt.' At one time Peters ran his oriental antiques business in Kensington, West London, and told investigators he expected to go bust in a couple of months and they would lose everything. The murder unfolded at the family's home in Wimbledon, south-west London last year Peters added that the family had previously been visited by a child protection team and he feared Sophia would be taken into care. He also told officers it had been his last opportunity to kill his daughter as she was due to go back to boarding school after the half-term break. Speaking after his guilty plea today, Detective Inspector Helen Rance from Scotland Yard's Homicide Command said: 'Sophia was an innocent seven-year-old girl, much loved by her mother, family and friends. 'She was tragically murdered by the hands of her own father in the most frightening way. 'Sophia had her whole life ahead of her, which was taken away so cruelly in an act of pure selfishness. Robert Peters has shown no remorse for the murder, and initially maintained a defence of diminished responsibility. However, due to the strong evidence against him, he has changed his plea to guilty. 'This was a particularly traumatic case to deal with for all concerned, and I hope that this conviction brings a degree of closure to Sophia's family.' A female student claimed she had been threatened and intimidated by China's top university after demanding to know the truth of an alleged professor rape case from 20 years ago. Yue Xin (), a Peking University senior, published a letter online on Monday detailing the university's efforts to pressure her into silence. Although her letter has been censored on the Chinese social media, her claims have caused an outrage among the public. An open letter, posted in Peking University, condemned the school's 'unjust treatment' of Yue Yue Xin's letter has been taken down from the internet, but a public profile (above) circulating online shows she currently studies at the School of Foreign Languages in Peking University Chinese students are expressing fury over Peking University's efforts to stop Yue's activism over a decades-old alleged rape case. The backlash has been regarded as a pivotal moment in China's nascent #MeToo movement, which in itself has been tightly controlled by the authority. An open letter, dated Wednesday and posted on the campus of Peking University, condemned the school's 'unjust treatment' of Yue, who studies at the School of Foreign Languages in Peking University. Yue and seven other students had asked the university to disclose details of its investigation into sexual misconduct by a former professor against a student who killed herself. The former professor, named Shen Yang (), has been accused of raping one of his students, named Gao Yan (), which led Gao to finally commit suicide in 1998. It's said that Gao had told her friends of the raping before killing herself. Shen, a linguistic specialist, no longer works at Peking University and was dismissed from posts at Nanjing University and Shanghai Normal University earlier this month. Yue had asked the university to disclose details of its investigation into sexual misconduct by a former professor, named Shen Yang (above), against a student who killed herself It's said that Gao Yan (above), who studied at the Peking University, committed suicide in 1998 after telling her friends she had been raped by a professor. The case only emerged recently Student activist Yue Xin claimed that Peking University (file photo) had tried to silence her Yue wrote that a university employee brought her distraught mother to her dormitory in the middle of the night, waking her up and demanding she delete all the public information she had collected about the alleged rape case. She also claimed that the university had made her promise not to get involved in the case and asked her mother to take her home. She said she is confined to her parents' house and couldn't return to her university. Before Yue Xin became a central figure in China's burgeoning movement against sexual harassment, she recorded herself singing a revamped version of the 1960s pop classic 'Que Sera Sera'. 'Will we be equal? Will we be free?' sang the Peking University senior in a voice clip posted online, putting her own spin on Doris Day's 'Will I be pretty? Will I be rich?' Now these words and Yue's writings on privilege and self-expression have become rallying cries for students expressing rare public outrage over the elite institution's efforts to quiet her exposure of a decades-old rape case. Yue did not respond to requests for comment, and friends said they have been unable to reach her. China's nascent #MeToo movement has been tightly controlled by the authority while in neighbouring South Korea, demonstrators hold banners during a rally on March 8 (pictured) Peking University's Foreign Languages School, the department to which Yue belongs, said in a statement Monday that they brought Yue's mother to campus 'out of concern' that the student had not responded to messages for hours. The university did not respond to further requests for comment. Underscoring the degree of attention attracted by Yue's case, People's Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, took the rare move of issuing a call for reconciliation between students and the university and for 'young people's voices' to be understood. 'Students and faculty together comprise the university's fate,' the paper said in a commentary Tuesday. 'The school must accept constructive suggestions in a timely manner ... and not be evasive.' While China is beginning to confront problems of sexual harassment and gender discrimination, any kind of campus activism is extremely sensitive for a ruling party with vivid memories of the 1989 student-led pro-democracy demonstrations centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The movement was crushed by the military and Chinese college campuses have since been among the most closely monitored venues for organization and discussion. Posts about Yue and Shen's case have been heavily censored. The term 'Yue Xin' was not searchable on the Twitter-like Weibo platform Wednesday, and posts related to her situation have been scrubbed from WeChat - prompting jokes that a '404 Error' symbol should become Peking University's new logo. Patrick Poon, a researcher at the Amnesty International, told MailOnline that the Chinese government might allow the discussion of #MeToo incidents to certain extent as long as that wouldn't draw attention that would challenge the authorities. To get around censorship, Chinese web users have come up with the hashtag # - a phonetic translation which literally means 'rice rabbit' - while discussing the sensitive #MeToo movement. Mr Poon explained: 'However, in this reported #MeToo incident, it involves China's most famous university and the discussion could snowball to the extent that the government thinks would be out of control, so the censorship vehicle is gearing up again. ' A young boy was held outside a window of a moving car for two minutes as he urinated on a road amid heavy traffic in southwest China. A man can be seen lifting the boy in mid-air and let him urinate in public while the car is moving. Local traffic police claimed the man did not violated traffic safety regulations, however, his act had posed potential dangers to the child and other road users. A young boy is seen lifted up by his father outside a SUV and urinates on a road in China The moment was captured by Ms Wang, a front-seat passenger at the car behind near an overpass in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, reported the Cover News. 'The boy was held out of the car window twice and it's about two minutes long in total,' Ms Wang told the reporter. It's believed the father was holding his son out of the car window. Mobile phone footage shows the father, wearing glasses and a blue top, holding a young boy out of a white SUV window. The SUV can be seen moving forward while the boy is urinating outside the vehicle. Ms Wang said the cars were lining up in front of the red lights. The man brought his son back into the car shortly after. The father holds his son for two minutes to let him urinate in pubic amid the danger on road Traffic policeman said the man did not violate any law but he posed danger to the public The Cover News contacted local police bureau for comments. 'The man had not violated any traffic rules based on this behaviour. But he could affect or distract other drivers' attention,' said the traffic policeman. He added that the man might have dropped the boy onto the road if the SUV was put on an emergency brake. The video was widely shared on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, with over 910,000 views in the past three days. Web users were worried about the boy's safety. 'What if the man did not hold him tight enough?' asked 'amiaoermiao'. 'Did the man know that motorcyclists could hit the boy in this situation?' said 'fangfangz_'. The incident happened while the cars were in queue for traffic lights near an overpass Web users blamed the man being 'uncivilised, 'uneducated' and 'irresponsible' Others blamed the man being 'uncivilised','uneducated' and 'irresponsible'. 'samni_dongba' said: 'This is so embarrassing. I can see that people in Chengdu are not very civilised.' 'Did the man know how many freak accidents happened because of irresponsible adults who failed to take care of young children?' said 'tianbiannageren'. Britain could launch its own satellite navigation system if Brussels refuses to back down in an effort to freeze the UK out of the European Galileo network. UK ministers have insisted Britain should keep a role in running and using the secure satellite system, which is a rival to the US GPS and Russian Glonass networks. But Brussels is 'playing hardball' and wants to exclude Brexit Britain. Launching a replacement network would be a huge undertaking. There are 30 Galileo satellites in orbit, 14 of which are active and four more that are being commissioned. Britain could launch its own satellite navigation system if Brussels refuses to back down in an effort to freeze the UK out of the European Galileo network (file image) Business Secretary Greg Clark is taking legal advice on whether Britain can claw back the 1.4billion it has invested in the network if is excluded Business Secretary Greg Clark is taking legal advice on whether Britain can claw back the 1.4billion it has invested in the network if is excluded, the FT said today. Exclusion from the secure Galileo operations is seen by critics as the first significant loss of influence caused by Brexit, forcing the Government to consider alternatives. 'They're playing hardball,' said one senior UK government official to the FT. 'We're looking at a range of options, but unless they back down, we will withdraw from Galileo. 'We are scoping the possibility of launching our own system.' The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy told MailOnline it was 'logical to look at alternatives' if Galileo no longer met 'security requirements'. The European Commission, led by Jean Claude Juncker, wants to exclude Britain from the secure parts of Galileo The European Commission wrote to the UK in January to say it was going to refuse to divulge the sensitive information post Brexit - making eviction from the programme inevitable. According to an official, the letter said: 'If the commission shared this information with the UK (which will become a third country) it would irretrievably compromise the integrity of certain elements of the elements of these systems for many years after the withdrawal of the UK. The UK has contributed significantly to the design of Galileo, especially key security elements, and UK industry has skills on which the delivery of the programme depends. The UK currently contributes 12 per cent of the Galileo programme budget. UK-based companies including Airbus, CGI and SSTL, have won around a quarter of available contracts, by value, so far. The Finnish government has claimed it is still considering bringing in a universal basic monthly income at the end of a two-year trial period after reports it had scrapped the welfare experiment sparked headlines around the world. The Scandinavian country became the first in Europe to trial such a scheme, with 2,000 unemployed between the ages of 25 and 58 receiving 560 (475) a month for two years from January 1, 2017. Under the radical initiative, recipients were told they were free to spend the money on anything they choose, did not need to prove they were looking for work and would still receive the basic income even if they did get a full or part-time job. News that Finland had decided to scrap the scheme spread around the world. The huge reaction prompted the Finnish government to today say the two-year trial would run until the end of 2018 as planned - which had never been disputed. They also said they would 'consider' bringing the system in across the country once the results had been 'assessed', but stopped short of guaranteeing it. Finland says it will consider bringing in a universal basic income at the end of its two-year trial after reports it was scrapping the scheme sparked headlines around the world Social affairs official Miska Simanainen said the trial, where people are paid 6,000 a year regardless of whether they have a job or actively look for work, 'is proceeding as planned'. However, one of the programme's designers was quoted as saying the 'eagerness of the government is evaporating'. The 20 million-euro program, which seeks to reform Finland's social security system, ends in December after which Prime Minister Juha Sipila's center-right government will assess initial results. Olli Kangas, one of the experiment's designers, had been quoted as saying the government had 'rejected further funding' for the scheme. Data from the trial, which has captured global attention, is due to be released in 2019, giving experts the opportunity to analyse the merits of the scheme. Many in Finland, a nation of 5.5 million, have been critical of the idea of handing out cash without first requiring that people work. Critics feared escalating tax demands on the population. Others said receiving a guaranteed basic income would simply make some unemployed people less inclined to look for a job. In December, however, the parliament passed a law requiring those receiving benefits to actively seek work - and to provide evidence of their job-hunting every three months. Meanwhile, there are also reports that the pilot was in placed doubt because Finland is eyeing a new form of welfare programme. The Scandinavian country became the first in Europe to trial such a scheme, with 2,000 unemployed between the ages of 25 and 58 receiving 560 Euros (475) a month for two years from January 1, last year. File picture shows the capital, Helsinki Finland's finance minister, Petteri Orpo, has suggested following up the scheme with a trial of universal credit, a version of which was introduced in Britain in 2013. This would see a single social security payment that replaces separate benefits like child welfare or income support. Finnish government agency Kela, which is responsible for the countrys social benefits, had hoped the basic income scheme would encourage the recipients to seek employment, boost labour mobility, remove disincentives to work and reduce bureaucracy. It was part of the measures by the centre-right government of Prime Minister Juha Sipila to tackle Finlands joblessness problem. In December 2016, just before the trial started, the unemployment in Finland was running at 8.7 per cent. By January this year, 12 months into the two-year pilot, it had barely changed at 8.5 per cent. Kangas told Finnish broadcaster YLE: 'Two years is too short a period to be able to draw extensive conclusions from such a big experiment. We should have had extra time and more money to achieve reliable results.' In an interview with the New York Times, he added: 'The government has chosen to try a totally different path. Basic income is unconditional. Now, they are pursuing conditionality.' Heikki Hiilamo, a professor of social policy at the University of Helsinki, told the newspaper: 'There is a problem with young people lacking secondary education, and reports of those guys not seeking work. There is a fear that with basic income they would just stay at home and play computer games.' In 2016, the Swiss government held a referendum on whether to pay every citizen around 2,500 Swiss francs (2,000) per month, but the policy was decisively rejected by Swiss voters. The manager of Avicii actively tried to prevent the DJ from retiring from live performances in 2016 due to health issues, scornfully declaring that he 'didn't understand the value of money'. Documentary Avicii: True Stories shows the Swedish musician arguing with his team as they try to convince him to continue performing despite his obvious distress. Avicii, whose real name was Tim Bergling, was found dead in the city of Muscat, Oman, on Friday, aged just 28. Manager: Arash 'Ash' Pournouri, seen with Avicii in 2013, 'discovered' the star in 2008 and began managing the then-17-year-old DJ Despite a meteoric rise to success following the release of hit-single Le7els in 2011, Avicii announced in 2016 that he would not longer perform live, following years health problems caused by stress and alcohol abuse, as well as severe anxiety. Avicii: True Stories, released last year, shows several scenes which, in hindsight, makes for uncomfortable viewing. As Avicii announces to his team in March 2016, that he has decided to quit touring - which saw him perform 320 shows in one year - his manager Arash 'Ash' Pournouri is not best pleased. The documentary shows Avicii relaying to friends that he has told his management several times he has to stop playing because of his physical and mental health. 'I have said, like, I'm going to die. I have said it so many times. And so I don't want to hear that I should even entertain the thought of doing another gig. ' 'And I know Arash knows this, which is why I feel extra hurt - because he has said that [I should play more gigs] when it suits him.' Harsh: The documentary sees Pournouri scornfully declare that Avicii 'doesn't understand the value of money' following the DJ's decision to stop touring for his health in 2016 Ominous: It also sees Avicii tell friends 'Arash knows' of his fears that continuing his hectic touring schedule would kill him Separately, Pournouri is interviewed, and makes it clear he does not think much of the DJ's decision to quit. Starting off by implying that Avicii's early success has meant he 'missed a big part of growing up', he stops himself, saying he 'doesn't want to talk s*** about him'. 'I just want to find a pain-free way to say it.... 'The problem is that he doesn't understand the value of money. And he doesn't understand how his decisions affects other people very negatively. ' The documentary cuts to Avicii speaking to friends, saying 'I don't know if I'm going to be able to do these last shows'. One of his friends replies: 'The problem is that your agency [Pournouri's At Time Management] are too scared when it comes to their own money.' Swedish-Iranian Pournouri found Avicii's music on a blog in 2008, and contacted the then-teenage DJ and offered to help him with promotion. Pournouri - then 26 to Avicii's 17 - became his manager, but is also listed as composer and executive producer on a majority of his biggest hits. 'There is no person like Ash. He is obsessed with taking Tim to the next level, the next four, five levels up,' a Swedish music label executive says in the documentary. 'I think he [Pournouri] will be very successful, because he is obsessed with being successful'. Breakneck speed: The 28-year-old Swedish DJ and producer retired from performing live in 2016 following a battle with alcohol abuse and anxiety True stories: The documentary, filmed by a friend of Avicii - whose real name was Tim Bergling - during four years, follows his rise to fame, struggle with success and subsequent retirement In December 2016, six months after the Swedish EDM sensation's final show in Ibiza, Avicii and his longtime manager, and executive producer, parted ways. Avicii's retirement came after a long-documented struggle with his health - both mentally and physically. In the documentary, Avicii, a self-confessed introvert, speaks frequently about using alcohol as a crutch to be able to perform, drinking every day during his hectic tour, and to help him with his crippling anxiety and stress. At the age of 21 he was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis - a potentially life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas - due in part to excessive drinking. In 2014, Bergling was again hospitalised and forced to have his gallbladder and appendix removed. Another scene from the documentary shows Avicii appearing to be on the verge of a panic attack as his management team tries to convince him not to cancel ten upcoming shows in Las Vegas. A member of his management team says: 'Its probably harder to cancel these shows than to just do them.' 'As long as you know it could cost you quite a lot. Just be clear on how much money youre going to miss out on.' Heartbreaking: This is one of the last pictures taken of the young musician, who was found dead in Muscat, Oman, on Friday, aged just 28 Top of the world: Avicii on stage with Madonna at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida in 2012 Avicii made a fortune during his short career, cashing in $28million in 2014 alone - with his management team likely to have benefited greatly from the monetary success. The Swede earned $250,000 a night when playing out sold-out shows, according to GQ, and was once named as one of Forbes' highest paid DJs. Avicii himself was less bothered, saying in 2013 that he 'noticed straight away when I started making money, that I don't need that much money'. In 2012 he donated the entire income of his U.S. tour - more than one million dollars - to hunger relief charity Feeding America, and in 2013 he gave one million euros to Swedish aid organisation Radiohjalpen. Rest in peace: Oman authorities have ruled out foul play in connection with Avicii's death Bergling grew up in affluent Ostermalm in the Swedish capital Stockholm, and began producing music in high school. He made a name for himself on the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) scene, before his breakthrough hit Le7els in 2011. He would later become known for hits like Wake Me Up!, You Make Me, and recently Lonely Together, a collaboration with Rita Ora. He won two MTV Music Awards, one Billboard Music Award and earned two Grammy nominations. Just three days before his death, in his final post on Twitter, Bergling thanked the Billboard Music Award's jury for his nomination int the Top Dance/Electronic Album category for his EP Avici (01). He died on April 20 in Muscat, Oman, where he is reported to have been holidaying with friends. The cause of death is not yet known, but Oman police say they have ruled out any criminal activity. Michelle Knight has introduced her husband to the world and revealed how he helped her find peace almost five years after she escaped Ariel Castro's House of Horrors in Cleveland. Knight was 21 when she was kidnapped by Castro in 2002 before being held captive and sexually abused for more than a decade. She and two other captives Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry were rescued in May 2013. Now, in an interview with Dr. Phil that aired on Tuesday, Knight revealed she is happily married and loving her new life. Knight who now goes by Lily Rose Lee told Dr. Phil that she was first introduced to her husband Miguel by mutual friends. Michelle Knight has introduced her husband Miguel (pictured together) to the world on Dr. Phil The pair then bumped into each other by chance before love blossomed and they tied the knot in 2016 and enjoyed a honeymoon in Hawaii. 'This is the biggest news I got for you Dr Phil. This is my sweetheart Miguel,' an excited Knight announced on the program. 'I love him so much and he's been a great support system for me. Now that I found love and I'm happy, I can do anything.' Miguel added: 'She's a lot different than any person I've ever met. 'She's been through a lot of things and it still surprises me every day how strong she is.' Speaking to Dr. Phil, Knight, 36, elaborated on how the pair met and fell in love. Knight (pictured on her wedding day) revealed she met her husband through mutual friends Knight, who was one of three women kidnapped and held captive for more than a decade in a Cleveland House of Horrors, revealed that she is now happily married Knight said she has told her husband of the torture she went through and that he makes her feel safe Knight is now a motivational speaker who travels the world to speak about issues including human trafficking 'Dr. Phil, I'm married,' she said as the audience began cheering as wedding photos of the couple appeared onscreen. 'We met through mutual friends,' she said. 'And then one day, didn't even realise he was in the same place that I was, I'm walking out of the bathroom, he's walking out of the bathroom, I was looking at my phone and he was looking at his phone and we collided together 'And then I looked up, and I was like, 'that's you that I've been talking to, yeah, yeah that's you.' 'And he looked down as was like, 'oh my Gosh I can't believe it.' She and husband Miguel married in 2016 before enjoying a honeymoon in Hawaii (pictured) Describing her husband as her 'safe teddy bear,' she said he has helped her come to terms with what she went through Describing her husband as her 'safe teddy bear,' she said he has helped her come to terms with what she went through. 'He's a sweetheart, he's a gentle giant,' she said. 'He helps me through a lot of my struggles, but I don't let those struggles affect how I live my life. I still move forward.' She added: 'When I first told him, it took a while before he could actually comprehend what was going on and how I felt. 'It took a while before he was like, 'you know what, I don't wanna know more.' Knight now works as a motivational speaker, travelling the world to speak about human trafficking and missing and exploited children. 'I am really enthusiastic about how my life is going right now,' she added. 'My journey into trusting again it was a long and painful road. 'I came so far and everything is so peaceful now.' She added: 'Buying my first home and feeling safe was the most important part. I painted the whole house myself, I also painted pictures that I put on the wall.' Ariel Castro (pictured) was sentenced to life in prison for abducting, raping and holding captive three women as well murder for forcing one of the women to abort her pregnancy Knight talks more about her life now in her second memoir - 'Life After Darkness: My Journey To Happiness' - which will be released in early May, coinciding with the fifth anniversary of her escape. In her first best-selling book - 'Finding Me' - she revealed the brutal physical, mental and emotional torture that Castro subjected her to before his other victims were brought into the home. The victim recounted harrowing details about emotional punishment, in which Castro repeatedly told her: 'You're a person with no meaning.' Knight, who had a troubled upbringing as a victim of sexual abuse, had been on her way to a foster care appointment on August 22, 2002. She was attempting to get her two-year-old son, Joey, back when she stopped to ask for directions at a local store. There, she ran into Castro, who was one of her friends' father. Photographs of Knight showing her (L-R) before her abduction, the day after her escape and in a video released on July 9, 2013 are displayed during Castro's sentencing in 2013 He offered her a ride from the store, but said he needed to stop by his house. He asked if she wanted to come inside to get a puppy he had been keeping for her son. 'We stepped into a bedroom and he said: ''The puppies are underneath the dresser,'' she said. 'I looked down to where he was pointing and then, suddenly - Slam! - he closed the door... The gentle guy who'd seemed so nice to me had turned into a madman. He pushed me to the ground. 'I closed my eyes and tried to prepare myself for what might happen next. To this day I still cannot believe what did.' Knight recalled being strung from wire in a bedroom where Castro returned two days later to rape her before dragging her down two flights of stairs and into the basement. She said: 'What happened over the next three hours is still hard for me to think about. He didn't just rape me the way he had upstairs. He murdered my heart.' Knight became pregnant five times during her years in captivity. She had been starved and beaten by Castro until she miscarried. In April 2003, Castro abducted Berry and brought her into the house. Knight, who refers to Castro as 'the dude' in her writing, recalled one night: 'Amanda's mother was on the news pleading for people to help find her daughter. 'The dude laughed. ''You see that? At least someone's looking for her. But who's looking for you? Not a soul. That's because you don't mean nothin' to nobody.''' By April 2004, Castro had kidnapped DeJesus and brought her to the home. He allowed her to be kept in the same room as Knight. The two girls developed a bond and held hands while they were abused. Castro later loosened their chains after Berry became pregnant and allowed her to keep the baby. Knight's son was adopted while his mother was in captivity. The three girls were eventually allowed to go into the kitchen and living room for a few hours on the weekends. Berry took advantage of Castro leaving the inner front door unlocked and screamed through the storm door for help in May 2013. A neighbor heard her and phoned 911. As police officers descended the stairs to their basement prison, Knight said she turned to DeJesus to tell her: 'You won't believe this. We're free. We are going home.' On May 6, 2013, the three girls finally escaped. Castro was charged with 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape and two counts of aggravated murder in the death of Knight's unborn baby. He committed suicide a month into his prison sentence, on September 3, 2013. Bavaria has ordered Christian crosses to be hung at the entrance of all of its regional government buildings, it has emerged. The German state's government said the crosses should not be seen as religious symbols, but are meant to reflect the southern state's 'cultural identity and Christian-western influence'. But the move has already drawn a furious reaction from opposition politicians and one prominent cleric accused the regional government of hypocrisy ahead of an election. Bavaria has ordered Christian crosses to be hung at the entrance of all of its regional government buildings, it has emerged. Markus Soeder, Governor of the German state, is pictured hanging up a cross at the state chancellery in Munich on Tuesday The arch-conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party, allied with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives on the national level, faces a stiff challenge from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the October vote. Premier Markus Soeder's proposal to display the Christian symbol in all regional government buildings is almost certain to be challenged in court for breaching religious neutrality laws. But Soeder said the crucifix was being displayed not as a Christian symbol but as a symbol of the identity of Bavaria, Germany's richest and most conservative state. 'We want to give a clear signal that people have a desire to stress their identity,' he said after being photographed affixing an ornate wooden cross, the gift of a former Munich cardinal, to a wall in the premier's office. German news agency dpa reported that Tuesday's decree won't affect municipal and federal government buildings in Bavaria. Crosses are already compulsory in public schools and courtrooms in predominantly Catholic Bavaria. The CSU is facing a rising challenge from the far right after governing Bavaria without interruption for more than 50 years and Soeder is under pressure to show he can preserve the dominance that makes his party a powerful lobbyist for its home state in Merkel's Berlin government. Bavaria's government said the crosses should not be seen as religious symbols, but are meant to reflect the southern state's 'cultural identity and Christian-western influence'. Pictured: Bavaria's capital, Munich The south-eastern state was on the frontline of 2015's migrant crisis, when over a million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia arrived in Germany, fueling support for the AfD. The CSU has distanced itself from Merkel's decision to admit the refugees. Former premier Horst Seehofer, now federal interior minister, made waves on assuming his new office by stating that Islam 'does not belong to Germany.' But the AfD, which campaigns against Muslim immigration, dismissed the cross proposal as 'the usual gesture politics'. 'The Christian Cross is being turned into an election accessory, while the conservatives refuse to protect our basic values with real actions,' the AfD's co-leader Alice Weidel said in a statement on Wednesday. Even clerics were critical of the plan. 'Many see as a provocation and a hypocrisy the way you speak about Christianity,' wrote Burkhard Hose, a priest who ministers to the students of Wuerzburg University, in an open letter to Soeder. 'Stop this misuse of Christianity and its symbols as a supposed bulwark against Islam,' he added. Iran is using emojis holding 'death to America' signs to promote a new messaging app it can use to spy on its citizens' private conversations. The Islamist regime is trying to convince 50 million Iranians to switch from Telegram to locally-made app Soroush which lacks its competitor's end-to-end encryption. Ayatollah Khamenei quit Telegram this week and has frequently blamed the program for spreading civil unrest resulting in December's huge protests. Iran is using emojis holding 'death to America' signs to promote new messaging app Soroush it can use to spy on its citizens' private conversations Ayatollah Khamenei quit Telegram this week and has frequently blamed the program for spreading civil unrest resulting in December's huge protests The regime appeared poised to ban it, following the lead of Russia, like it did with many other foreign social media platforms. Efforts to promote Soroush, which has a tenth of Telegram's users, include the inflammatory emojis and a competition in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The emojis feature women in chadors holding placards wishing death upon Israel, America, and Freemasons, and another holding a portrait of the Ayatollah. Soroush has the same abilities as Telegram including instant messages, groups and news feeds, and ability to do business online. However, it doesn't have the end-to-end encryption that prevents the state from snooping on them, which made Telegram so popular. Iranians joked Soroush's three-tick system represented the message being sent, the second for it being read by the person you sent it to, and the third that it's been read by Iranian security services. The regime appears to want access to users' previous conversations too, as Soroush includes a tool to move all previously secure messages onto it. Soroush (pictured) has the same abilities as Telegram including instant messages, groups and news feeds, and ability to do business online, but lacks encryption Iran demanded Telegram give security services a back door to access users' data, but was refused by founder Pavel Durov. Telegram was recently banned in Russia for refusing a similar demand, with Mr Durov saying it would always 'stand for freedom and privacy'. The regime-backed app promoting 'death to America' came as Iran's President Hassan Rouhani questioned the legitimacy of demands for a fresh nuclear deal. U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently called for the 'terrible deal' to be 'fixed' with a new agreement, and was recently joined by France. 'Together with a leader of a European country they say: 'We want to decide on an agreement reached by seven parties'. What for? With what right?' Rouhani said in a speech. Mr Trump has fiercely criticised a three-year-old deal reached by world powers to curb Iran's nuclear programme, and threatened to pull the U.S. out of the agreement. Trump was eyeing a broader pact that also limited Iran's ballistic missile programme and support for armed groups across the Middle East. The regime-backed app promoting 'death to America' came as Iran's President Hassan Rouhani questioned the legitimacy of demands for a fresh nuclear deal U.S. President Donald Trump (left) has frequently called for the 'terrible deal' to be 'fixed' with a new agreement, and was recently joined by French President Emmanuel Macron (right) European signatories to the 2015 deal have been scrambling to salvage it, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying on Tuesday after talks with Trump that he wished 'for now to work on a new deal with Iran'. Iran has repeatedly insisted it was sticking to the nuclear deal and would not negotiate over its missile programme. Rouhani took aim at Trump - a former real estate mogul and TV reality star - and accused him of lacking in experience. 'You are just a businessman... you have no experience in politics or law or international agreements. How can he pass judgement on international affairs?' he said. Rouhani insisted that by agreeing to the nuclear accord in 2015 Tehran 'showed goodwill to the world'. 'We wanted to prove to the world that Iran does not seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction,' he said. Kevin Esterly, 45, (pictured) waived the hearing Tuesday and now awaits trial on charges including custodial interference A 45-year-old Pennsylvania man charged with taking a 16-year-old girl to Mexico without her parents' knowledge is facing trial after waiving his right to a preliminary hearing. Kevin Esterly, 45, waived the hearing Tuesday and now awaits trial on charges including custodial interference. Esterly and 16-year-old Amy Yu were found in Mexico on March 17, about two weeks after they disappeared from Allentown. Police have said they believe the girl went willingly with Esterly, who had posed as her stepfather and repeatedly signed her out of school. The girl's family previously said the two met at church years ago, as Amy is friends with one of Esterly's four daughters, according to Amy's family. Esterly and Amy had gotten so close she often went on his family's vacations and the older man had often come to Amy's home for meals, her mother Mia Luu said. Amy even changed school documents to list the older man as her step-father, and he signed her out of school 10 times between November 13 and February 9, police said. Amy's mother discovered the deception when she came to get the girl from school on February 9 and found that Esterly had already signed her out. The furious mom warned him to stay away from the teen. Before fleeing town with the girl, Esterly withdrew $4,000 from his join bank accounts with wife Stacey, she told police. Luu discovered after her daughter vanished on March 5 that she had taken some of jewelry, her passport and cash. Esterly and 16-year-old Amy Yu (pictured together) were found in Mexico on March 17, about two weeks after they disappeared from Allentown The pair had fled to the Mexican resort of Playa del Carmen (pictured in file photo) When the pair disappeared, police were immediately suspicious. A warrant for Esterly's arrest was issued on March 7. Cops tracked the pair to Mexico and issued an Amber Alert. Mexican federal police found the pair in Playa del Carmen, the coastal resort on the Yucatan near the island of Cozumel on March 17. Amy returned to Pennsylvania shortly after where she was taken to a hospital for examination and reunited with her family. Esterly was transported by US Marshals to Miami. He was later extradited to Pennsylvania. Esterly had reportedly been trying to call his wife Stacy - who refused all of his calls, her attorney toldCBS News. Esterly was extradited back to the US and on Tuesday waived his right to a preliminary hearing (pictured in a previous court hearing in Miami) Mexican authorities issued this Amber Alert seeking Amy and Esterly shortly after she was taken Amy changed school documents to list Esterly as her step-father, and he signed her out of school 10 times between November 13 and February 9. They are pictured with his daughters 'Stacey is happy that Amy is home and that Kevin is in custody,' attorney John Waldron said in a statement. Under Pennsylvania law, a person commits the crime of interference with the custody of a child if they knowingly take a child under the age of 18 away from their legal parent or guardian. However, if the child is at least 14 years old and goes with the person willingly, and the defendant had no intention of committing a criminal act with the child, that could lead to acquittal, Joachim said. Esterly's wife Stacey told cops he took $4,000 from their accounts before fleeing Esterly's wife Stacey (pictured) has since announced she is filing for divorce Since the age of consent is 16 in Pennsylvania and 12 in Mexico, sexual acts between the two wouldn't necessarily be criminal. However, if Esterly gave the girl alcohol that could open up additional charges of corrupting the morals of a minor or endangering the welfare of a child, experts said. While Esterly is behind bars, his wife Stacey is working full time to support their four daughters, according to a GoFundMe campaign to assist them. 'She is committed to making every effort to see her children through this situation as best as possible and maintain a sense of stability for them,' her attorney said. She has also announced she is filing for divorce. Australian man dies while surfing in Bali just days after a Sydney musician died in similar circumstances. The body of Australian man Anthony Lines, 55, was found floating on the surface of the water off the Balinese island of Nusa Penida on Sunday. Jason Henderson had been surfing with Mr Lines at a popular tourist destination Playground Jungutbatu Village when he discovered his friend's body floating on the surface of the water, 9News reported. Anthony Lines, 55, is the second Australian surfer in a week to die in the waters off Indonesia He was surfing with his friend Jason Henderson near the Playground Jungutbatu Village off Nusa Penida He was rushed to a medical centre on Nusa Penida but was pronounced dead on arrival. Dr Ida Bagus Putu Alit, the forensic doctor at the hospital where Mr Line's body was taken, said an examination had shown minor injuries including bruising and blisters on his face. He also said there was specific signs of drowning. The Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it 'is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian man who died in Indonesia on 22 April 2018,' but would not comment further. Nusa Lembongan is a popular spot for surfers visiting Bali and is renowned for it's world class waves and dangers breaks. Mr Lines is the second Australian surfer to die in Bali in the past week. Nusa lembongan (pictured) is a popular spot for surfers but has a reputation of being dangerous Jae Haydon of Woollongong drowned in the waters off Bali, twelve hours after he was reported missing. His body was found by lifeguards on Monday night, moments after his broken surf board washed up near Uluwatu, Bali. He was surfing early in the morning when it is believed he was struck by a strong wave that broke his board. Tributes for Mr Haydon flowed from friends and other family members over social media. 'So gutted to find out that the missing surfer was you, but you lived one of the best lives imaginable brother,' one posted. Mandy Richards has had her candidacy blocked by labour head office after concerns that she does not display the judgement needed A Corbynista who spread conspiracy theories about the Manchester bombing and the murder of Jo Cox has been axed as a parliamentary candidate for Labour. Mandy Richards was chosen by local activists to fight the key marginal seat of Worcester in the next election. But Labour moderates condemned her selection after it was revealed she had made a string vexatious court cases against agencies. Ms Richards may only bring court cases in future with the prior approval of a judge after failed actions against MI5, MI6, the Metropolitan police and the Army among others. And her selection sparked fresh outrage after she said the murder of Ms Cox in 2016 by a far right extremist was 'conveniently bereft of evidence'. She also posted tweets questioning whether last year's Manchester Arena terror attack took place. Today Labour's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) bowed to pressure and blocked her as a candidate. A Labour party spokeswoman said: 'The NEC has not endorsed Mandy Richards as the Labour Party candidate for Worcester.' It is understood the party's head office decided intervened after growing alarmed that she showed a lack of judgement. Wes Streeting, Labour Mp for Ilford North, welcomed the news. He said: 'This is the right decision - and acted upon commendably fast. It clearly is possible when the will exists.' In one of her legal cases, Ms Richards filed a challenge to the result of a 2016 London Assembly election but was dismissed after presenting a 'conspiracy hypotheses' that were 'totally unfounded'. Ms Richards was a Labour candidate in the 2016 London assembly election and also brought a High Court petition to challenge the result, alleging a conspiracy to cheat her involving the returning officer and Progress, Labour's centrist group. Ms Richards tweeted about the Manchester bombing, and suggested the murder of Jo Cox was 'conveniently bereft of evidence' Conservative Robin Walker currently holds Worcester with a majority of 2,490 votes In a two-day hearing, she said 'state-sponsored organised crime' in the case had 'the potential to trigger a major national public scandal' and forced 13 witnesses, including her MP, the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, to give evidence in person. Ms Abbott said she was an 'obsessive' whose claims about the election 'cannot be true'. Dismissing Richards's case, the election commissioner, John Bowers QC, said she had pursued 'conspiracy hypotheses' that were 'totally unfounded'. Mr Bowers also criticised her for not turning up to court on time. Her actions are estimated to have cost taxpayers 500,000 in court time and legal fees. In a post on Facebook Ms Richards did not directly address the tweets on Ms Cox's murder and the Manchester bombing. But she insisted all the legal actions she had attempted to bring were 'above board'. 'I apologise to Labour Party members for any consternation or upset the articles published this weekend may have caused, but I can assure you categorically the cases brought were all above board,' she wrote. Abubaker Deghayes, 49, is accused of assaulting a woman in a Brighton flat over his belief she had a 'demon' in her A mosque leader whose two ISIS-fighting sons were killed in Syria is in court for allegedly assaulting a woman while trying to rid her of a demon. Abubaker Deghayes, 50, who is in charge of al-Quds mosque in Brighton is accused of attacking the woman by bending her arm until her shoulder dislocated. He is also accused of intimidating her when she went to police over the alleged attack. The court heard a woman, who cannot be named, pleaded for Deghayes to stop the assault at a flat in Brighton in May 2017. In a statement she said: He made me fall onto the floor from the sofa using his hands. He made sure my face stayed on the floor and that I didnt resist him and so that I didnt get away. He was not normal. He said he was making the demon come out. He said he wanted the demon to come out because that was what was upsetting me. He had his legs on my back and with his hand he pulled strongly on my shoulder. I was just staying stop, stop, theres no demon. The woman said she called an ambulance after Deghayes left the address. However, she told doctors in the hospital she was injured in an accidental fall. Last October Deghayes reportedly returned to the womans flat but she refused to allow him in. Jurors at Blackfriars Crown Court were played a recording of the 999 call she made, in which she shouts out of a window at Deghayes in Arabic and speaks to the operator in English. Officers arrested Deghayes at the property, following the womans claim he had assaulted her five months earlier. Deghayes denied assault as he appeared at Brighton Magistrates Court on 16 November, charged with an offence of occasioning actual bodily harm. Two sons of Abubaker Deghayes have died fighting with ISIS in Syria and a third is believed to have travelled to Libya A condition of his bail was not to contact directly or indirectly any witnesses in the case. However, in November he is accused of tracking her to her brothers home. He reportedly told the womans brother, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, that he would kill your sister. The woman said: I didnt hear what they said to each other. Even my brother said that Abubaker said he would kill me. My brother said thats why he went to the police. Theres no reason for him to want to kill me to be honest. When someone says openly that they want to kill someone it shows they need a doctor and shows that he is ill. Deghayes was further charged with intimidating a witness and breaching his bail conditions in December. The father-of-three, who also works in property letting and management, denies being near his accuser on both occasions. Deghayes said: 'I did not see her. I'm not responsible for her injury. 'I can't recall exactly where I was, it's too far back but my day is spent usually in going to the mosque, calling in the tenants, socialising, visiting the hospital chaplains or mosque to see if there's any people to help.' Deghayes said he was travelling to Luton to meet friends at an Islamic centre on the night he is accused of being at the victim's brother's house. The mosque leader's eldest son, Amer, 19 left his home in Brighton for Syria in 2013. He joined a radical Islamist militia fighting Bashar al-Assads army and was joined by his friend Ibrahim. Despite interventions by police, social workers and other agencies his two younger brothers travelled to Syria in 2014. Abubaker Deghayes is on trial at Blackfriars Crown Court where he stands accused of attacking a woman and dislocating her shoulder Abdullah, 18, and Jaffar, 17, wanted to fight for the Islamic State terror group but were killed just a few months after their arrival in the war-torn region. Abdullah was shot by a sniper while chasing retreating forces in Lakatia in April 2014, and Jaffar was killed six months later during a close-range firefight amid the ruins of Idlib. Amer is still alive and thought to be in Libya. Abubakers brother Omar, uncle to the jihadi brothers, is said to have been detained in Guantanamo Bay in 2002 and released five years later. Deghayes denies one count of assault causing actual bodily harm and one count of intimidating a witness. The trial continues. Germans have worn skullcaps in marches across the country a day after Jews were warned not to wear the kippah following a spate of anti-Semitic attacks. Rallies in solidarity with the Jewish community were planned in Berlin and in the cities of Cologne, Potsdam, Magdeburg and Erfurt. German newspapers, including Die Tageszeitung, urged readers to join the protests - with some including cut-out skullcaps for people to wear. It comes a day after the head of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, warned against wearing religious symbols on city streets for fear of attack. His warning came a week after a 19-year-old Syrian refugee attacked two young men wearing kippahs in a trendy district of the capital, shouting 'yahudi' - Jew in Arabic - and lashing out at his victim with a belt. A video of the assault, filmed by one of the Israeli victims, went viral on social media and sparked widespread revulsion. Germans have worn skullcaps in marches across the country a day after Jews were warned not to wear the kippah following a spate of anti-Semitic attacks. Pictured: A rally in Erfurt Rallies in solidarity with the Jewish community were planned in Berlin and in the cities of Cologne, Potsdam, Magdeburg and Erfurt (pictured) German newspapers, including Die Tageszeitung, urged readers to join the protests - with some including cut-out skullcaps for people to wear The recent spate of anti-Semitic incidents has raised pointed questions about Berlin's ability to protect its burgeoning Jewish community seven decades after the Holocaust. 'We must never allow anti-Semitism to become commonplace in Germany again,' Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told the daily Tagesspiegel ahead of a 'Berlin Wears Kippah' event where Jews and non-Jews will wear the traditional skullcap in a shared show of defiance. Every attack on Jewish life 'is an attack on us all', Maas added. The issue of anti-Semitism is particularly fraught in Germany, which has gone to great lengths to atone for its Nazi past and whose political class takes deep pride in the growth of the now 200,000-strong Jewish community. However, a number of high-profile incidents in recent months have stoked fears of a possible resurgence of anti-Semitism from both the far-right and a large influx of predominantly Muslim asylum-seekers since 2015. In March, the Central Council of Jews urged schools to keep track of religious bullying following reports that a young Jewish girl was harassed by Muslim fellow pupils at a Berlin primary school and allegedly received death threats after she said she didn't believe in Allah. Earlier this month, two rappers raised hackles by winning a music prize after selling more than 200,000 copies of their album which features a lyric boasting that their bodies are 'more defined than Auschwitz prisoners'. The recent spate of a nti-Semitic incidents has raised pointed questions about Berlin's ability to protect its burgeoning Jewish community seven decades after the Holocaust. Pictured: A rally in Erfurt, Germany, today Bodo Ramelow (left), the Premier of the German state of Thuringia and Mailk Mohamed Suleman (right) from the Muslim Ahmadiyya community pose next to an advert for the 'Thuringia wears kippah' rally in Erfurt today The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which captured nearly 13 percent of the vote in September's general election, has also not shied away from questioning Germany's cherished 'remembrance culture'. Party member Bjoern Hoecke last year called Berlin's Holocaust memorial a 'monument of shame' and said Germany should take a '180-degree' turn away from its guilt over World War II crimes. Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday denounced the emergence of 'another form of anti-Semitism', beyond that of right-wing extremist groups, from Muslim refugees, in an interview with Israeli television. She reaffirmed that the security of Jews and of the state of Israel was a central concern for Germany because of its 'eternal responsibility' for the Holocaust in which the Nazis murdered six million European Jews. However, Schuster of the Central Council appeared to question that assurance Tuesday with a stark warning that Jews who wear the kippah or the Star of David could be courting danger on German streets. The remarks sparked outrage, with the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center accusing German authorities of failing to take effective action against violent hate crimes. The issue of anti-Semitism is particularly fraught in Germany, which has gone to great lengths to atone for its Nazi past and whose political class takes deep pride in the growth of the now 200,000-strong Jewish community Chancellor Angela Merkel has denounced the rise of 'another form of anti-Semitism' among Germany's Muslim refugees 'When the respected head of German Jewry feels it necessary to urge Jews to hide their identities in public, it is clear that German authorities have failed to protect the rights of their Jewish citizens and are failing to counter growing anti-Semitism,' Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles-based association said. The head of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, criticised Schuster, saying he was 'mistaken in the cure for the serious problem'. 'Not wearing a skullcap due to fear of anti-Semitism is in fact the fulfilment of the vision of anti-Semites in Europe,' he said. The International Auschwitz Committee, founded by survivors of the Nazi death camp, welcomed Wednesday's kippah demonstrations but said they must be part of a broader effort by German officials, teachers and average citizens. 'That would make this day an important first step -- a break with the past,' its vice president Christoph Heubner said. A groomsman ensured his role in a wedding in southeast Queensland won't soon be forgotten after rolling a dirt buggy during the photoshoot. Newlyweds Madeline and Josh Tattersall asked their best mate Matt Farmer to use the buggy to whip up some dust at their Warwick nuptials to add atmosphere in the background of their wedding portraits. Not shirking his groomsman duties, Matt stepped up and gave it his best shot, however, he rolled the buggy directly behind the happy couple as the snaps were being taken. A groomsman ensured his role in a wedding in southeast Queensland won't soon be forgotten after rolling a dirt buggy during the photoshoot Newlyweds Madeline and Josh Tattersall asked their best mate Matt Farmer to use the buggy to whip up some dust at their Warwick nuptials 'So I jumped in the buggy and started doing burnouts,' Mr Farmer told 9 News. 'We got a few dust shots and next minute she's rolled over.' Mr Farmer then explained he got up, dusted himself off, rolled the buggy back upright, and did a few more for good measure. Noone was injured in the crash and social media agrees the wedding portraits are certainly unique, with the photos now going viral on Facebook having been shared over 30,000 times. Noone was injured in the crash and social media agrees the wedding portraits are certainly unique, with the photos now going viral Amber Rudd today admitted her 'bitter regret' at failing to grasp the scale of the Windrush scandal sooner. The Home Secretary, who has faced calls to resign over the crisis, told MPs she had become aware of there was a 'potential issue' over the 'past few months'. But she faced possible fresh embarrassment over the scandal after a union official said the Home Office has deportation targets - but Ms Rudd said she is not aware of any. She insisted she was now doing everything she could to swiftly resolve the cases so people - and repeated a pledge to compensate those caught up in the scandal. It was also revealed that 1,364 Windrush immigrants have phone a special helpline in the past week - laying bare the sheer scale of the scandal. Ms Rudd said: 'I bitterly, deeply regret that I didn't see it as more than individual cases that had gone wrong that needed addressing. 'I didn't see it as a systemic issue until very recently.' She made the admission as she was grilled by the Home Affairs select committee over her handling of the saga. Amber Rudd (pictured today in parliament in front of the Home Affairs select committee) today admitted she does not know if any Windrush immigrants have been detained and put into a detention centre because of the scandal. The Home Secretary (pictured at the select committee today) made the admission as she was hauled in front of the Home Affairs select committee to explain how she is dealing with the scandal People who lived in the UK for decades have lost their homes, jobs, locked up in detention centres and pushed to the brink of suicide by the saga. A fuller picture of the sheer scale of the scandal has also emerged - as MPs were told the Windrush helpline has received 3,800 calls with some 1,364 identified as possible cases. So far, 600 have been called back, 91 appointments booked and 23 sets of identity documents handed out, MPs were told. But Ms Rudd admitted she does not know if any Windrush immigrants have been detained under lock and key and in detention centres because of the scandal. She said that as far as he is 'aware' no one has been deported because of the scandal - but said there are still 1,000 cases to trawl through to confirm this. Her appearance came after Jeremy Corbyn called said she should resign as Home Secretary after people who have lived in Britain for generations lost their home, jobs and were threatened with deportation in the scandal. Labour MP Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the select committee, asked Ms Rudd if she knew if any Windrush immigrants had been detained. The Home Secretary replied that she had been reassured that none are currently under lock and key in detention centres - but she has not looked at past cases. She told the committee: 'I put out clear instructions that if there was any detention going on that should not take place - it was confirmed to me that there wasn't 'We are looking. I have to be frank - I'm prioritising (looking at) removals.' Ms Cooper replied: 'Are you looking at the cases that were detained over the last few years?' What is the Windrush scandal and how did the fiasco develop? June 22, 1948 - The Empire Windrush passenger ship docked at Tilbury from Jamaica. The 492 passengers were temporarily housed near Brixton in London. Over the following decades some 500,000 came to the UK. Many arrived on their parents' passports and were not formally naturalised as British citizens. 1973 - A new immigration Act comes into force putting the onus on individuals to prove they have previously been resident in the UK. 2010 - The Home Office destroyed thousands of landing card slips recording Windrush immigrants arrival dates in the UK. The move came despite staff warnings that the move would make it harder to check the records of older Caribbean-born residents experiencing residency difficulties, it was claimed 2014 - A protection that exempted Commonwealth residents from enforced removal was removed under a new law. Theresa May was Home Secretary at the time. Under a crackdown on illegals, Windrush immigrants are obliged to provide proof they were resident in the UK before 1973. July 2016 - Mrs May becomes Prime Minister. April 2018 - Allegations that Windrush immigrants are being threatened with deportation break. Theresa May issued a grovelling apology to Caribbean leaders after major backlash April 29 - Amber Rudd resigns after inadvertently misleading Parliament by wrongly claiming there were no deportation targets Advertisement Ms Rudd replied: 'We can do that, I would like to come back to you about the scale of what you would like us to do.' The Home Secretary said that she had noticed 'individual cases' of Windrush immigrants being treated badly, and regrets that she did not spot how big the scandal was sooner. She said the Home Office reacted 'too slowly and too late.' Ms Cooper also warned her it looks like she does not have 'a grip' on the Home Office after Ms Rudd said she was not aware of any deportation targets - despite earlier evidence from an immigration union official saying regional targets are in place. Lucy Moreton, general secretary of the ISU, the union for borders, immigration and customs staff, told MPs that regional targets exist. But when Ms Rudd was quizzed by MPs , she said she was not aware of any. And Glynn Williams, Director General responsible for Border, Immigration and Citizenship at the Home Office said there are no targets 'as far as I know'. Ms Cooper replied: 'We need to clear this up pretty quickly - if there are removal targets in the Home Office and the two people who are in charge do not know know about them that feels pretty serious and looks like a lack of grip.' Speaking after the select committee hearing Ms Moreton doubled down on her comments - telling Sky News regions are told they must kick out 8,337 illegal immigrants. She said: 'Net Removal targets certainly do exist, and I'm somewhat bemused as to why the Home Secretary would say they do not exist.' Meanwhile, in the lengthy committee hearing, Ms Rudd said that she has asked for more illegal immigrants to be kicked out of the country but that no fixed regional targets are in place. Ms Cooper quoted a witness saying some illegal migrants were treated as 'low hanging fruit' and pursued by the Home Office. Ms Rudd says that is extraordinary, adding: 'Who would refer to people as 'low-hanging fruit'? But she resisted calls to condemn her predecessor and now PM Theresa May over the introduction of a policy to impose a 'hostile environment' on illegal immigration which critics say led to the current crisis. Earlier today Mrs May defended her 'hostile environment' policy on illegal immigrants today as Mr Corbyn slammed the handling of the Windrush scandal. The Prime Minister again admitted the treatment of those who came to the UK from the Caribbean decades ago had been unacceptable. At PMQs today, Theresa May said it was right that successive governments had worked to ensure there were tough rules for people who had no right to be in the UK Mrs May insisted those individuals were 'British' and had contributed hugely to the country. But she said it was right that successive governments had worked to ensure there were tough rules for people who had no right to be in the UK. The defence came after the Labour leader used PMQs to launch a furious attack on the premier and Ms r Rudd over the WIndrush debacle. He insisted all those caught up in the crackdown on illegal immigration launched in 2014 'should be granted full status immediately'. He said an internal Home Office memo warned four years ago that the 'hostile environment policies could make it harder for people like the Windrush generation to find homes'. Mr Corbyn said that Ms Rudd had 'inherited a failing policy and made it worse' and repeated calls for her to resign. Mrs May replied by pointing out that Labour had decided not to vote against the Immigration Act in 2014. And she added: 'Up and down this country people want to ensure that the Government is taking action against those people who are here in this country illegally, those people who are here illegally. 'Because it isn't fair that people who work hard day in and day out, who contribute to this country, who put into the life of this country, are seeing people who are here illegally accessing services in the same way. The defence came after the Labour leader used PMQs to launch a furious attack on the premier and Home Secretary Amber Rudd over the WIndrush debacle Mrs May pointed out that Labour had decided not to vote against the Immigration Act in 2014 'We are acting to ensure that those people who are here legally are given the support that they need.' She said the Windrush generation 'are British, they are part of us and we are ensuring that they remain here and are able to continue to live their lives here'. 'But it is also right that this Government takes action against those people who are accessing services despite being here illegally and not putting in and not contributing to this country.' Ms Cooper, now chairwoman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, warned Mrs May against 'hiding behind' her, the Opposition or Cabinet colleagues. What documentation do Windrush immigrants have to provide? Immigrants must fill out a form to apply for a biometric card which allows them to remain in the UK. The application costs 229 per person - but the Home Office has now said it will waive the fee for Windrush immigrants after the controversy. Applicants must fill in a 21-page document . And if they do not have a passport they must provide documents proving they have continuously lived in the UK since 1973. This can include exam certificates, employment records, a National Insurance number, birth and marriage certificates and bills and letters. Advertisement After noting Mrs May had quoted her, Ms Cooper said: 'Do not try to hide behind me or the Labour Party when she was warned repeatedly of the damage her obsession with her net migration target was doing. 'Do not try to hide behind the Cabinet when they don't agree with you on this and are trying to clear up the mess.' Ms Cooper added: 'Do not try to hide behind civil servants when she set the policies which instilled in them the culture of disbelief. 'And the high commissioners told us this morning that they had warned the Foreign Office about the Windrush generation immigration problems in 2016. What did she do?' On Monday, Ms Rudd announced a package of measures following the Windrush scandal. She said West Indian migrants who came here before 1973 can get a free passport and be allowed to stay. Those who arrived between 1973 and 1988 will receive less help they will merely be able to access a helpline to secure their citizenship status. The Windrush issue is believed to have sparked an angry clash between Mrs May and Boris Johnson in Cabinet yesterday. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, pictured arriving at Downing Street yesterday, clashed with the Prime Minister over the handling of the Windrush scandal Mr Johnson is said to have argued that illegal immigrants from Commonwealth countries who have not committed a crime for more than ten years should be allowed to remain. The Spectator reported that Mr Johnson made the point that there needed to be a broader immigration amnesty for long-standing Commonwealth migrants. The Foreign Secretary argued that this was necessary to prevent others getting caught in the same situation in future that is, having to produce large amounts of evidence to show they have lived here for years. The amnesty that Mr Johnson had in mind would not apply to those with a criminal record. According to The Spectator, Mrs May then 'rather acidly' remarked that the Foreign Secretary had previously called for an amnesty for all migrants. He first applied for the amnesty in 2008 and again in 2016 when he privately proposed one for those who had been here for over a decade. Jon Helgheim, immigration spokesman for Progress Party, part of Oslo's ruling two-party coalition, says mosques should be banned from broadcasting the call to prayer A Norwegian politician says he 'doesn't give a toss' about human rights, mosques should be banned from broadcasting the call to prayer. Jon Helgheim, immigration spokesman for Progress Party, part of Oslo's ruling two-party coalition, said the country's residents needed 'peace and quiet'. He rejected arguments that banning the religious announcement being played over loudspeakers would violate the European Convention on Human Rights. 'I don't give a toss what human rights provisions say in this case,' he told Vart Land. 'What I care about is that people get peace and quiet in their neighbourhoods, and that means not being disturbed by the call to prayer. 'If there are conflicting provisions in the Convention on Human Rights, I simply don't care, because it's completely stupid.' Previous pushes, including by former Progress Party leader Carl Hagen, were scuttled by the Ministry of Justice citing the Convention. Article 9 enshrines the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion in all signatory countries including Norway. Oslo's Jamaat Ahle Sunnat mosque, which does not and has never requested to broadcast the call to prayer Mr Helgheim rejected arguments that banning the religious announcement being played over loudspeakers would violate the European Convention on Human Rights The party's local branch in Buskerud county, west of Oslo, used the same argument but in reverse in its proposal to ban the call to prayer. 'In several places in the country have now established regulations under which mosques have permission to issue the call to prayer over loudspeakers,' it claimed, according to The Local Norway. 'A great many people perceive this as annoying and inappropriate. In Norway we have freedom of religion, which should also include the right not to be exposed to public calls to prayer.' The Buskerud county proposal will be voted on at the anti-immigration party's national meeting this weekend, deciding whether to make it formal policy. Despite allegations that mosques were planning to broadcast the call to prayer, neither newspaper could find any evidence of this. Over the border, the Fittja mosque in southern Stockholm began issuing the call to prayer on Fridays, and last year a mosque in Karlskrona got permission to broadcast all five calls a day. Media focus on the upcoming Royal Wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has reached fever pitch in recent weeks, but what will really happen behind the scenes? Now, some of the weddings secrets have been revealed and promise a truly unforgettable time for attendees, including a private music gig and food and drink vans. The couple will hold a reception at the Frogmore House on the Windsor Castle grounds following the ceremony. Queen Elizabeth II is reportedly expected to depart from the event following the cake cutting and completion of all the speeches, after which the after-party is expected to begin in earnest. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding reception will include a private concert, no alcohol limit, special theme and more, ensuring for an unforgettable time for all attendees involved The reception will include a private concert from Stormzy and contain no alcohol limit, though cell phones will be banned to ensure privacy. According to Katie Nicholl, an expert on the Royal Family: Harry and Meghan have a theme in mind and have planned some fun surprises for their guests, including burger vans, champagne stalls and vodka ice sculptures. Much attention is also centered on Markles wedding dress, which is being treated like a state secret, according to Nicholl. She also added that the dress has already been fitted at Kensington Palace and at a London studio and that the designer will take the dress from London to Windsor the night before to ensure its steamed and ready to go. Markles best friend Jessica Mulroney has also garnered considerable media attention as of late. Reportedly the de facto wedding planner, shes also thought to be Markles Maid of Honor, though no official announcement has been made as of yet. Mulroney, a fashion stylist from Canada, has been very close to Markle since they met on the set of Suits back in 2011. The Royal Wedding will take place on May 19, 2018 at Windsor Castle's St George's Chapel As per tradition, the couple will spend the night before their wedding apart, either staying in two separate suites in Windsor Castle or at differing locations in London. The wedding is expected to generate a massive turnout from the public, with some 100,000 spectators expected, according to the Thames Valley Police. London's Metropolitan Police and other police forces are reportedly sending reinforcements to help handle the huge crowds expected for the event. Security is expected to be airtight for next months wedding. Per Nicholl: There will be armed police and unarmed police as well as plain-clothed officers and snipers hidden behind the scenes to make sure the royals and the public are safe. When is the Royal Wedding? The Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be held on Saturday, May 19, 2018. Where will the Royal Wedding take place? The Royal Wedding will be held at the historic St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, UK. The ensuing reception will be held at the 17th-century Frogmore House nearby. A 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a boy as his sister watched - before his parents beat the victim leaving her critically injured. In what is the latest shocking rape case to hit India, the teenager was attacked by a 16-year-old in the Kanpur Dehat district of Uttar Pradesh. Police say the boy carried out the rape in the presence of his sister in Shivli town on Sunday. He then beat the girl with the help of his mother and father, leaving her with serious injuries, investigators said. A 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a boy as his sister watched - before his parents beat the victim leaving her critically injured. India is reeling from a series of horrific sex attacks in recent years. Pictured: Protesters from All India Democratic Women's Association Officers said she was then threatened and warned not to tell anyone about her ordeal before being released to go home. The schoolgirl was later taken to Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital in Kanpur where her condition is described as critical. The victim revealed her attack to her family who then reported it to police. The 16-year-old and his parents have since been arrested. It comes with India reeling from several horrific sexual assaults that have again underscored the country's grim record on rape. The gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old and a separate assault on a teenager by a ruling party politician has sparked revulsion in recent weeks and angry marches across the country. Under pressure to respond, the government last week approved the death penalty for those convicted of raping children under 12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi - who was criticised for a slow response to the protests - has since promised 'to hang the people of demonic tendencies who misbehave with daughters'. 'There is a government in Delhi which listens to the hearts of the people and decides on the basis of it,' he told a political gathering Wednesday. Bungling car thieves targeting a day care center in Atlanta got more than they bargained for on Tuesday, when they stole a vehicle carrying a six-year-old boy. About 7.25am, surveillance tapes show a silver Nissan Altima pull into the car park of Childcare Network on Fayetteville Road in Clayton County. The group of at least three were targeting running cars, and the Altima was seen pulling into a spot next to a dark grey Chrysler with its lights on before heading to a second car. Thieves targeted running cars in the parking lot of a daycare center in Atlanta on Tuesday morning (pictured is a thief moving towards a running car) Immediately after, the group moved towards a white Hyundai Santa Fe, which has a six-year-old strapped in the back (pictured is the Santa Fe being driven out of the car park by a thief) The first thief bailed out of the car and into the passenger door of the Chrysler before the rest of the group moved on to the white car nearby. The car, a Hyundai Santa Fe, was also running, and had a child sitting in the back. A second thief was seen climbing in to the driver's side door of the Hyundai. Just seconds later, all three cars were seen speeding out of the parking lot. A woman appeared to notice the group and walked behind them holding her arm up, before appearing to make a phone call. About five minutes after the thieves had left, the little boy was seen on surveillance footage calmly walking back towards the childcare center alone. He was unharmed in the early morning ordeal. About five minutes later, the six-year-old boy (left) was seen calmly walking back to the daycare center on his own Police are still looking for the thieves who arrived in a Nissan Altima (left) and the stolen Chrysler (right) A second woman, who appeared to be his mother, scooped the boy up and walked back towards the building with him. The Hyundai the child was sitting in when he was abducted was found a short while later less than a mile from the daycare center. Police have taken the car for evidence processing and are still looking for the stolen Chrysler. A statement from Clayton County Police said the thieves can expect to face charges of kidnapping, entering automobile and/or motor vehicle theft if they are caught. Anyone with information about the identity of the thieves or the location of the Chrysler is encouraged to call CrimeStoppers on 404-577-TIPS (8477). A seedy Sydney massage parlour is up for sale - and like most properties in the city you'll need more than $1million to snap it up. The property on West Botany Street in Rockdale in Sydney's south has been listed at $1.299million. The listing for the property describes it as a 'high yield investment', receiving $62,400 a year while it operates as a massage parlour. A seedy Sydney massage parlour is up for sale - and like most properties in the city you'll need more than $1million to snap it up The property on West Botany Street in Rockdale in Sydney's south has been listed at $1.299million The listing for the property describes it as a 'high yield investment', receiving $62,400 a year while it operates as a massage parlour 'Great opportunity for savvy investors or developers to unlock the full potential and reap the rewards,' the listing reads. The property covers approximately 267sq m and is zoned for light industrial. The zoning 'will suit many uses subject to council approval' according to the listing. It is described as being within walking distance to 'Bunnings, Repco, NRMA, Reece Plumbing and Fitness First', while being 'only minutes to Rockdale Plaza and Brighton Le Sands'. The property covers approximately 267sq m and is zoned for light industrial The zoning 'will suit many uses subject to council approval' according to the listing 'The site is located within 20 minutes from the City of Sydney, 10 minutes from the domestic and international airports, and has easy access to the M5 East motorway.' The property is within 1km of several schools in the area. The massage parlour, known as 'East Illusions', has a 2.3-star rating on Google reviews, based on feedback from three customers. A woman with MS has claimed she was left in severe pain and crying when Delta airline staff allegedly tied her to a wheelchair with a dirty blanket. Maria Saliagas, 53, traveled from Atlanta, Georgia, to Greece with her husband earlier this month. The first leg of her flight, from the US to Amsterdam, was uneventful but when she arrived in the Netherlands to get on another plane, the straps she is normally given to fasten her into her wheelchair were unavailable. The wheelchair was being used to transport her through the airport and not on the plane. As an alternative, her son Nathan said Delta staff tied a dirty blanket that had been used by another passenger around her waist. Maria Saliagas was strapped into her wheelchair with a dirty blanket while traveling from Atlanta to Greece to visit family on April 1. She is pictured in Amsterdam It was tied so tightly over one part of her arm that she was left with bruises, the family claims. 'They took a dirty blanket and tied her forcefully with it, and she has bruise marks on part of her arm because it was so tight and she started crying,' Nathan told DailyMail.com on Wednesday. A harrowing photograph taken during the journey shows his mother weeping in her chair with the blanket tied around her waist. Nathan claimed that as his mother cried, she was told to 'shut the f*** up' and that someone threatened that she would be 'left there'. 'This highly inhumane and disgusting treatment by Delta Airlines is unacceptable and a need for change,' he fumed. He also said that a supervisor accused her of lying about her discomfort and saying that it was not true she almost fell out of her chair. 'Thats like me trying to tell you whats on your mind and justifying how Im right; its impossible,' he said. He said his mother had been left 'emotionally traumatized' by the experience. Delta did not respond to those specific allegations. A spokesman said it regretted how the family felt about the ordeal but that they did not agree with their version of events. 'We are disappointed that our customers didn't have a satisfying travel experience and will ensure that their return flight exceeds expectations. 'While Delta always looks for ways to improve the overall customer experience, our findings do not align with details shared by the customers family,' a spokesman said. In an earlier statement, they said: 'We regret the perception our service has left on these customers. 'We have reached out to them, not only to resolve their concerns, but also ensure that their return flight exceeds expectations,' a spokesman said. The family said they were offered 20,000 SkyMiles in compensation which they refused. Instead, they want to see the airline change its policy on how staff treat disabled passengers. We can all relate to this Kentucky man's annoyance with having to wait a little too long for help at the store. Forrest Hunter, of Lawrenceburg, stopped by his area Walmart on Friday to pick up a hunting license but there was no employee in the sporting goods section to help him. Hunter waited around for a bit, but took things into his own hands when a Walmart worker still hadn't shown up after a few minutes. Forrest Hunter, of Lawrenceburg, posted a hilarious video of him grabbing the intercom at Walmart and asking for help when he got tired of waiting for an employee to show up Hunter, who shared the now-viral video on Facebook said he was at the store to pick up a hunting license In a video posted to Hunter's Facebook, the man is hilariously seen grabbing a store phone, dialing the intercom and asking for assistance over the loud speaker. 'Customer needs assistance in sporting goods please,' he said politely. 'I'm the customer.' Hunter captioned the video: 'When you get sick of waiting on somebody at Walmart'. The video has been viewed more than two million times since it was posted and shared nearly 50,000 times. Hunter told WKRN that an employee came a few moments after he hung up the phone. 'A guy walked up and asked if I needed any help. I said, "How'd you know?" Then I bought my hunting license,' he said. Moments after Hunter hung up the phone, a Walmart employee finally came over to help him, he said A Kansas City suburb is pressuring the owner of a cut-in-half car adorned with a sign reading, 'Divorced. She got ,' to junk the junker. The Kansas City Star reports that the half-car was created as a joke nearly 30 years ago by the late-Edgerton Mayor Ray Braun, who used to own the defunct gas station where the front part of the 1987 Chevrolet Citation is parked. The sign on the vehicle was a joke. He and his wife Jo never divorced. Bill Braun, left, and his mother, Jo Braun, center, talk with current property owner Danny O'Neal, right, on April 24 about the half-car placed along the road on O'Neal's property in Edgerton, Kansas, by Jo's husband Ray Braun about 20 years ago The half-car, seen at the far side of the parking lot, has been a landmark in the Johnson County town and may have to be removed. The city council calls the car 'an eyesore' Braun fitted the half-car with rear caster wheels and used to drive it in parades. Danny O'Neal now owns the property where the vehicle sits, and is fighting the city order to remove the car. City Council President Clay Longanecker says the car has become 'an eyesore' and the Edgerton codes department has told O'Neal to dispose of it. At a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, O'Neal planned to argue it's a 'landmark' and memorial to Braun. The man who put the car up has connections to Dick Hickock (pictured) one of the killers profile in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood 'This is your landmark,' O'Neal, 61, said. 'If you go to Kansas City, or anywhere around, and ask about this town, they have no clue where it's at. But if you ask them, "You remember that little half-car that's off 56?" "Yeah!" "Well, that's that little town."' Braun's son Bill says he'd also be sad to see the car go. 'I don't consider it junk. I consider it more of a monument,' Bill said. It's a symbol not only of the town, but of his father, who worked at the gas station full time until just a few years before his death at the age of 90 in 2012. Braun is remembered for more than just he car. He also has ties to one of the killers involved in the Clutter family murder, which was detailed in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. Hickock had lived in Edgerton when he was growing up, and Braun, who was deputized by the sheriff, had several encounters with the petty thief. When the book was made into a movie, they even used Braun's service station to shoot a scene. A small earthquake has struck the NSW town of Bathurst, with several residents calling police about loud noises they thought were explosions. The 2.6-magnitude quake hit about 5.30pm on Anzac Day at a depth of zero kilometres, Geoscience Australia's website confirms. NSW Police said a nearby station received calls from 'concerned' locals. 'Residents of Glanmire, Brewongle, O'Connell, Yetholme and Napoleon Reef all reported hearing noises similar to explosions, and that their residences were shaking,' police said in a statement on Wednesday. 'Police have conducted extensive patrols of property and infrastructure around Bathurst and have not been able to locate any damage, or received any reports of injury at this time.' Morgan Leigh Sims, 33, has been charged with murder in the death of her husband Daray Vontrell Sims A Texas woman who was arrested for killing her husband told police she was abused and shot him in self-defense. Morgan Leigh Sims, 33, has been charged with murder in the death of 37-year-old Daray Vontrell Sims. The couple, who have two children together, had celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary less than two weeks before the fatal shooting. Authorities were called to the couple's home in McKinney at 6.36pm on Friday by Morgan's brother, who said she was 'arguing and fighting' with Sims. Just minutes later, Morgan's mother called 911 and said her daughter had just shot her husband, according to the Dallas Morning News. She told dispatchers that the couple's two children, aged two and six, were in the home. Morgan's brother then told 911 that his sister had left the house in a black Range Rover. She was found by police several miles away from the home. Morgan told police that she had been abused and that she shot Sims (pictured together) in self-defense last Friday Authorities were called to the couple's home in McKinney at 6.36pm on Friday by Morgan's brother, who said she was 'arguing and fighting' with Sims The couple, who have two children together, had celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary less than two weeks before the fatal shooting Sims died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Collin County Medical Examiner's Office. He was found face down in the bathroom, which was covered with 'copious amounts of blood'. Morgan told investigators that she had 'been abused, which caused me to defend myself,' the affidavit states. Inside her Range Rover was a semiautomatic pistol with one magazine and a live round in the chamber, $9,560 in cash, a bottle of Xanax, and some Valium. Also found were the family's passports and a wallet that held Sims' driver's license. Inside the couple's home authorities found an empty container of disinfecting wipes, a bottle of cleaner, a plastic bag with a sponge, and a plastic bag containing wipes and two laptop computers, court records state. There were also five sheets of paper with writing. Three were handwritten and two were typed. Authorities have not disclosed what was written on the sheets of paper. It was Morgan's mother who told 911 dispatchers that she had shot her husband while their two children, aged two and six, were at home Sims died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Collin County Medical Examiner's Office. He was found face down in the bathroom, covered with 'copious amounts of blood' Sims was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence in DeSoto, where the couple previously lived, in 2014. He was not indicted by a grand jury. Morgan posted a Facebook tribute to Sims on the couple's anniversary on April 10. 'Happy 7 year anniversary! I wouldn't want to do this thing called life without you,' she wrote. 'We have built a lot together in these years and I am blessed to have done it with you. Marriage and parenting is work, compromise, sacrifice, teamwork, but most importantly love.' 'It's not always sunshine, but if you can weather the storms together it's all worth it. I pray God continues to guide us in our union, as a family, and as parents! Here's to 7 more!' Morgan is being held at the Collin County Detention Center in lieu of $500,000 bail. China and Japan are joining forces to develop a futuristic train that could run up to 310 miles (500 kilometers) per hour - or from London to Paris in under an hour. Instead of traditional fuel such as coal, gas and electricity, the super high-speed locomotive, known as aerotrain, will be fully powered by natural energy, claimed Chinese state media. According to plan revealed by a participating professor of the project, Lai Chenguang, the first aerotrain will enter service in Japan in 2025 to connect Tokyo's two airports in just 10 minutes, a report on People's Daily Online said. The latest model of the aerotrain has a bullet train nose and three pairs of loop-shaped wings Lai Chenguang (pictured), from Chongqing University of Technology, is one of the researchers China and Japan already have some of the fastest and most advanced commercial trains in the world. The Shanghai Maglev travels at a top speed of 267mph (430mph), the fastest passenger train in China, while the Japanese maglev trains have reached a staggering 375mph (603kmh) in the past. The trial manufacturing as well as the test runs of the first two generations of aerotrain have been carried out in Japan, said Lai Chenguang, who is a professor of Chongqing University of Technology in China. Prof. Lai told the reporter that Chongqing University of Technology had made the third generation model of the train, called 'LOOP', based on aerodynamic studies. The first aerotrain is expected to connect the Narita Airport situated some 37 miles east of Tokyo, with the Haneda Airport situated around 8.7 miles south of Tokyo. It is set to travel at 248mph (400kmh) and the journey would take just over 10 minutes. While the second aerotrain has been planned to link Tokyo and Osaka with a top speed of 310mph (500kmh). The train will halve the travelling time between Japan's two largest cities down to under an hour. An artistic impression of the third-generation aerotrain, 'LOOP', being developed in China Powered by green energy, the zero-pollution aerotrain would not only be fast, but also extremely enviornmental and cost-effective. Prof. Lai said: 'If the train runs at a speed of 500 kmh, the energy it consumes is only one-third of that consumed by current high-speed trains, and one-sixth of the maglev trains.' Professor Lai Chenguang first came across the project in 2004, and in 2007 he moved to Japan to help develop the train as an expert on aerodynamics. Now he has relocated to Chongqing, China, to lead the development of the third generation aerotrain. The latest model shown by Prof. Lai to a Chinese reporter is about 3.2 feet (one metre) long with a bullet train nose and three pairs of loop-shaped wings. Prof. Lai said the reclined wing structure would help improve the train's stability as well as increase the transport efficiency by 30 to 40 per cent. China and Japan already have some of the fastest and most advanced commercial trains in the world. In this 2014 filephoto, passengers get on the Shinkansen high-speed train in Tokyo A Chinese high-speed train travels on the railway to Beijing in Nanning on June 13, 2014 The next step for the Sino-Japanese team would be to test magnesium alloys as the train's exterior material. Prof. Lai said the team had invented a type of high performance magnesium alloys that is lightweight, strong and can generate electricity while interacting with air. Yoshiaki Kohama, a professor from Japan's Tohoku University who is also a researcher of the aerotrain project, is developing the so-called 'magnesium-air battery', a cutting-edge form of energy based on the chemical interaction between magnesium and air. The team will continue with the lab experiment and research of the third generation aerotrain. A brave woman posed next to a police car without her hijab in Iran while a whole family removed their headscarves in solidarity with a woman who was viciously beaten by 'morality police officers'. A growing number of Iranian woman have taken to the streets without the mandatory hijab in recent days after a video surfaced of female police officers assaulting a young woman whose red headscarf was deemed 'insufficient' because it only loosely covered her hair. The video has reignited a public debate on the decades-long requirement for women in the Islamic Republic to wear hijabs. Officials of all ranks up to President Hassan Rouhani have weighed in on the incident as women question being forced to wear the hijab in public. Scroll down for video A brave woman posed next to a police car without her hijab in Iran in solidarity with a woman who was viciously beaten by 'morality police officers' A group of women uncovered their hair in a video shared on Twitter, during which a a man's voice is heard saying: 'I join my family to say NO to forced hijab' On Tuesday, advocacy group My Stealthy Freedom shared a picture of a young woman leaning against a police car without her hair covered. 'Welcome to the 46th week of #WhiteWednesdays!' the caption said. My Stealthy Freedom, an online group campaigning against the forced hijab, highlights instances of abuse of women who choose not to wear it. The group's founder Masih Alinejad launched the social media hashtag White Wednesdays, encouraging women to flout regulations posting pictures and videos of themselves without the hijabs online. She also shared a clip sent to her from a family who posed with their backs to the camera, but with their hair uncovered. Another woman filmed herself as she walked through the streets of Karaj with her hair uncovered 'I join my family to say no to forced hijab in the hope of freedom for Iran,' a man's voice is heard saying during the clip. Another woman filmed herself as she walked through the streets of Karaj with her hair uncovered. 'Today I walked the whole way without the compulsory hijab,' she said in the clip. 'I wanted to say that like many, I'm against compulsory veil too. I want to say no to compulsory veil and I hope there comes a day when all Iranian women can take a walk with no fear or stress and without having to put on a compulsory veil. My Stealthy Freedom was also the first to upload the video of the young woman who was assaulted. Videos have been posted showing women bravely defying the country's law by walking through the streets of cities like Tehran and Shiraz without the hijab Several of them face verbal and physical abuse in the street, with bystanders urging them to cover their hair Their protest has been named #WalkingUnveiled and is quickly spreading on social media Alongside the video, the group wrote: 'This woman is savagely beaten up by morality police as punishment for her insufficient hijab. And they tell us hijab is a 'small issue'.' They added: 'We expose them and we resist compulsory hijab.' Since then, videos have been posted showing women bravely defying the country's law by walking through the streets of cities like Tehran and Shiraz without the hijab. Several of them face verbal and physical abuse in the street, with bystanders urging them to cover their hair. Their protest has been named #WalkingUnveiled and is quickly spreading on social media. The video appeared online last week, with activists suggesting it was taken in Tehran, though nothing in it offers hints at its location. It shows a young woman with a long red scarf loosely covering her head, her hair clearly showing, being surrounded by three morality policewomen wearing chadors, who grab her. The video appeared online last week, with activists suggesting it was taken in Tehran, though nothing in it offers hints at its location It shows a young woman with a long red scarf loosely covering her head, her hair clearly showing, being surrounded by three morality policewomen wearing chadors, who grab her One grabs her by the throat. She screams, they pick her up off her feet. She then ends up on the ground, weeping as another woman comforts her before the officers grab her again. 'Why are you hitting me? You have been destroying us for 30 years,' she is heard shouting at one point. The video went viral on social media and drew an immediate reaction from officials. Iran's interior minister, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, ordered authorities on Thursday to investigate the incident soon after Masoumeh Ebtekar, a female vice president for women's affairs, condemned the police's 'violent' approach to the situation. Reformist lawmaker Tayebeh Siavoshi said on Saturday that the policewoman seen in the video grabbing the young woman's throat has been suspended pending the investigation. None of the women in the video have been identified. She then ends up on the ground, weeping as another woman comforts her before the officers grab her again She can later be seen lying on the floor, crying in pain and without her headscarf, as a large crowd surrounds her 'Imposing (force on women) will lead nowhere,' she said. President Rouhani, a cleric who is considered a moderate within Iran's political system, also criticised the morality police in a speech on Saturday. The police force's stated mandate is 'promoting virtue and preventing vice.' 'Grabbing people's collars to promote virtue will not work,' Rouhani warned. 'You cannot do it by being aggressive.' Hard-liners, however, have dismissed the video as a foreign plot. The hard-line Kayhan daily on Sunday described the video as 'strange and suspicious,' noting foreign activists have promoted it. Previously, hard-liners pointed to a campaign challenging the hijab launched by a journalist at the Persian service of the Voice of America, which is funded by the US government. One of the many brave Iranian women who has taken to the streets in the wake of the horrific abuse by morality police seen in a video last week gets asked why she is not veiled On Monday, judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani said he supported the morality police, adding that 'law enforcement should not withdraw a single inch.' But on the streets of Tehran, women are openly discussing the video and their own encounters with morality police. 'I think that it was very unnecessary the way that the police, or the morality police, handled the situation,' said Hamraz, 27, an Austrian national born to Iranian parents who is on vacation in Tehran. 'It was very unfortunate that it was caught on camera, but in a way it was good that everyone got to see how people are being treated: very unjust and very unfair.' Sahar, a 25-year-old university student, agreed. 'I think everyone must be free to choose what they believe in and we can deal with each other more peacefully instead of trying to induce people to do what you think is right,' she said. 'This method surely will not work.' The hijab and chador have long been parts of Persian culture. They became political symbols in 1936, when Iran's pro-Western ruler Reza Shah Pahlavi banned the garments amid his efforts to rapidly modernise Iran. Videos show women bravely defying the country's Islamic law, which requires them to cover their hair in public, as part of the #WalkingUnveiled protest A cleric in Iran was seen demanding a woman covers her hair in another video posted online The ban became a source of humiliation for some pious Muslim women in the country. Even before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the long, flowing black robes for women known as chadors and the headscarves, or hijabs, were both a political and religious symbol in the Shiite-dominated nation. 'I used to be a person who would always say her prayers and deeply believed in God,' said Afrouz, 28, who like other women who spoke to the Associated Press in Tehran would only give their first name for fear of retribution. 'I would always say grace before having a meal. Right now, I believe in none of those things.' As the 1979 Islamic Revolution took hold, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered female civil servants to wear the chador. At first, thousands of women protested the decision in Tehran and Khomeini later said officials should not insult women who chose not to wear it - though he also called the chador 'the flag of the revolution.' The hijab and loose-fitting clothing later became mandatory for all women in Iran. The Islamic code also forbids women touching, dancing or singing with men outside their families. And though some freedoms for women were curtailed in the years that followed, Iranian women were still allowed to drive, unlike in Saudi Arabia, and hold public office. A man is seen standing over a woman who is walking in public with her hair uncovered in Iran In Tehran today, some fashionable young women wear tighter clothes with a scarf loosely covering their head, technically meeting the requirements of the law while drawing the ire of conservatives. Women arrested for showing their hair in public in Iran can receive jail terms of two months or less and face fines equivalent to $25. In December, Tehran's police said they would no longer arrest women for not observing the Islamic dress code as video clips of women choosing not to wear hijabs and walking the streets with their heads uncovered spread across social media. One image - of a young woman, head uncovered and waving her hijab like a flag in Tehran's Enghelab Street - became famous during economic protests that swept Iran later that month. Tehran's prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, said in March that the woman had been sentenced to 24 months in prison. The telecommunication junction box she stood on in the photograph has since been re-welded to stop women from standing on it, though protests continue. Advertisement French President Emmanuel Macron pointedly defended the system of global cooperation on trade and foreign policy in a direct counter to the Trump agenda in an address to Congress Wednesday after two days of warm physical embraces with President Trump. After spending time air-kissing, shaking hands and patting President Trump, Macron said it was time to 'make the planet great again,' speaking in English, and earning applause. Discussing the Paris climate pact from which Trump says the U.S. will withdraw from, Macron invoked the world's grandchildren and called for 'offering them a planet thats still habitable in 25 years,' to rousing applause in the Democratic minority gathered in the House chamber. He also defended the system of global trade, and called for resolving problems through the World Trade Organization an institution Trump has blasted as unfair. 'We wrote these rules. We should follow them,' Macron told the joint session. French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, speaking about the long-standing friendship between the U.S. and France He warned against any new Middle East wars and said France would not pull out of the Iran deal that Trump has derided as the worst deal in history. 'For Iran, our objective is clear,' Macron said. 'Iran shall never posses any nuclear weapon. Not now, not in 5 years, not in 10 years, ne-ver,' stretching out the word for emphasis. He said policy should 'never lead us to war in the Middle East.' 'We must ensure stability and respect sovereignty of the nations, including that one of Iran which represents a great civilization,' he said, in reference to the Persian empire. 'Let us not replicate past mistakes in the region,' he said, noting that the U.S. urged nations to joint the Iran deal. 'Let us not be naive on what side. Let us not create new walls ourselves on the other side,' he added, in a possible dig at Trump. Macron, whose evening State Dinner remarks were in French, addressed the Congress in accented English PRAY THIS WORKS: Macron's speech was a vigorous defense of the multilateral order the U.S. helped shape after World War II 'But we should not abandon it without having something substantial and more substantial instead. Thats my position. Thats why France will not leave the JCPOA. Because we signed it,' he said. He also called out the 'illusion' of nationalism and made the case against 'fake news.' 'Closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. It will not douse but inflame the fears of our citizens. We have to keep our eyes wide open to the new risks right in front of us,' Macron said. Although he didn't mention Russia by name, he brought up the 'ever-growing virus of fake news which exposes our people to irrational fear and imaginary risk.' Then, in a tip of the hat to Trump, he said quipped that he wouldn't claim 'fair copyright for this expression fake news, especially here.' Macrons speech at times seem intended for an audience of one as he warned the U.S. not to allow institutions like NATO and the United Nations to dwindle. Macron said the West must respect the stability and sovereignty of Middle East countries, including in Iran, and not repeat past mistakes in the region that could lead to new animosity on the other side. Hand written edits could be seen on the speech delivered to Congress by French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday President Emmanuel Macron (front) seen addressing Congress with Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan sitting behind him He said that Trump should honor the commitment that the previous administration made to its partners with the nuclear agreement including France, chief-most because it was U.S.-initiated pact. But it is true to say that this agreement may not address all concerns and very important concerns. This is true. But we should not abandon it without having something substantial, and more substantial instead. That is my position, Macron said to applause. 'That's why France will not leave the JCPOA. Because we signed it. Your president and our country will have to take in the current days and weeks its own responsibility on this issue,' he said. Macron said he wants to work on a 'more comprehensive deal' based on what he discussed yesterday with Trump - four pillars for a new agreement that spells out the punishment for Iran if it ever develops nuclear weapons and continues testing ballistic missiles. Macron whose visit anticipated a Friday visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, called for a 'new breed of multilateralism.' He said it should be a results-oriented and a 'strong multilateralism' in a counter to what some European allies feared were go-it-alone tendencies during the early Trump administration, especially when Steve Bannon was in the White House. Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, part of his formal escort committee, trailed Macron closely as he strolled through the chamber, ensuring she remained in the television shot. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi stood out by wearing a bright pink dress to French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on Wednesday Macron said it 'requires more than ever the Untied States involvement. 'You are the one now who has to help to preserve and reinvent it,' he told lawmakers. 'We can actively contribute together to building the 21st century world order for our people,' he said. He predicted that one day the U.S. would be back in the climate deal despite 'disagreements.' 'So beyond some short-term disagreements, we have to work together. With business leaders and local communities let us work together in order to make our planet great again and create new jobs and new opportunities while safeguarding our earth,' he said. 'And I am sure one day the United States will come back and join the Paris agreement. And I am sure - And I am sure, we can work together to fulfill with you the ambitions of the global compact on the environment,' he said. Republicans in the chamber remained seated for that line. He sprinkled his remarks with plaudits for democracy, human rights, and shared battlefield sacrifices of French and American warriors. 'Ladies and gentleman, I believe in democracy. Many of our forebearers were slain fighting for the cause of freedom and human rights. With the great inheritance they gave us comes the responsibility to continue their mission in this new century and to preserve the perennial values handed to us and assure that today's unprecedented innovations in science and technology remain in the service liberty and in the preservation of our planet for the next generations,' Macron said. Macron peppered his speech with historical references and quotes from past presidents, not always attributing them correctly. 'Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction,' Macron said, noting it was spoken by Republican President Theodore Roosevelt. The party was right, but the speaker was wrong, as President Ronald Reagan once uttered those words. He paid tribute to another Roosevelt during another portion of his talk. Warning of the 'destabilization of our international community by new powers and criminal states,' he warned of the U.S. and Europe turning to 'anger and fear.' 'You can play with fears and angers for a time, but they do not construct anything,' he said. 'Anger only freezes and weakens us and as Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in his first inaugural speech is, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."' Macron, followed closely by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy a guest at last night's state dinner with France and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, sporting a bright pink ensemble, entered the House chamber to immense applause and received them again once welcomed by House Speaker Paul Ryan. Pelosi, part of his formal escort committee, trailed Macron closely as he strolled through the chamber, ensuring she remained in the television shot. 'Our two nations are rooted in the soil, grounded in the same ideals of the American and French revolution,' Macron said, talking about the commonalities shared between the nations, explaining why he decided to invite President Trump to the first Bastille Day parade of his young presidency last summer. At the top of his remarks, joked about his bromance with the American president, as he remarked on the close relationship between the founding father Ben Franklin and French philosopher Voltaire. They were always 'kissing each others'' cheeks, he said. 'It can remind you of something.' French President Emmanuel Macron is photographed addressing both houses of Congress on Wednesday. The U.S. Senate sat in chairs in front of U.S. representative in the House chamber Congress also warmly received French first lady Brigitte Macron, wearing black, as she received a standing ovation as she walked to her seat in the chamber's balcony. Earlier, President Trump tweeted that he was eagerly awaiting the speech before Congress today. The American president, whose schedule is a blank slate today aside from his daily intelligence briefing and a lunch with Apple CEO Tim Cook, offered the French president words of encouragement on Twitter. 'Busy day planned. Looking forward to watching President Macron of France address a Joint Session of Congress today. This is a great honor and seldom allowed to be done...he will be GREAT!' Trump tweeted. Macron followed up his address, with a number of his own tweets including one that said, 'I don't share fascination for new strong powers and the illusion of nationalism.' 'The United States were among the inventors of multilateralism. You are the ones now who have to stand up and reinvent it,' Macron said. He also remarked, 'Let's face it: there is not Planet B,' a line he also used in his speech touting environmentalism. Members of President Trump's cabinet are seated with U.S. senators including (from front left) Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Treasurey Secretary Steven Mnuchin French President Emmanuel Macron (left) grips the hand of House Speaker Paul Ryan (right) as he arrives on Capitol Hill to give his address on Wednesday French first lady Brigitte Macron is seen standing in the balcony of the House chamber during her husband's address to Congress Brigitte Macron claps for her husband as she watches French President Emmanuel Macron speak before a joint session of Congress French President Emmanuel Macron spoke before a packed House chamber Wednesday on Capitol Hill where he spoke of the deep friendship between France and the United States Vice President Mike Pence (back left) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (back right) give French President Emmanuel Macron (center) a standing ovation during his address to Congress on Wednesday President Donald Trump says he's eagerly awaiting his French counterpart's address to the the U.S. Congress today President Trump tweeted that he planned to watch the French president's address, which will be before a joint session of Congress A rare convening in the House of Representatives that Trump has only faced twice since his own election, legislators from both chambers are gathering this morning to watch Macron deliver his remarks. Macron and his wife Brigitte were feted Tuesday on the White House lawn at a distinguished ceremony that featured cannons, a review of the troops and a red carpet. Both leaders delivered remarks, Trump sticking to prompter and keeping his short and to the point before remarks from Macron in French that went on for nearly twice as long. Trump hailed Macron as the leader of 'America's oldest ally' and credited the 'wonderful friendship we have developed over the last year' as a testament to the bonds between the two country. Macron returned the warm words before turning to global threats such as North Korea and Iran. He also touched on his country's desire for 'free and fair trade' and effective action on the climate. 'Our friendship has constantly grown more solid, dipping in the ink of the challenges we have yet to overcome. That is where we stand today. History is calling us,' he said. 'It is urging our peoples to find the fortitude that has guided us in the most difficult of times. France and, with it, Europe and the United States, have an appointment with history. We have but one duty, Mr. President, dear friend, to be at that appointment.' Talks with Trump on Tuesday became momentarily heated as the U.S. president tore into the existing nuclear agreement with Iran. 'The Iran deal is a disaster. Theyre testing missiles. Whats that all about?' he griped. 'What kind of a deal is it when you dont talk about Yemen and you dont talk about all the other problems that we have with respect to Iran?' The president lit into former Secretary of State John Kerry. Trump said that 'despite all of the money that we gave them,' Kerry 'didn't want to discuss it because it was too complicated.' Obama's administration transferred $1.7 billion to Iran, the first $400 million of which was sent over in pallets of cash, after the deal was brokered. The money resolved a dispute between the U.S. and Iran over a failed 1970s arms deal. Iran paid the U.S. for the weapons but the U.S. cancelled the deal and froze the funds after an uprising. 'That's actual cash, barrels of cash. It's insane. It's ridiculous,' Trump claimed Tuesday in the Oval Office. Trump appeared to be referring to the fact that the first installment of the payment delivered on wooden pallets in foreign currencies order to comply with sanctions the U.S. has on Iran's banking system. He said later on Tuesday that he also heard that the money was delivered in boxes, as well as barrels. 'In barrels, I hear, it was taken out, and in boxes it was taken out -- cash -- they should have made a deal that covered Yemen, that covered Syria, that covered other parts of the Middle East where Iraq is where Iran is involved. They didn't do that,' he said Macron talked him down by committing to pursuing a new pact after hours of meetings at the White House with Trump that he said ended in a 'common reading' on what is happening in Syria, where the U.S. and Iran both have boots on the ground. The U.S. joined France and the U.K. on launching airstrikes against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's government after his latest chemical weapons attack. The measure brought Trump and Macron even closer, with the leaders speaking to each other on the phone regularly in the weeks since. 'In the past, sometimes France argued that it was time to take action against chemical weapons, and it was -- France was not followed by its allies, including the United States at the time. It is not what happened this time. We decided together what was possible and what was not,' Macron said at a joint news conference. As for the Iran nuclear deal, Macon said, 'I do not know what President Trump will decide...and it's his responsibility.' The French president said he would work with regional powers, including Turkey and the Syria-aligned Russia, for now, to forge a new agreement. 'I believe we can both combine our common views and our differences, because we are not in a vacuum. I always said we should not tear apart the JCPOA and have nothing else,' Macron said. On Tuesday night, it was back to pleasantries between the two leaders as they gave a toast at the Trump administration's first state dinner. Macron, speaking in French, joked how the British burned down the White House, and then how President James Monroe decorated it with French furniture. 'Many comment on our friendship but I think it helps us work toward our goals,' Macron said during the toast. A HISTORY OF DIGNITARIES ADDRESSING CONGRESS Wednesday's speech by French President Emmanuel Macron will mark the 120th time in U.S. history a joint meeting of the House and Senate has been called so that a foreign leader could address the American Congress. That number dates back to December 1874, when Congress hosted King Kalakaua of Hawaii. The French general and war hero the Marquis de Lafayette was the first foreign dignitary to address the U.S. House of Representatives, giving a speech on December 10, 1824. More recently, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed Congress in June 2016. In September 2015, Pope Francis addressed Congress. House Speaker John Boehner announced his resignation the next day as the Pope's visit symbolized the pinnacle of his Congressional career. The last French leader to address Congress was President Nicolas Sarkozy on November 7, 2007, when President George W. Bush was in office. Advertisement Very few members of Congress were invited to the state dinner, with the Trump administration deciding against inviting any Democrats. Typically politicians from the opposing party are invited to state dinners to forge better relations across-the-aisle. The only elected Democrat on hand was Louisiana's Gov. John Bel Edwards. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who invited Macron to speak before Congress, did attend the fete, along with Rep. Ed Royce, a California Republican, and both senators from Louisiana, Sens. John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who's expected to take Ryan's place, also attended the glitzy dinner with the French leader. In an interview that aired Sunday on Fox, President Macron said he intends to focus his remarks today to Congress on the importance of multilateralism. Previewing his address on Tuesday on the White House's South Lawn, Macron said: 'It is together that we can resist the rise of aggressive nationalisms that deny our history and divide the world. It is together that we will build a new strong multilateralism that defends pluralism and democracy in the face of ill winds. 'For our culture, our identity has always been to work for all countries while aspiring to universality.' The Time 100 Gala drew out some of the biggest names in media on Tuesday night, including the team from Today. In photos posted to their social media account, honorees Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie could be seen celebrating alongside fellow host Al Roker, Today's executive producer Libby Leist and NBC News president Noah Oppenheim. 'Gang's all here,' wrote Guthrie in one photo that was posted by her, Kotb and Roker. The group, which included Guthrie's husband Michael Feldman, Kotb's partner Joel Schiffman and Oppenheim's wife Allison, also posed for an elevator selfie on their way to the event. Noticeably absent from all these photos on social media however was the newest member of the Today team Megyn Kelly. Scroll down for video Gang's all here: Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker, Today executive producer Libby Leist and NBC News president Noah Oppenheim posed for pics at the Time 100 Squad: The group all shared photos of themselves at the event on social media, with Megyn Kelly noticeably absent Come together: Kelly did later pose for photos with Roker, Kotb and Guthrie that were shared by the NBC News PR team and had Guthrie on Megyn Kelly Today on Wednesday Making a point: On Wednesday morning's episode of Megyn Kelly Today the host informed her audience that she wore nipple covers (above) to the gala, saying 'and they work' She apparently needed the nipple covers for this dress She apparently didn't wear a bra with the lace, open backed dress Kelly arrived at the event with her husband Douglas Brunt in a stunning red dress by Alex Perry that featured a full lace back. She did later pose for pictures with her two honored co-workers, one of which was shared by the NBC News PR social media account. The three ladies and Roker also got a few pictures together, and Guthrie stopped by Megyn Kelly Today on Wednesday to recap the night. On the show Kelly also informed viewers that she was wearing nipple covers under her $2,170 gown. 'And they worked,' Kelly told the audience during a Best Bras for Your Body segment. It was a particularly hectic night for Kotb, who had been filming the fourth hour with Kathie Lee Gifford in Italy earlier in the day. She then hopped on a plane and returned to New York in time for the Time 100 Gala, where she proved to be one of the most popular guests in attendance. In addition to their Today co-workers, Kotb and Guthrie also posed for a pic alongside CBS This Morning anchors Norah O'Donnell and John Dickerson. Gayle King was also in attendance but seemed to be keeping a low profile after arriving with her CBS cohorts. And while Kelly, a former Time 100 honoree, may not have had her co-workers by her side on Tuesday, she did have the next best thing - Wonder Woman. The media personality ran into Lynda Carter as she headed into the event, with the two women playfully posing for photographers on the red carpet. WW: Megyn posed with Wonder Women Lynda Carter (left) and husband Douglas Brunt (right) before heading out on the red carpet Former staffers: Ex-NBC employee Ronan Farrow brought Harvey Weinstein's former assistant Emily Nestor to the event (pair above) Pals: In addition to their Today co-workers, Kotb and Guthrie also posed for a pic alongside CBS This Morning anchors Norah O'Donnell and John Dickerson C'est chic: Honoree Christian Siriano, 32, also brought the woman responsible for his profile in the magazine, Saturday Night Live star Leslie Jones (above) Today also had Willie Geist on the scene Tuesday, who spent the event sitting down with some of the honorees for interviews that ran on Wednesday morning. It marked a rare weekday appearance from Willie on Today, whose mornings are spent filming Morning Joe over on MSNBC. The Time 100 list was the youngest ever this year, and it showed on the red carpet. Bare it all: Kelly shows off her lace back Rachael Denhollander, 33, was a victim of Larry Nassar who managed to bring the pedophile doctor down by going to law school and learning how she could fight the man who molested her as a child. She celebrated her Time 100 honor alongside another victim, 23-year-old Aly Raisman. The pregnant lawyer was profiled by the Gold-medal winning gymnast for the magazine. Honoree Christian Siriano, 32, also brought the woman responsible for his profile in the magazine, Saturday Night Live star Leslie Jones. And for the big night Siriano dressed his 50-year-old muse in a look inspired by her muse, Grace Jones. Olympian Adam Rippon, 28, continued to dazzle all who meet him, and used his status as a member of the Time 100 to met fellow honoree Nicole Kidman. The figure skater told the Oscar winner, 50, that she smelled good, prompting Kindman to respond by saying her husband Keith Urban also smelled good. Video of that encounter then showed Kidman smelling Urban and saying: 'Yum.' Power players: Honorees Nicole Kidman and Adam Rippon with Keith Urban (left); Rachael Denhollander celebrated her Time 100 honor alongside another victim, 23-year-old Aly Raisman Happy hubbies: RuPaul showed up with his husband and longtime partner Georges LeBar in a rare publiuc outing and the first since the two men were wed last year Survivors: Emma Gonzalez, 17, also spent some quality time with honoree Ke$ha and Yara Shahidi Teen team: Cameron Kasky, Jaclyn Corin, David Hogg, Alex Wind, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski and Gonzalez Les Jo and J Lo: Jones gets down as Lopez performs for guests on Tuesday The Parkland students, who were honored for their work trying to bring about gun reform, got to rub elbows with John Krasinski and Emily Blunt at the gala. Krasinski was honored by Time for his work as the director and star of the box office smash A Quiet Place, which has made close to $175 million at the box office. Lopez arrived with her mother and Alex Rodriguez to The Polo Bar after the gala, wearing the last of her five looks That selection was a bit of a surprise as the movie did not come out until the magazine was going to print. Emma Gonzalez, 17, also spent some quality time with honoree Ke$ha and Yara Shahidi. The students were not joined sadly by the individual who wrote their profile, Barack Obama. Honoree Jennifer Lopez brought her mom Guadalupe, sister Lynda and boyfriend Alex Rodriguez to the event, arriving in a stunning Zuhair Murad gown. She then swapped looks to take the stage and perform for the crowd, kicking off her set in a white fur coat and then showing off another plunging gown in white. The two biggest surprises on the red carpet however may have been the guests of honorees RuPaul and Ronan Farrow. The former showed up with his husband and longtime partner Georges LeBar in a rare public outing and the first since the two men were wed last year. Farrow meanwhile celebrated his honor by bringing mom Mia Farrow and Emily Nestor, Harvey Weinstein' former assistant. A school board at a southwest Ohio district where a student shot and wounded two classmates has voted to allow teachers and staff to carry weapons. The Madison Local School District board voted unanimously on Tuesday to allow employees to 'defend and protect students.' James Austin Hancock was 14 when he opened fire at Madison Junior-Senior High School in February 2016. Two students were wounded and two others were injured in the ensuing melee. The Madison Local School District board voted unanimously on Tuesday to allow employees to 'defend and protect students' The new policy says staff members who wish to carry a firearm must receive written authorization from the superintendent, have a concealed carry permit and undergo active shooter training. Parents and students voiced objections to the new policy, according to WLW-TV. 'Studies have shown time and time again, the more weapons we add into a community, the less secure, the less safe it is,' mother Sandra Ison said. James Austin Hancock was 14 when he opened fire at Madison Junior-Senior High School in February 2016. Two students were wounded and two others were injured in the ensuing melee. Cooper Caffrey, now 16, and 42 other students walked out of class on March 14, a month after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida School district officials haven't said when the policy will be implemented. Last month, dozens of students were given detention in the same district for participating in nationwide walkouts protesting gun violence in schools. Cooper Caffrey, 16, and 42 other students walked out of class on March 14, a month after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Caffrey was one of the two students shot in the February 2016 shooting. After his detention, he attended a Madison Local School District meeting where the school board first began discussing the program to arm teachers. The next day, he began a petition to protest the idea of arming teachers. The Madison schools are north of Cincinnati in Butler County. Two young brothers have survived a night at sea with no food or water after they became stranded on an inflatable dinghy. Jordan Guerts, 18, and brother Tyson, 12, spent 21 hours lost at sea after they went missing off the Western Australian north coast on Tuesday afternoon. The pair set out on a fishing trip about 3pm, but failed to return home after their three-metre vessel ran out of fuel, Nine News reported. Jordan Guerts (top), 18, and brother Tyson (bottom), 12, spent 21 hours lost at sea before they were found Wednesday afternoon off the Western Australian north coast The pair set out on a fishing trip about 3pm Tuesday, but failed to return home after their three-metre vessel (pictured) ran out of fuel They were spotted on Wednesday afternoon and winched into a helicopter that was involved in a large-scale search effort They were spotted in their dinghy by a helicopter involved in a large-scale search effort on Wednesday afternoon. Jordan and Tyson were discovered a staggering 70 kilometres away from their intended destination of Ningaloo Station. They were winched into the helicopter and airlifted to Exmouth Hospital. Both brothers miraculously required little medical attention and were only suffering from mild dehydration when they were found. Jordan and Tyson (pictured with rescuers) were discovered a staggering 70 kilometres away from their intended destination of Ningaloo Station Both brothers miraculously required little medical attention and were only suffering from mild dehydration when they were found They became missing after they ran out of fuel and drifted out to sea with no emergency devices on board - such as flares- to raise the alarm. Authorities were only alerted after the boys' family grew concerned because they failed to return to their campsite by nightfall. A large scale air and land search involving three helicopters, a plane and 18 vessels was triggered. A further twenty people searched the WA coastline before the boys were found, Nine News reported. Two British lawyers - who are twin sisters - facing jail in Dubai for drunkenly assaulting a policewoman and 'cursing Arab women' were porn stars who made adult films while studying law in London, MailOnline can reveal. Alena and Sasha Parker were born in the impoverished Soviet-state of Belarus in 1981 and only gained British citizenship eight years ago. The identical pair - who were born with the maiden name Velikanava came to the UK after meeting British television director Miles Parker while he was making a film in Russia. The sisters moved to London to study law and Alena married Parker in January 2001. Sister Sasha later changed her name by deed-poll to Parker. Alena studied law at the University of London and University of Westminster between 2002 and 2007. They then moved to Dubai. Twins Alena and Sasha Parker, 37, could face up to three years in jail in the strict Gulf state if they are convicted for 'drunkenly assaulting' a policewoman' The women starred in porn films while they lived in London and studied law, MailOnline can reveal Alena's former husband British television and film director Miles Parker (pictured today) told how he discovered the girls while he was working in Russia and brought them to the UK Speaking exclusively to MailOnline from his home in east London, Mr Parker explained: 'Alena took my name when we got married. Sasha changed her name by deed-poll because she wanted to have the same name as Alena. The twins are inseparable. 'They have been British citizens since 2005. Alena studied law in London gained a good degree. She also has a Master's as well as qualification in Islamic banking. 'The twins moved to Dubai in 2007. They share a flat together.' Mr Parker declined to discuss the twins participation in pornographic films. But he added: 'They have both come a long way after a very difficult start in life.' The girls were arrested on August 4 last year for 'rougish behaviour' on a night out, Dubai Misdemeanours Court heard on Monday. Alena, an associate at Al Safar & Partners where her sister is a case manager, had been found drunk in the Al Bashra district, it was claimed. They face up to three years in jail in the strict Gulf state if convicted of 'cursing Arab women' and being intoxicated. The twins, 37, who both work for a Dubai law firm, claim that they were tortured after being arrested by a 'heavy-handed' female police officer and held in a van in the desert overnight The sisters told MailOnline today that they were innocent before adding that they were 'confident' that justice would be served in the strict Arab state The sisters today told MailOnline they had only made one court appearance so far and their defence had not been presented to judges. They added: 'Since we trust the UAE judicial system and (are) sure about our innocence, we are confident that the justice will be served. 'Unfortunately, since the matter is pending before the Dubai Courts we are unable to comment further at this stage.' But the twins claim they are victims of a heavy-handed policewoman who held them allegedly put a gun to their heads and allegedly held them captive in the desert over-night. 'The girls admit they were drunk but the policewoman attacked Sasha and Alena fought back in self defence,' Mr Parker said. 'They were taken to the desert and had guns pointed to their heads. They were tortured throughout the night in a van in the desert. They were only taken to the police station the following day. 'The whole incident was caused by the policewoman who really should have kept her nose out. 'The girls were leaving a drinks party at a top hotel in Dubai when a security guard made a rude comment to them. 'An argument ensued and then this older Arab woman got involved. She did not say she was a policewoman. 'The policewoman grabbed Sasha and Alena jumped on her to protect her sister. They are inseparable. 'The policewoman called for back-up and the girls were arrested. The sisters moved to London to study law and Alena married Mr Parker, who lives in east London, in January 2001. Sister Sasha later changed her name by deed-poll to Parker 'The policewoman claims she suffered a broken arm but it was the girls who were tortured and beaten up. They hardly touched her. 'Two police officers hand-cuffed them and put them into the back of a van and drove them into the desert. 'The police officers held them in the desert for 14 hours and put a pistol to their heads. They were kept there overnight in 45 degree heat. 'They were only taken to the police station the next day. And they were beaten up at the police station.' The Britons' defence team claims CCTV footage of the altercation with the off-duty police woman proved the twin's testimony that they did not start any fight. But the prosecutor's office have refused to release the film to the lawyers, Mr Parker claims. He added: 'This is a classic Dubai fit-up job. 'The whole process has been a terrible strain on their health.' The Foreign Office today confirmed that they were assisting the twins. A spokesman said: 'We are supporting two British women who were arrested in Dubai in 2017, and are in contact with the UAE authorities.' Two 'cold-blooded and callous' murderers freed to torture, kill and burn alive a young mother will now die behind bars, a judge has ruled. Stephen Unwin, 40, and William John McFall, 51, had met behind bars while serving life sentences for murdering frail elderly victims in their homes. But both were released after 13 years and together plotted the murder of Vietnamese nail technician Quyen Ngoc Nguyen, who was raped and then set alight while she was still alive. Sentencing the pair at Newcastle Crown Court today, Mr Justice Morris handed both men whole-life jail terms, meaning they will never be released. Scroll down for video Quyen Ngoc Nguyen was raped and dumpedin her car before it was torched last August William McFall and Stephen Unwin were today given whole-life terms for the murder Ms Nguyen's sister Quyhn, pictured with family members, told of her family's sadness today The victim's sister, Quynh Ngoc Nguyen, asked the court why Unwin and McFall were ever released. Mother-of-three Ms Nguyen, 35, sat in the public gallery clutching a framed picture of her sister before taking the stand to give a personal statement. She broke down in tears as she told of her sister's love for her own two children. And she said: 'We cannot comprehend how men like this can live freely in this country. My sister believed as I did that she came to this country for a safer life with better opportunities for herself and her children. Our lives have been blighted by these two terrible men forever.' The pair took this selfie after they set fire to the car with their victim still inside She added: 'My sister did not deserve to die in this horrific way, she was a good person. 'My family is very angry about the actions of these two men towards my sister. They did not act like human beings, they are evil. 'Quyen was not involved in any criminal acts and she never had a sexual relationship with Mr Urwin, she would not have considered a relationship with this type of man or exposed her children to it.' A source close to the case described the pair as 'pitiless psychopaths' who killed without a shred of remorse for the three victims they murdered between them. Miss Nguyen suffered a five hour torture ordeal at the hands of the two men, who had spent days or even weeks planning her sexual degradation and eventual murder. They ate a curry as she lay on the floor and then set her alight in her car near allotments while she was still alive. As they drove to the bank afterwards to use her cash card they took a selfie, with McFall grinning into the camera while Unwin was at the wheel. The judge said: 'Quyen Ngoc Nguyen was a young, healthy and lively woman, a mother of two young children and much loved by her family here and in Vietnam' Her body was found in a blazing car in this country lane near Sunderland after the attack Quyen, a mum of two who entered the country in 2010 to study business at a London university, was murdered on August 14th last year after coming into contact with Unwin and McFall when they were carrying out work as handymen on flats she was renting out. Quyen was beaten, throttled with a ligature by the men, who a gas-powered pistol and a Star Wars light-sabre toy as part of the degrading assault. After she'd been in the house for five hours she was wrapped in a sheet and carried out to her black Audi A4 which was then driven by Unwin to a lane leading to allotments. They doused her in petrol and set both she and the car ablaze. Forensic tests later revealed that Quyen was still alive when she was set alight. The pair used her bank cards and PIN numbers, which they had forced out of her, to make a number of withdrawals from her account. Unwin later falsely claimed that he and Miss Nguyen had been in a sexual relationship together. Unwin and McFall, who first met in HMP Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, were arrested by police who tracked them on CCTV. A minister has slapped down Boris Johnson for calling for an amnesty for illegal immigrants following a bad tempered clash in Cabinet. Nadhim Zahawi said the Foreign Secretary was making a 'wrong assumption' about the status of people living and working illegally in Britain. The dismissal comes after Boris Johnson clashed with Theresa May in when he demanded a broader immigration amnesty for Commonwealth migrants. During a tetchy Cabinet meeting, the Foreign Secretary told colleagues he didn't believe Home Secretary Amber Rudd's measures to help the Windrush generation went far enough. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, pictured arriving at Downing Street yesterday, clashed with the Prime Minister over the handling of the Windrush scandal Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi today slapped down Boris Johnson for calling for an amnesty for illegal immigrants following a bad tempered clash in Cabinet Pushed today on whether he thought an illegal immigrant amnesty was a good idea Education Minister Mr Zahawi dismissed the plan. He said: 'The question assumes illegal immigrants should have the same status as people who are here legally, whether they are of immigrant stock or are British born and bred. 'I think that is a wrong assumption because actually most of your listeners including immigrants like myself and my parents and other immigrants will think if you are here illegally and working illegally then you really shouldn't be here.' On Monday, Miss Rudd announced a package of measures following the Windrush scandal. She said West Indian migrants who came here before 1973 can get a free passport and be allowed to stay. Those who arrived between 1973 and 1988 will receive less help they will merely be able to access a helpline to secure their citizenship status. Mr Johnson wants a more liberal approach to Commonwealth immigrants compared with Prime Minister, Theresa May, pictured outside Number 10 yesterday According to The Telegraph, Mr Johnson argued that illegal immigrants from Commonwealth countries who have not committed a crime for more than ten years should be allowed to remain. Yesterday ministers discussed the fallout from the Windrush scandal at Cabinet. The Spectator reported that Mr Johnson made the point that there needed to be a broader immigration amnesty for long-standing Commonwealth migrants. The Foreign Secretary argued that this was necessary to prevent others getting caught in the same situation in future that is, having to produce large amounts of evidence to show they have lived here for years. The amnesty that Mr Johnson had in mind would not apply to those with a criminal record. According to The Spectator, Mrs May then 'rather acidly' remarked that the Foreign Secretary had previously called for an amnesty for all migrants. He first applied for the amnesty in 2008 and again in 2016 when he privately proposed one for those who had been here for over a decade. Last night a Whitehall source insisted the Cabinet discussion on Windrush was 'not a tense one', with Mr Johnson's proposal discussed 'briefly'.'Boris is on the record as having quite liberal views on immigration and has called for an amnesty in the past,' the source said. 'Mrs May framed the argument as being about making sure members of the Windrush generation are properly treated, but also recognising that people have legitimate concerns about illegal immigration.' It is understood Mrs May also ticked off ministers for briefing the Press over the customs union. Advertisement Police confirmed Wednesday that Joseph James DeAngelo is the Golden State Killer and he has been arrested on multiple murder charges A former cop has been identified as the notorious Golden State Killer after a breakthrough in DNA testing linked him to some of the 12 murders and 51 rapes the serial killer carried out throughout the 1970s and 80s. Joseph James DeAngelo Jr, 72, was taken into custody by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday night on two murder charges for the 1978 deaths of Brian Maggiore and his wife Katie, who are believed to be the Golden State Killer's first murder victims. He was later also charged with the murders of Lyman and Charlene Smith who were found dead in their home by their 12-year-old son in 1980. Despite an outpouring of thousands of tips over the years, DeAngelo's name had not been on the radar of law enforcement before last week. Police say a DNA match in the past six days linked him to both crime scenes, but authorities refused to reveal what led to DeAngelo. Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones said detectives with 'dogged determination' were able to get a sample of DNA from something DeAngelo had discarded, though he wouldn't say what the item was. The genetic material was not a match, but there were enough similarities for investigators to return for more and they said they were able to get a conclusive match. After watching DeAngelo for several days, deputies took him by surprise Tuesday when he left his home. Police are now working to link the 72-year-old unequivocally to the rest of the crimes that profilers have attributed to the Golden State Killer through his modus operandi. It is unclear how many of the crime scenes produced DNA evidence. DeAngelo was arrested on suspicion of committing four killings in Sacramento and Ventura counties. In a mugshot released by police Wednesday afternoon, DeAngelo's face and head appeared to be bloodied. Joseph James DeAngelo Jr was arrested in California Tuesday night on two murder charges. The now-72-year-old is confirmed to be the Golden State Killer . Pictured on the left is an undated photo of DeAngelo when he was in the Navy, and on the right is a picture of DeAngelo during his sophomore year at Folsom High School The identity of the Golden State Killer has finally been revealed. Pictured are combination images the FBI released of sketches of the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer before his capture Police said they waited outside DeAngelo's home for him to exit and then jumped on him as soon as he exited the front door FBI and other law enforcement are seen outside DeAngelo's Citrus Heights, California home on Wednesday The FBI team are seen searching the back of DeAngelo's home in Citrus Heights, California Sheriff's officers are seen removing items from DeAngelo's home as evidence. The 72-year-old was arrested Tuesday night by officers who were waiting outside his house to capture them Evidence bags are taken out from Joseph DeAngelo's home on Wednesday following his arrest DNA testing linked Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, to some of the 12 murders carried out in California in the 1970s and 80s Investigators said DeAngelo has three adult daughters. An old wedding announcement says he married Sharon Marie Huddle in 1973, according to the Sacramento Bee. They are now divorced. DeAngelo previously worked as a police officer in Auburn, California before he was fired in 1979 for shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent from a Sacramento drug store. He was also a police officer in Exeter, California from about 1973 to 1976. Investigators believe he was committing the crimes while he was an officer. Before he retired last year, DeAngelo had been working at a distribution center for Save Mart grocery stores. He worked the for 27 years. DeAngelo is currently being held at the Sacramento County Main jail and is ineligible for bail, according to jail records. 'We knew we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we also knew that needle was there,' Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said. 'We found the needle in the haystack and it was right here in Sacramento. The answer was always going to be in the DNA.' Orange County DA Tony Rackauckas said they were going to make sure DeAngelo never gets out of jail. 'This defendant has been able to live here in a nice suburb in Sacramento,' he said during Wednesday's press conference. Bruce Harrington, whose brother Keith Harrington and sister-in-law Patrice Harrington were allegedly killed by the Golden State Killer in 1980, appeared at the news briefing to offer a few words to victims. 'For the 51 ladies who were brutally raped: Sleep better tonight,' he said. 'He isn't coming through the window. He is now in jail and he is history.' An old newspaper article states that DeAngelo was a police officer in Auburn, and was eventually fired in 1979 for shoplifting from a Sacramento drug store. Auburn City Manager Jack Sausser said at the time that DeAngelo failed to answer any of the city's investigations and there 'was justifiable grounds to remove him from the public sector'. Another old newspaper article said DeAngelo was in the Navy and served aboard the USS Canberra, a Baltimore-class cruiser. He left the navy in 1967. Patton Oswalt's wife, journalist Michelle McNamara (left), spent much of her career researching the Golden State Killer. She turned her findings into a crime book titled I'll Be Gone In The Dark Patton Oswalt tweeted Wednesday that he wanted to visit the Golden State Killer so he could ask questions his late wife wanted answered Crime journalist Billy Jensen, who helped co-author I'll Be Gone In The Dark, has also tweeted about the suspected killer's arrest, writing in another post that it was an exciting day Interest in the Golden State Killer, also known as the East Area Rapist, was reawakened recently following the release of journalist and author Michelle McNamara's posthumous crime book I'll Be Gone In The Dark. McNamara spent much of her career researching and writing about the California rapist and killer, but died before the book was published. Her husband, actor Patton Oswalt, and friend and fellow journalist Billy Jensen finished the book for McNamara and released it in February. The book quickly climbed to the number one spot on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Oswalt was among the first people tweeting about the possible arrest of the Golden State Killer as he praised his late wife who spent much of her career researching the murderer. 'I hope you got him, Michelle. I hope THEY got him,' Oswalt tweeted soon after the arrest. 'If they've really caught the #GoldenStateKiller I hope I get to visit him,' he posted in another tweet. 'Not to gloat or gawk - to ask him the questions that (McNamara) wanted answered in her 'Letter To An Old Man' at the end of #IllBeGoneInTheDark.' Co-author Billy Jensen has also posted numerous tweets about the possible arrest of the serial killer. 'If you've been following the Golden State Killer case, stay tuned. We will be having a rather large announcement,' he teased, adding: 'Two hours of sleep but an airport chocolate banana smoothie is going to get me through what I hope will be an amazing day. #IllBeGoneInTheDark #GoldenStateKiller #intothelight.' According to the FBI, the Golden State Killer terrorized southern California between 1976 and 1986. His crimes began in the summer of 1976 with burglaries and rapes in Rancho Cordova and Carmichael. Investigators said he gained access to the homes by prying open a window or door while the victims slept. He would then shine a light in the face of his victims and tie up the female victim. If a male victim was present, the Golden State Killer would tie him up as well before ransacking the home and raping the female victim. Detectives said the killer often took small items during his burglaries such as coins, cash, ID cards and jewelry. Some victims told authorities that the killer called them after the crimes. It's believed the first victims were killed in 1978. Brian Maggiore and his wife, Katie, were walking their dog in their Rancho Cordova neighborhood on February 2, 1978 when they were chased down and murdered by the Golden State Killer. The Golden State Killer is suspected of committing dozens and dozens of crimes in Sacramento County in the late 1970s. Pictured is crime scene evidence from one of the attacks Police have linked more than 12 homicides to the Golden State Killer. Pictured are fingerprints police lifted from one of the crime scenes The serial killer and rapist is also suspected of committing nearly 50 rapes in southern California over the span of a decade. The above photo shows a home that was ransacked by the Golden State Killer The killer is also suspected of committing 120 home burglaries across Sacramento County. Police believe they found ski masks worn by the Golden State Killer in this undated photo Detectives said the killer often took small items during his burglaries such as coins, cash, ID cards and jewelry. Some victims told authorities that the killer called them after the crimes An old newspaper clipping said DeAngelo, who is believed to be the Golden State Killer, was an Auburn police officer but was fired for shoplifting His first victims are believed to have been Katie Maggiore and her husband Brian. The couple was out walking their dog on February 2, 1978 when they were chased down and murdered by the Golden State Killer, the FBI said This shoelace was marked as evidence. It was found at the site of Brian and Katie Maggiore's murder Survivor Jane Carson-Sandler (left) survived when the Golden State Killer broke into her home in October 1976. Debbi Domingo's (right) mother was killed in July 1981 GOLDEN STATE KILLER'S THIRTEEN MURDER VICTIMS Claude Snelling: September 11, 1975 Claude Snelling September 11, 1975 Journalism professor Claude Snelling, 45, was asleep in his home in Visalia, California when he heard an odd noise outside at about 2am. He rushed outside to find a masked man dragging his 16-year-old daughter Elizabeth away. The abductor shot Snelling twice, killing him, and fled the scene on foot, leaving Elizabeth unharmed. She later told how her father saved her life. DeAngelo had woken her up, standing over her in a ski mask. He told her to go with him or risk her life. She said it was 'blurry' but that she remembered him dragging her. 'The kidnapper] threw me down and shot my dad twice. Then he pointed the gun at me.' DeAngelo hit her with the gun and kicked her but fled. Snelling died on his way to the hospital. The shooting was connected to the work of the Visalia Ransacker, believed to be responsible for 102 burglaries in the area, when ballistics matched the gun that killed Snelling to one that had been stolen in a previous break-in. Brian and Katie Maggiore: February 2, 1978 Brian and Katie Maggiore February 2, 1978 Brian Maggiore, 21, and his wife Katie, 20, were walking their dog in their Rancho Cordova neighborhood, just outside Sacramento, on February 2, 1978. The FBI said the couple were chased down before being shot and killed by the Golden State Killer. Dr Robert Offerman and Alexandria Manning: December 30, 1979 Dr Robert Offerman and Alexandria Manning December 30, 1979 Dr Robert Offerman, 44, and Alexandria Manning, 35, were killed at a home in Goleta near Santa Barbara. Offerman, an osteopathic surgeon, and Manning, a clinical psychologist, had their hands bound with twine. Lyman and Charlene Smith (left) and Patrice and Keith Harrington (right) Lyman and Charlene Smith March 13, 1980 Lyman Smith, 43, and his wife Charlene, 33, were bludgeoned to death with a fireplace log in their Ventura County home. Smith was an attorney who was just days from being appointed a judge. His wife worked as a court clerk. Patrice and Keith Harrington August 19, 1980 Patrice Harrington, 28, and her husband Keith, 25, were killed in their home at Dana Point. Police said they were beaten with a blunt instrument. Patrice was a pediatric nurse and her husband was a medical student at UC Irvine. Manuela Witthuhn (left) and Janelle Lisa Cruz (right) Manuela Witthuhn February 5, 1981 Manuela Witthuhn, 28, was raped and beaten to death in her home in Irvine. She was home alone at the time because her husband was in the hospital recovering from an illness. Cheri Domingo and Gregory Sanchez Cheri Domingo and Gregory Sanchez July 27, 1981 Cheri Domingo, 35, and Gregory Sanchez, 27, were house sitting in Goleta when they were murdered in bed. Domingo was found with her hands tied and suffering massive head injuries. Sanchez was shot and bludgeoned. Janelle Lisa Cruz May 4, 1986 Janelle Cruz, 18, was bludgeoned to death in her family's home in Irvine. She was home alone at the time and police found her lying across her bed. A real estate agent who was selling the family's home was the first to discover the teen's body. Blood was found spattered throughout the home and police believe she was beaten with a pipe wrench. Advertisement After this crime, he committed rapes and murders in Stockton, Davis, Modesto and the East Bay. The FBI believe his last crime was committed in May 1986, with the murder of an 18-year-old girl in Irvine. The Golden State Killer's fifth victim, Jane Carson-Sandler, survived an October 1976 attack. Carson-Sandler said her husband had just left for work when the masked man broke into her Citrus Heights home, bound and gagged her and her three-year-old son and then raped her. Carson-Sandler, who wrote a book about surviving the attack, said on Wednesday that she received an email from two detectives informing her of the killer's arrest. 'I have just been overjoyed, ecstatic. It's an emotional roller-coaster right now,' Carson-Sandler, who now lives near Hilton Head, South Carolina, told The Associated Press. 'I feel like I'm in the middle of a dream and I'm going to wake up and it's not going to be true. It's just so nice to have closure and to know he's in jail.' Debbi Domingo was 15 years old when her mother, 35-year-old Cheri Domingo was brutally murdered by the Golden State Killer. Domingo said she had gotten into a spat with her mother and left the home to stay with a friend, a decision that may have ultimately saved her life. Also killed that horrible July 27, 1981 night was Cheri's 27-year-old boyfriend, Gregory Sanchez. In a tweet Wednesday afternoon, Domingo said she had not yet commented on the killer's arrest because she was 'digesting'. 'Everyone is wondering why I'm not shouting from the rooftops yet. Digesting,' she tweeted, adding the hashtag: 'UNMASKEDatLAST'. Neighbors in DeAngelo's quiet Citrus Heights Sacramento suburb said they were stunned over his arrest. Others said he is known to be angry and shout obscenities while he was outside doing yard work. One neighbor told the Sacramento Bee that DeAngelo had 'anger pouring out of him'. 'It's terrifying to think this man could have hopped the fence and come into my backyard. I have children,' said another neighbor named Beth Walsh, who lives behind DeAngelo on an adjacent street. 'I'm glad to know they caught this guy.' Bruce Harrington, whose brother Keith Harrington and sister-in-law Patrice Harrington were allegedly killed by the Golden State Killer in 1980, appeared at the news briefing on Wednesday to offer a few words to victims Another neighbor, Cory Harvey, told the outlet that 'Joe' - as she calls him - lived in the home with his daughter and granddaughter and is divorced. DeAngelo had told her that he retired and planned to do a lot of fishing. Harvey described him as a good neighbor saying he helped pay for a fence her husband put up to separate their yards. She said he was a regular guy, 'except for that quirkiness of getting mad'. Natalia Bedes-Correnti, who lives a few houses down, said people in the neighborhood used to call DeAngelo 'freak'. 'He used to have these temper tantrums, not at anybody, just (expressing) his self frustration...usually because he couldn't find his keys,' she told the Sacramento Bee. Another neighbor, Eddie Verdon, said he caught DeAngelo prowling on his property. 'I had the creeps about this guy for a long time,' he said. Grant Gorman, who grew up in the house behind DeAngelo, told the outlet that he was so scared of DeAngelo that he avoided playing with his daughter when they were younger. 'I felt sorry for her,' he said about the daughter, adding: 'This guy just had this anger that was just pouring out of him. He'd just be yelling at nothing in the backyard, pacing in circles.' Family members also said they were shocked to learn about DeAngelo's past and arrest. James Huddle told Oxygen on Wednesday that DeAngelo allegedly asked him once about the crime spree sweeping across southern California in the late '70s and '80s. 'He actually asked me about it once,' Huddle said. 'He said: 'What do you think of that East Area Rapist? What would you do, Jim?'' Huddle said his sister was married to DeAngelo. Pandemonium erupted on Tuesday night during an already contentious school board meeting in Houston, which culminated with a mother being dragged out of the venue by police officers. The Houston Independent School Districts board of trustees was expected to vote on a controversial plan to hand over temporary control of 10 underperforming schools to a charter company called Energized for STEM Academy. The raucous meeting that drew about 100 attendees got under way at 6pm at Hattie Mae White Educational Center, but it ended without a vote after the trustees decided to adjourn. Scroll down for video Teachable moment: Chaos erupted on Tuesday night during a heated school board meeting in Houston Some 100 members of the community voiced their opposition to a plan under which 10 failing schools would be taken over by a charter school company Jenny Espeseth, a mother-of-two form Houston, was dragged out of the meeting by two school district police officers Many local parents, community activists and members of a teachers union have spoken out against the proposal and expressed concerns that veteran teachers might be fired and that certain programs, including those serving students with special needs, might be cut, reported ABC13. During Tuesday's meetings, parents, teachers and activists were given a chance to speak and used that opportunity to voice their opposition to the proposed handover of the schools. The proceedings were repeatedly disrupted by chants of no more sellouts' and outbursts from the crowd directed at the trustees. Eventually, Board of Trustees President Rhonda Skillern-Jones called a recess and ordered to clear the room. Not going quietly: Espeseth was removed by force after refusing to leave the venue when the head of the board of trustees ordered the disruptive crowd to disperse Espeseth is pictured being picked up by her hands by the two officers in the hallway Espeseth, who has a first-grader and a fifth-grader, said she was let go without charges The local mom opposes the plan to have the mostly black and Hispanic schools handed over to Energized by STEM Academy Police officers who were called in to remove the people encountered some resistance and a skirmish broke out in the crowd, as seen in footage recorded at the meeting. At least two women refused to willingly leave the venue and had to be ejected by force. Video captured one of the women, identified as Jenny Espeseth, being dragged across the floor by a pair of uniformed police officers. Espeseth, who has a first-grader and a fifth-grader in the school district, later told the Houston Chronicle that after she was pulled into a side room in the hallway, the offices told her they would file a report, but then let her go. Houston ISD issued a statement saying at least one school district police officer sustained minor injuries during the scuffle with the angry crowd. While the district appreciates and shares the passion the community has for the students and schools and welcomes public input, audience members are expected to be respectful and observe decorum so that their views may be heard and appreciated, it read. One person was arrested on a misdemeanor criminal trespass charge, another was charged with interfering with duties of a public servant and a third was detained but not arrested. The raucous meeting, which was marked by angry disruptions and outbursts, ended without a vote taking place The board has until April 30 to vote on the charter school partnership, after which it will go to the Texas Education Agency for approval. The partnership plan is a stop-gap measure intended to prevent the Texas Education Agency from taking over the chronically failing schools, which are located in low-income neighborhoods and where most of the students and black and Hispanic. A law passed in 2017 allows the district to transfer control of the schools to an outside agency for up to five years to improve academic performance. After multiple community meetings, the district settled on Energized for STEM Academy, which already operates four local schools. Dr. James Douglas, who sits on the board of Energized for STEM, said the HISD would not have picked the charter school company unless it had a proven record of success. But not everyone in the community is convinced. Some parents have questioned Energized by STEMs ability to accommodate students with special needs, pointing to the fact that they have few special education students at the schools they operate. Meghan Markle is seemingly taking to public service in her stride as she 'shared breath' in a traditional nose-rubbing greeting with a Maori woman. The royal-to-be joined her fiance Prince Harry at a dawn service to mark Anzac Day, her first official service of remembrance so far. During the commemorations, Ms Markle was invited to take part in a hongi greeting by a Moari woman who previously rubbed shoulders with Prince Harry in 2014. She and Prince Harry were both greeted by Te Ataraiti Waretini with the soft pressing of noses and the sharing of each other's breath. The American passed a cultural milestone when she, and Harry, were welcomed by Te Ataraiti Waretini from Ngati Ranana with a traditional hongi Prince Harry was also given a hongi to Te Ataraiti Waretini from Ngati Ranana, which involves the soft pressing of noses and the sharing of each other's breath Ms Waretini (shown left), a New Zealander living in London, said Meghan was 'amazing', adding that she took to the Maori ceremonies 'very well' Prince Harry previously met Ms Waretini (pictured) through her association with the London Maori club, which was invited to New Zealand House to meet with the royal in 2014 Speaking after the intimate interaction, Ms Waretini, a New Zealander living in London, said: '[Meghan] was amazing. 'I'm not sure if it's her first time at a Maori ceremony but she did very, very well. 'It was really lovely to meet her and share the breath of life and share our culture with her and Harry.' There were other Maori elements during the dawn service including a haka performed at the end, a longer version of the one displayed by the famous New Zealand rugby team the All Blacks before matches. Prince Harry previously met Ms Waretini, 31, through her association with the London Maori club. The group was invited to New Zealand House to meet with the royal in 2014 as part of preparations for the Invictus Games. Ms Waretini (pictured middle) and Prince Harry picture together back in 2014, where she performed a Maori ceremony for the royal at New Zealand House ahead of the Invictus Games Today, Ms Markle and Prince Harry were commemorating Anzac Day, which is the anniversary of the start of the First World War Gallipoli landings. Thousands of Anzac troops - Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - died in the ill-fated 1915 Gallipoli campaign. Waves of Allied forces launched an amphibious attack on the strategically important Turkish peninsula, which was key to controlling the Dardanelles straits, the crucial route to the Black Sea and Russia. But the plan backed by Winston Churchill, then first lord of the admiralty, was flawed and the campaign, which faced a heroic defence by the Turks, led to stalemate and withdrawal eight months later. Today, Anzac Day is treated in Australia and New Zealand with the same reverence as Remembrance Day in the UK, with the annual event now used to honour all of the two nation's war veterans. A mother and her three-year-old son have died after their out-of-control car crashed into a parked train. Classie Jones, 29, and her child Benjamin Taylor, three, were driving along the US Highway 17 in Bartow, Florida, when Ms Jones lost control of the vehicle, The Ledger reported. The silver Toyota Corolla then moved across the median strip and on to the other side of the road when she smashed in to the train about 11.45pm. A mother, 29, and her three-year-old son have died after the woman's car span out of control and she slammed into a parked train on Monday night (pictured) Classie Jones (pictured) was not wearing a seatbelt at the time but her son Benjamin Taylor was strapped into a booster seat The train was parked on tracks which ran parallel to the highway. Mother and son were both unresponsive, but alive, when police arrived at the scene. Ms Jones was taken to Winter Haven Hospital, where she died soon after. Benjamin was rushed to St Josephs Childrens Hospital in nearby Tampa, but only survived the ordeal a few hours longer than his mother. Investigators say Ms Jones was not wearing a seatbelt, but her son had been buckled into a booster seat in the back of the car. Speeding and impairment are both being considered as authorities investigate how the crash took place. An officer from Polk County Sheriffs office told The Ledger there was no indication the crash was intentional. Police believe speed and impairment may have been contributors to the crash but do not think the crash was intentional This is the dramatic moment a police officer captured a fleeing suspect by shooting out the wheels of his red getaway car and forcing the criminal to surrender. The intense footage, believed to have been filmed in South Africa, shows the speeding driver spin out before being arrested by the quick witted biker cop. Beginning mid-chase, with the motorbike police officer in hot pursuit of the suspect, video shows the long arm of the law weaving in and out of traffic to capture his man. Scroll down for video This is the dramatic moment a police officer captured a fleeing suspect in South Africa by shooting out the wheels of his red getaway car and forcing the criminal to surrender Racing to keep up with the red BMW, the police officer's own personal camera captured the pursuit as the fleeing driver lost control of his car on the dusty strip of road. Spinning out, the recorder captures the sound of wheels screeching and the car spinning. With the now facing the wrong way, the police officer is filmed letting off three fours shots off at the drivers rear, right wheel. Racing to keep up with the red BMW, the police officer's own personal camera captured the pursuit as the fleeing driver lost control of his car on the dusty strip of road The tyre is seen deflating as the police officer gets off his bike and smoothly reloads his weapon while keeping the barrel pointed at the suspect. Shouting 'get to the floor, get to the floor', the suspect leaves the car and complies in fear. The clip ends as the cop prepares to arrest the man, now lying on face down on the side of the road. Spinning out, the recorder captures the sound of wheels screeching and the car spinning. With the now facing the wrong way, the police officer is filmed letting off three fours shots off at the drivers rear, right wheel Many on social media flocked to praise the officer who showed a balanced use of force and restraint. One said: 'He was shooting the tire not any person. A gun is a tool first and a weapon second.' Another said: 'This guy is like Judge Dredd.' A father in Houston turned his son in to police after the teen told him he broke into 250 cars, including a Houston police officer's civilian car and took a service revolver. Dad Theodis Daniel told KVUE-TV that he asked his son over FaceTime: 'You broke into a policeman's car?' Then he added to his 18-year-old son, Cristian Daniel, 18: 'I've had it with you. You gotta stop what you're doing this is getting out of control.' Tough love: Theodis Daniel (pictured) says he called the police on his son after the teen admitted to breaking in to 250 cars, including a police officer's civilian vehicle Cristian Daniel, 18 (pictured) admitted to his father he broke into hundreds of cars- so his dad turned him in to police Theodis asked his son the make or break question: 'You gonna stop?' He says when his son refused to answer, he took matters into his own hands. 'I stopped it for him, the father says of his decision to call the police on his wayward son. 'I love him,' Theodis said. 'But he's got to wake up from wherever he's at right now.' Cristian faces the charge of theft of a firearm but is also suspected in several other vehicle and even home burglaries since the start of 2018. Meanwhile, the officer whose car was broken into by Cristian is now facing an an internal investigation by the Houston Police Department. They have launched an investigation to see if the gun and other property left in the officer's civilian car were properly secured. Officer E. Torres was away on vacation when Cristian broke into his car in March. While officers are allowed to leave firearms and other department issued equipment in their personal vehicles - the items must be reasonably secured. Cristian will not be bailed out by his father, and is still sitting in jail on $20,000 bond Beside the Glock 43 gun, Cristian also stole a flashlight, a neon police set, a gas mask, a carry bag, an HPD ticket book and ammunition. Theodis said he will not be bailing his son out either. Cristian is currently sitting in jail on 20,000 bond, according to CBS Austin. 'I needed him to think about what direction he wanted to take in his life. He can stay where he's at or does he want to come out and be a productive, law abiding citizen right now.' Nuisance neighbors can make even a dream home hell - so spare a thought for these Colorado residents who have found themselves living next to a sex party palace. Homeowners in the upscale Castle Rock neighborhood of Denver say one house, owned by a married father, is being used to host debauched, alcohol-fueled events. Online adverts show the house is known as the 'Thunderstorm Play Palace' and offers entry to couples and single men with a $70 donation, dropping to $20 for women. Residents of an upmarket Denver street say this house is being used to host wild sex parties where dozens of guests are provided with alcohol The home is known as the 'Thunderstorm Play Palace' and is advertised on invitations as having 7,500sq ft of space for guests to romp around in (pictured, the 'main play room') 'As everyone is well aware, hosting is not cheap,' the advert explains. 'And as much as we would enjoy providing this pro-bono, we aren't lavish with dispensable income.' One advert seen by Fox 31 Denver showed 400 people had been invited with 87 people, including 35 couples, having accepted. Another event at the 'palace', listed on the swinging website Kasidie, has 126 guests confirming their attendance. Sex party attendees are offered food - including a vegetarian menu - alcohol and a chocolate fountain. However, guests are asked to bring their own condoms and show respect for the 'new furniture'. The house itself is advertised as a 7,500ft space complete with two 'private playrooms', one 'open playroom', four areas for mingling and six bathrooms. One neighbour said: 'There are children in almost every single house on this street and we are like an eighth of a mile away from an elementary school. 'He wants to portray himself as a victim with a simple lifestyle choice, but he is a businessman running a sexual business out of his house in a neighborhood filled with children. 'There are plenty of other venues that would be conducive to these parties but this neighborhood or any neighborhood for that matter isn't one of them.' Attendees are charged $70 for couples and single men and $20 for women, but for that money are given alcohol and food, including pulled pork tacos and queso Noisy sex parties are advertised in a well-to-do area in these flyers. Neighbours are furious and concerned their children could be exposed to adult behaviour One neighbor, who declined to give her identity, said neighbors can easily hear what is going on inside the house and is concerned about children finding out 'The last party was easily over a hundred [people],' said one neighbour. 'I have a feeling that his next one will be much larger if he goes through with it. 'If he had a few couples at his house to have sex, that's his choice but that's not the case here. 'There are cars parked on every inch of our street and the people walking up and down the street into the party during the day and stumbling out all night frequently visiting their cars to grab stuff. 'Some appear to be well into their 50s and 60s wearing trench coats and tall boots and some are young wearing suspenders and fedoras. 'This is not a moral judgement witch hunt, it is about the location and the scale.' A very explicit flyer for the Thunderstorm Play Palace makes it clear what is expected and discouraged However, the home owner - a married father who was not named by Fox - said he has taken care to ensure no area is visible from the outside during the parties. He said care had been taken to install soundproofing, especially in the basement. Neighbors say it is still possible to hear the goings-on inside. Police are aware of the parties, but said that since the events are taking place on private property and admission is restricted, the owner is not breaking any laws. The man says he has also been victimized over the parties, suffering 'severe harassment' and saying one guest's car was vandalized. Police seized what they assumed were two small plastic bags of heroin after a car crash on Saturday, but have now discovered they are actually the cremated remains of the vehicle owner's father. Maine resident Kevin Curtis, 57, was given his father's ashes by his sister and put them in his car glove box. Robert Clinton Curtis Sr. died five years ago in Brookville, Florida. Curtis then loaned his 2006 Chevrolet Impala to a friend, 31-year-old Jesse Legendre, so that he could go to the grocery store on Saturday. Kevin Curtis, 57, (right) was given his father - Robert Clinton Curtis Sr. (left)- ashes by his sister in Florida, putting them in his car's glove compartment The car owner claims that he was not privy to the information that Legrendre's license was suspended, with police stating that the man was a repeat offender. Legendre was arrested on the suspicion of impaired driving after he was pulled over for swerving off the road, striking a utility pole and ultimately breaking it. He ended up in a ditch in Manchester, Maine. Curtis loaned his 2006 Chevrolet Impala to friend, 31-year-old Jesse Legendre (pictured), on Saturday so that he could go to the grocery store First responders believed that the Livermore Falls native was under the influence of heroin and used Narcan to revive him after he passed out while rummaging through the car's glove compartment. Deputies then found a powdery substance and believed it to be heroin, administering another dose of Narcan before taking Legrendre to the MaineGeneral Medical Center. On Tuesday, Kennebec County Sheriff Ken Mason verified that the substance was 'human remains; a rather unusual manner in which to keep the remains of a loved one, for sure.' Curtis had kept his father's ashes in the compartment as he awaited the arrival of an urn he had ordered. 'I didn't want them in the house, the kids ripping them open and having them everywhere,' Curtis told CentralMaine.com. Legendre was arrested on the suspicion of impaired driving after he was pulled over for swerving off the road, striking a utility pole and ultimately breaking it. Police seized the remains belonging to Curtis believing they were heroin and issuing Legrendre two dosages of Narcan When police were taking his father's ashes, they spilled some on Legrendre's pants. Curtis's father had been an auxiliary officer for the Hallowell Police Department in the 1950s. Curtis was finally able to get his father's remains back two days later after it was tested He said: 'The kids were really mad when they found out that (the police) took Grandpa, but I tried to make a joke of it. I said, "This is the first time he's ever been in lockup and we'll just get him out."' His sister also has some of their father's remains in her truck while she is in the process of moving Legendre was charged with operating after habitual offender revocation and falsifying physical evidence on Monday. He wasn't charged with any drug-related offenses and here was no evidence that suggested he was under the influence. At the time we didnt have the correct testing equipment to test it. It has since come back negative and that property has been returned to the owner, said Lt. Chris Read, of the Kennebec County Sheriffs Office. Curtis was finally able to get his father's remains back two days later. Polish-born doctor Lukasz Niec has been cleared of allegations he bit his daughter, but the father-of-two could still be facing deportation after the claims sparked an ICE investigation A Michigan judge has dismissed allegations that a Polish-born doctor bit his daughter, but he could still be facing deportation over the claim. The child abuse allegations triggered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to investigate 43-year-old Lukasz Niec, who legally came to the U.S. at the age of five. Niec's attorney, Deanna Kelley, told M Live a judge had tossed out the allegations earlier this month after finding they weren't substantiated. Federal immigration officials arrested the Michigan doctor in January. He was later released on bond. Two misdemeanor convictions on his record make him eligible for removal proceedings, and 18 prior encounters with police increased scrutiny from ICE. His sister, Iwona Niec Villaire, earlier claimed 'almost all' of the 18 encounters were traffic violations. Niec has been separately fighting for increased custody of his daughter, which was granted after the biting charge was dismissed due to a lack of evidence. The allegations against Niec, a father-of-two, were quashed after prosecutors were unable to provide enough evidence to substantiate the claim (Niec is pictured with children and his wife Rachelle) The father-of-two blames his ex-wife, Katherine Patil, for the allegations, which he continues to deny. He said he does not hold any grudges or ill-wishes towards ICE or CPS workers, who he believes have a tough job. 'When someone wants to be vindictive they can do that using CPS as a tool,' he said.' The case against Niec was weakened after video footage of his daughter emerged showing there was no bruise on her shoulder at the time Ms Patil had alleged the girl was bruised. Niec is facing deportation over two misdemeanors and 18 other encounters with police, which his sister Iwona Niec Villaire (pictured) says are 'almost all traffic violations' The doctor said the situation was 'twisted', and that his young daughter had been manipulated into believing things that were not true. 'If you tell a five-year-old that "your dad did it" 100 times, they start to believe that,' he said. Niec says his immigration court hearing is scheduled for November 2019, but he doesn't know if that will change. The custody case between the doctor and his former wife, who filed for sole custody when Niec was arrested, is ongoing. The child's mother declined to comment. President Trump's pick to run the Veterans Affairs department opened up his medical bag to knock out and then pick up jet-lagged travelers on presidential trips, a Democratic senator revealed. The informal drug dispensing is what earned Jackson, the White House doctor and president's personal physician, the sobriquet of 'Candy Man,' said Sen. John Tester, a Nevada Democrat. He said he got the information from current and former military officials who spoke to the committee overseeing Jackson's nomination. Although the drugs he handed out were not addictive opioids that have come under considerably government scrutiny, they were over-the-counter medications that should only be given with a prescription. 'These are called controlled substances for a reason,' Tester told CNN Tuesday night. IN THE BAG: Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, President Donald Trump's choice to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, is accused of handing out prescription meds on overseas trips 'like candy' Sen. Jon Tester told CNN Jackson would hand out drugs 'like candy' DOWNER: Ambien is an insomnia medecine Jackson would 'go down the aisle way of the airplane and say, 'All right, who wants to go to sleep?'' Tester said. 'And hand out the prescription drugs like they were candy ... and put them to sleep and then give them the drugs to wake them back up again,' Tester continued. His committee staff has said the drugs he gave out included Ambien, a sleep aid, and Provigil, a stimulant. The Ambien would help passengers fall asleep on long overseas trips that spanned numerous time zones while President Obama traveled the world. When it came time for work, stimulants were made available. According to WebMD, Provigil and its generic variant are used to treat narcolepsy and sleep disorders such as sleep apnea. WAKE UP TIME! Cephalon Inc.'s Provigil, used to treat excessive sleepiness caused by narcolepsy It can cause addiction, particularly if the person taking it has a substance abuse problem. Ambien, the marketing name for Zolpidem, is a sedative used as a sleeping aid. Side effects can include headache, try mouth, diarrhea, dizziness, as well as abuse. Tester said that about a week ago, his committee started getting calls from current and retired military members with accusations about Jackson. He said they numbered about 20. 'They're very serious accusations,' Tester said of the array of allegations that have been brought to his attention. 'Whoever is the VA secretary does not need a bunch of baggage that will prevent them from doing the job,' he said. The White House is defending Jackson, saying opponents are trying to railroad his nomination 2016 EVALUATION: Obama wrote that 'Ronny does a great job genuine enthusiasm, poised under pressure, incredible work ethic and follow through. Ronny continues to inspire confidence with the care he provides to me, my family and my team. Continue to promote ahead of peers.' He is juggling a newborn baby and royal duties and Prince William appeared to show the strain today as he battled heavy eyelids in Westminster Abbey. The Duke of Cambridge joined his younger brother Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle at an Anzac Day service in London. But while he was in good spirits laughing and joking before the service, it appeared tiredness may have overcome the father-of-three once he sat down for the ceremony. It appeared tiredness may have overcome Prince William once he sat down for the ceremony William now has three young children at home - his two-day-old son, Princess Charlotte, who will turn three next month, and Prince George, four The father-of-three has returned to royal duties for the first time since his wife the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to their third child on Monday William has returned to royal duties for the first time since his wife the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to their third child on Monday. He now has three young children at home - his two-day-old son, Princess Charlotte, who will turn three next month, and Prince George, four. The Anzac Day service is the culmination of a day of events honouring Australia and New Zealand's fallen, and those who have served in subsequent conflicts, which began with a dawn service and wreath laying. William sat beside his soon to be sister-in-law with his eyes closed The Duke of Cambridge was joined by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Westminster Abbey for the traditional service Meeting a number of people in a line-up, William could be heard joking with one man that he has a 'strong name' - as the world waits for the palace to announce the name of the new royal baby As William met Sir Jerry Mateparae, New Zealand High Commissioner to the UK in Westminster Abbey, the Dean of Westminster joked about the eagerly anticipated name, saying: 'Jerry would like it to be Jerry.' William replied: 'Jerry's a strong name.' Asked how the duchess and the baby were, the duke replied: 'They're very well thanks.' He said they are 'in good form, luckily', and added: 'Sleeping's going reasonably well so far, so he's behaving himself which is good news.' Carole Middleton picked up Prince George today to help ease the load on her daughter Kate and Prince William, and she took him home to see his new baby brother - as his father teased about potential names. The Duke of Cambridge said the latest addition to his family was 'sleeping reasonably well so far' adding, 'he's behaving himself, which is good news' Carole Middleton was seen leaving Kensington Palace this afternoon Kate's family including proud grandparents Michael and Carole Middleton, her sister Pippa and brother James have all pitched in to help and been to Kensington Palace to have a cuddle with the new arrival. Mr and Mrs Middleton, it is understood, were amongst the first visitors to see the new prince, while Kate's sister, Pippa, 34, who is reportedly pregnant with her first child, was seen driving herself out of the gates of Kensington Palace yesterday morning in a pink coat and sunglasses, with a broad smile on her face. Prince Charles, however, has been unable see his new grandson as he was in Scotland on a private break when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's third child was born on Monday morning. A royal source said Charles, 69, was very keen to see his grandson but would 'have to work out a time with his family when he gets back' from France. Kate's brother James Middleton also went along to the palace to meet his baby nephew Kate's sister, Pippa, 34, who is reportedly pregnant with her first child, was seen driving herself out of the gates of Kensington Palace yesterday morning The prince did say, however, in an unexpected statement yesterday that both he and baby's step-grandmother, the Duchess of Cornwall, were thrilled at the new arrival. 'We are both so pleased at the news. It is a great joy to have another grandchild,' he said. Over the years there have been reported family tensions, with Charles privately complaining of not seeing enough of his grandchildren, particularly compared to the Middletons. Both Prince George and Princess Charlotte are frequent visitors to Kate's family home, Bucklebury Manor, a haven of tranquillity for the royal children, who can run around the 18-acre grounds without a care in the world and collect fresh eggs from the Middleton's chicken coop. According to sources, the Middletons are 'virtually retired' from the day to day running of their successful business, Party Pieces, and therefore able to help out whenever needed. Carole Middleton was seen shopping on the King's Road for baby supplies after her daughter gave birth Charles, on the other hand, has huge official commitments, including almost 600 public engagements a year, as well as a growing number of official duties on behalf of the elderly Queen, and has to ask his diary team to schedule in time with his young grandchildren. But he does dote on the youngsters. Both George, four, and Charlotte, who will turn three next week, have hand-made wooden swings in the garden at Anmer, carved with their names, courtesy of their grandpapa and there is sure to be a third joining them, when William and Kate eventually decide on a name. The Countess of Wessex, who is married to William's uncle, Prince Edward, revealed to the Mail yesterday that even they hadn't been given a hint although the bookmaker's clear favourite is Arthur. She said: 'The jury's out on that one. I don't know, we're all just going to have to wait and see!' During a visit to Tregolls School in Truro, Cornwall, mother-of-two Sophie added: 'I'm thrilled for them all, it's lovely - really good news.' Prince Charles travelled down from the Highlands to France for a dawn service this morning to mark the centenary of the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux on behalf of the Queen It is anticipated, in line with other royal births, including Charlotte, that the name will be released by Kensington Palace today by press release and on social media. The Queen, who is at Windsor this week, will likely be informed by phone as to the name of her sixth great-grandchildren. She also may not see him until the weekend, when it is likely that William and Kate will bring their new son to the castle to see both herself and Prince Philip, who is currently recovering there from a hip replacement and unable to travel. Royalists and bookmakers alike, meanwhile, have waited patiently since Monday to find out the name of Prince William and Kate Middleton's new arrival. More than 100,000 bets were placed across the UK betting industry on the baby name with Arthur leading the way this morning as the bookmakers' favourite. But this afternoon bookies William Hill suspended betting after a major gamble saw the odds of Alexander tumble from 14/1 in to Even money in the space of an hour. Bookmakers have also suspended bets on the baby being named Alexander following a flurry of late bets. Favourite at the start of the day, Arthur, drifted from 5/2 to 11/4. The baby - William and Kate's third child - was born on Monday at 11.01am weighing 8lb 7oz. Royals traditionally keep the public guessing before revealing their choice of name. Kate and William keep world waiting before they reveal new royal baby's name Royalists and bookmakers alike have waited patiently since Monday to find out the name of Prince William and Kate Middleton's new arrival. More than 100,000 bets were placed across the UK betting industry on the baby name with Arthur leading the way this morning as the bookmakers' favourite. ODDS ON THE NAME OF THE ROYAL BABY Arthur - 11/4 James - 4/1 Alexander - 5/1 Albert - 6/1 Philip - 10/1 Henry - 12/1 Edward - 16/1 Frederick - 16/1 Louis - 16/1 33/1 bar Odds supplied by Ladbrokes Advertisement But this afternoon bookies William Hill suspended betting after a major gamble saw the odds of Alexander tumble from 14/1 in to Even money in the space of an hour. Favourite at the start of the day, Arthur, drifted from 5/2 to 11/4. The baby - William and Kate's third child - was born on Monday at 11.01am weighing 8lb 7oz. Royals traditionally keep the public guessing before revealing their choice of name. William and Kate will want to share the name with the Queen and the rest of their family before making it public. Bookmakers reported a late flurry of bets on Albert - the name of Queen Victoria's beloved consort, and the actual first name of the Queen's father George VI. Another favourite was Philip - a lasting tribute to the Prince of Cambridge's great grandfather and the middle name of Charles and William. So what names are in the running? Here are some of the contenders: The prince said that both he and baby's step-grandmother, the Duchess of Cornwall, were thrilled at the new arrival Arthur One of Charles's middle names, Arthur is also one of William's middle names and was a middle name of the Queen's father, George VI. The legendary King Arthur was the mythical leader of the knights of the Round Table, who supposedly lived in the 5th or 6th century. Once popular, the name fell out of fashion but has had a revival in recent years. Former prime minister David Cameron has a son called Arthur. The legendary King Arthur was the mythical leader of the knights of the Round Table, who supposedly lived in the 5th or 6th century Albert Queen Victoria used to insist that the name Albert was used as a middle name by her descendants, if not a first, in honour of her much-loved consort Prince Albert. By choosing Albert or Bertie for a boy, William and Kate would be honouring Queen Elizabeth II's father, George VI, who was actually Albert Frederick Arthur George but always known to his family as Bertie. Shy, stammering Bertie was forced to become king when his brother Edward VIII abdicated, but won the nation's affection by standing firm in London during the Second World War. Queen Victoria used to insist that the name Albert was used as a middle name by her descendants, if not a first, in honour of her much-loved consort Prince Albert (pictured together) Philip A lasting tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh could see a Prince of Cambridge called Philip. Both Charles and William have Philip as a middle name. The Duke - known for his dedication to duty and his acerbic wit - has been married to the Queen for more than 70 years and is the nation's longest serving consort. A lasting tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh could see a Prince of Cambridge called Philip Frederick A Prince Freddie of Cambridge would have a historical link to the 1st Duke of Cambridge. Prince Adolphus Frederick lived from 1774 to 1850 and was a son of George III. He was apparently very fond of interrupting church services by bellowing out 'By all means' if the priest said 'Let us pray'. James could have been chosen to signify Kate's affection for her brother, the baby's uncle, James Middleton (pictured in 2011 on his sister's wedding day) Charles William may have chosen to pay tribute to his father - but perhaps as a middle name as it may be considered to similar to Charlotte. William may have chosen to pay tribute to his father - but perhaps as a middle name as it may be considered to similar to Charlotte James James could have been chosen to signify Kate's affection for her brother, the baby's uncle, James Middleton. William already has a cousin James, the Earl and Countess of Wessex's son, Viscount Severn. James is a Stuart name. James I, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, had been king of Scotland for 36 years as James VI when he became king of England in 1603. Other names They could have chosen William as a middle name, but also perhaps Michael as a middle name out of respect for Kate's father. Kate's grandfather on her paternal side was called Peter, while on her maternal side, her grandfather was Ronald. Thomas also appears several times in Kate's family tree as does Francis. Convicted killer and millionaire property developer Ron Medich is a 'person of interest' in a separate unsolved murder of a horse-racing mogul. Medich, 70, was found guilty of ordering the killing of his business partner Michael McGurk, 45, in 2009 and to intimidating his widow Kimberley the following year. A Sydney court was told racing identity Les Samba supplied some of the $500,000 cash paid during the ordering of Mr McGurk's murder. Not long after Medich's arrest, Mr Samba was found dead - having been slain in an execution-style killing. Scroll down for video Convicted killer and millionaire property developer Ron Medich is a 'person of interest' in a separate unsolved murder of a horse-racing mogul Not long after Medich's arrest for the murder of Michael McGurk, Mr Samba (pictured with his daughter Victoria and wife Deidre) was found dead - having been slain in an execution-style killing Medich, 70, was found guilty of ordering the killing of his business partner Michael McGurk (pictured), 45, in 2009 Mr McGurk was shot in the head outside his north shore Sydney home in Cremorne after he pulled up in his car with a takeaway meal he had just bought for his family. A senior detective told the Daily Telegraph Mr Samba would've been a key witness in the investigation into Mr McGurk's death. 'He could have been the link between the money and Medich,' the detective said. 'His death certainly didn't hurt Medich.' Mr Samba was found dead on Beaconsfield Parade in Melbourne in February 2011. The father of two had gunshots in his head and back. His death came just four months after Medich was arrested for ordering Mr McGurk's death. Medich has been named by police as a 'person of interest' in relation to Mr Samba's death. The pair owned at least a dozen racehorses together, while Mr Samba is believed to have had strong links to Sydney's criminal underworld. Mr Samba was found dead on Beaconsfield Parade in Melbourne in February 2011 (Pictured: Les Samba on CCTV footage the night he was killed) Before his death, Mr Samba (pictured) was asked to appear the New South Wales Crime Commission for questioning regarding Mr McGurk's murder Police believe two hitmen were involved in Mr Samba's killing. Before his death, Mr Samba was asked to appear the New South Wales Crime Commission for questioning regarding Mr McGurk's murder. Mr Samba was well-known in Australia's racing scene, but had been banned from the sport in Victoria and was investigated by authorities in Western Australia. The source of the money used to pay for Mr McGurk's killing is not known, but witnesses claimed it was provided by Mr Samba. Police believe Mr Samba used a fake driver's licence to fly to Perth in order to get the money for Medich. Mr Samba and Medich owned at least a dozen racehorses together, while Mr Samba is believed to have had strong links to Sydney's criminal underworld Mr Samba (pictured with his family) was well-known in Australia's racing scene, but had been banned from the sport in Victoria and was investigated by authorities in Western Australia Medich and Mr Samba were in New Zealand together to sell a horse just one week before Mr McGurk was killed. Star crown witness Lucky Gattellari testified that his former close friend Medich had become very angry about his ongoing and protracted legal battles with Mr McGurk, involving millions of dollars. Medich told him he had been made a 'laughing stock in the eastern suburbs', that Mr McGurk was ruining his reputation and he wanted Gattellari to find someone 'to take care of this guy'. Medich (pictured) and Mr Samba were in New Zealand together to sell a horse just one week before Mr McGurk was killed This is the shocking moment a helicopter flips over and slices a man to death during a recovery mission of another broken down chopper in Colombia. The first helicopter had gone down in a rural part of the southwestern Cauca District a week before following technical issues. With the first helicopter carrying valuable equipment, another mission was sent out to retrieve it. Chopper: Video shows seconds before one of the helicopter company's technicians, seen right, is sliced to death by its rotor blades Following four successful visits, the fifth flight had devastating consequences, Colombian Army General Jorge Herrera told WRadio. Video shows two technicians standing next to the remains of the downed helicopter, waving their hands to direct the rescuing chopper safely to the ground. The victim, Ivan Andres Lopez Londono can be seen in white with his arms in the air as the black helicopter descends. Mission: The first helicopter, which one of them stands on, had gone down in the southwestern Cauca District a week earlier, and they were sent out to retrieve its parts and cargo Crash: Suddenly, the descending helicopter overturns and kills one of the men Trahic: The victim, Ivan Andres Lopez Londono, died at the scene However, suddenly the aircraft tips to the side and rolls over, with Lopez Londono hit by the rotating blades just out of shot. Lopez Londono, who reportedly worked as a maintenance manager for the helicopter company, died at the scene. The pilot suffered a wrist injury and bruising when the helicopter overturned, and was transferred to hospital. Local authorities have launched an investigation to establish the cause of the accident, which took place last Sunday. Deliberations have begun in Bill Cosby's retrial for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in his home in the Philadelphia suburbs in 2004. At 11.08am on Wednesday, the jury retired after more than an hour of instructions from Judge Steven T O'Neill at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Standing to address them throughout he guided them on how to assess the credibility of witnesses, measure the truth of testimony and decide on who and what to believe in this he said/she said trial. Bill Cosby gestures as he arrives for his sexual assault retrial at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday Cosby's fate now rests in the hands of the jury tasked with deciding whether he walks from Montgomery County Courthouse a free man or spends the rest of his life behind bars As he has every day of the retrial, Cosby walked into the courthouse on Wednesday with his spokesman Andrew Wyatt Cosby is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand (pictured) in his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004 'This isn't about which side presented more evidence,' he said. 'But which evidence do you believe?' He told the to apply their 'common sense as men and women of the world,' when deciding this. 'It is not the defendant's burden to prove himself innocent,' he reminded the jury panel. 'The burden is entirely the Commonwealth's to prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.' Cosby's fate now rests in the hands of the jury tasked with deciding whether he walks from Montgomery County Courthouse a free man or spends the rest of his life behind bars. He stands accused on three counts of aggravated indecent assault - penetration without consent, penetration while the complainant is unconscious and penetration without the knowledge of a complainant having administered an intoxicant for the purposes of preventing resistance. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of ten years. The jury asked for the legal definition of consent after less than two hours of deliberating. At 1pm they returned to courtroom A only to be told by Judge Steven T O'Neill that their question cannot be answered. 'There is no legal definition of consent,' he told them beyond what was written in the charges given to them this morning. Addressing the question that spoke to the heart of the case O'Neill said that if that didn not satisfy them they would have to, 'decide what consent means to them.' 'Use your common sense,' he said. Cosby put on a smile as he walked into the courthouse on Wednesday morning. He stands accused on three counts of aggravated indecent assault in the retrial Cosby's retrial comes after the first trial ended in a mistrial when they declared themselves 'hopelessly deadlocked' after close to 53 hours of deliberation There was a heavy police presence outside the courthouse on Wednesday morning before jury deliberations began Cosby faces the media with his spokesman Andrew Wyatt (left) as he arrives for the start of jury deliberations Spokesman Andrew Wyatt addressed the press on Wednesday morning before he and Cosby walked into the courthouse Four hours into the process the jury returned with two further questions. The first was to have details of a stipulation confirming the authenticity of Constand's telephone records along with testimony given by both Constand and Cosby in 2005 re-read. O'Neill denied the juror's second request which was to see the two statements given by defense 'star' witness Marguerite Margo Jackson - the first in 2016 the second in 2018. The Temple University employee claimed to have roomed with Constand during an away game for the women's basketball team in February 2004. She said she had a conversation with her in which she told her she had been sexually assaulted by a celebrity then said that she had not but she that she could say she had in order to bring a lucrative law suit. Jackson made a statement to Cosby's original defense team last year but was never called to testify after Constand denied knowing her. This time O'Neill allowed her as a witness and the prosecution heavily implied that her second, more detailed, statement had been 'created' with the assistance of Bliss. Jackson's second statement included more explicit references to money - Jackson claimed the women were watching a news report about a civil suit brought against a high profile celebrity for alleged sexual assault. She said that Constand asked her what it was all about. She replied that it was civil so it was about money and added the comment 'money's a great motivator.' Prosecutor Ryan implied that this was added to dovetail with Thomas Mesereau's opening statement asserting that this case was all about 'money, money and lots more money' But while portions of the statements had been read in court they had never been entered into evidence in their entirety meaning that the jury could not see them. In denying their request O'Neill told them they would have to 'rely on their recollections' when it came to Jackson's testimony. protester holds a sign opposing actor and comedian Bill Cosby as he leaves after the closing arguments in the retrial of his sexual assault case on Tuesday Lili Bernard (left) and protestor Bird Milliken demonstrate outside of the Montgomery County Courthouse on Tuesday After six hours of deliberations the jury returned with yet more questions. First they wanted reassurance that they were asking the questions correctly. ONeill assured them, anything you do is correct. Then there was a tone of reproach as their note continued We understood that we could see things again. ONeill explained to them that they could. After several attempts to clarify exactly what portions of testimony they wished to rehear the jury asked to hear the question and answer portions of Cosbys deposition in which he spoke of his romantic interest in Constand and admitted to giving Quaaludes to young women with whom he wanted to have sex. They also wanted a do-over of Marguerite Margo Jacksons entire testimony which took more than an hour first time round. The request and the fact that they are focusing on this early in their deliberations raises the possibilty that they are very much taking to heart the notion that Constands credibility stands or falls on whether or not they believe Jackson. Mesereau told them if they believe Jackson, This case is over. Were out of here. Ryan made it very clear the prosecution sees her statement as a concoction coached out of her by Bliss. ONeill began reading from Cosbys deposition as it approached 7.50pm. He read Cosbys account of the night of the alleged assault, his relationship and romantic interest in Constand. As the evening stretched on Mesereau began to doze, slack jawed, his face shielded from the jury as he sat turned towards the projection screen on which Cosbys words were displayed. Cosby listened. He occasionally nodded, smiling broadly and inexplicably. The Q&A also focused on Cosbys conversations with Constand and her mother, Gianna, during which Mrs Constand of doing a horrible, horrible thing and he apologized referring to himself as a dirty old man. He also offered to pay for Constands education. They also re-heard Cosbys admission to giving Quaaludes to young women with whom he wanted to have sex. ONeill finished reading at 9.15pm. After a brief recess the jury decided to call it a night over 10 hours into deliberations. They will hear Marguerite Margo Jacksons testimony tomorrow morning. The verdict on each charge must be unanimous - something that proved impossible for jurors in the first trial. That ended in a mistrial when they declared themselves 'hopelessly deadlocked' after close to 53 hours of deliberation. On Wednesday the disgraced actor sat and listened to O'Neill's instructions and for the most part his expression was grave. It comes after a day of emotional - and at times deeply personal - closing statements on Tuesday, when special prosecutor Kristen Feden blasted Cosby for 'laughing' during her closing argument. Apparently catching Cosby in the belittling act she shouted in outrage: 'And he's laughing like it's fun. But there's nothing funny about stripping a woman of her capacity to consent. 'There's nothing funny about that Mr Cosby. And there's nothing funny about five different women - plus Miss Constand, six - being incapacitated, being stripped of their autonomy. 'There's nothing funny about no permission there's nothing funny about sexually assaulting an individual.' Where the defense has sought to paint Constand as a 'con-artist' out for money Feden turned the slur back on the defendant. 'A con artist is a person who gains the trust of another person in order to exploit it. Ladies and gentlemen you have witnessed a con.' she said. Cosby walks back to courtroom A, after a break, shortly after arriving for his sexual assault trial Jury deliberations come a day afters pecial prosecutor Kristen Feden blasted Cosby for 'laughing' during her closing arguments on Tuesday. Cosby is pictured in the courthouse on Wednesday Bill Cosby, right, is led by spokesperson Andrew Wyatt at the Montgomery County Courthouse on Wednesday Thundering across the courtroom she stood over Cosby and furiously jabbed her finger so close that he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. With barely contained anger, she said: 'Ladies and gentlemen the perpetrator of that con was that man.' Defense co-counsel Kathleen Bliss also found herself the target of an uncomfortable courtroom attack for what the prosecution described as an 'utterly shameful' take down of Constand and the five other women who stepped up as 'prior bad acts' witnesses and gave their own strikingly similar tales of alleged assault at Cosby's hands. Feden said: 'These women have been scrutinized and talked about in such filthy ways. These are human beings with families. They assassinated their characters and for what?' 'That character assassination that Miss Bliss put those women through was utterly shameful.' Bliss, she said, was 'the reason' victims of sexual assault do not report the crime. But the defense had been equally robust. Mesereau described Constand as a 'pathological liar,' motivated by a hunger for money and publicity. He urged the jury to 'stand up against rumor, gossip and shallow nonsense.' 'This is an 80-year-old man, who's nearly blind, with a successful career who's looking at absolute ruin,' he told them. Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill walks towards a courtroom for Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial on Wednesday Tom Mesereau, lawyer for actor and comedian Bill Cosby, arrives for the sexual assault retrial on Wednesday Kathleen Bliss, lawyer for Cosby, arrives for Cosby's sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse on Wednesday Attorney Gloria Allred appears at the Montgomery County Courthouse for Cosby's retrial on Wednesday morning Bill Cosby and his wife Camille smiled as they walked into Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, the only day of the retrial Camille made an appearance And he dubbed Constand's payout of $3.4million in the civil suit against Cosby, settled in 2006, 'One of the biggest highway robberies of all time'. 'Bill Cosby got conned big time,' he said. 'She didn't require of him that he admit he did anything wrong. She just wanted the money.' At the outset Mesereau had told the court that this case was about 'money, money and lots more money.' According to Bliss all of Cosby's accusers who claimed to have been assaulted during the 80s were washed up wannabes looking for a last gasp of fame and fortune on the back of this high profile case. Heidi Thomas, who claimed Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1982 when she was an aspiring musical theater actress, was now 'living the dream' she said with interviews and speaking tours. Chelan Lasha was a convicted liar who made false statements to law enforcement in 2007. Janice Baker-Kinney was a pill popping groupie, and Maud Lublin who couldn't even recall any assault at all was jumping on the bandwagon of the Cosby 'witch-hunt', Mesereau claimed. As for Janice Dickinson, who testified that Cosby raped her in 1982 during a trip to Lake Tahoe, she was 'a washed up starlet, an aged out model,' a woman who sounded like 'she'd slept with every man on the planet,' and who'd say anything for a paycheck, Mesereau said. A sheriff's deputy in Maine was shot dead while on Tuesday night by a suspect who then took his patrol car and is still on the run. Thirteen-year veteran Corporal Eugene Cole, 61,was shot dead at 1.14am in Norridgewock, allegedly by 29-year-old John Williams. He was killed on U.S. Route 2 in Norridgewock about 60 miles west of Bangor. Dashcam footage taken on Cole's car minutes before he was shot dead was released on Wednesday by the sheriff's office. The camera caught Williams entering the store at 1.40am then emerging a minute later. Cole was shot at 1.45am. Corporal Eugene Cole, 61, was shot dead in the early hours of Wednesday morning allegedly by John Williams, 29, who is still on the run after stealing his police cruiser. He is seen (right) in an old booking photograph for an unrelated crime Dashcam footage from Cole's patrol car minutes before he was shot shows Williams entering the store (left) and emerging a minute later at 1.41am. Cole was shot at 1.45am This is the Cumberland Farm's store which Williams robbed after allegedly shooting the cop. It is pictured on Wednesday after he left Corporal Cole had worked for the force for 13 years Initially, it was reported that Cole was responding to a robbery at a Cumberland Farm 's store. Somerset County Sheriff however believes Williams went to the store after shooting dead the officer then robbed it. He then fled the scene in the cruiser. It was found abandoned at 5am. Police are now hunting for the 29-year-old and their search has put the area somewhat on lockdown. Corporal Cole was a father-of-one who has worked for the force for 13 years. 'He was one of the finest deputies that you would want to meet,' Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster said. Williams is described as 5-foot-6, 120 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair worn in a ponytail. By the afternoon, police had closed in on his home. Deputies were seen pointing their rifles at the property where they believe he is hiding. A Maine State Police Trooper points his rifle at Williams' home on Wednesday afternoon Police in Maine are still hunting the suspect. He abandoned the cruiser and it is not known how he is now getting around A British businessman has appeared in court in connection with a bizarre plot that saw an American dementia sufferer flown to Britain and dumped in a car park. Roger Curry, 76, was found at Hereford bus station in 2015 after apparently being abandoned, in a case that baffled police and sparked a global appeal for information. Simon Hayes, 52, of Taunton, Somerset, appeared at Hereford Magistrates' Court today, charged with one count of fraud and one of perverting the course of justice. Simon Hayes (left, pictured today), 52, of Taunton, Somerset, has appeared at Hereford Magistrates' Court after being charged in connection with the case of Roger Curry (right) Mr Curry was interviewed in a nursing home for a BBC Panorama documentary last year Hayes, who is also charged two counts of possessing fake letters and references for the use in fraud, was bailed and told to return to Worcester Crown Court on May 23. He allegedly perverted the course of justice by falsely representing to members of the public and police that he had found Mr Curry and did not know his identity. Hayes also allegedly defrauded the NHS by claiming to have 'found an unknown male' who he handed over to its care, intending to cause loss to the health service. Prosecutors also say he was caught in possession of articles for use in fraud - including bogus references supposedly prepared by a Royal Marines officer. Mr Curry was discovered outside Hereford bus station (above) in 2015 after being abandoned Mr Curry was cared for at a nursing home in Credenhill, Hereford, for eight months before being flown back to Los Angeles, California. Mr Curry was cared for at a nursing home in Credenhill, Hereford, for eight months Police spent months trying to work out who he was, contacting local care homes, hospitals and even international embassies. Mr Curry appeared to have been cared for and was found wearing new clothes. He lived in a care home run by Herefordshire Council but was eventually identified after a viewer responded to a police appeal on BBC Midlands Today. Debbie Cocker found an old picture from a 1958 yearbook for Edmonds High School in Washington state, which appeared to show Mr Curry in his younger days. Mr Curry was then tracked down by investigators to a burnt-out house following a fire at his home in 2014 in a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles. Neighbours identified the mystery man as Mr Curry, a former nurse married with two children. New details have emerged about a grisly murder-suicide that rocked a quiet Pennsylvania town on Monday and resulted in the deaths of two women who were locked in a sordid love triangle. Radnor Township police said the killing of Meredith Chapman, 33, on Monday night was carefully 'calculated' and planned by Jennair Gerardot, 47, of Wilmington, Delaware. Meredith, the newly hired assistant vice president of Villanova University, was having an extramarital affair with Jennairs husband, 49-year-old Mark Gerardot, according to police. The scorned wife somehow found about her husbands infidelity and set into motion a deadly plan of revenge targeting her younger romantic rival a plan that Jennair detailed in a series of text messages and emails. Scroll down for video Love triangle: Police say Jennair Gerardot, 47, shot and killed her husband Mark's (pictured together, left), 33-year-old mistress Meredith Chapman (right) and then herself Police say both women suffered fatal gunshot wounds but there is no danger to the community Detectives are still sorting that out, Police Superintendent William Colarulo said of Jennairs incriminating writings. On Monday, Jennair donned a wig to disguise her appearance, grabbed a Taurus Tracker .357 revolver and took a train from Delaware to Pennsylvania, where she knew Meredith had relocated about a week earlier for her new job at Villanova, reported Philly.com. There, she broke into three-store brick house and proceeded to wait for her nemesis to come home. The 33-year-old woman was married to former Newark, Delaware, City Councilman Luke Chapman for nearly a decade, but Colarulo revealed on Tuesday that the couple had separated. Meredith, a 2007 graduate of the University of Delaware, worked for the school in media relations and marketing and ran unsuccessfully for a state Senate seat in Delaware in 2016. Mark Gerardot joined the staff at the University of Delaware as creative director earlier this year and briefly worked under Merediths supervision. Less than two hours before her death, Meredith gushed on her Instagram account about her new position at Villanova, writing that she couldnt be more excited. Calculated: Jennair Gerardot (left), detailed her deadly revenge plot in a series of text messages and emails. Mark Gerardot is seen right The bodies of Meredith and Jennair were found inside this home in Randor Township, Pennsylvania, on Monday night Just a week on the job and Im already feeling the love from #NovaNation! #GoingNova #HigherEdMarketing#NewAdventures she posted at 5.42pm. Later that evening, Meredith arrived at her new home on Lowry Lane in Radnor Township, parked her Audi in the driveway, opened the door and walked straight into Jennair Gerardots ambush. Mark and Meredith were supposed to meet up for dinner on Monday night, but the woman never made it to the restaurant. While he was waiting for his girlfriend to arrive, Mark began receiving disturbing text messages from his wife, which led him to Meredith's home, according to police. Officers who responded to Meredith's home were met by Mark, who warned them that his wife might be inside the residence. Office romance: Police say Mark Gerardot (pictured with wife Jennair) at one time served as Meredith's subordinate Hell hath no fury...: Jennair Gerardot (left and right) somehow learned of the affair and allegedly plotted to kill Meredith Married bliss: Meredith is pictured as a bride with her groom Luke on their wedding day in 2009 When police responded to the scene, they found the bodies of both women on the first floor of the residence, which was splattered with blood. The suspected murder weapon was found under Jennair's body in the kitchen. Radnor Township Police Superintendent Colarulo shared additional details concerning the deadly plot, including how the jealous wife cleaned up the shattered glass from the window she used as her entry point so that her victim would not be tipped off that someone had broken in. Meredith, nee Sullivan, married Luke Chapman in 2009 and the couple lived in Fairfield Crest, Delaware, with their dog Indy. As recently as March 30, she posted a message on her Facebook page referencing her husband's political career. Earlier this year, Meredith's husband announced he would not be seeking re-election for a fourth term on the Newark City Council. In 2016, Meredith ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat incumbent State Senator Dave Sokota in Delawares District 8. Meredith had served as the director of digital communications and an adjunct professor at her alma mater, University of Delaware, until earlier this month Meredith, pictured left with former Vice President Joe Biden and right with her former boss, ex-Rep Mike Castle, ran an unsuccessful campaign for State Senate District 8 in 2016 Happy couple: Meredith married Delaware politician Luke Chapman (right) in 2009 Meredith had just taken a new job as assistant vice president of Villanova University She ended up losing the election to the veteran Democrat from Newark by 5 percentage points. Before trying her hand at politics, Meredith worked as a reporter for the Philadelphia-based PBS affiliate WHYY-TV and was later hired as a communication manager for then-Congressman Mike Caste, a Republican. Upon learning the news of Merediths passing, Castle described his former aide as industrious and capable. Im terribly saddened. She was a very good person and one of the last people I would have thought could have something like this happen, he said. Its a terrible shame. Meredith, a native of Pennsylvania, graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor's degree in communication and a Masters degree in education. Villanova University spokesman Jonathan Gust said the school was informed Monday night about her death. 'Our hearts are broken by the devastating loss of our new colleague,' he said. 'The thoughts and prayers of the entire university community are with her family, friends and colleagues during this extremely difficult time.' A quarter-century after fleeing from the law, a man dubbed the last of Miami's 'cocaine cowboys' was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years in prison for playing a key role in one of the biggest drug trafficking operations of the violent 1980s smuggling era. Gustavo Falcon, 56, was a fugitive for 26 years before his capture last April living under an assumed name in Kissimmee, Florida, with his wife. Falcon, also known as 'Taby,' disappeared in 1991 when he was indicted along with his older brother Augusto 'Willie' Falcon, Salvatore 'Sal' Magluta and many others. Gustavo Falcon pleaded guilty in February to a single cocaine distribution conspiracy charge. Gustavo Falcon, 56, has been sentenced to 11 years for his role in one of the largest drug trafficking operations in the 1980 (left: Falcon in 2017, right: Falcon in 1980s) The group were accused of smuggling 75 tons of cocaine into the US, making an estimated $2billion Authorities say the gang smuggled 75 tons (68,000 kilograms) of cocaine into the U.S. and made an estimated $2billion during a time popularized by TV's 'Miami Vice' show. 'That's a lot of cocaine,' said U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno at Falcon's sentencing hearing. 'It's so serious. He himself knows how serious it is.' Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Clark said Falcon was the 'right-hand man' to his older brother. His jobs included keeping transaction ledgers, collecting millions of dollars in cocaine profits, finding stash houses for drugs and organizing tractor-trailer loads of drugs to be shipped from Southern California to Florida. 'It was probably the most prolific smuggling operation we have found here in South Florida,' Clark said. 'Obviously, this case has had a long and winding road.' Falcon was arrested a year ago by U.S. Marshals while on a bike ride with his wife, Amelia, in their quiet town not far from Disney World. In an apologetic letter to the judge, Falcon said he fled because he didn't want to lose contact with his wife and two children, who are now grown. 'I convinced myself that it was better to leave with my wife and children,' he wrote. 'I was afraid that if I went to prison for a long time, my wife would move on, and my children would grow up without a father.' He added that he has 'no grudge against the government. I did wrong and there is a price to pay.' Falcon was found in a nondescript home in a quiet town not far from Disney World. He told the judge he chose to run to be able to stay with his wife and children Back in 1991, Falcon was indicted for trafficking cocaine from Colombia to South Florida along with his drug kingpin brother, Augusto 'Willy' Falcon (right), and co-defendant Sal Magluta (left). Augusto and Magluta were acquitted in 1996 of the charges after it was discovered they bought off witnesses and at least one jury member Falcon attorney Howard Srebnick said that his time as a fugitive forced Falcon to live in seclusion, home-school his children and live a 'very mundane, modest lifestyle.' Srebnick asked for a nine-year prison sentence. But Moreno said Falcon deserved no benefit for the restrictions he faced while hiding from the law. 'You still have to pay for it,' the judge said. Falcon, who was born in Cuba, is the 10th and final defendant to face justice in the case, which was one of the more sensational among many trafficking cases when Miami was the chaotic center of the nation's cocaine trade. Augusto Falcon and Magluta were acquitted at their 1996 trial, but it turned out the pair had bought off witnesses and at least one member of the jury with a $400,000 bribe. Magluta was tried a second time in 2002 and convicted of drug money-laundering, receiving a 205-year prison sentence that was later reduced to 195 years. Augusto Falcon took a plea deal in 2003 and was sentenced to 20 years, but has now been released and is attempting to prevent deportation to his native Cuba. The massive shipment was rumoured to have been heading for the UK market Police have arrested six people in connection with the drugs in France and Spain The nine-tonne haul has an estimated street value of more than 437 million Police and customs in southern Spain have seized the biggest haul of cocaine ever found in containers in Europe - much of it believed to have been headed for the UK. Nearly nine metric tonnes of the drug were hidden amongst crates of bananas in three containers which arrived from Colombia at Algeciras, the port across the bay from Gibraltar, at the weekend. A total of six people have been arrested in three different places - three in Malaga, the capital of the Costa del Sol, two in Lyons in France and one in Algeciras, Spain's Interior Minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, revealed at a press conference in the port city yesterday. The containers were opened and searched on Sunday, said the Minister, who was accompanied by the Director General of Spain's National Police, German Lopez, and the local head of Spanish customs. The Spanish Home Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido (centre) stands next to the enormous cocaine shipment The drugs were hidden amongst boxes of bananas in a shipping container and packed tightly in boxes A total of 8,740 kilos of cocaine were found amongst 1,080 crates of bananas. The Minister said: 'This operation has brought about the biggest seizure of cocaine from containers up until this moment in Europe.' The haul, worth some 437 million at street level, was destined to be distributed in various parts of Europe. A British expert with more than 30 years experience in counter-drugs operations said in Madrid yesterday (WED): 'There is no way that this massive consignment would have all been for Spain. It would have been headed to various parts of Europe had it not been found and much of it would have ended-up in the UK. We estimate that when these large quantities get through about 40 percent goes on the British market.' The operation is still open, said Senor Zoid, and more arrests may follow. With 101 million tons of shipments handled in 2017, Algeciras is Spain's busiest cargo port and a main entry for cocaine into Europe. In January, authorities seized six tons of cocaine there. At least six people have been arrested so far in connection with the shipment - with Spanish police saying more will follow Former President George H.W. Bush is thanking Houston for its 'professionalism and obvious care' during the memorials and services for his wife, Barbara Bush. In a tweet posted Wednesday morning, the 93-year-old Bush thanks Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, the city police and transit agency, Second Baptist Church and St. Martin's Episcopal Church 'and really all Houstonians' for 'making Barbara's visitors and funeral guests feel so welcomed.' The former first lady died at the age of 92 on April 17 and was laid to rest at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas on Saturday. Former President George H.W. Bush thanked everyone involved with his late wife's funeral in a tweet on Wednesday (the former president pictured above at the funeral on Saturday) Bush has been in the hospital since his wife's funeral, after getting an infection. His Wednesday tweet is pictured above The 41st president makes no mention of his own health in his tweet. He has been in Houston Methodist Hospital since Sunday, a day after his wife's funeral, for treatment of an infection that's spread to his blood. The Bushes were married longer than any other presidential couple. They are pictured attending the Super Bowl in February 2017 'President Bush was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital yesterday morning after contracting an infection that spread to his blood. He is responding to treatments and appears to be recovering. We will issue additional updates as events warrant,' spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement on Monday. McGrath later added that Bush is eager to get better so that he can travel to his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. 'He's the most goal-oriented person on this planet,' McGrath said. Bush was hospitalized two days after he greeted scores of people who attended his wife's visitation on Friday, sitting in his wheelchair by her coffin and shaking the hands of all who passed. Bush has used a wheelchair and an electric scooter for mobility since developing a form of Parkinsons disease, and has needed hospital treatment several times in recent years for respiratory problems and other infections. On Friday, Bush greeted many mourners who came to see his wife's casket in Houston Barbara's funeral was attended by former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and their wives, as well as current first lady Melania Trump A year ago this month, Bush spent two weeks in the hospital for treatment of pneumonia and chronic bronchitis, a constant irritation of the lining of tubes that carry air to ones lungs. His doctors said chronic bronchitis is a condition more prevalent with age and can aggravate the symptoms of pneumonia. Bush was also hospitalized, for 16 days, in January 2017 for pneumonia. During that hospital stay, which included time in intensive care, doctors inserted a breathing tube and connected him to a ventilator. He was hospitalized in 2015 in Maine after falling at home and breaking a bone in his neck. In December 2014, he was hospitalized for about a week for shortness of breath, and he spent Christmas 2012 in intensive care for a bronchitis-related cough and other issues. Bush and his late wife were married for 73 years - longer than any other presidential couple. They met when they were teens, before Bush was sent off to fight in World War II. Barbara dropped out of Smith College to marry Bush when he came home on leave in 1945. They went on to have six children together, one of whom, Robin, died as a child in 1953 from leukemia. Barbara Bush was buried next to her daughter on Saturday. A little respect for the future Queen Consort, please. Kate Middleton became an official member of the Royal family on April 29, 2011, when she married Prince William currently second in the line of succession to the English Throne and yet many continue to refer to her by her maiden name. On her wedding day, nearly seven years ago, the 36-year-old dropped her given middle and surnames, going from Catherine Elizabeth Middleton to just Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, will one day take on the title of Queen Consort Kate Middleton became the Duchess of Cambridge when she married Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, in April 2011 So why do so many people still call her Kate Middleton? Here are some theories. Her middle-class roots Speaking with Vanity Fair in 2016, Arianna Chernock, a Boston University professor who studies modern British history, said that, like Princess Diana dubbed the People's Princess the public feels connected to Kate Middleton because she was a regular girl before she began dating, and eventually married, Prince William. 'It doesn't hurt her that the American press especially refers to her as Kate Middleton. It's precisely her middle-class origins, and that name, which won her over to so many people in the first place. So that reminder can only help her,' Chernock stated. Uncertainty about Kate's title When Kate Middleton and Prince William married, she became Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cambridge. This title changes and, technically, isn't the only one she's got. Upon entering Scotland, England's neighbor to the north, the mother of three is to be referred to as Her Royal Highness, the Countess of Strathearn. She's also known as Princess William of Wales. This title would be her one and only had Her Majesty The Queen not given her the title of Duchess of Cambridge. In addition to confusion about her many titles, there's a lack of clarity on Kate's preferred name. Though she's often been referred to by the palace and the public as Kate, Duchess Kate or Kate the Duchess of Cambridge, her husband exclusively calls her Catherine. That is her given name and, as previously pointed out, after her wedding she changed her full name to Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Apparently today is just one of those days when Im peeved because Im currently feeling some type of way by all the Kate Middleton and Prince Williams wife Im seeing in headlines. Its Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge you minimizing, erasing, overly familiar jackasses. Mx. Amadi (@amaditalks) April 23, 2018 Internet searches Kate Middleton has been popular with members of the Royal-obsessed public in the UK and abroad since she was introduced as Prince William's girlfriend years ago. A glimpse at Google search results shows that far more people are searching for information about the Duchess of Cambridge by searching 'Kate Middleton'. A query using her given name yields more than 1.8 million results, while a search for 'Duchess of Cambridge' returns just over 800,000. Googling 'Princess Kate' sees more than 2.8 million search results. As a result of this trend, many publications specifically American ones tend to refer to her as Kate Middleton or Princess Kate. This likely adds to people calling her by those titles. Relaxed Royal protocol The times, they are a-changin', folks. Kate Middleton and Prince William have been known to break with Royal traditions in different aspects of their lives. They've named family members godparents to their children, they've announced the arrival of their children online and done a public appearance with all three children ahead of their christening. To put it simply, Royal protocol has relaxed significantly in recent years. The Royal family is adapting with the times and Kate and William don't appear to be overly hung up on titles. Kate's never once corrected anyone for shortening her name or calling her by the wrong title. Familiarity A more simple explanation for why many people continue to call the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton is that it's what they know best. Kate was introduced to the public as Prince William's longtime girlfriend in the early 2000s. They married in 2011, but by that time the public was used to calling her Kate or Kate Middleton. Is Kate Middleton a princess? It's worth noting that while she bears the title of Princess William of Wales, Kate Middleton's not actually a princess since she wasn't born into the Royal family. Still, many outlets and Royal fanatics continue to refer to her as one. 'Most people believe that when you marry a prince, you're a princess and everyone has known William as Prince William since he was born,' People's head Royal correspondent, Simon Perry, said in an interview with Vanity Fair. The Duchess of Cambridge #KateMiddleton wore a red dress like Princess Diana as she made her first official appearance today with her new royal baby .#KateMiddleton #RoyalBaby pic.twitter.com/mMLQQIZVMB Javeria Siddique (@javerias) April 23, 2018 Perry added this confusion may be why some fans still call her Kate Middleton. 'One of the reasons [Kate Middleton] still gets used is there are just so many different titles and what have you in the family, that I don't think every ordinary person knows [the difference between them],' he told the publication. Heir to the British throne The line of succession to the British throne continues to change as more Royal babies are born into the family. Princess Charlotte, currently fourth in line for the throne behind her big brother Prince George, recently made history as the first Royal daughter not to be bumped by the birth of a younger brother. Her father is second in line for the crown behind his father, Charles, Prince of Wales. Should Prince William be named King of England, Kate Middleton will become known as the Queen Consort. The title is purely symbolic. Harry's sat behind his newborn nephew at sixth in line to inherit the throne. His current title is actually Prince Henry of Wales. Lindsay Lohan's mother Dina has lost the actress' childhood Long Island home to foreclosure after fighting off the bank for years. Lindsay had previously tried to stave off the bank, giving her mom $40,000, in October 2012, but her mother is now in arrears to the tune of $1.5million as of December 12. According to court documents, a New York judge has ordered the home go up for auction in the next 90 days, according to The Blast. Lindsay Lohan's mother Dina (pictured together) lost the actress' childhood home to foreclosure The two-story single family home (pictured) boasts a pool, three-and-a-half bathrooms, and garage that fits three cars Dina defaulted on the mortgage and failed to respond to a foreclosure lawsuit. In 2013, Dina was sued by JPMorgan Chase for foreclosure, but she and the bank were able to hammer out a deal and the lawsuit was put on hold. That lawsuit claimed Dina 'failed to comply with the conditions of the mortgage by failing to pay portions of principal, interest or taxes, assessments, water rates, insurance premiums, escrow and/or other charges.' Lindsay giving Dina money in 2012 became public knowledge when her father released a phone call he had recorded of his daughter talking about it. In the phone conversation with her father, Michael Lohan, she said: 'I was like, ''Give me my money back! Give me my 40 grand back that I just gave you!''' The foreclosure lawsuit says the home will be auctioned off after Dina failed to respond When he asked why she gave her mother the money, Lindsay said: 'Because she needs it to keep the house.' Dina bought the home for $650,000 in 2004 but then took out a $1.3 million loan on the property where Lindsay, 31, and her siblings Michael Jr., 29, Ali, 23, and Dakota, 20, lived as children. The home boasts a pool, three and a half baths, and a three car garage. It is currently worth around $900,000. The love affair between Kanye West and Donald Trump intensified on Wednesday evening as the rapper traded adoring messages with the President, showed off his MAGA hat and criticized Obama - despite Kim Kardashian's attempts to step in. The rapper proclaimed that the mob 'can't make me not love' Trump and praised the President's 'dragon energy'. 'You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him,' he wrote. 'We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals.' He later revealed that his MAGA hat is signed by the President himself, posting a picture of the accessory, which itself prompted another reply from Trump which simply read: 'MAGA!' Trump later retweeted the message and wrote: 'Thank you Kanye, very cool!' Later on Wednesday evening, West turned his attention to former president Barack Obama, tweeting: 'Obama was in office for eight years and nothing in Chicago changed.' However, he declared his respect for Hillary Clinton, writing 'I love Hillary too'. Scroll down for video Kanye West has once again declared his support for Donald Trump, calling the president his 'brother' and saying they both share 'dragon energy'. He tweeted this around 9.30am PST In his next tweet posted just a minute after, Kanye wrote that he loved also Clinton and claimed that 'Trump is pretty much a 50 50 split' for the people in his life West even tweeted a picture of himself in a Make America Great Again hat (pictured here with music mogul Lyor Cohen in center and an unidentified man) Trump later retweeted the message on his page and wrote: 'Thank you Kanye, very cool!' Around 12.30pm PST West posted a picture of his MAGA hat to show that it had been signed by Trump himself The president then tweeted the photo of the hat with 'MAGA!' This evening Kanye turned his attention to the former president, tweeting, 'Obama was in office for eight years and nothing in Chicago changed' He then retweeted a post in which President Trump was expressing his excitement about meeting Apple CEO Tim Cook with the caption, 'Can't wait to meet' Kanye then retweeted a post in which President Trump was expressing his excitement about meeting Apple CEO Tim Cook with the caption, 'Can't wait to meet'. Next he posted a photo of Trump and Cook speaking together and said 'caption this photo'. Seconds later he wrote: '2 of my favorite people' before retweeting Trump's 'MAGA' tweet again. After that he posted messages which had apparently been sent by popular New York radio host Ebro Darden that seemed to discuss the rapper's support for Trump. '159 employees to go,' he wrote. Darden yesterday claimed that rapper had previously battled an opioid addiction. Eric Trump also got on the Kanye train, retweeting the same tweet his dad did and adding a few American flag emojis as well. Less than an hour after he posted his original tweet, West revealed that his wife Kim Kardashian had called him about the Trump tweet. 'My wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone. I don't agree with everything Trump does,' he wrote. 'I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself.' Next he posted a photo of Trump and Cook speaking together and said 'caption this photo' Seconds later he wrote: '2 of my favorite people' After that he posted messages which had apparently been sent by Hot 97's host Ebro Darden that seemed to discuss the rapper's support for Trump In December of 2016, he actually met with Trump but soon after deleted all his post about the President after he was hit with a wave of criticism Kardashian took to her own Twitter account to defend West and said he was 'years ahead of his time'. 'Now when he spoke about Trump...Most people (including myself) have very different feelings & opinions about this,' she began. 'But this is HIS opinion. I believe in people being able to have their own opinions, even if really different from mine. He never said he agrees with his politics.' In a separate tweet Kardashian reiterated that she loved and respected her husband. 'Kanye will never run in the race of popular opinion and we know that and thats why I love him and respect him,' she said. Less than an hour later at 10.30 PST, West tweeted that his wife Kim Kardashian had called him about the Trump tweet Kardashian (pictured with West in a recent family photo) was a vocal supporter of Clinton during the 2016 presidential election campaign But Kardashian later took to her own Twitter to defend her husband, tweeting around 12.30pm PST that her husband was 'years ahead of his time' She also hit back at the media, claiming reports of West having 'mental health issues' were 'not fair' and 'actually scary' Donald Trump Jr later tweeted his support following Kardashian's defense of West, using the 2016 Clinton hashtag #ImWithHer And he then retweeted a post from Chance The Rapper which read, 'Black people don't have to be democrats' 'And in a few years when someone else says the same exact thing but they arent labeled the way he is and you will all praise them! Kanye is years ahead of his time.' Kardashian also hit back at the media, which she said was trying to 'demonize' West. 'Your commentary on Kanye being erratic & his tweets being disturbing is actually scary,' she wrote. 'So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair.' Donald Trump Jr jumped in to show his support for Kardashian, retweeting her defense of West and adding #ImWithHer - the hashtag originally used to show support for Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. And he then retweeted a post from Chance The Rapper which read, 'Black people don't have to be democrats.' Donald Jr wrote: 'Its always incredible to watch a cultural shift happen in real time. I respect those willing to take the lead breaking with convention. That takes guts... though theres a better word for it.' West's public support for Trump even made its way into the discussion at the White House press briefing on Wednesday. A reporter asked Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders if Trump had reached out to West following the rapper's recent praise. 'I don't know of any conversation that they've had over the last week or so, I'll keep you posted if that changes,' Sanders said, breaking into a smile. 'I know they met during the transition, that's the only meeting I'm aware of that's taken place, or conversation.' Ivanka Trump jumped on board to retweet Kanye with the hashtag #truth Eric Trump also got on the Kanye train, retweeting the same tweet his dad did and adding a few American flags At 1pm PST he tweeted a screen grab of Trump's retweet - posted half an hour earlier - which he had seen from mediatkd, a Kanye West Twitter fan page West, who made multiple references to becoming the 'future president' in his Wednesday tweets, also posted a picture of a poster for him to become president in 2024 At 1.30PST West posted a screengrab, which appears to be from his longtime collaborator Tracey Mills, texting him that they needed to talk about his Make America Great Again hat West first revealed his support for Trump shortly after the November 2016 election, when he told a California concert audience he would have voted for the Republican. 'I told yall I didnt vote, right? But if I wouldve voted, I wouldve voted for Trump,' he said. 'We live in a racist country. That is a fact. This world is racist, OK? Lets stop being distracted to focus on that as much.' But in a separate tweet on Wednesday, Kanye wrote that he also loved Clinton, who Kardashian publicly supported in the 2016 presidential election. 'If your friend jumps off the bridge you don't have to do the same,' he began. 'Ye being Ye is a fight for you to be you.' 'For people in my life the idea of Trump is pretty much a 50 50 split but I don't tell a Hillary supporter not to support Hillary I love Hillary too.' The rapper continued to discuss free thought, saying he loves when 'people have their own ideas'. 'You don't have to be allowed anymore. Just be. Love who you want to love. That's free thought,' he wrote. 'I'm not even political. I'm not a democrat or a republican.' West (pictured outside an LA music studio on Tuesday) recently came under fire for tweets supporting far right-wing media personality Candace Owens Around 9.30am PST West was discussing free thought, saying he loves when 'people have their own ideas' The rapper declared that he was 'not scared anymore' and 'not scared of the media' either West declared that he was 'not scared anymore' and 'not scared of the media'. 'I'm not scared of the past and I'm optimistic about the future,' he wrote. 'This tweet is in love not fear.' 'With love I am invincible,' he continued in a separate tweet. 'Truth is subjective but love is the most powerful force in the world and the world needs to express more of it.' 'No race religion region or political party can argue with the power of love,' another tweet read. West also began tweeting about love, saying it made him 'invincible' and that 'no race religion region or political party can argue with the power of love' West's Wednesday afternoon tweets began with a proclamation that 'traditional thinkers' were locked in a 'mental prison'. 'Free thinkers don't fear retaliation for your thoughts,' he wrote. 'The traditional thinkers are only using thoughts and words but they are in a mental prison.' 'You are free. You've already won. Feel energized. Move in love not fear. Be afraid of nothing.' West told his fans he was hitting them with his 'zig zag thoughts' and encouraged them to 'unlearn linear thinking', 'decentralize', and 'burn that excel spread sheet', phrases that were written in three separate tweets. The tweets came just hours after West confirmed he had cut ties with his longtime manager Scooter Braun. At one point during his stream-of-consciousness tweets, just before 8am PST, West shared a photo of eldest daughter North with a lady bug The tweets came just hours after West confirmed he had cut ties with his longtime manager Scooter Braun at 7am PST But six hours later West would tweet that he considered Braun to be a 'genius' and hoped his former manager would be part of a 'new platform' he was working on 'I no longer have a manager, I can't be managed,' he tweeted on Wednesday morning. 'I'm nobody's client,' a separate tweet read. Braun confirmed the news on Twitter this week, writing: 'A man's loyalty is truly tested when he is willing to stand by someone who will never show that same respect. 'Don't show that same love and loyalty waiting for reciprocation .. do it because your integrity demands.' Later in the day West said he wanted Braun to be part of a 'new platform' he was creating. 'Scooter is a genius,' he wrote. 'He's more than a manager so is Irving. We all need to sit together.' West also revealed he got rid of his last lawyer 'because he wouldn't come to work full-time'. 'I also asked my last manager to come work full time for Yeezy of course the last lawyer and manager said no,' he explained, seemingly referring to Braun. 'So now I hired a CEO and a CFO and i have two full time lawyers as of now.' Around 8am PST West was proclaiming he was the 'single highest paid person in footwear' and said his fashion company Yeezy is the second 'fastest growing company in history' West then went on to declare himself 'this generation's Ford Hughes Jobs Disney', referring to Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Steve Jobs, and Walt Disney. The rapper proclaimed he was the 'single highest paid person in footwear' and said his fashion company Yeezy is the second 'fastest growing company in history'. 'It is a unicorn on its way to becoming a decacorn,' he wrote. 'Yeezy will become the biggest apparel company in human history,' West declared in another post. West's tweets then turned to the media, as he called out both TMZ founder Harvey Levin as well as People Magazine for recent stories about the rapper. 'Harvey Levin of TMZ your hearing from your future president,' he wrote. 'Let's be friends. Please never use the word erratic to describe a person who is economically and psychologically empowered.' 'People magazine. Watch how you speak my name,' another tweet read. 'You would love a pair of Yeezys. Don't play yourself.' West tweeted pictures of his home half an hour later, asking his followers if it looked 'like the sunken place', which is a reference to the film Get Out While Kardashian didn't call her husband about sharing pictures of their home on social media, she did tweet that it was against a rule they had made as a couple Get Out director and writer Jordan Peele later chimed in and joked the tweet had inspired him The Harvey Levin tweet was one of two instances in which West referred to himself as the future president on Wednesday. In a tweet that followed shortly afterwards, he proclaimed: 'When we become president we have to change the name of the plane from Air Force one to Yeezy force one'. West then tweeted a number of sales figures for his Yeezy brand, proclaiming 'the Yeezy 700 is adidas most requested shoe' and 'the Yeezy 350s sell 400 thousand pair in four hours. Only thing close to this is the iPhone'. The rapper also tweeted a picture of eldest daughter North with a lady bug as well as pictures of his home, writing: 'do this look like the sunken place', a reference to the recent hit film Get Out. Around 7.45am PST West's tweets turned to the media, as he called out both TMZ founder Harvey Levin and People magazine for recent stories about the rapper He also tweeted more pictures of his home, despite Kardashian's protests, and said he left his emojis 'Bart Simpson color' As his stream-of-consciousness tweets continued, West revealed he leaves his emojis 'Bart Simpson color', that he'd turn the 'Grammys into the Yammys', and that he was 'nice at ping pong'. 'I'm used to the heat of independent thoughts,' he wrote at one point. West also revealed that he had songs coming out with A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott and Lil Uzi. In one tweet he wrote: 'Trav we gotta drop the track with me you and Uzi this week bro. Let's goooooooooooooooooooooooo'. 'Rocky we gotta release our songs ASAP,' he said in another. 'I'm 40 years old and I'm just now becoming my parents child,' another tweet read. West's latest Twitter tirade comes just a day after Ebro Darden claimed that rapper had previously battled an opioid addiction. West's latest Twitter tirade comes just a day after NY radio host Ebro Darden claimed that rapper had previously battled an opioid addiction before canceling his tour in 2016. The rapper is pictured here with Kardashian two months before his tour was canceled Sources have claimed that West (pictured in 2015) does not have an opioid addiction but that he does have an acute mental illness and that those close to him are concerned Darden took to his show Ebro In The Morning on HOT 97.1 in New York City on Monday to share the details of an alleged private conversation between him and West. He claimed West told him: 'Nobody really showed love for me when I was addicted to opioids and in the hospital.' It had been thought that the time that West had suffered from exhaustion weeks after his wife Kim Kardashian was robbed of millions in jewelry in Paris. West famously cancelled his Saint Pablo concert at the The Forum in Inglewood, California on November 20, 2016 before cancelling the rest of the tour the following day. During the same show, Darden claimed West said 'I love Donald Trump' and complained he 'couldn't get anything done' when Barack Obama was president. 'I reached out to Obama for years and couldnt get anything done, but Trump gave me a meeting,' Darden claimed West said during their private conversation. Sources denied Daren's claims that West had an addiction and told The Blast on Monday that he had actually been in the hospital for suffering extreme paranoia after not sleeping for over 48 hours. In the same report, sources close to the rapper claimed that people in his 'inner circle' are concerned with his mental health. They also claimed West has an acute mental illness which was even used as his defense in the lawsuit against Lloyds Of London over insurance money when it came to his canceled tour at the end of 2016. A day after Daren talked about an alleged discussion between the two, Kanye phoned into Ebro In The Morning on New York's Hot 97.1 radio station on Tuesday One source told the publication: 'We are all worried about his current mental health.' They said a recent outburst by West at the studio had many worried as he shouted that he didn't need 'titles' and that he could handle his career 'all by himself'. After saying all business would be 'handled in-house' it is claimed that West finished the outburst by saying 'Yeezy is the new Apple'. Kanye has had many buzzing since his return to Twitter last week but an insider for the publication said that his comments 'aren't making a lot of sense' to his team. It was believed that his social media flood were just to promote his upcoming albums, however, the site report that friends and family believe that he may be 'spiraling into a dark place.' A day after Darden claimed West had an opioid addiction, the rapper called into his show on Tuesday. Rumors have also swirled that West's recent Twitter outbursts have caused him to have 'huge blow-ups' with Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner (pictured together in 2015) And one source claimed that, during a recent outburst in the studio, West shouted that he didn't need 'titles' and that he could handle his career 'all by himself' But whenever Darden tried to ask him any questions, West would simply reply 'I love you' before breaking out into Stevie Wonder's song I Just Called To Say I Love You. West then told the radio host: 'Meet me up in person and then we can talk afterwards but I just called to say I love you'. Rumors have also swirled that West's recent Twitter outbursts have caused him to have 'huge blow-ups' with Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner. A source told People that Jenner has been upset with how 'erratic' West is acting and that she's concerned about 'her daughter's brand'. 'Everyone is really, really worried,' the source added. A source said that West has been 'eccentric and erratic' and that he 'genuinely believes he's God and a genius', while another claimed he's 'all over the place'. But another source close to the rapper said he's just 'being Kanye' and that he likes to 'stir the pot'. 'He's willing to take risks with his public persona,' they said. 'He doesn't take it as serious as the internet takes it.' Pope Francis has praised exorcisms as a 'way to fight against evil' and 'escape from the power of sin' in a controversial weekly address. The pontiff, in an impassioned speech in St Peter's Square in Rome, urged Christians to 'drive out evil' and emphasised the importance of baptism in order to exorcise demons. According to the pope, those who are baptised are given the power to fight against the devil - with exorcism, or self-cleansing through prayer, becoming an essential part of Christian life. He said the sacrament of baptism 'enables those who receive it to fight against the spirit of evil' - adding that 'all Christian life is a battle' and that believers should take precautions against the deceit of the devil. 'We know from experience that the Christian life is always prone to temptation, especially to the temptation to separate from God, from his will, from communion with him, to fall back into the webs of worldly seductions,' he said. 'And baptism prepares and strengthens us for this daily struggle, including the fight against the devil who, as St. Peter says, like a lion, tries to devour and destroy us.' Scroll down for video Pope Francis called for people to get baptised to be able to fight the devil and exorcise their demons using prayer and the sacraments Thousands gathered in St Peter's Square in Rome to hear the pontiff's controversial address 'It is hard to fight against evil, to escape from its deceits, to take strength again after an exhausting struggle,' Francis said, 'but we must know that all Christian life is a combat.' The pontiff advocated prayer and the sacraments as the best way to exorcise evil spirit during Wednesday's weekly address. He did, however, warn that there was no quick fix to eradicating the devil - and that baptism was just a tool which enables Christians to fight against evil. He explained that adults preparing for baptism are subject to 'repeated exorcisms pronounced by the priest,' Francis said. 'That is, prayers that call for liberation from all that separates from Christ and prevents intimate union with him.' Baptism 'is not a magic formula,' the pope said, 'but a gift from the Holy Spirit that empowers those who receive it to fight against the spirit of evil. The statements are not the only controversial decree the pope has issued this week. On Tuesday he renewed his pledge that sick toddler Alfie Evans should be flown to Rome to receive treatment - despite the ruling of the UK courts that he should remain in the UK. He also met with the sick boy's father Tom Evans in Rome who said pope Francis 'looked him in the eye and told him he was doing the right thing'. The mayor of Dallas announced on Wednesday the passing of a police officer who was wounded in a shooting at a Home Depot on Tuesday, which also injured another officer and a store employee. According to Mayor Mike Rawlings, officer Rogelio Santander, 27, succumbed to his wounds at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital shortly after 8am. Santander had been with the police force for three years and is the first Dallas officer to die in the line of duty since 2016. Another officer, Crystal Almeida, 26, remains in critical condition, as is Scott Painter, 26, a loss-prevention officer for Home Depot who also was shot Tuesday. Both are said to be improving. Scroll down for video Fatality: Dallas officer Rogelio Santander (left), 27, passed away from injuries sustained when police say Armando Juarez (right) opened fired inside a Home Depot store Tuesday Clinging to life: Officer Crystal Almeida, 26 (pictured) remains in critical condition after the shooting but is said to be improving Home Depot loss prevention officer Scott Painter (pictured) is in critical condition in the hospital after being shot four times Authorities were able to apprehend the suspected gunman, 29-year-old Armando Juarez, just hours after the shooting following a high-speed chase. Juarez is being held at the Dallas County jail on $1.1million bond. The charges against him now include capital murder, aggravated assault on a public servant, aggravated assault in retaliation and theft of property up to $32,000. A police spokesman previously said said officers Santander and Almeida were called to the Home Depot by the loss prevention officer reporting a possible shoplifter at around 4.30pm on Tuesday. According to an employee, Mercedes Espinosa, the cops tried to arrest the man before 'around seven shots' rang out. Espinosa then saw the police officers in a 'pool of blood', he told CBS News. Juarez, 29, is accused of shooting the cops and a loss prevention officer at around 4.30pm on Tuesday in the Home Depot in Dallas, Texas, before fleeing in a white Ford truck. He is seen in a police mug shot released before his arrest, and in store surveillance camera video The white Ford truck cops say Juarez used to drive away from the Home Depot in Dallas following the incident. It is seen here in surveillance camera footage released by Dallas PD Home Depot employees comfort one another outside the store in Dallas following the shooting on Tuesday Scott Painter's uncle, Jon Painter, told the Dallas Morning News his nephew was shot four times. He and wife Scarlett got married in late October. Police quickly named Armando Juarez as a 'person of interest' and dispatched a helicopter and sniffer dogs to look for him. Heavily armed officers wearing masks were also seen searching a creek bed behind the store. At around 9.30pm Juarez was brought into custody following a high-speed case that ended at the intersection of Lemmon Avenue and Versailles Avenue, just 10 miles away from the scene of the shooting. The suspect pleaded guilty of stealing a car last November and was still wanted by police on Tuesday for skipping a sentencing hearing in February, according to court records seen by WFAA.com. His grandmother, Janie Longoria, told NBC 5 she 'backed the blue' before adding, 'I couldn't believe that one of my family could have done that'. Longoria added that Armando is a 'sweet, lovable person,' but that his friends are a bad influence. Officers comfort each other outside the emergency room at Presbyterian Hospital on Tuesday where their coworkers are being treated A Dallas Police officer walks towards Presbyterian Hospital on Tuesday where the three victims are being treated Officers print from the Presbyterian Hospital to their cars on Tuesday evening after receiving an emergency call Dallas cops are using a helicopter to search for the shooting suspect, who has now been taken into custody Ruben Juarez, the suspected cop killer's father, told The Dallas Morning News, 'there's no way ... [he] could've done this,' and that he doesn't think his son even owns a gun. Governor Gregg Abbot tweeted shortly after the shootings: 'Our thoughts and prayers are with @DallasPD and the two officers shot and critically wounded. 'Texas honors all the men and women who protect and serve our communities, and justice will be served.' The Home Depot is off the 11600 block of Forest Central Drive in Dallas' northern suburbs. The Assist the Officer Foundation has opened a fund to help Dallas police officers. People watch as the Texas Department of Public Safety rolls in heavy duty vehicles to the Home Depot parking lot on Tuesday Governor Gregg Abbot tweeted: 'Our thoughts and prayers are with @DallasPD and the two officers shot and critically wounded' Julie Bernet, 49, was jailed for one year on Tuesday for her atrocious treatment of more than a dozen dogs A dog breeder has been put in jail for her abhorrent treatment of German Shepherds she imported from Europe then starved so badly they resorted to eating each other. Julie Bernet, 49, was arrested in 2015 after one of the animals was seen by neighbors walking down the street with the severed head of another in its mouth in Kansas. She had eleven dead or dying dogs on the property. When animal protection officers found them, some were locked up and others were dying. There were carcasses scattered around her land including one which had holes in it. Bernet, 49, was convicted of 11 counts of animal cruelty last year. She was sentenced to probation but on Tuesday, a judge revoked that decision and ordered her to spend one year behind bars. It was at the behest of prosecutors who said her atrocious treatment of the animals warranted a prison sentence. Scroll down for video Some of the dogs were found on a property in Kansas in 2015 and some were found in Missouri in January. Above, one of the dead animals which the others had begun eating in Missouri The puppies that were still alive and rescued in Missouri earlier this year had terrible skin infections and were desperately hungry One of the dogs' fur had almost been entirely removed from its face by an infection. Left, one of the dogs kept in a cage It also came after she was arrested a second time while keeping a dog in the trunk of her car in subzero temperatures, and after another 14 animals, including two elderly horses, were discovered on another property in Ozark, Missouri. 'The conditions these animals were kept in was disturbing and horrific,' Assistant District Attorney Jason Covington said. Bernet marketed herself on Facebook as Julie Cabernet. She bought the dogs to sell them in the area but her business failed and the electricity on her property was turned off. The animals were left largely unattended as a result. Several of the 14 dogs rescued earlier this year had skin conditions and their paws were unclipped Fellow dog enthusiasts watched her from afar and became increasingly concerned for the animals. In 2015, after one was spotted carrying another's head in its mouth, authorities intervened and she was convicted of 11 counts of animal cruelty. She escaped jail, moved out of Kansas and started living in Missouri where she was later arrested with another dog in her car. Among critics is Maris Ewing who said she had been watching the dogs whenever Bernet entered them in events over the years. She rescued some of the second batch of animals after she was arrested for the second time. 'The puppies looked malnourished and wormy. 'I thought to myself who the heck is looking at this and thinks this is okay? 'I did notice that any questions to her animal husbandry were attacked and immediately deleted from her page. I have been watching her since about 2011. Two starving and partially blind horses were also discovered on the property in Missouri. One is shown above with its ribs poking out One of the horses had material, which appeared to be metal, stuck to its behind The animals were kept in horrific conditions. The people who rescued them said they believe they were left for days on end without any food or attention Dogs in Ozark, Missouri, were found living in cages in subzero temperatures, shivering 'I actually lived about 10 minutes from her home in Kansas, I had asked to visit the property and potentially work dogs with her and she declined and said it was a private property and outsiders were not welcome to work dogs,' she said in a January Facebook post where he shared his concerns. Ewing shared harrowing photographs of the conditions on the property. 'He took in some of the dogs which were removed from her property and were in need of rescue. Bernet marketed herself as a caring dog breeder on social media and posed with some of the traumatized animals She was spared jail after her first conviction in 2017 but had the probation sentence for that crime revoked and is now behind bars Some, she said, had 'bladder stones' the size of a fist and caused the dogs to urinate blood. One of the horses that was rescued from her home was blind in one eye when it was removed. Ewing said the state of desperation that dogs have to be in to eat one another is beyond imagination. 'Cannibalism in dogs, shows a SEVERE state of desperation in these dogs to fulfill the most basic need of nutrition, by eating their own kind. 'Dogs don't do this.' The parents of Alfie Evans were represented by different barristers for the first time during today's Court of Appeal hearing, it has emerged. Paul Diamond, who had been representing both Tom Evans and Kate James in the ongoing battle over Alfie's treatment, spoke only on his father's behalf this afternoon. Judges heard that Jason Coppel QC, an expert in EU law, was now representing Ms James, having spoken to her on the phone and reportedly not had time to read yesterday's High Court ruling. Mr Diamond, who works for the Christian Legal Centre, had been rebuked by Mr Justice Hayden at yesterday's hearing for attempting to take the 'moral high ground' in the case. Jason Coppel (left) represented Alfie's mother, Kate James, at this afternoon's appeal hearing, while Paul Diamond (right) was the barrister for Alfie's father Tom Evans A Sky News reporter at today's hearing said judges had 'expressed concerns' after it emerged the two parents had different counsel. Mr Coppel, whose practice has a 'particular emphasis on EU law', according to his website, submitted that European freedom of movement laws should allow Alfie to travel to Italy. But the hospital's lawyer said it would be 'astonishing' if free movement superseded Alfie's best interest, the reporter in the hearing said. Mr Coppel previously represented the Government in its legal battle over Parliament's role in triggering Article 50 to leave the EU. He had only come to the case at the last moment and had not had time to read Mr Justice Hayden's judgment at the High Court, the Mirror reports. At the start of yesterday's hearing, Mr Diamond said: 'It's really an application for common humanity and common sense.' Tom Evans and Kate James, who have been at the centre of a life-support treatment battle for their son Alfie Evans, pictured last year But the judge interjected and told the lawyer to 'confine himself to the law' and avoid 'emotive nonsense', later adding: 'I don't need to be reminded we have a human being. You do not have the moral high ground in this court. It is treacherous terrain.' Mr Diamond is Standing Counsel for the Christian Legal Centre, and is described on their website as a 'Defender of the Faith. ' Today he told the court the parents were not 'seeking a miracle cure in Italy'. 'They are simply seeking the palliative care that is needed,' he said. Christian Concern and its sister organisation the Christian Legal Centre have been involved in various high profile campaigns since being founded in 2004. Among the issues they campaign on are abortion, adoption, marriage, education, end of life, free speech and issues relating to sexual orientation. The Christian Legal Centre also spoke out following the case of seriously ill child Charlie Gard, saying that if the courts respected the rights of his parents Chis Gard and Connie Yates, it 'wouldn't have been too late to do the therapy'. Now a photo has emerged showing him and Linton donning eclipse glasses and smiling as they gazed upon the celestial wonder However, Mnuchin declared: 'Being a New Yorker, I don't have any interest in watching the eclipse' Trip caught the attention of watchdog groups who questioned if the A photo has emerged showing Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin watching, and enjoying, the solar eclipse during his August trip to Fort Knox, despite him saying he wasn't interested. When Mnuchin was asked about the once-in-a-lifetime celestial spectacle, he said: 'People in Kentucky took this stuff very seriously. Being a New Yorker, I don't have any interest in watching the eclipse.' However, in the photo revealed by Think Progress, which was obtained via a FOIA request, Mnuchin and wife Louise Linton appear to be enjoying just that, donning eclipse spectacles for their viewing pleasure during the $26,000 taxpayer funded trip. The trip sparked a flurry of questions about how Mnuchin had been using chartered military aircraft to fly around the country. Not interested? Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and wife Louise Linton appear to be enjoying the solar eclipse perfectly situated in the path of totality, during a day trip to Fort Knox using a military jet costing tax payers an eye-watering $26,900 The trip prompted attention when his wife posted this photo of their 'day trip' aboard a military jet, tagging her designer duds to boot. Questions quickly followed about the trip's timing lining up perfectly for the couple to see the once-in-a-lifetime eclipse in the path of totality South-west Kentucky - around 100 miles from Fort Knox - was indeed directly positioned to get the best views of the eclipse as it occurred over the country. In September, a month after the trip, the office for the Treasury Department's Inspector General said it was is probing Mnuchin's trip to Kentucky. 'We are reviewing the circumstances of the Secretary's August 21 flight to determine whether all applicable travel, ethics, and appropriation laws and policies were observed,' said counsel for the IG's office Rich Delmar. 'When our review is complete, we will advise the appropriate officials, in accordance with the Inspector General Act and established procedures,' Delmar told told the The Washington Post at the time. DailyMail.com reached out to the Inspector General to determine if the review has concluded. Cabinet members generally are supposed to fly commercial when possible. Government aircraft are for use only on official business. Mnuchin toured Ft. Knox on the trip as well as attended an event with Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. The trip saw an additional burst of exposure after Linton found herself in an Instagram spat over a photo of she and her new husband arriving at Fort Knox on the visit. Mnuchin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell attended a luncheon event shortly before the eclipse. McConnell posted on Facebook a sun-lit image of himself and Mnuchin with no trace of Linton in the shot outside the front door of Ft. Knox, which Mnuchin toured during the one day trip. 'The U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and I in front of the main door to the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox before we viewed the #solareclipse today,' McConnell wrote, in an image from Fort Knox, Kentucky. In fact, government officials said Mnuchin only briefly viewed it on the buildings front lawn. Mnuchin was there to talk up Trump's tax plans, but said he would also visit Fort Knox with Sen. Mitch McConnell (both seen left). Linton (right) was along for the trip Mnuchin's trip to Kentucky - during which he talked up Donald Trump's tax plans - made him just the third sitting Treasury Secretary to visit the bullion depository. The Courier-Journal said that Mnuchin had answered questions at the Olmsted hotel, in a meeting sponsored by the Louisville Chamber of Commerce. It noted that afterwards Mnuchin, 54, and Linton, 36, were to engage in a tour with McConnell, who was also present. 'The two were headed to Fort Knox with McConnell after the lunch to tour the bullion reserve at the Army post and view the eclipse,' the paper reported. Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) had already sought documents related to the trip. It wants to see 'all records concerning authorization for and the costs of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's use of a government plane to travel to Lexington, Kentucky on Monday, August 21, accompanied by his wife Louise Linton.' Watchdog groups say Mnuchin shouldn't have used a taxpayer-funded plane if he was there to see the eclipse. His tax talk was paid for by the Louisville Chamber of Commerce Instagrim: Their visit hit the public eye after Jenni Miller (pictured), scolded Linton for getting a 'free flight' in a comment on her Instagram pic, and Linton responded with an arrogant screed It also wants 'copies of all records concerning authorization for and the costs of Secretary Mnuchin's use of a government plane for any purpose since his appointment as Treasury Secretary.' It claims that the documents 'would shed light on the justification for Secretary Mnuchin's use of a government plane, rather than a commercial flight, for a trip that seems to have been planned around the solar eclipse and to enable the Secretary to secure a viewpoint in the path of the eclipse's totality.' CREW added: 'At a time of expected deep cuts to the federal budget, the taxpayers have a significant interest in learning the extent to which Secretary Mnuchin has used government planes for travel in lieu of commercial planes, and the justification for that use.' Tagged: Linton also posted an image without the hashtags, but with the brands (and her husband) tagged into the image A government spokesperson said that Linton's seat on the taxpayer-funded flight had been paid for by Mnuchin. That announcement was forced out of officials after Linton - a minor TV and film actress from Scotland - blundered into an Instagram argument over her flight. She posted a photo of herself and Mnuchin getting off the plane in Kentucky - accompanied by hashtags for all of the clothing brands she was wearing. Her wardrobe totaled more than $14,000, DailyMail.com revealed at the time. That incurred the wrath of Jenni Miller, a mother-of-three from Oregon, who commented: 'Glad we could pay for your little getaway. #deplorable.' Linton then responded with an extended rant in which - despite having grown up in a castle - she accused the mother of being 'Adorably out of touch'. Linton, whose most notable acting role was as a murder victim in a 2007 episode of CSI, also boasted that she and her husband - whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be upward of $500 million - pay more in taxes than Miller. That quickly led to her being roasted on Twitter, to which Linton responded by locking up both her Twitter and Instagram accounts. Linton's publicist released a curt apology writing: 'I apologize for my post on social media yesterday as well as my response. It was inappropriate and highly insensitive.' Mnuchin also used a military jet for his European honeymoon. The flight for the Fort Knox day trip alone cost taxpayers $26,900.25 This is the shocking moment Dutch kickboxers on a holiday in Prague beat up some restaurant waiters knocking one of them out cold. The incident took place in the Czech capital city of Prague. The group of young Dutch kickboxers visited restaurant Polpo where they snatched an already reserved table on the terrace. This is the shocking moment a group of Dutch kickboxers attacked some waiters in Prague The kickboxers wanted to be able to drink their own alcohol while sitting in the restaurant The group were later arrested in a restaurant near Prague airport and face 10 years in prison Restaurant owner Stefan Savic said: 'One of our employees went to them to ask if they could take another table and told them that they could not drink their own booze there. 'The men reacted very aggressively to it. In the more than 20 years this restaurant exists, we never seen something like this.' According to witnesses, the Dutch thugs even spat on a 70-year-old customer who said something about their behaviour. They angrily claimed the restaurant staff were being racist by sending them away. Savic said: 'They beat one of our waiters, after which another employee pushed them away. Then it completely went out of control.' Shocking video footage shows the group violently attacking several waiters. A man in a yellow shirt is seen giving several punches to a waiter who is already down on the ground while a man in a white shirt kicks the waiter. When the unfortunate waiter tries to get up, the muscled man in the yellow t-shirt kicks him in the face, knocking him unconscious. Several people then manage to push the group of Dutch tourist away, after which passersby rush to the aid of the injured waiter. The waiter was taken to hospital with serious injuries but is reportedly out of danger. His shifts have been taken over by his colleagues who said they will donate their earnings to him. Savic said: 'He has a broken eye socket and a broken jaw and was unconscious for a very long time. 'Someone who lays on the ground is not dangerous. You don't just keep on kicking him.' The group of men were recognised at a restaurant in Prague International Airport by an observant traveller who had read about the attack in local media and the group were promptly arrested. According to Czech police, they are all aged between 24 and 32 years old. Dutch media reported that all members of the group are amateur kickboxers and gym rats. Two members of the group have since been released as they tried to stop their friends from beating up the waiters. The others are still being held in investigative custody in Prague. According to Czech media, they face up to 10 years in jail if found guilty of the brutal assault. The father of Alfie Evans has launched a private prosecution against Alder Hey Hospital doctors for conspiracy to murder, it emerged today. During tense proceedings this afternoon, Lord Justice McFarlane made the revelation Mr Evans has started a bid to pursue private prosecutions against three doctors for 'conspiracy to murder' the 23-month-old, who his clinging to life. The medics, who cannot be named, have each been served with a summons, the court heard. Private prosecutions are extremely rare in the UK because of the crippling cost of investigating and pursuing such cases, which can be stopped by the CPS if the allegations are false or malicious. The father of Alfie Evans has launched a private prosecution against Alder Hey Hospital doctors for conspiracy to murder, it emerged today Stephen Lawrence's parents started the first private prosecution for murder in modern UK legal history After Stephen Lawrence was killed in April 1993, five white men were identified as suspects within days. But prosecutors dropped a case against Neil Acourt and Luke Knight later that year. Stephen's parents, Doreen Lawrence and her then-husband Neville, launched a prosecution against Gary Dobson, Luke Knight and Neil Acourt in 1994. It was the first private prosecution for murder in modern UK legal history. Duwayne Brooks, who witnessed the murder, was under the protection of the Met Organised Crime Group as he prepared to give evidence. But the trial collapsed in April 1996 when a judge ruled key evidence inadmissible. In 2005 the double jeopardy principle, preventing suspects being tried twice for the same crime, is scrapped for certain offences when there is compelling new evidence. In 2011 the Court of Appeal quashed Dobson's 1996 acquittal for the murder. He and Norris were found guilty of Stephen's murder in 2012. Advertisement The parents of Stephen Lawrence launched a high-profile private prosecution over their son's murder in 1996, but only three of the five suspects were brought to trial and none were convicted. 16 years later Gary Dobson and David Norris were prosecuted by the CPS and convicted of murder after new forensic evidence was found. A private prosecution was also launched after the Omagh bombing which killed 29 people in Northern Ireland in August 1998, although it never reached a trial. Alfie's father said today there is no longer a dialogue between them and the doctors, who they say have not tested or observed their son since his life-support machines were withdrawn at 9pm on Monday. There are a number of organisations that regularly prosecute cases before the courts but do so as private individuals, using the right of any individual to bring a private prosecution. One example is the RSPCA. The right to bring a private prosecution dates back to the earliest days of the legal system. Under UK law, anyone has the right to bring a private prosecution in front of the criminal courts. But the director of public prosecutions does have the power to stop them if they are considered vexatious or malicious. According to official CPS guidance, it is the responsibility of a person who brings a private prosecution to serve a summons. 'You must be able to prove to the court that you served the summons on the accused,' the guidance says. Cases have historically been rare due to the high costs involved in investigating and pursuing such cases. Alfie Evans has been the subject of an ongoing legal battle over his treatment for a degenerative neurological condition Supporters gather outside Alder Hey Childrens Hospital, Liverpool, as protests continue amid an ongoing battle over Alfie Evans's treatment Legal aid is not available for private prosecutions, meaning they have to be paid for by the alleged victim. According to the CPS guidance, there is nothing wrong in allowing a private prosecution to run its course through to verdict and sentence. There is no requirement for the CPS to take over a private prosecution. The fact that a private prosecution succeeds is not an indication that the case should have been prosecuted by the CPS, it says. However, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has the power to take over private prosecutions and there will be times when the CPtS will exercise this power. There has been a growing trend towards private prosecutions in the past few years, raising concerns about a divided justice system, which could only allow private companies or wealthy individuals to seek justice. It has been 450 days since Tamron Hall walked out of Today's studio in New York City after learning that she would be losing her spot as host of the NBC morning show's third hour to the network's new hire, Megyn Kelly. In that time Hall has said nothing about about her abrupt exit from NBC News after a decade with the network or how she felt about the decision to replace her on Today with Kelly. That all changed on Wednesday however, when Hall made it very clear how she felt about NBC by posting a photo of herself driving by Today with the caption: 'Heyyyyyy!' Hall's tweet was more about the context than content though, as she broke her silence just two hours after it was revealed that the third hour of Today had been pulling in fewer viewers and been less profitable ever since the arrival of Kelly. This masterclass of shade was made all the more remarkable by the fact that it was 15 months in the making, with Hall waiting until just the right moment to strike. Scroll down for video The shade of it Hall: Tamron Hall shared a photo of herself driving by Today with the caption 'Heyyyyyy' (above) two hours after a report detailed NBC ratings were down Tank girl: The third hour of Today is down double digits in overall viewers and the key demo of adults aged 25 to 54 ever since Megyn Kelly took over as host Hall and Al Roker were comfortably in first place and delivering solid ratings for Today when the decision was made to move Kelly into the third hour. That move came just as Hall's contract was up, and she ultimately decided not to resign with NBC News and instead walkout. It was a shocking departure for the woman who had long been one of the hardest working personalities on the network, who on some days filled in for both Savannah Guthrie on Today and Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News while also anchoring the third hour of Today. On one day in December 2016 she filled in for both Guthrie and Holt while also hosting MSNBC Live and doing her third hour duties. She also hosted Deadline: Crime on Investigation Discovery and Dateline Extra on MSNBC, as well as lending her on-air talents to NBC's coverage of the Westminster Dog Show. Roker anchored the third hour with Sheinelle Jones and Dylan Dryer in the wake of Hall's departure, which also proved to be a winning combination. Unlike Hall however, the meteorologist already had a steady gig on Today when he learned the news about Kelly's arrival, appearing on the program's first two hours The third hour had topped its timeslot for seven straight weeks when the news was delivered to Hall and Roker that Kelly would be taking over for them, and making a whole lot more money. DailyMail.com revealed last year that Kelly is signed to a three-year contract valued at $69 million, close to 20 times what her predecessor Hall was paid and double the combined salary of Hall and Roker. This sizable investment has resulted in a program that averages 2.4 million viewers an episode, which is 18 percent below what the hour was pulling in last season according to data from Nielsen. Things get worse when it comes to the key demographic of adults aged 25 to 54, where the show is down 28 percent from last season. The fourth hour featuring Hoda and Kathie Lee, is down 6 percent overall and 19 percent in the key demo per Nielsen. Back in the day: The original lineup for the recamped third hour of Hall, Roker and Natalie Morales (above in early 2016) This has been good news however for Live With Kelly and Ryan, with the syndicated show that is up against. Kelly and Ryan managed to double its lead by 747,000 viewers in markets where it is up against the NBC morning show. Sources close to the Megyn show also claim that it is less profitable than its predecessor. Kelly's declining ratings already led the network to end her news magazine Megyn Kelly Tonight last summer, weeks before its run had ended, and after a brief uptick in viewers earlier this year thanks to the Olympics her Today hour has also started to plummet. Those numbers are now having a negative impact on the fourth hour of Today, which is also dropping in total viewers. There is also the fact that NBC has built Kelly a $10 million studio and is funding the show to the tune of $30 million annually reports the Wall Street Journal. An NBC spokesperson responded to the report in the Journal by stating that Kelly's show is profitable. This is just the latest headache for NBC involving the third hour of Today. It all began when the network made the decision to fire Billy Bush for his role in the infamous p****gate tape, a hot mic audio recording of him and President Donald Trump taken during his Access Hollywood years. He was just weeks into his new $10-million contract with Today at the time, having made the move to New York from Los Angeles. Hall was the next to go, though her exit was a far bigger surprise. 'Tamron is an exceptional journalist, we valued and enjoyed her work at TODAY and MSNBC and hoped that she would decide to stay,' NBC News said in a statement one day after she left. 'We are disappointed that she has chosen to leave, but we wish her all the best.' A source familiar with the discussions between Hall and the network told DailyMail.com at the time that Hall was offered a salary increase, despite losing her slot on Today. 'NBC News very much wanted Tamron to stay, she was offered a multi-million dollar/multi-year contract and she chose to go,' noted that source. Megyn Kelly meanwhile is dismissing any concern, telling the Journal: 'Our show is a baby. Were six months old. Morning TV is obviously new to me and Im figuring it out as we goI think any show needs about a year to just find its footing.' She then added that NBC had given her a 'long leash,' and noted: 'Im proud of the journalistic work weve been accomplishing. The ratings are important, theres no question, but its not the only metric.' One of those other metrics she is no doubt referring to are awards, with the show landing a Daytime Emmy nomination for Best Informative Talk Show. Those awards will be handed out this weekend, and pit Kelly against Steve Harvey, Dr. Oz, Larry King and the The Chew. Kelly responds to the short life of her news magazine, which has now been reduced to occasional specials, by explaining: 'I dont think I fully appreciated how much work the morning show was going to be and how many hours it was going to require of me.' Bosses at America's largest movie convention have sent a clear message to attendees: Don't behave like shamed Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. CinemaCon organizers have issued a strict code of conduct making it clear to all participants, A-list or otherwise, that harassment of any kind won't be tolerated at the star-studded event in Las Vegas. And should anyone violate their request, they will be immediately ejected from the showcase. The code of conduct notes have been posted in all attendees' welcome packs and dished out on arrival at the four-day movie event which ends Thursday. The small white and red postcard-shaped note outlines what executives expect of attendees' behavior. Entitled: 'CinemaCon Celebrating the Moviegoing Experience,' the note has the words: 'CODE OF CONDUCT' written in red bold capital letterTs. Guests at this year's CinemaCon were given a strict code of conduct, warning that 'harassment of any kind' will not be tolerated. Pictured above is Ed Helms, Annabelle Wallis, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Leslie Bib, Hannibal Burress and Isla Fisher on the red carpet The code of conduct notes have been posted in all attendees' welcome packs and dished out on arrival at the four-day movie event which ends Thursday. It also includes a contact number should anybody feel they've been harassed Each attendee - including A-list stars Leonardo Di Caprio, Tom Cruise and Samuel L. Jackson - will be told that The National Association of Theatre Owners 'is committed to allowing attendees to experience CinemaCon free of harassment, discrimination, sexism and threatening or disrespectful behavior.' The move comes eight months film mogul Harvey Weinstein was exposed as a serial abuser by a raft of actresses during a 20-year period It adds, 'attendees violating this policy may have their credentials or access revoked without a refund at the discretion of the conference organizers.' The note warns that 'all participants, attendees, speakers, sponsors, trade floor exhibitors, staff and volunteers at CinemaCon' are required to agree with the code of conduct. The card also includes a contact number, should anyone feel they've been 'harassed or witness someone else being harassed.' The tough stance on abuse comes eight months after movie mogul Weinstein was exposed as a serial abuser by a raft of actresses during a 20-year period. Many famous names, including Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Ashley Judd made startling allegations detailing claims of abuse and rape. The Weinstein revelations were followed by a wave of allegations against dozens more senior movie industry figures as part of the #MeToo movement. Thousands of movie industry executives have flown in to Sin City for CinemaCon, which celebrates the best upcoming movies of the next two years. On Tuesday evening Sony Pictures delivered their keynote presentation at the Colosseum inside Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino, where over two hours they showed sneak peaks of upcoming hit films and surprised the audience with stars. Jennifer Garner, 46, co-headlined STXfilms' Tuesday evening showcase at CinemaCon. Sarah Paulson and Cate Blanchett (right) attended the event On Tuesday evening Sony Pictures delivered their keynote presentation at the Colosseum inside Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino, where over two hours they showed sneak peaks of upcoming hit films and surprised the audience with stars Common, Zendaya and Channing Tatum pose on the red carpet at 2018 CinemaCon Leonardo Di Caprio and Quentin Tarantino came together to briefly discuss their new project One Upon A Time In Hollywood, even though the film has not started shooting. Tarantino, a former friend of Weinstein, was slammed for not criticizing the Oscar winning producer immediately after his wave of abuse became public. Other big names to grace the stage in front of 4,000 delegates at the Sony event were Claire Foy from The Girl In The Spider's Web, Tom Hardy from Venom, Benicio Del Toro from Sicario and Will Ferrell from Holmes And Watson. One attendee, who asked not to be named, said: 'This is a clear move by the bosses to say that Weinstein and co may have gotten away with it, but we will not let anyone else do it, especially on our turf. 'The whole industry was rocked by what Weinstein did, and the team felt that it was important to be clear and upfront to guests that anyone behaving inappropriately would be thrown out - no arguments. 'The last thing this event can afford is anybody from the film business getting caught up in shady behavior. 'They want to move forward. The card spells things out in black and white. The movie studio executives want the world to believe they have all cleaned up their acts.' The source added: 'It is no secret that the partying during some of these shows became legendary with some big names getting totally out of control. Each attendee - including A-list stars Leonardo Di Caprio, Tom Cruise and Samuel L. Jackson - will be told that The National Association of Theatre Owners 'is committed to allowing attendees to experience CinemaCon free of harassment, discrimination, sexism and threatening or disrespectful behavior' Pictured above are signs posted around the venue at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Tom Cruise will receive the CinemaCon Pioneer of the Year award during the convention 'It is Vegas and no-one is naive - drugs, booze, and sex are around, but while in the past it was just high jinx - now it is frowned upon. 'Honestly there is a feeling that if you get caught in a scandal here, you could lose everything.' Three-time Oscar nominee, Tom Cruise, will receive the CinemaCon Pioneer of the Year award during the convention. Seen as one of the event's highlights, the ceremony will see Cruise lauded by friends and theater owners at the Pioneer of the Year Dinner at Caesar's Palace. On Thursday night, the convention comes to a close with a huge awards ceremony. A raft of stars will collect honors during the finishing off with the Big Screen Achievement Awards Avengers star, Samuel L. Jackson, will also be honored at the convention with the Cinema Icon Award for his appearance in over 100 films spanning a career of over three decades. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler will be honored with the Director of The Year Award, while Benicio Del Toro (Avengers: Infinity War) Felicity Jones (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect 3), and Kate McKinnon (Ghostbusters) all receive honors. Jonah Hill will receive the CinemaCon Vanguard Award during the ceremony at The Colosseum, hosted by the Coca-Cola Company, the official presenting sponsor of CinemaCon. The National Association of Theatre Owners hosts the show, which is the largest exhibition trade organization in the world, representing more than 32,000 movie screens in all 50 states, and additional cinemas in 82 countries worldwide. A suspect has been arrested and charged with murdering a married man in New Jersey last month in an incident sparked by road rage during a nor'easter. Gloucester County prosecutors say 54-year-old Everett Moore Jr., of Clayton, was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder and two weapons offenses in the March 7 slaying of married father-of-two Joseph Pirri. Moore allegedly slashed the 32-year-old Blackwood man during a confrontation in Deptford Township, and Pirri died a week later from his injuries. Prosecutors say Pirri provided police with details about his assailant and the pickup truck the man was driving. Joseph Pirri (left) was slashed to death in what was described as a road road attack in March. His alleged killer, Everett E. Moore Jr., (right) was arrested and charged this week with murder Authorities were able to connect the description Pirri provided about the man, as well as his truck, a white over tan Ford F150 King Ranch truck, through surveillance videos. That information, along with video surveillance camera footage, led to Moore's arrest. Authorities declined to provide further details on the investigation or disclose a motive, citing the ongoing investigation. Joseph Pirri is pictured with his wife Megan Pirri and the couple's two young children Megan Pirri, was heard sobbing uncontrollably in a press conference as she spoke about her late husband It is not known if Moore has retained an attorney. Joseph Pirri's distraught wife, Megan Pirri, was heard sobbing uncontrollably in a press conference this week while speaking about her late husband. 'You hear all sorts of stories about people who are and were nice and kind, but Joe truly was the definition of those words,' she cried. 'His son, stepdaughter and I were his world - as he was ours and still is.' British holidaymakers will be hit with a 6 fee when they travel to the EU after Brexit under plans drawn up by the bloc. Approved visas will remain valid for three years or until the passport used during the registration process expires. They can be revoked if new alerts about a traveller arise. They will be required to provide personal details and information about their recent movements in order to enter the EU. And they will also be obliged to answer questions about any criminal history. The plan, which was signed off by EU ambassadors yesterday, will fuel concerns about how the UK and the EU will reach agreement on a highly contentious deal on cross-border travel after Brexit. The entrance fee has been proposed as part of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, which the EU insists is primarily a way of cutting down on illegal immigration and tracking criminals. Scroll down for video Holidaymakers travelling to a host of European destinations will need to apply through the new system and pay the 7 fee The EU claims the new measures are being brought in to increase the security of its borders Valentin Radev, the interior minister for Bulgaria, currently chairing the European council welcomed the move Visa prices for UK nationals As the EU looks set to introduce a 6 tariff for British nationals visiting the continent, how much does it cost for Brits to go elsewhere in the world? Turkey - 14 (online or on arrival) Egypt - 18 (online or on arrival) UAE - Free (visa on arrival) USA - 9 (ESTA online registration) India - 115 (consulate visit) Kenya - 36 (online registration) Cambodia - 21 (on arrival) Advertisement But the EU also hopes the scheme will help to fill the 11.5billion budget black hole caused by Britains departure. It will apply to nationals from all non-EU countries who do not require visas to travel in the blocs Schengen zone. Britain is expected to fall into this category, unless it negotiates an exemption. After Brexit, British travellers will be among the estimated 39million yearly visitors to the EU who could be hit by the fee. Under the system, travellers would have to apply online by providing personal information and passport details, before noting the first country they are travelling to and answering background questions. The registration information will then be checked against EU crime-fighting databases. While most decisions will take just minutes, problematic cases could lead to further requests before being finally answered within four weeks. British officials will be hopeful that an exemption to the EU scheme for short-term travellers can be won during Brexit negotiations in order to cut down on costs for Britons. Theresa May has insisted that the UK will take back control of its borders, as well as ending freedom of movement after Brexit. But ministers have not said about how they plan to administer the entry of EU nationals coming to Britain. Last year a report written by Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, a Brexiteer, proposed charging EU nationals 10 for a visa to enter the UK after Brexit. He said the plans could raise 150million a year and would be similar to Americas ESTA programme, which determines the eligibility of visitors to travel to the US under the visa-waiver system. Theresa May has insisted that the UK will take back control of its borders, as well as ending freedom of movement after Brexit. Meanwhile, the Government has warned that a planned Brexit security pact with the EU could fall apart under Brussels plans to exclude Britain from a multi-billion satellite navigation project. Ministers have been left furious after the bloc said the UKs role in the 9billion Galileo system was up for negotiation, despite Britain being one of the biggest investors in it. The Government is weighing up a number of retaliatory measures and may even set up a rival system. Officials are seeking advice on whether the UK may be able to retrieve the 1.2billion in taxpayer funds that have been dedicated to the programme. The EU scheme will see the creation of a navigation service made up of 24 satellites to rival Americas dominant GPS and a similar system used by Russia. While the UK could be given access to parts of Galileo, Brussels has raised concerns about whether Britain can be trusted to use elements reserved specifically for security matters. The new law would not apply to UK citizens until Britain leaves the EU officially on March 29, 2019 The infamous Golden State Killer case may have finally been solved. The serial killer and rapist, who terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s, may have finally been brought to justice just weeks after the posthumous publication of a book by Michelle McNamara, the late wife of actor and comedian Patton Oswalt. The arrest, just announced by the Sacramento County Sheriffs Department, may finally bring an end to a gruesome and previously-unsolved chapter of American crime history that had frustrated detectives for decades. Heres all you need to know about the Golden State Killer case, who the alleged suspect is and who Michelle McNamara was. An arrest has finally just been made in the infamous Golden State Killer case, widely known as one of the most notorious and unsolved violent criminal cases in modern American history What is the Golden State Killer case? The Golden State Killer, also known as both the Original Night Stalker and the East Bay Rapist, was a serial killer and rapist believed to be responsible for 12 homicides, close to 50 rapes and roughly 120 burglaries in California between 1976 and 1986. The Golden State Killer is thought to have begun his reign of terror in the summer of 1976 with a series of rapes and burglaries in the cities of Carmichael and Rancho Cordova, California. According to investigators, the masked serial killer would break into homes at night and tie up the victims raping the female one if present and subsequently pillage the homes of money, jewelry, identification cards and other valuables. Some victims even told authorities that the Golden State Killer would call them up in the aftermath of the crime. The serial killers crime spree took a deadly turn in early 1978 when he is thought to have shifted his attention from burglarizing homes to murder. The first victims of the Golden State Killer are believed to be Brian and Katie Maggiore of Rancho Cordova, who were murdered while out walking their dog on February 2, 1978. The initial murders were followed by a series of additional murders and rapes in Modesto, Davis, Stockton and other San Francisco Bay area communities. His final crime, believed to be the murder of an 18-year old woman in the Southern California city of Irvine, was committed in May 1986. Many clues - but few credible leads - were left from the Golden State Killer's brutal crime spree By the time the deadly crime spree was finished, a dozen people were left dead and nearly 50 rapes had been committed in addition to dozens of home burglaries. The case remained frustratingly unsolved for decades as investigators eliminated several suspects via alibi, DNA testing and other methods. The FBI and local law enforcement officials held a news conference on June 15, 2016 to announce a new nationwide effort to finally bring the Golden State Killer to justice, complete with a $50,000 (35,884) reward. After decades of futility, the case finally reached a breakthrough on April 25, 2018 when Sacramento police announced that they had arrested the suspected Golden State Killer and charged him with two counts of first-degree murder. Who is the alleged Golden State Killer? The suspect in the Golden State Killer case is Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., a 72-year old man who has lived in the city of Citrus Heights, California since 1983. DeAngelo reportedly worked as a police officer in Auburn, California but was terminated in 1979 for shoplifting a hammer and dog repellant at a Sacramento drug store. He is also believed to have served in the United States Navy aboard the U.S.S. Canberra. According to UPROXX, FBI officials have indeed confirmed that DeAngelo is the suspected Golden State Killer and was currently under arrest and in custody as of today. DNA evidence was reportedly used to finally bring him to justice after decades of evading law enforcement officials. Who was Michelle McNamara? Michelle McNamara was an author and wife of actor and comedian Patton Oswalt. She conducted extensive research on the Golden State Killer and posthumously published a book called Ill Be Gone in the Dark on February 27, 2018. McNamara was born on April 14, 1970. Michelle McNamara was married to Patton Oswalt from 2005 until her untimely death in 2016 She married Oswalt in 2005 and started the website True Crime Diary. She also began writing a book about the Golden State Killer while conducting exhaustive research on the notorious criminal case. McNamara, a true crime stories writer, became obsessed with the case after writing a magazine article about it previously. Sadly, McNamara passed away at age 46 on April 21, 2016 from an undiagnosed heart condition and a combination of prescribed medications before the book could be finished. Oswalt and journalist Billy Jensen completed the book and published it on February 27, ultimately peaking at the number one spot on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Her posthumous publication has been credited with reigniting interest in the Golden State Killer case in the lead-up to DeAngelos arrest. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about his late wife's book and DeAngelo's arrest, Oswalt stated: 'My mind is going in a million directions right now, but on top of all the exhaustion and surrealism, I just feel very, very happy that her work wasnt in vain.' President Trump gave a shout-out to Kanye West on Twitter Wednesday, after the rapper and Kardashian spouse had called the president his 'brother.' 'Thank you Kanye, very cool!' Trump wrote, including West's original message in his tweet. In a second tweet, Trump wrote 'MAGA' shorthand for 'Make America Great Again' as the president shared the rapper's photo of his signed red Trump hat. West had said, 'You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him.' 'We are both dragon energy. He is my brother,' West added. 'I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought,' said the rapper, who is married to reality television star Kim Kardashian. President Trump tweeted a 'thank you' to Kanye West Wednesday afternoon after a reporter asked about positive comments the rapper had made about Trump during the White House press briefing In a second tweet about Kanye West, President Trump merely wrote 'MAGA!' - which is shorthand for 'Make America Great Again' White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked about Kanye West's comments at Wednesday's press briefing In December of 2016, he actually met with President Donald Trump but soon after deleted all his post about the President after he was hit with a wave of criticism Kanye West continued to show his support for President Donald Trump on Wednesday, even tweeting a picture of himself in a Make America Great Again hat (here with music mogul Lyor Cohen pictured center) Kanye West has once again declared his support for Donald Trump, calling the president his 'brother' and saying they both share 'dragon energy' In his next tweet, Kanye wrote that he loved also Clinton and claimed that 'Trump is pretty much a 50 50 split' for the people in his life Less than an hour later, West tweeted that his wife Kim Kardashian had called him about the Trump tweet. 'My wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone. I don't agree with everything Trump does,' he wrote. 'I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself.' West also tweeted a photo of himself wearing a 'Make America Great Again' hat and referred to himself as a 'future president.' West's public support for Trump even made its way into the discussion at the White House press briefing on Wednesday, shortly before the president sent out his tweet. A reporter asked Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders if Trump had reached out to West following the rapper's recent praise. 'I don't know of any conversation that they've had over the last week or so, I'll keep you posted if that changes,' Sanders said, breaking into a smile. 'I know they met during the transition, that's the only meeting I'm aware of that's taken place, or conversation,' she added, noting, 'Before everybody has a meltdown and thinks we had a meeting last week.' Ivanka Trump also tweeted about Kanye West's praise for her father on Wednesday too. First daughter and White House aide Ivanka Trump also tweeted about Kanye West showing support for her father Less than an hour later, West tweeted that his wife Kim Kardashian had called him about the Trump tweet Kardashian (pictured with West in a recent family photo) was a vocal supporter of Clinton during the 2016 presidential election campaign Last year West shared with a Californian concert audience that he would have voted for Trump West first revealed his support for Trump shortly after the November 2016 election, when he told a California concert audience he would have voted for the Republican. 'I told yall I didnt vote, right? But if I wouldve voted, I wouldve voted for Trump,' he said. 'We live in a racist country. That is a fact. This world is racist, OK? Lets stop being distracted to focus on that as much.' But in a separate tweet on Wednesday, Kanye wrote that he loved also Clinton, who Kardashian publicly supported in the 2016 presidential election. 'If your friend jumps off the bridge you don't have to do the same,' he began. 'Ye being Ye is a fight for you to be you.' 'I told yall I didnt vote, right? But if I wouldve voted, I wouldve voted for Trump,' he told the crowd shortly after the November 2016 election West continued to discuss free thought, saying he loves when 'people have their own ideas' 'For people in my life the idea of Trump is pretty much a 50 50 split but I don't tell a Hillary supporter not to support Hillary I love Hillary too.' The rapper continued to discuss free thought, saying he loves when 'people have their own ideas'. 'You don't have to be allowed anymore. Just be. Love who you want to love. That's free thought,' he wrote. 'I'm not even political. I'm not a democrat or a republican.' West (pictured outside an LA music studio on Tuesday) recently came under fire for tweets supporting far right-wing media personality Candace Owens But on Wednesday West declared that he was 'not scared anymore' and 'not scared of the media' either West declared that he was 'not scared anymore' and 'not scared of the media'. 'I'm not scared of the past and I'm optimistic about the future,' he wrote. 'This tweet is in love not fear.' 'With love I am invincible,' he continued in a separate tweet. 'Truth is subjective but love is the most powerful force in the world and the world needs to express more of it.' 'No race religion region or political party can argue with the power of love,' another tweet read. West also began tweeting about love, saying it made him 'invincible' and that 'no race religion region or political party can argue with the power of love' West's Wednesday afternoon tweets began with a proclamation that 'traditional thinkers' were locked in a 'mental prison'. 'Free thinkers don't fear retaliation for your thoughts,' he wrote. 'The traditional thinkers are only using thoughts and words but they are in a mental prison.' 'You are free. You've already won. Feel energized. Move in love not fear. Be afraid of nothing.' West told his fans he was hitting them with his 'zig zag thoughts' and encouraged them to 'unlearn linear thinking', 'decentralize', and 'burn that excel spread sheet', phrases that were written in three separate tweets. The tweets came just hours after West confirmed he had cut ties with his longtime manager Scooter Braun. At one point during his stream-of-consciousness tweets, West shared a photo of eldest daughter North with a lady bug The tweets came just hours after West confirmed he had cut ties with his longtime manager Scooter Braun 'I no longer have a manager, I can't be managed,' he tweeted on Wednesday morning. 'I'm nobody's client,' a separate tweet read. Braun confirmed the news on Twitter this week, writing: 'A man's loyalty is truly tested when he is willing to stand by someone who will never show that same respect. 'Don't show that same love and loyalty waiting for reciprocation .. do it because your integrity demands.' West also revealed he got rid of his last lawyer 'because he wouldn't come to work full-time'. 'I also asked my last manager to come work full time for Yeezy of course the last lawyer and manager said no,' he explained, seemingly referring to Braun. 'So now I hired a CEO and a CFO and i have two full time lawyers as of now.' The rapper proclaimed he was the 'single highest paid person in footwear' and said his fashion company Yeezy is the second 'fastest growing company in history' West then went on to declare himself 'this generation's Ford Hughes Jobs Disney', referring to Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Steve Jobs, and Walt Disney. The rapper proclaimed he was the 'single highest paid person in footwear' and said his fashion company Yeezy is the second 'fastest growing company in history'. 'It is a unicorn on its way to becoming a decacorn,' he wrote. 'Yeezy will become the biggest apparel company in human history,' West declared in another post. West's tweets then turned to the media, as he called out both TMZ founder Harvey Levin as well as People Magazine for recent stories about the rapper. 'Harvey Levin of TMZ your hearing from your future president,' he wrote. 'Let's be friends. Please never use the word erratic to describe a person who is economically and psychologically empowered.' 'People magazine. Watch how you speak my name,' another tweet read. 'You would love a pair of Yeezys. Don't play yourself.' West also tweeted pictures of his home, asking his followers if it looked 'like the sunken place', which is a reference to the film Get Out While Kardashian didn't call her husband out about sharing pictures of their home on social media, she did tweet that it was against a rule they had made as a couple The Harvey Levin tweet was one of two instances in which West referred to himself as the future president on Wednesday. In a tweet that followed shortly afterwards, he proclaimed: 'When we become president we have to change the name of the plane from Air Force one to Yeezy force one'. West then tweeted a number of sales figures for his Yeezy brand, proclaiming 'the Yeezy 700 is adidas most requested shoe' and 'the Yeezy 350s sell 400 thousand pair in four hours. Only thing close to this is the iPhone'. The rapper also tweeted a picture of eldest daughter North with a lady bug as well as pictures of his home, writing: 'do this look like the sunken place', a reference to the recent hit film Get Out. At one point West's tweets turned to the media, as he called out both TMZ founder Harvey Levin and People magazine for recent stories about the rapper He also tweeted more pictures of his home, despite Kardashian's protests, and said he left his emojis 'Bart Simpson color' West kept some of his other tweets simple, saying he would turn the 'Grammys into the Yammys' or declaring that he was 'nice at ping pong' As his stream-of-consciousness tweets continued, West revealed he leaves his emojis 'Bart Simpson color', that he'd turn the 'Grammys into the Yammys', and that he was 'nice at ping pong'. 'I'm used to the heat of independent thoughts,' he wrote at one point. West also revealed that he had songs coming out with A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott and Lil Uzi. In one tweet he wrote: 'Trav we gotta drop the track with me you and Uzi this week bro. Let's goooooooooooooooooooooooo'. 'Rocky we gotta release our songs ASAP,' he said in another. 'I'm 40 years old and I'm just now becoming my parents child,' another tweet read. West's latest Twitter tirade comes just a day after popular New York radio host Ebro Darden claimed that rapper had previously battled an opioid addiction. West's latest Twitter tirade comes just a day after NY radio host Ebro Darden claimed that rapper had previously battled an opioid addiction before canceling his tour in 2016. The rapper is pictured here with Kardashian two months before his tour was canceled Sources have claimed that West (pictured in 2015) does not have an opioid addiction but that he does have an acute mental illness and that those close to him are concerned Darden took to his show Ebro In The Morning on HOT 97.1 in New York City on Monday to share the details of an alleged private conversation between him and West. He claimed West told him: 'Nobody really showed love for me when I was addicted to opioids and in the hospital.' It had been thought that the time that West had suffered from exhaustion weeks after his wife Kim Kardashian was robbed of millions in jewelry in Paris. West famously cancelled his Saint Pablo concert at the The Forum in Inglewood, California on November 20, 2016 before cancelling the rest of the tour the following day. During the same show, Darden claimed West said 'I love Donald Trump' and complained he 'couldn't get anything done' when Barack Obama was president. 'I reached out to Obama for years and couldnt get anything done, but Trump gave me a meeting,' Darden claimed West said during their private conversation. Sources denied Daren's claims that West had an addiction and told The Blast on Monday that he had actually been in the hospital for suffering extreme paranoia after not sleeping for over 48 hours. In the same report, sources close to the rapper claimed that people in his 'inner circle' are concerned with his mental health. They also claimed West has an acute mental illness which was even used as his defense in the lawsuit against Lloyds Of London over insurance money when it came to his canceled tour at the end of 2016. A day after Daren talked about an alleged discussion between the two, Kanye phoned into Ebro In The Morning on New York's Hot 97.1 radio station on Tuesday One source told the publication: 'We are all worried about his current mental health.' They said a recent outburst by West at the studio had many worried as he shouted that he didn't need 'titles' and that he could handle his career 'all by himself'. After saying all business would be 'handled in-house' it is claimed that West finished the outburst by saying 'Yeezy is the new Apple'. Kanye has had many buzzing since his return to Twitter last week but an insider for the publication said that his comments 'aren't making a lot of sense' to his team. It was believed that his social media flood were just to promote his upcoming albums, however, the site report that friends and family believe that he may be 'spiraling into a dark place.' A day after Darden claimed West had an opioid addiction, the rapper called into his show on Tuesday. Rumors have also swirled that West's recent Twitter outbursts have caused him to have 'huge blow-ups' with Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner (pictured together in 2015) And one source claimed that, during a recent outburst in the studio, West shouted that he didn't need 'titles' and that he could handle his career 'all by himself' But whenever Darden tried to ask him any questions, West would simply reply 'I love you' before breaking out into Stevie Wonder's song I Just Called To Say I Love You. West then told the radio host: 'Meet me up in person and then we can talk afterwards but I just called to say I love you'. Rumors have also swirled that West's recent Twitter outbursts have caused him to have 'huge blow-ups' with Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner. A source told People that Jenner has been upset with how 'erratic' West is acting and that she's concerned about 'her daughter's brand'. 'Everyone is really, really worried,' the source added. A source said that West has been 'eccentric and erratic' and that he 'genuinely believes he's God and a genius', while another claimed he's 'all over the place'. But another source close to the rapper said he's just 'being Kanye' and that he likes to 'stir the pot'. 'He's willing to take risks with his public persona,' they said. 'He doesn't take it as serious as the internet takes it.' A month before Jennair Gerardot donned a wig, grabbed her revolver and took a train from Delaware to Pennsylvania to kill her husband's mistress, she took to social media desperately seeking help to save her crumbling marriage. Philly.com first reported Wednesday that Gerardot, 47, went on the neighborhood app NextDoor asking for recommendations for 'an EXCELLENT marriage counselor for couple on brink of divorce.' She went on, writing: 'We will need someone who is very educated and experienced dealing with couples issues including infidelity, depression, traumatic experiences, child/parent dynamics, being accountable for actions, etc.' It remains unknown whether Jennair and Mark Gerardot ever went into counseling. What is certain, according to police in Radnor Township, Pennsylvania, is that on Monday, the scorned wife broke into 33-year-old Meredith Chapman's home and shot her when the woman opened the door. She then turned the gun on herself, as part of what investigators have described as a calculated and planned murder-suicide. Scroll down for video Trouble in paradise? A month before Jennair Gerardot, pictured above with husband Mark, killed his mistress and then herself, she had tried to seek help to save her unraveling marriage Rivals: Gerardot, 47 (left), on Monday ambushed and killed Meredith Chapman (right), 33, and then turned the gun on herself Crowd-sourcing: On at least two occasions within the last two months, Jennair had gone on the social media app NextDoor asking for marriage advice Jennair's March plea seeking help with her unraveling marriage was not her first foray into crowd-sourcing relationship advice. In February, the woman went on the app, writing that she and her husband had just moved to Delaware for his new job at the University of Delaware, and that not long after Mark asked for divorce. 'I dont know anyone and am completely clueless to the area,' Jennair wrote. 'Can someone please recommend a reputable and successful and driven divorce attorney?' Meredith, the newly hired assistant vice president of Villanova University, was having an extramarital affair with 49-year-old Mark Gerardot, according to police. His wife Jennair somehow found about her husbands infidelity and set into motion a deadly plan of revenge targeting her younger romantic rival a plan that she detailed in a series of text messages and emails. Cry for help: Jennair went online in February, asking for recommendations for a divorce lawyer. A month later, she was trying to find an excellent marriage counselor Police say both women suffered fatal gunshot wounds but there is no danger to the community Detectives are still sorting that out, Police Superintendent William Colarulo said of Jennairs incriminating writings. On Monday, Jennair donned a wig to disguise her appearance, grabbed a Taurus Tracker .357 revolver and boarded a train from Delaware to Pennsylvania, where she knew Meredith had relocated about a week earlier for her new job at Villanova, reported Philly.com. There, she broke into the three-store brick house and proceeded to wait for her nemesis to come home. The 33-year-old woman was married to former Newark, Delaware, City Councilman Luke Chapman for nearly a decade, but Colarulo revealed on Tuesday that the couple had separated. Meredith, a 2007 graduate of the University of Delaware, worked for the school in media relations and marketing and ran unsuccessfully for a state Senate seat in Delaware in 2016. Mark Gerardot joined the staff at the University of Delaware as creative director earlier this year and briefly worked under Merediths supervision. Less than two hours before her death, Meredith gushed on her Instagram account about her new position at Villanova, writing that she couldnt be more excited. Calculated: Jennair Gerardot (left), detailed her deadly revenge plot in a series of text messages and emails. Mark Gerardot is seen right The bodies of Meredith and Jennair were found inside this home in Randor Township, Pennsylvania, on Monday night Just a week on the job and Im already feeling the love from #NovaNation! #GoingNova #HigherEdMarketing#NewAdventures she posted at 5.42pm. Later that evening, Meredith arrived at her new home on Lowry Lane in Radnor Township, parked her Audi in the driveway, opened the door and walked straight into Jennair Gerardots ambush. Mark and Meredith were supposed to meet up for dinner on Monday night, but the woman never made it to the restaurant. While he was waiting for his girlfriend to arrive, Mark began receiving disturbing text messages from his wife, which led him to Meredith's home, according to police. Officers who responded to Meredith's home were met by Mark, who warned them that his wife might be inside the residence. Office romance: Police say Mark Gerardot (pictured with wife Jennair) at one time served as Meredith's subordinate Hell hath no fury...: Jennair Gerardot (left and right) somehow learned of the affair and allegedly plotted to kill Meredith Married bliss: Meredith is pictured as a bride with her groom Luke on their wedding day in 2009 When police responded to the scene, they found the bodies of both women on the first floor of the residence, which was splattered with blood. The suspected murder weapon was found under Jennair's body in the kitchen. Radnor Township Police Superintendent Colarulo shared additional details concerning the deadly plot, including how the jealous wife cleaned up the shattered glass from the window she used as her entry point so that her victim would not be tipped off that someone had broken in. Meredith, nee Sullivan, married Luke Chapman in 2009 and the couple lived in Fairfield Crest, Delaware, with their dog Indy. As recently as March 30, she posted a message on her Facebook page referencing her husband's political career. Earlier this year, Meredith's husband announced he would not be seeking re-election for a fourth term on the Newark City Council. In 2016, Meredith ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat incumbent State Senator Dave Sokota in Delawares District 8. Meredith had served as the director of digital communications and an adjunct professor at her alma mater, University of Delaware, until earlier this month Meredith, pictured left with former Vice President Joe Biden and right with her former boss, ex-Rep Mike Castle, ran an unsuccessful campaign for State Senate District 8 in 2016 Happy couple: Meredith married Delaware politician Luke Chapman (right) in 2009 Meredith had just taken a new job as assistant vice president of Villanova University She ended up losing the election to the veteran Democrat from Newark by 5 percentage points. Before trying her hand at politics, Meredith worked as a reporter for the Philadelphia-based PBS affiliate WHYY-TV and was later hired as a communication manager for then-Congressman Mike Caste, a Republican. Upon learning the news of Merediths passing, Castle described his former aide as industrious and capable. Im terribly saddened. She was a very good person and one of the last people I would have thought could have something like this happen, he said. Its a terrible shame. Meredith, a native of Pennsylvania, graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor's degree in communication and a Masters degree in education. Villanova University spokesman Jonathan Gust said the school was informed Monday night about her death. 'Our hearts are broken by the devastating loss of our new colleague,' he said. 'The thoughts and prayers of the entire university community are with her family, friends and colleagues during this extremely difficult time.' President Trump is bending Apple CEO Tim Cook's ear Wednesday at the White House. The former businessman is having a private discussion with the tech titan in the Oval Office today that was primarily expected to be about trade. Cook was seen entering the White House on Wednesday afternoon through the entrance of the West Wing. He had been at the White House the previous evening as a guest of the president's at Trump's first state dinner. President Trump is bending Apple CEO Tim Cook's ear today at the White House - but the talks were held behind closed doors Oval Office arrival: Tim Cook walked to the White House having spent the day in Washington after Tuesday's state dinner for the Macrons In the front row: Tim Cook was at the top table at the state dinner for Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron in the WHite House, seated beside the French first lady No t-shirt and hoodie: Tim Cook arrived for the Macron dinner with Lisa Jackson, who was an EPA administrator for the Obama administration and is now Apple's environmental head Trump indicated in a tweet on Wednesday morning that he wanted to speak to Cook, whose company's largest manufacturing partner is a Chinese company, about trade imbalances. 'We will be talking about many things, including how the U.S. has been treated unfairly for many years, by many countries, on trade,' Trump said in the tweet on the meeting he claimed to be 'looking forward' to having. Cook showed up on Trump's public schedule late Tuesday evening hours after attending the bash the sitting president threw for France's Emmanuel Macron. The Apple CEO brought former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson as his guest. Jackson oversaw the agency under Barack Obama. Jackson is currently Apples vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, a role that has her reporting directly to Cook. Her bio on Apple's website says she oversees the company's 'efforts to minimize its impact on the environment by addressing climate change through renewable energy and energy efficiency, using greener materials, and inventing new ways to conserve precious resources.' She also leads its education efforts and worldwide government affairs division. Apple works closely with Chinese supplier Foxconn, which produces its smart phones. Line-up: Tim Cook posed with Jared and Ivanka Trump in front of a portrait of Lady Bird Johnson with (from left) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, his wife Judy, Apple's environmental head Lisa Jackson and (from right) House Speaker Paul Ryan and his wife Janna Foxconn's plant in Zhengzhou is the the largest iPhone factory in the world. Trump is trying to lure Foxconn to the U.S. It's planning to build a $10 billion LED factory in Wisconsin. The president claimed last summer that Foxconn founder Terry Gou told him privately that he could triple the investment to $30 billion, creating a bonanza of jobs in the Rust Belt. Trade was on the menu on Wednesday, Trump said, as he sat down with Cook. Worldwide steel and aluminum tariffs are on the way, in addition to another $60 billion in tariffs just for Chinese imports, as Trump tries to even out the United States' $375 billion trade deficit with the competing nation. Trump said he could put another $100 billion in tariffs on China as it announced retaliatory actions. He has not made good on the threat following Chinese President Xi Jinping's promise to reduce auto tariffs and introduce new intellectual property protections for U.S. businesses operating in his country. Conservative council election candidate George Stoakley, pictured, is alleged to have made a highly offensive tweet referencing Anne Frank's effort to hide from the Nazis A Conservative council candidate was suspended by the party today after offensive tweets about Anne Frank and Aids were exposed. George Stoakley, who is running for the Tories in Fenn Ditton and Fulbourn in South East Cambridgeshire, made the tweets in 2013. One tweet, which is believed to refer to Anne Frank and her family's two-year effort to hide from the Nazis in Amsterdam, has since been deleted, along with several other offensive messages. The 23-year-old would-be politician describes himself on his twitter biography as a Libertarian Conservative. After the controversial tweets were discovered yesterday afternoon, Mr Stoackley made his Twitter feed private. He had earlier begun deleting some of the controversial messages before taking his account private. He also appears to have deleted his LinkedIn account. MailOnline has made several attempts to contact Mr Stoakley who has yet to comment on the controversy. A Conservative spokesman said today: 'George Stoakley has been suspended and an investigation is underway.' With the elections just a week away, Mr Stoakley will remain on the ballot paper. According to the Electoral Commission website: 'The details of any candidates who by the close of withdrawals remain validly nominated must be printed on the ballot papers. If a candidate has not withdrawn by the deadline, their name must go forward to the ballot paper.' The date for withdrawing a candidacy was 4pm on Friday April, 6. This means that despite the controversy, voters in Fenn Ditton and Fulbourn could still elect him to South Cambrideshire Council. The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned Mr Stoakley describing the tweets as 'anti Semitic and homophobic' and 'disgraceful'. They added: 'His suspension by the Conservative party is the right decision. The party must swiftly investigate how someone with these views was selected as a candidate.' As well as the Anne Frank message, made on July 10, 2013, other comments included: 'Some people call it aids, I just call it weaponised semen'. He also made comments about loosening the UK's strict firearms laws. He wrote in 2013: 'Am I the only person to legalise handguns in the UK?' In 2014 he commented that he would 'want to be a parent by 27, not a grand dad'. He continued: 'What the f*** getting pregnant at 11, and giving birth at 12 dirty little s*** should have the child taken away.' His old comments follow a pledge given by Conservative Party Chairman Brandon Lewis who unveiled the party's Respect Pledge ahead of next month's election. Speaking at the Conservative Councillors' Association meeting on March 3, Mr Lewis said: 'Robust debate in politics is part of a healthy democracy but abuse and intimidation have absolutely no place in public life. 'Thats why all Conservative candidates standing in elections this year will be signed-up to our Respect Pledge. 'I would urge the Labour party to now step-up and follow suit.' Candidates who breach the Respect Pledge 'will be investigated and subject to disciplinary action'. Mr Stoakley, who is 23, wrote the tweet on July 8, 2013 and deleted it earlier today Mr Stoakley also made an offensive tweet stigmatising people with HIV and Aids On his Twitter Bio, Mr Stoakley describes himself as a 'Libertarian Conservative' After Mr Stoakley started to receive criticism on Twitter he protected his profile According to the pledge, candidates must 'refrain from making abusive or offensive attacks on other candidates in written literature, on social media or verbally. 'To encourage our supporters to campaign on social media in a respectful manner, and to condemn supporters who engage in intimidatory behaviour. 'To abide by the Code of Conduct for Conservative Party Representatives as published under the authority of the Party Board.' MailOnline has approached Mr Stoakley for a comment. In April 2014, Stoakley made comments about an 11-year-old girl who became pregnant Mr Stoakley also made condescending about the people appearing on Jeremy Kyle's show George Stoakley was chosen by the Conservative Party to run on May 3, 2018 American nuclear attack warships and submarines could soon be docked in Australia in efforts to counter China's militarisation of the Indo-Pacific, a Washington-based think tank has warned. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies report - written by national security adviser to George W. Bush, Michael Green, and former security aide to Tony Abbott, Andrew Shearer - was released this week. According to the paper, China is establishing large-scale maritime bases in the South Pacific which could be used to 'support increasing power projection operations in the region by the People's Liberation Army-Navy'. 'The United States and its regional allies and partners need to pay attention and develop a more coherent and effective response,' it reads. 'China's military penetration into the South Pacific would challenge one of the oldest and most fundamental tenets of Australian strategic doctrine, the exclusion of outside military powers from its island approaches.' American nuclear attack warships and submarines could soon be docked in Australia in efforts to counter China's militarisation of the Indo-Pacific, a U.S. think tank has warned The paper calls for U.S. warships to be based at HMAS Stirling in Perth, and for Australia to 'consider the possibility of investing in the nuclear support infrastructure necessary for basing of attack submarines'. Mr Shearer said America's military and its Marine forces are already operating in the Australia's north, and that it was 'time to press forward with greater urgency'. 'It makes sense to add a naval component, and this has been under discussion for a number of years,' he told The Australian. 'The RAN's Fleet Base West at HMAS Stirling, south of Perth, is ideally situated to support a rotating U.S. naval presence. It already has some relevant infrastructure in place and there is room for expansion. 'Australian and American naval forces operating from Western Australia would be well placed to build closer co-operation with the Indian navy, to maintain a greater presence in the Indian Ocean and to monitor China's increasing naval presence.' The warnings come less than a week after reports emerged Australian warships were challenged by the Chinese military in the disputed South China Sea. The Australian Defence Department confirmed that three ships had recently travelled to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, but declined to comment on 'operational details related to ships transiting the South China Sea'. The ABC reported one official said the exchanges with the Chinese navy were polite but 'robust'. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declined to confirm reports of interaction between Australian warships and the Chinese military in the disputed South China Sea 'The Australian Defence Force has maintained a robust programme of international engagement with countries in and around the South China Sea for decades,' the Defence Department said in a statement. According to the paper, China (President Xi Jinping pictured) is establishing large-scale maritime bases in the South Pacific which could be used to 'support increasing power projection operations in the region by the People's Liberation Army-Navy' Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, also declined to confirm the interaction between the Australian warships and the Chinese military, Fairfax media reported. 'As they have done for many decades, Australian vessels and aircraft will continue to exercise rights under international law to freedom of navigation and overflight, including in the South China Sea,' the Defence Department said. China's construction of islands and military facilities in the South China Sea, through which some $3 trillion in trade passes annually, has sparked concerns Beijing is seeking to restrict free movement and extend its strategic reach. The U.S. has conducted 'freedom of navigation patrols' through the South China Sea, stoking tensions with China which says it will protect its sovereignty. Wills and Meghan shared a warm embrace as they walked into church together The prince was returning to duties after the birth of his third child on Monday Meghan, Harry and Wills were at the Anzac Day ceremony at Westminster Abbey Shes known to be rather more demonstrative than most members of the Royal Family, preferring a hug to a handshake. And it seems the Meghan Markle effect may be rubbing off on her soon-to-be in-laws. The actress and Prince William were seen exchanging an affectionate greeting yesterday as they arrived at the Anzac Day ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Each gave the other a warm kiss on the cheek, with the prince then resting his hand on Meghan's shoulder while she placed hers on his back as they shared a conversation, showing she has been firmly accepted into the family fold. The fond public greeting between the two came as William returned to royal duties following the birth of his third child on Monday. Meghan gave looks at the prince with a fond gaze as the pair enter Westminster Abbey for the Anzac day service Meghan and Wills shared a friendly kiss on the cheek - showing she has been accepted into the family fold Asked how his wife Kate and the baby boy were, William replied: Theyre very well thanks Sleepings going reasonably well so far, so hes behaving himself, which is good news. At the ceremony to commemorate Australia and New Zealands serving military, war dead and veterans, Meghan, 36, wore a bespoke mid-length black skirt and jacket by Emilia Wickstead. The designer is a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge, demonstrating how Meghan is upping her royal style game. She matched the outfit with a chic black hat and Jimmy Choo clutch bag. Earlier in the day she had joined Prince Harry at a dawn remembrance service where she took part in a traditional Maori greeting. The bride-to-be rubbed noses with a Maori woman to exchange a breath of life in the hongi greeting. It is a quintessential aspect of New Zealands culture and anyone approached to participate in the sacred gesture should always accept. Most members of the Royal Family have done it, including Harry meaning he may have been able to offer his fiancee some tips. The service was held at the New Zealand War Memorial beside Wellington Arch in central London on the 103rd anniversary of the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign. After the main ceremony Harry, 33, and Meghan signed a book of commemoration, the first time Meghan has done so. It may be the only time we see her elegant signature as Meghan Markle, as she is likely to be made a duchess by the Queen. The two chatted amicably as they made their way into church after Wills returned following the birth of his third child on Monday Meghan and Harry are due to get married in less than a month at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on May 19 The case against Russell Simmons' case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning his accuser can not re-file a claim against him Russell Simmons appears to have settled a Los Angeles lawsuit with Jennifer Jarosik, one of 16 women who have accused him of sexual assault in 2011 and 2016. Jarosik, 37, sued Simmons, 60, for millions after she claimed he had sexually assaulted her twice. Then, earlier this month, he shot back in a court response that she sent him sexts and nude photos, after both of the alleged assaults. According to TMZ, the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice on Wednesday, which means Jarosik can't file a new claim against Simmons, but it also typically indicates a settlement. Days before the alleged August 2016 rape, the woman apparently wrote to him: 'love to c u soon' and 'I emailed u love' when she did not receive a reply back right away. A few weeks after the alleged second attack, she wrote to him: 'I miss you Russell... are you OK?' and 'Sending love,' as well as 'Coming to 1 a. I want to see u OK', according to the documents. Simmons said he ignored the messages. Phat Farm clothing creator Simmons and self-proclaimed 'writer and yoga instructor' Jarosik have been 'casual' acquaintances for over a decade, he said. The documents alleged the woman has a 'propensity to exaggerate,' suffers 'untreated mental health issues,' and is 'unfit to properly parent' her young son. Rape accuser Jennifer Jarosik is pictured smiling next to Russell Simmons in this undated photo. Simmons claims Jarosik sent him naked pictures and romantic texts after both of the alleged incidents. It appears they have settled her claim against him in Los Angeles court Jarosik's attorney, Perry C. Wander, told the TMZ: 'Ms. Jarosik is a loving mother and a good parent and her parenting abilities have no relevance in this matter.' Jarosik was suing Simmons for $5million for allegedly raping her during an interview in New York City and years later at his home in Los Angeles. Simmons and his legal team claim the large sum of money is her motivation. The settlement terms are unknown at this time. Jarosik first came forward to give her account of two alleged incidents in a January interview with Megyn Kelly. She alleged to Kelly she was first raped while she was conducting an interview with Simmons. Jarosik told Kelly: 'The first one was in May of 2011, I had traveled to New York City to interview him for my documentary film which is on women's empowerment.' And, she says, she considered him a friend. 'He was a mentor, I looked up to him. I had a great tremendous amount of respect for him.' She added 'here is this high profile man who understood what I was trying to do to help women. 'So after the interview, he asked my director to leave the room.' She alleges this was at his office. 'He asked to speak with me privately. So my director left the room. He aggressively came onto me, he started to kiss me, then he raped me.' She told Kelly she tried to fight him off, but that it 'happened so quickly I just froze.' Jarosik went on Megyn Kelly Today and gave her account of allegedly being raped by Simmons in 2011 and 2016 The hip hop mogul appears to have settled after being sued for more than $5million by a woman, Jarosik (above), who claims he sexually assaulted her in his home in 2016 She told Kelly it happened a second time, but that incident was years later in Los Angeles in 2016. 'I went over to his house. In Los Angeles. And we were having a meeting. And he pushed me and forced himself on top of me. And I - that was it. I left crying and I -' At this point, Kelly interrupts to explain her lawsuit is based on the 2016 claim because it is within the statute of limitations. Jarosik explained to Kelly: 'We're filing formal reports with the NYPD and the LAPD.' She said, later in the fall of 2016, Simmons called her out of the blue, and that she believes he was calling her because he knew other women would be coming forward. 'He just told me when he called me the first time, he told me, "Jennifer, I think it's time we promote something like your film. 'Unveiling the goddess' is what it was called". I was shocked. I was conflicted because of what happened to me.' Court documents say that Simmons invited Jarosik to his home in 2016, 10 years after they first met and became friends. She alleges in the lawsuit that he propositioned her for sex When she refused, Simmons allegedly pushed her onto his bed. Jarosik then fought back, prompting Simmons to knock her off the bed, her lawsuit alleges They spoke a second time a few days later. Jarosik alleges Simmons told her: 'My life is being threatened. I'm deeply hurt. Everything that's happening right now and I said "what are you going to do?" He said, "I didn't do it." I said - that's when I said, but "it happened to me". 'And he said, "oh, my god, it did, I'm so sorry. Where was it, in New York?" And it was so - it so quickly came out of his mouth and I told him about the two times that had happened, exactly.' She said she told Simmons about the two incidents specifically. 'And then I told him about the two times and he said, "well, I call you a friend. And I want to help you" and he says "what do you need?" I said, "well, I - I'm trying to finish my film. Can use funding for it" and he said "I don't have any money. But I will use my social media and I'll make a call to a producer for you" and he did do that. 'I did speak with a producer and then I never heard from him again.' Kelly told her, 'You know he will say, this is about money. She wants money, from me to fund that film. What is the reason you're speaking out?' Jarosik replied: 'Right. The reason I'm here today which is so hard for me to do is for healing. It's for my own healing. 'It's for my own voice. That's been silenced and for all the trauma that I have held for all these years and for the other women - for other women to also know that they too can come forward and speak about this. Because healing can only take place - replace the trauma. When you can confront it and speak out. That's why I'm here today.' Jarosik's attorney filed the lawsuit in Beverly Hills in January, which made her the 15th woman to allege Simmons was guilty of a sex crime, before a 16th accuser - who chose to remain unnamed - came forward in March, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed. The woman, named Jane Doe in legal documents, claimed he raped her in a hotel room in Sacramento, California at an unspecified time and threatened to rape her young son if she didn't comply. The woman claims Simmons told her: 'I'm going to f**k you or I'm going to f**k your son,' Dailymail.com revealed. She is suing Simmons for $10million. It is claimed that Simmons, 60, then hit her in the head and pounced on her. Jarosik, who was in 'shock and fear' at this point, lay helpless as Simmons proceeded to rape her, according to her lawsuit Weeks prior, Jarosik recounted how she went to Simmons' home in August 2016 for a meeting about the documentary she was making and Simmons had agreed to help. She claimed that Simmons then hit her in the head and pounced on her. Jarosik, who was in 'shock and fear' at this point, lay helpless as Simmons proceeded to rape her, according to her lawsuit. The alleged incident left Jarosik 'sick, sore, lame, disabled and disordered, both internally and externally and suffered from extreme emotional distress'. Jarosik said she was prompted to come forward this year after hearing other women's stories about Simmons. 'The music industry and the hip-hop industry have a history of misogyny and the exploitation of women,' Jarosik's attorney Perry Wander told The Associated Press. 'It's time that they faced the music.' Simmons said previously in a statement that the allegations in her suit are 'absolutely untrue.' 'I look forward to having my day in court - where, unlike the court of public opinion, I will have the ability to make use of fair processes that ensure that justice will be done and that the full truth will be known,' Simmons said in a statement. In the lengthy statement he said that the allegations of women against him range 'from the patently untrue to the frivolous and hurtful.' Simmons said: 'These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual.' 'Sex cult' leader Allison Mack was spotted rushing into a California court on Wednesday to get her ankle monitor just a day after she was released on $5million bond and ordered to cut off all contact with members of Nxivm as a condition. Photos show the Smallville actress running into the Los Angeles courthouse to get an electronic monitoring bracelet as she tried to dodge photographers outside the building. Once inside, Mack, who was wearing a dark hat, tried to shield her face from the cameras as she passed through security. Mack was also seen smiling while being driven by her mother, Melinda, near her home in Anaheim, California. Scroll down for video 'Sex cult' leader Allison Mack (left and right) was spotted running into a California court on Wednesday to get her ankle monitor just a day after she was released on $5million bond and ordered to cut off all contact with members of Nxivm as a condition The Smallville actress was trying to dodge photographers outside the building before walking inside Once inside, Mack, who was wearing a dark hat, tried to shield her face from the cameras as she passed through security On Tuesday, the interim leader of the secretive Nxivm cult who was arrested by the FBI last week was arraigned on federal charges. As part of her release, she was ordered to cut off contact with Nxivm cult members as a condition. It's unclear if this includes Nicki Clyne, who is reportedly Mack's wife and still a member of the cult. Nxivm sources claimed that Mack married Nicki Clyne in order to keep Clyne, who is Canadian, in the United States, according to ArtVoice. Clyne was reportedly having difficulties fulfilling visa obligations. It was also claimed that India Oxenberg, the daughter of Dynasty TV star Catherine Oxenberg, witnessed the nuptials. Mack's communications via mobile phone and online will be limited to just her attorneys and she will be placed under house arrest at her mother's California home. On Tuesday, Mack was seen walking out of Brooklyn Federal Court with her legal team, before making her way through a scrum of waiting photographers and reporters. She was able to secure the bond thanks to her mother putting up her house as collateral along with a retirement account in addition to Mack's New York home in Clifton Park. Movers were seen at that property on Monday carrying out Mack's belongings. Melinda was in court to support her daughter on Tuesday, and will soon be taking her home to Los Alamitos where she will be monitored by officials from the Central District of California. Mack also seen smiling while being driven by her mother, Melinda (right), near her home in Anaheim, California Mack's communications via mobile phone and online will be limited to just her attorneys and she will be placed under house arrest at her mother's California home Mack was able to secure the bond thanks to her mother putting up her house (pictured) as collateral along with a retirement account in addition to Mack's New York home in Clifton Park Mack's father, John (left and right) was spotted outside their home Wednesday as he waited for his wife and daughter to arrive It was also Melinda who signed off on the bond, with a condition being that the money not be provided by any member of the cult. Mack's father, John, will also have to sign the release documents as well by May 4 as a partial owner of the home put up as collateral. The actress filed an application for an Order of Excludable Delay on Friday requesting that trial against her not commence until after May 3, stating that her legal team and attorneys for the Eastern District of New York were in plea negotiations. She then informed the court that there is a 'reasonable likelihood' the negotiations 'will result in a disposition of this case without trial'. This application was filed shortly after she entered a plea of not guilty to the three charges she is facing in the case. It seems unlikely that Nxivm founder Keith Raniere will be striking any deals with the US attorney's office, who successfully petitioned to have Raniere held without bail in a letter to the court stating that the cult leader had sexual relationships with two minor females, aged 15 and 12, in the past. The allegations against Raniere and Mack were outlined in the Complaint and Affidavit in Support of Arrest Warrant that was filed back on February 14. Special Agent Michael Lever with the FBI had been investigating Raniere and speaking with former cult members, including two women known as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2. Lever states that Raniere came up with the idea for Nxivm's sex slave program, known as DOS, during the summer of 2015. Mack was seen walking out of Brooklyn Federal Court with her legal team on Tuesday, before making her way through a scrum of waiting photographers and reporters The Smallville actress was surrounded by her legal team as she made her way through the cameramen Melinda (pictured) was in court to support her daughter on Tuesday, and will soon be taking her home to Los Alamitos where she will be monitored by officials from the Central District of California Mack grabs onto two of her lawyers' arms after leaving Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday A woman by the name of CC-1, who was revealed to be Mack in subsequent filings, was his first 'slave,' and provided 'colateral' which guaranteed she would remain faithful to him by providing Raniere with damning material. 'CC-1s email was titled "vow 3" and included an attached letter. The letter pledged CC-1s "full and complete life" to 14 RANIERE,' reads the complaint. 'In the letter, CC-1 used the terms "slave" and "master" to refer to herself and RANIERE. Moreover, the letter identified "collateral" to "cement" the vow made by CC-1. 'This collateral was described as: (1) a letter regarding CC-1's mother and father that would "destroy their character"; (2) a contract that transferred custody of any children birthed by CC-1 to RANIERE if CC-1 broke her commitment to RANIERE; (3) a contract that transferred ownership of CC-1 's home if the commitment to RANIERE was broken; and (4) a letter addressed to social services alleging abuse to CC-1 's nephews.' It is not clear if any of the claims made in those letters were true. Soon, CC-1 was recruiting slaves of her own and filling out the pyramid that Raniere had hoped to create, selecting Jane Doe 1 as one of these women. It was also Melinda who signed off on the bond, with a condition being that the money not be provided by any member of the cult Mack's father, John, will also have to sign the release documents as well by May 4 as a partial owner of the home put up as collateral Melinda Mack looks straight ahead and avoid reporters question's after her daughter's court hearing Allegations of Raniere's alarming and illegal sexual predilections are also outlined in a letter sent by US Attorney Richard P Donoghue to Judge Steven M Gold back in March. 'According to confidential sources, the defendant had repeated sexual encounters with multiple teenage girls in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s,' reads the letter. 'In one instance, the defendant met a fifteen-year-old girl while he was in his 20s and had repeated sexual contact with her. In another instance, the defendant met a twelve-year-old girl whose mother worked for the defendant and began tutoring her.' The letter goes on to say: 'Shortly thereafter, the defendant began having regular sexual intercourse with her, including at his home where he lived with multiple adult sexual partners.' Raniere is also said to have voiced his belief that the age of consent should be lowered to when a parent believes their child is capable of performing sexual activity. Mack was arrested and arraigned on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor. Those are the same charges that Raniere, 53, is being charged with. Raniere could be spared from serving any time though, with a former publicist for Nxivm telling DailyMail.com that member India Oxenberg has said she is willing to take the fall for Raniere if it will keep him out of prison. Frank Parlato, who has been covering Nxivm extensively on Art Voice, said that the female members of the cult have devised a plan they hope will save Raniere. First, all female members are prepared to deny that they were ever forced or coerced into performing sex acts in an attempt to discredit the allegations made by the two former members whose grand jury testimony resulted in the indictments of Mack and Raniere. Mack filed an application for an Order of Excludable Delay on Friday requesting that trial against her not commence until after May 3, stating that her legal team and attorneys for the Eastern District of New York were in plea negotiations Mack and her mother are pictured together. They will now be living together ahead of the high-profile court case Put it up: Mack also put up her home in Clifton Park (above) as collateral, where she lives in an area near other Nxivm members If that does not work, Oxenberg is prepared to testify that they alone were responsible for coercing members into having sex claims Parlato. 'Mack, Oxenberg and Clyne have made a pact to go to prison, saying privately they are ready to walk into prison tomorrow if Raniere could be free today,' reports Parlato. That has likely changed in light of Mack's release. Parlato tells DailyMail.com that Mack's arrest had been in the works ever since Raniere's extradition from Mexico to the United States back in March. He posted video of Raniere's arrest at the time, which showed Mack in a state of disbelief as officials dragged away the self-proclaimed Svengali. The grand jury indictment states that Mack did 'benefit ... financially and by receiving a thing of value, from participation in a venture ... knowing that means of force, threats of force, fraud and coercion, and a combination of such means, would be used to cause such persons to engage in one or more commercial sex acts.' It seems unlikely that Nxivm founder Keith Raniere (above) will be able striking any deals with the US attorney's office, who successfully petitioned to have Raniere held without bail The allegations against Raniere and Mack were outlined in the Complaint and Affidavit in Support of Arrest Warrant that was filed back on February 14 The first of the women to testify in front of the grand jury, Jane Doe 1, also said that Mack 'did knowingly and intentionally conspire to provide and obtain the labor and services of a person .... by means of serious harm and threats'. 'As alleged in the indictment, Allison Mack recruited women to join what was purported to be a female mentorship group that was, in fact, created and led by Keith Raniere,' United States Attorney Richard Donoghue said in a statement on Friday. 'The victims were then exploited, both sexually and for their labor, to the defendants benefit. This Office and our law enforcement partners are committed to prosecuting predators who victimize others through sex trafficking and forced labor.' Mack had been serving as leader of the cult for the past month DailyMail.com previously revealed, a role she assumed after Raniere was arrested by authorities in Mexico. Both her initials and those of Raniere's were branded on the pelvic area of women who joined the organization. The group had a large base in Albany, but a number of its most high-profile members decamped to Mexico earlier this year. They are now in Broooklyn. Raniere is listed as a co-defendant in the indictment against Mack, which was formally filed on Thursday afternoon. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani the newest member of President Trump's Russia-probe-focused legal team sat down with Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Tuesday, the Washington Post has learned. Giuliani reopened discussions on a potential interview between Trump and Mueller, conversations that had broken down in the aftermath of the FBI's raid on longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's office, hotel room and home. The ex-mayor, the Post noted, told Mueller that there was still great reluctance in agreeing to an interview, but did not rule it out. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (left), who is now representing President Trump in the Russia probe, sat down with Special Counsel Robert Mueller (right) on Tuesday Rudy Giuliani (left), a strong supporter of President Trump (right), joined the legal team last week that's dealing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe Giuliani also asked Mueller when the Russia probe might be done, the newspaper's sources said. Mueller, in turn, told Giuliani that he wished to ask the president about the decisions he made during the transition and early months of the administration. It's important for investigators to understand the president's intent as they look into potential obstruction of justice, Mueller noted. Mueller, the head of the FBI before James Comey, and Giuliani, who stewarded New York City through the 9/11 terror attacks, have known each other for years thanks to their law enforcement backgrounds. Last week upon his hiring to Trump's legal team, Giuliani suggested he would be the individual to get the Russia probe resolved. 'Im doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country and because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller,' the ex-mayor had told the Washington Post last week. While neither the special counsel's office nor Jay Sekulow, another one of President Trump's attorneys, would comment about this initial meeting which included members of Giuliani and Mueller's team a source told the Post it was to 'feel each other out.' President Trump had initially told reporters he was keen to speak to Mueller, but his tune changed in the aftermath of the Cohen raid. The president's last attorney, John Dowd, had quit over the matter. Dowd had warned Trump that sitting down for an interview would put him in legal jeopardy. Besides last week's addition of Giuliani, Trump added husband-and-wife former federal prosecutors Jane Serene Raskin and Mary Raskin to his legal team. Another attorney, Ty Cobb, is handling the Mueller probe from inside the White House. Flights have been delayed as thick blanket of fog covers the city creating visibility issues. Travellers are experiencing 'minor delays' on flights arriving at Sydney Airport Thursday morning. A Sydney Airport spokesman confirmed a 'small number of flights' were affected by the fog at the domestic terminal. Scroll down for video Travellers are experiencing 'minor delays' on flights arriving at Sydney Airport Thursday morning as a thick blanket of fog has covered the city creating visibility issues (pictured) A Sydney Airport spokesman confirmed a 'small number of flights' were affected by the fog at the domestic terminal 'No more than a dozen roughly (are affected) and there is no significant impact on international flights,' he said. Most of the CBD's buildings have been covered by the thick sheet of white clouds, making it difficult to see the usually picturesque harbour. A Qantas spokesman confirmed the fog had 'no impact' on their flights. A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman told Daily Mail Australia the thick cloud is expected to clear up later this morning. 'It probably won't last very long because the day is progressing and the ground is heating up,' he said. 'We can expect these hazy conditions to lift in next hour or so ... about 10 or 11am.' A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman told Daily Mail Australia the thick cloud (pictured) is expected to clear up later this morning The weather bureau claimed the heavy fog was partly caused by the hazard reduction burns which took place towards the Blue Mountain area. People have taken to social media bewildered by the heavy presence of fog, claiming the sight is unusual for the New South Wales capital city. 'Sydney doesn't really do fog as a general rule, but this morning it's pretty thick,' one person wrote online. Patients who have emergency operations conducted by older surgeons are more likely to survive, a study suggests. It found slightly lower death rates after surgery by those aged over 60 compared with younger doctors at the same hospitals. The US researchers examined mortality rates of patients aged over 65 who had one of 20 major emergency operations between 2011 and 2014. They considered how many died either in hospital or within 30 days of surgery. In total, 45,826 surgeons treated 892,187 patients, of whom 56,803 died a death rate of 6.4 per cent. Patients who have emergency operations conducted by older surgeons are more likely to survive, researchers in the US have claimed The rate was slightly higher at 6.6 per cent for surgeons aged under 40 than for all other age groups. It was 6.3 per cent for those aged over 60, 6.4 per cent for those in their 50s and 6.5 per cent for those in their 40s. The researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found there was no difference in patient death rates between male and female surgeons. For non-emergency surgery, such as hip replacements, the age and sex of the surgeon made no difference to death rates. Researchers took into account other factors that could affect mortality, including patients' age, sex, ethnicity and what day of the week the surgery took place. Previous studies found older surgeons tended to have worse patient outcomes, which was blamed on their tendency to rely on outdated techniques. But the latest findings, published in the British Medical Journal, suggest older surgeons may have better skills under pressure because of their extra years of experience. The study found no difference between sex and age when the surgery performed was classed as non-emergency Researchers warned the observational study did not prove cause and effect so it was not possible to confirm whether death rates were linked to surgeon age. The authors, led by Dr Yusuke Tsugawa, said: 'Our finding that younger surgeons have higher mortality suggests that more oversight and supervision early in a surgeon's career may be useful and at least warrants further investigation.' In a linked editorial, Professor Natalie Coburn, of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Canada, said: 'Skill erosion in senior surgeons is often discussed, but deficiencies in judgment and lack of experience may also lead to higher operative mortality and may be more prevalent in younger surgeons.' Professor Neil Mortensen, vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: 'The findings suggest improved surgical skills with extra years in practice. 'This study certainly prompts further investigation. It may also advance the cause of two-consultant operating, with an older surgeon mentoring a younger one.' Some of Britain's biggest supermarket and retailers have vowed to cut back on plastic waste Supermarkets and food and drink giants will today vow to kill off throwaway plastic. In a world first, 42 household names have set a deadline of 2025 to eliminate packaging that cannot be reused. Black ready-meal trays, crisp packets, pizza bases and food pouches are all covered by the UK Plastics Pact. It represents another stunning victory for the Daily Mails ten-year campaign against the tide of plastic waste polluting our streets, fields, seas and oceans. Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Aldi, Lidl and Pret a Manger have all signed the pact. They are joined by food and drink giants including Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Nestle, Unilever and Danone. Michael Gove backed the initiative last night. Our ambition to eliminate avoidable plastic waste will only be realised if government, businesses and the public work together, said the Environment Secretary at the launch of the pact in London. Industry action can prevent excess plastic reaching our supermarket shelves in the first place. I am delighted to see so many businesses sign up to this pact and I hope others will soon follow suit. The initiative will not see plastic packaging completely removed from shelves. Plastic packs and bottles will be exempt if they can be reused, recycled or composted. Some supermarkets are going even further. Morrisons will today announce a trial in some stores on removing plastic packaging from fruit and vegetables. It will also allow customers to bring their own containers for products bought from butcher and fishmonger counters. Iceland, which has led the attack on plastic waste, is also promising radical action. Richard Walker, the supermarket chains boss, said: We have taken the decision not to participate directly in the pact because we have already taken a more far-reaching decision to eliminate plastic packaging from our own label range in its entirety by 2023. Given the scale of our ambition, we feel that is right to focus all Icelands resources on delivering this. The pact is supported by industry groups, by Keep Britain Tidy and by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which campaigns to protect the oceans. Environment Secretary Michael Gove, pictured, has backed the plan and said government and business had to work together to wipe out plastic waste Dame Ellen MacArthur, pictured, said: 'This bold new pact will bring together businesses, policymakers and the public to create a circular economy for plastics that tackles the causes of plastic waste and pollution, not just the symptoms' Dame Ellen, who has set multiple sailing records, said: This bold new pact will bring together businesses, policymakers and the public to create a circular economy for plastics that tackles the causes of plastic waste and pollution, not just the symptoms. Focusing on innovation, better packaging design and end-of-use systems will not only generate long-term benefits for the environment, but is also a huge economic opportunity. We encourage others around the world to help drive this momentum towards global solutions to what is a global problem. Louise Edge of Greenpeace welcomed the initiative but insisted even more work was needed. Action from the companies producing and selling much of the single-use plastic in circulation is absolutely vital if were to stem the flow of rubbish into our oceans, she said. And for this effort to succeed it is crucial companies go beyond just making products recyclable they need to turn the tap off at the source. This means cutting the overall amount of throwaway plastic being produced. A host of major supermarkets have announced plans to eliminate single-use plastic The Marine Conservation Society said it was important that voluntary measures from firms did not become a substitute for legislative action. Earlier this month Theresa May signalled a total ban on plastic cotton buds, straws and drink stirrers to help protect the oceans. And Mr Gove is to bring in a deposit and return scheme on drinks bottles and cans. Marcus Gover, of waste advisory group Wrap, said: Together, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rethink and reshape the future of plastic so that we retain its value, and curtail the damage plastic waste wreaks on our planet. This requires a wholescale transformation of the plastics system and can only be achieved by bringing together all links in the chain under a shared commitment to act. That is what makes the UK Plastics Pact unique. It unites everybody, business and organisation with a will to act on plastic pollution. We will never have a better time to act, and together we can. The Mails campaign started with a drive to cut down on supermarket carrier bags achieving success with the introduction of the 5p levy. The focus switched to microbeads, throwaway coffee cups, plastic bottles, straws and pointless packaging. This newspaper has also launched the Great Plastic Pick Up campaign, which has seen more than 8,000 readers sign up for almost 400 community litter clearing events next month. 1MILLION raised from the 5p charge on plastic bags is to be used to research and combat ocean and beach pollution. The money, which goes to two charities, was raised from shoppers at Waitrose over the past year. Police confirmed Wednesday that Joseph James DeAngelo is the Golden State Killer and he has been arrested on multiple murder charges The former police officer suspected of being the Golden State Killer once asked his brother-in-law what he thought about the serial murderer and rapist and what he would do if he confronted him, it has been reported. James Huddle, the brother of Joseph James DeAngelos wife, told Oxygen.com that his in-law had been arrested as the main suspect in the decades-long cold case. Oh my goodness, Huddle said. Wow. I'll have to process this. 'He actually asked me about it once,' Huddle said. 'He said: "What do you think of that East Area Rapist? What would you do, Jim?"' East Area Rapist was another nickname given to the Golden State Killer. Huddle told DeAngelo that he would attack the rapist if he came face-to-face with him. Huddle said his brother-in-law, a 72-year-old former police officer, was a good father to his three daughters. The rapes and murders were a big deal at the time, Huddle said. We were all concerned about our families. Huddle said he never noticed any suspicious behavior from DeAngelo that would indicate involvement in crimes. He said his brother-in-law was into normal hobbies like fishing and building model planes. DeAngelo was also interested in guns and reloading ammunition though this, too, is not considered out of the ordinary, according to Huddle. Huddle said DeAngelo was a police officer for the Auburn, California Police Department. DeAngelo was said to be a truck mechanic until he retired a year ago. Joseph James DeAngelo Jr was arrested in California Tuesday night on two murder charges. The now-72-year-old is confirmed to be the Golden State Killer . Pictured on the left is an undated photo of DeAngelo when he was in the Navy, and on the right is a picture of DeAngelo during his sophomore year at Folsom High School The identity of the Golden State Killer has finally been revealed. Pictured are combination images the FBI released of sketches of the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer before his capture Police said they waited outside DeAngelo's home for him to exit and then jumped on him as soon as he exited the front door DeAngelo's neighbors have described the 72-year-old as a recent retiree who liked biking and lived with his daughter and granddaughter - but was prone to outbursts of anger. Residents of quiet, middle-class Canyon Oak Drive in Citrus Heights, California said he would often launch into swearing fits while working in his front yard. Paul Sanchietti, who lives a quarter-block away, called DeAngelo 'the odd neighbor' and said the suspect would regularly lose his temper when working in his front yard, although he 'calmed down a bit' over the years. 'He was aggravated or upset, his voice would carry, his swearing was alarming,' he told the Sacramento Bee. Next-door neighbor Cory Harvey watched as 30 FBI agents and other investigators combed through DeAngelo's home on Wednesday morning and proclaimed, 'I can't even believe it, I can't even believe it'. He said the former cop suspected of murdering 12 people and raping 51 in the 1970s and 80s liked fishing and going on bike rides to stay in shape. His arrest for allegedly being the notorious Golden State Killer was made possible by a breakthrough in DNA testing that linked him to some of the rapes and murders. DeAngelo was taken into custody by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday night on two murder charges for the 1978 deaths of Brian Maggiore and his wife, Katie, who are believed to be the Golden State Killer's first victims. He was later also charged with the murders of Lyman and Charlene Smith of Ventura who were found dead in their home by their 12-year-old son. Police say a DNA match in the past six days linked him to both crime scenes. Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said they relied on a 'discarded DNA sample' but would not provide specifics. They are now working to link the 72-year-old unequivocally to the rest of the crimes that profilers have attributed to the Golden State Killer through his modus operandi. It is unclear how many of the crime scenes produced DNA evidence. Police said they waited outside DeAngelo's home for him to exit and then jumped on him as soon as he exited the front door. In a mugshot released by police this afternoon DeAngelo's face is seen bloodied. The former cop has been hit with a number of charges including capital murder for the brutal 1980 deaths of Lyman and Charlene Smith. The couple was killed on March 13 of that year in their home. Detectives said Charlene was raped before she was murdered. Investigators said DeAngelo has three adult daughters. An old wedding announcement says he married Sharon Marie Huddle in 1973, according to the Sacramento Bee. They are now divorced. DeAngelo previously worked as a police officer in Auburn, California before he was fired for shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent from a Sacramento drug store. He was also a police officer in Exeter, California from about 1973 to 1976. Investigators believe he was committing the crimes while he was an officer. FBI and other law enforcement are seen outside DeAngelo's Citrus Heights, California home on Wednesday The FBI team are seen searching the back of DeAngelo's home in Citrus Heights, California A sheriff' officer is seen removing items from DeAngelo's home. The 72-year-old was arrested Tuesday night by officers who were waiting outside his house to capture them DeAngelo is currently being held at the Sacramento County Main jail and is ineligible for bail, according to jail records. 'We knew we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we also knew that needle was there,' Schubert said. 'We found the needle in the haystack and it was right here in Sacramento.' 'The answer was always going to be in the DNA,' she said. Orange County DA Tony Rackauckas said they were going to make sure DeAngelo never gets out of jail. 'This defendant has been able to live here in a nice suburb in Sacramento,' he said during Wednesday's press conference. Bruce Harrington, whose brother Keith Harrington and sister-in-law Patrice Harrington were allegedly killed by the Golden State Killer in 1980, appeared at the news briefing to offer a few words to victims. 'For the 51 ladies who were brutally raped: Sleep better tonight,' he said. 'He isn't coming through the window. He is now in jail and he is history.' An old newspaper article states that DeAngelo was a police officer in Auburn, and was eventually fired in 1979 for shoplifting from a Sacramento drug store. Auburn City Manager Jack Sausser said at the time that DeAngelo failed to answer any of the city's investigations and there 'was justifiable grounds to remove him from the public sector'. Another old newspaper article said DeAngelo was in the Navy and served aboard the USS Canberra, a Baltimore-class cruiser. He left the navy in 1967. Interest in the Golden State Killer, also known as the East Area Rapist, was reawakened recently following the release of journalist and author Michelle McNamara's posthumous crime book I'll Be Gone In The Dark. McNamara spent much of her career researching and writing about the California rapist and killer, but died before the book was published. Her husband, actor Patton Oswalt, and friend and fellow journalist Billy Jensen finished the book for McNamara and released it in February. The book quickly climbed to the number one spot on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Patton Oswalt's wife, journalist Michelle McNamara (left), spent much of her career researching the Golden State Killer. She turned her findings into a crime book titled I'll Be Gone In The Dark Patton Oswalt tweeted Wednesday that he wanted to visit the Golden State Killer so he could ask questions his late wife wanted answered Crime journalist Billy Jensen, who helped co-author I'll Be Gone In The Dark, has also tweeted about the suspected killer's arrest, writing in another post that it was an exciting day Jensen also shared a picture of the faces he and Oswalt made the moment they found out the suspected Golden State Killer was arrested Oswalt was among the first people tweeting about the possible arrest of the Golden State Killer. 'If they've really caught the #GoldenStateKiller I hope I get to visit him,' he posted. 'Not to gloat or gawk to ask him the questions that (McNamara) wanted answered in her 'Letter To An Old Man' at the end of #IllBeGoneInTheDark.' Co-author Billy Jensen has also posted numerous tweets about the possible arrest of the serial killer. 'If you've been following the Golden State Killer case, stay tuned. We will be having a rather large announcement,' he teased, adding: 'Two hours of sleep but an airport chocolate banana smoothie is going to get me through what I hope will be an amazing day. #IllBeGoneInTheDark #GoldenStateKiller #intothelight.' According to the FBI, the Golden State Killer terrorized southern California between 1976 and 1986. His crimes began in the summer of '76 with burglaries and rapes in Rancho Cordova and Carmichael. Investigators said he gained access to the homes by prying open a window or door while the victims slept. He would then shine a light in the face of his victims and tie up the female victim. If a male victim was present, the Golden State Killer would tie him up as well before ransacking the home and raping the female victim. Detectives said the killer often took small items during his burglaries such as coins, cash, ID cards and jewelry. Some victims told authorities that the killer called them after the crimes. It's believed the first victims were killed in 1978. Brian Maggiore and his wife, Katie, were walking their dog in their Rancho Cordova neighborhood on February 2, 1978 when they were chased down and murdered by the Golden State Killer, the FBI said. The Golden State Killer is suspected of committing dozens and dozens of crimes in Sacramento County in the late 1970s. Pictured is crime scene evidence from one of the attacks Police have linked more than 12 homicides to the Golden State Killer. Pictured are fingerprints police lifted from one of the crime scenes The serial killer and rapist is also suspected of committing nearly 50 rapes in southern California over the span of a decade. The above photo shows a home that was ransacked by the Golden State Killer The killer is also suspected of committing 120 home burglaries across Sacramento County. Police believe they found ski masks worn by the Golden State Killer in this undated photo Detectives said the killer often took small items during his burglaries such as coins, cash, ID cards and jewelry. Some victims told authorities that the killer called them after the crimes An old newspaper clipping said DeAngelo, who is believed to be the Golden State Killer, was an Auburn police officer but was fired for shoplifting His first victims are believed to have been Katie Maggiore (left) and her husband Brian. The couple was out walking their dog on February 2, 1978 when they were chased down and murdered by the Golden State Killer, the FBI said This shoelace was marked as evidence. It was found at the site of Brian and Katie Maggiore's murder Survivor Jane Carson-Sandler (left) survived when the Golden State Killer broke into her home in October 1976. Debbi Domingo's (right) mother was killed in July 1981 GOLDEN STATE KILLER'S THIRTEEN MURDER VICTIMS Claude Snelling: September 11, 1975 Claude Snelling September 11, 1975 Journalism professor Claude Snelling, 45, was asleep in his home in Visalia, California when he heard an odd noise outside at about 2am. He rushed outside to find a masked man dragging his 16-year-old daughter Elizabeth away. The abductor shot Snelling twice, killing him, and fled the scene on foot, leaving Elizabeth unharmed. She later told how her father saved her life. DeAngelo had woken her up, standing over her in a ski mask. He told her to go with him or risk her life. She said it was 'blurry' but that she remembered him dragging her. 'The kidnapper] threw me down and shot my dad twice. Then he pointed the gun at me.' DeAngelo hit her with the gun and kicked her but fled. Snelling died on his way to the hospital. The shooting was connected to the work of the Visalia Ransacker, believed to be responsible for 102 burglaries in the area, when ballistics matched the gun that killed Snelling to one that had been stolen in a previous break-in. Brian and Katie Maggiore: February 2, 1978 Brian and Katie Maggiore February 2, 1978 Brian Maggiore, 21, and his wife Katie, 20, were walking their dog in their Rancho Cordova neighborhood, just outside Sacramento, on February 2, 1978. The FBI said the couple were chased down before being shot and killed by the Golden State Killer. Dr Robert Offerman and Alexandria Manning: December 30, 1979 Dr Robert Offerman and Alexandria Manning December 30, 1979 Dr Robert Offerman, 44, and Alexandria Manning, 35, were killed at a home in Goleta near Santa Barbara. Offerman, an osteopathic surgeon, and Manning, a clinical psychologist, had their hands bound with twine. Lyman and Charlene Smith (left) and Patrice and Keith Harrington (right) Lyman and Charlene Smith March 13, 1980 Lyman Smith, 43, and his wife Charlene, 33, were bludgeoned to death with a fireplace log in their Ventura County home. Smith was an attorney who was just days from being appointed a judge. His wife worked as a court clerk. Patrice and Keith Harrington August 19, 1980 Patrice Harrington, 28, and her husband Keith, 25, were killed in their home at Dana Point. Police said they were beaten with a blunt instrument. Patrice was a pediatric nurse and her husband was a medical student at UC Irvine. Manuela Witthuhn (left) and Janelle Lisa Cruz (right) Manuela Witthuhn February 5, 1981 Manuela Witthuhn, 28, was raped and beaten to death in her home in Irvine. She was home alone at the time because her husband was in the hospital recovering from an illness. Cheri Domingo and Gregory Sanchez Cheri Domingo and Gregory Sanchez July 27, 1981 Cheri Domingo, 35, and Gregory Sanchez, 27, were house sitting in Goleta when they were murdered in bed. Domingo was found with her hands tied and suffering massive head injuries. Sanchez was shot and bludgeoned. Janelle Lisa Cruz May 4, 1986 Janelle Cruz, 18, was bludgeoned to death in her family's home in Irvine. She was home alone at the time and police found her lying across her bed. A real estate agent who was selling the family's home was the first to discover the teen's body. Blood was found spattered throughout the home and police believe she was beaten with a pipe wrench. Advertisement After this crime, he committed rapes and murders in Stockton, Davis, Modesto and the East Bay. The FBI believe his last crime was committed in May 1986, with the murder of an 18-year-old girl in Irvine. The Golden State Killer's fifth victim, Jane Carson-Sandler, survived an October 1976 attack. Carson-Sandler said her husband had just left for work when the masked man broke into her Citrus Heights home, bound and gagged her and her three-year-old son and then raped her. Carson-Sandler, who wrote a book about surviving the attack,said on Wednesday that she received an email from two detectives informing her of the killer's arrest. 'I have just been overjoyed, ecstatic. It's an emotional roller-coaster right now,' Carson-Sandler, who now lives near Hilton Head, South Carolina, told The Associated Press. 'I feel like I'm in the middle of a dream and I'm going to wake up and it's not going to be true. It's just so nice to have closure and to know he's in jail.' Debbi Domingo was 15 years old when her mother, 35-year-old Cheri Domingo was brutally murdered by the Golden State Killer. Domingo said she had gotten into a spat with her mother and left the home to stay with a friend, a decision that may have ultimately saved her life. Also killed that horrible July 27, 1981 night was Cheri's 27-year-old boyfriend, Gregory Sanchez. In a tweet Wednesday afternoon, Domingo said she had not yet commented on the killer's arrest because she was 'digesting'. 'Everyone is wondering why I'm not shouting from the rooftops yet. Digesting,' she tweeted, adding the hashtag: 'UNMASKEDatLAST'. Neighbors in DeAngelo's quiet Citrus Heights Sacramento suburb said they were stunned over his arrest. Others said he is known to be angry and shout obscenities while he was outside doing yard work. One neighbor told the Sacramento Bee that DeAngelo had 'anger pouring out of him'. 'It's terrifying to think this man could have hopped the fence and come into my backyard. I have children,' said another neighbor named Beth Walsh, who lives behind DeAngelo on an adjacent street. 'I'm glad to know they caught this guy.' Another neighbor, Cory Harvey, told the outlet that 'Joe' - as she calls him - lived in the home with his daughter and granddaughter and is divorced. DeAngelo had told her that he retired two weeks ago and planned to do a lot of fishing. Harvey described him as a good neighbor saying he helped pay for a fence her husband put up to separate their yards. She said he was a regular guy, 'except for that quirkiness of getting mad'. Natalia Bedes-Correnti, who lives a few houses down, said people in the neighborhood used to call DeAngelo 'freak'. 'He used to have these temper tantrums, not at anybody, just (expressing) his self frustration...usually because he couldn't find his keys,' she told the Sacramento Bee. Another neighbor, Eddie Verdon, said he caught DeAngelo prowling on his property. 'I had the creeps about this guy for a long time,' he said. Grant Gorman, who grew up in the house behind DeAngelo, told the outlet that he was so scared of DeAngelo that he avoided playing with his daughter when they were younger. 'I felt sorry for her,' he said about the daughter, adding: 'This guy just had this anger that was just pouring out of him. He'd just be yelling at nothing in the backyard, pacing in circles.' He also warned there are forces in Dublin and Brussels trying to 'thwart Brexit' Nigel Dodds, the DUP's Westminster leader, threatened to bring down the Tories The DUP said leaving the customs union with Britain was an 'absolute red line' Democratic Unionists will bring down the Government if Northern Ireland is forced to stay in a customs union after Brexit, the party warned last night. Theresa May's governing partners said that leaving the customs union with the rest of the UK was an 'absolute red line'. Nigel Dodds, leader of the DUP in Westminster, said his party could never accept a deal that led to Northern Ireland being treated differently from the rest of Britain. He told the Conservative Home website: 'If, as a result of the Brexit negotiations, there was to be any suggestion that Northern Ireland would be treated differently in a way for instance that we were part of a customs union and a single market and the rest of the UK wasn't for us that would be a red line, which we would vote against the Government, because you might as well have a Corbyn government pursuing openly its anti-Unionist policies as have a Conservative government doing it by a different means.' Nigel Dodds (left) visiting Downing Street with the DUP's leader Arlene Foster (centre-right) Nigel Dodds warned that there were forces in Dublin, Brussels and Westminster who wanted to derail Brexit Mr Dodds said there were forces in Dublin, Brussels and Westminster trying to exploit the Irish border issue to 'thwart Brexit'. His intervention came as diehard Conservative Remainers prepared to use a Commons vote today to try to bounce the Government into keeping Britain in the customs union. At least ten Tory MPs are expected to back a motion calling on the Government to make staying in a customs union with the EU 'an objective in negotiations' with Brussels. But the Prime Minister yesterday faced a series of calls from senior Tories to stick to her pledge to take the UK out of the customs union. Commons leader Andrea Leadsom said it would be 'ludicrous to be in a customs union' after Brexit because it would rob Britain of the ability to strike new trade deals. Prime Minister Theresa May reaffirmed her commitment to leaving the customs union this week amid growing tensions from within the Tory party Traffic police in China will implement facial recognition technology to identify drivers that violate road rules. From next Monday, police in Shenzhen, a city in south-east China, will implement 40 sets of surveillance cameras dubbed 'robocops' to identify reckless drivers and regulate traffic. The move coincides with the country's Labour Day, during which the police will expect more traffic violations. Scroll down for video Starting next Monday, traffic police in China will implement facial recognition technology to identify drivers that violate road rules and enforce against dangerous driving China deploys facial scanners to identify traffic offenders that violate road rules (file photo) 'Food delivery drivers, couriers and gas transport personnel tend to violate driving laws more due to strict company distribution schedules,' said the Shenzhen traffic police in a Weibo statement on Wednesday. 'This makes them prone to serious accidents.' Identifying violators have always been done via car licence plates, which sometimes allows reckless drivers to dodge blame as they might not be the person registered to the vehicle, the police added. Once the cameras capture the violation, the traffic police will match the driver's face in a database which will issue them an instant notification and a fine. This is part of a larger campaign in the region of 12 million people to deter reckless driving and traffic violations using new technology, with artificial intelligence already being used to identify jaywalkers. Pedestrians crossing the road against red traffic lights will receive an instant notification and a fine as soon as they violate the rules. Images of jaywalkers will also get projected onto large LED screens. Jaywalkers in one Chinese city will soon receive an instant notification as soon as they violate the rules, thanks to a new spy scheme. Officials are looking to upgrade an existing system that uses artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology to name and shame offenders The government is consulting with mobile carriers and social media firms to add the extra deterrent for the region. The city's traffic police have asked Intellifusion - the firm behind the existing scheme - to adopt the new measures. The firm's cameras are equipped with high resolution seven million pixel sensors, which capture photos of pedestrians crossing the road against traffic lights. Its facial recognition technology then identifies the offender from a database. Individuals caught out suffer the indignity of having their photo, family name and part of their government identification number displayed on the screens. In the ten months from launch to February of this year, the system has caught 13,930 offences on camera at one busy intersection. In March, police launched a webpage which displays photos, names and partial ID numbers of jaywalkers. Officials are hoping to roll out the technology to the whole of Shenzhen city in the near future to help reduce the figures. In the ten months from launch to February of this year, the system has caught 13,930 offences on camera at one busy intersection. In March, police also launched a webpage which displays photos, names and partial ID numbers of jaywalkers Local mobile providers and social media firms WeChat and Sina Weibo are reported to be involved in the next stage of the project. Wang Jun, the companys director of marketing solutions, told the South China Morning Post: 'Jaywalking has always been an issue in China and can hardly be resolved just by imposing fines or taking photos of the offenders. 'But a combination of technology and psychology can greatly reduce instances of jaywalking and will prevent repeat offences.' Traffic police in Shenzhen City, south-east China, have asked Intellifusion - the firm behind the existing scheme - to adopt the new measures. Local mobile providers and social media firms WeChat and Sina Weibo are reported to be involved in the next stage of the project HOW DOES FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY WORK? Facial recognition is increasingly used as way to access your money and your devices. When it comes to policing, it could soon mean the difference between freedom and imprisonment. Faces can be scanned at a distance, generating a code as unique as your fingerprints. This is created by measuring the distance between various points, like the width of a person's nose, distance between the eyes and length of the jawline. Facial recognition systems check more than 80 points of comparison, known as 'nodal points', combining them to build a person's faceprint. These faceprints can then be used to search through a database, matching a suspect to known offenders. Facial recognition is increasingly used as way to access your money and your devices. When it comes to policing, it could soon mean the difference between freedom and imprisonment (stock) Facial scanning systems used on personal electronic devices function slightly differently, and vary from gadget to gadget. The iPhone X, for example, uses Face ID via a 7MP front-facing camera on the handset which has multiple components. One of these is a Dot Projector that projects more than 30,000 invisible dots onto your face to map its structure. The dot map is then read by an infrared camera and the structure of your face is relayed to the A11 Bionic chip in the iPhone X, where it is turned into a mathematical model. The A11 chip then compares your facial structure to the facial scan stored in the iPhone X during the setup process. Security cameras use artificial intelligence powered systems that can scan for faces, re-orient, skew and stretch them, before converting them to black-and-white to make facial features easier for computer algorithms to recognise. Error rates with facial recognition can be as low as 0.8 per cent. While this sounds low, in the real world that means eight in every 1,000 scans could falsely identify an innocent party.. One such case, reported in The Intercept, details how Steven Talley was falsely matched to security footage of a bank robber. Advertisement According to the People's Daily Online, the technology was set up at a crossroad near Peking University Shenzhen Hospital on April 15, 2017, as part of a trial run. The cameras operate 24 hours. A display screen was also installed at the side of the road and at the pedestrian island. Chief officer Li Qiang at Shenzhen Traffic Police Technology Department told reporters that the technology mainly relies on the camera to detect a pedestrian crossing during the red light. News first emerged that Shenzhen had installed facial-recognition systems, dubbed 'robocops', in April 2017 According to the People's Daily Online , the technology was set up at a crossroad near Peking University Shenzhen Hospital on April 15, 2017, as part of a trial run Shenzhen traffic police hope to roll out the technology to the whole city, promoting road safety to the region's 12 million people Cameras capture an offender's face and sends it to display screens, as well as the police bureau, where using face-recognition technology is used to identify the person. The monitor display operates in real-time, meaning that head-shots of any offenders will upload instantly and run on a loop. The system also records the number of times a person has run a red light. The new facial recognition technology has brought an effect of public shaming. However, officer Li said it serves as a function of giving out a warning, sourcing evidence and promoting road safety. Cameras operating 24-hours will capture an offender's face and sends it to display screens, as well as the police bureau, where using face-recognition technology is used to identify the person Any jaywalkers captured by the camera will display on a loop, showing the number of times crossing road illegally In other parts of the country, the police have started wearing high-tech sunglasses that can help them spot suspects within seconds in a crowded train station. The transport police stationed in railway hubs in Zhengzhou, central China, were given the cutting-edge gadgets in February to embrace the busiest time of the year: the Lunar New Year travel rush. In other parts of the country, the police have started wearing high-tech sunglasses that can help them spot suspects within seconds in a crowded train station A camera connected to the smartphone-like glasses would allow the officers to take mugshots of the individual in question and compare them to a database back at their headquarters. The system would then bring up the suspect's vital information, including name, ethnicity, gender and address. All the information would be transferred back to the officer's glasses. The glasses would also tell officers whether or not the targets are on the run from the law, the address of the hotel where they are staying and information related to their internet usage. Anzac Day occurs on April 25 each year, and is the anniversary of the start of the First World War Gallipoli landings. Thousands of Anzac troops - Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - died in the ill-fated 1915 Gallipoli campaign. Waves of Allied forces launched an amphibious attack on the strategically important Turkish peninsula, which was key to controlling the Dardanelles straits, the crucial route to the Black Sea and Russia. But the plan backed by Winston Churchill, then first lord of the admiralty, was flawed and the campaign, which faced a heroic defence by the Turks, led to stalemate and withdrawal eight months later. Today, Anzac Day is treated in Australia and New Zealand with the same reverence as Remembrance Day in the UK, with the annual event now used to honour all of the two nation's war veterans. A female chestnut-coloured horse buried in a shroud nearly 3,000 years ago shows Egyptians' love of their equine family members. The Tombos horse - which is named after the place in Sudan where it was found - was discovered in a funeral position more than five feet underground a tomb. Researchers were expecting to find human burials but then stumbled upon the horse which was so well-preserved it had hair on its legs. They say it was intentionally buried and changes on the bone as well as iron pieces of bridal suggest this much-loved horse pulled a chariot when it was alive. It was buried with one of the earliest securely dated pieces of iron in Africa, suggesting it was an incredibly prestigious animal. Scroll down for video A chestnut horse burned in a shroud inside a tomb nearly 3,000 years ago shows Egyptians' love of their equine family members The Tombos horse - which is named after the place in Sudan where it was found - was discovered in a funeral position more than five feet underground a pyramid tomb Using radiocarbon testing, researchers from Purdue University dated the Tombos horse to about 950 BC, which dates to the Third Intermediate Period. This is when the Kushites of Nubia took advantage of instability in Egypt to form a political, economic and military power what is now modern-day Sudan. The horse was buried in an ancient village on the fringes of Egyptian dominance about 100 years after the colony began to break away in 1070 BC. The monarchs of the ancient kingdom of Kush became the pharaohs of the twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt. Buried in an older tomb that had been adapted for the task, the horse was laid to rest in sacred ground. 'It was clear that the horse was an intentional burial, which was super fascinating,' said Professor Michele Buzon, a professor of anthropology at Purdue University. 'Remnants of fabric on the hooves indicate the presence of a burial shroud. 'Changes on the bones and iron pieces of a bridle suggest that the horse may have pulled a chariot', she said. Experts say they have never found anything like this on previous excavations. 'Animal remains are very rare at the site', said Dr Buzon. 'It's gorgeous, and the bones are a nice, rich brown colour that you don't see in other contemporary horse burials,' said Stuart Tyson Smith, a professor of archaeology in UCSB's Department of Anthropology. 'All the pieces are there, everything's intact. It even had some fur left on it', he said. 'As a result, because of the preservation, it's one of the most complete skeletons, and best preserved, of any of these early horses that have been found in northeast Africa.' The Third Intermediate Period started with the death of Pharaoh Ramesses XI and was characterised by decline and instability. Researchers were expecting to find human burials but then stumbled upon the horse which was so well-preserved it had hair on its legs The horse was buried alongside one of the earliest securely dated pieces of iron in Africa, suggesting it was an incredibly prestigious animal. Pictured is the site Researchers argue that the horse represents a shift away from Egyptian governance and towards a Kushite rule in which the animal was embraced as central to the state's identity. 'One of the interesting things about our horse is that it foreshadows the later development where these Nubian kings are really into horses,' said Dr Smith. When the Kushite king Piankhi put down a rebellion in northern Egypt he was said to be enraged that his horses there had been starved in his absence. 'His complaint was not that they had rebelled against him, but they had mistreated his horses,' he said. Over the years, hundreds of artefacts, including pottery, tools, carvings and dishes were unearthed at this burial site for about 200 individuals (pictured, plan) The site is where Egyptians colonised the area in around 1500BC to gain access to trade routes on the Nile River. Over the years, hundreds of artefacts, including pottery, tools, carvings and dishes were unearthed at this burial site for about 200 individuals. 'Finding the horse was unexpected,' said Purdue University alumni Sarah Schrader who is now an assistant professor of human osteoarchaeology at Leiden University in The Netherlands. 'Initially, we weren't sure if it was modern or not. But as we slowly uncovered the remains, we began to find artefacts associated with the horse, such as the scarab, the shroud and the iron cheek piece. The Tombos horse - which is named after the place in Sudan where it was found - was discovered in a funeral position more than five feet underground 'At that point, we realised how significant this find was. Of course, we became even more excited when the carbon-14 dates were assessed and confirmed how old the horse was', she said. The horse lived until it was old and was probably treated well during its lifetime, experts say. 'It also was important to the people of ancient Tombos because it was buried - a rite that is usually reserved for humans', said Dr Schrader. The fact the horse was found buried alongside one of the earliest pieces of iron from Africa shows how special this animal was to people. 'This is a very early date for iron,'said Dr Smith. 'For a long time people had thought that iron production in Nubia really didn't ramp up until about 500 BC.' The fact that it is buried at Tombos indicates that this town may have served an important function in the post-colonial Napatan Period. Professor Gillian Leng, pictured, said there are still doubts over the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes E-cigarettes are being sold as edgy lifestyle devices, which could keep people on them for too long, a senior health official warned yesterday. Professor Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive of health watchdog NICE, said there are still doubts over the long-term health effects of electronic cigarettes. While they can help smokers quit tobacco, there is a question over whether they may become a lifestyle choice. Nearly 3million people in Britain use e-cigarettes, despite evidence linking them to bronchitis and stillbirth in pregnant women, and fears over toxic flavourings. There are also concerns over the dangers of passive vaping. Addressing the science and technology parliamentary committee, Professor Leng said the long-term impact of using e-cigarettes is not yet known because they are relatively new. Asked whether getting people on to the devices may maintain an addiction to nicotine, she said: That is the distinction between using e-cigarettes as a quitting aid, which you clearly can do. You downgrade the amount of nicotine you get through the product and it can help stop your nicotine addiction. The question is whether it becomes a long-term lifestyle choice and there might be questions about that because of the way e-cigarettes are marketed. They are being marketed as an exciting, edgy product, which might encourage people to use them in the longer term. In March NICE suggested doctors should advise patients that e-cigarettes are better for them than smoking, but stopped short of recommending their use in stop-smoking services. Professor Leng said yesterday: We know they are substantially safer than cigarettes. The risk is that we dont know the long-term impact. They are 95 per cent safer than cigarettes but there is five per cent that we dont know about. Prof Leng said e-cigarettes are 95 per cent safer than traditional tobacco products, but there has not been enough study about their long-term impact E-cigarettes do not contain the dozens of cancer-causing toxins in tobacco, but do contain dangerous chemicals such as formaldehyde, as well as nicotine. Studies have linked long-term vaping to heart disease and cancer. Professor John Newton, of Public Health England, said there were reassuring patterns of e-cigarette use. Surveys suggest there is a progression from being a smoker, to using e-cigarettes, to stopping, he said. It has been hailed as an easy get-rich-quick scheme, but according to one financial expert, Bitcoin is the greatest scam in history. Bill Harris, founding CEO of Paypal, said the so-called cryptocurrency has 'no value', and claimed it is part of a huge 'pump-and-dump' scheme. Bitcoin targets ill-informed buyers 'caught up in the spiral of greed', according to Harris, leading to a huge shift of wealth from ordinary families to internet scammers. Harris' claims follow similar warnings made last month by Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said Bitcoin showed the 'classic hallmarks of a bubble' and that only 'fools' are investing in it. Scroll down for video It has been hailed as an easy get-rich-quick scheme, but according to one financial expert, Bitcoin is the 'greatest scam in history'. Bill Harris (file photo), founding Paypal CEO, claimed the digital currency has 'no value' In an opinion piece for Recode, Harris wrote: 'Bitcoin is a scam. In my opinion, its a colossal pump-and-dump scheme, the likes of which the world has never seen. 'In a pump-and-dump game, promoters 'pump' up the price of a security creating a speculative frenzy, then 'dump' some of their holdings at artificially high prices. And some cryptocurrencies are pure frauds. 'The losers are ill-informed buyers caught up in the spiral of greed. The result is a massive transfer of wealth from ordinary families to internet promoters.' Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency an online type of money created using computer code that are stored in virtual wallets known as blockchains that keep track of your money. One of its selling points is that it can be used to buy things anonymously, and cryptocurrencies are frequently used by criminals to buy drugs and guns. At the time of publishing a single Bitcoin is worth over 6,500 ($9,000), with the world's top 1,500 cryptocurrencies holding a total value of 215 billion ($300 billion) according to some estimates. WHO IS FOUNDING PAYPAL CEO BILL HARRIS? Bill Harris was appointed CEO of X.com, a financial services company founded by Elon Musk, in December 1999. The company merged with software firm Confinity three months later to form the online payments service Paypal, with Harris appointed CEO. Bill Harris was ousted from the CEO role just two months later in April 2000, with Musk taking over the role while Peter Thiel was appointed Chairman. Rumours suggest Harris' departure was due to his inability to handle PayPal's skyrocketing growth. Harris has since founded digital financial firm Personal Capital, based in San Francisco, California. Advertisement Bitcoin targets ill-informed buyers 'caught up in the spiral of greed', according to Harris, leading to a shift of wealth from ordinary families to internet promoters (stock image) But Harris, founder of California-based financial firm Personal Capital, said the idea that a Bitcoin has value is wrong. He wrote: 'It helps to understand that a bitcoin has no value at all. 'Promoters claim cryptocurrency is valuable as (1) a means of payment, (2) a store of value and/or (3) a thing in itself. None of these claims are true. 'For the vast majority of uses, bitcoin has no role. Dollars, pounds, euros, yen and renminbi are better means of payment, stores of value and things in themselves.' WHAT IS BITCOIN AND HOW DOES IT WORK? What are Bitcoins? Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency an online type of money which is created using computer code. It was invented in 2009 by someone calling themselves Satoshi Nakamoto a mysterious computer coder who has never been found or identified themselves. Bitcoins are created without using middlemen which means no banks take a fee when they are exchanged. They are stored in what are called virtual wallets known as blockchains which keep track of your money. One of the selling points is that it can be used to buy things anonymously. However, this has left the currency open to criticism and calls for tighter regulation as terrorists and criminals have used to it traffic drugs and guns. How are they created? Bitcoins are created through a process known as mining which involves computers solving difficult maths problems with a 64-digit solution. Every time a new maths problem is solved a fresh Bitcoin is produced. Some people create powerful computers for the sole purpose of creating Bitcoins. But the number which can be produced are limited meaning the currency should maintain a certain level of value. Why are they popular? Some people value Bitcoin because it is a form of currency which cuts out banking middlemen and the Government a form of peer to peer currency exchange. And all transactions are recorded publicly so it is very hard to counterfeit. Its value surged in 2017 beating the tulip mania of the 17th Century and the dot com boom of the early 2000s to be the biggest bubble in history. But the bubble appeared to have burst, and questions arose over what market there is for it long-term. However, it has since boomed again, and in March 2021, surpassed the $60,000 mark for the fist time. Advertisement Bitcoin saw its value go through the roof last year - beating the 17th Century dutch Tulip Mania, the South Sea bubble and the dot com bubble of the early 2000s to become the biggest economic bubble in history. But its value has plummeted this year and is nearly half the peak of 14,000 ($20,000). In a speech delivered via video-link to the Inaugural Scottish Economics conference last month, Bank of England governor Mark Carney branded cryptocurrencies a 'failure' and a lottery. The governor warned that the 'currencies' showed the 'classic hallmarks of bubbles' as he called for them held to the 'same standards as the rest of the financial system'. A burial site containing 75 Roman skeletons has been uncovered beneath a hotel swimming pool in York. The grade two listed building, known as the Newington Hotel, is currently being gutted by developers to create seven family homes. During the renovation of the Georgian building, construction workers were stunned to find dozens of Roman human remains. Scientists say the skeletons belong to both men and women of varying ages. They are still analysing the remains to find more clues about their background. The newly-found skeletons are just 300 metres (1,000 ft) away from a Roman gladiator burial discovered in the city in 2004. It's not yet known if any of the newly-found bodies belong to fighters, but researchers believe this is unlikely. Scroll down for video A burial site containing 75 Roman skeletons has been uncovered beneath a hotel swimming pool in York. The grade two listed building, known as the Newington Hotel in Mount Vale Drive, is currently being gutted by developers to create seven family homes During the restoration, the developers called in the York Archaeological Trust to assist with the recovery of the skeletons. John Reeves chairman of developers the Helmsley Group, said: 'The refurb has not been without its issues. 'To start with there were over 60 Roman skeletons found under the old swimming pool, in what was an extension to a Roman burial ground further up Mount Vale. 'All had to be painstakingly removed, catalogued and investigated by the archaeological trust.' The site is just 300 or so metres (1,000 ft) away from a Roman gladiator burial discovered in the city - it's not yet known if any of the bodies belonged to fighters Some remains, dating as far back as 50 BC, included large copper head pieces that had eroded to leave a green mark on the foreheads of the skulls of more wealthy citizens. David Scott, from the York Archaeological Trust, said the find was not surprising due to the association with the Roman empire, which has yielded dozens of finds in the past. He added: 'The hotel is adjacent to a cemetery excavated by L P Wenham in the 1950s and it was one of the first Romano-British burial grounds to be fully published in this country. 'The site also lies about 300m from a previous excavation in 2004 and 2005 famously uncovered the graves of over 30 decapitated Romans, a number of whom were interpreted as possible gladiators. 'The excavations lasted three months and 75 graves have been recorded by the trust. 'The graves were, for the most part, strikingly shallow meaning that many of them had been damaged by ploughing throughout the medieval period and 19th century construction.' Some remains, dating as far back as 50 BC, included large copper head pieces that had eroded to leave a green mark on the foreheads of more wealthy citizens Builders are part-demolishing the Georgian property, the grade two listed Newington Hotel, to make way for seven homes. More than 60 skeletons found under the old swimming pool The discovery is close to a gladiator burial ground discovered in where researchers excavated eighty burials at nearby Driffield Terrace in York. This site was part of a large cemetery on the outskirts of the Roman town of Eboracum, across the river from the legionary fortress. The 2004 burials displayed evidence that so intrigued archaeologists that further investigation was needed. The male skeletons displayed deliberate trauma, interesting pathology and peri-mortem decapitation. Many of the skeletons showed signs of healed injuries. One had even been bitten by a large predator, perhaps a lion or bear. Strangest of all, about half were decapitated at or just after death and buried with their detached heads. 'Extraordinary' fragments of a 1,200-year-old Qur'an that contain the shadowy outlines of passages from the Bible are set to go up for auction. The manuscript is the only recorded palimpsest - a document on which later writing has been superimposed - in which the Qur'an has been written over a Christian text. It is believed the original Bible script was inscribed by the Coptic community in Egypt before the Islamic holy text was later written over it at the time of the Arab conquest in the eighth century AD. A collection of nine manuscript fragments will be auctioned in London on Thursday with a guide price of 80,000-120,000 ($110,000-$170,000). Scroll down for video Passages from the Bible have been found underneath the engravings of a 1,200-year-old Qur'an manuscript in an 'extraordinary' find. The manuscript is the only recorded palimpsest in which the Qur'an has been written over a Christian text. Pictured are two fragments of the text The discovery was made with the help of French scholar Dr Eleonore Cellard from the College de France in Paris, who lauded the find as a groundbreaking discovery. 'This is a very important discovery for the history of the Qur'an and early Islam,' she said. 'We have here a witness of cultural interactions between different religious communities.' Dr Cellard spotted the rare palimpsest while looking through the latest catalogue of the London auction house Christie's. The listing included fragments from a manuscript of the Qur'an which Christie's had dated to the eighth century AD. The eagle-eyed scholar spotted faint Coptic letters layered beneath the Arabic script and immediately contacted the auction house. It is believed the original text was inscribed by the Coptic community in Egypt before it was overwritten at the time of the Arab conquest in the eighth century AD. A collection of nine manuscript fragments (two pictured) will be auctioned in London on Thursday WHAT IS A PALIMPSEST AND WHY ARE QUR'ANIC ONES SO RARE? A palimpsest is manuscript that has had its original writing scrubbed off in order to engrave different writing. Texts were primarily written on animal-skin parchments like vellum before the arrival of paper, but this material was expensive and time-consuming to make. To save resources, scholars would often scrub script off of vellum and use the clear parchment as a 'clean slate' to write new texts. Although vellum was expensive, the Quran was always written on new material. Only a handful of Quranic palimpsests have been found, likely because the Quran is such an important text. A palimpsest is manuscript that has had its original writing scrubbed off in order to engrave different writing. Pictured is a 9th-10th century palimpsest penned by Agathangelos, a supposed secretary of Tiridates III, King of Armenia Advertisement Scientists identified the Coptic text as coming from the Old Testament's Book of Deuteronomy - part of the Torah and the Christian Old Testament. Christie's specialist Romain Pingannaud told the Guardian: 'Once you know it's there, you can only see it, it becomes so obvious. We missed it at the beginning. 'It's fascinating, particularly because it's the only example where you have an Arabic text on top of a non-Arabic text. 'And what's even more fascinating is it is on top of passages from the Old Testament It shows the contact between communities in the first centuries of Islam; it's very relevant.' In total, nine palimpsest fragments are set to be sold at Christie's auction house in London on Thursday, the largest of which measures just 11.1 x 12.7 centimetres (4 3/8 x 5 1/8in). French scholar Dr Eleonore Cellard spotted the rare palimpsest while looking through the latest catalogue of the London auction house Christie's. The listing included fragments from a manuscript of the Qur'an which Christie's had dated to the eighth century AD Christie's said the fragments 'resonate with the historical reality of religious communities in the Near East and as such are an invaluable survival from the earliest centuries of Islam'. The writing style of the Islamic text dates the manuscript's second iteration to the eighth or ninth century The writing style of the Islamic text dates the manuscript's second iteration to the eighth or ninth century. However, researchers say they may never know how old the original Coptic bible it overwrote was. Radiocarbon dating, the technique normally used to date ancient materials, would likely damage the parchment beyond repair. According to Mr Pingannaud, the letter formations mean the Coptic script is unlikely to have been written earlier than the seventh century. Manuscripts written on vellum in eighth century Egypt and Europe - an expensive material that was often reused several times to save on resources. Only a handful of Quranic palimpsests have been found, and none were copied above a Christian text. 'We think this is because the Quran is such an important text and although vellum was very expensive, the Quran was always written on new material,' Mr Pingannaud said. 'It's highly revered and so they would use brand new material.' In the nearly 55 years since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, countless conspiracy theories have arisen in attempt to explain how the events really went down the most famous being the grassy knoll theory. Despite the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald and subsequent analyses that showed JFKs wounds lined up with the type of rifle Oswald owned, skeptics have proposed there was a second gunman standing on a hill to the front of the motorcade. Now, a new study could finally help put the debate to rest. New calculations based on the video recordings of the assassination indicate that the mysterious movement of the presidents head after being shot a crucial detail in the grassy knoll theory was the result of a recoil effect. Scroll down for video New calculations are consistent with a wound caused by a high-energy Carcano military rifle such as that owned by Lee Harvey Oswald fired from the vicinity of Texas School Book Depository building, where Oswald worked. The crime scene is annotated above The findings also show that the fatal bullet impact was immediately followed by a forward head snap, adding further proof that JFK was shot from behind, as the official autopsy indicated. According to the studys author Dr. Nicholas Nalli, this initial forward movement can be seen in the famous footage captured by civilian Abraham Zapruder, who filmed the doomed Dallas motorcade on November 22, 1963 using an 8-mm home video camera, and inadvertently recorded the assassination. Rather than gloss over this fact, as has been done by most previous authors, including anti-conspiracy authors, I chose to study and model it explicitly, said Dr Nalli, Senior Research Scientist at IMSG, Inc. The widespread grassy knoll theory centers on a number of so-called oddities in the initial findings and footage of the assassination itself, which showed that the president made a back and to the left movement just after being shot. This, according to proponents of the second gunman explanation, suggests JFK was shot from the front by a person standing on a small hill on the northwest side of Dealey Plaza, otherwise known as the grassy knoll. In the new study published to the journal Heliyon, Nalli uses one-dimensional gunshot wound dynamics models to investigate these previously glossed over events in greater detail. The force calculations include known information from the crime scene, including bullet mass, speed, and diameter, as well as the camera shutter frequency and autopsy measurements. In the nearly 55 years since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, countless conspiracy theories have arisen in attempt to explain how it really went down the most famous being the grassy knoll theory. The doomed motorcade in Dallas, Texas on 22 November 1963 is shown It also takes into account the transfer of momentum and kinetic energy through the soft tissue of the head, and the resistance presented by the skull. According to Nalli, the footage of the event supports the conclusion that Kennedy was shot from behind. In the film, the presidents head first snaps forward at the moment of impact, before exhibiting the highly disputed back and leftward motion. All of this can be explained by the gunshot from a single shooter positioned behind the motorcade, Nalli says. According to the analysis, the bullet deformed after colliding with the skull, transferring most of its kinetic energy to the head. Some of this energy would have driven an impulse force immediately after, propelling the target forward about 2 inches (5 centimeters) over the course of one shutter cycle. The rest of the kinetic energy would have gone into the soft tissue, Nalli writes. Stills from the Zapruder films show the moment JFK was fatally wounded. The red lines indicate the different features discussed in the study, including the position of the president's head and body A second backward acceleration seen in the Presidents upper body after the shooting was likely a nervous system reaction to the massive brain injury. This phenomenon has been proposed in previous investigations as well. This neuromuscular effect causes the large torso muscles to undergo a delayed involuntary contraction, straightening the torso and thus torquing the entire upper body backward from its seated posture, Nalli writes. While conspiracy theorists have long used the Zapruder film as the main evidence backing their claims, the researcher says the footage actually proves the opposite argument. The findings based on the film shot the fatal show was not fired from the grassy knoll, Nalli says. WHY IS THE JFK ASSASSINATION STILL WIDELY DEBATED? John F Kennedy, 35th President of the United States of America, is shown President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 as his motorcade drove through Dallas, Texas. The president was targeted by a sniper, who fatally shot him in the head as his uncovered car drove through Dealey Plaza. Within an hour after the assassination, ex-Marine Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed a Dallas police officer, leading to his arrest in a movie theatre where he went to hide. He was later charged with Kennedys murder, though he denied the accusations but, two days later, he was fatally shot while in holding by local nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Following the assassination, five government investigations concluded Oswald was the killer. But, some have claimed there were irregularities and oddities in both the investigations and findings. The assassination was captured in numerous recordings, most notably in the famous footage filmed by civilian Abraham Zapruder using an 8-mm home video camera. The Zapruder film caught the entire roughly 8 second sequence of fatal events. Instead of clarifying what happened, however, the footage has sparked countless conspiracy theories. Despite the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald and subsequent analyses that showed JFKs wounds lined up with the type of rifle Oswald owned, skeptics have proposed there was a second gunman standing on a hill to the front of the motorcade The most famous of these is the grassy knoll theory, which centers on the argument that the president made a back and to the left movement just after being shot. This, according to proponents of the second gunman explanation, suggests JFK was shot from the front by a person standing on a small hill on the northwest side of Dealey Plaza, otherwise known as the grassy knoll. But, the theory has been disputed countless times over the years. Advertisement Instead, the calculations using the given information are consistent with a wound caused by a high-energy Carcano military rifle such as that owned by Lee Harvey Oswald fired from the vicinity of Texas School Book Depository building. This building, where Oswald worked, is situated behind where the motorcade was at the time. I found that the Zapruder film shows President Kennedy being shot from behind and not from the infamous grassy knoll, in corroboration of the official autopsy findings thats the only smoking gun in the film, said Dr Nalli. The historical fact of the matter is that the US federal government investigations were comprised of upstanding civil servants of high ethical standards who, in spite of difficult circumstances, by-and-large got the basics of the case correct. Modern humans may not have been the first travelers to cross the seas. Mounting evidence discovered in recent years suggests Stone Age mariners may have hopped from island to island throughout the Mediterranean more than 130,000 years ago and, this may even have included Neanderthals. While its long been thought that Bronze Age people were the first to become seafarers, stone tools and bones found throughout Eurasia suggest others had them beat by thousands of years, according to Science magazine. Mounting evidence discovered in recent years suggests Stone Age mariners may have hopped from island to island throughout the Mediterranean as far back as 130,000 years ago and, this may even have included Neanderthals (artist's impression) The discovery of tools on islands such as Crete has upended the long-held notion that modern humans were the first to venture off land. Prior to recent archaeological findings, the oldest evidence of purposeful sea travel in the region stood at around 10,000 years old. While human ancestors are known to have traveled across deep water over a million years ago in Indonesia, and modern humans crossed waters to reach Australia about 65,000 years ago, its thought that this may not have been intentional, according to Science. In 2011, however, archaeologists in Greece announced the discovery of axes and other tools on the south coast of Crete thought to be between 130,000 and 700,000 years old. But, Crete has been separate from the mainland of Greece for roughly 5 million years. Researchers at the time said the crude tools could be linked to extinct human ancestors including Homo erectus. More recently, researchers discovered a vast trove of stone tools near the village of Plakias. The discovery of tools on islands such as Crete has upended the long-held notion that modern humans were the first to venture off land. Artifacts thought to have belonged to Neanderthals and Paleolithic human ancestors have also been found on Naxos, Kefalonia, and Zakynthos These tools appear much like Acheulean tools used up until about 130,000 years ago by Homo erectus and Neanderthals, Thomas Strasser of Providence College told Science. Artifacts thought to have belonged to Neanderthals and Paleolithic human ancestors have also been discovered on the island Naxos, Kefalonia, and Zakynthos. At a recent meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, archaeologist Alan Simmons explained that ancient human ancestors may have possessed both the cognitive and technological means to venture off land. But, many are still skeptical of the idea. In 2011, however, archaeologists in Greece announced the discovery of axes and other tools (right) on Crete thought to be between 130,000 and 700,000 years old. Researchers said the crude tools could be linked to extinct human ancestors including Homo erectus WHEN DID HUMAN ANCESTORS FIRST EMERGE? The timeline of human evolution can be traced back millions of years. Experts estimate that the family tree goes as such: 55 million years ago - First primitive primates evolve 15 million years ago - Hominidae (great apes) evolve from the ancestors of the gibbon 7 million years ago - First gorillas evolve. Later, chimp and human lineages diverge A recreation of a Neanderthal man is pictured 5.5 million years ago - Ardipithecus, early 'proto-human' shares traits with chimps and gorillas 4 million years ago - Ape like early humans, the Australopithecines appeared. They had brains no larger than a chimpanzee's but other more human like features 3.9-2.9 million years ago - Australoipithecus afarensis lived in Africa. 2.7 million years ago - Paranthropus, lived in woods and had massive jaws for chewing 2.6 million years ago - Hand axes become the first major technological innovation 2.3 million years ago - Homo habilis first thought to have appeared in Africa 1.85 million years ago - First 'modern' hand emerges 1.8 million years ago - Homo ergaster begins to appear in fossil record 800,000 years ago - Early humans control fire and create hearths. Brain size increases rapidly 400,000 years ago - Neanderthals first begin to appear and spread across Europe and Asia 300,000 to 200,000 years ago - Homo sapiens - modern humans - appear in Africa 50,000 to 40,000 years ago - Modern humans reach Europe Advertisement The orthodoxy until pretty recently was that you dont have seafarers until the early Bronze age, said archaeologist John Cherry of Brown University, according to Science. Now we are talking about seafaring Neanderthals. Its a pretty stunning change. Given how much the position of the land has changed over the course of Earths history, experts say its difficult to pinpoint exactly where current islands sat thousands of years ago. But, the growing evidence suggests Neanderthals may been more enticed by the sea than theyve previously been given credit for. With attractions like the Colosseum and the Vatican, and authentic Italian cuisine around every corner, theres no bad time to visit Rome. Each time of year offers something different. Whether you want to enjoy the soaring temperatures of peak summer or travel in winter to avoid the crowds, weve pulled together the best of each season to help you decide when to visit. The Fountain di Trevi in Rome during spring in all its glory Spring: Best for Easter events and historical celebrations Spring is a beautiful time in Rome, and the pleasantly warm temperatures mean you can enjoy the Eternal Citys stunning sights in comfort. Rome will also be less busy during spring than it is in the scorching summer, but you can still expect crowds at major tourist attractions. If you visit before Easter, crowds will be thinner, so youre more likely to bag bargain accommodation and cheaper flights. This time of year, though, some attractions will still have shorter winter hours, and others may use the quieter months to close for renovation. Easter and Holy Week is a mini high season, as tourists flock to the Vatican to celebrate their faith and catch a look of the Pope. Easter also marks the reawakening of the Eternal City after the long winter, with shops, restaurants and landmarks opening for longer as they gear up for high season. The Commemoration of Julius Caesars Death also takes place during spring, on 15 March. See the annual re-enactment of Caesars death and join the funeral procession to the Temple of Julius Caesar in the Roman Forum. For more celebrations, hang around until 21 April Romes birthday and the anniversary of Romuluss founding of the Eternal City in 753 BCE. Around this date, many of Romes monuments and museums offer free entry, and historical re-enactments and parades hit the streets. Summer: Best for sun, local festivals a and vibrant atmosphere The summer months mark Romes high season. The mercury soars during the Italian summer, so if youre a sun worshipper, this is the time to visit just make sure you stay hydrated, wear sunscreen and take time to cool off with some delicious gelato. The Italian capital is buzzing during in summer. The flip side of this vibrant atmosphere is youll make slower progress than you would during low season, as most landmarks have big queues. Avoid sightseeing on Monday, when many of the citys museums are closed, and on weekends, when the crowds are at their largest. If you want to visit Rome during the scorching summer, remember that during the last couple of weeks of August, many Italians take their own holidays. This means that many hotels, shops and restaurants close. Early summer is great for festivals. Join the crowds in the San Giovanni neighbourhood to celebrate the Festa di San Giovanni the Feast of Saint John on 24 June. Youll get to dine on porchetta, snails and other local dishes against a backdrop of concerts and fireworks. If you love the sophisticated Italian style, visit the city during Alta Roma Fashion in July there are several catwalks and exhibitions open to the public. A stunning view of St. Peter's Basilica during the autumnal season Autumn: Best for culture, comfortable temperatures and smaller crowds Autumn is one of the best times to visit Rome. Its hot, but peak temperatures have dropped and the crowds are smaller. Autumn is breath-taking in Rome: take a stroll on Appian Way or through Borghese Park to enjoy the changing colours. There are plenty of cultural events taking place, too. The Romaeuropa Festival a carnival of art, music, theatre and dance is held each autumn, so make your way to any of the music concerts in Romes main squares. The International Film Festival of Rome a glamorous event for a bit of A-lister spotting at premiers and around the city appearances also takes place in mid-autumn. The iconic Coliseum dusted in snow Winter: Best for sightseeing, travel bargains and shopping Winter is a sightseers dream: the lack of crowds and queues, and the cooler climate, means you can get around everything you want to see without waiting for hours or peering over others heads. That said, its definitely worth double-checking opening hours in advance, as from late October to Easter, many attractions shorten their opening hours. As winter is Romes low season, some hotels and restaurants close for a month or two. But the general lack of demand at this time of year means you can often pick up some bargains. Winter is also the best time for shopping in Rome. Festive markets open in early December, with shoppers heading to the iconic Piazza Navona market. As Christmas draws to a close, the winter sales launch, running until mid-February, with savings on everything in designer boutiques and high-street shops. If youre in the Eternal City on New Years Eve, the biggest party takes place at Piazza del Popolo, where theres music, dancing and fireworks. Hungry airline passengers normally have to wait for the food trolley to make its way slowly to their seat before they are sated. But perhaps not for much longer. Aircraft interior designers Bucher Aerospace has unveiled a new food kiosk it's calling the 'innovation galley', which will allow travellers to help themselves to drinks and refrigerated food whenever they like. Forget trolley dollies: The brand new snack machine designed for aircraft by Bucher Aerospace, which will allow travellers to help themselves to drinks and snacks And it's not just food and drinks that the new product can store. Bucher Aerospace's galley has a removable side wall panel that allows airlines to swap food and drink for duty free items such as perfume and watches. The 'innovation galley' was revealed by the Swiss-based firm at the Hamburg Aircraft Interiors Expo earlier this month. Bucher Aerospace's galley has a removable side wall panel that allows airlines to swap food and drink for duty free items such as perfume and watches The company explained: 'This energy and space efficient solution will significantly reduce cost of the airlines catering process.' It is unclear which airlines will be the first to install the galleys on board. The food kiosk wasn't the only new product for airlines on show at the German convention. Zodiac Aerospace, one of the biggest cabin interiors components manufacturers, unveiled one of the first bidets designed especially for commercial aircraft. The revolution premium bidet, a new product designed by Zodiac Aerospace The bidet will have a range of functions and will include special UV lighting, which will be used for disinfecting after use. It will also have alternative water settings so the spray can either come from the front or back or run like a fountain. Another new innovation on show was standing-up seats by Italian manufacturer Aviointeriors. An Italian seat manufacturer has unveiled seating thats so upright passengers using it will practically be standing up The upright seating is called Skyrider 2.0 and the horse-saddle-style seating is an improved version of a concept the firm tried and failed - to launch in 2010. Skyrider 2.0 has more padding than the previous version and firmer mountings, with poles connecting each row to the ceiling and floor, instead of the frame just being fitted to a rail. Aviointeriors claims that its design will enable carriers to fit 20 per cent more people into a cabin, as legroom will be diminished from around 28 inches to 23. Taking a train across Europe can provide one of the most scenic ways to see the beauty of the continent. But getting a good deal can be an ugly, confusing experience. Help is at hand, though, because the experts at Which? Travel have shared with MailOnline their best tips on how holidaymakers can keep their spending on track during a trip on the railways. A Eurostar hurtles through the Dutch countryside on a service from London to Amsterdam. Most train holidays into Europe from the UK start with a trip on the Eurostar Find the cheapest Eurostar tickets Most train holidays into Europe from the UK start with a trip on the Eurostar. And Which? says for the best deals on the Eurostar, it is best to book one to four months ahead, and avoid travelling on a Friday or Sunday. The consumer experts also recommend keeping an eye on promotional deals on the cross Channel operator's website, which they say can sometimes be a 'steal'. Eurostar also sells through tickets on its website to a number of European cities, and Which? found that these can be cheaper and more convenient than splitting the journey. They say they saved 34 booking a fare from London to Marseille on Eurostar's website than booking a Eurostar from London to Paris and then a ticket on an SNCF service from Paris to Marseille. Book early The best deals on train fares are nearly always the ones that are booked in advance. And train expert Mark Smith, from blog Man in Seat 61, told Which?: 'European long-distance rail fares now work like airfares - cheap in advance, expensive on the day.' The experts suggest that finding out when the seats are released and setting a reminder on a phone is the best way to remember. Tickets for Thalys, which operates trains between France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, can be bought three months in advance. A train makes its way around a picturesque lake and mountain in Switzerland. The best deals on train fares are nearly always the ones that are booked in advance For travel between France and Italy on Thello, bookings can be made four months ahead of travel. In Spain it varies between 60 and 90 days and on Deutsche Bahn tickets are available six months in advance, Which? says. Cut out agency sites There are a whole host of different websites selling train tickets for travel across Europe. But according to Which?, the most popular agency sites can't always access the best fares. The experts found that booking tickets from Vienna to Venice on the SNCB Europe site cost 131 euros. However, the same ticket bought directly on the Austrian Federal Railways website on the same day was only 29 euros. Avoid rail passes An Interrail Pass is available for passengers wanting unlimited travel on most European routes. But Which? claims that as the 'global pass' costs 253 for five days of travel, it is sometimes difficult to break even. The consumer experts say that so long as a traveller's itinerary is fixed, advance online tickets nearly always work out cheaper. A train zooms across Zaragoza in Spain. Taking a train across Europe is often scenic and a great way to soak up the beauty of the continent They found that a German unlimited pass costs 181 for three days travel within a month for passengers aged 28 to 59. But Which? claims that when it checked the the advance-purchase fares for a typical itinerary, two months ahead, they saved more than 100. However, it does point out that the cheapest tickets are often non-refundable so don't always offer the same freedom. Take the sleeper train Rail travel across Europe allows passengers to fall asleep in one country and wake up in another. And during its research, Which? found that some rail routes are actually less hassle and cheaper by night. It says that a night train between Madrid and Lisbon on Renfe can cost from 34 euros for a bunk in a four-bed sleeper. However, the same route during the day sees passengers having to making changes at Badajoz in Spain and Elvas in Portugal. Advertisement This is the bizarre holiday home that has been dubbed the 'whale house' thanks to its grey shale exterior and colourful rooms. Built in 1978, the house - in Mission Canyon, Santa Barbara, California - has been described by a holiday rental company as one of the most 'mind boggling homes in America'. And now holidaymakers are being given the chance to rent out the the quirky property with prices starting from $625 (450) per night. This is the bizarre holiday home dubbed the 'whale house', which is now available to rent in Santa Barbara The quirky and colourful property is available to rent from $625 (450) per night In the courtyard of the house there is a pool that snakes for 75 feet around the house and ends in what is said to be the creature's tail The four-storey property, which can sleep up to nine people, was designed by architect Michael Carmichael and took three years to build The pool even flows underneath a hidden cove in the property, which has no flat walls The four-storey property, which can sleep up to nine people, was designed by architect Michael Carmichael and took three years to build. The home has no flat walls or straight lines and boasts 270 Belgian leaded and stained glass windows. The inner courtyard of the 'whale' consists of a 75ft glistening pool, which flows into the 'tail', while a sauna is also tucked away close to the pool. On the second floor, there is a kitchen, living room and dining room, which overlooks the sprawling pool and all three rooms connect in a circle. The unusual design isn't just reserved for the exterior of the property. Inside on the second floor, there is an unusually shaped kitchen, living room and dining room Guests staying at the whale house, which is marketed through Paradise Retreats, will find a fully equipped kitchen, pictured The living room, which overlooks the stunning pool. The kitchen, living room and dining room are all connected in a circle Describing the property, Paradise Retreats says: 'Four stories high, each varying level reveals amazing craftsmanship, coupled with luxury appointments the discriminating traveler expects' The master bedroom can be found on the third floor and boasts a king-size bed, a sitting area, balcony overlooking the pool and a spa tub in the bathroom. While on the top floor, another two bedrooms can be found along with a further two bedrooms. As well as the stunning courtyard, guests can also relax on the well-lit front patio, where they can prepare a barbecue or sit under the shade of an umbrella. One of the three bedrooms within the whale house, which is able to sleep up to nine guests within the rooms As well as the master bedroom, the third floor also has a separate living room as well as a balcony overlooking the pool One of the bizarre bathrooms within the whale house where the sink and shower almost seem to be part of the structure One of the smaller of the three bedrooms within the property, with a whale cushion on the bed in a nod to the home's nickname Havine a whale of a time: Another of the bedrooms, which has a small bath in a little cove On the fourth floor, a light-filled suite offers a stone fireplace, pictured, a queen-size bed, and a twin day bed One of the three luxurious bathrooms in the property, which includes a vintage-style free-standing bath tub The unusual holiday rental has 270 Belgian leaded and stained glass windows The 'whale house' can be rented from California-based company Paradise Retreats. On its listing for the property it says: 'The layered shingled exterior of the home indeed resembles a whale. 'Four stories high, each varying level reveals amazing craftsmanship, coupled with luxury appointments the discriminating traveler expects.' The outdoor area of the 'whale house' is just as stunning with a wel- lit front patio where guests can dine al-fresco It's a long way from Buckingham Palace, but Australia's Kylie Gillies has paid her own tribute to Kate Middleton after the Duchess of Cambridge posed outside hospital just a day after giving birth to a boy. The Morning Show breakfast TV presenter took to Instagram to post a picture of herself in hospital a day after giving birth to son, Archie, 13 years ago. The mother-of-two, 50, captioned the shot: 'To the Duchess of Cambridge; I take my tiara off to you. 13 years ago this was me in hospital. The day AFTER giving birth to my second son. Cut-off trackie pants, a few chins, puffy eyes and legs with enough fluid in them to to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool [sic]. Scroll down for video 'Cut-off trackie pants, a few chins, puffy eyes and legs with enough fluid to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool': Kylie Gillies posts throwback picture of herself after giving birth to her son Archie... as she 'takes her tiara off to' picture perfect Kate Middleton 'To see Kate walk out of hospital, just hours after giving birth, radiant and wearing stockings and heels to face the worlds media is awe-inspiring. It doesnt matter about hairdressers or stylists. 'She alone has to face the flashbulbs feeling incredibly vulnerable. And yet she does it with such class, ease and style knowing we all want a glimpse of that beautiful little prince.' She signed off her heart-warming missive with: 'May she enjoy the coming days at home with her family. And hopefully doing it all in trackie-daks!' In the shot, Kylie is pictured cuddling Archie's then-two-year-old brother Gus, and her young niece, Julia. Message to the Duchess: 'May she enjoy the coming days at home with her family. And hopefully doing it all in trackie-daks!' Kylie wrote The bubbly TV host is married to journalist Tony Gillies. Royal baby fever is running high after Kate, 36, gave birth on April 23, shortly after 11.01am GMT, with the as-yet-unnamed infant weighing in at 8lbs and 7oz. The new mum emerged from St Mary's Hospital around seven hours later, alongside husband Prince William, 35. Proud parents: Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, posed for a photo with their newborn baby son on Monday The new bub can look forward to being doted over by elder siblings Prince George and Princess Charlotte. There is no Royal tradition regarding revealing the name of a Royal baby. Kate Middleton and Prince William revealed Prince George's name on July 24, 2013, two days after he was born. With Princess Charlotte, they revealed her name on May 4, 2015 - also two days after her birth. On mum duty: The new bub can look forward to being doted over by elder siblings Prince George and Princess Charlotte Speculation is rife about what the couple will name their son. Arthur is the favourite to be chosen as the Royal baby's name, according to William Hill. The name is favoured at 12-1 odds. The site also has Albert and James as potential monikers for the future monarch. Fans of the royal family are also anxiously waiting to find out who the Duchess and Duke of Cambridge will select to be their second sons godparents. She made her name winning Miss Great Britain back in 2014 and has since made her reality TV debut in The Only Way Is Essex. And Shelby Tribble looked red carpet ready as she joined close friend Nicole Bass for a girls night out at the Global Gift Gala held at Rosewood London on Tuesday evening. The brunette beauty sizzled in a plunging white lace bodice which gave an eyeful of her ample cleavage, as she joined co-star Nicole Bass as an unlikely guest at the Nelson Mandela Centenary event. Perfect in pink: Shelby Tribble flaunted her cleavage in a saucy white bodice as she joined pal Nicole Bass at Global Gift Gala in London on Tuesday Shelby slipped her svelte physique into a glamorous baby pink tailored suit that hugged each of her curves. The model beauty added height to her endless legs in a pair of nude strappy stilettos as she posed up a storm at the star-studded bash. Letting her ultra chic ensemble do all the talking, Shelby polished off her look with a simple gold necklace. Super chic: Gal pal Nicole Bass followed suit in her own soft blush ensemble, pouring her enviable figure in a crochet semi-sheer mini dress that gave a glimpse of her saucy lingerie Blushing: Shelby slipped her svelte physique into a glamorous baby pink tailored suit that hugged each of her curves Flirty pose: The model beauty added height to her endless legs in a pair of nude strappy stilettos as she posed up a storm at the star-studded bash The brunette beauty styled her glossy mane into a delicate wave, while smokey make-up added drama to her sartorial elegance. Gal pal Nicole followed suit in her own soft blush ensemble, pouring her enviable figure in a crochet semi-sheer minidress that gave a glimpse of her saucy lingerie underneath. The Ex On The Beach starlet elongated her statuesque frame in on-trend studded skyscraper heels. Close friends: The reality stars stayed close to each other has they enjoyed their girls night out, holding hands while leaving their hotel for a fun-filled evening Smiles: Letting her ultra chic ensemble do all the talking, Shelby polished off her look with a simple gold necklace Sensational: Nicole - who reportedly ended her on-off relationship with Jacques Fraser last week - looked in good spirits as she worked her best angles at the showbiz event Nicole - who reportedly ended her on-off relationship with Jacques Fraser last week - looked in good spirits as she worked her best angles at the showbiz event. Enjoying their girls' night out, the TOWIE alum let her hazelnut hair down past her shoulders in a voluminous style, while nude make-up accentuated her features. The reality stars stayed close to each other, holding hands while leaving their hotel for a fun-filled evening. Nicole and Shelby were joined by lifestyle blogger Natasha Grano, who also dressed up to the nines in a dazzling white lace gown. Stunners: Enjoying their girls night out, the TOWIE alum let her hazelnut hair down past her shoulders in a voluminous style, while nude make-up accentuated her features Posing up a storm: The brunette beauty styled her glossy mane into a delicate wave, while smokey make-up added drama to her sartorial elegance No drama here: Shelby has recently joined the cast of TOWIE alongside best pal Clelia Theodorou, with producers hoping the pair will cause 'fall outs and fights' on the show The beautiful threesome were on hand to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the late Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid activist and President of South Africa who was widely considered to be an icon of social justice. Shelby has recently joined the cast of TOWIE alongside best pal Clelia Theodorou, with producers hoping the pair will cause 'fall outs and fights' on the show. A television source told The Sun said last month: 'Shelby is absolutely gorgeous and fits in perfectly with the cast. She's already very well-known on the Essex scene after living there for years but is originally from Plymouth.' Shelby is currently completely smitten with TOWIE bad boy Pete Wicks, and the pair had been spotted getting very close as they film the upcoming season of the hit reality show in Brighton. Nicole first soared to fame on TOWIE, when she appeared for two seasons in 2015 as the ex-girlfriend of Lewis Bloor, before departing the programme and hitting MTV's Ex On The Beach where she was at the centre of the drama. Glamour puss: Shelby flaunted her sensational style at the charitable event - celebrating the centenary of the birth of the late South African leader Nelson Mandela It's been 18 years since Disney released Life-Size starring Tyra Banks and Lindsay Lohan. And fans will be happy to hear that both actresses will be returning for the Freeform sequel set to premiere in December. 'Lindsay Lohan will be in Life-Size 2, yes!' Banks said in an interview with Steve Harvey on Tuesday. 'I really, really want her to. We're talking about it right now, and she has got to come back.' Scroll down for video Life-Size 2: It's been 18 years since Disney released Life-Size starring Tyra Banks and Lindsay Lohan. And fans will be happy to hear that both actresses will be returning for the Freeform sequel set to premiere in December The 2000 film Life Size followed Casey, played by Lohan, who accidentally brings her doll Eve, played by Banks, to life when trying to resurrect her late mother. But the sequel may not be so G-rated according to Tyra. 'If you were a little girl or a little boy and were like "I love Eve she's so cute," and you have kids now that are that age, you might need to use some parental discretion for Life-Size 2,' she told BuzzFeed. 'Lindsay Lohan will be in Life-Size 2, yes!' Banks said in an interview with Steve Harvey on Tuesday. 'I really want her to. We're talking about it right now, and she's got to come back' Blast from the past: The 2000 film Life Size followed Casey, played by Lohan, who accidentally brings her doll Eve, played by Banks, to life when trying to resurrect her late mother Little Lohan: Lindsay was only 13 when she starred in the Disney movie The sequel may not be so G-rated according to Tyra. 'If you were a little girl or a little boy and were like "I love Eve she's so cute," and you have kids now that are that age, you might need to use some parental discretion for Life-Size 2,' she told BuzzFeed Shine bright: Tyra is looking to hire DJ Khaled to remix the original theme song Be A Star Tyra also revealed her first producer choice for the 'club banger' theme song she is hoping to attach to the film. 'I am on the search for a high level producer...DJ Khaled...who will re-mix or re-do the Be A Star song...DJ Khaled,' she said hinting at the All I Do Is Win rapper. Be A Star was the signature song sung by Eve in the original movie. Radio silence: Lohan has yet to make a public statement about joining the sequel Finally happening: Life-Size 2 has has been a long time coming. 'I turned down Life-Size 2 15 years ago,' she revealed to ET back in August 2017 This sequel has actually been 15 years in the making. 'I turned down Life-Size 2 15 years ago,' she revealed to ET back in August 2017. And those reasons are plainly stated in Banks' new book Perfect Is Boring. Last year, footage emerged of Bachelor In Paradise star Megan Marx consuming what appeared to be hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms while on holiday in Bali. And the 28-year-old has now written a candid blog post in which she confesses she did indeed consume the outlawed psychedelic drug while in Bali, a move that could have landed her a hefty jail term. While Megan claimed she did not know the mushrooms were illegal at the time, she could have nonetheless faced 12 years in prison if caught by Indonesian authorities. 'I didn't know it was illegal': Megan Marx has admitted to using hallucinogenic mushrooms in Bali where possession of the drug could have landed her a 12-year term in an Indonesian prison In her blog, Megan described how she and a friend had taken 'magic mushrooms' before meeting a Tinder date in Uluwatu. 'We sat in our hotel room with an open bag of dried magic mushrooms and laughed and danced to Drake while eating the mushrooms raw (to be honest, it's totally gross - I choked them down),' she wrote. Megan went on to describe how she met her Tinder date before going to a Bali residence to ingest more mushrooms. 'Next thing you know we're at someone's villa with more mushrooms than I've ever seen in a heap,' she wrote, admitting she then had her 'second lot'. Megan insisted that she did not know the mushrooms - which often grow by the side of the road in the tropical climate - were illegal in Indonesia until she was told by a photographer the following day. Wild night? Last year, footage emerged of Bachelor In Paradise star Megan Marx consuming what appeared to be hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms while on holiday in Bali Illegal: The 28-year-old has written a blog post in which she confesses she did indeed consume the outlawed psychedelic drug while in Bali, a move that could have landed her a jail term 'I get back to my hotel at 5am, knowing I have a photo shoot at 7am. I'm still high when I meet the photographer, and when he points out magic mushrooms on the wayside of the trail leading down to the beach I think I want to be sick,' she wrote. 'I'm ready for the experience to end. He also tells me that if I ever choose to take mushrooms to be careful, because they're a Class 1 drug here, which I didn't know at the time.' Many tourists and drug dealers profess that magic mushrooms are still widely available in Indonesia after having once been legal. Dealers had once advertised their wares with large public signs and 'magic mushroom milkshakes' were even sold in local bars. Fungi fun? In a clip the former Bachelor star shared to Instagram last year, an unidentified male in a floral shirt was seen eating a large mushroom while Megan encourages him Unaware: While Megan claimed she did not know the mushrooms were illegal at the time, she could have nonetheless faced 12 years in prison if caught by Indonesian authorities However, while Indonesian law enforcement at first offered a grace period for dealers and users, psilocybin mushrooms became an illegal Class 1 narcotic in 2014. A 'no tolerance' policy went into effect in January 2015. Speaking to the Jakarta Post, Denpasar Police drug section head Comr. I Gede Ganefo said that anyone caught with psilocybin mushrooms would face prison. 'All people who consume and trade in magic mushrooms are violating the Narcotics Law,' he said. 'There will be no more tolerance. If we find any people selling or consuming magic mushrooms, we will arrest them. They could face the same charges as those using marijuana and other drugs, a minimum four-year and maximum 12-year prison term.' Breaking the rules: Psilocybin mushrooms became an illegal Class 1 narcotic in 2014 and a 'no tolerance' policy went into effect in January 2015 Sentences for Group 1 possession are punishable by four to 12 years' imprisonment and fines of IDR 800 million to 8 billion (AUD $117,819 to AUD $1,178,192). If the drugs are found to be in excess of one kilo, a maximum punishment of life imprisonment may be incurred, and the death penalty is imposed for convicted drug traffickers. In a video that Megan shared to her Instagram Story in July last year, she is seen eating what appeared to be magic mushrooms with a female acquaintance. The pair are shown sitting at a table holding what is likely the psilocybin fungus, before eating the spores whole. In another clip, a male friend in a floral shirt is seen eating a much larger mushroom while Megan encourages him. The Split Rating: Fatberg Autopsy Rating: Lawyers. Members of the worlds second oldest, and most disreputable, profession. So cold-blooded that, its said, after a nuclear holocaust the only surviving creatures will be cockroaches and lawyers. So theyre not the most natural stars for a drama about families, love and romantic secrets. The Split (BBC1) mines the same seam as recent relationship serials such as Doctor Foster no murders, no terrorists, just lots of lies and intrigue. But writer Abi Morgan isnt making life easy for herself. Gangsters, undertakers, even advertising executives can make lovable characters. Lawyers are more difficult. Even worse, heroine Hannah is a divorce lawyer with no scruples about using a child as leverage. Her client is an unfaithful wife who wants her ex-husband, a stand-up comedian, to stop doing gags on stage about their break-up. Nicola Walker plays Hannah, a lawyer with no scruples about using a child as leverage. Her client is an unfaithful wife who wants her ex-husband to stop doing gags about their break-up Boozy bites of the night Boozy bites of the night: Fudge drenched in whisky, marshmallows soaked in gin and truffles steeped in liqueur a theme was developing with the home-made sweets for sale on Top Of The Shop (BBC2). Strictly not for the under-18s. Advertisement Hannahs answer is to withhold all access rights. No weekend visits for Daddy (Mathew Baynton) until he submits to his ex-wifes demands. And when Daddy spots his child sitting in the lawyers office, playing video games all alone, Hannah summons security to throw the poor man out. Nicola Walker plays Hannah in a blonde wig, a dead ringer for Fay Ripley in Cold Feet. She presses every button to make her character likeable forgiving her snide, manipulative mother, adoring her goofy husband, larking about with her competitive younger sisters. Trouble is, all four of those characters are lawyers, too. Its starting to look as though The Split might be a publicity stunt to make cockroaches seem more likeable. Because this is a drama about friendships and feuds between women, the men are flimsily drawn. Hannahs old boyfriend (also, surprise surprise, a lawyer) is a two-dimensional charmer. Stephen Tompkinson is a self-pitying businessman who buys his mistress a boob-job and wonders why his wife Goldie is cross. Meanwhile, Anthony Head is Hannahs father, missing for 30 years, who reappears in a London park and says nothing he just smiles wetly, while his daughter unburdens herself of a lifetimes pent-up emotion. No doubt many male viewers will feel aggrieved at such tepid portrayals. Heres some advice, chaps dont call your lawyer. Instead, let a powerful cast, which includes Deborah Findlay as the mean matriarch and Meera Syal as the wronged Goldie, get on with it. We dont have to like them to relish the drama. Having just watched Fatberg Autopsy: Secrets Of The Sewers (C4, pictured), I was out of my seat, pleading with the screen: Dont flush it away! During the inevitable scene in the ladies loos, Goldie offered Hannah a wet wipe. Having just watched Fatberg Autopsy: Secrets Of The Sewers (C4), I was out of my seat, pleading with the screen: Dont flush it away! Wet wipes, and not cockroaches or atomic bombs, could be the cause of civilisations downfall. Presenter Rick Edwards went wading about in the goop under Londons pavements, and discovered a solid mass of fat half a mile long with the consistency, he claimed, of crumbly cheese. This fat consists of 90 per cent cooking oil, poured down the drains by the capitals cafes and restaurants. That explains why the build-up is especially bad around Leicester Square. But greasy eateries have been dumping oil down the gratings for centuries. The added ingredient is wet wipes, those soggy squares of man-made cloth that like plastic take millennia to disintegrate. The fat sticks to the wipes, more wipes stick to the fat, and so on till all London is bunged up. Rick had to spend a long time waist-deep in slurry to learn this. He looked like he was secretly enjoying it. Well, its honest work. Try explaining that to a lawyer. He was announced as the replacement for boss Kate Oates on Tuesday. And Coronation Street stars are reportedly already fearing for their jobs under the leadership of new producer Iain MacLeod, as he is said to be giving long-serving characters better storylines, and leaving younger cast members in jeopardy. A source told The Sun that the cast of the ITV soap were concerned over the changes Iain might bring to the soap, as he planned to reward veteran stars with better plot lines. For the chopping block: Coronation Street's new boss Iain MacLeod is reportedly planning to axe younger stars to give long-serving characters better storylines, according to The Sun The source said: 'Kate was particularly popular with the younger stars. 'Her departure has left people worried the new producer will want to end the violent stuff and start again. And lots are worried about a cull.' Another source added: 'I think they might have a rude awakening in store.' A Coronation Street spokesperson told MailOnline: 'This is speculation as Iain MacLeod is on paternity leave and hasn't had any meetings relating to the programme and the cast. 'He won't be doing so until he joins Coronation Street in June.' Out: Katie McGlynn and Colson Smith who play Sinead and Craig Tinker will reportedly be at risk following Iain's appointment as producer Stars such as Katie McGlynn, 24 (who plays Sinead Tinker), Colson Smith, 19 (Craig Tinker), Harry Visinoni, 18 (Seb Franklin) and Julia Goulding, 32 (Shona Ramsey) were all reportedly fearing for their jobs on Tuesday. Meanwhile, older stars such as Sue Nicholls, 74, (Audrey Roberts), Michael La Vell, 53 (Kevin Webster), Sally Dynevor, 54 (Sally Webster), Simon Gregson, 43 (Steve McDonald), and Kym Marsh, 41 (Michelle Connor) are all reportedly safe on the soap. Iain was announced as Kate's replacement on Tuesday just a day after the boss tended her resignation. The 38-year-old departed amid ongoing criticism for controversial plot choices, along with record numbers of complaints to media watchdog OfCom. Safe: Meanwhile long-serving stars such as Simon Gregson and Kym Marsh (Steve McDonald and Michelle Connor) are reportedly not in line to be axed Big plans: Veteran stars William Roach (Ken Barlow) and Sue Nicholls (Audrey Roberts) are reportedly being lined up for big storylines Kate is responsible for such storylines as David Platt's male rape ordeal, Pat Phelan's murderous spree and Bethany Platt's sex trafficking, all of which have earned ITV a barrage of official complaints from viewers. Confirming the news, Kate told The Sun: 'I'll be forever grateful for this opportunity and all it has given me, but I'm also excited to try something new.' On Monday, ITV told MailOnline: 'Iain MacLeod had been appointed as the new Producer of Coronation Street, following Kate Oates' decision to leave the soap and move into drama series production. 'Kate is moving to work with ITV Studios owned label Tall Story Pictures, where she will produce the forthcoming second series of Bancroft, starring Sarah Parish. Departing: Kate Oates, 38, announced she had resigned as producer on Monday after two years in the role, following an onslaught of criticism for controversial storylines Controversial: One of the most talked about plotlines of the last six months, has been the male rape plot involving David (right, played by Jack P. Shepherd) and perpetrator Josh (Ryan Clayton) 'ITV also announced that former ITV Drama Commissioner Jane Hudson has been appointed Emmerdale's Executive Producer responsible for the future editorial and creative direction of the award-winning soap. 'Assistant Producer Kate Brooks becomes Producer alongside current Series Script Producer Laura Shaw who also becomes a Producer. 'Kate and Laura will produce blocks of episodes on a rotational basis and take responsibility for the day to day running of the programme. The Emmerdale appointments will take effect from the beginning of June, to coincide with Iain taking the helm at Coronation Street. 'Kate and Iain leave their respective soaps in strong form, as each is up +5% year-on-year for volume, on both consolidated and overnights ratings. In 2018 to date, Emmerdale has increased its average audience in the consolidated ratings, pulling ahead to become the UK's second most popular soap. Hard to watch: In uncomfortable scenes, Bethany Platt (right, played by Lucy Fallon) was also groomed for sex by boyfriend Nathan Curtis (Christopher Harper) and his friends A source told The Sun: 'There's a feeling of jumping before she [Kate] was pushed. But she is staying within the ITV family. 'The storylines she worked on, while rating successes, were very divisive among viewers and the cast and crew. Everyone is looking forward to seeing what the future on the soap looks like now.' Coronation Street star Sally Dynevor, who plays Sally Webster, also commented on Kate's departure during an appearance on Tuesday's episode of Lorraine. She said: 'We've got a new boss. It's always sad to see someone go. Kate has done very well and we wish her the best. Moving on: Former Emmerdale producer Kate will move onto violent detective drama Bancroft (pictured is Sarah Parish as Elizabeth Bancroft) Emmerdale producer Iain MacLeod will depart the Dales in June to replace Kate, and Sally cannot wait to see what he has in store for 'Corrie'. She added: 'We're looking forward to working with Iain MacLeod in June. It's all changes, as usual on 'Corrie'. It's all very exciting.' Kate hinted at a departure last month when she told metro.co.uk : 'I am only ever keeping the seat warm, as is every producer. 'I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved from tackling some seriously important storylines to opening up a brand new set and making a smooth transition to six episodes.' Backing her up: Kate appeared on This Morning last month to talk about the soap's dark new tone, defending the storylines for tackling taboo issues Despite climbing viewing figures for the 58-year-old soap, complaints have overshadowed Kate's success. David Platt's male rape storyline - portrayed by actor Jack P. Shepherd - sparked 200 complaints to media watchdog OfCom in recent months. Dark scenes saw David led to the bedroom by the character Josh (Ryan Clayton) after being drugged. In the aftermath, the soap mainstay has struggled to cope and is falling into deeper trouble with violence, the law and one night stands. Violent: Pat Phelan's murderous rampage has also left viewers shell-shocked but the long-running storyline is expected to descend into yet more dramatic violence after he returns from the dead The OfCom complaints followed outrage from fans surrounding Pat Phelan's violent murder of mechanic Luke Britton in January. This alone sparked 541 complaints, of which the soap has now been cleared. In the explosive scenes, after turning a gun towards Luke (Dean Fagan), Pat (Conor McIntyre) trapped the character in his car before it was engulfed in an explosion. Soap chief Kate made a dramatic impact on the soap soon after taking over as producer in August 2016, setting the stage for Bethany Platt's grooming ordeal which left fans shell-shocked with the uncomfortable scenes. Explosive: Many have tried to end Pat's reign of terror, yet things keep getting darker for the soap's well-loved characters Kate spoke on This Morning in March to defend her choice of dark plots, amid calls for her to resign. She said: 'I think it's because it's a male rape it's in a different category. It's a double standard against male.' Adding that the plot is formulated to focus on male mental health, and spark the difficult conversations among families, she admitted: 'It's not about shocking visual, we're pre-watershed and we make our decisions very carefully.' Grooming: Not long after her arrival, Kate was responsible for the controversial plotlines involving Bethany ITV Studios Creative Director for Coronation Street and Emmerdale, John Whiston, said: 'There's a lot to praise here! Kate Oates has transformed Coronation Street during her tenure. This has been reflected both in the huge critical acclaim the show has been getting and in the ratings. 'We are now used to opening the overnights and seeing Coronation Street has delivered its highest ratings for many years, a herculean achievement in this box set era. Kate has done this whilst putting on screen some groundbreaking and socially important stories such as the Bethany grooming story and David's rape story. 'It is a testament to her brilliant editorial touch that these stories, though difficult, have been both credible and engaging. Meanwhile, Kate has unleashed on us one of the finest villains in soap history with Pat Phelan and his dastardly deeds. Complaints: Levels of complaints have reached a record high, just a year after the soap featured a sex ring and gang rape plot 'And the show has continued day in day out to provide the viewer with top notch Corrie humour from Liz to Moira, from Steve to Tracy, from Sally to Tim. Doing all this while taking the show from five episodes to six episodes a week is a phenomenal achievement by Kate and something of which those who work on the show and those who watch it are hugely appreciative.' On Iain MacLeod's time at Emmerdale, John commented: 'Meanwhile, over the Pennines, Emmerdale has been going through its own golden period under Iain MacLeod's aegis. It too has built its audience volume and share. 'And it has delivered some truly memorable storylines. Ashley's dementia was notable not just for the strength of the story, but for the way it was told with some soap defining drama, such as the episode all seen through Ashley's point of view. 'Equally hard hitting, though in a different way, was the multi car pile up on Hotten bypass. Emmerdale has a reputation for delivering big stunts and this one was the biggest and most spectacular, as well as the most intricately plotted and it came from the perfect soap brain of the supremely talented Iain MacLeod. 'It is no wonder Emmerdale has won pretty much a clean sweep of the awards in the last year, a run interrupted only by Coronation Street's RTS Award.' She never has a misstep on the red carpet. And Zendaya demonstrated her superior sartorial skills once again during Warner Bros' The Big Picture presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday. During the showcase for the studio's soon-to-be hits, the former Disney Channel kid, now 21, turned heads in a tight red sweater and matching slacks. Scroll down for video Style star! Zendaya demonstrated her superior sartorial skills once again during Warner Bros' The Big Picture presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday Zendaya was sharp in a crimson sweater with thin blue stripes running across it and a trio of shiny silver buttons upon the left shoulder. The Shake It Up actress flattered her figure with slim cut trousers on bottom. Fresh white pumps added a needed splash on contrast on foot. Red alert! The former Disney child star looked sharp in a crimson sweater with thin blue stripes running across it and a trio of shiny silver buttons upon the left shoulder The long and short: The Shake It Up actress flattered her figure with slim cut trousers on bottom Daya, as fans call her, slicked her hair back into a tight up do to show-off bold hoop earrings. At the even she posed with musician/actor Common and Channing Tatum, who recently announced his split from wife Jenna Dewan. Common was laid back in a grey jacket and tee shirt while Channing dressed things up in a blue suit worn with a button-up chambray shirt beneath. Let's get together! At the even she posed with musician/actor Common and Channing Tatum, who voice characters in the upcoming computer animated picture Smallfoot Tables turned! The musical adventure is about 'a Yeti who is convinced that the elusive creatures known as "Smallfeet" (humans) really do exist,' according to IMDB The trio all voice characters in the upcoming computer animated feature Smallfoot, which is about 'a Yeti who is convinced that the elusive creatures known as "Smallfeet" (humans) really do exist,' according to IMDB. The musical adventure also boasts the talents of James Corden. LeBron James, Gina Rodriguez, Danny DeVito, Yara Shahidi, Ely Henry, and Jimmy Tatro. Smallfoot is set for theaters September 28 2018. Bachelor In Paradise's Michael Turnbull suited up to attend an Anzac Day service on Wednesday, and paid tribute to his parents who served in the navy. The 37-year-old took to his Instagram Story to share a series of photographs marking the day of remembrance. First the reality TV star posted a picture of himself dressed in a sharp blue suit with a red tie and matching pocket square as he prepared to watch his father march on the day. 'You dedicated your lives to protecting our beautiful country': Bachelor In Paradise's Michael Turnbull attends Anzac Day service and pays tribute to his parents who served in the navy He then shared an image of his parents David and Susan, who both served in the Royal Australian navy. In the photo, they are both seen wearing their medals. Michael captioned the post: 'My parents. Not only have you raised and loved me all my life but you dedicated your lives to protecting our beautiful country.' 'I love you,' he added. Proud son: The 37-year-old also paid a special tribute to his parents, David and Susan, who both served in the Royal Australian navy Thankful: Michael captioned the post: 'My parents. Not only have you raised and loved me all my life but you dedicated your lives to protecting our beautiful country' The real estate agent recently joined Bachelor In Paradise for a second shot at love on reality TV. He shook up the relationships and alliances when he gave Lisa Hyde a rose despite her being involved with Luke McLeod. He later confronted Lisa about his feelings for her but she let him down, telling him 'I'm not the girl for you'. Michael lamented the fact that he 'missed out' on love again and quit the show. 'I'm the guy that missed out again,' he said as he left the tropical paradise. The sudden and tragic death of DJ Avicii this month rocked the dance music world. And over the last few days friends and peers of the Swedish superstar have been speaking out about their tragic loss. One half of the Nervo twins, Olivia Nervo, shared a moving Instagram post on Wednesday, in which she said she'd feared for Avicii and that 'there are others' in the industry she is now worried about. Australian DJs Nervo, Miriam and Olivia Nervo, have discussed concerns about the 'pressures' of the dance music industry after the death of their friend Avicii Olivia and her sister Mim, both successful DJs, collaborated with Avicii on their 2012 dance floor hit, You're Gonna Love Again Olivia and her sister Mim, both successful DJs, collaborated with Avicii on their 2012 dance floor hit, You're Gonna Love Again. 'We all feel like we watched Tim's story unfold in slow motion,' she wrote, using Avicii's real name, Tim Bergling. 'There are others who we are worried about. So please know guys, the glimpses of good times we show on here do not represent the day-in-day-out grind of the music biz. It's a jungle out there. 'A lot of nasty dishonest greedy people that you need to fight on the daily... The pressure is enormous - not only from others but also the pressure we put on ourselves to make better music, look better, behave better, be happier.' Olivia shared a photo of herself beside her father, and revealed that touring and the fast pace of performing often kept the sisters away from their family. '(The photo) doesn't show how in between happy snaps of Gaudi buildings, I'm on my phone getting back to anyone that needs me,' she explained. We all feel like we watched Tim's story unfold in slow motion,' sister Olivia wrote in a post The musician shared a photo of herself beside her father, and revealed that industry pressures often kept her away from her family 'Because after all, it's a week day and office people need answers and we are approaching deadlines with repercussions. 'It also doesn't show how Mim (Miriam) left lunch early to get some sleep while I went sight seeing with dad (she felt nauseous from tiredness). 'We choose to steal moments like the above with family and friends because these are the moments (along with the other tour/music highs) that make it all worth it, 'the blonde DJ concluded. Avicii was found dead in the city of Muscat, Oman, on Friday, April 20, aged just 28. In the recent documentary Avicii: True Stories, the young musician himself says he is 'going to die' if he does not stop performing. The Swedish DJ was under pressure to keep on performing despite mental health issues and a battle with alcohol abuse. 'When I decided to stop, I expected something completely different. I expected support, particularly considering everything I have been through,' Avicii says in the documentary. Avicii was found dead in the city of Muscat, Oman, on Friday, April 20, aged just 28 'Everyone knows that I've had anxiety and that I have tried. I did not expect that people would try to pressure me into doing more gigs. 'They have seen how ill I have felt by doing it, but I had a lot of push-back when I wanted to stop doing gigs.' Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported Sunday that an autopsy showed that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Avicii's death. Foul play has also been ruled out, however the late performer's cause of death has not yet been revealed. She was recognised by Time magazine as one of 2018's 100 most influential people. And Nicole Kidman looked suitably glamorous as she arrived at the TIME 100 Gala in New York City on Tuesday. The Australian actress, 50, was joined by her country music star husband Keith Urban at the exclusive event. Still going strong! Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban cuddle up at the TIME 100 Gala in New York City as their 12th wedding anniversary approaches The couple, who have been married for almost 12 years, dressed in matching black ensembles as they posed for photographers. Nicole offered a glimpse of her decolletage in a semi-sheer, full length dress with long sleeves and a high neck design. She styled her blonde hair in loose waves, and her makeup - which included a slick of red lipstick - was flawlessly applied. Accolade: Nicole has been recognised by Time as one of 2018's 100 most influential people So in love! Nicole and her husband put on an affectionate display at the exclusive event, cuddling up and smiling for the cameras The Big Little Lies star completed her look with black high heels and her accessories consisted of diamond rings and drop earrings. Meanwhile, Keith looked delightfully dapper in a black suit and shirt, which he paired with a matching studded tie. Nicole and her husband put on an affectionate display at the TIME 100 Gala, cuddling up and smiling for the cameras. The look: Nicole offered a glimpse of her decolletage in a semi-sheer, full length dress with long sleeves and a high neck design Matching: The couple, who have been married for almost 12 years, dressed in matching black ensembles Nicole was one of two Australian actors featured in the US magazine's annual list of its 100 most influential people. Hugh Jackman also made the list, as did New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Praising Nicole's contributions to film, Naomi Watts wrote: '(She) has never once left our consciousness. And even after decades, she continues to break new ground.' Glamorous: Nicole styled her blonde hair in loose waves, and her makeup - which included a slick of red lipstick - was flawlessly applied In good company: Nicole was one of two Australian actors featured in the US magazine's annual list of its 100 most influential people Millie Bobby Brown made history when she became the youngest person ever to make the annual Time Top 100 list. And on Tuesday night in New York, the Stranger Things star basked in her achievement at the Time 100 Gala held at Lincoln Center. The 14-year-old actress looked all grown up in a white ball gown with a square neckline and cap sleeves. Scroll down for video In the spotlight: Millie Bobby Brown is the youngest person ever to make the annual Time Top 100 list and the Stranger Things star basked in her achievement Tuesday night in NYC Millie's gorgeous dress had a full tulle skirt and was decorated with cascading colorful flowers; she accessorized with jewels from Eva Fehren. Meanwhile, Millie wore her hair with a center parting and tendrils left loose to frame her face. Her eyes were shaded with powder blue shadow and her lashes were plumped up with black mascara. She added dark pink lip color and a touch of gloss. Star power: The 14-year-old actress looked all grown up with powder blue eye shadow, black mascara on her lashes and and dark pink lip color with a touch of gloss Fairytale look: Millie's gorgeous white ball gown had a square neckline, a full tulle skirt and was decorated with cascading colorful flowers Big night: The teen wore her sophisticated look well as she arrived at Lincoln Center for the Time 100 Gala. She found fame as the mysterious Eleven on the Netflix series Stranger Things Daddy's girl: Millie brought her father Robert Brown as her date for the evening The British actress joins such famous names as Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B, Gal Gadot, Nicole Kidman, Kesha and Rihanna on the list of 'The Worlds Most Influential People.' She found fame as the mysterious Eleven on the Netflix series Stranger Things and has gone on to be feted as a breakout star of her generation. She's just started work on season 3 of the hit show for which she's set to be paid a staggering $3 million for nine episodes, according to TMZ. The actress and her team negotiated a huge pay rise that will see her make more than her other young co-stars who are staples of the series. Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair) and Noah Schnapp (Will Byers) will see their salaries increase to $250,000 per episode. Millie, though, is believed to be earning as much as $350,000 an episode,putting her on a par with adult stars David Harbour (Jim Hopper) and Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers). Breakout star: Millie has just started work on season 3 of the hit show for which she's set to be paid a staggering $3 million for nine episodes, according to TMZ Ker-ching! The actress reportedly negotiated a huge pay rise that means she will make more than her co-stars - from l-r, Gaten Matarazzo, Noah Schnapp, Finn Wolfhard and Caleb McLaughlin - who will be paid $250,000 an episode Filming has begun on the third season of Stranger Things with Millie sharing a black and white photo to her Instagram at the weekend showing her with director Shawn Levy. 'So it begins,' she wrote. Meanwhile, actors Jake Busey and Cary Elwes will be joining the show, an announcement made by Ted Sarandos, the streaming service's chief content officer, at the See What's Next event in Italy, according to Variety. Elwes will appear on the show as the mayor of Hawkins, Indiana, who, Sarandos said, is 'more concerned with his own image than with the people of the small town he governs'. Busey will play a journalist with the Hawkins Post 'with questionable morals and a slick sense of humor'. Season 3 will likely drop either at the end of this year or in early 2019. She is expecting her second child with husband Jason. And My Kitchen Rules star Jess Alvial looked glowing as she arrived in Sydney on Tuesday after a long-haul flight from Hawaii. The 31-year-old real estate agent offered a glimpse of her blossoming baby bump in a grey dress while making her way through the airport. She's got a bun in the oven! Pregnant MKR star Jess Alvial showed a glimpse of her blossoming baby bump upon her return to Sydney on Tuesday with Emma Byron after holidaying in Hawaii Jess, who was told by doctors she would struggle to get pregnant a second time due to her endometriosis, looked in happy spirits. After passing through airport security, she was greeted in the car park by a lively little boy believed to be her four-year-old son Ethan. It appeared to be a happy family reunion, as Jess bent down to kiss the child on his head before loading her luggage into a vehicle. Mummy's home! After passing through airport security, Jess was greeted in the car park by a lively little boy believed to be her four-year-old son Ethan Back on home soil: Jess was spotted with her older sister and MKR cooking partner Emma Byron (right), who had joined her on vacation in Hawaii What drama? The so-called 'Botox Sisters' timed their overseas trip perfectly, avoiding much of the media frenzy surrounding Sonya and Hadil's shock departure on Wednesday's episode Jess was spotted with her older sister and MKR cooking partner Emma Byron, who had joined her on vacation in Hawaii. Youthful Emma, 38, appeared to go makeup-free for the flight home and swapped her usual glamour for a casual hooded top. The so-called 'Botox Sisters' timed their overseas trip perfectly, avoiding much of the frenzy surrounding Sonya and Hadil's shock departure on Wednesday's episode. Wrinkle-free complexion: Youthful Emma, 38, appeared to go makeup-free for the flight home and swapped her usual glamour for a casual hooded top She's glowing! Jess, who was told by doctors she would struggle to get pregnant a second time due to her endometriosis, looked in happy spirits Bumping along nicely! The 31-year-old real estate agent offered a glimpse of her blossoming baby bump in a grey dress as she made her way through the airport The Jordanian BFFs were kicked off My Kitchen Rules after a dinner table showdown with Jess and Emma resulted in threats being made towards other contestants. While the official reason for the girls' departure was their verbal tirade, Channel Seven later acknowledged an off-camera incident also prompted the decision. It was claimed a 'physical exchange' at a hotel in Tasmania, which took place before the dinner party incident, was part of the reason why Sonya and Hadil had to leave. Family of four! The reality TV star is expecting her second child with husband Jason Family first: The MKR 'scandal' involving herself, Emma and on-screen rivals Sony and Hadil seemed to the furthest thing from Jess' mind after returning from her overseas holiday 'Physical exchange': While the official reason for Sonya and Hadil's departure was their verbal tirade, Channel Seven later acknowledged an off-camera incident also prompted the decision My Kitchen Rules fans know that Jess and Emma never hold back, and always say what's on their minds. And on the cooking show on Wednesday, Jess shocked the dinner table when she slammed Olga and Valeria's food at their instant restaurant, saying a rather distasteful comment. Jess struggled to eat the soup main, and blurted out: 'A homeless man, I would lick his toes, but I would not eat that.' Scroll down for video 'I would rather lick a homeless man's toes than eat that!' MKR's Jess (pictured) shocks the dinner table with a distasteful comment...as Russian villains Olga and Valeria leave guests gagging after serving OX TONGUE Judge Pete Evans was shocked at the remark, while Stella and Jazzey said it was 'full on.' Jess said the soup, a traditional Solyanka Soup which is a spicey meat soup, was 'disgusting,' and she coughed and splattered as she tried to eat it, appearing to spit up her food. 'It's like eating a litre of olive oil and 50 million olives,' Jess said. Not a fan: Jess said the soup, a traditional Solyanka Soup which is a spicey meat soup, was 'disgusting' Not for the faint-hearted: Pictured is an ox tongue cooked by Olga and Valeria Main: Pictured is the soup dish 'I'm excited to finish the night and head to a drive through,' she said. Meanwhile, judge Pete loved the soup, and said it was 'sensational.' However Olga and Valeria failed to impress with their other main, which was ox tongue in apple dough with porcini mushrooms. Jazzey struggled to eat the dish and before tasting it, said it sounded 'rank.' Finished product: Olga and Valeria failed to impress with their other main, which was ox tongue in apple dough with porcini mushrooms 'I'm crying...they fully just put the tongue on the plate, like chop it up or something!' Jess and Emma - who didn't even eat the dish - said they could see 'lumps' and 'hair' on the tongue, and gagged. Judge Manu Feildel said the tongue was cooked well, but said the girls should of kept their dish traditional, rather than trying to jazz it up. She has been in court fighting an appeal by Bauer Media who were ordered to pay her a record $4.5 million in defamation damages. And on Wednesday, Hollywood star Rebel Wilson enjoyed some downtime, enjoying a low-key stroll around Sydney. The 38-year-old actress was casual in an all-black outfit, and appeared to be makeup free. Scroll down for video Taking it in her stride: Makeup free Rebel Wilson goes for a low-key stroll in Sydney... as she defends record $4.5 million payout in court The Pitch Perfect star wore embellished black jeans and a long sleeve black top, which featured cut-out detailing on the sleeve. She teamed the look with silver flats and had her long locks tied back and off her face in a ponytail. Rebel - who grew up in Sydney - strolled around The Rocks and appeared happy and relaxed. Downtime: The 38-year-old actress was casual in an all-black outfit, and appeared to be makeup free Rebel is back in Australia to fight an appeal by media giant Bauer - who were ordered to pay her a record $4.5 million in defamation damages. Just last week, Rebel said she was confident her team would successfully defend the appeal. '(Bauer) maliciously defamed me and I'm here to hold them accountable for that,' she said outside of the Supreme Court of Victoria last week. Bauer Media, which publishes Woman's Day and Australian Women's Weekly, was found to have defamed the actress in a series of articles in 2015 that painted her as a serial liar about her age, real name and childhood. Legal drama: Rebel is back in Australia to fight an appeal by media giant Bauer - who were ordered to pay her a record $4.5 million in defamation damages (pictured arriving at court in Melbourne on Thursday) But the company insists the payout awarded was 'manifestly excessive.' 'There has been a denial of natural justice,' Bauer's barrister Michael Wheelahan QC told the court, noting his client didn't want to challenge the defamation verdict. Following a Supreme Court of Victoria trial last June, Justice John Dixon said Bauer Media wrongly damaged Rebel's 'reputation as an actress of integrity.' He ordered them to pay her a record-breaking $4.5 million in damages - $650,000 in general damages and $3,917,472 in special damages. On Thursday, Rebel's $9000-a-day barrister Matthew Collins QC said publication of the articles and Bauer's conduct during the trial went 'beyond ordinary bounds' in terms of aggravating features. Speaking out: Just last week, Rebel said she was confident her team would successfully defend the appeal. The company insists the payout awarded was 'manifestly excessive' He argued Rebel's payout figure was conservative considering the Pitch Perfect actress could have taken eight different proceedings - one for each article - and been awarded much more overall. Dr Collins said Justice Dixon found there was a campaign to 'take down' the actress, and when she tried to fight back, the publisher attempted to 'neutralise' her responses. For example, Bauer made no attempt to get comment from Rebel before publishing content from a source with 'an axe to grind', Dr Collins said. Win: Bauer were ordered to pay her a record-breaking $4.5 million in damages - $650,000 in general damages and $3,917,472 in special damages (pictured arriving at court in June 2017) There was no subsequent apology from the publisher, he added. Dr Collins said Justice Dixon was right in finding it was 'neither here nor there' that Wilson couldn't point to a particular job lost after the articles were published. 'This is an unusual industry. The studios create projects for hot stars and they do it quickly,' he said. Justice David Beach argued cinema-goers still supported Rebel's smash hit film Pitch Perfect 2 despite the articles. Tziporah Malkah has returned to the spotlight since starring in the 2017 season of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! And the star, previously known as Kate Fischer, enjoyed a game of Two-Up with pals in Sydney on Anzac Day. The 44-year-old took to Instagram on Wednesday to share her antics at Sydney's King Street Wharf. Eyes on the prize! Tziporah Malkah, 44, enjoyed a game of Two-Up on Anzac Day, taking to Instagram to share her feisty antics After paying respects at a mural in Sydney's Martin Place, Tziporah made her way down to the harbourside for an afternoon of Two-Up. Cutting a casually chic figure, the former Vogue Australia cover-girl opted for a pink and black floral kaftan, teamed with indigo slim-fit jeans and black sneakers. Tziporah's brunette locks were swept into an effortless up-do and she appeared to sport a minimal makeup palette. Winner: The former Vogue Australia cover girl proudly shared with her followers that she had her 'first win' of the day, $10 in two $5 notes The media personality shared with Instagram fans that she had her 'first win' of the day, $10 in two $5 notes, but later revealed 'she became the spinner and lost the lot!' Two-Up is a game played on Anzac Day each year where a spinner throws two coins into the air. Players bet on whether both coins will show heads, tails, or one of each. Two-Up is said to represent a shared experience with diggers through the years. Company: Tziporah was joined with a group of pals at Sydney's King Street Wharf on Wednesday Tziporah split with her fiance James Packer in 1998 after having dated for five years. She relocated from Sydney to the United States, converted to Judaism and changed her name to Tziporah Malkah bat Israel. By 2016 Tziporah moved back to Australia, working in the health care sector in Melbourne. She's enjoyed a career resurgence after appearing on the 2017 season of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! She's known for her incredible figure and isn't afraid to show it off. And on Tuesday, Australian model Megan Blake Irwin stripped off once again, showcasing her physique in a tiny red G-string bikini. Flaunting her toned torso and long and lean legs, the blonde bombshell stunned in the snap, which was taken on her recent trip to the Bahamas. Scroll down for video Red hot! Scott Disick's model ex Megan Blake Irwin flaunts her incredible figure in a tiny G-string bikini in the Bahamas In the snap, Megan went makeup-free and posed with one hand on her hip and another positioned at the back of her head. Megan - who is Scott Disick's rumoured ex - added hashtags including 'happiness' and 'beach baby.' After the post, Megan revealed she had jetted to London, sharing snaps on her Instagram story. Jetting off: After the post, Megan revealed she had jetted to London, sharing snaps on her Instagram story Beach babe: She's known for her incredible figure and isn't afraid to show it off One included an elevator selfie, where she rugs up in a coat. The catwalk stunner has been dating Miami-based businessman Nicolo Knows, an avid wine and art collector. Last year, Megan opened up on her blossoming romance, telling The Daily Telegraph: 'I'm in a very happy place and the happiest I've ever been in life. I'm in a very stable relationship.' Off the market: The catwalk stunner has been dating Miami-based businessman Nicolo Knows, an avid wine and art collector The beach babe, who's been known for being extremely private when it comes to romance, revealed why she went public with Nicolo. 'It's definitely a choice (to go public with her romance), because I've been in relationships that are extremely private. 'But I've been dating someone for a while now and I don't want to hide away with someone I love,' she continued. The revelation that Max Brannings mystery bride was none other than Rainie Cross former crack addict and his ex-sister-in-law was testament to that the twisted genius of EastEnders remains as brilliant - and bonkers - as ever. Anyone who thought that nothing about his love life could shock them anymore (i.e. all of us), was not just wrong but had been totally blind-sided. After all over the years we had seen endless women succumb to his irresistible, inexplicable, ginger charm from his daughters best friend Lucy Beale to the detective investigating her murder Emma Summerhayes; from snobby Fi Browning to salt-of-the-earth Stacey Slater, the girl who was his sons beloved. Surprise! The revelation that Max Brannings mystery bride was none other than Rainie Cross former crack addict and his ex-sister-in-law was testament to the twisted genius of EastEnders Max swore Stacey was the love of his life. Mind you he said that to his ex-wife (Rainies sister) Tanya too. Giving the identity of Maxs new bride a frisson that could match these was a challenge but the sort of mad challenge that was the writers of EastEnders speciality. Rainie Cross was someone even the most ardent fans would not have foreseen not only because she was Tanyas sister/Maxs ex-sister-in-law but because Rainie was one of the few women who he had never fancied. In fact he actively disliked her. Veteran watchers of life in Walford had known to brace themselves for a big bombshell when the early scenes in Tuesdays episode tantalisingly prolonged the mystery. The camera announced the brides arrival at the registry office by showing only her shoes as she walked in (late) and then panned up her arm, avoiding even a glimpse of her face behind the veil. Bizarre: Anyone who thought that nothing about his love life could shock them anymore (i.e. all of us), was not just wrong but had been totally blind-sided Bombshell: Veteran watchers of life in Walford had known to brace themselves for a big bombshell when the early scenes in Tuesdays episode tantalisingly prolonged the mystery. With Maxs history we knew it must be good, someone sensational: a Thai bride perhaps, one of his (many) old lovers (or young), or perhaps Danniella Westbrook Rainie was almost as sensational, announcing that she was the new Mrs Branning by suddenly appearing out of nowhere at the party Max was throwing in the E20, and stopping Kat from attacking him by telling her: I dont want my wedding night spent in A&E do I? Suddenly Maxs cryptic comment just before the ceremony (I wont ask where you got the dress) made more sense, or seemed darkly barbed if it was actually Tanyas. Max had been away for two months having been responsible for his daughter Abi falling to her death and helped James Willmott-Brown try to destroy everyone in Albert Square. So sustaining Maxs reputation (or lack of one) as Walfords tortured soul/fallen angel was no easy task. Having Max get married so soon after Abi was inspired but required a special kind of woman (someone especially heinous). Rainie was certainly that woman. The episodes she spent in 2010 necking bottles of vodka and smoking crack with Phil Mitchell were legendary and unforgettable. An image none of us wanted to remember on the other hand was Rainie sleeping with Ian Beale - on the night his daughter Lucy was murdered, working as a prostitute. (Rainie that is, not Ian.) Shocker: Rainie Cross was someone even the most ardent fans would not have foreseen not least because she was Tanyas sister/Maxs ex-sister-in-law Too soon: Having Max get married so soon after Abi's death was inspired but required a special kind of woman (someone especially heinous). Rainie was certainly that woman Its a whirlwind thing, Max explained to the Slaters. I never expected it to happen. I never thought Id be happy again after Abi Certainly I doubt any of us thought hed be happy so soon marrying her Auntie. That was one way to cheer himself up. Its probably a good job Abi wasnt alive to see it. Tanya and Lauren were though (somewhere). Ive got no interest in upsetting anyone, Max claimed. I want to wipe the slate clean. An interesting way of going about it Rainie would do anything for money (she had proved that with Ian) and Max was always up to something. The impromptu, informal, nature of the ceremony suggested he and Rainie were in cahoots. Can we do the short version? Ive got to get back to back, he asked the registrar. Moving quickly: Its a whirlwind thing, Max explained to the Slaters. I never expected it to happen. I never thought Id be happy again after Abi The idea of Max and Rainie may be too shameless, shameful, and unsavoury to make us exactly pleased for the happy couple but they are bound to make waves with other characters: Jack Branning (who once slept with Rainie), Ian (ditto), and of course Phil (who may fall off the wagon for her if not get back on the crack). Stacey immediately showed signs of jealousy when she heard that Max was married and hopefully Tanya will come back to Walford once she hears about her ex-husband marrying her sister. (Who wouldnt?) No doubt the girls mother Cora Cross will be back too, spitting fire. Cora will be shocked as much as everyone, even though she always hated Max so much she must have thought her opinion of him couldnt get any lower. In fact now that Rainies succumbed, Coras the one woman whos completely immune to his charms. Mind you, Max likes a challenge and loves to shock us She's considered one of today's finest female thespians. And Jessica Chastain proved her acting chops as she dove into the character of Caroline Wheldon for the American biographical drama Woman Walks Ahead. The 41-year-old plays a portrait artist from New York who travels to Dakota to paint legendary Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull in the trailer released on Wednesday. Scroll down for video Thespian: Jessica Chastain proved her acting chops as she dove into the character of Caroline Wheldon for the American biographical drama Woman Walks Ahead The Oscar nominated actress immerses herself into the role of Catherine, who becomes embroiled in the Lakota peoples' struggle over the rights to their land. As she travels by train to the middle of America to meet her muse, an unwilling accomplice joins her on the journey. 'Darling, I don't mean to be presumptuous, but you do have that certain look...' says Chaske Spencer played by Sam Rockwell. 'What look is that?' Caroline inquires. Chops: The 41-year-old plays a portrait artist from New York who travels to Dakota to paint legendary Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull in the trailer released on Wednesday Strangers: As she travels by train to the middle of America to meet her muse, an unwilling accomplice joins her on the journey Surprise: 'Darling, I don't mean to be presumptuous, but you do have that certain look...' says Chaske Spencer played by Sam Rockwell 'The look of someone filled with good intentions,' Chaske replies. 'I'm going to paint the great Sioux chief Sitting Bull,' Caroline explains. Caroline arrives at the home of Sitting Bull and quickly discovers her goal will not be achieved easily. Reasons: 'I'm going to paint the great Sioux chief Sitting Bull,' Caroline explains Ungrateful: A stranger spits on her face before boarding Onlookers: Spies watch their every move 'You're not good at keeping still, are you?' Caroline asks Sitting Bull played by Michael Greyeyes. 'Shoot me, then I will be still,' he answers. The trailer ends with a montage of Sitting Bull's charges rising up against looming destruction of their native lands. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2017. It is scheduled scheduled limited release on June 29, 2018, by A24. Warning: Sam's character gives Caroline a stern warning about the dangers that lurk ahead New faces and places: Caroline arrives at the home of Sitting Bull and quickly discovers her goal will not be achieved easily Questions: 'You're not good at keeping still, are you?' Caroline asks Sitting Bull played by Michael Greyeyes They were first hit with dating rumours in December. And Annabelle Wallis and Jon Hamm did little to quash the claims as they hit the red carpet at the Warner Bros. The Big Picture event at Cinemacon 2018 on Tuesday evening, with the duo putting on a cosy display as they promoted new movie Tag. The 33-year-old Brit looked stunning as she dazzled in a sequinned red crop top with spaghetti straps and an asymmetric hemline while the Man Men hunk, 47, looked typically dashing in grey suit jacket and a crisp white shirt. More than friends? Annabelle Wallis and Jon Hamm did little to quash dating claims as they hit the red carpet at the Warner Bros. The Big Picture event at Cinemacon 2018 on Tuesday evening, with the duo putting on a cosy display as they promoted new movie Tag Annabelle was pulling out all the stops for the event, where she turned her back on a typical gown in favour of a trouser and crop top combo. The tapered bottoms helped lengthen her legs while the red crop top swept the floor on the sides yet sat high on her tiny waist on top. She scraped her blonde tresses into a high ponytail with loose tendrils framing her perfectly made-up face - as she opted for a neutral make-up pallete. Jon meanwhile stuck to his tried-and-tested dapper look, yet dressed things down with the addition of an unbuttoned shirt and no tie. Stunners: The 33-year-old Brit looked stunning as she dazzled in a sequinned red crop top with spaghetti straps and an asymmetric hemline while the Man Men hunk, 47, looked typically dashing in grey suit jacket and a crisp white shirt Red hot! Annabelle was pulling out all the stops for the event, where she turned her back on a typical gown in favour of a trouser and crop top combo Natural beauty: She scraped her blonde tresses into a high ponytail with loose tendrils framing her perfectly made-up face - as she opted for a neutral make-up pallete Annbelle and Jon star together in comedy Tag, playing Rebecca and Randy respectively, in the move about a clan of ex-classmates, who meet up to organise a game of "Tag", leading to them travelling all across the country. The blonde beauty, who previously dated Coldplay's Chris Martin, was first spotted with the actor late last year when they attended a performance of Hamilton together. Sources told Mirror: 'Jon and Annabelle have been on a few dates and he took her as his plus-one to see Hamilton. They looked very comfortable with each other and were having a great time. Co-stars and pals: Annbelle and Jon star together in comedy Tag, playing Rebecca and Randy respectively, in the move about a clan of ex-classmates, who meet up to organise a game of "Tag", leading to them travelling all across the country Shiny, happy people: The glam duo certainly brought Hollywood glamour to the already dazzling show Snapping away! Between posing with Annabelle, Jon also stole a moment for a selfie with Isla Fisher Stunners: Jon meanwhile stuck to his tried-and-tested dapper look, yet dressed things down with the addition of an unbuttoned shirt and no tie (posing with Leslie Bibb, Annabelle and Isla) 'For Jon to take Annabelle to a public event where there are lots of people, their relationship must mean a lot to him'. MailOnline has contacted representatives for Annabelle and Jon for comment. Shortly before it was claimed he was dating Annabelle, Jon was said to be hooking up with Dakota Johnson. Sources claimed that in October, the pair were seen to be cosying up at the Kingside in the Viceroy Central Park hotel in New York. Insiders told Page Six: 'They seemed to really be enjoying each others company'. Unofficial camerawoman! Isla also grabbed Annabelle and Leslie Bibb for a picture Something to tell? Shortly before it was claimed he was dating Annabelle, Jon was said to be hooking up with Dakota Johnson He became a father for the second time when his wife Hannah gave birth to a son named Luke last month. And Eddie Redmayne couldn't hide his delight as he attended the CinemaCon 2018 Warner Bros event, held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday. The Oscar-winning actor flashed a beaming grin as he took to the stage, looking happier than ever. Back to work: Eddie Redmayne couldn't hide his delight when he attended the CinemaCon 2018 Warner Bros event, held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday Eddie was casually clad in a stripy jumper and black chinos, adding a casual touch to the look with a pair of sporty stripe detail trainers. The British star wore a pair of spectacles hanging from his collar and slung his hands nonchalantly in his pockets. The Fantastic Beasts star looked thrilled to be getting back to work, promoting the upcoming second installment in the Harry Potter spin-off franchise. Baby joy: The actor became a father for the second time last month when his wife Hannah gave birth to a son named Luke Putting in an appearance: Eddie was casually clad in a stripy jumper and black chinos Casual: He added a casual touch to the look with a pair of sporty stripe detail trainers Joining forces: Eddie was in conversation with co-star Katherine Waterston at the panel discussion Eddie took to the stage during the The Big Picture presentation hosted by Warner Bros. He was joined by his Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them co-stars Ezra Miller, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Katherine Waterston, and Dan Fogler. It marked his first appearance since the good news of his son's birth was announced. Presentation: Eddie took to the stage during the The Big Picture presentation hosted by Warner Bros Co-stars: He was joined by his Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them co-stars Ezra Miller, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Katherine Waterston, and Dan Fogler Addressing the crowd: Will Arnett was hosting the discussion on the day Pretty in patterns: Eddie posed with his co-star Alison, who looked lovely in a floral frock Animated: The Oscar-winning actor has signed a deal to front all of the Fantastic Beasts films The 36-year-old actor's wife - with whom he already has 22-month-old daughter Iris - gave birth to a son named Luke Richard Bagshawe. A 'delighted' Eddie told The Times newspaper: 'On 10th March 2018 to Hannah (Bagshawe) and Edward, a son, Luke Richard Bagshawe, brother to Iris.' The couple confirmed they were expecting again in November, in a statement to MailOnline. Fatherhood: The 36-year-old actor's wife - with whom he already has 22-month-old daughter Iris - gave birth to a son named Luke Richard Bagshawe last month A 'delighted' Eddie told The Times newspaper: 'On 10th March 2018 to Hannah (Bagshawe) and Edward, a son, Luke Richard Bagshawe, brother to Iris' He means business: The actor's appearance marked his return to work following the birth Beaming: The British star looked delighted to be resuming his promotional duties for the popular franchise It was revealed: 'Eddie and Hannah Redmayne are delighted to confirm they are expecting their second child.' Eddie married PR executive Hannah, also from London, at Babington House in December 2014 after a two-year romance. News of their joyous new arrival comes just four days after Eddie lamented the loss of genius Stephen Hawking, the physicist he portrayed in 2015 biopic The Theory Of Everything. Happy couple: Eddie married PR executive Hannah, also from London, at Babington House in December 2014 after a two-year romance The star paid tribute in a statement that said: 'We have lost a truly beautiful mind, an astonishing scientist and the funniest man I have ever had the pleasure to meet. My love and thoughts are with his extraordinary family.' The Danish Girl star recently revealed his daughter Iris has just begun sleeping through the night, so he is preparing himself for more sleepless nights with the new baby. Eddie said: 'We've just about got to that stage where we're just beginning to sort of get sleep and remember what that word means. I'm getting prepped to go back into the trenches.' And Iris is was still getting to grips with the idea of becoming a big sister - as she believed that Eddie was also carrying a new baby. Expanding the family: The duo already share 22-month-old daughter Iris Heartache: Eddie lamented the loss of the physicist Stephen Hawking (pictured together in February 2015), four years after winning an Oscar for his portrayal in the biopic The Theory Of Everything He explained: 'I thought she was genius child because she came up to Hannah and started kissing her tummy and saying "Baby! Baby in there." 'I was like, "Ah, amazing!" 'Then she came up to me, kissed my tummy, kissed her own tummy and said, "Baby in there." Uh... not quite. She also calls her toy monkey "Baby," so... ' Last year, 'The Theory of Everything' actor revealed that 'nothing can prepare you' for fatherhood, but admitted that becoming a parent was an 'extraordinary' feeling. He said at the time: 'I don't think anything can prepare [you]. The amazing thing is, everything that everyone tells you beforehand - which is all cliche - is true. You've heard it all before, and yet when you're experiencing it, it feels like the first time, and you suddenly start telling everyone these things as if they're completely new and original thoughts. And they're like, 'Yeah that's the cliche.' 'But all the things [like] different parts of your heart opening ... it's really extraordinary. There's this amazing thing with children - whenever you're having a bit of a tired moment or something, it's like, she's always just one stop ahead of you, smiling you along. It's great.' She will grace cinema screens as Mera in upcoming action flick Aquaman. And Amber Heard looked undeniably chic as she took to the red carpet at the Warner Bros presentation at CinemaCon 2018 in Las Vegas on Tuesday to represent the film. The talented actress, who turned 32 on Sunday, showed off her sartorial flair in a tight white vest top paired with a glittering black blazer, studded with silver sequins. Style star: Amber Heard looked undeniably chic as she took to the red carpet at the Warner Bros presentation at CinemaCon 2018 in Las Vegas on Tuesday to represent her film AquaMan Showing off her slender legs, The Rum Diary star slipped into a pair of black high-waisted jeans and added height to her toned frame with black stiletto heels. The blonde beauty added a stylish edge with a black fedora hat. Her caramel tresses were styled in bouncy waves, parted on the side while her stunning features were accentuated with feline flicks of liner, gold shadow and a slick of red lipstick. Flashing a radiant smile, the star looked happier than ever as she posed up with cast members from the film including hunky Jason Momoa, 38 who plays the titular role. Happy: The talented actress, who turned 32 on Sunday, showed off her sartorial flair in a tight white vest top paired with a glittering black blazer, studded with silver sequins Glittering: Showing off her slender legs, The Rum Diary star slipped into a pair of black high-waisted jeans and added height to her toned frame with black stiletto heels Satrorial chic: The blonde beauty added a stylish edge with a black fedora hat Handsome Jason, who recently wed long-term partner Lisa Bonet, showed off his muscular frame in a black t-shirt, navy blazer and leather trousers, while his flowing chestnut locks were worn down, over his shoulders. Warner Bros unveiled rough footage from the film at CinemaCon, with the flick due to be released on December 21 this year. The DC Comics adaptation will see Aquaman (Jason Momoa) battling his evil half-brother (Patrick Wilson) after returning to the Kingdom of Atlantis. He is also trying to prevent an imminent conflict between sea dwellers and those living on the 'surface world.' Heard was out after the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles named her on a list of donors who pledged between $1,000,000 and $4,999,999, squaring with her previous vow to forward the $7 million divorce settlement she got from Johnny Depp to charity. The Zombieland beauty had told previously told People that her 'philanthropic efforts have always been centred around medical care, especially with women and children. Dynamic duo: Flashing a radiant smile, the star looked happier than ever as she posed up with cast members from the film including hunky Jason Momoa, 38 who plays the titular role Good spirits: Handsome Jason, who recently wed long-term partner Lisa Bonet, showed off his muscular frame in a black t-shirt, navy blazer and leather trousers, while his flowing chestnut locks were worn down, over his shoulders Cast: Amber and Jason joined (L) Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Patrick Wilson and director James Wan Stylish: Patrick and Amber looked casually cool as they chatted on-stage Chat: Patrick, Amber and Will Arnett took to the stage to unveil rough footage from the film 'Medical care always struck me as a basic human right and necessity. I have been doing this type of work for the last 14 years with childrens hospitals and bringing, hopefully, laughs and alleviation and distraction to kids that are severely ill,' said Heard, as the two-year anniversary of her May 2016 divorce filing with Depp approaches. After the celebrity pair, who initially got together on the set of 2011's The Rum Diary, finalized the details of their split in August of 2016, Heard said that she was forwarding the American Civil Liberties Union half of the $7 million total. She said the monies were forwarded 'with a particular focus to stop violence against women,' amid the allegations of verbal and physical abuse she aimed at Depp in their split. Anticipation: The film is due out on on December 21 this year The actress, who shares the screen with Cara Delevingne in the upcoming crime drama London Fields, issued a statement following the settlement stressing that finances played no role in the show business split. She said, 'As described in the restraining order and divorce settlement, money played no role for me personally and never has, except to the extent that I could donate it to charity and, in doing so, hopefully help those less able to defend themselves. 'As reported in the media, the amount received in the divorce was $7 million and $7 million is being donated. This is over and above any funds that I have given away in the past and will continue to give away in the future.' Demi Rose made sure all eyes were on her when she hit the beach in Tulum, Mexico on Tuesday. The 23-year-old arrived along with photographer Danny DeSantos ahead of a sunshine shoot, in which she modelled a very sexy white plunging swimsuit. The one-piece had an extreme plunging neckline which showed off her ample cleavage and flattered her curves perfectly. Scroll down for video Stunner: Demi Rose paraded her sensational curves in an extreme plunging one-piece along with photographer Danny DeSantos as she hit the beach in Tulum, Mexico on Tuesday Her long raven locks hung down past her shoulders as she showed off her golden glow. She looked pretty pleased with herself as she and Danny walked through the sand balancing what looked like cocktails in their hands. Demi, who was previously linked to Kylie Jenner's rapper ex, Tyga, later changed into a Versace inspired two-piece which had a similar logo on the waistband. She covered up a little with a pair of sheer black trousers which showed off her pert posterior and her bikini bottoms. Chic: She later covered up a little with a pair of sheer black trousers which showed off her pert posterior and her bikini bottoms Balancing a small YSL bag on one shoulder, she looked glamorous as she got out of her car. The star has since gained a huge following on Instagram and she is known display her incredible curves in a number of risque ensembles. So of course she was more than happy to divulge the secrets to her sensationally curvy figure in an exclusive chat with MailOnline. In September, Demi revealed: 'I try to keep as healthy as I can. With travelling, it's hard to work out, I travel across the world but try to keep my routine. 'Everyone says I'm the healthiest person they know. The fattiest thing I will ever eat is nuts and peanut butter. 'My figure just gains weight so fast. Any bad thing I eat my body isn't used to it and just puts on the weight. That means no birthday cake! Lorraine Kelly normally seems pretty clued in with world events. But on Wednesday morning's Lorraine, the chat show host made a repeated gaffe when discussing German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Chatting to US correspondent Ross King via video link, the pair were talking about President Trump's current meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron. Talking about Trump's 'bromance' with Macron, Lorraine went on to mention that he will be meeting Merkel next - but managed to get her name wrong. 'He's meeting Angelica Merkel next,' Lorraine said. 'Now I can't wait to see Angelica's reaction. 'If he tries to give her a hug, she wont be having it!' This prompted a Twitter reaction from viewers at home who were unimpressed with the chat show host's faux pas. Gaffe: Lorraine Kelly normally seems pretty clued in with world events. But on Wednesday morning's Lorraine, the chat show host made a repeated gaffe when discussing German Chancellor Angela Merkel Who? Talking about Trump's 'bromance' with Macron, Lorraine went on to mention that he will be meeting Merkel next - but managed to get her name wrong 'I swear I heard @lorraine say Angelica Merkel #Lorraine #fakelaugh #soolovelytoseeyouitreallyis,' one person posted online. Another raged: 'Lorraine!! Its ANGELA not ANGELICA!! #GermanPrime Minister #shouldknowbetter #Lorraine.' Someone else, evidently 'disgusted' by the mistake, posted: 'Angelica. *Shakes head in disgust* #Lorraine.' 'Angelica? Who?' came a fourth tweeter Oops: Chatting to US correspondent Ross King via video link, the pair were talking about President Trump's current meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron Fury: Viewers were soon piping up on Twitter Macron arrived in Washington for the first state visit of the Trump presidency on Tuesday. The French President, 40, and his wife Brigitte, 65, were the first to be invited to the White House by Trump, 71, and his First Lady Melania, 47. The world was left stunned at their open display of affection during their glamorous state dinner last night as their 'special relationship' continues to make headlines across the globe. Advertisement She's no stranger to showing off her sensational figure all over her social media, and is well known for putting in the countless hours in the gym required to maintain it. And Millie Mackintosh stayed true to form on Tuesday, when she stepped out on the shores of Marbella in a flattering hot pink bardot bikini, which allowed her to display her enviable physique in all of its glory. The former Made In Chelsea star looked tanned and toned as she sauntered around in the sunshine in her barely-there number, which boasted a flirty lace-top feature down the cleavage. Soaking up the sunshine: Millie Mackintosh was spotted soaking up the sunshine on the beach in Marbella, Spain, on Tuesday Millie's washboard abs were on full display in the skimpy number, with matching high-rise bikini bottoms to elongate her impeccable pins. Going barefoot in the palm-tree laden paradise, the reality starlet worked her best angles as she paraded around on the beach, between chatting away with one of her pals. Millie's glossy brown locks fell beyond her shoulders in soft waves, while she shielded her eyes from the glorious sunshine with a pair of chic tortoiseshell shades. And Millie appeared to be so proud of her look that she took to Instagram later that day to share an image of their skimpy ensemble with her 1.3million followers. Hot pink: The former Made In Chelsea star wowed when she stepped out on the golden shores in a flattering hot pink bardot bikini, which allowed her to display her enviable physique in all of its glory Have a chat: She was seen chatting away with one of her pals as she made the most of the coastal resort town's balmy weather Fun and flirty: She looked tanned and toned as she sauntered around in the sunshine in her barely-there number, which boasted a flirty lace-top feature down the cleavage Perfect pins: The reality TV star's washboard abs were on full display in the skimpy number, with matching high-rise bikini bottoms to elongate her impeccable pins The fashionista's only touch of shimmer came with gold hoop earrings, a delicate pendant necklace and her engagement sparkler from fiance Hugo Taylor. Nude make-up allowed Millie's natural beauty to shine through as she lapped up the tropical surroundings. Continuing to showcase her enviable getaway, the reality star also posted the quintessential holiday snap to her Instagram Stories - with a first person view of her svelte legs overlooking the glistening blue waters. In the midst of soaking up the rays, Millie will also be getting some work done, as she has travelled to the popular resort town to walk in a runway show for swimwear brand Virginia Macari, which was styled by Courtney Smith. Angles: Going barefoot in the palm-tree laden paradise, Millie worked her best angles as she paraded around on the beach Shady lady: Millie's glossy brown locks fell beyond her shoulders in soft waves, while she shielded her eyes from the glorious sunshine with a pair of chic tortoiseshell shades Shimmer: The fashionista's only touch of shimmer came with gold hoop earrings, a delicate pendant necklace and her engagement sparkler from fiance Hugo Taylor Cigarette break: The star puffed on a cigarette and enjoyed a cold beverage while relaxing next to her pal on a sun lounger Catwalk queen: Millie was in Marbella to appear in swimwear brand Virginia Macari's catwalk presentation, which was styled by Courtney Smith, at the city's Puente Romano Hotel, with the reality star modelling a selection of stunning new looks on the runway Millie's sun-drenched trip called for another eye-catching ensemble, this time nailing summer chic in an ab-baring green floral crop top and matching mini-skirt. Stopping to pose beside some decorative flowers and a stylish white archway, Millie flipped her glossy tresses as she rocked her stylish two-piece with strappy wedge sandals. Millie is still bouncing back from the devastating collapse of her eponymous fashion brand, which left her owing a reported 550,000. The style maven's fashion brand went bust owing more than half a million pounds because of the 'challenging financial climate'. Great body of work: She's no stranger to showing off her sensational figure all over her social media, and is well known for putting in the countless hours in the gym required to maintain it Working trip: In the midst of soaking up the rays, Millie will also be getting some work done, as she has travelled to the popular resort town to walk in a show for swimwear brand Virginia Macari Smartphone: The British beauty kept her smartphone firmly in her hand as she lounged around in the midst of a sea of tourists She launched her label Cammac four years ago exclusively on the fashion website ASOS and it instantly became a hit thanks to her large social media following. On the bright side, Hugo and Millie have a wedding to plan and are already believed to have set a date. With bridesmaids Caggie Dunlop, Rosie Fortescue and Zara Martin reportedly in place, preparations are going full-steam ahead. The couple got engaged during a romantic trip to Greece in August last year. Massage: At one point, the star was seen going for a wander around the resort, spending some time near a massage parlour Baby got back: As the erstwhile reality TV star relaxed on the beach, she appeared to be fixated on rubbing her pert posterior Towel: Later in the day, Millie covered up in a white towel as she and her friend strolled from the beach to their accommodation Snaps: Millie appeared to be proud of her scintillating looks, as she took to Instagram to share some eye-catching snapshots They're rumoured to be expecting their first child together, a baby girl. And on Wednesday, Married At First Sight stars Carly Boywer and Troy Delmege enjoyed some downtime together, with Carly helping her man with his beauty regime. Carly waxed Troy's back ahead of a trip to Bali, using a whopping 46 wax strips to remove the hair. Scroll down for video 'I think I killed him': MAFS star Carly Bowyer waxes boyfriend Troy Delmege's hairy back using a whopping 46 wax strips...amid reports they pair are 'expecting a baby girl' Sharing a clip to her Instagram story, Carly joked that she 'killed' her man, after using two packs of wax strips. 'I'm about to wax Troy's back for Bali,' Carly says in the clip. 'We needed two packets of wax strips because it's a bit of a disaster.' Holiday prep! Carly waxed Troy's back ahead of a trip to Bali She asked Troy how he was feeling ahead of the wax, and he joked he was 'nervous.' 'Bite onto the pillow babe,' she said, as she laughed and waxed his back. Troy admitted it hurt a little. Ouch! She asked Troy how he was feeling ahead of the wax, and he joked he was 'nervous' Starting a family? The couple - who unveiled their romance just last month and recently moved in together in Melbourne, are reportedly expecting their first child The couple - who unveiled their romance just last month and recently moved in together in Melbourne, are reportedly expecting their first child. NW reports the pair are expecting and announced the news while shopping at a baby boutique earlier this month. The publication claims the pair are having a daughter, and picked out pink goods in the store. Troy was even seen tenderly touching Carly's stomach as he held a pale pink rattle in his hands. According to fellow shoppers, the pair were far from discreet about hiding their big baby news. Expecting? NW reports the pair are expecting and announced the news while shopping at a baby boutique earlier this month 'Troy was running around the store shouting about how he can't wait to become a dad,' one onlooker allegedly told NW. 'He kept saying how lucky he feels and couldn't keep his hands off Carly', they added. However, the goofy groom was far more coy when contacted by the magazine for confirmation about a baby. He refused to confirm or deny, stating: 'Everything is going great since we moved in together, but we don't want to confirm anything right now. As soon as we have news to share, you'll be the first to know'. She's the Australian actress and producer who's married to Hollywood-accredited actor Hugh Jackman. And on Monday, Deborra-Lee Furness, 62, was honoured for her achievements and contributions to the film community with an industry-iconic hammer. Awarded at the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards (TDIA) in New York City, the talented star was praised for her commitment to innovation on the modern cultural frontier. Australia proud! Deborra-Lee Furness, 62, was honored at the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards in NYC for her achievements and contributions to the film community on Monday Sponsored by Bulleit Frontier Whisky, Deborra-Lee took stage at the luncheon, during the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival to thank the committee for the highly-applauded award. The star opted for a cropped blazer, layering the chic number over a white collared shirt worn untucked. Keeping in line with her monochromatic look, Deborra-Lee wore a pair of plain black trousers. Proud moment! The star opted for a cropped blazer, layering the chic number over a white collared shirt worn untucked Monochromatic moment! Adding a bit of flare to her otherwise minimalist look, the famed Correlli actress opted for platformed black-and-white closed toe shoes Adding a bit of flare to her otherwise minimalist look, the famed Correlli actress opted for platformed black-and-white closed toe shoes. Married to Hugh Jackman, the star received a sweet wedding anniversary message from her famed beau to mark their 22 years together. Sharing his tribute with a throwback photo of the two together, Hugh wrote: 'I believe in life we need to see and truly be seen by the most important people in our lives. Happily in love! Married to Hugh Jackman, the star received a sweet wedding anniversary message from her famed beau to mark their 22 years together 'Deb, from day one, we had that. 22 years later it only gets deeper. You and the kids are the greatest gift I will ever receive. 'I love you a gazillion times around the world.' The couple got married on April 11 1996, after meeting on the set of the Australian television series Correlli in 1995. Since, the two have adopted two children together, son Oscar and daughter Ava. She is set to sing her late brother's famous hits on Australian stages with her Nothing Compares 2 Prince tribute show this week. And ahead of the show, Prince's younger sister Tyka Nelson has spoken about the influence her late brother has had on her own musical career. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, she revealed that she has sought comfort in her brother's loss though his music. Tribute: Prince's younger sister Tyka Nelson has spoken about the influence her late brother has had on her own musical career She went on to explain that her first song was recorded as tribute to her brother and their parents. Titled End Of The Road, the song was produced exactly one year after his passing, and recorded at his Paisley Park Headquarters. 'That song was my way of telling the world how I was feeling. And me doing what he had begged me to do all those years, to go to Paisley Park to record,' she shared with the publication. Seeking solace: In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, she revealed that she has since sought comfort in her brother's loss though his music While Prince was adamant that Tkya should start her own recording career, Tyka said that she refused to encroach upon his space in the fame game. 'I hadn't wanted to before because I wanted a separate (musical) identity; I knew he could make music but didn't know if I could,' she admitted. The Nothing Compares 2 Prince shows are set to showcase a selection of musical talents who worked with Prince during his successful musical career. A tribute: Set to continue his legacy, Tyka will sing songs from across Prince's four albums released between 1988 and 2011 at the tribute concerts The hotly anticipated show will kick off in Sydney at the city's iconic Sydney Opera House on Friday and Saturday. The show will take place in Melbourne's Hamer Hall on Sunday. Set to continue his legacy, Tyka will sing songs from across Prince's four albums released between 1988 and 2011 at the shows. She is the picture of confidence on the catwalk or modelling for Victoria's Secret. And Bridget Malcolm displayed her natural beauty when she went make-up free on her low-key outing on Wednesday. Taking to Instagram, the 26-year-old Victoria's Secret model looked casually cool in a boyfriend-style denim jacket. 'Love to you all today': Victoria's Secret model Bridget Malcolm looked relaxed in a denim jacket as she enjoyed her day out 'Love to you all today,' the model addressed her 315,000 followers on Instagram. In the backdrop of the photograph, a poster with the slogan 'resist fear, assist love' can be seen as the star promoted the positive effects of love. The Victoria's Secret model ditched her trademark heavy make-up looks when she went make-up free and framed her face with her golden locks in a layered style. Bridget's latest Instagram post shortly follows her candid confession that she suffered from body dysmorphia and survived on steamed vegetables. 'I was portraying this image of me being fit and healthy and full of life, when in reality, I was breaking down. I was anxious, struggling with food and struggling with everything,' she told The Morning Show. 'Your weight should be objective. You know how you look, and that's that. When I was struggling, what I saw in the mirror was not the reality. Body battle: Bridget's latest Instagram post shortly follows her candid confession that she suffered from body dysmorphia and survived on steamed vegetables 'At the time, I thought I was being healthy, to be completely honest. I thought I was doing everything right. I was eating a lot of steamed vegetables and protein shakes and I thought I was doing the right thing, but I wasn't.' This week, Bridget also documented her body-shaming battle on social media when she shared that trolls had slammed her body at her healthiest weight. 'Today on the blog I tackle body shaming. I have been shamed at my smallest (photo 3) and shamed at my healthiest (photos 1 and 2),' she penned in the Instagram post. They confirmed they are expecting their first child together, a baby boy, last month. And Vogue Williams proudly showed off her blossoming baby bump as she soaked up the sun on the beaches of Greece with fiance Spencer Matthews, 28, recently. The 32-year-old star looked radiant as she topped up her tan in a pretty coral bikini - and even treated herself to a massage. Life's a beach! Vogue Williams proudly showed off her blossoming baby bump as she soaked up the sun on the beaches of Greece with fiance Spencer Matthews, 28, recently The pregnant model flashed her growing baby bump in her pink two-piece, which she paired with a turquoise necklace and stylish cat-eye shades for her day of relaxation. Keeping her hair from her face as she sunned herself, Vogue swept her blonde tresses into a high ponytail. Ex Made in Chelsea star Spencer chose to offset his bronzed complexion - and seriously toned torso - in a pair of bright orange shorts for the couple's beach day. Pretty in pink: The 32-year-old star looked radiant as she topped up her tan in a pretty coral bikini - and even treated herself to a massage The brighter the better! Ex Made in Chelsea star Spencer chose to offset his bronzed complexion - and seriously toned torso - in a pair of bright orange shorts for the couple's beach day But it wasn't long before Vogue called time on her idle afternoon and headed over to the resort's gym for a workout. Vogue posted a side profile shot after being forced to deny she photoshopped her baby bump in a front-on shot last week. The Irish beauty lashed out at trolls, explaining how two angles looked so different to one another. Finishing touches: Vogue stylishly paired her bikini with a turquoise necklace and stylish cat-eye shades for her day of relaxation Effortless beauty: Keeping her hair from her face as she sunned herself, Vogue swept her blonde tresses into a high ponytail Pamper: Vogue adjusted her bikini top as she prepped for her massage Baby joy: The star's holiday just weeks after she confirmed she was pregnant Spilled the secret: Vogue and Spencer are expecting a baby boy later this year 'I'm so glad!': Vogue revealed that her bump had finally 'popped' earlier this month Chit chat: Vogue and Spencer looked deep in conversation as they enjoyed a romantic stroll She explained: 'These photos were taken within half an hour of each other. 'Front on no bump, side profile POW there he is! So glad my bump has finally popped. 'I never alter my body in any pictures, if you cant see my bump its just because of the angle although I may only take side profile shots from now on!' No days off! Vogue was spotted heading for a workout later in the day and even shared her routine on Instagram Gym gear: The star sported a trendy workout style in an orange sports bra and grey cropped leggings Comfort first: Vogue appears to have swapped her usual gym gear for a maternity option Excited: Spencer urged the couple's little one to 'hurry' in a cute Instagram post Fashionista: Vogue rocked a chic white cover-up when she wandered off the beach Vogue posted a number of snaps from their getaway on social media, one of which saw the pair posing in front of the Greek sunset, with the Irish TV presenter shielding her growing bump in a flowing yellow maxi dress. Daddy-to-be Spencer captioned his post: 'Last night was magical... We are FAMILY... Can the Little one hurry up already @voguewilliams?' The couple's sun-soaked getaway came after Spencer and James's multi-millionaire father David Matthews was arrested and charged with sexual assault by French Police. The 74-year-old was released on bail last month pending further investigation, and Spencer it yet to comment publicly on the news. A spokesperson for the family said: 'David Matthews categorically denies the allegation and unequivocally contests the untrue and scandalous accusation.' Mum's the word: Vogue waited until she was four months along before announcing her baby joy Quick snooze: Vogue looked to enjoy her massage so much that it sent her to sleep Under wraps: The model concealed her baby bump beneath a blue towel when she retreated to her sun lounger Another day in paradise: The star couldn't have looked in higher spirits as she basked in the sun with her fiance Up next? Spencer watched over Vogue as she indulged in her massage What a sweetheart! A lady appeared to assist Vogue as she opted to lay her towel out closer to the water Making plenty of memories: Vogue posted a number of snaps from their getaway on social media, one of which saw the pair posing in front of the Greek sunset ''I never alter my body': Vogue recently hit back at trolls who claimed she was tampering with pictures of her baby bump Say it ain't so, Captain! Chris Evans is addressing rumors he's hanging up his Captain America shield for good following the release of Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War. The actor, who's been playing the beloved hero since 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, appeared on Good Morning America early this week where he set the record straight sort of, anyway. Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, is addressing rumors he's retiring from the role after Avengers: Infinity War Asked whether he was retiring from the role after Avengers: Infinity War, the 36-year-old said: 'Well, the contract's done. 'A lot of our contracts are though. Myself, [Robert] Downey Jr, [Chris] Hemsworth, we all kind of started roughly at the same time.' He continued: 'I mean, I think we all [thought] Avengers 4 kind of wraps it up. But at this point I don't know what's next, but year by 2019 that's it...Well, we'll see.' So what else do you need to know about Avengers: Infinity War? Keep reading. Avengers: Infinity War release date Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War will release in April 26, 2018 in the United Kingdom and April 27, 2018 in the United States and elsewhere. The film was initially due to be released in the US on May 4, 2018, but that all changed after Robert Downey Jr., who plays Iron Man in the film, expressed a desire to see it earlier. After a brief, light twitter exchange with Marvel Studios, his wish was granted and the worldwide release date was bumped from May to April. Thats a FANTASTIC idea! Done. Avengers: #InfinityWar in theaters everywhere April 27th. pic.twitter.com/n5JhJWpnqc Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) March 1, 2018 What is Avengers: Infinity War? Avengers: Infinity War has been hailed as Marvel's most ambitious project to date. The film unites heroes from across the studio's universe. It all started in 2008 with Iron Man. The film introduced fans to Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr. From there, Marvel released Thor, Captain America, Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy. Prior to Avengers: Infinity War, a select few of the aforementioned heroes mixed in the first two Avengers movies. The upcoming fourth film in the franchise marks the first time so many superheroes have appeared on screen together. In Avengers: Infinity War, the unlikely cast of characters are tasked with defeating an intergalactic monster, called Thanos. Thanos was introduced briefly in the first Avengers film and made a brief appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy. In Avengers: Infinity War, he's back and he's looking to bring together the Infinity Gauntlet, made up of six infinity stones previously featured in other Marvel movies. The person who possesses the stones gains unlimited control over the universe and, ultimately, reality. Infinity War review Avengers: Infinity War currently has an 87 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics review reads: 'Avengers: Infinity War ably juggles a dizzying array of MCU [Marvel Comics Universe] heroes in the fight against their gravest threat yet, and the result is a thrilling, emotionally resonant blockbuster that (mostly) realizes its gargantuan ambitions.' Infinity War end credits As is often the case with Marvel films, there is a post-credits scene at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. As of Wednesday, no information about the scene had been posted online except that it exists and comes on after a long credits scene about filming and the work Jim Starlin put into creating Thanos, according to Bleeding Cool. The end credit scene in Avengers: Infinity War is said to really drive home the film's attempts to tie up loose ends. Red Skull Infinity War It's been rumored that Thanos won't be the only villain the Avengers have to take on in Avengers: Infinity War. Red Skull, who was presumed dead after Captain America: The First Avenger, will reportedly be revisited. In March, Screen Rant pointed out that in a newly released comic from Marvel, Red Skull was shown being shot into space. This suggests that he wasn't incinerated in The First Avenger after all. What's more, Samuel L. Jackson who plays Nick Fury seemingly let it slip that the character will return. 'You didn't see me in Civil War. I'm still out there trying to figure out what The Skull is going to...,' he said during an interview with Hot 97. As of Wednesday, it hadn't been confirmed that Red Skull was back. Danniella Westbrook is reportedly set to stand trial for fraud in Spain, in claims surfacing hours after she was arrested and jailed for driving offences. On Tuesday, it was revealed she was hauled to court and spent a night in a Costa del Sol police cell when she was arrested over a warrant issued for the offences. Spanish police confirmed a 44-year-old Brit had been held at Malaga Airport on an outstanding warrant and taken to court on Tuesday morning after a night in a cell. Tough times: Danniella Westbrook is reportedly set to stand trial for fraud in Spain, in claims surfacing hours after she was arrested and jailed for driving offences Court officials said she had been informed she would have to stand trial in October for an alleged fraud offence before being released from custody. No further information on exactly what she is alleged to have done wrong was made available, although a legal source described it as a 'minor fraud offence.' The crime she faces trial for is 'estafa' in Spanish - which is defined in English as criminal deception, fraud or dishonest dealing. MailOnline has contacted Danniella's representatives for comment. Daniella was arrested under her married name of Jenkins. She is thought to have been held when her name flagged up on a police database at passport control as she went to board a flight back to the UK late on Monday night. Jailed: The crime she faces trial for is 'estafa' in Spanish - which is defined in English as criminal deception, fraud or dishonest dealing The star is now planning to travel back to the UK next week following her unexpected brush with the law. She is said to be staying with friends in the Marbella area. Her arrest on Monday night came just days after she was arrested in the UK over allegations of 'malicious communications and witness intimidation.' Police in Britain confirmed she is still under investigation. Her representatives said after the latest arrest: 'We can confirm our client Miss Westbrook was arrested by national police at Malaga airport on Monday night and detained for 14 hours in custody before being bailed by the court in Malaga. 'We cannot at this time disclose any more information other than that she has been left feeling very scared. She's tired and looking forward to returning back to the UK next week.' Holidaying: The star is now planning to travel back to the UK next week following her unexpected brush with the law. She is said to be staying with friends in the Marbella area Following her night in prison, the former EastEnders star took to Twitter with tales of more woe as she claimed she had been 'robbed' and was 'heartbroken' by further news. She tweeted on Monday: 'been robbed in gran can flown to Marbella and now had news that's broken my heart.... tomorrows gonna be a better day ... cos Monday's for sure suck .... good night god bless everyone xxxx' As she was consoled by friend Sinitta, Danniella replied that it had been 'the worst 4 days of my life'. Danniella - who was said to be taken to Malaga police station at 11:50pm and appeared in court at 11:45am Tuesday -has reportedly been given bail by the court, but must return to Malaga in October to answer the charge against her. Bailed: Danniella - who was said to be taken to Malaga police station at 11:50pm and appeared in court at 11:45am Tuesday - has reportedly been given bail by the court A source told The Sun Online: 'Danniella was stopped by customs last night and then arrested. She was in shock and was really scared when she was led out of the airport in handcuffs. 'Danniella hated every second of being in that cell alone it was awful for her. 'She'll be coming back to the UK next week now and is holed up with her friends now who're taking care of her.' MailOnline has contacted Danniella's representatives for comment. Danniella's latest woes come just days after she was arrested for witness intimidation. Heartbroken: Following a night in prison, the former EastEnders star took to Twitter with tales of more woe as she claimed she had been 'robbed' and was 'heartbroken' by further news The former soap star's was pictured leaving Hertfordshire police station wearing a standard police tracksuit on Wednesday. A police spokesperson told MailOnline: 'A 44-year-old woman, who was arrested by Hertfordshire Constabulary at a location in Essex at 2.05pm on Tuesday, April 10 in relation to allegations of malicious communications and witness intimidation, was released on bail yesterday (Wednesday, April 11) until May 6 pending further investigation.' It was confirmed that the troubled star was wanted for questioning by police over claims of 'intimidation and malicious communication' after reportedly taking 10,000 from a former friend. Now magazine previously claimed the actress was rendered homeless after being unable to afford a rental property on her own. 'Danniella's been forced out of her home. She was staying with a friend, but the rental home came to an end and now she can't afford to rent by herself,' a source told the publication. 'She's told friends she's totally broke and is now back on benefits. If she is to get a place, she'll have to get housing benefits.' She's set to share another Piece Of Me. Britney Spears is launching her own fashion and lifestyle brand with music retail branding company Epic Rights, she revealed on Tuesday. The 36-year-old pop star's Britney Spears Lifestyle range will feature fashion apparel, hair care and accessories. It's expected to bow next spring. Her own sense of style: Britney Spears, seen on stage in Las Vegas, revealed on Tuesday that she is launching her own fashion and lifestyle brand Britney said: 'I am excited to collaborate with Epic Rights to create a new contemporary lifestyle collection.' Larry Rudolph, Britney's manager, explained that the collection is her 'next step in connecting with her legions of loyal fans around the globe.' He continued: 'Sharing her style and fashion sense through products she has developed is a testament to her authenticity as well as her commitment to - and appreciation of - the fans that have made it all possible.' The chart-topping star hopes that through her partnership with Epic Rights she will be able to develop her brand globally. Get the look: The 36-year-old pop star's Britney Spears Lifestyle range will feature fashion, hair care and accessories It has been confirmed, too, that the firm will take charge of her e-commerce commitments including a possible link up with Amazon, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Dell Furano, chief executive officer of Epic Rights, is thrilled to have joined forces with the Toxic hitmaker. He said: 'Britney continues to be one of the biggest pop stars in the world with numerous multi-platinum records and awards over the past 20 years. Lovely in lace: The Toxic singer's new range is expected to launch next spring 'As a passionate artist, successful businesswoman and devoted mother, her strive for excellence is unparalleled.' As well as preparing for the launch of her own branded merchandise, Britney is prepping her Piece Of Me U.S. and European tour, which is due to kick off on July 12 in Washington D.C. . The songstress wrapped her Piece Of Me Las Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood's Axis Theater on New Year's Eve after four years. However, she is due to return to Sin City next year after signing a new deal with the Monte Carlo Resort's Park Theater. New details about the upcoming series of gangster drama Peaky Blinders have been released. Director Anthony Bryne has just inked a deal to helm the fifth series of the popular Cillian Murphy-fronted programme, widely rumoured to be its last. The In Darkness filmmaker takes over the role from season 4's David Caffrey as the story of the Shelby clan comes to a conclusion, Deadline reports. Highly-anticipated: New details about the upcoming series of gangster drama Peaky Blinders have now been released The fifth season will air on BBC Two in 2019 and is set to be released on Netflix. Peaky Blinders - which also starred Tom Hardy and Adrian Brody - has been directed by a different director each series - including Otto Bathurst, Tom Harper, Colm McCarthy. Much to the disappointment of fans, show-runner Stephen Knight has hinted series five may be the last. Powerful: After Tommy was elected as the Labour MP for Birmingham, the Shelby clan are more powerful than ever He told Digital Spy: 'Each time, we do six episodes [per series] and can you sum up the story in six episodes? Or do you need another six? Thats the question. 'If it doesnt need a season six, I dont think therell be one. But it may need one, because [six episodes is] such a short period of time.' There was an 18 month gap between series three and four airing so fans could be waiting as late as Spring 2019. 'Its in my head, its not the best place for it to be,' Knight told The Express. Popular: The fifth season will air on BBC Two in 2019 and is set to be released on Netflix 'So Im going to start writing that very soon and we will start shooting it next year. We will start shooting in the autumn.' After Tommy was elected as the Labour MP for Birmingham at the end of series four, the Shelby clan will be more powerful than ever and it seems even Arthur will have political connections. Actor Paul Anderson recently told the Metro of his alter-ego: 'Well all have more cover, well have more opportunity, and more protection. And by protection I mean by society and the police and so on. 'Well be able to get away with things under the guise of, "were politicians, were respectable" But well be able to manipulate things more. Arthur will be even more Arthur. So it will be a lot of fun.' She went on Bachelor In Paradise to give finding love on reality television a second chance, only to be brutally dumped by Thomas Perras. But despite her recent heartbreak, Rachael Gouvignon was all smiles as she stepped out to walk three dogs in Perth on Wednesday. Taking to Instagram, the star documented the moment by sharing a photo of herself beaming at the camera with her pack of pooches in tow. Leader of the pack! Bachelor In Paradise star Rachael Gouvignon brushes off heartbreak as she takes three dogs for a walk 'Yes I'm a single lady, but I'm not the 'desperate' crazy cat lady, I'm just the weird dog lady enjoying life #independentwoman Are you a cat or dog lover?' She penned in the caption of the social media post. She added the hashtags: '#datelessbutnotdesperate #enjoyingsinglelife #doglover #catlover #afternoonstroll #furbabies #bachelorinparadiseau #dogwhisperer.' (sic) Rachael's sunny Instagram post shortly follows her full-blown breakdown which played out on Bachelor In Paradise's screens. Keep moving forward: She went on Bachelor In Paradise to give finding love on reality television a second chance During Monday's episode, she was devastated following Thomas Perras' brutally honest words where he said he felt the two shared 'zero romantic feelings'. Viewers' hearts broke for Rachael as they watched Thomas tell her he didn't see them having a 'future after Paradise'. Having been single for over four years following being sent packing on Richie Strahan's season on The Bachelor, Rachael revealed she felt crushed that she hadn't found love yet. Pout and about: The reality star continued to divulge that she was 'dateless but not desperate' as she was enjoying the freedom of singledom Getting worked up over the realisation that she was being sent home without the man she had hoped for, Rachael sought comfort in a producer of the show. 'I don't look at finding love as a game, you know?' She said to the producer while in tears. 'It's very important for me to find someone. I don't know why it hasn't happened for me yet,' she added. 'I know it'll happen when I least expect it, but I'm tired of hearing that, I've heard it like, hundreds of times and I'm sick of hearing it! I don't know if I've ever really met a guy that really wants me.' Priyanka Chopra looked ready for a proper English tea party as she was seen in New York City on Tuesday. The 35-year-old actress wore a feminine floral top and skirt with a very tiny white purse and strappy heels. This comes just days after the star was in London where she reportedly helped her good friend Meghan Markle prepare to walk down the aisle with Prince Harry. Tea time: Priyanka Chopra looked ready for a proper English tea party as she was seen in New York City on Tuesday So British: The 35-year-old actress wore a feminine floral top and skirt with a very tiny white purse and strappy heels Markle on Wednesday in London The royal wedding will take place on May 19 at St George's Chapel inside Windsor Castle in England and Chopra is expected to be there. Priyanka was likely in London on Saturday to be fitted for a bridesmaid or maid of honor dress for Markle's wedding. She remained coy over whether she will be serve as one the Suit star's bridesmaids, but her short trip to the U.K. has mounted speculation she will help her friend walk down the aisle. Heading out of the Bulgari hotel, Priyanka wore a pale pink suit and sophisticated white blouse. The Baywatch star paired the look with patent nude boots and donned a pair of orange-tinted sunglasses. She styled her raven locks in loose waves and accentuated her glowing complexion with a sultry smoky eyeshadow, blush-swept cheeks and a slick of red lipstick. It comes after the Indian star hailed best friend Meghan as a 'free spirit' and 'princess for the people'. She made the comments as the royal bride-to-be and Prince Harry are among those honoured on Time's list of 100 Most Influential People in 2018. Wedding party member? Chopra cut a chic figure as she stepped out in London on Saturday, amid rumours the actress arrived in the capital to be fitted for her dress ahead of the Royal Wedding Writing in the US magazine, Priyanka declared the former Suits star has 'found her prince' and 'made a cynical world believe in fairy tales again.' The Bollywood icon added 'what you see is real', describing Meghan as a 'relatable young woman' the 'world can be inspired by'. She finished with an address to Ms Markle, saying: 'Love always, my friend. Live happily ever after.' Priyanka and Meghan became close friends after meeting at a Women in Television event back in 2016. However, the star has remained tight-lipped over whether she is on the guest-list. 'If you see me there, you'll know,' Chopra told Harper's Bazaar Arabia after being quizzed if she will be one of Meghan's bridesmaids. Meghan's bridesmaids could also include stylist Jessica Mulroney, Millie Mackintosh and the daughter-in-law of Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Serena Williams is also thought to be in the running, herself having married Reddit's Alexis Ohanian in 2017. Avengers: Infinity War isnt even out yet but Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is already busy discussing the next phase of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, mentioning details about Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 on the press tour and Brie Larsons Captain Marvel at the Infinity War premiere. The Marvel Studios boss also said that Captain Marvel, which will be Marvel Cinematic Universes 21st film but only the first female-led film, will deliver a hit of pure 90s nostalgia. In the 90s there were things called video stores, Feige told Variety. You could go into video stores and you could pick up VHSs and decide what movies you wanted to go see. I miss that. That was fun. Were doing certain sets that look like that and its fun to be back in that era because Im old. Kevin Feige has overseen all 19 MCU films so far, including Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man films In terms of the films progress, Feige said that it is less than halfway through filming. Feige also talked about Captain Marvel AKA US Air Force pilot Carol Danvers powers, saying: Youre going to get the most powerful superhero that weve ever introduced with, I think, one of the most unique and inspiring origin stories. A character more powerful than Mark Ruffalos Hulk or Chris Hemsworths God of Thunder Thor is certainly an incredibly exciting prospect. Samuel L. Jacksons Nick Fury, the head of SHIELD and the man responsible for corralling the Avengers starting with Robert Downey Jrs Iron Man, will also play a prominent role in the film. Feige said that the Nick Fury in Captain Marvel is a man who thought the Cold War is over [so] the best days are behind him. He encounters certain things in this movie. It sets him on that path that leads us to where we are 19 films later. Given that the film will be set in the 90s, it would make Captain Marvel the first superhero or villain Nick Fury encounters, well before Tom Hiddleston's Loki or Tom Holland's Spider-Man. This leads to many fans wondering whether Brie Larsons superhero will make an appearance in Infinity War, if only to introduce the character to the MCU rather than explain why a 90s superhero has not been mentioned in the 19 Marvel films so far. Marvel has a strong track record of using post-credit scenes to tease, and tee-up, future films. Marvel fans are also wondering whether Captain Marvel, which is scheduled to be released on March 6, 2019 - a significant date because it precedes Avengers 4 - will be the passing of the torch from the original Avengers. As Chris Evans, Captain America himself, points out: 'Well, the contract's done. 'A lot of our contracts are through. Myself, [Robert] Downey Jr, [Chris] Hemsworth, we all kind of started roughly at the same time.' He continued: 'I mean, I think we all [thought] Avengers 4 kind of wraps it up. But at this point I don't know what's next, but year by 2019 that's it...Well, we'll see.' She recently revealed that having a boob job was 'the best decision of her life'. Yet Amber Turner, 24, let her legs take centre stage as she slipped into a crochet gown for TOWIE filming at The Old Regency Ballroom on Wednesday. Joined by the equally as glamorous Chloe Meadows, 25, and Yazmin Oukhellou, 24, the ladies were dressed to impress as they turned out in their finery for the scenes. Leggy lady! Amber Turner let her legs take centre stage as she slipped into a crochet gown for TOWIE filming at The Old Regency Ballroom on Wednesday Amber was a vision of beauty on the outing, although came incredibly close to a wardrobe malfunction in her revealing ensemble. Featuring a crochet print, the blonde bombshell teased a glimpse at her enviable figure, whilst a chunky belt highlighted her slender waist. Featuring a daringly high split, the gown also showcased her tanned and toned pins, whilst she teetered into the venue on a pair of gold lace up heels. Pins on parade: Joined by the equally as glamorous Chloe Meadows and Yazmin Oukhellou the ladies were dressed to impress as they turned out in their finery for the scenes Chloe commanded attention in a vibrant lilac mini dress that showed off her tanned and toned pins, which were elongated with gold barely-there heels She worked her angles in the figure-hugging mini dress, that clung to her peachy posterior and showcased her enviable frame. Meanwhile, Yazmin let her ample cleavage steal the show as she slipped into a low-cut black gown that clung to her every curve. Baring all: Amber was a vision of beauty on the outing, although came incredibly close to a wardrobe malfunction in her revealing ensemble Turning heads: Featuring a crochet print, the blonde bombshell teased a glimpse at her enviable figure, whilst a chunky belt highlighted her slender waist Giving the ladies a run for their money, however, was Shelby Tribble. She burst onto screens this series as Pete Wick's new girlfriend, yet Shelby ensured she'd turn heads on her own as she stepped out in a showstopping scarlet gown. Shelby, 25, was a vision of beauty as she stepped out in a scarlet floor length gown that skimmed her slender curves and over her long legs. Featuring a plunging neckline, the glamorous garment also offered a look at her cleavage, which she drew further attention to with a delicate silver necklace. Preened to perfection, the brunette beauty wore her glossy locks carefully coiffed, framing her pretty features. Pretty in purple: Chloe Meadows commanded attention in a vibrant lilac mini dress that showed off her tanned and toned pins, which were elongated with gold barely-there heels Posing up a storm: Chloe worked her angles in the figure-hugging mini dress, that clung to her peachy posterior and showcased her enviably tiny waist All about the accessories: Keeping her dress the centre of attention, Chloe kept her jewellery simple with just a delicate gold ring and dainty necklace Pins on parade: Yazmin highlighted her hourglass curves in a tight fitting black midi dress with a zip across the back that teased at her sensational figure Stunning: Yazmin was a vision of beauty as she posed up a storm in her glamorous LBD Two's company: Amber and Yazmin looked sensational as they posed with one another Chloe Sims, 35, also brought the glamour as she dazzled in a figure-hugging black midi dress that showcased her enviably lean legs. Layering up, the mother-of-one donned a mongolian fur coat that she shrugged off the shoulder, whilst she boosted her frame with barely-there heels. Chloe finished off the look by framing her peepers with a heavy dose of hot pink eye shadow, whilst she styled her glossy golden locks in loose waves. Glam: Shelby Tribble ensured she'd turn heads on her own as she stepped out in a showstopping scarlet gown for TOWIE filming at The Old Regency Ballroom on Wednesday Stunning: Shelby, 25, was a vision of beauty as she stepped out in a scarlet floor length gown that skimmed her slender curves and over her long legs Legs eleven! Chloe Sims, 35, also brought the glamour as she dazzled in a figure-hugging black midi dress that showcased her enviably lean legs That's a wrap: Layering up, the mother-of-one donned a mongolian fur coat that she shrugged off the shoulder, whilst she boosted her frame with barely-there heels Turning heads: Chloe ensured all eyes would be on her as she headed into filming Work it: Georgia Kousoulou was back to her old style tricks as she narrowly avoided a possible wardrobe malfunction in a thigh-grazing black mini dress while filming TOWIE on Wednesday Walk this way: Georgia's pin-flashing number boasted a matching plunging neckline which accentuated her ample cleavage as she posed for photos while shooting the ITVBe favourite Red hot: The Essex beauty worked her blonde waist-length locks into a soft wave which offset her vibrant red lip and smokey eye look Shelby's boyfriend Pete was also filming on the day, but at a different location across town. The outing came after Shelby made a dig at Pete's ex Megan McKenna, insisting that she isn't worried about the pair reconciling. She told The Sun Online: 'I think that's done. What's meant to be will be but I think that's done because it wasn't very good. 'They weren't healthy for each other and I'm sure at the time they loved each other but they weren't right for each other.' Gushing over their own romance, she added: 'He's amazing, I love so much about him. He has me in tears of laughter he's so funny. He's so intelligent and I love that in a man.' Taking the plunge! Lauren Pope showcased her ample cleavage in a plunging black blouse that she wore beneath a fitted black blazer that she draped over her shoulders Legs eleven! Lauren flashed a glimpse of her perfect pins in figure-hugging tailored trousers that featured a mesh strip across the front panel Finishing touches: Lauren donned a pair of delicate gold hoops and a chunky wristwatch Striding past: Lauren proved every street is a runway as she sashayed past on the evening It had been a busy day of filming for the cast as earlier on the team were pictured headed into the Crown & Crooked Billet pub in Woodford, Essex. During the outing, Yazmin Oukhellou and James Lock who were determined to maintain a united front after he was accused of mental and emotional abuse. The fashion designer and reality star displayed her sensational physique in a racy crop top with matching high-waisted trousers while her boyfriend was showing off his hunky frame in a tight black T-shirt with a flat cap. Here come the boys! Dan Edgar, James Lock and James 'Diags' Bennewith were suited and booted for the occasion as they strolled into the venue Laugh a minute: The trio seemed in high spirits as they joked around with one another Loving life: The group couldn't contain their giggles as they prepared for another day of filming Leading the way: Jon Clark and Tommy Mallet looked confident as they strode into the club All-smiles: It seems the cast were all in good spirits as they prepared for another day filming Check him out: Myles Barnett - who recently split with Courtney Green - looked sharp in a grey tweed suit jacket and skinny black jeans on the outing Plaid's a good look! Bobby Norris caught the eye in a vibrant red tartan three-piece suit Suit you: Pete Wicks was pictured arriving to set Dapper: He looked suave in a navy blue suit and white tee All in the details: He accessorised with a gold watch, bracelet and circular shades Mane attraction: he worked his hair into a sleek man bun Yazmin looked sensational in her striped ensemble which saw a tiny crop top display her abs and the flared trousers lengthen her legs. Posing for the camera before entering the building, she turned to show off her peachy posterior in the tight bottoms while sporting wedges underneath. The Valentino heels boosted her legs and made the most of her figure - while also injecting a designer touch into the chic look. She also toted a Louis Vuitton washbag and a high-end watch, adding to the elegant and TOWIE feel of the ensemble. Strutting their stuff: Another couple at the filming were Yazmin Oukhellou and James Lock who were determined to maintain a united front after he was accused of emotional abuse Out and a pout: The fashion designer and reality star displayed her sensational physique in a racy crop top with matching high-waisted trousers while her boyfriend was showing off his hunky frame in a tight black T-shirt with a flat cap Hot stuff: Yazmin looked sensational in her striped ensemble which saw a tiny crop top display her abs and the flared trousers lengthen her legs They were joined by newly-single Courtney Green, who went for double denim look complete with ripped jeans and a battered leather jacket. She scraped her hair into a high bun while masking her face behind a pair of rose tinted specs, as she continued filming following her split from Myles Barnett. Her heartbreak has played out on screens as she has been seen to fall out with her long-time beau after he too was accused of abusive behaviour. Perky! Her outfit showed off her stunning figure to perfection On the mend: They were joined by newly-single Courtney Green, who went for double denim look complete with ripped jeans and a battered leather jacket Denim diva: She scraped her hair into a high bun while masking her face behind a pair of rose tinted specs, as she continued filming following her split from Myles Barnett Earlier this month, charity bosses at Women's Aid blasted ITVBe producers for 'glamourising' James' behaviour towards his girlfriend Yazmin. And despite the backlash the lovebirds put on a brave front, as they stepped out to film further scenes for TOWIE on Thursday. Stepping out in the long awaited British sunshine, the reality star, 31, and his gorgeous other half looked sensational in twenties-inspired ensembles - despite James being blasted for his 'controlling and aggressive behaviour.' On the up: Earlier this month, charity bosses at Women's Aid blasted ITVBe producers for 'glamourising' James' behaviour towards his girlfriend Yazmin Row: At the beginning of series 22, the show stalwart was seen locked in an argument with his girlfriend and her friends Chloe Meadows and Chloe Lewis leading to outraged viewers calling for his dismissal from the show - a call backed by the charity At the beginning of series 22, the show stalwart was seen locked in an argument with his girlfriend and her friends Chloe Meadows and Chloe Lewis leading to outraged viewers calling for his dismissal from the show - a call backed by the charity. Sian Hawkins of Women's Aid, insisted James' behaviour is showing 'clear warning signs' and 'sends a dangerous message', yet a TOWIE spokesperson defended the airing of the scenes as they were surrounded by 'reflection and apologies'. Viewers were left in shock when James was seen shouting at his partner Yazmin in a previous episode, while others were left aghast when Myles Barnett called girlfriend Courtney Green 'a f**king s**g' for speaking to Jordan Wright. Tough times: Sian Hawkins of Women's Aid, insisted James' behaviour is showing 'clear warning signs' and 'sends a dangerous message', yet a TOWIE spokesperson defended the airing of the scenes as they were surrounded by 'reflection and apologies' Here come the boys! James Argent and Liam Blackwell were playing the fools as ever Got it in a nutShelby! Newbie Shelby Tribble looked edgy in jeans, a leather jacket and boots Here comes Arg! The show original was casual in a black velvet tracksuit Classic: Clelia Theodorou looked elegant in a black fishtail pencil dress with spaghetti straps as she strutted her stuff on her way to filming Bombshell: The former glamour model, 23, teamed her chic dress with towering black strappy heels and an oversized leather handbag Taking to Twitter, infuriated fans urged producers to take action against the stars for their behaviour towards their girlfriends, with many users lashing out at the gentlemen for 'verbally abusing' their co-stars and calling for immediate suspension. Backing up viewers' feelings was bosses at Women's Aid, who released a statement aimed at producers following the shocking scenes in the past two episodes. Ms. Hawkins said: 'On the latest series of The Only Way is Essex, there are clear warning signs in James Lock's onscreen controlling and aggressive behaviour.' Pals: Diags, who confessed he had a thing for Shelby when she started the show, was having a giggle with the stunner Dapper dude: Shelby's love interest, Pete Wicks, was suited and booted in a navy suit and chocolate brown suede loafers for the day of filming Having a laugh: The cheeky pair were larking around in typical playful style Girl about town: Last week, Yazmin officially opened the 49th sk:n clinic in South Woodford Kim Kardashian has her own line of KKW makeup and fragrances to look after. But somehow the 37-year-old mogul found the time to pose for Fendi as well. The wife of Kanye West was seen modeling for the Italian luxury brand in Malibu alongside her daughter North West, four, and mother Kris Jenner, 62, on Tuesday. This comes just after the rapper - who has been hospitalized for mental health issues in the past - went on a bizarre social media tirade. Scroll down for video A new job: Kim Kardashian was seen in Malibu on Tuesday for a photo shoot with Fendi All done up: The star looked nicely glammed up for the outdoor shoot with heavy pink-and-black makeup on a her raven hair worn down Kim looked nicely glammed up for the outdoor shoot with heavy pink-and-black makeup on and her raven-colored hair worn down. The Selfish author also wore a pink blouse from the company and dark slacks with a yellow strip down the side. The mother-of-three finished off the look with Fendi over-the-knee boots with the company logo in beige and brown all over it. Kris wore a similar ensemble but her shirt was light grey and her boots were grey plaid. She was seen walking up and hill, sitting in a chair and talking on the phone. The grandmother was also seen doting on North. Backside look: Here the high school graduate was seen from the back as a black purse rested on her bottom The momager look: Kris wore a similar ensemble but her shirt was light grey and her boots were grey plaid A lot to juggle: The San Diego native also carried a large black Fendi purse that had a brown F logo strap And little North - the eldest Kardashian West child - had on a black-and-white blazer with a black skirt. The three generations of Kardashian/Jenner were being doted on by at least nine crew members. The timing is awkward. Awkward: This comes just after Kanye West - who has been hospitalized for mental health issues in the past - went on a bizarre social media tirade. Seen on Tuesday New digs: The New York native also posted photos from inside the mansion he shares with Kim The home looked all white with white tables, chairs and walls West has claimed this week he cannot be managed. The star let go his manager Scooter Braun recently. The New York native also posted photos from inside the mansion he shares with Kim. The home looked all white with white tables, chairs and walls. It is the first look inside their remodeled Hidden Hills, California estate. Kim, 37, called him out for breaking his own rule about their home, tweeting: 'Ummm babe. We had a rule to not show our home on social media! Soooo can we now allow KUWTK filming in the home?' She hit back: Kim was then not happy that people were accusing Kanye of having trouble Doing his own thing: West then shared this image where he was wearing a Make America Great Again cap that was used during Donald Trump's campaign She then said she was joking. Kim apparently lambasted Kanye more than once on Wednesday as the rapper later tweeted: 'my wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone. 'I don't agree with everything Trump does. I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself.' This came after the rapper had fired off a few tweets in support of the President Of The United States. Kim had was very vocal in her support of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. Kim's mini me: And little North - the eldest Kardashian West child - had on a black-and-white blazer with a black skirt A birthday soon: Little North will turn five years old in June; last year she celebrated at Chuck E Cheese's Kanye wrote: 'You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.' The Through The Wire hitmaker did make sure to urge fans to not follow what everyone else does and that regardless of his Trump support, he is also a fan of Hillary. Kim was then not happy that people were accusing Kanye of having trouble. Kisses for little Nori: Kim puckered up for her child who sat on a lawn chair She took to Twitter to write: 'Hes a free thinker, is that not allowed in America? Because some of his ideas differ from yours you have to throw in the mental health card? Thats just not fair. Hes actually out of the sunken place when hes being himself which is very expressive.' She added: 'Now when he spoke out about Trump... Most people (including myself) have very different feelings & opinions about this. But this is HIS opinion. I believe in people being able to have their own opinions.... He never said he agrees with his politics.' The tirade comes after Kim rocked the internet on Tuesday when she shared images of her naked body. On the run: The child wore her curly hair down; here she is seen heading toward the home Some were photos her midsection with zero clothes on. And then she also posted a nude image where she had on only milky paint. Mrs Kanye West explained she was creating a mold of her body because the bottle of her KKW Body fragrance would be in the shape of her enviable curves. The next day the siren was at it again as she posted a snapshot of her chest with thick white plaster painted on. In the wild: The Vogue cover girl wore a purse crossbody style as she stood in a field I get by with a little help from my friends: Kim was seen with a camera man behind her Kim is in full promo mode for her new perfume. 'A NEW PERFUME IS COMING TO KKWFRAGRANCE.COM IN 5 DAYS #KKWBODY,' she shared on Wednesday. The image was of the plaster on her chest as water splashed on her tummy. The star has already launched several perfumes, beginning a decade ago. On Tuesday she explained what she was up to. 'We made a mold my body and made it a perfume bottle,' she captioned the image. So sleepy: It's no wonder the former DASH store owner was yawning - she has newborn baby girl Chicago at home as well as son Saint, two So much help: There were nine crew members around Kris as she posed for the camera It followed an earlier snap of the sultry star topless with just one arm covering her modesty. Plugging her new fragrance the Selfish author added the simple caption: 'KKW BODY 4.30 by Vanessa Beecroft #KKWFRAGRANCE' Only the lower part of Kim's face can be seen in the snap which shows her standing against a bare wall. Her team: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star talked to a man in a red T-shirt The reality star made sure to tag artist Vanessa Beecroft in the image. A second image, more explicit this time, shared by the KKW Fragrance Instagram account shows the lower part of Kim's body without any underwear. '#KKWBODY, KKW FRAGRANCES NEWEST PERFUME, IS COMING SOON ON 04.30' the very racy snap is captioned. Last week the same account teased the April 30 launch of Kim's new perfume with an image of two imprints of naked bodies in the sand - clearly made to look like the curvaceous reality star. Kim has reportedly used her own naked body as inspiration for her new perfume. 'The next fragrance I have coming out in May, KKW Body, is so amazing. It is a sculpture, basically, of my body,' Kim said in her cover story for Business of Fashion. More to look at: Kardashian shared an image on Wednesday of plaster on her chest as she posed for a mold of her body that will be the shape of her new perfume bottle Full frontal: The star rocked the internet with this risque photo shared on Tuesday Hourglass: And then there were photos of her naked body as well Another look: On Wednesday afternoon the pinup posted this photo of her body as she named all the ingredients in her new perfume 'Its really cool. The scent is so good, Im so proud of it. It smells to me like what I would think golden smells like, even though thats a color and something thats just luminous.' Meanwhile, Kim took a break from the sexy snaps and was on mom duty Monday morning as she shared a snapshot of her family onboard their luxury aircraft. The image showed Kanye West being a hands on dad as he cuddled baby Chicago, while mom Kim got big brother Saint, two, into position and oldest daughter North, four, pulled a face for the camera. Kim captioned her happy snap 'Party of 5.' The Bachelor 22 star Arie Luyendyk Jr. and his (second) fiancee Lauren Burnham just purchased a 2,607-square-foot marital home in Phoenix. 'Buying a house is obviously another huge step in our relationship and we are excited to really make this our home,' the 36-year-old reality star told Us Weekly on Wednesday. 'It was built this year and we can't wait to move in...From the minute I walked into this house, I had a good feeling.' Scroll down for video Another milestone: The Bachelor 22 star Arie Luyendyk Jr. and his fiancee Lauren Burnham just purchased a 2,607-square-foot marital home in Phoenix (pictured March 7) The 36-year-old reality star told Us Weekly: 'Buying a house is obviously another huge step in our relationship and we are excited to really make this our home. It was built this year and we can't wait to move in!' The Dutch-born real estate agent and the 26-year-old Vonage sales executive - who's now enrolled in real estate school - chose their love nest after touring 'nearly 70 properties.' 'Our dogs [Dallas and Bastain] are very excited,' gushed the Virginia-born blonde, who loves her new closet. 'They are each going to have their own room...I mean it does have four bedrooms. And, a big backyard to run around in, too.' She's enrolled in real estate school: The Dutch-born real estate agent (R) and the 26-year-old Vonage sales executive (L) chose their love nest after touring 'nearly 70 properties' The Virginia-born blonde gushed: 'Our dogs [Dallas and Bastain] are very excited. They are each going to have their own room...I mean it does have four bedrooms' Home sweet home: Aside from loving her new large closet, Lauren is excited to have her fur babies run around in the big backyard One of four: Perhaps Arie and Lauren will use one of their extra bedrooms as a nursery following their distasteful April Fool's joke about a 'bunny in the oven' 'Secrets finally out': Luyendyk has since apologized for the insensitive tweet United front: The bride and groom-to-be - who recently vacationed in Iceland and Barcelona - famously got engaged on the March 6 special The Bachelor: After the Final Rose Perhaps Arie and Lauren will use one of their extra bedrooms as a nursery following their distasteful April Fool's joke about a 'bunny in the oven.' The bride and groom-to-be - who recently vacationed in Iceland and Barcelona - famously got engaged on the March 6 special The Bachelor: After the Final Rose. Meanwhile, Luyendyk's jilted (first) fiancee Becca Kufrin will (not surprisingly) head up the 14th season of The Bachelorette, which premieres May 28 on ABC. Premieres May 28 on ABC! Meanwhile, Luyendyk's jilted (first) fiancee Becca Kufrin will head up the 14th season of The Bachelorette Netflix and chill: The betrothed duo will be able to watch all the action on the dating competition from their new living room Before meeting Burnham, the 6ft2in race-car driver also 'fell in love' with The Bachelorette 8 Emily Maynard, The Bachelor 16's Courtney Robertson, and The Bachelor 8's Selma Alameri. The odds are against the Kissing Bandit and the Old Dominion University grad since out of of the 30-some betrothed duos from The Bachelor/The Bachelorette franchise, around six have remained together. Kissing bandit: Before meeting Burnham, the 6ft2in race-car driver also 'fell in love' with The Bachelorette 8 Emily Maynard, The Bachelor 16's Courtney Robertson, and The Bachelor 8's Selma Alameri Priyanka Chopra sure knows how to make a lasting impression. On Wednesday the Quantico actress stood out in a head-to-toe red outfit while in New York City. This comes just after the 35-year-old confirmed to UsWeekly that she will be attending friend Meghan Markle's May 19 wedding to Prince Harry at St George's Chapel inside Windsor Castle in England. Hot lady: Priyanka Chopra sure knows how to make a lasting impression. On Wednesday the Quantico actress stood out in a head-to-toe red outfit while in New York City She'll be there for her: This comes just after the 35-year-old confirmed to UsWeekly that she will be attending friend Meghan Markle's May 19 wedding to Prince Harry at St George's Chapel inside Windsor Castle in England. Seen on Wednesday in London The star also told the site that she has not decided on what to wear to the royal wedding that will be watched by millions all over the world. 'I sort of may have an idea,' she said. 'But no, I havent picked one out yet.' And the former beauty pageant star said that she is very happy for her Hollywood pal. Clothes minded: The star also told the site that she has not decided on what to wear to the royal wedding that will be watched by millions all over the world. 'I sort of may have an idea,' she said. 'But no, I havent picked one out yet' Props galore: 'Ive known Meghan for three years and Im so happy the way the world has responded to her because as long as Ive known her she is a relatable young woman of the world today,' she told UsWeekly A fan! And she said of the Suits actress: 'Shes that girl who thinks out of the box. She has always been an activist. She has always had a strong voice' 'Ive known Meghan for three years and Im so happy the way the world has responded to her because as long as Ive known her she is a relatable young woman of the world today,' she told UsWeekly. 'Shes that girl who thinks out of the box. She has always been an activist. She has always had a strong voice. Shes an ambitious girl of today. I think the world needs strong role models like Meghan. I think, I hope, Meghan will end up being one of those people.' On Wednesday the A Kid Like Jake star wore an Alejandra Alonso Rojas top and pants with a Vivienne Westwood jacket and Christian Louboutin shoes. Priyanka was in London on Saturday. Fans guessed she was there to be fitted for a gown to serve as a bridesmaid or maid of honor dress for Markle's wedding. Heading out of the Bulgari hotel, Priyanka wore a pale pink suit and sophisticated white blouse. The Baywatch star paired the look with patent nude boots and donned a pair of orange-tinted sunglasses. She styled her raven locks in loose waves and accentuated her glowing complexion with a sultry smoky eyeshadow, blush-swept cheeks and a slick of red lipstick. It comes after the Indian star hailed best friend Meghan as a 'free spirit' and 'princess for the people'. She made the comments as the royal bride-to-be and Prince Harry are among those honoured on Time's list of 100 Most Influential People in 2018. Keeping quiet: The star has remained tight-lipped over whether she is on the guest-list to Prince Harry and Meghan's Royal Wedding next month; Meghan and Harry on Monday Priyanka and Meghan became close friends after meeting at a Women in Television event back in 2016. However, the star has remained tight-lipped over whether she is on the guest-list. 'If you see me there, you'll know,' Chopra told Harper's Bazaar Arabia after being quizzed if she will be one of Meghan's bridesmaids. Meghan's bridesmaids could also include stylist Jessica Mulroney, Millie Mackintosh and the daughter-in-law of Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Serena Williams is also thought to be in the running, herself having married Reddit's Alexis Ohanian in 2017. They will be there too: Kate Middleton and Prince William, seen here on Monday with their third baby, will also attend the nuptials Bright: Chopra catches eyes everywhere with a sequined top Modest touch: She paired the colorful outfit with a simple denim skirt He plays a psychotic stalker in the new film Moose, directed by Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. And John Travolta was spotted in character while shooting the thriller this week in Hollywood. The movie star, 64, sported the mullet haircut with a scruffy face, glasses and a colorful ensemble while filming scenes outside. In character: John Travolta was spotted in costume while shooting the thriller Moose this week in Hollywood; he plays a psychotic stalker Interesting look: The movie star, 64, sported the mullet haircut with a scruffy face and glasses; pictured with the director, Fred Durst John donned a blue and white Hawaiian style shirt with palm trees emblazoned all over, adding plaid bottoms. The actor carried a backpack to finish off his character's look. He was seen in another look, this time rocking rocking what appeared to be a police officer's uniform. John signed up for the role in March; the film is semi-autobiographical, based on an experience Fred had with a fan. Wow: John signed up for the role in March; the film is semi-autobiographical, based on an experience Fred had with a fan; pictured with co-star Ana Golja Thriller: John donned a blue and white Hawaiian style shirt with palm trees emblazoned all over, adding plaid bottoms Ominous: The star plays Moose, who is an obsessive fan that turns into a psychotic stalker; pictured with Fred In between filming: He terrorizes his favorite actor, Hunter Dunbar, played by Devon Sawa, due to his obsession; seen with Fred The star plays Moose, who is an obsessive fan that turns into a psychotic stalker. He terrorizes his favorite actor, Hunter Dunbar, played by Devon Sawa, due to his obsession. Ana Golja, who plays the character Leah, posted pictures from on the set. Obsessed: He was seen in another look, this time rocking rocking what appeared to be a police officer's uniform; Jacob Grodnik pictured on the left in the black shirt and jeans In the moment: John seen while in the midst of filming Moose with co-star aspiring actor Jacob Grodnik, who plays Todd in the movie Hollywood: One scene featured John's character Moose getting a talking to by his co-star Jacob Action: Jacob's character Todd appeared to be counseling him or stopping him from doing something She recently posed for a photo with John and Fred, which she shared on Instagram; the photo shows a bloodied John. He had a bloody stump in place of his right hand with an equally gory eye. Filming for the movie kicked off in March in Birmingham, Alabama. Break: John pictured speaking with Fred in between filming scenes Back at it: He then returned to filming with his co-star Jacob, who plays one of the leads of the movie Star power: Ana Golja, who plays the character Leah, posted pictures from on the set Behind the scenes: John pictured with Ana in between filming scenes This is the third film Fred has directed; he has directed The Education of Charlie Banks and The Longshots. Moose was co-written by Fred and Dave Bekerman. John told TMZ that working with Fred 'may be my favorite experience I've had,' when asked last week abut his favorite directer. Strike a pose: She recently posed for a photo with John and Fred, which she shared on Instagram; the photo shows a bloodied John She was officially voted the UK's favourite Spice Girl in a YouGov poll this week. And it was easy to see why on Wednesday night, as Emma Bunton showed off her infectious personality in front of the cameras. The musician formerly known as Baby Spice put on a flirtatious display in a floor-sweeping gown as she lead the red carpet at the Global Gift Gala in Paris. Flirty display: Emma Bunton looked adorable as she lead the arrivals at the Global Gift Gala in Paris on Wednesday night She looked elegant in an ankle-grazing dress that showcased her legs with a daring side-split that ran up her right thigh. With sleeves cut off on her forearm and a high neck, the cute floral garment benefitted from a little edge of sex appeal. Emma accessorised a high neckline with simple drop earrings and left her signature golden locks wavy around her shoulders. Working it: The leggy blonde showed off her trim pins in a thigh-split dress Girl Power: It was recently revealed that Emma (second left) is the nation's favourite Spice Girl, being voted more popular than (from left in 1997) Victoria Beckham, Mel B, Geri Horner and Mel C, in a YouGov poll At the glittering event, which comes just one day after the foundation gala in London, Emma was joined by actress Vanessa Williams, as well as founder and host of the Global Gift Foundation Maria Bravo. Emma was recently delighted to learn that a YouGov poll voted Baby Spice the most popular Spice Girl. 31,000 British people cast votes on Sporty Spice (Mel C), Scary Spice (Mel B, Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham) and Ginger Spince (Geri Horner) to decide on the nation's favourite. And Emma was the stand out winner with 37% of the vote, while Scary Spice proved the least popular at 9% popularity. Glamazon: Actress Vanessa Williams gave it some razzle dazzle in a silver gown Red carpet queen: The leading lady made quite the entrance in her sequins The five-piece reunited for the first time in five years this February when they got together to talk about future plans for the band. With reports of a tour, an album and merchandise, it has most recently been claimed that the girlband reunion will take the shape of an animated superhero movie - with the band members voicing the characters. According to Variety, a film is being shopped to potential production partners, with each member having signed off on their likenesses being used in characters to front a 'girl power' film. Looks like Kanye West and Charlamagne Tha God have squashed their beef. Five years after the pair feuded during an interview on Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club, which Charlamagne co-hosts with DJ Envy and Angela Yee, Kanye has dubbed Charlamagne 'the new Oprah'. The pair apparently sat down recently for a meeting that produced what's sure to be an interesting interview. According to Kanye's tweet the pair discussed 'Jay [Jay-Z], Virgil [Abloh], [Barack] Obama, Trump and Mental Health', among other things. Kanye West hailed former enemy Charlamagne Tha God 'the new Oprah' in recent Twitter rant Charlamagne also discussed his meeting with Kanye a bit during an episode of his podcast, Brilliant Idiots. He revealed that he was able to preview the father of three's upcoming album, due to be released in June, and said it was 'dope'. It's due to air at a later date during a broadcast of The Breakfast Club. It seems this sit down went better than their 2013 confrontation on the radio show. Before you tune in, here's what you need to know about Charlamagne Tha God. Who is Charlamagne Tha God? Charlamagne Tha God was born Lenard McKelvey on June 29, 1980. He hails from South Carolina, a fact that he speaks on often. Charlamagne became well known in the early 2000s as part of VH1's The Wendy Williams Experience with Wendy Williams. He was let go from the program in 2008. While the New York Times reported that Charlamagne was laid off due to company downsizing, Charlamagne wrote in his book Black Privilege that it was a questionable business deal with Wendy's husband that lead to his firing. 'He was always extremely aggressive in trying to get more money out of situations,' Charlamagne wrote in his book. 'He'd yell at and often threaten people until he got what he wanted...I can't lie: It's worked for him and Wendy. But it wasn't how I wanted to do business.' After that, he and Wendy parted ways. Charlamagne addressed rumors that the pair have been feuding since in a 2017 interview with People. At the time he said: 'I haven't talked to her in seven years. I haven't talk to her since February 2010, that's the last time I had a conversation with her. 'I had a conversation with her husband [Kevin Hunter], but it wasn't nothing productive just a bunch of yelling and screaming.' In 2010, Charlamagne began co-hosting The Breakfast Club on Power 105.1 FM. He anchors the show along with DJ Envy and Angela Yee. The trio conduct celebrity interviews and provide commentary on pop culture and political happenings on the show. The Breakfast Club has grown to a point where video from each interview is now shot and broadcast on Revolt TV. In addition to The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne has been a part of the Guy Code cast, joining in 2011, and landed his own shows on MTV2 called Charlamagne & Friends and Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne Tha God. In 2017, he wrote a book called Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It. Charlamagne Tha God net worth According to Celebrity Net Worth, Charlamagne Tha God's net worth is about $10 million (7.1m). How did Charlamagne Tha God make his money? Charlamagne Tha God made most of his money from The Breakfast Club, which he's been co-hosting since 2010. Before that he worked at The Wendy Williams Experience on VH1. He was fired due to on-set drama. He has also appeared on MTV's Guy Code and had two of his own shows on MTV2. Charlamagne Tha God Kanye interview Charlamagne Tha God revealed during an episode of the Brilliant Idiots podcast that he met with Kanye West for an interview. He revealed that during the meeting, which occurred in California, he was able to hear Kanye's upcoming album, along with some of the others being released under Good Music. He said that Kanye's album, due for release in June, is 'dope' and 'similar to socially conscious, "message Ye".' the Charlamagne interview just got an offer on 10 million. Yo @cthagod should we hold off for a hundred million??? Jay Virgil Obama Trump and Mental Health. Just a few things that were discussed. Charlamagne the new Oprah KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 Kanye tweeted about the meeting on Wednesday, revealing that he'd been offered $10 million (7.1m) for the interview. He added that he and The Breakfast Club co-host talked about a variety of things, including 'Jay [Jay-Z], Virgil [Abloh], Obama, Trump and Mental Health'. It's unclear when the interview will be released. In the meantime, you can revisit Kanye's 2013 interview on The Breakfast Club, during which he confronted Charlamagne. Charlamagne Tha God Black Privilege In 2017, Charlamagne Tha God released his first book, titled Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It. The book received mostly positive reviews. AllHipHop gave it a seven out of 10, calling it 'a fun and interesting read'. Dorinda Medley stopped by the DailyMailTV studio on Wednesday to discuss her explosive row with Sonja Morgan on last week's episode of Real Housewives of New York. In the dramatic scene the 53-year-old star screamed at Sonja after she compared her divorce to Dorinda's husband dying. 'I think Sonja has a tendency to - well a lot of women do this - they focus on the past and they don't live in the present' Dorinda told hosts Jesse Palmer and Alicia Quarles. Scroll down for video Dorinda Medley has addressed her blow-out argument with Sonja Morgan in last week's episode of Real Housewives of New York as she stopped by DailyMailTV on Wednesday Heated: The 53-year-old star screamed at Sonja after she compared her divorce to Dorinda's husband dying 'I divorced my first husband about the same time as she divorced Mr. Morgan and I barely mention my first - I mean he's so much not part of my present day life.' she added. 'You'd think the way she speaks of it that, number one - it just happened - and number two, as I said in my blog, divorce is a choice whereas death is certainly not a choice and it's something that changes you forever.' Dorinda's late husband Richard died in 2011 from liver failure. The couple met and married in 2005 after Dorinda's first marriage to Ralph Lynch ended. 'I think Sonja has a tendency to - well a lot of women do this - they focus on the past and they don't live in the present' Dorinda said about Sonja's habit of talking about her divorce 'You'd think the way she speaks of it that it just happened' Dorinda said of Sonja's constant talking of her former marriage Going for a third? Host Jesse Palmer asked the Bravo star if she'd ever consider marrying again after doing it twice Meanwhile, the entrepreneur is celebrating six years with boyfriend John Mahdessian, owner of New York couture restoration house Madame Paulette. In the past Dorinda has referred to her late husband as her soulmate so Jesse asked if she'd ever be willing to marry again. 'I never believed that there's only one person in your life you can love' Dorinda explained. 'People come into your life at different times and make you very happy. I don't think that because Richard died means that there's no-one else I can truly love.' In the past Dorinda has referred to her late husband as her soulmate. Richard died in 2011 from liver failure 'I don't think that because Richard died means that there's no-one else I can truly love.' Dorinda said of her thoughts on getting married again Dorinda revealed that after raising her daughter, who's now 24, and being married twice, she's quite likes being on her own. 'I love john, above all else we're great friends.' she added. Last week's episode ended with Dorinda screaming in Sonja's face accusing her of comparing her divorce to her husband's death. The face-off started with Dorinda accusing Sonja of always complaining about her life, reminding her: 'I buried a husband, OK?' When Sonja replied 'we've heard that a thousand times too,' Dorinda launched her tirade. 'I love john, above all else we're great friends.' Dorinda said of her six-year relationship with her beau Confrontation: Last week's episode ended with Dorinda screaming in Sonja's face accusing her of comparing her divorce to her husband's death 'Meanwhile you got divorced how many years ago? Almost two decades ago! 15 years? And we talk about Mr. Morgan like he was just having tea in your house!' Sonja hit back, 'We talk about Richard every day, too!' Dorinda screamed: 'Your husband left you and my husband died! As Sonja attempted to argue Dorinda shouted over her, 'Yes, he did, because people were f***ing around.' Pointing in her face as she screamed, Dorinda continued: 'So don't you dare compare your f***ing marriage to me burying my husband, OK? Because you were f***ing around in the south of France. He married your friend honey. You a**.' Tune into the Real Housewives of New York City every Wednesday at 9pm on Bravo. 'I'm very happy for him,' says his half-sister, Lady Lucinda Ankarcrona, 45 (pictured) As the elder son of the 8th Earl of Mexborough, and heir to North Yorkshire estates extending to 20,000 acres, Viscount Pollington might seem enviably blessed. Yet Johnny Pollington's life has been defined by tragedy, having lost his mother and sister to addiction. But now, after his own battles with drink and drugs, he is to marry for the first time, at the age of 58. His bride is Norma Phoenix, 55, who has one son from a previous marriage. 'I'm very happy for him,' says his half-sister, Lady Lucinda Ankarcrona, 45. Young Johnny and late sister Alethea had an unconventional upbringing and moved to London with their erratic mother, Elizabeth, who sometimes had breakfast brought to her at 4am. 'It was a tricky childhood,' recalls a contemporary. 'Johnny was always snivelling.' In adulthood, Alethea believed herself trapped in a love triangle involving her one-time fiance, James Gilbey, and Gilbey's closest female friend, Diana, Princess of Wales, whom Gilbey nicknamed 'Squidgy'. Alethea was shattered by the so-called 'Squidgy Tapes' recordings released of intimate conversations between Gilbey and the Princess of Wales, in which Gilbey said to Diana: 'Oh Squidgy, I love you.' In September 1994, Pollington found Alethea dead in her Chelsea flat, dosed with heroin, cocaine and antidepressants. The inquest heard how, instead of reporting her death, he attempted to hunt down those he believed had sold her the drugs, became involved in 'a scuffle' in a house in Barnes, South-West London, then went to a pub where he downed 'three or four doubles'. The next year, Pollington was arrested for threatening customers of the Grove Tavern in Knightsbridge. It's unlikely that he'll lapse back into bad behaviour now he's with Norma a former counsellor who is now a polygraph examiner working for one of the UK's leading lie detection services. As an MP, Jack Lopresti no doubt has to turn down many enticing invitations. But some are simply too appetising to refuse Tory Jack accepted two tickets for the British Kebab Awards, worth 432. He does not reveal his 'plus one' in the Register of Interests, although it may have been his wife, fellow MP Andrea Jenkyns. Among the awards was Best Kebab Van. The Royal Mews is seeking someone to care for the horses that pull ceremonial carriages, promising that 'your work will be seen by a global audience'. Applications for the 20,000-a-year post close shortly before the Royal Wedding. The job, a live-in role, is described as an opportunity to work with 'some of the most photographed horses in the world'. She has said that if Jake Ellis proposes to her on Bachelor In Paradise, she will turn him down. So Megan Marx better be prepared, as the strapping hunk has hinted he WILL get down on one knee during the grande finale episode this weekend. Speaking to OK! magazine, 31-year-old Jake revealed a proposal 'has been playing on his mind'. Scroll down for video Is he in for a rude surprise? Jake Ellis hints he WILL propose to Megan Marx during Bachelor In Paradise finale... after she firmly said she would turn him down if he asked for her hand in marriage 'I think all the couples are in that moment where there's a potential option of a proposal... and it's playing on my mind as something that could happen,' he explained. His comments come after Megan threw cold water over engagement rumours, earlier this month. Speaking to Now to Love, the blonde beauty admitted she still held doubts about the handsome sales professional. 'If Jake proposed, I would say no,' 29-year-old Megan said. 'I'm not really into that [marriage], especially because I've been married before. The next time I do it, I want it to be forever.' Following the dramatic episode where Megan kissed Canadian intruder Thomas, Megan and beau Jake Ellis reconfirmed their feelings for one another. 'I've been married before. The next time I do it, I want it to be forever': His comments come after Megan threw cold water over engagement rumours earlier this month Dandy in Paradise: Following the dramatic episode where Megan kissed Canadian intruder Thomas, Megan and beau Jake Ellis reconfirmed their feelings for one another Meanwhile, rumours have been swirling that Tara Pavlovic, 28, and Sam Cochrane, 31, are set to become engaged during the show's much-anticipated season finale. According to Woman's Day, the pair are completely besotted with each other and are adamant that marriage is the next step in their blossoming relationship. 'They are in love and it's completely genuine. They didn't argue once in Paradise- it's as if they were destined to be together!' a Woman's Day insider reportedly said. Loved up: Meanwhile, rumours have been swirling that Tara Pavlovic, 28, and Sam Cochrane, 31, are set to become engaged during the show's much-anticipated season finale 'He told other boys they'd better not propose to anyone as he didn't want anything to ruin his and Tara's moment,' the source reportedly added. The publication also claimed that Sam has moved out of his Sydney bachelor pad and into Tara's apartment on the Gold Coast as they gear up to tie the knot. Meanwhile, fellow couple Keira Maguire and Jarrod Woodgate are also rumoured to become engaged during the grand finale. The pair have been spotted kissing passionately since filming wrapped up last year, but have so far remained mum on whether they are set to tie the knot. Rose McGowan has accused disgraced Harvey Weinstein of reaching out to her since she made allegations of rape against him. The actress, 44, was in London on Wednesday when she told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire that she had 'no idea' how he obtained her number to send messages. Last October, the former Charmed star accused Weinstein of assaulting her in a hotel suite in 1997 and is one of many women who have made allegations of sexual harassment or assault against the disgraced mogul. Speaking out: Rose McGowan has said that Harvey Weinstein has tried to make contact with her since she accused him of rape. An allegation he denies. Rose told the interviewer that she believed he had tried to make indirect contact with her through the media and through ominous messages in the last month. 'Texts, things like that,' she revealed. 'I've got no idea how he got my number.' She then accused him of using 'Mossad agents' to track her in the past, adding: '[So] getting my personal phone number wouldn't be that hard.' Rose - who was last seen at a fashion party in London on Wednesday night - explained how she received messages from, 'Somebody that worked with him a month ago, on his behalf.' In London: The actress has been in London speaking about the ordeal on radio and TV chat shows Reaching out: She was pictured on Wednesday night at the House Of Osman launch party 'I shook,' she revealed. 'It was like a bullet once again. I don't even understand what the point was. I can't even understand to what end? The cat is out of the bag now.' Later, she claimed that she believed the contact was directed at her on behalf of Weinstein. 'It was essentially: "So and so wants you to..." - alluding to him wanting to get in touch. It could have been some random person but that would also be a long-shot.' 'I [haven't had any] direct contact with him, just from people trying to terrorise me. People that he paid to terrorise me. People like his crisis PR agency. It's communicating to me, but through the media.' Indirect contact: Harvey Weinstein has been accused of paying off sexual harassment victims 'for years' to keep them quiet Rose has been one of the most vocal of Weinstein's alleged victims since a damning New York Times article last October, entitled: 'Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades'. The Hollywood producer has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex. 'I said it loud for years,' Rose told Derbyshire. 'Because what so many people don't realise is that the shame is not ours, it's the perpetrator's shame. Not ours.' Rose has been in London promoting the book Brave, in which she discusses her experiences and how women in the film industry have been treated. In it she contrasts the religious communes she spent her childhood in, with what she describes as 'the cult of Hollywood'. While in London, the actress attended the House Of Osman launch party supported by Peroni Ambra on Wednesday evening. Earlier that day, she had also appeared on the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2, saying that she tried to expose Weinstein using the money he gave her to stay silent after he allegedly raped her. Speaking about the alleged incident, McGowan denied that $100,000 she received afterwards was a settlement. She said: 'I requested money. I wanted to buy a billboard that said "his name" is a rapist. Reaching out: Rose has said that she believes Harvey is using the media and his people to reach out Directly? While she said it has been indirect so far, Rose told Victoria Derbyshire that she knew Harvey was sending a message To what end? She said she couldn't understand why he would need to be in touch when 'the cat was out of the bag' 'I thought if no-one was going to listen to me, then I could make them, on Sunset Boulevard, outside the Chateau Marmont hotel. I wanted that billboard right there. 'I called them myself, Net Outdoors, the biggest billboard company at the time. They turned me down, surprisingly. 'I donated some (of the money) to a rape crisis foundation. 'I thought if I went to therapy, bless my young heart, for at least two months I could solve this. And I could get back to who I was.' McGowan also spoke out against Weinstein's staff who she says knew about his behaviour but did nothing to stop him. Describing an encounter moments before he allegedly forced himself onto her, she said: 'There were two assistants that opened the door when I was sent upstairs. I remember saying a very chipper 'good morning' and they wouldn't look at me. 'And I remember thinking "you're not very friendly that's rude". And afterwards you replay every moment, every reason why they didn't look at you.' The actress spoke about the 'toxic masculinity' that Hollywood films project and how supposedly strong female leads fall within that. She explained: 'Let's look at strong female leads. Arguably in most of them and I've played them you're strong. 'You get to act like a man but we (directors) get to put you in a mini-skirt to wear while you do it. Here's your gun'.' Show off support: The TV star was supporting designer Osman Yousefzada in the British capital while she does promotion for her book, Brave In the spirit: She has been one of Weinstein's most vocal alleged victims Amanda Seyfried glammed up to introduce a surprise performance by her Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again castmate Cher at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning. The 71-year-old pop diva - who plays Amanda's onscreen grandmother Ruby Sheridan - performed her new cover of ABBA's 1976 track Fernando onstage the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The 32-year-old SAG Award nominee dressed her slim 5ft3in figure in a long-sleeve, silver-sequin cocktail dress and stilettos selected by stylist Elizabeth Stewart. Scroll down for video Surprise! Amanda Seyfried glammed up to introduce a performance by her Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again castmate Cher at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning Portrays Amanda's onscreen grandmother Ruby Sheridan: The 71-year-old pop diva (3-R) performed her new cover of ABBA's Fernando onstage the Colosseum at Caesars Palace The Gringo actress had her signature long flaxen locks coiffed by hairstylist Jenny Cho. And make-up artist Monika Blunder made sure Seyfried was ready for her close-up. While backstage at the Nevada film festival, Amanda hung out with Bryce Dallas Howard, who was there to promote Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom with her onscreen leading man Chris Pratt. The Mean Girls alum's sighting came a day after she blasted the New York Times' chief theater critic for being 'classist' against her husband Thomas Sadoski's new play Belleville. Disco doll: The 32-year-old SAG Award nominee dressed her slim 5ft3in figure in a long-sleeve, silver-sequin cocktail dress and stilettos selected by stylist Elizabeth Stewart On the mic: The Gringo actress had her signature long flaxen locks coiffed by hairstylist Jenny Cho Red pout: And make-up artist Monika Blunder made sure Seyfried was ready for her close-up Hey girl! While backstage, Amanda hung out with Bryce Dallas Howard (R), who was there to promote Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom with her onscreen leading man Chris Pratt The Pennsylvania-born blonde - who boasts 3.8M social media followers - tweeted: 'Um, okay, Ben Brantley, but poor people can be smart, too. Dont be a classist hack.' At that, the 41-year-old Tony nominee replied: 'But, my love, if he thought that poor people were worthy of artistic voices expressed artistically he wouldn't be working for The NY Times.' Amanda - who's never attacked critics of her own work - also corrected the Hollywood Reporter's Jordan Riefe on Monday for simply referring to the Life in Pieces funnyman as 'riveting.' Jenna Worsham's Paris-set play about newlyweds (played by Sadoski and Anna Camp) runs through May 13 at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. 'Poor people can be smart too': The Mean Girls alum's sighting came a day after she blasted the New York Times' chief theater critic for being 'classist' against her husband Thomas Sadoski's new play Belleville 'You're mostly right': Amanda - who's never attacked critics of her own work - also corrected THR's Jordan Riefe on Monday for simply referring to the Life in Pieces funnyman as 'riveting' Jenna Worsham's Paris-set play about newlyweds (played by 41-year-old Sadoski and Anna Camp) runs through May 13 at the Pasadena Playhouse in California The Last Word couple - who have a 13-month-old daughter Nina Rain - celebrated their first wedding anniversary last month. Thomas was married to casting director Kimberly Hope and Seyfried was dating co-star Justin Long when they first met performing in Neil LaBute's The Way We Get By at the Second Stage Theater in 2015. The Twin Peaks actress will reprise her role as Sophie Sheridan in Ol Parker's star-studded sequel to the 2008 musical comedy, which hits US theaters July 20 and UK theaters July 27. But first, the knitting enthusiast portrays married churchgoer Mary in Paul Schrader's drama thriller First Reformed - hitting US theaters May 18 - alongside Ethan Hawke and Cedric the Entertainer. Mamma mia! The Twin Peaks actress reprises her role as Sophie Sheridan in the sequel to the 2008 musical comedy, which hits US theaters July 20 and UK theaters July 27 Jordan Peele won an Oscar in the original screenplay category for his work on Get Out. And it looks like Yeezus is his shepherd to working on its sequel. The 39-year-old star took to Twitter in the midst of Kanye West's social media tirade to poke fun at the 40-year-old rapper. Ouch: Jordan Peele took to Twitter in the midst of Kanye West's social media tirade to poke fun at the 40-year-old rapper Stay woke: The 39-year-old Oscar-winning screenwriter retweeted one Kanye's 'sunken place' posts and joked: '*Gets inspired *Starts writing Get Out 2' Kanye referenced the 'sunken place' from the film as he was shedding light on all of the memes comparing his life with the Kardashian family to the 2017 horror flick. A big theme in the Oscar-winning film is the 'sunken place' in which a person is in a perpetual place of slumber regarding injustice and oppression when it comes to race. In response, Kanye shared snaps of what looks like his palatial $20million Hidden Hills home with Kim Kardashian as he wrote: 'do this look like the sunken place [laugh while crying emoji].' 'Do this look like the sunken place': The 40-year-old rapper shared three snaps from the inside of their home 'More tweets from the sunken place': West made a reference to the memes comparing his life with the Kardashians to the 2017 horror flick The Oscar-winning screenwriter Peele retweeted one of the posts and joked: '*Gets inspired *Starts writing Get Out 2' Kim also referred to the sunken place as she defended Kanye by writing: 'Hes a free thinker, is that not allowed in America? Because some of his ideas differ from yours you have to throw in the mental health card? 'Thats just not fair. Hes actually out of the sunken place when hes being himself which is very expressive' Sunken place: There have been memes for months likening Kanye's situation to the Oscar-winning film No laughing matter: A big theme in the Oscar-winning film is the 'sunken place' in which a person is in a perpetual place of slumber regarding injustice and oppression when it comes to race Talented: Jordan on set of his hit film Get Out Peele has been enjoying the success of Get Out after winning Best Original Screenplay at The Oscars back in March. He is the producer of Tracy Morgan TBS comedy series The Last OG and will produce an HBO series title Lovecraft Country. Meanwhile Kanye has fired off several tweets in support of the President Of The United States Donald Trump. Hitting back: Kim went on to defend Kanye's rant in a series of tweets as she said 'your commentary on Kanye being erratic & his tweets being disturbing is actually scary' Kanye wrote: 'You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.' The Through The Wire hitmaker did make sure to urge fans to not follow what everyone else does and that regardless of his Trump support, he is also a fan of Hillary. He later shared a photo of himself wearing a Make America Great Again and even showed off that it was signed. 'We got love': Kanye shocked many of his followers as he posted a picture of himself wearing a Make America Great Again hat John Hancock: He showed that President Donald Trump signed the bill of his hat Support: Donald Trump later retweeted Kanye's words about him adding: 'Thank you Kanye, very cool!' It seemed to be another disaster in the making, a counter-attack launched at short notice at night across unfamiliar ground against an entrenched enemy force armed to the teeth with machine guns. Yet Australian troops overcame these odds to achieve one of the truly significant victories of their four years of war on the Western Front. This was at Villers-Bretonneux, a town in north-western France seized by German forces at the high point of their 1918 Spring Offensive, then speedily recaptured by Australian troops in some of the most brutal fighting of a savage war. Villers-Bretonneux is now home to the main Australian Memorial of the Western Front - since the victory there was, after all, a notable triumph and achieved at modest cost by Great War standards. It also happened on the third anniversary of Anzac Day, in 1918. This impressive stone memorial stemmed from a design competition open only to veterans and families. It was built in 1936 and 1937 and opened in 1938, just in time for the next great war. The Australian National Memorial displays the names of almost 11,000 Australians killed in France who have no known grave. Close by is the new Sir John Monash visitor interpretive centre, explaining Australia's role in the events of 1918, certainly the only time when Australian forces have contributed significantly to victory against the main enemy on the main battleground in a global conflict. It was officially opened on Tuesday, the eve of the centenary of the battle this Anzac Day. It is also due to host the main Australian commemoration marking 100 years since Armistice Day on November 11. The Aussie victory at Villers-Bretonneux was all the more notable as it followed appalling losses in fighting in the battle of Passchendaele in Belgium the previous year. By the time the five battered Australian divisions withdrew from the line in November 1917, they had suffered 38,000 casualties, including 12,000 dead, and there were doubts they could ever again be a significant fighting force. Yet they did recover. Following Passchendaele, the Australians had been recuperating and rebuilding in the relatively quiet area around Messines in French Flanders when the Germans launched their offensive on March 21. This proved devastating. Supported by massed artillery fire and poison gas, German shock troops overwhelmed thinly spread British forces in days, pushing them steadily back from territory seized at such enormous cost during the previous three years. But this was really Germany's last throw of the dice - to try and win the war before American troops arrived by using forces released from the Eastern Front after Russia withdrew from the fighting. The front was quickly in crisis and Australian troops marched south to plug gaps in the defences. For the Germans, capturing Villers-Bretonneux would open the way to Amiens, an important road and rail hub. The town was fought over for much of April but finally fell to a strong German attack on a weak British division at dawn on April 24. That attack involved four infantry divisions, massed artillery fire, poison gas and Germany's first use of tanks. They couldn't be allowed to stay and a counter-attack, involving some British but mostly Australian troops, was organised, so hurriedly that official correspondent Charles Bean believed it would fail disastrously. Yet it succeeded so spectacularly that British Brigadier General George Grogan VC described it as perhaps the greatest individual feat of the war. Two Australian units - the 13th Brigade of the 4th Division and the 15th Brigade of the 5th division - were set the main task of retaking Villers-Bretonneux, now well defended by large numbers of entrenched German troops with machine guns. They kicked off at 10pm and, battling intense enemy fire, encircled the town in a pincer movement. They then set about clearing after dawn on April 25. The attack was so ferocious that initially few German prisoners were taken. Australian War Memorial senior historian Ashley Ekins said this was ruthless and bloody battle, fought with rifle, bayonet and bombs up close and personal, with no quarter given. In his official history, Bean quotes some of the participants as follows: "With a ferocious roar and the cry of 'into the bastards boys' we were down on them before the Boche realised what had happened. "The Boche was at our mercy. They screamed for mercy but there were too many machine-guns about to show them any consideration as we were moving forward. "Each man was in his glee and old scores were wiped out two or three times over." Bean wrote that later, as the men tired of killing, prisoners came back in droves. This victory wasn't achieved without significant casualties - 1464 dead and wounded - but it established the Australians as a premier fighting force on the Western Front. Allied commanders heaped praise on the diggers and historian Joan Beaumont said that with such accolades Villers-Bretonneux rapidly assumed a central place in Australian memories of the war in France. "More than nine decades later it remains a, possibly the, dominant (Australian) site of commemoration of the Western Front, overshadowing even Pozieres and Fromelles," she wrote in her history of Australians in the Great War "Broken Nation." Contemporary veterans are for the first time leading Melbourne's traditional Anzac Day march, with thousands of people taking part. "It reflects the changing face of our veteran community," Victoria's RSL President Robert Webster told AAP after Wednesday's dawn service. "It's right that we honour them (contemporary veterans). "Some of them have been through some pretty rough times ... some of them have done six and seven rotations through Afghanistan and various places." Previously led by the descendants of World War I veterans, the march began at Flinders Street station, working its way down St Kilda Road to the Shrine of Remembrance. Up to 12,000 people were expected to take part in the 2018 march, with the strong numbers attributed largely to dry and mild weather. It follows a packed dawn service attended by nearly 35,000 people who were for the first time addressed by a military woman. "My medals represent ... medical battles with scalpels, antiseptic, blood and dressing," Group Captain Annette Holian told the pre-dawn crowd. One former soldier at the Shrine said he saw the day as more about his father and grandfather than him. "I still never see today as respect for me," he told AAP. Carved in cursive writing on the back of the violin he took to war are the names of Bob Semple's gun crew. More than seventy years on, his violin case still contains grains of desert sand from his time serving in Libya in north Africa. It's the same sand in which 10 of his mates were buried, after they were killed by a single shell. One of the last surviving Rats of Tobruk, Mr Semple, who turns 98 next month, will reflect on his experiences in the Second World War at the Anzac Day national service in Canberra on Wednesday. "My crew were blokes that were nearly all farmers and they were wonderful. What they could do with a piece of wire," he told the Australian War Memorial ahead of Anzac Day. "I would not swap any one of those blokes for all the money in the world. It was a bond that could be even more powerful than your own wife or your own family." Western Australia's new Governor and former defence minister Kim Beazley will also address the crowd. Governor General Peter Cosgrove, who served in Vietnam and East Timor, and went on the become chief of the defence force, will be among the dignitaries at the service. This year marks the 103rd anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli in Turkey and the centenary of the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux on the Western Front in France. Tens of thousands of people are expected to turn out to watch the veterans parade. Two weeks ago Catherine Gant was shaking hands with Prince Charles in Brisbane, now she is one of more than 7000 people who will see him honour Australians who fought and died in France in World War I. Like the prince and thousands of others who are making their way to the Australian War Memorial just outside Villiers-Bretonneux, she is attending the Anzac Day dawn service to remember the fallen for herself and the loved ones who couldn't make it. "It is such a long way from home," she said. "These guys gave a life, whether or not they knew that when they left. They left families behind. For me it is just paying homage and saying thank you." Ms Gant was in France two years ago in July to mark the 100 years since the battles of Fromelles and Pozieres. Her great uncle Edward Graham was killed at Pozieres on July 23, 2016. His body was never found, nor that of his younger brother Percy who died at Lone Pine. She didn't know them, but heard tales of their mother waiting in her rocking chair on the front verandah for them to come home. The Anzac Day ceremony is important to the people of Villers-Bretonneux as the little French town was captured on April 24, 1918, by German soldiers who wanted to move towards Amiens. They were liberated the next day after two Australian units - the 13th Brigade of the 4th Division and the 15th Brigade of the 5th division - were set the task of retaking the town which to this day shows its gratitude to the diggers. The victory came with significant casualties - 1464 dead and wounded - but it established the Australians as a premier fighting force on the Western Front. The town is bedecked with Australian flags and has had Australian events all week, with an AFL match a feature. Prince Charles will deliver a reading after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and French Prime Minister Edouard Phillipe deliver commemorative addresses. The roles of servicewomen past and present were in the spotlight during Adelaide's Anzac Day commemorations on Wednesday morning. The city streets fell silent before sunrise as thousands gathered at the South Australian War Memorial to pay their respects. Ian Smith, chair of the RSL SA's Anzac Day committee, said this time the RSL wanted to highlight the contributions of servicewomen. Women were restricted to nursing roles before World War II, when all three services introduced women's branches. "Women were fully integrated during the 1970s and '80s, and since then have continued to make their mark with a full range of responsibilities across all three services," he told the crowd. Mr Smith said 2018 marked the centenary of the end of the First World War, and Australian involvement in stopping the German spring offensive and in supporting the allied offensive that drove the Germans back. It also marks the 75th anniversary of many World War II battles and events, including the last Japanese air raid on Darwin and the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. Later in the morning, crowds lined the streets and veterans donned medals and waved flags for the Anzac Day march. Among the about 6000 men and women involved was 97-year-old Sandy Hill, who served in New Guinea during World War II from 1942-44. Of his service unit of 400, only two - he and Stanley Barrett - participated on Wednesday. Mr Hill, of Goolwa, has marched every year since he returned from the war, and this year was pushed in a wheelchair by his grandson, Tom. Marchers were split into 20 groups depending on where and when they, or a relative, served. For the first time, servicewomen from across the defence forces marched as part of the By The Left Campaign, which aims to raise the profile of female veterans and serving personnel. Though not personally involved on Wednesday, Claire Armstrong rushed onto the street when her grandfather, Martin Zeugofsge, marched by. The 19-year-old shares a special connection with her grandfather through their individual involvement with the Australian Defence Force. More than 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War, Ms Armstrong last year completed an army gap year and this year enrolled in the Army Reserve program. Now on inactive reserve to focus on studies in international relations and law, she's always known she wanted to follow in her grandfather's footsteps. "We'd always come to the marches and we'd always see him and how amazing it is, and how proud he is of fighting for his country," she said. "He used to come to our school for our Remembrance Day ceremonies and do the odes. "It was the best feeling when he came to my march-out at Kapooka." Victoria Cross recipient Henry Harry Dalziel was shot in the head the battle of Hamel nearly 100 years ago but even that wasn't enough to stop him. His skull was shattered and his brain exposed after being hit by a German sniper but before being taken for treatment, the Queenslander reloaded his Lewis gun and fired another magazine at enemy trenches. "I think he always wanted to finish the job he started," his son David Dalziel told AAP on Wednesday. Almost a century after his father was awarded the VC, David paid tribute to his father in a 15-minute speech at a Brisbane dawn service. David was never told much by his father but managed to research what he had done through his first hand account of the battle of Hamel. "They didn't want to relive it, perhaps," he said. Henry Harry Dalziel's story is revealed in a short piece he wrote in 1942. Using his Lewis gun, he took out a nest of Germans who were holding up Australian forces advancing on Pear Trench but was then shot at from another enemy stronghold. "I dashed at it killing seven Germans with my two revolvers," he wrote. After being wounded, he ignored orders to seek medical treatment and kept fighting. He pushed on with a bleeding hand and soon after taking up a new position had fired all his ammunition. Mr Dalziel went looking for more bullets but accidentally collected grenades. So he handed those to troops digging in and went back to resupply. As he fired at Germans advancing he saw a teenager caught in no man's land, who approached him pleading "merci, comrade, merci." "Two burly Yanks came at him with their bayonets fixed," he wrote. "'Stop' I cried, raising my two empty revolvers. 'Don't move or I will blow your bloody heads off', I said to them." As the fighting continued, snipers began shooting at Mr Dalziel and hit him in the head. A bullet had smashed his skull above the left temple and his brain was exposed. Mr Dalziel was taken for extensive treatment and made it back to Australia in 1919. He died in Brisbane in 1965, aged 72. An Aboriginal corroboree and Maori haka were performed together on Anzac Day in Perth, while descendants of Chinese veterans joined their World War II allies in the march for the first time. The performance after the dawn service at Kings Park was the first cultural tribute of its kind and came after footage of the inaugural Haka for Life ceremony last year went viral. Founder Leon Ruri told the crowd the aim was to honour the Anzacs and also help raise awareness of suicide prevention. "Everybody that is standing here today is ... here to honour the Anzacs, but also ... we're asking people to choose life," he said. "This is a demonstration of people that have come to express themselves." About 6000 people later watched the march through the CBD, with Chinese veterans recognised for their fight against the Japanese Imperial Army. Among the marchers was Mary Cai, who wore the medals of her father Lie Yu, as well as a black and white photograph of him around her neck. "He was injured but luckily he survived," Ms Cai told AAP. She said her father was a "very quiet man, who rarely spoke about himself" but kept diaries, which Ms Cai used to understand what he went through. Earlier, about 30,000 people gathered at the Kings Park State War Memorial for the dawn service. It included Joe and Jamie McBain, who brought two-year-old Gordon to his first commemoration. "We want him to uphold the honour, dignity and respect of those that lost their lives," his mother said. Cath Burton has attended the dawn service with her husband for about 40 years, and this year they were joined by their son and grandchildren. Both of Ms Burton's uncles, aged 21 and 25, were killed in World War II - one by a sniper in New Guinea while the other was shot down over the English channel. "Imagine being in those trenches, up to your knees in mud," Ms Burton told AAP. "So we don't complain about getting up early." In his speech, Brigadier Peter Moore said Anzac Day was about recognising everyone who served their country. "Freedom only survives as long as there are people who are willing to defend it," he said. "This is the Anzac spirit handed down to us and is ours to pass on to future generations." Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. Only a few hours after Sydney stood still at dawn to remember fallen diggers, sombre crowds turned into rowdy ones as beers flow and two-up coins fly. Pubs across the city were bursting at the seams before midday on Wednesday as people of all ages rubbed shoulders in the two-up circle. In Sydney's Rocks precinct, streets were blocked off - cars replaced by bands playing Australian classics and barbecues cooking big breakfasts. Among the throng was Swedish tourist Eleonora Strandh, among the first to take the spinner's wooden bat and toss the coins. "That was an amazing experience, there were a lot of emotions," Ms Strandh told AAP after stepping out of the circle with a fistful of small notes. "It's a bit different I guess," she said of the heaving crowd and party atmosphere on a national day commemorating those lost to war. "But it feels like it's very typically Australian, to have a beer with everything else." WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT THE DEATH OF FORMER UNIONS WA SECRETARY TONY COOKE - "In the face of massive change, he brought unions together to work for a fairer future for all West Australians. He has left a mark on this state and we are all the better for his efforts" - WA Premier Mark McGowan - "He had a major impact on industrial relations, workers' compensation, and occupation, health and safety laws in Western Australia" - WA Commerce and Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston -"His commitment to Aboriginal Australians was something that I, and so many others, will never forget. I am so glad that I met you, Tony. My deepest condolences to your family and friends" - Federal MP Ken Wyatt - "A great unionist, person and family man ... the struggle he fought so valiantly is over for others to carry on" - the CFMEU - "We are mourning the loss of life member and former secretary Tony Cooke, one of WA's most influential union leaders. He will be deeply mourned and greatly missed" - Unions WA Secretary Meredith Hammat Young navy recruit Conor Radburn has always dreamed of joining the Anzac Day march and in Melbourne on Wednesday was one of thousands of faces in a historic event. For the first time the city's march was led by young and female service personnel, past and present. Nearby 23-year-old Recruit Radburn at the head of the 10,000-strong march, was Jess Flanders, 97, who helped decode Japanese secrets in World War II. "I've wanted to join the navy my whole life but I never imagined I'd be at this point," said the recruit, who is due to graduate to a Seaman Star on Friday. Victoria's RSL president Robert Webster noted that while descendants of World War I veterans have traditionally led the march, it's important to keep up with the changing face of Anzac Day. "It is a decision more that we would turn the march on its head and have the younger veterans march at the front," he told the ABC. "I have a view that veterans should march first so as part of that it included our women's services close to the front." Vietnam War veteran Frank Balcombe, 71, who also served in Malaysia, spoke of the emotion he feels on Anzac Day more than four decades on. "As soon as you step off and you hear the drum beat, the adrenaline in you is unbelievable," he told AAP. "It just brings back memories from so many years ago." Group Captain Annette Holian was the first serving woman to address Melbourne's dawn service at the city's Shrine of Remembrance where more than 30,000 people gathered on Wednesday. "My medals represent personal hardship, specific challenges and many victories. Medical battles with scalpels, antiseptics, blood and dressing," the surgeon said. "They remind me of the emotion we faced living in the devastation in Aceh, its streets and rivers choked with the debris of thousands of bodies." Victoria's governor Linda Dessau encouraged everyone to "remember the sacrifices" of war. "If we remember the sacrifices that have been made for us, then we're reminded to keep striving together to promote and protect those values that we hold dear in this country," she said. As thousands gathered in Sydney on Anzac Day to remember Australia's fallen soldiers they also acknowledged Wally Scott-Smith who has looked after the city's cenotaph for almost 80 years. The 96-year-old on Wednesday attended the dawn service for the last time in his official capacity as guardian of the Martin Place Cenotaph - a volunteer role he's held for 78 years. Mr Scott-Smith's duties include guarding the monument in the days leading up to April 25, cleaning it and then guiding those who lay wreaths during the commemorative services. The Sydney man desperately wanted to join the army in 1937 but was unable to after having cancer surgery. A few years later, as a Rover Scouts leader, Mr Scott-Smith started cleaning the cenotaph and by 1946 he'd become its official caretaker. Countless children were among the thousands who watched the sunrise at Martin Place on Wednesday to commemorate 103 years since troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula. Conrad Glindemann has been in the military for more than 30 years during which he's missed key moments in his 10-year-old son's life. But the Royal Australian Air Force officer stood proudly alongside his son, Hayden, on Wednesday for some "quality Dad and son time". Molly Cummings also knows the value of family time. The 100-year-old remembers farewelling her brother when he went to serve in the Middle East and New Guinea during World War II. "Fortunately, he survived," Ms Cummings told AAP on Wednesday when she along with hundreds of other women led the march for the first time. Melinda Barnes has been a member of the Royal Australian Navy for 21 years. She said the decision to have women at front and centre was "another step in the right direction". "It's our time this year," Ms Barnes told AAP. Thousands lined Elizabeth St in the rain to watch close to 15,000 servicemen and women march. Many of the spectators held signs stating "Thank you". After the morning's services, the sombre mood turned almost festive. Medals gave way to two-up coins which flew in pubs across the city as the beer flowed. Among the throng in Sydney's Rocks precinct was Swedish tourist Eleonora Strandh who was one of the first to take the spinner's wooden bat and toss the coins. She described the experience as "very typically Australian". The city's Anzac Day events were heavily guarded by police with steel bollards placed across the route and semi-trailers blocking off parts of the city. Acting Assistant Commissioner Tony Cooke said most people showed respect towards one another and the returned service members. "While police responded to a few isolated incidents, we saw tens of thousands of people paying their respects on one of the country's most important national days," Mr Cooke said in a statement. Mr Scott-Smith didn't expect a public tribute at his final dawn service but that's what he received. "I was surprised," the 96-year-old told reporters. "Next year I'll come, sit in the chair (in the crowd) over there, and point at the fellas doing it here." A small earthquake has struck the NSW town of Bathurst, with several residents calling police about loud noises they thought were explosions. The 2.6-magnitude quake hit about 5.30pm on Anzac Day at a depth of zero kilometres, Geoscience Australia's website confirms. NSW Police said a nearby station received calls from "concerned" locals. "Residents of Glanmire, Brewongle, O'Connell, Yetholme and Napoleon Reef all reported hearing noises similar to explosions, and that their residences were shaking," police said in a statement on Wednesday. "Police have conducted extensive patrols of property and infrastructure around Bathurst and have not been able to locate any damage, or received any reports of injury at this time." Some of Australia's largest industries are banding together to ward off any attempts to wind back or scrap fuel tax credits. Farmers, fishers, loggers, miners and tourism operators have joined forces for a campaign two weeks out from the federal budget to "bust myths and bogus claims" about the multi-billion dollar system. The scheme offers businesses credits for taxes included in the price of fuel used in plant, machinery, equipment, heavy vehicles and light vehicles driven off road. It will cost the federal budget $6.3 billion this financial year and is expected to climb to $7.3 billion by 2020-21. The Australian Greens and some economic think tanks, such as the Australia Institute, have long argued fuel tax credits and other concessions are an unwarranted subsidy for the mining industry. The newly-formed Fuel Tax Credits Alliance strongly refutes this, arguing the credits are critical to ensuring fair treatment for off-road fuel used by regional industries. "Diesel is the only choice for many regional businesses operating heavy machinery and operating off the electricity grid," said its spokesman Tony Mahar, the chief executive of the National Farmers Federation. "Any changes to reduce or remove (the credits) for any industry would be a new tax on regional Australia at the very time when regional communities need more jobs and opportunities." Both major parties back the scheme, but it appears miners and farming industries want to ensure the federal government doesn't start getting ideas. Mr Mahar said it was a basic principle that tax should not be imposed on business inputs. "It makes no sense to impose a road tax on fuel used off-road on privately funded roads, fishing fleets or to generate electricity in remote areas off the electricity grid." The group has launched a website fueltaxfacts.com.au and a related advertising campaign. A teenage girl who was shot in the leg in a drive-by attack in western Sydney is recovering after surgery. The 13-year-old was chatting with a group of other girls at a Constance Street property in Guildford on Tuesday night when a silver SUV pulled up and shots rang out. She was taken to the Children's Hospital at Westmead where she underwent surgery and remained in a stable condition on Wednesday evening. The girl's mother said she had no idea what sparked the shooting. "She was in the wrong place at the wrong time," she told The Daily Telegraph. Superintendent Matt Appleton condemned the incident as cowardly. "This is an atrocious crime ... for a young girl to be wounded is just shocking," he said. The girl shared a video of her injuries from a hospital bed with friends via social media. NSW state-owned electricity distributor Essential Energy will return $98 million to customers through lower power prices after it "over-recovered" revenue. The opposition's energy spokesman Adam Searle on Thursday said Labor would pursue the government on whether Ausgrid and Endeavour also over-charged. He accused the government of keeping an "over-charging secret" after Essential admitted it collected more in revenue than it should have from regional customers. Mr Searle released a letter from Essential chief executive John Cleland to the Australian Energy Regulator from late November. It outlined a plan to return the money "by way of revenue adjustments in the 2019-2024 regulator period". The issue was raised in last year's parliamentary inquiry into electricity supply, demand and prices. "I want the Berejiklian government to come clean and tell the community if customers at the other electricity companies have also been paying too much," Mr Searle said in a statement. An Essential Energy spokeswoman said the distributor's charges and revenue allowance for the current regulatory period of 2014-2019 were still being finalised by the Australian Energy Regulator. "This over recovery is predominantly due to higher energy consumption than that forecast by Essential Energy and the AER at the start of the period," she said in a statement to AAP. The distributor had already achieved "significant reductions in operating and capital expenditure" during the regulatory period, she said. Tens of thousands of Australians have attended Anzac Day services across the globe to honour the diggers of World War I and pay their respects to current servicemen, women and veterans. This year's commemorations, marking the 103rd anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli, broke with tradition as women took pride of place in towns and cities across the country. For the first time in many centres, from Sydney to Darwin, women led marches in an effort to broaden public perceptions about the long and varied history women have had in the armed forces, including in war zones. The campaign was driven by women veterans to encourage more women to celebrate the contributions they have made and continue to make, including in combat roles traditionally considered male-only territory. In France, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull used a stirring service honouring diggers who changed the course of WWI to promise care and support for Australia's serving defence personnel and veterans. Mr Turnbull made the pledge in the small French town of Villers-Bretonneux, where Australian troops pulled off a stunning victory over invading German troops and in doing so, altered the course of the war and world history. Almost 3000km away, at Anzac Cove on Turkey's rugged Gallipoli peninsula, thousands stood in silence on Wednesday to remember the scale of the losses there 103 years ago. The blood of Australian and New Zealand soldiers stained the sand and the sea as they came ashore under a hail of machine-gun fire from the cliffs above, the Anzacs sitting ducks in an ill-fated attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said it was from such unfathomable losses that Australia's national identity emerged. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten travelled to Afghanistan to spend Anzac Day with Australian troops. He predicted monuments and memorials would one day be built to honour this generation of diggers, but said their legacy was already being felt, with more Afghani girls going to school and the country's life expectancy increasing. The London Anzac Day dawn service was attended by Prince Harry and fiancee Meghan Markle. The former soldier laid a wreath of red roses with a handwritten note saying: "For all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of our freedom. Thank you. Harry". An Australian mother and daughter were among the 71 people who lost their lives in London's Grenfell Tower tragedy. Victoria King, 71, and her daughter Alexandra Atala, 40, were the last two victims to be identified in November, after their remains were found in their 20th floor flat, The Australian reports on Thursday. However, this was only confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs this week after repeated requests since October about the June 14 tragedy. "The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade can confirm that two Australian citizens died in the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017," a spokesman told the paper. The mother and daughter were long-term residents of the 24-storey tower in which Ms King had celebrated her 71st birthday just two days before the fire. A family statement issued soon after the fire and reported across media outlets spoke of the devastation of their loss, saying the mother and daughter were "devoted to one another". "We were devastated to hear of our sister Vicky's fate, and that of her daughter, Alexandra, in the Grenfell Tower tragedy," they said. "Some comfort can come from the knowledge that she and Alexandra were devoted to one another and spent so many mutually supportive years together. "They died at each other's side and now they can rest together in peace. We will remember them always.'' Two boys, aged 13 and 15, have been charged over the alleged assault and robbery of another boy at a fast food outlet in Brisbane. A 14-year-old boy was at the Upper Mount Gravatt premises on Wednesday evening when he was accosted by a group of boys, with one of them punching him a number of times then robbing him after he refused to hand over his phone and wallet. The 14-year-old was treated in hospital for facial injuries, while the two teenagers were arrested later that evening and have been charged with one count each of robbery with violence. A high-speed rail link between Geelong and Melbourne is being considered by the Victorian government, with $50 million set aside in the forthcoming budget to examine a rail pathway to Melbourne Airport. The initial planning work will investigate a preferred option, including the possible electrification along the existing rail corridor, new dedicated high speed rail alignments and a new fleet of trains capable of travelling up to 300km/h. "This vital work will help determine the best way to deliver high-speed rail to Geelong as part of the Melbourne Airport Link. This is about ensuring any link to the airport delivers better services for Geelong and regional Victoria," Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan said on Thursday. Four men have been arrested after a Newcastle tavern was robbed and a staff member assaulted, police say. A group of men, allegedly armed with weapons, threatened and then assaulted a 29-year-old worker at the Maryland tavern at 10.30pm on Wednesday, before leaving with money in a black Holden Commodore. The car was then involved in a pursuit with police but stopped in Warners Bay and the group fled, according to police, who used a dog unit to track them down. The men, aged 24, 25, 26 and 30, were arrested, with two then taken to hospital. Sydneysiders are being urged to help police following the release of CCTV footage of a man who died after being found unconscious on a footpath in the city's east. Colin Scott, 62, was found on a footpath at Fern Street in Clovelly on the night of April 14, suffering from severe facial injuries and brain damage, police say. The man, who lived in the area, was taken to St Vincent's Hospital, where he died three days later. Police are now appealing for public to come forward with information after releasing video footage of Mr Scott, who is described as Caucasian, with a large build, about 180cm, and grey hair. Mr Scott can be seen in CCTV footage wearing a navy check shirt, black pants, a navy cap and carrying a duffel bag as he steps off the 353 bus from Bondi Junction at about 10.45pm. His unconscious body was found on the footpath 15 minutes later. XXXX workers will strike for the fourth time in the past month as tense negotiations with the Brisbane brewery's management continue. Staff will walk off the job at the Milton brewery on Thursday morning and also have plans to rally outside a Brisbane Broncos game at Suncorp Stadium next week. "XXXX is a major sponsor of the Broncos, and I don't think Broncos fans will be too pleased with how XXXX is treating their workers," United Voice Queensland spokesperson Damien Davie said in a statement. Treasurer Scott Morrison insists the government is cracking down on the big banks, despite calls to quarantine them from a tax cut. Mr Morrison was staunchly defending the coalition's actions against the banks when asked why they should benefit from company tax relief given evidence heard at the royal commission. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is among those wanting any money from tax cuts for the banks quarantined for a compensation fund for victims of their misconduct. But the treasurer listed a range of measures the government had initiated against the banks, including a levy on the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and Macquarie Bank. "By the time, which is almost 10 years from now, that the economy-wide tax cuts reach companies at that level, the bank levy will have raised over $16 billion from those five banks," he told ABC radio on Thursday. "So I don't think people can think we have missed the banks anywhere here." Mr Morrison outlined tougher penalties for misconduct, including longer jail times and increased individual fines. There is also legislation to forever bar bank executives from working in the industry again and the regulator ASIC has also been given extra funding of $124 million, he said. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, pictured on April 20, 2018, will meet Defence Secretary James Mattis, National Security Adviser John Bolton and members of the Senate Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman is travelling to the United States for talks Wednesday on countering Iran's "expansion" across the Middle East, especially in Syria, his office said. During his visit, Lieberman will meet Defence Secretary James Mattis, National Security Adviser John Bolton and members of the Senate, the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement. "Discussions will focus on the close security coordination between Israeli and American defence establishments against negative developments resulting from Iranian expansion in the Middle East, with an emphasis on Syria and additional mutual security concerns," it added. The visit comes ahead of a May 12 deadline US President Donald Trump has set to decide on the fate of a nuclear deal with Iran. Trump has derided the deal as a capitulation to Tehran, saying it is no longer in the US's interest to maintain the sanctions relief granted to Iran by his predecessor Barack Obama in return for controls on its nuclear programme. During a visit to Washington on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron called jointly with Trump for a new nuclear deal with Iran. Trump's European allies have repeatedly tried to persuade him not to walk away from the 2015 deal, which gave Iran massive sanctions relief and the guarantee of a civilian nuclear program in return for curbs on programmes that could be used to develop an atomic weapon. Anzac Day, named for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), honours all servicemen and women Tens of thousands of Australians and New Zealanders turned out Wednesday for Anzac Day dawn services and marches to honour their war dead and pay tribute to serving soldiers, with women leading some parades for the first time. Anzac Day, named for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) marks the April 25 anniversary of the ill-fated 1915 landing of troops belonging to the two nations in Turkey's Gallipoli peninsula during World War I. Commemorations this year focused on the final campaigns ahead of the November 1918 Armistice that ended the fighting, including the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, with Australian leader Malcolm Turnbull attending the dawn service in France. "While the fateful landing at Gallipoli lies at the heart of the Anzac remembrance, over the years and across the generations the Anzac legend has come to encompass far more," Turnbull said. It was a day to remember "all those from every generation and every conflict who have put their lives on the line". The chief of the New Zealand defence force, Lieutenant-General Tim Keating, paid tribute to the sacrifices made by servicemen and women. "We do not, as New Zealanders, seek to glorify war but we can acknowledge the courage, the commitment the sacrifice of those who have served their country well, with honour and with pride," he told a dawn service in Wellington. The Australian national march in Canberra was led by former army apprentices, while women were at the forefront of marches in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth as part of a "By the Left" campaign by the Women Veterans Network Australia. Some female veterans have said they had stopped going to Anzac Day marches after being repeatedly challenged about wearing their medals on the "wrong side" as people did not believe they had served in the military. Veterans wear their medals on their left chest while their family members wear the medals on the right. "Female veterans do not want to be different, we want to be viewed the same -- as veterans," campaign organiser Kellie Dadds, who has been deployed eight times including to Iraq and Afghanistan, said. "But to achieve this, we must first be seen." About 15 percent of serving Australian Defence Force personnel are women. Security measures had been stepped up, with concrete barriers reinforced with steel to protect crowds against vehicle attacks in Sydney. Authorities said no specific terrorism threats had been received, but added that the deadly van crash in Toronto on Monday was a "salient reminder" of what could occur. World War I was devastating for Australia, which had a population of just five million at that time, in terms of deaths and casualties. Of the more than 400,000 men who enlisted, over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. Of the almost 100,000 who served in New Zealand forces, more than 18,000 lost their lives and 41,000 were wounded. Donald Glover is cast as a young Lando Calrissian in the much-anticipated "Solo: A Star Wars Story" Hollywood rolled out the big guns at the CinemaCon convention on Tuesday as Disney and Warner Bros. locked horns with rival presentations of their upcoming movies. Disney kicked off the day of the big beasts at the annual Las Vegas film industry get-together with footage from its hotly-anticipated "Solo: A Star Wars Story," while Warner answered the challenge by wowing fans with new images from "Aquaman." Disney traditionally keeps back its juiciest surprises for its own biennial D23 Expo, but delighted delegates with footage of the first meeting between Alden Ehrenreich's young Han Solo and Donald Glover's Lando Calrissian. Scenes from the Ron Howard movie -- the second "Star Wars" spinoff after "Rogue One" (2016) -- showed the pair's encounter in a sleazy dive bar on a snowbound world, watched by a colorful menagerie of new alien characters. There was also a glimpse of what looked like the pivotal moment in "Star Wars" lore when Han wins the Millennium Falcon from Lando in a card game. - Innovators - CinemaCon audiences were shown a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette for Guy Ritchie's "Aladdin" Hollywood decamps to the Nevada desert for four days every year, taking over the iconic Caesar's Palace hotel to show theater owners what they can expect to be making their money from over the following 12 to 24 months. While most studios wheel out their biggest stars to promote their performances, Disney opted this year to let its movies do the talking. The audience was treated to preview footage of Tim Burton's "Dumbo," Jon Favreau's "The Lion King," and a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette for Guy Ritchie's "Aladdin." All three movies are due out next year. "Aladdin is one of those perfect stories. It just burrows down inside of you," the movie's star Will Smith said in a preview video. CinemaCon was also shown a new trailer for "Ant-Man and the Wasp" as well as the opening sequence of animation "Incredibles 2" from Disney-owned Pixar and scenes from Rob Marshall's upcoming holiday release, "Mary Poppins Returns," starring Emily Blunt. There was a marked difference in presentation style as Warner Bros. previewed its slate later in the day, adding some welcome pizzazz with a roll call of its biggest stars. It set out its stall with a parade its DC Comics superheroes, treating delegates to behind-the-scenes footage from "Aquaman" and sending director James Wan onstage to introduce a "work-in-progress" trailer. The footage of what is expected to be one of this year's big Christmas films gave delegates a glimpse at the mythical underwater world of Atlantis, its residents riding sea horses into battle. Comedian and actor Will Arnett, playing host on behalf of Warner Bros., lightheartedly chided "Aquaman" star Jason Momoa for indulging in some rather colorful language. "You went from 'Game of Thrones' to 'Aquaman,'" Arnett told the Polynesian American, his mouth curling into a smirk. "Does it feel good to work in something that's more realistic?" Fans of Momoa, who got his break on HBO's "Thrones" as Dothraki warrior king Khal Drogo, enjoyed the spectacle of the musclebound 38-year-old pulling a submarine out of the water. - Cheeky questions - Premiere Of Warner Bros. Pictures' "Justice League" - Red Carpet "Have you ever wanted to play a character who wears a shirt?" Arnett demanded to know, as Momoa, joined onstage by co-stars Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, took the cheeky line of enquiry in good spirit. Warner showed a brief sizzle reel of the numerous superhero projects in its DC Extended Universe pipeline, featuring David F. Sandberg's "Shazam!" and Patty Jenkins chatting about "Wonder Woman 2," which she revealed will be set in the 1980s. Warner showcased Melissa McCarthy comedy "Life of the Party" before the cast of female-skewed heist spin-off "Ocean's 8" -- led by Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett -- took to the stage. Arnett introduced "Small Foot," with stars Channing Tatum, Zendaya, and Common addressing the crowd, and "Mowgli," directed by Andy Serkis, who appeared alongside Blanchett and Benedict Cumberbatch. Bradley Cooper turned up to talk "A Star is Born," which he stars in and directs, showing a trailer of the love story between his character and pop sensation Lady Gaga's. "I always wanted to tell a love story and this project was around before and it always stayed with me... to me, music is the purest way you can communicate love," Cooper said. Entertainment writers and other industry professionals reacted positively to what they saw, but appeared most excited about "Aquaman," a standalone spin-off from the critically-savaged 2017 ensemble feature "Justice League." "This is DC's next big hit... and will make everyone forget about Justice League," tweeted box office analysis firm Exhibitor Relations. Colombian drug trafficker and former paramilitary leader Daniel Rendon Herrera (C), a.k.a. "Don Mario", being escorted by police officers in Bogota before his extradition to the US in Bogota A Colombian former right-wing paramilitary accused of heading one of the country's largest drug cartels was formally charged Tuesday in New York after his extradition one day prior. Daniel Rendon Herrera, known as "Don Mario," appeared in federal court in Brooklyn where he was charged with leading a criminal enterprise -- one of the most powerful and feared drugs cartels in the country, known as the Gulf Clan. Donning sportswear and black-rimmed glasses, the 54-year-old -- a former leader of Colombia's "united self-defense forces," the right-wing paramilitary groups that formed to fight Marxist rebels -- pleaded not guilty during his appearance before Judge Viktor Pohorelsky. According to prosecutors his organization "imported tons of cocaine into the United States and employed hit men who carried out acts of violence across North and South America." Between 2013 and 2014 the Gulf Clan was linked to multi-ton cocaine shipments and "coordinated the production, purchase and transfer of shipments of cocaine, as well as the receipt of shipments of cocaine in Mexico and Central America," prosecutors said. The organization also imposed a "tax" on other drug traffickers operating in territories it ruled over. Rendon was captured in a jungle raid in 2009 but the Supreme Court initially ruled that he could not be extradited until he had taken part in the country's reparations process, which provides a degree of amnesty for former fighters who testify about crimes committed during the country's half-century of civil war. The self-defense groups had been formed in the 1990s to fight the Marxist guerillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and were disbanded in 2006 during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe. The FARC signed a final peace deal with the Colombian government in 2016, but the country remains the world's leading supplier of cocaine, much of which is smuggled to the United States, the world's leading consumer of the drug. A faded black-and-white photo outside Hwajinpo Castle shows five children -- including Kim Jong Il, aged six (2nd L in the photo) When Kim Jong Un steps over the Military Demarcation Line to attend a summit on Friday he will be the first member of Pyongyang's ruling dynasty to set foot in the South since the Korean War. But his grandfather Kim Il Sung used to have a holiday home there. Nestled on a cliff overlooking the white sands of Hwajinpo Beach in Goseong, just a few kilometres from the eastern end of the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula, stands a small stone villa surrounded by tall pine trees. Now known as Hwajinpo Castle, the North's founder and his family vacationed there until the outbreak of the Korean War, when it was part of his territory. Outside, a reprint of a faded black-and-white photo shows five children perched on the steps rising towards the entrance -- among them Kim Jong Un's father and predecessor Kim Jong Il, aged six. A metal plaque marked with an arrow reads: "The spot where Kim Jong Il and his sister Kim Kyong Hui were photographed in August 1948." North Korea's founder and his family vacationed at Hwajinpo Castle until the outbreak of the Korean War, when it was part of his territory Goseong county, along with a swathe of what is now the South's Gangwon province, fell into the northern zone when the US and Soviet Union agreed to divide the peninsula at the 38th parallel after Japan's surrender ended the Second World War and its colonial rule over Korea. One of the few areas to change hands after the brutal 1950-53 conflict -- during which millions of people died and control of Seoul changed four times -- it is now part of the South's Gangwon province. There are a few other similar legacies -- a three-storey building in Cheorwon, north of Seoul, is now an empty shell, but was once a regional headquarters for the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea. "For five years, North Korea ruled this area committing numerous brutal acts such as torturing and killing people," reads a sign outside. The Hwajinpo villa was significantly damaged in the war but was restored and used as a resort for South Korean soldiers, before opening to the public as a museum in 1999. "This building is where they stayed," said tour guide Ham Ji-su. The rooftop offers a magnificent ocean view and inside a humble room showcases items -- a single bed, closet, radio and telephone -- dating from the era when the house was used by the Kim family. - 'Hail of shells' - Kim Jong Il never went back to the South, although he met two South Korean presidents at summits in Pyongyang, Kim Dae-jung in 2000 and Roh Moo-hyun in 2007. This building in Cheorwon, north of Seoul, is now an empty shell, but was once a regional headquarters for the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea But according to official North Korean biographies, Kim Il Sung went to Seoul and beyond in the early days of the Korean War, as his forces pressed southward. In the "dead of night" Kim crossed a bridge over the Imjin river by car, "braving a hail of shells, and went to the Front Command in Seoul", says the "History of Revolutionary Activities of President Kim Il Sung". After the capture of Daejeon, it says, "Kim Il Sung went to the front in person, and commanded the offensive operations of the KPA (Korean People's Army) units on their southward advance". On another more quotidian occasion "he went to Seoul in person to look after the living of citizens ranging from the supply of food and firewood to vegetables for kimchi", it adds. In the years after the war North Korea built a giant personality cult around Kim, and critics say its accounts of his actions are prone to exaggeration, so scepticism is required. The unification ministry told AFP it had no records of a wartime trip by Kim but did not deny it, and South Korean media have described the suggestion as "unconfirmed". His grandson will be on a different kind of mission when he meets the South's President Moon Jae-in on Friday. Nuclear-armed but faced with a belligerent Trump administration and the looming impact of UN sanctions over its weapons programmes, Pyongyang has been on a charm offensive in recent months, proclaiming an end to atomic tests and long-range missile launches at the weekend. Cross-border visits are now extremely rare for Koreans on both sides of the border, who must obtain authorisation from their governments to do so. In the early 2000s, South Korean tourists flocked to the North's scenic Mount Kumgang resort until relations soured in 2008. Ordinary Northerners are almost never granted permission to go to the capitalist South, with travellers mostly limited to government officials or athletes attending sporting events. But tour guide Ham hopes the summit could lead to more Northerners visiting Kim Il Sung's old house, insisting that it did not represent the division of the peninsula. "I believe it is a symbol of harmony," she said. Idlib, on the Turkish border in northwestern Syria, is held by an array of rebel, Islamist and jihadist forces and has seen an massive influx of people fleeing the conflict International donors are expected Wednesday to pledge billions of dollars for Syria after the UN's special envoy warned of a looming humanitarian disaster in the rebel-held region of Idlib. The UN's aid agency says some $8 billion is needed from the gathering of ministers and aid organisations in Brussels for work both inside Syria and with refugees in neighbouring countries. As forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad wage a new offensive against Islamic State jihadists entrenched in a southern district of Damascus, the conference will also try to re-energise the floundering UN-led peace process in the hope of ending the bloody war, now in its eighth year. Idlib, on the Turkish border in northwestern Syria, is held by an array of rebel, Islamist and jihadist forces and has seen an massive influx of people fleeing the conflict. "We were and are concerned on the humanitarian side by Idlib. Because Idlib is the big new challenge, 2.5 million people," UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told the first day of the conference on Tuesday. "We hope that this would be an occasion for making sure that Idlib does not become the new new Aleppo, the new Eastern Ghouta, because the dimensions are completely different." Some 6.1 million people are now internally displaced in Syria, more than five million have fled the country and 13 million including six million children are in need of aid, according to the UN. More than 700,000 people have been displaced since the start of this year alone. The head of UN aid agency UNOCHA Mark Lowcock said the gathering needed to raise some $8 billion for work inside Syria and with refugees in neighbouring countries, warning that some programmes may have to be cut back if funds are not forthcoming. "We are quite desperately short of resources," he told reporters, saying UNOCHA managed to raise only half of the funds it needed in 2017. - Political pressure - Europe is also keen to use the conference to restart UN-led talks in Geneva which have made little progress in eight rounds, with Assad's government paying little interest and Russia, Iran and Turkey launching a rival process in the Kazakh capital Astana last year. Russia and Iran are Assad's key allies and their military intervention in Syria is widely seen as tipping the balance in the civil war. Mogherini and de Mistura both called on Moscow, Tehran and Ankara to do more to reach a ceasefire. "The main message is that Syria is not a chessboard, it's not geopolitical game," Mogherini said. "We were and are concerned on the humanitarian side by Idlib. Because Idlib is the big new challenge, 2.5 million people," UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told the first day of the international donor conference in Brussels Moscow has repeatedly defended its Syrian ally at the UN, most recently over the suspected chemical attack in the town of Douma, blamed by Western powers on Assad's forces. Britain's development minister Penny Mordaunt is expected to urge delegates at the conference to step up the pressure on Moscow. "In wielding its UN veto 12 times on Syria, (Russia) has given a green flag to Assad to perpetrate human rights atrocities against his own people," Mordaunt will say, according to her office. "We're here to address the urgent humanitarian needs in Syria and the wider region, but all of us here know that the only solution to end the suffering in Syria is a political settlement that brings peace." A UN Security Council retreat in a secluded farmhouse in Sweden at the weekend, called in a bid to overcome its paralysis on Syria, had lowered the "temperature" but failed to find a political solution, Mistura said. But it is not clear how effectively the Brussels conference will be able to mobilise political pressure on Assad and his backers. As with previous editions, neither the Syrian government nor opposition groups will be represented and it also remains unclear who, if anyone, will come for Russia, Turkey and Iran. Trump has occasionally slammed the North's dire rights record North Korea condemned US criticism of its human rights record as "ridiculous", days before leader Kim Jong Un's summit with the South and ahead of a meeting with US President Donald Trump. The isolated North has been accused of a litany of state-sanctioned rights abuses including extrajudicial killing, torture, brutal crackdowns on dissent and even kidnapping foreign citizens. The US State Department's rights report on the North, released last week, described "egregious human rights violations" in the authoritarian state from public executions to widespread surveillance of citizens. Pyongyang angrily slammed the report for "viciously slandering" the nation, accusing the US of being a "hotbed" of rights abuses itself, beset by "cancer-like" gun violence and "all sorts of injustice, deprivation of rights". Washington was appointing itself as a "human rights judge", the official KCNA news agency said in a commentary late Tuesday. "This is really ridiculous and reminds one of a thief crying to stop the thief," it said. "Its true aim is to disintegrate those countries which are disobedient to it and to create a pretext for political, military and economic aggression and pressure." KCNA also described the North as the "cradle of genuine life of working people". The remarks came days before Kim holds a historic summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in -- Kim's second meeting with a foreign leader -- ahead of a highly-anticipated encounter with Trump. Friday's talks -- the third-ever inter-Korea summit after meetings in 2000 and 2007 -- will focus on persuading Kim to give up his widely-condemned nuclear weapons and easing military tension between the two Koreas. They could discuss a path towards a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, which stopped with a ceasefire, and reunions of families left divided by the conflict. Seoul's foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said earlier that Pyongyang's human rights record would not be discussed at Friday's summit despite calls by rights groups asking Moon to raise the issue with Kim. US-based Human Rights Watch urged Seoul to "rethink" its decision, saying Tuesday that the summit is a "crucial moment... for the long-suffering people of North Korea". Moon told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he would raise the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the North's agents to train Pyongyang's spies -- an enduring issue in Tokyo. "I plan to tell... Kim that resolving the Japanese abduction issue will help establish peace in northeast Asia," Moon's office cited him as saying. Trump has occasionally slammed the North's dire rights record, prominently featuring a North Korean refugee in his State of the Union address. But the US president has rarely raised the issue in the build-up to the summit, describing Kim as "very open" and "very honourable" on Tuesday -- in contrast to the colourful personal insults he issued last year, when he dubbed the young leader "Rocket Man". Trump on Tuesday also urged Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme and existing weapons. Armenian-Americans march in protest through the Little Armenia neighborhood of Hollywood, California Thousands of Armenian-Americans marched in Hollywood on Tuesday in their annual commemoration of the massacres perpetrated under the Ottoman Empire. The event came just after major protests led to the shock resignation of Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, following eleven days of protests against his rule. Reality star Kim Kardashian, who is of Armenian origin, tweeted: "It's so inspiring to see all Armenians united in peaceful protests making a difference. It's a historic day for Armenia." Aroutin Hartounian, president of the Unified Young Armenians, told AFP the atmosphere was "more positive" because "there was a victory for the youth, the new generation, the democratic ideals" -- referring to Sarkisian's resignation. "I believe the new generation was able to topple the government without firing a shot." "We hope it serves as an example for all democratic revolutions in the world." Armenia is home to some 3 million people, but the diaspora numbers 8 million people, the largest population of which is in Russia and second largest in the United States. Armenians worldwide hold annual commemorations on April 24 marking the mass killings, which remain a diplomatic minefield amid a lack of international consensus over Armenia's bid to get the deaths recognized internationally as a genocide. Armenia says an estimated 1.5 million people were killed by Ottoman forces in 1915, and has labeled the massacre a genocide. Modern Turkey has always rejected the term, putting the toll at 500,000 and blaming their deaths on war and starvation. An opposition fighter stands in a barricaded look-out point in a rebel-held area in the southern Syrian city of Daraa On a tense urban frontline in Syria's Daraa, rebel Atallah Qutayfan has been steadily reinforcing his defensive post for weeks in anticipation of a looming assault by government troops. The 25-year-old spends his days stacking sandbags to shore up his post overlooking a market in the southern city, and monitoring the amassing regime forces nearby. "Their reconnaissance planes are constantly above the city. There are daily clashes and they try to infiltrate our positions, but we've stopped them," says Qutayfan. "Our commanders told us to be ready for an attack by regime forces -- and we're on high alert." As loyalist forces mop up the last pockets of resistance around the capital, President Bashar al-Assad appears to already have set his sights on his next target: Daraa. The city is split between rebels, who hold the southern Old City, and regime forces who control the modern districts and government posts to the north. Opposition forces still hold more than two-thirds of the surrounding 3,730-square-kilometre (1,490-sq-mile) province which borders Jordan. Seizing the border area could bring the regime both military and economic security, analysts have said. And a victory in Daraa city would carry symbolic weight -- it was the cradle of Syria's seven-year uprising against Assad's rule. The resurgent regime just this month dealt rebels their biggest blow yet by recapturing Eastern Ghouta, the former opposition stronghold outside Damascus. That freed up troops who had spent years bombing the Ghouta front. - Mass mobilisation - "After Ghouta, the regime escalated its bombing against us with surface-to-surface missiles, machine-gun fire, mortars, tanks, and heavy artillery," says rebel fighter Fahed Abu Hatem. In response, Abu Hatem says, his forces reinforced their positions, dug trenches and erected fresh barricades. Gritting his teeth, rebel field commander Ibrahim Musalima, 27, insists the extra measures are necessary. The sun sets over a rebel-held area in the southern Syrian city of Daraa "It's not fear, it's readiness," says Musalima. "We're setting up lines of defence and attack, and upping our coordination with the Quneitra rebels to the west, all the way to the border with Suweida to the east." Quneitra is the province directly to Daraa's west, and Suweida neighbours it to the east. Sections of the three provinces make up a "de-escalation zone" agreed in May 2017 by rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran. The US and Jordan have also backed the zone, announcing alongside Russia in July that a cessation of hostilities would begin in the southern sliver. Despite the steadily increasing violence, Musalima says the south's rebel factions had been "advised" by their foreign backers not to provoke the regime or its loyalist militias, and to preserve the de-escalation zone. The subtle warning belies the region's importance to rival actors in Syria's complex war. Assad is keen to recapture the strategic Nasib crossing with Jordan, which the regime lost to rebels in 2015 but whose recapture could generate desperately needed income from cross-border trade. Meanwhile, the presence of Iran-backed militias in southern Syria, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, has irked neighbouring Israel. - 'Daraa is not Ghouta' - A Syrian man receives treatment in an underground hospital in a rebel-held area in the southern Syrian city of Daraa Far away from these geopolitical interests, civilians are worried about what the escalation could bring. Umm Mohammad al-Baghdadi, a 45-year-old nurse in a field clinic in Daraa, describes a constant stream of wounded from shelling and bombing. "We can't say we're not scared of more escalation. After the end of Ghouta, of course the regime is going to go for any area that opposes it," she says. "It wants to snuff out the uprising generally, and in Daraa especially." A Syrian man stands in his shop in a rebel-held area in the southern Syrian city of Daraa Around 30,000 people live in rebel-held parts of Daraa city, according to the local opposition-run council. Its head Mohammad Abdulmajid al-Musalima, 38, says residents struggle to cope with severe shortages of water and electricity, and widespread destruction. "Women and children will bear the brunt of any military escalation, because they're the main pressure point used by the regime against opposition groups," says Musalima. Rebels and local opposition officials alike insist Daraa's fate will not resemble Ghouta's, where a five-year siege had worn down rival rebel groups. "We're saying to the regime: Daraa is not Ghouta. The armed opposition here is holding it together," says Mohammad al-Masri, 60, a member of the local council . "Here, the front lines are holding on. Our popular base and the rebels are in agreement: Daraa is our city, and we will stand firm in it," says Masri. A picture taken on March 20, 2018 shows a view of the dried-up shore of an irrigation canal near the village of Sayyed Dakhil, south of Baghdad Abu Ali carefully crank-starts a generator to pump water from a well out into his parched field in southern Iraq. There used to be no need for a well in his village, but a creeping drought is now threatening agriculture and livelihoods in the area. "Last year, the river started to dry up and today we only have wells to supply us with water," the 73-year-old farmer told AFP. Since childhood, Abu Ali and his family have lived off this land in the village of Sayyed Dakhil, to the east of Nasariyah city some 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of Baghdad. It cost him $1,600 (1,290 euros) to dig the well, a lifeline that provides access to the water table deep below. "The water that we draw serves as drinking water for our cows and our sheep, and despite the bitter taste, we also use it to cook and even drink ourselves," said Abu Ali, dressed in a traditional beige robe. But his family's main supply of drinking water comes from six small reservoirs that are refilled at least once a week for around 20,000 dinars ($17 or 13.50 euros). A boy watches as 73-year-old Iraqi farmer Abu Ali uses a shovel to dig in a stream of water in the village of Sayyed Dakhil, to the east of Nasariyah city some 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of Baghdad, on March 20, 2018 Abu Ali is determined to stay put, but the drought has already forced dozens of families to flee more than 20 villages in the area. Weather patterns are largely to blame for the crisis, according to an engineer with Iraq's ministry of water resources. "For the second consecutive season, the rains have been poor and temperatures have risen," Mehdi Rashid told AFP. - Marshes under threat - But while rain accounts for 30 percent of Iraq's water resources, the remaining 70 percent is drawn from rivers and marshes shared with Iran, Turkey and Syria, he said. A female Iraqi farmer digs with a shovel in a field in Diwaniyah, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of the capital Baghdad, on April 2, 2018 The diversion of these shared waterways has played a part in Iraq's drought. "Iran has completely re-routed the course of the Karun river," he said, once a cross-border river and a key water source for Iraqis. Rashid said Iran had also "built three big dams on the Karaj river", significantly reducing water levels in cross-border wetlands shared by the two countries. Of the 45 tributaries once shared by Iran and Iraq, only three or four remain viable, said added. The famous marshes of Mesopotamia, among the largest in the region, are victims of the "worst drought in their history," according to Jomaa al-Daraji. He works with an organisation trying to protect the UNESCO world heritage site, which stretches from Basra into Dhi Qar province. Meanwhile, Iraq and Turkey are locked in talks over the latter's controversial Ilisu dam project on the Tigris, which began in 2006. The Iraqi stretch of the Tigris is downstream from Turkey, leaving it vulnerable to reduced flows. Along with the mighty Euphrates, the enduring presence of the Tigris river helped give Iraq its nickname: "the land of two rivers". With water increasingly scarce, Iraq's three major dams and 20 smaller ones are running low. According to Rashid, the government engineer, the country's reservoirs currently hold about 12 percent of their total collective capacity. Iraqi farmers have traditionally lived off their land with no need for wells, but a creeping drought is now threatening the livelihoods of nearly a quarter of the country's population in the provinces of Diwaniyah, Muthanna and Missan The southern agricultural provinces of Diwaniyah, Muthanna and Missan, home to nearly a quarter of Iraq's population, are also suffering from the drought. Some 80 percent of the province's agriculture depends on generators and pumps to draw water, according to Ismail Abdel Wahed, head of water resources with Diwaniyah's provincial council. And with warming temperatures, less rain and progressively dryer riverbeds, "the struggle is increasing each year", added his colleague Safa al-Janabi. A candidate of Lebanon's Future Movement is interviewed on television ahead of May 6 parliamentary election Six thousand dollars can buy a minute of air time, but a talk show episode can cost $240,000. In Lebanon, media outlets are charging parliamentary candidates exorbitant prices for coverage. Whether beamed into living rooms on television screens or heard over the radio, legislative hopefuls are keen to get their messages out to their constituents before the May 6 election. The long-awaited vote is the first since 2009, and marks the end of a years-long political stalemate that had paralysed Lebanese government institutions. The deadlock had also left news organisations across Lebanon starving for both content and funds. Most of their financial backers are politically affiliated and have found little use for their media arms in a time of muted political rivalry. But now that elections are on, the competition, the news cycle, and the money are flowing again. In addition to paid campaign ads, private outlets are also charging candidates for one-on-one interviews and appearances on talk shows. "Election season has prompted Lebanese media outlets to offer packages that can reach up to $1.5 million per electoral list," says Roula Mikhael, who heads Maharat, a civil society group monitoring Lebanon's upcoming vote. An employee of the electoral monitoring committee watches a televised speech of a Lebanese parliamentary candidate and records the time of his speech at the headquarters of the committee in Beirut on April 11, 2018 The price lists are only recited verbally, to avoid being traced, but Maharat received a detailed breakdown from some campaigners. "A month and a half ago, a minute on a morning television programme could cost you $1,000. But the prices go up steadily as the elections get closer," says Mikhael. Now, a minute of air time on some privately owned television channels will rack up a $6,000 bill. Radio stations charge $3,000 for a 15-minute interview. And channels perceived as independent can charge more than those with clear political affiliations. - No air time - In a first, Lebanon's new electoral law has set a spending limit on campaigns and established an electoral commission to monitor media appearances. Paying for coverage is not illegal, according to the law, but channels are required by the commission to identify sponsored media appearances and specify who paid for them. Its chief, former judge Nadim Abdulmalak, told AFP the amounts cited by Maharat were higher than those reported to the commission. But he did admit outlets were violating other parts of the legislation. "Media organisations are not abiding by the law. They are not identifying paid advertisements or saying who placed the ad," says Abdulmalak. "They are also, more generally, not fulfilling the requirement of presenting a weekly report to the commission of what ads they broadcast," he says. The commission has struggled since its delayed inception to properly flag any violations. Exorbitant prices for media coverage are forcing first-time candidates in Lebanon's general election to turn to social media to reach potential voters Its only member to have come from outside the political elite resigned on April 20, blaming a shortage of resources that left the body "unable to monitor media, campaign ads, or spending." At its headquarters, 25 employees are silently scrutinising a mix of media. One unfurls a newspaper and squints her eyes at the text. Another is glued to a laptop screen, jotting down how long candidates appear on air. "As monitors, we've noticed that media outlets host some guests more than others based on their political affiliation," says commission member Manal Ezzedine, 34. "There are some candidates that you've never heard of or seen, because they don't have media coverage." - 'For the wealthy only' - A total of 597 candidates are running for parliamentary office, including many newcomers who have railed against rampant corruption and clientelism in Lebanon. Those first-time candidates say they struggle to get coverage because it's too expensive. "Who can pay $20,000 these days for half an hour on air, besides the traditional parties that we've known for years?" says Laury Haytayan, a candidate running in Beirut on the Kulluna Watani list. "Elections can't be for the wealthy only," she says. Maharat's Mikhael said the prices asked by Lebanese media outlets risked turning the elections into a race among the rich. "Everyone knows Lebanese media has been going through a very serious financial crisis," she says. "Today, we're returning to a situation where people with money are the only ones able to actually come to power in Lebanon, where the rich alone are allowed to have media appearances." Lists like Kulluna Watani and other non-traditional parties are targeting first-time voters -- those that were not 21 in the 2009 election -- through social media. Raed Ataya, who is running in southern Lebanon on a list bringing together communists and local figures, announced his candidacy through a free live-streaming option online. He and fellow candidates were primarily funded by donations and could not afford the "ridiculous" press price lists. "When we announced our list, we did so on Facebook Live, without a single media outlet present," Ataya says. The official Xinhua news agency said the massive haul had a street value of one billion yuan ($160 million) Chinese police have seized 1.3 tonnes of cocaine from South America in the country's biggest ever haul of the drug, authorities said. Police in the southern city of Shenzhen have detained 10 suspects, mostly from Hong Kong, following an investigation that began in July 2017, the Guangdong province public security department said. The statement, released Tuesday, called it the "biggest amount of cocaine seized in the country". The official Xinhua news agency said the massive haul had a street value of one billion yuan ($160 million). The drug came from an unidentified South American country and was shipped to the Guangdong port of Shanwei. The police statement, released Tuesday, did not say whether the drug was destined for the Chinese market or another country, but cocaine use is low in China compared to other drugs. A 2017 government report found that China had 2.5 million drug users, with 60 percent consuming synthetic drugs, 38 percent using opiates and 1.4 percent using cocaine and marijuana. Cocaine originates in the Andes but China is believed to be one of the main manufacturers of synthetic drugs -- including opioids such as fentanyl -- which have been blamed for public health crises in the US, Canada and Australia among other countries. The Shenzhen investigation began in July 2017 after police received a tip related to drug trafficking, the Guangdong public security statement said. A month later, a task force learned that gangs were about to conduct a "large scale" drug delivery. Five suspects, including three from Hong Kong, were detained and 40 kilogrammes of cocaine were seized. In February, the investigation led to the arrest of three more suspects and the seizure of another 1,291 kilogrammes of cocaine. The two suspected ringleaders were captured in an unidentified foreign country in March and returned to China. An Iranian military truck carries missiles past a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a parade in Tehran on April 18, 2018 Analysts fear a wider Middle Eastern war is brewing between Iran and its rivals, Israel and Saudi Arabia, warning that their failure to understand each other's intentions threatens to tear the region apart. "We will not allow Iranian entrenchment in Syria, no matter the price to pay," Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman declared this month. His comments followed air strikes on Syria's T-4 airbase, which killed seven Iranian personnel. Israel did not claim responsibility, but the raid was widely seen as its first direct attack on Iranian assets and a worrying sign of how Syria's seven-year conflict could escalate into a wider regional war. The Middle East is mired in what the International Crisis Group calls a dangerous "gap in perceptions that has locked Iran and its rivals in an escalatory spiral of proxy fights that is destroying the region". With Iranian-backed militias entrenched in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Iran's rivals worry it is seeking to dominate the region and gather forces for an attack on Israel. But the ICG said Iran sees quite the opposite, "a region dominated by powers with superior military capabilities", and only supported the Syrian government because it feared losing one of its few allies and being encircled by jihadist forces. Many Iranians find the idea they are the destabilising force in the region hard to stomach, given recent actions by Saudi Arabia. An Israeli AH-64 Apache longbow helicopter launches anti-missile flares during an air show at the graduation ceremony of Israeli air force pilots at the Hatzerim base in the Negev desert on December 26, 2013 "It's not Iran who imprisons foreign prime ministers like Saudi Arabia does," University of Tehran professor Mohammad Marandi told AFP, referring to Lebanese premier Saad Hariri who announced his resignation from Riyadh last year, followed by a lengthy stay in the Saudi capital. "And in Yemen, despite three years of imposing starvation and war with Western help, the Saudis have failed to gain any significant victory," Marandi added. "They engage in war, they kidnap prime ministers and they spread Wahhabi extremism... and somehow Iran is the one portrayed as pursuing some sort of expansionist policy." - Contradictions - The Saudi position on Iran can appear contradictory. Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman told CBS News last month that Iran's army and economy were greatly inferior to those of the Sunni kingdom, but he also presents Shiite-dominated Iran as seeking control of the whole region. "Critics may downplay Saudi concerns about Iranian expansionism, accusing Riyadh of 'seeing an Iranian behind every tree'," said Ali Shihabi, director of the pro-Saudi, Washington-based think tank, Arabia Foundation. "But... one by one the Saudis watched as (Iran's) proxy forces captured their neighbours: Lebanon, Iraq, Syria," he told AFP. Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman watching military drills in the kingdom's eastern region fo Dhahran in a handout picture provided by the palace on April 16, 2018 Iran's position has its own contradictions. It says it will never initiate conflict with Israel, but its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned the "Zionist regime" will not exist in 25 years. Marandi, at the University of Tehran, says this is not a threat of military action. "Iran has never, despite all the Western media misinformation, threatened to initiate conflict with the Israeli regime, despite the fact it sees it as illegitimate in the same way as apartheid South Africa," said Marandi. "The threat to Israel has nothing to do with Iranian military might. It has to do with increasingly being seen as illegitimate by many of its international friends." That was rejected by Dore Gold, Israel's former United Nations ambassador, who said Iran's leaders amounted to a "really aggressive ideological movement" with a "very difficult attitude when it comes to Jews". Iran has "been building bases in Syria for ground troops," he said. Combined with Tehran's Lebanese ally Hezbollah, that represents "a permanent direct threat to Israel". - Military balance - Adding to uncertainty over each player's intentions are their vastly different military capabilities. Saudi Arabia has the latest Western hardware and spent five times more than Iran on defence in 2016, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Israeli F-15 fighter jets rehearse over Tel Aviv on April 12, 2018, ahead of an air show to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the creation of Israel Israel also has the ultimate deterrent: nuclear weapons. That has forced Iran to use proxy forces in the hope that they can attack its opponents without triggering a direct conflict. But this has only added to the perception that it is quietly destabilising its neighbours from within. Finding a way to rebuild trust looks near-impossible when the key players lack any forum for discussions or even basic diplomatic relations. On a trip to Washington this week, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called for a "regional dialogue forum... so we can talk to each other, not about each other". But Iran's opponents dismiss him as the friendly face of a regime that is complicit in mass slaughter in Syria and is masking its true intentions. Nonetheless, many feel that continuing to exclude Iran from regional decision-making is unsustainable. "Iran should recognise that the more its military doctrine promotes expeditionary warfighting, the more it will prompt aggressive pushback by its adversaries," the ICG report said. But "Iran is an integral part of the region and cannot be excised from it. "Iran will need to be more systematically engaged by its neighbours (and by the US) on regional issues such as the future of Yemen, Syria or Iraq." burs-er/par/dv/ceb Lying on his side and surrounded by his heartbroken carers, these pictures show polar bear Inuka's last moments before passing away at Singapore Zoo. The 27-year-old animal - the first polar bear born in the tropics - was comforted by vets and zoo keepers before being put down to end his suffering after a rapid decline in health. Inuka, whose name means 'Silent Stalker' in Inuit, was particularly popular with visitors due to his playful antics in his enclosure. But in recent years the animal had suffered age-related ailments, including arthritis, and an examination at the start of this month revealed his health was failing markedly. Images released by the zoo show him being comforted by carers past and present in his final moments as he was given one last health check. In one photo, a staff member says her goodbyes with a hand placed tenderly over the animal's giant paw. Singapore has released pictures showing the last moments of polar bear Inuka before he passed away. Vets and carers surrounded the bear and comforted him before he was put down to end his suffering from a rapid decline in health In one photo, a staff member says her goodbyes with a hand placed tenderly over the animal's giant paw. Inuka had reached the grand old age of 27 but a recent examination had revealed his health was failing markedly Inuka had reached the grand old age of 27 - into his 70s in human years and two years older than the average lifespan of the creatures in captivity. His weakened limbs had trouble supporting his body and he developed cuts on his paws and a wound on his abdomen. After a final check-up, vets found that Inuka's health had not improved despite intensive treatment and decided not to revive him from anaesthesia. 'Singaporeans have known Inuka from the time he was a cub, and have seen him growing up and ageing,' said Mohan Ponichamy, one of his keepers. 'It has been a privilege and honour being his care giver, but difficult as it may be, it would not have been fair to prolong his suffering.' The bear had been put on a 'seniors programme' at the zoo for the past five years, to help elderly animals deal with the effects of ageing. Inuka, the first polar bear born in the tropics, has been put down after a rapid decline in health, with Singapore Zoo mourning the loss of one of its best-loved animals Inuka, whose name means 'Silent Stalker' in Inuit, had reached the grand old age of 27 - into his 70s in human years and two years older than the average lifespan of the creatures in captivity His weakened limbs had trouble supporting his body and he developed cuts on his paws and a wound on his abdomen He had slowed down in recent months, and became less interested in his daily playing sessions. Inuka was born on December 26, 1990. His father Nanook was caught in the wild and came from Canada and his mother, Sheeba, came from a German zoo. His death marks the end of an era for the zoo, which has said it will not keep any more polar bears in its collection. As few as 22,000 polar bears are thought to remain in the wild, according to environmental group WWF. Protection group the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies them as a vulnerable species. They are typically found in places with cold climates such as Greenland, and parts of Canada and Russia - making Singapore, where daytime temperatures rarely dip below 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit), an unusual location for the creatures to live. Demonstrators in Washington DC last October protesting the newest version of President Donald Trump's travel ban, which blocked immigrants from six mostly-Muslim countries President Donald Trump's effort to ban immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries heads to the Supreme Court Wednesday, which will decide if his argument asserting national security interests was tainted by religious bias. The case, known as Trump v. Hawaii, will address the president's broad powers to set immigration policy, which the administration says permit Trump's travel ban, one of his hallmark policies since taking office in January 2017. Legal experts say the court is usually loathe to rule on executive powers. But the travel ban's focus on Muslim countries has left Trump the target of allegations that it violates constitutional religious protections, which led lower courts, including the federal court in Hawaii, to rule it illegal. "This case has everything: weighty constitutional issues, complex statutory questions, and a fight over whether there are any real limits on a presidents power to control immigration," said Cornell University law professor Stephen Yale-Loehr. "Whichever way the court rules, the decision will have profound implications for Americans, immigrants, and the president." - Muslim ban promise - One of Trump's first acts upon entering office in January 2017 was to announce a 90 day ban on travelers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The US Supreme Court will weigh whether President Trump correctly exercised his executive powers in setting the controversial travel ban The sudden move caused chaos at airports, with people unable to enter despite holding visas, and some families sent back to their homelands. Tens of thousands of legal visas were revoked. The order was made on national security grounds -- purportedly to protect the country from terror attacks -- and officials said the time limit would allow for a review and improvement of immigration vetting in those countries. But critics alleged in court, successfully, that it essentially targeted Muslims. They noted that during the election the previous year Trump repeatedly attacked the Muslim immigrants, whom he said "don't assimilate" and "hate us." And his campaign website stated that Trump "is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." Lower courts ruled that Trump's ban was illegal because of what they called an implicit bias against Muslims, violating the US Constitution. The ban was reissued twice, each time with adjustments aiming to get around such rulings. The So-called Version 3.0 in September was open-ended and changed the countries. It included Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Syria and added Chad, another predominantly Muslim country. It also included North Korea and certain officials from Venezuela. Those additions, rights groups said, were cosmetic: North Koreans were already essentially blocked from the United States, and economic sanctions have limited Venezuelan officials from coming. Lower courts again blocked Version 3.0, but the administration has successfully brought its appeal to the highest court, persuading the court to allow implementation while it reviews the case. That has made it impossible for family members, businessmen and students from those countries to come to the United States even if they have been cleared by security reviews. - 'Legally unworkable orders' - Normally the court should review the specifics of just the third travel ban version. But lawyers say it cannot ignore the haphazard issuance of the first two versions and the ties to trump's election promises and anti-Muslim statements. "The court should take note of the breakdown of internal norms and legal processes within the executive branch that have led to a series of legally unworkable orders in the administration's first year -- as well as the president's long public record of animus against the minority groups affected by those policies," said lawyers W. Neil Eggleston and Amanda Elbogen in an analysis on Just Security. Nevertheless, Trump's case could be bolstered by the lifting of the ban on travelers from Chad on April 10. The government announced that the country had cleared up questions on immigrant vetting -- suggesting that the security issue, and not Muslims, is behind the ban. Facebook reports results for the first quarter as the huge social network grapples with a privacy scandal Facebook reports quarterly results Wednesday as it grapples with a data privacy scandal that strikes at how the huge social network makes money from what it knows about people. The earnings release comes just two weeks after Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced questioning in two congressional panels about revelations that personal data was harvested on 87 million users by Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy working for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Whether the scandal is taking a toll on membership or advertising at the online social network was not likely to be revealed in earnings numbers from the first three months of this year, but hints might be found in the company's financial forecast. Using information about people's lives to target advertising is a standard internet business model, and any effort to rein it in could ripple through the industry. A freshly released eMarketer report downplayed the threat that the scandal could cause an exodus from Facebook. "Facebook is so large that it would take a lot of user defections to make a difference," eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson said in the report. But Williamson said some of Facebook's momentum was already fading due to other factors such as disinformation, social media fatigue and new platforms attracting young people. "Facebook has already essentially maxed out its penetration in the US," she said. - Stormclouds gathering? - A quarterly earnings report may shed light on whether a controversy over private data hijacking will impact Facebook's business Zuckerberg has said he sees no major impact on Facebook's business from the privacy controversy. Yet some analysts say Facebook's stunning growth pace of recent years, which has vaulted it to the top ranks of players in digital advertising, may be threatened. An eMarketer report last month said the so-called "duopoly" of Google and Facebook would capture 56.8 percent of the US digital ad market this year, compared with 58.5 percent last year, as rivals like Amazon and Snapchat experience faster-than-expected growth. Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group said in a recent report that he sees "downside from the Cambridge Analytica episode" for Facebook, which relies on advertising for most of its revenues. "Our guess is that reduced trust in the platform paired with increasing awareness of toxicity of the platform... could mean ongoing erosion of usage throughout 2018," he said. Mark Mahaney of RBC Capital Markets said in a note to investors that the financial outlook for Facebook is unchanged for now but that "the very recent negative publicity may have removed 'upside' ad revenue opportunities and likely added uncertainty around user engagement and growth." - Regulators take aim - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told lawmakers he does not oppose the idea of regulation of social networks if it is done right Facebook also faces a specter of regulation at home and abroad. Two US senators introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at better protecting online privacy in response to the Facebook data scandal. The "Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act" introduced by Republican Senator John Kennedy and Democrat Amy Klobuchar would require terms of service agreements to be in plain language, and enable users to see what information about them has already been collected and shared. "I don't want to hurt Facebook, and I don't want to regulate them half to death, either," Kennedy said in a statement. "But I have a job to do, and that's protecting the rights and privacy of our citizens." Facebook announced last week it would begin rolling out changes to how it handles private data to comply with forthcoming EU rules, with European residents seeing the measures first. Meanwhile, the California-based company has opposed calls by Australian media companies for digital platforms to be regulated, amid an inquiry into their impact on competition in news and advertising markets. The European Parliament last week demanded Zuckerberg appear in person to answer questions about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, rejecting his offer to send a more junior executive in his place. The EU is introducing tough new data protection rules, which Facebook has said it will comply with. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into effect on May 25, aims to give users more control over how their personal information is stored and used online, with big fines for firms that break the rules. An opposition fighter looks out from a destroyed building in a rebel-held area in the southern Syrian city of Daraa Syria's southern province of Daraa, which could be the regime's next target after its bloody reprisal of Eastern Ghouta, is the birthplace of the uprising which erupted in 2011. This agricultural region lies south of Damascus and also shares borders with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. - First spark - In early March 2011 more than a dozen Daraa youths, influenced by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, scribbled slogans hostile to President Bashar al-Assad on the wall of their school. The regime reacted brutally, jailing them, and according to activists, torturing the boys. The repression sparked an unprecedented uprising. On March 15, in the wake of the Arab Spring, the first demonstrations for "a Syria free of tyranny... a Syria without corruption or theft or monopoly of wealth" erupted in Damascus. - Heart of the protests - Back in the province's main town, which has the same name, demonstrators attacked symbols of the regime, before the protest movement spilled over into neighbouring towns. On March 23 security forces killed at least 100 people, according to activists and witnesses. Assad fired the unpopular town governor and local intelligence chief, but did not manage to calm the situation. On April 26 the regime sent in the army as it sought to stamp out pockets of resistance. The Daraa protest movement was crushed at the end of a 10-day military operation in which hundreds were arrested. Human Rights Watch denounced "crimes against humanity", pointing to systematic killings, beatings and torture. - Rebel bastion - Daraa province is one of the last centres of rebel forces in Syria, after they lost vast swathes of territory to the regime. It is divided up between different opposition groups that control nearly 70 percent of it. The Islamic State group and the regime retain a lesser presence. Daraa town, the regional capital, is mainly in the hands of pro-government forces. The province has regularly been the scene of fighting between regime forces and insurgents. In 2016 loyalist forces, backed by Russian air power and fighters from the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah, retook Sheikh Miskin, a strategic crossroads from the north to Damascus and to regime-held Sweida in the east. They then seized Atman village, a key location in the province. In July 2017 a ceasefire came into force in Daraa as well as in the southern provinces of Quneitra and Sweida, brokered by Russia, Jordan and the United States. These three provinces are also among a series of "de-escalation zones" established by Russia and Iran, allies of the regime, and rebel-backer Turkey. - Poverty and world heritage - In the first months of the protests the demonstrators in Daraa denounced the economic policy of the government. This included the telecoms company Syriatel, in which a cousin of Assad has a majority stake. Anti-corruption slogans were chanted in neighbouring towns. Daraa, a Sunni Muslim town which counted 75,000 inhabitants before the conflict began, had fallen into poverty, worsened by a years-long drought which prompted a rural exodus. The province's ancient city of Bosra al-Sham was capital of the Roman province of Arabia and an important staging post on the old caravan route to Mecca. Famous for its Roman theatre and its paleochristian ruins, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In March 2015, rebels drove pro-regime forces out of Bosra's Shiite neighbourhoods. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe (R) and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speak at the military cemetery in Villers-Bretonneux on the eve of ANZAC Day Thousands of Australians gathered in the pre-dawn chill on the Somme in northern France on Wednesday for a poignant ceremony in memory of the soldiers who fought and died on the Western Front, a century on from the end of World War I. Some 8,000 Australians made the round-the-world trip to mark a special centenary Anzac Day, Australia's national day of remembrance on the Somme, scene of some of the most brutal battles of the 1914-18 conflict. Tony McNiff said it was "spine tingling and extremely emotional" to have made it to the Australian National Memorial, just outside the town of Villers-Bretonneux, the site of a major victory for Australian troops in 1918. "We're really among the privileged few to be among the 8,000 here," McNiff, who served 35 years in the Australian air force, told AFP. Of the 295,000 Australians who came to fight on the Western Front, some 46,000 died -- huge losses for the young nation, where the sacrifice remains deeply ingrained in the national identity. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, his French counterpart Edouard Philippe and Britain's Prince Charles all paid tribute at the ceremony to the young men who volunteered for a war on the other side of the globe. "The deeds of these young men have echoed down the years," Turnbull told the crowd, who huddled in the grey dawn as the Last Post bugle call rang out from the memorial's tower. "They suffered lice, rats, gas," Philippe said, urging leaders to keep memories of the war's horrors alive. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy Turnbull visited the Sir John Monash Centre on the eve of ANZAC Day "They suffered bombardments, lives cut short, cold and hunger." Like Turnbull, he paid tribute to his country's forces serving around the world in current conflicts, from Syria to anti-jihadist troops in west Africa. Prince Charles said the "costly sacrifice" of the Australian troops -- who had an average age of just 23 -- would "forever be part of Australia's identity". - Crucial battle - Dawn at Wednesday also marked 100 years to the day since Australian troops' breakthrough in Villers-Bretonneux, when they pulled off a major counter-offensive against German troops alongside British and French forces. The audacious operation stopped a German advance that would have otherwise swept on to nearby Amiens, a strategic city for allied forces. Monique and Yves Degremont, a retired couple from the northern city of Lille among the few French nationals in the crowd, said they had wanted to give thanks to Australian troops. "If the Australians hadn't been there, things might have been different," Monique said. Turnbull and Philippe had on Tuesday opened a high-tech new museum at the Australian memorial designed to bring to life the country's role on the Western Front. The 63-million-euro ($76-million) Sir John Monash Centre, named after one of the country's greatest generals, uses life-size videos of soldiers and a 360-degree cinema to showcase the role of Australian troops. It showcases Australian soldiers' diaries, photographs and letters, while visitors can also visit a stretch of rebuilt wartime trench to better understand life at the Front. The memorial site where it is located is also home to a cemetery where 2,000 Commonwealth troops are buried. The names of some 11,000 Australian troops, whose bodies were never found, are engraved on its walls. The Taliban has launched a series of devastating attacks in the Afghan capital Kabul, killing and wounding hundreds of civilians The Taliban launched their annual spring offensive on Wednesday, in an apparent rejection of calls for the militants to take up the Afghan government's offer of peace talks. Operation Al Khandaq -- named after a famous seventh century battle in Medina in which Muslim fighters defeated "infidel" invaders -- will target US forces and "their intelligence agents" as well as their "internal supporters", a Taliban statement said. The Taliban said the offensive was partly a response to US President Donald Trump's new strategy for Afghanistan announced last August, which gave US forces more leeway to go after insurgents. The annual spring offensive traditionally marks the start of the so-called fighting season, though this winter the Taliban continued to battle Afghan and US forces. The group also launched a series of devastating attacks in the Afghan capital Kabul, killing and wounding hundreds of civilians. Al Khandaq will mainly focus on "crushing, killing and capturing American invaders and their supporters", the Taliban said. It added the presence of American bases "sabotages all chances of peace" and were key to "prolonging the ongoing war", which began with the US-led intervention in 2001 that overthrew the Taliban regime. Afghanistan's largest militant group has been under pressure to accept Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's February offer of peace talks, but the statement made no mention of the proposal. Western and Afghan experts said the Taliban announcement was an apparent rejection of the offer and heralded more intense fighting in the drawn-out war. "We're in for a hot and busy summer," a foreign diplomat in Kabul told AFP. Afghan political analyst Ahmad Saeedi said the Taliban appeared to consider America's rejection of the group's own request for direct peace talks with the US in February as leaving them with "no other choice but to fight". "This year they will try to weaken the (Afghan) government even further. They will try to derail the election process," the Kabul University professor told AFP. "A weak government would eventually mean forcing the US to talk to them." Defense ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish dismissed the Taliban announcement as "propaganda". The US-backed Afghan government is under pressure on multiple fronts this year as it prepares to hold long-delayed legislative elections even as its security forces struggle to get the upper hand on the battlefield and prevent civilian casualties. On Sunday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd outside a voter registration centre in Kabul, killing 60 people and wounding 129, according to the latest figures from the health ministry. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the bomb, but Western and Afghan officials suspect IS receives assistance from other groups, including the Taliban's Haqqani Network, to carry out attacks. The Philippines accused Sister Patricia Fox of violating the terms of her visa after she joined a human rights fact-finding mission The Philippines on Wednesday ordered the deportation of an elderly Australian Catholic nun who angered President Rodrigo Duterte, accusing her of engaging in illegal political activities outside of her missionary work. Sister Patricia Fox, 71, who was briefly detained last week, will be the second foreigner who has spoken out recently against Duterte's policies to be expelled, as the government hits back at critics of his human rights record. The immigration service said it had cancelled the visa of Fox, who relocated to the Philippines in 1990 as a member of the missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Sion. "We direct Fox to leave the Philippines within 30 days from receipt of this order," it said in a statement, adding that the nun had "engaged in activities that are not allowed under the terms and conditions of her visa". Fox said in a statement Wednesday she helped to train Filipino farmers and tribesmen in organic farming to improve their incomes, as well as "to advocate with them for their rights to land, livelihood, peace, justice and security". "It seems this is what has brought me into conflict with the Philippine government," she added. "I am still hoping for a chance to explain how I see my mission as a religious sister and maybe the decision can be reconsidered." - 'You insult me' - Her lawyer Jobert Pahilga said the deportation order violated the nun's right to due process, and she would appeal to have the immigration service ruling rescinded. The immigration bureau held the nun overnight last week but released her without charges. Following her detention, Fox said she had recently joined a fact-finding mission to investigate alleged human rights abuses against farmers by soldiers fighting communist rebels. Hours after her release, Duterte announced he had personally ordered her arrest as a warning to foreigners to stop criticising his government. "I ordered her to be investigated... for disorderly conduct," Duterte said in a speech last week. "You insult me under the cloak of being a Catholic priest, and you are a foreigner! Who are you? It is a violation of sovereignty," Duterte said, apparently referring to Fox. Duterte has previously launched verbal attacks against critics of his government's narcotics crackdown, which has killed thousands of alleged dealers and users. The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor launched a preliminary investigation in February into allegations of extrajudicial killings. This prompted Duterte to withdraw from the ICC and threaten to arrest the chief prosecutor if she travels to the Philippines. Earlier this month Manila also deported Italian Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary general of the Party of European Socialists, who had previously condemned "extra-judicial killings" in Duterte's anti-drug war. Trump has occasionally slammed the North's dire rights record North Korea condemned US criticism of its human rights record as "ridiculous" as a diplomatic whirlwind accelerated ahead of leader Kim Jong Un's summits with the South and with US President Donald Trump. In the latest sequence of messaging before Friday's summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the Demilitarized Zone, Trump demanded the North give up its nuclear weapons -- while describing its leader as "very open" and "very honourable". Seoul said Moon will brief Trump by phone immediately after Friday's summit, and promised "close co-ordination" with the US. The isolated North has been accused of a litany of state-sanctioned rights abuses including extrajudicial killing, torture, brutal crackdowns on dissent and even kidnapping foreign citizens. The US State Department's latest rights report on the North, released last week, described "egregious human rights violations" in the authoritarian state from public executions to widespread surveillance of citizens. In recent weeks Pyongyang has been uncharacteristically reticent in its criticisms of Seoul and Washington, sometimes casting their actions as "chilling the atmosphere for dialogue" as it mounts a charm offensive ahead of the summits. Tensions on the Korean peninsula But it angrily slammed the State Department report for "viciously slandering" the nation, accusing the US of being a "hotbed" of rights abuses itself, beset by "cancer-like" gun violence and "all sorts of injustice, deprivation of rights". Washington was appointing itself as a "human rights judge", the official KCNA news agency said in a commentary late Tuesday, adding its "true aim" was to "create a pretext for political, military and economic aggression and pressure". The remarks came days before only the third-ever inter-Korea summit, in which Moon will focus on persuading Kim to give up his widely-condemned nuclear weapons and easing military tension between the two Koreas. They could discuss a path towards a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, which stopped with a ceasefire, and reunions of families left divided by the conflict. Moon told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he would raise the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the North's agents to train Pyongyang's spies -- an enduring issue in Tokyo. "I plan to tell... Kim that resolving the Japanese abduction issue will help establish peace in northeast Asia," Moon's office cited him as saying. Seoul said Moon's national security advisor Chung Eui-yong had met his US counterpart John Bolton in Washington. The two promised to co-ordinate closely and discussed a possible meeting between Moon and Trump before the US-North Korea summit, it added. - Testing moratorium - The US president's praise for Kim Tuesday was in marked contrast to the colourful personal insults he hurled last year, when he dubbed the young leader "Rocket Man" and warned of "fire and fury" against the North. But he insisted: "I want them to get rid of their nukes." Kim has overseen a rapid acceleration in the North's weapons capabilities, with Pyongyang last year carrying out by far its most powerful nuclear test to date and launching missiles bringing the US mainland within reach. Pyongyang announced a moratorium on testing at the weekend and said its nuclear proving ground at Punggye-ri would close. But the respected 38 North website said that tunnelling had been observed at the site up to March. It was still going on at a reduced level earlier this month, "suggesting that either the tunnel was complete and ready for future renewed testing or that the slowdown simply mirrored the ongoing political changes underway". A day before Kim's announcement, satellite images showed "unusual activity" involving a dozen mining carts, 38 North said Wednesday. - Political symbolism - Friday's summit will be held on the southern side of the border truce village of Panmunjom, with symbolic gestures like food from both Koreas and chairs engraved with a map of the peninsula. That depiction includes the Seoul-controlled islands of Dokdo, at the heart of decades-long territorial row with Japan, which claims them as its own. Kim has overseen a rapid acceleration in the North's weapons capabilities, with Pyongyang last year carrying out by far its most powerful nuclear test to date The two Koreas share a common resentment of Tokyo's brutal, 1910-45 colonial rule of the peninsula, with Pyongyang sometimes threatening attacks on Japan -- which is within the range of its missiles. Some analysts have raises concern that Pyongyang could seek to drive a wedge between Trump and the dovish Moon, who has advocated dialogue with the North and is seeking to broker a deal. Trump has occasionally slammed the North's dire rights record, prominently featuring a North Korean refugee in his State of the Union address. But the US president has rarely raised the issue in the build-up to the summit and Seoul's foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said earlier that Pyongyang's human rights record would not be on the agenda. US-based Human Rights Watch urged Seoul to "rethink" its decision, saying Tuesday that the summit is a "crucial moment... for the long-suffering people of North Korea". Protestors held a rally to defend press freedom in Manila in January, following accusations of a crackdown by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's government Press freedom around the world is under threat from a triple whammy of US President Donald Trump, Russia and China's bid to crush all dissent, a watchdog said Wednesday. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned that a "climate of hatred and animosity" towards journalists combined with growing attempts to control the media pose a "threat to democracies". Its annual report said that reporters were the target of a growing wave of authoritarianism with leaders whipping up hostility against them. The group accused the world's three superpowers -- the US, China and Russia -- of leading the charge against press freedom, with Trump regularly launching personal attacks on reporters and Beijing exporting its "media control model" to strangle dissent elsewhere in Asia. The slide towards "strongman" and populist politics in Europe, stoked by Moscow, was threatening freedoms in the region where they were once safest, it added, with Hungary, Slovakia and Poland setting off alarm bells. Czech President Milos Zeman turned up at a press conference with a fake Kalashnikov inscribed with the words "for journalists" while Slovakia's former leader Robert Fico called journalists "filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes" and "idiotic hyenas". "The unleashing of hatred towards journalists is dangerous and a threat to democracy," RSF chief Christophe Deloire told AFP. "Political leaders who fuel loathing for reporters... undermine the concept of public debate based on facts instead of propaganda. To dispute the legitimacy of journalism today is to play with extremely dangerous political fire," he added. - China's 'oppressive' order - RSF said that hostility towards the media is "no longer confined to authoritarian countries such as Turkey and Egypt", but was poisoning the political atmosphere in some of the great democracies. "More and more democratically elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracy's essential underpinning, but as an adversary to which they openly display their aversion," the report said, picking out Trump, India's Narendra Modi and Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte for particular criticism. The US president had referred to reporters as "enemies of the people", a term once used by Stalin, it said. RSF accused Vladimir Putins Russia of "stifling independent voices at home... and extending its propaganda network by means of media outlets such as RT (Russian Today) and Sputnik." It had even harsher words for Beijing, saying "Xi Jinping's China is getting closer and closer to a contemporary version of totalitarianism. "Censorship and surveillance reached unprecedented levels thanks to the massive use of new technology" in his first term in office, the report said. Now the Chinese government "is trying to establish a 'new world media order' under its influence, by exporting its oppressive methods, information censorship system and Internet surveillance tools," it added. "Its unabashed desire to crush all pockets of public resistance unfortunately has imitators in Asia," the RSF said, condemning Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's "ruthless offensive" against the media. It said Beijing's influence and tactics were also being felt in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. - Turkey falls further - Turkey -- the world's biggest jailer of journalists -- has fallen into the most repressive 25 countries in the world. The watchdog said that "media-phobia" there is now so pronounced that journalists are routinely accused of terrorism and "those who don't offer loyalty are arbitrarily imprisoned." North Korea remains the most repressive country on Earth closely followed by Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Syria and then China. Saudi Arabia, Bahrein, Vietnam, Sudan and Cuba also remain among the worst offenders, according to the RSF ranking of 180 countries. Malta tumbled 18 places to 65 after the assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. But not all the news was bad. Ecuador jumped 13 places after tensions eased between the government and privately-owned media, while Justin Trudeau's Canada entered the European-dominated top 20. Jamaica climbed to eighth overall, above Belgium and New Zealand, and Gambia jumped 21 places -- the biggest rise in Africa -- just ahead of Angola and Zimbabwe. The departure of the three African countries' "predatory presidents" was the main reason for their improved performance, the RSF said. As usual, Scandinavian countries topped the list with Norway deemed as having the world's freest press for the second year in a row. Police on Boracay carried out drills simulating clashes with protesters, terrorist attacks and a hostage incident Philippine police preparing to shut down the Boracay resort island staged drills in riot gear on Wednesday, startling the laid-back beach community as workers mounted a last-ditch effort to halt the six-month closure. President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the holiday destination off-limits to tourists from Thursday, saying the tiny island has become a "cesspool" tainted by dumped sewage. As part of police drills, officers in full riot gear clashed with bottle-throwing people playing the part of protesters on the white sand beach while concerned residents watched. No caption "I was alarmed there were so many soldiers and police," resident Dory Gaitano told AFP. "I thought they'll be only demolishing establishments with violations. Why are there countless soldiers?" At the same time a very real clash was brewing on Wednesday, as Boracay residents and workers asked the Philippine Supreme Court to halt the closure. "It is, mainly, a constitutional challenge to the powers of the executive to arbitrary decision making," their lawyers said in a statement. "If Boracay is closed to tourists, they will lose their source of income, and they would not be able to feed their families." - 'Buy one, get 10' - Boracay was known as the crown jewel of Philippine tourism with its world-famous powdery white sand, but unchecked tourism and environmental degradation made it far from the tropical paradise it was decades ago. Authorities say some of the hundreds of tourism-related hotels and restaurants use the island's drainage system to send untreated sewage into its surrounding turquoise waters. The closure threatens the livelihood of 17,000 hotel, restaurant and other tourism workers, plus about 11,000 construction workers. The island saw some two million visitors last year, pumping roughly $1 billion in revenue into the Philippine economy. Mock protesters scuffle with anti-riot police during a security exercise on the Philippine island of Boracay Duterte has said he will release two billion pesos ($38.2 million) to help the workers, but they say they haven't seen a penny yet. "My son has epilepsy and I am paying for his treatment. The government is offering a job but I am still waiting: what job and when? I will take any job as long as I have a daily income," souvenir vendor Jenelyn Besana told AFP. Restaurants and bars put up signs offering discounts, with most items on the menu already unavailable. Vendors slashed 50 percent off sunglasses and selfie sticks while tourists scrambled to get hold of Boracay souvenir shirts sold at half price. "We call it the closure sale. We used to sell key chains in a buy one, get one promo. But now we sell 'Buy one, get 10'," said vendor Jenie Dagunan. "We can't eat these bracelets, might as well turn them into money." A picture taken during a government guided tour shows smoke rising from buildings in Yarmuk, a Palestinian refugee camp on the edge of the Damascus, during regime shelling targeting Islamic State (IS) group positions on April 24, 2018 Syrian regime air strikes have killed six civilians in southern Damascus where government forces are fighting the Islamic State group, a war monitor said Wednesday. The six, including two men and their wives, were killed in the strikes on the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk late Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Regime strikes and rocket fire Wednesday morning targeted the neighbouring districts of Hajar al-Aswad and Qadam, the Britain-based monitor said. The latest civilian deaths bring to 18 the total of non-fighters killed in regime bombardment on the capital's southern neighbourhoods since Thursday last week. Yarmuk, which is now IS's last urban redoubt in Syria or Iraq, was once Syria's biggest Palestinian refugee camp, home to around 160,000 people. But the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA says most of the 6,000 refugees still living in the camp last week have since fled. At least 52 pro-regime fighters have been killed in fighting to expel IS from the capital's southern suburbs since April 19, the Observatory says. Syrian officials do not usually disclose losses within army ranks. The monitor has said at least 35 jihadist fighters were also killed during the same period. There are an estimated 1,000 IS fighters left inside Yarmuk and the adjacent districts of Hajar al-Aswad and Qadam. IS swept across large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, declaring a cross-border "caliphate" in areas the jihadists seized. At its height their pseudo-state covered an area the size of Italy, but IS has since lost most of the land it controlled in both countries. More than 350,000 people have been killed since Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-regime protests. The UN says some 6.1 million people are internally displaced in Syria, more than five million have fled the country and 13 million including six million children are in need of aid International donors on Wednesday pledged $4.4 billion in aid for 2018 for civilians caught up in the Syrian civil war -- well short of what the UN says is needed for humanitarian work in Syria and neighbouring countries. The sum committed at a two-day conference in Brussels was less than half of the $9 billion the United Nations says is needed this year to help those in need inside Syria and living as refugees in neighbouring countries. The head of the UN aid agency UNOCHA called the $4.4 billion "a good start" but Oxfam slammed the international response as "tragically inadequate". "My best guess is that by the end of the day we will have heard pledges for 2018 of $4.4 billion," Mark Lowcock, the head of UNOCHA, told a news conference. The EU's aid commissioner Christos Stylianides said later that pledges of a further $3.4 billion for 2019 and after were made at the conference, attended by more than 80 countries, aid groups and agencies. Britain announced 450 million pounds ($630 million, 515 million euros) for 2018 and another 300 million pounds for 2019, while Germany said it would donate more than a billion euros and the EU pledged some 560 million euros. But several major donors including the United States have not yet confirmed their pledges, Lowcock said, because of ongoing internal budget wrangling. - 'Tragically inadequate' - A group of nine international aid organisations said the conference "did not go nearly far enough" Lowcock earlier told AFP he hoped to see $8 billion pledged on Wednesday, warning that funds were "desperately short" and some programmes may need to be cut if money was not found. The figure was also far short of the $6 billion pledged at last year's Brussels gathering, and aid group Oxfam said governments had not done enough. "The response of the world's richest countries to the conflict remains tragically inadequate -- insufficient aid, not enough help for refugees and no meaningful peace process," Oxfam's Shaheen Chugtai said. David Beasley, head of the UN's World Food Programme, warned that without proper funding he would be forced to start cutting rations "to just barely keep people alive". Some 6.1 million people are now internally displaced in Syria, more than five million have fled the country and 13 million including six million children are in need of aid, according to the UN. More than 700,000 people have been displaced since the start of this year alone as Assad has stepped up his offensive against rebel forces, intensifying the humanitarian crisis. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura warned that the military campaign would lead only to a Pyrrhic victory for the regime. "History has shown us that what that can lead to is permanent guerilla movements, instabilty, the inability for reconstruction and above all the risk that Daesh will take advantage to return," he said. Daesh is another name for the Islamic State group. - Struggling peace talks - Europe hoped to use the conference to reinvigorate the faltering UN-led peace process in Geneva, but it was not clear how effective the push was. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini urged Moscow and Tehran, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's key supporters, to help bring him to the negotiating table, saying they had a duty to help wind down the war, now in its eighth year. "We need in particular Russia, Iran to exercise pressure on Damascus so that it accepts to sit at the table under UN auspices," Mogherini said as she arrived for the gathering, the seventh of its kind. Damascus has shunned the Geneva talks and Russia, Iran and Turkey launched a rival process in the Kazakh capital Astana last year. Moscow was represented at the conference by its ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov, who gave a scathing assessment of the event in his address to the other delegates. "I am perplexed by the format of todays meeting that does not include official representatives of the Syrian government," he said, according to a text released by the Russian embassy. He accused countries maintaining sanctions on Syria -- which includes all 28 EU members and the United States -- of "suffocating the Syrian people". Palestinian writer Ibrahim Nasrallah poses for a photo after winning the 2018 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his book titled "The Second war of the Dog" in Abu Dhabi on April 24, 2018 Palestinian author Ibrahim Nasrallah has landed the Arab world's top fiction prize for his novel "The Second War of the Dog", a dystopian tale of inhumanity. Nasrallah's work won the International Prize for Arab Fiction, affiliated with the Man Booker Prize, at a ceremony Tuesday hosted by the United Arab Emirates. Set in a violence-wracked nameless country, "The Second War of the Dog" explores the moral and material avarice of humankind through the life of its main character, Rashid, who morphs from a diehard regime opponent into a corrupt extremist. "This novel aims to shake the reader, to shatter his understanding of the world, to shatter his complacency. Because no one can survive if the world around him is collapsing," Nasrallah told AFP after the ceremony. "We are subject to a sort of oppression by arrogance by the great powers of this world," he said. "Killing our children, driving us into poverty, plundering the wealth of the Arab world, this is also oppression. Oppression is not just the doing of this or that little [extremist] group." Born to Palestinian parents in Jordan in 1954, Nasrallah is a former journalist who turned to full-time writing in 2006. The International Prize for Arab Fiction includes $50,000 and funding to translate the work into English. Mourners shout as they carry the coffin of late Palestinian professor Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh The body of an assassinated Palestinian scientist was Wednesday driven through the Malaysian capital accompanied by a crowd shouting "God is greatest", as mourners accused Israel of killing him. Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh's corpse was set to be flown to Egypt later in the day before being transported on to Gaza for burial. Batsh, a member of Islamist militant group Hamas and said to be a rocket-making expert, was murdered in a hail of bullets by motorbike-riding attackers Saturday as he walked to a Kuala Lumpur mosque for dawn prayers. Family and friends of the 35-year-old have accused Israel's Mossad spy agency of carrying out the killing but the Jewish state has denied the claims. Hundreds of mourners marched through the capital under Palestinian flags accompanying a van holding the body, as they carried placards showing the victim's face. The remains were taken to a mosque, where prayers for the dead were performed before about 500 mourners. "Every Palestinian who has heard of this assassination is saddened and shocked," said Muslim Imran, chairman of the Palestinian Cultural Organisation of Malaysia. "This crime, I believe, is another reflection of the nature of the Israeli occupation. They carry out crimes, massacres, not only in Palestine but also in the rest of the world." Malik Taibi, an Algerian student who was Batsh's neighbour, added the victim was a "very kind man". "We hope that the ones that killed him are caught by the Malaysian government." Earlier Wednesday police said they believed the two suspects accused of carrying out the hit were still in the country, and released a photograph of one of them. The men were believed to have entered Malaysia in January but their nationalities were still not known, police said. The motorbike they were allegedly riding was found abandoned Tuesday not far from where the assassination took place, and police were able to trace the photo. It showed a man with wavy black hair, glasses and a goatee beard. Police previously released two computer-generated images of the suspects, showing two light-skinned men with beards. Mossad is believed to have assassinated Palestinian militants and scientists in the past, but rarely confirms such operations. Batsh's expertise in making weapons could have made him a target -- militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza regularly fire rockets at southern Israel, usually without causing casualties. But Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has denied claims of the state's involvement, suggesting instead that it was a "settling of accounts" between factions of a terror group. US film director Oliver Stone (R) arrives with Reza Mir-Karimi, director of the Fajr Film festival, to attend an event during the festival in the capital Tehran, on April 24, 2018 Filmmaker Oliver Stone, attending a film festival in Iran on Wednesday, said French President Emmanuel Macron's trip to Washington had been "very depressing" and marked a return to the "imperialism of old France". Stone, who is half-French, said he was "particularly shocked" to see Macron standing alongside President Donald Trump, calling for a revision of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. "I couldn't believe it," Stone told AFP after a press conference in Tehran. "I remember very well President (Jacques) Chirac with great pride when he said no to George Bush when he wanted to invade Iraq (in 2003). "And now to see this young man, who doesn't have much of a sense of history or memory of the great traditions of France... was very depressing." Trump and Macron called for a "new" deal with Iran on Tuesday that would limit Iran's ballistic missile program and support for militant groups across the Middle East. The US president has threatened to walk away from the existing deal, which curbed Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, by the next renewal deadline on May 12. Stone, a fierce critic of US foreign policy over many decades, said Macron, like one of his predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy, "wants to stand alongside the Americans as a sign of French power". "This is a return to the colonialism and imperialism of the old France. This is what President De Gaulle swore off with the Algerian War in 1958-9 when he called it quits," he said. "Mr Macron has to learn that he cannot be an imperialist." South Korean demonstrators hold banners during a rally to mark International Women's Day as part of the country's #MeToo movement last month A former senior South Korean prosecutor implicated in sexual molestation allegations was charged on Wednesday in a high-profile case that triggered the country's #MeToo movement. Police have said they are investigating more than 70 cases of sexual assault or harassment across the country which have come to light over the past few months, with suspects including politicians, celebrities and artists. The stream of accusations began when a female district attorney, Seo Ji-hyeon, alleged in a television interview that Ahn Tae-geun groped her during a funeral dinner in 2010. He allegedly exerted his influence to have her transferred to a provincial position after she complained to the prosecution's internal affairs bureau. The statute of limitations for sexual misconduct has expired in the case but prosecutors said they indicted Ahn on power abuse charges. Ahn has said he does not remember the incident and strongly denied he pulled strings to have Seo sent away to a provincial post. Victims of sex abuse in patriarchal South Korea are reluctant to come forward due to fears of public shaming, but Seo's interview opened a flood of similar revelations. One of the most high-profile cases is that of Ahn Hee-jung, a former presidential hopeful who was seen as a possible contender to replace President Moon Jae-in when his term ends in 2022. Ahn Hee-jung was formally charged with rape and sexual harassment earlier this month. Pope Francis called for "a concrete path to reconciliation" between North and South Korea Pope Francis Wednesday called on the leaders of North and South Korea to seek a "path to reconciliation" at their upcoming summit. Kim Jong Un is due to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday in the border village of Panmunjom, becoming the first North Korean leader to visit the South since the Korean War ended 65 years ago. "I ask them to have the courage of hope by becoming artisans of peace," the pope said in his weekly audience in Saint Peter's Square, calling for "a concrete path to reconciliation" and "transparent dialogue." "The Holy See accompanies, supports and encourages" this meeting, he added. The high-level summit is intended to pave the way for a separate highly anticipated encounter between Kim and US President Donald Trump. Rohingya refugees gather in the "no man's land" behind Myanmar's border lined with barbed wire fences in Maungdaw district A United Nations Security Council delegation which wants to see first-hand the impact of the Rohingya refugee crisis will arrive in Myanmar on Monday and visit Rakhine state, a senior government official said. It will be the highest-profile UN visit to Rakhine since the start last August of a violent military crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority, which the UN and US have described as ethnic cleansing. Mainly Buddhist Myanmar disputes the charge but has severely curtailed access to the conflict zone, blocking UN fact-finders and a rights envoy from entering the country. After the Security Council first proposed a visit in February, Myanmar's government said it was "not the right time" but it gave approval earlier this month for the visit by the 15 council ambassadors. The crackdown has driven some 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh. "They will come to Naypyidaw on 30th (April) and will proceed to Rakhine the next day," a senior Myanmar official with knowledge of the trip told AFP, without providing more details. The army's scorched-earth campaign left hundreds of Rohingya villages razed to the ground while refugees have given consistent testimony of murder and rape. Myanmar's military rejects the allegations and insists the response was a justified campaign to root out members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, who killed around a dozen members of the security forces in August raids on police posts. Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a repatriation deal for refugees to return in January but so far only one family has returned from a no man's land between the two nations. Several thousand Rohingya remain in the border zone, refusing to join the throngs in Bangladesh's refugee camps but also reluctant to return until their safety and rights are secured. Many Rohingya fear that returning to Myanmar will mean they fester for years in apartheid-like camps. In southern Rakhine some 130,000 Rohingya remain trapped in displacement camps after fleeing persecution in 2012. The stateless group has faced decades of discrimination in mainly Buddhist Myanmar, which stripped them of citizenship. "We will carry on waiting here until we are allowed to go back to our homes," Rohingya leader Dil Mohamed told reporters from no man's land through the border fence on Wednesday during a government-organised press trip. "Our parents and grandparents are all citizens of this country... how come we are not citizens?" A member of a Japanese boy band has sparked shock among fans after reports he forcibly kissed a high school girl A member of popular Japanese boy band Tokio has been accused of forcibly kissing a high school girl at his apartment, local media said Wednesday. Tatsuya Yamaguchi's agents have acknowledged the incident and apologised. Police have referred the incident to prosecutors, local media said. Yamaguchi, 46, is accused of asking the high school girl, whose age has not been revealed, to come to his apartment in Tokyo in February and forcibly kissing her, public broadcaster NHK said. In a statement his agents apologised and said he had been drinking at the time. "We're really sorry that he drank alcohol and kissed the victim without thinking about how she felt," the powerful Johnny & Associates agency said. The agency represents several hugely popular Japanese acts including SMAP, a boy band that split up in 2016. Its bands attract adoring crowds in Japan and also elsewhere in the region, including Taiwan and Hong Kong. Tokio is known for its clean-cut image and has appeared at events to promote the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The group has also worked to promote food from the Fukushima region after a drop in demand following the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster. Fans expressed their shock on Twitter. "I'm surprised. It's unbelievable... Maybe he was stressed but he cannot do that to a minor," one Twitter user said. "I liked him so much... so I'm in shock," said another. The agency and the teen have already reached an unspecified agreement and she has withdrawn a complaint but prosecutors will still investigate, NHK said. Tokio regularly appear on television and have a new album scheduled for release next month. Bangladeshi activists protest against the digital security act in Dhaka in February Bangladesh police on Wednesday invoked a controversial internet law to arrest one of the country's top recruitment executives for posting satirical cartoons of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina online. A cyber crimes division from the Dhaka metropolitan police detained Fahim Mashroor, the CEO of Bangladesh's largest job-hunting site, for "anti-state activities". "Mashroor was arrested over a case for allegedly posting satirical portraits and information about the honourable prime minister on social media," said police spokesman Masudur Rahman. The 48-year-old executive was detained after a pro-government student politician filed a complaint under the internet act, which critics say stifles dissent and freedom of expression. Under the law, anyone who deliberately publishes material deemed to hurt religious beliefs, offend the state or damage law and order can be jailed for 14 years. Al Sadik, the activist from the student wing of Hasina's ruling Awami League, likened Mashroor's satirical posts to "anti-state activities". "Mashroor kept pouring oil in the fire. The general election is nearing. Such harassing and provocative acts against the prime minister was surely ill-motivated," he told AFP. Critics say Hasina's government has used the internet act to undermine opponents in the lead-up to the general election slated for December. UN Rapporteur Heiner Bielefeldt said in 2015 the law -- which has been used in recent years to jail high-profile journalists and activists -- has had a "chilling effect" on freedom of expression in Bangladesh. Hundreds of Bangladeshi journalists demonstrated in February when the government approved a draft of another digital security act. That law says journalists who secretly film or gather information from inside government offices could be convicted of espionage and face 14 years in prison. The European Union, the UK and US have expressed concern over the draft, which is still before parliament, saying it would "suppress freedom of expression in different ways". The Punggye-ri test site, before (left) and after the September 3, 2017, test. The image on the right shows landslides from the blast North Korea's underground nuclear test site has partially collapsed following a massive bomb blast last year, making it unusable, Chinese seismologists have concluded. The North's leader Kim Jong Un declared last week that his regime would halt nuclear and long-range missile tests and shut down its nuclear site at Punggye-ri under Mount Mantap in the country's northeast. The offer came days before his summit this Friday with the South's President Moon Jae-in, which is scheduled to be followed by a summit with US President Donald Trump. North Korea conducted five of its six nuclear tests at the site, with the biggest blast last September 3 triggering a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that was felt across the northern border with China. The North claimed it tested a hydrogen bomb. Landslides and earthquakes following the explosion led to speculation that the site was suffering from "tired mountain syndrome". Two studies involving Chinese experts have found that a 4.1-magnitude aftershock that took place 8 1/2 minutes after the first quake caused the collapse of rock inside the mountain. "It is necessary to continue monitoring possible leaks of radioactive materials caused by the collapse incident," said the University of Science and Technology of China in a summary of one study posted on its website. The university said the study would be published in Geophysicial Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. An English-language abstract by the study authors in another section of the university's website concluded: "The occurrence of the collapse should deem the underground infrastructure beneath mountain Mantap not be used for any future nuclear tests." The line about the site being unusable does not appear in the Chinese-language summary and it was unclear whether it would be included in the journal. One of the study's authors, Lianxing Wen of New York's Stony Brook University, did not immediately respond to emailed questions. A second study led by Chinese scientists, including experts from the China Earthquake Administration, also concluded that the September aftershock had caused a collapse. "The aftershock was neither a secondary explosion nor a triggered tectonic earthquake," said the second study, published last month, also in Geophysicial Research Letters. "It occurred due to a process comparable to a 'mirror image' of the explosion, that is, a rock collapse, or compaction, for the first time documented in North Korea's test site," it said. The second study, however, did not determine whether the site was unusable or leaking radiation. "Seismic models, like in this paper, provide only partial understanding of the underground explosions," it said, adding that further studies are necessary to look at radioactive leaks or possible groundwater contamination. The two studies reached their conclusions by looking at data from seismic monitoring stations. China has deployed radiation monitoring stations along its border with North Korea. A state-run newspaper in the northeastern province of Jilin last year published a list of tips on how civilians can protect themselves in the event of a nuclear attack. Relatives of Filipina worker Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found inside a freezer in Kuwait, hold banners as they wait for the arrival of her body from Manila at Iloilo International Airport in central Iloilo province on February 17, 2018 Kuwait said Wednesday it is expelling the Philippine ambassador and recalling its own envoy from Manila as tensions rise over the treatment of domestic workers. Official news agency KUNA said the Philippine ambassador had been given a week to leave, amid a diplomatic row between the two nations sparked by the murder of a Filipina maid in the oil-rich state. An official at Kuwait's foreign ministry told AFP that Philippine ambassador Renato Pedro Ovila had been summoned to be informed of his expulsion. On April 1, a Kuwaiti court sentenced to death in absentia a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife for the murder of maid Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found in a freezer in February. Announcement of the diplomatic expulsion comes despite an apology to Kuwait on Tuesday by Philippine foreign secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, after videos emerged of embassy staff helping Filipinos flee from allegedly abusive employers. "I apologise to my counterpart and we apologise to the Kuwaiti government, the Kuwaiti people and the leaders of Kuwait if they were offended by some actions taken by the Philippine embassy in Kuwait," Cayetano told reporters in Manila. One of the clips, released by the Philippine foreign ministry last week, shows a woman running from a home and jumping into a waiting vehicle, while another depicts a person sprinting from what appears to be a construction site to a black sport utility vehicle. Cayetano said the Philippine embassy staff were responding to complaints of abuse from some of the 260,000 Filipinos working in Kuwait. Philippine Ambassador in Kuwait Renato Pedro Ovila speaks during a press conference at the Philippines embassy in Kuwait City on April 21, 2018 Three Filipinos who drove vans for the embassy in the operations were believed to be held by Kuwaiti authorities. Kuwait was furious about the videos, saying the rescues amount to a violation of its sovereignty, further straining ties already hit by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte imposing a ban on Filipino workers moving to the Arab Gulf state. Duterte alleged that Arab employers routinely rape their Filipina workers, force them to work 21 hours a day and feed them scraps. The two countries had since been trying to work out an agreement to protect the rights of Filipino workers in Kuwait, particularly some 170,000 maids. Human Rights Watch and other groups have documented extensive mistreatment of expatriate maids and other foreign workers from the developing world in several Middle East states, drawing attention to abuses including sexual assault and confiscation of passports. Some 10 million Filipinos work abroad and the money they remit back is a lifeline for the Philippine economy. Demonstrators in Johannesburg criticised the proposed minimum wage of the equivalent of $1.60 as too low Several thousand protestors marched through Johannesburg Wednesday to demonstrate against a proposed minimum wage, a new test for President Cyril Ramaphosa who took office in February. South Africa, which is suffering record unemployment, is due to introduce the 20 rand ($1.60) hourly minimum wage, but it has been widely criticised as too low. "It is a disgrace," said Martin Kgaladi, a car industry worker wearing a T-shirt denouncing the pay level as "a salary of slaves". He accused Ramaphosa, a former trade union leader who supports the minimum wage, of being "captured by the capitalists and oppressing the workers he once defended." Ramaphosa has vowed to boost economic growth and tackle unemployment by attracting foreign investment and cracking down on government corruption. He took over from scandal-tainted Jacob Zuma after nine years of weak growth, ballooning national debt and falling investor confidence. SAFTU, the second biggest trade union, also held protests in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, but the strike was not backed by COSATU, the biggest union group, which is a government ally. Employment has hit a high of 28 percent in South Africa, with the youth unemployment levels often peaking at over 50 percent in some areas. Last week, Ramaphosa left a summit in London early to hold talks over violent riots against alleged government corruption and poor public services. An Afghan day laborer shovels soil into a sack as he works on a reconstruction site in Kabul on August 14, 2017 Billions of dollars of reconstruction cash are flowing into Afghanistan with limited accounting of where and how the funds are being spent, a US government watchdog warned Wednesday. At issue is the World Bank-administered Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) that comprises 34 donor nations and agencies and has contributed more than $10 billion to Afghanistan's reconstruction effort. The largest contributor is the United States, which has paid in more than $3 billion since 2002. According to a new audit by the office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the World Bank is unable to accurately evaluate the impact of the funds, or monitor where the money goes. "Billions of dollars of donor funds contributed to the ARTF are at risk due to continued limitations on, and lack of transparency into, monitoring and accounting of ARTF funding by the World Bank and the government of Afghanistan," SIGAR said in a statement. As an example, SIGAR said that when the World Bank approves reimbursements for Afghan workers, such as teachers, it does not require a third party monitor to check that the salary recipients actually exist -- despite acknowledging a risk of "undetected ghost workers." The report also found that donors are unable to specify where they want funds to go, with the result that some monies are being spent in regions controlled by the Taliban or other insurgent groups. The US Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides the US contribution to the reconstruction fund, told SIGAR it is "no longer preferencing funds by geographic location," the report noted. SIGAR added that once the US or any other donor provides its contributions to the fund, "neither the World Bank nor USAID can account for how those funds are specifically spent." In its written response to the audit, the World Bank said it laid "out an opportunity for the government of Afghanistan, ARTF donors and the World Bank to strengthen the focus on results and accountability." The United States has spent 16.5 years and about $1 trillion overall in Afghanistan, including warfighting and aid, yet the Taliban and other insurgent groups still control or are pushing for influence in large swaths of the country. France's President Emmanuel Macron addressed a joint meeting of Congress after a two days of meetings with President Donald Trump sealed the growing bond between the two leaders France's President Emmanuel Macron urged the United States to embrace multilateralism and warned of the perils of trade war, in an address to Congress pushing back against Donald Trump's "America First" agenda. The French leader's speech to lawmakers was a dramatic twist at the end of a three-day visit that had showcased his warm personal relationship with Trump, despite the gulf between their visions of world affairs. The two presidents had literally embraced each other, repeatedly talking up their much-vaunted friendship during the trip, but in his speech to Congress Macron pushed back against Trump's trade, climate and non-proliferation policies. "We can build the 21st century world order based on a new breed of multilateralism, based on a more effective, accountable, and result oriented multilateralism," Macron said, defending the rules-based world order. Trump has threatened to tear up international trade deals, scorns the United Nations, accuses US allies of not pulling their weight, walked away from Paris climate accord and hates dealing with transnational bodies like the European Union. But Macron, who one day earlier had appeared hand-in-hand with Trump at the White House, received applause from the US leader's domestic Democratic opponents by calling for a "strong multilateralism." He declared that France would not pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, warned against imposing trade tariffs on allies and stressed that global action on climate change is vital because there is no "Planet B." - 'He is perfect' - "The United States is the one who invented this multilateralism. You're the ones now who have to help to preserve and reinvent it," he said, in a tacit nod to Trump's efforts to shake off international shackles. In doing so, he flipped the script of the trip -- the Trump White House's first full state visit -- which was until now dominated by intimate images of the French and US first couples planting trees, kissing each other and socializing. Trump at one point brushed Macron's shoulder and said: "He is perfect." Transatlantic political reality reasserted itself on Wednesday, however, as Macron -- speaking in an accented but increasingly confident English -- recalled the glories of past US-French cooperation. Trump's trade sanctions against European steel and aluminum will enter into force in the coming weeks unless Trump agrees to sign a waiver. Despite his affection for Macron, he has not yet said he will do so. Macron hit back. "We need a free and fair trade, for sure," Macron said. "A commercial war opposing allies is not consistent with our mission, with our history, with our current commitments for global security." Trump has also warned he may not renew sanctions waivers on Iran next month, which would effectively torpedo the 2015 nuclear deal, a triumph of multilateral diplomacy. Macron has more sympathy than perhaps any other foreign leader for Trump's arguments that the deal falls short of sealing off Iran's alleged quest for a nuclear weapon -- which the French leader vowed before lawmakers Tehran would "never" be allowed to possess. Together with Trump, Macron called Tuesday for a "new" deal with Tehran, but he made it clear to lawmakers that France would not be walking away from the existing accord. "It is true to say that this agreement may not help all concerns, and very important concerns," he told the lawmakers. "But we should not abandon it without having something substantial and more substantial instead." "That's my position. That's why France will not leave the JCPOA, because he signed it," he said. - 'Uncomfortable moments' - The second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin, said of the speech: "I loved it." "He started off very slowly and he built it to two powerful issues that he couldn't avoid: climate change and the Iran nuclear agreement. "I wouldn't use the word rebuke," he allowed. "But clearly there's a difference: As cordial and friendly as he was with the president yesterday he made it clear that the people of France and Europe feel very strongly about climate change and about the Iran nuclear agreement." House Democrat Adam Schiff judged however that Macron had offered "more of a direct contradiction of the president than I was expecting." "There were more than a few uncomfortable moments on the GOP side of the aisle," he told AFP. Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he didn't feel Macron had rebuked his host. Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron clinked glasses and traded pledges of friendship during a lavish state dinner at the White House "He said in there that he believes in free and fair trade. That's exactly what the president asked for," he said. Macron's provocative speech came after he enjoyed an exuberant welcome from the Republican president -- an elaborate state dinner, an intimate get together for four with their wives at George Washington's Virginia estate Mount Vernon, and repeated vows of friendship. "May our friendship grow even deeper, may our kinship grow even stronger, and may our sacred liberty never die," Trump said in his toast to the Macrons at the White House. In turn, the 40-year-old French leader spoke at length of "how deep, how strong, and how intense the relationship is between our two countries," and marveled at the unforeseen rapport he has forged with the 71-year-old Trump. But while the "bromance" has provided plenty of material for late night TV comedy, the key question is whether Macron can translate the privileged relationship into concrete results -- be it on trade, Iran or the climate. After his speech to Congress, Macron was to meet students at George Washington University and deliver a final press conference before heading back to Paris. The group of Vincent Bollore employs more than 80,000 for 2017 turnover of 18.3 billion euros ($13.11 billion) and Africa is a a key growth area Billionaire French industrialist Vincent Bollore was charged Wednesday as part of a probe into alleged corrupt connections in Africa used to win port contracts. Founded in 1822, the Bollore Group, which is majority owned by the Bollore family, has diverse interests ranging from logistics and energy to plantations and financial investments. In 2017, it had a turnover of 18.3 billion euros ($13.11 billion) and more than 80,000 employees worldwide, according to the group. Africa is one of its main areas of growth. The group is present in 46 African countries, which accounted for 2.5 billion euros in revenue last year. This year it is planning to invest 300 million euros on the continent. - Ports - Bollore Africa Logistics is a major player in West Africa, especially in former French colonies. Part of Bollore's portfolio of interests is management of the autonomous Port of Conakry It operates container terminals in 10 ports in the region, from the Guinean capital of Conakry to Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo. It also has public-private partnerships for managing 16 container terminals elsewhere on the continent. The group is a leading presence in Ivory Coast, where it has been operating Abidjan port since 2004. It has plans to build a second terminal able to handle the biggest container ships involved in West African trade. The probe is over the port contracts in Conakry and in Lome, the capital of Togo. Prosecutors are looking into whether Bollore Group's communications arm, Havas, undercharged Guinean President Alpha Conde and Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe for work on their election campaigns as a sweetener for the contracts, according to the French daily Le Monde. - Railways - The Bollore Group has a majority share in three railway concessions in Africa: Sitarail (Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), Camrail in Cameroon and Benin's Benirail. Investigators blamed Camrail for safety failings after a disaster in Eseka, central Cameroon, in 2016 in which 79 people were killed and 600 injured. Bollore Africa Logistics is meanwhile encountering problems in an ambitious 3,000-kilometre (1,800-mile) scheme to build a rail web linking the Benin capital Cotonou, Abidjan, the Niger capital of Niamey and Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso. In 2008, Benin and Niger awarded a contract to build and manage the 740-km section between Cotonou and Niamey to Petrolin, a company run by businessman Samuel Dossou. The contract was withdrawn in 2013 and awarded to Bollore's Benirail, sparking a legal battle that Petrolin won in 2017. The Port of Lome in Togo, inaugurated in October 2014, is another Bollore asset The presidents of the two countries, exasperated by years of delay, said on April 7 that they may now turn to China, which has earmarked around $60 billion to develop infrastructure in Africa. The Abidjan-Ouagadougou link of 1,260 km used to be the main export route for enclaved countries such as Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, as well as the cheapest transport available for Ivorian businesses. A 400-million-euro scheme to restore the decrepit track began in December 2017, after a two-year delay. - Agriculture - Bollore has a 38.8-percent stake in a Luxembourg holding company, Socfin, which manages nearly 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of palm-oil and rubber plantations in Africa and Asia. Socfin has come under fire in particular over its palm-oil production. In 2015, campaigners launched a protest against Bollore, saying Socfin had "grabbed" land and displaced local communities. Socfin filed a libel suit against media and NGOs, which it lost in a Paris court last month. Bollore is also suing a French journalist, Tristan Waleckx, and the head of France Televisions TV network over a documentary showing workers complaining about conditions at Socapalm, Socfin's subsidiary in Cameroon. A protester holds a placard during a "Berlin wears kippa" demo in Berlin Organisers of a major German music prize scrapped their main award Wednesday due to an anti-Semitism row as thousands of Germans rallied in solidarity with Jews after a spate of shocking hate crimes. A cascade of recent scandals, including the "Echo" prize-winning rap duo making light of Nazi death camp prisoners, has raised pointed questions about Germany's ability to protect its burgeoning Jewish community seven decades after the Holocaust. In the latest ugly incident, a tiny Berlin rally against anti-Semitism with just three demonstrators was marred Wednesday when angry counter-protesters shouted "terrorists", spat at them and snatched their Israeli flag, organisers said. Police said the event in Neukoelln district, the heart of the capital's Muslim immigrant community, ended early after the trio were shouted down by "loud and emotional" opponents and feared for their safety. Elsewhere in Berlin, some 2,000 demonstrators rallied at a "Berlin Wears Kippa" event where Jews and non-Jews wore the traditional skullcap in a shared show of defiance. Speaking at the rally, Berlin's Jewish community chairman Gideon Joffe warned that the growing threat meant "it's five minutes to midnight", adding that "we have to be careful". The head of the country's Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, demanded "100 percent respect" for Jews as well as for Muslims, homosexuals and people of "all skin colours". - Belt attack - The previous day, Schuster had set off shockwaves with a warning that Jews who wear the kippa or the Star of David could be courting danger on German streets. The remarks sparked outrage, with the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center accusing authorities of disappointing Jews' faith in German democracy. Chancellor Angela Merkel had on Sunday denounced the emergence of "another form of anti-Semitism", beyond that of right-wing extremist groups, from Muslim refugees, in an interview with Israeli television. She reaffirmed that the security of Jews and of the state of Israel was a central concern for Germany because of its "eternal responsibility" for the Holocaust in which the Nazis murdered six million European Jews. Last week Germans were stunned after a 19-year-old Syrian refugee attacked two young men wearing kippas with his belt in a trendy district of the capital, shouting "yahudi" -- Jew in Arabic -- and lashing out at his victim with a belt. A video of the assault, filmed by one of the Israeli victims, went viral on social media and sparked widespread revulsion. Earlier this month, two rappers raised hackles by winning the Echo music prize after selling more than 200,000 copies of their album which features a lyric boasting that their bodies are "more defined than Auschwitz prisoners". Amid the anguished national debate, organisers of the Echo prize said Wednesday they would axe the award because they did not want it to be "seen as a platform for anti-Semitism, misogyny, homophobia or the playing down of violence". Minutes later the rappers' music label, BMG, announced that it was dropping the duo, Farid Bang and Kollegah. - 'Culture of remembrance' - Ahead of the Berlin rally, the chairman of the Turkish community in Germany, Gokay Sofuoglu, also called for the kippa to be worn, telling the Berliner Zeitung that "if you want to stop Islamophobia, then you also can't tolerate anti-Semitism". Yair Lapid, the leader of the centrist Israeli political party Yesh Atid, said Jews from Germany should go out "with a kippa and a big baton in their hands and protect themselves". "We thought the days of anxiety for the Jews in Germany were over. That is clearly not the case," he told German news agency DPA in Berlin. Demonstrations in support of Jews with hundreds of people were also held in the cities of Cologne, Potsdam, Magdeburg and Erfurt, where politicians, Christian and Jewish leaders wore kippas and marched to the main local synagogue. Newspapers had offered paper cutouts of skullcaps for readers to wear. The issue of anti-Semitism is particularly fraught in Germany, which has gone to great lengths to atone for its Nazi past and whose political class takes deep pride in the growth of the now 200,000-strong Jewish community. However, the high-profile incidents in recent months have stoked fears of a possible resurgence of anti-Semitism from both the far-right and a large influx of predominantly Muslim asylum-seekers since 2015. In March, the Central Council of Jews urged schools to keep track of religious bullying following reports that a young Jewish girl was allegedly harassed and threatened by Muslim fellow pupils at a Berlin primary school. The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which captured nearly 13 percent of the vote in September's general election, has also not shied away from questioning Germany's cherished "remembrance culture". Party member Bjoern Hoecke last year called Berlin's Holocaust memorial a "monument of shame" and said Germany should take a "180-degree" turn away from its guilt over World War II crimes. Actor and comedian Bill Cosby could spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand in 2004 A Pennsylvania jury began deliberations Wednesday in Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial, tasked with deciding whether the disgraced megastar drugged and molested a young woman at his home 14 years ago. The frail 80-year-old could spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand, then a Temple University employee, in 2004. Judge Steven O'Neill, whom the defense initially tried to get kicked off the case, spent more than an hour delivering painstaking instructions to the jury as a somber Cosby listened intently. The panel of seven men and five women then retired at 11:08 am (1508 GMT) and the verdict watch got underway at the Montgomery County court house in Norristown, a depressed suburb of Philadelphia. On Tuesday, the court heard two hours of closing statements from the defense portraying the actor as a misguided married man hoodwinked into a $3.38 million settlement by a con artist and pathological liar. A protester carries a book and a sign against Cosby outside the courthouse The prosecution delivered three hours of summations, painting Cosby as the real "con" man who exploited his fame as "America's Dad" to betray women's trust by drugging and sexually assaulting them. The case has forever tarnished the legacy of the actor once adored by millions for his role as lovable father and obstetrician Cliff Huxtable on the 1984-92 hit television series "The Cosby Show." The jury has heard 12 days of testimony and from around two dozen witnesses in what is the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era that has seen a litany of powerful men lose their jobs over accusations. Cosby declined to testify, as was the case during his first trial, which ended in a hung jury in June with the sequestered panel hopelessly deadlocked after six days of testimony and 52 hours of deliberations. Any verdict must be unanimous and this time the jury has much more testimony to consider. The once pioneering African American actor claims he gave Constand, who is now a massage therapist in Toronto, an over-the-counter antihistamine to relieve stress and that relations were consensual. - 'Inability to consent' - Constand, who at the time was director of operations for women's basketball at Temple, says Cosby gave her three blue pills, saying they would help her relax, but she passed out instead. She woke up to find him penetrating her vagina with his fingers and making her masturbate his penis, she says. "This case is about trust, betrayal and the inability to consent," prosecutor Kristen Feden told jurors on Tuesday. "I'm confident that you will come back and tell that man that what he did to Andrea Constand that night is against the law." Cosby's high-flying defense team urged the jury to acquit their client on all counts and save a "distinguished" elderly man from "absolute ruin." "You're dealing with a pathological liar, members of the jury, you are," said defense attorney Tom Mesereau. The defense presented phone and travel records to suggest that Cosby was not in Philadelphia to carry out the alleged assault in January 2004, and a former Temple University colleague who claimed that Constand spoke of wanting to set up a celebrity for cash. The prosecution brought five other accusers to testify that Cosby was a serial predator who preyed on them as well, first winning their trust then deliberately drugging them to make them incapable of resisting. Prosecutors initially declined to press charges and Constand received $3.38 million in a civil settlement from Cosby in 2006. The district attorney reopened the case in 2015, arguing new evidence had come to light, while an avalanche of women came forward publicly to accuse Cosby of around 40 years of assault. Around 60 women have accused the Emmy winner of being a serial predator, but Constand's is the only case that can be criminally prosecuted as statues of limitation have expired elsewhere. Destroyed tanks and armoured personnel carriers are pictured on a road in the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma on the outskirts of the capital Damascus on April 20, 2018 Experts from the global chemical weapons watchdog Wednesday visited a second site in the Syrian town of Douma as they probe an alleged poison gas attack earlier this month, the body said. "Today, the FFM (fact-finding mission) team carried out a visit to a second location in Douma. It also collected samples at this site," the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in a statement. It is the team's second visit to Douma after they managed to gain access to the town on Saturday for the first time since deploying to Damascus on April 14. The mission came amid international outrage over images of adults and children appearing to be suffering from the effects of a toxic weapon attack. The gruesome footage from the apparent April 7 attack horrified the world and prompted unprecedented Western strikes on Syrian military installations. Along with the first samples taken at the weekend, all the evidence collected in Douma will be brought back to the OPCW's labs on the outskirts of The Hague. "They will be split and dispatched for analysis by the OPCW designated labs," the body said. The watchdog also confirmed that Russian diplomats are organising a briefing on Thursday in The Hague for OPCW member nations and would "bring some Syrians to speak about the reported Douma incident". The Russian embassy in the Netherlands said in a tweet that the briefing would involve "witnesses from Syria who were at the staged videos of #WhiteHelmets" -- a humanitarian organisation made up of some 3,000 volunteers working in rebel-held areas. On April 7, the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and the White Helmets jointly said dozens of people died in a "poisonous chlorine gas attack" in Douma. The OPCW said it had urged the Russian delegation to allow its experts to interview the witnesses first, and to hold the briefing "once the FFM has completed its work". "Nevertheless, the Russian delegation stated that it would go ahead with the briefing and that its intention was not to interfere with the FFMs work," the OPCW statement added. A Syrian boy stands in front of a destroyed building in the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma on April 20, 2018, during an army-organised media tour Two weeks after its forces took full control of Eastern Ghouta, Syria has yet to allow UN humanitarian aid to enter the main town of Douma, the UN deputy aid chief said Wednesday. Ursula Mueller also told the UN Security Council that the situation in rebel-held Idlib was "catastrophic" with tens of thousands of displaced Syrians from Eastern Ghouta and elsewhere seeking refuge there. "While Eastern Ghouta is no longer besieged as it has come under the control of the government of Syria, the UN has not yet been granted access to Douma," Mueller said. About 70,000 people are in dire need of aid in Douma after one of the most intense military battles in Syria's seven-year war. Syrian forces retook full control of Eastern Ghouta on April 12. "After seven years of conflict that continues to see escalation after escalation, the needs of Syrians have never been higher," said Mueller, the UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs. With almost 400,000 people displaced since mid-December and tens of thousands pouring in from other regions, Idlib has also been hit by air strikes in recent weeks as fighting continues, Mueller said. The Security Council met to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Syria following a weekend retreat in Sweden that some diplomats said helped mend rifts within the top UN body over how to help end the war. Swedish Ambassador Olof Skoog said the council would be looking at "incremental steps" on Syria, including a push for more aid convoys to be sent to hard-to-reach areas and stepping up mine removal in Raqa, six months after the Islamic State group was driven out of the city. The council has been riven by divisions over chemical weapons use in Syria following the alleged use of toxic gas that reportedly killed dozens in Douma on April 7. The war in Syria entered its eighth year last month, with diplomacy deadlocked over the way forward to end the conflict that has killed more than 350,000 people and forced millions to flee. A file picture taken on November 22, 2017 shows Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri (C-L) posing for a selfie with Lebanese singer Ragheb Alama upon his arrival at his home in Beirut Lebanon's prime minister has launched an app to share selfies with his supporters as he campaigns for re-election in the country's first parliamentary polls in almost a decade. Long a fan of selfies, Saad Hariri, 48, on Tuesday called on his social media followers to use the app to share photos in which he appears by their side. The app launch comes ahead of the elections on May 6, with many among the country's almost 600 candidates seeking to woo young Lebanese on social media. Hariri leads the Future Movement, which is fielding 37 candidates including himself in the first legislative polls since 2009. The premier has taken selfies with a wide range of supporters and even world leaders over the years. One taken this month showed him looking relaxed and reclining in Paris with Morocco's King Mohammed VI and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Once they have downloaded the new app, Hariri fans can admire a collection of amateur portraits starring the prime minister, grinning with his slicked-back hair amid his supporters. They can also add their own photos with the leader. At a recent rally, he promised a group of 6,000 women to take a selfie with each of them if he won. The publicity stunt, captured in a video that was shared widely, sparked criticism in a country that has faced a series of political dramas in recent years and is struggling to avoid an economic crisis. "A selfie to a background of debts," mocked one user on Facebook, alluding to rapidly raising debts in the world's third most indebted country, according to the International Monetary Fund. But an enthralled follower wrote: "May God protect you, king of selfies." In November, Hariri announced his resignation in a surprise televised address from Saudi Arabia that sent tremors through Lebanon. Weeks later, following consultations with the various political groups in Lebanon, Hariri announced he was withdrawing it. Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi has been accused of being reluctant to expose those in the ruling Frelimo party responsible for the debt scandal before elections next year Mozambique has yet to find evidence of any criminal activity over its $2 billion hidden debt crisis that has threatened the country's economy, the attorney general said Wednesday. President Filipe Nyusi has been accused of being reluctant to expose those in the ruling Frelimo party responsible for the debt scandal before elections next year. "Facts have been identified that indicate practices that could lead only to financial offences," attorney general Beatriz Buchili told parliament, after two years of investigations. Mozambique was forced to admit in 2016 that the loans had been kept secret and were spent on fishing and military ships and equipment. The government later said it did not disclose the debt as a matter of national security linked to unrest between 2013 and 2016 that echoed the country's civil war, which ended in 1992. The loans were supposed to be repaid via an anticipated windfall from recently discovered natural gas deposits -- but that has so far failed to materialise. "Organised crime will continue to rule and to laugh at the courts and on our judicial institutions," Silverio Ronguane, of the opposition MDM party, said after the attorney general's speech. "What happens to those who indebted our country and dragged us into misery?" Analysts say that the failure to disclose full details about the debt scandal and to prosecute those responsible has delayed a possible International Monetary Fund aid package. Recent months have seen an escalation in the decades-old dispute over fertile land and water that has left thousands dead Nomadic herders have been accused of killing at least 18 people in central Nigeria, including two priests. But there are unanswered questions about who was really behind the attack. Tuesday's attack in Mbalom, south of the Benue state capital, Makurdi, appeared at first sight to be the latest outbreak of retributive bloodshed between cattle herders and farmers. Recent months have seen an escalation in the decades-old dispute over fertile land and water that has left thousands dead and heaped pressure on Nigeria's government to act. On Wednesday, 11 ethnic Hausa traders were killed in Makurdi and two mosques were razed to the ground in violence sparked by the church attack. The acting state governor said Benue was "under siege" while the Roman Catholic Diocese of Makurdi declared it was the goal of "jihadists to conquer Benue". But analysts said both the location and religious target of the attack were unusual and warned against generalising a complex conflict that is being increasingly politicised in the run-up to presidential polls in 2019. "The key thing is that the pattern of Tuesday's attack was different from prior attacks by the herdsmen," Cheta Nwanze of SBM Intelligence, told AFP. "So, to my mind at least, someone is taking advantage of the problem." - 'Bogeyman' - Since 2017, 385 people have been killed in Benue state alone as a result of the herdsmen crisis, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project. There was a sharp spike in the number of deaths at the beginning of this year, according to the US State Department-funded research. Pressure is mounting on Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari to contain the killings as the clashes over land escalate into a rift that is deepening along nominally religious lines. Buhari has been accused of doing nothing to act because the cattle herders are his ethnic and religious kinsmen. But in the absence of a strong police force and an efficient judicial system, there have been few arrests and even less information on the perpetrators. "Herdsmen" have become the "ambiguous bogeyman", said political analyst Chris Ngwodo, "an umbrella term for explaining the collapse of public order". - 'Surprising' attack - Danladi Chiroma, from the Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) which represents herders across the country, called Tuesday's church attack "surprising". "No herders are allowed to graze in the area anymore. All herders are concentrated in the northern part of Benue," he added. "I've never heard of any incident in this area before then, that is so surprising such an attack could happen there." Chiroma said there was "obviously... a political agenda". Benue state lies in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt that separates the predominantly Muslim north from the largely Christian south. The area has long been a hotbed of ethnic, sectarian and religious tensions between indigenous farming communities, who are mainly Christian, and the nomadic cattle herders, who are Muslim. The crisis has shone a light on how Nigerian politicians play a vicious game of identity politics, pitting ethnicities against one other to drum up support, explained Idayat Hassan, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development West Africa. "It's an electioneering issue, it's something to galvanise the campaign around," she added. "Ethnicity against ethnicity, villagers against villagers, it's one of the biggest issues of the 2019 campaign." - Reprisal attacks - The attack against the Hausa -- who like the Fulani herders are Muslim and mainly from the north -- underlines the dangers of inflammatory language and identity politics. Rilwanu Adamu, an adviser to the Benue governor Samuel Ortom on Islamic affairs, said those targeted were neither farmers nor herders. "We do our trade peacefully and take care of our families," he said. "That is why we don't know why we should be targets," he added, saying the community was now "living in fear". "There is so much tension ongoing in Makurdi right now," added Garba Mohamed, who works at the Makurdi cattle market. "They are targeting every Muslim person wether he's Fulani or Hausa, they just go after you. There are no security forces to protect us." Israelis watch flooded water running through a valley blocking the main road along the Dead Sea in the Judean desert, near the desert fortress of Masada north of Ein Bokek, following heavy rainfall in the mountains on April 25, 2018 Two teenagers died in a series of floods that hit Israel and the Palestinian territories on Wednesday, police said, the first of three forecast days of heavy rain. In the southern Israeli Negev desert, a 17-year-old Bedouin boy was swept away in a river before being found dead, police said. And east of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, a 17-year-old Palestinian girl was found dead after being taken by a current. The rainfall affected most of Israel, with many locations receiving dozens of millimetres of downfall in a short period of time and hail hitting some central and coastal cities. Streets flooded in central Israel, forcing motorists to abandon their vehicles, and roads closed in the south where desert rivers overflowed. The current system exceptional for this time of year was not the amount of rain but rather the fact that the downpour had affected so much of Israel and was going to continue for another two days. Heavy rainfall in April is not too rare and occurs in Israel every three or four years, meteorologist Boaz Nechemia said. But what made this system special was the fact that it affected most of the country, and was due to last for three days, said Nechemia, who runs the popular www.02ws.co.il site providing weather forecasts for Jerusalem. The rain didn't come from Europe in the north, rather from the east and south, and therefore was not accompanied by strong wind and cold, Nechemia said. "What happened today was that there was a high force of rain in a short period of time in a system that circled around Israel, hitting a different region each time," he said. The appointment of Christine Schraner Burgener as UN special envoy to Myanmar will be announced on Thursday, just days before the Security Council travels to Bangladesh and Myanmar for a first-hand look at the Rohingya refugee crisis UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will appoint the Swiss ambassador to Germany, Christine Schraner Burgener, to be his new special envoy to Myanmar, UN sources said Wednesday. The General Assembly in December asked Guterres to appoint a special envoy in a resolution that called on Myanmar to end its military campaign in Rakhine state. The appointment will be announced on Thursday, just days before the Security Council travels to Bangladesh and Myanmar for a first-hand look at the Rohingya refugee crisis. At least 700,000 Muslim-minority Rohingya have been driven out of Myanmar and are living in crowded camps in Bangladesh since Myanmar's army launched a military operation in Rakhine state. The violence has left a trail of torched villages in its wake, with allegations of murder and rape at the hands of troops and vigilantes. Myanmar has vehemently denied US and United Nations allegations of ethnic cleansing. The UN spokesman did not confirm the appointment of Schraner Burgener, but said an announcement was imminent. Schraner Burgener has also served as Swiss ambassador to Thailand. Myanmar authorities say the operation in Rakhine state is aimed at rooting out extremists. Singer Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump talk at Trump Tower after meetings on December 13, 2016 in New York Rap superstar Kanye West doubled down Wednesday on his support for Donald Trump, tweeting his "love" for the president and flirting with his own political ambitions after his newfound conservatism raised eyebrows. A master of staying in the spotlight, West last week returned to Twitter -- his and Trump's favorite platform -- a year after vanishing when he canceled a tour and sought treatment for a mental breakdown. In incessant, needling tweets much in the style of Trump, the 40-year-old rapper and designer announced two new albums, boasted of sales of his shoe line -- and voiced admiration for a conservative television commentator, Candace Owen. After wide online criticism over his political leaning, West tweeted: "You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. "We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought." Trump, who rarely publicly salutes celebrities for their viewpoints, himself commented on a retweet of that missive, writing: "Thank you Kanye, very cool!" West -- who is highly unusual as both an African American and a celebrity to support Trump -- added of Trump's 2016 rival Hillary Clinton: "I don't tell a Hillary supporter not to support Hillary. I love Hillary too." The rapper posted a picture of himself sporting a red cap with Trump's trademark "Make America Great Again" slogan but also said his wife, socialite Kim Kardashian, wanted him to make clear he does not agree with Trump on all issues. West renewed speculation that he will seek higher office himself, tweeting "2024," a presidential election year. Much like Trump, he also took issue with coverage of himself in the media, tweeting to the founder of celebrity gossip site TMZ, "Your (sic) hearing from your future president." West made his name for his self-reflective hip-hop on albums starting with "The College Dropout" but over the years has been increasingly outspoken in his views and actions. His most visible first foray into politics came in 2005 when he said that then president George W. Bush "doesn't care about black people" following the chaotic response to devastating Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Shortly after the 2016 election, West expressed support for Trump on-stage and made a series of other bizarre statements including accusing rap mogul Jay-Z of trying to kill him. He cut short his tour, with his representatives saying he needed therapy for a breakdown -- but re-emerged briefly to meet the then president-elect at his Trump Tower residence. US director Damien Chazelle (L) celebrates with nominee for Best Actor in "La La Land" Ryan Gosling after he won the Best Director award for "La La Land" at this year's Oscars Universal opened day three of CinemaCon Wednesday with a stunning first look at lunar landing drama "First Man," some superheroes that wouldn't get anywhere near a Marvel set and a whole lot of irritable dinosaurs. The studio kicked off with an extended look at Oscar-winning "La La Land" director Damien Chazelle's account of NASA's 1960s moon mission, focusing initially on Neil Armstrong's teenage years. The astronaut, played by Ryan Gosling, is seen watching a rocket launch, holding his baby daughter and singing, "I see the moon, and the moon sees me." The action ramped up as convention attendees were shown Armstrong in training, Apollo 11 blasting off and capsules bursting into flames as they plummet toward Earth. Armstrong's first wife Janet (Claire Foy) yells at NASA scientists, "You don't have anything under control," and we see the astronaut having a difficult conversation with his son about the dangers involved. The trailer closed with the space pioneer taking "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" onto the lunar surface. The movie is due out in October, the heart of Hollywood's awards season and a lucrative window for previous space adventures such as Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity," (2013) and Ridley Scott's "The Martian" (2015), which grossed a combined $1.4 billion worldwide. Gosling and Chazelle -- who worked together on 2016's "La La Land" -- introduced the clip with Foy and spoke about the "true honor" of giving the Armstrongs their due. - Razzmatazz - Actor Chris Pratt arrives for the World Premiere of the film "Avengers: Infinity War" in Hollywood Gosling said the Apollo 11 mission was the "most astonishing journey in history" while Foy described "First Man" as the story of "unsung heroes who gave their support to this almost impossible voyage." Hollywood's biggest studios decamp to Las Vegas for four days every spring, providing news and footage from their upcoming movies to the theater operators who will show them. Universal has a deserved reputation for razzmatazz in Sin City, screening the entire "The Fate of the Furious" in a surprise which delighted attendees at last year's show. Journalists had been speculating that the trick would be repeated this year with dinosaur movie "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" -- but had to be content with stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard showing off the first five minutes and a new trailer. The footage showed the usual high-octane action audiences have come to expect from the lucrative franchise -- 2015's "Jurassic World" grossed $1.7 billion -- with T-Rex chases and oversized marine predators making a splash. "The last time I was here I introduced you to 'Jurassic World' and that movie went on to become the fourth biggest movie in history," said Pratt. "So let's do that again, please? Is that a deal?" "After 'Avengers' comes out," joked Howard. - Crowd-pleasers - Jamie Lee Curtis cranked up the scares at this year's CinemaCon with a trailer for a modern take on iconic horror film "Halloween" Universal offered a crowd-pleasing line-up of buzz-generating previews including for M. Night Shyamalan's horror thriller "Glass," the final film in a long-gestating trilogy that started with cult favorite "Unbreakable" (2000). "Glass" -- due out in January next year -- stars Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, James McAvoy and Sarah Paulson, all of whom appeared onstage at Caesar's Palace, in what Shyamalan called the "first truly grounded comic book movie." A trailer featured Paulson as a psychologist working with patients who believe that they are superheroes and David Dunn, Willis's character from "Unbreakable," trying to stop a looming disaster. McAvoy reprises his role from Shyamalan's "Split" (2017) as Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with more than 20 completely independent personalities, including the deadly Beast. Jamie Lee Curtis, star of "Halloween" (1978), cranked up the scares with a trailer for a modern take on the iconic horror film and told CinemaCon she didn't have to think twice before agreeing to reprise her role. "Except for 'Star Wars,' I can't think of another movie where the same actor is playing the same character 40 years later," she laughed. "That in itself is worth celebrating." The trailer showed masked serial killer Mike Myers' mental asylum and Curtis's Laurie Strode, struggling decades later to move on from the trauma of events in the original film. "Every night I prayed that he would escape... so I could kill him," she says. French President Emmanuel Macron answers questions of students at George Washington University French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday rejected the prospect of meeting with the Dalai Lama, saying doing so without consulting Beijing first would trigger a "crisis" with China's government. Macron, speaking at a town hall with George Washington University students in the US capital at the tail end of his state visit, said he met in Paris with the "very inspiring" exiled Tibetan spiritual leader when Macron was a candidate. "Now I'm president of the French republic. If I meet him it will create indeed a crisis with China," Macron said. And doing so "without any precondition," just to send a signal to China, would be "useless and counterproductive," he said. "Is it good for my people if I have a sort of countermeasures coming from China" as a result of the meeting? "For sure no." But Macron, fresh from a rare address to lawmakers in the US Congress, also opened the door for deeper engagement on the issue. "If France could be useful in order to fix the situation between the Dalai Lama and his people, and China, I will do my best," he said, adding that he perceives "some early signals" that Chinese President Xi Jinping may be open to addressing the issue. "I hope so for China, I hope so for the Dalai Lama, I hope so for Buddhist people," he added. Beijing accuses the Nobel Peace Prize laureate of seeking Tibetan independence through "spiritual terrorism." The Dalai Lama says he seeks only greater autonomy. Facebook's quarterly financial results appeared to show no impact from a controversy over the hijacking of personal data of millions of users of the social network Facebook on Wednesday reported a sharp jump in profits in the past quarter, with gains in its user base and strong ad growth as the social network appeared to see no impact from a controversy over privacy. Profit in the first quarter of 2018 leapt 63 percent from a year ago to $5 billion, and total revenues increased 49 percent to $11.97 billion, Facebook said in an earnings update which topped most analyst forecasts. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, who has spent most of the past month on the fallout from the revelations on the hijacking of personal data by a political firm, sought to reassure investors about the company's future despite the privacy row which has sparked investigations on both sides of the Atlantic. "Despite facing important challenges, our community and business are off to a strong start in 2018," Zuckerberg said. "We are taking a broader view of our responsibility and investing to make sure our services are used for good. But we also need to keep building new tools to help people connect, strengthen our communities, and bring the world closer together." Facebook shares climbed more than 6.9 percent to $170.75 in after-hours trades that followed release of the earnings figures. The report showed the number of people using Facebook monthly rose 13 percent from last year to 2.2 billion as of the end of March, despite concerns that users would abandon the network following the misuse of data by Cambridge Analytica. Facebook said another measure, daily active users, was up in all regions including the US and Europe. "At first look, we would characterize (these) results as a relief and as a sign that so far the damage from Cambridge appears contained although this will be a long three to six months ahead to steer through this storm," GHB Insights analyst Daniel Ives said in a research note. Baird senior research analyst Colin Sebastian said in a note to investors that "at first glance, impact from data/privacy issues appears minimal." - Facebook's future - Facebook co-founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in two congressional panels this month on the hijacking of personal data by a political consultancy Zuckerberg faced questioning in two congressional panels earlier this month about revelations that personal data on 87 million users was harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy working for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. "It was an important moment for the company to hear the feedback and show what we are doing," Zuckerberg responded when asked about the hearings during an earnings call. "Now, the important thing is to make sure we execute on all the things we need to do to keep people safe." Although the impact of the scandal, which broke in mid-March, was unlikely to be reflected in the first quarter, the early signs suggested users and advertisers would remain. "Facebook is so large that it would take a lot of user defections to make a difference," eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson said in a recent report. But Williamson said some of Facebook's momentum was already fading due to other factors such as disinformation, social media fatigue and new platforms attracting young people. "Facebook has already essentially maxed out its penetration in the US," she said. Facebook also announced Wednesday that its board of directors had authorized the buyback of an additional $9 billion worth of shares, raising its repurchase plan to $15 billion. - Regulators take aim - Facebook faces a specter of regulation at home and abroad. US senators introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at better protecting online privacy in response to the Facebook data scandal. Facebook announced last week it would begin rolling out changes to how it handles private data to comply with forthcoming EU rules. The European Parliament last week demanded Zuckerberg appear in person to answer questions about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, rejecting his offer to send a more junior executive in his place. The EU in May is introducing tough new General Data Protection Regulation rules, which Facebook has said it will apply to its platform globally. Facebook chief financial officer David Wehner said use of the social network might ebb slightly in Europe due to GDPR, but executives were confident its ad business was on firm footing since the rules affect its competitors as well. "We believe we can continue to build a great ads business while protecting the privacy of people who use Facebook," Wehner said. Pivotal senior analyst Brian Wieser noted that there are broader concerns at Facebook including rising expenses and regulation. "There are still many risks ahead around digital advertising spending in Europe," Wieser said in a note to investors. "Further, it remains to be seen whether or not the way in which attempts by Facebook (and everyone who sells digital advertising) to adhere to GDPR will withstand regulatory scrutiny and avoid significant related fines in Europe." President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the shutdown this month after calling the resort a "cesspool", dirtied by tourism-related businesses flushing their raw sewage directly into the ocean The Philippines shuttered its most famous holiday island Boracay to tourists on Thursday for a six-month clean-up, which the government has imposed with a muscular show of its security forces. Coast guard boats were on patrol and assault rifle-wielding police were posted at entry points to the once-pristine island that has become tainted by heavy commercialisation and overdevelopment. Regional police head Cesar Binag told AFP the shutdown began past midnight, with tourists barred from boarding the ferry that is the main way onto the island. "Boracay is officially closed to tourists. We are not closing establishments but tourists cannot enter. We are implementing the instruction of the president," Binag said. Boracay holiday island About 600 policemen were deployed, with some performing life-like drills including riot officers battling bottle-hurling protesters and mock hostage taking of sunbathers -- all before startled locals. "My nephews and nieces were afraid," Filipino tourist Tara Calcetas told AFP. "It was scary because there were people swimming yesterday (at the beach) and the police were firing guns as if there was a criminal here." The government conceded on Thursday there was no real threat, with interior ministry assistant secretary Epimaco Densing telling AFP the security presence was "just part of preparing for the worst". President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the shutdown this month after calling the resort a "cesspool", dirtied by tourism-related businesses flushing their raw sewage directly into the ocean. During the closure, only residents with ID cards are allowed to board ferries to Boracay, which is home to around 40,000 people. People on the so-called "party island" held a final bash on the beachfront on the eve of the closure, complete with a fireworks display and cheers of "Bye, Bye Boracay". Critics say the Boracay closure is a knee-jerk reaction that will put thousands out of work But on Thursday, residents had the swaying palms, turquoise waters and usually mobbed white-sand beaches mostly to themselves. "This is what you call an island, a paradise. Boracay looks like its original beautiful self," said restaurant cook John Reymar. The Philippines has pledged to take advantage of the calm to spruce up the 1,000-hectare (2,470-acre) chunk of bruised paradise. There are plans to bulldoze illegal or dilapidated structures, to shore up the island's infrastructure and clean up the mess left by years of unchecked growth. However, plans to help the up to 30,000 people who had been employed by the island's bustling tourist trade were less clear. Though Duterte has promised some $38 million in funds to help workers, they say they haven't seen a cent yet. Volunteers help to clean up Boracay's Bulabog beach The workers were drawn by the relatively good wages on the island that has seen the number of visitors roughly quadruple to two million since 2006. Those tourists, a growing number of whom are Chinese and Korean, pumped roughly $1 billion in revenue into the Philippine economy last year. But its growth from a sleepy backpacker hideaway into a mass-tourism hub with fast food outlets on the beach has taken a toll. Unchecked construction has eaten away at the island's natural beauty, while slimy algae-filled waves in some areas and mountains of discarded drink bottles are problems acknowledged even by critics of the shutdown. "I'm all for rehabilitation and preserving it but clearly this is not the way to do it," Philippine politics expert Ashley Acedillo told AFP. He called the closure an "ill-thought through, unplanned and knee-jerk action" that did not take into account the economic impact on the island's workers and business community. Reymar, the restaurant cook, agreed: "But maybe without tourists, what is the use of having a beautiful island?" 16:29 | Lima, Apr. 25. In an interview with El Peruano official gazette, he explained his Government is intended to increase trade, cooperation, and infrastructure construction, as well as to promote education through scholarships and industrialization technology transfer. Future bilateral ties Cho emphasized the two countries celebrate 55 years of diplomatic relations this year. According to him, Peru is one of his country's top partners in Latin America. In fact, the Andean nation is regarded as its gateway to the South American region. On the other hand, he affirmed the bilateral trade volume amounts to US$3 billion, with a favorable balance of trade for Peru. "We purchase some US$2 billion in products from Peru , and Peru, in turn, buys around US$1 billion. This volume is low compared to its potential level," he stated. As is known, South Korea has a significant advantage in terms of information and communication technologies (ICT), he explained, and both countries can achieve an exchange of technology and knowledge. A photo of accused 'Golden State Killer' Joseph James DeAngelo is displayed at a press conference in Sacramento next to a list of the rapes and murders he is alleged to have committed California authorities, after a 40-year manhunt, on Wednesday announced the arrest of a 72-year-old former police officer on suspicion of being the notorious "Golden State Killer," a serial rapist and murderer who terrorized the state in the 1970s and 1980s. Joseph James DeAngelo, of Citrus Heights, California, was arrested without incident on Tuesday, officials said at a press conference in the state capital Sacramento. Also known as the "East Area Rapist" and the "Original Nightstalker," the Golden State Killer has been linked to at least 12 murders, 51 rapes and 120 home burglaries in California between 1976 and 1986. Armed with a handgun, the masked assailant would break into homes during the night and tie up and rape his female victims, who ranged in age from 13 to 41. Sacramento County sheriff Scott Jones announces the arrest of suspected 'Golden State Killer' Joseph James DeAngelo Sacramento County district attorney Anne Marie Schubert said DeAngelo had been charged with two counts of murder with further charges to come. "They just haven't been charged yet," Schubert told reporters. "This has happened at lightning speed." She said DeAngelo had been identified through DNA technology but declined to provide any more details about what led to his arrest after all these years. "The answer was and always was going to be in the DNA," Schubert said. "We found the needle in the haystack and it was right here in Sacramento." "The magnitude of this case demanded that it be solved," the district attorney added. "This case deeply affected this entire state." - Former police officer - Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said DeAngelo had been charged with the February 2, 1978 murders of a newlywed couple, Brian Maggiore and his wife, Katie, who were shot to death while walking their dog in Rancho Cordova in Sacramento County. The FBI wanted poster for the "Golden State Killer," who was arrested more than 40 years after committing his first attack Jones said DeAngelo was arrested outside of his home in Citrus Heights, a city near Sacramento. "When he came out of his residence we had a team in place," the sheriff said, adding that DeAngelo was "very surprised" to be taken into custody. DeAngelo served as a police officer in Exeter, California, from 1973 to 1976 and in Auburn, California, from 1976 to 1979, when he was fired for shoplifting a hammer and a can of dog repellent, Jones said. "It's very possible he was committing the crimes during the time he was employed as a peace officer," he said. According to the authorities, the first known attack committed by the Golden State Killer was a June 1976 rape in Rancho Cordova. Besides raping his victims, the assailant would take "souvenirs" from the residences including coins, cash, identification and jewelry. Most of the early attacks occurred in the Sacramento area, but DNA evidence also connected the suspect to a series of rapes and murders in the San Francisco Bay region and the southern part of the state. The last known case linked to the Golden State Killer was the May 1986 rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl in Irvine, California. - 'Everyone was afraid' - Two years ago, the FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the cold case. "Everyone was afraid," FBI special agent Marcus Knutson was quoted on the FBI website as saying of the climate at the time of the attacks. Sacramento County district attorney Anne Marie Schubert said DNA technology led to the arrest of accused 'Golden State Killer' Joseph James DeAngelo "We had people sleeping with shotguns, we had people purchasing dogs. People were concerned, and they had a right to be. This guy was terrorizing the community. He did horrible things," Knutson said. The Golden State Killer was the subject of "I'll Be Gone in the Dark," a best-selling book published earlier this year by true crime writer Michelle McNamara. McNamara died two years ago at the age of 46 but her book helped spark renewed interest in the case. McNamara's husband, actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, who helped complete the book following his wife's death, welcomed the news of the arrest. "She would be beyond excited about this," Oswalt said on Twitter. "I think this is the definition of bittersweet." Jones, the sheriff, said the book did not directly lead to the arrest but it "kept interest and tips coming in." The Golden State Killer's fifth victim, Jane Carson-Sandler, said she was "overwhelmed with joy" when she was informed about DeAngelo's arrest. "I just found out this morning," she told The Island Packet newspaper. "I've been crying, sobbing." Carson-Sandler was attacked by the Golden State Killer in her Citrus Heights home on October 5, 1976. She wrote a book about the rape and appeared on a documentary aimed at catching the man behind it. Mohamed Noor shot Justine Damond last July in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis after she called police to report a possible rape A former Minnesota police officer who shot dead an unarmed Australian woman will plead not guilty and claim self-defense, according to court documents filed Wednesday. Mohamed Noor shot Justine Damond last July in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis after she called police to report a possible rape. She was shot as she approached the police car that arrived to investigate. Noor has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, which respectively carry sentences of up to 25 years and up to 10 years in prison. In a court filing Wednesday, Noor's attorneys disclosed that he would plead not guilty and claim self-defense and the use of reasonable force. A court hearing is scheduled for May 8. Authorities allege Noor shot Damond in the abdomen from the passenger seat of a police cruiser as she approached the driver's side window when the car neared the end of a dark alley behind her home. The two officers in the car had been startled moments before by a sudden sound. Damond, who had twice called police with concerns of a potential sexual assault in the alley, died at the scene. When charging Noor in March, prosecutor Mike Freeman said "there is no evidence that Officer Noor encountered a threat... that justified his decision to use deadly force." Noor's attorney Tom Plunkett released a statement at the time claiming his client had "acted as he has been trained and consistent with established departmental policy." The shooting provoked outrage in the United States and in Damond's native Australia. Damond had moved to the US to marry her American fiancee, Don Damond, whose name she had already legally adopted. Her maiden name was Ruszczyk. The 40-year-old's Australian relatives and the country's prime minister demanded answers -- and protests in Minneapolis led to the resignation of the city's police chief. Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his pro-Israel stance, repeated Wednesday evening his desire to see his country's embassy transferred to Jerusalem The Czech Republic announced on Wednesday the reopening of its honorary consulate in Jerusalem as President Milos Zeman reiterated his wish to move the Czech embassy to the city from Tel Aviv. "The Czech Republic has decided to open in May an honorary consulate in West Jerusalem, and before the end of the year a Czech centre, also in West Jerusalem," the ministry said in a statement. Opened in the early 1990s, the Czech honorary consulate in Jerusalem was closed in 2016 due to the death of the honorary consul, spokeswoman Michaela Lagronova told AFP. US President Donald Trump broke with decades of policy in December to announce US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and a pledge to move the embassy, drawing near global condemnation and enraging the Palestinians. It ruptured generations of international consensus that Jerusalem's status should be settled as part of a two-state peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. President Zeman, known for his pro-Israel stance, repeated Wednesday evening his desire to see his country's embassy transferred to Jerusalem. Speaking at Prague Castle, he said he remembered discussing it with Benjamin Netanyahu, quoting the Israeli Prime Minister as saying: "If you do, I will give you my own house." Zeman added: "By the way, I strongly refuse the accusation that we copy the United States of America. Contrary to that, the United States of America copied my proposal." He also criticised objections to the idea from European nations, calling them "cowards". The Czech Embassy (of Czechoslovakia then Czech Republic) has been in Tel Aviv since 1949, except during the interruption of diplomatic relations under the former communist regime in Prague between 1967 and 1990. Netanyahu responded in a letter, in which he said: "I am delighted that I will be able to welcome you towards the end of this year to Israel, where, as I hope, we can open the Czech Embassy in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish state." Any decision to move the embassy would first need to be approved by the Czech government. On-demand streaming, led by Spotify, has rapidly transformed the music industry and brought new growth after years of stagnation The US House of Representatives voted unanimously Wednesday to overhaul how musicians are compensated for the playing of songs, agreeing to revamp antiquated regulations as streaming shakes up the industry. The reform package still needs to go through the Senate, but it enjoyed support across the political spectrum and from industry and artist groups -- a rare consensus in bitterly divided Washington. The Music Modernization Act would notably extend copyright protections for songs from before 1972, the cutoff under current law that has set off an avalanche of lawsuits from older artists upset about non-payment. The law sets up a board led by music publishers that would handle so-called mechanical licenses, which are issued by copyright holders for the use of songs by streaming companies and others. The move gets rid of the current system in which songwriters issue so-called notices of intent through the US Copyright Office, a complicated process often blamed for delays in compensation. The law also shakes up the Copyright Royalty Board, which determines rates of compensation, by calling for uniform payments from all music services. In another shift, the law would formalize copyright protections for producers, mixers and engineers -- often not included with songwriters in compensation. "With revenue from digital music streaming expected to double in the coming years, it is important that this bill become law so we can keep up with the changing dynamics of this great American industry," said Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the third highest-ranking Republican in the House. Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said that the bill marked "a unique moment in time where virtually all the industry stakeholders have come together in support of a common music policy agenda." "This is a historic opportunity to accomplish something that hasn't been done in decades," he said. On-demand streaming, led by Spotify, has rapidly transformed the music industry and brought new growth after years of stagnation. Global revenue from recorded music grew last year by 8.1 percent, the highest on record, the IFPI industry body said Tuesday. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (R), greets John Bolton at the Pentagon for a March 29 meeting US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met with John Bolton, the new national security advisor to President Donald Trump, at the Pentagon on Wednesday, a spokeswoman said. The breakfast meeting came amid US media reports that Mattis risks being isolated by Trump's more bellicose coterie of advisors, including Bolton, an Iraq War-era hawk who has advocated for military action in both Iran and North Korea. Bolton "was here this morning," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said. The two men decided to have "regular" meetings, she added, noting that CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Trump's pick to run the State Department, could join them. When Mattis first met Bolton at the Pentagon last month, the defense secretary jokingly said: "I've heard that you're absolutely the devil incarnate and I wanted to meet you." Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general, is one of a dwindling pool of original Trump picks not to have drawn negative attention from his mercurial boss. According to multiple reports, after a suspected chemical attack in Syria this month, he successfully pushed Trump to only taking limited action in response, while Bolton wanted a larger operation. Mattis used to meet regularly with Rex Tillerson, who was fired last month from his position as secretary of state. Pompeo is seen as being more hawkish than Mattis, further raising the possibility of the Pentagon chief's influence waning. White House physician Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson is widely seen as vastly underqualified to run a notoriously dysfunctional government department and faces a tough battle for Congressional confirmation Presidential doctor Ronny Jackson vows to continue his bid to run the Department of Veterans Affairs Wednesday, despite a fresh slew of scandalous allegations concerning his behavior. Jackson told reporters his shock nomination for the cabinet position was "still moving ahead as planned" -- despite being accused of improperly handing out drugs and being drunk at work. Trump surprised even his closest aides a month ago with an evening tweet announcing the Navy rear admiral was his pick to run the 370,000-plus person department. Jackson was the physician to presidents Trump, Barack Obama and George W. Bush and was well regarded by many current and former White House staff. But he was widely seen as vastly underqualified to run a notoriously dysfunctional government department and already faced a tough battle for Congressional confirmation. Since the announcement a tidal wave of allegations have surfaced over his behavior, from passing out at work, to dolling out drugs to staffers like the "candy man" to crashing a government vehicle. Senate Democrats released a litany of allegations on Wednesday, citing "conversations with 23 colleagues and former colleagues." The allegations included handing out sleeping tablets on Air Force One, opioids to at least one White House staffer and prescribing drugs for himself. "On at least one occasion, Dr. Jackson could not be reached when needed because he was passed out drunk in his hotel room," a document released by Senator Jon Tester claimed. Amid this fresh wave of allegations Jackson huddled with chief of staff John Kelly and press secretary Sarah Sanders at the White House on Wednesday, emerging from the meeting seemingly determined to fight on. With an intimate knowledge of presidents and top White House aides across three administrations, his confirmation hearings, if they go ahead, could prove explosive. Grueling foreign presidential trips -- involving long flights, back-to-back meetings and little or no sleep -- were apparently notorious for the use of sleeping aids and alcohol. And as the doctor to three presidents, Jackson could also face questions about how he treated and prescribed drugs to them. NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (all times local): 3:40 p.m. Iran's foreign minister says somebody "fabricated" evidence that the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations used to back up the U.S. claim that Iran is arming Houthi rebels in Yemen. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is interviewed by The Associated Press, in New York, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley took journalists in November and the Security Council in late January to see fragments recovered from missiles launched from Yemen into Saudi Arabia. The parts bore logos that the U.S. said indicated Iranian origin. But Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tells The Associated Press that a large missile part had the Iranian logo used on "cheese puffs" - not on military hardware. Zarif says the part had the logo of "the Standard Institute of Iran." He says that logo is put on consumer goods as a sign of quality, showing "that your cheese puffs will not give you a stomach ache." Zarif isn't saying that Haley fabricated the evidence, but that "somebody" did and she used it. ___ 3:10 p.m. Iran's foreign minister says the warring parties in Syria should accept the four-point peace plan that Iran put forward in 2013. Mohammad Javad Zarif says in an interview with The Associated Press that Iran believes this plan "remains the only way for Syria to achieve peace." The plan requires an immediate cease-fire, formation of "an inclusive government of national unity," a new constitution and democratic elections. But Zarif warns that "if people have the ultimate objective of changing the realities through political means that they couldn't do through military means, then that's another name for continuing this cycle of violence." He says "the obligation" of outside powers - including Iran, Russia, the U.S. and the U.N. Security Council - is "to facilitate the political solution and not to dictate it." __ 3 p.m. Iran's foreign minister says Saudi Arabia's "young and ambitious leaders" were under the "illusion" they could score a quick victory in Yemen in three weeks. Mohammad Javad Zarif made a pointed reference to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in an Associated Press interview. He says the Saudi-led coalition has bombed civilians in Yemen since the war began in 2015. Zarif is pointing to Sunday's attack on a wedding party that killed at least 20. Zarif insists Iran is not supplying weapons to Shiite Houthi rebels who control the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen. He says they already have all the weapons they need. He says Iran "would like everybody to stop attacking civilian areas," including the Houthis firing missiles into Saudi Arabia. __ 2:05 p.m. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is warning the Trump administration that pulling out from the Iran nuclear deal would undermine talks with North Korea by proving that America reneges on its promises. He tells The Associated Press that if President Donald Trump withdraws, Iran would "most likely" abandon the deal as well. Zarif says Iran would no longer be bound by the deal's international obligations. That would free up Iran to resume uranium enrichment activity beyond the limits imposed by the 2015 nuclear accord. Zarif says Iran would welcome reduced tensions on the Korean Peninsula. But he says Trump is showing that the U.S. "is not a trustworthy, reliable negotiating partner." Zarif says that makes the U.S. "a rather unlikely partner" for any other global agreements. COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina prison officials have for years blamed cellphones for contributing to inmate violence. After a bloody riot at a maximum-security prison last weekend that left seven inmates dead, they find themselves once again asking federal officials to grant waivers and change laws to allow them to block the signals of these contraband devices. Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order Monday easing hiring rules for new corrections officers. McMaster said a shortage of officers was allowing contraband to flow freely into the state's prisons, provoking often deadly inmate battles. But some who have spent time in and around the prisons say it is not a lack of corrections officers - but the inaction and collusion of those already on the job - that has led to the abundance of contraband. Because cellphones are so plentiful, these people argue, they are rarely the cause of violence between inmates. FILE - This April 16, 2018 file photo shows the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, S.C. Multiple inmates were killed and others seriously injured amid fighting between prisoners inside the maximum security prison in South Carolina. South Carolina prison officials have for years blamed cellphones for contributing to inmate violence. After a bloody riot at a maximum-security prison last weekend that left seven inmates dead, they find themselves once again asking federal officials to grant waivers and change laws to let them block the signals of these contraband devices. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford, File) "From the moment I got to Lee, access to a cell(phone) was a non-issue," said an inmate at Lee Correctional Institution who has been using a mobile phone to correspond with The Associated Press for the past several months via social media. "You see the guys out in the common areas ... with their phones, and nobody bothers (them). The drugs and cellphones are so plentiful that almost NO fights or stabbings are about that - at all." The inmate has been communicating with the AP on condition of anonymity due to a fear of reprisal from other inmates and punishment from authorities. The Lee Correctional Institution was the site of last weekend's deadly riots. Elizabeth Franklin-Best, a criminal defense attorney who has represented many inmates housed in South Carolina's prison system, confirmed the prisoner's account. "They all have them," she said, referring to inmates and cellphones. She said whenever she asks clients how they get them, "the answer is the same: It's corrections officers bringing them in." Franklin-Best said her clients have told her that in one instance, the phones were hidden in frozen containers of soup, while in another, a prison chaplain tucked phones inside his piano. Some officers have been charged in recent months with furnishing contraband, mostly cellphones, directly to inmates. "I'm not saying that there aren't correctional officers who do it, or that there aren't correctional officers who will turn a blind eye to it once it's inside, but I think that it's a small percentage," said Ryan Alphin, executive director of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers' Association. South Carolina's Department of Corrections has long banned its inmates from possessing cellphones, saying they represent a top security threat because they can help inmates commit crimes, such as coordinating drug distribution or plotting violent uprisings like last Sunday's riot at Lee. Cellphones are among the hottest items on a hopping black market in prison, fetching up to $1,000 apiece, the inmate said. The phones garner such a high price because, in addition to possibly facilitating crimes, they offer a way for inmates to keep in touch with family, friends and even each other, all without the supervision of prison officials who otherwise monitor outgoing communications, according to agency officials. Inmates are hungry for a black market where they can buy and sell contraband because few have the money to pay for any privileges or items available inside the prison, said state Rep. Justin Bamberg, an attorney who has represented families of inmates killed in prison incidents. Prison jobs that allow inmates to earn a few dollars are scarce. "The cost to an inmate to make a call from a contraband cellphone is less than it is to make a call from the prison phone," Bamberg said. "They either have to have somebody putting money on their books for them, which a lot aren't able to do, or they have to do what they have to do on the inside to make a little money." In recent years Corrections officials have taken several steps to block phones from coming in: Visitors go through entry screening; netting has been installed to catch items thrown over fences; and authorities have lobbied legislators to ban drones that could serve as contraband-delivery vehicles. They also have hired local sheriff's departments and South Carolina State Guardsmen to patrol areas outside the prison. A person familiar with the operations of the Corrections Department has told the AP that delivery trucks - which are supposed to be inspected on their way into prison - often ferry cellphones and other contraband in, making it past the two officers who are posted at the gates. "These trucks are usually 18-wheelers full of products and boxes, impossible for even the best corrections officer to search and locate all the hidden spots, not to mention all the boxes," said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the issue. Once the trucks are inside, inmates unload them, take the contraband out of the boxes they are hidden in and store the contraband in the prison, with "almost no oversight," the person said. In the canteen where inmates can purchase snacks and toiletries, "the inmate and only the inmate is in charge of all inventory and has keys to where the product is located," the person said. The inmate who has been corresponding with the AP said it would be very difficult to find and dispose of all the cellphones now inside prisons. "There are unused phones in walls, ceilings, buried outside, stashed in food, EVERYWHERE," the prisoner said. ___ Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. Read more of her work at https://apnews.com/search/meg%20kinnard. Here are some of the deadliest mass murders in recent Canadian history: April 23, 2018: A man drives a white van for about a mile along a crowded Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people and seriously injuring at least 13 others. Police arrest suspect Alek Minassian. The motive remains unclear. Jan. 29, 2017: Six people are killed and eight injured when a man goes on a shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque. University student Alexandre Bissonnette, who had taken far-right political positions on social media, pleads guilty. A man lays a flower at a memorial along Yonge Street, Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in Toronto, the day after a driver drove a van down sidewalks, striking and killing numerous pedestrians in his path. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP) June 4, 2015: A man uses a semi-automatic rifle to fatally shoot three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers and wound two others in Moncton, New Brunswick. It's the deadliest attack on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police since four officers were killed by a gunman in the western province of Alberta in 2005. That attack remains the deadliest on Canadian police officers in 120 years. Dec. 29, 2014: In the worst mass shooting in Edmonton, a man suspected of domestic violence shoots and kills six adults and two young children in two different homes before killing himself in a restaurant where he worked. April 5, 1996: Angered by his wife's divorce action, Rajwar Gakhal kills her and eight other members of her family in Vernon, British Columbia, before shooting himself. Sept. 18, 1992: A bomb kills nine strike-breaking workers at the Giant Yellowknife gold mine in the Northwest Territories. Dec. 6, 1989: A man with a semi-automatic rifle storms into an engineering classroom at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, asks men to leave and then kills 14 women before turning the gun on himself. Gunman Marc Lepine says he was "fighting against feminists" he blamed for his troubles. Sept. 1, 1972: An arson attack on a downtown Montreal night club kills 37 people and injures 64. Gasoline was spread on the stairway of Blue Bird Cafe and then ignited. Most of the deaths occurred in the Wagon Wheel country-western bar upstairs. Three young men from Montreal who had earlier been denied entry for drunkenness were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Latest on civil trial involving Las Vegas Strip headliner David Copperfield and a British tourist who claims he was seriously hurt in a fall while taking part in a signature Copperfield illusion in 2013 (all times local): 12:30 p.m. A judge in Las Vegas has rejected a call by David Copperfield's attorney for a mistrial based on the amount of media coverage that a civil negligence lawsuit involving the world-famous illusionist is getting. Illusionist David Copperfield appears in court, Tuesday, April 17, 2018, in Las Vegas. A Nevada jury got a rare behind-the-scenes look at a David Copperfield disappearing act after a British man claimed he was badly hurt as he participated in a 2013 show. (AP Photo/John Locher) Attorney Elaine Fresch complained Tuesday about interviews involving plaintiff Gavin Cox's attorney, Benedict Morelli. Fresch noted that one interview aired on CBS-TV just hours before proceedings resumed. Under questioning by Nevada state court Judge Mark Denton, three jurors said they turned off broadcasts when they saw references to the case on the news during a five-day break in the civil trial. The judge allowed the trial to resume. Copperfield is on the stand answering questions from Morelli about whether Copperfield knew of anyone besides Cox who was injured taking part in the magician's audience-volunteer illusion over nearly 20 years he has performed it. ____ 9 a.m. Las Vegas Strip headliner David Copperfield is due to return to the witness stand in a lawsuit by a British tourist who claims he was seriously hurt in a fall while taking part in one of Copperfield's signature illusions in 2013. The magician resumes testimony Tuesday after last week revealing secrets behind a trick that appears to make volunteer audience members vanish onstage and appear a few moments later in the back of the theater. Plaintiff Gavin Cox of Kent, England, alleges he fell after being hurried by stagehands through an MGM Grand hotel alleyway coated with a powdery residue near a trailer-sized trash bin. Copperfield's lawyers lost pretrial bids to close proceedings to the public to avoid revealing performance secrets Cox and his wife are seeking unspecified damages. Chris Kenner, business partner of Illusionist David Copperfield, testifies in court, Tuesday, April 17, 2018, in Las Vegas. A Nevada jury got a rare behind-the-scenes look at a David Copperfield disappearing act after a British man claimed he was badly hurt as he participated in a 2013 show. Kenner told jurors that participants don't know in advance that they'll be quickly ushered through hidden passageways during the illusion dubbed "the runaround." (AP Photo/John Locher) Illusionist David Copperfield appears in court, Tuesday, April 17, 2018, in Las Vegas. A Nevada jury got a rare behind-the-scenes look at a David Copperfield disappearing act after a British man claimed he was badly hurt as he participated in a 2013 show. (AP Photo/John Locher) Illusionist David Copperfield appears in court, Tuesday, April 17, 2018, in Las Vegas. A Nevada jury got a rare behind-the-scenes look at a David Copperfield disappearing act after a British man claimed he was badly hurt as he participated in a 2013 show. (AP Photo/John Locher) Gavin Cox, left, who was injured during an illusion by David Copperfield at the MGM, sits with his wife during opening statements of his suit against Coperfield and the MGM Grand on Friday, April 13, 2018. (Michael Quine/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP) Illusionist David Copperfield, center, appears at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas before opening statements in a civil trial on Friday, April 13, 2018. (Michael Quine/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP) LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Walt Disney Studios has previewed a scene from the Star Wars spinoff "Solo" featuring the card game where Han Solo and Lando Calrissian meet at CinemaCon Tuesday in Las Vegas. The scene cuts off right as the two space scoundrels decide to bet their ships. The studio also unveiled early footage from its live-action adaption of "Dumbo" and "Aladdin," starring Will Smith as the Genie, and showed the first scene from "The Incredibles 2," which picks up right where the first left off in 2004. Both "Solo: A Star Wars" story and "The Incredibles 2" hit theaters this summer. In this image released by Lucasfilm, Alden Ehrenreich and Joonas Suotamo appear in a scene from "Solo: A Star Wars Story," in theaters on May 25. (Jonathan Olley/Lucasfilm via AP) Unlike most studio presentations at the annual theater owner convention, Disney doesn't generally bring out the stars of its films. Instead it lets the footage and behind-the-scenes reels do the selling. Cathleen Taff, executive vice president of distribution and franchise management for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, talks about Disney's film brands during their presentation at CinemaCon 2018, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, at Caesars Palace on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Dave Hollis, president of theatrical distribution for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, addresses the audience during Disney's presentation at CinemaCon 2018, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, at Caesars Palace on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, addresses the audience during the Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2018, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, at Caesars Palace on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) You hear it whenever someone gets sick or dies soon after losing a spouse: Was it because of a broken heart? Stress might not be to blame for former President George H.W. Bush's hospitalization a day after his wife's funeral, but it does the body no favors, and one partner's health clearly affects the other's. A sudden shock can trigger a heart attack or something like it called broken heart syndrome . Some studies also have found that people are more likely to die soon after losing a longtime spouse. But often the timing is mere coincidence, and "broken heart" speculation just fuels a neat narrative when the problem is unsurprising in an older person with underlying health issues. FILE - This March 8, 2017 file photo shows former U.S. President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush at an awards ceremony hosted by Congregation Beth Israel in Houston. George, who will turn 94 in June 2018, was hospitalized Sunday, April 22, 2018, with sepsis, an infection that spread to his bloodstream It's a serious condition at any age, but he is said to be responding to treatments and recovering. (Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle via AP, File) In any case, the death of a loved one is a dangerous time for the surviving spouse, said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center and an American Heart Association spokeswoman. "It's really important to have a lot of other support around you," she said. "When people are depressed after something like this happens, they may not be eating, they may ignore symptoms and want to be stoic. They're certainly stressing and may not be getting enough rest. All of these things can set the stage for life-threatening conditions." ABOUT BUSH Bush, who will turn 94 in June, has been hospitalized since Sunday with an infection that's spread to his blood. Stress weakens the immune system and can make infections harder to fend off, said several doctors not involved in his care. But Bush needs a wheelchair because of a form of Parkinson's disease and has been hospitalized before for pneumonia and other infections. It's possible he ignored early signs of infection during the flurry of preparations for Barbara Bush's funeral, said James Giordano, a Georgetown University neurologist and expert on stress's effects on the body. "It could be something as simple as that; inattention led to an escalation of signs and symptoms," he said. "He's old, there's no good way to put it," so medical problems and risks are magnified by stress. Stress has three stages, Giordano said: alarm, when the body releases "fight or flight" chemicals that can do damage; a resistance stage, like "calling out all the troops" to deal with the stress; and then fatigue or a letdown stage, when some of the body's defenses may crash from the strain. Even if a partner's death is anticipated - as Barbara Bush's was after she decided to focus on comfort care - "facing and going through the reality of the event" is stressful, he said. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS Stress and a broken heart sometimes may get too much blame, though, when people are grieving. Country music star Johnny Cash died four months after his wife, June Carter Cash, did in 2003. She was 73 and died of complications following heart valve surgery. He was 71 when he died of problems related to diabetes and had a neurological disease for years before that. "Broken heart" was widely speculated when Debbie Reynolds died a day after her actress-daughter, Carrie Fisher, did in 2016. An autopsy later showed that Reynolds, 84, died of a blood vessel that ruptured and caused bleeding in her brain - a kind of stroke. She also had high blood pressure and other serious medical problems for several years before that. ___ Marilynn Marchione can be followed on Twitter: @MMarchioneAP ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. A sailor was arrested in Illinois on Tuesday on charges he stole 20 hand grenades from a San Diego-based Navy destroyer, authorities said. Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Aaron Booker, 31, of Waukegan, Illinois, was taken into custody in Great Lakes by U.S. Navy criminal investigators and was expected to be returned to California. It was unclear whether he had an attorney. Booker stole the concussion grenades - each of which contained about a half-pound of TNT - while he was assigned to the Weapons Department aboard the USS Pinckney, prosecutors said. Booker's job was to check the temperature of the secured locker where the grenades were kept. The grenades were discovered missing from their storage crates in February 2017. He left the ship about a week later to drive to his new duty station in Great Lakes. A 31-year-old soldier has been arrested for stealing grenades of the USS Pinckney (pictured above in April 2017) About two months later, a black military backpack containing 18 grenades was found leaning on a guardrail on the side of Interstate 15 in northwest Arizona, officials said. The words 'GM2 BOOKER' were written on a tag inside the backpack, prosecutors said. When the grenades went missing, the 15 sailors who had access to the crate were interviewed and some recalled Booker being angry with his commanding officer and the entire chain of command over a prior disciplinary matter, the complaint says. Booker himself was interviewed about the missing grenades about a week into his new post in Illinos, and denied stealing the grenades or even ever opening the crates were they were stored. He told investigators that he had driven Interstate 15 through Arizona on his way to his new post, but said the backpack had been stolen from him about a year ago and denied taking the grenades, according to a criminal complaint. He said he had been upset when the backpack was stolen because it had a GM pin attached to it that was hard to replace. Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents subsequently searched Booker's homein Illinois and found the pin he described. Booker admitted it was the same pin. A day later, Booker called an NCIS agent and told him that he had talked to people in San Diego about the grenades' disappearance and said he thought the other two might be in Tijuana. He said his former motorcycle club was associated with two people who had connection to a 'cartel' and that the cartel had ordered the grenades to be stolen, according to the complaint. But he continued to deny having anything to do with the disappearance. Authorities continue to search for the two missing grenades, which Booker indicated to investigators might have wound up in Mexico, the complaint said. It was unclear why the grenades were stolen or what the thief intended to do with them. 'A backpack full of grenades on the side of the road is obviously extremely dangerous and could have had resulted in injuries or death,' U.S. Attorney Adam L. Braverman said in a statement. 'The theft of explosives is a very serious offense, particularly if it is carried out by an insider with access to military weapons and secrets.' If convicted of possessing stolen explosives, Booker could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Unification is an idea that moves most Koreans, North and South, on an emotional level. For some, especially young people in the South, it may not be a burning issue. Details like the costs, the risks and what specifically both sides stand to gain are rarely given much thought by anyone who isn't an academic, politician or activist. But when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in meet on Friday, the prospect of unification, even if only in the abstract, will loom large around them. In this April 10, 2018 photo, photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, his late father Kim Jong Il, center, and his late grandfather Kim Il Sung are displayed as South Korean high school students play with their smartphones at the Unification Observation post in Goseong, South Korea. When the North and South Korean leaders meet on Friday, April 27, 2018, the prospect of unification, even if only in the abstract, will loom large around them. Both leaders come to the table with distinct visions of what a future would look like. North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung had a plan along the lines of what Hong Kong has with China, a unified nation with two separate systems of government. South Korea's three-step proposal ends in in its own system writ large across the peninsula. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) Can Kim's nuclear-armed North and the K-pop capitalism of Moon's South ever merge into One Korea? Both leaders come to the table with distinct visions of what that would look like. And they are very different. ___ THE DEMOCRATIC FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF KORYO After failing to take the South by force in the 1950s, North Korea's founder and "eternal president," Kim Il Sung, announced a plan for what he thought a unified Korea should look like back in 1980. He called it the Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo. Koryo was an ancient Korean kingdom from which the word Korea is derived. Kim's plan was for an arrangement something along the lines of what Hong Kong has with China, a unified nation with two separate systems of government. Under his plan, the North and South would respect each other's ideology, social system and autonomy. Both sides would have an equal number of representatives in a supreme national assembly with equal rights and responsibilities. The assembly would also have representatives of Koreans overseas. It would have a standing committee that would administer state affairs. Kim stressed the need for this new federation to remain neutral and independent, avoiding in particular military alliances with others. Not surprisingly, that looks a lot like North Korea today, with its Supreme People's Assembly, and the party's Politburo and Central Committee overseeing day-to-day policies. Even the name smacks of the North, which is officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. An equal number of assembly seats would be a good deal for the North, which has half the South's population. The inclusion of Koreans overseas would boost that advantage even further since, for historical reasons, more often than not they have at least nominal allegiance to Pyongyang, not Seoul. With so many devils lurking in the details, Kim's grand plan has never gotten much traction. ___ A KOREAN COMMONWEALTH AND BEYOND South Korea's three-step proposal ends in a similarly predictable place: its own system writ large across the Korean Peninsula. The first priority, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry, is to develop a sustainable relationship and resolve the issue of North Korea's development of nuclear weapons. Seoul wants to substitute the unstable armistice that ended the fighting of the 1950-53 Korean War with a permanent peace treaty - a goal Pyongyang shares. This step could get a boost on Friday - it will almost certainly be taken up then and probably again at the summit between Kim and President Donald Trump in May or early June. South Korea wants to then develop trust and cooperation to the point where a sort of national consensus has been achieved. After a transitional commonwealth period, the next step would be the formation of a single market on the Korean Peninsula "to create new growth engines and create an inter-Korean economic community of coexistence and co-prosperity." "We will build a new economic order that will bring peace and prosperity to the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia," the ministry concludes. The essentials of this plan were announced in September 1989 by South Korea's president at the time, Roh Tae-woo. The succession of administrations that have taken office in the South since Roh have adhered fairly predictably to the principle of gradual, peaceful progress, while calibrating their willingness to engage with Pyongyang based on their assessment of its level of vulnerability or hostility. In the long run, however, it makes no provision for a one-state, two-system future. Ultimately, Seoul believes, the North Korean system has to go. ___ Talmadge is the AP's Pyongyang bureau chief. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @EricTalmadge FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2018 file photo, a man takes photographs near the wire fence decorated with national flags, unification flags and ribbons carrying messages wishing for reunification of the two Koreas at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea. When the North and South Korean leaders meet on Friday, April 27, 2018, the prospect of unification, even if only in the abstract, will loom large around them. Both leaders come to the table with distinct visions of what a future would look like. North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung had a plan along the lines of what Hong Kong has with China, a unified nation with two separate systems of government. South Korea's three-step proposal ends in in its own system writ large across the peninsula. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File) FILE - In this Nov. 2017 file photo, anti-war protesters wearing cutouts of U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, march after a rally demanding peace of the Korean peninsula near U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. When the North and South Korean leaders meet on Friday, April 27, 2018, the prospect of unification, even if only in the abstract, will loom large around them. Both leaders come to the table with distinct visions of what a future would look like. North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung had a plan along the lines of what Hong Kong has with China, a unified nation with two separate systems of government. South Korea's three-step proposal ends in in its own system writ large across the peninsula. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) FILE - In this March 1, 2018 file photo, a conservative activist with a card showing a portrait of South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, attends a ceremony to celebrate the March First Independence Movement Day, the anniversary of the 1919 uprising against Japanese colonial rule, in Seoul, South Korea. When the North and South Korean leaders meet on Friday, April 27, 2018, the prospect of unification, even if only in the abstract, will loom large around them. Both leaders come to the table with distinct visions of what a future would look like. North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung had a plan along the lines of what Hong Kong has with China, a unified nation with two separate systems of government. South Korea's three-step proposal ends in in its own system writ large across the peninsula. The signs read: " Constitutional reform plot." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) A California State University, Fresno professor who called Barbara Bush 'an amazing racist' and cheered her death will not be punished, the president of the university announced Tuesday. Randa Jarrar was acting as a private citizen using her personal Twitter account so her remarks didn't violate any California State University or campus policies, Fresno State President Joseph Castro wrote in announcing the results of a review. 'Her comments, although disgraceful, are protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,' Castro wrote. 'Our duty as Americans and educators is to promote a free exchange of diverse views, even if we disagree with them.' Randa Jarrar, pictured, was acting as a private citizen using her personal Twitter account so her remarks didn't violate any California State University or campus policies 'Her comments, although disgraceful, are protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,' Castro wrote. 'Our duty as Americans and educators is to promote a free exchange of diverse views, even if we disagree with them' Jarrar has been on leave this semester and couldn't immediately be reached for comment. An email to her university address was not immediately returned. The English professor provoked a storm of criticism last week with her tweets following the death of the former first lady. A Change.org petition to have her fired had garnered 50,000 online signatures as of Tuesday evening. In response to critics, Jarrar said she was a tenured professor who could not be fired but Castro said the issue wasn't related to her job or tenure. The English professor provoked a storm of criticism last week with her tweets following the death of the former first lady, pictured However, he also condemned her remarks. 'Professor Jarrar's conduct was insensitive, inappropriate and an embarrassment to the university,' Castro wrote, adding: 'On campus and whenever we are representing the university, I expect all of us to engage in respectful dialogue.' Jarrar grew up in Kuwait and Egypt and moved to the United States after the Gulf War, according to her university faculty page. She describes herself in her Twitter messages as an Arab-American and a Muslim-American woman. The professor has been under intense criticism after she posted on Twitter that Barbara Bush was an 'amazing racist' following news that the former first lady had passed on Tuesday. In response to critics, Jarrar said she was a tenured professor who could not be fired but Castro said the issue wasn't related to her job or tenure 'Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal,' Jarrar wrote. 'PSA: either you are against these pieces of s*** and their genocidal ways or you're part of the problem,' Jarrar added in her viral rant. 'That's actually how simple this is. I'm happy the witch is dead. Can't wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million Iraqis have.' Following Jarrar's Twitter storm, a video surfaced from an alt-right group, showing a compilation of Jarrar's controversial statements in interviews and speeches. 'Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal,' Jarrar wrote 'PSA: either you are against these pieces of s*** and their genocidal ways or you're part of the problem,' Jarrar added in her viral rant Following Jarrar's Twitter storm, a video surfaced from an alt-right group, showing a compilation of Jarrar's controversial statements in interviews and speeches In the clip, Jarrar is seen talking about Fresno's agriculture industry where she states: 'a lot of the farmers now are Trump supporters and just f***ing stupid.' She also slams Democrats and their inability to make difficult decisions. Jarrar, a Muslim, was born in Chicago but grew up in Kuwait and Egypt, before returning to the U.S. after the first Gulf War. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Salon.com, The Rumpus, the Utne Reader, The Oxford American. She is the author of two books, the coming of age novel 'A Map of Home' and a story collection - 'Him, Me, Muhammad Ali' COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The government is opposing a man's request to withdraw his guilty plea to a charge of harassing an Ohio sheriff for nearly 20 years via letters, emails and websites. A criminal affidavit filed last year said the harassment began in 1999 when Columbus resident William Young was arrested by Russell Martin, who was a Delaware County deputy and is now the county sheriff. Young pleaded guilty in federal court earlier this year to a charge of cyberstalking. Sentencing is scheduled for May 1. Young faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Federal prosecutor Jessica Kim said in a court filing on Tuesday that Young waited too long to withdraw the plea and is only now asserting his innocence after months of acknowledging his guilt. Some of the deadliest mass killings in recent Canadian history: -April 23, 2018: A man drives a white van for about a mile along a crowded Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people and seriously injuring at least 13. Police have charged Alek Minassian. The motive remains unclear. -Jan. 29, 2017: Six people are killed and eight injured in a shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque. University student Alexandre Bissonnette, who had taken far-right political positions on social media, pleads guilty. Police officers stand by a covered body in Toronto after a van mounted a sidewalk and crashed into a crowd of pedestrians on Monday, April 23, 2018. The van apparently jumped a curb Monday in a busy intersection in Toronto, struck the pedestrians and fled the scene before it was found and the driver was taken into custody, Canadian police said. (Aaron Vincent Elkaim/The Canadian Press via AP) -Dec. 29, 2014: A man suspected of domestic violence shoots six adults and two young children to death at two different homes in Edmonton, Alberta. Phu Lam then kills himself in the restaurant where he worked. -June 4, 2014: A man uses a semi-automatic rifle to kill three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers and wound two others in Moncton, New Brunswick. The shooting by Justin Bourque is the deadliest attack on the RCMP since four officers were slain by a gunman in the western province of Alberta in 2005, an attack that remains the deadliest on Canadian police officers in 120 years. -April 5, 1996: Angered by his wife's divorce action, Mark Chahal kills her and eight other members of her family in Vernon, British Columbia, before shooting himself. -Sept. 18, 1992: A bomb kills nine strike-breaking workers at the Giant Yellowknife gold mine in the Northwest Territories. -Dec. 6, 1989: A man with a semi-automatic rifle storms into an engineering classroom at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, asks men to leave and then kills 14 women before turning the gun on himself. Gunman Marc Lepine said he was "fighting against feminists" he blamed for his troubles. -Sept. 1, 1972: An arson attack on a downtown Montreal night club kills 37 people and injures 64. Gasoline was spread on the stairway of the Blue Bird Cafe and then ignited, but most of the deaths occurred in the Wagon Wheel country-western bar upstairs. Three men who had been denied entry for drunkenness were sentenced to life in prison. A Buffalo museum has made a rare discovery within its own collection: a fully intact egg from the extinct elephant bird that until now, was thought to be fake. Curators at the Buffalo Museum of Science were cataloging pieces in the museum's collection when they realized and confirmed that the foot-tall egg had been mislabeled as a model. Measuring 28 inches around, it weighs more than three pounds and is around 200 times the size of a hen's egg. The museum will unveil the egg to the public May 1. A Buffalo museum has made a rare discovery within its own collection: a fully intact egg from the extinct elephant bird that until now, was thought to be fake Curators at the Buffalo Museum of Science (pictured) were cataloging pieces in the museum's collection when they realized and confirmed that the foot-tall egg had been mislabeled as a model The massive, partly fossilized egg, laid by the now extinct elephant bird, is extremely valuable. In 2013, another egg went for more than $100,000 at a London auction. Examples of whole eggs are extremely rare and experts say there are fewer than 40 intact elephant bird eggs held in public institutions. The elephant bird, which resembled an 10-foot-tall ostrich, is thought to have been hunted to extinction in Madagascar between the 14th and 17th centuries. It weighed between 770 and 1,100 pounds and laid the largest eggs of any vertebrate, including dinosaurs. Occasionally fossilized elephant bird eggs are found intact and the National Geographic Society in Washington holds a specimen of an Aepyornis egg which was given to Luis Marden in 1967. The massive, partly fossilized egg, laid by the now extinct elephant bird, is extremely valuable (left is a sketch of an elephant bird, right is the X-rayed egg) Bulky: The elephant bird, the largest bird that ever lived, was more than 10ft tall and weighed 70st The specimen is intact and contains the skeleton of the unborn bird. In Denver, the Museum of Nature and Science holds two intact eggs, one of which is currently on display. Another giant Aepyornis egg is on show at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, while a cast of the egg is preserved at the Grant Museum of Zoology at London University. It is widely believed that the extinction of Aepyornis was a result of human activity. The birds were initially widespread, occurring from the northern to the southern tip of Madagascar. One theory states that humans hunted the elephant birds to extinction in a very short time for such a large landmass (the blitzkrieg hypothesis). There is indeed evidence that they were hunted and their preferred habitats destroyed. Their eggs may have been particularly vulnerable. A recent archaeological study found remains of eggshells among the remains of human fires, suggesting that the eggs regularly provided meals for entire families. NEW YORK (AP) - The foreign minister of Iran says that if the U.S. pulls out of the multinational nuclear deal, it's likely that Iran will, too. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also says that if President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to abandon the nuclear deal reached in 2015, doing so will send a signal to North Korea that America reneges on its promises. Zarif's remarks in an Associated Press interview Tuesday came on the same day that Trump threatened "bigger problems" than ever if Iran restarts its nuclear program. Trump has said the U.S. will leave the deal if there's no agreement with European allies to make new demands. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is interviewed by The Associated Press, in New York, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Zarif is warning the Trump administration that pulling out from the Iran nuclear deal would undermine talks with North Korea by proving that America reneges on its promises. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Iran has rejected any changes, arguing that it's unfair to impose more demands beyond what Tehran agreed to already. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is interviewed by The Associated Press, in New York, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Zarif is warning the Trump administration that pulling out from the Iran nuclear deal would undermine talks with North Korea by proving that America reneges on its promises. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is interviewed by The Associated Press, in New York, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Zarif is warning the Trump administration that pulling out from the Iran nuclear deal would undermine talks with North Korea by proving that America reneges on its promises. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Gobierno del Peru expresa sus sentidas condolencias por el atropello multiple ocurrido en Toronto, Canada https://t.co/kWLDGFEvbi pic.twitter.com/Udykbd4pu4 WASHINGTON (AP) - White House doctor Ronny Jackson exhibited a pattern of recklessly prescribing drugs and drunken behavior, including crashing a government vehicle while intoxicated and doling out such a large supply of a prescription opioid that staffers panicked because they thought the drugs were missing, according to accusations compiled by Democratic staff on the committee considering his nomination as Veterans Affairs secretary. The summary was based on conversations with 23 of Jackson's current and former colleagues at the White House Medical Unit. It is the latest blow to his nomination to lead the government's second-largest Cabinet agency. In just a matter of days, the allegations have transformed Jackson's reputation as a celebrated doctor attending the president to an embattled nominee accused of drinking on the job and over-prescribing drugs. He was seen pacing back and forth on the White House grounds Wednesday. Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, President Donald Trump's choice to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, leaves a Senate office building after meeting individually with some members of the committee that would vet him for the post, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) And while the White House put on a full-scale defense of Jackson, spokesman Raj Shah said aides are "of course" preparing for the possibility that he might withdraw. "This is, as the president said, Dr. Jackson's decision," Shah said on CNN. Jackson huddled late Wednesday evening with top White House press staff. They declined to comment on the situation. A former colleague who spoke to The Associated Press described Jackson as a gregarious, Type A charmer who knew how to position himself for success - attentive to bosses but also causing unnecessary grief and consternation among colleagues. He said Jackson became known as "Candyman" because of the way he handed out drugs. The ex-colleague spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation. The "Candyman" nickname was also cited in the summary released by the Democrats. In a section on Jackson's prescribing practices, the summary said that in one case, missing Percocet tabs threw members of the White House Medical Unit into a panic - but it turned out he had prescribed a "large supply" of the opioid to a White House Military Office staffer. The allegations also referred to multiple incidents of Jackson's intoxication while on duty, often on overseas trips. On at least one occasion he was nowhere to be found when his medical help was needed because "he was passed out drunk in his hotel room," according to the summary. At a Secret Service going-away party, the summary says, Jackson got drunk and wrecked a government vehicle. Jackson has denied allegations of bad behavior and told reporters at the White House he was "still moving ahead as planned." "I never wrecked a car," he said. "I have no idea where that is coming from." Reports of overprescribing and alcohol-related behavior problems can jeopardize a doctor's license. Many state medical boards allow doctors to keep their licenses and return to practice if they complete special treatment programs and submit to random urine screens. The allegations were publicly released on the day that Jackson's confirmation hearing was to have been held. The hearing was postponed indefinitely while the allegations against him are reviewed. "He treated the people above him very, very well. He treated the people below him very, very poorly," Sen. Jon Tester, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, told the AP. "It's not surprising the people above him think he was doing a really, really good job." White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that Jackson had passed "at least four independent background checks" that found "no areas of concern." "He has received more vetting than most nominees," she said. Marc Short, the White House legislative director, could not say he was confident the allegations were false. He was "not familiar" with car wreck episode. But Short also suggested Tester was airing the allegations for political gain. "It's quite unusual for a United States senator to take allegations that have not been fully investigated, but to flaunt them to the national public to suggest he's the 'candyman' I think is outrageous," Short said. Tester, speaking on MSNBC, acknowledged that not all the allegations had been verified. "Am I 100% rock solid sure that he did this? No," Tester said. "But I've seen a pattern here that continues on and on and on." Jackson met late at the Capitol with a key Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. They discussed a variety of subjects - "some were the allegations" - as well as Jackson's credentials for the job. "It was just getting through the facts," Tillis said. Veterans groups are dismayed over the continuing uncertainty at the VA, already beset by infighting over improvements to veterans care. "The American Legion is very concerned about the current lack of permanent leadership," said Denise Rohan, national commander of The American Legion, the nation's largest veterans organization. A watchdog report requested in 2012 and reviewed by the AP found that Jackson and a rival physician exhibited "unprofessional behaviors" as they engaged in a power struggle over the White House medical unit. That report by the Navy's Medical Inspector General found a lack of trust in the leadership and low morale among staff members, who described the working environment as "being caught between parents going through a bitter divorce." It included no references to improper prescribing of drugs or the use of alcohol, as alleged in the summary compiled by the Senate Democratic staff members. The White House has released handwritten reports from Trump and former President Barack Obama praising Jackson's leadership and medical care and recommending him for promotion. Trump's first VA secretary, David Shulkin, was dismissed after an ethics scandal and mounting rebellion within the agency. But Jackson has faced numerous questions from lawmakers and veterans groups about whether he has the experience to manage the department of 360,000 employees serving 9 million veterans. ___ Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Lisa Mascaro, Catherine Lucey, Matthew Daly and Jill Colvin in Washington and AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report. Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, center, President Donald Trump's choice to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, walks down a stairwell to avoid reporters and cameras as he leaves a Senate office building after meeting individually with some members of the committee that would vet him for the post, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) LAIZA, Myanmar (AP) - On the front lines, the army is pounding rebels with airstrikes and artillery. In the displacement camps, terrified civilians are building bomb shelters of sandbags and stones. And everywhere in this troubled swath of Myanmar's north, there is a growing sense the conflict will only get worse. While the world is focused on the plight of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, a civil war is raging here, pitting government forces against another of the country's minorities - the Kachins, mostly Christian. It's one of the longest-running wars on Earth, and it has intensified dramatically in recent months, with at least 10,000 people been displaced since January alone, according to the United Nations. The crisis, though, is also one of the world's most forgotten, overshadowed even in Myanmar by violence against Rohingya in the west, nearly 700,000 of whom have been driven into exile by the military. While the conflicts differ, they share a tragic theme, said Zau Raw, who heads a rebel committee overseeing humanitarian aid in the mountainous sliver of territory the militants control along the Chinese frontier. In this March 17, 2018 photo, a Kachin Independence Army rebel watches no man's land, towards Myanmar army front line from a outpost in Hpalap mountain, controlled by Kachin rebels in northern Kachin state, Myanmar. While the world is focused on attacks on Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, a civil war rages, pitting government forces against another of the country's minorities, the Kachins, mostly Christian. It's one of the longest-running wars on Earth, and it has intensified dramatically in recent months, with at least 10,000 people been displaced since January alone, according to the United Nations. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) Just like the Rohingya, the Kachin have begun to realize that "the army wants to wipe us out," he said. "This is a war to cleanse us." The Kachin, who are mostly Christian, have fought for greater autonomy in this predominantly Buddhist nation since 1961. But their campaign is part of a much broader struggle for power pitting the ethnic Burman majority - who control the all-powerful military and top government posts - against dozens of ethnic minorities. At least 20 of those groups have taken up arms since independence from Britain in 1948, and the government in recent years has signed cease-fires with 10 of them. Six other groups, including the Kachin, are still fighting. Although military atrocities here do not match the scale of those documented against the Rohingya over the past year, a U.N. fact-finding mission in March reported "marked similarities" between the two conflicts. Just as in Rakhine, the U.N. has received new reports of grave abuse by security forces, including killings, abductions, pillage, torture, rape and forced labor. And just like Rakhine, the government has restricted humanitarian access to desperate populations who have fled - around 120,000 people in Kachin and neighboring Shan states, according to local officials. Those restrictions had grown significantly tighter since former opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took office in 2016, Zau Raw said. The government is now stopping the U.N. and most international organizations from reaching rebel zones altogether, leaving it to local Baptist and Catholic groups to distribute dwindling aid. Last week, Kachin community leaders called on the government to allow medical aid to reach 2,000 people - including children and pregnant women - who have been trapped in a forest near the front with little food or water for weeks. There has been no response. Authorities have alleged that some of the aid ends up in the hands of rebel fighters, which rebels and humanitarian organizations staunchly deny. Zau Raw said the government's objective was simple: They're trying "to make life more difficult for civilians" living in rebel areas, he said, adding that malnutrition among children is worsening. Myanmar's military could not be reached for comment. But presidential spokesman Zaw Htay acknowledged human rights violations have occurred - although he said both sides were to blame. "Whenever there is fighting, there is collateral damage," he said, adding that the government, for its part, is keen to end the war. "This is why we are urging the ethnic armed groups to sign a nationwide ceasefire." Rebels of the Kachin Independence Army have met the military repeatedly for peace talks, but they have refused to sign a truce because the government does not recognize several insurgent groups they are allied with. The Kachin have also refused to recognize the 2008 constitution, which endows the military with tremendous power. Like most other minorities, they view their struggle as an existential fight for survival and equal rights. The military, by contrast, sees the rebels as a "terrorist" force bent on destabilizing the nation, according to rebel Brig. Gen. Maran Zaw Tawng. While both sides blame each other for reigniting hostilities in Kachin State in 2011 after a 17-year truce, there has only been one military victor since then: the vastly better equipped government army, which has seized more than 200 rebel outposts in the jade-rich state. The latest blow came in March when an entire rebel battalion retreated from Tanai, a region whose gold and amber mines brought in vital tax revenues for the militants. A wounded guerrilla who survived the battle, Dee La, told The Associated Press that government forces pounded their positions for months with fighter jets, helicopter gunships and artillery. On the final day of fighting, he described being shelled in a non-stop bombardment so fierce, he and other rebels could not even carry away the bodies of five dead comrades. "They were using drones to locate our positions, then they would hit us with airstrikes," he said from a hospital bed in Laiza, the small town that served as rebel headquarters. "We lost everything ... it was a failure." The 39-year-old guerrilla was blinded in one eye and wounded in his arm when a land mine he was planting during their withdrawal detonated by accident. Although both sides have been accused of planting mines and forcibly recruiting children into their ranks, Myanmar's army has gained a reputation for brutality that dwarfs that of any other group. The U.N. Human Rights Council said it had received new reports of an old military tactic here: patrolling soldiers seizing civilians - many severely beaten or sexually assaulted - and forcing them to work as porters or human shields. More reports of abduction and killings have emerged, too. In March, for example, the bodies of two Kachin men from a displaced camp in government territory were found dead in a shallow grave. Both men - like three others from the same camp a year earlier - had been missing for weeks after being detained by soldiers under murky circumstances. The army has also fired mortar shells indiscriminately in and around Laiza for years, killing and maiming residents. The latest assault, on April 12, wounded two men on a nearby banana plantation; three other civilians have been killed in a similar bombing this month in Kachin state, according to the rebels. After several days of shelling in December, the residents of two displaced camps, Mung Lai Hkyet and Woi Chyai, built dozens of bomb shelters on the ground beside their homes - a testament to the war's enduring terror. Similar bunkers had been built in other camps near Laiza after a wave of airstrikes in 2013. "All we know is fear," said Lahtaw Kai Ring, a 35-year-old mother who had not finished building her own bunker when a nearby mortar blast forced her to scramble inside it on Christmas Eve with her two crying children, ages 5 and 8, in tow. That nobody knows when or where more shells will fall "is what scares us most," she said, weeping as she recounted how her children now beg her to flee even at the sound of firecrackers. Laphai Kai Nan, a 29-year-old teacher who was wounded in one of those assaults by shrapnel that tore into the back of her neck and ripped apart her jaw and half a dozen teeth, said the army's objective was clear. "They don't care" where the bombs land, she said. "They're aiming to hit anyone who is Kachin." This March 16, 2018 photo, shows Laiza, a small town along the Chinese border and the headquarter of the Kachin Independence Army in northern Myanmar. While the world is focused on attacks on Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, a civil war rages, pitting government forces against another of the country's minorities, the Kachins, mostly Christian. It's one of the longest-running wars on Earth, and it has intensified dramatically in recent months, with at least 10,000 people been displaced since January alone, according to the United Nations. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) In this March 20, 2018 photo, frontline of the Myanmar army on a hill top, background is seen from the Kachin rebel controlled Lawa Yang area, outside of Laiza, Kachin armed group's headquarters in northern Kachin state, Myanmar. While the world is focused on attacks on Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, a civil war rages, pitting government forces against another of the country's minorities, the Kachins, mostly Christian. It's one of the longest-running wars on Earth, and it has intensified dramatically in recent months, with at least 10,000 people been displaced since January alone, according to the United Nations. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) In this March 20, 2018 photo, a Kachin Independence army rebel stands at frontline outpost facing no man's land in Lawa Yang, outside of Laiza, the armed group's headquarters in northern Kachin state, Myanmar. While the world is focused on attacks on Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, a civil war rages, pitting government forces against another of the country's minorities, the Kachins, mostly Christian. It's one of the longest-running wars on Earth, and it has intensified dramatically in recent months, with at least 10,000 people been displaced since January alone, according to the United Nations. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) In this March 17, 2018 photo, a Kachin Independence Army rebel walks in frontline at Hpalap mountain controlled by the Kachin rebels in northern Kachin state, Myanmar. The Kachin Independence Army along with other ethnic armed groups have been fighting against Myanmar army for greater autonomy. The fighting between the Kachin army and the government military resumed in 2011, ending the 17 years of ceasefire agreement. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) In this March 17, 2018 photo, a Kachin Independence Army fighter walks in a jungle path from Mu Du front line toward Hpalap outpost in an area controlled by the Kachin rebels in northern Kachin state, Myanmar. While the world is focused on attacks on Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, a civil war rages, pitting government forces against another of the country's minorities, the Kachins, mostly Christian. It's one of the longest-running wars on Earth, and it has intensified dramatically in recent months, with at least 10,000 people been displaced since January alone, according to the United Nations. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) In this March 17, 2018 photo, Kachin Independence Army fighters walk in a jungle path from Mu Du front line to Hpalap outpost in an area controlled by the Kachin rebels in northern Kachin state, Myanmar. While the world is focused on attacks on Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, a civil war rages, pitting government forces against another of the country's minorities, the Kachins, mostly Christian. It's one of the longest-running wars on Earth, and it has intensified dramatically in recent months, with at least 10,000 people been displaced since January alone, according to the United Nations. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) In this March 17, 2018 photo, Labang La Sam, a former Kachin Independence Army rebel sits in his bamboo tent at Maga Yang refugee camp, in an area controlled by Kachin rebels in northern Kachin state, Myanmar. La Sam was blinded when a land-mine he was planting against Myanmar army exploded in February 2014. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) In this March 18, 2018 photo, recently injured Kachin Independence Army rebels who are fighting against Myanmar army, are warded in a hospital run by the Kachin rebels in Laiza, group's headquarters in northern Kachin state, Myanmar. While the world is focused on attacks on Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, a civil war rages, pitting government forces against another of the country's minorities, the Kachins, mostly Christian. It's one of the longest-running wars on Earth, and it has intensified dramatically in recent months, with at least 10,000 people been displaced since January alone, according to the United Nations. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) In this March 19, 2018 photo, refugee children play in a makeshift bomb-shelter made with sandbags at Woi Chyai camp for refugees close to Laiza, northern Kachin state, Myanmar. Bomb shelters were built close to refugee camps after the Myanmar shells fall near refugee camps in December, 2017, injuring civilians. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) In this March 18, 2018 photo, five-year old Zai Zin Awng, with a toy gun imitates a Kachin rebel as he plays a combat game outside the Baptist church in Laiza, the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army in northern Kachin State, Myanmar. While the world is focused on attacks on Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, a civil war rages, pitting government forces against another of the country's minorities, the Kachins, mostly Christian. It's one of the longest-running wars on Earth, and it has intensified dramatically in recent months, with at least 10,000 people been displaced since January alone, according to the United Nations. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) In this March 16, 2018 photo, Laphai Kai Nan, a survivor of shrapnel injury from a shell attack launched by the Myanmar army against the Kachin Independence Army's headquarter in Laiza on Dec. 24, 2017, sits outside Je Yang refugee camp, Laiza, northern Kachin state, Myanmar. On Christmas Eve the shell exploded hitting shrapnel in Kai Nan's neck piercing through her left jaw and breaking two front teeth. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is sounding more optimistic about a summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, even calling the leader he once tagged with the nickname "Rocket Man" both very open and very honorable. Brokering a deal on North Korea's nuclear program is the primary U.S. aim for a face-to-face meeting with the North in May or June. Trump cautioned Tuesday that North Korea had not followed through on previous promises. But he credited sanctions, pressure from international allies and other tough action pushed by his administration for having forced the North to hold talks. And the president again suggested that he would "leave the table" if the negotiations were not productive or if North Korea was not operating in good faith. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron during their meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Trump says, "We'll see where that all goes." KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysian police have released a photo of one of the two assailants who gunned down a Palestinian engineer this past weekend, and say the duo could still be in the country. Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group has accused Israel of being behind Saturday's shooting of Fadi al-Batsh, an important member of Hamas. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. Malaysian police earlier released computer-generated images of the two suspects, believed to be from Europe or the Middle East. This image released by Royal Malaysia Police shows a suspect of killing of a Palestinian man during a press conference at police headquarter in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Malaysian police have released the photo of one of the two assailants who gunned down a Palestinian engineer this past weekend, and say the duo could still be in the country. (Royal Malaysia Police via AP) On Wednesday, National police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said investigators found a motorcycle abandoned near the murder scene and were able to trace a photo of one of the suspects. He said the men were believed to have entered Malaysia in late January and could still be in the country. Malaysian National police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun, second left, speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Malaysian police have released a photo of one of the two assailants who gunned down a Palestinian engineer this past weekend, and say the duo could still be in the country. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Malaysian National police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun, center, speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Malaysian police have released a photo of one of the two assailants who gunned down a Palestinian engineer this past weekend, and say the duo could still be in the country. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) ISLAMABAD (AP) - An American diplomat who struck a Pakistani motorcyclist in a fatal road accident earlier this month has been barred from leaving the country, pending a civil court case, Pakistani officials said Wednesday. The U.S. military attache, Col. Joseph Emanuel Hall, is accused of running a red light and killing Ateeq Baig on April 7. Hall enjoys diplomatic immunity, so he cannot be arrested or tried. But the two Pakistani officials said Baig's family has filed a civil case against him, hoping for compensation. They said Hall's name was added to a "black list" by the government this month. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. The U.S. embassy said it was in touch with Pakistan about the travel restrictions, without elaborating. Officials refused to disclose Hall's location for safety and security reasons. However, Pakistani official say he has not left the country. The embassy has previously expressed condolences to Baig's family, which this month rallied in Islamabad, demanding justice. Baig's father, Mohammad Idrees, has said he is willing to discuss pardoning Hall. Under Islamic law, the family of a victim can pardon a killer in the name of God or after getting compensation. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Kim Jong Un will be in uncharted territory when the third-generation autocrat crosses over to the southern half of the Demilitarized Zone separating the rival Koreas on Friday, possibly on foot, and greets South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Cameras wielded by one of the most aggressive media contingents on the planet will fire live images of a man used to controlling every aspect of his public persona into the homes and onto the phones of millions of people around the world - though it's not yet clear if it will be seen instantly in North Korea. But as Kim navigates this minefield (figuratively; he's not passing through that part of the DMZ) at the third-ever leadership summit between the rivals, he may actually have an ally of sorts in Moon. FILE - In this March 7, 2018, file photo, people watch a TV screen showing images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. Kim Jong Un will be in unchartered territory when the third-generation autocrat crosses over to the southern half of the Demilitarized Zone separating the rival Koreas on Friday, April 27, possibly on foot, and greets South Korean President Moon Jae-in.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) Despite an announcement that some bits of the summit will be shown live, and the possibility of a joint news conference, Moon seems intent on keeping the North Korean leader at ease, and an aggressive local media at bay, while engineering a summit meant to move the Koreas from what seemed like the brink of war last year to the engagement that the liberal Moon has always dreamed of. This mindset could make it hard for Moon - keen on creating a legacy-defining moment that will set up Kim's summit with President Donald Trump in the coming weeks - to resist whatever media controls the North demands. "The South Korean government is so anxious and invested to ensure the Kim-Trump summit happens, and isn't a failure, that acceding to media choreography is a very small price to pay when Kim and Moon meet," Vipin Narang, a Koreas specialist at MIT, said by email. "If Kim asks for it, I don't see the South Koreans pushing back too hard." At home, thousands of people work to craft Kim's image. Even when Kim traveled to China earlier this month, the self-censoring Chinese media and the autocratic government in Beijing helped cloak the trip in secrecy; the North then later packaged a sanitized video presentation of the visit for state-controlled TV. While Kim may not be able to control every aspect of what happens on the South Korean side of the DMZ, Seoul seems eager to make sure things go smoothly, even preparing a banquet that includes dishes from Switzerland, where Kim studied during his teens. Seoul also planned three days of extensive, closed-door dress rehearsals, one of them involving North Korean officials, leading up to the summit Friday. The information the world receives will likely be closely controlled: Except for a group of pool reporters at the summit, whose access may be extremely limited, journalists will be sequestered at a media center well away from heavily guarded Panmunjom, the border village where the summit will take place. "I'm sure part of the ground rules for the North-South meeting will be tight controls on the South Korean press," Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum CSIS and a longtime Koreas expert, said in an email. "Besides that, Pyongyang will have total control over how the meeting is portrayed in the North so the risk is minimal. Kim Jong Un seems to exude great self-confidence so he may think he is prepared to take on the South Korean press, but I assume he and his handlers will be very cautious on this point." Moon, ahead of the summit, has faced media reports that his government allegedly pressured prominent defectors and conservative analysts to stay out of the press, presumably because they might anger the North, which keeps a close eye on such things - accusations the government in Seoul has strongly denied. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa seemed to indicate that Seoul won't raise at the summit what the U.N. says is Kim's pattern of starving and abusing his people, despite being pressed by activists to do so, when she told reporters that to "include the (human rights) issue in the inter-Korean dialogue now is something that will require more preparation." And in what critics took as an attempt to muzzle dissent, Moon this week asked "that our political circles halt their political warfare at least during the summit." "It is understandable that Seoul wants to avoid annoying Pyongyang ahead of the April 27 inter-Korean summit. But in order for its policy to work, the government must open its ears to various voices on North Korea," the conservative Korea JoongAng Daily recently wrote. "The president cannot push ahead with (his) rapprochement policy if (he) does not gain support from the people. Many conservatives believe the government is too soft toward Pyongyang." ___ Foster Klug, the AP's bureau chief for South Korea, has covered the Koreas since 2005. Follow at www.twitter.com/apklug FILE - In this Jan. 1, 2018, file photo, South Koreans watch a TV news program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's New Year's speech, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. Kim Jong Un will be in unchartered territory when the third-generation autocrat crosses over to the southern half of the Demilitarized Zone separating the rival Koreas on Friday, possibly on foot, and greets South Korean President Moon Jae-in. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File) FILE - In this March 27, 2018, file photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, waves as he was given a send-off at the Beijing station in Beijing. Kim Jong Un will be in unchartered territory when the third-generation autocrat crosses over to the southern half of the Demilitarized Zone separating the rival Koreas on Friday, possibly on foot, and greets South Korean President Moon Jae-in.(Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File) FILE - In this April 18, 2018, file photo, a South Korean soldier stands outside of the Peace House, the venue for the planned summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on April 27, during a press tour at the southern side of the Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. Kim Jong Un will be in unchartered territory when the third-generation autocrat crosses over to the southern half of the Demilitarized Zone separating the rival Koreas on Friday, possibly on foot, and greets South Korean President Moon Jae-in. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File) ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's state-run news agency says a bus transporting New Zealanders to ANZAC Day ceremonies commemorating the 103rd anniversary of the World War I Gallipoli landings caught fire in northwestern Turkey. No one was hurt. Anadolu Agency says that the bus caught fire late Tuesday near the town of Ayvacik, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of the city of Canakkale. All 45 passengers and their Turkish tour guide safely evacuated before the fire engulfed the bus, the agency said. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. In this Tuesday, April 24, 2018 photo, a bus, Australians and New Zealanders on their way to the commemoration event at the Anzac Cove beach in the Gallipoli peninsula, the site of World War I, landing of the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), gather around their bus which bursted into flames n Kucukkuyu, western Turkey. More than forty passengers were making the five-hour trip from the Turkish city of Izmir to Anzac Cove when the engine began smoking in the district of Kucukkuyu and no one was hurt. Each year thousands of Australians and New Zealanders make their way to Turkey to attend the Anzac Day dawn service at Anzac Cove. (Dilara Erdinc/DHA-Depo Photos via AP) The Gallipoli campaign was the first major military action fought by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I. Thousands attend commemoration services on the peninsula each year. BORACAY, Philippines (AP) - Tourists are spending their final hours on Boracay, enjoying the Philippine island's famed white-sand beaches before it closes for up to six months to recover from overcrowding and development. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte described the waters off Boracay as a "cesspool" before ordering the closure. But on Wednesday, one Australian visitor said the island had one of the cleanest beaches he's seen. "I don't really understand too much about what's going on, about the sewage problem . because when I look out there, I see one of the cleanest beaches I've ever seen in my life, and the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen in my life," said Tim Malone, 33. Children watch as a military helicopter passes by the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines Wednesday, April 25, 2018, a day before the government implements its temporary closure. Thousands of workers will be affected when Boracay will be closed after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) "We are just waiting for the bar to open so that we can get a couple of beers before we go on to our flight, but yeah we just want to enjoy the beach for a few more hours so we got up pretty early and made sure we make the most of it ." A government study says more than 2 million tourists visited Boracay last year to enjoy its powdery beaches, spectacular sunsets and festive nightlife, generating about 56 billion pesos ($1 billion) in revenue. But it said the tourist influx, neglected infrastructure and growth of resorts threatened to turn Boracay into a "dead island" in less than a decade. Tourism Undersecretary Frederick Alegre hopes the island will be more sustainable when it resumes normal operations after a few months. "We have to bite the bullet," Alegre said earlier this week. "We have to swallow the bitter pill, one step backward, two steps forward, because we know that it's something that has to be done now to sustain the island." Officials have said the island can only handle 30,000 people but teems with 70,000 at any given time, including 50,000 residents and daily arrivals of about 20,000 tourists. About 17,000 are employed in Boracay's tourist establishments, and 10,000 to 12,000 others benefit from the bustling tourism business. Only about 47 percent of the hundreds of establishments are connected to the island's main sewerage treatment plant, with many of the rest maintaining crude septic tanks or discharging their waste directly into the sea. A similar decision was made in Thailand, where Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh island in the Andaman Sea will be closed for four months starting in June. Many Thai marine parks close for part of the year but the release of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach" in 2000 made picturesque Maya Bay so popular it stayed open year-round. It averages 200 boats and 4,000 visitors daily, and recent surveys found the area's coral reefs and sea life damaged or gone. A man carries chairs at the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines Wednesday, April 25, 2018, a day before the government implements its temporary closure. Thousands of workers will be affected when Boracay will be closed after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) A woman poses for a picture as security forces prepare for a drill at the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines Wednesday, April 25, 2018, a day before the government implements its temporary closure. Thousands of workers will be affected when Boracay will be closed after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Members of the Philippine Navy Seals, right, maneuver during an anti-terrorism drill at the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines Wednesday, April 25, 2018, a day before the government implements its temporary closure. Thousands of workers will be affected when Boracay will be closed after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Philippines policemen acting as protesters are arrested during a security drill at the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines Wednesday, April 25, 2018, a day before the government implements its temporary closure. Thousands of workers will be affected when Boracay will be closed after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Members of the Special Weapons and Tactics group simulate an assault during a security drill at the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines Wednesday, April 25, 2018, a day before the government implements its temporary closure. Thousands of workers will be affected when Boracay will be closed after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) A mock hostage-taking is performed at a security drill at the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines Wednesday, April 25, 2018, a day before the government implements its temporary closure. Thousands of workers will be affected when Boracay will be closed after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Dogs play beside a drainage pipe that discharges its untreated sewage into the waters at the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines Wednesday, April 25, 2018, a day before the government implements its temporary closure. Thousands of workers will be affected when Boracay will be closed after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Philippines policemen acting as protesters attack anti-riot police during a security drill at the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines Wednesday, April 25, 2018, a day before the government implements its temporary closure. Thousands of workers will be affected when Boracay will be closed after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Philippine policemen participate during a security drill at the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines Wednesday, April 25, 2018, a day before the government implements its temporary closure. Thousands of workers will be affected when Boracay will be closed after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Tourists crowd the beach front as they wait for the sun set, on the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Thousands of workers will be affected when the resort closes after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Tourists learn to paddle in the sea by the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Thousands of workers will be affected when the island closes after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) A Filipino boy with sand on his face plays, on the country's most famous beach resort island of Boracay, in central Aklan province, Philippines, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Thousands of workers will be affected when the island closes after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered its closure on April 26 for up to six months after saying the waters off its famed white-sand beaches had become a "cesspool" due to overcrowding and development. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - A self-taught Danish engineer was convicted of murder Wednesday for luring a Swedish journalist on to his homemade submarine, then torturing and killing her before dismembering her body and dumping it at sea in a sensational case that has gripped Scandinavia. Peter Madsen, 47, was sentenced in Copenhagen City Court to life in prison for killing Kim Wall, a 30-year-old freelance reporter, after bringing her aboard his submarine with the promise of an interview last summer. "We are talking about a cynical and planned sexual assault and brutal murder of a random woman, who in connection with her journalistic work had accepted an offer to go sailing in the defendant's submarine," presiding Judge Anette Burkoe told the court. FILE - This April 30, 2008 file photo shows a submarine and its owner Peter Madsen. One of the most talked-about and macabre court cases in recent Danish history is set to conclude Wednesday, April 25, 2018 when the verdict is handed down on whether Peter Madsen tortured and murdered a Swedish journalist during a private submarine trip. (Niels Hougaard/Ritzau via AP, File) Life sentences in Denmark usually mean 16 years in prison, but convicts are reassessed during their incarceration to determine whether they would pose a danger to society if released and can be kept longer. Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen said he was satisfied that Madsen got "the heaviest penalty in Danish law, namely prison for life." Wall was at a waterfront party with her Danish boyfriend on Aug. 10 when she received a text from Madsen that he would grant her the interview she had been waiting for months for if she joined him immediately. She was last seen waving goodbye to her friends from the bridge of the submarine as it sailed into the Baltic. The submarine was spotted the next day as it passed a lighthouse in waters between Denmark and Sweden, then sank shortly afterward in what police later concluded was an intentional act. After being rescued, Madsen told authorities that before the submarine went down he had dropped Wall off on Copenhagen's trendy Refshale island, where she lived and he kept his workshop. After further questioning, that story changed and Madsen claimed that Wall hit her head on the submarine's hatch and died accidentally. He said he then buried her at sea. Eleven days after her disappearance, a cyclist found Wall's mutilated torso. Police divers then recovered a weighted-down bag containing her head, other body parts and clothing in October. When no injuries were found to her skull, Madsen changed his story again, saying that she died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a malfunction on the submarine. Wall, he told the court, had "a wonderful evening until it ended in an accident." Although he insisted he did not kill Wall, Madsen did eventually admit to dismembering her body, but struggled during his trial to explain why. "What do you do when you have a large problem?" he said at one point. "You make it smaller." The specific cause of death was never established, but Buch-Jepsen introduced evidence that Madsen stashed a saw and sharpened screwdrivers on board the submarine, suggesting it was premediated murder. Investigators also found dozens of links on his computer to sites about the sexual torture of women, and the night before the crime he ran a search for the terms "beheading," ''girl" and "agony," according to evidence presented in court. Wall's dismembered torso had multiple stabs wound, including in the genitals. Though there was no evidence she had been raped, semen was found in Madsen's underwear, according to evidence presented in court. In her verdict, Burkoe noted the discrepancies in Madsen's stories, saying he had "failed to give trustworthy explanations." She added that the court found he "has shown interest for killing and maiming of people and has shown interest for impaling." Madsen listened quietly as the verdict was read, looking down at the desk in front of him. Immediately after his conviction on charges of murder, sexual assault and defilement of a body, Madsen's lawyer, Betina Hald Engmark, told the court she would appeal. The court ordered Madsen kept behind bars during the appeals process. Wall had reported for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Guardian and other publications and was preparing to relocate with her boyfriend to China - a move they were celebrating with friends the day she went missing. Despite the widespread international interest in the case, the court did not allow the verdict to be broadcast live and restricted delayed broadcasts to Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The case prompted investigators to re-examine several unsolved killings in Denmark, including the 1986 discovery of the dismembered remains of a 22-year-old Japanese tourist in plastic bags in Copenhagen harbor, but no links to Madsen were found. During the trial, witnesses painted a picture of Madsen as a tech nerd who was intensely competitive, often to the detriment of friendships and relationships. He was involved in Copenhagen's art scene - once hosting a mini ballet on board his submarine - but also in its bondage club scene, where one member testified he had been kicked out for being too passive. His wife, who initially supported Madsen, but reportedly sought a divorce from him earlier this year, told authorities he openly spoke about attending fetish parties without her. Madsen, who grew up in a small town west of Copenhagen, built rockets in his spare time but never went to university. In 2008, he launched his UC3 Nautilus submarine, which he claimed was the largest privately built submarine in the world. Wall had planned to interview Madsen for a story on a rocket program he founded in 2014, with the goal of building a crowd-funded rocket to launch himself into space. But by the time he finally texted her, his cash flow had dried up and he had cancelled the planned test launch later that month. During the trial, Madsen appeared uninterested when the prosecution detailed a court-ordered psychiatric report describing him as "emotionally impaired with severe lack of empathy, anger and guilt" and having "psychopathic tendencies." But he became animated when technical details about his projects were described. ____ Rising reported from Berlin. A courtroom sketch shows Peter Madsen during the trial regarding the killing of Swedish journalist Kim Wall in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Wall's death was a murder, saying Madsen didn't given "a trustworthy" explanation. (Anne Gyrithe Sch'tt/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen, right, at a press briefing in front of the courthouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, after the verdict in the case of Peter Madsen Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Wall's death was a murder, saying Madsen didn't given "a trustworthy" explanation. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) FILE - In this April 30, 2008 file photo, submarine owner Peter Madsen stands inside the vessel. One of the most talked-about and macabre court cases in recent Danish history is set to conclude Wednesday, April 25, 2018 when the verdict is handed down on whether Peter Madsen tortured and murdered a Swedish journalist during a private submarine trip. (Niels Hougaard /Ritzau via AP, File) Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen at a press briefing in front of the courthouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, after the verdict in the case of Peter Madsen Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Wall's death was a murder, saying Madsen didn't given "a trustworthy" explanation. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen at a press briefing in front of the courthouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, after the verdict in the case of Peter Madsen Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Wall's death was a murder, saying Madsen didn't given "a trustworthy" explanation. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) FILE- In this Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017 file photo, Police and other authorities search a waterway for body remains related to the ongoing Kim Wall murder investigation at the west coast of Amager close to Copenhagen, Denmark. One of the most talked-about and macabre court cases in recent Danish history is set to conclude Wednesday, April 25, 2018 when the verdict is handed down on whether Peter Madsen tortured and murdered a Swedish journalist during a private submarine trip. (Jens Dresling/Ritzau via AP, File) Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen at a press briefing in front of the courthouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, after the verdict in the case of Peter Madsen Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Wall's death was a murder, saying Madsen didn't given "a trustworthy" explanation. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen, left, leaves after a press briefing in front of the courthouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, after the verdict in the case of Peter Madsen Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Wall's death was a murder, saying Madsen didn't given "a trustworthy" explanation. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) Defense attorney Betina Hald-Engmark arrives at the courthouse for the verdict in the case of Peter Madsen, in Copenhagen, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Wall's death was a murder, saying Madsen didn't given "a trustworthy" explanation. (Nikolai Linares/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen, center, at a press briefing in front of the courthouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, after the verdict in the case of Peter Madsen Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Wall's death was a murder, saying Madsen didn't given "a trustworthy" explanation. (Nikolai Linares/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) PARIS (AP) - About 500 experts from more than 70 nations are holding talks in Paris on how to choke off financing for the Islamic State group and Al-Qaida. Wednesday's meeting opens a two-day international conference championed by French President Emmanuel Macron under the banner "No Money for Terror." Islamic State revenues alone are estimated at $2.5 billion between 2014 and 2016, according to the French president's office. The French organizers are pushing for international coordination and more transparency in financial transactions, as terror groups use increasingly sophisticated methods to transfer money. On Thursday, the conference will gather ministers of justice, finance, foreign affairs and the interior from Western countries, the Arab world and other nationsm as well as representatives of 18 international organizations. The meetings come as international donors in Brussels are drumming up aid for conflict-ravaged Syria. Tal como ha informado el Premier Villanueva anoche a mi regreso de Arequipa puse mi cargo a disposicion del Presidente Vizcarra a fin de contribuir con que el tema politico no interfiera con la necesidad de resolver la problematica de la pesca artesanal. CAIRO (AP) - The Egyptian military said Wednesday that three officers were killed in the last week in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula, where it is battling an Islamic State-led insurgency. Another two troops were wounded, Col. Tamer el-Rifai, a military spokesman, said in a statement posted on Facebook. The troops killed 30 militants and arrested at least 173 suspects, he said, adding that airstrikes in the Western Desert destroyed 10 vehicles laden with weapons and ammunition. The military said troops dismantled more than 74 explosive devices. It said that troops also destroyed more than 430 hideouts, munition and weapons depots and targeted more than 40 illegal opium fields in the past week. The figures provided by the military could not be independently confirmed as media access to the northern Sinai is heavily restricted. The military launched a massive operation earlier this year aimed at restoring security in northern Sinai and the Western Desert, which borders chaotic Libya. A leading international rights group on Monday warned of a humanitarian crisis in northern Sinai, saying the military had imposed severe restrictions on the movement of people and goods. The campaign has left up to 420,000 residents in northern Sinai in urgent need of humanitarian aid since the operation began on February 9, Human Rights Watch said. The military has denied there is a food crisis, saying it provides aid convoys and has opened several new facilities that are selling food and other necessities at discounted prices to the local population. An Islamic State affiliate based in northern Sinai has carried out attacks across Egypt in recent years, mainly targeting security forces and the country's Christian minority. GUJRAT, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani authorities on Wednesday exhumed the body of a woman who police suspect was killed by her father and uncle for refusing an arranged marriage, officials said. Sana Cheema, a 25-year-old woman of Pakistani origin who had Italian citizenship, died on April 18 in the city of Gujrat in eastern Punjab province. The case came to light this week after friends shared posts about her death on social media, prompting police to investigate. Her father and uncle have since been arrested and are being investigated. A local journalist shows a story published by an Italian news site regarding Sana Cheema, an Italian woman of Pakistani origin, in the neighborhood of Mangowal, near Gujrat, Pakistan, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Pakistani authorities have exhumed the body of Sana Cheema who police suspect was killed by her father and uncle for refusing an arranged marriage. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed) Nearly 1,000 women are killed every year in Pakistan in so-called "honor killings," cases in which members of their families or relatives kill them for violating conservative norms on love, marriage and public behavior. On Wednesday, Irfan Ullah, a senior police officer in Gujarat, told reporters at the scene that police had acted following the social media posts but Cheema's family had not even notified authorities so officers had to trace her identity first and whether there was even a death. A local magistrate attended the exhumation of the body, followed by an autopsy after which the woman's body was reburied. Forensics expert Dr. Robia, who goes only by a single name, said the Punjab Forensic laboratory would examine collected samples. "After their report we will be able to give final opinion," Robia said. Muhammad Ashraf, a relative, insisted Cheema's family had done nothing wrong. "Her parents are innocent, they don't have any role in her death," he said. Cheema graduated from high school in Brescia, Italy, and received Italian citizenship last September. She returned to Pakistan in November. Italian media reported she was in love with a man from Brescia who like her was a second-generation immigrant with Italian citizenship. If confirmed, her case will be the second recently publicized honor killing in Punjab. The father and the ex-husband of a British-Pakistani woman, Samia Shahid, were charged in 2016 in her rape and murder, also in Punjab. A doctor talks to the media in the neighborhood of Mangowal, near Gujrat, Pakistan, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Pakistani authorities have exhumed the body of Sana Cheema who police suspect was killed by her father and uncle for refusing an arranged marriage. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed) A Pakistani police officer stands guard near a grave, covered with tent, of Sana Cheema, an Italian woman of Pakistani origin, who was allegedly killed by her family members, in the neighborhood of Mangowal, near Gujrat, Pakistan, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Pakistani police arrested the father and the uncle suspected in an "honor" killing of a 25-year-old Italian citizen, a woman of Pakistani origin who refused to marry the man they chose for her, a police officer said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed) A magistrate, center, and police officers wait to exhume the grave of Sana Cheema, an Italian woman of Pakistani origin, who was allegedly killed by her family members, in the neighborhood of Mangowal, near Gujrat, Pakistan, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Pakistani police arrested the father and the uncle suspected in an "honor" killing of a 25-year-old Italian citizen, a woman of Pakistani origin who refused to marry the man they chose for her, a police officer said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed) A Pakistani police officer carries an box for investigation in the neighborhood of Mangowal, near Gujrat, Pakistan, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, following the exhumation of the grave of Sana Cheema, an Italian woman of Pakistani origin, who was allegedly killed by family members. Pakistani police arrested the father and the uncle suspected in an "honor" killing of a 25-year-old Italian citizen, a woman of Pakistani origin who refused to marry the man they chose for her, a police officer said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed) A Pakistani police officer stands guard to cordon off the grave, rear, of Sana Cheema, an Italian woman of Pakistani origin, who was allegedly killed by her family members, in the neighborhood of Mangowal, near Gujrat, Pakistan, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Pakistani police arrested the father and the uncle suspected in an "honor" killing of a 25-year-old Italian citizen, a woman of Pakistani origin who refused to marry the man they chose for her, a police officer said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed) BRUSSELS (AP) - International donors on Wednesday pledged an estimated $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Syria and neighbors sheltering its refugees in 2018, falling significantly short of the more than $7 billion the United Nations is seeking. An estimated 450,000 people have been killed in fighting in Syria since President Bashar Assad's government cracked down on demonstrations calling for his ouster in 2011. Last year, the World Bank estimated the damage to the country at close to a quarter-trillion dollars, and large swathes of Syrian's largest three cities, Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs, lay in ruins. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, left, walks with from left, Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi, Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdag, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Ahmed al-Jubeir, and UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, prior to a group photo at a conference 'Supporting the future of Syria and the region' at the Europa building in Brussels on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) Eight years into the conflict, more than 13 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance and around a quarter of the population is displaced in neighboring countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, according to the U.N. U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock described the pledges as a "good start" and said that based on previous years he expected the amount to grow. Still, he said that given the funds available the organization would have to save it for the most desperate cases. Non-governmental organizations were disappointed with the results. Thanking the European Union - which hosted the donor conference involving around 85 delegations in Brussels - plus Britain and Germany for significant offers, Lowcock conceded that "we would like our appeal today to have been fully funded." "We are talking about a large sum of money and there is a lot of pressure on the financiers," he told reporters. "The key issue is to make sure .... priority is given to those in most need and those most vulnerable," he added. Organizers later announced that a total of $3.4 billion more had been raised for 2019 and 2020. The U.S. didn't make any pledge, according to the official conference list. "Though the crisis is now in its eighth year, the unmet and growing needs of millions of men, women and children mean that donor countries cannot show any sign of fatigue," a coalition of nine NGOs, including Oxfam, Save the Children and World Vision, said in a statement. "This conference didn't go nearly far enough to provide adequate support to the millions of Syrians in need of assistance and who are left facing an uncertain future." With fighting still raging, and the northern rebel-held province of Idlib in danger of fast becoming a new crisis zone, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called on Russia, Iran and Turkey to use their influence in Damascus, saying they have a "special responsibility" to establish a cease-fire and to press Syrian President Bashar Assad to return to the negotiating table. "We are seeing an escalation in military activities which is exactly the contrary" to what they promised, Mogherini said. The EU had hoped the meeting would give impetus to stalled peace moves under U.N. auspices, on top of gathering humanitarian aid for Syria and for neighbors like Lebanon and Jordan, struggling to cope with millions of refugees. Mogherini underlined that the EU - along with many around the table Wednesday - refuses to help rebuild Syria until meaningful peace moves to end the conflict resume in Geneva. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who faces elections in two weeks, said the plight of Syrians is simply getting worse. "The bitter truth is that despite all our combined efforts, conditions have deteriorated. Lebanon continues to be a big refugee camp," he said. Britain's State Minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, agreed that Syria's needs are enormous. "This is the world's greatest protection crisis. If you look at what's happened and what's been done to people - breaches of humanitarian laws, the weakening of multilateral norms that we have seen for a long time - it's all focusing on Syria," he said. Smoke rises after Syrian government airstrikes and shelling hit in Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood held by Islamic State militants, southern Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Syrian state TV is reporting that government forces have launched a new operation targeting underground tunnels used by the Islamic State group in the capital, Damascus. (AP Photo) European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, center, addresses the media together with UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock, left, and UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Syria Staffan de Mistura during a conference 'Supporting the future of Syria and the region' at the EU Council in Brussels on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri, center right, speaks with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, center left, during a conference 'Supporting the future of Syria and the region' at the Europa building in Brussels on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is calling on Russia, Iran and Turkey to force a halt to fighting in Syria, as international donors gather in Brussels to drum up aid for the conflict-ravaged country. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) Delegations pose for a group photo during a conference 'Supporting the future of Syria and the region' at the Europa building in Brussels on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is calling on Russia, Iran and Turkey to force a halt to fighting in Syria, as international donors gather in Brussels to drum up aid for the conflict-ravaged country. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri, left, speaks with Jordan's Minister for Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi during a conference 'Supporting the future of Syria and the region' at the Europa building in Brussels on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is calling on Russia, Iran and Turkey to force a halt to fighting in Syria, as international donors gather in Brussels to drum up aid for the conflict-ravaged country. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri, right, speaks with UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock during a conference 'Supporting the future of Syria and the region' at the Europa building in Brussels on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is calling on Russia, Iran and Turkey to force a halt to fighting in Syria, as international donors gather in Brussels to drum up aid for the conflict-ravaged country. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura speaks to the media after a conference on 'Supporting the future of Syria and the region at the Egmont Palace in Brussels on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, Pool) BEIJING (AP) - China's foreign ministry said Wednesday that it welcomes a planned visit by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to Beijing next week amid trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Wednesday that China looks forward to the visit for "consultation on trade and economic issues." He referred reporters to other unidentified government departments for details on the visit. The United States and China are entangled in their most consequential trade dispute since World War II. Both countries have proposed tariffs of $50 billion on each other's products; Trump is looking to impose tariffs of up to $100 billion more on Chinese goods. Announcing Mnuchin's visit on Tuesday, Trump said: "We've put on very substantial tariffs, and that will continue unless we make a trade deal. I think we've got a very good chance of making a deal." Mnuchin has expressed optimism that the countries can avoid a trade war. He met last week with finance officials from China, Japan and Europe. Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, has vowed to open China's market wider to foreign companies. VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis has hailed a "two Koreas" summit this week on the Korean Peninsula as an opportunity to start dialogue, and urged those involved to "have the courage" to be "artisans of peace." Francis at the Vatican Wednesday asked for prayers for "both those of the South and of the North" of Korea. U.S.-allied South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet Friday in the Demilitarized Zone between the Koreas, a summit that could lay the ground for U.S. President Donald Trump's planned meeting with the North Korean dictator. Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience, in St.Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. The pontiff blessed and prayed with the faithful for a highly-anticipated summit between the leaders of North and South Korea next Friday over the North's nuclear crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Francis called the summit "a favorable occasion to start a transparent dialogue and a concrete route toward reconciliation and regained brotherhood with the aim of guaranteeing peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the entire world." Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience, in St.Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. The pontiff blessed and prayed with the faithful for a highly-anticipated summit between the leaders of North and South Korea next Friday over the North's nuclear crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Pope Francis delivers his speech during his weekly general audience, in St.Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. The pontiff blessed and prayed with the faithful for a highly-anticipated summit between the leaders of North and South Korea next Friday over the North's nuclear crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience, in St.Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. The pontiff blessed and prayed with the faithful for a highly-anticipated summit between the leaders of North and South Korea next Friday over the North's nuclear crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be served a nod to his Swiss school days following a high-stakes meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in over the future of his nukes. A Korean "re-interpretation" of the Swiss fried potato dish rosti will highlight the food served at a planned banquet after Friday's summit at the border truce village of Panmunjom. Other items on the menu include fish and rice using produce from the hometowns of Moon and his liberal predecessors who sought rapprochement with Pyongyang. North Korea will bring its famous cold noodles to the dinner. This undated photo provided by South Korea Presidential Blue House Tuesday, April 24, 2018, shows mango mousse decorated by a blue flag symbolizing a unified Korean Peninsula. The item is on the menu for a planned banquet after the April 27 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the border truce village of Panmunjom. (South Korea Presidential Blue House via AP) The meeting between Kim and Moon is just the third-ever summit between the rival Koreas, who are now trying to restore ties after a decade of animosity over the North's nuclear and missile program. The two countries remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. A look at the food to be served at Panmunjom: ___ A TOUCH OF SWISS While not many things are known about Kim's childhood, one thing Seoul is certain about is that he spent several years in his teens being schooled in Switzerland. That means a lot of Swiss-inspired dishes for Kim at the banquet. Aside from the Korean twist on rosti, which basically will be fried grated potato from South Korea's Gangwon province topped with cheese, the South Koreans will serve Swiss chocolate, macaroons and cheesecake in a set of desserts that Seoul's presidential Blue House has named "Memories of Swiss." Also for dessert will be a mango mousse decorated with a blue map symbolizing a unified Korean Peninsula. The map will include a dot representing a small island off the peninsula's eastern coast that has been the subject of a territorial dispute between South Korea and Japan. Japanese media reported that Tokyo lodged a protest to Seoul over the island being represented on the mango mousse, but South Korea's Foreign Ministry couldn't immediately confirm. Kim, 34, did display a European palate last month in a Pyongyang banquet he hosted for Moon's envoys, who were served wine paired with different kinds of cheese. After setting up the summit between Kim and Moon, South Korean officials in a subsequent trip to Washington brokered a potential meeting between Kim and President Donald Trump, which is anticipated in May or June. ___ SOUTH KOREAN MEAT AND FISH South Korean chefs at the banquet will also serve baked John Dory fish, a tribute to the South Korean port of Busan, where the 65-year-old Moon was born. Other items on the menu include nods to the birth towns of former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, who met with Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong Il, in the two previous inter-Korean summits in the 2000s. The chefs will serve croaker caught from Kim Dae-jung's hometown in southwestern Gageo island and rice from Roh's southern hometown of Gimhae. They also will serve grilled beef made from cattle at a ranch in the central town of Seosan. The ranch became famous in 1998 when late Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung sent 1,001 cattle from the ranch in two separate convoy across the border to the North in an effort to aid reconciliation between the rivals. "The welcoming banquet will reflect the desire of people who attempted to achieve peace and unification of our nation," Moon's spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said. There will be no dishes from South Korea's Daegu or Japan's Osaka, the respective birth towns of former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, who led a decade of conservative rule in Seoul before Moon took office but are now both in jail over separate corruption cases. Inter-Korean relations were terrible during the governments of Park and Lee, who employed a hard line against Pyongyang over its nuclear ambitions. ___ FAMOUS NORTH KOREAN NOODLES Seoul's presidential Blue House said North Korea has also agreed to bring to the dinner "naengmyeon," or cold buckwheat noodles, made by the head chef of Pyongyang's famous Okryugwan restaurant. Moon's office said Moon proposed the restaurant's noodles to be included on the menu, to which the North "gladly" obliged. Okryugwan is arguably North Korea's best-known restaurant and has branches in China. ___ Follow Kim Tong-hyung on Twitter at @KimTongHyung. This undated photo provided by South Korea Presidential Blue House Tuesday, April 24, 2018, shows a dish of grilled beef using cattle from a ranch in Season, central South Korea. The item is on the menu for a planned banquet after the April 27 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the border truce village of Panmunjom. The ranch became famous in 1998 when late Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung filled 50 trucks with 500 cattle from the ranch and led the convoy across the border to the North in an effort to aid reconciliation between the rivals. (South Korea Presidential Blue House via AP) This undated photo provided by South Korea Presidential Blue House Tuesday, April 24, 2018, shows what the office describes as a Korean "re-interpretation" of the Swiss potato dish rosti. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be served a nod to his Swiss school days following a high-stakes meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in over the future of his nukes. The Swiss fried potato dish rosti will highlight the food served at a planned banquet after Friday's summit at the border truce village of Panmunjom. North Korean leader Kim spent several years being schooled in Switzerland during his teens. (South Korea Presidential Blue House via AP) BEIJING (AP) - Before Yue Xin became a central figure in China's burgeoning movement against sexual harassment, she recorded herself singing a revamped version of the 1960s pop classic "Que Sera Sera." "Will we be equal? Will we be free?" sang the Peking University senior in a voice clip posted online, putting her own spin on Doris Day's "Will I be pretty? Will I be rich?" Now these words and Yue's writings on privilege and self-expression have become rallying cries for students expressing rare public outrage over the elite institution's efforts to quiet her exposure of a decades-old rape case. The vocal backlash, including an online petition launched Wednesday, is being regarded as a pivotal moment in China's nascent #MeToo movement. Yue and seven other students at Peking University formally requested that Peking University disclose its actions in the investigation of sexual misconduct by Shen Yang, a former professor, against Gao Yan, a student who killed herself in 1998 after telling friends that Shen raped her. Shen no longer works at Peking University and was dismissed from posts at Nanjing University and Shanghai Normal University earlier this month. According to a letter from Yue that was widely circulated online, Peking University has threatened and intimidated her and her parents in an attempt to stifle discussion of the matter. Yue posted a plea on her WeChat messaging account Monday saying that she had been taken away from her dormitory in the middle of the night by her distraught mother and a university instructor. "I'm confined to (my parents') house right now," Yue wrote. "I've lost my freedom." Yue did not respond to requests for comment, and friends said they have been unable to reach her. Peking University's Foreign Languages School, the department to which Yue belongs, said in a statement Monday that they brought Yue's mother to campus "out of concern" that the student had not responded to messages for hours. The university did not respond to further requests for comment. Underscoring the degree of attention attracted by Yue's case, People's Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, took the rare step of issuing a call for reconciliation between students and the university and for "young people's voices" to be understood. "Students and faculty together comprise the university's fate," the paper said in a commentary Tuesday. "The school must accept constructive suggestions in a timely manner ... and not be evasive." "Students have already developed an awareness of their rights that is impossible to crush," said Feng Yuan, a prominent women's rights advocate. "The fight for women's rights will only become more defiant with every setback." While China is beginning to confront problems of sexual harassment and gender discrimination, any kind of campus activism is extremely sensitive for a ruling party with vivid memories of the 1989 student-led pro-democracy demonstrations centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The movement was crushed by the military and Chinese college campuses have since been among the most closely monitored venues for organization and discussion. Posts about Yue and Shen's case have been heavily censored. The term "Yue Xin" was not searchable on the Twitter-like Weibo platform Wednesday, and posts related to her situation have been scrubbed from WeChat - prompting jokes that a "404 Error" symbol should become Peking University's new logo. Despite such measures, students have been vocalizing their discontent. Big-character posters - sheets featuring large, handwritten Chinese characters reminiscent of past protest movements - appeared near the historic Democracy Wall triangle on campus, where students advocated political reform in the 1980s. "We ask you gentlemen in charge of the school: What are you actually afraid of?" the posters said, asserting that Yue was acting in the spirit of the May Fourth movement, when thousands of students from Peking University, also known as PKU, marched to Tiananmen Square in 1919 to protest the government's response to the Treaty of Versailles. A petition published online Wednesday, said to be signed by students and alumni, condemned the school's "unjust" treatment of Yue and other students who raised Shen's case, demanding that pressure on them be lifted. On social media, users expressed disappointment in "what PKU has become" and shared a school photo of Yue with the caption "PKU's soul is not dead." Fang Kecheng, a journalist and Weibo commentator, described Yue in a blog post as someone who approaches everything with great attention to detail, carefully observing the world around her and meticulously analyzing problems. Yue is "one of those rare PKU students," wrote Fang, an alumnus. She is among the students who offer "a beacon in the dark night, encouraging generations to come." According to Fang, Yue gave sex education classes to children in poor areas and wanted to be a journalist. In an essay published on her public WeChat account, Yue ruminated on social inequality in China and her own privilege. "What I bear is the original sin of the structural injustices of this whole society," Yue wrote. "I truly have no reason to not move forward; I truly have no reason to move forward only for my sake." ___ Associated Press researcher Shanshan Wang in Beijing contributed to this report. PARIS (AP) - Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders says hostility toward journalists is growing worldwide, often encouraged by political leaders - even in democratic countries. The group's annual global index of media freedom released Wednesday found an overall rise in animosity toward reporters and a drop in freedoms, notably in former Soviet states but also in countries from the U.S. to the Philippines. The group says many democratically elected leaders "no longer see the media as part of democracy's essential underpinning," singling out U.S. President Donald Trump for his media-bashing. It also notes the recent killings of reporters in EU members Slovakia and Malta. The watchdog says authoritarian regimes are trying to "export their vision" that media should be compliant. It says hate speech targeting journalists is amplified on social networks by government-friendly trolls in India, Russia and elsewhere. ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Athens and other cities Wednesday, vowing to challenge ongoing bailout-related austerity measures after the rescue program ends in a few months. Three successive demonstrations were held in Athens in opposition to the sale of power plants, planned pension cuts, and funding cuts at state-run hospitals. Left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' government has promised lenders it will continue infrastructure privatization and draconian spending controls after the bailout program ends in late August, in exchange for more favorable repayment terms. Pensioners sit outside a shoe shop as they take part in a rally near the Finance Ministry in central Athens, on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Athens to protest against a number of bailout-related reforms, including the sale of some power plants, potential pension cuts and staffing funding cuts for state-run hospitals. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Greece's post-bailout plans are due to be discussed on a visit to Athens by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Thursday and at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers the following day in Sofia, Bulgaria. Protest leaders say they were also making their own post-bailout plans. "We don't owe our pensions to (bailout) creditors. We worked our whole life to get our pension, and we will keep fighting till we get back what they have taken from us," pension protest organizer Dimos Koumbouris. The government has already signed up to more across-the-board pension cuts in 2019, the main reason of Wednesday's march by retirees. State-run hospital workers were also on strike, demanding more funding for healthcare and protesting shortages in the hospitals. And workers at the Public Power Corporation, protesting the prospective sale of lignite plants, dumped sacks of lignite on the steps near parliament. Greece has depended on international bailouts since 2010, and has had to push through stringent spending cuts and tax hikes in return for the emergency loans. Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos on Wednesday said there had been no discussion with creditors on whether austerity measures agree for 2019-20 could be amended, but he cited data reported this week showing that the government had beaten budget targets for three successive years. "Greece's fiscal adjustment has been completed," Tzanakopoulos. "The lenders should take that into account." ___ Srdjan Nedeljkovic in Athens contributed. Follow Becatoros at http://www.twitter.com/ElenaBec and Gatopoulos http://www.twitter.com/dgatopoulos Pensioners protest outside the Labor ministry in central Athens, on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Athens to protest against a number of bailout-related reforms, including the sale of some power plants, potential pension cuts and staffing funding cuts for state-run hospitals. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Charcoal thrown by workers of the country's electricity company, the Public Power Corporation (DEH) seen in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Thousands of people have taken to the streets of the Greek capital to protest bailout-related reforms, including the sale of power plants, potential pension cuts and staffing funding cuts for state-run hospitals. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) Workers of the country's electricity company, the Public Power Corporation (DEH) protest outside the Greek Parliament against plans to sell off lignite plants in Athens, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Thousands of people have taken to the streets of the Greek capital to protest bailout-related reforms, including the sale of power plants, potential pension cuts and staffing funding cuts for state-run hospitals. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) Pensioners protest in central Athens, on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Athens to protest against a number of bailout-related reforms, including the sale of some power plants, potential pension cuts and staffing funding cuts for state-run hospitals. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Cacao de San Martin tiene gran demanda en Australia, Italia y Suiza. ANDINA/Difusion NEW DELHI (AP) - An Indian court on Wednesday found a high-profile spiritual guru guilty of raping a teenage female devotee in 2013 and sentenced him to life in prison. The verdict against 77-year-old Asaram Bapu was read out inside the prison where he is being held in Jodhpur in Rajasthan state because of fears that his followers might resort to violence. Security was tight around the prison complex and in states where the guru has a large following. FILE- In this Sept. 1, 2013 file photo, controversial spiritual guru Asaram Bapu, center, is brought for interrogation by police at Jodhpur airport in Jodhpur, India. An Indian court has held the high-profile guru guilty of raping a teenage female devotee in 2013. The verdict against Bapu, 77, was read out inside a prison in the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, because of fears that his followers may resort to violence. (AP Photo/Sunil Verma, File) The trial was the latest in a series of high-profile rape cases in India that have fueled public protests and raised questions about how police handle the attacks and treat the victims. Last August, another popular and flamboyant Indian spiritual guru, Dr. Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of raping two female followers. Responding to widespread outrage over the recent rape and killings of young girls and other attacks on children, India's government last week approved the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under age 12. Judge Madhusudhan Sharma announced the prison term for Bapu and sentenced two of his associates to 20 years in prison each for helping him in the crime. The judge convicted Bapu on charges of criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement and rape. Bapu has denied the charges, and a spokeswoman, Neelam Dubey, said Bapu would appeal the verdict in a higher court. The girl in her complaint to police in 2013 accused Bapu of raping her when she visited his retreat in Jodhpur with her mother. She was 16 at the time. The girl's family said they had been followers of Bapu for more than a decade. Bapu has been in prison since his arrest in 2013. He ran more than 230 ashrams with residential schools with millions of followers across India and abroad, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Uganda and Kenya. Religious sects wield considerable political clout in India. Bapu is also on trial along with his son Narayan Sai in a separate case in which two sisters have accused the two men of sexual assault. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Neelam Dubey is a spokeswoman, not a spokesman. Policemen check the identity of motorcyclists outside Central Jail, where controversial spiritual guru Asaram Bapu is being lodged in Jodhpur, India, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. An Indian court has held the high-profile guru guilty of raping a teenage female devotee in 2013. The verdict against Bapu, 77, was read out inside the prison in the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan on Wednesday because of fears that his followers may resort to violence. (AP Photo/Sunil Verma) Indian policemen keep vigil outside an ashram of controversial spiritual guru Asaram Bapu in Ahmadabad, India, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. An Indian court has held the high-profile guru guilty of raping a teenage female devotee in 2013. The verdict against Bapu, 77, was read out inside a prison in the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan on Wednesday because of fears that his followers may resort to violence. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) FILE- In this Sept. 1, 2013 file photo, controversial spiritual guru Asaram Bapu, center, is brought for interrogation by police in Jodhpur, India. An Indian court has held the high-profile guru guilty of raping a teenage female devotee in 2013. The verdict against Bapu, 77, was read out inside a prison in the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, because of fears that his followers may resort to violence. (AP Photo/Sunil Verma, File) Security officers keep guard outside Central Jail, where controversial spiritual guru Asaram Bapu is being lodged, in Jodhpur, India, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. An Indian court has held the high-profile guru guilty of raping a teenage female devotee in 2013. The verdict against Bapu, 77, was read out inside the prison in the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan on Wednesday because of fears that his followers may resort to violence. (AP Photo/Sunil Verma) BEIRUT (AP) - The Latest on the Syria conflict (all times local): 1 a.m. The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross says the organization has been "flooded" with about 13,000 requests in the last six months from Syrians looking for missing family members. Front row, from left, Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdag, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Ahmed al-Jubeir, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi pose during a group photo at a conference 'Supporting the future of Syria and the region' at the Europa building in Brussels on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Taro Kono (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) Peter Maurer told a small group of journalists at U.N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday that before then the ICRC only had "requests in the hundreds." He said the surge in requests is probably related to Syrians returning to places in the country where there is no active combat and worrying about family members. Maurer said the ICRC has also been "slightly more pro-active" on the issue of missing Syrians. He said the requests have come from all areas of Syria, neighboring countries and even globally. As for successful reunifications, Maurer said "numbers are in the tens to fifties." ___ 7 p.m. The U.N.'s deputy humanitarian chief says attacks on civilians in Syria and their homes, schools and health facilities "have reached some of the highest levels since the conflict began" seven years ago. Ursula Mueller told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that the needs of people in Syria also "could not be higher," with 13.1 million people in need of aid, including some 5.6 million "in acute need." She said the U.N. verified 72 attacks on health facilities in the first three months of 2018, compared to 112 attacks in 2017. Mueller says access across conflict lines also "remains extremely constricted." She said over 160,000 people left the Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta between March 9 and April 15. She says the situation in Idlib province "remains catastrophic, with almost 400,000 people displaced since mid-December, in addition to tens of thousands who were displaced from eastern Ghouta and eastern Qalamoun." ___ 5:55 p.m. A Syrian filmmaker says Russian state media have used images from the set of his 2016 movie to claim that video footage from an April 7 suspected poison gas attack in Syria was staged. Humam Husari describes it as a "desperate and cheap attempt by Russian TV to deny the obvious attack on Douma." The April 22 reports by Russia's Rossiya-1 and Channel One try to back up the Russian and Syrian government narrative that there was no chemical weapons attack in Douma, and that videos purporting to show victims of the attack were faked. Husari says that in one segment, the reports use behind the scenes images from the set of his short film called "Chemical," as it was being filmed in the eastern Ghouta region in 2016. Husari told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his production, which is still a work in progress, is a fictional short drama based on the chemical weapons attack in Ghouta that took place in 2013. ___ 5:45 p.m. The global chemical weapons watchdog says its team of inspectors has visited for the second time a Syrian town hit by an alleged chemical attack earlier this month and taken samples. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a statement on Wednesday that samples taken by the team in the town of Douma, just east of Damascus, will be sent to OPCW designated laboratories for analysis. The OPCW's fact-finding mission visited Douma for the first time over the weekend, two weeks after the April 7 attack. Their entry into the town was delayed by security fears. More than 40 people were killed in the suspected chemical weapons attack in the town. The OPCW team is mandated to establish whether chemical weapons were used, but not to apportion blame. ___ 3:35 p.m. U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock says he expects donors to pledge 4.4 billion dollars in humanitarian aid for Syria and neighbors sheltering its refugees for 2018. Lowcock told reporters during an international donor conference in Brussels on Wednesday involving around 85 delegations that the figure was his "best guess" based on commitments made so far. He said "we've made a good start," even though the pledges would fall well short of the estimated 7 billion dollars the U.N. is seeking. Lowcock thanked the EU, Germany and Britain for making large offers. ___ 1:30 p.m. Russian diplomats are planning to bring a group of Syrians to the international chemical weapons watchdog who the Russians claim were filmed in "staged videos" of an alleged chemical attack on the town of Douma earlier this month. Russian Embassy spokesman Mikhail Sobolev said Wednesday that about 15 Syrians will attend a meeting at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on Thursday to brief member states. The OPCW, which has sent a team of inspectors to Syria to investigate the alleged attack, had no immediate comment. The event is part of an ongoing clash of narratives between the West and Syria and its key ally Russia about the April 7 attack. Opposition activists and first responders in Douma say the attack was carried out by government forces and killed more than 40 people. The U.S., France and Britain also blamed the Syrian government, and launched punitive airstrikes a week after the attack. Six days after the incident, Russia's Defense Ministry accused Britain of direct involvement in staging video images of alleged victims. Britain vehemently denied the Russian accusation. ___ 1:20 p.m. The Russian military has indicated it will supply the Syrian government with a sophisticated air defense system, after condemning a missile attack launched by the U.S., Britain and France earlier this month. Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said in a statement Wednesday that Russia will supply Syria with "new missile defense systems soon." Rudskoi did not specify the type of weapons, but his remarks follow reports in the Russian media that Moscow is considering selling its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. Top Russian officials said earlier this month that Moscow may reconsider a pledge it gave a decade ago not to provide Syria with the S-300 system in light of the airstrikes on Syria earlier this month. Russia is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - Eni will proceed with more exploratory drilling south of Cyprus over the next 20 months, affirming a "strong engagement and commitment" in a hydrocarbons search off the east Mediterranean island nation, the Italian company's chief executive said Wednesday. Claudio Descalzi said that Eni has already invested around 700 million euros ($855 million) in that search off Cyprus and will carry on exploration until more gas deposits are discovered. "Clearly in 2018 and 2019 we are going to drill wells and make studies," Descalzi said after talks with the Cypriot president. "There is a good cooperation and there is a good alliance...with the government and we share the same objectives." Eni has already discovered a gas deposit southwest of Cyprus. Descalzi said an appraisal well will need to be drilled to determine the deposit's size. He said Eni won't stop its search for gas in the areas where it has received a license to drill, despite Turkey's opposition to it. Eni has received drilling licenses in six areas, or blocks, south of Cyprus. In three of those blocks, it has joined with South Korean company Kogas and in two it has partnered up with France's Total. In February, Turkish warships blocked a drillship from reaching a target southeast of Cyprus where Eni was scheduled to drill. Turkey strongly opposes the gas search because it sees it as a "unilateral" action by the ethnically split island's Greek Cypriots that ignores the rights of breakaway Turkish Cypriots to the island's mineral wealth. Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The Cypriot government says the gas search is its sovereign right and that Turkish Cypriots will get their fair share of any potential proceeds after reunification. Cyprus Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said ExxonMobil and partners Qatar Petroleum are due to carry out exploratory drilling in the second half of this year. A deposit discovered by Texas-based Noble Energy in 2011 is estimated to contain more than 4 trillion cubic feet of gas. U.S. media conglomerate Comcast has made a $30billion bid for London-based pay TV operator Sky in move that threatens a rival bid by Rupert Murdoch. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says his company's cash offer values each Sky share at 12.50, above the 21st Century Fox offer of 10.75. Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox issued a statement saying it remains committed to its offer and is 'currently considering its options.' Murdoch is offering 11.7billion for the 61 per cent of Sky that his company does not already own, valuing the broadcaster at 18.5billion overall. 21st Century Fox has offered to insulate Sky's news operations from the influence of Murdoch and his family, who already own several other media titles in the U.K., to win approval of its bid. Comcast committed to maintain funding for 10 years for Sky News. NEW ORLEANS (AP) - State and local governments in Louisiana have offered an estimated $1.5 billion in incentives to persuade a Taiwanese company to locate a $9.4 billion plastics complex along the Mississippi River upstream from New Orleans, Louisiana's secretary of economic development said. The package includes about $1.4 billion in local property tax exemptions for the Formosa Petrochemicals Corp. subsidiary that would build and run the plant, Secretary Don Pierson said in a statement emailed Monday night. Louisiana's Board of Commerce and Industry approved the property tax break Wednesday without objection. Gov. John Bel Edwards' spokesman Richard Carbo said the governor intends to sign off on fully exempting the plastics complex from local property taxes for a decade. Such long-term exemptions are now against the rules, but this one could be grandfathered in because it was initially offered when the Formosa subsidiary first proposed the plant in 2015. Edwards changed the property tax program's rules in mid-2016 to allow five years of full exemptions and three of 80 percent exemptions, saying he wanted limited tax dollars to be spent wisely. He earlier required tax breaks to be tied to job creation and retention and required local governments to be consulted. Some groups wanted more changes to reduce tax breaks. An analysis made for Formosa subsidiary FG LA LLC by economist James Richardson estimates that the project will generate $675 million in new state and local taxes through 2035. His report estimated that, including ripple effect jobs, the plant will also bring $4.7 billion in new personal earnings and $18.5 billion in business spending statewide during the same period. The complex's payroll is expected to reach $121 million by 2030, he wrote. Aside from the industrial tax exemption program, other estimated incentives add up to about $146 million: $125 million over 10 years in rebates for well-paid jobs; $12 million in a performance-based grant and $9 million for a state job training and recruitment program. The Louisiana Environmental Action Network has criticized the project, saying it and other plants will increase air pollution in St. James Parish. Advertisement The most detailed star chart ever created for the Milky Way and its neighbouring galaxies has been released by the European Space Agency. Data made public today includes high-precision measurements of almost 1.7 billion stars collected by the space agency's Gaia probe, which was launched in 2013. It follows the release two years ago of a smaller batch of measurements covering two million stars. Early analysis has already revealed finer details about the make-up of the Milky Way's stellar population including how stars move - essential information for investigating the formation and evolution of our home galaxy. Scroll down for video The most detailed star chart ever created for the Milky Way and its neighbouring galaxies has been released by the European Space Agency. Data made public today includes high-precision measurements of almost 1.7 billion stars collected by the space agency's Gaia probe, which was launched in 2013. This image shows the total brightness and colour of stars surveyed The European Space Agency, based in Paris, says professional and amateur astronomers alike will be able to access the data and hunt for new discoveries in our galaxy and beyond. Unlike Nasa's Hubble telescope, which takes images of the sky, Gaia measures the distance, motion, brightness and colour of stars. This data was then processed by hundreds of scientists and software engineers to produce maps, including of the asteroids in our solar system and a three-dimensional chart of nearby stars. Footage of what they found also lets viewers visualise the vast number of celestial objects mapped by the project. A multitude of discoveries are on the horizon after this much awaited release, ESA says, which was based on 22 months of charting the sky. The new data includes positions, distance indicators and motions of more than one billion stars, along with high-precision measurements of asteroids within our solar system and stars beyond our own Milky Way. 'The observations collected by Gaia are redefining the foundations of astronomy,' said Gunther Hasinger, ESA director of science, in a written statement. 'Gaia is an ambitious mission that relies on a huge human collaboration to make sense of a large volume of highly complex data. It demonstrates the need for long-term projects to guarantee progress in space science and technology and to implement even more daring scientific missions of the coming decades.' Gaia was launched in December 2013 and started science operations the following year. The first data release, based on just over one year of observations, was published in 2016. It contained distances and motions of two million stars. The new data release, which covers the period between July 25, 2014, and May 23, 2016, pins down the positions of nearly 1.7 billion stars, and with much greater precision. Gaia was launched in December 2013 and started science operations the following year. The first data release, based on just over one year of observations, was published in 2016. It contained distances and motions of two million stars (left). Data release two (right) expands this work Footage of what ESA found lets viewers visualise the vast number of celestial objects mapped by the project (right) compared to the initial release in 2016 (left) For some of the brightest stars in the survey, the level of precision equates to Earth-bound observers being able to spot a coin lying on the surface of the moon. With these accurate measurements it is possible to separate the parallax of stars an apparent shift on the sky caused by Earth's yearly orbit around the sun from their true movements through the galaxy. The new catalogue lists the parallax and velocity across the sky, or proper motion, for more than 1.3 billion stars. From the most accurate parallax measurements, about ten per cent of the total, astronomers can directly estimate distances to individual stars. 'The second Gaia data release represents a huge leap forward with respect to ESA's Hipparcos satellite, Gaia's predecessor and the first space mission for astrometry, which surveyed some 118,000 stars almost thirty years ago,' says Anthony Brown of Leiden University in the Netherlands. WHAT IS THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY'S GAIA PROBE AND WHAT IS DESIGNED TO DO? Gaia is an ambitious mission to chart a three-dimensional map of our galaxy, the Milky Way, and in the process reveal its composition, formation and evolution. Gaia has been circling the sun nearly a million miles beyond Earth's orbit since its launch by the European Space Agency (ESA) in December 2013. On its journey, the probe has been discreetly snapping pictures of the Milky Way, identifying stars from smaller galaxies long ago swallowed up by our own. Tens of thousands of previously undetected objects are expected to be discovered by Gaia, including asteroids that may one day threaten Earth, planets circling nearby stars, and exploding supernovas. Artist's impression of Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way. Gaia maps the position of the Milky Way's stars in a couple of ways. It pinpoints the location of the stars but the probe can also plot their movement, by scanning each star about 70 times Astrophysicists also hope to learn more about the distribution of dark matter, the invisible substance thought to hold the observable universe together. They also plan to test Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity by watching how light is deflected by the sun and its planets. The satellite's billion-pixel camera, the largest ever in space, is so powerful it would be able to gauge the diameter of a human hair at a distance of 621 miles (1,000 km). This means nearby stars have been located with unprecedented accuracy. Gaia maps the position of the Milky Way's stars in a couple of ways. Gaias all-sky view of our Milky Way Galaxy and neighbouring galaxies, based on measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars. The map shows the total brightness and colour of stars observed by the ESA satellite in each portion of the sky between July 2014 and May 2016. Brighter regions indicate denser concentrations of especially bright stars, while darker regions correspond to patches of the sky where fewer bright stars are observed. The colour representation is obtained by combining the total amount of light with the amount of blue and red light recorded by Gaia in each patch of the sky. It pinpoints the location of the stars but the probe can also plot their movement, by scanning each star about 70 times. This is what allows scientists to calculate the distance between Earth and each star, which is a crucial measure. In September 2016, ESA released the first batch of data collected by Gaia, which included information on the brightness and position of over a billion stars. In April 2018, this was expanded to high-precision measurements of almost 1.7 billion stars. Advertisement Dr Brown is the chair of the Gaia data processing and analysis consortium executive, overseeing the large collaboration of about 450 scientists and software engineers entrusted with the task of creating the Gaia catalogue from the satellite data. 'The sheer number of stars alone, with their positions and motions, would make Gaia's new catalogue already quite astonishing,' he added. 'But there is more. This unique scientific catalogue includes many other data types, with information about the properties of the stars and other celestial objects, making this release truly exceptional.' The comprehensive dataset provides a wide range of topics of further research for astronomers. Preliminary analysis has already revealed finer details about the make-up of the Milky Way's stellar population and about how stars move, essential information for investigating the formation and evolution of our home galaxy. This image shows the interstellar dust that fills the Galaxy This image shows the total density of stars and is one of three images based on observations performed by the ESA satellite in each portion of the sky between July 2014 and May 2016 As well as positions, the data include brightness information of all surveyed stars and colour measurements of nearly all, plus information on how the brightness and colour of half a million variable stars change over time. It also contains the velocities along the line of sight of a subset of seven million stars, the surface temperatures of about a hundred million and the effect of interstellar dust on 87 million. Gaia also observes objects in our solar system. The second data release comprises the positions of more than 14,000 known asteroids, which allows precise determination of their orbits. A much larger asteroid sample will be compiled in Gaia's future releases. A new animation shows the positions of 14,099 asteroids in our Solar System, as viewed by ESAs Gaia satellite using information from the missions second data release. The orbits of the 200 brightest asteroids are also shown, as determined using Gaia data In future data releases, Gaia will also provide asteroid spectra and enable a complete characterisation of the asteroid belt. The combination of dynamical and physical information that is being collected by Gaia provides an unprecedented opportunity to improve our understanding of the origin and the evolution of the solar system, ESA says Further afield, Gaia closed in on the positions of half a million distant quasars, bright galaxies powered by the activity of the supermassive black holes at their cores. These sources are used to define a reference frame for the celestial coordinates of all objects in the Gaia catalogue, something that is routinely done in radio waves but now for the first time is also available at optical wavelengths. Major discoveries are expected to come once scientists start exploring Gaia's new release. An initial examination performed by the data consortium to validate the quality of the catalogue has already unveiled some promising surprises including new insights on the evolution of stars. This image combines the total amount of radiation detected by Gaia in each pixel with measurements of the radiation taken through different filters on the spacecraft to generate colour information. Information about the proper motion of stars their velocity across the sky is represented as the texture of the image This infographic summarises the cosmic scales covered by Gaia's comprehensive dataset, which provides a wide range of avenues of investigation for astronomers The new Gaia data are so powerful that exciting results are just jumping at us,' says Antonella Vallenari from the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica and the astronomical observatory of Padua, Italy, deputy chair of the data processing consortium executive board. 'For example, we have built the most detailed Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of stars ever made on the full sky and we can already spot some interesting trends. It feels like we are inaugurating a new era of galactic archaeology.' Named after the two astronomers who devised it in the early twentieth century, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram compares the intrinsic brightness of stars with their colour and is a fundamental tool to study populations of stars and their evolution. A new version of this diagram, based on four million stars within five thousand light-years from the sun selected from the Gaia catalogue, reveals many fine details for the first time. This Hertzsprung-Russell diagram compares the intrinsic brightness of stars with their colour and is a fundamental tool to study populations of stars and their evolution. It was obtained by observing a selection of stars in Gaias second release catalogue and is the most detailed to date made by mapping stars over the entire sky Using Gaia data, astronomers have measured the motion of 75 globular clusters in the halo of the Milky Way and 12 dwarf galaxies orbiting the Galaxy. This animation shows a 3D view of the orbits of four globular clusters (blue) and three dwarf galaxies (red) in motion around our Milky Way Galaxy, based on data from the second release of ESAs Gaia satellite This includes the signature of different types of white dwarfs the dead remnants of stars like our sun such that a differentiation can be made between those with hydrogen-rich cores and those dominated by helium. For a subset of stars within a few thousand light-years of the sun, Gaia has also measured their velocity in all three dimensions, revealing patterns in the motions of stars that are orbiting the galaxy at similar speeds. Future studies will confirm whether these patterns are linked to perturbations produced by the galactic bar, a denser concentration of stars with an elongated shape at the centre of the galaxy, by the spiral arm architecture of the Milky Way, or by the interaction with smaller galaxies that merged with it billions of years ago. At Gaias precision, it is also possible to see the motions of stars within some globular clusters ancient systems of stars bound together by gravity and found in the halo of the Milky Way and within our neighbouring galaxies, the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - The Latest on the murder trial of Danish inventor Peter Madsen (all times local): 1:30 p.m. The lawyer for Danish inventor Peter Madsen says she will appeal his murder conviction and life sentence. FILE - This April 30, 2008 file photo shows a submarine and its owner Peter Madsen. One of the most talked-about and macabre court cases in recent Danish history is set to conclude Wednesday, April 25, 2018 when the verdict is handed down on whether Peter Madsen tortured and murdered a Swedish journalist during a private submarine trip. (Niels Hougaard/Ritzau via AP, File) Betina Hald Engmark told a Copenhagen court she would appeal Wednesday's sentence, the longest possible against her client. Madsen was convicted of murder for the slaying and dismemberment of Swedish journalist Kim Wall, 30, aboard his hand-built submarine in August. Madsen denied the charges throughout the trial, saying that Wall had died accidentally. He did confess to dismembering and disposing of Wall's body. The court ruled that Madsen should stay in jail until his appeal hearing at the Western High Court in Copenhagen out of fear Madsen can influence witnesses. ___ 1 p.m. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Wall's death was a murder, saying Madsen didn't given "a trustworthy" explanation. Madsen stood quietly listening as the judge read out the verdict Wednesday. Madsen, 47, had denied murder and said Wall died accidentally inside the submarine, but he has confessed to cutting up her body and throwing the body parts into the sea. ___ 9:20 a.m. A verdict is expected at the Copenhagen City Court Wednesday on whether Danish inventor Peter Madsen tortured and murdered a Swedish journalist during a private submarine trip. Madsen, 47, is charged with murder, dismemberment and indecent handling of a corpse over the death of Kim Wall. Madsen has denied murder and said Wall died accidentally inside the submarine, but has confessed to throwing her body parts into the sea. Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen has claimed Wall's murder was sexually motivated and premeditated because Madsen brought along tools he normally didn't take when sailing. He has sought a life sentence for Madsen. Madsen's defense lawyer has said he should only be sentenced for cutting Wall into pieces. The cause of death has never been established. FILE - In this April 30, 2008 file photo, submarine owner Peter Madsen stands inside the vessel. One of the most talked-about and macabre court cases in recent Danish history is set to conclude Wednesday, April 25, 2018 when the verdict is handed down on whether Peter Madsen tortured and murdered a Swedish journalist during a private submarine trip. (Niels Hougaard /Ritzau via AP, File) BEIRUT (AP) - Chemical weapons inspectors collected samples Wednesday from a new location in the Syrian town of Douma, their second visit to the area that was hit by a suspected gas attack nearly three weeks ago. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said samples taken by the team in Douma will be sent to the organization's laboratories for analysis. An earlier visit took place on Saturday after the inspectors were delayed for days from getting to the town, just east of Damascus, over security reasons. The United States, France, and Britain have blamed President Bashar Assad's government for the April 7 attack, which Syrian activists said killed more than 40 people. The three countries struck suspected Syrian chemical weapons facilities in joint airstrikes a week later. Fragments of US "tomahawk" cruise missiles captured by Syrian forces in a recent attack, are displayed at a briefing in the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. The Russian military has indicated it will supply the Syrian government with a sophisticated air defense system, after condemning a missile attack launched by the U.S., Britain and France earlier this month. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) The OPCW visit to Douma and sample collection would allow the international watchdog to proceed with an independent investigation to determine what chemicals, if any, were used in the attack. The watchdog is not mandated to apportion blame for the attack. The mandate of a joint U.N.-OPCW body delegated to investigate who may be behind such attacks has expired and Russia has vetoed its renewal. The joint body had found the Syrian government responsible for several previous attacks. Syria's government and its main backer Russia have denied responsibility for the April 7 attack. They repeatedly blamed the rebels and opposition activists for possessing and deploying chemical weapons. Russia had even said the attack was staged and on Wednesday, Russian diplomats said they plan to bring evidence of this to the OPCW. Russian Embassy spokesman Mikhail Sobolev said it would bring a group of 15 Syrians who they claim were filmed in "staged videos" of the alleged attack to a meeting at the OPCW on Thursday. The development is part of an ongoing clash of narratives between the West on one side and Syria and Russia on the other concerning the suspected attack. Thousands of Douma residents left the town after the attack while Russian military police and Syrian security forced deployed in Douma, raising criticism from opposition activists the evidence may be tempered with. Others have said that those Douma residents who stayed in the town under government control would be too afraid to challenge the Russian and Syrian narrative, fearing persecution. Responding to Russian plans to visit its headquarters with the Syrians, the OPCW in The Hague, Netherlands, said Wednesday it has advised the Russian delegation that "these persons should be first interviewed" by the inspectors who are currently in Damascus. "It was also recommended that such a briefing take place once the (fact-finding mission) has completed its work," the statement said. "Nevertheless, the Russian delegation stated that it would go ahead with the briefing and that its intention was not to interfere" with the work of the mission currently in Syria. Six days after the suspected attack, Russia's Defense Ministry accused Britain of direct involvement in staging video images of alleged victims. Britain vehemently denied the accusation. The suspected attack and retaliatory strikes ratcheted up tension between the West and Russia. On Wednesday, Russian Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said Russia will supply Syria with "new missile defense systems soon." Rudskoi's statement did not specify the type of weapons, but his remarks follow reports in Russian media that Moscow is considering selling its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. Top Russian officials said that in light of the airstrikes on Syria earlier this month, Moscow may reconsider a pledge it gave a decade ago not to provide Syria with the S-300 system. Transferring upgraded air-defense systems to Syria could be seen as an escalation by neighboring Israel and raises the risk of Israeli attacks. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned Tuesday that if Syria uses Russian-made air defense missiles against Israel, the Israeli military would strike back. "What's important to us is that the defensive weapons the Russians are giving Syria won't be used against us," Lieberman told Israeli news website Ynet. "If they're used against us, we'll act against them." Israel has not taken sides in the Syrian civil war, but its air force has carried out dozens of airstrikes during the fighting, most believed to have been aimed at suspected arms shipments to the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah, another key Assad ally. More recently, Israel has warned that it will not accept a permanent Iranian military presence in Syria. Iran is also a staunch supporter of Assad. In February, Israel shot down what it said was an armed Iranian drone that penetrated its airspace from Syria. Israel responded by carrying out airstrikes in Syria, drawing anti-aircraft fire that shot down an Israeli warplane. Israel then retaliated by destroying Syrian anti-aircraft batteries. Israel and Russia have maintained close contact in order to prevent any clashes between their air forces in the skies over Syria. In the interview, Lieberman said Russia already has air-defense systems in Syria. "For several years we've been constantly in coordination and able to avoid friction with the Russians," he told Ynet. "The only ones to act against us are the Syrians. When the Syrian systems acted against us, we destroyed them." "One thing should be clear. If anyone's shooting at our planes, we'll destroy them," he said. ___ Associated Press writer Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report. Fragments of US "tomahawk" cruise missiles captured by Syrian forces in recent attack, are displayed for journalists at a briefing in the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. The Russian military has indicated it will supply the Syrian government with a sophisticated air defense system, after condemning a missile attack launched by the U.S., Britain and France earlier this month. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the military's General Staff speaks during a briefing in the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Rudskoi said in a statement on Wednesday that Russia will supply Syria with "the new missile defense systems soon." (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) NEW YORK (AP) - Jake Tapper, veteran newsman and debut novelist, isn't quite used to being on the receiving end of questions. "When people come to my set and I'm about to do an interview, I generally don't think at all that they're nervous," the CNN anchor said during a recent telephone interview. "But then it's you in the chair yourself and you think, 'Wow, this is terrifying.'" Tapper's novel is called "The Hellfire Club," and it's meant as a diversion - for the author and his readers. It's a thriller set in 1950s Washington featuring an imaginary congressman, Charlie Marder, and a supporting cast of very real public figures, from Dwight Eisenhower to John F. Kennedy to Joe McCarthy. FILE - In this May 17, 2017 file photo, CNN News anchor Jake Tapper attends the Turner Network 2017 Upfront presentation in New York. Tapper's latest novel "The Hellfire Club," was released on Tuesday, April 24. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) The book's title comes from an exclusive meeting place where Marder discovers a world far darker and more complicated than even he, a World War II veteran, had encountered. Tapper said he had been fascinated by a Hellfire Club from Benjamin Franklin's time and was trying to figure out how to use it for a novel. He thought of a story based in the 1700s but settled into an era more familiar and one he thought had been overlooked and misunderstood. "The '50s get romanticized so much and depicted as serene so often when there's so much lurking beneath the surface," he says, "whether it's anti-Communism and McCarthy, the Cold War, the atomic race or racism." Tapper's background is in nonfiction, whether in his day job or in the books he has written before - "The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor" and "Down & Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency." But he found the invented part of his new book - "Making things up was fun," he says - less of a task than merging fiction and history, creating an "alternate reality." The novel is also a story of time management for one of the country's busiest journalists, "a matter of carrying around a laptop for all free moments - trains, planes, waiting rooms," Tapper says. Tapper's novel has been likened to the exotic and conspiratorial narratives of Dan Brown ("'The Hellfire Club' is most enjoyable when it's most groan-worthy," The Washington Post observed), and he said he wanted it to be a "fun book." But he also acknowledged that Washington in the '50s "rhymes" with events now. "The Hellfire Club" features a fiery confrontation about greed and patriotism between Marder and McCarthy aide Roy Cohn, who became a mentor to Donald Trump. And it's easy to see the blustering and intimidating McCarthy as a precursor to President Trump, who has labeled Tapper's employer a leading carrier of "Fake News" and, tweeting about Tapper, referred to "the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky." Tapper, meanwhile, has stated, "There are basic lines of human decency, norms to which society generally agrees and to which we adhere, and we continue to see the Trump presidency eroding these lines." (Trump hasn't attacked "The Hellfire Club," Tapper reasoned during his interview, because he's not mentioned by name in it.) One scene finds Marder in the Oval Office, fretting to President Eisenhower that he sees no end to the political persecutions McCarthy has inspired. The president reassures Marder that the "combinations of checks and balances and a free press and our democratically elected representatives ultimately will expose charlatans." Tapper commented: "I think it's fair to say I was thinking about checks and balances and the current era when I wrote" that passage. Marder isn't a stand-in for the author, Tapper says, although they do share a love of history and a heightened sense of smell. But Tapper does relate to his character as someone who, no matter how experienced, can be disheartened by the behavior of politicians. "I don't think I'm an innocent man but I am constantly surprised by the decisions people make, based on avarice and impulses not necessarily based on the public good," he says. "Charlie goes into the job wanting to do good and ends up being picked apart to death by a thousand compromises. That's how I see it go with a lot of people who come to Washington. They want to do good. They mean to do good. And they find themselves compromising themselves. And that's what I wanted to capture, how Washington can erode principles." WASHINGTON (AP) - The security chief for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency worked on the side as a private investigator for the owner of a tabloid news company with close ties to President Donald Trump. EPA special agent Pasquale "Nino" Perrotta performed regular work for National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc. during the 2016 election, according to person with knowledge of the company's internal workings. But unlike another private investigator hired by the Enquirer, Perrotta didn't work on such newsroom projects as tracking down sources. Instead, the person told The Associated Press on Tuesday, Perrotta was engaged to discretely handle investigative work at the direction of AMI chairman and CEO David Pecker. FILE - In this April 19, 2017, file photo, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt speaks at a news conference with Pasquale "Nino" Perrotta, second from left, in East Chicago, Ind. Perrotta, the security chief for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency worked on the side as a private investigator for the owner of a tabloid news company with close ties to President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford, File) The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the company's operations and spoke on condition of anonymity. The New York Times first reported Perrotta's link to AMI. In addition to his job at EPA, Perrotta is the top executive at Sequoia Security Group, a Maryland-based security firm. The person with knowledge of the situation did not know whether Perrotta was paid for his work for AMI and Pecker through Sequoia or another business entity. A former Secret Service agent, Perrotta has worked at EPA for more than a decade. He was tapped by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt last year to lead his 20-member, full-time personal protective detail. Perrotta's predecessor as Pruitt's security chief was reassigned for refusing to acquiesce to the administrator's demands for VIP treatment, including using the emergency lights on a government vehicle to speed through Washington traffic to make airline flights and dinner reservations. Perrotta did not respond late Tuesday to messages seeking comment. EPA's press office also did not respond to messages seeking comment about the security chief's side business. A spokeswoman for Pruitt's predecessor, Obama EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, said she was unaware Perrotta had been moonlighting for Pecker in 2016. AP reported earlier this month that Perrotta oversaw a rapid expansion of Pruitt's security team and the taxpayer-funded precautions used to ensure his personal safety, including the use of first-class airline seats after a fellow traveler cursed at the EPA chief in an airport. Perrotta also spearheaded the purchase of a $43,000 soundproof booth for Pruitt's office to help ensure his telephone calls could not be overheard by others. The Government Accountability Office found earlier this month that the spending on the pricey privacy booth violated federal purchasing laws. Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday issued a letter questioning whether Perrotta was improperly operating an outside consulting firm without proper approval from EPA ethics officials. Under Pecker, American Media became one of the earliest and most fervent backers of Trump's political career, providing breathless coverage as far back as 2011 to Trump's promotion of the false theory that President Barack Obama might not be a U.S. citizen. During the 2016 campaign, Pecker's flagship National Enquirer was in close contact with Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen while it attacked Trump's Republican opponents from its perch in supermarket checkout aisles, printing thin allegations about Sen. Ted Cruz's personal life and alleging Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was in declining physical and mental health. AMI also helped Trump in a far less public fashion. The company paid $150,000 to a former Playboy Playmate for the rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump during his marriage to Melania, and another $30,000 to a former Trump doorman peddling another story about Trump. AMI has denied the payments were hush money, though Pecker himself noted in a New Yorker interview last year that the contract with Playmate Karen McDougal prevented her from "bashing Trump." Records show Perrotta received clearance in March 2013 for limited nongovernment consulting work but was required to get updated approval if his job duties changed. Perrotta received a significant promotion and pay raise last year. According to the letter approving his work outside the agency, Perrotta told EPA ethics officials he expected to be "self-employed" to provide consulting to two to three clients for approximately three to six hours per week on issues related to cybersecurity and "denial of service insurance." The 2013 approval, which was in effect for a five-year period that expired last month, also barred Perrotta from using his government position to advance his personal interests. AP reported in December that EPA paid $3,000 to contractor Edwin Steinmetz Associates last year to search Pruitt's office for secret listening devices. Steinmetz is also listed as a vice president at Perrotta's security firm. Emails obtained by congressional Democrats showed that Perrotta played a role in the decision to conduct the bug sweep, the contract for which the lawmakers allege he improperly steered to Steinmetz. Tuesday's letter was signed by Democratic Sens. Tom Carper of Delaware and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who serve on a committee with oversight of EPA. They ask an agency ethics official to re-examine whether Perrotta's outside employment violates agency rules. ___ Follow Associated Press investigative reporters Michael Biesecker at http://twitter.com/mbieseck and Jeff Horwitz at http://twitter.com/JeffHorwitz TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - With time running out, a federal appeals court late Wednesday sided with Florida in an escalating battle over the state's process for restoring voting rights for former prisoners. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker had given Florida until Thursday to create a new process after ruling in February that the state's current system is unconstitutional and arbitrary, with decisions possibly swayed by politics and racial factors. But a three judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Walker's ruling while it considers an appeal from Gov. Rick Scott and other Florida Republican officials. FILE - In this April 9, 2018 file photo Florida Gov. Rick Scott announces his bid to run for the U.S. Senate at a news conference in Orlando, Fla. Confronted with a federal judge's looming deadline, Scott called an extraordinary late-night meeting of top state officials Wednesday, April 25 to decide what to do about the state's process for restoring voting rights to former prisoners. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File) "We are glad that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has stayed the lower court's reckless ruling," said John Tupps, a spokesman for Scott. "Judges should interpret the law, not create it. Gov. Scott will never stop fighting for victims of crime and their families." The decision by the court came less than two hours before Scott and GOP officials were scheduled to hold an extraordinary late-night meeting of the state's clemency board where they were poised to adopt new rules. The meeting was scrapped after the appeals court sided with Florida in a split decision. Florida's clash over voting rights comes as Scott campaigns for the U.S. Senate seat of Democrat Bill Nelson in a state where as many as 1.5 million felons remain disenfranchised by the state's ban that is included in Florida's constitution. Walker's ruling had kept the ban intact, but he had challenged the current system that requires a former prisoner to wait between five and seven years before they can even ask to have their voting rights back. The governor and the three elected Cabinet members then decide each request individually, subject to the governor's unilateral veto. It wasn't always this way. Shortly after taking office in 2007, then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist convinced two of the state's three Cabinet members to approve rules allowing the parole commission to restore voting rights for nonviolent felons without hearings, and ultimately more than 100,000 felons were allowed to vote again. Scott and state officials changed the process in 2011, and since then fewer than 3,000 have had their rights restored. The governor has defended the change, saying that former prisoners should have to demonstrate they can remain out of trouble before their voting rights are returned. Last year, however, a group of former prisoners who had their applications turned down sued the state. In its split ruling, the federal appeals court concluded that Florida has a good chance of prevailing in its appeal and questioned Walker's decision to order the state put in place a new process. U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus wrote that there should not be a "rushed decision-making process created on an artificial deadline." "There is wisdom in preserving the status quo ante until a panel of this court, on an expedited basis, has had an opportunity on full briefing to come to grips with the many constitutional and equitable issues that have been raised," Marcus wrote. Walker first ruled in February the process was unconstitutional and then in late March ordered that changes be put in place by this week. The clemency board - without holding a public meeting to discuss the ruling - appealed. While the governor's office has said the decision to appeal was handled properly, Barbara Petersen of the First Amendment Foundation has questioned whether Scott and GOP officials sidestepped the state's open meetings law. She said it "doesn't pass the sniff test to my way of thinking." Scott and the Cabinet were sued for open meeting violations back in 2015 and ultimately settled the case without admitting wrongdoing. The legal battle over voting rights for former prisoners is occurring just months before Florida voters will be asked to alter the current ban. Backers of a constitutional amendment won a place on the November 2018 ballot. If 60 percent of voters approve, most former prisoners would have their rights automatically restored. PARIS (AP) - From fashion, to food and even art - the Macrons' visit to the United States has been a PR coup for France. From the moment French First Lady Brigitte Macron put her well-heeled feet down on American soil Monday, clad in a hot pink cashmere coat by Louis Vuitton, France's cultural prowess has been touted at every turn. Mrs. Macron's style-looks - all Louis Vuitton - were no less than French brand diplomacy for the world's most lucrative high-fashion house. A pale yellow dress at Mount Vernon was followed by an ecru-colored gown with gold brocade at the state dinner Tuesday night at the White House that was attended by a swathe of French cultural leaders - including Bernard Arnault, CEO of Vuitton's parent company, LVMH. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greet French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) The three-day trip has showcased France's sizeable soft power - as a world leader in the luxury sector that famously punches above its weight in the cultural sphere. The Trumps also rolled out the red carpet to French know-how. U.S. First Lady Melania Trump chose to trumpet French style by donning a stalwart of Parisian fashion, Chanel, to the state dinner. It was an active choice, not an obligation for Mrs. Trump to wear clothes by the visiting country, given that Mrs. Macron herself wore clothes by French, not American designers, during the Trumps' visit to Paris last July. Often criticized for preferring European-made clothes in the face of her husband's "America First" mantra, wearing French on the occasion of the French state visit - a black Chantilly lace haute couture gown, hand-painted with silver and embroidered with crystal and sequins - has shielded Mrs. Trump from the usual criticism and won her rare praise for on-point cultural diplomacy. Melania Trump's love of French style is no secret and goes back to living in Paris as a young model in the mid-1990s. The dinner menu was also very French, celebrating Gallic gastronomic influences on American dishes such as Goat Cheese Gateau and Creme Fraiche Ice Cream. Donald Trump, who famously doesn't drink, even took a sip of the wine made from French plants harvested in Oregon. Ahead of the dinner, Louise Linton, the wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, was clear in what she was most looking forward to - "Everything French!" On Tuesday, the first ladies shared a rapport as they went on a visit to an exhibit celebrating French post-Impressionist painter Paul Cezanne at the National Gallery of Art. The white, wide-brimmed hat Mrs. Trump wore for that art tour, which has turned out to be her most talked about style choice on the state visit, was also designed by a Frenchman, Herve Pierre. The statement piece set the internet alight with comparisons to Joan Collins' Alexis Carrington-Colby on "Dynasty," Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope on "Scandal," and even to Beyonce's headwear in the video to the hit "Formation." Pierre said it might have captured a French touch. "Designing is too big a word for a hat so classical," he told The Associated Press. "There is perhaps a certain French elegance in her look as a homage to France," he said, before adding "fashion doesn't always need to be analyzed! There isn't always a 'why,' a message." The large hat may well have been designed by a man born in France, but it was certainly not designed to facilitate the French two-cheek kiss. Donald Trump was forced to air-kiss his wife owing to the headwear piece's wide brim. ___ Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamson_K First lady Melania Trump, left, and Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, tour the Cezanne exhibit at the National Gallery of Art, Tuesday April 24, 2018, in Washington. At right is Frank Kelly, with the museum. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump prepare to greet French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greet French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron, pose for photographs as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) CAIRO (AP) - In efforts to revive its tourism sector, Egypt passed a bill this week imposing fines on overly aggressive touts. The law approved this week could see anyone found pestering tourists "with the intention of begging or promoting, offering or selling a good or service" fined up to 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($567). The legislation has still to be ratified by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. The news has already raised concerns among Egyptians working in the area of the famed pyramids at Giza, offering souvenirs, carriage or camel rides. Ahmed, one of the workers, said the bill will impact the source of livelihood for thousands like him. "The new rules will only affect poor people struggling to feed their families," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday, declining to give his full name for fear of retribution. Former antiquities minister and famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass said the fines would be insufficient to deter harassment of tourists. "A prison sentence should have been included because such practices harm Egyptian tourism," he said in TV remarks late Tuesday. Visitors to the pyramids at Giza and other major historical sites in Egypt are routinely harassed and followed by young men offering tours, souvenirs, carriage or camel rides. Scams are common, and the tourism police rarely intervene. Egypt's vital tourism industry has been hit hard by extremist attacks and political turmoil following the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The once multibillion tourism industry, a vital pillar of the country's economy and source of work for millions of people, has been decimated. The tourism sector suffered a further blow after an Islamic State bombing brought down a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai Peninsula in 2015, killing all 224 people on board. Russia, which subsequently banned all flights to Egypt, only resumed Moscow-Cairo flights in April. The Egyptian national carrier is still barred from flying to Russia. Last year, 8.3 million tourists visited Egypt, compared to 15 million in 2010, according to official figures. Egypt's government has also tried to lure tourists back by promoting new archaeological discoveries and boosting security around historical sites. NORRIDGEWOCK, Maine (AP) - A man scheduled to appear in court to face gun charges Wednesday killed a sheriff's deputy in Maine, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store, officials said. The fatal shooting of Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole around 1:45 a.m. on U.S. Route 2 in Norridgewock triggered an intensive manhunt for the shooter in and around the heavily wooded rural community about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of Bangor. Law enforcement officials vowed to maintain a heavy presence overnight and urged residents to remain vigilant as the search continued for 29-year-old John Williams, of Madison, Maine. This 2007 photo shows Somerset County Cpl. Sheriff Eugene Cole , who was killed early Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine. A search is underway for a suspect who stole the deputy's cruiser and robbed a convenience store afterward. (Jeff Pouland/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP) "Many times we're able to say that there is not an ongoing threat, but that's not the case today," State Police Lt. Col. John Cote said. "There certainly is an ongoing public threat. He's considered armed and dangerous." Cole's death is believed to be the first killing of a law enforcement officer in Maine in nearly 30 years. The last time someone killed an officer in the line of duty was in 1989, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety. Helicopters, armored vehicles and numerous police cruisers were spotted around Norridgewock, and schools were locked down as federal, state and local law enforcement poured into the region to look for Williams. Police said Williams is 5-foot-6, 120 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair in a ponytail. Law enforcement officials said he had arrest records in Maine, Tennessee and Massachusetts. In Tennessee, he faced drug and drug-related charges dating as far back as 2008 and was revived from an overdose at least once, according to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Last month, Williams was arrested in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and charged with improper storage and carrying a firearm without a license. He was found with a 9mm handgun and a 16-round magazine after he told the police that he dozed off and drove into a ditch. An officer wrote in the report that Williams appeared tired and impaired, but denied having consumed any alcohol or illegal drugs. Williams posted bail on March 31 and was due to return to court on Wednesday for a probable cause hearing. That image contrasts with Williams' days at Skowhegan High School, where a yearbook showed he once served as a class officer. "When in school he was a nice, funny and an all-around good guy," said classmate Casey Sprout-Costa. Another classmate, Alex Stetkis, said Williams was a popular honor student who was class president in his junior year. But things went downhill when he started picking fights with other classmates and getting into drugs. "Most could not believe it," Stetkis said of the news that Williams was suspected in the killing. "He was always kind and could have gone anywhere in life if he hadn't gotten into drugs," he said. Williams' Facebook page features photos of him smiling at a graduation ceremony as well as other photos of him hiking, hanging out with friends and dressed in a suit at a wedding party. His last post in 2017 noted how he was starting a new job in nearby Anson, Maine. Residents in Norridgewock, a town of about 3,500, were stunned Wednesday as state police and federal agents investigated a blue-grey home believed to be where Williams lived with his girlfriend. Overhead, a helicopter buzzed low over trees. "We're a little on edge. It's unnerving knowing there's a guy running around out there," said Tasha Raymond, who was home with her two children. Gov. Paul LePage expressed his "deepest condolences" to Cole's family in a tweet. "If you live in Somerset County and the surrounding area, please cooperate with law enforcement and stay safe," the Republican governor said. LePage also directed all U.S and state flags to be flown at half-staff for at least three days. Cole has a son who also is a Somerset County deputy. Sheriff Dale Lancaster called Cole, a 13-year veteran of the department, an "outstanding employee, one of the finest deputies." A relative described Cole as a lover of music who was well-known throughout the community for his generous and peaceful ways. "He was one of the most caring and considerate people that I had the pleasure to know," said Madison resident Scott Bishop, whose mother had been married to Cole's brother. ___ Associated Press writers David Sharp in Portland, Maine; Kathy McCormack and Michael Casey in Concord, New Hampshire; and Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report. ___ This story has been corrected to fix the name of a town. It is Haverhill, not Haverill. This undated photo released by the Maine State Police shows John Williams of Madison, Maine, who is being sought in connection with the shooting of a Somerset County sheriff's deputy Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine. Deputy Eugene Cole was killed while responding to a reported robbery. (Maine State Police via AP) This undated identification photo released by the Maine State Police shows John Williams of Madison, Maine, who is being sought in connection with the shooting of a Somerset County sheriff's deputy very early Wednesday morning, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine. Deputy Eugene Cole was killed while responding to a reported robbery. Police said Cole had been a deputy for 13 years and has a son. (Maine State Police via AP) Maine State trooper William Plourde checks a vehicle at the town line of Oakland and Fairfield on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, after Somerset County Sheriff's Deputy Eugene Cole was killed overnight in nearby Norridgewock, Maine. A Maine man killed the sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store early Wednesday, officials said. (Michael G. Seamans/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP) Officers work the scene of a shooting at a Cumberland Farms convenience store in Norridgewock, Maine, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. A Maine man killed a sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed the convenience store early Wednesday, triggering an intensive manhunt in the rural town in central Maine. (Lexie O'Connor/WGME via AP ) Police spread out to search on North Street in Skowhegan, Maine, on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, after Somerset County Sheriff's Deputy Eugene Cole was killed overnight in nearby Norridgewock, Maine. A Maine man killed the sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store early Wednesday, officials said. (David Leaming/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP) Police officers stand along U.S. Route 2 on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine, after Somerset County Sheriff's Deputy Eugene Cole was killed there overnight. A Maine man killed the sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store early Wednesday, officials said. (David Leaming/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP) Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster, center, speaks with the media, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine, after deputy Eugene Cole was killed overnight. Accompanying Lancaster are, from left, John Cote of Maine State Police, Franklin Sheriff Scott Nichols, Lancaster, Penobscot Sheriff Troy Morton an Kennebec Sheriff Ken Mason. (David Leaming//The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP) A Maine State Police van transports the body of slain Somerset Sheriff's Deputy Eugene Cole from the scene, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, who was shot to death overnight in Norridgewock, Maine. The suspect stole the deputy's cruiser and robbed a convenience store. (David Leaming/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP) This dash cam photo released by the Maine State Police shows John Williams of Madison, Maine, robbing a convenience store Wednesday morning, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine. Maine authorities are searching for Williams, who they say fatally shot a sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed the Cumberland Farms store. (Maine State Police via AP) NORRIDGEWOCK, Maine (AP) - The Latest on the fatal shooting of a Maine sheriff's deputy (all times local): 2 p.m. Police are escorting the body of a slain Maine sheriff's deputy to the state medical examiner's office. State police on Wednesday were also staking out a house in Madison, Maine believed to be the home where the alleged killer lived with his girlfriend. Residents huddled in the rain, as state police cruisers and federal agents investigated a blue-grey home. Police are searching for John Williams after they say he killed Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole early Wednesday, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store. Cole was described by a relative as a lover of music who was well-known throughout the community for his generous, peaceful and caring personality. His son is also a Somerset County deputy, Police lined intersections along the route as Cole's body was transported to Augusta. ___ 12:50 p.m. A man who authorities believe fatally shot a Maine sheriff's deputy was due in court in Massachusetts following an arrest last month for several firearm charges. Twenty-nine-year-old Madison, Maine, resident John Williams was arrested by Massachusetts State Police in Haverhill last month and charged with carrying a firearm without a license, possession of a large-capacity firearm and other offenses, said Carrie Kimball-Monahan, spokeswoman for the Essex District Attorney's Office. Williams posted $5,000 bail and was supposed to return to court Wednesday for a hearing, she said. Police are searching for Williams for allegedly killing Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole early Wednesday. It's believed to be the first killing of a law enforcement officer in Maine in nearly 30 years. ___ 10:15 a.m. Maine authorities are searching for a man they say fatally shot a sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store. State police said that Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole was killed at about 1:45 a.m. Wednesday on U.S. Route 2 in Norridgewock. The cruiser was driven to a Cumberland Farms store, which was robbed. Police say they are searching for a suspect identified as 29-year-old John Williams, of Madison, Maine. They say he is 5-foot-6, 120 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair worn in a ponytail. Police said Cole had been a deputy for 13 years and has a son. ___ 10:10 a.m. A sheriff in Maine says a deputy investigating a report of a robbery at a convenience store has been fatally shot. Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster tells the Morning Sentinel the deputy was killed Wednesday morning on U.S. Route 2 in Norridgewock. Dispatch reports from the sheriff's office said a robbery was reported at a Cumberland Farms store at about 1:40 a.m. Officers from multiple agencies responded to the scene within minutes. A message seeking comment was left with the sheriff's office. Further information about the shooting was not immediately available. COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - More than a dozen South Carolina corrections employees are facing federal charges related to bribery and bringing contraband into the state's institutions a week after a deadly prison riot, according to federal court documents obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday. The indictments against 14 corrections employees, including at least 11 officers, include charges of racketeering, bribery and wire fraud, and in some cases are connected to actions that allegedly took place as long as three years ago. The indictments unsealed Wednesday don't detail how much the employees are accused of accepting in exchange for smuggling drugs, cellphones and phone accessories into state prisons. Court documents didn't list attorneys for the defendants, who were expected to appear in court later Wednesday. Federal and state authorities also planned to hold a news conference. FILE - This Monday, April 16, 2018 file photo shows the Lee Correctional Institution, in Bishopville, S.C. Multiple inmates were killed and others seriously injured amid fighting between prisoners inside the maximum security prison in South Carolina. South Carolina prison officials have for years blamed cellphones for contributing to inmate violence. After a bloody riot at a maximum-security prison that left seven inmates dead, they find themselves once again asking federal officials to grant waivers and change laws to let them block the signals of these contraband devices. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford, File) The indictments were unsealed a little more than a week after a deadly riot at Lee Correctional Institution left seven inmates dead - and just one day after the AP quoted several people connected to correctional institutions as saying that cellphones, drugs and other contraband were flowing into prisons around the state while officers turned a blind eye, or helped to smuggle them. South Carolina's Department of Corrections has long banned inmates from possessing cellphones, saying they pose a top security threat because they can help inmates commit crimes, such as coordinating drug distribution or plotting violent uprisings. Citing understaffing as one of his agency's top problems, Corrections Director Bryan Stirling has repeatedly asked for more funding to allow him to hire additional officers. Since taking over the agency in 2013, Stirling has been able to increase officer pay and opportunities to earn overtime. But an inmate, defense attorneys and a person familiar with the operations of South Carolina's correctional institutions all told the AP for its previous story that the problem is not a lack of officers, but the inattention or collusion of current officers that is behind the contraband problem. In recent years the agency has spent millions installing netting around institutions to catch packages thrown over the fences; contracted with outside law enforcement officers to patrol outside the grounds, and repeatedly called on the FCC to allow them to jam cellphone signals, thereby rendering the devices useless. ___ Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. Read more of her work at https://apnews.com/search/meg%20kinnard . FILE - This April 16, 2018 file photo shows the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, S.C. Multiple inmates were killed and others seriously injured amid fighting between prisoners inside the maximum security prison in South Carolina. South Carolina prison officials have for years blamed cellphones for contributing to inmate violence. After a bloody riot at a maximum-security prison last weekend that left seven inmates dead, they find themselves once again asking federal officials to grant waivers and change laws to let them block the signals of these contraband devices. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford, File) COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday once again rejected requests for unredacted autopsy reports from the unsolved slayings of eight family members. The court ruled 5-2 without comment against reconsidering its December decision that the Pike County coroner in southern Ohio does not have to release the reports with complete information. The case before the court involved seven adults and a teenage boy from the Rhoden family who were found shot to death at four homes near Piketon, in rural southern Ohio, on April 22, 2016. No arrests have been made or suspects identified. Heavily redacted versions of the autopsy reports released in 2016 showed all but one of the victims were shot multiple times in the head, but details about any other injuries and toxicology test results weren't released. In the 4-3 December ruling, Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, writing for the majority, said Ohio law regarding coroner records clearly exempts the redacted material as "confidential law enforcement investigatory records." Once a criminal investigation ends, confidential information in autopsy reports can become public records, but the process leading to a suspect can sometimes take time, O'Connor wrote. "In order that justice might be delivered to all, patience may be required of some," the chief justice said. The Columbus Dispatch and The Cincinnati Enquirer separately sued for access to the full final autopsies. The Ohio Attorney General's Office, which is leading the investigation, sought to shield the information, arguing that its release could compromise the investigation. The newspapers asked the court to reconsider its December decision, saying the ruling sets a precedent allowing investigators to shield records on "an impossibly vague standard." The state opposed the request, saying the newspapers' arguments simply repackaged previous arguments. Wednesday's decision is the last word, said Jack Greiner, an attorney representing the Enquirer, who called the ruling disappointing. "Fortunately, the decision in the main case is extremely narrow," he said. "It applies only to final autopsy reports in homicide related autopsies." The newspapers had argued there is no evidence the full reports contain confidential information provided by law enforcement authorities, nor any evidence the autopsies were prepared with input from investigators. Authorities suspect there were multiple attackers who were familiar with the victims' homes and the surrounding area. The motive remains a mystery. The office of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has said one of the victims, 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr., had "a large-scale marijuana growing operation," leading some to speculate the killings were drug-related. ___ Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus. ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Hoping to pressure colleagues to vote on gun-control legislation that has stalled in the Minnesota Legislature, a first-term lawmaker staged a 24-hour sit-in inside the House chamber, rising occasionally to read stories of people killed by gun violence. Rep. Erin Maye Quade, a Democrat, ended her sit-in on Wednesday to the cheers of supporters. She vowed that the movement against gun violence will "continue, and it'll continue to grow stronger" if Republicans who control both the House and Senate don't allow votes on the bills. Democrats and a handful of suburban Minneapolis Republican are calling for stronger background checks for gun buyers and so-called "red flag" laws, which give families and police a legal path to temporarily remove guns from people who are a danger to themselves or others. State Rep. Erin Maye Quade, of Apple Valley, second from right, holds a 24-hour sit-in on the Minnesota House floor for stronger gun laws, Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in St. Paul, Minn., joined by fellow Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Reps. Raymond Dehn, Minneapolis, seated on floor; Peter Fischer, Maplewood, and JoAnn Ward, Woodbury. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP) "There has been a movement happening in this country for gun violence prevention for a long time," she said, recalling that she was in middle school 19 years ago when the Columbine High School shooting happened in Colorado. "This is another part of that movement." Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt said Wednesday that some lawmakers were working on tweaks to gun legislation that could draw enough support to pass this year. Daudt previously mentioned potential changes to background checks, but he stopped short of the universal background-check policy that Democrats have called for. Maye Quade said that's not enough. "There is no conversation. If it's behind closed doors, it's not happening," she said. "This is the people's house." Gun laws have fallen under scrutiny nationwide since February's deadly school shooting that killed 17 students and staff members at a Florida high school. A handful of states, including Florida, have approved "red flag" laws, while others have expanded rules on who can buy guns. But efforts to move similar bills in Minnesota have foundered. With less than a month left in the legislative session, gun control bills haven't reached full House or Senate floors for a vote. The proposed changes face stiff odds with both Republicans and rural Democrats. The overnight protest by Maye Quade, who's from the Minneapolis suburb of Apple Valley, drew the attention of several dozen gun control supporters, who gathered outside the House chamber and chanted, "We represent the 90 percent," in reference to a recent statewide poll showing 90 percent of respondents favor tighter gun laws. As Maye Quade stood up and walked out of the chamber, she was greeted by their cheers. Her protest, which began Tuesday morning after the floor session ended, didn't disrupt the business of the House. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) - Slovakia's government has approved a plan to deploy 152 troops in the Baltics as part of NATO forces amid growing tensions between Russia and the West. Slovakia's defense ministry says the soldiers will join NATO forces in Latvia, starting in the second half of 2018. The country's parliament where the ruling coalition has a majority still has to approve the move. Defense Minister Peter Gajdos says the move is meant to demonstrate his country's solidarity with its allies and NATO's "resolve and capability to react to any potential aggression." NATO military forces have been deployed into countries bordering Russia after Moscow's annexation of Crimea prompted fears that other ex-Soviet republics - including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - could be next. JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Thousands of South African workers have demonstrated around the country against a proposed minimum wage, accusing President Cyril Ramaphosa's government of being hostile to labor. Members of the South African Federation of Trade Unions on Wednesday marched in downtown Johannesburg and other cities. They said the planned minimum wage of $1.60 per hour is too low and will only deepen poverty in South Africa. Workers from some unions not affiliated with the strike did not participate in the protest. There were reports of blocked roads, stone-throwing and looting in some parts of the country. South African media outlets say some unrest is linked to local dissatisfaction over an alleged lack of government services. South Africa Federation Of Trade Unions (SAFTU) protesters gather in downtown Johannesburg on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, ahead of a march against the national minimum wage and the proposed changes in the labour laws. The strike has been called for in all major cities in the country. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) Ramaphosa took office in February after the resignation of Jacob Zuma, whose presidency was tainted by scandals. South Africa Federation Of Trade Unions (SAFTU) protesters gather in downtown Johannesburg, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, ahead of a march against the national minimum wage and the proposed changes in the labour laws. The strike has been called for in all major cities in the country. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) South Africa Federation Of Trade Unions, (SAFTU) protesters gather in downtown Johannesburg , Wednesday, April 25, 2018 ahead of a march against the national minimum wage and the proposed changes in the labour laws. The strike has been called for in all major cities in the country. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) Chuno The New York Times journalist also indicated that freeze-drying the potatoes for chuno is just one method used to increase their life after harvest. "Dried potatoes in Peru come in many forms. They can look like pebbles hard and smooth, in white or purple," Jaffrey wrote. "They can look like large gravel, with different colors. But they can also be soft, tasting and smelling as funky as fermented bean curd or ripe cheese. Each has a different flavor and texture," he added. Furthermore, Jaffrey was amazed by the meaning Peruvian farmers give to potatoes. "Potatoes were given superb treatment wherever I traveled," the journalist expressed. Gastronomy In his article, the writer also highlighted some traditional potato dishes from Peruvian cuisine He indicated that Papa a la Huancaina was a dish made with boiled and sliced potatoes, as well as served with eggs, olives, lettuce leaves, and dressed with Huancaina sauce. The main ingredient of this delicacy is the "aji amarillo ," a long, aromatic, orange chili pepper. The journalist also affirmed his favorite dish was causa, which like lasagnas "are layered terrine-like dishes, generally served cold, though room temperature can also work for some of them." "Instead of pasta, potatoes mashed and seasoned with an aji amarillo paste, lime juice, olive oil and salt are the most important element in a causa ," Jaffrey noted. Other ingredients to prepare this dish include seafood salad, vegetable salad, chicken salad or, as in the Amazon region, pork-and-onion salad. Lastly, he praised Peruvian gastronomy , in which potatoes are definitely the stars. (END) LZD/MAO/JAA/MVB KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Uganda has begun counting its population of critically endangered mountain gorillas amid confidence their numbers are steadily rising, boosting prospects for its tourism industry that relies heavily on the primates. The last census in 2011 showed the East African country had 480 mountain gorillas in two protected areas, or about half of the world's surviving population. The others are in neighboring Rwanda and Congo's forested mountain areas. Since March a census team has been traversing Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, collecting the gorillas' dung and examining their nests for hair samples and other clues. Their data, which will be subjected to genetic analysis in Europe, is far more reliable than a head count, wildlife officials said. The census ends in mid-May and results are not expected for several months. "We have some hope that we shall register a few more individuals because we feel that we have been doing some things right," said Simplicious Gessa, a spokesman for the Uganda Wildlife Authority. "We have had a huge baby boom over the years in our habituated groups." The habituated gorillas - those comfortable in the presence of humans - in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and nearby Mgahinga National Park have become Uganda's main tourist attraction. A gorilla tracking permit costs a tourist up to $600, and last year thousands paid for the opportunity to see the primates in their natural habitat. The region's mountain gorilla population dropped sharply in the past century because of poaching, illness and human encroachment. Mountain gorillas have been listed as critically endangered since 1996, although their numbers are now growing. In the past few years some of Uganda's gorillas died of natural causes, with some falling from trees and others killed in battles between males fighting for territory or dominance. "We need to regularly take stock of them and knowing how many they are, that gives us an opportunity to come up with practical action plans for improved conservation of this mountain gorilla," said John Justice Tibesigwa, a senior warden in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. In Rwanda, where tourism is the top foreign exchange earner, the country has prioritized the protection of its gorillas in a public way, even launching a naming ceremony for the baby primates. ___ Associated Press video journalist Joshua Moturi in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda contributed. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Associated Press and other news organizations asked a judge Wednesday to unseal records in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, citing overwhelming public interest in a case they said was among the most important in American history. The news media coalition is asking specifically for transcripts of hearings in the ongoing prosecution of President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, as well as access to sealed search warrant applications filed by investigators. Any interest in protecting the integrity of the probe, which is examining potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, is outweighed by the public's right to the records and by public interest in "one of the most consequential criminal investigations in our nation's history," the media court filing states. FILE - In this June 21, 2017, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Associated Press and other news organizations are asking a judge to unseal records in Mueller's Russia investigation. The media coalition argued in a court filing on April 25, 2018, that Mueller's probe is "one of the most consequential criminal investigations in our nation's history" and that there's overwhelming public interest in records from the case. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) "Under the common law, courts balance the public's right to information about the workings of the criminal justice system against the legitimate countervailing interests of the government; here, that balance tips decisively in favor of the public," the media organizations wrote. Though Manafort's court appearances have largely been open, the news organizations are seeking transcripts of portions of the hearings that occurred behind closed doors and out of public view. That includes a specific court hearing in which lawyers for Manafort's co-defendant, Rick Gates, argued to withdraw from the case. In addition, the news media organizations are asking for copies of applications and supporting affidavits for search warrants that have been executed in the case, including last year on Manafort's home in Virginia and on a storage unit. The public interest in those records could not be greater, said the media court filing. "The Russia Investigation goes to the heart of the integrity of the political process, the potential corruption or other misconduct of the President of the United States and his closest advisers_or, as some of the President's supporters have argued, a corrupt conspiracy by some in law enforcement to harm the President_and the ability of the justice system to fairly and effectively investigate and, where necessary, prosecute any of these potential crimes," the lawyers wrote. So far, 19 people - including Manafort - and three companies have been charged in Mueller's investigation. Three Trump aides from either the presidential campaign or the White House have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the investigation. The other organizations in the coalition include The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and Politico. ___ Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP Tax day has already come and gone. But what if you still haven't filed or paid? It's only a few days late at this point thanks to some delays in the federal tax deadline this year. Or maybe it has been a few years. Regardless of how behind you are, it's time to address it. This isn't a problem that will go away on its own and it's only going to get worse the longer you ignore it. Here's what you should know: FILE- In this Feb. 15, 2018, file photo, Susan Prendergast, reference supervisor at the Eudora Welty Library, in Jackson, Miss., adds additional federal tax filing information booklets on a shelf adjacent to her desk. Here's a bit of good news: if you haven't filed in the past you may actually get some money back. The IRS reports they had about $1 billion in unclaimed refunds last year, so don't leave that money on the table, said Lisa Greene-Lewis of Turbo Tax. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File) THE RULES It's true, not everyone has to file federal income taxes, but most adults do. People whose income falls above a certain threshold for their age and filing status are required by law to file. In general, those who are not required to file are lower income. If you are unsure whether you meet the threshold, check the IRS website. Not filing a federal return means you may face a "failure to file" penalty. It is normally 5 percent of the unpaid taxes for each month that a filing is late. It won't exceed 25 percent of your unpaid taxes. If you owe money and have not paid on time, you also face a "failure to pay" penalty. This is 0.5 percent of your unpaid taxes and may be up to 25 percent of your unpaid taxes, too. Interest will also accrue on the money owed the IRS over time. In general, the IRS is willing to work with you if you are behind. If you can show reasonable cause for not filing or paying on time, you will not have to pay a late-filing or late-payment penalty. But, in more extreme cases, if the IRS believes you are evading taxes, it can seek criminal charges. "If you don't file a tax return it's a crime, so there's potential jail time," said Allen Madison, associate professor at the University of South Dakota School of Law. "So it's not just penalties, it's also your personal freedom that is at stake." THE OPTIONS It's important to file as soon as possible, even if you owe and cannot pay, to limit your penalties. Contact the IRS for one of several options. If you aren't able to pay now but can soon, the IRS offers up to 120 days to pay in full, according to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent part of the IRS dedicated to helping taxpayers. It's not a formal payment option, so there's no application or fee, but interest and any penalties will continue to accrue until it's paid off. You can also apply for an installment agreement, which sets up a fixed monthly payment. Or you can request an "Offer in Compromise" that allows you to pay less than the full amount you owe, although experts say these are not widely granted. If you and the IRS agree that you cannot pay your taxes and also pay your living expenses, it may place your account in "Currently Not Collectible" status. The IRS will not seek to collect payment from while you are in this status, but the debt does not go away, and penalties and interest will continue to grow. "They will work with you if you are cooperating," said Damien Martin, director at BKD CPAs and Advisors in Missouri. Finally, a reminder: if you got an extension on your taxes, it only gives you added time to file, not to pay. THE UPSIDE Here's a bit of good news: if you haven't filed in the past you may actually get some money back. The IRS reports they had about $1 billion in unclaimed refunds last year, so don't leave that money on the table, said Lisa Greene-Lewis of Turbo Tax. If you have a refund due, there is no penalty for failing to file your tax return by the deadline. But you only have three years to file and claim, or you'll forfeit your refund. It's typically students, part-time workers and others with low to moderate income who overlook filing and are due a refund. They may not even meet the threshold that requires them to file. But to collect the money they are owed, they must file a tax return. THE HELP There are a number of places you can turn to if you are behind and need help. The first stop should be the IRS website or to reach the agency directly. The Taxpayer Advocate Website also has helpful information on your rights and options; it also has offices in every state. You may want to reach out to an accountant or tax attorney for help. And if you feel like you need help from a tax professional but cannot afford one, there are Low Income Taxpayer Clinics that can help with tax disputes for free or a low fee. A jury is deliberating the fate of Bill Cosby on sexual assault charges. The jury began its work Wednesday, about two weeks after the retrial started outside Philadelphia. A look at the charges, and the punishment he could face if convicted: ___ Bill Cosby arrives for his sexual assault trial, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) WHAT IS COSBY ACCUSED OF? Drugging and sexually violating a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Andrea Constand says Cosby gave her pills that made her paralyzed and unable to fight him off as he groped one of her breasts and her genitals. His lawyers say whatever happened between Cosby and Constand was consensual and that she falsely accused him so she could file a lawsuit and extract a big civil settlement. The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done. ___ WHAT IS HE CHARGED WITH? Three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault, each covering a different aspect of the alleged crime. Count 1 alleges Cosby didn't have consent when he penetrated Constand's genitals with his fingers. Count 2 alleges she was unconscious or semi-conscious at the time and could not give consent. Count 3 alleges all this happened after he gave her an intoxicant that substantially impaired her and stopped her from resisting. ___ HOW MUCH TIME COULD HE FACE? Each of the three counts carries a standard sentencing range of five to 10 years in prison. But experts say that if he is convicted, it's likely Cosby's attorneys would be able to successfully argue the charges be combined for sentencing purposes, since they cover the same encounter and conduct. If the judge follows state sentencing guidelines, a conviction would put Cosby, 80, in prison at least until he is 85. ___ WHAT'S THE WORST CASE SCENARIO FOR COSBY? Pennsylvania law allows sentencing judges to consider uncharged conduct. In Cosby's case, that could involve more than 60 other women who have accused him of assaults dating to the 1960s. Five of those accusers testified against him at the retrial. The allegations could lead to a stiffer sentence if he is convicted. ___ WOULD HE HAVE TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER? Yes. If he is convicted, prosecutors say Cosby would have to register as a sex offender and face an assessment to determine if he is a sexually violent predator. ___ WOULD COSBY BE HAULED OFF IN HANDCUFFS RIGHT AWAY? If convicted, Cosby could remain free until sentencing unless the judge revokes his $1 million bail. Experts say that's less likely for Cosby because his fame makes him an unlikely flight risk. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The parents of an Oklahoma middle school student who allege in a federal lawsuit that school officials did nothing to stop sexual attacks against the boy during an 18-month period are urging Gov. Mary Fallin to exert her political influence to draw attention to student-on-student sexual assaults. "(W)e're calling on Governor Fallin to order the state Department of Education to immediately implement training programs, state-wide, to better prepare schools to prevent and address sexual assaults," according a family statement provided to The Associated Press. The statement also said local residents have offered to pay for counseling for the son or help pay their legal bills, but the family has declined those offers and encourages them to instead also ask the governor to take action that will help protect students from assaults. Family attorney Nathan Richter acknowledged state law does not allow the governor to issue orders to the department. He said he isn't aware that the family has sent an email or letter to the governor's office. "I think the family is calling on those in a position of power to show support," Richter said. "I think the governor, policy-wise, can make statements and set an agenda." A spokesman for the governor said the office has found no correspondence requesting action. Plaintiffs are listed as John Doe, Jane Doe ad Child Doe in the lawsuit against Washington Public Schools, superintendent A.J Brewer and principal Stuart McPherson. It alleges the assaults began with shoving in December 2015, shortly after the then-11-year-old boy and his family moved into the district about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Oklahoma City. It escalated into sexual assault the following February, the lawsuit alleges. The boy's father told the AP that he sought intervention from Brewer and McPherson, who referred to the acts as "horseplay" or "accidental touching," until filing the lawsuit on March 26. "(I'm) frustrated, disappointed, disgusted. It's heartbreaking for me that my son's had to go through this with no support at the school," the father said. "No one (from the school) has ever called to say 'how's your son doing.'" The man said his son has resisted a move to another school district. "We've asked him about moving" the father said. He's a little jaded about authority and he says 'Dad, at least I know what to expect here. What if I go somewhere else and it's worse?'" The father said the assaults included one in a classroom in front of 30 to 40 other students when the teacher had left the room. The father said there have been two other sexual assaults at the school in addition to threats to kill his son. School attorney Andy Fugitt declined comment on the lawsuit, but said the district does adhere to its stated policy of annual training for staff that includes sexual harassment or bullying. "That is done in conjunction with when the teachers return to work in August," Fugitt said. The district has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the allegations do not show that the district acted with "deliberate indifference" and that the lawsuit fails to state a claim showing that federal Equal Protection rights were violated. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation compiled a report on the allegations and provided the documents this week to the office of District Attorney Greg Mashburn. Mashburn said his office is reviewing the report, as is state juvenile justice officials. The lawsuit comes after four former football players in the Tulsa suburb of Bixby were recently charged with sexually assaulting a teammate that prosecutors said wasn't promptly reported. The four have pleaded not guilty, and their attorneys have asked that the each be certified as juveniles. An Associated Press investigation published in 2017 examined sexual violence in school sports as part of a larger look at student-on-student sex assaults. The investigation found that team sexual assault is often mischaracterized as hazing and bullying and that the violence is so normalized that it persists for years, as players attacked one season become aggressors the next. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minnesota woman accused of killing her husband at their home before killing a woman in Florida who liked like her will stand trial in the Florida case first. Scott Rose, the sheriff of Dodge County, Minnesota, says 56-year-old Lois Riess will go to Florida to face a second-degree murder charge while Minnesota authorities build their case against her in the March killing of her husband. Rose tweeted Wednesday that second-degree murder charges will be filed once forensic results are back from the lab. Riess will stand trial in Minnesota after the Florida case is done. Authorities say Lois Riess killed her husband, 54-year-old David Riess, at their Blooming Prairie home before heading to Florida and killing 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson. Investigators say they think she killed the Bradenton, Florida, woman to assume her identity. Riess was arrested last week in Texas after a nationwide manhunt. NEW YORK (AP) - Some small businesses that use Facebook ads to promote themselves and attract new customers are wrestling with whether they need to change strategy after the company's data-misuse scandal. The revelations that Cambridge Analytica gathered personal information from 87 million Facebook users made some people and small businesses jittery. Small business owners don't want customers to draw any connection between their ads and Cambridge Analytica, or to be unnerved by how their data is used. But even wary owners, especially those trying to reach a wide audience on a small advertising budget, say they need to go where their customers are - and for many, that's Facebook. In this undated photo provided by Mike Seper shows Seper on a zipline at Eco Adventure Ziplines in New Florence, Mo. "While I considered deleting Facebook, I understand the importance and reach Facebook has to keep an open channel of communication with our customers," says Mike Seper, owner of Eco Adventure Ziplines. Seper is concerned that Facebook users, seeing his ads and then viewing other users' political posts or ads, might mistakenly assume they're connected. "We just don't want that association," says Seper, who had been doing most of his advertising on Facebook. (Shannon Seper/Eco Adventure Ziplines via AP) "While I considered deleting Facebook, I understand the importance and reach Facebook has to keep an open channel of communication with our customers," says Mike Seper, owner of Eco Adventure Ziplines. The company, based in New Florence, Missouri, operates adventure rides for people to glide along cables suspended 50 or 250 feet above the ground. Seper is concerned that Facebook users, seeing his ads and then viewing other users' political posts or ads, might mistakenly assume they're connected. "We just don't want that association," says Seper, who had been doing most of his advertising on Facebook. He'll still post videos on his company's Facebook page, but will advertise instead on Google and use more traditional methods like postcards, brochures and print ads. Small business owners also need to keep in mind that many people are newly aware of data issues or more cautious about their online behavior. Breakout, which operates 44 "escape room" game locations, is reducing its use of reminders that Facebook sends to people who start but don't complete a booking. The strategy does persuade many people to book another time slot - but it might also make them feel like they're being tracked, says digital marketing director Drew Roberts. "People who aren't familiar with how it works may be a little turned off," Roberts says. Breakout has also cut its Facebook advertising budget by 50 percent in response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but it's not going to abandon an effective method of reaching out to customers. "It excels for us when we're opening new locations," Drew says. Like other advertisers, Breakout can take advantage of the data Facebook has available to target specific demographic groups and geographic areas, ensuring that it will reach people most likely to be interested in what they're selling. Facebook has apologized to those whose data was misused, and says it's restricting app developers' access to people's information. The company has 10 million small businesses with Facebook pages in the U.S. and 6 million advertisers, most of them small companies; CEO Mark Zuckerberg was quoted earlier this month as saying he doesn't believe the company has seen a meaningful impact on ad spending from the scandal. Facebook spokesman Joe Osborne acknowledges the concerns of some owners, including those that target ads to specific groups, but said Facebook doesn't share their information or that of their customers with anyone. "Protecting people's information is a top priority," Osborne said Wednesday. "We've said before that if we can't, then we don't deserve the right to their information." Elisa Vazquez, who helps companies run their social media marketing and ad campaigns, doesn't want to put her clients' customers and potential customers at any risk of being misused. She's placing fewer ads and aiming at broader audiences, which means targeting fewer Facebook users based on demographic data. "For how many years did they say, no one's data has been leaked?" says Vazquez, social media director for Elevate My Brand, an online marketing company based in Los Angeles. "I want to be cautious." Facebook's explanation of what it's done to protect users' data has reassured Ekiria Collins, owner of Yorkies of Houston. The breeder of Yorkshire terriers does about three-quarters of her advertising on Facebook and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, and estimates that about 80 percent of her customers find and contact her business through Facebook. Collins says she's concerned about her customers' privacy, but "I am confident that Facebook is researching the privacy matter and has implemented programs to ensure this doesn't happen again." Others aren't convinced. Oliver Coen, a watch company based in London, gets more than 80 percent of its sales in the U.S., and puts half its advertising dollars into Facebook. Founder David Murphy has cut the company's Facebook budget by 5 percent because he's still concerned about users' personal information being passed on to third parties. "I'd be surprised if it was one-off," he says of the Cambridge Analytica situation. Murphy considered leaving Facebook, but also doesn't see an advertising alternative that would have the same reach. But the company that runs the Alameda County Fair, not far from California's Silicon Valley, doesn't see data privacy as an issue. And it says the number of followers on its Facebook page is up 5 percent from a year ago. "We're not worried about it - maybe because we live in a place that's so data-driven here, in the Silicon Valley," says Angel Moore, vice president for business development of the Alameda County Fair Association. "No matter what we do, data is being collected." _____ Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg . Her work can be found here: https://apnews.com/search/joyce%20rosenberg VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - The U.S. Air Force has successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in the latest test on the Southern California coast. The unarmed Minuteman 3 missile was launched Wednesday morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base. It was the first such test this year. The most recent was last August. A launch planned for February was postponed. The Air Force says the test was to check the readiness, effectiveness and accuracy of the weapons system. Minuteman missiles are regularly tested with launches from Vandenberg that send unarmed re-entry vehicles to a target area in the middle of the Pacific. WASHINGTON (AP) - A first-of-its-kind intensive count of western Africa gorillas found far more of the apes than conservationists previously thought. Maybe not for long: The same study found a 19 percent plunge in that gorilla population in just eight years. Researchers spent a decade trudging through an area of forest that's about the size of the state of Washington - or Ireland and Scotland combined - looking for lowland gorillas, chimpanzees and nests in what scientists said is the most accurate count for the apes in this primary region where they live, according to a study in Wednesday's journal Science Advances . This undated photo shows Buka, a silverback gorilla in a park in the Republic of Congo. Researchers now estimate that there are more than 360,000 lowland gorillas in the wild in Western Africa, approximately one-third higher than earlier figures. However, the gorilla population has plunged by 19 percent in eight years, worrying scientists. (Zanne Labuschagne/Wildlife Conservation Society via AP) They put the 2013 population at 362,000 gorillas. That's considerably more than the 150,000-to-250,000 estimate from the organization that determines how endangered species are, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. But it's also significantly less than the 2005 assessment of almost 450,000 gorillas from the same research team. The population still qualifies for the IUCN critically endangered red list because the animals are on pace to lose more than 80 percent of their population in three gorilla generations, which is a key threshold, said study author Fiona Maisels of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Stirling in Scotland. At the current rate, 80 percent or more of the gorillas will be gone by end of the century, said University of Illinois primate expert Paul Garber, who wasn't part of the study but praised it. He said in the five years since the 2013 count, the loss has likely accelerated. "That is a doomsday scenario, and we need to reverse this immediately," Garber said in an email. Gorillas are hunted as food, and Maisels blames that for much of the population drop. Four out of five gorillas live in an area not protected from hunting, the paper found. Maisels also said forest loss could be huge in the future. To conduct the census, pairs of researchers surveyed thick forest areas looking up, down and sideways for both gorillas and chimpanzees, averaging about 1.2 miles (2 km) a day, Maisels said. Overall, researchers covered about one quarter of the 290,000-square-mile (750,000-square-km) area of Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo and Gabon and then used computer simulations to account for the rest. The same researchers found nearly 129,000 chimpanzees, which is more than conservationists thought. Because of survey sample issues they couldn't significantly show a change in chimp numbers, but they suspect it is decreasing, Maisels said. "We used around 20,000 nests," Maisels said, referring to both species. "Nobody else has done that." While two other outside experts praised the study, Volker Sommer at the University College London said the counting method is flawed because researchers can't tell if nests they find are day or night nests, new or old, single or multiple. He said in an email that then adding computer modeling to it "takes a questionable approach to new heights" so "we cannot expect standardized results from such an approach." Duke University conservation scientist Stuart Pimm called the paper important, especially in the wider context of assessing how a species is doing beyond old pure population estimates. ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears . His work can be found here . ___ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Posted on Feb 2, 2015 in Stuff We Like Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne Wins Colby Award Armchair General received the following media release about Norwich Universitys 2015 William E. Colby Award for the author of a first book. * * * NORTHFIELD, Vt. Biographer Colonel Douglas V. Mastriano, PhD is the 2015 William E. Colby Award winner for his book, Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne. Norwich University awards the Colby annually to an author of a first book. A veteran of the first Gulf War and Afghanistan, Colonel Mastriano was commissioned in the United States Army in 1986 and began his career with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment serving along the German Iron Curtain. With the end of the Cold War, he deployed to Iraq for Operation Desert Storm, where his regiment led the main attack against Saddam Husseins Republican Guard. Colonel Mastriano subsequently served in tactical, operational and strategic assignments during his ongoing career in the army. He also served four years in NATO Land Headquarters in Germany, and deployed three times to Afghanistan, where he was director of the ISAF Joint Intelligence Center. {default} In the book, published in 2014 by the University Press of Kentucky, Mastriano uses archival research, military terrain analysis and forensic study to reconstruct the events of October 1918 and sort fact from fiction in the account of the act of heroism that earned Sergeant York the Medal of Honor in the First World War Mastriano details Yorks early life in Tennessee, his service in the war up to and including the famous October 8, 1918, engagement, and his return to a civilian life dedicated to charity. As the centennial of American involvement in World War I approaches, this book shares the story of one of the wars most notable heroes. Superbly researched and splendidly written, Douglas V. Mastrianos work on Alvin York recounts not only the incredible story of a Tennessee mountain boy who won the Medal of Honor and became the greatest American hero of the First World War, but also of how, through years of investigation and exploration, he located Yorks battle site and was instrumental in the creation of two permanent monuments and an historic trail, said Carlo DEste, executive director of the William E. Colby Military Writers Symposium. I am humbled by the distinction of being the 2015 William E Colby Award recipient. The Colby Award represents the highest caliber of works published in the United States since 1999. It is a privilege to have the book Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne recognized worthy of this honor, said Mastriano. A $5,000 author honorarium is provided through a grant from the Chicago-based Tawani Foundation. The award and honorarium will be presented at Norwich University during the 2015 Colby Military Writers Symposium at the Meet the Authors Dinner on April 9, 2015. The 2015 Symposium will take place April 8-9, and is open to the public. Named for the late ambassador and former CIA director William E. Colby, the Colby Award recognizes a first work of fiction or non-fiction that has made a significant contribution to the publics understanding of intelligence operations, military history or international affairs. The William E. Colby Award began at Norwich University in 1999. In June 2012, Mastriano joined the faculty of the U.S. Army War College to teach in the Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of New Brunswick, in Fredericton, Canada. Mastriano is the co-founder of The Sergeant York Discovery Expedition (SYDE) and led the effort to locate the exact spot where Alvin York eliminated a machine-gun nest and captured 132 German soldiers. The groups research has been endorsed by U.S. and French authorities. SYDE organized the construction of a five-kilometer historic trail in Frances Argonne Forest for visitors to experience a piece of World War I history. Previous recipients of the Colby Award include Thomas McKenna, James Bradley, Nathaniel Fick, Col. Jack Jacobs, Dexter Filkins, Marcus Luttrell, John Glusman, Karl Marlantes and Logan Beirne. # # # 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 of America. Norwich is one of our nations six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu In fulfillment of Norwichs mission to train and educate todays students to be tomorrows global leaders and captains of industry, the Forging the Future campaign is committed to creating the best possible learning environment through state-of-the-art academics and world-class facilities. Learn more about the campaign and how to participate in the Year of Service here: bicentennial.norwich.edu ABOUT TAWANI FOUNDATION Founded by COL (IL) J. N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Ret.), Tawani Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) grant-making organization whose mission is: to enhance the awareness and understanding of the importance of the Citizen Soldier; to preserve unique sites of significance to American and military history; to foster health and wellness projects for improved quality of life; and to honor the service of military personnel, past, present and future, through an awards program that includes the JROTC/ROTC Award for Military Excellence, the William E. Colby Award and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction blocking the Trump administration from cutting grants to Planned Parenthood that pay for a teen pregnancy prevention program in numerous states. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rice of Spokane issued his ruling late Tuesday, after listening to arguments from attorneys for Planned Parenthood and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "The Court finds that HHS arbitrarily and capriciously terminated the (teen pregnancy prevention) Program," Rice wrote. "The Court determines that the public interest weighs in favor of (Planned Parenthood), as it would prevent harm to the community . and prevent loss of data regarding the effectiveness of teen pregnancy prevention." The judge also denied a government motion to dismiss the case. The decision marked the second time a federal judge found in favor of Planned Parenthood's arguments, following a ruling last week in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit, filed in February by Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, asked Rice to reverse a decision by HHS Secretary Alex Azar to cut grant funding to the program, which was supposed to continue until 2020. The lawsuit was joined by Planned Parenthood affiliates in Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas and Nebraska. The federal agency in July informed recipients of 81 teen pregnancy prevention grants that it would terminate their grant agreements two years early, despite previously seeking competitive bids for a firm to conduct the five-year study. Jonathan Jacobson, a Department of Justice attorney, argued Tuesday that HHS had the power to end the program at any time. "The plaintiffs are here claiming legal rights they do not have," Jacobson told Rice, according to The Spokesman-Review. "There is no legal entitlement to further funding beyond each funding year. It's the agency's discretion." But attorneys for Planned Parenthood said the move would devastate research. "Research doesn't happen overnight. This was set up as a five-year program," attorney Nathan Castellano said on behalf of Planned Parenthood. "Pulling the plug on these programs is extreme. It causes irreparable harm. Teens won't get the benefit of the program, and the general public won't get the benefit of the research." Carrie Flaxman, a staff attorney for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said she believes the move signals a shift in sex education policy under Trump. "The Trump administration is clearly trying to push their abstinence-only agenda," said Flaxman, who is based in Washington, D.C., according to the newspaper. The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program has served about 1.2 million teens in 39 states and the Marshall Islands to date, the lawsuit said. That includes about 40,000 youths in Washington and Idaho. The lawsuit also said that since the program's inception in 2010, the teen birth rate in the United States has dropped by 41 percent. The agency cut the funding to the 81 programs a month after Trump appointed Valerie Huber as chief of staff for the Office of Assistant Secretary of Health. After her appointment last year, Huber wrote an article decrying the lack of federal funding for abstinence education and questioned the effectiveness of teen pregnancy prevention grants. BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - A family from Afghanistan is cooking a community meal for Bismarck residents to thank those who helped them resettle in North Dakota two years ago. The Amiri family moved to the United States in 2016, The Bismarck Tribune reported. They're from Afghanistan, but had been living in Quetta, Pakistan since 2004 to escape war. The family's Hazara ethnic group had long faced violence and persecution in Quetta. "We were not safe over there, so we applied for refugee status," said Muhammad Amiri. In this April 21, 2018, photo, Lisa Kadlec, left, helps two Amiri family members shop for cooking supplies for an upcoming community meal in Bismarck, N.D. The family, who came to Bismarck from Pakistan in 2016, are originally from Afghanistan. Because they received support from local community members, the family will be giving back by cooking a traditional Afghan meal on May 4 at the United Church of Christ. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP) Muhammad, his mother and three sisters resettled in the U.S. with the help of the Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota. The family plans to host their charity dinner for the organization at the United Church of Christ on May 4. They plan to make a traditional Afghan meal that will include kabuli palau, a dish with rice with carrots and raisin, and korma, a chicken or vegetable plate with sauce. "When we got here, we didn't have anybody. We didn't have friends, family, nothing. But (the community) welcomed us. Right now, we have families here - they're friends, but they're like family to us," said Muhammad Amiri, 22. "The community helped us, so we just want to give back to them (and say) thank you." Resettlement Coordinator Turdukan Tostokova secured funding for the meal through Thrivent Financial's Thrivent Action Team, which awards grants to help groups with unmet needs in their communities. Tostokova said she hopes to make the event annual or semi-annual. ___ Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A lawyer for the estate of Harper Lee is trying to halt a lawsuit filed by a producer who plans to stage a Broadway production of the writer's classic "To Kill a Mockingbird." Court records show Lee attorney Tonja Carter asked a federal court in Alabama on Tuesday to block a federal lawsuit filed last week in New York by producer Scott Rudin's company, Rudinplay. Carter filed a lawsuit last month that contends writer Aaron Sorkin's script for a stage adaptation of "Mockingbird" set to open in December alters characters in Lee's book, counter to a contract with the estate. Rudinplay is seeking $10 million from Lee's estate and threatening to cancel the play. Carter contends the company's lawsuit concerns the same issues covered by her suit and should be blocked. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A former police officer who authorities suspect was an elusive serial killer who committed at least 12 homicides, 45 rapes and dozens of burglaries across California in the 1970s and 1980s was arrested Wednesday. A law enforcement official identified the suspect as 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer. Sacramento County jail records show DeAngelo was arrested overnight on suspicion of two counts of murder cited in a Ventura County warrant. Here's a look at some well-known serial killers in the U.S. since 1971: -2014: Darren Deon Vann was arrested in the killing of a 19-year-old woman at a motel in Indiana and later confessed to the murders of six other women. He is currently awaiting trial. -2007-2009: Anthony Sowell was convicted of killing 11 women and hiding the remains in and around his home in Cleveland, Ohio. He was sentenced to death and is on death row in Ohio. -2005-2006: Mark Goudeau, a former construction worker who was also known as the "Baseline Killer," was convicted of killing eight women and a man in Phoenix, Arizona. He was sentenced to death in 2011 and remains on death row in Arizona. -2002: Lee Boyd Malvo and John Allen Muhammad randomly killed 10 people in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland as they pumped gas and went about their business during a three-week period in 2002. Malvo is serving several life sentences at a Virginia prison; Muhammad was executed in Virginia in 2009. -1997-1999: Angel Maturino Resendiz was convicted of murdering a Houston woman, but was linked by confessions and evidence to at least 12 other killings nationwide. He's on death row in Texas. -1996-1998: Robert L. Yates Jr. was convicted of two murders but admitted to 15. He's on death row in Washington state. -1990-1993: Heriberto Seda, aka "the Zodiac Killer," killed three people and wounded four in New York City and is serving a 235-year sentence. -1989-1990: Aileen Wuornos, a rare female serial killer, was convicted of murdering six men while working as a prostitute along highways in central Florida. She was executed in 2002. -1985-2007: Lonnie Franklin, known as the "Grim Sleeper," was convicted in the deaths of nine women and a teenage girl in Los Angeles. Franklin was linked at trial to 14 slayings, including four women he wasn't charged with killing. Police have said he may have had as many as 25 victims. He was sentenced to death and is on death row in California. -1984-1985: Charles Ng and Leonard Lake were convicted of murdering 11 people. Ng is on death row in California; Lake committed suicide. -1984-1985: Richard Ramirez was convicted of killing 14 people during break-ins in the Los Angeles area. He is on California's death row. -1983: Henry Lee Lucas was arrested on murder charges and told police he had have killed as many as 600 people. He later recanted. Lucas had 13 murder convictions and was sentenced to at least 10 life terms, then was sentenced to death in Texas for the murder of a hitchhiker known as "Orange Socks." Then-Gov. George W. Bush commuted that to life in prison, his only commutation as governor. Lucas died in prison in March 2001. -1979-1981: Wayne B. Williams of Atlanta was convicted and sentenced to two life terms for killing two boys, but police believed he may have been responsible for up to 28 deaths. -1978-1995: Theodore Kaczynski, aka "the Unabomber," carried out a series of mail bombings that killed three people and injured 23. He is serving a life sentence at a federal prison in Colorado. -1978-1992: Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms for killing 17 men and boys, most in Milwaukee. He was killed in prison in 1994. -1977-1978: Ted Bundy was convicted of three Florida slayings, including that of a 12-year-old girl. He confessed to more than 30 and was executed in 1989. -1977-1978: Angelo Buono Jr. was convicted of murdering nine young California women and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Kenneth A. Bianchi pleaded guilty to five of the murders, agreeing to testify against his cousin in return for being spared a possible death sentence. He was sentenced to five concurrent life terms in prison. -1976-1986: Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer in Auburn, California, is suspected of being the so-called Golden State Killer. He has been booked on two murder charges but is suspected of 170 crimes, including a dozen murders and 45 rapes between 1976 and 1986. -1976-1977: David Berkowitz, aka "Son of Sam," killed six people and wounded seven others in New York City. He is serving six consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences. -1974-1991: Dennis Rader, who called himself BTK for "bind, torture and kill," killed 10 people in Wichita, Kansas. He was arrested in 2005 and is currently serving 10 consecutive life sentences at a Kansas prison. -1972-1978: John Wayne Gacy of suburban Chicago killed 33 young men and boys. He was executed in 1994. -February-May 1971: Juan Corona was convicted of murdering 25 farm workers whose bodies were found buried near Yuba City in northern California. He is serving a life sentence. ___ This list has been corrected to show that Wuornos was executed in 2002, not Wednesday. ST. LOUIS (AP) - A man confessed to knocking over about 120 headstones at a Jewish cemetery near St. Louis last year, telling investigators he was on drugs and angry about some personal matter, authorities said Wednesday, noting that it doesn't appear to have been motivated by hatred. Alzado Harris, of Florissant, was jailed Wednesday on a charge of institutional vandalism. His bond was set at $20,000 and he doesn't have a lawyer yet. Authorities said DNA taken from a jacket found at the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City after the February 2017 incident led investigators to Harris, who confessed to toppling headstones, which caused more than $30,000 in damage. This undated booking photo released by University City, Mo. Police Department shows Alzado Harris. Harris is jailed and accused of knocking over about 120 tombstones at a suburban St. Louis Jewish Cemetery early last year, but authorities say it wasn't a hate crime. St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, charged Harris with institutional vandalism. Harris is jailed on $20,000 bond. (University City Police Department via AP) Harris "stated he acted alone, was angry over a personal matter and was under the influence of drugs when he committed the offense," University City police said in a news release. "There is no evidence to indicate the incident was racially, ethnically or religiously motivated." The vandalism drew widespread attention, with Vice President Mike Pence and Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens visiting in the days after it happened. Pence said there was "no place in America for hatred or acts of prejudice or violence or anti-Semitism," but that the community's response to the vandalism offered solace. The Jewish Federation raised nearly $250,000 to restore the cemetery, and Tarek El-Messidi, a Muslim social justice advocate from Philadelphia, helped raise another $160,000. The money was used in part to upgrade security at Chesed Shel Emeth and other Jewish cemeteries in the St. Louis region. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Lawyers for a transgender student and a gay man argued before the Missouri Supreme Court Wednesday that state law protects LGBT rights even though sexual orientation or gender aren't mentioned in its human rights statute. The court heard cases involving a transgender student kept from a boys' locker room and a gay man who said he was discriminated against as an employee of the Department of Social Services. Missouri's Human Rights Act explicitly prohibits discrimination of religion, race, sex and other categories, but it does not specifically ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. If the court agrees that the prohibition on sex-related discrimination covers LGBT, it would have far-reaching consequences. In the first case, a student identified only as R.M.A. sued the Blue Springs School District over being barred from using the boys' locker room and bathroom once he reached middle school. The student transitioned from female to male in fourth grade, was given a new birth certificate and was allowed to participate in boys' sports. But because he still had female genitalia the school told him to use a unisex bathroom. His lawyer, Alexander Edelman, argued that this constituted "sex stereotyping," which previous courts had found illegal. "Because he is not the kind of boy that the school district expected," Edelman said, "it's a form of sex discrimination." Mark Katz, arguing on behalf of the district, said the school had honored the boy's transition but drew a reasonable line when it came to changing clothes. "'Sex' is a relatively narrow construct," Katz said, and dealt only with reproductive organs. This was a case of gender identity, he said, which is not protected under Missouri law. But even that was beside the point, he argued, because the law only banned "persons" from discriminating, and a school district was not a "person" and therefore could not be sued in this case. Questions were few and brief from the seven judges, although Judge Laura Stith did question why the student, if he was legally a boy, wasn't afforded the same rights as other boys. The case had previously been dismissed by a lower court. In the second case, a gay man named Harold Lampley said his supervisors at the Department of Social Services discriminated against him because he didn't "exhibit the stereotypical attributes of how a male should appear and behave." He also said he was retaliated against when he complained, and another co-worker who said she experienced similar treatment joined his suit. This was also a case of "sex stereotyping," their lawyer Jill Silverstein said, and was therefore an inherently illegal act of sex discrimination. How employees at the Department of Social Services acted, however, was not part of the case. Lampley's and Frost's suit was against the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, because the commission concluded that their case fell under the unprotected category of "sexual orientation" and declined to allow them to sue the Department of Social Services. A circuit court previously sided with the commission. Julie Blake, representing the commission, said Lampley had not provided enough evidence to the commission to prove his case. She also said "sex discrimination" could only involve men being treated different than women or vice versa. Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, the Missouri Supreme Court does not have a set deadline when it must issue a ruling, and can decide cases year-round. MILWAUKEE (AP) - A registered sex offender will be allowed to visit his severely ill 9-year-old son despite objections from Wisconsin Children's Hospital, a Milwaukee County judge ruled Wednesday. The order from Judge William Pocan carries restrictions, however. Stuart Yates, 49, must give two-hour advance notice for his visits and he can only stay for six hours each time. Yates must also be with his son at all times. Yates was barred from the hospital on March 6 after hospital officials learned of his past. He was convicted of second-degree sexual assault of a child in 1998 and served six months in jail under a deal with prosecutors. Yates said he was at a house party with strippers and didn't know the victim's age. Pocan's ruling came after testimony from a court-appointed guardian who supervised recent visits from Yates earlier this month, when he was allowed to visit his son three times a week for two-hour stretches. Yates can now visit every day. A hearing for the hospital to argue to dismiss Yates' lawsuit is set for June 1. "We understand all families desire to be with their children while they are hospitalized. Children's Hospital continues to follow our visitation practices that can limit access to the hospital under certain circumstances to ensure the safety and well-being of our patients, families and staff," hospital spokesman Andy Brodzeller said in a statement. "Children's has and always will comply with any court order and we continue to believe our policy is in the best interest of the patients and families we serve." One of Yates' attorneys, Adele Nicholas, said the court-appointed guardian who testified Wednesday "ultimately confirmed what we said from the beginning, which is that the bond between this child and his father is extremely strong." Nicholas said the court guardian interviewed the child, treatment providers at the hospital and the boy's parents. It's unclear how long the policy of barring registered sex offenders from visiting patients has been in place, but Yates' attorney has said she's unaware of another hospital with similar restrictions. Yates' son has had several serious medical conditions since birth and was most recently hospitalized with a blood infection caused by E. coli. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The Latest on former U.S. Rep. and governor candidate Dennis Kucinich's work with an organization sympathetic to the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad (all times local): 4:30 p.m. The treasurer of an organization that paid former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (koo-SIH'-nich) for a speech on Syria that's become an issue in Ohio's gubernatorial race says his own efforts toward Mideast peace have included meetings with terrorists. Paul Larudee is treasurer of the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees. He says his work has included dealings with members of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, and individuals formerly associated with al-Qaida. Kucinich lashed out at former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland Wednesday for "unfounded and inflammatory" attacks related to his accepting $20,000 in speaking fees from LaRudee's group last year. Kucinich took issue with Strickland's allegation he was associating with "the most despicable people imaginable." Larudee said working with enemies or adversaries is the only way to make progress toward peace. ___ This story has been updated to correct spelling of last name to Larudee, not LaRudee. 10:43 a.m. Accusations are escalating in Ohio's Democratic primary for governor over former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich's (koo-SIH'-nich-ihz) work with an organization sympathetic to the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Kucinich lashed out Wednesday against former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, a supporter of rival candidate Richard Cordray, for "unfounded and inflammatory" attacks that "grossly misportrayed" two Lebanese Christian donors who he said now fear for their safety. Elie and Bassam Khawam helped facilitate Kucinich's 2017 trip to London to speak at what he characterizes as a peace conference. Strickland last week said Kucinich was associating with "the most despicable people imaginable." He criticized Kucinich for accepting and initially failing to report a $20,000 speaking fee from the pro-Assad Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees and demanded Kucinich disclose other similar contributions. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Spanish authorities acknowledge they've arrested a married couple with links to Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez in a case of suspected corruption. Officials in Madrid announced Wednesday they detained the pair at Venezuela's request. The two are Claudia Diaz, a one-time nurse of Chavez who later rose to high positions, and her husband, Adrian Velasquez Figueroa, a former member of the presidential palace's security detail. Venezuelan officials are seeking them on suspicion of corruption revealed in the Panama Papers - a document leak from a Panamanian law firm that illustrated how the powerful hide their fortunes. Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab had announced the arrests in early April, but officials in Spain at first denied it. A Spanish judge is expected to hold an extradition hearing Thursday. WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday defended President Donald Trump's right to pardon former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former Bush administration official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Both of those pardons were issued by Trump and bypassed the involvement of the Justice Department and its pardon attorney, which historically reviews petitions for clemency and makes recommendations. Sessions made the comments at a Senate subcommittee hearing where Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, reminded him that as a Republican senator from Alabama, Sessions had once defended the role of the Justice Department's pardon attorney. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the Department of Justice's budget on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Sessions said he stood by that assessment. But he also said that there was no question that the president had the constitutional authority to issue pardons without the Justice Department's involvement and that there was no requirement that a president seek the opinion of the pardon attorney. "It's clearly within the power of the president to execute pardons without the pardon attorney," Sessions said. He acknowledged under questioning that he could not recall any pardon during President Barack Obama's administration that did not go through the Justice Department, but he complained about pardons from President Bill Clinton that he considered objectionable. "I would just say that pardons that President Clinton were made were stunning, shocking and unacceptable on the merits," he said in a raised voice. That was likely a reference to the 2001 pardon of fugitive businessman Marc Rich, an act that later came under federal investigation. He defended Arpaio as a legitimate pardon candidate because of the former Arizona sheriff's advanced age of 85 and misdemeanor contempt-of-court conviction. He also said Libby had "contributed greatly to America." Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted in 2007 of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice following the 2003 leak of the covert identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame, though no one was ever charged for the leak. At another point in the hearing, Sessions declined to answer whether he had recused himself from an ongoing Justice Department investigation into Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer. Sessions said he continued to honor his decision from last year to step aside from the investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, but he said it would be inappropriate beyond that to discuss particular matters he was recused from. "It is the policy of the Department of Justice that those who recuse themselves not state the details of it, or confirm the existence of an investigation or the scope or nature of that investigation," Sessions said. He also said he supported his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel in the Russia investigation and who, like Sessions, has been under steady public attack from the president. ___ Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the Department of Justice's budget on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Attorney General Jeff Sessions pauses while speaking at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the Department of Justice's budget on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) From left, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan., welcome Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as he arrives at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee to review budget requests for the Department of Justice, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. It's his first appearance before Congress in five months and is expected to also face questions on the Russia probe and other matters. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Attorney General Jeff Sessions arrives at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee to review budget requests for the Department of Justice, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. It's his first appearance before Congress in five months and is expected to also face questions on the Russia probe and other matters. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Attorney General Jeff Sessions pauses while speaking at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the Department of Justice's budget on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Attorney General Jeff Sessions arrives at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee to review budget requests for the Department of Justice, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. It's his first appearance before Congress in five months and is expected to also face questions on the Russia probe and other matters. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Posted on Sep 11, 2017 in Armchair Reading, Books and Movies, Front Page Features Book Preview of David Doyles New CLEVELAND TANK PLANT Softcover! Cleveland Tank Plant Aircraft and military vehicle production at Cleveland Plant 2 (1942-1970) Book Preview David Doyle, G-104 Press. 2017 112 pages Soft Cover $25.00 UPC:9781775013303 Silvio Iacuone David Doyle is world renowned for his books and magazine features on military vehicles, ranging from Squadron Walk Around and In Action books to his Ampersand 1100 combined page book set on Dodges in US Military Service. In his latest book though, he is stepping away from that and teaming up with G-104 Press, a new publishing company out of Ontario, Canada founded by Scott and Kim Taylor. Instead of a specific vehicle type or series, his newest title Cleveland Tank Plant focuses on a location, a location where parts of one of the best WW2 bombers and most unique Cold War vehicles were manufactured. {default} The book is mainly comprised of well captioned photos featuring images of the XP-75 Eagle fighter, B-29 Super Fortress sub-assemblies, M41 Walker Bulldog, M42 Duster, M56 Scorpion, M114 Armored Recon Vehicle, M551 Sheridan, M108 and M109 SPGs, and the original advanced MBT-70. The photos mainly show the plants products in production at different stages from assembly to automotive testing and vehicles being shipped out. The book features a timeline running across the top of the pages helping the reader to follow along from 1942 when the construction of the plant was commissioned to 1991, the last time the M551 was used in combat. If you are looking for a book covering specific details of the vehicles and aircraft in this book, this is not the book to get. While it does feature photos of the vehicles in US service, that is not the primary intent of the author. This title features over 200 photos in b&w and color. All photos in the book are well captioned with 30-60+ words each. The book is only available at this time in softcover format, however the book is printed on high quality glossy paper and the binding thus far appears to be made to last. David Doyles Cleveland Tank Plant is available for $20 on DavidDoyleBooks.com http://www.daviddoylebooks.com/Detail-G001-CTP-1.htm Review by Silvio P. Iacuone NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Latest on a shooting at Tennessee restaurant that left four dead (all times local): 5:15 p.m. An audio recording released from a computer repair shop shows that a man accused of killing four people at a Nashville Waffle House was fearful that someone had hacked his laptop. A worker vacuums up shattered glass outside a Waffle House restaurant Monday, April 23, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. A suspect police have identified as Travis Reinking shot and killed at least four people at the restaurant Sunday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) The owner of Dang It Repair said Travis Reinking initially took his computer to the shop because he thought someone had hacked into it. But a recorded telephone conversation between Reinking and one of the shop's employees shows he was also fearful that the company had tampered his computer. Reinking is accused of opening fire outside the restaurant early Sunday and then storming the Waffle House. Reinking faces multiple charges, including four counts of criminal homicide. A public defender listed as Reinking's lawyer has not responded to an email request for comment. ___ 3:20 p.m. Nashville's musical community is raising money to benefit the victims of the Waffle House shooting with a special T-shirt honoring the man who stopped the gunman. James Shaw Jr., lauded as a hero during the shooting that left four dead, met with country rocker Brantley Gilbert and Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional on Wednesday at a Nashville rehearsal hall. They unveiled a T-shirt featuring the words "I Believe in Heroism," along with an image of Shaw's injured hand that was burned when he grabbed the gun during Sunday's shooting. Both musicians will be selling the shirts at their upcoming Nashville concerts with funds going to help the victims as well as Shaw. Gilbert said he wanted to use his platform as a musician to help others in the community. ___ 12:55 p.m. The Tennessee Waffle House where four people died in a shooting has re-opened and the company intends to donate its first month of sales to help victims of the deadly attack. Pat Warner, director of external affairs for Waffle House, said everything that comes into the cash register at the Nashville location where the shooting occurred will be donated to the families of the four people killed and to two who remain hospitalized. Warner said corporate staff met with the restaurant's cooks and waitresses Wednesday morning. They said they wanted to start working again, so the restaurant opened around 9 a.m. Police say 29-year-old Travis Reinking killed four people and wounded four others with an assault-style rifle Sunday at the restaurant. Reinking is charged with four counts of criminal homicide and other offenses. ___ 12:01 a.m. The co-owner of a Colorado crane company where the suspect in a deadly shooting at a Nashville restaurant once worked said she urged federal officials to keep him in custody after he was arrested at the White House last year. Twenty-nine-year-old Travis Reinking is accused of opening fire Sunday outside a Waffle House with an AR-15 rifle and then storming the restaurant. Four people were killed and four others were wounded. But Reinking had exhibited erratic behavior for years before the shooting. Darlene Sustrich co-owns a Colorado crane company where Reinking once worked and said they got a call from federal authorities after he entered a restricted area near the White House last July. She says she urged federal officials to hold on to him if they could and help him. James Shaw Jr., waves to the crowd and legislators inside the Tennessee House chambers as he is honored for disarming a shooter inside a Nashville-area Waffle House at the Tennessee State House Tuesday April 24, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. (Larry McCormack/The Tennessean via AP) MADRID (AP) - A woman in Spain has found unexpected fame on social media after many found she bore a striking resemblance to U.S. President Donald Trump. A journalist reporting on farming in northwestern Spain posted on Instagram a picture of Dolores Leis dressed in farm clothing with a hoe over her shoulder, prompting thousands of responses. The 64-year-old has since been asked to comment on pressing U.S. policy and international issues - though she has shown more concern for a moth plague threatening her potato crops. Dolores Leis stands in a field on her farm in Galicia, in northern Spain, Thursday April 19, 2018. Leis, has found unexpected fame on social media after many found she bore a striking resemblance to U.S. President Donald Trump. Thousands of responses flooded in last week after a journalist reporting on farming in northwestern Spain posted on Instagram a picture of Dolores Leis dressed in farm clothing with a hoe over her shoulder. (Paula Vazquez via AP) "I say that it must be because of the color of the hair," Leis told the La Voz de Galicia newspaper Tuesday She is different to Trump on one issue though - she doesn't use a mobile phone and has little interest in online chatter. Leis, who appears standing in the middle of her farming plot, her frowning face looking away from the camera and blond hair held by a diadem, has many fans now. "Can we replace Trump with this hard working lady?" one responder on Instagram asked. Others, who called Leis "Trump's Galician sister," made an online call to research the president's family roots in the Costa da Morte, or Death Coast, the rocky shore in northwestern Spain with a long history of shipwrecks. A Galician native who has lived in the same town since she married her husband four decades ago, Leis works at home and at her farm, where the reporter found her last week planting potatoes. Leis told the newspaper she has not felt overwhelmed by sudden fame because, without a smartphone, the online buzz is easy to ignore. "I look at everything that my daughters show me, but it never stung my curiosity to have one (phone)," she said. ___ A previous version of this story has been corrected to show that the woman's age is 64, not 70. Jane Carson-Sandler's morning in October 1976 turned into a nightmare when the 'Golden State killer' broke into her Sacramento home and entered the bedroom where she lay snuggled with her three-year-old son. Carson-Sandler was 30 years old at the time of the attack. Her husband had just left for work when she heard the sound of movement in the house. When she opened her eyes, a masked man was standing over her with a butcher knife. She said she was paralyzed by fear, afraid the man would kill them - so she told him to take anything he wanted. He told her to shut up and started tying her and her son up and gagging them. When he untied her ankles, she knew he would rape her. Jane Carson-Sandler (left, on Megyn Kelly last month) is relieved after her rapist, Golden State killer Joseph James DeAngelo (right), was finally arrested on Wednesday Carson-Sandler was 30 in 1976 when DeAngelo broke into her Sacramento home and raped her. An Air Force reservist training to be a nurse, Carson-Sandler's three-year-old son was sleeping in her bed when the break-in happened. Mom and son pictured above 'He tied us with shoelaces and cloth, he blindfolded us and he gagged us both... My heart was beating so hard it almost came through my chest,' Carson-Sandler, recalled in an essay for the Today show last month, just a few weeks before the killer's arrest. Before assaulting her, he moved her son to another room. After it was over, he put her son back in bed next to her. 'This was probably the most frightening part - I had no idea where he had moved him - he was gone from my side. 'My whole focus was on what he had done with my son. When I got my blindfold off, my son was asleep next to me. I had to wake him up for us to leave the house. 'We went out of the gate and screamed for help and a neighbor took us in and called the police and called my husband,' she wrote. Carson-Sandler voiced relief after police arrested Joseph James DeAngelo and identified him on Wednesday as the serial killer who committed a string of killings and rapes in the 1970s and '80s in California. At the time of the rape, Carson-Sandler was in the Air Force reserves and studying to be a nurse at Cal State The home where the Golden State killer raped Carson-Sandler is pictured above Carson-Sandler was the fifth of the killer's at least 50 rapes in the Sacramento area in the 70s. DNA evidence later connected the rapist to 12 murders in Southern California in the late 70s and 80s. 'I just found out this morning,' she told The Island Packet newspaper on Wednesday. 'I've been crying, sobbing.' 'I just can't tell you how I feel,' she added. 'After 42 years - wow!' 'I have just been overjoyed, ecstatic. It's an emotional roller-coaster right now,' Carson-Sandler told The Associated Press. 'I feel like I'm in the middle of a dream and I'm going to wake up and it's not going to be true. It's just so nice to have closure and to know he's in jail.' Carson-Sandler, now 72, wants to face her attacker in person and ask how long he had been watching her and what he did with her son during the attack. 'I just wonder when he first saw me, how long he had been stalking me,' said Carson-Sandler, who was in the Air Force reserves and studying to be a nurse at the time of the attack. Carson-Sandler was one of dozens of women raped by a man dubbed the East Area Rapist and the Golden State Killer, who police say killed at least 12 people and raped at least 45 in the 1970s and 1980s. A combination image shows FBI sketches of the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer from the time of the crimes. He was finally arrested on Wednesday, after several decades She was attacked in her home in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights. A DNA match led authorities to arrest DeAngelo in connection with four killings in Sacramento and Ventura counties, officials said. Carson-Sandler, now living near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, said she didn't know DeAngelo or recognize his name. Carson-Sandler revealed that she didn't tell her son what happened until he was in college. 'I didnt tell my son about the rape until he was in college. I had waited a long time to discuss it with him. I didnt want someone else to tell him. No one had ever said anything. I just sat down at the kitchen table one morning and told him the whole story. He was just shocked. It was all about me. He was asking how I felt. 'The fact that he was tied up, gagged and blindfolded - he didnt remember it. He thought maybe wed had a burglar that came into the house,' she recalled. She wrote a book about her experience called 'Frozen in Fear.' She has spoken with rapists in prison about how the attack affected her. She tells them to close their eyes and imagine she is their mother or sister or lover while she tells her story. She says she hopes to make them understand the trauma they have caused so they won't hurt more people. Now that DeAngelo has been caught, Carson-Sandler says she thinks more victims may come forward. 'I think what we didn't have back at that time was the ability to share what happened to us because of shame. We just didn't talk about rape back then,' she told CNN. 'It's so different today and I just really, I just hope some of those other women that were raped by him can finally, maybe come forward.' The Avengers sequel is here: Infinity War, bringing together Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk for a spectacular Marvel Comics mash-up. Here is what Press Associations film critic Damon Smith thought of the latest blockbuster ahead of its release on Thursday. "Destiny arrives." We're LIVE from the Hollywood red carpet premiere of Marvel Studios' "Avengers: #InfinityWar"! Watch for interviews with the cast and more: https://t.co/NEyQIAa4y9 The Avengers (@Avengers) April 24, 2018 Who is in the cast? The line-up of stars is impressive. It includes: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Josh Brolin, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Holland, Zoe Saldana, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch. Its directed by Joe Russo, Anthony Russo How does the narrative unfold? War demands sacrifices: civility, morality, compassion, responsibility and, ultimately, torn flesh and innocent blood. There are many heart-breaking sacrifices far more than expected in Avengers: Infinity War, a blockbuster battle royale choreographed at dizzying speed by directors Joe and Anthony Russo to unite characters from across the sprawling and sinewy Marvel Comics franchises. The head-on collision of The Avengers with protagonists from Black Panther, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Guardians Of The Galaxy, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Thor promises an eye-popping spectacle. In three days, be there when destiny arrives. Get tickets to Marvel Studios' "Avengers: #InfinityWar" now: https://t.co/kctg8VkHan pic.twitter.com/x0UhyuE4x4 The Avengers (@Avengers) April 24, 2018 What about the action? A small army of special effects wizards conjure some truly jaw-dropping set pieces, razing New York, Edinburgh and otherworldly realms in the process. They bring to life a hulking supervillain in Thanos (Josh Brolin), who continues his quest to claim the six Infinity Stones, which will allow him to exterminate half of all living organisms in the universe with a single snap of his digitally rendered fingers. Scriptwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely bolt together the outlandish action sequences with comical interludes peppered with snarky humour, pop culture references and an obligatory Stan Lee cameo to the thunderous beat of composer Alan Silvestris score. Their method is crude but largely effective, propelling the linear narrative to a point of supposed no return. An additional scene, languishing at the end of the credits, teases the identity of one figure who may shift the balance of power before the sun sets on the superhero dream team. It has been two years since Steve Rogers, aka Captain America (Chris Evans) went toe-to-toe with billionaire inventor Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr). The Avengers broke up, were toast, Stark informs Bruce Banner, aka Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Like the Beatles? responds the scientist. Thanos exploits these divisions to hunt the missing Infinity Stones including the Mind Stone embedded in Vision (Paul Bettany), the Time Stone concealed within an amulet worn by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the Space Stone inside the Tesseract stolen by Loki (Tom Hiddleston). To defeat Thanos, Stark and Rogers must put their ideological differences aside and pool resources with Wakandan king TChalla, aka Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and his wise-cracking posse. Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr make up the cast of Avengers: Infinity War (AP) Final verdict Avengers: Infinity War would be a physically exhausting assault on the eyes and ears without welcome pauses for pithy banter, replete with knowing winks to Alien and Footloose. Brolins arch-nemesis could be truly formidable if he werent fashioned almost entirely in computer hard drives. The characters lack of raw emotion in close-up diminishes the films most memorable and shocking sequence. A spry script affords the biggest personalities sufficient room to scene-steal and relegates other characters to just a couple of lines of dialogue. Perhaps their time to shine will dawn in the concluding chapter, also directed by the Russo brothers, due for release in April 2019. Rating: 7/10 Tony Blair has called on Europe to recognise its vital role as a partner of the United States at a time when Western democratic values are under attack from outside and within. The former prime minister said Europeans should not allow differences with any one American policy or president to undermine relations with the US. Mr Blair, who is in Chicago to accept the Lincoln Leadership Prize, presented by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, made clear that he still hoped Britain would remain part of the European Union, despite the vote to leave. Mr Blair underlined the need for European unity in partnership with the US (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Europe should understand its vital role in being Americas partner irrespective of any differences with any one American policy or president; and the USA should see in the European Union and I mean one united and my hope with Britain still in it a vital supportive weight to help it counter those who challenge us, he said. In other words, now is the time to articulate our democratic values, champion them, celebrate them and fashion our politics so that we can preserve them. Mr Blairs intervention comes amid concerns in Europe over President Donald Trumps threats to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. He said it was important Western nations did not turn in on ourselves in the face of pressures from outside and within, and kept sight of the need to unite people around a workable vision of the future. Inside, our politics falls prey to false populism. Abroad, there is a new authoritarianism which looks at Western democracy and sees weakness and inadequacy. It offers a different, illiberal model of Government and argues that it can better deliver for the people, Mr Blair said. This model will be buttressed by growing economic and military power. It will exploit the insecurities of Western electorates worried whether the next generation will do worse than this, unconvinced of the virtues of immigration and tending to view globalisation as a project of the elite, not the people. Mr Blair is the first British national to be awarded the Lincoln prize, which recognises individuals who have shown strength of character, individual conscience and a commitment to democracy. Other recipients have include former US president Bill Clinton, former Polish president Lech Walesa and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will join hundreds of Australians and New Zealanders to commemorate Anzac Day. The couple will attend a dawn service in central London to remember the soldiers from the two countries who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the First World War and subsequent conflicts. Later in the day, the prince and Ms Markle will join a Westminster Abbey congregation for a service of commemoration and thanksgiving. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will attend Anzac Day Commemorations. (Victoria Jones/PA) Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle will attend services commemorating Anzac Day in London on Wednesday 25th April. pic.twitter.com/YNydIuz2vv The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) April 18, 2018 Anzac Day April 25 marks the anniversary of the start of the First World War Gallipoli landings, and is a national day of remembrance for Australia and New Zealand. Thousands of Anzac troops Australian and New Zealand Army Corps died in the ill-fated 1915 campaign on the Turkish peninsula. The Dawn Service will be staged on Wednesday at Wellington Arch in central London and will begin at the New Zealand memorial where Harry will lay a wreath. The prince, Ms Markle and Sir Jerry Mateparae and Alexander Downer, the high commissioners of New Zealand and Australian respectively, will then walk to the nearby Australian memorial, where Harry will lay another wreath and sign a book of remembrance. Later in the morning at a wreath laying and parade service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, Prince Harry will leave a floral tribute on behalf of the Queen. Hundreds are expected to take part in the parade including members of veterans associations and ex-service personnel and their families. At Westminster Abbey, Harry and Meghan will join the congregation for a traditional service where the Last Post will be played, an address made and Turkeys Ambassador to the UK will read the famous words of Kemal Ataturk Turkeys founding father from Anzac Cove. With exaggerated handshakes and a pair of kisses, President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron professed a sunny, best-friends relationship on Tuesday, even as the two allies strained to bridge differences over the Iran nuclear agreement, Syria and more. Hosting Mr Macron for the first state visit of his administration, culminating in a lavish dinner on Tuesday night, Mr Trump remained firm in his criticism of past and enduring American undertakings in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East. But he appeared open to the French presidents pleas to maintain US involvement in Syria and expressed openness to negotiating a new agreement with Iran. As Mr Trump weighs withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear accord, he issued a warning to Iran against restarting its nuclear programme, saying, They will have bigger problems than theyve ever had before. At a joint White House news conference, he appeared to be more in line with Mr Macrons push for a longer-term US presence in Syria. Mr Trump, who announced weeks ago that he would withdraw American troops, said Mr Macron reinforced the idea of a potential Iranian takeover of territory liberated from the Islamic State group. Well be coming home, Mr Trump said, but we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint. Mr Macron told Mr Trump that together the US and France would defeat terrorism, curtail weapons of mass destruction in North Korea and Iran, and act together on behalf of the planet. That last point was a reference to Mr Macrons work to revive the US role in the Paris climate accord to fight global warming, another international agreement Mr Trump has spurned. Differences aside, Mr Trump and Mr Macron lavished praise and even a pair of kisses on each other Tuesday. Its an honour to call you my friend, Mr Trump said, after predicting Mr Macron would be a historic leader of France. In one light moment, Mr Trump sought to demonstrate some of the personal chemistry he claimed. The US president brushed something off Mr Macrons suit jacket, saying, We have a very special relationship; in fact, Ill get that little piece of dandruff off. We have to make him perfect he is perfect. The meetings followed a pomp-filled welcome ceremony on the South Lawn. Highlights included a 21-gun salute and Melania Trumps wide-brim white hat, which drew more comments than all the rest of the pageantry. Donald Trump and Melania Trump, with Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House (Andrew Harnik/AP) Mr Trump said before an audience of US soldiers and members of his Cabinet that the relationship he forged with Mr Macron at the start of his presidency was a testament to the enduring friendship that binds our two nations. He thanked the French leader for his steadfast partnership in the recent missile strike in response to the chemical attack in Syria. Mr Macron said, History is calling us. It is urging our people to find the fortitude that has guided us in the most difficult of times. France and with it, Europe, and the United States have an appointment with history. Later he placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery. The social highlight of Macrons visit was Tuesday nights formal state dinner at the White House. More than 130 guests dined on rack of lamb and nectarine tart and enjoyed an after-dinner performance by the Washington National Opera. The previous evening, the leaders and their wives took a helicopter tour of Washington landmarks and had dinner at the Potomac River home of George Washington in Mount Vernon, Virginia. As he gave a toast at the dinner, Mr Trump hailed the bonds between the US and France, saying, May our friendship grow even deeper, may our kinship grow even stronger and may our sacred liberty never die. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron share a toast (Susan Walsh/AP) As for substantive issues, one of Mr Macrons main objectives during his three-day visit to Washington was to persuade Mr Trump to stay in the Iran accord, which is aimed at restricting Irans development of nuclear weapons. Mr Trump is sceptical of the pacts effectiveness its insane, its ridiculous, he said Tuesday but he declined to say whether he would withdraw the U.S. by the May 12 deadline he has set. He reminded his French counterpart of what he sees as flaws in the agreement, which he said fails to address ballistic missiles or Irans activities in Yemen or Syria. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that pulling out would undermine Americas upcoming nuclear talks with North Korea by proving the U.S. reneges on its promises. He told The Associated Press in an interview in New York that if Mr Trump withdraws, Iran would most likely abandon the deal as well and would no longer be bound by its international obligations. That would free Iran to resume enrichment activity beyond the limits imposed by the 2015 accord. Mr Macron told reporters that he and Mr Trump would look at the Iran deal in a wider regional context, taking into account the situation in Syria. We have a common objective, we want to make sure theres no escalation and no nuclear proliferation in the region. We now need to find the right path forward, Mr Macron said. Mr Trump suggested he was open to doing something beyond the current Iran agreement as long as it was done strongly. The parents of Alfie Evans are appealing against a High Court decision preventing the seriously ill boy from being taken abroad for treatment, lawyers have confirmed. A spokeswoman for the Christian Legal Centre, representing Alfies parents, said the case is due to be heard at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday a judge ruled the boy may be allowed home from Alder Hey Childrens Hospital, but will not be allowed to go to Rome for further treatment. The 23-month-old confounded doctors expectations when he continued to live after life-support was withdrawn on Monday night, his father, Tom Evans, said. The court of appeal have reached out to us and said they are going to set back three judges to hear the case, Mr Evans told reporters outside hospital on Tuesday night. In reality, he could be in Italy right now. We all know the military air force are ready to take him and a team of doctors are there. Weve also got a German air ambulance team, who attempted to take him in the first place, ready the reality is these people are eager to get him out of the country and Im not giving up because Alfies breathing away, hes not suffering. Mr Evans revealed that Alfie had at times needed to be helped with his breathing, telling reporters: At some point I had to give him mouth-to-mouth because his lips went blue and he was really fighting with his breathing so me and his mum were giving him mouth-to-mouth. At an earlier High Court hearing in Manchester, Mr Justice Hayden described Alfie as courageous and a warrior, but said the case had now reached its final chapter. He rejected claims by Mr Evans that his son was significantly better than first thought because he had been breathing unaided for 20 hours after doctors first withdrew life support. Instead, the judge said the best Alfies parents could hope for was to explore the options of removing him from intensive care either to a ward, a hospice or his home. But a doctor treating Alfie, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that for Alfie to be allowed home would require a sea change in attitude from the childs family, and they feared that in the worst case they would try to take the boy abroad. Mr Justice Hayden ruled out the familys wishes to take the child to the Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome, following interventions from the Pope and the Italian authorities. Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted. Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 23, 2018 Alfie has been at the centre of a life or death treatment battle, with his parents, Mr Evans and Kate James, trying to block doctors from withdrawing life support in a sometimes acrimonious six-month dispute which has seen a series of court battles. A last-ditch appeal in which the Italian ambassador granted Alfie citizenship of Italy in order to take him to Rome for treatment failed on Monday. And a late night court hearing heard by telephone by Mr Justice Hayden and lawyers for both sides confirmed his earlier decision permitting life support, helping Alfie to breathe, to be withdrawn. During another three-hour hearing on Tuesday at the Family Division of the High Court sitting in Manchester, Paul Diamond, from the Christian Legal Centre, suggested the alleged change in the position meant the court should reconsider its decision on allowing Alfie to travel abroad. He handed the court a witness statement from Mr Evans in which he suggested his sons health was significantly better than first thought since life support was withdrawn at 9.17pm on Monday, as he was continuing to live and breathe. Tom Evans, father of Alfie who has been at the centre of a life-support treatment fight (PA) But Mr Justice Hayden said in his ruling: The sad truth is that it is not. With little, indeed no hesitation, I reject that. Instead the judge said Alfies continued life was a shaft of light and a special opportunity for his parents to spend time with him not the time for more legal manoeuvres. And he criticised the malign hand of one of the familys advisers, law student Pavel Stroilov, who had, the court heard, been party to Mr Evans lodging a private prosecution of Alder Hey Hospital doctors, allegedly for murder. The judge said, in fact, the hospital had provided world class care for the child. The hospitals doctors and independent medical experts say there is no cure and no hope for Alfie. Following the court hearing, an Alder Hey spokesman said it was working closely with his parents, but the hospitals top priority therefore remains in ensuring Alfie receives the care he deserves to ensure his comfort, dignity and privacy are maintained throughout. Medics say Alfie has a degenerative neurological condition destroying his brain, and it is in his best interests to withdraw life support. But his parents have fought a long battle to ask the courts to allow them to take him abroad. The dispute ended up in the courts, but the family have already lost a series of appeals in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. Alfie was born on May 9 2016, but suffered seizures and was taken to hospital in December that year. He is currently being hydrated and given oxygen to stop him becoming distressed, Mr Justice Hayden was told. Meghan Markle appeared close to tears during a moving Anzac Day dawn service where fiance Prince Harry honoured New Zealand and Australias war dead. During the poignant event staged as the suns rays broke over the London skyline, Ms Markle looked emotional as the hymn Abide With Me was sung by thousands gathered at the New Zealand war memorial. The American actress was making her first appearance at a service marking Anzac Day April 25 the anniversary of the start of the First World War Gallipoli landings, and a national day of remembrance for Australia and New Zealand. Today, on #AnzacDay Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle have paid tribute to Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women at the Dawn Service in London alongside @NZinUK and @AusHouseLondon pic.twitter.com/ewpNibiqtA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) April 25, 2018 Harry, a former army officer who served for 10 years in the forces, led the nations tribute to New Zealand and Australias war dead by laying a wreath during the service at one of a group of metal crosses near Wellington Arch in central London. A handwritten note from the prince, attached to a wreath of red roses, read: For all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of our freedom. Thank you. Harry Prince Harry lays a wreath (Toby Melville/PA) Ms Markle may not yet be a member of the Royal Family but she has attended a large number of official events in the run-up to her royal wedding on May 19. The US actress, who wore a grey coat and large brimmed hat, passed a cultural milestone when she, and Harry, were welcomed by Te Ataraiti Waretini from Ngati Ranana the London Maori Club with a traditional hongi, the soft pressing of noses and the sharing of each others breath. Ms Markle wore a grey coat and large brimmed hat (Toby Melville/PA) There were other Maori cultural elements during the dawn service including a haka performed at the end, a longer version of the one displayed by the famous New Zealand rugby team the All Blacks before matches. Ms Waretini said about Meghan: She was amazing. Im not sure if its her first time at a Maori ceremony but she did very very well. It was really lovely to meet her and share the breath of life and share our culture with her and Harry. The Dawn Service was held at Wellington Arch (Toby Melville/PA) Trevor Mallard, speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, gave the address during the dawn service and told the Kiwis and Aussies: Today we remember 100 years have passed since the final year of the First World War. We honour the service of those who came half way around the world. Some with a deep conviction that they were fighting for king and empire, some fighting for peace and justice, others were young lads who saw an opportunity for adventure none could have foreseen the hell on the frontline and in the trenches. He added: Today in thousands of communities throughout Australia and New Zealand people have come together to acknowledge and pay tribute to those who left our shores and particularly to commemorate those who gave their lives for our freedom. Thousands of Anzac troops Australian and New Zealand Army Corps died in the ill-fated 1915 Gallipoli campaign. Waves of Allied forces launched an amphibious attack on the strategically important Turkish peninsula, which was key to controlling the Dardanelles straits, the crucial route to the Black Sea and Russia. But the plan backed by Winston Churchill, then first lord of the admiralty, was flawed and the campaign, which faced a heroic defence by the Turks, led to stalemate and withdrawal eight months later. Its legacy is the celebration of the Anzac spirit courage, endurance, initiative, discipline, and mateship shown by the Antipodean troops and today the Anzac Day service in London has become an important moment for thousands of New Zealanders and Australians. During the service prayers were read by young school children and the Last Post was sounded by a bugler before a minutes silence was observed by all. After the service Harry, Meghan and dignitaries walked the short distance to the Australian war memorial where the prince laid another floral tribute. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving the annual Anzac Day Dawn Service this year staged at the New Zealand war memorial in central London. pic.twitter.com/tDw8qs3w0o PA Royal Reporters (@PARoyal) April 25, 2018 Sir Jerry Mateparae, the high commissioner of New Zealand, who attended the service said later that Ms Markle was talked through the Maori elements of the service so she understood their significance and importance. He added: She was very interested, also its her first Anzac service so we were explaining what it meant to us and the Australian memorial, so for her it was a new experience. The thing that was special in a way was the prayers led by the children and certainly Prince Harry and Ms Markle were impressed by the young people and the confidence of their delivery but also the way they conducted themselves. Harry later attended a wreath laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall to commemorate Anzac Day and left a floral tribute as a mark of respect. Prince Harry lays a wreath on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen at the Cenotaph, as we remember the servicemen and women of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who have served their nation in times of war #ANZACDay pic.twitter.com/aFx37K1tgw The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) April 25, 2018 Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson also laid a wreath to mark the wartime service of Britains close allies Australia and New Zealand. Mr Williamson, who was due to join the prince and Ms Markle at a service of commemoration and thanksgiving alongside military personnel at Westminster Abbey, said: On Anzac Day, we remember the sacrifice and courage of troops from Australia and New Zealand. Almost a century has passed since the end of the First World War and Britain is proud to have served side-by-side with them in many conflicts over the last 100 years. Our alliance is one of the most constant and enduring military partnerships in history, one which will continue to protect our shared values and commit to make the world a safer, more secure place. Today is Anzac Day, where we remember all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. #ANZAC #anzacday2018 Image: IWM pic.twitter.com/1K8fvoJ0eY British Army (@BritishArmy) April 25, 2018 The Defence Secretary met with his counterparts from Australia and New Zealand earlier this year to examine how allies can continue to work together against evolving threats. Thousands of Australians have gathered at pre-dawn services to commemorate the moment when Australian and New Zealand Army Corps troops waded ashore at the Gallipoli peninsula 103 years ago. Concrete barriers were placed around the service in downtown Sydney to protect those who gathered after threats to Anzac Day ceremonies in the past. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, his French counterpart Edouard Philippe, and the Prince of Wales are in France to mark what was the Anzacs first major battle of the First World War. It will also commemorate the 100th anniversary of Australian troops taking the town of Villers-Bretonneux from the Germans. Villers-Bretonneux is now home to the main Australian Memorial of the Western Front. Australian military veterans participate in the Anzac dawn service at Elephant Rock in Currumbin on the Gold Coast (Dave Hunt/AAP/AP) At Villers-Bretonneux, Mr Turnbull and Mr Philippe have unveiled a memorial plaque at the new Sir John Monash Centre museum which is named after the Australian general responsible for taking the town. Mr Turnbull and his wife Lucy have visited the grave of her great uncle Roger Hughes who was killed by a German shell in 1916 five days after arriving on the Western Front as a young military doctor. Mr Turnbull said in an Anzac Day message that Australians remember veterans of every generation who risked their lives for their country. We best honour the Anzacs of 1918 and the First World War by supporting todays service men and women, Mr Turnbull said on social media. Each year on the 25th of April, Australians gather in the quiet dawn to remember the ANZACs. Continue watching the Prime Ministers ANZAC message below #LestWeForget pic.twitter.com/BifBdQUJZS The PMO (@thepmo) April 24, 2018 Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton represented the Australian government at a service at Anzac Cove at Gallipoli, where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed under British command in an ill-fated attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war. More than 44,000 Allied soldiers were killed at Gallipoli. Turkish casualties were estimated at 250,000. At the Australian War Memorial in the capital Canberra, an estimated crowd of 38,000 10% of the citys population gathered in the cool autumn darkness for the dawn service which began with a lone soldier playing a didgeridoo. The attendance at this years dawn service shows the enduring connection so many people have to Anzac Day, memorial director Brendan Nelson said in a statement. Posted on Dec 1, 2014 in Carlo D'Este Churchills Leadership in World War I Part III: The Employment of the First Tanks Driven by the ever-increasing casualty rate, no one in Britain in World War I offered more ideas for winning the war than Winston Churchill. Where others were merely content to wage the same battles of attrition over and over again, with the same dreadful results, he was constantly thinking outside the box the modern term for innovative thinking. Above all, he was appalled at the needless sacrifice of men for questionable military results. The use of force for the waging of war is not to be regulated simply by firm character and text-book maxims, he said. Mechanical science offers on the ground, in the air, on every coast from the forge or from the laboratory, boundless possibilities of novelty and surprise. Please click here to read Part 1 and Part 2. {default} There was no end to his ideas, which continued to flow unabated. In an essay titled Variants of the Offensive, he once again proposed the creation of enormous steel shields some fifteen feet long by four feet high that could be pushed by men or by a tracked Caterpillar vehicle that would protect them from machine-gun bullets as they advanced toward German lines. He also advocated the use of shields carried by individual soldiers, a modern day equivalent of those carried into battle by ancient warriors. However, Churchill never envisioned that the tank would transform the war, but rather serve as a supporting weapon aiding advances across no-mans land. Variants of the Offensive contained various references to the employment of tanks on the Western Front in what was apparently the first time the commander in chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, had been made aware of their battlefield potential. The impact of the memorandum seems directly related to Haigs request for 1,000 tanks made to the Ministry of Munitions in February 1916. At that stage of its evolution, neither Churchill nor Haig quite understood the potential battlefield benefits they had in the tank. Churchills concept that the employment of tanks would be a one-time business and that once used on the battlefield, they would have little future value, was not a view shared by Haigs GHQ. To the contrary, it was thought, that the tank was simply another instrument of war, the best tactics for which would have to be worked out by trial and error. By 1916 a design breakthrough occurred and a tank called Mother (later Big Willie, derisively named for German Crown Prince William) became the first operational armored vehicle produced by the British. The machine was equipped with a 6-pounder gun mounted inside a small turret and four machine-guns. (The 6-pounder tank gun equated to 57-mm.) Although flawed, the employment of the first armored vehicles on a battlefield vindicated in dramatic fashion Churchills initiatives and forever changed the course of modern warfare. Forty-nine Big Willies participated in the Battle of the Somme, with varied results. There was, as yet, no doctrine for their employment and instead of attacking en masse, as they would in the future, they were employed individually across the front. In the black of night most broke down or became hopelessly stuck in the mud. Nevertheless, the few ungainly iron monsters that survived breaking down enjoyed dazzling success and terrorized the Germans. One tank led an assault on the town of Flers, which was taken without a single loss, to the cheers of the New Zealand infantry that followed them; another straddled a trench work and captured three hundred German prisoners, while a third attacked a German artillery battery before being knocked out. Painted in a variety of rainbow colors, the sight of these astonishing machines stunned the German High Command. German troops were ordered to hold their ground at all costs and fight to the last man against these new and monstrous engines of war. The panic created in the front lines by the first tanks ever seen on a battlefield was reported in the German press as The devil is coming! Based on their spectacular results at the Somme, Churchill quickly realized their potential. He believed that the British had wasted a golden opportunity. The immense advantage of novelty and surprise was thus squandered the certainty of a great and brilliant victory was revealed to the Germans for the mere petty purpose of taking a few ruined villages Instead of employing them all at once in dry weather on ground not torn by bombardment, in some new sector where they could operate very easily and by surprise, they were plunged in fours and fives as a mere minor adjunct of the infantry into the quagmires and crater-fields of Passchendaele. In Parliament in October 1916, Lloyd George publicly credited Churchill with fostering the ideas of DEyncourt and Hankey into reality, but even such public statements of support did little to abate hostile criticism from the Conservatives and their newspapers continued to rain down upon him, unforgiving of his responsibility for the ill-fated attempt to capture the Dardanelles in 1915 that had cost him his post as First Lord of the Admiralty. The British had better luck at Cambrai in November 1917 when, supported by five infantry divisions, they launched the largest tank attack yet mounted on the vast scale that Churchill had had in mind: massed across a front of ten thousand yards 378 tanks of the British Tank Corps attacked the Hindenburg Line (the principal front line, so named for German Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, chief of the German General Staff) across a seven-mile-wide front and caught the Germans flat-footed. In six hours they penetrated to the fourth level of the German defenses and overran two divisions, capturing eight thousand prisoners. In those mere six hours British tanks had taken more ground that had the one hundred thousand troops of Gen. Sir Hubert Goughs Fifth Army during the massive and costly Third Battle of Ypres in July 1917. The problem with Cambrai was that there was no plan for exploiting a breakthrough of such proportions. Nearly 180 tanks broke down during the attack, most due to mechanical failure, and without them the infantry failed to seize the initiative, thus enabling the Germans to rush reinforcements to plug the gaping hole in their line. Cambrai begged the question of who was more astounded the British, who never envisioned or prepared for a decisive penetration, or the Germans, who were stunned by the British offensive. When these spectacular results became known in England, church bells were rung for the first time since the summer of 1914, precipitately as it turned out when German counterattacks later that month negated most of the British gains after they had failed to take steps to capitalize on their success. Unfortunately, tactics for tank use had yet to be devised, and at the time only a few men grasped the significance of Cambrai, which conclusively proved that tanks were a deadly weapon that could play a vital role on the modern battlefield, and were fully capable of penetrating and crushing an entrenched enemy position. One of those who not only understood the potential of the tank but who would refine its tactics and successfully employ them on both the battlefields of World War I and World War II was a young cavalry officer who had recently been named to create, train and command a new tank corps for the U.S. Army: George S. Patton. As the war dragged on, Churchill expanded his search for some means to defeat the mines. One of those ideas was his advocacy for the invention of the anti-tank devices eventually produced and employed in World War II. They included the mounting of probes on tanks to feel out mines ahead and destroy them: a precursor to the flail tank. Mines could be blown up by tank rounds fired at them, then defeated by heavily armored tanks that could roll over and destroy them, or even by a special vehicle towed by a tank, which, activated by wires from the tank, could move ahead and by this way explode minefields. Unfortunately, Churchills ideas were not readily embraced, nor did Haig ever change his unsuccessful strategy of employing artillery and infantry in massive and costly attacks. Although the advent of the tank on the battlefields of France did not change the course of the war, the true effectiveness of what had once been derisively termed Winstons Folly would be seen when another world war coined the term blitzkrieg and saw their brilliant employment by innovative commanders such as Guderian, Rommel and Patton. Next month, in Part IV, the story of the first employment of American tanks in France in 1918. Blake Lively has joked that her friend Gigi Hadid is so stunning she wishes she could write her off as just being hot. Model Hadid posted photographs on Instagram showing her looking sensational in a skimpy gold dress which showed off her curves as she celebrated her 23rd birthday. The snaps drew thousands of comments from fans, including one from her friend Lively. Blake Lively (Lionel Hahn/PA) The Gossip Girl star quipped that it would make her feel better about herself if Hadid was not beautiful both on the inside and the outside. Most. Gorgeous. Ever Lively wrote. Too bad your insides are so awesome. Id love to write you off as just being hot. Would make me feel a lot better about myself right about now. Lively added a row of blowing a kiss and heart emojis to her post. Hadid also shared an image of her celebrating her big day with her sister, Bella Hadid. Bella penned a sweet message to her sibling before she turned 23 on April 23, sharing pictures of them together as children on Instagram and saying: Best friends since the first time we met. Tomorrow is my favorite day ever because it was the day you were born. I love you! Fellow model Kendall Jenner posted a series of images of them together on her Instagram story. Miss you always, she said. I just love kissing those cheeks. Come to me so we can eat bagels. Hadid celebrated her birthday with a party at Brooklyn Heights Social Club in New York, attended by family, fellow models and stars including Hailey Baldwin, Cara Delevingne, Tan France and Martha Hunt. Reviews for the Avengers sequel Infinity War are in. The Marvel Studios superhero film is directed by the Russo brothers, Anthony and Joe. Starring Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and others, it has received mostly positive reviews from critics. Vultures David Edelstein wrote that Marvel has done it again only bigger. Chris Hemsworth arrives for the films world premiere (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) He added: Avengers: Infinity War is going to dazzle, stagger, and rile people up Flagrantly, bombastically extravagant, it plays its audience like a hundred million fiddles. Varietys Owen Gleiberman wrote that the movie is a sleekly witty action opera thats at once overstuffed and bedazzling Infinity War is a brashly entertaining jamboree, structured to show off each hero or heroine and give them just enough to do, and to update their mythologies without making it all feel like homework. At the same time, you may begin to lose hold of what made each of these characters, you know, special, he wrote. The Guardians Peter Bradshaw wrote that the film delivers the sugar-rush of spectacle and some very amusing one-liners. Benedict Cumberbatch attending the Avengers: Infinity War UK Fan Event (Matt Crossick/PA) He added: Its just a supremely watchable film, utterly confident in its self-created malleable mythology. And confident also in the note of apocalyptic darkness. But The Telegraphs Tim Robey said: Organisationally, the movie has a struggle on its hands not to seem like the contents of a toy chest simply chucked down the stairs, with all the chaos of limbs and accessories that implies. In three days, be there when destiny arrives. Get tickets to Marvel Studios' "Avengers: #InfinityWar" now: https://t.co/kctg8VkHan pic.twitter.com/x0UhyuE4x4 The Avengers (@Avengers) April 24, 2018 He added: The exorbitant action scenes hit all the necessary crowd-pleasing buttons at regular intervals, but for a movie with infinite potential its possible to feel they banked on a rather narrow algorithm. The Press Associations Damon Smith gave the film seven out of 10, writing that a spry script affords the biggest personalities sufficient room to scene-steal and relegates other characters to just a couple of lines of dialogue. Perhaps their time to shine will dawn in the concluding chapter, due for release in 2019 and also directed by the Russo brothers, he added. And the New York Times AO Scott wrote that the noisy, bloated spectacles of combat were surely the most expensive parts of the movie, but the money seems less like an imaginative tool than a substitute for genuine imagination. But Metros Sarah Deen wrote that there was the usual Marvel bombast sweeping fight scenes, stuff getting blown to kingdom come, and balls-out one-liners but Infinity War was so much more than a popcorn movie. This is a film about sacrifice, grief and genocide. Dozens of Labour MPs have marched in support of a Jewish colleague as she prepared to give evidence at the disciplinary hearing of a suspended party member accused of anti-Semitism. They were met by a small group of protesters carrying placards and chanting their support for Marc Wadsworth. He was suspended from the Labour Party after he challenged Ruth Smeeth MP at a press conference launching the Chakrabarti report on anti-Semitism within the party. A disciplinary hearing on Wednesday in Church House, Westminster, will decide whether he should be kicked out of the party, although a decision is not expected immediately. Ms Smeeth was accompanied to the hearing by colleagues on a march from Westminster Hall. One of the MPs, Jess Phillips, said: (We are) making sure she isnt walking into a protest on her own. The group was met by protesters gathered by the entrance to Church House, chanting reinstate Marc Wadsworth. Ahead of the hearing, Mr Wadsworth told reporters: Im confident, as Im not guilty. Based on the facts, this hearing, if its fair, I will be exonerated. Labour party activist Marc Wadsworth arrives at the hearing (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Im totally and utterly opposed to anti-Semitism, to all forms of bigotry, including anti-black racism and Islamophobia. Mr Wadsworth was described by supporters as a veteran anti-racist. Stan Keable said: The charges should be dropped. Hes been suspended for nearly two years. She has falsely accused him of anti-Semitism. He didnt even know she was Jewish. It comes as Labour reportedly pledged to settle the vast majority of outstanding cases of alleged anti-Semitism in the party within months. Jewish leaders accused Jeremy Corbyn of failing to turn words into actions in tackling anti-Semitism in the Labour party after a meeting with Jonathan Arkush, president of Board of Deputies of British Jews (BDBJ) and the chair of the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), Jonathan Goldstein, in Westminster on Tuesday. Labour MPs march in support of Ruth Smeeth (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Among the proposals put forward by the community leaders was a fixed timetable for dealing with outstanding cases of anti-Semitism and expediting long-standing cases like that of Ken Livingstone. According to the BBC, the party has pledged to settle most of the cases by July. Following the meeting, Mr Corbyn had said the talks had been positive and constructive. However Mr Arkush rejected the suggestion the meeting had been constructive, telling BBCs Newsnight: Positive yes, but if you measure constructiveness by the actions to go with the words then I dont think thats what I would call it. Mr Arkush said the meeting was friendly in tone and Mr Corbyn was extremely engaging (and) he looked interested. Labour MPs Luciana Berger and Margaret Hodge outside the hearing (Stefan Rousseau/PA) But there were no actions to go with the words, yet again, and thats why we thought the meeting has been a real missed opportunity and a great disappointment, he added. Meanwhile, frontbencher Chris Williamson, an ally of Mr Corbyn, is reportedly planning to share a platform with Jackie Walker, who was suspended by Labour over allegedly anti-Semitic comments in 2016. Barry Gardiner, shadow secretary of state for international trade, said people were innocent until proven guilty. He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Its right that when somebody has been found guilty nobody should share a platform. My own view, my personal view, is that Chris is wrong to share a platform with somebody who has expressed the views that she has. The second most senior family court judge in England and Wales is preparing to analyse the latest stage of the Alfie Evans life-support treatment dispute. Sir Andrew McFarlane, who in July will become the new president of the Family Division of the High Court, will head a panel of three Court of Appeal judges due to hear arguments about the 23-month-old at a hearing in London on Wednesday afternoon. Judicial heads announced earlier this week that Sir Andrew, currently Lord Justice McFarlane, would take over from Sir James Munby as the most senior family court judge in England and Wales. Alfies parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, who are both in their early 20s and from Liverpool, are appealing against a ruling made by a High Court judge late on Tuesday. They want to move Alfie from Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool to a hospital in Rome. Alfie Evans mother, Kate James, gives him a cuddle at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool (Alfies Army Official/PA) Mr Justice Hayden decided, at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in Manchester, that Alfie should not be allowed to travel to Italy. Doctors stopped provided life-support treatment to Alfie late on Monday. Mr Evans said his son had confounded specialists expectations by continuing to breathe. Alfies parents have already lost two rounds of fights, in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. In February, Mr Justice Hayden ruled that doctors at Alder Hey could stop treating Alfie against the wishes of his parents following hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London and Liverpool. Specialists at Alder Hey said life-support treatment should stop and Mr Justice Hayden said he accepted medical evidence which showed that further treatment was futile. Mr Justice Hayden said flying Alfie to a foreign hospital would be wrong and pointless. Court of Appeal judges upheld his decisions. Supreme Court justices and ECHR judges refused to intervene. Tom Evans, father of Alfie who has been at the centre of a life-support treatment fight (PA) The couple then alleged that Alfie was being wrongly detained. Mr Justice Hayden dismissed that claim. Appeal judges have upheld Mr Justice Haydens decision and Supreme Court justices and ECHR judges said they would not intervene. Mr Justice Hayden then finalised plans for withdrawing treatment and allowing Alfies life to end. Judicial heads announced earlier this week that Sir Andrew would take over from Sir James Munby, who is retiring, as the most senior family court judge in England and Wales in a few months time. Ant McPartlin will not be back fronting live TV until next year, Stephen Mulhern has suggested. Im A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!, hosted by McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, is due to air later this year and traditionally kicks off in November. But Mulhern, who hosts Britains Got More Talent, told Best magazine: Fingers crossed, Ant will get the treatment he needs and be back to his old self for next year. But he does need the rest and to be left alone, and given the time to recover. Stephen Mulhern hosts Britains Got More Talent (Joe Giddens/PA) ITV has already confirmed that Donnelly will be hosting the live Britains Got Talent shows without his TV partner of almost 30 years. Mulhern said: I think that Dec has been incredible about the situation, and hes doing so well on his own. McPartlin, 42, was banned from driving for 20 months and fined 86,000 after pleading guilty to driving while more than twice the legal limit following a crash in Richmond, west London, on March 18. Best magazine (Best) The TV presenter said he was ashamed and mortified after crashing his car while drink-driving with his mother in the passenger seat. McPartlins barrister said his client had been seeking help for alcohol and emotional issues at the time of the incident. Best is on sale now. A Facebook message posted before the Toronto van attack has suggested the suspect resented women and people with active sex lives. It also has evoked memories of previous attacks, including a 1989 massacre of 14 women by a man who blamed feminists for his problems. The gender issue arose because of what police called a cryptic Facebook message posted by Toronto suspect Alek Minassian just before the incident. It suggested he was part of an online community angry over their inability to form relationships with women. The now-deleted post saluted Elliot Rodger, a community college student who killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks near the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2014. Calling Rodger the Supreme Gentleman, the Facebook post declared: The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! Chads and Stacys are names used in internet forums to denote people with more active sexual lives. A crowd gathered in Torontos North York community to pay their respects to the van victims at a makeshift memorial of roses, candles and messages of condolence. Ozra Kenari, centre, places flowers as she cries at a memorial for the victims (Nathan Denette/AP) I needed to come here to show that Im not afraid of this city, said Meena Chowdry, wiping away tears. That one mans actions cannot taint an otherwise beautiful, welcoming city. Minassian, 25, was charged with first degree murder in the deaths of 10 pedestrians mowed down by a rented van. Fourteen others were injured. Toronto Police Services Detective Sergeant Graham Gibson said at a news conference that those killed and injured were predominantly women, though he declined to discuss a possible motive. Authorities had yet to release a list of victims. Those known to have been killed include a 30-year-old woman from Toronto, Anne Marie DAmico, who was active in volunteer work, as well as a female student at Seneca College, which Minassian attended. A Jordanian citizen and two South Koreans were also among those killed. The reference to the term incel, meaning involuntarily celibate, was a term used by Rodger in online posts raging at women for rejecting him romantically. The anti-women sentiment also recalled Canadas 1989 massacre at the Ecole Polytechnique, an engineering college in Montreal, when 25-year-old Marc Lepine entered a classroom. He then separated the men from the women, told the men to leave and opened fire, killing 14 women before killing himself. A police officer steps out of the Toronto area home of Alek Minassian (Chris Young/AP) In a suicide note, he blamed feminists for ruining his life. Since then, there have been sporadic mass shootings in Canada, but none with a higher death toll. That reinforces the view among many Canadians that their country is less violent than the United States. Wendy Cukier, a professor in the business school at Torontos Ryerson University and president of Canadas Coalition for Gun Control, said Canada may avoid some types of violence because its social programmes are stronger than those in many US states and there is less income inequality. But the main difference, she contends, is tighter gun regulations in Canada. If you take guns out of the mix, Canada and the US are identical, she said, citing statistics indicating the two countries have similar rates of non-firearm homicides. Vahe Minassian, father of Alek Minassian, is surrounded by members of the media as he leaves court (Chris Young/AP) Although police said Mondays rampage did not appear linked to international terrorism, the use of a vehicle to kill mirrored tactics used by terrorists in France, Germany, Spain, New York City and elsewhere. Since 2014, there have been at least two terror-related cases in Canada of vehicles being used as weapons, they caused several injuries and one death. But overall, Canada has been spared high-casualty terror attacks. Its most striking incidents of violence over the past 50 years have varied widely in nature. In 2014 a Canadian Muslim fatally shot a member of the honour guard at Ottawas national war memorial, then stormed Parliament, where he was shot to death by a sergeant-at arms. Last year, a French-Canadian man fatally shot six Muslim men during evening prayers at a mosque in Quebec City. Back in 1972, 37 people died in a Montreal cafe deliberately set on fire by three men who had been refused entry. Canadian rapper Maestro Fresh Wes returned to the scene of the van rampage on Tuesday, pausing by a newly-erected memorial. Wes, who lives nearby, was strolling down Yonge Street to get a haircut when he saw a body bag on the ground. Yesterday was the most beautiful day of the year and then look what happened, he said. The van apparently jumped a kerb in a busy intersection in Toronto (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press/AP) Toronto is a safe city but things could happen anywhere. When these things happen, you have to reflect. Also revisiting the site was Saman Tabasinejad, a New Democrat Party politician who was canvassing in the area when the attack occurred. I saw shattered glass everywhere, a fire hydrant knocked over and then five body bags, she said. People were holding others and I saw solidarity all over, people trying to help others. When something like this happens, you think people are going to run away from the tragedy, but people didnt they ran toward it to try to help others, she added. It shows that something like this could happen at the hands of one person, but so many more stand against it and show their humanity. Abortion law in Northern Ireland should be changed to allow for terminations in instances of fatal foetal abnormality, a long-awaited report has recommended. The law as it stands prevents doctors and other healthcare staff from meeting their duty of care towards pregnant women in such circumstances and makes the situation professionally untenable, the inter-Departmental working group found. Unlike other parts of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland, where abortions are illegal except where the life or mental health of the mother is in danger. Women from the region whose unborn are diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality must travel outside Northern Ireland to undergo a termination. Sarah Ewart went public about the trauma of having to travel to England for an abortion (Liam McBurney/PA) The report was commissioned in 2016 by the then Health and Justice Ministers but its publication has been delayed due to the absence of an Executive and Assembly at Stormont. The Department of Health said it revealed the reports findings and recommendations on Wednesday on public interest grounds and in accordance with Freedom of Information responsibilities. The 58-page report by the working group, which was chaired by the Chief Medical Officer, Michael McBride, recommended that a change is made to abortion law to provide for termination of pregnancy where the abnormality is of such a nature as to be likely to cause death either before birth, during birth or in the early period after birth. The seven-member working group defined a fatal foetal abnormality as when a diagnosis is given at around 20 weeks, that there is an abnormality which will result in death in the womb, at birth or shortly after birth. The plight faced by pregnant women dealing with fatal foetal abnormality hit the headlines in 2013 when young mother Sarah Ewart went public about having to travel to England to access a termination after being told her unborn child had no chance of survival outside the womb. The report recognised what it described as the trauma for (a) woman of travelling away from home and family at such a difficult time, the loss of her dedicated medical team and the associated financial cost. Ms Ewarts mother Jane Christie told BBC Radio Ulsters Stephen Nolan show she welcomed the report. She said: We have always said that any woman that wants to go through the birth should be supported, but there are ones like Sarah that dont and they also should be supported. She added: This is hard enough to deal with without being sent away. Proposals to relax Northern Irelands strict abortion laws were rejected in Stormont in 2016. Almost a tenth of Northern Ireland businesses have established a presence outside the UK because of Brexit, a survey reveals. It has been a poor start to the year, the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, with the country the weakest performing UK region. Some local firms are considering virtual office space in Dublin while another said they were increasing capacity in a warehouse in Belgium as part of contingency planning around the EU divorce. Christopher Morrow, from the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce, said there was growing frustration among members at the lack of progress on major issues including Brexit (Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry/PA) It added: The obvious concern is that this new facility proves to be a more viable option going forward. Business leaders have criticised uncertainty surrounding the UKs exit from the EU and Northern Irelands lack of local representation at the Brussels negotiations. The Northern Ireland Chamber and BDO business advisers on Wednesday published a representative survey of 268 firms for the first three months of this year. It found that a fifth of businesses reported turnover was negatively affected by Brexit. A fifth are considering establishing a presence outside the UK in addition to more than 20 (8%) who have already acted. A quarter of Chamber members felt their prospects were poor because of the exit and one-in-four have changed their business models as a result. Economists suggested some firms may be stockpiling cash reserves for investment once Brexit uncertainty has been resolved while others said there may be a corresponding movement among EU-based firms to establish a UK presence. Christopher Morrow, head of policy at the Chamber, said: We are seeing a growing sense of frustration among our members at the lack of progress on major issues including Brexit and the lack of an Executive, which are impacting on businesses bottom line. We cannot accept this any longer, it is damaging the economy. He noted some signs of growth but said this had slowed amid concerns over manufacturing and services. Mr Morrow added: Northern Ireland is the weakest performing UK region across many of our key economic indicators, particularly manufacturing. The Chamber members survey was one of the broadest available of local businesses. Mr Morrow said three-quarters felt pressure to raise wages, which could prove challenging when so many were already facing wider cost pressures and a squeeze on profitability. Brian Murphy, managing partner at BDO Northern Ireland, said unemployment was at its lowest rate in a decade and businesses were still recruiting, an indication that confidence was growing. This report shows there is also an increase in investment intentions by local businesses, he said. This is a welcome sign that despite the current uncertainty at government level, businesses in Northern Ireland will persevere and plan for future success. The sister of a woman who was tortured and murdered by two convicted killers told a court she could not understand how they were freed on licence. Stephen Unwin, 40, and William McFall, 51, murdered Vietnamese nail technician Quyen Ngoc Nguyen after a four-hour ordeal and dumped her body in her car before torching it last August. She had been lured to Unwins home in Shiney Row near Sunderland, where McFall lay in wait, Newcastle Crown Court has heard. Unwin went on to rape the 28-year-old, who was just 5ft and weighed seven stone. The victims sister, Quynh Ngoc Nguyen, 35, read a Victim Statement, saying: We cannot comprehend how men like this can live freely in this country. Stephen Unwin and William McFall will find out if they will ever be released from jail (Northumbria Police/PA) My sister believed, as I did, that you came to this country for a safer life, with better opportunities for herself and her children. She said their parents and her sisters two children had been left heartbroken by the actions of the murderers. They did not act like human beings, they are evil, she said. Mr Justice Morris must decide whether Unwin and McFall, who is originally from Northern Ireland, will ever be freed. Unwin had a history of setting fires to destroy evidence at the scenes of his crimes. He battered a pensioner to death during a break-in at his home on Christmas Day 1998 and the fire he started to cover his tracks meant the victim could only be identified by his medical records. Unwin admitted murder, was sentenced to life and was released on licence in December 2012. He met McFall in the prison system, where he was also serving life for murdering a pensioner. McFall attacked his victim with a hammer after she disturbed him breaking into her home in Carrickfergus in May 1996. He was jailed for life and released on licence in October 2010. Jamie Hill QC told the court: In cases where a defendant has been convicted or murder for a second time normally the starting point for sentence would be a whole life order. In the common parlance, life without parole. The judge was asked to consider whether the murder was racially aggravated, as the killers swapped text messages including a reference to raping the chink. They ate curry as she lay lifeless on the floor before they dumped her in the burning car by allotments. The killers took 1,000 from her bank accounts, having tortured her to obtain the PINs. Dapinder Singh QC, for Unwin, urged the judge not to impose a whole life tariff. Nicholas Lumley QC, for McFall, said his client continued to deny the murder and regretted coming into contact with Unwin after his release, as his life was on track in Blackpool. The pair worked together in the North East maintaining properties for landlords and also stealing cannabis from drugs farms. Mr Lumley said: He attributes his involvement in this terrible incident to his weakening to Mr Unwins charms. The judge will sentence the pair at 1.45pm. The Duke of Cambridge may have hinted at his preferences for naming his newborn son when he remarked on a guests strong name. As the wait continues to see what the baby prince of Cambridge will be called, William returned to royal duties on Wednesday by joining Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at an Anzac Day service in London. As William met Sir Jerry Mateparae, New Zealand High Commissioner to the UK in Westminster Abbey, the Dean of Westminster joked about the eagerly anticipated name, saying: Jerry would like it to be Jerry. William replied: Jerrys a strong name. Asked how the duchess and the baby were, the duke replied: Theyre very well thanks. The Duke of Cambridge greets Meghan Markle and Prince Harry as they arrive at Westminster Abbey (Jonathan Brady/PA) He said they are in good form, luckily, and added: Sleepings going reasonably well so far, so hes behaving himself which is good news. Punters are still trying to guess what the duke and duchess have chosen to call the baby prince. Bookmakers reported a late flurry of bets on Albert the name of Queen Victorias beloved consort, and the actual first name of the Queens father George VI. What will the new prince of Cambridge be called? (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Coral said Albert was now 5-1, but a Prince Arthur remains the favourite at 5-2, closely followed by James at 4-1. Harry Aitkenhead, of Coral, said: Were expecting the announcement in the next few hours and punters are rushing to get their bets on as the excitement builds. At the moment Arthur remains the favourite but were seeing a lot of money for Albert at the last minute. Philip in tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh is at 8-1, Alexander 10-1, Henry 12-1, and Frederick, Edward or Thomas 16-1. The baby William and Kates third child was born on Monday at 11.01am weighing 8lb 7oz. A delighted William and Kate show off the new addition to their family before heading home to Kensington Palace #RoyalBaby pic.twitter.com/QfUgg1shTu PA Royal Reporters (@PARoyal) April 23, 2018 The duke and duchess have been caring for their two day old son at Kensington Palace, where they are settling into life as a family of five. Royals traditionally keep the public guessing before revealing their choice of name. William and Kate will want to share the name with the Queen and the rest of their family before making it public. Kensington Palace said it would be announced in due course. The Queens father, George VI, was actually Albert Frederick Arthur George and always known to his family as Bertie. King George VI - whose first name was Albert - with his daughter Princess Elizabeth, now Elizabeth II (PA) Shy, stammering Bertie was forced to become king when his brother Edward VIII abdicated, but won the nations affection by standing firm in London during the Second World War. Prince George and Princess Charlottes names were announced two days after they born, suggesting the news will be made known on Wednesday. Bookies also slashed odds on William and Kate naming their baby Alexander. As William chatted to the Australian High Commissioner, Alexander Downer, at Westminster Abbey, Mr Downer asked: Have you thought of the name Alexander for him? The duke replied: Well, its funny you should say that. Its a good name. Prince George already has Alexander as one of his middle names. Ladbrokes cut odds on Alexander from 10-1 to 5-1 after Williams comments prompted a rush of bets. Alex Apati, of Ladbrokes, said: Were not entirely convinced about this one given that Georges middle name is Alexander, but punters clearly think theyre onto something and weve had to respond accordingly. Posted on Apr 30, 2015 in History News Doolittle Raiders Receive Congressional Gold Medal UNCOMMON VALOR REAL HEROES Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Receive Congressional Gold Medal, Share It With the World On April 18, 1942, just over 4 months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor thrust the United States into World War II, 80 American airmen led by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Jimmy Doolittle inspired a nation by flying 16 B-25 bombers off the deck of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet and conducting a daring raid on Tokyo, the enemys capital city. Now, 73 years later, Congress has honored these men with the Congressional Gold Medal, presented to the Raiders in Washington D.C., April 15. Leaders from the House of Representatives and the Senate presented the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of the American people to the Doolittle Raiders at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center Emancipation Hall. We want to thank Congress for enacting and presenting the Congressional Gold Medal to the Tokyo Raiders this day, said retired Lieutenant Colonel Richard E. Dick Cole, one of the two surviving Raiders. We are honored to accept this prestigious and most appreciated award. After the Washington, D.C. presentation ceremony, the medal was flown on a ceremonial flight in a restored World War II-vintage B-25 in the care of Brian Bear Anderson, the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Association Sergeant-at-Arms (doolittleraider.com), and brought to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, home of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, on April 18. Later that night, the two remaining Raiders, Dick Cole and former Staff Sgt. David J. Thatcher, presented the Congressional Gold Medal to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, to be housed in the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders B-25 exhibit. Seventy-three years ago today David Thatcher and I, along with 78 fellow flyers took off on a mission that was based on trust in our leader James H. Doolittle, Cole said. Ten years ago today the surviving Raiders put their trust in the decision of appointing a new guardian for our silver goblets the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Today, April 18, 2015, Dave Thatcher and I find ourselves putting the Doolittle Raiders trust once more in the hands of the director of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. We proudly hand over our Congressional Gold Medal to Lieutenant General, retired, Jack Hudson, who we trust will respectfully guard it and have it securely displayed in the Doolittle Raider exhibit for the world to see and appreciate. The Doolittle Raid, which took place before the Air Force became a separate service, not only motivated a nation during the darkest days of World War II, but also proved that strategic airpower is necessary for global reach and the joint fight. The actions of these brave Airmen altered the course of World War II, and put our nation on the glide path to where we are today, said General Janet C. Wolfenbarger, the commander of Air Force Materiel Command. It is absolutely an honor to play a part in this well-deserved tribute for a tremendous group that we proudly claim as predecessors to our Airmen of today. The medal is displayed at the museum, rotating near the Raiders 80 silver goblets, only two of which remain upright. The Raiders said they hope the Doolittle Exhibit educates the younger generation, and Thatcher had advice for current and future Airmen. Be prepared for anything you run into we werent, he said. Learn everything you possibly can, and be good at it. Both Cole and Thatcher spoke of the raid and their fellow crew members with fondness and twinkling eyes, all with an undercurrent of humor and humility. Tonights affair couldnt have been planned more accurately, Cole said. As I remember, the mission was over, it was Saturday night, on the 18th of April [1942] and about this time, David Thatcher was on the beach in China saving the rest of his crew, and I was hanging in my parachute in a tree. With only 158 Congressional Gold Medals ever awarded, the Raiders are in the company of men like former President (Gen.) George Washington. The Congressional Gold Medal is a testament to the heroic achievements and lasting impact of the Doolittle Raiders, said Representative Mike Turner. We want you to know that the United States of America is forever indebted to you, for not only the sacrifices and valor you displayed that day, but also for how you have shared and honored the legacy of our veterans it is an example of unwavering commitment to service by the men and women in uniform to our nation and to each other. When the Congressional legislation authorizing the gold medal passed and was signed into law last year, the Tokyo Raiders Associations Brian Bear Anderson who spearheaded the effort for the Raiders to receive this historic recognition sent this thank you to Armchair General: I would like to thank Armchair General and its many readers for their help and support in promoting information via the magazine and online articles with regard to the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders and obtaining the Congressional Gold Medal for them for their historic accomplishment. This long overdue honor to the 80 brave U.S. Army Air Forces airmen is now a reality. From an article by Staff Sgt. Torri Ingalsby, Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs Command Information (www.af.mil) Top image: Doolittle Raiders retired Lt. Col. Dick Cole and former Staff Sgt. David Thatcher pose with the Congressional Gold Medal after it arrived at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, following a ceremonial flight on board the B-25 Panchito April 18, 2015. The medal is on display in the museums World War II Gallery in the Doolittle Raid exhibit. (U.S. Air Force photo/Will Haas) Jeremy Corbyn has called on Home Secretary Amber Rudd to resign over the Windrush scandal, claiming she had inherited a failing policy and made it worse. The Labour leader said the hostile environment policies were not having the desired effect, as he challenged Theresa May to explain why she ignored Home Office warnings about potential discrimination caused by the measures. Mrs May defended the Governments intention to take action on people in the UK illegally, and vowed that no stone would be left unturned in putting right the status of the Windrush generation. But Mr Corbyn said Ms Rudd had wanted to harden the cruel and misdirected policy when she took over from Mrs May at the Home Office, saying she pledged to do so ruthlessly. A report last month by immigration officials stated the hostile environment measures were not even having the desired effect, he told MPs during PMQs. Corbyn calls for @AmberRuddHR to resign as Home Secretary, telling #PMQs she "inherited a failing policy and made it worse" #Windrush Andrew Woodcock (@AndyWoodcock) April 25, 2018 The current Home Secretary inherited a failing policy and made it worse. Isnt it time she took responsibility and resigned? Mrs May said people up and down this country want to ensure the Government is taking action against those people who are here in this country illegally. Because it isnt fair that people who work hard day in and day out, who contribute to this country, who put into the life of this country, are seeing people who are here illegally accessing services in the same way, she said. Home Secretray Amber Rudd during Prime Ministers Questions (PA) We are acting to ensure that those people who are here legally are given the support that they need. During the heated frontbench exchanges, Mrs May also said the Government was not ignoring the problems that some members of this generation are facing after she claimed Mr Corbyns questions suggested Labour were ignoring some of the facts. That is why (Ms Rudd) has set out a special team in the Home Office to deal with their inquiries, not just deal with their inquiries but actively help them to find the documentation to clarify their status, Mrs May said. She added: The problem was that back prior to 1973 when the Windrush generation came here they were not given documents that set out their status we are now putting that right and we will leave no stone unturned to put that right. Speaking at #PMQs, Theresa May says the Government will ensure immigrants from the Windrush generation are able to "live their lives" in the UK pic.twitter.com/hMjSS9tJ1p PA Media (@PA) April 25, 2018 The Labour leader also pointed to an internal memo from the department in 2014 which said the approach could make it harder for people, such as the Windrush generation, to find homes and provoke discrimination. He asked: Why did the Home Secretary ignore that memo? Mrs May replied: (Mr Corbyn) talks about a hostile environment What were proposing here will, I think, flush illegal migrants out, we are trying to create a much more hostile environment in this country if you are here illegally. Those are not my words. They are the words of (Liam Byrne) when he was Labour immigration minister. And the Labour leader ought to know about this, because (Mr Byrne) sits on his frontbench. The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle joined a traditional Anzac Day service at Westminster Abbey in which people were encouraged to renew their commitment to the causes of justice and peace throughout the world. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a Dawn Service at the Australian memorial, Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day (Tolga Akmen/PA) The Dean of Westminster paid tribute to the thousands of soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the First World War and subsequent conflicts. Meghan Markle appeared closes to tears during the service (Tolga Akmen/PA) Harry and Ms Markle joined the congregation for a service of commemoration and thanksgiving, a few hours after they attended a dawn service in central London where Meghan looked emotional as a hymn was sung by thousands gathered at the New Zealand war memorial. Prince William (left), Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during the service (Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA) William, who is taking a few weeks off official royal duties after his son was born on Monday, joined the couple for the Abbey service, and told a line-up on arrival that the family are very well. He added: Sleepings going reasonably well so far, so hes behaving himself which is good news. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving the annual Anzac Day Dawn Service this year staged at the New Zealand war memorial in central London. pic.twitter.com/tDw8qs3w0o PA Royal Reporters (@PARoyal) April 25, 2018 Ms Markle may not yet be a member of the Royal Family but she has attended a large number of official events in the run-up to her royal wedding on May 19. Meghan Markle changed outfits for the services (Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA) The American actress wore a dark outfit finished off with a small hat. Anzac Day April 25 marks the anniversary of the start of the First World War Gallipoli landings, and is a national day of remembrance for Australia and New Zealand. The Westminster Abbey service was the culmination of a day of events honouring Australia and New Zealands fallen, and those who have served in subsequent conflicts, which began with a dawn service and wreath laying. Prince Harry lays a wreath during the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London. Harry left a floral tribute at the Cenotaph in Whitehall on behalf of the Queen, after laying wreaths at the New Zealand memorial and Australian memorial. The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster, told the congregation in the Abbey: The landing of allied forces at Gallipoli on 25th April 1915 led to one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War. Australian and New Zealand forces joined together for the first time, and a new word entered the language: Anzac. Remembering that so many died, we honour the bravery and determination of the men at Gallipoli. The memory of what became known as The Great War is with us as a warning and an encouragement. We are warned that war involves suffering and death; we are encouraged by the spirit of national pride shown by the soldiers we remember this Anzac Day. As the Union Flag and the flags of Australia and New Zealand are presented at the High Altar with the flag of Turkey in a sign of the reconciliation of old enemies, let us renew our own commitment to the causes of justice and peace throughout the world. Prince William, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during the annual Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey to commemorate Anzac Day (Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA) Thousands of Anzac troops Australian and New Zealand Army Corps died in the ill-fated 1915 campaign. Waves of Allied forces launched an amphibious attack on the strategically important Turkish peninsula, which was key to controlling the Dardanelles straits, the crucial route to the Black Sea and Russia. But the plan backed by Winston Churchill, then first lord of the admiralty, was flawed and the campaign, which faced a heroic defence by the Turks, led to stalemate and withdrawal eight months later. Its legacy is the celebration of the Anzac spirit courage, endurance, initiative, discipline, and mateship shown by the Antipodean troops and today the Anzac Day service in London has become an important occasion for thousands of New Zealanders and Australians. During the Abbey service the Last Post was sounded and wreaths were laid at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior. Turkeys Ambassador to the UK read the famous words of Kemal Ataturk Turkeys founding father from Anzac Cove. Video: The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave the service as the bells of Westminster Abbey ring out. pic.twitter.com/DEkB9l2HVk Catherine Wylie (@wyliecatherine) April 25, 2018 Earlier, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson also laid a wreath. Mr Williamson said: On Anzac Day, we remember the sacrifice and courage of troops from Australia and New Zealand. Almost a century has passed since the end of the First World War and Britain is proud to have served side-by-side with them in many conflicts over the last 100 years. Our alliance is one of the most constant and enduring military partnerships in history, one which will continue to protect our shared values and commit to make the world a safer, more secure place. The Defence Secretary met with his counterparts from Australia and New Zealand earlier this year to examine how allies can continue to work together against evolving threats. Police and CPS staffing levels may have been a factor in shortcomings surrounding the disclosure of evidence, the Lord Chief Justice has suggested. Lord Burnett of Maldon, the head of the judiciary in England and Wales, said problems were inevitable given the agencies responsible for the work have fewer people. Confidence in the criminal justice system was rocked last year after a flurry of cases collapsed following serious failings. Lord Burnett of Maldon, The Lord Chief Justice, discussed disclosure issues (Victoria Jones/PA) Lord Chief Justice now giving evidence to @UKHouseofLords Constitution Committtee. Watch live here https://t.co/r1ou7DkLJV pic.twitter.com/tFW6HQrXHa Judicial Office (@JudiciaryUK) April 25, 2018 In the lead-up to trials, officers and prosecutors are required to hand over relevant material that either undermines the prosecution case or assists the defence case. But the regime came under sharp focus after defendants facing rape allegations had the charges against them dropped when critical material emerged at the last minute. The revelations prompted a review of every live rape and serious sexual assault case in England and Wales. Appearing at the House of Lords Constitution Committee, Lord Burnett described the issue as a matter of great concern. He said: At the heart of disclosure problems in the criminal context seem to me to be very straightforward propositions that the people who are responsible for ensuring disclosure occurs in accordance with the statutory scheme are under an enormous amount of pressure. What weve been seeing in a number of the cases that have gathered a lot of public attention is that disclosure happens right at the end and often only under pressure from assiduous prosecutors or defence solicitors and advocates. I just wonder whether that is a phenomenon which reflects the fact that those who have to do this work have got too much to do because there are fewer of them and they put things off. When youve got fewer people both in the police and the CPS, fewer people doing the same amount of work, inevitably there will be problems. Police and the CPS have pointed to an explosion in the volume of digital material created in criminal investigations. Lord Burnett said: The enthusiasm with which people text each other is such that people have thousands and thousands and thousands on their phones. The sensible use of technology itself must surely be able to help. But I know what will be said: get new technology to search phones or to search a complainants emails, that will require somebody to invest quite a lot of money in providing the equipment to do it. So I can well envisage the sort of political debate that will be going on. Following his remarks, the National Police Chiefs Council said that getting disclosure right is a fundamental part of a fair criminal justice system and there was now an unprecedented focus on finding long-term solutions to the failings. An NPCC spokesman added: We do have a shortage of detectives and they have many complex demands on their time so measures to ensure they better understand disclosure, have clear processes and the right support from experts are at the centre of our action plan. In the longer term, we are looking at how technology can help us to meet the huge challenge of ever increasing volumes of data involved in each case. Elsewhere, Lord Burnett highlighted the problem of abuse that is hurled at judges on social media and the internet. He said: Theres no doubt that its dispiriting and its sometimes genuinely frightening for some of our judges. Its not right that any public servant should be put in fear for themselves or their families. He raised concerns that the abuse could put off prospective candidates from joining the judiciary. The Lord Chief Justice highlighted the wider issue of difficulties in recruitment and retention of judges, saying they pose a threat to our ability to discharge the business of the courts effectively. On Wednesday the Government announced a new online learning platform amid efforts to give people from all legal backgrounds greater support to apply to become a judge. The Queen has paid tribute to the efforts of the Royal Tank Regiment as she presented the unit with a new standard. As Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment, the Queen hosted its soldiers and officers at Windsor Castle and told them their reputation for hard work and ingenuity endures. The Queen highlighted the unbreakable connection that has existed between the sovereign and the Royal Tank Regiment since her grandfather, King George V, visited trials of early tanks at Elveden in Suffolk in July 1916. The presentation took place in St Georges Hall at Windsor Castle in Berkshire (Steve Parsons/PA) She told the servicemen, who were joined by their partners: Of course much has changed since 1916. Technology has evolved, and the regiment with it. But the regiments reputation for hard work and ingenuity endures. And the bond within tank crews, within squadrons and within the regiment remains undiminished. The standard is the symbol of that bond between the men and women who serve in the regiment and of your allegiance to the Sovereign and to the nation. It bears the place-names of the regiments hard-won battle honours and, in an increasingly uncertain world, it serves to remind us of the sacrifices which have been made in the past on behalf of the nation. The Queen hailed the regiment for its sacrifices for the sake of the country (Steve Parsons/PA) A standard or regimental flag was originally used as a rallying point on the battlefield to help troops avoid becoming disorientated by the fog of war, and today have great symbolic value. It was consecrated by the British Armys Chaplain General, Reverend Dr David Coulter, before the Queen presented the standard to the regiment in Windsor Castles St Georges Hall. The Queen was presenting her fourth standard to the regiment which was forged during the First World War and since the Second World War has deployed to almost every major conflict. The desire for unity is common for North and South Koreans although the visions to achieve it differ ahead of this weeks summit. For some, especially young people in the South, it may not be a burning issue. Details like the costs, the risks and what specifically both sides stand to gain are rarely given much thought by anyone who is not an academic, politician or activist. But when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in meet on Friday, the prospect of unification, even if only in the abstract, will loom large around them. Merging Mr Kims nuclear-armed North and the K-pop capitalism of Mr Moons South into one Korea is no simple task. Visitors watch the north side at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea (Lee Jin-man/AP) Both leaders come to the table with distinct visions of what that would look like and they are very different. North Koreas founder and eternal president Kim Il Sung formulated plans for what he called a Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo in 1980. Koryo was an ancient Korean kingdom from which the word Korea is derived. The plan was for an arrangement something along the lines of what Hong Kong has with China, a unified nation with two separate systems of government. Under his plan, the North and South would respect each others ideology, social system and autonomy. Both sides would have an equal number of representatives in a supreme national assembly with equal rights and responsibilities. The assembly would also have representatives of Koreans overseas. It would have a standing committee that would administer state affairs. Kim Il Sung stressed the need for this new federation to remain neutral and independent, avoiding in particular military alliances with others. Activists wearing masks of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Ahn Young-joon/AP) Not surprisingly, that looks a lot like North Korea in the 21st Century, with its Supreme Peoples Assembly, and the partys Politburo and Central Committee overseeing day-to-day policies. Even the name smacks of the North, which is officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. An equal number of assembly seats would be a good deal for the North, which has half the Souths population. The inclusion of Koreans overseas would boost that advantage even further since, for historical reasons, more often than not they have at least nominal allegiance to Pyongyang, not Seoul. With so many devils lurking in the details, Kim Il Sungs grand plan has never got much traction. A North Korean flag flutters in the wind on top of 160-metre tower in North Koreas village Gijungdongseen, as seen from the Taesungdong freedom village in South Korea (Lee Jin-man/AP) South Koreas three-step proposal ends in a similarly predictable place, its own system writ large across the Korean Peninsula. The first priority, according to South Koreas Unification Ministry, is to develop a sustainable relationship and resolve the issue of North Koreas development of nuclear weapons. Seoul wants to substitute the unstable armistice that ended the fighting of the 1950-53 Korean War with a permanent peace treaty, a goal Pyongyang shares. This step could get a boost on Friday, it will almost certainly be taken up then and probably again at the summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in May or early June. South Korea wants to then develop trust and cooperation to the point where a sort of national consensus has been achieved. After a transitional commonwealth period, the next step would be the formation of a single market on the Korean Peninsula to create new growth engines and create an inter-Korean economic community of coexistence and co-prosperity. We will build a new economic order that will bring peace and prosperity to the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia, the ministry concludes. The essentials of this plan were announced in September 1989 by South Koreas president at the time, Roh Tae-woo. The succession of administrations that have taken office in the South since Mr Roh have adhered fairly predictably to the principle of gradual, peaceful progress, while calibrating their willingness to engage with Pyongyang based on their assessment of its level of vulnerability or hostility. In the long run, however, it makes no provision for a one-state, two-system future. Ultimately, Seoul believes, the North Korean system has to go. Alfie Evans, who has been at the centre of a life-support treatment dispute, is struggling, Court of Appeal judges have been told. Three Court of Appeal judges are analysing the latest stage of a life-support treatment dispute over a 23-month-old boy at a hearing in London. Alfies parents Tom Evans and Kate James, who are both in their early 20s and from Liverpool, are appealing following a ruling made by a High Court judge late on Tuesday. A lawyer representing Miss James said Alfie was struggling. Mr Justice Hayden decided, at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in Manchester, that Alfie should not be allowed to leave Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool and travel to a hospital in Rome. Doctors stopped providing life-support treatment to Alfie late on Monday. Mr Evans said his son had confounded specialists expectations by continuing to breathe. Alfies parents have already lost two rounds of fights, in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. Alfies father Tom Evans (Peter Byrne/PA) In February, Mr Justice Hayden ruled that doctors at Alder Hey could stop treating Alfie against the wishes of his parents following hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London and Liverpool. Specialists at Alder Hey said life-support treatment should stop and Mr Justice Hayden said he accepted medical evidence which showed that further treatment was futile. Mr Justice Hayden said flying Alfie to a foreign hospital would be wrong and pointless. Court of Appeal judges upheld his decisions. Supreme Court justices and ECHR judges refused to intervene. The couple then said that Alfie was being wrongly detained. Mr Justice Hayden dismissed that claim. Appeal judges have upheld Mr Justice Haydens decision and Supreme Court justices and ECHR judges said they would not intervene. Mr Justice Hayden then finalised plans for withdrawing treatment and allowing Alfies life to end. Judicial heads announced earlier this week that Sir Andrew would take over from Sir James Munby, who is retiring, as the most senior family court judge in England and Wales in a few months time. A barrister representing Alfies father said an Italian embassy representative was in court. Paul Diamond said an air ambulance was on standby at the request of the Pope He added: My general conversation with Mr Evans is save my boy. Mr Diamond said: He would leave no stone unturned He is clutching at straws. A Korean re-interpretation of a Swiss fried potato rosti dish could be an icebreaker during Fridays summit meeting, with delicacies from both sides of the Korean border also on the menu. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un went to school in Switzerland and will dine with South Korean President Moon Jae-in after a meeting over weighty subjects including the Norths nuclear weapons. The planned banquet will take place after Fridays summit at the border truce village of Panmunjom. Other items on the menu include fish and rice using produce from the hometowns of Mr Moon and his liberal predecessors who sought rapprochement with Pyongyang. North Korea will bring its famous cold noodles to the dinner. The meeting between Mr Kim and Mr Moon is just the third-ever summit between the rival Koreas, who are now trying to restore ties after a decade of animosity over the Norths nuclear and missile programme. The two countries remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The food to be served at Panmunjom includes: Mr Kim spent several years in his teens being schooled in Switzerland. That means a lot of Swiss-inspired dishes for Mr Kim at the banquet. The rosti-inspired dish is a nod to Kim Jong Uns schooldays in Switzerland (AP) Aside from the Korean twist on rosti, which basically will be fried grated potato from South Koreas Gangwon province topped with cheese, the South Koreans will serve Swiss chocolate, macaroons and cheesecake in a set of desserts that Seouls presidential Blue House has named Memories Of Swiss. Also for dessert will be a mango mousse decorated with a blue map symbolising a unified Korean Peninsula. The map will include a dot representing a small island off the peninsulas eastern coast that has been the subject of a territorial dispute between South Korea and Japan. A mango mousse decorated by a blue flag symbolising a unified Korean Peninsula (AP) Japan lodged a protest to Seoul over the island being represented on the mango mousse. Mr Kim, 34, did display a European palate last month in a Pyongyang banquet he hosted for Mr Moons envoys, who were served wine paired with different kinds of cheese. After setting up the summit between Mr Kim and Mr Moon, South Korean officials in a subsequent trip to Washington brokered a potential meeting between Mr Kim and President Donald Trump, which is anticipated in May or June. South Korean meat and fish South Korean chefs at the banquet will also serve baked John Dory fish, a tribute to the South Korean port of Busan, where the 65-year-old Mr Moon was born. Other items on the menu include nods to the birth towns of former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, who met with Kim Jong Uns father, Kim Jong Il, in the two previous inter-Korean summits in the 2000s. The chefs will serve croaker caught from Kim Dae-jungs hometown in southwestern Gageo island and rice from Mr Rohs southern hometown of Gimhae. A dish of grilled beef using cattle from a ranch in Seosan, central South Korea is on the summit menu (AP) They also will serve grilled beef made from cattle at a ranch in the central town of Seosan. The ranch became famous in 1998 when late Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung sent 1,001 cattle from the ranch in two separate convoy across the border to the North in an effort to aid reconciliation between the rivals. The welcoming banquet will reflect the desire of people who attempted to achieve peace and unification of our nation, Mr Moons spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said. Tea and desserts made from citrus from South Koreas Jeju Island are planned for the banquet (AP) There will be no dishes from South Koreas Daegu or Japans Osaka, the respective birth towns of former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, who led a decade of conservative rule in Seoul before Mr Moon took office but are now both in jail over separate corruption cases. North Korean noodles Seouls presidential Blue House said North Korea has also agreed to bring to the dinner naengmyeon, or cold buckwheat noodles, made by the head chef of Pyongyangs famous Okryugwan restaurant. Mr Moons office said Mr Moon proposed the restaurants noodles to be included on the menu, to which the North gladly obliged. Okryugwan is arguably North Koreas best-known restaurant and has branches in China. Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline has seen its shares come under pressure after the firms sales were hit by the strength of the pound. Sales fell by 2% in the first quarter to 7.2 billion, but were up by 4% with currency movements stripped out. Total operating profit fell 15% to 1.24 billion. The drop in revenues prompted Glaxos shares to slide by 2.7%. Sales of GSKs asthma drug could fall by 30% in the US this year (Fiona Hanson/PA) Glaxo warned investors that sales of a key respiratory drug in its portfolio would fall, and that the company could not predict how it would fare in the year ahead. It said competitive pressures in the respiratory drug market meant sales of its asthma treatment Advair would fall by 30% in 2018. The companys earnings per share for the full year, which fell 33% in the quarter to 11.2p, would depend on Advairs success. If no competing drug is marketed in the US, Glaxos earnings per share could grow by between 4% and 7%. However, if a competitor enters the market, earnings per share could fall by 3%. The pharmaceutical giant said it was unable to give a reliable forecast for its future results. Glaxo reported strong sales from the launch of Shingrix, a vaccine which prevents shingles. Sales of the drug brought in 110 million, boosting the groups total vaccine sales, which rose by 13% to 1.3 billion. Emma Walmsley, chief executive of Glaxo, said the company had made good progress over the three-month period and that the firm continued to be disciplined about its costs. We are strongly focused on commercial execution, with encouraging starts for our most recent new product launches Shingrix, Trelegy and Juluca, she said. US media giant Comcast has unveiled a formal 22 billion offer for Sky, setting the stage for a bidding battle with Rupert Murdochs 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney to snap up the pay-TV group. Comcast confirmed its bid at 12.50 a share, as first proposed in its approach two months ago, which marks a 16% increase on the 10.75 a share offered by Fox to buy the 61% of Sky is does not already own. Sky withdrew its recommendation for the 11.7 billion Fox deal following Comcasts offer but stressed that both bids are subject to pre-conditions and neither offer is currently capable of being put to shareholders. It added its independent committee will co-operate fully with both suitors. The rival bid comes just ahead of a May 1 deadline for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to give its final advice on the Fox bid for Sky to Culture Secretary Matt Hancock, who must decide to either approve or block it by the end of May. Rupert Murdochs bid for Sky has been gatecrashed by Comcast (PA) Mr Murdochs 21st Century Fox said it was considering its options but remains committed to its recommended cash offer for Sky. Skys shares raced 4% higher as Comcasts move raises the prospect of a bidding war. The bid is yet to be given the backing of the Sky board, which is being advised by PJT Partners, Morgan Stanley and Barclays, but Comcast said it was in talks with the Sky Independent Committee with a view to obtaining a future recommendation of the acquisition. The group added that it plans to agree a raft of legally-binding commitments over Sky and its investment in the UK, in particular for Sky News, while it also said it would commit to keeping the groups Osterley headquarters for at least five years. Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive of Comcast, said: With its 23 million retail customers, leading positions in the UK, Italy, and Germany, and its history of strong financial performance, we see significant opportunities for growth by combining our businesses. He added: We also understand the role that Sky plays in UK society and in its customers lives and we are determined to be responsible and trusted owners of Sky. The offer marks yet another twist in the takeover saga, which began in December 2016 when Fox made its latest controversial bid to take full control of the group. The CMA has raised a host of concerns over the Fox acquisition, while since then, Disney has also agreed to snap up a raft of Fox assets including Skys 39% stake. All eyes are now on the next move by Fox and Disney, with the latter having previously described Sky as the crown jewel of Foxs assets. Britains Takeover Panel has already told Disney it must bid for the whole of Sky even if Foxs offer is blocked. As part of its post-offer assurances, Comcast confirmed plans to establish a Sky News board, which will be maintained for at least 10 years, as well as promising annual expenditure on Sky News will be at least equal to that of the past financial year. Comcast also said it will give legally-binding commitments to maintain editorial independence at Sky News. In a bid to head off any competition concerns, the group said it will not acquire a majority stake in any UK newspapers for five years. Comcast, which owns cable channels MSNBC and CNBC as well as telecoms services, has already said it believes its approach would escape concerns over media plurality because of its minimal presence in UK media. Sky News has become a flashpoint in Foxs bid due to competition fears centring on Mr Murdochs ownership of The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers. Analysts at Liberum said a counterbid from Fox/Disney was very likely. They said: The question now is whether Fox/Disney makes a knock-out bid to discourage any further Comcast offer and what it thinks this level is, without breaking the bank. We think a credible counter-bid would be at 13.75p a share. Two convicted killers who tortured and murdered a Vietnamese mother-of-two while out on licence have been told they will never be freed. Stephen Unwin, 40, and William McFall, 51, murdered Vietnamese nail technician Quyen Ngoc Nguyen after a four-hour ordeal and dumped her body in her car before torching it last August. She had been lured to Unwins home in Shiney Row near Sunderland, where McFall lay in wait, Newcastle Crown Court has heard. Unwin went on to rape the 28-year-old who was just 5ft and weighed seven stone. Quyen Ngoc Nguyen (Northumbria Police/PA) Mr Justice Morris ruled they should never be released, sentencing both to whole-life jail terms. The judge said: Stephen Unwin, you are a calculating, manipulating and ruthless killer. William John McFall, you are an extremely violent man capable of monstrous behaviour. McFall shouted angrily from the dock: Thats your personal opinion. The victims sister, Quynh Ngoc Nguyen, 35, had earlier read a Victim Statement, saying: We cannot comprehend how men like this can live freely in this country. My sister believed, as I did, that you came to this country for a safer life, with better opportunities for herself and her children. She said their parents and her sisters two children had been left heartbroken by the actions of the murderers. They did not act like human beings, they are evil, she said. Sergeant Jill Hall reads a statement outside court on behalf of Quyhn Ngoc Nguyen, centre left, holding a picture of her sister Quyen Ngoc Nguyen (Tom Wilkinson/PA) Unwin had a history of setting fires to destroy evidence at the scenes of his crimes. He battered a pensioner to death during a break-in at his home on Christmas Day 1998 and the fire he started to cover his tracks meant the victim could only be identified by his medical records. Unwin admitted murder, was sentenced to life and was released on licence in December 2012. He met McFall in the prison system where he was also serving life for murdering a pensioner. McFall attacked his victim with a hammer after she disturbed him breaking into her home in Carrickfergus in May 1996. He was jailed for life and released on licence in October 2010. Jamie Hill QC told the court: In cases where a defendant has been convicted of murder for a second time, normally the starting point for sentence would be a whole life order. In the common parlance, life without parole. The judge was asked to consider whether the murder was racially aggravated, as the killers swapped text messages including a reference to raping the chink. They ate curry as their victim lay lifeless on the floor before they dumped her in the burning car by allotments. The killers took 1,000 from her bank accounts, having tortured her for the PINs. Dapinder Singh QC, for Unwin, urged the judge not to impose a whole life tariff. Nicholas Lumley QC, for McFall, said his client continued to deny the murder and regretted coming into contact with Unwin after his release as his life was on track in Blackpool. The pair worked together in the North East maintaining properties for landlords, and also stealing cannabis from drugs farms. Mr Lumley said: He (McFall) attributes his involvement in this terrible incident to his weakening to Mr Unwins charms. Posted on Jul 29, 2015 in Front Page Features, War College Harry Truman and the Atomic Bombing of Japan Editors Note: 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of V-J Day (Victory Over Japan Day) in the United States on September 2, the date of Japans formal surrender. Other former Allied nations, Britain for example, recognize V-J Day on August 15, the date Emperor Hirohito announced his empires intention to surrender, and some countries refer to it as V-P Day (Victory in the Pacific). However, whatever date it is recognized and regardless of what it is called, it represents the final end of historys most destructive war. Yet, despite the euphoria and sense of relief that swept through the populations of the Allied countries in the immediate wake of this final victory over the Axis powers, the manner in which the end of World War II was brought about has been a matter of controversy in the decades after the wars end. This article examines the fateful decision by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to employ atomic weapons to prompt Japans leaders to finally admit defeat and to surrender to the Allies. It places Trumans decision within the political and military context of the time in which it was made, reveals the public pressures he was under to end the war as quickly as possible, and evaluates the various criticisms that have been raised over his decision to authorize the atomic bombings. TO STOP THE KILLING According to the book, A Gathering Darkness, by Haruo Tohmatsu and H. P. Willmott, during the war of aggression Imperial Japan waged in Manchuria and China between 1931 and 1945 Japanese military forces killed over 12 million Chinese civilians. Additional Chinese civilian deaths due to displacement, starvation and disease caused by the Japanese war may raise this grim total to 17-22 million. These horrific figures represent only Chinese civilian deaths and exclude the nearly two million Chinese soldiers killed in combat. In one particularly brutal six-week orgy of violence alone the infamous 1937 Rape of Nanking Japanese soldiers murdered, perhaps, 300,000 Chinese men, women and children. As the books authors note, scenes of mass murder, torture, rape and pillage were the hallmarks of Japanese Army operations in China. Yet, the only way to stop the killing was to force Japans leadership to finally admit that the war was irretrievably lost and to surrender to the Allied powers. TRUMANS DILEMMA In August 1945, the responsibility for forcing Japanese leaders to admit defeat and to surrender rested squarely on the shoulders of the Allied leader whose soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen had borne and continued to bear the principal burden of waging the Pacific War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman. Yet, as historian Michael D. Pearlman has perceptively revealed in his ground-breaking article, Hiroshima Reconsidered in the March 2009 issue of Armchair General magazine, Truman faced a serious dilemma. In the U.S. capitol that fateful summer, American public opinion was squeezing the United States political and military leaders between two contradictory demands: adamantly insisting upon forcing Japans unconditional surrender while simultaneously, and with increasing impatience after Nazi Germany surrendered in May, crying out for Americas massive military force to begin demobilization. In public opinion polling at the time 84 percent supported the U.S. fighting until it had completely beaten [the enemy] on the Japanese homeland. Yet, despite this sanguine view regarding fighting on to completely beat Japan, 72 percent of those polled wanted partial demobilization beginning virtually the day Germany surrendered in May 1945 (the rest wanted something greater than partial demobilization). Pearlman explained Trumans dilemma: The Greatest Generation had blood in its eyes where Japan was concerned; yet, it maddeningly was just as adamant about bringing the boys home now. Such was the strategic setting on August 6, when science stepped in to provide Truman what the U.S. assistant secretary of war called a bolt out of heaven a technological means of solving his dilemma. The B-29 bomber Enola Gay took off from the Marianas that day and dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Japanese newspapers, self-righteously ignoring their own countrys years of atrocities in China and Asia, said it ignored basic human principles. On August 9, the B-29 Bocks Car dropped a second atomic bomb, this time on the city of Nagasaki, and the next day the U.S. warned Japanese leaders of a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. The Imperial Japanese Army, still ready to fight (not having suffered the massive devastation inflicted on Japans navy and air forces), had 2.5 million soldiers under arms in Japan. Its senior leaders had pleaded for the chance to find life in death, promising, If we are prepared to sacrifice 20,000,000 Japanese lives in a special [kamikaze] effort, victory shall be ours. Emperor Hirohito, however, came to a different conclusion, as revealed on August 15 in the first public announcement he ever made: The enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization, meaning his Japanese subjects. The announcement meant Japan had agreed to surrender. The formal surrender ceremony was held September 2, 1945, on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay where Japanese officials signed the Instrument of Surrender in the presence of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers) and Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (representing the United States). The killing had been stopped. However, in the decades following the end of the war, some historians and commentators have preferred to direct their moral outrage at Truman, whose fateful decision in August 1945 to use atomic weapons finally put a stop to Japanese atrocities. Seventy years later, the debate over Trumans decision shows little sign of letting up. POINT-COUNTERPOINT: THE DEBATE OVER THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS Critics of Trumans decision usually cite similar reasons they think should have swayed him against using the weapons. The bombs should not have been dropped, they argue, because: 1. Japan had already lost the war. Indeed, by any reasonable criteria, Japan had clearly been beaten by August 1945. But this argument totally misses the point. Trumans problem that summer was not how to defeat the Japanese; it was how to get Japans leaders to acknowledge that defeat and surrender instead of committing national suicide. Only after suffering the shock of two atom bombings did Emperor Hirohito accept the Potsdam Declaration (the Allied ultimatum of July 26 that demanded Japan surrender immediately or suffer prompt and utter destruction) and agree to capitulate (although he never once mentioned the word surrender in his radio address announcing this decision). In fact, the atomic bombings provided the Emperor with the very leverage necessary to overcome the fanatical opposition by die-hard military members of his cabinet. In this regard, one member of Hirohitos cabinet called the bombs gifts from the gods. 2. Japan was trying to surrender. Japan had more than ample opportunities to surrender at any time during the summer of 1945, but stubbornly chose not to. The Potsdam Declaration, for example, was met only by stony silence on Japans part. Even after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, Japanese leaders callously chose not to take advantage of the opportunity to surrender at any time during the three days that elapsed between the first and second bombings. The principal evidence critics repeatedly cite that Japan was actively trying to surrender is an ambiguous message transmitted by Foreign Minister Togo to the Japanese ambassador to the Soviet Union. Since it only stated that the Emperor desires from his heart that [the war] may be quickly terminated, it hardly represented a serious effort to surrender. Moreover, Japans military leaders unrealistically would only agree to termination of hostilities under conditions that were totally unacceptable to the Allies, including: no Allied occupation of Japan; disarmament of its military forces under Japanese supervision; and no Allied trials of Japanese war criminals. Other peace feelers were floated unofficially by individual Japanese diplomats during 1945, but, like the one to the Soviets, they were all violently opposed by the cabinets military fanatics bent on national suicide. When, after the atomic bombings, the Japanese finally decided to surrender, they had no difficulty immediately transmitting that desire to the United States through the Swiss embassy. 3. There were other means at hand, short of an invasion, to force Japan to capitulate. U.S. Navy leaders, anxious to promote their services contribution to the defeat of Japan, wanted to forego using the atomic bombs and continue the naval blockade of the home islands until the Japanese finally surrendered. How long that would have taken is unknown, but certainly it would have required many more weeks, if not months, to produce a surrender. Likewise, U.S. air commanders, eager to establish their own service as the war winner, wanted their strategic conventional bombing campaign to be continued indefinitely until it finally forced Japan to surrender. Meanwhile, thousands of American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were dying each month from combat and military accidents (almost 4,000 died in July 1945 alone) merely to maintain the blockade and prosecute the conventional bombing campaign. Trumans objective was to end the war as soon as possible, something that neither blockade nor conventional air attack could have achieved. The final straw grasped at by the other means proponents is their claim that the Soviet declaration of war on Japan and its massive offensive (begun August 9) 1.5 million Red Army troops took part against Japanese forces in Manchuria would have forced a surrender. Although Stalins declaration of war shocked Japanese leaders, they were still debating how many months not days Japan might hold out in their cabinet discussions in the immediate wake of the Russian attack. While the atomic bombings combined with the Soviet offensive certainly produced a dual shock that influenced Japans leaders to surrender, the Russian attack alone could not have forced an expeditious, early decision. While it seems certain that the combination of these non-invasion actions naval blockade, strategic bombing and Soviet attack would have eventually forced Japan to surrender, none of them could have ended the war, as the atomic bombs did, in August 1945. 4. The bombs were only meant to intimidate the Soviet Union. Some Cold War historians, engrossed in the geopolitical maneuverings and Machiavellian intrigue of the 50-year confrontation between the superpowers, have claimed that Trumans principal motivation in dropping the atomic bombs was to impress or even intimidate the U.S.S.R. This theory emanates from a dual premise: first, it presumes that the bombings were not necessary to secure Japans surrender; and, second, it endows Truman with a prescient insight through which he somehow predicted the coming half-century long Cold War and the confrontational nature of future relations with the Soviet Union. Neither the historical record of the deliberations over the use of the bombs nor Trumans dealings with Stalin at the time support this theory. Despite his frustrations regarding Stalins behavior during the Potsdam Conference (July 1945), Truman remained hopeful in August 1945 that the U.S. and the Soviet Union would be able to cooperate in the post-war world. Historian J. Samuel Walker, in his insightful and influential book, Prompt & Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs Against Japan, lays out the definitive case against this theory, pointing out that, although the Presidents influential Secretary of State, James Byrnes expressed hope that the bomb would provide diplomatic benefits by making the Soviets more tractable, Truman merely saw this as a bonus. Walker concluded, Growing differences with the Soviet Union were a factor in the thinking of American officials about the bomb but were not the main reason that they rushed to drop it on Japan. Above all, this theory is based primarily upon perfect hindsight, not upon the knowledge and conditions that existed at the time Truman made his decision. Trumans foremost consideration in using the bomb, Walker noted, was not to frustrate Soviet ambitionsit was to end the war at the earliest possible time. 5. The estimates of U.S. casualties resulting from an invasion are inflated. This is, perhaps, the most outrageous criticism of all, since it is promulgated upon the argument that not enough American troops would have died in an invasion of Japan to justify the bombings. Since Truman, in the years following the war, used what now seem (arguably) to be exaggerated U.S. casualty estimates to subsequently justify his atomic bomb decision, critics have used these figures as a basis to attack the bombings. Certainly, Trumans oft-quoted figure that the bombings avoided 1,000,000 American combat deaths that would have resulted from an invasion of Japan seem difficult to justify (a common rebuttal figure claims that only about 46,000 invading U.S. troops would have been killed). Yet, reducing the debate over the use of the atomic bombs to, essentially, a squabble over potential body count numbers obscures any real analysis of all the other major issues that influenced Trumans decision. In one way, this numbers game is somewhat analogous to the strategy employed by the lawyer representing the woman who sued McDonalds because she spilled hot coffee on herself. Once her lawyer had reduced the court case to an argument over how hot the coffee was, he had it won. Similarly, critics who can show that Trumans casualty numbers are demonstrably imprecise, attempt to turn that Gotcha! into proof that the bombs were unnecessary. Not even Trumans critics dispute the fact that the bombings saved substantial numbers of American and Japanese lives; but the question their criticism logically leads to becomes, How many dead Americans (and Japanese for that matter) would it take to make Trumans critics feel better about his atomic bomb decision? The only sensible answer to that question seems to be the one provided in an editorial in the Washington Post (February 10, 1995) by Yale Universitys James R. Van de Velde who wrote, Did the bombs save lives? Absolutely yes the two atomic bombs helped hasten this terrible wars end period. And that was unambiguously good. Continuing to criticize Trumans decision by impugning the estimated casualty figures is simply quibbling over the temperature of the coffee and represents merely a red herring in the atomic bomb debate. 6. The second atomic bombing was totally unnecessary. The final major criticism of Trumans decision claims that the dropping of the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9 was totally unnecessary and represented an act of American vengeance motivated by racism and hatred of the Japanese people. The purveyors of this criticism, however, ignore the actual situation that existed within Hirohitos wartime cabinet in the wake of the Hiroshima bombing. Walker wrote that, even after the extent of the destruction of the first bombing was realized, Japans Supreme Council for the Direction of the War could not reach a consensus on surrender and were hopelessly deadlocked. The fanatical militarists in the council continued to hold out for a bloody campaign of national suicide and had dismissed the reality that the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima was an atomic explosive and that the United States had more weapons of equal power. It took the dropping of the second atomic bomb to demolish the argument of the die-hards and provide the cabinets surrender proponents with the ammunition they needed to finally convince the Emperor to intervene. While it is undeniable that most Americans in 1945 harbored a visceral hated of the Japanese people and it is also true that, as John Dower showed in his excellent book, War Without Mercy, racism on both sides made the Pacific war particularly brutal, neither hatred nor racism was Trumans primary motivation in his authorization of the Nagasaki bombing. Indeed, even more than the first atomic bombing, it was the second bomb that proved to be most necessary to influence Japans surrender decision. LEGACY OF THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS The criticisms and second-guessing of Trumans decision that have come up over the decades since the war ended were never present in 1945 and the immediate aftermath of the war. In Gallup polls taken in the fall of 1945, for example, 85 percent endorsed the atomic attacks while the percentage of those opposed to their use was less than 5 percent. Nearly one-quarter of respondents in one of the polls even wished that the U.S. had dropped many more atomic bombs on Japan before it surrendered. The sentiment expressed by one Marine preparing for the bloody invasion of Japan likely represents a common feeling of relief among American troops when they got the word: Thank God for the Atom Bomb! he wrote. The tenor of moral outrage that taints much of the criticism seems more a product of the Cold Wars anti-nuclear movement than any supposed qualms held by the Greatest Generation. Likewise, recent critics overriding concern over safeguarding the lives of enemy civilians smacks more of idealistic late20th century hand-wringing than realistic mid-century warfighting between nations waging total war. As Walker rightly points out, In the summer of 1945, the Truman administration was not looking for ways to avoid using the bomb. It was seeking ways to end the war. Moreover, if unnecessary civilian deaths the 130,000 to 250,000 who died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki have provoked the critics outrage, where is their anger over the 12 million slaughtered Chinese innocents? One legacy of the atomic bombings, however, may be laced with historical irony subsequent generations of Japanese have been able to use their status as the initial victims of atomic warfare as a moral fig leaf behind which to hide their nations war crimes against the conquered peoples of Asia. Click here to see an article on how V-J Day was celebrated around the world in 1945. Jerry D. Morelock, PhD, HISTORYNET Editor at Large. Irelands foreign affairs minister has rejected a suggestion by DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds that the Irish Government is discussing the annexation of Northern Ireland. Tanaiste (deputy prime minister) Simon Coveney said Mr Dodds words were inflammatory and insisted the Republics position on the border issue had neither softened nor hardened during ongoing negotiations. A joint report on the UKs EU withdrawal agreed in December by Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker included British proposals to keep the Irish border open after Brexit along with a third backstop option which would keep Northern Ireland in the Customs Union. Mr Coveney said Mr Dodds language was unfortunate (Brian Lawless/PA) But a version published by the EU in February and agreed by the EU27 last month contained only the backstop, effectively drawing a customs border down the Irish Sea, which a furious Mrs May said no British prime minister could ever agree to. The Democratic Unionists are adamantly opposed to any regulatory divergence between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, one of its red lines which would jeopardise the partys support for Mrs Mays minority Government at Westminster. DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds told the website Conservative Home: Up to now Simon Coveney, the Department of Foreign Affairs, have talked in very, very aggressive terms. Theyve talked about almost the annexation of Northern Ireland. But Mr Coveney, speaking to reporters after attending a lunch with business leaders in Londonderry on Wednesday, refuted the claim and described Mr Dodds language as unfortunate. He said: Were not looking to use Brexit to promote any kind of constitutional change on the island of Ireland, not at all. We dont want to see a border down the Irish Sea. We certainly dont want to see any border infrastructure on the island of Ireland. What were doing is we are trying to take a position in these negotiations which tries to protect the status quo which has been hard won over the last two decades. He said he would happily meet Mr Dodds to discuss the Irish Governments stance. Mr Dodds said the EU definition of the backstop arrangements would have created a border down the Irish Sea. It is to all intents and purposes the break-up of the United Kingdom. He added: So I say that the effect of what theyre saying would be the annexation of Northern Ireland. That would be utterly unacceptable. But Mr Coveney said the agreed backstop must be implemented as an insurance mechanism for people living in border counties, adding that from there a future relationship can be negotiated. He reiterated the Irish position that a political, rather than technological solution is needed for the border issue. He told members of the press at the City Hotel in Derry: This is not going to be solved by technology and cameras and scanning systems and drones on the border. Whats required here is a backstop which is a political agreement which is consistent with maintaining full alignment with the rules of the customs union and single market in the areas that are necessary to allow for the all-island economy to function and north south cooperation to function and to protect the Good Friday Agreement. Thats the commitment thats been made by both sides and now were looking for a legal text which reflects that, that can be agreed between the two negotiating teams. Mr Coveney said he also had two good meetings with both the SDLP and Alliance earlier in the day in relation to the collapsed Northern Ireland Assembly, and would be meeting British Secretary of State Karen Bradley again next week as work continues to try and find a way forward. Emmanuel Macrons proposal for a new deal with Iran received a warm welcome from the UK, which said it was ready to work with allies to deal with issues like Tehrans ballistic missile programme and its regional ambitions. During his state visit to Washington, the French president acknowledged a disagreement with Donald Trump over the 2015 deal to rein in Irans nuclear weapons programme, which his US host has repeatedly threatened to tear up. Mr Macron said he believed he and Trump could overcome their differences with a new broader deal which would also restrict Irans regional influence and ballistic missile programme. Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron share a toast during the State Dinner at the White House (AP) The new deal would also create a framework for controlling Tehrans nuclear activities after the current Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) expires in 2025. I always said we should not tear apart the JCPOA and have nothing else, Mr Macron told a joint press conference. I think this would not be a good solution. No matter the decision now that President Trump will take, I would like us to work as from now on a new deal with four pillars, including what is already covered by the JCPOA. Mr Trump, who had earlier denounced the Obama-era JCPOA deal as insane and ridiculous, told the French president he was ready to be flexible on the issue. You know, in life you have to be flexible, and as leaders of countries, you have to show flexibility, said the US leader. Prime Minister Theresa Mays official spokesman made clear that the UK was ready to work with allies on the issues identified by Mr Macron. We have worked very closely with our French and German partners in relation to this (JCPOA) deal, said the spokesman. Our priority is preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. The nuclear deal was the product of 13 years of diplomacy and is working, Iran having reduced its stock of enriched uranium by 95%. At the same time, we recognise that there things that the deal does not cover, but which we need to address, including ballistic missiles, what happens when the deal expires and Irans destabilising regional activity. We are working closely with our allies on how to address the range of challenges Iran poses in the Middle East, including those issues which President Macron proposed a new deal might cover. Meghan Markle may have carried out her last official engagement before the royal wedding bowing out at Prince Harrys side honouring New Zealand and Australias war dead. The American actress is expected to concentrate full-time on planning her nuptials after Kensington Palace said Ms Markle had no more official events planned with her fiance. Harry has not waited until they are married to introduce his fiancee to life as a member of the royal family, and appeared eager to have his bride-to-be share the workload. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day (Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA) Since the couple announced their engagement on November 27 they have carried out 16 days of royal engagements together, starting with a visit to Nottingham and ending with a series of Anzac Day commemoration events in London on Wednesday. Today, on #AnzacDay Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle have paid tribute to Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women at the Dawn Service in London alongside @NZinUK and @AusHouseLondon pic.twitter.com/ewpNibiqtA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) April 25, 2018 A Kensington Palace spokesman said Ms Markle does not have any scheduled joint engagements with the prince. Ms Markles hands-on approach to the wedding was revealed by a cellist who said the actress rang and asked him to play at her wedding. Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a rising star of the classical music world, said he was bowled over when Prince Harrys fiancee requested his services and he agreed immediately. A conversation with hotelier Paloma Scott Mirissa made headlines for an unpleasant incident earlier this month and the authorities immediately reacted to it by taking actions like suspending the activities of the restaurant and removing unauthorised establishments along the Mirissa coastal belt. Hence, work is in progress to safeguard the tourism industry in the country, with special focus on the South. Having been in the tourism industry for six years, Unawatuna Beach Resorts (Pvt) Ltd Managing Director Paloma Scott recently expressed her concerns about the attitudes men have towards white women. She was born in England (London) to Sri Lankan and Scottish/English parents. When her brother discovered Unawatuna, Paloma was determined to change her career plans and get involved in the tourism industry instead. In a candid interview with the Daily Mirror, Paloma expressed her views about how the beach culture has changed over the years, the disgusting attitudes of Sri Lankan men towards foreign women and offered a few tips to foreigners who travel to Sri Lanka in future. Excerpts : The moment people see a white face in their shops their prices start skyrocketing Young children should be taught how women should be respected since this problem should be addressed from the grassroots level. English is the language of the law in this country and it is a sign of education The idea of service in Sri Lanka has gotten mixed up with the idea of servitude I guess Thailand does a better job in keeping people safe Three-wheel drivers ask the most intimate questions the moment I step into a three-wheeler Therefore the availability of technology and porn videos in particular, changes peoples attitudes Q From when you first discovered Unawatuna what changes have you seen in the beach culture? Unawatuna is a very particular case because when you go to the hotel the curve of the beach was a bit like Mirissa. In 2012 we lost the beach when the coastal conservation department, with the guidance of the Rajapaksa Government, decided in their wisdom to build a breakwater. It was ideally to protect the corals destroyed by the tsunami. None of the villagers knew about it and when it started in June or July in 2012 the beach started to disappear. I still have friends in London who would text me and ask whether Im safe in Sri Lanka. I dont think that the people around the world look at Sri Lanka in a positive way. Every time there is a bad news in Sri Lanka it spreads so fast and gets the attention of international media in a matter of seconds They built the breakwater very quickly, but their calculation proved to be slightly wrong because the water came in with great speed and took all our sand towards the Western side of the reef. Nobody speaks about such incidents, but I decided to voice out my concerns because nobody can take away anybodys beach and it affected the industry. I started getting help and eventually the Rajapaksa regime immediately attended to the matter. They pumped the sand in and within two weeks we had the biggest beach in down South. So Unawatuna went from being an intimate coast to an enormous beach and it attracted a different group of tourists. I market my hotel as a family oriented hotel and 50% of guests are Sri Lankans and the rest are from all over the world. I hear of various incidents around the coastal belt in the South, but so far I havent heard of such incidents happening in Unawatuna. Q How have beach boys become a menace in the area? I personally havent had any serious incidents with beach boys, but there have been incidents with various drug dealers. There are one or two wandering around, but they keep clear when Im around. There are guests who attract them as well. There are no incidents of beach boys harassing women in Unawatuna, but I see that Mirissa has a big problem. Mirissa has many night clubs along the shore, but Unawatuna mainly has restaurants and bars except for one or two night clubs with loud music even after 11.30pm. But if I have a party at my hotel I have to finish it off by 11.30pm and its sad how one rule works for me and there is another rule for the rest. I feel that if I was a man this wouldnt have been so. But because I am a woman it doesnt really matter and that is one example of bullying. Q In your recent write up on socail media you have mentioned about authorities lagging behind in their duties. What are your observations on how they respond to incidents involving violence and harassment? I think part of it is to do with liquor and cigarettes because men speak that language. They trade in that and the authorities turn a blind eye to these incidents. But when theres a woman involved they cant do that and I definitely will not give them liquor or cigarettes. Most of these officers are not well educated and they dont speak English. English is the language of the law in this country and it is a sign of education. They hide behind their inability to speak English and use it as a tool to bully and harass people like me. What I find is that they do understand English although they cant speak and its a useful mechanism for them to hide behind it and act as if they knew nothing. Most of the forms we get to fill are in English or Sinhala, but not Tamil. The Tamil diaspora is very powerful and the world outside already views Sri Lanka as an unsafe destination to travel to. The Sinhalese community has failed to counter argue about the war and in Britain, Canada and Norway there is a bias towards a minority interest But they have to be written in Tamil as well since this is a trilingual country. In Britain documents are available in over 10 different languages although it is a monolingual country. The third reason is the male chauvinist attitudes towards a white woman. They have this incredible habit of being rude in front of me and most of them cant even look at me and shake my hand. That has nothing to do with language and they are basic manners which are lacking in most people. This is why I have mentioned in my article that a white woman is viewed as a peculiar aberration and they dont have any respect towards foreign women. This is my experience. Q Does this also go in line with the belief that men have a tendency to harass women because they watch a lot of pornography? Quite interestingly I too have had a theory as to why Sri Lankan men, particularly three-wheel drivers ask the most intimate questions the moment I step into a three-wheeler. They ask if I would like to come back to their house and similar questions. Im old enough to be their grandmother and they just think that because you are in a foreign land and since you are alone, you are up for grabs. I would never even dream of asking them or their wives these questions. So yes, because they look at all these videos and because there is a liking for white flesh and because they see a lot of white women in porn videos they believe that we do it all the time. Therefore the availability of technology and porn videos in particular, changes peoples attitudes towards white women. Q The Sri Lankan tourism industry is still in its developing stages. Dont you think that incidents such as what happened in Mirissa will put a black mark against the country? I think the Government, big hotel owners and operators should lead this mission. As I understand that many tourism-related businesses are owned by ministers or they have their hand in it. The best thing they could do is promote Sri Lanka as a safe destination for tourists to travel to and take action against the culture of objectifying women. Since Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country and people are heavily inspired by the Buddhist culture, young children should be taught how women should be respected since this problem should be addressed from the grassroots level. Another observation is that the moment people see a white face in their shops their prices start skyrocketing. A Sri Lankan coming to Britain would pay the same price as the person next to him, but this is not the case in Sri Lanka The Tamil diaspora is very powerful and the world outside already views Sri Lanka as an unsafe destination to travel to. The Sinhalese community has failed to counter argue about the war and in Britain, Canada and Norway there is a bias towards a minority interest. I still have friends in London who would text me and ask whether Im safe in Sri Lanka. I dont think that the people around the world look at Sri Lanka in a positive way. Every time there is a bad news in Sri Lanka it spreads so fast and gets the attention of international media in a matter of seconds. Q Countries such as Thailand for instance also have a beach culture, but tourists are safe there. What makes this difference? I think there may be incidents in Thailand and because it is a large country they have a very sophisticated tourist industry. I see that they have a culture of service. The idea of service in Sri Lanka has gotten mixed up with the idea of servitude. No one wants to be a servant or be in servitude. I think another problem for politicians and the tourist industry is how to inculcate the idea of service and how do you inculcate the fact that tourists should be treated in the same hospitable manner as how you would treat a guest who visits your house. Im sure you would immediately ask have you eaten? This should be the benchmark for the tourist industry. In that case people would spend money and come here rather than going to Thailand. I guess Thailand does a better job in keeping people safe, it may be that they are clever at covering any problems they have. Q What tips could you offer foreigners who travel to Sri Lanka? I would say that they should dress appropriately. It is not about covering themselves from head to toe, but a lot of them should dress properly. This is because most white women are viewed differently to Sri Lankan women and white women tend to emphasize all the wrong bits in their body. If you are wearing something thats revealing your body parts, it would draw the attention of people around you irrespective of whether you are walking down a street in London or in Sri Lanka. Other than that it does help to know a little bit of the language and it does help that you shouldnt haggle on the smallest amount of money. I see this mostly in foreigners and a little Rs. 100 is nothing. Another observation is that the moment people see a white face in their shops their prices start skyrocketing. A Sri Lankan coming to Britain would pay the same price as the person next to him, but this is not the case in Sri Lanka. Also just like anywhere dont go out at night and dont get involved in drugs or booze until you dont know where you are. I started getting help and eventually the Rajapaksa regime immediately attended to the matter. They pumped the sand in and within two weeks we had the biggest beach in down South. So Unawatuna went from being an intimate coast to an enormous beach Q As a hotelier do you see a bright future for the tourism industry? Not at the moment. I say this simply because there are many opportunities to not repeat the same mistakes as in other parts of the world. I think this should start from kindergarten. Children should be taught not to throw rubbish and pollute the environment. We are heading towards a crisis because there are many plastic bottles that get washed onto the shore. The authorities have turned a blind eye on these issues once again. Sri Lanka is a fabulous country and we dont have to do much. We are far ahead than India because you dont fall ill. The male collective should change their attitudes towards women and women should be encouraged to enter the workforce as well. We have all the natural resources in abundance and we need to protect them before the country turns into a desert. The factory manager and the senior laboratory controller of the Horana Rubber Factory where five deaths were reported in the ammonia tank tragedy were further remanded till April 27 by the Horana Magistrates Court today. The Horana Police arrested factory manager, A. K. D. R Edirisinghe, a resident of Boralesgamuwa on Thursday while the 42-year-old female laboratory controller was arrested at her residence at Dikhenapura in Horana on Saturday in connection with the incident. They were charged with negligence and the failure to take adequate safety precautions. Two workers of the factory and three villagers who attempted to rescue one of the employees of the factory were killed and several others were hospitalized after being exposed to Ammonia gas at the factory in Bellapitiya, Horana on Thursday. While stating that 3,000 police personnel will be deployed on Vesak Day for the security of the people and traffic controls in the Colombo City, Police Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara said five Vesak zones will be held in Colombo including 11 pandals. We have arranged a special operation on Vesak Day ensuring the security of the people and the traffic controls. 1900 police personnel will be deployed around the Vesak zones while 1100 will be deployed as traffic police officers. Moreover, Panadura-Walana Central Anti-Corruption Unit will also be in action to raid drug peddlers, SP Ruwan Gunasekara said. Meanwhile, he said 23 deaths were reported in 2016 and 40 deaths 2017 respectively during the Vesak seasons due to traffic accidents. When considering the traffic accidents during festive seasons, most of the accidents were caused due to the negligence of the motorcycle riders. Therefore, the motorcycle riders should be more mindful of their driving so that most of the traffic accidents can be minimized, SP Gunasekara added. (Sheain Fernandopulle) Simon Creasey Country Exams Manager, British Council Sri Lanka British Council and Clarity English have collaborated to develop an online preparation and practice resource for the IELTS. This online tool is launched for the first time in Sri Lanka exclusively through the British Council IELTS Registration centre network. The Road to IELTS programme is designed to enable test takers to perform to the best of their capabilities and can be accessed from anywhere using desktops, tablets and soon mobile phones as well. Road to IELTS Institutional version is a comprehensive and up-to-date practice resource aimed at tackling the challenges faced by IELTS candidates. It comprises of four key resources for each skill area, beginning with an eBook which introduces each paper and explains task types. Further resources include advice and tutorial videos by experts, a practice zone, and test practice, where candidates simulate the test experience with mock tests. IELTS is the International English Language Testing System, the worlds most popular English language proficiency test for higher education and global migration with over 3 million tests taken in the last year. Over 10,000 organisations trust and accept IELTS as a secure, valid and reliable indicator of true to life ability to communicate in English for education, immigration and professional accreditation. IELTS is jointly owned by British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge English Language Assessment. The British Council emphasises and understands the importance of IELTS for students aiming to study abroad. As explained by registered IELTS examiner and Managing Director of ClarityEnglish, Andrew Stokes, Typically, overseas students accept an offer of a university place about six months before the academic year begins. However, most will not take their IELTS test until three months later, and inevitably a certain percentage fails to achieve the band score required for the course. Failing at the IELTS can drastically affect ones future. Andrew Stokes Managing Director, Clarity English Clarity English is a developer of tech-based learning materials for English and the recipient of the English-Speaking Union Innovation Award and the HKICT Award for Technical Excellence (Best Product) for Road to IELTS. Established in 1994, its relationship with British Council spans over 20 projects. British Council and Clarity English also co-publish other IELTS support resources in addition to Road to IELTS. With Road to IELTS, effective test preparation and teacher support extends beyond the classroom. The program is devised to mark students work and provide feedback on individual performance as well. According to Dr Victoria Clark of the British Council, Depending on motivation and talent, a student can raise their level of English by half to one IELTS band score in three months if they put in enough work. Since its inception, Road to IELTS has concluded more than 4 million sessions and is utilized by more than 1,000 schools globally. A survey of 130,000 users of Road to IELTS determined that those who use it the most improve by as much as 52%. Our IELTS Registration centre network, spans across the country. Many of them offer IELTS preparation support to test candidates and we are keen to support the partner network with quality tools for IELTS preparation. We understand that preparation is key to get desired results at the test, said Simon Creasey, Country Exams Manager British Council. The resource comprises of more than 300 interactive exercises, 36 individual practice tests, and 24 advice videos. Road to IELTS has several features, including a countdown clock, an IELTS score calculator, a timer for exam practice, and downloadable study sheets. The My Progress function enables students to monitor performance, analyse their use of time, compare performance with other online users, and even predict band scores in the Reading and Listening tests using an interactive widget. The Road to IELTS institutional version will enable IELTS teachers to prepare test candidates better. The tool will complement the class room and bring in further professionalism to the IELTS teachers who work with us through our partner network, Dileepa Manawadu, Head of Business Development UK qualifications, stated. IELTS test is administered by the British Council in multiple locations in Colombo, Kandy, Jaffna, Galle, Matara, Negombo, Kurunegala and Batticaloa. IELTS candidates who takes the test at a British Council test centre receives a wide range of free preparation support from library access, seminars and practice books in addition to a 30-hour preparation course. Dileepa Manawadu Head of Business Development UK qualifications, British Council Sri Lanka For further details on the IELTS test please visit www.britishcouncil.lk . By Karla Adam, William Booth (c) 2018, The Washington Post Apr 23, 2018 - Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth to a baby boy on Monday morning, touching off widespread jubilation - and a few yawns - across Britain. Her husband, Prince William, 35, was by her side for the birth of their third child. The baby weighed 8lbs 7oz, Kensington Palace announced in a tweet. The Duke of Cambridge was present for the birth. Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well. According to tradition, news of the birth was later displayed on an easel in front of Buckingham Palace, but by then everyone knew the news. The roadway in front of the maternity entrance at St. Marys Hospital was lined with hundreds of reporters, speaking a babel of languages and doing stand-ups with cameras pointed at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Prince George, 4, who was still wearing his school uniform, and Princess Charlotte, 2, came to meet their new sibling on Monday afternoon. Before walking in, Charlotte gave a royal wave to the cannonade of cameras. As the Cambridges got into their waiting Land Rover, William told reporters that he was very delighted, thank you. The Washington Posts Jennifer Hassan in London contributed to this report. -LONDON BEIJING REUTERS April 24- China failed to get Indias support for its ambitious Belt and Road infrastructure project at the end of a foreign ministers meeting of a major security bloc on Tuesday, ahead of an ice-breaking trip to China this week by Indias prime minister. The Belt and Road is Chinese President Xi Jinpings landmark scheme to build infrastructure to connect China to the rest of Asia and beyond, a giant reworking of its old Silk Road. India has not signed up to the initiative as parts of one key project, the $57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, run through Pakistan-administered Kashmir that India considers its own territory. Whether or not China will be able to win India round to the Belt and Road will likely be a key measure of the success of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis trip to China to meet Xi for an informal meeting on Friday and Saturday. But Indias foreign minister did not express support for Belt and Road in the communique released after foreign ministers of the China and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation met in Beijing. India, along with Pakistan, joined the group last year. All the other foreign ministers - from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - reaffirmed support for Chinas Belt and Road proposal, the statement read. Sri Lanka can boast of a diverse coastline, which is ecologically and economically valuable. Our shores provide livelihoods to many people, and act as our first line of defence in case of natural disasters. The fisheries they support also act as an important source of nutrition. When a natural ecosystem provides invaluable services to people as well as fauna and flora, it is afforded protected status. The efficient management of these Protected Areas (PAs) ensures that these benefits can be sustained for generations to come. Gazetting of Wedithalathive Nature Reserve Wedithalathive is a small town situated on the coast, accessed by the Mannar-Jaffna A32 highway. On 25 February 2016, Wedithalathives ecosystems were given legal protection by its declaration as a Nature Reserve under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. This was carried out just 2 years ago by the Department of Wildlife Conservation, and gave protection to mangroves, sea-grass beds and coral reefs situated in the area. These natural ecosystems have been recognized worldwide for their importance in maintaining ocean productivity. Proposed Aquaculture Park According to the Environmental Foundation Limited (EFL) as well as published sources, a cabinet paper has been prepared to excise and de-gazette approximately 1000 hectares of land from this newly declared reserve, in order to establish a commercial Aquaculture park. The paper was co-proposed by both the Minister of Fisheries and the Minister of Sustainable Development and Wildlife, with the recommendation of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management. The proposed Aqua-park is slated to yield a commercial harvest of fish and shellfish, especially prawns, for export. This raises many red flags, as pond-based prawn farming has not been a success story in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in Asia. In fact, a closer look at the area just South of Wedithalathive, in Puttalam and Mundal, show large tracts of prawn farms abandoned in the last 30 years due to disease outbreaks and unsustainable practices. In an Aqua-park, the landscape is created for artificial breeding of economically important fishery species. Land units are leased to aquaculture farmers, and these units include purpose built ponds and facilities for seawater take and discharge. The park should also have wet-laboratories and hatcheries, intensive culture facilities, and dry-laboratories, for quality assurance and updated research purposes. Overall, stringent scientific standards must be met if an Aqua-park is to be successful. However, in practice, the execution of such projects is difficult due to the complex variables that need to be considered, and de-gazetting Protected Areas for such commercial ventures is a dangerous precedent to set, as the impacts may outweigh the benefits. Environmental Impacts The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and many other research bodies around the world have shown a strong correlation between intact natural ecosystems and protection from natural disasters. The stretch of mangroves, sea-grass beds and patchy coral reef running up the coastline of the Wedithalathive Nature Reserve provides the crucial service of regulating coastal flood events, protecting against storms and preventing the erosion of the sandy shore. They also provide protection against coastal disasters such as tidal waves. De-gazetting of the Reserve means that natural vegetation will be cut down to make way for ponds and tanks, similar to the devastation caused by aquaculture ventures in other parts such as Puttalam. This leaves the coastline and the villages more exposed to natural disasters. The Wedithalathive Reserve and the ecosystems in the adjoining Vankalai Sanctuary also supports important biodiversity in Sri Lanka, such as wading birds and crustaceans, and the habitat crucial for the survival of these species may be lost. Additionally, this area is an important feeding ground for thousands of migratory birds that winter in Sri Lanka, and this may lead to severe human-wildlife conflict if an Aquapark is established here. Socioeconomic Impacts of De-gazetting From a purely economic perspective, many would argue that creating jobs for rural communities and earning more revenue through foreign exchange take precedence over protecting endangered animals in a delicate ecosystem. However, the EFL reports that sacrificing Nature Reserves and protected areas in order to carry out Aqua-park operations will lead to unmitigated disasters that will affect both the vulnerable communities living in these areas, in addition to the delicate coastal ecosystems. According to a research carried out by EFL, many local communities will directly feel the impacts of pollution through discharge of contaminated water from the Aqua-park, and the resulting loss in productivity in natural ecosystems. The report states there are many fishers currently engaging in near-shore artisanal fishery and off-shore commercial fishery in the area, who stand to lose their livelihoods due to pollution and loss in productivity. This is because many commercially viable species use mangroves, sea-grass beds and reefs as their breeding and spawning grounds, ensuring that our oceans keep getting a fresh stock of commercially important marine species. The traditional fishers of the area are able to bring in their catches of shrimp, crab and fish because of the service provided by these mangrove and coral reef ecosystems. If productivity of these ecosystems were lost, the offshore fishing industry of the area would collapse. Alarmingly, the community may also face shortages of freshwater in the future, as aqua-parks require a steady supply of freshwater to maintain salinity. The ground water table of the arid zone may become imbalanced due to these withdrawals. A Strong EIA Required Following the presentation of the proposal, the cabinet of ministers have instructed relevant officials to conduct a feasibility study and provide an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR), prior to providing the approval for the project. It is extremely important to ensure that a strong EIA is carried out, encompassing all aspects such as biodiversity protected by the Reserve, ecosystem services and values to the community, negative externalities which may be created by an Aquapark and the opportunity costs of the venture. The right experts need to be contacted, and a thorough assessment must be carried out in an accountable manner before any decisions are made. The terrestrial portion of the Wedithalathive Nature Reserve is not just a barren land with a few bushes. It is a living ecosystem, which provides crucial services for humans and for animals. Grasping for foreign exchange through any means necessary will only lead to destitute communities, ravaged ecosystems, wasted investments and abandoned ventures. (Amayaa Wijesinghe works as a Programme Officer at SLYCAN Trust. She studied environmental sciences at the Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences of the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo. Her research interest lies in the role natural ecosystems can play in helping communities become more resilient to changing temperatures, especially through restoration of forests.) Posted on Jan 12, 2015 in Tactics101 Tactics 101 104 Bradley Platoon Defense Bradley Platoon Defense A view from the Platoon Leaders Foxhole/Cupola Little minds try to defend everything at once, but sensible people look at the main point only; they parry the worst blows and stand a little hurt if thereby they avoid a greater one, if you try to hold everything, you hold nothing. Frederick the Great LAST MONTH In our last article, we put ourselves in the mind of LT Duffer. As a young Bradley Platoon Leader, there is obviously quite a bit going on in there. We walked you through the thought process of LT Duffer as he planned and prepared for an offensive mission. We believe the article re-empathized the criticality of understanding yourself, the enemy, and the terrain when planning for a mission. Not only is this important for planning; but you must strive to achieve this throughout the execution of a mission. As we have mentioned numerous times, these variables are continually changing. What you know as truth at one moment; can and will change quickly. LT Duffer found that out the hard way in training, but he learned some valuable lessons. He took stock in these lessons when he led his platoon in combat. {default} THIS MONTH In this months article, we will continue to follow LT Duffer as he leads his Soldiers in combat. We will shift focus and turn to the defense. Again, we will key on the thought process of LT Duffer as he plans his platoon defense. LT Duffer has some options and we will look at each of them. Of course, each of his options must be feasible and achieve the purpose and task given to him by his Company Commander. His focus must be on achieving his purpose. His task may change depending on the variables, but it must always be able to accomplish the purpose. LETS GO BACK The attack on Objective Red went extremely well. Lieutenant Duffers platoon destroyed the combat outpost and held the gap allowing the Company to destroy the security zone platoon. The cascading success continued when the Battalion seized the motorized rifle company battle position on the flank of an enemy battalion battle position. Morale was high in the Company and the Platoon. The best part of the mission was that no casualties were suffered. A few close calls that shook up some Soldiers, but no one suffered any combat injuries. The Battalion attack was successful, but they needed to regroup before continuing the attack south. It was time to transition. In the aftermath of a tough, but successful fight, it is often necessary to hunker down for a while to consolidate your gains, resupply, fix vehicles, and rearm. This prevents the unit from going beyond its culmination point when your ability to continue the attack successfully begins to decline. As we addressed in an earlier article, there is clearly an art and science to determining this transition point. Decide too early or too late and the results could be disastrous. Another reason to pause is the likelihood of a counter attack. Whenever possible, the defender will launch a counter attack before the attacker consolidates in the hopes of regaining lost ground. It is said that the moment of greatest vulnerability for the attacker is the moment of success. With that in mind, the Battalion Commander decided to order a hasty defense to buy time for consolidation and reorganization. The ground he chose was good. The choke point would allow the Battalion to fend off a potential counter attack with a minimum of force. One Company could hold the narrow choke point while the rest of the Battalion prepared for the next attack from battle positions in depth. If the Company allowed a penetration, the Battalion would be positioned in depth to destroy anyone who managed to make it to them. The question was who to send forward to stop the counter attack? The answer was obviousthe winner was Bravo Company. Bravo had taken on the security zone in the last attack and had not taken any losses; they were the most fit. The Terrain The ground offers the enemy three Avenues of Approach (AA); one major and two minor. The main AA was up the middle, through the gap and it could accommodate a battalion-size attack. To the west of the main AA was a small trail over a saddle that could handle a platoon and to the east was a small valley that could host a company. The Battalion would close the platoon AA so Bravo could focus on defending AA 1 and 2. Understanding Yourself, The Enemy, and The Terrain/Time Lieutenant Duffer received his mission and began his assessment. He began with a quick METT-TC analysis. Mission: The Battalion blocks enemy attacks north of the pass in order to allow the Brigade to prepare for the next attack. Bravo Co, Battalion main effort, destroys enemy forces in the pass in order to prevent any force larger than an organized MRC from advancing north and disrupting the Battalion mission. 3rd Platoon blocks AA2 in order to prevent the envelopment or bypass of Bravo Company. Enemy: The enemy consists of a Motorized Rifle Battalion at 60% strength. They lost the defense and morale is low, but they are expected to counter attack in order to disrupt and delay our forces to allow reinforcements to arrive. 3rd Platoon will face a MRC on AA2 trying to bypass the main pass to the southwest. Troops: BFV Platoon with a Sapper Squad Terrain: The ground is open except for the mountains which offer three passes; a platoon size pass to the west, a battalion size pass in the center and a company size pass to the east. The ground slopes slightly upward to a high ground where the Battalion is deployed in the defense. The east side of the valley is walled in by mountains. Time: The defense must be ready in 48 hours technically giving Duffer 16 hours to plan and the platoon 32 hours to rehearse and prepare the defense. Duffer knew the troops needed time to dig in, emplace obstacles, stake out their engagement areas and rehearse. Hed limit himself to 9 hours and give his troops 39. The Company Commander trusted LT Duffer and the Third Herd. He gave Duffer full discretion to shut down AA2 any way he wanted to. Bravo Company, minus 3rd Platoon, was going to defend AA1 from the reverse slope. The enemy would have to squeeze through the gap and into Bravos engagement area. TROOP LEADING PROCEDURES Receive the Mission Issue the Warning Order Start Necessary Movement Conduct Reconnaissance Complete the Plan Issue the Operation Order Supervise Rehearse Duffers 3rd Platoon is expected to hold off a Motorized Rifle Company trying to flank the main defense. Two more MRCs would head into the gap while a platoon would probably probe the goat trail to the east. The enemy would open up with a heavy artillery barrage designed to remove the infantry from the mountains where they could employ Anti-tank weapons and snipers. The vehicles would have to force the passes and their infantry could not climb the mountains without being compromised. As always, Duffer assessed his platoon. He still had his four Bradleys and three infantry squads. The Brads had long range weapons with excellent thermal night vision, but the infantry squads were the ones who would provide security and early warning. They would patrol the high ground and keep enemy infantry from getting above the Bradleys. They would over watch the obstacles and would call for artillery fires when the enemy approached. Hed get artillery, mortars, close air, air defense and engineer support this time. They would be a significant addition! He also had flares and star clusters. His troops carried Claymore Mines and there would be obstacles to hinder movementwire and mines. All weapon systems would have range cards and Target Reference Points (TRPs) would be registered and visible. The defender gets to prepare; its his advantage against the attackers numbers and control of timing. His weapons capabilities stats include: 25-mm chain gun: 2,500 meters . . TOW: 3,750 meters . . The dismounted Javelin: 2,000 meters . Javelin: . SAW and M60 reaching out to 1 kilometer. Infantry small arms reaching out to 400 meters. Grenades; HE, smoke, and incendiary The Battalion fire and obstacle plan was already laid in. Bravo Company was given the latitude to make their own plans. The Battalion would support anything the Company needed since they were the main effort. Duffers concern was AA2 on the Company left flank. The Battalion built a three Company engagement areaBrigade provided a reserve tank Company so that the entire Battalion could get into the fight. The obstacles on the flanks of the engagement area would turn the enemy into it. The obstacles out front would disrupt his formations, causing him to zig-zag while taking flank shots and artillery all the way. If they were lucky enough to make it through all that; theyd hit blocking obstacles head on while in range of just about every weapon in the Battalion. It was a lead gauntlet for anyone able to get by Bravo. Bravo would destroy at least two of the three attacking companies making the final suicide attack for the survivors. Duffers plan came last. He needed to see where and how the rest of the Company was defending in order to decide how best to secure their flank. Bravo would be behind the gap. There would be wire and mines to force the enemy to breach. Infantry would flank the gap in dug in positions. Duffer could defend reverse slope like the company, forward slope, or in the gap. Before he decided, he had to go through his combat power by the numbers. COMBAT POWER Maneuver. There would be no counterattack from 3rd Platoon during the defense. His maneuver advantage would come from initial positioning and preplanned fires. Firepower. Aside from artillery and mortars Duffer had 25mm guns, TOWs, Javelinsthe whole kit. The key was focus. He would need to build an engagement area. Theyd rehearse it and everyone would make their range cardsevery shot needed to count since hed be outnumbered 3 to 1, normal in the defense. Every minute of prep not used by the defender benefits the attacker. Duffer knew the rule. Protection. Aside from the armor protection the crews had, the troops would have to dig in and build overhead cover. Theyd dig foxholes and place plywood boards on top with layer upon layer of sandbags. A properly prepared foxhole can take a direct hit from a 122 arty round. The NCOs would have to supervise and double check on the troops. Leadership. Speaking of NCOs, Duffer had the full complement and an excellent lot they were. Like all American units, he had the benefit of a highly professional NCO Corps who could run things on their own. Theyd supervise prep and the fight. No problem here. Information. The key in the defense was to see the enemy coming and hit them enroute; keep hitting them and make them absorb losses before they even closed on the defensive positions. It was also important to deny their scouts from seeing you and to avoid getting caught in your holes during arty prep. The latter meant hide positions for the Brads. CAPABILITIES Effective synergy between BFVs and rifle squads. Use 25-mm and 7.62-mm Coax to engage light armor and infantry Infantry to block dismounted avenues of approach. The ability to retain key and decisive terrain. Conduct mounted or dismounted patrols in support of security. Establish strong points. Over watch and secure obstacles. Repel enemy attacks. Destroy light armor vehicles with BFV and AT. LIMITATIONS Duffer knew the limitations of the BFV platoon BFVs are vulnerable to AT and Tank main gun fire. Rifle squads are vulnerable to small arms and indirect fire. MOUNTED ELEMENT The mounted element consists of four BFVs in two sections (A and B) with two BFVs each; the PL and wingman and the PSG and wingman. DISMOUNTED ELEMENT Three nine-man rifle squads make up the dismounted Infantry. The squad has two, four-man fire teams and a squad leader. Each squad has an AT weapon and a SAW. Rifleman. Each squad has two riflemen equipped with an M16A2 or M4. One rifleman is designated as the antiarmor specialist. The other is assigned the M240B. Antiarmor Specialist. The designated Javelin and AT4 gunner provides lethal fire-and-forget, man-portable, top attack anti-armor capability to defeat enemy main battle tanks during day, night, and adverse weather conditions. Grenadier. The grenadier has an M203 which consists of an M16 with attached 40-mm grenade launcher. The M203 gives the fire team indirect-fire out to 350 meters. He can fire high-explosive (HE) or can employ smoke to screen and cover his movement, fire, and maneuver. He can fire illumination rounds to increase visibility and mark enemy or friendly positions. Automatic Rifleman. Each squad has two automatic weapons. The automatic rifleman mainly uses the M249 squad automatic weapon. The M249 gives the squad a high volume of sustained, long-range, suppressive, or lethal fires far beyond the range of the M16 or M4 rifle. The automatic rifleman uses the M249 to suppress enemy infantry and destroy enemy automatic rifle and antitank teams. Inventory complete; how could the unit be best put to use? The way Duffer saw it; he could defend reverse slope, strongpoint in the gap or forward slope. Lets review his options below: LT Duffer first considered defending reverse slope, placing his forces on the far side of the key terrain. The enemy would have to fight their way through and out of the pass. Advantages It forces the enemy to fight their way out of the key terrain It provides the defender with the ability to fire from maximum range It denies the enemy maximum range and dispersion It is difficult for enemy recon to find It complicates enemy artillery fire since they have to fire over terrain Disadvantages Reduces direct fire versus the enemy approach to the key terrain LT Duffer considered actually placing his platoon on the key terrain in a strongpoint. The enemy would have to fight to enter the pass. Advantages It physically places the platoon on the key terrain. It forces the enemy to fight for physical control of the terrain It concentrates forces and firepower Disadvantages It takes more resources and preparation It is more vulnerable to artillery fire It is easier for enemy recon to find Lastly, Duffer could defend forward slope. In this case, he would place his platoon between the enemy and the key terrain. The enemy would have to fight their way to the pass. Advantages Allows direct engagement at maximum range in front of the key terrain Makes the calling for and shifting of indirect fires easier Allows the defender to track the enemy throughout his approach Disadvantages Provides the enemy with maneuver space Eases enemy recon and employment of indirect fire All three plans had their merits and demerits and LT Duffer war-gamed them all. It seemed to him that the best use of his Platoon was to defend reverse slope. This gave him the most security and made the problem the most difficult for the enemy. The Platoon Sergeant took charge of two infantry squads, reinforced with the third squads Javelins, south of the gap in BATTLE POSITION 32. Their mission was to block infantry infiltration along the ridgeline to prevent bypass of the gap or pre-breaching of obstacles. They would focus their AT fires into Engagement Area Axe to attrite the enemy armor and IFVs. The third squad (-) was placed in a security position north of the gap to secure the left flank. They had the best observation from the high ground so they would direct artillery and close air support. The four Bradleys of the mounted element defended BATTLE POSITION 30 from the reverse slope of the gap. They would destroy enemy in Engagement Area Shield to prevent the envelopment of BATTLE POSITION 20, the right flank of the Bravo Company defense blocking the main pass. THE BATTLE The enemy motorized rifle battalion was at 60% strength when they attacked. They tried to bypass B Co by sending an infantry company infiltration towards BATTLE POSITION 32 followed by a MRC (-) attempting to force the northern pass. The infantry were decimated by artillery and machine gun fire directed from BATTLE POSITION 32 while the MRC lost several vehicles in EA Axe and was stopped dead in EA Shield. Once the attempt to open up the northern pass failed; the enemy sent two MRCs (-) and a tank company (-) towards the southern pass. The attack was furious and desperate, bolstered with artillery and close air support, but it also failed. Overall, the enemy lost better than 75% of their combat power trying to press through the two passes. Bravo Company and LT Duffers third platoon had succeeded. The Battalion and Brigade had been given the time needed to consolidate, reorganize and plan the follow on attack. Bravo Company kept its attached tank platoon and four platoon configuration for the next mission. They were assigned the mission of the Battalion reserve to follow and support the Battalion attack. Duffer had won his first two battles; one offense and one defense. The experience reinforced his training. He followed METT-TC and the troop leading procedures as closely as possible and, most importantly, he catalogued his platoons capabilities and limitations. I guess Sun TSU was right. Know the Enemy, know the Terrain, know Yourself REVIEW In the past two articles, we put ourselves in the mind of LT Duffer. We watched him plan an offense and a defense. In combat, you grew up very quickly. That was certainly the case with LT Duffer. He entered the battlefield as a green LT, who knew his doctrine and had been trained in the most realistic training environments. However, the optimum word was training. After two successful combat missions, LT Duffer was now beaming with confidence and more importantly, he has the confidence of his men. The key to Duffers success: HE KNEW HIMSELF, HIS ENEMY, AND THE TERRAIN. NEXT MONTH In our next article, we will move from the Bradley Platoon to the Bradley Company. We will first discuss the organization of the Company. The Company has a tremendous amount of combat power available to it. Obviously, you must understand how to utilize it and synchronize it. In future articles we will address it. Investment to be utilized for countrywide expansions International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, is set to invest US $ 3 to 4 million in Digital Mobility Solutions Lanka (Private) Limited, the operators of PickMe, Sri Lankas largest ride hailing app. IFCs investment will provide working capital for the expansion of company operations across Sri Lanka, an IFC disclosure said. This will be IFCs first investment in PickMe. Jiffry Zulfer Hassen is the founder and largest shareholder of Digital Mobility Solutions Lanka (Private) Limited. Other shareholders include Ajit Gunewardene, Lanka Orix Information Technology Services Ltd, Interblocks Limited, H Capital (Private) Limited, and Ruchi Gunewardene. PickMes operations are currently focused on the Colombo area and Kandy and taxi hailing app based service for primarily five types of vehiclesthree-wheelers, nano cars, mini cars sedan and vans. The company also provides premium transport services (VIP rides) for special occasions like weddings, seminars, and to corporate clients etc. Under the current operations, on-demand taxi hailing service is provided by a registered driver called freelancer driver through the companys mobile application. Any member of public, who owns a vehicle, can register with the company as a freelancer driver after meeting the eligibility criteria and passing the background checks. Once registered, the drivers are then free to accept pickup/drop requests from the PickMe mobile app, as per the terms and conditions signed with the drivers. Likewise, a customer can choose his/her pickup and destination locations and put a request on the PickMe mobile app which can be accepted by one of the registered freelancer drivers. The company currently has around 20,000 registered freelancer drivers who are active on the network, have their own vehicles and are providing services on revenue sharing basis. At present, the companys operational assets include its corporate office space in Colombo and a small office in Kandy, both of which are leased spaces. The company does not have any other assets or buildings and it does not own any vehicles. Since its launch at the beginning of this year, MillionSpaces, a marketplace where guests can discover, pay and book unique spaces online, which was launched by the Silicon Valley based technology solutions firm, Auxenta, is attracting many hits. Within the short period since its launch, the site has already attracted 120,000-plus visitors to date, with about 1,000-plus unique visitors browsing the site daily. The concept has proven successful with MillionSpaces receiving daily bookings from customers. The platform hosts a range of spaces that accommodate parties, meetings, sports, conferences, interviews, trainings, photoshoots, weddings, hot desks, and concerts. Venue owners can list their space by entering some basic information and photographs to be amongst 260-plus spaces featured on the site, for no upfront fees, while MillionSpaces will recognize and feature the space on a series of promotional channels. The Founder of Million Spaces, Prasath Nanayakkara, says, MillionSpaces was conceptualized as a platform that would disrupt and simplify the process of finding the ideal venue to match any occasion from the convenience of mobile devices. Our faith in its promise has been reaffirmed by the high number of visits to the website. It is evident that customers are appreciating the facility to book spaces for a wide variety of corporate and social events in just 3 clicks. MillionSpaces provides the ideal platform for space owners and people looking for a venue to meet and network. The platform is easy to navigate and owners have to merely create a listing that showcases their space and are even able to define their own pricing. Whether it is a cocktail party, pop-up event, or photoshoot, space owners can decide to whom and for what type of event they would like to hire out their space. In no time, they will receive inquiries and be able to manage leads from people and brands looking to host events in their spaces. This is the only platform to provide real time availability of spaces and an instant booking feature with the best price guarantee. Every space is curated by the MillionSpaces team with an eye for tasteful design. Whats great is that it negates the multitude of phone calls you have to make to find the perfect space that fits your budget and location. MillionSpaces anticipates that this platform will uncover an array of exciting new spaces and expand the market. Million Spaces was initially launched in Colombo and has a roadmap to expand globally across US, Singapore and Europe. You can visit the site via www.millionspaces.com. DPA, 24th APRIL, 2018- A US Senate committee voted along party lines Monday to send the nomination of Mike Pompeo to be US President Donald Trumps secretary of state to the full Senate for a vote. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted favourably recommend Pompeo, who currently is serving as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Trump named Pompeo last month after firing Rex Tillerson. The vote was closely watched because Pompeo was at risk of not winning a majority, which would have been a rare rebuke of a nominee for the job of secretary of state. Other recent nominees have received the unanimous backing of the committee. The nomination went through only after a snag caused by the absence of Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, who was away attending a funeral. Democrats objected to allowing a proxy vote, meaning the first round vote was a 10-10 tie. The vote changed to a majority for Pompeo after one of the Democrats on the committee agreed to vote present at the urging of committee Chairman Bob Corker, who lamented the partisan atmosphere on the committee. Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy will deliver a lecture on Myanmar: The Rohingya Refugee Crisis, Roots of the Conflict and Possibilities for the Future at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI) on Thursday, May 3. Dr. Coomaraswamy is a member of an independent three-person United Nations (UN) Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2017. Members of the Mission aim to present solid and comprehensive findings on the human rights situation in Myanmar from 2011 onwards -- particularly in the States of Rakhine, Kachin and northern Shan. The lecture will begin by covering the uncontested history of Myanmar, particularly to recount conflicts between the Myanmar government and ethnic minorities other than the Rohingyas. This would provide a backdrop on the nature of the Myanmarese state when dealing with minorities in general. The lecture will then cover the contested history of Rakhine state and the Rohingyas, as well as the history of legislation against them since independence. It will analyse two specific incidents that have given rise to international outragethe events of October 2016 and, in particular, the events of August 2017. It will also cover some of the allegations that have been made, based on evidence from the testimonies gathered in Cox Bazaar that were part of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. The lecture will conclude by reflecting on future trajectories on accountability and resettlement of refugees, and the future of Myanmar democracy. It will be followed by a Q&A session moderated by Dr. Dinusha Panditaratne, Executive Director of LKI. In addition to being a member of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, Dr. Coomaraswamy serves on the Constitutional Council of Sri Lanka and was formerly Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission. She has also been UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. In 2014, Dr. Coomaraswamy was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as the lead author of the 2015 Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325. Dr. Coomaraswamy is a renowned academic and was a Global Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law. She received her B.A. from Yale University, her J.D. from Columbia University, an LL.M. from Harvard University and honorary PhDs from Amherst College, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, CUNY School of Law, and the universities of Edinburgh, Ulster and Essex, amongst others. This lecture will convene members of the government, policymakers, business leaders, diplomats, scholars, and civil society. The LKI is a think tank which analyses Sri Lankas international relations and strategic interests, chaired by the Hon. Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka. It reflects the vision of the late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar by promoting the countrys intellectual profile in foreign policy research and engagement. Attendance is by invitation and prior registration. To register your interest, please email programmes@lki.lk with your name and organisational affiliation. Sangharaja Welivita Saranankara Thera Sri Lanka should have celebrated the 415th Birth Anniversary of Sangharaja Welivita Sri Saranankara Thera as much as the bringing of Upasampada to Sri Lanka in 1753. If not for Sangharaja Wellivita, Sri Lanka would not have been a Buddhist country. The Sangharaja was born at Tumpane in June 1698 of the Christan era, but the birth date cannot be verified. The birth is referred to as the fifteenth year during the reign of Vimaladharmasuriya II on the seventh day in the dark half moon of the month of Poson. Some say it is the 16th and others say it could be the 19th of June 2005. But, there is no doubt that Buddhisms renaissance commenced with the entry of Ven. Welivita Sri Saranankara as a monk, who later was bestowed with the Title of Sangharaja by King Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe. During the celebrations of the 250th year of bringing Upasampada to Sri Lanka millions were spent, but the birth place remained in the state as shown in the photograph. The fact remains that the birth place of the Sangharaja should be made a National Monument or as the residents of the area point out that the entire complex, which includes the Cultural Centre, the Pansala, the Buddhu-ge and the premises where the the Sangharaja and Kithsiri Rajasinghe had planted two Bo-trees should be made into a Sacred Area. It is time that the the Government or the Archaeological authorities took action to preserve the Birth place of this monk, without whom there would be no Buddhism in Sri Lanka. BACKGROUND Before the Sangharaja entered monkhood and in the renaissance of Buddhism, there were a group of monks, who were titled Ganninnansas. The Sangharaja opend up the Silvatas Assocation the forerunner to this renaissance. A fantastic amount of money running into millions of rupees had been spent a few years back on the 250th Anniversary commemorating the bringing of Upasampada to Sri Lanka, which transformed the Maha Sangha which was an exercise of the the Sangharaja. But, the very place where Sangharaja Weliwita Asarana Sarana Saranankara was born, the Temple where the Thera resided at Welivita and Vihare remains in a dilapidated condition even up to this very moment. More over where the very Vihare where Sangharaja used to come and meditate and pray is in utter neglect. Trekking nearly 20 kilometers this scribe has made his way to Sangharagapura several times, more so as a pilgrimage to the village of Welivita in the Tumpane Divisional Secretarys Division on a road that needs repair. Every time the visit has brought heart burns to this scribe, that none of the agencies all these years has taken an interest in this field of restoration of the birthplace of the Sangharaja. The house that Sangharaja Asarana Sarana Saranankara Welivita was born is in the most dilapidated condition, which is owned by one S.B.Weliwita, residing in Kandy. Some of the wooden pillars have been replaced by concrete pillars, but the doorways seems to intact. However the building needs repairs and conservation. S.B.Welivita, within his means has tried to do up the house and the original wooden frames are intact, though the pillars are in concrete. This scribe spoke to S.B. Welivita, in Kandy working at the University of Peradeniya and he has a tale of woe. He said a number of public servants and others have come over the years to write articles and also to see the place, but he is the one who even puts up a Buddhist Flag at this birth place during Veask, Poson and other Poya days. He said on Thursday that he was going to Sangharajapura to put up a Flag so that the younger generation would know. He said that this is done for the sake of the younger generation to least know that, Here lived a monk to whom credit should be given for the upliftment of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. This is only one aspect of this most regretful history that has befallen to a Thera who should be venerated daily in Buddhist homes and looked upon as the saviour of the Buddha Sasana. Venerable Asarana Sarana Saranankara Welivita Thera was instrumental in a renaissance of Buddhism in the country, when there was not a single member of the Sangha who was ordained in the Upasampada Karamaya or Higher Ordination. Several attempts to bring the Upasampada failed until during King Kirthi Sri Rajasinghes period. Upasampada was brought by a delegation headed by Maha Thera Upali. Venerable Welivita was born in this remote village of Welivita named as Kulatunge Banda, whose father was Kiri Banda a farmer. At the age of 12, the young Kulatunge Banda was entrusted to Venarable Suriyagoda Rajaguru to be ordanied a monk at Suriyagoda in the now Yatinuwara electorate. It is from here that he had his basics on Buddhism and went in search of a inner dimensions of Buddhism at a time when there was no books or scholars. A cave at Balane was his place of meditation and lived in cave close, both which could be located. The two caves are separated by the Kandy-Colombo railway track. But, without so much of a sign to indicate that this Venerated member of the Sangha lived or meditated there. The irony of the whole situation is that though the then government spent millions through the District Secretary at Kandy and other government functionaries, they did not have an iota of knowledge to even so much to indicate by erecting a plaque at these the places where this Thera lived, studied or meditated. No doubt,. he had been going around the country in order to enlighten the people and the monks. The Ven. Thera should be recognised not only during celebrations but throughout by the Buddhist public. There was a time, when the officers of the State banished Venerable Asarana Sarana Welivita Thera without his knowledge, due to jealousy, to Laggala and was also nearly being beheaded for an alleged crime against the King at Malwatta Chapter. The irony of the whole situation is that though the then government spent millions through the District Secretary at Kandy and other government functionaries, they did not have an iota of knowledge However, when a wisecrack Brahamin came to the Kandyan Kingdom who went unmatched with arguments on Buddhism, the King sought the help of Venerable Welivita. The King was told that he was banished to Laggala, whereon, the King sent his own Palanquin to bring back Welivita Thera. At a time when discipline of the Sangha was at a low ebb, he formed what later came to be known as Silvatha Association which was the forerunner to these classes. As a last resort the King called upon a meeting at Poya Maluwa Vihare in Malwatta and selected the persons who should proceed on this errand to Siam (Thailand). In this five were selected was Wilbagedera. The Dutch released a Yatch named Tharka. There were two ships that came, one was the ship supplied by the Dutch Taraka and the Thai ship. Wilbagedera travelled in the Thai ship while others travelled in the the ship provided by the Dutch. The Thai delegation stayed at Godapola before they proceeded to Kandy and at Godapola, the Siamese Priests taught the Sri Lankan Pirests how to don the Robe and the finer points of the Upasampada ceremony. On Poya day of 1753, the first Upasampada was held, firstly on a member of the Thai delegation and secondly on Mahanayake Kobbekaduwa and later on Welivita Asarana Sarana Saranankara Thera. On this day Asgiri Sangha was not present for the first Upasampada. There were five pupils to the Sangharaja and the first been Venerabe Tibbotuwawe Sri Siddhartha Buddhraksitha Thera followed by The house that Sangharaja Asarana Sarana Saranankara Weliwita was born is in the most dilapidated condition, which is owned by one S.B.Weliwita, residing in Kandy. four others. The Temple at Weliwita which is in a most dipilated state is surrounded by new buildings, but the old Temple has been saved. The credit must be given to the present member of the Sangha, as they have not touched this old building, though a new building has been built close by. But, the old Viharege and the pansala needs conservation and the attention of the government authorities. A question should be asked as to whether the Government agencies did not realise that the ceremonies to mark the 250th year of Upasampada or even the 2550th celebrations should have included Sangharajapurs Vihare or should have commenced by rehabilitating two ancient historic edifices, such as the Vihare and the birthplace. The monies spent have gone in the air and so much so that even a plaque has not been erected to name the palces where the Sangaraja lived or medidated. A cultural centre, which premises embraces two Bo-trees one planted by the Sangharaja and the other by King Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe was construted during on the instructions of Late President Premadasa and in the same premises in 1998 the Cultural Minister Lakshman Jayakody unveiled a statue of the Sangharaja. Sri Lanka has reiterated the importance of the Non-Proliferation of the Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as the global regime for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament which ensures a balanced and non-discriminatory approach to building international peace and security. Sri Lankan Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, A.L.A. Azeez expressed these views while addressing Second Meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of the Nuclear Weapons (NPT) on Tuesday in Geneva. We support all efforts towards achieving the universalization of the NPT as the legal regime that enjoys the participation of the largest number of UN Member States including the permanent members of the UN Security Council. We also support the call for application of the full scope of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safeguards to ensure meaningful implementation of the provisions in the Treaty, he said. Ambassador Azeez said moving away from the realistic path to disarmament may lend itself to a possible re-emergence of an arms race, with far reaching consequences for humanity if it happened. He said a nuclear security infrastructure linking nuclear safety regime and peaceful uses framework at the national level is pivotal to an environment which leaves no room for vulnerabilities to be exploited by persons or groups with malicious intent. We propose that this Meeting come up with elements and guidelines that will help a time bound and pragmatic action plan and outcome to emerge at the 2020 NPT Review, he said. The Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) rejected to register a foreign medical team of around 150 members who had sought approval to hold clinics in Sri Lanka, a spokesman to the SLMC today said. The spokesman told Daily Mirror that this request had been made through the Sri Lanka Navy where medical personnel attached to the Navy of some other countries including America, Australia and Japan had sought the approval to hold clinics in the North-Eastern Province for two weeks. The Navy is making requests from time to time to hold such clinics. Similar incident has happened last year, where a group of foreign doctors requested to hold clinics in Hambantota, and the SLMC had rejected to register them, he said. He said the SLMC had not registered them last year because the request had not been directed to them through the Director General of Health Services and added that this year the requests had been made in the proper way. He said the registration of this medical team was rejected due to lack of details, however, the SLMC had allowed this team to participate as observers and only the local doctors would conduct medication. He said the clinics are scheduled to hold from April 25 to May 9. Meanwhile, the Navy said this medical team had arrived in Sri Lanka by the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) as U.S and partner nation service members participated in the Pacific Partnership 2018 in Trincomalee. The mission in Trincomalee will continue till May 8 and will feature Pacific Partnership doctors and medical personnel working side-by-side with Sri Lankan medical professionals to exchange best practices, it said. It said the mission included military and civilian personnel from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Peru, and Japan. However, it also said the Navy had earlier conducted medical camps jointly with medical teams of other countries including United States and India. (Kalathma Jayawardhane and Darshana Sanjeewa) DPA, 24th APRIL, 2018- The man suspected of deliberately driving a van into pedestrians along a busy street in Toronto is set to appear in court later on Tuesday. Alek Minassian, who was arrested on Monday, is due to appear before a Toronto court at 10 am (1400 GMT), Toronto police said on Twitter, adding that information on charges will be released at that time. The 25-year-old was arrested after the van he was driving jumped the kerb and mowed down pedestrians in the busy suburb of North York, killing at least 10 and injuring 15 others. Similar acts in other cities in recent years have been carried out by terrorists, but Ralph Goodale, Canadas minister of public safety, said following the attack that it was too early to say whether the Toronto incident was terrorism. Goodale also said it was unknown whether the incident was connected to a meeting of the G7 foreign ministers currently taking place in Toronto, Canadas biggest city. Mayday is a signal. The term indicates a life-threatening emergency usually used by aviators and mariners, but also in some countries by firefighters and other working in difficult conditions. Apparently it was coined by a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport, London in 1923. He had been asked to come up with a distress-indicating word and had drawn it from the French word maider which means help me. It is unrelated to the holiday May Day, Wikipedia notes. May Day predates Mayday, and conspiracy theorists may very well say that it was a pernicious twist. May Day has rarely distressed anyone, especially the capitalist class. Indeed, one might even say that the capitalist class has appropriated May Day through political parties that by and large take care of their interests. This year wont be different in this sense, and yet for at least a couple of reasons May Day 2018 will be quite unlike May Days of the past. May Day not being on the 1st of May feels strange, many have said. May Day however is International Workers Day, where workers all over the world, in and out of unions, in and out of political parties, talk about the distance traveled and the distance to be travelled, so to speak. Whats important is that it is a single day thats set aside to celebrate labour and workers, talk about conditions of work exploitation, articulate grievances and discuss what needs to be done. Well, in Sri Lanka, thats not what happens in the main, but lets put that aside. Its a single day. Its as if labour counts only on a single day, which of course is all rubbish. So, one could argue, if its just a single day and if it is close to meaningless, it shouldnt matter when May Day is held, in May or in another month, or whether it is held on the 1st of January, the 31st of December or the 28th of February. Those who are religious about May Day have objected, and that says a lot about the status of the working class movement and the Left in this country. In short, they are religious about May Day, i.e. the trappings, and are clueless about the conditions of exploitation. May Day 2018 is strange for another reason and one which makes us think of Mayday! Mayday. Let us say it in the form of a question: will the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) hold a May Day rally this year? In 2017, the Yahapalana Government, which seemed less watery in terms of cohesion than it is now, threw a challenge to the Joint Opposition (JO): we will let you have the biggest open space in Colombo, Galle Face try filling it! The JO was essentially a breakaway faction of the SLFP. The mother party decided to do its thing in Kandy. The JO took up the challenge and drew unprecedented crowds to the Galle Face. It was an even bigger show than their rally a year before in Kirulapona. This year wont be different in this sense, and yet for at least a couple of reasons May Day 2018 will be quite unlike May Days of the past. If that was an indication of slippage in the SLFPs and especially President Mairhtipala Sirisenas political fortunes, the true dimensions were realized on February 10, 2018. Sirisenas share of the party, so to say, diminished to the point that his faction, the official SLFP, could hardly muster 15% of the total vote at the local government elections. Further erosion was evidenced when 16 SLFPers who officially sided with Sirisena supported the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on April 5, 2018. Today, they are threatening to organize a separate May Day rally if the party leadership does not move to replace certain office-bearers. Whether they can do it is not relevant here. Whats pertinent is that as we write, just two weeks before the official May Day (May 7), the SLFP does not seem to be in any position to do the show-of-force number that May Day has traditionally been. Apparently a committee has been appointed to organize the event, this time in Batticaloa. From Hyde Park to Kandy to Batticaloa might sound like a retreat to some. The JO is to have its May Day rally in Galle this year. Retreat cannot be applied to this distancing from Colombo simply because the JO is in consolidation mode. Their numbers increased in Parliament and they are well ahead outside. In all likelihood, they will put up the best show this May Day. Some UNPers are cock-a-hoop over their leader surviving the no-confidence motion, but theyve failed to understand that this victory came from a parliamentary composition that inflates considerably the voter-sentiment as evidenced on February 10. Theyve moved from Campbell Park to Sugathadasa Stadium. More importantly, the entire exercise has driven the key coalition partner, the SLFP and its leader Sirisena, into a serious identity crisis. They are not sure if they are part of the government or not, whether they should or should not be in the government. Sirisena, whose tenure has been marked by tremendous efforts to be accepted as the leader of the SLFP (not just in name), doesnt have a party to speak of. Its as though the SLFP has upped and left its official residence on Darley Road. The party office remains, but the building is all but empty. We will know for sure when the show is over. There will be some chest-beating and bravado. No one will actually blurt out Mayday! Mayday! and not just on account of language preferences, but the distress signs are so unmistakable that cries for help are not necessary. Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer. www.malindawords.blogspot.com Service members of the US and partner nations participating in Pacific Partnership 2018 arrived in Trincomalee aboard the US Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) today. The mission in Trincomalee will continue through May 8 and will feature Pacific Partnership doctors and medical personnel working side-by-side with Sri Lankan medical professionals to exchange best practices. Additionally, US and partner nation service members will join their Sri Lankan counterparts in civil engineering projects, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) readiness seminars and public outreach engagements throughout the local community. "I am very excited to see our team working with side-by-side with the people of Sri Lanka. Through Pacific Partnership, we are building bonds of trust, friendship, and partnership with the Sri Lankan people that will help us prepare together for a multitude of contingencies that our nations face with manmade and natural disasters. We are honored to be guests in this country and work beside our Sri Lankan counterparts," said Capt. David Bretz, the mission commander for Pacific Partnership 2018. Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multilateral disaster response preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific. This year's mission includes military and civilian personnel from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Peru, and Japan. US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Atul Keshap said Pacific Partnership 2018 offers an excellent opportunity for the US and Sri Lankan militaries to serve Sri Lankans in need and expand our growing partnership in humanitarian and disaster relief. From medical clinics to free public concerts, our sailors will bring the best of America to local communities, he said. USNS Mercy made previous stops in the 2018 mission in Bengkulu, Indonesia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After departing Sri Lanka, USNS Mercy will make mission stops in Vietnam and Japan strengthening alliances, partnerships and multilateral cooperation throughout the Indo-Pacific region. The Pacific Partnership 2018 consists of more than 800 US and partner nation military and civilian personnel working side-by-side with host nation counterparts to be better prepared for potential humanitarian aid and disaster response situations. With only a few days into the Joint Warfighter Assessment, Sky Soldiers have already conducted an 18-hour Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise, planned a night air assault mission, and incorporated multiple new systems into brigade operations. Sky Soldiers of the 1st Bn, 503rd Inf Rgt, 173rd Airborne Bde participate in training at the Joint Warfighter Assessment on Sunday 22 April in Hohenfels, Germany (Photo: US Army/ Spc Henry Villarama). As reported by Capt. Joseph Legros, thus far, Sky Soldiers are demonstrating their combat readiness in numerous domains, and preparing to conduct realistic training alongside a larger computer simulation to test battalion and brigade communication and planning systems. Brig. Gen. Joel K. Tyler, Joint Modernization Command's Commander, visited the Sky Soldiers, April 21, to share his vision for why this training is so important. "We're here to evaluate our training readiness, enable interoperability, and inform Future Force Development," Tyler reinforced to senior leaders of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. "Most people think of interoperability as 'multinational,' but it also means 'intra-army.'" Joining Sky Soldiers in support of intra-army operability is the 1st Infantry Division and their 2nd Brigade Combat Team, U.S. Army Europe's regionally allocated force. However, there are also commands from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Special Forces, making this a truly joint event as well. Airborne Soldiers from Italy's Folgore Brigade help round out the critical allied piece of the exercise. Tyler encouraged leaders to innovate everything while here. "This is a blank canvas," he said. "Obviously there are some observations and evaluations we want to do, but please take advantage." Under Tyler's leadership, JMC focuses on Future Force Development as well as joint and multinational interoperability and training. JWA presents a unique chance to evaluate future Army initiatives. One piece of innovation includes the ability for all allies and partners to share a continually updated operating picture. Units are able to accomplish this by integrating communication platforms such as online chatting, inter- and intranet email, orders distribution, and file sharing systems. "We have had coalition communication systems in the past on previous deployments," said Staff Sgt. Simon Barefoot, 173rd Airborne Brigade Cyber Security noncommissioned officer. But these systems must continually improve in their ability to deal with modern challenges in cybersecurity while still allowing a seamless flow of information between commands." Barefoot added that the Mission Partner Environment was designed as a tactical system allowing for shared information such as visual graphics, data, fires, command and control, email, chat and a common operating picture. "We will never go at this alone, so interoperability of our mission command systems is paramount," said 173rd Airborne Brigade S6 Maj. Timothy Jones. "The MPE is what the European theater has been lacking, a persistent enclave that enhances information sharing with allies. This will increase the lethality and survivability of our NATO alliance. The core infrastructure has been doing very well so far at the brigade level, and we've been it pushing down to the battalion level as well." Part of the JWA scenario will involve complications due to communication system breakdowns. Sky Soldiers must adapt to these issues to win the fight. Success will also hinge upon prior knowledge of terrain, key areas of interest, the battle timeline, and remembering where other units are positioned throughout the battle. The sheer number of troops and countries involved in JWA make it one of the largest exercises of the year, featuring nearly 7,000 troops from 11 countries, representing more than 160 military units. Sky Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade jump into JWA at the same time as 7th Army Training Command's Combined Resolve X exercise and the Air Force's Blue Flag command post exercise. Essentially, Hohenfels plays host to three different exercises at once. Together with NATO allies from Canada, Denmark, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, as well as Australia, Macedonia and New Zealand, JWA represents a great opportunity to work together on many levels. Sky Soldiers will get the chance to fight opposition forces during JWA. In addition to other combined arms training, Paratroopers will conduct an air assault to open up a landing area for other forces to bring in combat power. Under cover of darkness, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 91st Infantry Regiment will rapidly dismount from CH-47 Chinooks, securing the surrounding area with hasty perimeter security. From there, they will seize key terrain, expanding their control of the territory to prevent recapture by opposition forces. While preparing for the air assault, Paratroopers found time to conduct safety training on mounting and dismounting of land-based vehicles and aircraft, something they will likely do more than 500 times over the next week. Safety is a huge consideration anytime Sky Soldiers jump, especially when follow-on exercises are included. "Troop movement needs to be safe and it needs to be fast," said 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment's Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Christopher Mullinax. All the while, JWA personnel and Sky Soldiers will assess new equipment, communication technologies and best practices meant to enhance future joint capabilities. "JWA provides our Airborne Brigade the opportunity to synchronize all of our warfighting functions in a live and constructive environment," said Col. James Bartholomees, 173rd Airborne Brigade Commander. "Through JMC and the Joint Multinational Simulation Center scenarios, we get to test and integrate all of these functions to deliver combat power against the enemy." Sky Soldiers benefit from the realistic training scenarios of JWA in multiple ways, but especially in the ability to utilize future force items like new signal intercept vehicles and the communication infrastructure. Based on feedback from JMC personnel and those participating in JWA, these innovations will be continually enhanced. At the same time, JWA reinforces Sky Soldier lethality and combat agility to make the training as beneficial as possible. Bartholomees added, "Our focus is to enable mission command and leader initiative at the lowest level. The design of the scenarios and support from JMC absolutely facilitate this focus." The 173rd Airborne Brigade is U.S. Army Europe's Contingency Response Force, capable of projecting forces to conduct the full range of military operations across the United States European, Central and African Command areas of responsibility. Oops....! We couldn't find that... 404 error Unfortunately the page you were looking for could not be found. It may be temporarily unavailable, moved or no longer exist. Check the URL you entered for any mistakes and try again. Alternatively, search for whatever is missing or take a look around the rest of our site. The United States is calling on all sides in Armenia to work within the countrys legal framework to resolve differences and ensure a peaceful transition of power, Sputniknews.com reports, citing a press release by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert. April 25, 2018, 12:02 US urges for constructive transition of power in Armenia STEPANAKERT, APRIL 25, ARTSAKHPRESS:"The coming days represent a historic moment for the people of Armenia and its elected leaders, as they embark on the process of forming a new government," Nauert said on Tuesday. "We urge all sides to engage constructively, within the legal framework of the Armenian constitution, to ensure a peaceful transition of power that follows the rule of law." Nauert also said that the United States looks forward to working closely with a new government on shared interests. During an appearance on Fred Dicker's Albany radio show Wednesday, DeFrancisco wasn't sure if he would end his campaign before the weekend. But he conceded that the race "is basically over." While DeFrancisco didn't express interest in financially supporting Molinaro, he won't mount a primary challenge against the GOP front-runner. Before announcing he will no longer actively campaign, DeFrancisco said he was reconsidering whether to attend two Republican events in Saratoga and Tioga counties. DeFrancisco declared his candidacy in January and appeared to be the front-runner for the GOP nomination after Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb exited the race. He received more than a dozen endorsements from GOP county chairs before Molinaro, who initially opted not to run for governor, reconsidered. Once Molinaro entered the race, GOP chairs began backing the Dutchess County executive. It didn't take Molinaro long to collect enough endorsements representing more than 50 percent of the weighted vote. This week, Molinaro announced Nassau County Republican Chairman Joseph Mondello endorsed his campaign. Nassau has the second-highest weighted vote percentage at the convention. Other chairs, including the six who previously backed DeFrancisco, backed Molinaro. DeFrancisco's future is uncertain. He has no interest in running for another statewide office and doesn't want to be Molinaro's running mate. He has said that it's "unlikely" he'll run for re-election to the state Senate this year. But he has made no formal announcement about whether or not he will seek another Senate term. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 April 25, 1958 GUILD DONATES FURNISHINGS Joseph P. Cuddy, left, president of the Mercy Hospital board, operates one of the two new beds given by Mercy Hospital Guild from funds raised by the 1957 Guild dance. Watching the new electrically-operated bed are, Dr. David H. Nangle, who was treasurer of the dance; Mrs. Raymond P. Riordan of the committee, and Sister M. Aurelia, hospital supervisor. In addition to the bed the Guild also purchased a bed stand, table and chairs. Community service runs in Dr. Linda Townsend's blood. Townsend, a longtime Port Byron Central School District teacher, said her father, Carl Townsend served with the Auburn Police Department for years. She also had two uncles in the Auburn Fire Department and another uncle who was a policeman in Ithaca. Growing up surrounded by those who serve their community, she developed a strong affinity for those who make time to help others. Townsend's focus on community work drove her to start the Hometown Heroes event, where local first responders will be honored at the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES building in Aurelius May 2. "Our first responders never, ever get any official recognition from anyone, and it's time society let them have a moment in the sun," Townsend said. AUBURN A new car wash is open on Grant Avenue in Auburn. The Auto Wash, located a 226 Grant Ave., opened to the public April 16, site manager Ryan Schmeer said. And when the weather finally warmed up over the weekend, he said, people began lining up. "Oh my gosh, I'm loving the turnout," Schmeer said. "When the weather broke over the weekend, we were so busy." The business will hold its grand opening Friday, May 18. Classic Hits 99.3 will be at the car wash from 4 to 6 p.m. giving out prizes such as free single car washes and a three-month unlimited wash membership. Half-price car washes will be offered all weekend. Owner Robert Marchenese said he chose Auburn to grow his family's business, which has been around since 1981, because he said he saw a need for a tunnel car wash on Grant Avenue. "We're definitely excited to grow our family business and be a part of the Auburn community," Marchenese said. A resolution presented to lawmakers proposed offering the design contract for replacing the culvert to Barton and Loguidice, who is "familiar with the project" and already prepared a proposal, for $30,000. County Administrator J. Justin Woods said the project is urgent and needs to move ahead immediately in order to get the road fixed during this construction season. Bill Dashnaw, a retired St. Lawrence County highway superintendent who has been acting as a consultant to the county highway department, said it will take between nine and 12 weeks to even get the materials for the project. Legislator Tucker Witman requested to table the resolution for further discussion. He said he does not feel the that the project is an emergency and is concerned with the $30,000 price tag. "I might be wrong or looking at the wrong road, but (I checked) Google Maps and this is only affecting one home," Whitman said. "It's a pretty highly traveled road," Woods replied. "It appears there's many ways around it," Whitman added. "I don't see why this is such an emergency." DeForest, who represents the town of Venice, said that road is a main route for agricultural vehicles. There will also be separate entries for cats and dogs, which is an improvement as Hendricks said "the way we're doing it now is not as stress free as it should be for the animals." "We're not meeting the demand that we have, and are having to turn too many clients away because we don't have the time or space," Hendricks said. "We don't have the space to add another doctor ... so we need to build another building to add another doctor to see more appointments. "This is going to help our flow of what we're doing, and the (current) building looks like we're doing 1970s' medicine, and we're not," Hendricks said. "We're the only hospital in central New York that has laparoscopes (minimal invasive surgery), so we're doing laparoscopic surgery, we do acupuncture, so we're doing a lot of cutting edge procedures ... so this is kind of to update our outside to our inside." The only potential concern expressed by Aurelius' planning board had to do with traffic due to the fact that the practice is off of a road with a 55 mph speed limit. Other than that concern, Aurelius Planning Board Chairman Jerry Scouten said it was "a good site plan," and the board passed a motion to accept the site plan as presented to the board on Tuesday. Aurelius will forward the site plan on to the county and other necessary agencies to move the process along, Scouten said. John Hook, 58, of 7 Washington St., pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of second-degree assault, a class D felony. During his plea, he said he'd had a dispute with the woman earlier this month, and he cut the back of her head with a razor knife. Budelmann said the victim required seven or eight stitches or staples to close the wound and noted that Hook threatened to kill the woman when she was injured. At that, Hook shook his head and laughed, arguing that he'd been hurt in the fight as well and had the scars to prove it. According to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Hook had been convicted of five prior felonies all of which were related to the sale or possession of a controlled substance. As such, he could have been prosecuted as a predicate felon and faced life in prison. However, in exchange for his plea, Fandrich agreed to sentence him to four years in prison and five years post-release supervision. Hook was remanded to Cayuga County Jail without bail pending sentencing June 26. A Syracuse man admitted to possessing nearly an ounce of crack cocaine at the Cayuga County jail. Watch a group of hikers rescue a dog trapped in an Indiana cave, one of the most active volcanos on Earth is erupting on Hawaii's Big Island, Flames engulfed parts of a two-story home early Wednesday, April 24, in a Carmel Valley neighborhood, prompting evacuations from nearby homes as firefighters battled the blaze, authorities said. The family that was in the home reportedly escaped the burning house uninjured before firefighters arrived, officials on the scene told dispatchers. San Diego Fire-Rescue Department crews were dispatched just after 4:15 a.m. in response to a report of a house on fire near Blue Dawn Trail and Sierra Rosa Trail in an upscale community north of state Route 56 about midway between Interstate 5 and Interstate 15, according to an agency incident log. The first crews on scene reported heavy smoke and flames spewing from the two-story home. Firefighters quickly worked to evacuate nearby homes and search the burning building. They later learned the family that was inside had all evacuated, firefighters told dispatchers. Fire crews reported the blaze was mostly contained to a garage and the flames were knocked down within about 20 minutes. Video of the scene showed at least two cars charred in the blaze. At least eight fire engines, trucks and ladder crews responded to the fire along with a battalion chief, paramedics and investigators. There was no immediate information about a possible cause of the fire. By Gabriel Popkin 24 April 2018 (Nature) The US government is considering whether to charge for access to two widely used sources of remote-sensing imagery: the Landsat satellites operated by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and an aerial-survey programme run by the Department of Agriculture (USDA).Officials at the Department of the Interior, which oversees the USGS, have asked a federal advisory committee to explore how putting a price on Landsat data might affect scientists and other users; the panels analysis is due later this year. And the USDA is contemplating a plan to institute fees for its data as early as 2019.Some scientists who work with the data sets fear that changes in access could impair a wide range of research on the environment, conservation, agriculture, and public health. It would be just a huge setback, says Thomas Loveland, a remote-sensing scientist who recently retired from the USGS in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.The Landsat programme began with one satellite in 1972, and has launched seven since. Together, they have produced the worlds longest-running data set of satellite images and documented decades of global change. The current pair of satellites takes pictures at a resolution of 30 metres up to every 8 days.Until 2008, researchers had to buy Landsat images and they often designed studies to hold down data costs, Loveland says. You would buy as few images as you possibly could to get an answer. [more] By Oliver Milman 22 April 2018 Utqiagvik, Alaska (The Guardian) Last July, Nagruk Harcharek was savouring a bucolic visit to a cabin that sits on the lip of the Chipp river, deep in the Alaskan Arctic, when something caught his eye. Shimmering on a rack where he hangs his caught whitefish to dry was, astonishingly, a dragonfly. Id been going to camp there for 30 years and Id never seen one, I couldnt freaking believe it, said Harcharek. I was amazed. I just thought, Wow. Dragonflies arent completely alien to Alaska, but the sight seemed as jarring as watching a hippopotamus stroll the Champs-Elysees. As the Arctic heats up, at around twice the rate of the global average, its remote but hardy communities are experiencing first contact with species that are flying, scurrying and swimming northwards.The task of documenting anecdotal sightings of these newcomers falls to Craig George, a wildlife biologist with a snowy beard, spectacles and well-worn hiking boots. George, originally from New York, has spent four decades observing Alaskan wildlife but in recent years has generated sheaves of records on unusual arrivals.Last summer, a child was stung by a wasp, the first time anyone could remember this happening in Utqiagvik, a coastal town formerly known as Barrow that is the most northerly settlement in the US.A sphinx moth, a species with a wingspan as much as 5in across, was reported by a baffled resident as being some sort of bird. An actual bird, a kestrel, which has gone from rare to almost commonplace in just a few years, was tended to by George after it sought refuge in his workplace, the North Slope Borough. Arctic squirrels, previously little seen, have also taken up residence around town.People here often dont know what these sub-Arctic species are and to be honest, sometimes I dont either, said George as he looked through his records, muttering about the the odd creature (Hmm, rusty blackbird) as he went.One reason Ive stayed here so long is because every year theres something new, he said. Its amazing but also a bit concerning. The change is happening so, so fast. [more] US tough penalty hurts ZTE and many others Seen as an extension to the ongoing bilateral trade spats, the US Department of Commerce has imposed a ban on ZTE for sanctions violations, prohibiting American firms from selling components to the China telecom equipment maker for seven years. The move has not only dealt a heavy blow to ZTE, but may also threaten the development of industry value chains. It remains uncertain whether ZTE may eventually be given some kind of repreive by the US, but the development has sounded a grave warnign for everyone in the IT industry. Taiwan makers must not feel upbeat about possible order shifts resulting from the ZTE ban, and must instead speed up their R&D and improve their technological prowess to avert possible risks associated with the escalating US-China trade tensions. If the ban stays as it is for the next seven years, ZTE's future looks grim, facing a possibility that the company might not last that long. ZTE operations In 2017, ZTE posted revenues of CNY108.8 billion (US$17.27 billion), surging 7.5% on year. Revenues from the domestic market accounted for CNY61.9 billion, up 5.8% on year, and those from overseas markets showed a higher annual growth of 9.8% to reach CNY46.9 billion. Among the firm's three business sectors, equipment supply to telecom operators commanded the largest revenue portion at CNY63.8 billion, followed by CNY35.2 billion from sales of consumer products mainly including smartphones, home routers and wireless routers, and CNY9.83 billion from B2B sales of communication products and technologies. At the moment, ZTE is China's second largest telecom equipment supplier, next to Huawei. With 5G communication networks to start official run in 2020, ZTE has invested heavily in R&D projects associated with 5G frequency spectrums, core networks, base stations and chipset solutions, and has also completed 5G network equipment tests for more than 20 telecom operators in China and other countries. In the consumer business sector, ZTE has sustained steady growth in smartphone sales in the US and China, with its total smartphone shipments estimated at 46 million units for 2017. The growing demand for 4K HRD TVsets has also helped ZTE register good shipment numbers for its fixed-network broadband products. In the B2B sales sector, ZTE has zeroed in on transportation, energy, finance, enterprises and education segments for priority promotion of its communication products and technologies, which mainly include virtualized datacenters, distributed databases and big data analysis. Impacts facing ZTE As ZTE has maintained close partnerships with many US firms in the fields of telecom equipment, fixed networks, smartphone chips and radio frequency devices, the company will be unable to deliver shipments due to the ensuing lack of key components. Some industry observers estimate that ZTE's chip inventory can last only for one month, and therefore ZTE will suffer irreversible operating losses if it fails to get a reprieve by mid-May. ZTE will definitely be hit hard, but it won't be alone. The globalization of industry value chains means many other firms in both the US and China will also feel the impact of escalating trade tensions between the two countries. China has achieved major advancements and strong competitiveness in such industrial sectors as display panels, passive components, LED, computer chassis, and PV power. The only major exception is semiconductor, a sector where China still lags the US by a few generations. China now still relies on foreign makers for the supply of over 90% domestic chip demand, and can hardly see a clear future for its semiconductor industry despite aggressive deployments in wafer foundry, IC design and memory production. US partners to suffer major losses Although ZTE will bear the brunt of the impact from the ruling by the US Department of Commerce, relevant US partners will suffer as a result. For instance, smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm will incur operating loss of some US$500 million based on a unit price of US$25 for chips needed for 46 million smartphones delivered by ZTE in 2017. Once the trade row spreads to other China smartphone vendors such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo, US partners in the smartphone supply chains will face unimaginable business losses, given their combined total shipments of over 350 million units estimated for 2018, observers indicated. On another front, China now boasts the largest number of 4G users in the world and also shows the biggest demand for telecom equipment, given that China Mobile alone has operated up to 1.47 million 4G base stations. Accordingly, once US suppliers are prohibited from selling equipment and components to China, such major players as Broadcom and Skyworks may also face substantial losses. Senator Pam Helming (R-Canandaigua) has condemned Governor Cuomo's executive order enfranchising parolees (The Citizen, April 19). While most Republican legislators in New York are opposed to Cuomo's action, Republican legislators in Maine and Vermont not only support voting by parolees, but also support laws in these states allowing prisoners to vote by absentee ballot. Mike Donahue, a spokesman for the Vermont Republican Party, recently told NBC News that "the last thing we want to do is start putting up insurmountable barriers to civic life because someone may have been convicted of a crime. People's right to vote is sacred." Because the right and responsibility to vote is a basic right and responsibility of citizenship, and because voting rights extended to inmates and parolees in no way interferes with the sentences they received for crimes they were convicted of, and because Vermont's corrections commissioner believes allowing prisoners to vote can actually reduce recidivism, I believe parolees and prisoners should be allowed even encouraged to vote. Joel Freedman Canandaigua Love 1 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 7 Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Subscriber content preview The city plans to house 140 men in an old hotel on West 58th Street, next door to a sleek new tower that houses the superrich. By VERENA DOBNIK Associated Press NEW YORK Some of the world's wealthiest people have apartments in the half-dozen new skyscrapers built along a stretch of Manhattan's 57th Street known as Billionaires Row. And soon they may have an unwanted new neighbor: a homeless shelter. The city has approved a plan to house 140 single men in what was once the budget Park Savoy Hotel on West 58th Street, a modest building right next door to the back entrance of One57, one of the sleek new towers springing up in Manhattan to serve the superrich. . . . Subscriber content preview BEND, Ore. (AP) Authorities say the former CEO of an Oregon aircraft company who defrauded customers by using their money for other projects and to support his lavish lifestyle has pleaded guilty. The Bulletin reports 73-year-old Fred Schrameck of Bend pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of wire fraud. . . . Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Li Shufu, Chairman of the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), re-emphasized the significance of cooperation for the automakers and auto industry development at 2018 Auto China Summit held on April 25. He said building sharing platforms and forming on-line advantages are crucial to the future victory. Below is part of key points of his speech. China has currently been the largest auto market worldwide with vehicle parc up to 185 million units. Traditional automakers are still striving for more market shares, while new auto brands have continuously sprung up. However, the fast-growing auto market in China has faced unavoidable challenges and troubles, such as environment issues, resource shortage, traffic jam and security risk, brought by the new brands' intrusion and novel disruptive technologies. Automakers need seek synergy and make breakthroughs with new thoughts, breaking borders of nations, cultures and industries. Li Shufu said companies must develop online digital technology solutions under the premise of strengthening the hardware manufacturing merits. Additionally, automakers should cooperate in the development of generic technologies and common systems. The partnerships should be transparent and legal without breaching participants' independence. Meanwhile, companies should ensure that their investments in new technologies and business modes will be rewarded. Both auto marketing and mobility services must be carried out on the basis of sustainable development. For instance, the Geely-back car-hailing platform Caocao Zhuanche offers NEV mobility services in over 20 cities across China. The company still need get profits rather than blindly burning cash. He also thought that the so-called Internet thought is never a panacea. Li said, the active reformer will survive in this changeable century, while the auto industry will be no exception. The Volvo low-emission car as well as the new Geely and Lynk & Co's models that are showcased at the Auto China 2018 all reflect Geely Holding's thoughts and practices on reforms. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On April 25, Ford Motor unveiled its new model lineup at Auto China 2018 in Beijing, including the New Mondeo plug-in hybrid version, the off-road pickup Ford Ranger Wildtrak, the hyber-performance off-road pickup Ford F-150 as well as a new-generation mid-size mix, such as the new Escort, the new Focus and the Focus hatchback version. Meanwhile, the automaker announced its latest personnel changes in China's market. It is noteworthy that the New Mondeo plug-in hybrid version is Changan Ford's first NEV model. Besides, the new Focus is China's first model carrying the Ford's Co-Pilot360 intelligent driver-assist system. In addition, the automaker also confirmed that the next-generation Ford Explorer will be manufactured in Changan Ford's plant. Ford Motor has built partnerships with many Chinese tech companies like Alibaba and Baidu to cooperate in such technologies as human-vehicle interaction, connectivity and autonomous driving. For instance, in December last year, the automaker signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to explore cooperation in areas such as cloud computing, connectivity and retail which could involve the sale of Ford vehicles on Alibaba's online retail platform Tmall. In March this year, both parties unveiled a car vending machine in Guangzhou, which was a five-storeys building containing 42 models including the Ford Explorer SUV and Mustang. Later this year, Ford Motor will set up a new national distribution service unit in China that will undertake marketing and service businesses of all Ford-branded imported vehicles and locally-produced passenger vehicles (PV) in this country. What's more, Ford Motor plans to add 5 new models to local production in China from 2019 to 2025, including the first Ford-branded small-sized pure electric SUV model and the next-generation Explorer. In the meantime, the automaker announced that Ford Motor has appointed Li Hongpeng as the Great China Region's vice president of marketing and sales and Chen Ye as Great China Region's vice president of strategy and partnership. Their appointments will come into effect in May 7 and May 16 respectively. According to Ford China's official news, Li Hongpeng is expected to play an important role in building unified channels for the sales and services of all Ford PVs. Besides, Chen Ye will take charge of Ford Motor's overall strategic planning in China as well as partnership management. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On April 25, Honda and its Chinese JVs GAC Honda and Dongfeng Honda, showcased a number of new electrified models at Auto China 2018. According to Honda China, the Japanese automaker plans to launch over 20 electrified models in China by 2025. The Everus EV concept model had its debut at the show. Co-developed by GAC Honda and Honda Motor China Technology, the Everus' first pure electric model will be launched in China this year. Besides, the tenth-generation Accord Hybrid has been unveiled simultaneously. Carrying the Honda's third-generation i-MMD (Intelligent Multi Mode Drive) dual-motor hybrid power system, the new model, which will go on sale in the third quarter of 2018, enjoys a more youthful exterior with more luxurious configurations. Another exhibit is the all-new Inspire Concept whose production model will be launched in the second half of this year. The new model features smooth lines and user-friendly premium configurations and is powered by an advanced powertrain, which delivers an extraordinary driving experience. Apart from popular models, Honda also set up a particular zone to show off its advanced power, security and connectivity technologies, such as Sport Hybrid, Sport Turbo, Honda Sensing and Honda Connect. Back in February, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed accused unnamed establishment Democrats of using birther-like tactics to derail his primary campaign after Bridge magazine published an article raising questions about his eligibility to run due to residency requirements. I was hard on Dr. El-Sayed writing, Publishing this article is not a birther-like tactic and the accusation is offensive. People of color in this country face real racism every single day of their lives. To claim racism in this instance is to equate that real pain and harm to a cheap political stunt. This week, Dr. El-Sayed got a taste of what birther-like tactics actually look like. Republican candidate for governor Patrick Colbeck, a notorious and well-known anti-Muslim bigot, provided the case study: A Republican candidate for governor in Michigan used a typical and unfounded anti-Muslim conspiracy theory during a presentation about his Muslim American Democratic rival, suggesting he is part of an unfounded Muslim plot to engage in civilization jihad that is subversively attempting to take over the country. The candidate, Patrick Colbeck, who is currently a state senator of Michigans 7th District, made the remarks about Dr. Abdul El-Sayed while delivering a slideshow at an event held by the United West in April 2018. The group has been classified as an active anti-Muslim group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks the activity of hate organizations. So Hamtramck is now the first majority Muslim city council, Colbeck can be heard saying on a slide called Position of Influence, with a picture of El-Sayed. Hamtramck is a city in Michigan. But we also have somebody that I will likely be running against in the general election, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, whose parents apparently have ties to Muslim Brotherhood back in Egypt. This is scary stuff, Colbeck said. Theyre already advertising him as the first Muslim governor. So this is a big deal. When you read the Buzzfeed article, the first thing that comes to mind is that any rational person running for office anywhere in the USA would give The United West a wide berth. They are beyond extremist in their anti-Muslim views: The presentation, titled Colbeck Explanatory Memorandum Part 1, was posted on YouTube by an account called Sharia Crime Stoppers on April 16. A page promoting the event on the United Wests website which also has a section called Sharia Crime Stoppers describes Colbeck as having studied and learned the history of Sharia, the Muslim Brotherhood, and their plan to take down America. One of his potential opponents is a Sharia-compliant Democrat candidate Abdul El-Sayed, the website, which also has five embedded videos from the event, reads. The words are hyperlinked to another page that says El-Sayed is displaying an ISIS hand gesture. Claims that El-Sayed may harbor Islamist convictions and be a Trojan horse are not unfounded, the website says, especially given the reality of what some have dubbed a stealth jihad. Patrick Colbeck who has been endorsed by Ted Cruz and Sean Hannity is a disgrace to the state of Michigan. Hes using Dr. El-Sayeds religion to bolster his campaign among people with the most abhorrent views imaginable. He wants them to believe that Dr. El-Sayed, who is actually in third place in the Democratic primary according to the four polls taken in 2018, is his likely candidate so that he can stoke up their anti-Muslim hatred. I think Michigan Democratic Party Chair speaks for all of us in this tweet: Patrick Colbeck is a pathetic, bigoted fool. Unfortunately, his anti-Muslim views are all too common in Donald Trump's Republican Party. Michigan is blessed to have a thriving Muslim community and my party is glad that Dr. El Sayed is a Democrat. https://t.co/Nt5a1BKM9h Brandon Dillon (@BrandonDillon75) April 25, 2018 I went hard on Dr. El-Sayed back in February for a good reason: We face real bigotry, real un-American ugliness in this country and minority groups bear the brunt of this insidious evil every single day. Suggesting that the Bridge article was somehow on this same level is an insult to those who are forced to deal with it day in and day out. We have real ideological foes in Michigan and we all need to keep our focus on THEM as we work to retake control of Michigan. [CC bigotry image credit: Photographing Travis | Flickr, El-Sayed image credit: Anne C. 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By Bloomberg , April 25, 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing the limits of international diplomacy, as his last-ditch appeal to salvage the Iran nuclear deal wrong-footed European allies and was met with intransigence by U.S. President Donald Trump. Macron, who has sought to cultivate a personal bond with Trump, made his Iran pitch the centerpiece of his visit to the White House: If the U.S. preserved the existing nuclear accord, that could serve as the cornerstone of a new, expanded deal that would address the Islamic Republics ballistic missile program and destabilizing behavior across the Middle East. Read More: Join us - become an Elderado today at: LarryElder.com Follow Larry Elder on Follow Larry Elder on Twitter "Like" Larry Elder on Facebook By Daily Wire , April 22, 2018 On Sunday, a 29-year-old man shot several people at a Waffle House in Nashville, Tennessee, which prompted far-left activists to immediately champion nationwide gun confiscation. As is the case in many shootings, it was only a matter of hours before it was revealed that the suspect was prohibited from possessing firearms as his firearms were previously confiscated. Read More: Join us - become an Elderado today at: LarryElder.com Follow Larry Elder on Follow Larry Elder on Twitter "Like" Larry Elder on Facebook Russia begins production of S-400 system for Turkey We have started to execute the contract, Rosoboronexport General Director Alexandre Miheev says in Turkey's Antalya city. Russia has started production of the S-400 air defense system for Turkey, head of the Russian manufacturing company, Rosoboronexport, said on Wednesday. "WE HAVE STARTED TO EXECUTE THE CONTRACT" "We have started to execute the contract. We are not talking about the deliveries of S-400, the production of the air defense system has started." Rosoboronexport General Director Alexandre Miheev said in Turkeys resort city of Antalya, according to the state-controlled news agency, RIA Novosti. Last December, Turkey announced it had concluded an agreement with Russia for the purchase of two S-400 systems by late 2019. ERDOGAN AND PUTIN AGREED On April 3, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said in Ankara that they had agreed to shorten the duration of the systems delivery. The delivery is expected to start in late 2019 early 2020. "We decided to shorten duration of S-400 missiles' delivery [to Turkey] during our meeting with President Erdogan." Putin had said. The S-400 system has been in the inventory of the Russian Army since 2007. The missile system can detect targets 600 kilometers (around 373 miles) away and eliminate threats from multiple sources such as stealth aircraft and ballistic missiles. The S-400 system is composed of at least one mobile operation command center, eight launchers and 32 missiles. The arrival of Kate Middleton and Prince William's third royal baby has overjoyed everyone, including grandpa Prince Charles, who admits he's still clueless whether he'll be able to keep up. The third bundle of joy for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge came on Monday, and news outlets made sure to give the arrival of the royal baby some ample coverage. Of course, his grandfather, Prince Charles, wouldn't want to be behind others expressing their joy of the newest addition to the family. "We are both so pleased at the news. It is a great joy to have another grandchild, the only trouble is I don't know how I am going to keep up with them," the statement hilariously read. Pretty sure he's just wondering how he'll handle three kids running and roaming around. The newest royal baby is the youngest sibling of Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Of his concern, he should probably expect to have more grandchildren, as his other son, Prince Harry, is set to tie the knot with Meghan Markle on May 19. Quips and Antics Well, it's not solely just Prince Charles who have quipped his concern. Prince William has also done the same, albeit as a blatant joke, when he said he has "thrice to worry now." Of the grandfather's antic, pretty sure everybody gets that it's just a funny joke. However, what's not funny was Prince Charles's words when Prince Harry was born. In Diana: Her True Story, Princess Diana revealed that her husband was disappointed when their second child was born after expecting it to be a girl, which he dismissed as a joke. Royal Baby Middleton gave birth to an almost 4-kilogram boy at the St. Mary's Hospital, and of course, she and Prince William debuted the newborn at the steps of Lindo Wing before the family heads back to the Kensington Palace. The royal baby's arrival was celebrated with the traditional gun salute, usually done every time a prince or princess has come to the world. Westminster Abbey also rang its bell, which was done in special occasions. While the celebratory mood is still up in the air, debates are starting to ignite for the name of the third royal baby. It should be noted that the boy's two siblings' names were announced two days after they were born, so the same is expected for the third child. Arthur, James, Albert, and Philip are the favorite names by bookmakers. Meanwhile, Pippa, Middleton's sister, already visited her nephew at the palace. Clayne Crawford apologizes for his bad behavior on the set of Lethal Weapon, admitting that he's been reprimanded twice by management in the past season. Crawford, who plays Martin Riggs in the show, took to Instagram to respond to the reports of his bad behavior, sharing a photo of his lengthy statement. "Forgive my delayed response," he wrote on the caption of the post. Crawford's Problematic Behavior In his Instagram post, the 40-year-old star called the recent reports "distressing." He then shared two instances that had him disciplined during the production of Lethal Weapon Season 2. One incident included Crawford angrily responding to the working conditions, which, as he describes, didn't feel very safe or even just conducive to working well. The actor notes that the incident happened with a guest helmer and an assistant director on set, both of whom reacted with anger as well. After this particular event, the Lethal Weapon star met with HR, apologized, and finished the required therapy by the studio. He also "shared" a part of his salary to one party he was in conflict with. The second incident occurred during a Crawford-directed episode when one of the actors was hit with a section of shrapnel and consequently felt unsafe on the set. While he claims all safety precautions were followed, he takes responsibility for what happened under his watch as director. "I am incredibly sorry if my passion for doing good work has ever made anyone feel less than comfortable on our set, or feel less than celebrated for their efforts," Crawford says in his statement. "Furthermore, I apologize to all the crew and cast for any negative attention Lethal Weapon is receiving because of these incidents." 'Lethal Weapon' At Risk After all, it's not just Crawford who's at risk with his behavior. Sources reveal to The Hollywood Reporter that despite Lethal Weapon's good performance with ratings and critics, the future of the series is uncertain as a number of parties involved with the show do not want to work with Crawford anymore. Warner Bros. Television is reportedly considering a recast for the lead role of Riggs, possibly an actress. Crawford closes off his statement by expressing his gratitude for his job and saying that he works hard for the show. "I feel a responsibility to do good work for my coworkers, for my family, for my home state, and especially for the fans," he says. "I hope they will stick with me, and stick with the show." Lethal Weapon has yet to be renewed for a third season. Fox and Warner Bros. Television are expected to make a decision about the show's upcoming season before June 30, when the options on the cast expire. Lethal Weapon stars Crawford, Damon Wayans, Jordana Brewster, Keesha Sharp, and Kevin Rahm, among others. The Avengers: Infinity War premiere was graced by A-listers, but Gwyneth Paltrow seemed to be a scene-stealer as she flaunts her enormous engagement ring. Paltrow attended the premiere of the Avengers: Infinity War looking chic as she dons a short beige dress. But more than that, one of her accessories seemed to be a hit to media outlets, her blue engagement ring. It's fair to say that its size was what caught the attention of people. After all, the huge ring given by her fiance Brad Falchuk is a beaut as well! The rock certainly stood out, as the sapphire popped out form her outfit. Well, that and her long legs. Yup, the 45-year-old got the attention of many after showing her toned legs. Paltrow took to her Instagram to share her attendance of the event. "Nothing like a family reunion," she wrote, before adding a #infinitywar. Different Rings? The gigantic ring made its debut during the Producers Guild Awards. At that time, the sparkler was certainly hard to miss because, despite its size, Paltrow was wearing a red dress, so the blue ring totally stole the show. Last week, Paltrow rocked a different ring, a gold one, in place of the blue engagement ring. But, naysayers should well know that the gold band had Falchuk's initials on it, so wearing either ring will express how much she loves the TV producer anyway. Sadly, Falchuk wasn't beside his muse during the Avengers: Infinity War premiere. Earlier this month, Paltrow and her beau had an engagement party attended by A-listers, family, and friends. Prior to that, the Goop founder was seen with her friends in Calabasas, Mexico, where she and some girlfriends spent some time relaxing and taking some time off their busy schedules. The getaway was believed to be her bachelorette party. Star-studded Premiere Even without her fiance at her side, Paltrow might have enjoyed the night as she got reunited with her co-stars. She played Pepper Pots opposite Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark in the Iron Man films. Some of those who attended the Avengers: Infinity War premiere were Chadwick Boseman, who plays Black Panther, Downey (Iron Man), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), and Tom Holland (Spider-Man). Even as she was part of a gigantic franchise, Paltrow, whose character had been given some ample screen time in the Iron Man franchise, admitted that she had not seen any of the Avengers film, which marks the premiere night as the first time she would watch one. "My son is a huge fan, so I'm here with my son. I'm most excited to watch him watch the movie," she revealed. Smallville actress Allison Mack, accused of being a "master" in the sex cult Nxivm, has been released from federal custody after posting a $5 million bond. The 35-year-old walked out of the court in Brooklyn on Tuesday after Judge Viktor Pohorelsky and her team reached to an agreement, though Mack is certainly not off the hook. She will be monitored as she goes home to her parents' house in California, as she awaits trials. Mack was arrested last week for sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and forced labor conspiracy. Her legal team tried to plea for bail last week, though the judge refused after saying the amount they offered was insufficient for such case. The Nxivm's leader, Keith Raniere, who was arrested in Mexico last month, is still under investigation. Both of them pleaded not guilty. Agreement One of the agreements between Mack's team and the judge is that the actress has to wear a GPS anklet. She was ordered not to contact other members of the sex cult as well. Suspected members are Nicki Clyne, Mack's wife, liquor heiress Clare Bronfman, and Catherine Oxenberg's daughter, India. Apart from this, Mack is not allowed to leave their house, except during times when she needs to go to Brooklyn for court appearances. She is not permitted to use the internet as well. Of the whopping bail, it was her mom, Melinda, who secured the amount from their properties and a retirement account. Recruitment Disturbing details started barraging the internet the past week after Mack's arrest. She was regarded as a "master" of the Nxivm, which was masked as a mentorship group. As one of the higher-ranking officials of the organization, she recruits women who will later be sex slaves. It was also believed that she has a sexual relationship with Raniere. Mack's recruitment isn't solely done for free, as it was reported that she gets money in exchange of her efforts. The newly recruited members had to surrender a "collateral," something that could damage their reputation such as nude photos. The collateral would be made public once they tell on the secret sex cult. The slaves would be forced to be branded in the pelvic region by a cauterizing pen. But little did they know that they were branded with Raniere's initials. Mack's role has become vital for the group to grow in numbers. She also "prepares" members and instructs them to be celibate, until such time they will sleep with the leader. Hello, My wife is American and is living in Canada with me (I am Canadian). We are currently waiting for her PR application to be completed. It has just gotten reviewed last week and they are in the process of completing it. Once it's completed she will get the Approval in Principle papers (then she can apply to get OHIP). Anyway, the question is this: how do we go about changing her last name to mine? 1) Is now a good time to get it done before her PR (after her Approval in Principle)? If not, when is it a good time? 2) Does she need to change it in the U.S. first or Canada? 3) How does she go about changing her last name in the U.S./Canada? Any helpful feedback or tips is much appreciated! PS: We did the inland PR application. We have been married less than 2 years. Thank you in advance! Hi I know there's lots of info from other posters about getting teaching jobs in Dubai and how much teachers are paid/free accommodation etc. But I am still yet to find a recent post or any information from people who've actually made the move who can say what life is like as a teacher in Dubai. I would be a teacher in my late twenties so am still looking to go out and have fun and want a good social life. How easy is it to meet other teachers and are there any teachers who have made the move from the UK- do you enjoy it? Thanks I took handover of my new apartment last month - same situation as you. Happy to discuss my experience offline if you'd like. For the snagging I'd suggest being as picky as you can be. - Look at all the joins between walls and roof, floor etc. Make sure everything is properly sealed where it should be. - Get down on your hands and knees and check the base of cabinetry etc. Make sure all the hinges etc. are tightly fixed. - Bring your phone charger and check all of the power points. - Check all of the lights. - Run all of the taps - ensure you have hot water, good pressure etc. Make sure sinks and bathtub seal. Ensure toilets flush. Be especially vigilant on ensuring everything in wet areas is properly sealed. - Make sure windows and doors close and seal properly. - The apartment should have been deep cleaned before snagging so make sure it's spotless, no damage to walls or incomplete finishing. - Check the a/c in all rooms, make sure it's cooling - Make sure the extractor fan above the cooker works - Ensure any appliances it might come with work - Check for loose floor tiles I think that covers most of it. The most important thing is just to go over everything with a fine tooth comb, and don't be afraid to be pushy with them to fix things that aren't up to standard. The main contractor should be on site and able to get most things corrected pretty quickly. Don't sign anything until you're completely happy as that's where your power lies. Your building insurance doesn't cover your unit, no. You will need to purchase that alongside your contents insurance. If you have a mortgage then your property insurance may be wrapped up as part of that, so check that. Hi, I'm sure I've seen (somewhere) that the 'official' rule is that the exchange rate published by the Banque de France on the day the payment is made into your overseas account is the one to use. I will try to find the link. That's what I've always used and it's never been queried, at least not yet. To help me do that without too much hassle, I've written a bit of code for an Excel spreadsheet that with a couple of keystrokes downloads the exchange rate data from the BdF website, converts it into a standard Excel format and pastes it into my spreadsheets. I then use a VLOOKUP formula to give me a EUR value for every credit transaction in my bank statements. Sounds complicated but once in place it's not hard to use and works automatically. I would be cautiously willing to share this, but I have experience of sharing software, and it can be a rocky road for all concerned. Plus I'm not sure of the best way to make the code and 'how to use it' instructions available. I wouldn't recommend trying to use it for this year's declaration. Any thoughts? I've never heard of Japanese beetle grubs (Popillia japonica) in France.We usually have problems with stag beetle/May beetle grubs (ver d'hanneton/ver blanc/ver de cetoine/lucane) but we leave the chickens to take care of them. We hoe between the rows and pick out all the vers blanc. For pot plants, unless you de-pot and change the soil, you'll need a treatment. I work organic, so I won't send you to Bayer- I can recommend biological warfare: Nematodes, microscopic worms that burrow into the grubs and kill them. You buy them in powder form, having previously kept your plants' soil watered for one week, then water your plants with the nematode powder, then keep the soil wet for 15 days as the worms will only survive in a humid environment.It's not preventive, only curative. The scientific name is Heterorhabditis bacteriophora and apparently you can buy them in sachets on the internet if your local jardinerie doesn't stock them.Cetoine grubs are useful, usually found in compost heaps.Hanneton grubs (Melolontha melolontha) will devour plants' roots and can be a real pest.Stay vigilant, because they have a long life cycle and eggs can hatch later the same year or the year after.Let us know if you came out victorious! Presumably you have set up your on line account.If so the system should recognise which forms and income you filled in last year For the occupational pension which is taxed in France needs to go on Form 2047 Section 1 Item 2 You then need to transfer this to Form 2042 Section 1AM If there are two of you then the others needs to go in 1BM The system may well prompt you UK rental income is taxed in the UK so goes onto Sec 6 of form 2047 and is then transferred to Section 8TK on form 2042 Again the system may prompt you . You can buy the Connexion tax guide on line which is where the above info came from ABC/Randy HolmesRemy Ma is a free, independent woman on her new song, "Company." The rapper shared a snippet of the brand new track via Instagram Tuesday. Rising star A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is featured on the single as well. The song's lyrics refer to the time the rapper spent in jail; she was released in 2014 after serving six years. "Baby what you want from me/I been getting money/I could really put you on your feet/I was getting one visit/two phone calls/three showers a week/Now I get like 90 K/For my voice just to touch the beat," she raps. "Company" is Remy's latest release, following "Melanin Magic," which features vocals from Chris Brown. Her album 7 Winters & 6 Summers is scheduled to arrive later this year. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. ezhejiang.gov.cn Erik Solheim takes a close look at the river in Anji county, Zhejiang province on April 19. [Photo/zjol.com.cn] Erik Solheim, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), gained a deeper understanding of environmental protection efforts in East China's Zhejiang province after a three-day trip from April 18 to 20. Curious about how to achieve a balance between economic growth and ecological conservation in Zhejiang, one of China's most prosperous provinces, Solheim visited Pujiang county, Anji county and Hangzhou West Lake scenic area for answers. In Pujiang, the first target of Zhejiang's "Water Movement", launched in June 2013, Solheim was briefed on the changes that the anti-pollution campaign has brought to the county. There used to be 22,000 companies in Zhejiang churning out 85 percent of the world's hot fix crystal glassware. By 2013, Pujiang was the most polluted county in China, due to the devastating pollution caused by this industry. More than 500 of its water sources were milk-white, while another 25 had turned black. Today, Pujiang's environment has drastically improved by shutting down outdated workshops and treating waste water efficiently. Zhang Shuqi, a female Pujiang native, shared with Solheim her joy at the cleaner environment, saying that the corridor along the Puyang River, now with clean water and green mountains, has become a great place for walking. Yucun village, Anji county, Huzhou is where the "Two Mountains" theory "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" originated. There, Solheim got an intimate look at the village's transformation. After hearing about the dilemma Yucun once faced, Solheim said many countries face similar problems when seeking a balance between economic development and environmental protection. He agreed with the "Two Mountains" theory and highly praised the green development path Yucun has chosen. "In 2017, over 500,000 tourists visited Yucun, bringing in a total revenue of more than 30 million yuan ($4.75 million)," said Yu Xiaoping, Party chief of the village. "This method of green development is quite dynamic," Solheim said, impressed by the numbers. The West Lake is a one of the most famous landmarks in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province. It's been 33 years since Solheim last visited the scenic area in 1985. "It has become bigger and more beautiful," the UN official said on April 20. Weng Wenjie, director of the management committee of the scenic area and river chief of the water area, demonstrated their water purifying technology to Solheim. Walking along the lake, Solheim was amazed at the underwater wood which reduces suspended solids, purifies the water and releases oxygen for microorganisms. "Zhejiang has abundant experience in water treatment," Solheim said, "The river chief mechanism regulates the rights and responsibilities of river chiefs in cleaning up and protecting water resources, which can serve as an example to other countries." Erik Solheim talks to a local villager in Pujiang county, Zhejiang province on April 18. [Photo/zjol.com.cn] Focus of the Conference will be the practical and profitable adoption of new innovations. The 2nd annual Farms.com Precision Agriculture Conference & Ag Technology Showcase will be held on November 13-14, 2018, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan! The 2018 conference will be held at the Radisson Saskatoon and will be extended to a one-and-half day program. The introduction and use of agriculture innovations in Western Canada is very dynamic and growing quickly -- which means it can be a challenge to keep up with the latest products and developments. The Farms.com Precision Agriculture Conference and Ag Technology Showcase is focused on all practical aspects of technology and innovation, not just data collection and management. The range of conference activities will stimulate interaction, sharing, learning and networking with leading innovation experts, specialists, agronomists, farmers and retailers. The Conference attracts industry-leading presenters and has a wide range of practical learning sessions covering topics such as: The latest innovations and agronomic practices in precision agriculture. Advancements in software to help maximize farm management and accounting. The latest in driverless and other autonomous equipment. We were pleased with the positive attendee feedback last fall so we are planning the 2018 Farms.com Precision Agriculture Conference to offer more expert speaker sessions and ensure each session can include more attendees, says Farms.com Vice President Joe Dales. Farms.com will be extending the conference from a one-day program to a one-and-a-half-day program to allow for more information sessions and has secured a larger conference hotel space. This extended format will provide farmers with more opportunities to network, and learn from experienced people in the industry and generate new precision ag ideas and concepts to adapt to their specific farm needs. The 2018 Conference will once again feature a trade show and networking event which will highlight precision agriculture's leading agribusinesses from Canada and the United States. This year's conference will again feature internationally renowned experts in their field. While many of the speakers for the conference are in the process of being finalized, agri-businesses with suggestions for topics for workshops at the conference, may contact show organizers. For more information about the conference, or to register, visit: www.Farms.com/precisionagwest For information on becoming a conference exhibitor or sponsor, visit www.Farms.com/precisionagwest Click here to see more... Canada Pork International reports the Canadian pork sector's focus on food quality and safety has enabled Canadian pork exporters to dramatically increase their share of the lucrative Japanese market for fresh chilled pork. Verified Canadian Pork, a branding program originally created to identify Canadian pork to Canadian consumers, has evolved into the Canadian pork sector's international branding strategy and is now used in all markets. The brand attributes focus on what Canadian producers do such as participation in the Canadian Quality Assurance program, which is evolving into Canadian Pork Excellence, the fact that traceability is mandatory in Canada, which provides a point of differentiation, and the fact that all Canadian pork is free of growth hormones. Michael Young, the Vice-President Technical Programs and Marketing Services with Canada Pork International, says the attributes of the program resonate perfectly with what Japanese customers want to hear. Michael Young-Canada Pork International: The Japanese market is one of the toughest markets to be in and one of the most lucrative markets in the world. The Japanese consumer is very demanding. They are not self sufficient so they know they have to import pork so we've been working in Japan. Canada has been there for over 50 years. In the last 10 years we've been focusing on switching our volumes from frozen to chilled, which is the most important and the highest quality. Source : Farmscape So, you think you need a dairy barn? Sometimes weather conditions are so harsh trees aren't enough to protect your herd, especially for high production cows and those which have the genetic potential to make more milk. It's just one of the reasons to consider a dairy barn. ITS not the independent rural fire service they were seeking, but WAs volunteer firefighters and farm lobby groups have welcomed an announcement from the State Government that will see a new Rural Fire Division established within the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES). The Rural Fire Division is part of a $128.5 million investment towards critical fire and emergency services announced by the McGowan Government last week, which is to be funded through an increase in the Emergency Services Levy (ESL). From July 2018 metropolitan landowners will pay an extra $28 each year towards the ESL, while those in regional WA will see an increase between $8 and $17. The enhanced ESL pool will contribute funds towards a specialised $18m Bushfire Centre of Excellence, along with $15m to the Bushfire Risk Management Plans program and $34.6m to bushfire mitigation efforts. The government said an ESL Referral and Grants Advisory Committee would also be created to independently scrutinise levy spending. The announcement comes as a result of on-going pressure on the government to implement 17 recommendations for strategic change outlined in a special inquiry by former Victorian Country Fire Authority chief officer Euan Ferguson, following the 2016 Waroona fires. Among those was the establishment of a rural fire service, which the report recommended be formed as a separate entity from DFES, or within a sub-department of the agency with an independent budget. Emergency Services Minister Fran Logan said a fully independent rural fire service had been ruled out under the States current financial circumstances, but the new Rural Fire Division within DFES would mark a new era of enhanced bushfire management, enabling experienced bushfire volunteers to have greater input. For the first time ever, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services will have a division dedicated to rural firefighting and bushfire management, Mr Logan said. Since I took on this portfolio, I have met with bushfire volunteers from the bottom of this State to the top and the overwhelming theme has been the need for greater collaboration. We have listened and put in place a division that recognises the input and expertise of our volunteers, but will also harness the best in bushfire management. We have to increase our efforts at reducing bushfire risks and this record level of mitigation investment and the new division will help drive efforts to improve community safety. The WA Association of Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades (AVBFB) has backed the changes, with president Dave Gossage describing the decision as a step in the right direction. Mr Gossage said while many details remained unknown, the announcement was a positive step forward that would assist in repairing the damage of the past. We warmly welcome the appointment of Murray Carter to the new role of executive director of the Rural Fire Division and look forward to working with him to develop a leadership team that truly understands the unique needs and motives of the tens of thousands of amazing bush fire brigade volunteers throughout the State, Mr Gossage said. The announcement of a new ESL Referral and Grants Advisory Committee to provide better transparency and accountability with regard to where ESL funds are allocated is excellent news. The AVBFB is also very appreciative that Mr Logan appears to have done all he could in the current environment to make the new division as independent of DFES as possible. Our ideal was to have a totally independent rural fire service as recommended by the Ferguson Inquiry, but accept that the financial and political reality made that virtually impossible. The Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA (PGA) and WAFarmers expressed a similar sentiment, acknowledging the announcement as positive news. However, PGA president Tony Seabrook said there were plenty of questions still unanswered. Its not quite as much as we were hoping for but better than it might have been we were hoping for more independence, Mr Seabrook said. Id like to see how theyre going to allocate the funding, theres an amount of money thats been put forward, Id like to see where they think its going to be spent. WAFarmers president Tony York said the announcement had been a long time coming and would rebuild confidence within regional communities in the States mitigation and management processes. Both the Rural Fire Division and Bushfire Centre of Excellence will provide more instantaneous reactions on the ground during fire situations, as well as more power to the people, Mr York said. Volunteer firefighters, often being the landowners themselves, are often the first on the scene during fire events and their experience and knowledge of the land is critical in responding to bushfires and managing the spread. By increasing the input from and training of bushfire volunteers, the best knowledge and experience in bushfire management and mitigation is being captured. We look forward to seeing the details of the budgetary breakdown for this investment when the State Budget is handed down on May 10. 2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Fauquier community has proven resilient. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you for your continued support, wed like to offer all our subscribers -- new or returning -- 4 WEEKS FREE DIGITAL AND PRINT ACCESS. We understand the importance of working to keep our community strong and connected. As we move forward together into 2021, it will take commitment, communication, creativity, and a strong connection with those who are most affected by the stories we cover. We are dedicated to providing the reliable, local journalism you have come to expect. We are committed to serving you with renewed energy and growing resources. Let the Fauquier Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come. The Stinger according to KIA is a quote, four door, executive Gran Turismo with all the elegance, dynamism and sophistication of a blue-chip European brand. Stinger With the Stinger Kia have firmly planted their flag in the premium executive sporty car arena previously the preserve of European manufacturers and of course from across the pond American car makers. Perfectly balanced design meets outstanding performance in this stylish fastback. With its coupe-like rear profile, this five-door hatchback Kia have produced a contender to the A5 or the 4 Series Grand Coupe, but Kia are not just copying their competitors style because as well as having a highly responsive rear-drive chassis, Kia have equipped all the UK models with a limited-slip differential, with the top-spec GT-S boasting a 365bhp twin-turbo V6 along with the performance to match. The Stinger's power plants There are less expensive four-cylinder petrol and diesel options available, too, all providing competitive levels of pace with the established rivals. Personal taste will dictate whether like the lines of this car, but The Stinger certainly has better proportions than any other executive saloons, it boasts a long wheelbase and is lower and wider than most of its European competitors. Behind the wheel you will notice the Stinger has a slightly lower driving position than is typical of the executive chariot which will become more apparent once youve settled behind the wheel. The Stinger's interior Inside the interior is far more luxurious than we are used to from the normal functional appearance usually found in a Kia, most noticeable is the freestanding tablet-like 8in infotainment display. On practicality, however the Stinger is hard to fault, being really picky head room is a touch limited in the rear, but extra leg room compensates and very good boot which is both generous and accessible through the cars electric liftgate hatchback. Kia certainly have a winner here in this executive muscle car with plenty of appeal. - 19" Alloy Wheels - Brembo Brakes - Nappa Premium Leather Upholstery* - LED Headlamps with dynamic bending - Head-Up Display - Smart Power Tailgate - 15-speaker Harman / Kardon Premium Sound System - 360 Around View Monitor - Wide Sunroof - Electronic Controlled Suspension (ECS) - Engine1998cc 4 Cylinder 16 valve - Transmission 8 speed Auto - Fuel Consumption combined 35.8mpg Priced 31,995 OTR by Matt Shine for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on On Monday, Turkey celebrated National Sovereignty and Childrens Day, the anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Parliament. The country celebrates the establishment of parliament with National Sovereignty and Childrens Day on April 23 every year, as it was bestowed by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, at the opening ceremony of parliament. Although Sovereignty Day is being marked for the 98th time this year, it was 1979 when the day started to be called International Childrens Day and since its first year, Turkey has hosted thousands of children from 150 different countries over 39 years. Because Ataturk dedicated the Turkish Republic to children, Turkish schoolchildren take seats in Parliament or local Government offices for the day and symbolically govern the country. Millions of children throughout Turkey celebrate with dances and celebrations. Fethiye celebrates Childrens Day Have a look at some of the celebrations that went on in and around Fethiye. What would you do if you were the Deputy Mayor? Students from Yunus Nadi Primary School visited the Deputy Mayor, Mete Atay, in his offices in Fethiye of Friday. Each took a turn sitting in his chair and talking about what they would do if they were Deputy Mayor. Emma Ozturk said I will give more space for science and art in the Municipal Culture Center. In school, we have to eat cold food from home. It would be better if every state school had a dining hall built. I would like to direct young people towards sport more. There used to be a trampoline in Fethiye but it was removed. I would like to have another one or similar activity areas where we can use our energy. If the ancient theatre is opened again, it will be good for Fethiye to perform opera or ceremony-like activities there Following the visit, Mete Atay, attending the ceremony organized by teachers and student groups from Fethiye, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. He said For the last 50 years, Childrens Day has been celebrated internationally in our country. This year, you have made our festival a colourful and full of joy A vibrant and lively event at Erasta Shopping Centre Erasta shopping centre was the venue for a series of vibrant and lively events over the weekend. Fethiye Music School opened the celebration Turkey has a rich tradition of folk dancing with dances performed at many social occasions and the colourfully dressed children from Fethiye Gazi Ilkokulu gave the audience a real treat with their striking performance. Childrens Day at Erasta Shopping Centre 22 April 2017 from Lyn Ward on Vimeo. Fethiye Times went along to Kabaagac School with Suleyman Akbay, owner of Oceanwide Properties, who is heading up a project to provide the school with a new kitchen and dining area. A day of celebration and fun at Kabaagac School Schoolchildren all over the world love an opportunity to get out of school uniform and have a day of celebration and the teachers and pupils of Kabaagac First School are no exception. They celebrated Childrens Day with dance performances, readings, games and a hilarious comic sketch performed by two of the pupils. Childrens Day at Kabaagac School 23 April 2018 from Lyn Ward on Vimeo. Fethiye celebrations with an International flair To start celebrations in Fethiye, Fethiye Mayor, Behcet Saatc and Fethiye Governor, Muzzafer Sahiner, along with children from visiting countries, marched from Ozgecan Arslan Park to Beskaza town square, where the main events took place. Thank you to Norman Clark for going along and taking photographs We hope you enjoyed National Sovereignty and Childrens Day as much as we did Visit Fethiye Times on Facebook for more photographs Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category Birthday wishes Call 281-422-8302 or email david.bloom@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun. Happy Birthday Wishes SAINT HELIER (dpa-AFX) - Shire plc (SHPG, SHP.L) announced earlier today that it received a further revised proposal from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TKPYY.PK, TKPHF.PK) regarding a possible offer for the Company. The revised proposal comprises 0.839 new Takeda shares and US$30.33 in cash for each Shire ordinary share. The Revised Proposal implies an equivalent value of about 49 pounds per Shire ordinary share comprising the equivalent of 27.26 pounds in new Takeda shares; and 21.75 pounds in cash. On this basis the Revised Proposal is equivalent to a value of about 46 billion pounds for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the Company. Shire shareholders would also be entitled to any dividends announced, declared, made or paid by Shire in the ordinary course prior to completion of the possible transaction. At completion, Shire shareholders would own approximately 50 per cent. of the enlarged Takeda and the new Takeda shares will be listed in Japan and in the US through an ADR program. Shire's board said in a statement it's willing to recommend to shareholders Takeda's fifth proposal. As per the U.K rule, Shire has agreed to an extension of the relevant deadline until 5.00 p.m. (London time) on 8 May 2018 to enable the parties to conclude their ongoing discussions. This deadline may be extended further with the consent of the Takeover Panel. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said that Altaba Inc. (AABA), formerly known as Yahoo! Inc., has agreed to pay a $35 million penalty to settle charges that it misled investors by failing to disclose one of the world's largest data breaches in which hackers stole personal data relating to hundreds of millions of user accounts. According to the SEC's order, within days of the December 2014 intrusion, Yahoo's information security team learned that Russian hackers had stolen what the security team referred to internally as the company's 'crown jewels': usernames, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, encrypted passwords, and security questions and answers for hundreds of millions of user accounts. Although information relating to the breach was reported to members of Yahoo's senior management and legal department, Yahoo failed to properly investigate the circumstances of the breach and to adequately consider whether the breach needed to be disclosed to investors. The fact of the breach was not disclosed to the investing public until more than two years later, when in 2016 Yahoo was in the process of closing the acquisition of its operating business by Verizon Communications, Inc. Verizon acquired Yahoo's operating business in June 2017. Yahoo has since changed its name to Altaba Inc. 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. Regulatory News: GenSight Biologics (Paris:SIGHT) (Euronext: SIGHT, ISIN: FR0013183985, PEA-PME eligible), a biopharma company focused on discovering and developing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders, today reported its cash position as of March 31, 2018, and provided a corporate update on GS010. Corporate update on GS010 in Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON) On April 3, 2018, GenSight Biologics reported the topline results from REVERSE Phase III clinical trial of GS010 in patients with Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON). At 48 weeks, the study demonstrated a clinically meaningful improvement of +11 ETDRS letters in GS010-treated eyes and similar improvement in sham-treated eyes across the 37 subjects enrolled, suggesting an unexpected bilateral treatment effect. In addition, SD-OCT demonstrated statistically significant relative preservation of both retinal ganglion cell volume and nerve fiber layer thickness in treated eyes while untreated eyes continued to deteriorate. Following these topline results, GenSight Biologics is further investigating the full set of data, as well as running multiple post hoc analyses, to better understand the observed treatment effect and responder profiles. The Company is also engaging with Key Opinion Leaders, investigators and clinical experts to assess whether the ongoing RESCUE and REFLECT Phase III clinical trials could be optimized in light of lessons learned from REVERSE. GenSight Biologics expects to complete these analyses and discussions by the end of May, and will host an R&D Day in New York on June 5, 2018 (tentative date, venue and time to be confirmed). At this event, Management and internationally renowned Key Opinion Leaders will present additional data from REVERSE, discuss the findings and expectations from the patients and medical communities, and provide an update on clinical and regulatory strategies for GS010 going forward. The event will be webcasted live. Cash and cash equivalents GenSight Biologics' cash and cash equivalents amounted to 49.2 million as of March 31, 2018, compared to 55.4 million as of December 31, 2017. Number of outstanding shares As of March 31, 2018, GenSight Biologics' number of outstanding shares was 24,234,223 ordinary shares. GenSight Biologics will report its 2018 half-year interim financial statements on July 25, 2018. About GenSight Biologics GenSight Biologics S.A. is a clinical-stage biopharma company focused on discovering and developing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders. GenSight Biologics' pipeline leverages two core technology platforms, the Mitochondrial Targeting Sequence (MTS) and optogenetics to help preserve or restore vision in patients suffering from blinding retinal diseases. GenSight Biologics' lead product candidate, GS010, is in Phase III trials in Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), a rare mitochondrial disease that leads to irreversible blindness in teens and young adults. Using its gene therapy-based approach, GenSight Biologics' product candidates are designed to be administered in a single treatment to each eye by intravitreal injection to offer patients a sustainable functional visual recovery. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180424006387/en/ Contacts: GenSight Biologics Thomas Gidoin, +33 (0)1 76 21 72 20 Chief Financial Officer tgidoin@gensight-biologics.com or RooneyPartners Media Relations Marion Janic, +1-212-223-4017 mjanic@rooneyco.com or The Trout Group US Investor Relations Chad Rubin, +1-646-378-2947 crubin@troutgroup.com or James Palmer, +33 7 60 92 77 74 Europe Investor Relations j.palmer@orpheonfinance.com MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - German gas and engineering company Linde Group (LDE.L, LNAGF.PK) reported that its Group operating profit from continuing operations for the first-quarter of 2018 rose by 3.8 percent to 1.081 billion euros from 1.041 billion euros in the previous year. After adjusting for exchange rate effects, the increase was as much as 12.1 percent. Earnings per share from continuing operations grew to 2.07 euros from 1.68 euros last year. Earnings per share adjusted for special items increased by 23.7 percent to 2.19 euros from 1.77 euros in the previous year. Group revenue from continuing operations fell by 7.8 percent to 4.044 billion euros from 4.385 billion euros last year. Exchange rate effects were the main reason for this decrease. In addition, the first-time application of IFRS 15 had a negative impact on revenue. After adjusting for exchange rate effects arising solely on translation and for the impact from the first-time application of IFRS 15, Group revenue was 1.4 percent above the figure for the prior-year period. The company confirmed its fiscal year 2018 outlook. After adjusting for the impact of IFRS 15 and for exchange rate effects, Group revenue in 2018 is expected to be similar to that achieved in 2017 or to increase by up to 4 percent. Group operating profit after adjusting for exchange rate effects is expected to lie within a range from the prior-year figure to 5 percent higher. In the 2018 financial year, Linde will seek to achieve a return on capital employed of around 10 percent. Linde said it is seeking to achieve the following targets in the Gases Division in the 2018 financial year. After adjusting for the impact of IFRS 15 and for exchange rate effects, revenue is expected to lie between the 2017 figure and a figure which is 4 percent higher. Operating profit after adjusting for exchange rate effects is expected to lie within a range from the prior-year figure to 5 percent higher. Linde assumes it will generate revenue in the Engineering Division in the 2018 financial year of between 2.2 billion euros and 2.6 billion euros. It expects to achieve an operating margin here of around 9 percent. Linde and Praxair continue to assume that they will be able to complete the merger in the second half of 2018 following the timely receipt of all the required approvals. Linde said it is engaged in constructive talks with the relevant authorities and in parallel with potential buyers. Merger approvals have already been received for the following countries: Algeria, Ecuador, Kenya, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine and, most recently, Zimbabwe. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Regulatory News: This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180424006761/en/ Carrefour (Paris:CA): The recent roundtable on food, known in France as "Etats Generaux de l'alimentation", demonstrated the need to rebuild the historic partnership between French distributors and agriculture. In this context, Carrefour and Systeme U announce that they are in exclusive negotiations to make greater commitments in favor of French agricultural producers. By consolidating the historical links they have built with the agricultural world, the two companies want to offer the agricultural sector a partnership of reference. It will be built around prices and volumes to provide fair compensation to farmers, over an extended period of time. To achieve this goal, the two banners announce they are in exclusive negotiations in order to conclude a five-year cooperation agreement that will involve purchasing negotiations with the biggest national and international brands. The scope of this agreement, intended to reinforce the competitiveness of the two banners, could be extended to include indirect purchasing. Each banner will remain responsible of their commercial and promotional policies. This cooperation is designed to begin in the autumn for the 2019 negotiations round with suppliers. Carrefour and Systeme U thus undertake to conclude a stable and responsible agreement whose aim is to promote a fair distribution of value between upstream and downstream. About Carrefour Group With a multiformat network of 12,300 stores in over 30 countries, Carrefour Group is one of the world's leading food retailers. Carrefour serves 105 million customers worldwide and posted sales of 88.24 billion euros in 2017. The Group has more than 380,000 employees who contribute to making Carrefour the world leader in the food transition for all, offering quality food every day, accessible everywhere and at a reasonable price. For more information, visit www.carrefour.com, Twitter (@CarrefourGroup) and LinkedIn (Carrefour). About Systeme U Systeme U is a cooperative grouping independent traders operating under the Hyper U, Super U, U Express and Utile banners. The group has more than 1,600 sales points throughout France, and more than 65,000 employees. 2017 sales reached 19.49 billion euros excluding petrol, with market share of 10.6%. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180424006761/en/ Contacts: Carrefour Group Investor Relations +33 (0)1 41 04 28 83 or Group Communication +33 (0)1 41 04 26 17 or Systeme U Communication Thierry Desouches +33 (0)1 45 15 92 14 UK-based universities drop a cumulative 35 spots as German and Swiss universities make gains. LONDON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Political uncertainty may be causing a big swing in where European innovation happens. That's the conclusion of the third annual Reuters ranking of Europe's Most Innovative Universities, a list that identifies and ranks the educational institutions doing the most to advance science, invent new technologies, and help drive the global economy. The trend is most clear in the sum of changes in rank for each country's institutions: the 23 German universities on this year's list rose 23 spots, more than any other country. Switzerland was second, with five universities up a total of eight spots. In contrast, the list's 21 UK-based universities dropped a cumulative 35 spots. The introduction to the ranking concludes that while the United Kingdom's "Brexit" from the European Union is almost a year away, Europe's scientific community may already be leaving the UK in favour of research institutions on the continent. A February 2018 study published by the UK-based Centre for Global Higher Education reports that many German academics view Brexit as an "advantage," and hope to use it to attract UK researchers to German universities. In turn, UK academics report that their own postdoctoral researchers aren't seeking positions in the UK and are looking at the EU or United States instead. According to the ranking, as Brexit unfolds the situation could get worse: A November 2017 study performed by the School of International Futures for the UK's Royal Society describes a possible post-secession United Kingdom where universities compete for a shrinking pool of skilled workers, projects that used to receive EU funding wither, researchers receive fewer invites to join consortia and attend conferences, and overseas collaboration is limited. Similarly, EU-based businesses that fund research at universities may prefer to keep their investments within the region in order to avoid the tax and regulatory headaches of working with post-Brexit UK institutions. The most innovative university in Europe, for the third year running, is Belgium's KU Leuven. A Dutch-speaking school based in Belgium's Flanders region, KU Leuven was founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V and continually produces a high volume of influential inventions. Patents filed by KU scientists are frequently cited by other researchers in academia and in private industry. That's one of the key criteria in the Reuters ranking, which was compiled in partnership with Clarivate Analytics, a global data company providing trusted insights and analytics, and based on empirical data including patent filings from Derwent Innovation and research paper citations from the Web of Science. Overall, the most elite ranks of Europe's Most Innovative Universities held steady from last year. The UK's Imperial College London and University of Cambridge hold onto their respective second and third spots for the third straight year. Other leading institutions simply traded a few spaces, like the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (up one at four), University of Erlangen Nuremberg (up one at five), and the Technical University of Munich (down two at six). For more on the Reuters Top 100: Europe's Most Innovative Universities, including a detailed methodology and profiles of the universities, visit www.reuters.com/innovative-universities-europe-2018. The Reuters Top 100: The Most Innovative European Universities Rank Institution Country 1 KU Leuven Belgium 2 Imperial College London United Kingdom 3 University of Cambridge United Kingdom 4 Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne Switzerland 5 University of Erlangen Nuremberg Germany 6 Technical University of Munich Germany 7 University of Manchester United Kingdom 8 University of Munich Germany 9 Technical University of Denmark Denmark 10 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Switzerland 11 University College London United Kingdom 12 Delft University of Technology Netherlands 13 University of Zurich Switzerland 14 University of Oxford United Kingdom 15 University of Basel Switzerland 16 University of Montpellier France 17 Leiden University Netherlands 18 Pierre & Marie Curie University - Paris 6 France 19 University of Paris Descartes - Paris 5 France 20 Ruprecht Karl University Heidelberg Germany 21 Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz Germany 22 Free University of Berlin Germany 23 Eindhoven University of Technology Netherlands 24 University of Freiburg Germany 25 University of Paris Sud - Paris 11 France 26 Charite Medical University of Berlin Germany 27 Humboldt University of Berlin Germany 28 Grenoble Alpes University France 29 Dresden University of Technology Germany 30 University of Bordeaux France 31 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Germany 32 University of Oslo Norway 33 Ghent University Belgium 34 University of Birmingham United Kingdom 35 University of Claude Bernard - Lyon 1 France 36 University of Glasgow United Kingdom 37 Queen Mary University London United Kingdom 38 King's College London United Kingdom 39 Technical University of Berlin Germany 40 RWTH Aachen University Germany 41 University of Strasbourg France 42 Free University of Brussels Belgium 43 University of Copenhagen Denmark 44 Polytechnic University of Milan Italy 45 University of Edinburgh United Kingdom 46 Grenoble Institute of Technology France 47 Vrije University of Brussels Belgium 48 Utrecht University Netherlands 49 Ecole Polytechnique France 50 Goethe University Frankfurt Germany 51 University of Paris Diderot - Paris 7 France 52 University of Munster Germany 53 Cardiff University United Kingdom 54 Catholic University of Louvain Belgium 55 Hannover Medical School Germany 56 Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands 57 University of Amsterdam Netherlands 58 University of Dundee United Kingdom 59 University of Aix-Marseille France 60 University of Leicester United Kingdom 61 Saarland University Germany 62 University of Sheffield United Kingdom 63 Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen Germany 64 Vienna University of Technology Austria 65 Trinity College Dublin Ireland 66 University of Milan Italy 67 University of Paul Sabatier - Toulouse III France 68 University of Leeds United Kingdom 69 University of Barcelona Spain 70 University of Southampton United Kingdom 71 University of Stuttgart Germany 72 University of Wurzburg Germany 73 University of Lorraine France 74 University of Geneva Switzerland 75 University of Twente Netherlands 76 University of Lille France 77 Newcastle University United Kingdom 78 University of Groningen Netherlands 79 University of Nantes France 80 University of Nottingham United Kingdom 81 Sapienza University Rome Italy 82 University of Rennes 1 France 83 University of St Andrews United Kingdom 84 Aarhus University Denmark 85 University of Surrey United Kingdom 86 University of Liege Belgium 87 Polytechnic University of Catalonia Spain 88 Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Germany 89 University College Cork Ireland 90 Jagiellonian University Poland 91 Aalto University Finland 92 University of Bonn Germany 93 Autonomous University of Barcelona Spain 94 Maastricht University Netherlands 95 Darmstadt University of Technology Germany 96 University of Antwerp Belgium 97 University of Nice Sophia Antipolis France 98 University of Warwick United Kingdom 99 Polytechnical University of Valencia Spain 100 University of Valencia Spain Reuters Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world's largest international multimedia news provider reaching more than one billion people every day. Reuters provides trusted business, financial, national and international news to professionals via Thomson Reuters desktops, the world's media organizations and directly to consumers at Reuters.com and via Reuters TV. Follow news about Reuters at @ReutersPR. Clarivate Analytics Clarivate Analytics is the global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation. Building on a heritage going back more than a century and a half, we have built some of the most trusted brands across the innovation lifecycle, including Web of Science, Cortellis, Derwent, CompuMark, MarkMonitor and Techstreet. Today, Clarivate Analytics is a new and independent company on a bold entrepreneurial mission to help our clients radically reduce the time from new ideas to life-changing innovations. For more information, please visit clarivate.com. CONTACTS Pete Biggs PR Manager, Reuters pete.biggs@tr.com +44 (0) 207 7542 4214 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/13199/THOMSON_REUTERS_LOGO.jpg The Annual General Meeting of Utenos trikotazas, AB (hereinafter 'the Company') shareholders held on 24 April 2018 decided: 1. Presentation of the Company annual report for the year 2017. Company annual report for the year 2017, prepared by the Company, assessed by the auditors and approved by the Board of Directors is presented (Appendix No.1). 2. Report of the Company's auditor. Taken for the information (Appendix No.1). 3. Approval of the Company and consolidated Group annual financial statements for the year 2017. Decided: To approve the annual financial statements of the Company and consolidated of the Group for the year 2017 (Appendix No.1). 4. Allocation of the profit (loss) of the Company of 2017. Decided: To allocate the Company's profit of the year 2017 according to the draft of profit allocation presented for the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (Appendix No.2). 5. Election of the Company's auditor. Decided: The Company financial statements for 2018 and 2019 years the performance of the audit purposes, to conclude a contract with UAB "ERNST & YOUNG BALTIC" (identification code 110878442, the registered address: Subaciaus str. 7, Vilnius), with the possibility to extend this agreement two - 2020-2021 years. To approve the annual remuneration for the audit services EUR 23.000 (twenty three thousand euros) plus VAT. ENCL.: Appendix No.1. Report of the Company and consolidated Group annual financial statements. Report of the Company's auditor. Company's consolidated annual report for the year 2017. Appendix No.2. Statement of the Company's Profit Allocation for the Year 2017. Appendix No.3. Confirmation of responsible persons. For more information please contact Mr. Algirdas Sabunas, Managing Director of AB Utenos trikotazas, tel. No. 370 389 51445 Managing Director AB "Utenos trikotazas" Algirdas Sabunas Attachment: https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=675550 STOCKHOLM, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The numbers and key figures refer to the remaining operations January - March 2018 Net sales for the period SEK 28.5 million (31.9) (31.9) Operating loss for the period SEK -9.5 million (-10.5) (-10.5) Loss after tax for the period SEK -8.3 million (-11.5) (-11.5) Earnings per share SEK -0.10 (-0.20) (-0.20) Cash flow before changes in working capital for the period SEK -6.3 million (-5) Overview Jan-March Jan-March Full-Year SEK thousand 2018 2017 2017 Net sales 28 456 31 942 127 157 Operating result -9 528 -10 490 -72 231 Operating margin neg neg neg Loss for the period -8 325 -11 541 -118 316 Balance sheet total 135 397 249 176 163 189 Earnings per share, basic and diluted* -0,10 -0,20 -2,01 Equity ratio 75% 44% 67% Capitalized development costs 3 266 1 761 4 593 Depreciation/Write down -3 312 -634 -14 037 CEO's COMMENT Q1 2018 was marked by intense internal and external efforts. With the challenges of 2017 behind us, we've been able to give increased focus to our clients, and on stabilizing our financial position. We are very grateful that our new strategic investor, AJ Group, is coming on board. Aside from a wealth of experience in adjacent markets and new geographies, we will be able to focus on executing the business plan for MeaWallet and eProducts. Significant events during the quarter As a result of the completion of the divestment of SEQR, on January 10 , the new operational management was announced, which will be responsible for implementing Invuo's B2B strategy. The new management, under John Longhurst , CEO, consists of Martin Schedin and Lars Sandtorv (Head of MeaWallet), and Jonas Lundgren (Head of eProducts). , the new operational management was announced, which will be responsible for implementing Invuo's B2B strategy. The new management, under , CEO, consists of and (Head of MeaWallet), and (Head of eProducts). MeaWallet has signed an agreement with a major bank in the Nordic region for delivery of MeaWallet's technology for converged wallet, i.e. mobile contactless payments to that specific Nordic country. The contract value is approximately E700,000. An agreement with AJ Group brings financial flexibility to Invuo and entails that AJ Group will invest approximately SEK 52million in shares and by acquiring SDS loans. in shares and by acquiring SDS loans. MeaWallet, part of Invuo Technologies AB, has signed an agreement with a nonbanking financial institution in the Nordic region for delivery of MeaWallet's technology for Mea Token Platform and Mea Masterpass, i.e. mobile contactless payments and online payments. Significant events after the end of the reporting period Invuo confirms new timing of AJ Group transaction, and receipt of nonrefundable deposit. This is the type of information that Invuo Technologies AB (publ) is required to disclose pursuant to the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication on April 25, 2018 at 08:50 a.m. (CET). For further information, please contact: Martin Schedin, CFO/IR martin.schedin@invuo.com +46-8-564-878-00 About Invuo Invuo has two main business areas: Mobile payment solutions provided under the trademarks of MeaWallet and distribution of eProducts. www.Invuo.com Invuo's interim report for the period January - March 2018 has been approved for publication by the Board of Directors, by its decision on April 24, 2018. This financial report has not been subjected to a review by the Company's auditors. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/invuo-technologies-ab/r/interim-report--1-jan----31-march-2018,c2504365 The following files are available for download: BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Sohu.com Inc. (SOHU), a Chinese online media, search, gaming, community and mobile service group, while announcing its first-quarter results, said Wednesday that it expects second-quarter net loss attributable to Sohu.com to be between $56 million and $66 million, and loss per share to be between $1.44 and $1.70. Non-GAAP net loss attributable to the company is expected to be between $55 million and $65 million, and non-GAAP loss per share to be between $1.40 and $1.65. For the second quarter of 2018, Sohu estimates total revenues to be between $485 million and $510 million. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect loss of $1.32 per share on revenues of $484.03 million for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Brand advertising revenues would be between $65 million and $70 million; this implies an annual decrease of 19% to 24%. Sogou revenues would be between $295 million and $305 million; this implies an annual increase of 40% to 45%. 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. Megaport's SDN helps extend customers' networks to Google Cloud's global network BRISBANE, Australia, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Megaport Limited (ASX: MP1) ("Megaport"), a global leading Network as a Service (NaaS) provider, today announced support for Google Cloud's Partner Interconnect, a service from Google Cloud that allows customers to privately connect to Google Cloud Platform from anywhere. Google Cloud's Partner Interconnect is a new product in the Google Cloud Interconnect family. Last September, Google announced Dedicated Interconnect, which provides higher-speed and lower-cost connectivity than VPN, and has become the go-to solution to connect on-premises data centres with the cloud. With Partner Interconnect, customers can now choose Megaport to provide connectivity from their facility to the nearest Google edge Point of Presence. In addition, they will be able to select from a variety of sub-rate interface speeds varying from 50 Megabits per second to 10 Gigabits per second. "Partner Interconnect gives Google Cloud customers even more connectivity choices for hybrid environments," said, John Veizades, Product Manager, Google Cloud. "Together with Megaport, we are making it easier for customers to extend their on-prem infrastructure to the Google Cloud Platform." This deeper integration between the Megaport SDN and Google Cloud, via the Megaport open Application Programming Interface (API), enables ease-of-use and smooth provisioning of network capacity to Google Virtual Private Clouds (VPC). The API reduces manual time-consuming processes associated with activating, connecting, and managing services. Partner Interconnect is now available across the Megaport SDN which connects over 200+ data centres globally with multiple interconnect points already established. "Scalable connectivity to Google Cloud Platform ensures that cloud-enabled applications perform to meet mission-critical business requirements," said Vincent English, CEO of Megaport. "Google Cloud brings tremendous value to the Megaport Ecosystem and empowers our customers to address a wide variety of business needs. We have been working with Google Cloud since our inception and we are excited to grow and evolve our integration to ensure the next generation of business growth." More information is available at megaport.com/google or from megaport.al About Megaport Megaport is a global leading provider of Elastic Interconnection services. Using Software Defined Networking (SDN), the Company's platform enables customers to rapidly connect their network to other services across the Megaport Network. Services can be directly controlled by customers via mobile devices, their computer, or our open API. The Company's extensive footprint in Australia, Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe, provides a neutral platform that spans many key data centre providers across various markets. Established in 2013 and founded by Bevan Slattery, Megaport built the world's first SDN-based Elastic Interconnection platform designed to provide the most secure, seamless, and on-demand way for enterprises, networks, and services to interconnect. Led by Vincent English, Megaport was built by a highly experienced team with extensive knowledge in building large scale global carrier networks and connects over 900 customers in more than 200 data centres globally. Megaport is an Alibaba Cloud Technology Partner, Oracle Cloud Partner, AWS Technology Partner, AWS Networking Competency Partner, Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute Partner, Google Cloud Interconnect, IBM Direct Link Cloud Exchange provider, and Salesforce Express Connect Partner. Megaport, Virtual Cross Connect, VXC, and MegaIX are registered trademarks of Megaport (Services) Pty Ltd ACN 607 432 646. To learn more about Megaport, please visit: www.megaport.com. MEDIA INQUIRIES media@megaport.com Sapphire Communications for Megaport Wendy Hill, +61 427 173 203 wendy@sapphirecommunications.com.au Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/681354/Megaport_Logo.jpg LONDON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Global remittances represent one of the major international financial resources and a major source of revenue for the world's poorest countries. Official remittances - remittances to developing countries - raised by 4.8% in 2017, reaching $450 billion. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, raised by 3.9 percent to $596 billion. The legacy remittance industry has been long dominated by cash, which requires physical locations where customers can hand over or collect money. Still in the digital world, companies like Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria are controlling a bulk of the industry. The comfortable hold that these companies have on the industry is now being challenged by digital remittance startups. Digital-first remittance companies like Azimo and Transferwise are competing on fees and usability and capitalizing on the way people's expectations have changed with the advent of digital and mobile channels. The Global Money Transfer Summit is the most recognised conference in the money transfer industry and the place where X-border payment industry leaders gather to examine the areas that are having the biggest impact on the remittances. GMTS-Dubai 2018 will bring together a global network of innovators, disruptors and established participants in the remittance industry; all the stakeholders that are driving the world of the X-border payment industry and the financial services like US Treasury, World bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, Ria, Paykii, De Nederlandsche Bank, Moneygram, and many other Central banks also be the part of the discussion. The recent emergence of blockchain technology is now seen as game-changer and is being used to modernise the process that international remittance is sent and has been bandied as a solution for the underbanked. Without the middleman taking a cut of the remittance pie, the cost to send money overseas will be a lot lower. Furthermore, a blockchain is impenetrable for fraud and more secure than banks' existing technology. The weakness of banks comes from their centralization, which makes hacking easier. In contrast, a blockchain works as a digital ledger where all transaction history is stored and which is replicated across a network of participants. For the first time in GMTS, the potential of blockchain technology will be discussed. Cashaa, Ripple and Stellar have been invited to the GMTS-Dubai 2018 to discuss the future of the money transfer industry. Ripple was founded by Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb and operates underlying payment processing solutions with native assets. Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network. Ripple is based around a shared and public database or ledger, which uses a consensus process that allows for payments, exchanges and remittance in a distributed process. Used by companies such as UniCredit, UBS and Santander, Ripple has been increasingly adopted by banks and payment networks as settlement infrastructure technology. In 2014 after McCaleb left Ripple to work on Stellar, the split led to the creation of new and philosophically distinct entities. Stellar is a platform that connects banks, payments systems and people to move money quickly, reliably and at almost no cost, leading to more access for individuals, lower costs for banks, and more revenue for businesses. Stellar is an open-source protocol for exchanging money; servers run a software implementation of the protocol and use the internet to connect to and communicate with other Stellar servers, forming a global value exchange network. Each server stores a record of all "accounts" on the network and these records are stored in a database called the "ledger". While Ripple and Stellar solutions are targeting large banks and could be an alternative to SWIFT, Cashaa is working on solving the problem of sending money to individuals. Cashaa was founded in 2016 by Kumar Gaurav, to demonstrate the power of blockchain technology in real-world use cases. Cashaa has been at the forefront of modernising how money transfer and payments for individuals and businesses are achieved. Cashaa's banking wallet will enable anyone to store and send money to any card, digital wallet or bank account in over 200 countries, in local currency through its network. Cashaa is built on Auxledger, an enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure that currently powers applications across different governments and huge enterprises such as IBM, HP, etc. Cashaa's vision and main goal is to build the payments and banking infrastructure for the future and to become "The Next Generation Banking Platform for The Next Billion". With the advent of blockchain technology, companies are not holding back in adopting this new technology to enable remittance services to solve multiple issues such as high transfer cost, limited money distribution methods, limited brand options, limited ways to deal with money, etc. The future of remittance relies on technological advancements and blockchain companies such as Cashaa, Ripple and Stellar are now becoming part of main industry decisions to change the future of money transfer, which is a need of billions of people worldwide. About Cashaa Cashaa is creating a better bank, challenging legacy banking by building an app and products with input from our community of users. Our blockchain based platform enables its community to store, save, spend, receive, borrow and get insured, with a simplified user experience in a legally compliant way. Ultimately, Cashaa aims to become a one-stop-shop for financial needs. DOHA, Qatar, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 500 participants gathering to foster regional collaboration, explore practical solutions to empower African youth and address development challenges. After successful regional gatherings in Tunis, Beijing and Madrid, the World Innovation Summit for Education is hosting a first regional forum in Accra, Ghana, on May 9th, 2018, with the patronage of the President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Under the theme "Unlocking the World's Potential: Leading and Innovating for Quality Education in Africa", WISE@Accra will explore innovations in Africa that aim to overcome current limitations and pave new ways to empower the youth to lead and innovate. The event will engage prominent leaders, policymakers and youth on concrete steps towards an improved and connected education system. Central to discussions will be topics such as quality education and its key drivers, empowering the next generation through innovation, investing and collaborating for sustainable impact, and galvanizing communities to transform the continent. Regional collaboration will also be highlighted. Confirmed speakers include: H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo , President of the Republic of Ghana , President of the Republic of Hon. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh , Minister of Education, Ministry of Education of the Republic of Ghana , Minister of Education, Ministry of Education of the Republic of Dr. Eugene Owusu , Special Advisor to the President of the Republic of Ghana on the Sustainable Development Goals , Special Advisor to the President of the Republic of on the Sustainable Development Goals Dr. Patrick Awuah , President, Ashesi University College , President, Ashesi University College Dolores Dickson , Executive Director, Camfed Ghana , Executive Director, Camfed Ghana Daniel Dotse , Co-founder and CEO, Teach for Ghana , Co-founder and CEO, Teach for Shadrack Frimpong , Founder, Cocoa 360 , Founder, Cocoa 360 Regina Honu , Founder, Soronko Solutions , Founder, Soronko Solutions H.E Dr. Amel Karboul , Education Commissioner, International Commission on Financing Global Education , Education Commissioner, International Commission on Financing Global Education Zyad Limam , CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Afrique Magazine , CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Afrique Magazine Carl Manlan , CEO, Eco-bank Foundation , CEO, Eco-bank Foundation Noella Coursaris Musunka , Founder, Malaika Foundation and Ambassador for the Global Fund , Founder, and Ambassador for the Global Fund H.E Aicha Bah Diallo, Former Chair, Forum of African Women Educationalists Discover WISE@Accra: http://www.wise-qatar.org/africa-accra-leadership-education About the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) WISE is an international, multi-sectoral platform for creative, evidence-based thinking, debate, and purposeful action in education. Through the biennial summit, WISE@ conferences, collaborative research and a range of on-going programs, WISE is a global reference in new approaches to education. Visit http://www.wise-qatar.org for further information. Join the conversation using the hash tag WISEAccra and AfricaEd Twitter WISEAccra twitter.com/WISE_Tweets Instagram instagram.com/wiseqatar/ Facebook facebook.com/wiseqatar/ Media contact: Lina Lahlou, media@wise-qatar.org (WebFG News) - The City will maintain access to European markets after Brexit if British regulations are similar enough to its own, the vice-president of the European Commission has said. Valdis Dombrovskis said that UK banks probably could use a system of equivalence to secure EU access after Britain leaves the bloc. However, he warned that Brussels had a "unilateral and discretionary" say over whether regulation would be strong enough. - The Times The UK will have to pay its Brexit "divorce ... 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. However, while nearly all manufacturers are experimenting with AI, only a select few are reinventing products with AI at scale; Data quality and security remain challenges to AI adoption The vast majority of manufacturers are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to "turbocharge" their products and services, finds a new research report from Accenture (NYSE:ACN). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005162/en/ Companies progress along the four stages of Accenture's 'AI journey' Based on a survey of 500 manufacturing companies in six industries across Europe, North America and Asia, the report notes the ability of AI particularly when combined with mobile computing and big data analytics to transform not only core operations, but also worker and customer experiences, and ultimately even business models, and to enable "Industry X.0" strategies. Yet the research found that only a small group is already leveraging AI in a way that Accenture refers to as Applied Intelligence intelligent technology and human ingenuity, combined with analytics and industry expertise, applied at the core of business at scale. For instance, while 98 percent of the surveyed organizations have begun to enhance their offerings with AI, only 16 percent of them have established a holistic AI vision for their business, only 5 percent are committing resources to AI-driven product initiatives, and only 2 percent report that they have begun to leverage AI solutions at scale. The research also highlights the challenges companies face when trying to use the technology: The concerns cited most often were data quality (identified by 51 percent of respondents); data- and cyber security (45 percent); deciding between 'buying vs. making' AI-embedded solutions (45 percent); and data sharing and protecting intellectual property (40 percent). "The re-invention of industrial products with AI is still in its early stages, and getting it right is anything but easy," said Eric Schaeffer, a senior managing director at Accenture and global lead of its Industrial practice. "However, the successes of the AI leaders in our sample clearly show that it can be done and that the business case for AI in industrial is very strong." The report mentions how companies that re-invent their products by combining AI with other digital technologies can reap huge rewards. For instance, it cites other Accenture research showing that mastering AI can enable industrial-equipment manufacturers to boost their market capitalization by as much as 25 percent. How AI leaders succeed To get to these kinds of results, companies must go through a journey which, according to the Accenture report, comprises four stages: (1) exuding belief in AI and its ability to digitally reinvent products; (2) building a vision for leveraging existing offerings with AI; (3) committing resources to AI-driven product reinvention; and (4) executing on their vision and planned initiatives to digitally reinvent the product at scale. Through clustering the surveyed companies by both industry and "AI-journey stage," the report shows that AI maturity seems to vary by industry: Automotive companies seem to be more likely to commit to and execute AI initiatives, with 9 percent reaching the third stage and 5 percent reaching the fourth stage. However, only 7 percent and 3 percent of consumer durables companies and industrial and heavy equipment makers, respectively, reach the third stage, with only 1 percent of companies in each of those two sectors reaching the fourth stage. Other results indicate what sets apart the 16 percent of companies that are at least envisioning AI-enabled ways to reinvent their products: Companies that reach the "vision" stage develop the investment and ecosystem strategies to acquire, process and secure the data needed to drive maximum value from AI. Moreover, they carefully analyze what they need to focus on: 82 percent of these "visionaries" cited enhanced "customer loyalty" and "deeper insights from product and service usage" as the key value drivers for themselves. The same proportion also said that "greater safety" and "smarter solutions and services" would be critical benefits of AI use for their customers. Most of the 5 percent of surveyed companies that commit significant resources to AI initiatives concentrate on building both the IT capabilities and the skills necessary for large-scale AI implementation: 91 percent of those companies cited analytics and systems integration skills as imperative, and 64 percent said they would change elements of their business model as a result of embedding AI. The 2 percent that reach the fourth stage execution at scale set themselves apart by closely working with ecosystem partners to identify, in granular detail, the AI components they want to combine with other digital technologies, now and in the future, as part of their customer value propositions. Among the key AI solutions these companies are planning to use are computer vision (73 percent), deep learning (64 percent) and robotics process automation (64 percent). "Our findings suggest a strong correlation between a holistic, well-planned strategy and AI success," said Raghav Narsalay, a managing director and Industry X.0 research lead at Accenture. "However, three-quarters of the companies we surveyed are still experimenting, using what might be called a 'scattershot' approach. But this is likely to change in the near future and that's when we'll really see a rise in product reinvention with AI." Results from the research also indicate that the rate of product reinvention with AI will likely vary by industry. Changing sources of profitable revenue is a priority for 65 percent of those in the automotive sector, for example, while the sub-groups of the reports' "industrial equipment manufacturing" cluster are split: Most heavy equipment makers (57 percent) state that product-lifecycle sales and marketing strategy is their key priority, while 42 percent of those in the industrial and electrical equipment sector expect that embedding AI will lead to changes in their innovation architecture. The full research report is available online here. About this research Accenture surveyed C-suite and director-level executives from 500 industrial companies with revenues of at least US$500 million across six industrial clusters (automotive manufacturers; truck manufacturers; automotive suppliers; industrial and electrical equipment manufacturers; heavy equipment manufacturers; and consumer durables companies) and six countries (China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.S.). Accenture also analyzed more than 30 external case studies and the viewpoints of industry participants via desktop research; interviewed more than a dozen industry experts; and used monitoring-tools to analyze public social-media postings by U.S. farmers who use AI-driven agricultural equipment. About Accenture Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions underpinned by the world's largest delivery network Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With approximately 442,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com. Copyright 2018 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005162/en/ Contacts: Accenture Florian Heinrichs, +49 1511 11407803 florian.heinrichs@accenture.com PUNE, India, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "In Vitro Lung Model Market by Type (2D, 3D (In-house, Commercial)), Application (Drug Screening, Toxicology, 3D Model Development, Basic Research, Physiologic Research, Stem Cell Research, Regenerative Medicine) - Global Forecasts to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is expected to reach USD 427.4 Million by 2023 from an estimated USD 190.5 Million in 2018, at a CAGR of 17.5%. Factors such as growing focus on developing alternatives for animal testing models, technological advancements, and the development of new 3D in vitro models are expected to drive market growth. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg ) Browse 42 market data Tables and 0 Figures spread through 100 Pages and in-depth TOC on "In Vitro Lung Model Market" https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/lung-in-vitro-model-market-78042820.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report 2D models are expected to account for the largest share of the lung In Vitro Models Market in 2018 Based on type, the market is segmented into 2D cell models and 3D cell models. The 2D models segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market owing to its use historically. Additionally, 2D models/cell lines are used in the research and development of 3D models. However, the 3D cell models segment is projected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period owing to the rising need for efficient lung in vitro models that mimic in vivo physiology. The drug discovery and toxicology applications of 3D models are expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period Based on application, the market is segmented applications of 2D models and 3D models. Applications of 3D models include drug discovery and toxicology, physiological research, and stem cell research & regenerative medicine. The drug discovery and toxicology segment is also expected grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to increasing adoption of 3D models in this area. Ask for PDF Brochure @https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=78042820 North America to command the largest share of the lung In Vitro Models Market in 2018 North America held the largest share of the lung In Vitro Models Market in 2017. Flourishing research environment and abundant funding programs from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and increased R&D activities by biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are driving the growth of the lung In Vitro Models Market in North America. The major players in the Lung In Vitro Models Market include Epithelix (Switzerland), MatTek Corporation (US), Lonza (Switzerland), ATCC (US), InSphero (Switzerland), Emulate (US), AlveoliX (Switzerland), Oncotheis (Switzerland), Insphero (Switzerland), TissUse (Switzerland), Mimetas (Netherlands), and CN Bio Innovations (UK). Know more about the In Vitro Lung Model Market: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/lung-in-vitro-model-market-78042820.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, "Knowledge Store" 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: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets TAIPEI (dpa-AFX) - Semiconductor foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) Wednesday reported a surge in first-quarter net profit attributable to stockholders to NT$3.40 billion from NT$2.29 billion last year. Earnings per share climbed to NT$0.28 from NT$0.19 in the same quarter last year. Earnings per ADS for the quarter rose to US$0.048 from US$0.033 a year ago. Revenue for the quarter edged up to NT$37.50 billion or US$1.29 billion, from NT$37.42 billion in the same quarter last year. Looking ahead to the second quarter, the company anticipates wafer shipments to increase 2 to 4 percent sequentially, mainly due to growing business opportunities from wireless communication as well as computer peripheral related chip demand. The company said its board proposed cash dividend of around NT$0.70 per share, subject to shareholders' approval. The company is currently engaged in share buyback program. 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 fell on Wednesday after Wall Street stocks sold off overnight on concerns over rising bond yields amid expectations of more Fed rate hikes this year. Meanwhile, Brexit secretary David Davis has said the Commons motion on the final Brexit deal expected this autumn could be amended by MPs and its outcome will be binding on the government. The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 47 points or 0.65 percent at 7,377 in late opening deals after logging its sixth straight gain on Tuesday, the longest winning streak in nearly one year. Shire Plc shares lost about 1 percent after Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical struck a deal to buy the Irish drugmaker Shire for about $65bn. Royal Dutch Shell shed 0.8 percent after it signed a pact to sell its downstream business in Argentina to RaAzen. Industrial belts manufacturer Fenner rose half a percent as its first-half pretax profit more than doubled. Whitbread dropped 1.6 percent after announcing plans to demerge Costa Coffee. CRH rose over 1 percent after unveiling a 1 billion share buyback. Lloyds Banking Group fell 1.5 percent after its first-quarter profit missed analyst expectations. 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) - European stocks were broadly lower on Wednesday after Wall Street stocks sold off overnight on concerns over rising bond yields amid expectations of more Fed rate hikes this year. Corporate earnings also proved to be a mixed bag, weighing on investor sentiment. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.9 percent at 379.69 in late opening deals after ending the previous session little changed with a negative bias. The German DAX was down as much as 1.6 percent, while France's CAC 40 index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 were declining around half a percent each. Swiss specialty chemicals company Clariant lost almost 7 percent on posting stagnant profit margins for the first quarter. Germany's Deutsche Boerse dropped 1.4 percent after announcing personal and structural changes to its executive board. Credit Suisse shares jumped over 4 percent after the Swiss investment bank posted its strongest quarterly earnings in three years, underpinned by strong growth in its wealth management division. STMicroelectronics rallied 5 percent after its first-quarter profit more than doubled, driven by sales growth across all product groups. French IT services company Atos rallied 2.2 percent after it announced a partnership with Google Cloud to develop artificial intelligence solutions to its global customers. Kering soared 6 percent after the luxury goods company reported 'spectacular growth' from Gucci in its first quarter results. 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. President, Research & Development, and Founder Jens Hanson, Ph.D., to lead R&D operations in Denmark SAN DIEGO and COPENHAGEN, Denmark, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dermtreat, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on mucosal diseases, has appointed Nishan de Silva, M.D., as chief executive officer. Dermtreat has established its North American headquarters in San Diego as it prepares to advance its Rivelin technology into late-stage clinical trials for oral lichen planus. Dermtreat's founder Jens Hansen, Ph.D., continues as president, research & development, overseeing the company's Denmark-based operations. Dermtreat will enter Phase 2b clinical trials in mid-2018 to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Rivelin Clobetasol, a proprietary mucosal patch to treat the autoimmune disease oral lichen planus. The condition is marked by chronic inflammation that causes painful, swollen lesions in the mucosal tissue and gums inside the mouth. It occurs when the patient's immune system mounts an attack against cells of the oral mucous membranes, and increases risk of developing mouth cancer if not treated adequately. There are currently no treatments approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for oral lichen planus. Dermtreat's core technology, Rivelin, is a muco-adhesive patch that delivers a pharmaceutical product (such as clobetasol) directly to patients' mucosal surfaces, such as the mouth. Rivelin is unique among patch technologies by virtue of its differentiated ability to adhere to mucosal surfaces for extended periods, allowing delivery of sufficient levels of a pharmaceutical agent specifically to the disease site to impact disease, while limiting delivery to surrounding areas. This should enable higher efficacy, lower dosing and less toxicity to non-affected parts of the body. Rivelin may significantly improve the treatment paradigm for oral lichen planus and other inflammatory oral diseases, which today are largely addressed with unapproved or inconvenient ointments, inhalers or mouthwashes. "Dermtreat has made tremendous progress advancing the Rivelin platform in human clinical trials - a result of the company's incredible scientific foundation provided by Jens, as well as the support of marquis investors," said Dr. de Silva. "As CEO, I look forward to leading Dermtreat into its next stage of growth as we complete late-stage clinical development for Rivelin and chart a commercial path in the U.S." Dr. Hansen, who founded Dermtreat in 2014, is a pioneer in transdermal drug delivery, and has brought seven products to market, including the NICORETTE transdermal patch and Taclonex ointment. Last year, under Dr. Hansen's leadership, Dermtreat raised $18 million in a Series A financing, led by Sofinnova Ventures and with participation from Lundbeckfonden Emerge, Novo Seeds and Welfare Tech Invest. "Dermtreat is in a prime position to bring Rivelin to U.S. patients in need of a treatment for oral lichen planus and potentially other conditions," said Dr. Hansen. "I'm extremely proud of what we have accomplished thus far with our Rivelin technology, and I look forward to the growth that will come under Nishan's leadership." Dr. de Silva has nearly 20 years of experience in biotechnology, venture capital and healthcare management consulting. He most recently served as president of Poseida Therapeutics, where he helped the company build a clinical-stage oncology pipeline and raise more than $70 million in funding. Prior to that, he served as chief financial officer and vice president, finance and strategy at Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and as a principal at private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC. Earlier in his career, Dr. de Silva worked at the venture capital firm Sprout Group, as well as McKinsey & Company. Dr. de Silva holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Harvard University, a medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree in business from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. About Oral Lichen Planus Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects the mucous membranes of the mouth. OLP may appear as lesions in the mouth that may cause burning, pain and other discomfort. OLP is considered an autoimmune disorder and requires regular monitoring given patients have increased risk of developing mouth cancer in the affected areas. No U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved treatment exists, with today's off-label treatment ranging from topical corticosteroids to laser ablation. It is estimated that OLP affects 1% to 2% of the population. About Rivelin Patch Platform Dermtreat has developed the Rivelin patch, a breakthrough therapy for the treatment of mucosal diseases. Rivelin is designed to deliver a pharmaceutical drug uni-directionally to a mucosal surface using an occlusive, bio-adhesive and bio-degradable patch, with a long adhesion time and a high flexibility, conforming to the mucosal surface. The first Rivelin patch product candidate seeks to treat the auto-immune, inflammatory disease oral lichen planus (OLP) through direct delivery of the drug clobetasol propionate. Following successful results from a Phase 1b clinical study of the non-drug-loaded Rivelin patch in patients with OLP, Dermtreat has been cleared to begin a Phase 2b clinical study of the clobetasol-loaded Rivelin patch in the United States and various countries in Europe. About Dermtreat Dermtreat is a private biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative approaches to treat mucosal diseases. Dermtreat's lead product candidate uses the novel Rivelin patch for the treatment of oral lichen planus (OLP), a chronic condition that affects 1% to 2% of the population. The Rivelin patch incorporates clobetasol propionate to treat OLP and is planned to commence a clinical Phase 2b study in 2018. Shareholders include Sofinnova Ventures, Lundbeckfonden Emerge, Novo Seeds and Welfare Tech Invest. For additional information, please visit www.dermtreat.com. Corporate Communications Contact: Jason Spark Canale Communications (619) 849-6005 Jason@canalecomm.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/681879/Dermtreat_Nishan_de_Silva.jpg Dr. Srinubabu Gedela, CEO of Pulsus and Omics International, announced 2018 Pulsus European expansion LONDON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Realizing the great potentialities of the European countries, including Germany, Spain, Netherlands, France and Portugal, Pulsus Group announced the expansion of its scientific research and publication activities to Europe, apart from the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and America. To establish its operations into these new markets, Pulsus revealed a mutual partnership agreement with 25 scientific and healthcare societies. The latest addendum to this initiative is support from the European region, which includes Polish Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, European Biotechnology Thematic Network Association, World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies, International Society for Ceramics in Medicine, Thalassaemia International Federation and World Association of Integrated Medicine and Switch Biotech Association. Making the announcement, Dr. Srinubabu Gedela, CEO of PULSUS, said: "By such partnership with societies, Pulsus Group is inclined to increase scientific compliance by creating networks, coordinating with peers and mutual cooperation." With the support from industry and academia, Pulsus and its subsidiaries Omics international, meetings international and conference series will be able to schedule 3,000 global annual events in 40 countries for 2018. These conferences attract 50 million+ online visitors, 25000+ online unique visitors per conference and 75000+ page views for every individual conference would help in quantifying every presenter's research and biography, visibility to the online communities and get recognized worldwide. Interestingly, Pulsus meetings provide a high-class opportunity to the nurse practitioners to publish their abstract and full-length articles in the respective journals with specific DOI Number provided by CrossRef. Speakers' profiles displayed on the conference websites give a special recognition to the healthcare practitioners. The nursing conference presentations enhance the nursing professionals' global viewership on pioneering platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo and other social media platforms. With attendees drawn from around the globe, researchers, scholars, students and the industry could benefit from demonstrations, workshops, symposiums, and exhibitions that facilitate information exchange, meeting the current and potential practitioners, and product promotion. Pulsus Meetings also provide CME, CPD, CE and CNE credit essential to maintain competency. About Pulsus Group: Pulsus Groups is a health informatics and healthcare services company. Headquartered in Singapore, PULSUS employs 5000+ employees, across its offices in Pulsus-London, Pulsus-Chennai, Pulsus-Gurgaon and Pulsus-Hyderabad. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/544592/PULSUS_Logo.jpg PALM BEACH, Florida, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MarketNewsUpdates.com News Commentary Cobalt continues to be one of the more prominent precious metals due to the increased global demand for the element. The once little-known element cobalt is not only facing a growing demand but is rapidly rising in price, and some warn shortages could hit the metal in the future. Demand is mounting at a significant rate because of technological advancements that require cobalt for energy powering and efficiency. According to Darton Commodities, demand for cobalt is projected to rise 40% throughout 2018 behind the increasing number of electric vehicles in production. As companies like Tesla continue to produce mid-level vehicles like its Model 3, demand in countries like the United States is only expected to rise. With all of this in mind, leaders in the cobalt market are aiming to stay ahead of the competition through advanced drilling methods to enhance their mining efforts. Active minig stocks in the markets include: Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. (CSE: BOLT) (OTC: PCRCF), Rio Tinto plc (NYSE:RIO), Katanga Mining Limited (TSX:KAT) (OTC:KATFF), Katanga Mining Limited (TSX:KAT) (OTC:KATFF), Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX:FT) (OTC:FTMDF). Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. (CSE: BOLT.CN) (OTCQB: PCRCF) BREAKING NEWS: Pacific Rim Cobalt, a resource company with assets located proximal to the world's largest cobalt market, today announced the mobilization of two drill rigs to commence a detailed exploration program at its 5,000 hectare TNM project, Papua Province, Indonesia. As previously announced, all required exploration and environmental permits have been secured, which allow the Company to immediately commence an exploration program including mapping, surface sampling, and drilling at the TNM project. Additionally, over the last 90 days, Company representatives have conducted extensive community consultation with local stakeholders as well as regional government officials, resulting in overwhelming support for the Company's plan to advance the project. Drilling will consist of shallow holes averaging 35 meters vertical depth, which based on historical information is sufficient to intersect both the upper, cobalt enriched limonite zone as well as the lower saprolite zone. Historical operators drilled to average depths of 7 meters and reported not to have intersected the full laterite profile with elevated cobalt and nickel occurring at the bottom of the holes. The TNM project was extensively explored by previous operators with a focus on nickel mineralization during which time they completed 856 drill holes and 26 test pits. Pacific Rim Cobalt's efforts will focus both on the five historically identified and drill-tested prospects as well as four previously un-drilled prospects. The exploration program will include additional surface mapping, hand auger drilling and sampling of the cobalt and nickel mineralized zones. Mapping will include detailed drone-operated topographic and photographic surveys as control for current and future exploration activities. Onsite facilities are being constructed which will house a general field office and laboratory for initial study and preparation of drill core samples prior to transit for independent assay in Jakarta. A Historical Estimate, which dates from before the requirement for uniform regulatory compliance and therefore fails to meet the current standards of National Instrument 43-101, is being referenced as a guide for Pacific Rim Cobalt's 2018 work program. This early data employed measurements still in use today and indicates mineralization from surface with an estimated potential of 37 million tonnes of 0.11% cobalt and 1.31% nickel at a 0.8% nickel cut-off grade. The Company intends to validate the resource, and where possible, expand upon the Historical Estimate, as only 5 of the 9 known cobalt/nickel occurrences were the subject of the historic studies. For clarity, and to provide reference to the transparency and integrity of the research in question, please see the attached footnote regarding the Historical Estimate. The Company affirms this data in no way implies an estimated resource valuation but is offered as a basis for its current exploratory efforts and approach..Read this and more news for Pacific Rim Cobaltat: http://www.marketnewsupdates.com/news/bolt.html Additional industry related developments from around the markets: Rio Tinto plc (NYSE:RIO), through research by Boston'sMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has detailed the metals that are expected to be the most impacted by new technology. According to a graph included in a Rio presentation, tin is predicted by MIT to be the metal that will be most affected by technology, followed by lithium, cobalt, silver, nickel and gold. The technologies that are expected to impact these metals include autonomous and electric vehicles, advanced robotics, renewable energy, and advanced computing and IT. Read more at: https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/metals-will-impacted-technology/ Katanga Mining Limited (TSX:KAT.TO) (OTC:KATFF) recently announced that its joint venture partner, the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC") state-owned La Generale des Carrieres et des Mines ("Gecamines"), in the Company's 75% DRC operating subsidiary Kamoto Copper Company ("KCC"), has commenced legal proceedings in DRC to dissolve KCC following KCC's failure to address its previously disclosed capital deficiency or, alternatively, if the Court provides KCC with a period of time within which to regularize the situation, to request the appointment of an expert to assess and report to the Court on KCC's financial position and the recapitalization plan. A court hearing is scheduled to be held in the DRC on May 8 th, 2018. The court may grant KCC a maximum period of six (6) months to regularize the situation. The Company believes that it has several options to remedy KCC's capital deficiency and avoid KCC's dissolution. International Cobalt Corp. (CSE:CO.CN) (OTC:COBAF) recently announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, American Cobalt Corp. ("American Cobalt") has entered into two option agreements (the "Option Agreements") with Supreme Metals Corp. to acquire up to an 80% interest in two cobalt projects which are comprised of the Foster Marshall Project and the Mount Thom Project (collectively known as the "FM Projects"). Pursuant to the Option Agreements, American Cobalt will have the option to earn an initial sixty percent (60%) interest in any of the FM Projects by making an initial payment of $87,500 and by funding exploration to reach an NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate within sixty (60) months of signing of the Option Agreements. American Cobalt will have the right to earn a further twenty percent (20%) interest and any of the FM Projects by completing a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) within twenty-four (24) months of completing the initial resource estimate. Each of the FM Projects is subject to a 1.5% NSR in favor of a third party. Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX:FT.TO) (OTCQX:FTMDF) recently announced an update of the financing for its 100% owned NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Project in Canada ("NICO Project"). The NICO Project is one of few new cobalt assets globally with the potential to be in production by the early 2020's and respond to the accelerating demand from transformative automotive electrification, portable electronic devices and stationary storage. Fortune has engaged Hatch Ltd. ("Hatch"), P&E Mining Consultants Inc. ("P&E") and Micon International Limited ("Micon") to update the National Instrument 43-101 technical report on the NICO Project Feasibility Study prepared in 2014 based on new design developments and improvements, current capital and operating costs, commodity prices and currency exchange rates, and the economies of scale of an approximate 30% increase in the mill throughput rate. As this study nears completion, Fortune has been advancing discussions with a number of parties to participate in a complete project finance solution to fund construction of the NICO Project. DISCLAIMER: MarketNewsUpdates.com (MNU) is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. MNU is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. 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Media Contact email: info@marketnewsupdates.com +1(561)325-8757 ALBANY, New York, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Transparency Market Research (TMR) has published a new report titled, "Respiratory Devices Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2018-2026". According to the report, the global respiratory devices market was valued at US$ 17.0 Bn in 2017 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2018 to 2026. The report suggests that increase in incidence of COPD and sleep apnea, strategic alliances among key players, and rise in government expenditure are anticipated to boost the growth of the global market from 2018 to 2026. North America and Europe are expected to dominate the global respiratory devices market in the next few years owing to increase in the number of people suffering from respiratory diseases, rise in diagnosis and treatment rate, and presence of key players in these regions. Rise in geriatric population and government support for respiratory device manufacturers are likely to drive the respiratory devices market in Asia Pacific. The market in the region is expected to expand at a CAGR of 7% from 2018 to 2026. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/664869/Transparency_Market_Research_Logo.jpg ) Get PDF Brochure for Research Insights at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=28073 Drug Delivery Devices Sub-segment to Capture Significant Share In terms of product type, the global respiratory devices market has been segmented into therapeutic devices and diagnostic & monitoring devices. The therapeutic devices segment has been classified into drug delivery devices, mechanical ventilators, continuous positive airway pressure, resuscitators, humidifiers, airway clearance devices, oxygen concentrators, consumables & disposables, and others. The drug delivery devices sub-segment accounted for the largest share of the therapeutic devices segment in 2017. The sub-segment is anticipated to grow at a rapid pace during the forecast period, owing to increase in number of patients with COPD, asthma, and cystic fibrosis who are increasingly adopting devices such as inhalers and nebulizers. Moreover, surge in demand for expensive metered dose inhalers and single use inhalers is expected to drive the sub-segment. Mechanical ventilators is anticipated to be a lucrative sub-segment during the forecast period. Increase in number of health care settings in emerging markets is likely to drive demand for acute care mechanical ventilators. Demand for sub-acute or non-invasive ventilators in developed markets is projected to propel the sub-segment. Rise in number of surgeries performed across the globe is expected to augment the usage of mechanical ventilators. Request a Custom Report athttps://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=28073 Pulse Oximeters Anticipated to be the Most Lucrative Sub-segment The pulse oximeters sub-segment held significant share of the diagnostic & monitoring devices segment in 2017. The sub-segment is projected to expand at a CAGR 6.0% from 2018 to 2026. Increase in adoption of pulse oximeters for monitoring respiratory conditions in home care settings is anticipated to fuel the sub-segment. Moreover, pulse oximeters have become an integral part of primary diagnosis of lung function in clinics and critical care settings. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) to be Fastest Growing Segment In terms of application, the COPD segment accounted for significant share of the global respiratory devices market in 2017. The segment is projected to expand at a CAGR of 7% from 2018 to 2026. Increase in the number of tobacco smokers and rise in air pollution are factors contributing to the increase in number of COPD cases. The WHO estimates that COPD is likely to be third leading cause of death by 2030. Request For Discount On This Report:https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=28073 Asia Pacific to be the Fastest Growing Market for Respiratory Devices In terms of revenue, North America dominated the global respiratory devices market in 2017. Favorable reimbursement policies for respiratory care, high adoption of technology, and rise in demand for advanced devices for home care use are the key factors contributing to the leading share of the region. Furthermore, increase in number of tobacco smokers and rise in air pollution are likely to increase incidence of respiratory disease, thereby driving the market in the region. The respiratory devices market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. Rise in awareness about respiratory diseases, improving health care infrastructure, increase in health care spending, and surge in initiatives by key players to explore the region are likely to propel the market in Asia Pacific. Koninklijke Philips N.V. Held Significant Market Share The report also provides profiles of leading players operating in the global respiratory devices market. Koninklijke Philips N.V., ResMed, Inc., Vyaire Medical, Inc., and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd. are the major players operating in the market. Other players include Smiths Medical, Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, GE Healthcare, Getinge AB, Medtronic plc, and Chart Industries. Koninklijke Philips N.V. held major share of the global respiratory devices market in 2017. Broad portfolio of therapeutic respiratory devices and strong presence in hospital and home care settings are attributed to the company's high market share. The company's strategy to develop innovative portable devices for home care and its pioneering work in connected therapeutic and monitoring devices are likely to provide it a competitive advantage in the respiratory devices market. Popular Research Reports by TMR: Respiratory Disorders Treatment Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/respiratory-disorders-treatment-market.html Respiratory Disposable Devices Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/respiratory-disposable-devices-market.html About Us 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. Contact Transparency Market Research State Tower, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Research Blog: https://theglobalhealthnews.com/ MILAN, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading blockchain company, Ambrosus, are pleased to announce that Stephen Croncota has joined the company as Chief Marketing Officer. Croncota joins Ambrosus from Versace, where he twice served as CMO. Croncota has also held senior global marketing and creative roles at Warner Brothers (Senior Vice President & Creative Director), Sony Pictures Television, Conde Nast, Cartoon Network and Escada. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/647551/Ambrosus_Logo.jpg ) At Ambrosus Croncota will oversee branding, advertising, social media, digital marketing, public relations, events and creative services. Croncota is just one of the many managers and advisors that have joined Ambrosus from highly successful companies in recent times, such as Dr Vlad Trifa former Head of Innovation at Swisscom and Cofounder of Web of Things & EVRYTHNG and Prof Roger Wattenhofer, Head of the Distributed Computing Lab at ETH Zurich as well as Parity, led by Ethereum Cofounder Dr Gavin Wood, who serve as Core Technology Partner for Ambrosus. This appointment further emphasizes Ambrosus' position as one of the major players in the blockchain space. On his new role Stephen Croncota said, "The blockchain represents a major advancement in how companies will conduct their business. Their data will be more trustworthy and useful than ever before, and the impact on their operations will be profound. No one is better positioned to take advantage of this opportunity than Ambrosus, with an exceptional product and a superb team. I'm excited to help them build their brand and significantly grow their business." Ambrosus CEO Angel Versetti added, "I set an extremely high bar for quality and performance of people at Ambrosus. This is why we have been successful in establishing Ambrosus as the world-leading blockchain-IoT platform when it comes to food and pharma industries and leading to the biggest corporates in the world reach out to us, wanting to work together. So I am proud and pleased that Stephen joining us and bringing his wealth of experience and networks to turn Ambrosus into a globally recognised brand." LONDON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Analysis and Forecasts by Disorder (Peripheral, Autonomic, Proximal, Focal), by Treatment (Drugs, Anti-depressants, Anti-convulsant, Radiotherapy, Physiotherapy, Others), by End-User (Hospitals, Clinics, Pharmacy) and Geography, with Profiles of Leading Companies (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/523989/Visiongain_Logo.jpg ) Report Details How this report will benefit you Read on to discover how you can exploit the future business opportunities emerging in this sector. In this brand new 215-page report you will receive 85 tables and 90 figures- all unavailable elsewhere. The 215-page report provides clear detailed insight into the Global Diabetic Neuropathy market. Discover the key drivers and challenges affecting the market. By ordering and reading our brand new report today you stay better informed and ready to act. Report Scope Global Diabetic Neuropathy Market forecasts from 2018-2028 This report breaks down the revenue forecast of the Global Diabetic Neuropathy market into these leading segments: By Disorder: Peripheral Neuropathy Autonomic Neuropathy Proximal Neuropathy Focal Neuropathy By Treatment: Drugs Anti-Depressants Anti-Convulsant Radiotherapy Physiotherapy By End User: Hospitals Clinics Pharmacy Each submarket is further divided by region: North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and RoW This report provides individual revenue forecasts to 2028 for these regional and national markets: North America: the US, Canada, Mexico South America: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Rest of South America Europe: Germany, France, the UK, Spain, Italy, Russia, Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific: China, Japan, India, Australia, Thailand, Rest of Asia-Pacific Rest of the World: Middle East, Africa, Other Countries Our study provides a SWOT analysis and Porter's Five Forces analysis of the Global Diabetic Neuropathy market This report discusses the leading companies in the Global Diabetic Neuropathy market Abbott Laboratories F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. Eli Lilly and Company Johnson & Johnson GlaxoSmithKline plc. Lupin Limited Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited Depomed, Inc. Astellas Pharma Inc. Pfizer Inc. Visiongain's study is intended for anyone requiring commercial analyses for the Global Diabetic Neuropathy Market. You find data, trends and predictions. Buy our report today Diabetic Neuropathy Treatment: World Market 2018-2028: Analysis and Forecasts by Disorder (Peripheral, Autonomic, Proximal, Focal), by Treatment (Drugs, Anti-depressants, Anti-convulsant, Radiotherapy, Physiotherapy, Others), by End-User (Hospitals, Clinics, Pharmacy) and Geography, with Profiles of Leading Companies. To request a report overview of this report please email Sara Peerun at sara.peerun@visiongain.com or call Tel: +44-(0)-20-7336-6100 Or click on: https://www.visiongain.com/Report/2175/Diabetic-Neuropathy-Treatment-World-Market-2018-2028 Companies Mentioned in the Report Abbott Laboratories AbbVie, Inc. Alkermes Plc Amarin Corp. Plc Amgen, Inc. Amnis Corporation Array BioPharma, Inc. Associates Of Cape Cod Inc. Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc. AstraZeneca Plc ASYMPTOTE LTD Atom Medical Corporation Bayer AG Bayer Corporation Bayer HealthCare AG Bayer Schering Pharma Aktiengesellschaft BioLife Solutions, Inc. BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc. Biotest AG Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Cardax, Inc. Cardinal Health, Inc. Ceapro, Inc. Celgene Corp. Cephalon, Inc. Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. CK Life Sciences International (Holdings), Inc. Consensys Imaging Service Inc. Cornerstone Research & Development Inc. Crescendo Bioscience, Inc. CTI BioPharma Corp. Deroyal Industries Inc. Domain Therapeutics SA Emd Millipore Corporation Emd Serono Inc. Endo International Plc European Medicines Agency Evotec AG Galderma Sa GE HEALTHCARE LTD GlaxoSmithKline Plc Henry Schein, Inc. Herbert Waldmann GmbH & Co. KG Illumina, Inc. Institut Bergonie Janssen Biotech, Inc. JHL Biotech, Inc. Johnson & Johnson Laboratoire Theramex Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings LifeWatch AG Lombard Medical, Inc. Lonza Group AG McKesson Corp. Medline Industries Inc. Medtronic Plc Merck KGaA MorphoSys AG Motion Picture And Television Fund Myrexis, Inc. Myriad Genetics, Inc. National Biological Corp. National Cancer Institute Natus Medical Incorporated NBTY, Inc. Neptune Technologies & Bioresources, Inc. Nexvet Biopharma PLC nice Neotech Medical Systems Pvt. Ltd. Northwell Health Inc. Novartis AG OpenLink Financial LLC Opexa Therapeutics, Inc. Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. Owens & Minor, Inc. Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PELICAN HEALTHCARE LTD Pfizer Inc. Pharma Mar SA Phillips Phoenix Medical Systems Pvt. Ltd. Polymer Technology Systems Inc. Progyny Inc. Quanterix Corp. Quest Diagnostics, Inc. Smith & Nephew Plc Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Windtree Therapeutics, Inc. To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongain.com Wiederhold's strategic leadership will help the company as it scales and penetrates the global biotechnology market Synthace Ltd., the company behind the leading software platform for automating and improving the success rate of biological research, has appointed Silicon Valley veteran Bob Wiederhold as Chairman of its board of Directors. Synthace operates at the intersection of biology and information technology (IT), and Wiederhold brings deep expertise and experience to the company as a result of building multiple successful IT start ups over the last 30 years. "Information technology is at the early stages of revolutionizing biotechnology. Bob is a seasoned entrepreneur and CEO with a stellar track record for building high growth IT companies that have established leadership positions in their respective industries as well as highly successful business models. I am confident that his experience will have a tremendous impact on Synthace's strategic direction and future growth," said Tim Fell, CEO of Synthace. "The team is thrilled to have him on our board, and we look forward to his invaluable guidance and contributions." Since 2010, Bob has been the Chairman and CEO, and more recently the Executive Chairman, of Couchbase, Inc., a leader in NoSQL databases. Prior to this, Bob served as Chairman and CEO of Transitive, the worldwide leader in cross-platform virtualization with over 20M users; Transitive was acquired by IBM in December 2008. Until 2001, Bob served as CEO of Tality Corporation, the worldwide leader in electronic design services whose revenues grew to over $200M and had 1,500 employees worldwide. Bob also held several executive general management positions at Cadence Design Systems Inc., an electronic design automation company he joined in 1985 as a small start-up and helped grow to over $1B during his 13 years at the company. Bob has served on several boards of directors including Certicom, Fanfare, and Imperas and on advisory boards at the University of Massachusetts and California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. "Synthace has developed a remarkable product that I believe is already in the early stages of revolutionizing the biology industry. Since its inception, the company has demonstrated remarkable traction with its pharmaceutical, agritech and industrial biotechnology customer base; demonstrating its limitless capabilities", said Wiederhold. Wiederhold concluded, "I am very excited to join Synthace at this important moment in the company's development and am eager to work closely with the team to help them realize their aspirations and market potential." About Synthace Based in London, Synthace is developing Antha, a language and software platform specifically for biology that lets researchers aim higher and achieve better results, faster. Antha is designed to make reproducible and scalable workflows that can be readily edited and shared, and easily automated on labs' existing equipment. In 2016, the World Economic Forum included Synthace in its selection of the world's 30 most promising Technology Pioneers that are helping shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and relate to one another. For more information, visit: www.synthace.com. Follow Synthace Synthace Blog Latest News Join the Twitter Conversation Join us on LinkedIn View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005789/en/ Contacts: Synthace Bobby Brill Press@synthace.com 07867488769 DUBLIN, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- FlowForma, the leading provider of BPM tools for Microsoft Office 365, today announced that the A14 Integrated Delivery Team (IDT), have moved their processes online using the no code FlowForma BPM tool to reduce the amount of time-consuming, paper-based processes on site. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/645103/Neil_Young_CEO_FlowForma.jpg ) (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/523210/FlowForma_Logo.jpg ) The A14 is a stretch of road between Cambridge and Huntingdon in the South East of the United Kingdom, which has long been due an upgrade. Notorious for traffic congestion, it is used by almost 85,000 vehicles every day, with around a quarter of these heavy goods vehicles. The 1.5 billion redevelopment of the road is a joint venture between Costain, Skanska, and Balfour Beatty. However, the project encountered many logistical challenges around business processes, as there was a huge volume of paper in the system, documents inevitably got lost and mistakes were made. An alternative to paper-based processes was high on IT Manager James Morgan's list of priorities, "The adoption of IT is quite poor in construction. We still rely on a lot of paper-based processes, people having to meet face-to-face and share documents to get things done," he explained. After considering several products, James discovered FlowForma BPM. The decision was made quickly, as it met all the requirements: it was built on Microsoft SharePoint, required no coding skills, and it maximized their existing investment with Microsoft. To get quickly up to speed, he took advantage of FlowForma SureStart, a four-step onboarding program, while also staying in touch with the FlowForma Customer Success team for further advice. To date, James has developed 24 'flows' - primarily electronic forms that overcome the challenge of bringing together disparate teams of six or seven stakeholders to sign-off on requests. The 'Permit to Dig' process, for example, is a typical approval request procedure that used to involve downloading a document, filling it in, and sharing it with the team. In FlowForma, it's become a fully automated electronic process. By automating their processes and cutting down on paperwork, the A14 Integrated Delivery Team have seen a vast increase in efficiency and accuracy. This is further demonstrated with the mobile access feature within FlowForma BPM, "You can complete processes much quicker and with mobile access you're enabling people in the field to work on forms from anywhere - you're not waiting for someone to get back to their desks," said James. Having already seen the benefits first-hand, James is looking to extend the use of FlowForma BPM across the entire business project, labelling it as "a potential game-changer". "A complex project such as the redevelopment of the A14 can lead to several transparency and accuracy issues, due to the vast amounts of paperwork floating around. The ramifications can be severe, so having a cost-effective and quick solution was paramount to James Morgan and his team. We are delighted to see that the A14 IDT benefited from our SureStart program,which gives new customers the extra guidance they require to quickly implement their BPM needs." said Neil Young, Chief Executive Officer, FlowForma. Supporting Resources: To learn more about how the A14 Integrated Delivery Team (IDT) are using FlowForma BPM, read our case study: http://www.flowforma.com/a14-costain-skanska-balfourbeatty To find out how the FlowForma Cloud BPM tool works visit: http://www.flowforma.com/how-it-works To download a free trial of FlowForma BPM visit: https://www.flowforma.com/start-your-flowforma-trial About FlowForma FlowForma, the leading provider of Business Process Management (BPM) tools for Microsoft Office 365 has been revolutionizing the traditional BPM space with an innovative approach to developing BPM products that empower users to get work done, smarter and faster, on the familiar SharePoint platform, without any coding. An award-winning Microsoft Office 365 App, the FlowForma BPM tool enables business users and Heads of Departments to quickly implement processes such as HR on-boarding, new product development and clinical trials as well as many others, increasing organizational efficiency and productivity. Recognised by Microsoft and trusted by over 110,000 users, this Microsoft Gold Partner is headquartered in Dublin with offices in London and Boston. For further information or a 30-day free trial, visit www.flowforma.com About the A14 Project 21 miles of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon in the United Kingdom, are being upgraded to three lanes in each direction including a brand new 17-mile bypass south of Huntingdon, with four lanes in each direction between Bar Hill and Girton. The project will add additional capacity, boost the local and national economy and cut up to 20 minutes off journeys. DOWNERS GROVE, Illinois, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A significant percentage of U.S. companies are uncertain about or unprepared for the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that takes effect one month from today, according to a new survey by CompTIA, the world's leading technology association. "Confusion about the regulations remains a significant problem for many companies," said Todd Thibodeaux, CompTIA president and CEO. A full 52 percent of 400 U.S. companies surveyed are either still exploring the applicability of GDPR to their business; have determined that GDPR is not a requirement for their business; or are unsure. Just 13 percent of firms say they are fully compliant with GDPR. Another 23 percent report being mostly compliant, while 12 percent say they are somewhat compliant. "Only one in four respondents claim to be very familiar with GDPR," Thibodeaux reported. "Some believe it applies primarily to companies in the EU; others, only to large multinational corporations. Alarmingly, three in ten companies believe GDPR does not go into effect until the end of 2018." Nearly two-thirds of firms are unaware of the hefty GDPR fine structure for non-compliance. "With fines that could potentially reach the greater of 20 million euros or four percent of annual revenue, companies subject to the regulations are running a huge financial risk by failing to put a GDPR plan in place," Thibodeaux said. GDPR Preparations In preparing for GDPR, 22 percent of firms have developed a compliance plan. A similar percentage (21 percent) have conducted data audits and readiness assessments, including review of existing privacy policies, terms of services and consent protocols. Despite the time and cost associated with GDPR compliance, most U.S. companies acknowledge receiving secondary benefits from the exercise. Nearly one in three companies see value in conducting an internal data audit; while 29 percent cite the benefits of reviewing and updating their data breach notification plan. GDPR may have prompted some companies to examine their approach to data governance. Though relatively few companies (12 percent) have dedicated data governance officers or chief data officers that may change. One in four large companies surveyed indicate a strong likelihood to hire a data governance or chief data officer within the next two years. Doing Business in the EU The CompTIA survey also finds that U.S. companies are split on whether GDPR will impact their business opportunities in the EU. About one-third of the firms surveyed do not believe GDPR will have an impact on their current or future approach to business in the EU. Another third indicate GDPR may negatively impact their desire to engage in business activities in countries governed by GDPR. The remaining one-third of firms are unsure. The CompTIA research brief "The State of GDPR Preparedness in the U.S." is based on the results of an April 2018 online survey of executives and professionals with some level of data responsibility for their organizations. A total of 400 individuals from small, medium and large companies across every industry sector of the U.S., economy participated in the survey. The complete research brief is available at CompTIA Insight & Tools. About CompTIA The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a leading voice and advocate for the $4.8 trillion global information technology ecosystem; and the more than seven million technology professionals, who design, implement, manage, and safeguard the technology that powers the U.S. economy. Through education, training, certifications, advocacy, philanthropy, and market research, CompTIA is the hub for advancing the tech industry and its workforce. Visit www.comptia.org to learn more. Contact: Steven Ostrowski CompTIA 630-678-8468 sostrowski@comptia.org Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/320820/comptia_logo.jpg GURUGRAM, India, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The E-commerce logistics market in Vietnam was observed to be highly concentrated with the presence of major players such as GHN, VNPost and Viettel Post was observed to be highly concentrated with the presence of major players such as GHN, VNPost and Viettel Post Competition within the logistics industry is ramping up due to tightened capacity along with increased consolidation within the supply chain arena, which has resulted in fewer partners for 3PLs and increased prices. Vietnam is focusing on attracting investment in logistics infrastructure development, constructing regional and international logistics service centers, improving the efficiency of connection between Vietnam and other countries, thereby becoming a modern logistics hub in near future. By the year ending 2019, Vietnam's E-commerce association is setting goals to improve logistics infrastructure in association with the country's E-commerce industry. The association plans to develop transport systems with the aim of following E-commerce growth drivers including growing importance of last mile delivery. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661352/Ken_Research_Logo.jpg ) Over the long term, the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Industry and Trade is expected to invest and give support to improve operating and marketing efficiency, and expand sources of goods for the Cai-Mep Thai Vai port complex, situated in Vung Tau region, Vietnam. Various Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed between Vietnam and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 will lead to boost the country's trade relations in long term. Additionally, foreign investment is anticipated to grow strongly in Vietnam as many logistics enterprises in ASEAN countries are keen to invest and have a better understanding of the laws, customs and culture of Vietnam. By service mix, the freight forwarding segment within Vietnam will continue to dominate the Vietnam logistics and warehousing market in the near future with a revenue share of over 87% by the year ending 2022. Analysts at Ken Research in their latest publication "Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market Outlook to 2022 - By Service Mix (Freight Forwarding, Warehousing, Cold Chain, Express Delivery, E-commerce Logistics, Third Party Logistics)" believe that along with the introduction of new web technologies and surging e-commerce operations, last mile logistics has gained popularity in Vietnam, especially amongst domestic shipping companies in the country. It has led several e-commerce companies to think, strategize and invest on their logistics operations in order to surpass their competition. Growing awareness of E-commerce amongst the Vietnamese population will impact the consumer's way of interaction, price comparison, research on goods and handling transactions. The process changes the supply chain from a push (to the store) to a pull process (by the final consumer). The logistics service is the bottleneck for E-commerce companies. Keywords - Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market Introduction Comparative Analysis of Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market with Global Logistics and Warehousing Market Transport and Logistics Infrastructure Value Chain Analysis Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market Size, 2011-2017 Market Segmentation, 2011-2017 By Service Mix (Freight Forwarding, Warehousing Services and Value-Added Services), 2011-2017 By Regions ( Red River Delta , Da Nang , Ho Chi Minh City and Others), 2017 , , and Others), 2017 By End Users (Food and Beverages, Engineering Equipment, Metals, Automotives and Others), 2017 - Vietnam Freight Forwarding Market Market Overview and Genesis Market Size, 2011-2017 Market Segmentation, 2011-2017 By Normal and Express Delivery, 2011-2017 By Freight Movement (Sea, Road, Air and Rail), 2017 By International and Domestic Freight Forwarding, 2017 By Flow Corridors, 2017 By International and Domestic Companies, 2017 Competition Scenario Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022 - Vietnam Express Logistics Market Market Overview and Genesis Value Chain Analysis Market Size, 2011-2017 Market Segmentation, 2016-2017 By International and Domestic Express, 2016-2017 By Air and Ground Express, 2016-2017 International Operations Domestic Operations By B2B, B2C and C2C, 2017 Pricing Analysis for Vietnam Express Delivery Market Market Share of Major Players in Vietnam Express Logistics Market Domestic Express International Express Express Logistics Market Comparative Landscape of Major Players operating in Vietnam Express Logistics Market Express Logistics Market Competition Scenario Company Profiles of Major Players GHN ( Giao Hang Nhanh ) DHL Express FedEx Vietnam Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022 - Vietnam E-Commerce Logistics Market Market Size By Logistics Revenue and Shipment, 2015-2017 Market Segmentation, 2017 By Channel (3PL Companies and E-Commerce Merchants), 2017 By Speed of Delivery (2 Day Delivery, 1 Day Delivery, Same Day Delivery, Within 2 Hours and Delivery Beyond 2 Days), 2017 By Area of Delivery (Intercity and Intracity), 2017 By Payment Method (Cash on Delivery and Others), 2017 Competitive Landscape of Major Players Competition Scenario Market Share of Major Players Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022 - Vietnam 3PL (Third Party Logistics) Market Market Overview and Genesis Market Size By Revenues, 2011-2017 Cross Comparison of 3PL Market in Vietnam with Global 3PL Market with Global 3PL Market Vietnam 3PL Market Segmentation, 2017 3PL Market Segmentation, 2017 By Market (Freight Forwarding and Warehousing Services), 2017 By Companies (International Companies and Domestic Companies), 2017 Competitive Landscape of Major Players Competition Scenario Vietnam 3PL Market Future Outlook and Projections - Vietnam Warehousing Market Market Overview and Genesis Value Chain Analysis Market Size, 2011-2017 Market Segmentation, 2017 By Number of Warehouses ( Southern Vietnam and Others), 2017 and Others), 2017 By End User (Retail, Electronic Devices, Textile and Footwear, Wooden Products and Others), 2017 By International and Domestic Companies, 2017 By Business Model (Industrial / Retail Freight, Container Freight, Cold Storage, Agriculture and Others), 2017 Competition Scenario in Vietnam Warehousing Market Warehousing Market Vietnam Warehousing Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022 Emerging Warehousing Technological Innovations in Vietnam - Company Profiles of Major Players in Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market Damco Vietnam Sotrans Vietnam Vinafco Kerry Logistics Vietnam Bac Ky Logistics Vietnam Nippon Express Vietnam Vietnam Airlines Transimex Saigon Corporation Sea and Air Freight International Vinalink Logistics PetroVietnam Transport Corporation Noi Bai Cargo Terminal Services Other Players Operating in Vietnam Logistics and Warehousing Market For more information on the research report, refer to below link: https://www.kenresearch.com/automotive-transportation-and-warehousing/logistics-and-shipping/vietnam-logistics-market/144734-100.html Related Reports Indonesia Logistics and Warehousing Market by Sector (Freight Forwarding, Warehousing, VAS), by Domestic and International Services - Outlook to 2021 The online retail sales in the country increased from USD 8 billion during 2014 to USD 25 billion during 2016 and it is anticipated to grow at similar pace in coming years Philippines Logistics Market Outlook to 2020 - Driven by Customized Logistics, E-commerce Activities and Changes in Freight Forwarding The government of Philippines is spending an increasing amount of its budget on the infrastructural development. From 2010 to 2015, the budgetary spending increased by 240.8%. Singapore Logistics & Warehousing Market Outlook to 2021 - Freight Forwarding and Warehousing Sector to Support Future Growth The cold storage industry of Singapore holds a prominent place owing to its future growth potential. Growing demand of poultry & dairy products and pharmaceuticals and biotech products in the country has increased the demand for cold transport in the country Contact Us: Ken Research Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications Ankur@kenresearch.com +91-9015378249 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. Start-up program has already gained more than $11 million in AUM in its first six months CUSO Financial Services, L.P. (CFS), a subsidiary of Atria Wealth Solutions, announces it is working with Polish National Credit Union of Chicopee, Mass. to develop a start-up investment program for its members. The dual employee program has been operating just over seven months and has already worked with members to put $11.5 million under management. Polish National (PNCU) reviewed five broker-dealers before choosing CFS to support the program, citing its great reputation in the industry and its knowledge of the credit union model as the reasons for the choice. The $555 million, community-chartered credit union, with over 23,000 members, launched the program with TV commercials running across local and cable stations for two months. It is also running educational planning workshops on estate planning, retirement planning and life insurance. Kevin Kober, director of retail banking for PNCU, says, "As this is our first investment program, it was important for us to work with a broker-dealer that understands our philosophy and knows how to integrate the investment program into the core offerings of our credit union. We have found CFS management very easy to work with." He added, "We are working on building a strong foundation for the program in this first phase and will be adding more technologies in the near term." In a dual employee program, the credit union employs the advisors while they are licensed and supervised by CFS. Currently the program has one advisor/program manager, Chris Casale, and one sales assistant. They plan to hire more advisors as the program grows. "We are honored to have been recommended to PNCU's president, James Kelly by another one of our clients," said Valorie Seyfert, president for CFS. "We think this is a great testimonial to our programs and look forward to working with PNCU to make their investment program a success for both the credit union and its members." About CUSO Financial Services, L.P. CUSO Financial Services, L.P. (Member FINRA/SIPC) and its sister company, Sorrento Pacific Financial, LLC, are subsidiaries of Atria Wealth Solutions. Established in 1997, they specialize in placing investment programs inside banks and credit unions, providing customized investment and insurance solutions to over 200 financial institutions throughout the country, with $30+ billion in AUA. Headquartered in San Diego, with branch offices nationwide, both broker-dealers are SEC Registered Investment Advisers, with expertise in key areas including retirement services, wealth management, advisory solutions and insurance products for individuals and business customers. For more information, see www.cusonet.com or visit LinkedIn pages: CFS and SPF. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005551/en/ Contacts: For CUSO Financial Services, L.P. Beth Walsh, 760-230-2424 beth@clearpointagency.com Government Ban on U.S. Components Add to ZTE's Troubles, Including Lack of Google Android Support OYSTER BAY, New York, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ZTE, the fourth largest smartphone vendor in the United States, attempted to create a totally new user experience with its Axon M smartphone. The Axon M features dual-folding screens and a fingerprint sensor on the side of the smartphone. Both features aim to provide the largest screen possible without distractions. ZTE's attempt via the Axon M represents one of the very few to provide a tablet-like screen experience without growing the phone proportionately in a mass-produced smartphone. The innovation could be hampered though since this month the U.S. government banned American firms from exporting components directly to ZTE or through a third party for seven years, announced the Teardowns service of ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies. The ban was implemented because ZTE allegedly shipped telecom equipment to Iran and North Korea. ZTE's approach is to provide two full HD resolution (1920x1080) screens: one on the front and one on the back of the smartphone. The rear display is supported by strong hinges that allow it to fold out to reside side-by-side with the front display. "The double sized screen and placement of the fingerprint sensor on the side of the smartphone could have provided a very exceptional experience, but ZTE did not fully capitalize on its creativity," said Jim Mielke, Vice President of ABI Research's Teardown service. "Once again we were disappointed to see a total of more than an inch of borders at the top and the bottom of the of each display that had minimal functionality. ZTE did not follow the trend of making the Axon M borderless," Mielke added. Of the entire 16-centimeter (6.4"), only 13 centimeters (5.2") is actual display. The Axon M also shares other another downfall inherent with a dual display: the power draw is more than twice as much when both displays are active (2500mW vs 1000mW). "A second version of the Axon M could have been very interesting if ZTE worked on just a few of the shortcomings of the first," Mielke added. But the U.S. sanctions will prohibit a quick release of a second version. Although the display itself is not from the United States, the protective glass (Corning Gorilla Glass 5) and 60% of the other electronics are sourced from U.S. companies: Qualcomm, SanDisk, and Skyworks Solutions. "The ban on Qualcomm chips is not great for ZTE's supply chain, but since ZTE also uses MediaTek and Spreadtrum Communications chipsets in its smartphone portfolio, it may not be too problematic," said David McQueen, Research Director for Handsets and Devices at ABI Research. "The most crucial aspect of the ban may be ZTE not being allowed to use Qualcomm, Qorvo, Skyworks, or Avago Technologies for front-end components as well as Google and therefore Android for the operating system. ZTE could start to use the Android Open Source Platform instead as some of its Chinese counterparts do already, namely OPPO, Vivo Communication Technology and Xiaomi. But this change will undoubtedly affect its ability to hold on to its U.S. market share, particularly on a platform that generally won't support Google's services," McQueen adds. There were 1.46 billion total global smartphone shipments for 2017. Of those, ZTE shipped 42.8 million. "ZTE will have difficulty reaching that same number during the next seven years," concluded McQueen. For a detailed analysis of the ZTE Axon M teardown, visit https://teardowns.abiresearch.com/teardowns/pe_zteteardown-axon-m-z999-64/features. ABI Research's Teardowns reports feature ultra-high-resolution imaging, pinpoint power measurements, detailed parts list with fully costed BOMs (bill of materials), block diagrams and x-rays. ABI Research performs the highest resolution imagery in the teardown industry, providing unprecedented competitive analysis on components, cost, and chip system functionality. About ABI Research ABI Research provides strategic guidance for visionaries needing market foresight on the most compelling transformative technologies, which reshape workforces, identify holes in a market, create new business models and drive new revenue streams. ABI's own research visionaries take stances early on those technologies, publishing groundbreaking studies often years ahead of other technology advisory firms. ABI analysts deliver their conclusions and recommendations in easily and quickly absorbed formats to ensure proper context. Our analysts strategically guide visionaries to take action now and inspire their business to realize a bigger picture. For more information about ABI Research's forecasting, consulting and teardown services, visionaries can contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific or visit www.abiresearch.com. Contact Info: Global Deborah Petrara Christopher Leary Tel: +1.516.624.2558 Tel: +1.516.624.2544 pr@abiresearch.com pr@abiresearch.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/682258/ABI_Research_Axon_Teardown.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/276887/abi_research_logo.jpg (WebFG News) - REA Holdings announced on Wednesday that its subsidiary, PT REA Kaltim Plantations, has entered into a conditional agreement for the sale of its 95% interest in PBJ to Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK). The London-listed firm said the agreement remained conditional on REA shareholder approval, as well as necessary regulatory consents in Indonesia and the consent of REA Kaltim's lending bank. It said the disposal would enable the group to release the intrinsic value that had built up in ... 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. QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/25/18 -- Nemaska Lithium Inc. ("Nemaska Lithium" or the "Corporation") (TSX: NMX)(OTCQX: NMKEF)(FRANKFURT: N0T) is pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced private placement (the "Placement") of 88,460,446 subscription receipts (the "Receipts") at a price of CAD 1.12 per Receipt for aggregate gross proceeds of CAD 99,075,700, pursuant to the investment agreement (the "Investment Agreement") entered into with SoftBank Group Corp. ("SoftBank") on April 5, 2018. Pursuant to the Placement, upon conversion of the Receipts, SoftBank will acquire up to 9.9% of Nemaska Lithium's common shares ("Shares"). The gross proceeds from the Placement have been placed in escrow, pending satisfaction or waiver of the remaining escrow release conditions, being, among others, the completion by the Corporation of one or more public and/or private equity offerings (the "Equity Offerings"), and the reception of irrevocable commitments for debt financing as per the details given in its April 5, 12 and 20, 2018 press releases (see: http://www.nemaskalithium.com/en/investors/press-releases/2018/). If the escrow release conditions are satisfied or waived, 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 and the completion of the Equity Offerings, 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). The full text of the subscription receipt agreement governing the Receipts is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 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 www.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 fulfillment of the escrow release conditions of the Receipts and the receipt by the Corporation of the net proceeds from the Placement, 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 component of the overall project financing, including regulatory (and TSX) approval. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release 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 the Placement as well as 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 Introducing product management and robotic solutions which maximize efficiency at each step of the supply chain from factory to warehouse and on to delivery Panasonic Corporation is exhibiting its full range of logistics solutions at CeMAT 2018, the world's leading trade fair for the intralogistics and supply chain management sector, which is being held from April 23-27 in Hannover, Germany. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425006197/en/ The Panasonic booth at CeMAT 2018 (Photo: Business Wire) [Video] Highlights of Panasonic at CeMAT Supply Chain Solutions Gemba Process Innovation https://youtu.be/oQq2EEjNSAs At its booth (Hall 20 Stand C73), Panasonic is using live demonstrations and video displays to introduce its full line of solutions which maximize operational efficiency at each step of the supply chain from labeling and dispatch error detection at factories, to sorting and loading at distribution centers, on to transportation and proof of delivery. A video display at the front of the booth illustrates the flow of logistics information and material tracking processes from the point of receiving an order all the way to delivery, highlighting the various products and solutions that Panasonic offers to contribute to supply chain operations. Furthermore, Panasonic's group company, Zetes Industries S.A., is exhibiting its unique software solutions for supply chain management and operation. Providing solutions for each step of the logistics process In the factory warehouse solutions area of the booth, Panasonic is showcasing its range of Cloud-based solutions which enable real-time product and asset traceability; quick and easy identification, serialization and aggregation on packaging lines; and easy and faster (no error) warehouse operations for more reliable delivery. Furthermore, an RFID/Image ID Gate system demo shows how parcels passing through the gate can be immediately scanned simultaneously, in units of individual products or pallets, by RFID and/or 2D barcode to reconfirm if the deliverables contain the correct items and quantity. In the distribution center solutions area, Panasonic's Visual Sort Assist system demonstrates how boxes on a conveyer are traced by sensors, measuring the size, then projecting onto the box the assigned sorting information in numbers and colors. An Automated Transport System which employs a compact-size fork-lift robot to pick up and deliver pallets autonomously to their assigned destination is demonstrated, as well as a wearable Power Assist Suit solution to support the loading/unloading of heavy parcels thus decreasing fatigue to the user. In the delivery solutions area, Zetes' proof of delivery software which ensures perfect delivery through real-time control over collection/delivery and management processes is displayed; along with field mobility solutions that maximize and empower service teams to support complex direct store delivery and van sales operations; and user friendly in-store solutions for mobile devices to improve in-store processes by providing real-time on-shelf availability information. Moreover, the company's Smart Locker which enables unmanned pick-up and delivery services of parcels with security access managed by the Cloud is displayed in the booth. In addition to the solutions areas, a section of the booth is introducing the company's new products, including a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) utilizing MCL Technologies' software which is dedicated to supply chain process execution and full control over mobile device asset management; two new technologies for instant 3D or thermal measurement of parcels using the cameras on Panasonic's TOUGHPAD devices; as well as an array of rugged mobile devices (TOUGHBOOK / TOUGHPAD series) which are able to endure the harsh usage environments of factories, warehouses and delivery networks. Panasonic's feature-packed devices, software and thorough knowledge of logistic centers enable it to create and propose effective solutions, and thus solve problems in operational processes at each step of the supply chain. Panasonic as a strategic B2B partner: Gemba Process Innovation Enhancing our world by providing ever greater convenience is a major challenge for people at any enterprise. Fundamental solutions to complex issues require process innovation at the actual "gemba," where things get made or distributed. Unique insight gained from over a century of manufacturing allows us to propose and enact comprehensive gemba-focused solutions that address today's changing value network. By proactively bringing about innovation within our customers' gemba operations, we are helping to ensure a better life, a better world. Source: https://news.panasonic.com/global/topics/2018/56956.html Related Videos Highlights of Panasonic at CeMAT Supply Chain Solutions Gemba Process Innovation https://youtu.be/oQq2EEjNSAs Walk-through RFID Checkout Solution Smart Cameras https://youtu.be/TF8HAhUN_p4 Panasonic Smart Factory Solutions https://youtu.be/3h_MuLjyjcU Robotic Checkout System "Regi-robo" with RFID Tags for Next Generation of Retail https://youtu.be/Hpp-3Ver7ig Related Links Business solutions for transport and logistics - Panasonic Business https://business.panasonic.co.uk/solutions/transport-and-logistics Panasonic Business https://www.panasonic.com/global/business.html Panasonic R&D 10-Year Vision https://www.panasonic.com/global/corporate/technology-design/10years-vision.html Zetes Industries S.A. https://www.zetes.com/en CeMAT http://www.cemat.de/home RFID Based Walk-through Checkout Solution for Future Retail (Feb 21, 2018) https://news.panasonic.com/global/topics/2018/55288.html Panasonic's Smart Factory Solutions Realize Higher Productivity Using Network Technologies (Sep 07, 2017) https://news.panasonic.com/global/stories/2017/50431.html [Press Release] Panasonic Successfully Completes the Acquisition and De-listing of Zetes Industries SA (Jul 19, 2017) https://news.panasonic.com/global/press/data/2017/07/en170719-3/en170719-3.html Panasonic Showcases Its Cutting-edge Smart Factory Solutions in Germany - Aspires to Introduce Industry 4.0 (Jun 07, 2017) https://news.panasonic.com/global/topics/2017/47681.html The Industry-first Experimental Demonstration of "Regi-Robo", an Entirely Automated Robotic Checkout System and RFIDs (Electronic Tags) at Lawson Panasonic-Mae Store (Mar 07, 2017) https://news.panasonic.com/global/topics/2017/46190.html View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425006197/en/ Contacts: Panasonic Corporation Global Communications Department Global PR Office Click here to go to Media Contact form TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/25/18 -- Editors Note: There is a photo associated with this press release. Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced today that it recently signed a seven-year Smart Parts agreement with Wideroes Flyveselskap AS (Wideroe) to provide component management for the airline's fleet of Q400 aircraft. "We are pleased to further deepen our relationship with Bombardier by joining the Smart Parts program to support our fleet of Q400 aircraft with a total component support solution," said Morten Skoglund, Accountable Manager and COO, Wideroe. "We have trusted Bombardier for decades with maintenance, spares and fleet requirements and they have delivered the level of expertise, service and quality that fits well with the delivery expectations of Wideroe and our customers." "As a long-time operator of Bombardier products for more than 60 years, we are delighted to welcome Wideroe to our Smart Parts program," said Todd Young, Vice President and General Manager, Customer Services and Q400 Program, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. "Our Smart Parts program furnishes our operators with cost predictability and superior parts availability, and is exceedingly adaptable to meet our customers' varied business models. We look forward to continuing our long-term relationship with Wideroe in supporting the airline's Q400 aircraft operation." The Smart Parts program provides comprehensive component maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, access to a strategically located exchange pool, and an on-site inventory based at the airline's hub in Sandefjord. About Smart Parts Bombardier Commercial Aircraft launched the Smart Parts program to provide Component Management Solutions in support of the Q400 aircraft fleet. Including aircraft that are already in service, as well as those on firm order, the program now covers more than 170 aircraft enrolled by Q400 and C Series aircraft customers. About Bombardier With over 69,500 employees across four business segments, Bombardier is a global leader in the transportation industry, creating innovative and game-changing planes and trains. Our products and services provide world-class transportation experiences that set new standards in passenger comfort, energy efficiency, reliability and safety. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Bombardier has production and engineering sites in 28 countries across the segments of Transportation, Business Aircraft, Commercial Aircraft and Aerostructures and Engineering Services. Bombardier shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, Bombardier posted revenues of $16.2 billion. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier. Notes to Editors Images of the Q400 in Wideroe's livery are posted with this release at www.bombardier.com. The backgrounder on the Q400 aircraft is available in the BCA Media Hub. Follow @BBD_Aircraft on Twitter to receive the latest news and updates from Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. To receive our press releases, please visit the RSS Feed section. Bombardier, C Series, Q400, Q Series and Smart Parts are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/WideroeQ400.jpg Contacts: Nathalie Siphengphet Manager, Communications and Public Affairs Bombardier Commercial Aircraft +1(450) 476-5792 nathalie.siphengphet@aero.bombardier.com www.bombardier.com With its sleek, functional design, new user experience and greater simplicity, the new SuperSonic Imagine's ultrasound platform integrates the unique technological innovations such as the SonicPad and increased UltraFast imaging performance. SuperSonic Imagine's latest addition has made new technological breakthrough! Regulatory News: SuperSonic Imagine (Paris:SSI) (Euronext: SSI, FR0010526814, PEA-PME eligible), a company specializing in ultrasound medical imaging, today announced the launch of its new cutting-edge smart Ultrasound Platform, Aixplorer Mach 30. Aixplorer Mach 30 introduces a new generation of UltraFast imaging that enables the optimization of all innovative modes to offer enhanced diagnostic performance. With this new ultrasound system, SuperSonic Imagine is continuing the revolution it started with Aixplorer in 2009 and aims to change the paradigm of the ultrasound examination. "Aixplorer Mach 30, the result of several years of research and development, is pioneering a new direction in the design of ultrasound platforms with an intuitive touch control interface, and "SonicPad", which allows users to focus their attention on the image rather than on the controls for adjusting the device. True to our reputation as innovators, we wanted to bring a new approach to ultrasound examinations: one that is effective, powerful, intuitive and smart," explained Michele Lesieur, CEO of SuperSonic Imagine. "The new Aixplorer Mach 30 Ultrasound Platform is cutting-edge, flexible and upgradable. Its increased performance will offer effective support for new features, as well as clinical innovations and techniques such as 'deep learning' which, with the arrival of artificial intelligence, will make it possible in the near future to support the user in their diagnostic work", added Jacques Souquet, Director of Innovation at SuperSonic Imagine. A pioneer in breakthrough medical imaging, SuperSonic Imagine has always kept its promises by constantly delivering new innovative imaging methods that have given a new impetus to ultrasound medical imaging, with the highlighting of new clinical indicators that have become benchmarks in patient care worldwide. SuperSonic Imagine currently has over 500 clinical publications on the use of ShearWave Elastography (SWE) in several different clinical applications. Aixplorer Mach 30, an innovative, smart, intuitive and powerful ultrasound platform Aixplorer Mach 30 features a new concept in ultrasound, the "SonicPad" touchpad, designed to enhance the user experience. With its intuitive touch screen interface, SonicPad offers intuitive control of all the functions needed to perform the exam and allows physicians to focus their attention on the clinical information displayed on the screen rather than on controls used to optimise the acquisition of an image. "Focus on what you see and not on what you do" In addition, the platform is composed of two large screens, a touch screen control panel and a viewing screen, for enhanced ease and comfort of use and also offers a new range of optimised probes, including a new high frequency abdominal C9-2X probe. With high resolution image quality optimized for each clinical application, Aixplorer Mach 30 incorporates SuperSonic Imagine's innovative modes, which are faster and more powerful thanks to the new platform. Thus, a new generation of ShearWave Elastography (SWE PLUS) allowing the stiffness of tissues to be viewed and measured in real-time on a color map has been significantly enhanced in terms of acquisition speed and examination depth. The performance of the B mode is setting new imaging standards, with the addition of the new probes on the Mach 30. Aixplorer Mach 30 will be officially unveiled at upcoming conferences in France and abroad, a list of which can be found on supersonicimagine.com as well as the launch video. NB: Aixplorer Mach 30 is pending 510k FDA and CE mark. About SuperSonic Imagine Founded in 2005 and based in Aix-en-Provence (France), SuperSonic Imagine is a company that specialises in medical imaging. The company designs, develops and markets a revolutionary ultrasound platform, Aixplorer, which uses UltraFast technology that can acquire images around 200 times faster than conventional ultrasound systems. In addition to providing exceptional image quality, this unique technology is the foundation of several innovations which have changed the paradigm of ultrasound imaging: ShearWave Elastography (SWE), UltraFast Doppler technology, Angio PL.U.S PLanewave UltraSensitive Imaging and, more recently, TriVu. ShearWave Elastography allows physicians to visualise and analyse the stiffness of tissue in real-time using a reliable, reproducible and non-invasive procedure. This is an important parameter in diagnosing potentially malignant lesions or other diseased tissue. As of today, over 300 publications have demonstrated the value of SWE in the care of patients with a wide range of diseases. The latest innovation, Angio PL.U.S, provides a higher level of microvascular imaging through significantly improved colour sensitivity and spatial resolution, while maintaining exceptional 2D image quality. SuperSonic Imagine has been granted regulatory clearances for the commercialisation of Aixplorer on the main markets. Since April 2014, the SuperSonic Imagine company has been listed on Euronext (symbol: SSI). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005846/en/ Contacts: SuperSonic Imagine Marketing Communication Emmanuelle Vella emmanuelle.vella@supersonicimagine.com +33 4 86 79 03 27 or FP2COM Media Relations Europe Florence Portejoie fportejoie@fp2com.fr +33 6 07 76 82 83 or NewCap Investor Relations EU Pierre Laurent Florent Alba supersonicimagine@newcap.fr +33 1 44 71 98 55 or Pascale Communication Media Relations US Amy Phillips amy@pascalecommunications.com +1 412 327 9499 The unemployment rate in the Euro Area (8.5 %) is twice as high as in the United States (4.1 %). Labor markets in Spain and Italy continue to contribute substantially to Euro Area aggregate unemployment. Euro Area labor force participation rates are rising, while the US participation rate has declined moderately. Euro Area old age participation rates are on the rise but still below US levels. Labor markets have become substantially tighter with unemployment rates below, or close to, their pre-crisis lows. In March, the saisonally adjusted (sa) unemployment rate was at 4.1 % in the United States, covering persons aged between 16 and 74 years. The Euro Area, however, shows a considerably higher unemplyoment rate at 8.5 % (sa, February) for the same age group. Figure 1 shows that the... 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. MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/25/18 -- Bombardier has announced the names of thirteen airlines that are the recipients of the company's 2017 Airline Reliability Awards. The company also announced one recipient of the 2017 In-Service Supplier Top Achievement Recognition (STAR) Award. Bombardier's Airline Reliability Performance Awards recognize operators of Bombardier CRJ Series regional jets and Q Series turboprops who achieve the highest rates of dispatch reliability. To be considered for an In-Service STAR Award, a supplier must have scored at least 90 per cent in areas deemed most important by Bombardier's customers such as product performance, airline support and customer focus. The Awards were presented during a Gala Ceremony held on the first day of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft's 2018 All Operators Conference and Tradeshow being held this week in Orlando, Florida. "Bombardier Commercial Aircraft continues to focus on delivering global service solutions to keep our customers flying competitively," said Todd Young, Vice President and General Manager, Customer Services and Q400 Aircraft Program. "Our airline and supplier awards showcase the close collaboration between Bombardier, our operators and our suppliers, and I congratulate the award recipients for their outstanding efforts in servicing the flying public in 2017." Hosted by Bombardier Commercial Aircraft's Customer Services teams, the biennial All Operators Conference and Tradeshow is an interactive and informative event designed to promote collaboration amongst CRJ, Q Series and C Series aircraft customers, suppliers and partners. The event highlights key operational achievements and creates a unique opportunity for all participants to network with airlines, industry experts and program suppliers. The tradeshow provides suppliers the opportunity to showcase their product and services offerings while establishing or building relationships with new and existing customers. The winners of the 2017 Airline Reliability Awards and In-Service STAR Awards are listed in Appendix A. About Bombardier With over 69,500 employees across four business segments, Bombardier is a global leader in the transportation industry, creating innovative and game-changing planes and trains. Our products and services provide world-class transportation experiences that set new standards in passenger comfort, energy efficiency, reliability and safety. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Bombardier has production and engineering sites in 28 countries across the segments of Transportation, Business Aircraft, Commercial Aircraft and Aerostructures and Engineering Services. Bombardier shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, Bombardier posted revenues of $16.2 billion. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier. Notes to Editors Photographs from the Awards Gala are posted with this press release at http://news.commercialaircraft.bombardier.com/ Follow @BBD_Aircraft on Twitter to receive the latest news and updates from Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. To receive our press releases, please visit the RSS Feed section. Bombardier, CRJ Series and Q Series are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. Appendix A Winners of the 2017 Airline Reliability Awards Q100/200/300 Aircraft Program Oceania: Maldivian Europe: Wideroes Flyveselskap North America: PAL Airlines Q400 Aircraft Program Oceania: Nok Air Europe: Olympic Air Asia Pacific: ANA Wings Africa & Middle East: Ethiopian Airlines North America: WestJet CRJ100/200 Aircraft Programs Europe: Air Nostrum North America: Jazz Aviation CRJ700/CRJ900/CRJ1000 Aircraft Programs Oceania: Garuda Indonesia Europe: Regional Jet Asia Pacific: China Express North America: Jazz Aviation Winner of the 2017 In-Service STAR Award Rockwell Collins Contacts: Nathalie Siphengphet Manager, Communications and Public Affairs Bombardier Commercial Aircraft +1(450) 476-5792 nathalie.siphengphet@aero.bombardier.com www.bombardier.com Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - April 25, 2018) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Eric R. Werner has been named the Associate Regional Director for Enforcement in the SEC's Fort Worth Regional Office. He succeeds Jessica B. Magee, who left the agency in February. Mr. Werner joined the SEC in 1995 as an Investigative Staff Attorney in the Enforcement Division in Washington, D.C., where he later served in the division's Office of Chief Counsel. Upon joining the Fort Worth Regional Office, Mr. Werner was promoted to Branch Chief in 2004 and to Assistant Regional Director in 2010. During his tenure at the SEC, Mr. Werner has investigated or supervised more than 100 enforcement actions, including more than a dozen emergency actions, in cases ranging from offering and affinity frauds to misconduct by investment advisers to market manipulation. Recent examples include the SEC's actions in an $80 million oil and gas fraud allegedly orchestrated by a Dallas man who calls himself the "Frack Master," and another halting an allegedly fraudulent initial coin offering that targeted retail investors to fund what it claimed to be the world's first "decentralized bank." "Eric is an experienced and accomplished leader and we look forward to working more closely with him," said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC's Enforcement Division. Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC's Enforcement Division, added, "Eric's expertise is widely respected across the Commission, and he will be an outstanding addition to our senior leadership team." Shamoil T. Shipchandler, Director of the Fort Worth Regional Office, said, "Eric's experience in both headquarters and in Fort Worth has given him tremendous insight into virtually every kind of securities violation across the enforcement program. We are excited to have him lead and guide our talented enforcement staff." Mr. Werner said, "I am honored to have been selected as Associate Director. I look forward to working with the exceptional Fort Worth enforcement staff as we continue our efforts to protect investors and prosecute individuals determined to violate the securities laws." Mr. Werner has spent his career with the SEC, including as an intern before joining the staff full-time. He has a law degree from Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Occidental College. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 25, 2018) - WPC Resources Inc. (TSXV: WPQ) (the "Company" or "WPC") is pleased to announce it has made a $400,000 cash payment to Mandalay Resources Corporation ("Mandalay") in accordance with the terms of the New Ulu Property Option Agreement (the "Agreement"). Under the Agreement the Company can acquire a 100% interest in the Ulu Gold Property ("Ulu") by making cash payments to Mandalay totalling $400,000, issuing Mandalay 15 million shares of WPC and posting security and assuming responsibility for future reclamation and monitoring costs at Ulu. For additional information on the Agreement and Ulu Gold Property please see the Company's news release dated January 11, 2018. Private Placement Further to the Company's news release dated April 16, 2018, the Company has completed a portion of the second and final tranche of its private placement (the "Offering"). Upon the completion of the of the full final tranche of the private placement a new insider of the Company will be created based on share ownership. The TSX Venture Exchange has directed the Company to not issue shares and warrants that would create a new insider until the individuals personal information form ("PIF") has been cleared. The Company has issued 6,900,000 common shares and 3,450,000 share purchase warrants which will not result on the creation of any new insiders of the Company. Upon the PIF clearing and final TSX Venture approval an additional 11,500,000 shares and 5,750,000 warrants will be issued, and a new insider of the Company will be created. In aggregate, following receipt of final approval from the TSX Venture and share issuance, the Company will have issued 32,000,000 units for gross proceeds of $1,600,000. Each unit consists of one (1) common share and one-half (1/2) of a common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each full Warrant will be exercisable to purchase one common share at a price of $0.10 for twelve (12) months following the close of the private placement. All securities issued pursuant to the first tranche, including the common shares underlying Warrants, are subject to a statutory hold period which will expire on June 14, 2018. All securities issued pursuant to the second tranche, including the common shares issued upon the exercise of Warrants, are subject to a statutory hold period which expires on August 16, 2018. The closing of the remainder of the second tranche is subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture. This news release is not an offer or a solicitation of an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration. About WPC Resources Inc. WPC is a Vancouver, Canada, based gold exploration company focused on mineral exploration and development. In 2014, the Company entered into an agreement to acquire Inukshuk Exploration Inc., the owner of a 100% interest in the 8,015 ha Hood River property located contiguous to the Ulu Gold Property. WPC has entered into an option agreement to acquire the Ulu Gold Property. At the completion of the Offering, the Company will have 130,900,304 shares issued and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange with the trading symbol: WPQ. The Company website is: www.wpcresources.ca. For additional information, please contact: Stephen Wilkinson, President; OR Wayne Moorhouse, CFO & Secretary Telephone: (778) 379-1433 E-mail: info@wpcresources.ca NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX-VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking information. All information included herein, other than statements of historical fact, including the expected completion of the Offering and the timing thereof, and the expected use of proceeds are forward-looking statements and involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES. NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 25, 2018 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against BRF S.A. ("BRF" or the "Company") (NYSE: BRFS) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and docketed under 18-cv-02213, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired BRF American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") between April 4, 2013 and March 2, 2018, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials. If you are a shareholder who purchased BRF ADRs between April 4, 2013 and March 2, 2018, both dates inclusive, you have until May 11, 2018, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. [Click here to join this class action] BRF S.A. is a food processor and the world's largest poultry exporter. Its portfolio includes established brands in Brazil and abroad, such as Sadia, Perdigao, Qualy, Chester, Perdix and Paty. The Company provides meat (poultry and pork), foods processed from meats, pizzas, pastas and frozen vegetables. The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) BRF employees paid bribes to regulators and politicians to subvert inspections in order to conceal unsanitary practices at the Company's meatpacking plants; (ii) the foregoing conduct, when it came to light, would foreseeably subject the Company and its officers to heightened regulatory enforcement and/or prosecution; and (iii) as a result of the foregoing, BRF's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On March 17, 2017, news outlets reported that Brazilian federal police had raided the offices of BRF and dozens of other meatpackers following a two-year investigation into alleged bribery of regulators to subvert inspections of their plants. The probe, known as "Operation Weak Flesh", had uncovered some 40 cases of meatpackers who had bribed inspectors and politicians to overlook unsanitary practices, such as processing rotten meat and running plants with traces of salmonella. According to media reports, police found evidence that the companies were tampering with packages to sell products that had already expired and that higher-than permitted levels of parts such as "pig heads" were mixed with sausages and cold cuts. Police arrested three BRF employees, as well as 20 public officials. On this news, BRF's ADR price fell $0.99, or 7.73%, to close at $11.81 on March 17, 2017. On February 23, 2018, the Company held an earnings conference call with investors and analysts to discuss the Q4 2017 earnings results. In the call, Chairman of the Board Abilio Diniz and CFO Lorival Luz discussed the impact of "Operation Weak Flesh." On this news, BRF's ADR price fell $0.76, or 8.00%, to close at $8.73 on February 23, 2018. On March 5, 2018, Reuters reported that Brazilian federal police arrested BRF's former Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") Pedro de Andrade Faria ("Faria") on charges that he and other executives, including the Company's Vice President of Global Operations Helio dos Santos Junior, were aware that BRF committed fraud by trying to avoid food safety checks. According to the report, the "police cited evidence that five laboratories accredited by the Agriculture Ministry colluded with the analysis department of BRF to "falsify" test results related to the safety of its industrial process." In a court ruling authorizing the arrests, Brazilian federal judge Andre Duszczak said "Faria and other BRF officers sought to cover up claims of possible food contamination, as shown in certain laboratory tests, made by a former employee in a labor lawsuit." On this news, BRF's ADR price fell $1.83 or 19.42% to close at $7.59 on March 5, 2018. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 25, 2018 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. ("Cemex" or the "Company") (NYSE: CX) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and docketed under 18-cv-02352, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Cemex American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") between August 14, 2014 and March 13, 2018, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). Plaintiff seeks to recover compensable damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. If you are a shareholder who purchased Cemex ADRs between August 14, 2014, and March 13, 2018, both dates inclusive, you have until May 15, 2018, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. [Click here to join this class action] Cemex is a global building materials company that produces, distributes, and markets cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, and related building materials. Cemex operates throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Cemex executives had engaged in an unlawful bribery scheme in connection with the Company's business dealings in Colombia; (ii) discovery of the foregoing conduct would likely subject the Company to heightened regulatory scrutiny and potential criminal sanctions; (iii) the Company lacked adequate internal controls over financial reporting; and (iv) as a result, Cemex's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On September 23, 2016, post-market, Cemex disclosed the Company's dismissal of two senior executives after an internal probe found that payments worth $20 million relating to a land deal in Colombia had breached company protocols. On this news, Cemex's American depositary receipt ("ADR") price fell $0.17, or 2.28%, to close at $7.26 on September 26, 2016. On December 9, 2016, Cemex disclosed receipt of a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking information about irregular payments made at the Company's Colombia unit. Then, on March 14, 2018, Cemex disclosed that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Company over payments made by the Company related to a cement plant it is building in Colombia to determine whether any violations of federal bribery laws occurred. On this news, Cemex's ADR price fell $0.12, or 1.64%, to close at $7.21 on March 14, 2018. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com. SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP SAO PAULO, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- QMC Telecom International Holdings, LLC ("QMC"), a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure in Latin America, announces the closing of a R$150MM Delayed Draw Credit Facility and Term Loan between two of its Brazilian operating subsidiaries, and ING Bank N.V., Filial de Sao Paulo. The credit facility provides QMC with additional financing for new tower development and related acquisitions across the country. "The closing of this groundbreaking facility in Brazil is a testament to the strong platform our management team has built over the years," stated Jose Stella QMC's Co-CEO and founder. "ING has a strong global presence in the tower industry and we are thrilled to be partnering with them as we continue to serve our clients in Brazil and expand our installed tower base," adds Rafael Somoza, also a QMC co-CEO and founder. "Latin America is the midst of building a wireless infrastructure designed to meet the needs of the next generation of communications and technology. QMC is on the forefront of this development through its installation of new towers across Brazil and Latin America," said Valtin Gallani, Director, ING. "QMC's management team has built a unique growth platform with an impressive investor base, and we are proud to be partnered with them to extend these efforts." For more information, please visit www.qmctelecom.com.br. About QMC Telecom International Founded in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2008, QMC Telecom International ("QMC") is a multinational independent owner and operator of wireless infrastructure. The company develops, owns, acquires and manages rooftops, macro sites and DAS solutions in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Puerto Rico. QMC is backed by a group of renowned investors including Accel Partners, Housatonic Partners, and Grupo Santo Domingo. About ING ING Bank N.V., Filal de Sao Paulo is part of ING Group N.V. ("ING") a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING Bank is empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank's 51,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 40 countries. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - UDR, Inc. (UDR) released a profit for its first quarter that advanced from the same period last year. The company's earnings totaled $80.80 million, or $0.30 per share. This compares with $25.04 million, or $0.09 per share, in last year's first quarter. Excluding items, UDR, Inc. reported adjusted earnings of $133.64 million or $0.45 per share for the period. Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.05 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. The company's revenue for the quarter rose 3.9% to $253.31 million from $243.84 million last year. UDR, Inc. earnings at a glance: -Earnings (Q1): $133.64 Mln. vs. $127.25 Mln. last year. -EPS (Q1): $0.45 vs. $0.43 last year. -Analysts Estimate: $0.05 -Revenue (Q1): $253.31 Mln vs. $243.84 Mln last year. -Guidance : Next quarter EPS guidance: $0.43 to $0.45 Full year EPS guidance: $1.76 to $1.80 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. DEARBORN (dpa-AFX) - Ford Motor Company (F) announced that its fitness initiatives are driving an improved outlook. The company is now targeting an 8 percent adj. EBIT margin in 2020, two years earlier than previously anticipated. Ford is also targeting return on invested capital to substantially increase by 2020. The accelerated 2020 targets are enabled by $11.5 billion of cost and efficiency opportunities that span the entire company and include engineering, marketing and sales, manufacturing, material cost and IT. Ford said the company also expects to improve its capital efficiency. The company had previously expected to spend about $34 billion in capital from 2019 to 2022 and has now cut that by $5 billion, to $29 billion over the same period. Ford also announced that Ford Credit plans to maintain its managed receivables for the foreseeable future at the same level as it ended the quarter, in order to maintain a strong overall risk profile for Ford. For the first-quarter, the company delivered increased revenue, up 7 percent year over year to $42.0 billion, and net income of $1.7 billion, up 9 percent year over year, more than explained by a lower tax rate. Company adjusted EBIT was $2.2 billion, down from a year ago, due to commodity cost increases and adverse exchange. Adjusted earnings per share was $0.43, compared to $0.40, prior year. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 25, 2018) - Cadillac Ventures Inc. (TSXV: CDC) (OTC: CADIF) ("Cadillac" or the "Company") announced today Cadillac has agreed to settle debt obligations for management services in the amount of CDN$206,800 through the issuance of a total of 4,136,000 shares at $0.05 per share to arms' length parties Biliken Management Services Inc. (2, 780,000 shares) and Minroc Management Ltd. (1,356,000 shares) for services rendered to the Company. The issuance of the shares is subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The issuance will not create a new control person. For more information regarding Cadillac or the shares issuances, please visit the Company's website at www.cadillacventures.com, or call Norman Brewster, President and Chief Executive Officer, at 416 203-7722. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cadillac Ventures Inc. Norman Brewster President and Chief Executive Officer 416 203-7722 www.cadillacventures.com Bank of America Corporation (the "Corporation") filed a Current Report on Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on April 25, 2018, announcing that it held its 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on April 25, 2018 (the "Annual Meeting"). At the Annual Meeting, the Corporation's stockholders elected all of the nominees for director; approved the advisory vote on executive compensation; and ratified the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the Corporation's independent registered public accounting firm for 2018. With respect to all matters subject to a vote, holders of the Corporation's common stock, Series B Preferred Stock, and Series 1 to 5 Preferred Stock voted together as a class. Bank of America Corporation makes available all of its SEC filings on its website: http://investor.bankofamerica.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=71595&p=irol-irhome. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. These materials may be obtained electronically by accessing the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. A copy of the document will also be available on the National Storage Mechanism's website at: http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425006784/en/ Contacts: Bank of America Corporation Amanda D. Daniel, +1-980-388-5923 North Carolina Certified Paralegal, Bank of America Nexa Resources S.A. (NYSE:NEXA) (TSX:NEXA) ("Nexa Resources" or the "Company") announces the Environmental authorities of the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil (SEMA/MT) granted the Preliminary Environmental License ("LP") for our Aripuana project after the approval by the Environmental State Council (CONSEMA) in a session held today. The publication of the decision is expected for the next few days. The LP certifies that the project complies with the environmental standard requirements of projects with such characteristics and it is one important milestone for the implementation of the Aripuana project. About Aripuana The Aripuana project is owned by Mineracao Dardanelos Ltda., a joint venture between Nexa (which holds a 62.3% interest), Compania Minera Milpo S.A.A., which is currently changing its corporate name to Nexa Resources Peru S.A.A., a subsidiary of Nexa (which holds a 7.7% interest) and Mineracao Rio Aripuana Ltda., a subsidiary of Karmin Exploration Inc. (which holds the remaining 30%). Aripuana is an underground polymetallic project containing zinc, lead and copper, with an anticipated mine life of 24 years and an expected start of production in 2020. As set out in the preliminary economic assessment ("PEA"), the estimated aggregate capital expenditure required for this project is US$354 million. It is currently estimated that the Aripuana project, when and if it is fully developed and begins operation, could produce an annual average of approximately 51.0 thousand tonnes of zinc in concentrate, 20.0 thousand tonnes of lead in concentrate, 4.0 thousand tonnes of copper in concentrate and also 1.0 million ounces of silver and 25.0 thousand ounces of gold contained in the zinc, lead and copper concentrates over a 24-year life of mine. Aripuana is located in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil, exhibiting characteristics of a Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide, or VMS. The PEA disclosed the details of the possible development of an operation with 5,000 tpd ore mining and processing capacity. Outlook The pre-feasibility study stage was completed during 2017, and Nexa approved the project to move forward to the feasibility study stage. Currently, the feasibility study development (FEL3) has advanced accordingly, reaching 58% of progress at the end of March, 2018 and is expected to be submitted to Nexa's Board of Directors approval during 2018. In 2017, the exploration program has developed more than 26,600 meter infill drilling focused on mineral resources conversion and identification of mineralized deposits. The project is still pending other applicable licenses and permits in Brazil such as the Installation License (LI) and Operating License (LO). About Nexa Nexa is a large-scale, low-cost integrated zinc producer with over 60 years of experience developing and operating mining and smelting assets in Latin America. The Company operates and owns five long-life underground mines, three located in the Central Andes of Peru and two located in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. Two of the Company's mines, Cerro Lindo in Peru and Vazante in Brazil, are among the 10 largest zinc mines in the world and combined with the Company's other mining operations, place the Company among the top five producers of mined zinc globally in 2017, according to Wood Mackenzie. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This News Release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements as defined in applicable securities laws (collectively referred to in this News Release as "forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of NEXA to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include (but are not limited to) estimates, forecasts, and statements as to management's expectations with respect to the business and operations of the Company and mining production and its projects. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Statements concerning future production costs or volumes are based on numerous assumptions of management regarding operating matters and on assumptions that demand for products develops as anticipated, that customers and other counterparties perform their contractual obligations, that operating and capital plans will not be disrupted by issues such as mechanical failure, unavailability of parts and supplies, labor disturbances, interruption in transportation or utilities, adverse weather conditions, and that there are no material unanticipated variations in the cost of energy or supplies. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required under securities laws. Further information concerning risks and uncertainties associated with these forward-looking statements and our business can be found in our public disclosures filed under our profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on EDGAR (www.sec.gov). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425006802/en/ Contacts: Nexa Resources S.A. Leandro Cappa Head of IR ir@nexaresources.com Regulatory News: Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (the "Company") (LN:PSH) (NA:PSH) today released its special daily Net Asset Value ("NAV") on its website, https://www.pershingsquareholdings.com/company-reports/weekly-navs/. The NAV was computed as of the close of business on Wednesday, 25 April 2018. PSH NAV per share as of close of business on 25 April 2018 was 15.87 USD 11.39 GBP. As disclosed in the Company's Tender Document, issued on 25 April 2018, the Company has agreed that it will publish its NAV on each day, beginning 25 April 2018, up to and including the NAV Reference Date, 9 May 2018, during the period for which the Tender Offer is open. About Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (NA:PSH) is an investment holding company structured as a closed-ended fund that makes concentrated investments principally in North American companies. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION The special daily NAV for each day from 25 April 2018 through 9 May 2018 is calculated by Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. based on internal books and records, as well as pricing from various third-party pricing sources, including Bloomberg and Markit Valuations Limited. In the interest of providing these special daily NAVs on an expedited basis, such special daily NAVs will not be verified by the Company's third-party sub-administrator prior to release. The Company will release its regular monthly NAV and performance report for the month of April 2018 on 1 May 2018. The monthly NAV will be calculated according to the Company's standard process for weekly and monthly NAV releases, which includes verification by the Company's third-party sub-administrator prior to release. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425006821/en/ Contacts: MEDIA CONTACT Maitland Seda Ambartsumian/Sam Turvey, +44 20 7379 5151 Media-pershingsquareholdings@maitland.co.uk Stoughton, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - April 25, 2018) - Medical Specialties Distributors, LLC (MSD) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with McKesson Corporation for McKesson to acquire MSD. McKesson is a global leader in healthcare supply chain management solutions, medical/surgical supply distribution, retail pharmacy, community oncology and specialty care, and healthcare information technology. This transaction strengthens MSD's position in post-acute/non-hospital segments and will deliver meaningful value to McKesson and MSD customers. It also provides new opportunities for MSD employees as part of a much larger organization. "We believe McKesson is the ideal partner and view this transaction as a strategic fit that will generate many benefits for our customers and their patients. Combining our complementary businesses will allow us to collectively bring more value to the healthcare providers across the post-acute segments MSD serves," said Tom Burke, CEO of MSD. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of McKesson's Fiscal Year 2019, subject to customary closing conditions, including necessary regulatory clearances. About MSD Medical Specialty Distributors, LLC (MSD) is a leading post-acute/non-hospital patient supply chain provider offering a broad portfolio of medical supplies, biomedical services, and technology solutions. MSD has earned the trust and serves over 9,700 healthcare providers at over 11,000 sites nationwide and in support of its customers, MSD services their patients directly through its Patient Home Direct program. MSD provides its customers with a Total Enterprise Solution, uniquely combining products and services that enable its customers improve their business processes, to include technology solutions like VerbalCare and OneTrack, and to focus on the best possible outcomes for their patients. To learn more about MSD visit www.msdonline.com. BigCommerce, an Austin, Texas-based ecommerce platform for fast-growing and established brands, closed $64m growth equity funding. The round, which brings total funding to over $200m, led by Goldman Sachs, with participation from current investors General Catalyst, GGV Capital and Tenaya Capital. The company intends to use the funds to continue investing in the platform, technology and team. Founded in 2009 and led by Brent Bellm, CEO, and Russell Klein, Chief Development Officer, BigCommerce provides a SaaS ecommerce platform serving Internet Retailer Top 1000 brands. Today, more than 60,000 merchants across 120 countries use the BigCommerce platform, including Avery Dennison, Ben & Jerrys, Gibson, Paul Mitchell, Sharp, Skullcandy and Sony. To date, merchants selling on the BigCommerce platform have processed more than $17 billion in sales. The funding follows several recent company milestones, including new and expanded strategic partnerships with commerce and technology platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Google, Instagram, Square and PayPal. Highlights include: In March, BigCommerce expanded its collaboration with Instagram to enable shopping on Instagram for more than 60,000 BigCommerce brands around the world. In January, the company entered into a strategic partnership with Handshake, enhancing support for B2B brands selling online. Earlier, BigCommerce became the first ecommerce platform to natively support Akamai Image Manager and Googles Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), providing merchants with tools to improve mobile performance and conversion at no additional cost. FinSMEs 25/04/2018 Bunch, a Berlin, Germany-based culture startup, raised a seven-figure seed funding round. Backers included High-Tech Grunderfonds, Atlantic Labs and Berlin angels Friedrich Neuman and Marius Schulze. The company intends to use the funds to continue to develop the product, expand the team, and grow sales. Led by CEO Darja Gutnick, Charles Ahmadzadeh, and Anthony Reo, Bunch allows companies to calculate the best team makeups, measure each members impact on team dynamics, and get actionable recommendations to optimize team performance. The company, which currently has a 10-person team, aims to allow fast-growing companies to build their teams. Each team member, as well as new candidates in the application process, fill out an online questionnaire based on the Organizational Culture Profiling method developed at Stanford University. This allows users to predict behavioral tendencies of individuals and teams in the organization with a high degree of accuracy. The profile measures six dimensions: customer-orientation, results-orientation, collaboration, detail-orientation, focus on principles, and adaptability. Each employee, team, and department can then experiment with different team setups based on their profiles. A new integration with the Slack communication platform allows teams to continuously monitor and measure the a teams culture in real-time. Launched in September 2017, Bunch has been tested by more than 1000 companies with customers including N26, Fraunhofer and AWS competitor Digital Ocean from the United States. FinSMEs 25/04/2018 Doctor On Demand, a San Francisco, CA-based virtual care provider, closed a $74m Series C financing. The round was led by Princeville Global, Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, new investors Blue Cloud Ventures and Ridgeview Asset Management, with participation from existing investors Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Sir Richard Branson, Sherpa Ventures, World Innovation Lab Venrock, and Tenaya Capital. In conjunction with the funding, Matt Krna, Managing Partner at Princeville Global, will join a seat on Doctor On Demands board. The company, which has now raised over $160m in total funding, intends to use the capital for the continued rapid expansion of its platform. Led by Hill Ferguson, CEO, Doctor On Demand offers access to board-certified physicians, psychiatrists, and licensed psychologists via smartphones, tablets, or desktop computers. Patients download the Doctor On Demand app or visit www.doctorondemand.com, provide a list of their symptoms, and are connected for a video visit within minutes. Prescriptions, if needed, are sent directly to the pharmacy of choice. Doctor On Demand physicians can also order lab work, allowing for the treatment of a broader range of conditions and chronic care management. The company, which also has offices in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., has two million patients nationwide, hundreds of enterprise customers including four of the Fortune 10 companies, and over two dozen health plan partners. FinSMEs 25/04/2018 Torben Majgaard, a Danish entrepreneur, founder of the outsourcing company Ciklum, invested in AVentures Capital fund and became its financial partner. Along with the funds capital, the investments will be used to finance globally oriented Ukrainian startups and IT companies in various stages. Previously, AVentures Capital Fund has made joint investments with Torben in Augmented Pixels (computer vision, SLAM, 3d mapping for mobile devices, robots and drones) and audio player VOX. The fund also contributed to the investment of the George Soros Foundation (Ukrainian Redevelopment Fund) in Ciklum in November 2015. Founded in 2012 and led by managing partners Andrey Kolodyuk and Yevgen Sysoyev, AVentures Capital is a venture capital firm focused on global companies that leverage R&D in Ukraine and CEE targeting the following IT categories: software, e-commerce, cloud services, mobile technology, IoT and others. The firm has over 10 companies in its portfolio, including Augmented Pixels, nuPSYS, Petcube, Spinbackup, StarWind Software, Rallyware, Bookimed, Teamfusion and others. FinSMEs 25/04/2018 . . , , , . " . , , . ... After the announcement of China launch date, OnePlus just confirmed that the OnePlus 6 flagship smartphone will be launched in India on May 17th, same day as the China event. The company said that it will host the biggest ever community event in its history. The entry vouchers to attend the event will be available via oneplus.in at Rs. 999 from 10:00 IST on Tuesday, 8th May 2018. All fans who attend the launch event will get a gift hamper full of super add-ons and exclusive Marvel Avengers merchandise. OnePlus 6 Notify me page went live on Amazon.in last week. OnePlus also said that Amazon Prime members have the advantage of Prime Early Access where they will get the first opportunity to purchase OnePlus 6 in an exclusive sale beginning at 12:00 IST on 21st May 2018. OnePlus 6 is confirmed to come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC paired with up to 8GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. The new flagship will come with a large screen with a notch, option to hide it, 90% screen-to-body ratio, 3.5mm audio jack, Snapdragon 845 SoC, Android 8.1 (Oreo) with Oxygen OS 5.1.0 on top, will retain the slider, and have a glass back with five printed layers of Nanotech Coating. The company also hinted at water and dust-resistant body in a teaser. The event takes place in Mumbai and starts at 3PM IST. Those who wont be able to make it to the Mumbai launch event, will be able to tune-in to the livestream on oneplus.in website. 04.23.18 Meeting Minutes Brief highlights from Mondays Town Council meetings Pier provisions: Hercules and Coconut Drives piers are one step closer to re-establishment. The council approved a contract award to J&M Boatlift & Repair for $95,795, which includes both docks. Connecticut cut-off: Council agreed 3-2 to ask that the Connecticut sidewalk, being built and funded by the Metropolitan Planning Organization, run from Estero Boulevard to Shell Mound only. Residents at a community meeting expressed displeasure at the sidewalk extending the full length of the street. Council Member Anita Cereceda and Bruce Butcher dissented. There are bigger goals and bigger visions. What we talk about in the comp plan arent specific people, she said. To scale back the sidewalk is a long term mistake for a short term goal of satisfying short term residents. No name game: during the April planning and management session, the council discussed overall ideas of town branding efforts, what the towns main symbol is, and possibly renaming the town by a referendum if there was support to do so. Many people confuse Fort Myers Beach as being a part of Fort Myers. At Mondays meeting, Council Member Dennis Boback brought up the name referendum again. Council members agreed that it was too soon for a referendum, and was a much larger discussion, but some were supportive of starting a discussion as some of the advisory boards will be taking on some branding brainstorming. Im for exploring the idea, Butcher said. Neighbors of San Carlos Island resident Monica Lynn know she loves manatees and dolphins. So when a marine-looking shape was spotted floating in Hurricane Pass on April 4, her neighbors called her to let her know. Lynn got in her kayak to investigate, and found it was a dead manatee, belly up and bloated. She was able to call a 24/7 wildlife hotline with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which sent a biologist out to collect the body. FWC has a Marine Mammal Pathology Lab dedicated to studying marine life. The body was taken to Clearwater for examination to determine a cause of death. The manatee died from an acute injury from a boat, said Martine Dewit, a veterinarian with the lab. Although the female manatees surface wounds were minimal, it died from perforated internal organs, kidney and rib trauma. While examining the manatee, Dewit said the lab discovered the female had been lactating. Based on a uterine examination, the calf wasnt very young. Calves stay with their mothers for around two years and continue to nurse as long as they are with their mothers, Dewit said. If the calf survived and in its second year, it could live on its own. But thats speculation, she said. Manatees were moved from the endangered list to the threatened list, but the animal is still being monitored and protected. Theyve got virtually no natural predators; human influence is a major cause of death for the slow-moving mammals. Dewit said people need to remember to obey the speed zones on Floridas waterways to prevent killing manatees from the impact. Unfortunately its part of the environment where manatees and boats need to use the same waterways, she said. Manatees stay mostly under water, and stick just the top of their nose out of the water to breathe. The movement of their paddle-like tail also leaves a footprint or visible disturbance on the surface of the water. Besides slowing down, Dewit said it helps to wear polarized glasses so boaters can see manatees more easily in the water. If someone sees an injured or dead manatee, they can call the toll-free wildlife hotline at 1-888-404-3922. A biologist will respond on site to address the issue. A lot of people are aware, but its always good to get that number out, Dewit said. Lynn knew to call the hotline. I just hope that by sharing Jane Does story, that boaters and jetskis will slow down out of respect for the wildlife that call our waters home, she said. (The manatee) life mattered, as did her surviving, or not, calfs. This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. When Allison Mack was arrested last week on sex trafficking charges, the tiny, pre-war apartment complex in Brooklyn where she was staying became the last in a slew of residences spanning North America where the former television star allegedly carried out bizarre and violent rituals as part of a purported cult she joined more than a decade ago. Mack, who played high school newspaper editor Chloe Sullivan on the CWs Smallville for 10 seasons, is believed to have created a secret society within the self-help organization NXIVM called DOS - an acronym based on a Latin phrase that loosely translates to "Lord/Master of obedient female companions along with NXIVMs controversial founder, Keith Raniere. Many of the lurid acts that Raniere and Mack are purported to have carried out which included branding their slaves, forcing women to have sex with Raniere and various forms of public humiliation are believed to have taken place in a light blue townhouse that Mack purchased in suburban Albany, sources familiar with NXIVM told Fox News. Both Mack and Raniere face between 15 years to life behind bars if convicted of charges ranging from conspiracy to commit forced labor to sex trafficking. Mack moved to Clifton Park, New York, from Vancouver shortly after Smallville ended its run in 2011 so she could be closer to Raniere, and it was during this time that, sources close to NXIVM say, the man who his followers call Vanguard began to espouse his more nefarious ideas to the actress. Some of the branding took place in Macks living room in Clifton Park, Frank Parlato, NXIVMs former publicist and an investigative journalist behind FrankReport, told Fox News. Parlato added that Raniere and Mack lived together from time to time and another woman from Mexico, Mariana Fernandez, was also allegedly involved in a relationship with the two and lived in the house. As pressure on Raniere and NXIVM began to mount following the revelations of branding that were first exposed by Parlato and then in a lengthy piece in The New York Times last year, the alleged cult leader fled to a $10,000 a week villa inside a luxury gated community in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, sometime between late October and early November. For a time, it is believed that Mack remained behind in the U.S. living in the Brooklyn apartment and working to recruit new members to NXIVM and, ultimately, DOS. She was the principal recruiter for young slaves for Raniere, Parlato said. They nicknamed her Pimp Mack. Parlato said that at any given time there were between four and 12 DOS slaves at the apartment on the corner Hicks and Pineapple in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood and that Mack also used a rented building in the up-and-coming neighborhood of East Williamsburg as a recruiting center. The graffiti-covered building, which features a heavy steel door and has multiple security cameras, was where women were told of NXIVMs supposed, disease-curing technology and where they provided collateral to Mack before being groomed for sex with Raniere. It is unknown when Mack left New York and traveled to Mexico, but she was captured on video chasing after a Mexico police car following Ranieres arrest. Following Macks arrest last week in New York, she was detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, but a judge on Tuesday granted her release on $5 million bail. As a condition of her bail, Mack is to have no connection with any current or former NXIVM members and will be monitored by an electronic bracelet. Upon her release, Mack returned to California to live with her parents in the suburban Los Angeles city of Los Alamitos until her next court appearance on May 3. After 10 years of lean, threadbare, Lilliputian tales, Marvel Studios has finally decided to go big. The Anthony and Joe Russo directed film is expected to surpass "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" to become the second-highest domestic start of all time in the United States, according to tracking from Deadline. Some believe the movie may even reach a $275 million opening to beat current record holder "Star Wars The Force Awakens." Arguably the best quality and most vital asset of the Marvel canon is its star-making (or at least star-expanding) power. And it's really the simple pleasure of seeing so many good actors together that makes "Infinity War" an "Ocean's Eleven" in hyper drive work. The film stars Chris Pratt, Robert Downey Jr., Elizabeth Olsen, Zoe Saldana and countless of others. As reviews for the upcoming movie roll in, they are overwhelmingly positive. "I love it The delight of a movie like this is to see these characters interact with other characters that they havent before. And we get some crazy pairings here'Avengers: Infinity War' feels like a really special event," Uproxx wrote. USA Today said, "It could have been an unholy mess, but with directors Anthony and Joe Russo at the helm, Infinity War is instead a glorious, multilayered and clever comic-book adventure with loads of emotional stakes and a perfect foe for Earths mightiest heroes.Its kind of a miracle but every personality in this super-smorgasbord gets at least one meaningful character moment nobody gets left behind in the storytelling." "With so many ingredients to stir into this overflowing pot, you have to hand it to the two experienced teams of Marvel collaborators who had a feel for how to pull this magnum opus off," wrote The Hollywood Reporter. Variety said, "'Avengers: Infinity War' can, at times, make it feel like youre at a birthday party where you got so many presents that you start to grow tired of opening them. But taken on its own pinata-of-fun terms, its sharp, fast-moving, and elegantly staged." The screenplay, by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, spreads the heroes around in improvised groups that create some funny dynamics. The Guardians, who inject most of the life to "Infinity War," swoon for Hemsworth's one-eyed Thor. "He's like a pirate had a baby with an angel," says Dave Bautista's Drax. Many don't know each other, or the parameters of their shared "cinematic universe." ''There's an Ant-Man AND a Spider-Man?" remarks Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk. "Avengers: Infinity War," a Walt Disney Co. release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for "intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, language and some crude references." Running time: 149 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A new documentary aims to expose the shocking details behind the affair of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. ITV's latest special, titled The Real Camilla: HRH the Duchess of Cornwall, details how a chance encounter at a polo match in 1970 impacted the monarchy forever. Their budding romance came to a halt when Charles left for naval duties overseas and Camilla married now-retired British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles. Still, the documentary claims Camilla, who had an unhappy marriage due to her husband's adulterous behavior, quickly fell into the arms of Charles when he returned. The prince wasnt married to future royal Diana Spencer yet. She was unhappy that she was the betrayed woman, an insider told the program of Camilla. This was the real problem. Thats what sent her back into the arms of Prince Charles. Andrew was away an awful lot, and Prince Charles was someone who was kind to her." Diana, who married Charles in 1981 and became the Princess of Wales, was reportedly unaware of the secret romance. The documentary claims both women started off as good friends. However, when Diana learned about the affair, she immediately became moody, willful and unpredictable. There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded, Diana would famously say in a 1995 interview with Panorama when asked about Camilla. Diana and Charles divorced in 1996. A year later, she was killed in a car accident at age 36 in Paris. Charles and Camilla married in 2005. His former mistress became Duchess of Cornwall with the queens approval. Back in 2017, Dianas biographer Andrew Morton told Fox News the Peoples Princess had long suspected Charles was having an ongoing affair with his ex-girlfriend. Here is Prince Charles telling Diana that hes going to give a bracelet to his old lover just before the wedding, said Morton. Just a few days before the wedding. And then keeps pictures of Camilla in his diary on their honeymoon. What woman is not going to be incensed by this crass and insensitive behavior? "Diana was very suspicious of Charles relationship with Camilla right from the get-go. And who could blame her? He left her behind, but the fact that hes been [currently] married for 12 years to Camilla shows that he still had plenty of love in his heart for his former mistress. Diana doubted Charles feelings for her, Morton claimed. Diana said to me that when he asked her to marry him she said, Oh yes, yes I will. I love you so much. And Prince Charles, even in the privacy of that moment, said, Whatever love means. And he gave that famous television interview, whatever love means. So you have to ask yourself, did he really have any kind of genuine feeling for Diana or was she, as she felt herself, a sacrificial lambproducing an heir and a spare and then being discarded? [Diana] was hoping she would come to terms with this new life and move on, he added. But she realized she was living this lie seemingly the wife of Prince Charles. And yet you got Prince Charles, who was effectively with another mans wife at Highgrove, their country estate, while she languished alone at Kensington Palace. The Real Camilla: HRH The Duchess of Cornwall is currently available for streaming on ITV. Years-old claims that Morgan Freeman and his slain step-granddaughter EDena Hines had a sexual relationship have resurfaced in court as Hines' accused murderer faces trial. Lamar Davenport is charged with the 2015 murder of Hines, his girlfriend at the time. Davenport's lawyer Beth Unger claimed in court on Friday that Hines disclosed to Davenport and others that her grandfather engaged in a sexually inappropriate relationship with her, the New York Daily News reported. Text messages revealed during the hearing Friday showed Hines spoke about her relationship with Freeman to Davenport. I dont ask him for advice, Hines wrote. He was calling to ask me ... I blocked him for myself not for you because men who equal grandpa feelings dont need to be in my life at all. KANYE WEST ABRUPTLY FIRES MANAGER SCOOTER BRAUN, FEARS ABOUT HIS HEALTH EMERGE Rumors have circulated about Hines and Freemans relationship for almost a decade. The two denied the claims before Hines' death. In 2012, Freeman released a statement regarding the rumors: The recent reports of any pending marriage or romantic relationship of me to anyone are defamatory fabrications from the tabloid media designed to sell papers. What is even more alarming is that these fabrications are now being picked up by the legitimate press as well. Hines also released a statement stating the rumors were untrue and hurtful to me and my family. Other text messages displayed in court showed Davenport and Hines spoke about breaking up before her death. The texts referenced outside influences including her relationship with her grandpa. BRADLEY COOPER SHOWS FIRST TRAILER OF HIS A STAR IS BORN REMAKE Hines, 33, was found dead on Aug. 16, 2015, outside her Washington Heights apartment in New York City she shared with Davenport. Prosecutors said Hines was stabbed 25 times. Defense lawyers said Davenport was in the throes of a drug-induced psychosis, and thus is not criminally responsible for her death. Davenport could face 25 years to life in prison if found guilty of second-degree murder. Hines' grandmother is Freemans first wife. The slain womans mother is Freemans stepdaughter, whom he adopted, People reported. Celebrity scion Ronan Farrow said that Hillary Clinton tried to avoid speaking to him for his new book because he was in the middle of exposing her good friend Harvey Weinstein as a sexual predator. Farrow spoke with every living secretary of state for his book, War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence, but revealed to Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday that Clinton almost skipped the interview because of his Weinstein reporting. Hillary Clinton had scheduled an interview while I was at the height of the Weinstein reporting, and her folks got in touch and said, we hear youre working on a big story, sounded very concerned, and tried to cancel the interview, Farrow told Stephanopoulos. A surprised Stephanopoulos asked, Over the Weinstein stuff? Farrow quickly affirmed, Over the Weinstein stuff. Stephanopoulos, who was a longtime aide to President Bill Clinton, said he was surprised at the claim before quickly changing the subject. Any real reporter would have followed up on such a bombshell, but Stephanopoulos quickly moved on, Media Research Center Senior News Analyst Kyle Drennen wrote. Mediaite reported that Clinton did cancel the interview, but it was eventually rescheduled. Farrow recently won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on Weinstein, which helped reveal the now-disgraced Hollywood mogul to allegedly be a sexual predator. Farrow was an employee of NBC News when he started the project, but the network mysteriously passed on the expose. Farrow took his work to the prestigious New Yorker, where it went on to claim a Pulitzer. In various media appearances to promote his Weinstein reporting, Farrow took a series of jabs at NBC News for refusing to air his Weinstein reporting, implying top NBC executives had maintained a veil of silence. Farrow bluntly rebutted NBCs contention that his reporting was not up to snuff in an appearance on MSNBC the day his New Yorker piece was published. Much like Stephanopoulos, NBC News President Noah Oppenheim has close ties to the Clinton family. Prior to be outed as a sexual predator, Weinstein was among Clintons most prominent campaign donors and closest Hollywood allies. The MRC pointed out back in Dec. 2017 that Stephanopoulos Good Morning America didnt cover news that Clinton was told about Weinsteins sexual misconduct before he was publicly outed. "Roseanne" star Emma Kenney is firing back at critics who have slammed the show for taking on politics and called the revival divisive, claiming it's not a good representation of an average American family. The show features a pro-Trump lead actress, Roseanne Barr, and in the revival's premiere it was revealed Roseanne's character voted for President Trump. Kenney said the cast doesn't talk politics when the cameras aren't rolling and she encourages viewers to be open-minded and give the reboot a chance. ROSEANNE BARR ADVISES JIMMY KIMMEL TO 'ZIP THAT F---ING LIP' ABOUT TRUMP "Theres a whole lot of different storylines that are going on other than politics." Emma Kenny Something I want the viewers to know is we talk so much about things going on in [the] current day other than politics," Kenney told The Hollywood Reporter. "Theres a whole lot of different storylines that are going on other than politics. Sara Gilbert, who plays Darlene, echoed Kenney's comments in a previous interview on Watch What Happens Live" on April 1. The show is not about politics. Its not about anyones position or a policy, its really about what happens to a family when theres a political divide, which is something that I think the entire country can relate to and something we need to talk about," she said. Kenney said the show aims to showcase a typical family. The show is all about a family and family differences and how they bond together at the end of the day and end up having a nice family meal," Kenney said. "And maybe its not so nice, maybe theyre screaming at each other, but its all in normal family fun. Kenney, who plays Darlene's daughter Harris Conner on the show, is one of several new characters to join the cast more than 20 years after the original first aired and it's a role she takes pride in. "Im so excited to have been able to join this iconic '90s family and be working with the class acts that have graced the covers of The Hollywood Reporter before," Kenney, 18, told the publication. "Just working with that level of talent is a true blessing and an amazing experience." 'ROSEANNE' STAR EMMA KENNEY IS 'SEEKING TREATMENT' FOR HER 'ILLEGAL BEHAVIOR' Barr has gotten plenty of backlash since the show returned. "Diversity of opinion is part of diversity," she tweeted two days after the reboot first aired. "Hating ppl for not agreeing with your approach to ending hatred is not cool." Barr doesn't shy away from sharing her political beliefs. She's also defended her real-life support of President Trump, though she clarified in the past that she's "not a Trump apologist." Im still the same you all moved. You all went so f---ing far out you lost everybody, Barr told late-night host Jimmy Kimmel during a guest appearance on March 22 when he said he remembered her being a "very socially liberal" person in the past. A lot of us, no matter who we voted for, we dont want to see our president fail. Kenney, meanwhile, is an emerging star, but she recently told In Touch magazine her fame hasn't been carefree. She revealed she went to recently rehab to seek treatment for her "battles." 'Roseanne' airs on Tuesdays on ABC. Alfie Evans parents lost their latest attempt to overturn an appeal Wednesday that barred the terminally ill child from being taken to Rome for care. The Court of Appeal rejected the appeal application by Evans' father, Tom Evans, 21, Sky News reported. Later, the court also rejected the appeal application by the toddler's mother, Kate James, 20. "This is awful for everyone concerned. We are in the middle of palliative care plan at Alder Hey Hospital. I can see no basis that judge was wrong," Justice Andrew McFarlane said. Evans' parents have fought to transport their 23-month-old son to a hospital in Rome for treatment. The toddler was taken off life support Monday after a series of court rulings backed by doctors who said further treatment was futile and the boy would most likely not get any better. The infant has been at the Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool after suffering a seizure in December 2016. Alfie is in a "semi-vegetative state" as a result of a degenerative neurological condition doctors have been unable to identify. On Tuesday, a judge called the decision to reject the first appeal the final chapter in the case of this extraordinary little boy, The Guardian reported. The judge ruled the toddler is too ill to travel to Vatican City in Rome for treatment. The toddlers parents said Alfie was breathing on his own after being taken off life support, but the judge suggested it was in the parents best interests to explore the options of removing him from intensive care either to a ward, a hospice or his home. James' lawyer said Wednesday that Alfie was "struggling" after he was taken off life support. On Tuesday, Evans said the court of appeal contacted him regarding the case after the first appeal was rejected earlier that day. The court of appeal have reached out to us and said they are going to set back three judges to hear the case, Evans said. In reality he could be in Italy right now. We all know the military air force are ready to take him and a team of doctors are there." ALFIE EVANS FAMILY LOSES APPEAL TO TRANSPORT TERMINALLY ILL BRITISH TODDLER TO ROME Evans and James wanted to take Alfie to the Vaticans Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital. The months-long legal battle between Alfie's parents and his doctors has drawn interventions from Pope Francis and Italian authorities, who have supported the family's desire to have their son cared for at the Vatican's hospital. On Monday, the Italian foreign ministry announced it granted Alfie Italian citizenship to facilitate his arrival and transport. The Daily Star reported a helicopter was at the hospital ready to take Alfie to Italy if allowed. Pope Francis met last week with Alfie's father and has made appeals for the boy to be kept alive, saying only God can decide who dies. ALFIE EVANS DAD GIVING TODDLER MOUTH-MOUTH RESUSCITATION TO KEEP HIM ALIVE Under British law, it is common for courts to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the treatment of a child. In such cases, the rights of the child take primacy over the parents' right to decide what's best for their offspring. The emotive case recalls the short life of another British child, Charlie Gard, who died of a rare genetic disease in July 2017 after a vicious court battle in which his parents sought treatment first in the U.S. and then Italy. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Chicago baby is thriving after she became one of the first to receive a tiny mechanical heart valve. Avery Custodio, who was born with a leaky heart valve that was restricting blood flow, underwent her first surgery at just 5-months-old. "We went in for surgery on June first, the longest day of my life," Aisha Custodio, Avery's mother, told NBC Chicago. "I was told it would take five hours, and it turned into eight hours, which freaked me out even more." The worried mother was delivered more bad news when surgeons found additional issues with Avery's heart during the operation. It was causing Avery to have trouble breathing, and was affecting her ability to gain weight. The baby faced months in the hospital and was awaiting another open-heart surgery when Dr. Carl Backer, head of the cardiovascular-thoracic surgery unit at Lurie Childrens Hospital, suggested they fit Avery with a tiny mechanical heart valve that was still in trials at the time. ALFIE EVANS' PARENTS TO APPEAL RULING THAT BARRED TERMINALLY ILL BRITISH BOY FROM TRAVELING TO ROME We would have implanted a larger valve but we would have had to do some surgical maneuvers to make to get a larger valve fit and those surgical maneuvers could lead to complications, Backer told Fox 32 Chicago. With a 90 percent success rate, Backer is hopeful that the valve will last Custodio for up to five years. She will eventually require a more permanent replacement surgery, but thanks to the valve, which has since been granted FDA approval, she will have had the chance to grow and develop for a number of years. Shes amazing, Aisha Custodio, Averys mother, told the news outlet. Its nothing short of a miracle. A Missouri pediatrician is not planning to apologize for his facility's Facebook post encouraging Kansas City-area residents to be "responsible" and get vacinated amid a measles "outbreak" in the area. While the doctor's office encourages healthy discussions, it said it's important to explain the "significance of vaccinations." The vaccine after two doses makes 97 percent of people develop immunity to measles, a highly contagious virus that's airborne, Priority Care Pediatrics explained. That's why the office requires patients to follow the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) immunization guidelines, which the organization says "has led to a greater than 99% reduction in measles cases compared with the pre-vaccine era." "While immunizations are still (inappropriately, unjustly, and selfishly) a hot-button for some, our practice ... and numerous other organizations and groups around the globe have reached the truthful conclusion that immunizations are overwhelmingly safe and effective," the doctor's office stated in a comment online. "Vaccines save lives. Period. End of discussion." Some, however, begged to differ. "Popping up everywhere...that's right, be smarter than your doctors and don't vaccinate," one Facebook user wrote, according to KHSB-TV. "Irresponsible parenting is alive and well." "Vaccines save lives. Period. End of discussion." Priority Care Pediatrics "1 in 68 children have autism. 1 in 42 boys have autism. You'd think you'd actually be worried about that instead of a few cases of the measles," another reportedly added. Priority Care Pediatrics has since deleted all negative posts and others that spread "unscientific, unresearched" information, adding it would not give critics a forum to bully. Dr. Raymond Cattaneo, senior partner at Priority Care Pediatrics, told KHSB-TV he never expected the post to spark a big debate. "[It] turned into something much bigger than that when some anti-vaccine people got a hold of that and bombarded our post. Reading comment after comment after comment you just kind of get worn down because you know you're fighting the good fight," Cattaneo said. "You're on the right side of science but you worry that what they're saying, people will actually believe." But if it got people thinking about vaccinations, Cattaneo said it served its purpose. "Critical thinking and debates are welcome and good for each of us. They might shape a thought process, or change a mind, or solidify an already reached decision," the office continued. "This is a learning opportunity for those still on the fence." Dozens of people praised the Kansas City practice for standing its ground and educating the public on immunization. "Thank you for helping prevent the spread of diseases we eradicated years ago! Vaccinate your kids!" one Facebook user replied. "Thank you, Priority Care Pediatrics for mandating vaccines for all of your patients!" another commented. At least four cases of the measles have been confirmed in the city so far, the Kansas City Health Department has reported. There have been at least 18 reports of the measles in Johnson, Miami and Linn counties since March, according to Fox4KC. Signs of the measles include a sore throat, runny nose, and fever, among other cold-like symptoms, followed by a rash that spreads across the body, the CDC says. Anyone who believes they may have the measles should contact their health care provider immediately. Could this be President Trumps doppelganger in Spain? Social media users eagerly shared news of a "Trump look-alike" living in Spain after a photo of a Spanish farmer, Dolores Leis Antelo, who lives on a farm in Cabana de Bergantinos district, went viral over the past few days. Freelance journalist Paula Vazquez last week first shared the picture of the farmer holding a hoe and standing in a field. MELANIA TRUMP'S WHITE HAT EARNING PRAISE DESPITE ONLINE CRITICS "Dolores was going to her farm to pick some cabbages," Vazquez told Spanish news site Faro de Vigo on Tuesday. "So I talked with her for a while, while a girlfriend was taking pictures of her, I took the opportunity to take another one [photo] with my cellphone. Vasquez posted the photo of Dolores on her Instagram and Facebook pages, thinking nothing of it. She initially didnt even see the resemblance Dolores had to Trump. People quickly began noticing the resemblance between Dolores and Trump within days. Some even began referring to her as the cousin that Donald Trump has in Galicia. MEGHAN MARKLE WEARS BOLD BLACK HAT TO MEMORIAL SERVICE FOLLOWING DRESS CONTROVERSY The photo was largely shared on WhatsApp, a free messaging and voice app. Faro de Vigo reported that users who shared the photo captioned it with, "Donald Trump is incognito in Costa da Morte, more specifically in Nanton, in Cabana de Bergantinos. He put on his official peasant clothing with the sacho in his hand, according to the translation. Twitter user @Laboreiro also shared the image last Saturday on his feed with the caption: Donald Trump in Costa da Morte. The post received more than 5,100 retweets and 9,000 likes. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Vasquez said Dolores isnt mad about the comparison, either. Shes actually charmed, claimed the journalist. The newest rage looks to make your smile more dazzling with jewelry instead of teeth whitener. Teeth jewelry has been spotted on celebrities such as Katy Perry, Pink and Hailey Baldwin, and one celebrity dentist claims anyone can now share that look, if they so choose. Dr. Anjali Rajpal, a dentist for Perry and several other stars, told Us Weekly that celebrities are more frequently looking to add some bling in their smile. In the past it was big for rappers to have grills that are embedded with expensive jewels. The trend migrated to pop stars, male and female alike, because its not so serious and a lot of fun, Rajpal told the magazine. MELANIA TRUMPS HAT DRAWS BEYONCE, OLIVIA POPE COMPARISONS However, celebrities appear to be moving away from grills, which Rajpal described as being difficult to take out, eat, or speak with, and migrating toward diamonds on their choppers. Grills can be difficult because you have to take them out and theyre hard to speak and eat with, but what Im doing now is adhering diamonds to the teeth and they can stay there all the time, she explains. The doctor said she is creating unique, custom designs to fit the type of personality and style that you have" and some of her favorites include adding a diamond to a tooth, or making little heart motorcycles. I like to make something fun and since theres no damage to the tooth structure, if a patient wants something different, all I do is polish off the gem and polish back the tooth structure, so they can easily change it up, she said. COUNTRY MUSIC STAR KELSEA BALLERINI WORKS OUT FOR A GOOD CAUSE Rajpal calls teeth art a cool new trend that she hopes will catch on. Its such a conversation starter and its a cool new trend. We put jewelry on our necks, noses and ears, and your teeth are pearls already, so its nice to jewel them out, she said. The jewelry is available online for purchase, or some dentists and tattoo parlors offer to put the jewelry on your tooth or teeth. A video that shows a Kentucky man using the intercom system in a local Walmart has gone viral. Forrest Hunter, of Lawrenceburg, was shopping in the stores sporting goods section and needed assistance. However, there was no employee in sight. After waiting, Hunter decided to take the matter into his own hands, using the intercom system to let everyone in the store know he needed help. "Customer needs assistance in sporting goods please? I'm the customer, he said in a serious tone over the intercom. As of Wednesday afternoon, the video, which is titled When you get sick of waiting on somebody at Walmart, had more than 2 million views and 52,000 shares. Hunter told WKYT that a Walmart associate came to help him shortly after he made the announcement, though the employee was a little embarrassed. "A guy walked up and asked if I needed any help. I said, 'Howd you know?' Then I bought my hunting license," Hunter told the news station. Hunter allegedly didnt receive any backlash from Walmart for using intercom, WKYT reported. A womans review for Kat Von D Tattoo Liner is going viral because of some extraordinary circumstances. Shelby Pagan wrote on her review that shes never buying any other liner again, because of how incredibly long-lasting it is. And she would know her review is titled, I was in a car accident and my eyeliner didnt budge. WALMART CUSTOMER IN KENTUCKY USES STORE INTERCOM TO ASK FOR HELP, GOES VIRAL Pagan was involved in a car accident last June when she was pulled over on the shoulder of a highway in Massachusetts with her hazard lights on calling roadside assistance. Pagan was hit by a distracted driver going 55 mph. The registered nurse says emergency crews responded and an ambulance took her to the emergency room where she stayed for 8 hours, according to her product review. My mascara was running down my face from crying and all other products had been wiped off in the transfer to the hospital, Pagan wrote. But not my tattoo eyeliner. Pagan attached a photo with her neck brace from the accident to corroborate the positive review. According to her Twitter, Pagan took the selfie for police evidence and then posted the shot the Instagram. On social media, others commented how good her eyeliner looked, which prompted her to leave the review. Initially, Pagans review didnt seem to get much traction, until Twitter user @guadalahari was shopping for eyeliner and noticed the picture and comments. She deada took a picture in her neck brace I am deceased, she tweeted. Since then, the tweet and Pagans review has gone viral with more than 155,000 retweets and over 400,000 likes with most comments agreeing with Pagan. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS One even posted their own accident selfie with the eyeliner on, confirming Pagans review. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Many traditional civil libertarians have allowed their intense hatred of President Trump to erase their longstanding commitment to neutral civil liberties and equal justice for all a dangerous move that threatens the rights of us all. The anti-Trump forces are now so desperate to get the president convicted of a crime or impeached that they are prepared to compromise the most basic due process rights of the president and people associated with him who are caught up in Special Counsel Robert Muellers ever-widening Russia probe and a related investigation of the presidents personal attorney, Michael Cohen. The Trump opponents forget an important lesson of history: compromises that weaken the legal protections of our enemies are often used as precedents to weaken the legal protections of our friends or of ourselves. Some of President Trumps most vocal opponents might themselves be harmed in the future by the erosion of legal protections they are advocating for the president and his associates today. Too often, todays fair weather civil libertarians are unwilling to give President Trump who they regard as the devil the same legal rights that all Americans are entitled to. Consider the issue of criticizing Mueller. Trump opponents view any criticism or even skepticism regarding Muellers past conduct as illegitimate grounded not in fact, but simply motivated by a desire to help the president stave off allegations of collusion with the Russians to win election and allegations of obstruction of justice. But no one including Mueller has the right to immunity from criticism or examination of his or her past record. Mueller has a long record. He was an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston and the head of that offices criminal division. He was later the head of the criminal division for the Justice Department and director of the FBI. His tenure in law enforcement paralleled the most scandalous miscarriage of justice in the modern history of the Boston FBI. While Mueller was in positions of responsibility, four innocent people were framed by the FBI in order to protect mass-murdering gangsters who were working as FBI informers while they were killing innocent people. An FBI agent who is now in prison was tipping off organized crime boss Whitey Bulger as to who might testify against him, so that these individuals could be killed. The FBI agent also tipped off Bulger about his impending arrest, allowing him to escape and remain on the lam for 16 years. What responsibility, if any, did Robert Mueller who was in key positions of authority and capable of preventing these horrible miscarriages of justice have in this sordid incident? Only a thorough and objective investigation will uncover the truth. A former member of the Massachusetts Parole Board a liberal Democrat who also served as mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts swears that he saw a letter from Mueller urging the denial of release for at least one of these wrongfully convicted defendants. When he went back to retrieve the letter, it was not in the file, he says. I see no reason to doubt his credibility. This vanishing letter if it existed should surprise no one, since Judge Mark Wolf (himself a former prosecutor), who conducted extensive hearings about this entire mess, found there had been recurring irregularities in FBI record-keeping conduct involving Bulger, including possible FBI misconduct. And the judge made a finding that directly references Muellers state of knowledge regarding the history. It is therefore not beyond the realm of possibility that Mueller wrote a letter to the Parole Board that kept one or more innocent men in prison even if such a letter is no longer in the files. If Mueller wrote such a letter without thoroughly investigating the circumstances, he surely bears some responsibility. Moreover, it is widely believed among Boston law enforcement observers that the FBI was not really looking for Whitey Bulger during the years that Mueller was its director. It is believed that the FBI was fearful about what Bulger would disclose about his relationship with FBI agents and other law enforcement officers over the years. It took a member of the U.S. Marshals Service to find Bulger, who was hiding in plain view in Santa Monica, California. Recently a former federal judge, who used to be a civil libertarian, rushed to Muellers defense, declaring without equivocation that Mueller had no involvement in the massive miscarriage of justice. Her evidence is the lack of evidence in the files. But absence of evidence is not conclusive evidence of absence, especially in this case. No civil libertarians should place such great trust in government files, especially in light of Judge Wolfs findings. They should join my call for an objective investigation by the inspector general of the Justice Department before they assure the public without equivocation that Mueller had absolutely no involvement. But these Get Trump At Any Cost partisans have rejected my call for an investigation, out of fear that it may turn up information that might tarnish the image of the Muller and weaken his investigation of President Trump. Instead, they criticize those of us who point out that Mueller was at the center of the Justice Department and FBI, while this miscarriage of justice involving the four wrongfully convicted men occurred. All civil libertarians should want the truth about this sordid episode and Muellers possible role in it regardless of its impact, if any, on the Trump investigation. Mueller also should welcome an objective investigation, which might eliminate any doubt about his role in this travesty. But too many former civil libertarians are prepared to sacrifice civil liberties and the quest for truth on the altar of Get Trump. This is all too typical of the about-face many civil libertarians have taken since Donald Trump became president. I have previously written about the ACLUs abdication of its traditional role in challenging governmental overreaching. For the new ACLU, getting Trump trumps civil liberties. It is ironic to see many right-wingers being the ones to criticize overreach by law enforcement, while many left-wingers now defend such overreaching. Hypocrisy and selective outrage abound, as neutral principles take a back seat. Conservatives used to say that a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. I would respond that a liberal is a conservative who is being audited or whose kid was busted for pot. Today a civil libertarian is a conservative whose candidate is being investigated, while a law-and-order type is a liberal who wants to see President Trump charged with a crime or impeached. I am a liberal who did not vote for Trump, but who insists that the presidents civil liberties must be respected to protect the civil liberties of us all. Just as the first casualty of war is truth, so, too, the first casualty of hyper-partisan politics is civil liberties. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! In a move that has baffled people around the world, Britain is engaged in a fight with Tom Evans and Kate James to deny life support to their hospitalized 23-month-old son, Alfie condemning him to death, even though the toddlers parents want desperately to keep him alive. Two days ago, Pope Francis stepped in and offered Alfie care in Italy. The Italian government went as far as granting citizenship to Alfie in an attempt to have him immediately transferred to Italy. But the British hospital where Alife is staying refused to allow the transfer and the parents sought judgement from the Family Division of the High Court in Manchester. A judge ruled Tuesday that the toddler, who was taken off life support on Monday, is too ill to travel to Vatican City in Rome for treatment. Alfies parents appealed that ruling to Britains Court of Appeal, but on Wednesday three judges on that that court rejected the parents request to overturn the lower court ruling denying the transfer of Alfie. The abject insanity of it all the argument that the toddler may die if he travels so best to kill him in Britain is what has turned the case of Alfie Evans into a worldwide story. One of the key facts about Alfie is that no one knows what is ailing him. This alone should be a reason to keep him alive. His lack of definitive diagnosis should mean that, at minimum, he be kept alive until doctors can figure it out. The confidence with which doctors are proclaiming Alfie has no chance to improve might make sense if they knew what was wrong with him in the first place. That they dont, and are letting him die anyway, is damning. The hospital, and those who support ending all treatment for Alfie, say that his quality of life is poor and therefore he should be allowed to die ostensibly with dignity. But the idea that those who have a less-than-ideal quality of life should be killed is barbaric. We treat life as something we can design and perfect. Babies with Down syndrome are being aborted out of existence because weve decided that the only high quality of life is the kind that we ourselves enjoy. The desire to rid ourselves of imperfect humans cheapens life. Perhaps Alfie Evans will never have what most people would consider a normal life. But thats irrelevant to whether he should be killed. A normal life is often imperfect. If they refuse to keep Alfie alive now, will they soon come for your grandfather with the oxygen tank or your mother who has chronic pain? When someone else gets to decide who is living the ideal life, how many of us will die? Alfie has defied the odds in remaining alive. Why not give him the chance to fight for his life, and for his parents to know they did everything they could to save their son? Britain needs to answer this question for Alfie and all the Alfies still to come. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! I realize that every time I discuss the opioid crisis with someone, I find that they often dont know all the facts. And maybe, neither do I. But I try. So, my goal here is to present all the stuff that Ive read recently, with links. And I quote the articles, extensively, so you can see what I see, and not depend on my words alone. But I must note: this article below is biased. The sources Im using were sent to me by people upset by the media narratives regarding opioids. So the perspective here is not fair and balanced, but rather balancing the other narratives already out there. Am I 100 percent certain that all of this is correct? Nope. But I think its important to hear the other side, before we start punishing the wrong people. So here are the facts: As opioid prescriptions decline, deaths related to opioids spike. The opposing trends show the folly of tackling the opioid crisis by restricting access to pain medication, writes the great Jacob Sullum, in Reason Magazine. Sullum offers the reader a graph, showing that death does not decline with a drop in prescriptions. To the contrary, it has risen sharply in recent years, driven by dramatic increases in deaths involving heroin (orange) and illicit fentanyl The crackdown on pain pills not only has not reversed the upward trend in opioid-related deaths, adds Sullum, It is contributing to it by driving nonmedical users into the black market, where the drugs are more dangerous because their purity and potency are inconsistent and unpredictable. Opioid use isnt the problem. Drug abuse, involving multiple drugs, is. Check out this fact: the California Department of Health & Human Services published a paper looking at toxicology data from Marin County -- particularly those people who had died from any drug. And the average number of drugs found in all overdoses was six. Not one but six!! In short, deaths from opioids often involve other substances. Meaning, this is about chronic abuse of multiple drugs not a cancer or pain patient trying to get through the day. What this also means, is that the numbers you often hear about opioid deaths arent really as large as you think. If you remove illegal drugs like heroin and fentanyl, the new numbers may be much lower. How low? Hard to tell, since the reporting is so murky. Roughly only one percent of patients become addicted to painkillers If you listened to politicians and the media an overdose begins with a construction worker who injures his neck. He has surgery, and then is put on pills. Quickly he becomes a junkie, runs out of pills and turns to street drugs. Hes found dead. Not really. Fact is, pain patients rarely become addicted. According to Reason Magazine, A 2018 study found that just 1 percent of people who took prescription pain medication following surgery showed signs of "opioid misuse," a broader category than addiction. And the mag adds, Even when patients take opioids for chronic pain, only a small minority of them become addicted. The risk of fatal poisoning is even loweron the order of two-hundredths of a percent annually, judging from a 2015 study. And heres this from Politico, which has a slightly higher percentage of addiction: According to a 2016 national survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 87.1 million U.S. adults used a prescription opioidwhether prescribed directly by a physician or obtained illegallyOnly 1.6 million of them, or about 2 percent, developed a pain reliever use disorder, which includes behaviors ranging from overuse to overt addiction. Still, despite these facts, we hear opioid epidemic, which might serve to hurt cancer and pain patients, by restricting access. The epidemic label scares doctors with threats of investigation, monitoring of pharmacists, while creating limits on how many pills can be given. This, potentially, punishes the lawful. Does this remind you of anything? Yep the debate over guns. Friends of mine who are gun rights advocates will demand a drug ban. They cant see their own hypocrisy. Whether its guns or medications (both products with inherent risks), you dont punish the lawful, for the lawless. Instead you try to tag the abuser or the criminal, and leave the law-abiders alone. Take a look at another piece from CATO, which suggests the war on drugs, is really a war on patients. And were letting it happen because were so used to blaming, rather than fixing. Heres the nugget: A January 2018 study in BMJ by researchers at Harvard and Johns Hopkins examined 568,000 opioid naive patients prescribed opioids for acute and postoperative pain from 2008 to 2016 and found a total misuse rate (all misuse diagnostic codes) of just 0.6 percent. And researchers at the University of North Carolina reported in 2016 on 2.2 million residents of the state who were prescribed opioids, where they found an overdose rate of 0.022 percent. Reformulating prescription pills doesnt help either. Roughly 8 years ago, the popular opioid OxyContin was remade to make it harder to abuse. What happened? Heroin use soared. Between 2001 and 2010, there were roughly 2000 to 3000 deaths by heroin. But then it shot up to 10,000 from 2010 to 2015. Implication: the overdoses were not caused by pills, but perhaps a scarcity of pills. During the ensuing five years, OxyContin abuse dropped and the strict restrictions we now see on opioid pills began to take hold. The result? Between 2010-2015 opioid overdose deaths in the US increased by 65%, roughly 13,000. Andthat increase was entirely due to injectable drugs like heroin or fentanyl. Equating the potency of opioids with heroin creates hysteria that hurts patients Its true that basic opioid pills and heroin actually hit the same brain receptors. But heroin doses used by addicts packs way more punch than opioids. And while its practically impossible for one hydrocodone pill to kill you a heroin user can die from one injection. By conflating these two types of drugs, we make it sound like pills are as immediately lethal as what comes from the syringe. They may belong to the same class of drugs, and drug overdose deaths groups these drugs together, but its a messy classification. To quote ASCH: All opioids together (including heroin) killed 30,000 people. The number of deaths from prescription opioidsthe target of the current crusade was about 17,000 half the number killed by accidental falls. Are we having an "accidental fall epidemic?" Why not? Prescription pain medicines are much more difficult to get than 7 years ago, and the only result has been suffering by pain patients and no benefit. The best way to save lives is for patients to be able to predict the potency of the drug delivery system. When I drink wine, I know when to stop. The modulated alcohol delivery creeps up on your own system, giving you time to slow down, and stop. When I used to smoke, I understood what I needed to get me to that point. How many cigarettes did I need to make me feel good? Generally, one or two. The fact that nicotine was divided into 20 uniform delivery systems (a pack of cigs), allowed me to figure out how far I wanted to go, before getting nauseous. By reducing prescriptions of opioids, you force people into the wild west of street meds, where no one knows what potency theyre getting. One pill could end it all, for you, on the street (but not from the pharmacy). As Reason puts it, the increases in deaths are related to heroin and illicit fentanyl, which are more dangerous than legally produced opioids because their potency is unpredictable. The CDC and others are exaggerating the numbers of overdoses by pills. Ill just quote this from Circa: According to a recent article written by CDC officials in the American Journal of Public Health, death certificate data does not always differentiate between illegally and legally obtained drugs, so a fatal overdose involving illicitly manufactured fentanyl could have been counted as a legal opioid prescription death. Because of this, the total deaths from prescription opioids would have appeared to be over 32,000 in 2016, but the numbers were probably closer to about 17,000, and the CDC said they changed their method of calculating these deaths in 2015 to account for the increased availability of illicit fentanyl. Inflated numbers have created a panic about prescription opioids, leading to an environment where chronic pain patients are targeted. Pain patients are committing suicide because their paid meds are being taken from them. This is from Vice: "I've seen a published list that heavily emphasizes publicly reported events, which includes between 20 and 30 suicides," says Stefan Kertesz, associate professor of preventive medicine at the University of Alabama. "Widespread suicidal ideation should be seen as a signal of a major risk," he says. The government is now running interference between doctor and patient. Currently, 17 states have laws that restrict opioid prescriptions; there are more to come. Florida Gov. Rick Scott just proposed a three-day limit on prescribed opioids; Massachusetts limits patients to a 7-day supply, and so on. This is not entirely logical, when you consider surgical recovery. All post-surgical pain is different as is patient response to meds. This is from the Las Vegas Review-Journal: For example, the effect of a drug on an individual is directly related to the weight of the patient. No dose of any drug will produce the same effect in a 100-pound woman as in a 300-pound man. Even more, drug metabolism differs. It has been shown that the metabolism of opioids can vary as much as 15-fold from one individual to the next. This means that the same dose of a medicine could be too high for one person while at the same time being too low for another, regardless of weight. The New York Times is just making it worse. In a recent piece, the paper says that the only people who should have access to opioids, are those who are going to die anyway. Forget anyone with gunshot wounds, broken legs, or surgery pain! Nope, you can only have the drug, if youre doomed. Id swear right now, but it would only make work for the copy editor. So, as boring as this article might be -- I tried to corral research you might not have seen, and slapped it together, so you can at least hear the other side. Its not an elegant piece. Its not funny. But I hope its helpful. I also realize that there are people who are gaming the system using legitimate meds to feed a recreational addiction. Thats life. If you create something effective, there will always be an accompanying, corrupting influence. You create a currency, there will be counterfeiting. Humans are like that. There are a great many drugs that could help so many people, but we ban them because we fear abuse (MDMA is one such substance one that could help in a number of conditions). So lets focus on targeting the problems, and not the patients. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Rapper Kanye West recently committed an act of cultural heresy when he tweeted, I love the way Candace Owens thinks. Donald Trump supporters like Owens, a writer, actress and conservative commentator, have little standing in the hip-hop world, much less in the mainstream black political consensus. Reactions to Wests tweet ranged from dismissive to contemptuous. Among his detractors were Twitter activist Shaun King, and actor Tom Arnold. To his credit, West is standing by his original comment, tweeting, Constantly bringing up the past keeps you stuck there, self-victimization is a disease, and demonization is metastasizing. He also vocalized support for the President during a subsequent radio appearance, sparking even more outrage. The essence of Owenss (and Wests) message is that the obsessive focus on historical racism as the determining factor in the lives of American blacks today victimizes them by stripping them of individual agency. Candace Owens is certainly not the first black thinker to express such ideas. Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Walter E. Williams, and my Manhattan Institute colleague, Jason Riley, have made similar arguments. As Jason D. Hill wrote in Commentary, in a response to Ta-Nahesi Coatess victimhood opus, Between the World and Me:" I am saddened by your conviction that white people wield such a great deal of metaphysical power over the exercise of your own agency. In making an enemy of the Dream that is a constitutive feature of American identity, you have irrevocably alienated yourself from the redemptive hope, the inclusive unity, and the faith and charity that are necessary for America to move ever closer to achieving moral excellence. Sadder still, you have condemned the unyielding confidence in self that the Dream inspires. Wests rejection of such a worldview represents a threat to the ideological monopoly that social justice warriors and Black Lives Matter advocates have enjoyed in the hip-hop universe. From its inception, the genre has generally reflected the left-wing consensus that minority communities are hapless victims of institutionalized racism and that individuals have no say in their destiny. For example, Big Puns Capital Punishment lays the woes of the ghetto at the feet of a government system so organized, theyll get to you and who you runnin with. In Murder to Excellence, West himself asserts that the lower life expectancy for black guys reflects that the systems working effectively. But hip-hop artists have also expressed frustration with their communities for playing a role in perpetuating negative social conditions that define much of black America. In The Story of O.J., Jay-Z argues that young blacks reject bourgeois values like financial literacy and personal discipline to the detriment of themselves and future generations. You wanna know whats more important than throwin away money at a strip club? Jay-Z asks. Credit./ You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America? This how they did it. In 44 More, Logic chastises rappers for their glorification of frivolous spending: You in the club throwin dollars/ but Im savin mine so my kids go to college. And in The Blacker the Berry, Kendrick Lamar highlights the hypocrisy of those who over-identify with official martyrs while ignoring the fact that most murdered young black men die at the hands of their fellows. So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street? Lamar asks, when gang banging make me kill a n---- blacker than me?/ Hypocrite. Conservatives and others who reject the liberal narrative of what it means to be black in America should be heartened by Wests tweets and by other examples of prominent hip-hop artists who have recognized the importance of individual initiative in uplifting minority communities. Wests tweets could expose his vast audience to conservative arguments with which it is largely unfamiliar. West may be dismissed as an eccentric and his newfound rhetoric may or may not prove short-lived but if even only a few of his many fans reject the victimhood narrative as a result and accept that personal responsibility illuminates the path to excellence, then it will be to the good. This article is adapted from the Manhattan Institute's City Journal. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! WASHINGTON -- As senators consider the nomination of the next secretary of veterans affairs, they should first reflect on the story of an Army veteran named Jason White. White served our country in Afghanistan, where he was severely injured by an IED explosion. His spine was crushed, and he suffered a traumatic brain injury, but thanks to the skill and training of our nation's brave combat medics, he survived. Yet on his return to the home front, he battled the hidden wounds of war -- insomnia, depression and the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. He was not alone. Four members of his unit killed themselves after they got home. And after struggling with his mental and physical wounds for five years, White decided to do the same. One day in 2016, he came home, put a pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. He would be dead today if his gun had not jammed. His wife rushed him to the local Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Colorado Springs for emergency psychological intervention. Incredibly, she was told that her husband would have to wait six months to see a therapist. As Jason White told the Gazette in Colorado Springs, "They knew I was suicidal, and still it was six months to talk to someone." Fortunately, a few days later, White was told he could be referred to a private psychologist through the Veterans Choice Program that Congress established in 2014 after a series of scandals in which patients died while waiting for care at VA facilities. He began seeing Dr. Michael Sunich, and that treatment saved his life. "Without him, I probably wouldn't be here," White told the paper. But Sunich kept a secret from White. He was treating White for free, because the company VA picked to manage the Veterans Choice Program, Health Net Federal Services, failed to pay his claims. Others were not as lucky as White. A November 2017 VA inspector general report found that in Colorado Springs, "staff did not take timely action on consults, did not provide timely care in a response to consults, underreported wait times and inappropriately closed consults" for veterans with for post-traumatic stress disorder. The inspector general further found that "veterans in an estimated 210 consults were inappropriately denied an opportunity to receive care through VHA's Choice Program." The Trump administration came into office promising to fix this by expanding Veterans Choice. During the 2016 campaign, Trump declared, "Veterans should be guaranteed the right to choose their doctor and clinics, whether at a VA facility or at a private medical center." One reason David Shulkin was fired as secretary of veterans affairs (aside from his ethics violations) was his resistance to the president's desire to expand Veterans Choice. This is why the president's choice of Navy Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson to succeed Shulkin was so inspired. Shulkin was a hospital administrator with decades of management experience, and his predecessor Robert McDonald was chairman, president and CEO of Procter & Gamble. And yet on their watch, Jason White and countless other veterans fell through the cracks. Jackson understands what veterans such as White are going through because he has been a combat medic in the field treating severely injured warriors. He served in Taqaddum, Iraq, as an emergency physician in charge of resuscitative medicine for a forward-deployed surgical shock trauma platoon. He has been there when a helicopter landed carrying a solider whose body had been torn apart by an IED, and he's been covered in their blood as he struggled to stabilize them and save their lives. No other nominee to run VA has seen the plight of our wounded warriors in the war on terrorism up close like he has. Jackson understands what our vets went through on the battlefield, because he was on the battlefield with them. He understands their mental and physical wounds, because he has treated them. Jackson's nomination hearing has been postponed because of last-minute allegations that he created a "hostile work environment." Of course, they should be investigated, but it is highly suspicious that, after he served as White House physician for Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump, these allegations are suddenly arising now. Whether Jackson withdraws his nomination or stays and fights, this much is clear: We've tried management gurus at the top of VA, and it didn't work. What VA desperately needs right now is a leader, not a manager. Veterans Affairs as an institution is bleeding out. It needs a combat medic, stat. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! More than a year after being admitted to a British hospital and afflicted with a still-undiagnosed neurological ailment, Baby Alfie Evans is being killed by court order. His case defies all logic, and it brings me back to my experiences at the bedside of two other people who faced the same kind of injustice. Among the most profound moments of my life and ministry was being at the bedside of Terri Schindler Schiavo as she was dehydrated and starved to death by court order in Florida in 2005. Only a short list of people, approved by the family and the court, could even enter her room. I was among them. I have written before about the armed police officers who stood around Terris bed and at the door of her room to make sure no one slipped her a sip of water to ease her suffering as she lay dying of thirst. But right next to her head was a vase of flowers, lush and bursting with color as they soaked up the water in the vase. It was absurd. Terris death was neither quick nor painless. It took nearly two weeks, her family standing by, ensnared in a nightmare that not even the most sadistic mind could have contrived. We saw her face, locked in an expression of horrified sadness, as she dehydrated to death, and its an image that will live in my memory forever. So will the image of the flowers. While the hospital has once again begun feeding Baby Alfie, there is no guarantee it will to continue. To imagine what happened to Terri Schiavo being experienced by this precious 23-month-old child is more than many of us can bear. And as with Terri Schiavo, the overall disregard the hospital has shown him is outrageously unfair and completely unnecessary. Tom Evans and Kate James, Alfies parents, dont want anything from England, or Alder Hey Hospital, other than to be allowed to wrap their arms around their precious child and carry him out of the hospital where he has been a patient since December 2016. An ambulance is waiting outside to take him to a medical jet, which will fly him to Bambino Gesu Hospital in Rome, where life is sacred and bursting with possibility. Pope Francis supports this move. The Italian government has granted Baby Alfie citizenship. But doctors and judges wont let Baby Alfies parents exercise the right that is already theirs. Terri Schiavos parents were deprived of that right as well, because her husband wanted her to die. But in Baby Alfies case, the family is united. His parents should be the final authority in deciding about his care, not the doctors who say his treatment is futile, nor the judges who cant seem to see beyond their hallowed halls. Baby Alfies parents -- at 20 and 21, wise beyond their years reached out to me in this case for help. They understand that the mysterious and as-yet-undiagnosed illness afflicting their son might well claim his life, but they are willing take the chance that a treatment might yet be discovered. And they understand there might be no such treatment. This is not unlike the situation of another couple who also reached out to me about their baby boy back in 2011. Moe and Sana Maraachlis child, who came to be known around the world as Baby Joseph, was in a hospital in London, Ontario, suffering from the same illness that claimed the life of their older child. They knew Baby Joseph would succumb as well, but they wanted him to have the basic care he needed starting with a simple tracheotomy. But the hospital refused to provide it. With the help of Priests for Life and many others, the hospital finally agreed to let him go. An air ambulance was donated by Kalitta MedFlight, and I flew to Ontario to meet Baby Joseph and his dad. A midnight flight took the three of us to Cardinal Glennon Childrens Hospital in St. Louis. Baby Joseph got the care he needed in St. Louis, and once he was able to breathe stably on his own, was allowed to go home where he lived for another six months with his loving parents and brother. If Alder Hey Hospital has its way, Baby Alfie will die in a hospital unwilling to treat him or to let others do so. No one, not even the medical staff or the judges who ruled against every appeal, can expect these parents will ever be the same after standing by helpless as their son was murdered by court order. None of us will ever be quite the same. Nor should we. Whether it approaches naturally or unnaturally, we can sometimes break the advance of death, and other times not. But we can always break the silence. The Columbia law professor James Comey used as a go-between last year to leak the contents of sensitive memos to the media confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that he previously worked as a special government employee (SGE) for Comeys FBI on an unpaid basis. The professor, Daniel Richman, confirmed the special status in response to an inquiry from Fox News, while referring other questions, including on the scope of his work, to the FBI. "I did indeed have SGE status with the Bureau (for no pay)," Richman wrote in an email. Richman emerged last year as the former FBI directors contact for leaking memos documenting his private discussions with President Trump memos that are now the subject of an inspector general review over the presence of classified material. Sources familiar with Richmans status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to "special projects" by Comey, and had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building. Richmans status was the subject of a Memorandum of Understanding. While Richman's portfolio included the use of encrypted communications by terror suspects, the sources said Richman also was sent talking points about the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Those talking points attempted to compare and contrast Clinton's use of an unsecured personal server exclusively for government business with the case of retired Gen. David Petraeus, who shared classified information with his biographer and mistress Paula Broadwell, as well as the case brought against the late Sandy Berger. The former national security adviser under President Clinton pleaded guilty to the unauthorized removal and retention of classified material from the National Archives. Incidentally, another special government employee who has come under scrutiny was Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, among others, previously questioned Abedin's special status that allowed her to work at the Clinton State Department and private-sector entities at the same time. Lawmakers are only beginning to raise questions about Richmans status. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, said the information about Richman and his special FBI status first emerged during closed-door testimony by Comey's former chief of staff James Rybicki before the House oversight and judiciary committees. "[D]uring that deposition, it was brought out that Daniel Richman, the guy who information was leaked through to The New York Times, had this special status called special government employee status, where he could sort of come and go in the FBI, Jordan said. He said he could not speak to the significance, but "it seems kind of interesting that the guy who Comey leaks to is a good friend, who had this sort of unfettered access into the FBI." Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., also raised questions about the status. "It's certainly interesting that Director Comey would offer a special job and give full access to his friend when there are 35,000 employees at the FBI. And it isn't just that he gave these memos to a friend--he gave them to another FBI employee he had hand-picked to act as a 'special government employee' of the FBI. The question becomes: how many other people did he give these memos to?" he told Fox News in a statement. According to the Office of Government Ethics, a special government employee is "an officer or employee who is retained, designated, appointed, or employed to perform temporary duties, with or without compensation, for not more than 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days." Fox News first reached out on Friday to Richman, who initially declined to comment on his special status with the FBI. Based on new information, Fox News on Tuesday provided detailed questions about his responsibilities under the "special projects" portfolio -- and whether they included the Clinton investigation, the Russian counter-intelligence probe, and contact with the media on behalf of senior FBI leadership. Similar questions were provided to the publisher of Comey's book, "A Higher Loyalty." There was no immediate response. Richman does appear in cryptic text messages between demoted FBI agent Peter Strzok and re-assigned FBI lawyer Lisa Page on Nov. 2, 2016 a week before the election. Texting about a New York Times report, Page writes, "Jesus. Another article pushed by nyt on this. Richman is a friend of Comey and [former FBI general counsel James] baker. This may be a reference to a Nov. 1, 2016 story headlined, "FBI's Email Disclosure Broke a Pattern Followed Even This Summer, that quotes Richman on Comey's decision to re-open the Clinton email case before the election. He says in the article, Those arguing that the director should have remained silent until the new emails could be reviewed even if that process lasted, or was delayed, until after the election give too little thought to the governing that needs to happen after November. If the F.B.I. director doesnt have the credibility to keep Congress from interfering in the bureaus work and to assure Congress that a matter has been or is being looked into, the new administration will pay a high price. Richmans Columbia bio page says he served as a consultant to the Department of Justice and he is currently an adviser to FBI Director James B. Comey. Fox News first reached out to the FBI on Monday about Richmans status and followed up Tuesday with detailed questions -- regarding his responsibilities under the special projects mandate, his security clearance, physical access to the bureau and whether he was the only special government employee during Comey's tenure. The FBI had no comment on Richman or Fox News' specific questions about his work for the bureau. A spokesperson said the FBI has employed a number of special government employees on an unpaid basis, and challenged the notion anyone has unfettered FBI access. A federal judge condemned President Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as "unlawful," saying its justification for doing so has been "virtually unexplained." U.S. District Court Judge John Bates, the third federal judge and the first Republican appointee to rule against Trump administration attempts to kill DACA, wrote in a Tuesday opinion that the Department of Homeland Security has 90 days to provide him with a more compelling reason for rolling back the Obama-era program, otherwise he could order its restoration. DACAs rescission was arbitrary and capricious because the Department failed adequately to explain its conclusion that the program was unlawful, Bates wrote. "Neither the meager legal reasoning nor the assessment of litigation risk provided by DHS to support its rescission decision is sufficient to sustain termination of the DACA program," he continued. A Justice Department spokesman told Politico DOJ would continue to "vigorously defend" its position. "DACA was implemented unilaterally after Congress declined to extend benefits to this same group of illegal aliens. As such, it was an unlawful circumvention of Congress, spokesman Devin O'Malley wrote in a statement. Click for more from the Washington Examiner. A majority approves of President Trump ordering missile strikes on Syria in response to that countrys suspected use of chemical weapons. On April 13, the U.S. launched precision strikes at Syrian targets associated with chemical weapons capabilities. Sixty-one percent of voters approve of the airstrikes, according to a new Fox News poll. READ THE COMPLETE POLL RESULTS. A year ago, 67 percent supported the U.S. launching cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase in response to a similar situation (April 2017). Veterans are more likely than non-veterans to approve (76 percent and 59 percent, respectively). Despite approval of the airstrikes, voters are mixed on the presidents Syria policies: 16 percent say he has been too tough on Syria, while nearly twice as many, 31 percent, say not tough enough. The largest share, 39 percent, says about right. For comparison, the number saying Trump is not tough enough is 30 percent on North Korea, 35 percent on Iran, and 51 percent on Russia. Overall, 39 percent of voters approve President Trumps handling of Syria, while 49 percent disapprove. Thats a net negative rating by 10 percentage points. He received net positive ratings a year ago, when 48 percent approved and 45 percent disapproved (April 2017). That shift has been across the board. Approval among Democrats is down 6 points since last April, down 9 points among Republicans, and down 12 among independents. Now that Trump has launched two separate missile attacks against Syria, he owns the situation and cant blame former President Obama anymore, says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the Fox News poll with Republican Daron Shaw. Until things on the ground improve, sporadic missile attacks are unlikely to improve assessments of Trumps handling of the situation. Meanwhile, 60 percent of voters say President Trump should get the consent of Congress before authorizing military action. Thats down significantly since 2013, when 78 percent said President Obama should get consent first. The shift between then and now comes mainly from the number of Republicans saying Congressional approval is necessary dropping 40 points (from 75 percent to 35 percent), and a 22-point decrease among independents (82 vs. 60). Among Democrats, the portion wanting the president to get the consent of Congress mostly held steady: 76 percent in 2013 and 79 percent now. When it comes to dealing with foreign threats, Americans tend to be schizophrenic, says Shaw. They want decisive action from the president, but they also want consultation with Congress as well as friends and allies. Its a tall order sometimes. The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,014 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from April 22-24, 2018. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters. Over half of voters feel political leaders in Washington look down on them, and that feeling isnt unique to just certain groups, according to a Fox News poll released Wednesday. The poll asks voters if political leaders in Washington look down on people like you. Fifty-five percent say yes, including roughly equal numbers of Republicans (56 percent), Democrats (54 percent), and independents (54 percent). Whites (54 percent) and non-whites (57 percent) agree, as do those with a college degree (51 percent) and those without (57 percent). READ THE FULL POLL RESULTS. An even larger majority, 84 percent, says Washington leaders are out of touch with people like them. Theres also consensus on that across party, race, and education. In addition, few voters feel people like them have benefitted from President Trumps economic policies. More on that later. Meanwhile, 43 percent are happy with the direction of the country. Thats about where it was on the 100-day mark of the Trump administration (45 percent in April 2017). A 55 percent majority is dissatisfied with how things are going. On the economy, 43 percent say its in excellent (9 percent) or good (34 percent) shape. While thats up from 33 percent last April, its down from 49 percent in January, soon after the Republican tax cuts passed. At that time, 17 percent, a record high, said economic conditions were excellent (January 2018). Looking ahead, 32 percent think the economy will get better over the next year, but 27 percent see it getting worse. Another 37 percent expect it will stay the same. By a one-point margin, voters say Trumps policies are helping rather than hurting the economy (38 vs. 37 percent). A year ago, they felt the policies were helping by a 12-point margin (37 helping vs. 25 hurting). And the number saying the policies dont make a difference dropped from 35 percent last year to 23 percent now. The more people form opinions about Trumps policies, the less favorable the evaluations get, says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson who conducts the Fox News poll with Republican Daron Shaw. Some 29 percent think everyone has benefitted under Trumps economic policies. However, most, 64 percent, say only certain people have benefitted -- and just 5 percent feel included in that group. Thats pretty much how folks felt under President Obamas policies in 2015: 23 percent said everyone benefitted, 61 percent only some people (6 percent people like me). Thirty percent said Obamas economic policies helped people with more money. For Trump, thats 57 percent. Hardly any, 2 percent, feel people with less money have benefitted under Trump. That was 25 percent under Obama. The economy remains President Trumps best issue: 47 percent approve, and 47 percent disapprove. Last month it was 51-44 percent. He receives lower marks on North Korea (45 approve, 45 disapprove), immigration (43-52), Syria (39-49), and Russia (35-54). Overall, 44 percent approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 53 percent disapprove. It was 45-52 percent last month, and a year ago it was 45-48 percent (April 2017). Pollpourri -- By a nine-point margin, more say the disruption Trump has brought to Washington is a bad thing (46 percent) rather than a good thing (37 percent). That spread was 14 points last summer (51 bad vs. 37 good). The shift comes mostly from a drop in the number of Democrats calling the disruption a bad thing -- from 85 percent last July to 75 percent today. -- Ratings of Congress remain ugly: 19 percent approve, while 70 percent disapprove. -- House Speaker Paul Ryans favorable rating is under water by 12 points (36 percent favorable vs. 48 percent unfavorable) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosis is a net negative 23 (31 -54 percent). On the Senate side, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is under water by 32 points (21-53 percent), as is Minority Leader Chuck Schumer by 9 (29-38 percent). -- Less than half of voters have a positive opinion of the political parties, as 47 percent have a favorable view of the Democratic Party and 41 percent feel that way about the GOP. It is striking that the mood of the country has such a dark streak to it, says Shaw. I dont know that it is anger, though; more like a deep exasperation with politics and political processes that seem disconnected from the problems of most Americans. The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,014 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from April 22-24, 2018. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters. The government is about to make one of lifes most difficult tasks deciding on pizza toppings even more complicated. A new ObamaCare-tied regulation is poised to take effect in a matter of days that will require calorie counts on in-store menu boards. And while this presents customers with yet another factor weighing on their pizza decision-making, it poses an even bigger challenge for restaurant owners who are blasting the regulation as a costly burden. There are over a million combinations of pizza toppings, and some of our stores arent going to have enough wall space for these menu boards, Jim Gerety, the chairman of the Dominos Franchisee Association, told Fox News. We are not against helping people make informed decisions. But the way these regulations are written isnt logical for our business. 'Some of our stores arent going to have enough wall space for these menu boards.' Jim Gerety, the chairman of the Dominos Franchisee Association Jim Gerety, who owns 18 Dominos stores in the Midland-Odessa region Texas, says the cost and space associated with the new rule are a big concern. While the rule wont literally lead to menus featuring a million calorie combinations, it will require restaurants to add considerably more information to those boards some of which already is available online, Gerety noted. He said it doesnt make sense for an industry where most customers order online or over the phone. The menu labeling rule, which takes effect on May 7, stems from the Affordable Care Act. It is yet another reminder that Congress recent vote gutting the individual mandate was no de facto repeal of ObamaCare. The rule specifically required the Food and Drug Administration to draw up regulations covering restaurants, convenience stores, grocers and movie theaters with 20 or more locations. Though part of large corporations, the franchisees often are local business owners. While the rule covers nearly all chain restaurants, the pizza industry contends it is disproportionately hurt because of the number of toppings combinations and its delivery-focused business model which renders in-store menus less important. And they worry about the consequences of running afoul of the rules. If I have a pizza maker doing the best he can, but he misses a pepperoni and falls out of the guidelines, there shouldnt be any criminality involved in that, Gerety said. Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, knowingly misbranding food on menu items is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment of up to one year. Another law, the Criminal Fine Enforcement Act, covers the food act and imposes a $100,000 penalty for misrepresenting food on a menu. Obamas Office of Management and Budget even estimated in 2011 that with 14.5 million hours of compliance time, the menu labeling regulation was the third most burdensome rule added to the federal registry from the year before. The cost of implementing menu boards with calorie counts could be about $5,000 annually per store, says the American Pizza Community, an industry group. These regulations are written for Applebees or McDonalds, not for a business that primarily delivers, Tim McIntyre, chairman of the American Pizza Community, told Fox News. Were just asking the FDA to realize weve got this thing called the Internet, and its not going away. McIntyre, also an executive vice president with Dominos, added that the regulations arent written in a way to simply list the toppings. Rather, the rules require a calorie range for the different toppings. Further, the most recent notice issued last November doesnt shield restaurants from litigation, he said. This is ripe for the plaintiffs bar to look for a statistically significant case of brand X, and accuse them of false information with calorie counts, McIntyre said. The Obama administration delayed implementation of the rule twice since it was issued in 2014, and the Trump administration again delayed implementation last year. Trump-appointed FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, though, seemed poised to implement the rule during remarks March 29 in Washington, noting a 6-percentage-point increase in obesity among Americans over the last decade. Consumers are more interested than ever before to learn about the food they eat, Gottlieb told the National Food Policy Conference. He added, Beginning on May 7, 2018, consumers can walk into these covered eating establishments across the country and know at a glance how many calories are in the foods they order for themselves and their kids. In February, 32 Democrats joined House Republicans to pass the alternative Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act in a vote of 266-157. The legislation was sponsored by House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., sponsored a companion bill. The bill allows business owners to give calorie ranges based on how an item is normally ordered rather than every possible combination for a sandwich or pizza. It would also consider as compliant online calorie counts, and give a 90-day window to correct any violations. This bill isnt about merits of calorie counts; its about providing flexibility for businesses to provide that information in a way that makes sense for them and their customers, McMorris Rodgers said in a statement. In a statement of administration policy, the White House also announced President Trump would sign the bill because it would save American businesses from Obamacare's heavy-handed statutory framework. Further, it would modernize menu labeling by allowing businesses to provide information in the most useful way to customers, recognizing that Americans order food in the 21st century by phone, online, using mobile apps, and in person, the White House statement says. However, the bill has many critics, such as the Center for Food Safety, a liberal advocacy group, which said in an action alert the legislation would make it easier for restaurants to continue hiding the information. The bill would allow companies to provide calorie information based on their own made up serving sizes, weaken enforcement and accountability, and, for certain establishments, not require the information be provided in-store, the center continued. Fred Lucas is the White House correspondent for the Daily Signal. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson unveiled a plan Wednesday to raise public housing rents in an effort to bring more money into the federal housing system and encourage residents to be more self-sufficient. Carson's proposed changes would raise the rent paid by public housing residents to 35 percent from 30 percent of household income and eliminate all deductions that could lower that number. Elderly and disabled tenants would be exempt from the increase, and rents would be evaluated every three years instead of annually. Congress would still have to approve the plan, dubbed the Make Affordable Housing Work Act. "The way we calculate the level of assistance to our families is archaic and has perverse consequences, like discouraging these residents from earning more income," Carson told The Associated Press. "It's clear from a budget perspective and from a human standpoint that this is not sustainable." Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who grew up in poverty in Boston and Detroit, has long promoted the idea that too much government support creates a culture of dependency. During a 2016 speech at his alma mater, Yale, Carson said: "Government should not keep people in a dependent state. It should be used as a springboard, and not as a hammock." Jack Cooper, executive director of the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants, called Carson's proposal "a war on low-income people." Cooper told The AP that the likely effect would be to force families into homelessness. He said the nationwide average annual income for public housing residents was $12,000, and many families simply won't be able to keep up with the additional expenses. "We're talking about keeping a roof over people who can't afford the market," he said. "They're devastating folks that are already in dire straits." The Associated Press contributed to this report. National security adviser John Bolton has informed National Security Council employees that staff changes are imminent, including an influx of new people and a reorganization, a Trump administration source told Fox News on Wednesday. In a memo sent by Bolton on Wednesday morning, he informed staffers that the changes could include combining higher-level director positions. The source said that while some at the National Security Council (NSC) welcome Bolton's changes, the news will upset many White House staffers who are overworked and overwhelmed as a result of the administration's mercurial foreign policy. The source added that it is possible that skilled NSC staffers will leave their posts as a result of the changes, making it hard to attract other potential staffers. Bolton is the third national security adviser to serve under President Donald Trump in the 15 months of the Trump administration. He succeeded H.R. McMaster earlier this month. And McMaster succeeded Michael Flynn, who resigned in February 2017. (Flynn has since pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI in the course of the bureau's investigation into contacts between Russian officials and Trump's presidential campaign.) A number of top national security officials -- including NSC spokesman Michael Anton, homeland security adviser Tom Bossert and deputy national security advisers Ricky Waddell and Nadia Schadlow -- have either been pushed out by Bolton or have chosen to leave because of his appointment. One of those former NSC officials, retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, was chosen Monday by Vice President Mike Pence to serve as his national security adviser. Also Wednesday, Bolton went to the Pentagon for breakfast with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the first in a planned series of regular meetings, according to Pentagon spokeswoman Dana W. White. She said the Pentagon hoped Mike Pompeo, Trump's choice for secretary of state, would start attending if he's confirmed. Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., called on President Trump to "please resign" at the TIME 100 Gala on Tuesday night, so that she "won't have to keep up this fight of your having to be impeached." Waters was prompted by a questioner who asked her if she had some advice for Trump. "I dont think you deserve to be there," Waters said, referring to the president. "Just get out. The annual event in New York assembles celebrities and prominent figures to celebrate the world's 100 most influential people according to TIME. In the 2018 TIME 100, Waters was named as one such influencer. Actor Yara Shahidi praised Waters as "so eloquent in letting the world, particularly the white men of Congress who dare test her acumen, know that she is not here for any nonsense." TUCKER: HOW DID MAXINE WATER AFFORD A $4.3 MANSION AFTER WORKING 40 YEARS IN GOVERNMENT? Tuesday night's comments were relatively tame for Waters, who has previously called Trump the "most horrible man I've ever seen in my life." Last month, Trump said Waters suffers from a 'very low IQ' and called on her to take an IQ test. Waters responded that either the Russia investigation, or the allegations of porn star Stormy Daniels, will ultimately bring Trump down. "I'm not going to be intimidated by him," Waters said. Free tuition, minimum wage hikes and "Medicare for all" are so 2016. As Democrats look ahead to the midterms and the 2020 presidential race, lawmakers and candidates are pushing the agenda even further to the left -- with bigger promises of sweeping government welfare programs ranging from guaranteed jobs to universal income. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the standard-bearer for the party's left flank in 2016, once again is helping to lead the charge. He reportedly is set to announce a plan that will guarantee a $15-an-hour job -- and health-care benefits -- to every American who wants or needs one. The plan, first reported by The Washington Post, would fund hundreds of government projects such as infrastructure, care giving, the environment, education and other goals. Sanders office said they have not yet done a cost estimate or devised how they would pay for the massive government commitment. A spokesman for Sanders did not respond to a request for more details from Fox News. But while Sanders once represented a fringe on the Democratic Partys left, his views are becoming more mainstream in the party, with at least two other presidential prospects adopting similar policy proposals that would make Roosevelts New Deal look like old hat. I think Senator Sanders performance during the presidential campaign was much better than other Democrats expected, and this has given him a higher profile and greater standing in the campaign, Stan Veuger, economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told Fox News. Hillary [Clinton] losing to Trump has probably also convinced some people within the Democratic Party that a more populist platform would be electorally successful in general-election settings, he said. As the Democratic Party aims to win the House in November and has an eye on the 2020 presidential election, it is looking a lot more like Sanders party than it did in 2015, at least when it comes to economic policy. Last week, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., tweeted support for a jobs guarantee plan, saying it would help "regular Americans who are unemployed and willing to work to better their local community." She also called for "big, bold ideas to fix our economy." On Friday, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., announced the Federal Jobs Guarantee Development Act, which would call for the Department of Labor to select up to 15 areas to institute a job guarantee. According to Vox, which first reported on Booker's plan, those jobs would pay the higher of $15 per hour or the prevailing wage and offer paid family leave and health benefits. "The federal jobs guarantee is an idea that demands to be taken seriously," Booker said in a statement. "Creating an employment guarantee would give all Americans a shot at a days work and, by introducing competition into the labor market, raise wages and improve benefits for all workers." While Democrats decry last year's GOP-backed tax overhaul as a giveaway to wealthy families, others are countering with their own tax credit plans aimed at low-income Americans. In an interview with The Atlantic, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he was proposing a bill that would boost the Earned Income Tax Credit to almost double the current payout for families and tenfold for childless workers. He urged Democrats to go bold with big visions in response to the election of President Trump. "The progressive wing of the party should not be afraid to lay out their vision of where do they want to take the country and what would an ideal society look like, he said. Then we can negotiate the details. Meanwhile Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur and a Democratic presidential hopeful, told Fox Business Network Monday that he is proposing $1,000 a month for all citizens between the ages of 18 and 64 as part of a universal basic income program -- even as Finland announced it is scrapping a similar proposal after a two-year test period. The size of our economy is now $19 trillion a year. Its grown by $4 trillion in the last 10 years alone. We can easily afford $1,000 a month per citizen, Yang told Fox Business Stuart Varney. Such policies would likely be opposed by Republicans -- especially given the national debt is now over $21 trillion -- but Veuger said that is not a given in the Trump era. The economic push appears to be part of an embrace of more radical positions by the Democratic Party in the wake of Clinton's defeat by Trump in 2016. A number of Democrats have floated the idea of impeaching Trump should they take the House in November -- a move that has some more mainstream Democrats jittery. "I lived through the Clinton White House. This is a serious legal and constitutional, not political, issue, Chicago Mayor and former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said at an Axios event on Monday. I couldn't be angrier at Donald Trump. ... That said, you don't just flippantly say: We're for [impeachment]." The Washington Free Beacon also reported that a wealthy Democratic donor club used an event attended by Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe to call for reparations -- presumably to black people for slavery -- along with other big spending projects. "It's 2022 and we are celebrating policy victories across the nation: Medicare for All and Free College, and next on the agenda is Reparations," Democracy Alliance said in invitation to the event. On immigration, while more Democrats have endorsed the sanctuary movement by which local authorities limit how they cooperate with federal immigration authorities, others have outright called for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to be abolished. ICE operates as an unaccountable deportation force, former Clinton spokesman and Democratic consultant Brian Fallon tweeted in January. Dems running in 2020 should campaign on ending the agency in its current form. ICE REMOVAL KEY GOAL OF DEMOCRATS IN 2020 ELECTION This is a growing position on the left, and I imagine 2020 Democratic presidential aspirants will have to grapple with it, liberal writer and MSNBC host Chris Hayes tweeted last month. Yet, other Democrats are not there yet. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who is on the partys left, spoke critically of ICE but declined to endorse such a proposal -- a move which led to criticism from some liberal outlets. ICE has a purpose, ICE has a role, ICE should exist, Harris said in an interview with Hayes. But lets not abuse the power. Fox News Samuel Chamberlain and Alex Pappas contributed to this report. Republican candidate Debbie Lesko won a special election for a U.S. House seat in Arizona Tuesday night, to replace former Rep. Trent Franks, who resigned in December over sexual misconduct allegations. Lesko, a former state senator, defeated Democrat Hiral Tipirneni to keep the 8th Congressional District seat in Republican control. National Republican groups funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to support Lesko in the hotly contested race that spanned heavily conservative areas of western Phoenix suburbs. I congratulate Congresswoman-Elect Debbie Lesko and look forward to welcoming her to our conference, said Steve Stivers, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Debbie is a strong conservative whose values truly reflect those of the voters in Arizonas Eighth District. The NRCC was proud to support her and our targeted and early investments proved to be a difference maker in the race. Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump tweeted his support for Lesko, pointing out her stance on border patrol, immigration and crime. Time is ticking down -- get out and VOTE today, the tweet read. We need Debbie in Congress. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan congratulated Lesko on her hard-fought victory, while pointing to the campaign win as a bellwether for the Republican party as they prepare for the midterm elections. Her victory proves that Republicans have a positive record to run on this fall and we need to spend the next seven months aggressively selling our message to the American people," Ryan said. Several Republicans who spoke to the Associated Press said they backed Lesko for her support of the presidents stance on border security, including building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border which Tipirneni had opposed. Lesko also criticized Tipirneni, a doctor, for supporting government-run health care. The Republican beat the Democrat by almost six points in a district where Trump won by 20. Democrats had hoped to extend a string of special election victories that saw them post victories in Alabama and Pennsylvania. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Rudy Giuliani, the newest arrival to Donald Trump's legal team, has taken over talks with Special Counsel Robert Mueller about a possible interview of the president, Fox News has learned. The negotiations between Giuliani and the Mueller team have been called ongoing. The president is said to remain skeptical of the idea of an interview, but has not ruled one out. In a statement to Fox News, Giuliani said his objective "is to end this investigation and distraction from the critical issues facing our President as quickly as possible. The President has produced 1.2 million documents that is historically unprecedented. We believe it presents overwhelming proof that the President did not collude with regard to the 2016 election. "If anything else is needed," Giuliani added, apparently referring to a potential Trump interview by Mueller, "we will consider it if there is an open mind as to the merits." Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney and onetime mayor of New York City, joined Trump's legal team last week and proclaimed his intent to bring the Mueller investigation to a swift end. He replaced John Dowd, who resigned last month. Mueller has told Trump's legal team that the president is not a target of his investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. The president is currently a subject of the probe a designation that could change at any time. Fox News' John Roberts and Matt Richardson contributed to this report. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Attorney General Jeff Sessions kept quiet Wednesday about whether he would recuse himself from the criminal investigation into Trump attorney Michael Cohen and refused to speculate on resigning should President Donald Trump choose to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. During a hearing held by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Sessions was pressed by Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy on whether he had honored his recusal from the investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates ahead of the 2016 election. Sen. Leahy, I am honoring the recusal in every case, in every matter that comes before the Department of Justice. I have honored that, and will continue to honor that, Sessions said. Leahy, D-Vt., then asked whether the attorney general would recuse himself from the Cohen case, following the announcement from the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Southern District of New York that Cohen was under criminal investigation, and the empaneling of a grand jury for that case. It is the policy of the Department of Justice that those who have recused themselves not state the details of [the recusal] or confirm the existence of an investigation, or the scope or nature of the investigation, Sessions said. So, I feel like by following the rules of the department, which I am teaching all of our people to do, I cannot answer that question. Leahys question regarding a potential recusal from the Cohen case came after a Bloomberg News report on Tuesday, suggesting Sessions would not recuse himself from the Cohen investigation. Justice Department officials refused to confirm the report, telling Fox News they could not talk about recusals because that would confirm the existence of the investigation. Justice Department officials also told Fox News that they neither could confirm nor deny a Sessions recusal because the existence of the investigation already was public knowledge, and the confirmation of a recusal would reveal the scope and nature of the investigation. Sessions doubled down on his initial answer, telling Leahy and the panel that he would comply with his recusal. SESSIONS REPORTEDLY SAYS HE MAY QUIT IF ROSENSTEIN SACKED; WHAT IS TRUMP SAYING? The best answer for me is that I should not announce that. Recusals are not made public, but internally binding, Sessions said. I can assure you I have not violated my recusal. Leahy, the appropriations committees vice chair, went on to press Sessions on whether the attorney general would resign should Trump choose to remove Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia investigation for the Justice Department. Leahy cited a Washington Post article from last week suggesting Sessions would quit amid a potential Rosenstein termination. That calls for a speculative answer. ... Im not able to do that, Sessions replied with a smile. JUDGE WONT LET TRUMP ATTORNEY COHEN REVIEW SEIZED FILES BEFORE THE FEDS, AS STORMY DANIELS SPEAKS OUT Leahy responded: Your smile answers the question. Last week, during a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, reporters pressed Trump on whether he would fire Rosenstein and Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Theyve been saying Im going to get rid of them for the last three months, four months, five months, and theyre still here, Trump said, referring to the media reports suggesting Mueller and Rosensteins potential ouster. Cohen, who formerly worked at the Trump Organization, is under criminal investigation as part of a grand jury probe into his personal conduct and business dealings, including a $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2016. Sessions was asked whether Trump would pardon Cohen, to which Sessions did not answer, noting he would not reveal conversations he had with the president. Fox News Jake Gibson contributed to this report. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the latest version of President Trump's controversial travel ban that affects residents of some majority-Muslim countries. The ban applies to people from Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. It also placed limits on people from North Korea and Venezuela. Since the president signed an executive order in January 2017 establishing a ban on travel of people from Muslim-majority nations, it has been a point of contention and challenged in court. Heres a look at the bans journey through the legal system. June 26 Supreme Court upholds ban In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court issued its first substantive ruling on a Trump administration policy on June 26, upholding the travel ban. The court said the president has substantial power to regulate immigration. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, which was joined by his four conservative colleagues. The sole prerequisite set forth in [federal law] is that the President find that the entry of the covered aliens would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. The President has undoubtedly fulfilled that requirement here, Roberts wrote. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who dissented, said "a reasonable observer would conclude that the Proclamation was motivated by anti-Muslim animus." April 25 Supreme Court hears oral arguments In the last case the justices will hear until October, oral arguments on the travel ban will be delivered before the Supreme Court on April 25. This is the first time the justices are considering whether it violates immigration law or the Constitution. People waited for a seat inside the courtroom for days ahead of the hearing. A decision is expected by June. April 10 Chad removed from travel ban The Trump administration removed Chad from the travel ban because the African country had improved its identity-management and information sharing practices enough, press secretary Sarah Sanders said. It had been included on the list because of an office supply glitch that prevented it from supplying homeland security officials with recent samples of its passports. It was also unable to adequately share public safety and terror-related information with U.S. officials who screen foreigners seeking to enter the country, officials said. March 30 More than a dozen states back lawsuit against ban Washington, D.C. and 16 states backed Hawaiis lawsuit against the travel ban with an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court. President Trumps discriminatory ban both hurts the families caught up in the chaos of his draconian policies, and undermines our states residents, institutions, businesses and economies, New York Attorney Gen. Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. Jan. 19 Supreme Court announces it will rule on the travel ban The Supreme Court announced on Jan. 19 that it will rule on Trump's controversial travel ban. The justices plan to hear arguments in April and issue a final ruling by late June. Dec. 4 Supreme Court OKs full enforcement of Trump travel ban Handing the White House a huge judicial victory, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trumps travel ban affecting residents of six majority-Muslim countries. Lower courts had said people from those countries with a "bona fide" relationship with someone in the United States could not be prevented from entry. Grandparents and cousins were among the relatives courts said could not be excluded. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have left the lower court orders in place. Oct. 17 Federal judge temporarily blocks travel ban U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson granted a request from Hawaii to temporarily block a version of Trump's travel ban, which was supposed to take effect at midnight ET on Oct. 18. Hawaii argued that the revised ban which included citizens from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, and some Venezuelan government officials and their families was a continuation of Trump's "promise to exclude Muslims from the United States." "Todays dangerously flawed district court order undercuts the Presidents efforts to keep the American people safe and enforce minimum security standards for entry into the United States," the White House said in a statement. "The Department of Justice will vigorously defend the Presidents lawful action." Oct. 10 Supreme Court dismisses one case The Supreme Court didnt take action on a case that originated in Hawaii pertaining to Trumps travel ban and a ban on refugees. However, it did dismiss another case that originated in Maryland. That case involved a ban that has since expired and been replaced with a new one by the administration. Oct. 5 Justice Department asks Supreme Court to drop travel ban case The Department of Justice asked the nations highest court to dismiss the case challenging the administrations travel ban. The administration argued the case should be dismissed because it was regarding a previous travel ban that is now moot. Sept. 24 Trump signs new travel ban As Trumps original ban was set to expire, the president unveiled new restrictions on travel to the U.S. from certain countries citizens. The revised ban included citizens from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. It also included some government officials from Venezuela. Sept. 12 Supreme Court lifts restrictions The Supreme Court blocked a lower courts decision that would have allowed refugees to enter the country under certain conditions, blocking a ruling that said a resettlement agency counts as a bona fide relationship. Sept. 7 Appeals court limits travel ban The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that would allow for more refugees to enter the country despite the ban. The federal court ruled that refugees working with a resettlement agency would be considered to have established an approved bona fide relationship with a contact in the U.S. WHO DOES TRUMPS TRAVEL BAN BLOCK FROM ENTERING THE US? It also expanded the scope of a bona fide relationship to include other family members, such as grandparents and other relatives. July 19 Supreme Court allows for strict enforcement of refugee ban The Supreme Court, temporarily, allowed for the administrations travel ban to keep a strict enforcement on its ban of refugees. It did, however, leave in place the court order that made it easier for travelers from the six Muslim-majority countries to enter the U.S. and allowed a previous expansion of bona fide relationships to stay. July 13 Federal judge expands scope of travel ban U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson, in Hawaii, ruled that a bona fide relationship certain travelers need before entering the U.S. could be expanded to include grandparents and other relatives. The Justice Department filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court for clarification. June 29 Travel ban goes into effect After the Supreme Courts ruling, the Trump administration issued guidance on who would be allowed into the country and who would be barred. June 26 Supreme Court allows for travel ban to continue The Supreme Court announced it would allow Trump to forge ahead with a limited version of his travel ban. Trump hailed the decision as a victory for national security. HAWAII GETS CHANCE TO MAKE CASE FOR FIGHTING 3RD TRAVEL BAN The court said it would hear arguments in October, but until then, the ban on travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen could be enforced if the visitors lacked a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. May 25 Travel ban blocked by federal court The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia blocked the travel ban from being implemented. It had begun to hear the case earlier in May. We remain unconvinced [the ban] has more to do with national security than it does with effectuating the Presidents promised Muslim ban," the court said at the time. March 30 Trump administration appeals ruling The Department of Justice filed an appeal with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to challenge the ruling against the travel ban. March 29 Federal judge continues to block travel ban U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson granted a request to continue to halt the travel ban. March 16 Another federal judge temporarily blocks the order Sitting in Maryland, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang temporarily halted the executive order. The injunction was not as comprehensive as the one issued earlier in Hawaii, but it did contend that the ban was discriminatory toward Muslims. The order did not change the previous injunction in Hawaii, but rather just reinforced it. March 15 Federal judge blocks travel ban U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson prevented the travel ban from being implemented just before it was set to take effect. Watson granted the state of Hawaiis request for a temporary restraining order. Trump called the decision an unprecedented judicial overreach. March 8 Hawaii sues to block the travel ban The state of Hawaii sued in an attempt to halt the Trump administrations travel ban from going into effect. Lawyers said the new executive order is resulting in the establishment of religion in the State of Hawaii contrary to its state Constitution. Lawyers also argued that the ban would damage Hawaiis economy, educational institutions and tourism industry; and it is subjecting a portion of the states citizens to second-class treatment and discrimination, while denying all Hawaii residents the benefits of an inclusive and pluralistic society. March 6 Trump unveils new travel ban Trump signed a new executive order which barred travel from six predominantly Muslim countries for 90 days removing Iraq from the new ban. The new order also exempted permanent residents and current visa holders from the travel ban. Syrian refugees were still included in the new order but only for 120 instead of indefinitely. Feb. 15 Trumps travel ban gets a defender Texas Attorney Ken Paxton split with other states and defended the travel ban as he filed documents with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit asking to reconsider a decision blocking the ban. Paxton argued that the order is a legal exercise of presidential authority. Feb. 13 Federal judge grants injunction against ban A federal judge in Virginia granted an injunction to prevent the administration from implementing the ban. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said the ban was unconstitutional as it had a religious bias. Feb. 9 Travel ban is again blocked The travel bans suspension was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a unanimous decision. MUSLIM ADVOCATES, LEGAL ORG FILES SUITS OVER TRAVEL BAN Those judges were Michelle Friedland, appointed by former President Barack Obama; Richard Clifton, appointed by former President George W. Bush; and William Canby, appointed by former President Jimmy Carter. The court began to hear arguments from the Justice Department and lawyers from the states of Washington and Maryland in opposition to the ban on Feb. 7. Feb. 6 Justice Department asks federal court to intervene The Justice Department filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit asking it to intervene and reverse a previous judges decision to halt the travel ban. Sixteen attorneys general filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit against the travel ban. Those included: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Feb. 3 Judge declines to extend injunction against travel ban U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton did not extend a temporary injunction against the administrations travel ban. But U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle did issue a temporary block of the ban on the same day. The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury, Robart said as he ruled in favor of lawyers from the states of Washington and Minnesota. Feb. 1 Administration tweaks travel ban The Trump administration tweaked its travel ban to exempt legal permanent residents of the U.S. AFGHAN GIRLS ROBOTICS TEAM ARRIVES IN US JUST IN TIME They no longer need a waiver because if they are a legal permanent resident, they wont need it anymore, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer said of green card holders. Jan. 30 Senate Republicans save travel ban from Democrats Senate Republicans squashed an effort by Democrats to overturn the executive order. When Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. sought a vote on legislation to reverse the ban, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., objected. Trump also fired acting Attorney Gen. Sally Yates on this day when she refused to defend the travel ban. Jan. 29 Temporary stay issued on travel ban A Boston federal court temporarily put Trumps travel ban on hold for one week. The ruling stipulated that previously approved refugees, valid visa holders and lawful permanent residents or travelers from the seven countries included in Trumps order could not be detained or removed from the U.S. because of the executive order. Jan. 28 Federal judge issues emergency injunction against ban A federal judge in New York issued an emergency order blocking, in part, the executive order. U.S. District Judge Ann Donnellys ruling temporarily barred the U.S. from deporting people who arrived with a valid visa or who had already completed a refugee application. As dozens of people were detained after their planes landed in the U.S., massive protests erupted at airports nationwide. Jan. 27 Trump signs executive order barring travel from seven Muslim-majority nations Trump signed an executive order which immediately barred entry into the U.S. for the citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The order, dubbed Protection the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, also halted the U.S. refugee program for 120 days, but indefinitely barred all Syrian refugees from entering the country. Fox News' Barnini Chakraborty, Bill Mears and The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Trump administration enjoyed a favorable reception Wednesday from the Supreme Court's conservative majority in the first significant legal test of this president's policies and power, as the justices reviewed the high-stakes challenge to the so-called travel ban. At issue is whether the third and latest version of President Trump's travel restrictions, affecting visitors from five majority Muslim nations, discriminate on the basis of nationality and religion, in the government's issuance of immigrant visas. Protesters gathered outside the court to condemn the restrictions. But inside the courtroom, the last scheduled oral argument of the term appeared divided along the usual conservative-liberal lines. Despite some speculation over Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch given a recent ruling in which he sided with liberal colleagues on an immigration case the conservative jurist seemed to offer indirect support Wednesday as he called into question a federal judges prior attempt to suspend the travel ban nationwide. Justice Samuel Alito also noted that of the 50 or so mostly Muslim majority countries, only five were on the current banned list, or about 8 percent of the population, he said. "That does not look at all like a Muslim ban," he said, referring to the label the policys critics have given it. Justice Elena Kagan, meanwhile, questioned whether the executive had free rein to assert his authority over foreign policy and immigration matters and, if so, was it "game over" for any subsequent meaningful judicial review. Justice Sonia Sotomayor also sought assurances from the Justice Department's solicitor general that the waiver policies for those seeking a visa from five mostly Muslim countries were more than just "window dressing. The case could, once again, come down to Justice Anthony Kennedy. But his line of questioning could be seen as positive for the administration. At one point, he wondered whether then-candidate Trump's campaign call for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims" entering the U.S. (rhetoric being used against him in this case) was important to the current appeal. "Is anything said in a campaign irrelevant?" he asked. But Kennedy also suggested the president has "continuing discretion" to decide how long countries can remain on the banned list of entry, meaning the policies could be open-ended. Given the high public interest, the court modified its usual policy and released audio of the session within an hour after its conclusion. A decision expected in June could represent a precedent-setting ruling on the limits of executive power, especially within the immigration context. The justices have allowed the current restrictions -- known as travel ban 3.0 -- to be enforced at the Justice Department's request, at least until the case is fully litigated. Sixteen state leaders led by Texas are among a number of coalitions backing the Trump administration. But Hawaii officials, who filed the appeal contesting all of the president's orders, say the president's policies continue to violate the Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom: "Any reasonable observer who heard the President's campaign promises, read his thinly justified orders banning overwhelmingly Muslim populations, and observed his Administration's persistent statements linking the two, would view the order and each of its precursors as the fulfillment of the President's promise to prohibit Muslim immigration to the United States." A number of civil rights, immigrant and Muslim advocates filed separate briefs opposing the government's policies. These challengers to the 3.0 order argue Trump has taken his enumerated powers to extremes by banning entire populations from multiple countries, an estimated 150 million people. Federal appeals courts in Virginia and California in recent months had ruled against the administration. The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit court last December concluded Trump's proclamation, like the two previous executive orders, overstepped his powers to regulate the entry of aliens. It "fails to provide a rationale explaining why permitting entry of nationals from the six designated countries under current protocols would be detrimental to the interests of the United States," wrote the appeals judges. The White House, on the other hand, has framed the issue as a temporary move involving national security. A coalition of groups in opposition call the order blatant religious discrimination, since the five current countries involved have mostly Muslim populations: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Chad was recently removed from the list after the administration said that country had beefed up its information-sharing. The current case is Trump v. Hawaii (17-965). French President Emmanuel Macron, even as he gently swiped at some of President Trump's policies, used his visit to Washington this week to strengthen his country's bond with the U.S. -- and in doing so, may have nudged out the British for Trump's affections. Macron capped his visit with an address Wednesday to a Joint Session of Congress, after a series of meetings and dinners where he and the U.S. president appeared chummy and playful even as they discussed weighty issues like the Iran deal behind closed doors. Macron was applauded by both Democrats and Republicans as he talked up the relationship between the two countries, praising Congress as a "sanctuary of democracy." He spoke of their common cause against terrorism in the fight for freedom. "We have encountered constant rendezvous with death because we have this constant attachment to freedom and democracy," he said. Awkwardly for Trump, Macron called to "make our planet great again" in tackling climate change, calling for a low carbon economy and expressing hope that Trump would re-enter the Paris climate deal. "There is no planet B," he said, to whoops and cheers by Democrats. He also continued to argue for the preservation of the Iran nuclear deal, saying: "We should not abandon it without having something substantial and more substantial instead. ... France will not leave the [agreement] because we signed it." Macron, however, is opening the door to improvements on the deal that Trump may yet consider. And if the two leaders' public appearances this week -- including Trump's first State Dinner, for the French first couple -- is any gauge, Trump and Macron are in a cooperative mode. Tuesday's appearances were marked by hand-holding, smiles and even the occasional kiss as Trump and Macron teased one another, and vowed to work closely on key foreign policy issues such as Syria (where both the U.K. and France joined America for recent strikes). TRUMP, MACRON SHARE ANOTHER AWKWARD HANDSHAKE "We have a very special relationship, in fact I'll get that little piece of dandruff off," Trump said, before brushing the shoulder of Macron -- who later referred to Trump as cher Donald (Dear Donald). Certainly, the days of Republicans calling for French fries to be renamed Freedom Fries in response to French uncertainty about the war in Iraq appear to be long gone. This week's visit marks the latest diplomatic push by Macron -- who won Trumps approval in July by making him the honored guest at the Bastille Day parade in Paris. Yet as Trump honored his French counterpart on Tuesday, a bust of scowling former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill looked on from the side -- perhaps sharing the attitude of officials at Downing Street likely to be concerned at Trumps use of the phrase Special Relationship to describe the U.S.-French bond rather than the U.S.-U.K. alliance. Macron also used the phrase in his address to Congress, and was met with applause from lawmakers. With Macron, hes very skillfully handled the Trump relationship and has successfully extended the hand of friendship to Trump without reservation, Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News. Its a very bold move for a French president and a game changer but its paid off for him. Ideologically, the two leaders are quite different. Macron is closely aligned with the European Union, which Trump has been battling on the question of not only the Iran deal but steel and aluminum tariffs. Even on Tuesday, Trump criticized the union that Macron has been defending in the face of a nationalist-populist wave sweeping the continent. In his remarks Wednesday, Macron warned of the dangers of "extreme nationalism," which he described as an illusion and a "temporary remedy to our fears" and urged the embrace of international institutions such as NATO and the United Nations. The reality remains that while Trump does have a personal affinity for Macron, Trump is pro-Brexit, anti-E.U. and a eurosceptic politician and hes a big believer in national sovereignty so the ideological differences between Trump and Macron are deep seated, Gardiner said. Which is what makes the dynamic with Britain so curious. Trump had initially seemed more receptive to British advances at the beginning of his presidency, meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May and calling for a trade deal between the two countries once the U.K. leaves the European Union. Trump, who regularly boasts of his Scottish heritage, has taken partial credit for Brexit and has repeatedly expressed skepticism about the European Union. But days later, May was under pressure after Trump announced his controversial travel ban, which she ultimately condemned as divisive and wrong. May, who was weakened by a 2017 general election result which saw her Conservative Party barely cling to power, has been facing a constant beating from the hard-left and even some moderates in her own party over her outreach to the president. While a state visit to the U.K. was proposed in January 2017, the resultant controversy and threat of mass protests from left-wing activists appears to have nixed that plan. In January this year, Trump nixed a February visit to open the U.S. Embassy, purportedly due to the cost of the building. Sky News reported Wednesday that an announcement is coming in upcoming days about a working visit by Trump to the U.K., possibly in July. There have also been positive signs for the relationship. In Davos in January, Trump dismissed concerns of strained ties between the two. [May] and myself have had a really great relationship, although some people don't necessarily believe that. But I can tell you it's true, Trump told reporters. I have a tremendous respect for the prime minister and the job she's doing. And I think the feeling is mutual from the standpoint of liking each other a lot. We are very much joined at the hip when it comes to the military. We have the same ideas, the same ideals, he said before turning to speak to May directly. There's nothing that would happen to you that we won't be there to fight for you. May was similarly glowing in her praise of what she called a really special relationship between the U.K. and the United States. But controversies have peppered the U.S.-U.K. relationship, particularly Trumps retweeting of videos of alleged crimes by Muslims tweeted out by a far-right U.K. group -- a move that sparked a hubbub and another scolding from May. Trump has also clashed with London Mayor Sadiq Khan on the subject of terrorism -- with Khan celebrating Trumps canceled visit by bragging that Trump had got the message. The criticism has stung the British Government, with Foreign Minister Boris Johnson reacting to Khans anti-Trump sentiments by responding: We will not allow US-UK relations to be endangered by some puffed up pompous popinjay in City Hall. Hard-left Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also not made things easy for May, blasting Trump at every opportunity. When the U.S., U.K., and France joined forces to bomb Syria this month, Corbyn accused May of bowing to the whims of a U.S. President. But Gardiner asserted that the Anglo-American alliance is a stronger, more deep-rooted relationship that is more likely to last over the long term. Theres a certain sort of superficiality to the Macron-Trump friendship because at a time of international crisis or when the U.S. really needs a friend, I think the phone call still goes to London other than Paris for real action, he said. President Donald Trumps embattled pick to head the Department of Veterans Affairs denied that he crashed a government car while drunk, one of a string of new accusations unearthed by Democrats on Wednesday. Dr. Ronny Jackson said he would move ahead with the nomination process despite the allegations of bad behavior. Did not wreck a car. Should be pretty ... pretty easy to prove that, he said, adding he doesnt know where these allegations are coming from. The White House physician said hes looking forward to answering everybodys questions. Based on conversations with 23 of Jacksons colleagues and former colleagues, the review by Democrats says Jackson was nicknamed Candyman by White House staff because he would provide prescriptions without paperwork. Drugs he prescribed included Ambien, used for sleep, and Provigil, used to help wake up. The colleagues and former colleagues also told congressional staffers that there were multiple incidents of drunkenness on duty and said Jackson got drunk at a Secret Service going-away party and wrecked a government car. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that Jacksons record has been impeccable and that background checks revealed no areas of concern. Sanders noted that he had received glowing evaluations including several from President Obama. Fox News obtained documents showing glowing praise from Obama, calling him a tremendous asset to the entire White House team. The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee indefinitely postponed Jacksons confirmation hearing, which had been scheduled for Wednesday. It cited a need for more time to investigate complaints made by current and former employees of Jackson about his fitness to be V.A. secretary. With Congress set to recess Friday for a week, the earliest a hearing could be held would be in about 10 days. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said Jackson deserves a hearing and hes going to get it. Sanders also noted that Jackson has worked within arms reach of three presidents. Given his unique position of trust and responsibility, Dr. Jacksons background and character were evaluated during three different administrations, she said. Dr. Jackson has had at least four independent background investigations conducted during his time at the White House including an FBI investigation conducted as part of the standard nomination vetting process. As he walked to record his weekly address, Trump was asked Wednesday if he still supported Jacksons nomination. Trump didnt respond. White House spokesman Raj Shah later said Trump met with Jackson Wednesday, and he said the president still supported the nomination. When pressed on whether the White House was prepping for a withdrawal of the nomination, Shah said broadly, Were prepared for anything. The president had backed Jackson a day earlier, saying he stood by Jackson no matter what but, If I were him I wouldnt do it. Its totally his decision, but hell be making a decision, Trump said of Jackson. Fox News Serafin Gomez, Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Its unheard of for a Senate candidate to wear campaign swag promoting a political rival. At least, it was unheard of. During a televised debate Tuesday, Don Blankenship, a Republican candidate for Senate in West Virginia, wore a hat that said, in bold lettering: Tom Willis, U.S. Senate. Tom Willis is one of the other Republicans running in a primary for the chance to face Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., but he was not invited to WSAZ NewsChannel 3 studios in Huntington to participate in the afternoon debate. The hat is because Tom Willis is not here based on surveys that Im not sure are independent, Blankenship explained to the moderators. Hes a veteran, hes a good guy, he deserves an equal chance to unseatthe establishment. Blankenship, the former coal baron and polarizing outsider candidate who recently served one year in jail on a misdemeanor conviction for conspiring to skirt mine safety laws connected to the Upper Big Branch Mine tragedy that killed 29, got the hat from his political rival several hours ahead of the debate, at a luncheon hosted by the Huntington Cabell Republican Womens Club, and was spotted by a FOX News crew sporting it as he walked toward the parking lot. Willis, a small business owner and former Green Beret, explained in an interview at that luncheon that hes been playing catch up in his campaign, as he was on active duty military orders until late 2017. Im not too concerned about the other candidates, they had a good head start, Willis said. So with two weeks left, most people just starting to pay attention now, and a huge undecided vote, Im feeling very confident about my chances to win. A Fox News poll released Tuesday finds Willis in fourth place, with 4 percent support among likely West Virginias GOP Senate primary voters. The frontrunner, Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., enjoys 25 percent support, followed by West Virginias Attorney General Patrick Morrisey with 21 percent and Blankenship with 16 percent. About 24 percent remain undecided. The Tom Willis, US Senate hat remained atop Blankenships head for Tuesdays entire hour-long debate. After the broadcast, a Twitter account associated with the Willis campaign posted, Its a nice hat, too! The White House on Wednesday doubled down in its defense of embattled Veterans Affairs nominee Ronny Jackson, who faces a range of accusations including drinking on the job and creating a toxic work environment. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that Jacksons record has been impeccable and that background checks revealed no areas of concern." Sanders also noted that Jackson has worked within arm's reach of three presidents. Given his unique position of trust and responsibility, Dr. Jacksons background and character were evaluated during three different administrations, she said. Dr. Jackson has had at least four independent background investigations conducted during his time at the White House including an FBI investigation conducted as part of the standard nomination vetting process. Sanders noted that he had received glowing evaluations including several from President Obama. Fox News obtained documents showing glowing praise from Obama, calling him a tremendous asset to the entire White House team. DOCUMENTS SHOW OBAMA PRAISED VA NOMINEE JACKSON, SUPPORTED PROMOTION 'IMMEDIATELY' Sanders remarks come after President Donald Trump had backed Jackson a day earlier, saying he stood by Jackson no matter what but, If I were him I wouldnt do it. Its totally his decision, but hell be making a decision, Trump said of Jackson. The comments come after The New York Times and others reported that Jackson has been accused of overseeing a hostile work environment as White House physician, drinking on the job and allowing the overprescription of drugs. A 2012 report by the Navy's Medical Inspector General accused him of exhibiting "unprofessional behaviors" amid a power struggle over the White House medical unit. VA NOMINEE JACKSON WAS 'UNPROFESSIONAL' IN POWER STRUGGLE WITH RIVAL, 2012 WATCHDOG REPORT SAYS Amid the allegations, Jackson's confirmation hearing originally set for Wednesday was postponed. Jackson met with Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday. The Associated Press reported that the president urged him to keep fighting to win confirmation, and that Jackson denied the allegations. Jackson is the latest Trump official to be dogged by controversy in an administration filled with controversies and departures. Trumps pick for secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has struggled to get past a Senate panel, while Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget chief and interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is in hot water after he reportedly said he only met with lobbyists who had contributed to his campaign. We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress, Mulvaney said at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington this week, according to the Times. If youre a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didnt talk to you. If youre a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you. But amid a seemingly endless litany of complaints about Trump officials, it opens the door for the White House and Trump allies to blame the Jackson controversy on Democratic obstructionism and even over-reaction. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, noted that one of the drugs Jackson is supposed to have doled out was sleep aid Ambien. According to the Times, Cornyn said it was not a problem that Jackson distributed such drugs as he was a doctor. On overseas travel, yeah, sure, people take Ambien to help them transition through time zones, he said. Its pretty common, Im led to believe. Fox News Judson Berger and The Associated Press contributed to this report. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 2021 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton is poised to sell his Malibu estate in an off-market deal for $110 million. Morton was expected to be sealing the deal in a closing on Tuesday, selling the home to natural gas billionaire Michael S. Smith and his wife, Iris, Mansion Global has learned. The estate, consisting of a five-bedroom main house and three-bedroom guest house, will set a new record for the highest price ever paid for a home in Los Angeles County surpassing the Playboy Mansion, which sold for $100 million in 2016. Architect Richard Meier, whose signature white-clad contemporary mansions dot Malibu, designed the residence in teak wood and glass, according to a 2006 profile of Morton in The Los Angeles Times. Morton, 70, could not immediately be reached for comment. The custom teak shell, which draws back like shutters to let the light into floor-to-ceiling glass reportedly needs daily oiling to keep its warm, rich hue. The home will smash Malibus record sales: a tie between David Geffens Carbon Beach compound and powerbroker Kurt Rappaports beach mansion, both of which sold for $85 million, Mansion Global previously reported. It is believed the Malibu residence will also break a national price record in terms of price per square foot, a source said. The house modest compared to its ultra-luxury neighbors at about 8,000 square feet will sell for $13,750 per square foot. By chance, Smith, CEO of Freeport LNG, paid the exact same price for a beach home on the opposite coast in 2016. He shelled out $110 million for 6.4-acre estate in East Hampton, New York. But the off-market Malibu deal may not hold its record status for long. Los Angeles currently boasts the countrys most expensive listing, a $350 million estate owned by late billionaire Jerry Perenchio, in addition to a handful of newly built mega-mansions with nine-digit asking prices. Agents Rayni and Branden Williams of Hilton & Hyland represented the seller. A museum in Buffalo, N.Y., recently discovered that a rare elephant bird egg in its collection had been mislabeled as a model for decades. A collections manager at the Buffalo Museum of Science was updating its catalog to a digital system when she discovered the realistic cream-colored egg among its collection of more than 1,000 eggs, the Buffalo News reported. "When I saw the egg, it was so much bigger than any other eggs in our collection," Paige Langle, collections manager of zoology, told the paper. "It had so much detailing and pitting, and the color was beautiful. It looked too realistic to be a model. The partially fossilized egg measured 28 inches around and weighed more than 3 pounds. The curators took the egg to the Art Conservation Department at the State University of New York at Buffalo for a radiography a technique that uses X-rays to see inside an object, the paper said. The test not only confirmed their suspicions, but it also showed specs of white that indicated it could have been fertilized. Museum records showed a previous curator had acquired the elephant bird egg in 1939 from a London taxidermist for $92, the Buffalo News reported. The taxidermist had bought the egg on the island of Madagascar located off the southeast coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean the birds native habitat. The flightless bird grew to be 10 feet tall, weighed between 770 and 1,100 pounds and laid the largest eggs of any vertebrate even dinosaurs. It went extinct more than 600 years ago, according to WGRZ-TV. Experts say there are fewer than 40 intact elephant bird eggs held in public institutions. The egg nearest to the Buffalo discovery can be found at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, according to the Buffalo News. "We are super excited that the Buffalo Museum of Science is in that select group," Kathryn Leacock, the museum's director of collections, told the paper. The museum is set to display the egg to the public beginning next Tuesday. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A young American sailors journal detailing his harrowing experiences during the Revolutionary War has been donated to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1764, Christopher Hawkins was just 13 years of age when he joined a privateer ship. The practice of privateering, which was widespread during the Revolutionary War, encouraged private U.S. citizens to harass British ships for financial gain. Captured by British forces, Hawkins languished with other patriots in the infamous HMS Jersey prison ship in New York harbor. More than 11,000 American prisoners died on British prison ships during the war, according to History.com, which notes that the Jersey, dubbed Hell by its inmates, was particularly notorious. 'THE FIRST OVAL OFFICE': MUSEUM WILL SHOWCASE WASHINGTONS REVOLUTIONARY WAR TENT In the journal, Hawkins describes escaping from the prison ship by stealing an axe from the ship's cook and breaking his way through a barred porthole during a thunder storm. The prisoner carefully timed his blows with a storms thunder claps to mask the sound of his axe, according to the Museum of the American Revolution. Hawkins swam for two and a half hours to escape the ship, he wrote in the journal. The fascinating record was discovered nearly two decades ago in the linen closet of Hawkins ancestor, Margaret Hodder Davis of Kansas City. Davis son Heywood Davis recently traveled to Philadelphia with his family to donate the journal to the Museum, which plans to display it. EXTREMELY RARE COPY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, ONCE HIDDEN BEHIND WALLPAPER, SURFACES Hawkins was 70 years old when he wrote the journal in 1834. A version of his experiences, entitled The Adventures of Christopher Hawkins was published in 1864, 27 years after his death. Hawkins' account is one of the liveliest tales of the Revolutionary War from the perspective of a boy sailor that exists, said Dr. Philip Mead, Chief Historian and Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Museum of the American Revolution, in a statement. Until now, scholars have only known Hawkins' tale from the published version in 1864. Reading the stories from Hawkins' own hand brings the story to life in a new way. It is as close as we can get to sitting by a fireside and listening to the aging veteran tell his tale. Revolutionary War artifacts offer a fascinating glimpse into the events that shaped America. Items in the Museum of the American Revolutions collection include George Washingtons tent and his headquarters flag. PAUL REVERE FAMILY OUTHOUSE MAY HAVE BEEN UNCOVERED IN BOSTON In August 2017, a Revolutionary War-era knife was unearthed during an archaeological dig at Colonial Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City, Michigan, the latest in a series of amazing finds at the site. The following month, archaeologists in Boston discovered a centuries-old outhouse that may be linked to the family of Patriot Paul Revere. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered an extremely rare marble head depicting the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The head, which shows the emperor with wavy hair and a beard, was discovered in the city of Aswan in southern Egypt, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities. In a Facebook post, Dr. Ayman Ashmawy, head of the Ministrys Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector, described the find as unique, noting that it is rare to find statues of the Roman emperor in Egypt. Egypt Independent reports that the statues head was found when experts were reducing the level of groundwater at the Kom Ombo temple in Aswan. The head was discovered in a well next to the temple, according to LiveScience. AMAZING MUMMY DISCOVERY: 2,500-YEAR-OLD EGYPTIAN COFFIN WAS THOUGHT TO BE EMPTY Marcus Aurelius, who lived in the 2nd century A.D., is also famous for his involvement in philosophy. A famed practitioner of stoic philosophy, the emperors writings are collected in the work Meditations. Another team of archaeologists recently discovered a shrine to the god Osiris-Ptah-Neb at the Karnak Temple in Luxor. Pottery and part of a sitting statue were also uncovered at the site, as well as a section of stone panel depicting a ram and a goose on an offering table. The animals are symbols of the god Amun, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities said, in its Facebook post. A winged sun-disk is also shown on the panel. Associated with divinity, royalty and power, the winged sun-disk is a common symbol of the pharaonic era. Ancient Egypt continues to reveal its secrets. Experts in Australia, for example, recently found the tattered remains of an ancient priestess in a 2,500-year-old Egyptian coffin that was long thought to be empty. On the other side of the world, a rare ancient artifact depicting the famous female pharaoh Hatshepsut surfaced in the U.K. Stunning new research also claims that King Tutankhamun may have been a boy soldier, challenging the theory he was a weak and sickly youth before his mysterious death at around 18 years of age. DESERT DISCOVERY: LOST TEMPLE OF RAMSES II UNCOVERED BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS Experts in the U.K. also found the worlds oldest figurative tattoos on two ancient Egyptian mummies recently, one of which is the oldest tattooed female ever discovered. Other recent finds include an ancient cemetery in Egypt with more than 40 mummies and a necklace containing a message from the afterlife. An ancient statue of a Nubian king with an inscription written in Egyptian hieroglyphics was also found at a Nile River temple in Sudan. Scientists also believe that they may have found the secret of the Great Pyramids near-perfect alignment. Experts are also confident that they have solved the long-standing mystery of the screaming mummy. MYSTERIOUS ANCIENT ARTWORK DEPICTING FEMALE PHARAOH FOUND BY ACCIDENT In February, archaeologists announced the discovery of a 4,400-year-old tomb near the pyramids. Late last year, archaeologists also revealed that they had uncovered the graves of four children at an ancient site in Egypt. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," April 24, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS) FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON: I believe the discussions we've had together make it possible to open the way, to pave the way for a new agreement, an agreement on which we will work, and beyond our European partners we would like to involve the regional powers. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It is essentially that the responsible nations of the Middle East step up their own contributions to prevent Iran from profiting off the success of our anti-ISIS effort. They have to step up tremendously, not a little bit, but tremendously their financial effort. (END VIDEO CLIPS) BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: President Trump and the French president today taking questions, talking a lot about the Iran deal. The president calling it a decaying foundation, the deal has a decaying foundation, and wants a new deal. And you heard that from the French president as well. They talked about Syria, and obviously out of that press conference, a love news about the V.A. secretary nomination. We'll talk about it all with the panel: Tom Bevan, Real Clear Politics co- founder and publisher; Mara Liasson, national political correspondent for National Public Radio; Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist. Mara, let's start with the international stuff. Some news on the Iran situation. Clearly they have a personal rapport, these two presidents. There were air kisses. MARA LIASSON, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Flicking dandruff off shoulders, yes. BAIER: But they also seem to have, or see eye-to-eye, even though there are differences, on moving forward with something new. LIASSON: Something new. Macron worked really, really hard to sell Trump on this idea of using the Iran deal as a foundation and building on it, and he came about with three pillars that would address Trump's concerns. So in addition to stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons in 10 years which the current agreement does, you would add on something that would prevent them from doing it permanently. You add something on ballistic missiles. You add something on stopping them from interfering in Yemen and Syria and Iraq. He wants to use the existing agreement as the foundation. Trump was talking about something a little different. He was talking about starting a whole new foundation. So I don't know exactly how it works if on May 12, as I think Trump hinted today, he wants to scrap the deal. BAIER: Yes. Mollie? MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIST: In addition to those problems that Trump has, he also doesn't like the deal because of its lack of ability to inspect the program and its inability to deal with ballistic missiles, and his idea that this is just a bad deal at the outset that really greenlit their nuclear program and doesn't match our interest. It makes sense that Europe likes this program. It makes sense they see some good in being able to trade with Iran and in the stability that the deal gave Iran and Europe, but it doesn't match the U.S. interest. And that was one of the things that came through in this press conference, this discussion about making sure that things are in the national interest. I was really struck by when President Trump said we spend $7 trillion in the Middle East and we spent 17 years there. We don't have a lot to show for it. He is asking for regional allies to step up and start doing what's in their interest rather than us bankrolling everything with money and with our soldiers. BAIER: At the same time that also factors in with Syria. Here's an exchange with the two leaders on Syria. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: As far as Syria is concerned, I would love to get out. With that being said, Emmanuel and myself have discussed the fact that we don't want to give Iran open season to the Mediterranean. But we're going to be coming home relatively soon. MACRON: When you are probably much more at the end of the war, you have to adapt to the enemy and the reality on the ground. But for sure what we want to do now is to finish this war with our troops, and we want to fix on the long run the situation. (END VIDEO CLIP) BAIER: So Tom, thoughts on that? Obviously differences but it seems like they've come together on that too. TOM BEVAN, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Correct. And the Syria strike Trump was talking about, how well they worked together, what a success it was. And clearly he wants to be out of Syria. He didn't want to even go back there in the slightest. So Trump will be putting pressure, I think, as Mollie said on France and other allies in the region to step up and make sure that there's a solution in Syria that will allow us to withdraw, because he has wanted that for a long, long time. It was one of his original campaign promises. He does not want to be stuck in the Middle East. BAIER: Big focus today ended up being the Veterans Affairs secretary nomination of Ronny Jackson. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS) DR. RONNY JACKSON, WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: I am looking forward to rescheduling the hearing and answering everyone's questions. TRUMP: I haven't heard of the particular allegations, but I will tell you he's one of the finest people that I have met. Now, I know there is an experience problem because lack of experience. I would definitely stand behind him. He's a fine man. I will always stand behind him. I would let it be his choice. (END VIDEO CLIPS) BAIER: And as of tonight, Mollie, the White House is saying they are standing behind him and he is going to continue forward with this nomination. HEMINGWAY: It's interesting hearing the president talk that way because it seemed like he was giving him a way out. If you don't want to put up with this, you can get out. Yet Dr. Jackson says he's absolutely intent on going through the hearings, which suggests also that we might need to learn a little bit more about what these allegations are. Are they a disgruntled former colleague talking about something, or is there something legitimate there? But the fact that so many administrations have worked with his doctor and praised him and so many people sing his praises regardless of political affiliation says something. The issue is, again, I think the issue people should focus on is whether being a good doctor and being beloved by all these administrations means you can handle the very serious problems at the V.A. BAIER: That's the real question for veterans groups in that it's one of the largest, I think the second largest agency, 370,000 workers. LIASSON: It's one of the biggest health systems in America. BAIER: And that is really the question. These statements from President Obama and President Bush obviously tell to the character of Dr. Jackson and his ability. LIASSON: The patients he has treated in the White House, all the White House staffs and all these different presidents, they love him. The complaints apparently that have gone to a committee are about his staff and problems there. BAIER: There was an internal dispute against an opponent. LIASSON: We don't know what they are. We don't know if they are true. We don't know if the White House was aware of them. BAIER: That hasn't prevented Capitol Hill from just spewing out all kinds of stuff. LIASSON: That's right. But the interesting thing to me today, and I was in the press conference, is Donald Trump did repeat many, many times, if I were him, I wouldn't go through with this. That really struck me. He talked about giving him an off-ramp. I thought he was almost opening the door for him. BAIER: Until he got to the end of the sentence, I thought this was literally the end. LIASSON: I said to him you don't need this. If I were him, I personally wouldn't do it. BAIER: Tom? BEVAN: Historically, delays are death for nominations. It gives the hyenas a chance to circle around and pick away. But the fact that Dr. Jackson has said I am moving forward. I'm eager to go up there and answer questions, would he do that if it was going -- if he was going to embarrass himself and more things were going to come out. I suspect we are going to find out some of these allegations are probably unsubstantiated, or he's going to deny them and it's going to be a he said, whoever said. BAIER: It could be an ugly ride after the Pompeo situation where you had Democrats who voted for him as CIA director and voted against him for secretary of state nominee. Is there a sense, do you think, that Democrats simply just want a scalp of some kind? HEMINGWAY: Right. This is not something that just Democrats do. Republicans also. BAIER: Of course, both parties. HEMINGWAY: But there is this sense that there is -- failure to get one guy so now we're going to go for the next guy and then we're going to go for the next guy. And it does mean that the public loses interest sometimes or lacks confidence that these complaints are necessarily as legitimate as people claim. BAIER: And lacks context. We will try to provide that. Panel, thank you. Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. This is a rush transcript from "Your World," April 25, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: They embraced each other by hugging one another in their arms and kissing each other's cheeks. It kind of remind you of something. (LAUGHTER) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We do have a very special relationship. In fact, I will get that little piece of dandruff off. It will be -- we have to make him perfect. MACRON: Thank you. Thank you. (LAUGHTER) TRUMP: I like him a lot. (END VIDEO CLIP) NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: All right. So what is French for bromance? Turns out bromance. What are the odds? No, I have no idea. Welcome back, everybody. And, of course, a lot of people are saying, this odd relationship and the one that you would least expect the sort of grow into the buddy system that it has is surprising the world. And these two are pleased as punch with it. I'm talking about the French president, the American president. Two years ago, as the president French president was saying, nobody would have foresaw the roles that they would be in as leaders of their respective countries. However, there is a little bit of confusion between what the French president was telling the president yesterday at that state dinner and the kind of stuff he was telling Congress today. The man at both events joins us right now, Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy, who joins us from Washington. Senator, what do you make, first of all, of this special and unique relationship, but, more to the point, the slight different tone the French president took today addressing Congress? SEN. JOHN KENNEDY, R-LOUISIANA: Well, I spent about five hours with President Macron last night. I listened to the speech. I followed his career. He's a charming guy. He's a good politician. I don't mean that in the pejorative sense. It seems to me, Neil, he's very much like Trump and Obama. Like President Trump, he ran against the system. Started with nothing. Established his own movement, his own party. Like President Obama, he's very cerebral a guy. He tries to be far-sighted. Let me tell you my concern. And I'm delighted to have France and the people of France as an ally. I thank them so much for helping us in Syria. But I wonder if President Macron is a little bit naive. I think he thinks that we can reason with the ayatollah in Iran and Kim Jong Un in North Korea and President Putin in Russia. I hope he's right. And certainly you should talk and try diplomacy. But there are some folks who understand strength. And I think that in dealing with Putin and the ayatollah and Kim Jong Un from weakness is like trying to hand-feed a shark. I think President Putin, for example, understands one thing. You have got to hit him right in the face. I think he understands those sanctions. I think Kim Jong Un does, too. I think Kim Jong Un saw what happened in Syria. I'm not saying that you don't try to reason with your adversaries, but -- as President Macron wants us to, but there are just some bad people in the world. They're not sick, they're not confused. It's not a question that momma or daddy didn't love them enough. They're just bad people. (CROSSTALK) CAVUTO: You know, Senator, I'm wondering the messages that the French president might have sent. With the president in the joint press conference and taking questions from reporters afterwards, he low-keyed any stark differences on junking the Iran deal. To Congress, he more or less said, nix it, you will regret it. Let's work with what we got. KENNEDY: Right. CAVUTO: He said the same thing about the Paris climate accord. Don't leave it. Fix it. Make it better. He did not pound that theme with the president. What do you make of that? KENNEDY: Well, I don't know. I'm not being critical. He's a good politician. And I think he's trying to be America's friend. And I think he's trying to get President Trump to trust him. CAVUTO: Well, I just noticed there, Senator, that he got a lot of standing ovations from Democrats on those items. KENNEDY: He did. He said many things I agree with. CAVUTO: Yes. KENNEDY: But we live in a real world, Neil. And I just worry that we're not where we are and we're not there yet, but with Kim Jong Un, because we went to him and said, pretty please, with sugar on top, stop building a nuclear weapon. He's scared. Putin respects us. Assad now respects us. The ayatollah is moving in to Syria with the Revolutionary Guard not because he cares about the people of Syria, not because he cares about Assad. He wants to establish a beachhead in Syria with -- along with Hezbollah, so they can screw with Israel and they can control the Middle East. Now, he's not going to understand sitting down and let's break bread and reason together. CAVUTO: You're quite right. You could argue, whether you like President Trump or not, whatever he's doing is yielding very different results. They might fail, as the president himself said, but he is getting China to make concessions, at least verbally, on some key areas because of this tariff stuff. We will see how it sorts out. And he's meeting with the North Korean leader. And I think that has surprised people like Macron and maybe Europe in general, especially when Angela Merkel comes later this week. What do you think? KENNEDY: Yes. Well, I think you're on to something, Neil. And I have got to be careful in how I say this. I think, under President Obama, who was a really bright guy -- I didn't agree with a lot of his politics -- but we got to the point internationally where our friends didn't trust us. They were confused. And our enemies didn't quite respect us. With President Trump -- and I mean this affectionately -- they look at him and they see what he did in Syria and they see what he's doing in terms of trade, and they go, well, he's a little bit crazy, you know? CAVUTO: But crazy in a good way, crazy in a good way. KENNEDY: In a good way. In a great way. And he's tough. CAVUTO: All righty. KENNEDY: And this guy means business. And I think that is helping us. I don't think Kim Jong Un is coming to the table because we asked him pretty please. CAVUTO: Do you like French food? Did you eat everything last night? KENNEDY: I did. CAVUTO: Excellent. KENNEDY: Mrs. Trump did a wonderful job. CAVUTO: Excellent. That's what I heard. Sir, thank you very, very much, Senator John Kennedy of the beautiful state of Louisiana. END Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. Merry Cannon and her two young children, ages 1 and 5, were joining her husband on a business trip to Europe when they encountered a series of alleged traveling issues including a dead rat discovered in their luggage. The family booked flights on American Airlines for the March 5 trip, but the flight was eventually canceled because of a broken windshield, news.com.au reported. The group then missed their connecting flight to Chicago. Hours later, the four of them were rebooked on a different flight to Chicago. However, that flight was also delayed for an hour on the runway. MAN TRAVELING WITH LOADED GUN ARRESTED AT BRADLEY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Though Cannon told news.com.au that the family was bumped up to business and first class for all the trouble, once they arrived at Chicago, they discovered American Airlines had given up their seats for their connecting flight. The family claims they were not able to get on a flight until 10 pm the next day. However, the trip was about to get even worse for the Cannon clan. Once they landed, the family discovered their luggage was lost. [American Airlines] lost our luggage for five days, Cannon told news.com.au. The night before we were leaving for London to return home, it was delivered at 10:30 p.m. Honestly, by then it was comical and my husband joked that at least when we get home we wont have all that laundry to do. The pair and their two small children finally returned home to Arkansas, but their travel complications were far from behind them. When we returned home in Arkansas I immediately went to the American Airlines customer assistance desk to report how awful my bag smelt. I actually told them that it smelt like something had died. I, of course, didnt think that was actually the case," Cannon said. Cannon claims the airline staff member suggested the smell was from it getting wet while it sat out for days on the runway, the New York Post reported. He thought it was mold, but even said it smelled far worse than that, she said to news.com.au. Cannon said she was instructed to go wash her luggage and clothing to see if the smell would dissipate, and then file a claim through the airlines baggage claim department. When we returned home, we took the bag to our back porch because the smell was so horrendous. I began to wash the clothes. I washed one load three times in bleach, vinegar, OxiClean and Tide, she said. I finally decided whatever was on them would not come clean. I placed all those clothes in (garbage) bags. I grabbed more clothes in hopes that maybe the bottom of the bag didnt get wet, so they would come clean," she added. When Cannon neared the bottom of her luggage, she discovered the source of the vile smell. When I grabbed the clothes is when I saw the rat. I have never screamed and cried so much in my life. I ran inside and began scrubbing my hands and arms. I had touched the things in this bag because American Airlines told me to just wash everything, she said to news.com.au. Cannon said she called the airline, who said her claim would be expedited, and then called the Department of Health for advice on how to proceed with the dead, possibly foreign, rat. Literally for three minutes the health inspector just repeated, OMG. This is horrible. I dont even know what to say, Im so sorry. Im thinking, she said. Finally when I asked if the rat needed to be tested he said that because we dont even know what country the rat is from that they wouldnt even know where to start. I then asked if I should be concerned and he said, The biggest concern would be the plague. That never even entered my mind. The one positive thing he did tell me was, a dead rat is better than a live rat. You can probably imagine how comforting that was to me. He told me that where we live burning garbage is illegal, but the bag and all the belongings needed to be burned immediately, she continued. When Cannon hung up with the Department of Health, she claims she contacted the airline again to confirm her bag and its contents would be handled by the airline and she would be compensated for everything. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Cannon took four hours to fill out the required paperwork from the airline, but did not hear from them for a week, she alleges. According to news.com.au, Cannon called the airline again and left message after message. Finally they told me that they would give me $1,600, which is the maximum international payout. My bag and its belongings totaled $3,217. To me thats crazy that international has a payout that is about half as much as domestic, she said. The whole trip with American Airlines was a bit of a nightmare and the rat in the bag was, for lack of better words, the cherry on top! I along with my husband travel fairly often and I can honestly say this is the worst thing we have experienced. To me its not so much the money, its the lack of respect they have. That customers are disposable and they are big enough that they just dont care. They dont have to make things right, she added. American Airlines shared a comment with Fox News about the incident: "We have apologized and are not aware of any similar issues of a rat making its way into a checked bag before. While we are unable to determine if the issue occurred in the United States or overseas, we did apologize to the customer, and they were compensated earlier this month." Delta Air Lines has issued an apology and offered 20,000 SkyMiles to a woman with multiple sclerosis who claims she was tied to a wheelchair with a blanket, because the carrier did not have the proper wheelchair to support her. WSB-TV reported that the incident occured on April 1, when Maria Saliagas was flying with the airline from Atlanta to Amsterdam. Her son Nathan reportedly had coordinated with Delta to ensure the proper wheelchair would be waiting for her upon landing. Since being diagnosed with MS five years ago, Maria needs a specific wheelchair model with special straps to help her sit up straight. However, according to her son, the special wheelchair was not there for Saliagas when she arrived in the Netherlands, and an unidentified Delta staffer allegedly tied her to a regular wheelchair with someone elses blanket. AIRLINE WANTS TO PUT YOUR FACE ON A PLANE They took a dirty blanket and tied her forcefully with it and she has bruise marks on part of her arm because it was so tight and she started crying, the son told WSB-TV of the traumatic situation. I definitely know that theyre a good airline, Im not doubting that at all, but in this specific situation, there was no courtesy, no respect, he said. When asked for comment on the story, Delta told Fox News that they believe a different version of events. We are disappointed that our customers didn't have a satisfying travel experience and will ensure that their return flight exceeds expectations. While Delta always looks for ways to improve the overall customer experience, our findings do not align with details shared by the customers family, a representative said. PASSENGER DIES ABOARD ALASKA AIRLINES FLIGHT FROM SEATTLE TO KANSAS CITY According to Nathan, Maria was offered 20,000 free SkyMiles after complaining about the incident, but the Saliagas had rather hoped that the horrifying experience will initiate policy change to better accommodate passengers with disabilities. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Its been a wild month for the Atlanta-headquartered carrier. In early April, they announced that a September 2017 cybersecurity breach involving an online chat vendor may have exposed customer payment information. Days later, a passenger spoke out after a child on her Minneapolis-bound flight repeatedly kicked her, causing bruised ribs. Later in the month, on April 19, a woman flying Delta from London to Salt Lake City, Utah, had a violent outburst midflight, in which she toppled a drink cart and threw coffee before attacking an air marshal, police say. And on April 23, another passenger was fined $500 for saving a free Delta Air Lines snack. BOSTON (AP) _ Boston Properties Inc. (BXP) on Tuesday reported a key measure of profitability in its first quarter. The results matched Wall Street expectations. The real estate investment trust, based in Boston, said it had funds from operations of $230.6 million, or $1.49 per share, in the period. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $1.49 per share. Funds from operations is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry. It takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization. The company said it had net income of $176 million, or $1.14 per share. The real estate investment trust posted revenue of $661.2 million in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $614.6 million, beating Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $604.5 million. Boston Properties expects full-year funds from operations to be $6.27 to $6.36 per share. The company's shares have decreased nearly 9 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has fallen 1.5 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $118.48, a decrease of 11 percent in the last 12 months. _____ This story was generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BXP at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BXP A former school bus driver in Tennessee, previously convicted following a 2016 crash that killed six children, was reportedly sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday. A judge ruled on the prison term for Johnthony Walker following an emotional day in court, which included an apology from Walker, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported. Walker was found guilty in March after the bus he was driving on Nov. 21, 2016, carrying 37 kids from Woodmore Elementary School, crashed on a winding road in Chattanooga, Tennessee. More than 20 students were injured, in addition to the six who died. TENNESSEE SCHOOL BUS DRIVER CONVICTED IN CRASH THAT KILLED 6 CHILDREN Walker was convicted of six counts of criminally negligent homicide, along with a slew of other charges. Judge Don Poole, who presided over Tuesdays hearing, ruled that due to the severity of the bus crash, Walker should not be sentenced to diversion or a different type of sentence, the Times Free Press reported. However, a longer prison term was reportedly not suitable either due to Walker's lack of a criminal background and his good work history. The decision divided victims' relatives at the hearing, the outlet said. Some said it wasn't enough time while others were reportedly satisfied with the punishment. TENNESSEE SCHOOL BUS CRASH: FORMER DRIVER PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO MANSLAUGHTER In response to the ruling, parent Jasmine Mateen said, Whats four years? Hell get out and get to hug his child again, she continued, according to the outlet. According to an affidavit of complaints, Walker was traveling at high speeds on an unauthorized route when he swerved and hit a mailbox and telephone pole, causing the bus to flip and crash into a tree. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Fresno State University professor who celebrated the death of Barbara Bush in a profanity-laced rant on Twitter will not be disciplined, the university's president said in a statement late Tuesday. In a note to the "campus community," Joseph Castro said that English instructor Randa Jarrar's comments about the late first lady were "insensitive, inappropriate and an embarrassment to the university," but "are protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution." Castro added that Jarrar would remain on leave through the spring semester, "which she had previously requested before this incident." PETITION TO FIRE FRESNO STATE PROFESSOR ATTRACTS THOUSANDS OF SIGNATURES Jarrar drew outrage when she tweeted hours after Bush's death on April 17 that the wife of one president and mother of another was "a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal." She added, "F--- outta here with your nice words." Jarrar also said she was happy that "the witch is dead" and bragged that she wouldn't be fired for her remarks because she had tenure. "I make 100K a year doing that," she told one Twitter user. "i[sic] will never be fired. i[sic] will always have people wanting to hear what I have to say." PROFESSOR WHO TWEETED ANTI-BARBARA BUSH COMMENT APPLAUDED AT ARTS FESTIVAL In his letter, Castro wrote that the university's action "is an issue of free speech and not related to [Jarrar's] job or tenure." A change.org petition calling for Jarrar to be fired had garnered more than 45,000 signatures as of Tuesday evening. "Our duty as Americans and as educators is to promote a free exchange of diverse views, even if we disagree with them," Castro wrote near the end of his letter. "At Fresno State, we encourage opinions and ideas to be expressed in a manner that informs, enlightens and educates without being disparaging of others." Jarrar grew up in Kuwait and Egypt and moved to the United States after the Gulf War, according to her university faculty page. She describes herself in her Twitter messages as an Arab-American and a Muslim-American woman. In an email to New York magazine Tuesday, Jarrar said that she "absolutely" stood by her comments about the Bushes. "The Bush family including Barbara Bush supported policies that harmed and destroyed the lives of millions," she wrote, adding "I am not the only person who has stated the belief that Barbara Bush was a racist. But women of color routinely have their tone policed, their justified anger painted as hatred, and their criticism of injustice framed as racism toward white people." The Associated Press contributed to this report. An Oklahoma woman, who was previously believed to be in "imminent danger" after she was allegedly kidnapped Monday after a domestic dispute, was reportedly found safe Tuesday. Morgan Rower, 29, was located at a residence and was safe, Fox 25 News reported, citing Broken Arrow Police. Justin Korf, 36, who was suspected of kidnapping the woman, was reportedly not found. Rower was believed to be missing after she engaged in a domestic dispute with Korf, police said earlier. Officers responded to a call reporting the alleged dispute Monday night at Rowers home and confirmed Korf interfered with a 911 call, Tulsa World reported. MURDER CHARGES FILED IN 18-YEAR-OLD OKLAHOMA ABDUCTION CASE A witness told police Korf took Rower in his white 1999 Dodge Durango and drove south. It was not immediately clear where Korf was traveling. Police described Korf as a white man about 6 feet tall and 172 pounds. He has a lengthy arrest record including an aggravated assault conviction, a DUI and an assault with intent to commit a felony, News on 6 reported. Korf uses the aliases "Justin W. Kore" and "Justin W. Orf," the Department of Corrections website stated. SHERIFF: POSSIBLE ARSON INVESTIGATED IN OKLAHOMA WILDFIRE News on 6 reported Korf and Rower called the station and police on Tuesday saying they were fine and were willingly together, however, cops were still working to confirm Rower's location and safety prior to Tuesday's discovery. Fox News' Elizabeth Zwirz contributed to this report. Authorities have leveled new warrants against the man accused of opening fire at a Waffle House restaurant in Tennessee over the weekend. Alleged shooter Travis Reinking, 29, had five more warrants issued against him on Tuesday, the Metro Nashville Police Department tweeted. Among them are four counts of attempted murder and one count of unlawful gun possession in the commission of a violent felony. Authorities previously charged the suspect on Monday with four counts of criminal homicide, according to court records. He was initially held on a $2 million bond, but that was revoked. WAFFLE HOUSE SHOOTING VICTIMS INCLUDE 'BRILLIANT' COLLEGE STUDENT, ASPIRING RAPPER A court date for Reinking has been scheduled for May 7, police said. Four people were killed in the rampage on Sunday, police said. Two of the deceased were killed in the parking lot, another was fatally shot inside and the fourth was critically wounded inside and ultimately died at the hospital, police said. The deceased were identified as 29-year-old restaurant worker Taurean C. Sanderlin, and restaurant patrons Joe R. Perez, 20, Akilah Dasilva, 23, and DeEbony Groves, 21. Reinking was wearing a green jacket when he allegedly stormed the Waffle House in southeast Nashville and fired a weapon, authorities said. A restaurant patron was able to wrestle the gun away from the suspect, police said, after which Reinking allegedly fled the scene, leading authorities on a day-long manhunt. WAFFLE HOUSE SHOOTER ARRESTED, AFTER COPS SAY HE STOLE BMW DAYS BEFORE DEATLY RAMPAGE He was apprehended Monday afternoon after law enforcement received a tip. Authorities said they followed Reinking onto a pathway in a wooded area, where an officer saw his face and confirmed his identity. Police said Reinking had a backpack with him at the time of his arrest, and in it was allegedly a loaded semi-automatic weapon, ammunition, a flashlight and a holster. Fox News Travis Fedschun, Nicole Darrah and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Sex parties hosted in one of Colorado's nicest communities are angering neighbors who say it's time to take action. Residents on Avery Way in Castle Rock say organized sex parties at one home are causing parking problems and noise, but they are most concerned with the sexual nature of the events and any exposure to children. One neighbor, who declined to provide her full identity, said she received a copy of a party invitation from an anonymous person who is concerned about the events. It shows 400 guests were invited with 87 people, including 35 couples, sending a "yes" RSVP. "I think it is disgusting," she said. The invitation references the "Thunderstorm Play Palace" and boasts a 7,500-square-foot dwelling with every amenity, including alcohol, food (complete with a vegetarian menu) and chocolate fountain. The risque invitation also advises guests to bring their own condoms and show respect for the "new furniture." The neighbor described guests as being from all walks of life. "Some of them are so old that they struggled walking up the stairs," the neighbor said. She adds the attendees even brought their own festive refreshments. "(One) had four crockpots showing up like they're going to a Bunco party or something," the neighbor said. The invitation showed donations are taken at the door, $70 for couples and single men, and $20 for women. The party organizer does not want to reveal his identity but said he is the victim in the controversy. "There was significant harassment so far I've received from the neighbors," he said. He said neighbors tried to block his driveway with trash cans and a guest's car was keyed, resulting in expensive damage. The party organizer, who is a father and husband, said he understands his neighbors' concerns and has made efforts to conceal anything that might be offensive. "There are no open areas you can see outside to have the children or anyone see what they don't want to see," he said. He said he has also installed sound-proofing in the home with close attention paid to the basement windows. Still, neighbors say they can hear disturbing sounds coming from the home sounds they don't want their children exposed to. "You can hear people doing what they're doing," one resident said. The Castle Rock Police Department said it is working with the neighborhood HOA and city officials to investigate the issue, but the party organizer is not breaking the law because he is only taking donations and the events are contained to the privacy of his home. Read more from Fox 31 Denver. A family from Afghanistan is cooking a community meal for Bismarck residents to thank those who helped them resettle in North Dakota two years ago. The Amiri family moved to the United States in 2016, The Bismarck Tribune reported. They're from Afghanistan, but had been living in Quetta, Pakistan since 2004 to escape war. The family's Hazara ethnic group had long faced violence and persecution in Quetta. "We were not safe over there, so we applied for refugee status," said Muhammad Amiri. Muhammad, his mother and three sisters resettled in the U.S. with the help of the Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota. The family plans to host their charity dinner for the organization at the United Church of Christ on May 4. They plan to make a traditional Afghan meal that will include kabuli palau, a dish with rice with carrots and raisin, and korma, a chicken or vegetable plate with sauce. "When we got here, we didn't have anybody. We didn't have friends, family, nothing. But (the community) welcomed us. Right now, we have families here they're friends, but they're like family to us," said Muhammad Amiri, 22. "The community helped us, so we just want to give back to them (and say) thank you." Resettlement Coordinator Turdukan Tostokova secured funding for the meal through Thrivent Financial's Thrivent Action Team, which awards grants to help groups with unmet needs in their communities. Tostokova said she hopes to make the event annual or semi-annual. ___ Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com A Dallas police officer died Wednesday, a day after he was shot responding to an incident at a Home Depot, the city's mayor said. Officer Rogelio Santander died at a hospital around 8 a.m., Mayor Mike Rawlings announced at a city council meeting. Santander had worked for the citys northeast division for three years, police said. Officer Crystal Almeida was still in critical condition, Dallas police Chief Rene Hall said. A loss-prevention officer, identified by Hall as Scott Painter, was also critical. Hall said they were making a remarkable recovery. Santander was the second officer nationwide to die Wednesday; a Maine sheriff's deputy was shot overnight by a gunman who stole the officer's car and then robbed a convenience store. The suspected gunman, 29-year-old Armando Juarez, was arrested after a five-hour manhunt that involved a high-speed chase through downtown Dallas, FOX4 News reported. Juarez faces multiple counts of aggravated assault on a police officer. He was originally sought by police on a felony arrest warrant, authorities said. The two officers who arrived at the scene were responding to a call from an off-duty officer working at the Home Depot who called for assistance for an arrest, Hall said. The two officers were shot shortly after arriving. "We were just checking out people until we started hearing people like 'There's a shooting. They're shooting,'" witness Mercedes Goledo told FOX4. "From there, they were just telling us to get out of the building. Get out the building. But then they found out that he had went outside." In 2016, four Dallas police officers and a transit officer were shot dead by a sniper in an ambush attack carried out during a protest over the police killings of black men in other cities. Fox News Elizabeth Zwirz and the Associated Press contributed to this report. A Washington state day care accused by two mothers of waxing their toddlers eyebrows was exonerated by state officials, a new report says. The states Department of Early Learning said an investigation found that workers at a day care operated by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties at the Columbia Basin College campus in Pasco did not wax a 2-year-olds eyebrows as her mother had accused them of doing. Based on the facts and evidence available at the time of the licensing inspection, the DEL determined the complaints were unfounded, the DEL said in a statement, according to the Tri-City Herald. Investigators found no evidence that the childs eyebrows were waxed while at the center. The agencys assistant director of government and community relations told the newspaper that the evidence was clear that nothing inappropriate happened at the day care. There was never a time or place where this could have happened, Frank Ordway said. The investigation was triggered after mothers Alyssa Salgado and Glenda Marie Cruz dropped their 2-year-old children off at the childcare center on Feb. 1. In a Facebook post, Salgado said she arrived to pick up her daughter and saw a red mark in between her eyebrows. I think its a scratch but as soon as [I] get home I get a closer look these women decided to wax my daughters unibrow, she wrote. I am a mother, nothing like this should ever happen and they had no right to touch my daughter at all. Cruz, also in a Facebook post, claimed that her sons eyebrows were also waxed that same day. I tried to touch his face. He doesnt let me touch his face. He says, "No, No, stop," and it hurts me because thats my baby, Cruz told WLTX. Both women pulled their children out of the child care center. The Boys and Girls Club told Fox News in mid-February that an internal investigation found Salgado and Cruzs claims to be unsubstantiated. "The Boys & Girls Club has as its primary concern the safety and well-being of the young people it serves. The organization does not tolerate illegal or inappropriate activity or behavior on the part of any staff member, volunteer or youth member," a spokesperson told Fox News in February. Pasco police, who spoke with both mothers at the time, also concluded that no crime had been committed. On Tuesday, Salgado told the Tri-City Herald that she was surprised to hear from the newspaper that the state was no longer investigating her claims. She said she plans to contact state officials again. Fox News' Janine Puhak contributed to this report. Three Democratic senators on Wednesday stepped up their demands for more information about the former undercover spy President Donald Trump has picked to lead the CIA, and said the public has a right to know about her role in the harsh interrogation of suspected terrorists after 9/11 as well as other "disturbing facts about her record." The CIA has told the lawmakers it was considering releasing further details about Gina Haspel, the current deputy CIA director. But it's unclear whether that might include information the Democrats are seeking about her 33-year career at the agency, including 32 years undercover. The senators, all members of the Senate intelligence committee, said a CIA's letter sent Tuesday in response to their requests was "wholly inadequate." "Concealing her background when no sources and methods are at stake shows nothing but contempt for the Senate and the public," said Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Ron Wyden of Oregon. Many former intelligence officials back Haspel's nomination and say having a veteran spymaster atop the CIA would be reassuring as the U.S. faces multiple international threats. Most senators are deciding whether they will vote to confirm her. Wyden, Feinstein and Heinrich have made five requests to the CIA to provide details of Haspel's work, including the years she was involved in the now-defunct rendition, detention and harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11 attacks. The Democrats also asked about a memo Haspel drafted to order the destruction of 92 videotapes of brutal interrogations. The actual order to destroy them was issued by her boss, Jose Rodriguez, then-chief of the CIA's clandestine service. Last week, the CIA released a declassified memo on the results of an internal investigation that cleared Haspel of any wrongdoing in the shredding of the tapes in 2005. That review followed a Justice Department investigation that ended without charges. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chairman of the committee, wrote Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week seeking a copy of the department's report. The senators did not elaborate on what they meant by "other disturbing facts" about Haspel's record. In a letter to the Democrats, Jaime Cheshire, the CIA's director of congressional affairs, said the agency was working to disclose more information about Haspel to the public and make classified background materials available in the Office of Senate Security to senators considering her nomination. In cases where material remains classified or cannot be disclosed because it's protected under law, the CIA will work with the committee to provide access to the full Senate in classified forums, the CIA wrote. While much about the rendition and interrogation program has been released, the CIA said it continues to protect information about agency personnel involved in the program as well as information about the operation and locations of overseas detention sites. "There have been death threats and security incidents involving officers who have been alleged to have worked in the former rendition, detention and interrogation program," the agency wrote. A committee hearing on Haspel is scheduled for May 9. A Florida man stabbed his wife outside a Babies R Us on Tuesday after accusing her of putting a "voodoo" curse on him, police said. George Hernandez, 53, was arrested at the Lauderhill shopping center and charged with attempted premeditated murder, records show. He was being held at the Broward County Jail. Hernandez and his wife were sitting in a Nissan Rogue in the shopping center parking lot when the man began attacking the woman with a box cutter, Lauderhill Police Lt. Michael Santiago said. Somehow, witnesses are stating that the male mentioned something about voodoo, Santiago said, according to WSVN-TV. At that time, he began cutting his wife, who was in the passenger seat, with what appears to be a box cutter. She tried to flee the vehicle. When she fled the vehicle, he chased her and continued the attack. Police credited a nearby couple with stopping the attack, WSVN-TV reported. One witness jumped in and was able to use a shopping cart to stop the attack. We were about to put the shopping in the trunk but we heard this screaming of that lady. I said to my wife, Something is going on there, so my wife went to look, Hector Garcia, a witness, told the station. She saw the guy stabbing the lady. With what? I dont know. She said he had something not too big and pointy. He was hitting her on the head. The woman, identified as Lilian Manante, was stabbed in the neck, face, arms and upper torso, Santiago said. The injuries didnt appear to be life threatening and she was transported to a hospital with serious injuries, according to the Sun-Sentinel. A teacher at a Florida high school who confronted a suspected gunman in the hallway last week and listened patiently to him said Tuesday those three minutes felt like an eternity. Kelly McManis-Panasuk, a 10-year veteran of Forest High School in Ocala, confronted suspected gunman 19-year-old Sky Bouche in the hallway moments after he shot through a classroom door, striking a 17-year-old student in the ankle. The student was taken to a local hospital with a non-life-threatening injury. "There was an angel on my shoulder," she told FOX35, adding that she is no hero. McManis-Panasuk, who teaches digital information technology, e-commerce and entrepreneurship, went out into the hallway and saw an unidentified hysterical woman coming toward her, claiming that she'd heard gunshots. McManis-Panasuk spoke out for the first time at a board of education meeting. She said the three minutes she spoke with Bouche in the hallway felt like an eternity. As she spoke to him, Bouche reached into his vest and took out shotgun shells and a folding knife, laying them on a classroom desk. RECENT SCHOOL SHOOTINGS IN THE US The 56-year-old, who has a teaching certificate in business education, according to her profile on the schools website, is also the adviser of Future Business Leaders of America at the school. She said when Bouche was still enrolled at the high school he did not attend much and struggled. The two talked for about three minutes until the principal and school resource officer took him into custody. "Its good to talk about the good things that came from this instead of the bad," McManis-Panasuk said. FLORIDA TEACHER'S CALM CONVERSATION HOLDS SHOOTER'S ATTENTION UNTIL COP ARRIVES: 'I AM NO HERO' Bouche appeared Saturday before Judge Willard Pope via video conference at the Marion County Jail, with a public defender at his side. Pope said he denied bail due to the nature of the charges against Bouche, which include terrorism, aggravated assault with a firearm and carrying a concealed firearm. A second hearing for Bouche was set for May 22, according to the Ocala Star-Banner. Fox News' Madeline Farber and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Welcome to Fox News First. Not signed up yet? Click here. Developing now, Wednesday, April 25, 2018 President Trump's attempt to end DACA suffered a court setback, with a judge giving the White House 90 days to justify its rollback of the Obama-era program James Comeys contact at Columbia University, who was used to leak sensitive info to the media, once worked as a 'special government employee' for the FBI, Fox News confirms The Fresno State professor who bashed Barbara Bush after the former first lady's death will not be disciplined, the universitys president announced Dr. Ronny Jackson, Trump's embattled pick for Veterans Affairs secretary, faces a tough confirmation fight even though Obama repeatedly praised his work Billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars earmarked for Afghanistan rebuilding efforts may have been lost because of mishandling by the World Bank, a watchdog says THE LEAD STORY - ANOTHER DACA DEFEAT FOR TRUMP: A George W. Bush-appointed federal judge on Tuesday ruled that President Trump's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, "was unlawful and must be set aside" ... DACAs rescission was arbitrary and capricious because the Department failed adequately to explain its conclusion that the program was unlawful, U.S. District Court Judge John Bates wrote. Bates, the third federal judge and the first Republican appointee to rule against Trump administration attempts to kill DACA, wrote in his opinion that the Department of Homeland Security has 90 days to provide him with a more compelling reason for rolling back the Obama-era program, otherwise he could order its restoration. "Neither the meager legal reasoning nor the assessment of litigation risk provided by DHS to support its rescission decision is sufficient to sustain termination of the DACA program," he wrote. COMEY'S LEAK ACCOMPLICE WAS A FORMER EMPLOYEE: The Columbia University law professor James Comey used as a go-between last year to leak the contents of sensitive memos to the media confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that he previously worked as a special government employee (SGE) for Comeys FBI on an unpaid basis ... The professor, Daniel Richman, confirmed the special status in response to an inquiry from Fox News, while referring other questions, including on the scope of his work, to the FBI. "I did indeed have SGE status with the Bureau (for no pay)," Richman wrote in an email. Richman emerged last year as the former FBI directors contact for leaking memos documenting his private discussions with President Trump memos that are now the subject of an inspector general review over the presence of classified material. Sources familiar with Richmans status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to "special projects" by Comey, and had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building. GETTING OFF SCOT-FREE: A Fresno State professor who celebrated the death of Barbara Bush in a profanity-laced rant on Twitter, will not be disciplined, the university's president said in a statement late Tuesday ... In a note to the "campus community," Joseph Castro said that English instructor Randa Jarrar's comments about the late first lady were "insensitive, inappropriate and an embarrassment to the university," but "are protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution." Castro added that Jarrar would remain on leave through the spring semester, "which she had previously requested before this incident." NOMINATION ON LIFE SUPPORT?: Embattled Veterans Affairs nominee Dr. Ronny Jackson showed no signs of withdrawing his nomination as more details of accusations against him emerged, ranging from repeated drunkenness to a toxic work environment as he served as a top White House physician ... Jackson fought to convince lawmakers of his leadership abilities as President Trump told reporters he would always stand by Jackson. While Trump said it would be Jackson's choice on whether to withdraw his nomination, he added, "I really dont think personally he should [seek the position]. The president suggested he did not want Jackson, who has served as a White House physician since 2006, to go through such an ugly and disgusting process and said he told him: What do you need it for? The comments come after The New York Times and others reported that Jackson has been accused of overseeing a hostile work environment as White House physician, drinking on the job and allowing the overprescription of drugs. Meanwhile, documents obtained by Fox News show that former President Obama sent years of positive reports about Jackson's work as White House physician. POTENTIAL SCANDAL SURROUNDS DONOR MONEY FOR AFGHANISTAN: Billions of dollars in donor contributions including $3 billion from the U.S. to a trust fund created for the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan may be lost because of mishandling by the World Bank, a new watchdog report claims ... The most recent audit report from the Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), obtained by Fox News, looks at the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), an international fund created in 2002 and maintained by the World Bank, finds that the ARTF has experienced continued limitations and that a lack of transparency in the monitoring and accounting has put billions of dollars at risk of vanishing despite steps taken in 2011 to improve the accountability systems in place. AS SEEN ON FOX NEWS PRO-GUN PARKLAND SURVIVOR INTERROGATED: "It's still America, last time I checked." Kyle Kashuv, on "Tucker Carlson Tonight," recalling how he was called in for questioning by school officials for taking a trip to a gun range with his father. WATCH THE TALE OF THE TEXTS: "We believe [they] will be very enlightening." Rep. Mark Meadows, on "Hannity," saying he is working with Reps. Trey Gowdy and Bob Goodlatte to get three to six months of messages between allegedly anti-Trump FBI lovebirds Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. WATCH COUNTDOWN TO THE MIDTERMS Republican Debbie Lesko wins Arizona House special election. GOP keeps NY Senate control after Democrat Simcha Felder pledges support. Fox News Poll: Three top-tier candidates in West Virginia GOP Senate primary. GOP-linked PAC pours money into West Virginia Senate race, to sink a Republican candidate. THE SWAMP Trump, Macron honor 'joint history' between US, France at White House state dinner. Video shows ex-Clinton aide in profanity-laced confrontation with cops. NRA breaks 15-year fundraising record, according to filings. ACROSS THE NATION 'Calexit' gets go-ahead to start collecting signatures. Waffle House shooting suspect faces new additional warrants, police say. Suspected gunman in custody after two Dallas police officers shot, critically wounded, department says. MINDING YOUR BUSINESS Amazon founder Bezos $65 million jet seen at airports near potential second headquarter sites. Dow plummets 425 points as interest rates surge. Vineyard Vines says its thriving in era of struggling retail GM earnings under pressure as sales cool off | Ford earnings to offer glimpse at cost cuts FOX NEWS OPINION YJ Fischer: Trump opposition to Iran deal may kill chances for a North Korea nuke deal. Laura Dowling: The hidden symbols of a state dinner. Paul J. Larkin Jr.: On marijuana, let the Food and Drug Administration make the decisions. HOLLYWOOD SQUARED 'Schoolhouse Rock' musical director Bob Dorough dies at 94. 'Smallville' star Allison Mack rants about alleged cult in newly resurfaced YouTube video. Snoop Dogg says Trump ignored black Waffle House victims because shooter was white. DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS? Melania Trump's hat draws Beyonce, Olivia Pope comparisons. Wildlife photographer captures osprey carrying shark, carrying fish in 'one-in-a-trillion photograph.' Mysterious shipwreck discovered in Great Lakes believed to be nearly 200 years old. STAY TUNED On Fox News: Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: A closer look at how President Trump's deal-making skills are paying dividends ahead of his anticipated summit with Kim Jong Un; Dr. Ian Smith reveals the secret to losing 10 pounds in 20 days; auto expert Mike Caudill reveals America's favorite energy efficient cars. Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8 p.m. ET: Don't miss the next installment of Tucker's "Is College Worth It?" series! On Fox Business: Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: David Stockman, former budget director under President Reagan; Rep. Andy Barr; Mark Lehmann, JMP Securities president; Sean Spicer, former White House press secretary. Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Bob Wright, former vice chairman of GE; Jim Rogers, Rogers Holding chairman; Kayleigh McEnany, RNC spokesperson; Kristin Gaspar: San Diego County supervisor and congressional candidate. Cavuto: Coast to Coast, Noon ET: Sen. Mike Rounds; Rep. Diane Black; Andy Puzder, former CEO of CKE Restaurants. The Intelligence Report, 2 p.m. ET: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher; Gen. Jack Keane, Fox News senior strategic analyst; Greg Ip, chief economics commentator for the Wall Street Journal; Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott On Fox News Radio: The Fox News Rundown podcast: President Trump hosted his first official state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron. Among the pomp and circumstance, the two leaders exchanged views over the May 12 Iran nuclear deal deadline. Rep. Ron DeSantis and former State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf discuss the pros and cons of withdrawing from the agreement. Wells Fargo met with angry shareholders at their annual meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. Fox News' Jessica Rosenthal digs into the companys scandals with shareholder Charles Elson, and the whistleblower Matthew Valles. Plus, commentary by Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest. Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher. The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: Monica Crowley guest-hosts; Sen. Rand Paul on his initial concerns about Mike Pompeo as the prospective secretary of state, the legal battle over DACA and more; Ian Bremmer on how Trump's opposition to the Iran deal could impact the presidents looming summit with Kim Jong Un; Jonah Goldberg on the hot topics of the day. #OnThisDay 2002: Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of the Grammy-winning trio TLC dies in an SUV crash in Honduras at age 30. 1898: The U.S. Congress declares war on Spain following the February sinking of the USS Maine; the 10-week conflict would result in an American victory. 1507: A world map produced by German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller contains the first recorded use of the term "America," in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci. Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Enjoy your day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Thursday morning. The suspect believed to be the notorious Golden State Killer who was wanted in a dozen murders and nearly 50 rapes from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s was arrested in California, officials said Wednesday. Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested Tuesday afternoon at his Citrus Heights home, located 16 miles northeast of Sacramento, after a DNA sample matched that of the Golden State Killer, officials said at a news conference. County records show DeAngelo is being held at the Sacramento County Main Jail and is reportedly on suicide watch. DeAngelo has been charged with eight counts of murder in Sacramento, Orange and Ventura counties. Officials said prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the former police officer. Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said that DNA helped investigators identify DeAngelo and it led to the case being solved in the last six days. "We knew we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we also knew that needle was there," Schubert said, noting that despite thousands of tips throughout the years, DeAngelo's name hadn't been on authorities' radar until last week. "We found the needle in the haystack and it was right here in Sacramento." Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones referred to the genetic material as "discarded DNA," but authorities refused to give specifics about how it was collected or matched to the suspect. The Golden State Killer, who was arrested on suspicion of committing eight killings in Sacramento and Ventura counties, is believed to be responsible for at least 12 murders, 45 rapes and 120 home burglaries throughout California. The cold-case killer is believed to have raped 37 people around Sacramento and Central Valley and killed two between 1976 and 1978, according to The Sacramento Bee. Officials believed he moved to the Bay Area and Southern California from there. DeAngelo worked as an officer with the Exeter Police Department from 1973 until 1976. He was fired from the Auburn Police Department in 1979 after he was arrested for stealing a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a drug store, according to Auburn Journal articles from the time. Jane Carson-Sandler, who is believed to have been raped by the Golden State Killer, also known as the "East Area Rapist," told South Carolinas The Island Packet on Wednesday she was contacted by authorities about his possible arrest. "I just found out this morning," she told the newspaper. "I'm overwhelmed with joy. I've been crying, sobbing." Interest in the cold case was renewed following the release of the late author Michelle McNamaras crime novel, Ill Be Gone In The Dark. McNamaras husband, actor Patton Oswalt, and her friend, Billy Jensen, published the book after her death. It reached No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list last month. Sacramento County Sheriff Jones on Wednesday credited McNamara's book for keeping the Golden State Killer case public, but noted that "no information extracted from that book ... directly led to the apprehension" of DeAngelo. Oswalt countered on Twitter, saying that her book "did" help the case, but said that his late wife "didn't care about getting any shine on herself. She cared about the #GoldenStateKiller being behind bars and the victims getting some relief." The Associated Press contributed to this report. An Illinois mayor appeared to threaten the job of his villages police chief when the politician was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence -- just hours after delivering his State of the Village speech on April 12, a police report revealed. Romeoville Mayor John D. Noak, 44, was pulled over by an officer who received a call from a witness that said the man was driving recklessly, the Chicago Tribune reported. The officer followed Noak with his emergency lights on for some time and he did not appear to acknowledge the signal to stop and pull over, the police report made public Monday stated. Noak was just elected to his third term as mayor last year. Noak finally pulled over after he heard the siren but did not acknowledge the officer who said the mayor appeared to be talking on the phone to someone. The mayor continued to talk as I stood next to the door and did not acknowledge me until the officer knocked on the car window. The officer asked Noak if there was a reason he was unable to maintain his lane, and the mayor responded, TotallyI was talking to people. The police report blocked out a few parts of the incident including what the officer witnessed of Noaks driving, much of what occurred after he was pulled over and what sobriety tests were given. The officer noted there was some fresh damage to the cars passenger side wheels. INFANT FOUND SAFE AFTER PARENTS FLED 300 MILES WITH NEWBORN The police report stated Noak refused to answer questions once he was cuffed and claimed he would not consent to a breath, blood or urine test. The mayor also pointed out that I had not read the Miranda rights at the time of the arrest but had waited hours to do so implying that I had made a procedural mistake, the officer wrote. I advised Noak that the Miranda rights applied only to persons being questioned. Chief Mark Turvey spoke to Noak three times while he was being booked. The second time he spoke to him, Noak appeared to be upset as the chief calmed him down. The mayor was given citations for alleged DUI, improper lane use and driving without proof of insurance, and handed over his drivers license and $100 as bond, the report stated The report noted that after the mayors booking was completed, Noak asked if the part of the station was under surveillance and the officers told him there was a camera but no sound. Noak then spoke to Chief Turvey and said, Im coming for you, the report stated. Noaks tone and demeanor as he made this statement appeared to be a veiled threat but was not accompanied with any aggressive body language or movements, the report stated. ILLINOIS DEMS PUSH BILL REWARDING SCHOOLS THAT REPLACE ARMED OFFICERS WITH THERAPISTS As the mayor was escorted out of the station, Noak stretched his hands to one of the officers and said, Youre done. The officer responded, Yes, this process is done, but Noak responded, No, youre done, the report stated. The officers told Turvey about Noaks response but he told them it was nothing to be worried about, the report stated. I would like to apologize for the incident that occurred on April 12. Under direction of my attorneyI will not be able to provide a full statement until my case is resolved, said Noak, who was elected to his third term as mayor in 2017. Once the case is concluded I will provide a more detailed statement. ? "The problems of Christianity" and "white Jesus" were on the agenda during a controversial panel discussion at Ohio's Kent State University - but the people behind the event say their intent is being misconstrued. Over 100 students attended the Is Christianity the White Mans Religion? event last Tuesday. KSU spokesman, Eric Mansfield, told Fox News the panel was sponsored by a student organization that chose the speakers on the panel and followed all university guidelines. Our university values the free expression of differing points of view to promote mutual respect and understanding, Mansfield said. Director of the sponsoring organization, Kent State Impact Movement, Darnell Wilson, pushed back on the characterization of the event given by The Kent Conservative, telling Fox News the event was organized to debunk the myth that Christianity is a religion for white people. "The panelists discussed the historical origins of the Christian faith and backed it up with archeological and cultural evidence that endorsed the truth of the deep African roots of Christianity," Wilson said. "There were people in attendance not associated with our organization who felt that the Christian faith was based on race but left the event disappointed when their views were disproven by historical facts." The panel featured Lisa Fields, who founded the Jude 3 Project; ShoBaraka, co-founder of the social justice-focused "AND Campaign;" and Vince Bantu, professor of missiology at Covenant Theological Seminary. Christianity is, in fact, a white mans religion due to identity politics that makes humans subconsciously assign certain cultures to different groups, Baraka said, according to The Kent Conservative, a student blog. He added that black people dont want anything to do with Christianity because it fits more with Western white culture. The problem is that Christianity has means to create systems and structures that only benefit people of a certain hue, Baraka said, according to KentWired.com. Bantu argued that, because of settler colonists like Christopher Columbus, Americans could do whatever they wanted with people who didn't fit their description of Christianity," but added that "Christianity has always been a global religion." Fields talked about Christianity and slavery in American history. She argued slave owners took away Christianity from the slaves because Christians could not be slaves, and therefore if Christianity is taken away from them, slavery is justified. Fox News reached out to the three panelists but did not receive comment. It's one of the most gruesome murder cases Denmark maybe even the world has ever seen: journalist Kim Wall's body found in pieces sprawled across an ocean bed. Danish inventor Peter Madsen, who Wall was interviewing for a story about his homemade submarine in Copenhagen, was charged with her murder. Madsen has maintained his innocence since his arrest on Aug. 11, hours after Wall was reported missing. "We found a bag with Kim Wall's clothing; shirt, skirt, socks and shoes, and also a knife and lead pieces weighing them down," Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moeller Jensen said at the time. "Around noon we found a leg, then another leg, and shortly thereafter we found a head, also in a bag weighted down by several metal pieces." Madsen, 47, pleaded not guilty in Wall's death, maintaining that it was an accident. During his trial on March 8, he claimed she was inside the submarine and died of carbon monoxide poisoning while he was on deck. He admitted cutting her up before he "buried her at sea." "I don't see how that mattered at that time, as she was dead," he told the court, according to BBC News. Madsen was charged with murder, dismemberment and indecent handling of a corpse. He was sentenced in April 2018 to life in prison. Here's a timeline of events that occurred since Wall stepped foot on Madsen's sub. April 25, 2018 Madsen is sentenced to life in prison for the murder and dismemberment of Wall. Madsen said he will appeal the murder conviction and life sentence. April 23, 2018 A prosecutor details grisly parts of Wall's death in the final day of Madsen's trial, claiming the journalist may have been tied with her own stockings before Madsen "impaled her" in what he described as a sexual motive. Madsen's lawyer called it "a horror story ... but the story is not based on facts. It is based on undocumented claims." The prosecutor is asking that Madsen be given life in prison 16 years in Denmark, which could be extended if necessary. Meanwhile, Madsen's attorney is asking for 6 months in prison for cutting up Wall's body. March 21, 2018 After a two-week hiatus, Madsen's murder trial resumes. Madsen, who is accused of either cutting Kim Wall's throat or strangling her on his submarine, took the stand at the Copenhagen City Court. Again, Madsen denied killing Wall, asserting to prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen he's "never been violent to any human being and no dead human being either." Madsen eventually admitted to stabbing Wall after prosecutors revealed multiple stab wounds were found on the recovered body parts. The inventor said he used a sharpened screwdriver to stab the body, insisting they were only done to make sure the parts would sink. "I put some punctures in the body parts because I didnt want them to be inflated by gases, Madsen said, according to the Telegraph. There is nothing sexual in the fact that the stab holes were in her vagina. I understand why you might think there was, but there was nothing sexual in it for me. Madsen said he stabbed her after taking her clothes off, beheading her and placing the head in a plastic bag. "I wanted to make sure there were no traces in Nautilus, so yes. I am in a condition where I want this accident to go away," Madsen said. March 8, 2018 Madsen's murder trial begins in Copenhagen City Court, where he faces two judges and two jurors. Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen kicked off the 12-day trial by reading the charges against Madsen. He detailed how Wall's body parts were discovered. And said a psychiatric report concluded Madsen was intelligent "with psychopathic tendencies" who has "no empathy or feelings of guilt." Madsen himself later took the stand, once again denying that he murdered Wall, according to Sky News. "What I will tell you today is a grim story that I did not want to tell anyone ever," he said. Jan. 16, 2018 Madsen is formally charged with murder, dismemberment and indecent handling of a corpse. He is also charged with having sexual relations with Wall of a "particularly dangerous nature." Nov. 29, 2017 Divers find Wall's right arm in the sea south of the Danish capital. Nov. 22, 2017 Divers find Wall's left arm in the sea. Oct. 7, 2017 Police say they have found a head, two legs and clothes in plastic bags a day earlier. Dental records help identify Wall. Oct. 4, 2017 Police say they found 15 stab wounds on Wall's torso. They also find videos of women being tortured, decapitated and killed on Madsen's computer. The videos are not produced by Madsen. Oct. 3, 2017 A prosecutor says in court that Madsen had a computer containing video of the torture and killing of women. "We think it's video recordings of true killing of women," Buch-Jepsen said, according to a translation in The Ekstra Bladet newspaper, adding some of the videos containing killings done by "decapitation and burning." A judge later ruled Madsen will continue to sit behind bars until Oct. 31 as police continue to investigate Wall's death. Sept. 5, 2017 Madsen claims at a pre-trial hearing that Wall was hit in the head by a 155-pound hatch on the submarine and died from an open skull fracture. He later changes his story when Wall's head is found with no skull fractures. The court changes the charge against Madsen to manslaughter. Aug. 25, 2017 Danish police file another charge against Madsen In addition to a preliminary manslaughter charge in Wall's death, the inventor also faces a charge of indecent handling of a corpse, chief investigator Jens Moeller Jensen announces. Aug. 23, 2017 Danish police say the headless torso that washed ashore matches the DNA of Wall. Aug. 21, 2017 Wall's naked, headless body is first spotted by a cyclist riding along Amager Island in Copenhagen, Wired reports. Aug. 15, 2017 Swedish police assist Danish officials with their search for Wall. Aug. 14, 2017 Danish investigators say the sinking of Welden's submarine was a deliberate act." Aug. 13, 2017 Madsen's submarine is raised and put onto land in Copenhagen. Aug. 12, 2017 Madsen appears in court for a pre-trial custody hearing. He said her death was an "accident," explaining that a hatch knocked her in the head. He was ordered held for 24 days. Aug. 11, 2017 Madsen is rescued by a private motorboat Friday morning in Denmarks Koge Bay after his submarine sank. He tells police he dropped Wall off before the vessel went down, but she was later reported missing by her boyfriend, which raised suspicion. Madsen is later detained on involuntary manslaughter charges by Danish police in Wall's death. Aug. 10, 2017 Wall skipped her own goodbye party a celebration of her and her boyfriend, Ole Stobbe's move to Beijing to meet Madsen aboard his 55-foot UC3 Nautilus submarine with plans to interview him for a story. Wall texted Stobbe a picture of herself, possibly the last one ever taken, smiling aboard the sub and standing alongside Madsen, whose back is turned. Fox News' Travis Fedschun, Katherine Lam, Kaitlyn Schallhorn and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Police officers in a south Alabama city mistreated a black woman who was thrown down and arrested during a videotaped confrontation in a Waffle House restaurant, an attorney for her family said Wednesday. Officers who were called by restaurant workers in Saraland, Alabama, following a confrontation "brutalized" Chikesia Clemons by threatening to break her arm and throwing her to the floor, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump told a news conference. At least one of Clemons' breasts was exposed during the melee, which was captured on video by a friend. Her treatment fits a pattern of black people being mistreated by businesses and police, Crump said. "People of color should be respected and valued as customers. If the Waffle House Corporation won't respect customers of color, then maybe those customers of color should go elsewhere where they are respected and valued," Crump said. Saraland police previously defended their actions by saying an intoxicated Clemons brought liquor into the Waffle House, became disruptive with workers and threatened to shoot up the restaurant, prompting workers to call for help. Waffle House has said officers' involvement at the restaurant was justified. Crump said the situation began when workers tried to charge Clemons for plastic eating utensils. Crump asked for state and federal investigations of what he called civil rights violations and a "clear show of excessive force" by police in Saraland. The Mobile area branch of the NAACP has called Clemons' arrest a "serious civil rights case." A Delaware woman who believed her husband was having an affair with a Villanova University official broke into her home earlier this week -- possibly while in disguise -- and then shot her in the head with a revolver as she came through the front door, police say. The shooting of 33-year-old Meredith Chapman on Monday night in Radnor Township, outside of Philadelphia, by Jennair Gerardot, 47, was a meticulously-planned execution, officials said. "You had a man who was married who was having an affair with this other woman, Police Superintendent William Colarulo said, according to The Associated Press. The wife knew about it, and this was a calculated, planned attack." Officials believe Gerardot may have disguised herself and taken a train from Delaware, since a wig and other clothing not belonging to Chapman were found in a bag inside the house. Chapman, a 2007 graduate of the University of Delaware, worked for the school in media relations and marketing and ran unsuccessfully for a state Senate seat in Delaware in 2016. She recently was hired as an assistant vice president at Villanova University. Colarulo said Gerardot broke into Chapmans home through a front door before she came home from work on Monday. Careful not to alert her that anything was amiss, Gerardot cleaned up pieces of broken glass inside Chapmans home and then waited there with her Taurus Tracker .357 revolver. As soon as Chapman came through the front door, Gerardot opened fire, police said, striking her once in the head before turning the gun on herself. "There were emails and text messages indicating what she planned to do, and the detectives are still sorting that out," Colarulo said. Startled residents then called police around 7 p.m. to report hearing gunshots, and when cops arrived, 49-year-old Mark Gerardot was standing in the driveway. "Possible D.O.A. Two subjects, complainant said there's blood everywhere, a police dispatcher reportedly said after receiving a 911 call. Police revealed Tuesday that Gerardot told them my wife might be inside and they suspect he was there because Chapman might have planned to meet him somewhere nearby for dinner and did not show up. Mark Gerardot, at police headquarters, later stated that there was a domestic issue all three were dealing with, police said. We sympathize with both families because this tragedy has rocked their world. Its also rocked the world of our township and the residents who live around there, said Christopher Flanagan, the Deputy Superintendent of Radnor Township Police. On an Instagram account purportedly belonging to Mark Gerardot, he has posted numerous photos of him, his wife, Jennair, and their golden retriever dog. He previously worked for Chapman as a creative director at the University of Delaware, but left his role earlier this month, the school told The News Journal. Everyone who knew and worked with Meredith is heartbroken," Andrea Boyle Tippett, Director of External Relations at the University of Delaware, said in a statement to Fox News. "As a proud alumna of UD, her commitment to her work was exceeded only by her boundless energy. She believed earnestly in the power of communication to bring people together, whether to achieve their collective goals or simply to share their stories. We will miss her. Delaware Online reported that less than two hours before she was killed, Chapman, on her Instagram account, said she "couldn't be more excited" about her new position. "Just a week on the job and I'm already feeling the love from #NovaNation! #GoingNova #HigherEdMarketing#NewAdventures." she posted at 5:42 p.m. Villanova University spokesman Jonathan Gust said the school was informed Monday night about her death. "Our hearts are broken by the devastating loss of our new colleague," he said. "The thoughts and prayers of the entire university community are with her family, friends and colleagues during this extremely difficult time." Chapman was married to Newark City Councilman Luke Chapman, but according to Colarulo, the pair no longer lived together, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. In a bio on a website Chapman used to advertise her state Senate bid, she wrote that she developed a love for teaching both in and out of the classroom and had worked as a communications manager for former Congressman Mike Castle, R-Del. "Meredith was a beacon of light to anyone who was fortunate enough to meet her," Chapmans family said in a statement released Tuesday. "She loved her family fiercely, was a compassionate friend and among the most talented and innovative professionals in her field. Her death was sudden and tragic, but will not define who she was to the thousands of people who loved her. Her family is devastated, heartbroken and requests privacy and respect as they grieve." The Associated Press contributed to this report. Authorities in Maine launched a dragnet Wednesday after a man shot and killed a sheriffs deputy, stole his cruiser and then robbed a convenience store, officials said. Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster said Corporal Eugene Cole was killed around 1:45 a.m. on U.S. Route 2 in Norridgewock, located about 30 miles north of the state capital of Augusta. Cole was one of two cops shot dead nationwide, with a Dallas police officer succumbing to his wounds Wednesday morning after being injured the day before. "He was one of the finest deputies that you would want to meet," Lancaster said of Cole at a news conference. Authorities said the suspect, 29-year-old John Williams, stole Cole's police cruiser after the shooting and drove it to a Cumberland Farms store, a 24-hour gas and convenience store, and robbed it. Lancaster did not not disclose any details about what happened before the deputy was shot. After fleeing the store, Williams abandoned the vehicle, which was found around 5 a.m., officials said. It is not known if Williams is in another vehicle or on foot. "Many times we're able to say that there is not an ongoing threat, but that's not the case today," State Police Lt. Col. John Cote said at a news conference. "There certainly is an ongoing public threat. He's considered armed and dangerous." Lancaster said during an evening news conference that "this still remains a very active investigation" and authorities had been following up on leads over the course of the day. "As of this briefing, do not approach Williams," Lancaster said. "He remains armed and extremely dangerous." Williams is described as being 5-foot-6, 120 pounds and having blue eyes and brown hair in a ponytail, Lancaster said. Williams was previously arrested in Massachusetts on March 22 on firearms violations, according to a police report. Carrie Kimball-Monahan, spokeswoman for the Essex District Attorney's Office, told The Associated Press that Williams posted $5,000 bail and was supposed to return to court Wednesday for a hearing. The FBI told WGME they are sending assistance to help the Somerset County Sheriff's Office and Maine State Police with the investigation. Cole was a member of the sheriff's office for 13 years and had a son, according to Lancaster. "We have lost an outstanding deputy today," he said. Authorities are now conducting a manhunt in the area, including using helicopters to try to locate Williams. OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY IN 2018 Maine Gov. Paul LePage asked for residents in Somerset County and the surrounding area to "stay safe" "Our deepest condolences go out to the family of fallen Deputy Sheriff Corporal Eugene Cole," LePage wrote on Twitter. "If you live in Somerset County and the surrounding area, please cooperate with law enforcement and stay safe." Senator Susan Collins said on Twitter she was "deeply saddened" by the news. "I am deeply saddened to learn Cpl. Eugene Cole was killed in the line of duty in Norridgewock this morning," Collins said. "Cpl. Cole served the citizens of Somerset County for 13 years with honor & distinction, & Maine will be eternally grateful for his brave actions to protect his community." Residents of the town of about 3,500 people were urged to be vigilant, as there are heavy woods in the area. Authorities had guns drawn outside of a home in Madison where the suspect lives, located about 8 miles from the scene of the shooting. "We're a little on edge. It's unnerving knowing there's a guy running around out there," Tasha Raymond, who was home with her two children, told The Associated Press. The last time a Maine officer was shot and killed in the line of duty was 29 years ago on March 31, 1989, according to WGME. Maine State Police Detective Giles Landry was gunned down in his police cruiser outside a mobile home in Leeds while investigating a child abuse case. Fox News' Shira Bush, Elizabeth Zwirz and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Navy sailor could face up to a decade in prison and a $250,000 fine after being arrested this week on charges he stole 20 hand grenades from a San Diego-based destroyer. Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Aaron Booker, 31, of Waukegan, Illinois, was taken into custody in Great Lakes on Tuesday by U.S. Navy criminal investigators and was expected to be returned to California. The grenades were discovered missing from their storage crates in February 2017 and found months later on the side of Interstate 15 in northwest Arizona. "A backpack full of grenades on the side of the road is obviously extremely dangerous and could have had resulted in injuries or death," U.S. Attorney Adam L. Braverman said in a statement. "The theft of explosives is a very serious offense, particularly if it is carried out by an insider with access to military weapons and secrets." Booker stole the concussion grenades each of which contained about a half-pound of TNT while he was assigned to the Weapons Department aboard the USS Pinckney, prosecutors said. Booker's job was to check the temperature of the secured locker where the grenades were kept. Only gunners mates had the access to the lockers, authorities said, according to Stars and Stripes. A week after the grenades vanished in February 2017, Booker left the ship to drive to his new duty station in Great Lakes. The 15 sailors who had access to the grenades at the time let Navy investigators search their vehicles and homes, but nothing was found, Stars and Stripes reported. But several of the sailors, in interviews with agents, described Booker as being angry with his higher-ups on board the Pinckney over a previous disciplinary incident, a federal court complaint said. About two months later, a black military backpack containing 18 grenades was found leaning on a guardrail on the side of Interstate 15 in Arizona, officials said. The words "GM2 BOOKER" were written on a tag inside the backpack, prosecutors said. Booker told investigators he had driven that road but said the backpack had been stolen from him and he denied taking the grenades, according to the criminal complaint. In a call to a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent, Booker also said the two missing grenades might be in Tijuana because a former motorcycle club he belonged to was linked to two people who had connections to the cartel, and who had requested for the explosives to be stolen, Stars and Stripes reported, citing the complaint. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A female passenger aboard an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Kansas City died Tuesday as the result of a medical emergency, officials said. The woman aboard Flight 478 could not be resuscitated at Kansas City International Airport, an airport spokesman told Fox 4 Kansas City. Police said the woman was already dead when emergency personnel were able to reach her, the station reported, adding that the woman appeared to be undergoing cardiac arrest in mid-flight. Police have not yet identified the passenger. Other passengers on the flight were held on the airplane for about two hours after landing, Fox 4 reported. Im just really sorry for the family of this lady, passenger Jan Andrews told the station. Police said there was no foul play involved and an autopsy will determine the womans exact cause of death. Alaska Airlines has not yet released a statement or posted any notifications of flight delays or cancellations from KCI, the Kansas City Star reported. The U.S. Secret Service said they arrested a person in possession of a weapon for assault in the nations capital Wednesday. After responding to what was reported as shots fired in the area in Washington D.C., the agency reported in a tweet it responded to the scene and secured the area but found that no shots actually were fired. MAINE OFFICER SHOT AND KILLED BY SUSPECT WHO STOLE HIS CAR, ROBBED STORE Local station WJLA spoke to a witness who claimed that an individual with a knife and a handgun went into the Interest Section of Iran, part of the Pakistan Embassy. The individual then reportedly used a pistol to hit a man stationed at the front desk and then allegedly coerced the man to an upper floor before locking him in a room. The witness told the outlet the individual was allegedly brandishing a gun and yelling in Farsi. The man at the desk was seriously injured, WJLA reported, and brought to the hospital. TORONTO VAN DRIVER WHO PRAISED INCEL REBELLION KILLED, INJURED MOSTLY WOMEN IN RAMPAGE, POLICE SAY The Secret Service said a person with a weapon was arrested for assault. Secret Service protective operations were not affected during this time, the statement said. As a matter of policy we cannot comment on on-going investigations. The Secret Service is working with our law enforcement partners to investigate the incident. A pit bull brought aboard a New York City subway train last week bit down on the shoe of a woman who had gotten into an argument with the dogs owner, prompting a carload of passengers to rush to her aid, a video shows. The video shows the animal tearing into the shoe and refusing to let go. A couple of passengers try to yank the womans leg from the dogs jaw, while others scream at the animals owner. Get the dog off of her, one rider shouts. Call the police, another passenger yells. Youre going to jail now, another rider yells. And [the dog is] going to get euthanized. The owner eventually wrestles his dog away from the woman, taking her shoe off with it. The end of the video shows the owner picking up the shoe and throwing it toward the woman, but instead hitting another passenger who had been yelling at him. The dog owner can be heard in the video telling the other riders that she attacked me first. According to Tahsyi King, who filmed the encounter, there was a verbal and physical exchange before he began recording. The dog had bumped a female passenger multiple times while she was already seated in the car, King told WNBC-TV. The woman asked the owner to move his dog several times and allegedly touched it, which led to an argument. "The third time, he leans, punches her right on her face, King told the station. She seen it coming because she hit him back." The incident took place on the No. 4 subway line, but the time and place remained unclear. The parties involved have not yet been identified. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) told WPIX-TV that the incident was disturbing and a clear violation of our rules. No person may bring any animal on or into any conveyance or facility unless enclosed in a container and carried in a manner which would not annoy other passengers, MTA rules state. The rule does not apply to service dogs. The agency said it has flagged the video for the police to investigate. When police in Maine pulled over an allegedly impaired driver early Saturday, they thought that two small plastic bags inside the car probably contained heroin. But it turns out that the powdery substance was actually the cremated remains of the father of the vehicle's owner, a report said. Kevin Curtis, 57, said he recently received his father's ashes from his sister in Florida, and still had them inside the vehicle when he loaned the car to his friend, Jesse Legendre, 31. Police spotted the bags when they pulled over Legendre and arrested him on suspicion of impaired driving. With Legendre at the wheel, the vehicle had swerved off a road, crashed into a utility pole, and landed in a ditch, CentralMaine.com reported. While emergency responders administered the opioid-overdose reversal drug Narcan to revive Legendre, who had passed out, police seized the two bags containing the powder. On Tuesday, Kennebec County Sheriff Ken Mason told the website that test results revealed the substance was not narcotics, but in fact, human remains; a rather unusual manner in which to keep the remains of a loved one, for sure. Curtis, who has four children, said he had the remains in the car while waitring for an urn order to arrive. The kids were really mad when they found out that (the police) took Grandpa, but I tried to make a joke of it. I said, This is the first time hes ever been in lockup and well just get him out, he told the website. The kids were really mad when they found out that (the police) took Grandpa." Kevin Curtis, who left cremated remains in vehicle It took Curtis two days to finally retrieve his fathers remains from the Sheriffs Office after the test results, the paper reported. As for Legendre, he was charged with operating after habitual offender revocation and falsifying physical evidence, the paper reported. He was not charged for any drug offenses, and was expected to be released on bail. Click here for more from CentralMaine.com. The search for a 5-year-old boy who fell into a Maine river continued Wednesday morning, as his 9-year-old brother was in critical condition after being pulled from the river, officials said. The boys, still unidentified, fell into the Androscoggin River in Auburn around 7 p.m. Tuesday, police told the Lewiston Sun Journal. Auburn Deputy Police Chief Jason Moen said the brothers were playing by the river when one of them accidentally fell into the water, and when one of them tried to rescue him, he fell too. Their father and 8-year-old sister reportedly tried in vain to save them. The boys were later spotted floating in the river, prompting a rescue effort from dozens of firefighters, police and volunteers, the Journal reported. We saw a shoe floating, the top of a shoe, a couple of inches out of the water, Victoria McBean, who was having a campfire with her husband and friends in the yard that overlooks the river, told the Journal. It was the first one (we saw). It was in the middle of the water. Her husband, Kevin McBean, reportedly ran barefoot down the street shouting for police. Officer! Officer! McBean said. Officer! Officer! We found the second one! Hes got a white shirt! A minute ago! A white shirt in the water! A diver found the 9-year-old, put him in a private canoe and brought him to the riverbank, the report said. He was then flown by life-flight helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland, Fox Bangor reported. The parents are currently with the 9-year-old, the report said. Maine wardens helped local authorities with the search for the 5-year-old, the station reported. The search halted around 10 p.m. local time Tuesday, because it was too dark and the water was too choppy to continue, Moen said. This is the first time weve heard of something like this happening, Kevin McBean, who has lived on Riverside Drive for a year, told Fox Bangor. Its heartbreaking." The suspected gunman was in custody Tuesday night, hours after two officers with the Dallas Police Department and a civilian were shot, police said. The shootings took place around 4 p.m. near a Home Depot in Dallas off Forest Lane and Central Expressway, Fox 4 reported. The police department said on Twitter that two officers were critically wounded, however the status of the civilian was unknown. All three were out of surgery late Tuesday, Dallas police Chief Rene Hall told Fox 4. The civilian was a loss-prevention officer from the store, Hall said during a news conference. The suspect was identified as Armando Juarez, 29, who was believed to have left the location in a white pickup truck, Hall said. He was apprehended after a five-hour man hunt involving a high speed chase, according to reports. During a press conference, Hall said Juarez was arrested on multiple counts of aggravated assault on a police officer and wanted on a felony theft warrant. The two officers who arrived at the scene were responding to a call from an off-duty officer working at the Home Depot who called for assistance for an arrest, Hall said. The two responding officers were reportedly shot shortly after arriving. "We were just checking out people until we started hearing people like 'There's a shooting. They're shooting,'" witness Mercedes Goledo told Fox 4. "From there, they were just telling us to get out of the building. Get out the building. But then they found out that he had went outside." "It sobers us to realize what officers walk into day in and day out and how quickly they can become victims," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said during the news conference. He added that law enforcement was fighting a "two front battle": at the hospital for the health of the injured officers and in the community searching for Juarez. Rawlings said neither the names nor the conditions of the injured would be released. Authorities asked for prayers for officers, their families, and the police department. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said it was responding to the shooting scene. Rawlings previously tweeted that his team was "closely monitoring the situation in northeast Dallas and praying for our officers and their families." This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. Residents in an upscale Denver neighborhood are banding together in a bid to get some relief from the organized sex parties regularly held in one of the ritzy homes, dubbed the "Thunderstorm Play Palace." Neighbors in The Meadows in Castle Rock community say people of all walks of life are filtering in and out of the home, which, according to a purported invitation, asks them to bring their own condoms and be respectful of the new furniture. But according to police, the organizer, who is described by FOX31 Denver as being a father and husband, isnt breaking any rules. We are aware of the residence you are referring to and to our knowledge, there are currently no violations of state or local laws, Castle Rock Police Public Information Officer Joe Cybert told Fox News. One alleged event invitation shown by a neighbor to FOX31 Denver referred to the house as the "Thunderstorm Play Palace" and boasts about having 1 large open playroom, 4 large areas for mingling and a food menu that includes pulled pork tacos and a chocolate fountain. The invite also says, according to the station, that donations of $70 for couples and single men and $20 for women are taken at the door. "Some of them are so old that they struggled walking up the stairs," one neighbor said, describing the clientele she witnessed entering the home. The Meadows Neighborhood Company told Fox News its board of governors is reviewing this situation with legal counsel to best understand the rights and responsibilities of individual owners and the association in this situation. To the extent any residents activities adversely impact other MNC residentsthe MNC will take appropriate enforcement action, said its executive director, Michele Ray-Brethower. The organizer of the parties, who was not identified, says he's the victim in the controversy, and is accusing neighbors of trying to block his driveway and keying a guests car. "There was significant harassment so far I've received from the neighbors," he told FOX31 Denver. The man also said he has installed sound proofing in the home and that there are no open areas you can see outside to have the children or anyone see what they don't want to see." But as the parties persist, residents say they can still hear the noises coming from the home. One resident told FOX31: "You can hear people doing what they're doing." Adm. Philip Davidson, the likely pick to replace departing U.S. Pacific Command Chief Admiral Harry Harris, said China currently has the capability to control the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States. In written testimony to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee last week, Davidson called for the U.S. to maintain its presence in the region, saying China will be able to extend its influence thousands of miles to the south and project power deep into Oceania, once the manmade islands that the nation created are occupied, The Asia Times reported. The PLA will be able to use these bases to challenge U.S. presence in the region, and any forces deployed to the islands would easily overwhelm the military forces of any other South China Sea-claimants, Davidson wrote. In short, China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States. Davidsons commitment to maintain a robust blunt layer that effectively deters Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific underscores warnings Harris made to Congress in February about Chinas strength in the region. China's impressive military buildup could soon challenge the United States across almost every domain, Harris told Congress. China's intent is crystal clear. We ignore it at our peril. Davidson also advocated for revamping the U.S. military arsenal and investing in technology to better compete with China. President Donald Trump tapped Harris to become the next US ambassador to Australia, but incoming Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly posed the idea of moving the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific to South Korea, news.com.au reported. Australias Foreign Minister Julie Bishop confirmed the news Wednesday morning that Harris would head to South Korea instead, the outlet reported. Acting U.S. Secretary of State John Sullivan told Bishop finding a replacement for Harris would be a priority. When a man threatened to jump off a highway overpass in the Motor City early Tuesday, it took a group effort involving 18-wheelers to save his life. The man had threatened to jump off a bridge on Interstate 696 near the Coolidge exit around 1 a.m., when police were first called, according to FOX2 Detroit. Michigan State Police helped organize semi-trucks underneath the overpass as the man hung over the side of a safe fence, first closing down the highways eastbound lanes before shutting down the westbound side. In total, there were 13 semi-trucks that ended up parked under the overpass stretching nearly the entire length of the overpass in photos captured by a FOX2 Detroit photographer. The trucks would have been able to shorten the distance the man would had fallen, had he jumped. "This photo does show the work troopers and local officers do to serve the public, Michigan State Police said in a Twitter post. "But also in that photo is a man struggling with the decision to take his own life. Please remember help is available through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. MEN PULL WOMAN FROM VEHICLE SINKING IN MONTANA FLOOD WATERS The man did not jump, and the situation came to an end with him walking off the bridge after negotiators spoke with him for several hours. He was later taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation and the highway reopened around three hours later, according to FOX2 Detroit. Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Saw told FOX2 they've been using the tactic for over two decades. "We have been doing this for as long as I have been in the department, which is 1995. We have kept it quiet for that long but social media and cell phones kind of changes that," Shaw said. A trucker who claimed to be part of the wall wrote in the Twisted Truckers Facebook page the whole incident took place between 1 and 3 a.m. "The cops came up and waved 6 or 7 of us through and then stopped us under the bridge, Chris Harrison wrote. "Same thing on the west bound side....I just happened to be one of the guys in the front of the line. DEAF, PARTIALLY BLIND DOG HELPS RESCUE LOST GIRL, 3, IN BUSHLAND OF AUSTRALIA Harrison, who posted photos of the incident, said after the man walked off the bridge, highway patrolmen came to each truck, shook their hands, and thanked them for helping. Shaw told FOX 2 there's never been an issue getting the truck drivers with tight schedules to step up and help. "They want to help out, too," he said. "Nobody wants to see somebody take their own life and if it takes parking your truck underneath an overpass for a couple of hours to make sure somebody's is safe, they're more than willing to do something like that. Michigan State Police added that those struggling with thoughts of suicide can also call "a loved one, member of the clergy or 911. "There are so many other options than climbing up on that overpass," Shaw said. The alleged Waffle House shooters former boss said she urged the FBI to keep Travis Reinking in custody and help him after the 29-year-old was arrested at the White House last year. Reinking, who is accused of killing four people at a Waffle House in Antioch on Sunday, was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service last July when he crossed into a restricted area near the White House. He refused to leave, saying he wanted to meet President Trump. "We told them [FBI officials], 'Hang onto him if you can. Help him if you can,'" Darlene Sustrich, the co-owner of a Colorado crane company where Reinking used to work, told the Associated Press. Reinking wasnt kept in custody. Instead, the FBI requested Illinois state police revoke his state firearms card and seize four of his guns. The AR-15 used in the deadly Sunday shooting was among the firearms seized. WAFFLE HOUSE SHOOTER ARRESTED, AFTER COPS SAY HE STOLE BMW DAYS BEFORE DEADLY RAMPAGE The 29-year-old was charged with unlawful entry in the White House incident, Secret Service told Fox News. Reinking went on to exhibit erratic behavior for months, including calling police to file a report stating dozens of people were tapping into his computer and phone and another group was barking like dogs outside his residence, a report stated. He also thought Taylor Swift was stalking him. Authorities also failed to capture Reinking during a police chase five days before the shooting. Reinking had stolen a BMW from a dealership in Brentwood, but police lost him when they hit heavy traffic during the chase. Reinking faces four counts of criminal homicide after he was nabbed Monday afternoon, a day after he allegedly unleashed the hail of bullets. Authorities found the suspect after a citizens tip. The Waffle House location where the deadly shooting occurred reopened Wednesday. A spokesperson told FOX17 all the proceeds from the day will be given to the victims families. Fox News Travis Fedschun and The Associated Press contributed to this report. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 Thousands of Australians gathered at pre-dawn services on Wednesday to commemorate the moment when Australian and New Zealand Army Corps troops waded ashore at the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey 103 years ago in their first major battle of World War I. Because extremists have targeted annual ANZAC Day ceremonies in the past, concrete barriers were placed around the service in downtown Sydney to protect those who gathered at Martin Place. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, his French counterpart Edouard Philippe and the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, will mark ANZAC Day in France with a service that also commemorates the 100th anniversary of Australian troops taking the town of Villers-Bretonneux from the Germans. Villers-Bretonneux is now home to the main Australian Memorial of the Western Front. At Villers-Bretonneux, Turnbull and Philippe on Tuesday unveiled a memorial plaque at the new Sir John Monash Centre museum which is named after the Australian general responsible for taking the town. Turnbull and his wife, Lucy, also visited the grave of her great uncle Roger Hughes who was killed by a German shell in 1916 dive days after arriving on the Western Front as a young military doctor. Turnbull said in an ANZAC Day message that Australians remember veterans of every generation who risked their lives for their country. "We best honor the ANZACs of 1918 and the First World War by supporting today's service men and women," Turnbull said on social media. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton represents the Australian government at a service at ANZAC Cove at Gallipoli, where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed under British command in an ill-fated attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war. More than 44,000 Allied soldiers were killed at Gallipoli. Turkish casualties were estimated at 250,000. At the Australian War Memorial in the capital Canberra, an estimated crowd of 38,000 10 percent of the city's population gathered in the cool autumn darkness for the dawn service which began with a lone soldier playing a didgeridoo. "The attendance at this year's dawn service shows the enduring connection so many people have to Anzac Day," Memorial Director Brendan Nelson said in a statement. The head of the U.S. military's Special Operations Command said Wednesday that Air Force gunships, needed to provide close air support for American commandos and U.S.-backed rebel fighters in Syria, were being "jammed" by "adversaries." Calling the electronic warfare environment in Syria "the most aggressive" on earth, Army Gen. Tony Thomas told an intelligence conference in Tampa that adversaries "are testing us every day, knocking our communications down, disabling our AC-130s, etc." Thomas' remarks, which were first reported by the website The Drive, come on the heels of reports that Russian forces are jamming U.S. surveillance drones flying over the war-torn nation. An Air Force AC-130 gunship was among the U.S. military aircraft used to kill dozens of Russian mercenaries in Syria in early February. The Pentagon said the mercenaries attacked an outpost manned by American commandos and U.S.-backed fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), comprising Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters. Wednesday was not the first time General Thomas has been so forthcoming about Syria in a public setting. Last summer, speaking on a panel at the Aspen Security Forum hosted by Fox News Catherine Herridge, Thomas said he had told Kurdish-led fighters battling the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria that they needed to change their "brand" from YPG -- a group Turkey considers a terrorist organization -- to something else. Thomas called it "a stroke of brilliance" for the Kurdish fighters to add "democracy" to their name. Today, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is the U.S. military's best ally in the fight against ISIS in Syria, helping to take back 90 percent of territory formerly held by ISIS. It consists of well over 50,000 Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters. There are currently about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria. A man waiting in line at a Mexico butcher shop took advantage of an armed robbers momentary distraction to jump on the criminal's back and disarm and subdue him. Surveillance video from Monday shows an unidentified man wearing a cowboy hat standing by the register as a young man wearing a dark-colored sweatshirt with a hoodie enters Carnes Cares butcher shop in Monterrey. The would-be robber points a handgun at the woman behind the register before pointing it at the man in the cowboy hat and demanding money. At one point, a woman who had been at the back of the store comes forward, drawing the attention of the robber. The cowboy sees an opportunity and quickly jumps on the suspects back, wrestling away the gun before the scuffle moves off camera. At one point a store employee is seen coming into frame, grabbing the gun and running toward the back of the store. The robber is next seen without his sweatshirt and shirt trying to run out of the store -- but he's quickly tackled by a second store employee. The man is finally subdued by the three men, while the woman at the register appears to make a phone call. According to local reports, the would-be robber was taken into police custody. The identities of those involved weren't immediately available. The Finnish government reportedly announced Tuesday that it will end the countrys universal basic income program by year's end -- and appears to be taking on new measures to cut benefits to those who do not actively seek employment. Finland was considered the first European country to pay a monthly check of $685 to its unemployed between ages 25 and 58. It was considered a pilot program -- serving 2,000 randomly selected jobless people -- that its founders hoped to expand. Its a pity that it will end like this, Olli Kangas, who oversees the Finnish government agency that focuses on social welfare and helped design the program, told the New York Times. The government has chosen to try a totally different path, Kangas said. Basic income is unconditional. Now, they are pursuing conditionality. The government has chosen to try a totally different path. Basic income is unconditional. Now, they are pursuing conditionality. Olli Kangas, designer of Finland's basic income program David Whitley summed up Finland's decision in the Orlando Sentinel. "Proponents said the program wasnt comprehensive enough to gauge its merits," Whitley wrote. "Critics say it would have required a 30 percent tax increase on an already over-taxed population to be viable." But some cities, including San Francisco, continue to look into the basic income theory, the Times wrote. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2017 said that basic income should be explored to make sure that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas. That was essentially Finlands theory when announcing the pilot program. The initial move was met with skepticism from citizens who questioned whether an unemployed young person would be motivated to find a job if they were making a steady income, albeit small. There is a fear that with basic income they would just stay at home and play computer games, Heikki Hiilamo, a professor at the University of Helsinki, told the paper. Germans of various faiths donned Jewish skullcaps and took to the streets Wednesday in several cities to protest an anti-Semitic attack in Berlin and express fears about growing hatred of Jews in the country. The kippa protest was triggered by the daytime assault last week of two young men wearing skullcaps in an upscale neighborhood in the German capital. The attack, in which a 19-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker is a suspect, drew outrage in Germany and sharp condemnation by Chancellor Angela Merkel. It is the latest of several anti-Semitic incidents that have many Jews wondering about their safety in Germany, which has tried to atone for Nazis' killing of 6 million European Jews in the Holocaust more than 70 years ago. The rising tensions have come as a time when Germany has been grappling with an influx of more than 1 million mostly Muslim migrants, along with the rise of a nationalist party, the Alternative for Germany, which was elected to Parliament last year. Its leaders are known for their openly anti-Muslim stance, but their anti-Semitism is less apparent. Across Europe, anti-Semitism has been on the rise in recent years, and thousands of Jews mostly from France have moved to Israel. About 150 people Jews, Muslims, Christians and atheists came together Wednesday and put on kippas in a show of solidarity in the eastern city of Erfurt. Other rallies were expected later in the day in Berlin, Cologne and Potsdam. In last week's attack in Berlin, the 21-year-old victim, an Arab Israeli who said he wore the kippa in a show of solidarity with his Jewish friends, caught the assault on video, which quickly went viral. It showed a young man whipping him violently with a belt while shouting "Yahudi!" Jew in Arabic. Germany's main Jewish leader, Josef Schuster, sparked tension within the Jewish community Tuesday when he said he would advise people visiting big cities against wearing Jewish skullcaps. The RIAS group that tracks anti-Semitism said there were 947 anti-Semitic incidents last year in Berlin, including 18 attacks and 23 threats last year. In all of Germany, authorities say there are a high volume of anti-Semitic incidents reported, with the equivalent of nearly four per day in 2017. There were 1,453 anti-Semitic incidents, compared with 1,468 incidents in 2016 and 1,366 in 2015. Schuster's comments on hiding the skullcap drew sharp criticism from other Jewish leaders, who say Jews should wear a kippa to show they're not afraid. "Jewish identity is not something we should hide," said Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal. "We have to be proud of who we are and at the same time fight anti-Semitism." For years, many Jewish men in Germany and across Europe who wear the kippa as a symbol of their devotion to God have been hiding their skullcaps under baseball hats when they are in public. Anti-Semitism has existed in Europe for hundreds of years, often fanned by Christian churches who have blamed Jews for the killing of Jesus. In recent decades, however, Muslim immigrants have added a new strain by holding Jews responsible for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "We also have new phenomena (of anti-Semitism in Germany). We have refugees now, for example, or people of Arab origin who are bringing a different type of anti-Semitism into the country," Merkel told Israeli TV this week. "In the new government, we have for the first time appointed a commissioner for Jewish life in Germany and in the fight against anti-Semitism." The new commissioner, Felix Klein, starts his job in early May. The decision followed a recommendation by experts and came amid concerns over the bullying of Jewish children in schools in recent months and the burning of Israeli flags during a recent pro-Palestinian protest in Berlin. Earlier this month, a rap band that included cynical references about the Auschwitz death camp in its lyrics won the Echo award, Germany's most important music prize, drawing strong criticism from other artists and government officials. After several past winners said they would return their awards, the German music industry behind the Echo said Wednesday it would scrap the prize in its current form. Neighboring France also has witnessed virulent anti-Semitism in recent years, notably in two Islamic extremist attacks targeting a Jewish school and a kosher supermarket. More recently, authorities say anti-Semitism was a motive for the stabbing death last month of an 85-year-old Parisian woman, a killing that shocked France. Thousands of French Jews have left for Israel in recent years, but France still has the highest Jewish population in Europe, about half a million. Around 200,000 Jews live in Germany, most of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union. That's fewer than half of the 500,000 Jews who lived in the country before the Holocaust. Some 3.3 million Jews lived in Poland on the eve of the Holocaust, making it Europe's largest Jewish community, and the second-largest in the world. There are no exact numbers today because many people with Jewish roots do not register. Estimates are in the thousands. Poland witnessed a startling wave of anti-Semitic comments earlier this year by government officials amid a dispute with Israel over a new Polish law. The law criminalizes blaming Poland for Holocaust crimes. The anti-Semitic rhetoric, unprecedented in Poland in 50 years, deeply shook the country's tiny Jewish community. Despite the rhetoric, Poland is still considered one of the safest countries in Europe for Jews, with violence extremely rare. With no radical Muslim population and no left-wing anti-Semitism, Jews in Poland have to worry only about the extreme right, which is small but growing more emboldened. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders says hostility toward journalists is growing worldwide, often encouraged by political leaders even in democratic countries. The group's annual global index of media freedom released Wednesday found an overall rise in animosity toward reporters and a drop in freedoms, notably in former Soviet states but also in countries from the U.S. to the Philippines. The group says many democratically elected leaders "no longer see the media as part of democracy's essential underpinning," singling out U.S. President Donald Trump for his media-bashing. It also notes the recent killings of reporters in EU members Slovakia and Malta. The watchdog says authoritarian regimes are trying to "export their vision" that media should be compliant. It says hate speech targeting journalists is amplified on social networks by government-friendly trolls in India, Russia and elsewhere. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 Kim Jong Un will be in unchartered territory when the third-generation autocrat crosses over to the southern half of the Demilitarized Zone separating the rival Koreas on Friday, possibly on foot, and greets South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Cameras wielded by one of the most aggressive media contingents on the planet will fire live images of a man used to controlling every aspect of his public persona into the homes and onto the phones of millions around the world though it's not yet clear if it will be seen instantly in North Korea. But as Kim navigates this mine field at the third-ever leadership summit between the rivals, he may actually have an ally of sorts in Moon, who seems intent on keeping the North Korean leader at ease. Danish inventor Peter Madsen was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after he was found guilty of the brutal torture, murder and dismemberment of journalist Kim Wall aboard Madsen's homemade submarine in 2017. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Wall's death was a murder, saying Madsen didn't given "a trustworthy" explanation. In Denmark, a life sentence equates to 16 years, which can be extended if necessary. Burkoe added it was the court's opinion that Madsen "dismembered the body to conceal the evidence from the crime he had committed," according to Sky News. Madsen stood quietly listening as the judge read out the verdict, and later said he will appeal the murder conviction and life sentence. Wall, a 30-year-old freelance journalist, set out on the submarine on Aug. 10 to interview Madsen, the co-founder of a company that develops and builds manned spacecraft. Her remains were found in plastic bags on the Baltic Sea bed weeks later. The judge said Madsen's crimes were committed in an especially "serious and brutal manner to a randomly chosen woman, who had accepted his offer to go on a trip in the submarine." After offering various explanations, including that toxic fumes caused Wall to suffocate, Madsen told the court that Wall died as a result of a buildup in pressure inside his UC3 Nautilus submarine. He admitted cutting Wall's body into pieces after he was unable to lift her corpse upwards so he could bury her at sea. Burkoe said Wednesday that Madsen's explanation Kim Wall died in an accident "is not credible and is not consistent with the following decision to dismember the body." The 12-day trial that began on March 8 featured gruesome allegations made against the inventor, including that Madsen may have tied Wall up with her own stockings before he "impaled her," and that he acted with a sexual motive. Authorities have not determined a cause of death for Wall, but said her torso had been stabbed multiple times. KIM WALL'S GRUESOME DEATH DETAILED IN PETER MADSEN MURDER TRIAL: A TIMELINE Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen said during the trial that Wall's dismembered torso had multiple stab wounds, including in the genitals, and that semen had been found in Madsen's underwear. Buch-Jepsen also said videos of women being tortured and killed were found on his personal computer videos that he did not make himself. And Madsen had, according to the prosecution, brought along tools he normally didn't take when sailing. While arguing that Madsen is not insane, Buch-Jepsen quoted a court-ordered psychiatric report that described Madsen as "emotionally impaired with severe lack of empathy, anger and guilt" and having "psychopathic tendencies." WHO IS PETER MADSEN, THE DANISH INVENTOR CHARGED WITH MURDERING KIM WALL? Madsen's lawyer, Betina Hald Engmark, has described the incident as "a horror story" but that the prosecution case was based "on undocumented claims." She said that Madsen did something "horrible" by cutting Wall into pieces, and that he should only be sentenced for that. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Malaysian police have released a photo of one of the two assailants who gunned down a Palestinian engineer this past weekend, and say the duo could still be in the country. Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group has accused Israel of being behind Saturday's shooting of Fadi al-Batsh, an important member of Hamas. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. Malaysian police earlier released computer-generated images of the two suspects, believed to be from Europe or the Middle East. On Wednesday, National police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said investigators found a motorcycle abandoned near the murder scene and were able to trace a photo of one of the suspects. He said the men were believed to have entered Malaysia in late January and could still be in the country. North Koreas nuclear test site has collapsed after the region sustained damage from five nuclear blast trials, Chinese scientists said Wednesday leading many to believe it may be the reason why Kim Jong Un suddenly announced the rogue regime would freeze its nuclear and missile tests. Reports surrounding Punggye-ri test site collapsing have been swirling for months after Kim ordered his scientists to conduct the regimes sixth nuclear test last September. A research team led by Wen Lianxing, a geologist with the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, determined the collapse was from that blast, which tore a hole in Mount Mantap, South China Morning Post reported. But the damage could pose a bigger risk to the Hermit Kingdoms neighbors. Residents in South Korea, China and Japan are at risk of radioactive exposure because the toxins could be exposed through the holes and cracks. It is necessary to continue monitoring possible leaks of radioactive materials caused by the collapse incident, Wen said in a statement to the South China Morning Post. NORTH KOREA ANNOUNCES END TO MISSILE TESTING AS TRUMP CITES 'BIG PROGRESS' Kim on Friday announced North Korea suspended missile testing and close its nuclear test site. "From April 21, North Korea will stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles," the Korean Central News Agency said, according to Yonhap News. "The North will shut down a nuclear test site in the country's northern side to prove the vow to suspend nuclear tests." Researcher Zhao Lianfeng of the Institute of Earth Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing also said the nuke test site was wrecked beyond repair. NORTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR TEST SITE AFTERSHOCKS ARE 'RELAXATION EVENTS' CAUSED BY NUKE TEST, ANALYSTS SAY Japanese broadcaster Asahi TV reported last November that hundreds were killed when one of the underground tunnels under the mountain caved in. North Korea vehemently denied the report. [The other scientists'] findings are in agreement to our observations, Zhao said. Different teams using different data have come up with similar conclusionsthe only difference was in some technical details. This is the best guess that can be made by the world outside. Despite closing the site, however, North Korea has options if it wants to resume tests. But there are other sites suitable for testing, Hu Xingdou, who follows the Norths nuclear program, said. They must be closely monitored. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 Britain's Court of Appeal on Wednesday rejected a new bid by the parents of terminally ill toddler Alfie Evans to take him to Italy and continue his life support against the wishes of his doctors and judges. Doctors say the 23-month-old boy suffers from a degenerative neurological condition that has left him in a "semi-vegetative state" with almost no brain function. Medics caring for him at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool have said further treatment is futile, and the toddler's life support was withdrawn Monday after a series of court rulings sided with the doctors and blocked further medical treatment. Alfie's parents continued their fight to take him to Italy to be cared for at the Vatican's children's hospital, which has said it is willing to take him. Three Court of Appeal judges rejected the parents' latest legal bid on Wednesday. Judge Andrew McFarlane said nothing had changed since a previous court ruling that Alfie's treatment should end. High Court Justice Anthony Hayden dismissed the parents' case on Tuesday, and said his ruling represented "the final chapter in the life of this extraordinary little boy." It wasn't immediately clear whether Alfie's parents would seek another appeal. The months-long legal battle between Alfie's parents, backed by a Christian pressure group, and his doctors has drawn interventions from the pope and Italian authorities, who support the parents' desire to have their son treated in Italy. Paul Diamond, attorney for Alfie's father Tom Evans, said Evans accepted that his son would die but wanted palliative care in line with his Catholic faith. Alfie's father says the boy has continued to survive with no assistance after life support was withdrawn, and that doctors had subsequently resumed providing oxygen and hydration. On Wednesday he said Alfie was being given food again after 36 hours without it. "Alfie is doing still as well as he can. He's fighting," Evans told ITV television. A lawyer for Alfie's mother Kate James told the court Wednesday that the child was "struggling" and needed immediate intervention if he is to survive much longer. Doctors say it is hard to estimate how long Alfie will live without life support, but that there is no chance he will get better. Under British law, it is common for courts to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the treatment of a child. In such cases, the rights of the child take primacy over the parents' right to decide what's best for their offspring. Emotions have run high over the case, with a band of supporters known as "Alfie's Army" protesting regularly outside the hospital, at times trying to storm the entrance. The hospital increased its security, and police said they were monitoring social media posts about the case for malicious communications. McFarlane, the judge, said Tom Evans had attempted to bring a private prosecution for conspiracy to murder against three of Alfie's doctors. Diamond said Alfie shouldn't be "kept prisoner" since there is "alternative" care for him. "We submit there is a likelihood of Alfie having some pleasure in life," he said. "That is beyond our knowledge." Judge Eleanor King retorted that the evidence did not show this was the case. "The evidence is that he is unlikely to have pain, but that tragically everything that would allow him to have some appreciation of life, or even the mere touch of his mother, has been destroyed irrevocably," she said. Alfie's case has drawn international attention, with officials in largely Catholic Poland and Italy implicitly criticizing Britain's courts and state-run National Health Service. Polish President Andrzej Duda tweeted Wednesday that "Alfie Evans must be saved!" "His brave little body has proved again that the miracle of life can be stronger than death," the president wrote on Twitter. "Perhaps all that's needed is some goodwill on the part of decision makers. Alfie, we pray for you and your recovery!" Pope Francis has met Alfie's father and made appeals for the boy's parents' wishes to be heeded, saying only God can decide who dies. Italy has a military plane on standby to transport Alfie to Rome if the courts allow it. Alfie has also been granted Italian citizenship to facilitate his arrival and transport. About 100 supporters gathered outside the hospital. Some tied blue and purple balloons to trees. Alder Hey hospital chairman David Henshaw and chief executive Louise Shepherd issued an open letter defending the staff from a "barrage" of abuse. "We have endured attacks upon our motivation, our professionalism and our ethics. It has been a very difficult time," they said in a statement. "Having to carry on our usual day to day work in a hospital that has required a significant police presence just to keep our patients, staff and visitors safe is completely unacceptable." The International Committee of the Red Cross has been "flooded" with about 13,000 requests in the last six months from Syrians looking for missing family members, its president said Wednesday. Before then, Peter Maurer told a small group of journalists, the organization had gotten only "requests in the hundreds." In the first three or four years of the conflict, it received between 30 and 50 tracing requests a month, he said. Maurer said inquiries on the missing have come from all areas of Syria, neighboring countries, Europe, the United States and the rest of the world. With the conflict now in its eighth year, the Red Cross chief said the surge in requests is probably related to Syrians returning to "precariously stable" places in the country where there is no active combat and worrying about family members. He said the organization has also been "slightly more pro-active" on the issue of missing Syrians. Maurer said the Red Cross has had very limited success so far in reuniting family members, with "numbers are in the tens to fifties rather than in the thousands." "So we recognize and we want to beef up our capacities to look in much more details to these requests," he said. Maurer said some of the missing may have died, some may be in prison and some may have fled. The Red Cross has access to prisons, but in Syria it can only go into official detention facilities state-run prisons, he said. "We don't have access to security detention facilities of the army and the secret services," Maurer said. "Neither do we have access at the present moment to detention facilities of the opposition." He said the matter of missing Syrians also links to the issue of foreigners who went to fight in Syria and Iraq with extremist groups, including the Islamic State and al-Qaida. Maurer said the Red Cross has been able to visit opposition fighters held by Kurdish forces in northern Syria and opposition fighters in Iraq as well as their families who are being held in camps. The organization also works with governments and non-government groups on ensuring international standards in identifying bodies, he said. "Today in Yemen and Syria and Iraq, all the authorities, government and non-government, are increasingly exposed to pressures from families to bring back their people, or to know about their respective family members," Maurer said. The issue of missing Syrians was on the agenda of a meeting of the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi in November. The three countries have teamed up to promote local cease-fires in Syria and a peace process. In their joint statement after the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized the need for all parties in the Syrian conflict to release all prisoners and hostages, hand over bodies and search for those missing to help create conditions for a lasting cease-fire and the launch of political talks. The Russian military has indicated it will supply the Syrian government with a sophisticated air defense system, after condemning a missile attack launched by the U.S., Britain and France earlier this month. Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said in a statement Wednesday that Russia will supply Syria with "new missile defense systems soon." Rudskoi did not specify the type of weapons, but his remarks follow reports in the Russian media that Moscow is considering selling its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. Top Russian officials said earlier this month that Moscow may reconsider a pledge it gave a decade ago not to provide Syria with the S-300 system in light of the airstrikes on Syria earlier this month. Russia is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. A Russian scientist who helped develop the nerve agent believed to have been used in the recent poisoning of an ex-spy and his daughter in Britain is now in the hospital himself after he was hit by a car on Tuesday. Vladimir Uglev, who said in a BBC interview earlier this month he helped develop the nerve agent, novichok, was struck while crossing the street at his home in the southern Russian town of Anapa, he told Russian news website The Bell. Uglev said he was at a pedestrian crossing and noticed a car was not slowing down. When he ran towards the sidewalk, the scientist said the vehicle "caught up" with him, forcing him to jump on the hood which broke the windshield of the car. He is currently in stable condition at a hospital, with injuries to his head, arm and leg, according to the Moscow Times. The scientist told the news outlet he knew the vehicle's 70-year-old driver, who was from the same town, and believed the whole incident was an accident. RUSSIAN EX-SPY, DAUGHTER WERE POISONED WITH NERVE AGENT, CHEMICAL WATCHDOG CONFIRMS Earlier this month, he told the BBC that ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, probably survived the poisoning on March 4 because they received a small dose. He added the Skripals weren't the first victims on his conscience. "If I thought about it, I could probably count a dozen people who've been poisoned by our substances, in different circumstances, for example, at the military training ground," he said. Britain has blamed the attack on Russia, triggering the expulsion of more than 150 Russian diplomats from western countries. Russia vehemently denies any involvement and has responded by expelling the same number of diplomats. Fox News' Lucia Suarez and Kathleen Joyce contributed to this report. Spanish authorities acknowledge they've arrested two associates of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez in a case of suspected corruption. Officials in Madrid announced Wednesday they detained the pair at Venezuela's request. The two are Claudia Diaz, former secretary of the National Fund for Development, and Adrian Velasquez Figueroa, a member of Chavez's security detail. Venezuelan officials are seeking them on suspicion of corruption revealed in the Panama Papers a massive document leak from a Panamanian law firm that put a spotlight on how the rich and powerful hid their fortunes. Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab had announced the arrests in early April, but officials in Spain at first denied it. A Spanish judge is expected to hold a hearing Thursday on their possible extradition to Venezuela. The quiet, low-profile U.S. military presence in Syria isnt quite so low-profile up close. The American flag flies high from a number of a dozen or so positions the military has established, and can be spotted from afar as convoys rumble along dusty village roads in and around this northern Syrian town, near the Turkish border. And while most of the 2,000 troops the Pentagon has said are here are usually confined to their bases -- some of which were occupied by Islamic State militants not long ago -- they arent unnoticed. The Americans visit local shops and restaurants, and from time to time local civilians here excitedly spot them making their way about. Small groups of U.S. soldiers have also been spotted in the former Islamic State (ISIS) caliphate of Raqqa, alongside Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) being trained by the Americans in everything from media and camera use to weapons training. Theres no denying the familiarity of the U.S.-SDF partnership: the shared offices, meals, cigarettes, family stories. And while President Donald Trump spoke Tuesday of a pullout from Syria, he qualified his statement this time with the proviso that the withdrawal will happen when the mission is complete. That has the SDF expecting and hoping the Americans will stay at least long enough to clean out whats left of ISIS resistance in the region. A new offensive against ISIS, called Deir-ez-Zor by the SDF, is set to resume in the coming days. Military officials here are viewing it as the end game against the Islamic State. It will likely take two to three months for the operations to be completed, Keno Gabriel, an SDF spokesperson, told Fox News. But after that, about another three to six months to clean up the cells and other threats. The U.S. has already invested more in the fight than many Americans realize. Since the stunning rise of ISIS across Iraq and Syria in 2014, the United States has spent a daily average of more than $13 million, according to Defense Department figures. At least 8,000 troops are in the region at any given moment, and more than 60 from the American military have been killed in combat and non-combat-related deaths. But the effort is said to have paid off. ISIS has been driven from more than 90 percent of the territory it once conquered, and has been reduced to pockets along the Iraq-Syria border. An American withdrawal could be disastrous, say those who have come to view the U.S. flag as a beacon of peace in this war-ravaged region, as was the case when the Americans initially withdrew from Iraq after removing Saddam Hussein from power. A complete U.S. withdrawal is a lesson that should be learned from Iraq; the U.S. is a major player and a major stabilizing force in the Middle East, Gabriel cautioned. Indeed, despite talk of withdrawal, the U.S. presence has actually expanded here over the last year. The Americans started with just one base and now there are two more just in Manbij, bigger than before, said Abu Adel, head of the Manbij Military Council. Of course we want them to stay. They said they will protect us. Syrian Kurds fear more than ISIS or the return of Syrian government control. Turkish forces who view the SDF as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has waged a separatist military campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, have already taken the nearby town of Afrin, and have openly spoken of cleansing Manbij of terrorists. Anwar Moslim, 45, an official in the presidency of the Euphrates Region Office in Kobane, said the Americans were also key to the continued presence of nongovernmental organizations that have come from abroad to help Syrians. Having the U.S. gives us hope and stability, not just for Kurdish people, but for all of us living together here in Syria, Moslim said. We have concern what might happen if they go. Who will invade us? Who will attack us? Trump, who has clearly focused the mission here as only to defeat ISIS, has affirmed that America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria, and he has looked to other nations to step up their contributions. The United States did the heavy lifting in defeating ISIS in Syria by working closely with the Syrian Democratic Forces on the ground and providing the bulk of the air support that enabled the SDF to roll back ISIS forces, said James Phillips, senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at the Heritage Foundation. It is time for U.S. allies to step forward to assume a greater role in stabilization efforts in eastern Syria, and free up American Special Forces for other missions. The role of coalition partners in Syria might seem nonexistent, but they are here contributing to the effort, SDF leadership insists. General Mazloum noted that the UK and France have forces in Syria in the anti-ISIS campaign, training the protection forces but the U.S is in the main role. Mazloum noted that coalition forces have been working alongside the SDF since late 2015, and that they have taken part in all the campaigns against ISIS. There seem to be no flags, uniform patches or public presence by British or French troops, locals here say. The French, though, recently played a main role in defending Manbij, said Farooq Al Mashi who co-chairs the Legal Council of Manbij. Gabriel, too, praised the role of the British and the French, and predicted they will only step up their involvement. The UK and the French have been very effective. I think France will take a bigger role, they will increase if the US leaves, he said. The French have a long history with Syria, they really understand the dynamics. A statement by the French Armed Forces to Fox News said 1,100 personnel have been committed to the anti-ISIS effort, in two types of missions: advising and training missions in Iraq, and operational support to allied forces fighting ISIS. The French military operates in Syria against ISIS but does not own any facility on Syrian soil, the statement said. Its missions in Syria are conducted by air capacities based in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Gabriel said that each nation had roughly 200 pairs of boots on the ground, though such numbers could not independently confirmed. The British have denied the presence of troops here, even though one of their soldiers was killed alongside an American near Manbij last month. Another British official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Fox News the U.K. contribution was strictly air support -- that it has the assets at RAF Akrotiri, its base in Cyprus, and remains engaged in Operation Shader," the British codeword for the intervention against ISIS. And the Brits dont seem to be packing up any time soon. Some doubt the ability of any coalition effort that doesnt include a prominent American presence to successfully keep up the pressure. Other NATO and coalition forces can of course assist in the continued fight against ISIS and violent jihadists, said Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, a British conservative foreign policy think tank. But only the U.S. has the capacity to manage a joined-up military campaign at every level, so its continued engagement is essential. Layla Mustafa, who co-chairs the newly formed Raqqa Civilian Council, emphasized that the mere notion of the U.S. pulling out is more than just a worry, but said the onus should be on international partners, too. We fought ISIS here on behalf of the whole world, and we should receive support from all countries, she said. Not just the U.S. Trumps reported plan to support an Arab force to maintain security after a U.S. withdrawal has some support in the SDF. As we know, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates have been part of the coalition. Maybe not on the ground, but they have been part of this, Mazloum said. We see it as a positive step if they come here -- they are welcome. But the looming question of how Turkey will respond remains a huge issue. In a bid to ease mounting tensions, one high-ranking U.S. official in Ankara, the Turkish capital, told Fox News that America has continued to tell NATO ally Turkey that the SDF is not an ally in the same sense. And the U.S.-SDF agreement has always been to shake hands and move on once ISIS is defeated. Many Syrian Kurds would like to see what happened in Iraq where at least 70 countries publicly participated in the anti-ISIS fight happen here, too. Though even there, the future of the U.S. presence is not open-ended, and depends on the good will of the Baghdad government. We are here for as long as the Iraq government needs us to help then defeat ISIS, Eifler said this week from Erbil, Iraq. The people do not want to go through this (ISIS invasion) again. Iraqis have spent a lot of blood and treasure. And they have come a long way. The Kurds hope for the same U.S. resolve in Syria. Mazloum told Fox News that he has requested that a no-fly zone be implemented over the region should the U.S. withdraw, in hopes of avoiding bombardment by the Syrian and Russian forces. But he hopes it doesnt come to that. We have been partners with the U.S. and the coalition against terrorism, and of course we hope this partnership will stay for a long time to defeat all of this terrorism, he said. "Still, we are waiting for the final decision. A new watchdog report claims that billions of dollars in donor contributions including $3 billion from the U.S. to a trust fund created for the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan may be lost because of mishandling by the World Bank. The most recent audit report from the Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), obtained by Fox News, looks at the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), an international fund created in 2002 and maintained by the World Bank, finds that the ARTF has experienced continued limitations and that a lack of transparency in the monitoring and accounting has put billions of dollars at risk of vanishing despite steps taken in 2011 to improve the accountability systems in place. Based on its review of six IW-funded development projects that accounted for more than $2.25 billion of the $4.88 billion spent on all of the projects as of December 2017, SIGAR found that the World Bank is not consistently complying with its own guidance for measuring and reporting on ARTF performance and outcomes of development projects, reads a line from the report. SIGAR found several instances where the Bank did not measure and report on the projects performance in accordance with that guidance. Officials for SIGAR say that they are unable to fully assess the extent that the World Bank is measuring and reporting on the performance of the six development projects, and that the both the World Bank and donors to the ARTF are unable to hold the Afghan government accountable for how they implement the funds. With the U.S. government, through its U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) being the largest donor to reconstruction efforts contributing about $3 billion if the total $10 billion in direct assistance SIGAR, says that the findings are just the latest in a long line of misspent funds and of the American peoples money. American taxpayers continue to provide billions of dollars to the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund without assurances that the moneys being spent as intended, Inspector General John Sopko said in a statement to Fox News. These transparency and monitoring issues must be corrected. According to the findings of the report, funding may not be going to the allotted reconstruction and recovery projects because of corruption and bureaucracy throughout the Afghan government. SIGAR officials claim that a senior-level Afghan presidential aide told their office that there is political pressure to spend ARTF funds, even if the programs and projects are ill-conceived, unwarranted or risk loss of future funding and that such poorly planned projects flourish under the ARTF because there is no repayment obligation, and that dysfunctional projects are nearly impossible to eliminate. Other key findings include: Once donors, including the U.S., provides its contributions, neither the World Bank nor USAID can account for how said funds are spent. The World Bank has no way accurately to measure or evaluate the impact that the ARTF has on construction efforts. USAID is no longer giving preference for funding by geographic location because they cant guarantee that the money would not wind up in the hands of the Taliban or other insurgent groups. A spokesperson for the World Bank says that while they welcome the findings of the SIGAR report, they have seen significant results from the trust fund. The World Bank welcomes recommendations in the recent report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) on the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), reads a statement provided to Fox News. It presents the Afghan Government, ARTF donors and the World Bank with useful insights and an opportunity to strengthen the focus on the funds results and accountability. We are proud of the tangible results the ARTF has achieved for Afghans in the past 15 years, which include improving and expanding access to healthcare and education, developing rural infrastructure, and improving farmers crops and incomes. The report is just the latest in a long line of issues surrounding the nearly 16-year reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. SIGAR has investigated hundreds of failed or faulty projects related to reconstruction efforts, including $8 million spent on barracks for the National Police Force, in which construction was so haphazard that many of the buildings started to melt from water damage. Another discovery was that U.S. tax dollars were going toward security for a ghost hotel near the U.S. embassy in Kabul that never was opened because it ran out of funding. In August, 30-year-old Swedish reporter Kim Wall stepped aboard the UC3 Nautilus, a 58-foot submarine built by Danish inventor Peter Madsen and was never seen alive again. On April 25, Madsen was sentenced to life in prison for her murder. Wall, who had plans to move to Beijing with her boyfriend, skipped her going-away party to interview the well-known engineer and entrepreneur for a story. Shortly after stepping onto the submarine, Wall disappeared and Madsen, the subject of her interview, soon became her suspected killer. Police believe Madsen intentionally sank the submarine the day after Wall accompanied him on the vessel. He initially told police Wall disembarked on an island near Copenhagen hours after their trip began. But he later changed his story, claiming that she died during an onboard accident and he had buried her at sea. Walls body was later found dismembered her naked torso washed up on the coast of southern Copenhagen. The torso had been repeatedly stabbed, both in and around the genitalia, police said, adding that a heavy metal object was used in an attempt to sink it to the ocean floor. Divers found Walls head, legs and clothes in bags in Koege Bay near Copenhagen on October 7, two months after her death. Her arms were found at a later date. "We found a bag with Kim Wall's clothing; shirt, skirt, socks and shoes, and also a knife and lead pieces weighing them down," Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moeller Jensen said at the time. "Around noon we found a leg, then another leg, and shortly thereafter we found a head, also in a bag weighted down by several metal pieces." Madsen denied the murder, but did admit to throwing Wall's body parts into the sea. Prosecutors said Madsen tied up and tortured Wall before he either cut her throat or strangled her during the trip on his private submarine. Days before he met Wall, Madsen allegedly texted an ex-lover that he had a murder plan ready in the submarine. Madsen was charged with murder, dismemberment and indecent handling of a corpse. His trial began in Copenhagen on March 8. He pleaded not guilty to murdering Wall. On March 21, Madsen allegedly admitted to stabbing the journalist, though it was after she was already dead, he said. The purpose, he reportedly said, was to prevent gasses from being trapped inside her body so it would sink when dropped into the ocean. Heres what you need to know about Madsen. Early life Born in 1971, Madsen grew up in a town near Copenhagen. His mother, Annie, had three sons from two previous marriages, according to Wired. When Madsen was six-years-old, his mother left with her three other children leaving Madsen behind with his father, Carl. Madsens father, who owned a pub, was allegedly abusive, Madsen once told a biographer (though his father was allegedly only abusive toward his three stepsons, Wired reported). Madsen became interested in science at a young age; his father, who died when Madsen was 18, sparked his sons interest in rockets, according to Wired. After dropping out of various apprenticeships, Madsen focused on building submarines and rockets. A career in science Madsen co-founded Copenhagen Suborbitals in 2008. The organization is the worlds only manned, amateur space program, according to its website. The program is funded by fans and supporters. One volunteer at the organization told Wired Madsen would behave like a child who just lost his toy or dropped his ice cream or something when he was angry, adding that he would occasionally throw hammers and other tools. Madsen also co-founded Rocket-Madsens Space Laboratory, a space exploration company that also receives its fundings through donations, according to the BBC. Both organizations are attempting to be the first non-government, volunteer-based groups to send someone to space, the BBC reported. Amateur submariner In addition to the UC3 Nautilus, Madsen also built submarines UC2 Kraka and UC1 Freya. The UC3, which Madsen reportedly created with a submarine club called Freya, is the largest privately built submariner in the world, he once told a Danish publication. Fox News Travis Fedschun and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Farm minister George Eustice has written to the European Commission to request a UK-wide exemption from the three-crop rule for 2018. The three-crop rule is an EU requirement for farmers with more than 30ha to grow at least three different crops every year. In making the request, Mr Eustice said he wanted to support arable farmers affected by unusually heavy rain and snow experienced in recent weeks. See also: 5 top tips for growing a profitable spring barley crop The severe weather the UK experienced this winter has affected farmers in several ways, including their ability to meet this element of the CAP crop diversification requirements, given much of the main sowing period was characterised by heavy rain and snow. Through no fault of their own, farmers in many areas have been unable to sow the crops they had intended to grow, especially spring cereals. The recent improvement in weather in will help for some, but does not make up for lost time in the critical planting period. Spring drilling delays Ian Sands, chairman of NFU Scotlands combinable crops committee, who also farms at Townhead, Balbeggie, Perthshire said: Spring sowing is well behind in most parts of Scotland up to three weeks in our area. There are still fields to plough that have been too wet after potatoes. The seed drills started again last week, in far from ideal conditions, but time is moving on. Mr Eustice has written to EU farm commissioner Phil Hogan to request the exemption on behalf of England and the devolved administrations. Detailed case He said: We have listened to the concerns raised by farmers and their representatives about the challenges caused by the recent weather conditions. With the help of the devolved administrations, we have put forward a detailed case to the European Commission for a derogation from the CAPs crop diversification requirement. Farmers will be making their final cropping decisions in the coming weeks, and we hope the commission will inform us of their decision shortly so we can provide them with clarity. Early clarity on this requirement from Mr Hogan will allow farmers to make practical decisions that are in the best interests of protecting their soil in these difficult conditions, rather than seeking to meet an inappropriate EU requirement or face reductions in their subsidy payments for non-compliance. The list of cross-compliance and greening rules farmers need to follow is long and life is made even more complicated by the fact each of the devolved regions has slightly different arrangements in place. For example, the start date for the management of fallow as an ecological focus areas (EFA) is the start of the year in England, mid-January in Scotland and the start of February in Wales and Northern Ireland. Farmers need to avoid any breaches as they could result in penalties being applied to their farm support payments. See also: 10 most common cross-compliance breaches and how to avoid them Many of the rules are also tied in to European and UK legislation, so even if farmers chose not to apply for subsidy they would need to comply. The list of requirements is divided into statutory management requirements (SMRs) or standards for good agricultural and environmental conditions (GAECs). The following is a summary of the key dates covering cross-compliance and greening issues by region. England January 1 Organic manures such as slurry, poultry manure and liquid digested sewage sludge can be applied to grassland and tillage land on shallow or sandy soils under suitable conditions. Quantity restrictions must be met. (SMR1) 1 Start date for assessing the annual amount of livestock manure applied. (SMR 1) 1 EFA period for EFA fallow land begins. 16 Manufactured nitrogen fertilisers can be applied to grassland and tillage land in suitable conditions. (SMR 1) February 1 Organic manures such as slurry, poultry manure and liquid digested sewage sludge can be applied to grassland and tillage land on all soil types under suitable conditions. Quantity restrictions must be met. (SMR 1) 28 End of quantity restrictions for organic manure slurry, poultry manure and liquid digested sewage sludge. (SMR 1) March 1 Cutting or trimming hedges or trees is prohibited. 1 Hedge and tree coppicing and hedge laying can continue from this date until 30 April. (GAEC 7a and 7c) 31 Water abstraction licence holders should expect annual bills or first part charge if two-part tariff agreements are held. (GAEC 2) April 1 Ban begins on burning heather, rough grass, bracken, gorse or vaccinium other than in upland areas. (GAEC 6) 1 28-day window opens for winter or year-round water abstraction licence holders (authorising abstraction outside the period April to October) to submit readings to Environment Agency. (GAEC 2) 16 Upland area ban on burning heather, rough grass, bracken, gorse or vaccinium begins. (GAEC 6) 30 Specified livestock numbers kept on individual farms during the previous calendar year must be recorded along with the calculated amount of nitrogen they produced. The number and type of livestock in a building or hardstanding during the previous storage period must also be recorded. (SMR 1) May 1 Ban begins on hedge or tree coppicing and hedge laying. (GAEC7a and 7c) 1 Crop diversification period and EFA period for nitrogen fixing crops begins (until 30 June) June 30 End of crop diversification cropping period and end of EFA fallow period. August 1 Cutting or trimming hedges of hedgerows is allowed to sow oilseed rape or temporary grassland if a derogation has been granted by the Rural Payments Agency. (GAEC 7a) 1 Closed period begins on applications of organic manure such as slurry, poultry manure and liquid digested sewage sludge to tillage land on shallow or sandy soils except where crops will be sown on or before 15 September. (SMR 1) 20 EFA catch crops must be established by this date. September 1 Ban on hedgecutting or trimming ends. (GAEC 7a and 7c) 1 Closed period begins on applications of organic manure such as slurry, poultry manure and liquid digested sewage sludge to grassland on shallow or sandy soils. (SMR 1) 1 Start of closed period for applying manufactured nitrogen fertilisers to tillage land. (SMR 1) 15 Closed period starts for applying manufactured nitrogen fertilisers to grassland. (SMR 1) 16 Start of closed period for applying organic manure such as slurry, poultry manure and liquid digested sewage sludge to tillage land on shallow or sandy soils that has been sown with crops on or before 15 September. (SMR 1) October 1 Ban lifted on burning heather, rough grass, bracken, gorse or vaccinium on land in upland areas. (GAEC 6) 1 EFA cover crops must be established by this date and remain until 15 January. 1 Start of closed period for applying organic manure such as slurry, poultry manure and liquid digested sewage sludge to tillage land on heavier soils. (SMR 1) 14 End of period during which EFA catch crop must remain in place. 15 Closed period starts for applying organic manure such as slurry, poultry manure and liquid digested sewage sludge to grassland on deeper and heavier soils. (SMR 1) 31 28-day window open for readings to be sent to the Environment Agency by holders of summer water abstraction licences (authorising abstraction wholly within the months of April to October). (GAEC 2) November 1 Ban lifted on burning heather, rough grass, bracken, gorse or vaccinium. (GAEC 6) 30 Two-part tariff agreement holders for water abstraction licences should expect to receive the second part charge. (GAEC 2) December 1 Annual inventory of sheep and goats must be completed. (SMR 8) Source: DEFRA The guide to cross compliance in England 2018, Basic Payment Scheme 2018 and Farming Advisory Service. Northern Ireland January 15 Ploughing without restriction can recommence. (GAEC 4) 31 Final date for submission of records relating to the movement of organic manure in previous calendar year. (SMR 1). February 1 Chemical fertilisers, organic manures including slurry, poultry litter, sewage, sludge and abattoir waste and farmyard manure may be applied providing environmental conditions are suitable. (SMR 1). 1 EFA period for EFA fallow begins. March 1 Start of the closed period for hedge, tree or scrub cutting and coppicing (including trimming and laying). 1 Final date for submission of application for nitrates derogation to allow land application of up to 250kg nitrogen per hectare per year from grazing livestock manure under certain conditions. (SMR 1) 1 Final date for submission of fertilisation account for the previous calendar year (for farmers with an approved nitrates derogation). (SMR 1) 1 Fertilisation plan for the current calendar year must be ready and available for inspection (SMR 1) April 15 Ban on burning heather, gorse, or fern applies from this date. (GAEC 5). June 30 Nitrates record for previous calendar year to be ready and made available for inspection. (SMR 1) July 31 End of EFA fallow period. August 31 End of closed period which prohibits heather, gorse, whin or fern burning. (GAEC 5) September 1 Hedge, tree and scrub cutting is allowed from this date. (GAEC 7) 15 (midnight) Closed period for application of chemical fertiliser begins. (SMR 1) October 15 (midnight) Closed period for application of organic manures, including slurry, poultry litter, sewage, sludge and abattoir waste begins. (SMR 1). 31 (midnight) Closed period for application of farmyard manure begins. (SMR1) December 1-5 Annual inventory of sheep and goats must be completed. (SMR 8). Source: Northern Ireland Cross-Compliance Verifiable Standards 2018 Scotland January 15 Start of management period for EFA fallow land. March 1 Cutting of hedges is prohibited from this date. (GAEC7) July 15 End of management period for EFA fallow. 16 Cutting of EFA margin option is allowed, including for hay and silage. It is also possible to graze margins after this date so long as the margin does not contain or is adjacent to a watercourse. August 1 End of management period for EFA nitrogen-fixing crops crop cannot be harvested before this date to protect ground-nesting birds. 31 End of closed period for the cutting and trimming of hedges (GAEC 7) November 1 Green cover EFA option must be established Source: Key dates: Rural Payments and Services (15 March, 2018) and Cross Compliance 2018. Wales January 1 Annual inventory of sheep and goats must be completed. (SMR 8) 15 Manufactured nitrogen fertilisers can be applied to grassland and tillage land on all soils if conditions are suitable. (SMR 1) 31 Organic manure with a high readily available nitrogen content (for example slurry and poultry manures) can be applied to grassland and tillage land on all soils if conditions are suitable. Quantity restrictions must be met. (SMR1) February 1 EFA period for EFA fallow begins. March 1 Cutting or trimming hedgerows and trees is prohibited, but hedge laying and coppicing can continue. (GAEC 7) 1 End of five-month storage period for all the slurry of livestock, other than pigs and poultry. (SMR 1) 15 Ban begins on burning heather, rough grass, bracken, gorse or vaccinium other than in upland areas. (GAEC 6) 31 Upland area ban on burning heather, rough grass, bracken, gorse or vaccinium begins. (GAEC 6) 31 Ban on carrying out any hedge-laying or coppicing starts unless with permission from the Welsh government for education or training purposes. (GAEC 7) April 1 End of six-month storage period for pig and poultry slurry. 30 Livestock numbers kept on individual farms during the previous calendar year must be recorded along with the calculated amount of nitrogen they produced. The number and type of livestock in a building or hardstanding during the previous storage period must also be recorded. (SMR 1) July 31 End of EFA fallow period. August 1 Start of closed period for applying organic manure with a high readily available nitrogen content to tillage land on shallow or sandy soils (application is allowed between 1 August and 15 September as long as a crop is sown on or before 15 September). 1 Hedges or trees may be trimmed on arable land where the normal agricultural practice requires a winter arable crops to be planted before 31 August, so long as nesting birds are not disturbed. (GAEC 7) September 1 Ban on hedgecutting or trimming ends. (GAEC 7) 1 Start of closed period for application of organic manure with a highly readily nitrogen content to grassland on shallow or sandy soils, and for applying manufactured nitrogen fertilisers to tillage land. (SMR 1) 15 Start of closed period for applying manufactured nitrogen fertilisers to grassland. (SMR 1) October 1 Start of closed period for applying organic manure with a highly readily available nitrogen content to tillage land on heavier soils. 1 Start of six-month storage period for all slurry types. 15 Start of closed period for applying organic manure with a highly readily available nitrogen content to grassland on heavier soils. November 1 Restrictions on burning heather, rough grass, bracken gorse or vaccinium on all land types end. December 31 Organic manure with a highly-readily available nitrogen content can be applied to grassland and tillage ground with sandy and shallow soils. (SMR 1) Source: Cross Compliance Verifiable Standards 2018 and 2018 Greening Booklet The information provided in this article is for general information purposes only and can be subject to change. Always consult the latest documentation published by the relevant government department before taking action. British Wool has introduced a scheme to provide cash flow support for new entrants to the sheep farming industry. The initiative will provide eligible producers with upfront payments worth 100% of their annual clip value for the first two years of the scheme. See also: Wools environmental credentials could open new markets After year two, producers will transition towards standard payments, each year receiving 25% less of their prior years clip values upfront until year six, when they are in line with the companys standard payment scheme. Successful applicants will also receive a priority wool intake and grading service through British Wools nationwide depot network. Investing in the future of the industry is an essential part of our strategy, and we want to play a key role in encouraging young farmers into the industry, said Joe Farren, British Wools chief executive. Any start-up business requires support to be successful, so increased up-front payments during the first two years will help ease the pressure on cash flow. Mr Farren said that through this initiative he hoped to appeal to young farmers to market their wool through the company and thus safeguard the long-term future of British Wool. Eligible producers should have kept sheep for fewer than five years and must not have previously been registered with British Wool. Full details of the scheme and an application form are available on the British Wool website. Application forms can also be requested by calling the Producer Services team on 01274 688666 or emailing newentrants@britishwool.org.uk. OFFICERS SWORN IN The Gaffney Police Department swore in three new officers and promoted nine during a ceremony Friday afternoon. New officers are Allen Phillips, Isaiah Poitevien and Bradley Palmatier. Promoted were Lieutenant... Cobbs latest book features historical photos Never before published photographs and rarely heard stories of the Iron City make up the pages of Will Cobbs newest book, The Other Side of the River Volume IV. Cobb,... Cheer scholarship fundraiser today On July 26, 2019, a group of coaches, cheerleaders and colleagues formed the Lindsay Mc- Dowell & Clari Spencer cheer scholarships in honor of the unexpected, early passing of Lindsay... Study show Gaffney residents pay less than national average on monthly bills Gaffney residents, on average, pay less on monthly bills than some neighboring cities but more on others, according to a recently released study. The regional bill comparison study by doxoINSIGHTS... Reporter Before coming to work for The Daily News as a staff reporter, Connor worked for us as a freelance correspondent throughout 2017. He has written for other publications such as the Washington Post. Belgium has joined the Netherlands in declaring that randomized loot boxes in video games are gambling and are therefore illegal in the country. The Belgian Gaming Commission looked at Overwatch, FIFA 18, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Star Wars Battlefront II, and determined that only the loot boxes in the latter did not constitute a game of chance because they were taken out at the time of the investigation. Belgium's Minister of Justice, Koen Geens, is calling for their removal. Geens requested that the Gaming Commission look into loot boxes after the Star Wars Battlefront II controversy, and he feels that minors in particular could be vulnerable to loot boxes influence as "gambling advertising." Geens wants to meet with video game companies to discuss the removal of loot boxes, stating that since these and any other games with them are in violation of the country's gaming legislation, a prison sentence and fine are possible. Here in America, legislators in multiple states have proposed legislation involving loot boxes and called upon the ESRB to address the matter systematically. [Source: Belgian Minister of Justice via Eurogamer] Our Take The dominos are clearly falling regarding loot boxes, and we can't just dismiss this as the local concerns of other countries. Going forward, it'll be interesting to see what the dialog between video game companies and politicians is like in countries like the U.S., Canada, and England where many game companies are headquartered and millions of dollars are at stake. It was nearly 50 years ago that an infamous incident finished off the hopes of returning another Kennedy brother to the White House, says Ray Nothstine in this weeks Acton Commentary. A film about Chappaquiddick, released this month, offers more than a historical retrospective. It reminds us of important truths that lay beneath the tumultuous world of political intrigue. The movie revisits the details: The late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy drove his car off the Dike Bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, resulting in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, a 28-year-old political consultant who had worked on Robert Kennedys 1968 presidential campaign. Kopechne drowned __ or, in the opinion of the diver who recovered her body, probably was trapped in an air pocket in the shallow water and later suffocated. In fact, there is a line in the film where the diver suggests he might have saved her if he had been notified in time. Kennedy, of course, escaped the car but did not report his involvement to authorities until after the scene was discovered by police 10 hours later. Teens ignore warning signs : Dangerous snapshots on the Godesburg tower Bad Godesberg Despite the installation of a barrier, young people climb onto the scaffolding on the 32-meter tower of the Godesburg. A life-threatening endeavour, warns the city of Bonn. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken A young woman poses in a black shirt and blue jeans on the barrier on top of the Godesburg, holding a cup of juice in her hand. What looks casual in the sunshine, is a life-threatening idea - as warning signs up there clearly state. Yet, she is not the only one ignoring the climbing bans: Last Friday, teenagers were clambering about on the barrier of the tower too. They were hopping around on the wall, raucous bawling and screeching, said Jurgen Putz from Schweinheim. He suspects that the young people were intoxicated. He was watching the events from his terrace and took pictures with his mobile phone. I thought somebody will fall down any minute. The sunbathing Bonn woman published her image on Instagram, publicly, and pondered philosophically that humans forget to live in the Here and Now. As reported, the tower was closed last June because teenagers kept climbing over the balustrade to take pictures of themselves. The Bad Godesberg Liberals (FDP) suggested to install a protection fence, which was finally erected now after Easter. The new handrail is attached at a height of 1.28 meters, thus making it more difficult to get onto the edge of the tower, but not impossible. The stone balustrade is 1.35 meters wide - standing in front of it just leaning over it would not bear a risk of falling, yet climbing on top of it does. Critics said that the handrail gets used as a horizontal bar and that it might have been better to install a sloping rail surface, making standing on it impossible. Bonns deputy spokesperson Marc Hoffmann: We regret that there are still people who climb onto the edge of the tower, risking their life. He appealed strongly to all visitors to enjoy the view only from the platform itself. Many tourists take the opportunity to do this without risking their lives or others. On Monday, three visitors from Italy took pictures up there, without climbing over any railing. And one South African man asked to have the sights of the surrounding area explained to him. But some people are looking for something else: The thrill, the adrenaline rush. Online, there are countless reports of so-called roofers to be found. Roofers climb on the highest and most prominent buildings in the world, bringing their cameras for Instagram pictures and YouTube movies. There are Domsturmer who climb up the Cologne cathedral, or people who clamber up the Lotte World Tower in Seoul, the Cheops pyramid or bridges - only to be held by a hand of a friend. Life-threatening kicks made popular by a climbing scene in Russia, apparently. The tower is open until October, daily from 10am until 6pm, or through reservation. Admission: 1 Euro (adults), children (from 6 years) 0.50 Euro. Are New Zealanders too prudish about public displays of affection? A European couple wants to know after being hassled here for being too affectionate. Their question was posted on Reddit, and asked why Kiwis are against kissing and hand-holding in public. "We were wondering why Kiwis seem to be so prude. Is it because a strong religious background or are the people here just konservative? [sic]" they ask, after several humiliating incidents. The first time they were met with disapproval happened at a public bath. "We were only sitting on each other and harmlessly kissing," they say. Then a lifeguard came over and told them "in a rude way" to stop or leave because of the children. "Yes there were children in the pool next to us but we were in the spa area in a hotpool," they complain. But that wasn't their only encounter with New Zealand's moral standards. "Second incident was in a bakery. For holding hands and one little kiss we were called out 'to be on our honeymoon or what' by the owner with a pushing undertone," they say. "Third incident while we were sitting in our parked car kissing, again not eating each other or anything. This guy came up and walked past our car, then he screamed 'get a room!'" Kiwis have attempted to explain our culture, saying we regard sex as a "private matter". "The culture is basically consenting adults can do whatever they want in private but in public the general norm is no PDA (public displays of affection)," one person explained. "You'll get weird looks if you make out while sober in a normal public setting," another said. But some Kiwis called New Zealand out for being too emotional about the issue. "Just start dry humping each other next time," one person advised. "Too many of us Kiwis are acting like precious little babies complaining about anything it's pathetic." Newshub. Win Tell us what songs you like and you could win this week's prize! The content you are looking for has either been removed or requires you to login to view Please login below or register for an account With Naijapals.com xspraise at 25-04-2018 07:38 AM (3 years ago) (m) The growing number of African immigrants who settle in the United States are more highly educated than those who go to Europe, according to a new survey by a major American research group. The growing number of African immigrants who settle in the United States are more highly educated than those who go to Europe, according to a new survey by a major American research group. The survey also confirms previous studies showing that African immigrants are more likely than Americans to have had some tertiary education. And in another finding, the survey shows that most African migrants settle in other African countries, and not in the U.S. or Europe. These are some of the highlights of a study carried out by the non-partisan Pew Research Center and published in Washington on Tuesday. Key excerpts from the study: As the annual number of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to both the United States and Europe has grown for most years this decade, a Pew Research Center analysis of 2015 U.S. Census Bureau and Eurostat data finds that sub-Saharan immigrants in the U.S. tend to be more highly educated than those living in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Portugal Europes historically leading destinations among sub-Saharan immigrants. In the U.S., 69 per cent of sub-Saharan immigrants, ages 25 and older in 2015, said they had at least some college experience. In the same year, the share in the UK who reported some college experience was 49 per cent, while it was lower still in France (30 per cent), Portugal (27 per cent) and Italy (10 per cent). Immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa living in the U.S. are also somewhat more likely to be employed than their counterparts in Europe. In 2015, 92.9 per cent of U.S.-based sub-Saharan immigrants said they had a paying job, compared with 84.9 per cent in Portugal, 83.7 per cent in France and 80.3 per cent in Italy. Meanwhile, the share of sub-Saharan immigrants in the UK who are working (91.5 per cent) was nearly equal to that in the U.S. The U.S., UK, France, Italy and Portugal are some of the top destinations of sub-Saharan migrants living outside of sub-Saharan Africa. As of 2015, however, more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of migrants from sub-Saharan countries actually lived in other sub-Saharan African countries. Together, the U.S., UK, France, Italy and Portugal were home to more than half (57 per cent) of the sub-Saharan migrant population living outside sub-Saharan Africa in 2015, according to global migrant population estimates from the United Nations. And the four European countries featured in this report accounted for roughly three-quarters (74 per cent) of all sub-Saharan immigrants living in European Union countries, Norway and Switzerland in the same year. Historically, sub-Saharan immigrants have made up small shares of the total population in the U.S., UK, France, Italy and Portugal three per cent or less in each country, as of 2015. But annual migration to the U.S. and Europe from sub-Saharan Africa rose most years this decade. In all, well more than a million sub-Saharans have migrated to the U.S. and to EU countries, Norway and Switzerland since 2010. Migration pressures for some sub-Saharans to leave Africa are expected to continue as the continents population grows, young people struggle to find employment and protracted conflicts continue. Between 2010 and 2016, about a quarter of sub-Saharan African immigrants entered the U.S. through its diversity visa program, which requires applicants to have at least a high school education. This requirement may help explain why relatively few sub-Saharan immigrants in the U.S. just 11 per cent have less than a high school education. Within Europe, Pew Research Centers analysis finds that educational levels of sub-Saharan immigrants varies across the regions top destination countries, with those living in the UK better educated than those in Italy. Colonial histories have helped contribute to the flow of sub-Saharan immigrants to specific countries. For instance, many of sub-Saharan immigrants living in the UK, France and Portugal were born in countries that were once under the rule of these European states. A key factor can be language. Fluency in a European tongue, whether English, French or Portuguese, may be an advantage for a migrant seeking a job and creating a new life in a destination country. Thus, UN data show that most of the sub-Saharan immigrant populations in the U.S. and UK come from countries where English is spoken. In fact, English is a language of importance in six of the 10 biggest source countries for sub-Saharan African immigrants in the U.S. and the UK: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. The top countries of origin for sub-Saharan Africans now living in France and Portugal also share a bond of language with these destinations. For example, many of the top birthplaces for sub-Saharan African immigrants in France are French-speaking African nations or territories, with Madagascar, Senegal or the Ivory Coast accounting for 34 percent of all sub-Saharan migrants living in France. A similar trend can be seen in Portugal, where the three largest birthplaces for sub-Saharan African immigrants were at one time under Portuguese rule: Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde. Together, they make up the vast majority (80 percent) of all sub-Saharan migrants living in Portugal. Immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa ages 25 and older in the U.S. not only stand out from those in Europe, but they are also more likely than the overall U.S.-born population to have at least some college experience (69 per cent vs. 60 per cent). A similar pattern is present in the UK and Portugal. There are more modest educational differences between sub-Saharan African immigrants and the native-born populations in France and Italy for the share with a college education, with a lower share of sub-Saharan immigrants in Italy (10 per cent) having some college education than those born in Italy (15 per cent). The survey also confirms previous studies showing that African immigrants are more likely than Americans to have had some tertiary education.And in another finding, the survey shows that most African migrants settle in other African countries, and not in the U.S. or Europe.These are some of the highlights of a study carried out by the non-partisan Pew Research Center and published in Washington on Tuesday.Key excerpts from the study:As the annual number of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to both the United States and Europe has grown for most years this decade, a Pew Research Center analysis of 2015 U.S. Census Bureau and Eurostat data finds that sub-Saharan immigrants in the U.S. tend to be more highly educated than those living in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Portugal Europes historically leading destinations among sub-Saharan immigrants.In the U.S., 69 per cent of sub-Saharan immigrants, ages 25 and older in 2015, said they had at least some college experience. In the same year, the share in the UK who reported some college experience was 49 per cent, while it was lower still in France (30 per cent), Portugal (27 per cent) and Italy (10 per cent).Immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa living in the U.S. are also somewhat more likely to be employed than their counterparts in Europe.In 2015, 92.9 per cent of U.S.-based sub-Saharan immigrants said they had a paying job, compared with 84.9 per cent in Portugal, 83.7 per cent in France and 80.3 per cent in Italy. Meanwhile, the share of sub-Saharan immigrants in the UK who are working (91.5 per cent) was nearly equal to that in the U.S.The U.S., UK, France, Italy and Portugal are some of the top destinations of sub-Saharan migrants living outside of sub-Saharan Africa. As of 2015, however, more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of migrants from sub-Saharan countries actually lived in other sub-Saharan African countries.Together, the U.S., UK, France, Italy and Portugal were home to more than half (57 per cent) of the sub-Saharan migrant population living outside sub-Saharan Africa in 2015, according to global migrant population estimates from the United Nations. And the four European countries featured in this report accounted for roughly three-quarters (74 per cent) of all sub-Saharan immigrants living in European Union countries, Norway and Switzerland in the same year.Historically, sub-Saharan immigrants have made up small shares of the total population in the U.S., UK, France, Italy and Portugal three per cent or less in each country, as of 2015. But annual migration to the U.S. and Europe from sub-Saharan Africa rose most years this decade.In all, well more than a million sub-Saharans have migrated to the U.S. and to EU countries, Norway and Switzerland since 2010. Migration pressures for some sub-Saharans to leave Africa are expected to continue as the continents population grows, young people struggle to find employment and protracted conflicts continue.Between 2010 and 2016, about a quarter of sub-Saharan African immigrants entered the U.S. through its diversity visa program, which requires applicants to have at least a high school education. This requirement may help explain why relatively few sub-Saharan immigrants in the U.S. just 11 per cent have less than a high school education.Within Europe, Pew Research Centers analysis finds that educational levels of sub-Saharan immigrants varies across the regions top destination countries, with those living in the UK better educated than those in Italy.Colonial histories have helped contribute to the flow of sub-Saharan immigrants to specific countries. For instance, many of sub-Saharan immigrants living in the UK, France and Portugal were born in countries that were once under the rule of these European states. A key factor can be language. Fluency in a European tongue, whether English, French or Portuguese, may be an advantage for a migrant seeking a job and creating a new life in a destination country.Thus, UN data show that most of the sub-Saharan immigrant populations in the U.S. and UK come from countries where English is spoken. In fact, English is a language of importance in six of the 10 biggest source countries for sub-Saharan African immigrants in the U.S. and the UK: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.The top countries of origin for sub-Saharan Africans now living in France and Portugal also share a bond of language with these destinations. For example, many of the top birthplaces for sub-Saharan African immigrants in France are French-speaking African nations or territories, with Madagascar, Senegal or the Ivory Coast accounting for 34 percent of all sub-Saharan migrants living in France.A similar trend can be seen in Portugal, where the three largest birthplaces for sub-Saharan African immigrants were at one time under Portuguese rule: Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde. Together, they make up the vast majority (80 percent) of all sub-Saharan migrants living in Portugal.Immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa ages 25 and older in the U.S. not only stand out from those in Europe, but they are also more likely than the overall U.S.-born population to have at least some college experience (69 per cent vs. 60 per cent). A similar pattern is present in the UK and Portugal.There are more modest educational differences between sub-Saharan African immigrants and the native-born populations in France and Italy for the share with a college education, with a lower share of sub-Saharan immigrants in Italy (10 per cent) having some college education than those born in Italy (15 per cent). Post Reply I am Victor, I write reportage on sport news and latest metro happenings in Nigeria. Posted: at 25-04-2018 07:38 AM (3 years ago) | Hero The Bureau of Land Management North Central Montana District Manager Mark Albers, spoke to the Courier about American Prairies grazing. As has been reported in previous editions, the American Prairie Foundation Inc. is attempting to remove interior fencing on their BLM leased lands, fortify the external fencing with an electric wire, and they are applying to graze bison year-round. The BLMs role in that request began with a scoping period in which the agency is seeking input from the public on what issues, if any, should be considered in the environmental assessment (EA). Albers clarified that nothing in the scoping period would determine if the agency would conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS) as was previously reported in the Courier last week. The scoping input from the public would only determine the agency's actions on the EA then the EA would determine if an EIS is conducted. Albers clarified that the EA would have one of two outcomes: Either the agency would certify a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) and move ahead with allowing American Prairies request, or they would initiate the environmental impact statement. If an EIS is initiated the timing could delay the process by years as the in-depth analysis is conducted. Albers told the Courier that he would be the decision maker for whether the process warranted a FONSI or an EIS. Albers discussed the scoping process as looking for input on, real substantive issues, adding that they are looking for issues such as fencing concerns and socio-economic impact concerns from the public, adding that they want the public to provide input on significant impacts that should be assessed in the EA. As Albers put it, they want the public to, please give us things we can sink our teeth into to analyze. The BLM decision-making process would, therefore, go from the scoping period, to an environmental assessment, then from an EA to whether a FONSI or an EIS is conducted, and from there to a decision on the APR grazing request. Albers said the decision would be based in the findings of BLM regarding the public comments, the analysis of BLM and the judgement of the personnel involved and himself as it relates to the findings of the EA. The District Manager also contended with the idea that it would be appropriate to go directly to an EIS in the case of large impactful actions like installing a large dam, but that in the case of APR, Albers said, this is basically a grazing action, and we do hundreds of grazing actions a year. Its different, its odd, and it involves people who are not normally a part of this process, but at the crux of that it is still a grazing proposal and grazing proposals require an EA. So, I think it would be doing everyone a disservice to jump to an EIS. Albers expressed concern that such an action would establish a precedent for future actions that would require an EIS for more mundane or routine grazing requests. Weve got to be careful of what precedents we set and what level of analysis we undertake. Confronted with the idea that American Prairies request ran contrary to land management precedents not only supported but promoted by BLM for decades Albers responded by saying, Absolutely rotational grazing has worked really well. It brought us out of the open range days. It brought the range back in good condition, but there is a lot of new science coming out that says thats not the only way to manage these prairies. Albers took on directly, concerns that American Prairie is receiving unfair treatment from BLM stating, Weve heard from a lot of folks that they feel were giving unfair treatment to APR. Well I would say to that, that any operation out there that says they want to adopt something akin to what APR is doing or some part of it, bring us a proposal. Come in, show us what your proposal is, why you think that will work and why you think it will fit into your operation and show that at the end of the day that you meet standards and guides. Well absolutely consider that. According to BLMs website, the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act set up grazing districts for the management and regulation of rangelands. Then in the 1960s such laws as the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; the Endangered Species Act of 1973; and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 changed public management of rangeland by BLM. BLMs website states, The agency began to improve the management or protection of specific rangeland resources such as riparian areas; threatened and endangered species; sensitive plant species; and cultural or historical objects. Consistent with this enhanced role, the BLM developed or modified the terms and conditions of grazing permits and leases. The agency also implemented new range improvement projects to address specific resource issues. This is the environment in which BLM is currently assessing American Prairies request. Albers stated that under current language of the Taylor Grazing Act, an applicant is no longer required to be engaged in the livestock industry, but just needs to be a corporation or individual licensed to operate in the United States and use the land for grazing livestock. Under current Montana law, APRs bison are livestock and not wildlife and as such APR can maintain BLM grazing permits by running their bison on those properties irrespective of whether they are engaged in the livestock industry or not. Albers refused to engage in speculation about American Prairies greater goal of establishing a 3.5 million acre preserve encompassing the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge and the Missouri River Breaks National Monument. He stated, We view that as a highly speculative goal which would take a myriad of decisions and changes by many, many levels of government for anything like that to happen. What we have in front of us today is a proposal for a grazing change from cattle to bison and the intended fencing changes and so that is what we get to assess. Albers acknowledged points of contention in the agriculture community but clarified that BLM has nothing to hide in this. We want this to be as open and transparent as possible, said Albers explaining, that is why we are doing scoping. In last weeks article on BLM's scoping meeting it was noted that those meetings are not generally held in response to a grazing action. Albers reaffirmed that assertion in an effort to show openess. The BLM District Manager also took to task the idea that the assessment was tainted because it was being prepared by a third-party contractor being paid for by American Prairie by stating, this is a common practice in other parts of BLM. For instance, in water and gas development. We ask the proposal proponent to pay for that analysis by a third-party contractor. We do that instead of tying up inordinate amounts of staff time so that we can continue to work on other projects. All we can do is our very best to keep this open and get the information out there that is relevant to do our best to keep this on an even keel, said Albers, discussing the agency's role in moving forward and conducting the EA. The comment period for scoping is still open until May 9 (this was previously reported as May 29 in last weeks edition of the Courier). Furthermore, following BLMs EA a second round of comments and meetings will be held specifically on the findings. Scoping comments can be emailed to [email protected] or mailed to APR Scoping Comment, BLM Malta Field Office, 47285 Highway 2, Malta, MT 59538. Comments are subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, so do not provide personally identifiable information you do not want made public. More about APR's request is in the works from the Courier. The Milk River nearly reaches the 6th Avenue Bridge just west of Glasgow on Saturday afternoon, April 21. Water levels are expected to rise to 29.8 feet on Monday April 30 in Glasgow. After a summer filled with drought followed by a heavy winter, which brought record-snowfall, the next curveball Mother Nature has in store for residents of Valley County is flooding. The flooding has been so worrisome throughout the state that Governor Bullock issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency on April 18. This executive order was issued for Valley County and other Hi-Line counties and authorizing the availability and utilization of necessary state government services, equipment and supplies. Bullock also established a Multi-Agency Coordinating Group in order to stay informed of the flooding situation statewide. Even with the nice spring weather and no precipitation, flood warnings continue along the Milk River at Tampico, Glasgow and Nashua, as well as Dodson, Malta and Saco in Phillips County. Meteorologist Alan Hickford with the Glasgow National Weather Service stated the Milk River in Glasgow is expected to reach moderate flood stage at 29.8 feet by Monday, April 30. Nashua is expected to reach minor flood stage at 20 feet within the next couple of days, reaching crest by April 30. Hickford commented on the many factors that determines when and how the river will rise, including how much water there is upstream, how much snow melt there is, which according to Hickford isn't that much anymore, and how much overflow the creek waters have. With the rising of the waters, Disaster Emergency Services closed Tampico Road, north from Tampico Road to Riverside Dr. and Canal Road from Bentonite to Brazil Creek Road due to flooding. They also stated Bentonite Road and Maag Road have washout conditions. Beil Road is closed, Shady Lane is closed, Vandalia Road is closed and water is off the road at Edwards Road at press time. DES has advised the public to use caution while traveling. When encountering flood waters during travel, turn around and don't drown. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles as it's difficult to determine how deep the water actually is from within the vehicle and then it can be difficult to escape the vehicle once it is washed downstream. For the latest flooding forecasts, contact the National Weather Service 24/7 at 406-228-4042. In order to raise funds for the upcoming PRCA rodeo this summer, the Glasgow Rodeo Committee will be hosting a Spring Fling fundraiser on Saturday, April 28, at the Ridgerunners. A free-will offering dinner will be served consisting of roast beef and mashed potatoes, starting at 5:30 p.m. There will also be a live and silent auction with items including a three-day admittance to the Montana Circuit Finals in Great Falls with two nights lodging, a gas top barbecue grill, and a caliber rifle from D&G as well as handmade quilts, among other great prizes. There will also be dancing with music provided by Badland Music Company, coming out of a 31-year retirement for this special occasion only. Band and committee member Myron Malnaa decided to get everyone together for a good cause while also giving the opportunity for the public to get out and have a good time after this long winter. The Glasgow Rodeo Committee is a 501c3 organization comprised of people who help promote and better the PRCA rodeo every year at the Northeast Montana Fair. This committee also provides scholarships to students, organizes high school rodeos as well as continues to make the rodeo a better place for contestants and audience members. According to Malnaa, last year the rodeo was the second highest paid two-day rodeo in Montana, as it brought in the best contestants and the best announcers in order to bring in the audience. In order to have a rodeo to be proud of and to have the community attend, the biggest and best entertainers, cowboys and cowgirls needed to participate and they needed to be enticed to participate. According to Malnaa, last year approximately 25 world champions participated. Malnaa stated the committee is grateful for the support of the Fair Board, individuals and businesses who have contributed over the years to ensure a bigger and better rodeo year after year. There are big changes in store for this year, including Cowboy Keno and the top entertainer of Wild Child. Malnaa stated the Fair Board has been very generous in assisting with the costs associated with making the rodeo bigger and better, however, every year more funds are needed to continue to elevate the event. The Spring Fling fundraiser is open to everyone of all ages. The VFW Post #3107 Auxiliary presented Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Mitch Willett a $200 donation to the Montana Hope Project on April 20. Every year the auxiliary finds causes to donate to when they have extra funds. This year, the Montana Hope Project was considered due to auxiliary member Sharon Lagerquist's previous relationship with the project. As a result of her work with the Sheridan County Sheriff's Office as well as the Valley County Sheriff's Office, she has been able to see first-hand the assistance these types of funds can make in helping children and their families. The Montana Hope Project is a non-profit organization funded by tax-deductible charitable contributions. It does not receive tax support and is not associated with any national wish-granting organization. Its goal is to make dreams come true for critically-ill children throughout the state. The conditions the children face normally require medical intervention and are physically, emotionally and financially draining for the children and their families. The Montana Hope Project is a way for children and their families to escape daily life and enjoy life instead of worrying. Since Willett has been with the Montana Highway Patrol Office, three Valley County area children and their families have participated in the Montana Hope Project. There have been a total of 469 wishes granted since 1984 with seven wishes granted so far this year statewide. For more information on the Montana Hope Project, visit montanahope.org or contact Willett at 406-939-4006. Charlotte (Waber) Claypool, a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, 89, passed away peacefully into her Heavenly Father's loving arms on Wednesday, April 18, 2018. Services will be held in Hinsdale Thursday, April 26, at 11 a.m., at the Hinsdale High School. Burial will be in the Hillview Cemetery with a luncheon to follow at the Willy Nelson Legion Hall Post #45. She was born Feb. 2, 1929, to Oswald and Nina Waber in Glasgow, Mont. She was an only child, but had many stories about her adventures with her cousins and neighborhood friends. She graduated from Hinsdale High School in 1947. She then traveled to Minnesota to attend a business school. Upon returning to Hinsdale, she married Robert Claypool on March 21, 1948, and they enjoyed 70 eventful years of marriage. To this union, three children were born, Diane, Jane and Duane. She worked at the Hinsdale Post Office for several years, and then started a 30-year career with the Hinsdale School District as the clerk. She was dedicated to the financial structure of the school district and earned the praise of several superintendents and board members that worked with her at HHS. The successful final auditing of her "books" at the end of June was a cause for celebration each year. She also kept the books for the grocery store they owned and was treasurer for several local organizations. She was a superb seamstress and volunteered countless hours as a 4-H leader teaching many young members how to sew. She designed her own wedding dress and sewed numerous prom dresses and clothes for her daughters. She also helped construct both of her daughter's wedding dresses. She was an active member of the United Methodist Women and the Hinsdale Methodist Church and American Legion Auxiliary. She was a former Worthy Matron and longtime treasurer of the Riverview Chapter of the order of Eastern Star. Both she and Bob were staunch supporters of the school and the town of Hinsdale. Whenever there was an all-school reunion or 4th of July activity, you would see them helping out, selling tickets or fireworks. She and Bob enjoyed their retirement to the fullest by traveling all over the United States, Europe and cruising in Alaska and the Panama Canal. They wintered in Yuma, Ariz., for several years, enjoying the warm weather and making new friends. She never knew a stranger, because if you talked to her for just a few minutes, she would glean all of your personal history and be considered a friend by the end of the conversation. She also knew how to get strategic information from her grandchildren. Her greatest joy came from her family. She was a wonderful cook and so enjoyed hosting many Christmases for the family. No one could make turkey dressing or cinnamon rolls as delicious as grandma's. She insisted that all Christmas gatherings had to include the annual family photo. She was preceded in death by her parents, Oswald and Nina Waber; and one son-in-law, Jack Frye. She is survived by her husband, Robert; three children, Diane (Mark) Ball, Jane Frye (Mark Stiver) and Duane (Laurie) Claypool; six grandchildren, Shawn (Mariah) Ball, Justin (Jamie) Ball, Jeremy (Marissa) Frye, Jason (Kristy) Frye, Bryan Claypool and Anna Claypool; and ten great-grandchildren, Brooke and Cade Ball, Logan, Colter, Taylor and Bridger Ball, Ethan and Kaleb Frye, McKinley and Piper Frye. Dolores L. Wentland, age 71, of Glasgow, passed away Sunday, April 15, 2018, in Billings, Mont. Memorial services will be Thursday, April 26, at 1 p.m., at the Evangelical Church in Glasgow with a luncheon to follow. Burial will be in the Highland Cemetery. She was born in Holyoke, Mass., on Oct. 24, 1946. She was later adopted by her loving parents, Amos and Charlotte (Frischkorn) Carrignan. She was raised in New Haven, Conn., and later moved to Stanford, Conn., where she attended high school. The family spent many wonderful days at Candlewood Lake and Cape Cod. She and her cousins, John, Susan and Dick Hendrie, practically grew up on the beach. She met the love of her life, Harold Wentland, at Jamestown College in North Dakota. They were married Sept. 18, 1966, in Bozeman, Mont. She knew that nursing was in her blood and pursued a nursing career. She and Harold raised two wonderful children, Eric was born in 1970 and Nikki was born in 1972. After the children were in school, Dolores returned to nursing. She worked at Glendive Medical Center for 12 years. While living in Glendive, her mother moved in with the family. When Charlotte suddenly needed kidney dialysis, Dolores took on that responsibility too. After the family moved to Glasgow, she worked at Valley View Nursing Home for over 24 years. In 2016, she suffered cardiac arrest and spent many months in Billings at Advanced Care and Aspen Meadows where she received excellent care. She returned home to Glasgow in December. Harold and Home Health Care provided loving support. She was preceded in death by her parents and her son, Eric. She is survived by her husband, Harold, of Glasgow; and one daughter, Nicole R. Peterson of Billings. English French Excellent availability of thermal installations in France Revenue up 6% The excellent availability of the plants in France, the additional remuneration related to the fume treatment facilities and the good performance of Brazil have resulted in a 6% rise in revenue in the first quarter of 2018 (+5% excluding the impact of changes in fuel prices), which reached 104.2 million over the period, compared with 98.8 million in the first quarter of 2017. 1st quarter 20181 1st quarter 20171 Change (%) France - Thermal Biomass 91.2 85.9 6% France - Solar Power2 9.8 10.4 -6% Brazil 1.5 1.0 39% Holding company and other 1.7 1.5 13% Total 104.2 98.8 6% 1. Unaudited figures. 2. Including Spain and Italy. Frederic Moyne, Chief Executive Officer, said: "After a strong 2017, our plants are continuing to record sound performances in this first quarter. Our Galion 2 plant is now supplying steam to the adjacent sugar refinery, which has allowed the sugar campaign to begin on schedule, and should inject its first kWh into the Martinique electricity network in the coming days, with the aim of commissioning the plant at the end of the first half of 2018. On Reunion Island, we are continuing the IED work at Le Gol and Bois-Rouge and plan to launch the test phase of the Saint-Pierre combustion turbine." France - Thermal Biomass: very good performances from the plants Revenue for the Thermal Biomass business in France rose 6% compared with the first quarter of 2017, to 91.2 million, including a contribution of 0.7 million thanks to the change in fuel prices. Stripping out the impact of changes in fuel prices, revenue for the quarter rose by 5% compared with the first quarter of 2017, underpinned by the very good performances from the plants and the additional remuneration related to the fume treatment facilities for the ALG-A and ABR-2 plants as part of the work to bring the facilities into line with the standards of the IED Directive. The availability rate reached 91.5% in the first quarter of 2018, despite ongoing tension with the unions, compared with 91.6% in the first quarter of the previous year. The duty rate at the Le Galion combustion turbine remained high at 31% compared with 28% in the first quarter of 2017. The electricity production of the thermal power plants reached 485 GWh, compared with 526 GWh in the first quarter of 2017, due to scheduled shutdowns at our units and a drop in the duty rate of the base-load plants, particularly in Guadeloupe. France - Solar Power: performance slightly down, due to exceptional rainfall on Reunion Island Revenue from the Solar Power business amounted to 9.8 million, down 6% compared with the first quarter of 2017 due to exceptionally high rainfall on Reunion Island (storms and Cyclone Berguitta). Production reached 21 GWh in the first quarter of the year compared with 23 GWh in the first quarter of 2017. Brazil: annual maintenance of the two plants during the period between sugar harvests Albioma Rio Pardo Termoeletrica and Albioma Codora Energia carried out their annual maintenance under very good conditions during the first three months of the year. Albioma Codora Energia continued to produce in January, thanks to the excess stock of bagasse from 2017. The business recorded revenue of 1.5 million over the period (compared with 1.0 million in the first quarter of 2017). Mauritius: scheduled annual maintenance and accidental outage at a plant The availability of Mauritian plants is 83% (compared with 99.4% in the first quarter of 2017), due to the annual shutdown of the OTEO La Baraque plant and an accidental outage at the same plant. Production is down 20% to 267 GWh (336 GWh in the first quarter of 2017). Confirmation of objectives The Group confirms its 2018 guidance for EBITDA (158 to 166 million) and net income, Group share (37 to 42 million). Next on the agenda: Annual General Meeting, 30 May 2018 at 3pm. About Albioma An independent responsible energy producer, Albioma is committed to the energy transition thanks to biomass and photovoltaics. The Group, which is established in Overseas France, Mauritius and Brazil, has developed a unique partnership for 20 years with the sugar industry, to produce renewable energy from bagasse, a fibrous residue from sugar cane. Albioma is also the leading generator of photovoltaic power overseas where it constructs and operates innovative projects with integrated storage capabilities. For further information, please visit www.albioma.com Investor contact Julien Gauthier+33 (0)1 47 76 67 00 Media contact Charlotte Neuvy+33 (0)1 47 76 66 65presse@albioma.com Albioma shares are listed on Euronext Paris (sub B) and eligible for the deferred settlement service (SRD) and PEA-PME plans. ISIN FR0000060402 - Ticker: ABIO Washington, D.C., April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Hydropower Association (NHA) today released the 2018 Pumped Storage Report, which details both the promise and the challenges facing the U.S. pumped storage hydropower (PSH) industry. PSH, the nations largest source of grid-scale energy storage, can help solve some of the most urgent problems facing the electric power sector today. Despite ensuring that electric supply securely matches electric demand and in real-time, market, policy and regulatory burdens continue to hinder its growth. The Report finds that some of PSHs key attributes, such as grid reliability and the integration of additional renewable resources, are not adequately compensated within the current environmental and power markets and regulatory constructs. For example, wholesale power market services such as frequency regulation, ramping and spinning reserves are not valued in many of markets today, or valued in one independent system operators market rules and product definitions, but not in another. In many cases, these are typically real-time or day-ahead markets and there are no long-term market products where a bulk storage project can attract investors seeking revenue certainty through long-term power purchase agreements or defined value streams. PSH project developers also face is a lengthy licensing process. Currently it can take up to ten years before a project to be licensed, built and become operational. In todays fast-moving energy sector, such a long lead time could render a project obsolete before it is permitted. As the need for increased grid reliability and flexibility increases, we need to take a closer look at the market and regulatory policies that undervalue the services that pumped storage provides, said Jeff Leahey, NHA Deputy Executive Director. Pumped storage can sustainably grow by 35 GW, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Developing pumped storage, particularly in areas with significant deployments of variable or intermittent generation would significantly improve grid reliability while further reducing the reliance on fossil-fueled generation. For pumped storage to fully realize its growth potential, it requires market policies that appropriately value its grid services and that provide the certainty needed to attract investment. In addition to outlining the challenges facing the PSH industry, the Report provides a series of recommendations to guide the energy industry, regulators, and policy makers. Market and Policy Improvements Develop market products that allow flexible resources to be compensated for providing services that help meet electric grid requirements, including fast responding systems that provide critical capacity during key energy needs. Develop market mechanisms that evaluate energy storage technologies based on their abilities to provide key supporting services to the overall electric grid, taking into consideration project lifecycle costs, performance and energy storage system degradation. Develop market mechanisms and products that recognize the potential energy reliability and security role PSH plays in the domestic electric grid. Regulatory Improvements Establish an alternative, streamlined licensing process for low-impact pumped storage hydropower, such as off-channel, modular, or closed-loop projects. In regions without competitive wholesale (energy or capacity) markets, require consideration of energy storage resources in state integrated long-term planning processes; including requiring equal consideration with traditional resources. Develop standard evaluation criterion for all forms of energy storage so that different types of energy storage can easily be compared and evaluated. About Pumped Storage Hydropower PSH, can act as a water battery and help alleviate the tandem challenge of integrating a growing amount of variable renewable resources into the grid while maintaining reliability. It generates power the same way a traditional hydropower plant does, by using a turbine and generator to transform the kinetic energy of falling water into electricity, but with an added feature. A PSH plant can pump water back up hill and store it for later use. That gives PSH the flexibility to inject power into the grid or to absorb it when needed. Both functions are becoming increasingly important for grid stability and reliability. Today, the United States has 42 existing PSH projects with over 22,000 megawatts of storage capacity, representing more than 97% of all installed capacity of energy storage California: PSH Pairs Well with Wind and Solar To illustrate how environmental market policies are effecting PSH, the Report highlights California, which has had to navigate the challenges that come with the rapid deployment of renewable energy. The states current Renewable Portfolio Standard calls for renewable energy to meet 50% of its electrical needs by 2030. The California legislature also is considering a bill that would raise that target to 100% by 2045. California already has 10,000 megawatts of grid-connected solar power, the equivalent of about five large nuclear plants, and expects another 4,000 megawatts to come online by 2020. California is a leader in renewable energy, but managing the integration of increasing amounts of solar and wind generation has become a more acute challenge for grid operators. For instance, solar panels can generate more power than can be used during the middle of the day, but then leave a gap that needs to be filled quickly as the sun sets just as the evening peak load begins to ramp up, which PSH is well suited to address. The excess solar power can be used to pump water back up hill where it can be stored until it is needed to produce power to meet peak evening needs. PSH can play a key role in Californias energy mix, as the need for flexible assets to integrate variable renewable energy generation technologies. For more information, and to access the 2018 Pumped Storage Report, go to www.hydro.org/waterpower/pumped-storage/ The National Hydropower Association (NHA) is a nonprofit association dedicated exclusively to promoting the growth of clean, renewable hydropower and marine energy. www.hydro.org Attachments "You don't need a bunch of ladies guarding men." Those words, uttered by Louisiana state Rep. Kenny Havard at a recent hearing at the state Capitol, stung me, and I am sure thousands of other women corrections professionals reacted the same way. However, and more importantly, it reminded me that in spite of the progress women have made in corrections, we still have work to do. The irony was not lost on me that such a statement was made in March, during National Women's History month.As the executive deputy secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and president of the national Association of Women Executives in Corrections (AWEC), I am shocked by the commenter's inaccurate perception of women in the corrections field. AWEC and most of our male counterparts, who are true professionals, recognize, value and appreciate what women bring to the table. We firmly believe that the presence of women enhances the safety, operations, communication and security within corrections' organizational culture and that the field is strengthened by women and men working together within the professional norms of our society and culture.How can it be that in 2018 we still have lawmakers so ill-informed about the growing role that women play in the field of criminal justice? In Pennsylvania, 25 percent of our corrections staff, 29 percent of our managers and 40 percent of our superintendents are female, and Gov. Tom Wolf, like many of his counterparts in other states, is working to increase those numbers. There's plenty of agreement, in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, that it should be your ability, not your anatomy, that determines your destiny.How could it be that we are still expected by some only to take "women's" jobs or to believe that there is no place for women in a corrections setting, or that the only reason corrections wages should be raised is to attract more men and push out female staff, as Rep. Havard advocates? There's a better reason to raise wages: to recognize that corrections is as much a part of maintaining public safety as any law-enforcement agency.Pay equity is needed for women, who continue to demonstrate the value of their leadership in the corrections field not only by their ideas but also by their ability to deal more effectively with potentially violent situations. To someone who says they would rather have men respond to a prison fight than women, my response is this: If you had women working in that situation you may not have had a fight in the first place, because women are generally more skilled at de-escalating tensions before they boil over.Indeed, research has shown that women working behind the fence have a positive impact on reducing violence in prison. It's time for non-believers to wake up. What a slap in the face to all of the women who serve as corrections officers, non-uniform staff, prison superintendents and department administrators, and especially to the women who have lost their lives in the line of duty to serve and protect the public.We would do well to acknowledge that there are no gender lines when we all serve in support of a common mission. So, thank you, Rep. Havard, for reminding us that we still have work to do. I suggest you spend a day inside a prison with one of your brave public servants protecting the citizens of Louisiana -- and make it a female. Honor system Conflicted Interests Republican state Sen. Darwin Booher of Michigan initially abstained from voting on a 2015 bill that proposed a $12,000 raise for circuit court judges, writing that it could be perceived as providing a benefit to an individual to whom I am personally related his daughter, 49th Circuit Judge Kimberly Booher.But a year later, the senatorvote on the raises when a House version came back to the Senate. The bill passed and became law, giving his daughter and her peers a salary boost.Booher is not the only Michigan lawmaker who voted on bills that could potentially benefit them or their close relatives. A Center for Public Integrity analysis of more than 50,000 pages of official legislative journals logging each days actions found six other Michigan legislators who voted on bills even when they publicly noted their own conflicts of interest.Currently, the penalties for voting when a conflict of interest exists are modest and seemingly unused. Michigans Senate bans members from voting on bills in which they have a private or professional interest. Violators may be expelled by a committee of fellow legislators, though any actions taken would not amount to criminal charges, according to the chambers rule book. And not a single senator has been reprimanded under the rule in at least a decade, according to the Senate majority leaders spokeswoman Amber McCann.The House gives representatives the option of using a conflict as a reason to abstain yet does not prevent the officials from voting.But a new state bill introduced this session would make voting on such conflicts of interest a felony punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and as much as four years in prison, which would make Michigan stricter than some states.Legislators should be held to the highest standard, and be fully transparent about financial matters and their motivations, wrote Democratic Rep. Scott Dianda after introducing the measure in March. Michiganders want to know that the legislators they send to be their voice at the state Capitol are not using their position to enrich themselves or their family members.But Diandas bill and another measure that seeks more disclosures of legislators personal financial ties may not win enough support to pass. Diandas bill has been referred to the ethics committee.Some officials say conflicts of interest are not a concern to their constituents, and the efforts to regulate them are just a ploy used for political attacks. Other officials and watchdogs in Michigan say the measure falls short in fixing the transparency and accountability issues contaminating the Great Lake States Legislature.Right now its on the lawmakers to police themselves, said Craig Mauger, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that chronicles the role of money in state politics.Currently we have no idea what sources of outside income lawmakers have or what major investments they have or what organization they may be affiliated with outside of their legislative duties, he added.Michigan scored an F in the Center for Public Integritys 2015 State Integrity Investigation , done in partnership with Global Integrity, and ranked worst in the country in the comprehensive assessment of state government accountability and transparency.Part of the reason Michigan fared so poorly: It is one of just two states that doesnt require lawmakers to file financial disclosures that detail the ties that could lead to conflicts of interest.(In Idaho, the other state lacking disclosures, lawmakers shot down legislation in January to require them.)Such reports are commonly required for elected officials from U.S. Congress down to local offices. In the case of state legislators, who frequently hold down other jobs when not in session, the forms typically require the annual filings to include a lawmakers employers, occupation or job title and additional income or business associations.In Michigan, though, the only window the public has into conflicts of interest is when legislators raise their hands to disclose them.From 2009 through 2017, the Michigan House voted on more than 10,000 bills, according to legislative journals that record formal actions and roll call votes. A total of 25 members disclosed their own potential conflicts of interest at least 38 times. But five of those representatives still voted on the bills in which they had noted a conflict, according to the Centers analysis.Democratic Rep. Jim Ananich abstained from voting on a bill that would impact teacher pensions in 2012, but then voted on the same bill two months later. Ananich, a former teacher and now the Senate minority leader, wrote in a statement that he abstained from voting on the bill out of an abundance of caution.He later consulted with the caucus legal counsel who advised him this was not a conflict of interest, Ananich said."At the time, there were 80,000 teachers in Michigan, including thousands in my district, who needed their representative to speak up for them on this issue, he said. I have long supported increasing transparency in the Michigan Legislature. I have signed on to personal financial disclosure legislation and have offered up my own finances to the press in the past.Three other House members at the time also abstained from voting on the same bill the first time around and later voted, legislative journals show. The three, who are no longer in office, did not respond to requests for comment.It appears only three senators disclosed possible conflicts, doing so seven times amid more than 5,900 bills during the same period. Two of those senators voted anyway, according to the Centers analysis of legislative journals, though neither has faced disciplinary action.Booher, who ultimately voted on his daughters raise, did not return calls for comment, nor did his daughter.The other senator, Republican Mike Nofs, accounted for five of the seven self-disclosures the Center for Public Integrity identified in the Senate. He voted on a 2011 bill he said could directly affect his retirement.But, Nofs said, the multiple times he voted on it were procedural votes that affected when the prospective law would take effect, not whether it would pass. It has nothing to do with voting on the substance of the bill, he told the Center.The Michigan Constitution requires two-thirds of the members of each chamber to approve a bill for it to go into effect immediately after the governor signs it. If the vote fails to win that much support, the bill goes into effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session.Over on the House side, Democratic Rep. David LaGrand led his chamber in self-disclosures. In 2017, his first year in office, the attorney and business owner from Grand Rapids abstained from voting on all four conflicts of interest that he disclosed.But he said if legislators dont choose to come forward, there is no way for the public to know if any of the 110 members in the House or the 38 state senators in Michigan are voting on laws that would benefit them.I am voting on how the government spends its money and that gives me a massive opportunity for self enrichment all the time, LaGrand said.Indeed not all Michigan legislators disclose their conflicts when they should. The Michigan Campaign Finance Network teamed up with Bridge Magazine in a 2016 investigation that found multiple examples of legislators who did not report their own conflicts.The investigation highlighted the owner of a septic system installation business who sponsored legislation to waive seasonal vehicle weight limits for those doing emergency septic work. A real estate management company president sponsored a bill that would make it harder to sue landlords about bed bug infestations.And Republican Rep. Eric Leutheuser, co-owner of Leutheuser Buick Pontiac GMC, introduced a bill in 2016 that would require the state to pay for some auto dealer training programs.When Leutheuser discussed the bill before the House Committee on Regulatory Reform, the committees vice chair at the time, Republican Rep. Ken Yonker, asked why taxpayers should pay for such industry-specific training.Leutheuser declined to comment for this story, but video from the May 18, 2016, hearing shows Leutheuser shrugging, unable to answer why taxpayers should pay to train his auto dealers.Would you take my industry up so I dont have to pay for mine, too? Yonker said with a smile during the hearing.But, as first reported by Bridge Magazine and the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, he had already done so. In 2013, Yonker, founder and then-owner of Yonker's Landscaping Inc., introduced a bill to eliminate certification requirements and fees for landscape architects.The bill died in committee.A later version of Leutheusers bill ultimately passed stripped of the state-funded training for car dealers.Eric was trying to have the taxpayers give him a benefit, public money to pay for their licensing and training. I just thought that was ludicrous, Yonker said in a recent phone interview. What I was doing was repealing an unnecessary regulation that was being a burden on the industry.Yonker, who today works as a drainage commissioner in the same district he represented in the House from 2010 to 2017, said Leutheuser was the only representative who attempted to benefit from his position as a lawmaker while Yonker was in office.We have checks and balances in place. I dont think its so hard to figure out whats a conflict of interest and whats not, he said. To go out there and start making felonies out of that is absolutely ridiculous.And, he added, hes never heard from constituents about such conflicts.It is more of an internal concern than it is a public concern. People dont even follow their representatives close enough to know if they would be doing anything like that, he said, referring to members voting for self-enrichment. It is more those that are politically involved that would pick up on that.Michigan isnt the only state dealing with conflicts of interest among legislators. In December, the Center for Public Integrity and The Associated Press published Conflicted Interests, an investigation that analyzed the disclosure reports from 6,933 lawmakers nationwide and found numerous examples of state lawmakers around the country who have introduced and supported legislation that directly and indirectly helped their own businesses, their employers or their personal finances.In nearly every state, legislators can abstain or ask to be recused from voting on legislation if they have a conflict and many states require them to step aside for votes, if not discussion, on the bills. But Oregon and Utah require lawmakers to vote if they are present, regardless of any potential conflicts of interest, out of concern that frequent abstentions would keep their chambers from working properly.Michigan is considering adding disclosures that would make the information about possible conflicts more visible to the public.Democratic Sen. Steve Bieda introduced a bill in January 2017 that would require elected officials to file yearly financial disclosures but the bill has not gained much traction.LaGrand, who supports the concept of adding a disclosure requirement, explained that lawmakers often rely on staffers to identify conflicts and flag them for their bosses because of the sheer volume of bills. But if Michigan required lawmakers to file financial disclosures every year, these conflicts of interests would be more obvious.The more we can shed light on this, and the more we can get money out of politics, the better our democracy is going to be, LaGrand said.If I dont want to be honest about my finances, I shouldnt run for office. Florida Gov. Rick Scott won a big legal battle Wednesday, but the fight over voting rights for felons in his state is far from over.Scott was under a court order to revise the state's system for restoring voting rights. Currently, former offenders in Florida have to wade through a difficult and protracted clemency process, which a federal judge last month deemed "fatally flawed." He gave the state until April 26 to revamp its process.Hours before that deadline, however, an appellate court blocked the injunction."The governor has broad discretion to grant and deny clemency, even when the applicable regime lacks any standarrds," the court ruled.The issue won't end there. In November, voters could approve a ballot initiative that would automatically restore voting rights for felons -- except those convicted of murder or sexual offenses."The remedy is in the hands of the people," said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.Florida remains the central battleground in the fight to restore voting rights for felons. The issue has been talked about for years by liberals and libertarians, but it's gained new momentum lately and is close to becoming a default position for Democrats. It's part of the party's pushback against Republican voting measures, such as voter ID requirements, that Democrats believe are too restrictive or even suppressive."The policy of disenfranchising residents is unique among industrial countries. Other countries don't eliminate voting rights for citizens, even if they're incarcerated," says Nicole D. Porter, director of advocacy for the Sentencing Project, a progressive criminal justice reform group.Voting rights restoration is also in keeping with the broader criminal justice reform effort to ease the transition of former prisoners back into society."It's just not a credible argument to say that voting presents a threat to public safety," says Scott Novakowski, associate counsel at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, which is pushing for restoration of voting rights for felons, including those currently serving time. "There's no justification for this practice. It's having a massive impact on communities of color."The stakes are high. Nationwide, 6 million people with felony convictions are disenfranchised, including 4.7 million who have completed their prison sentences. The Florida ban alone affects 1.6 million, or 10 percent of the state's voting-age population. Florida is one of 33 states that doesn't automatically restore voting rights to ex-felons. (Two, Maine and Vermont, don't strip felons of voting rights, even while they're incarcerated.)Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order restoring voting rights to felons who have been paroled. Sixteen other states allow people who are on parole or probation to vote."It is unconscionable to deny voting rights to New Yorkers who have paid their debt and have re-entered society," Cuomo said.The chair of the New York Republican Party, Ed Cox, disagrees, calling Cuomo's action "liberal lunacy" and an "outrageous power grab."Roger Clegg, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank that studies race and ethnicity, doesn't think felons should be barred from voting forever, but, he says their rights shouldn't be restored automatically because "then you lose the opportunity to incentivize people to turn over a new leaf."Nebraska GOP Gov. Pete Ricketts used the same argument last year when he vetoed legislation that would have abolished the state's two-year waiting period for ex-felons to vote.Requiring convicted felons to wait before allowing them to vote provides an incentive to maintain a clean record and avoid subsequent convictions, Ricketts wrote in his veto letter.Porter, of the Sentencing Project, attributes Democrats' increased interest in the issue to a 2016 Maryland law that restored voting rights for felons on parole and probation. The Democratic-dominated legislature passed it over GOP Gov. Larry Hogan's veto. Then, before leaving office earlier this year, former Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe restored voting rights to 170,000 felons who had served their time."He had to adjust his procedures after a court ruling, granting them individually, but he delivered in a way that impressed Democrats and African-Americans in particular," says Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.Racial disparities are often highlighted by proponents of voting rights restoration. In Kentucky, one in 11 voting-age adults is disenfranchised by the ban on felon voting, but that number jumps to one in four among black residents."New Jersey unfortunately has the greatest disparity in incarcerations," says Novakowski of the state's Institute for Social Justice. "A black adult is 12 times more likely to be incarcerated than a white adult. This idea of tying the criminal justice system to the right to vote is furthering this inequality and reproducing it within the electorate."But Clegg, the Center for Equal Opportunity president, says that if bans on felons voting were racially motivated, they would have been struck down by the courts long ago."The reason it makes sense for felons to lose the right to vote for some period of time is that if you've broken the law, you forfeit the right to have a say in what the law is for everyone else," Clegg says.Given Republicans' dominance of most state governments, it's unlikely that voting rights will be restored for felons all over the country anytime soon. But polls indicate that a strong majority of voters in Florida support this year's ballot measure, and Porter predicts more governors will follow Cuomo's lead."What Cuomo has done is significant," says Porter. "Certainly we'll not stop with him." "Illinois government did work. But then we had bad luck with a couple of governors." former Gov. Jim Edgar "Pat Quinn is not the folksy, bumbling fool he'd like us to think he is." Bruce Rauner, campaigning in 2014 "[House Speaker Michael] Madigan's got an empire in the state of Illinois. He's led the corruption. And he's very powerful." Gov. Bruce Rauner However bad you think government might be, Bruce Rauner tells an audience, its worse. Rauner, a Republican governor seeking reelection, has plenty of reasons to portray his state as fundamentally broken. Its a way to explain why he hasnt been able to make the big changes in Illinois he promised when he ran four years ago. But its also a great line for a knowing audience, and the crowd of call center workers in Moline, on the Mississippi River, laughs appreciatively.Illinois voters have endured a lot from their state government. It hasnt been just one recession or one administration thats done the damage, either. Its been nearly a generation of political upheaval and dysfunction at the state Capitol. Springfield has not been working for them, and I think voters, residents of Illinois are frustrated and angry. They should be, Rauner tells me after his Moline event. Always unbalanced budgets. Not paying pensions. Not growing the economy and creating good-paying jobs. Massive corruption, cronyism and patronage. And four of my nine predecessors have gone to prison. Its a broken system.Nearly everyone agrees with Rauner that the system is broken, but theres no consensus about why the system is failing. Pick your favorite culprit -- legislators, unions, pensions -- and you may have a case. But the one thing that current and former elected officials, academics and Springfield insiders cite most is perhaps the most painfully obvious: Illinois government did work, says former Gov. Jim Edgar, a Republican who presided over what now looks to be the states heyday in the 1990s. But then we had bad luck with a couple of governors.Illinois governors are powerful. They have many executive tools at their disposal that their counterparts in other states dont possess. As chief executives, they have the biggest say on the states financial situation and the biggest platform to tend to the states economy. But over the last two decades, public confidence, financial stability and economic growth in Illinois have all suffered.During that time, Illinois has had four governors: two Republicans and two Democrats. George Ryan came first, starting in 1999, and despite substantial achievements in Springfield, erased the publics trust in state government with a corruption scandal that landed him in prison. Rod Blagojevich swept into power in the wake of Ryans scandal, promising reform and renewal, but exited in disgrace after an FBI arrest and subsequent impeachment trial, leaving a state woefully unprepared for the Great Recession. Illinoisans breathed a sigh of relief when Pat Quinn stepped in, but the relief died quickly, as a major tax increase failed to steady Illinois finances, and low-level patronage scandals undercut his reputation as a reformer. Rauner capitalized on Quinns unpopularity and defeated him in 2014. But Rauner saw his own standing collapse last year when rank-and-file GOP lawmakers abandoned his cause after a two-year budget standoff.The cumulative effect is that the states credit rating teeters on the edge of junk bond status. Officials have only recently started dealing with a $16.7 billion backlog of unpaid day-to-day bills. Longer term, Illinois is $129 billion short of what it needs to pay its pension obligations. Only a tiny fraction of residents believes the state is heading in the right direction.Getting Illinois back on track will require years of calm attention to rebuilding public trust, balancing budgets and practicing the neglected art of governing. The governor has to be the fiscal leader. He has to be the one who worries about not going too far into debt, Edgar says. The legislature likes to spend money and it doesnt want to raise taxes. Theyll blame you. Thats OK, though. Thats why you get the house, the car and the plane. The fact is, he says, good government is boring.But politics in Illinois has been anything but boring.Twenty years ago, Illinois was humming along. Its median household income stood at nearly $64,000 in todays dollars -- more than $6,300 above the national average and higher than its been at any time since 2000. Edgar handed his successor a surplus of more than $1 billion in state revenue. Bond ratings had been upgraded a handful of times during his tenure, a first in Illinois history. Lots of people grumbled at Edgars fiscal austerity, but he left office at the end of his eight-year tenure more popular than ever, with a 60 percent approval rating.It was hard to see at the time, but the start of Illinois downward slide came with the election of George Ryan as governor in 1998. A Republican pharmacist from Kankakee, Ryan was an imposing figure with deep-set eyes, a gravelly voice and large hands that barely budged when you shook them. He rose through the ranks in Springfield as a legislator, House speaker, lieutenant governor and secretary of state. When Edgar decided to retire, Ryan was the logical choice for Republicans. His term as governor extended the GOPs winning streak for that office to 26 years.Ryan might have gone down in history as one of Illinois greatest governors, if he hadnt landed in prison instead. He pushed through a much-needed but pork-heavy $12 billion public works program, expanded Chicagos convention center and its OHare Airport, orchestrated a deal to expand riverboat casino gambling, called for an end to the U.S. embargo of Cuba and visited Fidel Castro, opened a new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, and won international accolades for emptying death row by commuting more than 160 death sentences in his final days of office.But thats not what Illinoisans remember him for. Instead, they associate him with a sprawling bribes-for-licenses scandal that dogged Ryan from his days as secretary of state. It sprang from an investigation over a fiery traffic crash in 1994 that killed five children because an Illinois trucker failed to heed warnings that his taillight was loose. The truck driver, it turned out, had bribed someone who worked for Ryan to get his Illinois commercial drivers license. (In Illinois, the secretary of state administers drivers license facilities.)To advance his career, Ryan not only developed political skills that helped him cut deals on big-ticket issues but also relied on cozy relations with contractors and a de facto patronage army of workers at the secretary of states office. Corruption allegations followed Ryan to the governors office and clouded most of his term. His approval ratings plummeted from 50 percent in 1999 to 27 percent a year later. Ryan defiantly denied any wrongdoing, but his standing would never recover.From his weakened position, Ryan had to guide the state through an unprecedented fiscal crisis after the 2001 terrorist attacks. When the books closed on his final budget, Illinois had posted back-to-back deficits of more than $1 billion. An early retirement package that Ryan pushed to trim the states payrolls proved far more popular than he or lawmakers anticipated -- 11,000 employees jumped at the chance, compared to the 7,400 that Ryan and lawmakers expected. That drove up fiscal pressure on the states already-stressed pension funds.Nobody was surprised when Ryan was indicted on a variety of federal corruption charges nearly a year after he left office. He served six and a half years in prison and was released in 2013. But the scandal that tainted his administration would open the door to a successor who would not only land in prison, but would also become a national pariah.Rod Blagojevich became instantly infamous when the FBI arrested the sitting Illinois governor in his running clothes in the morning darkness of Dec. 9, 2008. The same feds who had patiently stalked Ryan for years said they had no choice but to arrest Blagojevich after listening to seven weeks of wiretaps of his phones and office. Blagojevich, they claimed, was about to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the newly elected president from Illinois, Barack Obama.Illinois lawmakers quickly impeached and removed Blagojevich. But the disgraced governor launched a media roadshow while he awaited trial. His cartoonish claims of innocence failed to keep him out of prison -- there were, after all, lots and lots of wiretaps -- but the spectacle undercut Illinois reputation just months after Obama won the White House.Even before Blagojevichs self-immolation, he had wreaked havoc and brought long-lasting damage to Illinois government. To make a clean break from the Ryan years, Blagojevich had brought in out-of-state advisers and political neophytes to run his administration. They quickly ran into a big problem: Illinois government still had not recovered from the 2001 recession, and there was precious little money to pay for ambitious programs.So Blagojevichs team came up with a brazen idea: a $10 billion pension bond sale. While the state might have conceivably saved money in the deal, in reality it was an elaborate way to skip $2.7 billion in otherwise required pension payments. Lawmakers went along with the idea anyway. The gimmick not only deprived the pension systems of needed cash, it also skewed the states budgets for two years. When the third year came, there was no money built in to the budget for pension payments. So Blagojevich and the Democratic-controlled legislature opted to take a pension holiday for another two years. That meant theyd pay only half of their expected contribution, shorting the system another $6.8 billion.Meanwhile, Blagojevich quickly made enemies with the leader of his own party in Springfield, House Speaker Michael J. Madigan. Shortly after Blagojevichs reelection, the governor suggested switching from a sales tax to a gross receipts tax. Madigan, who opposed the idea, embarrassed the governor by quickly putting it up for consideration in the House, where it failed to get a single vote.On top of that, federal prosecutors and local reporters started to look into Blagojevichs fundraising tactics, especially because so many of the people Blagojevich appointed to state boards and commissions had contributed tens of thousands of dollars to the governors campaign.Two months before his arrest, Blagojevich had few friends left, in Springfield or in the state as a whole. The Chicago Tribune reported in October 2008 that only 13 percent of Illinoisans viewed him favorably. FBI wiretaps showed that the feeling was mutual. I [expletive] busted my ass and pissed people off and gave your grandmother a free [expletive] ride on a bus. OK? I gave your [expletive] baby a chance to have health care, the governor vented, as he ticked off some of his legislative achievements. And what do I get for that? Only 13 percent of you all out there think Im doing a good job. So [expletive] all of you.Before Blagojevichs removal, few people would have envisioned Pat Quinn as governor. For decades, the Democrat had been in and around state government, but mostly as a rabble rouser. In the early 1980s, he led a successful effort to reduce the size of the Illinois House by a third, but then he bounced from office to office. He won election for a single term as state treasurer, lost a bid to oust Ryan as secretary of state and then ran successfully for lieutenant governor on the same ticket as Blagojevich. (At the time, Illinois gubernatorial candidates did not pick their running mates.)Once Quinn became governor, he did a lot of heavy lifting, especially on budget-related matters, that Blagojevich refused to do. But he had to do it in the throes of the Great Recession.Months after assuming office, Quinn reported that the state would face an $11.6 billion shortfall over the next year and a half if lawmakers didnt take drastic action. That came at a moment when the backlog of unpaid bills had risen to $8 billion. The legislature cut spending by $2 billion, gave Quinn the power to cut $1 billion more, relied on $1.8 billion in federal stimulus money and authorized $3.7 billion in short-term borrowing to make that years pension payment. It wasnt enough, and the situation kept getting worse.When Quinn ran for a full term in 2010, he campaigned on raising the states income tax by a percentage point to address persistent deficits. But within two months of his victory, rating agency threats of a downgrade to junk bond status and a projected deficit of $15 billion convinced Quinn that more was needed. So he persuaded outgoing lawmakers in a lame-duck session to raise the income tax by double the original proposed amount. Lawmakers hiked personal income tax rates from 3 percent to 5 percent, and raised corporate rates as well. The catch was that the new rates would last only four years before going back down.But the new money did help the state catch up with some of its unpaid bills. By the end of Quinns term, the backlog was down to $6.6 billion.Quinn also tried to take on the pension problem by reducing retirement benefits. In 2010, he signed a law that reduced pensions for most new state employees and teachers. But Quinn pressed for more, and in 2013, lawmakers agreed to a package that would have curbed benefits even for workers and retirees covered under the original pension scheme. Those changes, though, never took effect. In 2015, the state Supreme Court struck down the law for violating the Illinois Constitution, which has strong protections against diminishing retirement benefits for state employees.Eventually, the public soured on Quinn. The governor faced accusations that his administration misspent $55 million on a Chicago anti-violence program months before his 2010 election, in order to boost his political standing rather than lower the citys murder rate. His reputation took another hit when an investigator found widespread patronage hiring at the state Department of Transportation, both under Blagojevich and under Quinn.When Quinn came up for reelection in 2014, his loudest critic was a wealthy businessman who won the Republican nomination to oppose him. Pat Quinn is not the folksy, bumbling fool hed like us to think he is, Bruce Rauner said at the time. He knows what hes doing. He knows what hes done.Although Raunerhad long mingled in political circles and once counted Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel as a friend, he was virtually unknown to most Illinoisans before his bid for governor. But the private equity investor soon became a household name, thanks to the $65.3 million he spent of his own money to boost his candidacy and a general election message that centered on his frugality and the need to shake up Springfield.Once in office, though, Rauner set his sights on limiting the power of public employee unions and career politicians in the General Assembly. He called for far-reaching concessions that would have limited the power of both and demanded that they be met before he signed a full years budget. Illinois desperately needed a budget, because the temporary income tax hike that Quinn pushed through expired just before Rauner came into office, and there were no spending cuts to offset the lost revenue.But rather than being cowed by the governors tactics, labor leaders and Democrats in the General Assembly dug in their heels. The standoff lasted nearly two years, during which time Illinois limped along without any clear spending plan. It was the longest span any state had ever gone without a budget.Strangely, much of the government continued to function. Long-standing laws required Illinois to make pension contributions and bond payments even without a budget. Rauner cut a deal with lawmakers to keep money flowing to schools during the hiatus. And courts insisted that state employees be paid, and ordered the state to abide by consent decrees that mandated spending on certain social services.But the impasse created all sorts of havoc in other places. It devastated nonprofit social service agencies that worked with the state but werent covered by court orders. Many of them had already reduced services and laid off staff during the recession. State-run universities also got no funding from Springfield during the budget crisis. All sorts of contractors, from the utility that provided power to the Capitol to dentists who treated state employees, were frozen out as well.Meanwhile, the backlog of unpaid bills shot up again. Illinois was spending about the same amount it had spent when the income tax had been higher, but the state was no longer collecting enough money to sustain that spending. By last November, Illinois was $16.7 billion behind in its payments. Comptroller Susana Mendoza warned that Illinois was dangerously close to not having enough cash to meet court orders to pay for essential services, which meant Illinois could be held in contempt of court in several cases.On Wall Street, bond rating agencies grew increasingly alarmed by the impasse. Two of the three downgraded Illinois to a step above junk bond status. If they had moved it any lower, institutional investors would no longer have been able to buy the states debt, because it would be considered too risky. No state had ever been in this situation.As the collateral damage grew, so did pressure on lawmakers to end the crisis. In the Senate, President John Cullerton started negotiating with the Republican leader, Christine Radogno, to come up with a grand bargain that would combine some of Rauners business-minded proposals with a restoration of the income tax increase. The talks were so promising that the governor even counted on the revenue they would produce in his annual budget proposal. But as the deal moved closer to a vote, Rauner attached ever more demands and ultimately warned Republican senators not to support it.So Democrats, who have a supermajority in the Senate, passed the budget they negotiated with Republicans, which included both the tax hike and $3.8 billion in spending cuts. But they did not pass changes to the workers compensation system or a local property tax freeze that Rauner wanted. The governor got none of his so-called reforms, Cullerton says. He doesnt know how to work or compromise.The Senates action shifted focus to the House, where Blagojevichs old nemesis, Speaker Madigan, had emerged as Rauners whipping boy and most stubborn obstacle. Unlike in the Senate, though, Democrats on their own didnt have enough votes to pass a budget and override Rauners expected veto. They needed a handful of Republicans to go along, too.The impetus came from rank-and-file Republicans. Rep. David Harris was one of them. What we did with the two-year budget stalemate was the most disgraceful thing the Illinois General Assembly has ever done, he says. He met with a group of about 10 fellow Republicans -- many of them from downstate, which was on fire because of the impasse, he says -- to figure out what they wanted in the budget if they negotiated with Democrats. They wanted to know whether Democrats were serious about ending the standoff, or just wanted to use it to discredit the governor.The House Democrats took them up on their offer to work together. Fifteen Republicans were among the 72 House members who supported the spending plan. When Rauner vetoed the measure, 10 of the GOP members joined in a successful move to override him. On July 6, 2017, after two years of costly stalemate and embarrassment, Illinois finally had a budget again.The budget package allowed the state to borrow money to pay off its oldest bills, which due to penalties were accruing interest at a rate of 12 percent annually. Those bonds were also used to pay off Medicaid bills, because the state receives matching federal funds for those expenses. The governor describes the budget as a massive loss for taxpayers in the state. Was it worth fighting about? He thinks so. Its never in the best interest of the people of Illinois to compromise on raising taxes with no reforms, he says. Thats a disaster.For several years, Moodys Analytics, which examines the states economy for the legislature, has warned that the uncertainty over Illinois financial situation threatens to discourage firms from locating or remaining in the state. Its not that Illinois costs of doing business are particularly high, the economists note. Its taxes, labor and energy costs are in the middle of the pack for industrial Midwest states. What sets Illinois apart, they say, is the recent political tumult in Springfield. The state went more than two decades with stable income tax rates, but since 2011, its changed those rates three times, making long-term planning for businesses difficult. The good news, Moodys added this year, is that the states two-year budget logjam finally broke with the passage of a $36 billion spending package, easing some of the long-standing uncertainty in the outlook.There is another widely held theory to explain Illinois decades of mismanagement, and one that Rauner has had a lead role in promoting. That is the idea that Madigan, the powerful House speaker who has held the title for all but two years since 1983, is the real center of power in Springfield. Rauner and many of his fellow Republicans point their fingers at Madigan as the true source of trouble in state government.Theres no question Madigan is a powerful figure. The speaker controls the legislative agenda in the House, and makes most of the important decisions behind closed doors, leaving lobbyists, members, the media and even governors to guess why certain bills die or suddenly come back to life. His pronouncements to the press are practically Delphic, and his public remarks rarely deviate from a very short script.In addition to being speaker, Madigan is the chair of the state Democratic Party and a much-feared ward boss on the southwest side of Chicago. He has allies throughout government: former staffers who now have lucrative lobbying practices; neighborhood residents who got government jobs thanks to his clout; and judges and legislators he supported in tough election fights. On top of that, he is the partial owner of Chicagos top law firm for property tax appeals, meaning that huge corporations come to him to try to knock off some of their tax bills for downtown skyscrapers.Madigan has been entrenched in Illinois politics for so long that hes had a hand in basically every major decision the state has made for decades. He went along with budgets that ran deficits, shorted the pension systems, underfunded schools, empowered unions and imposed regulations. Madigans got an empire in the state of Illinois. Hes led the corruption. And hes very powerful, says Rauner, who, along with Republican groups that he largely funds, has hammered Madigan with similar messages on TV commercials for nearly three years now. There is no sign that they will let off anytime soon. Rauner says his Democratic opponent this coming November, J.B. Pritzker, is Madigans hand-picked candidate.Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, Madigans top lieutenant in the House, says Rauners constant talk of corruption has poisoned the atmosphere in Springfield, especially because business groups and the Chicago Tribune editorial board have also pounded away at the message. You can disagree with someones policies without calling them corrupt, she says. The people who should be cheerleading for the state are spewing doom and gloom.There are a few big holes in the theory of Madigan as the root of all evil. The first is that the timing doesnt work. Illinois troubles have come and gone and come again all while Madigan held the speakers gavel. They dont seem to be tied to the presiding officer of the lower chamber, so much as the occupant of the executive suite on the second floor of the Capitol. The second problem is that it doesnt explain why Republicans cheered Madigan as he led the opposition to Blagojevich but denounced him when he used similar tactics against Rauner.But maybe the biggest shortcoming of anti-Madiganism is that it imbues the speaker with more clout than he actually wields. Madigan has stayed in power all these years because he can read the changing political dynamics. He has crossed traditional allies such as teachers unions, trial lawyers and Chicago mayors when the politics demanded it. But even he has misjudged the climate from time to time. He recently faced threats to his position, at least as head of the Democratic Party, because of harassment allegations in his political operation. He himself was not implicated.Both Democrats and Republicans have benefited from inflating Madigans stature. His Democratic allies gain the advantage of a friend whom no one wants to cross. Republicans get an enemy who is easy to vilify, encouraging them to rally voters to support GOP candidates.As governor in the 1990s, Edgar, a Republican, often ran afoul of Madigan. He jokes that, when he had to undergo quadruple bypass surgery in office, he blamed one of the bypasses on stress caused by Madigan. But its easy to go too far, he says. The media give too much credit to Madigan. Hes very smart. He was the smartest guy in Springfield when I was there. You have to treat him with respect. But still, the governor is the important thing. Even a weak governor like Blagojevich is stronger than the speaker.Does Rauner agree? No, he says, emphatically. The governor is strong, and Ive done major things. And Ive beat him. But, Rauner adds, those victories are difficult and not often enough. Hes got too much concentrated power.Recently, Rauner survived a scare in the Republican primary. Rep. Jeanne Ives, one of the most conservative elected officials in the state, ran to the right of Rauner and came within 3 percentage points of beating him. She attacked him for going back on his promise to veto a law that provides public funding for abortions. In a sign of how focused the governor is on his House nemesis, Rauner ran TV ads accusing Ives of being in league with Madigan.But as Rauner addresses the workers in Moline, he is trying to reassure them. He talks up the states educated workforce, its vital infrastructure, its manufacturing prowess. We have every advantage in Illinois, he says.One can see signs of economic vitality while driving through the hills of northern Illinois. Huge new wind turbines and mirror-sided grain elevators rise in the distance. Farther east, construction crews erect towering corporate headquarters and condo towers that will join Chicagos iconic skyline.David Harris, one of the GOP lawmakers who opposed Rauner on the budget vote, makes a point to stand up every day in the Illinois House to say something good about the state. In these strange times, its something of an act of political defiance. There is a commitment on the part of public officials to address our problems, he tells me. Dont write us off simply because of some of the bad things you hear. Theres an awful lot that Illinois has to offer. Lawyers for Texas and a broad coalition of African-American and Latino rights groups clashed Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court in a protracted redistricting dispute alleging that the state's Republican lawmakers intentionally drew their latest political maps to marginalize minority voters.But one of the main points of contention in the 70 minute hearing was whether the case belongs before the Supreme Court at all, with lawyers for the minority groups arguing to let a panel of federal judges in Texas first decide whether to change political boundaries that they invalidated in 2017.Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the leading liberals on the bench, peppered Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller about the timing of the state's appeal to the Supreme Court, which the minority groups say was intended to short-circuit the lower court's move to have the Legislature draw new political maps or have the courts hold new redistricting hearings."By not waiting for the remedy in this case, we are not in a position to be fully informed," Sotomayor said. "Aren't we obligated to look at the full picture?"Keller argued that the high court should uphold the current maps, which the Legislature adopted in 2013 following the contours of an earlier interim court redistricting plan put in place for the 2012 elections."Adopting a court-ordered remedial plan is evidence that the Legislature acted in good faith," Keller said. "This is not a case of the Legislature trying to pull a fast one."Some of the conservatives on the court, including Chief Justice John Roberts, expressed some sympathy for the state's position."It does seem to me that at the very least -- and I understand this to be the point on the other side -- that ought to give them some presumption of good faith moving forward, which is significant on the determination of their intent to discriminate," Roberts said.Roberts also noted, however, that the state was relying on a court plan that was "put in quickly" and not "comprehensive."The arguments brought to a head long simmering tensions about political gerrymandering in nearly a dozen states across the nation, accentuated by Texas' long history of disputes involving allegations of racial discrimination in the makeup of its political boundaries.The Supreme Court clash is the latest in a seven-year battle that will determine if Texas has to redraw its congressional and state house maps for future elections. It could also decide if Texas will again have to submit to federal "preclearance" requirements in future redistricting and election cases.The groups bringing the challenge, including the Texas NAACP and Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) allege that even though most of the population growth in Texas between 2000 and 2010 was in communities of color, minorities lost representation in the redistricting plans that followed the 2010 census.Two lower courts have found that the discrimination was intentional, thus violating the Fourteenth Amendment and Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.Although the case has been moving forward since 2011, the state adopted new maps in 2013 that Texas argues followed the lower courts' mandates. In their appeal to the Supreme Court, lawyers representing Texas have argued their most recently-crafted maps must be upheld as constitutional insofar as they are similar to the interim maps ordered into effect by the lower courts in 2012.The civil rights groups counter that the new maps left unchanged many of the challenged state and congressional districts that the lower courts found unconstitutional."Those interim maps had baked in many of the infirmities of the 2011 maps," said MALC chairman and State Rep. Rafael Anchia. "The Texas Legislature has had 2013, 2015 and 2017 sessions to try to remedy this problem. Regrettably the state, led by the attorney general, has continued to want to fight this in court, instead of trying to give Texas voters fair maps."Throughout the litigation, Anchia noted that the lower courts have made 10 findings of intentional discrimination against the State of Texas by both Republican and Democratic-appointed judges."While redistricting is what we are dealing with... there's an entire environment of intentional discrimination that we've seen in the State of Texas," said Anchia, who attended the court session.The minority groups also accuse the state of appealing to the Supreme Court prematurely before the lower courts could fashion a remedy, possibly by drawing new lines for the 2018 midterm elections."The work of the district courts has yet to be completed," said MALC attorney Jose Garza.That remains one of the central points of contention in the Supreme Court review. Some legal analysts say that if Texas prevails in its appeal from the lower court proceedings, it could either slow or short-circuit them altogether, protecting the current maps through the 2020 elections.For that reason, the minority groups argued Tuesday that the Supreme Court doesn't yet have jurisdiction over the case and should return it to the lower courts. Texas's lawyers argued that the lower courts' rulings finding discrimination and ordering a remedy are ripe for appeal.As it is, Anchia said, the protracted litigation has meant that any resolution will likely come only shortly before yet another decennial census, meaning "there will be millions and millions of votes cast under illegal maps."Lawyers for the minority groups say theirs is a grievance with a long history. Every Texas redistricting round since 1970 has come under challenge on racial grounds."It's been a long road," said Texas NAACP lawyer Robert Notzon, a co-counsel on the case. "What you need to understand is the Texas, for five decades, since the passage of the Voting Rights Act, has consistently and in an unbroken pattern, been discriminating against its minority population," he said. "It just needs to stop."Although the Texas redistricting battle has not challenged the right of lawmakers to determine the political boundaries of their states, it illustrates a broader nationwide frustration with a process that has increasingly come under fire."The Texas case of gerrymandering is a perfect example of why politicians should no longer be allowed to draw political maps," said U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio Democrat who supports the redistricting challenge. "Gerrymandering is probably the most powerful tool in the kit of voter disenfranchisement."Hopes for reform has risen this year as the high court has agreed to take up cases from Maryland, Wisconsin and other states that have come under challenge for partisan -- if not racial -- gerrymandering. Some reformers have pressed for bipartisan or independent commissions to redraw their states political boundaries.One of the congressional districts under challenge in Texas is District 27, which was recently vacated by Corpus Christi Republican Blake Farenthold, who resigned amid a flurry of sexual harassment allegations.While the high court reviews the district boundaries, Gov. Greg Abbott has sought emergency powers for an expedited special election in the Republican-leaning district.The other is Congressional District 35, a heavily-Hispanic stretch running from Austin to San Antonio represented by Democrat Lloyd Doggett.In addition to the two congressional districts, the case involves nine Texas House seats where a federal court ruled lawmakers diluted the strength of minority voters. Five of those districts are in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Bell County, south of Waco, and Corpus Christi's Nueces County each have two districts that could be redrawn pending the outcome of the case.With a Supreme Court ruling unlikely much before the end of June, along with the possibility of further proceedings by the lower courts, the challengers to Texas' political maps say time is running out on the prospect of any resolution in time for the Nov. 6 midterm elections.Among the high court's options are to either take jurisdiction over the case and rule on its various procedural and substantive questions, or return the case to a district court in Texas for further review.In that case, any new maps imposed at the lower court level could be appealed anew to the high court. "And we expect they are likely to given how intransigent they have been so far," said Susan Karlan, a Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic attorney representing the minority groups.No matter what the justices decide, Garza said, "the door is closing pretty fast." Two Republican state lawmakers have introduced a bill seeking to prohibit Colorado teachers from striking and make it so they would face firing, fines or even jail time if they do so anyway.Senate Bill 264 was introduced on Friday and comes amid a broader conversation across the state about education funding and educator pay, and as teachers gear up later this week for a second round of demonstrations at the Capitol. Classes have been canceled in a host of Denver metro school districts as a result, including in Jefferson County and in Denver where school officials plan an early release.The measure's chances of becoming law are miniscule -- with the Democratic-controlled House unlikely to support it and some GOP lawmakers weary themselves -- though it has injected another level of debate and controversy into the already simmering issue."I'm not sure how far it makes it," said Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City. "I'm not sure it has 100 percent support in the Republican caucus."House Speaker Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, said she thinks it should be left up to teachers to decide if they want to strike or not.The legislation specifically seeks to prohibit public school teachers and teachers' organizations from directly or indirectly being involved in a strike and would bar districts from paying an educator for any day they participate in a demonstration.Under the bill, school districts would be able to seek an injunction to stop a strike in court. Any educator who doesn't comply would be in contempt and therefore face fines or up to six months in jail, or both.Furthermore, the measure would allow a school district to be able to immediately fire a teacher -- without a hearing -- should they violate a court order prohibiting a strike. I f a teacher organization is found in contempt, any collective bargaining agreement they worked on would be rendered null and they would be barred from collecting dues.Democrats have been rallying around teachers in Colorado as they push at the legislature for increased school funding and pay."Last week was really phenomenal," said Rep. Janet Buckner, D-Aurora, of a teachers' demonstration at the Capitol last week. "Most of the teachers just want to be heard."Republicans have said educators' demands are misplaced since individual districts set what educators are paid, and point out that state lawmakers this session have set aside millions to bolster school funding."These aren't new discussions," said Senate President Pro Tem Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling. "Now what we are seeing is a teachers' union that is pressuring teachers in school districts to converge on the Capitol."It wasn't clear Monday when Senate Bill 264, sponsored by Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, and Rep. Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, will get its first hearing. Description GIS 25 April, 2018: 25 April, 2018: The National Open Data Portal comprising one hundred datasets encompassing 20 categories, was launched today by the Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr Yogida Sawmynaden, in the context of the Open Data Initiative for Mauritius during a workshop at the Holiday Inn Resort, in Plaine Magnien. The two-day workshop, focusing on Open Data Programme and Institutional Support for Open Data, is organised by the Ministry of Technology, Communication and Innovation in collaboration with the National Computer Board. Around 100 participants mainly members of the Open Data Teams of Ministries and representatives of parastatal bodies dealing with datasets are attending. The resource person is Mr Gavin Chait, Lead Consultant, Whythawk, who will make a presentation on the theme The Open Data Professionals. A second workshop on the same topic is scheduled on Friday 27 April 2018 for Advisers on Information Matters of Ministries and journalists. In his speech Minister Sawmynaden stated that while the 100 datasets launched is quite significant in number, it is also a starting point for an exciting journey forward so as to attain the set objective of making available 1000 datasets, over a period of one year, by enlisting the active participation and contribution of each and every one. He recalled that, over the past two decades, Information and Communication Technologies have evolved at an accelerated pace, transforming societies, cultures and economies. In the past few years the world has witnessed the emergence of Social Media, Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, the Block chain and the Internet of Things. These technologies have managed to deeply transform the lives of masses of people, including Mauritian citizens, he said. According to Mr Sawmynaden, practically everyone is online today with pervasive WIFI and mobile technologies driving the broadband revolution in Mauritius. This is true even for those who live in places where fixed line connectivity presented insurmountable challenges only a few years back and this has prompted many experts to term our age the age of the 4th Industrial Revolution, he pointed out. Speaking about Open Data, the Minister said that Government, conscious of the transformative power of open data, embarked on an Open Data Initiative in 2015 with the formulation of a National Open Data Policy in April 2016. Even though it is difficult to predict the future one thing is certain and that is Data is the new oil, he said adding that it is inconceivable today for any organisation to make decisions which are not based on concrete data. He observed that the organisations which will succeed in the coming years will, most probably, all be data-driven organisations and this is true not only for private companies but also government and parastatal bodies. The Mauritian Government acknowledges this paradigm shift and is coming forward with a number of initiatives in the data space at various levels. Some of these initiatives focus on laying the ground for data-based policy making, some around personal data privacy and cybersecurity, he added. Open Data Initiative In 2015, Government embarked on the Open Data Initiative, by developing the National Open Data Policy, and carrying out the Open Data Readiness Assessment (ODRA) with the assistance of the World Bank. Subsequently, Government approved the National Open Data Policy in 2016 and the Open Data Readiness Assessment Report in July 2017. The success of Open Data initiatives relies on the effort of each Ministry/Department and key parastatal bodies to release data as Open Data. The main objective of the National Open Data Policy is to create economic value out of the releases of Government datasets as Open Data. National Open Data Portal The Open Data Readiness Assessment Report identified a list of datasets that could be published on the National Open Data Portal which can be accessed on https://data.govmu.org/dkan/ The datasets were categorised as Quick Win, Priority or Longer Term. Among these datasets, some were deemed to be important in order to support citizen engagement in Mauritius as well as to promote Government transparency and accountability. They are: Public expenditure and budgeting data; Environmental data; Demographic data and socio-economic indicators; Health care data; Geographical and geo-spatial data; and Transport data. Open Data is data which is provided in a machine-readable format and is the public dissemination of all or part of the information from a Knowledge Management system. Description GIS 25 April, 2018: Mauritius celebrates its longstanding fifty-year adhesion to the United Nations (UN) as the country joined the Comity of Nations on 24 April 1968 as the 125th member. Mauritius celebrates its longstanding fifty-year adhesion to the United Nations (UN) as the country joined the Comity of Nations on 24 April 1968 as the 125th member. The UN has been a privileged partner to help chart a new socio-economic paradigm for the country, a Small Island Developing State emerging from colonialism. The fifty years of engagement translated into a true partnership that has enabled the country to reach the common goal of improving the quality of life of the population. Since the 1970s, the UN has provided assistance to Mauritius in its socio-economic development plan, through initiatives such as World Food Programme and various health projects. Recent collaborations include assistance offered to the country in the joint management of the Continental Shelf between Mauritius and Seychelles and the signing of an agreement between the United Nations Population Fund and the Mauritius Institute of Health. Along with the international community, Mauritius subscribed to the Millennium Declaration in 2000 and committed itself to fulfil the millennium development goals, such as reduce extreme poverty, empower women and protect the environment, amongst others. In addition, in 2015, the country subscribed to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Sustainable Development Goals articulated in the Agenda are reflected in the Governments Vision 2030, which ensures national commitment to achieve these shared goals. Furthermore multilateralism, being the guiding principle of the longstanding partnership between Mauritius and the UN, was further reinforced when the General Assembly on 22 June 2017, supported the country in its quest for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice regarding the illegal dismemberment of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965. Description GIS 25 April, 2018: The Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity and Environment and Sustainable Development has launched a toolkit on good environmental practices for lower secondary students. The Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity and Environment and Sustainable Development has launched a toolkit on good environmental practices for lower secondary students. The toolkit is aimed at encouraging students to bring about changes in their attitudes towards nature and raising awareness on the need to adopt a sustainable lifestyle for the preservation of the environment. It covers topics such as tree planting, solid waste management, climate change, air pollution, water stress, energy use, biodiversity and sustainable lifestyle. Through the toolkit, students learn about environmental challenges and simple actions that they can adopt at school, at home and in their locality to safeguard our environment. The Information and Education (IE) Division of the Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity and Environment and Sustainable Development is involved in raising awareness of the student community through talks, meetings and display of short clips on the topics covered in the toolkit. In 2017, some 15 schools were sensitised and for this year some 30 schools are being targeted. The Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity and Environment and Sustainable Development , Mr Etienne Sinatambou, believes that sustainable development education is a priority and concerns us all. Sustainable development education is action-oriented. Acquiring useful knowledge for the future of the students requires genuine commitment to making small changes in their daily lives. Through their reflection on their own actions, students can gain useful knowledge since they discover the link between information and real experience. But action is not only necessary for the acquisition of knowledge. It is also essential in a society that changes as quickly as ours, he says. In addition to conducting awareness campaign in schools the IE Division, whose main mandate is to sensitise citizens on environmental issues, also aims other target groups such as women, senior citizens, youth community, NGOs and private institutions. Description GIS 25 April, 2018: The Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations, Employment and Training organised a workshop with representatives of Trade Unions on the issue of the National Minimum Wage this morning at Victoria House, Port Louis. The workshop was conducted by the Acting Director of the Labour and Industrial Relations Division of the Ministry, Mr M. Caremben. In his address Mr Caremben recalled that the introduction of the National Minimum Wage since January 2018 shows Governments commitment to improve the living conditions of the lowest paid workers in the country. A Flying Squad in view of enforcing the payment of the national minimum wage has been set up by the Ministry. As at 20 April 2018, 3,529 inspections have been carried out across the island. The Acting Director underlined that the Ministry has also prepared some brochures in creole so as to sensitise employees on how the National Minimum Wage is calculated. He pointed out that, as the grace period provided by the Ministry to employers is over since 31 March 2018, legal actions would eventually be initiated against those employers who fail to comply with the Regulations. The workshop, which was attended by some 30 participants, aims at providing necessary training and information pertaining to the National Minimum Wage to representatives of Trade Unions. They also had the opportunity to interact with officers of the Ministry in order to seek clarification on cases whereby employees do not perceive the minimum wage and to bring about suggestions and recommendations regarding the Regulations. The National Minimum Wage Government decided, in December 2017, to fix the national minimum wage at Rs 8,140 per month for all workers in both the private and public sectors. The national minimum wage was then introduced by way of Regulations with effect as from 01 January 2018. The workers in the Non-Export Processing Zone (EPZ) sector were also granted an additional remuneration of Rs 360 per month plus an allowance of Rs 500, paid by Government through the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA). As regards the EPZ sector, the national minimum wage is inclusive of the additional remuneration 2018 and workers are being paid an allowance of Rs 860 per month by Government through the MRA. All full-time workers are thus being guaranteed a monthly revenue of Rs 9,000. Part-time workers are also benefiting from the payment of a national minimum wage on a pro-rata basis. Whats at Stake States Likely to Prevail in their Net Neutrality Fight? With portions of the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) net neutrality repeal order officially taking effect earlier this week , some states are facing pressure to get workarounds up and running.Nearly two dozen states are not wasting time. Since the FCC voted in December to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order, 28 states have introduced bills that require Internet service providers to adhere to some of the net neutrality provisions that were previously enforced by the FCC, reports the National Conference of State Legislatures.Of this group, only Oregon and Washington state have had success in passing net neutrality laws.California state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, currently has a bill, SB-822, working its way through the California state legislature. Wieners SB-822 was heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and needs to move on to the Senate Appropriations Committee, then the full Senate for a vote before the Assembly will address it."Senate Bill 822 is re-establishing the Obama-era regulations created under the 2015 FCC order, so the people of California will have the same protections as were in place under those regulations," Wiener told. "Hopefully the protections provided in other states will also create similar protections. Ideally net neutrality would be handled on the federal [level], but until Congress is willing to do enact legislation, its up to the states to protect the Internet access of our residents."Governors in Montana, Vermont, New Jersey, New York and Hawaii, meanwhile, have used a different workaround. These governors issued executive orders that require ISPs to abide by net neutrality principles if they want to seek a contract with their respective states. This carrot-and-stick approach is also echoed in a number of the bills that states introduced since the FCC ruling in December.Under the FCCs Restoring Internet Freedom Order , the FCC removed itself from overseeing the way Internet service providers manage their networks and placed that responsibility upon the Federal Trade Commission. Additionally the FCCs order pre-empts states from requiring ISPs to adhere to net neutrality principles.These principles require ISPs to provide a level playing field to all content providers that use their networks, prohibiting ISPs from providing faster Internet speeds to websites that are willing to pay a premium for such speed, or blocking content or throttling down Internet speeds for competitors, as an example. IT leaders of state and local governments worry their constituents may potentially face higher costs if ISPs increase rates for some content providers which in turn may pass that along to their customers. Meanwhile, government agencies are also pondering the potential impact of the net neutrality repeal on their efforts to make broadband access more available throughout their communities, especially low-income and rural areas.In addition to filing a flurry of bills to put into play their own net neutrality laws in their state, a coalition of 23 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the FCC, challenging its repeal of President Obamas 2015 Open Internet Order, according to CNET.The FCC has said that it is pre-empting state laws aimed at enforcing net neutrality principles. But whether the FCC has such pre-emption authority is an open question," said Tejas Narechania, assistant professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley. "The last time the FCC purported to pre-empt state laws there, about state restrictions on municipally owned and operated broadband services, the commission lost. I think theres an argument to be made that the FCC doesnt have the pre-emption authority it claims here, especially because the FCC now has to clear a pretty high bar to prove it has such pre-emption power.He added the states are also relying on several sources of state power such as their traditional regulatory powers, franchising authority and purchasing power so the FCC will have to demonstrate it can pre-empt all of the states authority.The FCC will also likely have a tough time undoing governors executive orders, as well as any state bills that tie the states procurement contracts to an ISPs willingness to abide by net neutrality provisions, Narechania said. States have traditionally had a lot of discretion in coordinating their own internal affairs, and so the FCC will have to show that Congress has clearly granted it the authority to limit the states' powers to pick their contracting partners, he added.ISPs, of course, can always choose not to bid on government contracts, but often these contracts are substantial in size and potentially lucrative, industry watchers say. Montana, which was the first state to issue a net neutrality executive order tied to its ISP contracts, apparently has a healthy interest from ISPs nonetheless.The Montana Department of Administration is still in the process of reviewing bids for our states upcoming transport contract," said Marissa Perry, press secretary for Montana Gov. Steve Bullock"Weve been happy with the responses from both local and national ISPs so far and look forward to sharing more once our contract process is complete."She added that the review process should be complete within a month.States also may find success by using their legislative powers under federal law 47 U.S.C. 224 to regulate pole attachments, Narechania said.[It] lets states opt out of the federal scheme for regulating pole attachments so that they can set their own terms and conditions, including, perhaps, net-neutrality-related terms, Narechania said. And the FCC's latest net neutrality order expressly says that it doesn't limit this state power. So that might be one other fruitful route. Hardly transparent, but hardly secretive - dangling in between - unpredictable?Democracy is a process, an open book, thus comes with drawbacks - your opponents can see what you got !Do you want to cut straight to the facts?***Pamela Brown serves as CNN's senior White House Correspondent covering President Donald Trump and his administration for all of the network's programs and platforms. Brown also serves as a key fill-in anchor for CNN Newsroom. She grew up in Lexington, Ky. and holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in broadcast journalism. Trump ramps up personal cell phone use Three sources familiar with the situation said Trump has also increased his direct outreach to GOP lawmakers over the past several weeks, sometimes employing his cell phone. "Basically, at this point, he's just sort of engaging on his own," observed a source familiar with Trump's calls to congressional allies. "Kelly used to be more clearly the gatekeeper than he is now from a Hill standpoint," that source added, noting members would typically call Kelly's office if they wanted to set up a talk with Trump rather than dial the President directly. "I don't know that he even is running it by the chief of staff anymore," the staff said. Some White House allies said they see Trump's more frequent solicitation of advice outside the West Wing as a sign that Kelly's status as a gatekeeper for the President has diminished. "Definitely, the walls are breaking," one source close to the White House said of the procedures Kelly initially established to regulate access to Trump. Another source close to the White House added that "a lot of meetings, a lot of things have happened lately without Kelly being in the room." Without changes to formula one, Claire Williams is pessimistic about the future of the British team she leads. Recently, the daughter of team founder Sir Frank Williams attended a meeting with Liberty Media and emerged declaring "Let's crack open some champagne". That's because plans for a $150 million budget cap from 2021 had just been unveiled. "That's not to say we were on the brink, but with the financial disparity between teams, the likelihood of Williams' survival into the medium and long term was looking pretty bleak," Williams, the deputy team boss, added. Since then, Williams' woeful start to 2018 has not significantly improved, and Claire Williams suggests that without changes, she is not upbeat about the future. "When I started, I really thought we could win again. Now I do not believe that any more," Williams is quoted as saying by Roger Benoit, the veteran F1 correspondent for Blick. "Our sport is basically broken." Once a dominant great of the sport, Williams has not won a title since 1997, or a race since Pastor Maldonado's in 2012. Claire Williams continued: "It's naive to believe that if you just work hard, you'll be rewarded. Except for the top three teams, nobody will win in the future. "The financial discrepancy compared to Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull is just too big. It's impossible to keep up. And it's sad. "If the new formula one owners actually push the $150 million budget from 2021, we could survive," she added. However, Williams acknowledged that the Oxfordshire based team also needs to do a better job straight away. "There are teams with less money than we have who are doing a better job," she said. (GMM) Faced with public outrage, congressional scrutiny, and a sweeping new data-privacy law soon to take effect in Europe, Facebook has vowed to better protect its users privacy. Nevertheless, the social-networking giants current approach to collecting and using data from the millions of U.S. teenagers on its platformmostly, treating them the same as adultswill remain unchanged, according to both outside privacy experts and the company itself. That includes new parental-consent requirements soon to be unveiled for some teens under the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. Facebook has repeatedly said it will roll out GDPR-style measures to the rest of the world , although the details have been hazy. A spokesman for the company confirmed to Education Week that Facebook will not seek any additional parental consent from U.S. users between the ages of 13-17. We can and will do more to help everyone, regardless of age, understand how Facebook works and the choices they have, the Facebook spokesman said in a statement. In recent weeks, weve simplified our privacy settings, introduced a clearer data policy, strengthened how we protect data, and committed to putting people in better control over their information. Still, privacy advocates said none of those changes will significantly narrow the nature and scope of the data on its U.S. users, including teenagers, that the company collects, uses, or shares with advertisers. Theres a lot of emphasis on notice and consent, but thats a very small slice of what modern data collection is really about, said Marc Rotenberg, the president and executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy-advocacy group in Washington. In much of the world, that kind of language is viewed as something companies do when they want to go ahead with business practices that might be controversial. Millions of Teen Facebook Users Facebook has spent the past month under a harsh spotlight. In March, the Guardian and the New York Times revealed that a third-party developer had used Facebook tools to harvest the personal data of 87 million Facebook users, then inappropriately shared that information with a British political consulting firm, which in turn used the information to target political advertisements to American voters as part of the effort to elect Donald Trump as president. The falloutincluding CEO Mark Zuckerbergs first appearance before Congress was swift. Still, the K-12 sector has shown little inclination to stop using the platform. Many schools and districts view Facebook as an essential marketing and communications tool, using it to for everything from announcing PTA meetings to keeping the public informed during crises. Some educators also use the platform for private groups, to hold classroom discussions and as a way for students to share work. Privacy advocates suggest that if schools do continue to use Facebook, they review their settings on the platformto make sure that class groups are truly private, for example. Advocates also urge schools to not require that students use Facebook for schoolwork. The privacy threats young people face dont come just from their schools use of the platform, however. As of 2015, 71 percent of 13-17 year olds in the U.S. used the platform, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center . Other Facebook-owned platforms and services such as Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp are also highly popular with teens. (Children under 13 are not legally allowed to create Facebook accounts in the U.S., although it is widely believed that many young children circumvent those rules, and Facebook offers directions for how to report underage accounts.) There are also plenty of signs that young peoples daily usage of Facebook remains high, and that they are very engaged by ads on the platformeven though newer platforms such as Snapchat are growing faster among teens and have a higher share of young users. What Data Does Facebook Collect From Teens? So how does Facebook protect the privacy of all those American teens? Theres some good news, but more bad news, said Linnette Attai, the founder of PlayWell, LLC, a privacy-consulting group that works with education and other groups. The company does provide additional safety information, messaging, and guidance for teens and parents, Attai said. An example: when teens want to share photos or content, the default setting is not public. If a teen tries to change that, Facebook will remind them of the possible implications of sharing something publicly. There are three additional ways in which the company treats U.S. teens differently from adults on its platform: Facial recognition is not available for U.S. users under age 18. Teenagers cannot turn facial recognition on. Facebook doesnt apply all of the same advertising categories to U.S. users ages 13-17 as it applies to adults. Teens should not be served ads for alcohol, for example. Facebook limits who can see or search for some sensitive information shared by U.S. users under 18, including their hometown, school, and birthday. Still, the companys data-collection practices are essentially the same for U.S. teens and adults. They collect all the information [users] provide, and theres also passive data collection that [users] arent necessarily aware of, Attai said. Even for minors. For starters, that can include all the content and communications that users upload; information related to their religious and political views; health and relationship information; all their likes and other interactions on Facebook; location data; what they see through Facebooks camera; contacts of friends; what kind of computer, phone, and operating system users employ; and which Wi-Fi access points and cell towers are nearby. It can also include information that Facebook collects from other advertisers and app developers, including users internet-browsing histories, what they buy online; which ads they see elsewhere; and what games they play. And, importantly, the company can collect the latter category of information even if youre logged out or dont have a Facebook account, according to an April 16 post in the companys online newsroom. Facebooks Recent Privacy Measures Following the Cambridge Analytica revelations, Facebook announced a series of measures aimed at limiting the types of information third-party app developers can get from Facebook users and their friends. A FLURRY OF CHANGES Read directly from Facebook about its recent steps to address privacy concerns: Last month, the company also began the process of shutting down a service through which it has historically allowed advertisers to use information from data brokers and other third parties to target advertisements to Facebook users. The other steps announced by the company, however, are more focused on how people use Facebook than on how Facebook collects and uses peoples data. The companys recent updates to its Data Policy and Terms of Service , for example, were aimed at being more transparent and making those policies easier to read. But they did not change Facebooks underlying data-collection practices. Facebook also recently redesigned its settings menu and some of its navigation tools in an effort to make it easier for users to see and change what apps theyre using, what information theyre sharing, and what kinds of ads they see on the platform. And per the terms laid out in the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation, Facebook said earlier this month in a blog post that it will make available new privacy experiences for everyone, regardless of where they live. Those changes include asking users to provide fresh consent for the company to collect and use sensitive information (such as political and religious views), employ facial recognition technology, and serve targeted ads based in part on users web-browsing activity. The company also said that under GDPR, people between the ages of 13 and 15 in some EU countries need permission from a parent or guardian to allow some features on Facebook, such as serving ads based on data from third parties or on users own religious and political views. Given Zuckerbergs repeated statements that Facebook would make GDPR-style controls and settings available everywhere, and not just in Europe, some observers wondered if Facebook would also seek similar parental consent from U.S. teens. But that will not be the case, the company confirmed. Ultimately, Attai said, the changes dont dramatically alter the potential privacy risks that Facebook poses to U.S. teens. They can opt out of certain advertising settings and have some control over how their data is used and shared, Attai said. But they cant say to Facebook, I dont want you to get my data in the first place. [CORRECTED: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Linnette Attai, who is the founder of PlayWell, LLC.] See also: for the latest news on ed-tech policies, practices, and trends. The next wave of teacher activism begins on Thursday, as tens of thousands of educators in both Arizona and Colorado walk out of their classrooms and head to the state capitols. In Arizona, 78 percent of the 57,000 school employees who cast ballots across the state voted to go on strike . They are asking for $1 billion in school funding, which would include a 20 percent pay raise for teachers. I know that it sounds like its almost incredulous that anyone would ask for that much of a raise, but were just trying to get competitive salaries, said Joe Thomas, the president of the Arizona Education Association, in an interview. A 20 percent raise still has us beneath the national average. Arizona teachers, on average, make $48,304, according to 2016-17 salary data from the National Education Association . In 2016-17, the national average teacher salary was $59,660. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has said hell urge the states legislature to pass a combined 20 percent teacher pay raise by 2020 , but educators arent confident in his plan. About 100 school districts and charter schools in the state are scheduled to close on Thursday meaning a combined enrollment of about 840,000 students will be affected, according to the Arizona Republic. Grassroots organizers with Arizona Educators United, a teacher-led Facebook group, have said that an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 educators will rally at the state capitol Thursday. The statewide teacher walkouts in West Virginia and Oklahoma both lasted for nine days. Thomas said he thinks teachers in Arizona would be willing to stay out that long, too, if needed. A lot of that depends on the action of the legislature, he said. You cannot have 20,000 people at the capitol and have everyone act like theyre not there. One Republican state lawmaker has proposed a three-year, 1-cent education sales tax increase , which would provide the states public district and charter schools with $880 million a year more in discretionary funding, according to the Arizona Republic. It remains to be seen if that proposal will generate enough support in the legislature to pass. Meanwhile, the state house majority whip, Kelly Towsend, announced on social media that shes consulting with lawyers over a potential class-action lawsuit for those who are impacted by the extended school year or other harm that comes to them by the teacher walkout. She told the Arizona Republic that shes worried the walkout will delay her sons high school graduation, and her family members have already bought plane tickets for the event. Her comments were met with derision and anger from teachers and other citizens. See also: Teacher Strikes: 4 Common Questions In Colorado, teachers arent yet preparing for a statewide walkout on the same scale as Arizonabut some school districts across the state will be closed on Thursday and Friday as teachers protest at the capitol. Teachers are asking for better pay and more school funding there as well. Colorado teachers made an average of $51,808 in 2016-17, according to NEA data . The state teachers union has said the state has underfunded schools by about $828 million this school year. Over a dozen school districtsaffecting over half of the students in the statewill be closed during one of the two days or will release students early. The Denver school district, the largest in the state, is canceling classes on Friday, but still requiring teachers to take personal or unpaid leave, according to the Denver Post . State lawmakers in Colorado have introduced a bill with harsh consequences for teachers who go on strike , but it has a long way to go before passing. Image: Highland Arts Elementary School kindergarten teacher Melissa Perez participates in a final walk-in on April 25 in Mesa, Ariz. Matt York/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. Carbonara pizza by the slice. Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine Mani in Pasta is the name. Translation: hands in the dough, and that is exactly where Giuseppe Mancos mitts have been most of his 31 years. Manco is the pizzaiolo-chef and co-owner of this five-month-old East Village pizza restaurant, and his dough-making credentials are pretty impressive. The Neapolitan expat got started early at the family-run trattoria in Naples, where under the tutelage of assorted aunts and uncles he made his first Margherita D.O.C., pulling it out of the wood-fired oven presumably with the aid of a stepladder at the ripe old age of 6. The young Underground Gourmet achieved a similar culinary triumph, albeit at age 21, when he cooked a Stouffers French Bread Pizza in a toaster-oven and ate it without burning the roof of his mouth for once by letting it cool for an appropriate length of time. But we were talking about Giuseppe Manco. Some people know right away what it is they want to do in life, and so it was with him. And after that formative pizza-making experience, he never looked back. His parents, knowing the hardships of the restaurant business, had hoped hed become an accountant, but it was too late. He had discovered his calling. What really must have vexed his mom and dad, though, was what happened next. After years of perfecting his Neapolitan-pizza-making skills at restaurants and pizzerias in Italy and the United States, including Rossopomodoro and Don Antonio, Manco had a change of heart. While working at a Neapolitan pizzeria in Rome, he fell in love with Roman-style pizza in teglia (or pan pizza), and he switched teams. We mean he went over to the other side. Yes, he became a Roman-pizza specialist. As noted, the news must have astounded his parents, whose attitude toward non-Neapolitan pizza had always been similar to that of a John Coltrane aficionado toward the tootlings of Kenny G. Undeterred, Manco embraced Roman pizza in teglia with a fervor, eventually winning an award for his version of it at the 2017 International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, which not only earned him praise among his peers but also landed him an EB-1 (or extraordinary ability) green card a pretty rare thing for a pizzaiolo. Now you can get the same blue-ribbon pan pizza at Mani in Pasta in the East Village, and it is terrific the crust dark and crackly around the edges, the tender crumb boasting the kind of webby, widely inscribed holes that hint of long fermentation. Manco attributes its texture to high-hydration dough that lazes about developing flavor for a whopping 96 to 110 hours, and the blend of flours he uses: wheat, soy, rice, and semolina. Toppings fall on the spectrum somewhere between Neapolitan restraint and modern-Roman-pizza-maker whimsy. We particularly liked the carbonara and the Regina Margherita, in spite of the fact that the latters halved cherry tomatoes flew off the slices when we picked them up like drunken lumberjacks at a log roll. You can also get the pan pizza by the slice at a mostly takeout Mani in Pasta satellite in Midtown East, but then youll miss out on the comparatively deluxe surroundings and cheerful vibe at the East Village nook (a half-dozen-or-so tables, cloth napkins, the occasional Felliniesque gathering of Italian expats), not to mention the tag-team table service enthusiastic and hands-on but never-intrusive provided by Manco and his business partner Pietro Toscano. In addition to pan pizza, theres the so-called pinsa, made with the same crunchy dough but pressed thinner and shaped like a classic Neapolitan pie with a pronounced cornicione. If you like the idea of Neapolitan pizza, but not its soft and often soggy texture, this is the pie for you. We should also mention that there are other good things to eat at this pizzeria that arent pizza, including Roman pastas like a spot-on bucatini cacio e pepe, and a great mini-size fritto misto comprised of rice croquettes, a potato fritter, and a cheese-stuffed squash blossom encased in a delicate tempuralike shell. But pizzas the thing that is first and foremost on Giuseppe Mancos mind. And, as it turns out, not just Roman-style pizza. He says he hopes to return to making Neapolitan pizza one day and open a New York shop devoted to it in addition to what he has now. I love all the pizza, he says. For inspiration, hes been hitting up New York-style slice joints and pizza hot spots in his spare time, including Joes on Carmine Street (I like it), Emmy Squared (Great!), and, of course, Di Fara in Brooklyn, where he frankly wondered whether what he tried was worth the hour-and-a-half wait, but nevertheless recognized in Domenico DeMarcostill working the oven at age 81a soul brother and kindred spirit. Im like him, he says. Im probably going to die making pizza, but at least Ill die happy. Mani in Pasta welcomes both those who eat pizza with knife and fork, and those who do so with their hands. Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine The Regina pizza in teglia. Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine Fritto misto. Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine The Mani in Pasta namesake pizza is topped with truffle cream, porcini, mozzarella, and prosciutto di Parma. Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine The pinsa is made with the same dough as the pizza in teglio. Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine A spot-on bucatini cacio e pepe. Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine Eggplant parmigiana. Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine Mani in Pastas four major food groups. Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine Rating: 3 stars Mani in Pasta 245 E. 14th St., nr. Second Ave.; 646-891-0174 Open: Daily for lunch and dinner. Prices: $3 to $32. Ideal Meal: Fritto misto, Regina pan pizza, tiramisu. Note: The restaurant recently acquired a beer-and-wine license, so you no longer need to BYO from the nearby 7-Eleven. Scratchpad: Two stars for the pizza, another one for the ebullient service. *A version of this article appears in the April 30, 2018, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now! The stores makeshift memorial can be seen near the door. Photo: Jason Davis/Getty Images Since a shooting early Sunday morning, everything at Waffle Houses location in Antioch, Tennessee, has been understandably out of sorts. Remarkably, Nashvilles news channels report that the store not only reopened its doors today at 9 a.m., but has also decided to donate 100 percent of the next months sales to the victims and their families. Waffle Houses execs say theyve brought workers over from Atlanta their headquarters city to assist at the store, and have grief counselors on-site as well. The crime-scene tape came down in advance of todays reopening, which the chain explained, during a presser this morning from the parking lot, was hastened by the stores employees themselves. They apparently asked if they could return to work as part of their healing process. LIVE: Waffle House officials speak before reopening of Antioch location. https://on.nc5.co/2HLgCcH Posted by NewsChannel 5 Nashville on Wednesday, April 25, 2018 The stores manager tells WKRN that in the past day or two, a lot of people have been meeting at the restaurant as a gathering place to decompress. A memorial to the victims has been set up out front, and Waffle Houses corporate office says its planning a some sort of memorial or plaque inside the diner. Company officials also say theyve been flooded with requests from all over to donate. Nashvilles WTVF, meanwhile, chatted with Chuck Cordero outside the restaurant this morning he was at Waffle House when the shooting happened, visiting his friend Taurean Sanderlin, an employee who was among the four victims. Cordero says he cruised by last night at 1 a.m. to see if there was any sign of them opening, then tried again around 5. At that point, staff welcomed him in for coffee, and he says they sat around and talked a little bit. Im looking forward to seeing my friends come back, he tells the station. Ill be back tonight, Ill keep coming back. Posted Wednesday, April 25, 2018 1:45 am The Community Foundation of the Ozarks and Missouri Foundation for Health have awarded a $10,000 grant to the Bolivar Area Community Foundation through the Rural Ozarks Health Initiative to address health issues in communities or regions served by the CFOs rural affiliate foundations. The Bolivar Area Community Foundation will redistribute the grant to nonprofits addressing health needs in Bolivar and Polk County. The process for awarding these grants will be announced by the BACF in coming months, a news release said. The Bolivar Area Community Foundation is very excited to receive this $10,000 grant and to see the impact it will have on the health of our community, BACF Board President Kelly Parson said in the release. The BACF is proud to do our part to help provide some of the financial support needed to address one of the health issues we, as a community, identified in our Community Health Improvement Plan. Haiti - Music : 3rd Edition of Jacmel Jazz Festival For its 3rd Edition, the association Jacmel Jazz Festival in partnership with the Haiti Jazz Foundation has decided to join the Jacmel Jazz Festival on the International Jazz Day. This new edition of the Festival will be held in Jacmel between the Alliance Francaise, the Dessaix Baptist School, the Rue du Commerce and the Belvedere from Saturday, April 28 to Monday, April 30, 2018. On the program, concerts, conferences and free workshops with talented musicians and also exhibition of works by Haitian painters Eder Romeus and Charles Alix. A weekend that promises to be already festive since the city will also celebrate its patron saint that will allow the various sectors and the city of Jacmel to benefit from the economic spinoffs of these events in the hotel, restaurant or small tradespeople. The concerts will start every evening at 7:00 pm with musicians such as Cuban saxophonist Felipe Lamoglia who will be accompanied by the trio of Johnbern Thomas the unavoidable Haitian jazz drummer, but also SMS Kreyol who will propose his dynamic kreol jazz, Diapana the percussionist from Martinique, Gessoit Pierre Louis and Josue Alexis the talented jazz pianist or Jazzistik a group of young jazzmen from Jacmel to name a few. At the invitation of the Haitian drummer, Johnbern Thomas, the Cuban saxophonist will accompany the trio in concert on April 29 at the Rue du Commerce. In addition, since the proclamation of the International Jazz Day by UNESCO in 2011 the Haiti Jazz Foundation celebrates every 30 April this day. This year, this day will be celebrated with the participation of the "Kreol Jazz meeting project". This formula is intended to bring together musicians from around the world who recognize themselves in Kreol Jazz and allow them to share their talents, visions and ideas in the same spirit in order to promote this style of music in all its diversity on the same stage. For its first public release, the band will be composed of Joel Widmaier, Mushy Widmaier, Gerlad Kebreau and Godwin Louis of the United States. In addition, thanks to the support of the US Embassy, a workshop on the music professions will be proposed by Joel Widmaier and Milena Sandler at the Dessaix Baptist School on Sunday, April 29 to raise awareness among young professionals of music in the value chain of the record industry and live. Other conferences will take place, notably on the history of jazz and the contribution of traditional Caribbean rhythms. Complete programming on : www.jacmeljazzfestival.jimdo.com/ HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... EMERGENCY CALL : Blood donation O negative The Haitian Red Cross (CRH) informs the general public that the National Center for Blood Transfusion (CNTS) is in high demand for O-negative blood group (O-). So far CRH has not been able to respond to these requests. The CNTS does not have this blood group available and is launching an emergency national blood donation appeal for the O-negative group in particular and all donors in general to donate blood at blood transfusion stations in their cities and at the National Blood Transfusion Center located at the Digicel building in Turgeau every day. Reshuffle where are women ? "What does the Executive intend to do with Article 17.1 of the Constitution which requires compliance with the quota of at least 30% of women in public administration? By replacing the 5 ministers (4 men and 1 woman) by 5 men ... I demand respect of the Constitution !" declared the Senator Dieudonne Luma Etienne. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24196-haiti-politic-delivery-ceremony-for-the-5-new-ministers.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24186-haiti-flash-appointment-of-5-ministers.html The former Minister of Justice, head high The former Minister of Justice, Heidi Fortune, on a trip abroad, to New York, declared "I leave with dignity the head hihg and my character of warrior," following the announcement of his replacement. The PM risks the interpellation A few hours after the announcement of the appointment of five new Ministers, 16 deputies (Joseph Manes Louis, Jean-Robert, Bertrand Sinal, Roger Milieu, Printemps Belizaire, Alcide Audrey, Jean Marcel Lumerant, Enel Appolon, Deus Deroneth, Renald Exantus, Abel Descollines, Franck Lauture, Bien-Aime A. Rodon, Gabriel Lionel, Charles Rodney, Julien P. Fequiere) demanded from Prime Minister Lafontant in a letter, that he return to the Lower House, within 24 hours, all documents proving that the five new ministers comply with the provisions of Articles 52.1 and 172.1 of the Constitution. Otherwise "the interpellation will be unavoidable" says the Deputy Joseph Manes Louis signatory of this letter. Installation of the Minister of Agriculture On Tuesday, the agricultural engineer, Jobert C. Angrand was installed at the head of the Ministry of Agriculture to replace Carmel Andre Beliard. The new Minister is introduced as someone who is familiar with the agricultural sector for serving as executive coordinator of the National Institute of Haitian Coffee (INCA) for several years. He promises to work with all the deconcentrated structures of the ministry to respond to the multiple problems facing the agricultural sector. Lymphatic Filariasis : massive campaign of drugs On Tuesday, Alyssa Leggoe, Director of Health at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID - Haiti), joined the Director General of the Ministry of Public Health and other government colleagues to announce the launch of a mass drug administration campaign in 5 communes of Port-au-Prince to prevent lymphatic filariasis a parasitic disease commonly called elephantiasis or "big foot" that anyone can catch with a simple mosquito bite and that can lead to permanent disability and disfigurement. Since 2008, USAID has helped stop the spread of the disease in 117 of Haiti's 144 communities through annual campaigns like this one. HL / HaitiLibre Digbys cool climate fizz makes first foray into Scotland By Lisa Riley Digby Fine English has made its first foray into Scotland via an exclusive distribution deal with Alexander Wines. The deal, which makes Digby one of a few English sparkling wine producers with a dedicated distribution focus for Scotland, includes the Scottish fine wine merchant launching three of Digbys main styles of sparkling wines to both the on and off-trade. Available now, the trio comprises Digbys flagship 2010 Vintage Brut (rrp: 39.99); Leander Pink Non Vintage Brut (rrp: 32.99) and its Non Vintage Brut (rrp: 30.99). Initial customers include Ox and Finch and The Good Spirits Company - both based in Glasgow. With its many famous and luxurious hospitality venues and a thriving wine scene, Scotland offered a promising market for English produced fine sparkling wine, said Trevor Clough, CEO, Digby Fine English. We have been very keen on creating a partnership with an exceptional, dedicated distributor in our fellow home nation of Scotland, and we could not be more delighted to now be working with Alexander Wines, he said. Glasgow-based Alexander Wines said it was thrilled to be working with Digby, particularily at such an exciting time for English sparkling wine. The Digby wines are a fantastic addition to our portfolio and we're looking forward to build on Digby's success with our customers in Scotland, said company director, Victoria Beckett. The new distribution deal comes as Digby gears up to launch its second tranche of fundraising in a bid to raise 120,000. The premium English wine producer is hoping to source the investment via a peer-to-business funding solution where the funds are secures against the value of the wine itself, which it used last year to successfully raise 400,000. Castelnau launches second Hors Categorie cuvee as it looks to double sales By Lisa Riley Champagne Castelnau last night launched Hors Categorie cuvee - the second prestige cuvee to be released as part of the premium collection. The second addition to Hors Categorie, which translates to beyond categorisation and is named after the toughest mountain passes of the Tour de France of which Castelnau is the official Champagne, is named CCF 2067 after Col de la Croix de Fer at 2067 metres. The first Champagne in the Hors Categorie collection was launched in 2016 and named CT 2115 after Col du Tourmalet at 2115 metres. The most premium in Castelnaus Champagne portfolio, each Hors Categorie cuvee release is a limited edition of 3,600 bottles, retailing for around 100 in the UK. Dominantly Pinot Meunier, which is relatively unusual for a prestige Champagne, the blend had been created to challenge the conventional wisdom that prestige Champagnes should be Chardonnay or Pinot Noir dominant, said general manager, Keith Isaac MW. The latest edition formed part of Castelnaus strategy to grow its presence in the UK on-trade, he added. Our main focus is to target the on-trade and claim a bigger share of the premium end of the market, he said, adding it was the best way to grow. Currently selling just under one million bottles of Castelnau globally, the ambition was to double this to two million by 2025, he told Harpers. To achieve this, the business has reviewed its on-trade sales team in the past 18 months, recruting three new people, with plans to grow the team further throughout this year, he added. Our growth plans are ambitious and to fulfil them we will be investing significantly in people, marketing and plant, said Isaac. In a bid to get its bottles in front of consumers, the producer is also extending its presence within duty-free with new partnerships in the pipeline in addition to its existing ones, primarily British Airways. Last year, Champagne Castelnau unveiled new contemporary branding to reflect its premium image and adventurous attitude - the reaction to the overhaul had been very well received universally, he said. This year marks the sixth consetive year of Champagne Castelnau as the official Champagne of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), owners and organisers of the Tour de France. Posted Tuesday, April 24, 2018 8:15 pm Jim Woods, American Legion District vice commander, left, honored Keith Parminter, Bolivar, with a certificate of recognition for his longtime membership from the National Headquarters of the American Legion. Woods delivered the certificate to Parminter where he now lives at the Mt. Vernon Veterans Home. Parminter, a 60-year member of the Legion, served in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict. He was hit by shrapnel from an artillery shell to the head while he was serving in Korea 17 days before the armistice was signed. He has been a resident of the veterans home since 2016. Posted Wednesday, April 25, 2018 1:29 am Polk County fire departments stayed busy last week as two area homes were destroyed in two separate residential structure fires. A mobile home in the 4700 block of South 140th Road was fully engulfed in flames when fire crews arrived on scene at around 11:30 a.m. Friday, April 20. Robert Dickson, Central Polk County Fire Protection District chief, said while the official cause of the fire is unknown, the residents reported the fire ignited from a wood stove. He said there was no electricity in the mobile home. The only heat source they had was wood heat, and they pulled it out in front of the house to work on it, Dickson said. There were three wood stoves. One resident was sleeping inside when she woke to the home filled with smoke, he said. It was a complete loss, Dickson said. No one was injured in the fire. Mutual aid was provided by Morrisville Fire Protection District, Halfway Fire Department and Bolivar City Fire Department, with 12 firefighters on scene. Firefighters used around 10,000 gallons of water, Dickson said. He said Red Cross was called to give assistance to the residents. Home in Halfway destroyed in fire A single-story residence in the 4200 block of Rt. P north of Halfway was destroyed by fire last week. Halfway Fire Department Chief Jeremy Howe said crews were dispatched at around 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 17. We actually got toned out for a natural cover fire at around 5 p.m., he said. By the time I got from Bolivar to the station, we had the structure fire going. We arrived on scene five minutes after we were toned out. Howe said Prairie Grove Fire Department responded to the natural cover fire, while Halfway Fire headed straight to the structure fire. Prairie Grove also provided mutual aid at the house fire, along with Central Polk County and Pleasant Hope fire protection districts. The building was completely engulfed in flames when crews arrived, he said, with flames coming out of the attic window about 30 feet above the roofline. Howe said the homeowner, who is disabled, was carried from the house by two people because he was unable to walk. No one was hurt in the fire. The cause of the fire is unknown, he said. Firefighters used more than 15,000 gallons of water, creating muddy conditions on scene, which Howe said posed a challenge. Luckily, we were able to keep the fire contained to just the interior of the house, he said. The shell is still there. Howe said the homeowner received assistance from the Red Cross. They put him up in a hotel Friday night and were going to help him get permanent residency, he said. EDITOR's NOTE: Early versions of HB2748 mandated a housing study by the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation and provided only a $50,000 appropriation or left the appropriation amount blank. It was only in conference committee that the $580M payout from the bill named after Hanabusa's 'rat pack' crony Bob Nakata was announced. The Conference Draft is not yet available. * * * * * KITV 4-25-18: The original bill has been "gutted" and "replaced" The bill itself was originally supposed to give $50,000 to a wait list study. The original bill has been "gutted" and "replaced" with hundreds of millions of dollars to stimulate affordable housing development. The bill gives $200-million in cash to the Hawaii Housing Finance Development Corporation to start building immediately. It also allocates $360-million for tax credits to reimburse developers whose projects meet certain criteria. That credit runs through the year 2030 when lawmakers expect Hawaii to have at least 22,000 more homes. * * * * * Colleen Hanabusa Commends Legislators, Bob Nakata for Taking Bold Action on Affordable Housing News Release from Hanabusa Campaign April 24, 2018 Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa today commended the Hawaii Legislature for taking bold action on affordable housing by passing a strong legislative package dedicated to the Rev. Bob Nakata: Nowhere in America is there a greater gap between what our workforce earns and the cost of housing. Hawaii is one of the most expensive places to live in the world. Our affordable housing deficit has grown for decades despite campaign promises and housing programs that have come and gone. I commend the Hawaii Legislature for taking decisive action today and acknowledging the urgent need to address the severe shortage of truly affordable units. The Rev. Bob Nakata has a long history as a leader in our community and a champion of this issue. As a former legislator in both the House and Senate, and as a man of great faith, Bob knows the affordable housing fight isnt about statistics and appropriations. Its about local people working hard to provide shelter for their families and a solid foundation for the future. Bob and I got elected to the Senate at the same time. Our group was called the Rat Pack and Bob was our conscience. For us, and for so many people, he has always served as the barometer of what is the right thing to do. * * * * * EDITORS NOTE: Right thing to do??? Here is what the Star-Bulletin said about Hanabusa, Nakata and their rat pack May 24, 1999: Bronster's confirmation to a second term as attorney general was rejected by the Senate. The reaction to that vote was outrage. Bronster instantly became a martyr to the cause of reform. Crucial to her ouster were the votes of five Democratic freshman senators -- Jan Buen, David Matsuura, Colleen Hanabusa, Jonathan Chun and Bob Nakata -- who some thought would shake up the Democratic establishment. Instead they voted for the status quo, punishing someone who was trying to clean up perhaps the most shameful mess in Hawaii political history. In the wake of the vote, the five freshmen can blame themselves for pushing out of office the key figure in the Bishop Estate investigation. Would any of them like to stand up against Margery Bronster in an election? And Nakata was tossed out of office in 2002 after just one term by SD23 Democrat Primary voters. * * * * * Photo Caption: The Rev. Bob Nakata, who has been a tirelessly advocate at the Legislature for construction and funding of affordable housing for the past two decades, said he was thankful for this bill to help the people of Hawaii. With him are Chairman of the House Housing Committee Representative Tom Brower (from left), Chairman of the Senate Housing Committee Will Espero, Chairwoman of the House Finance Committee Representative Sylvia J. Luke, and Chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee Donovan M. Dela Cruz. LEGISLATURE PROVIDES HISTORIC FUNDING PACKAGE OF $570 MILLION TO BUILD 25,000 AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING UNITS Units will be developed for struggling working families (Math: $570M / 25,000 units = $22,800 per unit) News Release from House and Senate Communications, April 24, 2018 Honolulu, Hawaii Today, Senate and House conferees agreed and voted on a comprehensive housing measure that takes a momentous step forward in addressing Hawaii's affordable rental housing crisis on all islands. House Bill 2748 HD2 SD2 CD1 provides a total of $570 million which will generate more than 25,000 affordable units by the year 2030. This will fulfill the goal of 22,500 affordable rental housing units set by the Legislature in 2016 via Act 127, Session Laws of Hawaii 2016. "This is the largest appropriation made by the Legislature and demonstrates our relentless commitment to providing innovative solutions to meet the State's long-term housing demands" said House Housing Chair Representative Tom Brower (Waikiki, Ala Moana). This measure supports development of affordable rental housing for a wide range of households spanning low income families to those making up to 140 percent of the area median income (AMI). "In addition to low income households, this measure targets Hawaii's middle-class families," said Senate Housing Committee Chair Senator Will Espero (Ewa Beach, Ocean Pointe, Ewa by Gentry, Iroquois Point, portion of Ewa Villages). "These are working families who are not wealthy enough to afford a home in our expensive housing market, but do not qualify for public housing assistance. We must support them by providing an affordable option for housing while they save for a home of their own." House Bill 2748 HD2 SD2 CD1 contains four parts: 1. Appropriates $200 million into the Rental Housing Trust Fund to generate approximately 1,600 affordable rental housing units for families at or below 80 percent AMI. The Rental Housing Revolving Fund (RHRF) provides equity gap low-interest loans or grants to qualified owners and developers for the development, pre-development, construction, acquisition or preservation of affordable rental housing. Preference is given to projects that meet certain statutory criteria. Included is a preference for projects that provide at least 5 percent of the total number of units for persons and families with incomes at or below 30 percent of the median family income. Another preference is for projects that provide the maximum number of units for persons or families with incomes at or below 80 percent of the median family income. At the end of Fiscal Year 2017, the RHRF had a balance of $156 million. This appropriation will more than double its corpus to assist low income families and individuals, including the homeless and special needs groups, in obtaining affordable rental housing. 2. Expands the general excise tax exemption for construction of approximately 24,000 affordable rental units for families at or below 140 percent AMI. The measure increases the general excise tax exemption for the construction of affordable rental units for households at or below 140 percent AMI, with at least 20 percent of those units available for households at or below 80 percent of the AMI. The exemption will increase from $7 million (the exemption amount enacted in 2017) to $30 million per year and will be extended from the year 2022 to 2030. The total value of this expanded general excise tax exemption amounts to $360 million over 12 years. This exemption is expected to result in the construction of approximately 24,000 affordable rental units. 3. Appropriates $10 million into the Dwelling Unit Revolving Fund (DURF) DURF was established pursuant to Act 105, Session Laws of Hawaii 1970, which authorized the issuance of $125 million in general obligation bonds to carry out the purposes of the Housing Development Program. Funds may be used for the acquisition of real property; development and construction of residential, commercial and industrial properties; interim and permanent loans to developers; and any and all things necessary to carry out the purposes of the Housing Development Program, including administrative expenses. DURF provides interim construction financing of affordable housing projects. This appropriation will increase its corpus by 10 percent. 4. Appropriates $50,000 to prepare an assessment of housing needs for persons with low or no income, such as the disabled and functionally challenged populations. This appropriation commissions the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to determine the number of persons with special needs in Hawaii, identify the supportive services they may require and inventory the providers of supportive services statewide. "Former State Senator the Rev. Bob Nakata deserves the credit for today's bill," said House Finance Chair Rep. Sylvia Luke, (Makiki, Punchbowl, Nuuanu, Dowset Highlands, Pacific Heights, Pauoa). "He has said that the Legislature needs to provide funding to create 22,000 units. This bill goes beyond that." Our affordable housing crisis demands we take tangible, meaningful action. With this measure, we are responding to the needs of our community our families, children and low-income individuals and providing long-term solutions that are feasible within the context of our state financial plan, said Senate Ways and Means Chair Senator Donovan Dela Cruz (Mililani Mauka, Waipio Acres, Wheeler, Wahiawa, Whitmore Village, portion of Poamoho). The bill now moves to the full House and Senate for a final reading vote. ---30--- SA: 'Bob Nakata Act' Lawmakers commit $200M to affordable-housing fund (HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the entity formerly known as Yahoo! Inc. has agreed to pay a $35 million penalty to settle charges that it misled investors by failing to disclose one of the worlds largest data breaches in which hackers stole personal data relating to hundreds of millions of user accounts. ? According to the SECs order, within days of the December 2014 intrusion, Yahoos information security team learned that Russian hackers had stolen what the security team referred to internally as the companys crown jewels: usernames, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, encrypted passwords, and security questions and answers for hundreds of millions of user accounts. Although information relating to the breach was reported to members of Yahoos senior management and legal department, Yahoo failed to properly investigate the circumstances of the breach and to adequately consider whether the breach needed to be disclosed to investors. The fact of the breach was not disclosed to the investing public until more than two years later, when in 2016 Yahoo was in the process of closing the acquisition of its operating business by Verizon Communications, Inc. ? We do not second-guess good faith exercises of judgment about cyber-incident disclosure. But we have also cautioned that a companys response to such an event could be so lacking that an enforcement action would be warranted. This is clearly such a case, said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC Enforcement Division. ? Jina Choi, Director of the SECs San Francisco Regional Office, added, Yahoos failure to have controls and procedures in place to assess its cyber-disclosure obligations ended up leaving its investors totally in the dark about a massive data breach. Public companies should have controls and procedures in place to properly evaluate cyber incidents and disclose material information to investors. ? The SECs order finds that when Yahoo filed several quarterly and annual reports during the two-year period following the breach, the company failed to disclose the breach or its potential business impact and legal implications. Instead, the companys SEC filings stated that it faced only the risk of, and negative effects that might flow from, data breaches. In addition, the SECs order found that Yahoo did not share information regarding the breach with its auditors or outside counsel in order to assess the companys disclosure obligations in its public filings. Finally, the SECs order finds that Yahoo failed to maintain disclosure controls and procedures designed to ensure that reports from Yahoos information security team concerning cyber breaches, or the risk of such breaches, were properly and timely assessed for potential disclosure. ? Verizon acquired Yahoos operating business in June 2017. Yahoo has since changed its name to Altaba Inc. ? Yahoo neither admitted nor denied the findings in the SECs order, which requires the company to cease and desist from further violations of Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 12b-20, 13a-1, 13a-11, 13a-13, and 13a-15. ? Elsewhere, Bloomberg analyses the hacker-proof digital highway that has opened between Finland and Estonia, while Business Insider Nordic shows us some images of the Earth taken by Finlands ICEYE satellite. The Finnish governments decision to ends its experiment with universal basic income caught the attention of much of the worlds international media this week. In response to the news, The New York Times takes a look at why it failed to work in Finland. Finland has second thoughts about giving free money to jobless people The New York Times For more than a year, Finland has been testing the proposition that the best way to lift economic fortunes may be the simplest: Hand out money without rules or restrictions on how people use it. The experiment with so-called universal basic income has captured global attention as a potentially promising way to restore economic security at a time of worry about inequality and automation. Now, the experiment is ending. The Finnish government has opted not to continue financing it past this year, a reflection of public discomfort with the idea of dispensing government largess free of requirements that its recipients seek work. There is a problem with young people lacking secondary education, and reports of those guys not seeking work, said Heikki Hiilamo, a professor of social policy at the University of Helsinki. There is a fear that with basic income they would just stay at home and play computer games. Original article was published by on 24/04/2018 and can be found here. Cyber pioneers in EU's north open hacker-proof digital highway Bloomberg In this age of social media leaks and foreign election hacking, the ability to transmit sensitive personal information securely across borders is more valuable than ever. Finland and Estonia, two of Europes most digitally advanced nations, are about to achieve just that. Finns who cross the Baltic Sea to visit the former Soviet nation will soon be able to pick up their doctors prescription at any local pharmacy without worrying about prying eyes. Likewise, the around 100,000 Estonians currently employed in Finland will be able to have their paycheck sent to their home countrys tax authorities for quick and easy filing. What makes applications like these possible is the first secure international data highway in the world dedicated especially to the needs of ordinary citizens. Based on open-source code, the so-called X-road has plenty of other potential applications, from the sharing of driver license data and death certificates to company data on the trade register. Original article was published by on 22/04/2018 and can be found here. Fortum secures contract from S Group in Finland Power Technology Energy company Fortum has secured a contract from Finland-based S Group for implementing solar electricity systems on the rooftops of nearly 40 commercial buildings across the country. Under the deal, Fortum will be responsible for the project planning, project management and equipment procurement, while installation works will be carried out by other teams from ARE. Fortum business development head Tatu Kulla said: Realising our vision for a cleaner world isnt easy, nor can it be accomplished overnight. With a total output capacity of nearly 10MW, the solar electricity project is reported to be the largest supply of rooftop solar electricity systems to be installed in the Nordic region. Original article was published by on 17/04/2018 and can be found here. Jehovahs Witnesses flee from Russia to Finland The Independent Barents Observer Last April, a ruling by Russias Supreme Court banned all Jehovahs Witnesses organizations throughout the country, arguing the religious group to be extremist. Meanwhile, a wave of practicing Jehovahs Witnesses is fleeing Russia. More than a thousand people are now seeking asylum in several European countries, including Finland, the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported earlier this winter. It all started last summer, and thats when the first Witnesses sought asylum in Finland, spokesperson Veikko Leininen with the organizations Finnish branch told the newspaper. Many dozens at least are still to come, he said. In Russia, the number of Jehovahs Witnesses are estimated to about 175,000. That be, before the organization was declared extremist. Viewed with skepticism for denying military service, voting and refusal to take blood, the members are seen as both a threat to themselves, their children and public safety. Original article was published by on 20/04/2018 and can be found here. Images of Earth are taken from Finlands first-ever commercial satellite Business Insider Nordic This January, space startup ICEYE launched Finland's first-ever commercial satellite into orbit. By 2020, ICEYE hopes to have a constellation of 18 satellites scan the entire surface of Earth, in order to provide real-time imagery and data on what's happening on the ground. The company's satellite is equipped with so-called Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology, which enables it to take high-resolution images through darkness, clouds and inclement weather. A satellite can detect objects as small as individual cars or trees. By collecting continuous imagery, ICEYE hopes to open up a multibillion-dollar market providing real-time data to industries ranging from shipping to forestry. For instance, ICEYE says it could revolutionize the detection of illegal deforestation and pirate ships. Original article was published by on 22/04/2018 and can be found here. Dan Anderson HT Photo: Lehtikuva / AFP Photo / European Space Agency / ATG MediaLab What were talking about is simply the choice of a single Member of Parliament, insisted Orpo. Its difficult to say no when someone feels he shares our values and wants to make the move. Petteri Orpo (NCP), the Minister of Finance, has played down concerns about a possible coalition crisis sparked by a surprise switch of allegiance from the Blue Reform to National Coalition by Kaj Turunen, a second-term Member of Parliament from Southern Savonia. Members of the Blue Reform floated the possibility of abandoning the ruling coalition in the aftermath of the surprise announcement before adopting a more conciliatory tone, estimating that the debacle has placed a major dent in trust between the three coalition partners. Matti Torvinen, the party secretary of the Blue Reform, warned that the ruling coalition could collapse as a result of what he described as a coalition crisis in an interview with Lannen Media on Tuesday. The defection came as an apparent shock also to Sampo Terho, the chairperson of the Blue Reform and the Minister of European Affairs, Culture and Sports. The National Coalition has been aware of the project for a while, but Im really puzzled by the timing, he stated in a hastily organised press conference on Tuesday. I dont know the dirty and nasty details of this hush-hush project or how long it has been in the works. This certainly isnt helpful [for coalition co-operation], he added. Some of his party comrades even suggested the defection is part of an elaborate scheme to topple the government and, thereby, to avoid presenting the social, health care and regional government reform to the Parliament. Such suggestions were shot down as conspiracy theories by Orpo. The National Coalition, he stressed, is not seeking to attract lawmakers from other parties to reinforce its own ranks and has not approached members of the Blue Reform, who reportedly are growing increasingly anxious as the party struggles to make gains in polls with the parliamentary elections drawing closer. Despite polling at around three per cent, the newly registered political party has as many as 18 seats in the Finnish Parliament. Turunen himself revealed he began considering his options almost a year ago. I started weighing it up last summer. I started to consider the issue more seriously this February. I was the one who showed initiative and brought up the issue in discussions with my friend, the deputy chairperson of the National Coalition, Janne Sankelo, he said in a press release. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Martti Kainulainen Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Jenni Karimaki, a researcher at the Centre for Parliamentary Studies of the University of Turku, viewed that other departures may follow as the parliamentary elections draw near but not before the social, health care and regional government reform has been approved in the Finnish Parliament. Kaj Turunen may end up being the first of many lawmakers to abandon the Blue Reform, a number of political scientists estimated on Tuesday. The Parliament is expected to vote on what is the most important reform drafted by the government of Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre) in June. The Blue Reform on Tuesday viewed that the defection has placed a dent in trust between the three-party ruling coalition. Its reaction is understandable, according to Karimaki. I recognise that its worthwhile from Turunen's viewpoint to justify the defection by talking about a lengthy consideration period, but announcing and calling attention to it may not be the best solution for the coalition co-operation, as suggested by comments from the Blue Reform, she analysed on Twitter. Antti Ronkainen, a doctoral student political societal and regional change at the University of Helsinki, interpreted the announcement as the start of a mass exodus from the Blue Reform. Its members, he predicted, would most likely seek to join either the Centre or National Coalition. I doubt they want snap elections, he explained on Twitter. Erkka Railo, a senior researcher at the Centre for Parliamentary Studies at the University of Turku, similarly estimated that Turunen did simply what most of his former party comrades are dreaming of doing. Prime Minister Sipila described the matter as very sensitive on Tuesday. This came as a surprise to me, he commented according to Ilkka, Pohjalainen and YLE. Of course representatives are free to do what they want, but itd be good if a notification was given in advance to make sure there are no surprises. The three-party ruling coalition will talk through the issue, according to him. Well naturally have to talk about the situation with the trio. I understand how serious this seems from the viewpoint of the Blue Reform. Antti Kaikkonen, the chairperson of the Centre Parliamentary Group, characterised the situation as tense and serious on Twitter. The National Coalition and Blue Reform should first talk things through fairly. Its important that we get the dust to settle as soon as possible and that the governments ability to function isnt compromised. The good results weve gotten this electoral term in economic and employment policy shouldnt be undermined. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Jussi Nukari Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Could not establish database connection. DB: bostonimc and SQL: --> The administrator has been notified and will resolve the problem ASAP. University of Iowa: IOWA CITY, Iowa -- April 24, 2018 - The University of Iowa track and field team will have media availability Wednesday at 1 p.m. (CT) at the Francis X. Cretzmeyer track to preview the 109th Drake Relays. The Hawkeye men are the defending Drake Relays Champions. In 2017, the Iowa men won the Hy-vee Cup for the first time with a total of 39 points, and three relays wins -- 4x800 meters (7:24.77), 4x400 meters (3:07.35), and sprint medley relay (3:20.40). Iowas 4x400 meter relay won its first white flag since 1967, while the sprint medley relay captured their third title in the last six years. The women return two legs of their winning 4x100 meter relay from 2017 with senior Brittany Brown and Briana Guillory set to compete for a team title. Defending discus champion Reno Tuufuli won last years event in his second appearance with a winning mark of 194-feet, 8-inches (59.34 meters). Posted 4/24/18 As I sat in our dining room on Sunday with a room packed full of residents with their families, I realized how important religious activities are to the people who live here at Colonial Springs. Our Posted 4/24/18 Republican supporters from Dallas, Hickory and St. Clair counties welcomed Gov. Eric Greitens to the Tri-County Lincoln Day Banquet in Wheatland on Saturday, April 21. Greitens and other elected Share this with Close North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has offered his condolences to the Chinese victims of a deadly bus crash. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits injured Chinese citizens in hospital on April 24, 2018, after a major road accident. [Photo: VCG] A tourist bus fell from a bridge late Sunday south of Pyongyang, killing 32 Chinese tourists and four North Koreans. Two Chinese survivors are in critical condition in hospital. Kim Jong Un went to China's embassy on Monday, and also personally visited the surviving Chinese tourists in hospital. He has sent his condolences to President Xi Jinping as well as China's communist party and government via the Chinese ambassador. He's also promising full support for treating the injured and coordinating with the Chinese side to handle the crash aftermath. Chinese President Xi Jinping has also called for a full-scale investigation, dispatching a Chinese working group, including medical experts, to North Korea to help treat the survivors and assist the probe into the incident. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has expressed China's appreciation for the North Korean leader's visit to the injured Chinese citizens. A ministry spokesperson says China and North Korea are in close communication and coordination. This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services, to personalize ads and to analyze traffic. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. Learn more here *Cindy* 1) $10 Amazon Gift Card: Deb Gramie Burgess 2) The Cowboys: Dawn LeGros 3) Rescuing Her Heart: Cindy Klemm *Denise* Audio Codes for The Witness Tree: Marilyn Ridgway and Licha Hanley *Mary* 1) Audio code for The Damsel's Intent: Danielle Grandinetti Owen 2) Reader's Choice: Brenda Walters *Linda* 1) Gold Rush Bride Hannah: Lisa Turley and Jennifer Devon Hibdon 2) $5.00 Gift card to retailer of their choice (Kobo, B&N, AppleBooks, Amazon): Tami le Roux *Grand Prize*: Bonnie Yepsen Weinman *Blog Winners*: 1) Spies & Sweethearts: Sheila64 2) Bent Tree Bride: Roxanne Cruz 3) Rescuing Her Heart: Natalya Lakhno 4) The Debutante's Secret: Connie Porter Saunders GIVEAWAY RULES Winners must leave their email address and will be notified by email and the winners name will be announced in the days comments. No one under 18 can enter our giveaways. No purchase is necessary. All winners have one week to claim their prize. USA shipping only. Offer void where prohibited. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. A second draft of a law on "people's assessors" was submitted to China's national legislature for review Wednesday, suggesting that assessors be granted a bigger role in court. People's assessors take the oath of office in peoples court in Hefei city, Anhui Province, December 2, 2014. [File photo: VCG] It recognizes that the assessors "have equal rights" as professional judges in trials, unless the law specifically provides otherwise. The assessors are also allowed to participate in legal proceedings in which the death penalty is possible and in other cases with "severe social impact," according to the draft. The draft was first submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee last December. The legislation was based on an NPC Standing Committee decision in 2004 to improve the use of people's assessors and a pilot program in 10 provincial-level regions starting in 2015. The ongoing bimonthly legislative session will run until Friday. After revisions, the draft is relatively mature and the NPC Constitution and Law Committee has suggested putting it to vote at this session, said a committee report read to the lawmakers. The draft law states that Chinese citizens aged 28 or older who have received high school education or higher can be selected as assessors. In courts, an assessor exercises the same power as a judge but cannot hear a case alone nor act as chief judge of a collegial panel. Assessors are mostly selected randomly from eligible local residents, and only less than 20 percent will be chosen based on personal applications and recommendations by entities, the draft law states. But lawyers, notaries and arbitrators, among others, are excluded from the service, said the draft. Citizens who have received criminal punishment, been removed from public posts, been listed as court order defaulters, or committed a severe illegal offense cannot be selected as assessors, and disbarred lawyers and notaries are also prohibited from being selected. The second draft also adds articles to protect the personal safety and home security of assessors, forbidding any organizations or individuals from retaliating against people's assessors and their relatives. According to another report on the pilot program delivered by Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court, to the NPC Standing Committee Wednesday, a total of 13,740 assessors in the 10 regions have participated in the pilot program till this April. People's assessors have participated in hearings on 30,659 criminal cases, 178,749 civil cases and 11,846 administrative cases in the regions since the pilot program started in 2015, said Zhou. From May 48, 1942, American, Australian, and Japanese naval units fought the worlds first engagement decided exclusively by carrier-based air power. Tactically the Japanese could claim a limited success. They sank the carrier Lexington and heavily damaged the carrier Yorktown while losing only the light carrier Shoho. But in strategic terms, the Battle of the Coral Sea was a major Allied victory. For the first time in the Pacific war, the Japanese withdrew without achieving their objectivein this case, vital Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. And two Japanese carriers, Shokaku and Zuikaku, lost so many aircraft that neither was available to participate in the decisive Battle of Midway four weeks later. Many what if scenarios rely on close calls, in which the outcome pivoted on a single event that went one way but might easily have gone another. In the case of Coral Sea, however, it is almost easier to explain how the Japanese could have won the battle than explain how they managed to lose it. Although both sides committed a number of errors, the Japanese made fundamental, completely avoidable mistakes that gave the Allies an opportunity for victory they really should not have had. To begin with, Japanese naval planners failed to allocate enough forces to guaran tee the job. Confident that the Americans would send only one carrier to dispute the offensive against Port Moresby, the Japanese assigned only two carriers to the main strike force, whereas they easily could have committed a third. As a result, the two sides fought the battle with an almost equal number of carrier aircraft. Second, the Japanese divided their efforts between two objectives located hundreds of miles apart. In addition to seizing Port Moresby, they also sought to capture the island of Tulagi in the Solomon archipelago for use as a seaplane base. While the Tulagi operation made good sense as a way to keep tabs on naval movements from the American base on New Caledonia, it was of comparatively minor importance. Moreover, the Japanese operational plan, code-named MO, was needlessly complex and depended on the coordination of five major groups: a carrier striking force, a Tulagi invasion group, a Port Moresby invasion group, a support group, and a covering group. Worse, the commander responsible for coordinating these groups, Vice Adm. Shigeyoshi Inouye, remained at Rabaul, hundreds of miles from the prospective battle zone, with no direct feel for the battles development. Finally, the concept of the operation a pincer movement that would trap the Allied task force between the carrier striking force steaming from the eastern entrance to the Coral Sea and the covering group protecting the Port Moresby thrust at its western endmade sense only on a map. Such a movement depends on having two strong pincers. What passed for the western pincer, however, was so weak that when Allied naval units simply moved in its direction during the battle, the Port Moresby invasion group pulled back. And when it was deprived of air cover with the loss of Shoho, the invasion had to be abandoned altogether. Had the Japanese instead kept their force united, first securing Port Moresby, then turning east to engage the Allied task force, they would not only have achieved their main objective, they would have stood a better chance against American air attacks because more warships would have been on hand to screen the carriers. Japanese mistakes did not end there. On May 6, the rival carrier groups were only seventy miles apart, but neither spotted the other. In the case of the Americans, their scouting planes turned back just before they would have sighted Shokaku and Zuikaku. But with the Japanese, the striking force commander, Adm. Takeo Takagi, failed to order any scouting efforts at all. On May 7, both groups finally spot ted the other, both launched air strikes, and both air strikes managed to miss their intended targets and attack others instead. It was on this day that the Americans sank Shoho. These mutual errors were far more costly to the Japanese, since the elimination of Shoho badly compromised the Port Moresby operation. Then, late in the afternoon of May 7, Admiral Takagi took a badly calculated risk and dispatched twenty-seven pilots with night flying experience to locate and attack the main American task force. They indeed located the task forcebut they misidentified the American carriers as their own. Of the twenty-seven aircraft dispatched, only six returned. The following day, both main carrier forces finally found and attacked the other. Yorktown was heavily damaged and Lexington was lost. Shokaku also suffered damage that interfered with flight operations, forcing its returning air group to land on Zuikaku instead. The crew of the overburdened Zuikaku had to push numerous aircraft over its side as soon as they landed. As a result, almost a third of the sixty-nine aircraft the Japanese lost during Operation MO were the direct result of Takagis ill-fated air strike on the evening of May 7. And the damage to Shokaku and severe losses to both carrier air groups rendered Shokaku and Zuikaku unavailable for the Midway operation. Were it not for these fundamental mis takes, MO stood every chance of succeeding in seizing Port Moresby. In that case, the Japanese would have securely anchored their defensive perimeter in the southwest Pacific and established a base for aerial operations against the ports of northeastern Australia. That was where Gen. Douglas MacArthur was marshaling Allied forces for a counteroffensive by way of Papua New Guinea, which the capture of Port Moresby would have vastly complicated, if not precluded altogether. Japan would have had more forces available, therefore, to defend against another counteroffensive from the direction of the Solomon Islandsthe Allied landing on Guadalcanal in August 1942, for example. While it cant be known for sure whether Shokaku and Zuikaku would have been used at Midway had they been available, it is certainly true that had Operation MO been better planned and managed, it would not have been so costly to the Japanese in terms of aircraft and their crews of well trained airmen. And had both carriers been present at Midway, they might well have provided enough extra striking power to preclude the incredible victoryin the words of historian Walter Lordthat abruptly turned the tide of the Pacific war. Given the disparity in industrial strength between the United States and Japan, it is hard to imagine any scenario by which Japan could have won the Pacific war. But if the Japanese had won the Battle of the Coral Sea, as they might so easily have done, the war would have been protracted by many months, and been rendered vastly more difficult for the Allies. Originally published in the March 2008 issue of World War II Magazine. To subscribe, click here. In his memoirs, the anthropologist Carleton Coon wanted to set one thing straight: The explosives his team of Arab saboteurs used to blow up German tanks were not, as Time magazine once erroneously reported, fake camel turds. They were fake mule turds. Few people back then knew what an anthropologist was, much less why one should be any use in fighting a war. Coon, a Harvard professor who had done his Ph.D. thesis on the Riff tribes of Morocco, tried early on to sell his services to army intelligence and got a polite brush-off. But the world was a lot smaller then, and one November day in 1941it was just before the Harvard-Yale game, when one more tall, dignified, elderly gentleman wearing a blue serge suit would hardly attract notice amid the multitude of loyal alumni swarming the campussuch a man knocked on Coons office door. First he swore me to utter secrecy, Coon recalled, then he told me more about myself than I had dreamed anyone else could know. Then he informed me that I had been chosen to be the Lawrence of Morocco. Although Coons direct military experience amounted to listening to his grandfathers Civil War stories and setting off the Fourth of July fireworks on the town common as a boy in Wakefield, Massachusetts, his subsequent resume could have been the model for Indiana Jones. He had learned Egyptian hieroglyphics well enough while still a student at Phillips Andover to attract a crowd in front of Cleopatras Needle in Paris, when his father, who had taken him to Europe one summer, demanded that he translate the inscription by sight. (Although this attention greatly pleased my father, it made me feel like jumping into the Seine, Coon said.) In collegeto his roommates considerable annoyancehe spent hours reciting Arabic prayers, fantasizing about passing as a native Muslim if ever put to the test with his life in the balance. As a field anthropologist he had rattled over wild tracks in Morocco in a Model T Ford packed with tents and digging tools, trekked on zigzagging mountain paths with foot-wide ledges and sheer drop-offs, extricated himself from delicate encounters with tribal sheiks, explored caves, sailed on creaky Arab dhows, and, back at Harvard, found himself consulted with alarming frequency by his Radcliffe students for advice with their personal troubles, mostly concerned with amorous affairs, or just plain sex. His official job description from his new employer, the OSS, read like a parody, except that it described exactly what he proceeded to do. He will be sent to the Near East Theater for special subversive and demolition work. He will be responsible for physical subversion in enemy or enemy occupied or controlled territory. He will promote, organize, and equip partisan groups and operational nuclei for guerilla warfare. One of Coons first assignments was to teach some Arabs to blow up railroad tracks, a form of academic instruction of which the French took an exceedingly dim view, for they were thinking of the postwar future. He bribed a local mullah with fifty thousand francs to ensure cooperation; he and a colleague produced a very free Arabic translation of FDRs speech announcing the Allied invasion and asking for the citizenrys support. Every time Mr. Roosevelt mentioned God once, Coon noted, we named him six times. And having noticed that mule deposits were the one reliable feature found on all Moroccan roads, he scooped up as many as he could, carefully wrapped them, sent them to London in the British diplomatic pouch, and received back via Gibraltar perfect plastic-explosive facsimiles thereof. The mules revenge on the motor vehicle, was Coons elegant encomium. As David Price notes in his new book Anthropological Intelligence, some two dozen anthropologists worked for the OSS in the course of the war; all were academics recruited for their unique and intimate on-the-ground knowledge, language skills, and personal contacts in regions where Allied forces operated. In a 1945 memorandum urging that the OSS become a permanent force to anticipate and preempt the rise of another Hitler anywhere in the world, Coon wrote: We have, by a combination of historical accident and of selection, assembled a group of versatile and bold individuals the like of which has not been brought together for many centuries. The bureaucracy of cold war America, alas, could never equal the great historical accident of World War II that brought together that unique assemblage of scientists, artists, writers, and assorted other very unmilitary thinkers who in their own ways helped defeat Hitler. Originally published in the May 2008 issue of World War II Magazine. To subscribe, click here. A brilliant synergy between air and sea came close to defeating Japan even before the atomic bombs. Late on the afternoon of March 27, 1945, 102 four-engine Boeing B-29s clattered aloft from Tinian, rising ponderously from the island and climbing slowly away, bound for another night raid on Japan. Since late November 1944, the Superfortresses had been carrying out deadly strikes against Japans increasingly defenseless cities, flying in hundred-plus ship formations night after night to pour a thousand tons of incendiaries at a time on Tokyo and other major Japanese towns. On March 9, nearly three hundred B-29s had struck Tokyo with devastating effect, burning sixteen square miles of the cityroughly a quarter of its entire area. Yet this raid was to be a radical departure for the American bomber force. Signaling that this was no ordinary mission, Brig. Gen. John H. Davies, commander of the 313th Bombardment Wing, was at the controls of the first plane, personally leading the bomb groups into the western sky. In almost complete defiance of accepted air power dogmanot to mention top Army Air Forces brass back in Washington and the interservice boundaries they zealously patrolled each of Daviess B-29s was carrying a dozen huge sea mines instead of its usual load of hundreds of incendiary bombs. Their target was not the cities, but the lifelines that fed them: Japans sea-lanes. The mode of attack was not the direct application of overwhelming force against the enemy heartland that air power advocates had envisioned as the quintessential role for the strategic bomber, but was instead indirect, stealthyand uncertain of success. But the navy and a few quixotic enthusiasts within the air force were sold on the idea of aerial mining, and after years of closed doors, they had found an unexpected ally: legendary, cigar-chomping, no-nonsense Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, who had just taken charge of the B-29 force in January 1945. By the end of the war, LeMays gamble would pay off handsomely in what is still one of the least-known chapters of American air power in World War II. Mines dropped by B-29s in Operation Starvation over the next few months would virtually shut down Japans crucial oil imports and its vital coastal shipping of coal and food. While debates rage to this day over the effectiveness of American fire raids on Japans cities in hastening the collapse of Japanese military power and helping to induce the surrender that finally came with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is little doubt as to the effectiveness of the mining campaign. Barely one month into the effort Japanese imports had fallen by 50 percent; by the end of the war, the air-delivered mines had sunk close to five hundred ships and damaged as many more, and imports were down an astonishing 90 percent. It was a fatal blow for a nation already severely strained by shortages and the continuing demand for food, fuel, and raw materials. As historian Kenneth Werrell notes, Mining the waters around the home islands struck the fatal blow of the blockade, and the B-29s visible in the sky every day and the smoldering cities convinced the Japanese that they had no alternative but to surrender. The idea of using aircraft to place mines at long distance, stealthily, and without the risk that a foray by a surface ship would entail had actually been around for several years. It was another bomber baronthe Royal Air Forces Arthur T. Harriswho first defied the stereo- types in pressing this unconventional concept against conventional thinking and service boundaries. Though remembered today for his fanatical pursuit of large-scale bombing of German urban and industrial areasan advocacy that earned him the nickname Bomberhe was also an enthusiastic proponent of maritime air attack. Before the war, as an Air Ministry staff officer, he had successfully championed development and production of airdropped magnetic sea mines. Thanks to him, when war broke out, the RAF already had a hidden means of inflicting sea denial, and swiftly used it: in 1940, during the otherwise ill-fated Norwegian campaign, mines dropped by Hampden bombers sank a dozen ships; by the end of the year RAF mining had sunk eighty-two ships and damaged a further fifty-five. RAF bombers took an impressive toll on Axis shipping through direct bombing attacks as well; overall, more than half of the surface ships and U-boats sunk by the Allies were accounted for by strikes from the air. But sortie per sortie, the air-carried sea mines dropped at night by RAF Coastal and Bomber Commands proved to be more than five times as effective; it took approximately 25 mine-dropping sorties to sink one ship, compared to 150 bombing sorties. Much as the bomber offensive against Germany forced the diversion of large numbers of Luftwaffe personnel to defend the Reich, the mining campaign forced the Kriegsmarine to use 40 percent of its personnel simply to clear mines and the Luftwaffe to divert its fighter forces to coastal patrols. Mining effectively held Germanys battle fleet in check throughout much of the war. Mine damage forced lengthy repairs to the battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, keeping them in port for much of their service. And mining shut the Baltic Sea to the German navy by September 1944, rendering it unusable for training, U-boat transit, and coastal shipping. Despite this obvious success story, mining operations figured little in the planning of American sailors and airmen at the Pacific wars outset. Both were wedded to a different kind of warfare: direct attacks on enemy ships at sea by bombs, torpedoes, and gunfire; or, in the case of the armys airmen, by longrange strategic bombing against the Japanese heartland. Such views frustrated mine advocates, none more than Lt. Comdr. Ellis Johnson. He was not a career military officer, but rather what the British would call a boffina scientific expert. Born in Quincy, Massachusetts, he earned a doctorate in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and later, while working at Washingtons Carnegie Institution, he became a consultant to the Naval Ordnance Laboratory. As a specialist in magnetism, he was assigned to study mines and mine countermeasures. December 7, 1941, found him in the field on a consulting trip to discuss measures to render American ships safe from magnetic mines through the method known as degaussing: applying an electromagnet to counter the ships magnetic field. The place was the Pacific Fleetat Pearl Harbor. In the carnage that followed, Johnson helped get surviving ships out of harbor. He then returned to Washington, fired with the idea of launching a mine campaign against Japan, accepted a commission, and returned to the Pacific to make his dream a reality. It would take far longer than he could have imagined. More than one strategist had noted Japans unusual vulnerability to mining attacks. In December 1942, retired admiral William V. Pratt wrote in Newsweek that Japanese seamen transited innately hazardous waters, and that almost every mile of this water is mineable. Japan imported 80 percent of its oil, 88 percent of its iron, and 20 percent of its food supplies. Coal was particularly crucial, for fully half the power used by Japanese industry came from coal shipped via coastal waters. Overall, three-quarters of all Japanese transportation involved coastal traffic. Each month, 520,000 tons of ship traffic passed through the Shimonoseki Straits, including all-important supply ships to and from China and Korea. The very first Japanese ship to fall prey to mines met its fate just a week before Pratts Newsweek article appeared. As Lt. Comdr. Roy Benson, skipper of the submarine USS Trigger, peered through his periscope, he saw an 8,000-ton cargo vessel pass over a minefield the Trigger had just laid off of Tokyo. The ship blew up and swiftly sank below the waves. But submarines were hardly the most efficient vehicles for transporting mines that weighed up to a ton apiece. Final statistics from the war would ultimately show that once Ellis Johnson and others broke down the institutional resistance to aerial mining, aircraft were responsible for nearly 90 percent (more than 21,000) of the 25,000 Allied mines laid in Japanese waters throughout the entire war, compared to the 3,000 mines delivered by surface ships, and the bare 650 delivered by submarines. Aerial mining was a natural partnership for the air force and navy. As a postwar Army Air Forces study noted, The Army had the aircraft [and] the Navy had the mines. But getting the two to cooperate was another matter. By 1944, Johnsons wartime experiences had convinced him that the best means of seeding Japanese waters was with long-range strategic bombers; experiments with carrier aircraft had led to high losses for little gain, and even the navys ubiquitous PBY Catalina flying boats took higher than acceptable losses. On the other hand, the Army Air Forces cooperation with the RAF and Royal Australian Air Force in initiating a mining campaign against Japanese-controlled territory in South Asian waters in 1943 provided definitive proof of the effectiveness of long-range bombers in this role. On February 22, 1943, long-range four-engine B-24 Liberators of the India-based Tenth Air Force dropped the first aerial mines used against Japanese targets, planting forty in the Rangoon River. The Rangoon seeding marked the beginning of an intensive port-and-river closing campaign in the theater. Repeated mine seedings of key ports achieved startling effects. By the end of 1943, Rangoon was shut down; similar intensive treatment effectively closed Balikpapan, Surabaya, Moulmein, Bangkok, Singapore, Haiphong, and Hong Kong. Attackers even sowed rivers well inland; so densely did they seed Chinas Yangtze River with floating magnetic mines that nearly fifty Japanese ships were sunk or damaged, achieving, as a subsequent Navy study concluded, a substantially complete blockade. Confronting the collapse of their logistical lines, the Japanese switched to using smaller, less capable wooden-hulled ships or (where possible) inefficient land transport; neither worked. The B-24, as useful as it had been in these attacks, had great range but lacked the survivability to attack the Japanese homeland. Successfully mining Japan would require using the Army Air Forces new long-range four-engine Boeing B-29 Superfortress: no other airplane had the range, capacity, and survivability to undertake the task. Introduced into combat in June 1944, the B-29 had so far proven a disappointment, plagued by a variety of problems. And Johnsonnow working for Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific Ocean Areashad briefed his mining plan to the leadership of the Army Air Forces XXI Bomber Command in Hawaii in early July 1944, only to be met with a tepid response. Focused on pulverizing Japans industry and military machine, most Army Air Forces senior leaders considered mining at best an undesirable distraction. Their reluctance caused Nimitz to write directly to Gen. Henry H. Hap Arnold, chief of the Army Air Forces, enumerating the benefits that could accrue from mining and requesting use of the big planes in an aggressive campaign. Arnold reluctantly agreed, though on a delayed schedule and with a smaller effort than Nimitz desired. Nevertheless, having surmounted this hurdle, joint planning went ahead, with mine experts and airmen coming together to structure the campaign. Now LeMays enthusiasm took hold. Frustrated by the troubles the B-29 had experienced with its early operations, LeMay was receptive for new ways to use the bomber to maximum effect. Like Bomber Harris, LeMay was not only sold on the idea but had the same hard-charging personality needed to get past institutional differences and get things done. He made his own changes to the mining planreversing his bosss orders to return the plan closer to what Johnson and Nimitz had envisaged. Afterwards, Johnson recalled: It was the firm belief in and support of the mining effort by General LeMay himself that made the successful campaign possible at all. Johnson, Nimitz, and LeMay all recognized that Japan had already suffered fearful depredation of its merchant fleet. Over the length of the war, it had declined more than 80 percent, to less than 1.5 million gross tons. Any further reduction in shipping would have disastrous consequences for Japans war effort and people. The synergistic weapons to achieve this strangulation were potentially at hand with the Army Air Forces Boeing B-29 and the navys sea mines, though both had their problems. Powered by four Wright R-3350 engines producing 2,200 hp apiece, Boeings graceful B-29 Superfortress lived up to its name. Its broad, low-drag high-lift wings spanned 141 feet, and it had a maximum takeoff weight of 135,000 lb. Highly streamlined, with the ability to fly 357 mph at 30,000 feet (a challenge for most Japanese fighters), it could carry a 10,000-lb bomb load over a range of 3,250 miles. Its crew of eleven included a bombardier with a radar bombsight and four gunners who used sophisticated remote-sighting stations to control the planes defensive gun turrets. The most complex airplane of its time, its development consumed $3 billion (roughly $33 billion in todays money), making it even more expensive than the atomic bomb. But for all this, the Superfortress had a troubled history, plagued particularly by engine problems and manufacturing difficulties that delayed its entry into service. Engines caught on fire with terrifying frequency, for one thing. Nevertheless, by the end of March 1945, the Army Air Forces was accepting over three hundred of the big bombers each month from Boeing and its subcontractors, and the XX and XXI Bomber Commands were flying over 3,100 sorties per month against Japanese targets, smothering them in nearly 15,300 tons of bombs. The navy had 1,000- and 2,000-lb mines that could be used in the Starvation campaign, with a variety of different fuse types: the magnetically detonated M-9 Mod 1 and M-11; the acoustically triggered A-3 (set off by propeller noise) and A-5 (by ship hull noise); and the pressure-sensitive A-6, which exploded when it experienced a reduction in hydrostatic pressure characteristic of a ship passing directly overhead. Of these, however, only the M-9, M-11, and A-3 were immediately available for use by the B-29 force. And, as ill chance would have it, the Japanese had captured examples of all of them. Thus, all had to have their detonation mechanisms changed to defeat possible Japanese countermeasures. But the navys mine experts swiftly set to work in Hawaii and at a new Mine Assembly Depot No. 4 on Tinian. By late February 1945, a stock of 1,500 modified mines was ready for use. Air force brass selected the highly experienced 313th Bombardment Wing, equipped with the new AN/APQ-13 attack radar, to develop the operational plan and execute the strikes. Strikes would be made at night by aircraft flying independently at spaced intervals to the target and dropping mines on parachutes from an altitude of five thousand to eight thousand feet. The bombardier and navigator would use radar bearings of a prominent portion of nearby coastline to place the mines in exact spots crossing Japanese ship channels; they would also need to calculate precisely the effect of wind in causing the mines to drift during their descent. The 313th began a series of rigorous practice missions, training in the use of the radar and dropping both water-filled dummy bombs rigged with an adapter to simulate the trajectory of a falling mine and real 1,000-lb mines. At LeMays insistence, to achieve maximum shock effect, the first seedings would be at full wing strength against the Shimonoseki Straits. Led by General Davies, Operation Starvation first took to the air on March 27, 1945, and lasted through August 15, six days after the dropping of the second atomic bomb. Starvation involved five sequential phases: Phase I (March 27May 2) supported the Okinawa invasion by closing off the Shimonoseki Straits. Phase II (May 3May 12) squeezed industrial centers by mining Inland Sea routes, Kobe, Osaka, and Tokyo, and remining the Shimonoseki Straits. Phase III (May 13June 6) mined northwest Honshu and Kyushu ports. Phase IV (June 7July 8) intensified mining of Honshu and Kyushu ports. Phase V (July 9August 15) continued remining, extended mining to Korean targets, and closed Moji and Niigata ports. Army Air Forces bombers dropped over 12,000 mines during Starvation, creating densely seeded fields that averaged nearly 470 mines apiece. The effects were almost instantaneous. Imports plunged. In early April 1945, with the more convenient Shimonoseki Straits closed, the Japanese superbattleship Yamato was forced to sortie via the Bungo Strait on its ill-fated mission to Okinawa. There it was spotted by American aircraft, attacked by carrier planes, and sunk. Accompanied by leaflet drops, the mining had a profound psychological impact as well. One Japanese officer, Comdr. Tadao Kuwahara, later told Allied investigators: It was difficult to obtain crews towards the end of the war.There was a great tendency for crews to jump ship. Although vigorously conducted, Japanese sweeping and other defensive countermeasureseven using suicide boats to detonate minesproved unequal to the task of keeping sea-lanes open. Traffic through the Shimonoseki Straits fell to 10 percent of its normal rate by June 1945, by which time other Japanese ports, plus crucial Korean ports controlled by Japan, were either closed or uselessincluding Moji, Niigata, Fusan, and Rashin. After the war, Capt. Kyuzo Tamura, a minesweeping expert, conceded, The result of B-29 mining was so effective against the shipping that it eventually starved the country, adding that it was a far-sighted policy. Nimitz wasted no time in praising the XXI Bomber Commands airmen for their precision and determination, assuring them they had made a definite contribution toward winning the war, and praising their phenomenal results. Indeed so, though for the Superfortress crews, such accomplishment did not come without risk and loss. The flying challengesweather, navigation, mechanical reliabilitywere bad enough: an average mission, with twelve 1,000-lb or seven 2,000-lb mines, covered 2,870 miles, and raids against Korea could reach 3,675 miles, necessitating a fuel stop at Iwo Jima. Then there was the enemy: on the first night of the Starvation strikes, three B-29s were lost over the Shimonoseki Straits, and another eight damaged. Searchlights caught some of the bombers, and flak swept the skies. The inside of the plane, radio operator Park Lovell recalled of one encounter, was like being in a welding booth; his pilot dived out of the accusing lights to safety, and Lovell said he became a little more religious at that time. On another mission, the B-29s notorious propensity for engine fires asserted itself. A 9th Bomb Group Superfortress experienced an engine fire right at takeoff, forcing an emergency jettisoning of the mines. Two of the mines collided on descent and exploded, the blast nearly removing the tail of the plane, and fragments seriously wounding a gunner. Though the pilots returned it safely to earth, the Superfortress never flew again. Overall, combat losses and accidents during Starvation cost the lives of 103 airmen and fifteen aircraft. Yet aerial mining of Japans home waters had sunk or damaged 961 ships totaling 2,000,000 tons. Of these, aerial mines sunk 484 ships representing nearly 650,000 tons. Ship passage through the Shimonoseki Straits decreased from 70,000 tons per day in March to 35,000 tons in April, plummeted to 7,500 tons in May and 1,750 tons in June, staggered up to 8,000 tons in July, and dropped to 1,500 tons in August. B-29 mining caused 60 percent of Japanese shipping losses between March and August 1945. Further, nearly 90 percent of Japans twenty-two repair yards were mine-blockaded, stranding damaged vessels. As Allied forces came ever closer to the Japanese homeland, air became increasingly dominant in the sea war. As former submarine skipper Rear Adm. Ignatius Pete Galantin recalled, It had become an aviators, not a submariners war. Of the 143 Japanese ships sunk by bombs, torpedoes, and mines in July 1945, American submariners accounted for less than 10 percent; airmen accounted for over 90 percent, fully 129 vessels. Aerial mining had proved itself to risk fewer lives, consume fewer resources, and, proportionally, achieve far more with less than had the much-heralded submarine campaign. Counting only sinkings, B-29 mining claimed a monthly average of 63 ships in Japanese home waters, while submarine attacks (using both mines and torpedoes) claimed a monthly average of 30. The postwar Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee credits 190 American submarines with sinking 1,314 ships, thus averaging 6.92 ships sunk per submarine. But the B-29 mining force deployed against Japan averaged only 40 aircraft, yielding an average of 7.08 ships sunk per B-29. Thus, a B-29 with a crew of eleven men achieved roughly the same results as a fleet submarine with a crew of eighty-five. Furthermore, the United States spent only $90,000 in B-29 acquisition costs per Japanese ship sunk versus $500,000 in submarine acquisition costs. Additionally, while the mining aircraft dropped a relatively stupid and reasonably cheap weapon, the submarine fired a far more expensive miniature submersible, the self-propelled torpedo. Although fewer torpedoes were expended per sunken Japanese ship than mines (eleven torpedoes vs. forty-three mines), mines were clearly cheaper and, more important, did not require the dangerously close approach necessitated by the torpedo. Looking back at the heroic accomplishments of the B-29 aerial miners, one can easily comprehend why the analysts of the postwar United States Strategic Bombing Survey wrote, It is believed that this campaign, begun earlier and laid on with greater weight, would have reduced effective shipping nearly to the vanishing point. It would have produced a condition of crisis in Japan sooner than actually occurred. Though the shock of the atomic bombs undoubtedly gave Japans military and political leaders the rationale they needed to force the hand of militants opposed to surrender, the words of Japanese premier Kantaro Suzuki are worth recalling: It seemed to me unavoidable that in the long run Japan would be almost destroyed by air attack so that merely on the basis of the B-29s alone I was convinced that Japan should sue for peace. Though the least known of the B-29s conventional missions, the delivery of aerial mines was, pound for pound, the most potent part of that inexorable destructive power. Originally published in the May 2008 issue of World War II Magazine. To subscribe, click here. China plans to introduce default judgment in corruption-related criminal cases as authorities step up the fight against crooked officials who have fled overseas. Zhou Jiyang, a former party official in Zhejiang Province, is the 50th returned fugitive from China's 100 most wanted list. [File Photo: QNSB] Lawmakers were briefed on the move Wednesday as a draft revision to the Criminal Procedure Law was submitted to the top legislature for review. The bimonthly legislative session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) will run from Wednesday to Friday. "The default judgment will be used against suspects and defendants in corruption or bribery cases who have fled abroad," said Shen Chunyao, chairperson of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee. This piece of legislation is meant to strengthen the efforts to catch overseas fugitives. "It is a brand new practice in our legal system," said Zhang Xingkuan, a Beijing-based lawyer, adding that the practice will become increasingly important as the country's anti-corruption fight deepens. Shen, the NPC official, said China's international hunt for fugitives and stolen assets has made great progress since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It has won broad support from the public. According to a government white paper, from 2014 to mid-October 2017, 3,453 fugitives were brought back from more than 90 countries and regions. Illegal assets worth 9.5 billion yuan (around 1.5 billion U.S. dollars) were recovered. "In the past, fugitive officials can only be tried after being repatriated," said Chen Weidong, a professor at Renmin University of China. "With default judgment in place, they will be punished by law even if they escape to the farest corner of the world." "Under default judgment, prosecutors having thoroughly investigated the case and obtained clear and substantial evidence can bring these cases to court," Shen said. "A collegiate panel will be formed and a copy of the subpoena needs to be sent to the defendant. If the defendant fails to appear, the court can adjudicate the case by default and rule on the defendant's ill-gotten wealth and other related assets. The defendant's rights to litigation will be protected." According to the draft, the defendant has the right to be represented by defense lawyers. Upon reaching a judgment, the court should inform the defendant of his or her right to object. If such an objection is raised, a retrial will be initiated. "The draft gives substantial protection of the defendant's rights. It is in line with internationally recognized principles and is similar to the practices taken by most countries," said Chen, the law professor. Besides corruption cases, Shen said default judgment could also be invoked in other cases if the defendant had died or was mentally ill to the level of being unfit for trial. Shen said the draft revision to the Criminal Procedure Law would also codify leniency for guilty pleas. The practice allows suspects and defendants to be considered for mitigated punishment if they voluntarily confess and sign affidavits. The prosecutors make the proposal and the court, upon examining whether the guilty plea is voluntary and the affidavit is legitimate, decides on it. A pilot has been in place since September 2016. In the 281 participating courts and procuratorates, the practice was invoked in 91,121 cases, or 45 percent of the total cases settled in the court. Chen said the practice worked and raised the efficiency of litigation. The news that some Ulster Bank customers have again been impacted by an IT failure at the bank is a cause of serious concern and the Central Bank must now conduct a comprehensive review of the IT systems used by retail banks in Ireland, according to Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Finance, Michael McGrath TD Deputy McGrath commented, "It is very distressing for Ulster Bank customers to discover that money has gone missing from their bank account or that they may have had debit card transactions declined. In some cases, customers may well have missed vital payments as a result of the banks failure. "Ulster Bank now needs to put its customers first. The banks immediate focus must be on fixing this problem and ensure that affected customers will not have their credit rating adversely affected in any way. These IT failures are happening all too often at Ulster Bank and the question has to be asked if it is the result of a lack of investment by the bank. It is every banks responsibility to ensure that their IT systems are fit for purpose." He concluded, Given the detrimental impact that IT failures have on customers and the reputational damage this causes to banks operating in Ireland, the Central Bank needs to assess the state of the IT systems in retail banks operating here and ensure that banks prioritise investment in this area. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. U.S. President Donald Trump said in Washington on Tuesday that he hopes the United States could deal with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in a "honorable fashion." President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in Washington. [Photo: AP/Evan Vucci] Speaking in a joint press conference with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump said: "I hope that we will be able to deal in a very open and honorable fashion with North Korea (the DPRK)." "A lot is happening right now ... And I think it's going to be very positive. And I hope it's going to be very positive for North Korea (the DPRK) and for South Korea, and Japan, and the rest of the world," he said. Speaking of the preparations for his meeting with the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un, Trump said "we're doing very well." However, he added that the United States has made no "concessions" in this regard. "I haven't even discussed a concession other than the fact that meeting is a great thing," he said. "I will say this: we put the strongest sanctions on a country that we ever have put on any country, by far." He said the U.S. definition of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula means that Pyongyang getting "rid of their nukes." "Very simple. They get rid of their nukes, and nobody else would say it. It would be very easy for me to make a simple deal and claim victory. I don't want to do that. I want them to get rid of their nukes," he said. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said before his expanded bilateral meeting with Macron that his meeting with Kim will be "very soon." "We have been told directly that they would like to have the meeting as soon as possible. And we think that's a great thing for the world," he said. He also said Kim is "very open" and "very honorable." "We're having very -- very good discussions," he said. "Kim Jong Un, he really has been very open and I think very honorable from everything we're seeing." "I think we have a chance of doing something very special with respect to North Korea (the DPRK). Good for them, good for us, good for everybody," Trump added. Positive momentum around the Korean Peninsula has been built up in recent months thanks to inter-Korean good faith with the diplomacy around the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and denuclearization, and efforts to promote dialogue between the DPRK and South Korea and the DPRK and the United States. South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet with Kim on April 27. Trump said his meeting with Kim maybe happens in May or early June. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Mexico City/BrusselsHumane Society International has cautiously welcomed the conclusion of negotiations for the modernisation of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mexico. A summary of the agreement in principle has been released, but still requires additional fine-tuning, legal scrubbing and ratification by both parties. The modernised agreement will include a trade and sustainable development (TSD) chapter with environmental provisions, including cooperation on issues ranging from tackling wildlife trafficking, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and overfishing. Furthermore, the agreement will also seek to strengthen cooperation between parties with respect to farm animal welfare. Anton Aguilar, executive director for Humane Society International/Mexico, said: We are delighted that this trade agreement will include commitments to sustainable development, particularly with regard to illegal wildlife trade. HSI has been pushing hardfrom both sides of the Atlanticfor the negotiators to ensure the inclusion of strong provisions for the protection of animals in this trade deal. It is vital that both Mexico and the EU commit to working together to properly implement and enforce multilateral environmental agreements, such as CITES, and cooperate to combat wildlife trafficking. CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Mexico is a notorious hub for the export of illegal wildlife products, which are often shipped from other parts of Latin America and are destined primarily to the U.S., but also to the EU, which (alongside the U.S. and China) is the one of the top three destinations for illegal wildlife in the world. Joanna Swabe, HSI/Europes senior director for public affairs, added: While it is heartening to see both the EU and Mexico pursing a values-based trade agenda and making robust environmental commitments, particularly with regard to the protection of wildlife and biodiversity, the devil will, as ever, be in the details. It remains to be seen just how strong the provisions in the final text will actually be and how they will eventually be implemented. In this regard, HSI hopes to participate in the Domestic Advisory Groups that will be established in both the EU and Mexico to help civil society participate in and oversee this aspect of the agreement. Aside from the TSD chapter, it is great news that the modernised EU-Mexico Free Trade Agreement will now include provisions on animal welfare. The question is whether these will go beyond improving the implementation of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) standards? Again, it is a case of waiting and watching for the text of the final agreement. The agreement reached between the EU and Mexico is part of a broader, modernised EU-Mexico Global Agreement. Practically all trade in goods between the EU and Mexico will now be duty-free, including in the agricultural sector. Since the previous EU-Mexico trade agreement came into force in 2000, trade between the EU and Mexico has risen at a rate of around 8 percent per year, resulting in an overall increase of 148 percent in trade in goods over the period. Despite these positive results, there was still a wide margin for improving the trade relationship. HSI, through its offices in Mexico and Brussels, worked with trade officials to advocate for animal protection language to be included in the agreement. While we expect the final text to be a significant step forward as compared to the previous version of the agreement, it remains to be seen if it will have a comparable level of ambition with other international treaties like the Trans Pacific Partnership, to which Mexico is a signatory. Facts According to the summary of the agreement in principle, some of the highlights of the agreement are: Trade and Sustainable Development The TSD Chapter includes provisions on the fight against climate change and the transition to a sustainable low-carbon economy, referencing the Paris Agreement. It also identifies potential areas where trade and climate change agendas can reinforce each other such as: the conservation and sustainable management of the biological resources, forests and fisheries, the promotion of trade in legally harvested and sustainable products or promotion of low-carbon technologies and energy efficiency. Key relevant international instruments include the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention on Biological Diversity and fisheries instruments at global and regional level. Disagreements or controversies on any matters arising under the TSD chapter are solved by using the governmental bodies (Trade and Sustainable Development or the Trade Committees), government-to-government consultations and a mechanism for impartial assessment of serious issues through an independent Panel of Experts and the publication of a public report with recommendations. The report can serve as a catalyst for further dialogue between the Parties and for civil society to take up through their dialogue with the Parties. Animal Welfare (AW) and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) The Modernization of the agreement has led to a fully-fledged Chapter on AW/AMR, providing many specific commitments for enhanced cooperation. For AW, both sides agree to improve the implementation of the OIE standards. This is in line with EU policies of supporting the development and improved implementation of OIE AW standards. Media contact: Magaly Garibay, mgaribay@idee.agency +52 55 38762199 South Korean President Moon Jae-in was pushing to meet U.S. President Donald Trump around mid-May before a summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), local media reported Wednesday. [Photo: China Plus] An unnamed senior Blue House official of South Korea told local reporters that the South Korea-U.S. summit seemed to be held around mid-May though the exact date of Moon's visit to the United States had yet to be finalized. Moon and Kim are scheduled to meet Friday at the border village of Panmunjom in what would be the third-ever inter-Korean summit. It is forecast to be followed in late May or early June by the Trump-Kim summit, the first-ever U.S.-DPRK meeting of leaders. Moon is expected to coordinate with Trump on the results of his summit meeting with Kim to help make the DPRK-U.S. summit successful. The South Korean leader has said the inter-Korean summit will end up a success only with the successful DPRK-U.S. summit, showing his willingness to play a mediating role between Pyongyang and Washington. Chung Eui-yong, top national security advisor for Moon, met his U.S. counterpart John Bolton in Washington ahead of the inter-Korean summit, the Blue House said. Chung and Bolton finished coordination to prepare for the inter-Korean summit, including ways of close cooperation between Seoul and Washington in achieving the goal of the denuclearized Korean Peninsula. The Blue House and the White House security advisors also discussed situations after the inter-Korean summit. Moon and Trump agreed to share the result of the inter-Korean summit via phone right after the end of the summit, according to the Blue House. Chung and Bolton discussed ways to push for the meeting between Moon and Trump before the expected summit between Trump and the DPRK leader. After meeting with Bolton, Chung said his meeting with the White House security advisor was very substantive and helpful, adding that Seoul and Washington agreed to closely cooperate for the success of the U.S.-DPRK summit. Sony Music In New Royalty Legal Battle With SiriusXM Sony Music has filed to stop an arbitration begun by SiriusXM over the licensing of classic songs by Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and thousands of others. The news comes nearly three years after the major labels struck a $210 million deal with the satellite radio giant over the use of sound recordings created before 1972. The deal gave SiriusXM the right to use pre-1972 recordings through the end of 2017, and indicated that the parties involved would be required to negotiate the terms of a new license for 2018-2022. Court papers filed by Sony on Friday revealed that although SiriusXM and the record labels have exchanged proposals, an agreement has not been met and so arbitration will be necessary, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The papers also indicated a number of objections on Sonys part to the manner in which SiriusXM has gone about the process, including the companys selection of JAMS, a leading commercial arbitration firm, their consolidation of individual claims against each of the record labels in a single proceeding, and their demand that the arbitration occur in Los Angeles despite both companies being headquartered in New York. In a statement made by SiriusXM, spokesman Patrick Reilly said: In June 2015, we agreed with Sony and the other major record labels to license their pre-1972 sound recordings. We paid these labels $210 million and agreed to license the works through December 2022, with a simple mechanism for setting the future royalty rate if we were unable to agree. Sonys decision to challenge our 2015 agreement is disappointing. It is again unfortunate to see that Sony is still uninterested in seeing older artists paid for their performances. SiriusXM will continue to honor its agreement to pay copyright holders for their pre-1972 works. CelebrityAccess Share on: Some of the classrooms are already complete. Vladimir Lyubetsky said nearly all of the furniture and equipment has been ordered. The gym floor is expected to start next week. The terrazzo flooring is expected to last into June. Some of the equipment has already been installed. The $120.8 million project is reportedly trending under budget, but it is too soon to say by how much. The project is expected to wrap up by June 29. The new school has a notable amount of glass and tiles. The work started on the top floor and moved down, with the first floor shops being the last to be completed. PreviousNext Taconic Construction Hits Home Stretch, Plans Laid For Move Dave DeForest led the School Building Needs Commission on a tour on Monday. PITTSFIELD, Mass. Gilbane Construction is scheduled to finish the new Taconic High School on June 29. From there, a moving company will be contracted to bring all of the equipment being kept at the current school over to the new one. Teachers will be asked to box up their classrooms and whichever moving company wins the bid will make the transition. John Benzinger of Skanska USA, the project consultant, said the moving contract is out to bid and that he expects the work to start in early June. The plan is to have the new building fully moved into by Aug. 1. A group of staff and consultants have inventoried the furniture and equipment in the current building and identified all of the items that will be kept. According to Vladimir Lyubetsky, an architect with Drummey Rosane Anderson Inc., nearly all of the new furniture and equipment has been ordered -- and some is already inside the building. "We're at the point where all furniture had been bid, well almost all, over 90 percent of the furniture was bid and purchased," Lyubetsky said. "It was a very good process and we hope the furniture and equipment will serve Pittsfield well." There was also a budget line in the $120.8 million project for technology. Lyubetsky said prices for those items have been secured and the purchasing process is now underway. He said those prices have come in slightly under what was budgeted. Benzinger said the existing equipment not being used in the new building is going to be auctioned. "We also started to auction the existing equipment that won't be used in the new building," he said, adding that through the sale of unused equipment already some $40,000 was sold. He said there is a list of other items, which are still being used, that are lined up to hit the auction block soon. Anything that doesn't sell will go to charity, Benzinger said. "We have plans and a purpose for almost everything and really trying to use as much as we can in the new building," said Superintendent Jason McCandless, adding that some of the Taconic items not going into the new school will go to another city school. Project Manager Dave DeForest, of Gilbane, said the project is on schedule. In the late fall, the existing high school will start to be torn down. Before the school is torn down, McCandless said he will be having tours for community members to take a final trip through. He said there will be a few chances this spring and summer and he hopes to couple a tour with a walkthrough of the new school. Highlights of the progress include, installations of the gymnasium floor is set to begin on Tuesday, equipment for culinary is being hooked up now and next week cafeteria equipment will be delivered. Work in the auditorium is expected to last until mid-June, as will the terrazzo flooring. There is site work left to do, that workers hadn't been able to start due to weather. DeForest said this week that can ramp up. Budgetwise, Benzinger said "everything looks good. We are tracking well in the budget." He says the project will be less than the $120.8 million budgeted for it but says it is too early to tell by how much. School Building Needs Commission Chairwoman Kathleen Amuso said a groundbreaking is currently being discussed for sometime in October. "I really do think our community picked the right businesses, vendors, and partners to work with," Amuso said. "It has made a very large project a pleasure to work on and be part of." The Williamstown Select Board Monday voted enthusiastically to renew the contract for Town Manager Jason Hoch, left. Williamstown Select Board Salutes Volunteers, Recommends Sand Springs Article Select Board Chairman Hugh Daley opened Monday's meeting by saluting a local teen he had seen wading into the Green River to remove construction debris. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. The Select Board on Monday recognized some local residents who are doing their part to pitch in and help the Village Beautiful live up to its nickname. Chairman Hugh Daley opened the meeting by talking about an incident over the weekend when he witnessed local youth Teague Murphy selflessly wade into the Green River to remove some construction materials that had been thrown into the water. "I went over Sunday to walk my dog, and and we noticed there were a couple of those large containers and a couple of cones in the river, and Teague and his mom were over there pulling those things out and throwing them up on the side there," Daley said. "I think it's worth it to say thank you to him. It did not look warm in the river. But he's young, and his heart pumps, and I think he stayed perfectly fine." Murphy is an eighth-grader at Mount Greylock Regional School. Select Board member Anne O'Connor closed Monday's meeting by updating her colleagues on the second annual townwide pickup she organized on April 14. The event, originally set for the week before but rescheduled because of the weather, collected three dozen leaf bags filled with refuse from various sites around town, O'Connor said. "There was a whole lot of litter removed," she said. "We had 44 volunteers ages 6 to 87. It's a lot of fun." The main order of business at Monday's meeting was the board's review of the warrant for the May 15 annual town meeting. The Select Board voted unanimously to recommend voters approve all 31 articles they will face at the 7 p.m. meeting. All of the articles had been reviewed previously by either the Select Board or Finance Committee or both. One area that sparked conversation on Monday night was the extent to which the town supports area non-profits. As in years past, there are articles on the warrant allocating town funds to the Williamstown Youth Center and the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce. In the case of the latter, the town has committed 10 percent of its revenue from the Room Occupancy Excise Tax on the theory that the chamber will use the money to generate more tourist business. A new article for this year's meeting, Article 15, asks whether voters will commit $19,000 to the Sand Springs Recreational Center to assist in the operation of the historic swimming pool. The Finance Committee voted not to recommend approval of that request with two members present voting in favor, four opposed and two abstaining. Some members of that panel indicated they wanted to see more information about how the subsidy would directly benefit Williamstown residents, as opposed to Sand Springs users more generally. Sand Springs Executive Director Geraldine Shen, who was not invited to address the Finance Committee at last week's meeting where it made its recommendations, told the Select Board on Monday that she felt the non-profit made the case that town residents would benefit from the funds at a prior finance meeting. "It sounded like, in my interaction with [Fin Comm] on [April 4] that they were interested in knowing maybe not exactly how every dollar is spent but the services we'd provide, the discounts we'd provide," Shen said. "I presented that info verbally to them on the 4th. "Elementary schools, the middle school, the Williamstown Youth Center -- different groups come for a visit, and the Williamstown Youth Center has swim lessons that are at a greatly reduced rate. We offer classes for seniors that are at a greatly reduced rate. There are close to $10,000 in discounts we give to Williamstown groups -- not including Pine Cobble School. "Also, we said we'd do a 10 percent reduction in season passes of all kinds as well as day passes for folks who have Williamstown addresses." Select Board member Jane Patton argued that the town should support Sand Springs and should also look at ways to increase other recreational offerings in town. Patton, who said she was part of the original group that raised money to buy the former privately held pool and operate it as a non-profit, said the community members who purchased it found it needed more maintenance than anticipated to make up for years of "benign neglect." "The operating projections were, pardon the pun, blown out of the water," Patton said. "Getting some small portion allocated so we can reduce fees and continue to offer these scholarships and programs for folks -- I feel it's something the town should get behind." Her colleagues agreed, ultimately voting 5-0 to recommend approval of the Sand Springs warrant article. "What I like about the town investing money in this is it will break down the idea of this perception that Sand Springs is operating outside the town," Daley said. "To the degree it helps more community members access the pool because they already know they're in for a penny, that's a great thing. "We can't run a pool for $19,000 a year, so this seems like short money to me." The Select Board also voted 5-0 to recommend approval of Articles 13 and 14, which deal with the Chamber of Commerce and Williamstown Youth Center, respectively. But before making that vote, Andrew Hogeland recommended that the town take a hard look at its rationale for supporting non-profits -- regardless of how worthy the causes may be. While the youth center and chamber are relatively well-established and familiar items on the warrant that generate little discussion at town meeting, the Sand Springs request could open the door to other deserving non-profits to make similar requests, Hogeland argued. "I'm worried that we've been auto-funding budgets for the Chamber of Commerce and the youth center for a long time," Hogeland said. "We have not delved into what they do, and are we getting our money's worth. The arrival of Sand Springs opens, for me, the question of what criteria we should use for giving to non-profits. "After tonight, we should take a more thoughtful long-term view on how we hand out money to non-profits. There are any number of entities out there who might think this is a good idea." In other business on Monday, the Select Board approved a letter of support for Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity's effort to receive approval for its Cole Avenue and Maple Street project under the commonwealth's Chapter 40B provision and unanimously voted to extend Town Manager Jason Hoch's contract by three years. "This is the happiest I've been in a 20-year career in government," Hoch said of his first 2 1/2 years in the corner office. "If you're that happy, we must be doing something wrong," Hogeland joked. "We need to have more oversight." Mayor Thomas Bernard reads a proclamation designating the week of May 6-12 as Children's Mental Health Awareness Week with Carrie Crews, the Brien Center's family support and training program director. Bernard Suggests North Adams May Hold Spectrum Meeting The City Council approved the use of new voting machines, a hanging sign and several licenses. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. Mayor Thomas Bernard is suggesting that a community meeting, similar to that held in Pittsfield, be scheduled with Charter Spectrum. "I think we can still agree there's still enough upset that it's worth having a community meeting and inviting Charter Spectrum to hear the perspective of the community," Bernard told the City Council on Tuesday night. Complaints have been rife as frustrated cable customers have dealt with poor customer service, slow or interrupted internet connections, pricey new digital boxes and dropped channels since Charter's takeover of Time-Warner the area's only cable service. The cable provider has also kicked Northern Berkshire Community Television's channels into the higher numbers (1301, 1302 and 1303) making them more difficult to find. "There's some ongoing compliance issues related to contract issues with NBCTV specifically," he told the council "I've spoken to [NBCTV Executive Director] Mr. [David] Fabiano, we've talked to the attorney who handled the negotiation and so we're trying to understand what relief might be available through legal means to bring Charter Spectrum into compliance." The mayor said he has also been in contact with the state's Department of Telecommunications and Cable, which has offered some assistance. He said his office working with DTC officials to set a date for an initial regional hearing of issuing authorities that he's offered to host. The city is in the early years of a 10-year contract with Spectrum. Pittsfield's Mayor Linda Tyer facilitated a community meeting last month to give residents a chance to express their frustrations. She's also requiring that Spectrum provide a report to the Pittsfield City Council. Also at Tuesday's meeting, the City Council approved the use of five new optical scanner voting machines. The transfer of $32,000 in funds for the purchase was passed two weeks ago. The city will be upgrading from the Accuvote machines to the new Imagecast Precinct machines, both of which are offered through LHS Associates of Salem, N.H. The new machines are needed because the current machines could freeze up because the clock chips that run them are no longer available. The only chip manufacturer is located in China and LHS Associates will not contract with it. The machines it sells are manufactured in the United States and used worldwide. Gomeau, in her communication to the council, said the Imagecast voting machines have a lifespan of 20 years and are being used in more than 100 Massachusetts communities. Since North Adams and a number of surrounding communities are buying the machines together, the company is giving a discount. "The biggest advantage is the clerks will all be working together, helping each other," she wrote. In other business, Bernard read a proclamation designating the week of May 6-12 as Children's Mental Health Awareness Week in solidarity with the Northern Berkshire Systems of Care Committee. Carrie Crews, the Brien Center's family support and training program director, stood with the mayor during the reading. As in years past, a standout is being planned to advocate for children's mental health issues. The council approved secondhand-license renewals for Minerva Arts Center (MAC Treasures) located at 305 State Road and for James Montepare at 432 State Road and 63 Main St. Council President Keith Bona abstained from all three because he is partners with Montepare in the secondhand business. The potential plastic-bag ban being deliberated by the General Government Committee was postponed to the second meeting in July. The potential plastic-bag ban being deliberated by the General Government Committee was postponed to the second meeting in July. The committee is doing research on the issue. Council Vice President Benjamin Lamb took over for Bona during this motion because Bona, as a local business owner, felt it was a conflict. The council approved an overhanging sign for Melanie St. Pierre's art studio, Artsy Avenue, at 151 Eagle St. The sign has already been approved by the Planning Board but required proof of liability. Councilor Wayne Wilkinson castigated the community and councilors for failing to provide any input into the $44 million fiscal 2019 budget. Wilkinson, chairman of the Finance Committee, pointed to the paltry showing at the three meetings held so far as an indication there is no interest in how taxpayer money is being spent. "We're getting no input," he said. "But this budget will come back to this council at some point, I really hope these councilors that haven't bothered coming to these meetings don't ask any questions because that's not the time." The next meeting is Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers and will cover Public Safety and the McCann Technical School budgets. The committee voted 4-2, with one member absent, to offer the superintendent post to John Vosburgh of Pittsfield. Taconic High Principal Tapped for Adams-Cheshire Superintendent Post John Vosburgh is interviewed by the School Committee last week. CHESHIRE, Mass. The Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee voted 4-2 to offer the job of superintendent to Pittsfield's Taconic High School Principal John Vosburgh. The School Committee said it was a difficult decision but didn't debate too long Tuesday night before voting in favor of Vosburgh. The meeting lasted just under an hour. Although the six members present thought all three final candidates would do a good job, the majority of the committee felt Vosburgh was the best fit for the district. "I think he is a rising star and I think he has 8-10 years to work here and can get the most done," School committee member Peter Tatro said. "I think his leadership skills are certainly the top out of the three which is something we really need in our district." Vosburgh had previously made the cut as a finalist for the Mount Greylock Regional School District but was passed over Kimberly Grady, who had been acting superintendent for more than a year. He told the School Committee last week that he saw Adams-Cheshire as a "perfect fit" and a place he would retire from, thus offering the district some stability in leadership. Current Superintendent Robert Putnam will retire at the end of this school year and over the past few months, a screening committee had selected four finalists to go before the full School Committee for an interview. Only three followed through with interviews and included Maria Geryk, director of student services for the Central Berkshire Regional School District; and William Bazyk, superintendent of the Battenkill Valley Supervisory Union in Vermont. The School Committee was also toying with the idea of sharing a superintendent with North Adams, however, voted Monday to suspend these efforts and hire its own head administrator. Tuesday's discussion found Vosburgh and Bazyk as the two favorites, however, the School Committee made clear that it was impressed with all three candidates. "What I think we have here is almost an embarrassment of riches of what we are going to be able to select from," School Committee member Adam Emerson said. "We are really getting down into the details and I think whoever we pick will do a good job." The committee first voted 4-2 to eliminate Geryk from consideration, feeling the other two candidates were just a better fit for Adams and Cheshire. All of the members lauded Vosburgh's history at Taconic, a vocational high school, and Reid Middle School, also in Pittsfield, and felt the progress he had made at those schools could be carried over to Adams-Cheshire. They also noted that he was rooted in the community and has a built-in mentor system because he already has connections with school districts in Berkshire County. Vosburgh had said he hoped to retire in eight to 10 years and that he hoped to be able to do that from Adams-Cheshire. The School Committee felt this stability would allow the district to better implement its turnaround plan The entire School Committee also agreed that Vosburgh's experience with being part of the $120 million Taconic High School building project would also be an asset. School Committee member Stephen Vigna, who voted against Vosburgh, said although he thought Vosburgh would do a good job, he would prefer Bazyk because he is already a sitting superintendent. "I think my feeling is we are at a position in this district that we need someone to hit the ground running," he said. "When he gets here and sits in the office he has to be able to move right away without a learning curve." While Vosburgh has no superintendent experience, Bazyk since last year has been overseeing a school district similar to Adams-Cheshire, with a combined high and middle school and an elementary school. School Committee member Adam Emerson, who also voted against Vosburgh, agreed and said he thought Bazyk was a better fit because of his expertise in special education and elementary education. "John does not have that experience and while we are down the road, to mix metaphors here, the ship is still being built as we are sailing," he said. "I think we need someone with superintendent experience." Tatro disagreed and said he thought a lack of superintendent experience should not be held against Vosburgh. "I think he has a track record of the success and I don't want to judge a candidate just because they have not had that experience," he said. "Sometimes the best people in those positions are the ones that haven't had the chance yet." School Committee member Regina Hill thought Vosburgh had the leadership and communication skills to turn to his team for special and elementary education support. She added that she was also swayed by the fact the Vosburgh was a finalist in the Mount Greylock Regional School District superintendent search. Chairman Paul Butler agreed and because the committee seemed split asked if members were more comfortable taking a paper ballot vote instead of a straight up or down vote. However, the School Committee felt a standard roll vote would do. Putnam did ask if the committee wanted to take a second vote of support because the vote was not unanimous. Vigna said he did not think it was necessary especially with member Darlene Rodowicz absent and not seeking re-election. He added that he himself is not seeking re-election and Vosburgh will be seeing new faces on the School Committee. Butler added that he thought every School Committee member would support the new superintendent, especially when all the candidates were so qualified. "Regardless if I didn't vote for the winner I would still support whoever it was," he said. "Because all of these candidates were more than qualified and we all have a different perspective." Pending a successful contract negotiation, Vosburgh will take the helm July 1. iciHaiti - Tourism : Annual Regional Conference of Rotary Clubs of the Caribbean in Haiti 300 Representatives and Delegates from several member countries of the Rotary Clubs of the Caribbean, participate from 23 to 28 April 2018 at the Hotel Karibe Petion-ville, at the Rotary International District 7020 Annual Conference. A welcome cocktail from the Hotel School of Haiti was offered at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince to welcome the participants. "This is the first time such a reception has been reserved to a delegation from Rotary International," said President Caleb, who took the opportunity to thank the Ministry of Tourism. IH/ iciHaiti French Deputy Mayor Says Future of Jews in Europe Is Hopeless The Fellowship | April 25, 2018 French Deputy Mayor Says Future of Jews in Europe Is 'Hopeless' As anti-Semitic attacks continue across Europe, leaders of the European Jewish community are now warning Jews to stop wearing kippahs (yarmulkes). The Times of Israel tell us more: A Jewish deputy mayor of the French city of Toulouse said Wednesday that all European Jews should stop wearing yarmulkes in public, claiming that the future of the Jewish people in Europe is hopeless after a series of high-profile attacks on Jews. Asked during an interview about a statement issued Tuesday by a prominent Jewish community leader in Germany advising people against wearing Jewish skullcaps in big cities, Aviv Zonabend said: Only in Germany? I think we need to remove the kippahs in all of Europe. . . . style=padding-left: 30px;>Anti-Semitism in Europe, in France, in Toulouse is no longer just by the far-right, but from political Islam, Zonabend said, saying Muslims in France had violently opposed a public letter condemning anti-Semitism. As attacks rise against Jews in France and throughout Europe, please pray for the victims of these attacks, as well as for the entire European Jewish community. IID Board declares May Water Safety Month Imperial, California - With desert temperatures on the rise and the need to remind the public that the safest way to avoid drowning in canals and drains is to stay away from them, the Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors declared May to be Water Safety Month. The resolution approved during Tuesdays regular board meeting sends IIDs beloved mascot Dippy Duck into action. Each school year, he carries the water safety message to as many as 30,000 Imperial County students in elementary through high school to raise awareness about the dangers of canals while promoting safe practices. The elementary school campaign, Stay Active. Play Safe. Be Cool, takes place between April 24 and June 11, reinforcing Dippys three rules: Never swim in a canal. Never play, run, walk or ride a bicycle near a canal. Never jump into a canal. IID operates and maintains more than 3,100 miles of canals and drains in Imperial County, of which many canal gates operate remotely, causing water levels to change suddenly. The district has conducted the water safety program since 1959 throughout Imperial County to inform children of the hazards of swimming, jumping or playing near canals, with Dippy Duck leading the successful charge since 1966 as IIDs mascot. Since then, the program has been tailored and expanded to include a canal safety campaign in high schools throughout the county. In addition to Dippys intent to reach every school-aged child with the water safety message, IID also helps local communities by providing funding to support public pools and summer activities. So, get on board with Dippy and Stay Active, Play Safe, Be Cool this summer by swimming in pools where an adult or lifeguard is present. More information is available at https://www.dippyduck.com , where fun-filled interactive games and activities are featured and information about local summer programs, pool and library locations and hours will be posted. Trumps Forgotten Men and Women Include Prisoners Washington, DC - The facts about Americas prison system are startling. The U.S. has 4% of the worlds population, but roughly 25% of the worlds prisoners. Federal and state prisons hold some 1.5 million inmates, and 6.2 million people are in local jails, on parole or on probation. Of the 650,000 people who leave prison every year, two-thirds will commit a new crime within three years. By reforming federal prisons, Congress has the opportunity to help give former inmates a second chance to become successful, contributing members of society. This is an issue that could unite Americans across the ideological spectrum. Sensible and just prison-reform legislation would direct government resources toward reducing crime, enhancing public safety and increasing opportunity. Prisoners face significant barriers to re-entering society in a meaningful way, and they have too few tools to help them succeed upon release. After years or even decades in prison, inmates often are disconnected from their families, have no place to live, lack relevant job skills, and need counseling for addiction or mental-health problems. Many dont have even a photo identification, much less the skills necessary to succeed in a job interview. To help solve this problem, lawmakers can promote comprehensive and proven rehabilitation strategies. They include expanding access to prison work programs so that inmates can develop job skills. This week the House will mark up the Collins-Jeffries Prison Reform and Redemption Act. This sensible bill would direct the Justice Department to ensure that the risk-assessment program in federal prisons is evidence-based and tailored to the specific needs of each prisoner to lower his or her recidivism risk. Implementing these reforms would create a north star for state prison administrators. Over the past year, the Trump administration has worked closely with congressional leaders and prison-reform activists around the country to develop these ideas, including through listening sessions with state and local lawmakers. In states that have adopted such reforms, including expanded prison programs, collaborations with nonprofit and faith-based groups, and improved incentives for inmates to participate, recidivism rates have fallen. Some leading voices on criminal-justice reform have suggested that the Collins-Jeffries bill does not go far enough, because it does not address the issue of sentencing. But the continued debate on sentencing should not impede the immediate progress the federal government can make to give former prisoners a better shot at a successful life. President Trump promised to fight for the forgotten men and women of this countryand that includes those in prison. Many state and local governments, in red and blue states alike, have implemented policies over the past decade that have lowered costs, cut crime and reduced recidivism. The federal government should follow suitand take the lead in adopting further sensible and just prison reforms. This op-ed originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal on April 24, 2018. Acting Secretary of State Sullivan Travel to Brussels Washington, DC - Acting Secretary of State John J. Sullivan will travel to Brussels, Belgium from April 26-27, to lead the U.S. delegation to the NATO Foreign Ministerial. The Acting Secretary will meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and join NATO Allies to discuss preparations for the NATO Summit that Heads of State and Government will attend in July. While in Brussels, Acting Secretary Sullivan will also meet with State Department personnel. An Indian American store clerk, Rajesh Bakshi of Pearland, Texas, allegedly tried to hire a hit man to kill his ex-girlfriend, her parents, and her new boyfriend. (booking photo courtesy of the Houston Police Department) Former Artesia, Calif., Mayor and current Artesia city councilman Ali Sajjad Taj (sixth from left) kicked off his campaign for state Senate. The Pakistani American attends many of the events organized by Indian American community organizations. (Raul Cortes photo) Inder Verma, a cancer and gene therapy scientist at the La Jolla, Calif.-based Salk Institute for Biological Studies, has been placed on leave amid harassment allegations. Verma denied the allegations in a statement issued by his lawyer. (Salk.edu photo) Children watch as Maoists ready their weapons during a training camp in a forested area of the Bijapur District in Chhattisgarh. A security forces operation in Maharashtra April 22 and 23 has killed at least 39 Maoist rebels. (Noah Seelam/AFP/GettyImages) Veeam annonce son 39eme trimestre consecutif de croissance a deux chiffres 25/04/2018 Dans Publie leDans Press Releases Le texte suivant est issu d'un communique de presse et ne reflete en rien l'opinion de la redaction. Bruxelles, le 25 avril 2018 : Veeam Software, leader dans le domaine de lIntelligent Data Management for the Hyper-Available Enterprise, presente ses resultats du premier trimestre 2018. Les commandes ont augmente de 21 % sur base annuelle, et ce pour le 39eme trimestre consecutif, permettant ainsi a l'entreprise denregistrer une croissance record. Au Benelux, le nombre de commandes a meme augmente de 39 %. La societe a gagne 12 000 nouveaux clients ce trimestre, dont 757 au Benelux, et compte desormais 294 000 clients dans le monde entier. Cette augmentation de la clientele, combinee a la croissance annuelle de 58 % des grands comptes, rapproche Veeam de son objectif datteindre le milliard de dollars de chiffre daffaires en 2018. Nous voulons aider les entreprises a repondre aux attentes en matiere de disponibilite des donnees en etant le fournisseur le plus fiable de solutions de gestion intelligente des donnees , declare Ronald Ooms, Vice President North East EMEA chez Veeam Software. Avec notre plate-forme Hyper-Availability la meilleure option pour securiser toutes les donnees, les applications ou le cloud nous aidons actuellement pres de 300 000 clients, dont 17 943 au Benelux, a passer de sauvegardes periodiques et de recuperations stressantes a des donnees auto-apprenantes dans un systeme intelligent automatise. Vous trouverez ci-dessus la partie internationale du communique de presse : This commitment to our customers is our engine of growth that will drive achieving our 2018 objective of $1B in total bookings, continued McKay. To accomplish our mission and our growth objectives, weve made significant investments in our engineering and development teams, expanded our marketing and branding, added additional programs and support initiatives to our partner programs, extended our alliance relationships and offerings, and increased our focus on the large enterprise. The outcome has been strong results in all geographies, with all reporting double-digit YoY total bookings growth for Q1. We are off to another great start for another record year, and I have complete confidence that our continued momentum, executive leadership, and our unique Hyper-Availability Platform will enable us to become the next billion-dollar software company this year. Q1 Highlights New and existing Veeam customers have accelerated the adoption of Veeam Hyper-Availability Platform the core component of Veeams most comprehensive data protection and data management solution with integrated agent management enabling Veeam to protect any app, any data, across any cloud. More than 150,000 downloads have been reported of the most recent version of Veeam Availability Suite 9.5 Update 3 since its release in December 2017. With 294,000 customers, representing more than 16.3 million VMs protected with Veeam Availability solutions, Veeam continues to average 4,000 new customers each month. New Veeam customers include Pernod Ricard Hong Kong Limited, ING Belgium, SKY Italia, Landmark Information Group, Equinix, Unipres Mexicana, HireRight, Ameritas, Termomecanica and Follett LLC. Veeams strategic alliances continue to gain momentum as total bookings driven through Alliance partnerships grew by triple-digits YoY. Veeam and HPE joint opportunities have increased by 148 percent YoY fueled by Veeam joining the HPE Complete Program, enabling customers to purchase complete HPE and Veeam solutions directly from HPE and its resellers. Now on the Cisco Global Price list, Veeam and Cisco deals have grown 299 percent quarter over quarter for Q12018. Veeam was also added to the NetApp Global Price List, which will further its foothold in enterprise accounts. The new Veeam Universal Storage API simplifies the process of integrating storage with the Veeam Hyper-Availability Platform. As a result, select Veeam Alliance Partners, like recent collaborations with Pure Storage and INFINIDAT, can be integrated more rapidly, providing more benefits to more customers in less time and delivering an even higher return on their IT investments. The Veeam Cloud & Service Provider (VCSP) program continues its positive growth trajectory with 38 percent annual growth. The number of VMs protected using Veeam-powered solutions grew 36 percent YoY, demonstrating increased confidence in Veeam being the best multi-cloud intelligent data management platform. Continuing to drive growth in the market, Veeam now has more than 3,200 partners providing BaaS and DRaaS using Veeam Cloud Connect. Veeam made its first acquisition in 10 years when it acquired N2WS, the leading provider of cloud-native Enterprise backup and disaster recovery for Amazon Web Services (AWS), in an all-cash deal. The acquisition strengthens Veeam as the leading provider of Availability for any app, any data, across any cloud, and its ability to protect AWS deployments. High growth and increased contribution from subscription products has shown dramatic momentum. Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 subscription sales increased more than 3,000 percent YoY in Q1. More than 29,000 organizations, representing 2.7 million Microsoft Office 365 mailboxes, have now downloaded Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 to protect their data. Veeam Availability Suite version 9.5 Update 3 enables Veeam Backup & Replication to deploy and manage Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows and Veeam Agent for Linux (Veeam Agents) to protect physical, non-virtualized servers and endpoints as well as any public cloud workloads. Agents subscription sales have increased more than 1,000 percent YoY. With more than 3,200 employees all around the world, Veeam continues to strengthen its team of talent, including expanding internal roles within the company. ESG principal analyst, Jason Buffington, recently joined the Veeam Product Strategy team as Senior Director. Buffington will evangelize thought leadership at key industry events, establish and maintain executive relationships with Veeams most strategic enterprise accounts, and communicate our long-term vision and strategy within the industry. Buffington has worked among the leaders and disruptors of the data protection industry for nearly 30 years, covering data protection, data preservation, data management, and data availability. Ken MacAskill has been promoted to Veeam CFO. He joined Veeam in 2017 to lead the GTM Operations team. MacAskill has been leading finance organizations as CFO for 20 years with extensive experience working with high growth and venture-based businesses. Registration is now open for VeeamON 2018, the premier conference for Intelligent Data Management, which will take place May 14 16, 2018, in Chicago, IL. Nearly 10,000 customers, partners and influencers attended VeeamON 2017 in New Orleans, LA, and the regional VeeamON Forum events held all around the world. Supporting Quotes Apps and data are the backbone of our operations as they enable everything from design, collaboration and communication, to customer management and logistics. Veeam easily delivers the always-on availability our organization needs, helps us reduce the risk of data loss, and gives our IT team the comfort of sleeping at night. - Mario Foster, Group Chief Information Officer at Al Naboodah Group Enterprises (ANGE) We came to the conclusion that Veeam Backup & Replication was the most advanced virtualization availability solution on the market. Its backup and restore process was simply seamless, leading to more efficient backup data transfer and less network utilization. And it integrates nicely with our HPE systems. All of which gave us extra confidence that this was the right direction to take to stay resilient to natures challenges. - John Sew Hoy, Director, Head of IT Security at First NZ Capital Protection of our digital assets and business systems is critical. Veeam gets IT out of the way, so that we can focus on more value-add projects that enhance our visitor experience and enable our museums to focus on our stories and places. - Lisa Brady, Head of ICT at Sydney Living Museums Ensuring our customers maintain business continuity and availability for their data is critical and partnering with Veeam makes it easy to deliver backup and recovery anytime, anywhere, any cloud. Our Veeam-powered services business has grown exponentially, by going to market with Veeam we have grown our business 80 percent YOY and have no signs of slowing down. - Matt Chesterton, CEO of OffsiteDataSync, a Platinum VCSP partner At OVH, our customers are increasingly looking for offerings that are secure, have flexible data protection options, and offer full transparency on their data location. By having Veeam both built into our Private Cloud, and as a standalone backup-as-a-service solution, customers have the confidence and control they need to bring their workloads to our infrastructure. Looking at the positive feedbacks from our customers, its no surprise to us that Veeam continues to be recognized as a leader in Availability, and well continue to grow our partnership in the future. - Nicolas Savides, VP Strategy & Partnerships at OVH Group, a Platinum VCSP partner Increasingly we are finding that customers are looking for IaaS offerings that are more secure, and have flexible backup and recovery options. By having Veeam built into our Secure By Design infrastructure solutions, customers have the confidence to migrate their workloads to our compliant cloud environments. Therefore, its no surprise to us that Veeam continues to be recognized as a leader in backup and disaster recovery with their availability solutions, and were proud to call them our partner. William Bell, VP of Products at phoenixNAP, a Platinum VCSP partner Our customers trust our cloud platform backed by Veeam they know the backup will work. Around 80% of our cloud customers also deployed the Veeam backup service. Veeams global footprint is in tandem with CITIC Telecom CPCs global presence, which is aligned with our customers. Together, we can bring better value to customers whilst ensuring that their businesses are always available. - Daniel Kwong, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at CITIC Telecom CPC, a Gold VCSP partner. Ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday advised Nigerians to withdraw the misguided perception that the Federal government, or the President knows the best in keeping the economy vibrate. Speaking in the fourth of a series of meetings at Chatham House, the former vice President examines the role of state governments in development and socio-economic outcomes in Nigeria, and the importance of improving capacity, self-sufficiency and public financial management at the state level. In the topic tagged: Next Generation Nigeria: The Importance of Strengthening States Economic Management, Atiku said that he establishes new enterprise every year to create employment for Nigerian youths in the last twenty years and further advocated for a true federalism (Restructuring). Some Nigerian states are poor not because they are not receiving a fair share of oil money but because they are not receiving a fair shot at true federalism. Only restructuring can correct that, he said. Read his statements below: I particularly want to thank Nigerian nationals who are present here today. Your love for Nigeria is evident in that you have left your regular pursuits to be here to interact with lovers of Nigeria. Your presence inspires me. The question now is, why are we saddled with a heavy and almost unsustainable debt burden twelve years after President Olusegun Obasanjo and I provided the leadership that paid off Nigerias entire foreign debt of $32 billion in one fell swoop? My idea is for the introduction of Matching Grants to be taken from the revenue accruable to the Federal Government for the purpose of matching IGR of each state in order to encourage states to become self-reliant. I will make certain rivers are dredged to open up the hinterlands of the North. Licenses would be given to state governments to begin immediate exploitation of resources in their jurisdictions. There has not been a year in the last twenty years that I have not set up a new enterprise to employ Nigerians. The latest being that we brought the Chicken Cottage franchise to Nigeria which will be creating direct and indirect jobs all across the country. If we want Nigeria to succeed, we must break with the misguided notion that the Federal Government, or the President, knows best, and that no one else can be trusted. When I talk about restructuring, I am not talking about just constitutional tweaks, I am talking about a cultural revolution. It is not about re-shuffling a few responsibilities or resources, but about disrupting the authoritarian politics our democracy has inherited. These are some of the ways I believe Nigerias states can improve their capacity, increase their revenues & better manage their local economies which are critical to safety, prosperity & welfare of all Nigerians and will allow my homeland to realize its true potential. We will streamline the operations of the Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Excess Crude Account and the Stabilization Account which is currently embedded in the Revenue Allocation Formula for more effective stabilization outcomes. I will extend railways to connect workers to jobs, suppliers to buyers, students to universities, and parents to their children in every major city in every state. Let me end with these words: Some Nigerian states are poor not because they are not receiving a fair share of oil money but because they are not receiving a fair shot at true federalism. Only restructuring can correct that, he finally said. The Indian Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has busted an international drugs smuggling racket and seized condoms filled with liquid cocaine. Two Brazilians and a Nigerian were arrested by the agency from a guest house in the Paharganj area of central Delhi on April 16, as part of an intelligence-based operation of the anti-narcotics agency. About 2.6 kgs of liquid cocaine, a party drug, was found concealed in condoms and kept in tin boxes by the two people from Brazil and they were supposed to hand it over to a Nigerian man. The three persons have been arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal Director Madho Singh said. The trafficking of liquid cocaine concealed in food stuff from South American countries to India is a new modus operandi being adopted by African syndicates to deceive the drug law enforcement officers, Leave a Comment comments Punch The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has described the purported endorsement of Oshiomhole as the next chairman of the party as childish. Vanguard Suspected Boko Haram militants killed 21 people in separate attacks in a remote northeastern region of Nigeria, security officials and a witness told AFP on Monday. The Sun Information reaching Daily Sun now indicates that embattled Senator Dino Melaye was picked up early on Tuesday by operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad. Thisday $496m Withdrawal: House Lawmakers Grandstand, Call for Buharis Impeachment In what appeared to be grandstanding, lawmakers in the House of Representatives Tuesday clamoured for President Muhammadu Buharis impeachment over his alleged breach of the Constitution. Daily Times Lagos PDP tackles APC, Ambode for under performance, urge residents to get their PVC The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Lagos State chapter has said that it was prepared to capture the state in the 2019 general elections. Guardian Tinubu wants third-term contestants for Lagos political offices to drop bid The National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has appealed to those that have spent up to three terms in political offices in Lagos State to give room for others. Daily Trust A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has explained why he parted ways with President Muhammadu Buhari. Tribune THERE were controversies in Lokoja, Kogi state capital on Tuesday over the whereabouts of the Senator representing Kogi west senatorial district, Dino Melaye. Leadership APC Better Off With Oyegun Airhiavbere A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Maj-Gen Charles Airhiavbere, has faulted the controversial endorsement of ex-Governor Adams Oshiomhole by the South-South caucus of the party for the national chairmanship position. The Nation A computer-controlled process developed at Carnegie Mellon University enables flat pieces of plastic produced in an inexpensive 3-D printer to assume predetermined 3-D shapes when heated. Credit: Carnegie Mellon University Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have used an inexpensive 3-D printer to produce flat plastic items that, when heated, fold themselves into predetermined shapes, such as a rose, a boat or even a bunny. Lining Yao, assistant professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and director of the Morphing Matter Lab, said these self-folding plastic objects represent a first step toward products such as flat-pack furniture that assume their final shapes with the help of a heat gun. Emergency shelters also might be shipped flat and fold into shape under the warmth of the sun. Self-folding materials are quicker and cheaper to produce than solid 3-D objects, making it possible to replace noncritical parts or produce prototypes using structures that approximate the solid objects. Molds for boat hulls and other fiberglass products might be inexpensively produced using these materials. Yao will present her group's research on this method, which she calls Thermorph, at CHI 2018, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, April 21-26 in Montreal, Canada. Other researchers have explored self-folding materials, but typically have used exotic materials or depended on sophisticated processing techniques not widely available. Yao and her research team were able to create self-folding structure by using the least expensive type of 3-D printer an FDM printer and by taking advantage of warpage, a common problem with these printers. We wanted to see how self-assembly could be made more democratic accessible to many users, Yao said. FDM printers work by laying down a continuous filament of melted thermoplastic. These materials contain residual stress and, as the material cools and the stress is relieved, the thermoplastic tends to contract. This can result in warped edges and surfaces. People hate warpage, Yao said. But we've taken this disadvantage and turned it to our advantage. To create self-folding objects, she and her team precisely control this process by varying the speed at which thermoplastic material is deposited and by combining warp-prone materials with rubber-like materials that resist contracture. The objects emerge from the 3-D printer as flat, hard plastic. When the plastic is placed in water hot enough to turn it soft and rubbery but not hot enough to melt it the folding process is triggered. Though they used a 3-D printer with standard hardware, the researchers replaced the machine's open source software with their own code that automatically calculates the print speed and patterns necessary to achieve particular folding angles. The software is based on new curve-folding theory representing banding motions of curved area. The software based on this theory can compile any arbitrary 3-D mesh shape to an associated thermoplastic sheet in a few seconds without human intervention, said Byoungkwon An, a research affiliate in HCII. It's hard to imagine this being done manually, Yao said. Though these early examples are at a desktop scale, making larger self-folding objects appears feasible. We believe the general algorithm and existing material systems should enable us to eventually make large, strong self-folding objects, such as chairs, boats or even satellites, said Jianzhe Gu, HCII research intern. ### An, Gu and Ye Tao of Yao's research group are lead authors of the research paper, collaborating with other researchers from CMU, Zhejiang University, Syracuse University, University of Aizu, and TU Wien. A video showing the self-folding process is available at https:/ / vimeo. com/ 265829811 Vancouver, British Columbia - April 25, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) SilverCrest Metals Inc. (TSXV: SIL.V; OTCQX: SVCMF) ("SilverCrest" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that a technical report titled "Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Las Chispas Property, Sonora, Mexico" (the "Las Chispas Report"), dated April 23, 2018, with an effective date of February 12, 2018, was filed today on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and is also available on SilverCrest's website. The Las Chispas Report was independently completed for the Company by Tetra Tech Canada Inc. ("Tetra Tech"), in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). There are no material differences between the assumptions and estimates contained in the Company's press release dated February 26, 2018 (the "February 26 News Release") on the Las Chispas Property and those contained in the filed Las Chispas Report. The Company advises that, as identified by Tetra Tech, the Las Chispas Report discloses a slight increase of tonnages in the estimate on historic dumps by 26,500 tonnes, which does not have a material effect on the overall Mineral Resource Estimate. The revised Mineral Resource Estimate is as follows: (1) Conforms to NI 43-101, Companion Policy 43-101CP, and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, as amended. Inferred Resources have been estimated from geological evidence and limited sampling and must be treated with a lower level of confidence than Measured and Indicated Resources. (2) AgEq based on 75 (Ag):1 (Au) and 100% metallurgical recovery. (3) Previously reported in February 26 News Release as 3,415,000 tonnes grading 3.66 Au and 297 Ag gpt, or 572 AgEq and contained 402,000 ounces gold and 32,650,000 ounces silver, or 62,800,000 ounces AgEq; (4) Previously reported in February 26 News Release as 148,000 tonnes grading 1.60 Au and 136 Ag, or 256 AgEq and contained 7,000 ounces gold and 648,000 ounces silver, or 1,219,000 ounces AgEq. (5) All numbers are rounded. Overall numbers may not be exact due to rounding. (6) In situ vein resource is reported using a 150 gpt AgEq cut-off grade and minimum 1.5 m minimum true width, and surface stockpile resource is reported using a 100 gpt AgEq cut-off. Qualified Person The Mineral Resources for the Las Chispas Property disclosed in this news release have been estimated by P. James F. Barr, P. Geo., Senior Geologist and Team Lead - Geology for Tetra Tech and independent of SilverCrest. Mr. Barr is a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. The Mineral Resources have been classified in accordance with CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, as amended. Mr. Barr has read and approved the contents of this press release as it pertains to the disclosed mineral resource estimate. ABOUT SilverCrest Metals INC. SilverCrest is a Canadian precious metals exploration company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, that is focused on new discoveries, value-added acquisitions and targeting production in Mexico's historic precious metal districts. The Company's current focus is on the high-grade, historic Las Chispas mining district in Sonora, Mexico. SilverCrest is the first company to successfully drill-test the historic Las Chispas Project resulting in numerous discoveries. The Company is led by a proven management team in all aspects of the precious metal mining sector, including taking projects through discovery, finance, on time and on budget construction, and production. N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng Chief Executive Officer SilverCrest Metals Inc. For Further Information: SilverCrest Metals Inc. Contact: Fred Cooper, Investor Relations Telephone: +1 (604) 694-1730 Fax: +1 (604) 357-1313 Toll Free: 1-866-691-1730 (Canada & USA) Email: info@silvercrestmetals.com Website: www.silvercrestmetals.com 570 Granville Street, Suite 501 Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3P1 Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. These include, without limitation, statements with respect to: the strategic plans, timing and expectations for the Company's exploration, rehabilitation and drilling programs of the Las Chispas Property, including drilling test water wells, permitting for various work, and optimizing and updating the Company's resource model; information with respect to high grade areas and size of veins projected from underground sampling results and drilling results; and the accessibility of future mining at the Las Chispas Property. Such forwardlooking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: the conditions in general economic and financial markets; availability of skilled labour; timing and amount of expenditures related to rehabilitation and drilling programs; and effects of regulation by governmental agencies. The actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of risk factors including: the timing and content of work programs; results of exploration activities; the interpretation of drilling results and other geological data; receipt, maintenance and security of permits and mineral property titles; environmental and other regulatory risks; project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; and general market and industry conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statements were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this news release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law. 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. Disclosure: Investorideas.com is compensated by SilverCrest Metals Inc for annual news publishing effective January 2017. Additional info regarding BC Residents and global Investors: Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info: http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894. Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Vancouver, British Columbia - April 25, 2018 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) WPC Resources Inc. (TSXV: WPQ) (the "Company" or "WPC") is pleased to announce it has made a $400,000 cash payment to Mandalay Resources Corporation ("Mandalay") in accordance with the terms of the New Ulu Property Option Agreement (the "Agreement"). Under the Agreement the Company can acquire a 100% interest in the Ulu Gold Property ("Ulu") by making cash payments to Mandalay totalling $400,000, issuing Mandalay 15 million shares of WPC and posting security and assuming responsibility for future reclamation and monitoring costs at Ulu. For additional information on the Agreement and Ulu Gold Property please see the Company's news release dated January 11, 2018. Private Placement Further to the Company's news release dated April 16, 2018, the Company has completed a portion of the second and final tranche of its private placement (the "Offering"). Upon the completion of the of the full final tranche of the private placement a new insider of the Company will be created based on share ownership. The TSX Venture Exchange has directed the Company to not issue shares and warrants that would create a new insider until the individuals personal information form ("PIF") has been cleared. The Company has issued 6,900,000 common shares and 3,450,000 share purchase warrants which will not result on the creation of any new insiders of the Company. Upon the PIF clearing and final TSX Venture approval an additional 11,500,000 shares and 5,750,000 warrants will be issued, and a new insider of the Company will be created. In aggregate, following receipt of final approval from the TSX Venture and share issuance, the Company will have issued 32,000,000 units for gross proceeds of $1,600,000. Each unit consists of one (1) common share and one-half (1/2) of a common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each full Warrant will be exercisable to purchase one common share at a price of $0.10 for twelve (12) months following the close of the private placement. All securities issued pursuant to the first tranche, including the common shares underlying Warrants, are subject to a statutory hold period which will expire on June 14, 2018. All securities issued pursuant to the second tranche, including the common shares issued upon the exercise of Warrants, are subject to a statutory hold period which expires on August 16, 2018. The closing of the remainder of the second tranche is subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture. This news release is not an offer or a solicitation of an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration. About WPC Resources Inc. WPC is a Vancouver, Canada, based gold exploration company focused on mineral exploration and development. In 2014, the Company entered into an agreement to acquire Inukshuk Exploration Inc., the owner of a 100% interest in the 8,015 ha Hood River property located contiguous to the Ulu Gold Property. WPC has entered into an option agreement to acquire the Ulu Gold Property. At the completion of the Offering, the Company will have 130,900,304 shares issued and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange with the trading symbol: WPQ. The Company website is: www.wpcresources.ca. For additional information, please contact: Stephen Wilkinson, President; OR Wayne Moorhouse, CFO & Secretary Telephone: (778) 379-1433 E-mail: info@wpcresources.ca NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX-VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking information. All information included herein, other than statements of historical fact, including the expected completion of the Offering and the timing thereof, and the expected use of proceeds are forward-looking statements and involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES. 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Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp April 25, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) India leads the world for regular mobile banking usage as a proportion of online consumers with current accounts, while Sweden has risen to second place in the global rankings thanks to the fastest growth of any country between 2016 and 2018, according to leading data and analytics company GlobalData. Consumers in the majority of global markets, both developed and developing, are using mobile banking services more often than ever before. In 11 of the 20 countries covered by GlobalData's Annual Retail Banking Insight Survey, the proportion of online consumers who use mobiles for banking at least once a week increased by at least five percentage points between 2017 and 2018. Overall, the global proportion of frequent mobile banking users witnessed a 3% growth from 39% in 2017 to 42% in 2018, but there was significant regional variation. Malaysia, Australia and Italy saw the biggest increases from 2017 to 2018, all having registered double-digit growth. Over the two-year period from 2016, Sweden witnessed the biggest gains, driven by the efforts of its banks and regulators to encourage a cashless society. At the other end of the scale, India, Norway, Demark, Canada and the US all registered negligible or negative growth. Daoud Fakhri, Principal Financial Analyst of Retail Banking at GlobalData, says: "India maintains a leading position, bolstered by the government's demonetization program and the rapid uptake of Paytm's mobile wallet. "However, Germany remains a significant outlier as use of mobile banking is far lower than in any other market, and there has been virtually no growth in recent years." Previous research by GlobalData found that security fears are a major barrier to adoption by consumers, and banks need to gear up their public education programs to overcome these concerns. For more information To gain access to our latest press releases: GlobalData Media Centre Analysts available for comment. Please contact the GlobalData Press Office: EMEA & Americas: +44 (0)207 832 4399 Asia-Pacific: +91 40 6616 6809 Email: pr@globaldata.com To gain access to our latest press releases and expert analysis on developments in your industry, please connect with us on: GlobalData | LinkedIn | Twitter Notes to Editors Comments provided by Daoud Fakhri, Principal Analyst of Financial, Retail Banking at GlobalData This press release is written using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research, and in-house analysis conducted by GlobalData's team of industry experts. About GlobalData 4,000 of the world's largest companies, including over 70% of FTSE 100 and 60% of Fortune 100 companies, make more timely and better business decisions thanks to GlobalData's unique data, expert analysis and innovative solutions, all in one platform. 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Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp This collection features the arguments in favor of and against the renaming of Catt Hall on Iowa State's campus, which was named in Abortionist's Manslaughter Trial Testimony Reveals Patient Suffered a Painful Death Contact: Troy Newman, President, 316-683-6790 ext. 111; Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Vice President, 316-516-3034; Both with Operation Rescue, info.operationrescue@gmail.com QUEENS, N.Y., April 25, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- Abortionist Robert Rho has been on trial in a Queens, New York, courtroom since April 9, 2018, for the unnecessary death of abortion patient Jaime Morales, but news coming from this important trail has so far been non-existent - until now. This week, Operation Rescue has an observer, pro-life activist Lauren Handy, in court who is giving us the first details about witnesses and evidence in the case that is expected to run through May 3. No other reporters are present in court. "The case against Rho seemed so cut and dried that we actually expected him to take a plea bargain. We never expected this case to go to trial, much less to a four-week trial," said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. Rho was arrested on October 11, 2016 and charged with Second Degree Manslaughter (reckless homicide), a Class C Felony that carries a penalty of 3 1/2 to 15 years in prison. The trial involved a botched elective second trimester abortion that Rho conducted on Jaime Morales, 30, at his Liberty Women's Healthcare office in Flushing, New York, on July 9, 2016. When Morales continued to bleed profusely after the abortion, Rho determined that she required a second abortion procedure during which he attempted to repair injuries. Instead of calling for an ambulance, Rho released Morales, who had fainted while still at the clinic and remained woozy. Morales again passed out in her sister's car on the way home and was finally transported to a Bronx-area hospital where she died from her injuries. Read trial testimony details in Operation Rescue's exclusive report! About Operation Rescue Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Click here to support Operation Rescue. Today A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 99F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow Mostly sunny. High 92F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) Fresh out of jail, online personality Xian Gaza is at it again with lavish attempts to ask celebrities out, this time with Pinoy Big Brother winner Myrtle Sarrosa. Gaza made his move on Facebook with an "Avengers: Infinity War"-themed poster featuring Sarrosa's face edited onto movie villain Thanos and his own face placed on every Avenger. His invitation to Myrtle read: "I don't know how to say this but you know what, I crush you. Myrtle Sarrosa, will you watch Avengers Infinity War with me? #MovieDateWithMyrtle #PleaseSayYesMyrtle P.S. Sorry hindi ko na afford ipabillboard pa 'to, nyeamumulubi na kasi me (Sorry I can't afford to put this on a billboard anymore because I'm broke)." He has since been posting videos on his Facebook profile following up Sarrosa's answer. A joker turned scammer Gaza gained internet fame after proposing a coffee date with actress Erich Gonzales through a giant billboard display in Morayta, Manila on July 1 last year. Netizens later uncovered several travel vlogs from Gaza, including his viral video in Cambodia, that gave him his signature "Nyeaam" bit, and made him the subject of netizens' ridicule. Gaza joined the noise from his video and began saying "Nyeaam" repeatedly in his vlogs. His publicity as a comic relief, however, was short-lived when a number of mad investors came forward with accusations against Gaza for supposedly initiating anomalous deals. READ: Businessman in viral billboard date proposal denies being a scammer The businessman was issued an arrest warrant on April 10 for allegedly duping two individuals into investing in a coffee shop and for failing to attend court hearings. A now-deleted Facebook post from Gaza's profile detailed the charges against him. Gaza surrendered to Malabon authorities on April 12 and was released on bail the next day. Manila (CNN Philippines Life) With the looming Boracay closure, other beaches across the Philippines are expected to take in the tourists that the island once hosted; one of these that has gained a following over the last few years is San Juan in La Union. Known to be a surfing spot, it has now been home to a variety of resorts, restaurants, and nightspots that Filipinos and foreigners alike go back to. However, the surge of establishments in the area has prompted concerns. Coastal Underwater Resource Management Actions (CURMA), a public-private partnership among the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Municipality of San Juan, and the Science of Identity Foundation, has made it their mission to protect and conserve turtles in San Juan. We had a lot of resorts open up at the beach at night. On the beach, you'd see bright lights, you'll see all the parties going on and turtles are very sensitive to light and to sound, says Carlos Tamayo, the coordinator of the project. When the turtles come, they lose their sense of direction Instead of going to the ocean, they end up going inland and getting lost. Tamayo explains that the nesting areas of the turtles are getting smaller and smaller because people are encroaching the spaces. To address this, the project includes searching for eggs and nests early in the morning, around 3 a.m. to 5 a.m., and transferring them to the CURMA hatchery where they can be safer. Watch the video below to know more about the project: This story was updated to include statements from drivers on the suspension of P2 per minute fare. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) - Driver-partners of ride-hailing app Grab decried on Wednesday the destination masking it will impose on them starting Friday. Turning the tables on Grab, transport network vehicle service (TNVS) providers said before officials of the Land Transportation Regulatory and Franchising Board (LTFRB) that knowing the destination on the app keeps them safe and informs them of the risk of taking the trip. "If we're going to try to link yung cancellation with seeing the destination, parang hindi makatarungan ' yon (that's seems to be unfair). There's no link to it," said Arnel Caluya, one of the TNVS providers who attended the forum. "If you have the capability na malaman ahead na delikado yung lugar na pupuntahan mo (to know ahead of time if your destination is dangerous) that would be helpful para sa isang driver na maiwasan yung mga ganitong incidents ng carnapping and holdup (that would be helpful to a driver so he can avoid areas prone to carnapping and holdup)," he added. The destination masking feature will be initially rolled out on April 27 to 25 percent of Grab drivers with a historically low acceptance rate. This came amid growing complaints from passengers on drivers canceling their bookings or outright refusing to take them. However, drivers would be able to see passengers' destination from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., as a safety measure. Drivers contest P2 per minute suspension On Friday, drivers appealed for the re-imposition of the P2 per minute charge. They said other drivers were forced to leave their jobs becaise the suspension of the charge hurt their take home pay. One TNVS driver, Joaquin Rivera, said he had to scrape a living to earn P3,000 a day. " 'Yung P3,000 -- nasa 25 to 30 trips na po iyan," said Rivera. "Okay na po sa amin nung naging 1.5 (surge) na medyo natamaan kami pero mas malaki po yung epekto nung P2 per minute." [Translation: Earning P3,000 entails 25 to 30 trips. We were fine when the surge went down to 1.5 even if we got hit, but the P2 per minute (suspension) is worse.] The money earned from trips is divided between Grab, the driver, and a possible transport vehicle operator. Another driver, Fernando de Guzman, said he wasn't out to be wealthy -- but to earn a decent wage. "Hindi po namin hinahangad na kumita ng masyadong malaki. Ibigay lang po sa amin yung karapat-dapat. Tamang serbisyo po binibigay namin, sana makuha rin po namin yung tama para sa amin," he said. [Translation: We don't aspire for really high pay. We just want fair pay. We give proper service, we also want to be treated properly.] The LTFRB on April 18 ordered Grab to suspend its per minute charge pending a review of its legality. The contested fare was raised by PBA party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles, who noted that transport regulators did not approve the fare and the riding public was not informed about it. Grab previously lamented that cancellation rates doubled since LTFRB imposed the suspension. It said only half of the passenger demand during April 20 and 21 was serviced as a result. "Drivers have to buy gas, pay the monthly amortization for the vehicle, or the daily boundary, and when traffic stalls them, it is only the P2 per minute that saves their income," said Cu. Grab has since complied with the order, but filed an appeal to restore the fare. Drivers raise other complaints As of Wednesday, other topics tabled for discussion were the charge for cleaning fee, wrong location pins for pick-up, riders who keep drivers waiting for long, and drunk passengers. One driver shared his traumatic experience with a drunk passenger. "Nagalit, pinagmumura ako, tinuro-turo na ako. Naisip ko ibaba sa police station. Nung nalabas ako sa pinto, mag-usap daw muna kami. 'Nung time na yon sinapak ako," said Chito Obosan. [Translation: He went mad, kept cussing me and pointed his finger at me. I thought of bringing him to the police station. When I got him out of the car, he told me he'd like to have a chat. Then he punched me.] Obosan appealed to LTFRB to give drivers like him the option to refuse drunk passengers. For its part, transport regulators said new safety measures for drivers in distress would be put in place next month. LTFRB is also studying the possibility of banning abusive riders. "Let us start on a clean slate, treat each other more with respect, be more honest. Huwag lolokohin 'yung TNVS na pababa na kayo 'yun pala nag-me-makeup pa at mga TNVS, respetuhin 'yung mananakay. It's just respecting each other," said LTFRB Spokesperson and Board Member Aileen Lizada. Driver group leaders also explained to LTFRB that they need to return the P2 per minute charge to remind everyone that Grab offers premium service. CNN Philippines correspondent Anjo Alimario and multi-platform writer Regine Cabato contributed to this report. Focus on Lisa Netz, co-owner of The Lavish Loft Submitted by Haleh Rabizadeh Resnick, Federation Business and Community Development Director For the Voice What was your path to South Jersey? I grew up in... Focus on Peter Hecht Partner at Magna Legal Services Tell me about your connection to the South Jersey Jewish Community? I actually grew up in East Brunswick, Exit 9 off the Turnpike. But weve... Focus on Abigail Dahan: Owner of the Bake School Tell me a bit about your life in South Jersey. I grew up in Cherry Hill. We moved here from Paris when I was six... Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) Australian nun Patricia Fox said Wednesday she was saddened by the Bureau of Immigration's order for her to leave the country in 30 days, expressing hopes the decision would be reconsidered. Her lawyer, Jobert Pahilga, told CNN Philippines' Balitaan that they will file a motion for reconsideration of the order forfeiting Fox's missionary visa and directing her to leave the country within 30 days. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the church will extend help to Fox, but details are still being ironed out. Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said the bureau's Board of Commissioners forfeited Fox's privilege of holding a missionary visa under the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, and ordered her to leave the country for her involvement in "partisan political activities." "She (Fox) was found to have engaged in activities that are not allowed under the terms and conditions of her visa," Morente said in the statement. The BI Chief stressed that Fox's visa granted her only the privilege to engage in missionary work and not in political activities. Under Philippine Immigration Law of 1940, the Commissioner of Immigration can order the arrest and deportation of any foreigner who "believes in, advises, advocates or teaches the overthrow by force and violence of the Government of the Philippines, or of constituted law and authority or who disbelieves in or is opposed to organized government," among other violations. In a one-page order issued on Monday, the BI Board of Commissioners ordered the forfeiture of Fox's missionary visa which was due to expire on September 5, 2018. It also directed the deactivation of her alien certificate of registration. "We direct Fox to leave the Philippines within 30 days from receipt of this order," the board stated. Fox needs tourist visa to leave PH But BI spokesperson Atty. Antonette Bucasas-Mangrobang explained Fox may still enter and leave the country as a tourist. Speaking to CNN Philippines' Newsroom Wednesday evening, Manrobang explained Fox needs to secure a tourist visa to be able to leave the country. "When a visa, apart from the tourist visa, has already been forfeited, a foreigner must of course, at all times, have a visa in the country," she said, adding that since Fox's missionary visa has already been forfeited, "she needs to secure the downgrading that is to go back to a tourist visa ... to implement the order to leave." She also clarified that Fox is not blacklisted from returning to the country. "They (Australians) are allowed to arrive in the country and they are given an initial 30 days (of stay) as a tourist," she added. Mangrobang also said that Fox's deportation case is still pending before the BI Special Prosecutor, as Fox has yet to file her counter-affidavit. Fox saddened by decision In a statement, the Australian nun said she was saddened by the BI's decision, which she and her counsel only heard about from the media. "I am very sad that the decision at present is that I leave the Philippines," she said. But Fox said she still hopes to explain her mission in the country and have the decision to deport her reconsidered. "Whatever happens, I will be forever grateful to all those Filipinos that I call my friends and for all those from both church and sectors who have supported me through this time," she said. "I may lose my right to be in the Philippines but I can never lose the learnings and beautiful memories." The nun said she could not help but be involved in uplifting the lives of farmers and people in rural areas of the country as a Christian missionary. She said her involvement is not only in training projects to improve farmers' income "but also to advocate with them for their rights to land, livelihood, peace, justice and security, all universal human rights which the church sees as integral to her mission." Pahilga said Fox is presently staying in her religious congregation's missionary house in Quezon City. "Babalik at babalik siya dito sa Pilipinas (She will repeatedly return to the Philippines)," the lawyer added. The BI detained Fox on April 16, on the grounds of "attending protest rallies and engaging in political activities." She was released the next day. President Rodrigo Duterte admitted on April 18 that he ordered the probe on Fox, which led to her arrest. Church to assist Fox According to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Fox recently joined the International Fact-Finding and Solidarity Mission in Mindanao. In 2013, she was also detained for joining protests in Hacienda Luisita but was released without charges. cbcp fox immigration The CBCP said the Australian nun has been working in the Philippines for 27 years helping farmers and indigenous peoples. She is also a member of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines. Fr. Jerome R. Secillano, public affairs executive secretary of the CBCP said that the church will extend its help to Fox, but they are still ironing out the details. "I'm sure that the Church is going to help her," Secillano told CNN Philippines News Night. "But as for the specific details on what it is, we haven't determined it yet." He ruled out helping the embattled nun on her case, adding that it would be best left to her lawyer. Secillano said that the Church could assign someone to replace Fox's role in the communities but it is unlikely that the replacement would continue with "the same nature of work." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) -- Two major labor groups are preparing for an indignation rally on Labor Day to protest against President Rodrigo Duterte's supposed failure to end contractualization. Kilusang Mayo Uno and Nagkaisa Labor coalition (NAGKAISA) are expecting the participation of around 30,000 workers from all over Metro Manila in the protest towards Mendiola near Malacanang. Members from Cebu, Davao, Iloilo and Cagayan De Oro will also hold simultaneous protests. The labor groups will protest the President's announcement to leave the matter of ending contractualization to Congress instead of issuing an executive order. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on April 19 that the President will certify as 'priority bill' the Senate proposal on contractualization commonly called "endo." Contractualization is a scheme of rehiring a worker on casual or contractual basis - usually only for five months - and avoiding regular employment that has corresponding benefits. Employment is short-term, temporary, and unprotected. READ: No more EO, Duterte leaves 'endo' issue to Congress Joshua Mata, a co-convenor of NAGKAISA, said the workers held on to the President's word when he vowed to end contractualization during his presidential campaign. Duterte said he would do it in a week. "For the first time since 1989, magkikita-kita at magsasama-sama ang halos lahat ng unyon sa Pilipinas. At isa lang ang mensahe nito: Galit kami sa ginawa ng Pangulo na pagtalikod niya sa kanyang pangako. Siya ang nangako, dapat lang ipatupad niya 'yan," Mata said. [Translation: For the first time since 1989, almost all labor unions in the Philippines will convene and unite, and this has only one message: We are angry at the President for turning his back on his promise. He is the one who promised so he should fulfill it.] Talks of ending contractualization have been going on for a year, resulting in five drafts of the executive order, but to no avail. TIMELINE: Ending 'endo': How's Duterte's campaign promise? CNN correspondent Xianne Arcangel contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) Boracay Island's closure and rehabilitation is set to cost the Philippine economy around 1.96 billion in six months, according to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Tuesday. NEDA Chief Ernesto Pernia said this loss, however, would only affect the island and the nearby municipalities. "The impact on the country as whole will be minimal," he told reporters. "It's only going to be noticeable in Region VI, in Boracay itself, in Malay Municipality and Aklan." Region 6, according to government data, accounts for 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), with the bulk of its revenue coming from tourism services. The closure would result in a 0.1 percent deduction from the GDP, he added. "The decrease in GDP amount will be around 980 million (each) for quarter two and three," Pernia said. "But for the year as a whole, there's compensating increase in production and output in other areas of the Philippines. And overall, as far as the country is concerned, it's minimal reduction. We do not expect a need to reduce our GDP target of 7 to 8 percent growth rate for 2018." But the NEDA Chief said this is just a temporary shortfall in terms of tourism income and tourism arrivals. "I would assume that closer to 70 to 75 percent of those who used to go to Boracay will go to the other tourist destinations," he said. He said the closure of Boracay on April 26 has prompted government to step up on its plans to ramp up the country's economy. "we are going to be motivated to work harder especially departments like, the Department of Tourism should really step up its effort to attract more tourists in the country to other destinations, as well you know as advertise these other destinations which are not well-known yet to tourists coming from other countries." he explained. CNN Philippines' Senior Correspondent Lois Calderon and Digital Producer Chad de Guzman contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) The Senate may still vote on the validity of the quo warranto decision of the Supreme Court against Sereno if the high court nullifies her appointment, Senate President Koko Pimentel said Wednesday. He sees a possible constitutional crisis if the court rules on the quo warranto petition after the House of Representatives has transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate "If the majority (of the Senators) says na ok it was a valid removal then there's no more need to remove kasi (because) impeachment is removal," said Pimentel. "But if we believe that is invalid. the majority says 'invalid,' then from our point of view there's still someone to remove therefore tuloy namin ang (we will proceed with the) impeachment (trial)," he added. The quo warranto, a legal proceeding where an individual's right to hold office is challenged, was filed by the government's top lawyer, Solicitor General Jose Calida. Calida wanted the Supreme Court to unseat Sereno over her alleged failure to file her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) for ten years, before she applied for the Chief Justice post in 2012. The Supreme Court will decide the fate of Sereno before the end of May, Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said last week. CNN Philippines sources said the voting is expected to take place on May 17. Meanwhile, the House plenary may vote on the justice committee's articles of impeachment against Sereno when Congress resumes mid-May. She will be deemed impeached if at least one-third of the House members vote to accept the committee report. At that point, the Senate will sit as an impeachment court to convict or acquit Sereno. 'Constitutional Crisis' Pimentel insisted on the power vested on the Senate by the constitution to remove impeachable officials even if the Supreme Court would rule on the quo warranto petition to oust Sereno. He said a possible constitutional crisis may emerge if the Supreme Court rules on the quo warranto petition after the House of Representatives has transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate. "If the SC ousts her thru a quo warranto, let us say after the impeachment court has been convened, and then the Senate as impeachment court says it's not a valid termination -- Eh 'di nakahanap ng kakampi si CJ, hindi ba? (It would appear she has found allies in the Senate, right?) "Therefore, magrereport pa rin sa opisina 'yun, di ba? (It would still be reported to our office, right?) Oh then, we have a crisis," he added. The embattled chief justice, who has been on leave at the request of her colleagues, had asked the high court to dismiss the quo warranto petition. She stressed that impeachment is the only way to remove a chief justice from office, asking lawmakers to "give me my day in the Senate impeachment court." Meanwhile, Sereno spoke before law students on Wednesday, sharing strong sentiments against the quo warranto petition. "From out of nowhere, naka-imbento ng teorya na wawasakin ang (they invented a theory that would destroy the) one- year prescription rule, ang (the) impeachment as the exclusive means of removing an impeachable officer," she said. CNN Philippines' Anjo Alimario contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) Actor and Quezon City Councilor Roderick Paulate faces graft and falsification charges at the Sandiganbayan for allegedly hiring ghost employees. Paulate is accused of hiring around 30 fictitious job contractors to his office from July to November in 2010, with corresponding payrolls totaling 1.109 million. The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan received two charges on April 20 recommending the filing of graft and falsification of documents by a public officer against the councilor. Vicente Bajamunde, Paulate's driver and liaison officer, also faces graft charges for alleged conspiracy. Through an authorization letter, Bajamunde allegedly collected payrolls of the supposed ghost employees. Paulate was first elected councilor for Quezon City's 2nd District in May 2010. He was found guilty by the Office of the Ombudsman in January 2016 for allegedly hiring fictitious job contractors. Despite his dismissal, he was elected to a third term in May 2016. The Court of Appeals overturned his dismissal order in December of the same year. A Belgian court on Monday sentenced Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect in the 2015 Paris attacks, to 20 years in prison for attempted murder of three police officers during a 2016 shootout. After the Paris attacks, Salah had fled to Brussels where he was later captured in a shootout. One of his accomplices was also sentenced to 20 years, the other killed. He was also convicted of possessing firearms and fined 12,000 euros. The 2015 Paris attacks were committed by three teams. Terrorists reportedly connected to the Islamic State (IS) [JURIST backgrounder] perpetrated attacks on six different targets in and around Paris. The attacks began with a suicide bombing at the Stade de France around 9:20 PM local time. Soon thereafter, individuals riding in a Seat brand car opened fire on individuals outside cafes around Paris. At around 9:40 PM, assailants fired on concert-goers at the Bataclan concert hall, killing 89. A UN rights expert commented that the attacks may amount to crimes against humanity [JURIST report]. In October, French President Emmanuel Macron signed into law [JURIST report] a counterterrorism law to replace a two-year old state of emergency established in the wake of the violent Paris attacks that killed 130 people. Salah is expected to go on trial in Paris in 2020 for charges of murder and ties to a terrorist organization. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) The government's top lawyer has denied a private individual's plea for him to file an ouster petition against Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro. In a letter dated April 23 and released to the media Wednesday, Solicitor General Jose Calida denied Jocelyn Maria Acosta's request "for lack of merit," saying it was not supported by evidence. Acosta wanted Calida to seek de Castro's ouster over discrepancies in her statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs), just like he did with Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno over the same issue. She said she was only following the logic of Calida, de Castro, and suspended lawyer Eligio Mallari in seeking to void Sereno's appointment through a quo warranto petition. Calida clarified he did not file a quo warranto against the Chief Justice on the basis of Mallari's letter, but because impeachment hearings at the House Committee on Justice revealed her alleged failure to file her SALNs. "The argument which the OSG propounded against Sereno does not apply to Justice De Castro since it was Sereno who was appointed as the Chief Justice without qualifications back in 2012," Calida added. De Castro, who vied for the same post, had told lawmakers Sereno should have been disqualified after failing to comply with the SALN requirement set by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC). Both De Castro and Sereno were deemed by the JBC to have "substantially complied" with the SALN requirement, Sereno's camp had earlier pointed out. The JBC has said it had on record 15 of De Castro's SALNs, from 1997-2011. But Acosta and Sereno's camp argued that there should have been 39 SALNs if de Castro had indeed filed all her SALNs since she first worked for the government in 1973. De Castro is one of Sereno's harshest critics. The Chief Justice had asked that de Castro and four other associate justices inhibit themselves from participating in the quo warranto case, saying they had all "manifested actual bias" against her. But all five denied Sereno's plea. During oral arguements on the case last April 10, Sereno argued her case before her colleagues and figured in multiple heated exchanges with de Castro. The Supreme Court will decide the fate of Sereno before the end of May, Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said last week. CNN Philippines' sources said the voting is expected to take place on May 17. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court [official website] on Tuesday dismissed [opinion, PDF] a complaint challenging that states limits on charter schools. Massachusetts charter school law [M.G.L. ch.71 89 text] sets a limit on the total number of charter schools operating in the state and a limit on local school district funds that may be diverted to charter schools in a given area. Several students from areas of Boston with underperforming public schools and the maximum number of charter options were denied admission to the charter schools. They subsequently sued state education officials claiming that the funding cap unconstitutionally prevented them from receiving an adequate education. One argument advanced by the students was that their inadequately performing public schools amounted to a violation of the education clause of the Massachusetts Constitution [text]. The court rejected this argument, finding that the constitutional provision is not violated the moment any school stops performing adequately. If there are measures in place to improve the school system as a whole over a reasonable period of time, the states constitutional burden will be met. Furthermore, the students in the case demanded that the remedy to their poorly performing schools be admission to the charter schools. The court again rejected their argument on the grounds that the constitutional right is for an opportunity to receive an adequate education, not the right to attend a charter school. The students also challenged the charter school cap under the state constitutions equal protection clause. Under that provision, the court would strike down the law if it substantially burdened a fundamental right. The courts precedents establish that the right to an adequate education, while protected constitutionally in Massachusetts, does not rise to the level of being fundamental. And even if it was fundamental, the court found, the restrictions imposed by the cap on charter school funding would not have represented a substantial burden. [JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] heard oral arguments in two matters Tuesday: Abbott v. Perez and Animal Science Products v. Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co. [transcripts, PDF]. Abbott is two consolidated cases that concern allegations that Texas lawmakers drew the states federal congressional and state legislative districts in such a way as to harm the rights of the states black and Hispanic voters. Animal Science Products concerns how much deference US courts should give to a foreign governments interpretation of its own law. Abbott originated in 2011 [SCOTUSblog materials] after the Republican-controlled legislature began redistricting following the results of the 2010 census. The census indicated that Texas had gained an additional 4 million residents, a majority of whom were minorities. The plan promulgated by the legislature never went in to effect as a district court blocked the implementation of these plans and put forth its own. After a long legal battle, the states legislature put forth another plan in 2013, which was again struck down as many of the same issues present in the 2011 plan went unchanged in the 2013 plan. Much of the matters time before the judges concerned jurisdictional matters. Currently, the Supreme Court may only hear appeals from a three-judge district court that, in its order, grants or denies an injunction against a redistricting plan. In Abbott, the challengers argued that the district court found that the plans violated the rights of the minorities in question but never granted an injunction against the plan. The state responded by arguing that just because the district court did not use the magic word injunction, the district courts ruling had the same effect as an injunction and, accordingly, the court should be permitted to hear the matter. Animal Science Products [SCOTUSblog materials] originated in 2005 when Animal Science filed a lawsuit against a number of Chinese companies, including Hebei Welcome, for allegedly fixing the price of their Vitamin C experts to the US in violation of American anti-trust laws. The Chinese companies responded by arguing that Chinese law required that they reach a consensus as to the price and quantity of their exports. The Chinese government filed an amicus brief when the matter was in a district court in which it supported these assertions. Nonetheless, the district court ruled against the Chinese governments interpretations and found for Animal Science Products. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] reversed and instructed the lower court that where a government directly participates in a matter being litigated in the US to clarify the interpretations of its own laws, US courts are bound to defer to that interpretation. While arguing that the Chinese governments interpretation should not be given deference, Justice Neil Gorsuch stated: [W]e actually do outsource saying what the law is sometimes in domestic law; Chevron, for example. We give the conclusive weight to a determination by an agency as to what the law is. So why, as a matter of comity, wouldnt we do the same to an administrative agency of a foreign sovereign? Gorsuch went on to suggest that a Chevron-style model may be called for when interpreting the foreign law. In response to the Animal Science Products position, the Chinese government representative argued that: [I]f a foreign government comes to a US court and says with clarifying and unambiguously this is the law, this is our foreign law, this is what it means, that the Court ought to abide by that, unless its unclear or unless its incredible on its face. The justices responded to this argument by asking whether any other country used this proposed rule. However, the representative of the Chinese government admitted that he had not researched that facet of the issue. The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] 7-2 Tuesday in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greenes Energy Group, LLC [SCOTUSblog materials] that inter partes review, which authorizes the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) [official website] to reconsider and cancel an already-issued patent claim, under 35 USC 311-319, does not violate Article III or the Seventh Amendment [text] of the Constitution. This review system was created by Congress in the 2011 Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. It has made it easier for big tech companies to invalidate patents held by so-called patent trolls. In an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment [opinion, PDF] of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Justice Stephen Breyer filed a concurring opinion, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan. Justice Neil Gorsuch filed a dissent, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts. In a separate patent case Tuesday, the court ruled [opinion, PDF] 5-4 in SAS Institute Inc. v. Matal [SCOTUSblog materials] that when the USPTO institutes an inter partes review under the America Invents Act, it must decide the patentability of all of the claims the petitioner has challenged. Gorsuch based his majority opinion on the plain meaning of the statute, which provides that the USPTO must issue a final written decision with respect to the patentability of any patent claim challenged by the petitioner. 35 USC 318(a). Ginsburg filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan. Breyer also filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Ginsburg and Sotomayor and in part by Kagan. The UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the African Union [official websites] agreed on Tuesday to cooperate [communique, PDF] on numerous human rights goals in an effort to explore and develop joint approaches to preventing and addressing human rights abuses and violations. The AU and OHCHR plan to actively involve and coordinate their human rights-related initiatives, including finalizing and implementing the 10 Year Action Plan on the Human and Peoples Rights Decade in Africa, establishing a human rights compliance mechanism for the AUs peacekeeping operations, and collaborating to deliver on the promises in the AUs declaration of 2018 as the Year of Winning the Fight against Corruption [press release]. The international organizations also agreed to intensify their joint efforts by strengthening the AU interventions in conflict and post conflict situations by promoting transitional justice, reconciliation and post-conflict development as part of peacekeeping operations. They also signaled their intention [press release] to work toward a joint AU-UN Framework on Human Rights. Highlighting short-sighted nationalism, isolationism and the rapid rise of xenophobia as challenges to international institutions like the UN and the AU, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein [official profile] sought to underscore the importance [remarks] of human rights to peaceful development of states: Human rights are not an afterthought. They are not a second-stage, which countries can begin to construct after development is well underway. They are not a project which unfolds after peace has been established. Rights are the drivers of development. Rights are the constructive elements of peace. We and the human rights we stand for have a powerful capacity to make States stronger. Stronger, because they are more fair. Richer, and more sustainably developed, because they can count on the full expression of the skills, talents, and views including critical views of their people. More peaceful, because their people are not torn apart by festering grievances, biting inequalities and injustice. AU Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat [official profile] highlighted the need for local involvement [remarks, in French] in the process, saying that our action can only succeed if it is based on genuine African ownership and noting that human rights is an integral part of the agenda of the African Union. Without diminishing the strength of our commitments and the firmness of our determination to translate them into reality, the international community must be sensitive to the specific contexts that are sometimes ours and to the imperatives that limit our action. Very often, non-African actors tend to have a restrictive conception of justice, understood solely from the perspective of its criminal dimension, which must prevail over all other considerations, especially those relating to peace. In the approach of the African Union, peace and reconciliation, on the one hand, and justice, on the other, must be pursued in a mutually complementary manner. It is not a question of promoting impunity, but of responding to the imperative of justice without hampering peace efforts. The AU and UN met for the inaugural High-Level Dialogue on Human Rights at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, agreed to meet for a second High-Level Dialogue next year at the OHCHR office in Geneva and intend to hold subsequent meetings annually. The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) [official website] heard oral arguments [press release] on Monday and Tuesday in former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzics [JURIST news archive] appeal of his 2016 conviction for crimes committed during the Bosnia conflict. Karardic, in support of his appeal [materials], argues that prosecutors and judges committed numerous legal and procedural errors [appeal brief, PDF], such as prohibiting him from testifying in his own defense. During Mondays hearing, Karadzic stated that the actions committed during the conflict were in self-defense and that evidence of this was ignored. A total of 50 grounds for appeal was raised by Karadzic. Karadzic seeks to have his conviction overturned, a new trial granted, or for his sentence to be reduced. UN prosecutors have also brought an appeal in this case. They are seeking to convict Karadzic on a second genocide count and increase his sentence to a life term. Additionally, they argue the trial chamber erred by not concluding that Karadzic shared the intent to commit all crimes committed in connection for the Bosnian conflict. The MICT is expected to hand down its verdict at the end of the year. The Bosnia conflict took occured from 1992 to 1995. The Bosnian war left approximately 100,000 people dead and about 2.2 million homeless. In 2016, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] convicted Karadzic of multiple charges for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for the conflict, and sentenced [JURIST report] him to 40 years in prison. The court concluded that Karadzics involvement with and contributions to joint criminal enterprises showed that he was indeed guilty of unlawful attacks on civilians, murder and terror. The trial, which began in October 2009, lasted 499 days [materials, PDF] during which the court heard from 434 witnesses, with 11,469 exhibits and more than 330,000 pages of trial record, and over which the court deliberated for approximately one year. The ICTY has convicted [JURIST report] numerous other officials for connection with the Bosnia conflict. In 2017, the ICTY reviewed an appeal[JURIST report] by Jadranko Prlic, Prime Minister of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, an unrecognized entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina, and five of his former senior military officials. The ICTY has since closed [JURIST report] in December 2017. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is disclosing the names of barangay officials in the so-called narco list or drug watch list at the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte. PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino on Wednesday said Duterte gave the orders Tuesday and confirmed that 211 barangay officials are on the list. He said the list will be released to the public Friday. "The list came from all intelligence units. These 211 are validated, (it is) confirmed they are involved in illegal drugs," Aquino told CNN Philippines. Of this number, 89 are barangay chairmen while the rest are councilmen (kagawad), Aquino told CNN Philippines. He said authorities are building up cases against these drug-linked officials, making sure they have strong evidence against them. Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde welcomes the disclosure of the narco list. "We support his decision. To provide our electorate a chance to choose and decide who to vote," he said. The Interior Department has said a task force will be created to investigate barangay officials linked to drugs. The impending release of the narco list comes in the wake of the election period. The campaign period for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections is on May 4 to May 12; elections are on May 14. Elections and drug money Duterte has warned on a number of occasions that drug money may fund the barangay elections. Aquino on Wednesday said they have not found evidence proving the President's allegation. "[But] we all know that since the very beginning noon pa (even before) drug money is being circulated to ensure the winning of the candidates hindi lang sa local, kundi sa national elections," he said. The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections were initially scheduled for October 2016 but President Rodrigo Duterte called for its postponement to avoid drug funds in the campaign. The polls were moved to October 2017, then to May 2018. In December 2016, Duterte mentioned a narco list that included a number of barangay officials. He then called for the appointment rather than election of officials. The House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms denied the request, but agreed to move the elections to May 2018. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 26) The world-famous Boracay Island is closed to tourists for six months starting Thursday to give way to its rehabilitation. An inter-agency task force is pursuing its rehabilitation to address its alarmingly polluted waters and brazen violations by establishments of environmental and zoning laws. Related: Duterte signs proclamation placing Boracay under state of calamity The President approved on April 4 the recommendations of the Environment, Interior and Local Government, and Tourism Departments to close Boracay for six months. The island is off limits to local and foreign tourists. Around 986,000 foreign tourists visited Boracay in 2017. There will be no visitors, except in emergency situations with the clearance of the security committee composed of representatives from the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police, and the local government. Residents can only use the Cagban Jetty Port in barangay Manoc-Manoc as entry and exit point. For residents to enter the island, they must present identifications cards that prove they live in any of the three barangays in Boracay. The closure was met with controversy, as the shutdown was only confirmed three weeks before April 26. Residents and workers on the island expressed worry where they will source their income over the next months. The government has since promised to give them assistance, either through monetary compensation or alternative work. Officials said a P2 billion calamity fund will be released to assist over 30,000 displaced workers. But the closure proceeded despite the absence of an executive order from President Duterte, placing the island under a state of calamity. Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque told the inter-agency task force that the executive order will be signed before the day ends. She also wants to fast track the rehabilitation to be able to have a soft opening by June or July. "Kung magtulong-tulungan tayo, definitely mabubuksan nang maaga ang Boracay... We really want na matapos siya in the timeframe of 2-3 months. I'm working on it," she told CNN Philippines on Thursday. During the first day of the closure, Teo, local residents, workers, volunteer groups, and private corporations took part in a cleanup drive along Bulabog Beach in Boracay. In 2017, a video showed brown water flowing directly to the beach. Guidelines, security Four hundred seventy-two security personnel are roaming the island. An additional 138 police officers will be deployed for "crowd dispersal management," while the Philippine Army will oversee internal security. The security officers are prepared for possible protests, rallies, fire incidents, attacks on establishments, bombing, and kidnapping. Meanwhile, security guards are tasked to keep establishments safe. Related: Over 100 anti-riot police ready to keep Boracay safe The other guidelines are as follows: Identified tourists will not be allowed into the island and will be stopped at the Jetty Port Generally, swimming shall not be allowed. However, residents may be allowed to swim only on Angol Beach in Station 3 from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Media will be allowed entry subject to prior approval from the DOT with a definite duration and limited movement No floating structures shall be allowed up to 15 kilometers from the shoreline Foreign residents' stay will have to be revalidated by the Bureau of Immigration WATCH: Authorities hold security drills ahead of Boracay closure Coast Guard Spokesperson Armand Balilio on Thursday said two ships and six floating assets are patrolling the island to ensure security. Economic impact Boracay's six-month closure and rehabilitation is estimated to cost the Philippines around 1.96 billion in lost revenues. Economic Chief Ernesto Pernia, however, said the loss will only affect the island and the nearby municipalities. He said this is a temporary shortfall in terms of tourism income and tourism arrivals. "I would assume that closer to 70 to 75 percent of those who used to go to Boracay will go to the other tourist destinations," he said in a media briefing on Tuesday. He said the closure of Boracay on April 26 has prompted government to step up on its plans to ramp up the country's economy. "We are going to be motivated to work harder especially departments like, the Department of Tourism should really step up its effort to attract more tourists in the country to other destinations, as well you know as advertise these other destinations which are not well-known yet to tourists coming from other countries." he explained. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) The Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday it will ask Kuwait's ambassador to explain the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry's "deeply disturbing" decision to declare Philippine Ambassador Renato O. Villa unacceptable, giving him a week to return to Manila. "The action taken by the Kuwaiti Government is deeply disturbing as it is inconsistent with the assurances given by Kuwaiti Ambassador Musaed Saleh Ahmad Althwaikh during his meeting with (Foreign) Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano in Manila on Tuesday," the DFA said in a statement. It said the DFA will ask Saleh "to explain first thing tomorrow why the Kuwaiti Government reneged on the agreement reached with him to work together to move bilateral relations between the Philippines and Kuwait forward." Kuwait's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday announced it has declared Philippine Ambassador Renato Villa persona non-grata and has asked him to return home in a week, the state-run Kuwait News Agency reported. KUNA said the Foreign Ministry, which is also recalling the Kuwaiti ambassador to the Philippines, said its action against the top Filipino diplomat was in retaliation for the "undiplomatic acts" by Philippine embassy staff, who encouraged Filipino domestic workers to flee from their employers' households. The report quoted the ministry's official statement as rejecting and condemning the Philippine embassy's 'flagrant and grave breach of rules and regulations that govern diplomatic action." It said the Philippines dispatched reinforcements to the embassy, comprising seven teams, "on the pretext of rescuing female housemaids in Kuwait." Villa was summoned twice, KUNA's report said, to receive Kuwait's complaints about the "dangerous transgressions" and the request for the embassy to provide within three months the names of Filipinos who had committed the offense of smuggling Filipina workers. But it said the duration passed without any response from the embassy. Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters Tuesday there was no threat to have Villa expelled. "There was no explicit request for him to be recalled from the Kuwaiti government. There is no threat to have him expelled. They just want all of this to be clarified," he said. President Rodrigo Duterte, Cayetano and other Cabinet officials met with Kuwaiti Ambassador Saleh Ahmad Althwaikh in Davao late Monday, during which officials assured him that the Philippines respects Kuwait's sovereignty. Apology made A video showing the rescue mission went viral, to which Cayetano apologized on Tuesday. "I apologize to my counterpart, and we apologize to the Kuwaiti government, Kuwaiti people, the leaders of Kuwait, if they were offended by some actions taken by the Philippine embassy in Kuwait," he said. He said the Kuwaiti government "has accepted our explanation." Also on Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said both countries have agreed to move forward after the rescue mission. The rescue mission was not coordinated with Kuwaiti officials, prompting the Kuwaiti government to summon the Philippine ambassador and explain the consular staff's rescue effort. CNN Philippines' Eimor Santos, Rex Remitio, and Pia Garcia contributed to this report. 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. Every once in awhile a great one comes along. And while the best of them are often measured by the grit and determination they show in defeat instead of in victory, so to, are they more appreciated once they leave this earth. We say this with the passing of the legendary Giants Causeway, a wonder in flight and a legend at stud, who left us April 16 at age 21 at Ashford Stud. We can only claim to have seen him race oncehis racing finalein the 10th start of his 3-year-old year in late 2000, a scintillating Breeders Cup Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs. But we hung on his every accomplishment during the summer of that year through reports from our European correspondent Robert Henwood. Hes inclined to play with horseshe lets them come to him and goes again, trainer Aidan OBrien told Henwood, who more than once described Giants Causeway as wet below his saddlecloth before his starts. Giants Causeway was on his way to being dubbed the Iron Horse. After a pair of second-place finishes in the classic Sagitta Two Thousand Guineas (G1) and Entenmanns Irish Two Thousand Guineas (G1), he rattled off five consecutive group 1 victories from June 20 to Sept. 9thats a span of 12 weeks. Giants Causeway thrives on a punishing schedule and continues to put on weight, Henwood observed. Giants Causeway defeated The Aga Khans Kalanisi twice during his streak. Kalanisi proved his place on the world stage by scoring in the Breeders Cup Turf (G1T), the race before Giants Causeways battle with Tiznow under the Twin Spires. His five winsat the time the record for consecutive group 1 wins in Europe was six set by Mill Reef over two seasonscame to an end in a half-length defeat to Observatory in Ascots Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (G1) Sept. 23. Giants Causeways run that fall in the Classic remains the stuff of legend. Watching replays reminds us that NBC came along with an innovative camera angle to follow the action the length of the stretch that year, which showed the determined battle between the 3-year-olds. Tiznow held by a neck. Our Steve Haskin said: Here they were, two of the most rugged horses seen in America and Europe in years, battling to the wire, their courage and will to win tested for the first time by a foe of equal character and tenacity. Something had to give. Both horses reached back for everything they had. Still neither would crack. Giants Causeway was relentless and continued to battle back on near-equal terms. But of course, thats not the end of the story. Giants Causeway, after one season in Ireland, moved to Coolmores Ashford Stud in Woodford County, Ky., as his homebase (he did shuttle to Australia and Argentina). An Iron Horse marketing campaign, with him running alongside a locomotive, was clever but not necessary once his runners began proving themselves on the track. Prolific in the breeding shed with 2,028 Northern Hemisphere foals and 521 Southern Hemisphere foals, he also bred class, siring 197 stakes winners (behind only Danehill, Sadlers Wells, Galileo, and Danzig all-time). He led the North American sires list three times and was a two-time leader of the 2-year-old sires list. Giants Causeways progeny earnings have topped $165 millioncoming without the good fortune of a mega-earning horse and without a classic winner in the U.S. But its not the end of the story just yet. With the classic season upon us, we do note a pair of likely runners in the May 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) have close ties to the Iron Horse. My Boy Jack, winner of the Southwest Stakes (G3) and Stonestreet Lexington Stakes (G3), is a son of Giants Causeways Creative Cause (classic-placed in 2012), and the grade 1-winning Free Drop Billy is out of a daughter of Giants Causeway. In addition, Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Magnum Moons second dam is by Giants Causeway. Perhaps there will be a nugget of iron among the roses. KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. Deputies arrested two suspects in a stolen vehicle and discovered a mobile meth lab on Monday, according to the Klamath County Sheriff's Office (KCSO). The arrests occurred just after 6 p.m. on April 23, at the corner of Summers Lane and Ezell Avenue. Deputies spotted a "primer-colored" Honda pulling into a driveway on Ezell Avenue, and conducted a traffic stop when they were able to confirm with dispatch that the car was previously listed as stolen in a Klamath Falls Police case. Two suspects were in the vehicle and were arrested at the scene30-year-old Jonathan Mitchell and 24-year-old Pauline Carnagey. Upon a search of the vehicle, officers found drug paraphernalia. Inside the Honda's trunk, officers found equipment used to manufacture methamphetamine. KCSO called in the Basin Inter-agency Narcotics Enforcement Team (BINET) who were able to confirm that the equipment amounted to a small mobile meth lab. As a precaution, Oregon State Police (OSP) Haz-Mat personnel responded from Salem to investigate and dispose of the materials. Carnagey has been charged with Unlawful Use of a Motor Vehicle, Unlawful Manufacture of Methamphetamine within 100 Feet of a School, and Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine. Mitchell has been charged with Unlawful Use of a Motor Vehicle, Unlawful Manufacture of Methamphetamine within 100 Feet of a School, and Probation Violation. SALEM, Ore. Medicare users in Oregon will be getting brand new cards by the end of June, according to the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (ODCBS). The new cards will feature a unique Medicare number, instead of Social Security numbers. Government officials hope that the new cards will help to prevent Medicare fraud and identity theft. Medicare coverage and benefits will stay the same, and the cards will be mailed at no cost to the user's address on file with Social Security. The Oregon Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) praised the new cards on Tuesday, calling it an effective way to keep vital Social Security Numbers out of the hands of criminals. The FBI echoed many of the same tips as the ODCBS (some of which may be seen below). According to the FBI, the new cards will be paper instead of plastic, and the new "Health Insurance Claim Number" will be an 11-character code unique to the individual. They will also include randomly generated numbers and uppercase letters. ODCBS has the following tips for Medicare recipients: Make sure Social Security has your current address. You can update your address online by signing in to or creating a my Social Security account at ssa.gov. Dont worry if you get your new card before or after friends or family members here in Oregon or in other states. The cards are being sent on a variety of dates to prevent mail theft. When your new Medicare card arrives, destroy the old one. Do it in a secure manner, such as shredding it. Doctors, other health care providers, and plans approved by Medicare know that Medicare is replacing the old cards. They should be ready to accept your new card when you need care. Even people with a Medicare plan through a private insurance company, also known as a Medicare Advantage plan, will get a new Medicare card from the federal government. Keep it in a safe place, but continue to use the member card your insurance company sent you. Beware of people contacting you about your new Medicare card and asking you for your Medicare number, personal information, or to pay a fee for your new card. Protect your Medicare number like you treat your Social Security or credit card numbers. Remember, Medicare will never contact you uninvited to ask for your personal information. The FBI also warns of scammers calling Medicare recipients and telling them that they have a refund due on their old card, then asking for a bank account number so that the refund can be processed. More information can be found at go.medicare.gov/newcard. Oregonians also can contact the states Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance (SHIBA) program with questions. SHIBAs phone number is 1-800-722-4134 (toll-free), and the line is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. By SOPHIA BOLLAG and DON THOMPSON , Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) A DNA match led to the arrest of a 72-year-old former police officer in one of the most baffling and sadistic crime sprees of the 1970s and '80s a string of at least 12 slayings and 45 rapes in California by an attacker dubbed the Golden State Killer, police said Wednesday. Armed with a gun, the masked attacker would break into homes while single women or couples were sleeping. He sometimes tied up the man and piled dishes on his back, then raped the woman while threatening to kill them both if the dishes tumbled. He often took souvenirs, notably coins and jewelry, from his victims, who ranged in age from 13 to 41. The match led to Joseph James DeAngelo, who was fired in 1979 from the police department in Auburn, northeast of Sacramento. Despite an outpouring of thousands of tips over the years, his name had not been on authorities' radar before last week, District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said. "We knew we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we also knew that needle was there," Schubert said. "We found the needle in the haystack, and it was right here in Sacramento." "The answer was always going to be in the DNA," she said. DeAngelo was arrested on suspicion of committing four killings in Sacramento and Ventura counties, officials said. He was fired from the Auburn department in 1979 after he was arrested for stealing a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a drug store, according to Auburn Journal articles from the time. FBI agents were gathering evidence at a Sacramento-area home linked to DeAngelo, the agency said. As the crimes unfolded across the state, authorities called the attacker by different names. He was dubbed the East Area Rapist after his start in Northern California, the Original Night Stalker after a series of Southern California slayings and the Diamond Knot Killer for using an elaborate binding method on two of his victims. He was most recently called the Golden State Killer. Jane Carson-Sandler was sexually assaulted in 1976 in her home in Citrus Heights by a man believed to be the East Area Rapist. She said she received an email Wednesday from a retired detective who worked on the case telling her they have identified the rapist and he's in custody. "I have just been overjoyed, ecstatic. It's an emotional roller-coaster right now," Carson-Sandler, who now lives near Hilton Head, South Carolina, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I feel like I'm in the middle of a dream and I'm going to wake up and it's not going to be true. It's just so nice to have closure and to know he's in jail." In 2016, the FBI and California officials renewed their search for the East Area Rapist and announced a $50,000 reward for his arrest and conviction. He has been linked to a total of more than 175 crimes between 1976 and 1986. Authorities decided to publicize the case in advance of the 40th anniversary of his first known assault in Sacramento County. DeAngelo, who was also a police officer in Exeter, in Southern California, from 1973 to 1976, was taken into custody without incident as officers surprised him at his Sacramento-area home, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said. "This was a truly a convergence of emerging technology and dogged determination by detectives," Jones added. Neighbor Kevin Tapia, 36, said when he was a teenager, DeAngelo falsely accused him of throwing things over their shared fence, prompting a heated exchange between DeAngelo and Tapia's father. He said DeAngelo could often be heard cursing in frustration in his backyard. "No one thinks they live next door to a serial killer," Tapia said. "But at the same time I'm just like, he was a weird guy. He kept to himself. When you start to think about it you're like, I could see him doing something like that, but I would never suspect it." ___ Associated Press Writer Jonathan J. Cooper contributed to this report from Citrus Heights, California. Canadian researchers have created a low-cost, portable device, shown in a handout photo, that can quickly test people to determine if they're at risk for measles or rubella in parts of the world without access to diagnostic laboratories, with the goal of preventing outbreaks of the deadly or disabling infectious diseases. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - University of Toronto, Lisa Ngo This undated file photo from the California Department of Motor Vehicles shows the driver license photo of Elliot Rodger, 22, who went on a murderous rampage Friday, May 23, 2014. A message allegedly posted by the accused in Toronto's deadly van attack is shedding light on a mostly male online community that an expert says endorses violent rhetoric against women. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP Photo/California DMV, File As the first yoga studio prepares to open in a southwestern Manitoba community a letter is spreading warning of its anti-Christian values. Participants strike a pose during a group yoga session at a park in Beijing, Saturday, June 18, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Mark Schiefelbein Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. In this April 20, 2018 photo, Bangladeshi garment worker Nilufa Begum, 38, who worked on the 7th floor of the Rana Plaza garment factory that collapsed, sits at her home in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. A new survey says that five years after the Rana Plaza garment factory building collapse in Bangladesh killed 1,134 people and left thousands injured some things have changed for the better for the workers who toiled in the country's huge garment industry but much remains to be done. The survey by the Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University's Stern School of Business found that the largest factories generally have complied with new safety standards set by foreign clothing brands since the 2013 accident. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad) FILE - In this March 29, 2018, file photo, the logo for Facebook appears on screens at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's Times Square. For the first time, Facebook is making public, on Tuesday, April 24, its detailed guidelines for determining what it will and wonAot allow on its service. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) PCV representative Tarip handing over the donations to NDMO's Korisa before being shipped to Ambae Ifira Marine Management. Members of the Council of of the Chief of Ifira (l-r) Kalosike Kalterikia, Witeu Sope, Eddie Kalpukai place the first Namele leaf at Prima, La Colle River. CHARLES CITY, Iowa An account has been set up for the survivor of Fridays two-vehicle collision in Floyd County. Thomas Parcher, 29 of Marble Rock, was seriously injured in the crash that killed three other people at the intersection of 210th Street and Woodside Avenue. He is receiving treatment at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, MN and is listed in fair condition. Donations to help his family pay for Parchers medical care and recovery can be made at First Citizens Bank or the State Farm Insurance office, both in Charles City. The collision killed Jacob Mahnesmith, 28 of Nashua, Shane Wiltse, 28 of Charles City, and a third person whose name has not been released. According to the Hauser Funeral Home, a memorial service for Mahnesmith will be held at 10:30 am Thursday at St. John Lutheran Church in Nashua and a service for Wiltse will be held at 2 pm Thursday at Saint John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charles City. MITCHELL COUNTY, Iowa The State Patrol has identified the people involved in a deadly two-vehicle collision on Monday. Authorities say Garrett Patrick Bormann, 24, of Ionia, was driving south on Balsam Avenue when he apparently failed to obey the stop sign at the intersection with Highway 9. The State Patrol says Bormanns pickup truck hit the eastbound car driven by Kenneth Nelson Jahncke, 61 of Osage. The State Patrol says Bormann was not wearing a seat belt and died as a result of his injuries. Kenneth Jahncke and a passenger, 65-year-old Linda Susan Jahncke of Osage, were wearing their seat belts and were taken by ambulance to Mitchell County Regional Health Center for treatment. The Mitchell County Sheriffs Office and Mayo One Life Flight assisted at the scene of this accident, which happened around 7:30 pm Monday. ROCHESTER, Minn. A man suspected of selling drugs has been arrested. Richard Betts, 51, is being charged with second-degree possession of a controlled substance and third-degree possession of a controlled substance after authorities conducted a search warrant in the 1600 block of Marion Rd. SE. Eleven grams of meth, scales, packaging materials, marijuana wax with a high level of THC and five oxycodone pills were found. ROCHESTER, Minn. - It's a project that's intended to transform North Broadway Avenue into a gateway to downtown Rochester. The project is impacting a long stretch of the road, from Civic Center Drive to 13th Street NW, as well as many businesses. "We're very concerned on this stretch of seven blocks," Penny Bracken, owner of the Kismet, said. "There's 53 businesses that are going to be impacted and it's interesting because as small businesses, we keep all of our dollars local here." Bracken has been on Broadway Avenue with her consignment stores for 15 years. When it comes to the project, she's concerned about accessibility. "They're going to tear up the street right to the sidewalk, right to my front door," Bracken said, "and basically for 18 months to two years, I'm going to be out of businesses." Some of the plans include adding in medians and bike lanes, which would take out some parking and maybe even entrances to businesses. Mike Fish took over the fourth generation Gingerbread House Bakery just two years ago. He said he'd like to see more communication, and individualized concern with each business that will be affected. "Most of their ideas and envisions are in two plans," Fish said, "and a fraction of our ideas and needs and wants and desires are just in a fraction of the less preferred plan." It all comes down to time in regards to how this project might affect businesses along its path. "Are we too late? That's our biggest concern," Fish said. "Can we buy more time? I don't know." According to online documents, the proposals for the Broadway Avenue Project will be presented to the city council for formal approval at their regular meeting on May 7. Planners need City Council approval in order to proceed with their final design and keep on schedule to begin construction in 2019. MASON CITY, Iowa A man accused of stealing nearly $700 worth of items from Wal-Mart is facing additional drug charges. Jacob Schmitt, 26, is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on charges for third-degree theft, unlawful possession of prescription drugs and possesses ion of a controlled substance, third or subsequent charge. Schmitt is accused of taking $669.68 worth of goods from Wal-Mart at 3:18 p.m. Tuesday. When searched, police say they found a Alprazolam pill that requires a prescription and methamphetamine. FOREST CITY, Iowa Two Minnesota men are pleading not guilty to having marijuana at a North Iowa apartment. Isaiah Eugene Craig, 21 of Apple Valley, MN, and Jonah Pedar Remker, 23 of Owatonna, were arrested on March 19 after Forest City police say they searched an apartment in the 100 block of Bob Johnson Drive and found 42 grams of marijuana in a closet. Officers say they also discovered $1,865 in cash, a scale, multiple baggies, and pre-rolled marijuana joints. Craig and Remker were reportedly living at the apartment at the time. Craig is charged with gathering where controlled substances are used, conspiracy, and possession of marijuana. His trial is scheduled to begin on June 6. Remker is charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, conspiracy, gathering where drugs are used, and failure to affix a tax stamp. No trial date has been set for him. ROCHESTER, Minn. - Forty percent of Minnesota waters are considered 'impaired' by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, meaning they fail to meet one or more water quality standards. These standards determine how many pollutants can be in the water until it is considered unsafe for use. "It's disappointing that we see that high of a percentage that are not meeting good standards," Mark Frederickson said. He volunteers in the spring through fall as a volunteer water monitor for the MPCA. According to the list of impaired waters, the MPCA considers every major Rochester waterway to be impaired. To do his part to help keep area waters clean, Frederickson and his wife Kathy Sullivan frequently pick up trash during their walks around Silver Lake. "You don't have to wait for a clean-up day if you're out walking anyway," explains Frederickson. "You know, that seems like it's a little thing... but the more people do that, the less plastic, and trash, and pollution will make its way into our lakes and rivers." To look at an interactive map of impaired rivers and and the draft of the 2018 Impaired Waters List, click here. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa A Forest City man is going to federal prison for making phony $20 bills. Victor Ineson, 42, pleaded guilty in November 2017 to manufacturing counterfeit currency. He confesed to using chemicals to wash the ink off lower denomination bills, then reprinting each side so they appeared to be $20s. Law enforcement says it found $335 in counterfeit money when it searched Inesons home in May 2017. Hes been sentenced to two years in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. Ineson must also pay $240 in restitution to area businesses. This case was investigated by the police departments in Forest City, Britt, Mason City, and Clear Lake. CHARLES CITY, Iowa A man already serving time for one theft is pleading not guilty to another. Eric John Kruse, 32 of Forest City, is charged with 2nd degree theft in Floyd County. Authorities say he stole a trailer worth $2,000 from a home in Nora Springs on November 14, 2016. A warrant for that charge was served on Kruse Tuesday at the Fort Dodge Correctional Institution. Kruse is there serving a four year sentence for a Cerro Gordo County conviction on 3rd degree theft and 3rd degree attempted burglary. Law enforcement says he stole another trailer in Mason City on November 14, 2016, which held $4,200 in lawn care equipment. ROCHESTER, Minn. A statewide organization of college students is honoring the president of Rochester Community and Technical College. Dr. Mary Davenport has been named 2018 President of the Year by LeadMN, which represents 180,000 two-year college students in Minnesota. Heather Darby Heather Darby "President Davenport embodies everything that is great about the Minnesota State community," said Mike Dean, Executive Director of LeadMN. "She goes to work every day with the goal of making an impact on student lives by encouraging an educational environment that propels students to reach for the stars." LeadMN is also recognizing Heather Darby as its Alumni of the Year. Darby graduated from RCTC in 2000 and is a former RCTC Student Senate President. This is the second time Darby has won the award. "This alumni member has been a huge help to what goes on behind the scenes," said Chelsea Self, Public Relations Coordinator for LeadMN, "from reading hundreds of scholarship applications to assisting with our annual scholarship gala." EYOTA, Minn. Neighbors know to just how dangerous the intersection of Minnesota Highway 42 and Olmsted County Road 9 can be. I go through there all the time, its always been a stop where theres always accidents, always ambulances going down there, Andrew Finley, who lives just about a mile down from the intersection, said. When they put the lights in I think it confused a lot of people, a nearby resident of the intersection said. State and county officials noticed it too, and decided it was time to take action. It had had some recent crashes, including a fatal and serious injury crash in 2015. We discussed with Olmsted County what we could do and felt a roundabout was a good plan, Mike Dougherty with Minnesota Department of Transportation said. A recent study shows roundabouts reduce the amount of fatal crashes by 86%. . Roundabouts handle high levels of traffic with less delay than most stop signs or signals. The entry curves slow traffic so entering and exiting are easier and more efficient, Dougherty said. After deciding on the project, MnDOT and the County applied for Highway Safety Improvement Plan funding, and got it. Federal dollars will pay for the $1.79 million project. While neighbors mostly agreed a roundabout would be a good idea, some disagree on if its worth the price tag. I like roundabouts if you know how to use them they work out well, Finley said. If it saves a couple lives it's worth it. I think the roundabout will be a good thing, it will slow people down, a nearby resident said. Probably not worth the money, a good thing but roundabouts are spendy. Both residents said theyre not too concerned about the construction causing traffic since there are other routes and gravel roads to take in the area. Construction is scheduled to start May 7, 2018 and end in early July. Community members who may have questions about the project are invited to get answers at MnDOTs open house for the project on Wednesday April 25. It will be held at the Eyota Volunteer Ambulance Station from 4 -6 pm. Messrs. Evans and Williams misrepresent the origins of the Republican Party. The Republican Party was not founded merely to combat the suppression of a minority. It was established specifically to combat a system of institutionalized slavery. (Evans and Williams confusion on this point could hardly be more indicative of our present-day habit of converting everything that is unpleasant or irksome into something akin to forced labor and forced breeding.) It is true that some of the so-called Radical Republicans were just as pleased to use the antislavery amendments as a vehicle for extending citizenship to other nonwhite or non-Anglo groups, but this was not the intent of the Republican Party generally speaking. Many antislavery whites and blacks argued that black Americans represented a unique category of person eligible for receiving the privilege of citizenship, not first and foremost because they had been treated unjustlyhence, the African repatriation movement but because, to quote Booker T. Washington, We went into slavery pagans; we came out Christians. We went into slavery without a language; we came out speaking the proud Anglo-Saxon tongue. Unlike the Chinese, who many Republicans viewed as pagan imperialists, blacks assimilated several of the definitive traits that would make their successful integration into the American regime far more likely. Granted, the optimism Republicans expressed at this idea varied greatly; but, given the contemporary state of affairs it was almost miraculous that any body of politicians was willing to make such a distinction between a horde of former slaves and the otherwise industrious Chinese. If any nineteenth-century political thought could accommodate Evans and Williams defense of transgenderism it would have to be something like J. S. Mills concept of liberty, in which all individual acts of willed behaviorno matter how stupid or offensiveare morally permissible insofar as they do not cause unsolicited harm to others. This, however, was not the view of most nineteenth-century Republicans. MASON CITY, Iowa A man accused of breaking out the windows on a rental house is pleading not guilty. Tyler Nicholas Thompson, 21, is charged with 2nd degree criminal mischief. Police say after an argument on March 17 in the 200 block of 7th Street NE in Mason City, Thompson broke multiple windows in the home where he was staying. Authorities estimate the damage at over $1,700. Thompsons trial is set to begin on July 17. (Reuters) - Anthem Inc (ANTM.N) reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as it kept a tight leash on patient payouts, prompting the health insurer to raise its full-year profit forecast. The company said it was prioritizing investments throughout 2018 on infrastructure that can quickly respond to the evolving needs of its customers - a sign it may continue to steer clear of major acquisitions. The healthcare sector has been rapidly consolidating over the past year with companies looking for new ways to bolster profits as the industry faces greater scrutiny for rising costs. Rival Aetna Inc (AET.N) is expected to be bought for $69 billion by pharmacy chain CVS Health Corp (CVS.N) and Cigna Corp (CI.N) has proposed acquiring Express Scripts (ESRX.O), the largest U.S. independent pharmacy benefit manager, for $54 billion. Last year, Anthem announced a plan to launch an in-house pharmacy benefit management business in 2020. On Wednesday, the company said its benefit expense ratio improved to 81.5 percent from 83.7 percent in the same period a year ago. The metric measures an insurers expenditure on claims against the premiums it earns. The decrease was primarily driven by the return of a health insurance tax in 2018 and improved medical cost performance across its businesses, the company said. Piper Jaffray analyst Sarah James said she was encouraged by the lower medical loss ratio, believing that this could be evidence of the beginning of changes under Chief Executive Gail Boudreaux, who joined the company late last year. This was a clean and positive quarter for Anthem, she added. Anthems net income rose 30 percent to $1.31 billion, or $4.99 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31. Excluding items, the company earned $5.41 per share, way above the average analyst estimate of $4.88, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Medical enrollment totaled about 39.6 million members at March 31, a fall of 2.5 percent, driven predominantly by a reduced footprint in Obamacara market. Total revenue was largely flat at $22.54 billion. The insurer said it now expects 2018 adjusted net earnings to be greater than $15.30 per share, up from its previous estimate of earnings of greater than $15 per share. Anthem shares were up nearly 1 percent in light premarket trading. They are up 33.6 percent in the past 12 months but flat year to date. (Kitco News) - Although gold equity companies continue to struggle to attract investor interest, one of the markets newest gold producers is expecting its only a matter of time before sentiment will shift. In an interview with Kitco News, Ken Berry, CEO of Northern Vertex Mining Corp. (TSX.V: NEE), said that there has been no better time for investors to look at commodity markets. He added that he expects interest in gold, silver equities to continue to build. If we are not at the bottom of a cycle then we are very close and this is when the smart money positions itself. Berry added while there is unprecedented potential throughout the commodity sector, investors still need to be patient. Right now its all about timing, he said. Will prices be higher in three months, probably not but at some point, the market is going to turn higher. Berry added that he is particularly excited to be a gold producer as he sees strong potential for higher prices as the U.S. dollar remains in a long-term downtrend. He added that companies like Northern Vertex, the markets newest gold producer, will be the ones that will be able to attract investor capital. The market right now is very selective, he said. If you have a proven management team, and a solid asset then investors will pay attention and that is exactly what we have. Northern Vertex has gone from a junior explorer to a junior gold producer as it saw its first gold pour in the first quarter of 2018 from its Moss project in Western Arizona. Berry said that they are currently commission operations and working toward commercial production. Northern Vertex is projected to produce 42,000 equivalent gold ounces per year. VIDEO: Liquid #gold! @Northern_Vertex continues to move forward with its goal to produce 40k ounces of #gold after it first pour in Q1 2018 | @neils_C visits Moss Mine | Stay tuned for more! | pic.twitter.com/v9OdRYqUG9 Kitco NEWS (@KitcoNewsNOW) April 20, 2018 He added that the companys goal is to get to 100,000 plus ounces of gold annually. Looking back, he said that while it hasnt been an easy journey, he is looking forward to the next stage for his company. Once we get our production up the opportunities for growth are tremendous, he said. As to what will be the catalyst for mining stocks, Berry said that the continued uptrend in gold and silver prices will eventually bring investors back to the marketplace. Berry's comments come as gold prices remain in its well-established trading range. June gold futures last traded at $1,323 an ounce, down 0.75% on the day. Mulvaney's Advice to Bankers: Up Campaign Donations to Diminish Consumer Watchdog Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told banking industry executives and lobbyists on Tuesday that they should increase their campaign donations to influence lawmakers, revealing that he would meet only with lobbyists who contributed to his campaign when he served in the House. We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress, Mr. Mulvaney, a former Republican lawmaker from South Carolina, told 1,300 bankers and lobbyists at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington. If youre a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didnt talk to you. If youre a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you. But he wants Congress to go further and has urged it to wrest funding of the independent watchdog from the Federal Reserve, a move that would give lawmakers and those with access to them more influence on the bureaus actions. On Tuesday, he implored the financial services industry to help support the legislative changes he has requested to diminish the bureaus power by increasing campaign donations. Mr. Mulvaney said that trying to sway legislators that way was one of the fundamental underpinnings of our representative democracy. And you have to continue to do it. Source: NYT-snip--snip-Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/24/us/mulvaney-consumer-financial-protection-bureau.html I guess I missed the part of the Constitution where it explains that buying lawmakers with campaign donations is "one of the fundamental underpinnings of our representative democracy." RNG said: Unless Putin is using the pee-pee tapes as leverage. He is a cunning fellow, and in spite of a lot of bluster recently, the Republican President does nothing to rein him in. Click to expand... And, if they exist, they're much more useful used as a threat as they can be used as a threat over and over. If you showed them, that'd be it. A nice big bomb people would forget sooner or later.But we don't know if they exist. At the same time, we don't know that they don't exist.If Trump did something to really piss off Putin, what if the Kremlin released the tapes (if they exist)? Would the charge of "fake news" be made? Or, it's a fake video? That's not Trump in the video? We don't know if DJ has confessed his sins to God?Why does Putin hate Trump? FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA Plasan unveiled today its all-new, lightweight protected vehicle Yagu at Expo Seguridad event in Mexico City this week. In fact, plasan transformed the 767 kg commercial Arctic Cat Wildcat 4 1000 four-seat all-terrain vehicle into a 1.48-ton (dry weight) fully-protected assault vehicle. The vehicle is designed to behave like an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) but offers its crew of three persons the all-around 360 ballistic protection at a level of B6+ (similar to STANAG 4569 Level II) effective against 5.56X45, 7.62X39 and 7.6251 threats. WIth front and side windows and all-round cameras the protected capsule provides excellent situational awareness and response, using an overhead ultra-light remotely operated weapon, that mounts a 5.56 or 7.62 machine gun and EO sensors operated by the crew from within the air-conditioned, armored capsule. The vehicle can also be equipped with a drone launching system, that can operate airborne for 27 minutes. With automatic target tracking features the drone provides enhanced situational awareness for the crew. The air-transportable Yagu is positioned to meet the needs of special operations, border patrols, urban warfare as well as special missions in crime-fighting, where light and agile platforms are required. According to Plasan, Yagu provides such high protection level at an exceptionally low weight. As its outdoors sibbling, Yagu can move on rocky and muddy terrain, on sand dunes and in forest environments, climbing extreme sloping roads. In urban scenes Yagus compact size comes handy, as it is able to move through narrow passages (its width is merely 162 cm), crossing jammed or blocked roads on sidewalks and stairss. Even with full armor, three fully equipped troops and 350 kg payload (a gross vehicle weight of more than five tons!), Yagu maintains a power/weight ratio in excess of 53 HP/Ton, thus maintaining much of the agility and mobility of the Wildcat. The platform retains the original 1000 H2 V- Twin, S0HC 4 stroke, 4 valve w/EFI 951cc engine with electronic fuel injection, coupled to an automatic transmission with HI/LO gear, 2 or 4 wheel drive and the long-travel front and rear suspension used in the original Wildcat. To support the added weight and improve mobility, Yagu uses bigger tires (28 X 10r14 instead of the civilian versions 26x9R14 and 26x11R14). By Park Si-soo Mongolia and Singapore are vying to host the historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, South Korean newspaper Joongang Ilbo reported on Wednesday, citing government sources. North Korea wants the summit in its capital Pyongyang, but the U.S. is reluctant to accept the idea due to safety and other issues, according to the daily. European countries and South Korea were excluded in the early stage of negotiations, it said. "The location could be decided as early as this week," Joongang quoted a government source as saying. "But its announcement could be pushed back at the request of the North till the date and agenda are finalized." Trump and Kim are expected to meet in May or June. Kim's private jet's limited range was a major reason why the North excluded Europe, it said. The flight, codenamed Chammae-1, was reportedly produced in the 1970s and can fly nonstop up to 5,000 kilometers, not enough to reach Stockholm or Zurich two suggested European locations that are nearly 7,200 and 8,500 kilometers from Pyongyang. The source said Singapore is the most likely location for three reasons: (1) political neutrality; (2) having North Korean and U.S. embassies on its soil; (3) it is within the range of Kim's jet. From left: Bonnie Glaser, Daniel Pinkston, Victor Cha, Kwak Tae-hwan, Shin Beom-chul Experts present mixed prospects over denuclearization By Jung Da-min Three days ahead of the third inter-Korea summit, North Korea watchers from Washington and Seoul exchanged their views on the upcoming meeting at an academic forum in Seoul. They called for a balanced approach in dealing with North Korea in the summit between President Moon Jae-in and his counterpart Kim Jong-un. At the 2018 Asan Plenum, an annual conference hosted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies on April 24 and 25, over 100 experts from around the world gathered to discuss different topics in international relations. Among them, The Korea Times asked five experts with a focus on East Asia to speculate on possible outcomes of the summit. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said Tuesday denuclearization would be one of the key issues on the summit agenda. On this possibility and North Korea's willingness to do so, however, many pundits remained skeptical. "That would require a change in national identity, the party biology and state ideology but I don't see any of that," said Daniel Pinkston, a lecturer in international relations at Troy University in Alabama. "We should still look into the prospects of peace with the eyes of doubt," said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow with the Asan Institute of Policy Studies. "We talked about it at the level of freezing but that was without mentioning any practical measures for denuclearization." North Korea watchers from Washington also said there has been nothing in recent developments that would promote the denuclearization process. "Thus far we have not heard anything new," said Victor Cha, the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "Kim Jong-il did the same thing with Kim Dae-jung, the announcement which formalizes what the South Korean government has been committed to before." "It is true that recent developments are positive, but nothing new." One expert based in Seoul, however, presented a different view _ that North Korea would sincerely give up its nuclear weapons. "Kim Jong-un made a strategic determination to give up nuclear weapons and North Korea might use this as a bargaining tool during the negotiations," said Kwak Tae-hwan, chairman of the Institute for Korean Peninsula Future Strategies. "It comes out of the country's confidence that they have already completed the technologies for nuclear weapons." Should sanctions be eased? Many agreed the sanctions against the regime could be eased after the summit, but this has to be done with discretion and with the assurance of the North's denuclearization. "Once the sanctions are lifted, it would be difficult to regenerate them with the whole consent process at the United Nations Security Council," Shin said. "However, North Korea's denuclearization measures are easy to reverse. You can freeze it and start it up again." This is going to be a long game, according to experts. "It can be a series of getting a signal and sending back a signal," Kwak said. "North Korea showed its willingness to continue the peace process by declaring the suspension of ICBM and nuclear weapons tests, and South Korea in return stopped broadcasting at the border. Easing sanctions gradually can be part of this process." Easing sanctions is also in other countries' interests and could bring potential conflict among them, another pundit pointed out. "We will differentiate very quickly between the United States and China, because China will push for an early easing of sanctions and I expect the Trump administration will not want to have that done too soon," said Bonnie Glaser, the China Chair at CSIS. "The Trump administration will want to see North Korea take some very concrete steps before it agrees on lifting sanctions, so I think this is an area where the U.S. and China potentially will have differences." Balanced approach needed Overall, a balanced approach between exchanges and denuclearization is needed, according to the experts. "At least one thing is clear. The result of the inter Korea summit will be a sign for the outcome of the U.S.-North Korea summit," Cha said. "If the outcome of the former is positive, we can optimize the latter." "The U.S. seems to be skeptical about the results of the summit because it has reviewed North Korea's past activities and has not seen the outcome it wanted to see," Shin said. "For our government, however, it knows the importance of denuclearization, so I think a balanced approach of exchanging cooperation and denuclearization is necessary at the summit." Local and foreign journalists register at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday, to cover the inter-Korean summit. / Yonhap By Ko Dong-hwan In a first for inter-Korean summits, reporters from foreign news outlets will join the official press pool allowed at Friday's summit venue, the border village of Panmunjeom. The United States' Bloomberg, China's Xinhua, Britain's Reuters and Japan's Kyodo and Jiji Press will join the "Korea Pool." Along with journalists from South Korean media outlets, they will cover the historic first meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the South's welcoming ceremony for Kim at Freedom House and the two leaders' lunch and dinner at Peace House. North Korea did not allow foreign reporters into Pyongyang to cover the inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007. They were allowed at Panmunjeom until 1991 to cover inter-Korean official-level talks and meetings between military representatives of the North and the United Nations. Foreign reporters visiting Seoul for Friday's summit can also use the main press center at the Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX). The nation's biggest convention center, in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, opened the center Wednesday afternoon to accommodate nearly 3,000 journalists from Seoul and overseas. TV broadcast engineers check equipment at the main press center in KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul Limited space at Panmunjeom meant a venue for the bulk of the journalists covering the event from across the world had to be found, so KINTEX's 54,000 square-meter 1st Exhibition Hall has been utilized. The press center will operate around the clock until Sunday, hosting at least 2,850 domestic and international journalists. According to Cheong Wa Dae's inter-Korean summit preparatory committee, as of April 24, 1,981 journalists from 176 South Korean news outlets and 869 reporters from 184 media outlets in 40 countries including CNN, the BBC, CCTV, NHK have registered for the main press center. Global news wire agencies AP, AFP, Reuters and UPI also signed up for coverage of the summit. It is the largest reporters' pool covering an international event hosted by the South Korean government. Japan has sent the most reporters 366 from 25 news outlets while 141 are from 28 American outlets and 81 from 21 Chinese outlets. Chinese-Taipei, England and Hong Kong each sent the next highest number of journalists 48, 47 and 35, respectively. Fifteen countries have sent reporters for the first time to cover an inter-Korean summit, including Austria, Thailand, India, Bulgaria and Cameroon. Journalists from South Korean and foreign media outlets gear up at the main press center in KINTEX to cover Friday's inter-Korean summit at Panmunjeom, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul By Kim Rahn Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will make a state visit to Korea on May 2 upon President Moon Jae-in's invitation, Cheong Wa Dae said, Wednesday. The two leaders will have bilateral talks and a dinner. It will be the first meeting between leaders of the two nations since their relations were upgraded to a strategic partnership in 2012. Turkey, often called a "brother country" to Korea, participated in the Korean War for South Korea, and the two nations have maintained friendly relations with growing exchanges. Moon and Erdogan will talk about ways to intensify reciprocal cooperation in trade, investment, transport, infrastructure, energy and natural resources. Turkey is also a member of MIKTA, an informal partnership between Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia, and the two leaders will discuss cooperation among MIKTA member nations. By Walt Gardner Whether in Korea or the United States, taxpayers are entitled to know if students are being well educated. The debate is over how to make that determination. The default position these days is through the use of standardized tests, which form the basis for rankings on all tests of international competition, including the closely watched Program for International Student Assessment, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. The roots of modern standardized tests go back to the start of World War I, when the U.S. was faced with the urgent need to quickly identify officer candidates. Finding itself ill-equipped for the challenge, the military turned to the American Psychological Association for help. Working out of the Vineland Training School in New Jersey, a special committee devised the Army Alpha. This standardized aptitude test presented recruits with verbal and mathematical questions that allowed them to be ranked according to their intellectual abilities. Recruits who scored high were sent to officer-training school, while low-scorers were given other military duties. Some 1,750,000 men took the Army Alpha, which proved to be enormously successful for the task at hand. Encouraged by the efficiency with which large numbers of subjects could be sorted out, designers of standardized achievement tests decided to apply the Alpha approach to whatever content was being measured. The problem with this expansion is widespread misunderstanding of the difference between an aptitude test and an achievement test. The former is designed to predict how well a test-taker is likely to perform in a future setting.? In contrast, the latter is designed to measure the knowledge and skills a test-taker possesses in a given subject. While scores on both tests may be related, they do not necessarily correlate. That's why the debate today is so heated. Taxpayers in Korea, the U.S. and elsewhere incorrectly assume that all tests are created equal.?Give students a test, score the test and jump to conclusions about learning. This confusion is seen in the changes in the name of the granddaddy of all standardized tests itself over the decades. In 1926 when the SAT was conceived by psychologist Carl Brigham, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test in the belief that it assessed innate ability. But by 1994, the College Board had second thoughts, renaming it the Scholastic Assessment Test out of concern that the original designation was too often associated with eugenics. Then in 1997, the board altered the name to simply the SAT, which ironically stands for nothing. The point is that testing, or what educators like to call assessment or evaluation, is an indispensable part of the learning process.How else can teachers know if they've been effective, and how else can taxpayers know if their money has been well spent? The problem has been making the false assumption that standardized test scores constitute the end-all and be-all of education.?South Korea posts impressive scores on tests of international competition, but so many students are paying too steep a price in the form of anxiety and depression. Even worse, a 2014 poll by the Korea Health Promotion Foundation found that slightly more than half of teenagers reported suicidal thoughts. Attempts to rely less on test scores and more on individual projects are promising.?But they have not caught on because of concerns about their objectivity.?Tradition dies hard in education.?Yet given the downsides of the testing obsession, it's time for a change. Walt Gardner taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District.?He writes blog. By Kim Hyun-bin Candidates for Seoul mayor and education head are teaming up to gain advantage in local elections. The Seoul mayor and Seoul superintendent of education's seats are up for grabs in local elections slated for June 13. Several candidates for Seoul mayor are looking to join hands with candidates for superintendent, creating election alliances. Such alliances, however, are raising questions following a recently revealed joint proposal. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) and the Seoul Metropolitan Government jointly released a general plan, "The 2018-2021 Future Education City," Monday. Thirty-eight departments of the city government and the education office will be in charge of the four-year project with a total budget of 1.9 trillion won ($1.76 billion). The plan aims to remove chalkboards and writing utensils to make classrooms more future oriented by installing numerous IT devices. However, the timing of the release of the plan, just ahead of the local elections could be a strong indicator that current Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and Seoul Superintendent of Education Cho Hee-yeon could be joining forces. There are growing concerns, as the position of superintendent should be independent from any party affiliations. Park's visit to Cho Hee-yeon's book publication ceremony last February initially gave the impression that the two might be teaming up. Furthermore, the joint plan doesn't seem to have significant changes, mostly updates from previous education policies. This is raising even more suspicion that the policy was released to help boost their popularity before the election. The project has four major fields divided into 36 subcategories. Out of the 36 subcategories, 11 are newly introduced, while 25 of them are scheduled to be upgraded or expanded. The four major fields include enhancing youth creativity, increasing science classes and providing opportunities for early career experience. They will also provide an education environment without discrimination and will boost cooperation with city districts to strengthen lifelong and extended learning. Critics have been blasting the new plan calling it empty and similar to a proposal announced in 2014. "The cooperation model between the city government and education office is significant" said Kim Jae-chul, spokesman for the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations. "But claiming to release a new policy, which is empty without significant changes, is something to be criticized." Last Friday, Cho declared at City Hall he would run for re-election as superintendent of education. If elected, he will be the first superintendent to fulfill a four-year term since the direct election system was implemented in 2008. He will also be the first to be re-elected for the job. "The last four years working with the public has become the foundation to change the direction of our education policies," Cho said. More alliances However, Park and Cho are not the only candidates to form an alliance in the race. Seoul National University Professor Cho Young-dal announced his candidacy for educational superintendent and is seen as likely to join hands with Ahn Chul-soo a candidate for Seoul Mayor and current Barunmirae party lawmaker. Cho has adopted Ahn's education pledge, which was made during his run for the presidency last year. Ahn proposed a 5+5+2 school system, which at the time gained popularity with the public. The new school system focuses on five years of elementary school, a combined five years of middle and high school and 2 years of career preparation. Cho promoted the policy as "Ahn Chul-soo's Education Plan" as the public was not well aware of him or his adoption of Ahn's idea. On the conservative front, the Liberty Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Moon-soo has announced he will run for Seoul Mayor and has been pushing for Dongguk University professor Park Sun-young to run against Cho for education superintendent. Many conservatives are supporting Park, and if she decides to run, another political alliance could be formed. Park is a proportional representative of the party. However, some conservatives are calling for candidates that have teaching experience to run for office. A Seoul appellate court on Wednesday upheld a lower court's two-year prison term for a graduate student charged with trying to hurt his professor with a homemade bomb in a plastic drink tumbler. The Seoul High Court said the crime is "beyond what society can tolerate and deserves a stern punishment." The 26-year-old defendant, a mechanical engineering student at Yonsei University in western Seoul, has been charged with inflicting injuries resulting from explosives. In June last year, he built the explosive using a drink tumbler filled with gunpowder and nails and delivered it to the professor's office. The professor suffered minor burns since the bomb did not fully detonate. The lower court had said Kim's actions were premeditated and deserve a heavy punishment. The student had placed the tumbler in a gift box with a note that read, "Thank you always." By Kim Bo-eun National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong met his U.S. counterpart John Bolton in Washington, Tuesday (local time), to discuss pending talks on North Korean denuclearization. The two security chiefs also discussed a telephone call to be made between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump and a bilateral summit in Washington in May. These will take place after Friday's inter-Korean summit and before Trump's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which is expected in late May or June. Moon would share details of his meeting with Kim so preparations for the Pyongyang-Washington summit could be made accordingly. "Chung and Bolton finished coordinating their views and sought close bilateral cooperation in preparing for the inter-Korean summit and achieving the goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," chief presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan told reporters, Wednesday. By Lee Min-hyung President Moon Jae-in will visit Washington next month for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of the planned meeting between the latter and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday. Moon and Trump are expected to exchange their ideas on pending security issues on the peninsula, including bilateral ways to verify the North's denuclearization pledge. The Moon-Trump summit may take place in mid-May, the presidential office said, adding details of the summit are still being discussed. To arrange the summit, National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong met with U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton at the White House, Tuesday. They also discussed progress on achieving the goal of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula before the inter-Korean summit. "The two ranking officials negotiated plans to arrange a meeting between Moon and Trump ahead of the Washington-Pyongyang summit," presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan told reporters. A specific timeline for the summit between the U.S. and North Korea has yet to be confirmed, but both sides are narrowing their differences to pinpoint a date sometime in late May and early June. "Moon will brief Trump on the results of the upcoming inter-Korean summit by telephone right after it ends Friday," Yoon said. With the North showing a strong willingness this year for nuclear disarmament, Cheong Wa Dae is seeking to take advantage of the momentum by engaging in a series of inter-Korean activities. By Lee Min-hyung The two Koreas will hold joint rehearsals Wednesday for Friday's summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The rehearsals will be held under the exact same format as the actual summit on Friday. But Cheong Wa Dae has not confirmed the detailed timeline for events on the day of the summit. Presidential chief of staff Lim Jong-seok will head the southern delegation for the rehearsal. Kim Chang-son, a member of the Party Central Committee from the North, will also visit the summit venue of Peace House on the southern side of the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjeom. Both sides will engage in comprehensive on-site inspections by tracing detailed routes on which the two leaders will walk during the summit. Other details include the arrangement of furniture at the Peace House. Lim also plans to hold a final briefing on Thursday, delivering up-to-date preparatory processes for the historic inter-Korean gathering. "The joint rehearsal will be conducted behind closed doors," a Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters today. The presidential office fell short of revealing other details, due to the gravity of the summit. The two Koreas ended their round of working-level preparatory talks on Monday, with both sides agreeing to broadcast key events live such as Kim Jong-un's arrival at Panmunjeom and the first-ever greeting between Moon and Kim. Kim will cross the military demarcation line in a car to reach Peace House. The young dictator will then meet with President Moon in person for the first time. Aside from the government, KT a Seoul-based mobile carrier also plans to stage a pilot test in the briefing room and at a press center in KINTEX in Gyeonggi Province, by delivering its 360-degree fifth-generation (5G) virtual reality visual demonstration set to be broadcast during the summit. The company installed the infrastructure in the briefing room and press center to deliver vivid visual coverage of the event to the world. More than 3,000 reporters here and abroad are expected to cover the summit on Friday. The upcoming summit is the third in a series of historic gatherings between leaders of the two Koreas. In 2000, President Kim Dae-jung met with his northern counterpart Kim Jong-il, the father of Jong-un, for the first-ever inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang. The second summit came in 2007 when President Roh Moo-hyun visited Pyongyang. Cho Seung-hwan, holding a placard welcoming the inter-Korean summit, poses with his fan club members, April 19, after finishing a 427-kilometer barefooted run for 10 days from Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, to Imjingak, to express his wish for the success of the upcoming summit. / Courtesy of Cho Seung-hwan By Kim Rahn A 51-year-old man had 427 kilometers of cross-country running for 10 days to express his wish for the success of the upcoming inter-Korean summit. And he did it barefooted. Cho Seung-hwan, dubbed "Barefoot man," started running in front of the local government building of Gwangyang in South Jeolla Province, his hometown, April 10. He passed through Gurye, Imsil, Iksan, Gongju, Sejong, Cheonan and Hanam to arrive at Imjingak, a park near the inter-Korean border in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, April 19. His total running distance was 427 kilometers, marking the summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un slated for April 27. About 100 fan club members greeted him at the finish line. "Running barefoot, I felt my energy was draining, but I wished for peaceful unification of the two Koreas with every step I made," Cho said. It was not Cho's first barefooted event: he climbed Mount Fuji in Japan last June, ran 100 kilometers in November to wish for the success of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, and climbed Mount Halla on Jeju Island in March to commemorate the March 1 Independence Movement all barefooted. He also had several performances where he stood on the ice barefooted, of course with the best record being 92 minutes. "I had a serious illness about 10 years ago, but fully recovered while hiking barefooted," the executive at an apparel company said, adding his training has made him able to stay barefooted in minus 20-30 degrees temperature without getting frostbite. "I wanted to gain attention from people around the world to let them know how important peace is in the world's only divided country. So I began the barefooted performances," Cho said. He said his feet still hurt when doing such performances but it is getting less painful as he trains. He exercises for seven hours every day. "At first many told me I was crazy. My mom did too. But now she is proud of me, saying I'm a hero," Cho said. Cho is preparing for another event in June: he plans to stand barefooted on the ice for five hours near the Great Wall of China, with placards written in Korean, English and Chinese that read "Peace of the Korean Peninsula is linked to world peace," and run on the wall for 4,000 kilometers. He said his dream is to make a barefooted cross-country journey in a unified Korea. "My final goal and dream is to run through the peninsula, starting from Mount Halla in the southern end of South Korea, heading to Mount Jiri and then Mount Taebaek, passing through Panmunjeom and reaching Mount Baekdu at northern end of the peninsula," he said. Japan has protested South Korea's move to put dessert with a decoration featuring Dokdo on the table for the dinner planned for the upcoming historic inter-Korean summit, a local media reported Wednesday. According to Japan's broadcaster NHK, Kenji Kanasugi, the Japanese foreign ministry's director-general of Asian and Oceania affairs, protested the Seoul government's decision in his meeting with a senior South Korean Embassy official in Tokyo. He is also reported to have expressed regrets and called on the Seoul government to drop the food from the dinner menu. On Tuesday, the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae disclosed the details of the menu for the summit dinner that included the dessert capped with an edible map of a unified Korean Peninsula also showing the country's eastern islets of Dokdo. By Kim Jae-kyoung Kim Eng Tan A meeting room inside the Peace House where a summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be held Friday / Joint press corps By Joint press corps, Kim Rahn The venue of the inter-Korean summit has been renovated with interior decor and concepts symbolizing wishes for reconciliation of the two Koreas and peace on the Korean Peninsula, according to Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday. The Peace House, a building on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjeom, underwent more than two weeks of renovation for the summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un slated for tomorrow. Although Panmunjeom has been the venue for many inter-Korean ministerial-level talks, this is the first time a summit is being held there, with the two previous summits in 2000 and 2007 were held in Pyongyang. In previous ministerial-level talks, South Korean and North Korean officials entered the meeting room on the second floor of the building through separate gates. They also sat on opposite sides of a rectangle table. A painting of Mount Halla in Jeju Island hung on the wall behind the table. After the renovation, now Moon and Kim will enter the room together through the main gate. An oval-shaped table was newly made, designed to create a friendlier atmosphere. The table is 2,018 millimeters wide through its center, symbolizing the year of 2018. "We designed the table to be preserved as a historic remembrance of the 2018 summit being held to establish peace on the peninsula," presidential vice spokeswoman Ko Min-jung said. A design of the Korean Peninsula, including Jeju Island, Ulleung Island and Dokdo islets, is engraved on top of the back of the chairs for President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the inter-Korean summit venue in Panmunjeom. / Joint press corps This is the fourth and last in a series of interviews with international experts on the Korean Peninsula to discuss key issues at the upcoming inter-Korean summit slated for April 27. ED. Seoul should caution against 'halo effect' in handling Pyongyang By Kim Jae-kyoung SINGAPORE North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will use the upcoming historic inter-Korean summit as an opportunity to rebuild his image to the outside world, according to a Singapore-based expert on North Korea, Wednesday. He believes the primary purpose of Kim coming to the negotiation table is "propaganda," which ultimately aims to earn sanctions relief. "Kim wants to polish his international image," Liang Tuang Nah, a research fellow of the Military Studies Program at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, said in an interview. The institute is a constituent unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. "Kim seeks to rehabilitate global perceptions of North Korea as a normal and respectable state, rather than a rogue nation led by a ruthless, abusive and totalitarian government," he said. He thinks live broadcasting the event will serve to project a message of transparency which drastically contrasts with the real opaque nature of the reclusive country. "Concurrently, it can be inferred that if Kim is successful in this image makeover, it may weaken global consensus for maintaining maximum pressure on the regime, coercing Pyongyang to give up nuclear arms," he said. Nah cautions against the "halo effect" in dealing with the Kim Jong-un regime. "This is that the world at large has become so used to unacceptable behavior from North Korea that when Pyongyang starts to act normally, it is perceived with a halo and thus seen as deserving a reward," he said. Nah, the specialist in nuclear weapons politics and North Korean affairs, said that there are three key issues President Moon Jae-in must insist on at the meeting with the North's recalcitrant leader. First, Moon should demand a permanent end to all North Korean military adventurism and state-sponsored terrorism. Secondly, the Kim regime must commit to nuclear disarmament with a concrete show of faith such as possibly inviting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to send an inspection team to North Korea as soon as possible. Lastly, the two leaders should come up with a concrete roadmap for stability and normalization of relations on the Korean Peninsula. "As commonly said, the devil is in the details. In my personal opinion, these are details which achieve more than a general peace agreement signed before the international press," he said. Nah said a peace treaty makes for good public relations but its actualization may not be that simple. "While there is a political desire among all parties concerned to replace the current armistice with such a treaty, Pyongyang's nuclear weapons, missiles and other weapons of mass destructions (WMDs) are serious complicating factors," he said. From his perspective, it is definitely in Kim Jong-un's interest to ink such a treaty or agreement with President Moon at the summit but the continuation of economic pressure and diplomatic isolation from Kim's WMD pursuits might well sour relations in the months to come. "Even if Pyongyang agrees to allow U.S. troops to continue to be based in South Korea and sustaining the U.S.-ROK alliance, the non-resolution of the denuclearization problem will weaken any peace agreement," he said. "Lastly, any real peace treaty will require the presence or signatures of China and U.N. Command as they were signatories to the Korean War Armistice." Finally, Nah, who also specializes in ASEAN-Korea relations, advised Moon to be friendly to Kim but remain firm at negotiations. "North Korea faces a drastic choice between nuclear-armed isolation and antagonism, or denuclearization and acceptance as a respectable nation within the international community," he said. "My humble advice would be to negotiate with Kim cordially but firmly, being resolute and uncompromising about South Korea's national interests, even as Kim will most assuredly be focused on the prime interests of his regime." Democratic Party of Korea members hold a rally at the National Assembly, Wednesday, to wish for a successful summit to be held Friday. / Yonhap By Choi Ha-young The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) held a rally, Wednesday, to wish for the success of the inter-Korea summit on Friday. "The miracle never comes miraculously. The summit is the fruit of great patience, tears and prayers," DPK Chairwoman Rep. Choo Mi-ae said. "Please let this miracle keep going and end the Korean War so we can have peace for good." Choo denounced the political offensives by the largest conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP), which has belittled the first-ever summit to be held in the South. LKP Chairman Hong Joon-pyo defined it as a "political show," claiming it will only benefit North Korea. The meeting room for the historic April 27 summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was unveiled Wednesday. / Yonhap By Choi Ha-young The leaders of the two Koreas will meet at the truce village of Panmunjeom, Friday, for the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade. The upcoming meeting is historic in many ways. The two summits respectively in 2000 and 2007 took place in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. This time, President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to gather at the Peace House on the southern side of the demarcation line. This is the North Korean leader's first visit to South Korean territory. Kim's younger sister Yo-jong came here on the sidelines of the PyeongChang Winter Games in February. Before, the Kim family had never come to the South. By Mahmood Elahi This refers to the interesting article: "Possibilities peak as summits near," by Andrew Salmon, published Tuesday. All tyrannical regimes must rule by instilling fear among their subjects and their potential rivals. They all share the Roman dictator Caligula's dictum: "Let them hate as long as they fear." North Korea's dictator Kim Jong-un has been following in the footsteps of his Roman counterpart since becoming the Supreme Leader. He engineered the assassination of his half brother, and the execution of his uncle who was also a general, and he has been treating his people with unspeakable brutality. His nuclear saber rattling has come in handy to instill fear inside and outside North Korea. He has even been able to rattle the world's greatest military power _ the United States. But then he ran out of his capability to intimidate his people and his backers inside North Korea. His military establishment must have been exhausted by being constantly on high alert expecting a pre-emptive nuclear strike from the United States. Kim cannot afford to ignore the military establishment that keeps him in power. Caligula was destroyed by his hand-picked Praetorian Guards when they found out that he had become a liability. As for the people of North Korea, they are finding that they can no longer endure his tyrannical regime. Sanctions are also biting, adding to Kim's discomfort. China, the regime's mentor, has also joined the international sanctions. Isolated from all sides, North Korea has announced that it will stop testing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. For a regime facing immediate economic collapse, the options are limited. However, given the despotic Kim dynasty's history of reneging on the earlier denuclearization agreement, one is right to counsel caution about Kim Jong-un's sincerity. This time, North Korea will need to make verifiable steps to show that it is abandoning for good its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile testing programs. Kim has said nothing about getting rid of his existing nuclear stockpiles. The summits must include this. U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Pyongyang's announcement as "big progress!" This reflects his success in dealing with the crisis after decades of failure by his predecessors. Both South Korean President Moon and U.S. President Trump deserve our thanks for bringing the long-standing crisis on the Korean Peninsula to a peaceful end. Both President Moon and President Trump will be meeting Kim Jong-un from a position of strength. They enjoy all the cards and despite his nuclear arsenal, Kim is in a weak position and he needs the deal for his own survival. The international campaign of maximum diplomatic, political and economic pressure is working and it must remain unrelenting until Kim meets his promises. The rewards will be the lifting of sanctions and opening of trade and investment opportunities. Salmon is absolutely right when he says: "So, the upcoming summits deserve support, not the kind of cynicism that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Various stars have aligned." Mahmood Elahi (omega51@sympatico.ca) is a freelance writer in Ottawa. By Na Jeong-ju The presence of American troops in South Korea has long been a pressing problem for North Korea. From Pyongyang's point of view, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), a legacy of World War II, along with U.S. forces in Okinawa and Guam, are a major security threat. On many occasions, North Korea has openly cited "military threats" from the U.S. as a pretext for its nuclear development. After the two sides agreed to hold their first summit over denuclearization, concerns were raised the North might renew its long-held demand that the U.S. withdraw troops from the South and use this as a bargaining chip in the denuclearization dialogue. According to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, however, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will not touch on this issue when he meets U.S. President Donald Trump, possibly in late May or early June. This, if true, could be a realistic choice by Kim to reach a grand nuclear bargain with Trump by avoiding making demands the U.S. can never accept. More importantly, North Korea's perception toward the U.S. troops stationed in the South could be possibly changing. During the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il shared his views about the presence of U.S. troops in the South with President Kim Dae-jung. It is an open secret that Kim did not oppose the U.S. keeping its troops, even after the two Koreas are united, as long as the USFK is given a "new role." This, of course, shocked Kim and South Korean officials who attended the meeting. It is only recently that Kim's thoughts about U.S. troops have become known to the public. According to sources involved in the 2000 summit, Kim had grave concerns about possible Chinese influence on a united Korea, so he believed the continued existence of American troops could act as a balancing tool against China to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula in a post-unification era. On the surface, however, the North has kept demanding a U.S. troop pullout. And it has used tensions with the U.S. to develop its own nuclear weapons. It is unknown how the junior Kim views the presence of U.S. forces in the South. But it is not hard to imagine what this means to China. If circumstances change, Pyongyang and Washington will have opportunities to discuss this issue frankly. Seoul, of course, should not be only a third party in these talks. Who knows? President Moon and Kim Jong-un may have frank discussions on the U.S. troop presence at their meeting on Friday. Moon, while speaking to the press last week, said North Korea has never made demands that the U.S. side cannot consider for the Kim-Trump summit. The North, instead, asked the U.S. to reconsider its hostile policy and provide a guarantee of security in return for taking denuclearization measures, according to Moon. "If the two sides have a common understanding about denuclearization, it will not be difficult for them to reach deals," Moon said. "The deals will be about signing a peace treaty, normalizing bilateral relations and providing international aid to the North for economic development." As the Kim-Trump summit looms, China's feelings toward North Korea will become complicated. China has long supported direct dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington, saying this is essential to establish permanent peace on the peninsula. However, if the two sides foster closer economic and political ties through the summit, it will be a whole different story for China. In fact, China has long been criticized for using North Korea to defend its interest in its rivalry with the U.S. North Korea's economic dependence on China is now heavier than ever, and it will surely make all possible efforts to prevent the U.S. from damaging its interests on the peninsula. Is North Korea really seeing U.S. troops in the South differently? If so, this will pose a grave security challenge for China. A member of nonprofit foundation Like Lion, left, teaches children basic coding at a kids cafe in Seoul in this December 2016 file photo. / Yonhap By Baek Byung-yeul As the Fourth Industrial Revolution ushers in a new era of technologies blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres, "coding" is emerging as a buzzword. With the government moving to add software education to the school curriculum, companies are also gearing up to utilize coding and computer literacy. Starting this year, middle school students are required to take at least 34 hours of computer classes a year, and fifth and sixth graders in elementary schools will have 17 hours of software classes a year starting in 2019. Last week at the Seoul International Educare & KidsFair at SETEC convention center in southern Seoul, education companies revealed various products based on computer programming education. Ranging from logic coding blocks to toddlers' tablets, toymakers were selling products that help children learn more about the principles of coding. "I bought a set of coding blocks as I thought these playful toys would be good for teaching coding," a participant said. The growing trend towards coding education put toymaker LEGO at the frontline of coding education. In a bid to pair its traditional brick toys with digital technology, the Danish company released LEGO Boost Creative Toolbox last year. Designed for children aged between seven and 12, the toolbox is a kit that allows children to build an interactive robot using plastic bricks. After building their robots, children can code programs as the kit also includes a battery-powered motor pack, a Bluetooth receiver and sensors that can be controlled through a smartphone app. Firms are also providing coding education as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. Nexon has been running the Nexon Youth Programming Challenge (NYPC) program since 2016. The company said this is a part of efforts to make coding more appealing to students. Its second coding competition last year attracted more than 4,500 participants. LG CNS, the system integration-providing affiliate of LG Group, has taught coding to students through its CSR program Coding Genius. In its inaugural year of 2017, the company educated 2,700 students after conducting 20 rounds of Coding Genius programs. The company said it plans to teach more than 3,500 students this year. However, there have been concerns the growing need for coding education would consequently increase parents' expenses on private education. "Should I let my child learn coding at this early age?" This was the question many parents asked at the education fair, among booths selling children's educational toys. "I have heard companies are testing coding skills when hiring new employees. That is why I am searching for toys that teach my child about coding," a mother of a five-year-old boy said at the fair. She added she will let her kid learn coding in a private academy in the near future. "I know coding classes at a private academy will be another burden on me. But I don't want my child to get left behind." Park Jun-seok, a patent attorney at MAPS Intellectual Property Law Firm, echoed the view. "The chief reason why more parents let their children learn coding is deeply related with entering prestigious universities," Park said on Monday. "By teaching coding at private academies, parents want their children to win a prize in a contest because that helps students enter better schools." Park specializes in patent issues surrounding information technology. He recently published the book "Words that Make the World: Coding" in a bid to let more people know about what coding is and why it is important. Park said parents should be aware of those toys that are known to be good for teaching coding. "To create certain software, they should know how to use a certain computer program language. The toys are merely for teaching the mechanics of coding, not the actual programming language," Park said. "I think it would be better for children to learn about the computer itself. If they have chances to learn what a computer is, what digital means and how computers work with programming language, they will have broader horizons for coding." Seen is Naver's head office in Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province. The nation's top portal announced measures to repair its online comments function, Wednesday, amid an opinion-rigging scandal. / Yonhap Korea's largest portal unveils steps to revamp its online comment system By Jun Ji-hye The nation's top portal Naver announced a set of measures Wednesday to prevent online public opinion-rigging in the wake of alleged deliberate manipulation of internet comments led by a power blogger on news articles published by the web portal. Under the measures, a user is only able to post up to three comments per news article. A user also has to wait a minute to post additional comments. Previously, a user was allowed to upload up to 20 comments per news article and needed to wait only 10 seconds to post additional comments. The portal set the limit on the number of times a user can click "like" or "dislike," in one day, to 50. A user needs to wait 10 seconds before clicking another like or dislike. Previously, there were no limits on the number of likes or dislikes for each article. The measures, which took effect immediately, were announced amid ongoing controversy over alleged online opinion-rigging led by a power blogger nicknamed Druking and two of his followers. The three are suspected to have used software to increase the number of likes or dislikes on particular comments and articles in an attempt to manipulate public sentiment, in favor of or against certain political figures. Prosecutors indicted the three earlier this month and are investigating the incident. After the incident became known to the public, Naver has been criticized for neglecting the possibility of deliberate manipulation of online public opinion without taking proper technical steps, while having focused only on its ad revenue. Critics said the portal's previous comment system virtually enabled users to deliberately jack up the number of likes or dislikes on a certain news article using hundreds or thousands of accounts created by software. Regarding standards that will be used to align online comments in news articles, Naver said internal discussion is still underway "We are discussing basic problems involving online comments in news articles," a Naver official said. "Relevant measures would be applied in mid-May." The company added it is reviewing other measures to strengthen users' identities. "Ultimately, we plan to change the structure in which all users see the same information to a structure in which each user can see a variety of information," the official said. In addition, the company said it is enhancing technical aspects to prevent opinion manipulation, citing some measures including the use of artificial intelligence technology that will learn a user's login patterns. The firm noted it has no plans to introduce a real-name system, citing such a system had been found unconstitutional in court five years ago. However, criticism is still abounding as the company did not mention an "outlink" system that takes users to the webpage of a media company when clicking its news article on the portal. The method has been cited as a measure to reduce the possibility of opinion-rigging. Ahn Cheol-soo, a former software mogul who now leads the minor opposition Bareun Mirae Party, said, "There is no effectiveness in Naver's measures announced today," claiming the company only attempted to avoid the current controversy. By Jhoo Dong-chan The Korea Development Bank (KDB) and General Motors are expected to reach a deal over salvaging the debt-ridden GM Korea after the U.S. carmaker reportedly accepted the state-run bank's demands. The KDB said in negotiations earlier that it would only invest in GM Korea if the U.S. carmaker promised to operate its business here for at least 10 more years. It also wants to continue exercising its veto right even if the bank's stake in GM Korea is reduced from the current 17 percent after a possible capital reduction or debt-for-equity swap. The ailing carmaker's Detroit headquarters has accepted the bank's demands, according to the KDB. "The 10-year stay and veto right are preconditions that have to be met for the KDB's financial injection. If Detroit does not comply with the preconditions, the state-run bank won't help salvage GM Korea with taxpayer money," said a bank official. "I understand General Motors has accepted our demands." The state-run bank has stressed the need for the two preconditions as a safety measure against any sudden departure by the carmaker as about 156,000 jobs are at stake. "General Motors' stance has been very clear. It believes its operation in Korea is a valuable asset in the carmaker's global portfolio. I understand both sides have already reached an agreement on the basic framework for salvaging GM Korea," said a GM Korea official. "The headquarters said it will allocate two new car models to the Bupyeong and Changwon plants. It also submitted a business plan for the next 10 years to the government. Unionized workers at the company also seem satisfied with the deal." General Motors' sudden decision to speed up negotiations with the government is attributed to the U.S. carmaker's investor relations (IR) conference call for the first quarter, which is scheduled 9:30 a.m. Thursday (local time). General Motors CEO Marry Barra is expected to address issues surrounding its troubled Korean affiliate during the call. Considering the U.S. carmaker's deteriorating sales, she would like to eliminate any management uncertainty at GM Korea during the IR event. "The U.S. carmaker called for the state-run bank to draw up a provisional deal as soon as possible," said an industry insider. "The formal contract will be concluded after the KDB's due diligence is completed next month." Among the state-run bank's demands, however, Detroit has still voiced opposition to the KDB's proposal that reduces General Motors' capital in GM Korea by a ratio of 20 shares to one if the debt-for -equity swap is carried out. "There is still room for further discussion about the KDB's shares in GM Korea after the debt-for -equity swap," the GM Korea official said. General Motors reportedly wants the KDB to maintain its 17 percent stake. GM Korea had come close to court receivership as the company's union and management failed to reach an agreement on its survival by Friday, a deadline its Detroit headquarters and the second-largest shareholder, the KDB, had set. Detroit and bank, however, gave negotiators three more days to narrow their differences. The union and management managed to reach a tentative agreement on major issues such as the relocation of workers from the closed Gunsan plant and allocating a new car model to be built here. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Korea CEO Pablo Rosso introduces the new Jeep Cherokee sport utility vehicle during its unveiling at the Jeep exclusive showroom in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, April 17. / Courtesy of FCA Korea By Park Jae-hyuk Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Korea said Wednesday it is coming out with its new Jeep lineup and the brand's exclusive showrooms here for its sport utility vehicle (SUV)-centered strategy in line with the growing popularity of its SUVs in Korea. According to the multinational automaker's local unit, CEO Pablo Rosso recently vowed to release the all-new Compass and the all-new Wrangler in Korea by the end of this year, following the launch of the facelifted Cherokee this month. The chief executive also revealed his company's plan to transform 90 percent of Jeep's dealer network into the brand's exclusive showrooms this year. "Jeep is now preparing to take a leap forward as the leader in the imported SUV market, and 2018 is going to be an incredibly important year with an unprecedented series of initiatives aimed at taking Jeep to the next level," he told reporters during the unveiling event of the new Cherokee at the Jeep showroom in Seoul last week. "This year we will open two more Jeep exclusive showrooms in Incheon and Daejeon. We will train employees there with our service driven program to enhance customer satisfaction and improve service." Starting from next month, all Jeep vehicles sold in this country will be eligible for Jeep Care consisting of a 5-year free maintenance program and a full-time mobility guarantee, he added. According to the CEO, Korea and Japan are the only two countries having Jeep exclusive showrooms. FCA Korea sold 7,012 Jeep vehicles in Korea last year, a 38 percent increase year-on-year. It topped the growth rate among the five best-selling imported SUV brands here. According to the company, Korea is the second-largest market in the Asia-Pacific in Cherokee sales, following China. The Cherokee's sales growth was 137 percent in 2017 than it was the year before. Sales of Cherokee's gasoline models accounted for 17 percent of imported mid-size gasoline SUVs in Korea. "With its perfect combination of bolder design and incomparable substance, we believe that many Korean customers will respond enthusiastically to the new Cherokee, blending perfectly with all aspects of their lives," Rosso said. "I am sure that the new Cherokee will play a key role in writing the next chapter of Jeep." Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Cloudy with showers. High 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable. (refiling corrected) (corrects 'thumbs-up' to thumbs-down', 3rd graf). Rome, April 21 - League leader Matteo Salvini on Tuesday rejected the Democratic Party (PD) as part of a possible government formation. Lower House Speaker Roberto Fico was given a mandate on Monday to explore a possible government between the PD and Fico's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S). On Twitter, Salvini posted a photo of himself giving a thumbs-down (RPT thumbs-down) accompanied by the tweet: "PD in the government? No, thank you. I will do everything I can so that the vote of the Italians is respected, from Rome and from Brussels. P.S. Coincidentally, the illegals are arriving again..." Building a better and secure future for all is a shared call that we can shirk only at our own peril, stated Ambassador A.L.A.Azeez, Sri Lankas Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, addressing the Second Preparatory Committee Meeting of State Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) today. Ambassador Azeez highlighted the importance of the NPT as the global regime for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament that called for a balanced and non-discriminatory approach to building international peace and security. He stressed that the non-proliferation treaty regime should be taken forward, while promoting and safe guarding the economic development prospects for all, through equal access to the technology advancing peaceful uses of nuclear energy. He also called upon the State Parties to seriously address the prevalent dichotomy between the lack of progress in disarmament and increasing emphasis and efforts on non-proliferation, urging them to manifest their support for, and investment in, disarmament training and education provided by the UN and other organizations . The Second Preparatory Meeting that began its deliberations on 23rd April 2018 in Geneva would continue until 4th May 2018 and is aimed to help evolve a negotiated outcome at the NPT Review Conference to be held in New York in April/May 2020. Full Statement Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to UN in Geneva 24th April 2018 Minister of Foreign Affairs Tilak Marapana, attended the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD), which commenced under the patronage of Federal Foreign Office and Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany on Tuesday 16 April 2018. In recent years, the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue has become a leading international forum for high-level policymakers, industry and civil society to come together to discuss viable concepts for the ongoing transformation of the energy sector and the energy transition, especially about a safe, affordable and environmentally responsible global energy transition. The two-day conference, which was held under the motto towards a global energy transition (Energiewende), brought together stakeholders and decision makers representing 90 countries, including more than 30 Ministers to discuss ways that national governments and energy sector stakeholders can contribute to meeting the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda. Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana was invited to participate in a panel discussion on Contribution of renewables to energy security, moderated by Dr Patrick Graichen, Director, Agora Energiewende. During the discussion, Minister Marapana stated that we do realize the need to switchover to renewable energy for future generations. But, unfortunately we do not have adequate finance to engage in this exercise rapidly. Speaking further, the Foreign Minister highlighted that how Sri Lanka is affected, particularly in agricultural progress, due to climate change though it is not an industrialized country. Noting the need of resources, Minister Marapana urged the international community, especially industrialized countries and funding agencies, to support Sri Lanka and equatorial countries in this endeavour. Dr Kocho Angjushev, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Economic Affairs, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mohammad H A H Boshehri, Undersecretary, Ministry of Electricity and Water, Kuwait, Giorgi Chikovani, Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Georgia, Said Hidam, Assistant Foreign Minister for Multilateral Economic Affairs, Egypt and U Win Khaing, Union Minister, Ministry of Electricity and Energy, Myanmar were among the other Speakers who participated in this panel discussion. Sri Lankas Ambassador to Germany, Eng. Karunasena Hettiarachchi accompanied Minister Marapana to the Dialogue. The delegation of Sri Lanka was successful in meeting several key government officials and representatives from the industry, who commended the positive developments in Sri Lanka in overcoming challenges in the energy sector. Embassy of Sri Lanka Berlin 20 April 2018 Lindy Wests memoir Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman might be headed to the small screen, with Saturday Night Live actress Aidy Bryant slated to star as the Seattle-based comedian and author. The Hollywood Reporter reports that actress Elizabeth Banks is set to executive produce a comedy series based on Wests 2016 book, with help from Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. Wests comic memoir deals with her experiences as a self-described fat woman and feminist who has been the subject of vitriolic attacks by online trolls. In one piece heard on the radio show This American Life, West chased down and confronted a troll who had been harassing her. West has been an outspoken critic of misogyny in the comedy world, and hasnt shied away from activism a supporter of reproductive choice, she coined the Twitter hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion in an attempt to de-stigmatize women who have terminated their pregnancies. Advertisement Aidy Bryant, who will play West in the show, has been a cast member of Saturday Night Live since 2012. She has recently gained acclaim for her portrayal of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Actress Aidy Bryant, center, with Pete Davidson, far left, Kyle Mooney, Mikey Day, right, and Beck Bennett, of Saturday Night Live. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times ) In an interview with Kristen Evans for The Times, West said she hoped her book would bring about a world where people are kinder to themselves and to others. There are so many systems that are designed to hold certain people back and push other people forward, and we accept those systems as a given, rather than something we build and reinforce every day, she said. I would like people to come away from this book believing that change is possible. The script for the planned series was written by Bryant, West and Ali Rushfield (Parks and Recreation). Theres no word as of yet on the when the show might debut. After clawing for seven years over the same turf, Southern Californias two large public television stations KCET and KOCE are merging to become a stronger voice in local broadcasting. The consolidation, announced Wednesday, will bring together two nonprofit organizations with separate strengths and programming philosophies. KCETLink Media Group, which runs the Los Angeles station, has long enjoyed a prominent profile in the community, but its 2010 decision to sever ties with the national Public Broadcasting Service proved to be a costly blunder. Orange Countys KOCE-TV picked up the PBS affiliation and its award-winning programming and branded itself as PBS SoCal. But over the years, it too has struggled to win acceptance and prime channel locations from pay-TV operators that would enhance its exposure and fundraising might. Both stations have been hampered by lingering confusion in the market about their roles and programming. This merger has been in the works for many, many years, said Dick Cook, chairman of KCETs board, who will become chairman of the combined entity when the deal closes this summer. There is a time and a place for everything, and this is the time, the right moment, for these two great institutions to come together. Advertisement The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which allocates federal dollars to public stations, long had prodded the two stations to unite. That goal made even more sense in an era in which President Trump and some members of Congress have threatened to slash funding for public broadcasting. Merger talks began three years ago but were put on hold because of the Federal Communications Commissions spectrum auction last year. More than half of the $19.8 billion generated in the auction went to broadcasters that were willing to relinquish some of their spectrum. KCET, based in Burbank, received about $65 million from the auction, while KOCE collected about $49 million. That money allowed the organizations to fortify their finances and establish endowments for programming. That provided a unique opportunity to pay off existing debt and get on a more solid financial footing, said Cook, a former Walt Disney Studios chairman. It was very important to build a strong financial foundation. The two stations will fold together their separate assets, with neither side making any payments to the other, the officials said. Andrew Russell, president and chief executive of PBS SoCal (KOCE) will run the combined entity, which will have about 130 employees. No layoffs are immediately planned. KCET has been without a chief executive since February, when Michael Riley joined Ellen DeGeneres company. The proposed marriage comes amid a period of frenzied consolidation in commercial television. CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. are pondering a tie-up; Walt Disney Co. has made a $52.4-billion bid to swallow much of Rupert Murdochs 21st Century Fox; and telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. has been on an 18-month quest to buy Time Warner Inc., which includes CNN, HBO, TBS, Cartoon Network and the Warner Bros. film and television studio. TV station chains have been consolidating too. Thats because local television stations, even those affiliated with big broadcast networks, are facing head winds as advertisers move their dollars to digital media in search of younger viewers and more-targeted consumers. Also making headlines has been the conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group, a Maryland company that already owns more than 190 stations and is seeking regulatory approval to buy Tribune Media, which owns one of Los Angeles original television stations KTLA-TV Channel 5. (The Times and KTLA were part of the same company until a 2014 separation.) Advertisement Such ownership changes, centralized decision-making and viewership shifts, including the rise of online streaming services, have prompted organizations including KCET and KOCE to take stock of their missions and roles in a fast-changing environment. We are building something for future generations, Cook said. And the demand for high-quality storytelling has never been greater or more important. KCET and PBS SoCal will remain separate channels available to 18 million residents of metropolitan Los Angeles and will continue to offer different types of programming. The combined company will operate seven broadcast channels, including the free PBS Kids and digital channels. This is a merger where there is not a lot of overlap, Russell said. There are a lot of complementary strengths. We are excited about bringing both stations together and continuing to bring all the programming that people love. Advertisement KCET launched in September 1964 and was once a model in public television. It was the second educational television station to go on the air, beginning transmissions just a few months after KUHT in Houston. For decades, it was part of a core cluster of over-the-air stations in L.A. But after cutting ties with PBS, following a dispute over the fees that KCET had to pay for programming, there were fears that KCET might go out of business. In 2011, the station sold its landmark property more than four acres on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood to the Church of Scientology for an undisclosed sum. But over time, KCET made the most of its independence and developed its own streaming service. It also began producing in-depth original programs that filled a niche that was all but abandoned by commercial stations. Last year, for example, KCET produced 54 hours of original content, which the station said boosted its ratings compared with 2016. Fan favorites include KCETs award-winning SoCal Connected, weekly prime-time newsmagazine. Advertisement KCET continues to get mileage from the late Huell Howsers jaunts around the Golden State. KOCE began broadcasting in November 1972 from Huntington Beach. The station, which was formed by the Coast Community College District, was proud of its Orange County roots at a time when commercial stations were concentrated in Los Angeles, Hollywood and Burbank. The stations worldview expanded in 2011 when KOCE became the PBS station for Greater Los Angeles and changed its name to PBS SoCal. Almost immediately, the station soared to new heights with the popular Downton Abbey. It also runs PBS NewsHour and Frontline. Its been quite a journey, Russell said. Weve seen great membership growth, and our strength continues to be community service and education. Advertisement A 32-person board will oversee the combined entity. It will be composed of 14 members from KCET, 14 members representing KOCE and four new appointees. The two sides said the name of the combined entity would be announced when the merger closes, most likely in July. meg.james@latimes.com @MegJamesLAT Sinclair Broadcast Group will divest 23 TV stations in order to clear the path for its merger with Tribune Media, the company announced Tuesday. The sale of the stations would occur after the close of Sinclairs $3.9-billion acquisition of Tribunes 42 TV stations. The deal would give Sinclair ownership or operational control of 215 TV stations in 102 markets. Sinclair did not disclose the price of the stations being divested. Sinclairs announcement of the divestiture plans is expected to help move the deal along as it undergoes the scrutiny of the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission for approval. Advertisement While we continue to believe that we had a strong and supportable rationale for not having to divest stations, we are happy to announce this significant step forward in our plan to create a leading broadcast platform with local focus and national reach, Chris Ripley, president and chief executive of Sinclair, said in a statement. Sinclair needed to divest the stations to comply with the limit on TV station ownership. Without the divestiture, the merger of Sinclair and Tribune would put the combined company over the current limit of stations that reach 39% of U.S. households. The sale does not affect Tribune stations KTLA in Los Angeles or WPIX in New York; those are both still slated to go to Sinclair. Once the stations are divested, Sinclair will still have agreements to operate many of the stations for their new owners. Such deals allowing companies to operate stations after transferring ownership are permitted under FCC local ownership deals. One of the buyers of the divested stations is Armstrong Williams, a prominent conservative commentator. Sinclair has sold divested stations to Williams in the past in order to get larger acquisitions to comply with ownership regulations. Sinclair is the largest owner of local television stations in the United States. It recently drew criticism for requiring the news anchors at its stations to read a scripted statement echoing claims by President Trump that TV news outlets offer fake or biased news. In the divestiture deal announced Tuesday, Sinclair would sell Williams stations located in Seattle, Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City. The buyer of stations in Houston and Dallas is Cunningham Broadcasting Co., which is named after the mother of Sinclairs executive chairman, David Smith. Those stations will also be operated by Sinclair. Advertisement Sinclair also announced it will divest the Tribune flagship station, WGN in Chicago. The buyer has not been named, but the station will also be operated by Sinclair. One station, KPLR in St. Louis, would be sold to Iowa-based media company Meredith Corp. and nine would go to Standard Media Group, a New York-based limited liability company. Sinclair also said it will unload seven other stations in Seattle, Cleveland, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Denver and Miami, but did not name a buyer. Its likely that 21st Century Fox will have an interest in acquiring those stations, as they are all Fox network affiliates. stephen.battaglio@latimes.com Advertisement Twitter: @SteveBattaglio The widow of maverick automaker John DeLorean alleges that a Texas company has illegally received money from the Back to the Future movies that used his iconic car. The car was featured in the 1985 movie and a 1989 sequel. DeLorean died in 2005. Sally DeLorean claims that Universal Studios agreed in 1989 to pay her husband for use of the cars image. Her lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey on Monday, alleges that the Texas company also claims it is owed the money and has received a substantial payment. Advertisement The Texas company is named DeLorean Motor Co. but isnt affiliated with the one DeLorean started. Sally DeLorean settled a lawsuit in 2015 allowing the company to use the DeLorean name, but she says contractual rights to benefit from its use in the film werent transferred. Attorneys didnt immediately return messages. Shares of LendingClub Corp., once the Wall Street darling of online lenders, tumbled to a record low Wednesday after U.S. regulators accused it of misleading consumers with hidden fees and charging borrowers even when they paid off loans. The Federal Trade Commission said in a complaint that LendingClubs conduct, at times flagged by its own compliance department as problematic, violated federal law protecting consumers from unfair and deceptive practices. The shares declined 15% to close at $2.77 on Wednesday; earlier in the day, they were down more than 17%. The stock has dropped nearly 33% this year, and its down more than 80% from the initial public offering. Many consumers are forced to pay overdraft fees, while other consumers are unable to pay other bills because they do not have access to the money that defendant improperly withdrew, the FTC said in the lawsuit filed in San Francisco. LendingClub, based in San Francisco, said it is disappointed with the FTCs lawsuit. Advertisement The case is a yet another setback for the company and its chief executive, Scott Sanborn. Once heralded as an innovative firm that would disrupt the lending industry, the venture sold shares to the public in 2014 and soon soared to a market valuation of more than $10 billion. But it has struggled with a series of scandals in recent years. In 2016, its founder and then-CEO, Renaud Laplanche, resigned amid an internal investigation into a botched loan sale. Peer-to-peer or marketplace loan platforms such as LendingClub act as intermediaries, matching online borrowers with investors. In 2016, the company said that employees had falsified information on some loans and that Laplanche had failed to disclose his interests in a fund that LendingClub was considering investing in. In our decade-plus history we have helped more than 2 million people access low-cost credit and have co-founded two associations that raised the bar for transparency, the company said in a statement addressing the FTC case. The allegations cannot be reconciled with this longstanding record of consumer satisfaction thats reflected in every available objective metric. According to the FTC, LendingClub promised borrowers no hidden fees but deducted hundreds or thousands of dollars in hidden upfront fees from loans. The company also falsely told loan applicants that investors have backed your loan while knowing that many of them would never get a loan, a practice that delayed applicants from seeking loans elsewhere, according to the FTC. In some cases, LendingClub also withdrew double payments from consumers accounts and charged those who paid off their loans, costing consumers overdraft fees, the FTC said. This case demonstrates the importance to consumers of having truthful information from lenders, including online marketplace lenders, said Reilly Dolan, acting director of the FTCs consumer protection unit. Stopping this kind of conduct will help consumers make informed choices about loan offers. UPDATES: 1:20 p.m.: This article was updated with LendingClub shares closing price. Advertisement 11:15 a.m.: This article was updated throughout with additional details and background information, including comment from LendingClub. This article was originally published at 9:50 a.m. The U.S. military has come to rely on drones for surveillance, reconnaissance and attack. Soon, another job will be added to the list: refueling aircraft in midair. Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co. and General Atomics are all vying for a U.S. Navy contract to build the MQ-25 Stingray, an unmanned aerial tanker that will be launched via catapult from a carrier deck. The contract, which does not yet have a set dollar amount, is to be awarded this summer. Much of the work is being done in Southern California at Lockheed Martins famed Skunk Works unit in Palmdale and at General Atomics San Diego operations. The Navy will initially purchase four test aircraft, but eventually plans to spend almost $2.5 billion to produce 72 tankers, with the first becoming operational in 2026. While its task seems prosaic, the MQ-25 portends a far more extensive use of unpiloted aircraft in the military. The Navy already is turning over some ocean surveillance duties to Northrop Grumman Corp.s Triton drone. And the new B-21 bomber being developed for the U.S. Air Force by Northrop Grumman will be able to operate autonomously or with a crew. Advertisement One of the big unanswered questions for all concerned at this point is how foundational is MQ-25 likely to be for [unmanned aerial vehicle] systems going forward, said Andrew Hunter, director of the defense-industrial initiatives group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS. There has long been a gut sense that aircraft carriers need to add drones to remain relevant in the war fight, but there hasnt been a clear idea of what, exactly, they would do, he said. That level of uncertainty is steeped into the programs history. Originally envisioned as a surveillance and strike-capable drone, the MQ-25 saw its requirements restructured in 2016 to make refueling the top priority. The change in requirements makes sense when considering the current makeup of the carrier air wing, said Mark Cancian, senior advisor with the international security program at CSIS. The F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-35 Lightning II fighters have relatively short ranges compared with the planes they replaced, the F-14 Tomcat and A-6 Intruder. Thats a trade-off for the newer planes advanced technology. But in potential conflicts with countries such as China or Russia, which have the ability to threaten aircraft carriers hundreds of miles from shore, range becomes a real problem, Cancian said. A rendering of Lockheed Martins MQ-25 concept. The wing tips on the drone will be able to fold in to better fit on a carrier deck. (Lockheed Martin ) At the same time, the Navy doesnt want to tie down its limited number of F/A-18s to serve as tankers. Smaller unpiloted aircraft make more room for shipboard storage of weapons or fuel, said Mike Blades, North American research director for aerospace and security at market research firm Frost & Sullivan. And you dont have to worry about crew fatigue, he said. In general, the drones will require a human operator for guidance on-deck and to punch in mission details, such as altitude and speed. After launch, they will largely be on their own. All three of the competitors for the MQ-25 contract had been working on designs for years, and some prototypes had been built when the Navy changed its requirements. Advertisement The biggest surprise came in October, when Northrop Grumman announced it would not submit a bid, even though it seemed to have a head start with the X-47B, a tail-less, stealthy demonstrator drone. Chief Executive Wes Bush told analysts on an earnings call that the company couldnt present an attractive offering to the Navy that would represent a reasonable business proposition. In the span of two years, Boeing had gone from design review to building and rolling out a prototype, said Don BD Gaddis, Boeings MQ-25 program manager in St. Louis, Mo. Boeings drone will use a Rolls-Royce engine, which also powers the U.S. Air Forces Global Hawk and Navys Triton drones. The concept is basically the same plane, though the drones interior has changed to utilize greater off-the-shelf technology for its secondary mission of surveillance and intelligence-gathering. That takes a lot of risk, lot of cost, lot of schedule out of the program, Gaddis said. A rendering of General Atomics MQ-25 drone design. (General Atomics ) Advertisement Gaddis said the companys legacy on carrier decks stretching back to the World War II-era TBD Devastator torpedo bomber produced by Douglas Aircraft Co., which was absorbed by Boeing in 1997, and more recently with the F/A-18 could give Boeing an advantage. In February, Boeing showed the Navy how its drone could be steered through the tight confines of a carrier deck. Lockheed Martin is counting on the legacy of rapid development at Skunk Works. When the program requirements changed, the company started over with a clean sheet of paper, said John Vinson, Lockheed Martins MQ-25 program manager. The company is going with a flying wing, whose tips can fold in at the edges to fit on a crowded carrier deck. What brought us back at the end to the flying wing design is its structural and aerodynamic efficiency, Vinson said. It distributes all the fuel load. Most of Lockheed Martins MQ-25 workforce is in Palmdale, with some of it located in Fort Worth, Texas, where Lockheed Martin assembles the F-35. (Lockheeds drone uses the F-35s landing gear.) Advertisement General Atomics is using its existing Predator C Avenger as the surrogate for its MQ-25 offering. The San Diego-based company which essentially launched the military drone era with its Predator back in the early 2000s said its decision to use Avenger significantly reduces schedule for getting the MQ-25 system operating quickly for the U.S. Navy. General Atomics demonstrated the Avengers taxi capability on a carrier deck this month. The company said in a statement that drone operators will use special director wands similar to the ones currently used by humans to control carrier aircraft taxi operations. The drone will be able to talk back to the controller through flashing and color-changing LED lights to indicate aircraft condition or status, a process a company official described in a statement as [Nintendo] Wii for aircraft control. samantha.masunaga@latimes.com Twitter: @smasunaga The nations acting consumer financial watchdog delivered some good news and lobbying advice this week to the bankers he regulates: He would like to cut off public access to a database of consumer complaints and suggested the industry donate to lawmakers to convince them to weaken his agencys authority. The comments by Mick Mulvaney, in a speech to a banking trade group, infuriated Democrats and consumer advocates who have complained that President Trumps handpicked chief of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is serving the industry instead of average Americans. In a speech to the American Bankers Assn., Mulvaney indicated he would eliminate the publics ability to see the bureaus extensive online database of complaints about credit cards and other financial products, a move industry executives have advocated. Mulvaney also said hes siding with them on legislative steps to reduce the watchdog agencys authority. And when it comes to lobbying members of Congress to make such changes, Mulvaney recalled how he used to grant access when he was a Republican House member. Advertisement We had a hierarchy in my office, in Congress. If you were a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didnt talk to you, the former South Carolina representative said at the banking groups government relations summit Tuesday, according to a transcript provided by the bureau. If you were a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you, he said. If you came from back home and sat in my lobby, I talk to you without exception, regardless of the financial contributions. Mulvaney went on to remind the bankers that lawmakers were juggling a lot of issues and needed to hear from them because they will never know as much about your issues as you do. And I dont even know what youre going to go tell them, and you may be completely on the other end of the political ideology from me, and I dont care, he concluded after noting he has formally urged lawmakers to reduce the independent bureaus power. Mulvaney wants to subject the bureaus funding to the congressional appropriations process, require lawmakers approval for any new rules and give the president the power to dismiss the director for any reason. Mulvaneys comments drew outrage from Democrats and consumer advocates, who already have opposed his temporary leadership of the agency given his long opposition to its establishment following the financial crisis. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Penn.) called Mulvaney a disgrace. Josh Stein, the Democratic attorney general of North Carolina, said Mulvaney has gone too far. And Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) called on Mulvaney to resign. Advertisement Deciding who you will meet with based on campaign contributions is the kind of pay to play that understandably makes Americans furious with Washington, D.C., Brown said. Banks and payday lenders already have armies of lobbyists on their sides they dont need one more. Watchdog group Public Citizen echoed the call for Mulvaney to go. And another watchdog organization, Allied Progress, said Mulvaney should release a list of all his meetings as a congressman and as acting bureau director. When you tell a room full of big bankers and their lobbyists that you gave more access to lobbyists who gave you more money and that they should continue putting pressure on Congress, it doesnt take a rocket scientist to deduce what you are telling them to do, said Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress. A bureau spokesman said Mulvaney had no further comments on his speech. Advertisement Trump appointed Mulvaney, who also serves as White House budget director, to be the bureaus acting chief in November in a controversial move that is being legally challenged. Since then, hes scaled back the aggressive enforcement efforts that had been the hallmark of former director Richard Cordray, a Democrat, and publicly declared the bureau no longer would push the envelope to protect consumers. His overhaul efforts have been wide-ranging. And on Tuesday, Mulvaney confirmed that he was even changing the formal name of the agency, as The Times reported he was considering. Mulvaney said the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that created the agency refers to it as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. And thats the name that he has started using, including putting it on the agencys first official seal. There is no such thing as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he said of the commonly known name that has been used since the Dodd-Frank Act was being considered in Congress. Advertisement Im not sure who made the decision [to use that name]. I think I can guess. She might be in the Senate, he said in reference to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who helped launch the bureau as an aide to former President Obama. Consumer advocates fear the change is designed to undermine the bureau by making it sound more bureaucratic and de-emphasizing the word consumer. Mulvaney is known for being outspoken. In a 2014 interview, he called the bureau a joke in a sad, sick kind of way. And at his first congressional hearing as the bureaus acting director this month in a stunt meant to highlight what he considers the agencys unconstitutional independence he told lawmakers he could just sit here and twiddle my thumbs because Dodd-Frank only mandates that he appear before Congress, not answer any questions. Mulvaney told the bankers group Tuesday that he would follow the letter of the law and go no further. Advertisement So long as this thing exists, were going to try and give the very best service that we can and enforce the law as best we possibly can, he said. Mulvaney noted that while Dodd-Frank mandates the bureau create a database of consumer complaints about credit cards, mortgages and other financial products, the law doesnt say anything about giving the public access to it. Cordray made the complaint database public in 2012 to improve transparency. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Department of Transportation also have searchable public databases of complaints. Even though banks are given 15 days to respond to any complaints first, financial industry executives have criticized the consumer bureau database, saying it contains unverified complaints and is misleading. Mulvaney appeared to side with them on the issue. Advertisement I dont see anything in here that I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government, he said. I dont see anything in here that says that I have to make all of those public. Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Assn., cheered the idea of shutting down public access to the database. We fully support the bureau fulfilling its important, congressionally mandated mission, he said. Compiling complaints is part of that, but publishing unverified complaints or worse, using those complaints to paint a picture of guilt in the public domain is irresponsible. But consumer advocates said pubic access to the database is important in holding financial firms accountable. Advertisement Mick Mulvaney has just told bankers he can hide their misconduct from the public by making the complaint database private, said Debbie Goldstein, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending. If he does so, he will be making it easier for predatory lenders to fleece consumers. That would violate the mission that Congress gave the consumer bureau: to protect consumers and make markets more transparent. jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera At a time of heightened concern about user privacy, one of the worlds biggest technology companies is seeking access to one of users most private places: the trunks of their cars. Amazon Inc. on Tuesday launched what it calls In-Car Delivery, which allows Amazon delivery drivers to open the trunks of certain late-model cars and drop off packages inside. Its the e-commerce giants latest attempt to extend its reach into users lives, having last year debuted a web-connected door lock and camera that lets delivery drivers deposit packages within customers homes. Peter Larsen, Amazons vice president of delivery technology, said customers love features like keyless guest access and that in-car delivery gives customers that same peace of mind and allows them to take the Amazon experience with them. Advertisement Though in line with Amazons playbook, encroaching further into users private lives is a bold move at a time when consumers are particularly focused on security and privacy issues in the wake of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal. But, experts say, Amazon has reason to act now. First-mover advantage is huge, said Sarah Squire, senior technical architect at security firm Ping Identity. When Apple came out with the iPhone, it allowed them to dominate not only phones but tablets because people were used to the interface. Being the first to normalize a new form of delivery such as in-home or in-car could give Amazon a leg up not just over competitors but also against regulators. Once this sort of behavior becomes normalized, it becomes harder to push back on both as a consumer and as a matter of policy, said Woodrow Hartzog, a professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University. If regulators tried now to push back on how advertising is delivered on the internet, for example, it could prove hard to make substantial changes because industry practices and consumer expectations are already ingrained. If, for instance, people get used to allowing Amazon into their homes and cars, their shopping preferences could trump regulation. Compared with Facebook, which has found itself under fire after the data firm Cambridge Analytica violated company policy in its use of personal information belonging to 87 million Facebook users, Amazon has certain advantages. Though Facebook and Amazon traffic in user data, Facebooks business model, which leverages user information to sell advertising, has stoked more concern about privacy than Amazons retail business. And unlike many leading technology companies, Amazon hasnt suffered any high-profile data breaches or faced accusations of mishandling of customer information. The e-commerce giant has a reputation in the technology industry for strong technical security and data governance, Squire said, which has probably emboldened the company to ask consumers for more access and data. This is them saying, were going to take some risks because we think we can do this well and we think were right, Squire said. Advertisement Still, as the cybersecurity adage goes, its not a matter of if a companys security will be breached, but when. And as Amazon vacuums up more information about its customers, a data breach could be particularly devastating. The e-commerce giant knows where its shoppers live and work, what they buy, how often they buy it, credit card information, what music they listen to, what questions they ask the companys personal assistant, Alexa, what books theyre reading and, on a Kindle, what page theyre on. With in-car delivery an opt-in features that only works with 2015 or newer Volvo, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles Amazon will know the general vicinity of where a customers vehicle is parked. When an Amazon delivery driver is en route, the vehicle will broadcast its precise GPS location to the driver. Amazon will have the cars license plate number and know what it looks like. To open the trunk, the delivery driver, upon arrival, will notify the Amazon app. The app will then speak to Amazons cloud, which will speak to Volvo or Chevrolets cloud, which then will unlock the trunk. There are obvious security concerns with granting a stranger access to your trunk. Asif Rafiq, chief digital officer of Volvo, said that if a customer experienced theft as a result of in-car delivery, Amazon customer service would handle it. Advertisement We fully anticipate some edge cases, Rafiq said. If there are special use cases that we havent thought through entirely, we can reassess and address them. But even if nothing is stolen from a persons car, allowing a company to know the whereabouts of a vehicle can have significant privacy implications. We leave things in our car that reveal a lot about us, and we park them in places that reveal things about us, Hartzog said. Whether you park at an oncologists office or at an apartment thats not yours. What if this information then gets out? Amazons privacy policy states that it shares customers personal information with third-party service providers to perform specific functions such as fulfilling orders, delivering packages, processing credit card payments and providing customer service, and that those providers may not use the data for other purposes. But as Facebook recently learned the hard way with Cambridge Analytica, bad actors dont always follow the rules. Advertisement Consumers should be concerned, said John M. Simpson, privacy project director for Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Santa Monica. There is this notion that all these tech companies are about giving you what you want, Simpson said. But its much more about gathering information about you that is then monetized. I dont know if people understand that. Maybe they will and then begin to push back. Voracious data gathering is one reason Amazon wants access to more parts of our lives, Hartzog said. But its also about creating a dependency. Much like how many people find it hard to leave Facebook because all their friends and family members are on it, Amazon which wants people to keep shopping on its platform wants to make sure people never stop shopping on its platform. They want to be the everything store, Hartzog said. Theyll probably throw out a lot of services that may not be profitable but may give them advantages. Advertisement tracey.lien@latimes.com david.pierson@latimes.com A man once sworn to protect the public from crime was accused Wednesday of living a double life terrorizing suburban neighborhoods at night, becoming one of Californias most feared serial killers and rapists in the 1970s and 80s before leaving a cold trail that baffled investigators. Former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested at his home Tuesday after DNA linked him to crimes attributed to the so-called Golden State Killer and he initially was charged with eight counts of murder and could face dozens more charges, authorities said. The culprit also known as the East Area Rapist, among other names, is suspected of at least 12 slayings and 50 rapes in 10 counties from Northern to Southern California. The armed and masked prowler sneaked in through windows at night and surprised sleeping victims who ranged in age from 13 to 41. When encountering a couple, he was known to tie up the man and pile dishes on his back. He threatened to kill both victims if he heard plates crash to the floor while he raped the woman. He then ransacked the house, taking souvenirs, notably coins and jewelry before fleeing on foot or bicycle. Advertisement Despite an outpouring of thousands of tips over the years, DeAngelos name had not been on the radar of law enforcement before last week, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said. We knew we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we also knew that needle was there, she said. It was right here in Sacramento. East Area Rapist Crime reports at the Sheriffs department evidence room in Sacramento, Calif. Authorities announced that they had arrested 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo in the so-called Golden State Killer case. (Sacramento County Sheriffs Department / FBI) A break in the case and the arrest came together in light speed during the past six days, Schubert said, though authorities refused to reveal what led to DeAngelo. Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones said detectives with dogged determination were able to get a sample of DNA from something DeAngelo discarded, though he wouldnt say what the item was. The genetic material was not a match, but there were enough similarities for investigators to return for more and they said they were able to get a conclusive match. After watching DeAngelo for several days, deputies took him by surprise Tuesday. It looked as though he might have been searching his mind to execute a particular plan he may have had, but never had time to act, Jones said. DeAngelo was arrested on suspicion of committing double-killings in Sacramento and Ventura counties and later charged with four counts of murder in Orange County, officials said. Advertisement Ventura County District Attorney Gregory Totten said that before prosecutors decide whether to seek the death penalty, there will be a solemn and formal death review process that typically takes many months before a decision is made. DeAngelo, who served in the Navy, was a police officer in Exeter, in the San Joaquin Valley, from 1973 to 1976, at a time a burglar known as the Visalia Ransacker was active, Jones said. He transferred to the force in Auburn in the Sierra foothills near where he grew up outside Sacramento. About 50 crimes, including two killings, were attributed to the East Area Rapist during the three years DeAngelo worked in Auburn, but Jones said it wasnt clear if any were committed while on duty. Advertisement DeAngelo was fired from the Auburn department in 1979 after being arrested for stealing a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a drug store, according to Auburn Journal articles from the time. He was convicted of the theft and fined $100. Ten slayings occurred after he was fired and all took place in Southern California. DeAngelo worked for 27 years in a distribution center for Save Mart Supermarkets in Roseville, a Sacramento-area suburb. He retired last year, said Victoria Castro, spokeswoman for The Save Mart Companies. None of his actions in the workplace would have lead us to suspect any connection to crimes being attributed to him, Castro said in a statement, adding that the company was working with investigators. Advertisement Although its unusual for serial killers to stop, Jones said they have no reason to think DeAngelo continued to commit crimes after 1986, when the last rape and killing occurred in Orange County. We have no indication of any crimes with a similar or at least a close enough link to his MO and other things that hes done in the past to link him to anything from 86 on, Jones said. We just have nothing at this point. Jones said he always thought the rapist was alive, but might be in prison. For the prosecutors and investigators, the arrest not only marked a significant professional achievement but also a personal one that had touched their formative years and early careers. Advertisement Alameda County District Attorney Nancy OMalley was a college student volunteering at a rape crisis center and sat with survivors who had been assaulted by this guy. The wave of horrifying crimes had brought an end to a more innocent era in the Sacramento suburbs when children rode bicycles to school, played outside until dark and people didnt lock their doors, Schubert said. It all changed, said Schubert, who was 12 at the time. For anyone that lived here in this community, in Sacramento, the memories are very vivid. You can ask anyone who grew up here. Everyone has a story. Totten said he was a young law clerk in the office during the investigation into the 1980 slayings of Lyman and Charlene Smith that struck terror in the hearts of Ventura residents. Advertisement We had no idea this killer was connected to so many other crimes, Totten said. In 1999, Orange County sheriffs homicide detectives were able to use DNA to link the Irvine slaying of Keith and Patrice Harrington to nine other slayings in in Orange, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The genetic evidence was later used to connect the same suspect to dozens of rapes in Northern California. Harringtons brother, Bruce, helped bankroll a successful 2004 ballot initiative campaign to take DNA from all convicted felons and some arrestees. To the victims, sleep better tonight, he isnt coming through the window, Bruce Harrington said at the news conference announcing the arrest. Advertisement Jane Carson-Sandler was one of the first victims when she was sexually assaulted in 1976 in her home in Citrus Heights, the same community where DeAngelo was arrested at home. She said she received an email Wednesday from a retired detective who worked on the case telling her they identified the rapist and hes in custody. I have just been overjoyed, ecstatic. Its an emotional roller-coaster right now, Carson-Sandler, who now lives near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. I feel like Im in the middle of a dream and Im going to wake up and its not going to be true. Its just so nice to have closure and to know hes in jail. FBI agents and other investigators were gathering evidence at DeAngelos neatly kept home on Wednesday. Jones said they were looking for mementos that may have been stolen from victims. Advertisement Neighbors said DeAngelo took meticulous care of his house, which was always perfectly painted and his lawn manicured. But he was known for an explosive temper and loud cursing. Kevin Tapia said when he was a teenager, DeAngelo falsely accused him of throwing things over their shared fence, prompting a heated exchange between DeAngelo and his father. No one thinks they live next door to a serial killer, Tapia said. But at the same time Im just like, he was a weird guy. He kept to himself. When you start to think about it youre like, I could see him doing something like that, but I would never suspect it. Melley reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press Writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Citrus Heights, Sophia Bollag and Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, Michael Balsamo in Los Angeles, and Olga Rodriguez, Paul Elias and Juliet Williams in San Francisco and investigative researcher Randy Herschaft in New York contributed to this report. Advertisement This story has been corrected to show that prosecutors havent decided whether to seek the death penalty for DeAngelo. Hugh Levick founded the Hear Now Music Festival in 2011, he said, for one obvious reason: At that time you had a better chance hearing the work of Los Angeles-based composers in Berlin or in Paris than in L.A. The annual festival, which runs Thursday through Sunday, uses a blind selection process to spotlight a variety of local concert music composers, including 19-year-old clarinetist Andrew Moses and 95-year-old percussionist and former Los Angeles Philharmonic member William Kraft. I wanted to give Los Angeles the gift of this music that is being written in its midst, Levick said. Because I noticed that although there are many wonderful composers here, they were not being heard in Los Angeles. Levick attributes the wealth of talent in Los Angeles to the citys location (as a bridge between East Coast cultural centers and Asia), the teaching opportunities at its many colleges and universities, and a film and television studio system that requires skilled players. Advertisement I wanted to give Los Angeles the gift of this music that is being written in its midst. Hugh Levick, artistic director of Hear Now Music Festival Music in the Hear Now festival is quite complex, Levick said. There is such a wealth of instrumentalists in Los Angeles that we have never had a bad performance in eight years. The festival consists of four concerts at venues across the region, each featuring work from a range of composers. This year the lineup includes Grammy nominee Gernot Wolfgang, acclaimed sound artist Ellen Reid and pianist Sean Friar, who also teaches at USCs Thornton School of Music. Fridays concert is an electroacoustic concert in collaboration with People Inside Electronics, which devotes itself to live performances in the city. Each of the six compositions on the program (including Reids Stellar Remnants, presented in collaboration with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra) combines acoustic instruments with electronics in one way or another. All of the festivals music, Levick said, falls within the classical idiom of today. This leaves quite a bit of room for experimentation in a new music landscape that is celebrated for its richness, experimentation, creativity and sonic diversity. Chamber performances by the new music sextet Brightwork newmusic and Lyris Quartet are also on the schedule, as are performances featuring a number of lauded sopranos including Justine Aronson, a member of Yuval Sharons experimental opera company, the Industry. Opening night at UCLAs Schoenberg Hall features the UCLA Philharmonia, the flagship orchestra of the universitys Herb Alpert School of Music. While everyone else is going global, Levick said, we are going local. Advertisement Hear Now Music Festival When: 8 p.m. Thursday at Schoenberg Hall, UCLA; 8 p.m. Friday at Throop Hall of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena; 8 p.m. Saturday at First Lutheran Church of Venice; and 5 p.m. Sunday at First Lutheran Church of Venice Tickets: $60-$80 for two- or three-concert passes Information: www.hearnowmusicfestival.com Advertisement jessica.gelt@latimes.com @jessicagelt MORE MUSIC: Karina Canellakis, back in L.A. with a hire-wire act Advertisement At Disney Hall, the dresses made of speakers were just the beginning Laurie Anderson on turning loss into lemonade, and why that matters An annual destination for classic movie lovers, TCMs Classic Film Festival this year runs April 26-29 in Hollywood. With a substantial selection of classics on offer ranging from titles everyone knows to far more obscure gems TCM on-air hosts Ben Mankiewicz, Dave Karger and Alicia Malone share their personal cant-miss picks. Ben Mankiewicz, TCM Host Gene Wilder, from left, Kenneth Mars and Zero Mostel in The Producers. (Embassy Pictures ) 1. Opening night Advertisement I dont want to kid anyone presenting Martin Scorsese with the first annual Robert Osborne award on the same stage where 15 minutes later I get to interview writer-director-comedian-composer Mel Brooks before a screening of The Producers, on its 50th anniversary, is a substantial moment in my career. 2. Cicely Tysons hand- and footprint honor I get the honor of emceeing the long overdue event on Friday, which mostly means getting out of the way so friends and colleagues of Tyson can honor her. Later the same day, shell join me for a Q&A before a screening of Sounder, which may be the definitive family film of my youth. Also, spoiler alert, Sounder isnt nearly as sad as you remember it. 3. Fail Safe Thursday night, after the flash and sizzle of Opening Night, I get the chance to have a conversation with one of the great screenwriters of the 20th century before one of the great political pictures of the century. The writer: Walter Bernstein. The movie: Fail Safe. Bernstein was blacklisted after his name appeared in Red Channels, perhaps the most damaging piece of garbage ever published in the United States (and Steven Seagal has written a book). Mercifully, the blacklist had been broken by the time Bernstein wrote Fail Safe, a dark, distressing and depressingly authentic examination of how nuclear war could start accidentally. It came out the same year as Kubricks Dr. Strangelove, which approached precisely the same subject matter satirically. Theyre both perfect films, but only Fail Safe will make you want to quit your job and live off the grid like Jesse Ventura. 4. Eva Marie Saint My assignments also include a conversation with one of my favorite people of all time, no lie: Eva Marie Saint, before a screening of Fred Zinnemans wildly underrated A Hatful of Rain. Spending time with Eva Marie is like being with your grandmother if your grandmother had an Oscar and was one of the kindest, sweetest, most charming people on the planet. So nothing like being with your grandmother. FROM THE ARCHIVES: 1968 interview with The Producers director Mel Brooks Advertisement Dave Karger, TCM Host Gene Tierney in Leave Her To Heaven. (American Cinematheque ) 1. Leave Her to Heaven Im not sure there was ever a more glamorous leading lady than Gene Tierney, so it should be thrilling to see her follow-up to Laura projected on rare color-popping nitrate film stock. 2. Maurice Advertisement The pioneering gay Merchant/Ivory drama contains Hugh Grants first leading film role and is a must-see for fans of Call Me By Your Name, for which Maurice director James Ivory just won a screenplay Oscar, his first. 3. Places in the Heart Sally Fields second Oscar came for this affecting period drama examining Southern racism with a phenomenal cast including Danny Glover, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, and John Malkovich. READ MORE: Previewing this years TCM Classic Film Festival Advertisement Alicia Malone, TCM Host Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy star in Woman of the Year (1942). (LACMA ) 1. Spellbound Hitchcock in nitrate! Im looking forward to seeing this thriller about psychoanalysis on nitrate film the sparkling black and white, the luminous Ingrid Bergman and charming Gregory Peck but especially curious to see how the Salvador Dali dream sequences look. 2. Woman of the Year Advertisement Hard to turn down the chance to see Hepburn and Tracy on the big screen. And this is one of my favorites of their collaborations, a surprisingly feminist (for its time) story where Hepburns character is a political reporter and quite a workaholic. These two had a wonderful rapport, and its so present here. 3. My Brilliant Career I cannot wait to meet director Gillian Armstrong, whom I grew up watching in Australia! She will be at the festival. And this was the first film I saw by her. Set in the late 19th century, starring the brilliant Aussie actor Judy Davis and Kiwi Sam Neill, with breathtaking scenery of New South Wales in Australia. Itll make me homesick! SIGN UP for the free Indie Focus movies newsletter Advertisement Mark.Olsen@latimes.com Follow on Twitter: @IndieFocus Once upon a time, right now, in a country called the United States of America, science was taking a beating from people who misunderstood or simply did not like science, scientists or the scientific method. Some regarded it as no better and possibly less plausible than witchcraft. Dark matter? Dark arts! So please welcome Nova Wonders, a six-episode series sprung from the long-running science program Nova and a tonic against ignorance and superstition and those who would sacrifice the future for profit, premiering Wednesday on PBS. (And, just generally, welcome PBS.) The word wonders operates here both as a noun and a verb, indicating that marvels are in store, and also that this is a series where questions will be asked. They are big ones, such as, Are We Alone?, What Is the Universe Made Of?, Can We Build a Brain? and Can We Create Life? The answer is sometimes no, or not yet, or we dont know yet, but we know more than we did, which are valid scientific results. Advertisement Some overlap: Are We Alone? is partially answered, in a terrestrial way, in the episodes What Are Animals Saying? and Whats Living in You? The style is speedy and informal, pitched to younger viewers but never condescending. Just after the Big Bang, the universe was literally a hot mess, we are told. The human brain, powered by 60 watts and a burrito, is a highly portable organ that does what roomsful of linked computers still cant. Nova Wonders sends the message that scientists come in a range of ages, genders, colors and hairstyles. Come on in, kids, they say, the STEM is fine. The show is akin to YouTube series such as Physics Girl, Its Okay to Be Smart, BrainCraft, SciShow and Numberphile, to name a random few among many some of which reside on PBS digital wing and not just in the energy and the relatively tender age of the hosts. All are scientists themselves; significantly, without making a point of it, Nova Wonders sends the message that scientists come in a range of ages, genders, colors and ethnicities, with a range of hairstyles, clothing and research specialties. Two of the series three presenters are women; all are people of color. Im an neuroscientist, and I study the biology of memory, says host Andre Fenton, at the top of each episode. Im a computer scientist, and I build technology that can read human emotions, says host Rana el Kaliouby. Advertisement And Im a mathematician using big data to understand our modern world, says host Talithia Williams. Come on in, kids, they say, the STEM is fine. But perhaps the larger work of Nova Wonders is to remind us, as we cannot be reminded too often, that, on the one hand, we are part of a fatefully interconnected world, for which we have created the means to wreck, and that, on the other, we are small change in the universe, which will eventually wreck us. It reminds that we are ourselves animals, and hosts to animals there are more microbes living in and on your body than there are stars in the galaxy or, weirdly, human cells in your body. I am not sure I needed to know about the sexual habits of the skin mites that live beneath and upon my skin, but you dont get smarter by looking away. ALSO Advertisement As VidCon gets underway, science presenters rule the Web Frontline looks at whether War on the EPA is a triumph or a tragedy Found footage in Jane leads to an incredible love story in new Goodall documentary NOVA Wonders Advertisement Where: KOCE When: 9 p.m. Wednesday Rating: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children) robert.lloyd@latimes.com Advertisement Follow Robert Lloyd on Twitter @LATimesTVLloyd Credit: Travis ShinnKillswitch Engage has canceled a batch of upcoming shows due to frontman Jesse Leach's need to undergo surgery on his vocal cords. "Earlier today we found out Jesse needs to have surgery to repair an issue with his vocal chords," KsE writes in a Facebook post Wednesday. "He is expected to make a full recovery and be fine for any future touring, but to avoid any future risk we unfortunately have to pull off these dates now." The canceled dates run from April 26 to May 5, and include sets at the Welcome to Rockville, Fort Rock and Mexico's Hell and Heaven festivals, as well as headlining dates in Sayreville, New Jersey, Louisville, Kentucky, Cleveland, Ohio and Poughkeepsie, New York. "Our intention is to postpone the headline shows in Sayreville, Louisville, Cleveland & Poughkeepsie and get back to our fans as soon as possible," the band writes. "New dates for those cities will be announced soon, so please hold onto your tickets." The next date on Killswitch's schedule is a May 26 show in Estonia. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Bloomberg uncovered proof that-- at the very least-- Senor Trumpanzee was lying about the pee-pee tapes. Trump's defense-- that he's a germaphobe make no sense. Urine is not sterile but, as Trump, a long time golden showers aficionado, knows urine is no less sterile than any other part of us. Microbes are an indelible part of our bodies and the world around us. Not even the uterus and placenta, long thought to enshroud fetuses in sterile envelopes during gestation, are actually germ-free zones. They contain complex, varied microbial colonies-- microbiomes-- that help prepare us for the real world... Okay, so, to recap. Urine: not sterile. But on the other hand, bacteria: not inherently bad. So if you don't have a UTI, is drinking your urine okay? All golden showers fans, like Trump and his obsessed urine pal Mercer are aware that "drinking your own urine is probably okay for a day or two. Any longer, and you risk over-taxing your kidneys and falling into deeper dehydration troubles." Trump has always lied about how long he stayed in Moscow and how many hookers he had in the room. Yesterday Bloomberg reporter wrote that he "twice gave James Comey an alibi for why a salacious report about the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow couldnt be true: He never even spent the night in Russia during that trip, Trump told the former FBI director, according to Comeys memos about the conversations. Yet the broad timeline of Trumps stay, stretching from Friday, Nov. 8, 2013, through the following Sunday morning, has been widely reported. And its substantiated by social media posts that show he slept in Moscow the night before the Miss Universe contest. Now, flight records obtained by Bloomberg provide fresh details. Combined with existing accounts and Trumps own social-media posts, they capture two days that, nearly five years later, loom large in the controversy engulfing the White House and at the heart of the Comey memos, which the Justice Department turned over last week to Congress. ...According to Comeys accounts of his 2017 meetings with the president, Trump said the Moscow trip was so quick that his head never hit a pillow-- even for one night. Trump fired Comey on May 9, 2017. The first denial came over dinner at the White House in late January 2017. He said he arrived in the morning, did events, then showered and dressed for the pageant at the hotel," and then left for the event, Comey wrote. Afterwards, he returned only to get his things because they departed for New York by plane that same night." On the second occasion in February 2017, Trump explained, as he did at our dinner, that he hadnt stayed overnight in Russia during the Miss Universe trip," Comey wrote. A reconstruction of events shows the future U.S. presidents journey to Moscow began in North Carolina, where he attended a birthday tribute to evangelist Billy Graham on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013. While flight records show Trumps own Cessna jet headed back to New York that night from Asheville, North Carolina, Trump himself apparently wasnt aboard. Instead, Trump flew to Moscow on a Bombardier Global 5000 private jet owned by Phil Ruffin, his partner in the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Las Vegas, the New York Times reported in January 2017. Trumps use of Ruffins jet is also reported in the newly published book, Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putins War on America and the Election of Donald Trump, by Michael Isikoff and David Corn. The jet-- tail number N443PR-- had flown from Las Vegas to Asheville on Nov. 6, according to the flight records that Bloomberg purchased from FlightAware, an aviation data company. The flight records dont say who was aboard the jet, which took off from Asheville at 9:15 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7, bound for Moscows Vnukovo International Airport. The Bombardier jet landed in Moscow on Friday, Nov. 8, at a time unspecified in the records. From Vnukovo airport, its less than an hours drive to the Ritz-Carlton hotel, where Trump stayed, according to the pageants host, developer Aras Agalarov. Trump surfaced online later that day in a Facebook post by the restaurant Nobu Moscow. That night he attended a birthday party for Agalarov. The next day, Saturday, Nov. 9, Facebook posts showed Trump at the Ritz during the day, and in the afternoon he tweeted that hed gotten a tour of Moscow. That evening, he attended the Miss Universe pageant, followed by an after-party whose scheduled start time was 1 a.m.-- by that time, Sunday, Nov. 10. American rock band Panic! at the Disco, which had performed at the pageant, put on a second set for the 1,200 after-party attendees. At this point, the flight records support a narrow slice of what Trump told Comey: On the night of the pageant itself, the plane Trump was said to be using didnt fully overnight in Russia. Ruffins Bombardier took off from Vnukovo airport at 3:58 a.m. Moscow time, the records show. When the jet touched down at Newark Liberty International Airport, just outside New York City, it was still Sunday morning-- 4:11 a.m. local time. That evening, Trump tweeted about his return, I just got back from Russia-learned lots & lots. Moscow is a very interesting and amazing place!" When it comes to illegal immigration, California is no longer at war with a single foe the Trump administration. Its now officially at war with itself. One Southern California town after another has followed the lead of the Orange County Board of Supervisors and voted to side with President Trump in opposing state sanctuary laws that offer some protections for people in the country illegally. On Monday night, Upland and Yucaipa joined the Red City Uprising and fell into line with Dana Point, Huntington Beach, Yorba Linda, Westminster, Newport Beach, San Juan Capistrano and other towns. Advertisement A San Clemente teacher named Donna went to the Dana Point City Council meeting last week, along with her husband, to speak in favor of sanctuary protections. She told me she was cursed at, threatened by Trump supporters including members of a traveling circus called the Patriot Movement AZ, and was escorted to her car by police. She asked me not to use her last name because shes still trembling about the level of vitriol. Meanwhile, State Sen. Kevin de Leon, an L.A. Democrat who wrote one of the sanctuary bills targeted in a Trump administration lawsuit, shot back against those pushing a racist and anti-immigrant agenda. No doubt, more than a few bigots are lathered up and on the march, their batteries charged by Trump. But others have fair questions about the cost of illegal immigration when it comes to healthcare, education, incarceration and other public services. Others dont understand why, under any circumstances, state and local governments would not cooperate fully with federal agents regarding people in the country illegally. These folks do not like being called racists, and their heads explode when the left refuses to distinguish between immigration and illegal immigration. And so it goes, with rumbling here and there and noxious gases rising from a political/cultural fracture that runs as deep as the San Andreas. Sanctuary laws are a political creation as much as a practical one, and could be dumped by the Supreme Court which will set off cheers in some quarters. But I have a feeling there are no winners here, and that neither side is accomplishing much, other than to radicalize political foes and crush any possibility of useful dialogue or compromise. Mike Madrid, a longtime GOP consultant in California, packed this up rather neatly. Advertisement Politicians are more interested in having a problem than finding a solution, he said. When theyre invested in the problem, it perpetuates the idea of them as leaders in this cultural war. Well put, and Exhibit A is guess who. Illegal immigration was the stepladder Donald Trump stood on two years ago, when he promised to round up and boot illegals back to where they came from. Heres the thing: Advertisement I know where they are. You know where they are. We all know where they are. Is Trump the only guy in America who doesnt know where they are? People in the country without papers can be found working at hotels and restaurants and in the fields, if theyre not at your house putting the baby to sleep or trimming the hedge. Sure, arrests are up sharply since Trump took office. But it doesnt seem like his heart is really in it. Federal agents nab one person in Lincoln Heights or Delano or some other place, giving chase if necessary, while thousands of others duck briefly, then go about their business. Advertisement But whats the point? If its to discourage more people from crossing the border, that trend had already begun as birth rates dropped and the Mexican economy improved. If Trump is serious, why havent battalions of agents parachuted onto California farmland and done the job he promised? Let me throw out a couple of possibilities. Advertisement Maybe Trump understands the economic disruption that would cause, particularly to farmers who voted for him, so the whole thing is a charade. Or maybe his only goal is to keep his legions cheering, and thats as simple as making a few high-profile arrests here and there, aiming his cannons at all of us horrible people in crazy California, and babbling on about his border wall. It seems to be working in lots of Southern California communities, even though despite all the puffing about gang members in our attics and criminals at the door, sanctuary laws do not protect those who have committed serious offenses. Wayne Cornelius, UC San Diego professor emeritus who has studied immigration for decades, said there is no correlation between sanctuary cities and crime rates. The fastest-growing category of immigration arrests, he added, involve those who have not committed serious crimes. Advertisement Trump is throwing red meat to the nativist portion of his base, without seriously disrupting the economy, Cornelius said. Its a political shell game. Leave the vast majority of employers alone, but terrorize their workers, families and communities. Fred Smoller, who teaches political science at Chapman University, said Orange County officials who took a stand against sanctuary laws may have connected with conservative GOP leaders and a declining group of Republican voters. But Smoller said their votes were out of touch with political changes in a county won in 2016 by Hillary Clinton, not Trump, and where congressional seats held by Republicans may get flipped. The 65-year-old white male is being replaced by younger voters who are more tolerant, more Latino and more Asian, he said. Advertisement A wise person looks sideways at any poll results, but early this month Smoller released a survey that showed a 37% Orange County approval rating for Trump. Also, 71% believe growing diversity in Orange County will be a strength, 83% favored a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and 78% support protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. I didnt conduct a poll, but Im betting youd get a lot of shrugs if you asked people to explain what sanctuary policies are and whether theyre a good thing, a bad thing or just another incendiary political device. The right continues to use the immigration issue to stoke xenophobic fears, and fears of a changing America and the loss of identity, said Madrid, the GOP consultant. And the left continues to basically pursue whatever de facto open border policy they can, with neither side outlining the necessary steps on immigration reform. And its not that complicated, by the way. OK then, what would he do? Advertisement Madrid cited three points that he said have strong bipartisan support, based on polling. First, a deal on a pathway to legal status for people in the country illegally, if they havent committed crimes. Second, stricter border enforcement, which would be easier to accomplish if instead of spending billions on a wall, the investment were in more agents and technology. Third, faster and more orderly processing of visas for those whose low-skilled or high-skilled labor is needed in the U.S. on a temporary or permanent basis, and greater support for economic development in Mexico so that fewer people choose to come north. Advertisement This gets my vote, but what chance is there when compromise is seen as capitulation, and both sides are too invested in the war? Get more of Steve Lopezs work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez In May 2016, two bottles tumbled off a poorly supported shelf and broke, leading to a chemical spill in a Sacramento State University lab. The liquid got onto one students legs and soaked anothers feet. For the record: An earlier version of this story said the audit was released Wednesday. It came out Tuesday. Five employees cleaned up the mess, even though no one knew for sure what it was and whether it was dangerous. They called fellow employee Kim Harrington, their union representative, to let her know what happened. The spill initially was thought to be all acetone a solvent used in many nail polish removers that can irritate the nose, throat, eye and skin at moderate to high levels of exposure. The campus did not identify the liquid until the next day, when staff determined that the broken bottles contained not only acetone but another more harmful solvent called dimethylformamide, a known liver toxin that can cause abdominal pain, dizziness, skin problems and nausea. Advertisement No one knew exactly what it was so they cleaned it up the wrong way, Harrington said. Two students were burned, and our staff was exposed to it. That started us down the road of trying to figure out how safe is this environment? Harringtons ensuing inquiry eventually led to a state audit, released Tuesday, that looked into Cal States safety measures in the handling of hazardous materials. The Cal State Chancellors Office, the audit concluded, has not provided effective leadership to ensure that its campuses address health and safety concerns related to the presence of hazardous materials. The office hasnt ensured that campuses consistently report on safety or that they convene required committees to discuss such concerns, auditors said. The audit, requested by Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg), examined four campuses Channel Islands, Sacramento, San Diego and Sonoma between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2017 and surveyed lab techs systemwide. The audit recommended developing a uniform health and safety reporting template by November and the creation of a systemwide safety committee. The Chancellors Office, the audit states, should require campuses to report on safety inspections each year. Toni Molle, Cal States public affairs director, said the Chancellors Office agrees with the recommendations. The university takes seriously the health and safety of all of our employees and students and the Chancellors Office plans to conduct health and safety audits at all 23 of the campuses beginning in 2019, she said in a statement. She said Cal State already has convened task forces and lab safety training work groups. After the spill, Harrington started questioning her colleagues about safety in their labs. Door handles are rusting. Rubber bands are dissolving, said Cathy Hutchinson, a biology technician at Channel Islands. Theyre exposed eight hours a day. Thats where their office is, where they eat lunch. Hutchinson said her co-worker was losing his taste buds and would often find red bumps on his skin. Some workers, according to the audit, filed complaints saying that their work had damaged their health. Molle said the university had no records of workers compensation claims for such injuries. Advertisement Campuses havent made sure that lab equipment designed to prevent injuries is fully functional, the audit found. State regulations require that eyewash stations and shower equipment be flushed monthly to make sure they are working properly. But only Channel Islands kept to this schedule. San Diego let nine months pass between flushing the eyewash stations. Sonoma let nearly two years pass between checking its showers. An audit in 2001 had found similar problems. In a Sacramento printmaking lab, if a student needed to shower, he or she would have to leave the building, cross a campus common area and enter a lab in which people work with acids. According to a systemwide survey, 18 of 193 employees from 13 campuses said they had needed safeguards that were not always available. People in labs handle noxious chemicals by placing them in fume hoods, to try to ensure that noxious chemicals dont penetrate the air or anyones lungs, but Sonoma hadnt inspected some of those hoods for three years, the audit found. Advertisement Three campuses didnt post required signs about asbestos at the entrances of mechanical rooms. Of 193 lab techs in art, chemistry, biology, engineering and physics departments, 36% said their lab training was ineffective or missing important information. One said she had last had training 20 years ago. Joy.Resmovits@LATimes.com @Joy_Resmovits In rolling out major updates to Gmail, Google announced Wednesday that the popular email service will soon feature a new confidential mode that promises to give users more control over who sees the emails they send, and for how long. Users should still be mindful about what they send over email, privacy experts warned, as messages sent in confidential mode could still fall into the wrong hands. With the new privacy feature, users will be able to remove recipients options to forward, copy, download or print specific messages. Useful for when you have to send sensitive information via email like a tax return or your Social Security number, Gmail product manager Matthew Izatt wrote in the companys announcement of the updates. You can also make a message expire after a set period of time to help you stay in control of your information. Advertisement It probably would be easy to circumvent the confidential mode features, privacy experts pointed out: For example, a user might simply be able to take a screenshot or photo of an email they had been blocked from forwarding, or call over office mates to read the email from their screen. Google did not respond to an email raising those concerns. Some online privacy experts, such as Sydney Li, staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argue that calling the new feature confidential mode is misleading. For one, Gmails servers will still contain a copy of the email, Li said. Other tech companies have dabbled with disappearing messages, most notably Snap Inc., whose Snapchat app faced some backlash in 2015 when users grew concerned that their apps new privacy policy suggested the company was keeping more of users content than it had let on. Dont send messages that you wouldnt want someone to save or share, it said. Confidential mode will begin to roll out in the coming weeks, with a broader rollout to follow. For the more than 4 million businesses that pay to use G Suite an enhanced paid version of Google products such as Gmail, Docs and Calendar confidential mode will include the option to require an email recipient to use a passcode, sent via text message, to view the email. Li said this feature raises additional concerns because to use it, you might need to tell Google the recipients phone number potentially without the recipients consent. This privacy feature is potentially harmful to users with a real need for private and secure communications, Li said. John Simpson, the privacy and technology director at advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, said enabling users to send emails that recipients cannot forward is a powerful tool, but it does raise the question of how people will get around it. Although Google might offer a confidential mode, theres only so much the tech giant can do to block human hijinks. Advertisement Its also unclear how the features will work when the email recipient is not a Gmail user. For example, Simpson said, is Gmail able to enforce a prohibition on forwarding if the recipient is using a different email service? It strikes me that people will be lulled into the feeling that this is a more confidential thing than is actually the case, Simpson said. We need to see more about how exactly its implemented, but clearly, if somebody went to the trouble to send me a message that I couldnt forward, and I looked at it, and said Holy mackerel! I want to show this to somebody else, I think I could figure out ways to do it. One aspect of confidential mode makes users more vulnerable to privacy breaches, the Electronic Frontier Foundations Li said. The feature that allows users to set a time limit on how long an email is available works by requiring the emails recipient to click a link to view the message, opening up a new attack opportunity for phishing, Li said. Advertisement If people are trained to click on links in confidential e-mails from other Gmail users, bad actors can send fake emails that resemble confidential e-mails in order to trick users into clicking links that lead to phishing sites, Li said. The phishing link could then present a fake Google login page, to try and steal the users credentials. Simpson, a longtime critic of Google, said that even as the company offers privacy enhancements, it is still looking out for itself. Last year, Google announced it would stop using or scanning any Gmail content to help it personalize ads. Simpson said that was a good move but that Google made it primarily because it already collects enough information about users to target them with ads in line with their interests, and using email content wasnt even necessarily helping the company accomplish that goal. Before the change, if a friend sent a silly email, it would often produce bizarre related ads. Advertisement Integrating more features into Gmail keeps users on the Google product as long as possible, he said. Confidential mode is going to be presented by Google as all these wonderful features that customers are out there asking for, and that theyre meeting customer demand, and while some of that may be true, its necessary to remember its also all about maximizing ways people will be enticed to continue to stay on Googles platform as much as possible so they can monetize your data, and when dealing with Google, one should never forget that, Simpson said. If you dont know, now you know. the new Gmail https://t.co/aToXavruhI pic.twitter.com/nEf8zsj3f0 Gmail (@gmail) April 25, 2018 jaclyn.cosgrove@latimes.com Advertisement Twitter: @jaclyncosgrove For 10 years, Noe Lopez wore the olive green uniform of a Border Patrol agent. On Wednesday, the olive green he wore in a San Diego courtroom was markedly different. It was that of a federal inmate. You held a position of trust, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said to Lopez. This was the ultimate betrayal and breach of that trust. That betrayal played out at the end of 2016, when the agent coordinated the delivery of bundles of drugs along remote sections of the U.S.-Mexico border and then picked up the contraband while on duty. Advertisement It is the antithesis of what you were supposed to be doing, Sabraw said. The judge then sentenced him to nearly six years in prison. Lopez apologized to his family and his former Border Patrol colleagues, sitting on opposite sides of the courtroom. Its something I regret Im going to regret the rest of my life, Lopez said. The case began in October 2016, when Lopez met a man at a party in San Ysidro. Prosecutors said Lopez had bragged about his prior success in bringing backpacks filled with drugs from the border fence a claim that Lopez has since denied. Several days later, Lopez drove the man back and forth along the border fence, pointing out areas that werent closely monitored. Lopez offered to smuggle drugs for a fee of $1,000 to $2,000 per unit, according to prosecutors. The man was, in fact, working as a confidential informant for law enforcement and days later told the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of Lopezs offer. Authorities set up a sting, with the informant pretending to have ties to drug traffickers in Mexico and asking for Lopez to use his position in the Border Patrol to help smuggle drugs. Advertisement Lopez and the informant discussed the logistics at a Chula Vista restaurant, and later Lopez went out to buy backpacks for the drug deliveries items that were mentioned in code as pinatas and candy. On Dec. 6, 2016, Lopez picked up a backpack at the fence containing what he thought was six pounds of methamphetamine. After his shift, he met the informant and handed off the backpack. He was paid $3,000 the next day. They immediately started planning the next transaction seven kilograms of cocaine. Lopez later marked the drop-off spot with a soft drink bottle and sent the informant two photos of the location; on Dec. 8 he picked up another backpack left at the fence. Advertisement He was paid $7,000 that time. On Dec. 14, 2016, after Lopez had switched areas with another agent in preparation for a third delivery, authorities moved in and arrested him at the Border Patrol station. He pleaded guilty in June to attempted distribution of methamphetamine and cocaine. kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Advertisement Davis writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune Neighbors in this Sacramento suburb watched stunned as a ranch house became became a center of the investigation into the notorious Golden State Killer, who preyed on victims across California in the 1970s and 1980s. The crush of police vehicles, media trucks and yellow crime scene tape stood out in an otherwise quiet neighborhood of cul de sacs and well-maintained two-story homes. Authorities said the man who lived in the home 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., -- was arrested in connection with the slayings. Local and federal authorities descended on DeAngelos beige, single-story home Tuesday evening and remained there Wednesday morning, when they removed two cars, a boat and a motorcycle from the garage. The suspect was a police officer in Auburn during the 1970s, but was fired after he was accused of shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent, according to a 1979 newspaper article. He is suspected of committing some crimes while he was still on the force, but his arrest is related to a 1980 double homicide of a Ventura County couple, according to law enforcement sources. Advertisement Curious neighbors and visitors lingered to get a look at the spectacle. A blue vinyl tent was erected at the suspects garage door. Agents in black FBI EVIDENCE RECOVERY TEAM shirts backed up a black pickup truck with a black trailer attached. Carisa Calnon, 42, a businesswoman from Fair Oaks, drove seven minutes from Fair Oaks to observe the scene. Richelle Taylor, 42, came from Granite Bay, five minutes away. Richelle is a true crime fan. Shes reading Ill Be Gone in the Dark, late writer Michelle McNamaras recently published book about the Golden State Killer, although she had to take a break because she was so disturbed by it. She also listens to the My Favorite Murder podcast and was familiar with the case in that way. I assumed he was down southor dead, Richelle said. Carisa said she grew up around here. She and her family moved here from Germany in 1979, right when everything was happening around the case. Her father was in law enforcement, so the case was especially scary to her. As Carisa and Richelle discussed the case, a driver pulled up in a white car: Whats happening? They said there was a high-profile arrest and the car drove off. Carisa: I was watching all the newsfeeds and I said, you know what, this is history. So I came here. I just saw them pull a boat out of the garage. This neighborhood has been around for a long time. Its very nice, its mature, theres a lot of law enforcement. This guy lives a few blocks awayshe remarked incredulouslythis is everybodys dream, to catch this guy. And he was right here. Richelle said she had just been discussing the case with her mom the other day, reminding her they had lived in Stockton at the time the killer was active there. Advertisement Its a little surreal, she said, knowing he lived nearby. Carisa agreed that surreal was the right word. Richelle: I just had to see it for myself. Jack Haddad, 51, a physician, and his wife Hala Doumat, 35, a real estate agent, live just down the street. Neither said they knew the suspect but Hala said she regularly walks by his house with her three kids. She described the neighborhood as very quiet and friendly. Jack said hes lived here for six years and is probably the newest to the block. Advertisement Hala said she saw officers around 8 a.m. wearing FBI jackets. I was scared, she said. Just two weeks ago, the couple had watched a documentary on the Golden State Killer. Jack said he was shocked it had taken so long to solve the case. I have mixed feelings, Jack said of the arrest. If something so horrific can happen so close to you, anything goes. For eight years, the Golden State Killer terrorized cities from Sacramento to Laguna Niguel in a series of brazen slayings and sexual assaults. The attacker was also dubbed the East Area Rapist, and authorities say he is responsible for 12 killings, 45 rapes and more than 120 residential burglaries between 1976 and 1986. The crimes went unsolved for four decades. But now, authorities say they have made an arrest. Advertisement Here is a breakdown of the killings: Feb. 2, 1978: The first two victims were husband and wife Brian and Kate Maggiore, who were walking their dog in their Rancho Cordova neighborhood. At some point during their walk, they encountered a man wearing a ski mask and holding a gun. All three ended up in a neighbors backyard where the suspect gunned down the Maggiores as they tried to flee. Dec. 30, 1979: The third and fourth killings came the following year in Goleta. Authorities said that the suspect entered the home of Dr. Robert Offerman through a sliding glass door and found him and clinical psychologist Alexandria Manning sleeping in bed. He tied the couple up and shot them both. March 13, 1980: The fifth and sixth victims were killed Ventura. Authorities say that the suspect tied up Lyman Smith, 43, and his wife, Charlene Smith, 33, and raped her. He tied them up using a drapery cord and secured it with a diamond knot his signature knot. He then bludgeoned them to death with a fireplace log. Aug. 19, 1980: Keith Harrington, 24, a medical student at UC Irvine, was beaten to death along with his wife, Patrice Harrington, 27, a pediatric nurse, in their Laguna Niguel home. Feb. 5, 1981: Manuela Witthuhn, 28, was bludgeoned to death in her Irvine home. Her father discovered her after he went to check on her when her employers told him she hadnt shown up for work. July 27, 1981: The next victims were Cheri Domingo, 35, and Gregory Sanchez, 27, in Goleta. Domingo, 35, a corporate manager, and Sanchez, a Burroughs Corp. employee, were killed in Domingos home. It was about a half-mile from where Offerman had been killed in 1979. Sanchez had been shot and bludgeoned in bed. Domingo had been tied up and died of massive head injuries. May 4, 1986: Authorities say a suspect raped and killed 18-year-old Janelle Cruz in her home. Advertisement Because the attacks spanned the state, it took a while for investigators to link the cases. In 2011, DNA tests matched evidence linking some Southern California and Northern California cases to the same assailant. In 2016, the FBI announced a reward in the case and created a Web page dedicated to it where the public can view police sketches of the attacker and hear from witnesses and victims families. He is cunning, Orange County Det. Larry Pool told The Times in 2011. He has a degree of tactical soundness to the way he operates. He is able to adjust tactically to improve his effectiveness as a killer. Advertisement To read this article in Spanish, click here Patrick Murphy's papa bought him a congressional seat in the West Palm area (FL-18) in 2012. It was incredibly close but Murphy had a perfect foil-- lunatic fringe neo-fascist Allen West. Even Murphy looked almost like a lesser of two evils. Murphy's father started a PAC, American Sunrise, and financed his ne'rer-do-well son with $118,578. Sensing thew kind of DINO they love, the DCCC put in another $548,517. The final score was 166,257 (50.3%) to 164,353 (49.7%). Murphy went on to be lazy, incompetent backbencher with no achievements at all except to raise Wall Street cash by backing the banksters (along with Republicans and his fellow corrupt New Dems) on the House Financial Services Committee. In 2016 Schumer and Reid picked him to run for the U.S. Senate and Rubio beat him 52-44%. He drew 4,122,088 votes while Hillary Clinton was getting 4,504,975 votes on the same day. Nearly 400,000 Democratic voters decided to not cast a ballot for Murphy. Maybe his "F" rating by Progressive Punch helps explain why. There is a lively election to replace Rick Scott as governor now. And Murphy is back, rearing his ugly drunken heard again. Now he's the "bipartisan candidate," offering to run on a ticket with with former Congressman David Jolly, who was ousted in 2016 by flip-floppy conservative Charlie Crist from his Pinellas County seat. There are already 4 serious Democrats in the race, a female version of Murphy, DINO Gwen Graham, plus two other wretched conservaDems, former Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine and random rich businessman Christopher King, and one progressive , Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum. (There are also a dozen of so Republicans running for their party's nomination, though the top two are mainstream establishment conservative Adam Putnam and neo-fascist Trumpist Ron DeSantis.) Monday evening Alex Leary broke the news in the Tampa Bay Times that Murphy and Jolly had put together a DINO/RINO ruse to attract attention. Their theory of the race is that a "split ticket idea recognizes growing dissatisfaction with the polarization of both parties and a possible third way." "Working across the aisle was a hallmark of my two terms in Congress, and the relationships I formed with members of both parties were invaluable," Murphy said at the outset of the town-hall tour last summer. "I look forward to joining my former colleague as we share our perspectives on ways we must work together to improve our broken political system." Jolly added, "Even in times of great disagreement there are ways of finding common ground, there are opportunities for bipartisan leadership to solve some of our country's toughest issues." Geoff Burgan, Gillum's communications director, had a riotous response: "We welcome anyone who wants to talk about Floridas future. The contrast in vision and background between the three millionaires running against Andrew Gillum couldnt be more clear." Meanwhile, one of Murphy's former congressional colleagues laughed and told me that "it's sad but true: being unprincipled and unscrupulous, zero accomplishments to your name, and standing for nothing except self-promotion, now qualifies as 'bipartisan.'" Another of his former colleagues (from the House Financial Services Committee) referred to him as "a smarmy jerk-boy" and that was really the only think I can repeat about what she had to say about Murphy. Families of the Golden State Killers victims have waited decades for answers, and on Wednesday they could see the face of a man police suspect in a years-long series of crimes. Authorities arrested a 72-year-old Citrus Heights resident and former police officer, Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., in connection with the crimes in the 1970s and 1980s. Authorities say one man was responsible for 12 killings, 45 rapes and more than 120 residential burglaries between 1976 and 1986. It is time for all victims to grieve and to take measure one last time. To bring closure to the anguish that weve all suffered for the last 40 some odd years, said Bruce Harrington, whose brother Keith and sister-in-law Patrice were slain by the Golden State Killer in 1980. Its time for the victims to begin to heal. So long overdue. Harrington spoke on behalf of the hundreds of friends and relatives across multiple generations who were affected by the rapes and slayings. He credited law enforcement for never giving up the case and praised their tenacity, their patience, their unrelenting focus. Advertisement In 2004, Harrington helped move California voters to approve Proposition 69, which mandates DNA be collected from people arrested on suspicion of felonies and some misdemeanors; it is then stored in a state database. Authorities had linked the slayings through DNA samples from the scenes. Recently they managed to get a sample of DeAngelos DNA, which helped shore up their case to arrest him in the killings, officials said. Sleep better tonight; he isnt coming through the window, Harrington said. Hes now in jail and hes history. Bruce Harringtons brother Keith and sister-in-law Patrice were slain by the Golden State Killer in 1980. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press ) Sacramento District Atty. Anne Marie Schubert noted the pain of the victims family when announcing the arrest. For over 40 years, countless victims have waited for justice, she said. Over these years, hundreds of individuals have sought justice for these victims and their families. Many have dedicated their virtual entire professions to seeking this answer. She also noted the killings changed the region. For us here in Sacramento, it was a time of innocence in 1976. No one locked their doors, kids rode bikes to school, parents let children play outside you just needed to be home before dark. Advertisement For all of us here in this community . it all changed, she added. For anyone that lived here in this community here in Sacramento the memories are very vivid. you can ask anyone that grew up here everyone has a story. Orange County Dist. Atty Tony Rackauckas added: Finally, after all these years, the haunting question of who committed these terrible crimes has been put to rest. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson toured a homeless womens center on L.A.s skid row Tuesday as part of a fact-finding trip to local public-private partnerships and faith-based programs tackling homelessness and job training. Carson, whose agency provided a record $109 million last year to L.A.s battle with one of the nations worst homelessness problems, also met with county and business homelessness leaders and stopped at a faith-based drug treatment residential center in Echo Park. The Dream Center Foundation visit, which included a sweep through a mens dorm and discussions with leaders, was closed to the media for logistical reasons, a Carson aide said. It was Carsons first trip to skid row, 50 blocks lined with tents and shanties filled largely with African Americans, a sight he said you cannot forget. Advertisement I cant imagine how anybody could walk through an area like this and not have their heartstrings tugged, he told reporters before a brief meeting with Denise Smith, a former crack addict who now volunteers in the Downtown Womens Center health program. Carson attributed the heavy black presence on skid row to a lack of education. He praised the Dream Center for surviving entirely on private funds and the Downtown Womens Center for relying on volunteers, and preached fiscal conservatism and local solutions over reliance on the federal government. In this country a person regardless of their background can pretty much write their own ticket if they get a good education, Carson said. And the educational facilities particularly in black communities are not up to par. The HUD chief said his agency is pushing education as part of its community development mission. Carson later stopped by Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, a lead agency for a HUD-designated promise zone, which offers competitive advantages in securing grants for public-private education, job training and life-skills programs in South Los Angeles. The college has partnered with a community group to recruit out-of-school youths to get their high school diplomas and construction certificates, said Leticia Barajas, Trade-Techs vice president for innovation. Carson also spoke with students studying electric cars, emission systems and other transit technologies. Keep up the good work, the secretary told the students. Were proud of you. gholland@latimes.com Advertisement Twitter: @geholland For decades, the Golden State Killer had eluded capture. Suspected of committing 12 slayings, 45 rapes and more than 120 residential burglaries between 1976 and 1986, the criminals trail stretched from Sacramento south to Orange County. So when prosecutors announced the arrest of a suspect Wednesday, the news struck a deep chord among the relatives of victims and those who feared his next move. For over 40 years, countless victims have waited for justice. Over these years, hundreds of individuals have sought justice for these victims and their families. Many have dedicated their virtual entire professions to seeking this answer, Sacramento Dist. Atty. Anne Marie Schubert said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. Advertisement Authorities arrested Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., a 72-year-old Citrus Heights resident, on suspicion of murder. A local and federal task force apprehended him late Tuesday evening, after tying him to the crimes through surveillance and discarded DNA, said Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. He is being held without bail, according to Sacramento County jail records. DeAngelo was a police officer in Auburn during the 1970s but was fired after he was accused of shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent, according to a 1979 newspaper article. He is suspected of committing some crimes while he was still on the force. Working the decades-old case became more than a professional commitment for prosecutors and investigators, Schubert said it was a chance to bring justice to the neighborhoods they grew up in. For us here in Sacramento, it was a time of innocence in 1976. No one locked their doors. Kids rode bikes to school. Parents let children play outside, she said, adding that most parents only rule was that their children needed to be home before dark. But after the string of crimes, it all changed. You can ask anyone that grew up here, Schubert said. Everyone has a story. Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas told reporters that the haunting question of who committed these terrible crimes can now be put to rest. Advertisement Joseph James DeAngelo has been called a lot of things by law enforcement. Hes been called the East Area Rapist. Hes been called the Visalia Ransacker, the Original Night Stalker and the Golden State Killer, he said. Today, its our pleasure to call him defendant. In addition to the four people DeAngelo has been charged with killing, Rackauckas told reporters that DeAngelo was responsible for a series of attacks in Orange County, including the 1980 slaying of husband and wife Keith and Patrice Harrington in a Laguna Niguel home. Charges have not been filed in that case, however. It is time for all victims to grieve, to take measure one last time, to bring closure to the anguish that weve all suffered, said Bruce Harrington, Keith Harringtons brother and one of those who helped to finance the voter initiative Proposition 69, which expanded Californias DNA database to include every convicted felon in the state. It is time for the victims to begin to heal. Ventura County Dist. Atty. Greg Totten also announced capital murder charges against DeAngelo for the March 1980 murders of Lyman and Charlene Smith in Ventura. Advertisement It is the culmination of a decades-long, unrelenting investigation that singularly focused on bringing this rapist and killer to justice, Totten said. sarah.parvini@latimes.com For more California news follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini Authorities have arrested a former police officer who is suspected of being one of Californias most prolific serial killers and rapists the Golden State Killer. A local and federal task force apprehended the suspect late Tuesday evening, after tying him to the crimes through surveillance and discarded DNA, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones told reporters Wednesday. In the 40 years since the Original Night Stalker began his campaign of terror in Sacramento and moved south through the Bay Area and Santa Barbara and Orange counties, he had remained unidentified. Authorities say the attacker, also dubbed the East Area rapist and the Golden State Killer, is responsible for 12 killings, 45 rapes and more than 120 residential burglaries from 1976 to 1986. The Sacramento County district attorney announced on Wednesday the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 72, suspected as the Golden State Killer in a case that took four decades to solve. Sacramento County Sheriff's Department A 72-year-old Citrus Heights resident, Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., has been charged by prosecutors in Sacramento, Ventura and Orange counties with eight counts of murder. He is being held without bail, according to jail records. Local and federal authorities descended on DeAngelos beige, single-story home Tuesday evening and remained there Wednesday morning, when they removed two cars, a boat and a motorcycle from the garage. The suspect was a police officer in Auburn during the 1970s but was fired after he was accused of shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent, according to a 1979 newspaper article. He is suspected of committing some crimes while he was still on the force. Tuesdays arrest stemmed from the slaying of two married couples Brian and Kate Maggiore, who were killed in Sacramento County in 1978; and Lyman and Charlene Smith, who were killed in Ventura County in 1980. On Wednesday, the Orange County district attorneys office added four other murder charges against DeAngelo for a series of slayings there in the 1980s. The FBI has created a website dedicated to the case where the public can view police sketches of the attacker and hear from witnesses and victims families. The last known crime associated with the Original Night Stalker took place in 1986, but his notoriety persists. In 2004, California voters passed an initiative, bankrolled by the brother of one of his victims, that mandates collection of DNA samples from people convicted or even arrested in felony cases. By 1978, the man had attacked victims in Oakland, Danville and Walnut Creek. In 1979, he killed two in Goleta, and two years later killed yet another couple in the Santa Barbara County town. Authorities in 2011 pinpointed DNA evidence from the killer in the 1981 slayings of Cheri Domingo, 35, and Gregory Sanchez, 27. And they matched that evidence with DNA from other crime scenes. Los Angeles Times Sanchez was shot and bludgeoned. Domingo died of massive head injuries. Some of the grisly details matched those at other crime scenes associated with the Original Night Stalker: Sanchez and Domingo lived in an upscale neighborhood and were killed in bed. Domingo's hands had been tied as had the hands of victims at other scenes. Authorities said the killer would sometimes place cups or plates on his bound victims' backs so he'd have an audible clue if they broke free while he was in another room. At the time of the crimes he was described as being about 5-foot-9 with blond or auburn hair. He appeared to have military or law enforcement training. Before he became known as the Original Night Stalker so named to distinguish him from Richard Ramirez, the serial killer dubbed the Night Stalker who terrorized the Los Angeles area in the mid-1980s the killer was tied to no fewer than 52 sexual assaults in Sacramento County and the Bay Area. Writer Michelle McNamara became obsessed with the case and spent years researching it. She wrote an article for Los Angeles magazine and was turning it into a book when she died in 2016. Her widower, comedian and actor Patton Oswalt, helped complete the book, which is now a bestseller. Los Angeles Times I think you got him, Michelle, Oswalt said Wednesday on Twitter. The Sacramento County district attorney, the FBI and the Sheriffs Department announced the suspects arrest at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. We found the needle in the haystack and it was right here in Sacramento County, said Dist. Atty. Anne Marie Schubert. In addition to charges filed in Sacramento County, Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas announced that his office filed on Wednesday four felony counts of murder against DeAngelo. Prosecutors alleged DeAngelo killed husband and wife Keith and Patrice Harrington in 1980 in Dana Point, and accused him of committing the 1981 rape and killing of a 28-year-old woman in Irvine and the 1986 rape and killing of an 18-year-old woman, also in Irvine. It is time for the victims to begin to heal, said Bruce Harrington, Keith Harringtons brother and one of those who helped to finance the voter initiative Proposition 69, which expanded California's DNA database to include every convicted felon in the state. Jennifer Carole, the daughter of victim Lyman Smith, said she had long thought that the person who bludgeoned her father and stepmother to death had probably died in the following decades. To find out he was not only alive, but living among them in Sacramento, was an overwhelming revelation, she said. In my mind I thought he was dead the whole time, Carole said. Id compartmentalized it. But to find out hes been in Sacramento, where all my family lives its unbelievable. How can he have just been here? Throughout the morning Wednesday, authorities combed through DeAngelos home, a wood and brick-trim structure with a Beware of dog sign on the fence. A crush of police vehicles and media filled the quiet subdivision of winding roads and cul-de-sacs. Los Angeles Times Area residents said they were familiar with the story of the Golden State Killer and were shocked to learn that the suspect had lived among them. Its a little surreal, said Richelle Taylor, 42. As he walked his dog past the police tape and evidence trucks, resident Mike Foulk, 51, eyed the spectacle. Its got to be a little heartbreaking and shocking for the people who [live across the street], he said. Theyll probably never look at the house the same way again. Jack Haddad, 51, and wife Hala Doumat, 35, live within view of DeAngelo s driveway. Neither knew him, but Doumat said she regularly walks by his house with her three kids. The couple said they had recently watched a documentary on the Golden State Killer. I knew there was a $50,000 reward, Haddad said. He said he was shocked it had taken so long to solve the case. I have mixed feelings, Haddad said about the arrest. If something so horrific can happen so close to you, anything goes. joseph.serna@latimes.com richard.winton@latimes.com sarah.parvini@latimes.com melanie.mason@latimes.com john.myers@latimes.com UPDATES: 5:15 p.m.: This article was updated with confirmation that the Orange County district attorneys office filed four additional murder counts against DeAngelo on Wednesday. 3:30 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from victims daughter Jennifer Carole. 1:10 p.m.: This article was updated with victims names and comments from Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and Bruce Harrington. 12:40 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Anne Marie Schubert and Sacramento resident Mike Foulk. 12:05 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details on the suspect and his Citrus Heights neighborhood. 11:15 a.m.: This article was updated with new details on the suspect and comments from neighbors Jack Haddad and Hala Doumat. 10:55 a.m.: This article was updated with details on the suspects apprehension. 10 a.m.: This article was updated with details on McNamaras book. 9:45 p.m.: This article was updated with details on the noon news conference and police activity in Citrus Heights. This article was originally published at 9:05 a.m. A legally blind man who went missing after going for a hike in Joshua Tree National Park over the weekend has been found, authorities said. David Sewell, 76, left the Quail Springs parking lot Saturday and was headed for an unspecified location in Johnny Lang Canyon, the National Park Service said. Park rangers who found Sewells silver Honda Odyssey around 8 p.m. Saturday also discovered a note in the car. In it, the Joshua Tree resident wrote that he was departing at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday and that if he was not back by the next day, he would need assistance. Park officials said they spoke with Sewells daughter by phone and she described her father as having numerous health issues in addition to being legally blind. Advertisement Search and rescue personnel started looking for Sewell on Monday morning and were able to locate him Tuesday around 11 a.m., according to park spokesman George Land. Sewell was later transported to a hospital in Palm Springs. Its a miracle He was awake, conscious and talking to rescuers when they found him, Land said. He had been up there for about three days without water. sarah.parvini@latimes.com For more California news follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini A 64-year-old Diamond Bar man was killed Tuesday after his car drove off a Mt. Wilson road and down an embankment, authorities said. The crash occurred around 8:15 p.m. on Mt. Wilson Red Box Road, according to the California Highway Patrol. The man was driving on the southbound side of the road when his Ford veered to the right, hit a raised curb and crashed into a metal guardrail. The car then fell down a steep embankment and struck multiple trees, the CHP said. When authorities found the car, it was lying on its right side against a large tree. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene by Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel. The cause of the crash is under investigation. Authorities urge anyone with information to contact the CHPs Altadena office at (626) 296-8100. Advertisement sarah.parvini@latimes.com For more California news follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini Nearly a decade ago, Los Angeles city officials, including then-City Councilman Eric Garcetti, cut the ribbon on a street beautification project in Los Feliz. Landscapers added sycamore trees, honey-colored grass and seating areas at Vermont Triangle, a traffic median off Hollywood Boulevard. The $850,000 redesign transformed the spot into a new gateway to Los Felizs boutiques and restaurants and provided a resting place for locals waiting for the bus. People say that no one walks in Los Angeles, Garcetti told the crowd at the ribbon-cutting. But when we improve the streetscape, we get people out of their cars. Today, Vermont Triangle is a grim-looking concrete island that draws tents and transients. Advertisement Homeless for a decade, Michael Kelly, 48, hung out at Vermont Triangle on a recent afternoon and showed a reporter his collection of pot seeds, which he hoped to sell to buy a guitar. Kelly comes to the traffic median because he grew up nearby and its a place I feel comfortable, he said. Now, officials are weighing another redesign of the 7,000-square-foot site. Under one proposal, large planters would be added to make it difficult for homeless people to put up tents. If it goes forward, the redesign would mark the third redo of the median in 10 years. Even community members who support another redesign are frustrated that the city traffic median has taken up so much time and money. It should have stayed the way it was, said Jeff Zarrinnam, a member of the board of governors of the East Hollywood Business Improvement District, which maintains the median. But everyone has all these different, wild ideas. People think its a park, and its not park. Its a median, thats a traffic median, thats all it is. Vermont Triangle, seen here in 2006, before the 2008 redesign. Some locals question why so much attention has been paid to the traffic median. (Pat Smith ) The 2008 makeover, which took place when then-City Councilman Tom LaBonge represented Los Feliz and Garcetti oversaw nearby Hollywood, was a transit project led by Los Angeles now-shuttered Community Redevelopment Agency. The improvements were intended to help the pedestrian environment north of the Red Line station at Sunset Boulevard and Vermont Avenue. The redevelopment agency said in a 2007 resolution that the upgrades would help eliminate blight in nearby East Hollywood by improving the pedestrian amenities and encouraging use of the area and other commercial establishments. Federal funds paid for most of the redesign, with the rest of the money coming from the redevelopment agency, said Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Dave Sotero. Advertisement Permeable pavers were added to allow groundwater to seep into the soil. New lampposts, designed to match those at nearby Barnsdall Park, were installed. Today, the pavers have to be removed because dirt kicks up when they are power-washed, Zarrinnam said. On a recent visit with a reporter, he pointed out a broken lamppost and trash strewn in the dirt. A Bureau of Engineering spokeswoman said last month there have been five incidents of either damage or lamppost lights not working at Vermont Triangle in the last year. Homeless outreach workers have made 18 visits to Vermont Triangle in the last year, said Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority spokesman Tom Waldman. Advertisement Berenice Cruz, who works across the street at Starbucks, said shes seen up to five tents clustered on the median on some mornings. When the store opens at 4 a.m, homeless come in to charge their phones or ask customers to buy them drinks or food, Cruz said. Other businesses complain about homeless people defecating and urinating in front of their stores or hassling their customers for food. Employees at Pink Baby for You, a nail salon, swapped out the plastic tip jar on the counter for a smaller one after transients came in and tried to grab it. City Councilman David Ryu, who represents Los Feliz, works with outreach teams to help the homeless people living at Vermont Triangle, said Sarah Dusseault, Ryus chief of staff. Advertisement Facing pressure from community groups and business owners, Ryus office has committed $18,000 for improvements at Vermont Triangle, whichever design is picked. In addition to the proposal to add planters, there is also talk of adding an art installation instead. Theres no question that its not an appropriate place to sleep, but were also trying to enhance the beauty of the area, Dusseault said. The concept of installing large objects, such as planters, to deter tents has been tried elsewhere. In Venice, business and neighborhood groups placed stones or plants at two parkways to discourage encampments, said Will Hawkins, chairman of the homeless committee of the Venice Neighborhood Council. Homeless outreach workers have made 18 visits to Vermont Triangle in the last year. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ) Advertisement Some community members question why a redesign, introduced more than a year ago by local groups, isnt moving faster. Ryu spokesman Estevan Montemayor said the councilmans office wants neighborhood groups to comment on the proposals. A homeless man at Vermont Triangle who gave his name as Smiley said Ryus proposal sucks when told about it by a reporter. On that day, Smiley was living in a blue tarp that housed a twin bed; a makeshift cooking grill, kindling and an empty milk carton lay nearby. The most recent redesign of the traffic median came in 2013. Vermont Triangle fell into neglect after the original 2008 makeover, so locals stepped forward to volunteer time and money. The nearby Hollywood Hotel put more than $13,500 toward the landscaping. (Zarrinnam is president and chief executive of the hotel.) LaBonge also said his council office funded improvements around that time, but he couldnt recall how much was spent. Advertisement Nyla Arslanian, former president of the Los Feliz Improvement Assn., who has been involved with the redesigns, said Vermont Triangle has attracted homeless people in past years, but its nothing like we have now. Arslanian said shes sympathetic to those with mental illnesses who are forced to live on the streets. Shes also discouraged by the physical decline of the gateway to Los Feliz. Considering all the work, input and community involvement, its disheartening what has happened, Arslanian said. dakota.smith@latimes.com Advertisement Twitter: @dakotacdsmith It took a big money push from the Republican Party, tweets by the president and the support of the states current and former governors, but the GOP held on to an Arizona U.S. House seat they would have never considered endangered in any other year. Tuesdays narrow victory by Republican Debbie Lesko over a Democratic political newcomer sends a big message to Republicans nationwide: Even the reddest of districts in a red state can be in play this year. Early returns show Lesko winning by about 5 percentage points in Arizonas 8th Congressional District, where President Trump won by 21 points. The former state senator defeated Hiral Tipirneni, a former emergency room physician who had hoped to replicate surprising Democratic wins in Pennsylvania, Alabama and other states in a year when opposition to Trumps policies have boosted the partys chances in Republican strongholds. Republican political consultant Chuck Coughlin called Tuesdays special election margin not good for national Republicans looking at their chances in November. Advertisement They should clean house in this election, said Coughlin, longtime advisor to former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. Theres a drag on the midterms for Republican candidates thats being created by the national narrative. And it would be very hard to buck that trend if youre in swing districts, much less close districts, if you cant change that narrative between now and November. Lesko replaces former Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican who resigned in December amid sexual misconduct allegations. The district sprawls across western Phoenix suburbs, covering some of the most conservative areas of the red state, including the retirement community of Sun City. At a victory party in her Glendale neighborhood, Lesko greeted supporters and looked back in wonder. Ive really come a long way and this is really quite overwhelming, its very surreal, she said. Twenty-five years ago I left an abusive husband and I sure as heck never would have dreamt in a million years that I would be running for Congress to be a congresswoman. Brewer, who backed Lesko and was at her victory party, also warned that Republicans need to make changes if they want to hold the district and other seats in November elections. I think all Republicans need to wake up and listen to what the public wants, she said. The Associated Press called the race for Lesko after state officials released tallies of more than 155,000 mail-in ballots, which represent about 75% of the votes expected. Its standard operating procedure for lawmakers to declare that campaign donations by special interests do not sway them, even though the vast majority of their constituents dont believe it. Thats what makes acting Consumer Finance Protection Bureau director Mick Mulvaneys comments to a banking industry trade association Tuesday so remarkable. Not only did Mulvaney fail to offer the customary disclaimers about the influence of money in politics, he said that, back when he was a Republican congressman from South Carolina, he would sit down with interest groups if, and only if, they contributed to his campaign. According to the campaign finance site OpenSecrets.org, nearly 90% of the money Mulvaney raised for his 2016 re-election campaign came from business political action committees, and about half of it came from the finance industry he now regulates at the CFPB. Make that the industry hes supposed to regulate, given that Mulvaney has blocked new rules at the bureau, targeted several major existing ones for reversal and dropped a number of pre-existing enforcement actions since taking over in November. (Mulvaney told lawmakers this month that he is committed to making sure the Bureaus regulations work not only for those who use consumer financial products and services but also for those who provide them.) Addressing the American Banking Assn. in Washington on Tuesday, Mulvaney urged its members to lobby lawmakers more vigorously. That was the point at which he also told them that as a congressman, he met with only two groups: lobbyists whod ponied up money for his reelection and constituents. Lobbyists who didnt fork over a donation? They didnt get heard. Mulvaneys message was clear: Bankers needed to pay to play in order to advance their agenda. The bureau will be lucky to survive Mulvaneys tenure. Advertisement Its an agenda that Mulvaney supports, of course. He and the bankers association both want to reduce the bureaus independence and rule-making authority. But hes not an ideologue in Congress anymore hes now in charge of an agency created to protect consumers against unfair and predatory practices by banks and other lenders. Yet he seems to think his job is to liberate, not regulate, the companies he oversees. Mulvaney dangled another goody in front of his audience Tuesday, raising the possibility that the bureau no longer will give the public access to the complaints it collects about financial products and services. According to a transcript obtained by The Times Jim Puzzanghera, Mulvaney said, I dont see anything in here that says I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government. Hes right, technically. The 2010 law that created the bureau requires it only to set up a toll-free number and a website for consumer complaints, to share those complaints with other regulators when appropriate and to report on them to Congress annually. Cutting off public access, though, prevents anyone outside the government from giving the data the Yelp treatment. If the information isnt reliable, as Mulvaney and industry officials argue, Congress should change the law rather than having the bureau bury it. Mulvaney who in his spare time serves as the architect of the White Houses disastrous, debt-crazed budget policy has emphasized the importance of humility when it comes to the bureaus regulatory authority. But his endorsement of pay-to-play politics and his ham-handed reversals of the bureaus operations are anything but humble. The bureau will be lucky to survive his tenure. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook UPDATES: 2:46 p.m.: This editorial was updated with a new source for one of the quotes from Mulvaneys speech. The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it harder again for victims of human rights violations to seek justice in American courts. Five conservative justices held that an 18th century law that allows foreigners to bring lawsuits for violations of the law of nations cant be used against foreign corporations even if the alleged violations took place in the United States. It was a cruelly cramped reading of the law from a court that in other contexts, such as the 1st Amendment and election law, has treated corporations as persons. The decision came in a lawsuit brought by victims of terrorism in the Middle East against Arab Bank, a Jordanian institution with offices in New York City that had been accused of facilitating the transfer of fund to terrorists. But the courts holding will preempt all sorts of suits by foreign plaintiffs against corporations accused of violating human rights. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Arab Bank, led by the father of a young British man killed by a suicide bomber in Israel in 2002, had tried to take advantage of the Alien Tort Statute, a law passed by the first Congress in 1789 giving U.S. district courts jurisdiction over any civil action by an alien for a tort committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States. Apparently Congress had in mind a small number of torts civil wrongs including piracy and attacks on ambassadors. The Alien Tort Statute gathered dust for almost 200 years until it was rediscovered by lawyers who believed it could be used to win compensation for victims of human rights violations. Advertisement American courts cant provide a remedy for every atrocity or act of oppression, but they ought to be open to victims who cant obtain justice elsewhere. In 2004, the Supreme Court seemed to encourage such hopes. Even as it rejected a claim brought under the Alien Tort Act by a Mexican citizen kidnapped and brought to the U.S. to face a murder charge, the court seemed to leave the door open to other lawsuits by foreign nationals for violations of international norms that were as specific, universal and obligatory as the ones Congress sought to shore up in 1789. But in later cases, the court has made it harder for victims of torture, terrorism, and other human rights abuses to sue under the Alien Tort Statute. In 2013, the court ruled against a group of Nigerian plaintiffs who had sued the Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. The plaintiffs argued that the firm had aided and abetted a government crackdown on opponents of oil drilling that included beatings, rapes and murders. The court said the suit couldnt go forward because the alleged actions occurred outside the U.S. But in the case decided Tuesday, the financial transactions that plaintiffs say assisted terrorists allegedly did take place at Arab Banks U.S. offices. Even so, the justices affirmed a federal appeals court ruling dismissing the lawsuit. Writing for the court, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said that foreign corporations couldnt be sued under the Alien Tort Statute because foreign corporate defendants create unique problems and courts are not well suited to make the required policy judgments. This is a familiar theme for the courts conservatives: that Congress, not the court, should authorize particular kinds of lawsuits. But the Alien Tort Statute was enacted by Congress, and almost 14 years ago the court suggested that it could be adapted to modern-day violations of the law of nations. Kennedy also argued, unpersuasively, that the court should be guided in this case by the fact that an entirely different federal law the 1991 Torture Victims Prevention Act allows lawsuits only against individuals who engage in torture or extrajudicial killing. But, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed out in her dissenting opinion, just because Congress saw fit to permit suits only against individuals for torture and extrajudicial killing doesnt mean it meant to bar suits against corporations in connection with other law-of-nations violations. Sotomayor made a persuasive case that the Alien Tort Statute should indeed be interpreted to cover wrongdoing by corporations as well as individuals. She also noted the irony that under Tuesdays ruling, foreign corporations entities capable of wrongdoing under our domestic law remain immune from liability for human rights abuses, however egregious they may be. Advertisement That would change if Congress decided to rectify the courts decision, as it should, by passing legislation clarifying that such lawsuits are allowed. The problem is that assembling majorities in both houses of Congress for such legislation in these polarized times will be an arduous undertaking. Congress wouldnt have to act if the court had taken an appropriately generous view of the Alien Tort Statute. American courts cant provide a remedy for every atrocity or act of oppression, but they ought to be open to victims including foreigners who cant obtain justice elsewhere. Tuesdays decision made such relief even harder to achieve. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook. Last week, the mayors of 12 cities in South Orange County had the opportunity to cut the Gordian knot that is homelessness. They met at the behest of U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter, whod issued them a warning: Step up and help solve this problem, or Im striking down the HOA-approved hedge of laws you think guard your perimeter. See, for decades cops and sheriffs deputies in South County have picked up the destitute and then dropped them off in blue-collar North County towns including Costa Mesa and Anaheim, but especially Santa Ana, which just happens to be the most Mexican city in Orange County. It was class warfare at its NIMBYest. Homelessness metastasized in North O.C., most notably along the Santa Ana riverbed that numbered more than 1,000 people at its height. But South County simply shrugged, because it had the political power and wealth to do so. The issue came to a head in February, when advocates for the homeless filed a lawsuit against the countys plan to clear 1,000 people out of the riverbed tent city. The case landed with Judge Carter. In front of a stunned courtroom during a rare weekend session on March 17, he told cities and the county to figure out something, and fast. Advertisement If civic revenge is the only way to make places such as South County face the homelessness problem, then so be it. Then he went further. He mocked those communities that are pristine and virtuous that had long shirked any responsibility. Everyone knew he was pointing at South O.C. If they ever dumped homeless persons in other cities again, he vowed, he would sic the U.S. attorney generals office on them. And finally, this: If county officials and South County towns didnt come up with a humane solution, he would to lift all the anti-camping ordinances in O.C. that are designed to criminalize homelessness. The O.C. Board of Supervisors seemed to get the message; it tried to open temporary shelters for about 400 individuals on county land in Irvine, Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach. But furious residents blasted the move, and those cities officials vowed to sue the county. So the supes kicked the can over to the 12 mayors of South County cities. Now, here was a chance for the areas leaders (and residents) to figure out a humane and sane way to shoulder their share of this crisis. They couldve been trailblazers, using their wealth and privilege to help out less-affluent communities. They couldve created a moment of civic unity in a time of increased stratification. They couldve provided a shining example to other Fortress California communities such as La Jolla, Simi Valley and Carmichael. The South County mayors revealed their plan Friday: Put emergency housing not in any of their towns, but in remote, unincorporated Silverado Canyon. Mayorless and politically powerless, Silverado Canyon is 40 minutes from the cliffs of Dana Point but just a few miles down Santiago Canyon Road from the El Modena barrio in Orange. (This was only a slight improvement on an idea the mayors had floated earlier: Throw the homeless in a former juvenile detention facility deep in the Cleveland National Forest.) The rest of O.C. collectively groaned. South County still doesnt get it, and doesnt even pretend to care. Even a NIMBYer like Supervisor Shawn Nelson who, as a Fullerton City Council member, once wanted to literally whitewash historic Chicano murals was disgusted, telling the Voice of OC, Putting the homeless out in a canyon somewhere so the [South County] cities can avoid dealing with the issue is not realistic or reasonable. Im not surprised at all at South Countys lack of interest in solving a regional problem. They are suburbanites who have long pretended they live a world apart from increasingly diverse O.C. The housing crisis is but a rumor here, where everyone wants to live on a street with a florid Spanish name and few residents bother to venture north of the El Toro Y. Advertisement But those days of blissful ignorance are over. If share-the-burden proposals or judicial nudges dont work, expect some legal diktats. Already the Santa Ana City Council is planning to sue the Board of Supervisors, Laguna Niguel, Irvine and Huntington Beach for their recalcitrance. Judge Carter seems like the kind of guy to see the Silverado Canyon proposal as just more South County NIMBYism. How long before he makes good on his threat to allow anyone to camp in O.C.s parks and other public spaces? I hope this South County farce also serves as a warning to other hoity-toity towns: The rest of us have had enough of your arms-length attitude and were ready to drag you kicking and screaming into reality. So thanks, guys. Ive always dismissed South County as the land of snooty fools blessed with great Persian food. But youve given Judge Carter a great excuse to make an example of NIMBYs once and for all. It shouldnt have had to get this far, but if civic revenge is the only way to make places such as South County face the homelessness problem, then so be it. Enjoy the RVs in front of your house, yall! mexicanwithglasses@gmail.com Advertisement Twitter: @gustavoArellano This week, three Republicans and three Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee introduced a new authorization for the use of U.S. military force in what has become a never-ending war on terrorism. It aims to provide lawmakers with the ability to rein in the presidents power to deploy troops in what has become our forever war. The current statutory authority, the Authorization for Use of Military Force, or AUMF, has been flexible to the point of absurdity. Passed a week after the 9/11 attacks, it authorized a conflict originally designed as a legitimate retaliatory campaign against Al Qaeda. Four presidencies later, we are fighting in multiple countries and across two continents against groups not even in existence when the 2001 resolution was written. While congressional action on a new authorization is certainly warranted and welcome, the authorization released last week will do very little to address the problem of potential executive overreach. The draft AUMF, in fact, again provides the White House with a blank check, under a cloak of transparency and accountability. If there is one lesson Congress should have learned in nearly two decades since the 2001 AUMF, it is that a sunset, or cut-off date, is an essential component in dealing with asymmetrical warfare and enemies. In its absence, the president is granted the ability to fight the war as long as he or she chooses. Indeed, the only way Congress can terminate a war in such a situation is by rescinding the authority altogether or cutting off appropriations two possibilities that are fantastical in todays political environment. Advertisement Unfortunately, the new authorization has no expiration date, an omission that will perpetuate the imbalance between the executive and legislative branches on matters of war and peace. And by leaving the date open-ended, it will be far easier for the war on terrorism to continue to spread to new territory. In 2001, Congress wanted to ensure that the president had specific statutory authority to retaliate against Al Qaeda, perpetrator of the 9/11 attacks. As time as gone by, however, the executive branch has expanded the targets to include a long list of regional and local terrorist groups, from the Islamic State in Syria to Boko Haram in northern Nigeria. The new AUMF not only codifies this expansive view, but does so in a way that makes a mockery of the goal of congressional oversight of war powers. It allows for the addition of associated (or partner) forces to the enemy roster, terms so ill-defined that the president, for all practical purposes, possesses unlimited power to bomb any terrorist group under the sun. As valiant as the latest effort is, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should start over. For example, the White House could attack a faction of tribesmen in the middle of Africa if it determined they had even slight contact with Al Qaeda. Organizations with local objectives are lumped together with those that have transnational aims, a dangerous interpretation that would easily pave the way for a permanent, ever more global conflict against all terrorists at any time and at any place. But the greatest weakness in the new AUMF is that it gets the entire process of authorizing the use of military force backward. The declare war clause in the Constitution makes it clear that any president who believes it is necessary for the United States to go to war overseas must make the case to the American peoples elected representatives in Congress. Only after the legislative branch votes in favor of war can the commander in chief actually prosecute a conflict. The resolution offered by the Foreign Relations Committee inexplicably shreds this process for the sake of political convenience. Were the resolution to pass, the president could launch airstrikes or deploy American troops against a band of terrorists into another country without first gaining the legislative branchs assent. Instead, Congress would have to decide whether the action was unnecessary after that action was already taken. Even the transparency requirements of the resolution are inadequate. The president, for example, must report to Congress on all organizations, persons, or forces he or she determines are partners of Al Qaeda, the Islamic State or the Taliban 30 days after the AUMF becomes law. The White House then would be bound to inform Congress within 48 hours if, at a later date, a new terrorist group was designated. But only Congress and not the American people must be notified. Whether we will know who we are fighting and why is left entirely to our lawmakers discretion. Advertisement No draft authorization for the use of military force is perfect at first. If war resolutions were easy, a new one would already be in place. Yet the architects of the Constitution wisely believed that going to war should be a difficult decision. Sending U.S. service members into battle is the most serious vote a member of Congress will ever make. Engaging in the debate and getting the decision right is what we elect representatives to do. As valiant as the latest effort is, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should start over. The next attempt should clearly and explicitly define who the enemy is, set out specific geographic parameters as to where the U.S. military will fight and include a sunset date so the executive branch cannot extend the war on terrorism infinitely without getting the approval of Congress. Anything less would make the inequity between the executive and legislative branches worse, not better. Daniel DePetris is a fellow at Defense Priorities. Twitter: @DanDePetris Advertisement Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook As I write this, I am listening to Wednesdays oral argument at the Supreme Court over the legality of President Trumps super-watered-down travel ban and wondering, not for the first time, why audio recordings of all arguments arent streamed on the same day. There really is no good no answer. Its important to realize how unusual it is that the public can hear arguments in the case of Trump vs. Hawaii on the same day the lawyers made them, albeit on a slightly delay. As Gabe Roth of Fix the Court notes, this is the first time the court has released audio on the same day since April 28, 2015, the day of the argument in Obergefell vs. Hodges, the same-sex marriage case. Audio recordings of every other argument in the interim have been posted on the courts website on Friday, two to four days after lawyers made their case before the justices. (The court hears arguments on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays during a sitting, and transcripts are posted on the same day.) Admittedly, Wednesdays argument, like the one in Obergefell, is unusually newsworthy. But since when are Supreme Court justices editors or news directors? Why not post the audio of every argument on the same day, and allow professional journalists to decide whether excerpts are worth including in the nightly news? Advertisement Ah, but what about the concern some justices are said to have about same-day audio resulting in misleading sound bites being retailed in the evening news? But if thats their objection, why allow same-day audio for the rare high-profile case such as those involving the travel ban, same-sex marriage or the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act? (It was the March 27, 2012, arguments in the Obamacare case that produced one of the most famous Supreme Court sound bites then-Justice Antonin Scalias comparison of the healthcare laws individual mandate with a hypothetical law forcing people to buy broccoli.) Making an exception for high-profile cases is also hard to reconcile with one of the other stock arguments against same-day audio: that lawyers who know their words might appear on the TV news will be tempted to grandstand. If youre inclined to showboat, wouldnt you do it precisely in those marquee cases? One possible explanation for the courts decision to allow same-day audio for the travel ban case is that it was asked to do by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committees subcommittee on the Constitution, and his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. In a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in March, the senators cited heightened national interest in the case as a reason for same-day audio. But since when does the court do Congress bidding? Any way you look at it, the courts selective policy on same-day audio makes no sense. If citizens can read the arguments on the day they are made, they ought to be able to listen to them whether the case is high-profile or snore-inducing. And, for the record, my bet for evening-news sound bite is this exchange between Justice Elena Kagan and Solicitor Gen. Noel Francisco: KAGAN: General, this is a[n] out-of-the-box kind of president in my hypothetical. And FRANCISCO: We we we dont have those, Your Honor. Advertisement You can listen to it here. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: Thanks for publishing the article, Trumps EPA argues more people will die in car accidents unless California fuel rules are weakened. Yes, lives are important, so all of the lives that will be affected by weakening fuel economy standards should be considered. This includes the people affected by more air pollution, rising sea levels and other problems. Cost savings should weigh what people pay for medical care because of increased air pollution, the cost of dealing with rising seas (its expensive to build a sea wall) and climate changes effects on crop yields. It would be foolish of the Trump administration not to consider the significant financial cost of dirtier air, among other problems. Loosening fuel economy standards could benefit a lot of rich people, but it is important to consider the total picture when making plans for the future. Advertisement Bill Roundy, Orange .. To the editor: First, let me say how completely oblivious this administration is to think Americans outside President Trumps base would buy for a second the Environmental Protection Agencys argument that more efficient cars are less safe. Can you say grasping at straws? Second, could this have anything to do with Trumps new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum? Rile up the auto makers by telling them that building their autos and trucks with inferior, imported metals to meet the new mileage standards will be bad for their companies. Auto fatalities will increase! Is there no bottom on how low the Trump administration will go? Daniel V. Shannon, Chatsworth .. To the editor: The Los Angeles Times tells us that the Trump administration believes Californias strict mileage standards can cost lives. Advertisement Less poison in the air is bad. And pink is green. Up is down. Black is white. And God didnt make little green apples. Therese H.E. Whitney, Sherman Oaks Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 The Supreme Courts conservative justices sounded ready Wednesday to uphold President Trumps travel ban, potentially giving the embattled White House a big legal victory after a series of defeats in the lower courts. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy portrayed the issue before the court as one of national security in which the chief executive, not the judicial branch, should be entrusted to weigh possible threats from foreign visitors. Could the president ban the entry of Syrian nationals if he had evidence that some Syrians had chemical or biological weapons? Roberts asked a lawyer challenging Trumps travel ban. Even the lawyer for the challengers had to agree the answer was yes. Advertisement But attorney Neal Katyal, representing the state of Hawaii, said federal law gives the president only temporary authority to exclude certain people, not to impose a broad ban that would cover an entire nation and stay in place indefinitely. The president should go to Congress if he wants a flat ban on new immigrants from certain nations, Katyal said. Imagine, if you can, that Congress is unable to act when the President asked for legislation, Roberts said to laughter in the courtroom. He suggested the immigration laws authorize the president to bar foreign travelers to protect the nations security. Kennedy said he did not see why the presidents order had to have a time limit. Do you want the president to say: Im convinced in six months we will have a safe world? he said in a sarcastic rejoinder. At issue now is the third version of a travel ban. It bars the entry of most immigrants and travelers from Iran, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and North Korea as well as officials from Venezuela. Earlier versions included Chad, Sudan and Iraq. Since Trump first issued his travel order, setting off widespread chaos at airports just a few days after his inauguration, the issue has strongly shaped public perceptions of the new administration. It has also led to a string of defeats in lower courts, where judges ruled that the measure exceeded Trumps authority and, in some cases, said it reflected bias against Muslims. The Supreme Court has provided a friendlier forum, however. The justices issued a ruling in June that allowed the second version of the travel ban to take partial effect. Then, in December, with only two dissents, they set aside lower-court rulings to allow the administration to put the third version into practice, a strong indicator of where the majority was headed. Wednesday, along with Roberts and Kennedy, two other members of the courts conservative wing clearly seemed inclined to uphold Trumps order. Along with Justice Clarence Thomas, who made no comments, they would appear to provide five solid votes to provide the administration with a victory. Advertisement Justice Samuel A. Alito rejected the notion Trumps order could be considered a Muslim ban, noting it does not apply to most of the largest Muslim nations. If you look at what was done, it does not look like a Muslim ban, he said. Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trumps appointee, questioned whether the challengers had standing to sue in the first place. Foreigners overseas do not have rights in U.S. courts, he said. Plaintiffs who live in Hawaii sued, contending the travel ban was illegal, but third parties cant vindicate the rights of aliens, Gorsuch said. The latest from Washington Advertisement During the first half-hour of the argument, the courts liberals, led by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, suggested Trumps order reflected unconstitutional religious bias. So lets say in some future time, a president gets elected who is a vehement anti-Semite and says all kinds of denigrating comments about Jews, Kagan said in a question posed to Solicitor Gen. Noel Francisco. And suppose the new president then issues a proclamation that says no one shall enter from Israel. What are reasonable observers to think? she asked. Its a tough hypothetical, Francisco conceded. But its why I think that this is a relatively easy case. Advertisement The current version of the travel ban emerged from a multi-agency review and a recommendation from the presidents Cabinet, he said. This is not a so-called Muslim ban. If it were, it would be the most ineffective Muslim ban since...it excludes the vast majority of the Muslim world. Sotomayor said she was unimpressed with the claim that the travel ban came from a multi-agency review and not solely from the president. He can hire and fire anyone he wants, she said, adding that a president could dictate to Cabinet officials what they should approve. Francisco said the presidents Cabinet officers are duty-bound to protect and defend the Constitution and would resign in the face of a plainly unconstitutional order. Advertisement Several justices commented on Trumps campaign statements and his tweets, asking if they gave evidence of anti-Muslim bias. The presidents lawyer argued that campaign statements are a matter of free speech and not relevant in judging a presidents decisions in office. At one point, Kennedy disagreed, saying that campaign statements were not irrelevant in judging the actions of an elected official. But during the second half of the argument, the five conservatives steered away from the issue of bias. Advertisement And any hope the challengers had that Kennedy, who most often holds the courts swing vote, might side with them dwindled quickly. At one point, Kennedy stared at Katyal as he said: Your argument is the courts have a duty to review whether or not there is a national exigency. Thats for the courts to do, not the president? His tone suggested the argument was not one he accepted. In addition to resolving the fate of the travel order, the ruling in the case may give the first clues about how the high court is reacting to the tempestuous Trump presidency and to the determined legal resistance in the lower courts. During the tenures of Presidents George W. Bush and Obama, nearly four years went by before the high court weighed in on their uses of presidential power. For Bush, the war on terror provided the first, key test. For Obama, it was his healthcare law. Advertisement Both times, the court narrowly upheld the presidents initiatives, but with limits. Prisoners at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, won the right to court hearings, and Republican states won the right not to expand their Medicaid coverage. By contrast, the fight over the travel ban began a few days after Trumps inauguration, when the White House issued a hastily drafted proclamation that critics said was an attempt to make good on his campaign promise to enact a Muslim ban. The order barred travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries and disrupted travel for thousands of tourists, students, family members and business travelers. Katyal, who served as acting solicitor general under Obama, is leading the challenge. He argues that Trumps order is extraordinary and unwarranted. Trump seeks to impose a sweeping change to the immigration system, imposing a ban on the entry of 150 million aliens the vast majority of them Muslim, he told the court in briefs filed in Trump vs. Hawaii. Advertisement Giving the president such extravagant and unilateral authority would mean the chief executive could pick and choose which countries may send visitors to this country, Katyal said. Congress specifically rejected such discrimination based on nationality in 1965, he noted. By contrast, Francisco, representing the administration, said Trumps order is a routine measure in line with law and tradition. The Constitution and acts of Congress both confer on the president broad authority to suspend or restrict the entry of aliens outside the United States when he deems it in the nations interest, he wrote. Past presidents have routinely invoked that authority to advance national security and foreign policy objectives, he wrote. He cited as examples President Carters order barring Iranians in the late 1970s and President Reagans order blocking Cubans in the mid-1980s. Advertisement The high court is being asked to rule on four questions two substantive and two procedural. First, Trumps lawyers question whether anyone can go to court to challenge an executive order barring entry of a noncitizen. Congress has never authorized judicial review of executive decisions to exclude aliens abroad, Francisco said. These noncitizens have no constitutional rights regarding entry, he added. Katyal disagrees, of course. The judiciary is not powerless to intervene when the president oversteps his legal authority and adopts an unconstitutional policy, he said. The next question focuses on federal immigration law and what it authorizes. Trumps lawyers say Congress gave the president broad authority to suspend the entry of any class of aliens whenever he sees fit and for as long as he shall deem necessary. Advertisement Katyal agrees that the law gives the president this power, but says the authority applies to temporary and emergency measures, not a permanent ban. He also says the president has failed to explain why the travel ban is needed. Moreover, Katyal points to the section of immigration law adopted in 1965 that he says makes clear the president may not single-handedly revive the national quota system that Congress abolished. The third question asks whether a limitation targeted at Muslim countries violates the Constitutions ban on an establishment of religion. Usually, the establishment of religion issue arises when local officials choose to hold prayers at public events or put religious symbols on public property. In this case, Francisco says the travel ban is religion neutral because it singles out countries based, not on religion, but on their lack of strong security procedures. Advertisement Katyal says the evidence is overwhelming that [the travel ban order] was issued for the unconstitutional purpose of excluding Muslims from the United States. Finally, Trumps lawyers ask the court to decide whether the district judges order in Hawaii that blocked the travel ban nationwide was too broad. The administration hopes the court will rein in the increasingly common practice of district judges handing down nationwide orders based on a suit brought by a handful of plaintiffs. More stories from David G. Savage david.savage@latimes.com Advertisement Twitter: DavidGSavage UPDATES: 1:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional remarks from the argument and analysis. 9:50 a.m.: This article was updated with remarks by Justice Kagan. Advertisement 8:40 a.m.: This article was updated with details from the Supreme Court argument. This article was originally published at 3 a.m. Wednesday, April 25, 2018 Alfie deserves another chance Doctors in Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool yesterday removed life support from Alfie Evans, the 23 month old boy suffering from an unknown disease. The doctors argued that life support should be withdrawn for the boy, who has a rare degenerative brain disease and that the biggest part of his brain is damaged leading to a complete lack of functionality of his central nervous system. In the past few months, his parents made several appeals to prevent this from happening. But on the 20th of April, the UK supreme court dismissed their latest appeal. However, despite the fact that life support has been removed, Alfie is still breathing. This put into question the insistence to remove life support. Additionally, UK courts have also turned down the request of the parents to take the child to Italy for further hospitalization after the Italian government granted Alfie Italian citizenship following the intervention of the Pope. This is a wrong decision since the UK is still part of the European Union and the freedom of movement still applies to UK citizens. In another case, the Advocate General Wathelet of the Court of Justice of the EU stated in his opinion that the free movement principle lies above all, even above the principle of maintaining public order and public policy. ECPM believes that across Europe, vulnerable individuals, like Alfie, require compassionate care and adequate protection. We are therefore against any effort to prematurely end the life of Alfie says ECPM MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (DUP). If the doctors of the hospital in Liverpool are not willing to provide the compassionate care that Alfie needs while he continues to fight for his life, his parents should be allowed to seek further assistance elsewhere. As EU citizens, they currently have the right to seek further medical assistance for Alfie abroad. As parents, they have the right to choose what is in the best interest of their child. As Alfie continues to fight, it becomes clear that the medical prognosis was wrong. Alfie deserves another chance. 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch Live: White House holds surprise news briefing amid government shutdown Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 A District of Columbia federal judge has delivered the toughest blow yet to Trump administration efforts to end deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants, ordering the government to continue the Obama-era program and for the first time since announcing it would end reopen it to new applicants. U.S. District Judge John Bates on Tuesday called the governments decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program virtually unexplained and therefore unlawful. However, he stayed his ruling for 90 days to give the Department of Homeland Security a chance to provide more solid reasoning for ending the program. Bates is the third judge to rule against Trump administration attempts to rescind DACA, which provides two-year, renewable work permits and deportation protections for about 690,000 dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children. In his decision, Bates said the decision to phase out the program starting in March was arbitrary and capricious because the Department failed adequately to explain its conclusion that the program was unlawful. Advertisement Each day that the agency delays is a day that aliens who might otherwise be eligible for initial grants of DACA benefits are exposed to removal because of an unlawful agency action, Bates wrote. Federal judges in California and New York have also blocked the administrations plans on those grounds, and ordered the administration to renew work permits for immigrants enrolled in the program. But the ruling by Bates, an appointee of President George W. Bush, is far more expansive: If the government does not come up with a better explanation within 90 days, he will rescind the government memo that terminated the program and require the Homeland Security Department to enroll new applicants as well. Thousands could be eligible to apply. We are pleased and gratified but were not out of the woods yet, said Bradford Berry, general counsel for the NAACP, a plaintiff in one of the two lawsuits that triggered the ruling. The government still has an opportunity to try to save their rescission of the program. The Trump administration said it is reviewing the decision. In a statement, the Justice Department pointed out that a similar Obama-era program for immigrant parents failed to survive a court challenge, and said ending DACA was part of its efforts to protect the border and enforce the rule of law. Todays order doesnt change the Department of Justices position on the facts: DACA was implemented unilaterally after Congress declined to extend benefits to this same group of illegal aliens, spokesman Devin OMalley said in a statement. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously defend this position. A federal judge in Maryland recently ruled in favor of the government in a different DACA case. The Trump administration says it decided to end DACA because Texas and other states had threatened to sue over it, and that the government believed the program would not survive a court challenge. Bates ruled that the governments meager legal reasoning and the threat of a lawsuit did not justify terminating the program. Advertisement Congress failed to pass legislation this year protecting DACA recipients and other dreamers. Trump had hoped to use the young immigrants as a bargaining chip in the last round of budget negotiations, offering legal residency for them in exchange for money for a border wall and strict new immigration limits. After negotiations collapsed, he declared DACA dead. His administration this year has renewed more than 55,000 work permits for immigrants enrolled in the program, as the courts required. The program has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, allowing them to get drivers licenses, qualify for in-state tuition, buy homes and attend college and graduate school. They must meet educational and residency requirements and cannot have serious criminal records. Advertisement UPDATES: April 25, 6:29 a.m.: This article was updated to include reaction from the Justice Department and information on a recent ruling in Maryland. This article was originally published on April 24 at 5:40 p.m. Demonstrating the limits of their touchy-feely friendship, French President Emmanuel Macron delivered an unsubtle rebuke of President Trumps disruptive foreign policies Wednesday in a speech to a joint session of Congress that served as an extended defense of globalism. Macron told lawmakers that the United States should remain in the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate change accord, international agreements that Trump has bitterly denounced as he presses his America first policies. Macrons speech, delivered in the House chamber, spurred multiple standing ovations, many from Democrats heartened that he clearly repudiated Trumps policies even as he cast himself as a staunch political ally. Macron upbraided those who he said were animated by the siren of nationalism, a political fault line in both Europe and America, where it was successfully mined by Trump. He also defended free trade, which Trump opposes, and climate science, which Trump has derided. Advertisement We have two possible ways ahead, Macron said. We can chose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism. This is an option. It can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy to our fears. But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world, he added. It will not douse, but inflame, the fears of our citizens. We have to keep our eyes wide open to the new risks right in front of us. The speech underscored that whatever comity the two leaders have found as newly elected outsiders, their political centers of gravity remain distant. On Tuesday, in full view of TV cameras in the White House, Trump reached over and flicked what he called a bit of dandruff off the younger mans shoulder in order to render him perfect. Later, Macron draped his right arm over the taller mans shoulder and kept it there as they departed a news briefing. At times in his speech Wednesday, Macron lauded policies that have flowed from closer U.S. ties to France, including joint airstrikes by U.S., French and British forces against three suspected chemical weapons facilities in Syria on April 14. But there was no question that he also sought to distance himself from the president. Macron offered a firm denunciation of Trumps threat to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal by a self-imposed deadline of May 12 unless it is fixed. We signed it, at the initiative of the United States, Macron said. We signed it, both the United States and France. That is why we cannot say we should get rid of it like that. Advertisement The French president said supplemental agreements under discussion would address Trumps concerns. They include greater efforts to constrain Irans support for militant groups in the Middle East, and additional monitoring of Tehrans ballistic missile program. Macron was similarly critical of Trumps decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, which Trump dismissed last June by announcing he was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris. He seemed to allude directly to Trumps repeated efforts to revive Americas ever-shrinking coal industry, at the expense of investments in cleaner energy sources, without mentioning the president by name. Some people think that securing current industries and their jobs is more urgent than transforming our economies to meet the global challenge of climate change, he said. I hear these concerns. But we must find a smooth transition to a low-carbon economy. Advertisement By polluting the oceans, not mitigating carbon emissions, and destroying biodiversity, we are killing our planet, he added. Let us face it. There is no planet B. With a straight face, the French president tweaked Trumps campaign slogan as he called for environmental policies to make our planet great again. Macron also took aim at the presidents objections to global trade deals, which he said had created jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. A commercial war opposing allies is not consistent with our mission, with our history, with our current commitments for the global security, he said. At the end of the day, it will destroy jobs, increase prices and the middle class will have to pay for it. Advertisement Legitimate concerns should be dealt with by negotiating within the World Trade Organization, he said. We wrote these rules, he said. We should follow them. Macrons speech to Congress followed two days in which he and his wife, Brigitte, were feted by the president and his wife, Melania. The foursome took a helicopter ride Monday night to George Washingtons riverside estate at Mount Vernon in Virginia, where they ate dinner on the terrace. On Tuesday, the two presidents offered warm toasts at the first state dinner of the Trump administration. Advertisement Even if the seeming closeness of the couples did not reflect shared political positions, the visit marked a reversal from the animosities of the George W. Bush era. France did not join the U.S.-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003, arguing that an invasion was unwarranted. Republicans in Congress responded by renaming French fries in the Capitol cafeterias as freedom fries so they would not be sullied by the connection. Macrons visit focused instead on the centuries-long alliance between France and America. He reflected on the critical support France gave rebellious colonists in the Revolution, the French engineer who laid out Washingtons streets, and the shared pride in cultural figures like Ernest Hemingway and James Baldwin, who took root in both countries. He spoke of responsibilities inherited from our collective history. Both in the United States and Europe, we are living in a time of anger and fear, because of these current global threats, he said. But these feelings do not build anything. You can play with fears and angers for a time, but they do not construct anything. Advertisement If he was speaking directly to Trump, he did not say. The latest from Washington For more on politics from Cathleen Decker cathleen.decker@latimes.com Advertisement Twitter: @cathleendecker President Trump on Tuesday openly nudged Dr. Ronny Jackson toward withdrawing as his nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, publicly raising the idea shortly after senators canceled a confirmation hearing in order to investigate allegations of inappropriate behavior by the White House doctor. I told Adm. Jackson just a little while ago I said, What do you need this for? Trump said during a White House news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump said the decision whether to continue as the nominee was up to Jackson, the chief White House physician and a Navy rear admiral. But, the president added, If I were him the fact is, I wouldnt do it. I wouldnt do it. Trump said he wasnt aware of the specific allegations against his nominee, who was a surprise pick to much of the White House staff when the president named him in late March. Instead, he blamed Democrats for what loomed as a tortuous nomination process. He called the opposition to Jackson vicious and said the nominee was being punished in retaliation for the administrations success in pushing Secretary of State-designate Mike Pompeo past his opposition. Advertisement The president said that he would stand behind Jackson if he chose to remain the nominee to head the federal governments second-largest department. But six times the president recounted asking Jackson why he would choose to proceed sending what appeared to be a deliberate signal that he bow out. Trump also noted that Jackson faces an experience problem senators have questioned Jacksons lack of management experience although he insisted that nobody has the experience of a medical system as complex as the VA. A person close to the nominee said Jacksons stomach would determine whether he withdraws or tries to weather the scrutiny. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record. Just before the president spoke, Jackson had been meeting with senators who were to take up his nomination on Wednesday. That hearing was abruptly postponed. Jacksons nomination had already faced difficulty because of the concerns about his lack of experience. Late last week, senators said, a new front opened as allegations were made against Jackson by some past professional colleagues. The New York Times first reported that the claims included overprescribing drugs, drinking on the job and contributing to a hostile environment in the White House medical office. In a brief hallway interview with NBC News at mid-morning Tuesday, Jackson said he was looking forward to having the hearing rescheduled. Asked about the allegations, Jackson replied: Im looking forward to the hearing so we can sit down and I can explain everything to everyone and answer all the senators questions. Advertisement Some of the concerns forwarded to the Senate appear to come from an inspector generals report from 2012 titled a Command Climate Assessment of the White House medical office. The report is the sort of document that would have been central to any normal vetting of a nominee, highlighting the lack of scrutiny that Jackson underwent before Trump picked him. The six-page document, reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, portrayed a power struggle between Jackson, who was leading the White House medical unit at the time, and another physician, Jeffrey Kuhlman, who was serving as the presidents personal physician. It painted a dire picture of Jacksons efforts to manage a much smaller bureaucracy than the VA, a circumstance likely to play into existing concerns among lawmakers from both parties. The report, based on interviews with employees, said the two men were constantly undercutting each other, eviscerating the units morale. It detailed a severe and pervasive lack of trust in the leadership that has deteriorated to the point that staff walk on eggshells because of open division between the two men. Both men exhibited unprofessional behaviors, the report said, describing the atmosphere as toxic and not sustainable. Advertisement In response, a senior White House official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said Jackson did nothing wrong and would not be railroaded by a bitter ex-colleague. Dr. Jacksons record as a White House physician is impeccable, the official said. He has improved unit morale, received glowing reviews and promotions under Republican and Democrat presidents, and has been given a clean vet from the FBI. Senators on Tuesday said that the White House seemed to have been caught unaware by the criticisms of Jackson, who had previously been best known for the glowing descriptions he offered of Trumps health during a briefing with reporters in January. At one point in that briefing, Jackson joked that had the 71-year-old Trump not suffered from a weakness for fast food, he might live to be 200 years old. His public show of support for the president may have played a role in Trumps decision to nominate Jackson and in the administrations lax vetting, said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). Advertisement The White House clearly didnt pay enough attention to this, said Brown, who added that it seemed apparent that the president liked him in part because he gave the glowing description of Trumps health. His staff has learned over one bad appointment, one unqualified, one incompetent, one flawed appointment after another theres no standing in the way, Brown said. And standing in the way would be vetting the person, saying, Wait a minute.The White House does not follow that pattern. Like other senators, Brown would not discuss the details of the allegations, other than to say they were serious and had not been confirmed. Several senators said they were waiting for background reports from the FBI and other agencies. Republicans were more reluctant to criticize the president, but some appeared frustrated that a Trump nominee again had been threatened and senators blindsided by the administrations lackluster background checks. Advertisement If it is true, its a vetting mess, a grim-faced Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said, referring to the allegations against the nominee. (An aide later insisted Tillis had said a vetting miss.) Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), like Tillis a member of the committee that had planned to take up the Jackson nomination this week, called the circumstances a profound disservice to veterans as well as to Jackson himself. The questions that are festering and expanding now should be addressed right away, he said, insisting he was withholding judgment until more investigation was done. The administrations vetting flaws, he said, unfortunately are symptomatic of a broader failure to properly review and scrutinize the records of its nominees. The delays in the Jackson nomination came at an awkward time for Senate Republicans. Angered at Democrats who they blame for slow-walking nominations, Republicans were considering a measure to curtail debate over future nominees. The Jackson situation at minimum gave Democrats the argument which they made throughout the day Tuesday that the Senate should have a full debate over nominations that the administration has hurriedly put forth. Advertisement Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he had not spoken to the president and was awaiting a signal about the fate of the Jackson nomination. Look, its up to the administration to do the vetting, he said when asked about the adequacy of the Jackson background checks. And I think those are the kind of questions you ought to direct to them. The latest from Washington For more on politics from Cathleen Decker Advertisement cathleen.decker@latimes.com Twitter: @cathleendecker UPDATES: 3:00 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from an aide to Sen. Tillis. Advertisement This article was originally published at 3:50 p.m. April 24. The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, is expected to soon address a joint session of Congress. But will that speech make news that eclipses the serious questions being raised about President Trumps selection to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs? DIAGNOSING DR. JACKSONS POLITICAL FATE On Tuesday, Trump suggested Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson might just want to walk away from the nomination. If I were him the fact is, I wouldnt do it. I wouldnt do it, the president said during a Tuesday news conference with Macron. Trump also said that he would stand behind Jackson if he chose to remain the nominee. Advertisement That comment came shortly after senators canceled a confirmation hearing to investigate allegations of inappropriate behavior by Jackson, the White House doctor spontaneously tapped by Trump via Twitter less than a month ago. The Navy admiral was already facing questions about his qualifications to lead the agency, home to the second-largest federal government workforce. Sign up for the Essential Politics newsletter MACRON: MON BON AMI The cloud surrounding one of the presidents Cabinet picks parted at least long enough to fete the French president, a fast favorite of Trump, at the first state dinner at the White House of his administration. Macrons visit began on Monday and by Tuesday moved into private meetings with the president. It was during a public portion of one of those meetings that Trump tried to navigate the tricky waters separating him and his new friend when it comes to the nuclear treaty with Iran. Its insane. Its ridiculous. It should never have been made. But we will be talking about it, Trump told reporters as the two leaders sat side by side in the Oval Office for their first business meeting of Macrons visit. The visit by the French president and his wife, Brigitte Macron, presented a spotlight moment for First Lady Melania Trump. As Cathleen Decker notes, shes being thrust into a more visible public role than perhaps at any other time in her husbands presidency. It comes after a lengthy period of relative invisibility that has not only confounded White House tradition but also limited her potential political benefit to a troubled administration. Keep an eye on todays news on the speech by Macron on our Essential Washington news feed. Advertisement THE SECRET SCIENCE FIGHT The Environmental Protection Agency took aim on Tuesday at the science behind many of the nations clean air and clean water rules. The proposal that was announced would effectively prevent regulators from considering a wide range of health studies when they look at new regulations, prohibiting what Administrator Scott Pruitt and industry advocates call secret science studies that make use of data that are kept confidential, often for privacy reasons. NATIONAL POLITICS LIGHTNING ROUND Advertisement -- The Trump administration now has 90 days to explain its reasoning for ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. -- Judging by its first week of sales, former FBI Director James Comeys book is on track to become the biggest political hit of 2018. -- Made in China 2025 may have fueled Trumps tough talk on trade, but Chinese leaders consider the plan key to the countrys development and refuse to alter its course. -- The presidents administration is racing to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement by early May with an eye toward forcing a congressional vote on a new pact by the end of the year. Advertisement -- Former President George H.W. Bush has been hospitalized in Houston with an infection, just after attending the funeral of his wife, former First Lady Barbara Bush. GAS TAX REPEAL MOVES TOWARD NOVEMBER BALLOT In what could be the lightning rod of California ballot measures this fall, backers of the initiative to repeal the states new gas tax increase say theyve hit their mark. Republican activists said Tuesday that they have collected at least 830,000 signatures for a proposal to repeal the tax and impose new restrictions on efforts to raise fuel taxes in the future. If those signatures are all verified by county elections officials, thats far more than whats needed to make the November ballot. Advertisement Expect more news on ballot measures in the near future. This week is the suggested deadline by state officials for backers of initiatives to turn in signatures in time for final certification by late June. CALIFORNIA BAIL CHANGES SOUGHT EVEN BY ... BAIL AGENTS THEMSELVES This year, as California lawmakers have labored on an overhaul of how courts assign bail to defendants and regulate bail agencies, theres a new and vocal group of reformers: bail agents. These bail and bail-recovery agents could become unlikely allies, saying they advocate for change because theyve seen the system abuse the poor. Advertisement Its worth noting that the primary proposal for changing the cash bail system remains pending in the state Capitol. Well be keeping track of it and dozens of other pending bills on our Essential Politics news feed. TODAYS ESSENTIALS -- Rep. Duncan Hunter wants to create a legal expense fund to cover the costs of FBI investigation into his activities. -- Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson toured a homeless womens center on L.A.s skid row on Tuesday, part of a fact-finding trip of public, private and faith-based initiatives tackling homelessness and job training. Advertisement -- Sen. Kamala Harris says she wont take corporate donations anymore. -- At least 240 House lawmakers want a vote on immigration. California supporters say they arent ready to force one. -- Los Angeles is ending its economic boycott of Arizona, which was launched eight years ago to protest a hotly contested law targeting illegal immigration and then repeatedly lifted as the city continued buying products from that state. -- State lawmakers are trying again to spend $2 billion to help build homeless housing, and this time the plan might go on the November ballot. Advertisement -- A group 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. LOGISTICS Essential Politics is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can keep up with breaking news on our politics page throughout the day. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Advertisement Miss Mondays newsletter? Here you go. Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox. 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 America 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. Protesters shouting "not one penny in tax cuts for Issa and the 1 percent" stood on one side of the street and an inflatable 20-foot chicken was set up across from them. Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune 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. Get our Essential Politics newsletter In a state that already embodies the anti-Trump resistance, its fitting that Issas turf has been home to some of the most organized, persistent and vocal dissenters. Here, the stakes are high and the ground theyre fighting over narrow: In 2016, the Republican Issa won by just 1,621 votes, the slimmest reelection margin in any House race that year. The longevity of the protests, which often drew hundreds, gives Democrats hope a wave election to put them back in control is coming in November. But the hardening on each side is what may give others anxiety about the state of the union afterward. On another recent Tuesday, wedding DJ Steve Hasty greeted his political opponents across the street. Good morning! he said in a cloying tone. So happy to see you guys believe in the concept of building the wall! He pointed at the contraption that had been erected along the sidewalk, 8 feet tall and willed together with styrofoam, wood and traffic cones reinforced with rebar. At first it was set up to drown out Hastys voice blaring from loudspeakers, but the wall also became a stage, painted a Mediterranean blue and sporting a banner that said CATCH THE BLUE WAVE. The blue wall was built to block the sound coming from Trump-supporting counter-protesters across the street. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Edith Jones holds a sign tallying gun deaths. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) Left, the blue wall was built to block the sound coming from Trump-supporting counter-protesters across the street. Right, Edith Jones holds a sign tallying gun deaths. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times / John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) Just past 10 a.m., the protesters, Hasty and several other pro-Trump regulars raised their right hands to their hearts, and in the only moments of unity in the next hour, everyone sang the national anthem. The peace was soon broken. I didnt see anyone kneeling today! Hasty said. We were right here! shouted a sign-toting couple, hoisting themselves up from the grass. Ellen Montanari, the 64-year-old ringleader, ignored Hasty. She started the first of the rallies in 2016, after unfurling herself from the fetal position she said she was in for weeks after Donald Trumps win. With little more than an email invite and word of mouth, she got a few dozen people to show up outside Issas office that first Tuesday. She largely abandoned her corporate consulting business to plan the protests: coming up with themes, lining up speakers and coordinating volunteers. There was an army of them, mostly retirees or those wealthy enough not to work. Many were former teachers, doctors, contractors and veterans. See how The Times politics editors rank the toughest House races Talk to any of Montanaris co-resisters and theyll tell you that these protests, as silly and theatrical as they appeared, were therapeutic. Maureen, Marcia and Scott were on peace patrol to calm shouting matches and help people cross the street safely. Margaret, a retired teacher, became the songwriter. There was Bill, the former masonry contractor who built the wall, and Edith, who left her soul line-dancing class early most Tuesdays to attend. David decked out the donated trailer that served as their makeshift stage, adding a wood frame, plywood boards as a platform, stairs, an American flag and a patio umbrella. A panoply of people have spoken from that pulpit to preach the gospel of anti-Trumpism: a teary-eyed widow worried about losing her healthcare, billionaire activist Tom Steyer, and, yes, a clergywoman from a local church. One recent week the sermon was delivered by several high school students who werent even old enough to vote. High school students gather in front of Issa's office to demand a town hall on gun violence. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) Tears stream down the face of Sage Creek High School senior Chloe Easterbrook as she speaks to the crowd. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) San Clemente High School student Jake Rybcyk speaks. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) Daniel West, in white shirt on left, a staff member at Rep. Darrell Issa's office, accepts a request for a town hall from the students. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) Clockwise from top left: Nine high school students from Issa's congressional district gather in front of his office to demand a town hall on gun violence. Tears stream down the face of Sage Creek High School senior Chloe Easterbrook as she speaks to the crowd. Daniel West, in white shirt on left, a staff member at Darrell Issa's office, accepts a request for a town hall from the students. San Clemente High School student Jake Rybcyk speaks. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) As a student took the mic to call Issa a puppet of the NRA, Hasty shot back, Guns dont kill people, mentally ill people kill people! His monologue meandered from gun control to abortion, the perils of violent video games, and a claim that Democrats want to raise the voting age to 21. After chanting Unborn lives matter! Hasty handed the microphone to his pro-Trump comrade, Sean Colgan, who referenced mass shootings committed by deranged Democrats. Perhaps, Colgan posited, Democrats should just be banned from owning guns. Clearly, they cannot be trusted. The teen across the street, out of sight behind the wall, finished his sentence at almost the same time. Pretty soon, a lot of us kids will have a vote, too, the boy said to a chorus of cheers. Tuesdays werent always like that for Colgan, 61, who was showing up to the rallies on his Honda Twinstar motorbike long before Hasty came on the scene. The self-styled Trump motorcycle guy, with thick glasses and white hair whos medically retired, was once friendly with his adversaries across the street. Sean Colgan has been counter-protesting since the rallies outside Rep. Darrell Issa's district offices started last February. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times Many protested by his side, waving signs condemning Issa and Trump one moment and sharing doughnuts and bottled water with him the next. When city officials tried to crack down on the protesters, putting strict conditions on the permit Montanari held, Colgan defended them. Then Hasty, the 46-year-old DJ and cofounder of a local tea party group, started regularly showing up last September with a state-of-the-art sound system and an arsenal of one-liners. The resistance was not pleased. A few, Hasty says, left his business negative reviews on Yelp. Hasty decided then that hed join Colgan every week. Sometimes a few other pro-Trump folks came, but often it was the two of them making just as much noise as the hundreds across the street. When they were the only ones with the microphone, and basically had a monopoly, they were fine, Colgan said. Now, weve got Steve and hes a touch more in your face than I am. Because theyre mad at him, theyre mad at me. Colgan and Hasty were usually relegated to a dirt patch on the opposite side of the street from Issas office. Its really too bad, Montanari reflected later. But you cant be over there with [Hasty], with all the vile stuff hes saying and then come over and be friends. Sadly, it doesnt work that way. When the group began to sing Woody Guthries This Land is Your Land, another tradition, Hasty mocked them for not uniting behind a single Democratic challenger in the crowded race to replace Issa, a mortal danger in Californias top-two primary environment. Youve wasted an entire year of your life! he shouted over the would-be kumbaya moment. How embarrassing! The anti-Issa protesters worked hard to escape Hastys noise. They upgraded their sound system with crowdfunded equipment worth thousands. One week, the giant inflatable chicken helped block Hasty. Another week, Montanari and others spent hours planning an elaborate joke, where a pickup truck hauled their entire stage a couple of hundred feet up the road just as the national anthem hit its final note. Rallygoers chanted as they followed to the new, quieter spot, leaving Hasty flatfooted. When the set-up crew moved the trailer three times in an hour, Hasty blared Blondies One Way or Another over his speakers as he followed in hot pursuit. Ellen Montenari chants with the crowd in January, celebrating Issa's announcement he will not seek reelection. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) Demonstrators don hospital gowns and surgical masks to protest Issa's vote on the GOP healthcare bill. (Christine Mai-Duc / Los Angeles Times) Left, Ellen Montenari chants with the crowd in January, celebrating Darrell Issa's announcement he will not seek reelection. Right, demonstrators don hospital gowns and surgical masks to protest Issa's vote on the GOP healthcare bill. (Eduardo Contreras/San Diego Union-Tribune / Christine Mai-Duc/Los Angeles Times) Another staple of the protests was the leave-behinds they dropped at Issas office door. Theyve left petitions asking for a town hall, brooms and mops urging him to clean house, and blackened toast and jam for Issa-youre-toast day. Issa usually wasnt there, so a staffer frequently answered the door, listened politely, thanked them and retreated inside. In the early days, perhaps when he thought he could contain or outlast them, Issa seemed to approach the protesters with curiosity and bemusement. Darrell Issa was Obama's toughest critic He granted them what theyd been demanding, holding a town hall in March of last year, where he faced an unfriendly crowd. He had another in June, where a select group of constituents received early access to tickets, and also called a couple last-minute pop-up town halls outside his office. He made occasional appearances to greet the crowd and answer questions at the protests. In one of his first, Issa told both sides that America needed calm and civil discourse more than ever. When he showed up a couple of months later, the tension was palpable, but protesters chanted, Thanks for showing up! anyway. Things only got weirder. The day after Memorial Day, Issa delivered a piece of cake to Colgan. But when he asked to use Montanaris microphone, she refused. By the end of the hour, Issa was photographed looking down and snapping pictures from the roof, a bizarre image that went viral. That same day, Issa called city officials to complain. In a letter a month later, he asked the Vista City Council to keep in place restrictions on the protesters, saying it wasnt safe and the protesters were disrupting the buildings other tenants. Protesters rally outside Issa's office in July 2017. Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune But the American Civil Liberties Union got involved, and city officials lifted the restrictions. Protesters said the congressman was rarely spotted after that. An Issa spokeswoman contended that the congressman frequently engaged with protesters and regularly answered their questions. In early January, they held a mock retirement party for Issa with balloons and a homemade cake in the shape of a Hawaiian shirt, surrounded by brown sugar sand. Protesters made a cake for a mock Issa retirement party. The next day, the GOP congressman announced he wouldn't run for another term. Scott Roleson Huddled under umbrellas in pouring rain, they sang, Issa youll retire, your situations dire, we will soon replace you, never fear. Now we must report, now your time is short, Issa youll retire this year. The next morning, Issa announced he wouldnt run for reelection. Within hours, hundreds showed up to the only Wednesday rally the group ever held. They toasted with apple cider, sang farewell songs and ate another cake. The next week, they were back again, though the crowds began to thin, soon numbering in the dozens instead of hundreds. He's still there. Hes still voting, Montanari explained. Eventually, though, Montanari began to change her mind about continuing the protests indefinitely, perhaps an acknowledgment that the demonstrators had made their point. On Tuesday, they migrated up a hill to a local church for the conclusion of the final protest, celebrating with a cake decorated with a blue wave. Montanari asked people to raise their hands if they had already been out talking to voters on weekends and working to flip the district for Democrats. A couple of dozen shot their arms up. Thats what these rallies have done, folks. We have activated a group of people that is unstoppable, she said. I probably spend 40 or 45 hours a week doing this. We want to take those hours and spend it on the street. Down the hill, Hasty was still shouting into his microphone, the crowd long gone. He told the empty street that the protesters were leaving with your tail between your legs, and he talked about Hillary Clintons email server and discredited conspiracy theories that former President Obama is gay. The protesters, plotting their next moves toward the June 5 primary up the street, couldnt hear him. It seemed to crystallize how bad things have gotten between the two sides of the street, and maybe, the two sides of the country. But, as in any modern tragedy, a moment earlier that morning offered a spark of hope. Just before the national anthem played, before the arguing and chants, was the Pledge of Allegiance. And here on this stretch of road outside the office of a congressman wholl soon be gone, people on both sides put their right hands on their hearts and recited it together. Coverage of California politics christine.maiduc@latimes.com For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc. Burbank will soon be changing one of the routes on its BurbankBus service to better serve travelers and commuters who will be using the new Metrolink station near the Hollywood Burbank Airport. The City Council voted 4-0 on April 17 to eliminate its transit systems Empire-Downtown route and replace it with a new Golden State Circulator Service to align with the grand opening of the Metrolink station, which is expected to begin service on May 14, said David Kriske, assistant community development director of transportation for Burbank. Mayor Will Rogers, who died April 19, was absent prior to his death. The new route, which will operate all day with buses at stops every 15 minutes, will go from the new Metrolink station, located on San Fernando Boulevard near Hollywood Way, down Hollywood, then east on Winona Avenue, south on Ontario Street, east on Empire Avenue, north on Lincoln Street and then north on San Fernando back to the station. Kriske said the new route will be about $27,000 less expensive to operate than the current Empire-Downtown route, an extensive route that travels from the downtown Burbank Metrolink station and serves the northwest side of the city but not the new station on the north side of the airport. The Empire-Downtown route is the lowest-performing route in the transit system, carrying about 1,500 passengers a month. It costs the city about $262,600 annually to operate, an average of about $14 per ride. In addition, Kriske said city staff members are comfortable with eliminating the route because Metro has several lines Line 94, 165 and Metro Rapid 794 that travel to the same areas where the Empire-Downtown route made stops. To determine its effectiveness, city staff will prepare a report after six months to tally the ridership. Kriske said there will be a campaign to notify riders about the service chance, which will include posts on social-media accounts, posting signs at bus stops and leaving fliers on each seat of the buses. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio About 200 friends, family members and local dignitaries gathered at the Castaway restaurant on Monday for a memorial service celebrating the life of Burbank Mayor Will Rogers, who died April 19 from stage 4 liver cancer and non-alcoholic cirrhosis. The crowd frequently erupted into laughter as many speakers shared their stories of the late mayor, from his stint as an actor in the 1980s to his time as a columnist for the Burbank Leader. His brother-in-law, Pete Smith, began the service with a message written by Rogers before his death, opining about his memorial. Rogers joked in the message that only three people would attend, and he suspected that one of [his] kids [would] likely be busy that day. He went on to mention how religion should be addressed at the service, saying he would welcome the silent prayers of any attendees, he said. I will ask, however, that sermonizing, biblical references and talk of a great afterlife that some say is awaiting us all be limited to those comments made by God him or herself, he said. Should God appear personally and, supplying adequate identification in the form of a passport, credit card or drivers license, I would welcome Gods words. Marissa Desimone, who met Rogers in an improv comedy class, said he had a style of humor that could be so quick and dry sometimes, [she would] miss the gag. Rogers could make people burst out laughing with just a look, she said. What I really loved is that, when he laughed, you knew you did good, she said. It was almost overpowering. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) said when he was an aspiring elected official 25 years ago, it was his job not to be mentioned in Rogers column for the Leader. While the columns were well thought-out and researched, Schiff said they could also be brutal. Rogers knew where the bodies were buried or where the bodies should be buried, he said. It was a good week when I got that paper, went to the column and I wasnt there, he said. It was an even better week when I looked at the column and my opponent was. Burbank Vice Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy said Rogers was a vital force in the city, and his passing has left a hole in our community and in all our hearts. She said Rogers didnt want to let the cancer define him. He made it clear that his commitment to Burbank remained, and he would serve [the city] as mayor and council member with dedication, passion and determination for as long as he possibly could, Gabel-Luddy said. And he did. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc The water is cold in the spring. In Laguna Beach, the air can be 90 degrees in April, but the water is still cold brain freeze cold. Achingly, throbbingly, numbingly cold. And for the young lifeguards trying to swim their way into the elite summer program, there are no wetsuits. There is no miracle heat shield that cocoons them as they swim 1,000 meters in less than 20 minutes, which means every stroke gives way to pain, numbness, despair and back to pain again. Would they have it any other way? Not if they want to succeed. Cold water is part of it, said Marine Safety Capt. Kai Bond, who knows that the water is not like in Hawaii, smelling of coconut and leis. When we have our training, historically, the water is not in the 70s, he said, chuckling. In a good year it will be in the mid-60s but this year, yeah, we were hovering in the high 50s. Not that hes masochistic, but hed rather the recruits learn in realistic conditions because ultimately, the training will save someones life. Besides, nature doesnt stop for someone in need. Our conditions in the ocean are dynamic and we expect our employees to succeed in all conditions, he said. We want high-caliber people and part of being a high-caliber person is that they are able to withstand the elements and be strong in the ocean. Cold water is a part of it but its not the only thing. The wind is a factor, the surf is certainly a factor. You may wonder if there are ever times when the conditions are too gnarly for training. No, Bond said. And thats why not everyone can be a lifeguard. Out of about 100 applicants this year, 48 made it through training, both male and female. Now they wait to see how many of the existing summer lifeguards return. In an average year, Bond said there are usually about 35 final openings sometimes more, sometimes less. He wont know until right before summer. For more information about next years academy opportunities, visit the citys Marine Safety website. It should be stressed that the recruits are always in safe hands. Bond said there are strict safety measures while in the water, including multiple jet ski patrols and constant supervision. Part of what we do is put people in an environment where they are uncomfortable, and maybe they are a little bit out of their element, he said. So that when they get into that situation when its a rescue they will be able to have that experience. The idea is to challenge them and make it difficult. The training is not all about the water, however. Theres classroom time and overall communication training. We look for incredibly driven people who are good in the water, who are great athletes, who have incredible study habits because there is a medical component to our academy and then to wrap all that up: a good communicator, he said. If we have employees who cant communicate, then were in trouble. Communication is a big deal for us. Bond admitted that kids growing up in or near Laguna sometimes have an edge because they are simply great watermen. Theyve surfed or skimmed from an early age and are absolutely skilled in the water. But that doesnt always mean they would make good lifeguards. This year we had a couple kids from Laguna who I had a feeling would do well because I saw them grow up. I knew that they would do well in the water, he said. But we dont know if theyre good students. Another big part of it is being able to take direction and learn. A continuing challenge for kids in this age range, 16-19, is clear verbal communication. In other words, young lifeguards cant Snapchat their way out of trouble. Communication for them sometimes is new, Bond said. Its a new skill that they have to develop. Its fun to see them grow that way. Whatever Laguna is doing is working. Nowhere is it more popular to wear red. We had a great recruitment, Bond said. Where other departments up and down Orange County saw lower numbers, we saw higher numbers. Not only did we have the numbers but the competition for this training was at a very high level. In fact, it was probably the best Ive seen in many years, which means were going to have excellent lifeguards out on our beaches this summer. For those new lifeguards, its unclear how long it will take for the goosebumps to leave them or the shivering to stop or the dull blue pallor to retreat, but you can bet from day one they will wear a smile. Theyve earned it. DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at hansen.dave@gmail.com. A Huntington Beach resident who is alleged to have referred to minorities as colored people in a YouTube video is being removed from an Ocean View School District committee, effective immediately. During a heated three-hour meeting Tuesday night, the district board voted 4-1 to remove Gracey Larrea-Van Der Mark from its Citizens Oversight Committee for Measure R, which oversees expenditures related to a voter-approved bond measure for school facility improvements. Trustee Norm Westwell dissented. Larrea-Van Der Marks use of the phrase was reportedly used in a YouTube video she uploaded in 2017 showing protesters at an anti-racism workshop. According to the OC Weekly, Larrea-Van Der Mark wrote: This meeting was being ran by the elderly Jewish people who were in there. The colored people were there doing what the elderly Jewish people instructed them to do. Dozens of people packed the board meeting. Several of Larrea-Van Der Marks supporters criticized trustees for discussing the issue, which they called politically motivated. Some claimed trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin, who appointed Larrea-Van Der Mark to the committee and then called for her removal when the allegations surfaced, was trying to stifle free speech. Other speakers supported Clayton-Tarvins push to remove her. Clayton-Tarvin and others also have urged the city of Huntington Beach to remove Larrea-Van Der Mark from its Finance Commission. City Councilman Patrick Brenden, who appointed her to the commission, said last week that he would investigate the complaints against her. A few Ocean View employees vented their frustration Tuesday over gossip on social media and implored trustees to refocus their attention on students. Larrea-Van Der Mark, who was absent from the meeting, did not respond to requests for comment afterward. Speaker Kathy Carrick said using politically correct language has gotten out of control and added that if every board member were asked to step down for using a politically incorrect term, wed have an empty dias. Joe DeVore scolded the school board for not asking for Larrea-Van Der Marks side of the story before voting on whether to remove her. He said trustees tainted the right to due process and took little snippets out of context and used it for [Clayton-Tarvins] agenda. If she hasnt responded, dont remove her, DeVore said. Others said Larrea-Van Der Mark wasnt capable of objectively representing the Ocean View community. Victor Valladares shared his experience of stepping down from a city panel after receiving national attention for taking a Donald Trump pinata to a rally for the then- presidential candidate and encouraging protesters to destroy it. He also passed out posters depicting Trump in a sexual manner. Were appointed officials held to a different standard, Valladares said. After the public comment period, Clayton-Tarvin and Westwell dominated the board debate. Holding a stack of papers showing screenshots of Larrea-Van Der Marks online comments, Clayton-Tarvin said she appointed her knowing they had differing political backgrounds but raised concerns about her after hearing from community members. Larrea-Van Der Marks comments, Clayton-Tarvin said, promote bigotry and arent reflective of Ocean View. Its free speech but its also hate speech, she said. We dont have to promote it. We dont have to foster it. Were an educational institution thats supposed to be inclusive of all our children. As some in the audience shouted for Clayton-Tarvins removal, board President Jack Souders repeatedly called for order, warning community members that he would clear the room if the heckling continued. Westwell contended that Larrea-Van Der Marks critics, including some of his colleagues, were willfully and intentionally misrepresenting the truth about a person he had known for more than two years and didnt have a racist bone in her body. He asked the speakers who supported Larrea-Van Der Marks removal whether they had reached out to her. Two said they had. Supt. Carol Hansen said the district made multiple attempts to contact Larrea-Van Der Mark via phone and email. Larrea-Van Der Mark denied that in a message to the Daily Pilot before the meeting. Do you believe her to be a racist? Westwell asked Hansen. I dont think its appropriate for me to answer those questions at this time, Hansen said. Westwell then asked how Hansen determined that the board should discuss removing the committee member. That is my analysis of multiple emails received, Hansen said. How are you able to understand perceptions of others? Thats my judgment in making the best decision for the district, Hansen said, adding that this wasnt an issue they should be spending their time on. Not long after Souders warning, he ordered the audience to leave the room while trustees discussed how to proceed with the meeting. Hansen called Huntington Beach police to the scene. The audience was allowed to return, and trustees voted on the matter shortly afterward. If I had any questions before I came here tonight, they were answered by the public comments by people who came to the microphone, Souders said. In the future, he added, Im going to play this more harshly because Im not going to let this get out of control the way they did tonight. Larrea-Van Der Marks online activity has received heightened attention since she spoke in support of Huntington Beachs plan to file a lawsuit against California to challenge the legality of state mandates that expand protections for undocumented immigrants. The OC Weekly reported on the colored people comment days after the City Council approved the lawsuit early this month. It isnt clear when Larrea-Van Der Mark made the comments, which have been deleted. Priscella.Vega@latimes.com Twitter: @vegapriscella The Newport Beach City Council selected an executive search firm Tuesday to help recruit a new city manager. Roberts Consulting Group of Rancho Mirage will tackle the work of finding a replacement for Dave Kiff, who is leaving his post as Newports top administrative official Aug. 31. Roberts was one of three firms to submit applications. Its $25,000 flat fee was midrange in the group, and its 13-week suggested timeline was the shortest. According to its proposal, Roberts has led top government executive searches in 29 states. Most of its work has been in California. In Orange County, it has placed city managers or administrators in Huntington Beach, Dana Point, Laguna Niguel, Brea, Cypress and Yorba Linda. The council voted 5-2, with members Diane Dixon and Jeff Herdman dissenting, to contract with Roberts. Before the decision, the city canceled a previously planned closed session regarding the recruitment process. The original meeting agenda included the closed session preceding a regular-session item on selecting an executive search firm. However, after local activists Susan Skinner and Jim Mosher questioned the legality of a closed session on the topic, City Clerk Leilani Brown whose office is leading the search process sent a memo to the council recommending that it cancel the closed session to avoid a possible violation of the state open meetings law. Earlier in the week, Skinner sent a complaint about the planned closed session to the Orange County district attorneys office. Ray Armstrong, a senior deputy D.A. in the special-prosecutions unit, replied to Skinner and the city attorneys office that after reviewing the matter, we have determined that there is insufficient evidence to warrant intervention by the district attorneys office at this time. In the open session Tuesday, Dixon said the council wasnt ready to begin the recruitment process. There is confusion at the staff level because there is a sense that they cannot talk to anybody, she said. The city clerks office cannot talk to human resources to find out how to conduct a search process not to get into candidates, but process. So Mrs. Brown is having to literally re-create the wheel using her good judgment, but were in this little problem here because were not ready to really begin. Dixon, who wanted to postpone the selection of a search firm, also wanted Brown to be allowed to consult with the human-resources department and reissue requests for proposals. As the city waited for the proposals, she said, it could begin public engagement to see what residents want in the next city manager. Instead, Councilman Kevin Muldoon made a motion to go ahead with Roberts while also allowing Brown to work with HR and other city departments. Mayor Pro Tem Will ONeill seconded the motion, saying all three of the firms suggested procedures Dixon wanted. I think our expectation would be that the consultant we choose tonight would certainly go forward and engage with public members, ONeill said. Kiff announced in March that he would be leaving this year. He has worked for the city since 1998 and as city manager since 2009. The council agreed April 10 to amend his contract with an exit plan allowing an earlier departure than the previous version of his contract, which would expire in April 2019. The past two council meetings have been thick with outrage and allegations from some residents and council members who believe that Scott Peotter, Mayor Marshall Duffield, Muldoon and ONeill colluded to force Kiff out. The four have repeatedly denied that. According to its proposal, Roberts will spend four weeks meeting with the mayor, council members and others to gather background information, develop a brochure and a list of potential candidates and place ads. It will then spend five weeks reviewing resumes and conducting preliminary phone interviews before submitting an interim report to review leading candidates. In weeks 11 and 12, the firm will verify qualifications and interview top candidates. In week 13, it will submit a report on finalists and begin the interview process with the city. After the interviews, it will check references, conduct background checks and help with negotiations. hillary.davis@latimes.com Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD The advocacy website UndergroundLagunaNow.org reads, Above ground utilities are the single biggest threat to our public safety. The proponents of undergrounding use fear to motivate voters to approve the ballot measure. The proponents want to bury Southern California Edisons 19th century power lines and pass the costs onto property owners and Lagunas retail sector through bond measures approved by voters, but their headline is false and unsubstantiated. Over time technology shifts are disruptive and largely unpredictable, like the smart car, the smartphone and distributed renewable power. How these technologies play out is uncertain, but the future will arrive, and now is the time to study how renewable power will enter the value chain, define operating models and business in Laguna Beach. Solar energy systems worldwide have been consistently underestimated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In Laguna solar power utilities were not considered when undergrounding citywide. The annualized cost of $200 million to underground power lines at 3% for 30 years is $10.2 million per year. Alternatively this funding could be directed to build Lagunas sustainable energy future for 2050. If Laguna became a clean-power producer and sold power back to utility companies, Edison would happily bury its power lines at its cost, not ours. UndergroundLagunaNow should propose a modern power utility rather than bury obsolete utilities and propose sustainability, not creative financing. Motivate voter approval with facts, not public fear. Les Miklosy Laguna Beach Scott Baughs signs disrespect Dana Rohrabacher While driving around Newport Beach Tuesday, my wife and I saw a number of Scott Baugh for Congress political signs that were placed on a number of public properties, including along MacArthur Boulevard, the southerly entrance to the 73 Freeway from MacArthur Boulevard, Jamboree Road, etc. Some were offensive and negative against incumbent Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), a seasoned, well-known and respected candidate who has worked in the best interests of the citizens of this community for some 30 years. This sure turned me off, as the signs were from a man obviously doing all possible to win, but at the expense of someone who has devoted much of his life to our community. Negative advertising suggests desperation. Hopefully voters will realize this disrespectable approach and vote accordingly. John Devereux 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. The chaplains department at Adventist Health Glendale hosted a memorial service in remembrance of Armenian Genocide victims last Wednesday. The hospital family acknowledges with sadness the anniversary of this tragic event in Armenian history, according to a statement from the hospital. The Western Diocese performed the memorial service. mark.kellam@latimes.com Twitter: @lamarkkellam The 2018 Armenian Genocide commemorative event was held at the Alex Theatre Tuesday night, organized by the city of Glendale and community partners to remember the roughly 1.5 million Armenians killed 103 years ago by Ottoman Turks during the Armenian Genocide. Keynote speakers included a producer of the genocide documentary Architects of Denial, Dean Cain, who, along with fellow producer Montel Williams, were previously denied advertising the film at the Americana at Brand until community pushback reversed the decision by mall officials. Actor Dean Cain talks about the film Architects of Denial, which he and Montel Williams produced, at the Armenian Genocide commemoration at the Alex Theatre in Glendale on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer ) Mayor Zareh Sinanyan chose not to share a story of the past but instead talked about the future, citing the recent resignation of former Armenian prime minister Serzh Sargsyan after 10 days of demonstrations. This same energy and youth should be contagious to us here in the U.S., to continue living as productive members of society, as pro-Armenian Americans who are engaged in the future of this historic moment then the diaspora will be powerful and so will Armenia, he said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) also attended and spoke, having released a statement earlier in the day. Despite Turkeys denials and protestations to this day, there is no historical debate and there can be no equivocation, Schiff said in his statement. By refusing to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide, America is simply not living up to its moral responsibility and undermining its leadership on human rights. Also in attendance were state Sen. Anthony Portantino and state Assemblywoman Laura Friedman. Students from The Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School sing the national anthems of the United States and Armenia at the Armenian Genocide commemoration at the Alex Theatre in Glendale on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer ) President Trump and past U.S. presidents have failed to recognize the massacre as a genocide. The event also included English and Armenian performances by Rose and Alex Pilibos, LA Balfry Choir, the Davidian and Mariamian Educational Foundation and the Hamazkayin Ani Dance Co. jeff.landa@latimes.com Twitter: @JeffLanda A public hearing will be held Wednesday on the planned Gus & Andys Montrose Grill that may occupy the former Rocky Cola Cafe site in Montrose. Last year, Tom Christopoulos of La Canada Flintridge who, along with his family, has owned and operated several restaurants throughout the country during the past 30 years announced plans to open a family-oriented restaurant with a vintage Montrose facade. The planning hearing for the 2201 Honolulu Ave. site will be for applicant Janelle Williams of Williams Land Use Services to request permits for the operation of a fast-food restaurant, with a permit for consumption of alcohol. The applicant will also seek to reduce the number of parking spaces by seven to accommodate the change [of] use from a full-service restaurant to a fast-food restaurant, according to documents filed with the city. Christopoulos previously described the proposed grill to the Glendale News-Press as a fresh, casual breakfast, lunch and dinner spot, where customers can order at the counter, get seated and receive table service. Rocky Cola Cafe first opened in February 1988 and was a Montrose staple for nearly 25 years until it closed in late 2012. The public hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Room 105 at 633 E. Broadway. jeff.landa@latimes.com Twitter: @JeffLanda Just before 2 p.m. on May 22, 1958, a series of oil spills and explosions rocked the Hancock Oil Co. refinery in Signal Hill. Two workers were killed and eight injured. Fires burned for two days. The photo above by Larry Sharkey appeared on Page One of the May 23, 1958, Los Angeles Times. May 23, 1958: Officers Tom Reynolds, left, and M. E. Yarbrough search one of the cars destroyed by fire as storage tanks at Hancock Oil Co., plant continue to burn in the background. This photo appeared in the May 24, 1958, Los Angeles Times. (John Malmin / Los Angeles Times ) See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here A British judge on Tuesday said the parents of a terminally ill toddler cannot take him to Italy for treatment, a course of action that U.K. courts have said would be futile and wrong. Justice Anthony Hayden rejected what he said was a final legal appeal by the parents of 23-month-old Alfie Evans, who has a degenerative neurological condition. The judge said the ruling represents the final chapter in the life of this extraordinary little boy. The months-long legal battle between Alfies parents and his doctors has drawn interventions from Pope Francis and Italian authorities, who have supported the couples desire to have their son cared for at the Vaticans hospital. Advertisement Doctors say Alfie is in a semi-vegetative state as a result of a degenerative brain condition that medics have been unable to identify precisely. Doctors treating him at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool say he has little brain function and further treatment is futile. But his parents have refused to accept the decision and fought to prevent Alfies life support from being switched off. Tom Evans, 21, and Kate James, 20, want to take their son to the Vaticans Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital. Alfie Evans, in photo taken this month, at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool. (Action4Alfie ) Lawyers for Alfies parents had secured Tuesdays hearing a day after the toddlers life support was withdrawn after a series of court rulings blocked further medical treatment. Evans said earlier Tuesday that his son survived for six hours with no assistance and that doctors had subsequently resumed providing oxygen and hydration. In court, the familys lawyer, Paul Diamond, read a statement from Evans saying his son was doing significantly better than previously believed. Doctors say that it is hard to estimate how long Alfie will live without life support, but that there is no chance his condition will improve. At Tuesdays emergency court hearing in Manchester, the judge asked whether there might be other options that involved Alfies parents taking their son home. Emotions have run high over the case, which has seen Alfies parents supported by a Christian charity and a band of supporters known as Alfies Army protesting regularly outside the hospital. They have blocked roads and on Monday tried to storm a door of the hospital before being pushed back by police. Advertisement Pope Francis has met Alfies father and made appeals for the wishes of the boys parents to be heeded, saying only God can decide who dies. The head of the Bambino Gesu hospital said the Italian Defense Ministry had a plane ready to transport Alfie to Italy if he were allowed to seek treatment. In an interview with Italys Radio 24, Mariella Enoc, who traveled to Liverpool to personally try to intervene on behalf of the parents, said she spoke to the Italian ambassador in London. The ambassador said the plane could leave with him in a matter of minutes. On Monday, the Italian Foreign Ministry announced it had granted Alfie Italian citizenship to facilitate his arrival and transport. Under British law, it is common for courts to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the treatment of a child. In such cases, the rights of the child take primacy over the parents right to decide whats best for their offspring. Advertisement The emotive case recalls the short life of another British child, Charlie Gard, who died of a rare genetic disease in July 2017 after a vicious court battle in which his parents sought treatment first in the U.S. and then Italy. The case drew interventions from the pope and President Trump and set off debates on the rights of children and parents, the responsibilities of hospitals and the role of the state. The soldiers took them in the night. First they came for Nitza Alvarado Espinoza and Jose Alvarado Herrera. The 31-year-old cousins were sitting in a van outside a family members house when troops forced them into a military truck. Minutes later, soldiers arrived at the house of another Alvarado cousin, 18-year-old Rocio Alvarado Reyes. She was carried away screaming at gunpoint in front of her young brothers and baby daughter. It was Dec. 29, 2009 the last time the cousins were seen alive. Advertisement Exactly what happened to the working-class family from Ejido Benito Juarez, a dusty town in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, is the subject of a landmark case that will be heard beginning Thursday by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It is the first case related to Mexicos drug war to come before the court, part of the human rights protection arm of the Organization of American States. The court is expected to rule that Mexico is guilty of human rights violations for failing to bring justice in the case and require the government to make reparations to the victims family. Legal analysts say it is not only Mexicos government that will be on trial, but also the countrys broader strategy of using soldiers to fight domestic crime a controversial tactic that is gaining popularity across Latin America, notably in Brazil, Honduras, El Salvador and Venezuela. In the more than 11 years since Mexico sent tens of thousands of army and navy personnel into the streets to battle increasingly powerful drug cartels, the armed forces have faced repeated accusations of torture, illegal arrests and extrajudicial killings. They have operated with near impunity: Between 2012 and 2016, just 3% of investigations into crimes allegedly committed by soldiers resulted in convictions, according to an analysis by the think tank Washington Office on Latin America, or WOLA. Despite international objections, Mexicos Congress recently passed a measure, known as the Internal Security Law, that further cements the role of the armed forces in preserving public security and expands their powers of surveillance. As Mexicos Supreme Court weighs challenges to the constitutionality of that law, human rights advocates are hoping that the Inter-American Court will use the Alvarado case to demand justice for the family and deliver a strong rebuke of the security law. Rulings issued by the Inter-American Court, based in Costa Rica, are legally binding in Mexico, and the courts opinion on the law could influence the Supreme Court. Rosalia Castro, 61, whose son disappeared in 2011, is overcome with emotion while helping to excavate a clandestine grave in Mexicos Veracruz state. (Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times ) The Alvarado case provokes discussion about what is wrong about the armed forces being in charge of public security, said Alberto Abad Suarez, with the Legal Research Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. There is a lot of concern across the region that the Mexico model could spread, so [the court] might want to try to stop it. Advertisement Proponents of deploying the armed forces to dowork traditionally reserved for police say the movewas a necessary response to rising crime and undertrained and corrupt local law enforcement agencies. Critics say this militarized approach has come at the expense of strengthening civilian institutions, such as the police and the Mexican attorney generals office, and has led to increased violence. Soldiers are not trained as policemen; they are trained to participate in armed conflicts, Abad said. Homicides have more than doubled since then-President Felipe Calderon launched Mexicos war on drugs in late 2006, sending 6,500 troops into his home state of Michoacan. That year, Mexican prosecutors opened 11,806 homicide investigations, according to government data. Last year, they opened 25,340. Disappearances abductions of individuals by criminals, state agents or others are also up. The number of people disappeared nationwide was more than 30,000 last year, up from 26,000 in 2013, according to Mexicos National Human Rights Commission. The victims are found, either dead or alive, less than 25% of the time, leaving grieving mothers and fathers to comb the earth for the remains of their loved ones in hidden graves. Advertisement The government blames criminal groups for the vast majority of Mexicos disappearances. But an analysis of 548 disappearances between 2005 and 2015 by the Observatory on Disappearances and Impunity in Mexico found that federal, state and municipal authorities were the perpetrators 47% of the time. The observatory is an effort launched by Oxford University, the University of Minnesota and the Latin American Social Sciences Institute. Relatives of the missing Alvarado cousins brought their case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2011, saying they had exhausted remedies in Mexicos judicial system. In 2014, the commission found that the army was responsible and instructed Mexico to bring the perpetrators to justice. Two years later, the commission referred the case to the Inter-American Court after it determined that Mexico had not complied with its recommendations. A report submitted to the court by the commission spells out what is known about what happened to the cousins that chilly night in 2009. After a federal police officer was killed in Ejido Benito Juarez and several other law enforcement officials went missing, about 500 federal troops were dispatched to investigate. What resulted was a reign of terror. Soldiers kidnapped and tortured residents for information, the report says. Most were then set free. Advertisement Family members of the cousins say they have been given no explanation about why the three disappeared. The only sign that they might still be alive came in February 2010, when the family received a phone call believed to be from a penitentiary in Mexico City. It was Nitza Alvarado Espinoza. Help me, get me out of here, she pleaded, according to the family. Im alive and Im scared. Officials failed to track the call, and investigations stalled. The cousins relatives said they received threats from the army because they refused to give up on the case. Several of them eventually sought political asylum in the United States. In El Paso, Nitza Alvarados three daughters formed an advocacy group called Children of the Disappeared. Members of a group dedicated to searching for people who have been disappeared carry the coffin of Pedro Huesca, whose remains were found in a mass grave in Veracruz state last year, at his funeral. (Felix Marquez / Associated Press ) Advertisement The Mexican army did not respond to requests for comment. In its report, the human rights commission said Mexican officials insist they are making an effort to find the victims and punish the perpetrators. The government has obtained testimony from more than 100 law enforcement officials and others and believes it cant be concluded that state actors were involved, the report said. Mexicos armed forces are facing increasing outside scrutiny. Hundreds of human rights groups implored lawmakers to reject the Internal Security Law, with the United Nations high commissioner for human rights warning that the measure gives too much power to the military without the necessary civilian checks and balances. Mexicos military has used the media to defend its role in fighting crime, and the effort appears to be succeeding. In polls, Mexicans say they trust the army more than police to protect civilians. The armed forces spent about $28 million on television, radio and other publicity campaigns between between 2013 and 2017, according to an analysis by Fundar, a transparency group. How the Mexican government reacts to the courtruling will demonstrateits level of commitment to bring justice to the victims after failing to do so for almost a decade, said Maureen Meyer, an expert at WOLA. There are few ways to enforce compliance with the courts judgments, she said. Advertisement Stephanie Brewer, an attorney who helped bring another case against the Mexican government before the Inter-American Court, and who was targeted by the government in a high-profile spying scandal, said there is at least one clear outcome of court proceedings: Relatives of victims are given a chance to be heard. When youre being criminalized and stigmatized at home, thats also an important element, she said. For victims, its the first time they have their day in court. To read this article in Spanish, click here kate.linthicum@latimes.com Advertisement Twitter: @katelinthicum The remnants of a caravan of Central American migrants protested in northern Mexico on Monday, even as they continued to draw angry tweets from President Trump. The mainly Central American migrants are demanding better treatment, and many are planning to request asylum, either in the United States or Mexico. We are asking the government and migration authorities to respect the right to seek asylum, said caravan organizer Irineo Mujica. Those who request asylum shouldnt be criminalized. It is a right. ... Families shouldnt be separated or punished. The approximately 600 migrants arrived in the northern city of Hermosillo aboard trains over the weekend. Immigrants, most of them from Central America, pause while on their journey by train to the U.S.- Mexico border in Hermosillo, Mexico. (John Moore / Getty Images) The remnants of a caravan of Central Americans that began their journey north almost a month ago, is within days of reaching their destination in Tijuana, which borders San Diego. (John Moore / Getty Images) Left, Immigrants, most of them from Central America, pause while on their journey by train to the U.S.- Mexico border in Hermosillo, Mexico. Right, The remnants of a caravan of Central Americans that began their journey north almost a month ago, is within days of reaching their destination in Tijuana, which borders San Diego. (John Moore / Getty Images) Mujica has said the migrants plan to arrive in Tijuana later this week. Mexico, whose laws on immigration are very tough, must stop people from going through Mexico and into the U.S. We may make this a condition of the new NAFTA Agreement, Trump tweeted. In response, Mexicos secretary of Foreign Affairs, Luis Videgaray, tweeted, It would be unacceptable to condition the NAFTA negotiations on immigration actions that are outside that framework. Mexico decides its own immigration policy in a sovereign manner, and Mexicos cooperation on immigration matters with the United States occurs because Mexico considers it in its own interest, Videgaray wrote. Many of the migrants say they are fleeing gang violence and extortion in Honduras and El Salvador. I have instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security not to let these large Caravans of people into our Country. Tweet from President Trump Immigrants pause at a rest stop after traveling by freight train on their journey toward the U.S.-Mexico border. (John Moore / Getty Images) Central American immigrants line up to eat at a shelter before staging a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump in Hermosillo, Mexico. (John Moore / Getty Images) Central American immigrants stand in solidarity during a protest march against U.S. President Donald Trump. (John Moore / Getty Images) Immigrants rest after eating at a soup kitchen during a pause on their journey toward the U.S.-Mexico border. (John Moore / Getty Images) Clockwise from top left: Immigrants pause at a rest stop after traveling by freight train on their journey toward the U.S.-Mexico border. Members of the caravan line up to eat at a shelter. Immigrants rest after eating at a soup kitchen during a pause on their journey to the U.S.-Mexico border. Immigrants stand in solidarity during a protest march against U.S. President Donald Trump. (John Moore / Getty Images) The U.S. government should be more understanding of the women and children in this caravan ... and the dangers they face in their countries, Mujica said. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday that he told his offices in border states to take whatever immediate action to ensure that we have sufficient prosecutors available and that he may transfer immigration judges to the border. He said caravan members have ignored the Mexican governments willingness to let them stay in Mexico. Let todays message be clear: Our nation has the most generous immigration system in the world, but this is a deliberate attempt to undermine our laws and overwhelm our system, Sessions said. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday that DHS continues to monitor the remnants of the caravan of individuals headed to our Southern border with the apparent intention of entering the United States illegally. Immigrants are transported to a shelter after traveling by freight train on their journey towards the U.S.- Mexico border in Hermosillo, Mexico. (John Moore / Getty Images) Immigrants receive medical attention at a rest stop while on their journey towards the U.S.- Mexico border. (John Moore / Getty Images) The remnants of a caravan of Central Americans that began their journey north almost a month ago, is within days of reaching their destination in Tijuana, which borders San Diego. (John Moore / Getty Images) Top, immigrants are transported to a shelter after traveling by freight train on their journey towards the U.S.- Mexico border in Hermosillo, Mexico. Left, immigrants receive medical attention at a rest stop while on their journey towards the U.S.- Mexico border. Right, the remnants of a caravan of Central Americans that began their journey north almost a month ago, is within days of reaching their destination in Tijuana, which borders San Diego (John Moore / Getty Images) She said her agency was working with the Justice Department in taking a number of steps to ensure that all cases and claims are adjudicated promptly - including sending additional USCIS asylum officers, ICE attorneys, DOJ Immigration Judges, and DOJ prosecutors to the Southern border. DHS encourages persons with asylum or other similar claims to seek protections in the first safe country they enter, including Mexico, the statement said. Central American asylum seekers wait for buses to take them to their next destination on their "caravan" north to the US-Mexico border in Hermosillo, Mexico. (John Moore/Getty Images) Visit Framework for more visual journalism Acting PM Karen Karapetyan's announcement Armenia's Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan issued a statement over on cancellation of the meeting with the opposition leader, MP Nikol Pashinyan. The statement notes: "Dear citizens, As you know, a meeting between Nikol Pashinyan and me was to be held tomorrow to discuss the situation and look for solutions. I would like to inform that the pre-announced meeting will not take place as Nikol Pashinyan has unilaterally put forward new conditions, in particular with respect to the format, the agenda and covering of the meeting. He proposed a list of participants from our side, and also stated that he would discuss exclusively his agenda. This does not mean negotiation or dialogue, but presentation of own agenda and own point of view. Having certain experience in negotiating, I've never heard of such a format. Being concerned about the current situation, as the head of the executive power I appeal to the President of the Republic of Armenia to organize a meeting with a board range of parliamentary and extra-parliamentary political forces to discuss the current internal political situation and find possible ways out of it," said Karapetyan. Live. Nikol Pashinyan starts rally from Republic Square (video) 16:35 The march with the participation of Nikol Pashinyan took the route to Erebuni streets and headed towards Tigran Mets Avenue and reached Republic Square. Here, the groups that have long been in the square greeted to the newcomers, chanting Nikol-Nikol. By the way, a new chant has been heard in the square: "Deny Karen Karapetyan" and "RPA, go away!" 16.00 There are almost no policemen today, even on the Yerevan-Sevan highway which the demonstrators closed few minutes ago. They announce that they will open the road if the RPA and Karen Karapetyan resign. 15.00 At the moment, the demonstrators blocked the roads leading to Charbakh with various cars, trucks, jeeps. Traffic in Shirak street is closed. Dalma Mall employees closed the roads near the mall. The police were trying to open them, reasoning that they wanted to go to work. Those who blocked the road stated that we would not open the road until the police officers do not parked their cars. The police agreed with the offer after a little resistance. The streets in Garegin Nzhdeh Square are also closed. Some of them have been blocked by trucks and public vehicles. 13.45 Nikol Pashinyan decided to have a little rest on Khorenatsi Street. Residents of Erebuni community greeted to the participants of the march. 13.37 The citizens blocked the entrances to the Barekamutyun subway station and the nearby streets. The traffic is standing here and the public transport also does not work. 12.30 Students closed Arshakunyats-Grigor Lusavorich intersection. Nikol Pashinyan and the participants of the rally move towards Alek Manukyan Street. Nikol Pashinyan said that there are thousands of people protesting in Artik. Sasun Mikayelyan also joined the march. 11:45 There are more than a dozen police officers and public buses at the Republic Square. 11:30 At the Republic Square, Nikol Pashinyan presented today's tasks. "It's 11:15 am, but Arshakunyants Avenue and Garegin Nzhdeh Square are closed, Halabyan-Kievyan crossroads are closed and two hundred cars from Martuni come to Yerevan," he said. He mentioned that they will march to Mashtots Avenue, and then will meet in the square at the rally. Let us note that the number of police officers is increasing. The center of Yerevan is noisy again. Students from different universities are striking and moving toward the square. Especially YSU students are active and call other students to join them. At the moment Malatia Fair employees have closed the fair and march through Republic Square. A large number of citizens from different parts of the capital are moving toward the square. Celebrate the Memorial Day holiday early with a free guided history walk from 8 to 10 a.m. Friday, May 4, at Buckingham Trails Preserve, 8790 Buckingham Road, Fort Myers. This Conservation 20/20 preserve includes remnant structures from the Buckingham Army Air Field Flexible Gunnery School, a training base operated by the U.S. military in Lee County during World War II. Remnant structures to tour onsite include skeet trap ranges and a berm that once served as part of the Seabord Air Line Railroad, which delivered military supplies and goods to the base. Nearly 50,000 acres in Lee County were once used as part of the Buckingham Army Air Field training base. Beginning in 1942, military recruits from across the country were trained at the base as turret gunners assigned to bomber planes flying over the European and Pacific Theaters. The air field was deactivated in 1945 when the war ended. The 2-mile roundtrip walk will be guided by historians Jim Zbick and Ted Mikita from the Southwest Florida Military Museum & Library. The tour will take visitors through predominantly pine flatwoods and open scrub habitat. The trail is not ADA accessible. Participants should bring a water bottle, hat, sunscreen and camera and wear closed-toed shoes. The tour will begin at the preserve parking entrance. Parking is free. Reservations are required in advance by contacting Jason Boeckman, Conservation 20/20 coordinator, at 239-204-1125. For more information about Conservation 20/20, visit www.Conservation2020.org. For more information about the Southwest Florida Military Museum & Library, visit www.swfmm.org. The idea of citizen legislators, espoused by our Founding Fathers, centers on the discussion of term limits. Many voters across the country and legislators across party lines have expressed support for term limits, making the idea one which attracts bi-partisan support. When my home state of Florida passed term limits, 76 percent of Sunshine State voters voted in favor. In fact, Florida is one of 15 states to currently have legislative term limits. This year, a nationwide poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates found that 82 percent of voters support Congressional term limits, including 89 percent of Republicans, 83 percent of independents, and 76 percent of Democrats. Despite clearly expressed views of the American people, some argue that term limits would overly empower unelected staff and bureaucracy. Others argue that a semi-permanent legislative class is the best way Congress should function, despite how the Founders fought a revolution to get away from exactly this. The Brookings Institute wrote recently that, in their opinion, policymaking is a profession in and of itself, that crafting legislative proposals is a learned skill, and that the public is not best served if inexperienced members are making policy choices. I doubt many Americans who live outside of Washington, DC, would agree. Although 15 states have instituted term limits, the situation is more complicated at the federal level. Heretofore, federal term limit discussions have focused on proposals which require amending the Constitution. These well-intentioned efforts, in the form of at least 12 bills in the current session of Congress, with over 90 co-sponsors, are stymied by the arduous process of amending the Constitution. As former Senator Tom Coburn wrote during the 2016 election, Americans havent agreed on much during the presidential primary, but one thing seems clear: they are frustrated with the federal government. Perhaps a new approach to the issue of term limits would enact the will of the people. To this end, along with seven of my fellow Congressmen, I have introduced the Thomas Jefferson Public Service Act of 2018. This proposal offers a means of effectively putting capitated service, i.e. term limits, in place without amending the Constitution. The Act will reduce the salary of an elected Member of Congress to $1 a year after they serve six (6) consecutive terms in the House or two (2) consecutive terms in the Senate, and does not require a Constitutional amendment. Is it possible that a disruptive, game-changing measure like this could instill public confidence in Congress and set the stage for a wave of innovation and accomplishment? From the time of Cincinnatus, who twice entered public service to save Rome from attack and then duly returned to work his farm, to Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who refused to consider public service as a career, history is replete with examples of leaders who served their country for a time and returned to private life, or who went on to serve in a different way. For example, after serving as President, John Quincy Adams became a member of the House and had been a Senator prior to service as our Ambassador to Russia and the United Kingdom. Even though some Washington pundits and some of the so-called special interests might disagree, I would argue that regular rotation of elected officials would stimulate more fresh ideas and make our legislators more independent. Once these limits take root, a new culture might arise which would be indomitable. Many states have had this positive experience with their term limits. They certainly work well in Florida. Contrary to arguments that term limits would overly empower unelected voices, the experience with term limits in Florida demonstrates otherwise. State government has shrunk, spending is under control, and the people overwhelmingly support this system. The Thomas Jefferson Public Service Act could help more closely align the Congress with the electorate. Francis Rooney is the U.S. Representative for Floridas 19th congressional district. He is the Vice-Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and serves on the Committee on Education and the Workforce. He previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See under President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2008. Divisiveness seems to be everywhere these days. Politics, religion, race, economics, immigration, gun control We cant seem to agree on anything. If ever there was a time to come together, its now. Thats why this years theme for the National Day of Prayer unity is so appropriate. We can put aside those heated discussions, at least for one day, and pray for Southwest Floridas future. We all live here. This is our community. We all want whats best for Southwest Florida top-notch schools, affordable housing, less crime, quality healthcare, smooth traffic, more job opportunities, a pristine environment, business growth The list of topics we can agree on is lengthy, much longer than our topics of disagreement. So why dont we spend more time focusing on those issues and generating some positive energy? We share a tremendous responsibility to make the city of Fort Myers, and Southwest Florida in general, a better place for our children and grandchildren, and thats hard to do when were not united for a cause. Its what Ive been trying to do for the past 18 years as a council member and mayor. Although we face the same challenges as many communities throughout the country, its encouraging to see government working with residents, businesses and nonprofit organizations for the good of our community. A diverse group of community leaders clergy, politicians, mothers, fathers, churchgoers, business owners and others who call Southwest Florida their home will come together on Thursday, May 3 for the annual Community Prayer Breakfast at City of Palms Park, 2201 Edison Ave. in Fort Myers. A breakfast buffet starts at 6:05 a.m. and will be followed at 7 a.m. by a program that includes community leaders and nationally acclaimed speaker Rick Rigsby. Consider this my personal invitation to attend the annual Community Prayer Breakfast. Its free and open to Southwest Florida residents of all religions, political affiliations and other distinguishing characteristics. For this event, on this day, were all one. Imagine the power we can generate by packing City of Palms Park to join in prayer, united for a cause. For more information and tickets, please visit communityprayerbreakfast.com, email cpbreakfast2018@yahoo.com or call 239-994-9770. -Randy Henderson has been mayor of Fort Myers since 2009, and previously served for nine years on the City Council. He has been a resident of Fort Myers for 39 years and is CEO of Corbin Henderson Company. To the editor: Howard Nielsen and anyone associated with the NRA, especially given what has happened in our state over the past several years, should be denied a lifetime federal judgeship. And anyone who votes for this person to be a federal judge can kiss their seat in the Senate goodbye. Remember, most of the seniors from Parkland Florida will be able to vote in 2018, And if there is a seat not up for reelection until later, I assure you that that seat will be lost if you continue to support the NRA. The Parkland students and the American people are not trying to take away guns. We are trying to have commonsense laws without loopholes. Everyone should have a background check with no exceptions, no assault weapons should be legal, bump stocks should be outlawed, as should high velocity weapons and high bullet magazines. These are just common sense gun laws that everyone should be for. No one is trying to take away a handgun or a rifle that is used for hunting or self defense. Assault weapons are weapons of war and no civilian should own one or be able to get his or her hands on one. Lets save our children while still having a Second Amendment freedom that protects our kids. Sallie Troutman Cape Coral A Bethlehem teenager was stabbed repeatedly, then set on fire while he was still alive, according to Northampton County's district attorney. And police want your help to lead them to the person or people responsible for . A burning body was discovered outside Bethlehem apartments this week. Police are giving an update about the case today in Easton. Posted by lehighvalleylive.com on Wednesday, April 25, 2018 Tyrell Michael Holmes, 18, was found dead early on Tuesday, April 24, near a dumpster outside the Parkhurst Apartments in the 1800 block of Barbara Street in Bethlehem, according to District Attorney John Morganelli. Police were summoned by a caller at 2:30 a.m. who claimed to have seen a man crawling around who was on fire. Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek determined Holmes died from stab wounds, smoke inhalation and severe burns. "It is a very violent type of homicide," said Bethlehem police Chief Mark DiLuzio. While authorities don't have a suspect, they have "a circle of individuals" who had contact with Holmes "that we have to take a very hard look at," Morganelli said. DiLuzio said a dozen investigators are working on the case along with the Bethlehem police department forensic unit. "We're really happy with the information that's been developed so far," Morganelli said. The combination of stabbing and burning indicates the crime was premeditated, which means the killer or killers will be charged with first-degree murder, Morganelli said. The killer could face the death penalty since the victim was tortured, he said. See more photos here. Holmes "was in extreme pain and was conscious leading up to his death," Morganelli said. "This is a very, very egregious crime. We offer our sympathies to the family members." Holmes once attended Liberty High School but hadn't been enrolled there since 2015, according to Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Joseph Roy. Morganelli said the preliminary investigation leads him to believe the killing took place where Holmes was found. He said Holmes did not live in the apartments. DiLuzio asked tipsters to call the Bethlehem police department at 610-865-7187 or to dial 911. Det. Blake Kuntz is handling the case. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. No one was hurt in a fire Wednesday morning in a Palmer Township home but the kitchen was ruined, the municipal fire department reports. The fire likely started to the rear of 2928 Fischer Road and a resident told authorities that unattended cooking was the cause, Assistant Chief Jim Alercia said. The fire extended into the attic crawl space in the small, two-story, tan-sided home, Alerica added. The investigation into the cause was just beginning as the fire was officially declared out at 11:32 a.m. It was reported at 10:50 a.m., records show. At the end of the brief probe, the department agreed it was an accident due to unattended cooking. A fire the morning of April 25, 2018, at 2928 Fischer Road in Palmer Township did significant damage to the kitchen and left the home uninhabitable. (Tony Rhodin | For lehighvalleylive.com) An adult and a child who live in the home were sitting in an ambulance about a block away, but that was for shelter in the light rain, Alercia said. Because the utilities were disconnected, as is standard operating procedure during a house fire, and with the extensive damage in the kitchen and a vent hole in the roof, the home can't be lived in until repairs are made, Alercia said. There is also smoke damage in the home, the assistant chief added. The American Red Cross was called to assist four people, Alercia said. Emergency radio reports said it was two adults and two children. The home is owned by "Equity Trust Co. custodian for the benefit of Kathleen Buchanan Ira et al," Northampton County property records show. Firefighters from Bethlehem Township and Nancy Run assisted. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A dump truck driver is facing drunken driving charges after losing control of his vehicle, rolling over and dumping asphalt along Raubsville Road in Williams Township. Pennsylvania State Police in Belfast said the 9:38 a.m. crash Monday began when Damon S. Mammaro, 38, of Phillipsburg, was headed west on Raubsville Road between Durham and Buttermilk roads. The right side wheels of Mammaro's 2016 International Harvester traveled off the paved edge of the westbound lane and entered the shoulder area, according to police. Mammaro continued traveling west with the truck's right side wheels off the roadway, eventually hitting a tree and several boulders before rolling onto its right side, police said. The dump truck came to rest on its driver's side, facing west in the westbound lane, according to police. Mammaro was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol; he was taken to St. Luke's Hospital-Anderson in Bethlehem Township for blood testing. Drunken driving charges were filed before District Judge Daniel Corpora. Mammaro suffered minor injuries in the accident, police said. The street was closed for more than two hours and traffic was diverted onto Durham as crews worked to clear the scene. Mammaro was employed with J. Pip's Paving Company in Phillipsburg and was operating a company vehicle during the time of the accident, according to James Pfeiffer, the attorney representing J. Pips. Mammaro has since been terminated from his job with J. Pips, Pfeiffer said, noting he showed up to work late Monday and picked up the truck from the yard after all company employees left for the work day. "The first contact they (management of J. Pips) had with the driver was at the time of accident so they were completely unaware that he was obviously under the influence of alcohol," Pfeiffer said. "Safety is job No. 1 with Pips. They certainly do not stand for anyone driving under the influence of alcohol." "The family has been in business for over 50 years and they have never had an employee involved in a serious accident before," he added. "Pips has an excellent safety record." Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. State Sen. Pat Browne and two other lawmakers want Pennsylvania to create a new school threat monitoring system that would allow for anonymous reporting. The measure introduced by Browne (R-Lehigh), Sen. Vincent J. Hughes (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery) and Sen. Scott Martin (R-Lancaster) cleared its first hurdle Monday by passing the Senate Education Committee. The program is modeled after the Safe2Tell program that was created in Colorado after the Columbine school shooting. Since 2004, Safe2Tell has received more than 30,000 reports of potentially dangerous situations, according to a news release. "Safe2Say gives our students an active role in protecting themselves from potential danger," Hughes said the release. "It will also allow concerned citizens to anonymously report other issues that could put students at risk." At least five other states have created similar programs, which allow for anonymous reporting of school threats, drug use, bullying, suicidal thoughts and other issues. "Giving students a confidential, anonymous way for them to contact authorities to report any suspicious or concerning behavior they may have witnessed or perceived will, hopefully, lead to more identification of warning signs which could prevent an unthinkable school tragedy," Browne, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a news release. The law would require the state attorney general to manage the system and forward tips to the appropriate law enforcement and school officials for investigation. "Identifying potential threats is the first step in helping our schools and our law enforcement community prevent a tragedy," Martin said. "The program will not be limited to school shootings. The system will also help prevent a number of other potentially deadly problems like drug use, bullying, suicide and self-harm." Anyone would be able to use the reporting system, which would cover emergency and non-emergency reports. In Colorado, suicide threats have been the most common tip, the news release states. The system also receives tips on bullying, drug use, cutting and depression as well as threats to schools. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Two Phillipsburg residents were arrested Tuesday and charged with sexually assaulting a child younger than 16 in Union Township, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns III reports in conjunction with police. Kenneth Thompson, 59, and Feleisha Francillon, 28, who lived in the first block of Cedar Alley, were taken into custody there not long after sunrise, the prosecutor's office said. The charges of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child resulted from an investigation by the prosecutor's office's Special Victims Units, New Jersey State Police from the Perryville barracks and Phillipsburg police, the news release said. The prosecutor's office's SWAT officers, the Warren County Tactical Response Team and Phillipsburg police were involved in the arrest, the prosecutor's office said. Thompson and Francillon were being held in Somerset County Jail pending their first appearances in court, the prosecutor's office said. When asked, the prosecutor's office declined to say when the assault or assaults happened, if the victim knew Thompson and Francillon, and why SWAT was needed to make the arrests. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call the prosectutor's office's Special Victims Unit at 908-788-1129. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. It's been four years, but the case of two Alpha councilmen's bathroom-break fight appears to be closed. It all started in January 2014 when then-Councilman Harry Zikas Jr. briefly stepped out of an Alpha Borough Council meeting to use the restroom, and fellow Councilman Louis Cartabona halted the council vote until he returned. After the meeting, there was a confrontation between the two and Cartabona was accused of shoving Zikas. On Tuesday, Cartabona -- who still sits on the borough council -- was found not guilty of simple assault by a municipal court judge in Bethlehem Township, Hunterdon County. There was no trial; the judge reviewed evidence from a previous hearing, Cartabona and court staff said. "Now I hope most people will have it in their mind that no crime was committed," Cartabona said Wednesday. Zikas, who resigned from council in September 2014, said they both can now move forward. "I'm just relieved it's over and behind us," he said. A report following the 2014 meeting lays out both of their accounts: Zikas said he approached Cartabona in the building's entrance after the meeting to confront him about stopping the meeting while he used the bathroom. Zikas said he told Cartabona he didn't know officials had to get permission to use the men's room. Zikas pointed his finger in the air to stop Cartabona from talking so he could interject, and Cartabona asked him to stop pointing, according to Zikas. He claims that's when Cartabona moved his hands out of the way, placed both of his hands on Zikas' chest and shoved him. Mayor Ed Hanics then jumped between them, according to Zikas. Zikas said he threw his hands in the air and walked away. That's not how Cartabona remembers it. He said he was having a private conversation with Hanics in the mayor's office when Zikas barged in. Cartabona told an "irate" Zikas that his understanding of what happened during the council meeting was inaccurate, he said. Zikas kept following him, arguing and pointing as Cartabona tried to move away, Cartabona claims. He gently pulled the mayor's hand to get him to stand between them, he said. "I did not do anything wrong," Cartabona said. "Although I'm not discounting I pushed him away, I am discounting how he said it." Cartabona had been found guilty of simple assault and ordered to pay a fine when the case was first heard in a different municipal court in 2015. At the same hearing, Zikas was cleared of harassment charges levied by Cartabona. "This just goes to show that no one is allowed to put their hands on anyone else. You need to show restraint. You can't just go around pushing anyone," Zikas said at the time. "There was never an apology, so unfortunately, it had to come to a court decision." Cartabona on Wednesday said that he appealed to the state Superior Court and the case was sent back to the municipal level, and that several attempts at mediation were attempted. He also said he did attempt an apology. As to why he continued to appeal the minor charge, Cartabona said his political career was on the line. "There was an element of politics in Alpha where some of Zikas' friends on council were trying to use this to say I couldn't serve the public anymore," Cartabona said. "They wanted to touch my public office." Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Nikol Pashinyan waiting for international response (video) According to the opinion of political technologist Karen Kocharyan, the Armenian ministers easily give up their chairs and go voluntarily only during the "What, Where, When" game; it is a very complicated process in the political field. He recalls that at the beginning of the movement, Nikol Pashinyan considered that Serzh Sargsyan should not be prime minister, but the development of events is such that he can make other demands. The Republican Party of Armenia naturally does not want to cede. Referring to Nikol Pashinyan's press conference for the international media yesterday, Karen Kocharyan mentioned: "As Nikol Pashinyan is a politician, unlike those young people who come to the streets with happy, bright eyes, he realizes that the president has a lot of problems. He should agree with international structures and geopolitical centers in order to become a president. Yesterday, his message was that; he pushed the ball into that field. He will wait for their response," added the political technologist. Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com By Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com There are families interred at the Washington Cemetery that date back to the 1800s. Some of their graves have been buried anew, beneath debris. Large trees and branches are strewn across about a third of the cemetery at the edge of the Warren County borough of Washington. Some are directly on top of graves. Toppled headstones and smashed American flags lie next to them. There are signs of a clean-up effort. Larger logs have been sawed into pieces, but remain atop some plots, the sawdust littering the headstones. The association that manages the cemetery says it is nothing to worry about. Visiting residents beg to differ. Don't Edit The cemetery is located on a hill near Route 31 at the borough's southern edge. It has almost 5,000 memorials, according to FindAGrave.com. Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Readers recently alerted lehighvalleylive.com to the state of the cemetery, expressing their frustration. "I was really shocked with how little respect was given in the clean-up of the graves," said Diane Cafferty, of Mansfield Township. She has no relatives in the cemetery but said that after seeing photos on social media she wanted to check out the damage for herself. Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Megan Fox, of Washington, has relatives buried there. My friend had posted pictures of her father's grave being completely covered in gravel and I had gone up to check on our family plots and found the rest of the mess, she said. Ive been going up every couple of days now and it seems to get worse every time I'm there. Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit The Washington Cemetery Association, reached via Cemetery Development Co. in Long Branch, New Jersey, said the trees fell recently and are being cleaned up, adding that full-time staff "is always available to handle maintenance at the cemetery." Then it tried to downplay the situation and deflect responsibility for the conditions. This is not a story, the association wrote in a statement. We would not be surprised if the individuals staged the entire scene for their own purposes. Don't Edit MORE PHOTOS See more photos of the cemetery's state below. All photos in this report show the conditions of the Washington Cemetery as of Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Headstones are damaged and overturned where large trees and branches fell in a section of the Washington Cemetery in Warren County. Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Don't Edit MORE NEW JERSEY NEWS Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Industries #SilverCrest ($SIL.V; $SVCMF) Files Mineral Resource Technical Report on Las Chispas Property 25.04.2018 18:38:06 - SilverCrest Metals Inc. (TSXV: SIL.V; OTCQX: SVCMF) ("SilverCrest" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that a technical report titled "Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Las Chispas Property, Sonora, Mexico" (the "Las Chispas Report"), dated April 23, 2018, with an effective date of February 12, 2018, was filed today on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and is also available on SilverCrest's website. (live-PR.com) - #Mining News: #SilverCrest (TSXV: $SIL.V; OTCQX: $SVCMF) Files Mineral Resource Technical Report on the Las Chispas Property Vancouver, British Columbia - April 25, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) SilverCrest Metals Inc. (TSXV: SIL.V; OTCQX: SVCMF) ("SilverCrest" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that a technical report titled "Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Las Chispas Property, Sonora, Mexico" (the "Las - #Mining News: #SilverCrest (TSXV: $SIL.V; OTCQX: $SVCMF) Files Mineral Resource Technical Report on the Las Chispas PropertyVancouver, British Columbia - April 25, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) SilverCrest Metals Inc. (TSXV: SIL.V; OTCQX: SVCMF) ("SilverCrest" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that a technical report titled "Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Las Chispas Property, Sonora, Mexico" (the "Las Chispas Report"), dated April 23, 2018, with an effective date of February 12, 2018, was filed today on SEDAR at There are no material differences between the assumptions and estimates contained in the Company's press release dated February 26, 2018 (the "February 26 News Release") on the Las Chispas Property and those contained in the filed Las Chispas Report. Read this news in full and see chart at The Company advises that, as identified by Tetra Tech, the Las Chispas Report discloses a slight increase of tonnages in the estimate on historic dumps by 26,500 tonnes, which does not have a material effect on the overall Mineral Resource Estimate. The revised Mineral Resource Estimate is as follows: (1) Conforms to NI 43-101, Companion Policy 43-101CP, and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, as amended. Inferred Resources have been estimated from geological evidence and limited sampling and must be treated with a lower level of confidence than Measured and Indicated Resources. (2) AgEq based on 75 (Ag):1 (Au) and 100% metallurgical recovery. (3) Previously reported in February 26 News Release as 3,415,000 tonnes grading 3.66 Au and 297 Ag gpt, or 572 AgEq and contained 402,000 ounces gold and 32,650,000 ounces silver, or 62,800,000 ounces AgEq; (4) Previously reported in February 26 News Release as 148,000 tonnes grading 1.60 Au and 136 Ag, or 256 AgEq and contained 7,000 ounces gold and 648,000 ounces silver, or 1,219,000 ounces AgEq. (5) All numbers are rounded. Overall numbers may not be exact due to rounding. (6) In situ vein resource is reported using a 150 gpt AgEq cut-off grade and minimum 1.5 m minimum true width, and surface stockpile resource is reported using a 100 gpt AgEq cut-off. Qualified Person The Mineral Resources for the Las Chispas Property disclosed in this news release have been estimated by P. James F. Barr, P. Geo., Senior Geologist and Team Lead - Geology for Tetra Tech and independent of SilverCrest. Mr. Barr is a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. The Mineral Resources have been classified in accordance with CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, as amended. Mr. Barr has read and approved the contents of this press release as it pertains to the disclosed mineral resource estimate. ABOUT SilverCrest Metals INC. SilverCrest is a Canadian precious metals exploration company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, that is focused on new discoveries, value-added acquisitions and targeting production in Mexico's historic precious metal districts. The Company's current focus is on the high-grade, historic Las Chispas mining district in Sonora, Mexico. SilverCrest is the first company to successfully drill-test the historic Las Chispas Project resulting in numerous discoveries. The Company is led by a proven management team in all aspects of the precious metal mining sector, including taking projects through discovery, finance, on time and on budget construction, and production. N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng Chief Executive Officer SilverCrest Metals Inc. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For Further Information: SilverCrest Metals Inc. Contact: Fred Cooper, Investor Relations Telephone: +1 (604) 694-1730 Fax: +1 (604) 357-1313 Toll Free: 1-866-691-1730 (Canada & USA) Email: Website: 570 Granville Street, Suite 501 Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3P1 FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. These include, without limitation, statements with respect to: the strategic plans, timing and expectations for the Company's exploration, rehabilitation and drilling programs of the Las Chispas Property, including preparation of an initial resource estimate, preliminary economic assessment and updated resource estimate; information with respect to high grade areas and size of veins projected from underground sampling results and drilling results; and the accessibility of future mining at the Las Chispas Property. Such forward looking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: the conditions in general economic and financial markets; availability of skilled labour; timing and amount of expenditures related to rehabilitation and drilling programs; and effects of regulation by governmental agencies. The actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of risk factors including: the timing and content of work programs; results of exploration activities; the interpretation of drilling results and other geological data; receipt, maintenance and security of permits and mineral property titles; environmental and other regulatory risks; project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; and general market and industry conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statements were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this news release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law. SilverCrest Metals Inc. (TSXV: SIL.V; OTCQX: SVCMF) is a featured company on Investorideas.com Visit profile page Get News Alerts on SilverCrest Metals Inc. 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 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: Additional info regarding BC Residents and global Investors: Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info: Chispas Report"), dated April 23, 2018, with an effective date of February 12, 2018, was filed today on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and is also available on SilverCrest's website. The Las Chispas Report was independently completed for the Company by Tetra Tech Canada Inc. ("Tetra Tech"), in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").There are no material differences between the assumptions and estimates contained in the Company's press release dated February 26, 2018 (the "February 26 News Release") on the Las Chispas Property and those contained in the filed Las Chispas Report.Read this news in full and see chart at www.investorideas.com/CO/SILV/news/2018/04251TechnicalReport.asp The Company advises that, as identified by Tetra Tech, the Las Chispas Report discloses a slight increase of tonnages in the estimate on historic dumps by 26,500 tonnes, which does not have a material effect on the overall Mineral Resource Estimate. The revised Mineral Resource Estimate is as follows:(1) Conforms to NI 43-101, Companion Policy 43-101CP, and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, as amended. Inferred Resources have been estimated from geological evidence and limited sampling and must be treated with a lower level of confidence than Measured and Indicated Resources.(2) AgEq based on 75 (Ag):1 (Au) and 100% metallurgical recovery.(3) Previously reported in February 26 News Release as 3,415,000 tonnes grading 3.66 Au and 297 Ag gpt, or 572 AgEq and contained 402,000 ounces gold and 32,650,000 ounces silver, or 62,800,000 ounces AgEq;(4) Previously reported in February 26 News Release as 148,000 tonnes grading 1.60 Au and 136 Ag, or 256 AgEq and contained 7,000 ounces gold and 648,000 ounces silver, or 1,219,000 ounces AgEq.(5) All numbers are rounded. Overall numbers may not be exact due to rounding.(6) In situ vein resource is reported using a 150 gpt AgEq cut-off grade and minimum 1.5 m minimum true width, and surface stockpile resource is reported using a 100 gpt AgEq cut-off.Qualified PersonThe Mineral Resources for the Las Chispas Property disclosed in this news release have been estimated by P. James F. Barr, P. Geo., Senior Geologist and Team Lead - Geology for Tetra Tech and independent of SilverCrest. Mr. Barr is a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. The Mineral Resources have been classified in accordance with CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, as amended. Mr. Barr has read and approved the contents of this press release as it pertains to the disclosed mineral resource estimate.ABOUT SilverCrest Metals INC.SilverCrest is a Canadian precious metals exploration company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, that is focused on new discoveries, value-added acquisitions and targeting production in Mexico's historic precious metal districts. The Company's current focus is on the high-grade, historic Las Chispas mining district in Sonora, Mexico. SilverCrest is the first company to successfully drill-test the historic Las Chispas Project resulting in numerous discoveries. The Company is led by a proven management team in all aspects of the precious metal mining sector, including taking projects through discovery, finance, on time and on budget construction, and production.N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.EngChief Executive OfficerSilverCrest Metals Inc.Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.For Further Information:SilverCrest Metals Inc.Contact: Fred Cooper, Investor RelationsTelephone: +1 (604) 694-1730Fax: +1 (604) 357-1313Toll Free: 1-866-691-1730 (Canada & USA)Email: info@silvercrestmetals.com Website: www.silvercrestmetals.com 570 Granville Street, Suite 501Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3P1FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTSThis news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. These include, without limitation, statements with respect to: the strategic plans, timing and expectations for the Company's exploration, rehabilitation and drilling programs of the Las Chispas Property, including preparation of an initial resource estimate, preliminary economic assessment and updated resource estimate; information with respect to high grade areas and size of veins projected from underground sampling results and drilling results; and the accessibility of future mining at the Las Chispas Property. Such forward looking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: the conditions in general economic and financial markets; availability of skilled labour; timing and amount of expenditures related to rehabilitation and drilling programs; and effects of regulation by governmental agencies. The actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of risk factors including: the timing and content of work programs; results of exploration activities; the interpretation of drilling results and other geological data; receipt, maintenance and security of permits and mineral property titles; environmental and other regulatory risks; project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; and general market and industry conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statements were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this news release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law.SilverCrest Metals Inc. (TSXV: SIL.V; OTCQX: SVCMF) is a featured company on Investorideas.comVisit profile pageGet News Alerts on SilverCrest Metals Inc.This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leadersDisclaimer/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: www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp . Disclosure: Investorideas.com is compensated by SilverCrest Metals Inc for annual news publishing effective January 2017.Additional info regarding BC Residents and global Investors: Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info: www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894 . Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country Contact information: SilverCrest Metals Vancouver, BC Contact Person: Fred Cooper Investor Contact Phone: 866-691-1730 eMail: eMail Web: http://www.silvercrestmetals.com Author: Dawn VanZant e-mail Web: http://www.investorideas.com Phone: 800-665-0411 25.04.2018 18:38:06 - Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact the author. Please do not contact Live-PR.com. We are not able to assist you. Live-PR.com disclaims content contained in this article. Live-PR.com is not authorized to give any information about content and not responsible for content posted by third party. Stock Market News City will keep EU access if rules aligned, commission official says 25-04-2018 10:13 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 Comcast contests Murdoch Sky bid with own all-cash offer 25-04-2018 11:55 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 pre-open: Stocks to track Wall Street lower; Shire 'willing to recommend' Takeda offer 25-04-2018 07:31 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 Metro Bank first-quarter profit, deposit growth up 25-04-2018 07:49 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 Persimmon trading well ahead of testing AGM 25-04-2018 07:03 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 Trump to visit UK in July, according to reports 25-04-2018 16:05 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 UK must pay Brexit bill if no trade deal struck, audit office head says 25-04-2018 10:27 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 20-episode Bloody bet thriller to be broadcast on Ucom's Armenia Premium TV channel Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York Google Ad Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homeland Karen Vardanyan has allocated 105 million AMD to rescue the Yerevan Botanical Garden. "The Power of One Dram" to overcome childhood cancer Generation A 13 your chance to be the change President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan met with Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovayev "uDays" special offer at Ucom: discounts for all smartphones and accessories for 2 days only For more than 3 hours, 50 or more Azerbaijani servicemen have blocked the interstate road Call on the international community for an adequate response against azerbaijani aggresssion Transformation and trust are important for success in modern banking. Artak Hanesyan UCOMS LEVEL UP 1700 REGIONAL TARIFF PLAN USERS TO RECEIVE MORE THAN THOSE IN YEREVAN Google Ad Joint statement Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Covid-19: 163 new cases in Armenia Armenia: Remarks by Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi at the press point with Acting Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan The United States Welcomes Azerbaijans Release of Armenian Detainees and Armenias Actions to Facilitate Demining The Coronavirus-Related Situation in Armenia International aviation: Council greenlights signing of major agreements with four countries With UCOMs level up tariff plans subscribers have unlimited access to Netflix, Duolingo and Zoom Armenia: Statement by the Spokesperson on the early parliamentary elections Armenias Parliamentary Elections PRESS STATEMENT COVID19:77 new cases Armenias early parliamentary elections were competitive and well run, but polarized and marred by aggressive rhetoric, international observers say International election observers to Armenias early parliamentary elections held press conference 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 The 20-episode Bloody bet thriller to be broadcast on Ucom's Armenia Premium TV channel Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homeland Karen Vardanyan has allocated 105 million AMD to rescue the Yerevan Botanical Garden. 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Q.1 What are the main laws regulating IP in India? Intellectual Property in India refers to copyrights, patents, trade mark, designs and different intangible assets. There are well-established statutory, administrative, and judicial frameworks for safeguarding IP in India. The Trade Mark Act, 1999, which replaced the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958 ("TM Act, 1958"), protects Trade Marks. The Act has been amended quite a few times with the latest amendment in the year 2017. The Copyright Act, 1957 governs the copyright law in India. The Act has been amended quite a few times with the latest amendment in the year 2012. The Patent Act, 1970 governs the patent law in India. The Act has been amended quite a few times with the latest amendment in the year 2017. The Design Act, 1911, which protects the IPR related to design has been completely replaced by the Design Act, 2000. Aside these, in order to protect other species of intellectual property in India, few statutes have been enacted, namely - The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and protection) Act, 1999 The Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout- Design Act, 2000 The Protection of Plants & Varieties and Farmers Rights Act, 2001 The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of the High Courts Act, 2015 Q.2 Which international IP agreements is India a part of? Are there any notable omissions? India is a member of WTO (World Trade Organization) and is committed to the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). Also, the country is a member of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), which is a body responsible for the promotion of protection of intellectual property rights worldwide. And, it is a member of the below mentioned important IPRs related WIPO-administered International Treaties and Conventions - Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works Patent Cooperation Treaty Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks- Madrid Protocol Washington Treaty on Intellectual Property in respect of Integrated Circuits Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities International Copyright Order, 1999 IP-related Multilateral Treaties (Entry into force of the Treaty for the Contracting Party) Nagoya - Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (March 5, 2018) Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (October 12, 2014) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (May 3, 2008) Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions 2005 (March 18, 2007) Agreement for the establishment of the Global Crop Diversity Trust (January 9, 2007) Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (April 20, 2006) Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (April 13, 2006) International Plant Protection Convention (October 2, 2005) WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (February 27, 2005) Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (February 16, 2005) International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (June 29, 2004) Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity (September 11, 2003) United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (March 17, 1997) United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (July 29, 1995) Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO) (January 1, 1995) World Trade Organization (WTO) - Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) (1994) (January 1, 1995) Convention on Biological Diversity (May 19, 1994) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (March 21, 1994) Universal Copyright Convention as revised on 24 July 1971, with Appendix Declaration relating to Article XVII and Resolution concerning Article XI (April 7, 1988) Protocol 1 annexed for Universal Copyright Convention as revised at Paris on 24 July 1971 concerning the application of that Convention to works of Stateless persons and refugees (January 7, 1988) Protocol 2 annexed for Universal Copyright Convention as revised at Paris on 24 July 1971 concerning the application of that Convention to works of certain international organizations (January 7, 1988) International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (July 10, 1979) Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (February 14, 1978) Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (April 24, 1977) Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (September 16, 1958) Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (September 16, 1958) Universal Copyright Convention of 6 September 1952, with Appendix Declaration relating to Article XVII and Resolution concerning Article XI (January 21, 1958) Protocol 1 annexed to the Universal Copyright Convention as signed at Geneva on 6 September 1952 concerning the application of that Convention to works of stateless persons and refugees (October 21, 1957) Protocol 2 annexed to the Universal Copyright Convention as signed at Geneva on 6 September 1952 concerning the application of that Convention the works of certain international organizations (October 21, 1957) Protocol 3 annexed to the Universal Copyright Convention as signed at Geneva on 6 September 1952 concerning the effective date of instruments of ratification or acceptance of or accession to that Convention (October 21, 1957) Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (May 9, 1951) Convention (II) for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea (May 9, 1951) Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (May 9, 1951) Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (May 9, 1951) Convention on International Civil Aviation (April 4, 1947) Convention and Statute on Freedom of Transit (October 31, 1922) Regional Economic Integration Treaties (Entry into force of the Treaty for the Contracting Party) Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area (January 1, 2006) Framework Agreement on the BIMST-EC Free Trade Area and its Protocol and the Declaration establishing the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (February 8, 2004) Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (April 19, 1989) Charter of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (December 8, 1985) First Agreement on Trade Negotiations among Developing Member Countries of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Bangkok Agreement) (June 17, 1976) IP-relevant Bilateral Treaties (Entry into force of the Treaty for the Contracting Party) Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of Malaysia (July 1, 2011) Agreement on Trade in Goods under the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Republic of India (January 1, 2010) Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the Republic of Korea and the Republic of India (January 1, 2010) Protocol to Amend the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Republic of India (January 1, 2010) Revised Treaty of Trade between the Government of India and the Government of Nepal (October 27, 2009) Preferential Trade Agreement between the MERCOSUR and the Republic of India (January 1, 2009) Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for the Promotion and Protection of Investments (October 7, 2007) Preferential Trade Agreement between the Republic of Chile and the Republic of India (September 11, 2007) Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between the Government of the Republic of India and the Royal Government of Bhutan (July 29, 2006) Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement between the Republic of India and the Republic of Singapore (August 1, 2005) Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between the Republic of India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (July 1, 2004) Preferential Trade Agreement between the Republic of India and the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (May 13, 2003) Free Trade Agreement between India and Sri Lanka (December 15, 2001) Agreement between the Government of the State of Qatar and the Government of the Republic of India on the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments (December 15, 1999) Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the State of Israel for the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments (February 18, 1997) Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of India for the Promotion and Mutual Protection of Investments (August 5, 1996) Notably, India is not a party to the Hague Agreement concerning the international registration of Industrial Designs. Q.3 What is the procedure for obtaining a patent in India? Are there any notable differences from other jurisdictions? Checking the Patentability by performing a search for similar technologies Checking the Patentability of the invention viz. novelty, non-obviousness and industrial applicability. Drafting a patent application (Provisional or Complete) Filing the application: Form 1 - Application for Grant of Patent Form 2 - Provisional/Complete specification Form 3 - Statement and undertaking regarding foreign application under section 8 (only required if a corresponding patent application is filed in another country) Form 5 - Declaration as to inventorship (only to be filed along with the complete application) Form 26 - Form for authorization of a patent agent (only required if you are using a patent agent to help you file the application) Form 28 - To be submitted by startup or small entity (only required if you are claiming startup or small entity status) Priority documents - In case you are claiming priority from a foreign patent application and entering India, you may be required to provide the priority document as well. Publication of patent application Examination of the patent application along with pre-grant opposition, if any Final decision on grant of patent Although the patent regime in India is extremely exhaustive and TRIPS- compliant, there are several differences as compared to the practice and laws followed in other jurisdictions. Some of the notable differences are: India under S. 3 (d) excludes new forms of known substances from patentability which do not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance, viz. isomers, esters, polymorphs, salts etc. This kind of exclusion is not found expressly in any other patent statute and creates another bar on attempts of evergreening. India does not, yet, provide for utility patents. The same has been introduced in many other jurisdictions successfully. Although the inclusion of utility patent models has been extensively debated, no definite conclusion has been made. India provides a separate statute for the protection of plant varieties and farmers' rights. Several jurisdictions include plants or parts thereof and varieties in the patent system itself by conferring different rights thereon. However, India does so by the way of a separate legislation. Indian Patent laws also exclude algorithms and software per se from the scope of patentability. Indian regime also provides for compulsory licensing including for medical and pharmaceutical inventions in cases of extreme emergency or epidemic. Such a system also operates in cases where the drug needs to be exported to a country where an epidemic exists. Under the Indian Patent Act, patentees/licensees are also required to file annual working statements. Q.4 What is the procedure for obtaining a trade mark? In India, trademark registration can be obtained for words, logos, slogans, device, numerals, shape of goods, packaging or combination of colours etc. Registering trademark gives the owner of the mark the legal right of exclusivity for use of it. However, the process is time-taking and involves multiple steps. Below are the various steps involved in Trademark Registration - Trademark Search - This is the first step involved in registering trademark. The applicant should thoroughly search the trademark records registry and ensure that the intended trademark does not resemble or is not identical to any registered mark. Filing Application - Application can be filed both online and offline. But, the application must contain the following information - Logo or the Trademark Name and address of the trademark owner Classification or Trademark Class Trademark used since date (if use claimed then it is mandatory to file 'Affidavit of Use' at the time of filing of the application) Description of the goods or services (as per Nice Classification) Trademark Application Allotment - After the application is filed with the trademark registry, an allotment number is provided on the same day. Vienna Codification - The Vienna Classification or Vienna Codification, established by the Vienna Agreement (1973), is an international classification of the figurative elements of marks. Once the trademark registration application is filed, the Trademark Registrar will apply the Vienna Classification to the trademark based on the figurative elements of marks. While this work is in progress, the trademark application status usually reflects as "Sent for Vienna Codification". Trademark Examination: After the completion of Vienna Codification, the trademark registration application will be allotted to a Trademark Officer in the Trademark Registrar Office. He will then review the trademark application and issue either an objection letter that pertains non-compliance of viz., non-filing of Power of Attorney, specification of goods or services are not filed as per Nice Classification, filing of priority documents etc. or a trademark examination report. He has the authority to accept or reject any trademark application. Trademark Journal Publication - After acceptance of the trademark application, the proposed trademark is published in the Trade Marks Journal. The Trade Marks Journal is published weekly (i.e., on every Monday of the week) and contains all the trademarks that have been accepted by the Trademark Registry. And, after publication of trademark in the Trade Marks Journal, public has an opportunity to object to it, if they believe they will be damaged by that registration. If there are no objections filed within four months from the date of the availability of the Trade Marks Journal to the public, the mark will typically be registered within 12 weeks - months' time (from the date of expiry of the opposition period ). Trademark Registration - If there are no objections raised within the stipulated time, the trademark registration certificate will be prepared and sent to the Registered trademark proprietor or to their agent on record (electronically via email(. The Trade Marks Registry has now stopped issuance of the physical Registration Certificate. Once the trademark registration certificate is issued, the trademark is considered to be a registered trademark of the owner, granting the trademark owner exclusive use of the mark for the period of 10 years from the date of filing of the trademark application.. Also, the registered trademark owner has to renew their registered mark in every 10 years in order to retain rights in their mark. The symbol can thereafter be placed next to the logo or trademark. Q.5 Which are the most significant IP cases in recent years? Top 5 IP cases of 2017 are as follows: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha v. M/S Prius Auto Industries Ltd. (Trademark) Bayer Corporation v. Union of India (Patent) Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. v. Union of India (Copyright) Biocon Ltd. & Mylan Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. v. F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG & Ors. (Patent) Makemytrip (India) Private Limited v. Orbit Corporate Leisure Travels (I) Private Limited (Trademark) Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson Vs. Competition Commission of India & Ors (Patent) Q.6 Are there any other IP rights that are available in India, eg design rights, innovation patent? (Answered in Q. No. 1)And what do international rights owners need to know about these? India follows the common law and therefore, offers common law protection in addition to statutory protection in the realm of copyright and trade marks/names. Further, Design rights are available in India and are governed by the Designs Act, 2000. India also recognizes several other forms of IP such as Geographical Indications, Plant varieties, etc. and neighboring rights such as Trade Secrets and Confidential Information, etc. Q.7 Have there been any recent significant changes in the law? Yes, there have been significant changes in IP law in India. For instance, The Indian Copyright Act was extensively amended in 2012. Further, the Trade Mark Rules, 2002 were also amended extensively in the year 2017. Furthermore, the enactment of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of the High Courts Act, 2015 has brought about significant procedural changes with the aim to expedite the disposal of IP disputes in India. Recently the Original Side Rules of the Delhi High Court has been amended. This amendment was in line with the Commercial Courts Act and the aim is to dispose of all pending matters as soon as possible. The rules also lays down the guidelines from filing to the disposal including the timelines. Q.8 Are there any proposals/plans for legal changes? Or treaty accessions? Yes, there is a proposed legal change pertaining to the provisions of working of patents of the Patents Act, 1970 which is pending with the Indian Patent Office. Paragraph 3(i)(b) of Form 27 requires patentees to state the "quantum" and "value" of the patented product manufactured in India or imported from other countries. This issue cropped up in an erroneous Form 27 submission involving Wyeth as highlighted by Prashant in an earlier post. The bone of contention is should value be the price at which the patented invention is sold and/or distributed by the patentee to distributors or the final price at which the drug is sold to the consumer? In view of resolving the aforesaid issues regarding the provisions of working of patents in the Patents Act 1970, the Indian Patent Office has called upon a consultation meeting with stakeholders to receive feedback and ascertain procedures in this regard. Q.9 What is the body responsible for granting IP rights and how is it structured? DIPP - Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion which is a part of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, is responsible for the provision of IP rights in India and also for the administration of the concerned registries/offices. Further, the following bodies are responsible for granting IP rights in India: Patent - Indian Patent Office Copyright - Copyright Office Trade Marks - Trade Marks Registry Design - Controller of Designs ( Controller -General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks) IPAB - for grant of compulsory/ statutory license for Patents & Copyright Q.10 Which courts have jurisdiction in IP cases in India, at first instance and appeal? How are they structured (eg. number of judges, forum shopping, evidence rules, witnesses ) All IP disputes can be filed, at the first instance, before District Courts as well as High Courts having original jurisdiction. The pecuniary and territorial jurisdiction would decide the court of first instance. IP disputes filed before the High Courts are categorized as 'commercial disputes' and are governed by the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015. Constitution of Commercial Courts The State Government, after consultation with the concerned High Courts, may constitute Commercial Courts at District Levels. Also, the local limits of the jurisdiction of such courts shall be determined by the State Government after consultation with the concerned High Court. The State Government with agreement of the Chief Justice of the High Court, shall appoint one or more persons having experience in dealing with commercial disputes to be the Judge or Judges, of a Commercial Court, from amongst the cadre of Higher Judicial Service in the State. Constitution of Commercial Division of High Court In all the High Courts that have ordinary jurisdiction, the Chief Justice of the High Court may by order constitute Commercial Division having one or more Benches consisting of a single Judge for the purpose of exercising the jurisdiction and powers conferred on it under this Act. The Judges of the High Court who have experience in dealing with commercial disputes to be Judges of the Commercial Division are nominated by the Chief Justice of the High Court. Constitution of Commercial Appellate Division After issuing notification under sub-section (1) of section 3 or order under sub-section (1) of section 4, the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court shall, by order, constitute Commercial Appellate Division having one or more Division Benches for the purpose of exercising the jurisdiction and powers conferred on it by the Act. The Judges of the High Court who have experience in dealing with commercial disputes to be Judges of the Commercial Appellate Division are nominated by the Chief Justice of the High Court. An IP case can be filed either at the Commercial Courts or at the Commercial Divisions of High Courts if the valuation of the suit is over Rs. 1 Crore. Further, all suits and applications that are pending on the original side of the High Court shall be heard and disposed of by the Commercial Division of the High Court. Appeals - Any person who is aggrieved by the decision of the Trial Court can appeal to the High Court within a period of 90 days from the date of judgment or order, or the case may be. Any person who is aggrieved by the decision of the Commercial Court or Commercial Division of the High Court can appeal to the Commercial Appellate Division of that High Court within a period of 60 days from the date of judgment or order, or the case may be. Q.11 How common is IP litigation? How many patent/trade mark cases in a typical year? Over the years IP litigation in India has become quite common and hundreds of cases are filed on an annual basis. Q.12 Are there any decisions in other areas of law (eg competition, regulatory) that have had or are likely to have an impact on IP rights? Yes. Increasingly, the interplay between IPR and competition law is coming to the forefront. Further, with respect to pharmaceutical patents, regulatory issues especially pertaining to creation of patent linkage is also being seen. Q.13 Are there any financial/accounting measures in India that are aimed at or relevant to IP owners/licensees (eg patent box-style tax rules or other IP-related incentives)? Yes, for example, there exists a special patent regime with a 10% rate of tax on income from worldwide commercialization of patents which are developed and registered in India. Usually, the domestic company which has commercialized the patent would be paying tax from income at the standard rate of 30% after deducting expense. Q.14 What is the position of an unregistered trademark in India and how is it protected? Unregistered trademarks in India are protected under the common law principle of passing-off. Thus, the proprietor's rights in such unregistered marks can be enforced by proving use and existence of established goodwill and reputation of the mark in question. To constitute an action for passing off, the proprietor must establish the following factors: The mark has acquired certain goodwill and reputation in India Misrepresentation of the mark by the Defendant Consequently, damage to Plaintiff's business and/or goodwill Q.15 What is the law pertaining to protection and regulation of domain names in India? In India a person has to the option of either going to the WIPO(for .com) or NIXI (for .in domains). However if a person wants to go for infringement, they come under the Trademarks Act, infact in the year 2005 the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the judgment of Satyam vs Siffy brought the domain names under the purview of Trademarks Act. Q.16 What measures are taken to prevent the import of counterfeit goods in India? In addition to the Trademarks Act, 1999, the Customs Act ,1962 and Intellectual Property Rights (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, 2007 provide for border control remedies with respect to counterfeit goods, The import and export of goods are regulated by Chapter VII (Sections 44 to 51) of the Customs Act. The import of goods that infringe IP rights is prohibited by Notification 49/2007-Customs (NT) (May 8 2007), issued under Section 11 of the Customs Act. Section 11 empowers the central government to prohibit or restrict the import or export of goods for the purposes specified in the section by issuing notifications in the Official Gazette. The act empowers the government to prohibit the import or export of goods to protect patents, trademarks and copyrights (Section 11(2)(n)), and to prevent the contravention of any law that is in force (Section 11(2)(u)). Notification 49/2007 prohibits the import of any goods that feature false trademarks, as specified in Section 102 of the Trademarks Act. The material on this site is for law firms, companies and other IP specialists. It is for information only. Please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Notice before using the site. All material subject to strictly enforced copyright laws. 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQs. Share this article Thiruvananthapuram: The Indian National Centre for Information Services (INCOIS) has issued warning that there are chances that waves can go as high as 5 feet to 7 feet. Following this government has issued security alert at the coastal regions in the state as the sea has turned rough. Visitors have been banned for 48 hours at the Shankumukham beach. The fishermen are instructed not to go to the sea for the next 24 hours. The Indian Meteorological Department has warned about strong winds in the state. New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on last day said his decision to reject the impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra was "timely and not a hasty one" and came after over a month of due diligence, according to sources. Freedom of expression allows that but ultimately truth prevails. I have done the just thing in the best possible manner expected of me; sources quoted Naidu as saying, a day after he rejected the impeachment motion. He said his decision was in strict conformity with the provisions of the Constitution and the Judges Inquiry Act of 1968. "I have done my job and am satisfied with it; Naidu was quoted as telling a group of 10 Supreme Court lawyers who met him to compliment him over the decision. Papua New Guinea is one of those countries that many of us have never thought of visiting. Ask yourself: The last time someone brought it up, did images of thick, inaccessible forests, rugged landscapes and cannibal tribes conjure in your mind? Were here to break that stereotype and tell you that yes, even though PNG is still largely covered with pristine green forests (isnt that good news?) and is very much off-the-grid, it makes an amazing holiday destination especially if you avoid overcrowded touristy places. The worlds second largest island boasts many hidden gems that are safely tucked away from the modern world. Sadly, thats exactly why many people dont give it a shot; the lack of infrastructure and proper tourist information makes a trip here all the more tricky. But with the right research and will, we assure you that Papua New Guinea will be one of the most memorable trips youll ever have made in your life. From rich cultures, ridiculously gorgeous beaches and a teeming natural landscape, theres just so much to see and experience here. Still not convinced? Head up to our gallery and see for yourself why Papua New Guinea should be your next holiday destination! Thamayanthy Photos: Getty Images READ MORE: Secret Paradise: Traveling through Indonesias hidden gem islands Take The Plunge: 10 Best scuba diving locations in the world 5 Mind-blowing sailing trips in Southeast Asia you should take at least once Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' private jet was at Boston's Logan International Airport in the days before and after the company announced its search for a second North American headquarters. Bezos' Gulftstream G650ER was at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport the day that Amazon released its shortlist of 20 finalists. Just this week, his jet has been at Dallas Love Field Airport and California's Hollywood Burbank Airport. That's according to flight records obtained by the Puget Sound Business Journal, which may not list every trip the plane has taken and in some cases have incomplete information. The records don't indicate the purpose of the trips or whether Bezos or other Amazon executives were aboard the aircraft. While they aren't necessarily an indicator of the company's likelihood of choosing one of these cities for its second headquarters, Bezos' familiarity and frequent travel to some of the cities could weigh in his decision on where HQ2 ends up. Amazon declined to comment on Bezos' jet or its whereabouts. So far in 2018, his jet has been at airports in or near the following HQ2 finalist cities: Colorado's Boulder Municipal Airport; Dallas; Burbank and Los Angeles International; New Jersey's Teterboro Airport; and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. In what might have been the shortest trip, the plane flew from Burbank to Los Angeles International on March 17. Finalists that don't appear to have been visited by Bezos' jet this year, according to this batch of records, include Austin (Texas), Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Columbus (Ohio), Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Nashville, Raleigh (North Carolina) and Toronto. That does not necessarily mean Bezos has not visited those cities via other means, or that his absence is an indicator those cities are not in the running for HQ2 -- but his private jet does not appear to have flown to any airports nearby, according to these records. The jet's flights in the months before and after the initial HQ2 announcement in September include Boston, Burbank, Miami, Columbus, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. The jet flew to Chicago in October 2016, but the records don't list any flights there since. The most common destination since March 2016 -- aside from the jet's home base at Seattle's Boeing Field/King County International Airport -- was Reagan Washington National. Bezos owns a mansion in Washington, D.C. and the Washington Post newspaper, which would explain his frequent travel there. These flights include those by Bezos' previous private jet, a Dassault Falcon-900EX. Other top destinations in that time include Burbank, New Jersey's Teterboro, Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport and El Paso International Airport in Texas. Bezos owns property in West Texas and his Blue Origin space company has operations there. The twin-engine Gulfstream jet is owned by Bezos' Poplar Glen LLC. Amazon.com does not appear to own any corporate aircraft, according to a review of public filings and Federal Aviation Administration records. The story was updated Thursday, April 26, 2018, at 5:51 p.m. to note that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission does not require applicants to disclose sealed convictions. An earlier version had incorrect information. SPRINGFIELD -- MGM Springfield has more than 800 jobs available to people whose backgrounds mean they would never qualify for a license from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. MGM is in mass hiring mode for its $960 million casino, which is nearing completion in the South End. The Gaming Commission and MGM released a list of 127 job descriptions Wednesday. There are 800 jobs and 127 descriptions because there might be more than one employee with the same job description. With this list, almost a third of the jobs at the casino are available to all individuals, subject only to the particular requirements of casino management and not Gaming Commission oversight, according to a press release. MGM will still do background checks, but the decision to hire or not hire will rest with MGM alone. MGM Springfield plans to hire 1,300 people before opening in about five months from now. The list comes one day before a scheduled Gaming Commission meeting and as speculation swirls around whether MGM Resorts International will sell the Springfield operation in order to take over Wynn Boston Harbor following Steve Wynn's sex harassment scandal. The list of MGM Springfield jobs where a license is not required runs from administrative assistant, locksmith, electronics technician or valet parking employee and includes painters and carpenters and graphic designers. It is mostly kitchen and restaurant, reception, maintenance, and office jobs. The list is reproduced below in its entirety and is online here as a PDF. A list of all the jobs MGM Springfield is advertising for is here. The newly posted jobs don't include roles on the casino floor. Those jobs will continue to require licensees. "While all MGM Springfield employees will undergo some level of background check," the company wrote in a news release, "this recent update will allow greater eligibility for applicants interested in many of these newly posted positions." Under the state's gaming law, a person with a felony record or certain other convictions involving fraud or theft are disqualified from getting a license for 10 years following their date of conviction. The exemptions are the result of lobbying from members of the Springfield community worried that too many city residents who need jobs would be shut out of work at MGM. The state Legislature changed state law in November to allow the exemptions. Elaine Driscoll, spokeswoman for the Gaming Commission, said Wednesday that this list is only for MGM Springfield. But the commission is reviewing the need for licenses at Plainridge Park, which opened with slot machines in 2015. At Wynn Boston Harbor, the commission will take similar steps exempting job descriptions form the license requirement as that facility gets closer to opening, she said. The commission said applicants do not need to disclose sealed convictions. A juvenile finding of delinquency must be disclosed, but it is not viewed by the commission as a conviction and will not lead to automatic disqualification. The commission urges applicants to tell the truth on their applications. Massachusetts Gaming Commissioner Bruce W. Stebbins said his concern was that there were too many people who needed jobs and would qualify, but didn't apply fearing that something in their past would trip them up. Given the improving economy and falling unemployment rates, there isn't any room anymore for anyone to sit on the sideline. "We don't want you to self-exclude and say, 'I would never get a job there anyways," said Stebbins, a former Springfield city councilor. "We think this is a great opportunity." MGM developed the list of exempt positions with Gaming Commission direction. "There are some service employees who have no impact on gaming operations whatsoever," he said. "They are not taking care of slot machines. They are not dealing blackjack." Stebbins said one thing that has impressed him about MGM is its commitment to hiring from within and creating career pathways. He's hoping that by getting this information out there, more people will take the first step toward climbing that ladder. MGM Springfield exemptions by Jim Kinney on Scribd SPRINGFIELD - A scholar in Middle East politics will be featured speaker for a collaboratively presented program on Syria this month at Christ Church Cathedral. David Mednicoff, director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, will deliver the main talk for "Keeping Hope Alive: Seven Years of War in Syria" April 29 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Christ Church Cathedral, 35 Chestnut St. The event, similar to one held earlier this month in Northampton, is being presented by the Interfaith Council of Greater Springfield, along with Christ Church Cathedral, the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts and the Valley Syrian Relief Committee, which is a Western Massachusetts partner of the Washington, D.C.-based Syrian Emergency Task Force. The program, according to the Very Rev. Tom Callard, cathedral dean, is designed to offer attendees better understanding of the ongoing Syrian war and what they might do in terms of humanitarian efforts, such as writing members of Congress to address how few Syrian refugees have been resettled to date in the country. Other speakers include Diocesan Bishop Douglas Fisher, Dr. Mohammed Saleem Bajwa, a Holyoke physician and board member of the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts, and Rabbi Mark Shapiro, among others. Callard said cathedral members have been devoting April to learning more about Syria and the war there as this is the time of year when the conflict began seven years ago. "I am sure the professor is going to inform a lot of us about aspects of Syria we don't know about," said Callard of Mednicoff's presentation. He added the event is not only directed at those who considered themselves people of faith, but "folks who also have an interest in global affairs and people whose hearts are moved to find out and respond to the needs of others in the world." Besides Middle Eastern law and politics, Mednicoff's areas of expertise include international law, human rights and globalization theory. He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in law in Qatar, where he taught legal and political philosophy at Qatar University in 2006. It is estimated than some 400,000 people are dead or missing since civil unrest began in Syria against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in 2011. The conflict has evolved into a complicated proxy war involving Russia, other Middle Eastern countries and Western Allies. The United States recently joined its allies in launching air strikes on Syria in retaliation for al-Assad's suspected use of chemical weapons, but the Trump administration is being criticized for only accepting a reported 44 Syrian refugees so far this year. The Layaali Arabic Music Trio will play during the event. Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox appeared on CNBC Wednesday to speak of a "refresh" within the company. His comments focused on Wynn properties in Las Vegas and Macau until he was asked, "What about Boston?" Initally, Maddox said the company has spent the last four years "focused on Las Vegas" and said his intention is to further "take this brand globally." When asked if Wynn Boston Harbor was on the market, Maddox denied it. "Boston's not up for sale. What Boston represents for us is a good growth opportunity," Maddox said on CNBC. "I like that market. I found that land. I pursued that deal. I entered the agreement with the host community five years ago. I liked that market then, I like that market now." His comments mark a shift in previous statements about the yet-to-be-finished Boston-area casino project. During an first earnings conference call with investors this week, he hinted at a sale. He described $2.4 billion casino project in Everett as a "really good opportunity" for the company but kept the possibility of a sale on the table. "If there was ever any risk due to heightened rhetoric that there could be any contagion from Massachusetts into our $20 billion company in Las Vegas and Macau, we will have to take a hard look at what is best to protect our shareholders and value," Maddox said, as reported by the Review-Journal. Industry insiders have confirmed to MassLive that gaming officials are exploring the sale of Wynn Boston Harbor, with MGM Resorts International as a top candidate to purchase the project. MGM is building a $960 million casino project in Springfield. MGM has publicly maintained its commitment to the project in the heart of downtown. "We remain fully committed to the opening and success of MGM Springfield." said Debra DeShong, senior vice president of global corporate communications and industry affairs for MGM, adding that the company "do not comment on rumors or speculations around transactions." John DeCree of Union Gaming - Las Vegas-based investment bank and advisory firm - told investors earlier this month that purchasing Wynn Boston Harbor could result in a double-digit increase in return on investment for MGM than their casino project in Springfield, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. In his report to investors, DeCree said MGM Springfield "was a great fit for MGM when the license was awarded in 2014, but MGM is a vastly different company today." The report goes on, "In 2014, MGM's total leverage was six times and the company generated $1.5 billion of domestic," the report reads. "Today, MGM's balance sheet is 4.5 times leveraged and going below four times in a hurry. The company now generates over $2.5 billion of domestic cash flow and has significantly expanded its presence on the East Coast with MGM National Harbor and The Borgata. As a substantially larger enterprise, we believe MGM is a good fit for Boston." When talks of a potential sale surfaced, Maddox said, "We remain very excited about the Boston market," adding, "However, our obligation to shareholders is always to maximize the value of our assets and to mitigate risk." Following an explosive report in the Wall Street Journal detailing allegations against Wynn, Massachusetts Gaming Commission opened an investigation into the suitability of Wynn Resorts to hold the sole eastern Massachusetts casino license. During a recent commission meeting, gaming chairman Steve Crosby told Wynn officials that the project was allowed to proceed on an "at-risk" basis. The casino has a scheduled opening date of June 2019. State gaming regulations prohibit a casino operator from holding more than one license to operate within Massachusetts, making the sale of the Springfield casino necessary if MGM were to purchase the Wynn property. News that the University of Massachusetts Amherst plans to purchase Mount Ida's multi-million dollar debt and acquire its Newton campus has drawn criticism that the UMass system is favoring its flagship school over UMass Boston. Of those critical voices is former Mass. higher education official Richard Freeland, who said he believes that UMass Amherst's acquisition of the 70-plus-acres in Newton would have a serious negative impact on the UMass Boston campus in Dorchester. "The likely impact is the cannibalization of enrollments at UMass Boston, and other public campuses in the area and also area private colleges and universities," Freeland said to the Board of Higher Education at a public meeting in Boston on Tuesday. Freeland has served in a number of roles across Massachusetts' higher education scene. The 76-year-old formerly worked as an administrator at UMass Boston, as the president of Northeastern University and as the Massachusetts commissioner of higher education. While praising UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy and his right to "advance the interests of his own campus," Freeland said Tuesday that the UMass Board of Trustees had an obligation to build an excellent system of public research universities -- not a single excellent university. "They must determine whether these initiatives for Amherst are not outweighed by the negative impacts on other campuses," Freeland said Tuesday. "It is not clear to me that this question has been answered or to be honest even asked." Advocates for UMass Boston crowded into the public meeting room in Boston Tuesday, many holding posters with messages of frustration. "There's been a periodic squeezing of our university," said Shoshanna Ehrlich, a UMass Boston professor of women's gender and sexuality studies. Erlich said she has taught at the university for 25 years. "The diverse minority-majority campus is not getting the same funding and respect, and we're sick of it. It's not fair to us or our students," Ehrlich added. Other UMass Boston professors, like Dr. Judith Smith, said they felt the deal diminished their claims for state funding. UMass President Marty Meehan said he has pushed to invest in the Boston campus, including the construction of new residence halls due to open in September. But the UMass Boston community, which includes many working-class and commuter students, says that school's budget problems are having an impact. On Tuesday, students and faculty highlighted increased parking prices, teacher layoffs, bigger class sizes and crumbling infrastructure on campus. The university is currently searching for a permanent new chancellor. "The last thing the public system needs is to add capacity to teach undergraduates, especially at the campus in the system least affected by demographic pressures," Freeland said. Graduating students at Mount Ida do not want the Board of Trustees or President Barry Brown to attend senior commencement next month, and the school's top administrators say they will honor the request. A Mount Ida spokesperson released a statement on Wednesday announcing Brown and the trustees will not attend the college's 119th and likely last-ever commencement ceremony, which will take place Saturday, May 12 at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion. "The president and Board of Trustees, understanding the hurt and grief of students and families, is honoring the respectful request of the senior class that they not attend commencement," the statement read. "We sincerely hope that students and families will be permitted a peaceful and private celebration of their achievements at the Blue Hills Pavilion." According to a Mount Ida spokesperson, the students organizing the commencement ceremony "respectfully communicated" to the president and board that they did not want them to attend. The unusual request comes at a time of chaos for the school's students. On April 6, MassLive first reported that the University of Massachusetts Amherst was interested in purchasing the Newton College. It soon became apparent that UMass Amherst planned to buy the school's multi-million-dollar debt and transform the 70-plus-acres into a satellite campus for Amherst students. Dozens of students and their families traveled to Boston on Tuesday to tell the Mass. Board of Higher Education that there has been a lack of transparency and notice from Mount Ida, and that there are few options -- both educationally and financially -- to remedy their individual situations. Board members promised distraught families they would try to act quickly and within their powers to create viable solutions, but also said the process would likely take weeks and months to play out. They also warned that the shuttering of Mount Ida, which was nearly $70 million in debt in 2016, may be an example of what's to come for other small colleges in Massachusetts and beyond. The proposed deal between Mount Ida and UMass, a controversial acquisition that involves UMass Amherst taking over the private Newton-based campus, will be the subject of a Massachusetts State House hearing on May 16. Massachusetts state lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight plan to take invitation-only testimony on the proposed deal. The hearing, which will be open to the public, is scheduled for noon in Room 428. The proposed deal has experienced blowback since it was formally announced on April 6. Massachusetts Senate President Harriette Chandler, D-Worcester, called it a "hasty acquisition," while Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford, said UMass "cut a deal and most of us read about it" in the media. MassLive first reported that UMass and Mount Ida were in talks. UMass President Marty Meehan has defended the deal and told WBZ earlier this month that lawmakers are "upset because they don't really know the facts here." "This isn't something that UMass created," he said, pointing financial problems at Mount Ida that were "years" in the making. "This place was closing whether UMass got involved or not." Students, parents and faculty at Mount Ida have also criticized the small college's officials and their abrupt decision to sell to UMass and close the institution. The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education (BHE) listened to their frustrations during a Tuesday meeting. The board has some oversight over college closures and academic programs. Jim Peyser, Gov. Charlie Baker's education secretary and a member of the BHE as well as the UMass board of trustees, told WGBH News that the deal could help UMass Amherst students get co-ops and internships. The Mount Ida campus is close to a number of technology companies in Newton and Needham. Massachusetts has over 100 colleges and universities. But that number may soon dwindle in wake of declining enrollments, according to the state's Board of Higher Education. "The forecast is not pretty," said Higher Education Commissioner Carlos E. Santiago. "We expect many more closures." Declining enrollments at both private and public colleges and universities indicate that many more closures and mergers are likely to happen in Massachusetts. The trend will continue until at least 2032, according to Santiago, who spoke to a crowd of frustrated families in Boston Tuesday morning to explain details surrounding the turbulent expected closure of Mount Ida College. "How these closures take place...is particularly important," Santiago said. "There are ways to do this correctly. We've gotten pretty good at this when given notification." Notice lies at the heart of the Mount Ida controversy, as parents and students decried the college for providing no notice on a potential closure. One-by-one on Wednesday, parents and students spoke to the board of higher education to say a lack of notification has left them panicking about their educational and financial futures. The board said on Tuesday they have never seen a closure case like Mount Ida before. "In the past we've dealt with...ones that have treated their students in a kinder fashion in which they had a close-out fashion for the faculty and the students," said Nancy Hoffman, chair of the Academic Affairs Committee. "This is the first time it's come to the board in this manner." Hoffman echoed Santiago, saying Mount Ida is the first of potentially many closures to come in the next decade. She and others on the board promised to act quickly within their powers as state education officials, though it was not totally clear what that would look like. "You think that the board of higher ed would actually be able to do something," Hoffman said. "We're looking into exactly what we can possibly do." The board is not unaccustomed to dealing with failing institutions: over the last five years, Massachusetts has seen 15 schools close or merge with other institutions, according to a presentation by the board on Tuesday. Such closures included Marian Court College in Swampscott, Sanford-Brown College in Boston and Le Cordon Bleu College in Cambridge. The practice has become so common that the department has a template and detailed closure policy for shuttering institutions. "The picture here is not just about Mount Ida and UMass. It's about what we see unfolding in real time in higher education here in Massachusetts and across the country," said J.D. LaRock, the board's community college Trustee Representative. "I personally can name half a dozen institutions in Massachusetts that are likely in a similar place to Mount Ida," he added. But in the case of Mount Ida -- a school with a number of special programs that do not have available, comparable counterparts elsewhere in the state -- members of the Department of Higher Education appeared as blindsided as the students and their families. Members said that staff at Mount Ida have been responsive in private talks, but admitted that they, too, are piecing together information from news reports. "We know as much or maybe even less than you do," Hoffman said to the room of students, parents and opponents to the deal on Tuesday. Board members said repeatedly they would like to prevent a situation like Mount Ida's closure -- what board Chairman Chris Gabrieli called a "hot mess" -- from happening again. "I don't know what the limits of what we can pull off are, we should test that upper limit," Gabrieli told reporters Tuesday. "I think we're doing everything we can, but there are real limits and that raises the bigger policy question about accountability at the Mount Ida leadership and board...and what we're going to differently in the future so this doesn't happen again." A 15-year-old mother and her 4-month-old baby son are both in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families after the girl was found in Springfield sometime Tuesday, Newburyport police said. Authorities said Shantel Van Voorhis and her baby, Jacob Van Voorhis, disappeared from the DARE Family Services facility in Newburyport at about 2:30 a.m. Monday. The baby was turned over to the DCF by a member of his family earlier Tuesday. Alerts were posted by Newburyport police and Massachusetts State Police seeking public help in locating the pair. Police believed Van Voorhis may have left the facility with a friend of hers. A vehicle description was posted and that car was found in Springfield earlier today. HOLYOKE -- On a steamy July night in 2016, Police Chief James M. Neiswanger walked down to Upland Road and Homestead Avenue to address the media after a six-hour standoff with an armed and barricaded man had ended without injury. A few months earlier, Neiswanger sat in City Council Chambers and explained why his department needed the funding as proposed in the budget. Christmas with the senior citizens, warning shooters that police would hunt them, shaking the hands of promoted officers -- for seven years, Neiswanger has been the face of the Police Department. (see photo gallery above) Neiswanger, 55, announced Friday he would retire effective July 20 after leading the department for seven years. "Everyone at the Police Department working together has truly made the city of Holyoke a better place. It has truly been my honor and privilege working with them," Neiswanger said. Desire to spend time with his wife, grandchildren and other family members coupled with awareness of his family's health history made now the right time to retire. He and wife Carla eventually will move to North Carolina where one of their daughters lives, he said. He was hired by former mayor Elaine A. Pluta. Neiswanger took over as chief from the retired Anthony Scott in July 2011, having been a captain with the Police Department in Manchester, Conn., where he was born and raised. Mayor Alex B. Morse, who praised Neiswanger, said he will appoint a new chief from within the department. He invited the four police captains to apply for the position and said a new chief will be named before Neiswanger departs. The captains are Denise Duguay, David Pratt, Manuel Febo and Matthew Moriarty. EASTHAMPTON -- Wetlands infractions could lead to delays for Soltage LLC, the New Jersey solar developer that plans two major photovoltaic projects in Easthampton. Land-clearing by David D. and Marilyn T. Cernak was stopped by a cease-and-desist order after the Conservation Commission learned in March that trees had been cut without a wetlands permit on their land off South Street. And because local developer Bernie Gawle has an open 2017 wetlands enforcement order with the state involving other of his properties, wetlands permitting could be delayed for a Soltage solar farm on his land off Park Street. Without wetlands compliance, the state Department of Environmental Protection will delay issuing a file number, said city conservation agent Mallory Larcom. Without a file number, the Conservation Commission will not hold public hearings on the two projects. Without an order of conditions from the Conservation Commission, efforts by Soltage to gain special permits from the Planning Board are likely to fall flat. A file number from MassDEP indicates minimum requirements have been met under the Wetlands Protection Act, said Larcom. MassDEP spokeswoman Catherine Skiba confirmed Wednesday that the state agency has not issued file numbers for either project due to outstanding enforcement actions required. "Mr. Gawle has unresolved actions required in an Administrative Consent Order issued by MassDEP," wrote Skiba in an email. "The property owned by Cernak has unresolved actions required by an enforcement order issued by the City of Easthampton Conservation Commission." Soltage plans a 2-megawatt, 7.4-acre solar farm on the 79-acre Cernak property off South Street and Westview Terrace, and a 3-megawatt, 9.5-acre solar farm on Gawle's 37-acre property at 232 Park St. Both projects call for significant tree cutting beyond the bounds of the actual solar arrays. Both parcels contain streams and other resources protected under state wetlands law. Officials say recent tree felling on the Cernak property, adjacent to the Manhan Rail Trail, was done improperly. The Cernak land is complicated in that is covered by Chapter 61A, a Massachusetts tax relief program for property owners who pledge to maintain agriculture, forestry, or recreational land use. When trees are harvested within 61A land, a forest cutting plan must be approved by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. Any MassDCR cutting plan under Chapter 61, the Forest Tax Program, cannot be used to clear land for development. While the Cernaks had an approved MassDCR cutting plan, they apparently didn't use it, said Larcom. Instead, they cut trees outside of the boundary of the MassDCR plan, and failed to get a wetlands permit from the Conservation Commission, which is a different issue. Another aspect of Chapter 61 is that it allows the municipality the right of first refusal to buy the conservation land if it is going to be sold or developed. The Conservation Commission entered executive session Monday to discuss their acquisition options under Chapter 61, according to meeting minutes. The commission was notified of the proposed conversion of use on March 1. Larcom, a part-time conservation agent shared with Southampton, said the exact dates of tree cutting on the Cernak property are not clear. The commission issued its administrative consent order on April 6, stopping any activities that could affect jurisdictional wetland areas. The Cernaks have until May 24 to file a restoration plan to correct the violations and return the disturbed land to its original condition, Larcom said. Gawle's problems with MassDEP stem from July 5, 2017. That's when state environmental regulators issued a consent order to the longtime Easthampton developer for multiple wetlands violations on several properties. He was ordered to address "violations that resulted from the alteration of wetlands associated with forestry and farming activities at various parcels" he owns. MassDEP inspected Gawle's parcels following a request for assistance from the Conservation Commission, and "observed activities that constituted violations of the Wetlands Protection Act," according to a state enforcement log. A penalty of $17,690 was assessed, but would be suspended provided that Gawle delineates wetland resource areas on a number of parcels, files appropriate applications and requests, and takes other actions as specified. MassDEP reserved the right to demand payment of the suspended penalty for any violations of state wetlands law in the next two years. Gawle won't get a file number for the solar farm until his outstanding issues with MassDEP are resolved, said Larcom. Soltage and its consultants, the Amec-Wheeler of Massachusetts, are expected before the Planning Board on May 1 for public hearings on their special permit applications for the two solar farms. The developers are also likely to be back before the Conservation Commission on May 7 for an update on wetlands compliance issues. SPRINGFIELD -- William E. McCarthy, who retired from the Palmer Police Department in 2002 after 28 years, on Wednesday in Hampden Superior Court denied a charge of possession of child pornography. McCarthy, 70, of Palmer, remained free on the $5,000 cash bail he had posted at his Palmer District Court arraignment. According to the indictment, the crime happened on April 12, 2017. In 2008, McCarthy pleaded guilty in Hampden Superior Court to indecent assault and battery on a child under 16 and was sentenced to 18 months probation with a number of conditions. At that time he said he was too intoxicated to remember indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl, but he believed the state has evidence to prove he did so. The prosecutor in that case said the victim, a girl who lived in the same condominium complex as McCarthy, reported that McCarthy went over to her when she was visiting his home on July 7, 2006, and kissed her, putting his tongue inside her mouth. As part of that 2008 plea agreement, the state didn't go forward on a charge of possessing child pornography that McCarthy faced. Two suspects were arrested in New Hampshire Tuesday evening after they allegedly fired multiple gunshots, some targeted at police cruisers, and led police on a chase across state borders. Manuel Antonio Soto, 20, of Haverhill, was arrested near woods in Windham, New Hampshire Tuesday night. Soto and another suspect led police on a chase to Windham, over 13 miles away, after shots were fired from their vehicle in Haverhill, an Essex County city that straddles the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. Haverhill Police report officers were on patrol in the Acre neighborhood around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night when they encountered a man firing a handgun from a vehicle. In the police response, at least one suspect allegedly opened fire on the officers' cruisers before fleeing across the state border. The suspects sped northward, onto Route 213 west and Route 93 before they crashed their vehicle near an exit on Route 111 and fled by foot into a wooded area in Windham. Soto was arrested on the scene, but the other male suspect remained at large for several more hours. During the search, police recovered at least one firearm at the vehicle. Local police in Windham sent online warnings to residents that a potentially armed man may be on the loose. New Hampshire State Police arrested the remaining suspect in Derry without incident around 2:20 a.m. after officers found him walking on I-93 north. The chaotic chase led to a response by multiple agencies, including Haverhill Police, Windham Police, Massachusetts State Police and New Hampshire State Police. All Haverhill Police officers involved in the initial shooting are unharmed, according to the department. "We would like to thank our brave officers for their dedication and commitment to protect the citizens of Haverhill," the department wrote on Facebook. SPRINGFIELD -- A committee raising funds for a Sept. 11 memorial at Riverfront Park said it is more than halfway to its $300,000 campaign goal. The memorial on the banks of the Connecticut River will feature a beam of structural steel from the World Trade Center in New York City, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Spirit of Springfield obtained the beam for the city in 2011. It arrived in Springfield in 2016, escorted by police, fire and emergency medical response vehicles. Frank Colaccino, president of the Colvest Group and chairman of local fundraising committee, said his group has approximately $110,000 in business donations and public contributions. In addition, a renovation project at Riverfront Park by the city includes a base for the monument and some related work at an estimated value of $50,000, Colaccino said. "The response we have been getting from the business community is just terrific," Colaccino said. "They are very excited ... the Springfield area is getting a memorial to honor our first responders." The goal is to have the monument ready for a Sept. 11 ceremony, he said. Colaccino said he hopes the response to the fundraising campaign will be community-wide. "We think the bulk of the money will come from the business community," Colaccino said. "It's really the whole community that should be part of it." A GoFundMe campaign for the monument is listed as having raised $175 in one month, but Colaccino said he believes it was announced Friday, and was not aware of it being in effect in prior weeks. There were no donations prior to Friday. The $300,000 cost of the memorial includes construction, design and promotional costs, and funding will include cash and in-kind contributions. The project is being administered by Spirit of Springfield and the Springfield Department of Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management. The fundraising drive, when announced last year, was estimated at $175,000. The new goal of raising $300,000 was announced in a March 2018 newsletter by Spirit of Springfield. The World Trade Center beam is 12 feet long and weighs 2,950 pounds. The memorial will also feature a curved wall with the names of the 450 first responders who lost their lives in the attacks. The names will be in two large columns with a gap in between, according to a design description. "When night falls, this gap is filled with two memorable shadows, created using the silhouette of the artifact." the description states. "Names remain lit for viewing and ambient light allows visitors to pay their respects." The concept was unveiled in December of 2016. Spirit of Springfield announced that Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, Police Commissioner John Barbieri and Fire Commissioner Bernard Calvi are honorary co-chairmen of the fundraising campaign. The three will have no role in fundraising, Spirit of Springfield Chairwoman Melinda Phelps said. Those wishing to make contributions to the memorial project can make checks to "Spirit of Springfield/September 11th Memorial," and mail them Spirit of Springfield at 1350 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103. John Williams, who is accused of shooting and killing a sheriff's deputy in Maine, was scheduled to appear in Haverhill District Court on gun charges Wednesday, prosecutors said. Williams was arraigned in Haverhill District Court March 22 on gun charges, after he drove off the road and was arrested by Massachusetts State Police. He was charged with improper storage of a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license, unattended ammunition, possession of a large capacity firearm, Carrie Kimball Monahan, a spokeswoman for the Essex County District Attorney's office, said in a news release. Williams had a loaded Smith & Wesson handgun with a 16 round magazine in his trunk at the time of his arrest, according to a police report. During his arraignment Judge Michael Patten set bail at $7,500. At a bail review hearing on March 28 Williams' bail was reduced to $5,000, authorities said. Williams posted bail at 5:10 a.m. on March 31 and was scheduled to appear in court for a probable cause hearing Wednesday. He did not show up. Early Wednesday morning, Maine State Police said Williams shot and killed Somerset County Sheriff's Deputy Cpl. Eugene Cole and stole his cruiser. Police sent out a nationwide bulletin, alerting other departments to look for Williams who is described as "armed and dangerous." He remains at large. AMHERST -- With 7,500 expected to attend the Cardi B concert Wednesday night at the Mullins Center, the Amherst Fire Department is putting on additional emergency personnel. And Fire Chief Tim Nelson has a message for students attending the show that they might hear Cardi B perform in song: "Be Careful." Staffing will be the same as for Friday and Saturday nights during the school semester, Deputy Chief Lindsay Stromgren said in an email. All five ambulances will be staffed. At the Mullins Center, the department will have three paramedics to run triage plus three outside ambulances on standby. Nelson said it will be the largest concert crowd in some time, and his department has a formula to predict how much it will be needed. Based on the numbers of tickets given to University of Massachusetts students, he's expecting the department to treat about 37 students and need to transport a dozen to 18. "It's been a while since it's been this large," he said. The department met with the Mullins Center management as well as UMass police and EMS on Monday. "I don't expect it to be crazy," he said, but he wants to be prepared. He said he has notified area hospitals to be prepared. "It's (Wednesday) not a night to expect activity," he said. He had advice for attendees: "Just be smart. Go in and enjoy the show. Don't make bad choices." Nelson said students use the concert as an excuse "to drink and do drugs." But, he said, "That's the way of the world." UMass won the free concert because more students here swiped right on Tinder than another institution. Tickets were gone a day after they became available last week. SPRINGFIELD -- Lawyers in the ongoing trial of a former gynecologist charged with lying to federal agents investigating a suspected kickback scheme offered opening statements to jurors in U.S. District Court on Tuesday. Dr. Rita Luthra, of Longmeadow, was charged with violations of a federal patient privacy law, witness tampering and lying to agents investigating an alleged scam between a pharmaceutical giant and scores of doctors. The government's theory was that the Big Pharma company was essentially bribing doctors to push certain drugs with cash payments and other largesse. The target was Warner Chilcott, a New Jersey firm that has since changed hands. Its onetime president, Carl Reichel, was acquitted of criminal wrongdoing after a trial in federal court in Boston in 2016. Warner Chilcott paid $125 million to settle civil and criminal liability claims. Luthra's lawyer, Stephen Spelman, suggested to jurors that his client was low-hanging fruit after the government swung and missed on the trial side. His client is innocent of the charges, he told the panel. "Four years ago a nightmare began for Dr. Luthra. How that nightmare's ends is up to you," he told jurors. Federal prosecutors said Luthra, 65, collected around $20,000 for a research paper she "supposedly wrote for the company" on osteoporosis but could not produce a copy when agents asked in 2014. "This was a lie," Assistant U.S. Attorney Young Paik told jurors. "When agents asked for a copy of this paper she told them she deleted it." Prosecutors argue Luthra took the payments from a pharmaceutical salesman trying to push a new drug, called Atelvia, for post-menopausal osteoporosis. The drug was new and sales rep Jose Cid hitched his financial wagon to it, but insurance companies were widely rejecting it in favor of cheaper, generic versions of the drug. The government contends Luthra allowed Cid -- through her her former medical assistant -- access to patient records to fill out time-consuming paperwork to satisfy the red tape insurance companies required to approve prescriptions for the drug. They also argue Luthra told her medical assistant, Joanna Rivera, to lie to agents about the alleged records breach when they began investigating. Spelman argued that, on the contrary, Cid and Rivera hatched the scheme without Luthra's knowledge and specifically plotted to meet on Friday afternoons because Luthra was not typically in the office. He held up examples of years of Luthra's office schedules during his opening remarks, showing packed agendas but for Friday afternoons. Spelman attributed the entire case to "desperation." He detailed his version of the predicaments of Cid, Rivera and the government. Cid was a married father of young children with a mortgage, panic-stricken over his sole wares not moving, Spelman argued. "This was a high-pressure, cutthroat sales environment," he told jurors. "The drug that he's promoting -- and it's the only drug he's promoting -- is not selling." Cid then "targeted" Rivera, who in turn panicked when agents approached her and she was hauled before a federal grand jury, Spelman argued. Luthra lost her license to practice medicine after she was arrested at her home and criminally charged. She previously catered to poor women in Springfield's North End, Spelman said. Luthra was initially charged under a federal kickback law, but the government dismissed that charge and went with a stripped-down version of the indictment with lesser charges as opposed to dropping the entire case. Testimony will continue Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court in Springfield. LUDLOW - A Ludlow couple was forced from their home after fire damaged an enclosed porch roof. Ludlow Fire Department spokesman Captain Richard Machado said the porch roof area of a home at 141 Whitney St., was fully involved in flames when firefighters first arrived at the scene following an 8:30 p.m. call. He said the two people living in the two-story, wood-framed home were able to escape with their dog. The homeowner called 911 to report the fire and the first police officer on scene was able to confirm. An "all-call" was put out for all Ludlow Fire Department personnel, including off-duty firefighters, to respond and mutual aid from Wilbraham and Springfield was requested. Machado said the fire was contained to the enclosed area over the porch, with minimal invasion into the interior space of the house. Firefighters continued to overhaul, or search for possible hidden fire within the structure, for over an hour after the visible flames were out. The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation. Machado said the American Red Cross was called in to assist the homeowners until the house is habitable. Massachusetts State Police say the man accused of shooting and killing a Maine sheriff's deputy Wednesday morning was arrested on gun charges in Massachusetts last month. Somerset County Sheriff's Deputy Cpl. Eugene Cole was shot and killed between 1 and 2 a.m. on Wednesday. Police said at a news conference that 29-year-old John Williams, of Madison stole Cole's marked cruiser and drove to a Cumberland Farms. After 5 a.m. police found the cruiser off of Martin Stream Road in Norridgewock. Police say Williams is "armed and dangerous" and sent out a nation-wide bulletin asking other departments to search for him. Williams is 5' 6", weighs 120 pounds and has blue eyes. He has brown hair, which is shaved on the sides and has a ponytail on top, police say. Anyone who sees Williams should call 911, police said. On March 22 Massachusetts State Police arrested Williams after he had driven off the road into a ditch. Williams had a gun in the car, according to a news release from the state police. He did not have a license to carry the gun or ammunition, police said in the release. Williams was charged with several firearm offenses during that arrest including possession of a large capacity feeding device. "Death of an Altar Boy," a new book exploring the unsolved 1972 murder of Danny Croteau, 13, of Springfield, paints a damning portrait of then Springfield bishop Christopher J. Weldon as man who obstructed justice and may have sexually abused a young boy in the 1950s. Drawing on more than 10,000 pages of police and court records and interviews with Croteau's family, friends, fellow abuse victims and church officials, author E.J. Fleming ("Tread Softly: Bullying and the Death of Phoebe Prince") looks at the killing and the only publicly named suspect -- Richard R. Lavigne, a since defrocked priest who has been the subject of claims from 40 alleged victims of sexual abuse. Weldon is characterized as a "despotic ruler with connections to politicians, police and newspapermen," who covered up sexual abuse by priests. Fleming includes the accusations of Texas inmate William Burnett, who says his uncle, a priest, had molested him as a child and "handed him off to five other priests from 1950 through 1959." One of the five was Weldon claimed Burnett, who is serving time for killing a man in a Houston motel. Burnett reportedly passed two polygraph tests regarding his accusations against Weldon. "Death of an Altar Boy" alleges an unholy alliance between Weldon and then Hampden County District Attorney Matthew J. Ryan. It speculates that the DA did not pursue the Croteau murder at the urging of Weldon, who in exchange helped keep Ryan from facing political challengers. The 222-page book also takes to task one of Weldon's successors, Bishop Thomas L. Dupre, who left his position in disgrace amid The Republican's reporting of child sex abuse allegations in 2004. Later, Dupre was indicted by a Hampden County grand jury on charges that he sexually assaulted two altar boys, ages 12 and 13, more than three decades prior. As diocesan chancellor in 1982, Dupre reportedly told members of the presbyteral council that Weldon had ordered a housecleaning of a secret archive of files on every priest in the diocese. An unidentified priest recalled Dupre with "glee in his voice and glee in his eye almost gloating about it." The book also cites the findings of the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a canonical law expert who has researches thousands of abuse claims. Doyle's conclusions about the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield included: Officials realized the extent of clergy abuse prior 1971. Law enforcement was never notified about allegations received prior or before 1971. The diocese did not conduct even cursory investigations prior to 1971. The diocese failed to adequately supervise priests known to have abused. While the book notes lauds the investigative work by former Republican reporter Bill Zajac and the public stand taken by retired East Longmeadow pastor Rev. James J. Scahill, it is highly critical of the diocese, Weldon and the bishops that followed: "Elliott Street evolved no more than the Vatican. From 1972, when priests stopped police from searching Lavigne's quarters, into the 2010s, when even bishops became openly uncooperative, the diocese continue to show bad judgment. Over time, intransigence turned to outright truculence. Weldon lied endlessly about his knowledge of abuse. (Bishop Joseph F.) McGuire, annoyed he was forced to answer questions about Danny at all, banned Church comment on the subject. (Bishop John A.) Marshall launched his ineffectual, confrontational commission to a job to address the problem and lied repeatedly about his early knowledge. Dupre gutted his Secret Archives. The week he arrived in Springfield in March 2004, (Bishop Timothy A.) McDonnel attacked in the press the first critical priest he encountered. It is not surprising that Springfield was the last diocese in Massachusetts to share the identities of accused priests with district attorneys." "Death of an Altar Boy" also names several prominent priests and church officials, who have been accused of sexually abusing children. It details how the diocese handled those claims. Springfield Diocesan spokesman Mark Dupont said he was unaware of the book until contacted by The Republican. "To the best of my knowledge the author made no attempt to contact us during what I assume would have been an exhaustive research effort. So having not read the book I would not be able to offer any direct comment," Dupont said. "I would say that as a faith community we remain committed to correcting our past failures by reaching out to victims of abuse as well as constantly updating and improving our training and protection efforts. It is an ongoing effort that we as a church community remain fully committed to continuing. And as such we stand ready to assist victims of abuse, even if that abuse occurred decades ago." The owner of a Lunenburg auto shop is facing narcotics charges after police allegedly found 2.2 kilograms of cocaine when they executed a search warrant at his business. Euripides Cabrera-Colon, 30, was arraigned Tuesday in Framingham District Court on a count rafficking 200 grams or more of cocaine and conspiracy to violate drug laws, the Sentinel & Enterprise reported. When police searched J&E Auto Repair, which they identified as Cabrera-Colon's business, they allegedly found a package containing plastic-wrapped bricks of cocaine. The packages were shipped from Puerto Rico using the U.S. Postal Service, the Sentinel & Enterprise reported. Cabrera Colon was held on $10,000 cash bail following his arraignment. HADLEY - At about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, the Hadley Police Department Facebook page shared a post from Guardians of the Thin Blue Line. The post was taken down within about 12 minutes when a police officer realized he had posted it to the official page, not his own. But those minutes have opened the door to dozens of comments on the Hadley Police Facebook page, from people calling for the officer to be fired to concerns about police support. The posting from Guardians of the Thin Blue Line said this: "Two guys get kicked outta Starbucks and everyone freaks out. 2 cops just having lunch were assassinated and no one bats an eye." It was referring to an incident in which two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks after an employee called police because the men hadn't ordered anything, and to the killing of two deputies in Trenton, Florida, who were ambushed while they were eating inside a Chinese restaurant. "Someone needs to be fired for posting this nonsense. I am concerned this just goes away quietly. Consequences and quick action," wrote one Hadley resident. "So Starbucks calls the Police and reports 2 trespassers," wrote another commenter. "The Police remove said trespassers at Starbuck's request. Somehow this becomes a 'racial incident' in some people's eyes. National media fans the flames. Then 2 Deputies get executed, and it barely is talked about. Someone posts these facts and now they should be fired? Wow." "Thank you for removing the post. I am concerned about the ramifications and abilities of whoever posted this to be able to serve all the residents of the town in a fair and non-judgmental manner," a Hadley resident wrote. "It looks pretty clear from your page that while the post may not have represented the views of the Hadley Police Department, that it was posted by someone who had access, since I do not see a place for visitors to post here. I'm wondering if we need to have a community conversation about this to assure that all our residents feel safe," the poster continued. Earlier this afternoon, a non-departmental post was posted to our Facebook page. We were notified of it's existence by... Posted by Hadley Police Department on Saturday, April 21, 2018 Chief Michael Mason issued a statement in response to the controversy, stating that the employee "immediately reported this issue to me and issued an apology for his mistake. In the interest of transparency, we sent an official message so that everyone understands that this type of post is not and was not authorized, and was posted to our page accidentally. We are taking steps to ensure that this does not happen again, and apologize to anyone who may have been offended by the post." Sgt. Mitch Kuc said the officer was just reposting the message to vent his frustration over the deaths of the Florida police officers. SPRINGFIELD -- John Loranger robbed a woman's pocketbook as she wheeled her groceries to her car outside a Sixteen Acres store, breaking one of her fingers so badly it required two surgical screws. Loranger, of Springfield, pleaded guilty to unarmed robbery of a person over 60, assault and battery on a person over 60 causing serious injury, possession of heroin as a second offender and resisting arrest. Sentencing will be in June after the Probation Department prepares a presentence report for Hampden Superior Court Judge Tina S. Page. Assistant District Attorney Janine Simonian is asking for a sentence of five to seven years in state prison followed by five years probation. Simonian said the woman, who was 70, had her pocketbook strapped into the shopping cart when a man came running out of nowhere on May 29, 2017. The woman tried to hold onto the pocketbook but eventually Loranger, 36, got it free and fled in a car. A witness followed the car to a Pride gas station where police found Loranger dumping out the pocketbook, which he then threw behind a dumpster. Loranger fled and was caught by a police officer. Simonian said one of the woman's fingers no longer stays straight and another had a bone split down the middle. Two screws had to be surgically inserted into that finger, Simonian said. The prosecution dropped charges against a co-defendant, 39-year-old Michael Hannah of Springfield. A 41-year-old Ware man who was arrested Tuesday and charged with raping three women in Granby is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown. Arthur Salsbury, of 48 Old Belchertown Road, was arrested by Granby police with assistance from Massachusetts State Police and Ware police, Granby Police Chief Alan Wishart said in a statement posted on the department's website. Wishart said the arrest followed tips his department received after issuing a call earlier this month for the public's help in identifying a tow truck and its operator who was suspected of an assault on March 29 in town. Salsbury was charged with seven crimes -- two counts of aggravated rape, three counts of rape and two counts of assault and battery. "These incidents are still actively being investigated and other charges may be filed in the future," Wishart said. The chief asked anyone with information about the alleged crimes or similar incidents to call their local police department or the Granby Police Department at 413-467-9222. Worcester's City Council has taken the first step toward potentially putting the Community Preservation Act on the city's November ballot by referring it to the council's Finance Committee for public input. A number of members of Yes for a Better Worcester - a new coalition of 17 local organizations - brought a petition before the council Tuesday night asking that the Community Preservation Act be placed on Worcester's Nov. 6 ballot. The council voted to refer it to Finance Committee for further vetting and public input. The committee is expected to take it up next month. The act, passed as state enabling legislation in 2000, allows cities and towns to create a Community Preservation Fund by adding a surcharge to annual real estate taxes that is set aside for open space, historic resources and affordable housing. Yes for a Better Worcester has asked the council to place the act on the November ballot with a 1.5 percent surcharge on local property taxes with a number of exemptions, including for low-income property owners, low- and moderate-income seniors, as well as the first $100,000 of taxable property value of residential real estate and commercial and industrial properties. That pool of money would then be available for projects dedicated to open space, historic preservation and community housing. "We are simply asking you to invoke your power to be a government body of, by and for the people and so put this act on the ballot for November, and hopefully you will do so to be voted up or down by the people," Worcester resident Robert Thomas said. He pointed out that Worcester has a large refugee population and is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. "CPA could assist in these humanitarian needs - they can do it faster, easier and less expensive than any organization," he said, adding, "CPA is a creative, efficient means of improving blighted neighborhoods, vacant lots and restoring historic properties." If the act were to be adopted, the average single-family homeowner would pay $32 a year or $2.67 a month, while the average owner of a triple decker would pay $36 a year or $3 a month. Small businesses would pay about $100 to $200 more a year. Deborah Packard, executive director of Preservation Worcester, said the organization is in support of adopting the act. "We find historic preservation is an economic generator, it makes our city unique and it's a source of pride and it also uplifts our community," she said. "We get numerous calls every week from people who want to maintain their buildings but don't have the resources to do it. Often times our buildings fall into disrepair and are demolished because people can't afford to take care of them." She said Community Preservation money could be used to help prevent extensive deterioration of some of the buildings in Lincoln Square, help revitalize the city's triple deckers and more. "This would also support business owners who want to maintain their structures," she said. In Massachusetts, 172 cities and towns have adopted the act. But in Worcester, some remain skeptical of the act's potential unintended consequences. The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce previously expressed concern about the act, saying it is wary of any proposal that would raise property taxes. One member of the public, Bill Sweeney, spoke against the proposal during Tuesday's council meeting. He said raising taxes will drive business out of Worcester. "If we make it hard to do business here, we will export those jobs even more," he said. By Frank Bruni New York Times News Service It's hard to argue that any one Cabinet member or nominee tells the Donald Trump story better than another, but I'm tempted to say exactly that about Ronny Jackson, the president's hasty, irresponsible and - the way things are looking now - doomed choice to lead the Veterans Affairs Department. Granted, Jackson doesn't embody the administration's venality. The crown for that goes to Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and it glitters with discounted jewels from lobbyists and businesspeople with no agenda - none! - beyond tribute to such a distinguished public servant. Nor does Jackson, who currently serves as the White House physician, spout the most fantastical gibberish. His onetime claim that Trump's constitution is that of a superman who might live to 200 doesn't rise to the level of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' visions of schoolyard grizzlies, because Jackson did concede that Trump had probably squandered such longevity with too many fries and too little fiber. But Jackson's selection tidily reflects many of Trump's most distinctive traits and disturbing tropisms: his obsession with looks; his disregard for relevant experience; his indulgence of decisions that make him feel good in the instant, consequences be damned; and above all, his itch to marinate in as much flattery as possible. Remember the news conference last January when Jackson applied the marinade? He left Trump sopping wet. He was relaying the results of a recent examination of the president, and in the process made clear that there's an error on his resume where his specialty is listed as emergency medicine. It should say extreme sycophancy. Nine times he trotted out "excellent" to describe various aspects of Trump's health. When "excellent" needed a breather, "incredible" subbed, as in, "He has incredible genes." "It's just the way God made him," Jackson volunteered, divining clearer evidence of divine munificence in Trump than some 60 percent of the American public does. We should have recognized Jackson's obsequious aria for what it was: an audition for a promotion. Trump heard the siren's song, and last month, when he fired Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, he announced his intention to put Jackson in the job. But that resolve wavered on Tuesday, following reports that members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee were investigating claims that Jackson drank excessively and allowed the overprescribing of drugs. Trump told reporters he would stand behind Jackson, calling him "one of the finest people that I have met." But he also said that if he were Jackson, he'd bail. It wasn't an exhortation to go away, but it sure did seem like an invitation. What an unnecessary but characteristic mess. From the start Trump's pick of Jackson befuddled lawmakers, who observed that Jackson would, with limited managerial experience, be expected to run a federal agency with 360,000 employees and a $186 billion annual budget. The president obviously did no meaningful vetting of Jackson. And thus he demonstrated anew the discernment that was surely on Republican strategist Steve Schmidt's mind when he recently offered this assessment on MSNBC: "From a personnel perspective, we've never quite seen the assemblage of crooks, just outright weirdos, wife beaters, drunk drivers, complete and total incompetents that's been assembled." There's draining the swamp, there's disrupting the status quo, and then there's simply being lazy and perverse. The last characterizes Trump's approach to government. He has somehow convinced himself that unconventional CVs are bold choices, when often they're just reckless gambles. He has told himself that the shallow, evaporating pool of people keen to work for him are fearless visionaries, when sometimes they're just feckless vagabonds. And he has decided that the historically furious turnover of high-level administration employees and their epically embarrassing conduct are no cause for a cautious tack. If he likes someone - and, more to the point, if that someone likes him - it's full steam ahead, straight into the iceberg. The way that Jackson likes him is key to this evolving disaster. He didn't offer general praise about Trump as a leader. He offered specific praise about Trump as a physical specimen, using the very yardstick that the president vacuously favors. Remember that Trump toyed with Mitt Romney as secretary of state because he looked the part. Trump hesitated about John Bolton as national security adviser because of that hedge between his obscured upper lip and nose. Many of the derogative nicknames the president reportedly assigns people are appearance-based: Mr. Magoo for Jeff Sessions, Mr. Peepers for Rod Rosenstein. So when Jackson, dressed in his uniform as a Navy rear admiral, cast Trump as some pulchritudinous Captain America, the president had all the validation that he could ever want, and all the motivation that he would ever need to lift Jackson up. Pity that all that fawning may go to waste. SPRINGFIELD -- Baystate Health has secured a $1 million earmark in the House version of the state budget, which is being debated this week. "This represents an affirmative step in our quest to equalize the state's commitment to serve the Medicaid population of Western Massachusetts," said Mark Keroack, president and CEO of Baystate Health, in a statement. Baystate has been seeking money annually through the state budget process to make up for what it describes as regional inequities in Medicaid payments. "We continue to be underfunded versus the eastern Massachusetts hospitals that do Medicaid work," said Michael Knapik, vice president of government and community relations at Baystate Health. According to Knapik, 62 percent of Baystate's revenue comes from Medicaid and Medicare. The public health plans typically reimburse less than the cost of care. Baystate is now receiving some federal money dedicated to hospitals that accept large numbers of Medicaid patients, but that is not enough to cover its costs. To get that money, the hospital also has to make changes related to population health, medical records and other steps to improve patient care. The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Brian Ashe, D-Springfield. Baystate also requested $375,000 split between three of its health centers for work on opioid addiction; $300,000 split between its hospitals in Westfield and Palmer for opioid addiction; and $500,000 for Baystate Medical Center's EMPOWER program, which helps infants being treated for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. As of Wednesday afternoon, the budget debate was still ongoing, and the House had not yet decided whether to include those earmarks. The House will vote on its version of the state budget this week. The budget will then go to the Senate. BOSTON -- A years-long effort to create a mid-level dental practitioner in Massachusetts just gained new steam, after the Massachusetts Dental Society reached a compromise with advocates for the bill, which emerged from a key legislative committee on Tuesday. The compromise makes it far more likely that lawmakers will vote on the bill this session. "It's a very fair and balanced and good bill," said Dr. David Lustbader, president of the Massachusetts Dental Society. "Neither side got everything they wanted." Rep. Smitty Pignatelli, D-Lenox, one of the major advocates for a dental practitioner bill, said the proposed Massachusetts policy has the potential to become a national model. "I call it a generation-defining bill," Pignatelli said. "I think this dental therapist bill in Massachusetts could be a model for the rest of the country." Pew Charitable Trusts has been working with a coalition of local health-related and social service organizations to promote the creation of a new mid-level dental professional as a way to serve patients who today have limited access to dental care. They argue that allowing mid-level practitioners work in community health centers, nursing homes or rural areas and perform basic dental procedures would expand access to dental care while being cheaper than using fully trained dentists. But dentists opposed Pew's version of the bill for years, and their opposition stalled the effort in the Legislature. The dentists raised concerns about levels of training and supervision. The compromise bill was released from the Joint Committee on Public Health with a favorable recommendation on Tuesday. The bill would require a dental therapist to graduate with a master's degree from an accredited dental program and pass a clinical exam. For the first two years or 2,500 hours, the dental therapist would have to be supervised by a dentist onsite. After that, a dental therapist would be allowed to perform some tasks under the general supervision of a dentist, who would not have to be onsite. These tasks include interpreting radiographs, fabricating mouthguards and conducting an oral exam. More advanced procedures, like non-surgical tooth extraction, could be done by the dental therapist only with a dentist onsite. At least half the patients served by a dental therapist would have to be from an underserved population, which generally means they are elderly, poor, living in a nursing home or living in an area with a dentist shortage. If the bill becomes law, the first dental therapists could begin practicing in 2020, which provides time for regulations to be written and implemented. Senate President Harriette Chandler, D-Worcester, sponsored an earlier version of the bill and is on board with the compromise. "This legislation will improve oral health care, and overall health across the commonwealth, particularly for our most vulnerable residents," Chandler said in a statement. It will be up to Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, whether to bring the bill up for a vote in the House. Rapper Kanye West praised Donald Trump Wednesday, saying while he doesn't "agree with everything anyone does," he believes he and president "are both dragon energy" -- something that did not go unnoticed by the commander in chief. West, in a series of tweets, offered his support for Trump despite noting he doesn't agree with the president on all things. The rapper added that he "love(s) everyone," including Trump's 2016 Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton. "You don't have to agree with Trump, but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy," he said, referencing a previous tweet in which he offered those with "dragon energy" are natural born leaders and very instinctive. "He is my brother. I love everyone," West continued. "I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought." You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought. ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 Trump, who retweeted West, thanked him for his apparent support. "Thank you Kanye, very cool!" he posted Wednesday afternoon. Thank you Kanye, very cool! https://t.co/vRIC87M21X Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2018 West, who offered that he's "not even political" or considers himself to be affiliated with either major political party, further suggested that he also supports Clinton. "I love Hillary too," he posted shortly after praising Trump. If your friend jumps off the bridge you don't have to do the same. Ye being Ye is a fight for you to be you. For people In my life the idea of Trump is pretty much a 50 50 split but I don't tell a Hillary supporter not to support Hillary I love Hillary too. ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 The rapper, who is married to Kim Kardashian West -- a supporter of Clinton's 2016 campaign -- later noted that his wife wanted him to clarify that he doesn't agree with everything Trump does. "I don't agree 100 percent with anyone but myself," he wrote. my wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone. I don't agree with everything Trump does. I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself. ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 Hours later, the rapper posted images of his signed "Make America Great Again" hat. Kardashian West defended her husband's tweets, offering that he's "a free thinker" and entitled to his opinions. "Now when he spoke out about Trump... Most people (including myself) have very different feelings and opinions about this. But this is his opinion. I believe in people being able to have their own opinions, even if really different from mine. He never said he agrees with his politics," she said. Now when he spoke out about Trump... Most people (including myself) have very different feelings & opinions about this. But this is HIS opinion. I believe in people being able to have their own opinions,even if really different from mine He never said he agrees with his politics Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) April 25, 2018 Wednesday's tweets were not the first time West has offered support for the Republican president. Following the 2016 election, West reportedly told the audience at a San Jose show that although he didn't vote, he would have cast his ballot for Trump. The rapper added that he loved Trump's approach and believed Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and Barack Obama should be consultants for the Trump administration, according to reports. He later met with the then-president-elect at Trump Tower in New York in December 2016. Low income Americans receiving assistance through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could soon face work requirements and rent increases under a proposal that HUD Secretary Ben Carson unveiled Wednesday. HUD officials said the package of policy changes seek to offer public housing authorities, property owners and families who utilize the agency's assistance "a simpler, less invasive and more transparent set of rent structure." The "Making Affordable Housing Work Act" proposal would also place HUD's rental assistance programs "on a more fiscally sustainable path," the agency offered. Contending that the current system used to calculate a family's rental assistance " is broken and holds back the very people we're supposed to be helping," Carson suggested that the proposed changes will serve as a starting point for improvement. "Today, we begin a necessary conversation about how we can provide meaningful, dignified assistance to those we serve without hurting them at the same time," he said in a statement. HUD officials noted that public housing authorities and landlords participating in the agency's rental assistance program currently must navigate complex rules to properly calculate a family's rent contribution. Tenants, meanwhile, must surrender personal information "and are often charged wildly different rents even though they have similar wages," HUD contended. The agency further offered that the complex annual income recertification process "creates a perverse set of conditions that increase the risk of inaccurate income reporting and discourage family unification and progress toward self-sufficiency." Currently, tenants in HUD-assisted households must contribute about 30 percent of their adjusted income toward rent, while the government pays the difference up to a maximum amount, according to agency officials. Under HUD's proposed "core rent" structure, public housing authorities and owners would only be required to verify income every three years. The agency would also create a menu of "choice rents" that public housing authorities and owners could implement to "promote greater flexibility, local control and self-sufficiency for non-elderly/non-disabled households," officials said. The Washington Post noted that the measure could triple the rent amounts paid by the poorest households, as well as encourage those receiving housing subsidies to work. Under the administration's plan, the family monthly rent contribution would be adjusted to 35 percent of gross income or to 35 percent of their earnings by working 15 hours per week at the federal minimum wage: about $150 a month -- three times the current rate, according to the newspaper. The Post further reported that HUD is looking to modify the deductions considered when determining a tenant's rent, like ending those for medical and child care costs. The changes could impact more than 4.7 million families, which the agency currently helps access affordable, quality housing. The Democratic National Committee slammed the HUD proposal, arguing that "(President Donald) Trump and Ben Carson want to make it more difficult for millions of families to find jobs and put a roof over their heads." "The American people are outraged that the Trump Administration continues to leave them behind," DNC spokesperson Daniel Wesel said in a statement. This is a breaking news story and will be updated when more information becomes available Turnover among assistant district attorneys has improved as the state has made more of an effort to provide competitive salaries, according to an audit released Tuesday by Auditor Suzanne Bump. The low salaries of the state's prosecutors have been a perpetual problem. A 2014 report found that assistant district attorneys were "grossly underpaid" compared to other lawyers, with starting salaries of just $37,500. Prosecutors routinely left for higher paid positions, including elsewhere in state government. Since 2012, the Legislature has put $2.7 million into a fund that is used to increase the pay of prosecutors who have become valuable to a District Attorney's office and who a District Attorney wants to retain. Lawmakers over the last two years also appropriated $3.5 million to get the annual starting salaries of all assistant district attorneys up to $45,000. According to the Massachusetts District Attorney Association, the current starting salary for an assistant district attorney is now $46,000. Bump found that retention rates did improve with the money. In fiscal 2011, the average turnover rate for assistant district attorneys was 13.5 percent. It dropped to seven or eight percent over the next three years. By fiscal 2017, the average turnover rate was 5.4 percent. Middlesex County had the most turnover. Worcester County had the least. "Justice and the taxpayers are served when we have experienced individuals representing the Commonwealth in courts of law," Bump said in a statement. "Since its inception, the ADA retention fund has helped to keep talented and experienced individuals working in District Attorney's offices across the state." Bump's audit did identify some problems. In fiscal 2015, three district attorneys' offices -- Hampden, Northwestern and Norfolk -- used $113,000 in funding that was supposed to go toward retention to instead offset state budget cuts. That year, 16 experienced prosecutors left those three offices. The Massachusetts District Attorney Association said its only role is in passing the money on to each office, not monitoring how the money is used. Bump also argued that paying annual bonuses through the retention fund is not a long-term solution. Bump wrote in her audit that the association and the District Attorneys should continue to work with the Legislature "and develop a more comprehensive long-term strategy for minimizing, to the extent possible, the turnover of experienced ADAs and obtain the funding necessary to implement this strategy." The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday will consider a $143.7 million supplemental budget bill that includes $3 million for regional transit authorities across the state. The bill earmarks $2 million earmarked for transit authorities with severe budget deficits -- including the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority. The PVTA is among several such authorities that have said they are considering cuts in service due to a lack of funding. "Regional transit authorities have been level funded several years in a row and are facing drastic service reductions and fare increases," said Sen. Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, in a statement. Rosenberg pushed for the funding and hopes to increase it. Supplemental budgets are typically used to fill accounts that were underfunded at the beginning of the year, but that lawmakers are legally required to pay for. This budget bill, like most others, includes funding for district attorneys, collective bargaining agreements, sheriffs and social services. The supplemental budget also includes: $25 million for the Department of Transitional Assistance, which administers welfare benefits; $19 million for the Department of Housing and Economic Development; $12 million for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance; $8.5 million for education; $4.45 million for corrections. The Cannabis Control Commission would get $2 million. Another $2.5 million would be earmarked for a fund to help Puerto Rican evacuees with housing costs, money to travel back to Puerto Rico, or costs incurred by municipalities in caring for the evacuees. The bill includes a $1 million earmark for Baystate Health. One provision in the bill would authorize towns to vote to combine their treasurer and tax collector positions. Another provision would create a commission to look at preventing falls among seniors. Senators will also consider 25 amendments to the bill, to add funding for everything from municipal police training to special education to a state fund for purchasing the anti-overdose drug naloxone. A similar bill already passed the House. Once the Senate acts, the two bills will have to be reconciled. The budget bill includes funding for fiscal 2018, which ends in June. Separately, the House this week is considering the state budget bill for fiscal 2019. In his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, President Donald Trump called the Iran nuclear deal "insane" and "ridiculous." He's threatened to pull out of the agreement in the past, calling it an "embarrassment." Critics argue the Iran nuclear deal was a diplomatic debacle -- Iran has a history of noncompliance and no one is convinced the deal actually prevents a nuclear Iran. But many world leaders, including Macron, believe the deal is necessary to avoid proliferation and maintain a hard line in any future talks with North Korea. What do you think? PERSPECTIVES During his meeting with French President Macron, Trump blasted the Iran nuclear deal and also threatened Tehran would have "big problems -- bigger than they've ever had before" if it chose to restart its nuclear program. Many are hoping Macron will be able to dissuade Trump from dissolving the Iran deal during his visit, but Trump's latest comments aren't promising. After giving a speech at the U.N. that was deeply critical of the agreement, experts worried Trump would withdraw from the deal without considering the serious repercussions. Zack Beauchamp outlines in Vox the potential outcomes that could come about if Trump chose to sabotage the Iran Nuclear Deal. Beauchamp believes the deal would only put the U.S. in a weaker position to monitor Iran's nuclear proliferation. Beauchamp also points out that, thus far, Iran has complied with the terms of the deal, so punishing a country for honoring their side of the deal would be unwise. But Trump is not alone in his criticism of the Iran deal. When the agreement was first reached in 2015, Republicans tried to kill the deal, and 47 Republican senators actually sent a letter to Iranian leadership in an attempt to undercut Iran's negotiations with the Obama administration. Since Trump took office, many conservatives have urged him to abandon the deal. Jonathan S. Tobin of the National Review encouraged the president to "ignore experts" and trust his "instincts" when it comes to foreign policy, arguing the Iran deal does nothing to actually prevent the possibility of a nuclear Iran. The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Digital, Inc. property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say. U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, will discuss their work in Washington and field questions from constituents as they each hold public events this weekend. Warren, who has hosted several town hall-style meetings across Massachusetts over the last year, will visit Lowell Friday for a "community conversation" focused on efforts to combat the opioid crisis. Markey, who has also held various town halls across the state in recent months, meanwhile, will be Gloucester on Sunday to discuss his latest efforts to fight climate change and the opioid epidemic, as well as his work on foreign policy. Officials with Warren's 2018 re-election campaign, which is hosting the Lowell event, said the Democrat is expected to discuss her plan to address the opioid crisis in a fashion similar to how Congress sought to tackle the HIV/AIDs epidemic nearly 30 years ago. Warren has called for allocating $100 billion in federal funding over 10 years to help states, counties and cities hit hardest by the opioid abuse crisis expand treatment options, support first responders and prevent future addictions. The Democrat will join a "panel of experts" to take questions from the audience on federal efforts to crack down on opioid abuse. The Friday event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at the University of Massachusetts Lowell's Moloney Ballroom at University Crossing, located on Pawtucket Street. Doors for the 7 p.m. conversation will open at 6:30 p.m., organizers said. Markey's office, meanwhile, announced that the senator "will discuss his latest efforts in the U.S. Senate on climate change, the opioid crisis, health care, infrastructure and foreign policy, as well as take questions from the audience" during his own event at Gloucester City Hall. Markey's Sunday town hall, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Dale Avenue location. Doors for the event will open at 4:30, organizers said. The senators' events will come as Massachusetts Republicans -- including those looking to unseat Warren this fall -- gather in Worcester this weekend for 2018 MassGOP Convention and related events. While conducting a recent merchant account review (as every fiscally-responsible organization should do on a routine basis), Missoula Economic Partnership met with the owners of Big Sky Commerce, Inc. https://bigskycommerce.com/ recently to determine how services compare to rival Square (a public company, where its difficult to meet in person to review services). Missoula Economic Partnership was pleased to find that Big Sky Commerce offers a more competitive fee structure while simultaneously supporting the regional economy. Another smart economic move, MEP! Interested to know more about how Big Sky Commerce can assist your business or organization to reduce payment processing fees? Contact Big Sky Commerce most anytime for a free, no-obligation merchant account review. Contact us: https://bigskycommerce.com/contact-us/ The Montana Board of Investments (the Board) directs the investment activity and administration of approximately $13.5 billion in state assets, including pension, trust, and local government funds. The Executive Director acts as the principal officer of the Board and is responsible for the overall management of the Boards activities. The Executive Director reports to a nine-member quasi-judicial Board and directs a total staff of 33, directly supervising six managers. Full Position Specifics: http://www.investmentmt.com/content/ExecutiveDirectorJobPosting Over the next 10 years, Montana is expected to add about 4,500 workers a year but thats not enough to cover the 5,500 new jobs that are projected to be added every year. Montana is facing a severe labor shortage as the population ages out of the workforce without enough workers to fill the vacancies they leave, much less fill the new jobs that are being created in the state. The situation has significant implications for businesses, and thats why economists are increasing their calls for attention to the issue now, as well as offering solutions. DAVID ERICKSON [email protected] http://mtstandard.com/news/state-and-regional/economists-offer-suggestions-to-tackle-montana-s-looming-severe-workforce/article_ff730c71-9a10-539a-ac0d-e51b58357f5e.html General Motors plans to add a shift and put some 700 people back to work at a Tennessee-based plant responsible for making GMC and Cadillac SUVs. The Detroit-based automaker reports Wednesday, April 25 in a news release that it will add a third shift to the Spring Hill Manufacturing plant to meet the increased "market demand for the GMC Acadia and Cadillac XT5" models. "This shift addition is not only an indication of the popularity of these GMC and Cadillac crossovers with customers but is testament to the great work being done by the Spring Hill Assembly team," Ken Knight, Spring Hill Manufacturing Plant Executive Director, said in the release. "Their commitment to building quality vehicles is visible every day. It also demonstrates the strong spirit of teamwork between GM and our UAW partners, as we work together to satisfy our customers." The Associated Press reports that while it will put some 700 people back to work, the automaker will rehire some previously laid-off and furloughed employees from an Ohio-based plant to fill out its new third shift in Tennessee. The Spring Hill Manufacturing facility currently employs 2,600 hourly workers across two shifts to make the GMC Acadia and Cadillac XT5. The plat will also start production on the new Holden Acadia this year that it will export to Australia and New Zealand. GM says that sales of the Cadillac XT5 were up 10 percent in the first quarter of 2018, and that Acadia sales were up 15 percent on a year-over-year basis. The Tennessean reports GM spokesperson Kim Carpenter said that employees laid off during the plant's original elimination of the third shift could return to similar roles based on recall rights. The Spring Hill Manufacturing plant is a 6.9 million-square-foot facility that opened in 1990 in middle Tennessee. There are 2,630 hourly employees and 398 salaried, according to GM. This news comes less than a month removed from GM saying it would eliminate a shift responsible for the Chevy Cruze at an Ohio-based plant. A.P. reports this move could see the elimination of as many as 1,500 jobs. "Today's investment is a perfect example of what we can achieve by working together and strengthening our UAW and GM relationships," Mike Herron, UAW Local 1853 Chairman, said in the release. "I congratulate the entire Spring Hill Manufacturing workforce for their hard work, commitment and dedication to going above and beyond to build fantastic vehicles for our customers. This is very good news for our team members and for Middle Tennessee." Trump returning to Michigan soon President Donald Trump is returning to Michigan April 28 for a rally in Macomb County, but it's far from the first time he's come to the state. During the presidential election cycle, Trump hosted campaign stops in southeast Michigan, west Michigan, Birch Run, Lansing area, Flint and Cadillac. After he won the election, he returned for a "thank you tour" and also came to Ypsilanti Township in 2017 as president. Here's a look back at the times Trump has come to Michigan, and the people who showed up to support or protest his appearances. Don't Edit Jeff Schrier | Mlive.com Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared at the Birch Run Expo Center for a fundraiser, Aug. 11, 2015. More than 2,000 people attended the sold-out event. August 2015: Birch Run Trump's first visit to Michigan as a presidential candidate was back in August 2015, when he was invited to speak at a Lincoln Day fundraising event organized jointly by the Saginaw and Genesee County Republican parties. Don't Edit Jeff Schrier | Mlive.com Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the crowd at the Birch Run Expo Center, Aug. 11, 2015. More than 2,000 people attended the sold-out fundraiser. 'The American Dream is dead' Trump told supporters at the Birch Run rally that the "American dream is dead." He argued that China has devalued U.S. currency to the point where the nation was in grave trouble, and wondered how it was possible to be $1.4 trillion in debt to the country. "They're smart," Trump said. "They're sharp. And we're not, at least our leaders aren't." "We owe China $1.4 trillion. And I love China. Nothing wrong with China. Their leaders are so much smarter than ours. Mexico's leaders are so much smarter than ours. They laugh at our people." Trump also criticized the Ford Motor Company for building a $2.5 billion plant in Mexico, telling the crowd that if president, he's "not going to approve the deal." Trump predicted his own election victory, telling the crowd, "You are going to love President Trump." "I really think I'm going to win," Trump said. "I love people. I love this country. We are going to make it so strong and so powerful and so respected all over the world." Don't Edit Jeff Schrier | Mlive.com Holly Gaul of Fenton and her grandson Caleb Green wait in line to see Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Birch Run Expo Center, Aug. 11, 2015. More than 2000 people attended the sold-out fundraiser. Trump draws a crowd Crowds flocked to Birch Run to see Trump speak at his first campaign event in Michigan. More than 2,000 people attended the sold-out rally, paying $25 per ticket to get in the venue. Hundreds more were turned away due to lack of space. Don't Edit Andrew Whitaker | MLive.com "I am against a wall between nations". Manuel Lopez, 74, of Saginaw said while he grips the corner of the national flag of Mexico in the parking lot of Fiesta Chara Restaurant Tuesday, August 11, 2015 in Birch Run, Mich. Roughly 150 protest his appearance Roughly 150 people affiliated with the Michigan Democratic Party and local Mexican American groups came to the venue to protest the event outside, carrying signs and Mexican flags to show their distaste with Trump's comments. Don't Edit Don't Edit Jeff Schrier | Mlive.com Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets the crowd at the Birch Run Expo Center, Aug. 11, 2015. More than 2,000 people attended the sold-out fundraiser. 5 takeaways from Donald Trump's speech at GOP fundraiser in Michigan Trump: Sanders 'weak' in surrendering mic to Black Lives Matter activists 52 minutes of Donald Trump: Hear his speech at Michigan event Nearly 150 Trump protesters greet attendees at the Birch Run Expo Center Don't Edit Donald Trump speaks at his presidential campaign rally at the DeltaPlex Arena in Walker on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015. (Neil Blake | MLive.com) December 2015: Walker Trump came back to Michigan a few months later, holding a Christmas-themed rally at the DeltaPlex arena in Walker, a city near Grand Rapids. About 6,300 people came to the rally to hear Trump speak. Supporters and others interested in hearing Trump's comments packed the Walker arena, where Trump spoke about his fellow candidates, immigration reform and trade policy. Don't Edit Donald Trump speaks at his presidential campaign rally at the DeltaPlex Arena in Walker on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015. (Neil Blake | MLive.com) 'We can't be stupid traders' Trump told his Michigan audience that "we are going to make so many more cars than we're making right now" under his presidency, and promised he would impose a 35 percent tax on all foreign made cars and car parts: "I support fair trade, but we can't be stupid traders." He also said it would be nice "if we could get along" with Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that "it be so great if we could get the Russians on our side and other countries on our side and knock the hell out of ISIS." Don't Edit A heckler gives the peace sign as he walks out during a Donald Trump presidential campaign rally at the DeltaPlex Arena in Walker on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015. (Neil Blake | MLive.com) Trump interrupted several times Trump was interrupted up to a dozen times by hecklers during his speech - a few minutes into his comments, a man sat on somebody's shoulders near the stage and called him a "bigot." Trump waved goodbye to the man, who was escorted out of the arena by security as the crowd erupted in a "U.S.A." chant. Trump often heckled his opponents in return, at times calling them "weak" or, sarcastically, "brave." He called one heckler a "loser." Don't Edit Buttons sit on sale before a Donald Trump campaign rally at the DeltaPlex Arena in Walker on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015. (Neil Blake | MLive.com) 6 one-liners from Donald Trump's Michigan rally Why they got kicked out: Protesters explain being booted at Donald Trump's rally Group turns back on Donald Trump campaign stop, preaches unity over fear Faces in the crowd: See who was at Donald Trump's rally in Michigan Complete coverage: Donald Trump makes Michigan campaign appearance Don't Edit Don't Edit Donald Trump and Ted Cruz go head-to-head at Thursday night's Republican presidential primary debate hosted by Fox News Channel at the Fox Theatre in Downtown Detroit Thursday, March 3, 2016. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive Detroit) March 3, 2016: Detroit debate In March 2016, Trump joined the rest of the remaining Republican field at the time -- Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich -- in Detroit for a televised debate hosted by Fox News. During the debate, the other candidates piled onto Trump in the hopes of slowing his momentum, but Trump was already focused on another election. "The last person that Hillary Clinton wants to face is Donald Trump," he said from his debate podium. Don't Edit Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich go head-to-head during Thursday night's Republican presidential primary debate hosted by Fox News Channel at the Fox Theatre in Downtown Detroit Thursday, March 3, 2016. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive Detroit) The debate was contentious from the getgo, although each candidate said they would support Trump if he was the Republican nominee. When asked if he would support the nominee if it wasn't himself, Trump said he would: "I'm going to give them some credit too, even though they don't deserve it." Trump also promised after the debate was over to bring jobs back to Detroit. "I have so many friends that live in Detroit," he said at the time. "They work here and they love the city. There's a great spirit in Detroit. We are going to bring jobs back. You watch. We're taking them back from China. We're taking them back from Mexico. We're going to bring jobs back to Detroit." Don't Edit Reporters try to get a glimpse or Republican candidate Donald Trump after the debate. Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich went head-to-head at Thursday night's Republican presidential primary debate hosted by Fox News Channel at the Fox Theatre in Downtown Detroit Thursday, March 3, 2016. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive Detroit) Did you miss the Republican debate in Detroit? Here are 13 highlights Donald Trump promises Detroit he'll take back jobs from China Donald Trump vs. everybody Detroit debate leaves Republican field as wide as ever Donald Trump blitz was too much, say crowd members at Republican debate in Detroit Republican debate candidates attack Donald Trump in Detroit 'Shut it down,' protesters shout outside Republican debate in Detroit Don't Edit Republican candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich. Friday morning, March 4, 2016. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive Detroit) March 4, 2016: Macomb Community College Trump stayed in Michigan after the Detroit debate for a rally at Macomb Community College in Warren March 4. Trump was directly appealing to so-called "Reagan Democrats," or the largely white, working class voters who came out for Reagan in droves during the 1980s. Don't Edit Presidential Republican candidate Donald Trump takes the stage at a rally at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich. on Friday morning, March 4, 2016. (Taylor Irby | MLive) 'We want them to build cars here' Speaking to a crowd of 2,000 to 3,000, Trump told supporters gathered at Macomb Community College in Warren he was a strong supporter of the state and nation's automotive industry. "We want them to build the cars here," Trump said. Trump stands with autoworkers at Michigan rally Don't Edit Don't Edit Donald Trump speaks during his presidential rally at the Wexford County Civic Center Friday, March 4, 2016 in Cadillac, Mich. (Taylor Ballek | MLive.com) March 4, 2016: Cadillac Trump took a short trip up to Cadillac following his Warren rally, speaking to 3,000 Northern Michigan voters about his wins in other states prior to Michigan's primary. Trump supporters cheered as the then-frontrunner took jabs at the rest of the Republican field, and doubled down on an oft-discussed line from the Detroit debate where he talked about his hand-size in reference to his genitalia. Don't Edit People cheer for Donald Trump during his presidential rally at the Wexford County Civic Center Friday, March 4, 2016 in Cadillac, Mich. (Taylor Ballek | MLive.com) Trump calls for arrest of protester During the rally, Trump's speech was occasionally interrupted by protesters. "You're bad for the country," one person yelled before getting escorted out by police. Another shouted: "No Trump, No KKK. No Trump, No KKK." "Get him out of here, get him out of here," Trump responded as one protester got escorted out. "Aren't these rallies the most fun of everybody? He was so disruptive. I think he should be arrested. I would arrest him for a filthy, dirty mouth, then we'll see what his mommy and daddy have to say when they bail him out." Donald Trump talks hand size, urges arrest of man with 'filthy, dirty mouth' Don't Edit Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to the Detroit Economic Club at Cobo Center in Downtown Detroit on Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive Detroit) August 8, 2016: Detroit Economic Club Trump returned to Detroit in August following his primary win to roll out highlights of his economic plan during a Detroit Economic Club luncheon. He made it a point to portray himself as a president who would help bring new jobs and economic success to those who need it most, contrasting his own economic policy ideas with those of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Throughout the speech, Trump painted Clinton as a "disaster" for Michigan and other communities throughout the country, connecting her to trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, or TPP. "She is bought, controlled and paid for by her donors and special interests," Trump said of Clinton, who came out against the TPP last year. Trump alleged that a vote for Clinton, despite what she has said on the topic, would be a vote for TPP and NAFTA. He vowed to renegotiate the United States' participation in NAFTA, noting that he's willing to "walk away" if the right terms can't be met. Don't Edit Former Detroit Rep. Rashida Tlaib is escorted out of the the Detroit Economic Club after she yelled in protest during the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's speech at Cobo Center in Downtown Detroit on Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. More than a dozen protesters yelled out during the keynote speech. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive Detroit) More than a dozen protesters stood up and interrupted Trump during his speech. One of them was former Detroit state Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who is now running for Congress in Michigan's 13th Congressional District. Don't Edit Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to the Detroit Economic Club at Cobo Center in Downtown Detroit on Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive Detroit) 9 notable quotes and claims from Donald Trump's Detroit Economic Club speech Donald Trump slams TPP and NAFTA, pushes economic plan in Detroit Donald Trump calls Detroit example of Clinton's 'failed economic agenda' Protesters forcibly removed after disrupting Donald Trump speech in Detroit Pro-Clinton activists protest Donald Trump's speech in Detroit Don't Edit Don't Edit Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump makes an appearance at the The Summit Sports and Ice Complex in Dimondale on Friday, August 19, 2016. This is the second time in two weeks that Trump has appeared in Michigan. (J. Scott Park | Mlive.com) August 19, 2016: Dimondale Later that month, Trump came to Michigan again for a rally in Dimondale, a community near Lansing. In addition to appealing to the working class, Trump also courted the African American vote, directly asking for it and saying Democratic leadership had failed African American communities. "What do you have to lose? You're living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs... what the hell do you have to lose?" he asked rhetorically. Don't Edit People wait in a long line to republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speak during a campaign rally at the Summit Sports and Ice Complex near Lansing on Friday, Aug. 19, 2016. (Emily Rose Bennett | MLive.com) This was his first Michigan event since the primary election that was open to the public, and the public showed up in droves. At 1 p.m., four hours before the rally started, there were already several hundred people in line. Ultimately thousands packed the hall, holding free "TRUMP PENCE" rally signs. Counter-protesters and supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton gathered outside the rally, saying before it started that Trump would be a disaster for Michigan. Don't Edit Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump makes an appearance at the The Summit Sports and Ice Complex in Dimondale on Friday, August 19, 2016. This is the second time in two weeks that Trump has appeared in Michigan. (J. Scott Park | Mlive.com) Trump predicts he could get 95% of African American vote during Michigan speech Donald Trump says loss of manufacturing jobs won't stop without Trump presidency Trump appeals to black voters, hammers Clinton on trade in Michigan speech 12 quotes from Trump's campaign rally in Dimondale Why Donald Trump keeps coming back to Michigan Don't Edit Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, center, looks on during a church service at Great Faith Ministries, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) September 3, 2016: Detroit church Donald Trump returned to Detroit to speak at Great Faith Ministries International to court African American voters further, telling the congregation that "there are many wrongs that should be made right." "I want to help you build and rebuild Detroit," he said. "I fully understand that the African-American community has suffered from discrimination and there are many wrongs that should be made right." Omarosa Manigault, a former contestant on Trump's reality television series, and Detroit native Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who ran against Trump in the primaries, were both present. He was also interviewed by prominent Detroit pastor Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, who asked him if he was a racist. Trump's answer was unequivocal: "Absolutely not. I am the least racist person that you've ever met." Don't Edit Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a church service at Great Faith Ministries, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Donald Trump makes pitch to African American voters saying he wants to rebuild Detroit Detroit pastor says Donald Trump, 'shouldn't be coming, asking for our votes' Hundreds gather outside Detroit church where Donald Trump speaking Detroit pastor explains why he's hosting Donald Trump visit 'I am the least racist person that you've ever met,' Trump says in Detroit interview Don't Edit Don't Edit September 14, 2016: Trump tours Flint Trump returned to Michigan later in September to visit the Flint Water Plant and a local church. During his brief remarks, Trump told a small crowd at Bethel United Methodist Church that Flint "is the result of so many different failures" and promised that under a Trump presidency, the damage would be fixed soon. "We'll get it fixed," he said. "It will be fixed quickly and effectively." Trump also compared Mexico and Flint, noting that the circumstances had drastically changed. "It used to be that cars were made in Flint and you couldn't drink the water in Mexico," Trump said. "Now cars are made in Mexico, and you can't drink the water in Flint. That's terrible." Don't Edit Flint residents Josephine Thornton Melva Lewis and Juanita Young-Wells, left to right in center, all shout out in unison as they chant against Donald Trump at a gas station at the intersection of Dort Highway and Stewart Avenue, where more than 100 people gather to support, protest and just try and catch a glimpse of the Republican presidential candidate on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016 as his caravan drops him off for a tour of the Flint Water Plant in Flint. Jake May | MLive.com Trump asked to leave politics out of it Trump was asked to drop the politics by a local pastor. In front of a crowd of about 70 people, Rev. Faith Green Timmons of Bethel United Methodist Church told Trump to stop when he began discussing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Trump had been in the middle of arguing Clinton had failed on the economy and foreign policy. "I invited you here to thank us for what we've done in Flint, not give a political speech," Timmons said to Trump, cutting him off to applause from the crowd. Trump responded, "OK, that's good, then I'm going back into Flint." Donald Trump visits Flint church, asked to leave politics out of speech Donald Trump visit draws interest of Little Miss Flint Donald Trump greeted with cheers, boos at Flint water plant visit Some Flint residents not convinced of Donald Trump's sincerity Don't Edit Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump carries flowers he placed at the grave of President Gerald R. Ford and Elizabeth Bloomer Ford during a visit to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, Friday, Sept. 30, 2016, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/John Locher) September 30, 2016: Grand Rapids Prior to a scheduled rally in Novi, Trump made an impromptu visit to Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, attending a private fundraiser and laying flowers on President Ford's grave. Don't Edit Trump Gerald Ford museum Trump made a surprise visit to the museum, where he checked out the President Ford-era replica of the Oval Office and placed flowers at the burial site for President Ford and Betty Ford. "How come everyone's here?" Trump said after arriving at the museum. "Everybody's here." Trump also made a brief stop at the Kent County GOP Headquarters in Grand Rapids on Friday, Sept. 30, telling his supporters, "If we win here, we're winning." Donald Trump makes surprise visit to Grand Rapids during ArtPrize Grand Rapids reacts to Donald Trump's surprise visit Donald Trump thanks volunteers during stop at Kent County GOP Don't Edit Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump holds a rally at the Suburban Collection Showplace, Friday, September 30, 2016, in Novi, Mich. (Junfu Han | The Ann Arbor News) September 30, 2016: Novi rally Trump returned to Southeast Michigan later in the day to once again appeal to the working class, opening with a promise to bring jobs back to the state. "I'm going to fight so hard for all of you and bring back the jobs that have been stripped away from all of you," Trump said to a few thousand supporters at a rally in the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi. Trump, referring to the Michigan primary March 8, said it was "a great, big, fat, beautiful victory" that would be repeated come November. He urged his audience to show up at the polls, saying the stakes in the election were too high not to vote in November. If the doctor says, "'I'm sorry, Jim,' 'I'm sorry, Alice,'"... You're not going to make it. You'll be gone by the end of November. I don't give a damn," Trump said. "Show up and vote on Nov. 8." Don't Edit Don't Edit Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump holds a rally at the Suburban Collection Showplace, Friday, September 30, 2016, in Novi, Mich. (Junfu Han | The Ann Arbor News) 'We're not letting them take your jobs out of Michigan any longer,' Trump says in Novi Donald Trump protesters: 'A vote for Trump is a vote for racism' Trump supporters say candidate is 'speaking for the people' after speech in Novi Donald Trump talks voter turnout, manufacturing in Michigan speech 12 highlights from Donald Trump's speech in Novi Don't Edit Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump speaks at the Deltaplex in Grand Rapids on Monday, Oct. 31., 2016. (Cory Morse | MLive.com) Oct. 31, 2016: Grand Rapids rally Trump returned to Michigan for a Halloween rally in Grand Rapids, where he was jubilant over FBI Director James Comey's announcement that there could be additional emails related to an investigation into Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. During a speech at the Deltaplex Arena in the Grand Rapids suburb of Walker, Trump told supporters he believes "we hit the mother lode" on the email issue this time. "How can Hillary Clinton manage this country when she can't even manage her emails?" Trump asked, arguing that it's been one disaster, one scandal, one betrayal after another on that issue. Don't Edit Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump speaks during before a campaign rally at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids on Monday, Oct. 31, 2016. The rally comes just eight days before the election. (Neil Blake | MLive.com) Michigan cannot 'stomach Donald Trump' says congressman ahead of visit 'We hit the mother lode' Trump says in Michigan speech about Clinton's email Donald Trump is 'a tough son of a bitch,' Bobby Knight says in Michigan Military, job stances highlight Donald Trump supporters' reaction to Grand Rapids rally Don't Edit Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump smiles and claps as he is welcomed by hundreds of supporters at Macomb Community College in Warren, MI on Monday, October 31, 2016. Trump previously spoke in Grand Rapids before his address in Warren. Matt Weigand | The Ann Arbor News Oct. 31, 2016: Warren Later that night, Trump told a suburban Detroit crowd he wants to renegotiate NAFTA and bring manufacturing jobs back to Michigan. Lamenting plans for Ford Motor Co. to move all U.S. small car production south of the border, Trump in his second Michigan campaign stop Monday said the auto industry is "being sucked into Mexico." "Look at the city of Detroit. It used to be the manufacturing hub of the world," Trump said. "Now, nearly half of Detroit residents do not work. It has the second highest violent crime rate in the United States... Yet, as the people of Detroit suffer, Hillary wants to spend billions of dollars on government benefits for illegal immigrants and refugees pouring into our country. "We are going to rebuild Detroit and we are going to rebuild Michigan." Donald Trump says he'll 'rebuild Detroit,' renegotiate NAFTA Don't Edit Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump walks off the stage at a rally inside the Freedom Hall Amphitheater in Sterling Heights on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016. (Josie Norris | The Saginaw News) November 6, 2016: Sterling Heights rally Shortly before the election, Trump and his family members spent considerable time in Michigan. At a Sterling Heights rally, metro Detroiters produced an emphatic "boo" on Sunday night when he mentioned the North American Free Trade Agreement. "The Clintons gave us NAFTA, think of it. The worst trade deal ever signed by any country ever," Trump said as the crowd booed against NAFTA during a rally in Sterling Heights. He said re-negotiating that deal would stop shipping jobs to Mexico. He's been fighting for the auto industry for years, he said, and wanted to bring jobs back to Michigan. Trump said union and non-union workers were backing him. "Hillary Clinton's policies have devastated your automobile industry all to the benefit of special interests. We will put a stop to all of that on Nov. 8," Trump said. Don't Edit Don't Edit Supporters got a short show from Ted Nugent The Sterling Heights rally was held at Freedom Hill Auditorium, and the atmosphere felt like a concert - even more so when musician Ted Nugent came onstage to share his support for Trump and whip up the crowd before Trump's comments. "Not many things can get me out of a Michigan deer camp in November," Nugent said. The musician told the thousands of Trump supporters gathered at the rally that he is confident their dedication to the GOP presidential nominee will help result in an Election Day victory on Nov. 8. "I know the real Michigan is alive and well," Nugent said. "We're all here tonight because we love Michigan. We love America." Don't Edit An audience member holds up a sign in support of Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump as they wait for the Trump rally to start inside the Freedom Hall Amphitheater in Sterling Heights on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016. (Josie Norris | The Saginaw News) Trump supporters at Michigan rally share why they are voting for the GOP nominee Ted Nugent calls on 'real Michigan' to support Trump during campaign rally Trump NAFTA mention draws boos at rally in Big Three territory Trump kids react to being called onstage at Michigan campaign rally Trump predicts Brexit-style presidential win at Macomb County rally Don't Edit Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump checks his watch and cracks a joke about how late it is as he addresses the crowd during his final campaign rally before the general election at the Grand Gallery in DeVos Place in Grand Rapids, Mich. around 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com) November 7-8, 2016: Last-minute rally in Grand Rapids In the wee hours of Election Day, Trump closed out the general election campaign cycle by telling a packed house in Grand Rapids that there was no place he'd rather be. During a rally scheduled for 11 p.m. that started right after midnight on Election Day, Trump and running mate Mike Pence told supporters in Grand Rapids that he'd initially intended to close out his election in New Hampshire, but when he heard Democrat Hillary Clinton was coming to Grand Rapids, he said, "let's follow it up." "There's no place I'd rather be for my last rally - right here in Michigan," Trump said to loud cheers from the audience. "If we win Michigan, we will win this historic election, then we truly will be able to do all of the things we want to do." Don't Edit 'There's no place I'd rather be for my last rally' At his last rally before the polls officially open Nov. 8, Trump expressed confidence that he would win. But as he repeated many of the messages in downtown Grand Rapids that have resonated with his supporters most, Trump urged voters not to let up yet. "If we don't win, this will be the single greatest waste of time, energy and money in my life," Trump told his audience of several thousand. During comments scheduled for 11 p.m. that eventually started in the early hours of Nov. 8, Trump and running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, hit the highlights of campaign proposals rolled out over several weeks, including repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, suspending the Syrian refugee program and building a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Don't Edit Donald Trump supporters come out in droves for final rally before 'historic' election day Anti-Donald Trump protesters show up outside Grand Rapids rally 'No place I'd rather be' than Michigan on eve of election, Trump says Trump urges Michigan supporters to come out strong on Election Day Don't Edit Don't Edit President-Elect Donald Trump takes the stage for his "Thank You Tour" speech at the DeltaPlex in Walker on Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. (Allison Farrand | MLive.com) Dec. 9, 2016: 'Thank you' tour Following his election to the presidency, Trump embarked on a 'thank you' tour of the country, coming to Walker again to tell voters he appreciated them for helping him win Michigan. Trump said the main reason he was touring the country is to say "thank you" to voters who supported him. At the latest stop on that victory tour in Grand Rapids Friday, Dec. 9, Trump singled out a specific group of people. Speaking to a almost entirely white audience, he claimed low turnout among the African American community helped earn him earn a victory on Election Day. "The African American community was great to us," Trump said. "They came through bigly." After pausing for thunderous applause from the audience, the president-elect continued. "If they had any doubt, they didn't vote," Trump said. "And that was almost as good. Because a bunch of people didn't show up, because they felt good about me." Don't Edit Betsy DeVos, Trump's choice for U.S. Secretary of Education, also appeared at the event. Why Michigan is a stop on Donald Trump's 'thank you' tour #NotMyPresident protesters challenge Trump outside of GR rally Protesters kicked out of Donald Trump's Grand Rapids 'thank you' rally Betsy DeVos shows at Donald Trump stop in Grand Rapids Trump says no-show African American voters helped him win Grand Rapids Trump supporters feel heard by President-elect 30 moments from Donald Trump's Michigan 'thank you' tour stop Don't Edit President Donald Trump arrives at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus on March 15, 2017 for his first visit since taking office. Trump is planning to meet with automotive leaders at the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti Township. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com) March 15, 2017: Ypsilanti tour and speech In March 2017, Trump came to Ypsilanti, meeting with automotive executives, union members and Michigan politicians. President Donald Trump promised to "do some wonderful work" with companies as long as CEOs could help with jobs. During a tour of the American Center for Mobility facility in Ypsilanti Township, Trump viewed 11 U.S.-made cars, including a red Jeep Grand Cherokee made in Detroit and a blue Mustang that was made in Flat Rock. "We're going to bring a lot of jobs back to Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania," the president said, according to a White House pool report. He asked the CEOs to build modern plants in the U.S. instead of Mexico. Don't Edit Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News Trump was specifically in town to announce his reinstatement of a midterm review of Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards determined during a 2012 agreement between former President Barack Obama and 13 automakers to increase fuel economy to 54.5 miles per gallon for cars and light-duty trucks by model year 2025, with a midterm review in 2018. In the days before Obama left office, the Environmental Protection Agency decided to keep the more stringent regulations in place starting with model year 2022, a decision which angered automakers. Trump said he would reverse that decision and reinstate the 2018 review. During his visit to Michigan, Trump joked with Gov. Rick Snyder about his lack of a presidential endorsement in the 2016 presidential election. According to a White House pool report, Trump called Snyder over for a photo during a tour of the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti Township, saying, "Even though you didn't endorse me" to awkward laughter. Snyder declined to endorse in either the presidential primary or general election cycle, saying at the time that he was focusing on Republican victories in the state House. President Donald Trump arrives at Detroit Metro Airport ahead of Ypsilanti visit Trump poses for photo with Gov. Rick Snyder 'even though you didn't endorse me' 12 highlights of President Donald Trump's Michigan visit Don't Edit Trump returns to Michigan April 28 Trump will be in the state again this weekend for a 7 p.m. rally at Total Sports Park, 65665 Powell Road in Washington, Mich. on April 28. It's the same night as the annual White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner in Washington, D.C. Don't Edit ANN ARBOR, MI - A convicted sex offender will serve up to seven years in prison for his latest efforts to entice a minor for sex. Andrew Tennant, 36, of Ypsilanti Township, was sentenced Tuesday, April 24 to four years and eight months to seven years in prison for using a computer to commit a felony in the incident dating to September 2017. Tennant received lesser sentences for additional charges of soliciting a minor for sex and two counts of resisting and obstructing police and will serve that time concurrently with the longer sentence. He received credit for 153 days served. The charges of resisting police are connected to attempts to pull away from officers when they attempted to take him to jail, Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor Attorney John Vella said at the sentencing. Vella requested a prison sentence at the top of the sentencing guidelines, citing the severity of the case and accusations of other attempts to entice children. Vella alleged Tennant tried to solicit a person who he thought was 13-year-old girl from Texas - it was actually a Homeland Security agent - to come to Michigan for sex. Vella also alleged Tennant convinced an out-of-state minor to send nude photos, offered a mother $5,000 for sex with her 12-year-old girl daughter and, in another scenario, told a prostitute that he wanted someone younger than her 22-year-old coworker for three-way sex. That was after Tennant asked if the prostitute had a daughter, Vella said. In a press release issued last fall, the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office asked anyone who had contact with Tennant through social media sites such as Facebook or other interpersonal contact with him to contact police. He was said to be using the aliases Andrew C and Andrew Cantrell as well as the username daddyforyourdaughter. Vella also noted Tennant's previous history of sex with minors; records show he pleaded no contest to three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13 in 2005. "He's certainly a predator," Vella said. Tennant's attorney, Assistant Washtenaw County Public Defender Gina Noveskey, requested prison time on the lower end of sentencing guidelines, citing long-standing mental health concerns. Tennant has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals since childhood and has a history of substance-use issues, she said. Tennant previously was found competent in the case, before taking a no contest plea. Tennant declined to speak at the sentencing. Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge Carol Kuhnke ultimately sentenced him on the higher end of the guidelines. "I agree that Mr. Tennant has mental health issues, but I also think that he is a great threat to the public and I don't see he did anything to address mental health issues after his last conviction," she said. ANN ARBOR, MI - A third candidate has entered the 4th Ward race for Ann Arbor City Council, but it could be a two-person race again soon. Elizabeth Nelson has decided to challenge Democratic incumbent Graydon Krapohl in the Aug. 7 primary, and the current debate over the downtown Y Lot is an issue in the race. Krapohl, who has been in office since 2014, already was being challenged by Joseph Hood, a former Republican precinct delegate who decided to run as a Democrat this year. Nelson filed to run as a Democrat on Monday, April 23, making it a three-way race. But Hood now says he plans to drop out of the race because Nelson has agreed to make fixing roads a priority, which was Hood's main reason for running. Nelson, who has spoken out before council on issues ranging from backyard chickens to the downtown Y Lot, said she has been a resident of Ann Arbor since 2004, living in the Eberwhite area. She said she's running because there's not enough thoughtful discussion happening at council and the city needs more people eager to ask questions and address issues with a fresh perspective. She has a background as a teacher and lawyer, in addition to other community involvement. Ann Arbor City Council Member Graydon Krapohl, D-4th Ward, left, speaks at a candidate forum at the University of Michigan on April 12, 2018. Seated next to him is Ali Ramlawi, a 5th Ward council candidate. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News) Nelson said one of her reasons for running is because she sees a pattern of simplifying complex problems such as the Y Lot, a formerly city-owned property that's now the subject of ongoing litigation between the city and a developer for the second time in recent years. "Council made many mistakes to get us to where we are now with that property," Nelson said in a statement. "I'm not confident about this council's willingness to discuss those mistakes for the purpose of learning from them. When I read the amended complaint for the litigation and tried to reconcile it with council discussion of that property, it occurred to me: We need more members of council who grasp legal concepts and their implications." Nelson has spoken out before the City Council recently as council members have been divided over whether to try to repurchase the Y Lot for $4.2 million to have control over its future. The Y Lot is the vacant lot next to the Blake Transit Center along William Street. The city sold the lot to Dennis Dahlmann four years ago for $5.25 million and is now considering exercising what the city believes is its right to buy it back for $4.2 million because Dahlmann didn't develop it. Dahlmann blames the city for the lack of a project happening by now and is suing the city. At a meeting on April 2, Council Member Jack Eaton, D-4th Ward, reminded his colleagues of the long and messy history of the city's involvement with the Y Lot, which includes buying the property in 2003, having to demolish 100 units of affordable housing that stood on the site and relocate tenants, years of litigation and multiple failed attempts to facilitate a development, and now another lawsuit. Eaton argued trying to regain possession would prolong litigation over the site. Council Member Julie Grand, D-3rd Ward, offered a rebuttal after Eaton spoke at the April 2 meeting, suggesting he was presenting a convoluted argument when the issue couldn't be more straightforward. Grand argues it's fiscally irresponsible not to spend $4.2 million to repurchase the property when it's worth a lot more. Krapohl also seemed to dismiss Eaton's recital of the Y Lot history at the April 2 meeting. "I guess I'm not as concerned about what happened 15 years ago or 10 years ago, because that's not the current situation," Krapohl said, noting economic conditions also have improved. "I think it's to the city's advantage to be able to retain this property because I think it provides options going forward. Without it, there are no next arguments about what we want to put there." A week after those remarks were made, Nelson spoke out at the council's April 9 meeting, coming to Eaton's defense and suggesting the city's history with the Y Lot is important context. "My husband and I moved here in 2004 and we remember hearing about the Y Lot and the challenges dealing with it as soon we moved back here," Nelson told council members. "So, we've lived here almost 14 years, and for as long as we have lived here, that property's function and development has been unresolved. And I know plenty of people who have lived here much longer than me ... and remember more clearly than I do exactly how long the city has tried unsuccessfully to dictate the future of that Y Lot. " Nelson said she was surprised to hear some council members react so strongly to the mere mention of the lot's history. "And I understand why this group might not like to talk about the extra decade that this property has been sitting around, but I'm amazed that anyone here thinks that's a reasonable way for this town to function, just ignoring facts that are uncomfortable or perhaps embarrassing," she said. "The full history of this lot is not a ringing endorsement of how very skilled the council is at managing property like this." Nelson said thoughtful and sensible people actually consider context when making decisions, and that includes history. At this point, Nelson hasn't taken a position against repurchasing the property, but she said the litigation is a complicating factor and it's not a simple case. Any discussion of repurchase, she said, must acknowledge the previous history of city ownership, and the city should not buy a property without pinning down a clear plan for it. "My concerns rest primarily with how discussion around this property has avoided the biggest challenges to city ownership," she said. "No one I have talked to wants this property to sit around for years while the city figures out what to do with it. Likewise, no one wants it paralyzed in litigation if we can avoid it." Nelson, 43, grew up outside of Chicago and earned a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University before getting a law degree from the University of Maryland in 1999. She said she passed the Michigan bar in 2000 and six months later moved abroad with her husband, Peter, an automotive engineer with the Ford Motor Co. For four years, she said, they lived east of London, where their son Henry was born in 2002. They had their younger son Hugo after moving back to Ann Arbor in 2004. Nelson said she wants to make it clear that her campaign is not about factions or sides. "Our town deserves better than a city council that lines up in adversarial cliques," she said. "I didn't like those dynamics in junior high and I don't think we should have them in our city government. We deserve better than this. Recent conflict on City Council has been more divisive than productive. I am someone who knows how to collaborate with people, respectfully discuss differences, and advocate for a constituency." Krapohl, who is politically aligned with Mayor Christopher Taylor and the current council majority, said at a recent candidate forum he loves Ann Arbor and thinks it's headed in the right direction. "The groundwork for continued success has been laid," he said. "But I think, though, too, we have a lot of work to do, and there's a lot of decisions that are coming before us that are really going to shape the future of Ann Arbor for the next 10 to 20 years." Krapohl said the key going forward is to find a balance between doing all the things the city has to do and the things the city wants to do with the resources the city has. Nelson describes herself as a community volunteer, neighborhood organizer and mental health advocate. She said she has served in various leadership roles with the Ann Arbor branch of the American Association of University Women and coordinated 150 volunteers as chair of an annual used book sale, raising more than $40,000. She volunteers at the Ann Arbor Thrift Shop and was on the board as marking chair from 2012 to 2013. When her children were in elementary school, Nelson said, she founded and led a drama club that presented 12 plays over six years, involving 30 to 60 children annually, and she simultaneously worked part-time at a local preschool at Trinity Lutheran Church. She decided to go back to school and earn a master's degree in educational studies through the University of Michigan. She said she graduated in 2016 and is working primarily as a substitute, covering long-term assignments that require certification. In 2006, she co-founded an online support group and advocacy organization, Children of Hoarders, to raise awareness about how compulsive hoarding disorder impacts children and families. She has presented on the topic to graduate students at the UM School of Social Work, UM Depression Center and OCD Foundation of Michigan. She serves as a spokesperson for Children of Hoarders, which is a member of Washtenaw County's Hoarding Task Force. Nelson appeared before the City Council in 2015 to speak on the issue of backyard chicken regulations, arguing it was "extreme" and "radical" to allow people to regulate whether their neighbors can have a backyard chicken coop that's 40 feet away. Other than backyard chickens, she said at the time, she couldn't find any other activity in the city code that gives residents a say over what their neighbors do. Nelson has launched a campaign website at a2elnel.com. Krapohl has a website at krapohl4council.com. BALDWIN TWP, MI -- Plastic Trim International is aiming to boost the workforce and economy in Iosco County by investing $16.1 million and creating 210 new jobs. The plastics company was approved for a $1.5 million performance based grant from the Michigan Strategic Fund board to invest $16.1 million into its Baldwin Township manufacturing plant and Tawas City logistics center. The investment, officials say, will generate 210 new jobs with an average wage of $24 per hour. The investment is going toward a 42,000-square-foot expansion and upgraded technologies at the company's Baldwin Township plant. Its Tawas City logistics center will also have some growth due to the increased production in Baldwin Township, according to officials. "This project demonstrates how the state's attraction strategy reaches all parts of the state, and provides key support in the intense competition for new businesses locating and expanding in Michigan," said Jeff Mason, chief executive officer of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Penny Payea, managing director for the Tawas Area Chamber of Commerce, said the Tawas area is always in need of jobs. She said the area is best known for water and tourism, but natives who live there "relish for job opportunities" like the ones Plastic Trim International is creating. Lindsy Adkins, business services professional for Michigan Works! Region 7B said she remembers Kalitta Air, an American Cargo Airline based in Ypsilanti, generating a lot of jobs at its Oscoda location. But besides the cargo airline, Adkins couldn't recall any other recent, large employment opportunities in Iosco County similar to the announcement made on Tuesday, April 24. Adkins said Michigan Works! Plans to help the plastics company with their employment needs. Currently, there's an estimated 8,750 employable workforce in Iosco County in a population of 25,400, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. About 16 percent of that workforce is in manufacturing with about the same employed in health-care services. The additional 210 jobs at Plastic Trim marks a 15 percent increase in the county's manufacturing employment, according to MEDC officials. Plastic Trim manufactures trim, molding, decorative parts, body structural parts, set frame systems, and roof racks for General Motors, Chrysler, Volkswagen, Nissan, and BMW. The Company is a subsidiary of Minth Group US Holdings, Inc., a China-based manufacturer of trim, molding, decorative parts, body structural parts, set frame systems, and roof racks for the automotive industry. "This project will increase the skills of the current workforce, train new hires in the skilled trades and have a significant impact on the community," said Mark Berdan, executive director, Michigan Works! Region 7B. A Detroit party store has had its liquor license suspended for 21 days after several violations within a 13-month period, according to the state Licensing and Regulatory Affairs agency. At a hearing last Thursday, April 19, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission ordered the suspension of liquor license and permits held by Daniela, Inc., doing business at Lahser 8 Party Store, at 20528 Lahser Road in Detroit. The state listed the following violations: June 30, 2016: a clerk at the licensee's establishment asked for identification and still sold a 23.5-ounce can of watermelon-flavored Four Loko to a 19-year-old. April 20, 2017: the licensee, Daved Dawood, did not ask for identification and sold a 24-ounce can of Milwaukee's Best beer to a 20-year-old. July 29, 2017: an employee at the licensee's establishment sold a 20-pack of Bud Light beer and a 750ML Moet Rose to a 20-year-old. After a review, the commission ordered a 21-day suspension that will run from Thursday, April 26 through Wednesday, May 16. The license and permits will be reinstated Thursday, May 17. "The Commission has a legal responsibility to suspend or revoke licenses so that the health, safety, and welfare of the public is protected," Liquor Control Commission Chairman Andy Deloney said in a news release. "According to the state liquor control code, the Commission is required to suspend or revoke a license in a situation like this. After reviewing the file and considering the entirety of the record, the Commission felt that this suspension was appropriate." The commission issued a conditional license to Dawood on Dec. 18, 2015 and a permanent license transfer on March 30, 2016. The first violation occurred three months later. The mother of a hatchet-wielding, intoxicated, bipolar man killed by police last year believes there was a better way to deal with her son. Police didn't need to rush into her suburban Detroit home in Oak Park with guns drawn and fatally shoot 48-year-old Todd A. Stone on Dec. 18, 2017, Margie Stone said. Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper's Office, however, cleared Oak Park Police Sgt. James Vernier of any wrong doing on March 29, following an independent investigation by the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. It was determined that Stone disobeyed orders to drop the hatchet and was shot while approaching the officer. The shooting was found to be self defense. Group rallies in wake of recent fatal police-involved shootings of mentally ill men 11 Gallery: Group rallies in wake of recent fatal police-involved shootings of mentally ill men Prior to police entering the home, Todd Stone called 911 about 6:23 p.m. and told the dispatcher he was armed with "many weapons," and intended to "blow up the whole street," according to the ruling issued by Oakland County Prosecutor's Office Chief of the Warrants Division Jason D. Pernick. "Stone also indicated to the 911 operator that he 'ain't going to kill nobody ... it's going to harm me, but that's the point,'' Pernick wrote. "Just before he abruptly ended the call, Stone assured officers that he would walk out of the house without weapons when they arrived." Stone had a .283 blood-alcohol level, along with marijuana and anti-anxiety medication in his system, according to the toxicology reports. Pernick wrote that Stone, who was "depressed, highly intoxicated and suicidal," invited police into the home and then commenced a "sudden, unprovoked" attack while armed with a hatchet, causing Vernier to reasonably fear for his life and use fatal force to protect himself and other officers in the doorway behind him. Vernier shot Stone three times in the chest. Stone, who suffered from mental health issues and had recently been diagnosed with cancer, according to relatives, died in the hallway of his mother's home. "My son should not be dead," Margie Stone said last week at a protest against police violence. "There's any number of ways it could have been handled other than him being shot three times." Oak Park Mayor Marian McLellan and Public Safety Director Steven Cooper say Stone's death hasn't prompted any significant changes to department policy. Vernier "did everything correctly, so there are no policy changes needed," the mayor said. Cooper said an internal investigation determined the officer followed department policies. Oak Park police aren't equipped with body cameras. McLellan says she's at "total peace" with the way Vernier handled the incident, and described the sergeant as "kind and thoughtful." "If you were going to clone an officer, he's the one you would want to clone," the mayor said. When asked why police decided to engage the mentally unstable and armed suspect, rather than setting up a perimeter and treating it as a barricaded-gunman situation, the chief said the intent wasn't to "exacerbate the situation" but to defuse it quickly. "If you wait and all of the sudden the person starts shooting out of window, you end up having a crisis," Cooper said. " ... Our objective was to try and control the situation as quickly and as safely as possible, and to get Mr. Stone some help. " ... You have to look at them on a case by case scenario; they're very dynamic." While police across the nation are increasingly using crisis-intervention teams, collaborations between trained law enforcement and mental health professionals tasked with deescalating volatile encounters with the mentally ill, it doesn't appear Oak Park deployed such a unit during this incident. "I've been in this community a long time. My brother had too," said Todd Stone's 40-year-old brother, Donald Stone. "And I just feel if it's a family city, they should use non-lethal force. My brother didn't have the strength -- he was going through cancer -- he didn't have the strength to hurt nobody, and he was just hurting inside. "He was just crying out for help." Oak Park police declined to release records related to the incident without submission of a formal Freedom of Information Act request, which MLive submitted Friday, April 20. MLive additionally requested records from Oakland County on April 18. MLive did, however, separately obtain a copies of multiple police reports written by responding officers, including the officer who killed Stone. Vernier, whose name was redacted from records, didn't write his report until March 8, nearly two months after the shooting. "You want to give them a chance to gather themselves and deliver the most accurate reports ... as possible," the police chief said. "That's not uncommon." Vernier wrote that he responded to the scene with information that the suspect "sounded intoxicated" at the time he called police threatening to "shoot up the neighborhood." A search of an Oakland County law enforcement database indicated previous responses to the address for "family troubles as well as medicals." The officer preemptively requested an ambulance be staged. "Alliance Mobile Health was summoned to the Avon location and advised to stage in the area until the scene was secure," the officer wrote. "I had requested Alliance prior to arrival due to the potential mental health nature of the call, the caller being homicidal." The officer says Margie Stone -- who tells MLive she was barefoot at the time -- initially refused to step out of the house, and said that her son suffered from PTSD and was armed with a hatchet, according to police reports. After Margie Stone exited, officers propped open the storm door and "called out to Todd to step outside," according to the report. "Todd replied that he was not going to come outside and that we could come inside," the report says. " ... I stepped inside the vestibule with my department-issued pistol drawn at the low ready due to the threats to shoot up the neighborhood and the mother's statement of Todd being armed with a hatchet." The officer looked down a hallway. Todd was not in view, but could be heard making uninteligable statements. Another officer reports he heard Todd say, "Just kill me. I want to die." And then, the report says, Todd appeared before Vernier holding a hatchet in his right hand. "Todd had a hold of the handle with the sharpened edge pressed to his neck," Vernier wrote. "I pointed my department-issued pistol at Todd and ordered him several times to stop and to drop the hatchet. "... I observed Todd move the sharp edge of the hatchet away from his neck and move the hatchet above his head in a threatening manner." A second officer, after entering the home, says he drew a Taser, but reholstered after being unable to "get any sight of Todd." Vernier says Todd continued to ignore commands to stop and drop the weapon while advancing and "holding the hatchet in a manner consistent with an overhand striking motion." Fearing for his own life and his partner's, the officer says he fired three shots at Todd, who died a short time after being struck. The city previously issued Vernier and four other officers a unit citation award for their handling of a "delicate situation" involving a knife-wielding woman amid a mental health crisis in June 2017. "Due to the well-thought out and decisive actions taken by all of the officers involved, the subject was safely taken into custody using minimal force and eliminating any injuries to herself, officers or additional family members," Cooper said when the award was given in October 2017. "This is a perfect example of all of the officers gathering together, actually coming up with a tactical plan, and not rushing in to make a rash decision which could have turned out drastically worse ... " Oakland County Prosecutor's Office ruling: A Royal Oak High School student was diagnosed with viral hepatitis A, administrators announced on Wednesday. Principal Michael Giromini sent a letter to the students' parents and guardians informing them of the matter. "Please watch your child for any symptoms of hepatitis A over the next several weeks. If your child develops hepatitis A, they should be kept home. You should contact your physician for evaluation and testing as well as notify the school. Quick identification of suspected cases can reduce any further exposure within our school and encourages timely medical evaluation and treatment," Giromini said in the letter. Hepatitis A is a highly contagious but curable infection of the liver caused by a virus shed in feces and is most commonly spread through unclean hands, according to the Oakland County Health Division. Symptoms include: Abdominal pain, liver inflammation, diarrhea, nausea, headache, dark urine, and/or vomiting often followed by yellowing of the skin and eyes and may appear 14 to 50 days later. Between Aug. 1, 2016 and April 28 of this year, there have been 815 reported cases of hepatitis A, 657 hospitalizations and 25 deaths in Michigan. The hepatitis A vaccine will prevent the spread of the infection and comes in a two-dose series, given six months apart. Ways to reduce the risk: Get the hepatitis A vaccine. Wash hands frequently, especially after using the bathroom, changing diapers, and before preparing and eating food. Rub hands vigorously with soap and warm running water for at least 20 seconds. Clean and disinfect all surface areas. Particular care needs to be taken with areas such as toilets, sinks, trash, door knobs and faucet handles. Do not prepare food if you have symptoms and refrain from it for at least three days after symptoms have ended. Exclude ill food service workers from the establishment immediately until clearance from the health division is received. View the Oakland County Health Division fact sheet for information on symptoms and preventative measures. (This story has been updated to correct the spelling of a name.) FLINT, MI -- A Flint businessman who prosecutors say died of Legionnaires' disease as a result of the Flint water crisis actually died because of another condition, a Beaumont Hospital doctor has testified. Dr. Jeffrey Band, an expert in infectious diseases, told Genesee District Court Judge William Crawford on Wednesday, April 25, that he believes John Snyder died from acute respiratory distress syndrome, an opinion that's at odds with an expert for prosecutors. Band's assessment came during the 16th day of the preliminary examination of Dr. Eden Wells, Michigan's chief medical executive, who is facing charges of obstruction of justice and lying to a peace officer for her role in the water crisis. Special prosecutor Todd Flood has said he also plans to ask Crawford to bind Wells over to Genesee Circuit Court on those and an additional charge of involuntary manslaughter. The manslaughter charge claims Wells, who remains on the job with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, caused the death of Snyder on June 15, 2015, as result of "negligent omission" -- failing to warn the public about Legionnaires' outbreaks that officials have said caused at least a dozen deaths in Genesee County in parts of 2014 and 2015. Public records show that officials with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services were aware in 2014 of a surge in Legionnaires' cases in the Flint area after the city's water source was changed to the Flint River but never informed the public. Band who also testified at the ongoing preliminary examination of Nick Lyon, director of the MDHHS in March, said the potential benefits of warning the public of the disease outbreaks were outweighed by the potential harms. "This is one of the most difficult questions. You really have to depend on the local investigators who have the pulse of the community (in deciding whether to inform the public)," Band said Wednesday. "If you know the source, that information should be released immediately. If there's something we can do to prevent" the disease from spreading, people should be notified, he said. But in the case of the 87 reported cases of Legionnaires in the Flint area in parts of 2014 and 2015, public health officials couldn't be sure of the cause of the outbreaks or advise residents how to avoid the disease. Band also described the spread of the disease here as "smoldering" as compared with rapid outbreaks in Philadelphia and New York City previously. "The risk of notifying the public ... is fear and panic in the community. (That's) the last thing you want to do is have people afraid to seek medical attention." Band testified that more than half the reported cases of Legionnaires' in Genesee County while the Flint River was used for drinking water were acquired or associated with hospitals. Although separate groups of academic researchers have called the change in Flint's water source the trigger of Legionnaires' outbreaks here, MDHHS officials have suggested McLaren was the driver of the outbreaks. Wells' attorneys have said a bad situation could have been made worse if patients checked out of McLaren or other hospitals prematurely or avoided going to the hospital at all. In previous court filings, DHHS has called McLaren home to the "largest healthcare-associated Legionnaires' outbreak known in the U.S." and attributed 10 of 12 deaths attributed to the disease in 2014 and 2015 with the hospital. Band said he examined records related to Snyder's death and believes he died from ARDS, which the Mayo Clinic says occurs when fluid builds up in the tiny, elastic air sacs in the lungs. The fluid keeps the lungs from filling with enough air, which means less oxygen reaches the bloodstream, depriving the organs of the oxygen they need to function, Mayo says. Snyder's health was complicated by heart disease, Band said. Although Snyder's urine antigen test was positive for Legionnaires', Band said he also suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, which can cause false positive readings on the test. Dr. Joel Kahn, who testified for prosecutors, has said Legionnaires' at least contributed to the death of Snyder. Legionnaires' is a potentially fatal type of pneumonia or lung infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About one in every 10 cases of the disease proves to be fatal. FLINT, MI - It has loomed high over Saginaw Street in downtown Flint for more than six decades informing people if there will be sunshine or precipitation. Hot or cold weather ahead. While the letters underneath the 5,000-pound weather ball have changed from "CB" for Citizens Bank and "FM" under FirstMerit Bank, the colors lighting up the Flint skyline haven't changed. The letters are changing once again this week as crews put up a green and white H and B for Huntington Bank. The change comes after the Ohio-based company struck a $3.4 billion deal in January 2016 to acquire FirstMerit. Greg Viener, Huntington Bank's senior vice president and community president, remembers the ball lighting up as a child while visiting Flint and realizes the importance of the structure's connection to the community. "We really wanted to make sure we took our time and going through the process with it," he said of the time it's taken following the acquisition to finally make the change. "The overwhelming feedback is it's an incredibly important part of our community, an icon, and we need to keep the integrity of it," Viener added. Flint weather ball gets facelift as iconic letters switch to match bank 22 Gallery: Flint weather ball gets facelift as iconic letters switch to match bank The weather ball, perched 70 feet above the building's 10th floor, was installed on Aug. 30, 1956, and a poem followed regarding the meaning behind the colors: When the weather ball is red, warmer temperatures ahead. When the weather ball is blue, colder temperatures are due. When yellow light is the color of the weather ball, there will be no change at all. When it blinks in agitation, there will be precipitation. Those words underwent a slight alteration by Jackie Bowles eight years later when she crafted a jingle for Citizens Bank using the poem and music from the Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase. "It's an old folk music tune and that's the kind of music we were really into, being hippies," said Bowles in a June 2013 Flint Journal article of the song that was used for many years in a commercial for the bank. Members of the building's security team are typically tasked with changing the weather ball's color, Viener said, keeping an eye on the weather forecast during the evening hours. "I always say just keep it red, especially at this time of year, give people hope," he laughed, while calling it an honor to act as a steward for the piece of Flint history. "To see it retained here, to continue to see it be a part of the community, is really exciting for all of us," Viener said. Huntington is working with the Sloan Museum and Genesee County Historical Society to preserve the "FM" letters taken down. UPDATE: Three charged with murder in homicide of 20-year-old California man GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- Police have identified the man found stabbed to death Saturday morning in a Mundy Township field. Officers with the Metro Police Authority of Genesee County responded around 11 a.m. April 21 to the area of Jennings and Baldwin roads for a suspicious vehicle in a field near the intersection. It was in the field they discovered the body of 20-year-old Austin Culkins, of California, lying on the ground next to an older model GM pickup truck. Interim police Chief Matt Bade said the man had suffered multiple stab wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The Michigan State Police Crime Lab out of Bridgeport also responded to help process evidence in cooperation with the police authority. Bade said detectives have "several persons of interest" they are pursuing and working leads. No one is in custody at this time and the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on the incident may contact the Metro Police Authority of Genesee County at 810-820-2190 or report a tip anonymously to Crime Stoppers of Flint & Genesee County at 1-800-422-JAIL (5245) or via the P3 Tips app. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Third Ward Commissioner David Allen will step down from his Grand Rapids City Commission position this summer. Allen said he made the decision to step down June 12 to focus on his role as executive director of the Kent County Land Bank, citing challenges facing the community including affordable housing and lead poisoning. He announced his decision Tuesday, April 24, at the conclusion of the regularly scheduled meeting at city hall. "I am proud of the work my colleagues and I have been able to accomplish over the past two and a half years," Allen said. "This includes moving the needle on housing through the establishment of the Affordable Housing Fund and the Housing NOW! recommendations and the way our police department and our community have been working together to affect positive change. "I believe we will all be better because of this intentional effort." The Kent County Land Bank recently completed its new 3-year strategic plan, which Allen said calls for a "pivot from bring transactional to transformational." Allen said the organization will soon unveil initiatives to address "crisis areas" affecting the community, including the "dire need for more housing inventory, especially affordable housing," and the "incidents of lead poisoning in the 49507 area code." "Although these are not new issues, the issues have gotten exponentially worse since I have taken office," Allen said. "The average sales price of single-family homes in Grand Rapids has risen 34 percent since I took office in 2016 ... Cases of lead poisoning in children under the age of 5 in 49507 has increased 14 percent over the past two years. It's simply unacceptable." Allen said the land bank will introduce a "new, cutting-edge collaborative to bring hundreds of new homes to Kent and Ottawa counties," and a project to help families "remediate lead out of their homes." "In order for the Kent County Land Bank to fully execute on these two innovative endeavors, I feel I have to step down from my seat as third ward commissioner," Allen said. "There's no way I can personally or professionally handle the volume of work created by these two new programs as well as effectively serve the residents of the third ward of the city." Allen has served the city commission since January 2016. He is also chair of the fiscal committee. His last city commission meeting will be June 12, when the commission approves the budget for fiscal year 2019. Allen also said he wanted to give the commission time to appoint his replacement before the city manager selection process begins mid-summer. No decisions were made Tuesday for finding Allen's replacement. Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said the commission would discuss next steps at the committee of the whole meeting scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 1. Allen's seat is up for election in August 2019. "I am grateful for Commissioner Allen and I thank him for his dedication, his service and for all of his hard work," Bliss said. "He has been a great colleague, and he will be missed." Second Ward Commissioner Joe Jones said Allen's expertise in many areas, especially in housing, will be missed. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Immigrant rights activists protested outside a Department of Homeland Security office in downtown Grand Rapids Wednesday afternoon. Organizers with Movimiento Cosecha GR and the GR Rapid Response to ICE team gathered Wednesday, April 25, outside the building at 517 Ottawa Ave. NW. Members of the group spoke out against deportation violence and advocated for a four-day worker and student strike in late April to show the economic importance of immigrants. The four-day strike in Grand Rapids is planned to start April 28 and end May 1. It's planned to end with a march on May 1, International Workers Day, starting at Roosevelt Park near Chicago Drive and Clyde Park and continuing to downtown Grand Rapids. Gema Lowe, community organizer for Movimento COSECHA, said Wednesday's demonstration was prompted by anger over recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions involving immigrants. People being taken from the community belong to the community they contribute so much to, Lowe said. When they demonstrate, she said, they are exercising their First Amendment rights and following a long history of protest for rights in this country. "It's our turn to fight for immigrant rights," Lowe said. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A Wyoming man arrested Sunday morning after shooting at police with an airsoft gun and crashing a moped is charged with assaulting police. Grand Rapids District Judge David Buter read the six separate charges against Anthony Nguyen at the man's arraignment hearing Tuesday, April 24. As Buter read the charges, each was relayed to Nguyen through an interpreter. Nguyen, 43, was charged with fleeing police, malicious destruction of police property, carrying a concealed weapon and three separate counts of assault on an officer. Buter set Nguyen's bond as $50,000 cash or surety, and a probable cause hearing is scheduled for May 3. If he receives the maximum sentence on all charges, Nguyen could face up to 40 years in prison and fines of up to $14,500. Shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday, April 22, Nguyen approached a Grand Rapids police officer sitting in a parked cruiser at Joe Taylor Park, 1038 Bemis St. SE, and pointed an airsoft gun at the officer, Grand Rapids Police Sgt. Cathy Williams said. The officer immediately moved the vehicle to put distance between himself and the subject and ordered the man to lower his weapon, Grand Rapids Police Lt. Pat Merrill said in a previous interview. As more police arrived, the man shot at four different officers before fleeing on foot through the park before driving off on a moped, Williams said. The man eventually drove into traffic and crashed the moped into a car at the intersection of Wealthy Street and Fuller Avenue less than a half mile away from Joe Taylor Park, Williams said. The suspect was taken to the hospital for minor cuts and scrapes, and the driver of the other car was not injured, Williams said. Based on the individual's statements requesting officers shoot him, it is believed this was an "attempted suicide by cop," she said. Williams said it was not discovered until after the incident that the alleged weapon was an airsoft gun. No officers fired at the suspect and no officers were injured during the incident. Some of the resources available to those contemplating suicide are: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a confidential 24-hour crisis hotline available by calling 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). In an emergency, always call 911. Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services at 320 Commerce Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, 616-258-7599. Network 180 at 790 Fuller Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, 616-336-3765. EMMET COUNTY, MI - A Northern Michigan woman earlier sentenced to prison in an infant's death was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a second child died. Lisa Rae Bryan, 32, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter as a habitual offender. Charges of second-degree murder and obstructing police were dismissed in a plea agreement. The prosecution says Bryan fell asleep while nursing her daughter, Isabella Powrozek, on Nov. 1, 2006. When she woke, her month-old baby was not breathing. She was previously convicted of second-degree manslaughter in another infant's death in May 2011 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She served 15 months of a four-year prison sentence, Oklahoma Department of Corrections records showed. Emmet County Circuit Judge Charles Johnson on Tuesday, March 24, sentenced Bryan to 10 to 22 1/2 years in prison. Emmet County sheriff's deputies investigated the death for over a year before Bryan was charged. Prosecutor James Linderman said it was a difficult case "based on circumstantial evidence and statements made by the mother." He said she changed statements to police before admitting she fell asleep while holding the girl to her chest. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Police have surrounded a home on Dawes Court SE near Plymouth Avenue after a man pointed a gun at his own head during a police investigation. Grand Rapids police Capt. Geoff Collard said the man has not threatened anyone but himself so far. Police have blocked off streets around the scene, including Plymouth Avenue at 44th Street SE. Kent County sheriff's deputies went to a house on Dawes Court about noon to talk to a resident about a complaint involving stolen property. At that time, deputies saw some of the alleged stolen property in or around the residence. They went to get a search warrant. After getting the search warrant, and with assistance from Grand Rapids police, deputies again approached the residence. It was then that the man pointed a long gun at his own head. Police have evacuated some residents in the area and told others to shelter in place. Collard said police are working to end the standoff peacefully and have intermittent contact with the person, a 30-year-old man. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Police have arrested two people after a fight outside of Gerald R. Ford Academic Center on Madison Avenue SE. The school was on lockdown. School officials said two men were fighting outside. One of the two acted as though he had a gun but police said he was actually armed with a pipe. The victim ran to the school but could not gain entry. Police blocked traffic near the school while searching for suspects. There have not been reports of injuries. "The building was locked down, 911 and district public safety called. All staff and students are safe and secure," said John Helmholdt, spokesman for Grand Rapids Public Schools. A robocall was sent to parents alerting them everyone was safe and a letter will go out later today. The man with the pipe was arrested. The alleged victim was arrested on an unrelated warrant, police said. The fight started at one of the men's homes and spilled out into the street, police said. MACKINAC ISLAND, MI - There's a little ritual that has taken shape around the concierge desk at Mission Point Resort over the last couple years. If you've been lucky enough to see it, you know it involves a four-footed sprint, a lot of tail-wagging, and sometimes finishes with a round of applause. It all starts with a two-word text that comes to concierge Pat Driscolls' phone: "Goose alert." She quickly snaps a leash onto the collar of Nick, a 5-year-old tri-colored border collie who earns his kibble by keeping the resort's 4-acre Great Lawn free of pesky waterfowl. Together, they head outside to deal with the issue. "We will go out on the front lawn and I will give him the commands," said Driscoll, who with other staff is prepping to open the longtime Mackinac Island resort this weekend. "I tell him to stay. He gets down in his herding position. I tell him to look, and his eyes go right to the geese. Then when we are ready, I tell him to go. And he takes off." Nick doesn't stop his running sweeps until the lawn is clear of the winged invaders. He chases them until they either fly away or retreat into the water. "If he's not happy with where they are, then he will go out into the water and chase them," she said. "Then he will come running back to me. I swear he has a big smile on his face. He absolutely loves it." Mission Point started their search for a bird deterrent a few years ago. They are a pet-friendly resort, and had received some complaints from guests about people who were not picking up after their pets. When staff investigated, they found out it wasn't a dog problem. It was a bird problem. The 18-acre resort hugs the shoreline on the east side of the island, giving guests an expansive view of the Straits of Mackinac. But its Great Lawn, with its dozens of signature Adirondack chairs, also attracts ducks, geese and other birds. Driscoll said the resort found out about Nick from a kennel in upstate New York that trains border collies for sheep herding. The big dog had flunked out of the sheep-herding program, but would be good at shooing away waterfowl, the kennel assured staff. Mission Point adopted him and had a trainer put him through his paces on the Great Lawn to teach him his new job. At first, Nick lived with the resort's groundskeeper and his wife. But when that couple left the island to spend the winter in Florida, Nick moved in with Driscoll. It was only temporary, she told herself of the arrangement. "I hadn't had a dog in 30 years. I just fell in love with this damn dog." Driscoll began her resort career in 1995, working for the island's Grand Hotel. In 2002, she came to Mission Point, first as the activities director, then working in conference services and event planning. Her current role as concierge is her "dream job," she said. Her husband, the resort's former housing manager, died four years ago. Through their busy careers, the couple had not had time for a dog, she said. But that changed for Driscoll when she met Nick three years ago. Mission Point's groundskeeper retired, and she jumped at the chance to be Nick's human. "He is able to come to work with me every day. He sits next to my desk until we get a call about the geese." His reward for scaring away the birds? Praise from Driscoll. She'll scratch his head, rub his fuzzy coat. Maybe even sneak a hug, if he allows it. "If there are guests out there, they'll applaud," she said of Nick's waterfront work, which typically draws a crowd during the summer. Some people even linger in the lobby, anticipating the next goose alert. He's become a bit of an island celebrity. There are plush toys bearing his furry likeness in the resort's gift shop. A children's book about his adventures will be released soon. "He's just a sweet, loving dog," said Liz Ware, vice president of marketing and public relations, and part of the family that owns the resort. "He sits at the concierge desk in the lobby, and all the kids come over and pet him." Adopting Nick to chase away the waterfowl made sense for Mission Point on a couple different levels, she said. "This is a way to keep our yard clean and to also show that we are pet-friendly. We practice what we preach." For Driscoll, Nick has been much more than just another part of her job. When they are not working, you can find the pair walking together on the trails that crisscross the island. Border collies need a lot of exercise, and Driscoll estimates they walk more than five miles a day. She once read an article that said border collies were among the 10 worst breeds for senior citizens because the pets require so much activity. She scoffs at the notion - and throws in a grain of salty language about what she thinks about that list. Her life is healthier and fuller with Nick at her side, she said. "He keeps me young." More from MLive BROOKLYN, MI - As rain washed away the final few hours of testing at Michigan International Speedway on Tuesday, April 24, NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski asked Twitter for some advice. It was Keselowski's crew chief Paul Wolfe's birthday and the team had some time to kill before testing resumed Wednesday morning. More than 150 suggestions later, the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion and Rochester Hills native took his team to Jackson's Grand River Brewery. "2crew found a killer beer and food joint in Jackson," Keselowski posted on Twitter. Its 3:30 on a Tuesday, its raining at our @MISpeedway test and just so happens to be my crew chiefs B-Day. I need a good idea, quick. What you got? Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) April 24, 2018 Update. 1). I ratiod myself 2). Hoping Pauls mom doesnt read the comments. 3). So far He wants to stay in the rain and read Data https://t.co/KPk1f25rdS Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) April 24, 2018 Final update. 2crew found a killer beer and food joint in Jackson. pic.twitter.com/JS8krYWXac Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) April 24, 2018 Keselowski, who is sponsored by Miller Lite, was back on the track Wednesday for the second day of Goodyear tire testing. He spoke briefly in the media center about his season so far, as he sits fifth in the points standings without a win. Other drivers at the test included 2017 champion Martin Truex Jr. and 2018 Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon. Fans were permitted to watch for free, although lap times were not displayed. The NASCAR circuit heads to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend. Racing returns to MIS on June 10 for the FireKeepers Casino 400 and Aug. 12 for the Consumers Energy 400. Keselowski and Michigan's other native driver, Erik Jones, are winless at MIS in the Cup Series. HANOVER TWP., MI - A teen who made a Snapchat post threatening a shooting at Hanover-Horton High School a week ago could be entering the juvenile justice system. A juvenile petition for charges was filed against the 15-year-old boy who made the threat of violence on April 17, Undersheriff Christopher Kuhl said in a written statement. The petition is being reviewed by the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office, which will decide how to proceed with the case. Like a warrant request, prosecutors will review police findings and ultimately determine if the teen's actions were criminal in nature and later, if the petition is approved, present its case in juvenile court. A criminal investigation was initiated after school administrators were tipped off by a student who took a screenshot of the threat and reported it to school officials, police said. Staff immediately isolated the student and deputies investigating the threat determined the teen did not possess or have access to weapons, police said. There was no lockdown or disruption to students, Superintendent John Denney said previously. An informational phone call was sent to parents, and the school district posted a message about the incident on its Facebook page. KALAMAZOO, MI -- A judge has thrown out allegations that a doctor, who faces possible deportation, bit his daughter. Child abuse allegations were the reason why Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents were investigating Dr. Lukasz Niec, the agency told MLive previously. Niec, 43, a doctor and hospitalist at Bronson HealthCare, came to the U.S. from Poland with his family at age 5. ICE agents arrested Niec in January at his Kalamazoo-area home and he was detained for more than two weeks at the Calhoun County Jail before being granted bond. The agency has also said Niec had 18 encounters with police that brought him under ICE scrutiny, and two misdemeanor convictions on his record make him eligible for deportation proceedings. A hearing in immigration court has been scheduled for November 2019, Niec said, though he does not know if that will change. Allegations that Niec bit his minor daughter triggered a criminal investigation, and a prosecutor in Kalamazoo County declined to issue criminal charges, according to Niec's attorney, Deanna Kelley. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services investigated the allegations, and Niec faced a charge of child neglect based on a petition from MDHHS, Kelley said. The case originated in Van Buren County Circuit Court and was later transferred to Wayne County, where the minor child now lives, Kelley said. A judge threw out the allegations during a two-day trial in Wayne County Circuit Court on April 9 and 10, Kelley said. "A judge found the allegations were not substantiated," she said. "The prosecution did not meet their burden and the case was closed." The Michigan Attorney General's Office represented MDHHS in the case, arguing against Niec. It confirmed the petition filed by MDHHS was dismissed, and the agency has until the beginning of May to decide whether to appeal the decision. The Attorney General's Office has no further comment, spokeswoman Megan Hawthorne said, citing the ongoing litigation. An attorney who has represented the mother of the child in other matters said he had no comment. Niec said he has been fighting in court to have more time with his daughter. "My ex was relentless in trying to keep that from happening," he said on April 19. He was granted more time with his daughter following the ruling, Niec said. The case has been nerve wracking, Niec said, and rough on his children and his wife. He doesn't believe ICE did anything wrong by arresting him, he said, and he believes CPS workers have a tough job. "They're hearing stories from everyone and they don't know who's right at first," he said. He blames his ex-wife for reporting the allegations, which he continues to deny. "When someone wants to be vindictive they can do that using CPS as a tool," he said. Evidence, including video evidence showing his daughter without a bruise at a time when it was alleged she did have a bruise, showed that the allegations were untrue, he said. "If you tell a 5-year-old that your dad did it 100 times, they start to believe that," he said. "Things were twisted." The child's mother, Katherine Patil, declined to comment, her attorney said. The child's mother has made numerous attempts to limit Niec's time with his daughter, Kelley said, including filing a request for sole custody soon after the allegations were reported. "I think there's always a concern, whether intentional or not, that the adult feelings kind of overflow onto the child," Kelley said. "At one point, the 6-year-old child told the court, 'my mommy doesn't want me to love my daddy.' Whether or not that's true, it's not OK for a little girl to think that." A custody case is ongoing in Van Buren County, Kelley said. Niec is looking forward to putting the tension behind him, his attorney said. "He just wants to be a dad. He wants to see his daughter and do the things society recognizes as a really good thing for a child, to have a good solid relationship with both his parents. That's what he wants for his daughter," Kelley said. Niec said he and his former wife agreed to co-parenting counseling. Niec has a separate attorney representing him in the immigration proceedings. That attorney did not immediately return a call asking questions about the case. Niec doesn't know if the allegations being dropped will impact his immigration case, though he's hopeful. GALESBURG, MI -- Galesburg Mayor Carl Newton, 70, died Tuesday. His wife Vickie said Carl was a man driven by faith to make his community a better place. The longtime firefighter turned mayor passed peacefully at 11:26 p.m April 24 in Rose Harbor Hospice, she said. "He was a strong fighter and just gave it his all," Vickie said. "He fought to the finish and stayed focused on helping the community do the best it could. I've seen a lot of progress in Galesburg. I'm so proud of what was accomplished." Deputy Mayor Keith Diller will fill Newton's role until a new mayor is elected in November. Diller declined comment Tuesday. No one has filed to run for mayor, Clerk Karen Dersson said. A new mayor is elected every two years, while city councilmembers are elected to four-year terms. Vickie said her husband's death came quickly, but he was struggling with illness for more than two decades. He was hospitalized last week but remained strong, requiring a small dose of pain medication despite his ailments. It's a hard time for Vickie. She and Carl celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary on April 3. Known as an active volunteer in Galesburg-Augusta, especially in local schools, Vickie was on a mission with her husband to improve their community. He was a volunteer firefighter for 37 years. She served as the fire department's telephone operator. The community has already begun to wrap around their family after Carl's passing, Vicki said. She has been amazed by the thoughtful condolences pouring in from residents. In simplest terms, Vicki said Carl was a man devoted to God and his neighbors. "We've seen God throughout this whole journey we walked on," she said. "We always prayed for wisdom and we knew that we couldn't do it on our own strength." Carl was nearing the end of his second term before his death. He had been hearing concerns from people in the community before deciding to run for mayor. Carl joined fellow firefighter Doug Smith when decided to run. "I want them to remember (Carl) as someone who is interested in their ideas and always paid attention to them," Vickie said. "(He) tried to work things out so that the best would come from it all." They raised two daughters together, who both live in Kalamazoo County. Their son-in-law is a firefighter in Texas Township. Vickie will miss their late-night rides across Galesburg, stopping to watch the shimmering water in local ponds and checking on the city he loved. Note: This story has been updated to reflect an updated list of candidates from the Kalamazoo County Clerk. KALAMAZOO, MI -- Who are you voting for this November? Don't worry, you have plenty of time to figure that out -- meanwhile, candidates were required to file for the coming Nov. 6 general election on Tuesday, April 24. Here's a look at who's running in Kalamazoo County, according to a list provided to MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette by the clerk's office Wednesday morning. STATE HOUSE State Rep. Jon Hoadley, D-Kalamazoo, is seeking a third term in the Michigan House of Representatives. Hoadley handily beat his Republican opponent in 2016 to represent the 60th District, which encompasses all of the city of Kalamazoo, and parts of Portage and Kalamazoo Township. He will be challenged by Republican William Baker. Republican state Rep. David Maturen is seeking reelection but will be challenged by Paul Foust and Matt Hall in the August primary. Democrat Jennifer Aniano is also running. Maturen is seeking a third term to represent the 63rd District, which covers part of Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties. Republican state Rep. Beth Griffin will seek a second term representing Michigan's 66th House District. She has served the 66th District, which includes all of Van Buren County, the city of Parchment and townships of Alamo and Cooper in Kalamazoo County, since 2016. Griffin will face Paw Paw Democrat Dan Seibert. Republican state Rep. Brandt Iden is seeking a third term to represent the 61st District this year. He is facing no primary challenger but three Democrats are vying for his seat. Alberta Griffin, Thomas Whitener and Corey Kendal are Kalamazoo Democrats seeking to replace Iden. The district includes the city of Portage as well as Oshtemo, Prairie Ronde, Schoolcraft and Texas townships. Iden won a close 2016 race to keep the 61st District seat in the Michigan House of Representatives. STATE SENATE State Sen. Margaret O'Brien is seeking a second term to represent Michigan's 20th District in the Senate. The district covers the cities of Kalmazoo, Portage, Parchment and Galesburg. The 2018 election will be a rematch between O'Brien and Democrat Sean McCann. Both gave up their House seats to square off for the 20th District seat in 2014, which ended dramatically after a recount extended O'Brien's lead from 59 to 61 votes. Libertarian Party candidate Lorence Wenke is also seeking the seat. He ran in 2014. KALAMAZOO COUNTY BOARD Democrats retained a majority on the Board of Commissioners in the 2016 election. There will be Republican challengers in all but two of the districts held by Democrats this year. For a full description of county board districts, visit kalcounty.com. Board Chair Stephanie Moore, a Democrat, is seeking reelection to a third term representing District 1. Moore became the first black woman to serve as chair of the board after being appointed in January. Republican Ronald Olson is challenging her. Democrat Kevin Wordelman is not seeking a third term representing District 2. In a release, Wordelman said he is proud of the work he has accomplished but wants to spend more time with my family, focus on my career and support new emerging leaders. That could mean leaders like Paul Haag, a Democrat and Marine Corps veterans who is running to replace Wordelman. The first-time politician is running on a commitment to social, racial and economic justice, sustainable development and environmental protection. Democrat Tracy Hall is seeking reelection to a second term representing District 3. She was active as a member of the county ID card task force, which is starting in May. Hall is challenged by Republican Charley Coss, who previously ran against her in 2016. He has experience as a member of the Planning Commission in the city of Kalamazoo and unsuccessfully ran for the Kalamazoo City Commission last year. Coss was particularly focused on fixing the city's water system and removing lead pipes. Democrat Michael Seals is running for reelection in District 4 after defeating a primary challenger with no Republican counterpart in 2016. He will face Democrat Shequita Lewis in the August primary. In District 5, Democrat Julie Rogers is seeking a fourth term. She is facing Republican Chad Dillon, who ran against her unsuccessfully in 2016. Republicans Ron Kendall and Roger Tuinier are running unopposed. Kendall, representing District 6, faced two other Republicans when he sought a first term in 2016. This time he won't even be challenged by the opposing party. Tuinier will likely represent District 7 again, as voters have no other alternative. Republican John Gisler ran uncontested in 2016, but will face Republican Kraig Lee this time around. Gisler is seeking his fourth term representing District 8. The winner will take on Democrat Cody Dekker. Board Vice Chair Dale Shugars, a previous chair and Republican, is also seeking reelection. He won a primary challenge in 2016 but is not facing opposition in his own party this year. Democrat Christine Morse will challenge Shugars to represent District 9 in November. There are three people running for the board seat in District 10, the only position requiring a Republican primary. GOP candidates Steve Carra will face former Portage Mayor Pro-tem and ex-county commissioner Nasim Ansari. The winner will take on Democrat Michael Quinn, an outspoken advocate for veterans. Quinn secured his second term in 2016 by a narrow margin. In District 11, Republican Scott McGraw will face Democrat Meredith Place, one of the first candidates to announce their campaign late last year. Place said she is running to prevent partisanship from impeding progress in local government. She is married to former Kalamazoo County Board Chairman John Taylor. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Adam Robert Hassell of Kalamazoo was sentenced in Grand Rapids to 30 years in prison for producing child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office - Western District of Michigan announced Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney also imposed a 20-year term of supervised release that will begin when Hassell is released from prison. The 26-year-old man will be required to register as a sex offender and pay $5,100 in special assessments. Hassell pleaded guilty in January 2018 to sexual exploitation of a child in the production of child pornography, according to a news release. He came to the attention of law enforcement in January 2017 when investigators discovered someone at Hassell's IP address was sharing child pornography via file sharing software. In April 2017, investigators executed a search warrant at Hassell's residence and discovered photos of a naked 8-month-old baby on the SD card of his cellphone. According to the release, Hassell admitted to taking, but then deleting, the photos. The investigation revealed Hassell produced images involving lewd displays of the child and possessed sadistic images of the exploitation of other minors. He admitted having a sexual interest in children and seeking child pornography online as a way to manage his urges. At Hassell's sentencing, the infant's mother expressed the emotional and psychological toll the case had taken on her. She described Hassell's crime as "an act of evil and an act of terror to all mothers," according to the release. "When you exploit children, the crime is serious and it needs to be addressed with a serious sentence," Maloney said at the sentencing. This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, investigated the case. MUSKEGON, MI - Medical marijuana dispensaries will be allowed in Muskegon after the passage of an ordinance regulating the growth and sale of marijuana products within city limits. The Muskegon City Commission approved the ordinance on Tuesday at the body's regular meeting. It allows for growers and dispensaries to operate inside a specially zoned district off Seaway Drive. The city will not put a cap on the number of licenses it approves, meaning that if space allows, an unlimited number of dispensaries would be able to operate in Muskegon. Other cities in Muskegon County which approved similar measures have opted to put stringent caps on approved licenses. With the ordinance, the city has opted in to new state rules that allow medical marijuana plants and products to be grown, manufactured and sold at provisioning centers. Tuesday's vote only approved the operational aspect of the ordinance. Commissioners were still uncomfortable with several aspects of the zoning requirements recommended by the Planning Commission, as well as a few unorthodox stipulations in the application process proposed by city staff. Despite those concerns, the ordinance was approved on a 4-3 margin. Mayor Stephen Gawron and commissioners Ken Johnson, Debra Warren and Dan Rinsema-Sybenga voted in favor of the ordinance. Vice Mayor Eric Hood and commissioners Willie German, Jr. and Byron Turnquist voted against the measure. Michigan's Licensing and Regulatory Affairs department issued a new set of rules in early 2017 that allows municipalities to regulate medical marijuana on their own terms. State lawmakers in 2016 passed legislation to legalize and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries, but ultimately left the particulars up to the regulatory affairs office. Johnson, who has been an ardent supporter of the ordinance and the medical marijuana industry as a whole, said the vote showed "progressive and compassionate leadership." "I think it's important that we move forward and give clarity to those who are interested in setting up shop in our city, that they'll have confidence in their investment and give confidence to patients to show we will serve their best interests," Johnson said. According to the ordinance, potential pot operations would be required to receive the city permit as well as a state operating license before opening their doors. Application and inspection fees would then be assessed if a permit is approved. The city would also be able to charge facilities of any kind an annual fee of no more than $5,000 to "help defray the administrative and enforcement costs associated with operation of (facilities) ... in (Muskegon)," according to the ordinance. In addition, the ordinance allows for growing, testing, processing, secure transport and dispensary licenses to be stacked by a single license holder or entity. Just because the city will not cap the number of licenses doesn't mean they'll approve everyone who applies, said City Manager Frank Peterson. Applicants would still need to be approved by the state's Department of Regulatory Affairs Office even if they have the city's blessing. Gawron said he heard that of some 200 businesses who have already applied with LARA, only a handful have been approved. A portion of the ordinance that was not approved deals with the special overlay district. The proposed district is located off Seaway Drive, starting at the corner of Glade Street and Hackley Avenue, ending north at Young Avenue and running east to Park Street. Commissioners worried about not being able to expand the district or fine-tune the zoning requirements if that portion passed tonight. John Schrier, the city's attorney, said the body was well within their rights to approve zoning rules later and pass the operational piece now. A staff proposal to include several "plans" that applicants would have to present was sharply rejected and tabled. Some of the plans include basic proposals dealing with security, facade improvements on renovated buildings and general upkeep. The more controversial plans included stipulations about charitable giving and community outreach, which was met with some ire. "I worry that if we do this here, where does it end?" Rinsema-Sybenga said. "We want them to obey the rules and be within the system we approve. This seems like a lot more than what we require for other businesses." Warren said that while she wanted to revisit the application process, some checks and balances to ensure equity were a priority for her. "A lot of people in this industry make lots of money and then they leave," she said. "I don't mean they leave town, but they take their money to another community where they live. I hope we can explore some creative ways to address social equity in this industry." In opposition, German and Turnquist said they could not give their blessing to a system that seemed too loosely regulated. They also pointed to abused of medical marijuana cards and 18-year-old having neighborhood access to marijuana. "Medical marijuana has its use and certainly helps patients, I just don't think there are enough controls on how you get it," Turnquist said. "With dispensing any type of medicine of that form, I'd like to see a system where you get a prescription from a doctor and have to go to the local drug store to get it." Johnson said that if commissioners chose to continue stalling, or vote against the ordinance, a group of residents would more than likely call for a referendum and take it to the ballot box. If that happens, he said, the city would have zero control over where facilities are located or how many could spring up. In response, Turnquist said "so be it." "I think we are doing a disservice to the whole community," he said. Within the last few weeks, both Muskegon Heights and Egelston Township voted to approve similar medical marijuana ordinances. While Egleston's allows for up to two dispensaries, the Muskegon Heights ordinance only allows growth, processing and testing within city limits. MUSKEGON, MI - The Muskegon Public Schools Board of Education entered an impromptu closed session on Tuesday, April 24, following an outburst from Superintendent Justin Jennings. "If you don't want me here, then let's let everybody get out the room," Jennings said to Trustee Zachary Anderson during the meeting. At the time, the board was listening to a presentation from chief financial officer Catherine Kloska on the 2017-18 budget. A loss of 400 in full-time equivalency, which accounts for about $3 million in revenue, contributed to the current $1.3 million deficit in the 2017-18 budget, after an amendment in February, she said. The original budget adopted in June had a deficit of $105,500. Anderson said the board should have been informed sooner of the loss in FTE, and there should have been special meetings in fall to consider budget options. The lack of transparency "falls on the whole administration, to be quite frank," Anderson said. Jennings interrupted to say that communication with the board falls on him, and then followed up with a nearly two-minute speech that goaded Anderson into making a motion for a closed session on "personnel matters." "I don't want to continue to get personally attacked from doing what I'm doing is what's best for kids," Jennings said prior to the motion. "If it's your own personal opinion and that's what the board feels, by all means, I have a contract, do what you have to do. We can close this session right now, and everybody and I'll stand out there and you guys decide because we can't keep doing this and I'm not going to keep doing it." The board voted 4-2 to go into closed session with President Cindy Larson and Trustee Earl "Bill" O'Brien voting no. Vice President Louis Churchwell was absent. Boards may meet in closed session for a variety of reasons, including to consider the dismissal, suspension, or disciplining of an employee if the named person requests a closed hearing, according to the Michigan Open Meetings Act. After more than 90 minutes in closed session with Jennings, the board opened the meeting and resumed the budget discussion without taking a vote regarding the closed session discussion. The board rated Jennings "minimally effective" in his annual review in February. Secretary Pro-tem Billie Bruce called for Jennings' dismissal in January. In December, the board discussed a $100,000 severance package for Jennings. The conversation occured over text messages between trustees, which is a violation of the Open Meetings Act. At the meeting Tuesday, Jennings pointed out that he was hired by the board in January 2017 on a vote of 7-0. "I work for you," Jennings said. "That's what you need to understand. I don't want the community ... mad at you. Here's what I can do, I can step out the door, and you guys decide what you want to do because our kids and our teachers deserve the best. They don't deserve this." With about six weeks to finalize the 2018-19 budget, the board set the date for the next special meeting for 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 3, at the board room in the Hackley Administration Building. MUSKEGON, MI - The shooting death of a Muskegon man allegedly at the hands of another man later killed by police, was immediately preceded by an accusation of adultery, according to the police chief. Jordan Carey, 29, was shot to death Sunday morning, April 22, at his home on Merrill Street in the city of Muskegon. The shooting suspect, Matthew Hartman, 27, was shot to death later in the morning by a Holland police officer as Hartman held his wife at gunpoint at their home in West Olive, law enforcement officials. Hartman had driven to Carey's home with his wife Sunday morning, officials have said. "We believe that the suspect from West Olive came to the door and confronted (Carey) about an alleged relationship with his spouse," said Muskegon Police Chief Jeffrey Lewis. After shooting Carey, Hartman then fired a shot at Carey's girlfriend, Lewis said. She was identified by police earlier as 25-year-old Mariah Cantu. Cantu was injured, but not severely, and was able to tell officers what happened, Lewis said. "She was able to communicate with us right when we got there," Lewis said. "Being an eye witness and being present the entire time, she was able to give good information to our officers." Police responded to the West Olive mobile home park where Hartman lived with his wife, Mary, after she began sending text messages that she needed help. She indicated that Hartman had shot people in Muskegon, according to dispatch reports. Police said Hartman came out of the residence on Brickersville Drive and was holding a gun to his wife's head. That's when a Holland officer shot Hartman, allowing Ottawa County Sheriff deputies to rescue Mary Hartman, police have said. Robert German, who identified himself as Mary Hartman's attorney, said the couple was in the process of divorcing. He said in an email that there had been multiple instances of domestic violence during their marriage. The shootings in Muskegon were the second in the city over the past two weekends that ended with the alleged shooter dead. On April 13, Tommy Davis and Brittany Sevrey were shot and killed as they sat in a car parked downtown. Sevrey's husband, Brandon, was identified as the shooter and was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound near his Muskegon Township home, Muskegon police said. The Sevreys were going through divorce proceedings, court records show. Lewis said these types of "emotionally-driven" crimes are hard on law enforcement, partially because they are so difficult to deter. "A lot of people commit crimes for gain, but in these cases, the perpetrator is not really doing it to gain anything," he said. "They are just so mentally unstable they're not thinking, and their families become victims of their acts." UPDATE: Teen testifies he went undercover to get recordings of priest accused of sexual assault SAGINAW, MI -- When the Rev. Robert J. "Father Bob" DeLand Jr. first appeared in court on sexual assault charges, he asked a judge when he'd find out who his accusers were. Two months later, the 71-year-old Catholic priest heard testimony from two of the three males who say he molested them. The witnesses testified during two of DeLand's preliminary examinations held the morning of April 25 before Saginaw County District Judge David D. Hoffman. The first witness, a 22-year-old man, spoke in a soft voice as he answered questions posed to him by Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Hoover. He said he met DeLand, a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw, in the summer of 2017, when the priest patronized a Saginaw Township restaurant where the witness worked. DeLand had been at a table with several others. "He didn't really introduce himself," the witness said. "I was talking to the table a little bit. Someone said something about him being a priest. I just remember him asking me a little bit about myself. I just told him a little bit. He told me he liked to help students going to school and just help them out in any way that he could." Before DeLand left the restaurant, he "just told me to come to his church and to get to know him," the witness said. That same day, the man was involved in a traffic crash while running an errand for his employer. Shortly after returning to the restaurant that day, he encountered DeLand, who had also returned, alone this time. DeLand asked the man how he was going to afford fixing his car and the two exchanged phone numbers, the man testified. The two started meeting and DeLand ended up paying for the man's phone and Consumers Energy bills and took him clothes shopping, he said. He said DeLand served as a role model. Hoover asked the man how he felt about this arrangement. "It just made me feel like, grateful that there would be a person out there trying to help," he said. Hoover then asked the witness how he recalled the night of Aug. 7. "Blurry," he replied. That night, the man said he visited DeLand's home at 29 Mallard Cove in Saginaw Township, having been invited. "We talked and we took some shots of Patron," he said, adding DeLand poured the tequila. "I just remember being on the porch and then everything went black for me." He said he came to in the living room. "Bob was there. I didn't feel drunk. I just felt dizzy and not being able to move my body. I remember trying to move my arms and not being able to even nudge or twist. When you drink, you can steadily feel yourself getting more drunk. I didn't feel like this at all. I just remember it going black and not being able to feel my body." He recalled looking at the floor and seeing DeLand's feet in front of him. "The first time I faded back in, he had his hands on my shoulders," the man said. "The next thing I know, he grabbed my face and started making out with me." At this point in his testimony, the witness began choking up and spoke even more softly. "I didn't know what to feel or what to think," he said, adding he soon "faded out" again. When he came to a second time, he was standing and looking at the floor again, this time noticing both his and DeLand's pants were around their ankles with no memory of how they got that way. He recalled DeLand trying to take his shirt off and DeLand trying to move his hand toward DeLand's penis, before everything went black again. "I remember kinda trying to twist my body again and I closed my eyes," he said. "I don't remember what happened after that." The next thing he remembered, he was standing in DeLand's bathroom, his pants back on, looking at himself in the mirror. He didn't know how much time had elapsed. "I remember walking into the living room, grabbing my phone, and just trying to run outside," he said. "As soon as I got outside, I called my girlfriend and had her pick me up. As I was calling her, I was running. I just kept running and she picked me up at, like, a party store." The man and his girlfriend briefly stopped at the restaurant he worked at to see a friend, then the girlfriend took him to a hospital, he said. In the following days, DeLand would repeatedly call, text, and email the man, and would occasionally show up at his work. He left a birthday card containing $200 on the man's car when it was parked at his work, he said. "How do you feel this incident has affected you and your life?" Hoover asked. The man considered this for a few moments before answering. "It sucks when you can't look at yourself the same way," he replied. "I haven't gone to church since this happened," said the man, who identified himself as a Catholic. The man eventually went to police. On Aug. 18, he was in a police station interview room when he called DeLand. Hoover played video footage of this interview in the courtroom. In the footage, the seated man tells DeLand he needs "to talk about what happened that night. I'm not OK inside. I know you took advantage of me. I know you got me drunk on purpose. What did you do to me that night, Bob?" "Well, OK," DeLand responds on speaker phone. "Here's what I... I don't know what happened. I know we were drinking that tequila and I can remember sitting out on the deck because I was getting a big charge out of you telling me to be quiet and you moved your hand and it was really funny. I don't remember going to bed. I don't remember you leaving. I don't remember what happened. I don't know what I did." The man begins sobbing and his voice rises. "You don't deserve to be a priest at all," he says. "All I can tell you is I wish... I don't know what happened," DeLand replies. "You don't have to believe that and I can't force you to believe that." The man says he remembers DeLand not having his pants on and calls him a liar. "You can call me a liar, but I don't remember a thing," DeLand says. "I know you're having a rough time. I'm having a worse time. I'll tell you this much, I believe you when you say if I took advantage of you... I don't remember it, but I believe you. I know another thing -- I 'd never hurt you. I'm just so stupid. I guess, I guess... I don't know. I know I blacked out. I'm glad for this phone call; I've felt so terrible. "I would never hurt you," DeLand continues. "I believe you because you're such a good person. I just feel awful. I mean, I really feel awful and I know there's nothing I can do to make it up. I just know I would not knowingly do this. I hope that I didn't take advantage of you." "I don't care how you feel," the man says. "You literally broke me inside." The man then hangs up on DeLand and sobs with his head on the desk in front of him. A few minutes later, DeLand calls back and reiterates he doesn't recall what happened, but wouldn't knowingly hurt the man. "I can stand before God and say, 'God, I didn't want to hurt him, but I don't know,'" DeLand says. "You're no priest," the man replies. "I don't care however hard you work at your job, but you're no priest." Under cross-examination, Crawford asks the witness if he had court costs associated with a drunken driving conviction and if he had difficulty with employment. The man said he paid his court costs, but that DeLand paid some other bills and talked about paying for his auto insurance and college tuition. He also said DeLand told him he could sleep at his condo whenever he wanted and help himself to whatever food he had there. "Bob was helping you, by all intents and purposes, correct?" Crawford asked. "Yes," the man said. Crawford then asked the man if he recalled telling police he had been the one to pour the tequila shots and that he had consumed five shots, rather than the three he had earlier testified to. "Next time this happens, I'll count them for you," the man said. Crawford then referenced hospital reports that indicated the man's blood alcohol content after the incident was 0.257 percent. In Michigan, a person is legally intoxicated when his or her blood alcohol level reaches 0.08 percent. The tests showed the man had marijuana in his system, but no other drugs, Crawford also referenced. When the man was finished testifying, Hoover called Saginaw Township Police Detective Scott Jackson to the stand. He said he interviewed the man several times. "When we would discuss the incidents that he's claiming occurred ... he became fairly emotional and would often cry," Jackson said, adding the man was consistent in his emotions. Jackson also interviewed DeLand. "I would say he was calm," the detective said. "He acknowledged that (the complainant) was at his house and that they had been drinking tequila, and that at one point (DeLand) had blacked out. He didn't admit that specially that there was any sort of kissing or (the complainant's) allegations of their pants being down. He didn't admit to any of that." Jackson said he requested testing of the man's urine sample for the presence of date rape drugs, but the test could not be completed because such substances don't remain in a person's system for long. Questioned by Crawford, Jackson said DeLand told him his whole life was about helping others. After Jackson testified, Hoover asked Judge Hoffman to bind DeLand over to Circuit Court on charges of attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct and gross indecency between males. Crawford objected, but the judge ended up binding the charges over to the higher court for trial. A second preliminary examination then began that related to a different alleged victim involving DeLand. SAGINAW, MI -- Not even 10 months into his minimum nine-year prison stint, a Saginaw man who previously admitted to shooting a woman was discharged after withdrawing his pleas. MyKing L. Smith, 45, in July appeared before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Robert L. Kaczmarek and pleaded guilty to all nine counts he faced -- four counts of felony firearm, two counts of felonious assault, and single counts of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle, felon in possession of a firearm, and lying to a peace officer, as well as a third-offense habitual offender sentencing enhancement. The following month, Kaczmarek sentenced Smith to seven to 20 years in prison, in addition to a flat two-year term to be served before the longer stretch. But before the end of 2017, Smith filed a motion to withdraw his pleas. On April 2, Saginaw County Circuit Judge Andre R. Borrello granted the motion. The Michigan Department of Corrections discharged Smith on April 23. He is currently being held in the Saginaw County Jail. Prosecutors have reinstated all nine of the initial charges against Smith. Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Daniel G. Van Norman said Smith was able to withdraw his pleas on the grounds that Judge Kaczmarek had neglected to inform him of each of his rights at the July plea hearing. Van Norman added his office is planning to amend the charges against Smith to include a count of assault with intent to murder as well as another count of felony firearm. The charges stem from Smith on Sept. 5, 2016, allegedly shooting a 26-year-old woman after she pepper-sprayed him during an altercation outside a house on North Bond and West Remington. The victim testified during a preliminary exam she had been driving to her aunt's house when she passed Smith, with whom she was "friends with benefits" about six years ago. Smith, who was driving the opposite direction, did a U-turn and began following her, she said. Smith followed her to her aunt's house and parked just feet behind her, she said. The woman said she got out of her vehicle and told her 7-year-old daughter to stay inside. The daughter did not listen, though, and got out of the car, she said. The two of them walked around the back of her vehicle, and Smith instantly began hurling insults her way and claiming she was stalking him, the woman testified. The woman testified she assumed Smith was angry about a Facebook post of hers that included a video in which she talks about a man she said many people believed was Smith. The woman testified she could see Smith holding a handgun. "(Expletive), I'm going to blow your brains out," the woman said Smith told her. Smith turned his head and the woman pulled out her pepper spray and sprayed it at Smith, who was sitting next to his son, she testified. She testified she then turned to run away, only to hear a gunshot and feel a burning sensation on the side of her right arm. Smith then "sped off really fast," the woman testified. Saginaw Police Officer Nathaniel Voelker testified during the same hearing that after the incident, he and other officers went to the home of Smith and his wife Tarayea L. Smith, which was about a block away on Remington. Voelker said Smith led police to an upstairs bathroom where he had left the gun after washing his hands. Smith, who previously received media attention for being an anti-violence advocate, is also a sex offender. In 2005, he received three years of probation on a conviction of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim between the ages of 13 and 15. Smith is scheduled to appear before Judge Borrello for a hearing on a bond reduction motion at 2:30 p.m. on April 26. SAGINAW, MI -- A teenager testified in court he reluctantly agreed to go undercover to gather evidence against a Roman Catholic priest as he didn't want others to be harassed by him. Two preliminary examinations for the Rev. Robert J. "Father Bob" DeLand, 71, were held Wednesday, April 25, before Saginaw County District Judge David D. Hoffman, each related to a separate victim. The first hearing saw a 22-year-old man testify DeLand, a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw, had sexually assaulted him on Aug. 7 inside DeLand's Saginaw Township condo. It ended with Hoffman binding DeLand over to Circuit Court for trial on charges of attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct and gross indecency between males. After a break, the second hearing began with Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Hoover calling a 17-year-old male to the witness stand. The teen said in 2017 he had pleaded guilty to a charge of minor in possession of alcohol and was court-ordered to perform 25 hours of community service. The teen knew DeLand as the priest worked as a hall monitor at his high school. He ended up doing his community service under DeLand's supervision, beginning around October. The teen grew concerned when DeLand began constantly calling him on the phone. He would also step on his feet and grab his hands in the school hallways, make him promise to hang out with him and would offer to buy him things. The teen told this to his parents and then they contacted police in November. The teen told police he felt DeLand was harassing him, he said. Despite not wanting to do so, he agreed to investigators' request to record his conversations with DeLand. "I didn't feel comfortable being around him," the teen said. "I was just very intimidated by him, I guess you could say." DeLand would pick the teen up from his home, he said. The two would talk about drugs, alcohol, and sexual orientations, and smoke cigarettes, which DeLand bought for him, he said. "There was one time where he touched my butt inside a classroom in the high school," he said, adding DeLand hugged him every day. "He told me if I got marijuana he would smoke it with me. He told me he'd buy me alcohol and drink it with me, any time I wanted it. He would question me about how I felt about things sexually, what kind of porn I watched." In addition to giving the teen multiple cigarettes packs, DeLand would give him money, he testified. Eventually, DeLand asked the teen to acquire ecstasy for him, which the teen did. The teen testified DeLand gave him $100 for the illicit drug. The teen on Feb. 25 stayed at DeLand's condo and pretended to take an ecstasy pill, then faked the drug's effects, he said. "He really wanted to know what I was seeing," the teen said. "He wanted to keep me awake." Feigning tiredness, the teen laid down on DeLand's bed. DeLand then took off the teen's shoes and socks and began massaging his feet, he said. "He said that they were 'starting to warm up,'" the teen said. "He was breathing heavily also. I felt a lot of anxiety and started feeling scared and said I wasn't tired anymore and went back to the living room." The teen later returned to the bedroom with DeLand. The priest massaged the teen's feet, chest, and back and put his hand on the teen's buttocks for a minute or two, he said. As this occurred, the teen had one hand holding a recording device over his groin. DeLand began rubbing the top of the teen's hand, he said. The teen then went to the bathroom and texted a detective, saying he wanted to leave. "I felt like I was having a panic attack," the teen testified. "I felt violated and I really, really wanted to get out of there. I felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest." During cross-examination, defense attorney Alan A. Crawford asked the teen if DeLand had reached out to him after he had missed several group community service events. The teen said the priest had. Crawford asked him if he had ever been convicted of a credit card fraud, and the teen replied he had when he was 14. The teen said he did not recall when he started wearing a wire during his interactions with DeLand. He said police investigators encouraged him to pretend around DeLand that he was gay or confused about his sexuality. DeLand would then repeatedly reference anal and oral sex and tell the teen it was OK to be gay and that's just how God made him, the teen testified. Under re-cross, Hoover asked the teen why he agreed to function as an undercover operative. He replied he did so out of concern for others, not wanting anyone else to be similarly harassed. The teen said he didn't ask for DeLand to touch him or insinuate he wanted him to touch him. Questioned by Crawford, teen said he didn't tell the priest to stop touching him either. Once the teen finished, Tittabawassee Township Police Detective Brian J. Berg testified the teen and his parents met with police on Nov. 2 regarding DeLand behaving inappropriately. "It suggests there could have been some grooming going on," Berg said. "It was the early stages, so I didn't have a lot of facts at that point, but the behavior was concerning." He said grooming involves a defendant building a relationship of trust with a potential victim with some goal, possibly sexual, in mind. The detective added that DeLand was thought highly of in the community. On Nov. 3, Berg said he met with Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Mark Gaertner and learned of Saginaw Township police investigating DeLand on another matter. From there, Berg began an investigation to either prove or disprove DeLand's guilt. Part of the investigation involved the teen going undercover, Berg said, adding he was concerned for the teen's safety. "My goal was to give Father Bob the opportunity to do the right thing by planting police ruses," Berg said. The first of these ruses involved the teen's dad calling DeLand and falsely telling him he caught his son watching gay porn. Berg said he hoped DeLand would react to this by talking the teen out of such behavior, saying the Catholic church still believes homosexuality is a sin. However, subsequent recorded conversations involved DeLand encouraging the teen to engage in homosexual activity, Berg said. On one occasion, DeLand encouraged the teen to bring another male to DeLand's home where they could have sex, Berg said. DeLand also told the teen if he wanted to run away from home, he could stay at his condo and he wouldn't tell his parents, Berg said. Other ruses involved the teen pretending to be high on Xanax while with DeLand and advising him that drugs were easy to get, but expensive. DeLand responded by taking the teen to an ATM, giving him cash, and encouraging him to get drugs, Berg testified. DeLand also made a comment that cocaine was a good drug to do, because it's safer, the detective said. During these recorded conversations, police were listening nearby in case they had to quickly intervene, Berg said. When the teen was at DeLand's condo on Feb. 25, there were several officers outside with search warrants ready to be executed if they felt they needed to rescue the teen, Berg said. "My intent on using (the teen) was to hopefully show Father Bob was that upstanding citizen and man of God he's been referred to, and not a criminal defendant," Berg said. He added investigators did not engage in entrapment with DeLand, as every scenario they presented him with allowed for him to make a choice. During cross-examination by Crawford, Berg said he once was a Catholic altar boy but later left the church. Crawford asked the detective if he has strong feelings regarding the church, to which Berg said he disagrees with its philosophy. Crawford then asked Berg if he wrote in police reports that the Roman Catholic church has a propensity to cover up sexual assault allegations among its clergy. Berg replied he did write that, and stands by it. Crawford also asked Berg if has strong opinions on homosexuality. Berg responded that doesn't know of any priests that would encourage a 17-year-old to engage in homosexual acts, saying gross indecency is against the law. Crawford followed up by asking Berg if he would arrest someone who identified as gay, but Judge Hoffman interjected and told him to move on. Hoover asked Berg if his feelings about Catholicism would lead him to pin a false charge on a Catholic priest. "I was hoping Father Bob would be exonerated or be cleared," he answered. The hearing ended with Hoffman binding DeLand over to Circuit Court on a charge of second-degree criminal sexual conduct causing injury, despite Crawford's objections. DeLand is to face three more preliminary examinations on three other cases the afternoon of Friday, April 27. Two of the hearings involve the 17-year-old who testified Wednesday, while the third involves a third alleged sexual assault victim, an 18-year-old male. With 40 percent of Michigan still covered in snow as of late April, an editor with the Edmonton Journal in Canada is channeling all our thoughts with his "cathartic" headlines detailing this never-ending winter. Trevor Robb, Edmonton Journal online editor, penned some hilariously sad headlines such as, "You're cold, I'm cold, everything is cold," "A little snow never hurt anyone, he said, sobbing," and "Waking up to a -25 windchill is the best," among others. Who is writing these headlines pic.twitter.com/FtWxuMJgZs Laurel Nikiforuk (@thelauraxe) April 16, 2018 -- Robb tells Mediaite, an outlet covering the media industry, in an interview that he was attempting to "bring some positivity to the folks of Edmonton during an unusually cold season." As always, he started to cover the harsh winter season in a straightforward approach but as the madness continued he took a different tone. "As winter carried on into March and into April I just started to lose it a little, much like everybody else in Edmonton," he told the outlet. "I like to joke around and I like to make people laugh, so I started writing headlines that were more sarcastic than anything." Robb said that he received messages from entertained readers, which included one from a reader that told him "they were so personal, it felt like there was a real human behind the headline. A depressed human, like the rest of us." Did an interview with @Mediaite this morning on the weather headlines I've been writing for the @edmontonjournal I Cant Feel My Face: This Writers Hilarious Headlines Are Getting Us Through The Endless Winterhttps://t.co/YqAtv0X8rf#yeg #yegwx Trevor Robb (@TrevorRobb_) April 20, 2018 -- Here in Michigan, we feel the pain of our neighbor's to the north, as it's almost May and our state is still nearly 40 percent covered in snow. As of Tuesday, Michigan has 37 percent of ground still covered from snow which is down from nearly 50 percent recording back on March 24. The U.S. is still 9 percent covered by snow, which is the most snow covering the ground this late in the year since 2013. MLive meteorologist Mark Torregrossa reports this will change soon, as Michigan should enjoy a week of temperatures in the 60s and 70s. COPENHAGEN, DENMARK -- A Danish submarine inventor was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of killing a Swedish reporter. Peter Madsen was found guilty Wednesday of torturing and murdering journalist Kim Wall. Madsen also dismembered her body during a private submarine trip, according to the Associated Press. Copenhagen City Court Judge Anette Burkoe and two jurors unanimously agreed that Wall's death was a murder and that Madsen was also guilty of sexual assault and the defilement of a corpse. Wall, a freelance journalist was last seen Aug. 10 as she departed on the submarine with Madsen. Her dismembered torso was found days later at sea off Copenhagen, the AP reports. "We are talking about a cynical and planned sexual assault and brutal murder of a random woman, who in connection with her journalistic work had accepted an offer to go sailing in the defendant's submarine," Burkoe told the court. While the judge handed down a life sentence, the AP reports that in Denmark life equates to 16 years, which can be extended if necessary. Madsen's lawyers say they will appeal the decision as soon as possible. Madsen's story on how Wall died changed several times throughout the course of the investigation. He initially said she died after hitting her head. He then said she died from asphyxiated in a malfunction aboard the submarine. He also initially denied dismembering her, then confessed that he had done so and said he'd thrown her body parts into the Baltic Sea, according to the AP. Madsen's lawyers say he is willing to accept the charges of dismembering the body, but the inventor will not admit to killing Wall. [April 25, 2018] Spend Your Cryptocurrency with ilmatic Wrist Wallet NEW YORK, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ilmatic is building a secure, wearable, hardware wallet to put cryptocurrency on your wrist. The company is taking direct aim at one of the biggest challenges in cryptocurrency - real world commerce. Founder and CEO Danny Tamez says that the ilmatic wallet's hardware is critical to unlocking true cryptocurrency payments in physical spaces. "Secure hardware is the key to putting virtual currency into the hands of everyday people. Software alone will always be less secure and leave you more exposed to hackers." The device contains a NFC chip to make wireless transactions and a secure element microcontroller to protect the user's private keys. While other crypto payment ideas have launched as mobile apps or credit cards, ilmatic delivers an innovative solution by combining contactless payments with various cryptocurrency protocols. The engineering team has been quietly working on connected devices forthe last two years and brings experience from the technology research center EURECAT, consumer electronics in Silicon Valley, the LoRaWAN project, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Now, ilmatic looks like the first wearable crypto wallet to arrive in the blockchain space. Last year Ledger sold 1 million units of a cold storage hardware wallet that looks like a USB stick. ilmatic delivers similar storage, plus a spending wallet, which may present a more well-rounded product. The company says it will support cryptocurrencies that deliver fast and inexpensive transactions and named Bitcoin on the Lightning Network, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Ripple as possible integrations. The team is also working on its own coin protocol designed specifically for its ilmatic wallet. Tamez finished by saying: "We are making cryptocurrency tangible. When people can hold an object that represents their money, then it becomes easier to understand and use. We want to change the way that people experience money." The San Francisco based technology startup is now taking Tesla-like reservations for the ilmatic wallet, which costs $20 USD , gives you priority in the queue, and guarantees a special early bird price. This release was issued through WebWire . For more information, visit http://www.webwire.com. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spend-your-cryptocurrency-with-ilmatic-wrist-wallet-300636552.html SOURCE ilmatic [ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\broadband-stimulus's Homepage ] The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana. Of All Things: How to keep your brain busy Building Homes for Heroes donates home to war veteran and her children 'Hope, Strength, Peace' is what Hollie and her dance troupe Rise wanted to promote when they took to the Britain's Got Talent stage in Manchester for their audition. The girl dance group, who are aged between 10-24 years old, had been dancing together for almost six years before their member Hollie was badly hurt in the Manchester Arena bombing last year. Hollie's own aunt Kelly Brewster was killed in the same attack, protecting her niece. The 13-year-old, who had significant injuries and still cannot walk or support herself properly on her left leg, said all she could think about was dancing again. So Hollie's crew Rise put together a performance where she could still take part, and also pay tribute to the journey they had gone through - with some of Ariana Grande's hit 'One Last Time' as part of their show. Watch the reaction of the crowd and the four judges as they performed their act on the Britain's Got Talent stage. Teenagers are now so bad at reading analogue clocks that UK schools have been forced to remove them from exam rooms. Digital clocks are being installed instead, after helpless students complained they were unable to tell how much time they had left. Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) deputy general secretary Malcolm Trobe says young people are increasingly incapable of reading the clocks. "The current generation aren't as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations," he told the Daily Telegraph. "They are used to seeing a digital representation of time on their phone, on their computer. Nearly everything they've got is digital so youngsters are just exposed to time being given digitally everywhere." And he's not the only one. Numerous other teachers say they have swapped clocks. Meanwhile, universities are considering abolishing compulsory handwriting in exams, after complaints from exam markers that students' handwriting is unreadable. Instead, students would be allowed to type their answers using computers. Last year, Dr Sarah Pearsall told the Daily Telegraph that some students' writing is so illegible, they were forced to return over summer to read their answers out loud. "Handwriting is very significantly in decline. We have to accept the reality - this is the way the vast majority of students have been brought up," University of Buckingham vice-chancellor Sir Anthony Seldon said. "Some of our finest wordsmiths in England today write using laptops, and I'm afraid that we have to fight to preserve what is really important, such as the use of great English, great sentence structure." Newshub. Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk! You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details. Wide-moat Boeing (BA) reported first-quarter results that featured an earnings beat and higher year-over-year EPS and operating margins. Management raised its 2018 guidance for operating profits, which translated into a higher outlook for full-year core EPS, which now stands at a midpoint of $14.40 versus $13.90 previously. Were increasing our fair value estimate by about 5% due to higher operating profit and cash flow for 2018 in our model plus the time value of money since our last update. Boeings revenue rose 6% year over year to $23.4 billion in the quarter, and GAAP operating margins expanded 30 basis points. The companys core operating margins, which excludes pensions, expanded 220 basis points to 10.7% due to strong performance in both commercial airplanes and the defense business. However, margins contracted 80 basis points in the new services unit to 16.3%. Wed note that tanker charges weighed on Boeings operating margins during the first quarter of 2017, so these results are a bit flattered by an easy comparison. Nonetheless, rising 737 production and Boeings 50-basis-point upgrade of consolidated operating margin guidance for the full year indicates tangible improvements across the business. Lower taxes, fewer shares, and higher operating profits combined to push core EPS, which excludes pensions, up $1.47, to $3.64 this quarter. Cash flow continues to impress, and Boeing delivered $3.1 billion of operating cash flow this quarter compared with $2.1 billion last year. Burn-down on 787 deferred production accelerated this quarter, dropping $668 million on a sequential basis. Management increased its operating cash flow guidance to $15.0 billion-$15.5 billion from approximately $15.5 billion; were moving up our cash flow forecast as well. Morningstar Premium Members gain exclusive access to our full analyst reports, including fair value estimates, bull and bear breakdowns, and risk analyses. Not a Premium Member? Get this and other reports immediately when you try Morningstar Premium free for 14 days. WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Kim Jong Un wants a historic, high-stakes meeting as soon as possible and suggested the North Korean dictator has been "very open" and "very honorable," a sharply different assessment of a leader he once denounced as "Little Rocket Man." The United States and North Korea have been negotiating a summit between Trump and Kim to be held in May or June to broker a deal on Pyongyang's nuclear program. Trump, who has struck a decidedly optimistic tone on the situation in recent days, said Tuesday that the United States and North Korea were having "good discussions." "We have been told directly that they would like to have the meeting as soon as possible. We think that's a great thing for the world," Trump said at the White House alongside French President Emmanuel Macron. "Kim Jong Un, he really has been very open and I think very honorable from everything we're seeing." Trump cautioned that North Korea had not followed through on previous promises, but credited tough steps from his administration including sanctions and organizing pressure from international allies for having forced Pyongyang to hold talks. And he again suggested that he would "leave the table" if the negotiations were not productive or if North Korea was not operating in good faith. "We'll see where that all goes," the president said. "Maybe it will be wonderful or maybe it won't." Trump's comments came days after a flurry of moves from North Korea that the White House was anxious to promote as signs that its coercion campaign was working. On Saturday, North Korea announced it will close its nuclear testing facility and suspend nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests a move welcomed by Trump as "big progress." However, the North stopped short of suggesting it will give up its nuclear weapons as Trump suggested in a weekend tweet or scale back its production of missiles and their related components. When pressed Tuesday on what he meant by the goal of "denuclearization," Trump said, "It means they get rid of their nukes. Very simple." "It would be easy for me to make a simple deal and declare victory. I don't want to do that," the president said. This week, U.S.-allied South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim will hold a summit in the Demilitarized Zone between the Koreas that could lay the ground for Trump's planned meeting with the North Korean dictator. The leaders of the U.S. and North Korea have never met during six decades of hostility since the Korean War. The exact date and location of the possible summit has not been determined. As diplomacy gathered pace, White House officials and congressional aides said the Trump administration was considering nominating Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, as ambassador to South Korea. That key position has been vacant since Trump took office 15 months ago. It would entail a shuffle in the administration's plans for key diplomatic assignments. Harris has already been nominated to be ambassador to Australia. His Senate confirmation hearing for the Australia position had been due to take place Tuesday but was postponed. One of the congressional aides said both the State Department and governments in both Australia and South Korea were informed that the administration is looking at a switch of postings for Harris, although nothing has been made official yet. The aide and other officials requested anonymity to discuss the plans as they were not authorized to discuss them. In Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she had been told by U.S. Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan that Harris would become South Korea's ambassador and that a new appointment to the post in Australia would be a priority for the next U.S. secretary of state. CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who is Trump's choice for secretary of state, told his own confirmation hearing this month that the vacancy in Seoul needed "immediate attention." The man earlier tipped for the post, Korea expert Victor Cha, was passed over in January. He later voiced concern the administration was considering military action against North Korea. Harris has spent nearly 40 years in uniform and has a reputation as a straight talker. In testimony last month before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Harris said that the U.S. could not be "overly optimistic" about outcomes for the planned Trump-Kim summit. "We have to go into this, eyes wide open," he told lawmakers. Last year, the U.S. spearheaded through the U.N. Security Council the toughest international sanctions yet against North Korea in response to three long-range missile launches and its most powerful nuclear test explosion yet. The Trump administration supplemented those restrictions with unilateral U.S. sanctions against firms that had conducted illicit trade with the North. This year, Kim has pivoted from confrontation to diplomacy and, according to South Korea and China, has expressed a commitment to denuclearization. There is still uncertainty about what he seeks in return. Trump's praise for Kim on Tuesday stood in stark contrast to his previous bellicose rhetoric toward the North Korean leader. Beyond dubbing him "Little Rocket Man" from the rostrum of the United Nations last fall, Trump has threatened to deliver "fire and fury" upon North Korea and taunted Kim on Twitter that his own nuclear "button" was larger than the one in Pyongyang. Later Tuesday, Trump sidestepped a question as to why he would use the word "honorable" to describe Kim, who has been accused of starving his own people, executing his political opponents and ordering the killing of a member of his own family. ___ Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Ken Thomas and Matthew Lee in Washington and Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this report. Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. NEW YORK (AP) Trump-West 2020? In a moment that seemed to encapsulate 2018's social media-driven blurring of celebrity and politics, President Donald Trump tweeted his thanks to rap superstar Kanye West on Wednesday for his recent and perhaps unexpected online support. "Thank you Kanye, very cool!" the president posted in response to the tweets from West, who called the president "my brother." West, the enigmatic hip hop provocateur, posted a series of tweets in support of the president, whom he visited at Trump Tower in December 2016 during the presidential transition. "You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy," West wrote Wednesday. "He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought." Later, West posted a photo of himself wearing one of Trump's signature red campaign "Make America Great Again" hats and showcased that the president had signed it. "MAGA!" Trump responded in another tweet, using the acronym for his slogan. West noted that his wife, reality star Kim Kardashian West, wanted him to clarify that he was not in lockstep with all the Republican president's positions. "My wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone," West wrote. "I don't agree with everything Trump does. I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself." West lent an air of celebrity to Trump, who has not been nearly as popular among movie and music stars as his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. He complained about struggling to lure big-name talent to his Inauguration and made a point of calling Roseanne Barr, a rare Trump supporter in Hollywood, for the recent success of her sitcom. Trump has also consistently been supported by a small percentage of black voters. West has recorded several best-selling albums and produced a buzzy fashion line and has the undeniable talent for attracting attention. He's also been linked to several previous presidents, including when Obama called him "a jackass" in 2009 for storming the stage at an MTV awards show to interrupt Taylor Swift. And in 2005, during a telethon to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, West criticized the White House's response to the storm by famously charging that "George W. Bush doesn't care about black people." There was quick backlash to West on Twitter on Wednesday. "Kanye doesn't care about black people," tweeted comedian Akilah Hughes. But others were quick to embrace West. Eric Trump, one of the president's sons, tweeted three American flags next to West's declaration of dragon energy. His brother Donald Trump Jr. appropriated Hillary Clinton's slogan, "#ImWithHer," when he retweeted a Kardashian West post in which she denounced the media for calling the rap superstar erratic. And InfoWars host Alex Jones, a conspiracy theory promoter, invited West onto his show. West has toyed with running for president himself and on Wednesday tweeted a poster of his face emblazoned with the slogan "Keep America Great" and "#Kanye2024." Coincidentally or not, West also tweeted earlier this week that he has a new album coming out this summer. ___ Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. LOS ANGELES (AP) After being stuck in development for over a decade, "Deadpool" broke box-office records and shattered preconceived notions about what an R-rated superhero movie could do when it debuted in February 2016. Now the foul-mouthed mercenary is back with a sequel that's gearing up to play in the big leagues the summer movie season. Star and producer Ryan Reynolds spoke to The Associated Press about what to expect when Deadpool returns to theaters on May 18. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity. ___ AP: The first is so wild and jam-packed with everything. Did you hold anything back or save anything thinking that there would be a sequel? REYNOLDS: Oh my God we put everything out there. We had no pie in the sky notions that we would be guaranteed a sequel after this. But (screenwriters) Rhett (Reese) and Paul (Wernick) and I had been working together for, God, coming on eight years now. We worked on the first script together for years before it even got close to being greenlit and while shooting the first film, we were already coming up with a story for the second one. But at the time it wasn't something that was a reality; it was just something we loved. I think that at the end of the day the driving force behind "Deadpool" is that there are a great number of people who absolutely love every aspect of it. I think that's what translates to the audience. There is an authentic joy and love for what we're doing and we have so much fun doing it and you can't help but feel that through the screen. AP: Is there anything that is off-limits for Deadpool? REYNOLDS: Not really. To make a great rated-R comic book film you've definitely got to push the boundaries a little bit and we leave that to the editing process to figure out what we want to keep and what we don't. Tone is so critical in these movies and at the heart of "Deadpool" is always a very emotional story. You have to circle around that before you think about comedy bits or trying to incite reactions or that sort of thing. So "Deadpool 2" is really, at its core, about how one act of kindness can change the world. It's sort of a nature versus nurture story at its heart and that's critical to the film as a whole. Then you can model which sort of comedic set pieces you want around that. But at the end of the day it's got to be an engrossing story and that's the thing that we were most focused on from the get-go. AP: That's very sweet and sincere! And here I was thinking the most sincere thing about "Deadpool" was the Wikipedia page. Everything else from the logline to the marketing leans into the irreverence of it. REYNOLDS: Deadpool at his heart is sort of like a child. Like, yeah he can be vulgar, yeah he can act out but at its core there is a certain innocence to other aspects of him and I think that is something that's really important with the character. He sees the world through the prism of a child's eyes sometimes and that's also why he's tempestuous and obnoxious and misguided so much of the time too. AP: How are you feeling leading up to the release? With a summer date, it's playing in the big leagues now. REYNOLDS: For us that's been a dream come true as well. Having "Deadpool" positioned as a summer movie gives us a little more license to go a bit bigger, but at the same time our budgets are not comparable to some of the big Marvel movies. But necessity is the mother of invention so the less we have, the more creative we have to get. It has all the same principles and tenets as the first film which Dave Leitch loved and really wanted to honor, but at the same time there's a different flavor to it as well because Dave likes to keep major action in the lens as opposed to relying more on CGI. It still has this kind of down and dirty feel, which I love, but it also has so many elements that I think are going to blow audiences away and surprise people. I'm super excited about it. Right now we're just focusing in on the marketing campaign which for "Deadpool" is always to a certain degree an extension of the film itself. We get to have as much fun with the marketing as we do with the actual shooting of the movie. I'm excited to put out some of the things we have ready to go in terms of the marketing. AP: From the studio behind "27 Dresses," right? REYNOLDS: Absolutely, yeah. If you loved "Alvin and the Chipmunks," you are going to love "Deadpool." AP: Do you feel like this has to do better than the first to be a success? REYNOLDS: I don't really think about it like that. I'd be naive to not pay attention to some of the biz part of the showbiz but I know that the movie is made at a budget that makes it pretty reasonable for all parties involved and when we keep the budget down, the studio gives us a lot more play and leeway to do the things that we want to do and that's always great. So, no, I don't think it has to do better, necessarily. AP: Will the film honor Joi Harris in any way? (Stuntwoman Joi Harris died while filming "Deadpool 2" ). REYNOLDS: Oh absolutely yeah. AP: Are you and the producers going to address T.J. Miller at all, since he's been in the headlines recently ? REYNOLDS: You know, I think you've got to ask T.J. Miller about that, he's an expert on T.J. Miller. ___ Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. TAMPA -- A Hillsborough County judge has appointed a doctor to evaluate the competency of the man accused of murdering four people last year in Seminole Heights. Competency exam ordered for accused Seminole Heights killer Howell Donaldson III charged with 4 counts of first-degree murder Attorneys say Donaldson III suffering from mental health issues Howell Donaldson III's attorneys had previously filed a motion asking that his mental status be evaluated by specialists. In court Wednesday, Judge Mark Wolfe appointed Dr. Richard Carpenter to evaluate the 24-year-old Donaldson. Donaldson III, 24, is facing four charges of first-degree murder. The evaluation must be completed by May 29 - when the report is due. A hearing on that report is scheduled for May 31. In a motion, his attorneys said they believe their client suffers from mental health issues and may not understand the legal process. If he eventually is found incompetent, he could be sent to a state hospital and would delay the case for several months. Seminole Heights residents and police were on edge last fall, starting when 22-year-old Benjamin Mitchell was shot to death Oct. 9. Two days later, 32-year-old Monica Hoffa, was slain. And on Oct. 19, Anthony Naiboa, 20, was killed after taking the wrong bus home from his new job. On Nov. 14, 60-year-old Ronald Felton was shot and killed. Donaldson III was arrested Nov. 28 at the Ybor City McDonald's where he worked. He was detained after a co-worker told police that Donaldson handed her a bag with a gun inside and told her to watch it for him. The co-worker alerted a police officer that he was in the McDonald's. BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. A newborn fawn is recovering after quick work by a Brevard County Sheriff's deputy and rescue group. Brevard Sheriff's Sgt. Todd Beuer responded to gator report He stumbled upon fawn with umbilical cord still attached Fawn is recovering at Fort Pierce wildlife rescue with foster mom Sgt. Todd Beuer was responding to a report of an alligator on a roadway in a new Suntree subdivision last week. He removed the gator but then spotted a small fawn in the grass nearby. "I met up with them and could see it was bleeding," says Heather Pepe of Palm Bay's Wild Florida Rescue . The animal was weak and undernourished, and after Beuer and other deputies couldn't find the mother contacted the rescue. OH DEER: @BrevardSheriff SGT. Todd Beuer responds to alligator complaint, ends up saving baby fawn nearby. Malnourished deer taken in by Wild Florida Rescue and is doing well under a mama deers care. @MyNews13 pic: BCSO pic.twitter.com/tI6pQZYGHb Greg Pallone (@gpallone13) April 23, 2018 <_script charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"> The fawn was just hours old, with its umbilical cord still attached. "I've never seen one with fresh blood on it. It was slimy, so that was amazing," Pepe said. It was another busy moment for Pepe, who recently went on 57 animal rescue calls in just one day. But this one was special, being able to help an animal right out of the womb. "It's like going into this with a big group, and then there goes this life back into the wild," she said. The fawn is now at a Fort Pierce facility, where it's being watched by a foster mom. After it is strong enough, the fawn and new mom will be released together. If you live in Brevard County and see an animal needing help, email Wild Florida Rescue at info@wildfloridarescue.org or call their information hotline at 321-821-7881. KISSIMMEE, Fla. An Osceola County home is being transformed into a center for newly arrived Latino families in need. Kissimmee home to be transformed into center Center to serve newly arrived Latino families To learn more about EOLA, visit episcopal-caritas.com While direct government aid may be dependent on funding, one group of volunteers is welcoming these folks with open arms. To this day Armando Baezs home in Puerto Rico has no electricity or running water. The house was no condition to live in, Baez explained. As a professional painter, he is donating his time to a project he truly believes in: a new center in Kissimmee called Episcopal Office of Latino Assistance, or EOLA. The center is meant to serve mainly Hurricane Maria survivors from Puerto Rico and Venezuelan arrivals. Were hoping to offer wrap around case management (and) crisis intervention services, said Manny Ayala, the director of community for EOLA. And that involves federal government, aid assistance, applying for those programs. So far the center has a community room, a food pantry and space for Latino families to meet with social workers. Every room in the house is meant to be furnished in a way that makes the place homey so that everyone can feel welcome. This Kissimmee project is being led by the St. Johns Episcopal Church, and its members are putting in the work to make it all come together. My heart feels like wow I wish I could do better; I can do more, said Maria Rodriguez, one of the volunteers. The center is still in need of a washer/dryer, more furniture and a heating and cooling system, among other things. Baez hopes others will step up the way he has, so that this center can soon open. I am willing to help out anytime. Give back in the name of the Puerto Ricans, Baez added. The EOLA center is hoping to open at the end of next month. If you would like to learn more about this mission, visit: episcopal-caritas.com OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. Drivers were being cautioned to be aware of possible smoky conditions if they plan to travel on Interstate 4 near Walt Disney World on Wednesday. Florida Forest Service says lightning caused the brush fire About 65 acres have been burned away RELATED: Florida Forest Service works 'Triangle' brush fire at I-4, SR-417 and SR-192 The fast-moving "Triangle fire," which was likely ignited by lightning earlier this week, was burning near I-4, State Road 417 and U.S. 192. Florida Highway Patrol troopers were monitoring it Wednesday morning. Firefighters were concerned that lingering smoke from the brush fire may cause visibility issues. Images from Sky 13 in the morning showed smoke billowing from the fire and over I-4 and S.R. 417. Firefighters have almost contained the brush fire, though it continued to smolder into the morning. Reedy Creek Fire and Rescue was at the scene monitoring conditions. "The highways are our major concern. We can stop the fire but (not) the smoke," said Mike Facente, an area supervisor with the Florida Forest Service. "Were going to have west winds today blowing it right toward I-4 back here behind us, and we are worried about the traffic." Dry conditions helped the fire, which has burned 65 acres. Forestry officials said it was 90 percent contained Wednesday morning. The Florida Forest Service tweeted out pictures of the brush fire Tuesday evening that showed how intense the flames were. MELBOURNE, Fla. One airplane stands out at the Orlando-Melbourne International Airport. Vintage airplane makes appearance at Melbourne Airport American Airlines-Flagship Detroit is a Douglas DC-3 The plane was built in 1937 and has been fully restored The American Airlines Flagship Detroit is a Douglas DC-3 built in 1937. The 81-year-old fully restored aircraft is the oldest flying airplane of its type. On Wednesday, Melbourne, Florida-based Avidyne Corporation on Wednesday hosted the plane and its crew as part of get-together at the Florida Tech Aviation facility. Many, many people come up to the airplane and say this was the first airplane I ever flew on as a child, said Dave Buffington, with American Airlines Flagship Detroit. The airplane is part of as many as 30 airshows each year. The DC-3 played a big role in where the airline industry is today. MERIDEN A city man faces charges after police said he assaulted a pregnant woman and hit her in the face with a mug last month. Joshua Delvillar, 27, of 209 Murray St., was arrested on Wednesday and charged with second-degree assault on a pregnant person, second-degree unlawful restraint, interfering with an emergency call and disorderly conduct. On March 31, police responded to Medi-Quick on Pomeroy Avenue for a report of a woman being treated for an assault, according to an arrest warrant. Police spoke with the woman who said she lives with Delvillar, is 20 weeks pregnant, and got into an argument with him earlier that day. The woman said the argument escalated and Delvillar threw items against a wall. The woman said she tried to call police, but Delvillar grabbed her phone and pushed her to the ground, the warrant said. He also allegedly hit her in the face with a coffee mug. Delvillar was arraigned in Meriden Superior Court on Wednesday. Bond was set at $7,500 and he is due back in court on May 16. Lauren Sellew SOUTHINGTON Seven companies working on the Courtyard by Marriott on West Street have received stop work orders from the state Department of Labor, the most recent issued earlier this month. The stop work orders are issued to companies that knowingly misrepresent employees as independent contractors according to the labor department. The orders can also be issued to companies that provide incorrect information to insurance companies on the number of employees in order to pay a lower premium. AJ Patel of Ava Group received approval to build the hotel in 2016. A person answering the phone at the company declined to comment on the stop work orders when contacted Tuesday. In August, J9 Builders and VCI Construction Services received stop work orders. According to Mohammodu Giwa, spokesman for the labor department, no releases have been issued for those orders. On April 11, five more companies were issued stop work orders. The companies, Mendez Bros Home Improvement, Advanced Drywall Systems II LLC, Elizondros Carpentry LLC, Claros Construction and Southington Hospitality couldnt be reached for comment Tuesday. Giwa said there have been several companies that have overseen work on the hotel. A previous general contractor has left the job. We have the property owner recorded as AJ Patel who operates under various business names such as J9 Builders LLC, Southington Hospitality Management LLC, Ava Realty Southington LLC and Ava Group, he said. Patel had reported to me on (August 30, 2017) that J9 Builders was a subsidiary of parent company Ava Group/Ava Realty Southington LLC who owns the property. Several workers with New England Regional Council of Carpenters Local 326 demonstrated outside the hotel construction site last week. Ernest Pagan, union organizer with the local, said the misrepresentation of workers robs state and local governments of payroll taxes and affects workers who arent provided the proper insurance. We want the community and people to know whats happening here, Pagan said. According to the labor department, employees are on a payroll, fill out a timecard and receive a paycheck from which taxes are deducted. Independent contractors are in business for themselves and file taxes as a business or sole proprietor. The hotel is part of a larger development along that portion of West Street. Adjacent is a commercial plaza owned by local developer Mark Lovley which contains a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Other businesses include Cheshire Coffee, Nutmeg Credit Union and Silk Nails. jbuchanan@record-journal.com 203-317-2230 Twitter: @JBuchananRJ WALLINGFORD Local officials are trying to clarify state environmental oversight in regard to a developers plan to excavate sand from a rare sandplain habitat and build a large warehouse. Jim Seichter, chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, said hes not clear what jurisdiction the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has over the project, which has generated concerns from environmental groups due to its possible impact on several threatened and endangered species believed to be on the site. Seitcher has asked Town Planner Kacie Hand to look into DEEPs authority in advance of the commission's next meeting on May 14, when its expected to discuss the proposed project. Hand, who was also unsure of DEEPs exact oversight, said she has asked the developer to provide her with a list of the DEEP permits that will be required for the project because theres not necessarily one person I can call (at DEEP) and tell me all the permits they need. Hand said she is still waiting to hear back from the applicant. Rusty Rogers, doing business as Wallingford Industrial Improvement LLC, filed the development application. He is represented by attorney Joan Molloy. Rogers and Molloy did not return requests for comment. Also listed as a principal in the company is Carl Verderame III of Southington, according to state records. The development company is in talks with Allnex USA to purchase 25 acres on the south end of Allnexs roughly 240-acre property. The company wants to excavate sand from the property for three to five years, after which a 230,000-square-foot warehouse and a 21,000-square-foot office building would be built, according to applications submitted to the town. The 25-acre site, at 10-20 Toelles Road, includes two habitats a sand barren, also called a sandpain, and dry acidic forest that are designated by DEEP as critical and imperiled habitats. The site hosts rare communities and state-listed species, DEEP wildlife biologist Laura Saucier wrote to the commission in testimony. Several environmental experts and agencies, including DEEP, have raised concerns about the project in written testimony to the commission. The sandplain habitat is among the last five percent remaining in Connecticut. DEEP spokesman Chris Collibee said he couldnt comment on how much oversight DEEP would have on the project because the department has not been contacted by the developer or reviewed the property and any potential permits that would be required. As we have not received a permit for the property, it would be inappropriate to speculate on how we might be involved in the future, Collibee said in response to an inquiry from the Record-Journal. Collibee added, The threshold for our involvement would be based on the scope and scale of the project to then determine what, if any, state permits would be required. Typically, a project would begin at the local town level for review and then come to us for review if required. Hand said its her understanding that if a project will affect an area with state-listed species, the applicant must receive a permit from DEEP. 95 percent lost While state statutes give the PZC limited authority to reject projects based on environmental concerns, Hand said the commission traditionally approves projects under the condition that an applicant receive all the necessary permitting from DEEP before the project begins. The Planning and Zoning Commission can only consider what they have the statutory authority to consider, he said. The majority of the jurisdiction for environmental concerns does fall under DEEP. That being said, the commission understands the concerns being expressed and wants to acknowledge them to the best of their ability. Thats why its important for us to understand DEEPs statutory authority. Hand said state law does give towns the permission to consider environmental features when deciding on a special permit, which Rogers is seeking to excavate sand from the site. Hand said its important for the commission to understand DEEPs jurisdiction so nothing falls through the cracks. Some have suggested that DEEPs authority over the project may be limited given that its privately owned land. It appears the singular qualities of this unique habitat may not preclude its development after all, because the state (of Connecticut) cannot block alteration of this site on the basis of its status of supporting two state of Connecticut Critical Habitats without inviting a takings lawsuit, town environmental planner Erin OHare wrote in a 2016 document describing the sandplain on Allnexs property. In other situations, OHare continued, the DEEP works with developers in the site planning process to compromise on a management plan for identified state-listed species or special communities in question, but, in this instance, the entire sandplain is the rarity and there is no room for compromise. Longtime state Rep. Mary Mushinsky, D-Wallingford, said she has worked with Rogers on projects in the past involving the Quinnipiac River and Quinnipiac Linear Trail. Mushinsky said she has talked with Rogers about the application and got the impression that hes willing to work with DEEP to come to a compromise. He is a successful developer, but he also has an environmental sensibility, Mushinsky said of Rogers. I've worked with him before on other projects and I know that is true of him. Mushinsky said she would like the commission to approve the application under the condition that Rogers work with DEEPs wildlife unit to create a conservation and mitigation plan for the project. The sandplain habitat on the Wallingford site is the largest and most ecologically intact remnant of the formerly extensive North Haven sandplain that once stretched 15 miles from Meriden to New Haven. The sandplains was formed during the ice age between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago by melting glaciers. According to DEEP, 95 percent of the sandplain habitat once occurring in Connecticut has been permanently lost to development or vegetative succession. The habitats are especially susceptible to development because they are relatively flat, have few trees and good drainage. Seichter questioned how much power DEEP could have over the project given that 95 percent of other sandplain habitats are gone. If its a major concern for DEEP, then what's up with 95 percent of the sandplains going away, and why did they not take some action if they have the ability to? Seichter asked. This (sandplain) is extremely important, but weren't the other ones important? And where was DEEP with protecting those? Thats not directed as criticism at anyone, Seichter added. Im just trying to understand what the situation is. Caught off guard? Mushinsky, a long-time environmental advocate whos also a member of Allnexs community advisory board, said DEEP was caught off guard by Allnexs plans to sell the piece of property. The Allnex property was previously owned by Cytec Industries Inc., which Mushinsky said always protected the site and allowed environmental researchers to come onto the property. Under Cytecs ownership, Mushinsky said DEEP assumed the site would be safe from development, and thus used its dwindling funds to purchase other properties for preservation. In 2013, Cytec sold its industrial coatings and resins business Advent International Corporation, which was later launched under the name of Allnex. Mushinsky claims the Wallingford plant has been directed by Allnex, an international cooperation, to sell the undeveloped land because it isnt producing a profit. It seemed to be safe in Cytecs possession, but the company has merged with overseas partners and its a big successful international company, Mushinsky saiThe current managers are required to sell off property that is not producing, Mushinsky said. When the structure of the corporation changed, that's really how we ended up there. Instead of having Cytec protect the site, we now have Allnex Allnex sees the property as not producing anything monetarily, so they want it sold. Frank DiCristina, manager of the Wallingford Allnex site, said there has never been the directive (Mushinsky) mentions. DiCristina said he couldnt speak for Cytec, a separate company, but said he is not aware of any agreement between DEEP and Cytec to preserve the site. Allnex is proud of our progress on environmental matters and believe the prospective buyer is taking all steps to comply with the proper requirements and regulation, DiCristina said. The 25-acre property has been listed for sale on real estate websites for $3.6 million, or about $145,000 an acre. Mushinsky said while shed like to see the sandplain conserved she doesnt think any environmental or conservation groups have that kind of money. DiCristina said the site has been up for sale for two to three years. mzabierek@record-journal.com 203-317-2279 Twitter: @MatthewZabierek Sign up to receive the First Reading newsletter, your guide to the world of Canadian politics. First Reading is your guide to the world of Canadian politics. Sign up now> The deal to build four project 11356 frigates for India is to be completed in June, a military-diplomatic source told TASS. The Izvestia daily writes about one of the largely produced post-Soviet warship. The deal to build four project 11356 frigates for India is to be completed in June, a military-diplomatic source told TASS. The Izvestia daily writes about one of the largely produced post-Soviet warship. Talwar-class frigate of the Indian Navy, INS Teg, during sea trials in Russia. The framework intergovernmental agreement to build a new series of project 11356 frigates for India was signed in October 2016. It stipulated that two warships would be built in Russia and two in India with partial localization of production. India has been ordering project 11356 warships for nearly 20 years and is currently operating six of them. The Baltic shipyard began to build the first troika of Talwar-class frigates in 1999 and commissioned them in 2003-2004. The order for the second troika was handed over to Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad. The frigates were laid in 2007-2008 and built in 2012-2013. Project 11356 frigate was designed on the basis of border guard cruiser of project 11351 which in its turn developed from project 1135. The previously antisubmarine warships became multirole. They are armed with powerful missiles, including antiaircraft Shtil and eight-cell vertical launchers 3S-14E which can fire antiship missiles Club 3M-54E (export option of Kalibr). The air defense was armed with Kashtan missile guns, but the second troika had them replaced by standard six-barrel AK-630 guns. The second troika was armed with antiship BrahMos missiles fired from the same 3S-14E vertical launchers. BrahMos is an Indian missile produced jointly with NPO Mashinostroeniya according to P-800 Onix missile (export option Yakhont). Hulls of the Project 11356 frigates "Admiral Istomin" and "Admiral Kornilov" under construction at PJSC "Baltic Shipyard Yantar". Picture taken on 14.11.2017 (c) kaliningradblog.livejournal .com According to the logic of the Russian surface fleet buildup in the 2000s, project 22350 frigates (the Admiral Gorshkov) had to comprise its backbone. The lead ship was laid in 2006. It was armed with Poliment-Redut antiaircraft missile complex which controlled all air defense means in a single contour. The warships have not been commissioned yet because of long delays in streamlining new armaments. Therefore, the military began to look for a replacement. In 2010 they decided to order Yantar shipyard to build three project 11356 frigates with minimal changes. The main one was an antiaircraft complex (export version Shtil-1) with vertical launchers instead of rail. In 2011 an order for another three warships arrived. All the six frigates had to join the Black Sea fleet. The first troika has been handed over to the customer. The Admiral Grigorovich and the Admiral Essen are operating in the Black Sea fleet and engaged in the Russian operation in Syria. The Admiral Makarov is still in the Baltic Sea mostly because of continuing trials of a new antiaircraft 9M317MA missile with an active homing warhead. Two frigates of the second troika were laid in 2013 - the Admiral Istomin and the Admiral Butakov. The third one, the Admiral Kornilov, has not been officially laid so far. The new contract rules out the use of already laid hulls, according to the source. The uncompleted second troika of frigates for the Russian Navy is still at Yantar shipyard due to the conflict with Ukraine over Crimea and Donbass in 2014. Gas-turbine power plants for the warships were produced by Ukrainian Zorya-Mashproekt in Nikolayev, which was the center of competence in the former Soviet Union. Kiev blocked turbine supplies for the Russian military in 2014. Russia is currently developing its own gas turbines at an accelerated pace at the Rybinsk facility of Saturn Company. It will also produce power plants for project 22350 frigates which also suffered from politics. The contract for the second troika for the Russian Navy has not been terminated, but suspended. The military numerously stated the frigates will be completed with Russian-made engines as they appear and become operational. The deadline depends on the readiness for serial production of the equipment. The Yantar shipyard has already mastered rhythmical production of the warships. The power plants for the Indian deal can be purchased in Ukraine via New Delhi. Anyway, the Indian commission for defense procurement appropriated 76 million dollars to buy two gas turbines. They will be handed over to Russia for the construction of the first pair of frigates by a new contract, the Izvestia writes. Copyright 2018 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Huong said the April 25th-28th visit, the first by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, reiterates the Vietnamese governments policy of valuing the strategic partnership with Singapore and strengthening trust in bilateral ties. During the visit, the two sides will discuss new orientations and approaches with a view to making breakthroughs in their relationship as well as enhancing coordination in regional and global issues of shared concern. While in Singapore, the Vietnamese PM will also attend the 32nd ASEAN Summit, proving Vietnams strong support for the host country in its capacity as ASEAN Chair to promote the blocs solidarity, unity and maintain ASEANs central role in an open, transparent and rule-based regional architecture. According to the ambassador, bilateral links have grown strongly and effectively via the Party, National Assembly and Government channels and people-to-people exchange. Both sides actively worked to develop strategic partnership across politics, economy, national defence-security, education-training, and culture. Vietnam and Singapore have maintained the regular exchange of delegations and exchanges at all levels, worked closely together at regional and global forums, making active contributions to promoting regional connectivity, narrowing development gap, improving capacity to effectively and promptly cope with emerging challenges for the sake of peace, stability and prosperity in the region. The two countries also coordinate in ASEAN to increasingly enhance their roles and stature in the bloc and the world, contributing to maintaining ASEANs central role in the regional security architecture. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong (Source: VNA) Singapore is now the largest ASEAN investor and the third world largest in Vietnam with nearly 2,000 projects worth nearly USD42 billion. The country has so far invested in 46 out of 63 Vietnamese cities and provinces, contributing to socio-economic development in disadvantaged localities. The Vietnam Singapore Industrial Parks invested by Singapores Sembcorp have become a symbol of the successful and mutually-beneficially collaboration between the two countries over the past two decades. In trade, Singapore is Vietnams second largest trade partner in ASEAN and the sixth largest globally. Two-way trade rose by 8.9 percent annually last year to roughly USD17 billion. National defence-security ties have been expanded, particularly in the exchange of naval vessels, anti-terrorism and cyber security. Links across education-training, tourism, labour, culture and people-to-people exchange have also developed, helping raise mutual understanding between the two peoples. Ambassador Huong suggested enhancing partnership in finance-banking, high technology, digital technology, urban development and services. In order to achieve balanced trade, she urged Singapore to make it easier for Vietnamese goods to enter the country, especially agro-forestry-aquatic products, processed food, leather and footwear, wooden furniture and construction materials. Vietnam encourages Singapore investment in infrastructure, garbage treatment, water resources management, environment, renewable energy, liquefied gas and smart grid, she said. She proposed increasing training coordination to improve skills of Vietnamese workers, expanding cruise tourism and aviation cooperation by launching direct flights to Vietnams popular destinations. The Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore commits itself to work closely with the two countries departments and agencies to best prepare for the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and the fifth anniversary of bilateral strategic partnership in the two countries, as well as trade promotion programmes to lift bilateral ties to a greater height, she said./. This blog offers updates on the National Conference of State Legislatures' research and training, the latest on federalism and the state legislative institution, and posts about state legislators and legislative staff. The blog is edited by NCSL staff and written primarily by NCSL's experts on public policy and the state legislative institution. Granite State News FIT co-founder Maureen Beauregard named Manchester Chamber's Citizen of the Year by Elissa Paquette write the author WOLFEBORO Maureen Beauregard, co-founder and president of Families in Transition (FIT), lived in substandard housing with her mom and four siblings until age five, when she was placed into foster care. They never lived together again. Her early hardships instilled a drive to help others avoid that same fate. Her efforts to provide transitional apartments for homeless families over the last 27 years led to a shining night on April 19, when she was named the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year. Chamber President and CEO Michael Skelton said Beauregard is the ultimate New Hampshire success story. "It truly is our honor to recognize a special person of boundless energy and generosity, a nonprofit leader who is a shining example, a rare leader who through her own special journey brings so much compassion and joy to people who have faced such challenges," Skelton said. The award follows a year in which FIT merged with the New Horizons shelter and has taken over the transitional housing aspects of Serenity Place, an alcoholism treatment center, following its financial hardships. Beauregard has dedicated her life to others, starting with a small agency in charge of five transitional apartments, which has grown to more than two dozen projects with 200 housing units serving 600 people a year. Don Holm, an early supporter who helped launch the effort to bring FIT's services to the aid of homeless families within the Governor Wentworth Regional School District in the form of Hope House, located on Lehner Street in Wolfeboro, said of her recent award, "Maureen is one of those people who not only speaks from the heart but also has the organizational ability to turn her dreams into reality. In Wolfeboro, she found a group of people that were inspired by her dreams and stuck with her through the long process of creating a safe place for families in transition to get back to a good life." The project of converting the top two floors of the Professional Arts building into apartments and office and meeting space is expected to come to completion in May, according to Michele Talwani, FIT's Vice President, Economic Development & Marketing. A new shelter manager is starting at the end of April/early May and will be training at the family shelter in Manchester. Talwani says the goal is to have families move into Hope House in June. "I have never met a woman who is so passionate about what she does. She is an inspiration to all women but mostly to those who have struggled and succeeded. She is an example of that old saying, 'Where there is a will, there is a way.' Maureen has lived that," says Jane Batchelder, a long time L.I.F.E. Ministries volunteer who recognized the need for transitional housing and has persevered along with others to bring the enterprise to fruition. WOLFEBORO Maureen Beauregard, co-founder and president of Families in Transition (FIT), lived in substandard housing with her mom and four siblings until age five, when she was placed into foster care. They never lived together again.Her early hardships instilled a drive to help others avoid that same fate. Her efforts to provide transitional apartments for homeless families over the last 27 years led to a shining night on April 19, when she was named the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year.Chamber President and CEO Michael Skelton said Beauregard is the ultimate New Hampshire success story."It truly is our honor to recognize a special person of boundless energy and generosity, a nonprofit leader who is a shining example, a rare leader who through her own special journey brings so much compassion and joy to people who have faced such challenges," Skelton said.The award follows a year in which FIT merged with the New Horizons shelter and has taken over the transitional housing aspects of Serenity Place, an alcoholism treatment center, following its financial hardships.Beauregard has dedicated her life to others, starting with a small agency in charge of five transitional apartments, which has grown to more than two dozen projects with 200 housing units serving 600 people a year.Don Holm, an early supporter who helped launch the effort to bring FIT's services to the aid of homeless families within the Governor Wentworth Regional School District in the form of Hope House, located on Lehner Street in Wolfeboro, said of her recent award, "Maureen is one of those people who not only speaks from the heart but also has the organizational ability to turn her dreams into reality. In Wolfeboro, she found a group of people that were inspired by her dreams and stuck with her through the long process of creating a safe place for families in transition to get back to a good life."The project of converting the top two floors of the Professional Arts building into apartments and office and meeting space is expected to come to completion in May, according to Michele Talwani, FIT's Vice President, Economic Development & Marketing. A new shelter manager is starting at the end of April/early May and will be training at the family shelter in Manchester. Talwani says the goal is to have families move into Hope House in June."I have never met a woman who is so passionate about what she does. She is an inspiration to all women but mostly to those who have struggled and succeeded. She is an example of that old saying, 'Where there is a will, there is a way.' Maureen has lived that," says Jane Batchelder, a long time L.I.F.E. Ministries volunteer who recognized the need for transitional housing and has persevered along with others to bring the enterprise to fruition. Granite State News Wolfeboro selectmen pleased with selection of new town manager by Elissa Paquette write the author WOLFEBORO Members of the Wolfeboro Board of Selectmen expressed their pleasure upon the recent signing of Becky Merrow to the position of town manager. Merrow, currently serving as manager for the town of Colebrook, is scheduled to report for her first day on May 21. Chairman Linda Murray said that as pleased as she is with the result of the extensive selection process, she also will miss retiring town manager David Owen. The board is hosting a public reception for Owen on Wednesday, May 30, from 4 6 p.m. in the Great Hall. The board approved 10 event permits, one after the other, as representatives from the Morning Star Lodge #17, the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, Wolfeboro Parks and Recreation, the NH Boat Museum, All Saints Episcopal Church, and the Hospital & Community Aid Association, Inc. described their plans. Applicants nominated for open volunteer positions on town boards and commissions were as follows: Trustees of the Trust Funds, alternate members (one year), Mary O'Brien and Karen Haskell; Zoning Board of Adjustment, full members for one year terms (until elections on March 12, 2019), Timothy Cronin and Luke Freudenberg, with Suzanne Ryan to serve as an alternate (she declined that nomination, stating a preference to serve as a full member); Conservation Commission, renewals of Jeff Marchand, Arthur Slocum and Lenore Clark and appointment of Warren Muir and Bob Pierpoint as alternates (three years). Roger F. Murray III was re-nominated to represent the town on the Lakes Region Planning Commission until May 2, 2020. Jim McDevitt will serve on the Milfoil Committee (2 years), and Mathew Plache came forward during the meeting to serve on the Information Systems Advisory Committee (three years). The list continues: Agricultural Commission, full members, Macy Gotthardt, Wendy Rodgers and David Strauch, alternate, Mathew Plache (three years); Economic Development Committee, Craig Gemmell, Denise Roy-Palmer, Rev. Bill Petersen (three years) Kathy Tetreault (two years), alternate Dave Schappell (three years); Wolfeboro Energy Committee, Jeff Ouellette, Kevin Sanzenbacher and Tim Cronin (three years); Heritage Commission, Pat Hodder and Anne Blodget, alternate Gene Denu (three years), leaving a one year term position open. The Pathways and Fisherville committees had no takers this time around. In other business before the board, Finance Director Peter Chamberlin noted that winter road maintenance expenditures were higher than anticipated due to the number and type of storms, but overall, budgets are in line and revenues are keeping up to par. He asked the board to consider activating the "Positive Pay" program through Citizens Bank in light of the recent theft of a check from the town to Morton Salt in Illinois, which was deposited by a private cell phone. All but $1,000 of the loss will be covered by the town's insurance carrier. He's been told by a representative of the online bank in Houston that approximately $4,000 remains frozen in that person's account. The Wolfeboro Police Department is working with the U.S. Postal Inspector on the case, said Chamberlin. The board considered a written request from Peter Colcord, owner of the Downtown Grille Cafe LLC, located on South Main Street, to add two 15-minute spaces in front of Cate Park just after the crosswalk that goes to the post office. Selectman Dave Bowers, who owns the building next to the park, said he has observed that it is the only place where two tour busses can park end to end, which they do regularly from spring through to Thanksgiving. Selectmen Dave Senecal and Paul O'Brien did not feel it would be safe to have cars parked so close to the crosswalk considering the number of people, including small children, who cross there to enter the park. Murray added that when the town redid the docks and dockside area in 1996, it made an agreement to allow tour busses to park along Main Street. It also is a place to make quick deliveries closer to the businesses receiving deliveries. In her opinion, it is "better off to leave well enough alone." Bowers moved to reject the proposal. Everyone voted in agreement of his proposal. WOLFEBORO Members of the Wolfeboro Board of Selectmen expressed their pleasure upon the recent signing of Becky Merrow to the position of town manager. Merrow, currently serving as manager for the town of Colebrook, is scheduled to report for her first day on May 21.Chairman Linda Murray said that as pleased as she is with the result of the extensive selection process, she also will miss retiring town manager David Owen. The board is hosting a public reception for Owen on Wednesday, May 30, from 4 6 p.m. in the Great Hall.The board approved 10 event permits, one after the other, as representatives from the Morning Star Lodge #17, the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, Wolfeboro Parks and Recreation, the NH Boat Museum, All Saints Episcopal Church, and the Hospital & Community Aid Association, Inc. described their plans.Applicants nominated for open volunteer positions on town boards and commissions were as follows: Trustees of the Trust Funds, alternate members (one year), Mary O'Brien and Karen Haskell; Zoning Board of Adjustment, full members for one year terms (until elections on March 12, 2019), Timothy Cronin and Luke Freudenberg, with Suzanne Ryan to serve as an alternate (she declined that nomination, stating a preference to serve as a full member); Conservation Commission, renewals of Jeff Marchand, Arthur Slocum and Lenore Clark and appointment of Warren Muir and Bob Pierpoint as alternates (three years).Roger F. Murray III was re-nominated to represent the town on the Lakes Region Planning Commission until May 2, 2020. Jim McDevitt will serve on the Milfoil Committee (2 years), and Mathew Plache came forward during the meeting to serve on the Information Systems Advisory Committee (three years).The list continues: Agricultural Commission, full members, Macy Gotthardt, Wendy Rodgers and David Strauch, alternate, Mathew Plache (three years); Economic Development Committee, Craig Gemmell, Denise Roy-Palmer, Rev. Bill Petersen (three years) Kathy Tetreault (two years), alternate Dave Schappell (three years); Wolfeboro Energy Committee, Jeff Ouellette, Kevin Sanzenbacher and Tim Cronin (three years); Heritage Commission, Pat Hodder and Anne Blodget, alternate Gene Denu (three years), leaving a one year term position open.The Pathways and Fisherville committees had no takers this time around.In other business before the board, Finance Director Peter Chamberlin noted that winter road maintenance expenditures were higher than anticipated due to the number and type of storms, but overall, budgets are in line and revenues are keeping up to par.He asked the board to consider activating the "Positive Pay" program through Citizens Bank in light of the recent theft of a check from the town to Morton Salt in Illinois, which was deposited by a private cell phone. All but $1,000 of the loss will be covered by the town's insurance carrier. He's been told by a representative of the online bank in Houston that approximately $4,000 remains frozen in that person's account. The Wolfeboro Police Department is working with the U.S. Postal Inspector on the case, said Chamberlin.The board considered a written request from Peter Colcord, owner of the Downtown Grille Cafe LLC, located on South Main Street, to add two 15-minute spaces in front of Cate Park just after the crosswalk that goes to the post office.Selectman Dave Bowers, who owns the building next to the park, said he has observed that it is the only place where two tour busses can park end to end, which they do regularly from spring through to Thanksgiving. Selectmen Dave Senecal and Paul O'Brien did not feel it would be safe to have cars parked so close to the crosswalk considering the number of people, including small children, who cross there to enter the park. Murray added that when the town redid the docks and dockside area in 1996, it made an agreement to allow tour busses to park along Main Street. It also is a place to make quick deliveries closer to the businesses receiving deliveries. In her opinion, it is "better off to leave well enough alone." Bowers moved to reject the proposal. Everyone voted in agreement of his proposal. Plymouth Record Enterprise Local police departments hosting collections for National Drug Take-Back Day Saturday by Donna Rhodes write the author REGION National Drug Take-Back Day is slated for Saturday, April 28, and residents are encouraged to take a look in their medicine cabinets and sort out any medications they are no longer using or that have passed their expiration date, then take them to one of many disposal sites available throughout the state on that day. Police officials can accept any pills, capsules or dry packet medications; however, they cannot take liquids, needles or syringes at the drop-off sites. People do not need to be a resident of a town to utilize any of the drop-off locations and all items are collected unanimously then sent to an incinerator where they are destroyed. While the Drug Enforcement Agency recommends that people take advantage of the national drug take-back days, locally police departments in Belmont, Bristol, Gilford, Franklin and Laconia also have secure year-round drop boxes available for public use at their headquarters. The DEA offers a few tips for those who cannot access one of those locations though. One tip is to pour unwanted medication into a sealable plastic bag then add water to dissolve tablets and capsules, or add coffee grounds, kitty litter or a similar substance to any liquids. Once the bag is resealed, it can then be thrown safely in the trash. Medications should never be poured down a sink or flushed as they could contaminate the local water system. Next Saturday medications will be accepted from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at any of the following police departments in central New Hampshire: Ashland, Belmont, Bristol, Gilmanton, Holderness, Laconia, Meredith, Moultonborough, New Hampton, Plymouth, Sanbornton, Thornton and Waterville Valley. In addition, officers from Franklin and Tilton will host a drop-off site at the CVS parking lot, located on Central St. by the Franklin/Tilton town line, and Gilford will accept medications outside the CVS on Lakeshore Rd. in their community. In Sandwich collections will also take place at the town transfer station. For more information or to check for other locations in the area, please visit REGION National Drug Take-Back Day is slated for Saturday, April 28, and residents are encouraged to take a look in their medicine cabinets and sort out any medications they are no longer using or that have passed their expiration date, then take them to one of many disposal sites available throughout the state on that day.Police officials can accept any pills, capsules or dry packet medications; however, they cannot take liquids, needles or syringes at the drop-off sites. People do not need to be a resident of a town to utilize any of the drop-off locations and all items are collected unanimously then sent to an incinerator where they are destroyed.While the Drug Enforcement Agency recommends that people take advantage of the national drug take-back days, locally police departments in Belmont, Bristol, Gilford, Franklin and Laconia also have secure year-round drop boxes available for public use at their headquarters.The DEA offers a few tips for those who cannot access one of those locations though. One tip is to pour unwanted medication into a sealable plastic bag then add water to dissolve tablets and capsules, or add coffee grounds, kitty litter or a similar substance to any liquids. Once the bag is resealed, it can then be thrown safely in the trash. Medications should never be poured down a sink or flushed as they could contaminate the local water system.Next Saturday medications will be accepted from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at any of the following police departments in central New Hampshire: Ashland, Belmont, Bristol, Gilmanton, Holderness, Laconia, Meredith, Moultonborough, New Hampton, Plymouth, Sanbornton, Thornton and Waterville Valley. In addition, officers from Franklin and Tilton will host a drop-off site at the CVS parking lot, located on Central St. by the Franklin/Tilton town line, and Gilford will accept medications outside the CVS on Lakeshore Rd. in their community. In Sandwich collections will also take place at the town transfer station.For more information or to check for other locations in the area, please visit www.des.nh.gov The Lao leaders spoke highly of the Vietnamese delegations official visit to Laos, expressing their belief that it will significantly contribute to enhancing the traditional friendship between the two Parties, States and people of the two nations. Party General Secretary and President Bounnhang Volachith said he was delighted to see the development of cooperative ties between Vietnam and Laos in various fields over the past time, especially relations between the two legislative agencies thanks to the regular exchange of delegations, organisation of workshops to share experiences in law-making, and mutual assistance at regional and global forums. Party General Secretary and President Bounnhang Volachith (R) receives NA Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong (Photo: VNA) He took this occasion to thank the Party, National Assembly and Government of Vietnam for their great assistance to Laos over the past time, particularly in building a new National Assembly House for Laos and constructing schools in Bolikhamsay and Champasak provinces as gifts presented by Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Tran Dai Quang. The top Lao leader also thanked Vietnam for enabling Laos to develop wharves at Vung Ang port in the central province of Ha Tinh, which is vital for the shipment of Lao goods. For her part, NA Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong affirmed that the visit aims to reinforce the long-standing friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos as well as promote the sound collaboration between the two legislative bodies. Prime Minister of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith (R) receives NA Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong (Photo: VNA) She briefed the Lao leaders about the outcomes of her talks with Lao counterpart Sengnuon Sayalat and the discussion on sharing Vietnams experience in taking votes of confidence on persons holding positions elected or ratified by the NA and the provincial Peoples Councils. The legislator thanked the Lao government for promptly removing difficulties for Vietnamese businesses to make long-term investments in Laos and providing more assistance for the Vietnamese community in Laos./. Winnisquam Echo Winners of Sanbornton Conservation Commission's Youth Photo Contest announced by Donna Rhodes write the author Savannah Seavey, Carl Edwardson and Cole Ringer were named the winners of a youth outdoor photo contest, which was presented once again this year by the Sanbornton Conservation Commission and the Sanbornton Public Library in honor of Earth Day. (Photo by Donna Rhodes) (click for larger version) SANBORNTON At a special presentation last Thursday evening, the Sanbornton Conservation Commission, in conjunction with the Sanbornton Public Library, announced the winners of their children's photo contest and recognized all who had taken part in the annual event. In honor of Earth Day, boys and girls, ages four through 18, were asked to capture a photo of some aspect of nature then enter it in the contest. The tough task of judging those entries was then left to conservation commissioners Doug Sarette and Dick Ayers, and local professional photographer Jackie Bonafide. This year's winner in the four-to-eight year-old category was seven-year-old Cole Ringer. Cole's winning entry was a classic shot of sap buckets on hanging maple trees. "I like those trees and thought they looked cool with the sap buckets hanging on them. When I saw them, I decided I really wanted to take that picture," he said. Nine-year-old Carl Edwardson won in his age group for a photo of a brook with ice hanging along the banking. Carl said that while he liked the photo, it was one of many he took for the contest and he had actually considered entering a different shot of that scene. "My dad sent the wrong one in," he said with a smile. "I picked one that had ripples you could see on the water, but I guess it's okay because this picture won anyway." In the oldest category, it was 13-year-old Savannah Seavey's photo of tree branches laden with snow that earned her first place. "I took this and a bunch of others on the way to school one day, before I even knew about the contest, " Savannah said. When she did hear about it though, she was happy to enter. "I like photography a lot, so I knew this was a contest I'd be interested in," she said. Among the gifts they received for their entries were a wildlife track and mold kit, a kit to build a birdhouse, a book on photography and a subscription to New Hampshire Wildlife Journal magazine. Following the awards, Karen Boudreau of New Hampshire Fish and Game presented a slide show and discussion on turkey vultures, courtesy of the conservation commission. SANBORNTON At a special presentation last Thursday evening, the Sanbornton Conservation Commission, in conjunction with the Sanbornton Public Library, announced the winners of their children's photo contest and recognized all who had taken part in the annual event.In honor of Earth Day, boys and girls, ages four through 18, were asked to capture a photo of some aspect of nature then enter it in the contest. The tough task of judging those entries was then left to conservation commissioners Doug Sarette and Dick Ayers, and local professional photographer Jackie Bonafide.This year's winner in the four-to-eight year-old category was seven-year-old Cole Ringer. Cole's winning entry was a classic shot of sap buckets on hanging maple trees."I like those trees and thought they looked cool with the sap buckets hanging on them. When I saw them, I decided I really wanted to take that picture," he said.Nine-year-old Carl Edwardson won in his age group for a photo of a brook with ice hanging along the banking. Carl said that while he liked the photo, it was one of many he took for the contest and he had actually considered entering a different shot of that scene."My dad sent the wrong one in," he said with a smile. "I picked one that had ripples you could see on the water, but I guess it's okay because this picture won anyway."In the oldest category, it was 13-year-old Savannah Seavey's photo of tree branches laden with snow that earned her first place."I took this and a bunch of others on the way to school one day, before I even knew about the contest, " Savannah said.When she did hear about it though, she was happy to enter."I like photography a lot, so I knew this was a contest I'd be interested in," she said.Among the gifts they received for their entries were a wildlife track and mold kit, a kit to build a birdhouse, a book on photography and a subscription to New Hampshire Wildlife Journal magazine.Following the awards, Karen Boudreau of New Hampshire Fish and Game presented a slide show and discussion on turkey vultures, courtesy of the conservation commission. Gopinath Rajendran By Express News Service Marvels biggest film till date Avengers: Infinity War is getting released on Friday, and much like the fans of the franchise, Bikram Duggal, the Executive Director and Head and CMO of Disney India, can't wait to catch it on the big screen too. The buzz seems justified given that MCUs last film, Black Panther, crossed $10 million in India, and big numbers are again riding on the upcoming 19th film of the franchise. The 18 previous films have collectively made close to a whopping $14 billion worldwide and Rs 800 crore in India alone. READ | Avengers: Infinity War review: Marvel goes nuclear Disney films have always had a market in India. How did the arrival of Marvel change this dynamic? Weve got different brands within Disney like Lucas, Pixar and Marvel. Amongst all of them, Marvel has truly become a pop-culture phenomenon. References from the Marvel films have seeped into our culture and conversations. Theyre so powerful that popular brands are using Marvel, its icons and references for consumers in India. How big of a release are you expecting Avengers: Infinity War to have? We know from the buzz on social media and fans that its going to be quite something. Every time, we put up a trailer or a video, the reception is mind-blowing. The euphoria of Avengers is actually on par with a big Bollywood or South Indian film. Were expecting it to be the biggest film to get released in India. It will also bring in more audiences who are new to English and superhero films. Our numbers are despite the fact that the culture of comics is not as huge as it is in America. Even though the films arent intrinsically Indian, the values that they portray are universal. Bikram Duggal From a business perspective, how does Disney promote a film of this magnitude? On seeing the film rushes, the reception for trailers and the general anticipation, we realised that we wouldnt be pitching it as a film, but as a life event. Hence, the whole campaign and distribution strategy was reworked. The challenge is self-induced rather than market driven. The idea is to make it more accessible to more fans. Hence, Avengers: Infinity War will be given the widest ever Hollywood release in India. The anticipation is already there and were trying to match with localisation efforts so that new audiences can enjoy the film. For example, in the Telugu version, Rana Daggubati is voicing Thanos. Can we expect a film on an Indian character maybe? Be it Wakanda, New York or even Bruce Banner coming to Kolkata (in The Avengers, 2012), the whole idea with which Marvel operates is to tell a story that can be enjoyed by fans across the globe. Universal theme is the key criteria. Were open to stories and if theres a story that needs to be told thats fresh, then sure. In India, we also have our own superheroes such as Shaktimaan, Krrish and Ra One. But what makes Disney place its films on a pedestal that our stories havent been able to match? While I cant comment on other storytellers, I can tell you that Marvel has been able to do what it has done with three things. While everybody sees our films as superhero films, more than that, theres an adherence to the character. Tony Stark, for instance, will sport a rich, cool and maverick persona, in all the 18 films. Second is our ability to tell fresh stories. Weve broken the mould during the last ten years. Third, people can always count on Marvel film to be great entertainers. Fans are aware that even if a new character is being launched, they can still expect the film to be an entertaining experience. How does the future of Marvel look? With Antman and Wasp coming out, is it a challenge to continue from a film as huge as Avengers: Infinity War? Marvel has the ability to create new characters and have them on par with the Avengers. When fans were happy with Iron Man, Captain America and Hulk, we introduced fresh characters such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Antman, Doctor Strange, Black Panther or even our first female superhero, Captain Marvel, thats coming out in March 2019. Theyve been accepted as characters by our audience and over a point of time, theyve become extremely famous too. How does Disney look to tackle piracy, a menace especially for such big films? Its a huge challenge and we continue to work on it. One of the strategies is to make sure a film gets the same worldwide release. Also, we are trying to create brilliant stories executed in such visually stunning fashion that people would want to see them only in theatres. By Online Desk Asaram was arrested in 2013 after a minor girl from UP's Saharanpur had reported sexual assault by the Godman in his ashram during her stay in Manai village on the outskirts of Jodhpur. The self-styled Godman Asaram was on Wednesday convicted by Jodhpur court in the 2013 rape case of a teenager. Asaram was booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the SC/ST Act and was denied bail by the Supreme Court. UPDATES: 4:27 PM: The principal of the school where the victim studied, termed the conviction of Asaram as the victory of truth and justice. The teacher, who is also a witness in the case, said he had been facing threats from Asaram's followers to change the child's date of birth to help the godman evade punishment. 3:50 PM: Asaram's rape case verdict is a lesson for people who commit sexual offences, said National Commission For Protection of Child Rights 3:45 PM: "I can say that hard work from everyone has finally paid off. We all are really happy with this decision," Jodhpur DCP Amandeep Kapoor said. I can say that hard work from everyone has finally paid off. We all are really happy with this decision. I need media's support to get the correct version out there to the supporters of Asaram: Jodhpur DCP Amandeep Kapoor. #AsaramCaseVerdict pic.twitter.com/vZ3evgTyC8 ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2018 3:15 PM: Guilty Asaram was seen crying after he was awarded a life term by the Jodhpur court for raping a minor girl in 2013. 2:45 PM: The court has ordered the 'godman' to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the victim, Hindustan Times reported. 2:30 PM: Jodhpur court sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment for raping minor devotee and Shilpi and Sharad, two aides of the self-styled godman, get 20 years jail sentence each, reports ANI. 12: 20 PM: The Gujarat police has stepped up security outside two of the prominent ashrams of self-styled godman Asaram in the state. Shilpi, a key aide of Asaram Bapu and co-accused in a sexual assault case being produced at the court in Jodhpur on Wednesday. | PTI 12: 17 PM: From the high pedestal of a preacher having thousands of followers, self-styled godman Asaram's fall from grace came after he was embroiled in the rape case of a minor girl. [READ ASARAM'S PROFILE HERE] Sajjan Raj Surana, lawyer of self-styled godman Asaram talks to the media outside the court in Jodhpur on Wednesday. | PTI 11: 30 AM: The time has come when people should be able to differentiate between the actual saints and the frauds, as this creates a bad image of the country in the international arena: Ashok Gehlot, Congress on #Asaram convicted in rape case pic.twitter.com/rTFZW3WgdT ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2018 10: 57 AM: "Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice", says the father of Shahjahanpur victim. 10:45 AM: Three accused including Asaram convicted, two other accused acquitted by Jodhpur Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Court. We will discuss with our legal team and then decide our future course of action. We have confidence in our judiciary: Neelam Dubey,Asaram spokesperson on Asaram convicted pic.twitter.com/3LIcyuSAmU ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2018 9: 45 AM: Security has been provided to the family of Akhil Gupta, a witness against Asaram Bapu, who was shot dead in January 2015, Uttar Pradesh police said. 9: 30 AM: 9: 15 AM: Mahendra Chawla, Asaram's former aide says, "Trust judicary and am confident that Asaram will be convicted. I request judiciary that such rapists should be hanged. Though I have security, I request Centre for additional security, my life like other witnesses is constantly under threat." 9: 12 AM: Prayers are underway at the Godman's ashrams in Varanasi and Bhopal. 8: 15 AM: A division bench of the Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday ordered the trial court to deliver its verdict inside the jail premises. 8: 10 AM: While the judge has already reached the jail premises, one follower of the self-styled Godman, who reached the prison with a garland, was detained by the cops in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. 8: 00 AM: Asaram was booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the SC/ST Act and was denied bail by the Supreme Court. He can face a maximum of 10 years of jail if found guilty. 7:55 AM: Asaram was arrested in 2013 after a minor girl from UP's Saharanpur had reported sexual assault by the Godman in his ashram during her stay in Manai village on the outskirts of Jodhpur. (With Inputs from IANS and ANI) Deputy Minister of National Defence and Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam Peoples Army Sen. Lieut. Gen. Phan Van Giang (R) receives Gen. Siek Socheat, head of the border affairs office of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (Photo: VNA) Giang, who is also Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam Peoples Army (VPA), made the statement while receiving Gen. Siek Socheat, head of the border affairs office of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces in Hanoi on April 24th. He also affirmed that the General Staff of the VPA has worked to create favourable conditions for the efficient cooperation between the two sides, contributing to the countries efforts to ensure security and defence. Gen. Siek Socheat informed his host on the results of his earlier working session with the Vietnam Border Guard High Command. Accordingly, the two sides agreed to continue to exchange information and patrols, maintain order and security in border areas, while assisting relevant agencies in border demarcation and marker planting as scheduled by the two governments./. First person charged under Kristen's Law sentenced to 18 years Drug dealers, those dealing fentanyl and heroin in particular, must be the focus of our prosecutorial efforts," Attorney General Peter Neronha said. The Foreign Ministrys Spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang made the request on April 24th in response to reporters queries about Chinas recent activities in the areas of Vietnams Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos. Foreign Ministrys Spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang (Photo: VNA) Vietnam has sufficient legal foundations and historical evidence proving its sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, she stressed. Chinas recent activities such as the underwater construction by the ship You Lian Tuo 9, the organisation of a sailboat race in the area of Hoang Sa archipelago, and the installation of new electronic equipment jamming radars on Chu Thap (Fiery Cross) and Vanh Khan (Mischief) Reefs in Truong Sa archipelago have seriously violated Vietnams sovereignty over the two archipelagos, Hang said. Such activities also run counter to the agreement on fundamental principals guiding the settlement of sea-related issues between Vietnam and China as well as the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (DOC), complicating the situation and being unbeneficial to peace, stability and cooperation in the East Sea, she added./. Reporter Debra Pressey is a reporter covering health care at The News-Gazette. Her email is dpressey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@DLPressey). One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021 Lich made the remark at a meeting with RoK Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon in Seoul on April 24th, during which he hoped the PM will continue supporting the two countries defence ministries to step up effective collaboration in the coming time. PM Lee said the RoK considers Vietnam a focus in its New Look South Policy, adding that Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia with abundant natural resources and a large population. Vietnam is evaluated to see the most stable development in the region and the RoK is honoured to join this progress, he said. The PM affirmed that the RoK wants to expand cooperation with Vietnam in different fields including external affairs and economy. He applauded the two countries defence ministries to sign a joint vision statement on cooperation through 2030 and hoped the two sides will develop collaboration in defence industry. Lich said bilateral relations have grown rapidly since Vietnam and the RoK established diplomatic ties 25 years ago and strategic cooperative partnership in 2009. RoK Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon (R) receives Minister of National Defence Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich (Photo: VNA) The RoK is one of the leading foreign investors in Vietnam and providers of official development assistance (ODA) for the country, he said. The minister welcomed the RoKs New Look South Policy and affirmed that Vietnam is willing to play an active role to promote relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the RoK. Vietnam advocates the denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula and hails the RoKs efforts to promote inter-Korean dialogue, Lich said. Vietnam also supports active and constructive measures to promote the dialogue to maintain peace, security and stability on the peninsula, he added. During the earlier talks between Minister of National Defence Ngo Xuan Lich and his RoK counterpart Song Young-moo, the two sides expressed their pleasure at the growing relations between Vietnam and the RoK, and hoped defence cooperation will play a crucial role in the bilateral rapports. Minister of National Defence Ngo Xuan Lich (R) and his RoK counterpart Song Young-moo sign a joint vision statement on defence cooperation between Vietnam and the RoK (Photo: VNA) Lich said the peaceful settlement of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK)s nuclear issue and the establishment of eternal peace on the Korean peninsula is not only essential to peace and prosperity of the peninsula but of the international community. Regarding disputes of territorial sovereignty at sea, including the East Sea, the two sides stressed the need for the involved parties to restrain and fully respect diplomatic and legal processes, peacefully settling disputes based on international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), while implementing effectively and comprehensively the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (DOC), soon signing a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) to maintain peace and stability, and seeking long-term fundamental measures acceptable by all parties. The two defence ministers highly valued the positive development in defence cooperation between Vietnam and the RoK over the past time. They agreed to increase the exchange of delegations at all levels, promote cooperation between military forces, and step up partnerships in defence industry, cyber security and peacekeeping activities of the United Nations in addition to enhancing coordination at multilateral defence and military forums. Lich expressed his wish that the RoK is expected to share its development experience with ASEAN member countries, including Vietnam, to jointly build a peaceful, prosperous and people-centered community. Vietnam will take over the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020, he said, adding that as a member of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM ), Vietnam hopes the RoK will help the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence to successfully host relevant events. Minister Ngo Xuan Lich invited Minister Song Young-moo to visit Vietnam in early June 2018. The RoK Minister accepted the invitation with pleasure and revealed that he will visit Vietnam on the occasion of attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore./. McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne is hopeful of achieving a good result in Azerbaijan next weekend, but a likely precondition is a better launch off the grid than usual for the Belgian. Vandoorne concluded the first two races of the year in the top ten, but struggled in China following a poor start, a fruitless one-stop strategy and damage inflicted to the floor of his MCL33. Baku City Circuit is a pretty tough but also enjoyable track, and its quite challenging for the drivers, says the 26-year-old. You literally drive through the historic centre of the old town which was a really cool experience last year, and overtaking is tricky on the narrow streets. Saying that, we saw anything but a processional race last year and hopefully we can take advantage of any drama that this track throws at us next weekend. Last year was tough as the only real overtaking opportunity is at the end of the long straight, and itll be tricky for us again, but well see whats possible with the MCL33. Since the start of the 2018 season, McLaren's race pace has typically been better than its qualifying speed, a difference that only underlines the need for the Woking-based team's drivers to deliver a flawless run off the grid, a weak point for Vandoorne. As well as making sure we set ourselves up on the right strategy, for me the start will be crucial on Sunday, he admits. Ive not had the best starts over the last couple of races and with overtaking tough in Baku we need to try to maximise our starting position. In China, we fought hard but I picked up some floor damage which made pushing ahead very difficult, so Im looking forward to a tight battle in the midfield and progressing as much as we can in the race. Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter INTRATREK Zimbabwe has completed clearing 75 hectares of the 200 hectares as part of the pre-commencement works for the Gwanda solar project, an official has said. Apart from completing pre-commencement works, the company was contractually expected to have raised the funds needed for the 100 megawatt (MW) plant. A senior ZPC official yesterday said they had begun evaluating progress made on clearing the site by Intratrek, which is fronted by businessman Mr Wicknell Chivayo. The company was paid $5 million for the pre-commencement works without a bank guarantee. The pre-commencement works should have been completed by 23 April and it means the contract for that particular work lapsed yesterday (Monday), said the official. According to the contract, the company should have raised full funding, but we have nothing to date, except a letter they wrote this week saying they were covering the exposure. Mr Chivayo could not be reached for comment yesterday. Mines and Mining Development permanent secretary Mr Patson Mbiriri on Monday told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy chaired by Norton legislator Mr Temba Mliswa (independent) that Mr Chivayo who had previously abandoned the site was now back and had cleared 75 hectares of the 200 hectares designated for the solar plant. Zesa Holdings group chief executive officer Engineer Josh Chifamba, who also appeared before the same committee on Monday, indicated that the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC)s board was expected to meet on the same day to discuss the matter. Our Harare Bureau has since gathered that the ZPC board failed to meet on Monday. A lot has been done to review the tender which was awarded to Intratrek, but it is a legal process, he said. The decision that you put forward as the committee is the same that was made by the ZPC board, but it is a legal process, it does not happen immediately. The contractor was not expelled from site. We thanked the noise that was done as it forced him to go and complete the work which we had already paid for. In March, Mr Mliswas parliamentary committee visited Gwanda and expressed disappointment with what it viewed as poor preparatory works at the site. Chronicle The High Court has acquitted five Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) executives who had been accused of fraudulently transferring more than $2 million into bogus companies accounts in a suspected shady loan deal. High Court judge Emy Tsanga yesterday ruled that the five, Simon Mudzingwa Taranhike, Shadreck Matengabadza, Stephen Matute, Givemore Tendai Kufa and Precious Murove, had not committed any offence. When the trial kicked off, the five had denied the allegations, claiming they were being persecuted for supporting President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Allegations against the five arose in 2011, when Zinara was advanced a 10-year loan facility of $206 million by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) for the construction and rehabilitation of the 823km-long Plumtree-Mutare Highway. NMB Bank was to facilitate the loan repayment. The State had alleged that due to foreign currency challenges, remittances to NMB Bank were being made in bond notes, leaving the bank with the task of sourcing hard currency on behalf of DBSA. It had been further alleged that from May 3 to 23, 2017, the five men, acting in connivance and without authority from Zinara, allegedly sourced foreign currency from the parallel market through directors from two other companies, after paying them a total of $2,94 million on the pretext that the payment was a reimbursement to DBSA on behalf of Zinaras loan obligation. However, the court ruled that the evidence provided was not sufficient enough to secure a conviction. Daily News One Minute She Was There, the Next She'd 'Evaporated' BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu in Beijing on Tuesday. China-Russia relations have reached a new level thanks to the push by the heads of state of both countries in recent years, said Xu, adding that bilateral military cooperation has consistently maintained positive development momentum. China and Russia need to strengthen strategic coordination to further enhance the cohesion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which has entered a new development phase, said Xu. Russia has made it its diplomacy priority to strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination with China and will continue to deepen cooperation with China so as to jointly tackle new security threats, and maintain regional and world peace and stability, Shoygu said. [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] (Newser) The Canadian man lynched in the Amazon last Thursday is the No. 1 suspect in the death of an octogenarian shaman, prosecutors say. Reuters reports on the new evidence that brought them to that conclusion: a silver-colored pistol prosecutor Ricardo Jimenez says Sebastian Woodroffe purchased in early April. They were told by a witness that the pistol tumbled out of the 41-year-old's backpack when locals, angry over Olivia Arevalo's death, grabbed him; he was subsequently lynched. Jimenez says no weapon has been found, but "he is the main suspect." story continues below As for a motive, Jimenez says Arevalo's son owed Woodroffe nearly $4,500, though Jimenez told the BBC Arevalo's family claims Woodroffe became enraged when Arevalo wouldn't conduct an ayahuasca ceremony for him. Meanwhile, the AP reports Peru's attorney general has ordered two suspects be arrested in connection with Woodroffe's death. It adds forensic experts are examining the Canadian's remains to see if there is any evidence of his shooting Arevalo. (This ayahuasca ceremony ended in death in 2015.) (Newser) Pennsylvania's highest court on Tuesday ordered a judge to free rapper Meek Mill on bail while he appeals decade-old gun and drug convictions, following a five-month campaign by his supporters to get him out. The Supreme Court directed a Philadelphia judge who had jailed him to immediately issue an order releasing him on unsecured bail, the AP reports. Mill left the State Correctional Institution in Chester around 6:45pm local time, CBS Philly reports. Mill was sentenced in November to 2-4 years in prison for probation violations. A team of lawyers and public relations consultants had waged an all-out battle to get him freed, leveling fierce criticism at the judge as a stream of high-powered figures and celebrities visited him in jail outside Philadelphia, including actor Kevin Hart just hours before the Supreme Court ruling. story continues below Mill issued a statement saying the past months had been "a nightmare," and thanked his many supporters and visitors, who included Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. "Although I'm blessed to have the resources to fight this unjust situation, I understand that many people of color across the country don't have that luxury and I plan to use my platform to shine a light on those issues," Mill said. He said he would now focus his attention on getting his convictions overturned, and that he looks forward to resuming his music career. Earlier this month, in a major victory for Mill, prosecutors said they agreed with his lawyers that he should get a new trial because of questions raised about the arresting officer. The now-retired officer was among a list of police officers the prosecutor's office has sought to keep off the witness stand in cases across the city because of credibility questions. (Read more Meek Mill stories.) (Newser) The suspect in the deadly van attack in Toronto posted a chilling Facebook message just minutes before plowing into a crowded city sidewalk, authorities said Tuesday, raising the possibility that he may have nursed grudges against womena possible echo of a 1989 massacre of 14 women that remains one of Canada's most traumatic acts of violence. The 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, was charged Tuesday with first degree murder in the deaths of 10 pedestrians he mowed down in the rented van he sent careening along the busy walkway. Fourteen others were injured. Toronto Police Services Det. Sgt. Graham Gibson told a news conference that those killed and injured were "predominantly" women, though he declined to discuss a possible motive, the AP reports. Authorities have not yet released a list of victims. Those known to have been killed include a 30-year-old woman from Toronto, Anne Marie D'Amico, who was active in volunteer work, as well as a female student at Seneca College, which Minassian also attended. A Jordanian citizen and two South Koreans were also among those killed. (The CBC has much more on D'Amico as well as another victim identified by her family.) story continues below The gender issue arose because of what police called a "cryptic" Facebook message posted by Minassian just before the incident that suggested he was part of an online community angry over their inability to form relationships with women. The now-deleted post saluted Elliot Rodger, a community college student who killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks near the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2014. Calling Rodger "the Supreme Gentleman," the Facebook post declared: "The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys!" Rodger had used the term "incel"for involuntarily celibatein online posts raging at women for rejecting him romantically. Like-minded people in internet forums sometimes use "Chad" and "Stacy" as dismissive slang for men and women with more robust sex lives. The anti-women sentiment recalled the 1989 massacre at the Ecole Polytechnique, an engineering college in Montreal, when 25-year-old Marc Lepine entered a classroom, separated the men from the women, told the men to leave and opened fire, killing 14 women before killing himself. In a suicide note, he blamed feminists for ruining his life. Since then, there have been sporadic mass shootings in Canada, but none with a higher death toll. (Read more Toronto stories.) (Newser) After two special elections in New York on Tuesday, Democrats have control of the state Senateon paper. In reality, Republicans remain in control thanks to rogue Democrat Simcha Felder, who has caucused with the GOP since soon after he was elected and says he doesn't plan to change now, the New York Daily News reports. The victories of Democratic candidates Shelley Mayer in a closely watched race in Westchester County and Luis Sepulveda in a more predictable race in the south Bronx give the Democrats 32 state Senate seats, enough to give the party control of the chamber for the first time since 2010 if Felder, who represents a Brooklyn district, would cooperate, the New York Times reports. story continues below Felder is the last holdout from a group of nine breakaway Democrats. The others agreed to return to the fold last week, but Felder says that with just 25 days left in the year's legislative session, he wants to avoid an "unprecedented and uncertain late session political battle that will only hurt my constituents." Democrats say they expect to win a bigger majority this fall. In another New York special election Tuesday, Democrat Steve Stern won a seat in the state Assembly by flipping a Long Island district that had gone GOP for more than 30 years, the Daily Beast reports. And in a special election in Arizona, Republican Debbie Lesko kept a US House seat in Republican hands after the resignation of Trent Franks, though her margin of victory in the 8th District was far smaller than President Trump's was in 2016, CNN reports. (Read more New York state stories.) (Newser) A Facebook message posted minutes before Monday's horrific attack in Toronto appears to link suspect Alek Minassian to the same twisted subculture that inspired California mass killer Elliot Rodger in 2014. In the post, which Facebook has confirmed is genuine, Minassian praises Rodger as the "Supreme Gentleman" and declares: "The Incel Rebellion has already begun!" He was referring to the "involuntarily celibate" movement, which the Guardian describes as a "deeply misogynistic online subculture." Adherents rant against women and consider Rodger a hero for striking out at a world where they believe they are being unjustly deprived of sex because they are "beta males." More: "Chads and Stacys." The New York Times has more on the subculture, which derides sexually active men and women as "normies" or "Chads and Stacys." In his post, Minassian vowed: "We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys!" story continues below Military service . In the now-deleted post, Minassian referred to himself as "Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry" and used a military code. The Canadian military has confirmed that the 25-year-old enlisted last August but asked to be released after 16 days of basic training. A fellow recruit tells the Globe and Mail that Minassian, who left about a week before he would have been issued a rifle, was quiet and did not associate with other recruits. . In the now-deleted post, Minassian referred to himself as "Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry" and used a military code. The Canadian military has confirmed that the 25-year-old enlisted last August but asked to be released after 16 days of basic training. A fellow recruit tells the Globe and Mail that Minassian, who left about a week before he would have been issued a rifle, was quiet and did not associate with other recruits. More background . Minassian is believed to have recently completed a college course in which he focused on computer chips. Classmates and other associates say he had a form of autism. "He was afraid of girls and very shy in general," former high school classmate Nikki Feinstein tells the Globe. "He didnt say much, but when he did he was difficult to understand because of his cognitive disabilities." . Minassian is believed to have recently completed a college course in which he focused on computer chips. Classmates and other associates say he had a form of autism. "He was afraid of girls and very shy in general," former high school classmate Nikki Feinstein tells the Globe. "He didnt say much, but when he did he was difficult to understand because of his cognitive disabilities." Questions about authenticity . The post also referred to notorious online community 4chan, raising suspicions that Minassian's account may have been hacked by somebody who created the post and altered the timestamp, the Toronto Star reports. A Facebook rep, however, says the company believes the post was legitimate. "This is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the people who have been affected," she says. "There is absolutely no place on our platform for people who commit such horrendous acts." . The post also referred to notorious online community 4chan, raising suspicions that Minassian's account may have been hacked by somebody who created the post and altered the timestamp, the Toronto Star reports. A Facebook rep, however, says the company believes the post was legitimate. "This is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the people who have been affected," she says. "There is absolutely no place on our platform for people who commit such horrendous acts." New York honors victims. The AP reports that the Empire State Building went dark to honor victims of the attack. Ten people died and at least 13 were injured when the van allegedly driven by Minassian sped down a busy sidewalk, leaving what a medical worker called "pure carnage." Court appearance . Minassian made a brief court appearance Tuesday morning and appeared to understand the charges against him, CTV reports. He is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. . Minassian made a brief court appearance Tuesday morning and appeared to understand the charges against him, CTV reports. He is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. The victims . Ontario's chief coroner says it could be days before the names of all the victims are released, since they are trying to balance the need to know with the need for 100% accuracy, the CBC reports. The victims, predominately women, range in age from their mid-20s to their 80s and include people from Jordan and South Korea, officials say. . Ontario's chief coroner says it could be days before the names of all the victims are released, since they are trying to balance the need to know with the need for 100% accuracy, the CBC reports. The victims, predominately women, range in age from their mid-20s to their 80s and include people from Jordan and South Korea, officials say. Hero officer. Officer Ken Lam, a seven-year veteran of the Toronto force, is being widely praised for the restraint he showed in arresting Minassian, who brandished an object and falsely claimed to have a gun in his pocket, the Guardian reports. Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack says Lam is shaken by the attack. As praise rolled in, "he was more concerned about the victims," McCormack says. "He said 'Mike, I followed my experience and my training. Okay, I made this arrest, which is great, but Im just doing my job.'" (Read more Alek Minassian stories.) (Newser) The conduct of a tenured professor who called Barbara Bush a "witch" and an "amazing racist" was "insensitive, inappropriate, and an embarrassment to the university," Fresno State president Joseph Castro said in a statement Tuesday. But he added that since Randa Jarrar was acting in a private capacity, her tweets are protected free speech and she will not be fired, the Fresno Bee reports. Castro said university staff had consulted with California State University lawyers to determine whether they could take disciplinary action, and had decided there was no justification for doing so. Jarrar, who bragged that she couldn't be fired, will remain on leave for the rest of spring semester, as arranged before her Bush remarks. story continues below "Our duty as Americans and as educators is to promote a free exchange of diverse views, even if we disagree with them," Castro wrote, but Fresno State encourages "opinions and ideas to be expressed in a manner that informs, enlightens, and educates without being disparaging of others." More than 45,000 signed a petition calling for Jarrar's firing, the Hill reports, though free speech activists were on her side. The Arab-American professor, who said the former first lady "raised a war criminal," tells the Cut that she stands by her comments despite the backlash. "The Bush familyincluding Barbara Bushsupported policies that harmed and destroyed the lives of millions," she says. (Read more Barbara Bush stories.) (Newser) Richard Finney died a brutal death in 1986, one so violent that his murderer bent the first kitchen knife he was using to stab 75-year-old Finney and had to get a second, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. Now, authorities have arrested a suspect in the stabbing death more than three decades ago in Southern California, reports the AP. The Union-Tribune reported Monday that Nathan Eugene Mathis faces a charge of murder and an allegation that he used a knife in the attack. The 62-year-old retired security guard pleaded not guilty last week. story continues below Police in Escondido say technology led to new analysis of fingerprints from the apartment where Finney was stabbed 31 times in 1986. Investigators haven't named a possible motive or said whether the defendant and the victim knew each other. "I was shocked out of my mind," Gina Turi Curry, Finney's granddaughter, 49, said of the police call. "We always knew they were doing all they can. I just cannot believe that after all of these years, they arrested a suspect." (Read more cold cases stories.) (Newser) An Indian city is bracing for violence after a spiritual guru with millions of followers was sentenced to life in prison for rape on Wednesday. Asaram Bapu, who claims to teach meditation and yoga at 400 ashrams in 19 countries, was sentenced in Jodhpur, Rajasthan state, for the 2013 rape of the 16-year-old daughter of two of his followers, reports the BBC. The Times of India calls it a "fall from grace" for the 77-year-old reported billionaire, who's also on trial for the rape of a woman in Gujarat state between 2002 and 2004, and under investigation for corruption and forgery. In the 2013 case, the court ruled that Asaram raped the teen and forced her to perform sex acts in a room while her parents chanted prayers outside, believing the guru was "curing" her of "supernatural ghostly powers," per the BBC. story continues below While Asaram is expected to appeal Wednesday's verdict, the BBC reports Jodhpur "is on high alert because of concerns there could be violence from the guru's supporters"and not without reason. Not only were 38 people killed and 200 injured in clashes following another guru's rape conviction in Haryana state last year, per CBS News, but Asaram's victim and her family accuse the guru's supporters of attacking nine witnesses in cases against him over the last five years, including three who died. Asaram has denied he and his followers are responsible, though many supporters believe the guru has been imprisoned on false charges. CBS reports security was tight at the prison complex where the verdict was read Wednesday, and in other areas home to many of Asaram's devotees. (Read more India stories.) Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), presides over lectures for members of the 13th NPC Standing Committee in Beijing, capital of China, April 24, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Top Chinese legislator Li Zhanshu on Tuesday called on members of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee to improve their work competency through renewed efforts to study. Li, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, made the remarks when presiding over lectures for members of the 13th NPC Standing Committee, China's top legislature. Li stressed continuous study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to ensure the basic theory, guideline, policy, and decision of the Communist Party of China Central Committee are fully carried out in the work of the NPC. Members of the NPC Standing Committee were also asked to take the lead in respecting, studying, observing, safeguarding, and applying the country's Constitution, and continue to update and optimize their knowledge to improve their theoretical level and competence. Tuesday's lectures focused on China's Constitution, the organization and rules of procedures of the NPC Standing Committee, and the top legislature's legislation and supervisory work. [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] (Newser) There's a contentious new issue surrounding Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, and this one has nothing to do with security. Pruitt on Tuesday suggested a new rule that would allow the EPA to only make use of scientific studies whose data has been made publicly available in full. He called it a way to bring transparency to the EPA's decision-making process; the Washington Post reports it's a change conservatives have been hankering after for some time. To understand why many scientists aren't pleased with the proposal, know these two words: epidemiological studies. A rep for the American Association for the Advancement of Science tells NPR that these studies, which can look at the effects of things like pesticides or pollutants, often don't adhere to Pruitt's standard for good reason. story continues below "Those studies involve people like you and me, signing confidentiality agreements that the scientists doing the studies won't reveal my personal health information," Sean Gallagher explains. "It involves private data." The Post reports that a letter sent to Pruitt on Monday in advance of his announcement was signed by 985 scientists who called the move a "restricting" one that would lead to "policies and practices that will ignore significant risks to the health of every American." As far as risks go, others have taken issue with Pruitt's assertion that the move would put an emphasis on science that is "reproducible." As a rep for the Union of Concerned Scientists says to the Los Angeles Times, "You can't ethically go back and redo studies on the impact of lead in drinking water on kids." (Read more Scott Pruitt stories.) (Newser) Life sentences are unusual in Denmark, even when the crime is murder, but that's what Danish inventor Peter Madsen was handed on Wednesday. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurorswhose opinions all held equal weight in the casefound Swedish journalist Kim Wall was murdered, telling Madsen he hadn't given "a trustworthy" explanation for her death and that "there is clear evidence that the accused has shown an interest in killing and dismembering people." The 47-year-old stood quietly listening as the verdict was read, reports the AP, with the Guardian describing him as "visibly nervous." The paper notes life sentences in Denmark typically average 16 years; Madsen has two weeks to decide whether he will appeal. story continues below Madsen had maintained that he did not murder Wall, but did admit to cutting up her body and disposing of it in the sea after what he said was an accidental death. The New York Times reports prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen had argued Madsen was fixated on murdering a woman after a rocket launch was scrapped on Aug. 8, two days before Wall died. Buch-Jepsen said Madsen texted three women an invitation to meet him on the sub but was turned down. Wall boarded the sub on Aug. 10 for an interview that she had tried to secure for months; Madsen had texted her that day with the invite. "It was random chance that it turned out to be Kim Wall," Buch-Jepsen said. Wall skipped her own going away party to head to the interview. More on that here. (Read more Kim Wall stories.) (Newser) Ahead of Kim Jong Un's high-stakes meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in over the future of his nukes comes the repetition of one word: rosti. It has nothing to do with nukes. Rather, it's a Swiss fried potato dish that South Korea plans to "re-interpret" and serve at a planned banquet after Friday's summit at the border truce village of Panmunjom. While not many things are known about Kim's childhood, one thing Seoul is certain about is that he spent several years in his teens being schooled in Switzerland. That means there will be a lot of Swiss-inspired dishes for Kim at the banquet. Aside from the Korean twist on rosti, which basically will be fried grated potato from South Korea's Gangwon province topped with cheese, the South Koreans will serve Swiss chocolate, macaroons, and cheesecake, reports the AP. story continues below The set of desserts has been named "Memories of Swiss" by Seoul's presidential Blue House. Also for dessert will be a mango mousse decorated with a blue map symbolizing a unified Korean Peninsula. The map will include a dot representing a small island off the peninsula's eastern coast that has been the subject of a territorial dispute between South Korea and Japan. Japan lodged a protest to Seoul over the island being represented on the mango mousse. Other items on the menu include fish and rice using produce from the hometowns of Moon and his liberal predecessors; North Korea will bring its famous "naengmyeon," or cold buckwheat noodles, made by the head chef of Pyongyang's Okryugwan restaurant. (Read more Kim Jong Un stories.) (Newser) The co-owner of a Colorado crane company where the suspect in a deadly weekend shooting at a Nashville restaurant once worked said she'd urged federal officials to keep Travis Reinking in custody after he was arrested at the White House last year. Reinking's former boss says he had exhibited erratic behavior for years before the shooting. Darlene Sustrich says her company got a call from the FBI after he allegedly tried to jump the White House fence last July. "We told them, 'Hang onto him if you can. Help him if you can.'" Reinking wasn't armed at the time, but at the FBI's request, Illinois police revoked his state firearms card. Four guns, including the AR-15 used in the shootings, were transferred to his father, a procedure allowed under Illinois law, reports the AP. story continues below Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston said Jeffrey Reinking pledged he would "keep the weapons secure and out of the possession of Travis." A Nashville Police rep says Reinking's father "has now acknowledged giving them back" to his son. An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives says it's "potentially a violation of federal law." Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said Tuesday that Reinking has been "compliant" and "cooperative" since he was transferred to the jail late Monday after he was captured near the apartment where he lived. Reinking is wearing a vest known informally as a "suicide smock" and will remain under close observation at a maximum-security facility in Nashville. (Read more Travis Reinking stories.) (Newser) A 27-year-old Dallas police officer died Wednesday after being shot the day prior at a Home Depot in Lake Highlands. The Morning News identifies the officer as Rogelio Santander. He'd been called to the store around 4pm by a cop who was working an off-duty job there and noticed Armando Luis Juarez was behaving oddly. The off-duty cop detained Juarez and learned he had an outstanding felony warrant. Santander and Crystal Almeida, 26, responded to the scene; authorities say they and a loss prevention officer employed by Home Depot were shot by Juarez as he was being escorted from the store. story continues below A source tells CBS Dallas Santander was shot in the back of the head and Almeida was shot in the face. She remains in critical condition, as does the Home Depot employee. Police say Juarez fled and a high-speed car chase ensued, per the AP. He was apprehended Tuesday night and is being held on charges of aggravated assault on a public servant and felony theft. "We got our man," said Mayor Mike Rawlings. (Read more police officer stories.) (Newser) President Donald Trump appears likely to win his travel ban case at the Supreme Court, the AP reports. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy both signaled support for the travel policy in arguments Wednesday at the high court. The ban's challengers almost certainly need one of those two justices if the court is to strike down the ban on travelers from several mostly Muslim countries. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the most aggressive questioner of Solicitor General Noel Francisco in his defense of the Trump policy, and the three other liberal justices also raised questions about it. The justices voted in December to allow the policy to take full effect pending their full consideration. Wednesday was the first time they took it up in open court. The Trump administration is asking the court to reverse lower court rulings that would strike down the ban. story continues below The Supreme Court is considering whether the president can indefinitely keep people out of the country based on nationality. It is also looking at whether the policy is aimed at excluding Muslims from the United States. Francisco insisted "this is not a so-called 'Muslim ban'" Wednesday, CNN reports, and Justice Samuel Alito noted at one point it did "not look like a Muslim ban" to him. People waited in line for seats for days, and on Wednesday morning opponents of the ban demonstrated outside the court holding signs that read "No Muslim Ban. Ever" and "Refugees Welcome," among other things. In another sign of heightened public interest, the court was taking the rare step of making an audio recording of the proceedings available just hours after the arguments. The last time the court did that was for gay marriage arguments in 2015. A decision on the travel ban is expected by late June. (Read more Trump travel ban stories.) (Newser) "The answer has always been in Sacramento," said District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert in a Wednesday press conference announcing an arrest has been made in one of America's most persistent serial killer mysteries. Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was on Tuesday arrested on two murder charges, and authorities say he is the suspected Golden State Killer. Schubert said "it is fitting today is National DNA Day," because DNA provided the break in the case. She suggested that happened within just the last six days. DeAngelo has been charged in connection with the Feb. 2, 1978, murders of Brian and Katie Maggiore, who died while walking their dog in Rancho Cordova. But he wasn't just charged in Sacramento County, reports the AP. Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten said his office charged DeAngelo in connection with the 1980 killings of a couple. He says they will seek the death penalty. More: Originally called the East Area Rapist (after his Northern California start) and the Original Night Stalker (after crimes in Southern California), the so-called Golden State Killer struck in California over a roughly 10-year span beginning in 1976. His believed toll: 12 murders, 45 rapes, and more than 120 burglaries; victims ranged in age from 13 to 41. story continues below A woman who numbers among those rape victimsthe Island Packet reports she was the East Area Rapist's 5th victim and now lives in South Carolinasays detectives emailed her Wednesday morning to say an arrest had been made. "I'm overwhelmed with joy. I've been crying, sobbing," she said, adding that she was shown the man's picture but did not recognize him. The FBI had previously said that it believed the killer to be between 60 and 75 years old currently, white, nearly 6 feet tall, and to possibly have some experience with firearms. NBC News reports DeAngelo is a former cop. Per public records obtained by the Sacramento Bee, DeAngelo has lived at a home in Citrus Heights for at least 20 years. The AP has details on how the killer behaved when breaking into the home of a couple: Armed and masked, he would bind the man, stack dishes on his back, and rape the woman. He'd tell them he'd murder them both if the dishes fell. The Bee explains why the killer had so many names in this article. "Golden State Killer" was coined only recently, in 2013, by Michelle McNamara, the late wife of Patton Oswalt. Her book on the killer, I'll Be Gone in the Dark, was published posthumously in 2018. Oswalt tweeted Tuesday, "If theyve really caught the #GoldenStateKiller I hope I get to visit him. Not to gloat or gawk to ask him the questions that @TrueCrimeDiary wanted answered in her 'Letter To An Old Man' at the end of #IllBeGoneInTheDark." The Bee notes that Oswalt also tweeted that McNamara's papers are being reviewed to see if DeAngelo's name appears in them. (Read more Golden State Killer stories.) (Newser) French President Emmanuel Macron addressed Congress Wednesday during his visit to Washington, DC, quoting what the AP calls "chilling words from an American soldier-poet" to emphasize France's historical alliance with the US. "I have a Rendezvous with Death," he said, quoting a poem written by Alan Seeger as he fought in the World War I battlefields of northern France, where he died in 1916. Macron used the poem to illustrate how the US and France have sacrificed for each other over the decades, but also to take aim at President Trump's favored policy of isolationism. He warned the US against such a policy: "We can choose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism ... but closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world," he said. The BBC says the speech was seen as "a thinly veiled attack on ... Trump's America First agenda." story continues below He also spoke out against "fake news," jokingly apologizing to Trump for violating the US president's "copyright" on the term. Lies are being spread online, he said, and that threatens freedom: "Without reason, without truth, there is no real democracy because democracy is about true choices and rational decisions." He also warned against "terrorist propaganda that spreads its fanaticism on the internet." But he raised other differences with Trump, including Iran, trade, and climate change; when speaking on the latter, he played on Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again," noting that he believes the US will re-join the Paris climate agreement after Trump canceled US involvement in the climate accord. "Let us work together in order to make our planet great again and create new jobs and new opportunities while safeguarding our earth," Macron said. (Read more Emmanuel Macron stories.) Sorry! This content is not available in your region BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- China's national political advisory body honored its former Standing Committee members at a ceremony held Tuesday. Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), attended the ceremony and expressed thanks to the Standing Committee members of the 12th CPPCC National Committee who are currently in Beijing. The members, who retired in March after the 13th CPPCC National Committee was formed, were presented memorial plates at the ceremony. Wang praised the contribution made by the Standing Committee members in formulating and implementing major policies and deployment of the Party and the state over the past five years. As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, Wang said the people's political advisory bodies will make greater contributions to realizing the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] A damaged Ford Taurus came to rest on the sidewalk at the intersection of 10th Avenue and the Steese Highway on Tuesday afternoon. The driver of the car experienced a medical issue and struck the control box, knocking out the lights at the intersection. Both the driver and an adult passenger were taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. A child in the car was uninjured. Let us know what you're seeing and hearing around the community. Submit here Through 40 years of development, FHA has grown tremendously in tandem with Asias food and hospitality industry, and has earned itself a reputation as the most comprehensive premier international food and hospitality trade show in the region. This years event attracts over 4,000 businesses from more than 70 nations and territories. Around 50,000 enterprises have registered to visit and sign contracts during the tradeshow, according to the organising board. Tran Thu Quynh, Trade Counselor at the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore, said that together with several businesses which have export activities and commercial presence abroad like TH True Milk, Co May and Trung Nguyen Coffee, the trade office prioritises introducing small- and medium-sized startups in intensive agricultural processing, especially in coffee, cocoa, cashew nut, fruits, rice and seafood. Especially, the office will help connect Vietnamese enterprises with others through the Vietnam Food Pavilion. Ho Si Bao, Director of the Amazon Vietnam Food Company, said that this tradeshow offers a good chance for participating companies to introduce products and learn about international taste to build an appropriate marketing strategy so as to increase exports. Damian Bilbao, left, vice president of Commercial Ventures for BP Alaska, hugs North Pole High School choir teacher Bruce Hanson, who was named the top teacher for Fairbanks and North Pole on Tuesday in connection with the BP Teachers of Excellence program. Behind Hanson is Karen Gaborik, superintendent of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. New Delhi: Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers on Wednesday announced merger in a deal that will create a $14.6 billion firm with world's second-largest number of mobile masts. "Indus Towers will be merged with and into Bharti Infratel through a scheme of arrangement," Bharti said in a statement. The merged entity will be called Indus Towers Ltd and have in its fold over 163,000 towers across India, making it the second largest after China Tower, according to the statement. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone will jointly control the firm, which will remain listed, the two companies said. The transaction is subject to regulatory and other approvals, including from Competition Commission of India (CCI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Department of Telecom (FDI approval), and is expected to close before the end of the fiscal year. Bharti Airtel currently owns 53.5 per cent in Bharti Infratel. It will get 33.8 per cent to 37.2 per cent stake in the combined entity. Its shareholding is dependent upon what Aditya Birla Group's Idea and Providence do with their minority shareholding in Indus Tower. Vodafone India will get between 26.7 per cent and 29.4 per cent of the Indus-Bharti Infratel combine. Vodafone has 42 per cent stake in Indus Tower. Bharti Infratel too has an equivalent stake while the remaining is with Aditya Birla's Idea (11.15 per cent) and Providence (4.85 per cent). "The combined company will fully own the respective businesses of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers," the statement said. The merger will help unlock value for the companies which are locked in a tariff war unleashed by newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd that has hurt earnings and triggered consolidation in the sector. Vodafone and Idea Cellular are already in the final stages to merge their mobile operations. Bharti Airtel said it planned to engage with potential investors to evaluate a stake sale in the combined tower company, which will have an equity value of Rs 96,500 crore ($14.5 billion). Under the deal announced today, Idea has the option to sell its 11.15 per cent stake in Indus for cash at the merger ratio that values the stake at Rs 6,500 crore ($1 billion). Under the deal, Bharti Infratel agreed to pay 1,565 of its own shares for each Indus Tower share. Vodafone India will receive 783.1 million shares in the combined company, valuing the UK-based firm's stake at Rs 28,400 crore (USD 4.3 billion). If Idea decides to sell all of its stake and Providence sells 3.35 per cent of its 4.85 per cent shareholding, the new entity will be 37.2 per cent owned by Bharti Airtel and 29.4 per cent by Vodafone Group, while 1.1 per cent will be with Providence and the rest by public shareholders. In case Idea and Providence decide to continue to stay invested, Bharti Airtel would have a shareholding of 33.8 per cent in the combined entity. Vodafone in such a scenario would have 26.7 per cent while Idea Group would get 7.1 per cent and Providence would have 3.1 per cent holding. The remaining 29.3 per cent would be with public. "Bharti Airtel and Vodafone will have equal rights in the combined company," the statement said. "Following completion, the Board of the combined company will comprise of 11 directors, of whom three will be appointed by each of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, one will be appointed by KKR/Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and four (including the Chairman) will be independent," it added. None of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone or Idea Group (if it elects to receive shares), will be subject to a lock-in on their shareholdings in the combined company. "It is intended that any cash consideration paid to Idea Group and/or Providence will be financed through new debt facilities and the existing cash resources of Bharti Infratel. On the basis that Idea Group and Providence elect to receive the maximum possible cash consideration, the pro forma net debt of the combined company would have been Rs 5,600 crore (USD 0.8 billion) as at March 31, 2018," it said. Indus Towers currently operates in 15 telecom service areas or circles while Bharti Infratel's operations are focused on the remaining 7 circles. "The combination of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers, with their highly complementary footprints, will create a pan-India tower company with the ability to offer high-quality passive infrastructure services to all operators on a non-discriminatory basis, needed to support the pan-India expansion of wireless broadband services using 4G/4G+/5G technologies," the statement said. Taken together, Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers had over 163,000 towers and 367,000 tenancies as on March 31, 2018, the statement added. With over Rs 25,360 crore in revenues in 2017-18, the combined company will be well placed to invest on a national basis to satisfy the future demand from all telecom operators in India as they continue to densify their networks to support sustained data traffic growth and roll out new network technologies, it said. Operational synergies include benefits of scale for capex, simplification of the organisational structure and general and administrative cost efficiencies. (With inputs from agencies) For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Delhi government has directed all schools in the national capital to prevent students from using plastic covers for their notebooks or books. The Delhi High Court has ordered ban on use of plastic bags and other such material. All principals are directed to ensure that students in their respective schools do not use any kind of plastic cover or film for their books or notebooks, the Directorate of Education (DoE) stated in its order. The order has been issued in the wake of environmental concerns and in view of the new academic session soon to begin. This is of immediate importance in view of the upcoming new academic session when students purchase new books and notebooks for their new class, it added. New Delhi: Days after Vice President Venkaiah Naidu blocked Congress-led Oppositions move to impeach Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, two senior judges of the Supreme Court, Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Madan Lokur have asked the CJI to call a full court to discuss the future of the judiciary. The letter, written by Justices Gogoi and Lokur, both members of Supreme Court collegium, was sent to CJI Misra on Sunday. However, the CJI was yet to respond to the letter. Justice Gogoi is expected to succeed CJI Misra, who will retire in October 2018. A full court meeting of the Supreme Court is usually called by the Chief Justice over a matter of public interest relating to the judiciary. After sending the letter, Gogoi had also raised the demand of calling a full court during the traditional morning tea of Supreme Court judges. The letter by the Gogoi and Lokur came days after two more similar letters were sent by other senior judges of the collegium, asking the CJI to protect the judiciary from "undue interference by the government." Earlier, Opposition parties, led by the Congress had sought the removal of Misra and given notice of impeachment against him. The notice given to Naidu bore the signatures of 64 MPs and seven former members, who recently retired. On Monday, Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu rejected the impeachment motion against the CJI. Also Read | Naidu blocks CJI Misra's impeachment, says can't allow our pillars of governance to be weakened For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A special SC/ST court in Rajasthans Jodhpur convicted self-styled godman Asaram and two of his four associates, Sanchita alias Shilpi and Sharad Chandra in a 2013 rape case. The godman and his associates were held guilty of raping a 16-year-old schoolgirl in his ashram near Jodhpur in 2013. Born Asumal Sirumalani in Sindh, now a part of Pakistan in 1941, Asaram has millions of blind followers and enjoys strong power of money and muscle. Apart from the rape, the controversial godman is also an accused in several other criminal cases, including illegal land acquisition, murder, sexual assault and black magic. Take a look at the cases that Asaram is facing: Jodhpur Rape Case A 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradeshs Shahjahanpur alleged rape and sexual assault by Asaram. The teen alleged that the self-proclaimed godman had asked her to perform oral sex in his ashram near Jodhpur in 2013. The parents of the girl, both followers of Asaram, filed a police complaint against him. Following the complaint, he was arrested and lodged in jail. Asaram, in jail since August 31, 2013, was charged under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. On Wednesday, a special SC/ST Jodhpur court will pronounce its verdict in the rape case. Surat Rape Case After the Jodhpur rape case, more women came out with similar allegations of rape against Asaram and his son Narayan Sai. Two sisters from Gujarats Surat alleged rape and illegal confinement by Asaram and his son and filed separate complaints against them. However, despite registration of the complaint, the victims in the Surat Rape Case were not examined despite the courts order. The apex court in August 2017 slammed the BJP-led Gujarat government over the slow pace of trial and not following courts orders. Madhya Pradesh Land Grabbing Case The year 2013 brought bad-luck for the self-styled godman and he ran into another trouble after the Serious Fraud Investigating Office (SFIO) sought his prosecution in a Rs 700 crore land grab case in Madhya Pradesh. In 2000, Asaram and his son Narayan Sai had allegedly illegally grabbed the land situated along the Delhi-Pune Indsutrial Corridor in Madhya Pradesh. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. >>> PM leaves for Singapore official visit, ASEAN Summit participation This is the first official visit to Singapore by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as the Government leader of Vietnam and is taking place to coincide with the two countries celebrations of the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties and five years since agreeing a Strategic Partnership. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs official visit to Singapore and attendance at the 32nd ASEAN Summit aims to strengthen the trust and cohesion in the relationship between Vietnam and Singapore, while expressing Vietnam's support for Singapore in the role as ASEAN Chair for 2018, as well as the countrys efforts to boost solidarity and unity in ASEAN and maintain the blocs central role in the region. The friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore have been constantly strengthened and developed. In September 2013, on the occasion of the visit by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to Vietnam and the 40th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties, the two sides issued a joint statement on the establishment of the Vietnam- Singapore Strategic Partnership, which was yet another step in bringing the two countries relations to a new stage of long-term sustainable development. The two countries' leaders regularly exchanged visits and high-level contacts to strengthen mutual trust. The two sides also maintain an annual political consultation mechanism at deputy foreign ministers level that helps to deepen the mutual understanding between the two Foreign Ministries, providing an opportunity for both sides to discuss regional and international issues of mutual concern. The economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore has been actively promoted. Since 1996, Singapore has always been one of Vietnams largest trade partners. Two-way trade has grown rapidly, reaching US$7.1 billion in 2016 and US$8.3 billion in 2017. Direct investment from Singapore to Vietnam has continuously increased since 1998. Currently, Singapore is the third largest investor in Vietnam, with a total capital of nearly US$42 billion. Singapore's investment projects in Vietnam have seen good results, with the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) serving as a thriving example of the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation. Cooperation in security, national defence, education, culture, sports, tourism, and justice have recorded positive results. The Vietnamese community in Singapore now consists of about 12,000 people, which is facilitated by the local government in residence, study, and business operation, becoming a bridge of friendship to promote bilateral relations. Vietnam and Singapore have coordinated closely at multilateral and international forums such as ASEAN, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the United Nations. Singapore has actively supported and assisted Vietnam in fulfilling its role as host for the APEC Year 2017. Regarding strategic security issues in the region, including the East Sea matters, the two countries have actively cooperated, shared viewpoints and protected the common stance of the ASEAN. The 32nd ASEAN Summit, hosted by Singapore under the theme Building a Resilient and Innovative ASEAN, aims to promote the solidarity, unity, and self-reliance of ASEAN in the face of external pressures, as well as responding to the arising challenges, maintaining the role and status of ASEAN in the region and actively grasping and exploiting the opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. At the summit, regional leaders are scheduled to focus on discussing measures to build a self-reliant and creative ASEAN, foster partnerships with the blocs partners, and exchange views on regional and international issues of common interest. December 31, 2015 marked a historical milestone in the formation and development of ASEAN, with the birth of the ASEAN Community, which opened a new stage of development for the association. The ASEAN Community is a diverse, rich, and traditional cultural community. Since joining ASEAN in 1995, Vietnam has fully participated in the cooperative activities in political, security, economic, cultural and social fields, as well as in external relations. It always strictly implements commitments and agreements to contribute to the realisation of the ASEAN Community. Vietnam is ready to join forces with the people of all ASEAN member countries to promote solidarity and unity, and maintain ASEAN's central role in the region. The official visit to Singapore by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his wife serves to affirm Vietnams consistent policy of respecting the strategic partnership with Singapore, while enhancing the trust and cohesion in the relations between both sides to bring benefits to the people of each country. The Vietnamese PMs attendance at the ASEAN Summit reflects Vietnams support for Singapore in their role as ASEAN Chair for 2018, as well as the countrys efforts to boost solidarity and unity throughout ASEAN and maintain the blocs central role in the region, for a Southeast Asia of peace, stability, cooperation, and development. New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday claimed that there would be no hung assembly in Karantaka as predicted by several pre-poll surveys and his party Congress would emerge victorious in the upcoming elections. Siddaramaiah, in an interview to ANI, said that he was confident of winning both Badami and Chamundeshwari constituencies and rubbished the reports of him not being Congress partys automatic choice for the states top job. There will be no hung assembly, I am very clear about it. I will 100 per cent win in both Badami and Chamundeshwari, Siddaramaiah said and added that since the party was contesting the polls on his name, he was a natural frontrunner for the top job. He said that the youth of Karnataka liked Rahul Gandhi and partys victory in Karnataka will be a stepping stone for Congress for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. During the interview, Siddaramaiah slammed BJP president Amit Shah and said that his only strategy to win elections was inciting communal clashes. Amit Shah is not at all a good strategist, what strategy has he got in Karnataka? Except for communal clashes nothing else, the Karnataka CM said. Also Read | How Siddaramaiah is turning Karnataka poll battle into regionalism vs BJP's nationalism Terming his governments public welfare programs a gamechanger, Siddaramaiah said that there were no corruption charges on him and the BJP was making wild allegations just to score political points. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi lost his image in the eye of the people after he called him 'Siddaruppaiya'. Corruption is an issue. Our govt has no corruption charges. For political reasons, they (BJP) are making wild allegations, especially PM Modi. He called me 'Siddaruppaiya', it's an irresponsible statement from PM. His image, in the eye of the people, is gone, he said. With assembly elections just 17 days ahead, both BJP and Congress were locked in an aggressive political battle in Karnataka. Both parties were claiming that they will win the forthcoming assembly elections, scheduled to be held on May 12, but pre-poll surveys conducted by several media houses predicted a hung assembly with the Congress slightly ahead of the BJP. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A first-of-its-kind study on male survivors of child sexual abuse would be conducted, said Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Wednesday in response to a petition by a filmmaker-activist who said that "male child sexual abuse is an ignored reality in India". "Another much-neglected sphere of child sexual abuse is male survivors. Child sexual abuse (CSA) is gender neutral. Boys who are sexually abused as children spend a lifetime of silence because of the stigma and shame attached to male survivors speaking out. It is a serious problem and needs to be addressed," she said in her response to the petition on Change.org by filmmaker Insia Dariwala. Following the petition, the minister had in September 2017 instructed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to look into the issue. And, the NCPCR held a conference in this regard in November 2017. "As per the recommendations that emerged from the conference, it was unanimously decided that there should be an amendment to the existing scheme for the victims of CSA to also include compensation for boys who have been sexually abused or raped," Maneka said. A study conducted by the NCPCR at the conference revealed a possible correlation between unresolved sexual trauma on boys and increasing violence on women and children. "Based on this study, the NCPCR has decided to invite Insia, with due support from Adrian Philips of Justice and Care, to conduct a larger study on male survivors of child sexual abuse, starting with observation homes, and special needs homes," she said. The NCPCR studied a preliminary research conducted by Dariwala which included 160 male survivors of sexual abuse from across the country. In 2007, an official study on child sexual abuse was conducted by the WCD Ministry. It was found that 53.2 per cent of children had experienced one or more form of sexual abuse. Of this, 52.9 per cent were boys. In February, the WCD Ministry had announced that it would consider measures to help adult survivors of child sexual abuse report their abusers based on a Change.org petition by Purnima Govindarajulu, a conservation biologist based in Canada. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights will hold a consultation on 'Preventive Strategy on Child Sexual Abuse' in New Delhi on Thursday to finalise cogent, potent and effective preventive measures on child sexual abuse. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: With the conviction and life sentence of Asaram Bapu in a case involving the rape of a 16-year-old girl at his ashram in Ahmedabad nearly five years ago, another godman has been exposed for indulging in sexual activities taking advantage of the gullibility and blind faith of his large number of followers. Asarams conviction comes a few months after another godman, Sacha Sauda sect chief in Haryana Ram Rahim Gurmeet Singh was arrested after he built an empire of gigantic proportions which was allegedly based on sex, crime, and criminal intimidation, all under a facade of religiosity. After Ram Rahims arrest from Panchkula in Haryana, a surfeit of skeletons came tumbling out of his closets and the empire crumbled like a pack of cards. Both these cases are sagas of huge empire-building and unmasking of all manner of men and women, a large section of them with depraved values. The now-convicted Asaram had established over 400 ashrams in India and abroad, many of which are still being run by his followers. His forte was his powerful oratory and his magnetic appeal through his deep-set eyes with which he virtually mesmerised his legion of followers. The bulk of his followers refuse to believe that he could have been up to his sexcapades and other illegal activities. They feel he has fallen victim to conspirators. Asarams reach was particularly strong in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana but extended to many other states too. As the truth of his operations emerges, there are lessons to be learnt for people at large, not the least of which is to not get swayed by those who preach something and practice just the opposite. The biggest protector against falsehoods is the right kind of education of which there is a dearth in the backward states of north India where blind faith thrives. As the Sacha Sauda chiefs case showed, politicians and even some bureaucrats, including policemen fell prey to the fake godliness of Ram Rahim Gurmeet Singh. Some even got cuts from his ill-gotten wealth. But such is the protection of those in power in India that these bigwigs manage to get away from any punishment. It is time that public pressure is built up against those who provide protection and patronage to such fake swamis who, besides hoodwinking gullible people also spoil the fair name of the religion they profess to be the high priests of. By 2008, 40 of Asarams ashrams had gurukuls (residential schools). When two boys went missing that year from one such school in Ahmedabad and their mutilated bodies were found on the banks of the Sabarmati, there were allegations that black magic was practised there. The parents alleged that the police harassed them and refused toregister a complaint against Asaram or the ashram administration. A CID probe ordered on the behest of the Gujarat High Court rejected the claims of practice of black-magic. The Narendra Modi-led Gujarat state government set up the Justice DK Trivedi Commission to probe the deaths in the ashram but nothing came of it. In 2009, Asarams followers organised a rally, protesting against their alleged harassment by the Gujarat police. The protest turned violent, and over 200 supporters of the controversial baba were arrested after they attacked and injured 20 policemen. Following the Asaram judgment in the lower court, his supporters will move the High Court. If Asaram is indeed guilty, he must be meted out strict punishment so that his followers and the legion of supporters of other babas across the country with dubious credentials learn some useful lessons. One pernicious practice the country needs to focus on is the rampant trial by the media in this case as in so many others. While in this case the ends of justice have evidently been met, in principle this pre-judging of an accuseds guilt during trial is a dangerous practice that needs to be eschewed. The Lao leaders spoke highly of the Vietnamese delegations official visit to Laos, expressing their belief that it will significantly contribute to enhancing the traditional friendship between the two Parties, States and people of the two nations. Party General Secretary and President Bounnhang Volachith said he was delighted to see the development of cooperative ties between Vietnam and Laos in various fields over the past time, especially relations between the two legislative agencies thanks to the regular exchange of delegations, organisation of workshops to share experiences in law-making, and mutual assistance at regional and global forums. He took this occasion to thank the Party, National Assembly and Government of Vietnam for their great assistance to Laos over the past time, particularly in building a new National Assembly House for Laos and constructing schools in Bolikhamsay and Champasak provinces as gifts presented by Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Tran Dai Quang. The top Lao leader also thanked Vietnam for enabling Laos to develop wharves at Vung Ang port in the central province of Ha Tinh, which is vital for the shipment of Lao goods. For her part, NA Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong affirmed that the visit aims to reinforce the long-standing friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos as well as promote the sound collaboration between the two legislative bodies. She briefed the Lao leaders about the outcomes of her talks with Lao counterpart Sengnuon Sayalat and the discussion on sharing Vietnams experience in taking votes of confidence on persons holding positions elected or ratified by the NA and the provincial Peoples Councils. The legislator thanked the Lao government for promptly removing difficulties for Vietnamese businesses to make long-term investments in Laos and providing more assistance for the Vietnamese community in Laos. A 74-year-old woman who was arrested over a fatal hit-and-run incident has told police that she thought her vehicle had hit a cardboard box. Umeno Aoki, a resident of Kasukabe City in Saitama Prefecture, struck Sueko Suzuki, 86, after Suzuki was initially hit by another car while crossing a prefectural road at around 9:20 p.m. on April 17, Fuji TV reported. Suzuki was crossing a two-lane road when she was struck by a car driven by Masaki Mizuochi, 43. She was flung into the path of Aokias car going in the opposite direction. Mizuochi stopped but Aoki kept going. Suzuki was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead. Mizuochi was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving resulting in death. After reviewing security camera footage of the incident, police managed to identify Aoki as the driver of the second car. Police said Aokias car showed traces of having been in an accident. She has admitted to hitting something but told police she thought it was a cardboard box. It was raining at the time of the accident and there is no crossing at the spot where Suzuki was hit by the cars. The following is the full text of the Joint Statement. JOINT STATEMENT BY THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE AND THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM ON THE OCCASION OF THE OFFICIAL VISIT OF HIS EXCELLENCY NGUYEN XUAN PHUC, PRIME MINISTER OF VIETNAM TO SINGAPORE (25-27 APRIL 2018) 1. At the invitation of His Excellency Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, His Excellency Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Madam Tran Nguyet Thu made an official visit to Singapore from 25 to 27 April 2018. The visit was a key highlight of the celebrations for the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Singapore in 2018. During the visit, Prime Minister Phuc was accorded a ceremonial welcome and had a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Lee who also hosted an official dinner in Prime Minister Phucs honour. Prime Minister Phuc also called on Her Excellency Madam Halimah Yacob, President of the Republic of Singapore. 2. The two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing of the following Memoranda of Understanding (MOU): (i) MOU on Technical Cooperation in the Protection of Environmental and Water Matters between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam and the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources of Singapore; (ii) MOU on Collaboration for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) between Enterprise Singapore and the Department of Oil & Gas under Vietnams Ministry of Industry & Trade; (iii) MOU on Collaboration for Renewable Energy in Vietnam between Enterprise Singapore and the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority of Vietnam; (iv) MOU on Cooperation in Standards and Conformance Areas between Enterprise Singapore and the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality of Vietnam; (v) MOU on Cooperation and Exchange of Information in Banking Supervision between the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the State Bank of Vietnam; and (vi) MOU on Cooperation in the Area of Financial Innovation between the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the State Bank of Vietnam. 3. Both Prime Ministers had a wide-ranging discussion on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest. They welcomed the substantial progress in bilateral relations achieved since both countries established diplomatic relations in 1973 and since the establishment of the Strategic Partnership in 2013. In particular, both Prime Ministers noted that mutual trust between the two countries has deepened and bilateral cooperation has strengthened in all areas, including economic cooperation, capacity building, defence, security, culture, and people-to-people links. 4. The two Prime Ministers noted with satisfaction that the two countries are entering a new phase of strategic cooperation given the new opportunities presented by strong economic growth in the two countries and the region, as well as the ASEAN Community and the newly signed Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), among others. 5. Both Prime Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to maintain frequent high-level exchanges between the leaders and officials of the two Governments, ruling Parties, Parliaments and through people-to-people links. Both sides also agreed to create more opportunities to exchange views, ideas and initiatives on strategic issues through consultation. 6. Both Prime Ministers welcomed the commemoration of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations and the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the Strategic Partnership, and agreed that both sides should organise events in 2018 on this occasion to strengthen political, trade/economic and people-to-people exchanges, in order to further promote mutual understanding. 7. Both Prime Ministers noted that the extensive investment and trade ties form a key pillar of the bilateral relationship and agreed on the importance of creating a pro-business environment such as through the enforcement of regulations and consistent government policies, strengthening business-to-business links and facilitating the expeditious resolution of challenges faced by businesses. Highlighting that Singapore is the third largest investor in Vietnam, Prime Minister Phuc welcomed more investments from Singapore, particularly in the privatisation of Vietnam's state-owned enterprises and in the fields of energy (including LNG and renewable energy), tourism (including cruise development, product management and marketing), infrastructure (including highways and seaports), urban solutions, science and technology, high-tech parks, smart cities (in the areas of public safety and security, smart mobility and digital infrastructure), and in the digital economy (including tie-ups between Singaporean and Vietnamese start-ups). Prime Minister Phuc will witness the signing of several MOUs at the Vietnam-Singapore Business Dialogue on 26 April 2018. 8. Recognising the existing value of two-way bilateral trade in agricultural commodities including fresh fruit and vegetables, forestry products and fisheries for the economies of both countries, the two sides prioritised efforts to strengthen collaboration in the agriculture sector through trade, investment and other business links. The two Prime Ministers encouraged joint business initiatives to capitalise on Singapores innovative technologies and agri-business expertise. 9. Both sides acknowledged the deepening financial cooperation ties between Singapore and Vietnam with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the State Bank of Vietnam enhancing bilateral collaboration through the signing of two MOUs on financial innovation and banking supervision. Financial linkages between both sides have also increased with the growing presence of Singapores banks in Vietnam, and the increasing interest of Vietnamese enterprises to cross-list on the Singapore Exchange to access Singapores capital market for funding and to raise their profile. Singapore has also continued to provide capacity building assistance to Vietnam in sharing experiences in financial regulation, supervision and financial stability surveillance. 10. The two Prime Ministers affirmed the commitment for the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and the Vietnam National Office of Intellectual Property to collaborate with each other to leverage on innovation and intellectual property (IP) to promote economic growth. The 2018 Implementation Workplan, established under the Memorandum of Bilateral Cooperation between the two national IP offices, will provide for deeper cooperation in the areas of IP commercialisation, patent work-sharing and IP training. 11. Both Prime Ministers agreed to actively promote connectivity between the two countries as a means to boost business and people-to-people linkages. Both sides agreed that there was potential to enhance air connectivity and grow passenger and cargo traffic between and beyond Singapore and Vietnam, and looked forward to a progressive liberalisation of the bilateral Air Services Agreement towards this end. Both sides agreed to actively consider activities to further promote connectivity between the two countries including in sea transport and logistics. Singapore also reaffirmed its commitment to provide training for civil aviation and maritime personnel from Vietnam. The two Prime Ministers welcomed the potential launch of direct flights between Singapore and Nha Trang. 12. The two Prime Ministers acknowledged the significant progress made in defence ties and reaffirmed their commitment to advancing cooperation through high-level visits and defence policy dialogues, bilateral military-to-military interactions, and exchanges of junior military officers and port calls. 13. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to work together closely to strengthen the regional security architecture through strategic dialogue on the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) and the ADMM-Plus. Both sides also agreed to enhance practical cooperation through the ADMM-Plus Experts Working Groups activities, such as workshops and exercises. 14. Both Prime Ministers highlighted the importance of enhanced security and intelligence cooperation to combat terrorism, extremism, and transnational crime, as well as closer cooperation on issues related to cyber security etc. Singapore also stood ready to assist Vietnam with its capacity building in the areas of immigration management, crime database and confidential information protection. 15. Prime Minister Phuc expressed his appreciation for Singapores continued assistance in human resource development, through programmes such as training conducted under the auspices of the Agreement on the Study Visit Programme and Executive Education Programme for Senior Communist Party of Vietnam Officials (2017 2019). Singapore will continue to encourage its educational institutions and service providers in Singapore to consider participating in suitable education development projects implemented by Vietnam. Both sides also pledged to work actively to strengthen cooperation and linkages between their respective vocational training institutions, including joint programmes aimed at enhancing exchanges between the young people of both countries. 16. Both Prime Ministers noted the importance of preserving and protecting the environment to ensure the well-being of their peoples. They agreed to continue addressing international and regional challenges, including those that are transnational in nature, such as air and haze pollution, water quality management, coastal and marine pollution and climate change. The two leaders acknowledged the strong potential for Singapore and Vietnam to cooperate to respond to environmental challenges, in areas including solid and hazardous waste, air and water quality and noise management. Prime Minister Phuc affirmed Vietnams support for Singapores initiative on the Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Climate Action that will be held in July 2018. 17. Both Prime Ministers noted with satisfaction the excellent cooperation between both countries in regional and international fora, such as in ASEAN and related forums, APEC, ASEM and the UN. Prime Minister Lee thanked Prime Minister Phuc for Vietnams strong support for Singapores ASEAN Chairmanship in 2018 to achieve a Resilient and Innovative ASEAN. 18. The two countries agreed to maintain regular consultation on regional issues and coordinate closely to further consolidate ASEANs unity, solidarity and centrality, as well as to ensure the effective implementation of the ASEAN Vision 2025. 19. The two Prime Ministers reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the region and the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea. The two countries underlined the importance of the peaceful resolution of disputes, including full respect for legal and diplomatic processes, without resorting to the threat or use of force, in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The two sides reaffirmed their support for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the early conclusion of an effective and binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. 20. As Chairman of ASEAN 2018, Singapore reaffirmed its support for continued assistance to CLMV in narrowing the development gap, through the Singapore Cooperation Programme and the Initiative for ASEAN Integration. 21. Prime Minister Phuc expressed gratitude for the warm hospitality extended to him and his delegation and looked forward to welcoming Prime Minister Lee and other leaders of Singapore to visit Vietnam at a mutually convenient time. A Japanese court dismissed on Tuesday a damages suit filed by a man accused in a fraud case, after cash confiscated from him and kept in a police safe was stolen. Kazuaki Nakayama, 35, had argued that the Hiroshima prefectural police were negligent in managing 85.72 million yen seized from him in February last year as evidence in his fraud case. He is currently on trial for allegedly swindling people out of 6.43 million yen. The cash was being kept in the Hiroshima Chuo Police Station's accounting division safe. A police officer found the money gone around 8 p.m. on May 8 last year. The cash remains missing. Nakayama says he can no longer repay the people he intended to compensate because the confiscated cash is now gone. But the Hiroshima District Court ruled Tuesday that the police had no obligation to return items confiscated by investigative authorities. Kanagawa Prefectural Police suspect that a 24-year-old man committed suicide at a dam in the village of Kiyokawa in 2003 after murdering a woman at the restaurant where she worked, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun At around 1:25 a.m. on November 9, 2003, Tadayoshi Kubo is alleged to have used a knife in fatally stabbing Shiho Nakano, 26, in the chest after she exited the restaurant where she worked into a parking lot in Atsugi City. Thereafter, Kubo plunged into the Miyagase Dam in taking his life. His body was found in August of last year. Construction work on the dam was completed in 2000, about three decades after it began. During that period, about 300 households were relocated to accommodate the lake behind the dam. Due to drought conditions, the water level of the lake dropped to 55 percent of capacity in July of last year. The figure is the lowest since records started being kept. At this time, some of the abandoned infrastructure that was once underwater emerged after the water level dropped. After the stabbing, Kubo was placed on a wanted list. On Tuesday, police plan to send papers on him to prosecutors on suspicion of murder. Speaking at the meeting, Stevenson shared memories on his recent visit to Vietnam and lauded the robust development of Vietnam and cooperation between the country and the church. He thanked the Government Committee for Religious Affairs and agencies and localities of Vietnam for creating favourable conditions for his visit and the promotion of cooperation between the two sides, particularly in humanitarian assistance, environmental protection, and dealing with impacts of natural disasters and climate change. Ambassador Vinh, for his part, informed his guests on Vietnams policies in various areas, including religious affairs, and achievements in the national building and development as well as the growth of the Vietnam-US relations. He welcomed the cooperation between the Church and Vietnams Government Committee for Religious Affairs and agencies in humanitarian assistance, poverty reduction and response to climate change, contributing to the enhancement of mutual understanding and friendship between people of the two countries. The The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is based in Utah, the US. It was approved by the Government of Vietnam to open a representative office in Vietnam in May, 2016. Moroccan Secretary of State to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Boucetta is visiting Vietnam to co-chair the fourth meeting of the Vietnam- Morocco Joint Committee and the fifth political consultation between the two foreign ministries. Hailing the development of bilateral cooperation in all fields, Minh highly valued Moroccos efforts to deepen relations with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with a view to becoming its Sectoral Dialogue Partner. He said the two countries should increase the exchange of delegations at all levels. The two officials stressed the need to take practical measures to foster trade and investment ties, increase the exchange of business delegations to explore each others markets and developing economic ties with other African countries. Vietnam welcomed Morocco to open its honorary consulate in Ho Chi Minh City in a bid to boost economic and trade cooperation with Vietnams southern provinces and cities. The two sides agreed to grant more scholarships to their students, increase the exchange of researchers, hold more academic workshops and sign agreements between research institutions. Besides, the two countries are set to accelerate negotiations and sign cooperation deals in other fields such as labour, finance-banking, tourism, aviation, and renewable energy. At the meeting, Deputy PM Minh also lauded the signing of the memorandum of understanding on cooperation between Vietnams Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs and Moroccos Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs and the establishment of the Vietnam-Morocco Friendship Association. He also suggested stronger cooperation between two countries localities like Nha Trang-Agadir, Ho Chi Minh City-Casablanca, and Da Nang-Tangier. During the political consultation, the two sides also discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, head of the Party Central Committees Economic Commission Nguyen Van Binh, representatives of ministries and agencies, and leaders of Phu Tho and Thai Nguyen, Quang Nam, Binh Duong and Kien Giang provinces, which joined hands to organise the event, offered incense to the national founders. Chairman of the Peoples Committee of Phu Tho province Bui Minh Chau delivered a eulogy praising the Kings for founding and protecting the nation, affirming that Lac Hong descendants will unite together, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, to overcome difficulties and seize opportunities to build a prosperous and civilised nation, making contributions to peace and friendship in the region and the world as well. PM Phuc and delegates laid wreaths and offered incense and flowers in tribute to the Hung Kings and other ancestors at the main temple. They also offered incense at the tomb of the 6th Hung King and paid tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh and martyrs at the relief featuring the late leaders talk with soldiers from the Tien Phong Vanguard Division stationed at the complex. Following the incense-offering ceremony, millions of Vietnamese people across the country and abroad paid homage to the national founders at the temple complex. The same day, provinces and cities nationwide held a wide range of activities in commemoration of the Hung Kings. Ruling the country through 18 generations (2879258 BC), the Hung Kings taught locals how to grow wet rice. They chose Nghia Linh Mountain, the highest in the region, to perform rituals devoted to rice and sun deities to pray for lush crops. The worshipping rituals of the Hung Kings are closely related to the ancestral worship traditions of most Vietnamese families, an important part of people's spiritual life. It was recognised as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012. Viet Tri city, which was the first capital of Vietnam under the Van Lang administration, still owns many archaeological and historical relics related to the Hung Kings reign. The Coral Triangle in southeast Asia is one of the most diverse marine places on Earth. It is bursting with life, including mammals, corals, sharks, turtles and plants. It is also home to many more bryozoans than anywhere else on the planet. These are small aquatic invertebrate animals and they are often mistaken for corals or seaweed. Individual bryozoans are microscopic, but their colonies range in size from a few millimetres to more than a metre wide. There are more than 800 species of bryozoan found in this part of the world. Scientists are striving to learn more about why there seem to be so many different animals and plants in the Coral Triangle compared to most other places on Earth. A new study on the world's fossil bryozoans, published in Science Advances, was led by Museum palaeontologist Emanuela Di Martino. It suggests that rather than the bryozoans in the Coral Triangle doing especially well, it may be that other parts of the world have experienced major events over millennia that have caused extinctions. In other words, the Coral Triangle may perhaps be the norm, and everywhere else is suffering. >>> Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh greets Moroccan official Deputy Foreign Minister Vu Hong Nam and Moroccan Secretary of State to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Mounia Boucetta co-chaired the meeting. At the event, both sides expressed their pleasure at the fine development of relations between the two countries in past years, with recent visits to each nation by President of the Moroccan House of Representatives Habib El Malki and Deputy Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Phung Quoc Hien in 2017. Deputy Minister Nam affirmed that Vietnam has always attached great importance to its comprehensive cooperation with Morocco, while expressing his sincere thanks to Morocco for supporting Vietnam's candidature for a non-permanent member seat at the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 term. The guest also conveyed her sincere thanks to Vietnam for its support of Moroccos participation in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia with ASEAN. Regarding economic cooperation, the two sides agreed to further promote bilateral trade and investment through the exchange of business delegations to lead a thorough exploration of each others markets and develop joint projects in other African countries. Bilateral trade turnover stood only just US$170 million in 2017, a modest level compared to its potential and the level of political cooperation between the two countries. To boost relations in this area, Morocco suggested the two sides consider re-launching the Bilateral Business Council and promoting bilateral relations that could complement each other, such as in fertiliser production, pharmaceuticals, aquaculture, and rice imports. The two countries affirmed their continued exchange of university and postgraduate scholarships and agreed to promote cooperation in the field of education and training through the signing of cooperation agreements between research institutions of both countries, exchanging research delegations, and organising academic seminars. Vietnam welcomed Moroccos willingness to send its correspondent under the Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) in Vietnam and its establishing of the Morocco-Vietnam Friendship Association to promote exchanges between the two peoples. In addition, in the coming time, both countries will jointly promote twinning proposals between their localities, including Nha Trang - Agadir, Ho Chi Minh City - Casablanca, and Da Bang - Tangier. At the meeting, the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam and the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs of Morocco, and a Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnam Maritime University and the Morocco Higher Institute of Maritime Studies. The signing ceremony for a document after the political consultations between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs. Within the framework of political consultations between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the two sides exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern, such as cooperation within the framework of the UN, ASEAN, and the African Union; the situation in the Asia Pacific and the North Africa; climate change response; and sustainable development. Both sides expressed concern about the escalation of conflict and instability in several areas around the world, arguing that such disputes need to be resolved through peaceful means and negotiations, on the basis of international law and the UN Charter. Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has raised the alarm that Nigeria was drifting towards a state of anarchy, calling on the interna... Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has raised the alarm that Nigeria was drifting towards a state of anarchy, calling on the international community to intervene and rescue the country from turning to a war zone, where mass killings is a usual occurrence. Governor Fayose, who was reacting to the killing of 18 worshipers and the two priests in Benue State allegedly by herdsmen, said President Muhammadu Buharis withdrawal of $496 million from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) without approval of the National Assembly and the controversial arrest of Senator Dino Melaye, were indications that under this government of President Buhari, the constitution is on suspension. He said, If half of the level aggressiveness being shown by the Police on the arrest of Senator Dino Melaye because of seeming concocted allegations is shown on the killings by herdsmen across the North Central States and other parts of the country, the rampaging killer herdsmen that are even killing policemen would have been brought under control. Special Assistant to the governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said in a statement issued on Tuesday night that, it is alarming and curious that Father Joseph Gor, one of the Catholic Priests that were murdered in Benue State today, raised the alarm on January 3, 2018, through his Facebook account on the occupation of Mbalom community by herdsmen. Yet, the priest was killed! The governor asked; Why is the federal government allowing this seeming ethnic cleansing in Benue and other middle-belt States, such that President Buhari and the entire members of his government do not see the wanton killings as anything to be worried about? When did Nigeria degenerate to the level that people can no longer worship peacefully in their churches or go to their farms? When did Nigeria become a state of anomie where people are killed even after raising alarm that there was threat to their existence? On the illegal withdrawal of $496 million from the Excess Crude Account, Governor Fayose said; One day, this federal government will even stop releasing statutory allocations to States and Local councils. They are behaving as if the constitution of the country is already suspended and this should worry lovers of democracy in Nigeria. He said it was alarming that despite that Local Councils in Ekiti State were in court, challenging the federal government decision to withdraw $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account and the Attorney General of the Federation had already entered appearance in the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1264/17 that came up for hearing before Justice Binta Nyako on Monday, $496 million was taken from the Excess Crude Account. John Odigie-Oyegun, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has described as absolutely childish the endorsement of ... the endorsement of Adams Oshiomhole, former Edo governor, by south-south stakeholders of the party. John Odigie-Oyegun, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has described as absolutely childishthe endorsement of Adams Oshiomhole, former Edo governor, by south-south stakeholders of the party. He made this known to journalists at the partys national secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday. It was childish, absolutely childish. Voting is done at convention and not in state houses or in government houses, he said. Odigie-Oyegun, who did not confirm if he would seek re-election as APC national chairman or not, said he had concluded consultations and would make his decision public in a few days. The consultation, I think is concluded; Im going to make it known when the convention committee announces their programmes, he said. Then when I am going to buy a form, if I will re-contest I will let you know. Oyegun said he was not bothered by the endorsement of Oshiomhole. I will grant a comprehensive interview to you when the time comes, he said. One of those who wants my job is from Edo and he was the immediate past governor and he was very instrumental in installing the present governor. Fresh reports reaching NigerianEye.com has it that the Nigerian police force again re-arrested the senator representing Kogi west consti... Fresh reports reachinghas it that the Nigerian police force again re-arrested the senator representing Kogi west constituency, Dino Melaye at a hospital where he is receiving treatment.Reports have it that the Police spokesman, Mr Jimoh Moshood on hearing where Dino was, stormed the hospital along with 30 Police officers.Currently, Dino has been re-arrested by the Nigerian police but have not been taken away from the hospital. He is currently receiving treatment.Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/04/breaking-dino-melaye-re-arrested-zankli-hospital/ In an unusually daring move, the House of Representatives at Wednesday plenary summoned President Muhammadu Buhari to make explanations on why the wave of insecurity has persisted across the nation.The members also resolve to suspend plenary for 3 consecutive days to protest the killing of Nigerians.The House also passed a vote of no confidence in all the Service Chiefs and all security advisers to the President while asking the president to declare all killer herdsmen as terrorists.These resolutions followed a motion on the incessant killings in Benue State especially the last one that claimed the lives of two Reverend fathers on Tuesday.The House resolved that in the light of Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution which places the security and lives of the Nigerian people as the priorities of government, the president has failed. The Vietnamese leader paid a courtesy call to the Singaporean President and had talks with his counterpart on April 25. At the events, the Singaporean leaders welcomed PM Phucs first official visit to Singapore, stressing that the trip is a milestone in the celebration of the 45th anniversary of the two countries diplomatic ties and five years of the strategic partnership. They congratulated Vietnam on multiple development achievements and spoke highly of the countrys resolve to build an incorruptible and growth enabling government. PM Phuc congratulated Singapore on remaining an economic highlight of the region and always taking the lead in new economic and scientific trends in the world. Both sides noted that their countries cooperation has developed stably in all aspects on the basis of the trustworthy political relationship. Singapore is always one of the top 10 trade partners and the third biggest investor of Vietnam with 2,000 projects worth US$43 billion. During their talks, PMs Phuc and Lee sought ways to grasp opportunities of regional economic links generated by the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to which both Vietnam and Singapore are signatories, and the fourth industrial revolution. Host and guest agreed to maintain political trust and ties through all-level delegation exchanges via the Party, State, Government, National Assembly and people-to-people exchange channels. The two sides will join hands to organise the 45th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties and the 5th anniversary of the strategic partnership, especially cultural programmes and people-to-people exchanges. They will also increase consultations and expand cooperation between parties, while stepping up affiliation in national defence and security, with attention paid to practical collaboration between naval, aviation and search and rescue forces, and in defence technology. They agreed to coordinate with each other in settling common security challenges such as piracy and terrorism, ensuring navigation security and safety, as well as cyber security. In the sphere of economy, PM Lee Hsien Loong pledged that Singapore will increase its investments in Vietnam in new, high-tech, high-value and environmentally friendly areas like clean energy, waste treatment, water resources management, and high-tech park and smart city building. Singapore stands ready to share its experience with and support Vietnam in building seaports and developing logistic services and high-tech agriculture, and invest in Vietnamese technological start-ups, he said, noting that Singapore will consider facilitating the access of Vietnamese exports, especially agro-forestry-fishery products, to the Singaporean market. Stressing the significance of cooperation in personnel training, the host affirmed that Singapore will increase scholarships for Vietnamese students and help Vietnam with English language teaching and labour training. The two sides recognised the new strides in cooperation in connectivity promotion, finance and science-technology, which have greatly contributed to their countries economic development. They agreed to expand connections in these potential fields through increasing flights linking big cities of Vietnam like Da Lat and Nha Trang with Singapore. They will further cooperate in the management of the financial and stock markets and supporting big Vietnamese businesses in listing on the stock market. The countries are also set to step up initiatives and joint projects on innovation and intellectual property, while working together to commercialise intellectual property, share the application of patents, and provide training in intellectual property. Aside from bilateral cooperation, the two PMs also discussed international and regional issues of shared concern. They pledged to enhance bilateral ties at international forums, especially within the framework of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the United Nations. PM Phuc affirmed that Vietnam supports and is ready to coordinate with Singapore in ASEAN Year 2018 to consolidate ASEANs solidarity and central role in the region, towards building a resilient, innovative and united ASEAN that plays a central role in the region and the world. At the talks, the two sides affirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the region along with freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, not threatening to use or using force, respecting all diplomatic and legal processes, peacefully resolving disputes on the basis of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They reiterated their support for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and early finalisation of an effective and binding Code of Conduct (COC) of parties in the waters. The meeting and the talks took place in a friendly and straightforward manner with mutual understanding. On this occasion, the two PMs approved a joint statement on the visit and witnessed the signing of several cooperation deals, including a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on technical cooperation in environmental and water issues between Vietnams Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Singapores Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, and another MoU on the field of standardisation and suitability evaluation between Vietnams Ministry of Science and Technology and Singapores Ministry of International Trade and Industry. The State Bank of Vietnam and the Monetary Authority of Singapore also signed a MoU on financial reform and another on cooperation and information exchange in banking inspection and supervision. Meanwhile, Vietnams Ministry of Industry and Trade and Singapores Ministry of International Trade and Industry inked MoUs on cooperation in renewable energy and in investing and developing liquefied natural gas import projects. On April 25 evening, PM Phuc, his spouse and the high-ranking delegation of Vietnam attended a banquet hosted by Singaporean PM Lee and his spouse at the Istana Palace. Former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole looks set to become the next national chairman of the the All Progressives Congress (APC), wi... Former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole looks set to become the next national chairman of the the All Progressives Congress (APC), with the majority of the governors elected on the platform of the ruling party backing him.At a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Villa last night, the governors, led by Progressives Governors Forum Chairman Rochas Okorocha, proposed to the President their interest in the former labour leader.Sources at the meeting said the President did not object to the request.Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha and Chief of Staff to the President Abba Kyari also attended the meeting.Seventeen governors attended. Two were represented by their deputies.Seven governors: Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos), Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe), Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa) and Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), were absent.The issue and the endorsement of the President for second term by the governors were the only isues discussed at the meeting held at the First Ladys Conferemce Room, sources said.The partys national convention to pick members of the National Working Committee (NWC) will hold in Abuja on May 14.After the meeting, Okorcha said all the 24 APC governors were backing President Buharis second term bid.The President at the last APC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, declared his intention to seek another term.Okorocha said governors communicated their support for the Presidents reelection.He said: We came to welcome him back and to commend him for his boldness and courage to declare his intention to run for second term as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which we the 24 governors of the APC duly support.And we have come to encourage him that he must go ahead with his vision, he added.According to him, the meeting also addressed the coming convention and congresses to make it hitch-free.We also agreed that we will not allow the issue of many contestants to destroy our party. he said.Asked if Oshiomholes endorsement came up, Okorocha said the public would be duly briefed in due course. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has condemned alleged incessant harassment of Nigerian senators by the President Muhammadu Buhari admin... The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has condemned alleged incessant harassment of Nigerian senators by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. PDP stated this after the senator representing Kogi west, Dino Melaye, was admitted into hospital after escaping from a moving police vehicle on Tuesday. In a statement issued on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP stated that since the inception of the present administration, the leadership of the Senate and senators have been under constant harassment. According to the opposition party, senators who hold different view from the executive arm of government are arrested and detained and arraigned on false charges. The world has been watching with horror, since it started with the arraignment of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and other senators, on trumped-up charges as well as attempts to rope in the deputy senate president on charges related to treason. Today, we are witnessing the harassment and arrest of Senator Dino Melaye, who is known for his support for the Senate leadership and his criticisms of the excesses of the executive arm. The Senate President, Bukola Saraki on Wednesday said the senate was trying to resolve the crisis involving the embattled Kogi West Senator,... The Senate President, Bukola Saraki on Wednesday said the senate was trying to resolve the crisis involving the embattled Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye. Saraki made the disclosure while addressing journalists during a visit to the embattled Senator at the National Hospital, in Abuja. He disclosed that Melaye was stable but still in the intensive care. According to Saraki, the embattled lawmaker has not eaten in the last 24 hours. We are happy that weve just seen him. Hes in the intensive care and stable for now, though he has not eaten in the last 24 hours and we are trying to resolve that. Saraki led a senate delegation to visit Melaye at the National Hospital. Melaye, is being treated of injuries he sustained after he allegedly jumped off a police vehicle while being transported to Lokoja, Kogi State to face criminal charges. Irritated by Mr President's unilateral decision to expend the whopping $496,374,470.00 for the purchase of Super Tucano aircraft, mem... The lawmakers queried the powers of President Muhammadu Buhari to appropriate and spend money without any recourse to the National Assembly, which statutory function it was to give approval to all national expenditures. The queries were occasioned by the reading of a letter from the President by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, at resumption of plenary yesterday. Dated April 13, 2018, and titled Supplementary input to the 2018 appropriation bill: Purchase of Super Tucano aircraft from the United States Government, part of the letter read: I wish to draw the attention of the House of Representatives to the ongoing security emergencies in the country.These challenges were discussed with the state governors and subsequently at the meeting of the National Economic Council on December 14, 2017, where a resolution was passed with the council approving that up to US$1 billion may be released and utilised from the Excess Crude Account to address the situation.In the expectation that the National Assembly would have no objection to the purchase of this highly specialized aircraft which is critical to national security, I granted anticipatory approval for the release of US$496,374,470.00.This was paid directly to the Treasury of the United States. Usually, presidential communications are not debated but hardly had Dogara finished reading the letter with a long title than the House erupted into anger against the decision and action of the President. Kingsley Chinda from Rivers State was the first person to raise a Point of Order, saying: There is no language on the presidential approval. The expenditure has already been secured without any approval. We cannot sit down and do nothing. National assembly is not a rubber stamp.Today , it is as if we are like dogs that cannot bark. It is an impeachable offence. At this juncture, the atmosphere was fully charged and the thunderous shouts of yea, yea welcomed his remarks.Apparently sensing that the issue was gaining unusual currency and that the members were becoming unanimous in their submission, the speaker, again, intervened, reminding the members that the letter was actually addressed to him.He, however, said a new date would be slated for the debate of the letter, either on impeachment procedure or necessary steps to take. Yet the lawmaker continued: For three years now, there is no day in the country that people are not being killed. We should commence impeachment now.By our rule, the letter of this nature should not be debated upon but should be carried out with action. Also speaking, Aliyu Madaki (Kano) supported the impeachment move on President Muhammadu Buhari, urging an immediate action from the House. My brother and colleague, Chinda made same explanation which is very clear and we should follow suit, he said. In the same vein, Sunday Karimi (Kofi) said President Muhammadu Buhari had broken the law and must face the consequences. The issue he raised bothered in our responsibility. This is the time to tell Mr. President that we are prepared to serve our people. He has broken the constitution and should be ready to face the consequences.He has spent public money without approval, he said. Also speaking, the Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Onyema Chukwuka, suggested a reply to President Muhammadu Buharis letter with a detail on how he had breached the law. We should talk about this now.What we should talk about now is to reply Mr. President. We should write back to the executive, asking him that he has breached the constitution. And he should be ready to face law. There us one law we all stand by. And he is not different, he said. In his submission, the Chairman, Rules and Business, Oker Jev said Chinda was putting the cat before the horse, adding that following the House rules, that was the first reading of the Bill.He added that the letter could be debated during second reading. At his stage, the speaker intervened, reminding the House that the issue was related to procedures. and referred the House to the inputs by Jev. But again, the House erupted in deafening shouts of yea and nay.With the House under control, TJ Yusuf (Kogi) asked the House to jettison the sentiment of party affiliations and speak truth to power for Nigerians What we have here is a letter telling us what he has done. We should drop the idea of being partisan. It is about Nigeria people. The public dont know whether you are PDP or APC when they go out there to write about us. It is about all of us,, he said. Similarly, Samson Okwu said: This matter is a serious matter and we need to be very careful. It is not an issue that should be politicised and tribalised.On his part, Shehu Garba asked the House to make the President to also account for the funds spent on petroleum subsidy. I believe we should not be tribalised. Our letter should also include that the President needs to explain $460 million that was already spent and N4 billion spent on petroleum. It is very annoying for any body to mislead the House.It is an impeachment offence and everybody should stand by it, he said. Ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday advised Nigerians to withdraw the misguided perception that the Federal government, or the President knows the best in keeping the economy vibrate.Speaking in the fourth of a series of meetings at Chatham House, the former vice President examines the role of state governments in development and socio-economic outcomes in Nigeria, and the importance of improving capacity, self-sufficiency and public financial management at the state level.In the topic tagged: Next Generation Nigeria: The Importance of Strengthening States Economic Management, Atiku said that he establishes new enterprise every year to create employment for Nigerian youths in the last twenty years and further advocated for a true federalism (Restructuring).Some Nigerian states are poor not because they are not receiving a fair share of oil money but because they are not receiving a fair shot at true federalism. Only restructuring can correct that, he said.Read his statements below:I particularly want to thank Nigerian nationals who are present here today. Your love for Nigeria is evident in that you have left your regular pursuits to be here to interact with lovers of Nigeria. Your presence inspires me.The question now is, why are we saddled with a heavy and almost unsustainable debt burden twelve years after President Olusegun Obasanjo and I provided the leadership that paid off Nigerias entire foreign debt of $32 billion in one fell swoop?My idea is for the introduction of Matching Grants to be taken from the revenue accruable to the Federal Government for the purpose of matching IGR of each state in order to encourage states to become self-reliant.I will make certain rivers are dredged to open up the hinterlands of the North. Licenses would be given to state governments to begin immediate exploitation of resources in their jurisdictions.There has not been a year in the last twenty years that I have not set up a new enterprise to employ Nigerians. The latest being that we brought the Chicken Cottage franchise to Nigeria which will be creating direct and indirect jobs all across the country.If we want Nigeria to succeed, we must break with the misguided notion that the Federal Government, or the President, knows best, and that no one else can be trusted.When I talk about restructuring, I am not talking about just constitutional tweaks, I am talking about a cultural revolution. It is not about re-shuffling a few responsibilities or resources, but about disrupting the authoritarian politics our democracy has inherited.These are some of the ways I believe Nigerias states can improve their capacity, increase their revenues & better manage their local economies which are critical to safety, prosperity & welfare of all Nigerians and will allow my homeland to realize its true potential.We will streamline the operations of the Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Excess Crude Account and the Stabilization Account which is currently embedded in the Revenue Allocation Formula for more effective stabilization outcomes.I will extend railways to connect workers to jobs, suppliers to buyers, students to universities, and parents to their children in every major city in every state.Let me end with these words: Some Nigerian states are poor not because they are not receiving a fair share of oil money but because they are not receiving a fair shot at true federalism. Only restructuring can correct that, he finally said.Let me end with these words: Some Nigerian states are poor not because they are not receiving a fair share of oil money but because they are not receiving a fair shot at true federalism. Only restructuring can correct that. #GetNigeriaWorkingAgain #CHAfrica pic.twitter.com/ZJwi0VKdlB Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) April 25, 2018 The Nigerian army has promised to make public the findings of the panel it set up to investigate the allegations levelled against it by retired Gen. T.Y. Danjuma.The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, made the promise on Wednesday when the panel led by its President, Maj.-Gen. John Nimyel, submitted its report.Newsmen report that Buratai set up the panel on April 9.He also received the report of the 17-member Committee on Arms Verification which he had set up on March 19.Newsmen recall that Danjuma on March 24 at the convocation of Taraba State University in Jalingo had alleged that some troops on internal operation in Taraba collude with killers and suspected herdsmen and did not protect residents against attacks.You must rise to protect yourselves from these people; if you depend on the armed forces to protect you, you will all dieI ask all of you to be on the alert and defend your country, defend your state, he had admonished.Danjumas call had ignited mixed reactions across the country, forcing the army to constitute the panel to get to the root of the allegations.But receiving the report, Buratai said: We will take every aspect of this report very seriously, we will make this report available to appropriate superior authorities.We will also make this report available to the media so that they will see clearly what transpired and to see whether the allegations against the military, particularly the Nigerian army, is grounded or whether it is true or not.Buratai, who said making the report available to the public would clarify the allegations, thanked the panel members for their painstaking efforts and sacrifice.He said that was necessary to put the records straight and safeguard the armys integrity as an entity with an important stake in the unity and integrity of the country.The army chief also promised that the recommendations of the panel would be implemented.Earlier, Nimyel said the panel was painstakingly thorough and fair in its extensive consultations with relevant stakeholders before writing its report.He said to achieve its terms of reference, the panel visited some flash points in the three senatorial districts of the state.According to Nimyel, the panel also interfaced with some government officials, traditional rulers, religious leaders, locals, military unit commanders and other stakeholders.He expressed the hope that the report would assist the chief of army staff in taking appropriate decisions that would impact positively not only on the army but Taraba people and Nigeria at large.While also receiving the report of the committee on arms, Buratai noted that although arms verification was routine exercise, it however, became imperative now in view of current challenges.He also said that previous experiences, as well as proliferation of small arms and light weapons within the country and across the countrys borders necessitated the exercise.The verification will assist us to identify if there are any gaps or loopholes so that we can address them immediately.We will do our best to preserve our arms and other vital weapons and indeed the ammunition so that they do not get into the wrong hands, he said.Buratai vowed that any officer or commander found to be negligent (in handling arms and ammunition) would be appropriately sanctioned.Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the committee, retired Brig.-Gen. Samuel Ayo, said that the report of his committee would assist the army in taking decisions that would further enhance its professionalism.He commended the chief of army staff for raising the standard of the army in spite of contemporary challenges. Special Adviser to Senator Dino Melaye, Gideon Ayodele on Tuesday faulted reports that his principal jumped out of a moving vehicle in a... Special Adviser to Senator Dino Melaye, Gideon Ayodele on Tuesday faulted reports that his principal jumped out of a moving vehicle in an attempts to evade police move to take him to Lokoja, Kogi State capital.Ayodele in a statement late Tuesday noted that it was not possible for Melaye to have jumped out of a moving police vehicle when he was sandwiched by armed policemen forcing him against his will to Lokoja.Insisting that nothing could be farther from the truth, Ayodele said that the insinuation is practically impossible for a man saddled between gun-wielding policemen.He added that the incident was a last resort by Senator Dino Melaye in order foil attempt to kidnap him and kill him by agents of Kogi State governor in connivance with the Police.The statement entitled Todays Incident Involving Senator Dino Melaye: A Last Resort said:Sequel to the avalanche of calls by well-meaning Nigerians and supporters of Senator Dino Melaye for enquiries about the well-being and safety of the Senator and against the backdrop of baseless rumours being spread on the social media, we are constrained to make the record straight as follows:Earlier in the morning, Senator Dino Melaye as a law-abiding citizen voluntarily submitted himself to the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) who had laid siege to his private residence since around 3.35pm of Monday, April 23, 2018.He, along with his lawyers and personal aides, was driven in his private car to the SARS office in Guzape district of Abuja, sandwiched among the numerous police vehicles earlier deployed to his house.For the avoidance of doubt, he had never evaded police invitation before now because there was none extended to him in the first place. Rather, what the Police FPRO, Mr. Jimoh Moshood, had been doing was to summon the Senator through media briefings, a practice which is unconventional.But given the media hype the whole saga had generated especially his unwarranted travails in the hands of Immigration officials at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Monday, April 23 and the attendant but dramatic police siege to his private residence thereafter, where family members and political associates were subjected to traumatic experience for hours, it became necessary for Senator Dino Melaye to end the drama, hence his choice of appearing before the police today.Later on they moved to take him to Lokoja, Kogi State. The public will vividly recall that this same case involving Senator Dino Melaye had already been transferred to Abuja by the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court after Senator Melaye expressed worry about his safety in Lokoja. Now, the question is why will they want to forcefully take him to Lokoja? The Senator believes they are doing the Kogi Governors bidding in order to assassinate him.Contrary to online reports about jumping out of a moving police vehicle; Nothing could be farther from the truth as such insinuation is practically impossible for a man saddled between gun-wielding policemen. Todays incident was a last resort by Senator Dino Melaye in order foil attempt to kidnap him and kill him by agents of Kogi State governor in connivance with the Police. The Nigerian Senate has read a letter from President Muhammadu Buhari seeking approval to purchase six Tucano helicopters worth $496,374,470 (151, 394, 421, 035 Naira) from the US.According to the president, the helicopters are meant to support the drive to improve the security of the nation.See the tweet from the Senate below:UPDATE: The President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has just read an Executive Communication from President Muhammadu Buhari, informing the Senate about his 'anticipatory approval' for the release of $496,374,470 to purchase 12 Super Tucano aircraft. The Senate President (@SPNigeria) April 25, 2018Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives did not mince words on Tuesday when they said President Muhammadu Buhari committed an impeachable offence by authorising the purchase of $462million jets for the military without appropriation by the National Assembly.The lawmakers became angry as soon as the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, read a letter from Buhari, informing the House that the expenditure was done in anticipation of approval by the National Assembly.They noted that the letter was a mere afterthought, as the expenditure had been done already. Senate Committee on Police Affairs Chairman Senator Abu Ibrahim has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to release $500 million to fund pol... Senate Committee on Police Affairs Chairman Senator Abu Ibrahim has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to release $500 million to fund police to tackle internal security challenges.He spoke in Abuja at the inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari Housing Estate, Mbora.The estate was built to cater for the housing needs of senior police officers.The senator, while decrying the poor state of police personnel, said the Force would overcome its challenges if the personnel were comfortable.Ibrahim said: I think the major problem of security in Nigeria is not external security but internal security.I have been to Benue, where I spent three days and I have also been to Zamfara, where I spent two days. I visited various local governments and I am convinced that the only way to solve the internal security problem in Nigeria is by making the police comfortable.The lawmaker argued that 50 per cent of the $1billion approved for security should be spent on the police.Ibrahim said: We are spending $1 billion for security but as far as I am concerned, that money should be spent on the police because we dont have problem of external security.Our neighbours are our friends. We have no quarrel with Chad, Niger, Cameroon and other West African countries.He added: I will appeal to the President not to be clouded by his military background and look at the police critically with the aim of doing what is right for Nigeria.Out of the $1 billion, I believe 50 per cent of it should go to the police. We need more men, instead of recruiting 6,000 people of which 9000 people were lost last year, I feel we need to improve in the area of recruitment.On other areas where the police needs to sit up, the senator said: We need to put more money in the purchase of arms for the police. If you go to places like Zamfara, you will see the bandits with sophisticated weapons like AK47 and other arms owned by security agenciesThe DPOs there cannot confront them. So the only way to address the issue is to arm the police properly. They should be given the competent arms they need. Dr Abiola Akinyode-Afolabi, the defence counsel for Miss Monica Osagie, the alleged victim in the sex-for-marks scandal at Obafemi Awolowo... Dr Abiola Akinyode-Afolabi, the defence counsel for Miss Monica Osagie, the alleged victim in the sex-for-marks scandal at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, said on Tuesday that her client affirmed before an investigative panel that Prof. Richard Akindele deliberately failed her because she refused his sexual demand. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Osagie had appeared before the committee set up by the institutions authorities in company with her counsel. Osagie, a postgraduate student in the Masters of Business programme, had released a recorded telephone conversation, which went viral, in which the lecturer identified as Akindele, allegedly demanded sex for marks. The committee, which held its session at the Pro -Chancellors Lodge on the campus, allowed only Osagie and her counsel into the venue. Journalists, students and some members of the National Human Right Commission who came to witness the sitting were not allowed into the venue by security personnel of the institution who manned the entrance. Akinyode-Afolabi, who spoke with newsmen after the closed door session which lasted for more than seven hours, said Osagie told the panel that she passed the course but was later failed by the don because of her refusal to sleep with him. She said that Osagie narrated in details what transpired between her and the don, adding that lawyers present at the meeting were not allowed to make any contribution. Akinyode-Afolabi, who is the Executive Director for Human Advocate Research and Documentation Centre, Abuja, said that Osagie also informed the panel that she recorded the conversation between her and the professor as evidence. She said Osagie also informed the panel that she reported the sexual harassment by the don to some lecturers in the university, adding that no action was taken by them. Akinyode-Afolabi said some lawyers who represented the lecturers who Osagie claimed she reported the case to also appeared before the panel. She said that Osagie also told the panel that she did not score 33 per cent as alleged but was failed so that she could bow to the sexual demand of the don. Akinyode-Afolabi said she was optimistic that the outcome of the panel would serve as a lesson to other lecturers who also engage in such acts. She, however, urged the panel to ensure that justice prevailed on the issue so as to maintain the integrity of the institution. Akinyode-Afolabi, who did not allow Osagie to talk to newsmen, said her client would always be available to give evidence whenever she was called upon. The hand-over ceremony took place following a meeting between the NA Vice Chairwoman and President of the Cambodian National Assembly Samdech Heng Samrin on April 25 as part of her official visit to Cambodia from April 25-26. NA Vice Chairwoman Phong expressed her belief that the Cambodian NA will successfully assume the post of the APPF Chair, stressing that the Vietnamese legislature is willing to coordinate with its Cambodian counterpart and fully participate in the agenda of the APPF, helping to make the APPF-27 a success. In his remarks, President Samdech Heng Samrin said Cambodia will host the 27th APPF Annual Meeting in Siem Reap in January 2019. The Cambodian NA commits to making all-out efforts to contribute to promoting the friendship cooperation between regional parliaments, promote dialogue mechanisms and exchanges among parliamentarians and improving the legislatures' role in handling common regional issues, thus ensuring peace, stability and sustainable development. During their meeting, the Cambodian top legislator said NA Vice Chairwoman Phongs visit will help enhance cooperation and experience exchange between the two legislative bodies. He used the occasion to thank the Vietnamese NA for its support to the Cambodian legislative body in all aspects. For her part, NA Vice Chairwoman Phong said Vietnam always pays due attention to reinforcing the friendship and time-honoured solidarity with Cambodia. The same day, Vice NA Chairwoman Phong held talks with Second Vice President of the Cambodian NA Nguon Nhil. The Vietnamese legislator reviewed the fruitful cooperation between the two legislatures over the past time, and expressed her delight at socio-economic achievements the Cambodian people have recorded over the past time. The Vietnamese NA always attaches importance and gives the top priority to intensifying the long-standing friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, she said. She voiced her belief that the upcoming sixth NA election of Cambodia will be a success, creating a momentum for collaboration between Vietnam and Cambodia across fields, from politics to economy and national defence-security. She called for tightened legislative ties in order to expand and improve the efficiency of the affiliation between the Governments and people of the two countries, as well as mutual support at international multilateral forums. For his part, Nguon Nhil expressed his hope that the Vietnamese legislature will continue to support its Cambodian counterpart in the time ahead, adding the two legislative bodies should intensify delegation exchanges. Also on April 25, Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese NA's Committee for External Relations Vu Hai Ha held talks with General Secretary of the Cambodian National Assembly Leng Peng Long to share experience in organising the APPF meeting. Switzerland said it has returned all the money kept in the country by late Head of State Gen. Sani Abacha with $1.5 million interest. Assistant Director-General and Head, Global Cooperation Department, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Ambassador Pio Wennubst, broke the news to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York.Wennubst said Switzerland returned about $322.5 million (N116.11 billion) to the Federal Government.According to him, the original amount was $321 million.The Federal Government had announced receipt of $322.51 million from the Swiss government as part of the looted funds recovered from the late former Head of State.Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, through her Special Adviser, Media and Communications, Oluyinka Akintunde, had confirmed the receipt of money from Switzerland.Akintunde said: We state that $322,515,931.83 (N116,105,735,458.80) was received into a Special Account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on December 18, 2017, from the Swiss government.Confirming this, Wennubst said: We returned $321 million, including the interests.We return all the amount, $322.5 million, including the interest for the time that the funds were blocked.The Swiss envoy added that the money was returned to the Nigerian Government unconditionally.We are not talking about the condition; there was a programme on the social safety net that was developed by the Government of Nigeria and the bank.After discussing, the only condition, set by the judiciary, not by us, was that the return of this asset should have been monitored by the World Bank and this is where we worked on, he added.According to him, these funds were part of the Nigerian Government contributions to the social safety net programme, plus concessional loans from the bank.The Abacha loot was frozen in 2014 by a Swiss court after a legal procedure against his son, Abba Abacha.Originally deposited in Luxembourg, the money was a fraction of the billions of dollars allegedly looted during his rule from 1993 to 1998.Similarly, the UK Government also pledged its commitment to ensuring that money and other assets illegally transferred from Nigeria are repatriated back to the country.Director General, Economic Development and International, UK Department for International Development Mr. Nick Dyer told NAN that assets return would contribute to origin countries grow.Dyer said it was an important part of grow process to identify how and where assets were going astray and to also recover them and send them back. The United States (U.S.) has confirmed that the Federal Government had paid for the war planes. It said the 12 Super Tucano fighter jets... The United States (U.S.) has confirmed that the Federal Government had paid for the war planes. It said the 12 Super Tucano fighter jets and other weapons it agreed to sell to the Nigerian to combat Boko Haram insurgents and other extremist groups would be delivered in 2020.A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report at the weekend said a senior U.S. Department of State official made the disclosure during a background briefing with selected reporters at the U.S. Consul-Generals Residence on Sunday in Ikoyi, Lagos, the.The official, who confirmed that the Federal Government had paid for the war planes, said sale of the aircraft with weapons and services worth over $400 million included bombs and rockets.The NAN report said that the propeller-driven plane with reconnaissance, surveillance and attack capabilities is made by Brazils Embraer.Embraers second production line is in Florida in a partnership between Embraer and privately held Sierra Nevada Corp of Sparks, Nevada.The Super Tucano is said to cost more than $10 million each and the price could go much higher depending on the configuration. It is powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT 6 engine.On the planned visit by the President to the White House on April 30, the official said Buhari would be the first African president to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.The U.S. official was quoted as saying: We are excited about the planned visit by President Buhari as the first African leader to be engaged by President Donald Trump at the White House.The most important is that it is in Washington. It will be a very high level meeting; it will help the U.S. to also understand Nigerias projection.There will be independent conversation on security, governance, the Lake Chad Basin and Nigerias role as a democratic leader in the region.Commenting on the 2019 general elections, the official said: U.S. will remain non-partisan as it had the commitment to continue to support Nigerias elections.Well continue to help Nigerias security agencies to build capacity, not only in Nigeria but other countries in Africa, the senior U.S Department of State official said.On the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the official noted that the electoral umpire had benefited from the U.S. in several ways in ensuring level playing field for all interested parties.The official, however, tasked the Nigerian media to be professional in their reportage as the 2019 elections get close.The media should be able to inform the public on the processes leading to the election proper; you need to educate the public on the importance of Permanent Voter Card (PVC), and this should not be left to INEC alone to handle.The media should allow transparency in their relationship with politicians and in carrying out their responsibilities, he added. President Muhammadu Buhari has charged African leaders to use National Identity Number, NIN, to enhance democratization process on the continent.President Buhari gave the charge yesterday while declaring open the 4th Annual Electronic Forum on Identity in Africa (ID4Africa2018), tagged: Harmonization of Identity Scheme, holding in Abuja.The President, who was represented on the occasion by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapha, said Africa needed to embrace NIN to be able to drive its resources by making digital identity infrastructure more efficient and creating enabling environment for talented African youths to tap emerging technologies.He averred that Nigeria and, by extension, Africa must leverage on its digital identity as a reliable tool for socio-economic development.With the advent of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning techniques, and robotic machines, he said now was the time to build ecosystem that will enhance security on the continent and prevent wasteful expenditure.President Buhari said: My charge to you is that NIN should be used to enhance the democratic process in Africa in the immediate future. Africa needs to embrace NIN over driving in the use of resources by making digital identity management infrastructure efficient thereby creating an enabling environment for talented African youths to tap into these technologies.With the advent of disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, now is the time to build ecosystem that will enhance continent wide security, minimize fraud and wasteful expenditure.Identity forms the nucleus of our daily activities, cutting across sectors of the economy. As a responsible government, we are extremely aware the importance of gravitating towards digital identity.The International community, especially the developed countries, has adopted identity as a tool for transformation of governance and service delivery in areas such as transportation, financial inclusion, immigration, healthcare, social safety nets, agriculture, and security and so on.The importance of the summit in optimizing the benefits of digital identity and leveraging its use for accelerated development prompted Nigerias decision to host the summit, he added.The President also announced that Federal Government has set a target to grow the database of NIN from 28 million to 50 million by December 2018 and subsequently to 70 million by December 2019. A forest fire in the Pine Barrens, which has been burning since Sunday, is now fully contained, a Department of Environmental Protection spokesman confirmed on Tuesday. Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Hajna said the blaze could be declared "under control" by Wednesday. He said Tuesday evening's expected rainfall will aid in extinguishing any remaining flames. The fire burned over nearly 843 acres north of Oswego Lake in the Penn State Forest in Washington Township, Burlington County. "Crews are still out there doing mop-up work now," Hajna said. A fire that has consumed 843 acres north of the Oswego Lake section of Penn State Forest is 1-- percent contained as of Tuesday evening, officials said. (New Jersey Forest Fire Service) No injuries, property damage or evacuations have been reported as of 5:30 p.m Tuesday, Hajna said. The closest structure to the fire was approximately 2 miles away, DEP spokeswoman Caryn Shinske said this week. Oswego Lake's recreation area was reopened on Monday and all local roads are open, Hajna said. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Plumes of smoke were visible Sunday on weather radar and satellite images over the forest, according to Sarah Johnson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service forecast office in Mount Holly. Penn State Forest covers 3,366 acres with Lake Oswego encompassing an additional 90. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. The line of those waiting to order was long when we arrived at Tacoria Mexican Street Kitchen in Princeton. Most of the tables were full and another group of customers stood to the side, waiting for their orders to be finished. Obviously arriving at dinnertime was not our best decision that day, but we dutifully stood in the orderly line and waited our turn. Princeton, it appears, is in love with its newest and most casual restaurant. The line moved fairly quickly and we snagged a table without much trouble. There are small tables as well as communal ones and we shared ours with students who were already on their third visit to the restaurant, which opened about a month ago. Running the show and keeping everything orderly and moving are the four Patels: Haz, Sean Chuck and Dip. Two are brothers; all four met at Rutgers University, where they went to school. The Princeton location is their third restaurant; all are in college towns, and all have been immediate successes. They chose to serve Mexican street food because they like it. "We created food that we would enjoy," said Haz Patel, whose brother Sean was in charge of crafting the menu. They opened the first restaurant in New Brunswick in 2016 and "After two years we still love the food," said Chuck Patel. The menu is short and basic and each dish is crafted to the tastes of the diner. We sampled the tacos, $8.75 for three; burrito box, $8.50, and salads, $8.50. For each dish we chose a protein and had the option of whether we wanted all of their accompaniments. Tacos can be ordered singly, but we opted for three al pastor, which was pork marinated in spices and topped with pineapple in soft flour tortillas. The combination was delightful and we thought three was the perfect amount for an entree. We also tried the house specialty, the golden avocado tacos, which are slices of avocado dipped in egg batter before being lightly fried and topped with mildly spicy chipotle aioli. This is a vegetarian favorite and one of the top sellers. A burrito box was a takeout container filled with all the ingredients of a burrito, but without the wrap. We chose the brussels sprouts "protein," with the sprouts lightly charred and tossed in more of the chipotle aioli. The protein was served over rice, black beans, lots of cheese, salsa and pico de gallo, plus a drizzle of crema. This is a hearty, filling meal, and the charring of the sprouts gives them an unexpected sweetness. We tried the salad with pollo asado, which was grilled chicken in a citrus marinade. Slices of the chicken were served over chopped romaine, black beans pico de gallon, cheese and slices of avocado. We loved the pineapple and cilantro dressing that accompanied the salad, which was a generous portion and plenty for a meal. For side dishes we tried the Mexican street corn, $3, which is served on the cob with a hearty dose of chipotle aioli, cotija cheese and cilantro. The corn had a nice roasted flavor and if you don't want all of the toppings, you just have to tell them. We also tried the corn chips, $2, which were run-of-the-mill, and for dessert, an order of Nutella-topped nachos. The flour tortillas were supposed to be tossed in brown sugar and cinnamon, but there was barely a hint, and the drizzle of Nutella simply wasn't enough for the amount of nachos served. These were the only bumps in an otherwise excellent meal. The Patels pride themselves on the freshness of their food, and they certainly deliver. Tacoria has a basic menu, but the owners have worked hard to create a variety of offerings for meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans. Those avoiding gluten can ask for corn tortillas. Tacoria is a casual but well-executed restaurant. It's no surprise that Princeton has fallen in love with the food. TACORIA Mexican Street Kitchen 110 Nassau St., Princeton 609-423-2119, eattacoria.com HOURS: Noon-9 p.m. daily; hours will be extended when weather gets warmer. CREDIT CARDS: Most major. FOOD: Very good to excellent Mexican street food. SERVICE: You wait in line to order your food, then stand aside to wait for your name to be called. AMBIANCE: Rustic, casual and eclectic, the decor is a reflection of the owners' laid-back style. COST: Tacos $2.95 each or $8.75 for three, burritos $8.50, salads $8.50, quesadillas $7.50. Follow NJ.com on Twitter @njdotcom. Find NJ.com on Facebook. A Newark police car that escorted Hot 97 DJ Funkmaster Flex when he drove from New York City to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka's birthday party broke policy when officers turned on the vehicle's siren and lights, officials said. Baraka's April 9 birthday celebration at the Prudential Center was a fundraising event hosted by his campaign, with tickets sold for $300 and $1,000, an invitation shows. Flex was providing music for the party. Police Lt. Ronald Glover told NJ Advance Media two officers were assigned to drive Flex to Newark "with the understanding that the city would be reimbursed" by Baraka's campaign. @rasjbaraka making sure we smooth getting to that party!!!! Posted by FUNKFLEX on Monday, April 9, 2018 While the $200 worth of the officers' time, gas and tolls were reimbursed, the officers' use of lights and the siren violated departmental policy, Glover said. The Office of Professional Standards is investigating the incident. A 12-second video posted on Facebook by Flex shows an unmarked police car with the siren and lights on escorting him through two red lights and into the Holland Tunnel. "On my way to Newark. The mayor knows how to treat you, baby," Flex is heard narrating over the video that appears shot from the driver's seat. One car can be seen getting out of the way as the police car and Flex head to the Holland Tunnel. Glover said the officers were supposed to drive Flex but escorted his car instead when Flex opted to drive his own car. Baraka's birthday celebration invitation. When asked whether "celebrities" could be escorted by police cars using taxpayer dollars, Glover said the incident was under investigation. Attempts to reach Flex for comment were unsuccessful. Marjorie Harris, a spokeswoman for the city declined further comment, referring questions to the Public Safety Department. A spokesperson for Baraka's campaign also declined to comment. Baraka is seeking re-election to a four-year term next month. The Port Authority is investigating a similar incident, where Rush Limbaugh was allegedly escorted from Newark airport to Manhattan to speak at the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation's 2018 Semper Fidelis Gala. A source familiar with Port Authority protocols told NJ Advance Media that providing a police escort for a celebrity is improper. Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. After Joseph Pirri was slashed to death in what was described as a road rage attack in March, Gloucester County investigators combed through video obtained from about 20 locations in an effort to ID his killer. On Wednesday morning, that work culminated in the arrest of Everett E. Moore Jr., 54, of Clayton. Megan Pirri, wife of Joseph Pirri, speaks during a press conference announcing the arrest of Everett E. Moore Jr., 54, of Clayton, who is charged in the road rage killing of her husband. (Joe Warner | For NJ.com) Moore, who was arrested by members of the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office and U.S. Marshal's Service at a gas station in Williamstown, is charged with first-degree murder and weapons offenses in the March 7 assault in Deptford Township. It was snowing heavily that day as Pirri, 32, of Blackwood, was driving home on Tanyard Road. Shortly before 4:30 p.m., Moore's Ford F-150 King Ranch pickup truck illegally passed Pirri's Nissan Versa, authorities said. Moore, described by investigators as a construction worker, then stopped in front of the Versa, got out and approached Pirri's car. Authorities said Moore "severely slashed" Pirri in the face as the victim sat in his vehicle. Officials have not explained what sparked the confrontation, but it may have involved a rude gesture. Pirri ran to a nearby house for help following the attack and on a 9-1-1 recording, he can be heard in the background saying, "A guy passed me and I flipped him off .... he got out and ran up with a knife, put it through my window and cut me," according to the criminal complaint signed against Moore. Prosecutor Charles Fiore would not comment on a motive during a press conference Wednesday afternoon, calling it an active investigation. "I don't want to try the case here today," he said. Pirri, who was able to describe his assailant and the pickup truck to police, died a week later of his injuries. Those leads, coupled with video surveillance showing Moore's truck behind the Versa, passing the Versa and leaving the scene of the attack, along with witness interviews, led police to identify Moore. Video of the pickup following the Versa was obtained from security cameras at Gateway Regional High School, which is less than a half mile from the scene of the attack. Everett E. Moore Jr. (Salem County Correctional Facility) No video of the actual attack was obtained. "Witness interviews and video evidence establish that Moore operated the pickup truck before and after the incident," the prosecutor's office said in a statement. Cellphone data obtained via a warrant also confirmed Moore's phone was in the area of Tanyard Road at the time of the incident, according to the complaint. Several members of Pirri's family, all wearing shirts emblazoned with his photo, attended Wednesday's press conference. Pirri's wife, Megan, broke down in tears as she thanked investigators for their hard work and recalled her husband. "He always put his family, friends and others before himself," she said. "He loved his family more than anything. Joe always had a smile on his face and was truly and genuinely a happy person." Pirri left behind 4-year-old son Gino and 9-year-old stepdaughter Alyssa. Moore was placed in Salem County Correctional Facility pending a detention hearing. Investigators are still looking for witnesses who may have seen Moore and Pirri at the scene of the crime or who saw their vehicles traveling on Tanyard prior to the confrontation. Pirri was driving a red Versa and Moore's Ford has a crew cab and a white-over-tan paint job. Witnesses are asked to contact GCPO Detective Warren Rivell at 609-685-7396 or Deptford Police Detective John Gigante at 609-929-7679. Fiore praised all of those involved in the case. "It was phenomenal police work," he said. Police from Clayton, Deptford, Glassboro, Mantua, Monroe, West Deptford and Westville assisted in the investigation, as did the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office and staff at the New Jersey State Police Real-Time Crime Center in Deptford. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us: nj.com/tips. When Travis Plummer was charged with dumping the remains of his daughter's body in a suitcase in Jersey City, it marked the second time he was charged in connection with a child's death. Plummer, 37, was charged with felony child neglect in 2004 when his 8-month-old son drowned in the bathtub. The father told police he had tried to perform CPR, which records indicate was not true, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child abuse and served one year in jail. His other criminal convictions include child abuse, abduction, and weapons offenses, according to the report. A spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Corrections could not immediately be reached for information. Police said they believe Plummer's 23-month-old daughter, Te'Myah, died out of state and her body was left in a suitcase. Authorities had asked for help locating the two in March and did not believe Te'Myah was in danger. Workers outside the Journal Square Transportation Center found the baby's remains on April 11. The little girl's mother, Teshauna Cooper, told The Richmond Times-Dispatch, she went out to buy soda at the store in September and when she came back Te'Myah was gone. Plummer said she was in North Carolina being taken care of by a friend's grandmother, according to the report. Plummer was arrested in Puerto Rico last week where he awaits extradition. The results of an autopsy to determine what caused Te'Myah's death are pending. Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. The UBS Atrium Series will close it's 15th season of free concerts in Weehawken on May 3 with a presentation of Brazilian Choro music first heard in Rio de Janeiro more than a century ago. This concert, titled "Brazil from A to Z," features Danilo Brito, Joao Luiz, and 14-time Grammy winner Paquito D'Rivera The concerts are held at the Atrium at 1000 Harbor Blvd in the Lincoln Harbor section of Weehawken at 12:30 p.m. Choro was influenced by musical styles and rhythms from Europe and Africa and is still popular in Brazil today. Brito is considered to be one of the finest mandolin players in Brazil. he has won the Premio Visa de Musica Popular Brasileira, the most prestigious award for Brazilian music. Luiz, a guitarist, educator, and composer, began to play during his childhood. After being trained in classical guitar, he did collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and Carlos Prieto. A member of an award winning Brazil Guitar Duo, Luiz has recorded many CD's and his compositions have been recorded by a Who's Who of classical and jazz artists D'Rivera is regarded as one of the greatest performers on today's jazz scene and a 14 time Grammy Award winner as well as a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. A founding member of the musical ensemble Irakere while living in his native Cuba, Paquito was also a founding member of the United Nations Orchestra, a 15 piece ensemble formed by Dizzy Gillespie. He was also named a Jazz Master by the NEA. Paquito has recorded more than a dozen albums that reflect his style of jazz, bebop, and Latin music. The concert is free and open to the public and the venue is wheelchair accessible. Free parking is available in the adjacent outdoor lot and public transportation options include NJ Transit Bus #158 as well as the Hudson Bergen Light Rail to Lincoln Harbor, and NY Waterway ferry to Lincoln Harbor. For directions and more informatiom, visit the HRPAC website - www.hrpac.org - or call the concert hotline at 201-716-4540. JERSEY CITY -- A 25-year-old Virginia man has been arrested two years after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl in North Bergen after the pair met through social media. Roly O. Garcia-Reyes, made his first court appearance Friday on the charges that include endangering the welfare of a child, the criminal complaint says. Authorities say the girl did not come home after school on April 20, 2016 and when she was found, she told them she had consensual sex with a man she knew as Ricky Garcia at an unknown hotel, according to a criminal complaint charging Garcia-Reyes. The two had met on Tango, a social media video, voice, and chat app, according to the court document. Investigators canvassed several hotels and motels in the Hudson County area and found a registration card for a Roly Garcia, of Virginia, who had the same birth date as the one listed for Ricky Garcy on Tango, the complaint alleges. Investigators reached out to Prince William County police for assistance and Garcia-Reyes was recently taken into custody recently, although the complaint does not list the date of his arrest. He made his first appearance on the charges in Criminal Justice Reform Court in Jersey City on Friday via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny. At the hearing, Garcia-Reyes was ordered released with conditions of supervision pending trial. The judge told him he would have to remain in New Jersey and Garcia-Reyes said he had a place to stay locally. Garcia-Reyes said he worked at a Mexican restaurant in Virginia. He said he is not a United States citizen and the judge informed him of the impact a conviction or guilty plea on certain charges could have on his ability to remain in the United States, his ability to reenter the U.S. should he leave voluntarily or his ability to become a citizen. There is no statute of limitations for sexual assault in New Jersey. For endangering, a prosecution must begin within five years after the victim turns 18. * The European Union and the United Nations on April 24 appealed for swift political talks to end the long war in Syria, saying the latest territorial gains by Damascus and its allies had not brought peace any closer. * The Syrian government plans to recover an opposition-held pocket north of Homs city soon after it completes surrender deals with armed groups around the capital Damascus, a Syrian government minister said on April 24. * Emergency food aid for around a million Palestinians in Gaza may run out from June if the UN agency for Palestinian refugees cannot raise another US$200 million following a cut-off in US funding, the agency said on April 24. * US President Donald Trump said on April 24 a new North American Free Trade Agreement could be agreed on quickly, as Canada hailed progress on forging new rules for the auto industry, the pivotal issue in talks to revamp the 24-year-old accord. * Alek Minassian, 25, who accused of driving a van to attack pedestrians in Toronto was charged on April 24 with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. The suspect plowing a rented van into pedestrians on a crowded Toronto sidewalk on April 23, killed 10 people, injuring 15 others in Canada's deadliest mass killings in decades. * Cuba is hoping to reach its goal of 5 million tourists this year by implementing a strong commercial strategy, official told reporters. Canada continued to be the first source market, while Americans and Cubans residing abroad constituted the second and third largest groups of visitors, respectively. * The leaders of Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia met in Bucharest on April 24, discussing economic cooperation, concrete projects and the 16+1 cooperation format promoted by China. * Russian law enforcement officers found and killed two gangsters in Dagestan Republic on April 24, who plotted a terrorist attack during the upcoming May Day holidays, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) said in a statement. * Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on April 24 pledged to continue airstrikes on positions and headquarters of Islamic State (IS) group inside neighboring Syria, asserting that Iraq will not interfere in Syrian affairs. * Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar hosted a plenary meeting of prime ministers of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) on April 24 at the mansion of Brdo pri Kranju near Ljubljana, focusing on the future of the initiative. Another inmate at Federal Correctional Institution Fort Dix has pleaded guilty to possessing and dolling out a slew of child pornography to fellow prisoners who were doing time at the federal prison for similar offenses, authorities said. Brian J. McKay, 47, of Brookhaven, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography in federal court in Camden on Tuesday, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. He was charged along with four other Fort Dix inmates in April of last year before another three accused of taking part in the scheme were charged in February of this year. An investigation found that the men used contraband cellphones and micro SD cards to go online and obtain, view and distribute child porn throughout the prison, authorities said. They allegedly downloaded these from the "dark web" and transported them in a cut-out Bible. McKay admitted Tuesday that he had possessed the two cards, which together held around 593 images and 645 videos of child pornography, according to the release. The content included images of children, some as young as infants and toddlers, being sexually abused. Authorities described the content as "sadistic and masochistic." McKay also acknowledged he played a role in distributing the pornography with the help of a fellow inmate, authorities said. He faces a mandatory prison term of 10 years at his Aug. 6 sentencing, and will undergo supervised release for the rest of his life, according to the release. Three others - Erik M. Smith, 36, of Iron Mountain, Michigan; Anthony C. Jeffries, 32, of Orange, Virginia; and, Jordan T. Allen, 31, of Plain City, Ohio - have already pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and await sentencing. At the time of the initial arrests, authorities said Jeffries was the ring leader of the operation. He and McKay were caught after transferring the material to a government informant in the prison, according to the release. Charges are still pending against Christopher D. Roffler, 30, of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Jacob S. Good, 26, of Fredericksburg, Virginia; William H. Noble, 52, of Lowell, Massachusetts; and, Charles Wesley Bush, 38, of Knoxville, Tennessee. Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Rush Limbaugh may have not been the only one to receive a special escort from the Port Authority police while running late to a Marine gala in the Big Apple earlier this month. The bi-state agency is now investigating additional claims that officers were ordered to provide a rush-hour police escort for buses carrying the United States Marine Corps Band to ensure the musicians made the event on time, according to two sources with knowledge of the internal probe. The band arrived at Newark Liberty Airport on April 12 and was set to play at the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation's 2018 Semper Fidelis Gala at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan, according to the sources. The band was then given another police escort back to the airport the next day, the sources said. It was unknown who ordered the escorts. When asked about the police escort, Port Authority spokesman Ron Marsico said in an email, "There is an ongoing investigation into the matter by the Port Authority's Office of Inspector General." Port Authority police superintendent, Michael Fedorko, is listed as one of the vice presidents of the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation. The news comes days after NJ Advance Media reported on an internal investigation at the Port Authority over claims that the conservative radio personality, Rush Limbaugh, received a special police escort from the airport to the gala. Limbaugh, who was a last-minute fill-in speaker for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, had bragged about his escort by the Port Authority police superintendent on his radio show and may have inadvertently tipped off authorities to the police escort. Fedorko could not be reached for comment. Craig McCarthy may be reached at 732-372-2078 or at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips She dropped the F-bomb. She belittled police officers. And she flashed her Port Authority commissioner's badge. A police dashcam video of a seemingly routine traffic stop in the Bergen County community of Tenafly generated outrage this week by the actions of Caren Z. Turner, who harangued police who had pulled over a car carrying her daughter. Turner's tirade against the patrol officers included profanity, insults and the repeated reference of her position as a Port Authority commissioner, all captured in a video. In the end, however, all she accomplished was her forced resignation from the Port Authority and no small amount of public shaming. A short Q. and A. on what happened: Q. Who is Caren Z. Turner? A. Turner is a lobbyist who shuttled between Washington and her home in Tenafly. She holds a law degree from Georgetown University and has been a lobbyist for much of her career. She ran Turner Government & Public Affairs, her own public affairs firm based in Washington. Q. How did she become a commissioner on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey? A. While a Democrat who raised money for Hillary Clinton, Turner was appointed to the Port Authority last year by former Gov. Chris Christie, as part of a pair of appointments that included former GOP state Sen. Kevin O'Toole. Turner was the pick of Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37), who was pushing for more women on the board. Q. Why did the Tenafly police stop the car that led to her confrontation with two officers? A. A Toyota Corolla with Nevada plates was traveling north on Route 9W in Tenafly when two patrol officers decided to pull it over because it had front side tinted windows--not uncommon in Las Vegas, but a definite no-no in New Jersey. The car also had a license plate frame that partly covered the name of Nevada--a seemingly trivial issue, but one that can lead to a ticket in New Jersey. Once they pulled the car over, the officers learned that the car had an expired registration and the driver did not have an insurance card. Turner's daughter was a passenger in the rear seat. Q. Was anyone in the car arrested as a result of the motor vehicle stop? A. No. The officers only issued three summonses for the tinted windows, the obscured license plate, and expired registration. But the car was impounded until the owner, reportedly the mother of one of the other passengers, could provide proper paperwork for the vehicle. Q. Was Turner charged with any wrongdoing? A. No. While the video shows her haranguing police over the traffic stop, dropping the names of elected officials she knew, and her position as a Port Authority commissioner who oversees 4,000 police officers, the Tenafly police did not charge her with obstruction. But the chief of police made a call to the Port Authority's Inspector General, which led to an internal investigation and ultimately her resignation. Q. Is the Port Authority taking any further action? A. Apparently not. A spokesman said the Port Authority board was preparing to form a special committee to review the findings of the Inspector General investigation and take action at this week's board meeting, before Turner submitted her resignation to Gov. Phil Murphy. "Commissioner Turner's resignation was appropriate given her outrageous conduct," said the Port Authority spokesman. There has been no indication that anyone else might pursue misconduct charges against her for allegedly misusing her public office. Q. And what do Port Authority commissioners do? A. The Port Authority is a bi-state agency which has oversight over the region's airports, Hudson River bridges and tunnels, its ports, and other transportation facilities, including the PATH rail line. Commissioners, who are nominated by governors in New York and New Jersey to six-year appointments, do not get paid. Q. What did she do there? A. She was head of the Government and Ethics committee and sat on the Port Authority's Operations committee, said a Port Authority spokesman. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. This week, in a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, President Donald Trump slammed the Iran nuclear deal as "insane" and "ridiculous." It is not the first time he's suggested he wanted to pull out of the accord. Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in a interview with The Associated Press, said a U.S. withdrawal from the landmark 2015 accord would undermine Trump's talks with North Korea by proving that America reneges on its promises. Critics of the deal have said that the deal was a debacle and that the accord does not prevent a nuclear Iran. Many are hoping Macron will be able to dissuade Trump from dissolving the Iran deal during his visit, but Trump's latest comments aren't promising. Should the U.S. withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal? Vote in our informal and unscientific poll and tell us why in the comments. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. WASHINGTON -- With Republicans controlling Congress and President Donald Trump in the White House, it sometimes feels as if no Democrats need apply. Nevertheless, some lawmakers are bucking the partisan divide and trying to reach out to the other side. And two do it more than most are from New Jersey. Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Leonard Lance, were listed as being among the most bipartisan lawmakers in Congress by the Lugar Center, a public policy group headed by former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and by Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy. Gottheimer ranked eighth and Lance 12th out of 435 House members in the report, which is based on how often individuals' legislation most frequently attracts co-sponsors from lawmakers of the other political party and which lawmakers who most often add their names to bills introduced by a member of the opposition. "I believe no one side owns all the best answers, so I'll continue fighting for New Jersey with a common sense approach to cutting taxes, investing in infrastructure, and eliminating bureaucratic red tape," said Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. Gottheimer and Lance were among a bipartisan group of House members who offered proposals to fix the Affordable Care Act after Trump''s efforts to kill the law died in the Senate. Lance, R-7th Dist., saw his standing improve from 75th in 2016. "The most effective lawmakers know that good governance and good public policy must always come from the center-out," Lance said. "That is how durable policy must be crafted and that is how I have always conducted myself. Extreme partisanship may grab headlines but it is a disservice to thoughtful debate." Reps. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., and Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., who rated highest on the list last year among New Jersey lawmakers; and Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., also were among the top 10 percent of bipartisan members. Bipartisanship was harder to attain last year as congressional Republican leaders disregarded traditional legislative norms and attempted to push through health care and tax legislation on party-line votes while excluding Democrats from any meaningful participation. The Republicans' health legislation that would increase the ranks of the uninsured by as many as 32 million Americans failed to get out of the Senate, though their tax plan that targeted high-tax, mostly Democratic-run states, including New Jersey, by curbing the federal deduction for state and local levies was signed into law by Trump. No surprise then that among the Democratic members of the New Jersey congressional delegation, only Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist., received a positive score. Pascrell was the highest-ranking Democrat a year earlier as well. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., who as the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee led efforts to kill the Republican health care bill, was the least bipartisan member of the delegation, finishing 392nd. "My constituents sent me to Washington to fight for them on the issues that make a difference in their lives," said Pallone, D-6th Dist. "Whether it's opposing the GOP tax scam, fighting the repeal of the ACA, or preventing drilling off the Jersey Shore, I will continue to stand up to the Trump administration when it attacks working families in New Jersey." In the Senate, Robert Menendez ranked 74th and Cory Booker 83rd among the 100 members of that chamber. Booker was ranked as more bipartisan than two other senators mentioned as potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and less than two others, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday defended his wife Tammy Murphy's role in his administration when asked about the decision to spend nearly $13,000 to install a new doorway to her office. The Democratic governor responded to a question about the spending on the first lady's office during a pair of morning TV interviews to mark his 100th day in office. Murphy called a report about the door "ridiculous." NJ Advance Media reported earlier this month that the Murphy administration spent some $27,000 to refurbish and redecorate the governor's office -- about a block from the Statehouse, which is being rehabbed -- after he started his new job in January. That included $13,000 on a doorway so that a conference room just down the hall from the official governor's suite could become a private office for the first lady. "My word," Murphy said when he was asked about the door during his appearance on WNYW Fox 5. "That's TMZ journalism at its worst," he said, referring to the celebrity news website. "It's just ridiculous," Murphy added. The governor went on to defend his wife's role in the administration. "She is an absolute treasure in the state of New Jersey," Murphy said. "I am incredibly proud of her." "She works her tail off every single day -- for nothing, by the way -- she has deep passion and interest in a couple of policy areas," he aded. Tammy Murphy does have a significant role in the administration. She helps craft policy and travels from Middletown to Trenton nearly every day. The oversized role of a first spouse prompted some legislative leaders to question how much power she wields over policymaking. "I think there could be some confusion when one wants to contact the administration on a specific issue," state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, told NJ Advance Media earlier this month. "If there is, in fact, an official policy role for the first lady, I just think a little more clarity would be helpful." NJ Advance Media reported on the renovations to the office to accommodate the first lady using receipts obtained under the Open Public Records Act. Prior to the WNYW Fox 5 interview, Murphy appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," where he reflected on his first three months and predicated a Democratic wave of sorts in the state in the upcoming midterm elections. New Jersey has 12 U.S. House of Representatives. Seven of the seats are held by Democrats and five by Republicans. "My gut tells me ... if you see a wave election, I can see Democrats getting three or four," Murphy said. "This could be a big year for us in those House races." The governor told Politico New Jersey he plans to campaign for Democrats where there are competitive races in the state. That includes seats held by U.S. Reps. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist., and Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist. Both Frelinghuysen and LoBiondo are retiring. Seats held by Reps. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., and Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., are considered less likely to flip. NJ Advance Media staff writer Claude Brodesser-Akner contributed to this report. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. New Orleans-based photographer Paul Morse saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity through his lens, as four past presidents gathered for the funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush, according to a story on the CNN website. Presidents George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Clinton, and Obama were joined by the three surviving first ladies and Melania Trump. Morse's website explains his association with the array of administrations: "Following a successful photojournalism career at the Los Angeles Times, Paul served as a White House photographer, documenting the lives of President George W. Bush and his family. From his experience at the White House, he has gained the trust of additional Presidents and their families, documenting President Obama's Inaugurations and serving as a lead photographer for the Clinton Global Initiative." Morse explained to CNN's Chris Cillizza, that in his eagerness to capture the moment, he was unaware of the unknown woman in the background of the shot. Contact Doug MacCash via email at dmaccash@nola.com. Follow him on Twitter at Doug MacCash and on Facebook at Douglas James MacCash. As always, please add your point of view to the comment stream. How do self-driving vehicles learn how to drive? How does artificial intelligence become smart in the first place? It all starts with data. An international company that applies data to a variety of practical uses has chosen to place its first U.S. "delivery center" in New Orleans and will hire 100 people within the next 12 to 18 months to staff it. The available jobs range from entry-level to more skilled positions. iMerit serves clients in various sectors, including defense, insurance, health care, government and technology. Its offerings are wide-ranging and include online customer support and digital transcription services. Employees also work on computer vision - or helping computers learn from pictures and videos - and natural language understanding, which is basically teaching artificial intelligence how to read. "New technologies like natural language understanding and computer vision, rely heavily on humans to create the nuanced data that fuels the algorithms. We operate where people are eager to develop digital skills and to transform their lives and those of their families. New Orleans has huge potential as a multilingual and multicultural hub with strong local backing for business." iMerit founder and CEO Radha Basu said in a statement. iMerit describes itself as a for-profit social impact business. Its mission statement explains that the company provides "the human element in data innovation while empowering women and youth in underprivileged communities to join the digital economy." Its global headquarters and the bulk of its 1,300 employees are in India, and it has U.S. base in California. The company claims women comprise 50 percent of its workforce, and that 80 percent of its employees are from low-income families. It was founded in 2012 with funding from the social entrepreneurship investment group Khosla Impact, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and the philathropic Omidyar Network. Jeff Mills, iMerit's global vice president of sales, said a major company that iMerit services -- he would only describe it as a "Fortune 15 company" -- was specifically interested in establishing a center in New Orleans so that it could provide jobs here. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up iMerit has already hired 15 people locally, and its founding team is "fully bilingual Spanish-English," according to a statement from the economic development organization Greater New Orleans Inc. Matt Wolfe with GNO Inc. said iMerit's new hires typically aren't software engineers or IT specialists sought by other tech companies. And although some of the work the company envisions for New Orleans will involve translation services, new hires don't necessarily have to be multilingual. "These are very attainable jobs," Wolfe said. Mills would not provide a specific salary range for the jobs iMerit is filling in New Orleans, instead emphasizing the company's 95 percent employee retention rate and its training programs. "You're learning a whole new trade in a new industry that's going to help you in your career," he said, stressing that the positions are full-time, not seasonal. iMerit is "working with GNO Inc. to make sure we're paying people wages in New Orleans that make sense, that are reasonable," Mills added. Louisiana Economic Development is providing iMerit access to its FastStart job training program. GNO Inc. assisted the company with finding its New Orleans offices, which are at 1515 Poydras St. "... This represents yet another high tech company investing in Greater New Orleans," GNO Inc. president and CEO Michael Hecht said in a statement. "iMerit will not only be creating local jobs, but will do this via employing an underserved portion of our citizenry -- another example of 'inclusive innovation.'" To start, iMerit is advertising for project contributors and a sales development representative at WorkNOLA.com. Despite pushback from some conservative lawmakers, a proposal for stricter bestiality law in Louisiana took a step forward when members of the House of Representatives voted favorably on State Senator J.P. Morrell's Senate Bill 236 in committee Wednesday (April 25). Opposition has centered around Morrell's attempt to remove the law banning bestiality from the current "crimes against nature" statute, which also includes sodomy and incest, and make sexual abuse of an animal its own law. The current statue was deemed unconstitutional in the Supreme Court's 2003 decision in Texas v. Lawrence, which ruled sodomy laws were not constitutional. Despite the ruling, Louisiana's crimes against nature laws have remained on the books as written since that time. Morrell is among lawmakers who have attempted to remove the law from the books before, and the opponents of SB236 seem to believe that is his true intention now. However, Morrell has denied these claims multiple times, even admitting that he would like to see the current law struck, but said this law is not the way to do it. Morrell argued the current law is simply too vague and does not take into account today's issues and technology. His bill, he said, will treat the sexual abuse of an animal in similar ways we treat sexual abuse of children. SB236 outlines the consequences for sexual abuse of an animal would mirror other sex-crimes, like registering as a sex-offender and being prohibited from working or living with animals. This provision brought up other arguments in committee Wednesday, including a concern from Republican House Rep. Valarie Hodges that people convicted of bestiality would not be able to go to prisons where there are animals - including in the food. "There are no vegan prisons," she said, to which Morrell replied that meat would not pose a problem, because "a dead animal that is meant for consumption is no longer an animal, it is food." Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Morrell later said he would be happy to amend the bill "so it's clear people can be around food," Morrell said. Gene Mills of the Louisiana Family Forum was present in committee to speak against the bill, as were two Baptist pastors. All three clarified they were not in favor of bestiality and do support more severe consequences for those convicted of such crimes. "The Louisiana Family Forum opposes bestiality because it destroys a human soul," Mills said. However, Mills and his fellow opponents stated the current crimes against nature law reflects the "community morals" of the state of Louisiana and keeping the law against bestiality where it is now would be "significant." According to Julia Breaux, director of the Louisiana Humane Society, five other states have adopted laws with similar language to SB236, including Texas most recently. "The bestiality law as currently stated is in an unconstitutional statute. We already have a Supreme Court decision on the books saying that you cannot have sodomy laws on the books," Morrell said during his closing statement. "Bestiality is literally tied to the sodomy law that was ruled unconstitutional, so I am removing bestiality from the unconstitutional statute and giving it its own statute." The bill will now move to the House floor, where it will be debated and voted on again before it can become law. As of Wednesday afternoon, the date has not been announced Chung met Bolton at 3:00 p.m. Washington time, exchanging opinion for about an hour ahead of the summit between the RoK and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on April 27 in the border village of Panmunjom. They finished coordination to prepare for the upcoming inter-Korean summit, including ways of a close cooperation between Seoul and Washington in achieving the goal of the denuclearized Korean Peninsula. The Blue House and the White House advisors also discussed situations after the inter-Korean summit. RoK President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump agreed to share the result of the inter-Korean summit via telephone right after the end of the summit, according to the Blue House. Chung and Bolton discussed ways to push for the meeting between Moon and Trump before the expected summit between Trump and top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un in May or early June. The NOPD is seeking information on a car possibly connected to a homicide that occurred on April 18 in Central City. Officers were called about 3:37 p.m. to the fatal shooting on South Claiborne Avenue at the thoroughfare's intersection with First Street. Police discovered 25-year-old Brandon Perkins, who had been shot more than once, unresponsive and lying in the neutral ground at the Central City intersection. He was taken by EMS to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. "He did not deserve to die like that. I think everyone who knew him would agree, my son did not deserve this," said his mother, Kenya Perkins-Marshall. "It was in the middle of the day on a busy street. The detectives told me people who saw it are coming forward, so we hope to get more answers soon." Witnesses reported seeing a dark gray Acura sedan fleeing the scene southbound onto Philip Street against traffic. Anyone with information regarding this vehicle of interest or this incident is asked to contact NOPD Homicide Detective Daniel Hiatt at 504-658-5300 or call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 1-877-903-STOP. A 57-year-old New Orleans man was sentenced Wednesday (April 25) to one year in prison and $3,500 in restitution in connection with a robbery last August at a St. Charles Avenue bank, according to U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans' office. Lester Malava pleaded guilty in January to one count of bank robbery. According to court records, he was identified via an FBI tip line as the man who robbed the Capital One Bank at 3540 St. Charles Avenue the afternoon of Aug. 21. About a week later, Malava called the FBI directly while sitting at a Central City bus stop and said, "he had committed a bank robbery and was seeking to turn himself into the FBI," court records state. By then, Malava had seen his photo, taken from the bank's video surveillance camera, circulating via local news media, court documents state. In addition, a tip had identified the robber as "Lester Malafa," with the tipster unsure of the correct spelling of the suspect's name. Along with the year-long prison sentence, Kurt D. Engelhardt, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, sentenced Malava to three years of supervised release. Authorities arrested a Kenner man accused of taking part in a shootout at a Loyola Drive strip mall that left one wounded. Bernel Rhodes, 20, was booked Wednesday (April 25) with aggravated second-degree battery, aggravated criminal damage to property, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and five counts of illegal discharge of a firearm, said Lt. Brian McGregor, spokesman for the Kenner Police Department. Detectives say Rhodes was one of two gunmen who opened fire on one another in the parking lot of the small shopping center at 3104 Loyola Drive, Kenner, around 9:40 p.m. on March 16. An unidentified 20-year-old man was shot in the leg and bullets damaged an occupied car parked near the violence. Detectives received a tip that Rhodes had been involved in the shootout, which stemmed from a longstanding neighborhood rivalry, McGregor said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Rhodes has convictions for conspiracy to commit simple robbery and simple burglary, authorities said. He was being held without bond Wednesday evening. The shooting is still under investigation. . . . . . . . . Anyone with information about the shootout is asked to call Detective Bryan Weiter at 504.712.2333. The public can also call Crimestoppers at 504.822.1111 or toll-free at 877.903.7867. Tips can be texted to C-R-I-M-E-S (274637); text TELLCS then the crime information. An Orleans Parish jury deliberated about one hour before deciding Tuesday (April 24) that 31-year-old Trae Williams was guilty of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of his uncle in Algiers, according to the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office. The verdict comes less than a year after a different jury deadlocked on whether Williams was guilty in the death of 52-year-old Eddie "Beanie" Salvant III. This time, jurors voted 10-2 to convict Williams, according to the Orleans Public Defenders' office. Salvant was killed outside of his mother's home in Algiers, near the intersection of Eliza and Leboeuf streets, on April 9, 2014. Williams was booked in Salvant's slaying in July 2014 and three months later charged with second-degree murder by an Orleans Parish grand jury. Williams was tried for the same fatal shooting in June 2017, but that murder trial ended in a mistrial when a jury deadlocked after about four hours of deliberations, according to a June 2017 NOLA.com |The Times-Picayune article. In the absence of a murder weapon or video evidence, the prosecution's case last June leaned on a sole eyewitness -- and whether jurors found that witness credible despite a deal cut with the DA's office. The witness came forward two months after the shooting, after he was arrested on burglary and drug-related charges. In exchange for his testimony, the DA's office reduced the witness's number of burglary counts and agreed to a punishment range on the lighter end of the scale. Williams' public defenders Sierra Thompson and Amanda Fraser attacked the witness's reliability while calling the state's case threadbare. Prosecutors Inga Petrovich and Taylor Anthony argued that jurors should have still found the witness credible due to the risk assumed in testifying as an eyewitness. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The same prosecutors and defense attorneys argued the case again this week, with the exception of Fraser. Public defender Brian Woods instead joined Thompson in representing Williams. This time, the jury seemed to give more credibility to the state's witness. "We are grateful that this jury was able to see through defense efforts to discredit the eyewitness to this killing, and reached a just verdict holding this defendant accountable for his deadly conduct," Orleans Parish DA Leon Cannizzaro said in a news release. The Orleans Public Defenders' office declined to comment. The 2017 NOLA.com|The Times-Picayune story noted that Cannizzaro's office had struggled to convict Williams, who was found not guilty two years ago in a separate Algiers shooting. In that shooting, which seriously injured a 35-year-old man in May 2014, Williams was charged with attempted second-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm by a felon. Williams was found not guilty in July 2016, after a key witness for the state failed to show. Williams, who faces 13 to 80 years in prison, is scheduled for sentencing June 8 before Orleans Criminal District Judge Paul Bonin. Johnie Lewis Miller, better known as the French Quarter street performer "Uncle Louie," pleaded guilty Wednesday (April 25) to second-degree murder in connection with a fatal 1974 shooting in Jacksonville, Fla., according to the 4th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office. In exchange for his guilty plea, Miller, 61, was sentenced to the time he's already served in jail -- 344 days. Miller was released after the hearing, according to the Florida Times-Union. Miller, who for more than 20 years has been performing in the Quarter in an Uncle Sam suit, was arrested May 16, 2017, by New Orleans police. He was linked to the May 22, 1974, murder of 34-year-old Freddie Farah, a father of four who owned the Grand Park Food Store, through fingerprints found on three items left on the counter before the shooting and attempted armed robbery. Those items were a box of cake mix, an opened soda and a can of cake frosting, according to records provided by the 4th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office. An eyewitness to the murder and attempted robbery, Annette Bryant Williams, was 14 at the time. She remembered the entire incident in detail when contacted by detectives in 2016, according to the state attorney's office. The items Williams said the gunman left behind were dusted for fingerprints in 1974, but investigators were unable to find a match at the time, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams told NOLA.com last year. Detectives tested the fingerprints again in 1998, and again they found no match, he said. Results of another test in 2016 came back with a hit on Miller, Williams said. At the time of his arrest, Miller denied shooting Farah, and also denied he was ever in the Grand Park Food Store, according to the state attorney's office. Annette Williams was expected to be the state's key witness in Miller's trial, but she died unexpectedly in December, according to the state attorney's office. The state said its case was weakened without her testimony. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Miller was charged with first-degree felony murder, and faced life in prison if convicted of that charge. Through his plea agreement, Miller pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder and was sentenced to time served. Miller also agreed to meet with Farah's family to answer questions about the crime. According to the state attorney's office, that meeting took place on April 20. A court filling in the case said, "The defendant has acknowledged his guilt. And importantly, Mr. Farah's family has received a unique opportunity to receive answers to their long held questions." Bobby Farah, who was 6 at the time his dad was killed, told the Times-Union his family is "ready to move forward." "Pretty much everything I asked him, he had a legitimate answer," he told the newspaper about the family's meeting wth Miller. "I felt he was very truthful. He was very remorseful. If he didn't tell me he was sorry 50 times, he probably said it 100 times." Victim impact statements from Farah's wife and four children, who were 5, 6, 8, and 11 when he was killed, were read in court Wednesday. The statements were provided to NOLA.com by the state attorney's office. Farah had a strong work ethic and could fix almost anything, and his death had a profound impact on each of children, they said in statements to the court. They spoke highly of their mom, Nadya, "the glue that held our family together." "I would always look at elderly couples holding hands and strolling together and wonder if we would have been like them," Nadya Farah said. "A big void was always present in our hearts and in our minds." Advances in technology have convinced many educators that it is only a matter of time until students nationwide receive school lessons with tools that were once only available in science-fiction films. With this in mind, one school in Uptown New Orleans is giving their students an opportunity to learn with the latest technology from Google. Ursuline Academy students in kindergarten through 12th grade Wednesday (April 23) participated in Google's Pioneer Program on the school's campus. Students ages 5 and up used Expeditions AR, an unreleased feature of Google's Expeditions technology, to bring 3D objects like dinosaurs and military artillery directly to students' desks. Google provided Ursuline with selfie sticks and smartphones equipped with the Expeditions app to teach and engage students at "an entirely new level," Ursuline president Karen McNay said. The private, all-girls school held 20 sessions throughout the school day beginning at 8:35 a.m. In one session, 9th and 10th graders were seen scanning QR codes with the smartphones to activate the 3D objects, which spawned upon desks and floors as students audibly gasped. Jessica Baker, Ursuline's director of curriculum and instruction, said it is important to use the technology to encourage its students to enter STEM career fields. Some New Orleans residents are already familiar with augmented reality following the release of Pokemon Go for smartphones in 2016. Ursuline is the first school in Orleans Parish, and the fourth school statewide, that has received an opportunity to use Google's Expeditions AR, Baker said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Although Baker said Ursuline already uses Google Cardboard to provide some teaching using virtual reality, she hopes that more schools in the future will be able to employ VR in class lessons throughout Louisiana. Check out the video above to watch the private school's experience with augmented reality. . . . . . . . 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. The invasive Cuban treefrog, whose secretions can burn skin and eyes, and which can outcompete native Louisiana treefrogs, has established a breeding colony in Audubon Zoo and The Fly that is not likely to be eradicated and could spread to the state's coastal wetlands with potentially devastating impact, according to researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey and the zoo. While individual Cuban treefrogs have been found in several locations in Louisiana over the years, this is the first time that a population large enough to establish itself in the state has been found, said Brad "Bones" Glorioso, a research ecologist with the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center in Lafayette and native of Chalmette. Glorioso is the lead author of a paper outlining how the treefrogs are believed to have arrived in New Orleans in the April edition of the science journal Biological Invasions. "The potential for dispersal of individuals into surrounding neighborhoods and other areas is high," the study said. "Cuban treefrogs might easily stow away on vehicles at Audubon Zoo and Park, or on debris, boats, and barges in the Mississippi River, to reach new destinations." Glorioso is especially concerned that the frogs may become established in nearby natural areas like the Barataria Unit of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, on the West Bank. "This potential, and perhaps inevitable, invasion to these more natural areas would almost certainly negatively impact native treefrogs in the area and may have other unknown consequences," the study said. "Unfortunately, eradication of this novel population is improbable, but future research will continue to employ systematic searches of the area to remove Cuban treefrogs and further monitor their ecology and impacts." The zoo had imported palm trees and other plant materials from Florida in early 2016 for its Asian exhibit, elephant exhibit and gator run area, "and we surmised they might have come in with the landscape material shipments," said Joel Hamilton, vice president and general curator for the zoo, and a co-author of the paper. "But we don't know for sure." According to the paper, palm trees from Lake Placid, Fla., where the Cuban treefrogs are already established, were among those planted at the zoo's elephant exhibit. "It was soon thereafter that elephant keepers began noticing unusual treefrogs in the quarantine area" of the exhibit, the paper said. Hamilton said the keepers found the frogs at the elephant barn several times while they were disinfecting it, and, not recognizing that they were an invasive species and not wanting to harm them, moved the frogs to safety. According to the paper, the frogs were released along the southern fenceline of the zoo, adjacent to The Fly. In October 2016, Steven Gergen, a co-author of the paper who now works at the Audubon Nature Institute and was a student at Loyola University, asked Loyola University communications professor Bob Thomas - a herpetologist -- to look at one of the frogs, which resulted in its identification as the invasive Cuban treefrog. That's when zoo officials contacted the USGS and began capturing and euthanizing frogs they found. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up When more suspected Cuban treefrog tadpoles and juveniles were spotted in Riverview and on The Fly, the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative began its investigation into whether they had established a breeding population, Glorioso said. This is the farthest distance -- more than 430 miles -- that the invasive treefrog has been found from the nearest known population, which is in Florida, and it's the first known breeding population found outside of Florida, according to the study. It was first introduced to Florida in Key West, where it was identified in 1931, and had become established on the Florida mainland by 1951. Today, it's found as far north in Florida as a line that runs from Cedar Key on the West Coast through Gainesville to Jacksonville. Glorioso said the Cuban treefrog, the largest treefrog species in North America, can grow as large as the size of a fist and can drive native frogs out of their territory, often eating their competitors. While they can produce year round in Florida's warmer temperatures, he believes they're likely to be limited -- but not wiped out -- by cold snaps like the ones that have hit south Louisiana during the past few months. The frogs are adept at finding hiding places during daytime and generally come out to hunt for food after dark, Glorioso said. They've been found in many places where one would expect to find mosquitos nesting, including wet areas on the ground, containers, plastic pvc pipes, in cracks of wooden posts, and even in bamboo fences, he said. The USGS has set up listening devices - called "frog logs" - on The Fly and in the zoo aimed at monitoring frog calls that scientists can use to determine when the Cuban treefrogs are active. Cuban treefrogs' call is distinctive. Biologist Paul Moler of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recorded them in South Florida. Credit: Paul Moler, used with permission. Green treefrogs call from their favorite habitat, rivers and lakes. They're native to Louisiana and to Florida, where these were recorded. Credit: Paul Moler, used with permission. (Photo by Brian Gratwicke, USGS) Squirrel treefrogs are also native to Florida and Louisiana. Hear them calling from ditches, puddles and other ephemeral pools of water. Credit: Paul Moler, used with permission. (Photo by William J. Barichivich, USGS Southeastern Ecological Science Center) In south Florida, the frogs are known to invade bird houses and bird baths, and have even been linked to power outages after finding their way into electrical switch boxes. Glorioso said that with their expected expansion into other areas of Uptown in New Orleans, homeowners should keep children away from the frogs because the secretions from their skin can burn human skin and eyes. "In Florida, officials tell homeowners to put on gloves when handling, to catch the animals and humanely euthanize them," he said." A little benzocaine rubbed on their belly puts them to sleep permanently. Some people just throw them in a freezer, and that works, too." About 40 military members visiting New Orleans for Navy Week made a pit stop in Belle Chasse Tuesday (April 24.) Navy sailors and Marines volunteered their time at the Woodlands Trail and Park, where they chopped down vines and weeds and replaced damaged sections of two bridges. The event was coordinated with NetWork Volunteers as part of a series of service projects during NOLA Navy Week. The projects went before a selection committee and were presented to the Pentagon for approval. Sailors and Marines hiked in about three miles along the Woodlands Trail to a grouping of 10 cement structures used for ammunition storage during World War II. There, they used machetes and hedge trimmers to clear vines and weeds from around the historic structures. The site was owned by the U.S. government from the late 1930s to the early 1960s. Back then, black powder used in battle ships and torpedo warheads was brought to the property for storage, according to the Woodlands Conservancy website. Ammunition was then moved to docking areas along the Mississippi River to be shipped to the South Pacific during World War II. The storage facilities were used up until the Korean War. In the early 1960s, the property was turned over to the state of Louisiana, Plaquemines Parish Government and Tulane University. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up On Tuesday (April 24), the military returned to the site -- this time to give the structures a facelift. Within an hour and a half, they had cleared much of the weeds and ivy that blanketed the 10 ammunition storage structures, said Carly Schwarz, a program assistant with the Woodlands Conservancy. "Honestly, I was kind of amazed," she said. The conservancy would like to apply to get the structures registered as historic sites in the future, Schwarz said. But the vines and weeds growing on the storage buildings threatened their structural integrity. Volunteering along the trail was a fun way to get outside, said U.S. Navy Petty Officer Third Class Malachi Barnes. "I thought it was cool to see a different part of Louisiana," he said. The U.S. Navy's USS Kearsarge arrived in New Orleans April 19 from its homeport of Norfolk, Va. The ship departed Wednesday for Florida. "New Orleans showed us such hospitality," Barnes said. "I think it was good to be able to give back." A proposal requiring abortion providers to make sure fetal remains are buried or cremated after a surgical procedure was among the pro-life measures that cleared the Senate Health and Welfare committee on Wednesday (April 25). Two of the proposals (HB 273) and (HB 891) by Rep. Frank Hoffman (R-Monroe) are updated versions of laws that were approved in 2016 but never enacted. They are currently being challenged in federal court. The current version of HB 273 approved by the committee limits the requirement of burial or cremation of the fetal remains to surgical abortions. The original bill appeared to broadly include abortions induced by a pill taken outside of a doctor's office. HB 891 was also challenged in its original form when it was enacted in 2016 because it restricted public funds given to any abortion provider or any organization that contracted with the abortion provider. Michelle Erenberg with LIFT Louisiana, an organization that advocates for improving access to women's healthcare, spoke out against the bill arguing that it would force providers such as Planned Parenthood to make a choice between offering abortion services or providing health services to Medicaid patients. "This just further restricts the care that low-income women can receive," said Erenberg. Planned Parenthood currently does not provide abortions in Louisiana. There are only three abortion providers in the state. Sen. Regina Barrow (D-Baton Rouge) offered to amend the bill to state specifically that Medicaid funding would not go toward abortion services, but providers who offer other health services, such as STI testing and screening in addition to abortion would still be allowed to reimburse those costs through Medicaid. Barrow ended up withdrawing the amendment after Rep. Hoffman said, "this is a pro-life bill. If you do abortions, you can't receive any Medicaid funding period. If Planned Parenthood starts doing abortions, they wouldn't receive any Medicaid funding. We are trying to make this a pro-life state." "We also have to take care of people after they are born--that's what pro-life means," countered Sen. Jay Luneau (D-Alexandria). He challenged both proposals arguing that similar versions of the bills have already been held up in court, leading to costly litigation. "We have spent millions on trying to pass bills that have been struck down as unconstitutional," he said. On Tuesday (April 24) the state Senate approved a controversial ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy authored by state Sen. John Milkovich (D-Shreveport). The proposal, which still must be approved in the House, has also come up against debate that it would lead to costly legal challenges. It closely mirrors a similar law approved in March in Mississippi, which was challenged in court within 24 hours of being signed by the governor. Louisiana's version was amended to say that it would only go into effect if the Mississippi statute is upheld in federal court. Maria Clark writes about health, doctors, patients and healthcare in Louisiana for NOLA.com | The Times Picayune and NOLA Mundo. Reach her at mclark@nola.com or 504.258.5306. Or follow her on Twitter at @MariaPClark1 . Graphics shows China publishes a report on the United States' human rights situation on April 24, 2018. (Xinhua/Meng Lijing) BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- China Tuesday published a report on the United States' human rights situation. The report, titled "Human Rights Record of the United States in 2017," was released by the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 issued by the U.S. State Department on April 20. A chronology of human rights violations by the United States in 2017 was also released by the office Tuesday. China's report said the United States posed once again as "the guardian of human rights" and a self-styled "human rights judge" while its own human rights record remained tarnished and showed continued deterioration. The report accused the United States of serious infringement on citizens' civil rights, systematic racial discrimination, severe flaws in American-style democracy, widening rich-poor divide, and discrimination and assault against some specific groups such as women, children and people with disabilities, as well as its continued violations of human rights in other countries. The report noted that on the evening of Oct. 1, 2017, almost 60 people were killed and more than 800 injured in a mass shooting in Las Vegas, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The report pointed out that American women face obvious discrimination as well as serious threats of sex harassment and infringement, while the poverty, health and safety problems for children in the United States were worrisome. In October 2017, the scandal erupted concerning American film producer Harvey Weinstein who sexually harassed a number of female stars. The "#MeToo" campaign was initiated on social media platforms to encourage victims to protest against the widespread sex harassment and infringement, receiving active responses from more than 1 million people, according to the report. It also quoted some reports of polls of American academics saying that the respondents believed that American democracy is "drowning in money." Race relations in the United States continued to deteriorate in 2017, and racial discrimination exists in law enforcement and judicial organs, the report noted. Black male offenders received sentences on average of 19.1 percent longer than those of "similarly situated" white male offenders, it said, citing a report of the U.S. Sentencing Commission released in November 2017. The report also stressed that rich-poor divide expanded in the United States, with an increasing number of homeless people. Official statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau showed more than 40 million American people were living in poverty. Nearly half of them, 18.5 million, were living in deep poverty. According to the report, the U.S.-led military operations in other countries have caused heavy civilian casualties. The Guantanamo Bay detention camp continued to detain and torture foreigners. The United States also made cyber warfare tools, hacking and spying on foreign networks. Military operations in Syria caused a large number of civilian casualties, the report said, citing media reports. The U.S.-led coalition and U.S. Marines have reportedly bombed or shelled at least 12 schools, 15 mosques and 15 bridges as well as residential neighborhoods, hospitals, cultural relics and a refugee camp, according to www.motherjones.com. The Muslim Times website reported on June 24, 2017 that the U.S. military had attacked Syrian government forces "at least four times in recent months," including a missile strike in April against a Syrian airfield. Myles Hoenig, an American political analyst, said the United States was violating the UN Charter by conducting a war of aggression against Syria. Related: Full text: Human Rights Record of the United States in 2017 Report exposes abuse of power by U.S. police Racial discrimination aggravates social split in America: report Report says U.S. rich-poor divide widening U.S. women, children suffer from discrimination, safety problems: report Report exposes flaws in American-style democracy Report lists continued U.S. human rights violations in other countries The state will soon be pushing the locally elected officials of Powhatan out of the way to administer the finances of the northwest Louisiana village that in mid-July had only $105 in its general fund and is hiring a cop to drum up some money from U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and French President Emmanuel Macron attend a joint press conference at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, April 24, 2018. Macron is on a state visit to the United States from Monday to Wednesday. (Xinhua/Yang Chenglin) WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer will travel to China in a few days for trade talks. "In fact, we're having Secretary Mnuchin and a couple of other folks heading over to -- Bob Lighthizer -- heading over to China," Trump said at a press conference with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House. "They (Chinese officials) came here, as you know, last week. And we're having very substantive discussions on trade," Trump said, referring to bilateral discussions of trade on the sidelines of spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which concluded here last week. During the spring meetings, Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, and other financial leaders around the world called on the United States and China to resolve trade tensions through dialogues and rules-based multilateral institutions. "I believe the trade will work out ... hopefully it'll be good for everybody concerned," Trump said. Trump's remarks came after Mnuchin said Saturday that he was considering a trip to Beijing to discuss trade issues with his Chinese counterparts. "China has received the information about the U.S. side hoping to come to Beijing for consultations on economic and trade issues and we welcome it," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on Tuesday. "I want to stress that China-U.S. economic ties are mutually beneficial in nature and have long been delivering tangible benefits to the business communities and consumers of the two countries," Lu said. The Trump administration has recently threatened to impose tariffs on up to 150 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese imports, while China has vowed to retaliate against U.S. exports if the Trump administration moves forward with the tariffs. "These problems can be solved through bilateral consultations or within a commonly recognized multilateral framework. However, they can never be solved through unilateral means," said the Chinese spokesperson. Unilateralism and trade protectionism will inevitably harm others without benefiting oneself as the global economy is deeply integrated, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said last week. Citing a report from the Brookings Institution, Hua said a U.S.-China trade war would result in a loss of more than 2.1 million jobs in 2,700 U.S. counties. "Cracking the Code: The Real Cost of Health Care," a joint project of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, WVUE-Fox 8 and Clear Health Costs, has been named the recipient of three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, which recognize excellence in broadcast and digital journalism. The wins qualify the series for consideration for national Murrow honors, which will be announced in June. News of the local Murrow wins -- in the categories of continuing coverage, excellence in innovation, and news series -- comes two weeks after "Cracking the Code" was honored with a Peabody Award nomination. The project, which involved a months-long investigation into local health-care pricing, was launched in April 2017 to help consumers navigate the often-frustrating world of medical pricing and explore the ways providers, insurers and regulators can improve the system. Central to the project was a database of health-care prices using reporters' researched prices as well as those provided by readers of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, viewers of WVUE-Fox 8 and users of Clear Health Costs. The project was led by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune reporter Jed Lipinski and senior news editor Manuel Torres; by Fox 8 investigative reporter Lee Zurik; and by Jeanne Pinder, founder and CEO of Clear Health Costs. NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune and Fox 8 have been news-gathering partners since 2013. "The partnership between NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune and Fox 8, now in its fifth year, is a model for how local newsrooms can collaborate to produce important journalism for their communities," said Mark Lorando, editor of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune and vice-president of content for NOLA Media Group. "These honors are especially gratifying because of the essential role our readers, Fox-8's viewers and Clear Health Cost's users played in the reporting. Engaged audiences are good for journalism." Separately, the WVUE series "State of Unrest" earned regional Murrow Awards in the investigative reporting and documentary categories; and its "Transplant Tourism" series won in the hard news category. In addition, WVUE anchor John Snell was honored in the Excellence in Writing category for his series "Coast in Crisis." The Edward R. Murrow Awards, named after the iconic broadcaster, have been bestowed annually since 1971 by the Radio Television Digital News Association, in recognition of the best broadcast and digital journalism of the past year. For a full list of 2018 regional honorees, visit the RTDNA website. "This is a tremendous honor for everyone at WVUE," station Vice President and General Manager Tim Ingram said in a news release. "To be the most honored station in the region is very gratifying, but the most important thing is that we are committing quality journalism daily for the people of New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana. That's absolutely what's most important." The Murrow Awards have recognized the partnership of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune and WVUE Fox 8 News before. Their joint series "Louisiana Purchased," an investigation of money and corruption in state politics, won consecutive national Murrow Awards in 2014 and 2015. In addition, "Cracking the Code" this Monday was honored with a national SPJ Sigma Delta Chi award for Public Service. Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed the importance of ecological restoration along the Yangtze River while inspecting work in Hubei Province. Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects the ecological restoration along the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei Province. [Photo: Xinhua] Xi Jinping says that the construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt must adopt rules and regulations, and develop suitable industries, on the premise of maintaining ecological protection. "The construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt requires an overall protection as well as scientific and orderly development. We must first set a rule and put the ecological restoration of the Yangtze River first to protect the mother river of the Chinese nation. Destructive development must be forbidden, said Xi, I hope the enterprises will take the lead in this regard and prosper on the path of scientific and sustainable development." President Xi has also urged innovation as he spoke with engineering and technical staff at the Three Gorges Project in Yichang. "The going is the toughest towards the end of a journey. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will not be an easy process. We must rely on our own efforts, and hold the great strength in our hands. Independent innovation capability should be enhanced by unremitting efforts," said the President Xi Jinping also says coordinated development must be achieved in various sectors like water, roads, ports, wetlands and the environment along the Yangtze River region. China's cabinet approved plans in February to draw ecological "red lines" to strengthen environmental protection, including 11 regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The government has also issued policies to strengthen protection of wetlands along the Yangtze River to address pollution and reclamation challenges. Foreign Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries have met in Beijing in preparation for the upcoming Qingdao Summit. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says the June meeting is going to produce significant results. SCO foreign ministers' have met for the first time since the organization expanded its ranks last year to include India and Pakistan as full members. The goal of the sessions in Beijing has been to establish a political mandate for the Qingdao Summit. Foreign ministers from the eight member-countries have exchanged views on common international concerns, reaching several agreements which have been included in the signing of 14 separate documents. Wang Yi speaks at the SCO Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs Meeting in Beijing, on April 24, 2018. [Photo: fmprc.gov.cn] Wang Yi says the documents are mostly draft versions of various agreements which will be submitted to the Qingdao Summit for further review before adoption. "All parties have agreed to continue strengthening cooperation in law enforcement and security. We're also going to submit draft documents around fighting extremism, separatism, and terrorism to the Qingdao Summit for review. We've also scheduled a vice-ministerial meeting of the SCO Afghanistan Liaison Group in Beijing next month. It will help facilitate the process of political reconciliation, as well as the creation of a better environment for regional security." The Qingdao Summit marks a return of the SCO annual meeting to China following the Beijing Summit in 2012. Wang Yi says this year's meeting is going to gather numerous world leaders beyond the 8 SCO permanent members. "The Qingdao Summit is like a reunion of the SCO family. In addition to the eight member states and four observer states, guests from invited countries, as well as heads of states from these countries and international organizations will gather to discuss development and cooperation strategies. They will review experiences and make plans for the future of the organization. The summit will definitely improve the influence of SCO in the international community and create a new starting point for the organization." As part of Tuesday's sessions, Wang Yi has suggested the group should try to live up to the "Shanghai Spirit," which includes deepening security cooperation and promoting integrated development. The June session in Qingdao will also be Pakistan and India's first official summit as full SCO members. Apr 25, 2018 JB Chandini, who was last seen in Mannar Vagaiyara, has a slew of releases this year, including Raja Ranguski with Metro Shirish and Vanangamudi with Arvind Swami. She has been roped in for a female centric horror thriller, titled AiLa, which is an acronym of Aishwarya Lakshmi. Directed RV Suresh, the film has Arul Shankar, who played the antagonist in Vijay Antonys Yeman, and actor Dileepan in pivotal roles. The film went on floors recently. While Hemanth a former assistant of Vettri, handles the camera, Krishanchethan composes the tracks. About the film Chandini was quoted as saying, AiLa is a women-centric film. Though its got horror elements, I wouldnt call it an out-and-out horror film. Theres also a nice twist to it. The script gives me a lot of scope to perform and Im glad that I got such a film so early in my career. The film will go on floors from July, and will be shot in Chennai and Kerala, as well as in Europe where a song will be shot. Click the Movie button below for more info: AiLa Chandini Tamilarasan Pictures North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has offered his condolences to the Chinese victims of a deadly bus crash. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits injured Chinese citizens in hospital on April 24, 2018, after a major road accident. [Photo: VCG] A tourist bus fell from a bridge late Sunday south of Pyongyang, killing 32 Chinese tourists and four North Koreans. Two Chinese survivors are in critical condition in hospital. Kim Jong Un went to China's embassy on Monday, and also personally visited the surviving Chinese tourists in hospital. He has sent his condolences to President Xi Jinping as well as China's communist party and government via the Chinese ambassador. He's also promising full support for treating the injured and coordinating with the Chinese side to handle the crash aftermath. Chinese President Xi Jinping has also called for a full-scale investigation, dispatching a Chinese working group, including medical experts, to North Korea to help treat the survivors and assist the probe into the incident. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has expressed China's appreciation for the North Korean leader's visit to the injured Chinese citizens. A ministry spokesperson says China and North Korea are in close communication and coordination. Three Chinese tourists were killed and eight others wounded on Tuesday in a traffic accident on Egypt's Cairo-Alexandria highway north of the country, the Chinese Embassy in Egypt told Xinhua. A travel van carrying a group of 11 Chinese tourists overturned into a ditch by the roadside, said Guo Hualong, director of the counselor affairs at the Chinese Embassy to Egypt. A travel van carrying a group of 11 Chinese tourists overturned into a ditch by the roadside on Egypt's Cairo-Alexandria highway on April 24, 2018. [Photo: CCTV] The Egyptian van driver and tour guide were also wounded in the crash. Guo noted that the group was in Egypt on a tour organized by a Shenzhen-based travel agency. Alexandria Governor Mohamed Sultan said in a statement that the van, which carried 11 Chinese and two Egyptians, the tour guide and the driver, hit another bus at the Cairo-Alexandria desert road due to speeding. Sultan said that he rushed to the accident scene accompanied by Xu Nanshan, consul general of China's Consulate General in Alexandria, to check on the wounded. The governor noted the three Chinese tourists killed included two women and a man, adding that Alexandria security department has taken required legal measures and is currently investigating the collision. "The injured tourists have been sent to Mostafa Kamel military hospital for necessary treatment," he said. China plans to launch the Chang'e-5 lunar probe next year, which is expected to bring lunar samples back to the Earth, according to Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration (CNSA). A model of Change 5 lunar probe. [Photo: Xinhua] While addressing a space conference Tuesday, China's Space Day, Pei said that the Chang'e-5 lunar probe will be very complex, containing four parts: an orbiter, a returner, an ascender and a lander. The lander will put moon samples in a vessel in the ascender after the Moon landing. Then the ascender will take off from the Moon to dock with the orbiter and the returner orbiting the Moon, and transfer the samples to the returner, Pei said. The orbiter and returner then head back to the Earth, separating from each other when they are several thousands of kilometers from the Earth. Finally, the returner will make its way back to the Earth, according to Pei. After fulfilling the three steps of its lunar probe program -- orbiting, landing and returning -- China will conduct further exploration of the Moon, including landing and probing the polar regions of the Moon, said Tian Yulong, secretary general of CNSA. China will further develop its space industry after the unmanned lunar exploration is accomplished and its own space station is established around 2022. Many experts have proposed building a scientific research base on the Moon in the future, said Wang Liheng, a senior consultant of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Manned lunar landing and exploration are a common desire for humanity and a springboard to go deeper into space. Setting up a scientific research base on the Moon would enable scientists to conduct research, gain experience and lay the foundation for future cosmic exploration, Wang said. A Ugandan doctor has called for more research into infertility as a health condition. Dr Mark Muyingo, the co-founder and managing director of the Neogenesis Fertility Centre, says he has noted that few health workers are paying attention to a condition that affects as many as 70 million couples around the world. This, he recently told The Observer, constitutes 15 per cent of people in their reproductive lifespan. According to data from the World Health Organisation, in sub-Saharan Africa more than 30 per cent of women aged 2549 years have secondary infertility, the failure to conceive after an initial pregnancy. Muyingos clinic has devoted itself to reproductive health and has theories about why this is happening. Infertility has a number of causes that range from tubal blockage to lifestyle choices which may compound a pre-existing condition, he says. For example, the type of food we eat or smoking and drinking. These are likely to impact on fertility. He defines infertility as the inability to conceive after one year of trying for couples below 35 years. His clinic is approaching infertility differently, by offering empathy to patients due to the stigma attached to the problem, as well as helping to educate reproductive health care specialists on possible solutions. We want to bridge the gap between fixing the problem and being able to find common ground with the affected in a social and empathetic aspect, he said. The doctor admits that one of the biggest hindrances to getting the right help in infertility treatment is the tendency to rely heavily on traditional and spiritual remedies. When they finally come to [scientists], a condition which could have been adequately managed early enough, has become complicated, he says. We have learnt that in many cases, people subscribing to these alternatives are not helped yet theyve spent their precious time and resources. Infertility is not a diagnosis; it is a condition. So, if you dont make the right diagnosis then help is not likely to come by easily, he said. He adds that the most significant challenge for a couple is the womans age. The younger the woman, the easier it is to manage and solve her situation regardless of the condition affecting her fertility, he explains. As she grows older [usually above 35 years], her problem is compounded by the age as the womans ovarian reserve starts decreasing. He cautions that when it comes to world-class fertility treatment, the costs are usually a concern. Asked when a couple should start to worry about infertility, Muyingo stressed that first, its essential for the couple to understand that, infertility is treatable. For a young couple in their 20s, a wait of one to two years is fine. For a couple of 35 years old and above, it is advisable to see a specialist for consultation even after six months [of trying]. Muyingo observes that male infertility has been found to be the cause of a couples failure to conceive in about 50 per cent of cases. Its not caused by women only as widely perceived, he said. Usually, by-election defeats bring a sense of finality to a political feud. But in Jinja Municipality East constituency, an embarrassing NRM defeat at the voting booth in March has brought an unintended consequence: another court petition. After months of slights and a tough court battle, Paul Mwiru and Nathan Igeme Nabeta are again girding themselves for another court showdown that will certainly cost the taxpayer dearly and escalate tensions in the constituency. Nabeta, the losing National Resistance Movement flagbearer in the by-election concluded weeks ago, has petitioned the High court at Jinja to annul Mwirus victory. In the petition lodged on April 18, Nabeta accuses Mwiru and his agents or supporters of intimidating and frustrating his people into keeping away from the election. He alleges that violence, force, threats and cause of injury were fomented by Mwiru or his agents right from nomination, during the campaigns, through to polling day. This complaint arguably is a first for the ruling party. Often, it is the ruling party which has been accused by the opposition of trashing the principles of a free and fair election. The NRM has repeatedly been accused of conscripting the state machinery, deploying heavy security to intimidate, and of massive vote rigging and voter bribery. And now after another defeat, Nabeta is back in court. He has a right to do so, though. This will be almost the fifth court battle between these two since 2011. We cannot rule out a sixth court battle depending on which way the judgement swings. The Constitution allows petitions until six months to a general election. But these political fights in and outside court have done a lot to stoke social and political divisions in Jinja Municipality East. This last by-election brought the deep-seated tensions and hatred on both sides of the political divide into full public glare. Every election cycle brings with it violence, intimidation, arrests and harassment all borne by local voters. We only hope the two principals in this conflict could have found an amicable way of settling their political misunderstandings. Because ultimately, a repeat by-election, if court so orders, will hurt the election-fatigued electorate more. Politicians have to learn when to stop; to accept and gracefully embrace defeat. After all, the next opportunity in either 2021 or 2023 is not that far off for one to stage a comeback. China's space station Tiangong, which is scheduled to be completed in 2022, may surpass the International Space Station (ISS) in information, energy, power technology and operation cost efficiency ratio, reports the stdaily.com. A model of China's space station on display at Beijing International High-tech Expo in 2017 [Photo: IC] Zhou Jianping, Chief Designer of China Manned Space Engineering Program, said that from many aspects Tiangong will surpass the space station Mir (operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia) and be close to the level of ISS. Tiangong is designed with a core module and two experiment modules, holding three astronauts at a time and six astronauts during the rotation in the short term, said Zhou. With three docking ports, Tiangong allows manned spacecraft, cargo spacecraft and other crafts to dock. An optical module carrying Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will fly in the same orbit with Tiangong, getting repaired and supplied when docking with the space station, added Zhou. Tiangong will run in the orbit around 393 kilometers away from the earth for at least ten years. It may operate for more years after maintenance and be expanded based on scientific research demand. Just one or two generations ago, the industrialised countries didnt give a second thought to their consumption of water, gas or electricity, or to the prospect of global warming. Now, in the 21st century, these issues are a concern for the modern western population, and indeed for the entire world, and represent a key factor in practically every political, economic and societal agenda. On the microcosmic scale of the luxury business, the same will be true of ethically sourced gold. To say that this is currently a marginal issue within the sector is a very mild euphemism. For things to change, we generally have to wait for public opinion to shift substantially, and then the industry falls into line. This time, however, that wont be necessary. Chopard has already stepped up to the plate. Chopard's press conference at Baselworld 2018 Chopard Visionary approach The announcement made by Chopard during Baselworld caused scarcely a ripple, proving, alas, that the issue has not yet become a widespread concern. Beginning this year, all Chopard jewellery and watches will use 100% ethically sourced gold gold that comes with traceability and guarantees of decent working conditions and remuneration. There was no big bang, but there was at least a spark. It may make less noise, but its more useful for kindling a flame, enlightening clouded consciences, and tracing a path through the darkness. Is Chopard ahead of its time? Theres no doubt about it. The luxury business has not yet had a major ethical awakening. But why not? Miners from Macdesa mines, in Peru Chopard Pretexts First, because the luxury industry sells dreams, and ethical consumption is not the stuff that dreams are made of. What it comes down to is outlawing questionable practices that most people would prefer to believe dont exist. And yet, they do exist. Gold and silver extraction pollute the soil with mercury, miners work in appallingly dangerous conditions for pitiful wages and the natural environment is pillaged. And thats without factoring in the blood diamonds that have contributed to horrific bloodshed in Sierra Leone. And second, because the luxury business has always been quick to defend its sustainability. If a mechanical gold watch can keep ticking for several centuries, doesnt that make it sustainable by its very nature? But its a specious argument. Sustainable doesnt mean long-lasting. It implies ethical extraction, remuneration and processing. First steps But the picture is not all bad. Organisations such as the RJC (Responsible Jewellery Council) are now working in concert with the biggest watch and jewellery companies to supply gems with guaranteed designation of origin. Chopards initiative is a logical extension of this approach. But what is completely unique about it is its scope and breadth. Chopard introduced its ethical gold programme, called Fairmined, to its jewellery ranges in 2013, and followed through with watches the following year. Since 2014, 533 Fairmined watches have been produced, out of an annual production of almost 80,000 pieces. In other words, barely 0.2% of Chopards annual watch production was made from ethically sourced gold an utterly insignificant proportion. And yet it is vastly more than the rest of the industry, which has achieved a total of 0%. Virtually no companies today use ethical gold, or even recycled gold. L.U.C XPS Fairmined Chopard Quantum leap Today, Chopard has made a quantum leap: as from July 2018, 100% of its production will be made of ethically sourced gold. That means the remaining 99.8% of its watches, plus 100% of Chopards jewellery. Its a giant step forward for an industry that has taken an extraordinarily long time to even begin considering the subject. Jean-Claude Biver, president of LVMHs watch division, said this was an excellent initiative which we obviously support wholeheartedly. He added mischievously that he was happy that we are not always the first ones, or the only ones, with good initiatives! Nevertheless, he doesnt think it will change much as far as his own businesses are concerned. We use very little gold, because we are first and foremost a disruptive, avant-garde, technical brand, and gold does not play the same central role for us that it does for the more traditional jewellery brands. Two key issues remain: timing and supply. Why now? Because we calculated that in 2018 we could move over to 100% ethical gold, even on a technical level, which demands that the ethically sourced gold is never mixed with the regular kind, explains Chopards co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele. As far as supply is concerned, Chopard joined the SBGA (Swiss Better Gold Association) in 2017 in order to increase the quantity of gold extracted ethically. Now its up to the clients to follow. To share with friends and brethren The Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (the Everlasting Gospel), and to prepare a people to stand when He returns to redeem His remnant. Also, to share relevant information of current events, and to show how they relate to prophecy; By means of articles, editorials, opinions, scripture readings, and poetry. Disclaimer Endrtimes does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article/video posted on this site. The information provided here is done so for personal edification; It's up to the reader to separate truth from error, and to examine everything (like the Bereans) from a Biblical perspective. Let the Holy Scriptures be you guide! - - - FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/videos may contain copyrighted () material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes. Egypt on Wednesday commemorates the 36th Sinai Liberation Day, which marks the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982 after a 15-year occupation Speaking on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of Sinai's liberation from Israeli occupation, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said the peninsula today faces renewed threats from terrorist groups. "It's obvious to everyone that the greed in Sinai has not ended, and while the threats have changed in nature, their seriousness has not decreased," the president said in a speech broadcast on TV. He referred to what he called "fierce attacks by terrorist groups backed and financed by countries and organized entities" over the past few years. Egypt on Wednesday commemorates the 36th Sinai Liberation Day, which marks the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982 after a 15-year occupation. The day is a national holiday. During his speech, El-Sisi praised Egypt's armed forces and police for their efforts to "besiege terrorism and tighten the screw on it." He said maintaining the security and stability of Egypt in "a difficult region and a turbulent world amidst lack of security around us, sectarian and political division, bloodshed and the collapse of states" is a " testament to the uniqueness and strength of this people and the capacity of its armed forces and institutions." In February, Egypt launched a major counter-terrorism initiative -- Operation Sinai 2018 -- by the army and police against terrorist and criminal elements and organizations. The campaign focuses on Sinai but also covers areas of the Nile Delta and Western Desert. Dozens of "takfiris" have been killed and hundreds other suspects arrested in the offensive. Search Keywords: Short link: Iraqs oil sector is the main source of the countrys income and its many woes, with some now mulling over its privatisation Related IS threatens Iraq polling stations ahead of vote When Iraqis head to the polls in parliamentary elections next month, the countrys oil industry will likely permeate the vote. The revenues it provides has greased Iraqi politics since the fall of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, and they are expected to continue to play this role from behind the scenes. Gross mismanagement and corruption in the oil industry are the causes of much of the inequality and discontent with the countrys ruling parties, since this in an industry that is not just Iraqs largest but that ought also to be one of its wealthiest sectors. Fixing Iraqs oil industry will have to be a main priority of whoever wins Iraqs next elections in order for the country not only to block efforts to siphon off Iraqs resources by major international companies but also to sustain its economic growth and development and to remain united. Signs are emerging that some in Iraqs ruling oligarchy may be ready to give privatisation of the oil industry the go-ahead, supposedly under plans to reform the poorly run sector. While officials have remained tight-lipped about the sensitive issue of privatising the countrys oil infrastructure, some analysts believe that Iraqs next parliament will face strategic choices in regard to the future of energy policy. Iraqis vote on 12 May in parliamentary elections that will help to determine whether the countrys fragile political system can end the sectarian fissures that divide Iraq and threaten to tear it apart. With expectations high that the upcoming vote will deepen communal divisions, Iraqs energy sector will likely remain in a mess, with revenues possibly remaining the major impetus for sectarian and ethnic conflicts. Earlier this month, Iraq abruptly postponed a new round of bidding for oil and gas tenders for 11 new blocks located in promising areas on the border with Iran and Kuwait. Baghdad had originally planned to award oil and gas exploration and development contracts for the new blocks on 15 April, but the countrys oil ministry said it was rescheduling the tenders for 26 April after introducing changes in the terms of the contracts. As many as 16 companies, including energy giants Exxon, Chevron, Total Eni, Lukoil, and Gazprom, have expressed their interest in taking part in this bidding round. Many of the worlds oil giants like BP, Exxon, Total, Royal Dutch Shell and Eni have operations in Iraq, whose oilfields account for around two-thirds of the countrys total production of around 4.4 million barrels of oil per day. Since the drop in international oil prices in 2014, some of these companies have been complaining of low returns and have been pushing for easier terms in the new contracts. Another hurdle emerged last week when it was disclosed that talks between Exxon Mobil and the Iraqi government on a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure contract had reached an impasse. Officials said negotiations over a project to build a water-treatment facility and the related pipelines needed to boost Iraqs oil-production capacity had hit difficulties because the two sides differed on contract terms and costs. The Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP), which is intended to supply water to more than six southern oilfields in Iraq, including Exxons existing West Qurna 1 field and BPs Rumaila, was initially planned to be completed in 2013 but has now been delayed until 2022. The collapse of the negotiations could deal a blow to Iraqs broader plans to develop its southern oilfields as part of the oil cartel OPECs second-largest producers plans to redouble its production capacities. While relationships with the foreign oil companies will remain uncertain, Iraqs new parliament is expected to face the daunting challenge of issuing the necessary legislation to overhaul the oil industry and make it a beacon of hope for all Iraqis. The Iraqi parliament voted on 5 March to create the Iraqi National Oil Company (INOC) with the stated objective of regulating oil production and exports and fairly distributing revenues to the different regions of Iraq. The Iraqi National Oil Company was first founded in 1964 to supervise oil exploration, drilling and production after Iraq took back control of 95 per cent of the Iraq Petroleum Company's concessions. The oil industry was nationalised in 1972 and foreign companies were excluded from operating. In April 1987, Iraq decided to merge INOC with the ministry of oil while creating the State Organisation for the Marketing of Oil (SOMO) to run all oil-transfer and sales operations. SOMOs operations will now be taken over by INOC. Under the new law, INOC will guarantee full sovereignty over Iraqs energy resources through managing the entire sector, including exploration, drilling, production, development and marketing. Iraqs oil industry remains fundamental to international energy markets, regional geopolitics, and Iraqs domestic prosperity, as well as to the countrys national unity. The pressing challenges of the future warrant the need for creative approaches to rebuilding the oil sector in Iraq in a purposeful and strategic way, avoiding a grab-bag containing the wishes of different interest groups. However, there are reasons to believe that something fishy is going on in Iraqs oil industry, and the controversy may relate to a hidden agenda to prepare to sell some of its assets to the private sector. Iraqs decision to push back the auctions to award the rights to develop its oil and gas fields to international companies and to create a national oil company have come under fire from lobbyists and market analysts working closely with international oil cartels. Many lobbyists have warned that the amendments made in previous contracts and the new terms for the new bidding, mainly the short review periods of the deals, are setbacks which will undermine investment in the energy sector. These critics argue that foreign investment and expertise are crucial for Iraq to meet its goal of pumping six million barrels a day of oil by 2020 as it overcomes decades of conflict and sanctions. The establishment of the new national oil company has also been a target of severe criticism. At the heart of the condemnation of the parliaments decision to create the national company is what lobbyists have termed populist policies. With fraud now so rampant, especially in the Iraqi oil sector, concerns have mounted over the future of Iraqs energy industry amid speculation that the controversy is a cover-up for plans to sell the industry, the core of Iraqs economy, to foreign and local investors. The plans are reminiscent of the post-Soviet era when most of Russias oil sectors privatisations which transferred state property into private hands mostly oligarchies associated with President Boris Yeltsin. This law will be harmful to Iraq, especially to its poor, if it is meant to be a prelude to privatising the Iraqi oil [sector] and taking the country towards destructive economic policies, wrote prominent Iraqi oil expert Fouad Qasim al-Amir in the magazineHiwar Mutamadin on 28 March. However, the idea of privatising the Iraqi industry has been on the agenda of western officials and members of the Iraqi post-Saddam elites even before these recent events. After the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, several US officials in the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and some of Iraqs new leaders floated the idea that Iraq's state-owned industry would benefit from privatisation. However, the idea was put on hold after an anti-occupation insurgency swept the country, and the then Bush administration in the US decided that privatisation should wait until a sovereign Iraqi government had taken the CPAs place. If discussions over the latest developments in Iraqs oil sector are related to the countrys rampant corruption, the possibility that the idea of privatising Iraqs oil industry will be on the agenda after next months elections cannot be excluded. In a country that evicted the foreign oil companies four decades ago, it remains to be seen if corruption, greed and the serving of foreign interests will triumph over nationalism and state and nation-building in Iraq. * This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: Qatar is obliged to send its troops to Syria if the country does not want to lose the military protection of the United States, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said Wednesday. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said that he wants countries in the Middle East to pay for what is happening in the region, and also wants those wealthy states to put soldiers on the ground, apparently referring to the fighting in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. "Qatar must send its troops to Syria before the US president [Donald Trump] denies US protection for Qatar, which is represented by a US military base on its territory," Jubeir said as quoted by the Saudi Foreign Ministrys media center. He stressed that if the United States ceased to ensure security to Qatar, the government of that country would be overthrown in less than a week. Search Keywords: Short link: Hotel Business News and Analytics Important! This article is written by orangesmile.com editors and is protected by copyright law. The article can only be re-used with a direct link to www.orangesmile.com NEWS BLOCKS: Best Western to Launch a Stylish Hotel in Vung Tau, Vietnam Best Western has announced their plans to expands its Vietnamese portfolio by opening a stylish beach resort in one of the most developing and up-and-coming destinations in the country. The new hotel will operate under the BW Premier Collection, also marking the launch of the hotel brand in the country. Already under construction, the hotel in Vung Tau will certainly find its guests as this city is not only the largest one in Ba Ria-Vung Tay province but also an emerging beach resort destination on the East Sea. Named Saint Simeon Resort, the hotel will combine elegance and modern design. The hotelier wants it to reflect both modern trends in the industry and traditional Vietnamese hospitality. The distance from Ho Chi Minh City to Vung Tau is only 100 kilometers, and this fact makes the resort appealing to local people who want to enjoy a weekend at the sea or simply escape the big city noise. For international travelers, it may be even more exciting to visit Vung Tau as this destination is not yet well-known to the majority of tourists, so it is a great chance to enjoy an authentic and unique vacation in Vietnam. The distance to Long Thanh International Airport, which is yet in plans, will be only 60 kilometers. The hotelier has already expressed their delight with the deal and thinks that their upscale BW Premier Collection brand is a great fit to the rapidly developing hospitality industry of the country. As hotels in Vung Tau are not numerous yet, Saint Simeon has a chance to become very successful. As it was mentioned before, the hotel is currently under construction and is expected to start welcoming guests in the first quarter of 2019. The hotel will have 135 guestrooms and suites, each of which will have a sleek design, free Wi-Fi, and up-to-date technologies support. Naturally, location is one of the best advantages of the new hotel. Saint Simeon hotel in Vung Tau will have a direct access to a well-kept sandy beach and will offer a range of amenities, such as national and international cuisine restaurants, outdoor pool, various lounge and relaxation areas, a serene spa center, and much more. According to the hotelier, BW Premier Collection brand is a perfect choice for this hotel. The brand becomes increasingly popular across Asia. Most developers choose it because Best Western offers support and access to customer base and loyalty network, but at the same time each BW Premier Collection hotel is unique and its design and style are tied to the location. The BW Premier Collection hotel in Nagasaki, Japan, became the first property by the new brand in Asia. The Vung Tau hotel will become the fourth property by this brand in the region. 25.04.2018Stay in touch with the latest news of a worldwide hotel industry. All up-to-date analytics, reports , and news about hotel business trends on OrangeSmile.com. Friends don't let friends eat bad dim sum. If you've been curious about the new, overhyped dim sum restaurant in Portland's Pioneer Place mall, do yourself a favor: Turn around, head east, cross the Hawthorne Bridge, then keep going until you pass Southeast 82nd Avenue. Master Kong, a new restaurant on this wide stretch of Division Street, specializes in a different kind of Chinese breakfast. The restaurant -- no relation to the Beijing-based beef noodle soup chain of the same name -- opened last month in a converted house next door to lingerie modeling shop X-otic tan ("for men"). The menu, printed on fluorescent-backed slats above the counter and laminated-photo flip cards at the table, mostly hails from two regions: Tianjin, the port city near Beijing where chef-owner Kang Zhu worked for more than a decade, and Taishan, the much smaller city west of Hong Kong where he and his family were born. That family includes sister Amy Zhu, who takes your order tableside and brings out hot tea to pour into small paper cups, as well as the siblings' mother and aunt, often found in the kitchen stuffing dumplings or warming broth on the stove. Kang Zhu is one of Portland's greatest chef chameleons. In addition to Master Kong, he owns Pot N Spicy, the dry Sichuan hot pot and skewer restaurant in the same 82nd Avenue complex as the great Vietnamese soup spot Teo Bun Bo Hue. According to Amy Zhu, her brother learned his way around China's regional cuisines while organizing banquet dinners at large hotel restaurants in Tianjin. Both sides of Master Kong's menu have their merits. From Taishan comes a silky congee floating with ghostly grains of rice and your choice of clams, firm whitefish or lobster; and a rich wonton soup with fresh noodles, an almost buttery broth and pork-shrimp-mushroom dumplings with thin skin wrapped tighter than Spanx. The congee's "cong" adds to the three- or even four-part pun in the restaurant's name. The wonton soup is among the best in town. But for Portland, the Tianjin menu is more novel. The deep-sea port city, which is slowly being ingested by greater Beijing, specializes in many of the same dishes as the capital. (Imagine if Astoria had high-speed rail and 15 million people and you're close.) You have probably had thick-skinned northern Chinese-style dumplings at Chinese Delicacy or Shandong. And you might have tried jian bing, the so-called "breakfast crepe," from downtown food carts Bing Mi or Stretch the Noodle. I prefer Master Kong's more pliable wraps, each cooked to order, painted with sweet and spicy sauces and filled with a little egg and two crunchy wonton sheets. You might not have tried goubuli. These steamed buns, one of China's fervently catalogued "Famous Snacks," look a bit like plump, rustic xiaolongbao, down to the recommended 18 folds sealing the top. Only goubuli aren't soupy, and the loose pork trapped inside is snuggled inside puffy white bun dough. That same stewed pork appears inside the circular, split-topped sandwiches known as roujiamo, another dish slowly making inroads in Portland. For dumplings, the usual soy sauce and black vinegar are on the table. Hot sauce and other condiments sit on the rail near the open kitchen. If you order the goubuli, Amy Zhu might bring out a small dish of mild and aromatic garlic-peanut oil for dipping. For now, Master Kong stretches its hours from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, with dinner-specific dishes available now and again. (Dumplings, of course, should be eaten at all times of day). But so far, the restaurant seems best suited as a breakfast and lunch spot, with traditional morning and noontime dishes from two distinct Chinese cities. It's not dim sum -- head just down the road to Pure Spice for that -- but unlike some dim sum newcomers, it's one you'll enjoy. MASTER KONG *** (Good) Master Kong is a new restaurant in Southeast Portland specializing in dishes from China's North and Southeast Recommended: Dumplings, goubuli, jian bing, congee, wonton noodle soup. Prices: Most dishes, $6.50-$7.50. Details: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily; 8435 S.E. Division St.; 971-373-8248 -- Michael Russell Just one week before debuting its first suburban Portland location, Portland's best known ice cream company announced plans to open at Downtown Disney, the shopping street at the entrance to the Happiest Place on Earth. "Disneyland is such a part of the fabric of America, and people come from all over the world to visit," Salt & Straw CEO Kim Malek tells The Oregonian/OregonLive. "We thought it would be pretty cool to offer a local take on that experience." Salt & Straw, which still makes its ice cream in five- and 10-gallon batches, has three Portland locations plus soft-serve shop Wiz Bang Bar; five more in Los Angeles, two each in San Francisco and Seattle and one in San Diego. Last May, the Portland-based company accepted a substantial investment from noted New York restaurateur Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group. Salt & Straw is also available in New York at Meyer's Daily Provisions Cafe. At the Anaheim shop, expected to open this fall, head ice cream maker Tyler Malek (Kim's cousin) will scoop some existing Salt & Straw flavors, new ones inspired by local ingredients, plus a special "classic Americana" menu designed specifically for Disneyland. -- Michael Russell If you run a popular French restaurant, it's a question you might expect to hear several times a week: Where do you eat when you're in France? But for St. Jack chef and co-owner Aaron Barnett, it was a consistent stumper. That's because, despite being the face one of Portland's best French restaurants, until last year he had never actually been to France. That all changed when a couple sitting at the chef's counter at his Northwest Portland restaurant popped that same tricky question. This time, once he had explained his situation, the couple, Helen and Richard Phillips, asked him if he might want to go along the next time they went. Last September, Barnett and the Phillipses ate their way through restaurants high and low, from three-Michelin star destination restaurants to chic neo-bistros in Paris' 11th Arrondissement to the wine-stained bouchons of Lyon. Starting next week, he's bringing a taste home. On Monday, Barnett will launch the first of an occasional dinner series celebrating a series of French chefs, starting with a dinner honoring the late Paul Bocuse on Monday, April 30. St. Jack chef Aaron Barnett and son Ewan eat at Bouchon des Carnivores in Lyon. "We've always had this desire to do an homage to the greats over the years," Barnett says. "But it's a fair amount of work." To lighten the load, Barnett reached out to a few friends in Portland's restaurant community, asking each to pick a French chef to celebrate in a collaborative dinner. Justin Woodward of Castagna picked Bocuse, the global celebrity who died in January. Sarah Pliner of Aviary picked the vegetable whisperer Roger Verge. Katy Millard of Coquine, who worked under Michel Troisgros, chose the Troisgros Family. Coincidentally, the three chosen chefs are considered the primary innovators behind the nouvelle cuisine movement, which took a lighter, fresher approach to French cooking starting in the 1960s. "Those three chefs were leading the charge for nouvelle cuisine, moving out of the super-heavy old guard cooking and into the French style of cooking that you might be more familiar with today," Barnett says. St. Jack began life as a rustic Southeast Portland take on the humble bouchons of Lyon. The restaurant moved to Northwest Portland in 2014 and has since evolved, becoming both less regional and more progressive. But expect the restaurant to pull out all the stops for their Bocuse dinner. Bocuse lived his whole life in Lyon, and Barnett calls his meal at the late chef's restaurant the highlight of last year's trip. "Paul Bocuse was definitely the favorite on the trip, in terms of how old school it was, watching a guy in a tuxedo break down a chicken that was inside a pig's bladder tableside, and it took him literally 45 seconds. I can't even butcher a chicken that fast," Barnett says. "Then the cheese cart pulls up and it's not just one cheese cart, it's four cheese carts. The dessert cart is the same. It was an insane amount of food. Nobody was right for two days." St. Jack, 1610 N.W. 23rd Ave., will transform into a classic French bistro -- white tablecloths and all -- for a series of collaborative dinners. Those include: Justin Woodward of Castagna for an Ode to Paul Bocuse on April 30; Sarah Pliner of Aviary cooking dishes from Roger Verge on June 4; and Katy Millard of Coquine channeling The Troisgros Family on July 9. Each dinner will feature three dishes each from Barnett and the guest chef and cost $150, including beverage pairings from sommeliers Brent Braun and Christopher Sky. Proceeds from the dinners go to SurfriderPDX, an organization attempting to eliminate plastic straws in Portland, with donations matched by the Helen and Richard Phillips Charitable Fund. Reservations are available at stjackpdx.com. -- Michael Russell With teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona having threatened to strike over low pay, a new report on the most up-to-date state-by-state estimates of teacher salaries makes clear that Oregon teachers are by no means in the same boat. In 2016-17, the average Oregon teacher made nearly $61,900 a year, higher than the national average of $59,700, the National Education Association reported Monday. Oregon ranked 13th highest for average teacher pay among the 50 states. Mississippi ($42,900), Oklahoma ($45,300), West Virginia ($45,600) ranked lowest, the report said. Arizona's average teacher pay of $47,400 was the eighth-lowest, it said. Oregon teachers have long been better compensated than most of their peers around the country. Their relatively high pay and benefits, when combined with the state's roughly average per-student spending, translate into some of the nation's biggest class sizes. But that became a bit less extreme in 2016-17, with Oregon teacher loads falling to No. 6 largest among the states. Until recently, Oregon's class sizes ranked third- or fourth-largest in the nation. Oregon improved class sizes in 2016 by adding nearly 700 teacher positions statewide, the study by the nation's largest teachers union said. Oregon Department of Education tallies for 2015 and 2016, while slightly higher than NEA's, also show an addition of 700 teaching jobs. That increase was made possible in part by a 4 percent increase in per-student allocation that year, the report indicates. Oregon's assistant superintendent for research, Brian Reeder, said that Oregon school funding rose substantially for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years from previous two-year state budgets. As a result, Reeder says he thinks Oregon genuinely was able to decrease class sizes both in real terms and relative to other states. John Larson, president of Oregon's teachers union, noted that Oregon's cost of living is higher than the national average. So above-average teacher pay is warranted, he said. "Total compensation should be at a competitive level to attract the best and the brightest, especially when our class sizes and caseloads are still so large," he said. FOR NUMBERS NERDS ONLY The National Education Association differs from the National Center for Education Statistics on how Oregon's per-student spending compares to national averages. Both groups say their primary sources of information are state education departments. In general, the teacher's union puts out information more quickly while the federal government statistics center vets its numbers more carefully. Both the national union researchers and the Oregon Department of Education agree within $2 of each other that Oregon teachers were paid an average salary of $61,860 in 2016-17. But the union says that Oregon's per-student spending was $11,600 in 2016-17 and that was almost identical to the national average. Meanwhile, the national school statistics center, which published figures for the 2014-15 school year a few months ago, said Oregon spent $10,500 per student that year, a figure it said was 9 percent below the U.S. average. In its calculations for thes same year, the union estimated Oregon's per-student spending was significantly higher and trailed the national average by only 5 percent. Reeder said the federal agency's figures are more reliable than the union's. The former are based on audited school district spending and enrollment figures; the latter are estimates based on a survey of state education departments. So the union's finding that Oregon's spending has reached national averages likely overstates Oregon's true standing. But Reeder said it's highly likely the state has closed its earlier 9 percentage point gap. -- Betsy Hammond A massive shakeup is underway at the headquarters of Oregon's largest school district. Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero slashed 65 positions in the central office, records obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive show. A breakdown of the reorganization, which was announced Monday, shows 31 people were laid off and 30 vacant jobs were eliminated. Four additional employees resigned, retired or transferred within the district, The district provided job titles but not names of affected employees. Communications, information technology and operations took major hits. See the list of affected jobs here. The senior director of equity and partnerships, the deputy human resources officer position and the senior directors of curriculum and instruction and teaching and learning were also eliminated. Those last two positions are currently held by interims. "The superintendent views his role as Chief Equity Officer for the district, and as such is committed to ensuring our equity work informs everything we do," spokeswoman Stephanie Cameron said of the elimination of the equity and partnerships position. "We are broadening our work to improve outcomes for students of color, and accountability for that work now rests in the superintendent's office." The widespread job cuts represent Guerrero's most sweeping personnel changes since he came to Portland in October. That said, he hasn't hesitated in the new job. Weeks in, he fired his second in command. Guerrero's announcement blamed the reorganization on budget woes. He said it was necessary to slash central office to avoid cuts to schools. Two high-level employees resigned amid the reorganization: Chief Operating Officer Jerry Vincent and Chief Strategic Officer Laura Parker. Vincent, who joined the district in 2015, has had to shoulder the brunt of some of the district's most complex and controversial problems. Vincent oversaw the district's two bond projects and efforts to fix multiple hazards inside the district's schools, and he also was tasked with puzzling out how to make good on efforts to open new middle schools in the face of numerous expensive and hard to solve building and site problems. Parker joined the district a year ago. Her job, chief strategic officer, was a new senior leadership role created when the district had an interim superintendent. Portland Public Schools saw a considerable number of high-level employees leave, including the district's longtime superintendent, since a 2016 lead-in-drinking water scandal. That crisis shook the culture of Oregon's largest school district and revealed not only trouble with safe water and other hazards, but deep dysfunction to include problems with sound systems and accountability throughout the district's departments. A newly-elected school board hired Guerrero over the summer with the hope he'd bring a new vision to Portland Public Schools and repair community trust. A new leader always faces questions from the public about whether he or she will clean house. In recent months Guerrero has brought on his own hires, such as Chief Academic Officer Luis Valentino, Chief of Staff Stephanie Soden, Senior Director of Communications Stephanie Cameron, and Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Yvonne Curtis. See the most recent organization chart for the district here. Bethany Barnes Got a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email Bethany: bbarnes@oregonian.com The current deal with Iran is working effectively to keep Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and should be preserved for the future, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Wednesday The current deal with Iran is working effectively to keep Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and should be preserved for the future, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Wednesday Mogherini spoke after U.S. President Trump again showed dissatisfaction with the international agreement during a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, highlighting a trans-Atlantic rift on the issue. Macron said the current deal should not be ripped apart without a clear path to the future, and said after talks with Trump that there could be a way to move to a "new agreement," building on the one in place. All European actors in the 2015 accord want the United States to stay in the deal aimed at restricting Iran's development of nuclear weapons. Trump, though, calls the pact "insane" and "ridiculous," although he has declined to say whether he will withdraw the U.S. by the May 12 deadline he has set. Germany, which was part of the agreement along with Iran, the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France, threw its weight behind Mogherini's position on Wednesday. "We want to preserve it, and we want to contribute to the United States remaining in this agreement after May 12," said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. Trump said key flaws in the agreement are the failure to address ballistic missiles and Iran's activities in Yemen and Syria. The EU says those are separate issues. On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that pulling out would undermine upcoming nuclear talks with North Korea by proving the U.S. reneges on its promises. Search Keywords: Short link: Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive Oregon Tattoo Expo Tattoo artists all the way from Brooklyn to Los Angeles travel to Portland for a weekend of ink and a chance to make their mark on some Portlanders' skin. 3-11 p.m. Friday, April 27, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, April 28 and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday, April 29; Oregon Convention Center, 777 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.; $15 for advance tickets; Don't Edit Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive Tulip Fest Tulip season is stretching itself out, meaning there's more opportunity for you to see the bountiful blooms of the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. Bring your rubber boots and an appetite for color. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily through Sunday, May 6; 33814 S. Meridian Rd., Woodburn; $5 per person, $20 per car of four or more; Don't Edit Dillon Pilorget | The Oregonian/OregonLive Nano Beer Fest You're already a fan of Portland's vast collection of microbrews. How about beers brewed in batches so small they can only be considered nano? These are the beers that come out of garages and barns, and they taste like independence and ingenuity. 2-10 p.m. Friday, April 27, noon-10 p.m. Saturday, April 28 and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, April 29; John's Marketplace, 3535 S.W. Multnomah Blvd.; $20 (21 and over Friday and Saturday, all ages Sunday); Don't Edit The Oregonian/OregonLive 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade The 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade returns to Southeast Portland a year after an anonymous threat to disrupt the event prompted organizers to cancel. Stick around after the parade as Eastport Plaza hosts Carnival Days until 3 p.m., with pony and carnival rides, live music, clowns, food and more. 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 28; Southeast 82nd Avenue between Holgate Boulevard and Yamhill Street; free; more information at the -- Kjerstin Gabrielson Don't Edit Faith Cathcart | The Oregonian/OregonLive Spring Paddle Festival With kayak and canoe seminars and demos on everything from how to paddle to how to get a boat onto your car roof, Alder Creek's annual paddle party is the perfect way to get your feet wet as watersports season approaches. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 28-Sunday, April 29; Vancouver Lake Regional Park, 6801 N.W. Lower River Rd., Vancouver; free; Don't Edit Don't Edit Gathering of the Guilds Local guilds of woodworkers, potters, bead makers, metal artists, glass blowers and handweavers come together to offer one enormous art show with demonstrations and activities for kids. 10 a.m.-7 p.m Friday, April 27, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, April 28 and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, April 29; Oregon Convention Center, 777 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.; free; Don't Edit Photo courtesy of World of Speed Porsche Exhibit As the sun begins to come out this season, so do the fancy cars. But Wilsonville's motorsports museum new Porsche exhibit will keep your eyes popping and jaw dropping rain or shine. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday beginning Saturday, April 28 and running through December; World of Speed, 27490 S.W. 95th Ave., Wilsonville; $5-$10 for regular museum admission; Don't Edit Arbor Day Celebrate those giant plants that give us the air we breathe with sapling giveaways, tree climbing, live music, and access to an arborist for all tree-related questions at the City of Portland's Arbor Day party. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, April 21; Mt. Scott Park, Southeast 72nd Avenue and Harold Street; free; Don't Edit Art of the Story Washington County's library cooperative calls upon amateur and professional storytellers to fill the stacks with the sounds of laughter, life, and live performances. Various times Saturday, April 21-Saturday, May 5; libraries and venues across Washington County; free; A handful of Eastmoreland homeowners may have put an end to an effort to form a historic district in the neighborhood. State officials on Wednesday told the National Park Service, which oversees the National Register of Historic Places, that a majority of property owners in the neighborhood had filed formal objections to its nomination, which bars its listing under federal laws. But more than 5,000 of those objections came from four homeowners who each divided their property ownership among hundreds of trusts, legally creating thousands of new "owners." They weren't alone in objecting to the historic district proposal. There were 952 objections filed not associated with the trusts. But the trusts did tip the scales for district opponents. In the end, the state identified 7,188 property owners -- 5,000 of them recently-formed trusts -- within a district that includes about 1,277 buildings. Without the trusts, the number of objections appears to have fallen short of a majority. This might not be the end of the neighborhood squabble. The National Park Service will ultimately decide whether the district may be formed, and the record remains open for more property owners or objections to be included in the count. State officials said they applied the nomination rules fairly and thoroughly leading up to Wednesday's submittal. "We knew somebody was going to be upset no matter which way this went," said Chris Havel, the associate director of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. "Our job is to take the federal rules and take whatever other advice we get and then apply it logically and sensibly." But, he said, it does raise reasonable questions about whether the process for historic districts is working as it should. "Just in the interest of good governance, those are the questions that we do need to ask," he said, adding that much of the process is determined by federal regulations. The contentious proposal began with the Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association, which proposed to form a historic district to prevent demolitions and redevelopment in the neighborhood. Opponents mobilized against the effort, however, saying it would restrict property rights. The issue divided the quiet and wealthy neighborhood, with signs on both sides of the issue popping up in front yards. A nonbinding poll conducted by mail ended with 48 percent of respondents voting in favor of the district and 51 percent against, with some respondents expressing no opinion. The neighborhood association decided to press on. The State Historic Preservation Office, which submits nominations to the National Parks Service, was tasked with counting owners and objections, and number which continued to change through the process. A few weeks ago, one homeowner divided ownership interest in his home among 1,000 trusts with the intent of filing objections on behalf of each. Three others followed suit. The state preservation office, on the advice of the Oregon Justice Department and federal officials, determined that those trusts were legal owners that must be counted. Property owners objecting to the historic district's formation must file a notarized letter with state officials. Those who support the effort don't need to do anything; their consent is assumed. Rod Merrick, the president of the Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association, called the use of trusts an "abuse" that undermines the process of nominating historic districts. "If this was an election, it would be called voter fraud," Merrick said in an email. Patrick Cummings, the first homeowner to form the trusts, previously told The Oregonian/OregonLive he viewed the process as slanted toward those who supported forming a historic district, and that it was unfair to link the honorific to land-use regulations, as Portland does. If the historic district is recognized, Portland would require a formal hearing process before any historically significant building could be demolished. Other "non-contributing" properties -- in Eastmoreland's case, any home built after 1961, for example -- would initially have no constraints. And new buildings would not have to fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. Rules for all properties aimed at preserving the architectural character of the neighborhood could come later, though, drafted through a land-use process that would require City Council approval. -- Elliot Njus enjus@oregonian.com 503-294-5034 @enjus In order to get any campaign coverage in the media, a candidate must first go out and beg donors for large sums of money. After they have a trove, they will be interviewed and articles will later be written bemoaning who has them in their pocket. Who put them there? I believe in real news. I usually recognize fake news. There is a real primary election going on with a variety of candidates with a variety of good ideas that will never see the light of day. That exchange of ideas improves each and every candidate, including and especially the winners. By ignoring the multitude of candidates as they come out of the starting gate, the media influences the outcome. They cover and promote only those with a treasure trove of money. Not necessarily ideas. The public is not served when every story but the obvious hits the trash. This is a loss to the citizens who count on the media to procure information that they cannot procure for themselves. It's shame and I hope the media will see the light and turn on the light for the public that depends on them. Candace Neville, Eugene Neville is a Democratic candidate running for governor With ballots being mailed starting today, voters must soon decide on a county auditor and fill two positions on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. Here are the picks from The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board. Kafoury should return In four years as Multnomah County Chair, Deborah Kafoury accomplished several long overdue projects that had stymied those who'd previously held the office. She pushed forward construction of the new courthouse in downtown Portland, replaced the Sellwood Bridge and spearheaded collaboration between county and city officials to address the homeless crisis. After many years of drama on the five-seat commission, Kafoury, 50, brought focus and know-how from her years as a state lawmaker that have delivered results for county residents. Yet her tenure hasn't been without struggles. Kafoury lost her temper during a board meeting late last year and addressed Commissioner Loretta Smith with an expletive after repeatedly interrupting and talking over her. Kafoury earned criticism from her fellow commissioners and calls for resignation from dozens of community members. While her behavior was abhorrent, Kafoury owned it, apologized publicly and personally and has taken several steps to improve. She says she now meets with other commissioners individually, calls them directly when critical issues arise and has pushed for all of the board's chiefs of staff to raise any potential conflicts or issues among the commissioners at their weekly meeting. And while Kafoury has begun to address the systemic racism reported by county employees for years, she hasn't yet delivered a fix. It's true that changing a culture can take time, but that important work should remain a top priority and action should come soon. Still, Kafoury deserves another four years to see that through and to continue her work the county's need for improved mental health and addiction services. She could also do well to require more rigorous data reporting and analysis from county programs, in particular the Joint Office of Homeless Services. Jayapal for District 2 Susheela Jayapal says she decided to run for the commission seat being vacated by Loretta Smith because she felt a sense of urgency around the issues of homelessness and economic disparities that are coming to a head across the county. It's an Susheela Jayapal urgency, she worries other local leaders don't share. The county could use such a mindset and, in particular, Jayapal's commitment to -- and specialized skill set for -- increasing the rigor and oversight of the agency's contracting. The Northeast Portland resident, who has lived in the county for 23 years, served as a grant evaluator for the Oregon Community Foundation, measuring whether grant recipients had lived up to expectations. That's a particular area where the county has struggled in the past. Jayapal says she would push for more clarity in describing what outcomes the county expects from partners, better evaluations on whether partners are actually capable of delivering the promised services and finally, an improved system to effectively measure whether the outcomes were achieved. She also supports finding ways to provide renter assistance to keep people in their homes and seeking funding for such programs through private health systems that understand the link between health and housing. Jayapal's opponent Sharon Maxwell is a compelling choice as she has spent her entire life in the county and operating several businesses there. She is passionate, knows the issues and already has dedicated herself to improving the lives of county residents on several fronts. Another candidate, Maria Garcia, who once worked for the Mexican Consulate and owns a coffee shop in downtown Portland, is also concerned about transparency within county government and how the agency delivers services to its most vulnerable residents. But Jayapal shines for her ability to quickly break down complex issues, evaluate systems and chart a logical path forward. Her intelligence, negotiation skills and grant expertise will help round out the board of commissioners, which has much important work to do. Learn for auditor Elected officials like to say they're all about accountability. At times, they may even demonstrate it. But few deliver on their promise with the consistency of an elected auditor, whose role as a watchdog guarding taxpayers' interests makes him or her the public's best friend. Scott Learn In the county's most competitive race, three candidates are vying for the position in Multnomah County being vacated by auditor Steve March, who cannot run for re-election due to term limits. While voters are lucky to have three strong contenders, they should pick Scott Learn, a performance auditor for the Secretary of State's office and former journalist, to fill the role. First, an important disclosure: Learn worked at The Oregonian for 17 years and is a former colleague of members of The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board. While some may discount the endorsement for that reason, they should look at Learn's auditing record, consider his on-the-mark priorities for the office and recognize the independence he brings to an office whose credibility depends on it. As both a government insider and outsider, Learn has approached his work as an advocate of the public - unsentimental about bringing to light agency failings but with the goal of prodding government to correct course and deliver what the public expects. Learn, 54, began his professional career as a financial auditor before switching to journalism. While at The Oregonian, he wrote numerous stories exposing and questioning failures by government programs, from schools to Portland City Hall. He returned to auditing in 2013, joining the Oregon Secretary of State's office where he served on award-winning audit teams that diagnosed failures in a range of government programs, such as the state's management of its food-stamps program and its poor collection of delinquent debt. He also served as senior auditor on the recent foster-care audit that deconstructed the lapses jeopardizing child safety. If elected, Learn said he plans to prioritize audits that focus on the effectiveness of county or joint-jurisdiction programs such as mental health services in schools, affordable housing spending and justice system operations. He also aims to more exhaustively dig into the perennial problems in the county's management of contracts - agreements that amount to hundreds of millions a year - to better identify how county policies line up against model practices. But there's also the intangibles that make Learn the best choice. In talking with the editorial board, Learn acknowledged feeling exasperated at times during audits when he and others uncovered failures that meant people weren't getting the services they needed. Taxpayers, clients and the public at large need someone in the auditor's office who gets impatient when government fails the public and feels that imperative to help fix what's broken. Learn's competitors, Mark Ulanowicz and Jennifer McGuirk, have both spent years on staff in March's office. They understand the culture in the office and the county and share similar interests as Learn in using audits to probe programs for racial inequities or performance failures. Ulanowicz, in particular, boasts a career with international and federal experience and a fluency with health policy that lines up well with Multnomah County's health-service focus. But neither candidate projects the sense of urgency or the dynamism that Learn does. While both said they would seek to increase interaction with the public, their outreach to date seems to fall more in line with the low-key profile set by March. While his office has produced many worthy audits, they have generally failed to spark the public buzz necessary to turn recommendations into mandates that elected officials ignore at their own peril. Learn's passion for improving government, his dynamic nature and his long record of holding government accountable will mean he can keep up the pressure. -- The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board The full list of May 2018 primary endorsements Governor Bureau of Labor Commissioner: Val Hoyle The Legislature Metro Council President: Lynn Peterson City of Portland Multnomah County Board of Commissioners The Oregon Department of Justice has hired the Portland office of Perkins Coie to investigate allegations of discrimination and mismanagement at the state's economic development agency, Business Oregon. In an Gov. Kate Brown earlier this month, a group of employees described hostile working conditions and accused leadership of gender bias and misusing taxpayer funds. The letter made no threat to sue, but asked the governor to undertake an investigation and said the employees had retained Portland labor attorney Dana Sullivan "to help ensure employment rights are protected as a result of this complaint." The Justice Department will be supervising the probe. Its agreement with the law firm provides for a maximum cost of $50,000. The budget could go quickly, as the firm's partners command $525 to $630 an hour, and paralegals and associates bill out at $150 to $445 an hour. Tom Johnson, a partner in the litigation practice, will lead the inquiry. Despite Brown's and Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum's pledges of greater public transparency, the investigation does not appear to be designed with that in mind. The agreement specifically directs Perkins Coie to undertake "an attorney-client privileged investigation," meaning the Justice Department or Business Oregon could try to exempt the findings from disclosure under public records law. It also says the law firm could be called on to provide legal advice to the DOJ, the governor's office or the "benefitting agency" Business Oregon. The Justice department did not respond to questions about the agreement, whether it would make the findings public or whether that decision would be made by Business Oregon. Chris Pair, a spokesman for the governor, said his office "only assisted in identifying a firm" to undertake the inquiry. "Any questions of how the language is in the public interest or if the findings will ultimately be disclosed is best put to DOJ." - Ted Sickinger 503-221-8505; @tedsickinger Gov. Kate Brown has settled on May 21 as the date Oregon lawmakers should return to Salem to hash out whether to extend an existing business tax break to sole proprietors. The governor signaled her intention to hold a special session earlier this month, after she faced blowback from business groups upset that she planned to block a separate business tax break from taking effect. That state tax cut was worth roughly $130 million. In contrast, the break that Brown wants to grant certain sole proprietors could save them and cost the state general fund as much as $15 million annually. It will allow owners of sole proprietorships with at least one part-time employee to pay lower income taxes than wage earners, a perk already available to so-called pass-through businesses under a 2013 law intended to boost manufacturing and export businesses. The special session will take place less than a week after the May 15 primary election, and just under six months before Brown will all but certainly be the Democratic standard-bearer in the general election. "If we want these thousands of businesses to qualify for this economic incentive for the 2018 tax year, this has to be done now and cannot wait," Brown said Tuesday in a news release. The governor's office says approximately 9,000 sole proprietorships would meet the employment requirements of the existing pass-through business tax break. Owners of pass-through businesses, such as S corporations and partnerships, pay personal income taxes on their earnings. Chris Allanach, the acting legislative revenue officer, said his staff is still analyzing the proposal. But Department of Revenue research, based on 2016 data, suggested it could cost the general fund $10 million to $15 million. Oregon's last special session was in 2013, when then-Gov. John Kitzhaber brought lawmakers together to pass a series of bills aimed at reining in public pension costs and raising taxes. The pass-through business tax break was among the bills passed during that session. Kitzhaber also called a special session in 2012 to carve out a tax deal for Nike amid concerns the sportswear maker could scrap a major planned expansion of its Beaverton-area campus. Brown needs Republican cooperation to pass the plan in one day, and although party leaders criticized the governor for preventing businesses from receiving the larger state tax cut, there was no sign they plan get in the way of her plan. "The political theater session now has a date," House Republican Leader Mike McLane of Powell Butte said in a news release. "Let's hope Governor Brown and legislative Democrats will limit the scope of the session to the stated purpose instead of allowing for the introduction of unrelated policy bills." Senate Republican Leader Jackie Winters of Salem said her caucus will cooperate but the governor could have helped more businesses by allowing a broader state tax break to take effect. "This so-called 'emergency' was caused by the Governor and the majority party," Winters said in a news release. Kate Brown remains undecided on whether Oregon should copy part of 'Trump tax plan' In news releases, Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek both Democrats said they will work together to consider what Kotek called "reasonable improvements" to the existing state business tax break. Last year, Oregon House Democrats tried to scale back the law because they said doctors and lawyers, rather than the intended businesses, were reaping much of the benefit. -- Hillary Borrud 503-294-4034; @hborrud Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler plans to propose a $15 million increase in the city's business taxes, multiple City Hall sources say. The increase is meant to bolster the city budget, which is tightening despite record revenues. A tax increase of that size would represent roughly a 13 percent jump, including an 18 percent increase for the city's highest-grossing businesses. It would be the first increase to the city business tax rate since the 1970s. Wheeler already has early indications of support for the idea from two key players: Commissioner Chloe Eudaly and the Portland Business Alliance, the city chamber of commerce. Portland revenue officials expect the business tax to generate at least $114 million this year, making it a cornerstone of the city's approximately $500 million discretionary budget. That fund pays mostly for police officers, firefighters and parks upkeep. Though city coffers are filling with record-high tax revenues, costs have continued to grow at a breakneck pace. Officials have said that is in part because the city has dedicated substantial sums to a city-county homelessness agency, expensive labor contracts and pension payments. Because of that, bureaus that draw their operating funds from the discretionary fund are facing potential program cuts. Eudaly and other City Hall officials with knowledge of Wheeler's proposal said the mayor is expected to propose raising the business tax from 2.2 percent to 2.6 percent of businesses' net income made within city limits. Eudaly said an increase of that amount is estimated to add $15 million a year to the city's discretionary fund. "I'm supportive of that," Eudaly said of the tax increase idea. "We haven't raised the tax in a long time." Eudaly said she expects the mayor to also propose increasing a deduction to the tax which exempts from a business' taxable city income 75 percent of net income up to $103,500. The mayor's proposal would apparently increase the exemption ceiling to $125,000, a boon to some small businesses. Commissioner Nick Fish said he also expects Wheeler to propose an increase to the city business tax, though Fish did not confirm what tax rates may be in the mayor's proposal. Wheeler, who is traveling on city business in China, was unavailable for comment. Spokesman Michael Cox said he cannot confirm what is in the mayor's budget until it is publicly released Monday. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported last week that Wheeler was in talks with the city chamber of commerce, called the Portland Business Alliance, over the possibility of raising the business tax. That group's president, Sandra McDonough, released a statement Tuesday saying the chamber is "open to a discussion" about business tax increases. That openness comes with a caveat. McDonough said the chamber may accept the tax increases to fund "specific additional services for the homeless" but "only if we have assurance that we will not face further tax increases." That includes a proposed gross receipts tax ballot measure, McDonough said. She declined to say what specific services for the homeless the chamber would support. "The talks are far from over and we urge the mayor to bring parties to the table as soon as possible," McDonough said, "to lead the way to an agreement that all will support and that will help us better address our city's top priority: the homelessness crisis." In 2016, Mayor Charlie Hales attempted to raise the business tax by $8.7 million. McDonough publicly blasted Hales over the proposal, and Commissioner Dan Saltzman called the proposed tax increase "gratuitous." Hales' plan proved disastrous because he had not earned city councilors' support, and they ultimately overrode the mayor to write it out of the city budget. -- Gordon R. Friedman 503-221-8209 Governor Kate Brown is hiring a longtime Portland City Hall insider to be her policy director on transportation issues. Brendan Finn, Commissioner Dan Saltzman's chief of staff since 2005, will join the governor's policy team, Brown's spokesman confirmed Wednesday. Finn is on vacation and could not immediately be reached for comment. His first day is May 29. Finn has been on Saltzman's staff since he first arrived at City Hall in 1999, and he has stayed with the commissioner through his five terms in office. Saltzman, who oversees the Portland Bureau of Transportation, in September announced he would not seek a sixth term. Finn's announcement marks the latests significant shakeup on Saltzman's staff before he leaves office at the end of 2018. Shannon Callahan, another long-time Saltzman aide, left the office last fall for a position in the city's Housing Bureau. Top policy staffers often leave their posts for jobs elsewhere in city or state government before the elected officials' terms end. The 46-year-old Finn replaces Karmen Fore, Brown's senior policy director on transportation issues. Fore left in March to lead Oregon Solutions, a civic thinktank based at Portland State University's National Policy Consensus Center. Brown signed a $5.3 billion transportation package in 2017, one of the top legislative accomplishments during her tenure. "A strong infrastructure system is a key to growing Oregon's vibrant economy," Brown said in a statement. "I look forward to Brendan's work bringing the historic transportation funding package to life to ensure goods can efficiently get to market and our roads and bridges are safe in the event of a devastating seismic event." She credited Finn for his "key" role in complex contracting and engineering projects such as the Big Pipe, the $1.4 billion sewer system finished in 2011 to limit combined sewer and stormwater overflows into the Willamette River. Finn has a bachelor's degree in business administration from State University of New York College at Buffalo and a master's degree in urban and regional planning from Portland State University. UPDATE: Brown's office released Finn's job offer letter via a public records request. His nearly $130,000 salary will be paid for through the Department of Transportation ($10,828 a month gross salary). -- Andrew Theen atheen@oregonian.com 503-294-4026 @andrewtheen Benjamin Chow, the founder of the Chinese-backed investment fund that tried in vain to buy Portland's largest tech company, was convicted of insider trading Tuesday. Chow helped start Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, a Chinese-funded firm that offered $1.3 billion to buy Portland-based Lattice Semiconductor in 2016. President Donald Trump blocked the deal last year on national security grounds. Federal prosecutors said a jury in New York voted unanimously to convict Chow of a single count of conspiring to commit securities fraud and seven counts of securities fraud. Chow, who lives in Silicon Valley, could potentially spend decades in prison and face a fine up to $5 million. Prosecutors said sentencing is scheduled for August 20. Prosecutors said Chow had provided an unnamed friend with secret information related to Canyon Bridge's offer for Lattice and that his friend used the information to make millions of dollars in trades to capitalize on the offer. "While we have been informed of the verdict, we have not had the opportunity to review the court's ruling," Canyon Bridge told Reuters. "We will be assessing the situation." Lattice Semiconductor makes programmable computer chips for industrial, communications and consumer electronics. It's a small player in a market dominated by two rivals, including Intel, and worked desperately to close the Canyon Bridge deal despite long odds of overcoming national security hurdles. Lattice's longtime chief executive, Darin Billerbeck, stepped down in March. Lattice shares opened Wednesday at $5.21, well below the $8.30 a share that Canyon Bridge has offered. -- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699 SAN FRANCISCO -- Among the most challenging issues for Facebook is its role as the policeman for the free expression of its 2 billion users. Now the social network is opening up about its decision-making over which posts it decides to take down -- and why. On Tuesday the company for the first time published the 27-page guidelines, called Community Standards, that it gives to its workforce of thousands of human censors. The set of guidelines encompasses dozens of topics including hate speech, violent imagery, misrepresentation, terrorist propaganda and disinformation. Facebook said it would offer users the opportunity to appeal Facebook's decisions. The move adds a new degree of transparency to a process that users, the public and advocates have criticized as arbitrary and opaque. The newly released guidelines offer suggestions on topics including how to determine the difference between humor, sarcasm and hate speech. They explain that images of female nipples are generally prohibited, but exceptions are made for images that promote breast-feeding or address breast cancer. "We want people to know our standards, and we want to give people clarity," Monika Bickert, Facebook's head of global policy management, said in an interview. She added that she hoped publishing the guidelines would spark dialogue. "We are trying to strike the line between safety and giving people the ability to really express themselves." The company's censors, called content moderators, have been chastised by civil rights groups for mistakenly removing posts by minorities who had shared stories of being the victims of racial slurs. Moderators have struggled to tell the difference between someone posting a slur as an attack and someone who was using the slur to tell the story of their own victimization. In another instance, moderators removed an iconic Vietnam War photo of a child fleeing a napalm attack, claiming the girl's nudity violated its policies. (The photo was restored after protests from news organizations.) Moderators have deleted posts from activists and journalists in Burma and in disputed areas such as the Palestinian territories and Kashmir and have told pro-Trump activists Diamond and Silk they were "unsafe to the community." The release of the guidelines is part of a wave of transparency that Facebook hopes will quell its many critics. It has also published political ads and streamlined its privacy controls after coming under fire for its lax approach to protecting consumer data. The company is being investigated by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the misuse of data by a Trump-connected consultancy known as Cambridge Analytica, and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg recently testified before Congress about the issue. Bickert said discussions about sharing the guidelines started last fall and were not related to the Cambridge controversy. The company's content policies, which began in earnest in 2005, addressed nudity and Holocaust denial in the early years. They have ballooned from a single page in 2008 to 27 pages today. As Facebook has come to reach nearly a third of the world's population, Bickert's team has expanded significantly and is expected to grow even more in the coming year. A team of 7,500 reviewers, in places like Austin, Dublin and the Philippines, assesses posts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in more than 40 languages. Moderators are sometimes temporary contract workers without much cultural familiarity with the content they are judging, and they make complex decisions in applying Facebook's rules. Bickert also employs high-level experts including a human rights lawyer, a rape counselor, a counterterrorism expert from West Point and a PhD researcher with expertise in European extremist organizations as part of her content review team. Activists and users have been particularly frustrated by the absence of an appeals process when their posts are taken down. (Facebook users are allowed to appeal the shutdown of an entire account but not individual posts.) The Washington Post previously documented how people have likened this predicament to being put into "Facebook jail" - without being given a reason why they were locked up. Malkia Cyril, a Black Lives Matter activist in Oakland, Calif., who is also the executive director for the Center for Media Justice, was among a coalition of more than 70 civil rights groups that pressured Facebook in 2017 to fix its "racially-biased" content moderation system. Among the changes the coalition sought was an appeals process for posts that are taken down. "At the time they told us they could not do it, they would not do it, and actually stopped engaging at that point," Cyril said. "They told us they would get back to us when they had something new to say." Cyril said that Facebook's actions Tuesday, while well-intentioned, do not go far enough in terms of addressing the white supremacist groups allowed on the platform. "This is just a drop in the bucket," she said. "What's needed now is an independent audit to ensure that the basic civil rights of users are protected, especially vulnerable users being targeted on the street by hate that's being fomented online." Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' office for the San Francisco Bay area, said adding an appeals process and opening up guidelines would be a "positive development" but said the social network still has a ways to go if it wants to stay a relevant and safe space. Billoo said that at least a dozen pages representing white supremacists are still up on the platform, even though the policies forbid hate speech and Zuckerberg testified before Congress this month that Facebook does not allow hate groups. "An ongoing question many of the Muslim community have been asking is how to get Facebook to be better at protecting users from hate speech and not to be hijacked by white supremacists, right-wing activists, Republicans or the Russians as a means of organizing against Muslim, LGBT and undocumented individuals," she said. Billoo herself was censored by Facebook two weeks after Donald Trump's election, when she posted an image of a handwritten letter mailed to a San Jose mosque and quoted from it: "He's going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews." Bickert's team has been working for years to develop a software system that can classify the reasons a post was taken down so that users could receive clearer information - and so Facebook could track how many hate speech posts were put up in a given year, for example, or whether certain groups are having their posts taken down more frequently than others. Currently, people who have their posts taken down receive a generic message that says that they have violated Facebook's community standards. After Tuesday's announcement, people will be told whether their posts violated guidelines on nudity, hate speech and graphic violence. A Facebook executive said the teams were working on building more tools. "We do want to provide more details and information for why content has been removed," said Ellen Silver, Facebook's vice president of operations. "We have more work to do there, and we are committed to making those improvements." Though Facebook's content moderation is still very much driven by humans, the company does use technology to assist in its work. The company currently uses software to identify duplicate reports, a timesaving technique for reviewers that helps them avoid reviewing the same piece of content over and over because it was flagged by many people at once. Software also can identity the language of a post and some of the themes, helping the post get to the reviewer with the most expertise. The company can recognize images that have been posted before but cannot recognize new images. For example, if a terrorist organization reposts a beheading video that Facebook already took down, Facebook's systems will notice it almost immediately, said Silver, but it cannot identify new beheading videos. The majority of items flagged by the community get reviewed within 24 hours, she said. Every two weeks, employees and senior executives who make decisions about the most challenging issues around the world meet. They debate the pros and cons of potential policies. Teams who present are required to come up with research showing each side, a list of possible solutions, and a recommendation. They are required to list the organizations outside Facebook with which they consulted. In an interview, Bickert and Silver acknowledged that Facebook would continue to make errors in its judgment. "The scale that we operate at," Silver said. "Even if were at 99 percent accuracy, that's still a lot of mistakes." -- Elizabeth Dwoskin and Tracy Jan Russian military stated Tuesday that Russian air defenses at Hmeimim airbase in Syria have intercepted and destroyed several unidentified targets. An airbase spokesperson has stated that the airbase is operating normally. No damages or casualties have been reported at this time. "On April 24 the airspace monitoring facilities at Russia's Hmeimim airbase detected a group of small-size unidentified airborne targets approaching the base," the spokesperson said in a statement. "All targets were destroyed by air defense means deployed at the base." According to South Front, the Russian Pantsir-S1 airbase systems shot down two drones armed with projectiles that had been launched by a militant group. It also reported that rockets were also intercepted. Other media reports indicate that two to four objects were destroyed in the air. Video footage alleged to show the attack has since surfaced on social media. The airbase, which is just one of two operated by Russia in Syria, is located in the coastal city of Jableh. Russia operates a second base is Tartus. In February 2018, the Russian Defense Ministry released a statement denying media reports of a "successful drone attack" on the base on January 1. Search Keywords: Short link: President Donald Trump's administration went before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to defend the legality of his travel ban targeting people from several Muslim-majority countries, one of the most contentious actions of his presidency. During the first half of a scheduled hour of arguments, conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy, a frequent swing vote on the court, joined the liberal justices in asking U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco sharp questions about the ban and Trump's motivation for enacting it. Referring to statements Trump made during his campaign for president such as calling for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," Francisco said those should be off-limits for courts to scrutinize because he was not the president at the time. Kennedy expressed scepticism that courts cannot review words from candidates from the campaign trail. Kennedy gave the example of a local mayor who makes discriminatory statements and then two days after taking office acts on them. "You're saying that everything he said is irrelevant?" Kennedy asked Francisco. The arguments continued before the conservative-majority, nine-member court in the challenge led by the state of Hawaii to Trump's travel ban, which is the third version of a policy he first sought to implement a week after taking office in January 2017. The policy prohibits entry into the United States of most people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Chad was on the list announced in September, but Trump removed it on April 10. Until Wednesday, the court had never heard arguments on the legal merits of the travel ban or any other major Trump immigration policy, including his move to rescind protections for young immigrants sometimes called Dreamers brought into the United States illegally as children. It previously acted on the Republican president's requests to undo lower court orders blocking those two policies, siding with Trump on the travel ban and opposing him on the Dreamers. A ruling is due by the end of June. Democratic-governed Hawaii has argued that the travel ban violates federal immigration law and the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on the government favouring one religion over another. The Supreme Court on Dec. 4 signalled it may lean towards backing Trump when it granted on a 7-2 vote his administration's request to let the ban go into full effect while legal challenges played out. Trump has generated controversy with his hardline immigration policies, also including actions taken against states and cities that protect illegal immigrants, intensified deportation efforts and limits on legal immigration. Trump has said the travel ban is needed to protect the United States from terrorism by Islamic militants. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday cited the president's "broad discretion and authority to protect the United States from all foreign and domestic threats." "President Trump determined this travel order is critical to protecting the American people," Sessions said in statement. About 150 people demonstrated against the travel ban outside the courthouse on a rainy morning in the U.S. capital. Seema Sked, 39, stood before the court's plaza with a homemade sign that read, "Proud American Muslim." "The Muslim ban offends freedom of religion, which is a protected right," said Sked, who immigrated with her parents from Pakistan when she was a toddler and now lives in Virginia. "It hurts me because it is singling out and demeaning Muslims because of their faith." The challengers have argued the policy was motivated by Trump's enmity towards Muslims, pressing that point in lower courts with some success by citing statements he made as a candidate and as president. The Justice Department argues Trump's statements as a candidate carry no weight because he was not yet president. In defending the ban, the administration has also pointed to a waiver provision allowing people from targeted countries to seek entry if they meet certain criteria. Venezuela and North Korea also were targeted in the travel ban. Those restrictions were not challenged in court. Search Keywords: Short link: Sign up to receive daily headline news from Ottawa Citizen, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Ottawa Citizen Headline News will soon be in your inbox. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. How Paperboard Packaging Manufactures Can Avoid the Commodity Business Keynote speaker Mike Ferrari, an innovation consultant and former Procter & Gamble executive, discussing the secrets to packaging success at PPCs 2018 Spring Meeting in Baltimore. April 25, 2018 (Press Release) - Converters of paperboard packaging might be feeling the squeeze this season. With RFPs, reduced volumes, and shrinking margins, the packaging industry can feel like a commodity business and a race to the bottom. The Paperboard Packaging Council's (PPC) recent Spring Outlook and Strategies Conference, April 11-13 in Baltimore, offered industry leaders techniques for adding value to their packaging and escaping the commodity business. Keynote speaker Mike Ferrari , an innovation consultant and former Procter & Gamble executive, shared seven secrets to packaging success. Ferrari's concepts focused on adding value to packaging so converters can reverse the cycle of commoditization and curb margin erosion. Some of these included crucial practices around inventory management, speed to market, customization, and e-commerce. Ferrari emphasized that innovation in packaging doesn't have to come from traditional converting processes like printing or cutting. For example, he brought with him on stage a Bluetooth-enabled liquor carton that played music like speakers. By being creative and adding value in a variety of ways, folding carton and rigid box manufacturers can sidestep the commodity business and secure their status as valuable partners to brands. David Friedman , CEO of High Performing Culture, LLC, offered Spring Meeting attendees a different yet equally compelling way to exit the commodity world. According to Friedman, one of the last remaining opportunities to create a sustainable competitive advantage is company culture. After all, competitors can't copy another company's people. In a three-hour intensive workshop, Friedman showed attendees how to develop their company cultures intentionally and systematically. His simple yet effective process included defining culture in terms of certain behaviors and creating rituals to help employees embody and sustain values. There's good reason for converters to heed Ferrari and Friedman's advice. Later in the conference, economist Alan Beaulieu told attendees that the U.S. economy is headed towards a mild recession in the middle of 2019. Now, Beaulieu urged, is the time for strategizing ways to increase market share in a slow-growth environment. Competitive advantages will be an absolute must during this period. "PPC's biannual conferences are a perfect forum for leaders in the folding carton and rigid box markets to learn about economic changes, upcoming trends, and the outlook for the future," said Ben Markens , PPC president. "Of course, we also want to offer practical tools and concepts for succeeding in that future marketplace. Ferrari, Friedman, Beaulieu, and others did an excellent job providing those tools." Other speakers included Mary Anne Hansan , executive director of the Paper and Packaging Board, who updated attendees on the paper industry's promotional How Life Unfolds TM campaign; hospital association executive Bruce Siegel , MD, who offered insights into the future of hospitals and health care; and Paul Malooly , President of PPC member El Paso Paper Box, who shared the story of his company and his plans for future growth. In addition to speaker presentations, the conference featured breakout meetings, networking sessions, a celebration of the industry's safest plants according to PPC's Safety Boxscore Report, as well as a cruise of Baltimore's popular inner harbor. PPC's next conference will take place on Oct. 24-26, 2018, in Atlanta. To learn more, visit paperbox.org/fall . Now in its 89th year, PPC is the North American association for converters of paperboard packaging and their suppliers. To learn more, please visit: paperbox.org . SOURCE: Paperboard Packaging Council A few weeks ago, The Simpsons addressed comedian and filmmaker Hari Kondabolu's criticism of the show's racist portrayal of the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon in the worst possible way. Apu is an Indian character with a long last name who works at a convenience store and is voiced by Hank Azaria, a white man. Azaria, who has voiced Apu since 1989, "learned" his accent by copying Peter Sellers, another white man. Kondabolu tried to interview Azaria in a documentary he made about the character. Azaria decline but later issued a statement saying, "I think the documentary made some really interesting points and gave us a lot to think about and we really are thinking about it." Now, he is finally addressing the issue in more concrete terms, telling Stephen Colbert on The Late Show that he understands why South Asians are so offended by his character. He said, "Of course I understand [the controversy]. It's come to my attention more and more, especially over the last couple of years, that people in the South Asian community in this country have been fairly upset by the voice and characterization." Related | 'The Simpsons' Dismisses Apu Criticism Over Racial Stereotyping He admits to being "surprised" at first when he heard people were offended, and that he wanted to spread "laughter and joy" with this character, but that he doesn't agree with the way The Simpsons responded to Kondabolu's documentary. He told Colbert, "My eyes have been opened and I think the most important thing is that we have to listen to South Asian people, Indian people in this country when they talk about what they feel and how they think about this character and what their American experience of it as been. As you know, in television terms, listening to voices means inclusion in the writer's room... I am perfectly willing and happy to step aside or help transition it into something new." It's rare to hear such thoughtful, smart, and empathetic words about inclusion and racial sensitivity from the team involved with The Simpsons, and especially impressive that Azaria, a middle aged white man, can speak with such clarity given how closely linked he has been to the character. Before we give him too much credit, though, remember that it took him nearly 30 years and a ton of labor by a person of color to make him realize that maybe he isn't best suited for the role. It is important to ask if he would have made similar statements on his own had Hari Kondabolu not gone through the tremendous effort of making an entire documentary to bring attention to the show's racism. Too often, white people get excessive praise for simply doing what's right and reversing years of their unchecked racist, behavior they may not have even ameliorated on their own accord if they weren't explicitly educated or held accountable by a person of color. The impetus to address and fix racial inequality cannot always come from the oppressed. Watch a clip from the interview, below: Image via Getty An Alabama police department said Monday that the violent arrest of Chikesia Clemons on Sunday at a Waffle House was justified, according to the New York Times. The incident, which was captured on video and widely criticized by the public, shows three white officers throwing Clemons, who is black, onto the floor during an arrest. Police were called, and the video starts with an officer from the Saraland Police Department standing over Clemons and trying to place her right arm behind her back as she sits in a chair. The video then skips ahead as two officers grab Clemons' arms and shoulders and throw her onto the ground. Clemons asks the officers what they're doing, to which one responds, "About to break your arm, that's what I'm about to do." As Clemons was thrown to the ground, her top came down, exposing her breasts as other patrons sat watching. At one point, one of the officers put his hand around Clemons' neck, and she said that she couldn't breathe. Within hours of the footage being posted online, members of the local N.A.A.C.P. chapter protested at Waffle House outside of Mobile, Alabama. "I don't feel like she was treated fairly," her mother, Chiquita Clemons-Howard, said at an N.A.A.C.P. meeting on Sunday evening. "I want to get justice for my daughter." "She's owed an apology, just like the two men in the Starbucks," Clemons' father told ABC News, referring to the two black men who were arrested for waiting for their friend at Starbucks in Philadelphia last week. Clemons' arrest happened around the same time that a white man armed with a rifle opened fire at a Waffle House outside Nashville and murdered four young people of color and injuring four others. He has since been taken into custody by law enforcement. The Saraland Police Department and Waffle House have said that the cellphone video didn't show the full story and that the officers acted appropriately. A Waffle House spokesman said "police intervention was appropriate." Image of Chikesia Clemons via Facebook This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions STMicroelectronics on Wednesday delivered an upbeat assessment on second-half demand for its smartphones-focused products, brushing off investor anxiety over the soft takeoff of Apple's iPhone X. Analysts estimate that Apple represents about 10 percent of STMicro's revenues. The group makes imaging and proximity sensor products used in the iPhone X, according to analysts. "We expect STMicro to benefit from a strong second-half due to continuing strength in the automotive and IoT (Internet of Things) segments, and the ramp of multiple new iPhone models with 3D sensing later in the year," Liberum said in a note. STMicro does not name its customers, but chief executive Carlo Bozotti said he expected 'healthy demand' across all its products in the second-half, including smartphones. More on the Reuters report here. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus. In June 2016 Patently Apple posted a report titled "Supreme Court Upholds Patent Rules that Assist Tech Companies like Apple Fight Patent Trolls," followed by a report in December 2016 titled "The Patent Case of the Decade Could End Most Patent Troll Litigation in Eastern Texas Courts against Apple & others." It was reported yesterday that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of the patent review process. At the end of our report you could review the court's full decision. A CNBC report noted late yesterday that the "U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday gave its stamp of approval to a government review process prized by high technology companies as an easy and cheap way to combat "patent trolls" and others that bring patent infringement lawsuits. The justices ruled 7-2 that a type of in-house patent review at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not violate a defendant's right under the U.S. Constitution to have a case adjudicated by a federal court and jury. The court ruled against Oil States International, a Houston-based oilfield services company that had challenged the legality of the process, called inter partes review (IPR). Justices John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the decision authored by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas to uphold the reviews. While the ruling gave Silicon Valley reason to celebrate, it was sure to displease name-brand drugmakers, which had called the IPR process a threat to innovation. Firms dubbed "patent trolls" have a business model based on suing other companies over patents rather than actually making products. These reviews have been especially popular with companies like Apple and Samsung Electronics that are frequent targets of patent infringement suits. On the other hand, pharmaceutical companies like AbbVie, Allergan and Celgene called for the IPR system to be scrapped." The report further noted that "Though it upheld the IPR process, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in a separate case on Tuesday that faulted one aspect of how the reviews are carried out. The justices said that when several parts of a patent are challenged, the patent office does not have the discretion to review only some of them." For more on this, read the full CNBC report here. Surprising is that Justice Gorsuch was one of the dissenting voices. Gorsuch beghins is dissent this way: "After much hard work and no little investment you devise something you think truly novel. Then you endure the further cost and effort of applying for a patent, devot-ing maybe $30,000 and two years to that process alone. At the end of it all, the Patent Office agrees your invention is novel and issues a patent. The patent affords you exclu-sive rights to the fruits of your labor for two decades. But what happens if someone later emerges from the wood-work, arguing that it was all a mistake and your patent should be canceled? Can a political appointee and his administrative agents, instead of an independent judge, resolve the dispute? The Court says yes. Respectfully, I disagree." Below is a full copy of the Supreme Court decision, courtesy of Patently Apple. 1 Supreme Court Decision April 24, 2018 - Re Patent Litigation by Jack Purcher on Scribd About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus. News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. Paxton, IL (60957) Today Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 73F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. The Bank of Ghana (BoG) directive to all banks to comply with the minimum paid-up capital of GH400 million by December 2018 still stands, Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, said on Tuesday. Speaking at a breakfast meeting for stakeholders from the banking community, academia and the media, Mrs Awadzi said the set up of a committee of stakeholders by the President Akufo-Addo to find a way of supporting the indigenous banks has nothing to do with the Central Banks directive. Our directive stands. We have had two years of engagement with stakeholders, she said. The meeting on the theme: Building a Resilient Banking Sector to Support a Vibrant Ghanaian Economy, is part of BoGs efforts to engage with key stakeholders with the aim of reaching common ground on the state of the countrys banking sector and the way forward. Mrs Awadzi said the BoG remained committed to restoring trust and confidence in the banking system, as well as promoting a strong and resilient banking sector to support robust macro-economic growth. It remains our view that this new capital floor will help make banks stronger and resilient, and position them to better support the Ghanaian economy, Mrs Awadzi said, adding that the BoG would ensure a smooth transition to the new capital requirement by December 2018. Mrs Awadzi said the BoG would also address specific risks from high Non Performance Loans, weak corporate governance, and poor risk management systems, as well as continue to roll-out the Basel II/III supervisory framework, and ensure implementation of IFRS 9 by banks. The Bank would also issue and strictly enforce fit and proper person guidelines for bank shareholders, directors, and key management personnel, to promote high standards in the industry; Strengthen regulation and supervision of bank holding companies and affiliate companies to reduce intra-group exposures. She said the Bank would continue to strengthen the Banking Supervision Department through capacity building and improved supervisory processes, in order to identify early warning signs of bank distress and to take prompt corrective action to address such risks. Mr Alhassan Andani, Managing Director Stanbic Bank, said the banks were always consciously aware of the interest of their stakeholders, shareholders, customers, employees as well as the regulator. He said talks of a banking crisis were premature as a large number of the banks, which controlled about 80 and 90 per cent of deposits and assets were sound and proper. Mr Andani said the banks would continue to maintain a constant dialogue with the Central Bank, especially the banking supervision department so that if there were any slips they would promptly be corrected. He said by and large the banks would continue to uphold most of the critical measures to ensure sound financial systems. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Dominic Owusu Sekyere, a legal practitioner who defrauded a businessman of $200, 000 under the pretext of selling five plots of land to him at Cantonments has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court. His accomplice, Albert Kwadwo Coleman aka Samuel Yeboah a Marketing Officer, was also sentenced to five years imprisonment by the court presided over by Mrs Malike Wornyah Dey. This was after the court had found them guilty on the charges of conspiracy and defrauding by false pretenses in a three and half year trial. Their lawyer Mr George Asamani later told the Ghana News Agency that his clients do not agree with the verdict of the court and would appeal against it. Two other accomplices namely John Arthur aka Amoah and Dr Jennifer Jane-Brown Aryee are at large. Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Ophelia Denteh told the court that the complainant Mr Ato Hamilton is a businessman residing at East Legon, Accra. The prosecution said somewhere in June 2014, Mr Hamilton was contacted on phone by one Samuel Yeboah with telephone number 001942388254 that he (Yeboah) resides in Texas in the United States of America. According to prosecution, Yeboah stated further that he had been informed that the complainant was looking for a parcel of land to purchase at Cantonments and its environs. The prosecution said Yeboah said that his girlfriend known as Dr Jennifer Jane-Brown Aryee has five plots of land at Cantonments for sale. Prosecution said Yeboah then asked Mr Hamilton to contact one Amoah a land agent so Mr Hamilton contacted Amoah who led him to the said parcel of land being offered for sale. During the visit, prosecution said Mr Hamilton saw an occupant on the land who informed him that he (the occupant) had been asked to vacate the land since the said land was for sale. Prosecution said Mr Hamilton after demanding documents covering the land, conducted a search at the Lands Commission and it came out that the land had been registered in the name of Dr Jennifer Jane-Brown Aryee. According to prosecution, Amoah the agent led Mr Hamilton to Dr Aryee where Mr Hamilton demanded and was given the original documents covering the land with a building Plan and same were sent to the Lands Commission for confirmation. The land documents were confirmed to be genuine. Dr Aryee informed the complainant that the land was being offered for sale at a cost of $2 million and further requested that $500,000 be paid as deposit. Thereafter Sekyere, the lawyer contacted Mr Hamilton and informed him that the land belong to his client, Dr Aryee and impressed upon him to pay the amount involved for the land to be transferred into his name. Based on that, a contract sale document was prepared by Sekyere and he collected $200,000 on behalf of Dr Aryee and documents were signed by both parties, prosecution said. Two weeks later, prosecution said Sekyere started demanding from the complainant the extra $300,000 to him in order to attain the $500,000 deposit. Prosecution said complainant became suspicious of Sekyeres behaviour as he had then realised that the real owner of the land was residing outside the country and the owner did not have any idea about sale of the said property. Mr Hamilton reported the matter to the Police and Sekyere was arrested and during interrogation, Sekyere told the Police that he could not assist in tracing his accomplices. Prosecution said Sekyere further told the Police that he released the money to Dr Aryee before his arrest. Yeboah was later nabbed whiles in the custody of Bureau of National Investigations. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ministry of Health has debunked media reports indicating that about one thousand (1000) nurses won't be recruited in May this year. The statement which is attributed to the Ministry, in a Starr FM Online publication on Wednesday, is seen to be a contradiction of claims by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia that about 1000 nurses and unemployed youth will be recruited next month under a government policy to address youth employment. The policy has one of its models dubbed "Heal Ghana" under the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) which is yet to be launched; a policy which is to supplement other programmes handled by the Youth Employment Agency (YEA). Public Relations Officer of the Health Ministry, Robert Cudjoe, who granted an interview with Starr FM, has issued a statement copied to Peacefmonline.com expressing disappointment at the reportage, stressing that it has been "skewed for mischief purposes". He explained that "Starr FM producer by name Abban called to interview me this morning on some issues within the health sector of which I granted him the request and so went on with the interview. The question had to do with the fact that there is a release by some nurses group that they are opposed to this new policy on health and that they are calling on their members to stay away from it". In his response, Mr. Cudjoe noted that he said the nurses belong to the Ministry of Health, "in that case, whatever issues that bother their mind, they should seek clarification from the Ministry and not go to the media. I therefore appealed to them to be calm awaiting the details of the policy to its implementation. "The nurses were claiming that they are professionals and that they won't accept the temporal employment. I then indicated to them that the model is not going to be a substitute for their permanent employment and that, at the expiration of the programme when their clearance is ready, they would move on. It would be done side by side with existing policy. It is only meant to ensure that they don't sit at home after completion of their training but find something doing and to, importantly, gain some skills on their profession". Speaking further, he added that he made reference to May 1 saying categorically that it is the "day the policy would be launched. Since those who would be engaged would have to go through certain processes and procedures, it is not that they are starting work on the first May. I said May 1 is to be used to launch the policy to be followed by the actual recruitment for them to start working at the health facilities". He therefore doesn't see how his submissions on the issue contradicts the Vice President's comment about recruitment of nurses, and so the publication is "imbued with mischief". "...there has not been any day or time since assuming the role of PRO at the Ministry of Health that I have either contradicted my Minister, Deputies, Directors or even any of the statements made by the many agency heads under the Ministry", he asserted. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The First Lady of the Republic and Head of the Rebecca Foundation, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo has called for renewed impetus in the battle against malaria. Whilst applauding the efforts of all stakeholders and individuals in this age long fight, First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo believes that a renewed and more vigorous approach in the fight against malaria is urgently required. She said this at an event to mark this years World Malaria Day under the theme, "Ready to beat malaria" in Accra today. The event also witnessed the First Lady sign a memorandum on behalf of the Infanta Malaria Prevention Foundation. It was co-hosted by the Aspir x , Infanta Foundation and Merck around the localized theme, How best to protect children and pregnant women from malaria infection. Delivering her remarks, First Lady Akufo-Addo noted that Ghana has made significant progress in controlling malaria, but there is still more to do. I envision a Ghana, where every child and every woman, is adequately protected or able to test, treat and recover quickly from malaria. My message is to call on every one of us in our individual capacities, to do whatever it takes to beat malaria for good. She charged. According to her, this is a shared vision which was recently shared by President Akufo-Addo recently at the just ended Malaria Summit in London, where he boldly declared that Ghana is ready to beat malaria. She used the occasion to remind Ghanaians on some of the basic individual efforts such as sleeping under an insecticide treated bed net, using a mosquito repellent and consulting a health worker when you or a family member has symptoms of malaria, to get tested and treated. When we do these, we are ready to beat malaria. She added. First Lady Akufo-Addo, also called for collective engagement by all, saying, Whether you are an organization or an individual, join us and take action this World Malaria Day. Declare youre ready to beat malaria. We must deepen our partnerships with our health partners, the private sector, civil society organizations, religious and traditional authorities and non-governmental organizations, to build effective systems, to provide accessible services for all. She was happy that the Ghana Health Service and partners are improving access to health care, by strengthening the existing Community Based Health System as much of the burden of disease in our country can be prevented, through the effective delivery of health services made possible through CHPS. Noted for her commitment to the cause of women and children, Mrs. Akufo-Addo said to address the high rates of severe under-nutrition and the high incidence of malaria in our population, relationships with Merck and AspirX, offers opportunities to invest in what we believe will make a difference in the lives of women and children. The First Lady called for increased commitments, partnerships and sustained investments to improve coverage of proven interventions, which benefits women and children. Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Two senior officials of the Social Welfare Department in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, have been picked up for allegedly stealing and selling a day-old baby. Probation Officer, Evelyn Jemima Alangeah, and her colleague, Justice Administration Officer, 58-year-old Samuel Obeng Afriyie, admit to selling the baby to a couple for over GHS16,500. They are said to have stolen the child from a maternity home where the mother had been sent to give birth. The babys mother who hails from Lawra in the Upper West Region, sought support from the Social Welfare Departments Regional Office last year after her boyfriend abandoned her with a pregnancy. She was said to have met Evelyn who asked her to call when she was due for delivery. The social worker took her to a private maternity home in Kumasi and stole the baby the day it was born. She reportedly told the woman her sick baby had been referred to a nearby hospital for further observation after it was born with rashes on the neck. Investigations by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, however, revealed Evelyn had then sent the baby to the Kumasi Childrens Home, and later sold her to a couple who had applied to adopt a baby at the department for GHS 16,500. Evelyn, after selling the day-old baby, told the woman her baby did not survive and later took her to Tewobabi in Kenyasi near Kumasi, where she lived with her for two months. The mother, not too convinced with the story of her dead baby, confided in a friend who advised that the issue be reported to police. Evelyn Alangeah was arrested on April 6, 2018, by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service following investigations. DSP Juliana Obeng who speaks for the Ashanti Regional Police Command told Nhyira FM the action of Evelyn was to cover up. Evelyn took the complainant to Tewobabi in Kenyasi in the Ashanti Region to stay with her in order to cover up her diabolical deeds, she revealed. According to her, the two officials shared the money from the sale of the baby. Suspect Evelyn charged the couple an amount of GHS 16,500 for the adoption process. Unknown to the couple, the baby was a stolen one. The amount, being proceeds from the sale of the baby was shared between Evelyn and Mr. Samuel Obeng Afriyie, all officers of the Social Welfare Department here in Kumasi. Police have so far questioned managers of the private maternity home as they process the suspects for court. DSP Juliana Obeng said the police have taken custody of the baby after admitting the two suspects to bail. As we speak, the baby is in good condition; the baby has been taken to a home so that she could be taken care of whilst the investigation and then court proceedings also go on, she explained. Nhyira FM checks at the Regional Office of the Social Welfare Department reveal, the two suspects who face conspiracy to wit child stealing and child stealing charges, are still at post. Officials of the Regional Office have declined comment after sending reports with recommendations to the headquarters in Accra. Source: JFM/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has told Citi News that his account was once credited a second salary when he served as a Deputy Attorney General, but he returned the amount to the state. He has thus suggested that the National Democratic Congress [NDC] Members of Parliament being investigated for allegedly taking double salaries, could be charged with abuse of office for personal gain if found guilty. Indeed, that [Double salary], is an offence of abuse of office for private gain, Mr. Amidu said in an interview with Citi News Thursday. Some NDC MPs who served as ministers or deputy ministers are currently in hot waters after they were cited by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for allegedly taking double salaries. 25 of the MPs were initially asked to report to the police, but 18 of them were later asked to disregard that invitation. So far, about eight of them have been interrogated by the CID and are being investigated for stealing; an allegation the Minority in Parliament has rejected.Speaking in the interview, Martin Amidu advised that the investigations into the scandal must not be thwarted regardless of the pressure. The Special Prosecutor insisted that he will not have the conscience to prosecute ordinary Ghanaians if the double salary matter is not dealt with appropriately. Why should a Special Prosecutor be prosecuting ordinary Ghanaians and your honourables will be involved in these things then they will be talking to the president to wash it up. Then I have no need sitting here. I wont even have the conscience to continue. Will I have the conscience to prosecute any other body for corruption if the CID finds something prosecutable and are not allowed to prosecute because Members of Parliament are involved? That is not fair, he added. They should have returned the double payments Martin Amidu opined that, the MPs should have returned the double payments when they started receiving more monies in their accounts. He said it happened to him when he was serving the State as a Deputy Minister, but he returned it. Money was ever paid into my accountWhen my bank notified me I told them to return it because that is not what me and the Attorney General agreed. I could have kept it. This is what they should have done. You dont keep the money for six months, one year, two years or three years, youve left office, one and half years, youve not made any efforts to return it. Then when the CID begins seeing it now you are rationalizing it and yet when the ordinary man takes plantain one bunch, he goes to jail for 15 years. So what is the political elite telling us? If its been happening since 1992 and no one has seen it, now it has been seen, those responsible should bear the consequence, he added. Source: citinewsroom.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 Maverick Politician and Member of Parliament for Assin South, Ken Agyapong has said he would have shot to death the Security Coordinator of Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Company if he were to be the Managing Director, Bennet Aboagye. According to the financier of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), he would have made the Security Coordinator pay dearly with his life, if he were to be the one whose privacy was invaded. The Security Coordinator, Fusseini Lawal Laah has confessed to bugging the office of the MMT Boss, Bennet Aboagye by secretly installing a recording device. Mr Lawal had alleged that he had an audio recording of a conversation in which the managing director and others colluded to dupe the company through the procurement of 300 buses. Among a series of allegations, Mr Lawal threatened to leak the damming audio conversation if Mr Aboagye did not pay him $1 million. The matter is currently under investigations while the MD has been asked to step aside. Commenting on the issue on Adom TV Tuesday, a livid Ken Agyepong whos known for his tough disposition stated that if the MD was truly involved in a shady deal and has been suspended fair deal, but the security coordinator had absolutely no right to have bugged the office. He called for his immediate arrest. The Security Coordinator had the confidence to go and meet with the National Security Coordinator and other big men and has confessed that he bugged the MDs office. What is going on in this country, and you entertain such person, that guy has to be arrested. He bugged the office and has transcribed all the recording and hes moving about with it. The guy, Im warning him, if this country were to be America, they would have taken care of him easily. Hes lucky that were loose, and the NPP understands democracy more than Britain and America, so he has the guts to meet with big men and is able to play the tape, what? This is very wrong, if I were Bennet (MMT Boss) by now, [cri cri], I swear to God, I would have taken care of that nigger, what sort of nonsense is going on in this country? he fumed. Source: Adom News 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 Are you not proud you are talking to the future President of Ghana, was the question Professor Joshua Alabi Joshua Alabi, an aspirant for flagbearership of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) used to re-state his confidence in himself being the next President of Ghana come what may. He granted an interview to GhanaWebs Kwabena Kyenkyenhene Boateng on the Time With KKB program followed keenly by MYNEWSGH.com. The retired academician, reclining in his seat stared soberly at his Ghanaweb interviewer and said: I am winning I am winning. Im going to be the flagbearer of NDC and the next President of this country. Prof Alabi said, sitting back very coolly in his chair, with an air of certainty. Prof Joshua Alabi took another look at his interviewer, perhaps suspecting his interview was yet to be convinced, the Prof asked him: Do you have anything against that? Kwabena Kyenkyenhene promptly responded, Not at all, [Sir]. Alabi then asked him pointedly again, with his glasses reclining to his nose and eyebrows raised: Are you not proud you are talking to the future President of Ghana? He asked. Of course I am, journalist replied, with a burst of laughter while Alabi maintained his serious composure. Dont compare me to Mahama Even though Professor Joshua Alabi admits former President John Dramani Mahama did his best as President, he has said he does not want to be compared with him when it comes to the question of delivery. I am not going to compare myself with John Mahama or anything here that is not what I do. You have asked me to talk about myself so let me talk about myself, he said in the Ghanaweb interview. He observed that John Mahama may have done his best, yet lost at the last elections, the NDC as a party needs to collectively go back to the voters to find out if indeed the party delivered as it expected and establish what accounted for its abysmal performance at the polls. According to him, he remains the best candidate to bring the NDC back to power, and not Mahama. He has promised to make Ghana a Switzerland when elected President in 2020. Source: mynews 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 President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo must apologise to Ghanaians for the unrealistic promises he made during the 2016 elections campaign season, Cassiel Ato Forson, Member of Parliament for Ejumako Enyan Essiam and former Deputy Minister of Finance, has said. According to him, the Akufo-Addo-led government is struggling to find revenue to undertake development projects to fulfil his promises. In the lead-up to the 2016 campaigns, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) promised to establish a factory in each of the districts across the country. The party also promised to introduce free Senior High School (SHS), build a dam in every farming hamlet in the three regions up north among others. The government has been able to commence the Free SHS programme and also launched the One District-One Factory programme, but is yet to fulfil the other promises. Speaking on Class FM Wednesday, 25 April, Mr Forson said: President Akufo-Addo must apologise to Ghanaians for the unrealistic promises he made because he knows he wont be able to fulfil those promises. He should apologise just as President Kufuor did. President Kufuor promised a lean government but never gave a lean government and he apologised for that, so, Mr Akufo-Addo must do same. He further noted that the government is engaged in unnecessary expenditure and that has negatively affected the economy. The government must cut down on some unnecessary expenditure in order not to throw the economy off gear, he said. Source: classfmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video An argument in a Pittsburgh bar between two strangers somehow led to a man being found stabbed to death near a convenience store. Now, the 25-year-old woman accused in the case is admitting her role in the crime. The Associated Press reports Ashley Henchell has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of a stranger she argued with in a Pittsburgh bar. Police say the two argued last August in Satalio's bar. According to AP, the pair made up for the moment inside the bar, but tempers later flared again outside the establishment and Henchell stabbed the man. The victim was identified as 33-year-old Ryan Carosi of Johnstown. His body was found early on Aug. 13 near a CoGos convenience store in Pittsburgh's Mount Washington neighborhood. Allegheny County prosecutors allege that after the stabbing Henchell threw away the knife, went home and showered and washed her clothes. Prosecutors pointed out that there was no agreement on sentencing prior to Henchell entering her plea on Tuesday. Instead, she will learn her fate in mid-July. Two 20-something parents in western Pennsylvania were at a St. Patrick's Day party when their babysitter phoned and texted that their 3-month-old had been accidentally burned. According to TribLive.com, Pa. state police said the babysitter's call came in around 12:30 a.m. and was followed by a text. However, the mother didn't arrive home until around 3 a.m., and the father didn't make it home until 6 a.m. And neither called for help for the baby until 2 p.m., state police say. As a result, the parents, Kayla E. Marol, 28, and Keelan J. Walker, 27, both of Westmoreland County, now face charges of endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment. At last report, the pair were jailed after failing to post bail. Details from TribLive.com: State police began investigating after Walker summoned an ambulance for his son at 2 p.m. March 18. The infant was burned on his left arm after being accidentally scalded by the babysitter the night before. However, Walker allegedly told investigating officers that when he arrived home from the party about 6 a.m., he felt he was "too intoxicated" to do anything about the injured baby. "I figured I'd take care of it when I woke up," police quoted Walker as saying. Meanwhile, Marol told police she returned home around 3 a.m., saw that the baby's arm appeared to have "a couple of little blisters on it" and treated it with ointment and gauze before going to bed. Ambulance personnel told state police that when they arrived around 2 p.m., the baby's diaper was soiled and Marol "just woke up." Harrisburg television station WPMT Fox 43 will soon have new owners, due to the acquisition of their parent company by Sinclair Broadcasting Group. Sinclair is also the parent of WHP CBS21 in Harrisburg. The sale is coming due to Sinclair's finalized acquisition of Tribune Media Company, who in turn own Fox 43. The sale of Tribune's assets to Sinclair was given the go-ahead by government anti-trust regulations, but only if Sinclair released several of their holdings. The sales will affect a total of 23 stations in several states, including Fox 43 and three Wilkes-Barre stations (WOLF, WQMY and WSWB) in Pennsylvania. The stations will be sold to Standard Media Group LLC (an affiliate of Standard General LP), Meredith Corporation, Howard Stirk, Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation, and another party to be announced, according to the press release. In order to see the full list of current or future Sinclair stations being sold, click here to see the full press release. Philly.com reports the script decrying "fake news"and "biased reporting" was given to anchors across the country, and echoed a statement made by Scott Livingston, vice president of news at Sinclair. For this CBS21 veteran, Sinclair's eerie video is a warning message | Opinion "This promo addresses the troubling trend of false stories on social media, and distinguishes our trusted local stations as news destinations where we are committed to honest and accurate reporting," Livingston said in a statement to CNN. "This promo reminds our viewers of this mission." This story was corrected to name Tribute Media Company as the current owners of Fox 43. Bethesda Mission seeks construction of new women's shelter 4 Gallery: Bethesda Mission seeks construction of new women's shelter HARRISBURG - Having outgrown its current women's shelter, which is falling apart, Bethesda Mission will soon be building a new facility for the women who come to it for help. Harrisburg City Council on Tuesday approved the mission's land-development plan, paving the way for the construction of a new, larger facility, which will be built at its current location at 818 N. 20thSt. Executive director Scott Dunwoody said the current building, which dates back to 1900, will be demolished to make way for the new shelter. "We have run out of duct tape to keep it going," he joked. But things were bad. Maintenance crews were constantly called in for repairs, and for the amount of work and cost it would take to get the building up to speed, it only made sense to build or find something new. The site currently has two buildings. The annex will be torn down first, and in its footprint, a larger, 18,000-square-foot, four-story shelter will be constructed. The number of women who can be housed there will increase, from 25 to 50, he said. After the new structure is built, the current shelter will be torn down and replaced with outdoor green space - an important component in healing, he said. The women's shelter is one of several facilities the mission runs. While the men's shelter has been part of the community since 1914, Dunwoody said it wasn't until 1983 when they opened a shelter for women too. The residents often come from chaotic backgrounds, he said, and many come to them addicted to alcohol or drugs. Through living at the shelter and participating in the mission's program, they are often able to go back into the community. The program has a 70 percent success rate. A year after the shelter first opened, Shelley Baker Brooks started working there. She is now the director of the women's shelter, but even before that, this particular building has been a part of her life for a long time. Her family moved to the neighborhood when she was 4, and she remembers seeing the building as their moving truck rumbled by. At the time, it housed a barber's school, where she would go with her brother. He got a haircut for a quarter, and she got a lollypop. Now as the director of the women's shelter, she is happy the new building will remain at its current location. Because it feels like home. When the mission was first looking at its options for a new women's shelter, moving locations was a possibility. "I kept whistling 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road,'" she recalled. The song was stuck in her head and she finally figured out why. "Because there's no place like home." That prompted her to recommend building the new shelter at the current location, and the next day, the mission's board said "yes." The estimated cost of new facility is $4 million. While they will be seeking some community support through this year, Dunwoody said they have a good start. The mission received an $875,000 estate gift to put towards the shelter, and it plans to take out a federal $1.5 million federal loan. He hopes the new shelter can be completed by 2019. A section of Interstate 81 northbound is closed due to a crash. The crash is reported between the Interstate 78 split and Exit 90 in Lebanon County, according to 511PA.com. All northbound lanes in the area are closed. Traffic cameras show emergency vehicles in the area, as well as what appears to be an overturned tractor trailer. 81 NB now closed between the I-78 split and Exit 90 b/c of this crash. #HBGTraffic pic.twitter.com/HJc0k52QgY TTWN Harrisburg (@TotalTrafficMDT) April 25, 2018 For more traffic information, follow live traffic updates, accident reports and road closures below from PennDOT, Total Traffic Network and other Twitter sources. Get a look at conditions on local roads -- via PennDOT traffic cameras -- anytime here on PennLive. For Pennsylvania Turnpike updates and possible travel delays visit the Turnpike website here. Tweet us at @pennlive with any incidents you see on your commute or send a submission to submissions@pennlive.com. SUNBURY - The Northumberland County district attorney says he will seek the death penalty if a man is found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a woman on a Shamokin Street. District Attorney Matulewicz filed his notice before Jose Colon, 41, of Shamokin, on Monday waived his county court arraignment on charges that include criminal homicide. The prosecutor cited the illegal possession of a firearm and the grave risk of death to others as aggravating circumstances that allows him to seek the death penalty. He explained the latter as the number of people in the vicinity of the Feb. 26 shooting. Colon had remarked following his arrest March 7 he wanted the death penalty. He is accused of fatally shooting Kasandra Ortiz, 23, in the head with a shotgun in the 400 block of North Rock Street in Shamokin and then engaging in a more than five-hour standoff with police. The standoff could not be considered an aggravating factor to permit seeking the death penalty because it was a separate incident, Matulewicz said. Colon earlier this month was ordered held for court on charges stemming from the shooting, assault on another woman and standoff. He is accused of punching Ortiz when she came out from her nearby apartment, dragging her behind a large trash container and shooting her. Shamokin Officer Raymond J. Siko II testified at the preliminary hearing during an interview that Colon began crying and admitted he shot Ortiz. There also was testimony Ortiz had "burned" Colon in a drug deal and she was spreading rumors he had bed bugs. Besides the homicide count, he will stand trial in the murder case on charges of aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, possession of an instrument of crime and a convicted felon not to possess a firearm He also is charged in the same case with terroristic threats and simple assault for allegedly punching a female friend of Ortiz and chasing her down a street with a shotgun pointed at her. Charges on which he was held for trial from the standoff are attempted murder and assault on a law enforcement officer, person not to possess a firearm, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person. Shots were fired that struck a police cruiser and an armored vehicle during the standoff the following the fatal shooting. Colon is jailed without bail on the homicide charge. By Vincent Schiraldi and Jessica Jackson Sloan The sentencing of Philadelphia rap artist Meek Mill to prison for probation violations committed a decade after his offense - and his release from prison this week by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court - has drawn attention to the contribution that probation and parole ("community corrections") play in mass incarceration. Vincent Schiraldi (Columbia University photo) Pennsylvania's disproportionate contribution to the "mass supervision" of nearly five million Americans (more than double the incarcerated number) was brought into sharp focus today by the release of The Pennsylvania Community Corrections Story by Columbia University's Justice Lab. Founded as efforts to rehabilitate those who had broken the law by either diverting them from incarceration (probation) or expediting their release from prison for good behavior (parole), community corrections has grown far beyond what its founders could have ever imagined. An alarming one in 34 adults in Pennsylvania and one in 22 adults in Philadelphia is under community corrections - well above the national rate of one in 53 adults. There are nearly as many people under community supervision in Pennsylvania (296,000) as live in Pittsburgh (303,625). Pennsylvania has the highest parole supervision rate in the country, three times the national average. Instead of serving as off-ramps to incarceration, probation and parole are substantial contributors to mass incarceration and a deprivation of liberty in their own right. The number of people under community supervision should be cut in half, reinvesting the savings into helping such people turn their lives around. Jessica Jackson Sloan (Columbia University photo) While sometimes thought of as a grant of mercy or a slap on the wrist, community supervision often drags on at great length serving as a trip wire ending in incarceration. Lengths of parole and probation in Pennsylvania are particularly long. For example, while most states cap probation terms at 5 years, Pennsylvania permits supervision for the maximum term allowable for a particular offense, even though most of the value of supervision occurs in the first year or two of supervision. That's why Mill was still on probation 11 years after his original offense. Such lengthy terms cast a wide net that catches far more minnows than sharks. One-third of Pennsylvania's prison beds are occupied by people who have violated community supervision conditions, costing the state $420 million a year. While 28 percent of admissions to prison nationally in 2014 were the result of a parole violations, 45 percent of prison admissions in Pennsylvania were. Half of those in the Philadelphia Jail are held on parole or probation detainers. In other words, Meek Mill is hardly alone. These punishments fall more heavily on African Americans than any other group. One in 5 African American men without a high school education is under community supervision. The Urban Institute found that revocation rates for African Americans on probation in several cities were higher than for similarly situated whites. This reality lead musician Jay-Z to write that community corrections "entraps and harasses hundreds of thousands of black people every day." Reducing the footprint of probation and parole has become mainstream thought among community corrections officials. In August 2017, the nation's leading probation and parole administrators and associations signed on to The Statement on the Future of Community Corrections stating that "community corrections has become a significant contributor to mass incarceration" which should be considerably downsized. In February, 20 leading probation and parole administrators co-authored Too big to succeed: The impact of the growth of community corrections and what should be done about it, writing that "probation and parole have become a substantial contributor to our nation's mass incarceration dilemma" and that "the number of people on probation and parole nationally can be cut in half over the next decade." Numerous jurisdictions have already found that less community corrections can go hand in hand with less incarceration and more safety. From 1996 to 2014, New York City officials reduced the number of people on probation by 69 percent under Republican, Independent and Democratic mayors. During that time, violent crime fell by 57 percent and the city's incarceration rate fell by 55 percent. Missouri policy makers granted 30 days of "earned compliance credit" for every 30 days of compliance under supervision. From 2012 to 2015, there was a 20 percent reduction in the number of people under supervision and reconviction rates for those released early were the same as those discharged before the policy went into effect. In order to curb the use of probation and parole in Pennsylvania, policy makers should shorten probation and parole terms and focus community resources on the first few years of supervision when they have the greatest impact; provide "earned compliance credit" time off supervision as incentives to positive performance; reduce returns to incarceration; reduce detention prior to reincarceration; and reallocate incarceration savings to fund housing, treatment, education and employment services for those under supervision. Reducing the number of Pennsylvanians under supervision will improve public safety and reduce the system's unnecessary deprivation of liberty, while returning much needed legitimacy to community corrections. Vincent Schiraldi is a Senior Research Scientist and co-founder of Columbia University's Justice Lab and former Commissioner of New York City Probation. Jessica Jackson Sloan is National Director of #cut50. Cenovus president and CEO Alex Pourbaix, left, addresses the company's annual meeting in Calgary, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Cenovus Energy Inc. says it will consider slowing development of a 50,000-barrel-per-day oilsands expansion project that it started building early last year if there isn't meaningful progress on increasing pipeline capacity out of Alberta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh Shayne McGenn pokes his head out a door at the Penticton courthouse in 2016 before being led away by sheriffs. He was arrested at that time in Penticton in connection with a murder in Abbotsford. Community Foundations of Canada president Ian Bird, left, visited the future site of the Foundry Penticton youth centre Tuesday and praised the efforts of those involved including, left to right, local foundation president Marielle Brule, executive director Aaron McRann, OneSky executive director Tanya Behardien, and fundraising co-ordinator Judy Lloyd. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe discusses the province's 2018 budget at the Legislative Building in Regina, Tuesday, April 10, 2018. The Saskatchewan government is asking the province's Appeal Court to rule on whether the federal government can impose a carbon tax. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland speaks with media in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. With the NAFTA talks at a critical juncture, Freeland is changing her travel plans and staying in the U.S. capital. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Alex Panetta American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt, left, and Margo Schlanger, professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, center, and ACLU attorney Miriam Aukerman, right, speak to reporters outside the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Cincinnati. A federal appeals panel will hear arguments over a Trump administration effort to deport Iraqi nationals. A U.S. district judge in Detroit last year blocked the deportations to give the Iraqis time to make their cases to stay. Gelernt says many of them are Christians or other minority groups who fear being persecuted, tortured or killed if returned. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Dolores Leis stands in a field on her farm in Galicia, in northern Spain, Thursday April 19, 2018. Leis, has found unexpected fame on social media after many found she bore a striking resemblance to U.S. President Donald Trump. Thousands of responses flooded in last week after a journalist reporting on farming in northwestern Spain posted on Instagram a picture of Dolores Leis dressed in farm clothing with a hoe over her shoulder. (Paula Vazquez via AP) This undated photo provided by the Dallas County Sheriff's Department shows Armando Juarez. Juarez is accused of shooting and critically wounding multiple Dallas police officers and hurting an employee at a Home Depot store as he led law enforcement on a high-speed car chase before he was captured in a late-night arrest Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Police arrested Juarez on charges of aggravated assault on a public servant and felony theft. (Dallas County Sheriff's Department via AP) This undated photo released by the Maine State Police shows John Williams of Madison, Maine, who is being sought in connection with the shooting of a Somerset County sheriff's deputy Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine. Deputy Eugene Cole was killed while responding to a reported robbery. (Maine State Police via AP) James Shaw Jr., waves to the crowd and legislators inside the Tennessee House chambers as he is honored for disarming a shooter inside a Nashville-area Waffle House at the Tennessee State House Tuesday April 24, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. (Larry McCormack/The Tennessean via AP) Republican U.S. Congressional candidate Debbie Lesko, right, celebrates her win with former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer at her home, Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in Peoria, Ariz. Lesko ran against Democratic candidate Hiral Tipirneni for Arizona's 8th Congressional District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Arizona. (AP Photo/Matt York) The site of a future marijuana dispensary is pictured in the 1200 block of Sansom Street in Center City. Read more Medical marijuana retailers have sprouted across the state since February, dispensing cannabis to thousands of patients with 17 qualifying health conditions. But Philadelphia, the state's most populous municipality, has yet to see a single dispensary open within the city limits. That should change in the coming months with at least four shops on the horizon. "The opening of medical cannabis dispensaries in Philadelphia will make critical treatments more accessible to patients in need," Mayor Kenney said in a statement. "The program is also creating attractive jobs and the resulting tax revenue will fund important programs that improve our city and Commonwealth." Beyond/Hello, an Abington-based company financed by a big Denver marijuana group, announced Wednesday that it will be the first to open a dispensary in Center City. The shop is slated for the 1200 block of Sansom Street, a few doors to the east of Fergie's Pub. However Beyond/Hello won't begin serving patients until construction is complete, and that won't be until the fall. Fishtown will get the city's first dispensary in late May. Restore Integrative Wellness Centers will open on the 900 block of Frankford Avenue, across from the Fillmore Philadelphia concert hall. In Northeast Philadelphia's Bustleton neighborhood, Holistic Pharma expects to open in June at Krewstown Road near Bloomfield Avenue. In South Philadelphia, Keystone Shops has plans for a dispensary within sight of the stadium complex, on the 300 block of Packer Avenue. Zoning and neighborhood opposition stalled and later shut down locations in the Northeast and Mount Airy. A plan to open a Pharmacann dispensary near Philadelphia Mills shopping center was challenged in federal court by the mall's owner. Pharmacann withdrew from the location rather than fight a costly battle that could have imperiled the state's medical marijuana program. TerraVida Holistic Centers canceled plans for a location in East Mount Airy after local politicians and neighbors sought to overturn its zoning permit. The state granted permission for TerraVida to relocate the shop to Malvern. Katherine Videira, lead art teacher of the 2nd to 5th graders, helps student Elizabeth Pavlica, 9, with her comic book at Portside Arts Center in Port Richmond. Portside, which has provided arts programming to the community since 2008, may have to close its doors. Read more Hardly a day passes without the shuttering of one favorite local haunt or another. The headlines always sound the same: "Beloved [bar diner bowling alley farmstand you name it] closes." Lights out. Last call. Last hurrah. People are always sad, and surprised, though I often wonder why. It's not enough to just like the idea of a place, you actually have to support it. Commerce is funny that way. Sure, I liked the big-name meal-kit companies, but as soon as I saw that my local farmer's market was offering a similar service, I switched. Plenty of times I think about the convenience of grabbing a loaf of bread at whatever supermarket I happen to be in, but I usually hold off until I can buy from the bakery around the corner from my house. Same loyalty goes for my favorite women's clothing shop owned by a mother and daughter and a bike shop a few blocks away that may have more limited hours and inventory than the big box stores, but is a place I want to help stay open. Any time I'm tempted to stray, I ask myself one question: What kind of neighborhood do I want to live in? That's the question people need to start asking, and quick, about Port Richmond and the Portside Arts Center before it finds itself featured in one of those too-familiar headlines. If you haven't heard of Portside, swing by. There's no missing it it's the colorful building on the corner of Lehigh and Belgrade, wrapped in a fish mural that even covers the roof. Just be sure to have some time on your hands. Led by founder, artist, and resident den mother Kim Creighton, it's a warm, inviting place where time seems to stop. During one visit, when I had planned to stay an hour, tops, I found myself, several hours later, talking art and art education and what it takes to keep a place like Portside going. Portside runs its after-school and summer camps, adult classes, and the popular scholarship-generating Lehigh Avenue Arts Festival on grants, sponsorships, and individual donors and, sometimes, Creighton's own money. Part of the center's financial woes stem from people liking the idea of the arts a lot more than they like writing the checks to keep arts going. Another is that as the nonprofit, which has taught visual and performing arts since 2008, increased services and activities, it didn't always increase its rates, even as the neighborhood became more gentrified and many newer residents were able to afford more. The small staff, which has been going without pay, is working on a more sustainable plan, but they have to stick around long enough to implement it and they want to make sure that they're still accessible to lower-income students. The place really comes alive when the kids come barreling through its doors. On a recent trip, there was Freddy Taylor, the 10-year-old whip-smart entrepreneur, and Skyler Ertwine, 7, the sweet "selfie" expert, and Lily Clark, 11, the thoughtful budding artist who summed up many of the kids' feelings on their home away from home. "Here I learned how to express my feelings through art," she said, showing off an impressive, colorful painting she called "Galaxy." "It lets students freely express their creativity and be themselves." Taylor is aware of the ticking clock, and the fund-raising efforts, including a GoFundMe campaign to raise $30,000 all the kids are. "This place is something different," said Taylor. "I hope we're able to save it." There are some options: limited programming, moving, rent-free, to nearby Hackett Elementary School. But as good as that might sound, it would mean closing the doors to a community hub. "It's heartbreaking," said Carly Najera, who was picking up her 7-year-old daughter, Clementine. "Art always comes last." Creighton and her crew are still plotting, still hoping that they not only get closer to their fund-raising goal but that they are able to sustain themselves for years to come. Whatever happens, their survival depends on one thing. "We have to have support from our community to sustain ourselves," Creighton said. So, it's on you and me, Philly. Ask yourself: What kind of city do you want to live in? If it's one with neighborhoods with endearing, eye-catching community centers like Portside, with places where kids like Freddy and Lily and Skyler can discover and express themselves, where arts don't come last, you know what to do. Co-led by Pennsylvania State University president Eric Barron, academic leaders from 31 universities met in Illinois on Monday and Tuesday to discuss ways to combat hazing, binge drinking, and other problems in their fraternity and sorority systems. Also participating in the national gathering, called "Fraternities and Sororities: What Next," were the presidents of Florida State University and Louisiana State University, where students died in hazing-related incidents this school year. "We've come up with what we think are best practices for recruitment and pledging," Barron said before boarding a plane back to Pennsylvania. "We'll work through that and see if we can get everybody to agree." He declined to release details until the platform is finished later this year and ready to be presented to presidents of various national groups for endorsement, including the 237-member Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The group also plans to pursue the creation of a national database on fraternities and sororities, including violations and suspensions, to keep schools and parents better informed, Barron said. There are about 12,000 fraternity and sorority chapters in the United States with more than 750,000 student members. The meeting was cohosted by Penn State and the Universities of Iowa and Nebraska-Lincoln and held at the Big Ten Conference headquarters in Rosemont, Ill. Rutgers University also participated. It came at the suggestion of Barron, who is helping steer Penn State through the tragic death of Tim Piazza. A sophomore engineering major from New Jersey, Piazza died in February 2017 after a booze-fueled party at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, where hazing is alleged. Piazza drank copious amounts of alcohol and later fell down the stairs; no one called for help for nearly 12 hours. Fourteen fraternity members have been bound over for trial in his death on charges include hazing, reckless endangerment, and furnishing alcohol to minors. Additional members could face a preliminary hearing on charges in his death next month. The case has drawn national attention and resulted in a crackdown on Greek life at Penn State. The university permanently revoked recognition of Beta Theta Pi and implemented changes, including delaying the pledge process, taking over responsibility for monitoring and disciplining fraternities and sororities, and posting a Greek report card on its fraternities and sororities which Barron said could serve as a model for a national database. "Continued tragic deaths of students across the nation due to dangerous behaviors dramatically underscore that a culture shift in fraternities and sororities is needed," Barron said. Barron and the presidents of Florida State and Louisiana State shared with the group of more than 50 provosts, presidents, and student-life leaders the impact of the fraternity-related deaths on their campuses and what they have learned. They also discussed the value that fraternities and sororities provide and a problem that often gets little attention the lack of diversity in fraternities and sororities. George Washingtons desk at the back of a gallery in the Philadelphia History Museum Read more The Philadelphia History Museum, the city's institutional attic of art and artifacts previously known as the Atwater Kent museum, has entered into talks with Temple University about a possible merger or partnership, according to city and museum officials. "We are in discussions with Temple," Charles Croce, museum executive director and chief executive, said Tuesday. "It would form a very interesting umbrella." Croce emphasized that "nothing has been signed, but there's great interest" on both sides of the talks. Joe Lucia, dean of Temple University libraries, said the university has a strong interest in connecting its massive Urban Archives, which cover the city's history from the mid-19th century to the present, with the history museum's artifacts and paintings from roughly the same period. "Can we align those" histories? Lucia wondered Tuesday. "In the 21st century environment, how do you reinvent the museum?" He sees the possibility of a partnership with the history museum as opening up new ways of "understanding the urban environment and understanding the Philadelphia environment." Talks have been going on for over a year but have recently taken on a "more formal" tone, Lucia said. In 2015, the history museum entered into similar discussions with Woodmere Art Museum. But those talks eventually were shelved. This time around, the city, which owns the museum building on South Seventh Street just off Market Street, gave a major nudge to the museum. In October, the managing director's office issued a request for proposals seeking a project manager to work up a "financially sustainable plan" for the museum, including a possible merger with another institution or even "taking steps to dissolve the organization." Museum officials, Croce said, successfully argued that they were already being assisted by a consultant, TDC, a Boston firm hired to help with the Woodmere planning. "A strategic partnership and closure were options to be explored at the time when the RFP was written," city cultural officer Kelly Lee wrote in an email Tuesday. "The PHM board, the city and TDC all agreed that [the museum's] current business model was not working, and the [museum] did not generate enough revenue to sustain operations." Kelly said that the museum "plays a unique role in the cultural fabric of Philadelphia" and that "closure would have been the option of last resort." The museum, mandated by the city charter as the official repository of Philadelphia's "material culture," was at one time relatively well supported by city funds. But since Philadelphia's near bankruptcy in the early 1990s, its museum subsidy has dwindled to the current level of roughly $300,000, annually. The city also covers costs of maintaining the 1826 Greek Revival building, which was home of the Franklin Institute for more than a century. The museum owns the "material culture" collection, which includes iconic items such as George Washington's writing desk and Mike Schmidt's batting helmet. Many of its artworks were given to the Atwater Kent by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in the 1990s when HSP transformed itself into a library and archive only. The museum now houses more than 100,000 objects in off-site storage, a huge amount given the museum's small staff (there are seven full-time staffers) and minuscule financial resources. Croce wondered, "How many objects do you need to tell Philadelphia's story effectively?" The enormous size of the collection is one area that the museum and Temple have discussed. Croce wants to "assemble a team of experts to help us evaluate the collection" with an eye toward divesting duplicates and non-relevant artifacts. "The idea is to cull the collection, not to sell it off," he said. Such selling can easily teeter into controversy, as Croce well knows. A previous executive director paid off a costly renovation project in part through collection sales and was widely criticized for it. Most professional museum codes sanction sales only to benefit a museum's collection, not installation of new air-conditioning. Croce said that such types of sales are not in the cards. Lee, the city's cultural officer, said that, at least as of now, "We are all confident that PHM closing is off the table, and are all excited and hopeful about the partnership and what it could mean for the PHM." In an 1812 Productions dressing room, playwright Michael Hollinger talks with actress Jessica Johnson about the script for Hope and Gravity. Read more "I'm feeling a little like a bigamist who is moving between these two families," says playwright Michael Hollinger. "The good thing is they know about each other and neither begrudges my being at the other's place." What's this? True confessions of a dramatist? Not exactly. For the second straight season, not one but two of Hollinger's plays are on at the same time: Sing the Body Electric, a world premiere at Theatre Exile (through May 13); and Hope and Gravity at 1812 Productions (April 26-May 20). So he's had to be around, for both companies, answering questions, making occasional comments or suggestions, being a collaborator in two places at once. It was easier early this month, because Exile and 1812 were rehearsing just a floor apart at 1812's offices on South Third Street. Hollinger was going up and down stairs, from one company, one dramatic world, to another, trying to give equal time. He let us tag along for those early sessions. It was intense. As the directors and actors tried out various ways of doing lines and scenes, Hollinger was as focused as you can be. In an early rehearsal for Hope and Gravity, the 1812 cast came to a scene in which an older couple is selling their longtime family home to a younger couple. The sellers have many powerful feelings, including sorrow and regret; the buyers, while trying to be polite, are trained mostly on their present and future. The cross-generation talk is bumpy, awkward. The two men try to shoot the breeze about the house. Hollinger: "It should be like guys talking about lawns." Laughter. Director Jennifer Childs, Hollinger, and the cast discussed the characters' emotional states, real estate issues, house prices. One actor read a line, and Childs said to its recipient: "What do you think you're going to say when you hear someone say that to you?" Suli Holum as Nan, the older woman, said, "Let's talk about why we're motivated sellers," and Sean Close as Steve, the younger man, thought out loud, "So this is a year after we've graduated? And then we got married? And I'm having some success now as an ad writer, and it's all going too fast? And my wife can think quicker, and I'm more passive?" Hollinger nodded. Jessica Johnson as Jen said, "Right, if I'm seven to eight months pregnant, I'm thinking, 'We've got to move on this.' " Hollinger agreed: "There's a number of times when you say, 'I think we've seen all we have to see,' and that's for your husband's benefit." At Theatre Exile, the feeling was different, maybe because this is a brand-new play (Hope and Gravity was first produced in 2014) and everyone was feeling their way forward together. Scenes alternate: In one, Lloyd (played by Anthony Lawton) angrily interrogates Doris (Kimberly S. Fairbanks), and in another, Blake (Trevor William Fayle), a young man who has survived a lightning strike, tries to duck questions from a fascinated Jess (Kishia Nixon). It was remarkable how much Hollinger did not say. As with director Childs and Hope and Gravity, here the reins were firmly in director Deborah Block's hands. (Later, Hollinger said, "One of the keys to this thing is that Jen, Deborah, and I have known each other for a long time, and there's a lot of trust there.") On this day, the comments and focus centered on movement. Doris tried different ways of walking uncomfortably around a table as Lloyd grilled her with rising anger. At one point in the play, Jess gets Blake to take his shirt off, and she sees his scars from the lightning strike. Blake says, in a small voice, that the scars are called "Lichtenberg figures," which make patterns like fractals. Block said, "That was great. The voice you used there, just great." They did the scene again, and at one point, while Blake struggled to explain, Jess walked across the imaginary "stage." She hadn't done that before. Block said, with a smile: "I liked when you walked across like that. That sort of changed the whole scene." Hollinger was also smiling. They might keep that one. Those were the early days. Soon, the companies departed to their separate theaters. Theatre Exile went to its temporary digs at the Latvian Society on North Seventh Street (its longtime home is being renovated), and 1812 went to its home at Plays and Players Theatre on Delancey Place. So Hollinger started making a crosstown trek, and he let our photographer go along. Clearly, Hollinger can't really escape being a kind of authority, to be consulted for advice, clarification, opinion but he is also careful, picking moments, letting the pros do their jobs. And that, he said later, is tough. "Everything I'm watching, I'm asking, 'Is it true?' " he said. "As the actors try things different ways, is it still true? Is this way truer than that?" He's particularly alert, he said, for "where the lies show up," where something doesn't seem true to life. "The lie might be in the writing, in which case I need to rewrite. The lie might be in the staging, where you might say, 'Well, the line is fine, but the person wouldn't say that standing, or standing this particular way with this other person.' Or the lie might be in the acting. Then you might say, 'Yeah, but they wouldn't laugh when they say that' or, 'They would laugh when they say that, not keep a straight face.' " The trick is knowing when to speak up and when not. "My first and hardest tack," he said, "is to just wait, because if your collaborators are smart and observant and, thank goodness, my collaborators here are they will also find solutions. It's always better if the director and the actors find it themselves." Last fall, the two Hollinger plays were Red Herring, a 2000 comedy that had a sparkling run at Act II Playhouse in Ambler, and TouchTones, a world-premiere musical at the Arden Theatre Company. Hollinger called TouchTones "a mammoth project that was brand-new and therefore prone to big rewrites at the last moment." "There's so much doubt with a musical," he said. "You keep thinking, 'What if it's no good? What if I've wasted 12 years of my life working on this?' And it was much harder making changes, especially when songs or music were involved. Each change means making 10 other changes." Red Herring is a tight, well-honed, indestructible romp, "and with that, I could just sit back and let the actors work. It's a comfort," he said, looking at his watch and wondering where to be next, "just to let go and let the process be the process." Police in Philadelphia say they caught a coyote in the Northeast section of the city. Read more Jerry Czech, a game warden for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, has heard of coyotes wandering into Philadelphia one was even struck and killed by a car a few years ago near Pennypack Park. But he hadn't heard of one making its way far into an urbanized residential area until this week when Philadelphia police called Monday afternoon to say they had a coyote cornered in the city's Mayfair neighborhood. "This just happened to be a coyote that wandered off and probably got lost," Czech said. According to Czech, police in the 15th District spotted the coyote and followed it a few blocks. It wandered through an alley before walking onto the 4200 block of Greeby Street, between Vogt Park and Roosevelt Playground. Using their squad cars, the police cornered the coyote to an area fenced in on three sides and called Czech's office. But Czech was on duty in Delaware County and too far to be of immediate help. The officers said that, rather than wait, they would try to snare the animal with a "catch pole" a stick with a loop at the end. Czech was doubtful. "But sure enough, they did," he said. Police put the coyote in the back of the squad car and sent Czech some pictures to examine if the animal might be diseased. Rangers from the city's Parks and Recreation Department also were called. "From the pictures, I could tell it was perfectly healthy," Czech said. Chris Zapart, another game warden, met police and then drove the coyote north about six miles and let it go into Pennypack Park near Verree Road. The wardens chose the area because it provided thick cover and the animal had farther to roam, even into Montgomery County. Czech said it was possible coyotes have made their way into other highly urbanized parts of the city before, but residents might assume they are dogs. Indeed, coyotes in this region are likely Eastern coyotes, which some label a coywolf: a hybrid coyote, wolf, and dog. Coyotes have been spotted in suburbs for a number of years, but sightings within the city's borders are more recent. The animals feed on mice, voles, rabbits, and woodchucks, so Pennypack Park could be a good feeding ground. However, coyotes are shy and normally avoid people, so finding one in daylight in an urban area is unusual. A Warminster woman was charged Tuesday with killing her 8-year-old son and injuring a Levittown couple while driving with over twice the legal limit of alcohol on April 7, reported the Bucks County District Attorney's Office. Kelly Anne Colbridge, 37, of the 100 block of Deb Lane, was arrested on multiple charges, including homicide and aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence, in the head-on crash. The accident occurred about 7:30 p.m. on the 300 block of Street Road in Upper Southampton. Colbridge, driving a Dodge Avenger sedan, crossed a center turn lane and struck a Kia Sorento SUV with the Levittown husband and wife. At the time, Colbridge, trapped inside her vehicle, yelled to emergency responders to help her. According to the probable cause affidavit, the officer didn't realize her son was in the car until they saw him in the rear of the vehicle. The boy, whose spine had been separated from his skull, died three days later at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He was identified as D.K. in the affidavit. A GoFundMe page for a memorial fund named the boy as Daniel Klaus. Colbridge, who was hospitalized with several broken bones and a punctured lung, allegedly told police she had been at a party at Feasterville Bowlero with her son and had a few alcoholic drinks. According to the affidavit, authorities found controlled substances including Suboxone strips and clonazepam pills in her handbag, along with marijuana and paraphernalia use to smoke marijuana in Colbridge's sedan. The couple in the other vehicle were treated at Abington Hospital for various injuries. The wife underwent emergency surgery. Rapper Meek Mill, right, arrives at the Criminal Justice Center with his lawyer, Brian McMonagle, on Nov. 6, 2017. Read more 2007 Meek Mill, 19, whose birth name is Robert Rihmeek Williams, is arrested in Southwest Philadelphia on drug and weapons charges. 2008 In a trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Genece E. Brinkley, narcotics officer Reginald V. Graham testifies that he saw Mill sell crack cocaine and pull a gun from his waistband when officers approached. Mill admits having a gun but denies selling drugs or pointing a weapon at police. Brinkley convicts Mill of drug possession, firearms violations, and simple assault. Mill serves five months in jail. 2012 Dec. 17: At a hearing, Brinkley rules that Mill violated the terms of his probation by scheduling performances to promote his first CD, and forbids him from touring for a month. The ruling forces cancellations of concerts in Africa, the Caribbean, and across the United States. "Clearly this court has bent over backwards all these years," Brinkley says, referring to Mill's short six-month jail term. 2013 June 28: Brinkley orders Mill to attend etiquette classes to learn how to act in public and online, and to notify his probation officer when he wants to travel outside Pennsylvania. Mill tells the judge that it was difficult to detail his travel plans because many of his business activities are arranged on short notice. 2014 July 11: Brinkley sentences Mill to three to six months in prison for ignoring her order not to schedule any new concerts between July 1 and Aug. 11. "After all these years of me trying to help him move his career forward I believe this defendant is basically thumbing his nose at me," Brinkley says. Aug. 18: Brinkley denies Mill early parole, saying she saw no signs he had changed his ways. "I'm not going to have him thumbing his nose at me every time I turn around," she says. Dec. 2: Mill is released from jail. Brinkley prohibits him from resuming concerts until he completes a plan of treatment and community service. 2015 March 21: Mill performs a "homecoming" concert at the Wells Fargo Center. Dec. 14: At a 5-hour probation hearing, Brinkley rules that Mill once again violated parole. She bars him from performing and limits his travel, saying: "I bent over backward to give him every opportunity to grow his career." 2016 Feb. 5: Brinkley sentences Mill to at least 90 days' house arrest. 2017 Aug. 17: Brinkley bars Mill from performing outside Philadelphia or Montgomery County. Nov. 4: Responding to cancellation of a Mill performance at Syracuse University, students mount a phone and email campaign seeking to convince Brinkley to let him perform. Nov. 6: Brinkley sentences Mill to two to four years in prison for repeatedly violating his probation, and orders him taken into custody immediately. "I gave you break after break, and you basically just thumbed your nose at this court," Brinkley tells Mill. Nov. 13: Hundreds of Mill supporters rally outside the Criminal Justice Center. Speakers include 76ers Hall of Famer Julius Erving, Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, and rappers Rick Ross and Freeway. Nov. 14: In a legal filing, Mill's lawyers ask Brinkley to disqualify herself from further involvement in his case and to let a new judge reconsider Mill's prison sentence. Nov. 16: "Stand With Meek Mill" ads appear on billboards and newsstands, and wrapped around SEPTA buses. The ads are paid by Jay-Z's management company and by Michael Rubin, an owner of the 76ers. 2018 Feb. 13: The Inquirer and Daily News report that the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office in 2017 secretly compiled a list of Philadelphia police officers with a history of lying, racial bias, or brutality in a move to block them from testifying in court. On the list was Reginald V. Graham, who arrested Mill in 2007. Prosecutors acknowledge that Mill's lawyers were never told of the list or that Graham was on it. Feb. 14: A former Philadelphia police officer accuses Graham of lying under oath in 2008 in an effort to put Mill in jail. March 14: The District Attorney's Office says it would not oppose Mill's release from prison on bail because it has questions about whether the rapper's conviction from a decade ago would withstand his most recent appeal efforts. March 23: Gov. Wolf tweets his support for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner's position on Mill. March 29: In a 48-page opinion, Brinkley writes that she "committed no error" in not recusing herself in Mill's case and that the prison sentence she imposed on him of two to four years "was not manifestly excessive." April 11: Mayor Kenney visits Meek Mill in prison. A Kenney spokeswoman says the mayor believes that Mill "would better serve the community outside of prison." April 16: The District Attorney's Office says Mill's conviction should be vacated and he should be granted a new trial, due to questions about the credibility of Graham. It is the first time that prosecutors have publicly said they agree with the claim by Mill's lawyers that his 2007 arrest might have been improper. Brinkley does not immediately vacate the conviction and refuses to hear arguments from Mill's attorneys that he should be let out on bail, scheduling another hearing for June. April 24: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court orders that Mill should be immediately released from prison on bail. MarlaJan Wexler wasn't exactly grateful to be diagnosed at age 27 with lupus, an inflammatory disease that makes her immune system attack the tissues and organs it's supposed to protect. But it explained a lot. At her best, Wexler, now 36, felt worn out, even after a full night's sleep. At her worst, she couldn't get out of bed. Now, a regimen of drugs including an infusion once every four weeks of Benlysta, an immunosuppressive drug keeps Wexler's symptoms in check. Infused and injected biologic medications have been lifesavers for people who, like Wexler, have difficult-to-treat illnesses and few other options. But they come at an incredible personal and financial cost. In addition to the medication's price the Cherry Hill infusion center Wexler uses charges $8,300 people who rely on biologics tether themselves to inflexible infusion appointments every several weeks and the imperative to have good health insurance. "It's a lot of work to be sick," said Wexler, who lives in Marlton. Specialty medications, including biologics, account for 1 percent of prescribed drugs, yet comprise about 32 percent of drug spending in the United States. As these sophisticated treatments become available to treat a broader range of illnesses, patients, physicians and insurers will need to reckon with their high price tags. "Our big focus has been, we need new drugs we only have a handful but what we forget is once those drugs are out, can patients afford them?" said Susan Manzi, the medical director for the Lupus Foundation of America. "The global answer to that, often, is no." Affordability concerns Though they still account for a small minority of the pharmaceutical market, developers are investing heavily in biologics, a newer science that involves growing proteins and DNA structures out of live cells, and that holds promise for addressing illnesses that lack effective treatments. Biologics spending topped $120 billion in 2017, a 12 percent growth from the year before, outpacing overall growth in the $324 billion pharmaceutical industry, according to IQVIA, a market research firm. >> READ MORE: Jefferson partnership paving way for biologics jobs The way they are made and administered an infusion or injection contributes to universally high prices around the world. A year's worth of biologic infusions runs tens of thousands of dollars in Canada and other countries where health care often costs less than in the U.S. GlaxoSmithKline, which makes Benlysta, said it considers the research and development that went into the drug, as well as its value to patients, when pricing medications. Like many manufacturers, GSK has a financial-assistance program that offers rebates and free medication to some patients, based on financial need and type of insurance. The growing number of Americans with high-deductible health plans must pay a greater share of their health costs than in the past, helping to drive assistance plans. "We do recognize that an increased drive toward more cost sharing that we are seeing in the U.S. health-care system may result in affordability concerns for some patients," said Anna Padula, a spokeswoman for the company, in an email. Costs could be crippling Patients who rely on biologics often have few, if any, other options. Remicade, for example, is one of the few treatments available for Crohn's disease, which causes such severe bowel inflammation that surgery to remove the affected bowel can become necessary. >> READ MORE: To control her Crohn's disease, she needs drug infusions at $18K a year Since October, Grace and Dan Jost have been taking their 10-year-old son, Aaron, for Remicade infusions at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia about once every six weeks. The hospital charges about $11,500 for each infusion, which comes down to $3,100 after their insurer's adjustments and payments. A rebate program by Remicade maker Janssen knocks off about $2,800 per infusion, leaving the Voorhees family with an out-of-pocket cost of about $340 per infusion until they reach their health plan's out-of-pocket maximum. As is the case for most patients with autoimmune diseases, the cost of the infusion is only one piece of the financial puzzle. The family expects to spend about $10,000 a year the out-of-pocket maximum for their health plan on medical expenses. The cost is significant, but worth it, if it means Aaron can have a semi-normal childhood. Dan doesn't like when Grace compares the diagnosis to a death in the family, but that's how she feels. "It's a death of the normal life you expect for your son," she said. Grace, a retail pharmacist, and Dan, who owns an architecture firm, budget for the anticipated expense by cutting back in other areas, such as vacations. They feel fortunate, knowing the cost could be crippling for some families. "For us, it takes away $10,000 in savings. We plan for it and that's just the way it is," Dan said. "Someone making $50,000 a year who has to deal with this it's a big deal." Its frustrating Treatment regimens like Aaron's take a heavy personal toll, too. In order for the medication to work properly, patients must be diligent about keeping their appointments, however frequent and inconvenient they may be. Weekend appointments are coveted and hard to get, which means patients must be able to take off from work or, in Aaron's case, school. Grace cut back her demanding work schedule to 30 hours a week shortly before Aaron was diagnosed; now, returning to work full time isn't possible. She might consider a less-demanding job. But her family is insured through her employer, so a new job could mean a new insurer and disruptions in Aaron's treatment. "There's no question in our society the cost of health care is driving a lot of decisions that people make about employment, where they work, how long they work," said the Lupus Foundation's Manzi, who also chairs Allegheny Health System's Medicine Institute outside Pittsburgh. Lupus has changed Wexler's life trajectory. A pediatric nurse, she took years off from work because she felt so sick. Now, she works from home 20 hours a week as a triage nurse, fielding phone calls and directing patients to the right department. The job isn't what she envisioned for herself, but it comes with valuable health insurance. Between the half-dozen medications she takes and medical visit cost-sharing, Wexler spends about $500 a month out of pocket on health care, in addition to insurance premiums. It's a monthly expense she must budget for the rest of her life. Lupus is a chronic condition with no cure. "As a nurse, I get it," Wexler said. "As a patient whose life has been changed exponentially, it's frustrating." Though she can't do the kind of nursing she would like, Wexler has found another way to tap into her passion for helping people. Wexler's blog, Luckfupus.com, has an international readership, and she speaks at health conferences around the nation as a patient advocate. One of her proudest moments came during a pharmaceutical roundtable a few years ago, when she said she confronted a pharmaceutical executive about why the company wasn't investing more in drugs for lupus. She does not receive funding from the pharma industry. "I can still make a difference it's in a completely different capacity than I ever thought," she said. "But I'm going to do it." Hope in new treatments Patients are optimistic that, as research advances, new medications will give them more options and bring down costs. There has been a push to accelerate development of biosimilars akin to, but not exactly like, a generic version of a brand-name drug and spending in this area is on the rise, as patents on original biologics expire, said Michael Kleinrock, research director for IQVIA's Institute for Human Data Science. But in health care, competition does not necessarily lower prices, in part because price is often hidden from consumers. "It's a highly moveable feast as for what will happen," Kleinrock said. What is a biologic? Biologics differ from traditional drugs in the way they are made and administered to patients. Rather than combining different chemical compounds using formulas that are very exact, biologics are complex proteins and DNA structures grown out of live cells. More familiar examples include vaccines and blood products. But the new generation of biologics is developed to treat illnesses that have resisted traditional pharmaceuticals. Traditional drugs commonly take the form of pills, while biologics must be administered directly to the bloodstream, through infusions or injections. Some examples of biologics include infused cancer medications, Remicade for Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, Humira for arthritis and psoriasis, Benlysta for lupus. Meek Mills son, Rihmeek Williams, and his mother, Kathy Williams (background to left), at a rally and sit-in last week. Read more After five years on probation stemming from 2013 drug charges, Jose Pacheco has been referred to almost every treatment program Philadelphia has to offer and he's done nine stints in county jail for technical probation violations, most recently for arriving "incredibly late" for court. Each time he violated, an order known as a detainer would be lodged against him by a probation officer. That meant he'd be locked up indefinitely, without bail, until a judge released him, usually three or four months later. On Monday, his probation officer, Craig Baumbach, showed up in Courtroom 505 to argue Pacheco's probation should be terminated. "I don't think what's going on necessarily warrants jail time," Baumbach told Judge Frank Palumbo. "He's a young man who can't beat his addiction. Personally, I think the more time he spends in jail on State Road, the more he is going to be in front of your honor for years to come." Palumbo disagreed. "The problem I face here," he said, "is I need leverage to hold over his head." Pacheco's probation would continue. The result of this cycle repeating in courtrooms across the city and the state is that Pennsylvania now has the highest rate of citizens under probation or parole supervision in the Northeastern United States, and the third-highest rate in the country, behind Georgia and Idaho, according to an analysis from Columbia University Justice Lab released Wednesday. That's 296,000 people under supervision statewide, and one in 22 adults in Philadelphia. People locked up on violations of parole or probation account for one-third of state prison inmates and more than half of the county jail population. "These numbers are not defensible," said Vincent Schiraldi, the report's author, a Columbia research scientist and a former commissioner of New York City's Probation Department. "They cost you enormous amounts of money. They're not good policy. And they're causing enormous deprivations of liberty that I would assume are making the system seem illegitimate in the eyes of a section of the population particularly, I suspect, young black men." In Philadelphia, 44,000 people are on probation. The most famous among them is, of course, the rapper Meek Mill, who was sentenced to two to four years in prison for probation violations related to a 10-year-old drug and gun case. Tuesday, the state Supreme Court ordered him released on bail. Although city leaders have reduced the jail population 32 percent since July 2015 and District Attorney Larry Krasner ordered his staff to seek shorter probation terms when he came into office the number of people on detainers for probation or parole in Philadelphia jails has fallen at a slower rate, down 21 percent as of March to 3,000, according to Julie Wertheimer, of the city's criminal justice office. In a memo to court leadership, the chief of Philadelphia's Defender Association, Keir Bradford-Grey, made public by WHYY in March, called the current detainer process illegal. She said no one should be detained without judicial approval. At a recent community meeting, she said that city and court leaders are exploring potential reforms: "There's still a presumption of innocence here. So for people to sit in jail for lengthy periods of time awaiting their trials, that's not justice." Why so many people are under supervision in the first place the parole rate, the highest of any state, is three times the national average has a lot to do with Pennsylvania's unusually harsh sentencing laws. Those laws require parole to continue until the end of a person's maximum sentence. (Consider Mill: Even if he were to serve out two years, he would still be on parole for two more.) They also allow for probation terms as long as the maximum legal sentence. According to the report, 31 other states cap probation at five years for most charges. (In any of those states, Mill's case would have been closed years ago.) As Krasner said Monday, during his budget address to City Council, long sentences "put so many hurdles in front of [people], they cannot help but trip." The result is, on any given day, Philadelphia criminal dockets may contain a hundred or so probation-violation listings. In the city's primary violation-of-probation courtroom, Palumbo handles about 60 such hearings in a day. About three-quarters of them are conducted via videoconference from the county jails, each probationer a forlorn figure in a blue prison uniform heard through a tinny speaker. The rest are permitted to walk in off the street. The city did not respond to requests for data on how many people currently in jail on detainers committed technical violations (like failing a drug test or missing a reporting date), as opposed to being charged with a new crime. Technical violators made up a significant number of those coming through Courtroom 505. One man, Bryant Dickenson, spent two weeks at the Detention Center for "absconding," or failing to report to his probation officer. He was homeless at the time. Palumbo quickly permitted his release. Others were charged with new crimes. For them, Palumbo suggested in the courtroom, detainers are useful in that they pressure defendants to take deals. "Even though you're presuming innocence, if [you're in on a detainer], you're either going to have to wait or you're going to take an offer." He added: "If all the detainers get lifted, these cases won't be resolved because people would fight [their cases] from the street." In a case like Pacheco's, probation also functions as leverage, but for a different end. Baumbach, the probation officer, said Pacheco had struggled with drug use Percocet, Xanax, marijuana. He recently nodded off while holding a lit cigarette. A 23-year-old man with a neck tattoo and a 3-year-old son, Pacheco said he wanted to get into treatment. "If you give me a chance, I can do this. I'm tired of going to jail," he told the judge, who warned him if he failed, a "long chill-out time" in state prison would be the next step. The judge expressed irritation with the Krasner administration's requests for less probation. "You need an adversarial system," he told the prosecutor on duty. "I'm not going to have your office lose its leverage." A probation reform bill introduced by State Sen. Anthony Williams in March would erode some of that leverage by limiting probation periods and banning back-to-back prison and probation terms. However, it has not yet advanced in Harrisburg. For now, advocates like ACLU policy counsel Nyssa Taylor are urging the court to simply follow its own rules, and ensure that any detainers are lodged by judges, not probation officers. Schiraldi said the state should go further, and rethink its use of probation and parole altogether. "You need to treat probation and parole like they're finite resources," he said. "There's no way they can supervise 296,000 people. That is too big to succeed." He pointed out that most recidivism occurs within a couple of years of release from prison. "Anything after two years, you get diminishing returns," he said. "That's what you're getting in Pennsylvania today: worse supervision for people who need it the most." On Monday, a few individuals learned their probation had been terminated. They looked shell-shocked, after so many years under the thumb of the system. They actually wept with joy. One was Cymenda Chambers, a 45-year-old phlebotomist who had spent 13 years on probation. "That was because I kept messing up," she said. "I kept running, because I knew I'd have dirty urine. But I was tired of going to jail. I was like, I've got to get myself together." She had been a cocaine user, but she's been clean a year and a half. "I feel so great!" she said. "It's over. I'm a free agent now." Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner was sworn in a little more than 100 days ago. Now he's asking City Council to give his office a 13 percent raise. During a two-hour budget hearing at City Hall on Tuesday, an impassioned Krasner said he needs an extra $5 million to modernize his office's technological capabilities, recruit new staffers from more diverse backgrounds, and correct pay inequities that he says have affected women and minorities already employed at the office. "We need that support," Krasner told Council members. "We need to be able to compensate a staff that has been very much underpaid, we need to equalize discriminatory compensation against women and people of color, and we need to bring in the best and the brightest." His remarks highlighted a day of budget hearings in which testimony also was provided by leaders of the court system, the Law Department, and the Defender Association of Philadelphia. But it was Krasner, the first-time prosecutor, who asked for the biggest funding increase, saying his predecessors had allowed the office to become "outdated" and "a Grade-B District Attorney's Office," and had deliberately recruited staff from a limited pool of applicants problems he believes additional funding can help rectify. Krasner was similarly critical of the office's technological capabilities, saying: "When I walked in and saw the IT in that office, I thought I was back in 1986." Mayor Kenney, in his budget proposal, had agreed to give Krasner's office an increase of $868,000 for fiscal year 2019, bringing the office's total funding level to $38.2 million. Kenney's spokesman, Mike Dunn, said in an email that "no other independently elected official made a request" of the size Krasner sought, and that the Mayor's Office understands "the District Attorney's concerns, some (but not all) of which he voiced during our conversations while we prepared the budget." In arguing for an increase more than five times as large as Kenney's proposal, Krasner told Council members who ultimately control the city's budget that he wanted to continue quickly reshaping the office internally with aggressive recruitment of lawyers across the country. He said previous administrations recruited from a deliberately small set of law schools and other professional avenues, which left the office without a national reputation to attract the best candidates something he wants to change. "This was not actually an accident, this was intentional," Krasner said. "This was the people in charge wanting to replicate themselves." He also said he believes that many of his policy initiatives, which have been designed to reduce the number of people behind bars, will begin yielding the city savings sooner rather than later. He pointed to his office's stance on juvenile lifers, each of whom is entitled to a new sentence thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court decision. His office has been suggesting earlier releases for many of the affected inmates than had been granted under former district attorneys. Krasner said that if 100 prisoners are released 10 years earlier than they otherwise would have been, the savings in incarceration costs could almost immediately reach into the millions. "That's just one of the things we're doing," Krasner said, also highlighting reducing the use of cash bail and seeking shorter sentences for certain crimes. Few Council members on Tuesday got into the nuts-and-bolts of how and when money might be appropriated. The discussion with Krasner who was flanked by first assistants Carolyn Engel Temin and Robert Listenbee revolved around some of his early policy changes, aspirations, and challenges in his quest to revamp the city's criminal justice system. Other city agencies will have similar budget hearings over the next several weeks. Council is expected to pass a final budget which could total $4.7 billion by mid-June. Staff writer Claudia Vargas contributed to this article. Inquirer Business section editor Karl Stark moderates the April 25 tax panel and Influencers of Finance awards ceremony, Ballroom at the Ben. Read more The most significant change in America's new tax law is the corporate rate's being cut to 21 percent, "the lowest tax rate since 1919. Corporate rates haven't been this low since then, and the corporate rates are now significantly lower than individual tax rates," said Saba Ashraf of Ballard Spahr at the Philadelphia Inquirer's tax panel Wednesday at the Ballroom at the Ben on Chestnut Street. What was missing? Any quid pro quo for that tax break, such as increased hiring, capital expenditures, or investment, she added. Still, "the corporate tax cut rate is permanent, unlike the individual tax cuts, which expire in 2025." The Inquirer on Wednesday hosted a tax panel featuring La Colombe Coffee entrepreneur Todd Carmichael and a host of state and local taxation experts, including Ashraf, co-practice leader, Ballard Spahr; Michael Bryan, managing director, Deloitte Tax LLP; Raman Mahadevan, tax partner and Philadelphia tax market leader, Ernst & Young LLP; and Ryan Sweet, director of real-time economics, Moody's Analytics. Mahadevan of Ernst & Young said the U.S. corporate rate "was now competitive with the rest of the world. Will it help investment? It's debatable, because we don't yet have the data to know for sure. But an EY survey of 500 CEOs showed they intend to spend more on capex and they now see real reasons to reengage in M&A and focus on the U.S." Michael Bryan of Deloitte said the tax break ultimately took the place of Congress' failed infrastructure bill. "Lawmakers couldn't get that done, so they turned to tax reform. But it wasn't as last-minute as people think," Bryan said, noting that tax-cut bills had been under discussion for as long as two years before the most recent legislation. State and local governments have been pondering workarounds of the $10,000 limit on state and local tax deduction for individuals, he added, such as New Jersey. "But I don't think the U.S. Treasury will let that work," Bryan said, adding that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin "will put a bullet" in any effort to get around the limit. Carmichael, who cofounded La Colombe and opened its first coffee shop in Center City in the early 1990s, said the tax cut wasn't necessary. He'd like to pay more in taxes. The better the city is doing, the better his company will do, he said. And it all starts with upgrading the city's schools. Carmichael defended his views (which he editorialized about Nov. 29 in the Inquirer) at the Ballroom at the Ben, 834 Chestnut St., by saying "I think the new tax reform law is [nonsense] and I'm lobbying against it," he said in front of 200 guests. "This tax cut is a booby trap for our future. The lion's share of the tax savings isn't going into investing, but into dividends" to shareholders. "I don't agree that the U.S. isn't competitive. We're insanely competitive, we're the Shaquille O'Neal of economies in this world." The ratio of business earnings to topline revenues "is the fattest we've ever seen. But it's not doing our children any favors. This tax break is temporary and it's creating a huge debt. CEOs know it's a farce, and some of them tell me privately that I'm crazy to say what I'm saying, although most of them agree with me and say 'keep going.'" Carmichael advocates raising the business tax in Philadelphia to fund the city's public schools. La Colombe pays an effective tax rate of 21 percent in Philadelphia and 23.7 percent in New York City, where the company has eight locations. Carmichael said he would even submit to a coffee tax similar to Philadelphia's sweetened-beverage tax "if it was applied evenly all over every cup of coffee." Ryan Sweet of Moody's predicted that wages nationally would likely rise with the economy's expansion regardless of the tax law. "There hasn't been a boom in investment as a result of the tax cut yet. There have been some one-offs like bonuses. But, if we want to see a sustained impact, we need increased labor force growth and productivity growth." He predicts 3 percent annual GDP growth and the potential of a "fiscal hangover" in 2020 with higher recession odds, given the likely enormous U.S. deficit of $1 trillion by 2019. "We haven't seen fiscal stimulus of this size, plus wage growth, since the mid- to late-1960s. Unlike some other countries, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio is still low. But it's not a sustainable path." Three days before rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard released his debut album in 1995, he was interviewed by WUSL-FM Power 99 host Colby "Colb" Tyner. ODB almost ended Tyner's career when he spilled Alize on the operating board. Tyner, luckily, was reprieved; such stories aren't foreign to the longtime Philadelphia radio personality. With more than 20 years in the radio business, DJ Colby Colb has seen the best and worst days of hip-hop. He's just released Backstory with Colby Colb, a podcast highlighting rare, archival interviews with some of the most notable acts in hip-hop, like Jay-Z, the Notorious B.I.G., Run DMC, Common, and the Roots whose episode was released Tuesday in the early stages of their careers. Though Backstory doesn't have a regular release schedule, it's available on iTunes, and subscribers will be notified of new episodes. Currently Urban One's vice president of programming, Tyner describes himself as a "first-generation hip-hop head." He broke into radio as an intern for Power 99 in the late 1980s, when many of today's heavy-hitters were still finding their footing in the music industry. "[Colby] introduced new songs from Run DMC and Public Enemy and all of hip-hop's giants that are legendary today," said Quincy Harris, host of Fox 29's The Q and WRNB-FM 100.3's morning show, who began working with Tyner in 1998. "All of these different artists were introduced to Philly, from that show. He was the Donnie Simpson of hip-hop." After listening to The Making of Mogul: The Life & Death of Chris Lighty, a podcast by the late hip-hop attorney Combat Jack, Tyner was inspired to create his own, dedicated to expanding the narrative of those who helped shape hip-hop. Interviews with veteran hip-hop artists are relatively accessible on larger platforms like YouTube, and are even easier to share with the help of social media. What sets Backstory apart from more mainstream interviews is Tyner's narration. At the beginning of each episode, he gives an account of the interviewee's career at the time of the interview. Not only is the context insightful, but little-known stories are unearthed. "People think LL Cool J is just an actor, but do they know his story? Do they know about the music he created? Do they know he went through a rough period and then he came back with Mamma Said Knock You Out?" Tyner said. "With hip-hop, you have to connect. And if you lose that connection or get too 'Hollywood,' it's hard to deliver another project. So with LL, I wanted to tell his story. He's had an amazing career and I don't think people talk about him." In addition to artists who have transcended hip-hop, Tyner explores the narrative of the genre's fallen. Ol' Dirty Bastard was known for his outrageous antics, like going to pick up food stamps in a limo, and was famously arrested at a South Philadelphia McDonald's while on the lam. In the studio with Tyner, an inebriated ODB passed along a tape, asking to rap over it. After a few bars, ODB stopped because he was shocked he sounded so good. It turned out ODB was rapping over a tape that had music and vocals on it. Of the nine episodes available for listening, the interview with the Notorious B.I.G. is the most personal. Unlike other episodes, there's not just an interview with Biggie, but one with his mother, Voletta Wallace, conducted shortly after the rapper's 1997 death. Wallace recalls Biggie's debut single, "Juicy," a sample of Philly native Mtume's "Juicy Fruit." "As a matter of fact, there was a part of the [song] that I never understood," Wallace said. "I thought he was saying that my hallway was pissy, and I yelled and screamed at him. His friend said, 'Ma! He's talking about a drink, Alize. I didn't even know what Alize was." Through Backstory, a deeper, more informed account of hip-hop emerges, underscoring the importance of Philadelphia's impact in helping the genre grow. "Philly was number two," Tyner said. "I've made a living out of hip-hop. That's why I'm able to share these memories because the first place that hip-hoppers would come after conquering the five boroughs was Philly or Boston. It was mainly Philly because it's about 95 miles south of New York. They would come here and Philly would show a lot of love." Tyner quotes rapper Chuck D. in saying that hip-hop was "the CNN of the 'hood." Tyner believes hip-hop was born of the experiences of black people experiences that were overlooked or not cared about. Through the podcast, Tyner unpacks hip-hop's history by discussing social and political motives that contributed to the difficulties of the black experience. Tyner believes hip-hop rose from the ashes of low-income neighborhoods and evolved into an art form that was not only cathartic but relatable and infectious. Tyner believes that there's something interesting about everyone and that, as an interviewer, his mission is to discover it. "When I was on the radio in Philadelphia, I ascended from being an intern all the way to mornings. My cohost in the morning was Wendy Williams, and we did a show together for two years. Wendy Williams taught me the art of interviewing, and so I learned how to get beyond the surface information. Just like this podcast. You're going to walk away from the podcast learning something you did not know about these people." Joseph Pirri of Blackwood was fatally stabbed during a road rage incident in Deptford last month. Read more A Clayton man accused of fatally stabbing the father of two children during a "road rage" incident in Deptford last month is facing first-degree murder charges, authorities announced Wednesday. Everett E. Moore Jr., 54, a construction worker, was arrested Wednesday morning at a service station in Williamstown for the death of Joseph Pirri, 32, of Blackwood. Pirri was attacked in his car on Tanyard Road, near Mail Avenue. At a news conference Wednesday, Pirri's family, including his wife, Megan, joined Gloucester County Prosecutor Charles A. Fiore as he announced the arrest. Megan Pirri, choking back tears, thanked investigators and described her husband as selfless, kindhearted, caring, and loving. "Joe always had a smile on his face and was truly and genuinely a happy person," Pirri said in a prepared statement she read. "He would always cheer you up, his smile being so contagious and infectious that even on a bad day you couldn't help smiling back at him." Fiore said Pirri did not know his attacker, and the road-rage incident is not typical of Gloucester County. That day March 7 he said, Gov. Murphy had declared a state of emergency as a nor'easter dropped heavy snow throughout the region. Pirri, Fiore said, was just trying to get home when he crossed paths with Moore. After the attack, Moore fled to his home while Pirri went to nearby homes seeking assistance, Fiore said. Pirri, severely slashed in the face, was able to describe the attacker as well as the incident, Fiore said. The Prosecutor's Office, which had the assistance of eight other law enforcement agencies, used video collected from 20 South Jersey locations to help piece together what happened, authorities said. Moore was driving a white and tan Ford F-150 King Ranch pickup registered to his wife. Both drivers were traveling south on Tanyard, when Moore allegedly illegally passed Pirri and pulled in front of the Versa, which was stopped on Tanyard, authorities said. Moore allegedly got out of his truck and attacked Pirri while he was in his car, authorities said. There were no passengers in either vehicle. Pirri, hospitalized since the attack, was pronounced dead at Cooper University Medical Center in Camden on March 15. Moore was taken into custody Wednesday by officers of the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office, the U.S. Marshal's Service, and the Monroe Township Police Department. In addition to murder, he is charged with two weapons offenses. He remained in jail Wednesday pending a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday. A GoFundMe page, describing Pirri as a "good guy" who would give his last dollar to help another, has been created to help Pirri's family with financial matters. According to the page, Pirri had a 4-year-old son and a 9-year-old stepdaughter. Last month, authorities asked for the public's help in finding the pickup driver, giving a description of the assailant and detailed description of the vehicle that had a crew cab and toolbox mounted in the bed. Aided by the 20 videos provided, police traced the driver's path through Glassboro and into Clayton. Investigators are still seeking information from witnesses who may have seen the vehicles in traffic or witnessed the assault. Anyone with information is asked to call county detectives Warren Rivell at 609-685-7396 or John Gigante at 609-929-7679. Information can also be e-mailed to the Prosecutor's Office at tips@co.gloucester.nj.us. Democrat Ashley Lunkenheimer, pictured here, just got a boost in her campaign for the U.S. House: A super PAC has started spending money to support her. Read more A second super PAC has jumped into the highly competitive race for Pennsylvania's Fifth Congressional District. The group, known as "Progress in PA-05," is backing Democrat Ashley Lunkenheimer. Depending on how much the super PAC spends, it could be a major boost for her campaign. Lunkenheimer, a former assistant U.S. attorney, is seen as one of the leading candidates in the 10-person Democratic primary for the seat in the Philadelphia suburbs. She received the second-highest number of votes in an endorsement meeting held recently by the Delaware County Democratic Party. Only one other candidate in the primary, former deputy mayor Rich Lazer, is known to have the support of a super PAC. That committee was launched by John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, the powerful leader of Philadelphia's electricians union, and is spending $200,000 on TV ads over the next week. It is unclear who is funding the super PAC for Lunkenheimer. The committee has not disclosed any donations. Its treasurer, Brian Lenzmeier, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The super PAC lists its address as a suite in a high-rise building in Washington where the political law firm Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock is located. A woman who answered the phone at the company said Progress in PA-05 is one of its clients. Progress in PA-05 has spent more than $18,000 for mailings in support of Lunkenheimer, according to records filed this week with the Federal Election Commission. The group submitted a statement of organization earlier this month. Super PACs can spend an unlimited amount of money on elections as long as they don't coordinate with political campaigns. A spokesman for Lunkenheimer declined to provide comment. In an effort to clarify its position, Mayor Kenney's administration said Wednesday that the dilapidated, 91-year-old House of Correction may still house inmates after 2020. Kenney last week had said that plans called for shutting down the State Road facility by that year and that a study was underway to determine future uses for the complex, which would not be demolished due to the multimillion-dollar cost of doing so. "Reaching the point where we can shutter this facility once and for all, without needing to build a new prison, this is a milestone," he said. On Wednesday, however, city officials said inmates still may have to be incarcerated at the House of Correction after 2020, such as when other jails are overcrowded. It currently houses 140 inmates. "We're hopeful and optimistic that we will reach the point that we will never have to put somebody in the House of Correction ever again," said Julie Wertheimer, chief of staff for criminal justice in the managing director's office. "But there are forces outside of our control. The prisons commissioner has to take who the justice system gives her." "We are committed that no one will be in there by 2020 and that's why we are working with all our partners to make sure that happens," Wertheimer said. Mike Dunn, Kenney's spokesman, agreed. "You can make a commitment, you can set goals, but anything under the sun can affect your ability to achieve those goals," he said. "But the commitment hasn't changed." Meanwhile Wednesday, prison reform activists demonstrated outside City Hall calling for the House of Correction to be demolished. The activists, gathered in front of the new statue of 19th-century civil rights activist Octavius Catto, noted that Prisons Commissioner Blanche Carney had also said the jail may have to remain open beyond 2020. Carney told the Inquirer and Daily News in a statement Wednesday that in the short term the jail would mainly be used for administrative offices, security staff training, programming, and graduation ceremonies. Protesters said the jail known among inmates as "the Creek" is dirty, dangerous, and dehumanizing, and should be shut down. "Close means close. It doesn't mean we're going to empty it out and shuffle people around and use it in the future. It means close, it means deconstruct, it means demolish," said Reuben Jones, who runs a nonprofit called Frontline Dads and who was released from a state prison in 2002 after serving 15 years for robbery and aggravated assault. Bill Cobb, deputy director of the ACLU's Campaign for Smart Justice, told the protesters that Kenney should be held to his campaign pledge to close the House of Correction. "This is not up for debate, this is not up for discussion," said Cobb, who served 6 years in a state prison for robbery, kidnapping, conspiracy, and firearms charges. Rapper Meek Mill raises his arm after ringing the Liberty Bell replica before the playoff game between the Sixers and the Heat at the Wells Fargo Center on April 24, 2018. Mill, incarcerated since November, was released on bail. Read more Meek Mill's case is not over. The rapper secured his release from prison Tuesday thanks to an order from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, ending his controversial five-month incarceration. He celebrated by heading straight to the 76ers game, ringing the bell before tipoff and sitting courtside next to team co-owner Michael Rubin, comedian Kevin Hart, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, and Gov. Wolf. But his struggle with the justice system didn't end there. Here's what we know about where things stand, and what might happen next: Free, but with conditions The Supreme Court ordered that Mill be released on unsecured bail, meaning he must show up for future court appearances or risk facing imprisonment again for failure to appear. Moreover, the high court said that the conditions of his bail must be "similar or identical" to those that governed his probation before he was sent back to prison last fall. According to court documents, previous conditions included getting court approval to travel outside Pennsylvania, maintaining employment, performing community service every 90 days, and undergoing routine drug tests. In 2013, Common Pleas Court Judge Genece E. Brinkley famously ordered Mill to take etiquette classes to improve his manners after he complained online about her, the prosecutor, and his probation officer. It was not immediately clear which conditions would apply this time. Court officials did not provide immediate details about his bail conditions. Still facing charges Of additional legal concern for Mill is the fact that he still technically is battling a conviction on gun and drug offenses. The rapper was found guilty in 2009 of the following charges, according to court documents: carrying a firearm without a license, carrying firearms in public, possessing an instrument of crime, carrying a loaded weapon, and drug possession. His conviction earned him a prison sentence of 11 to 23 months and five years' probation, according to court records. Mill served five months before being released, but over the next several years continued to violate his probation, earning him additional prison time and an extended term of probation. At his last court appearance in November after two more probation violations, in Manhattan and St. Louis Brinkley said Mill had "thumbed [his] nose at this court" and sentenced him to two to four years behind bars, a decision that sparked immediate backlash from Mill's fans and celebrity supporters. But Mill now is appealing his initial conviction, saying he did not receive a fair trial a decade ago and thus should not have been on probation at all. He got a major boost last week when the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office said it agreed Mill should receive a new trial. Prosecutors based that decision on what they called credibility issues with Mill's arresting officer, Reginald V. Graham, who only recently has been accused of lying to secure Mill's conviction. Graham also was included on a list of so-called untrustworthy cops a fact about which Mill's lawyers say they had not been informed and retired from the police force last year while allegations swirled that he'd stolen money during a drug bust and lied to the FBI. Still, prosecutors alone cannot grant a new trial; a judge presiding over the case must agree. And Brinkley, the judge overseeing Mill's case, has been sparring with his team for months. Lawyers vs. the judge Many of the punches thrown in that battle have come from Mill's lawyers and his legion of supporters and fans, who have sought to have Brinkley removed from the case. She has been accused of an array of ethical and professional misdeeds, from requesting that Mill record a version of a Boyz II Men ballad and give her a "shout-out," to urging him to change management companies. Mill's lawyers also claimed that Brinkley was under FBI investigation. Late last month, the judge who is barred from publicly discussing the case under judicial conduct rules fired back in an opinion she issued in Mill's case. She described each of those allegations as false or evidence-free, and said that she had "committed no error" in imposing his prison sentence. She also said she would not step down from his case. It was not immediately clear whether Tuesday's Supreme Court order would change her mind, at least on the last point. The high court denied requests from Mill's attorneys to have her removed from the case, but it did say Brinkley "may opt to remove herself from presiding over this matter." According to Mill's court docket, he is due in court in front of Brinkley on June 18. The Supreme Court has ordered her or another judge to rule on his appeal within 60 days. Brinkley filed a response to the order asking all sides to file all remaining paperwork by the end of next month, according to the docket suggesting that, at least for now, Mill's fate remains in her hands. Brian McMonagle, one of Mill's attorneys, said Wednesday that his team planned again to seek to have Brinkley removed from the case because of her refusal last week to approve a new trial, a decision he characterized as "unpardonable" and a departure from similar situations handled by other judges. "We will be formally filing a motion to transfer his case to our president judge so that [Mill's] conviction can be immediately overturned," McMonagle said. Questions about retrial If that gambit succeeds or if Brinkley ultimately agrees to grant Mill a new trial will prosecutors actually seek to try him again? They don't have to. Late last week, another Philadelphia judge agreed to toss out three convictions built by Graham, the tainted officer, after the District Attorney's Office took a similar position to the one it has taken in Mill's case. More than 100 petitions have been filed by other defendants arrested by Graham between 2002 and 2014. And a public defender involved in the process, Bradley Bridge, has said he believes at least some of those cases also will be dismissed. Because Mill's case remains pending, office spokesman Ben Waxman declined to say what prosecutors would do if Brinkley agrees to grant him a new trial. In a statement issued Tuesday, Waxman said in part: "The public can always count on the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office to try to pursue justice in a fair and evenhanded manner." For now, at least, Mill whose incarceration became a rallying cry for many advocates of criminal justice reform is instead a symbol of celebration for some in Philadelphia. Rubin, the Sixers' co-owner, posted an Instagram photo from Tuesday night's win over the Miami Heat calling the rapper "our good luck charm." Police say Jennair Gerardot (left) shot and killed Meredith Chapman (right) before committing suicide. Read more The murder-suicide case that unfolded this week on the Main Line stands out for many reasons. The locale, the love-triangle angle, and the accomplishments of the killer and victim took interest in the case to a higher level. And even in the realm of murder-suicides, the case is especially unusual. First, a review of the case: According to police, Jennair Gerardot, 47, slipped into the Radnor Township home of Meredith Chapman, 33, lay in wait, and then shot and killed the younger woman before killing herself. Gerardot's husband, Mark, had been having an affair with Chapman, a former candidate for state senate in Delaware and a University of Delaware executive and instructor who was recently named an assistant vice president at Villanova University, law enforcement officials say. Mark Gerardot also had worked at the University of Delaware. Police said Jennair Gerardot caught wind of her husband's relationship, and plotted her response in a series of text messages and emails that made her intentions clear. Unlike most murder-suicides, both the killer and the victim in the Radnor case were women. According to a 2015 Violence Policy Center study, in 89 percent of murder-suicide cases the killer is male and most likely armed with a gun. In most cases, the killer and the victim, or victims, knew each other, and 72 percent of all cases involved intimate partners. Kristen Rand, legislative director for the center, said the group is preparing a study on murder-suicides during the first half of 2017. During that time, the researchers documented 296 suicides 263 who were male, 19 who were female, and 14 whose gender could not be determined based on the information provided. "Of the 19 murder-suicides committed by females, 10 of the incidents involved at least one female victim," Rand said via email. "None of the incidents exactly match the circumstances of the case in Philadelphia." In this Monday, April 23, 2018 photo, Travis Reinking, suspected of killing four people in a late-night shooting at a Waffle House restaurant, is escorted into the Hill Detention Center in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, April 23, 2018. Read more The 29-year-old charged with killing four people at a Waffle House in Nashville, Tennessee, over the weekend left behind considerable evidence linking him to the violence, authorities said in court filings. Travis Reinking, who was arrested Monday following a 34-hour manhunt, has been charged with four counts of criminal homicide. In affidavits filed in state court, officials said surveillance video showed someone who looked like Reinking getting out of a truck registered to him, firing a gun previously linked to him and then leaving behind two checks made out to him. Authorities have not yet said what they believe motivated the shooting, saying only that Reinking had "exhibited significant instability." But the court filings laid out the beginning of what could be an extensive and unusual criminal case, since mass shootings often end with the suspected shooters dead rather than facing trial. Reinking is scheduled to make his first court appearance on May 7 in Nashville, about 15 miles away from the Waffle House where police say he opened fire on unsuspecting diners early Sunday morning. A public defender assigned to Reinking did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Four people were killed Taurean Sanderlin, 29; Joe Perez, 20; DeEbony Groves, 21; and Akilah Dasilva, 23 and two others were hospitalized in stable condition, authorities said. It was the second time in a matter of months that the Antioch community on the city's outskirts was shaken by a mass shooting, following the September attack on a church that ended with one person killed. "Tragedies like this are a fundamental threat to our way of life in America," Nashville Mayor David Briley, D, said in a statement after Reinking's arrest. "Everyone should be able to go to a restaurant or church or school without fear." Questions still lingered after the Waffle House shooting, including what could have prompted the attack. Police said that after he was arrested, Reinking declined to offer a statement or answer questions, instead requesting a lawyer. Reinking had still not spoken to investigators as of Tuesday afternoon, 24 hours after he was arrested, said Don Aaron, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. "The motive is undetermined," Aaron wrote in an email Tuesday. Some wondered whether race had again played a role in a horrific shooting, given that Reinking is white and the people he is accused of shooting were black and Hispanic. More uncertainty also swirled around how someone who had raised so many red flags over the years drawing the attention of local police, state police, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service was still allegedly able to use a gun authorities said he had been barred from possessing and had signed over to his father. Authorities said the AR-15 used in the Waffle House shooting was among the guns that Reinking had previously said he gave to his father. In the affidavit filed in court, officials said the serial number on the AR-15 which remained at the Waffle House after the shooting revealed it was a gun that had been linked to him. Police records showed that Reinking had a series of increasingly troubled encounters with authorities since 2016. According to one report, he told police that the pop star Taylor Swift was stalking and harassing him. Another time, police said, he went to a local pool, swam in his underwear and tried to pick fights with lifeguards. The police reports say that the same day, he went to the offices of his father's construction business with a rifle, shouted expletives at employees and then drove away. In a police report, an officer said Reinking's father, Jeffrey, told police he had taken away his son's firearms three rifles and a handgun while he was having problems, but then returned them. Attempts to reach Reinking have been unsuccessful, and people who answered the door and the phone at homes registered to the family have declined to comment. The Tazewell County Sheriff's Office in Illinois, where the 29-year-old suspect lived before relocating to Tennessee, said the state police last summer asked the office to revoke a card allowing Reinking to possess guns and ammunition in Illinois. The request came several weeks after Reinking was arrested outside the White House for trying to cross a security barrier, declaring himself "a sovereign citizen" and ignoring orders to stop, according to a District of Columbia police report. Matthew Espenshade, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Memphis division, said Monday that "every federal resource was brought to bear" in Reinking's case after his arrest at the White House and an assessment the bureau carried out. "We were able to effectively neutralize what we felt was the threat at the time by ensuring that he did not have the ability to purchase or own weapons and that those weapons were taken," Espenshade said. Illinois state records show that Reinking signed his four guns over to his father on Aug. 24, 2017. Police said Reinking's father told authorities that he eventually gave the guns back to his son. Federal officials said Jeffrey Reinking could potentially face charges for the transfer. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of Illinois, which includes Tazewell County, declined to comment on the situation Tuesday. Illinois officials said it was not clear if Jeffrey Reinking also could face local charges. Stewart Umholtz, the Tazewell County State's Attorney, said Tuesday that so far, his office did not have enough information to know yet if the elder Reinking committed a crime. "When our office receives information from the criminal investigation, particularly from the FBI, we will be in a position to determine if any violation of state law occurred," Umholtz wrote in an email Tuesday. The Washington Post's Kristine Phillips, Julie Tate and Alice Crites contributed to this report. Deej Johnson (right) and others march around City Hall in Philadelphias first Black Pride march. Read more Chanting "I'm proud of my black skin, I'm proud of my brown skin," 35 people walked in the streets surrounding City Hall during Philadelphia's first march to honor LGBT people of color. Wednesday's march kicked off the five-day Philadelphia Black Pride festival, which is in its 19th year, though this is the first time it's featured a march. "This is a chance to just have something of our own, even though we welcome our white brothers and sisters in solidarity," said Antar Bush, an LGBT community organizer who planned the march with the help of the city's LGBT Affairs Office. "It's not about exclusively. It's about being more inclusive." Other cities such as New York and Miami also hold events for LGBT people of color. Those events are separate from the annual Pride parades held nationwide in cities, including Philadelphia, each year. The Black Pride festival comes as Philadelphia tries to overcome its legacy of racism in the Gayborhood, where most bar owners are white and the city has acknowledged discrimination has existed for decades. The event also comes two weeks after the arrest of two black men at a Starbucks in Center City sparked national backlash and questions about how customers reacted. We asked attendees of Wednesday's march how much progress Philadelphia has made in addressing racism in the LGBT community and what work remains. Here is what they said. Weve done a lot with our gay and lesbian community, but we havent dealt with the racism Theres still too many people that are afraid of black people Its not just the LGBTQI community. Its all communities when it comes to racism Were having really tough conversations, and its important to do that Calls to boycott the bar ICandy erupted in 2016 when a video was posted on YouTube of owner Darryl DePiano saying the N-word. Black patrons at other Gayborhood bars also reported having to show multiple IDs to gain entry and bouncers turning them away for wearing sweatpants or Timberland boots. The city subsequently mandated anti-bias training at Gayborhood bars and at the Mazzoni Center, the city's largest LGBT health-care provider. The center's CEO was ousted last year amid allegations she had fostered a hostile environment for people of color and covered up a medical director's sexual misconduct. The hiring last month of a straight Latina woman as the nonprofit's new CEO has since drawn backlash due to its lack of transparency. On Wednesday, though, the theme was unity. Romaine Gibbs, a gay Philadelphia man, had everyone link arms before the march began. "When we bind and unite like this," Gibbs said, "people cannot destroy us." Mayor Kenney, who also spoke, said the LGBT community and people of color deserve respect. "You are my brothers and sisters," Kenney told the crowd. "You are human beings who deserve dignity." The Black Pride festival continues Thursday with a panel discussion at the University of Pennsylvania's LGBT Center about discrimination and stereotypes. Various bars throughout the city will also hold events through Sunday. Howard Stevenson listens to teachers Monday at the Benchmark School in Media, where he teaches them how to address conflicts and conversations that revolve around race. Read more Howard Stevenson is addressing a room full of white people. The black professor from the University of Pennsylvania asks them how they would have reacted had they been at the Philadelphia Starbucks where police arrested two black men earlier this month, sparking national outcry and an apology from the city's police commissioner. The 45 staff members at the private first-through-eighth-grade school in Media break into small groups and consider it. "I would have been angry," Karen Berry, who teaches first and second grades at the Benchmark School, says. "I would have felt that they were being singled out." "I would have been clueless about what was going on," replies Adam Lemisch, a psychologist at the school. He acknowledges he may have thought the men 23-year-old entrepreneurs who were waiting for a business associate when the store manager called police had done something wrong. "In the moment I would have just been like: 'Oh my God, what's going on? Like there's something I need to be worried about?' " The emotions fear, confusion, anger reflect the complex ways that racially charged incidents like the one at Starbucks can unfold through the lens of white privilege. At Benchmark, where the staff is mostly white, Stevenson, a professor of urban education, has been helping teachers learn how to address incidents with racial undertones, from the way students talk to one another a white student once jokingly called a black student "sissy chocolate" to discrimination they may witness outside school grounds. "There's a privilege in being white," said Robb Gaskins, head of the school. He is white and his wife, Jennifer, who is Asian, is the only instructor of color at the school. "We recognized that we had students of color" they account for more than two dozen of the 182 students "and there were situations that arose where it was clear to us they were coming from a different perspective" than white teachers, Gaskins said. So the school sought Stevenson's help. On the minds of everyone Monday, his fourth visit to the school this year, were the Starbucks arrests. Maybe I need to, as a white male, start questioning things more Lemisch, the school psychologist, said seeing police walk into the Starbucks would have made him think, "Man, we need to leave." "I would have assumed that something happened," he said. "I wouldn't have necessarily been outraged then." Learning more about the arrests, however, did make him upset. "Maybe I need to, as a white male, start questioning things more," Lemisch said. >> Read more: Black people stopped at much higher rate indoors than white people in Center City How people view the police can influence whether they speak up or give officers the benefit of the doubt in an incident like the one at Starbucks, Stevenson told the teachers. "Somebody who doesn't trust the police might think very differently about, 'What risks should I take,' versus if I do trust the police," he said. A video recording of the arrest shows the different reactions of white customers: Some questioned the police. One appeared to walk away. Another sat quietly on his laptop, glancing as officers led the men out in handcuffs. Fear that violence would erupt When Melinda Rahm pictures herself being at that Starbucks, she knows she would want to protect her son from possible violence. >> Read more: Man arrested at Starbucks wondered if he would make it home alive "How old is your son?" Stevenson asked her. "He's 13," she said. "And what would you be protecting him from?" Stevenson asked. "In the moment," Rahm contemplated, "physical you know, 'Get down.' I don't know what will happen." She and her son might have decided to leave, she said. Another teacher described feeling more stressed about how to respond to the situation than the situation itself. One said she would start recording on her phone rather than intervene. If we dont stand up in those moments, then we dont admit that these things are happening around us all the time Teri Watkins, a science teacher at Benchmark, said she would have been one of the people speaking out in the Starbucks. "Think about what it would be like if that was your child," she said. "Or if that was your brother." Watkins emotionally recalled breaking up a tense situation in Chester. "I saw two young African American girls fist fighting, and there was a large group of people around them, all African American, cars pulled over, videotaping them fight," Watkins, who is white, recalled. "I had my two children in the car, and I pulled over, and I went and broke that fight up. "I don't know how I did it, other than I used to be the kid who got beat up," Watkins said. "And in that moment, I saw two girls one clearly had the upper hand and I thought, 'Somebody has to do something.' And it wasn't about me being white in a black neighborhood. It was about: 'It was wrong.'" Stevenson asked Watkins how she felt opening up to to the staff about her personal experiences and race. "My heart is pounding out of my chest right now, and I'm sweating," she said. Recognizing her reaction is part of what Stevenson teaches: The more that people talk about race and acknowledge how it can affect them physically and mentally, the more prepared they are to deal with unexpected situations, like the one at Starbucks. "If we don't stand up in those moments," Watkins said, "then we don't admit that these things are happening around us all the time." >> Read more: Starbucks racial bias training can't just be done in one day, Penn professor says If the zombie apocalypse ever gets here, City Councilman David Oh might make out a little better than your average politician thanks to his relation to one Walking Dead star. As Oh tweeted, he's actually related by marriage to Steven Yeun, who famously played Glenn Rhee on AMC's The Walking Dead from 2010 to 2016. Yeun's character, one of the most popular on the Walking Dead, was axed (batted?) from the show following the arrival of murderous villain Negan in its sixth season. His character was married to Maggie Greene, played by Cherry Hill's Lauren Cohan. On Monday, Oh posted a photo of himself with Yeun to Twitter, captioning the photo "that time you went to a wedding and found out you're now related to Steven Yeun," complete with a sideways smiley face. The photo, as it turns out, is a few years old, and came up by chance as Oh was searching for another picture, the councilman told the Inquirer. The wedding that led to the photo with Yeun, Oh said, was for his cousin's daughter's son. Since it was a local affair, Oh and his wife attended the ceremony and reception, where they met the Walking Dead star. The bride, Oh said, is Yeun's cousin, and he is "very close with her family," which is why he was in attendance. "My wife came up to me and said she thought she saw the actor from The Walking Dead was in attendance," Oh wrote in an email. "I didn't think that would be likely. Later, she came back with excitement and told me it [was] him. So, we went over to say hello. Of course, a very nice guy." While Yeun has departed from the Walking Dead in recent years, his acting career is going strong. Last year, he appeared in feature films including Mayhem, Okja, and The Star, and leant his voice to animated series like 3 Below and Final Space this year. "Walking Dead was such an incredible experience for me," Yeun told Elle of the show last year. "I got a great crash course in jumping into Hollywood." The usual question that hovers over any senseless tragedy is how: How did this happen? That's certainly been the case since Monday night, when police discovered the bodies of two women, Meredith Chapman and Jennair Gerardot, in the kitchen of a three-story home in a normally quiet pocket of Radnor. Police said Gerardot, 47, a former marketing manager, broke into the house, which belonged to Chapman, a 33-year-old assistant vice president at Villanova University. When Chapman stepped inside her home that night, she was ambushed by Gerardot and shot in the head. Gerardot then turned her gun on herself. That both women met such a violent end was difficult for their friends and relatives to comprehend. They were bright, accomplished, and seemed to have happy marriages, based on the photos and messages that decorated their social-media accounts. But pictures never tell the full story. According to Radnor Township Police Superintendent William Colarulo, Chapman had been involved in an affair with Gerardot's husband, Mark. When Gerardot discovered the infidelity, she plotted her revenge in a series of text messages and emails. Then, Gerardot rented a Cadillac and drove from Delaware to Radnor with murder on her mind. >>READ MORE: Radnor murder-suicide sparked by love triangle, police say She got to the area Monday afternoon. A receipt from a nearby gas station placed her there at 2:40 p.m. Then, she parked the car not far from Chapman's home, leaving binoculars, ammunition, gloves, and ear plugs behind in the vehicle. She broke into Chapman's home and waited. In the months before Gerardot became the topic of breathless national news coverage, there were hints that she was beginning to unravel. She ventured onto the neighborhood app NextDoor in February and reached out to the online community for help. "I just transferred to Delaware in December for my Husband's new job, and he's telling me he wants a divorce," Gerardot wrote. "I don't know anyone and am completely clueless to the area." Gerardot had worked for the better part of five years for a South Carolina-based manufacturing company called Circor Instrumentation before moving north to Wilmington. But she was looking for more than general guidance on her new surroundings. "Can someone please recommend a reputable and successful and driven divorce attorney?" she asked. Gerardot returned to the same app again in March, and posted an even more desperate plea. "Please recommend an EXCELLENT marriage counselor for couple on brink of divorce," she wrote. This post was longer, and offered a deeper portrait of a woman who seemed desperate to save a marriage that was threatening to tumble off a cliff. She was open to any kind of therapy, she said, from religious-based to boot camp-style therapy. "We will need someone who is very educated and experienced dealing with couples issues including infidelity, depression, traumatic experiences, child/parent dynamics, being accountable for actions, etc.," Gerardot wrote. It's unclear whether the couple ever sought marriage counseling. The posts are moot now, colored by Gerardot's decision to solve her marital woes by picking up a handgun. Police said Gerardot drove to Radnor in a black Cadillac XTS that she had rented in Wilmington more than a week before the murder. Police discovered that Gerardot had not traveled by train, as they originally reported, when the Delaware County Medical Examiner's Office turned over a set of keys found on Gerardot's body. They found the car parked on a side street near Chapman's home. Sometime after that 2:40 p.m. gas station pit stop, Gerardot broke into Chapman's Lowrys Lane home. Between 5 and 6 p.m., Chapman arrived, parked her Audi in the driveway, got out of the car carrying a bag, and entered her home through a back door, according to a neighbor. Within seconds, Chapman was dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. Gerardot then used a second bullet to kill herself. The time frame between the two shots was unclear Wednesday, but Radnor Police Lt. Christopher Flanagan said it would be a "reasonable conclusion" that Gerardot did not arrive at Chapman's home with the intent to kill herself. A bag containing clothes and a wig was found at the scene. >>READ MORE: Main Line murder-suicide case stands out for its rarity Mark Gerardot, who recently left his position at the University of Delaware, has not been available for comment. When police officers arrived at Chapman's house Monday, they found Mark Gerardot in the driveway. He told them he thought his wife may be inside. Investigators believe he was in the area under the assumption that he and Chapman were going to meet for dinner. When she didn't show, police suspect, Gerardot went to the house to check on her. Police said Mark Gerardot voluntarily gave an interview Monday night and has been cooperative. Chapman had only recently moved into the Radnor neighborhood. She was living alone, having recently ended her marriage to Luke Chapman, a former Newark, Del., city councilman. He has not responded to requests for comment. Through a spokesman, Meredith Chapman's family released a statement late Wednesday afternoon, calling her "a wonderful daughter, sister, and devoted friend." "We loved her very much, just as she loved all of us, and we are devastated by her death," the statement read. "While her marriage to Luke had come to an end, it was gratifying to know that their separation and divorce was amicable, that they remained friends and confidants, and that each of them cared very much for the other." "We understand that the circumstances of her death are the focus of news attention today, but we have chosen to refrain from participating in these stories because they do not and cannot capture the essence of her life," the statement continued. "She was a vibrant, vital and caring woman of incredible talent, and we ask for the opportunity to mourn her in private." Gov. Murphy signs the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act into law, giving New Jersey the strongest equal pay law in the country. Immediately behind him are Allen, left, and activist Lilly Ledbetter. Read more The wage gap between men and women exists for a variety of reasons. Our society devalues work done by women, there is a dearth of affordable child care, and we lack national family-friendly workplace policies like paid family leave and paid sick days. But of all the reasons the gender pay gap exists, discrimination should be easiest to fix. That is just what the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg of Teaneck and Assemblywoman Pam Lampitt of Voorhees and signed this week by Gov. Murphy, will address. The law named Allen, a retired senator who championed the cause and was herself a victim of wage discrimination as a local TV news anchor, is the nation's strongest wage discrimination law. Although often difficult to uncover, wage discrimination against women is pervasive. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey found that one in four employed women said they have earned less than a man who was doing the same job, while just 5 percent of men said they have earned less than a woman doing the same job. New Jersey women are paid 82 cents for each dollar a man earns. The wage gap is even greater for African American and Hispanic women. African American women in New Jersey are paid 58 cents for each dollar, while Hispanic women are paid 43 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. Mothers also experience a larger pay gap. In New Jersey, mothers who are full-time employees are paid 66 cents for every dollar paid to fathers. The wage gap has a real effect on the lifetime earnings of women. The Institute for Women's Policy Research estimates that the wage gap costs New Jersey working women nearly $16.6 billion in lost wages annually. In addition to lost wages, lower pensions and Social Security benefits accumulate at a far reduced rate during women's time in the workforce. This has serious financial consequences for New Jersey women over the course of their entire lives, compromising their ability to financially support their families, afford home ownership, pay back student debt, and save for retirement. The Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act will address wage discrimination in four ways: The new law will allow victims of wage discrimination to recover up to six years of back pay , four more than current law allows victims to recover. The law will strengthen the legal tools necessary to make a legitimate pay discrimination claim by taking away unfair employer defenses. Pay differences would only be permitted if the employer can show the difference was based on seniority, education and training, or merit. The law requires courts to award triple damages for violations of the law . This will serve as a powerful deterrent and encourage New Jersey employers to closely examine the fairness of their pay practices and correct unfair or discriminatory pay differences. The law makes pay more transparent by requiring companies bidding for public contracts to report salaries by race, ethnicity, and gender by job category . These companies will be more likely to closely examine the fairness of their pay practices, and correct unfair or discriminatory pay differences. This policy would be even more effective if expanded to include more New Jersey employers. Finally, the law protects workers who discuss their pay with coworkers from employer retaliation, and prohibits employers from requiring employees to sign nondisclosure agreements. This policy creates the possibility that more workers might become aware of pay discrimination and therefore consider taking action, and that possibility increases the likelihood that employers will examine their pay practices and remedy discriminatory differences. Women today are shouldering tremendous responsibilities to financially support their families, and are major economic contributors to our overall economy. Rooting out wage discrimination to help close the gender pay gap is long overdue. Adopting the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act is an important and effective step toward closing the wage gap in New Jersey. But let's vow as a state to view the adoption of this new law as a beginning, and not the end of action we might take to close the gender pay. Dena Mottola Jaborska is New Jersey Citizen Action's associate director and spearheads advocacy around issues affecting women at the workplace. At what point does personal intolerance disqualify someone from holding public office? This question comes to mind after a recent post by Pennsylvania State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R., Butler) in a Facebook post in which he labeled Philly Democratic Rep. Brian Sims a "lying homosexual." Metcalfe's use of the word homosexual a term I view as a neutral descriptor of a person's sexuality implies that he views being gay as an insult. Combined with his public outburst after having his arm touched by a male colleague in December ("I'm a heterosexual I don't like men as you might"), Metcalfe's actions illustrate to me the significant difference between opposing policies that might benefit the LGBT community, and actually disliking gay human beings. As the powerful chairman of the House Government Committee, Metcalfe has blocked legislation on LGBT nondiscrimination, which I've worked on from the Republican side. But that's not what offends me. As a gay man and an open-minded person, I am offended that Metcalfe's words and actions support homophobia. I have friends and family members who, for reasons of religion or cultural background, do not support LGBT-friendly policies. I am not in the business of smearing them as bigots as long as they respect me as a person. As a political conservative who has worked professionally on LGBT nondiscrimination issues, I find it's more productive to try to meet people where they are and exercise openmindedness rather than judgment. This often changes hearts and minds, and it saves me from having to hate people whom I disagree with. I understand that Butler County isn't Philadelphia, and it doesn't need to be. I don't expect Metcalfe to carry the rainbow flag at Cranberry Township Pride but I do expect him to not belittle gay people as a whole. The Pennsylvania Democratic Party has blasted Metcalfe, and for good reason. Unfortunately, Democrats have overused the word bigot with such consistency and casualness as to dilute its meaning. Labeling antiabortion activists as misogynists, voters who oppose illegal immigration as xenophobes, and Christians who don't want to bake cakes for gay unions as homophobes may be a good way to shut down conversations. But in the long run, those terms lose their meaning. Instead of just name-calling, it will take Republican action to solve this problem. Ask any millennial about the Republican Party brand, and you will find out why it's so toxic: The GOP suffers from a lack of diversity and a perception that the party as a whole does not oppose bigotry and even, in some cases, courts it. I've written about the issue in this very paper. If the Republican Party wants to avoid sinking into the depths of thoughtless, reactionary know-nothingism, elected officials whose actions and rhetoric imply disdain not just for policies but for actual groups of people must head for the exits. By allowing these elected officials to stay in power, party leaders should recognize that they're shutting the door on minority voters. I believe that Metcalfe's comments on sexuality demand action from the Pennsylvania Republican Party. He should be asked to step down. It's easy to be a conservative in Butler County, where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by almost 2-1. It is much harder to be one in left-leaning Philly's gayborhood. It's difficult to describe how lonely this work can be only other minorities who identify as conservatives can truly "get it." But I do what's hard because it's who I am, and because I believe in the future of the GOP. I pray that party leaders are looking down from on high and thinking: Am I making life easier for those who are doing what's necessary to expand the party and carry us into the future? This includes gay and trans conservatives who speak out in our communities, black Republicans who carry the GOP banner into hostile terrain, and student activists who dare to voice dissent from a sea of campus leftism. If the GOP wishes to survive, it must choose us, and to choose us it must reject bigotry when it appears. Today, Republican leaders in Pennsylvania face an important decision. They can say yes to a diversity of opinion on LGBT issues, while saying no to flagrant homophobia. And they can tell Rep. Metcalfe that he's welcome to continue his hateful Facebook rants as a private citizen. Albert Eisenberg is a Philadelphia-based political consultant who has worked on LGBT and urban issues from the right. @Albydelphia. Rapper Meek Mill with comedian Kevin Hart during the Sixers and Miami Heat game five of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Read more Freed rapper Meek Mill may have seen the World War II movie Saving Private Ryan, and be familiar with a scene that came to mind after the hero's welcome Mill got Tuesday after being bailed out of the prison he was assigned for violating his parole. After Private Ryan, played by Matt Damon, is found and saved at the cost of six other soldiers' lives, mortally wounded Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks, whispers to Ryan, "Earn it." Mill, too, needs to earn the chance he has been given that hundreds of the wrongfully convicted never receive. A new Columbia University Justice Lab report shows Pennsylvania leads the nation with 296,000 residents on parole or probation. Some of those people went to prison when they were as young as Mill, who was convicted on drug and gun charges in 2008 as a 19-year-old. While they remain incarcerated or under supervision, Mill is free, at least until the new trial that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has said should be held. Even after another trial, it is expected that Mill will remain free. District Attorney Larry Krasner has signaled that any further prosecution by him won't be vigorous. There is evidence that Mill's original arrest was orchestrated by a bad cop. Krasner's leniency seems further motivated by the outrageously long 10-year parole Mill received in 2008. A judge last year sentenced him to two to four years in prison for violating his parole's terms. But Mill's going back to prison seems unlikely, so he can start earning his freedom. It won't be enough for him to make a Grammy-winning album that decries the racism too often found in a criminal justice system that has filled America's prisons with thousands of young black men like Mill. It won't be enough for Mill to show up at Sixers games, or Eagles games, or other celebrity-laden events so the rich and famous can take Instagram snapshots with him to prove they're keeping it real. It won't be enough for Mill to visit high schools or rec centers to urge young people to stay out of trouble and get an education so they can live successful lives. It won't be enough for him to visit prisons to encourage inmates to be strong while they wait for the same justice that for so long closed its ears to him. To earn his freedom, Mill must lead by example. Like Charles Barkley, he may not want to be a role model, but he is. Young people looking at the helicopter rides, celebrity hobnobbing, and other adulation being heaped upon Mill will want to be like him. By his lifestyle he can direct them down a different path than the one that got him in trouble. An undeniable connection between hip-hop culture and bad behavior exists. It's glorified in some rap lyrics. But rappers like Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar also speak out for social justice. Mill has been given a chance to be a force in that movement. He didn't earn it with his incarceration. But he can with his freedom. A mistrial was declared Monday in the case of a U.S. Border Patrol agent after an Arizona jury acquitted him of a second-degree murder charge in the death of a teen from Mexico but deadlocked on lesser counts of manslaughter. The decision by U.S. District Judge Raner Collins means prosecutors could seek another trial for Agent Lonnie Swartz on the manslaughter charges in the 2012 death of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, who was fatally shot as he threw rocks at authorities during a drug smuggling attempt. Prosecutors say they were evaluating whether to pursue a retrial, reports the Associated Press. Jurors had deliberated about 18 hours over five days in what human rights attorneys say was the first prosecution of a Border Patrol agent in a fatal shooting across the border. Swartz fired 16 shots late on Oct. 10, 2012, through a 20-foot fence that sits on an embankment above Mexico's Calle Internacional, a Nogales street lined with homes and small businesses. Prosecutors acknowledged during the monthlong trial that Elena Rodriguez was lobbing rocks across the border during a drug smuggling attempt. Retired NYPD Officer Scott Blackshaw, who spent days searching for bodies at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks, was told he only had months to live after he was diagnosed with terminal brain and spinal cancer earlier this year. Then his Long Island neighbors stepped in, reports the New York Daily News. As Blackshaw, 52, recently began a new holistic care program in hopes of finding a cure, friends in his hometown of Huntington Station, local business owners and former colleagues have rallied together to help him pay the bills, stay on track with his treatment and let him know he's not alone as he faces his toughest challenge yet. After years of watching the NYPD veteran selflessly help others, Blackshaw's pals felt it was only right to return the favor. Alek Minassian, the man accused of plowing into Toronto pedestrians with a rented van on Monday, was charged Tuesday with 10 counts of first-degree murder, reports CNN. The 25-year-old is also charged with 13 counts of attempted murder. Authorities said another count of attempted murder likely will be added. Investigators are still trying to determine the motive behind the attack, which left 10 people dead and 14 hurt. So far, officials aren't calling the attack an act of terrorism. "There would appear to be no national security connection," Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said. But Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said, "It's very clear just from a general perspective to say that the actions definitely look deliberate." Somerset County Deputy Cpl. Eugene Cole (Photo: Somerset County SO) State and federal authorities are searching for a man suspected of shooting and killing a Maine sheriffs deputy and stealing his patrol vehicle before robbing a store, authorities said. Somerset County Deputy Cpl. Eugene Cole was killed in the line of duty early Wednesday morning in Norridgewock, police said Wednesday morning. We have lost an outstanding deputy today who has served with great distinction for the last 13 years, Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster said during a news conference. He was one of the finest deputies you would want to meet. The suspect, John D. Williams, 29, of Madison, ME, is still at large and is armed and considered dangerous, Lancaster said. A nationwide manhunt is underway. State and federal agencies, including the FBI, are working to find him, the Bangor Daily News reports. Law enforcement officers in Dallas have arrested a man wanted in the Tuesday afternoon shooting of two Dallas officers and an employee at a North Dallas Home Depot. Police arrested Armando Luis Juarez, 29, on charges of aggravated assault on a police officer and felony theft. He was taken into custody shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday after a lengthy car chase involving officers from various agencies. The two Dallas officers are reportedly in critical condition at a local hospital. There is no word on condition of the store employee who has been described as a loss-prevention officer. Reports of one officer's death as a result of the shooting, which were widely reported in local media and by PoliceMag.com, appear to be false. Tuesday evening Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall said she would not release the conditions of those shot, NBC DFW reports. The Lancaster County (SC) Sheriff Office says a deputy who had served the community for more than 25 years died in the line of duty Tuesday night after collapsing following a training event. Deputy James Kirk Jr. died at Springs Memorial Hospital after collapsing during the training event at the sheriffs office firing range. He died from what appears to be a medical condition, Sheriff Barry Faile told WSOC TV. Kirk, 57, served the citizens of Lancaster County for the past 28 years. He began his career at the Lancaster Police Department and retired from that agency after 25 years of service. He joined the sheriffs office in 2015. Hungary Fidesz VP seen taking over ministry from key PM aide Gergely Gulyas, one of the four vice presidents of Hungarys ruling Fidesz party, is expected to be appointed Prime Minister Viktor Orbans new chief of staff, replacing outgoing Janos Lazar, local weekly Heti Valasz reprted on Wednesday. Mihaly Varga will remain Economy Minister. Miklos Kasler could succeed Zoltan Balog at the helm of the Ministry of Human Resources. Development Minister Miklos Sesztak will hand over the baton to Andrea Bartfai-Mager. Sandor Pinter is expected to remain Minister of the Interior. Sandor Fazekas will no longer be Minister of Agriculture. Janos Lazar is expected to leave the cabinet and return to his hometown Hodmezovasarhely. Central bank (MNB) Governor Gyorgy Matolcsy will not be appointed Development Minister. The paper (to be published on Thursday) said in an abridged preliminary issue today that the two names mentioned with the highest frequency in government circles regarding the two strategic ministries - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Chancellery focusing not only on European matters but also on public administration - are of current Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and Gergely Gulyas, one of the four vice presidents of the Fidesz party.This is what we have learned so far from official announcements and rumours about the new ministers: Paul Mirengoff frequently refers to our robed masters in the federal judiciary. Yesterday our robed master Bates of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia administered the latest in a series of legal defeats to the Trump administrations effort to rescind the Obama administrations unconstitutional program to regularize illegal immigrants by executive decree. The New York Timess Miriam Jordan gives an account of the ruling in U.S. Must Keep DACA and Accept New Applications, Federal Judge Rules. Our robed master Bates based his decision on the inadequacy of the administrations conclusion that Obamas decree was unlawful, but he kindly afforded Trump one more chance to explain. As Jordan puts it: The judge stayed his decision for 90 days and gave the Department of Homeland Security, which administers the program, the opportunity to better explain its reasoning for canceling it. If the department fails to do so, it must accept and process new as well as renewal DACA applications, Judge Bates said in the decision. The very first joke Jonathan Swift inserts into chapter 1 of Gullivers Travels plays on the name of James Bates, the physician whom Gulliver served as a bound apprentice. Swift warms up to the joke with several variations and near misses: Mr. James Bates, Mr. Bates, my good master, Mr. Bates, and Mr. Bates, my master. In the third paragraph Gulliver finally renders it my good master Bates. I cant help but think of Gulliver and his good master when reading Judge Batess memorandum opinion, posted online in PDF here and embedded below via (Scribd). While the Bates joke is Swifts first in the text of chapter 1, Judge Batess joke takes its place in a long line brought to us by our robed masters, and not just on DACA. On the DACA version of the joke, see Josh Blackmans January 2018 NR column A ludicrous ruling that Trump cant end DACA. NAACP v Trump (District Court Memorandum) by Scott Johnson on Scribd As we noted this morning, Attorney General Sessions has decided against recusing himself from the investigation of Michael Cohen. Allahpundit reports that the decision has produced dueling conspiracy theories. One holds that Sessions will go to bat for Trump and undermine the Cohen investigation, at least insofar as it implicates the president. The other holds that Sessions will use his role in the Cohen investigation as leverage with Trump to protect his job. Both theories are rubbish, in my view. There is this question, though: What happens if/when Trump asks Sessions for information about the Cohen investigation? Heres what I believe will happen. Sessions will seek guidance from ethics officials at the Justice Department, just as he did before he recused himself from the Russia investigation. He will then follow the advice he receives. To the extent that what Trump asks of him is deemed proper, he will comply. But only to that extent. Trump is unlikely to fire Sessions for not acceding to requests that are deemed unethical by the Department of Justice. That would be a serious error. In any case, dont expect Sessions to violate ethics rules in order to keep his job. What people on both sides of the Trump divide dont seem to get about Jeff Sessions is that hes an honorable man. There arent that many of them around these days, so its easy to understand the error. BEIJING, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In recent years, silicon carbide and other wide bandgap semiconductors have become the strategic commanding point of competition in global high-tech field and a hotspot in worldwide semiconductor and materials industry. The wide bandgap semiconductor materials have already formed a huge industry in the field of semiconductor lighting, and it will develop in depth in the field of electronic power device. The international conference of ICSCRMInternational Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materialsand ECSCRMEuropean Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materialshave already been established, which mainly reflects the technology development trend in the United States and Europe. To promote the development of silicon carbide and other wide bandgap semiconductors of the Asia-Pacific region, The Asia-Pacific Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials (APCSCRM 2018) will be held on July 9-12, 2018 in Beijing with over 400 participants, which is sponsored by IAWBS (Innovation Association of Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Technology), IOP(Institute of physics of Chinese academy of sciences) and Beijing Ceramic Society. The APCSCRM 2018 conference will focus on topics related to wide-bandgap materials (such as SiC, GaN, AlN, diamond, Ga 2 O 3 etc.), including research development and application of Materials Growth, Materials structure & physical properties, Optoelectronic & power devices and related equipments. Extensive exchanges will be carried out which will greatly enhance industry-university-research cooperation and communication. We believe APCSCRM 2018 will play a significant role in promoting the academic research, technology progress and industrial development of wide bandgap semiconductor materials and devices in the Asia-Pacific region. APCSCRM will be a high level conference on Silicon Carbide and Related MaterialsDevices and Application in the Asia-Pacific region. From 2018, the conference will be held annually at different locations in the Asia-Pacific region. About the details please see the website of the international conferencehttp://www.apcscrm2018.iawbs.com/ SOURCE Innovation Association of Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Technology PUNE, India, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "Automotive Terminal Market by Application (Body Control & Interiors, Safety & Security, Cooling, Engine & Emission Control, Infotainment, Lighting System, and Battery System), Current Rating, Vehicle Type, EV Type, and Region - Global Forecast to 2025", published MarketsandMarkets, the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.03% during the forecast period, to reach USD 27.14 Billion by 2025 from an estimated USD 12.64 Billion in 2017. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg ) Browse 83 market data Tables and 42 Figures spread through 135 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Automotive Terminal Market" https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/automotive-terminal-market-136249480.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report The combination of higher disposable income and increasing awareness of active as well as passive safety of a vehicle among vehicle occupants, increasing amount of vehicle electronics, and the adoption of advanced vehicle technologies such as connected vehicles and self-driving vehicles are expected to drive the Automotive Terminal Market. The increase in vehicle sales in recent years is driven by the changing preferences of vehicle types and lifestyle of young population. Infrastructural development in developing economies is forcing construction companies to use construction vehicles that are equipped with advanced electronically operated prime mover technologies. Modern agricultural vehicles are used extensively in countries like China, India, Japan, and South Africa. All these factors are driving the market for Automotive Terminal Market. North America to be the fastest growing market and Asia Pacific to hold the largest market for automotive terminal in 2025 North America is projected to be the fastest growing market for automotive terminal from 2017 to 2025. The market growth in this region can be attributed to the increasing awareness regarding advanced vehicle electronics and convenience inside a vehicle. Asia Pacific is projected to be the largest market for automotive terminal from 2017 to 2025. The market growth in the region can be attributed to factors such as factory fitted advanced electronics and government initiatives regarding the use of environment-friendly electric vehicles. Ask for PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=136249480 Cooling, engine & emission control is estimated to hold the largest market share during the forecast period The Automotive Terminal Market for cooling, engine & emission control segment is estimated to be the largest during the forecast period. It is followed by the safety & security system, body control & interiors, infotainment, lighting system, and battery system. Government norms regarding vehicle emission are increasing the demand for cooling, engine & emission control in the global Automotive Terminal Market. Another factor that is driving the market for cooling, engine & emission control is the significant rise in the sales of modern vehicles in developing countries like China and India. Below 40 Ampere segments for automotive terminal is estimated to be the largest segment by current rating from 2017 to 2025 The Automotive Terminal Market for below 40 Ampere is estimated to be the largest since it is used in most of the vehicle electronics. Increasing installation of electronic applications that operate in the range of below 40 Ampere such as wiper motor, mirrors, and electronic fuel injection is likely to drive the growth of this segment. The Automotive Terminal Market is dominated by a few globally established players such as TE Connectivity (Switzerland), Delphi (UK), Furukawa Electric (Japan), and PKC Group (Finland). Know more about the Automotive Terminal Market: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/automotive-terminal-market-136249480.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, "Knowledge Store" 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] Visit Our Blog @ http://mnmblog.org/market-research/automotive-transportation Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SOURCE MarketsandMarkets NEW DELHI, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- - Introduces 2-in-1 Air purifier and humidifier series 3000 - Features Advanced AeraSense sensing technology that helps you monitor air quality in real-time As part of Philips' commitment to deliver meaningful innovation in personal health and well-being, Philips India is marking the World Allergy Week by introducing a new range of smart and innovative air purifiers. These new products, Philips 3000i and 5000i series will empower families to take control of indoor air quality, and help reduce the triggers that aggravate a child's allergy symptoms. As the spring season kicks in with sneezes, coughs and watery eyes, allergy/asthma sufferers and families with children are looking for ways to ease symptoms and counter indoor air bound allergens. According to the INSEARCH report published in 2017, roughly 4-5 % of the total Indian population suffers from chronic airborne diseases. Children, especially during summer holidays, tend to spend a large proportion of time indoors; with studies showing that indoor air can be up to 2 to 5 times more polluted than outdoor air. Expressing his concern, Dr. Arjun Khanna, MD DM, Senior Consultant Pulmonology, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, said, "Cases of asthma and respiratory allergies are on the rise. Poor air quality, pollution and smoking make this disease worse. Asthma is easily controllable in most patients with therapy and avoidance of allergens and pollutants. Let's purify the air we breathe, and fight the menace of asthma and chronic respiratory diseases." To help make the home environment cleaner, Philips new air purifiers have been specifically developed to significantly improve the quality of indoor air. The new range includes the 2-in-1 air purifier and humidifier - Mario (AC3821), MicroCube (AC5659) and Puma DI (AC3259). Equipped with VitaShield IPS, AeraSense and NanoCloud technology, these air purifiers are proven to help improve indoor air quality while easing asthma and allergy symptoms in children and adults. This range of Air purifiers from Philips uses True HEPA filters and is tested to remove 99.9% of PM2.5, bacteria, H1N1, and 99.97% of 0.3um particles, which is the size of common allergens in the air. These products also include the unique numerical index, corresponding colour ring, and connected app, making it easy to track and control air quality at home - alerting in real-time to even the slightest change in indoor air conditions. Commenting on the launch, Mr. Gulbahar Taurani, Marketing Director & Business Head, Domestic Appliances, Philips India said, "At Philips, we are constantly looking for new opportunities to improve peoples' lives through meaningful innovations. Understanding the growing concern in the country today around the ever-increasing hypersensitivity to allergies, especially in children, our endeavour was to evaluate our existing portfolio and bring in highly advanced technology that truly makes a difference to the lives of our consumers. With this new range of air purifiers, users will breathe cleaner air at home and also comfortably transition to new seasons and minimize allergen-related symptoms." Built with NanoCloud humidification technology, Mario (AC3821) is a 2-in-1 device that not just purifies the air but also maintains optimum humidity in the room. It removes pollutants and allergens as small as 0.003um from the air, 800 times smaller than PM2.5, apart from removing dust, smoke and pet dander. It also offers a smart humidity sensor that enables the consumer to precisely manage the humidity level of the room and shuts off automatically to prevent over-humidification, hence, making indoor air healthy and comfortable to breathe. With AeraSense technology, Philips air purifiers automatically monitor, react, and purify indoor air, sensing and giving real time feedback on pollution levels in the room. They remove the most common allergens, including pollen, pet dander, dust mites, mold spores, as well as gases and odors. These purifiers also have an extra-sensitive allergen mode that boosts the fan speed even when it detects small increases of allergens in the air. In addition to this, these air purifiers operate on a low noise level, allowing you to fall asleep and wake up more easily. The purifier also has a special allergen mode, which could come in aid for those prone to common allergies. Pricing for specific models is MicroCube (AC5659)-INR 49,995, Mario (AC3821)-Humidifier + Purifier- INR 37,995 and Puma DI (AC3259)- INR 39,995. Images: About Royal Philips Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG) (AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2016 sales of EUR 17.4 billion and employs approximately 71,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at http://www.philips.com/newscenter . Media Contact : Damini Bindra [email protected] +91-9999891976 Account Manager Avian Media Pvt Ltd. Richa Bhatnagar +91-9971634096 [email protected] Geetika Bangia +91-9818102133 [email protected] SOURCE Royal Philips Demand for reduced equipment downtime, damage, and consistency in results fuels rise in on-site and automated calibration and repair services, finds Frost & Sullivan SANTA CLARA, California, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Frost & Sullivan, revenues for the calibration and repair services market are expected to reach $3.98 billion by 2022, driven by adoption of metrology in the manufacturing process, proliferation of high-tech products, tightening of regulations, and increases in quality awareness. Frost & Sullivan expects a growing demand for on-site and automated calibration and repair services due to reduced waiting times, lowered risk of damage, and improved efficiencies. Frost & Sullivan's recent analysis, Growth Opportunities in the Calibration and Repair Services Market, Forecast to 2022, provides a detailed assessment of growth opportunities and trends, including the key challenges test vendors face in today's market, which product segment represents the most potential, as well as regional revenue forecasts. For further information on this analysis, please visit: http://frost.ly/2fi "Delivering high-quality services in a market characterized by fragmentation, pricing pressure, and demanding customers is a critical challenge," said Aravindhan Rohinidevi, Measurement & Instrumentation Research Associate at Frost & Sullivan. "Furthermore, the lack of skilled workforce in most regions also restrains market growth." Strategic imperatives for calibration and repair services providers include: Offering more comprehensive online asset management tools to share the real-time status of the equipment, shipping information, electronic storage of documents, and equipment recalibration notice; to share the real-time status of the equipment, shipping information, electronic storage of documents, and equipment recalibration notice; Improving their global presence to harness emerging countries' need for strong technological support; to harness emerging countries' need for strong technological support; Automating calibration procedures, as 10% to 15% of calibration procedures are expected to be automated in the coming years to reduce equipment downtime and improve service quality; and calibration procedures, as 10% to 15% of calibration procedures are expected to be automated in the coming years to reduce equipment downtime and improve service quality; and Expanding offerings to maintain market share due to consolidation of calibration laboratories. The North American calibration services market is expected to grow steadily in the next seven years, driven by the greater complexity of instruments and stricter regulations, while demand for more quality products, market consolidation, and evolution of Industrial Internet of Things will propel the European calibration and repair services market. In the Asia-Pacific region, the continuous development in wireless and data communications networks and infrastructure is expected to drive progress in the calibration services market. "In developing countries, quality awareness is on the rise as customers want to calibrate their equipment to comply with international standards, which is driving market growth in these regions," noted Janani Balasundar, Measurement & Instrumentation Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "To improve success, third-party service providers should partner with OEMs or other providers that specialize in servicing particular brands or instruments." Growth Opportunities in the Calibration and Repair Services Market, Forecast to 2022 is part of Frost & Sullivan's global Test & Measurement 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 in the Calibration and Repair Services Market, Forecast to 2022 MD2B_30 Contact: Jaylon Brinkley Corporate Communications North America P: 1.210.247.2481 E: [email protected] Related Links http://www.frost.com SOURCE Frost & Sullivan Non-traditional services such as big data and IoT will drive growth opportunities in the market BOGOTA, Colombia, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Colombian telecommunication services industry is undergoing rapid change due to increasing consumer dependence on wireless-enabled services. Frost & Sullivan's latest analysis, Colombian Telecommunication Services Market, Forecast to 2022, expects the business to top 11.5 billion by 2021 with fixed and mobile broadband, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and machine-to-machine (M2M) services to grow at double-digit rates. Revenue for mobile and fixed-voice services is forecast to drop due to decreasing mobile termination rates and other types of available communication, such as messaging and unified communication and collaboration solutions. "To be successful going forward, telecommunications providers must embrace business models that include expanding their service portfolios, pursuing non-traditional revenue streams, and leveraging expertise in customer care and billing," said Gina Sanchez, Digital Transformation Senior Consultant at Frost & Sullivan. For further information on this analysis, please visit: http://frost.ly/2fh Telecommunication services have become increasingly integrated and competitive, bringing greater pressures on margins. Sanchez recommends providers focus on programmable infrastructure and networks, such as software defined networking (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV), data center orchestration, automation, and mobile network virtualization, to exploit new growth opportunities. Four strategic imperatives for Telcos' success include: Expand service portfolio to become a full-service provider for connected homes; Develop effective security monitoring systems to guard and enable devices that are fully context-aware for connected work; Harness Big Data analytics to drive proactive customer experience strategies and customer engagement; and Embrace cognitive intelligence in their cloud-enabled customer experience solutions roadmap. "Shortening technology cycles, disruptive competition, elevated prices for high-capacity broadband technologies, and reduced profitability of telecom services are key factors restraining market growth," noted Sanchez. "Players need to identify a vertical focus based on their skills, expertise, and partnerships. They should monetize new opportunities through innovative business models and introduce fresh capabilities and resources when developing new processes." Colombian Telecommunication Services Market, Forecast to 2022 is part of Frost & Sullivan's global Communication Services 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 Colombian Telecommunication Services Market, Forecast to 2022 K1C8_63 Contact: Francesca Valente Corporate Communications Latin America P: +54 11 4777 5300 E: [email protected] http://www.frost.com Related Links http://www.frost.com SOURCE Frost & Sullivan For nearly 20 years, Canopy has grown to be one of the most effective not-for-profit environmental organizations at securing partnerships to develop business solutions that protect the world's endangered forests. Canopy has teamed with over 750 of the forest industry's largest customers and like-minded businesses such as HH Global to serve as engaged champions for conservation and sustainable choices throughout the supply chain. This alliance will support HH Global with implementing its recently released HH Global Sustainable Materials Policy -- a commitment to promote sustainable materials usage through viable alternative choices that reduce impact on forests and ultimately ramifications to habitats and local communities. Canopy provides audit assistance to HH Global to ensure that it is not sourcing from ancient and endangered forest with a variety of tools and standards metrics that help identify the requirements of paper/packaging/fabric origin, content, certification, production, and usage. Through the mapping of their sourcing process, HH Global will assure compliance throughout the supply chain, which in turn will serve their clients world-wide. Nicole Rycroft, Canopy Founder and Executive Director is pleased to formalize the relationship with HH Global, a new key partner of the marketing print and print production sector. "We are excited to work with HH Global on this partnership. Not only do we have the potential to substantially reduce the environmental impact of some of the world's largest brands, together we can help catalyze next-generation solutions such as packaging and papers made of straw. Canopy's collaboration with HH Global will deliver sustainable sourcing solutions and advance conservation opportunities in some of the world's most important landscapes." HH Global Chief Digital and Innovation officer, Kevin Dunckley is encouraged by the collaboration. "HH Global has pioneered eco-consciousness in global marketing execution. The trend of our initiatives is soaring as our clients have become aware of HH Global's involvement as an environmental advocate for print. With the recent announcement of our Sustainability Targets, the edie Sustainability Leaders Award for our Quality Printer Program technology, and now our partnership with a leader such as Canopy, global brands will know that we are forthright in our commitment and have the momentum to continue these efforts." HH Global has the established credentials and expertise to collaborate with clients to meet and exceed their sustainability goals. Brands that are recognized for their commitment to operate in an environmentally sustainable way, including Google, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, and Unilever, have seen the results of HH Global initiatives including the introduction of conscious paper purchasing, supply chain audits, and product and delivery channel re-engineering which have resulted in reduced environmental impact. HH Global acts as a partner, promoting efforts throughout the sourcing supply chain so that clients achieve their goals and increase their authenticity as eco-friendly brand leaders. Robert MacMillan, Global CEO, concurs with the strength of the offering to global brands. "Our partnership with Canopy will help us take our sustainability leadership to the next level and to contribute to global forest conservation legacies. Our authority in this arena is getting noticed. We have a team of ingenious thought leaders that are leveraging the depth of key relationships to extend our scope and pursue the most mindful options to mitigate the effect of print to the planet. I am looking forward to sharing what is next for HH Global as the sustainability leader." HH Global and Canopy will be announcing co-aligned events including a "Transforming Tomorrow" Innovation Exchange this fall and participation in the Canopy Planet rainforest tour for an intensive educational experience for clients. About HH Global HH Global Ltd., founded in 1991, is a leading, independent marketing execution partner to prominent brands in over 40 countries. The company offers innovative and tailored solutions for the outsourced procurement of all types of printed marketing materials, packaging, and creative production services, that drive down cost, speed time to market, improve quality, and increase sustainability. Every HH Global solution utilizes HHub, a best-in-class marketing execution application, an expansive list of suppliers, proprietary processes, and the deep expertise of over 900 employees. The company also operates HH Labs, the center of its innovation program, that brings fresh, new ideas to clients. With more than $500M in spend under management, HH Global maintains a razor-sharp focus on cost and quality, combined with an industry-leading sustainability program, offering improvements that provide both fiscal and environmental value. For more information, visit www.hhglobal.com. About Canopy Canopy is a not-for-profit environmental organization dedicated to protecting the world's forests, species and climate. Canopy collaborates with more than 750 companies to develop innovative solutions, make their supply chains more sustainable and help protect our world's remaining ancient and endangered forests. Canopy's partners include H&M, Sprint, Penguin Random House, Stella McCartney, Zara, TC Transcontinental, The Guardian and Scholastic. Canopy's work relies on the support of individual donors who share our passion for the planet. http://www.canopyplanet.org Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/681887/HH_Global_Sustainability_Video_Final.mp4 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/471140/hh_global_Logo.jpg Related Links http://www.hhglobal.com SOURCE HH Global PUNE, India, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "In Vitro Lung Model Market by Type (2D, 3D (In-house, Commercial)), Application (Drug Screening, Toxicology, 3D Model Development, Basic Research, Physiologic Research, Stem Cell Research, Regenerative Medicine) - Global Forecasts to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is expected to reach USD 427.4 Million by 2023 from an estimated USD 190.5 Million in 2018, at a CAGR of 17.5%. Factors such as growing focus on developing alternatives for animal testing models, technological advancements, and the development of new 3D in vitro models are expected to drive market growth. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg ) Browse 42 market data Tables and 0 Figures spread through 100 Pages and in-depth TOC on "In Vitro Lung Model Market" https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/lung-in-vitro-model-market-78042820.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report 2D models are expected to account for the largest share of the lung In Vitro Models Market in 2018 Based on type, the market is segmented into 2D cell models and 3D cell models. The 2D models segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market owing to its use historically. Additionally, 2D models/cell lines are used in the research and development of 3D models. However, the 3D cell models segment is projected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period owing to the rising need for efficient lung in vitro models that mimic in vivo physiology. The drug discovery and toxicology applications of 3D models are expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period Based on application, the market is segmented applications of 2D models and 3D models. Applications of 3D models include drug discovery and toxicology, physiological research, and stem cell research & regenerative medicine. The drug discovery and toxicology segment is also expected grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to increasing adoption of 3D models in this area. Ask for PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=78042820 North America to command the largest share of the lung In Vitro Models Market in 2018 North America held the largest share of the lung In Vitro Models Market in 2017. Flourishing research environment and abundant funding programs from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and increased R&D activities by biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are driving the growth of the lung In Vitro Models Market in North America. The major players in the Lung In Vitro Models Market include Epithelix (Switzerland), MatTek Corporation (US), Lonza (Switzerland), ATCC (US), InSphero (Switzerland), Emulate (US), AlveoliX (Switzerland), Oncotheis (Switzerland), Insphero (Switzerland), TissUse (Switzerland), Mimetas (Netherlands), and CN Bio Innovations (UK). Know more about the In Vitro Lung Model Market: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/lung-in-vitro-model-market-78042820.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, "Knowledge Store" 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] Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SOURCE MarketsandMarkets MUMBAI, India, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- House of Rose Professional Pte. Ltd. announced that several of India's top CEOs would lead the 2018 India Edition of Break the ceiling touch the sky -- the success and leadership summit for women, to be held on May 8, 2018 at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai, India. Confirmed speakers for the 2018 India Edition include Christina Ruggiero, Chief Executive Officer, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd; Krish Iyer, President & CEO, Walmart India; Richa Singh, CEO, Philips Home Healthcare; Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World; Mohit Anand, Managing Director, Kellogg India Pvt. Ltd; Richa Arora, Chief Operating Officer, Consumer Products Business, Tata Chemicals; Stephanie Keen, Singapore Managing Partner, Hogan Lovells Lee & Lee Singapore; P.K. Hariharan, General Manager -- India Consumer and Professional Beauty Coty Inc.; Lynne Anne Davis, President and Senior Partner, FleishmanHillard Asia Pacific; Priyanka Aggarwal, Partner and Director, Boston Consulting Group India; Shumone Chatterjee, General Manager, South Asia, SC Johnson & Son; Annurag Batra, Chairman, BW Businessworld and exchange4media Group; Praveen Jakarte, former Chairman and Managing Director, Hershey's India; Abanti Sankaranarayanan, Chief Strategy & Corporate Affairs Officer, Diageo India; Sujatha Kumar, Head -- Brand and Reputation, Marketing and Strategy, Google India; Amit Narain, Head of HR, Nestle South Asia Region; Harish Sadani, Co-founder and Chief Functionary of Men against Violence and Abuse (MAVA) and Sonali Dhawan, Brand Director, P&G India. Break the ceiling touch the sky -- the success and leadership summit for women is a one-day summit consisting of action-focused panel discussions, keynotes and a special speed mentoring segment led by C-Suite leaders. The 2018 India Edition will focus on How the top CEOs are preparing for success in India, best practices on gender diversity from the world's best companies, building your dream job, best practices for safe and productive work-places, and answers on the toughest questions for women leaders. Julie Hamilton, Chief Customer and Commercial Leadership Officer, The Coca-Cola Company shared, "Diversity is at the heart of our business. We strive to create a work environment that provides all our associates equal access to information, development and opportunity. We have seen great contributions via gender diversity. Our business is honored to be a world sponsor of Break the ceiling touch the sky which will give participants a tremendous opportunity to learn from others, share best practices, network with peers and chart their own individual courses for success." Coca-Cola is a World sponsor of the summit. FleishmanHillard and Google are Gold sponsors; Hogan Lovells, SC Johnson & Son, Coty Inc. and Nestle are Silver sponsors and Tata Sampann is a luncheon sponsor. To register for the 2018 India Edition of Break the ceiling touch the sky /view Industry and network partners visit www.houseofroseprofessional.com. House of Rose Professional Pte.Ltd. is based in Singapore and operates in the areas of People, People, Public Relations and Publishing. Media/Sponsors contact: Email: [email protected] or call +65 83322017. Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20150714/8521504608LOGO Related Links http://www.houseofroseprofessional.com SOURCE House of Rose Professional MCI announces move to its new corporate headquarters, 10661 Newkirk St. Dallas, Texas, 75220 DALLAS, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Motor Controls Incorporated brands include: MCI, MCI FLOWTRONEX, MCI WATER EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGIES (WET) AND STEELINE ENCLOSURE SOLUTIONS. Craig Carter, President of Motor Controls Inc, announced completion of the corporate headquarters relocation. "Our move enables full integration with our water treatment division (WET) and water distribution division (MCI FLOWTRONEX). This allows MCI to provide complete solutions, from advanced filtration and purification such as Reverse Osmosis, to Municipal and Commercial water distribution. Our advanced control and monitoring application to the entire solution allows remote support from MCI technical division as well as end user access and control. Motor Controls Inc, is an advanced custom manufacturer providing many diverse global markets with electrical controls, structural integrated products, custom electrical enclosures and advanced water treatment & transportation. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/590852/MCI_Logo.jpg Related Links motorcontrols.com SOURCE Motor Controls Inc. World Trade Centers Association Members commit to wide collaboration in agribusiness LEEUWARDEN, Netherlands, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- More than three dozen World Trade Centers (WTCs) from across the globe officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on agriculture during the World Trade Centers Association's (WTCA) 49th General Assembly, taking place from April 22-27. This marks the Association's largest MOU in recent history. As signatories on this important agreement and Members of the WTCA's proprietary global network, the MOU will build a robust framework for collaboration on agricultural trade issues. Spearheaded by WTC Harbin (China), each Member of the group of participating WTCs has deep ties to their local agriculture industries and the challenges they face. This group of organizations from more than one dozen countries offers a stable platform to foster trade ties during a time of increasing uncertainty. Steven Lo, Executive Director of WTC Harbin remarked, "As a Member of the WTCA I understand the great potential in working together to find new opportunities for our home regions. The objective of this signed understanding is to equip participating Members with a robust knowledge base, specialized services, and a means of collaborating so that each WTC may, in turn, enable their local business communities with tools to access and participate in global agribusiness." The ceremony memorialized the occasion and encouraged other WTCs to join the initiative. Signatories vowed to work on increasing opportunities for trade, as well as bridge the gaps that exist between their local agricultural sectors and the global trade community. "This is a prime example of a benefit that our global network can offer," remarked Mr. Scott Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer of WTCA. "As an association whose Members are intricately woven into the fabric of their local economies, we are incredibly well positioned to connect local communities to global opportunities, even in an environment that may not always seem conducive to this kind of collaboration. My sincerest congratulations to all of the signatories of this important agreementthis is what our association is all about." Participating WTCs include the following from across the globe: Accra, Ghana; Algiers, Algeria; Amman, Jordan; Anchorage, United State of America; Arkansas, United States of America; Beirut, Lebanon; Bengaluru, India; Boston, United States of America; Brussels, Belgium; Chandigarh, India; Chennai, India; Curitiba, Brazil; Cyprus; Delaware, United States of America; Denver, United States of America; Dublin, Ireland; Edmonton, Canada; GIFT City, India; Haiti; Harbin, China; Houston, United States of America; Indianapolis, United States of America; Joinville, Brazil; Kochi, India; Leeuwarden, the Netherlands; Miami, United States of America; Montana, United States of America; Monterrey, Mexico; Mumbai, India; New Orleans, United States of America; Noida, India; Perth, Australia; Philadelphia, United States of America; Porto Alegre, Brazil; Qatar; Saskatoon, Canada; St. Louis, United States of America; Sydney, Australia; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Trieste, Italy; Twente, the Netherlands; Vancouver, Canada; Washington D.C., United States of America; Washington Dulles Airport, United State of America; and Winnipeg, Canada. For press inquiries or interviews, please contact Alex Brown or Andrea Mencia at [email protected]. About the World Trade Centers Association The World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) is a network of more than 300 highly-connected, mutually-supporting businesses and organizations in nearly 100 countries. As the owner of the "World Trade Center" and "WTC" trademarks, the WTCA licenses exclusive rights to these brands for Members to use in conjunction with their independently-owned, iconic properties, facilities and trade services offerings. Through a robust portfolio of events, programming and resources that it offers its Members, the goal of the WTCA is to help local economies thrive by encouraging and facilitating trade and investment across the globe through Member engagement. To learn more visit www.wtca.org. Related Links http://www.wtca.org SOURCE World Trade Centers Association BANGALORE, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sarovar Hotels & Resorts revamps their online presence with Simplotel's Hotel Website and Booking Engine and sees an instant jump in website visits and bookings Simplotel (http://www.simplotel.com), a leading provider of technology solutions for hotels, today announced that Sarovar Hotels Pvt. Ltd. (http://www.sarovarhotels.com), one of the fastest growing hotel chains in India, has partnered with Simplotel to adopt state-of-the-art in e-commerce for their hotels. With this, over 75 Sarovar hotels across 50 destinations in India and Africa have a completely revamped online presence with a modern, responsive, intuitive design that makes it easy for their customers to interact with the brand and make bookings. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/599727/Simplotel_Logo.jpg ) Today, over 80% of business and leisure guests decide where they want to stay online - regardless of which channel they ultimately book with. Wanting to capitalize on this trend and to enhance their brand presence, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts was looking for a complete revamp of their brand website and e-commerce and decided to go with Simplotel's proven e-commerce platform, designed especially for hotels. Immediately after launch, Sarovar observed an instant jump in visitors to their website and these visitors are spending even more time exploring the brand, the properties and offers. "We are committed to developing the online channel for our brand and recognize the importance of this channel," said Vijay Jaiswal, Sr. Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Sarovar Hotels. "We believe that our brand website is the cornerstone of our online marketing efforts and are impressed by the results delivered so far. We will continue to invest in growing and developing this channel." "Getting a good online presence can be daunting for hotels," commented Tarun Goyal, Founder and CEO of Simplotel. "Our mission is to simplify this for hotels and we have invested heavily in improving every small aspect of e-commerce for hotels. It is gratifying to see a brand like Sarovar leveraging the technology and seeing instant results." To learn more about Sarovar visit: http://www.sarovarhotels.com and Simplotel visit http://www.simplotel.com. About Simplotel: Simplotel is a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider for hotels. As its name suggests, Simplotel's mission is to Simplify the lives of Hoteliers. Headquartered in the Silicon Valley of India - Bangalore, Simplotel's vision is to equip hotels worldwide with technology that helps simplify operations, drive more business and improve guest satisfaction. Simplotel products are easy-to-use and come at an affordable pay-as-you-go price. Since its foundation in 2013, Simplotel has been growing its number of happy customers everyday. Today Simplotel powers over 2,000 hotels across multiple countries. To learn more, please visit http://www.simplotel.com, mail [email protected] or call +91-80336-46154. About Sarovar Hotels & Resorts Across India and Beyond... Sarovar Hotels & Resorts is a leading hotel management company and one of the fastest growing chains of hotels in India. Headed by a team of industry veterans, the Company manages 75 operational hotels in 50 destinations in India and overseas, under Sarovar Premiere, Sarovar Portico, Hometel brands. The brands cover the 3, 4 and 5 star spectrum. Sarovar Hotels founded the Corporate Hospitality Services division in 2000 with the management of services at various prestigious Business Schools. Geoffrey's, the popular English Pub brand operates at multiple destinations across India. With 12 regional sales & reservations offices located across India, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts is one of the largest and most diverse hotel management companies in the country today. Sarovar Hotels is part of Louvre Hotels Group, a major player in the global hospitality industry, with a portfolio that now includes 2,500 hotels in 52 countries. It has a full hotel offering, spanning 1 star to 5 stars, with the Louvre Hotels Group's historic brands (Premiere Classe, Kyriad, Campanile, Tulip Inn, Golden Tulip, Royal Tulip), the 5 brands of the Sarovar network in India, and 4 Chinese brands (Metropolo, Jin Jian Inn, Bestay, Goldmet Inn). Louvre Hotels Group is a subsidiary of Jin Jiang International Holdings Co., Ltd., the 5th largest hospitality group in the world. Media Contact: Akhil Kittur [email protected] +91-80336-46154 Simplotel SOURCE Simplotel "This first phase of the Canton Fair has seen many top international companies unveiling new products for the first time," said Alan Liu, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office at Canton Fair. "A key platform for promoting international trade from China, the Canton Fair is often the site where new cutting-edge, high-quality products are released to the world." More exhibitors bring smart, low-carbon and state-of-the-art products A highlight of the Fair's phase one has been the household electrical appliances zone that showcases hundreds of products from refrigerators to small household electrical appliances, covering all major categories in the international market and presenting significant growth in the smart technology sectors. Signature products brought by global home appliance giants as well as other market leaders from countries in China's Belt and Road Initiative include: Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. exhibited its AI Multi VRF (Variable Refrigerant Flow) Unit GMV6, an intelligent air conditioner, which uses AI technology to predict the variation trends of future weather and temperature and automatically adjusting modes. Galanz brought about 100 products, including its new IFA Product Technical Innovation Award-winning all in one multi-oven, which uses pollution-free steam for cooking in a healthier, highly efficient and environmentally-friendly way. Simfer, a leading household electrical appliance company in Turkey , showcased professional kitchen appliances, demonstrating its ability to provide customized products for different market segments. "Gree has expanded its global footprint with double-digit overseas sales growth in 2017," said Jun Oyang, Vice General Manager of Gree Overseas Sales Company. "This year we are still focusing on branding, upgrading and next-generation products. The Canton Fair is the largest and most important platform for Gree in its global outreach plan." Cathy Sin, Senior Sales Director of Galanz's Microwave Oven Foreign Trade Department, said that Canton Fair provides the company with opportunities to communicate with leading global retailers and brands where they are seeing a growing need for personalization in international markets. Electronic and electrical products at Canton Fair: high quality products lead the industry The rapid development of electricity, automobiles, household appliances and other consumer industries has also lead to the rapid evolution of electronic and electrical products. Motor products in the electronic and electrical products zone have also been updated to seek for high quality. Of the products that Sassin Int'l Electrical Shanghai Co., Ltd brought to the Fair, 80 percent were developed in-house, and all are focused on intelligence. "Sassin's total export volume increased 20 percent last year, and the company received positive feedback from Middle Eastern, African and European markets," said Jessie Chiang, Commercial Director of the Overseas Business Center. "Sassin will keep improving its technology, expanding export channels and exploring new export markets with the help of Canton Fair." About Canton Fair The China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, is held biannually in Guangzhou every spring and fall. Established in 1957, the fair is now a comprehensive exhibition with the longest history, highest level, largest scale and largest number of products as well as the broadest distribution of buyer origins and the highest business turnover in China. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/681982/Canton_Fair.jpg SOURCE Canton Fair ABC/Image Group LALinkin Park's Mike Shinoda has opened up about his experience meeting with fans following the death of his friend and band mate Chester Bennington last July. Speaking with ET Canada, Shinoda says that, at first, he felt "apprehensive" to talk with fans while he was grieving. "I knew that a lot of them would be crying and saying 'I'm sorry' and asking me 'Why? What happened?'" Shinoda explains. "And I was scared of that until I did it. And then I realized what a cathartic experience it was for them and myself." In addition to turning to fans, Shinoda has also turned to music as an emotional outlet. He'll be releasing a solo album titled Post Traumatic June 15. "I had terrible days. And now I have less bad days," Shinoda says. "And eventually I will find a new normal, a new stasis. And that is the journey that I'm on that, in this album, you'll see it happening." Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The new manufacturing facility, having an annual production capacity of 3 GW of central and string inverters, can support Sungrow's rapidly growing customer base in regions across the world. In 2017, Sungrow shipped over 16.5 GW of PV inverters worldwide, an increase of over 48% from 2016. Demands from India, the US, Europe, Japan, and other APAC countries drove much of the growth. "Sungrow is always committed to optimizing all kinds of resources to better meet our customers' needs. With our same level of unmatched manufacturing and operational capabilities, the addition of a new factory in India will significantly enhance our delivery capability locally and elsewhere in the world," said Professor Renxian Cao, Chairman of Sungrow. With most of its production facilities based in China, the new factory to be launched in the second half of 2018 will be Sungrow's first factory outside China. About Sungrow Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd ("Sungrow") is a global leading inverter solution supplier for renewables with over 60GW installed worldwide as of June 2017. Founded in 1997 by University Professor Renxian Cao, Sungrow is a leader in the research and development of solar inverters, with the largest dedicated R&D team in the industry and a broad product portfolio offering PV inverter solutions and energy storage systems for utility-scale, commercial, and residential applications, as well as internationally recognized floating PV plant solutions. With a strong 20-year track record in the PV space, Sungrow products power installations in over 50 countries, maintaining a worldwide market share of over 15%. Learn more about Sungrow by visiting www.sungrowpower.com. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/681278/Sungrow_India_factory.jpg SOURCE Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd SHENZHEN, China, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Organized by the Reed Huabo Exhibition Co.,Ltd, the Shenzhen Gift and Home Fair is being held from 25-28 April at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. As the largest Gift and Home fair in China, it assembles over 2500 reliable suppliers from China and beyond who are eager to present their most competitive, creative and top-notch products to global buyers at this ideal one-stop marketing and sourcing international platform. Improved consumer confidence, a great boost to the Gifts & Home industry According to the article on the National Development and Reform Commission website, Chinese real economy developed quite well this year, and consumer confidence has reached record levels since 1993. The report shows that consumer confidence indices in the US & EU have been improved as well. All of these developments are conducive to the prospects of the gifts and home industry. Set new Hall 3: Mobile Electronics Mobile electronics and wearable devices play an important role in gift industry recently. In keeping with this trend, there is a brand new hall 3, Mobile Electronics, satisfying the increasing demand of intelligent products. Moreover, 80% of the exhibitors can undertake OEM, ODM or customized orders. Debut of Creative & Licensed Gifts Zone Creative & licensed gifts are prevailing in the giftware industry recently. Giftware manufacturers unleash its market potential and instill creative & innovative features into products. This zone gathers over 10 brilliant companies with many of their delicate products to make an impression on buyers. Perfect trading platform Hundreds of Business Match-making Meetings are held during these 4 days. The platform pairs visitors with specific buying requirements with the right vendors, while enabling exhibitors to get more business opportunities. Opening hours for the show are: Apr. 25-27 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Apr. 28 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. About Reed Huabo Reed Huabo the most influential exhibition company in China is a member company of Reed Exhibition, the world's leading event organizer, based in the UK. It committed to leading the industry development and continuously creating values for customers from all over the world. For more info and get free tickets, please visit us at: www.chinagiftsfair.com SOURCE Reed Huabo Exhibitions NEW DELHI, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mr. Javed Akhtar, Chairman of the Indian Performing Right Society Ltd. ("IPRS"), distributed Rs. 13 Cr to its author and composer members at a function held in Mumbai on 23rd April, 2018. The amount distributed by IPRS, in this instance, only to its author and composer members, had been paid by 7 music companies namely Saregama India, Sony Music India, Universal Music India, Tips Music, Times Music, Venus and Aditya Music on accounts of past television synchronisation royalties collected by the music companies from television broadcasters. Author/Composer members who had registered up to 10 works received Rs. 10,000 while those who had registered more than 10 works with IPRS received Rs. 53,000. This distribution comes with the backdrop of a historic industry settlement between authors, composers and music labels that settled 12-year-old disputes which had hobbled IPRS and resulted in government inquiries in other cases. In January and March 2017, IPRS underwent a major restructuring to ensure compliance with the Copyright Act, 1957 which was amended in 2012 providing a new regulatory structure for Copyright Societies under the Copyright Act. IPRS was granted registration by the Government in November 2017. Commenting on the distribution, Mr. Javed Akhtar, Chairman, IPRS said, "This distribution is historic in the sense that IPRS is today distributing funds provided by our music label colleagues in the industry towards past licensing. This is a very positive sign that IPRS, which comprises of its author and composer members and music label colleagues, are all united in their effort to ensure that IPRS as a representative body of all stakeholders acts in a non-discriminatory and transparent fashion both in the interests of stakeholders as well as that of potential licensees. IPRS will now distribute royalties to its members every quarter." Mr. Vikram Mehra, Director of IPRS & CEO of Saregama India said, "This distribution by IPRS is a clear indication that the music companies fully support IPRS, its author and composer members in compliance with the letter and spirit of the law. We are united as part of the music fraternity and look forward to increasing IPRS revenues for the betterment of all its stakeholders." Mr. Rakesh Nigam, CEO, IPRS said, "IPRS has found a new purpose and energy with its restructuring and registration granted by the Government of India in November 2017. This distribution is only one such instance where, IPRS will demonstrate time and time again, in the future, that it is an able and transparent representative of its stakeholders and members." About Indian Performing Right Society Ltd. (IPRS) The Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), incorporated in the 1960's as a copyright royalty collection body is registered as a Copyright Society by the Government of India under the Copyright Act, 1957 and is authorised to conduct the copyright business of issuing and granting licenses in respect of musical works and associated literary works (lyrics) in India. For more information, please visit http://www.iprs.org. For Further Queries: Rakesh Nigam CEO, IPRS Ltd. [email protected] T: +91-22-26733748 SOURCE Indian Performing Right Society Ltd. (IPRS) DOHA, Qatar, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 500 participants gathering to foster regional collaboration, explore practical solutions to empower African youth and address development challenges. After successful regional gatherings in Tunis, Beijing and Madrid, the World Innovation Summit for Education is hosting a first regional forum in Accra, Ghana, on May 9th, 2018, with the patronage of the President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Under the theme "Unlocking the World's Potential: Leading and Innovating for Quality Education in Africa", [email protected] will explore innovations in Africa that aim to overcome current limitations and pave new ways to empower the youth to lead and innovate. The event will engage prominent leaders, policymakers and youth on concrete steps towards an improved and connected education system. Central to discussions will be topics such as quality education and its key drivers, empowering the next generation through innovation, investing and collaborating for sustainable impact, and galvanizing communities to transform the continent. Regional collaboration will also be highlighted. Confirmed speakers include, among others: H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo , President of the Republic of Ghana , President of the Republic of Hon. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh , Minister of Education, Ministry of Education of the Republic of Ghana , Minister of Education, Ministry of Education of the Republic of Dr. Eugene Owusu , Special Advisor to the President of the Republic of Ghana on the Sustainable Development Goals , Special Advisor to the President of the Republic of on the Sustainable Development Goals Stavros N. Yiannouka , CEO, World Innovation Summit for Education , CEO, World Innovation Summit for Education Dr. Patrick Awuah , President, Ashesi University College , President, Ashesi University College Dolores Dickson , Executive Director, Camfed Ghana , Executive Director, Camfed Ghana Daniel Dotse , Co-founder and CEO, Teach for Ghana , Co-founder and CEO, Teach for Shadrack Frimpong , Founder, Cocoa 360 , Founder, Cocoa 360 Regina Honu , Founder, Soronko Solutions , Founder, Soronko Solutions H.E Dr. Amel Karboul , Education Commissioner, International Commission on Financing Global Education , Education Commissioner, International Commission on Financing Global Education Zyad Limam , CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Afrique Magazine , CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Afrique Magazine Carl Manlan , Chief Operation Officer, Eco-bank Foundation , Chief Operation Officer, Eco-bank Foundation Noella Coursaris Musunka , Founder of Malaika and Ambassador for the Global Fund , Founder of Malaika and Ambassador for the Global Fund H.E Aicha Bah Diallo , Former Chair, Forum of African Women Educationalists , Former Chair, Forum of African Women Educationalists Marieme Jamme, Founder, IAMTHECODE Discover [email protected]: http://www.wise-qatar.org/africa-accra-leadership-education About the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) WISE is an international, multi-sectoral platform for creative, evidence-based thinking, debate, and purposeful action in education. Through the biennial summit, [email protected] conferences, collaborative research and a range of on-going programs, WISE is a global reference in new approaches to education. Visit http://www.wise-qatar.org for further information. Join the conversation using the hash tag #WISEAccra and #AfricaEd Twitter #WISEAccra twitter.com/WISE_Tweets Instagram instagram.com/wiseqatar/ Facebook facebook.com/wiseqatar/ Media contact: Lina Lahlou, [email protected] SOURCE WISE - World Innovation Summit for Education PUNE, India, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Top Robotics Market by Top Industrial Robotics (Articulated, SCARA, Cartesian, Parallel, and Collaborative), Top Service Robotics (Logistics, Domestic, Medical, Field, and Defense, Rescue, & Security) - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is expected to grow from USD 44.02 Billion in 2018 to USD 69.14 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 9.45% during the forecast period; the top service robotics market is expected to grow from USD 11.27 Billion in 2018 to USD 29.76 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 21.44% during the forecast period. The growth of the top robotics market is driven by factors such increasing demand for service robots from medical and healthcare sectors, and growing investments for automation in various industries. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg ) Browse 75 market data Tables and 65 Figures spread through 193 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Top Robotics Market - Global Forecast to 2023" https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/top-robotic-market-552191.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report Articulated robots to capture the largest share of the top industrial robotics market in 2018 Articulated robots are expected to hold the largest share of the top industrial robotics market in 2018 owing to increased payload capacity, work envelope, reliability, and speed, articulated robots are used in several applications, including welding, painting, assembly, packaging, palletizing, depalletizing, machine tending, sealing, gluing, cutting, cleaning, deburring, die casting, grinding, polishing, material handling, case packing, pick and place, pre-machining, and press brake tending. Top industrial robotics market for metal and machinery industry to grow at a high rate during the forecast period The metals and machinery industry has been among the versatile industries for automation solutions. It performs several functions ranging from small details to higher performance in complex tasks. With growing demand for machines in industries, such as agriculture, packaging, and manufacturing, for various applications, the top industrial robots market for the metals and machinery industry is expected to grow at a high rate during the forecast period. Ask for PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=552191 APAC to hold the largest share of the top service robotics market during the forecast period Among the 4 regions considered (North America, Europe, APAC, and RoW) in the report, APAC is expected to hold the largest share of the top service robotics market during the forecast period (2018-2023). Adoption of service robots by countries such as China, India, Japan, and South Korea for a myriad of personal and professional applications contribute to the growth of the top service robotics market in APAC. Also, the rising demand for mobile service robots, such as autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs) and logistic robots, for logistic stock management application is driving the growth of the market in this region. The top industrial robotics market is currently dominated by players such as FANUC (Japan), ABB (Switzerland), Yaskawa (Japan), KUKA (Germany), and Mitsubishi (Japan). CMA Robotics S.p.A. (Italy), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Anhui Efort Intelligent Equipment (China), Precise Automation, Inc. (US), Rethink Robotics (US), and F&P Robotics AG (Switzerland) are some of the emerging players in the top industrial robotics market. The top service robotics market is currently dominated by players such as Northrop Grumman (US), iRobot (US), DJI (China), Intuitive Surgical (US), and Honda Motor (Japan). Samsung Electronics (South Korea), GeckoSystems (US), DeLaval (Sweden), and Kongsberg Maritime (Norway) are some of the emerging players in the top service robotics market. Know more about the Top Robotics Market: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/top-robotic-market-552191.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, "Knowledge Store" 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] Visit Our Blog: http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/electronics-and-semiconductors Connect with us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SOURCE MarketsandMarkets BANGALORE, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- DrupalCamp Mumbai, India's Largest Drupal Event Happening at IIT Bombay Campus, Invites Attendees to Connect With Our Employees and Partners for Thoughtful Insights on CMS Valuebound, a specialized Drupal development company, today announced that it is a gold sponsor of DrupalCamp Mumbai 2018. The Camp will be held on April 28-29 at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Mumbai. DrupalCamp is the premier event for the Drupal community that brings together people who use, develop, design and support the world's best open source Content Management System (CMS) for websites. DrupalCamp Mumbai 2018 - #DCM2018 - will feature dozens of informative sessions and learning panels from some of the brightest and most influential minds in the Drupal community. In addition to keynote, DrupalCamp will include an array of presentation on the latest buzz around Drupal 8; Sessions on DevOps, Biz/Marketing, UX and Front-end+Mobile, entrepreneurship workshops and Drupal in a day workshop. In this Camp, the Valuebound team will present the sessions on Drupal 8 Plugin API (Manoj K) and Package Your Solution Using Drupal Distributions (Girish V and Pavan B S). Nikhil Anant will present on Too Many Project Methodology Can Spoil Drupal Projects. "We are delighted to be a Gold sponsor at this year's DrupalCamp, Mumbai. Our team has put in tremendous effort to contribute to the event in terms of sessions as we are extremely proud of being part of the larger Drupal community. I look forward to a very successful event," said Rahul Raj Raghavan, the SVP of Sales & Marketing, Valuebound. Drupal is backed by one of the world's strongest community of open source developers and enthusiasts. It is a CMS that focuses on delivering the best of digital experiences and content to the right audience at the right time. It powers websites for content creators, marketers and admins for easy workflow management, commercial experience and seamless digital experience across all channels. About DrupalCamp Mumbai The much-awaited event - DrupalCamp Mumbai - is expected to bring together students, developers, engineers, and business-minded people at the IIT Bombay campus. The first DrupalCamp Mumbai was organized in 2011 when Dries visited the city. To learn more and register for DrupalCamp Mumbai 2018 please visit - http://2018.drupalmumbai.org . About Valuebound Valuebound specializes in providing Drupal CMS consulting, development and managed support for media & publishing and high-tech companies. As regular contributors to the Drupal community, Valuebound is recognized as the top contributor in India and features among the top 10 across the globe. The Valuebound team also helps in organizing numerous local DrupalCamps and Drupal User Groups throughout India. To learn more, please visit http://valuebound.com . Media Contact: Puja Kumari [email protected] +91-80880-48711 Valuebound SOURCE Valuebound Consulting Services LLP www.VentureConstructionGroup.com I am honored to be a part of the YEC. Being connected to other successful entrepreneurs creates a positive impact amongst all of us, says Stephen Shanton, founder and CEO of Venture Construction Group, Venture Construction Group of Florida, and VCG International. Venture Construction Group (VCG) CEO Stephen Shanton has been accepted into the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). The YEC forum provides a platform for select member entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and resources to make high-value connections. YEC is a highly selective, invite-only organization for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. The YEC is known as the most elite entrepreneurship organization in America, accepting less than 10 percent of the over 14,000 applications they have received to date. The YEC has been recognized for their expertise by major media outlets including Entrepreneur, Inc., Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, The Atlantic, Time, Tech Crunch, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Mashable, The Huffington Post, and many more. Everything we do at the YEC is meant to fulfill a social need and promote free enterprise at the same time, while also curating meaningful connections among our generations most successful entrepreneurs, says Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). With over 20 years of expertise, Shanton is the CEO and president of Venture Construction Group (VCG), Venture Construction Group of Florida, (VCGFL), and VCG International (VCGI). Venture companies carry the industry leading certifications and accreditations. Founded in 1998, VCG services commercial and residential properties throughout the East Coast, Greater Mid-Atlantic Region, Gulf Coast, and Midwest. With a commitment to education and dedication to innovation, VCG remains ahead of the curve in adopting new technologies and best practices in construction including drone technology, property management app services and 3rd party consulting. Shantons company projects and initiatives been featured in numerous local and national press including: Qualified Remodeler, Roofing Contractor, Professional Roofing, Coatings Pro, Builder, Commercial Construction and Renovation, Roofers Coffeeshop, Construction Business Owner, Roofing- The Industrys Voice, Builder, InsurerNews.com, The Times Herald, Middleburg Online. A major advocate for philanthropy, giving back is an integral part of the companys mission. VCG sponsors many community events, nonprofit organizations, foundations and initiatives to improve the lives of others throughout the U.S. I am honored to be a part of the YEC. Being connected to other successful entrepreneurs creates a positive impact amongst all of us, says Stephen Shanton, founder and CEO of Venture Construction Group, Venture Construction Group of Florida, and VCG International. About Venture Construction Group Venture Construction Group (VCG) is a leader in residential and commercial construction, roofing, renovations, restoration, storm damage repairs, and 24/7 emergency services. We are a full-service general contractor and assist property owners throughout Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington, D.C. Founded in 1998, VCG services commercial and residential properties throughout the East Coast, Greater Mid-Atlantic Region, Gulf Coast, and Midwest. Operational excellence is our mission in every project we undertake, and we pride ourselves on providing exceptional customer service. Venture Construction Group is an exclusive certified National Storm Damage Center Preferred Contractor, Platinum Preferred Certified Contractor with the National Insurance Restoration Council, WindStorm Insurance Network WIND Certified Umpire, WIND Certified Appraiser, WIND Certified Fellow, Certified Member of the United Association of Storm Restoration Contractors, Certified Member of Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS) Industry Members Association (EIMA), Certified Member of National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Contractor, Mule-Hide Legacy Contractor, Certified CertainTeed Contractor and Duro-Last Certified Contractor. VCG credentials have been vetted and screened through independent third party Global Risk Management Solutions. With offices nationwide and a solid reputation throughout the country, we are able to respond to your needs with quality, ease, and top-notch service. For more information call 866-459-8348 or visit us online at http://www.VentureConstructionGroup.com About the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite only organization created by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs. The YEC provides a forum for members to exchange ideas and resources, make high-value connections and provide mentorship. The YEC has led various public campaigns to improve access to and policy around entrepreneurship, from the FixYoungAmerica grassroots campaign to the Youth Entrepreneurship Act and, more recently, the launch of BusinessCollective, a virtual mentorship program (in partnership with Citi) that helps millions of aspiring and current entrepreneurs launch and grow new businesses. YEC also launched the MentorshipNetwork so members can give back by working with top organizations, like Junior Achievement, that support the next generation of business leaders. Paying it forward while supporting each others growth is integral to YECs mission to empower entrepreneurs, who, across the board, believe that doing well and doing good are not mutually exclusive nor should they be. Learn more at http://www.yec.co. Media Inquiries: Erica DiManna Elev8 Consulting Group Ph: 386.243.5388 Web: http://www.elev8cg.com ### HBW Construction is pleased to announce the promotion of Mr. John Hubbuch to Project Executive, and Mr. Nick Tubolino to Project Executive. It is with great pride that I announce John Hubbuchs & Nick Tubolinos promotion to Project Executive, said Phil Scott. Their appointment is noteworthy for all of us at HBW, symbolizing our continued growth and increased presence in the region. Our expanded leadership team positions us strongly to deliver to a diverse, growing client base. Hubbuch joined HBW in 2014 as a Project Manager, and advanced to Senior Project Manager in 2017; while Tubolino joined HBW in 2012 as a Project Manager, and advanced to Senior Project Manager in 2017. They both came to HBW with a solid set of construction knowledge and learned to be leaders during their time at HBW. Their individual results, ability to help create a learning company culture and define the HBW way earned them their latest promotion to Project Executive. Hubbuch and Tubolino will each be leading a team of Project Managers, while continuing to manage their own construction projects. This promotion recognizes both of their contributions made to HBW during their tenure with the organization continued Scott. John and Nick have created many long-lasting, repeat clients that have led to many successful projects. John recently received his Certified Healthcare Constructor certification and is positioned to help us grow our reach in the medical market; while Nick has helped elevate our professionalism on all our projects from office set-up to field execution. John and Nicks commitment to excellence and passion for improving HBWs overall image encompasses the qualities behind these promotions. Hubbuch spoke on his promotion. HBW has changed the way I think about construction. It is much more of a team approach here and at the end of the day that not only makes us more successful but its also more rewarding. This new position gives me the opportunity to do the same construction work I love, while allowing me to branch out by leading a group of Project Managers. Im looking forward to the next step in HBWs continuing evolution. Tubolino also spoke on his promotion. With this promotion, I look forward to the next step in my career and being an integral part to the continued growth of the company. I am grateful for the wonderful clients whove made it possible, the HBW organization for having strong visionaries and a clear platform for success as well as the industry partners that we coordinate with every day to build these beautiful spaces. The company further noted the expanded leadership comes in response to recent growth and a strengthened presence across the region. Notable new projects for the company include Association of the United States Army in Arlington, VA; Epstein Becker & Green in Washington, DC; Potomac Physician Associates in Chevy Chase, MD; Smith Pachter McWhorter in Tysons Corner, VA, 1100 17th Street Reposition in Washington, DC; and 1825 K Street Reposition in Washington, DC. Hubbuch and Tubolino remain based at HBWs headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. HBW Construction is a full-service commercial construction firm serving the Washington, DC region since 1969. From large-scale transformations to immediate services work, HBW serves each client with a commitment to trust, partnership, and attention to detail. With an unmatched reputation for reliability and results, HBW creates leading-edge spaces that reflect the vision and values of the organizations that call them home. http://www.hbwconstruction.com "A company might have a great product or offer excellent customer service, but if its office environment is cluttered or its facilities look messy, that cant help but detract from the business, notes Cano." Many factors contribute to a successful business, such as a solid marketing plan, talented employees, hard work, a good location, effective networking, and sound financial management. However, one factor that is often overlooked is a clean workplace. This is something that Eric Cano, owner of Atlanta-based EMJ Cleaning Services, believes should be a top priority for business owners. A company might have a great product or offer excellent customer service, but if its office environment is cluttered or its facilities look messy, that cant help but detract from the business, notes Cano. Keeping the workspace clean is extremely important, and thats true whether a business interacts with customers inside its facilities or even if only the employees see the office area. The benefits go far beyond just visual appeal, according to Cano. For starters, a tidy office space: Boosts productivity. Numerous studies show the connection between a clean office environment and an increase in productivity. Not only is it easier for employees to focus when their workspaces are neat, a tidy workspace also means less time is wasted trying to locate materials to do the job. Improves employee health. Germs can proliferate when the airspace, floors and other surfaces are dirty. Regular cleanings eliminate bacteria and viruses, before they are passed around the office. There will also be fewer issues with mold and mildew buildup and insect and rodent infestationsmeaning less exposure to disease-causing organisms. Creates a good first impression. A messy office sends the message to employees, customers, vendors and other visitors that the company does not care about the work it does. On the other hand, a neat and tidy office creates a positive first impression and sends the message that the company is professional, efficient, conscientious and concerned about details. Reduces stress. No one enjoys being in an unkempt environmentcertainly not for an entire workday but not even for a short meeting. A clean office area is a much more comfortable place to work and conduct business. Of course, even if business owners know a clean office is important, its often easier said than done. Small businesses in particular may try to do the cleanup themselves. This may seem like a way to cut costs, Cano says, but its usually not an effective solution. To do the job right, cleaning takes time. If your employees are doing the cleaning, its going to take time away from their regular work, or they might not do as thorough of a cleaning job as is needed. Furthermore, adds Cano, cleaning isnt always as easy as people might think. You get the best results when you enlist the services of a professional cleaning company. The pros have the proper products and techniques to do the job right. To encourage business owners to schedule regular office cleanings with a professional cleaning service, EMJ provides free on-site estimates to commercial businesses, and competitive rates for daily, weekly and bi-weekly services. For companies with long or unusual business hours, EMJ offers flexible scheduling so that the cleanup gets done during days and times when it wont interfere with normal business operations. EMJs commercial cleaning services include a thorough cleaning of lobbies and reception areas, hallways, cubicles, office areas, conference rooms, elevators and staircases, break rooms and kitchens, restrooms, lounges and other common areas. This includes vacuuming carpeted areas, cleaning French doors, dusting and mopping hard surface floors, dusting and spot-cleaning office furniture, cleaning and sanitizing restrooms and kitchens, and removing trash and replacing garbage bags. Atlanta area businesses that are interested in EMJs commercial cleaning services are invited to call EMJ at (678) 966-9469 with any questions they may have or to schedule a free cleaning estimate. Appointments and cleaning estimates can also be requested online by filling out EMJs form at http://www.emjcleaning.com/free-estimates, or by sending an email to services@emjcleaning.com. About EMJ Cleaning Services: EMJ Cleaning is a licensed, bonded and insured professional home cleaning service in Atlanta, Georgia. The company has been in business for over 10 years, and provides cleaning services to residential and commercial buildings six days a week throughout metro Atlanta. EMJ Cleaning provides specific services such as window cleaning, carpet cleaning, heavy duty cleaning, weekly deep cleaning and move-out cleaning; these are offered in both EMJs office cleaning service and home cleaning service. For more information, visit http://www.emjcleaning.com. Rising Water: Our Life Along the Souhegan: the second volume of a captivating collection of historical diaries set in nineteenth-century Milford, New Hampshire. Rising Water: Our Life Along the Souhegan is the creation of published author Polly Cote, an award-winning historian and author of The Cary House Chronicles with a passion for local history, currently based in Milford, New Hampshire, where she lives with her husband and attends the Burns Hill Christian Fellowship. 1885JANUARY 1 ANOTHER YEAR HAS come with its cares and joys and sorrows and may we improve each shining hour. It is Thursday and we have all been about or near home this New Years Day. We are very comfortable living at Judge Wadleighs house. January started out cold for several days, 4 degrees below in the morning. I did a large ironing in the morning. Zaph has been over to see Aunt Irene Hutchinson several times at her farm on Amherst Street and finds her comfortable. The three boys have been out to lectures and donation parties most of the day. Friday I made 8 pies and then mixed bread. Zaph has been up to the Kings Quarry Ledge with Mr. Perham and put up some of his wood in the afternoon. George went to his writing school in the evening. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Polly Cotes new book is a fascinating and detailed account of Cates difficult and often mundane life between 1885 and 1899, her arduous journeys, family milestones, and through it all her sustaining faith in God. As a continuing point of interest from book one, book two includes population information from the Old Farmers Almanac for the time period, as well as the diary of Cyrus Porter Colby, an interesting man who joined Cates family through the marriage of his daughter to Cates son. View a synopsis of Rising Water: Our Life Along the Souhegan on YouTube. Consumers can purchase Rising Water: Our Life Along the Souhegan at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about Rising Water: Our Life Along the Souhegan, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. Despite what conventional wisdom leads some to believe, it is entirely possible to earn a good living without a four-year college educationand you can do it debt free. - Bill Stoller, Express CEO Across the country, high school students are making their final decisions about which college to attend in the fall. And millions of college seniors wonder if they will be able to find a job after graduation. At the same time, Express Employment Professionals experts are reporting high demand for jobs that dont require a college degreemany of those jobs pay wages that rival or exceed those of four-year college graduates. Young adults graduating high school have more options than just attending college, said John A. Thomas, a professional staffing field consultant at Express International Headquarters in Oklahoma City. They can begin a rewarding career in the skilled trades. By choosing that career path, they are filling a major void that exists in manufacturing companies today. That entry-level opportunity can turn into a lifetime career where they can earn wages similar to individuals graduating college with a degree. Thomas says that some common well-paying jobs for which only a high school degree is needed include: Welder Electrician apprentice Plumber apprentice Maintenance tech Accounts payable/receivable clerk Workers in these fields, or similar ones, can expect to earn $40,000 to $60,000 and with some additional training, could possibly see salaries above $70,000. Nursing, banking, call center and oilfield work may not offer high entry-level pay relative to the industry, Thomas notes, but they do offer chances for fast upward mobility after some on-the-job training. Terri Greeno, an Express franchise owner in Crystal Lake and West Dundee, Illinois, estimates with just some training after high school, employees in quality control, manufacturing, welding, computer numerical control (CNC) set up and industrial maintenance could earn more than $20 an hour, plus overtimeor well above $40,000 a year. Greeno reports she has seen individuals with four-year degrees actually pursue basic technical training in order to secure jobs that do not require a college degree but offer more opportunity, particularly in the areas of welding, CNC and industrial maintenance. We work with several companies that offer excellent benefits and long-term opportunities for career growth, said Jeff Rey, an Express franchise owner in Howell and Brighton, Michigan. Many companies in our area invite us to present to high school graduates with little or no industrial experience who are willing to learn new skills. Although a college degree is still very valuable for many fields, many people now recognize it is not the only career path. Deb Gray, an Express franchise owner in West Pittsburgh, also reports that some of the best paying jobs in her area that do not require college degrees are in manufacturing. She agrees that one of the biggest misconceptions is that people without a college degree will be excluded from opportunity and that people do not understand how important soft skills are to an employer. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, making six figures without a college degree is not outside the realm of possibility. Below are the jobs with median annual wages in the high 5-figures, approaching $100,000. A college degree is not synonymous with a successful career and a well-paying job, said Bill Stoller, CEO of Express. Despite what conventional wisdom leads some to believe, it is entirely possible to earn a good living without a four-year college educationand you can do it debt free. There is, of course, no replacing the value of hard work, a willingness to learn and good interpersonal skills, which are almost always required for professional success. If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena Karami, Director of Corporate Communications and PR, at (405) 717-5966. About Bill Stoller William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment Professionals. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the international staffing company has more than 800 franchises in the U.S., Canada and South Africa. Since its inception, Express has put more than 6 million people to work worldwide. About Express Employment Professionals Express Employment Professionals puts people to work. It generated $3.4 billion in sales and employed a record 540,000 people in 2017. Its long-term goal is to put a million people to work annually. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com. Kloojj Tags Allow for Filtered Search With Kloojj I can organize all of the information I find online with a few keystrokes and easily find it again in seconds. Kloojj, the social bookmarking app for clipping web-based videos, just released a new feature that helps you organize everything you find online. Kloojj users can now bookmark web pages using Kloojjs unique nested tagging system. Kloojj tagging is a huge improvement over the traditional hashtag because in addition to the benefits of typical hashtags, Kloojjs unique hashtags make it easy to organize and find clips. says Co-Founder Ted Haig. Kloojj uses colons : in their hashtags to create nested subfolders in your Kloojj account. For example, #Travel:Bucketlist:CostaRica looks like the following in a users Kloojj account: Travel Bucketlist CostaRica Clicking a tag at any level filters a users Kloojj feed to only show Kloojjes with matching tags. For example, click on Travel to show all the Kloojjes with tags that start with #Travel:*, Click on Bucketlist to display all Kloojjes with tags that start with #Travel:Bucketlist:*, etc. Combining search with tag filtering gives users the ability to find any web clip or video clip in seconds. With Kloojjs quick-type tag feature, tagging a Kloojj typically take only a couple keystrokes. Its the fastest, easiest, and best organizing system ever and combines all the social networking features you love. Finally, a social network thats both social and useful, says Co-Founder David Hirschfeld. Users are excited to get rid of all their open tabs, to share a web page with a friend through Kloojj, and to chat so easily about clips they find online. I use to keep tons of tabs open to read later because I didnt want to lose them which made my computer run really slow. With Kloojj, I can save and close those tabs without worry because when Im ready to read them, I can find them so easily, says one user. Another user says, I love that I can share web pages and video clips and converse with team members about the topics Im researching online way more easily and without cluttering up my email inbox. Now users can Kloojj (bookmark) web pages, videos, clips inside videos and online images from YouTube, Instagram, Vimeo, Google and many other websites. Learn More Activity Works an interactive on-demand physical activity video series for K-4 classrooms designed to reduce childhood obesity We have a long term goal of being able to provide access to our programming at no charge across the nation and it is only through partnerships with like-minded corporations such as Novo Nordisk that we will ultimately be able to make that happen. - Tom Sullivan, CEO Activity Works Activity Works (activityworks.com), an interactive on-demand physical activity video series for K-4 classrooms designed to reduce childhood obesity, is now available to hundreds of more classrooms in Philadelphia, Newark and Trenton thanks to a new three year grant from Novo Nordisk, a global leader in diabetes care. With new classroom activations having begun in January 2018, Activity Works is already on track to be implemented in approximately 500 classrooms in these new markets, with aspirations to grow to more than 1,500 active classrooms by year three. Since its inception, our goal every year has been to empower as many children and families through physically-based wellness curricula and programming, said Tom Sullivan, CEO of Activity Works. We have a long term goal of being able to provide access to our programming at no charge across the nation and it is only through partnerships with like-minded corporations such as Novo Nordisk that we will ultimately be able to make that happen. Building a Healthier Future Together This Activity Works partnership with Princeton NJ based Novo Nordisk is a perfect match for the healthcare company as it ties into its long standing commitment to defeat diabetes and other serious chronic conditions for improved health outcomes and make life better for children in at risk communities such as Trenton. Novo Nordisks Ready, Set, Healthy! initiative focuses on reducing the rate of type 2 diabetes by increasing knowledge and access to healthy, affordable foods, physical activity, as well as providing information about healthy lifestyle options for families in Trenton. Diabetes continues to steadily increase, driven by a number of trends including the prevalence of obesity. Our partnership with Activity Works allows us to bring lessons about healthy lifestyles to children and their families, helping them understand the importance of physical activity to maintain a healthy weight and ultimately contribute to the decline of diabetes in our communities, said Genevieve Jean-Bart Fadayomi, Associate Director, U.S. Corporate Sustainability & Social Impact, Novo Nordisk. Activity Works core mission is to improve the attention, focus, physical fitness and social harmony of students by getting them up and moving to the programs funfilled episodes which combine core curricula content and physical activity. Through its on-demand web-based platform available at activityworks.com, teachers can choose from full-length 10 minute culturally inclusive episodes enabling children to get moving quickly and effectively in a classroom setting in between coursework. Surveys of educators and principals have revealed these episodes to improve attention, focus, fitness, behavior and even cognitive and academic performance. Over 1 Million Episodes Watched and Counting Invented in 2008, Activity Works engages children to be more physically active via short bursts of movement and energy in over 4,000 classrooms across the nation in other cities such as Atlanta, Houston, and New York City. Every Activity Works episode provides a period of moderate to vigorous physical activity recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control as the minimum for fitness efficacy over time. Due to its engaging and non-competitive approach to physical activity, students often dont realize they are learning while burning an average of 50 calories and moving 1,000 steps (a half-mile) in each session. Activity Works also includes scientifically-designed episodes include Food on the Farm", Endangered Species of Africa", "Dinosaur Discovery", Dance from Brazil, and many more, and have been loved by more than 500,000 student participants. For more information about Activity Works or to learn how to become involved as a corporate partner visit activityworks.com or call 609-806-1003. Activity Works Media Contact: Shakira M. Brown 1-888-436-0033 ext. 1 sbrown(at)activityworks(dot)com About Activity Works Founded in 2009, Activity Works ([activityworks.com) launched with the idea to enable kids in grades K-4 to participate in classroom-based activity breaks where they would follow the movements of peers in entertaining, animated videos that also helped them learn curricula-based concepts. Today Activity Works (AW) brings learning and exercise together by providing elementary school teachers with an on-demand classroom series of 10-minute videos featuring exercise and dance movement bursts that helps maximize academic performance and meet state mandates for physical education. The programming is designed to optimize student health in target cities in which traditional physical education programs have been reduced and where recess is limited. Six and three-minute episodes were recently introduced to give teachers more options to fit physical activity into the school day at various times. AW strives for EVERY classroom across the country to exercise to fun, multi-sensory episodes. It currently offers over 40 episodes featuring wholesome content, including many in Spanish, to encourage children to live a healthy lifestyle. Much of the curriculum focuses on the core subjects including language arts, science, math and social studies but also includes episodes centered around cultural arts and dance, physical education and health. Notably, AW was recognized as a national partner in former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obamas Lets Move! Active Schools program. Activity Works inspires kids to feel more vibrant, productive and connected to their peers in the classroom and around the world. Novo Nordisk in the US: Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company, has been committed to discovering and developing innovative medicines to help people living with diabetes lead longer, healthier lives for 95 years. This heritage has given us experience and capabilities that also enable us to help people defeat other serious diseases including obesity, hemophilia and growth disorders. We remain steadfast in our conviction that the formula for success is to stay focused, think long term and do business in a financially, socially and environmentally responsible way. With U.S. headquarters in New Jersey and production and research facilities in four states, Novo Nordisk employs nearly 6,000 people throughout the country. For more information, visit novonordisk.us, Facebook and Twitter. Thala Beach Nature Reserve is located on a private headland between Cairns and Port Douglas in North Queensland, Australia. When visitors stay with us they contribute to preserving this wonderful and rare place. As one of only five memberships granted to an Australian eco-retreat, Thala Beach Nature Reserve (Port Douglas, Australia) is proud to announce that it has been invited to join the exclusive ranks of membership to the National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World. The membership granted to Thala Beach Nature Reserve by National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World is a timely and natural union. For more than 10 years, Thala has achieved Advanced Eco-certification and Green Travel Leader status (Ecotourism Australia) through responsible and sustainable practices and environmental sensitivity. Thala was handpicked for membership after successfully undergoing a rigorous vetting process. The standards for inclusion to National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World are based on the four pillars of sustainable tourism: protection of natural heritage, protection of cultural heritage, support for local communities, and environmentally friendly practices. National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World is more than a selection of world-class hotels, resorts and retreats; it is a rich and varied collection of rare experiences in the worlds most beautiful environments. Arguably nature lovers most exclusive club, member lodges offer their guests encounters with uniquely stunning regions of the world - and the chance to intimately discover them. According to Thala Beach Nature Reserves owner, Rob Prettejohn, the family owned beachfront eco retreat has long offered a peaceful sanctuary for nature-loving travellers. Our busy lifestyles drive us relentlessly. To take some time off to reconnect with nature is a magical and enriching experience. At Thala Beach Nature Reserve, our guests enjoy comfort within a beautiful, natural environment that is home to many unique Australian plants and animals, explains Rob Prettejohn. Add good local food and friendly Tropical Queensland hospitality and interactive experiences, including visits to The Great Barrier Reef and guided walks in our ancient Gondwanan rainforests, guests have a combination of experiences available nowhere else in the world. Perfectly positioned on a private headland, Thala Beach Nature Reserve is surrounded by the UNESCO World Heritage sites of The Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics, providing easy access for guests to immerse themselves in the surrounding natural grandeur and the abundance of nature-based activities on offer. Thalas unique accommodation is made up of 83 eco designed, tree house-style bungalows that are set on 58 hectares of native rainforest, with 2 kilometres of private-access beach. Thala Beach Nature Reserve is located 45 minutes from Cairns and 15 minutes from Port Douglas in Tropical North Queensland, Australia. Protection of the local environment, while welcoming travellers, is something Rob Prettejohn holds close to his heart. When visitors stay with us they contribute to preserving this wonderful and rare place. We are thrilled to now be a member of National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World and to be a part of a culture that embraces the very same values that we at Thala treasure. As a member of National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World, Thala Beach Nature Reserve belongs to an exclusive collection of membership lodges that invite guests to discover some of the worlds most treasured environments, while helping to protect those places for generations to come. UBA Ribbon Cutting Celebration "Our new location brings all our resources together in a single environment to enhance our collaboration, creativity, and productivity for our Partners, said Peter Weber, UBA President." UBA is proud to announce our beautiful new global headquarters and office, now located in the Chicago Loops historic Civic Opera House building on upper Wacker Drive. Here we are at home as a thriving business in the heart of the growing and in-demand Chicago metropolitan business district. Fifteen years ago, visionary UBA co-founders David LoCascio and Chris John gathered with a small group of employee benefits professionals in Rosemont, Illinois. Together, they founded UBA Partners, an organization that would significantly enhance everyones respective practices by allowing them to retain their local entrepreneurial values, all while receiving the benefits of a larger corporate connection. Today, UBA has grown exclusive partnerships with more than 125 of the nations premier independent employee benefit advisory firms. Previously, we supported these diverse groups from corporate offices in Indianapolis, Indiana, and a second office in the Chicago suburb of Itasca, and are now glad to consolidate staff and operational resources into a single office location. This hub now leads professionals, organizations, and families in 43 states, as well as Canada, England, and Ireland. UBA staff celebrated our bright future with a ribbon cutting and cake. About United Benefit Advisors United Benefit Advisors (UBA) is the nations leading independent employee benefits advisory organization with more than 200 offices throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. UBA empowers more than 2,000 Partners to both maintain their individuality and pool their expertise, insight, and market presence to provide best-in-class services and solutions. Employers, advisors and industry-related organizations interested in obtaining powerful results from the shared wisdom of our Partners should visit http://www.UBAbenefits.com. Broker Concierge, a PrimePay, LLC program, has launched a new website for health benefits brokers who want to further contribute to the success of their agency. The site offers an in-depth look into the companys full suite of products, webinars for CE credits, resources and more. So, what is Broker Concierge? Its a true partnership program that was founded by brokers to help fellow benefits brokers succeed in a world of ever-changing regulations. Key attributes of the program include: Access to a dedicated support team. An easy-to-use portal, which houses commissions and exclusive content. Featured agency content to use online. Educational resources from industry experts. Exclusive sales promotions on PrimePays full suite of products. Weve done the research and we picked PrimePay to serve as our companys payroll and administrative services. [PrimePays] people are great; theyre always responsive. We have learned that [theyre] very good at what [they] do, said Jessica Galardini of JRG Advisors in Pittsburgh, PA. The new Broker Concierge website not only features information about the program itself, but also showcases advisors, like JRG, and more integrated partnerships with companies such as Employee Navigator. We are thrilled about the launch of the new Broker Concierge website. Its a perfect place to house all pertinent information for our key group of brokers, as well as showcase the extensive resources our program has to offer. The site is easy to navigate and really brings our program to life, said Steve Jackson, SVP of Broker Concierge. One of the ways the program is brought to life is through the events page. Broker Concierge holds monthly CE webinars, presents at local events, and produces video content on valuable selling points for brokers. This extensive calendar and video clips can all be found on the events page of the website. Additional features include: in-depth descriptions of PrimePays suite of services, direct links to social media channels, and an area to log in to the broker portal. To check out the new website, visit PrimePay.com/Broker-Concierge. About PrimePay PrimePay believes in the power of small business. Since 1986, PrimePay has been helping small businesses get time back in their day to focus on what matters most. This is possible through their payroll, HR, Time Clock and benefits admin services that help to ensure compliance and provide exceptional support during the employee lifecycle. For more on the West Chester, PA-based PrimePay, visit PrimePay.com. About Broker Concierge Strong history + strategic commitment = PrimePays partnership with employee benefits brokers. As new compliance issues and technologies are introduced, the landscape for benefits brokers becomes tougher to navigate. Thats why Broker Concierge was created. This unique free program helps broker partners combat their top challenges. For more on the West Chester, PA-based Broker Concierge, visit PrimePay.com/Broker-Concierge. It is so gratifying to be recognized by this prestigious publication and our colleagues. Boutique law firm,Scott & Scott, LLP, was honored by Lawyers Worldwide Magazine as Technology Law Firm of the Year USA in the March 13th edition of Super Lawyers 2018. The recently released edition features in-depth information with selected winners. You can read about Scott & Scott on Pages 12-13 of the digital edition. It is so gratifying to be recognized by this prestigious publication and our colleagues. Our achievements would not have been possible without the tireless dedication of our team, said Julie Machal-Fulks, partner. The Lawyers Worldwide Awards Super Lawyers 2018 celebrates the leading, most prolific firms, that have continually displayed a high degree of quality, tenacity and ability to punch above their weight within their area of specialization. Lawyers Worldwide Awards selects the best professional & financial institutions from around the world and showcases their work ethic and skills within their area of expertise. Lawyers Worldwide Awards send out around 100,000 voting forms worldwide for each award to find out who are the very best in their specified industry. Professionals spend countless hours analyzing the worlds Lawyers and Advisors to seek out the very best from each company. About Scott & Scott, LLP Scott & Scott, LLP (http://www.scottandscottllp.com) is a leading intellectual property and technology law firm representing businesses in matters involving software licensing. Scott & Scott, LLP Scotts legal and technology professionals provide software audit defense and software compliance solutions, all protected by attorney-client and work-product privileges. Telesto Group LLC As a small to mid-size business, Telesto is proud to be trusted as the LSI on this complex, large-scale, and joint forces project to plan and implement what will be part of the foundation of USTRANSCOMs future TM operational infrastructure. Telesto Group today announced it was selected to create a prototype, in accordance with 10 USC 2371(b), to start work as the Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) for an upgrade to the United States Transportation Commands (USTRANSCOM) Transportation Management (TM) solution. Telesto Group and its subcontractors from CACI, SAP-NS2, KPMG, and Leidos will support USTRANSCOMs mission and provide functional, secure, and global solutions that move people, supplies, and equipment to customers during peace and war. As a small to mid-size business, Telesto is proud to be trusted as the LSI on this complex, large-scale, and joint forces project to plan and implement what will be part of the foundation of USTRANSCOMs future TM operational infrastructure, said Soren Hastrup, Telesto Group CEO. With our larger and diverse industry partners, we will bring together a confluence of TM and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems integration experience in order to elevate USTRANSCOMs ability to deliver people, supplies, and equipment faster, more efficiently, and with better tracking and accountability. USTRANSCOM awarded the initial $40M+ contract to Telesto Group through the Department of Defenses (DoD) Other Transactional Authority (OTA) acquisition process, which is a flexible business tool that accepts submission for contracts from non-traditional defense contractors in order to promote innovation. This process ensures smarter and more efficient acquisition of work and deliverables by streamlining the selection process for certain types of acquisitions. In all, this process brings technology and deliverables to Soldiers and users more quickly and cost effectively. For this contract, the acquisition process began in November 2017 and work began in March 2018, a four-month timeframe from Request for Proposal to contract award. This greatly reduces the time from request to action versus the traditional acquisition timeframe for a project of this size and scope. What Telesto proved is that when presented with a problem statement, we were able to quickly bring together a team and through iterative innovation sessions deliver an outstanding commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)-based TM solution proposal to USTRANSCOM, beating out 22 other companies, added Hastrup. The long-term goal of this initial implementation is to retire a series of transportation legacy systems and create a long-term operational TM solution for USTRANSCOM. Telesto Group will design, develop, and deploy the initial TM solution in several phases. This will include the ability to deliver cargo and asset visibility within the scenarios chosen by the Command, and include everything from cybersecurity, scalability, strong lifecycle management, change management, and training to business process re-engineering, using better buying power principles, and supporting the DoDs requirement for fully-auditable financial systems. We are building our solution on top of a secure and FedRAMP-certified Cloud provided by our partners from SAP-NS2, added Hastrup. Combined with our subcontractors and our teaming approach with the government, we are simply driving innovation from concept to delivery with a speed not seen in your typical DoD program acquisition of this size. About Telesto Group Founded in 2001, Telesto Group is a world-class provider of SAP and ERP Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) services to SAP and other customers. Headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, Telesto Group assists small to Fortune 500 private sector and public sector organizations with exceptional expertise in ALM, including Program Management, Testing Services, Technical Operations, Business Transformation, and Training Services. For more information, visit http://www.telestogroup.com. ### The connections weve made through Rev1 have been paramount to our traction in the market. Today, Rev1 Ventures released the impact of its investor startup studio that combines capital and strategic services to help startups scale and corporations innovate. Columbus recently ranked among the top 10 U.S. cities for entrepreneurs and start-ups by Business.org, and was named the #1 City for Scaling Up Startups by the Kauffman Foundation for the second consecutive year. Rev1s report Startup Impact 2017 outlines the key impacts contributed to the Columbus startup ecosystem over the past five years, including: $70 million in capital added, bringing Rev1s capital under management to $90 million; 83 unique startups funded, including 28 spinouts from research institutions like The Ohio State University; Nearly half of Rev1s investments were follow-on funding to growing companies; and $732 million in capital attracted to the companies Rev1 supports. This momentum is the result of our five-year plan for spurring high-growth entrepreneurship and innovation that has been supported by the areas corporations, research organizations and seasoned investors alike, said Tom Walker, Rev1 president and CEO. We continue to be inspired by the number of entrepreneurs and the types of innovations coming out of Central Ohio, so its no surprise to us that Columbus is now among the most active seed regions in the U.S. Rev1s investor startup studio approach matches strategic services with capital to help innovative entrepreneurs accelerate milestones and deliver real solutions for the customers they serve. In 2017 alone, Rev1 clients generated $111 million in revenue and attracted $90 million in capital. Beyond the financial impact, diversity is an added benefit of Rev1s approach to growing startups. Thirty-eight percent of our 2017 investments were in companies with a woman, minority or veteran founder, CEO or inventor as its leader, said Kristy Campbell, chief operating officer at Rev1. Nearly 60 percent of our deal flow was also diverse, as were more than half of our clients. We are extremely proud of this progress and the impact of our efforts to change the equation for underserved entrepreneurs. Rev1 has proven its commitment to growing diverse startups in this region, thanks to an approach that focuses on supporting the most high-potential businesses, said Pamela Springer, CEO of ORIS Intelligence, provider of actionable insights that preserve pricing integrity for manufacturers. As a founder who has raised capital many times before, I appreciate that Rev1 rolls up its sleeves and is dedicated to the long-term success of my business. Rev1 works closely with Ohios economic development partner the Ohio Third Frontier and its research institutions like The Ohio State University, Nationwide Childrens Hospital, and OhioHealth, which are among the leading clinical and research institutions in the country. These partners encourage both staff and students to bring forward ideas and discoveries. Rev1 also partners closely with the regions Fortune 1000 base, connecting startups to corporations to benefit both. The connections weve made through Rev1 have been paramount to our traction in the market, said Nick Potts, CEO of ScriptDrop, a prescription delivery and medicine reminder service. With the support of Rev1 and our innovative platform that helps pharmacies lower abandon rates, we have made significant company strides, including launching with Albertsons, a grocery chain with over 2,000 pharmacies. We also developed a strategic partnership with another Rev1 portfolio company, Updox, to create secure communications with patients, physicians, and pharmacies. Walker looks forward to the next five years and continuing to grow the Columbus and Midwest startup ecosystem. Our community will continue to be a leader in increasing commercialization from research institutions, growing access to capital and supporting the diverse entrepreneurs creating start-ups that scale, said Walker. For more information and to download Rev1s report, visit Rev1 Startup Impact Report. About Rev1 Ventures Rev1 Ventures is the investor startup studio that combines capital and strategic services to help startups scale and corporates innovate. Based in the Midwest, and in the number one city for scaling startups, Rev1 aligns innovators and founders with corporate and research partners to access customers and markets, helping entrepreneurs build great companies. With a proven track record of identifying, guiding and investing in high potential startups, Rev1 helps companies solve real problems for markets in need of real solutions. Rev1 has more than $90MM in capital under management, providing a capital continuum from corporate and community partners, as well as the Ohio Third Frontier. Rev1 has been named among the Most Active VCs in the Great Lakes Region for the past three years in a row, according to Pitchbook. For more information, visit http://www.rev1ventures.com. "The US Capital team has provided asset management and corporate finance services to our clients for over 20 years now." Jeffrey Sweeney US Capital is pleased to announce the launch of its new flagship brand, US Capital Global. The consolidation under a single brand reflects the groups international reach and provides clients with enhanced synergy across the groups rapidly expanding verticals. As a result of the consolidation, US Capital Global Wealth Management, US Capital Global Investment Management, US Capital Global Securities, US Capital Global Realty, and the groups Corporate Finance division are now all under a single flagship brand, US Capital Global. The launch of the new flagship brand coincides with the launch of an enhanced corporate brand identity and web presence at http://www.uscapglobal.com. Jeffrey Sweeney, Chairman and CEO, said: The US Capital team has provided asset management and corporate finance services to our clients for over 20 years now. Clients are now served in international locations with relationships in most global financial centers. Having one brand, US Capital Global, allows us to expand the opportunity for profitable relationships for our clients across our different business units. Managing Partner Charles Towle added: Our wealth management clients often have holdings in private companies or real estate, and thus can also make profitable use of our investment banking services for corporate finance. When our investment banking services result in a wealth-generating event for a client, they can take advantage of our sophisticated wealth management services for themselves and their family. This integration of client services enables an overall strategy of maintaining consistent balance across asset classes, risk profiles, and liquidity goals. The US Capital Global group comprises licensed broker dealer, registered investment advisor, wealth management, and licensed broker lender affiliates in San Francisco and London. The group looks forward to better serving all its clients and friends under this new configuration with more efficient, technology-expanded offerings. About US Capital Global Since 1998, the US Capital team has been committed to providing small and lower middle market businesses and investors with sophisticated debt, equity, and investment opportunities usually available only to larger middle market companies and institutional investors. The US Capital Global group manages direct investment funds and provides wealth management and capital raise services. Operating with its registered investment bank affiliate, US Capital Global Securities, LLC, the firm acts as a licensed placement agent for companies, funds, and projects, and collaborates closely with its peers in professional banking and investment advisory. http://www.uscapglobal.com To learn more about US Capital Global, email Jeffrey Sweeney, Chairman and CEO, at jsweeney(at)uscapglobal.com or call (415) 889-1010. Runbeck Election Services Inc. is pleased to announce a new layer in cyber security to protect the election process. Adding to its existing state-of-the art election printing, software and hardware services, Runbeck is partnering with CyberDefenses, an industry leader in cyber security, to provide more defenses to the election process. The ground-breaking service provides: cyber security reviews, mitigation and 24/7 monitoring, tailored to the election and public-sector client. The new cyber security offering is designed to identify areas of vulnerabilities before they can be exploited, thus securing management of all highly sensitive election data. The additional protection will provide a level of network and data security beyond what jurisdictions can currently provide. Combined with Runbecks extensive election experience CyberDefenses innovative approach will enhance a jurisdictions security throughout their entire network and staff with simplicity and ease. The targeting of elections is taking a costly toll on public agencies and elections themselves as they come under attack across a range of IT infrastructures both at home and abroad. A good cyber security program will protect the confidentiality and integrity of the data entrusted to each jurisdiction by ensuring a high security level in all aspects of the organization from networking to staffing. According to a half-year analysis by ITRC of 2017 US data breaches, hacking was the primary method of attack. Hacking (which includes phishing, ransomware/malware and skimming) was involved in 63% off all identified breaches. Runbecks innovative approach identifies, monitors and mitigates these possibilities. It also improves staffs understanding and ability to ensure security. About Runbeck Election Services Runbeck Election Services, Incorporated is a full service, commercial print company focusing on the elections industry since 1972 with headquarters in Tempe, Arizona and a facility in Denver, Colorado. We are one of the nations leading election and high-integrity print and mail professionals, partnering with cities, counties and states to provide an unmatched election experience. For more information visit: http://www.runbeck.net Robert DeLaurentis, Zen Pilot What happened in the past and what will happen in the future may never come so we must be present and focus on what is happening right now Aviation tragedy can yeild improvements to aircraft design, training, maintenance and even life lessons. DeLaurentis has personally experienced this after his own challenges during his solo flight around the world in 2015. Pilots and travelers should not be deterred by the accident, which took place on April 17, 2018, according to Fox News. This was the first death that had occurred for Southwest Airlines since the 2009 crash in Buffalo, New York. DeLaurentiss passion is to learn how to better design aircraft, be more well prepared for flight, overcome fear as well as how to have the right focus moving forward. In a recent commentary he explains to his readers how the accident can be a positive step forward instead. "Times like these pull us back into the present moment," said DeLaurentis, who offers wisdom and advice for pilots and business owners. "What happened in the past and what will happen in the future may never come so we must be present and focus on what is happening right now." "The aviation industry, and the safety regulators who govern it, are obsessive about every detail of a flight: engineering out danger and looking deep into the soul to reduce the risk created by human factors," wrote Simon Calder in the Independent. Calder added that the Southwest tragedy is a rare event, and that with both air and land transportation there is risk involved. Robert DeLaurentis is a pilot, business owner, spiritual teacher and author of the Amazon bestselling book, Zen Pilot: Flight of Passion and the Journey Within. His mission is to give flight to peoples impossibly big dreams and make general aviation available to aspiring pilots of all ages. He is currently preparing for an upcoming South Pole to North Pole Circumnavigation, Oneness and Peace: One Planet. One People. One Plane. For more information on Robert DeLaurentis and to book a speaking engagement on critical moment decision making and overcoming the fear of flying, please contact Robert at PoleToPoleFlight.com for more information. Explore the temples of Egypt. ...ideal conditions for travellers hoping to see ancient monuments, temples, and tombs, undistracted by a hundred other snapping cameras. Goway Travel is offering savings of up to $553 per couple on its Classic Egypt vacation to travellers who book this month. Classic Egypt is one of Goways most popular trips to Egypt. Lasting 9 days, its an easy round-trip from Cairo, and features 4 nights accommodation in the capital, plus a Nile cruise, some meals, domestic airfares, airport transfers, and extensive sightseeing. Destinations include Cairo, Giza, home of the mighty Pyramids, Luxor, and Aswan. The itinerary is ideal for those who wish to see the highlights in limited time, or those simply wanting to tick the best sights of Egypt off their bucket list. Though Egypt has been back on the tourism radar for a little while now, crowds have been slow to return. While thats not good news for the countrys tourism, it does create ideal conditions for travellers hoping to see ancient monuments, temples, and tombs, undistracted by a hundred other snapping cameras. Departures eligible for this special are May 19, 2018, and September 8 and 22, 2018. Prices start at just $1399 per person. Passengers must book by April 30, 2018 to be eligible for this offer. Since 1970, Goway has been providing unforgettable travel experiences to Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Central & South America, Idyllic Island destinations and Europe. Today Goway is recognized as one of North America's leading travel companies for individuals, families and groups to select exotic destinations around the globe. Goway has offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Manila, and Sydney, Australia. For reservations and information, visit http://www.goway.com, or call 1-800-387-8850. This Is It! BBQ & Seafood Stockbridge Restaurant Night View "It is with great excitement that the City of Stockbridge welcomes This Is It! BBQ & Seafood to the community. We continue to build our community with exceptional businesses that believe in the overall success of the City of Stockbridge. Welcome aboard. - Anthony Ford, Mayor of Stockbridge THIS IS IT! BBQ & SEAFOOD headquartered in Fayetteville, Georgia is celebrating its eleventh restaurant opening at 5570 North Henry Blvd in Stockbridge, GA. This Is It! BBQ & Seafoods Stockbridge location will feature the companys first digital self-order kiosk. The store opening has several key events in the month of May First Fruits Day Wednesday, May 9th, 2018 12 PM Until...(Free food while supplies last). The concept of First fruits derives from God's creation work. Because God created everything that exists, all of creation belongs to him (Psalm 24:1). Consequently, that which is first and best belongs to him and is to be given to him. This Is It! Stockbridge will give away free meals while supplies last. First Fruits Day will be hosted by V-103 Radio personality Wanda Smith of the Frank & Wanda Smith morning show. Our brand has a long history in metro Atlanta. The community has always supported This Is It! and we want to continue this tradition in Stockbridge. This First Fruits celebration is our way of saying thank you to all of our neighbors there. said, Shelley Butch Anthony III, President and CEO of This Is It! BBQ & Seafood. Grand Opening Day Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Wednesday, May 16th, 2018 10 AM The official grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony will take place with city of Stockbridge elected officials, city personnel and community leaders of Stockbridge. The grand opening will be hosted by nationally known celebrity chef, television personality, and New York Times Best Selling author Pat Neely. "It is with great excitement that the City of Stockbridge welcomes This Is It! BBQ & Seafood to the community. We continue to build our community with exceptional businesses that believe in the overall success of the City of Stockbridge. Welcome aboard. said Anthony Ford, Mayor of Stockbridge. Community Day Saturday, May 26th, 2018 11AM 3PM This Is It! BBQ & Seafood Community Day takes place on Saturday, May 26th. The celebration will continue throughout the day with fun activities, music, carnival games and a visit by Butch and Telley! During the event, kids of all ages can take a spin at the prize wheel. Guests will want to arrive early; prizes and surprises are while supplies last. The celebration lasts from 11 am until 3 pm. Children are encouraged to bring their parents along because there is some fun for everyone! The event is free and open to the public. For more information, see the This Is It! BBQ & Seafood website or the This Is It! BBQ & Seafood Stockbridge Facebook page for details: https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsItStockbridge/ http://www.thisisitbbq.com About This Is It! BBQ and Seafood: Established in 1983, This Is It! BBQ and Seafood specializes in delicious authentic southern home-style cuisine and is nationally known for its famous award-winning barbeque rib tips. For over 35 years, This Is It! BBQ and Seafood has been recognized for exceptional hospitality and service paired with the best authentic freshly prepared barbeque and seafood. Headquartered in Fayetteville, Georgia, "This Is It!" has ten restaurant locations throughout the Metro Atlanta area offering dine-in, to-go, delivery, private and corporate catering, and three full scale event rental spaces. About Wanda Smith: Wanda Smith is a household name that is synonymous with, success, giving, loving, sharing, empowerment and most of all class. A veteran in the realm of comedy she gracefully stepped into acting and hosting, and is continuing to make her mark as one of Atlantas favorite on-air personalities. Wanda has been a welcome addition to radio powerhouse shows Mike Roberts and Carol Blackmon, Frank Ski and Wanda in the Morning and The Ryan Cameron Morning Show with Wanda Smith for over 15 years. Now she is back with Frank Ski to do it again and this time she plans on being bigger and better than ever before. Wanda is an innovator that is constantly opening doors and creating opportunities for everyone to succeed. About Pat Neely: Celebrity chef Pat Neely has enjoyed two amazingly successful careers, one as a renowned restauranteur and another as a nationally known television personality, New York Times bestselling author, endorser, speaker and entrepreneur. Pat rose to national prominence with the smash Food Network hit show "Down Home with the Neelys" and its spinoff, "Road Tasted," where he shared the secrets behind his favorite dishes and his passion for food, family and fun. Recently, Pat expanded his television endeavors by hosting and executive producing the family game show, "Save to Win," for the CW Network. As a restaurateur for over 30 years, Pat has operated several award winning barbecue and Southern restaurants in the Southeast and New York City. More information on Pat can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/PatNeelyBBQKing http://www.PatNeely.com Criminal Background Records The increase of ban-the-box legislation as well as the potential of costly legal action should alert hiring managers and HR departments to work with a well-qualified third-party background screening agency. Recently Target Corporation came to a proposed settlement in a civil case regarding alleged use of discriminatory pre-employment background screening policies and could potentially cost the company $3.7 million dollars. Adam Almeida, President and CEO of CriminalBackgroundRecords.com opines: The potential cost of this proposed settlement alone should alert hiring managers and HR Departments to immediately review all hiring policies, especially pre-employment background checks, in order to remain fully compliant with law. Across the country Ban-the-Box legislation concerning criminal history information continues to expand and the discrimination case against Target Corporation highlights the trepidations of ban-the-box proponents. From the Wall Street Journal (Apr. 05, 18): Target Corp. has agreed to pay more than $3.7 million and overhaul job-screening guidelines for hourly workers to resolve a civil-rights class-action complaint that alleged the companys policies regarding criminal background checks were too broad and discriminated against African-Americans and Latinos. (1) Ban-the-Box legislation compels the removal of criminal history questions on applications and pushes the actual criminal history search to after a conditional offer of employment is made. In many instances Ban-the-Box legislation dictates whether or not a criminal records history search can be conducted. While certain positions require criminal history search, many may not. Almeida states: The increase of ban-the-box legislation as well as the potential of costly legal action should alert hiring managers and HR departments to work with a well-qualified third-party background screening agency in order to maintain compliance with all current law and legislation governing employment background screening. Background screening remains an important tool in the hiring process but companies must remain compliant with law. From a New York Times article restating a comment from Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund: Targets 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 (2) Almeida adds: Background screening can prove to be invaluable in validating and verifying applicant information. From the Wall Street Journal and a related comment from Miss Ifill (Apr. 05, 18): 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, (3) Almeida confirms: Pre-employment background screening remains a best practice for all employers, when conducted in a fair, lawful, and legally compliant manner. CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is a third-party background screening company with highly trained operators well versed in the needs and requirements of companies and organizations large and small utilizing public records, such as criminal background records, as part of a hiring process. Assisting companies in maintaining full compliance under the law is a central tenet of all client relationships with CriminalBackgroundRecords.com Notes: Case Number: Case 1:18-cv-02993 (So New York District Court) (1) wsj.com/articles/target-to-pay-3-7-million-in-settlement-over-job-screening-policies-1522966099 (2) nytimes.com/2018/04/05/business/target-retail-hiring-bias.html (3) wsj.com/articles/target-to-pay-3-7-million-in-settlement-over-job-screening-policies-1522966099 Odile Lounge & Ottoman "J. Robert Scott has enjoyed a decades-long relationship with Jerry Pair," said Richard Chilcott, the company CEO. "This has made it possible to extend our reach into the Atlanta market to offer clients highly customized as well as standard pieces." J. Robert Scott, Inc. the internationally known custom luxury furniture and textile manufacturer announces expanded furnishings to be showcased at the Jerry Pair Atlanta location. "J. Robert Scott has enjoyed a decades-long relationship with Jerry Pair," said Richard Chilcott, the company CEO. "This has made it possible to extend our reach into the Atlanta market to offer clients highly customized as well as standard pieces." Launching during the April 24th and 25th spring market at ADAC (Atlanta Decorative Arts Center) J. Robert Scott is pleased to present the sophisticated Atlanta design community with a selection of luxury furnishings and textiles that satisfy the spectrum of design requirements from residential to hospitality and corporate interiors. ABOUT SALLY SIRKIN LEWIS AND J. ROBERT SCOTT, INC. J. Robert Scott, Inc. the luxury home furnishings manufacturer was founded in 1972 in Los Angeles by Hall of Fame designer Sally Sirkin Lewis. The company was born out of Ms. Lewis desire to provide her clients with contemporary, well made furnishings that met her uncompromising standards of quality and beauty. Her understated, signature style has become known as California Design. To this day, she serves as the President of the company, which has established itself as an influential design force around the world, with company owned showrooms in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas, and London, and representation in 16 cities in 11 countries. Throughout her career, Ms. Lewis has been awarded more than 150 U.S. Design patents for her furnishings which are manufactured by hand in the 70,000 square foot factory in Inglewood, California. Through her guidance and direction, J. Robert Scott has gained recognition as an exceptional resource for custom design furniture. It is rare to find a company that can modify any of their existing items, or create an entirely new a piece, tailored to the specific needs of their clientele. It is not unusual to see skilled craftsmen, many of whom have been with Ms. Lewis for more than 20 years, hand sewing the edges of a sofa or patiently applying gold leafing to a console. The techniques used are the traditional construction methods that date back to the Renaissance, these talented craftsmen are truly modern day artisans. J. Robert Scott is well known in the interior design industry for utilizing rare and exotic veneers, as well as Shagreen, snake and goatskin parchment in the manufacturing of its products. The textile division offers a distinctive range of hand-woven silks, silk mohair, wools, velvets and JRS Superkidskin among nearly 700 couture-quality luxury fabrics, in the most appealing and contemporary colorways. Furniture and textiles designed by Sally Sirkin Lewis for J. Robert Scott are instantly recognized for their beauty and valued for their quality, the essence of the companys commitment to producing Furniture as an Art Form. For additional company and product information, please visit http://www.jrobertscott.com ABOUT JERRY PAIR For over forty years, Jerry Pair has provided architects and interior designers home furnishings of unrivaled beauty and the highest handcrafted quality offered in the industry. With showrooms in Atlanta and South Florida, we provide designers a premier destination with luxury products under one, trusted name. Our showrooms offer clients superior customer service, expert, personalized attention, and extensive sales road programs for surrounding areas. Whether designing for affluent residences, upscale commercial spaces, resorts, private jets or yachts, the premier designer's destination remains Jerry Pair. Jerry Pair Atlanta is Located in the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center 351 Peachtree Hills Avenue NE, Suite 508 Atlanta Georgia 30305 The Auction of Washington Wines (AWW) is being recognized as the fifth largest charity wine auction in the U.S., per the 2017 Wine Spectator Magazine ranking. AWW is Washington states only nonprofit wine event that has been around for 31 years, raising more than $41 million since its inception in 1988. Funds raised support Seattle Childrens Hospital, Washington State Universitys Wine Science Research and Education, and local organizations supporting the Washington wine community as part of AWWs new Industry Grant Program that launched earlier this year. Each year, Wine Spectator ranks the top charity wine auctions across the U.S., with this year AWW charting alongside fellow West Coast auctions including Sonoma County Wine Auction and Auction Napa Valley. Were ecstatic to continue to be recognized next to fellow wine auctions that are really setting the bar in this industry, said Shelley Tomberg, Executive Director, Auction of Washington Wines. Our team is consistently in awe of the generosity and support from our states wine community. Cheers to another record-breaking year in 2018! This year, AWW events will take place August 16-18, 2018; For more information or to buy tickets, please visit http://www.AuctionofWaWines.org. ### About the Auction of Washington Wines Since its inception in 1988, AWW has raised more than $41 million, benefitting Seattle Childrens Hospital and Washington State University Wine Science Research. Events hosted by AWW give wine lovers the chance to support the Washington wine industry and families in our communities around the region. The 2018 Auction of Washington Wines will take place August 16-18, 2018. Major sponsors include Wells Fargo, Chateau Ste. Michelle, Ferrari of Seattle, The John L. Scott Foundation, The Seattle Times, King 5 TV and Wine Spectator Magazine. For more information, go to http://www.AuctionofWaWines.org We are thrilled to bring this innovative range of powerboats to our customers throughout the Chesapeake Bay and mid-Atlantic. The style and performance of these lines will elevate powerboating in the region. Atlantic Cruising Yachts, which is headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, with offices in St. Petersburg and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida will now work with customers in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Northern Virginia for the Jeanneau inboard line. Already among the top Jeanneau dealers in North America, this positions Atlantic Cruising Yachts to expand their reach throughout the mid-Atlantic. Jeanneaus innovative range of high-performance inboard powerboats, which includes the Leader line, the NC line, and the Velasco line, were designed in collaboration with renowned designers and architects such as Garroni Design, and Mickael Peters Yacht Design. We are thrilled to bring this innovative range of powerboats to our customers throughout the Chesapeake Bay and mid-Atlantic, said Atlantic Cruising Yachts president, Chris Bent. The style and performance of these lines will elevate powerboating in the region. The luxurious and sporty Leader line features express models with high-performance hulls that combine comfortable exteriors with progressive interior layouts. The NC lines concept is unique with life on one level blending the inside and outside areas in a seamless space. The flybridge line, Velasco, is the ultimate inboard power cruising line, with innovative use of space and premier comfort onboard. As a strong leader in the sales and service of Jeanneau Sailboats, I am thrilled to have Atlantic Cruising Yachts as our new dealer for Jeanneau Inboard Powerboats in the Mid-Atlantic, said Wade Clevenger, Regional Sales Manager, Jeanneau America. Atlantic Cruising Yachts has a highly-skilled team and they are focused on attracting new customers to the Jeanneau brand. We are very excited to expand our relationship with one of our top performing Jeanneau dealers, said Nick Harvey, President, Jeanneau America. Atlantic Cruising Yachts is highly qualified to offer our inboard powerboats and deliver an exceptional customer experience. Atlantic Cruising Yachts has received recognition for its innovative ownership programs, like the signature Business Yacht Ownership program, which can help owners offset their costs with tax advantages and income. The companys charter management network, Waypoints, allows owners to charter their yacht from a range of independently owned East Coast and Caribbean locations, with charter and management programs structured to offset the costs with professional management and maintenance. Atlantic Cruising Yachts has offices in Annapolis, Maryland, and in St. Petersburg and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The company represents Fountaine Pajot and Jeanneau Yachts. Atlantic Cruising Yachts is considered an innovator in yacht ownership programs, with its signature Business Yacht Ownership program, which hundreds of yacht owners have used to offset their purchase with tax advantages and income. Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world's leading hotel companies, today announced that it has selected NovaCHARGE as a Qualified Vendor for providing Choice Hotels properties with Electric Vehicle (EV) charging solutions. Choice Hotels franchises over 6,800 hotels representing more than 500,000 rooms worldwide through its12unique brands, including Ascend Hotel Collection, Cambria Hotels, Comfort, Sleep Inn, Quality, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, WoodSpring Suites, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn. NovaCHARGE is a tremendous addition to our Qualified Vendor Program, said Rick Summa, vice president of Procurement Services for Choice Hotels. At Choice Hotels, we are consistently looking for ways to boost value for our hotel owners, their employees and guests. Installing EV charging systems will offer Choice Hotels properties the ability to deliver an added amenity, while supporting Choices Room to be Green sustainability initiatives. As a premier provider of EV charging infrastructure for Choice Hotels, NovaCHARGE will be offering customized EV charging units to conveniently and visibly promote each unique hotel brand to its employees and guests. NovaCHARGEs flexible business models will allow hotel management to offer a wide range of for-pay, valet or complimentary EV charging services, while differentiating itself. Similar to the deployment of Wi-Fi, EV charging technology will draw tech-savvy customers who want the peace of mind to charge their EVs overnight, while staying in a safe and comfortable location, said Helda Rodriguez, president of NovaCHARGE. Providing EV charging as a valuable new amenity to attract this new customer segment also promotes a positive statement about each hotels commitment to sustainability and clean transportation. We are truly looking forward to working with Choice Hotels and its franchisees. NovaCHARGE will be kicking off this new relationship at the annual Choice Hotels convention in Las Vegas, to be held May 1-3, 2018. About CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL: Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the world's largest hotel companies. With over 6,800 hotels franchised in more than 40 countries and territories, Choice Hotels International represents more than 500,000 rooms around the globe, and as of February 1, 2018, more than 1,000 hotels were in its development pipeline. Our company's Ascend Hotel Collection, Cambria Hotels, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, Quality, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, WoodSpring Suites, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, and Vacation Rentals by Choice Hotels brands provide a spectrum of lodging choices to meet guests' needs. With more than 35 million members, our Choice Privileges rewards program enhances every trip a guest takes, with benefits ranging from every day rewards to exceptional experiences, starting right when they join. All hotels and vacation rentals are independently owned and operated. Visit us at http://www.choicehotels.com for more information. About NovaCHARGE, LLC: NovaCHARGE, LLC was founded in 2008 to address the growing need for a next-generation EV charging infrastructure. As a national leading provider of networked and non-networked EV charging solutions, NovaCHARGE has the broadest experience of any EV equipment provider in the hospitality and tourism markets. Headquartered in Florida, NovaCHARGE is a Certified Minority/Woman owned business. For more information, please visit http://www.NovaCHARGE.net. We are pleased to be partnering with Akademos to provide our students with a wider variety of course materials, flexible purchasing options, and an easy-to-use, integrated platform that will support our students success..." - Maryellen Skerik, vice president of finance, North Central College North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, has selected Akademos as its online bookstore provider to help students obtain significant savings on course materials, a wider selection of textbook formats and payment options, and a best-in-class personalized ordering experience. The College plans to launch its online bookstore in the fall of 2018. Seamless integration between the Colleges student information system and the Akademos Course Materials Platform (CMP)TM will allow students to see a personalized listing of the textbooks required for each of their courses and order materials for an entire term in less than five minutes. Additional student benefits include free shipping for all retail orders over $49 and a catalog of over 1MM digital course materials that are accessible immediately upon purchase. A wide selection across new, used, rental and eBook formats will be offered, and when using Akademos proprietary peer-to-peer Marketplace of more than 100 million new and used textbooks, students will save an average of 60 percent off publisher list prices on their course materials. Additionally, students will have the freedom to use financial aid vouchers on all textbook purchases, including significantly discounted marketplace items. Textbook affordability and accessibility are key concerns when we consider giving our students the tools they need to succeed, said Maryellen Skerik, vice president of finance at North Central College. We are pleased to be partnering with Akademos to provide our students with a wider variety of course materials, flexible purchasing options, and an easy-to-use, integrated platform that will support our students success, and that of the College. The online bookstore will also support the Colleges faculty and administrators, who will benefit from an easy-to-use and powerful Adoption & Analytics Portal. This platform offers a step-by-step guide for course material adoptions, recommendations, and adoption history, and the ability to compare real-time prices for course materials. The analytics tool will also enable North Central College faculty and leadership to track critical data, including student purchasing and bookstore utilization. Were pleased to be working with North Central College, said John Squires, CEO, Akademos. In our experience, providing more affordable and accessible textbooks and course materials results in more prepared students which, ultimately, results in more successful students. We look forward to supporting this goal, which will also facilitate the overall success of the College. About Akademos: Akademos offers customized, online bookstore services and solutions that support what's most important to institutions - from full-service virtual bookstores to unique partnerships and products supporting on-campus shops. Akademos delivers cost savings on course materials for students while providing administrators and faculty with critical control over the textbook delivery process. Akademos offers an innovative textbook marketplace, best-in-class eCommerce platform, eLearning solutions, and a unique adoption and analytics portal. The companys comprehensive supply-chain solution and commitment to responsive personal service makes it the choice of leading institutions throughout the country. Akademos helps institutions deliver the right course materials, at affordable prices, on time. Learn more at akademos.com. About North Central College: Founded in 1861, North Central College is an independent, comprehensive college of the liberal arts and sciences that offers more than 65 undergraduate majors and six graduate programs. With more than 2,900 students, North Central provides a rigorous, student-centered education and fosters a diverse, inclusive and globally engaged community that prepares students for action and leadership in a complex world. Just 30 minutes from Chicagos Loop, the campus is located in the Historic District of Naperville, Ill.rated by Money magazine as among the nations Best Places to Live and by niche.com as the 2nd Best Places to Live in Illinois. Visit northcentralcollege.edu and discover what it means to #BeCentral. ARI Network Services, Inc. announced today that KIOTI Tractor has selected ARI as its preferred provider of co-op eligible dealer websites for its network of North American dealers. KIOTI Tractor is a division of Daedong-USA, Inc. specializing in the manufacture and distribution of high quality tractors, UTVs, attachments and implements. Qualified dealers can apply co-op funds toward an ARI Dealer Website. KIOTI dealers should reference the KIOTI co-op guidelines for eligibility and reimbursement details. This partnership allows KIOTI to assist our dealers in creating customer-friendly websites, said Peter Dong-Kyun Kim, President and CEO of Daedong-USA, Inc., KIOTI Tractor Division. We always strive to support our dealer network, and as our preferred website provider, ARI will support our dealers online KIOTI presence. ARI Dealer Websites make it easy for online shoppers to explore the entire KIOTI product catalog. Shoppers will now have access to brochure content on KIOTIs entire whole goods product catalog as well as a consumer-oriented, illustrated parts lookup that features KIOTIs complete replacement parts catalogs. We are excited to partner with KIOTI as their preferred provider of co-op eligible dealer websites, said Paul Berkholtz, ARIs Director of Business Development Outdoor Power. Tractor buyers turn to the internet to gather information and shop for tractors and replacement parts. If dealers lack a strong online presence, prospective customers could easily buy from a competitor instead. This makes it more important than ever for dealers websites to have the online optimization necessary to get found online while also displaying all the product information customers look for. Fully optimized for search engines and mobile browsing, ARIs Dealer Websites offer industry-specific features, including enriched OEM and aftermarket brochures and parts catalogs for the industrys leading manufacturers, a merchandise manager that allows dealers to display their inventory, service scheduling tools, eCommerce functionality and more. Dealers interested in learning more about ARI can visit arinet.com/outdoorpower/ or call 877.805.0803. About ARI ARI Network Services, Inc. offers an award-winning suite of SaaS, software tools, and marketing services to help dealers, equipment manufacturers and distributors in selected vertical markets Sell More Stuff! online and in-store. Our innovative products are powered by a proprietary data repository of enriched original equipment and aftermarket electronic content spanning more than 17 million active part and accessory SKUs and 750,000 equipment models. Business is complicated, but we believe our customers technology tools dont have to be. We remove the complexity of selling and servicing new and used vehicle inventory, parts, garments and accessories (PG&A) for customers in the automotive tire and wheel aftermarket, powersports, outdoor power equipment, marine, home medical equipment, recreational vehicles and appliance industries. More than 23,500 equipment dealers, 195 distributors and 3,360 brands worldwide leverage our web and eCatalog platforms to Sell More Stuff! For more information on ARI, visit arinet.com. About KIOTI Tractor Headquartered in Wendell, N.C., KIOTI Tractor is a market-driven company that has been supplying tractor models in the 22-110 horsepower range to the U.S. and Canadian markets for more than 30 years. Building on the companys core product line and history of innovation, KIOTI has recently expanded its offerings by introducing new models to the CK10SE Series, the introduction of its K9 UTV Series and expanding its implement and attachment offering to its dealer and customer network across North America. For more information on KIOTI or KIOTI products please visit your authorized KIOTI Tractor dealer, call 877-GO-KIOTI, visit http://www.KIOTI.com or follow KIOTI on facebook.com/kiotitractor. Additional Information Follow @ARI_Net on Twitter: twitter.com/ARI_Net Become a fan of ARI on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ARInetwork Join us on G+: plus.google.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com Read more about ARI: arinet.com/about-us Images for media use only ARI Logo Hi Res| ARI Logo Low Res For media inquiries, contact: Chris Damico, Marketing Manager, ARI, 414.973.44587, chris.damico(at)arinet(dot)com John Just, EdD, SVP of Learning Innovation, KnowBe4 Our new-school security awareness training is the core of our business and we keep it constantly up-to-date with fresh content. John will be crucial in lifting our platform up to an advanced level of both learning management and learning module technology. -Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4 KnowBe4, providers of the worlds largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, today announced that it has hired John Just, EdD, as senior vice president of learning innovation. Stu Sjouwerman, CEO for KnowBe4 said, Our new-school security awareness training is the core of our business and we keep it constantly up-to-date with fresh content. John will be crucial in lifting our platform up to an advanced level of both learning management and learning module technology while maintaining the excellence in quality that our customers expect from us. John Just is a national leader in eLearning and has provided expert advice to many enterprises across the United States, including Fortune 500 and nonprofit firms. He was formerly senior vice president of education solutions for nThrive, where he led development and custom e-learning services that provided industry-leading eLearning to over 2 million learners. Just has held positions as IT director and web-design instructor at Florida Virtual School, instructional design and technology professor at University of Tampa, chief information officer at Pinellas County Schools, and co-founder and head-of-school at Pinellas Virtual School. He earned a bachelors degree from Pennsylvania State University, a masters degree in instructional technology from the University of South Florida, and a doctorate in instructional technology & distance education from Nova Southeastern University. When I talked with Stu about coming to KnowBe4, I was really excited about the vision of the company and where he wanted to take the learning platform, said Just. I am even more excited after joining. We have a great team and we are going to build on the momentum that is already in place." Focusing on the human element, new-school security awareness training, has seen significant growth over the past five years because its dramatically more effective than the old break room approach. Users see Phish-prone percentages go from an average of 25 to 30 percent down to one to two percent after a year. For more information on KnowBe4, visit https://www.knowbe4.com. About KnowBe4 KnowBe4, the provider of the worlds most popular integrated new-school security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, is used by more than 17,000 organizations worldwide. Founded by data and IT security expert Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4 helps organizations address the human element of security by raising awareness of ransomware, CEO fraud and other social engineering tactics through a new-school approach to security awareness training. Kevin Mitnick, internationally recognized computer security expert and KnowBe4s Chief Hacking Officer, helped design KnowBe4s training based on his well-documented social engineering tactics. Thousands of organizations trust KnowBe4 to mobilize their end-users as the last line of corporate IT defense. Number 231 on the 2017 Inc. 500 list, #50 on 2016 Deloittes Technology Fast 500 and #6 in Cybersecurity Ventures Cybersecurity 500. KnowBe4 is headquartered in Tampa Bay, Florida with European offices in England and the Netherlands. Its an honor to be named a finalist among so many brilliant and talented women. We all stand at the forefront of innovation in our industries and continue to represent the spirit of entrepreneurship. Marketing Maven's CEO and President, Lindsey Carnett, was named as a finalist for the 2018 Spirit of Entrepreneurship Awards. The Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award, which is granted by the Spirit of Entrepreneurship Foundation, honors talented entrepreneurs from the Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. The award is unique in that it inspires student entrepreneurs with role models as well as cash prizes. Its an honor to be named a finalist among so many brilliant and talented women. We all stand at the forefront of innovation in our industries and continue to represent the spirit of entrepreneurship, said Carnett. Having started Marketing Maven at the age of 26 I understand the perseverance and encouragement needed for women who strive to be entrepreneurs and love supporting them through the SOE Foundation. Carnett is a spirited trailblazer who prides herself on executing measurable marketing campaigns. Named to the 2017 Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies in America and the 2016 Entrepreneur 360 list of Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America, Marketing Maven specializes in public relations, influencer marketing, social media advertising, and reputation management. Named a 2016 Top Woman in PR by PR News and honored as Folio: Magazines 2015 Top Women in Media, Carnett lectures at universities, conferences, and professional marketing organizations globally. She has appeared in the Forbes Most Powerful Women Business Leader issue, and been interviewed as a marketing expert on CCTV, Newsmax, Business Rockstars, NPR, The Doctors, Telemundo, FOX Business, TheStreet.com, Huffington Post, and in USA Today. Marjorie Large of WitMark Marketing & Branding Group and Emily Solomon of The Food Marketer join Carnett as finalists in the Media/ Communications category. The other categories include: Agricultural/Wineries, Emerging Business, Health/ Wellness, Hospitality/ Tourism, Green/ Social Entrepreneur, Media/ Communications, Nonprofit, Professional Services, Retail, Science/ Technology, Wholesale/ Manufacturing/ Global Trade. The 7th Annual Spirit of Entrepreneurship Awards will be held on Friday, May 4, 2018 from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort, 633 East Cabrillo Boulevard, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. The winners are fairly chosen by independent judges who do not have any relations to the Spirit of Entrepreneurship Foundation or reside in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. About the Spirit of Entrepreneurship Foundation The Spirit of Entrepreneurship Foundation fully encourages and supports female and student entrepreneurship in Santa Barbara County. The foundation's goal is to help to flourish economic growth in the county. They aid ambitious students who wish to pursue their dreams in developing a business. At the annual the Spirit of Entrepreneurship Awards, the foundation recognizes successful female entrepreneurs to benefit the collegiate and high school student entrepreneurs. Since 2011, the Foundation has raised more than $55,000 for the high school and collegiate pitch event. The Spirit of Entrepreneurship Foundation proved themselves successful by granting funds to the 2012 collegiate winner. Today, the winner owns his own company valued at over $2,000,000. For more information about The Spirit of Entrepreneurship Foundation, please visit http://www.soefoundation.org/about.php About Marketing Maven: With offices in Los Angeles and New York, Marketing Maven is a full-service marketing and communications agency. With origins in direct response public relations, Marketing Maven has developed into a premier voice in brand strategy, social media, innovative media relations, event marketing, tradeshow support, multicultural marketing, reputation management and search engine optimization. Marketing Maven leads the industry in utilizing advanced metrics to measure their clients' marketing reach and providing competitive analysis unparalleled in the industry. For additional information about Marketing Maven, visit http://www.marketingmaven.com. New Home Star, the largest private seller of new homes in America, was named the third best firm in the large category, and ninth overall, through the Best Places to Work award hosted by Crains Business Chicago. The methodology employed in crafting the rankings is based on an intensive, two-part assessment. First, an analysis of the companys benefits package that looks at perks such as compensation, training, and company culture. This was followed by an employee-wide survey that reviewed the opinion and well-being of the team. Since our founding ten years ago, we set out to disrupt the homebuilding industry with an engineered approach to the home buying process that leverages the latest technology, says New Home Star Founder, David Rice. I believe that we can only achieve this vision by recruiting, retaining, and building meaningful careers for the best talent available in the workforce. That is why its humbling not only hear that our employees are giving such incredible feedback, but that its coupled with immense annual growth for our organization. The highly coveted honor was announced after an overhaul of initiatives by New Home Star aimed at improving employee satisfaction, including a company-wide retreat in Cancun, expansion of its Leadership Development Program, and additional investment into New Home Connect, the companys proprietary platform that houses everything from training to payroll in a central place. Our goal is to build the best sales team in the world; we will continue to strive toward creating an incredible workplace environment for the professionals that are part of this organization and make all of this possible, says New Home Star VP of Organizational Development, Keith McKinney. The homebuilding industry is experiencing a major resurgence in great careers, and we are excited to keep moving forward with this trend. In addition to the Crains Best Places to Work award, New Home Star has also recently been named the #2 ranked firm in America by Glassdoor in the small & medium sized category for 2018. This designation represented the highest ranking, since the inception of the award, for a real estate company. To find out more about the Crains Best Places to Work Program and to view the official rankings, please visit the following link. About New Home Star Founded in 2008, New Home Star is the largest private seller of new homes in the U.S. Leveraging state-of-the-art technology to channel decades of experience into engaging sales training and operational tools, New Home Star rapidly transforms newly hired sales professionals into competitive advantages for builder partners. Working with a builder base that includes some of the largest homebuilders in the U.S. and Canada, New Home Star recruits, selects and develops sales teams with a full-time focus on new home sales delivering new home sales strategies with a national perspective and a local presence. The business goal is simple: To Sell More Homes, More Profitably. For more information visit http://www.newhomestar.com. Bekins Kelowna has learned it takes careful planning to move a client into a home that's shared by residents and support staff. When we can coordinate with family members, it makes the transition smoother. But sometimes they don't live in town, or there's no one around to help them. That's when we step in and try to help as best we can. We become their family, in a sense. The Okanagan's population is aging, and one moving company in Kelowna has noticed an increasing number of seniors who are choosing to downsize into smaller homes as a result. The transition isn't always an easy one, says Nathan Miller, general manager of Bekins Moving and Storage. According to a Global News report, there are now more seniors living in Kelowna than there are people under the age of 19. This is the first time this has ever happened, and this momentous shift in the population demographic is due in large part to an aging Baby Boomer population. Many seniors recognize the Okanagan as a desirable place to retire. They often use long distance moving services to relocate from places like Alberta and the Lower Mainland. "When it comes to seniors and moving, many are living in their family homes," says Miller. "Many have been in them for 30-plus years. It's a bigger-than-normal event for them. They're usually heightened emotionally when we come in to do a survey." In many instances, seniors will have accumulated a lifetime of possessions that simply won't fit into a smaller space. Miller says deciding what to do with all of these belongings can be more stressful than the move itself. Having someone who can help them sort through everything can greatly reduce stress. That could mean passing heirlooms on to other family members, making a donation to a charity shop or selling non-essential items. As Miller notes, many retirement homes are fully catered, which means residents no longer need their kitchenware. To ease the process for seniors who are transitioning to smaller homes or retirement communities, Miller urges family members to get involved. "When we can coordinate with family members, it makes the transition smoother," he says. "But sometimes they don't live in town, or there's no one around to help them. That's when we step in and try to help as best we can. We become their family, in a sense. "We like to make sure we're there educating them throughout the moving process. It usually requires an added level of service because there are personalized requirements that seniors need." Above all else, Miller preaches patience and empathy. He understands that many seniors won't have gone through a move in a long time. So if they need help to ensure their utilities are disconnected, Bekins is happy to ensure it gets done properly. "It's a huge transition, moving into that next stage of life," he says. "When we're working in those situations, patience is important. As you get older, you tend to want things to move a little bit slower. We do our best to provide a stress-free atmosphere." One of the challenges of moving seniors into retirement homes is that other people live there. Unlike a condo where his movers would have more freedom to operate, Miller says it requires careful planning to move a client into a home that's shared by residents and support staff. "We know not to clog up the elevators when it's dinner time, or during other busy periods. We know their hours of operation," says Miller. "We do this all the time. There's a high senior population in the valley and we're familiar with most of the facilities. "It's also a referral for us. These retirement homes get to know us. They know how we work here, so they'll just say: 'Call Bekins, they know what to do.'" About Bekins Moving & Storage Kelowna: As a trusted moving company in Kelowna and part of the oldest moving franchise in Western Canada, with six branches across BC, Bekins Moving & Storage Kelowna offers all-inclusive moving services in and around the Okanagan and beyond. Bekins Kelowna movers are available for businesses needing to relocate or renovate. They also provide long distance moving services through Bekins' affiliate, United Van Lines, which has more than 200 locations across North America. For more information, please contact: Nathan Miller General Manager Bekins Moving & Storage Kelowna info[at]bekinskelowna[dot]com 250-766-1966 http://www.bekinskelownamovers.com Infutor ID Max gives call center agents the ability to deliver a personalized experience to the consumer on the other end of the line, improving overall conversion rates - Infutor CEO Gary Walter Infutor, the consumer identity management expert, today announced that it won the prestigious 2018 PACE Technovation Award for its ID Max solution. ID Max is a real-time data-driven solution that completes, verifies, updates and enhances inbound fractional consumer information to help marketers improve form conversion, lead quality and lead attribution, as well as enhance inbound personalization and increase outbound marketing scale. The Technovation Award recognizes innovation in products and services within the customer engagement industry, said PACEs SVP, Christine Haerich. This years winner, Infutor, is a proven innovator in helping organizations and contact centers qualify prospects, engage with them personally, better direct their inquiries and win them over as customers. With as little as a single consumer identifier point, e.g., name, address, phone, mobile or email, ID Max instantly delivers complete identity data on each inbound consumer as well as attribute enhancements that enable personalized profile development. From inbound call center inquiries and online form fills to email or CRM data, ID Max helps marketers improve segmentation and personalization and retarget more effectively to increase marketing reach and improve the overall customer experience. We are thrilled to be the recipient of this years respected Technovation award, said Gary Walter, president and CEO of Infutor. Todays consumers expect for frontline customer service and sales personnel to have a precise understanding of who they are and be able to address their unique needs. ID Max gives call center agents the ability to deliver a personalized experience to the consumer on the other end of the line, improving overall conversion rates. As consumer identity management experts, Infutor is a rising star in a fast-moving and dynamic industry helping brand marketers more effectively engage with their target consumers. The company helps score, verify and complete fractional consumer identities on demand, with critical name, phone, address and email information; then completes and enhances customer profiles with demographic, psychographic, behavior, historical, lifestyle and other highly predictive attribute data. This information provides a comprehensive view of consumers for improving omnichannel marketing, inbound identity verification and completion, as well as more effective messaging along a consumers life journey. About Infutor Infutor is the expert in data-driven consumer identity management. The company is solely focused on enabling brands to instantly gain access to the most complete and accurate information about consumers, exactly when they need it, to make informed marketing and risk mitigation decisions. Infutors mission is to deliver solutions that accurately identify consumers before, during and in-between engagements, giving brands a secure, privacy compliant foundation to improve inbound engagement and outbound omnichannel marketing reach, and to minimize losses due to fraud and non-payment. Led by information industry veterans, Infutor is a privately held company founded in 2003 with strategic investments from Norwest Venture Partners. Infutor is headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. For more information, visit http://www.infutor.com. About PACE Founded in 1983, PACE is the only non-profit trade association dedicated exclusively to the advancement of companies that engage with customers via the contact center. The Association promotes its members ability to provide outstanding customer service and sales solutions delivered via omni-channel communication including voice, email, chat, text and social media. In addition, PACE provides up-to-date and ongoing compliance education and accreditation for its members. From its National Convention and Washington Summit to its Regional Chapter events, PACE provides the tools and opportunities that allow businesses to become involved and stay engaged through effective and efficient networking opportunities. http://www.PaceAssociation.org # # # The CONTRACTING RISK INDEX takes prevention to new heights giving its clients a global perspective on risk and presenting the first actuarial analysis of risk when hiring candidates in Latin America. Recently, MultiLatin Background Screening, leader in pre-employment screening presented its first Contracting Risk Index (on job applicants) in Latin America. This year MultiLatin presents the CONTRACTING RISK INDEX 2018, the first of its kind in Latin America. Our focus this year is on Mexico, Panama, and Brazil, countries where we carry out a large part of operation and because of their significance for the regions economy. For the past four years MultiLatin has offered clients an analysis of its overall findings on the background checks it conducts annually, giving them a perspective on the hidden risks in the labor market. This year MultiLatin goes one step further, giving its clients not only a global perspective on risk in Latin America, but also an analysis focused on weighted risk for each industry. David Robillard, President of MultiLatin Background Screening, said, Our screening programs provide Human Resources and Compliance Directors with decision-making in the here and now in their selection process, answering this question: Does the background of this candidate pose a risk to my company? The CONTRACTING RISK INDEX takes prevention a step further, presenting a broader perspective on risk in the market: At what level and to what type of risk am I most exposed when looking for candidates in my sector in Latin America? This is the first solid analysis of risk when hiring candidates in Latin America, backed by LOCTONs team of actuaries and solid methodology. Lockton, global insurance brokerage firm, was responsible for the methodology used to analyze, consolidate and interpret this past years findings. One of the most important additions to this year's index is the heat map, which illustrates how findings for each industry weigh the impact of inconsistencies against different background screening criteria. According to MultiLatin s CONTRACTING RISK INDEX, background screenings in the Mexican financial services sector uncovered major inconsistencies, particularly regarding applicants employment experience and identity. Also notable is the incidence of findings within the transportation and logistics sectors, in which Mexican candidates presented double the risk. Specifically, it was found that 20 candidates per thousand in Mexico have criminal history as compared to 10 in Brazil and 9 in Panama. Robillard added, The failure to verify candidate supplied information may cause considerable damage to a company's reputation. A solid screening program allows companies to considerably reduce these risks, stated David Robillard, President of MultiLatin Background Screening. The index also presents information about criminality by gender, inconsistencies provided by millennials and outlines the drug testing process Chain of Custody. The Contracting Risk Index provides important information for hiring managers and human resources to help them make informed hiring decisions and to avoid unnecessary risk. For more details you may obtain a full copy of this report via the following link: CONTRACTING RISK INDEX For more information, please contact: info(at)multilatin.com or visit our website: http://www.multilatin.com Karla Jo Helms, Founder and CEO of JoTo PR, discusses the next narrative of the #MeToo movement. Studies reveal that as many as 17 in 20 women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace,(1) which may explain why the #MeToo movement quickly gained momentum last Octoberwithin the first 24 hours, the viral hashtag appeared in 12 million Facebook posts.(2) Yet recent news stories reflect a growing backlash: some cite the potential damage of false accusations,(3) some decry the movement as a witch hunt,(4) while others suggest that mens fear of harassment allegations will hurt womens career opportunities.(5, 6) Karla Jo Helms, founder and CEO of JoTo PR, says the current dynamic has hindered progress by dividing people into opposing camps; she believes a unified strategy and a new narrative will prove the most effective solution. According to a report by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, sexual harassment may be more prevalentand underreportedthan many realize. EEOC data indicates that anywhere between 25% and 85% percent of women have experienced some form of sexual harassment at work, yet only 6% to 13% of those who have suffered harassment ever file a formal complaint. Among those who did speak out against workplace mistreatment, 75% experienced some form of retaliation. (1) These statistics help illustrate why the #MeToo movement resonated with so many, particularly among those who may previously have felt voiceless, powerless, disrespected or disbelieved. As for the backlash factions, one camp focuses on the dangers of false reports, which can ruin the lives of the falsely accused and challenge the credibility of all accusers.(3) Yet studies indicate false reports are rare, accounting for just 2% to 7% of sexual assault cases.(3) Another group of dissenters includes dozens of women who co-signed a letter in the French newspaper Le Monde asserting that the #MeToo movement unfairly punishes men and threatens sexual liberty, though their arguments were swiftly rebutted in a reply from some 30 female activists.(4) A third counterpoint is based on reports from the political and financial sectors, where some say women are losing career ground because men are afraid to hire or work with them given the looming specter of harassment allegations.(5, 6) The #MeToo movement has been effective in raising awareness of sexual misconduct in the workplace. That was needed. But without a new solution being proffered, other than penalizing the offenders, it has now moved to stoke fear, suspicion and insecurity, observed Helms. Many men have reported feeling defensive because they believe women are unfairly tarring all men with the same brush and are ready to pounce on the slightest misstep as evidence of severe harassment. Meanwhile, women have reported their careers stall out as men justify discriminatory practices in the name self-protection. This is a symptom of a campaign that has not been strategized to the next step after awareness was realized. Helms said the consequence of not pushing to the next narrative is undermining the positive result that #MeToo gained of forging a sisterhood among those who have ever felt harassed or demeaned; it now is alienating men and women with no real solution being offered. I dont think this was the original intentionand as long as this us versus them mentality persists, well remain stuck in a stalemate, with each side convinced of the rightness and reasonableness of its stance, said Helms. Helms maintains that it is important for all sides to find common ground and determine a unified approach. For example, in harassment cases, the EEOC advises that discipline be prompt and proportionate to the severity of the infraction.(1) So while sexual assault may call for immediate termination, it might be more appropriate to also provide sensitivity training to those who unwittingly offend with off-color jokes or inappropriate commentsgiving perpetrators an opportunity to rectify their behavior before committing egregious acts and also facing disciplinary action. The EEOC also encourages employers to foster a workplace culture that promotes civility and respect.(1) So instead of fixating on which faction is in the right, Helms envisions men and women working together to achieve a shared goalan environment in which all employees feel valued, respected, comfortable and safe. Social media may have been the spark that kindled the #MeToo movement and fanned the flames of division, but it can prove to be a unifying force if we use it to reset the strategy and create a new narrative, explained Helms. Rather than supporting the spread of salacious rumors, social media can be leveraged with PR to recognize the companies that are getting it right. Lets hear from those who have established best practices and achieved positive outcomes; lets transition from outrage to acclaim. Its time to flip the script; proactive public relations can help achieve that by reframing the problem and solution. JoTo embraces a nonconventional approach to public relations, with Helms serving as the companys Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR Strategist. She has identified three key stages to achieve return on investment in PRdisruption, exposure and influenceand uses that multipronged strategy to lead successful proactive campaigns. About JoTo PR: After doing marketing research on a cross-section majority of 5,000 CEOs of fast-growth trajectory companies and finding out exactly how they used PR, how they measured it and how they wanted the PR industry to be different, PR veteran and innovator Karla Jo Helms created JoTo PR and established its entire business model on those research findings. Helms is the Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR Strategist for JoTo PR. Experienced in crisis management, she learned firsthand how unforgiving business can be when millions of dollars are on the lineand how the control of public opinion often determines whether one company is happily chosen, or another is brutally rejected. Astute in recognizing industry changes since its launch in 2009, JoTo PRs team utilizes newly established patterns to create timely PR campaigns comprising both traditional and the latest proven digital media methods. This unique skill enables them to continue to increase market share and improve return on investment (ROI) for their clients, year after yearbeating usual industry standards. Based in Tampa Bay, Florida, JoTo PR is an established international public relations agency. Today, all processes of the agency are streamlined PR services that have become the hallmark of the JoTo PR name. For more information, visit JoTo PR online at https://jotopr.com. (1) Feldblum, Chai R. and Victoria A. Lipnic. Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace; U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission report; June 2016; pgs. 8, 16 and 37. (2) Smartt, Nicole. Sexual Harassment in the Workplace in a #MeToo World; Forbes; December 20, 2017. (3) Dastagir, Alia E. Some Say One False Report Could Cripple the #MeToo Movement. Is Progress That Fragile?; USA Today; December 8, 2017. (4) Liautaud, Alexa. French Women Claim #MeToo Is a Witch Hunt That Threatens Sexual Liberty; Vice; January 10, 2018. (5) Klas, Mary Ellen. Women in Politics Fear #MeToo Moment Will Backfireand Theyll Be the Ones Punished; Miami Herald; December 11, 2017. (6) Tarbox, Katherine. Is #MeToo Backlash Hurting Womens Opportunities in Finance?; Harvard Business Review; March 12, 2018. Dojo by BullGuard "This award validates our work to advance the connected home network cybersecurity market, and further establishes Dojo by BullGuard as the market leader in the Smart Home cybersecurity sector." BullGuard (http://www.bullguard.com), the award-winning consumer cyber security company, today announced that Dojo by BullGuard has received the 2018 Fortress Cybersecurity Award for Best Hardware and Infrastructure, Threat Detection, Connected Consumer Device from the Business Intelligence Group, a company founded with the mission of recognizing true talent and superior performance in the business world. The inaugural Fortress Cybersecurity Awards identifies and honors the worlds leading companies and products working to keep data and electronic assets safe from the constantly growing threat of hackers. Dojo by BullGuard has been the recipient of numerous awards in the past year, including the GSMA 2018 GLOMO Award for Best Connected Consumer Electronic Device at Mobile World Congress Barcelona and the 2017 IoT Evolution Security Excellence Award. Its an honor to win the Fortress Cybersecurity Award for Dojo by BullGuard, said Yossi Atias, General Manager of IoT Security at BullGuard. This award validates our work to advance the connected home network cybersecurity market, and further establishes Dojo by BullGuard as the market leader in the Smart Home cybersecurity sector. Dojo by BullGuard offers a multi-layered IoT cybersecurity that enables Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to offer advanced cybersecurity services to their customers. Dojo protects a consumers Wi-Fi network and all their smart connected devices from intruders and risks making sure nothing bad gets in and no private data goes out. We are proud to name Dojo by BullGuard as a winner in our inaugural Fortress Cyber Security Awards program, said Maria Jimenez, Chief Nominations Officer, Business Intelligence Group. It was clear to our expert judges that the entire group of 35 innovators and innovations are the tip of the peak helping to prepare, defend and respond to the growing threat of cyber attacks. Congratulations to all! About BullGuard BullGuard is a leader in cybersecurity. We make it simple to protect everything in a consumers digital life their data, their identity and their smart home. Our multi-award winning product portfolio includes Dojo by BullGuard, the best custom-built solution to protect Wi-Fi enabled devices in the home. Dojo gives customers the freedom to add as many smart home devices as they want without compromising privacy or security. Dojo by BullGuard is the cornerstone of a smart home, ensuring a connected world where every consumer, in every home, is smart, safe and protected. About Business Intelligence Group The Business Intelligence Group was founded with the mission of recognizing true talent and superior performance in the business world. Unlike other industry award programs, these programs are judged by business executives having experience and knowledge. The organization's proprietary and unique scoring system selectively measures performance across multiple business domains and rewards those companies whose achievements stand above those of their peers. ### Chris Lankford, NEXT Trucking's new VP of Engineering. We are seeing record numbers of carriers and shippers continue to embrace our trucker-centric online marketplace instead of relying on outdated processes that no longer serve them. This has resulted in accelerated growth in all areas of our business. NEXT Trucking, the first trucker-centric online marketplace that connects carriers with shippers, today announced that it will double its headcount in 2018 amidst growing user acquisition and demand for its services. The companys technology solves one of the most distressing issues for 90 percent of carriers by directly connecting them with shippers based on routes, pricing, driver behavior and other intelligent matching algorithms. Following a February infusion of $21 million in funding led by Silicon Valley VC firm, Sequoia Capital, the company added six new roles to its executive management team and is seeking to fill more than 50 positions in engineering, product development, marketing and sales before the end of the year. The expanded executive team includes: Bryan Jolliff, VP of Sales Jason Leu, VP of Product Chris Lankford, VP of Engineering Jennifer Chang, Director of Marketing Shane Van Der Waag, Director of Drayage and Intermodal Andres Castaneda, Director of Talent Recruitment Prior to joining NEXT Trucking, Leu and Lankford had previously worked together at another startup for seven years. The company has also expanded its sales team, with talent from CH Robinson, Werner, Schneider National, and CEVA Logistics, and operations team with talent from JB Hunt, Expeditors, Mattel, and APL. New hires in product and engineering come from leading Southern California tech companies and startups. CEO and Co-founder Lidia Yan said the hiring spree is to support its aggressive growth strategy. We are seeing record numbers of carriers and shippers continue to embrace our trucker-centric online marketplace instead of relying on outdated processes that no longer serve them. This has resulted in accelerated growth in all areas of our business. Yan continues, We are thrilled to be part of the explosive technology growth in Southern California and demonstrate the high-quality talent and innovation that is happening in our local area. As we move into the second half of the year, it is critical to have the right talent in place to meet our targets for additional expansion and customer satisfaction. NEXT Trucking has a diverse culture reflective of the Southern California landscape. The company prides itself on a diverse and high energy workplace where collaboration and innovation thrive. To learn more about NEXT Trucking, visit http://www.nexttrucking.com. The Flag Company, Inc. The Flag Company, Inc., one of the most traditional flag distributors in the United States, is releasing updated guidelines on how to choose the ideal fabric for a flag, as well as the best care instructions. There are three main materials used to manufacture flags: Nylon, Polyester, and Cotton. Each one has its benefits and downsides, and should be chosen according to the usage of the flag, as well as the level of maintenance desired. Nylon flags are the most popular ones, due to the affordability and versatility of the material. Nylon flags have a silky feel, they are usually thin, and will brightly display colors, giving an attractive appearance. Nylon flags are suitable for both indoor and outdoor display, and being such a light material, they will fly with even a very low breeze. The lightness of the fabric can also be a problem, as these flags are not intended to fly in heavy winds. Nylon flags are usually not as long-lasting as other materials, such as polyester. Polyester flags are by far the most durable ones. This tougher material can feel rougher than nylon, and wont be as shiny, but it will retain the original colors for a longer time. The polyester flags are best suited for outdoor use, given its long lifespan, and can fly in more extreme weather conditions. On the other hand, the heavier material also requires stronger breezes to fly these flags. Lastly, there are cotton flags. Cotton is best suited for indoor environments and its a very popular choice for presentation and ceremonial uses, with its rich, vibrant colors. For outdoor usage, they are not very practical, but will still look beautiful, so long as the environment is assessed accordingly. Cotton flags displayed outside may require more maintenance, due to how easily they can wrinkle, and because the material is not very effective at wicking excess water. For milder environments or for flying flags on special occasions the American Cotton Flag will showcase the richest, most vibrant colors. The Flag Company, Inc. offers great options for flags in all these materials, for both indoor and outdoor usage. The American Nylon Flag is the ideal choice for Nylon flags, with reinforced seams and extra-stitched fly ends for great durability. For customers looking to buy a flag with longer lifespan, the American Duratex Tricot Knit Polyester Flag will provide longer usage, while retaining its original colors. The lightweight tricot knit polyester material flies easier than 2-ply polyester, repelling water just as efficiently as nylon. All these flags are proudly made in the USA and sold by The Flag Company, Inc., direct to consumers on their flagco.com website, where people can also find very interesting content on the history of the American Flag, the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, as well as the proper care for a flag, regardless of the material its made of, or for indoor or outdoor use. About The Flag Company, Inc. Located in Acworth, Georgia, The Flag Company, Inc. has been locally owned and operated since 1989, being recognized for their customer excellence and high-quality product standards, made in the USA. Theyve been operating their web store since 1996, making them one of the pioneer e-commerce sites on the web. The Flag Company, Inc. began by providing flags to the real estate and oil industries. From there, the company grew to other areas, always selling the best quality products at very reasonable prices. Carrying a wide array of international, military, message, religious, and nautical flags, The Flag Company, Inc. positioned itself as the worlds best online source for all flags and accessories. Catering to commercial and residential customers, The Flag Company, Inc. provides an extensive inventory of over 8,500 items. The Flag Company, Inc. also partnered with a dedicated machine and manufacturing company to expand its capability to provide custom brackets, finials, hardware and other similar products for special orders. Today, The Flag Company, Inc. runs on five major divisions, including Flags, Flagpoles, Lighting, Graphic Design (Custom Flag printing), and Warehouse & Shipping. Founder Allen Smith traveled to France to test-bake Forages new bagel oven. The dynamic nature of fire causes irregular areas of caramelization and blistering on the surface of the dough. The taste of bagels baked that way can reveal hints of char and smoke as well. Together, those inconsistencies can yield a wonderful depth of both texture and taste. Forage, a Lewiston, Maine-based baker of handcrafted wood fire-baked bagels, is set to open the companys second location in Portlands East End neighborhood by the beginning of June of this year. The move is the latest in a series of unconventional steps in founder Allen Smiths search for not just the perfect bagelbut the perfect spaces to share them in as well. The latest stop on that journey took Smith and Forage General Manager Laura Posiak to a small farm bakery in Northern France. There, the two ran off-hours experiments to see how a Spanish-built oven with a hand-cranked revolving deck might serve Smiths latest vision of bagel bliss. The bakery that their hosts ran was one of the few that hadnt upgraded to the manufacturers modern indirect-heat models. These ovens maintain consistent heat while keeping delicate bread doughs shielded from direct exposure to the fires flames. Although the modernized ovens are great for producing larger quantities of bread, the direct fire of the older models works better with boiled bagel doughs. The erratic variables caused by the intense heat of open flames were just what the Forage team was looking to embrace. The dynamic nature of fire causes irregular areas of caramelization and blistering on the surface of the dough, explains Posiak. The taste of bagels baked that way can reveal hints of char and smoke as well. Together, those inconsistencies can yield a wonderful depth of both texture and taste. Bringing that Old World baking model back home required importing more than the ovens ten-foot diameter deck. A pair of Spanish masons arrived recently to begin its custom construction, which is scheduled for completion by May 8th. They are now laying special tongue-and-groove bricks in a spiral pattern to create the ovens 10-foot cathedral-like dome. That structure is designed to reflect the intense heat that will radiate down to bake the bagels below. Local masons have been hired to support the installation. The skills and knowledge the two teams are sharing during construction make a fitting metaphor for the kind of personal exchanges that lie at the heart of Forages mission. Opening the market that houses our flagship bakery in Lewiston six years ago was a move that a lot of people questioned, shares Smith. We were in the heart of an economically-challenged town during the depths of a recession, but our faith in both our food and the people who come together to share it finally won out. Our section of town has changed dramatically, and were proud to have played a part in that transformation. That kind of metamorphosis is already taking place throughout much of the Portland Peninsula, but Smiths selection of Forages East End neighborhood was influenced by its place away from more exclusive retail locations. The mix of homes and the small, everyday businesses that support them drew us to this section of town, says Smith. We cant wait to join this community. I love baking a great bagel, but the thing that gets me up every morning are the people who come through our doors to enjoy them. About Forage Founded as Forage Market in Lewiston, Maine in 2012, Forages obsession with crafting hand-rolled, naturally-leavened, wood fire-baked bagels has earned its distinction as one of Americas best bagels in Saveur magazine. That national recognition is born from the companys fierce commitment to crafting food that brings diverse people together to strengthen their connections to each other and their communities. Darin Archer Joins Elastic Path as Chief Marketing Officer Were thrilled to welcome Darin on board as CMO. He brings an impressive depth of digital commerce industry experience, and offers a rare combination of expertise in market positioning, digital transformation and emerging technology. Elastic Path Software Inc, provider of the worlds leading headless commerce platform for enterprises, today announced that Darin Archer has joined the company as Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for leading the companys marketing and product marketing teams. A digital commerce luminary, Archer joins Elastic Path from IBM, where he was Director of Strategy and Offering Management for WebSphere Commerce. In this role, he was instrumental in reinvigorating the organizations 22-year-old commerce platform, WebSphere Commerce, and introduced a new SaaS solution with artificial intelligence capabilities. Archer will lead Elastic Paths market strategy to help more enterprises seamlessly bring commerce directly into any interaction. Elastic Path delivers the future of commerce today, by enabling companies to connect with their customers and transact well beyond the web shop era or standard web store, Archer said. As someone who is passionate about digital commerce, Im excited to be part of the company moving the entire industry forward. A technology maverick, Darin was the original champion of experience-driven commerce who challenged the entire industry to reimagine online experiences with content and commerce, said Harry Chemko, CEO, Elastic Path Software. Were thrilled to welcome Darin on board as CMO. He brings an impressive depth of digital commerce industry experience, and offers a rare combination of expertise in market positioning, digital transformation and emerging technology. Prior to IBM, Archer held senior leadership positions at Intel and Adobe, where he drove product strategy in digital marketing, commerce and the Internet of Things. He has also led transformational programs for top brands in retail, financial services, communications and high tech as a management consultant at Accenture. For more on Darin Archer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darinarcher/ or http://www.darinarcher.com. About Elastic Path Defining the future of commerce, Elastic Path develops the worlds leading headless commerce solution for enterprises. The companys flagship product, Elastic Path Commerce, has helped the worlds top brands generate over $60 billion in over 170 countries. Customers from industries as diverse as travel, telecoms, publishing, software, and retail enjoy the benefits of a flexible, open architecture that monetizes brand defining customer experiences, facilitates business agility and eliminates commerce system silos. Elastic Path is a private company based in Vancouver, Canada with offices in the UK and US. For more information http://www.elasticpath.com To find out more about Elastic Path solutions, contact salesinfo(at)elasticpath.com. Just how much is $2T? This milestone highlights the increasingly important role technology and innovation play in our industry. Real Capital Markets (RCM), the global marketplace for commercial real estate investments, announced today that industry professionals have leveraged the firms technology platform to transact over $2 trillion in commercial property online. The milestone, based on first quarter figures released by the firm, demonstrates the power technological innovation has had in commercial real estate over the past 20 years. We are proud to have achieved this significant milestone, providing CRE tech solutions to our clients for nearly 20 years, said Tina Lichens, Chief Operating Officer, Real Capital Markets. This highlights the increasingly important role technology and innovation play in our industry. To put the $2 trillion number in perspective it is equivalent to the purchase of 1,538 Willis Towers in Chicago or 1,058 Empire State Buildings in New York. Since the company was founded in 1999 and launched its innovative platformwith the listing of a multifamily property for Fairfield Residential (still a client of RCMs today, 19 years later)RCMs technology has been involved in bringing more than 60,000 properties and loans to market to a database that now exceeds 58,000 investors across the Globe. Of the more than 60,000 properties that comprise the $2 trillion in transaction volume spanning across all CRE asset types, the most common types of properties brought to market using the RCM platform are office, multifamily and retail properties. Office property listings make up approximately 25 percent of the listings, followed by multifamily, approximately 22 percent, retail, approximately 18 percent, and industrial, 12 percent. However, those historic numbers dont tell the complete story for RCM or the industry as a whole. For much of the last 19 yearsbefore e-commerce began to dramatically change the dynamics of the commercial real estate marketthe appetite for industrial property simply did not compare to office, multifamily and retail offerings. We have begun to see a dramatic shift. Industrial deals are increasingly more popular and account for a larger percentage of listings on the RCM platform. This fact is underscored by findings in RCMs 2018 National Investor Sentiment Report where industrial real estate was characterized by 33 percent of study participants, second only behind multifamily, to be the sector of commercial real estate offering the greatest opportunity in 2018. It is interesting to see how market dynamics change over time, said Steve Shanahan, Executive Managing Director, Real Capital Markets. Industrial real estate has increased in prominence and popularity with the growing importance of e-commerce related businessesa trend not likely to subside as sellers look to capitalize on that strong interest. On a geographical comparison, almost 59 percent of U.S. properties brought to market with the RCM platform since 1999 were located in the West and Southeast regions. The Western region accounts for more than 34 percent of the listings while the Southeast represents approximately 25 percent. The geographic breakdown of listings, for the Western and Southeastern regions is in keeping with what investors described as their most sought-after locations in RCMs 2018 National Investor Sentiment Report. In that study, investors said they were most interested in property opportunities in the Southern, approximately 38 percent, and Western, approximately 32 percent, regions. Just as preferred property type investments will fluctuate with general business and economic cycles, geographic preferences may shift with things like population and employment trends, Shanahan said. According to Lichens, RCMs commitment to its clients and continuous innovation allows the firm to not only keep up with the changes in the industry, but to provide the best products and services for the future of CRE technology. This milestone demonstrates that RCM is able to distinguish between the flash and the hype and the true solutions, she added. Weve established a proven and well-documented track record of solving problems, creating efficiencies as well as addressing client issues and concerns; the $2 trillion milestone further validates that. ### About Real Capital Markets: Founded in 1999, Real Capital Markets (RCM) is the global marketplace for buying and selling CRE. RCM increases the speed, exposure, and security of CRE sales through its streamlined online platform. Solutions include integrated property marketing, transaction management, and business intelligence tools to unify broker-level and firm-level data and work flows. RCM has executed 60,000+ assignments with $2.0 trillion in CRE transactions. Over 50% of all U.S. commercial assets sold, over $10 million, are brought to market using RCMs online marketplace annually. Follow RCM on: Twitter: @rcm1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/real-capital-markets Lucas Group Industry 4.0 is changing how the industry does business and companies need the right talent to navigate this disruption. Lucas Group, North Americas premier executive recruiting firm, announced the publication of its white paper, How Industry 4.0 is Changing Manufacturing Recruitment" authored by Executive Senior Partner Daniel Chang. The white paper considers how the Industry 4.0 revolution is disrupting old business models and creating new, exciting career pathways for millennial job seekers. The manufacturing industry is at a tipping point, says Chang. Industry 4.0 is changing how the industry does business and companies need the right talent to navigate this disruption. Unfortunately, at a time when manufacturing has never been more exciting and dynamic, the general public believes the opposite, hurting recruitment efforts. A 2016 Kronos survey found that only 37 percent of respondents would encourage their children to pursue a career in manufacturing due to a perceived lack of high-paying jobs and advancement opportunities. Thanks in part to this public perception problem, the manufacturing industry is facing a talent shortfall that could leave 2 million jobs unfilled over the next decade, according to the Manufacturing Institute. While significant research has considered how manufacturing companies can harness the power of digital technologies to transform their processes and business models, less work has focused on how companies can use Industry 4.0 to solve talent recruitment and retention challenges. Changs white paper aims to close this gap. No matter the industry, Millennials favor positions that make an immediate impact on a company or field, says Chang. This NextGen talent also seeks positions where they can advance quickly and keep their skills fresh. Thats exactly what Industry 4.0 offers. Companies need to rethink their recruitment strategies to speak directly to these benefits and get Millennials excited about manufacturings new direction. Based in Irvine, CA, Chang works closely with West Coast-based manufacturing companies. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering. In addition to Manufacturing recruitment, Lucas Group specializes in Accounting & Finance, Information Technology, Human Resources, Legal, Military Transition and Sales & Marketing recruitment. About Lucas Group Lucas Group is North Americas premier executive search firm. Since 1970, our culture and methodologies have driven superior results. We assist clients ranging in size from small to medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies find transcendent, executive talent; candidates fully realize their ambitions; and associates find professional success. To learn more, please visit Lucas Group at http://www.lucasgroup.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. "We are always looking to add great people to our team, says managing partner, Kevin Torf. "Our top priorities are finding technical project managers who can portray our culture and core values at the highest level. With an increase in new clients, the Los Angeles based IT consulting firm is looking to add new talent to their team, specifically technical project managers with experience in healthcare. These additions will be critical components to accommodate recent client growth initiatives. We are always looking to add great people to our team, says managing partner, Kevin Torf. We have been fortunate enough to work with some of the top hospital systems in the nation and they each require unique leaders and skillsets. Our top priorities are finding technical project managers who can portray our culture and core values at the highest level. With current healthcare clients spanning from San Diego, CA to New York, T2 Tech Group offers a variety of locations, projects and technology partners to help develop a thriving career. With more than 90% of their clients in healthcare, the company is focused on growing healthcare client relations through IT assessments, strategy and design, and implementation. The company follows a unique and proven project management methodology by combining both PMI and Agile principles to all projects. This methodology has been adopted and utilized by many of their clients both during and post project engagement. This is fast-growing, vendor-neutral company has a culture focused on agility, transparency and delivering value to clients and the communities they serve. In addition to a challenging and innovative work environment, T2 Tech offers an attractive benefits package to all eligible, full-time employees. For more details about available positions and benefits, visit their careers page. About T2 Tech Group T2 Tech is a leader in the practical application of technology for healthcare and a range of other industries. Since its founding in 2006, T2 Tech has consistently delivered quality consulting and management advisory services to executives and IT leaders. Unlike many consulting firms, T2 Tech has no financial interest in vendor selection, freeing the company to focus completely on realizing client goals. The company balances business and IT needs, uses a proven adaptable framework, can see projects from assessment to post-implementation, and practices transparency in everything they do. For more information about T2 Tech Group, visit t2techgroup.com, view their company video and connect with them on Twitter @T2TechGroup. Our school systems and youth-serving organizations must do a better job providing access to opportunities to knowledge and skills they need to achieve success in college and the workplace, said Dale Erquiaga, President and CEO of Communities In Schools. A new survey by Gallup released today reveals that only 1 in 4 U.S. adults (25 percent) believe most high school students are prepared for success in college. Roughly the same percentage of respondents (22 percent) believe high school graduates are prepared for success in the workplace. The poll, conducted on behalf of Communities In Schools, was released today at the organizations inaugural Milliken Dialogues and Policy Summit at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The focus of the summit is Supporting All Students for College, Career, and Civic Engagement. Among U.S. adults, concerns about preparedness for college and career were consistent across all demographics, including gender, ethnicity, income and education. Younger U.S. adults were most likely to report they believed graduates are unprepared. Approximately 22 percent of respondents aged 15-24 believe grads are not at all prepared, compared with 15 percent of those aged 50 and over. The Gallup poll included these additional findings: 24 percent of U.S. adults with a bachelors degree believe HS grads are unprepared for the workplace 12 percent of HS grads believe HS students are unprepared for the workplace Respondents were also asked to choose among a list of potential programs and interventions that would be most helpful in improving student preparedness for college. Financial planning and management tied with social and life skills, conflict resolution, interpersonal communications and persistence. These results paint a real picture of the harsh reality for many high school students who graduate without a clear path forward, said Dale Erquiaga, President and CEO of Communities In Schools. Our school systems and youth-serving organizations must do a better job providing access to opportunities to knowledge and skills they need to achieve success in college and the workplace. According to the survey, programs that would be the most helpful in improving preparedness for the workplace are job and employment skills training such as interviewing and resume writing and social and life skills such as teamwork, communication and decision-making were the next most commonly mentioned interventions and programs at 42 and 38 percent respectively. About Gallup Methodology These results are based on telephone interviews conducted March 12-18, 2018, via the U.S. Gallup Poll, with a random sample of 1,506 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting. More details about how the Gallup U.S. Poll is conducted can be found here: http://www.gallup.com/224855/gallup-poll-work.aspx. About Communities In Schools Communities In Schools is the nations largest organization dedicated to helping at-risk students stay in school and on a path to a brighter future. Working directly in more than 2,350 schools in 25 states and the District of Columbia, Communities In Schools serves nearly 1.6 million students. We are pleased we will be bringing yet another Clairy product to the comfort of peoples homes. Clairys corporate mission is to empower people to clean and purify the air in their homes, offices, schools and public buildings in a sustainable way. The positive-social-impact company Clairy continues to raise funds for its second successful Kickstarter campaign for the smart indoor air purifier NATEDE. NATEDE has raised over $300,000 in only one week, and with 36 days remaining on Kickstarter, it is trending to raise over $1,800,000. NATEDE looks like a plant holder, but its a beautiful and sustainable air purifier, designed and crafted in Italy. NATEDE is named for Clairys product concept trilogy: NAture, TEchnology and DEsign. Plants placed in NATEDE metabolize a significantly higher amount of pollutants compared to plants potted in regular vases. The embedded technology allows NATEDEs air flow system to quickly and quietly recycle air from a plants soil. NATEDE helps improve indoor air quality with advanced sensors and has the ability to eliminate 93% of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and 99% of viruses and bacteria. It also has a photocatalytic filter, which does not need to be replaced, reducing waste and extra expenses. We are pleased we will be bringing yet another Clairy product to the comfort of peoples homes. Clairys corporate mission is to empower people to clean and purify the air in their homes, offices, schools and public buildings in a sustainable way, said Clairy CEO Paolo Ganis. As the World Health Organization alerted us on the fact that indoor air can be up to five times more polluted than outdoor air and as we spend about 90% of our lives indoors, it is critical that we address the multitude of negative effects air pollution can cause such as allergies, asthma, poor sleep and more long-term, harmful impacts on our health and well-being. NATEDE is also an advanced technology object: it offers a variety of features, such as the monitors and sensors inside of NATEDE, which can accurately read the temperature and humidity of a room, as well as detect VOCs, PM2.5 and CO. The LED interface communicates air quality levels without the use of the Clairy application, but the Clairy app allows users to monitor air pollutants and control the airflow in their space in real time. NATEDE can even connect to other smart home devices, such as Amazons Alexa, and provides users with health tips. NATEDE even features a self-watering system, helping reduce water consumption. NATEDE is currently available on Kickstarter for $170. For more information about the campaign, visit pr.go2.fund/natede. About Clairy Inc. Clairy.inc is an American company born from an Italian startup, Laboratori Fabrici. Clairy presented its first product at CES Las Vegas in 2016 and was then incubated for 3 months in Silicon Valley by Plug and Play Ventures, one of the most important accelerators in the world. The company focuses on health and wellness, by developing hybrid products that combine nature, technology and Made in Italy Design. The Companys first product has been presented at CES in Las Vegas in 2016. Clairy is the first producer of air purifier truly based on nature, technology and design. Clairy sells its products in over 50 countries worldwide. Clairy is at the forefront of a green revolution, allowing users to use common plants to take control over the air they breathe, by allowing them to remotely monitor and control their Clairy with a proprietary app connected to the most advanced sensors embedded in its technological heart. Combining the best of nature and technology, Clairy's design team has developed the best natural and smart air purifier, already awarded for its design with the European Design Award in 2017 and for its product purpose that improves health and wellness, the company received 2 million Euro investments from the European Union. Launched in 2016, Clairy is a privately held company, headquartered in Pordenone, Italy, with offices in Milan and San Francisco. The Clairy app is currently available as a free download for iPhone, iPad and Android devices globally. Clairys products are available for purchase in the most stylish colors on http://www.clairy.com. Dr. Rod J. Rohrich speaks at the Dallas Rhinoplasty Meeting Every plastic surgeon and otolaryngologist with any interest in rhinoplasty should consider attending this unique event. Renowned Dallas rhinoplasty surgeon and Meeting Chairman, Dr. Rod J. Rohrich, has announced the dates for the 2019 International Dallas Rhinoplasty Meeting. The meeting is scheduled to be held March 22nd and 23rd, 2018 at the Westin Galleria in Dallas, Texas. Designed to take participants from the basic training and fundamentals of rhinoplasty through the most modern advancements and updates in rhinoplasty and revision rhinoplasty, this unique, annual meeting is attended by plastic surgeons and otolaryngologists from around the world. Last years symposium had attendees from over 35 countries. One of the truly unique features of this meeting is the interactive use of fresh cadaver anatomy dissections in which participants gain hands-on experience under the direction of Dr. Rohrich and other renowned experts in rhinoplasty. The meeting also includes surgical video demonstrations, detailed lectures, Q&A sessions, and panel discussions with some of the world's most experienced rhinoplasty surgeons. "The Dallas Rhinoplasty Meeting is one of the most prolific educational experiences for surgeons studying this difficult procedure," says Dr. Rohrich, who has also co-authored the leading textbooks on rhinoplasty, "Dallas Rhinoplasty: Nasal Surgery by the Masters", based on presentations from the symposium. "Every plastic surgeon and otolaryngologist with any interest in rhinoplasty should consider attending this unique event. It will be a life changing event for all who attend if their focus is to become a true rhinoplasty expert." Dr. Rohrich, who also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery journal, believes that specialized hands-on educational symposia such as this one are a key component of surgeons' continuing medical education. The Dallas Rhinoplasty Meeting provides access to information and advances that are truly unique in the style of teaching pioneered by Dr. Rohrich who is on the forefront of this specialized area of plastic surgery. "Rhinoplasty remains one of the most difficult procedures in all of plastic surgery, one of great finesse which takes years to master," explains Dr. Rohrich. About Rod J. Rohrich, M.D., F.A.C.S. Dr. Rod Rohrich is a Dallas, Texas board certified plastic surgeon, Distinguished Teaching Professor and was the Founding Chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Rohrich graduated from Baylor College of Medicine with high honors, and completed residencies at the University of Michigan Medical Center and fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard (hand/microsurgery) and Oxford University (pediatric plastic surgery). He has served as president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the largest organization of board certified plastic surgeons in the world. He repeatedly has been selected by his peers as one of America's best doctors, and is the only plastic surgeon to receive one of his profession's highest honors three times in his career-the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes his contributions to education in plastic surgery. Dr. Rohrich participates in and has led numerous associations and councils for the advancement of plastic and reconstructive surgery. In a case about trading gold, we got the most precious verdict, Mukasey said. A team of White Collar Defense & Special Investigations attorneys at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP today secured an acquittal in a criminal conspiracy trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut alleging manipulation of commodity prices through spoofing. Marc L. Mukasey, co-chair of Greenberg Traurigs White Collar Defense and Special Investigations Practice and Shareholder Nathan J. Muyskens led the trial team. In the case, styled U.S. v. Flotron, 3:17-cr-00220 before The Honorable Jeffrey Alker Meyer, the jury found former UBS AG trader Andre Flotron not guilty on the charge of conspiring to commit commodities fraud by manipulating prices of futures contracts for gold, silver, and metals using trick orders also known as spoofing. In the trials closing arguments Mukasey argued the governments case was a prosecution by statistics, that there was no collaboration needed to sustain a conspiracy charge, and that the government failed to present a single document where Flotron had agreed to spoof. He also urged jurors to discount the governments two cooperating witnesses. The trial, which began on April 16, 2018, was only the second ever in the U.S. involving criminal spoofing allegations. This is the first ever acquittal in such cases. The client faced up to 25 years if convicted. In a case about trading gold, we got the most precious verdict, Mukasey said. This was the second win for the client in 2018. In February, Judge Meyer threw out three spoofing and three commodities fraud counts against Flotron, ruling they were brought in the wrong venue, leaving just the conspiracy count at trial. In addition to Mukasey and Muyskens, the trial team included Greenberg Traurig Shareholders Daniel P. Filor and Robert S. Frenchman, and Associates Kedar S. Bhatia, Daniel E. Clarkson, Kate E. Olivieri, and Sarah M. Mathews. About Greenberg Traurigs White Collar Defense & Special Investigations Practice Greenberg Traurigs White Collar Defense & Special Investigations Practice has wide-ranging experience protecting companies and individuals under government scrutiny. The firms creative defense lawyers are at the forefront of client service in this area, and Greenberg Traurig is one of very few firms with more than 90 former federal and state prosecutors in its litigation group, and where the majority of litigation shareholders and counsel have first-chair trial experience. The team's defense capabilities includes vast experience in structuring internal investigations, developing guidelines and implementing compliance programs and addressing issues of voluntary disclosure, as well as extensive representations involving alleged securities fraud, FCPA violations, health care/pharmaceutical fraud, environmental crimes, money laundering, financial services fraud, public corruption/campaign finance, tax corruption, defense contracting, and bankruptcy fraud. 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. Acobot Having gained access to the biggest human knowledge repository, the Web, AI is evolving in an accelerated pace. Acobot LLC, an artificial intelligence startup, announces a new release of its artificial intelligence Aco, featuring the capability of self-learning from free-form text such as web pages and creating conversational AI chatbots, which are ready to work as virtual agents for customer support automation, without any further training by human. Conversational AI and chatbots are often mentioned as today and tomorrow in the tech circles. For businesses, the efficiency and cost savings derived from the chatbots interacting with customers is attractive. As a result, more and more businesses include a chatbot with their website in the recent years. However, lacking in natural language processing (NLP) support, most of those chatbots only accept clicks or match answers by keyword, resulting in poor performance. As for the chatbots powered by AI/NLP, their performance is decided by not only the algorithm but also the volume of knowledge they possess, i.e. the data or contents on the subject they work with. Like all other AI applications, the more data a chatbot has, the better it may perform. Today coding and scripting is no longer a necessity for creating a chatbot because of the emerging of a number of conversational AI aPaaS like BrainShop, another product of Acobot LLC. However it still requires considerable efforts and resources to manually prepare business-specific data, the knowledge that AI can understand. The turnaround for preparing such data ranges from one month to half a year. The costs often go beyond the budget of small businesses and many projects fail because insufficient data lead to poor performance - the chatbots can answer only 20% or less of questions - and consequently poor user experience. Acobot has stepped to address the above issues by using AI to collect knowledge from Web and generate data for chatbots. The artificial intelligence, named Aco by the company brand, firstly crawls the text contents from a given website and discovers the business knowledge. On this basis it builds an AI brain for the chatbot, which is then ready to work as virtual agent on the website. Currently Aco can finish a chatbot for a website of 1,000 pages in 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the website speed and the page sizes. For smaller websites that contain no more than 100 web pages, Aco delivers a chatbot in just a few seconds. The significance of autonomous learning goes beyond chatbots. said Vic Duan, founder of Acobot. As AI can now learn from free-form text, it doesnt have to count on human for training data any more. Having gained access to the biggest human knowledge repository, the Web, AI is evolving in an accelerated pace. Were excited with the possibilities it brings! As one of many possible jobs it may take over, Aco now starts working as a chatbot builder. The website owners only need to provide a domain name and then Aco will take care of everything rest. The human labor is eliminated totally. The turnaround is shortened to a few minutes or even seconds. The upfront cost is reduced to minimum, to near zero. Different from enterprises like Apple or Microsoft, who make Siri or Cortana as their own chatbots, Acobot is making conversational AI available and affordable to the rest of us. Acobot is published at https://acobot.ai. Both free plans and instant live demos are available there. Posted Tuesday, April 24, 2018 8:00 pm Sams legacy has been most visible in his fierce dedication to poetry. Copper Canyon Press editor-in-chief Michael Wiegers is commenting on poet and social activist Sam Hamill, who died April 14 at the age of 74. Hamill, the founding editor of the press at Fort Worden, died at his home in Anacortes following health complications. The independent publishing company at Fort Worden has maintained a commitment to poetry inspired by its founding editor, and also is dedicated to emphasizing voices from traditionally underserved communities, Wiegers said. (Hamill) advocated for overlooked and forgotten voices, Wiegers said. Additionally, his advocacy for poetry in translation has remained a shared passion here at the press. Hamill cofounded Copper Canyon Press in 1972 and served as editor for 32 years before leaving the company in 2004. He also was committed to antiwar activism. When Hamill was invited by first lady Laura Bush to a poetry symposium at the White House in 2003, he contacted poets from around the world, soliciting antiwar poetry that he prepared to have presented at the event. In his email to the poets, Hamill stated that he felt overcome by a kind of nausea, according to reporting from The New York Times at the time of the event. His response to that nausea was to express his opposition to the Iraq War through a movement called Poets Against War. When it became apparent the literary event would become a political forum, the White House canceled the symposium. GENEROUS HEART Hamill was the author of more than 40 books, including celebrated translations from ancient Chinese, Japanese, Greek and Latin. His poetry has been translated into more than a dozen languages. In many ways, we are much different than we were when he left over a decade ago, but (Hamills) influence has shaped the organization through his commitment to poetry, Wiegers said of the press. Weve expanded upon his vision, incorporating a social activism into the books we publish and how we reach communities of readers and writers around the world. Weve taken his interest in global literature and expanded upon it. Wiegers said that, along with Hamills generosity and passion for poetry, what he will most remember is his laughter. He had a great laugh, which, despite his outward gruffness, revealed a generous heart that cared for poets, poetry and the better parts of humanity, Wiegers said. A memorial for Hamill will be held in conjunction with the official release of his final book, After Morning Rain, 3-9 p.m. on May 15 at Copper Canyon Press at Fort Worden. Email MiddlepointPress@gmail.com for more information. Posted Tuesday, April 24, 2018 5:00 pm Salish Coast Elementary students may find it easier and safer to travel to and from school should the city of Port Townsend be successful in its attempt to obtain grant funds to build a sidewalk and bicycle path along a segment of Discovery Road. The City Council voted unanimously April 16 to authorize an application to the Washington State Department of Transportation for a pedestrian and bicycle grant, and a Safe Routes to School grant. City Engineer Dave Peterson said the new Rainier Street roundabout has a bicycle path, as will the new Salish Coast Elementary School. The grants could provide money to connect the two together, Peterson said. And there are a lot of children who live in those neighborhoods that walk to that school, he said. We think theres a high need you do see kids going to and from school up into Towne Point (Boulevard). Its pretty scary. If the project moves forward, a 6-foot-wide sidewalk would be built along the south side of Discovery Road between the new Rainier Street roundabout and the intersection with McClellan Street. Also, the project proposes to install an 8- to 10-foot-wide asphalt bicycle and multi-use track on the south side of Discovery Road. Additionally, a second, shorter sidewalk would be built on the north side of Discovery Road for safer access to Towne Point Boulevard. Flashing beacons also would be installed. The $1.6 million grant requests would require matching funds of $400,000 from the city, for a total of $2 million. Peterson said real estate excise tax funds or city bond funds could be used for the matching portion. Also, the Jefferson County Public Utility District plans to bury power lines along the same route, Peterson said, adding that with the combination of all these different elements, the citys grant proposal should score more points to better compete with other cities for the limited grant funds. Peterson said the work was a top priority. If the project moves forward, it would be designed in 2019 and built in 2020. This new development follows the strict enforcement of the new Borrowers and Lenders Act, by commercial banks in the country.The central bank is working around the clock to repeal the current law on borrowing and lending.Passed by Parliament for about a decade now, the Borrowers and Lenders Act amongst others provides the legal framework for credit and sets improved standards of disclosure of information by borrowers and lenders.The Act also acts as a check on certain credit practices which may be injurious for the banking sector.But with the prevailing challenges facing the banking industry, it has become apparent to review aspects of the law to cater for how wrongful loan disbursements could be minimized if not completely eradicated.Addressing stakeholders at a focus meeting aimed at creating a robust financial sector, the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Elsie Addo Awadzi mentioned of the borrowers and lenders act being underway.We also hope that banks will do their part so that the entire current infrastructure in place is working well. We are actually proposing a repeal of the Borrowers and Lenders Act and the replacement of the Act. It is early days yet as the law is currently going around the major stakeholders for their inputs, she stated. A Russian scientist who developed the nerve agent used to poison ex-spy Sergei Skripal was hit by a car in Russia earlier this week, local media has reported. Vladimir Uglev, who claimed to be one of the developers of the military-grade Novichok poison, told Russian news site The Bell he was struck while crossing a street near his home in southern Russia on Tuesday. He was taken to hospital with injuries to his head, arm, and leg, and is recovering, The Moscow Times reported. The perpetrator and motive remain unknown. Earlier this month, Uglev told the BBC earlier this month that he was one of the developers that "helped create Novichok" for the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and that the Skripals were "not the first victims on my conscience." Britain has accused Russia of manufacturing the poison used in the Skripals' attack, and named a secretive military lab in southwestern Russia as the source. Just nine months after the commencement of the country's free senior high school program, government schools in Ghana have kept recording high levels of enrolments while private ones are seeing a dip. The Ghana National Association of Private Schools [GNAPS] says the introduction of governments free Senior High School policy has led to the collapse of some 23 private senior high schools in the country. Although the private school body has lauded the government free high school program, the authority makes a case that "the policy is not a bad one, but to roll out a policy without the private senior high schools in Ghana is quite unfortunate". The folding up of private schools is a worry for GNAPS. The numbers say it all. According to statistics provided by GNAPS, Ghana had a little over 200 private high schools across the country, however, about 23 of them have collapsed. Appiah is therefore calling for the Ghanaian government to partner with them in the implementation of the Free SHS policy to keep Private Senior High Schools in business.All over the world, economies that are thriving are involved in public-private partnership. The Senior High Schools have to be included. How is government introducing free SHS while leaving private schools out? We are engaging government, and we hope that come academic next year, the government will involve us just like the Health Insurance also includes private hospitals and private clinics. There are reports that some heads of private senior high schools had since the introduction of the free SHS programme appealed to the government to extend the policy to their institutions. Few new ideas were offered by Mexico's presidential candidates during the first debate of the campaign on Sunday night, but one comment aroused surprise and anger around the country. "We have to cut off the hands of those who rob. It's that simple," Jaime Rodriguez, or "El Bronco," a former Nuevo Leon state governor running as an independent, said during a discussion about corruption. He added The moderator, taken aback by the comment, twice asked him if he was speaking literally and then checked again if he really meant it. "That's right. That's right," Rodriguez replied. "Literally," he added, making a chopping motion with his hand. He was repudiated for the comment, which was quickly mocked by Mexicans. But he doubled-down after the debate, and hours later, one of the gangs that have proliferated around the country in recent years appeared to endorse it with a grisly display. Next to a dismembered body left on the outskirts of Acapulco on Monday morning, authorities found a sign reading, "El Bronco already said it: cutting off the hands of the scum who steal here is the first thing." The slain man's head, arms, and legs were recovered, but the torso was not found, according to Proceso. The sign was attributed to Los Enterradores, possibly one of many criminal groups that have appeared around Acapulco, a once idyllic resort area that has been called "Guerrero's Iraq." Other signs found near the scene referenced taxes, or "quotas," levied by criminal groups on activities in areas under their control. Such messages, often called "narcomantas," are frequently found at the scene of drug- or organized-crime-related violence in Mexico and were often seen during peak years of cartel bloodshed around 2011. They are usually meant to claim credit for some action or as a warning to rivals or authorities. In some cases, criminal groups have left them on territory controlled by enemies to draw authorities' attention there. In other instances, narcomantas have been left with bodies left in highly visible public areas, as was the case at a pedestrian overpass near the border in Tijuana at the end of 2016 or at several bridges near tourist areas in Baja California Sur in December 2017. The latter incident was the first time that state had seen such displays. In an interview with Joy News, Maame Dokono said the women were not created to be used as a sexual object by a lot of men. It is not good. Our body was not made that way. To be used by a lot of men to make money. She further stated that the rich men who fun these luxurious lifestyles are often politicians and businessmen who did not suffer in making their money. And you know most of these men that give them money are politicians and businessmen maybe who didnt actually struggle to make the money. They got the cheap money to just say that I am buying a car for a girl, I am buying a flat for a girl. The monies that they give to them mostly are stolen money. Maame Dokono was speaking on the back of the interview granted by Ghanaian actress and model Moesha Buodong where she said that she funds her 'ostentatious' lifestyle by bedding rich married men since the acting jobs are not really paying. She made this revelation to CNN's award-winning journalist Christine Amanpour on an episode of "Sex and Love Around the World". Maame Dokono said this lifestyle will take she and her cohorts nowhere. Moesha, in an interview with Christiane Amanpour on Sex & Love Around The World show on CNN, claimed that most Ghanaian women solely depend on men and that, the economy made it so. Her interview received a backlash, with many bashing her for generalising her comments instead of focusing on her business. Reacting to this, Maame Dokono has said that its wrong for actresses to exhibit their body to prove their talent. She said Moesha should have used the platform to project Ghanaian women instead of shaming them. You dont have to exhibit your body to be a good actress. Moesha Boduong had the chance to project Ghanaian women but claimed women depend on men. This is not good. She cant represent the majority. Our bodies were not made to be used by many men, she said. She further claimed that most men who spend lavishly on women like Moesha didnt struggle to make their money. Most of the men who spend lavishly on Moesha are politicians and businessmen who didnt struggle to make their money. Their are monies stolen from the state. She added that the only thing Moesha has is her artificial butt. The only thing Moesha has or uses to lure these men is her 'artificial' butt. Ive heard that she had to perform surgery to reshape her butt. And she is using that to bluff. Will that be there forever? I dont know if she had had children before, but Ive had six children but look at my body?" she quizzed. It is unclear whether the suspects mothers death was occasioned by the news of her sons arrest and likelihood of being jailed. Tuko.co.ke reported police documents as having shown that Theophilus Mutunkei Sakaya had walked into the Uchumi supermarket in Mombasa on April 24 2018, posed as a customer, took and hid nine bundles of the spoon from the shelf of the store and tried to exit with them without paying. READ MORE: Government appointee flogged after being caught in bed with married woman The vigilance of security guards in the supermarket however led to his arrest. When Theophilus Mutunkei Sakaya appeared before the court, his posturing was somber, and Senior Resident Magistrate, Edgar Kagoni in his ruling said: I have considered the accused person mitigation and considering that all the spoons have been recovered, I discharge him. Though he has been left off the hook, the suspect was sternly warned not to repeat the crime that brought him before the court, or there will be no clemency for him. They are suspected to be part of an international narcotic drug smuggling syndicate, and about 2.6 kilograms of liquid cocaine were found in their possession. According to reports, the Brazilians were supposed to hand over the packages to their Nigerian accomplice for onward conveyance and sale. The suspects are believed to be in breach of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, and are currently in the grips of security officials assisting in further investigations. The Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mrs Elsie Awadzie, said this is despite pleas by some domestic banks for the deadline to be extended to 2023. The BoG directive still stands and we expect all banks to meet the requirement by December 2018. READ ALSO: Traffic wardens plead for new jobs after East Legon tunnel opens President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has set up a committee with key stakeholders to explore ways in which indigenous banks can be supported, but that has nothing to do with the directive, she added. In December 2017, the BoG increased its minimum capital requirement for commercial banks from GHS120 million to GHS400 million. Banks unable to meet the deadline will face possible repercussions which include the loss of their banking license. Banking experts have said that banks that are unable to meet the requirement should merge to avoid getting shut down. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that gunmen on Tuesday invaded Saint Ignatius Catholic Church, Ayar-Mbalom in GwerEast Local Government area of Benue State, killing 15 worshippers and two Catholic priests. The killed Catholic priests are Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha. Osu, in a statement, said that the killings were not only abominable, but a slap on the entire Christendom and a calculated effort to instigate hatred and create fear in the hearts of Christians. Those sponsoring these atrocities are being emboldened daily by the inability of the government and the law enforcement agencies to do the needful. The inability of the authorities to take drastic actions against the perpetrators, the country is gradually drifting to a state of anarchy where anything goes. Let those in authority beware of a gathering storm. Things are not as they should be. You cannot expect people to fold their arms and watch all they hold sacred being wiped away. It is true that Christianity abhors violence, but when a people have been pushed to the wall, the only option left for them is to bounce back. They must be reassured that there is no need for them to resort to self-help in order to stay alive. No one has any right to take the lives of others for no just reason, Osu said. The cleric wondered why on earth would some people attack a group of worshipers in a church in an early morning and hacked them to death. What manner of insanity and sadism would make some people open fire on priests celebrating mass in the house of God? What is there offence? Of what use is their death to the perpetrators? This is the height of evil and human callousness that should be condemned in its entirety. This is not, and can never be acceptable in any sane society. We have lost touch with all that we once considered sacred and divine, for many, their consciences are no more active, they have been polluted and disfigured. We all know how Operation Python Dance was swiftly executed in the East, one wonders why the military cannot channel equal zeal to root out these callous killings? Three of the invited MPs including Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, former Minister of Youth and Sports, who doubles as the current opposition NDC MP for Odododiodioo Constituency and Alhassan Azong, former minister of state in charge of Public Sector Reforms and former Peoples National Convention (PNC) MP for Builsa South, were grilled by the CID yesterday. READ ALSO: 9 former NDC Ministers face the CID today A number of ministers and deputy ministers who served under then President John Dramani Mahama and his NDC government (2012- 2016) are being investigated by the police for allegedly collecting double salaries some for about four years. He said he has no knowledge of such an amount a party supporter accused him of the embezzling recently. According to him, there are some people in the party and at the NDC national headquarters, who are simply bent on trying to malign his name and undermine his authority in the region. I met an NDC executive and he accused of spending 2billion cedis that I was supposed to share with other members of the partyI am a wounded lion; Im very bitter because of the unfair treatment from the NDC headquarters; undermining my chairmanship in the Central Region. Nobody gave me a pesewa; not even one Tshirt", he disclosed. READ ALSO: Allotey Jacobs says he regrets ever criticizing former President Kufuor Dr Ransford Gyampo, a senior Lecturer at the Political Science Department, University of Ghana, Legon has waded into the debate describing members of the opposition and Ghanaians criticising the appointment as hypocrites. He said the major problem facing Ghana is ignorance, hypocrisy and propaganda against a government. According to him, some of the staffers appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo served under former President John Mahama. "Some of the staffers served under former President John Dramani Mahama. "Our major problem as a country is ignorance, hypocrisy and propaganda; because some of the people criticising the president are aware that part of the workers at the presidency were engaged under Mahamas regime before the current government assumed office," he said in an interview on Accra-based Adom FM. He added: "We politicise everything in this country, the NDC who just exited power is aware of the numbers they left but they wont tell Ghanaians the truth but rather engage in propaganda." On Friday, April 20, Nana Addo has forwarded a list of 998 current staffers and ministers of state at the presidency to Parliament for purposes of accountability. The list shows that there are a total of 998 people currently working in various positions at the Presidency. Donning sportswear and black-rimmed glasses, the 54-year-old -- a former leader of Colombia's "united self-defense forces," the right-wing paramilitary groups that formed to fight Marxist rebels -- pleaded not guilty during his appearance before Judge Viktor Pohorelsky. According to prosecutors his organization "imported tons of cocaine into the United States and employed hit men who carried out acts of violence across North and South America." Between 2013 and 2014 the Gulf Clan was linked to multi-ton cocaine shipments and "coordinated the production, purchase and transfer of shipments of cocaine, as well as the receipt of shipments of cocaine in Mexico and Central America," prosecutors said. The organization also imposed a "tax" on other drug traffickers operating in territories it ruled over. Rendon was captured in a jungle raid in 2009 but the Supreme Court initially ruled that he could not be extradited until he had taken part in the country's reparations process, which provides a degree of amnesty for former fighters who testify about crimes committed during the country's half-century of civil war. The self-defense groups had been formed in the 1990s to fight the Marxist guerillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and were disbanded in 2006 during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe. The statement, released Tuesday, called it the "biggest amount of cocaine seized in the country". The official Xinhua news agency said the massive haul had a street value of one billion yuan ($160 million). The drug came from an unidentified South American country and was shipped to the Guangdong port of Shanwei. The police statement, released Tuesday, did not say whether the drug was destined for the Chinese market or another country, but cocaine use is low in China compared to other drugs. A 2017 government report found that China had 2.5 million drug users, with 60 percent consuming synthetic drugs, 38 percent using opiates and 1.4 percent using cocaine and marijuana. Cocaine originates in the Andes but China is believed to be one of the main manufacturers of synthetic drugs -- including opioids such as fentanyl -- which have been blamed for public health crises in the US, Canada and Australia among other countries. The Shenzhen investigation began in July 2017 after police received a tip related to drug trafficking, the Guangdong public security statement said. A month later, a task force learned that gangs were about to conduct a "large scale" drug delivery. Five suspects, including three from Hong Kong, were detained and 40 kilogrammes of cocaine were seized. In February, the investigation led to the arrest of three more suspects and the seizure of another 1,291 kilogrammes of cocaine. Commemorations this year focused on the final campaigns ahead of the November 1918 Armistice that ended the fighting, including the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, with Australian leader Malcolm Turnbull attending the dawn service in France. "While the fateful landing at Gallipoli lies at the heart of the Anzac remembrance, over the years and across the generations the Anzac legend has come to encompass far more," Turnbull said. It was a day to remember "all those from every generation and every conflict who have put their lives on the line". The chief of the New Zealand defence force, Lieutenant-General Tim Keating, paid tribute to the sacrifices made by servicemen and women. "We do not, as New Zealanders, seek to glorify war but we can acknowledge the courage, the commitment the sacrifice of those who have served their country well, with honour and with pride," he told a dawn service in Wellington. The Australian national march in Canberra was led by former army apprentices, while women were at the forefront of marches in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth as part of a "By the Left" campaign by the Women Veterans Network Australia. Some female veterans have said they had stopped going to Anzac Day marches after being repeatedly challenged about wearing their medals on the "wrong side" as people did not believe they had served in the military. Veterans wear their medals on their left chest while their family members wear the medals on the right. "Female veterans do not want to be different, we want to be viewed the same -- as veterans," campaign organiser Kellie Dadds, who has been deployed eight times including to Iraq and Afghanistan, said. "But to achieve this, we must first be seen." About 15 percent of serving Australian Defence Force personnel are women. Security measures had been stepped up, with concrete barriers reinforced with steel to protect crowds against vehicle attacks in Sydney. Authorities said no specific terrorism threats had been received, but added that the deadly van crash in Toronto on Monday was a "salient reminder" of what could occur. World War I was devastating for Australia, which had a population of just five million at that time, in terms of deaths and casualties. Of the more than 400,000 men who enlisted, over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. Abubakar, Nigeria's former vice president and presidential hopeful, stated this while speaking at the Chatham House on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, monitored live by Business Insider Sub Saharan Africa. He spoke on the importance of strengthening states economic management system at Londons Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). Abubakar, who used the opportunity to harp on some of his economic programmes and policies as a presidential candidate, said his government will streamline the operations of the Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Excess Crude Account and the Stabilisation Account which is currently embedded in the Revenue Allocation Formula for more effective stabilisation outcome. I will extend railways to connect workers to jobs, suppliers to buyers, students to universities, and parents to their children in every major city in every state, the presidential aspirant told the audience. Here are 9 takeaways from the former president's speech at Chatham House 1. Nigeria's Federal Government will need to have intervention programmes for those states that rank low on the Human Development Index 2. Subnational economies must be assisted in reforming their economic management systems and improving taxpayer compliance 3. He stressed the need for diversification as an economic plan to envision a Nigeria not dependent on hydrocarbons 4. Nigerian economy remains fragile and vulnerable to the vagaries of the global economy 5. Oil revenue should finance infrastructure development; internally generated revenue should fund recurrent expenditure - a proposal Abubakar said he rejected in the past. 6. He said we need a Nigeria that challenges our leadership to create wealth in every layer of government and make it work for our citizens. 'Propaganda is a poor substitute for a proper agenda!' 7. Abubakar also preached restructuring he said restructuring Nigerias economy and polity is a necessity, not an option. It will foster a spirit of freedom in a diverse nation and nurture strong and democratic government. 8. He said Nigerian states are poor not because they are not receiving a fair share of oil money but because they are not receiving a fair shot at true federalism. Only restructuring can correct that. 9. He discussed the introduction of Matching Grants to be taken from the revenue accruable to the Federal Government for the purpose of matching IGR of each state in order to encourage states to become self-reliant. The Trump administration is planning to fill the long-vacant US ambassador position in South Korea with US Navy Adm. Harry Harris, who was originally set to take over as ambassador to Australia, according to multiple reports. A senior White House official told Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin that the administration wanted to renominate Harris, the outgoing Pacific Command chief, for the South Korea job. Harris had already been approved by the Australian government, but the White House late on Monday asked the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to postpone Harris' confirmation hearing, which was supposed to take place on Tuesday morning. Harris' successor at PACOM, Adm. Phil Davidson, was confirmed for that role by the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday morning. Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo is reportedly behind the switch. The White House official told Rogin that Harris has confirmed to Pompeo he is willing to take on the ambassador role in Seoul. An official familiar with the matter told CBS News the move was likely to happen, though President Donald Trump has yet to give the go-ahead. The impetus for the change appears to be the need to fill a critical diplomatic role, especially ahead of potential talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are set to meet on Friday. Kim has already met with Pompeo, in his role as CIA director. Charge d'Affaires Mark Knapper has been leading the US Embassy in South Korea, but Trump has faced criticism for not filling the ambassador position there. Victor Cha, a highly respected academic and an official in the George W. Bush administration, was under consideration for the role last year, but the White House scrapped his candidacy in December, reportedly over his privately expressed disagreements with Trump's policy on North Korea. Harris, who is well respected by members of both parties, is planning to retire this year after four decades in the Navy. His potential confirmation as South Korea ambassador will still take time, however, in part because of the need for more vetting. While he has a background and interest in US-Australian affairs, he has less experience with North Korea and South Korea, despite numerous visits to the latter as part of his PACOM duties. While Pompeo is reportedly pushing for the change, he himself still needs Senate confirmation to take over at Foggy Bottom. His approval by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which appeared in doubt, came through on Monday evening, and a vote by the full Senate could come before Friday. According to Punch, the University Senate made the decision at its meeting where results of graduating and non-graduating students were considered and approved. Most of the affected students are said to be those who were admitted when post-UTME test was not conducted due to the Federal Government directive to all universities to stop conducting post-UTME screening exercise. Deputy VC confirms the students expulsion Speaking on the withdrawal of the 408 students, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adeyinka Aderinto said the school would not lower its academic standards despite the financial difficulty it currently faces. The University of Ibadan will continue to uphold its standards despite dwindling funding to the university, by adhering to global standards. I call on parents to monitor their children to ensure that those who have been asked to withdraw from the university do not lie and continue to extort money in the name of being a student at the university. The conduct of UI Model of Post-UTME screening has helped to separate men from boys and helped the institution in maintaining its historical standards as a global brand. Being admitted to the UI is a privilege that requires students to be up and doing in their studies. There are minimum academic requirements a student must meet at the end of the session and those who fall short of that would have to leave the university''. Federal Government banned UTME in 2016 Recall that the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu on Thursday, June 2, 2016, stopped universities from conducting Post-UTME for admission seekers. TMZ reports that according to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's official order, Meek has an allegedly corrupt police officer who reportedly served as a "critical witness" in Meek's original gun and drugs case, to thank for his release. According to the reports, prosecutors were not against Meek being released and were also instrumental. Overruling Judge Genece Brinkley, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania finally made the decision. The reports also revealed that Judge Brinkley was criticized and accused of having a grudge against Meek which was his reason for keeping him in prison, even though his release was being requested over the discovery of the corrupt police. Meek was, only last week, denied bail by Judge Brinkley with a new hearing fixed for 60 days after. What a difference a couple of days can make, however, he is not fully out of the woods. The justices have reportedly released Meek with no bail while awaiting the hearing to possibly dismiss the conviction altogether. Concerning his release, Meek had this to say to TMZ, "Id like to thank God, my family, my friends, my attorneys, my team at Roc Nation including JAY-Z, Desiree Perez, my good friend Michael Rubin, my fans, The Pennsylvania Supreme Court and all my public advocates for their love, support and encouragement during this difficult time. "While the past five months have been a nightmare, the prayers, visits, calls, letters and rallies have helped me stay positive." He added, "To the Philadelphia District Attorneys office, Im grateful for your commitment to justice not only for my case but for others that have been wrongfully jailed due to police misconduct. Although Im blessed to have the resources to fight this unjust situation, I understand that many people of colour across the country dont have that luxury and I plan to use my platform to shine a light on those issues. In the meantime, I plan to work closely with my legal team to overturn this unwarranted conviction and look forward to reuniting with my family and resuming my music career." Joe Tacopina, Meek's lawyer, said, "Meek was unjustly convicted and should not have spent a single day in jail. Meek is excited to be reunited with his family, and we, along with Meek, intend to continue to shine the light on a justice system in need of reform to prevent any other citizen from being put through what Meek has endured. Meek Mill sentenced to 2-4 years in prison for violating probation TMZ first reported that rapper, Meek Mill has been sentenced to at least two years in prison for violating probation Meek appeared in a Philadelphia court on Monday, November 8, 2017, where the judge reportedly ruled that the rapper violated probation from his 2009 drug and weapons case. ALSO READ: Rapper visits Meek Mill in prison In March, Meek, 30, was arrested in St. Louis and charged with misdemeanor assault for an altercation with two airport employees. According to the judge, the rapper also violated probation when he was arrested for reckless driving in New York City. Although both cases were dropped, the judge said the arrests alone were violations. The court consequently jailed Meek for two to four years. The Magistrate, Mrs O. Sule Amzat, who handed down the verdict, said the sentence should serve as a deterrent to others. Amzat advised Ogunyemi, 22, and Saliu, 20, both residents of Oremeta Street, Ojodu Berger, on the outskirts of Lagos, to desist from committing crime. The convicts, who were arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy and theft, pleaded guilty to the charges. The convicts asked the court to temper justice with mercy, saying they committed the crime because of lack of job and poverty. The Prosecutor, Police Insp. Benson Emuerhi, had told the court that the complainant, Benson Eniber, was robbed of his Infinix phone valued at N150,000 on April 11 at Ketu, Lagos. According to him, the accused are professional pickpockets. The accused attacked the complainant and robbed him of the phone and as a result, a mob wanted to set them ablaze before the police came and arrested them. The men admitted during interrogation that they have been picking pockets of peoplefor over two years, he said. Emuerhi said the phone and a cutlass were recovered from them by the police. He was nabbed following a confession by an armed robber on Monday, April 23, 2018. Samuel, who is reportedly the leader of a Yenagoa gang of thieves was caught with various arms as well as bags of weed suspected to be Indian Hemp. On April 23, 2018 at about 0400 hours, following interrogation and confession of an armed robbery suspect, operatives of Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad, Yenagoa, stormed the residence of one Henry Samuel m 33 years, a kingpin of a notorious armed robbery gang, at Ovom, Yenagoa. Upon thorough search of his house, the operatives recovered the following items; one Browning Pistol, breech number PK401158 with three rounds of live ammunition, one locally made revolver pistol with four rounds of live ammunition, one locally made single barrelled pistol, with four live AAA and cartridges. Other items recovered were one Toshiba laptop, two infinix phones, one Techno phone, four daggers, one basin full of bags of weed suspected to be Indian hemp, says a police rep, Mr. Asinim Butswat. He revealed the findings of the police in a statement offered to Punch News on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Deadly Akwa Ibom kidnapper killed days after police captured his native doctor The combined efforts of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Nigerian Army has ensured the death of a deadly Akwa Ibom kidnapper, Akaninyene Jumbo, who was killed days after his native doctor was captured. Jumbo, who was notorious for criminal activities such as kidnappings, robbery, cultism and politically-motivated killings, was shot dead in Rivers State, during a gun battle with security operatives on Monday, January 15, 2018, according to reports. His death is expected to offer some relief to residents of the Etim Ekpo and Ukanafun local government areas, who have longed endured his reign of terror. The Nation News reported that his corpse was exhibited at a military checkpoint at Iwukem junction and then to Ukanafun Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom, where his hometown of Ikot Ibekwe, is located. The assault team which facilitated his death was put together by Ibrahim Idris, Nigeria's Inspector General of Police. The allegation came up after Adewale, a 15-year-old girl, made to plait the hair of a neighbour, Adedayo Adesanya. In Somolu, Lagos, a group of six people alleged to have harmed Adewale have been arrested by in a report by The Nation News. Her father was also battered by one of the aggressors while trying to defend his daughter according to reports. In the morning of that day, I was eating with my siblings when Aunty Dayo called me to come and plait her hair. I told her I would come when I finished. I went to her room after my meal and she was not there. I just stayed there and suddenly I saw someone run out of the house. In the evening of that day, they accused me of stealing N16,000. They later said they were looking for N6,000 and then N1,500. Then Iya Feranmi took fresh pepper and mixed inside water. She poured it in my eyes. The next day, Daddy Dayo came to our house and beat me up. He also beat up my father. "They called some boys to beat us. One woman started begging them to leave us alone before they did. "Iya Feranmi brought kerosene and matches. They poured kerosene on my body and wanted to strike a matchstick when someone took it from them. "Auntie Muria brought belt they used to flog me. Since that day, anytime I passed by, they taunted me. They called me a thief and they tell my father that he gave birth to a thief. My mother was not around while all these were going on. Because of the pains I was in, I admitted I stole the money and they untied me. My father asked if they saw the money with me or if they saw me steal it, but Daddy Dayo slapped him. They scattered our apartment and in the process, they saw a cloth and new shoe and they accused me of using the money to buy them. "Whereas, the cloth and shoe were bought for me and my siblings, but since mine was big, I folded it and kept it so that I will wear it when I grow to the size," the teenager Ikimi Adewale told The Nation. Chike Oti, a Superintendent of Police (SP), confirmed that the case was referred to the police by a child's right activist. Lagos cab man in trouble after passenger dies in his vehicle A Lagos cab man got in a sticky situation in Ojota after a passenger named Muyibi died in his vehicle on Friday, April 6, 2018. The deceased was discovered in the backseat where he had drawn his last breath. He died shortly after withdrawing a sum of N100,200. ALSO READ: Mob attacks Abia witch accused of killing neighbours A resident of the Ojota community revealed to Punch News on a condition of anonymity how things developed at the scene of tragedy. The driver had picked some other passengers along the way, and they had all paid and dropped off at their various bus stops. When the victim did not respond when they got to the terminus, the driver parked the cab to rouse him, but he was cold. "The driver raised the alarm, which drew the attention of commuters and passersby to the scene. People checked him and discovered that the man was dead," the witness said. For the cab driver, the idea of having a dead man at the back of his car seat wasn't so much appetizing. Mukaila Bankole, the chairman of the cab drivers association in Ojota confirmed that the event was a scary one for the subject who raised alarm following the shocking discovery. A crowd of pedestrians gathered around him as a result. The police reportedly let go of him but refused to release his cab. It happened around 3pm on Friday. The man went to withdraw some money in UBA. "The Ogudu Divisional Police Officer was compassionate; she pitied the cab driver, who had become jittery. Perhaps, to ease the pressure of such questions, the presidency has detailed the president's initiatives in the agricultural sector since he assumed office in 2015. In the Aso Rock Newsletter published by the Presidency Office of Digital Engagement (PODE) on Monday, April 23, the presidency listed five of the initiatives of Buhari's government that Nigerians should know about. From the Anchor Borrowers Programme, to the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, and the much-publicised Food Security Council, here are the initiatives the presidency wants you to know about (replicated exactly in their own words): 1. Anchor Borrowers Programme: The Anchor Borrowers' Programme (ABP), established by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) on November 17, 2015. It is intended to create a linkage between anchor companies involved in the processing and small holder farmers (SHFs) of the required key agricultural commodities. The ABP provides farm inputs in kind and cash (for farm labour) to small holder farmers to boost production of these commodities. At harvest, the SHF supplies his/her produce to the Agro-processor (Anchor) who pays the cash equivalent to the farmer's account. CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, February 2018: "Since commencement of the (Anchor Borrowers) Programme in November 2015, the CBN in partnership with state governments and several private sector groups, have disbursed a cumulative sum of N55.526 billion to over 250,000 farmers who cultivated almost 300,000 hectares of farmland for rice, wheat, maize, cotton, soybeans, cassava, etc. "Two years into the implementation, the programme has contributed to the creation of an estimated 890,000 direct and 2.6 million indirect jobs." 2. Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI): PFI was launched in December 2016 as the outcome of a partnership between the Governments of Nigeria and Morocco, and implemented as a Public-Private Partnership in Nigeria, led by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN). 3. Youth Farm Lab: The Youth Farm Lab is an Initiative of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in conjunction with Synergos, to train Nigerian youths on livestock production and sustainable urban agriculture. It seeks Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 35 years who are passionate about Agriculture and believe in its profitability potentials. 4. Presidential Economic Diversification Initiative (PEDI): Launched in July 2017, the Presidential Economic Diversification Initiative (PEDI) supports the revival of moribund industries (especially in Agro-processing) by facilitating new investments, reducing regulatory bottlenecks and enabling access to credit. PEDI has made breakthroughs in the agribusiness sector in Imo and Ondo States. 5. Food Security Council: The Council, to be chaired by the President, was inaugurated on Monday, March 26, 2018. It has as its members: Governors of Kebbi, Taraba, Plateau, Lagos, Ebonyi and Delta States; Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Chief of Staff to the President; National Security Adviser; Ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development; Finance; Interior; Industry, Trade and Investment; Water Resources; Environment; and Budget and National Planning; Chief of Defence Staff; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Directors-General of the Department of State Services and the National Intelligence Agency; and the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service. Ahemba told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lafia that the seven farmers were displaced by the recent attacks in the state. He said they had sneaked in to their deserted village to pick some food stuff when they were ambushed and killed on Tuesday. Ahemba, who lamented the unfortunate incident, called on the Tiv people to remain calm as the matter had been reported to the appropriate authorities. We the indigenous Tiv people of Nasarawa State have no other place to run to and that is why we continuously count on our Governor, Umaru Al-Makura, for solution to this carnage. We appreciate the efforts the state government and other stakeholders have made toward the restoration of peace to our communities, but we will continue cry to the authorities until a lasting solution is found, he said. The former vice president said this while speaking at Chatham House on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Speaking on the theme "Next Generation Nigeria: The Importance of Strengthening States' Economic Management", he said the country needs to be restructured to foster the spirit of cooperation amidst a diverse group of people, condemning the current faulty system that's a result of dysfunction inherited from years of military rule. He said, "When I talk about restructuring, I am not talking about just constitutional tweaks, I am talking about a cultural revolution. It is not about re-shuffling a few responsibilities or resources, but about disrupting the authoritarian politics our democracy has inherited. "Restructuring Nigeria's economy and polity is a necessity, not an option. It will foster a spirit of freedom in a diverse nation and nurture strong and democratic government. "Some Nigerian states are poor not because they are not receiving a fair share of oil money but because they are not receiving a fair shot at true federalism. Only restructuring can correct that." The former vice president noted that his views on restructuring is not fueled by political gains but by a desire to make sure that the country prospers through an effective system. When questioned if he believes his idea of restructuring can be implemented, he said that it is very easy to achieve if there's the political will to do it. Melaye jumped off a police van as he was being conveyed to Kogi for an arraignmentover gun running charges. He sustained injuries from the jump and was first checked into the Zankli Hospital, Abuja. On Tuesday, Melaye was transferred to the National Hospital, Abuja. Senator Bala NaAllah who joined Senate President Saraki to the National Hospital on Wednesday, April 25, told the press that Melaye is currently receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the health facility. Apart from being handcuffed, NaAllah announced that Melaye has been left without food since he was checked into the National Hospital. Reservations about feeding Dino The senators who adjourned plenary, Wednesday, in order to be able to visit Melaye at the hospital, were not allowed to see him. We spoke to the doctor who is in charge of the ICU and they assured us that they are doing everything humanly possible to stabilize him but he is in the intensive care unit. We tried as much as possible to see him but we were refused access. The instruction that was left by the Police is that only Senator Abu Ibrahim is permitted to see him, NaAllah said. As at the time we were leaving the hospital, the feeding of Dino has become an issue because the Police are not willing to feed him because of the situation. They are afraid. The hospital has equally expressed reservations about feeding Senator Dino. A medical personnel from the Police who is working together with the trauma surgeon handling Dino told us that whoever is bringing the food for Dino must taste it. There is also a report that Dino has asthma so a chest surgeon was the one seen while we were leaving, NaAllah added. Melaye has been having a running battle with Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello. The gunmen were later identified as herdsmen. They first started the attack in a community closer to mine (Ayar-Mbalom) on Monday evening but were repelled by the locals. They were even pursued into the bush. They made effort all through the night on some villages within the surroundings and met with stiff resistance, one of the survivors of the attack known as Samuel, told Daily Trust. Death in God's house The 5:30am funeral mass was just about to begin when the gunmen arrived. Rev. Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha were supposed to conduct the funeral mass. According to Samuel, sympathisers, parishioners as well as the priests who were about to conduct mass, had converged on the church, when suddenly the gunmen besieged the premises and opened fire on everyone. Early reports said the gunmen numbered about 30. Some of the attackers used machetes on their victims while the others shot sporadically, killing the priests and many other people. A lot of people were injured and the death toll might likely rise as some of the injured are in bad shape, Samuel said, according to Daily Trust. Director of Communications, Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Fr. Moses Iorapuu, said that the gunmen burnt down homes, destroyed food items and embarked on a killing spree. Nothing and no one was spared. Some residents of Ayar-Mbalom who tried to flee the scene were stopped dead in their tracks by a hail of bullets, Samuel says. Police confirms incident Benue State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, confirmed the incident to newsmen. Owoseni said that some bandits suspected to be herdsmen attacked the church in Mbalom community of Gwer East and killed two priests, among others. Owoseni who visited the affected areas, said the attackers came in at 5:00am and disrupted a burial ceremony which the priests were expected to officiate. He added that 16 dead bodies were recovered. That brings the total number of the dead from the incident to 19, if you add the two killed priests as well as one other corpse which had been brought to Makurdi, the Benue State capital, earlier in the day. Buhari says attack is satanic President Muhammadu Buhari who was elected in 2015 on the back of a campaign promise to secure Nigerians better than his predecessors, described the Benue attack as vile, evil and satanic. I extend my sincere condolences to the govt and people of Benue State, the Mbalom community, and especially the Bishop, priests and members of the St Ignatius' Catholic Church, whose premises was the unfortunate venue of the heinous killings of worshippers and two priests by gunmen, the president said in a statement. This latest assault on innocent persons is particularly despicable. Violating a place of worship, killing priests and worshippers is not only vile, evil and satanic, it is clearly calculated to stoke up religious conflict and plunge our communities into endless bloodletting. I want to assure the people of Benue, and all Nigerians, that we will ensure that the assailants are apprehended and brought to justice for this vile and sacrilegious act, the president added. Osinbajo says body of Christ must not lose focus Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a Christian and Pastor from the nations predominantly Christian South, said he was notified of the violation of a Catholic church in Benue State by armed killers who went in while a burial mass was taking place and they killed a priest and some worshippers. It is not only a heinous sacrilege, but high wickedness to kill persons in a place of worship. As I discussed these issues with the president and other ministers in the Security Council, it is evident to me and to many, that the devils bigger agenda is to stoke up a religious conflict in Nigeria, one that will make it impossible for anyone to preach the gospel or even for Muslims to worship in their mosques. A few days ago in Bama, a mosque was bombed and many died. Many such examples abound. While the security agencies continue to work relentlessly to haunt down the perpetrators of these evil acts and to bring a permanent end to all of the killings going on in the name of herdsmen, Boko Haram, or in any other name, we as a body of Christ must not lose focus, the vice president said. Recurring herdsmen killings Herdsmen killings across Nigeriahas been a recurring theme since the turn of the year. A chunk of the nations north central States have been affected by the killings often blamed on marauding herdsmen of Fulani extraction. The lawmaker had been arrested earlier on Tuesday when he surrendered to officers after months of refusing to honour invitations to report at the Kogi State Police Command for questioning. He turned himself in and was taken to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Headquarters in Guzape, Abuja. In a statement signed by the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Aremu Adeniran, in Abuja, he said Melaye surrendered himself to officers to "answer to criminal indictments levelled against him in a case of criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms, kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, political thuggery and other violent crimes in Kogi state." The arrest happened months after Melaye's current ordeal started with the arrest of criminals in Kogi. After Kabiru Saidu, a.k.a Osama, and Nuhu Salisu, aka Small, were arrested at Ogojueje in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi on January 19, 2018, they confessed to the police that Senator Melaye hired them to cause unrest in the state ahead of the 2019 general elections. The criminal suspects revealed that the lawmaker handed them a bag containing one AK-47 rifle, two pump action guns and the sum of N430,000 to recruit hardened troublemakers and unleash mayhem in Kogi. The police first requested Melaye's presence in a letter addressed to Senate President, Bukola Saraki, dated March 2, 2018, urging him to report to the Police on March 7 to answer to the criminal offences levelled against him, but he refused the invitation, alleging that the police was colluding with the Kogi state government to cause him harm. He was officially declared wanted by the police on March 28, the day he was due to be arraigned in court over the charges of criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms alongside OsamaandSmall who both escaped from their prison cell. Both of them were rearrested before April 1, but the lawmaker refused to honour the invitation from authorities unless the case was transferred to the Abuja Police Command. NIS stopped Melaye from travelling abroad While attempting to travel to Morocco for an official engagement on Monday, April 23, Melaye was arrested by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The operatives seized his international passport to prevent him from leaving the country. According to the police, the lawmaker snatched his seized passport from NIS operatives and retreated to his house in Maitama, Abuja, where police officers later laid siege into the early hours of Tuesday. Early on Tuesday, he announced that he would pay a visit to police authorities after his police escorts were withdrawn. After his arrest, media reports indicated that Melaye would be transported to Lokoja, Kogi's capital, to be paraded with other suspects who are involved with him in the case. On Tuesday afternoon, news reports alleged that the lawmaker had jumped off a moving police vehicle to stop an attempt by SARS officers to transport him to Kogi state where he has always said he fears for his life. Further reports indicated that the lawmaker had been rushed to the Zankli Medical Center in Mabuchi district of Abuja to be treated for injuries sustained in his jump; but, curiously, he was without security escort. Thugs helped Melaye escape - Police According to a statement signed by Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Jimoh Moshood, Melaye had briefly escaped from police officers on Tuesday with help from hoodlums. The police spokesperson said unidentified thugs blocked the path of the police vehicle conveying Melaye, which prompted the lawmaker to jump out of the vehicle through the window and escape with the hoodlums. The statement read, "At about 12pm of today (Tuesday) Sen. Dino Melaye while in lawful custody of the Nigeria Police Force and being taken for arraignment in Federal High Court Lokoja, from Abuja, escaped from lawful custody when hoodlums and miscreants in Two (2) Toyota Hilux Vehicles blocked the Police vehicle conveying Senator Dino Melaye around Area 1 Round About, Abuja and in the process the Senator jumped out of the Police vehicle through the window and was rescued from the Police men by hoodlums and miscreants to an unknown destination." The Senator resurfaced at the in an ambulance, apparently unconscious, around 4:25pm and was admitted into the emergency unit. A medical official told Premium Times that Melaye was not in critical condition, but he was suspected to have broken a vertebrae. Led by ACP Moshood, a team of at least 30 armed police officers caught up with Melaye in the health facility and took custody of the room he was admitted into. According to ACP Moshood's statement, one of the vehicles used by the hoodlums to aid Melaye's rescue was recovered by officers on Tuesday. He also revealed that Senator Melaye will be arraigned in court without further delay. There have been reports that the lawmaker was moved to the National Hospital, Abuja, in a police ambulance around 9:30pm on Tuesday despite objections from Zankli medical staff who advised against moving him. In February 2018,Justice Mojisola Dada issued a bench warrant for Chukwuma's arrest because he failed to appear in court twice for arraignment on criminal charges filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Subsequently, Chukwumas legal team challenged the jurisdiction of the Lagos State High Court to hear the suit on the forgery charge levelled against him by the EFCC. According to a statement by Innosons spokesman, Cornel Osigwe,At the last court sitting on Wednesday, March 14th 2018, Innoson through his legal counsel led by Chief George Uwechue (SAN) challenged the jurisdiction of the Lagos State High Court to hear the suit on the forgery charge against Innoson filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Justice Dada had in the last hearing said she would no longer entertain further proceedings in the suit involving Innoson until she knows the outcome of the petition against her before the National Judicial Council (NJC). It will be recalled that Innoson had on Feb 12th 2018, petitioned the National Judicial Council to investigate the circumstance leading to Honorable Mojisola Dada of Lagos State High Court issuing a bench warrant against him and ordering his arrest. Speaking on the application challenging the jurisdiction of the court, the lead prosecuting counsel to EFCC maintained that despite the petition, the Judge can still go on with the prosecution. According to Osigwe, Counsel to Chukwuma raised the issue of the Courts lack of jurisdiction to entertain the case and that he was ready to move that application. However, the trial Judge maintained that she will not entertain any application except Chief Innocent Chukwuma is at the dock. He also said The incessant interruption of the court and its failure to allow Uwechue address the Court led him to remind the Court that he is a life Bencher, a former Chairman of Body of Benchers and has been in practice for over 50 years. Subsequently, the Court allowed him to address it on the point that the presence of Innosons boss is not necessary since he is challenging the Courts jurisdiction. Chief Uwechue, SAN, cited the case of Igbeke v. FRN [2015] 3 NWLR (Pt. 1445) 28 at 49 paragraphs D H. ALSO READ: Full story of how Innoson and GTB fell out Trouble started when Uwechue, attempted to read out a portion of the decision of the Appellate Court from the case he cited and the prosecuting counsel took over the control of the court and refused to let him read out the decision. Ozioko posited that they are the Federal Republic of Nigeria and as such had taken control of the court and the proceedings. Chief Uwechue, SAN, urged and expected the court to call Ozioko Esq. to order but the Court did not do that but rather started stampeding him and encouraged Ozioko. With help from hoodlums, Melaye had briefly escaped from police officers on Tuesday while he was being transported to Kogi state to be arraigned for criminal charges. The lawmaker had refused to honour police invitations for weeks and had been declared wanted before he was eventually arrested on Tuesday. Despite surrendering to operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) early on Tuesday, Senator Melaye had insisted he wouldn't be transported to Kogi after a court had ruled that his case be transferred to Abuja. "The senator also refused to go to Lokoja because he had previously secured a court relief for the case to be moved to Abuja," his media aide, Gideon Ayodele, said. While he was being transported on Tuesday, the lawmaker refused to be moved by officers and sat stubbornly on the floor by the side of the road. In a video that has emerged online, he can be seen insisting that he won't follow the officers to Lokoja and that he would resort to killing himself to put the officers in trouble. He can be heard saying, "I will kill myself and put all of you in trouble. Which court are you going to meet in Lokoja at this time?" Watch video below: Senator Melaye later escaped custody of the police with the help of unknown thugs who blocked the path of the police vehicle conveying him, prompting the lawmaker to jump out of the vehicle through the window and escape with the hoodlums. A police statement read, "At about 12pm of today (Tuesday) Sen. Dino Melaye while in lawful custody of the Nigeria Police Force and being taken for arraignment in Federal High Court Lokoja, from Abuja, escaped from lawful custody when hoodlums and miscreants in Two (2) Toyota Hilux Vehicles blocked the Police vehicle conveying Senator Dino Melaye around Area 1 Round About, Abuja and in the process the Senator jumped out of the Police vehicle through the window and was rescued from the Police men by hoodlums and miscreants to an unknown destination." The Senator resurfaced at the in an ambulance, apparently unconscious, around 4:25pm and was admitted into the emergency unit. A medical official told Premium Times that Melaye was not in critical condition, but he was suspected to have broken a vertebrae. A team of at least 30 armed police officers caught up with Melaye in the health facility and took custody of the room he was admitted into. According to the police, one of the vehicles used by the hoodlums to aid Melaye's rescue was recovered by officers on Tuesday. The police statement also disclosed that Senator Melaye will be arraigned in court without further delay. The lawmaker was moved to the National Hospital, Abuja, in a police ambulance around 9:30pm on Tuesday despite objections from Zankli medical staff who advised against moving him. Melaye's criminal association After Kabiru Saidu, a.k.a Osama, and Nuhu Salisu, aka Small, were arrested at Ogojueje in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi on January 19, 2018, they confessed to the police that Senator Melaye hired them to cause unrest in the state ahead of the 2019 general elections. The criminal suspects revealed that the lawmaker handed them a bag containing one AK-47 rifle, two pump action guns and the sum of N430,000 to recruit hardened troublemakers and unleash mayhem in Kogi. The police first requested Melaye's presence in a letter addressed to Senate President, Bukola Saraki, dated March 2, 2018, urging him to report to the Police on March 7 to answer to the criminal offences levelled against him, but he refused the invitation, alleging that the police was colluding with the Kogi state government to cause him harm. On Tuesday, April 24, 2018, herdsmen attacked St. Ignatius Quasi Parish Ukpor-Mbalom in Ayar-Mbalom community of Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State, killing two Catholic priests and 17 other worshipers. According to Punch, the Vice President described the killing as a heinous sacrilege. Osinbajo also said that the devils plan is to cause a religious conflict in Nigeria. The VP said this at the inauguration of the headquarters auditorium in Gbagada, Lagos State. I was notified of the violation of a Catholic church in Benue State by armed killers, who went there while a burial mass was taking place and killed the priest and some worshippers. It is not only a heinous sacrilege, but high wickedness to kill persons in the place of worship. As I discuss these issues with the President and other members in the security council, it is evident to me and to many that the devils biggest agenda is to stoke up a religious conflict in Nigeria; one that will make it impossible for anyone to preach the gospel or even Muslims to worship in their mosques. A few days ago in Bama, a mosque was burnt and many died. While the security agencies continue to work relentlessly to hunt down the perpetrators of this evil acts and bring a permanent end to all the killings that are going on in the name of herdsmen or Boko Haram or in any other name. We, as the body of Christ, must not lose focus. We are called to bring men and women to salvation: all men and women, even those who kill and persecute us. The enemy wants us to stand on our pulpit and preach hate. But we will not. We will obey our Lord Jesus Christ, who said that we must love our enemies and preach to even those who persecute us. There is nobody born or yet to be born that can stop the march of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Osinbajo said. Pray for us The Vice President also said that it is the duty of the Church to hold up the hands of those in office. Osinbajo also called on Christians not to complain about government, but to support political leaders in prayer. He said Those of us Christians in government, we are sometimes referred to as Esthers; we are told that we are in office for such a time as this. What is often forgotten is that when Mordecai told Esther that she was in the palace for such a time as this, Esther replied in Esther 4:16, Go and gather all the Jews that are in Shusan and fast for me, neither eat for three days night and day. My maids will fast likewise and I will go to the king, which is against the law, and if I perish, I perish. ALSO READ:Osinbajo says Jonathan shared N150bn 2 weeks to 2015 elections This I say to the church as well; it is the duty of the church to pray for those in government; the church should uphold the hands of those in government, not by complaining, but by supporting us in the place of prayer. Governance is spiritual warfare. Anyone that does not know that, I know that governance is spiritual warfare and I ask that you pray for us who are in position of authority in this land. There had been reports that Melaye went into coma. The senator representing Kogi west is being treated at the National Hospital in Abuja after sustaining injuries while trying to escape from the police vehicle conveying him to a court in Kogi State on Tuesday, April 24. The police had accused Melaye of supplying guns to some murder suspects, who allegedly confessed that the lawmaker is their sponsor. Melaye has since denied the allegations, accusing the Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello of being behind his police ordeal. Saraki's visit to Melaye On Wednesday, April 25, Saraki led a team of senators to visit Melaye in the hospital, where dozens of policemen were stationed to secure the Kogi senator. Speaking to journalists after seeing the senator, Saraki said Melaye is temporarily stable and that he has not eaten in 24 hours. "After the sitting at the senate today, we resolved to come here because over 24 hours we have not heard of know about the state of senator Dino. Weve just seen him and he is in intensive care. Hes stable for now," the senate president said. "We know he hasnt eaten for the last 24 hours, we are trying to resolve that. Hes on fluids and hes being seen by cardiologists, all specialists. As you know, he has other (health) issues, hes asthmatic. We are a bit concerned but for now we thank God he's stable. "We want to thank the management of the National, the professional and medical staff for what theyve been able to do. As for now, hes stable, hes being monitored. Well continue to pray for him that he continues to recover. Hes not in handcuff." ALSO READ: This is what happened after senator Dino Melaye jumped from police truck According to a photograph circulating online, Melaye was handcuffed to the hospital bed. It is believed that the chains had been removed prior to Saraki's visit. Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo made the position of the governors known to State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with the President at the Presidential villa, Abuja. The President, had at the last APC National Executive Committee meeting, declared his intention to run for second term in 2019. Okorocha, told the correspondents that they communicated their support for the Presidents reelection bid at the meeting. We came to welcome him back and to commend him for his boldness and courage to declare his intention to run for second term as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which we the 24 governors of the APC duly support. And we have come to encourage him that he must go ahead with his vision to rescue Nigeria from its present challenges, he said. According to him, the meeting also addressed the issue of the forthcoming convention and congresses in order to make it hitch-free. He said the president and governors had resolved to produce a strong party chairman that could deliver tangible results for the party in the forthcoming general election. He added that we also agreed that we will not allow the issue of many contestants to destroy our party. The governor, who is also the Chairman of APC Governors Forum, dismissed the assertion that the meeting was convened to endorse former governor of Edo, Adams Oshiomole as next APC National Chairman. He, however, disclosed that the governors would soon make their stance known on the subject matter, adding that the public will be duly briefed in due course. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, who was part of the meeting, also disclosed that new leadership of the APC from the ward, local government, state and the federal levels might emerge through consensus. ALSO READ:3 persons who want to lead the APC after Oyegun Those who attended the meeting included Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha as well as the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari. APC state governors in attendance were; Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Simon Lalung of Plateau, Jubrila Bindow of Adamawa and Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara. The House of Representatives had revised the 2010 Electoral Act on January 23, 2018, when lawmakers voted to ensure the presidential election is conducted last instead of first, as currently done. The new sequence would have made the national assembly election come first, followed by governorship and state houses of assembly. The upper legislative chamber adopted a report by the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on the Amendment to the Electoral Act on February 14, 2018. The new Section 25(1) states, "Elections into the office of the President and Vice-President, the Governor and Deputy Governor of a state and to the membership of the Senate, the House of Representatives and Houses of Assembly of each state of the federation shall be in the following order; National Assembly elections; state Houses of Assembly and governorship elections; and presidential election. The dates for these elections shall be as appointed by the Independent National Electoral Commission." The move had led to a lot of public tension especially after President Muhammadu Buhari refused to assent the bill in March 2018, arguing that the amendments infringe on the rights of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Political organisation, Accord Party (AP) had filed an application in court to stop the legislators from tampering with the electoral act. In his ruling on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, said only INEC has the authority to organise, conduct and fix dates for elections according to Section 15(a) of the 3rd Schedule to the Constitution. He ruled that any attempt by the National Assembly to tamper with the act constitutes a breach of the Constitution and the doctrine of separation of powers. However, Justice Mohammed dismissed Accord Party's motion to restrain President Buhari from assenting the bill, especially since he already did that in March. Why Buhari rejected Electoral Act bill In a letter sent to the National Assembly in March, President Buhari had stated that the bill was an infringement of INEC's constitutional duties. The letter read, "The amendment to the sequence of elections in Section 25 of the principal act, may infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organise, undertake and supervise elections provided in Section 15(A) of the third statue to the Constitution; "The amendment to Section 138 of the principal act to delete two crucial grounds upon which an election may be challenged by candidates, unduly limits the rights of candidates in elections to a free and fair electoral review process; "The amendment to Section 152 Subsection 325 of the Principal Act may raise Constitutional issues over the competence of the National Assembly to legislate over local government elections." Despite the president's rejection of the bill, lawmakers have regrouped to force through its assent with a two-third majority of the legislative chamber. There are also attempts to remove some of the clauses that the president objected to and present it to him again a second time. Senator Melaye was on his way to Morocco on Monday, April 23 when he was told by immigration officials that he couldnt board the flightecause he had made it into INTERPOLs no fly list. Of course Melaye protested and snatched back his travel passport from the officials in a fit of rage. However, the police took over from where immigration stopped and arrested Melaye. The police then drove Melaye to his luxury home and made sure he didnt escape, by surrounding the entire apartment. Melaye was still in police custody when he was driven to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, for grilling. After questioning, Melaye was then shepherded into a police van en route Kogi, for arraignment. It was here that some hoodlums drove toward the police van and barricaded the van. In the ensuing melee, Melaye jumped off the van and was driven off by the hoodlums. Melaye re-arrested The police say Melaye was traced and re-arrested in hospital. The senator of the federal republic of Nigeria was found injured from jumping off a police truck. There he sat on the warm, hard floor, daring anyone to come close. It was from this floor that he was wheeled to hospital. Police spokesperson Jimoh Moshood says: "Dino Melaye while in lawful custody of the Nigeria Police Force and being taken for arraignment in Federal High Court Lokoja, from Abuja, escaped from lawful custody when hoodlums and miscreants in Two (2) Toyota Hilux Vehicles blocked the Police vehicle conveying Senator Dino Melaye around Area 1 Round About, Abuja and in the process the Senator jumped out of the Police vehicle through the window and was rescued from the Police men by hoodlums and miscreants to an unknown destination. The Police team re-enforced and trailed Senator Dino Melaye to Zankli Hospital, Abuja where he was re-arrested. The Senator would be arraigned in court without further delay. Meanwhile, one of the Toyota Hilux vehicles used by the hoodlums and miscreants in aiding the escape of the Senator has been recovered by the Police investigation team. Why should a 'distinguished' senator try to evade arrest by jumping off a moving truck? Isn't that something louts and thugs should be pulling off? By pulling off that stunt which was capable of costing him his life, Melaye has lost the right to be addressed as honorable. There's nothing 'honorable' in flying from a moving truck, unless of course you are on the set of a movie. Possession of firearms Melaye is in trouble for his alleged involvement in a case of unlawful possession of prohibited firearms. After criminal suspects Kabiru Saidu, a.k.a Osama, and Nuhu Salisu, aka Small, were arrested at Ogojueje in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi on January 19, 2018, they told the police that Senator Melaye hired them to cause unrest in the State ahead of the 2019 general elections. The suspects revealed that the lawmaker handed them a bag containing one AK-47 rifle, two pump action guns and the sum of N430,000 to recruit hardened troublemakers and unleash mayhem in Kogi. Of course Melaye denied the allegations in a viral video. Melaye is so adept at making music videos, the BBC calls him Nigerias music video senator these days. A senator who jumps off a moving truck shouldnt be addressed as honorable or distinguished anymore. Of course Melaye has fought on the floor of parliament before, with his shirt ripped apart in the process. He has shown up on the floor of the senate in an academic gown, just to prove a point. He has placed a tray of boiled groundnuts on his head while posing as a hawker. He has danced and sang in viral videos to taunt his political opponents and he has appeared in a commercial rap video, flaunting his bling lifestyle for effect. On the floor of the senate, hes often the loudest and most vocal, but he hardly says anything resembling the outpouring of a logical thought process. Here is a man for whom drama comes naturally, you have to agree hes in the wrong job. The right thing for Melaye to have done is prove himself innocent of the charges in court, not fly off a truck to avoid the court altogether. Here is a lawmaker trampling on the basics of the law. Gov Yahaya Bello having the last laugh The senator is currently in hospital and may be moved to Lokoja where hell be arraigned for illegal possession of firearms. Moving him to Lokoja where the crime allegedly occurred, is one way Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello intends to prove to Melaye that in this battle for political supremacy, hes having the last laugh. The plan from Bello is to humiliate Melaye and rub the senator's nose in the sand for full measure. Melayes recall will also be restarted in a few days in Kogi, capping off a horrible month for the king of drama. When Melaye looks back at this month, hell agree that even for him, this has been a most dramatic couple of days to top all his previous histrionics. To paraphrase the senator: If you jump, you die. If you dont jump, you die. I, Dino Melaye, have decided to jump and. "May our friendship grow even deeper, may our kinship grow even stronger, and may our sacred liberty never die," Trump said in his toast to the Macrons late Tuesday at the White House. In turn, the 40-year-old French leader spoke at length of "how deep, how strong, and how intense the relationship is between our two countries," and marveled at the unforeseen rapport he has forged with the 71-year-old Trump. "I got to know you, you got to know me. We both know that none of us easily changes our minds, but we will work together, and we have this ability to listen to one another," he said. In his speech Wednesday, Macron will address what he thinks are historically warm Franco-US ties now challenged by differences over economic inequality, climate change and the rise of nationalism, according to his aides. Iran and trade But amid all the friendly gestures -- Trump even seemingly flicked dandruff off Macron's shoulder to "make him perfect" -- the pair's meetings were not all about style, with the fate of the Iran nuclear deal and transatlantic trade on the table. The pair called for a "new" deal with Tehran, looking beyond their past disagreements over the landmark 2015 accord to curb the Islamic republic's nuclear program -- an agreement slammed by Trump as "insane" and whose future still hangs in the balance. Trump instead wants a broader "deal" that would also limit Iran's ballistic missile program and support for militant groups across the Middle East. "I think we will have a great shot at doing a much bigger, maybe, deal," said Trump, stressing that any new accord would have to be built on "solid foundations." Macron admitted after meeting Trump that he did not know whether the US president would walk away from the nuclear deal when a May 12 decision deadline comes up. "I can say that we have had very frank discussions on that, just the two of us," Macron told a joint press conference Tuesday with Trump at his side. Putting on a brave face, he said he wished "for now to work on a new deal with Iran" of which the nuclear accord could be one part. The key question is whether Macron can translate their privileged relationship into concrete results -- as he also pushes for a permanent exemption for Europe from US steel and aluminium tariffs. In the latest ugly incident, a tiny Berlin rally against anti-Semitism with just three demonstrators was marred Wednesday when angry counter-protesters shouted "terrorists", spat at them and snatched their Israeli flag, organisers said. Police said the event in Neukoelln district, the heart of the capital's Muslim immigrant community, ended early after the trio were shouted down by "loud and emotional" opponents and feared for their safety. Elsewhere in Berlin, some 2,000 demonstrators rallied at a "Berlin Wears Kippa" event where Jews and non-Jews wore the traditional skullcap in a shared show of defiance. Speaking at the rally, Berlin's Jewish community chairman Gideon Joffe warned that the growing threat meant "it's five minutes to midnight", adding that "we have to be careful". The head of the country's Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, demanded "100 percent respect" for Jews as well as for Muslims, homosexuals and people of "all skin colours". Belt attack The previous day, Schuster had set off shockwaves with a warning that Jews who wear the kippa or the Star of David could be courting danger on German streets. The remarks sparked outrage, with the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center accusing authorities of disappointing Jews' faith in German democracy. Chancellor Angela Merkel had on Sunday denounced the emergence of "another form of anti-Semitism", beyond that of right-wing extremist groups, from Muslim refugees, in an interview with Israeli television. She reaffirmed that the security of Jews and of the state of Israel was a central concern for Germany because of its "eternal responsibility" for the Holocaust in which the Nazis murdered six million European Jews. Last week Germans were stunned after a 19-year-old Syrian refugee attacked two young men wearing kippas with his belt in a trendy district of the capital, shouting "yahudi" -- Jew in Arabic -- and lashing out at his victim with a belt. A video of the assault, filmed by one of the Israeli victims, went viral on social media and sparked widespread revulsion. Earlier this month, two rappers raised hackles by winning the Echo music prize after selling more than 200,000 copies of their album which features a lyric boasting that their bodies are "more defined than Auschwitz prisoners". Amid the anguished national debate, organisers of the Echo prize said Wednesday they would axe the award because they did not want it to be "seen as a platform for anti-Semitism, misogyny, homophobia or the playing down of violence". Minutes later the rappers' music label, BMG, announced that it was dropping the duo, Farid Bang and Kollegah. 'Culture of remembrance' Ahead of the Berlin rally, the chairman of the Turkish community in Germany, Gokay Sofuoglu, also called for the kippa to be worn, telling the Berliner Zeitung that "if you want to stop Islamophobia, then you also can't tolerate anti-Semitism". Demonstrations in support of Jews with hundreds of people were also held in the cities of Cologne, Potsdam, Magdeburg and Erfurt, where politicians, Christian and Jewish leaders wore kippas and marched to the main local synagogue. Newspapers had offered paper cutouts of skullcaps for readers to wear. The issue of anti-Semitism is particularly fraught in Germany, which has gone to great lengths to atone for its Nazi past and whose political class takes deep pride in the growth of the now 200,000-strong Jewish community. However, the high-profile incidents in recent months have stoked fears of a possible resurgence of anti-Semitism from both the far-right and a large influx of predominantly Muslim asylum-seekers since 2015. In March, the Central Council of Jews urged schools to keep track of religious bullying following reports that a young Jewish girl was allegedly harassed and threatened by Muslim fellow pupils at a Berlin primary school. The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which captured nearly 13 percent of the vote in September's general election, has also not shied away from questioning Germany's cherished "remembrance culture". "It was an intense discussion, very cordial and... both sides are very dedicated to reaching a solution. The process will continue in the next weeks," the veteran American diplomat told reporters. The government of Macedonia, which is formally known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), is hoping to resolve the dispute this year. The long-running name dispute between Macedonia and EU-member Greece dates back to 1991 when Skopje declared independence following the collapse of communist Yugoslavia. Athens objects to Macedonia's name because it has its own northern province called Macedonia, and fears it may imply territorial ambitions. The spat has hampered Macedonia's ambitions to join the European Union and the NATO military alliance. The negotiations have made progress after Macedonia agreed in February to change the name of the capital's Alexander the Great airport to Skopje International Airport, in a goodwill gesture to Greece. The motorway linking Macedonia with Greece was also renamed the Friendship Highway. Several possible new names have been floated, with Gorna Makedonija or Upper Macedonia the most frequently mentioned. "I believe that we have never had better circumstances to find a complete solution that will last for centuries and will remain forever," Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told AFP earlier this month. The migrants are part of a caravan of more than 1,000 people that set out from Mexico's southern border on March 25. Media coverage of the US-bound caravan triggered a flurry of furious tweets from Trump, who ordered thousands of National Guard troops to the US-Mexican border and called on Mexico to stop the migrants. As the issue exploded into a diplomatic row, organizers of the caravan quietly broke it up. But around 600 migrants are still traveling more or less together by hopping trains and taking buses. The first two buses will be followed by three more, said organizer Irineo Mujica of the migrant rights group People Without Borders. "Half of them (the remaining 600) plan to stay in Mexico. We're helping them apply for refugee status here," he told AFP by phone from Hermosillo, about 270 kilometers (165 miles) from the border, where he was accompanying remaining migrants. Around 200 migrants will seek asylum in the United States, fleeing brutal gang violence or political persecution in their home countries, he said. A handful of them have already been granted US asylum, he told AFP. Others may try to cross into the US illegally. "It's hard to say, they don't tell you (they plan to sneak over the border). Some will, but probably not right now. There's too much pressure because of the troops Trump sent to the border," he said. The caravan is a yearly event held since 2010 around Easter. Activists say its main goal is to raise awareness of the perils migrants face, not cross the border. Judge Steven O'Neill spent an hour and 13 minutes instructing the panel of seven men and five women, as a somber Cosby listened intently, before the jury retired at 11:08 am (1508 GMT). On Tuesday, the court heard two hours of closing statements from the defense portraying the actor as a misguided married man hoodwinked into a $3.38 million settlement by a con artist and pathological liar. The prosecution delivered three hours of summations, painting Cosby as the real "con" man who exploited his fame as "America's Dad" to betray women's trust by drugging and sexually assaulting them. The jury has heard 12 days of testimony and from around two dozen witnesses in what is the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era that has seen a litany of powerful men lose their jobs over accusations. Cosby, who now says he is legally blind, declined to testify, as at the first in Norristown, a depressed suburb of Philadelphia. The entertainer's first trial ended in a hung jury in June, with the sequestered panel hopelessly deadlocked after six days of testimony and 52 hours of deliberations. It came as Ortega -- a 72-year-old leftwing former guerrilla leader, who has ruled Nicaragua for 22 of the past 39 years -- sought to calm the street fury directed at him after initially deploying security forces and muzzling independent media. Following a massive anti-government march in the capital Managua on Monday by tens of thousands of workers, students, pensioners and ordinary citizens, an embattled Ortega has intensified appeals for dialogue. He has also ordered the release of dozens of protesters arrested during the protests and lifted a broadcast ban on a private TV news channel. The concessions appeared to be mollifying the country's business elite, which had abandoned a longstanding alliance with Ortega over the violence. But the situation remained tense and uncertain, with students vowing to maintain their campaign to force Ortega from power and police showing no signs of pulling back. "The repugnant political violence by police and pro-government thugs against the people of Nicaragua, particularly university students, has shocked the democratic international community," the White House statement said. The US condemned the violence, repression and the closing of media outlets, it added, calling for "broad-based dialogue and support for the people of Nicaragua, who yearn for the political freedom of expression and true democratic reforms they so richly deserve." The US embassy has already withdrawn staff family members and non-essential personnel. The UN's human rights office in Geneva said it had counted at least 25 killings in the crackdown on Nicaraguan protesters, many of which it said may have been "unlawful." It called for investigations. The European Union and the Vatican have urged talks to restore calm, while the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the deaths and repression. A toll compiled from the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights and Ortega's wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, puts the number of deaths since last Wednesday at at least 27. Most were protesters, among whom university students and youths figure prominently. The protests were sparked a week ago by pension reforms aimed at keeping Nicaragua's burdened Social Security Institute afloat by cutting benefits and increasing contributions. But they rapidly spread and intensified as other grievances over Ortega's rule surged to the fore. The president hastily cancelled the pension reform, but that failed to attenuate the protests. 'Out! Out!' Monday's mass demonstration against the government was called by the employers' federation. Some groups marching called for "dictator" Ortega and his wife to step down, yelling "Out! Out!" Ortega has been taken aback by the protests, the biggest in his last 11-year stretch in power. Ortega's wife Murillo, who days ago called the protesters "vampires," changed her tune on Tuesday to voice "faith that we are going to go forward united." Lawmakers issued an unanimous call for "dialogue and peace," according to one ruling-party deputy, Carlos Lopez. A pro-government rally was being organized for Thursday to show that the president still enjoyed backing from part of the population. Coalescing anger Mass street protests are rare in Nicaragua, where the army maintains a tight grip on public order. But dissatisfaction has been bubbling over in recent months. Frustrations have been voiced over corruption, the distant autocratic style of Ortega and Murillo, limited options to change the country's politics in elections, and the president's control over Congress, the courts, the military and the electoral authority. In rural areas, anger also stemmed from a stalled plan by Ortega to have a Chinese company carve a $50 billion canal across Nicaragua to rival Panama's lucrative Pacific-to-Atlantic shipping canal. If the project goes ahead, it would displace thousands of rural dwellers and indigenous communities while dealing a blow to the environment. 'People want freedom' "People are demanding democracy, freedom, free elections, a transparent government, the separation of powers, rule of law. The people want freedom," former Nicaraguan foreign minister Norman Caldera told AFP. "If the government doesn't yield, it's going to be very difficult to stop this (the protests)," he said, asserting that the "big majority" of the population was frustrated with Ortega. "The repressive apparatus is not able to halt protests on this scale," Caldera said. The police questioned Bollore over his group's acquisition of rights to operate ports in Africa, legal sources told AFP. The business tycoon, who only a few days ago stepped down as chairman of media giant Vivendi, was allegedly involved in corrupt business practices in the African countries, including Nigeria, where he owns transport and logistics businesses that boasts of 25,000 employees. The 66-year-old CEO of the Bollore Group, which also has interests in construction, media, advertising and shipping, was taken into custody as part of an investigation into the groups management of Lome port in Togo and Conakry port in Guinea, reports said. Shares in his holding company Groupe Bollore SA fell around six percent on the news of his police interrogation, while shares in Vivendi also fell around one percent. Local press reported that Bollore was being quizzed in Nanterre, on the western outskirts of Paris. But Bollore group as a company denied any wrongdoing. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. An ancient horse burial at Tombos along the Nile River Valley shows that a member of the horse family thousands of years ago was more important to the culture than previously thought, which provides a window into human-animal relationships more than 3,000 years ago. The research findings are published in Antiquity, and reported by the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Tombos horse was discovered in 2011, and members of the Purdue team professor Michele Buzon and alumna Sarah Schrader played a part in the excavation and analysis. The horse is dated to the Third Intermediate Period, 1050-728 B.C.E., and it was found more than 5 feet underground in a tomb. The horse, with some chestnut-colored fur remaining, had been buried in a funeral position with a burial shroud. It was clear that the horse was an intentional burial, which was super fascinating, said Buzon, a professor of anthropology. Remnants of fabric on the hooves indicate the presence of a burial shroud. Changes on the bones and iron pieces of a bridle suggest that the horse may have pulled a chariot. We hadnt found anything like this in our previous excavations at Tombos. Animal remains are very rare at the site. Buzon, a bioarchaeologist, has worked with Stuart Tyson Smith, anthropology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for 18 years at this site in modern-day Sudan, and both are principal investigators on the project. Buzon uses health and cultural evidence from more than 3,000-year-old burial sites to understand the lives of Nubians and Egyptians during the New Kingdom Empire. This is when Egyptians colonized the area in about 1500 B.C. to gain access to trade routes on the Nile River. Over the years, hundreds of artifacts, including pottery, tools, carvings and dishes were unearthed at this burial site for about 200 individuals. Finding the horse was unexpected, Schrader said. Initially, we werent sure if it was modern or not. But as we slowly uncovered the remains, we began to find artifacts associated with the horse, such as the scarab, the shroud and the iron cheekpiece. At that point, we realized how significant this find was. Of course, we became even more excited when the carbon-14 dates were assessed and confirmed how old the horse was. Schrader, who graduated from Purdue in 2013 with a doctoral degree in anthropology, is an assistant professor of human osteoarchaeology at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Schrader is lead author on this article, and she helped frame this find within the context of Nubian history. Once the archaeologists discovered the horse, Sandra Olsen, curator-in-charge at the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas and a well-known ancient horse expert, was invited to Purdue to analyze the horse skeleton. Buzon coordinated the analysis between the team, and she established the chronology of the horse via radiocarbon dating. The horse was treated well in life, seeing as how it lived to a mature age, Schrader said. It also was important to the people of ancient Tombos because it was buried a rite that is usually reserved for humans. Furthermore, the fact that one of the earliest pieces of iron from Africa was found in association with the horse reiterates how special it was to the people. It is also important to assess the context of Tombos with regard to the horse - the horse is an important and rare find. The fact that it is buried at Tombos indicates that this town may have served an important function in the post-colonial Napatan Period. The excavation was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation; the National Geographic Society; University of California, Santa Barbara; Purdue and the Schiff-Giorgini Foundation. The excavation and research also were supported by El Hassan Ahmed, director of fieldwork at the National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums. Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu Sources: Michele Buzon, mbuzon@purdue.edu Sarah Schrader, s.a.schrader@arch.leidenuniv.nl Note to Journalists: Journalists interested in a copy of the journal article can contact Amy Patterson Neubert, Purdue News Service, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu ABSTRACT Symbolic equids and Kushite state formation: a horse burial at Tombos Sarah A. Schrader1, Stuart Tyson Smith2, Sandra Olsen3 and Michele Buzon4 https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.239 1Leiden University, RA Leiden, The Netherlands 2 University of California, Santa Barbara 3 The University of Kansas, Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, 4 Purdue University, Department of Anthropology The recent discovery of a well-preserved horse burial at the Third Cataract site of Tombos illuminates the social significance of equids in the Nile Valley. The accompanying funerary assemblage includes one of the earliest securely dated pieces of iron in Africa. The Third Intermediate Period (1050-728 BC) saw the development of the Nubian Kushite state beyond the southern border of Egypt. Analysis of the mortuary and osteological evidence suggests that horses represented symbols of a larger social, political and economic movement, and that the horse gained symbolic meaning in the Nile Valley prior to its adoption by the Kushite elite. This new discovery has important implications for the study of the early Kushite state and the formation of Kushite social identity. Congestion Pricing Is A Terrible Idea Congestion pricing hearings are now taking place. We cannot believe anyone is even considering this terrible idea. It is going to cause a rift between... Astoria Civic Association Will Be Sorely Missed The Astoria Civic Association has existed for 87 years. They have been a community institution ever since the founding by Judge Charles J. Vallone when... China is ready to expand defense cooperation with other Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries to boost their ability to handle threats and contribute to long-term regional stability and prosperity, President Xi Jinping said. Xi made the remark at a group meeting on Monday with defense ministers of Russia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and the chief of the general staff of the armed forces of Kyrgyzstan. Xi hailed SCO members military cooperation. He said security is the cornerstone of development and safeguarding regional security and stability should always be the SCOs priority mission. China is ready to work with other SCO members to draw blueprints for defense and security cooperation, innovate ways to cooperate and improve the security cooperation framework, Xi said. A cooperation plan outlining the combined fight against the three evil forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism received support from the foreign ministers of all the eight SCO countries on Tuesday. The security plan will be submitted to the SCO Qingdao Summit in June for approval, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said when briefing reporters about the results of the SCO ministers meeting on Tuesday in Beijing. Confronting security threats has been one of the groups priorities since it was formed in 2001 with China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as founding members. The ministers discussed the major tasks in the SCOs further development after the entry of India and Pakistan as members last year. They discussed major international and regional issues. The ministers also raised an alert against attempts to use unilateral sanctions to pressure sovereign states politically and economically, according to a joint news release issued after the meeting. They called for resolving controversial issues through multilateralism as well as jointly tackling threats and challenges by improving global governance. The meeting on Tuesday helped prepare the agenda for the SCO June summit in Qingdao. The summit is expected to approve the guideline for implementing the SCOs Treaty of Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation in the next five years, and to approve many resolutions or cooperative documents related to security, trade and culture, Wang said. The summit, the first leaders gathering following the entry of India and Pakistan as members, will be a new starting point and a landmark in the SCOs development, Wang said. QUIZ: Guess the Road Songs We can't wait to get back on the road again! Play this quiz and see if how many you can get right! EUROPE: The Finnish and Estonian joint working group, which is developing proposals for the 92 km FinEst undersea railway tunnel between Helsinki and Tallinn, is due to publish its recommendations on how to proceed on May 7. Ex-Vnesheconombank top manager detained on abuse of office charges RIA Novosti, Igor Zarembo 10:59 25/04/2018 MOSCOW, April 25 (RAPSI) Moscows Presnensky District Court has detained ex-director of Vnesheconombank (VEB) regional development department Ilgiz Valitov charged with abuse of office until June 20, the courts spokesperson Aleksey Chernikov has told RAPSI. Reportedly, Valitov as a top manager of the bank was responsible for signing a contract with Zarechye-2 construction company. Under the agreement, the firm was obliged to pay over $117 million for building residential facilities. However, Valitov allegedly demanded a contract change resulted in the entering of Valitovs ZouZout Holding Ltd to the Zarechye-2 co-founder board. The company has brought over 3 million rubles ($48,600) in Zarechye-2 authorized capital and received 15% of its shares. According to Kommersant newspaper, the defendant practically stopped the construction by his actions, and the credit debt of Zarechye-2 was rising. Accordingly, VEB turned to a commercial court. Zarechye-2 was declared bankrupt, and a court seized the companys assets. VEB allegedly suffered from a $117-million damage. Valitov earlier worked as VTB Bank Vice President and was a member of the Board of Directors of KAMAZ Company. From 2007 to 2010, he held a position of Director of the regional development department of the State Corporation "Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank). From 2010 to 2011, he worked as a chief of VEB department of natural resources. He also acted as Chairman of the Board of Directors of VEB Project Management LLC. Russian Supreme Court upholds Navalny brothers sentence in Yves Rocher case RAPSI 12:22 25/04/2018 MOSCOW, April 25 (RAPSI) The Supreme Courts Presidium on Wednesday upheld the sentence given to Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny and his brother Oleg in the Yves Rocher embezzlement case, RAPSI reported from the courtroom. However, the court resumed investigation because of new facts. During the hearing Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Malinovsky said that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had not examined all case papers when hearing Navalnys complaint. Moreover, enforcement of domestic law does not fall within the competence of ECHR, he added. Navalny filed a motion with the Supreme Court of Russia asking it to comply with a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights and release his brother Oleg from prison in March following the Grand Chambers refusal to reconsider the case. In October 2017, the European Court of Human Rights held that there was violation of Article 6 (Right to a fair trial) and Article 7 (No punishment without law) of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention) in this case. However, the ECHR refused to recognize criminal prosecution of the Navalny brothers as politically motivated by declaring their complaints under Article 18 in conjunction with Articles 6 and 7 of the Convention inadmissible. The court ordered Russia to pay 55,000 to Alexey Navalny in compensation. Oleg Navalny was awarded about 21,000 and 460,000 rubles. Both parties appealed the ECHR ruling. However, in March 2018, the court refused to send the case to the Grand Chamber for review. In December 2014, Navalny was given a 3.5-year suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case. His brother Oleg received a 3.5-year prison term. They were convicted of stealing nearly 30 million rubles (about $500,000 at the current exchange rate) from two companies, including Russian affiliate of Yves Rocher. The term of Oleg Navalny is to expire on June 30, 2018. Russian banker arrested in absentia in $13 mln embezzlement case RIA Novosti, Sergey Kuznetsov 14:59 25/04/2018 MOSCOW, April 25 (RAPSI, Nikita Shiryayev) Moscows Tverskoy District Court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for the Asian-Pacific Bank co-owner Andrey Vdovin charged with embezzlement of about $13 million in absentia, RAPSI reported from the courtroom. Vdovin has been put on the federal and international wanted lists. According to investigators, the banker left Russia last year and did not return. Defense lawyer Stanislav Akimov asked the court to impose a noncustodial measure of restraint on Vdovin because he was charged with a business area crime. Akimov told RAPSI that a civil dispute arising from a credit contract arose between VMHY Holdings Ltd and Ashaya Investments Ltd. The case is connected with the companies business and bears no relation to Vdovin. Civil proceedings in relation to the case are currently held in courts of Cyprus, Latvia and Russia, the lawyer added. Assets of Russian penitentiary ex-officials relatives seized RIA Novosti, Vitaly Belousov 16:55 25/04/2018 MOSCOW, April 25 (RAPSI, Nikolay Merkulov) The Basmanny District Court has seized the property belonging to the relatives of ex-Deputy chief of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Oleg Korshunov charged with embezzlement, his attorney Sergey Starovoytov has told journalists during a news conference in Moscow. The court has seized a car of Korshunovs daughter, his ex-wifes Moscow apartment and a motor boat owned by his friend, the lawyer said. According to Starovoytov, in September 2017, Korshunov was arrested on that cutter. Moreover, the court has blocked the defendants 300,000-ruble bank account. Several cases have been launched against Korshunov. Investigators believe that Korshunov conspired with CEO of Russian footwear company Datse Group, Smbat Arutyunyan, and the head of state-run production company FSIN Russia Vitaly Morusov. Allegedly, Korshunov ordered to use prisoner labor to manufacture footwear from cheap materials provided by Datse Group. Later, he allegedly facilitated signing of a state contract with FSIN Russia. Allegedly, Morusov was aware of the criminal scheme and did not plan to actually supply the goods. As a result, FSIN employees were deceived about the price and transferred over 90 million rubles (about $1.5 million) to FSIN Russia. Investigation into this case has been completed, according to Starovoytov. Investigators also claim that Korshunov organized signing of two government contracts on delivery of fuels and lubricants and food products at an overvalued price between 2015 and 2016. Actions of Korshunov and his accomplices allegedly caused a 160-million-ruble damage (about $2.8 million at current exchange rate) to the FSIN. He pleaded not guilty. In April, the Investigative Committee opened a new criminal case over abuse of office. According to investigators, in 2015, after signing a contract for construction of a detention center in Simferopol, the defendant also facilitated signing of a contract with a company under his control Unistroy knowing that the firm is not capable of finishing the works. Although Korshunov transferred 193 million rubles ($3.1 million) to the company, the project is yet to be completed. Korshunov was appointed to the post of FSIN deputy head in March 2014. He has been bestowed the rank of Full State Counsellor 2nd Class of the Russian Federation. Russian Presidential Council of Human Rights criticizes bill on minority languages RIA Novosti 15:46 25/04/2018 MOSCOW, April 25 (RAPSI) The Presidential Council of Human Rights has expressed its concern over a bill that makes it optional to learn native languages of Russian peoples and state languages of Russias federal subjects, the Councils website reads. According to the chairman of the Council Mikhail Fedotov, most people strive to maintain their national and ethnic identity valuing their Constitutional right to speak, think and learn in native language. He noted that violation of linguistic rights sooner or later result in serious social conflicts citing recent such examples in Ukraine and Latvia. The Council believes that making study of native languages optional is harmful to maintaining identity of ethnic groups that speak languages other than Russian. If the bill is going to be signed into law parents and students would have to choose between additional studies of subjects that are related to their future careers and study of native languages, the Council stated. It was noted that this change will make such studies bothersome for schoolchildren and will diminish their interest in native languages. According to the chairman of the Councils Commission on culture rights, education and science Anita Soboleva, the proposal expressed in the bill violates Russian international obligations, disturbs ethnic relations, endangers native languages, devalues Constitutional guarantees and nullifies right of subjects to use their own state languages. Russian ministry proposes to introduce new fines for personal data operators flickr.com/knuton 17:27 25/04/2018 MOSCOW, April 25 (RAPSI) Russias Communications Ministry has proposed to introduce administrative liability for violating rules on ensuring privacy of citizens personal data, the official website of legal information reads. According to the package of amendments to the Administrative Violations Code, operators of personal data, including state bodies and other organizations, are to be punished for violating the law on personal data prohibiting its disclosure to third parties. The ministry proposes to fine responsible citizens up to 2,000 rubles ($32.2); officials would face fines up to 6,000 rubles ($96.6); entrepreneurs would be punished with fines of up to 15,000 rubles ($241.5) and companies would be fined up to 40,000 rubles ($644). The law also reads that operators must record, systematize, store, clarify and recover personal data using databases located in Russia. Failing to do so may also result in fines of up to 75,000 rubles ($1,207), according to the ministrys proposals. The ministry notes that these measures would allow Russias media watchdog Roskomnadzor to suspend unlawful activity related to personal data. Illustration: Liu Rui/GT Tensions have been escalating in the Taiwan Straits. The US passed the Taiwan Travel Act that allows reciprocal visits of high-level officials between Taiwan and the US, challenging the one-China policy. If US President Donald Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, visits Taiwan in June or a US navy vessel visits a Taiwanese naval base, that will destroy Sino-US relations. The head of Taiwan's administrative authority, Lai Ching-te has been obstinately promoting "Taiwan independence," and Taiwan authorities are lowering the threshold for a referendum on Taiwan's independence. All these things touch Beijing's red line and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) must deter "Taiwan independence" separatist forces through strong means to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Four factors are needed for effective deterrence: strength, means, channels to convey determination and credibility. A military drill combines these four elements. In 1995 and 1996, in response to then Taiwan leader Lee Teng-hui's visit to the US and challenging of the one-China policy, the mainland conducted exercises that included testing missiles in waters surrounding Taiwan and mobilizing forces in East China's Fujian Province, which is located directly across the straits from Taiwan island. Now some pro-Taiwan US congressmen and Taiwan separatists are undermining the one-China policy. This is something we will not ignore. In military strength, the mainland's defense budget reached 1.1 trillion yuan ($1,748) this year, 20 times that of 1996 and 16 times that of today's Taiwan. In 1996, the number of mainland conventional weapons of a similar or higher quality exceeded that of Taiwan. By now the quantity and capability of mainland weapons are better than that of Taiwan. Do Taiwan military forces have any equipment to counter the PLA equipment shown during recent navy exercises in the South China Sea? In 1996, our army did not have enough military means. But now the PLA has information system-versus-system operational capability. The PLA Air Force has strategic bombers to launch raids on targets or carpet bomb the island. The air force also has third- and fourth-generation fighter jets that would take precedence over Taiwan's troops. The PLA Navy has aircraft carriers and new naval vessels that can surround Taiwan as well as amphibious assault ships and marines to launch amphibious combat. We have nuclear-powered submarines to cooperate with the rocket force's missiles and prevent external forces' intervention within the First and Second Island Chain. PLA ground forces have deployed rocket artillery which can use massive firepower on Taiwan forces, and trained special forces and helicopter gunships to conduct combat landings. Meanwhile, the rocket force's dominance means if Taiwan troops resisted, most would be wounded or killed by our firepower. More importantly, after reform, the PLA has integrated joint operational capability. Taiwan is no match for the PLA in terms of military weapons and equipment. This is a competition of strengths. We mean to terrify not ordinary Taiwanese, but Taiwan separatists who only bring danger to Taiwan. They try to attract people's attention out of their own self-interest and sacrifice the Taiwanese people's fundamental interests, drawing Taiwan into a quagmire. Once Taiwan witnesses a disaster, the leaders of Taiwan independence forces will face trial according to the Anti-Secession Law. The PLA should regularly conduct military drills to deter Taiwan separatists and have military aircraft and warships routinely cruise around the island. We can also cross the Taiwan Straits middle line and squeeze the space owned by pro-independence forces in Taiwan. An Air Defense Identification Zone could be established in the Taiwan Straits so that every aircraft or warship entering Taiwan must inform and get permission from the Chinese government. The PLA would have the right to conduct countermeasures and safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. We still insist on unifying Taiwan peacefully, but we will never give up the military option. While reunification will lead to peace, Taiwan independence will invite war. The just-concluded PLA military exercises have shown China's determination and capability. They warn external forces and Taiwan separatists that crossing China's red line comes at a real price. The author is vice president of the China Strategy Culture Promotion Association. Russian antimonopoly agency orders Tele2 to lower national roaming rates 11:30 25/04/2018 MOSCOW, April 25 (RAPSI) The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has ordered T2 Mobile, a company behind Tele2 mobile operator, to set economically justified rates for national roaming until May 31, FAS documents read. Additionally, the mobile operator is to stop violating the competition law as it was found to fix monopolistically high prices in national roaming. Earlier it was reported that the company failed to remedy violations unlike other mobile operators involved in the case. The company will be brought to administrative liability and the amount of fine to be paid is going to be decided later, FAS reported. On July 14, 2017, the watchdog issued warnings to MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom (Beeline brand) and T2 Mobile (Tele2 brand). FAS announced that the operators actions may have violated the competition law by setting different prices for mobile phone service in customers home region and in roaming on the territory of Russia. In late July 2017, the watchdog opened antimonopoly cases against the companies over alleged violation of competition legislation. At that time, all four mobile operators expressed readiness to enforce the warning. In February, FAS announced that MTS and VimpelCom corrected violations. Megafon cured the breach in March. Antimonopoly cases against the companies were completed. Businessman charged with $34 mln tax evasion to go on trial RIA Novosti 13:59 25/04/2018 MOSCOW, April 25 (RAPSI) A criminal case against a businessman charged with tax evasion totaling to 2.1 billion rubles ($34 million) has been forwarded to a court in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria for hearing, the press service of the Prosecutor Generals Office reports Wednesday. According to investigators, CEO of Orion company reduced amount of excise duty and value-added tax to be payable to the budget from 2013 to 2015. Thus, he avoided paying taxes worth over 2.1 billion rubles. An interdistrict tax office has filed a lawsuit to collect this sum from the defendant, the statement reads. Property details: 0.16 ACRES OF VACANT LAND in INDEPENDENCE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KS! Item ID: Ramaswamy12 Owner Name: Meenakshi RamaswamyDESCRIPTION: 0.16 Acres (6,875 sq. ft.) of Vacant Land in Independence, Montgomery County, KS. Legal: Lot 5, Block 3, Security Abstract Company First Addition, City of Independence (N 24th St). Site address: 0000 N. 24th St. Independence, KS 67301. This is a Corner Lot. Parcel number: 063-087-25-0-30-04-006.00-0, Reference ID 2905. The 2017 taxes of $46.98 have not been paid. The... Price: $ 59 Seller State of Residence: Washington Zoning: Residential State/Province: Kansas City: Independence Property Address: 00000 N. 24th Street Zip/Postal Code: 67301 Location: 673**, Independence, Kansas You will be redirected to eBay Nearby 67301 , We're sorry, this article is not currently available BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), met with senior military officials from Laos, Uzbekistan, and Belarus on Tuesday. While meeting with Laotian Vice Defense Minister Vilay Lakhamfong, Zhang said the Chinese military is willing to work with its Laotian counterpart in deepening pragmatic cooperation and mutual support, so as to elevate bilateral military relations and pursue more benefits for the two peoples. The vice minister expressed thanks for China's long-term assistance in boosting Laotian national development and military building, saying that Laos is willing to deepen pragmatic cooperation between the two militaries in various fields. During his meeting with Uzbek Defense Minister Abdusalom Azizov, Zhang said China is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with Uzbekistan under the Shanghai Cooperation Organization framework, continuously consolidate and deepen mutual political and strategic trust, and enhance pragmatic cooperation in various fields. Azizov said Uzbekistan is ready to seek potential cooperation with China and enable relations between the two militaries to help promote common prosperity and development. While meeting with Defense Minister of Belarus Andrei Ravkov, Zhang said the Chinese military is willing to further deepen communication and cooperation in high-level exchanges and joint personnel training with its counterpart in Belarus. Ravkov said Belarus is willing to work with China to improve cooperation in defense and security. Surendra Hiranandani -- chairman and managing director, House of Hiranandani -- explains what ails India's housing sector and indicates the way forward. Photograph: Reuters India has witnessed rapid growth and urbanisation in the last few years, owing to which there has been a considerable rise in the urban population. However, despite the amount of construction and infrastructural developments taking place each day, India is still plagued with an acute housing shortage in urban areas, with a crunching of spaces to accommodate this proliferating mass. To address this problem, the government had set itself the aim of providing housing for all by 2022. Yet sadly, the reality today is no less grim. In comparison to the 3.6 million urban and six million rural housing units that had been approved since 2016, only around 0.3 million urban and 1.6 million rural units have been completed so far. A lot has been spoken about real estate purchase, but rental housing has not made much headway despite its immense importance. Consider this: As per syndicated reports, roughly 400 million urban residents live in urban settlements and millions more are on the move to greener pastures in cities, from their respective towns. One can find dense settlements in the suburbs or peripheral areas of cities. As the country progresses, it is imperative that we find viable solutions to this problem. While the public-private partnership model for affordable housing banks on attracting private capital and giving access to cheap land, it does not take into account the needs of the urban poor, youth or self-employed people, who are unable to own a home owing to high prices or because their inadequate credit does not qualify them for a loan. Additionally, millennials prefer dwelling near their workspace to cut down on travel time. Also, owning a home in advantageous locations of metropolitan areas might not be feasible and the mobility that today's work culture demands poses a challenge to settle down at any one particular place. This is where large-scale rental housing equipped with basic amenities can come to the rescue. However, a prevailing paradox in the Indian context is that millions of units still lie unoccupied and unused despite an acute housing shortage. A better utilisation of this existing inventory will alleviate a part of the housing pressure. Rental housing has become a vital component of the housing response, as this also suits the income volatility and risk profile of low-income households working in the informal sector. Home ownership necessitates fixed monthly payments for an illiquid asset that is subjected to market risks and poses a constraint in mobility for people who cannot afford to be unemployed. Numerous innovative reforms have already been introduced in the Indian real estate sector over the recent past. Whether it is demonetisation against black money, the revolutionary RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority) or the unified Goods and Services Tax regime -- all have been introduced to increase accountability and transparency in the sector. The ascending line in the graph of consumer sentiment is strongly indicative of the fact that the market has responded to these reforms well. While residential markets have undoubtedly benefitted from them, the rental market has also not lagged far behind. The new rental reforms have successfully been able to check the use of fake rent receipts by salaried employees to avail themselves of tax exemption under house rent allowance by mandating the submission of various validated documents such as licence agreement, electricity, water bill and many more. Also, now landlords receiving higher income as rent are required to provide details of their full rental income in their tax returns in order to claim the benefit of the TDS amount. Yet, many impediments restrict the growth of the rental sector. First, the legacy of several state-enacted Rent Control Acts deterred landlords from putting their houses on rent by freezing rents and making eviction tough. Eventually, landlords found it unfeasible to maintain their properties, thereby allowing them to deteriorate. Second, low rental yields offer little incentive in terms of undertaking risks while letting out apartments. For instance, rental yields in most metropolitan cities in India are in the range of three to five per cent, which is among the lowest in the world. These are lower than the returns from risk-free market instruments. The government must create an environment conducive to harnessing this stock of vacant housing into a rental platform. Rental management companies can then step in and handle these properties professionally on behalf of the owners. The absence of tax benefits for rental housing as compared to the purchase of homes has also impacted this segment negatively. Rental laws in many states are believed to heighten the risk of repossession by the tenant, thus adding to the apprehension of the landlord that tenants will not vacate the house or will overstay. Although the government has geared up to confront the problem head-on, there is still a long way to go. The draft of the National Urban Rental Housing Policy aims to ease the housing shortage in urban areas by encouraging the renting out of these vacant homes across the country. Residential REITs can provide additional aid to alleviate the rising unsold inventory. It has been successful in developed countries, where REITs buy properties and lease them, thereby generating value for investors while adding rental supply to the market. The central government is now planning to launch a 'rent to own' scheme under the National Urban Rental Housing Policy, which would allow people to rent homes from government institutions. Under this scheme, people would have the option to buy the home they have rented by paying the full price in easy instalments. It is commendable that the government has given a much-needed boost to this segment by introducing such policies so that we can uncover the massive potential of rental housing in India. At least 16 Taliban militants killed during military operation in Afghanistan EditorLi Jiayao Time2018-04-25 Afghan army soldiers take part in a military operation in Mizan district of Zabul province, Afghanistan, April 23, 2018. At least 16 Taliban militants were killed and four others injured after Afghan army waged an operation in restive southern province of Zabul, the defense ministry said Tuesday. (Xinhua/Sanaullah Seiam) 1 2 3 4 Next Source Xinhuanet More... 'One investor told us one leader in Gujarat had sent him to Konkan to buy land.' 'How did these people come to know about this project in advance when locals didn't know?' 'It means those who are running the country are somewhere interested in selling the country's resources to private businessmen.' IMAGE: A photograph of the Vadinar oil refinery in Gujarat. Kindly note photograph published only for representational purposes. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters Two years ago, businessmen from Gujarat came to the Nanar area in Konkan, Maharashtra (bordering Goa) and told local farmers that they were interested in mango farming. They bought land at a price of approximately Rs 300,000 per hectare in 2016. Two years later, a refinery project -- which is being developed by Saudi-Aramco and the Maharashtra government -- is coming up on the same land. "Each businessman (who bought that land) has made a profit of Rs 97 lakh (Rs 9.7 million) per hectare," says Ashok Walam, who heads the Konkan Refinery Virodhi Sangharsh Committee, an organisation opposed to the refinery. "How did these people come to know about this project in advance? Who leaked them the information?" asks Walam. Walam owns a house and farmland at Nanar and says he is not interested in compensation from the state government, but does not want the project in the area. The Shiv Sena, which is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Maharashtra, says it will not allow the project to take off. Walam spoke to Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf. Why are you opposing the refinery? We are opposing the project because it will lead to a huge increase in pollution levels in the Konkan region. Farmers in Konkan are very happy. They grow mangoes, jackfruit and several other fruits. We earn good money and also generate employment. Secondly, we do not want to destroy the green cover in Konkan. How many people will be affected by the project? As many as 42,000 people will have to shift from 17 villages in the area. Scientists say if this refinery -- which will be the world's largest refinery -- comes into existence, it will pollute areas as much as 350 km away. Therefore, we are opposing it. The government must have commissioned the project with some thought. What thoughts? Go to Chembur in Mumbai. There are small refineries and it has caused great destruction to the local population in terms of health. A refinery is poison. The project will create jobs. The government must have taken due environmental precautions before going ahead with it. The government says they will employ one lakh (100,000) people but we already provide jobs to more people in the farming sector here. People from as far as Nepal come to Konkan to work. If the government wants to set up a refinery, why don't they set it up where farmers are committing suicide? No Konkan farmer has ever committed suicide. They never agitate for better crop prices too. So, why does the government want this refinery here when the people think otherwise? We didn't demand compensation from the government even when our mango and cashew crops failed. There must be some reason for the government to build this refinery in Konkan as it is close to the Arabian Sea. The only reason is they want many refineries in India. We went to Jamnagar in Gujarat and found out how people are troubled with the refinery project. When the government brought the nuclear project to Jaitapur (in Konkan), there was no large-scale protest so the government thought they can bring the refinery project too. The Paris climate deal signed in December 2015 clearly says such projects will cause global warming and must be stopped. Where will the carbon emissions from this project go? The government is only thinking of investment, but what about the future of our children? It says this project will improve our lifestyle, but what about our lives? But development is necessary. We do not want this project at the cost of our lives. Take the Jaitapur nuclear power project. There, 213 families got compensation. After nine years the government says they were paid too much and they must return some money. As they could not return the money, the government sealed the bank accounts of these poor villagers. Why is there a hue and cry about investors from Gujarat putting money into this project? Any Indian can buy any land anywhere in India. But in this case, these Gujarati businessmen had prior knowledge of this project. Farmers of Konkan had no idea about this project. These Gujarati investors came and told farmers they want to invest in mango and jackfruit farming. Government people tipped these Gujarati businessmen in advance about the petrochemical project. Farmers sold their land at Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000) per hectare. Now that has gone up to Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) per hectare after the project was announced. While the businessmen have no problem with the project, the locals do not want it. And look at the other angle. These businessmen made a profit of Rs 97 lakh (Rs 9.7 million) per hectare. So there is a big gameplan. Who are these investors? There are 17 villages. 228 Gujarati and Marwari businessmen have invested in the land. We have now got details about them. Many of these people are from Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. One investor told us he is scared now as he is a family man. He said one leader in Gujarat had sent him to Konkan to buy land. Do you see corruption in the deal? The government knows about all upcoming projects, and it has to keep that information confidential. Ministers take oath of secrecy. We feel there has to be an inquiry on this issue. How did these people come to know about this project in advance when locals didn't know? It means those who are running the country are somewhere interested in selling the country's resources to private businessmen. The Shiv Sena has come out on your side. Earlier, they were not on our side as their people had land in that project. Now they have also come. Do you feel THE Shiv Sena's support will ensure scrapping of the project? This project will not come up irrespective who says what. The farmers of Konkan will not allow this project to start. If they want to bring this project, then 75 per cent of farmers must agree according to the (land acquisition) law of 2013. Right now, only those investors have given a nod for this project and they hold 8 per cent of land of the total project. There has to be an inquiry when these people became farmers. It seems farmers don't want to give up farming in Konkan. One hapus mango tree earns a farmer Rs 50,000 yearly. There are thousands of mango trees in Konkan. I myself stay in Mumbai and earn Rs 6 lakh (Rs 600,000) yearly from mango trees. So why should I give up my land? We are also generating employment in Konkan. So, why do they want to destroy Konkan? They will destroy 12.5 lakh (1.25 million) trees for this project. I personally went to people's homes before the elections and told them to vote for the BJP. I wanted the BJP in power in 2014, but I don't know what has gone wrong with them. Did you meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis? I met him four times. In March we staged a huge dharna at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai and he had called us for a meeting. He gave us a false assurance that the government will cancel the project if the farmers do not agree. Later, he signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Saudi Aramco company for this petrochemical project at Nanar in Konkan. This project will bring huge investment to our country. (Union Minister) Nitin Gadkari said three days ago that we don't need another refinery. Our country needs only 19,000 crore tonnes of oil and we are already producing 24,000 crore tonnes. We export the rest, so why do we need another refinery? Exports are good for the country. Yes, it is good. But tell me, why have 196 countries who signed the Paris agreement said that such projects must never come up? In the United States and Japan, they are shutting down refineries as they know it is bad for the environment. 'The passing away of his mother just days before the premiere of his first film, his controversy with terrorism, his relationship with his father, the women in his life... everything was shocking for me.' IMAGE: Director Rajkumar Hirani, Ranbir Kapoor and Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar The teaser launch of Sanju, the Sanjay Dutt biopic, started with a video featuring SanjuBaba. Dutt, who is shooting for Torbaaz in Kyrgyzstan, said he could not believe that a film was made on his life. After watching a few scenes, he said he could not believe how close Ranbir's looks and mannerisms match his. 'Raju, Munnabhai mein, Ranbir ko mat lena,' Dutt teases Director Rajkumar Hirani who give SanjuBaba's career a fresh lease of life with his Munnabhai films. Ranbir, like Dutt says, seems to have nailed it in the teaser. All six Dutt looks Ranbir adorns in the teaser are bang on, along with the mannerisms, the swagger and the voice. Yet, it seems a sanitised version of Dutt's dark life of drugs and prison. When Hirani and his long-time collaborator Professor Abhijat Joshi met Sanjay Dutt, Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra disclosed, it was to discuss the next Munnabhai movie. When Raju and Abhijat returned, they told Vidhu they had a better subject than Munnabhai: Sanjay Dutt. "I thought they had lost it," Vidhu told the media, "Ithought there was nothing interesting in Sanjay Dutt's life." But when they narrated the story, he discovered a Sanjay Dutt and Sunil Dutt he hadn't known existed even though he had known them for over 25 years. Listening to SanjuBaba's colourful stories, Vidhu was not sure if they could be used in a film. But Dutt was okay with it. Vidhu got Sanju to sign an agreement so that Raju could show what they have in the film. "Ranbir has done a brilliant job," Vidhu exclaims. "What he has done in the film is unbelievable!" Then lapsing into characteristic Chopra candour, Vidhu declares: "He is perhaps the best actor in this industry, but his choice of scripts have been stupid." IMAGE: Ranbir Kapoor. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar Will Ranbir change his choice of scripts after Sanju? "I wish every actor knew what he was doing and had a plan. Then, everybody would be a superstar," Ranbir replies. "I am trying to learn from my own mistakes. I keep reminding myself that it's a bend, not the end," the actor says. "Life is difficult and requires a lot of hard work, so 'lage raho'. Keep working." "I have always been a Sanjay Dutt fan," Ranbir admits. "For me, it was a fan trying to play his icon on screen. The most difficult thing I had to do was give myself confidence that I could play this role." "When Raju sir told me about this, I felt I didn't have confidence, courage and understanding to do it. I don't even have the acting chops to do it." "I consider Sanju sir as my icon -- a flawed person, but also a good one," Ranbir says, adding, "I have observed Sanju sir all my life. I spent time with him too." There are six looks in the film. Did it take a toll on his body? "Not at all! I had a great team. We spaced the film out and shot it through a year. The number of days we shot weren't much, but I gave myself a month's break between every phase," Ranbir reveals. "A year before that, we did a lot of prep and screen tests, so that Raju sir would have the confidence that I could look like a muscular Sanjay Dutt." "I am not muscular; I have a thin frame. It's very hard for me to put on muscle. I can look like Sanjay Dutt, who comes out of jail or the one doing Munnabhai, or the young Sanjay Dutt from Rocky, that was easy because that is how I look," he says. While he found it easy to look like the young Sanjay, Ranbir felt the part was difficult. "Young Sanju was difficult because there are different facets. We had to show him doing drugs and then coming out of it, then his mother's death. The most fun was the Munnabhai phase," he says. Did any part of Sanjay Dutt's life shock him? "The whole script shocked me!" Ranbir exclaims. "I know a different Sanjay Dutt. I have known him as a family friend, and he has always treated me as a younger brother. I have seen the Sanjay Dutt of Khalnayak, the action hero. The style icon with his long hair. I knew all that." "When I read the script, I understood his journey, and that was really shocking for me." "His drugs phase and how he came out of it. He fought that at such an early age. The passing away of his mother just two or three days before the premiere of his first film (Rocky), his controversy with terrorism, his relationship with his father, his best friend, the women in his life... everything was shocking for me." "I was thinking how can a man have so many lives in just one life?" "I am 35 today. By the time he was 18, he had done five times of whatever I did in my life." IMAGE: Rajkumar Hirani, T-Series mogul Bhushan Kumar, Ranbir Kapoor, Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar Will Ranbir ever agree to a biopic on his life? "Yes, I would, but I don't think my life is inspiring. I am a very boring person. I work and sleep at home. It will look like a existential movie; I don't think it will work," he says. What was Sanjay Dutt's reaction to the rushes of the film? "There is a scene with Sunil Dutt saab and Sanjay Dutt in Munnabhai MBBS," Raju says. "We shot that for this film. I was very excited and showed it to Sanjay Dutt. He did not react at all. Everybody else loved it, but Sanjay Dutt did not react." "I made him watch it again and again, but he did not react, so I asked him whether he liked it or not. He said, 'I don't think this is good news for me.' I think Sanjay Dutt gets overwhelmed just by thinking that a film has been made on his life." Raju Hirani presents his film in a light-hearted way even though some situations in Dutt's life were tumultuous. "A biopic is a different monster all together; you don't have total control over it like you do while writing a fresh fiction screenplay," Raju says. "With the biopic, you have to be true to what has happened. It is a different kind of craft, we discovered," the director adds. "Sanju gave us anecdotes from his life, and we had to string it all together. I am interested in human stories, so I picked up those parts. There is a story of friendship, of his father..." "We have not added fiction, but we have dramatised a few things," Raju says. "We have made some scenes funnier and added more emotions to other scenes. We were not present when things happened, so we don't know the conversations. We have added dialogues and emotions accordingly." "We have toned down certain things too." IMAGE: Writer Abhijat Joshi, Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, Rajkumar Hirani, Ranbir Kapoor, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Bhushan Kumar. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar "One day," Professor Abhijat Joshi -- who wrote the Munnabhai films -- recalls, "Sanju said Barack Obama knows me as Munnabhai. I checked my watch to see what time of night it was to check how drunk he was." "Once Sanju was walking on the streets of Chicago," says Professor Joshi, "Obama (he was then a state senator in Illinois) was at a political event. When the Indians saw Sanju, they left Obama and ran towards him, calling, 'Munnabhai'." "I checked the incident and it was mentioned in the Chicago Tribune in August 2004. I showed him the paper, and asked him if Obama was the biggest icon he interacted with. He said, 'No, that would be Nelson Mandela.'" "When we started writing the film, we realised it was the most astounding film we had ever come across. We had 725 pages of transcript," reveals Professor Joshi. "It was tough to decide which scenes would be kept in the film. It was like reading a novel of Fyodor Dostoevsky, dark and deep and suddenly, a chapter from P G Woodhouse would come out," adds Professor Joshi, who teaches English at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. "It was goofy and dramatic." 'Coalition governments, sometimes assumed to mean years of political instability, actually saw key institutions emerging with greater strength -- the Election Commission, the judiciary, the press, and civil society at large, among others.' 'The question now is whether the clock is being turned back in a new political phase,' asks T N Ninan. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi at the Bharat Ki Baat event in London, April 18, 2018. Photograph: Press Information Bureau If one surveys the institutional scene, there is the complete waste of half the Budget session -- reducing the Lok Sabha to the semi-relevance to which many assemblies have already been reduced; so much so that even a no-confidence motion could not be taken up for discussion and voting. One might add that the BJP protests too loudly that the Opposition is to blame. Consider then the virtually open revolt that is evident in the Supreme Court, with some of the senior-most judges continuing to air publicly, and in the strongest possible language, their concern about the state of affairs in the Court -- and their fear that (not to put too fine a point on it) the government is trying to pack the Court. One must consider the state of law and order in what is arguably the country's most important state. A chief minister with criminal cases against him and a history of leading a vigilante group has presided over his government withdrawing charges against him, promoted vigilante groups, asked the police to control crime by stepping completely outside the framework of law, proposed that the state withdraw cases against selected politicians (you can guess their colour) and not taken the obvious action mandated by law when a party legislator is accused of raping a minor. Finally, one has to consider the decay of social capital and the lack of mutual trust when claims by constituent states of the Union increase in stridency, when needless actions cause communal tension and violence in parts of the northern heartland, when the country's largest minority feels under majoritarian siege, when political parties in West Bengal, Kerala and elsewhere resort to open violence to settle issues, when the Opposition starts distrusting the Election Commission, and when the coming election season is viewed by many with a sense of dread. A well-ordered society that hopes to do well economically and by its citizens has to strengthen its foundational institutions (Parliament, the judiciary, the larger justice system, and the administration). It has to ensure that the machinery for law and order and for tax collection functions under proper oversight, that due process is not cast aside as expendable, that the electoral process is fair, and that fundamental rights are in fact available to citizens. Many of these institutions and rights were under siege during the years of a single person's political dominance slightly more than four decades ago. The subsequent years of coalition or minority governments, sometimes assumed to mean years of political instability, actually saw key institutions emerging with greater strength -- the Election Commission, the judiciary, the press, and civil society at large, among others. The question now is whether the clock is being turned back in a new political phase. Thirty-eight years ago, all of India was in a state of shock when it was reported that the police in Bhagalpur had resorted to blinding petty criminals. Today policemen are simply killing those considered to be criminals; let alone shock, the campaign is said to enjoy public support. This has been explained as an understandable reaction to years of lawlessness that went before, but society enters a dangerous phase when foundational principles and institutions are seen as mere tactical assets, to be set aside when convenient. Especially when strongman rule and sectarian nationalism have gained new currency in many countries, the importance of social and institutional capital cannot be over-emphasised. 'An opportunity is at hand to think big and recast the India-China relationship on a new template, which would help the pursuit of our country's dream of major power status,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar. Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com A commentary in the Chinese Communist party central committee tabloid Global Times characterised the forthcoming meeting in Wuhan on April 27-28 between Prime Minister Narendra D Modi and President Xi Jinping as an event that can be 'as significant as the one in 1988 when Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and then Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi met' to set the course of bilateral relations. The similarity is indeed there. The most obvious thing is that Modi too, unfortunately, delayed his initiative until the final lap of his 5-year term as prime minister. Both Modi and Rajiv Gandhi acted in the aftermath of standoffs at the border, which were flaunted as 'muscularity'. Whereas, a major initiative toward China is best undertaken by an incoming Indian prime minister in the full flush of his election victory. A catastrophe may otherwise simply turn to be the course correction. Neither Rajiv Gandhi nor Modi cared to build a national opinion behind the China initiative, but instead preferred to tap into the 'bipartisan consensus' in the country that normalisation with China is in India's national interests. Modi's initiative is also taking place when the regional and international milieu is fluid, as in the late 1980s. If the Cold War was ending in the late 1980s, there are signs of a new Cold War today. Rajiv Gandhi's visit took place when Deng was just ushering in China into an era of reforms. Modi encounters a China that has already risen. On the other hand, Modi leads an India that is also rising rapidly and has come a long way from the economic crisis of the late eighties. While Rajiv Gandhi's visit broke the ice and opened the vista for the development of relations with China in diverse fields (pending the border settlement), it failed to lead to a paradigm shift. Management of differences and disputes continued to remain as the motto of the archetypal China expert in the bureaucratic establishment -- not their resolution or settlement. A comparison with Mikhail Gorbachev's initiative toward China, which coincided with Rajiv Gandhi's, underscores that a breakthrough with China remains elusive unless there is strategic vision. Sino-Russian relations have today acquired the character of a quasi-alliance despite the two countries having been bitter enemies who were involved in a bloody border conflict and having a painful history of territorial annexations and profound cultural and civilisational dissimilarities. Rajiv Gandhi was fortunate enough to have his initiative followed up by P V Narasimha Rao, culminating in the historic 1994 Treaty on Peace and Tranquility at the border although Rao himself remains a non-person. In Modi's case too, a hypothetical second term becomes imperative, for as Winston Churchill said once, 'Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.' Finally, even the three controversial areas in the India-China relationship -- territorial disputes, the situation around Pakistan and Tibet-related issues -- are no more the same as in the 1980s. Peace and tranquility prevails on the disputed border; India is outstripping Pakistan day by day in its comprehensive national power and faces no more threats of aggression; and, Tibet-related issues are becoming a relic of a bygone era. Thus, an opportunity is at hand to think big and recast the India-China relationship on a new bilateral, regional and international template, which would help the pursuit of our country's dream of major power status. The seductive notions of geopolitical competition ('rivalry') are either borne out of lack of trust or Western instigation -- or a combination of both. The good part is that Modi has a strategic vision. China is one country he knows well, having visited it several times before becoming prime minister. Without doubt, Beijing too regards Modi as a forceful Indian leader who is a keen reformer himself and is devoted to transforming the relationship with China. Never before in the history of the relationship has there been such an intense flow of back-to-back high-level visits as during the Modi era. Beijing underscored the high importance it attaches to relations with India when Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan received External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj no sooner than the Wuhan meeting was announced. Here, a detour is needed. The importance of Xi bringing in Wang at a potentially transformative juncture of Sino-Indian relations must be understood first. Of course, Wang is known to be Beijing's foremost 'America hand' who headed China's 'strategic and economic dialogues' with the US during the depths of the global financial crisis. However, importantly, over a 35-year career, he also distinguished himself as an economic reformer and financial technocrat. Wang, 69, enjoys the reputation of being the Chinese Communist party's most trusted and reliable crisis manager. But, above all, Wang is a close political associate of Xi. Having known each other since the Cultural Revolution (both of them were forced to work in a rural commune), their careers are tied together and Wang played a pivotal role to push through Xi's audacious anti-graft campaign over the past five-years. In the hugely significant meeting with Swaraj on Monday, Wang conveyed Beijing's expectations: Xi and Modi would reach 'more strategic consensus on bilateral ties and major issues of common concern'; China's priority lies in its development; China seeks to establish a closer partnership of development with India; China desires that India plays a bigger role within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; and, China hopes to work with India 'to jointly safeguard' the multilateral trade system. It is immaterial whether the weekend's meeting will generate a joint statement. Nor is it relevant whether there is going to be an 8-minute handshake in front of the television cameras between Xi and Modi against the backdrop of the Yellow Crane Tower, first built in 222 BC and immortalised amongst the Chinese people in the poetry of Cui Hao. Nonetheless, tangible takeaways from Wuhan cannot be ruled out. The nascent idea of a China-Nepal-India trans-Himalayan economic corridor may acquire habitation and a name. (Wang received Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali in Beijing on April 18.) The discussions at the 5th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing on April 18 may take concrete shape as projects -- in areas such as renewable energy, railways, housing and urban development, electronics, IT and so on. However, it is the 'big picture' that remains crucial. That is where the comparison with Rajiv Gandhi's visit to China becomes most relevant. Simply put, three decades have passed and a strategic upgrade of relations is a dire necessity. While the overall development of ties in various fields has been significant and peace and tranquility prevails on the border, the two countries need to build a new strategic framework that faces the future. The India-China relationship has assumed a global character. We need no reminder that as India climbs up the greasy pole of the world order, it too will face the very same challenges that China is currently facing. A commonality of interests does exist to provide a stable basis for bilateral relations. With strategic unity, the two countries will be better placed to reshape the international and political order. Beijing realises this, as evident from Wang's remarks signaling the desire for strategic consensus with India, which indeed echoed Xi's views. In sum, Wang outlined a new type of relationship with strategic consensus on bilateral issues and common concerns at its core, which can galvanise cooperation in development, regional security and the global partnership. Many important RSS people believe the 2014 result was the consequence of Hindutva and not just Modi's outstanding oratory, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan. IMAGE: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat. What happens when an ideological agenda comes up against the practicalities of governance? Only three outcomes are possible. In one, the ideologues oust the head of the government. In another, the head of the government ousts the ideologues. And in the third, the two become one. The latest to achieve this merger is Xi Jinping of China. But he is only the latest in a very long line of such M&A artists. Stalin, Mao, Hitler, and, closer home, Indira Gandhi are just a few of the well-known names. As far as can be seen, the two don't quarrel over the direction on which there is no difference of opinion. They do, however, quarrel over the pace at which to go. In India we have added another dimension to this problem. We have invented the concept of 'outside support'. This means the people who have an ideology don't join the government. They merely ensure a majority to defeat a non-confidence motion against a minority government and then extract their pound of flesh. This led to a wondrous result in 1989. The V P Singh government was simultaneously supported by the BJP and the CPI-M! Technically that government lasted for 11 months and was effective for only six. What happens is this. 'Now that we have helped you win,' say the ideological bosses to the head of the government, 'Implement our agenda rapidly.' 'I will do as you say,' says the head of the government, 'but you can't rush these things when you are running a government.' That said, would it be right in assuming that the government and the RSS are not quite on the same page? The evidence pointing to some friction keeps accumulating. First, there was that embarrassment in Uttar Pradesh when the BJP lost two important by-elections, one each in the constituencies of the chief minister and the deputy chief minister. In politics it doesn't get much worse than that. Nor is it easy to believe the 'we became too complacent' explanation. The question everyone is asking is: How come the RSS didn't help in getting voters to the booth? Then came another barb, this time from no less a person than the head of the RSS, Mohan Bhagwat. Mr Bhagwat said his organisation had never said that it wanted a Congress-mukt Bharat. The Indian Express quoted him as saying that 'these are political slogans. It is not the language of the RSS.' 'The word 'mukt' (free or liberated) is used in politics. We never use the language of excluding anyone. We have to include everyone in the process of nation building including those who oppose us.' The Times of India reported Mr Bhagwat as saying that those with a negative approach would think only of conflicts and divisions. It then quoted him as saying 'such a person is not at all useful in the process of nation-building'. It is, of course, entirely possible that he was referring to the Opposition. Sitaram Yechury, Mamata Banerjee, Chandrababu Naidu, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Rahul Gandhi, etc, singly or collectively, are some good examples of people who have 'negative approaches' But, as Francis Underwood would say, 'You may think that, my dear, I couldn't possibly comment." Prime Minister Narendra D Modi has always had a problem. I had pointed to it in a 2013 article titled 'Modi v BJP v NDA'. He overcame the BJP problem in September that year and the NDA problem in January-February of 2014, when it became clear that he was going to be the next PM. But what has never been clear is his political relationship with the RSS. Conventional wisdom has it that as chief minister of Gujarat he kept the RSS at arm's length. But how has it been since he became prime minister? Many important RSS people believe that the 2014 result was the consequence of the subterranean Hindutva message and not just Mr Modi's outstanding oratory. Four years down the line, I would venture to say that he has tried to please the RSS as far as possible -- cow slaughter, JNU, triple talaq, a muscular policy towards Pakistan, etc -- but has, so far at least, drawn the line on the temple issue. But this could change if the BJP does very poorly in Karnataka next month. It will depend on what sort of accommodation Mr Modi reaches with the RSS. 'His (Asaram's) men asked me to go before the media and say that he is innocent and the court will free him and they will give me as much money as I want' 'When I came to know what had happened to my daughter, it was shattering for us...we lost all faith in him when we learnt about his misdeeds' The father of the teenager raped by Asaram on Wednesday expressed satisfaction over the Jodhpur court verdict convicting the self-styled godman. "I am happy to get justice, I thank the judiciary and the media for it," the rape victim's father said after Asaram's conviction by a Jodhpur court. "We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice," he told mediapersons soon after the court verdict. "For the past four years, our family members had not been coming out (of our house)...it is satisfying that the verdict has gone against him," he said. "We were living in constant terror, our business was adversely hit," he said. Speaking about the hardships faced by the family during the trial of the case, he said he was given "allurements and life threats". "...his (Asaram's) men asked me to go before the media and say that he is innocent and the court will free him and they will give me as much money as I want...with police security at our place, threats were also sent through our relatives," he said. Terming the self-styled godman as a "fraud", the father said such people brainwash god-fearing commoners and gradually win over their loyalty making them believe that "the guru is supreme". "People like us are brainwashed into believing that they are incarnation of God. Their so-called mystic powers are repeatedly mentioned and they become the focus of their disciples," he said. "When we got completely brainwashed, we were told that there are gurukuls where our children will do good," he said. "When I came to know what had happened to my daughter, it was shattering for us...we lost all faith in him when we learnt about his misdeeds," he said. The Jodhpur court found 77-year-old Asaram guilty of raping a teenager five years ago. The teenager from Shahajanpur in Uttar Pradesh was studying at the self-styled godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. The victim had alleged that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. Ahead of the pronouncement of the judgement, the district administration had extended security to the victim's family. The administration had also stepped up vigil at Asaram's ashram at Rudrapur, about 2 kms away. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He is under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. The government on Wednesday shot-off notices for the second time to both Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, seeking more details on the data breach issue, sources said. Taking a tough stance against Cambridge Analyticas cryptic response to its first notice, the government has again sent notices to both the British data analytics firm and Facebook, confronting them with additional questions on potential misuse of data. It has asked Facebook to list out security architecture proposed to be created by the company so that data concerning Indians are not pilfered or manipulated again for extraneous purposes including to influence the elections. The government also asked Facebook about steps it plans to clamp down on any unauthorised use of data or manipulation, and fixed a deadline of May 10 for responses. It had earlier questioned both the companies on the impact of the data breach, following which Facebook had admitted that nearly 5.62 lakh people in India were potentially affected by the incident. Earlier this month, Facebook and Cambridge Analytica had submitted their responses, following which the government has now sought more details. The sources, who did not wish to be identified, said the two companies have now been given time till May 10 to respond. Over the last few weeks, the US social networking giant has drawn intense criticism from users and governments globally over the data leak scandal that hit millions of users. Information of over 80 million Facebook users was allegedly harvested by data analytics and political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, leading to a global backlash against the American company. Meanwhile, Cambridge Analytica has said that all its activities around the world, including in India, will be investigated and reported on. A spokesperson for the company said that while CA was focussed purely on the US market, its global arm SCL Elections handled other regions. All the national issues and national associations are part and parcel of the independent investigation. Rest assured, India, Kenya, Nigeria, all the other countries that SCL has been working in historically, will be investigated and reported on as part of the independent investigation, he told reporters. Last month, Christopher Wylie, a former employee of CA turned whistleblower, had told MPs during his evidence before the committee that the company had worked extensively in India and named the Congress as one of its clients. In a post on Twitter later, the 28-year-old also named the Janata Dal-United as a client during the 2010 Bihar elections and revealed some caste surveys carried out in Uttar Pradesh by SCL India -- the parent company of CA. Ive been getting a lot of requests from Indian journalists, so here are some of SCLs past projects in India. To the most frequently asked question yes SCL/CA works in India and has offices there. This is what modern colonialism looks like, Wylie had tweeted. His message included documents which indicate that SCL India boasted a database of over 600 districts and 7 lakh villages, which is constantly being updated. Its reach in India is said to include a head office in Ghaziabad, with nine regional offices in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cuttack, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Patna and Pune. I dont remember a national project but I know regionally. Indias so big that one state can be as big as Britain. But they do have offices there, they do have staff there, he had said, offering to provide more documentation to the committee on CAs India links. Suspended after the Doklam face-off, the bilateral military exercise of India and China is likely to resume this year, in sync with renewed efforts by both the countries to reset ties hit by a tense standoff between their troops, government sources said on Wednesday. The exercise 'Hand-in-Hand' between the armies of the two countries will take place within next 4-5 months in China and an announcement is likely to be made very soon, sources told PTI. It is learnt that the issue of resumption of the annual exercise had figured during talks between Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe in Beijing on Tuesday. Sitharaman was in Beijing to attend a meeting of defence ministers of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is travelling to Chinese city of Wuhan on Friday on a two-day visit to hold an 'informal summit' with Chinese President Xi Jinping, seen as an effort to build mutual trust between the two sides. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said the two leaders will try to reach important consensus to resolve outstanding issues and build mutual trust during their talks in Wuhan. The government sources said both sides want to resume the military exercise as it will act as a confidence building measure between the two armies. The annual exercise was to be hosted by China in 2017 but it did not take place due to the Doklam standoff. So far, both sides have participated in six editions of the exercise. India had hosted the exercise in 2016. Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face off was 'resolved' on August 28 last year. The area in Doklam where China tried to construct a road is a disputed territory claimed by both China and Bhutan. India sent its troops to stop the Chinese construction activity, saying it could be a threat to its strategic interests in the region. Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) was formulated by the government of India in 1993. Under the scheme money is allotted to MPs to spend, as they see fit, on public works in their constituencies. Under MPLADS, the role of the MPs is limited only up to the recommendation of works. Thereafter, it is the responsibility of the district authority to sanction, execute and complete it within the stipulated time period. The annual allocation for MPs under MPLADS has increased over the years 1993-94 to 2011-12 from Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 million) to Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) per annum. Each constituency is entitled to get Rs 20 crore during the period of five years. Rediff Labs analysed the data on MPLADS to see how the money given to each constituency was spent. The above map shows the amount (in crores) recommended by MPs for various works in their constituencies during 2014-2018, ie the current Lok Sabha. In some of the constituencies, the amount recommended by the MP is higher than the amount for which the constituency is entitled to. The district authority can sanction an amount lower or higher than the recommended one. For example, in Hajipur, Bihar the amount recommended by the MP was around Rs 67 crore, while the amount sanctioned by the district authority was Rs 23 crore. Whereas in other constituencies, the amount recommended by the MP was much lesser than the entitled amount. For example, in Alwar , Rajasthan, the MP recommended around Rs 34 lakh for various development works, while the constituency is entitled to a maximum of Rs 20 crore. The above map shows the percentage of expenditure incurred by district authorities since 2014. This percentage helps us understand how much of the sanctioned amount was spend on works recommended under MPLADS. In most of the constituencies the amount was fully utilised for the MPLADS works. In constituencies like Jhanjharpur and Purvi Champaran of Bihar and Mahesana of Gujarat, the amount available with the district authority was fully utilised. At the same time, in constituencies like Tripura east in Tripura and Alwar in Rajasthan, only 1-2 per cent of the amount was utilised. The above map shows us the overall focus of a particular state and how much each state spends on different sectors like education, drinking water facility, health and family welfare, electricity and irrigation under MPLADS. The states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal spend more on drinking water facility. While states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir spend more on electricity. States like Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Meghalaya and Assam spend more on education. While Bihar is highly focussed on improving health and family welfare and Sikkim on irrigation facilities. For more data stories go to Rediff Labs Source: tass.com BEIJING, April 24. /TASS/. Moscow and Beijing are developing a strategic policy to strengthen cooperation on defense, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday at the meeting with Vice Chairman of Chinas Central Military Commission Xu Qiliang. "The privileged character of intergovernmental ties is confirmed by regular meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The upcoming high-level meeting will be held in the first ten days of June within the framework of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Qingdao," Shoigu said. Russia and China continue "their strategic line towards further boosting friendly and trustworthy ties in the defense sphere," the defense minister noted. Russian-Chinese relations are "an important factor for maintaining global and regional security," Shoigu stressed. "In modern global politics, our countries hold similar positions," he emphasized. During his visit to Beijing in November 2016, Shoigu and Xu Qiliang held the 21th meeting of the Russian-Chinese intergovernmental commission on military and technical cooperation. "Since then, our bilateral contacts have significantly expanded and have been imbued with new areas of military and military-technical cooperation," he highlighted. In his turn, Xu Qiliang said: "I believe that now the relations between the armies of China and Russia are undergoing the best period in their history, especially in the relations on military and technical cooperation." He recalled that in 2019-2020 Russia will hold presidency in the SCO, wishing Russia to successfully organize a meeting of the organizations Defense Ministers Council. "We want you to play a greater and more important role in ensuring security and defense in the SCO framework," he noted. By Ouyang Hao BEIJING, Apr. 25 (ChinaMil) -- The 15th Defense Ministers' Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States was held in Beijing on Tuesday. Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense General Wei Fenghe presided over the meeting and delivered a keynote speech. Leaders of the defense ministries and militaries of SCO member states including Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of the SCO Secretariat and the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the SCO attended the meeting. The Belarusian Defense Minister attended the meeting as a special guest. The topic for the summit was building a community with a shared future for mankind while seeking development through innovation and cooperation, as General Wei Fenghe pointed out during his speech. Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with leaders from other countries, has put cooperation in security as the top priority, which has in turn made the SCO an important force for maintaining world peace and stability. General Wei Fenghe said that we must earnestly implement the consensus reached by the heads of various states and constantly improve the level of defense and security cooperation. General Wei Fenghe also pointed out that building a community with a shared future for mankind is China's wisdom and plan that focuses on solving human development issues and improving the global governance environment. President Xi proposed the idea of building a community with a shared future for mankind and make Asia and the world peaceful, tranquil, prosperous, open and beautiful once again during April's Boao Forum for Asia. This proposal is highly compatible with the concept behind the establishment of the SCO, General Wei Fenghe said. As the largest comprehensive regional organization in the world today, we must establish the concept of a shared future for mankind and work hard to build shared security for all. The "Shanghai Sprit" should be well-preserved, while pragmatic cooperation is strengthened in areas such as high-level exchanges, joint military drills, and education, among others. Wei said that we need to establish a united front in the fight against terrorism and jointly safeguard peace in the region and the world. During the conference, defense leaders summed up the results of cooperation since the 2017 meeting, stressing that the SCO countries should enhance cooperation between defense departments and armed forces to deal with rising threats and challenges in international societies. The Defense Ministers of SCO Countries Joint Communique was signed at the conference, while the defense minister from Uzbekistan signed a collaboration agreement with other SCO country's defense ministries. Medals of strengthening friendship and cooperation among SCO member states were awarded during the conference. Wei met with defense ministers of Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and India to exchange views on deepening military exchange and cooperation, and they participated in the opening ceremony of the 5th "Fanfare for Peace" military music festival. Before the conference, the defense ministers paid tribute and offered flower baskets at the Monument to the People's Heroes at the Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Plantation, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/25/2018 --Knight Insurance has turned out to be one of the most significant independent insurance agencies which have their registered office in Florida. As a leading independent insurance agency, Knight Insurance offers a varied range of insurance policies such as flood, homeowner's, boat, and business insurance and car insurance in Coral Springs and Davie Florida from premium insurance companies. Knight Insurance is associated with a number of renowned insurance service providers, and therefore they can assist the client in getting the best policy. The primary aim of the company is to offer wide-ranging insurance coverage to the businesses and individuals and that too at lucrative rates. 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More than 100 exhibitors from over 30 countries will be filling the prime located venue with an incredible display of art, with more pieces than ever before gathered under one roof for visitors to admire and to buy in the city's largest Artist showcase of modern and contemporary art. This year, the organisers Global Art Agency joined forces with BELLESALLE Roppongi to host the fourth Tokyo International Art Fair - yet again expecting thousands of art loving visitors and huge sales. Roppongi (literally "six trees") is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the affluent Roppongi Hills development area which includes the famous Mori Art Museum. Organisers Joelle Dinnage and her business partner Natal Vallve from the Global Art Agency are making the fantastic (free) two-day art extravaganza a versatile art happening for the locals of Tokyo. A huge variety of artworks, offering every visitor something to suit their style, all in an affordable price-range to buy and to take home on the day. "We are extremely happy with the new venue, it will be another spectacle." they said. On show will be paintings, sculptures, photography art, illustrations, printmaking, and jewellery, with a live painting and music show at the event. "Almost 10,000 people visited the event last year, connections were made, and great sales happened, so everyone was extremely satisfied. There was no doubt to continue and build on the success of the previous editions. We have worked very hard to get a brilliant new venue in one of Tokyo's hotspots attracting art aficionado's from all over the world, and partnering up with The Wall Street Journal has been a great bonus too!" said organiser Joelle Dinnage. "We have new talent exhibiting this year as well as some known names, some of them exhibited also with us last year, and of course there are the famous names such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Pure Evil and works by Takashi Marukami." HIGHLIGHTS: TASCHEN (Japan) will be exhibiting a World Heritage landmark, this SUMO-sized publication presents the most precious surviving murals of Tibetan Buddhist culture. For the first time, these astonishing and intricate masterpieces can be appreciated in blazing color and life-size resolution. Signed by his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, coming with a bookstand designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban. New York Gallery (Japan) Once again exhibiting master pieces by Mr Brainwash - A graffiti artist who jumped out of the street at once to the world. The work full of "positive" and "playful" is said to be "the return of Andy Warhol" and it is highly appreciated. And artist Flore - influenced by prominent artists such as Keith Haring and Basquiat, and last but not least Cyril Kongo who is a French graffiti artist born in 1969, better known under the internationally pseudonym of Kongo. A self-taught painter established himself as one of the leading figures of the French graffiti art scene. DisQuiet Gallery (Singapore). There are elusive beasts, and they are called mental illnesses. DisQuiet, an art collective comprising 4 Singaporean artists, aims to create awareness on them. The apparent clash of artistic styles is to tell the narrative that anyone, no matter how different, can succumb to the fragility of the mind. And within each artist's collection, the pieces depict how the artist views the torment that the sufferers have to go through. GArtGallery (Russia) is a Moscow-based gallery will be creating a special story in order to present arts in an unusual form with a new conceptual reading at the Tokyo International Art Fair. Keiko Imaizumi (Canada) will be showing positive enlightened prints presented with LED light backing with a Japanese natural frost motive which reflects the sincerity of the nature of Japan. Franco The Creator (UK) his creative philosophies are united by eternal values and REVIVAL of spirituality, and serve as an impetus to reconnect with a mode of life most of us have only ever heard about. This driving power that motivates Franco's search for EMOTIONAL TRUTH. He believes that color and geometry can greatly affect how we perceive this meaning. Geometry questions shape, size, relative position of figures, and the properties of space... it almost sounds if Stephen Hawkins had an influence on his works. Cuen Gallery (Mexico) Expect conceptual design from artist Ramon Jimenez Cardenas creating objects and sculpture pieces. His typologies and materials seen in objects are often derived from design insights seen in his hometown Oaxaca, Mexico. These insights are mostly seen in architectural structures which carry narrative and a graphic language of their own. Christopher Parker (USA) Ever heard of ArtLampoons? Well this is your chance to see them... Rice paper lanterns with watercolour, gouache, pen and glycerin. WOW Art Gallery (HK) Kaya believes that art and design share an inseparable relationship with limitless possibilities. The creative process is a cycle in which people continuously transform, edit and improve the concept, where the purpose is to create creativity in the hope of achieving self-actualization. And also watch out for EStYLE Art Gallery (Taiwan), ABU Gallery (Guinea-Bissau), Sun Gallery New York (USA). BEST ARTIST AWARD OXFORD INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR 2018: Bogdan Mihai Radu (Bulgaria) a Romanian artist whose works spoke volumes at the entrance to the Oxford International Art Fair. On an immense scale that's immersive, Bogdan's abstracted expressionism is bold and striking, dense with mood and emotion telling a story of his life, a traumatic episode and a challenging psychological state with which Bogdan worked through in these paintings. 'I cannot live without painting,' says Bogdan, 'because it's only when I paint that I feel truly alive.' He is thrilled to have won this award, and will be exhibiting at TIAFA 2018 with pride to show his works to the Asian collectors. LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS: AYA Gallery (Japan) Finding inspiration in nature, visualising colours, shapes and lines that feel warm and vibrant. In this exhibition, AYA deal with Japanese agricultural landscapes. Generative Art Studio (Japan) Expect unpredictable artworks created by programming, 3DCG, MotionGraphics. Without listening to the sound, producing music... it's an experience! Colleen Sakurai (Japan) Her artistic goal is to keep things simple. Shapes and forms that reveal and accentuate the undulating beauty of the material. Also keep a look out for Hiroko Saigusa (Japan), A&S Group (Japan) that have work on from Alex Einbinder and Sachiko Shigeta. These artists are among the more than 112 showing their work at this year's fair, which takes place on May 25 and 26. The event aims to showcase both rookie and veteran artists, as well as create chances for networking and buying the art on display. As the fair runs on two days, it will also be split into private and public viewings. First up is the private, which costs 1,500. That provides potential buyers with first pick of the art on offer and includes a serving of Champagne. The public viewing is free, but a lot of people are expected to show up: the inaugural Tokyo International Art Fair last year welcomed more than 10,000 guests. Dates & Times: Friday 25th May 2018: 18.00pm - 21.00pm Including Champagne Reception, Private View and first opportunity to buy art. Private View & Vernissage from: 1500 JPY per VIP ticket. Book online Saturday 26th May 2018 : 11.00am - 19.00pm?Live painting, Buy Art Show, Global Art Awards Ceremony (18.00pm) FREE ENTRY Live painting, Buy Art Show, Global Art Awards Ceremony: FREE entry Tickets available at http:www.tokyoartfair.com/tickets/ Venue: BELLESALLE Roppongi | Japan, 106-0032 Tokyo, Minato, Roppongi, 7 Chome-18-18 Website: http://www.tokyoartfair.com About Global Art Agency Ltd. The GAA Ltd also known as the Global Art Agency presents the forth edition of the "Tokyo International Art Fair" 25-26 May 2018 hosted at Belle Salle Roppongi. The art fair features paintings, sculptures, photography art, illustration and multi media artworks by award-winning and top emerging artists. Giving Art Collectors and Art Enthusiast a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy art directly from the artist that has travelled all the way to Tokyo. A unique experience for both visitors and exhibitor, at the fabulous Belle Salle in Roppongi. Contact: Ms. Juliette Gerards PR Agent http://www.tokyoartfair.com office@globalartagency.com +44(0)7825443925 A total of 210 officers participate in the PLA Army's first professional skills competition for staff officers in Nanjing on April 23, 2018. (army.81.cn) By Qian Xiaohu and Li Dayong NANJING, April 25 (ChinaMil) -- The first professional skills competition for combat staff officers of the PLA Army kicked off in a training range in Nanjing on Monday. A total of 210 staff officers from Army units at and above group army level participated in the competition. All the participants in full combat gear of over 10 kg weight took part in a precision shooting event immediately after a 3-km cross-country race on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday afternoon, in four hours, five contests were held successively including the contests of remote sensing image interpretation, graph calculation and analysis, integrated generation of battlefield situation diagramming and computer-aided military plotting. Participants of the competition were selected based on recommendations and random sampling to ensure the fairness of the competition. The competition is designed to examine the professional competence of the staff officers of the PLA Army. A group of excellent staff officers stood out from the competition. Toronto police say the driver who allegedly ran down and killed 10 pedestrians on a downtown sidewalk with his van left a "cryptic" Facebook message just moments before the attack. A court Tuesday charged Alek Minassian with 10 counts of first degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. He kept his head down and did not enter a plea. Police are examining what they describe as Minassian's cryptic message, hoping it will help them figure out his motive. He praised the young man who killed six people before killing himself at a California community college in 2014 as "the Supreme Gentleman." Police say Minassian also declared on his now-deleted Facebook account that "The Incel Rebellion has already begun. We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys." "Incel" is apparently social media slang for people who have no success romantically while "Chad and Stacy" refer to attractive men and women who are far more successful in finding love. Germany has been very vocal about campaigning for the elections. "Our stance in this regard is firm. Campaigning for a foreign country's elections in Germany is not allowed three months prior to the elections," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said, speaking on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Toronto. "That applies to everyone, regardless of where they come from." Regardless, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated he might be ready to flout the electioneering ban. "Our preparations abroad are most likely complete by now," Erdogan said. "I will not name the country where, but I will be addressing Turkish citizens at an indoor gym with a capacity to hold about 10,000 to 11,000 [people]. Most likely, we will be gathering in Europe, and God willing, l will make our address." Snap elections in Turkey are threatening to put Ankara on a collision course with several parts of Europe with large Turkish minorities. Germany, Austria and Amsterdam have ruled out any campaigning by Turkish political parties ahead of the June 24 elections. Speeches 'Are Unwanted' Austrian and Dutch governments are enforcing similar bans. "Speeches by Turkish politicians that are part of the election campaign are unwanted in Austria, and we will no longer allow them," Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told a radio station Saturday. "On the one hand, they block the exercise of most fundamental democratic rights, and on the other hand they argue that there are negative developments in terms of democracy in Turkey," shot back Turkey's European Union Affairs Minister Omer Celik. The campaign ban will come as a particular blow to Celik's ruling AKP and the re-election bid of its leader, Erdogan. "Erdogan is a very hands-on politician. He wants to be seen by his constituents, and he believes he has very active constituents in Europe," said political columnist Semih Idiz of the Al-Monitor website. "And these voters are very important. It can swing an election. We are talking about a very, very large number of Turks who are eligible to vote. We are talking about a population of 4 [million to] 5 million people -- it's a very important voting basket he can't overlook," added Idiz. Analysts point out that Turkish voters in Europe have a strong urge to support Erdogan and his AKP party. They say such support could prove decisive in June's election. Ergogan 'May Not Make It' "It's clear that all the opinion polls indicate he [Erdogan] may not make it," said political scientist Cengiz Aktar. "It won't be easy. He will need all the support he can get. It going to be very risky for Turkey's European neighbors." Last year's referendum to turn Turkey into an executive presidency plunged Turkish-European relations into crisis. The Netherlands and Germany, in particular, voiced strong opposition. Both countries blocked planned rallies after officials cited security concerns or said the rallies could stoke tensions. The Turkish president responded by saying the two countries were behaving like Nazi regimes. Analysts say the tough rhetoric played well with many members of Europe's Turkish minority, bolstering Erdogan's campaign to narrowly pass the ballot measure. Some observers suggest the latest campaign bans could play out again in Erdogan's favor. "It is very hard to believe that they [Germany, Austria, Amsterdam] are so oblivious to the fact that the more they make campaigning hard for the AKP, the more it will fuel support for the party and its leader to secure victory in the elections," wrote columnist Barcin Yinanc in the Hurriyet Daily News. Chinese tech firms pledged on Monday to tackle gender bias in recruitment after a rights group said they routinely favored male candidates, luring applicants with the promise of working with "beautiful girls" in job advertisements. A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report found that major technology companies including Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent had widely used "gender discriminatory job advertisements," which said men were preferred or specifically barred women applicants. Some ads promised candidates they would work with "beautiful girls" and "goddesses," HRW said in a report based on an analysis of 36,000 job posts between 2013 and 2018. Tencent, which runs China's most popular messenger app WeChat, apologized for the ads after the HRW report was published on Monday. "We are sorry they occurred and we will take swift action to ensure they do not happen again," a Tencent spokesman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. E-commerce giant Alibaba, founded by billionaire Jack Ma, vowed to conduct stricter reviews to ensure its job ads followed workplace equality principles, but refused to say whether the ads singled out in the report were still being used. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. North Korea left about 300 troops behind at its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province to guard the facility when it pulled out a military unit, the Asahi Shimbun reported Tuesday. Most of the 1,200 troops of the regiment were relocated early last month, a source told the daily, but 300 were left behind. Their task is "to prevent residual radioactive and other materials from being lost," the source said. The regime promised to halt nuclear and missile tests and close down the nuclear test site last week. The daily speculated that the North wants to try to keep a lid on the site as the Punggye-ri nuclear test site could be a barometer to gauge the level of its nuclear development. Award-winning director Lee Chang-dong shared his feelings ahead of the release of his latest film at a press event on Monday. "Burning" is his first film in eight years since "Poetry" in 2010. "I can't believe that it's been eight years since I made 'Poetry,'" Lee said. "For the first time in ages, I worked with young people and tried to tell their stories in my film. I tried to forget my own age while making the film." "Burning" is a mystery drama based on the short story "Barn Burning" written by renowned Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. It has been nominated in the competition section of the annual Cannes Film Festival, along with "Ash Is Purest White" by Jia Zhangke, "BlacKkKlansman" directed by Spike Lee, "Le Livre d'Image" by Jean-Luc Godard and "Shoplifters" by Koreeda Hirokazu. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang on Monday to express his condolences over a bus accident that killed and injured dozens of Chinese tourists in North Korea the previous day, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday. It was his first visit to the Chinese Embassy since he came into power. He also visited injured Chinese victims in hospital and told medical personnel to take good care of them. The new caring image is being projected ahead of summits with South Korea and the U.S. and amid a thaw in relations with Beijing. According to the state media, Kim visited the embassy at 6:30 a.m. Monday, only a few hours after the accident occurred. The previous night, a bus carrying the Chinese tourists crashed off a bridge, killing 32 Chinese and four North Koreans, and seriously injuring two. Unusually, the state media reported every detail of Kim's itinerary. The leaders of North and South Korea will work out their final joint statement on the question of denuclearization at the summit itself rather than hammering it out in advance. Officials from the two sides have been preparing a joint statement to be announced after their summit on Friday, but the part about denuclearization has been left out. A senior Cheong Wa Dae official said Tuesday, "Most of the terms will be agreed beforehand, but some will be decided by reflecting the results of the summit." North and South Korea have prepared an agreement on two of the three main agenda items, which are the establishment of a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War and improving cross-border relations. But they failed to narrow their differences over the scrapping of North Korea's nuclear weapons. "A large portion of the agreement should be negotiated by the leaders themselves during the summit," a senior government official told reporters Tuesday. This is relatively rare in international summit diplomacy, which is mostly for show while the details have already been worked out behind the scenes and leaders sit around aimlessly exchanging pleasantries. "North Korea has always been reluctant to discuss sensitive issues during working-level talks, saying such matters should be discussed at higher levels," the official added. Marange villagers demonstrate against ZCDC 25 april 2018 News Villagers from Marange staged a demonstration on Monday against the state-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), which they accused of failing to create jobs and reduce poverty in the area, according to local media reports. ZCDC was currently the sole diamond producer in Marange after government pushed out mining firms that operated in the area when their licences expired two years ago. The state-controlled Herald newspaper reports that the villagers wanted to know who siphoned billions of dollars allegedly generated from the diamond fields. They, however, failed to gain entrance into the company premises as police allegedly fired teargas canisters. The daily quoted ZCDC head of public relations Sugar Chagonda as saying that the demonstration was politically motivated fingering opposition parties for fuelling them. We believe they are rented crowds sponsored by opposition political parties to discredit the good works we have done for the community, he said. We have done a lot of community social responsibility programmes such as construction of roads, rehabilitation of clinics, schools, supporting tillage programmes and drilling boreholes ZCDC was targeting to produce 3 million carats this year, which represents a growth of 84 percent from its 2017 achievement of 1.8 million carats. Production in Marange had largely shifted from the depleting alluvial deposits to conglomerate deposits. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished ALROSA CEO Sergey Ivanov visits Zimbabwe 25 april 2018 News ALROSAs delegation headed by CEO Sergey Ivanov payed a working visit to Zimbabwe. ALROSA's CEO met with Zimbabwes President Emmerson Mnangagwa on a matter of possible investments in exploration and mining programs in Zimbabwe. ALROSA used to explore in Zimbabwe. We are attentively following all the changes in economic and political events in the country and we have precise overview of the situation in its diamond sector. The meeting with the president was very fruitful. We are not ruling out of the possibility of participating in some joint exploration and mining programs on the territory of Zimbabwe, we see great potential in these programs, although it is too early to comment on any possible agreement, said Sergey Ivanov following the meeting with Emmerson Mnangagwa. ALROSAs CEO also held meetings with the countrys Minister of Mines and Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC). We didnt discuss any targets for exploration and mining programs. However, I am sure that ALROSAs experience and assessment may be useful and relevant to our Zimbabwean colleagues in different areas, noted Sergey Ivanov. Osram Licht AG (OSAGF.PK), a German manufacturer of lamps, lighting systems, and electronic control gears, said that it cut its fiscal year 2018 outlook, due to the uncertain macroeconomic conditions, particularly the weakness of the US dollar against the euro, and the slower development in the first half of fiscal year 2018. Based on current exchange rates, the company now expects a comparable revenue growth of 3.0 percent-5.0 percent in fiscal year 2018, compared to the prior outlook of 5.5 percent -7.5 percent growth in comparable revenue. The company lowered its fiscal year 2018 adjusted EBITDA guidance to about 640 million euros from the prior estimation of 700 million euros. The company reduced its annual earnings per share outlook to a range of 1.90 euros -2.10 euros, from the prior outlook of 2.40 euros - 2.60 euros. For fiscal year 2018, the company expects a negative free cash flow of 50 million euros to 150 million euros, unchanged from the prior outlook. In the second quarter of fiscal year 2018, based on preliminary results, OSRAM reported revenue of 1.01 billion euros in its continuing operations, represented 1.8 percent growth on a comparable basis. It reported an adjusted EBITDA margin of 15.1 percent, and earnings per share of 0.46 euros. It reported that negative free cash flow amounted to 132 million euros owing to planned capital expenditure in the Opto Semiconductors business unit. The Managing Board will now enter into further talks with the employee representatives on implementation of the necessary measures. According to preliminary estimates, these measures may result in an extraordinary expense before tax of 60 million euros - 70 million euros. It is not currently possible to predict precisely how long the negotiations with the employee representatives will take. The adjusted outlook for earnings per share for the current fiscal year 2018 therefore does not reflect this extraordinary expense. The company said it will publish its preliminary results for the second quarter on May 3, 2018 and the final results for both the second quarter and the first half of fiscal year 2018 on May 8, 2018. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News German gas and engineering company Linde Group (LDE.L, LNAGF.PK) reported that its Group operating profit from continuing operations for the first-quarter of 2018 rose by 3.8 percent to 1.081 billion euros from 1.041 billion euros in the previous year. After adjusting for exchange rate effects, the increase was as much as 12.1 percent. Earnings per share from continuing operations grew to 2.07 euros from 1.68 euros last year. Earnings per share adjusted for special items increased by 23.7 percent to 2.19 euros from 1.77 euros in the previous year. Group revenue from continuing operations fell by 7.8 percent to 4.044 billion euros from 4.385 billion euros last year. Exchange rate effects were the main reason for this decrease. In addition, the first-time application of IFRS 15 had a negative impact on revenue. After adjusting for exchange rate effects arising solely on translation and for the impact from the first-time application of IFRS 15, Group revenue was 1.4 percent above the figure for the prior-year period. The company confirmed its fiscal year 2018 outlook. After adjusting for the impact of IFRS 15 and for exchange rate effects, Group revenue in 2018 is expected to be similar to that achieved in 2017 or to increase by up to 4 percent. Group operating profit after adjusting for exchange rate effects is expected to lie within a range from the prior-year figure to 5 percent higher. In the 2018 financial year, Linde will seek to achieve a return on capital employed of around 10 percent. Linde said it is seeking to achieve the following targets in the Gases Division in the 2018 financial year. After adjusting for the impact of IFRS 15 and for exchange rate effects, revenue is expected to lie between the 2017 figure and a figure which is 4 percent higher. Operating profit after adjusting for exchange rate effects is expected to lie within a range from the prior-year figure to 5 percent higher. Linde assumes it will generate revenue in the Engineering Division in the 2018 financial year of between 2.2 billion euros and 2.6 billion euros. It expects to achieve an operating margin here of around 9 percent. Linde and Praxair continue to assume that they will be able to complete the merger in the second half of 2018 following the timely receipt of all the required approvals. Linde said it is engaged in constructive talks with the relevant authorities and in parallel with potential buyers. Merger approvals have already been received for the following countries: Algeria, Ecuador, Kenya, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine and, most recently, Zimbabwe. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News U.K. shares fell on Wednesday after Wall Street stocks sold off overnight on concerns over rising bond yields amid expectations of more Fed rate hikes this year. Meanwhile, Brexit secretary David Davis has said the Commons motion on the final Brexit deal expected this autumn could be amended by MPs and its outcome will be binding on the government. The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 47 points or 0.65 percent at 7,377 in late opening deals after logging its sixth straight gain on Tuesday, the longest winning streak in nearly one year. Shire Plc shares lost about 1 percent after Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical struck a deal to buy the Irish drugmaker Shire for about $65bn. Royal Dutch Shell shed 0.8 percent after it signed a pact to sell its downstream in Argentina to RaAzen. Industrial belts manufacturer Fenner rose half a percent as its first-half pretax profit more than doubled. Whitbread dropped 1.6 percent after announcing plans to demerge Costa Coffee. CRH rose over 1 percent after unveiling a 1 billion share buyback. Lloyds Banking Group fell 1.5 percent after its first-quarter profit missed analyst expectations. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis A Japanese electric utility major has partnered with the blockchain start-up Power Ledger to trial peer-to-peer renewable energy trading in the country. The effort aims to provide communities with cheaper energy systems to offset existing energy costs. Generating customers will be allowed to monetize their renewable energy investments by selling their excess energy peer-to-peer. The Perth, Australia-based Power Ledger is a blockchain-based peer-to-peer renewable energy trading platform enabling consumers and businesses to sell their surplus renewable energy or solar power to their neighbors without a middleman. Kansai Electric Power Co., or KPECO, which is Japan's second-largest electricity utility, plans to use the platform to support the development of Virtual Power Plants, or VPP. VPPs will help to use consumer-owned generating and storage capacity to support local energy demands. During the trial, KEPCO will share meter data from participants, initially up to 10 homes, at the chosen sites in Osaka City, Japan. Energy trading between participants over the Power Ledger trading platform will be facilitated and monitored by KEPCO. The Power Ledger system will allow KEPCO to track the generation and consumption of all trading participants and settle energy trades on pre-determined terms and conditions in near real time. "The fact that KEPCO is exploring the Power Ledger platform as a solution is a massive indication that the industry has accepted that change is inevitable," Power Ledger Managing Director and Co-founder David Martin said. By expanding to Japan, Power Ledger is now one step closer to its goal of democratizing power, he added. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Republican candidate Debbie Lesko won a special election in Arizona's 8th congressional district on Tuesday, with the GOP avoiding another special election upset. Results from the Arizona Secretary of State show Lesko defeated Democratic physician and cancer research advocate Hiral Tipirneni by 52.6 percent to 47.4 percent. Lesko's win will keep the seat in Republican hands, although her single-digit margin of victory may still raise some concerns within the GOP. President Donald Trump won the district by about 21 percentage points in 2016, while former Congressman Trent Franks, R-Ariz., was re-elected by more than 37 percentage points. Franks triggered the special election when he resigned from Congress last December amid allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct. With the GOP concerned about another upset after special election losses in Pennsylvania and Alabama, outside money supporting the Republican candidate poured in the race. A report from the Center for Responsive Politics said outside spenders like political action committees and "dark money" groups spent more than $1.5 million on the election. Following the election, Trump congratulated Lesko on her victory in a post on Twitter and complained the media was ignoring the results. "Congratulations to Republican Debbie Lesko on her big win in the Special Election for Arizona House seat. Debbie will do a Great Job! Press is so silent," Trump tweeted. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News A bill that would allow residents in Arizona to pay their taxes in cryptocurrency cleared hurdles in a key committee in the state's House of Representatives. Senate Bill 1091, sponsored by Republican Senator Warren Petersen, passed the Upper chamber on February 8. The Rules Committee of the Arizona House Monday approved the Bill with amendments, paving the way for a full House vote. If passed, Arizona will become the first state in the United States to officially accept cryptocurrency as mode of payment. The law would empower the Arizona Department of Revenue to collect taxes in the form of cryptocurrency. The Bill, titled "Income tax payments; bitcoin," proposes to amend an existing Act by adding a sub-clause to section 43-505 relating to income tax payments. "A taxpayer may pay their income tax liability using a payment gateway, such as bitcoin, litecoin or any other cryptocurrency recognized by the department, using electronic peer-to-peer systems. The department shall convert cryptocurrency payments to United States dollars at the prevailing rate after receipt and shall credit the taxpayer's account with the converted dollar amount actually received less any fees or costs incurred by the department for conversion." Arizona is ahead of other US states in adopting blockchain for multiple uses in its financial sector. Data stored and shared on a blockchain was given legal validity in Arizona after Governor Doug Ducey signed a Bill to this effect earlier this month. Georgia had considered a proposal to accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, but failed to pass through its Senate due to misunderstandings among lawmakers. New Hampshire was the pioneer in making a legislative move to allow its citizens to pay their taxes in crypto. But the state's House of Representatives shot it down in a January 2016 vote. Bills aimed at evaluating blockchain applications for data storage purposes are pending in the legislatures of Nebraska and New York. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Technology News Jakarta-based Blossom Finance has launched a crypto, Islamic microfinance fund that will be invested in micro-businesses, especially traditional market sellers, to meet the demand during the upcoming Ramadan holiday. Global investors have the option to invest in the fund using a range of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ether as well as the US Dollar. The company said cooperative Islamic microfinance in Indonesia in partnership with PBMT Ventura will share profit with funds invested. Originally founded in San Francisco as Blossom Labs, Inc., by President & CEO Matthew Joseph Martin, the startup recently moved to Jakarta after he embraced Islam in 2010. Blossom's investment and platform is focused on microfinance in Indonesia using a shariah compliant model. It uses a profit sharing model (musharakah) to provide interest-free financing products to Muslims community worldwide. Muslims, who make up 27 percent of the world's population, are prohibited from dealing with interest-based lending products. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News The government is planning the summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Panmunjom on Friday, down to the smallest gesture. The reason is that parts of the summit will be broadcast live. A government official said, "The summit will be broadcast live so everything will be shown to the world. At such a major diplomatic event, every movement and gesture has to be treated sensitively." The Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) has expanded its Board by adding 12 new members, including global leaders in Banking and Technology. Funded by leading companies and governments, the Blockchain Research Institute is a multi-million dollar global blockchain think-tank devoted to the study of blockchain strategies, applications and obstacles to implementation. The new members include cloud computing company Salesforce, Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Bank International, Switzerland-based BPC Banking Technologies, brand management agency VIKTRE and Navigator Limited, the first public relations firm to join the institute. Also included in this group are a number of new Blockchain Pioneers, a special class of membership dedicated to startups at the forefront of blockchain innovation. The firms are Aion, Decentral, Polymath, Shyft Network, and Sweetbridge. The Institute already boasts of membership of government entities, major tech companies, financial industry players and global corporations such as Microsoft, IBM, the Bank of Canada and PepsiCo. The new additon brings the Blockchain Research Institute's membership to nearly 60 global leaders in , government and the startup community. Don Tapscott, co-founder and executive chairman of the Institute, said "The blockchain industry is growing and changing at an accelerated pace, and we look forward to helping these companies navigate the blockchain revolution through our research and thought leadership." He called for more innovation through collaboration by creating a network of builders in the blockchain space alongside leaders in enterprise and government. Further new members of the Blockchain Research Institute are slated to be announced in May. The Institute's global team of experts has more than 70 research projects underway in the areas of financial services, manufacturing, retail, energy and resources, /media, healthcare and government. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News French President Emmanuel Macron's close personal relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump was on full display at the White House earlier this week, although Macron's speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday showed the two leaders are not on the same page on every issue. Macron notably spit with Trump on the Iran nuclear deal, which the U.S. president has repeatedly threatened to walk away from. Speaking to reporters during a meeting with Macron on Tuesday, Trump went so far as to call the international agreement "insane" and "ridiculous." Macron agreed with Trump that Iran should never possess nuclear weapons but stated France would stay in the agreement. "We should not abandon it if we don't have something more substantial instead. That is my position," Macron said. "Your President and your country ... will have to take its own responsibilities regarding this issue." The French president noted in a post on Twitter that he has decided to work with Trump on a new comprehensive deal. Macron also appeared to disagree with Trump on the issue of climate change, stressing the importance of taking care of the environment. While Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement last June, Macron predicted that the U.S. would come back. "I am sure one day, the U.S. will come back and join the Paris agreement." Macron said. "Let us face it: There is no planet B." "We must find a smoother transition to a lower carbon ," he added. "Because what is the meaning of our life, really, if we work and live destroying the planet while sacrificing the future of our children?" Despite the disagreements on some issues, Macron began his remarks by highlighting the strong relationship between the U.S. and France. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee indicated Wednesday he is "very likely" to challenge Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., in the state's upcoming Democratic primary. In an interview with WPRI-TV in Providence, Chafee pointed to a recent poll showing Whitehouse with low job approval ratings. The WPRI/Roger Williams University poll showed Whitehouse with a positive job rating among 46.1 percent of voters, while 48.4 percent gave him a negative rating. A majority of Independent voters gave Whitehouse a negative rating, which WPRI political analyst Joe Fleming said "would be a concern for me if I was running for re-election." Telling WPRI the survey results "jumped off the page," Chafee argued, "Senator Whitehouse just doesn't have solid support according to that poll here in Rhode Island." Chafee also said he has been urged to run by supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., noting Whitehouse voted for Hillary Clinton at the Democratic convention even though Rhode Island backed Sanders in the primary. The former Republican also suggested that the Democratic Senate primary in September will be the deciding election in Rhode Island. "The primary is really the election in Rhode Island," Chafee said. "I learned the hard way losing in 2006 what an anchor that 'R' was next to my name." Chafee won election to the Senate as a Republican in 2000 after being appointed to fill his late father John Chafee's seat but lost to Whitehouse in 2006. He went on to be elected Governor of Rhode Island as an independent in 2010 before switching to the Democratic Party in 2013. On the Republican side, state Representative Bobby Nardolillo and former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Flanders are running for the GOP nomination in Rhode Island. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News North Korea stopped propaganda broadcasts across the demilitarized zone on Tuesday afternoon, a day after South Korea halted its own broadcasts ahead of the upcoming inter-Korean summit. "About 10 of the North Korean propaganda speakers continued to blare broadcasts across the military demarcation line until this morning," a military spokesman said Tuesday. "But they were turned off this afternoon." "Were not sure if that's permanent. We'll know for sure only if the regime makes an official announcement," the spokesman added. The move is largely symbolic since the equipment is so bad that only incomprehensive crackle can be heard on the southern side of the border depending on the wind direction. But the broadcasts are largely aimed at soldiers stationed on the North Korean side and to drown out the much clearer South Korean loudspeakers. North Korean Army units along the border had about 50 speakers set up and operated on a rotational basis due to bad power supply. "It seems that it took some time for the North to completely stop propaganda broadcasts because we turned off speakers without prior notice," a government source here speculated. The South Korean sound systems were turned off two years and three months since the military resumed propaganda broadcasts in response to the North's fourth nuclear test in January 2016. The Justice Ministry has submitted a proposal to the National Assembly aimed at weakening the overweening power of the owner families of big conglomerates, who often treat publicly traded firms like their private fiefdoms. But critics warn that it could expose Korean firms to hostile takeovers by foreign corporate raiders and asset strippers. The ministry wants to amend commercial laws by mandating a "concentrated voting right," allowing multiple derivative lawsuits and requiring businesses to adhere to more stringent standards in selecting auditors. Altogether 13 bills await National Assembly approval, most of them aimed at weakening the powers of chaebol owners. Under the amendment, shareholders would be allowed to pool their voting rights and hand them to a particular candidate during general shareholder's meetings to select new board members. The Justice Ministry wants to force listed companies whose market cap is higher than W2 trillion must adopt concentrated voting rights (US$1=W1,077). The revised bill will also allow minority shareholders of the parent of a listed company to file lawsuits for mismanagement if their actual shareholding ratio surpasses 50 percent. As the Moon Jae-in administration turns to the Fair Trade Commission to pressure major conglomerates to reform their governance structures, industry insiders are bracing for major changes. They fear that the toughened measures could expose them to corporate raiders based overseas, recalling with horror attacks on KT&G by the predatory U.S. investor Carl Icahn. More recently, U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott has been putting the thumb screws on Hyundai Motor to reform its governance structure. The withdrawal of U.S. forces is not on a list of security guarantees Washington could offer North Korea if it dismantles its nuclear program, a senior U.S. State Department official said Tuesday. Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told reporters in Seoul that otherwise Washington is ready to listen to Pyongyang's ideas. She said Washington's position remains the same and stressed that the Seoul-Washington alliance and joint annual military exercises are defensive in nature. Asked if the U.S. can confirm how sincere Pyongyang is, she said, "What we have seen so far is the statements about the willingness to denuclearize. And what we have to do now is we have to test the sincerity of the statements." "Words are important. It's a good sign... But it's not enough to convince us of the sincerity." White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the U.S. will not take the North Koreans "simply at their word," but will continue the "maximum pressure" campaign until it can see the results. Commenting on the North's announcement that it is closing the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, she said, "We've seen some steps in the right direction but we have a long way to go." Ex-President Park Geun-hye did not appear in court on Tuesday for the first hearing of a fresh trial on charges that she took money from the National Intelligence Service while in office. Park, who has already been sentenced to 24 years in jail for corruption and abuse of power, was additionally charged with taking W3.5 billion in brown envelopes from the spy agency from May 2013 to September 2016 (US$1=W1,077). The Seoul Central District Court decided to try Park in absentia. "She sent the court a letter with reasons for her non-attendance at trial," the court said. "The court therefore issued a subpoena, but that was not executed." Park has been boycotting proceedings since last October, when the court extended her detention and her lawyers resigned en masse. She also did not appear for the first hearing of yet another case about her involvement in the then ruling Saenuri Party's selection of candidates for general elections. She could in theory be dragged into the dock, but the court decided to spare her the humiliation citing her "status as former president." Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday called on Mongolian Prime Minister U. Khurelsukh here and discussed issues of bilateral cooperation. According to a tweet by Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, both leaders "discussed cooperation in developmental cooperation, mining, capacity building, IT, films and other areas of bilateral cooperation". After calling on the Prime Minister Sushma Swaraj held a meeting with the Mongolian Minister and Chief of Cabinet Secretariat Gombojav Zandanshatar and "had a good exchange of views on expanding cooperation across several sectors", according to Kumar. She also called on M.Enkhbold, Speaker of the Mongolian Parliament, the State Great Khural. "Among other issues, discussed cooperation between our Parliaments, which is an important pillar of our bilateral relationship," the Indian spokesperson said in a separate tweet. Earlier in the day, Sushma Swaraj and her Mongolian counterpart Damdin Tsogtbaatar co-chaired the sixth round of the India-Mongolia Joint Consultative Committee (IMJCC), focusing on a range of issues including economic, energy, political, strategic, educational and cultural ties. Addressing the media following the meeting, Sushma Swaraj said that both sides agreed to jointly combat terror and boost bilateral trade. Sushma Swaraj arrived here from China on Tuesday in what is the first visit by an Indian External Affairs Minister to this landlocked Asian country in 42 years. The signature cold noodles from Pyongyang's famous Okryugwan restaurant will be served when President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have dinner on Friday. Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Tuesday, "Moon proposed the menu for the banquet, and the North gladly accepted the suggestion." A chief chef from Okryugwan will be sent to the summit venue in the border truce village of Panmunjom on the day of the summit, and a noodle making machine from the restaurant will be installed at Tongilgak on the North Korean side. The freshly made noodles will then be spirited at lightning speed across the border to the Peace House, the banquet venue. "We were told that once the noodles come out of the machine, they have to be dipped in the broth within five minutes," said a Cheong Wa Dae official. And so some people in Samoa paused once more yesterday morning to remember the A.N.Z.A.Cs. Pity that because once upon a time, it was an occasion to behold on these shores where an entire population would stop to remember. Yesterday, during a parade at dawn on Beach Road (see full coverage from page 1 to page 6), a sizable crowd had gathered to pay their respects. Many of them laid wreaths at the foot of the Apia Town Clock as a mark of respect for the fallen. The Head of State, His Highness Tuimalealiifano Sualauvi II, was among the crowd who took a moment to pause, reflect and acknowledge the sacrifice made so many of us can enjoy the freedom we have today. For many of us, the A.N.Z.A.C. story has been well told. Observed on 25 April each year, it is an occasion to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (A.N.Z.A.C.) who fought at Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. But A.N.Z.A.C. means different things to different people. For some, the day is an opportunity to remember the men and women who have served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. It is a day to express our gratitude and say thank you for the sacrifice. Many years ago, Samoa had honoured this day with a national holiday. Why the Government had decided against continuing the tradition, were not really sure. But is A.N.Z.A.C. relevant to this country anymore? And why should we care? The answer is quite simple. A.N.Z.A.C. is extremely relevant and it is a day that deserves a lot more attention than it has been given. This is for the simple fact that a considerable number of Samoans also fought and served alongside the Australians, New Zealanders and Pacific island neighbours. Thousands of Samoans living today are descendants of those brave souls. We believe their lives matter and their sacrifices cannot be ignored. On page 4 of the newspaper you are reading, the President of the Returned Services Association (R.S.A.), Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio, has made a passionate plea about the need to revisit a number of issues in relation to A.N.Z.A.C. and the R.S.A. He makes some valid points that should be seriously considered. For instance, he pointed to the fact that when people talk about the R.S.A., they immediately think of the R.S.A. Nightclub. Which is not what it should be. He said R.S.A. building is meant to represent the spirit and legacy of the A.N.Z.A.Cs. He then suggested that the building could be called the A.N.Z.A.C. House. We think R.S.A. has a significant place in the history of Samoa and in relation to the partnership with New Zealand and Australia and we want something to earmark the relationship, he said. The President also revisited the idea of making A.N.Z.A.C. Day a public holiday once more. A.N.Z.A.C. Day is not about glorifying war in the past, he said, adding that continued hostilities around the world mean the horrors of the past may repeat themselves, and so the values of the A.N.Z.A.Cs should be remembered. Its about the status of the future. We have to keep our guard up and stay vigilant. Well what do you think? Would you support a renewed call to make A.N.Z.A.C. a public holiday again? Write and share your views with us. Dear Editor, Whatever the previous Head of States motives and the timing of his speech, one thing is clear, his views has had a significant impact on the L.T.R.A. debate. We can be cynical and describe his speech as grandstanding by somebody who is no longer constrained by the protocols of the head of state office. We have seen this approach adopted by ex-political leaders in countries like Australia and NZ, pollies who are no longer leaders. Away from the constraints of office, these ex-leaders finally grow a social conscience and start commenting on issues which they had implemented while in office or turn a blind eye to, when they were debated in Parliament. Perhaps this is what the Tui Atua is doing. What is abundantly clear from the speech is the doubt in his mind about alienation of customary land under the L.T.R.A, mirroring the concerns expressed by many other people. His speech gives greater legitimacy to the voice of protesters, who can no longer be discredited as a bunch of town and overseas intellectual rabble searching for a cause. As to Joe Hollywoods contention that the previous Head of States tears show weakness, I beg to differ. Witness the tears by ex-President Obama when talking about gun violence in America or the ex-Australian PMs Bob Hawke on the impact of the Tianamen Square massacre. These great leaders, based on the opinions on people more familiar with gauging great leadership, cried when they spoke about issues which were confronting and moving. These issues had a significant effect on these men, similar to that of the L.T.R.A. on the Tui Atua, and they ended up in tears. Is that a sign of weak leadership? Absolutely not. Vai Autu Dear Editor Re: Tofaeono says I would never follow a weak leader who cries. When 20 children were murdered at Newtown in a U.S. elementary school, President Obama while speaking to America on the media blinked and paused perhaps trying to fight back tears. He paused again to wipe away tears as he then altered Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad. He called on Americans to stand together to stop gun violence. Tupua Tamasese has expressed his hurt, as he had spent time contemplating the new law, he realised new found sympathy for the cause to revisit the customary land issue. His sadness is not of a result of victims of a massacre but of the lack of love for our Tagata by those in a position of power. His address was an emotional moment that was inspiring because it felt real and it connected. In the beginning, I mentioned Obama; it was a story in an article on Inc. written by Ms. Buchanan. It was called When Its OK for Obama (or Any Leader) to Cry, the Presidents emotional display is a sign of strength she referred to Obamas reaction on media about the gun massacre in the Newtown Elementary School in 2012. She wrote, We want our leaders to be stronger and smarter than we are, but no less human. In a research by the American Psychological Association, she continued, People cry in response to strong emotions, and leaders often speak publicly when feelings run high. Its surprising, really, that they dont cry more often onstage or on-camera. Even if leaders dont choke up before us, statistics suggest they sob in private. It can be galvanizing when our political leaders manifest universal grief-; or joy, though such moments are, sadly, rare. Soaring oratory inspires us. But words are, in the end, just words. Tears are primal and-; onion invective notwithstanding-; tears are true. Tears can strengthen rather than dilute forceful calls for action. Showing empathy and vulnerability makes a leader seem stronger, not weaker, says John Gerzema, C.E.O. of B.A.V. Consulting, a specialist in branding. Gerzemas book The Athena Doctrine: How Women (and the Men Who Think Like Them) Will Rule the Future argues that people increasingly prefer leaders who demonstrate feminine traits and values rather than tough, alpha qualities associated with men. Emotional displays that would once have raised eyebrows now moisten eyeballs as people mirror the sentiments of their recognizably human leaders. Such displays are particularly powerful when its someone who doesnt usually do that, like Obama, says Gerzema. (The characterization No-Drama Obama is used both to praise and criticize the President.) There is no need to hold back sad or sentimental feelings. I would rather follow a leader who is honest and true and who can inspire with righteousness than an emotionless one robotic and useless. Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese, a man of much wisdom is the leader for Tagata Samoa. T.A. Mativa The Minister of Works, Infrastructure and Transport, Papalii Niko Lee Hang, has rubbished reports the Government is not doing anything about the state of Cross Island Road. There are Government processes that we go through to assure that once we start working on this project there are no hurdles, he said. The Cabinet has already approved the resurfacing of the Cross Island Road but then again, like everything, there is a process put in place that everyone adheres such as surveys, financials, engineers, getting the contractors, the bidding process and these things take time." It cannot be done overnight. The Minister was asked for a comment after the Cross Island Road was described as the irony of all ironies by motorists. They say the part of the road from Tanugamanono all the way to Vailima has got to be one of the worst roads in Samoa. And yet the road is used by thousands of road users every day. The section of the road in question is not only narrow but the heavy downpours have virtually turned the condition of the tar into something of an access road. Its a disaster in the making, says one road user. General Manager of Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, Margaret Silva, shares the same concerns. She told the Sunday Samoan that for the 15 years shes worked at the Museum, she has seen the condition of the road deteriorate. It has caused many problems for the residents who live in this area. It affects the business people, their clients and people working in the Vailima area, including vehicle owners, Ms. Silva said. Two years ago, the Land Transportation Authority (L.T.A.) came here to do a survey and still there has been no progress made with this road." There are usually guys who come here and try to maintain the road by just filling the potholes with mud but it does not help, it keeps getting worse. Papalii told the Samoa Observer during an interview over the phone, this project has been in the works for some time and it takes time. As I have said, the said project is Cabinet approved and currently we are nearing the end of getting the bidders and fix the road, said the Minister. He also took issue with the newspaper. I was going to call you and your Editor Mataafa to please publish balanced articles, dont lean too much on the negativity around the work the government does." There are so many good things this Government has done and continue to do." As a matter of fact, we are obligated to any project that better serves our people and this project has been in the works, just may not be in the publics eye, but its in the works, said Papalii. I dont understand why the C.E.O. of the Land Transportation Authority (L.T.A.) did not reply, but I should have been consulted for an explanation. The Samoa Observer reached out to GalumalemanaTaatialeoitiiti Tutuvanu-Schwalger via email for a comment however there has been no response as of press time. Digicel Samoa has extended their agreement with Lupesoliai Laauliolemalietoa Joseph Parker as their brand ambassador. Digicel Samoa Chief Customer Officer, Deepak Khanna, made the announcement at the Digicel headquarters yesterday. He said they have extended Lupesoliais two-year agreement for another 12 months. C.E.O., Farid Mohammed says it has been an absolute pleasure working with Lupesoliai. We see the benefit of being associated with him. It is more than about the money, but his association with the people of Samoa." Despite the outcome of the fight, he is still very much loved by the nation. We feel proud to be associated with him." There is an increase and like we said before, he is the top five ranked in the world, so he would definitely get more money now, he said. Mr. Mohammed says Lupesoliai will come back again bigger and better, stronger and faster just like Digicel. That is one of the great things about Joseph and his team, whatever the outcome was, we agreed to a renewal and both parties have stuck to that." Even if he had won the fight in Cardiff, it will not change our agreement with him. His association with the Samoan public, having his face on our billboards and promotions, it creates association with the people of Samoa." Digicel is in 31 countries in the globe. I could put Usain Bolt on our billboards but nobody would really associate with him." It is the association that we are trying to create, he adds. Mr. Khanna said: Joseph is our brand ambassador not just here in Samoa but globally. He is standing shoulder to shoulder with Usain Bolt who is another brand ambassador of Digicel." The most recent promotion that we had with Joseph Parker was to win a trip of the lifetime of the mother and son who went to Cardiff to witness the biggest fight of team Parkers history, said Mr. Khanna. Joseph also assured the Samoan people that he will take on Anthony Joshua again. If we plan it right and keep on winning, it will take one year. It will probably take two to three fights before I could fight Joshua again, Lupesoliai said. We want to get there as soon as we can but we want to work on a few things, so when we get there we dont make the same mistakes. So that we will go there, we are going to win. A healthy working relationship with the Village Council is paramount to the Ministry of Police. So says, Police Superintendent Auapaau Logoitino Filipo, who has commended the Village Councils of Afega and Luatuanuu. This week, the Luatuanuu Village Council turned into the Police two men believed to be behind the recent road block where a toilet bowl was placed in the middle of the road. Auapaau referred to the statement issued by their office. The Samoa Police Service (S.P.S.) acknowledged the support from the village council of Luatuanuu for apprehending two individuals who were the masterminds behind the recent road block erected at Luatuanuu some weeks ago." Due to the concerns of the public, the Police approached the village representative and council for assistance." Yesterday (Wednesday) the village council brought the two suspects to Police. Both have been charged for disorderly assembly and are schedule for Court appearance on the 1st of May, 2018. S.P.S. and Luatuanuu village council will continue to work together to ensure the safety of the travelling public and highlight the importance of our working relationship with village councils in keeping Samoa safe." This makes our Samoan style of policing unique in the region and in the international arena. Thank you Luatuanuu village and council members, says the Statement. Furthermore, the Police acknowledged the support of the Afega village council for assisting the Police in apprehending two suspects on Saturday last week. Police were called to attend a drunk and disorderly matter. However, when the officers turned up, the suspects were armed and threw stones at the oncoming Police vehicle. Immediately they took off and the Police officers then sought the assistance of the village mayor. Later that evening Police were notified by the village council that they have been apprehended. The suspects have been charged with armed with a dangerous weapon and throwing stones. Both offences carry the maximum penalty of one year imprisonment. Additional charges will be filed at the completion of Police investigation. Auapaau told the Samoa Observer that fortunately no officer were injured but the damages to the Police vehicle amounted to $1,500. Trump's tariffs risk jobs and profits in working-class areas From:ChinaDaily | 2018-04-25 02:25 WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's escalating dispute with China over trade and technology is threatening jobs and profits in working-class communities where his "America First" agenda hit home. The Commerce Department has received more than 2,400 applications from companies seeking waivers from the administration's tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which may result in duty payments of millions of dollars for larger businesses. The department has begun posting the requests online for public comment; several of the applications released so far suggest deep misgivings with Trump's protectionist strategy, especially in areas where he won strong support during the 2016 election. The tariffs are aimed primarily at China for flooding the global market with cheap steel and aluminum. But they've also led to confusion and uncertainty, according to Associated Press interviews and a review of records. In Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin, for example, businesses operating in the furniture, energy and food sectors have outlined the financial difficulties they'd face if they're not excused from the steel tariff. In Okmulgee, Oklahoma, dozens of jobs hang in the balance as office furniture giant Steelcase waits to hear back from the Commerce Department. A Steelcase subsidiary, PolyVision, operates a plant in Okmulgee that uses a special type of steel from Japan to manufacture a durable glass-like surface for whiteboards and architectural purposes. PolyVision "cannot and will not be able to procure" from U.S. companies the cold-rolled steel it requires "in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or of a satisfactory quality," Steelcase said. Trump won most of the votes cast for president in Okmulgee County. Without a waiver, Steelcase warned, the "economic viability of PolyVision (and) the small town of Okmulgee" would be jeopardized. The waiver request also indicates that a $15 million plant expansion may be at risk. Steelcase and PolyVision are on the verge of making the investment, which would create new construction and manufacturing jobs, according to the request. Roger Ballenger, Okmulgee's city manager, said he and other local officials are "very concerned about the situation with PolyVision."The tariffs 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum are designed to protect and rebuild the US companies that manufacture the metals. The U.S. temporarily exempted several major trading partners, including the European Union, Mexico and Canada. China, which was left on the target list, retaliated by imposing tariffs on $3 billion in U.S. products, including apples, pork and ginseng. Trump responded by adding more protectionist measures as punishment for Chinese theft of US intellectual property. And Beijing punched back by proposing tariffs on $50 billion in US products including small aircraft and soybeans a direct threat to rural areas that were key to Trump's victory. Economists Joseph Francois and Laura Baughman estimated last month that the tariffs would increase employment in the US steel and aluminum industries by more than 26,000 jobs but also lead to the loss of 495,000 other jobs throughout the rest of the American economy. John Hritz, CEO of JSW Steel USA in Baytown, Texas, said his company is in lockstep with Trump's approach. "We're in favor of growing the steel industry in this country," Hritz said. JSW Steel, owned by Indian conglomerate JSW Group, is embarking on a $500 million overhaul of the plant that it says will create hundreds of jobs. The growth would be welcomed in Baytown, where unemployment is 9.8 percent, more than double the national rate. Baytown is located partly in Harris County, which Democrat Hillary Clinton won, and partly in Chambers County, which Trump handily won. The future is much murkier for another Baytown steel business, Borusan Mannesmann Pipe. Without a waiver, Borusan may face tariffs of $25 million to $30 million annually if it imports steel tubing and casing from its parent company in Turkey, according to information the company provided to the AP. Borusan said the Baytown production line would no longer be competitive and "jobs would be threatened" if it cannot import 135,000 metric tons of steel annually over the next two years. The pipes Borusan produces are used primarily as casing for oil and natural gas wells. But if Commerce says yes, Borusan will be able to unlock a $25 million investment in the Baytown facility as it seeks to become a "100 percent domestic supplier," according to the waiver request. An additional $50 million expansion in pipe fabrication capacity would follow, the company said, leading to as many as 170 new jobs. Seneca Foods Corporation, the nation's largest vegetable canner, said in its waiver application that it's unclear, at best, if US suppliers have the ability or willingness to expand their production in the long term to meet the company's annual demand for tinplated steel. But "clearly they cannot meet demand in the short term," Seneca told Commerce officials. That means Seneca has to buy a portion of what it needs from overseas. A person with knowledge of Seneca's situation said the company would face a $2.25 million duty if the Commerce Department doesn't approve its waiver request for 11,000 metric tons of tinplate it already agreed to purchase from China. The material is to be delivered this year and next, according to the waiver request. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. Seneca said it employs more than 400 people at can-making facilities in Wisconsin and Idaho and near its headquarters in New York's Wayne County, where Trump bested Clinton. The company doesn't warn layoffs are imminent if the waiver isn't approved. Instead, the tariffs would likely come out of Seneca's bottom line, the person said. AP Talofa Airways C.E.O., Toleafoa Jeffrey Hunter, has assured there was no fire on board their airline that landed at the Faleolo International Airport on Tuesday. In fact, he said the wheel brakes had overheated and caught fire when the plane landed. There was no engine fire nor was it engine failure, he said. Toleafoa, while responding to questions from the Samoa Observer, said no passenger was harmed in the fiery landing. All passengers are safe, that is the main thing. There were around eight passengers. We will be releasing a statement very soon just to correct and clarify that it was the wheel brakes that overheated and caught fire when the plane landed at the Faleolo International Airport. According to a source, fire services were on the ground trying to put out the fires and it appeared that some passengers were trying to jump out from the aircraft to safety. Toleafoa could not comment any further on the details saying that they were investigating the cause of the incident further with F.E.S.A. and they will notify the media once theyve completed their investigations. The Talofa Airways head office has confirmed that there are no flights to Tonga or Pago Pago until further notice. Member of Parliament for Vaisigano No. 1, Lopaoo Natanielu Mua, says the issue of customary land lease is a matter of choice for the families to make. He made the comment in assuring that when it comes to his constituency, there is nothing to worry about with regards to the opening of the channel at the district. He was responding to assuage public fears that opening up of the channel and the reviving of the wharf will invite big business interests during a time when there are real public concerns about the alienation of customary lands. Lopaoo, who is also the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, says his stance on the issue is very simple. It comes down to choice, Lopaoo said. If they want to lease it, they can. If in any way people dont feel right and they dont want to lease, they dont have to." I can only speak for my district and remember the Government already has land in Asau, so if worse comes to worse, then Im sure that Government will say lets use our land. But thats up to the Government." How long the beneficiaries want to lease their land is also the decision of the beneficiaries, if they want to lease the land for five years and the leasee agrees with that then thats fine. If the leasee doesnt agree with it, then dont go with it." There are many options available to those interested in leasing their lands, if they want 10 plus 10, they can do that. No one is going to say to the Government these people refuse to lease their lands to us, can you go make them lease it to us? thats not going to happen. The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (M.A.F.) pointed out that any investors are welcome to Asau, but they will not be immune to scrutiny by the law or the concerns of the Village Council. All investors are welcome here because we want to provide opportunities for employment to people and it would stop the migration to Apia but everybody will go through the same scrutiny and the village council will have a say in who comes and who doesnt." There are actually people in Asau who are interested in leasing their land for development purposes but no matter what that has to be done in accordance to the law. The law is supposed to protect them, if there was no love, there would be no laws to protect the peoples right to property." The people of Asau are actually working hard with what they have got. The people who are being vocal in their complaining are not even contributing to this district or they dont live there. In fact I think some of them dont even know where it is." I just want to help them and my whole district. Im not going to give them the fish. I have to give them the hook and line so they can fish every day for themselves. A visitor to Samoa says hes grateful Samoans honour ANZAC Day. Captain Shaun Fogarty travelled to Samoa to participate in the Returned Services Association dawn service yesterday. He says the New Zealand Defence Force puts a lot of energy into maintaining positive relationships with Pacific countries. I was lucky enough to get the nod to come to Samoa, he says. Captain Fogarty is a long time serviceman of the N.Z.D.F. and is currently the Director of Strategic Engagement of the N.Z.D.F. I was here 30 years ago in my first year in the navy, he says. Its great to see how the people of Samoa are still paying their respects on ANZAC Day. Captain Fogarty previously spent time in France and was responsible for the ANZAC remembrance events there. He says it is encouraging that people will continue to participate in events that honour the fallen from many years ago. Its great to be here and to see this great public turnout on ANZAC Day, he says. The Samoan Government was highlighted on the global level with the Union for International Cancer Control (U.I.C.C.) in making a positive difference in the lives and health of their people. This is according to the U.I.C.C. Global Cancer Control report. This report highlights only a handful of the many different actions from governments this World Cancer Day, the report reads. On behalf of the international cancer community, we thank all the ministers, politicians and policymakers who showed leadership and used their influence and voice to support progress towards a cancer-free world, says Global Cancer Control. The acknowledgment is welcomed by the Samoa Cancer Society. Marketing Manager, Leilani Jackson, elaborated on the importance of cancer control. Most people think that cancer control only begins when someone is diagnosed with cancer. However, cancer control is more than that, much more, she said. Cancer control is a continuum that looks at what causes cancer, prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment survivorship and end of life. Some of these areas Samoa does well, like encouraging health behaviour, and health prevention programmes such as Nobesity Samoa, and health programmes such as Eat the Rainbow, Reduce Salt, and Exercise programmes however it is not directly related to cancer but more so to prevent N.C.Ds. This is excellent because research shows some causal association of N.C.Ds and the risk of developing cancer. She said Samoa is also working hard towards tightening tobacco control, which is prevention. We do have a fair way to go with detection and diagnosis. Samoa Cancer Societys Vave Campaign which has been running for a year is to raise awareness of signs and symptoms of breast and prostate cancer amongst other cancers and what to do accordingly. Treatment in Samoa is limited to some surgical and pharmaceutical options, with O.V.T. the option of chemo-radiotherapy. The old adage is always applicable in cancer prevention is better than cure. Although it is true that we cannot control genetics, environmental, gene-environmental interactions, what we can determine and change, we can and we should, said Jackson. The report also acknowledged the efforts of U.I.C.C. members and civil society organisations who work alongside their governments, not only on this day but every day, to help create a brighter and healthier future for their nation. Governments across the world have the power to make a positive difference in the lives and health of their people. And in the last year of the We can. I can. campaign, we hoped to inspire an urgent response from governments and their leaders in addressing the national and global cancer burden. This report, Governments in Actions: World Cancer Day 2018, spotlights some of the government responses and actions which took place this past World Cancer Day. We hope it will serve as inspiration for more governments and civil society organisations around the world to join together in creating a significant shift in reducing the 8.8 million deaths from cancer every year. According to the report, no less than 47 national governments chose to support World Cancer Day in 2018. Around the world, we witnessed a groundswell of support by leaders who chose to use their platform to shine a greater spotlight on cancer, to take action and make change happen. The aim of World Cancer Day is to achieve equity in cancer care, to ensure cancer remains a national and global priority, and to ultimately save lives. This annual date offers a powerful platform to achieve this through raising awareness and education, engaging governments, and inspiring individuals to take action. It is also an opportunity to provoke deeper dialogue and to shine a spotlight on the most critical issues in cancer. This year, nearly half a million social media mentions and more than 14,000 press mentions in more than 145countries helped to amplify the World Cancer Day message everywhere and saw the official hashtag #WorldCancerDay trend globally around the world. Together, this helped ensure the day was firmly front and centre in the minds of individuals and policymakers, worldwide, said the report. For six years now, the Wyong Christian Community School from New South Wales Australia has been fostering a parternship with the Samoa Victim Support Group (S.V.S.G.) to love and support the children. The children are none other than the young survivors of violence and sexual crimes under the care of S.V.S.G. The partnership is based on mutual understanding, as both the Wyong and the S.V.S.G. share a strong foundation based on Christian values and beliefs, ingrained in the respective work of the two organisations. For this year, Ian Liney has brought a different group of students to fellowship with the children at the Campus of Hope. We have been praying for this trip and the Campus of Hope since planning for it last year, Mr. Liney said. And the love of God has been shining bright during the Wyongs visit this year. From the childrens outing at the Liua le Vai o Sina at Faleaseela hosted by Olsen and Jane Vaafusuaga, to their participation during the S.V.S.G. Junior walkathon, to their visit at the Campus of Hope, it has been a partnership of love by the children, for the children. Culminating the visit at the Campus of Hope was a tour at the Skill Building Centre for child vendors located on campus and built with funding from the Wyong Christian Community School. It has been a Centre borne of the gifts from the students of Wyong, which will now see uneducated, underprivileged children being empowered with a skill for their livelihood. S.V.S.G. President, Siliniu Lina Chang, is extremely grateful. There is always a genuine interest to reach out and to do more everytime Principal Ian and the students visited S.V.S.G., she said, acknowledging the partnership of love for the children, established with the Wyong Christian Community School. Thank you so much Ian, the teachers, the parents and the students of Wyong for continuing to share the gift of love with the children under the care of S.V.S.G. Think a minuteA Greek philosopher said that when a son behaves wrongly it is the father who should be punished, since he is the one who failed to do his job. When the wealthy man Friedrich Flick died, he had built a fortune of $1 billion (worth much more today)! He owned 300 companies and was respected as one of the worlds smartest businessmen. Yet, with all his success and power, He could not manage his own children. He had put large companies together, but he could not put his own family together. After he died, his children fought over his money for years. Many experts worked to clean up the broken pieces Flick left behind from his failure as a father. The famous army general Douglas MacArthur is considered to be one of historys greatest military leaders. He led the Allied armies to victory over the Japanese in World War II. Yet with all his fame and success, he surprised people by what he said in this public speech: By profession I am a soldier and take great pride in that. But I am much prouder to be a father. It is my hope in life that when I am gone, my son will remember me not from my victories on the battlefield, but for my leadership and example in the home. Every morning, General MacArthur read his Bible and prayed this prayer: Lord, help me teach my son to be brave when he loses, but humble and kind when he wins. Help me teach my son to be strong in hard times, and compassionate to those who fail. Help me build a son whose character is honest and whose standard is high. A son who masters himself before he tries to master others. Then I, his father, will dare to say: I have not failed in life. Your childs life will largely be determined by how hard you workat being a father. But the only One who can enable you to develop the character and love that you need to succeed at your most important job is your own divine Father. Today, wont you ask God to take charge of every area of your heart and daily life? Day by day He will help you become the loving father and honorable example your children need you to be. Just think a minute Qualcomm beat Wall Street analysts financial targets for the March quarter on higher chip shipments and lower expenses. But the cellular technology giant predicted flat results for the June quarter, sending mixed signals to investors who are looking for some good news after months of turbulence. Lingering headwinds for Qualcomm include trade tensions with China that are delaying its long-pending $43 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors, legal battles with Apple, recent layoffs, a stagnant smartphone market and a possible takeover bid by former Chief Executive Paul Jacobs all of which are likely to overshadow the companys quarterly results. San Diego-based Qualcomm reported sales of $5.3 billion and earnings of $400 million, or 24 cents per share, for the quarter under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. For the same quarter last year, Qualcomm posted revenue of $5 billion and earnings of $700 million, or 50 cents per share under GAAP. Advertisement On an adjusted basis, which is how Wall Street analysts track results, Qualcomm reported non-GAAP sales of $5.2 billion and earnings of 80 cents per share for the March quarter. That beat analysts forecast of 70 cents per share in earnings on sales of $5.19 billion. The company sold 187 million mobile chips in the quarter, about even with analysts estimates of 188 million shipments. Solid chip sales are seen as an indicator of whether Qualcomm is making up for the lost volume from slower iPhone sales with orders from other smartphone makers. Our fiscal second-quarter results reflect better-than-expected performance in our semiconductor business and lower operating expenses, said Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf in a statement. Looking forward, we remain committed to driving improved performance in fiscal 2019 consistent with our prior guidance. We are making good progress on executing our $1 billion cost plan, are focused on closing our pending acquisition of NXP and are well positioned to drive the global commercialization of 5G. For the current quarter that ends June 30, Qualcomm projected revenue will range from $4.8 billion to $5.6 billion. Adjusted earnings were expected at 65 cents to 75 cents per share. Analysts on average had forecast June quarter sales of $5.3 billion and adjusted earnings of 76 cents per share. The softer guidance stems from sluggish smartphone sales, particularly in China. Advertisement In addition, Qualcomm expects higher expenses from its ongoing litigation with Apple and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to defend its patent licensing business model. The Apple patent fight continues to hurt Qualcomm financial results. Apple and another smartphone maker have stopped paying Qualcomm royalties for its cellular patents, claiming it charges too much. As a result, Qualcomm revenue from patent licensing fell 44 percent to $1.26 billion in the March quarter compared with the same quarter last year. While there is no sign of a settlement with Apple, Qualcomm said it is in very active licensing discussions with the other smartphone maker, which is reportedly Huawei. Advertisement Qualcomms share price dipped below $50 this week for the first time since September because of increasing fears that its long-pending acquisition of Dutch automotive chipmaker NXP is in trouble. Eight countries have approved the deal, but China has yet to sign off amid rising trade tensions with the U.S. that dont appear to be subsiding. While we continue to work closely with the Chinese regulators and remain optimistic about getting the necessary approvals there, it is clear that the geo-political environment and trade actions are having an impact, said Mollenkopf in a conference call with analysts. Qualcomm has promised to repurchase its own shares if the NXP deal breaks. But a buyback would not help diversify Qualcomm from its reliance on the smartphone market which is the key benefit to gobbling up NXP. Advertisement Qualcomm and NXP have extended their purchase agreement until July 25. Qualcomm has no intention of pushing out further, said Mollenkopf. If it doesnt get done, we are gong to move on to another approach, he said. Growth in smartphone sales have been sluggish with weakness reported for Apples iPhone X and in China overall during the March quarter. Qualcomm responded by slashing 1,500 jobs in California last week most of them in San Diego -- as part of its pledge to trim $1 billion in costs and achieve $5.25 per share in adjusted earnings by 2019. Advertisement It made the promises in hopes of fending off a hostile takeover from chip rival Broadcom, which appeared to be winning until the Trump administration blocked the deal in March on national security grounds. Big picture for Qualcomm is to show the market that they are still committed to the $5.25 in earnings next year, said Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity. They said they would get there with or without NXP. It assumes no resolutions to licensing disputes and that they would execute on the $1 billion in cost cuts program, which has already started in San Diego. Qualcomm released results Wednesday after markets closed. It shares ended trading down 19 cents at $49.75. The stock rose to $50.66 in after-hours trading on the better-than-expected earnings. Advertisement Business mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com; Advertisement Twitter:@TechDiego 760-529-4973 Graham Mitchell has been named the new city manager of El Cajon. The City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday to offer the job to Mitchell. Mitchell, 49, the current assistant city manager in El Cajon, will replace City Manager Doug Williford, who announced his retirement earlier this year. Willifords last day will be May 23; Mitchells new post starts the following day. His salary, just over $210,000 as assistant city manager, will rise to $236,000. The City Council could not have made a better choice in choosing Graham as next city manager, Williford said. He has a strong reputation throughout San Diego County as being one of the truly great city managers in this region, and were lucky to have him here. I couldnt be happier with the decision. Advertisement Mitchell was named assistant city manager in El Cajon in March 2017. He had previously been Escondidos city manager for one year before announcing his resignation in October 2016. He was the city manager in Lemon Grove for 12 years before leaving for Escondido in July 2015 to take an assistant city manager position. Mitchell said he has enjoyed getting to know El Cajon pretty well over the last year and its contrasts to other cities he has worked in over the years. Every city has similarities, but every city has differences, in culture and staff, and goals and priorities, Mitchell said. I feel like this is a great opportunity. In fact, I am honored the City Council would offer me this opportunity. Im excited. Williford, El Cajon city manager for the past six years, announced his retirement in February. He had long recommended the City Council hire Mitchell to take his place. El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells said earlier this year that the City Council has been thoroughly impressed with Mitchell, and called him a known commodity whos been around town a long time. Wells cited Mitchells experience in finance, community development, public works and more. He said Mitchell has shown an ability to work well with the City Council to implement our vision. City Councilman Gary Kendrick said Mitchells experience made him highly qualified for the job to run the city of about 100,000. Advertisement Graham ran Lemon Grove and Escondido well, and as a bonus hes just a really nice guy, Kendrick said. Hes going to bring knowledge of revitalization and a sense of collaboration with all the stakeholders in the city. Mitchell said his priorities include continuing progress made by Williford and the City Council on some really big projects, naming the soon-to-reopen East County Performing Arts Center as one of the biggies, as well as the second four-star hotel in the city a Hampton Inn by Hilton on the site of the old police station at the northeast corner of Magnolia Avenue. I also will be working to continue to keep the citys budget stable, Mitchell said. Ill continue to work with the City Council making our neighborhoods great and keeping our city streets safe. Advertisement karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com They were often animated, sometimes spectacle and frequently loud. On Tuesday, the weekly protests outside U.S. Rep. Darrell Issas Vista office came to an end. Protesters staged a final rally with a mixture of satisfaction at Issas upcoming retirement and sadness at the prospect of parting with a community of like-minded activists. Now they will focus their attention on getting out the vote to flip the 49th Congressional District from red to blue. For about 65 weeks, primarily North County residents reeling over the election of President Donald Trump and frustrated with Issas support of Trump vented their outrage at the weekly rallies. Advertisement There they decried Republican efforts to end the Affordable Care Act, dismantle environmental regulations and build a border wall, adding levity to their message with songs, chants and props such as a 20-foot-tall inflatable chicken with a Trump-esque coiff. On Tuesday, about 150 regulars held what they said will be their last stand at the site, featuring signs including a surfboard-shaped poster predicting a blue wave, and others declaring support for Planned Parenthood or gun control. The crowd skewed toward retirees, but also included younger up-and-coming politicians, including Vista School Board member Cipriano Vargas, 26, and Congressional candidate Sarah Jacobs, 29, one of several Democratic contenders for Issas seat. Issas office did not respond to requests for comment. Part swan song for their grassroots effort, and part launch pad for voter turnout drives, Tuesdays rally was a turning point for many who have joined the weekly ritual. Ive gone almost every time, said demonstrator Erin Tracy. This is it. Its bittersweet. We accomplished our goal, to get Issa to retire. But this is therapy. This is family. Even their counterparts, a handful of pro-Trump activists who gather on the opposite side of the street, shared the sentiment. Im going to miss coming out on beautiful days like this, said James Hawkin of San Marcos, who said he comes to the events to support Trump and Congressional Republicans. Ive had some good discussions with people on the other side. The demonstrations began in 2016 with a few dozen people who responded to a Facebook invite or word-of-mouth invitation from organizer Ellen Montanari. They swelled as residents from North County and beyond sought a chance to raise their voices with kindred spirits. Advertisement They were spectacles at times, with protesters dressing up as zombies one week, and inflating the 20-foot-tall chicken another. In March, attendees held a die-in in which people lay on the ground, using signs protesting health care changes as grave markers. On Halloween, billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer heading a campaign to impeach the president was a guest speaker. I like the fun, said retired Marine Brigadier Gen. David Brahms, of Carlsbad, who describes himself as a Boston-born genetic Democrat whose Jewish father and Irish Catholic mother shaped his political views. I like the energy. And I love these women. My mother would have loved this, and my grandmother even more. Brahms said he wanted to call attention to veterans issues, and complained that Issa doesnt give a rats patoot about his constituents. Amy Wiwuga, a Los Angeles resident who works for Health Access California, said she made a habit of driving down every couple weeks to demonstrate against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and other health issues. Advertisement I came out here to keep awareness that the government is trying to take our health care away, and we need to fight it, she said. These people will fight for everything. Issa occasionally greeted the crowd, and attended a town hall meeting before an unfriendly crowd in March of last year. As the crowds swelled, the Vista City Council imposed restrictions on where they could gather and how loud they could get. The limitations only fueled the resolve of protesters. Political operatives seized on the crowds. By one count, they grew to a peak of 850, and averaged about 350 per week, said Tim OHealy, a retired Marine corporal who made it his task to count heads at the events. OHealy, 71, a Vietnam veteran, said the weekly rallies were his first venture ever into political activism. The protesters were on the other side, he said of Vietnam War protests. I was being protested against. So it never occurred to me (to join protests.) Advertisement Trumps election, however, marked a tipping point that galvanized him into action, he said. The minute that Trump was elected, it was evident that the sovereignty of our country, our democracy, was in danger, OHealy said. Counter-protestor Steve Hasty, a wedding DJ who has made up for the lower numbers on his side with higher volume sound equipment, sees a different danger from the left. He joined fellow Trump supporters a few times last year, but said he made it a point to come regularly after some Issa protesters posted negative yelp reviews about his business. Using professional audio speakers, and what he admits are deliberately provocative comments, he has tried to drown out what he considers censorship in the name of political correctness. Advertisement Youre racist if you believe in American patriotism, he asserted over professional speakers during the final rally. In January, after a year of demonstrations at Issas office, a couple hundred protesters threw the nine-term congressman a tongue-in-cheek retirement party outside his Vista office to celebrate his decision not to run for re-election, a decision that stunned rally participants and political observers. In 2016, he won re-election by a razor-thin margin, topping his opponent by just 1,621 votes. The weekly rallies continued for several months, but with midterm primaries approaching, protesters decided it was time to put their energy elsewhere. They plan to join efforts, including Flip the 49th, a SuperPAC formed by Montanari and others to elect a Democrat to replace Issa. Advertisement I feel victorious but we still have a lot of work to do, said Marjorie Bramwell, a retired nurse from Vista, who said she plans to focus on election efforts, and issues including health care, education and the environment. Our work has just started. Over the coming months, the Issa protesters will conduct voter registration drives, walk precincts and organize events to boost Democratic turnout in November. At a post-rally brunch featuring regular, meatless and gluten-free breakfast burritos, Montanari exhorted them to remain politically involved. For those of you who say I dont have time, Im giving you time, she said. Im giving you Tuesday mornings. We have activated a group of people who are unstoppable. And thats each and every one of you. Some confessed concern that Issas opponents havent unified behind one Democratic candidate. As Democrat Doug Applegate slipped from front-runner to second place behind Assemblyman Rocky Chavez (R-Oceanside,) they worry about splitting support for the party. But most expressed exuberance at their more than year-long exercise in free speech. Advertisement Even their opponents saw a bright side to the Tuesday protests. Despite his vociferous differences with the Issa protesters, Hasty said he sees some common ground. I appreciate that theyre here, he said. The idea that you love your country and are here is the same reason why Im here. Amid a contentious political climate and some unpleasant exchanges between the demonstrators and counter-protesters, Hasty noted that they all enjoyed freedoms that other parts of the world envy. This is what makes America great, he said. We can have a rally on each side and yell at each other, and go home. Nobody was shot. Nobody was arrested. Advertisement deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan The deadline is nearing for nominations to be taken for the 2018 Irene Ferguson Marine Wife of the Year. The award is open to wives of active-duty Marines based in the Marine Corps Southwest region and recognizes the resiliency, strength and dedication that a Marine wife embodies as she supports the military, her family and the wider community. The award is named after the late wife of World War II Marine veteran Maj. Glenn Ferguson. Ferguson started the tribute seven years ago, in memory of his wife, Irene, to honor Marine wives and their work on the homefront as unsung heroes. Advertisement Ferguson, an aviator in WWII and the Korean War, also provided White House security for President Franklin Roosevelt and served as Marine One co-pilot for President Dwight Eisenhower. Several of the aircraft that Ferguson flew during his Marine Corps career are on display at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Friends and family members of Marine wives (except their husbands) are encouraged to submit a nomination. Nominations are due by May 8. The winner receives a $1,500 monetary award, along with a plaque and recognition ceremony at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum on June 8. Visit flyingleathernecks.org/marine-wives-award or call (858) 693-1723. French scientific marine expedition vessel Tara in town From:Shine | 2018-04-24 19:29 The French scientific marine expedition vessel "Tara" is in Shanghai for a two-week stopover. The French scientific marine vessel "Tara" is in Shanghai for a two-week stopover during its first expedition to the Chinese mainland. The visit is expected to enhance Sino-French cooperation in the areas of marine research and environmental protection. Scientists from Tara have cooperated with Shanghai experts on anti-aging and tumor prevention research. Coral and sponge samples collected by Tara were studied for their longevity in an attempt to utilize their properties for human benefit. About 5,000 samples of coral and 3,000 samples of sponge have been sent to the Sino-French Research Center for Life Science and Genomes at Shanghais Ruijin Hospital. The aging process of humans is related to genes, life style, epigenetic inheritance and the environment. But we still have a poor understanding of the aging process, said Lu Yiming, the centers director. There is more and more aging research undertaken on special species, especially marine organisms including coral, sponge and fish. Their complicated evolution and mechanisms controldevelopment, injury repair and aging. Research on the long life of marine animals has strong potential foranti-aging studies in humans. Lus center is studying thetelomere of the samples, which can indicate the physical life span of an animal. We want to study the differences betweencoral and human telomere and use it as a research target forhumananti-aging and tumor prevention, Lu said. During the Shanghai stopover, some students were invited on-board to learn about the richness of the ocean and the importance of protecting it. Before Shanghai, the vessel visited Xiamen. It will leave Shanghai on April 29. The China visit, supported by LOreal, is part of the schooner's 100,000 kilometer Pacific expedition focusing on research covering climate change and the state of coral-reefs. This is also the first comprehensive survey of coral reefs in the Pacific. Scientists said it was alarming that many of the coral reefs that Tara has visited have degraded due to factors ranging from global warming and overfishing to pollution discharge. They said coral reefs were not only the ecosystem nurturing one-third of marine creatures, but that they also absorbed carbon dioxide to curb global warming. Thus it is imperative to take action to protect the marine environment and create greater awareness in people about such issues, the scientists said. The creation of an open and inclusive platform for cooperation and seeking even more effective ways of marine protection and marine education are now more important than ever. "The ocean is an ecological resource that human life depends on, and there is an urgent need to explore, analyze and resolve the various threats that lie beneath the calm seas," said Romain Trouble, General Director of Tara. "At the same time, we hope to work with more partners to guide the younger generation to develop greater and more comprehensive ecological awareness, and to transform environmental protection into conscious behavior in daily life. This will allow the ocean to remain the cradle of life for the foreseeable future, as well as become a strategic space that can support future human development." Ti Gong Some students were invited on-board Tara to learn about the richness of the ocean and the importance of protecting our vulnerable marine environment. Ti Gong The French scientific marine expedition vessel "Tara" is in Shanghai. La Jolla Playhouse is doubling down with its artist-in-residence program, inviting a pair of married playwrights to develop work at the theater. The Playhouse has announced that Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza are coming aboard this month as the institutions latest artists in residence. Lews name should be familiar to San Diego theatergoers: The La Jolla High graduates play Tiger Style! had just its second full production at the Playhouse in 2016. (See the U-T review here.) The Yale University-trained Lews work also has been produced at other theaters around the country, mostly in places where he doesnt get to surf as much as he does in San Diego. Advertisement Rehana Lew Mirza is likewise an accomplished playwright: Her work Child of Colonialism was commissioned by the Playhouse and was seen in the theaters 2017 DNA New Work Series. Mirza, a graduate of New York Universitys Tisch School and Columbia University, is also an HBO Access Fellow and Colt Coeur artist; her other recent plays include Soldier X and Neighborhood Watch. Its actually not the first time the pair will serve a residency together: They previously held a joint Mellon National Playwright residency at Ma-Yi Theater in New York. (The couple met in the Ma-Yi Writers Lab in 2005; they were wed in 2011 and have a 2-year-old son.) The Playhouse says that during their residency, Mirza and Lew will work on the trilogy The Colonialism Project (co-commissioned by the theater), as well as a new musical called Bhangin It. Mirzas Child of Colonialism is one part of the planned trilogy. Heres how the Playhouse describes the full series: The Colonialism Project is an ambitious time-spanning trilogy about colonialism and its aftermath. Through three interconnected full-length plays that together comprise an epic evening of theater, this work seeks to trace the scars of colonialism across nations and centuries, from British Raj in India, to plantation labor in the Caribbean, to the ripple effects of colonialism in America today. The pairs musical project, Bhangin It, has a book by Mirza and Lew, with music and lyrics by Sam Willmott. The piece draws inspiration from the high-stakes world of intercollegiate competitive bhangra a traditional Indian folk dance morphed into a good ol American dance-off. Advertisement The story follows a biracial student, Mary, who gets kicked off her bhangra team for not being Indian enough. When she forms a team of her own, cultural authenticity and cultural pluralism are set on a collision course. Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley said the residency program reinforces the Playhouses mission to serve as a supportive and profound home for artists. Mike and Rehana both possess riveting new voices in the theater, and it is deeply gratifying to be able to offer them this joint residency to develop new projects together and immerse themselves in the day-to-day operations of the Playhouse. Past Playhouse artists in residence have included the Tony Award-winning actor-writer BD Wong, the veteran Broadway scenic designer and UC San Diego grad Robert Brill, and the master puppeteer Basil Twist, a MacArthur fellowship recipient. Advertisement jim.hebert@sduniontribune.com Advertisement Twitter: @jimhebert Every Monday for the past seven years, Pat Guerrero has taken a long lunch break from work to hand-deliver hard-boiled eggs and string cheese to the homeless in Mission Beach. Guerrero is known to the small community of unsheltered men and women at Mariners Point Park as the egg and cheese lady, and last year she got a new companion in her weekly protein deliveries: 86-year-old Lois Ream. For both Guerrero and Ream, helping the homeless is a mission of faith and of family. Both women have encountered homelessness in their own families and believe that it only takes a small act of compassion to impact peoples lives. They feel for us what we feel for them, Ream said. These men have seen the do-gooders who come out to help but dont really have any feelings behind it. They can see into our hearts and know we care. When you look in their eyes, youre telling them that they matter. It makes a world of difference. Advertisement With help from Lois Ream, 86, center, Pat Guerrero has spent Mondays for the past seven years giving free hard-boiled eggs and string cheese to homeless people at Mariners Point. Theyre shown here on Monday with Salvation Army outreach worker Dominique Roundtree, left. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune ) The two women met last May when Ream moved into the White Sands La Jolla retirement community, where Guerrero works as activities director and move-in coordinator. Guerrero started working at White Sands 11 years ago when she was struggling to keep a roof over her own head as well as her three children. She grew up in La Jolla and lived a comfortable life there with her first husband. She stayed home to raise their children and served local charities through the La Jolla Community Church. Then, in 2005, everything collapsed. She discovered that her husband, who was an alcoholic, had hidden from her a mountain of debt that would ultimately cost them their home and their cars. After they divorced in 2006, Guerrero worked two jobs, seven days a week, to support her children, who are now ages 23 to 33. The only thing that kept the four of them off the streets was a live-in job she found as caretaker for an elderly man with autism. Her ex-husband struggled with sobriety and homelessness for more than a decade until he died last year in a local homeless camp. Guerrero, who is remarried and a resident of Old Town, said the homeless outreach she does now is both her Christian mission and a way to honor his memory. I went through a long period where I didnt know how to help him, she said. Now I feel like if I can help a son, a brother, a husband or a friend, hes not forgotten. Advertisement Her work in Mission Beach began in 2011, when she was looking to do charity work with her youngest daughter, who was then in high school. They learned that the Salvation Army handed out free coffee and day-old pastries every morning at Mariners Point, but she knew from her own experience that homeless people need to eat healthy proteins every day. So, every Sunday night she and her daughter would buy three dozen single-serve packets of mozzarella string cheese as well as three dozen eggs that they boiled and chilled. Then, every Monday, they drove to Mariners Point to join the Salvation Army workers in their morning breakfast service. Even after her daughter left for college, Guerrero kept going. Advertisement I figured if I dont come, then nobody will be there to feed them like I do, she said. Its too much a part of me now. Heading up the daily coffee service at Mission Beach are Salvation Army outreach specialists Kathy Almendarez and Dominique Roundtree. Almendarez, who has served in Mission Beach for nine years, said shes impressed by Guerreros commitment. Ive known her a long time, Almendarez said. The guys just love her here. Shes providing them with protein and dairy and shes really reliable and kind. And now shes got her friend Lois out here, too. Last summer, Guerrero was joined by Ream, whose commitment to serving the homeless dates back to her childhood in Missouri. Her father, a mailman and associate pastor, would offer meals and other aid to anyone who showed up at the back door of their farmhouse needing help. Advertisement One time, I failed to feed a hungry person and he scolded me and said that could have been a hungry angel, Ream said. She lived most of her adult life with her husband and children in Denver, Colo. She was widowed in 2012 and moved to White Sands in May 2017 to be closer to her daughter in La Jolla. Ream said she chose to rent a smaller apartment so she could use her extra monthly income to help others. First, she joined White Sands Circle of Friends, a group of residents who aid others in the complex. Then she joined Guerreros weekly food runs. Ream brings several dozen tangerines and 40 small packages of Ritz cheese crackers each week. She has also donated dozens of pairs of shoes to the Salvation Army and shes planning to organize a sock drive. Advertisement Like Guerrero, Ream got involved in homeless outreach for a personal reason. Her great-grandson, Justin, is a longtime heroin addict who has served time in prison for drug-related crimes and is now homeless in Denver. When Im out there on the beach, and see young men Justins age, it touches my heart, Ream said. I feel like if Im doing this for them, Im doing it for Justin. On Monday morning at 11:15 a.m., Guerrero and Ream pulled into the parking lot at Mariners Point right next to the SUV where Almendarez and Roundtree had set out several trays of doughnuts and cookies and a 100-cup dispenser of hot coffee. About 30 adults, mostly men and a couple of women, were quietly waiting in line for service to begin. Most are regulars who the women recognize and greet with smiles and friendly questions. One man who lives in his car was wearing a new sling on his arm, which Guerrero discovered was the result of an overnight stabbing last weekend by another homeless man. Advertisement Almendarez said the majority served at Mariners Point are men, many of them veterans on disability. On Tuesdays and Thursdays when more services are available, up to 60 people arrive, some of them families with small children. The crowds always swell at the end of each month, when disability and Social Security checks run out. Among the crowd assembled Monday was a bearded man who called himself Captain America. He said hes been homeless in Mission Beach for five years and he appreciates the egg and cheese ladies. Theyre always so nice and theyre always here, he said. Its nice to know that they take time to come out and help. Not everybody treats you so nice. Advertisement pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com Food brings us all together, remarked San Diego City Councilman Chris Cate in front of a crowd of about 300 people inside the San Diego Natural History Museums theater. And, that was certainly the case on Monday night during the Ulam: Film & Fest presented by the Pacific Arts Movement, which sold out in mere hours after the event was posted online. Those gathered were waiting to view a screening of the film Ulam: Main Dish before moving to the dining room where 15 local chefs had prepared a hands-on, kamayan-style Filipino meal. The event was part of the eighth annual San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase, which kicked off on April 19 and runs through Thursday. An encore screening of the film took place Tuesday night. In Ulam (which translates to main dish in Tagalog), director and writer Alexandra Cuerdo, who briefly attended UC San Diego during her college journey, and her team captured Filipino-American chefs and restaurateurs from New York and Los Angeles who are rooted in the growth and evolution of the cultures food. Advertisement Interviews included a look at such topics as crab mentality, microagressions, the effects of colonialism and the need for support from the Filipino community and, of course, food, lots of food. (Photo courtesy of Kidlat Entertainment) Filipinos love to support success, said chef Alvin Cailan (Eggslut in Los Angeles and AMBOY in NYC), who was featured throughout the documentary. But, interview after interview showed that it hasnt always been so cut and dry when it comes to carrying on a successful Filipino restaurant. Many of the chefs talked to the point of family and how memories of growing up with traditional foods can be a major roadblock when it comes to the dining and Filipino communities. A press release ahead of the film screening read, Food is our history, and the history of the Filipino people is complex. we must discuss what divides us, to find what unites us. From the documentary to the following kamayan dinner (a traditional family-style meal served atop a banana leaf spread across the table where diners eat without utensils), it was clear that the unity aspect was a central focus of the evening. In the post-screening Q&A session with the production team, Cuerdo (whose father was the producer of the movie and also in attendance) gushed about her excitement for the dinner, pleased to see 15 local Filipino-American chefs come together to create the meal. The more than 300 movie-viewers made their way into the lower level of the Natural History Museum where carefully and creatively placed food was spread out among numerous tables. If you hadnt come with family, those seated around you soon became family. Advertisement 1 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 2 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 3 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 4 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 5 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 6 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 7 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 8 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 9 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 10 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 11 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 12 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 13 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 14 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 15 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 16 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 17 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 18 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 19 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 20 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 21 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 22 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 23 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 24 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 25 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 26 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 27 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 28 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 29 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 30 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 31 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 32 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 33 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 34 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 35 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 36 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 37 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 38 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 39 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 40 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 41 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 42 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 43 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 44 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 45 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 46 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) 47 / 47 Attendees at ULAM: FILM & FEAST enjoyed a screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH and a kamayan-style feast at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Rick Nocon ) With wet naps at the ready and a winding snake of sticky rice to use as a utensil, guests dug in to such traditional dishes as mechado, a beef short rib stewed with soy sauce, bell pepper, patis, tomato and peas (prepared by chef Marcus Twilegar of Parq) and seafood ginataan with mussels, coconut milk, kabocha squash, chinese long beans and red mustard frill (prepared by Tara Monsod of Tender Greens in Mission Valley). For dessert, a sweet standout was the ube bibingka made with rice flour, ube, sugar, coconut milk, coconut wrapped in banana leaves (prepared by chef DJ Tangalin of Bivouac Ciderworks, and who was PACIFICs leading chef in the 2017 Chain of Gourmand). Chef Marcus Twilegar of Parq. (Christine Wu/Pacific Arts Movement) Advertisement Chef Tara Monsod of Tender Greens in Mission Valley (Breana Parks/Pacific Arts Movement) Filipino cuisine is having its moment because timing is everything. The kids that grew up here are now finding themselves inspired to create a connection with their homelands food, Tangalin told The San Diego Union-Tribune ahead of the event. When you grow up in another country, one of the links you have with your parents and grandparents is food. Chef DJ Tangalin of Bivouac Ciderworks in North Park. (Jesse Gonzalez/Pacific Arts Movement) The memories of the food of our parents and grandparents are then passed down through us to share with our children and our friends. Though the ingredients and recipes used may not be authentic or traditional, the people who taste it can feel that its cooking that is coming from the heart. Advertisement As the chefs took the stage to introduce themselves and talk about each dish, it was a clear indication that the guests knew each person involved was cooking with pride and heart when a swarm of aunties, lolos and batas surrounded them, each aching to get a picture of the group. Councilman Cate couldnt have kicked off the night in a more fitting way, because it really was the food that brought everyone together in a big way. Ive not heard of a 300-person kamayan outside of the Philippines, so Guiness Book, here we come, said Cuerdo. More... San Diego chefs to showcase Filipino cuisine at screening of Ulam: Main Dish documentary Advertisement Ulam: Main Dish Pacific Arts Movement Because Marine 1st Lt. Philip H. Sauer screamed for him to retreat, trading his own life to buy precious seconds for his ambushed men, William Marks survived Vietnam to become a father of two, grandfather of four. If it hadnt have been for him, Id probably still be there, said Marks, 72, of Rockport, Massachusetts. He could see what was going on there. Youd have to have been an idiot not to have seen what was going on. Gunfire. Grenades going off. I mean, we were that close. You could see the shadows of people running toward us. Fifty-one years to the day since he died on a wet cliff near Khe Sanh, Sauer was commemorated at the White House the 1st Marine Divisions command post on Camp Pendleton where his four siblings accepted a posthumous Silver Star on his behalf. Its the militarys third highest award for battlefield bravery, but the paperwork for Sauers medal was lost in the chaos of war, only to be resurrected by a fellow Advertisement Vietnam War vet retired Marine Lt. Col. David Little in early 2015. Little only knew from a La Jolla Cove swimming buddy, Tom Sauer, that his brother had died in Vietnam. Sifting through military records, however, Little soon learned that Private 1st Class Marks, an artillery observer with D Battery of 2nd Battalion, 12th Marines, was the sole survivor of Sauers five-man patrol. Marks met the 25-year-old Lt. Sauer, who grew up in Coronado and St. Louis, only hours before they hiked into an ambush sprung by an entrenched platoon of North Vietnamese Army soldiers around 11 a.m. on April 24, 1967. All hell broke loose, Marks recalled. The point man died screaming but the lieutenant and Marks dove into a hole. Sauer, the commander of 2nd Platoon, A Company of the 3rd Anti-Tank Battalion, stood up and began firing with his Colt .45 pistol as North Vietnamese bullets and grenades tore through the dirt and trees around him. He ordered the patrol to flee, pledging to cover them. Im listening for Sauers pistol, and I dont hear it anymore. That stops, Marks said. I kinda figured hes not here anymore. Hes gone. Advertisement Marks reached his buddy, Private 1st Class Bradley Nelson, and spotted an ominous hole in his radio. He lifted up his face saw he was dead, too. Marks slid down the rain-slicked Hill 861 to safety, never dreaming that nearly a half-century later hed emerge as a key piece in Lt. Sauers long forgotten valor award. Little knew that he needed three things to get it approved: a witness to the firefight, a superior officer in Sauers battalion who would sign off on the submission and a waiver supplied by a congressional representative. It took nine months of research and a slew of phone calls, but he got all of them sole survivor Marks; Sauers former company commander, retired Marine Lt. Col. Barclay Hastings; and Rep. Scott Peters, D- San Diego. Advertisement Little never told Sauers siblings until Navy secretary Richard V. Spencer approved the medal. He jumped through a lot of bureaucratic hoops, said Tom Sauer, 70, of La Jolla. In a private moment amid Tuesdays pomp, Maj. Gen. Eric M. Smith, commander of 1st Marine Division, whispered his thoughts to Tom and the other Sauer siblings Mary Schoelch, 72, of Minnesota; Coulter Winn, 66, of Monrovia in Los Angeles County; and Nick Sauer, 77, also of La Jolla as he presented them the award Senior Marines take care of junior Marines, and Lt. Sauer was senior, Smith said. It was his responsibility to take care of that patrol and he did that, at the cost of his own life. That is what Marines do. Advertisement After the ceremony, the lieutenants siblings, friends and family said they always knew hed be a great Marine. Dennis Behan, 78, of Mississippi, remembered Sauer as a tough, tough kid who dreamed of joining the Marines after he finished his studies at Missouris Westminster College. A family divided by divorce, Nick and Phil Sauer left Coronado as teens to live with their father in Missouri, but the siblings always found a way to be with each other. Tom Sauer recalled living with him in the sweltering third-story attic of their grandparents house in St. Louis during the summer of 1963. Advertisement He really believed the cause there was right. He wanted to be a part of it. He really thought hed be helping to defeat communism and he was gung ho about it, Sauer said. Their younger brother, Winn, remembered Sauers summertime visits to Coronado in other years, when they lived along Margarita Avenue. Phil worked at Cavanaughs gas station now a Mobil outlet at the corner of 4th and Orange and tinkered with his own Chevy Impala in the family driveway. I thought my big brother was so cool to let me ride shotgun, Winn said. Schoelch, their sister, recalled Sauer as a rescue ranger who once nursed an injured seagull back to health in their bathtub. Another time, he reunited kittens lost in a drainpipe with their mother. Advertisement Thats just who he was. He epitomized the character of a great Marine, she said. He loved his Marine Corps family. He took care of his men. Advertisement Military Videos On Now D-Day paratrooper from Coronado jumps again in France at age 96 On Now Remembering war's fallen, one name at a time On Now In Ramona, an airplane and an aviator provide living lessons on World War II 1:43 On Now Video: Navy's newest vessel sails into San Diego and a new future in surface warfare On Now Video: U.S. Navy files homicide charges over warship collisions On Now Stopping Marine hazing On Now Video: U.S. Navy Air Crew Grounded After Creating Vulgar Sky Drawing On Now Navy says Asia Pacific ship collisions were avoidable On Now Hundreds of recruits get sick at Marine boot camp On Now Cutler Dawson Talks Navy Federal cprine@sduniontribune.com A Cal State Fresno professor who posted disparaging remarks on Twitter about former First Lady Barbara Bush will keep her job, university officials said Tuesday. Randa Jarrar drew swift and widespread condemnation when she called Bush, wife of former President George H.W. Bush and mother of former President George W. Bush, an amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. In a letter to the campus community, Cal State Fresno President Joseph Castro called Jarrars comments disgraceful and an embarrassment to the university, but said they were protected under the 1st Amendment. After reviewing the tweets with the universitys counsel, administrators concluded that Jarrar, who teaches creative writing, did not violate the schools policies and was acting as a private citizen when she posted the comments online. Advertisement Therefore, the university does not have justification to support taking any disciplinary action, Castro wrote. Letter by Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro on the conclusion of the review regarding professor: pic.twitter.com/Z3bQNYhl9Q Fresno State (@Fresno_State) April 24, 2018 Jarrars tweets came within an hour of the April 17 announcement that Barbara Bush had died. Im happy the witch is dead. cant wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million iraqis have. byyyeeeeeeee, Jarrar wrote. Jarrar brought up comments Barbara Bush made in 2005 about her sons administrations much-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina. While touring the Houston Astrodome, which was used as a relocation center for New Orleans residents, Barbara Bush said, Many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them. Facing a fierce backlash on social media, including calls for her termination, Jarrar bragged about her $100,000 salary as a tenured professor. I will never be fired, she wrote. Advertisement Her Twitter account has since been turned private. On the contact page of her website, she wrote, I do not read or respond to messages about Barbara Bush, followed by a red heart. A slew of civil liberties organizations came to Jarrars defense, calling the universitys investigation a chilling threat to free speech on campus. The universitys response is antithetical to a core value of our democracy: the right to express views on issues central to our national conversation in ways that might be provocative or disagreeable, wrote leaders of civil rights groups, including the ACLU Foundation of Northern California and the National Coalition Against Censorship. Jarrar is the American-born daughter of Palestinian and Egyptian parents and grew up in the Persian Gulf region, in Cairo and on the East Coast. Her 2008 novel, A Map of Home, chronicles the life of a girl growing up between the Middle East and the U.S. Advertisement Castro said Jarrar will remain on leave which she had requested before the Twitter incident and backlash through the spring semester. alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @AleneTchek 8 arrested for Ponzi fraud From:Shine | 2018-04-25 00:29 Eightsuspects who were allegedly involved in a Ponzi scheme worth 60 billion yuan (US$9.6 billion) have been arrested, police said yesterday. Zhou Boyun, the legal representative of Shan Lin Financial, the company which reportedly operated the scheme, turned himself in to the police on April 9. The company was established in 2013 and registered at the Shanghai free trade zone in the Pudong New Area. Zhou has opened over 1,000 branches since October 2013 without any permit. Staff were recruited and trained to sell the financial products on which the company promised high returns of 5.4 to 15 percent, police said. Zhou opened four online platforms since 2015 to sell the same products. Police said Zhou paid the staff high salaries and bonuses with the funds absorbed from the public and spent a lot of the money on advertising of the company, but the investment projects in the scheme were hardly profitable. The companys high-ranking managers have also been arrested. Providing jobs and other aid to Los Angeles County residents soon after they land in the streets could help prevent 2,600 to 5,200 people a year from falling into persistent homelessness, according to a new study from a liberal think tank. The Escape Routes study from the nonprofit Economic Roundtable zeroes in on a key dilemma in Los Angeles homelessness crisis: Even as officials have moved 33,000 homeless people into permanent housing since 2013 and launched a $1.2-billion construction program, high rents, job loss and medical crises continue to push people out of their homes. Without early intervention, thousands of these people will become mired in chronic homelessness, deepening the regions stubborn problem, the study found. Housing alone is not enough to end homelessness. The steady flow of new people into chronic homelessness keeps moving the goalposts back, Dan Flaming, president of Economic Roundtable, said in a statement. Advertisement The researchers combined 26 data sources including county healthcare and social services records, the U.S. Census and homeless counts and demographic surveys to sketch what experts called a novel portrait of people at risk of falling into chronic homelessness, as well as recommendations of how to help them. For several years running, Los Angeles has topped the nation in chronically homeless people, with 16,576 in the 2017 count, the most recent available. Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania professor and a leading researcher of homeless demographics, said one of the most important findings was that 150,000 people in L.A. County are homeless in a year, although many resolve their crises on their own. Because more than three-quarters of L.A.s homeless people live outdoors in camps or vehicles, the official homeless count a three-day snapshot of people living in the streets and shelters has always been suspect, Culhane said. The study says the number of people languishing in homelessness can be reduced, but not without a big investment. Many homeless people are eager to work, particularly those with children, but they need childcare, transportation, temporary housing, training and in some cases government-funded jobs to bring them into the work force, study said. The pragmatic argument for early interventions such as employment is that they cost much less than the roughly $300,000 in subsidies required to make a housing unit permanently affordable for a formerly homeless person, the report said. If interventions are accurately targeted on individuals who have a high risk of becoming chronically homeless, the avoided public costs will more than offset the cost of the intervention. Early supports are particularly important for African American families, whose children are 10 times more likely to be homeless than Latino children, and 13 times more likely than European American children, the report found. The ethnically disproportionate burden of homelessness among African-American adults begins in childhood, the report said. Advertisement Foster youth and those in juvenile detention were also identified as groups that especially need more support. The report also recommended providing parking lots, showers and bathrooms for homeless people who live in their cars or campers; creating permanent affordable housing with supportive services for pregnant homeless women; plugging the pipeline from incarceration to the streets; and reducing arrests of homeless people. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl welcomed the report, saying increasing early support could significantly reduce the number of men, women and children who experience homelessness. The city and county said they are supporting homeless employment programs, including subsidized jobs. Advertisement Without a steady source of income, individuals and families cannot keep up with the rapidly increasing cost of housing in Los Angeles County, said Phil Ansell, head of the countys Homeless Initiative. gholland@latimes.com Twitter: @geholland Kids these days. Skipping class and hanging out on the street. Oh, for the days when they did this just to goof off. Todays students have a lot on their minds. To be sure, students in past generations had their concerns, but the omnipresent threat of being mowed down in class wasnt one of them. Neither was the possibility of inheriting a bankrupt nation, for that matter. San Diego County participation in Fridays National School Walkout to commemorate the Columbine High School shooting was uneven, which is understandable given some districts said those who left campus would be counted as absent, possibly truant. Advertisement But those districts that took a harder line didnt pass up the opportunity to facilitate a teachable moment by allowing students to hold assemblies and voter registration drives. During a protest outside El Camino High School in Oceanside, senior Kheidijah Abdulmateen exhorted her classmates to . . . raise your voices, raise your fists, make it known that we are here, we are relevant, we are equal and we matter. Heres another rallying cry: Fill out a ballot when youre eligible to vote. Public protests are great for energizing a movement, but we know that voting, preferably in large numbers, really will get you heard. Getting out the youth vote has long been a challenge, however. Millennials have punched below their electoral weight in recent presidential elections, according to a Pew Research Center study. About half of eligible voter millennials said they voted in 2016, far below older generations. Thats not to pick on millennials. The voting record of young people through the years has been underwhelming. So its encouraging to see that many of these protests are being linked with voter registration drives. The state of California has taken steps to make it easier. The Motor Voter Act seeks to boost registration during DMV transactions by automatically sending voter information to the Secretary of States Office, unless you opt out of registering. Also, 16- and 17-year-olds can pre-register to vote with their registration becoming active upon turning 18. The pre-registeristration program started in September 2016 and more than 100,000 have signed up, according to the California Secretary of States Office, which noticed an uptick in recent weeks. But not all the signs are encouraging. Florida was the site of the latest mass school shooting, in which 17 people mostly students were killed in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. If young people were motivated to register anywhere, youd figure it would be in the Sunshine State. But voter registration among the young has lagged. Advertisement According to the Tampa Bay Times last week, there were 4,500 fewer registrations among 16- to 25-year-olds compared with the same point in 2014 in six of Floridas seven largest counties. (No data was available for the largest county, Miami-Dade.) The numbers counter a popular narrative since Februarys deadly massacre in Parkland that asserted there was an awakening among teens and young adults, the Tampa Bay Times wrote. This theory was bolstered by local and national rallies on gun violence, orchestrated high school walkouts, and an unusual number of young candidates who filed to run. There were fewer registrations even in Broward County, where Parkland is located. It has always been a challenge to grasp their attention, Reggie Cardozo, who headed President Barack Obamas 2012 campaign in Florida, told the news organization. What would be good for us, and a realistic expectation, is to do a little better than we did in similar off-cycle years. Advertisement Its important to remember that registering to vote and actually voting are two different things, and the latter has not been stellar in this country across most age groups, and even worse among young people. This is particularly acute in non-presidential elections. Theres always hope, though. PolitiFact said there is an increase in millennials (ages 20 to 35 in 2016) and members of Generation X (ages 36 to 51) who are now identified in voter registration lists, which are used by parties and organizations to create voter mobilization lists. That means that these blocs might cast more ballots than in the past if parties and other groups are successful at mobilizing them, PolitiFact said. Millennials are projected to surpass baby boomers next year as the United States largest living adult generation, and relatively soon will pass boomers as a portion of the electorate. Advertisement According to Pew, some 62 million millennials were voting age in 2016, passing Gen Xers and closing in on the 70 million boomers (ages 52-70). Millennials eligible to vote boosted their turnout to 51 percent in 2016, according to the Census Bureau. Thats five points higher than in 2012, though it still trailed Gen Xers (63 percent), baby boomers (69 percent) and the Greatest Generation (70 percent). Historically, American adults often have questioned whether the subsequent generation will amount to much and expressed concern about turning the country over to them. Theyve been rebels without a cause, stoners, slackers. In pop culture, there was no better or more fun illustration of this than the iconic Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, who, after ticking off the sorry test scores of his students, bellowed, What are you people on dope? The script has flipped. Now its the young people who rightfully question what kind of world were leaving them, with school massacres and astounding debt. Some members of older generations are wistfully hoping the kids can save us from ourselves. Advertisement The activism of young people is encouraging, but follow through is important if you want change. As Sean Penns Jeff Spicoli, channeling Thomas Jefferson, said in Fast Times: ...if we dont get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, well just be bogus too. Dont forget to register and vote when you can. A sailor was arrested Tuesday morning on suspicion of possessing 20 military grenades that had been stolen from a San Diego-based Navy destroyer explosives that were later found abandoned on the side of a freeway in Arizona. Gunners Mate 2nd Class Aaron A. Booker, 31, is charged with one count of possession of stolen explosives in a San Diego federal complaint that was unsealed Tuesday. He was arrested by Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents in Great Lakes, Ill., where he is now stationed. The shipment of 60 MK3A2 concussion hand grenades arrived on January 20, 2016, aboard the Pinckney, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer ported at Naval Base San Diego, according to the complaint. The explosives were packaged 20 to a crate, labeled as G911 grenades. Each contains about a half-pound of TNT and has a casualty radius of 2 meters, although fragments could be projected as far as 200 meters from the detonation point, authorities point out. Advertisement These grenades are designed to be offensive and lethal weapons, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Chicago in the case. The grenades were stored in a secured locker, with the only access given to gunners mates who would daily check the temperature in the unit, authorities said. About a year later, in February 2017, a routine inventory revealed the bottom crate had a missing seal and 20 missing grenades. The 15 sailors who had access at the time were each interviewed, and each allowed NCIS agents to search their vehicles and homes. But the searches yielded nothing of use. Some of the sailors in their interviews, however, indicated Booker had been angry with his commanding officer and entire chain of command aboard the Pinckney because he felt hed been wrongly disciplined following an arrest in Arizona, court records state. According to a search warrant unsealed in November in Chicago, Booker had been riding motorcycles with friends and fellow sailors near Yuma in October 2015 when one of the other riders tried to evade police. Booker was arrested on charges of unlawful flight from law enforcement and speeding over 85 mph, but Booker claims he was merely following the officer, not fleeing. The charges were dropped. But his command determined the incident should be reviewed internally, and following a Disciplinary Review Board hearing he threatened to kill or harm his supervisor, the search warrant states. If Im in the armory, I dont know what Ill do, he said. He was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation after that, although his full access to the armory was later restored. When the grenades were later discovered missing, Booker was in the process of transferring to his new command in Great Lakes. Advertisement In March, about a week into his new post, NCIS agents interviewed him about the missing explosives. He denied seeing them, opening the crates or having ever trained with them, the complaint states. About a month later, on April 20, 2017, the grenades turned up or most of them. An off-duty Orange County sheriffs deputy was waiting in traffic on Interstate 15 in northwest Arizona and spotted a backpack leaning on a guardrail on the side of the road. The black backpack was standard-issue military with GM2 Booker handwritten on an inside tag. Arizona highway patrol officers and the FBI found inside 18 grenades with the same lot number as the missing explosives. Advertisement In a second interview, Booker admitted that the bag was his and that hed taken the route, but said the backpack had been stolen from him about a year ago after hed left it in the Pinckneys armory. He stated he was especially upset about the theft because the bag had a GM pin on the front that was hard to replace. He then said that he had seen the grenades out of their crate and had trained on their use, the complaint says. A search of his home in Illinois turned up the GM pin hed talked about having been stolen. He acknowledged it was the same pin, according to the complaint. A day later, Booker called an NCIS agent and reported that hed made several inquiries into the grenades with people in San Diego and directed agents to look in Tijuana for the last missing two. He said his former motorcycle club was associated with two people who had connections to the cartel and that the grenades were stolen at the request of the cartel, the complaint says. Advertisement He also continued to deny stealing the grenades but admitted going into the box at one point to confirm the grenades were present, the complaint states. A search of Bookers phone found that he conducted a Google search for G911 grenade on Jan. 25, 2017, watched a YouTube video about grenades and did another Google search, the complaint says. Chicago Tribune staff writer Jason Meisner contributed to this report. Advertisement kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @kristinadavis For 10 years, Noe Lopez wore the olive green uniform of a Border Patrol agent. On Wednesday, the olive green garb he wore in a San Diego courtroom was markedly different. It was that of a federal inmate. You held a position of trust, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw scolded Lopez. This was the ultimate betrayal and breach of that trust. That betrayal played out at the end of 2016, when the agent coordinated drug load drop-offs along remote portions of the U.S.-Mexico border fence and then picked up the loads while on-duty. Advertisement It is the antithesis of what you were supposed to be doing, Sabraw said. The judge then sentenced him to 70 months in prison. Lopez, 38, apologized both to his family and to his former Border Patrol colleagues sitting on opposite sides of the courtroom. Its something I regret Im going to regret the rest of my life, said Lopez, who worked out of the Imperial Beach station. The case began in October 2016, when Lopez met a man at a house party in San Ysidro. Prosecutors said Lopez had bragged about his prior success in bringing drug-laden backpacks from the border fence a claim that Lopez has since adamantly denied. Several days later, Lopez drove the man up and down the border fence pointing out areas that arent closely monitored. Lopez offered to smuggle drugs for a fee of $1,000 to $2,000 per unit, according to prosecutors. Unbeknownst to Lopez, the new friend was working as a confidential informant for law enforcement, and days later he told the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of Lopezs offer. Authorities set up a sting, with the informant pretending to have ties to drug traffickers in Mexico and asking for Lopez to use his position in the Border Patrol to help smuggle drugs. Advertisement Lopez and the informant discussed the logistics at a Chula Vista restaurant, and later Lopez went out to buy backpacks for the drug loads items that were mentioned in code as pinatas and candy. On Dec. 6, 2016, they were ready to cross the first load, and Lopez had to switch patrol locations with another agent so he was working in the planned drop spot, known as S*** Bridge. That afternoon Lopez picked up a backpack at the fence containing what he thought was 6 pounds of methamphetamine. After his shift, he met the informant at a Chula Vista strip mall and handed off the backpack. He was paid $3,000 the next day. They immediately started planning the next transaction 7 kilograms of cocaine in another area. Advertisement Honestly, the thing is that there arent there arent any cameras. Nothing, nothing, nothing, Lopez was recorded telling him. Lopez later marked the spot with a cola bottle and sent the informant two photos of the location, and on Dec. 8 he picked up another backpack left at the fence. He was paid $7,000 that time. On Dec. 14, 2016, after Lopez had switched areas with another agent in preparation for a third smuggling event, authorities moved in and arrested him at the Border Patrol station. Advertisement He pleaded guilty in June to attempted distribution of methamphetamine and cocaine. Prosecutors speculated that the motivation appeared to be monetary. Lopez owned a restaurant, Main Street Bar and Grill, in Chula Vista from 2013 to 2015, but the business failed. In February and October 2016 he filed for bankruptcy. He owed the IRS money and was also caring for three children. But, prosecutors also pointed out, he held a job that paid more than $100,000 a year. That Lopez was nevertheless willing to engage in drug trafficking suggests his motivation was greed rather than true financial need, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Leshner wrote in his sentencing memorandum. Advertisement Also in 2016, in the months leading up to the smuggling, Lopez earned a bachelors degree in business management, was involved in an alleged domestic violence dispute with a woman hed dated, and finalized his divorce. Several letters from Lopezs friends and family filed with the court expressed shock over his involvement with drug smuggling. Born and raised in San Diego, Lopez served in the Marines from 1998 to 2004, was honorably discharged, and served in the reserves for another two years, according to his defense attorney. Prosecutors said the evidence shows Lopez had no qualms about smuggling drugs into the United States, and was instead an eager and willing participant. Advertisement He was not some knowing but powerless pawn in this, Leshner argued. But Lopezs prior defense attorney, Robert Carriedo, said in sentencing papers that he remained troubled as to why Lopez was introduced to the informant. Noe speculates whether he was singled out or targeted, the lawyer said. Lopez said that at times he felt intimidated by the informant, who made statements that seemed intended to create some concern for the safety of himself or his family, Carriedo said. Rodney Scott, chief patrol agent for the San Diego sector, said in a statement Wednesday that Lopezs crime tarnished the badge that our agents wear proudly and professionally represent every day. He added that Noe Lopez is the anomaly; he does not represent the professionalism, honor and distinction that Border Patrol agents exhibit everyday safeguarding our nation. Advertisement However, cases such as his have become increasingly common over the past several years, especially as the federal government has pushed to increase border staffing quickly. The Project on Government Oversight reported this week that 80 Border Patrol agents and 127 Customs and Border Protection officers have been arrested on charges relating to corruption from October 2004 through March 2018, according to data obtained through federal Freedom of Information Act requests. CBP officers typically man the ports of entry while Border Patrol agents cover the areas in between. Advertisement kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @kristinadavis UC San Diego will try to alleviate severe autism in children by giving them a non-psychoactive chemical found in marijuana, a project funded by the biggest private donation ever made in the U.S. for such research. The $4.7 million study involves the controversial compound cannabidiol, or CBD, which is widely marketed nationwide as something of a miracle drug, capable of treating everything from cancer to post-traumatic stress disorder. Regulators believe CBD does show therapeutic promise. But they also say the miracle drug claims are wrong or based on anecdotes rather than scientific evidence. Last fall, the FDA warned four companies to stop saying things like, CBD makes cancer cells commit suicide. UC San Diego dealt with the issue by asking the Ray and Tye Noorda Foundation of Lindon, Utah, for $4.7 million to study whether CBD can ease the most severe symptoms of autism, including seizures, self-injuring behavior, and crippling anxiety. Advertisement The foundation agreed, and it is urging the federal government to remove marijuana from its list of Schedule 1 drugs so that cannabis can be widely studied. Schedule 1 drugs are defined as substances and chemicals that have no accepted use in medicine and a high potential for abuse. As a result, the government provides little money to study marijuana. The listing contradicts the findings of many federal, industry and university scientists who say cannabis appears to be helpful for treating a variety of diseases and disorders, including epilepsy, chronic pain, and the vomiting associated with chemotherapy. Parents are pressing scientists to expand their research to autism spectrum disorder, a developmental brain disorder that afflicts 3.5 million people in the U.S. Some parents have given CBD to their autistic children, notably in states like California where medical and recreational marijuana are legal. Ive spoken to parents who swear that this is effective but it needs to undergo scientific research, said Scott Badesch, president of the Autism Society of America, which is based in Bethesda, Maryland. UC San Diegos Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) will conduct a clinical trial involving 30 autistic children with severe symptoms. The children, who will be recruited from throughout the region, will be given a liquid form of CBD that will be provided by a federally approved laboratory in Arizona. During the study, which begins next year, the children will also undergo behavioral testing, MRI scans and electroencephalograms. The patients will range in age from 8 to 12. Its important to do this study to show whether there is objective improvement, or whether (CBD) is detrimental or whether it doesnt do anything at all, said Dr. Doris Trauner, the UC San Diego pediatrics and neuroscience expert who will lead this aspect of the study. Advertisement The university says the overall project, led by Dr. Igor Grant, will determine if CBD is safe and tolerable and whether it alleviates adverse symptoms of ASD; determine whether and how CBD alters brain activity, neurotransmitters and/or brain network connectivity; and determine whether biomarkers or neuroinflammation are altered by CBD. The $4.7 million that the Noorda Foundation is giving for the study represents the latest effort by the group to promote public health and welfare. Noorda has donated money for everything from higher education to youth services to hospitals. Noorda is partnering on its support to UC San Diego with the Wholistic Research and Education Foundation (WREF), a La Jolla-based group that promotes research and education about medical marijuana, particularly CBD. The foundation is run by Andy Noorda and Pelin Thorogood, who said in a joint email to the Union-Tribune that, CBD has its controversies as there are companies that make unproven health claims, and their products may not even contain the ingredients or concentrations they advertise. Advertisement The federal designation of cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug is one of the primary enablers of this problem. Unlike other substances whose use may increase risk or lead to abuse, such as alcohol or tobacco, currently there are no set standards for manufactures. Nor are there clear guidelines for the public as they make choices regarding if, when, and how to use cannabis safely for therapeutic purposes. Our goal is to change this paradigm with research-driven, scientific data, while also supporting the establishment of standardized testing and regulation to ensure that available products are indeed what they claim to be. Jinshan Hospital 'wards' at community centers From:Shine | 2018-04-25 00:29 SuburbanJinshan Hospital of Fudan University said that it plans to extend the combined wards program that it has been working on for the last two years to other communities in the district. With the availability of beds in hospitals an issue, Jinshan District has been promoting the idea of extended wards, wherein the neighborhood health care centers are allowed to accept patients. Under this program, patients do not have to travel to far-off hospitals but can instead approach the local community medical centers for treatment. Doctors from Jinshan Hospital make the rounds in the combined wards to treat the patients, who receive the same treatment as in the hospital but only closer to home. Officials from Jinshan Hospital emphasized that the community centers only deal with non-emergency cases. In the event of a patients condition getting worse, he or she is rushed to Jinshan Hospital. Currently there are two community health care centers in Jinshanwei and Zhangyan towns with the combined wards. Jinshanwei focuses on neural rehabilitation and hospice care while also accepting other patients, while Zhangyan specializes in chronic respiratory diseases. Jinshan Hospital said yesterday that similar combined wards are coming up in Shihua and Shanyang neighborhood next. It said that in the past two years it had sent 89 patients to the combined wards and had received 43 patients. Shanghais health and family planning commission said yesterday that by the end of last year the city had established 40 regional or specialized medical partnerships, which connect different levels of hospitals and community health care centers. These provide health management and health care services for urban and rural residents alike. Meanwhile, several experts from Zhongshan Hospital in downtown Xuhui District have moved to Jinshan Hospital. The suspect in the deadly van attack in Toronto posted a chilling Facebook message just minutes before plowing into a crowded city sidewalk, authorities said Tuesday, raising the possibility that he may have nursed grudges against women a possible echo of a 1989 massacre of 14 women that remains one of Canadas most traumatic acts of violence. The 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, was charged Tuesday with first degree murder in the deaths of 10 pedestrians he mowed down in the rented van he sent careening along the busy walkway. Fourteen others were injured. Toronto Police Services Det. Sgt. Graham Gibson told a news conference most of those killed and injured were women, though he said investigators have not yet determined whether they were targeted for that reason and declined to discuss a possible motive. All the lanes are open with this investigation, said Police Chief Mark Saunders. Advertisement Authorities have not yet released a list of victims. Those known to have been killed include a 30-year-old woman from Toronto, Anne Marie DAmico, who was active in volunteer work, as well as a female student at Seneca College, which Minassian also attended. A Jordanian citizen and two South Koreans were also among those killed. The gender issue arose because of what police called a cryptic Facebook message posted by Minassian just before the incident that suggested he was part of an online community angry over their inability to form relationships with women. The now-deleted post saluted Elliot Rodger, a community college student who killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks near the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2014. Calling Rodger the Supreme Gentleman, the Facebook post declared: The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! Rodger had used the term incel for involuntarily celibate in online posts raging at women for rejecting him romantically. Like-minded people in internet forums sometimes use Chad and Stacy as dismissive slang for men and women with more robust sex lives. The anti-women sentiment recalled the 1989 massacre at the Ecole Polytechnique, an engineering college in Montreal, when 25-year-old Marc Lepine entered a classroom, separated the men from the women, told the men to leave and opened fire, killing 14 women before killing himself. In a suicide note, he blamed feminists for ruining his life. Since then, there have been sporadic mass shootings in Canada, but none with a higher death toll reinforcing the view among many Canadians that their country is less violent than the United States. Canadians dont know who they are, but they know who they are not theyre not Americans, said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. They perceive that Canada, relative to the U.S., is a peaceable kingdom. Advertisement This isnt to say everythings hunky dory in Canada, Wiseman added. But we dont have this constant string of mass shootings that keep happening, and then nothing changes. Wendy Cukier, a professor of justice studies at Torontos Ryerson University and president of Canadas Coalition for Gun Control, said Canada may avoid some types of violence because its social programs are stronger than those in many U.S. states and it has less income inequality. But the main difference, she contends, is tighter gun regulations in Canada. If you take guns out of the mix, Canada and the U.S. are identical, she said, citing statistics indicating the two countries have similar rates of non-firearm homicides. Although police say Mondays rampage does not appear linked to international terrorism, the use of a vehicle to kill mirrored tactics used by terrorists in France, Germany, Spain, New York City and elsewhere. Advertisement Since 2014, there have been at least two terror-related cases in Canada of vehicles being used as weapons they caused several injuries and one death. But overall, Canada has been spared high-casualty terror attacks; its most striking incidents of violence over the past 50 years have varied widely in nature. In 2014 a Muslim-Canadian gunman killed a member of the honor guard at Ottawas national war memorial, then stormed Parliament, where he was shot dead by a sergeant-at arms. Last year, a French-Canadian man shot dead six Muslim men during evening prayers at a mosque in Quebec City. Back in 1972, 37 people died in a Montreal cafe deliberately set on fire by three men who had been refused entry. In Toronto, Canadian rapper Maestro Fresh Wes returned Tuesday to the scene of the rampage, pausing by a newly erected memorial. Wes, who lives nearby, was strolling down Yonge Street, heading to his barber to get a haircut when he saw a body bag on the ground. Yesterday was the most beautiful day of the year and then look what happened, he said. Toronto is a safe city but things could happen anywhere. When these things happen, you have to reflect. Advertisement Also revisiting the site was Saman Tabasinejad, a New Democrat Party politician who was canvassing in the area when the attack occurred. I saw shattered glass everywhere, a fire hydrant knocked over and then five body bags, she said. People were holding others and I saw solidarity all over, people trying to help others. When something like this happens, you think people are going to run away from the tragedy but people didnt, they ran towards it to try to help others, she added. It shows that something like this could happen at the hands of one person, but so many more stand against it and show their humanity. Associated Press writers Ben Fox in Miami, and Rob Gillies in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, contributed to this report. The gruesome case of three Guadalajara film students who were kidnapped, beaten and killed and their bodies dissolved in acid was generating outrage Tuesday across Mexico and on social media. The internet was awash with denunciations and somber reflections on the wave of violence and impunity that has overtaken Mexico, where a record number of homicides were reported last year and where disappearances of people are a distressingly regular occurrence. While Mexico has been the site of countless kidnappings, slayings and even massacres in recent years, the case of the three film students appears to have touched a fundamental national nerve somewhat akin to the way the rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in February crystallized U.S. attention on the crisis of school shootings. The frozen, youthful images of Salomon, Marco and Daniel the slain students first names have already entered into common usage have become emblematic of the intractable crisis that escalating violence poses for Mexican society, especially for the young. Their grisly trajectory from exuberant would-be filmmakers to rendered remains in vats of sulfuric acid has exposed as hollow the vows of politicians, police chiefs and generals to fix the problem. Advertisement We Mexicans are killing each other at levels never before seen, wrote journalist Luis Pablo Beauregard in a column in the Spanish daily El Pais after the news that the three had been killed. Mexico must newly attend, with urgency, to the disaster that is consuming our youth. Among those lamenting the slaying of the three students was Guillermo del Toro, the Oscar-winning director and Guadalajara native who has been a patron for young Mexican filmmakers. Words are not sufficient to comprehend the magnitude of this madness, Del Toro said in a Twitter message. 3 students are killed and dissolved in acid. The why is unthinkable, the how is terrifying. Las palabras no alcanzan para entender la dimension de esta locura. 3 estudiantes son asesinados y disueltos en acido. El porque es impensable, el como es aterrador. Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 24, 2018 Other prominent members of the Mexican film community also expressed their indignation and offered condolences on Twitter. How sad, wrote actor Gael Garcia Bernal. Its time for this nightmare to end. Que tristeza. Que se acabe esta pesadilla. #SalomonMarcoyDaniel Gael Garcia Bernal (@GaelGarciaB) April 24, 2018 Added actor Luis Gerardo Mendez: What anguish and pain, how devalued life is in this country. Mexico and the cinema are in mourning. Advertisement Like Mendez, many commentators bemoaned the nations perilous state of security. To be young in this country implies that if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, the smallest error in your behavior can imply your torture, your death and your dissolution in acid, wrote Jose Merino, a political analyst. According to law enforcement authorities, the three students were abducted on March 19 in a Guadalajara suburb and later tortured and killed in a case of mistaken identity stemming from a rivalry between two criminal gangs. The heavily armed men who waylaid the three on a street identified themselves as cops. Prosecutors said the three had been doing schoolwork at the wrong place at the wrong time at a house under surveillance by traffickers who were anticipating the arrival of a rival gang member. Advertisement The three students were not involved in illegal activity and had no idea of the grave risk they faced, according to the district attorneys office in Jalisco state, which includes Guadalajara. The house where the three were studying was listed under the name of the aunt of one of the students, police said. But the aunt, who was arrested on prostitution and money-laundering charges after the students abduction, was acting as a front for an organized-crime figure, authorities said. Heavily armed men had been observed at the home during 2017, prosecutors said, but the students were unaware of the danger. On Monday, Jalisco prosecutors gave a televised news conference revealing the fate of the three students Javier Salomon Aceves, 25; Jesus Daniel Diaz, 20; and Marco Garcia Avalos, 20. All studied at the University of Audiovisual Media in Guadalajara. The three were beaten and tortured before being killed, and their bodies were later dissolved in sulfuric acid, said authorities, who cited genetic evidence gathered at various scenes associated with the crime. Apparently students being disappeared and dissolved in acid in Mexico is so normal that the fact that Jalisco government has declared this was the fate of Javier, Marco & Daniel has barely made international headlines and caused little stir in national ones #NoSomosTresSomosTodxs pic.twitter.com/9rdkJFgB3c (@Andalalucha) April 24, 2018 Advertisement Social media carried photos of happy moments in the lives of the three young men one playing in a rock band, another smiling by the sea, another in a snowy landscape. Various Twitter hashtags such as #nosomostressomostodos (we are not three, we are all) and #SalomonMarcoyDaniel (after the victims first names, including the Spanish conjunction y, meaning and) have sprung up commemorating the students and demanding answers. Many commentators have expressed skepticism about the official version of events. The major candidates in Mexicos July 1 presidential election also condemned the crime and offered condolences. How to stop Mexicos rampaging violence has been a major campaign theme, though many citizens seem skeptical that a new president can do much to alter the deadly dynamic. The disappearance of the students occurring at a time of rising crime in Jalisco and elsewhere in Mexico prompted large-scale demonstrations in Guadalajara demanding that the students be found and released. Advertisement Now, with confirmation that the three were killed, new protest marches are planned for Guadalajara and elsewhere in Mexico. On Monday evening, demonstrators in Guadalajara called for the resignation of Jalisco Gov. Aristoteles Sandoval, a member of Mexicos long-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party, which currently holds the presidency. The governor said he has no plans to step down. Authorities say two suspects are in custody in connection with the killing of the three students and six others are being sought. All were linked to the New Generation Jalisco cartel, among Mexicos most powerful criminal syndicates. Mexico has seen tens of thousands of people murdered and multitudes of others snatched and disappeared during the governments more than decade-long war against cartels, which control the illicit drug-production industry and lucrative trafficking routes to the United States. The bodies of some kidnap victims turn up in clandestine graves; the remains of many are never found. Advertisement Among the most notorious cases was the disappearance in 2014 of 43 teacher trainees in Guerrero state. Their fate has never been completely clarified, despite numerous investigations, demonstrations, legal petitions and other actions demanding answers. patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com Twitter: @PmcdonnellLAT Special correspondents Liliana Nieto del Rio and Cecilia Sanchez in The Times Mexico City bureau contributed to this report. The regional fight against homelessness has included several new initiatives during the past year, including more emergency shelters, new storage facilities for belongings and enhanced diversion programs to prevent homelessness. The government agencies and nonprofits responsible for those efforts summarized them on Tuesday during the San Diego City Councils second annual homelessness forum. The San Diego region was fourth in the nation for number of homeless people last year, with 9,116 homeless people in the county, including 5,619 in the city. Council members said they appreciated the summary and the stepped-up efforts, but critics said regional efforts should be better coordinated. Advertisement The city and its Housing Commission led a majority of the new initiatives, including a temporary transitional campground that served 400 people last fall in Golden Hill during the height of the local hepatitis A epidemic. The city also expanded a nonprofit-led safe parking program that allowed more than 200 vehicles a night to park safely with homeless people sleeping inside. The hepatitis crisis prompted the city to open three emergency bridge shelters with 650 total beds. The shelters will continue operation during the budget year that begins July 1 for an estimated annual cost of $12.9 million. The city established a transitional storage facility and is planning to open a second such facility soon. The goal is giving homeless people somewhere to store their things while they get treatment or seek jobs and housing. The city also plans to open a housing navigation center downtown to assess homeless peoples needs and determine the appropriate counseling, job-seeking assistance and housing placement options for each one. The City Council approved $7.3 million for a building at 16th Street and Imperial Avenue that will house the navigation center. It is expected to open this fall. In addition to the major initiatives, the city has also made small innovations, said Jonathan Herrera, the mayors senior adviser on homelessness. An example is allowing homeless people to enter shelters with their pets, he said. The citys Housing Commission, which assisted with many of those initiatives, also launched last summer a three-year campaign to provide permanent housing units for homeless people. Advertisement During the $80 million programs first nine months, 1,700 new housing units have been provided for homeless people, commission officials said. The commission also continued its efforts on landlord engagement, which has helped the city house more than 1,000 homeless veterans over the last two years. Meanwhile, the county has launched two efforts of its own. The first provides help to homeless people who are mentally ill, and the second focuses on people with other medical problems. The countywide Regional Task Force on the Homeless is focused on diversion and outreach. Advertisement Diversion efforts aim to help people in danger of becoming homeless by finding other options, which could include connecting them with services and providing financial assistance. Their outreach efforts include training sessions for more than 100 workers at the county, city and nonprofits who focus on engaging homeless people and urging them to seek help. The task force also plans to update and improve a joint software system that tracks homeless people across the county the Homeless Management Information System. The homeless advocacy group Amikas is demonstrating emergency shelter cabins for the homeless at a North Park church. Advertisement david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick One man was seriously injured and another arrested following a Border Patrol chase that ended in a crash on Interstate 8 in East County on Tuesday. According to a statement from Border Patrol Agent Vincent Pirro, Jr., the 18-year-old driver was a U.S. citizen who is facing a variety of chargers. The injured man was among three Mexican nationals who were hiding in the car trunk, Pirro said. The California Highway Patrol, which was called to assist after the 11:45 a.m. crash, reported that the chase began when the driver of a westbound Mazda 6 refused to pull into secondary inspection at the Border Patrol checkpoint in Pine Valley near Sunrise Highway. Border Patrol agents began a vehicle pursuit, and the driver of the Mazda continued westbound on Interstate 8 at speeds over 100 miles an hour, according to the CHP. Advertisement As the Mazda approached state Route 79 about eight miles west of the checkpoint, the driver attempt to use the left shoulder to pass slower traffic, but lost control of the car. The Mazda traveled from the left to the right shoulder and onto the dirt embankment, where it struck a wooden post. It continued down the embankment and rolled over, causing major damage to the car, which landed upright on its wheels. One of the three men in the trunk was ejected during the roll and sustained major injuries. The injured man, 31, was flown by Air Ambulance to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego. Two other men in the trunk, ages 19 and 27, were taken by ground ambulance to Sharp Memorial Hospital for treatment of moderate injuries. The driver was not injured and was arrested. Advertisement Homeless Playlist On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services gary.warth@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @GaryWarthUT Advertisement 760-529-4939 San Diego police homicide detectives are investigating last Thursdays death of a man who went into cardiac arrest while being taken into custody three days earlier. The man was identified Tuesday as Guillermo Corrales, 39. According to a police, the incident began when officers responded to a 911 call from someone at a home on Clyde Avenue near Rhoades Road in Paradise Hills at 10:23 p.m. on April 16. The caller reportedly requested paramedics and said a relative was becoming violent and may be on narcotics, according to police. Advertisement As they arrived, officers and San Diego Fire-Rescue personnel found a family member attempting to restrain the man. Officers placed him in handcuffs to prevent him from injuring himself or others and to allow paramedics to do a medical evaluation, police said. The man went into cardiac arrest during the evaluation, and immediate life-saving measures were initiated. He was transported to a hospital where he was placed on life-support, but he died three days later. Homicide detectives were called to investigate the incident as a possible in-custody death. Homeless Playlist On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services Advertisement gary.warth@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @GaryWarthUT Advertisement 760-529-4939 Michelle Moriarty called the Vista jail 31 times, begging the staff to make sure her husband couldnt harm himself. Heron Moriarty, a 43-year-old father of three, was booked into jail in late May 2016 after suffering a psychotic breakdown. Hed already been hospitalized twice and had stopped taking his medication. I would sit on the phone for half an hour, she said in an interview. But theyre, like, Dont worry, were taking care of him. They said hes in good hands. After six days in solitary confinement, Heron Moriarty strangled himself and died. Advertisement A new report on suicides in San Diego jails doesnt mention Moriarty by name, but among the cases it highlights as preventable suicides is one Michelle Moriarty knows is her husband. Hours before he died, a nurse practitioner recommended Heron Moriarty be placed on suicide watch. But a jail sergeant ignored the nurses recommendation, the report says. The report was published today by Disability Rights California, which has federal authority to investigate conditions in adult and juvenile detention facilities throughout the state. Its the result of a years-long investigation into San Diego County jails that included a review of policies and incident reports and interviews with inmates, jail staff and correctional experts. The report criticizes the San Diego County Sheriffs Department for not providing appropriate care for seriously mentally ill inmates, resulting in dozens of preventable suicides. Additional faults include poor supervision of at-risk inmates and lack of communication among staff. Rebecca Cervenak, San Diego staff attorney for the group, said the number of suicides in San Diego jails is what prompted the investigation. Since 2010, more than 30 inmates have killed themselves in county lockups. We knew that those deaths were likely the tip of the iceberg and that they were evidence of systemic issues that required attention, Cervenak said. In an emailed statement, Sheriffs Department spokeswoman Karen Stubkjaer said the department takes all suicides seriously. She noted the recent drop in suicides and attributed it to improved training to identify at-risk inmates and provide them with appropriate services. Since Jan. 1, 2017, two inmates have killed themselves in San Diego county jails, a sharp reduction from previous years, when Moriarty and others died. Advertisement The improvement comes after the Sheriffs Department brought on additional mental health clinicians and introduced enhanced observation units as an alternative to safety cells, where suicidal inmates could be closely monitored. The department also started doing psychological autopsies of inmates who committed suicide to see if warning signs were missed. The Disability Rights report acknowledges these changes, but points out that suicide attempts havent seen a similar decline. Eighty-two attempts were documented in 2015, 107 in 2016 and 73 between Jan. 1, 2017, and Sept. 11, 2017, according incident reports DRC reviewed. The 73 attempts, the report says, included overdoses, hangings, self-strangulation and jumps from the second tier of jail housing units. While we are convinced that the Sheriffs Department has begun to take the issue of suicide prevention seriously, there remain many aspects of the systems treatment of people at risk of suicide that require urgent action, the report says. Advertisement For its investigation, the Sacramento-based Disability Rights group examined 17 inmate suicides between 2014 and 2016. The report notes that during that same three-year period, Los Angeles County jails which have an inmate population three times the size of San Diegos had eight suicides. Orange County, with a jail system similar in size to San Diegos, had one suicide. In one case the group reviewed, surveillance video showed an inmate standing naked on a desk in his cell for 14 minutes praying and preparing to jump before diving headfirst onto the floor, where he lay for four minutes before staff checked on him. The man had been housed in the new enhanced observation unit where inmates are supposed to be checked on every 15 minutes. Advertisement In another case, after finding an inmate hanging in his cell, deputies waited seven minutes to summon help, and then prevented nursing staff from evaluating the inmates condition, the report says. And in another case, surveillance video showed 11 deputies waiting several minutes before initiating lifesaving measures. One inmates request for psychiatric services went ignored for two days. The man had been placed in solitary confinement, where he was allowed out of his cell for one hour every 48 hours. He hung himself 45 minutes after asking for some time out of his cell. Prior to hanging himself, the report says, he had urinated on the floor, stuck food and feces on the ceiling and scrawled a suicide note on the cell walls using his own blood. Advertisement The report points out that at least a third of inmates who committed suicide had been placed in solitary confinement or some form of restrictive housing. The report also argues the jails use safety cells to manage inmates whod benefit more from treatment. Last year, the report notes, suicidal inmates were placed in safety cells 6,700 times, some for as long as four days. Lights in the cells remain on 24 hours a day, theres no bed and a grate on the floor serves as a toilet. In an 18-page response, the Sheriffs Department thanked Disability Rights for its report, but argued that some of its conclusions were wrong, starting with the finding that San Diego has the highest suicide rate among Californias large jail systems. Advertisement Cervenak said the group calculated the suicide rate using average daily population the number of inmates in a jail on any given day. Its the same methodology used by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics for its Deaths in Custody Reporting Program and by experts who study jail suicides. At the end of the day, the number of suicides in the jails is troubling, she said. A more accurate approach, the department said in its response, would be to look at the total number of people booked into jail annually known as the at-risk population and also take into account the fact that San Diego jails house more white inmates than other jails, a group statistically more likely to commit suicide. The department hired San Diego State University statistics professor Colleen Kelly to re-do the numbers factoring in racial disparities. Doing this, Kelly found that the suicide rate in San Diego jails is similar to most large jail systems in California. Advertisement Previously A family of four got out safely early Wednesday when a fire broke out in their two-story Carmel Valley home, charring the garage and a second-floor bedroom, a fire official said. The fire was reported around 4:20 a.m. at the home on Sierra Rose Trail near Blue Dawn Trail in Carmel Valley, said Monica Munoz, a spokeswoman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. A fire at a Carmel Valley home caused $250,000 in damage early Wednesday. (San Diego Fire-Rescue Department ) By the time firefighters arrived, no one was inside. It took crews about 20 minutes to knock down the blaze. Advertisement Residents from nearby homes were evacuated as firefighters battled the flames. Fire officials said the fire door between the garage and the rest of the home and quick action by fire crews helped keep the fire from spreading into the ground floor of the home from the garage. Damage to the home was estimated at $150,000 to the structure and $100,000 to its contents. There was smoke damage throughout the home, and two cars in the familys garage were charred. Investigators were called out but were unable to determine what caused the fire, Munoz said. Red Cross is assisting two adults and two children who were displaced. Advertisement Twitter: @karenkucher (619) 293-1350 karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com UPDATES: Advertisement 7:40 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details. This article was originally published at 6:30 a.m. The District Attorneys Office is spending $1 million for an out-of-state laboratory to test 1,000 rape kits, and the first results are expected by the end of the month. District Attorney Summer Stephan gave the update Tuesday and also announced a new, one-stop method through the Sheriffs Department for sexual assault victims to track the progress of their rape kit testing. For the record: A previous version of this story misidentified the email victims of sexual assault can use to track the status of tests on their rape kits. The story has been updated with the correct email. The testing of years-old kits, which may include the DNA of sexual assault perpetrators, has become a hot topic in California and around the nation for victims rights advocates who urge police to collect DNA evidence even when the suspect is already known. Many police agencies left kits untested when victims recanted or refused to prosecute, and argued that while DNA can solve a case of rape by a stranger, it seldom was needed in court when the victim already knew the suspect. Advertisement The kits may contain powerful evidence that can speak on behalf of victims and prevent a future assault, Stephan said at a news conference. Stephan, who was appointed in June to serve as interim district attorney after Bonnie Dumanis stepped down, is running for the seat in this years June primary. Shes running against Genevieve Jones-Wright, a deputy public defender, who in a previous interview said she favors police testing of all rape kit evidence. The new testing program involves about 400 cases from the Sheriffs Department and 600 from eight cities in the county, excluding San Diego. The San Diego Police Department plans to evaluate nearly 600 of its own previously untested kits this summer and go forward with some testing. Out of 350 rape kits sent by the sheriffs crime lab for testing since January, the results of 25 cases will be known by Monday, lab Director Mike Grubb said. Another 650 will be sent out, at rate of 100 per month, until the backlog is eliminated. Rape and sexual assault victims may track the progress of their cases by leaving a message with the Sheriffs Department at (858) 514-4661 or emailing kittestresults@sdsheriff.org. They should include their names at the time of the assault, the date it happened, the agency handling the case, the case number if known and their contact information. An investigator will be tasked with getting back to the victim with the status of the rape kit testing. Advertisement Sharon Prince, who appeared at the news briefing with leaders of victims aid and victims rights groups, spoke of being raped, robbed, carjacked and left for dead in a 1998 attack by a stranger in Mission Valley. The assailant was convicted and sent to prison for 106 years. This person was caught because of the rape kit process, Prince said. The District Attorneys Office is spending $1 million for an outside laboratory to test 1,000 rape kits, and the first results are expected by the end of the month, District Attorney Summer Stephan said Tuesday. Stephan said 80 percent of sexual assault cases involve a known perpetrator, and some of them strike additional victims. If the suspects DNA from an early case is uploaded into in a law enforcement database, it may help forge a link to a new case. Advertisement A message to perpetrators, Stephan said, You cant hide because we will have your DNA in our system. No matter how many years go by, we will find you. Stephan said the federal Department of Justice issued a new guideline last August for police to test every rape kit. In January, a new state law required every police agency to report, within 120 days, whether rape kit results were sent for testing and if not, state a specific reason. The sheriffs crime lab was already operating at maximum capacities Stephan said, so the solution was to outsource kit testing to Bode Cellmark Forensics of Lorton, Va. The lab has extensive experience with the kits, she said. Advertisement The San Diego police crime lab manager, Jennifer Shen, has defended her policy of testing all stranger-rape cases as a high priority, but leaving untested those kits where a victim was initially cooperative, then wanted the case dropped. She told the City Council last year that DNA cant be uploaded into a state or federal database unless there is evidence a crime was committed and investigators are reasonably certain that the DNA profile in the rape kit belongs to the perpetrator, not a different sexual partner. She said the best policy is to test the rape kits when prosecutors believe they have a case, and it is cost-effective. The City Council instructed the Police Department to test all previously untested kits, and backed it up with an extra $500,000 to begin the work. Shen has said testing every case will cost millions. Advertisement Police spokesman Lt. Brent Williams, who previously worked in the sex crimes unit, said Friday that the crime lab has tested 450 old and current rape kits since last year. The lab has another 1,846 cases to go through. Some, he said, cant legally be tested because the victim requested no further action, or was assaulted in Mexico, or the suspect was discovered to be already in the DNA database. Stephans approach to the issue of paying for rape kit testing was to scrape together $1 million from her $180 million budget, drawing mostly from funded but unfilled positions in her agency. The District Attorneys Office has about 1,000 employees. Advertisement Advertisement pauline.repard@sduniontribune Twitter: @pdrepard The toll of human trafficking may be worse than imagined, with children as young as 11 and women in their mid-60s among those exploited in San Diego County, a few hundred people learned Tuesday night at a public forum. The good news is that more is being done than ever before to help local victims, according to panelists at the forum on human trafficking presented by The San Diego Union-Tribune and Point Loma Nazarene Universitys Center for Justice & Reconciliation at Liberty Station. Forum focuses on human traffickings toll, ways to help victims Panelists included Jamie Gates, director at the Center for Justice & Reconciliation, who gave some startling statistics. Advertisement There is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 and 8,000 human trafficking victims in San Diego County, and were bringing to the surface just a couple of hundred, he said. Weve got a lot of work to do. A study of 20 area high schools found students being recruited at every campus, and victims were found throughout the county, ranging from poor neighborhoods to gated communities, he said. Most victims are women, but men also are exploited in the sex and labor trade, he said. San Diego has been stepping up to address the issue since 2005, he said. In 2011, the county formed an advisory council on human trafficking, a law enforcement task force was formed and a drop-in center for survivors was established, among other steps. Panelist Sgt. Matt Blumenthal of the Sheriffs Human Trafficking Task Force said the biggest issue with many victims is getting them to realize they are actually victims. Most are not captured like in the movie Taken, but rather lured into it with psychological exploitation, he said. He said he knew of one woman in her 40s who had been in a good job, but after a divorce she decided to go into the sex trade to earn an extra $200 on weekends. After falling in with the wrong man, however, she was forced to earn $1,000 a day, and was living a double life. Other speakers included Molly Ravenscroft, family community services program coordinator at the Sweetwater Union High School District, who shared signs parents should look for. Advertisement Those included failing grades, showing up tired at school, promiscuous clothing, new possessions, extra cellphones, bruises, tattoos with dollar signs and a change in friends, she said. Panelists also included Buki Domingos, a survivor of domestic violence and trafficking, Carrie Hessler-Radelet, president and CEO of Project Concern International, and Marisa Ugarte, executive director of the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition. San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Kristina Davis was the moderator. People attending the forum submitted questions to the panel toward the end of the event, but there was not time to answer most. Advertisement Panelists answered many of the questions after the event. These are some of the questions that were submitted, along with answers from panelists. Q: What funding is available for services, housing, disability/SSI, etc. for human trafficking survivors? A: Funding is very competitive, there is some state and federal funding for human trafficking issues but not enough to address the needs of everyone affected by the issue. In San Diego, shelter beds for victims has increased to 38. But there is no mental health or drug rehab for this type of victim. Advertisement Q: Why are girls or women being arrested for prostitution? A: A state law decriminalized prostitution for minors, and in San Diego at least, most adults picked up for this kind of activity are viewed as victims as well. But the reality is not every prostitute is being trafficked, and some do get arrested. Sometimes, its because businesses and residents are complaining of an increase in prostitution activity in a neighborhood and law enforcement does a crackdown. Other times, a woman will be arrested even though cops suspect she is a trafficking victim. It is used as a tool to intervene and provide her resources, or to remove her from a dangerous situation. Charges are often dismissed in those cases. There are instances of prostitutes who are accused of helping recruit HT victims. Many times they are older and have been trafficked themselves. Q: How does human trafficking intersect with those vulnerable from mental illness or homelessness? A: It definitely intersects. While trafficking does not discriminate and crosses all socioeconomic and racial boundaries, those more at risk are homeless (especially youth) and foster youth, and especially if there is a history of substance abuse or mental health issues. A trafficker will often appear at first as a respite from a victims already bad circumstances. Advertisement Q: Was Bukis situation an example of labor trafficking? A: She was a victim of both labor and sex trafficking. Her husband forced her to perform as a singer and withheld her pay, and he also forced her to have sex with other men for pay, she said. Q: If the task force is focused on getting the victims out, who is focusing on removing the offenders? A: The Human Trafficking Task Force does both, but it takes a victim-centered approach. That means that their first priority is rescuing the victim. But they dont stop there. They work cases like any investigation and seek to arrest and prosecute the traffickers. But they can be complicated cases, especially if the victim does not want to cooperate. It doesnt make a conviction impossible, but more difficult. Advertisement Q: How can hotel staff learn how to spot the signs of trafficking and report it? A: A bill is actually going through the state Senate that mandates such training for hotel workers. In the meantime, there are groups who will offer trainings. Try asking the HT task force, or PLNU, abolishhumantrafficking.com. Other materials can be found here: https://humantraffickinghotline.org/resources/human-trafficking-and-hospitality-industry Q: Is the powerpoint that Dr. Gates showed online? A: That exact powerpoint is not online but much of the information can be found at https://www.abolishhumantrafficking.com/executive-summary-of-the-human-trafficking-study/ Advertisement Q: What is being done to hold the johns accountable? A: Solicitation is a misdemeanor crime. Johns are arrested and charged, and many go through a program that educates them about what they are really buying. Prosecutors are not reducing the arrest to a lesser charge, like disturbing the peace, as they used to. This isnt the priority of law enforcement though, it is more victims and traffickers. There are undercover john stings once in a while, as well as public awareness campaigns to discourage the buying of sex. The U-T recently wrote about some of these efforts: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/sd-me-john-sting-20180130-story.html https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/sd-me-cyber-patrol-20180127-story.html Advertisement Q: What about publicly shaming johns? A: There are mixed views on this. Some areas around the country have had programs that make a special point of making the names and mug shots of johns public for the point of shaming them, in hopes that the word will get out and men would be discouraged from buying sex. The names are published by the law enforcement agency online, sometimes news outlets get involved and publish the names. However, the collateral damage is to the johns families, who can experience the brunt of the shame. That is why our DAs office doesnt do it. Q: Many massage parlors seem like thinly veiled fronts for human trafficking. What is being done to shut them down? A: Massage parlors present several barriers for law enforcement. Many operate in secret without getting business licenses. The owners are often off-site and claim to not know anything about prostitution or blame an incident on a rouge employee. There are also cultural and language barriers, as many parlors employ women who come on immigrant visas and dont speak English. Those raised in certain countries are taught from a young age to not trust law enforcement, and many when caught dont identify as victims. Advertisement Homeless Playlist On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services Advertisement gary.warth@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @GaryWarthUT 760-529-4939 The Trump administration launched an attack on the science behind many of the nations clean air and clean water rules, announcing a proposal Tuesday that would in effect prevent regulators from considering a wide range of health studies when they look at new regulations. The plan by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt would prohibit what he and industry advocates call secret science studies that make use of data that are kept confidential, often for privacy reasons. The embattled EPA chief, whose own secrecy on his personal finances and his activities in office has drawn the attention of investigators, framed the action as crucial to government transparency. The era of secret science at EPA is coming to an end, Pruitt said in a statement. The ability to test, authenticate, and reproduce scientific findings is vital for the integrity of the rule-making process. Americans deserve to assess the legitimacy of the science underpinning EPA decisions that may impact their lives. Advertisement Many of the countrys most prominent research organizations, however, say the studies that Pruitt wants to ban are crucial to effectively protecting the environment. The proposal threatens to cut off the federal governments access to essential data and subject science to political manipulation, the research groups say. That is because many health studies involve large amounts of patient data, which can be accessed only under condition of confidentiality. Banning such studies would prevent the EPA from considering many health impacts when looking at rules to limit pollution. Identical proposals stalled in Congress after protests from research groups, including the University of California system and the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science. Environmentalists said Pruitts motive is not to improve scientific integrity, but to stifle regulation. This is a blatant attack on science that undermines the EPAs ability to protect our health and environment, said Tiernan Sittenfeld, the chief Washington lobbyist for the League of Conservation Voters. She called the proposal a sham that would limit the EPAs ability to use the best research on the health effects of pollution, which form the basis for vitally important protections. The proposal gave Pruitt an opportunity to rally his most loyal supporters at a time his job is in jeopardy. He faces multiple investigations for alleged ethical lapses, and his support at the White House and among Republican lawmakers who long defended him has begun to fade. Even Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), a vocal climate-change skeptic and longtime mentor of the EPA chief, is now hedging his support. Asked about the allegations against Pruitt, Inhofe told reporters that if they are all accurate, I would be very disturbed. On Thursday, Pruitt is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill, where he probably will be confronted with tough questions many by Republicans about his spending at the agency and his personal financial relationships with people who had business before him. Advertisement Pruitt surrounded himself with a less hostile audience at EPA headquarters on Tuesday. Reporters werent allowed in the room to ask questions. Supporters seemed to go out of their way to address his precarious place in the Trump administration: We could not have a better head of the EPA, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) declared, shortly before disparaging the uninvited press corps. Pruitts critics accused him of seeking to ban research that has undergone extensive peer review in order to pursue a political agenda. Former EPA chief Gina McCarthy accused Pruitt of seeking to cripple his own agency. Studies driving some of the most important environmental protections, she said, were built around analysis of medical records that are required by law to be kept confidential. Advertisement Industry groups and free-market activists have been pushing for more than 20 years for a ban along the lines of what Pruitt proposed. The battle began in the 1990s after Harvard researchers examined how air pollution affected more than 8,000 adults and 14,000 children in six U.S. cities over a period of more than a dozen years. Their findings were alarming. Residents of the city with the dirtiest air were 26% more likely to die prematurely than residents of the city with the cleanest air. The main cause of the health problems was soot from burning fossil fuels. The study opened the way to some of the most aggressive federal smog and soot rules in history. The new rules, which the EPA at the time said would prevent 15,000 premature deaths annually and 250,000 cases of asthma, were a major financial burden for industry, which fought them aggressively. The federal governments embrace of the Harvard findings has provided a legal foundation for aggressive air rules to this day. As is typically the case in public health studies, the Harvard researchers had guaranteed participants confidentiality. Advertisement Industry critics say such guarantees prevent them from fully vetting studies and determining the accuracy of the conclusions. Many scientists, however, say that studies of similar size and scope wont be possible in the future if such guarantees cant be made. Scientific groups are also alarmed by a requirement in Pruitts proposal that any science that helps form the basis of an environmental regulation be subject to being replicated independently. Many important studies, scientists warn, cannot be easily reproduced because they involve tracking large numbers of people over lengthy periods of time. In other cases, the data may be available only after a particular event, as was the case with environmental studies assessing the effects of the BP oil spill after the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Those studies might have been off-limits to the EPA had Pruitts proposal been in effect at the time, his opponents say. Nearly 1,000 scientists sent Pruitt a letter Monday urging that he not adopt the ban. Doing so, they warned, would lead to policies and practices that will ignore significant risks to the health of every American. Advertisement The proposal Pruitt embraced has been a longtime goal of some of the most ardent critics of mainstream environmental science. Conservative activists accuse many environmental scientists of approaching their work with an agenda. After their years-long effort to get Congress to impose restrictions on the scientific studies regulators could consider, they enlisted Pruitt to take up their cause administratively. Pruitts announcement of the proposed rules was made in a closed event that included some of those lawmakers, and also prominent climate skeptics. Smith, who heads the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, applauded Pruitt for bringing a stop to hidden agendas. For too long, the EPA has issued rules and regulations based on data that has been withheld from the American people, Smith said. The American people have a right to know how and why regulations are made. Advertisement The proposal now moves to a public comment period, when the EPA will ostensibly consider input from scientists, environmental groups, industry and others. Pruitts comments on Tuesday suggested, however, that the agency is unlikely to change its plan. Environmental groups promised to challenge Pruitts plan in court. But if the proposal survives court challenges, it could limit even a future administration more sympathetic to environmental regulation. Thats because a new administration would have to go through a lengthy process of changing federal rules before regulators could once again consider the types of public health and other studies Pruitt wants banned. This proposal would mean throwing out the studies we rely on to protect the public, for no good reason, said Betsy Southerland, who resigned her post as director of science and technology at the EPA Office of Water in August. This would have an enormous and negative impact on the EPAs ability to enforce the law and protect peoples health. The latest from Washington Advertisement More stories from Evan Halper evan.halper@latimes.com Follow me: @evanhalper UPDATES: Advertisement 3:35 p.m.: This article was updated with additional reaction and detail on the EPA proposal. This article was originally published at 12:05 p.m. State elections regulators have opened a formal investigation into San Diego County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk Ernest Dronenburgs handling of a $5,000 donation to his re-election campaign. Earlier this month, the two-term incumbent was the subject of a complaint filed by his challenger, San Diego attorney Matthew Strabone. The private-sector lawyer alleged that Dronenburg failed to disclose the contribution from the Republican Party of San Diego County within 24 hours, as required by law. This letter is to notify you that the Enforcement Division of the Fair Political Practices Commission will investigate the allegation(s), under the jurisdiction of the commission, of the sworn complaint submitted by you in the above-referenced matter, the state informed Strabone in a letter dated Monday. Dronenburg told The San Diego Union-Tribune two weeks ago that the filing error was a simple oversight. The report was 96 hours past-due when filed, he wrote in an email. I accept responsibility for this unintentional error. Advertisement The opening of an investigation does not mean the allegations have merit, although some complaints are reviewed and rejected before reaching the stage of an investigation. The commission is expected to reach a determination later this year. Watchdog Videos On Now Sexual misconduct accusers worry deputy is being protected 6:16 On Now City funded $2-million waterfront bathroom 1:26 On Now Public water district charges customer for legal work, response to records request On Now Video: Tiny homes won't be reused amid housing, homeless crisis On Now Attorney General seeks documentation for Miss Middle East On Now Rep. Hunter probe covers possible fraud On Now Video: SDG&E delaying solar credit for some low-income housing tenants On Now Video: Former San Diego Junior Theatre teacher sentenced for sex with teen girl 0:24 On Now Video: Shelter volunteers believe they were fired for finding a dog a home 0:49 On Now McKamey Manor is leaving San Diego 3:35 jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board has long argued that presidents should be able to choose individuals for top positions without reflexive opposition from those on the other side of the political aisle. Elections have consequences, as President Barack Obama famously told congressional Republicans who opposed his agenda in 2009. That is why our board has supported virtually all of the Supreme Court nominees made in recent memory by Republican and Democratic presidents alike and has generally supported Cabinet nominees even if weve expressed some reservations. It is in this spirit that we believe the U.S. Senate should confirm CIA Director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state. He may not have the foreign-policy pedigree of some of the men and women who have held the post, but he is far from a naif. The Harvard Law School graduate a former House intelligence committee member and Army officer who was first in his class at West Point got 66 Senate votes for confirmation as CIA chief. He also has a good rapport with President Donald Trump, which is especially important when Trump is so quick to freeze out those with whom he doesnt get along. While he has a history of occasional incendiary remarks, Pompeo seems well within the conventional spectrum on national security issues. But our inclination to support a presidents nominees is not unconditional. Given the high importance to our nation of our 20 million-plus military veterans, it is crucial to have a shrewd, experienced manager serve as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. With its $186 billion annual budget and profound responsibilities, the agency is one of the most important in the federal government. This is why Americans should welcome the indications from Trump himself on Tuesday that Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the presidents personal physician, could withdraw his name for consideration as VA secretary. Whether or not late-breaking allegations about Jacksons professional demeanor are true, this job is far too challenging for someone with little relevant experience. These concerns are only amplified by the evidence that Trump nominated Jackson for the job mainly because he thought the admiral cut an impressive figure at a January news conference in which Jackson described the president as being in excellent health. On Tuesday, The Washington Post columnist Marc A. Thiessen made the case for Jackson, writing that the former Iraq combat medic would be what the VA needs most a bold leader. Yet while charismatic outsiders can thrive in the private sector, theres a reason such stories are less common in the upper levels of government. Running a giant organization full of bureaucrats with civil-service job protections men and women with a long, disturbing history of limiting the care available to troubled, sick veterans isnt the same challenge as running a start-up with a plan to disrupt an industry. If Jackson survives and goes on to be a fantastic VA secretary, this editorial board will lead the cheers. But such a result would be far more likely with someone who is both a strong leader and a superbly competent CEO. Heres hoping Jackson remains at the White House and leaves the immense task of running the Department of Veterans Affairs to someone with a more plausible chance of success. Advertisement Twitter: @sdutIdeas Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion The Daily Aztec isnt dying, but it is limping. Thats one way editorial writers at the student-run newspaper at San Diego State University summed up its publishing woes on Wednesday when it joined a national online campaign to rally awareness to the importance of independent student media, and to ask for donations. The students and we are all students at The Daily Aztec often work into the small hours of the morning reporting, editing and designing the newspaper and website, The Daily Aztecs editorial board wrote on Wednesday. We are resilient, and accustomed to doing more with less, but there are only so many cuts we can make before our ability to do this job is critically compromised. Regionally in San Diego, The Daily Aztec and The Triton were among the more than 100 college newsrooms across the country to participate in the Save Student Newsrooms campaign. There are at least eight other student news organization in the San Diego region but none appeared to be joining. Students identified a wide arrange of struggles crippling their newsrooms, from financial struggles to staff cuts to aging equipment. At The Daily Aztec, staffers say its cameras are five to six generations old, computers almost 10 years old, and its office chairs are broken. In its own editorial, The Triton staff say they have no office space and call on university administrators to support student journalism. We take issue with the fact that the administration has seemingly not sought to mitigate the chilling of free speech they seem so concerned about when interacting with journalists. We take issue with the fact that the administration in several facets has completely ignored student voices, the Tritons editorial read. Andrew Dyer, the papers editor-in-chief, and others took to Twitter to highlight some of those struggles. Working professionals also jumped in on the conversation by sharing how their experience in student media shaped their careers. San Diegos Pacific magazine editor-in-chief, Leslie Hackett, credited the student paper for helping her career. Student newsrooms that participated in the campaign published editorials that highlighted not just their struggles but also the vital nature of journalism at the college level. The Daily Aztec highlighted the impact of some of its investigative journalism, including one that resulted in the expulsion of a fraternity over a number of infractions over the years, and the work thats been picked up by other national news outlets. An editorial published in The Daily Californian, the student newspaper for UC Berkeley, staffers pointed to a major investigation by its student reporters that uncovered sexual misconduct through out the UC system. And the Daily Trojan, the student newsroom at the University of Southern California, pointed to its coverage of low-income residents in Los Angeles that have been displaced. Others said on Twitter that without some of these student newsrooms, some communities would have no access to local news. Anecdotes of student journalists and a full list of all the participating colleges can be found online at the Save Student Newsrooms website. Correction: This story previously referred to the UC San Diego student newspaper as the Daily Triton. It is The Triton. Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @RunGomez Read The Conversation on Flipboard. More people are using Google to figure out how to delete Facebook, but its still an open question whether those social media users are following through on the directions they find. Google searches for the term delete Facebook, according to one study, saw a huge spike in the U.S. in March as Facebook was coming under fire for its role in the improper harvesting of personal data of some 87 million users by the political firm Cambridge Analytica. San Diego and other California cities saw some of the biggest spikes in searches in the U.S. more searches than the monthly averages, according to data analyzed by Top 10 VPN, a UK-based privacy and online security firm. San Diego, for example, saw more than 8,000 Google searches for delete Facebook in March, compared to the monthly average of 3,113 searches in the previous 12 months. Thats a 159 percent spike. Heres how other cities in the U.S. searched for a way to delete Facebook: San Francisco: 8,830 searches in March, compared to the average 2,493, or a 254 percent jump. 8,830 searches in March, compared to the average 2,493, or a 254 percent jump. Seattle: 9,210 searches vs. the average 2,759, or a 234 percent jump. 9,210 searches vs. the average 2,759, or a 234 percent jump. San Jose: 7,080 vs. the average 2,297, or a 208 percent jump. 7,080 vs. the average 2,297, or a 208 percent jump. Portland: 6,930 vs. the average 2,286, or a 203 percent jump. 6,930 vs. the average 2,286, or a 203 percent jump. Austin: 7,030 vs. the average 2,700, or a 160 percent jump. Other online marketing research found similar results. Fast forwarding to now, almost a month after the scandal erupted, anger over Facebook seems to have eased. In that span, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized, and gone to Congress to assure lawmakers that the company would do more to protect users privacy, and the company has updated its privacy policies. Do people still want to delete Facebook? Perhaps not as much. As one Canadian marketer on Twitter pointed out, Google searches for the term March Madness outpaced those related to the Facebook scandal, including delete Facebook or Cambridge Analytica. The worlds concerns arent always the same as yours, he tweeted. If you were among the thousands of San Diegans who searched delete Facebook, heres a serious question: Did you actually delete Facebook? Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @RunGomez Read The Conversation on Flipboard. The sponsor of a proposed November ballot measure to rezone Metate Lane acreage for new homes has started a petition signature drive. Paid signature gatherers have been stationed outside of Poway stores since Friday in an effort to meet a self-imposed June 1 deadline, said Stephen Puetz, a political consultant working for the owner of the 7.66 acres near Montauk Street. Puetz said 10 people have been employed for the task and more may be added next month. He declined to disclose what they were being paid in Poway. Typically, signature collectors make between $5 and $6 per name obtained, sometimes more. In order to qualify for the Nov. 6 ballot, the valid signatures of 2,936 registered Poway voters must be turned into the county Registrar of Voters office, according to City Clerk Nancy Neufeld. Puetz said Tuesday his goal is to collect around 4,500 signatures just to be sure. Sacramento resident Kraig Clark purchased the acreage from a church about six months ago and wants to build up to 50 homes, which would have a starting price of $699,000. The land is zoned Rural Residential (RR-A). The initiative is asking that the zoning be changed to Resident Single-Family (RS-7), which permits up to seven homes per acre. Homes across Metate Lane are in the RS-7 zone. A vote is required under the citys Prop. FF because the land use density would increase. In the notice of intent to circulate the petition, Clark wrote These homes would be consistent with the surrounding neighborhoods and would provide opportunities to meet the needs of young families and empty nesters to remain in Poway, without the expense and time-consuming maintenance requirements that come as the citys house stock age. Last week Todd Lutes, who is managing the project for Clark, came to town to meet with neighbors. The meeting lasted about 2 1/2 hours, Puetz said. Lutes also met with representatives of the Poway Chamber of Commerce and the Poway News Chieftain. Lutes said earlier in the month that he and Clark are working with an unnamed boutique builder who he said has a reputation of creating homes that are accepted by communities. The homes would average about 2,500 square feet and would be environmentally friendly with solar panels and other amenities, he said. Email: editor@pomeradonews.com A new nonprofit organization created to collectively combine resources to address community needs such as feeding low-income children when they are not in school will hold its launch event next week. The Unite North County Inland launch luncheon, open to the community, will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 3 in the Escondido Lexus Centre, 1205 Auto Park Way. Tickets are $60, available at unitenci.com through May 1. For questions, contact Shari Foster at 858-592-2434 or shari@thechurchrb.org. The keynote speaker will be author, speaker and business consultant Ken Blanchard, known for his expertise in leadership and management. The master of ceremonies will be John Weisbarth, host of the television show Tiny House Nation. Unite North County Inland originated through The Church at Rancho Bernardo, but combines the efforts of those in the regions business, civic and faith communities. Among entities involved are the Poway City Council, North San Diego Business Chamber, Maranatha Chapel, Poway Unified School Districts Safety Wellness Advocacy Community Coalition and San Diego County Board of Supervisors (District 3). It started with the church, but is not a faith-based initiative because a lot of people are turned off by religion, said Foster, the Unite NCI coordinator. Our goal is to help people in need without selling the church (aspect). For that reason, Foster said shortly after founding the organization in December, 50 members of the regional community in the civic, business and faith sectors were invited to an event that introduced the concept based on similar Unite groups in other parts of San Diego County and asked them to identify an initial project initiative. The majority listed food insecurity for children, youth and families in the region. A team of 15 leaders was then formed to lead a food distribution program that will kickoff next school year. (We learned that) 80 percent of students in the Escondido school district, and a lot in Poway too, qualify for free breakfast, lunch and supper (at school), Foster said. While fed during the school week, the concern is what these children and their families do for food over the weekends and during school breaks. The goal, starting at a few Poway Unified and Escondido campuses with the greatest need before hopefully expanding, is to send students home each Friday with a backpack filled with enough food for them and their families over the weekend, Foster said. The food will come through a partnership with the San Diego Food Bank. After helping students on weekends during the school year an effort that Foster said will cost about $200 per child per school year the next challenge will be how to continue making sure the children are fed during summer vacation. She said about 1 in 5 students between the two districts meet the need qualifications. Foster said the long-term goal is to sustain the food project through financial donations (to provide the food) and volunteer efforts (to fill the backpacks each week), while adding other initiatives in coming years. email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com The Poway Unified School District Board of Education has made a philosophical change to the districts homework policy that could have real changes in the future. The board members have been reviewing and updating the districts policies to bring them up-to-date and in alignment with the California School Board Associations suggested policies. One of the groups of policies the board members voted on at the April 19 meeting included the districts homework policy, which received a big change after some debate. The previous policy stated that the board recognized that meaningful homework assignments can be a valuable extension of student learning time and assist students in developing good study habits. It also stated that homework could be assigned as necessary to support classroom lessons, enable students to complete unfinished assignments, or review academic content for better understanding. Board Member Michelle OConnor-Ratcliff suggested striking the previous homework policy and revising it to only recommend that homework is effective to students in high school and that reading at home with family is more effective for those students in lower grades, as several studies have shown, she said. OConnor-Ratcliff said that modifying the policy to this would not force teachers to follow it but would serve as encouragement. She said she specifically chose the wording for the policy to avoid is being a directive. The previous wording of the policy did not represent what she recognized as meaningful homework, OConnor-Ratcliff said. OConnor-Ratcliffs proposal drew support from Vice President Darshana Patel and Board Member Charles Sellers, the latter of whom said, as a parent, he was not previously aware that the district had a homework policy before joining the board. Our children are homeworked to death, Sellers said. He added that parents should work with teachers on what homework is appropriate for their child and that quality, not quantity, is needed. He also said that he thought the board has to provide leadership, even to the Poway Federation of Teachers, on how children should be taught. Board Member Kimberley Beatty said OConnor-Ratcliffs proposal was a dramatic change and she would recommend delaying the change until a full discussion could be had with district staff. The action passed, with the homework policy language changes, in a 3-1 vote, with Beatty voting no. Board President T.J. Zane left the meeting before this item and did not vote. The new homework policy reads, The Governing Board recognizes current research showing that the benefits of homework are age dependent, only correlating with academic benefit in high school. The Board further recognizes that for elementary-aged students, research suggests that, in contrast to homework, reading at home has significant benefits, including promoting a love of school and an interest in learning. The Board recognizes the importance of after-school time for developing positive attitudes toward school, participating in extracurricular activities, and fostering healthy personal and family relationships. It also states that the superintendent or her designee will collaborate with school administrators and teachers to develop and regularly review guidelines for the assignment of homework, and that homework assignments shall be meaningful, reasonable in length and appropriate to the grade level and course. Teachers shall assign homework only as necessary to fulfill academic goals and reinforce current instruction, the new policy reads. The Board of Education also: Approved a raise of 25 cents to school lunches, in order to keep up with costs. The rise in price will not affect free or reduced lunches. Approved a policy that will allow students who have not completed all requirements as of graduation, but will that summer, to participate in graduation ceremonies. This will also apply to students with disabilities who are not graduating but will move on from high school. Approved 103 teachers for retirement under the Supplemental Early Retirement Plan. This plan will save the district about $1.5 million over five years. Email: news@pomeradonews.com Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. The bills House Bill 144, sponsored by Rep. Bealquin Bill Gomez, D-La Mesa, allows the state to begin licensing farmers to grow industrial hemp for research purposes. Senate Bill 6, sponsored by Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, allows the state to begin licensing farmers to grow industrial hemp for research purposes. SB 134, sponsored by Sen. Jacob Candelaria and Rep. Debra M. Sarinana, both Albuquerque Democrats, allows high school students to count computer science courses toward the math or science credits needed to graduate. SB 184, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, changes how the state goes about revoking licenses for horse racing. HB 126, sponsored by Rep. Doreen Gallegos, D-Las Cruces, gives preference to New Mexico students in a program that awards medical school scholarships if the student commits to working in a medically underserved area of the state. SB 24, sponsored by Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Jim Smith, R-Sandia Park, gives local governments a new option to pay for expansion of broadband access. SB 64, sponsored by Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, allows the Public School Capital Outlay Council to continue budgeting up to $10 million of the public school capital outlay fund for education technology initiatives. SB 67, sponsored by Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, D-Santa Fe, requires that the county treasurer be notified of the formation of any tax increment development district within that county. SB 356, also sponsored by Rodriguez, requires that the county treasurer be notified of the formation of any public improvement district within that county. SB 222, sponsored by Sen. Liz Stefanics, D-Cerrillos, changes the definition of political subdivision, cutting the number of entities under the oversight of a watchdog office in the Department of Finance and Administration by an estimated 141 entities. Its as true today as it was in 1934. Nothing is better on a warm spring day than riding through the neighborhood on your bicycle. Bicycle Tricks Thornton Utz June 18, 1955 Bike Riding Lesson George Hughes June 12, 1954 Playing Cowboy Amos Sewell June 23, 1951 Butchs Bike Ride Albert Staehle June 23, 1945 Decorating His Bike Douglass Crockwell March 20, 1937 Flat Bike Tire Alex Ross July 24, 1943 Woman on a Bike John Newton Howitt April 28, 1934 Bicycle Ride Douglass Crockwell August 16, 1941 Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/24/2018 -- Future Market Insights (FMI) has published a new report, which is titled, "Air Purifiers Market: GCC Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 2020." The GCC air purifier market is anticipated expand at 17% CAGR from 2014 to 2020 and reach an evaluation of US$85 mn by 2020. One of the key factors boosting the growth of the air purifier market in GCC is the growing incidences of respiratory disorders. Increasing air pollution and dry weather in this part of the world will also fuel the demand for air purifiers. In addition to this, the effective marketing strategies employed by leading players such as road shows and promotional activities are expected to drive the sales of air purifiers in GCC region. Some of the key factors hampering the growth of the market are analyzed in the report. The positioning of air purifier among consumers is that of a luxury good and not a necessity and this is anticipated to act as a restricting factor for the growth of this market in the GCC region. The high cost of air purifier also limits the adoption of this product. In addition to this, the cost incurred while changing the filters high. If the filters of air purifiers are not changed in time they become source of air contamination. Thus, this factor is acting as a challenge for the market of air purifiers. Request For Report Sample@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gc-614 On the basis of geography, the GCC air purifiers market is segmented into Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, UAE, and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Of these, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia held a leading position within the market in the past. In terms of fastest growth, the U.A.E is estimated to expand at a whopping 17% CAGR between 2014 and 2020. On the basis of technology, the high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) segment is anticipated to be the leading segment, closely followed by the electrostatic precipitator segment. Both these segments collectively accounted for over 50% of the total market for air purifiers in GCC in the year 2014. Sluggish growth rate is anticipated for the ion and ozone generator technology segment on account of the adverse effects it has on human health in the long run. On account of the low maintenance cost, the demand for filter-less technology of air purification will see a considerable rise in the forecast period. The maintenance cost of changing filters routinely, is high. Thus, consumers in the GCC region are increasingly opting for filter-less technology for air purification. Request For Report Table of Content (TOC): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gc-614 The report profiles key players within the GCC air purifier market for the purpose of study. According to the report key players in the market and joining hands with regional players so as to strengthen deposition and enter that region. Some of the key players within the market are: Sharp Corporation, Coway, Panasonic, and Hitachi. The report studies the business and financial overview of these companies and their recent developments. The information on collaborations, partnerships, and mergers and acquisition activities between companies is also given in the report. The business strategies adopted by leading players have also been revealed. The challenges faced by players in their pursuit for progress within the market have also been divulged. As such, this report is extremely useful for both, players at the entry level and those which are well-established and potential investors, in making smart and informed decisions relating to investments in the air purifiers market. Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/25/2018 -- Global 3D Time of flight (ToF) Sensors Market Outlook, Trend and Opportunity Analysis, Competitive Insights, Actionable Segmentation & Forecast 2024 Latest Report on 3D Time of flight (ToF) Sensors Market report encompasses the overall and comprehensive study of the 3D Time of flight (ToF) Sensors global Market with all its aspects influencing the growth of the market. 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Sydney, New South Wales -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/24/2018 -- RevitCourse is standing at the very forefront of improving architecture in Australia providing both upcoming and established professionals in the field a platform to learn about the Revit software. Technology changes and improvements in the architectural field especially in the Building Information Management have created a shift to the use of software to aid in varied projects. RevitCourse is as such sealing this gap by offering training across Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane on the globally leading and revolutionary Revit software. Responding to inquiries on the significance of learning Revit, the Institution's Director said, "Changes are inevitable, and one of the major changes that have happened in the architecture has been the adoption of technology. Any keen eye and professional therefore understands the importance of moving with such changes more so at a time when the government is already creating laws regarding BIM. You stand to gain more from having the skills and techniques to work with Revit not only in compliance with new regulations but to ease your day to day duties." RevitCourse has three distinct categories of training for their learners namely; beginners, intermediate, and fundamentals. These categories are designed to cater for different needs right from the basics about Revit to its practical applications. Clients looking forward to taking Revit course in Sydney can currently register for their upcoming sessions with fundamental classes beginning on 16th of May and intermediate courses set for 26th of July, 2018. RevitCourse keeps their classes small in size having a cap of ten students at a go to create the most suitable environment for learning and have direct contact with the tutors. Speaking about why they are the go-to institution for Revit courses in Melbourne, the Course Manager said, "We are backed by one of the leading practices in Australia, Dankor Architecture. As a result, we bring a practical perspective to all our course units which are exclusively handled by active professionals and not just full-time tutors. The case studies, projects, and demonstrations we use are based on actual construction documentation giving you a real-life study which you can replicate in your practice. We are also members of the Australian Institute of Architects meaning we meet all the minimum qualifications set for the industry." Placing emphasis on equipping participants with the right set of skills, RevitCourse training is detailed, and objective focused. Clients who register for their Revit courses in Sydney have a guarantee of learning from the best mix of training methodologies facilitated by logical tutors. At the end of their program each learner with all the stages in a building cycle right from idea conception and sketching to construction and demolition. RevitCourse takes pride in the all-around and progressive set of skills they model to each student they handle. About RevitCourse RevitCourse has rapidly grown over the years to be a leading Revit training center backed by an Autodesk authorization for individuals seeking to boost their skills and stay in touch with technological changes in the architectural field. Contact Details: Company Details: RevitCourse Address: Level 7, 20 Queen Street City: Melbourne Zip: 3000 Email: info@revitcourse.com.au Website: https://www.revitcourse.com.au/ In a new study, a team of astronomers from Yale Center for Astronomy & Astrophysics, the University of Washington, Institut dAstrophysique de Paris, and University College London predicts that galaxies with a mass similar to our Milky Way Galaxy should host several supermassive black holes. Typically, a supermassive black hole exists at the core of a massive galaxy. But sometimes they may wander throughout their host galaxy, remaining far from the center in regions such as the stellar halo, a nearly spherical area of stars and gas that surrounds the main section of the galaxy. Astronomers theorize that this phenomenon often occurs as a result of mergers between galaxies in an expanding Universe. A smaller galaxy will join with a larger, main galaxy, depositing its own, central supermassive black hole onto a wide orbit within the new host. In the new study, Dr. Michael Tremmel, a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, and co-authors predict that galaxies with a mass similar to the Milky Way should host several supermassive black holes. The researchers used a new, state-of-the-art cosmological simulation, Romulus, to predict the dynamics of supermassive black holes within galaxies with better accuracy than previous simulation programs. It is extremely unlikely that any wandering supermassive black hole will come close enough to our Sun to have any impact on our Solar System, Dr. Tremmel said. We estimate that a close approach of one of these wanderers that is able to affect the Solar System should occur every 100 billion years or so, or nearly 10 times the age of the Universe. Since wandering supermassive black holes are predicted to exist far from the centers of galaxies and outside of galactic disks, they are unlikely to accrete more gas making them effectively invisible, he added. We are currently working to better quantify how we might be able to infer their presence indirectly. The results were published this week in the Astrophysical Journal Letters (arXiv.org preprint). _____ Michael Tremmel et al. 2018. Wandering Supermassive Black Holes in Milky-Way-mass Halos. ApJL 857, L22; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aabc0a A Tradition of Giving Back Since its founding in 1993, Clearwater Montana Properties has emphasized community building as a key component of its company culture. Through its Charitable Giving Program, the company's agents give back a portion of all real estate proceeds to the communities in which they were earned. To date, the program has produced nearly $500,000 in charitable donations to causes throughout Montana, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming including more than $60,000 in 2017 alone. "Being a positive force locally is at the core of what we do," said CEO/Broker Kevin Wetherell. "When you do business with Clearwater Montana Properties, you also benefit local non-profit organizations who work hard to improve and benefit your local community and its citizens." The positive effects of the company's Charitable Giving Program were recently felt locally, as the Clearwater Agents Kevin Wetherell, Robin Matthews-Barnes, Scott Kennedy, Shaun Lewis, Carey Kanavel, John Keller and Lacey McNutt presented donations totaling $7,888 to local non-profit groups: Seeley-Swan Community Food Bank, Seeley Lake Lions Club, Sullivan Memorial Community Hall, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Seeley Lake Wilderness Club, Veterans & Families of Seeley Lake, Seeley Lake Senior Center, Seeley Lake Fire Department, Seeley Lake Trailblazers 4-H, Sparrows Vine, Lincoln Food Bank, Swan Valley Historical Society, Swan Valley School, Swan Valley Community Foundation, Swan Valley Connections, Helmville Community Club, Ravalli County 4-H Council, Potomac 4-H and the Blackfoot Challenge. As Jon Kimble, Chairperson of the Sullivan Memorial Community Hall says "It is clear your firm truly cares about this community, its members and makes sincere strides towards making this one of the best places to live!" With more than 90 agents throughout the region, it's not hard to see that the effects of Clearwater's generosity have been and will continue to be far-reaching and impactful. Sen. JV Ejercito on the Kuwait OFW Rescue Mission Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa had to make a hard decision. While we need to respect laws of the host country, priority of any government official should be the welfare and lives of the Filipino citizens. While Villa may have violated protocols of the Kuwaiti government, saving the lives and protection of welfare of Filipinos should be given utmost priority. I would rather see Villa being summoned or deported by the Kuwaiti government rather than seeing Filipinos going home in caskets. Maltreatment of OFWs specially the domestic helpers has to stop! This is just too much already. South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell below the 2,000s on Monday as fewer people took virus tests over the weekend amid fears over the wide spread of the virus. The co... Of the 37 bodies recovered so far, 16 have been identified, police said, adding that the identified Naxals carried a combined reward of Rs 1.06 crore, they said. : In a massive blow to Maoists, 37 hardcore Naxals were killed since Sunday in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, police said on Tuesday. The operation was the result of coordination between C-60 commandos of the Maharashtra Police in hot pursuit of Naxals. "In the operation by C-60 squad in the Kasanasur jungle area, 16 bodies of Naxals (9 male and 7 female) were recovered on April 22," a senior police official said. "Due to heavy rains and paucity of manpower, search was stopped. Yesterday (Monday), an operation was launched to search for bodies in the Indravati river and 15 more bodies were recovered," the official said. Search for more bodies and weapons is underway, he said. "In another operation in the Kapewancha area of Rajaram Khandla post yesterday, six Naxals were killed and their bodies recovered. These include two men and four women," the official said. Due to the large number of Naxals killed, the developmental works in the Aheri and Sironcha tehsils, which were affected due to the Maoist menace, will get a boost, police said. Maharashtra Director General of Police Satish Mathur attributed the massive operation against Naxals to 'accurate and specific' intelligence, low morale of Naxals and divisions in their ranks. Judge Madhusudhan Sharma of the court of SC/ST cases also sentenced the two other convicts Shilpi and Sharad to 20 years in jail. : Asaram sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of a minor girl in 2013. A life term is the maximum imprisonment under the Pocso Act. Asaram started from a hut on the banks of the Sabarmati and created a Rs 10,000 crore empire with 400 ashrams in India and other parts of the world in four decades. Read the story of his rise and fall here. The chargesheet against Asaram and the four other co-accused was filed by the police on November 6, 2013 under various sections of the POSCO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, the Juvenile Justice Act and the Indian Penal Code. The teenager had said in her complaint that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. The young girl from Shahajanpur in Uttar Pradesh was studying at Asaram's ashram in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. "We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice," her father told journalists after the verdict came in. The family, he said, had been living in constant terror and their business was hit. Ahead of the verdict, security was stepped up in Jodhpur where prohibitory orders were imposed. With the Kathua and Unnao rape and murder cases, there has been an understandable outcry for justice. Justice, can mean different things. The punishment should fit the crime is a standard phrase. The cabinet approved a law that could result in the death penalty for convicted rapists of children below the age of 12. The cases of rape are not a new horror that India faces; the Nirbhaya case is a stark reminder of that. Following that case, the Justice Verma Committee was formed. The government enacted legal reforms in the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, which added new categories of offenses against women and girls and included the death penalty for repeat offenders. The Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, 2012, provided a framework for law enforcement and the courts to deal with victims. There is an argument to be made that the recommendations made did not act as deterrence; can the harshest punishment possible prove to be one? The government has proposed fast track courts and the formation of a national database and profile of sexual offenders. These can be good steps forward but receive little notice. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a statement urged the Indian parliament to reject the ordinance on death penalty for rape, referring to it as cruel populism and instead urged the government to reform the justice system and ensure protections. Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director, HRW, said in part, If the government is serious about dealing with violence against women and children, it will have to do the hard work of reforming the criminal justice system and ensure that perpetrators are not protected from prosecution by political patronage. The statement by HRW included data on the rising numbers of rape cases in 2016 and cited its own 2017 report which stated that victims often suffer humiliation at police stations and hospitals, are still subjected to degrading tests by medical professionals. The statement goes on to state that the government has not established mechanisms of oversight to help prevent child sexual abuse. Following the rape cases in Kathua and Unnao, a couple of weeks back, union minister Menaka Gandhi announced plans to introduce death penalty for rapists of children below 12 years. Some states have supported this and want to establish similar laws, including in Jammu & Kashmir, where chief minister Mehbooba Mufti welcomed the decision of the death penalty and stated that her government would bring a similar law in the state. However, there is opposition from the kin of survivors of sexual abuse and rape. One parent recounted the experience of his child having to repeatedly explain her experiences to officials over the course of months and the death penalty would not constitute justice. Parents of survivors state that often the process or trial is very long and the conviction rates are low as some are even acquitted. Shraddha Chaudhary, legal researcher, Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University, in a column for the Indian Express, states that the death penalty for sexual offences against children is misconceived . The thinking is that since the punishment for rape and the punishment for murder are the same, the perpetrator will have no incentive to spare the victims life. Former Delhi high court Chief Justice and former chairman of Law Commission of India, Justice A P Shah urged the government to reject the ordinance stating in part, Not only is the enhancement of punishment to include death penalty futile, but it will have disastrous consequences for children. The death penalty is only a law and order solution. There is however, a breakdown of societal norms and values that should ensure the safety of women and children from sexual abuse and violence. The instances of rape and sexual violence are not just a result of the poor functioning of the justice and police system. Legislation can only be taken so far. By proclaiming that anyone convicted of rape and murder will face death does not act as a deterrent. Sexual crimes are a result of ingrained societal norms in terms of the way women and minorities are treated. There is a need to ensure that existing laws on reporting sexual violence are followed and amendments should be made if necessary. Maya John, Assistant Professor at Jesus and Mary College and a womens rights activist, in a column or the Hindu, states that the focus must be on enhancing rape conviction rates and taking steps to rehabilitate and empower survivors . In 2016, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), there were more than 38,000 reported cases of rape by women and children. There are still more that go unreported, largely due to social stigma, victim-blaming, poor response by the criminal justice system and the absence of any victim and witness protection laws. This means that they are vulnerable to pressure and coercion from the accused and local authorities. . A society largely overseen by men is the undercurrent here as well. The criticism of knee-jerk solutions that aim to serve as a deterrent focus on the sexual aspect and impact rather than the need for rehabilitation of rape survivors and focussing on the faults of those who control the system. A system which is often hostile to survivors right from them reporting the crime. More columns by Varun Sukumar The aunt of the 13-year-old girl got her forcefully drunk and then let her boyfriend rape her, reports Hindustan Times. : Another minor has been raped, this time in the forest area of outer Delhi's Shahbad Dairy on Sunday, hours after President Ram Nath Kovind greenlit death penalty for convicted rapists of children under 12 years. According to the HT report, the girl lives with her father in Shahbad Dairy. Her mother had left the family some time ago. In the absence of the mother, the 30-year-old aunt, who also lives in the same neighborhood as the victim, would often care for her. She is in a relationship with a truck driver named Mukesh Kumar, a man in late 30s. On Sunday night, the woman allegedly took the girl to a forested area near her home, where Mukesh was also present. According to the police, both started consuming alcohol and forcefully got the girl inebriated too. Mukesh then raped her even as the aunt hung around. They then let the girl go. The police suspect the rape was planned. The father found the girl bleeding and in pain on Monday morning. He rushed her to Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital. Though the girl was threatened into silence, the doctors there confirmed rape. The father then informed the police. The girl's condition was so bad that she had to be hospitalized for 24 hours. However, she is now out of danger and has been discharged. The aunt has been arrested but Mukesh is still absconding. Shahbad Dairy police station has sent a team to Bihar to trace him. A case has been registered under IPC Sections 376 (rape), 328 (causing hurt by intoxicating substance with intent to commit an offence), 506 (criminal intimidation), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Midland Beach man made a bad call stealing another motorist's cell phone after a car crash three months ago, and will now spend up to four years behind bars for that act. Xavier Valentine, 22, was sentenced on Wednesday, under a plea agreement, to 16 months to four years in prison. Valentine was driving an Acura with Florida license plates when it collided with another man's 2006 Honda sedan on the 2100 block of Richmond Road at about 2:20 p.m. on Jan. 14, according to police and a criminal complaint. Valentine who is 6-foot, 1-inch tall and weighs 200 pounds, exited the Acura along with an unidentified person. He punched the other driver in the face and snatched the man's cell phone when he tried to call 911, the complaint said. The victim suffered bruising, swelling and an abrasion, said police and the complaint. Valentine and his pal also shoved a woman to the ground and grabbed her cell phone as she tried to dial 911, the complaint said. The woman, who was accompanied by children ages 10 and 7, suffered pain and swelling on the back of her head, said the complaint. Valentine then left the scene without exchanging insurance information, the complaint said. Police arrested him in the area a short time later. Valentine and the victims were strangers, said police. Three weeks ago, Valentine pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to third-degree robbery to satisfy all charges against him. The defendant declined to make a statement before Justice Stephen J. Rooney imposed sentence. Attorney Leo Duval represented Valentine. Assistant District Attorney Matthew Mobilia prosecuted the case. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 27-year-old woman allegedly used a knife to injure a man at the South Beach Houses early on Wednesday morning. The victim, a 34-year-old man, is the woman's boyfriend, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. Danielle Atkinson, 27, who lives on Norway Avenue in the South Beach Houses, has been charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. The man told police that a verbal dispute inside her second-floor apartment at the houses escalated and Atkinson allegedly used a knife to cut him on the back of both of his hands at about 2:42 a.m. She was arrested at the houses. The man, who suffered pain and lacerations, was taken to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze, according to police. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- No longer satisfied with poaching our "colorful young personalities" for scene-stealing supporting roles, MTV is creating an entire series especially for us: "Staten Island 10310." Could this be a classy throwback homage to "Beverly Hills 90210" -- or just another reality TV trainwreck? Only time will tell. Until then, Variety exclusive breaks the "plot" down like this: "MTV will head to 'Staten Island 10310' in August to follow a group of young adults in the New York City borough that has a small town feel despite its proximity to the nation's largest urban center. Staten Island's population is famously a mix of law enforcement and firefighters with those involved in less-than-legal occupations." "In many ways life on the island has such a different texture than the rest of New York," MTV/VH1 president Chris McCarthy told the enduring TV trade publication. "We get to see another side of these kids who are very scrappy." And yes, we have S.I. natives Vinny and The Situation to thank for this. Thursday night is morphing into must-see-MTV, fueled by the "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation" reboot. Averaging 2.1 million viewers per episode since its April 5 premiere, the "strategic anchor" series is pulling MTV out of a long ratings slump. With the success of "Jersey Shore" -- and its 9 p.m. companion piece, "Ex on the Beach," featuring Victoria Alario of Bulls Head -- MTV is galvanized to create more unscripted series featuring great young characters in unexpected settings. "We are always looking for interesting and authentic subcultures that gives us a look at youth culture in this country," McCarthy said. A quick synopses breakdown of the three other new series rolling out in June through the fall: STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials detained a man inside a Staten Island courthouse Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo Wednesday sent a cease and desist letter to ICE officials demanding they stop their enforcement actions. In light of the Staten Island incident and the increased raids earlier this month, Cuomo also signed an executive order requiring ICE agents to have a judicial warrant to enter state buildings. "ICE is violating the law and endangering public safety in all of those instances," he said. Immigration activists, including Favio R. Caminatti from El Centro in Port Richmond, met with Cuomo in Manhattan to discuss the immigration busts. Caminatti said he asked the governor about the immigrant arrested in state Supreme Court, St. George, and he responded with the executive order. "Great step forward," Caminatti later tweeted. "The Legal Aid Society and ALAA applaud Governor Cuomo's cease and desist letter to I.C.E, and the modification of his executive order ... to prohibit ICE arrests in courthouses without a judicial warrant," the Legal Aid Society said in a release. On Tuesday morning, ICE arrested a man in the hallway near the first-floor courtrooms, prompting a Legal Aid walkout. It was the first time officers apprehend a man inside the courthouse, although there was another incident where a man was apprehended near the library across the street from the courthouse, said Legal Aid lawyer Gillian Kress, who is the Staten Island union vice president. The defendant, Gabriel Garcia-Mejia, had been charged with misdemeanor assault, according to Lucian Chalfen, spokesman for the Office of Court Administration. ICE arrested Garcia-Mejia after a Brooklyn federal magistrate signed a criminal warrant for Mejia for illegal re-entry into the Unites States, Chalfen said. "I demand ICE immediately cease and desist this pattern of conduct, and if they fail to do so, I will pursue all available legal recourse and commit to doing everything in my power to protect the rights and safety of all New Yorkers," Cuomo said. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- When Sheree Sobel looked out the window Saturday, she saw a wild goose, just a few feet away from her New Springville home. "The goose was under a tree, stood perched on a few rocks with her majestic profile, not making a sound," Sobel said. "My initial thought was 'What an amazing animal.' For hours on end, she hardly moved her position, and made no honking sounds, which are familiar to the Canadian geese." Upon researching why the lone goose was there, Sobel came up with two theories why one would stay behind a flock. "It's silly, but when they are mourning the death of their mate, they'll stay behind," Sobel said. "Or, if it's a male, they'll be on the look out for their mate who is keeping an eye on eggs. I looked around and couldn't find another goose or eggs." This was when Sobel reached out to animal rescue and community organizations to help, and was told to try the Urban Park Rangers. "I was told to wait till the morning, that maybe the goose would fly with a flock," Sobel said. "But if the goose is still there, call the Park Rangers and they'll come right away." Sobel waited it out, but the scenarios played out in her mind -- did this goose fall from the sky, or did it fly and land here? She gave the goose the name of Lucy, after the children's book "Lucy Goosey." The next morning she decided to go out and see if it would allow her to get up close, and "that's when I saw she was hurt," Sobel said. Sobel noticed the goose had dried up blood on its breast. She called the Greenbelt Park Rangers. Within an hour of the call, two Rangers from Blue Heron Park came and helped Lucy into a cage, where they were going to transfer her to a place for medical attention. "I had asked Officer Irene if she could update me on Lucy because of the attachment I had grown," Sobel said. "She called me not too long after to let me know that Lucy was transferred to New York Wild Life, where she would be treated and hopefully helped." Though days after, Sobel has hope she will see Lucy again. "I've spent so many years helping people as a social worker, I might as well start helping animals," Sobel said. "I like to think that the next time I see Lucy is when I look up at the sky and see a flock of geese in their 'v' formation, flying to their next destination." STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Richmond County District Attorney Michael McMahon and Borough President James Oddo were honored Tuesday by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for their "SI Safe Ride" initiative. Since its creation in 2017, the initiative provided free Uber rides for thousands of Staten Islanders on different occasions, including on Thanksgiving Eve, Super Bowl Sunday, and during the Staten Island St. Patrick's Day Parade. The group presented the local politicians with their Community Awareness Award at the organization's 11th Annual New York Metro Law Enforcement Recognition event. "Driving under the influence is a serious crime that can ruin a person's life in an instant and it will not be tolerated," McMahon said. "We look forward to continuing our partnership with Uber in order to provide safe modes of travel for Staten Islanders, and to remind everyone that there is no excuse to drink and drive." People who use the service are given a code and are credited $15 for a ride between two Staten Island locations. "This was a terrific partnership with DA McMahon, Uber and our sponsors to help Staten Islanders make the right choice and leave their cars home on big party nights," Oddo said. "I hope we can continue to build on the success of SI Safe Ride and provide Staten Islanders with smarter alternatives to drinking and driving." STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- NYPD Auxiliary cops were out in Clifton's Park Hill section Tuesday night distributing reward fliers to crack down on illegal guns, according to the 120th Precinct Twitter feed. The fliers offered residents a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone who possesses an illegal firearm. So far in 2018, there have been a total of four shooting incidents on the borough, according to NYPD CompStat numbers. That's down from 11 shooting incidents during the same time last year. The stats show a 64-percent drop within the two years. If you have any information, the NYPD urges residents to call 866-486-7867. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- At least 15 Staten Island schools will receive additional student funding for hiring teachers and staff, and purchasing materials and educational resources for student and family activities. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Speaker of the City Council Corey Johnson announced an additional $125 million annual investment in Fair Student Funding (FSF) for city public schools, beginning in the 2018-19 school year. FSF provides the majority of most individual school budgets and is used at the principal's discretion. The mayor said that the increased funding will "help ensure [the schools] have the resources they need to provide an excellent education to our 1.1 million school children." Various Staten Island schools will benefit from the additional funding, including: PS 65, Tompkinsville; PS 21, Port Richmond; PS 45, West Brighton; PS 44, Mariners Harbor; PS 31, New Brighton; PS 22, Graniteville; PS 20, Port Richmond; PS 18, West Brighton; PS 19, West Brighton; PS 16; Tompkinsville; PS 13; Rosebank; Dreyfus Intermediate School (I.S. 49), Stapleton; Morris Intermediate School (I.S. 61), Brighton Heights; Prall Intermediate School (I.S. 27), West Brighton; and Curtis High School in St. George. "More than 800 schools across the city -- including 15 on the North Shore of Staten Island -- will receive more of the funding that they deserve," said Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore). "I know from conversations with parents, students, teachers and principals that these funds will make a real difference in the classrooms." Neither the DOE nor the mayor's office would confirm the total number of Staten Island schools to receive the extra funds at the time of publication. Historically, schools were provided with resources based primarily on the size of their student body. The FSF formula was introduced in 2007 by the Department of Education and provides additional funding per student based on need, including additional funding for students with disabilities, English Language Learners, low-income students, and students performing below grade level. With the investment announced Wednesday, the FSF "floor" will increase to 90 percent, which means no school will be receiving less than 90 percent of its FSF, compared to 81 percent at the beginning of de Blasio's administration. The current FSF average across all schools will increase to 93 percent, compared to 88 percent at the beginning of the mayor's administration. The increase will impact 854 schools and 588,285 students in every borough and community school district that are currently below the 90 percent "floor." The investment will support the mayor's Equity and Excellence for All agenda. "More funding means more teachers, guidance counselors, and social workers; more professional development; and an opportunity to bring new materials and technologies into the classroom," said city Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza. "The increase of the FSF floor is an important step in putting our schools on a path to Equity and Excellence for all, and to addressing unacceptable and historical inequities in the way our schools have been funded." FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Bronx politician wants the hate-tweeting son of a former FDNY commissioner kicked out of the department after he was recently transferred to Staten Island, according to a report from the Daily News. Democratic City Councilman Andy King spoke out Tuesday after he learned that probational Firefighter Joseph Cassano had been transferred to FDNY Engine 162/Ladder 82 in Great Kills after complaints from the Jewish community in Borough Park, where he'd been previously assigned. "We have been saying for years now that this individual, who has expressed hate towards multiple groups, including the African-American and Jewish communities, should not be working with the public in any diverse neighborhood of our great city," King said. The younger Cassano reportedly tweeted in February of 2013: "Getting sick of picking up all these Obama lovers and taking them to the hospital because their Medicare pays for an ambulance and not a cab." In other tweets, he reportedly referred to black people as "shwoogs," said "I like Jews about as much as Hitler," and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, added: "MLK could go kick rocks for all I care, but thanks for the time and a half today." The younger Cassano, who lived with his parents at the time of the rants, later apologized for the posts. "What does it say that he was transferred to a community in Staten Island that is seemingly willing to have him?" King asked. "Are there no blacks and Jews in Staten Island?" STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 28-year-old man caught with a weapons stash allegedly sold fentanyl and heroin to an undercover officer on numerous occasions in the Port Richmond area, according to authorities. The suspect goes by the nickname "Uptown" and is affiliated with the Latin Kings, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. Senate Rivera, 28, was arrested at about 3:15 p.m. Friday at the 120th Precinct station house in St. George after police executed a search warrant of his apartment on Caroline Street in West Brighton, according to the criminal complaint. Earlier on Friday, at about 2:10 p.m., Rivera allegedly jumped on or otherwise damaged three cars on the 500 block of Cary Avenue in his community, according to the criminal complaint. Rivera allegedly exchanged the potentially lethal combination of heroin and fentanyl for cash paid by an undercover officer in the Port Richmond area on 10 instances in 2018 as cited in the criminal complaint. The locations and dates for when the drugs allegedly were peddled are redacted. Armed with a search warrant on Friday, police allegedly found an Armscor model 206 .38-caliber special, loaded with six bullets, unspecified quantities of .38-caliber and 9 mm ammunition and a Walther CP99 BB gun, according to the criminal complaint. Many of the bullets found were hollow point, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. Such bullets typically expand to cause maximum damage when they hit a target. Some of the drug-related items allegedly discovered by police during the search on Friday included a twist of heroin, unspecified quantity of glassine envelopes containing heroin or used to package that drug, an unspecified substance used to dilute heroin, a coffee grinder and scale with heroin residue, according to the criminal complaint. Rivera, who stands about 5'9" and weighs about 140 pounds, allegedly pounced on and damaged the hood of a 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan and the windshield of 2017 Nissan Juke. He also allegedly marred at 2017 Mercedes-Benz AMG E43, according to the criminal complaint and a source with knowledge of the investigation. The suspect was remanded without bail at his arraignment and he is due back in Criminal Court on Thursday. Rivera has been charged with multiple counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of ammunition, criminal use of drug paraphernalia and criminal mischief, according to the criminal complaint. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Drugs and a gun proved a bad combination for an ex-convict, and he'll have a lot of time to think about that mistake. Eugene King, 32, was sentenced on Tuesday to 12 years in prison stemming from a May 19, 2016 arrest in an apartment on the 200 block of Jersey Street in New Brighton. According to a criminal complaint, King possessed cocaine with the intent to sell. He also had a firearm in his possession. The gun, a loaded 9 mm Smith & Wesson, was found under a mattress in a bedroom the defendant shared with a woman. King's DNA was recovered from the weapon. Two weeks ago, the defendant pleaded guilty on the eve of trial in state Supreme Court, St. George, to felony counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and to criminal possession of a firearm. King was sentenced to 12 years behind bars and three years' post-release supervision on the drug conviction and to two to four years on the firearm conviction. The sentences will run concurrently. Due to his criminal record, the defendant potentially faced a minimum of 16 years to life up to a maximum of 25 years to life had he been convicted at trial of second-degree criminal weapon possession, the top gun charge in the indictment. Defense lawyer Mario F. Gallucci previously told the Advance his client believed accepting a plea agreement was "in his best interest." After King had pleaded guilty, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon said his conviction "ensures that this dangerous individual is put behind bars, and Staten Island will be safer with him off the streets." Assistant District Attorneys Carrie Low and Michele Molfetta prosecuted the case. Advance records show King previously served a five-year prison sentence in an unrelated case. In December 2010, King pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to attempted second-degree criminal weapon possession. Prosecutors said then he supplied Brooklyn resident Anthony Sisco with a gun with which Sisco fatally shot Antonio Watkins, 34, outside 197 Gordon St., Stapleton, on Feb. 14, 2009. Sisco later pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 11 years behind bars, Advance records show. Prosecutors said then it would have been tough convicting Sisco at trial because there was "no DNA, no gun," and witnesses had refused to cooperate, the Advance reported. Prosecutors also told the Advance they offered King his plea agreement in that case due to a "severe lack of evidence and witness-credibility issues." Trump, Russia and China media attacks 'threaten democracy' Paris, April 25 (AFP) Apr 25, 2018 Press freedom around the world is under threat from a triple whammy of US President Donald Trump, Russia and China's bid to crush all dissent, a watchdog said Wednesday. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned that a "climate of hatred and animosity" towards journalists combined with growing attempts to control the media pose a "threat to democracies". Its annual report said that reporters were the target of a growing wave of authoritarianism with leaders whipping up hostility against them. The group accused the world's three superpowers -- the US, China and Russia -- of leading the charge against press freedom, with Trump regularly launching personal attacks on reporters and Beijing exporting its "media control model" to strangle dissent elsewhere in Asia. The slide towards "strongman" and populist politics in Europe, stoked by Moscow, was threatening freedoms in the region where they were once safest, it added, with Hungary, Slovakia and Poland setting off alarm bells. Czech President Milos Zeman turned up at a press conference with a fake Kalashnikov inscribed with the words "for journalists" while Slovakia's former leader Robert Fico called journalists "filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes" and "idiotic hyenas". "The unleashing of hatred towards journalists is dangerous and a threat to democracy," RSF chief Christophe Deloire told AFP. "Political leaders who fuel loathing for reporters... undermine the concept of public debate based on facts instead of propaganda. To dispute the legitimacy of journalism today is to play with extremely dangerous political fire," he added. - China's 'oppressive' order - RSF said that hostility towards the media is "no longer confined to authoritarian countries such as Turkey and Egypt", but was poisoning the political atmosphere in some of the great democracies. "More and more democratically elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracy's essential underpinning, but as an adversary to which they openly display their aversion," the report said, picking out Trump, India's Narendra Modi and Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte for particular criticism. The US president had referred to reporters as "enemies of the people", a term once used by Stalin, it said. RSF accused Vladimir Putin's Russia of "stifling independent voices at home... and extending its propaganda network by means of media outlets such as RT (Russian Today) and Sputnik." It had even harsher words for Beijing, saying "Xi Jinping's China is getting closer and closer to a contemporary version of totalitarianism. "Censorship and surveillance reached unprecedented levels thanks to the massive use of new technology" in his first term in office, the report said. Now the Chinese government "is trying to establish a 'new world media order' under its influence, by exporting its oppressive methods, information censorship system and Internet surveillance tools," it added. "Its unabashed desire to crush all pockets of public resistance unfortunately has imitators in Asia," the RSF said, condemning Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's "ruthless offensive" against the media. It said Beijing's influence and tactics were also being felt in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. - Turkey falls further - Turkey -- the world's biggest jailer of journalists -- has fallen into the most repressive 25 countries in the world. The watchdog said that "media-phobia" there is now so pronounced that journalists are routinely accused of terrorism and "those who don't offer loyalty are arbitrarily imprisoned." North Korea remains the most repressive country on Earth closely followed by Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Syria and then China. Saudi Arabia, Bahrein, Vietnam, Sudan and Cuba also remain among the worst offenders, according to the RSF ranking of 180 countries. Malta tumbled 18 places to 65 after the assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. But not all the news was bad. Ecuador jumped 13 places after tensions eased between the government and privately-owned media, while Justin Trudeau's Canada entered the European-dominated top 20. Jamaica climbed to eighth overall, above Belgium and New Zealand, and Gambia jumped 21 places -- the biggest rise in Africa -- just ahead of Angola and Zimbabwe. The departure of the three African countries' "predatory presidents" was the main reason for their improved performance, the RSF said. As usual, Scandinavian countries topped the list with Norway deemed as having the world's freest press for the second year in a row. Solar Novus Today Has Been Integrated With Novus Light Technologies Today Visit Novus Light Technologies Today to see all the cutting-edge stories and products that you have come to enjoy on Solar Novus Today. In addition, you will find more information on related light-based technologies. Get the latest solar and renewable energy news delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the Green Technologies newsletter CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR GREEN TECHNOLOGIES NEWSLETTER Articles Sorry, there are no recent results for popular articles. By Fabian Dawson Mata Press Service Ludhiana Central jail is a sprawling penal colony surrounded by high brick walls and manned by about 165 guards. Like many of Indias prisons, it dates back to the era of British colonial rule, with thousands of prisoners kept in crumbling facilities. The jail built originally for about 500 inmates houses over 2,600 convicts and accused persons awaiting trial. Sukhwinder Singh Mithu knows this place well. The one-time auto-rickshaw driver and now local village politician, has spent much of his life behind bars here - framed at least six times by several police officers who have been working with his wifes family in Canada and India to silence him. Last week a Commission of Inquiry into false cases registered by police in the state of Punjab, recommended that the cops be charged and the victims, including Mithu be compensated for the incarcerations and the harassment around the crimes they did not commit. Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice B.S. Mehndiratta, who led the inquiry, said: We are of the considered view that the complainant (Mithu, a resident of Kaunke Khosa in Jagraon) has been unnecessarily harassed. Adequate compensation should be paid to him and recovered from the police officials. The panel had found in total 182 police officers guilty of trying to frame people in false cases. Those words and the compensation mean little to Mithu, 41, who has always maintained that he is only guilty marrying the woman of his dreams, Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, a beautician from Maple Ridge in B.C. Jaswinder, or Jassi, was 25-years-old when she was kidnapped, tortured and killed in the spring of 2000 after going against her family's wishes and marrying Mithu. Mithu, a poor auto-rickshaw driver then, was hacked by swords and left for dead after his wife was whisked away. After several weeks in a coma, he awoke to be told that Jassi, whom he had secretly married, had been brutally slain. Indian police had by that time arrested the hired assassins and Jassis uncles in India, and accused her mother and another millionaire uncle in Canada of orchestrating the murder. Indian police alleged that family members, including her mother and uncle in B.C., paid thugs up to $50,000 for the hit. The police in court papers allege that the order to kill came from Canada after Jassi pleaded for her life over the phone from an abandoned farmhouse. They have charged Jassi's mother, Malkiat Kaur, and uncle, Surjit Singh Badesha, both of Maple Ridge, with conspiracy to commit murder. The wealthy Fraser Valley farming family has denied any involvement in the incident. The extradition case is still before the Canadian justice system, after several twists and turns, and the duo are expected to be in court once again this month almost 18 years after Jassis murder. Of the original 14 charged, including a group of contract killers and a police officer, some have been released. Three are serving a life term. Just as Jassis murder trial in India got underway in 2004, Mithu a key witness to the killing was charged with raping a girl from his village. Despite protesting his innocence and insisting he was being framed to derail the murder case, Indian cops and the justice system threw him in jail pending a trial. Mithu faced 15 years in jail for a rape he did not commit. The system was convinced by the lies told by the rape victim, identified in court papers as Iqbal Kaur, and it moved in step with the powerful relatives of Jassi in India to deny Mithu bail. For 44 months, Mithu shared a small cell with hardened criminals in the Ludhiana Central Jail and fought for his freedom with the help of Vancouver-based publisher Harbinder Singh Sewak. Sewak set up a website called JusticeforJassi.com to bring international awareness to the case and hired lawyers in India to pursue Mithus freedom. Using his Asian Pacific Post and South Asian Post newspapers in Vancouver, Sewak enlisted the help of local journalists and a reporter in India, Jupinderjit Singh, to investigate the case. The investigation showed several discrepancies in the police rape file and eventually shed light on the connections between the rape victim and Jassis relatives in India. On the afternoon of April 26, 2008, the efforts paid off. Iqbal Kaur, 19, who accused Mithu of rape, confessed before Additional Session Judge A. S. Grewal in Ludhiana, Punjab that she had falsely named Mithu as the rapist at the behest of Jassis uncles in India. Her younger sister, who also identified Mithu as the rapist, told the court: "I named Mithu under the pressure of the influential uncles of Jassi. I don't know on what statement police got my signatures. Later, when we learnt Mithu had been booked and arrested, they (the uncles) threatened we would meet the same fate as Jassi if we changed our story," she told the judge. Iqbal said she was raped on the night of August 14, 2004 at her home. But she did not know the assailant and was coerced to name Mithu as the rapist. This was the second time Mithu was jailed on false charges. After Jassis family in B.C. found out that she had secretly married Mithu, they lodged a police report claiming that he had forced the marriage at gunpoint. Forced marriages are illegal in India. Mithu was arrested and thrown in jail. Jassi escaped from her family in Maple Ridge and fled to India to secure his release. Shortly after, Jassi's body was found in a canal with its throat slit. Since then, Mithu has been accused of robbery, fraud, drug use and even terrorism as his wifes family tried to silence his testimony. He has beaten all the cases continues to seek justice for his Jassi. Fabian Dawson, the former deputy editor-in-chief of the Vancouver Province broke the story of the Jassi muder case in June 2000. He is the lead author of the book Justice for Jassi, alongside Harbinder Singh Sewak and Jupinderjit Singh. Dawson has helped produced three documentaries and a made for TV film on the subject. Guest Commentary By Josef Filipowicz and Steve Lafleur The Fraser Institute Florida is a popular destination for retirees and vacationers. Not surprisingly, many people from colder northern states and Canada either rent or own property in Florida to escape harsh winters. In fact, temporary residents in Florida (also known as snowbirds) number more than one million by some estimates. They make significant contributions to local businesses, not to mention property and sales tax revenues. In Florida, outside money is welcome. By contrast, in Canadas hottest housing markets Vancouver and Toronto outsiders buying property are typically called less-endearing names, including non-resident speculators. Theyre often portrayed as a major cause of rapid housing-price growth, spurring impassioned political rhetoric accompanied by targeted taxes on their properties. A recent example is British Columbias speculation tax, which despite recent exemptions still targets many vacation homeowners. In Florida, B.C. and (to a lesser extent) Ontario, some non-locals want to purchase or lease property without staying in that property year-round. Florida appears to welcome this inflow of investment while B.C. and Ontario appear eager to chase it away. Why the different attitudes? Between 1995 and 2016, on average, Floridian local governments issued building permits for the construction of roughly 15 per cent more housing units (per capita) annually than B.C. municipalities, and a staggering 37 per cent more than Ontarios. As a result, would-be buyers have far more options in Florida, with homes staying on the market for 45 days, on average. Prices are also far lower in Florida, at a median listing price of US$285,000 according to real estate website Zillow. Florida is a buyers market. By comparison, Vancouver and Toronto are sellers markets homes spend only 15 to 17 days on the market (on average) and are far more expensive. Clearly, a lot more people are looking to buy than there are places to buy in Canadas most in-demand cities. As such, heavy-handed policies such as B.C.s speculation tax target symptoms (high demand for housing) rather than causes (a lagging housing supply), and create unnecessary divisions among Canadians. For example, retirees or vacationers with summer homes, cabins or short-term rental units in parts of B.C.s Okanagan Valley or Vancouver Island are still implicitly portrayed by these policies as speculators, despite intentions of long-term ownership (rather than speculative activity such as pre-construction flipping) and despite their contribution to B.C.s economy in many ways. Ironically, rather than increasing affordability, taxing such properties may disqualify many (except those wealthy enough to pay these punitive taxes) from buying in the provinces most desirable locations. Housing affordability remains a major concern for many Canadians and they want governments to act. But rather than penalizing vacationers, snowbirds or temporary residents (a consequence that the recent exemptions will ease but not erase), provincial and especially municipal governments should help correct the balance between demand and supply by encouraging more supply. To start, governments can streamline the approval process for the construction of new homes. According to Fraser Institute research published in 2016 and 2017, it takes 1.5 to two years, on average, for homebuilders to obtain building permits in Toronto and Vancouver. Homebuilders also face tens of thousands of dollars in regulatory compliance costs and fees, increasing home prices or limiting the number of homes built, including much-needed rental units. Enabling a more flexible, responsive housing supply is probably not as politically expedient as singling out groups of people for scapegoating. But if policy-makers want to actually address the root causes of lack of affordability, they should focus on the core problems with the housing market. A good place to start would be the construction of more homes. Josef Filipowicz and Steve Lafleur are public policy analysts at the Fraser Institute. By Catherine A. Sas Q.C. Special to The Post Canadas Express Entry selection system can be a challenge for prospective immigrants who must score enough Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points in order to garner an Invitation to Apply (ITA). Now midway through the fourth year of Express Entry, applicant scores earning an ITA have ranged from a high of 886 to a low of 413 but have recently settled in the mid 400s over the past year. However, the bulk of prospective applicants in the pool, hover around the 400-point score range. How does a prospective Canadian immigrant increase their CRS score to be able to apply for permanent residence under Express Entry? Here are some tips to increase your CRS point score. Get more work experience Additional years of work experience can increase your CRS points score whether foreign work experience or Canadian work experience. Be sure to have a detailed letter of reference from your employer setting out your day to day job duties in accordance with Canadas National Occupation Classification (NOC) system NOC 2016. If you are not yet in Canada and are considering applying for permanent residence, aim to complete three full years of work experience in a NOC O, A or B level occupation before coming to Canada. Canadian work experience also increases your point score with maximum points being given for two years of full time work experience. The combination of 3 years of foreign work experience together with 2 years of Canadian work experience garners the maximum CRS points. Improve your English or French language proficiency The single most important factor under Express Entry is language proficiency. You need to obtain a CLB score of 7 or higher under each and every of the four proficiencies: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Familiarize yourself with the CLB ranking system for language which is not necessarily the same as the test result that you will earn. The highest points are given for those with a CLB score of 9 or higher on all proficiencies. You can retake your language test as many times as is necessary and there are preparatory courses to assist you in studying for the test. Immerse yourself in English or French whether in your home country or in Canada. If you are already in Canada, then only speak English or French to assist you in improving your language skills. Go Back to School CRS points are awarded for completion of high school. Obtaining a certificate, diploma or degree garners further CRS points. The maximum CRS points are awarded to applicants with two or more diplomas or degrees, one of which must be a program of study of three years or more. Going back to school to obtain a further diploma or degree can earn you additional CRS points. Study in Canada Studying in Canada can earn you CRS points - 15 points for 1 to 2 years of study and 30 points for 3 or more years of studying in Canada. In addition, studying in Canada gives you the opportunity to improve your English or French language proficiency and may also provide you with Canadian work experience. Studying in Canada is one of the best ways to provide you with the opportunities to improve and maximize your CRS points score to qualify for permanent residence under Express Entry. Earning CRS points can be a challenge. If obtaining Canadian permanent residence is your goal, then there are things that you can do to improve your chances of earning an ITA by increasing your CRS points score. The ideal applicant will have a combination of foreign and Canadian work experience, two post secondary educational credentials and strong proficiency in English and / or French. The good news is that there are options for you to improve your CRS point score to enable you to become a Canadian permanent resident. Catherine Sas, Q.C. has over 25 years of legal experience. She provides a full range of immigration services and is a leading immigration practitioner (Lexpert, Whos Who Legal, Best Lawyers in Canada). Go to canadian-visa-lawyer.com or email [email protected]. Cardholders with the Fraser Valley Regional Library (FVRL) can now see millions of stars up close, thanks to a Playground lending collection. People can take out one of 50 telescopes. The Mission Heritage Association donated seven. FVRL had been looking for another engaging STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) experience to add to its Playground lending collections, notes Heather Scoular, Director of Customer Experience. Telescopes contribute to the whole STEAM learning concept, particularly in the areas of science and technology. Libraries are repositories of knowledge. They are a place where people come together to learn, says Brian Antonson, President of the Mission Heritage Association. As part of the launch celebrations, FVRL will be hosting an Astronomer Series at the Terry Fox Library on Apr. 26 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Maple Ridge Public Library on May 10 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Customers can learn more about the universe from local expert Christa van Laerhoven. Other STEAM experiences with FVRLs Playground include a lending collection of Sphero SPRK+s (app-enabled robotic balls) and ukuleles. In-library experiences include virtual reality, green screens, Makey Makeys, and KEVA Planks. For more information, please visit www.fvrl.ca. Independent elementary schools in British Columbia continue to outperform the provinces public schools. The Report Card on British Columbias Elementary Schools, 2018 ranks 946 public and independent elementary schools based on 10 academic indicators derived from the province-wide Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) results. The report card provides parents with information they cant easily get anywhere else about how their childs school is performing over time and compared to other schools across the province, said Peter Cowley, director of school performance studies at the Fraser Institute. Of those 22 public schools ranked in the top 102 spots, nine are located in West Vancouver including the top-ranked Cedardale and West Bay Elementary. Other schools in the top 10 elementary schools include Crofton House, Vancouver College, West Point Grey and York House of Vancouver, Southridge of Surrey, and Holy Cross and Our Lady of Mercy in Burnaby. Some other secondary schools in the top 10 include Little Flower and St. Georges in Vancouver, Relevant in Surrey, Collingwood in West Vancouver, Southpointe in Delta and Timothy Christian in Chilliwack. Contrary to common misconceptions, according to previous research, families with children enrolled in most independent schools in B.C. have an average (after tax) income only 1.9 per cent higher than parents with children in public schools. Simply put, differences in parental income do not appear to explain the differences in the overall ratings of independent and public schools, Cowley said. The report card also spotlights schools that are improving or falling behind. This year, 16 of the 20 fastest-improving schools are public schools. Parkview Elementary in Sicamousthe fastest-improving school province-widehas improved its overall rating from 2.8 to 6.6 between 2013 and 2017. Woodland Park Elementary in Surrey improved its overall rating from 5.2 to 7.0 over the same four-year period. All too often we hear excuses that public schools cant improve student performance because of the communities and the students they serve, but the evidence suggests otherwise, Cowley said. For the complete results on all ranked schools, please visit www.compareschoolrankings.org. The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2018 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement What a 'new deal' over Iran might look like Washington, April 24 (AFP) Apr 24, 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday proposed a "new deal" to address President Donald Trump's many concerns about the existing nuclear pact with Iran. Here is a look at what may be in the works, and the challenges a new deal could entail. - Macron's proposal - In a press conference at the White House, Macron said the 2015 Iran nuclear deal did not go far enough, while crediting it for allowing the international community "some control" over Iran's nuclear activities. Other areas still need addressing, he said, namely: Iran's nuclear activities after 2025 when so-called sunset clauses in the current deal kick in; Iran's ballistic missile activities; and a political means to limit Iran's activities in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, supports Hezbollah militias in Lebanon and backs Yemen's Huthi rebels, who are locked in a war with a Saudi-led coalition. "It's not about tearing apart an agreement and having nothing, but it's about building something new that will cover all of our concerns," Macron said. The French president said France and its allies want "sustainable stability," following months of Trump anger at the original Iran deal and threats to back out of it. "I believe that the discussions we've had together make it possible to ... pave the way for a new agreement, an agreement on which we will work, and beyond our European partners, we would like to involve the regional powers, and of course, Russia and Turkey," he said. Macron indicated his suggestion was for a separate accord that would run alongside the current deal. "I'm not saying that we move from one agreement to another," he said. The proposal appears to repackage a solution previously floated by the Europeans to meet Trump's demands, by taking a tougher line on Iranian missile activity and Tehran's regional influence, but without ripping up the existing nuclear deal. - What's at stake - With a hollowed-out State Department, even a transatlantic deal could prove an epic undertaking for the Trump administration, and Iran has already signalled that any talk of curbing its missile program is off limits. Further, Trump has shown little appetite for international deal-making. The existing nuclear deal was struck in 2015 after 21 months of grueling diplomacy. In return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions, Iran froze its nuclear program, ending a 12-year standoff with the West, which worried it was developing a nuclear bomb. Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany signed off on the deal that, among other things, requires Iran to slash the amount of uranium it can enrich. - Trump's view - Trump has continually lambasted the accord signed by his predecessor Barack Obama, calling it at one point the "worst deal ever." On Tuesday, he described it as "insane," and in October he refused to certify that Iran was respecting its commitments on the pact -- though he stopped short of walking away altogether. At least on first blush, the US leader appeared receptive to trying to reach some sort of grand bargain. "I think we will have a great shot at doing a much bigger, maybe, deal," said Trump, stressing that any new accord would have to be built on "solid foundations." "They should have made a deal that covered Yemen, that covered Syria, that covered other parts of the Middle East," said Trump. The next decision deadline for Trump on the Iran deal is May 12. "We're going to see what happens," he said. Saudi Arabia claims killing of Yemen rebel leader Riyadh, April 25 (AFP) Apr 25, 2018 Saudi Arabia has confirmed it was behind the air strike that killed the number two leader of Yemen's Huthi rebels last week, with insurgents warning they would avenge his death. "The heroes of the Royal Air Force were able to successfully target the leader of the Huthi militia Saleh al-Sammad," Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Khaled bin Salman, tweeted late Tuesday. Sammad, head of the Huthis' supreme political council, was killed Thursday in the western province of Hodeida, the Iran-allied rebels said. The Huthis are battling the Saudi-backed Yemeni government -- and a military coalition spearheaded by Riyadh -- for control of the impoverished country. Prince Khaled said the strike was overseen by his brother, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after Sammad threatened a wave of missile strikes against Saudi Arabia. Prince Mohammed, who is also the Saudi defence minister, has been the driving force behind Riyadh's intervention in the devastating Yemen war. The conflict has claimed nearly 10,000 lives in three years and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine. Sammad is the most senior Huthi leader to have been killed since the coalition intervened in March 2015 and his death is a major blow to the Shiite rebels. The killing sparked threats of revenge by rebel chief Abdul Malek al-Huthi on Monday, who warned the "crime" would not "go unanswered". The Huthis have this year regularly launched ballistic missiles into Saudi Arabia, which shares a land border with northern Yemen. One person has been killed in the attacks. Ports in Yemen, which is dependent on food imports for the survival of the population, remain blockaded by the Saudi-led coalition in retaliation for the missile strikes. The United Nations has called the Yemen war the world's largest humanitarian catastrophe. Iran deal 'needs to be preserved': EU's Mogherini Brussels, April 25 (AFP) Apr 25, 2018 The EU's diplomatic chief insisted Wednesday that the current Iran nuclear deal was working and "needs to be preserved", after US President Donald Trump and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron called for a new agreement with Tehran. The landmark 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear programme is hanging in the balance, with Trump threatening to walk away from the accord unless it is expanded to include Iran's ballistic missile programme and regional activities by a May 12 deadline. Trump slammed the deal as "insane" at the White House with Macron on Tuesday but said there was a "great shot" at a new accord, while Macron said he wanted to work for a new arrangement. The EU's Federica Mogherini, who has staunchly defended the deal, said Wednesday that it was working and was "essential for European security" but appeared to leave the door open for some new arrangement. "On what can happen in the future we'll see in the future, but there is one deal existing, it's working, it needs to be preserved," the former Italian foreign minister said as she arrived for a donor conference on Syria in Brussels. Europe, led by Britain, France and Germany, has repeatedly tried to persuade Trump not to abandon the 2015 deal, which gave Iran massive sanctions relief and the guarantee of a civilian nuclear programme in return for limiting enrichment that could produce weapons grade fuel. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will renew those calls when she follows Macron to Washington on Friday. Airbus and Dassault to team up on combat fighter Berlin, April 25 (AFP) Apr 25, 2018 Airbus and Dassault Aviation announced Wednesday they intend to team up on the development of a French-German combat fighter, a project Paris and Berlin unveiled last year. The two firms "have decided to join forces for the development and production of Europe's Future Combat Air System," or FCAS, which is intended to enter service by 2040, they said in a joint statement released at the Berlin air show. The French and German governments are expected to make an announcement during the air show about their intention to move forward with the project. Airbus and Dassault have been rivals in the development of combat aircraft. Dassault builds the Rafale which is France's main fighter jet, while the defence arm of Airbus based in Germany is a partner in the Eurofighter Typhoon which is used by several European nations, including Germany. Dassault's chief executive Eric Trappier told journalists that the two firms had reached an agreement in principle to work together. He called it "a first message to tell (policymakers) we are ready in the field of a future air combat system". The chief executive of Airbus's defence unit, Dirk Hoke, called the project a "huge step forward" in ensuring the development of technologies needed to ensure European sovereignty. "It can only be done, not only when the governments work together, but when key industrial partners team up," he said. - Drones, cruise missiles - The teaming up of Dassault and Airbus all but means that they will lead the development of the FCAS, which in addition to a new combat aircraft also plans to include drones and cruise missiles. Britain had agreed with France in 2014 to develop a new fighter aircraft, but Brexit has in practice put those plans on ice, and thus freezing out BAE Systems, which builds the Eurofighter Typhoon together with Airbus. The only other firm in the EU which produces fighter jets is Sweden's Saab. Howard Wheeldon, an analyst with Wheeldon Strategic Advisory who follows the defence and aerospace sectors, welcomed the development of a new European combat jet. "But this is going to be a very costly high risk investment for two countries to share and no guarantee of sales to others," he told AFP. "In or out of the European Union, the UK needs to be part of this development project and it also needs NATO behind it." In a column published earlier this month in the La Tribune newspaper, French Defence Minister Florence Parly, said defence cooperation would continue with Britain and projects could later be integrated into SCAF. On Thursday, Parly and her German counterpart Ursula von der Leyen are expected to sign at the air show a document outlining what capacities they are seeking and inviting firms to develop proposals. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who visited the air show on Wednesday, praised Franco-German cooperation in the defence sector. "Franco-German cooperation always spurs European cooperation and in this way are bringing to life more and more the European Defence Union" under which EU nations can collaborate in defence outside of NATO, she said. dar-dlm/rl/ser DASSAULT AVIATION Iran rejects any new nuclear deal proposed by US, France Tehran, April 25 (AFP) Apr 25, 2018 Iran's President Hassan Rouhani rejected any hopes of rewriting a nuclear deal with world powers Wednesday, after the leaders of the United States and France suggested a new pact covering Tehran's missile programme and regional interventions. "We have an agreement called the JCPOA," said Rouhani in a fiery speech, using the technical name for the 2015 deal that curbed Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. "It will either last or not. If the JCPOA stays, it stays in full." He was responding to statements in Washington by French President Emmanuel Macron and his US counterpart Donald Trump, in which they proposed a new deal with tougher restrictions on Iran. Trump called the existing accord "insane" and "ridiculous", despite European pleas for him not to walk away, and demanded fresh curbs on Iran's ballistic missile programme and support for militant groups across the Middle East. Macron said a new agreement should include a settlement on Syria, where Iran backs President Bashar al-Assad. In Iran, Rouhani responded by ridiculing Trump, saying: "You have no expertise in politics, nor in law, nor in international accords. "A trader, a businessman, a high-rise builder, how can he judge about global issues?" Iran has the support of all other parties to the accord, who say it is working and Tehran has stuck to its commitments. On Wednesday, EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini insisted the deal must be maintained. "On what can happen in the future we'll see in the future, but there is one deal existing, it's working, it needs to be preserved," the former Italian foreign minister said as she arrived for a donor conference on Syria in Brussels. Moscow also reiterated its support, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters: "We believe that no alternative exists so far" and demanding that Iran be involved in any further discussions. - Looming decision - Macron, who has built a warm rapport with Trump, has positioned himself as an emissary for European officials seeking a compromise that allows the mercurial US president to claim a public victory, while keeping the deal intact. The Europeans appear to be hoping they can sell Trump on the idea of broader regional settlement with Iran that would complement, rather than replace, the existing nuclear deal. "The biggest priority is maintaining the existing nuclear accord. It was negotiated by seven countries and the EU and can't be renegotiated by one or other party," said German foreign spokesman Rainer Breul. "President Macron... spoke of the need for supplementary agreements. The question is whether, and in what circumstances, Iran would be ready to enter into such a process," he added. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to press the European case again when she visits Washington on Friday. For now, Macron admitted he could still not read whether Trump would simply walk away from the existing deal when it comes up for renewal on May 12, as he has threatened. True to his background in reality TV, Trump has kept everyone guessing. "This is a deal with decayed foundations," he said. "We're going to see what happens on the 12th." Iran has warned it will ramp up enrichment if Trump scraps the accord, prompting a blunt warning from the US leader. "They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before. And you can mark it down," Trump said. - Oliver Stone 'shocked' - The French president's pomp-filled, three-day visit was not welcomed by one long-time critic of US foreign policy, Oliver Stone, who happened to be in Tehran for a film festival on Wednesday. The director told AFP he was "particularly shocked" to see Macron standing alongside President Donald Trump, calling for a revision of the nuclear deal. "To see this young man, who doesn't have much of a sense of history or memory of the great traditions of France... was very depressing," Stone said. Hawkish American officials take the opposite view -- that the Europeans, particularly Germany, oppose a tougher stance against Iran to safeguard their business interests there. That is sharply rejected by European officials, who are increasingly frustrated at spending time handling Trump's complaints rather than focusing on the deepening crises of the Middle East. The disagreement threatens to plunge transatlantic relations to their lowest point since the Iraq War, despite the lavish welcome Trump put on for Macron's state visit. And meanwhile, Western countries have found themselves increasingly sidelined from issues such as the Syrian war -- underlined again on Wednesday when Iran, Russia and Turkey announced a new summit to discuss the conflict this Saturday in Moscow. burs-er/mm UN chief says Iran nuclear deal must be preserved United Nations, United States, April 25 (AFP) Apr 25, 2018 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres believes the Iran nuclear deal must be preserved but that this achievement can be strengthened, his spokesman said Wednesday. French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday opened the door to a new deal with Iran that would build on the nuclear agreement, following talks at the White House with President Donald Trump. Guterres believes that the Iran nuclear deal is "very important and it should be maintained," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. But he added: "We must build on this important achievement to preserve the non-proliferation regime which is a cornerstone of our global security." Guterres met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday to discuss the landmark 2015 deal that calls for curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. The agreement was endorsed in a resolution adopted by the Security Council. In his meeting with Zarif, Guterres also stressed the importance of political talks to end the wars in Syria and in Yemen, where Iran is involved militarily. Trump has set a May 12 deadline for the Europeans to "fix" the agreement or else he will not waive sanctions on Iran or could ditch the deal altogether. Macron said a "new deal" with Iran would keep the nuclear add and three other "pillars" in response to Trump's concerns: Tehran's missile program, its regional influence and restrictions on its nuclear program that expire in 2025. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday rejected changes to the nuclear agreement saying that if the deal stays in place "it stays in full." Iran rejects new deal as France vows it will never get atomic weapons Tehran, April 25 (AFP) Apr 25, 2018 Iran's President Hassan Rouhani rejected any hopes of rewriting a nuclear deal with world powers Wednesday, while his French counterpart vowed to US lawmakers that everything would be done to stop Iran ever acquiring atomic weapons. In their different ways, Europe, Iran and Russia are all seeking to convince US President Donald Trump not to abandon the landmark 2015 deal that curbed Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump has called the existing accord "insane" and "ridiculous", in part because its restrictions start to expire in 2025. But addressing the US Congress on the last of his pomp-filled, three-day visit to Washington, French President Emmanuel Macron said: "Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons. Not now. Not in five years. Not in 10 years. Never." He has proposed an additional deal that extends Iran's nuclear restrictions while also curbing its ballistic missile programme and support for militias in the Middle East. In Iran, Rouhani took a more aggressive tack, reiterating that the Islamic republic would not accept any changes to the deal. "We have an agreement called the JCPOA," said Rouhani in a fiery speech, using its technical name. "It will either last or not. If the JCPOA stays, it stays in full." From Europe, a host of voices have urged Trump to build on the deal, rather than tear it up. "On what can happen in the future we'll see in the future, but there is one deal existing, it's working, it needs to be preserved," said EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini as she arrived for a Syria donor conference in Brussels. Moscow also reiterated its support, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters: "We believe that no alternative exists so far" to the nuclear deal, and demanding that Iran be involved in any further discussions. The next to press the point will be German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she visits Washington on Friday. "The biggest priority is maintaining the existing nuclear accord. It was negotiated by seven countries and the EU and can't be renegotiated by one or other party," said German foreign spokesman Rainer Breul. "President Macron... spoke of the need for supplementary agreements. The question is whether, and in what circumstances, Iran would be ready to enter into such a process," he added. - 'A high-rise builder' - Rouhani's speech was particularly fiery, ridiculing Trump as "a trader, a businessman, a high-rise builder, how can he judge about global issues? "You have no expertise in politics, nor in law, nor in international accords," he said. Iran has the support of all other parties to the accord, who say it is working and Tehran has stuck to its commitments. Macron, who has built a warm rapport with Trump, has positioned himself as an emissary for European officials seeking a compromise that allows the mercurial US president to claim a public victory, while keeping the deal intact. But for now, even Macron had to admit he could not read whether Trump would simply walk away from the existing deal when the renewal deadline arrives on May 12. True to his background in reality TV, Trump has kept everyone guessing. "This is a deal with decayed foundations," he said. "We're going to see what happens on the 12th." Iran has warned it will ramp up enrichment if Trump scraps the accord, prompting a blunt warning from the US leader. "They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before. And you can mark it down," Trump said. - Oliver Stone 'shocked' - The French president's lavish visit to Washington did not impress one long-time critic of US foreign policy, Hollywood director Oliver Stone, who happened to be in Tehran for a film festival on Wednesday. Stone told AFP he was "particularly shocked" to see Macron standing alongside Trump, calling for a revision of the nuclear deal. "To see this young man, who doesn't have much of a sense of history or memory of the great traditions of France... was very depressing," he said. Hawkish American officials take the opposite view -- that the Europeans, particularly Germany, oppose a tougher stance against Iran to safeguard their business interests there. That is sharply rejected by European officials, who are increasingly frustrated at spending time handling Trump's complaints rather than focusing on the deepening crises of the Middle East. The disagreement threatens to plunge transatlantic relations to their lowest point since the Iraq war, despite the lavish welcome Trump put on for Macron's state visit. And meanwhile, Western countries have found themselves increasingly sidelined from issues such as the Syrian war -- underlined again on Wednesday when Iran, Russia and Turkey announced a new summit to discuss the conflict this Saturday in Moscow. burs-er/dv Optimization Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should? Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools. Political Poison The Fraught Cold War History of Novichok The attack on former spy Sergei Skripal thrust the nerve agent Novichok into the spotlight. For many, it was the first time they had heard of the poison, but it has long been a bone of contention between Moscow and the West. Tanzania, April 25, 2018 (SPS) - the Tanzania Saharawi Solidarity committee (TASSC) has strongly condemned the systematic violation of human rights of the Gdiem Izik group political prisoners, calling on all the human rights defender to do the same, in press release o copy of which received by SPS The Tanzania Saharawi Solidarity committee has also called for the immediate and unconditional release of the Gdiem Izk group and all the prisoners of political conscience held by the Moroccan Authorities, as we do not approve of the trial process through which they were sentenced. It has appealed the United Nations Organization to heavily sanction the Kingdom of Morocco for the continued violation of human rights and disrespect of international instruments including a number of UN resolutions regarding the question of Western Sahara, demanding the immediate extension of MINURSOs mandate for the protection of the innocent Saharawi civilian from the barbaric acts of the Moroccan Kingdom. We demand the UN special envoy for Western Sahara, Mr. Horst Kohler to speed up the re-launched negotiation process for the long awaited referendum to be held and resolve this conflict once and for all. As we offer our full support to the process we remind the Kingdom that if the current negotiation process will be disrupted in any way like it was done in 2012, the Tanzania Saharawi Solidarity committee will not hesitate to support the Saharawi to take up arms and respond violently to the Kingdom of Morocco including but not limited to joining the Saharawi fighters in the battle field. It adds in its release The Tanzania Saharawi Solidarity committee called upon the AU member states to abide by the principles of the union and immediate suspend the membership of Morocco for her continued violation of Article 20(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples rights, and disrespect of all other Unions instruments. The Tanzania Saharawi Solidarity Committee will continue to offer its moral and material support to the people of Western Sahara in their struggle for self determination until Sahara and all of Africa is finally free. It should be recalled that: It is almost a year now since a Moroccan civilian court concluded a sham trial in which the Gdiem Izik group was subjected to a heavy sentence ranging from twenty years to lifetime sentence. Throughout that period these prisoners have been subjected to a number of abuses and constant harassment which include but not limited to; Confinement in small cells with no good hygienic condition popularly known as coffins, denied access to healthcare, and above all, denied access to their family members by being incarcerated in the Moroccan prisons which are far from their homes. Responding to such tortures, the prisoners decided to wage a hunger strike to demand respect of their rights as guaranteed by various international instruments. However, it is very sad to note that, despite the prisoners worsened condition, and the international communitys outcry, the Moroccan Authorities have not done a thing to rectify the situation. SPS 125/090 Truth and happiness dont go together truth hurts, it brings instability, it ruins the smooth flow of our daily lives. The choice is ours: do we want to be happily manipulated or expose ourselves to the risks of authentic creativity? by Slavoj Zizek ( April 18, 2018, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Now that our media is full of reports and comments on Cambridge Analytica, a key feature of the affair is, as a rule, ignored: the context of Cambridge Analytica makes it clear how cold manipulation and the care for love and human welfare are two sides of the same coin. Tamsin Shaw recently pointed out the central role played by researchers into happiness, like "The World Well-Being Project, a group at the University of Pennsylvanias Positive Psychology Center that specialises in the use of big data to measure health and happiness in order to improve well-being, then there is Aleksandr Kogan, who also works in the field of positive psychology and has written papers on happiness, kindness, and love (according to his resume, an early paper was called Down the Rabbit Hole: A Unified Theory of Love). Why does such research on authentic happiness and well-being draw so much interest from intelligence agencies and defence contractors? This link is not externally imposed on the behavioural sciences by bad political manipulators but is implied by their immanent orientation: their aim is to discover means by which we can be nudged in the direction of our true well-being as positive psychologists understand it. This nudging does not make individuals overcome their irrationalities: contemporary behavioural sciences aim to exploit our irrationalities since they view us as manipulable subjects rather than rational agents. All this is extensively covered by our media, and we are getting a terrifying image of the new forms of social control which make the good old 20th-century totalitarianism a rather primitive and clumsy machine. To grasp the full scope of this control, we should move beyond the link between private corporations and political parties to the interpenetration of data processing companies like Google or Facebook and state security agencies. The biggest achievement of the new cognitive-military complex is that direct and obvious oppression is no longer necessary: individuals are much better controlled and nudged in the desired direction when they continue to experience themselves as free and autonomous agents of their own life. But all these are well-known facts, and we have to go a step further. It is not enough to demystify the innocent-sounding research into happiness and to bring out a hidden gigantic complex of social control and manipulation that uses it. What is urgently needed is also the opposite move: we should focus on the form itself. Is the topic of scientific research of human welfare and happiness (at least the way it is practised today) really so innocent, or is it already in itself permeated by the stance of control and manipulation? What if sciences are here not just misused, what if they find here precisely their proper use? We should question the recent rise of a new discipline: happiness studies. As is often the case, Bhutan, a developing Third World country, naively spelled out the absurd socio-political consequences of this notion of happiness: two decades ago, the kingdom of Bhutan decided to focus on Gross National Happiness (GNH) rather than Gross National Product (GNP); the idea was the brainchild of ex-king Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who sought to steer Bhutan into the modern world, while preserving its unique identity. The Oxford-educated new king, 27-year-old Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, ordered a state agency to calculate how happy the kingdoms 670,000 people are. The main concerns were identified as psychological well-being, health, education, good governance, living standards, community vitality and ecological diversity: this is cultural imperialism, if there ever was one. No wonder that, two decades ago, ethnic cleansing was conducted since it was discovered that the presence of a strong non-Buddhist minority is an obstacle to the happiness of the Buddhist majority. We should date to take an even further step and enquire into the hidden side of the notion of happiness itself when, exactly, can a people be said to be happy? In a country like Czechoslovakia in the late 1970s and 1980s, people in a way effectively were happy: three fundamental conditions of happiness were fulfilled there. Firstly, their material needs were basically satisfied not too satisfied, since the excess of consumption can in itself generate unhappiness. It is good to experience a brief shortage of some goods on the market from time to time (no coffee for a couple of days, then no beef, then no TV sets): these brief periods of shortage functioned as exceptions which reminded people that they should be glad that the goods were generally available. Life thus went on in a regular and predictable way, without any great efforts or shocks, one was allowed to withdraw into ones private niche. Secondly, the Communist Party was conveniently blamed for everything that went wrong, so that one did not feel really responsible if there was a temporary shortage of some goods, even if there a stormy weather caused great damage, it was their guilt. Thirdly, last but not least, there was an Other Place (the consumerist West) about which one was allowed to dream, and even visit sometimes this place was just at the right distance, not too far, not too close. This fragile balance was disturbed by what? By desire, precisely. Desire was the force which compelled the people to move beyond and end up in a system in which the large majority is definitely less happy. Happiness is something confused and inconsistent recall the proverbial answer of a German immigrant to the US who, when asked Are you happy?, answered: Yes, yes, I am very happy, aber gluecklich bin ich nicht It is a pagan category: for pagans, the goal of life is to live a happy life no wonder Dalai Lama himself is having such a success recently preaching around the world the gospel of happiness, and no wonder he is finding the greatest response precisely in the US, this ultimate empire of the (pursuit of) happiness. In our daily lives, we (pretend to) desire things which we do not really desire, so that, ultimately, the worst thing that can happen is for us to get what we officially desire. Happiness is thus inherently hypocritical: it is the happiness of dreaming about things we really do not want. Do we not encounter a similar gesture in much of leftist politics? In the UK, many leftists privately admit that the near-victory of the Labour Party in the last elections was the best thing it could have happened, much better than the insecurity of what might have happened in the Labour government would have tried to implement its programme. The same holds for the prospect of Bernie Sanders eventual victory: what would have been his chances against the onslaught of the big capital? The mother of all such gestures is the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia which crushed the Prague Spring and its hope of democratic socialism. Without this intervention, the reformist government would have to confront the fact that there was no real possibility of a democratic Socialism at that historical moment, so it would have to choose between reasserting the party control and allowing Czechoslovakia to become one of the Western liberal-democratic capitalism. The Soviet intervention saved the Prague Spring as a dream, as a hope that, without the intervention, a new form of democratic Socialism might have emerged. And did not something similar occur in Greece when the Syriza government organised the referendum against Brussels pressure to accept the austerity politics? The government was secretly hoping to lose the referendum, in which case it would have to step down and leave it to others to perform the dirty job of austerity. Since they won, this task fell to themselves, and the result was the self-destruction of the radical Left in Greece. Without any doubt, Syriza would have been much happier if it lost the referendum. So, back to our starting point, not only are we controlled and manipulated, happy people secretly and hypocritically demand even to be manipulated for their own good. Truth and happiness dont go together truth hurts, it brings instability, it ruins the smooth flow of our daily lives. The choice is ours: do we want to be happily manipulated or expose ourselves to the risks of authentic creativity? The fundamental tenet of monotheistic belief propagates the notion of a Creator. A Creator who is responsible for the creation of man and everything else. by Mass L. Usuf ( April 18, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Why am I addressing the Sinhalese people? Firstly, because they are the majority community in this country. Secondly, the group of hooligans who caused the several acts of terror and mayhem were Sinhalese. Thirdly, it is the majority of the Sinhalese people who follow Buddhism. Fourthly, the Sinhala race like any other is unique. Before anyones imagination begins to run riot, let me explain why is a Muslim worried about the Sinhala race. Especially, at a time when the Sri Lankan Muslims hold the World Record for the discovery of the Wanda Pethi, the alleged sterilisation pill in food. (Please see my article, The Non-Existent Wanda Pethi in Sri Lanka Guardian of Mar 5, 2018). In the study of Islamic sociology, races constitute a vital component that go to strengthen the social structure. Therefore, there is no issue for a Muslim to accept, without prejudice, the existence of racial heterogeneity. Islam makes no distinction between black, white, yellow or brown coloured persons. Moreover, stratification of humans into castes, as lower or higher, is alien to Islamic sociology. The fundamental tenet of monotheistic belief propagates the notion of a Creator. A Creator who is responsible for the creation of man and everything else. This concept of God as the Creator and that all humans are His creation naturally, establishes a sense of equity amongst mankind. In the clear absence of discrimination logically, a Muslim cannot be a racist. For the Muslims, the Sinhala race is just another of Gods creation which as Muslims we do not have an issue in acknowledging, accommodating and understanding. Quite beside theological expositions, from the viewpoint of a civilised and democratic perspective too, we all are equal citizens of this country Sinhalese, Muslims, Tamils, Malays, Burghers etc. Historically, one way or the other the Muslims, like the other communities, are a commixture of this Sinhala race. From Pearl To Pariah The ruffians who committed acts of terror and destruction in Digana and other areas in the name of protecting the so called Sinhala Buddhist nation need to be stopped. And, if you, the Sinhalese people do not step up to this act, it will be immoral to consider yourself as belonging to the Sinhala race. It will be unethical to claim that you are a follower of Buddhas teachings. You will be unpatriotic to this soil. Your inaction today, will result in your children suffering. Your silent sanctioning of violence against the minorities will further degrade what is left of this country. What the world used to call, as the pearl of the Indian ocean will turn to be a pariah nation internationally. An analysis of the hate campaign, taking advantage of the free social media, clearly indicates certain qualitative characteristics in these extremists. They are exceedingly narrow minded, blindly racist and stupefyingly ignorant deluded by the fantasy of protecting the Sinhala race and Buddhism. That an organised team is directing operations is self-evident. The constant and repeated emphasis on racial contempt and hatred, against the Muslims is obviously premeditated. This, along the way, efficaciously appeals to the lowest and most primitive of human motives and that is one of survival. For the discerning, the pattern of psychological manipulation of the minds of the youth should be disconcerting. The youth are plainly being misled. These are the assets of our country. They are our human capital. These are the youth who are going to run this country tomorrow. Can the Sinhala race be protected by burning houses, shops and places of religious worship? Can the Sinhala race be protected by looting the goods in the business premises and in the houses? Can the Sinhala race be protected by stopping public transport vehicles and grievously assaulting unarmed innocent Muslims? Can the Sinhala race be protected by terrorising men, women and children? How can such violence ensure the protection of a race? The Threat To Buddhism These marauders responsible for the rampage came on vehicles where it was written budu saranai (seeking refuge in buddha). Buddha was a Reformer who was famous for his universal inspiration of non-violence (ahimsa). The tragicomedy is that they come under Buddhas protection to cause death and destruction. Is this ignorance, blind prejudice or the consequences of being brainwashed? Apparently, burdened by the delusion that budu saranai is only for the Sinhalese, rest of humanity is fair game. Is it reasonable to question if Buddha is the personal god or teacher of the Sinhalese only? No budu saranai for the Muslims in this case. Or, like the infamous monk Gnanasara, more a disciple of the terrorist monk Wirathu, than of Buddha, saying aba saranai for the Muslims prior to the Aluthgama pogrom. At the time Buddha was walking in the Ganges plain was there anything resembling Sinhala Bauddhaya? Should not the educated and the intellects check if this is an aberration of the socio-religious institutions? Are not the elders amongst the Buddhist clergy responsible to redirect the trajectory towards the path of the true teachings? Is silence or inaction a choice for the Elder Clergy on the face of a threat to Buddhism and the sasana from within? Seriously, think from where the threat to Buddhism is arising, is it from the Buddhists themselves or from the Muslims. Who Is Protecting What? By this, are these thugs protecting Buddhism and the buddha sasana? These criminals are not only from among the lay Buddhists. There were also monks in robes engaged in acts of violence and mayhem. Screens of televisions worldwide splashed the face of Buddhist atrocities. Are these monks who call themselves the true protectors of Buddhism or do they consider themselves the sincere followers of buddha? This is a complex situation and should be of great concern since it puts this nation to shame. It is a matter of conjecture if these elements are using the teachings of the great sage only to protect their survival. Is it not the time to think about this? In conclusion, it is established that the miscreants are mostly youth. There lies a huge responsibility on the Elder Clergy in all the temples to direct them towards Loving-kindness (metta); Compassion (karuna); Sympathetic Joy (mudita); Equanimity (upekkha). The Mahanayakes must get their act together to discipline the youth monks and bring them within the fold of the true teachings. It is the responsibility of the parents and elders of the community to guide and counsel them and wean the youth away from ill-conceived prejudice and spreading of hate. This country cannot afford to lose its youth population. The End. The betrayal of revolutions is not an uncommon phenomenon in history. The January 2015 change, however, was not a social revolution, but at best a limited electoral revolution. Election betrayals are more common in history than betrayal of revolutions. by Laksiri Fernando ( April 19, 2018, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) For the last three four months, Sri Lanka has not been moving forward as it should have been. The most affected are the economy and the peoples living conditions. Only consolation is that there is no overt political repression by the government despite strong opposition and free criticism. Yet, some of the arrests and detention of the past politicians and officials, because of the selected nature, are popularly perceived as political repression. Reconciliation also has not moved forward except for the handing over of private land by the army, to the dissatisfaction of many moderate Tamil constituencies. Despite early warnings in Ampara, the government failed to protect the Muslim community in Kandy in March. People have been arguing about both the symptoms and causes of this situation and the polity has been deeply divided as how to resolve this conundrum. The Parliament is prorogued almost for a month and at least 16 members of the ruling coalition would be joining the opposition when it recommences its sessions on 8 May or soon thereafter. Then there was a boycott of the Cabinet immediately after the failed no confidence motion (NCM) against the Prime Minister, quite unknown in stable democratic systems. The defeat of the NCM against the PM has failed to restore confidence and stability in the country or in the government. One part of the Cabinet also did not vote for him at the NCM. The reasons perhaps go much deeper than just the tattered confidence in the PM. President and the PM At the centre of this crisis and controversy are the President and the Prime Minister. They worked together to bring about a most necessary political change in January 2015 and collegially worked together for some time thereafter, even after the first bond scam in 2015 that happened under the PMs purview. It was well before the political debacle at the local government elections on 10 February that the conflict first surfaced. The poor results of the divided government only aggravated the situation. The two parties of the President and the PM contested separately and against each other and many of the statements of the President during the election campaign were critical of the PM. It was no secret that the President and his faction of the Cabinet were asking the PM to resign over the bond scam/s and on the issues of economic management and even exploring the constitutional possibilities of removing him as the PM on which many constitutional experts were divided. Throughout these episodes the PM was keeping silent (or cool) and asking his colleagues not to criticise even the Presidents men. One may say he was behaving like a cunning fox an accolade previously given to J. R. Jayewardene by Professor A. J. Wilson. It was in early January that the President requested the Supreme Court to clarify whether he could serve the full six years perhaps suddenly realizing that his previous stance on giving up power, has resulted in the PM becoming the unofficial President or more correctly as an Executive Prime Minister, and taking the country towards uncharted waters both nationally and internationally. The end result has been the further deterioration of relations. Different Interpretations There are several interpretations given to the current situation and crisis by those who were supporting the political change and democratic reforms, after much deterioration under the conditions of war, or even before and after. The present author also belongs to this category. Jehan Perera has expressed the view most recently (President and Prime Minister need to reach an agreement now, 16 April 2018) that the main cause of the rivalry between them is the issue of who will be the next presidential candidate from the present government side. This is a reductionist interpretation which ignores more profound reasons for the conflict like the bond scam, unbalanced foreign policy, sponsoring of the UNHRC resolution, Ranils handling of the economy breaching the UNP-SLFP agreement etc. Dr Jehans diagnosis of the illness is to prescribe a particular predetermined medicine to the patient. He prescribes that the tussle over who should be the presidential candidate could be resolved reforming the presidency to be one that is elected by parliament and with reduced powers as a transitional provision. What he, and others who advocate such a reform, ignores is the profound destabilization effect that it could have in the devolved state system at least in the foreseeable future. Quarrelling Twins? There are others who would like to see the conflict as purely a power struggle and the differences being largely personal or even cultural. Rajan Phillips belongs to this category, Kumar David also bashing the socio-cultural aspects of the President on and off more ferociously. Phillips raises the question Is he the worst leader? (The Sunday Island, 15 April 2018). It is possible that he is trying to defend the embattled Ranil Wickremesinghe because some media organizations have been attacking RW unreasonably in his opinion. However in the process he has aired his own prejudices and expressed his own way of thinking in defending RW. He claims, no one knows for sure what came between the two power-mates that turned Maithripala Sirisena so viciously against his principal political benefactor Ranil Wickremesinghe. He wagers that this is something more personal than political. He says, it could be the PMs superciliousness that may have driven the President to go nuts. However, after sulking for months about the ignominy of decisions being made without any referral to him, about cabinets within cabinets, and committees of outside advisers overseeing cabinet ministers, the President may not have been to handle it any more so he flew off the handle knocking down everything on his flight path. Therefore, Phillips solution is for the PM to become more collegial than supercilious, and the President to be more frank and forthright than sulk and blow? His further proposition is for the civil society mothers and perhaps fathers to baby-sit these quarrelling twins of the January 2015 change! Constitutional Diarchy? Among several of those interpretations for the crisis and conflict between President and the PM, the following structural interpretation by Jayadeva Uyangoda (When Things Fall Apart, 4 March 2018, Colombo Telegraph), might be considered more pertinent except for some ambiguities. He says, The conceptual foundation of the 19th Amendment is a constitutional diarchy, although the framers of the Amendment have not so far used that terminology. It is actually a dual diarchy consisting of the Executive and the Legislature on one hand, and the President and the Prime Minister on the other. The idea of two centers of power a bi-centric constitutional scheme was a response to the executive-led mono-centric framework of government created by the 1978 Constitution and subsequently enhanced by the 18th Amendment. There are of course several interpretations for the horrible term Diarchy in describing a constitutionally dual or a double situation. I wonder whether the constitutional drafters would ever use that term! Initially in Greek times, it meant rule by two kings perhaps would suit explaining the Sri Lankan situation better today (President King and the Prime Minister King!), if the powers were more or less equal between the two under the 19th Amendment. But the present situation is more of one grabbing the powers of the other (see Phillips quotation above), rendering the whole constitutional situation into chaos. In many colonial countries, such mechanisms of Diarchy were associated with the divide and rule policies of colonial masters, although in Sri Lanka, our national leaders didnt mind very much those constitutional traps. However in India it was not the case. Although at first, the Diarchy carrot managed to divide the Indian political elite, under Mohandas Gandhis leadership the non-cooperation and civil disobedience developed. In Uyangodas brilliant analysis, the 19th Amendment has introduced not only Diarchy in the executive branch, but also a Diarchy between the Executive and the Legislature. In his own words, it is actually a dual diarchy! Dual dual or diarchy diarchy! If that is the case (and it appears to be), it is a total betrayal of the Yahapalana mandate which was aimed at bringing the Executive under the hegemony of the Legislature like in a normal parliamentary democracy. It is true that the 1978 Constitution was a mono-centric framework. The Executive could even control the Legislature. However, the democratic or Yahapalana need was to bring the Executive responsible and answerable to the Legislature like in any other parliamentary democracy, and not merely to release the Legislature from the executive clutches. Under the scheme of the second Diarchy, therefore, if the powers of the President could be further curtailed as Jehan Perera has suggested, then the position of the Prime Minister would become more dominant and closer to a system of an Executive Prime Minister. Objectives of the 19th Amendment Apart from this Diarchy business, the confusions in the 19th Amendment are enormous. The confusions are however related to poor drafting, the ambiguous language used and the contradictions created. In terms of its objectives, it appears that the drafters under Ranil Wickremesinghe have very clearly attempted to bring an Executive Prime Minister system into the 19th Amendment. In the initial draft, the Prime Minister was named as the Head of the Cabinet, not the President, on which the Supreme Court ruled that it requires a referendum. It was dropped thereafter. Wickremesinghe has been advocating this idea of an Executive Prime Minister very openly in the past and now is trying to implement it quite stealthily. It is also in pursuing this idea that a proposal before the Constitutional Council has been made to have an Elected Prime Minister. This has not yet been fully successful because of the remaining powers of the President and the Parliament. It is also with this objective in mind that the PM has been running kitchen cabinets, that have generated much displeasure from the President. There is no much difference between an Executive President and an Executive Prime Minister. A system of Diarchy within the Executive or between the Executive and the Legislature is also not healthy for a democracy. When the proposal for an Executive Prime Minister came to the discussion in 2010, a former Secretary General of Parliament, Priyanee Wijesekera, asked the following questions (Sunday Times, 25 July 2010). Is this proposal to establish an office of Executive Prime Minister meant to reintroduce a Westminster type head of Government? Or is it an attempt to transplant the powers of Head of State and Commander of the armed forces into the office of Prime Minster who is eligible to hold office for an unlimited number of terms? A clear cut answer to this would be essential before any other reforms are considered. Who Has Betrayed Whom? The betrayal of revolutions is not an uncommon phenomenon in history. The January 2015 change, however, was not a social revolution, but at best a limited electoral revolution. Election betrayals are more common in history than betrayal of revolutions. Who has betrayed that electoral revolution might be a controversial matter, the views depending on what did you expect from that change, to what extent and in what form. The people at the local government elections have given a (tentative) verdict condemning both parties in the ruling coalition, the UNP and the SLFP. People expected a lot from them, but they have given almost nothing. At an intra-regime level, if Ranil Wickremesinghe and his supporters expected the President to be a mere tool of their machinations, then he appears to have betrayed that hope. But in terms of democratic reforms, democratic functioning of the government, addressing the peoples economic needs and requirements, the main blame should go the Prime Minister and the Cabinet as a whole. The most alarming to me is the Diarchy created within the Executive and between the Executive and the Legislature under the 19th Amendment, which some may consider as a great achievement and an innovative reform. Under the present constitutional arrangements, the President has many responsibilities but no clear possibility of even in dismissing the Prime Minister (without creating a major crisis) who is entangled in a well-established major corruption scandal in the country. This Diarchy is equally dangerous like the ignoble Executive Presidency which even might fall into the wrong hands of Rajapaksas soon because of the mistakes and short-sightedness of the ruling coalition who have completely betrayed the electoral promises. To me, compared to the Prime Minister, the President is not the main culprit. Which issue is most critical to the U.S. right now? Fighting COVID-19 (47%, 15 Votes) Securing the border (41%, 13 Votes) Guarding against terrorism (6%, 2 Votes) Climate Change (6%, 2 Votes) Total Voters: 32 Kvrner ASA: First quarter results 2018: Robust results and order intake 25 April 2018 - Kvaerner's Field Development segment delivered EBITDA results of NOK 205 million. This is a growth of more than 70 percent compared to one year ago when Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the Field Development Segment, ended at NOK 120 million. A strong order intake in the first quarter resulted in an order backlog at the end of first quarter of NOK 11 118 million. One year ago, the order book was NOK 10 841 million. Kvaerner's strategy for increased business from new segments is yielding results. Activities in growth segments already counts for approximately 10 percent of annual revenues. The quarterly revenues for the Field Development Segment were NOK 1 944 million, about the same level as in the first quarter 2017 when it was NOK 2 068 million. "We see that implementation of improvements is yielding several positive effects in parallel. We are continuously reducing our cost base and increasing our productivity, not the least through investments in digitalisation, in our facilities and in competence. We are taking new steps to further increase quality in the work flow, and this has additional impact on both cost and productivity. Hence, we reach both project milestones and quality targets set by the customers. This leads to performance based payments and sound financial results. At the same time, we increase our competitiveness, both in our traditional market and in growth segments", says Idar Eikrem, interim CEO for Kvaerner. Kvaerner has for decades been a leading contractor for delivery of complete topsides and substructures to offshore oil and gas platforms. This will continue to be a key market, while the company's strategy is to also develop more new business in adjacent markets. In mature oil and gas provinces, a certain decline in the demand for new, large offshore platforms is anticipated. In balance, an increase is expected for satellite field tie-backs, including small wellhead platforms and modifications of existing host platforms. In addition, Kvaerner has more than doubled its business for decommissioning of old offshore facilities, and established a solid position for advanced marine operations. The company is also actively pursuing offshore wind power projects. "Our ambition is to further increase activity in growth segments over the next few years. Already in 2018, revenues from such business are expected to be around NOK 700 million. In addition, we have the ongoing extensive upgrading of the Njord A platform", says Eikrem. All current projects in Kvaerner's portfolio are on track. Kvaerner expects a number of small and medium sized prospects in the market to be awarded during 2018 and 2019. Most of these prospects are within Kvaerner's growth segments. In addition, the company sees some few larger prospects in its traditional market for topsides and substructures with expected awards during this year and next year. The presentation including financial appendix can be downloaded from www.kvaerner.com and the link below. ENDS For further information, please contact: Investor inquiries: Ingrid Aarsnes, VP Investor Relations & Communications, Kvaerner, Tel: +47 950 38 364, email: ir@kvaerner.com Media inquiries: Torbjrn Andersen, Head of Communications, Kvaerner, Tel: +47 928 85 542, email: torbjorn.andersen@kvaerner.com About Kvaerner: Kvaerner is a leading provider of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services, and delivers offshore installations and onshore around the world. Kvrner ASA, through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("Kvaerner"), is an international contractor and preferred partner for oil and gas operators and other engineering and fabrication contractors. Kvaerner and its approximately 2 600 HSSE-focused and experienced employees are recognised for delivering some of the world's most amazing and demanding projects. In 2017, Kvaerner's Field Development segment had consolidated annual revenues of NOK 7.6 billion and the company reported an order backlog at 31 March 2018 of NOK 11.1 billion. Kvaerner is publicly listed with the ticker "KVAER" at the Oslo Stock Exchange. For further information, please visit www.kvaerner.com. This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the 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: Kvrner ASA via Globenewswire Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money. Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists. Police are urging the public to trust their instincts following attempts by telephone fraudsters to scam residents in the Stratford area. The callers, who claim to be from the police or trusted companies, have targeted residents over the past week. The first incident occurred when a woman in her 80s was called by a male purporting to be DC Roger from the Fraud Team on Tuesday 24 April 2018. He stated her card had been used at Argos for 900 and told her if she didn't believe him to call 161 and speak with his boss Mr Fletcher. She did this and he confirmed everything that 'DC Roger' had said. She was asked for various account details and then told to go and withdraw 4500 in euros and to keep the phone live whilst doing this. Although the fraudsters were very convincing, the woman trusted her instincts and called her daughter who met her at the Post Office. The woman did not have all the information she needed to withdraw the money and when her daughter questioned her she handed her the phone and the fraudster hung up. No money was stolen. The Post Office said another lady had come in earlier on the 24 April also reporting that she had had a call from DC Roger and to call 161 to confirm this. She was not asked for any money or bank account details other than where she banked and no money was stolen. In another incident, at 3.40pm on 24 April a woman in her 90's received a call from a man saying he was Detective Jones from Scotland Yard. He told her her bank account had been emptied. She did not give the fraudster any information about her account and no money was taken. Not all scammers claim to be from the police and over the weekend a male was called twice by a fraudster claiming to be from BT Openreach to arrange a telephone appointment for Monday 23 April. On Monday the fraudster called and told him that his router was slow and the male agreed to give them access to his computer. They offered him a refund of 204 and he gave his bank details. He also provided a copy of his driving licence and passport via his scanner. They said a new router would arrive on Tuesday 24 April and it didn't. The fraudsters also set up a bitcoin account and a Weston Union account for him and attempted to take money but fortunately his bank stopped it and no money was stolen. He has since contacted his bank to change his bank details and contacted Action Fraud. DI Emma Wright, Head of Warwickshire Police Economic Crime Unit, said "Don't trust anyone who calls you about your bank details. Always hang up and wait 10 minutes to ensure the call has disconnected before making another call. If you want to check they are legitimate, find their number via directory enquiries and call them back. If they are genuine, you should be able to get through to them. You can also check what they are saying is true with your bank. "We are doing a lot to tackle these scams including working with other agencies and an increasing number of bank staff are trained to spot the signs of a scam and raise the alarm (see www.westmercia.police.uk/article/41676/Police-banks-and-Trading-Standards-unite-in-Warwickshire-and-West-Mercia-stopping-over-167000-of-fraud). "We are asking the public to talk to people, particularly elderly relatives or neighbours and to tell them about these cases and ask them not to trust anyone who asks them for their bank details." The judge in charge of the investigation into financial wrongdoing in the case of the disgraced Parque Animal shelter in Torremolinos has confirmed that the unjustified sacrifice of thousands of animals, mainly cats and dogs, between 2008 and 2010 had financial motives. According to the investigations, the non-profit organisation was used to pay the private costs of its president, Carmen Marin, currently in prison for animal cruelty and falsification of documents, and members of her family. The inquiry has now moved onto Marin's two children, her son-in-law and her assistant at the shelter. The actions of the late brother of former mayor Pedro Fernandez Montes are also considered of interest. The lawyer representing the Association for those affected by Parque Animal, Jose Luis Mota, had maintained at the initial trial that there were more people involved than just Marin in the scandal. Now the judge is partially accepting this accusation and Marin's assistant (Felipe Barco, also in prison for animal cruelty) will be called to declare in May, accused of money laundering, having allegedly bought a 14,000-euro car with money from the shelter in 2008. One of Marin's daughters is also accused of money laundering after a payment of 104,384 euros was detected to refit her cosmetic clinic in Los Alamos. Her husband, Marin's son-in-law, is also under investigation for his role in a trading company which was allegedly used as a vehicle for the money laundering. Marin herself could be facing further charges of fraud for ordering the sacrifice of animals despite them being brought to the shelter for protection and normally charging around 60 euros each for services not carried out. In a previous judgment, Marin had been found to use town hall subsidies to repair an elevator in a building she owns. She also used shelter money to fund shopping sprees, rent cars, pay for gym memberships and driving lessons, as well as paying for stays in luxury hotels in Marbella, Lisbon, Marrakech, Boston and Saint Petersburg. Who exactly paid for the independence referendum held in Catalonia on October 1st last year? This was the question raised by Spain's budget minister Cristobal Montoro in an interview with the Spanish daily El Mundo on Monday. The Popular Party politician - whose 2018 spending plan has yet to be approved - has made two puzzling and almost-contradictory claims about how last October's independence referendum in Catalonia was funded. Montoro told El Mundo that he didn't know where the money to finance the Catalan independence referendum had come from. The Spanish government has had direct control of Catalonia since last October's divisive plebiscite - plenty of time, surely, to pore over the region's books and establish how Catalan separatists got their hands on 1.6 million. That's the amount of public money that the Spanish courts maintain was unlawfully squandered on October 2017's independence referendum, although some sources said this week that the actual amount spent on the referendum is closer to 1.9 million. In his apparently revelatory interview with El Mundo, Montoro went on to assert that he did know that the Catalan independence referendum was not funded with public money (thus implying that he at least has an inkling about how it was financed). This came as a surprise, not least because Catalonia's former president Carles Puigdemont and fifteen other Catalan politicians are charged with misappropriating public funds in last October's vote. The judge handling the Catalonia affair, Pablo Llarena, has instructed Montoro to provide concrete proof of his assertion that Spanish taxpayers' money was not used in the referendum. Llarena is right to ask the budget minister to back up his claim, but the burden of proof doesn't only rest with Montoro. The Spanish Supreme Court said that his statements contradicted evidence sources it has collected during its investigation into last October's independence vote - sources that prove, we're to assume, that public money was used to finance the referendum. Well, what are these sources? The Catalan politicians who are currently in exile abroad or in Spanish prisons are, as yet, only charged with the misuse of public funds. They have yet to be proven guilty - although pro-independence Catalan politicians, it seems, are guilty until proven innocent. The politically-charged nature of Spain's treatment of these activists has already reduced their chances of a fair trial. Yet as Germany's Justice Minister Katarina Barley has said, it is the responsibility of Spanish courts to prove that Puigdemont and his followers are guilty of misusing public funds, a crime that carries a prison sentence of up to eight years in Spain. Doing so, said Katarina, won't be easy and if they fail, Puigdemont will be a free man in a free country - i.e. Germany. In the meantime, it's up to Llarena and Montoro to show us the money. The New York Beef Council, in conjunction with Yelp and state beef farmers, is searching for the best burger in New York. After compiling nominations, the beef council announced the 10 semifinalists. The 10 semifinalists will now face off in a public vote. The four burgers with the most votes will advance to the finals. Cast your vote at fortheloveofnybeef.com. Voting ends Sunday. A panel of Yelp Elite judges will visit the four finalists and evaluate the burgers on appearance, taste, texture and proper cooking on a scale of 1 to 10. The burger that receives the most points wins. Of the 10 burgers that advanced to the next round, six are from Central New York. Take a look at the 10 semi-finalists: Stephen D. Cannerelli Ale 'n' Angus Pub - Power Play Burger The Power Play Burger from Ale 'n' Angus Pub in Syracuse. Address: 238 Harrison St., Syracuse. Website Don't Edit Allie Healy ahealy@syracuse.com The Blarney Stone - Blarney Burger The Blarney Burger from The Blarney Stone in Syracuse. Address: 314 Avery Ave., Syracuse. Website Don't Edit New York Beef Council Madison Bistro - Elvis Burger The Elvis Burger from Madison Bistro in Wampsville. Address: 135 N. Court St., Wampsville. Website Don't Edit New York Beef Council The Wine Bar at Mirbeau - Mirbeau Burger The Mirbeau Burger from The Wine Bar at Mirbeau in Skaneateles. Address: 851 W. Genesee Street Road, Skaneateles. Website Don't Edit New York Beef Council Uncle's Tavern - Infused Bacon Burger The Infused Bacon Burger from Uncle's Tavern in New York Mills. Address: 435 Main St., New York Mills. Website Don't Edit Don't Edit Scott Trimble | strimble@syracuse.com Dino's House of Burgers - The Dino Burger The Dino Burger from Dino's House of Burgers in Oswego. Address: 7 W. Bridge St., Oswego. Website Don't Edit New York Beef Council Crazy Otto's Empire Diner - Loose Caboose The Loose Caboose burger from Crazy Otto's Empire Diner in Herkimer. Address: 100 W. Albany St., Herkimer. Website Don't Edit New York Beef Council The Grill at the Dome - Stuffed Banana Pepper Burger The Stuffed Banana Pepper Burger from The Grill at the Dome in Tonawanda. Address: 175 Brompton Road, Tonawanda. Website Don't Edit New York Beef Council Terrapin - Hudson Valley Cattle Company Burger The Hudson Valley Cattle Company Burger from Terrapin in Rheinbeck. Address: 6426 Montgomery St., Rhinebeck. Website Don't Edit New York Beef Council Millbrook Cafe - Walbridge Farm Angus Beef Burger The Walbridge Farm Angus Beef Burger from Millbrook Cafe in Millbrook. Address: 3288 Franklin Ave., Millbrook. Website Don't Edit Don't Edit For more information about the contest and to vote for your favorite burger, visit fortheloveofnybeef.com. Karen Tumulty is a Washington Post columnist covering national politics. She joined The Post in 2010 from Time magazine and has also worked at the Los Angeles Times. By Karen Tumulty | The Washington Post President Donald Trump just dumped White House physician Ronny Jackson, his ill-chosen nominee to become the Veterans Affairs secretary. Oh, Trump still insists he supports the well-liked doctor, but make no mistake about it: Jackson has been shown the door. When Trump was asked about the troubled nomination during a joint news conference alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump claimed: "I said to Dr. Jackson, what do you need it for?" "The fact is I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. What does he need it for? To be abused by a bunch of politicians that aren't thinking nicely about our country? I really don't think personally he should do it but it's totally his -- I would stand behind him -- totally his decision," Trump said. Jackson, a Navy rear admiral, was a poor selection from the start, given his lack of experience at running anything that resembles the gargantuan agency that features more than 375,000 employees and a budget that exceeds $185 billion. Then came word late Monday that his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs was being delayed because of allegations the panel received regarding Jackson's oversight of the White House medical staff, as well as his conduct while in that job. The president did not pretend to make an argument that Jackson is actually qualified for the job of running a department that Trump has insisted is one of his top priorities. Instead, he said pretty much the opposite: "I know there's an experience problem, because lack of experience. But there's an experience problem -- the Veterans Administration is very important to me." Trump should not blame the ugliness of the confirmation process, when the real fault is entirely his own. Again and again, this president has made personnel decisions the way he did on "Celebrity Apprentice": based on his own whims, rather than anything that resembles a conventional vetting process. In this case, it was Trump's impulsive decision to abruptly fire David Shulkin, the previous VA secretary, with a tweet, and replace him with a doctor known mostly for an effusively rosy public assessment of the president's own health. At the news conference, Trump repeated -- no fewer than six times -- the question he claimed to have put to Jackson: What does Jackson need this job for? But if the president had actually posed that question, the nominee apparently did not get the message. On Tuesday afternoon, Jackson was still making the rounds of Senate offices on Capitol Hill. Pulled aside in a hallway by NBC News, Jackson expressed disappointment that the committee had postponed his appearance, and said, "I'm looking forward to the hearing, so we can sit down and I can explain everything to everyone and answer all the senators' questions." Now, it looks like that opportunity may never come. So yes, in one sense, it was reasonable that Trump would ask why Jackson would want a post for which he was completely unqualified, or be willing to endure the process of getting it. The problem is, Trump should have done that before he offered it. State Sen. John DeFrancisco said Wednesday he has decided to stop actively campaigning for governor after a large block of his supporters switched sides to back Marc Molinaro for the Republican nomination. "With the chairs that were in my corner changing their endorsement, it makes my path forward very difficult at this point," DeFrancisco, R-DeWitt, told syracuse.com in an interview. "I'm not going to get out of the race," DeFrancisco said. "But it's just a fact of life that the chances are very slim, and Molinaro is going to be the nominee unless something very unexpected happens." DeFrancisco said the final blow to his campaign was Nassau County Republican Chairman Joseph Mondello's endorsement Tuesday of Molinaro. Nassau County will have the second largest share (9.6 percent) of the weighted vote at the Republican nominating convention in May, just behind Suffolk County (9.9 percent) whose chairman had also endorsed Molinaro. DeFrancisco said he understood why many of his GOP supporters switched sides after Mondello's endorsement. "There is no clear path to the nomination because of that development," he said. "It's still a possibility, but it's very unlikely." Eight Republican county committee chairs who had backed DeFrancisco decided to switch their support to Molinaro over the past two days, including DeFrancisco loyalists in Central New York from Oswego, Madison and Oneida counties. Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive, now says he has locked up 74.25 percent of the weighted committee vote at the GOP convention. Any candidate with more than 50 percent of the weighted vote automatically receives the Republican nomination. DeFrancisco previously said he would take his fight to the convention floor, where committee members are not bound to support the same candidate as their county chairs. But he said Wednesday that strategy probably won't work because many GOP members will not make the trip to New York City for the convention, and will allow their county chairs to cast a proxy vote. DeFrancisco said he believes that Molinaro, who formally launched his campaign April 2, still has not been properly vetted by Republican and Conservative Party leaders. The senator called for a series of debates so that officials can learn where Molinaro stands on important issues. But New York Republican Chairman Ed Cox and Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long apparently had no interest in holding the debates, DeFrancisco said. "I sent each of them a letter two weeks ago, and I haven't had the courtesy of a response," DeFrancisco said of Cox and Long. DeFrancisco, 71, who has spent more than 40 years in politics, said he still has no plans to seek re-election to the 50th District New York State Senate seat he has held since 1992. The senator said he will attend a handful of previously planned Republican events that were on his schedule as part of his campaign for governor. "I will be going to some events, but I won't be actively campaigning anymore," DeFrancisco said. "If people still believe they want an alternative (to Molinaro), I'll be out there." Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 NEW YORK (AP) -- Trump-West 2020? In a moment that seemed to encapsulate 2018's social media-driven blurring of celebrity and politics, President Donald Trump tweeted his thanks to rap superstar Kanye West on Wednesday for his recent and perhaps unexpected online support. "Thank you Kanye, very cool!" the president posted in response to the tweets from West, who called the president "my brother." West, the enigmatic hip hop provocateur, posted a series of tweets in support of the president, whom he visited at Trump Tower in December 2016 during the presidential transition. "You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy," West wrote Wednesday. "He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought." You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought. ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 Thank you Kanye, very cool! https://t.co/vRIC87M21X Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2018 Later, West posted a photo of himself wearing one of Trump's signature red campaign "Make America Great Again" hats and showcased that the president had signed it. "MAGA!" Trump responded in another tweet, using the acronym for his slogan. West noted that his wife, reality star Kim Kardashian West, wanted him to clarify that he was not in lockstep with all the Republican president's positions. "My wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone," West wrote. "I don't agree with everything Trump does. I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself." my wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone. I don't agree with everything Trump does. I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself. ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 West lent an air of celebrity to Trump, who has not been nearly as popular among movie and music stars as his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. He complained about struggling to lure big-name talent to his Inauguration and made a point of calling Roseanne Barr, a rare Trump supporter in Hollywood, for the recent success of her sitcom. Trump has also consistently been supported by a small percentage of black voters. West has recorded several best-selling albums and produced a buzzy fashion line and has the undeniable talent for attracting attention. He's also been linked to several previous presidents, including when Obama called him "a jackass" in 2009 for storming the stage at an MTV awards show to interrupt Taylor Swift. And in 2005, during a telethon to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, West criticized the White House's response to the storm by famously charging that "George W. Bush doesn't care about black people." There was quick backlash to West on Twitter on Wednesday. "Kanye doesn't care about black people," tweeted comedian Akilah Hughes. But others were quick to embrace West. Eric Trump, one of the president's sons, tweeted three American flags next to West's declaration of dragon energy. His brother Donald Trump Jr. appropriated Hillary Clinton's slogan, "#ImWithHer," when he retweeted a Kardashian West post in which she denounced the media for calling the rap superstar erratic. And InfoWars host Alex Jones, a conspiracy theory promoter, invited West onto his show. West has toyed with running for president himself and on Wednesday tweeted a poster of his face emblazoned with the slogan "Keep America Great" and "#Kanye2024." Coincidentally or not, West also tweeted earlier this week that he has a new album coming out this summer. Dearborn Heights, Mich. -- A teacher in Michigan has been fired after allegedly taping a 5-year-old's mouth shut. The boy's mother, Houda Dannaoui, was told when she picked up her son one day in March that he was found during lunchtime with his mouth taped shut and food thrown in the garbage, according to the Detroit Free Press. The incident had occurred the previous day at the child's preschool program in Dearborn Heights. A substitute teacher's assistant, who was not a full-time employee, was fired in connection with the incident, the Free Press said. State licensing officials and police have been at the school to investigate, the Free Press said. The boy's family is also pursuing legal action, according to WXYZ in Detroit. The boy, Abdul Dannaoui, told his family there had been other similar incidents involving another teacher, WXYZ said. Abdul said the taping occurred as many as 10 times during snack time and lunch to prevent him from eating. He told his family the teachers threw his food away. Abdul's parents are moving him to another school. The boy, who has asthma, told his family the taping made it hard for him to breath. Houda Dannaoui said the school told her there wasn't any proof that a second individual was involved, according to the Free Press. The other teacher is still employed at the school. The school told the paper there was only one incident. Officials said only the substitute teacher's assistant was involved, according to the Free Press. Houda Dannaoui said her son insists he is telling the truth. "We feel like this was a joke, a prank among teachers," the family's attorney, Nabih Ayad said, according to the Free Press. Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112 CICERO, NY - He's not putting away the scissors, but after 24 years of cutting hair, the owner of Nick's Barbershop is branching out into the restaurant business. Daniel Carrino, who runs the 74-year-old Syracuse-based family business Nick's Barbershop, plans to open Vicinos Brick & Brew in Cicero. The new restaurant is a joint venture among Carrino and his wife and his friend Mark McAndrews and his wife. The new eatery will be located in the former Mighty Taco building at 7789 Brewerton Road - which previously was home to a Tim Horton's coffee shop. Mighty Taco opened in the 2,400-square-foot building in January 2016 It closed 11 months later. Carrino said the new restaurant, which they hope to open in July pending town approval, will offer brick-oven pizza, pasta, burgers, sandwiches and a variety of New York state and local craft beers. Vicinos - Italian for neighbors - will seat about 80 people and also offer an outdoor patio with seating for up to 30, pending town approval, Carrino said. Carrino said the idea for the restaurant started when friends would compliment Carrino and McAndrews on their pizza recipe. "We think it's a really good location, and there aren't enough places where you can eat outside on the patio in Cicero,'' Carrino said. Carrino has worked in the family business since 1994. Nick's Barbershop now has three locations - Eastwood, Liverpool and North Syracuse. Prior to becoming a barber, Carrino managed a Pizza Hut restaurant, he said. Gov. Andrew Cuomo today issued a cease and desist letter to federal immigration officials, threatening to sue if agents don't stop what he described as "reckless and unconstitutional enforcement" practices. In a letter to the deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Cuomo says the tactics taken by ICE agents in New York "reflect a serious disregard for the rule of law." "The reckless and unconstitutional practices ICE is deploying in our communities violate everything we believe in New York and are an assault on our democracy," Cuomo said in a prepared statement. "I demand ICE immediately cease and desist this pattern of conduct, and if they fail to do so, I will pursue all available legal recourse and commit to doing everything in my power to protect the rights and safety of all New Yorkers." The letter cites a raid last week on a farm in Rome, N.Y. ICE agents entered John Collins' property and detained a worker, Marcial DeLeon Aguilar, without presenting a warrant to Collins. That worker was later arrested and is still being detained. Richard Ball, commissioner of the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets, said the raids on farms have left farm families "fearful and angry." Cuomo also signed an executive order to prohibit ICE arrests in state facilities without a warrant. Cuomo letter to ICE by chrsbakr on Scribd Peter Madsen, the Danish submarine inventor at the center of the mysterious death of Swedish freelance journalist Kim Wall, was convicted Wednesday of killing Wall and sentenced to life in prison. Wall's dismembered body was found off the coast of Copenhagen in August. Prosecutors had said that during a trip on his private submarine, Madsen, 47, either strangled or cut Wall's throat before severing her body and tossing it into the sea. Madsen was charged with homicide, dismemberment and the indecent handling of a corpse. CBS News reported that Madsen "stood quietly listening as the judge read out the verdict" in Copenhagen City Court. "This is a very unusual and extremely brutal case which has had tragic consequences for Kim Wall and her relatives," prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen said in a statement from the Danish prosecution authority when Madsen was charged in January. Wall's disappearance and gruesome death drew international attention, demonstrating the risks female freelance journalists can face. Friends and family say Wall, 30, a reporter who had reported from Sri Lanka, the Marshall Islands and North Korea. Madsen denied killing Wall and said she died of carbon monoxide poisoning inside his submarine while he was on deck. Wall boarded the submarine on Aug. 10 to report a story about Madsen, according to her family. Madsen is known in Denmark for raising money through crowdfunding to build rockets and submarines. She was reported missing the next day. Madsen was rescued from Koge Bay, according to police, after purposely sinking his vessel, a 60-foot UC3 Nautilus. Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of life in prison for Madsen or, based on the results of a psychiatric evaluation, that he be sent to a mental institution. Prosecutors said the killing was premeditated, but they did not provide a motive. "The interest in the case has been enormous," Buch-Jepsen said in his January statement. "However, we hope the media will respect that further evidence in the case must be presented in court and not in the press." Madsen was taken into custody Aug. 12 and has since repeatedly altered his account of the circumstances that led to Wall's death. Before claiming in October that she died of carbon monoxide poisoning, Madsen in August said he dropped Wall offshore in Copenhagen before his submarine sank. He then told a Danish court in September that while giving Wall a tour of his boat, he lost his grip on a 150-pound hatch, which collided with Wall's skull. He told prosecutors at the time he panicked and gave Wall a "burial at sea." "In the shock I was in, it was the right thing to do," Madsen told the court, according to Agence France-Presse. In early October, divers found Wall's dismembered remains. Wall's legs were found in plastic bags weighed with metal, according to the Associated Press, and her recovered head showed no signs of fracture - which suggested she had not been struck by a hatch. Another bag contained a knife and Wall's clothing. Weeks earlier, a naked torso that had been stabbed 15 times was recovered nearby. Madsen had previously been charged with manslaughter. HOUSTON (AP) -- Former President George H.W. Bush was moved out of intensive care and into a regular patient room at a Houston hospital on Wednesday as he recovers from an infection that required his hospitalization a day after his wife's funeral, a family spokesman said. The nation's 41st president is expected to remain at Houston Methodist Hospital for "several more days," spokesman Jim McGrath said. Bush, who is 93, is being treated for an infection that spread to his blood. "He is alert and talking with hospital staff, family and friends, and his doctors are very pleased with his progress," McGrath said in a statement. He noted that Bush was more focused on the Houston Rockets playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves "than anything that landed him in the hospital." Bush, frequently accompanied by his wife, has long been a fixture at Houston sporting events. Bush was hospitalized on Sunday, a day after he attended the funeral and burial of his wife, Barbara. Married for 73 years, the Bushes were the longest-married presidential couple in U.S. history. Barbara Bush was 92 when she died on April 17 at their Houston home. Bush sent a tweet earlier Wednesday thanking Houston for its "professionalism and obvious care" during the memorials and services for his wife . He specifically cited Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, the city's police and transit agency "and really all Houstonians" for "making Barbara's visitors and funeral guests feel so welcomed." He also thanked St. Martin's Episcopal Church, where the funeral was held and where he and his wife worshipped for years, and Second Baptist Church, which served as a staging area a few miles away for city buses that carried thousands of visitors to St. Martin's for a public viewing a day before the funeral. McGrath said the former president is thankful for everyone sending prayers and good wishes. Candidates named in city and school elections With the passing of the filing deadline for the upcoming city and school election, several area governing bodies including the City of Tama and ... This page no longer exists or may have been moved.If you believe this is a mistake please email The European Space Agency Web TV releases a video of Henderson Island, highlighting that it has never recovered from being gravely polluted by plastic waste. The video features recent Sentinel-2 satellite image of Henderson Island, a world heritage site situated about halfway between Chile and New Zealand. The video was released in time for Earth Day 2018 and dedicated to informing people about the harmful impacts of plastic usage to the environment. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization highlights that marine pollution is one of the problems faced by many world heritage sites. Henderson Island, specifically, has continued to struggle with plastic pollution. A 2017 study highlighted it as the most plastic-polluted place anywhere in the world. The study estimated that 37.7 million debris items, weighing a total of 17.6 tons are scattered on Henderson. Accordingly, up to 26.8 meters of new plastic items are accumulating daily. Henderson Island Pollution ESA highlights that Henderson is one of the best examples of a coral atoll and one of the world's biggest marine reserves. However, plastic trash as far as Russia, United States, Europe, and South American end up on the island. The place could have been idyllic and pristine, especially that the island remains untouched by humans. In a worldwide level, around 10 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year. They continue to be a threat to wildlife and the ecosystem even if weathering and waves break them down into micro-fragments. Animals, particularly the endangered ones, can easily mistake them for food. Plastic waste can also damage the corals. World's Most Plastic-Polluted Land Mass In 2017, a study headed by Dr. Jennifer Lavers, a conservation biologist at the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, detailed how serious was the situation on Henderson Island. Lavers and her team found that the 17.6 tons of plastic waste found in the island accounted for 1.98 seconds worth of the annual global production of plastic recorded that year. To describe the severity of the situation, she shared that a 5-person team surveyed a 10-meter section of the beach for a total of six hours. At the time, the team estimated that there are about 17 to 268 new items that end up on that portion of the island on a day-to-day basis. Interestingly, only 7 percent of the plastic items came from fishing supplies. The rest of the items were household items like used toothbrushes, plastic scoops for detergents and baby formula, and soiled diapers. Lavers warned that fishes, the one at the base of the food web, ate most of these plastic wastes. Humans, the ones at the top of the chain, may, therefore, end up consuming these toxic wastes as well. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Scientists have confirmed the WASP-104b as the darkest planet ever discovered. The exoplanet was found in 2014 but scientists have just determined that it absorbs almost all of the light sent in its direction. Researchers described the planet as "darker than charcoal." Least-Reflective Planet Found Researchers from Keele University in the UK published a paper in the Cornell University Library that shows just how dark WASP-104b can be. They found that it absorbs about 97 to 99 percent of light. In the description of the paper, the planet is called "one of the least reflective planets found to date." WASP-104b is so close to its host star that it can complete its orbit in 1.75 days. It sits at a distance of 2.6 million miles from the star. Even with its proximity to its host star, it is able to reflect almost none of the starlight headed its way. Co-author Ted Mocnik spoke to New Scientist about the study. He said that of all the planets that have been discovered, WASP-104b could be considered the top three darkest planets. WASP-104b was discovered four years ago using the Kepler Space Telescope. Scientists used data from the Kepler Space Telescope's K2 Mission and were able to see that WASP-104b has a thick atmosphere made of atomic sodium and potassium. Both of these elements contribute to the planet's ability to absorb light. They both absorb light in the visible spectrum. Hot Jupiter WASP-104b is similar in size to Jupiter but it is much closer to its host star than Jupiter. These types of planets are known as Hot Jupiters. Hot Jupiters are gas giants with an orbital period of fewer than 10 days. This proximity to the host star makes them extremely hot. They're also tidally locked. Most hot Jupiters are dark planets. ScienceAlert says that these types of planets reflect about 40 percent of the light that goes their way. There have been other planets that reflect almost as much light as WASP-104b. In 2011, TrES-2b was discovered, orbiting around three million miles away from its host star. It reaches temperatures of about 1,800 F (980 C). It was found to reflect about only one percent of the light going in its direction. In 2017, WASP-12b was observed to trap at least 94 percent of the visible starlight that fell into its atmosphere. Also a hot Jupiter, WASP-12b temperatures reach 4,600 F (2,540 C). There are two theories on how hot Jupiters form. One theory suggests that the planet away from the host star, and that it migrated towards the host star later in life. The other theory suggests that hot Jupiters began as Super Earths which accumulated gas around the rocky layer. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A virus with ties to HIV is on the rise in aboriginal communities in Australia. The blood-borne virus is sexually transmitted and can also be passed from mother to child. HTLV-1 Just like its cousin HIV, which over time causes AIDS, the T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) has no cure and causes deadly complications. Unlike HIV, however, the symptoms of HTLV-1 takes longer to appear. Some people may have the virus for decades before chronic complications emerge. HTLV-1 can cause inflammation of the skin, lungs, and eyes and those infected by it are at risk of becoming disabled through spinal injuries. They are also at risk of developing leukemia. Up to 10 percent of all who are infected will develop a rapidly deadly form of leukemia and those who do die within a year of diagnosis. The virus is becoming more prevalent in remote regions affecting indigenous communities. Cases can be found in Africa, South America, and southern Japan but researchers said that Australia has the highest rate of HTLV-1 infection in the world. Researchers from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute revealed that 45 percent of indigenous adults in central Australia carry the virus. The most common complication observed in these communities is a severe lung disease called bronchiectasis. Neglected Virus Researchers think that the virus likely arrived in Australia from Indonesia thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, it continues to affect aboriginal communities. One of the challenges in dealing with the virus is that most of the people infected by it are not aware they have it and a large number of aboriginal communities have not been tested. The virus is also spreading with population movement. It is estimated that 5 to 10 million people worldwide are affected. "It's very suggestive that we have a major problem and it really pays no attention to borders, these very artificial constructs of Europeans," said Lloyd Einsiedel, of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute. HTLV-1 was discovered as early as the 1980s alongside HIV but the global research community appears to have neglected it. Health experts cited the importance raising awareness about the seriousness of the disease. "We need to stimulate more governmental involvement, we need to push the importance of the disease, the seriousness of it. We could do much better. We need to do significantly more with HTLV-1," said Robert Gallo, director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland's school of medicine. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Samsung and PayPal first announced a partnership last year and now, it's finally happening. Samsung Pay users can make purchases and other transactions using their PayPal balance. Nearly one year later, the PayPal integration is finally rolling out to Samsung Pay, bringing a number of benefits to make things easier for mobile users. It's worth pointing out that the update comes in stages, so it might take a while to reach all eligible devices. "Today, we have begun rolling out the ability for consumers to use PayPal within Samsung Pay and make purchases at the millions of retailers that accept Samsung Pay," says PayPal. "Samsung Pay users can load their PayPal account with the debit card or bank account found in their PayPal Wallet for use in-store - all while continuing to earn Samsung Rewards points. It's convenient for consumers because Samsung Pay works with both NFC and MST-that is, it works almost anywhere you can swipe or tap a card." How To Use PayPal With Samsung Pay Using PayPal within Samsung Pay is pretty easy and straightforward. First of all, open the Samsung Pay app and tap Wallet. From there on, tap the "+" icon at the upper right corner and you'll see an option to "Add payment card section," where you can select "Add PayPal." Those who have enabled One Touch are set, while those who do not will have to enter the credentials for their account. Authorizing Samsung Pay to tap your PayPal takes just a few seconds. Once that's done, tap "Next" and proceed to set a PIN code to secure future in-store purchases with PayPal. Lastly, choose an alternate source to fund purchases if your PayPal balance is low, and tap "Agree & Continue." Top Up Your PayPal Account That's it. Your PayPal account is now linked to your Samsung Pay account and you will be able to easily make payments and other transactions using your PayPal balance. You also need to confirm the amount to top up your PayPal account from the alternate payment source, and it seems that options range between $10 and $50. If your PayPal account runs dry in the middle of a purchase, Samsung Pay will use that payment source to fund the difference. In terms of security, PayPal highlights that it represents users' account information through a virtual account number rather than sharing users' actual payment details with merchants. Have you received the Samsung Pay update that adds PayPal integration? If so, will you take advantage of this option? Let us know in the comments section below. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Many have now suffered from Parkinson's disease, which was discovered way back in the 1800s, but now a study may have finally found a cure. New Cell Study Provides Hope Embo Press released an article stating that doctors could relieve symptoms of Parkinson's disease, such as stiffness, slow movements, and loss of balance. A group of experts from the Aarhus University now has an understanding of how the early symptoms transpire and how they can be reviewed. In the study, researchers explained that the nerve cells have a similar stress to Parkinson's disease, also described as "shaking palsy," that has a marked loss of calcium. They found that if the individual's calcium levels are low, the cells are unable to function properly. The researchers noticed that among those at the beginning stage of the illness, their nerve cells began to malfunction, which contributed to symptoms such as sleep disorders and anxiety. However, Cristine Betzer, the study author from the Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience, or DANDRITE, at Aarhus University, explained that calcium nerve cells that have been depleted insinuate that symptoms can be reserved. Furthermore, Betzer stated that this treatment is very important as it can prevent the disease from becoming detrimental. Parkinson's Is Likely To Occur From A Head Injury The news of a cell study that could be helpful for those dealing with Parkinson's comes at a perfect time as another research revealed that a brain injury is likely to increase an individual's chances of developing the disorder. Research that was published this month in the academic journal Neurology stated that individuals that experienced a blow to the head were 56 percent likely to develop Parkinson's disease at some point than those who have never been hurt, had amnesia, or have been in a state of consciousness. Data were collected from 325,870 members of the U.S. military ages 31 to 65. Kristine Yaffe, an author from the University of California, San Francisco and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, stated that former soldiers acquired their head injuries during civilian life. Out of 212 veterans, only one was diagnosed with Parkinson's after experiencing a concussion, but the rate was higher at 1 out of 134 veterans who reported a more moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A recent scientific study revealed that consuming baking soda could be helpful to prevent health problems. Some of those ailments include autoimmune diseases. All About The Experiment The Journal of Immunology published a study conducted by the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University that found that drinking water with baking soda could reduce people's chances of getting rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The research team, led by Dr. Paul O'Connor, a renal physiologist at the medical school, decided to give baking soda to two cases of test subjects, healthy humans and rats. When both subjects drank baking soda, the product would trigger both their stomachs and the spleens. While the stomach would generate acid to digest the food, the spleen's mesothelial cells would reassure the body part that a bacterial infection is not attacking it. The team identified the mesothelial cells as the body's protectors by covering up essential organs and acts as a wall between them. It was also noted that the spleen, a part of the immune system, acts as the bloodstream's filter. The scientists wrote that several types of white blood cells are in the organ. The Benefits Of Drinking The scientists discovered that after their subjects drank the baking soda and water mixture for two weeks, the immune cells would change their jobs. The immune cells, known in the scientific community as macrophages, would focus on reducing inflammation instead of promoting it. Macrophages can be found in the spleen, kidneys, and bloodstream, and they are also able to consume dead or injured cells. Another benefit that the team found was that the spleen increased its size after consuming baking soda. The group believed that the body part increased due to the anti-inflammatory stimulus it produces. O'Connor is optimistic about the study's findings and believes that it would help people that are struggling with autoimmune diseases. "You are not really turning anything off or on, you are just pushing it towards one side by giving an anti-inflammatory stimulus. It's potentially a safe way to treat inflammatory disease," said O'Connor to Laboratory Equipment. Baking Soda Usage In addition to being labeled a potential remedy to fight autoimmune diseases, baking soda can be a very versatile product. Baking soda could be used as an ingredient in creating homemade house cleaners and slime. It has also been noted that the combination of a teaspoon of baking soda and a glass of water could be a solution to combat heartburn. Tech Times reached out to the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University for a comment on this story. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Baby Driver editor Paul Machliss, ACE is to be the keynote speaker at the HPA Creative Tech UK at the Ham Yard Hotel in Soho on on 27 June. Machliss work on Baby Driver earned him a BAFTA Award, a Critics Choice Award and an Academy Award nomination. His other accolades include nominations from the ACE Eddie Awards, Satellite Awards, Gold Derby Awards and more for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and The Hour. During the keynote session, Machliss will focus on his approach to editing as well as his use of previsualization and other technical advances which help further storytelling. Welsh, chair of HPA Creative Tech UK, said, Pauls work on critically acclaimed Baby Driver was stunning, and the movie has become an instant classic. We are delighted to have him join us at HPA Creative Tech UK. We look forward to learning about his approach to those riveting scenes as well as his perspective on the tools and technologies that are changing the cutting room. His technical acumen, combined with his immense creative talent, make him an engaging speaker for our audience Born in Melbourne, Machliss began his career in production before moving in to the editing room where he worked on numerous TV series such as the IT Crowd, Fleabag, Fungus the Bogeyman, Black Books, Edgar Wrights television series Spaced, and Peep Show, among many others. In addition to Baby Driver, his feature credits include Man Up, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and The Worlds End. Machliss is currently at work on Joe Cornishs The Kid Who Would be King, scheduled for release in March 2019. Share this story The Lafayette Parish courthouse was evacuated Wednesday after a 911 text message threatened the District Attorneys Office, along with other courthouse personnel, and mentioned the possibility of explosives in the building. John Mowell, the Lafayette Parish Sheriffs Office public information officer, said no one was injured and no explosives or other threatening items were ultimately found. The Sheriffs Office learned of the threat at 1:27 p.m., Mowell said, and emergency personnel had cleared the area two and a half hours later. District Judge David Blanchet said the event exposed security shortcomings at the building, noting that he and his staff did not hear of the evacuation order until after most personnel were outside the building. A clerk of court employee called Blanchets office when she noticed the judge and his staff were not outside, he said. My secretary runs in and says, We have to get out, we have to get out, Blanchet said. When we hit the hallway, there was literally no one in the hall. No one anywhere around. Blanchet said, he and his staff encountered a hearing officer and group of attorneys in the stairwell who also hadnt been notified. The lack of an intercom notification system was among the concerns Blanchet, who is the immediate past chief judge, and the current chief judge, Charles Fitzgerald, cited in a Feb. 2 letter to Sheriff Mark Garber outlining security concerns. The letter focused specifically on vulnerabilities involving an active shooter scenario, echoing public statements Blanchet has made on several occasions. Nothing indicates the event on Wednesday involved any threat of an active shooter, but Blanchet said an intercom system is needed for any sort of emergency threat. Top stories in Acadiana in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up There is no system except the fire alarm, Blanchet said. The fire alarm was not pulled on Wednesday, and the evacuation protocol for a bomb threat was not immediately clear. Mowell, after briefing reporters on the threat, said he did not know the protocol offhand. In some incidences you actually use a fire alarm for that, because everybody knows for sure if they hear a fire alarm they are supposed to evacuate a building. I dont know if that necessarily qualifies in this case, Mowell said. Garber agreed in his April 11 response to the judges that an intercom broadcasting system should be in place, with a coding system to identify the type of threat. The response does not say what steps can be taken to install such a system. Mowell said he would check into the matter. The judges biggest concern, as stated in their letter to Garber, is the possibility of an inmate wrestling a gun from a guard, the likelihood of which is heightened, they say, because the court lacks a holding cell. Blanchet and other officials have also said they are concerned that inmates ride public elevators because there are none designated strictly for them. In his response, Garber recommended using Courtroom 4A as a holding cell, in part because of its proximity to the freight elevator. The drawback, Garber noted, is that the freight elevator does not stop at the third or the fifth floor. Another option is the basement, but that would require replacing the basement stairwell with an elevator shaft. Blanchet and others working in the courthouse have advocated for moving the parish courthouse to the long vacant old federal courthouse building a few blocks away, in part because of security concerns. However Mayor-President Joel Robideaux's administration is instead seeking commercial redevelopment proposals for that downtown building. Two years after the Metro Council fired her, a state appellate court is set to hear former East Baton Rouge Parish Attorney Mary Roper's appea Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission BATON ROUGE (AP) A Louisiana private investigator faces a possible prison sentence for misusing Donald Trump's Social Security number in repeated attempts to access the president's federal tax information before his 2016 election. U.S. District Judge John deGravelles is scheduled to sentence 32-year-old Jordan Hamlett on Wednesday. Hamlett faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty in December. Louisiana P.I. pleads guilty after illegally trying to access Trump's tax info A Louisiana private investigator has pleaded guilty to misusing Donald Trumps Social Security number in repeated attempts to access the candi Authorities have said Hamlett failed in his attempts to get Trump's tax information through a U.S. Department of Education financial aid website. Federal agents confronted Hamlett two weeks before the November 2016 presidential election and questioned him in a Baton Rouge hotel lobby. Trump has refused to release his tax returns, bucking an American tradition honored by every president since Jimmy Carter. The woman pulled from her apartment unconscious during a fire on Coursey Boulevard early Wednesday died from her injuries the following day, t The Edwards administration wants to alter, again, the lucrative tax break for industrial manufacturers. The proposal released Wednesday would return the Industrial Tax Exemption Program, called ITEP, to a 10-year break on paying local property taxes, which is the way it had been for decades until last years changes. Instead of a term of five years at a 100 percent write-off of property taxes with the ability to apply for three more years at 80 percent, the new ITEP would offer a single 10-year term at 80 percent of the property taxes owed. Proposed ITEP Changes Proposed ITEP rule changes This formula would allow local governments to start immediately receiving revenues to help pay for the roads and schools needed by the newly hired workforce at the new manufacturing facility receiving the tax breaks, said Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson, author of the administrations proposed changes. Additionally, local governments would keep their newly acquired voice albeit as an up or down vote on the contracts put together by the state, he said. This pathway that we have outlined streamlines the process, Pierson told The Advocate. The yield is going to provide immediate revenues to the community, a sure timeline for industry, all of which should be very welcome. Pierson presented the proposals to the Board of Commerce & Industry, describing the new procedures as process improvements, a natural step in standard managerial practices. Job creation becomes a point of debate on tax exemptions for manufacturers Manufacturing executives and Together Baton Rouge activists faced off Monday as each side tried to persuade a group of local leaders to buy in Theres been confusion and worry since Gov. John Bel Edwards, a few months after taking his oath of office in 2016, stepped in and grabbed the rudder of a program that operated for decades with little oversight. He ordered that companies seeking the tax break get approval from the various local taxing districts school boards, municipalities, parishes, and the like before Board of Commerce & Industry could grant the ITEP. Parishes with large industries already, like Ascension and St. James, quickly got organized and created easy-to-follow processes. Other localities without much experience had a tougher time. Additionally, each local taxing district often wanted to cut its own deal, leaving assessors juggling dozens of different tax rates for the same property. And industries wanted more stability and firmer timelines. ITEP committee eyes compromise formula for controversial tax break Members of a Baton Rouge committee will try to forge a compromise over how to handle the controversial Industrial Tax Exemption Program after The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Edwards issued orders in 2016 and 2017 to tighten the tax giveaway by tying it closer to job creation, ending automatic renewals, eliminating breaks for routine maintenance projects, and giving local governments, for the first time, say so over the local taxes the state was giving away to attract and retain the big industrial manufacturers and refineries. Pierson said the governor asked LED to do a comprehensive study, talking to all the parties, and come up uniform procedures. The proposals would streamline the application process, which would include listing the investment, jobs and payroll that the company agrees to provide in return for the tax break. LED staff would vet the numbers and set up a contract. Job creation becomes a point of debate on tax exemptions for manufacturers Manufacturing executives and Together Baton Rouge activists faced off Monday as each side tried to persuade a group of local leaders to buy in The state would then present the proposed ITEP contract to local tax authorities, which would need to hold a hearing and vote whether to reject the offer. This gives industries a stable timeline of 30 or 60 days to hear the outcome. If a local taxing authority opts out, whatever property tax millage assigned to the district would still be collected. But it would keep out the confusion of each tax district setting their own rate. Pierson said he expects everyone to like some of the changes and hate others. Together Louisiana, a coalition of faith-based and community activist groups that has been quite critical of how ITEP has operated over the years, is withholding comment until they see the details, said Broderick Bagert, an executive director of Together Louisiana. The Commerce & Industry board, which oversees incentives given companies for investing in Louisiana, accepted receipt of the proposals despite some opposition that it was all moving too fast. Robert Adley, who represents Edwards on the board, asked that the proposed rules be vetted by a committee before the entire board votes on them. I agree with the concept, particularly the 80-20 that the governor came up with, Adley said. But the devil is in the details. How is it going to operate? What does local government receive from us? Pierson said the proposals were drafted after talking with industry executives, business association representatives, advocates like Together Louisiana, officials at all levels of government and the people who actually work with companies looking for sites for their plants. I dont think we need another eight or 12 months, Pierson said. He hopes to traverse the public hearings and comments required under state law within 60 days so that the board can vote on the rules in June. Id like to see them go into effect by mid August, Pierson said. Thank you for publishing Dan Fagans Teachers unions show true colors column on April 24. It clarified a mystery and revealed the real inte Photo by MARK H. HUNTER -- State Rep. Randall Gaines told about 200 people gathered on the State Capitol steps on July 25, 2015 that their voting rights are being eroded. Olivia Matte, the woman accused of causing a late-night Lake Pontchartrain Causeway crash that killed a Mississippi man last year, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-offense DWI in connection with an earlier arrest in St. Tammany Parish. Matte, of Covington, offered her plea to 22nd Judicial District Judge Rusty Knight, who handed down a six-month suspended sentence and two years of probation. He also ordered Matte to remain under house arrest while the charges in Jefferson Parish stemming from the Causeway crash remain pending. In that incident, Matte is accused of ramming a small pickup driven by 37-year-old James Blackmond, of Foxworth, Mississippi. The impact sent Blackmond's truck up onto the Causeway railing, where a section of the railing pierced the cab and hit Blackmond, killing him. A passenger in the truck, Blackmond's brother-in-law, was also injured. Officials said after the wreck that Matte had failed a field sobriety test and blown more than twice the legal limit in a breath-alcohol test. She faces vehicular homicide and other charges in connection with the crash. That accident came just months after Matte had been arrested on the DWI charge in St. Tammany. Prior to that, she had completed a diversion program in connection with an even earlier DWI arrest. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Blackmond was killed two days before their second wedding anniversary, his widow, Queenita Blackmond said, and in the year since his death, she has pressed for justice. He would have done the same for me, said Queenita Blackmond, who came to the hearing Tuesday. I needed this part to be over with, she said of the St. Tammany charge. While that case remained unresolved, she said, matters kept going back and forth, with St. Tammany officials saying they were waiting on Jefferson Parish and vice-versa, something she said she believes was a strategy that Matte's defense was using. I knew it would be light over here, she said of Mattes punishment in St. Tammany. Today is the first day in over a year that she has had to take any responsibility for killing my husband, Blackmond said. James Blackmond left behind seven children. I do what I can. I dont let them see me break, Queenita Blackmond said of the family members. Theres going to be a light at the end of the tunnel, and if Gods purpose was to get her off the road ... we never understand Gods purpose. Staff writer Sara Pagones contributed to this report. No new massage parlors will be allowed in Slidell for the next seven months while city officials study potential new regulations, the Slidell City Council decided Tuesday night in response to recent prostitution arrests at three of the businesses. An ordinance setting a moratorium on the issuing of permits and licenses for massage parlors, spas and salons until Nov. 30 was introduced Tuesday. It won't be voted on until the council's May 22 meeting. But the council also adopted a resolution Tuesday night that imposes an immediate moratorium. The resolution, which was adopted without discussion, will enable the city to stop issuing permits until the ordinance can be adopted. Both measures were introduced at the request of the city administration, and City Administrator Tim Mathison said they stemmed from the April 13 arrests. Four women were arrested and accused of prostitution by massage at three different businesses in Slidell after an undercover investigation spurred by citizens' complaints about the parlors. Police Chief Randy Fandal said the investigation into those businesses and their owners is continuing. Mayor Freddy Drennan said the city can't shut those parlors down just because arrests were made; the cases have yet to be adjudicated, he noted. Slidell police, posing as customers, went into three businesses: Relax Therapy Massage, located in a strip mall on Pontchartrain Drive; Super Relax Massage on Corporate Square Boulevard; and To the Moon and Back Massage on Gause Boulevard. While the undercover officers were inside, other officers were standing by to make arrests once it was concluded that the businesses were giving erotic massages. Haiping Huang, 53, of Brooklyn, New York; Xiaoyan Chen, 46, of Slidell; Suwei Li, 48, of Slidell; and Tian Jing, 48, of Miami, were arrested and booked on prostitution by massage, a misdemeanor. St. Tammany top stories in your inbox A weekly guide to the biggest news in St. Tammany. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up On Wednesday, all three locations were still operating. Employees at two said their boss was not on the premises and was not available to answer questions. But Anjanette Tassin, whose store is located in the same strip mall as Relax Therapy, said she welcomes the city's efforts to more closely regulate massage parlors. Her business sells dance and exercise gear, mainly to mothers and their daughters. She said she had suspicions about what was going on in the nearby business. The customers she saw were all men, she said, and they tended to arrive at night, many with Mississippi license plates. Then several weeks ago she found a used condom and a package labeled "herbal viagra" on the ground outside her front door. "I have kids coming into my store," she said, adding that she complained to her landlord when she found the items. "We surely don't need a business like that close to our businesses," she said. The doors were still locked Wednesday at Super Relax Massage on Pontchartrain Drive, and no customers were in evidence at Relax Therapy or To the Moon and Back, at 1503 Gause Blvd. To The Moon and Back, operating under a different name, was in the news a few months ago because of a robbery. A seven-page menu of services was located at its front desk, and a room immediately to the right had twin beds. Among the services on the list were neuromuscular massage, described as therapeutic; the "signature Bohemian massage," described as relaxing; and pregnancy massage, billed as designed to relieve the discomforts of pregnancy. The menu also offered what it called couples massage, described as "perfect for lovers, mothers and daughters or good friends." "We create the perfect relaxing atmosphere for you and your friend or lover," the menu promised. if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi... Monday 05 September, 2016 Reliable information reaching Biafra writers desk has it that the life of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indi... Canadas move to disband the current caregiver program in November 2019 is causing turmoil in the Filipino community. The recent announcement made by the Canadian government that it will no longer accept applications for permanent residency from caregivers by November 2019 has participants of the program in turmoil, advocacy groups said. Many of those affected are Filipinos as they rank as the top source of caregivers in Canada. Caregivers and their rights advocates gathered recently in Edmonton to discuss the issues facing them. We should be treating temporary foreign workers as how we treat Canadians, instead of exploiting them then disposing of them, said Connie Sorio, coordinator for Migrant Justice and Asian Partnerships, also with Kairos Canada. Speaking at the forum Global Compact on Migration: The effects of migrant caregivers in Canada, Sorio pointed to the global movement of workers driven by deplorable conditions in sending countries in terms of joblessness, poverty and social injustices. Cynthia Palmaria of Migrante Alberta said the latest initiative of the government to reform the program should lead to meaningful changes for caregivers. In Canada, the government itself recognizes the important role of caregivers to the growth of the Canadian economy, yet, it has not made significant and bold changes to the caregiver program to address long-term issues surrounding the program and the caregiving needs of Canadians, said Palmaria. Unfortunately, the caregivers are usually the ones on the precarious economic end, she said. Advocates say a change in permanent residency opportunities for caregivers would discourage many Filipinos from migrating to Canada. If Canada is really going to take away the permanent residency opportunity, I dont think of lot of caregivers would want to come here. First of all, its very cold. Secondly, its very far and despite the Skype and all these apps that caregivers are able to connect with their children and families almost on a regular basis, the fact that its still far away, I think more caregivers would opt to work in Hong Kong or nearby countries in the Philippines so that they can easily visit their families. The only draw to come here is the permanent residency opportunity, said Sorio. Canadian immigration plans to announce its decision to either replace or make these programs permanent before they end in 2019. For now, foreign caregivers will not be eligible for permanent residence if they have not accrued two years of employment by Nov. 29, 2019, according to a notice posted by the Immigration Department. This involves two programs - one for those caring for children and the other for those caring for adults with high medical needs. Ottawa has yet to decide whether to do away with them completely, renew them or come up with replacements. Canadas unique program is believed to be the only one in the world that provides access to permanent status for foreign caregivers after two years of full-time employment as a caregiver. The access to permanent residency is an incentive to make up for the jobs relative low pay and sometimes unpleasant work conditions. In 2014, the previous Conservative government overhauled the program by capping the number of caregivers who can access permanent residency at 5,500 a year and imposing new requirements for language and post-secondary education. Under the new program, only 1,955 caregivers and their dependants were granted permanent residency in the three years after the changes were made. An average of 10,740 people caregivers and families were granted permanent status annually between 2006 and 2014 under the previous live-in caregiver program. This is another underhanded way for the government to quietly take away the pathway for permanent residency for caregivers. This is not OK, said Anna Malla of the Caregivers Action Centre in Toronto, according to The Toronto Star. Photo by Aubre Makilan/Bulatlat A Filipino migrant workers watchdog said that the mushroom-farm industry in Canada is not as rosy as depicted in an ABS-CBN report aired in the Philippines. A report that aired on TV Patrol and carried on the ABS-CBN News website said Filipinos could earn as much as P150,000 a month working as mushroom pickers in Canada. In a letter to the editor responding to the report and posted on its Facebook page, Migrante Ontario said the report was not an accurate portrayal of the life and working conditions of Filipino temporary workers and of migrant workers in the agricultural sector in general. The group added that the article serves to abet unscrupulous recruiters in luring Filipinos to work in Canada under conditions that potentially expose them to exploitation by these recruiters and employers. ABS-CBN has issued an apology and acknowledged there were lapses in the report. The statement said the networks standards and practices unit is internally addressing the issue. While the job opportunities exist, upon checking with the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency and other authorities, it turned out that the Canadian company has not sought accreditation with them, ABS-CBN News head Ging Reyes said. We acknowledge our lapses in applying due diligence in covering the story from Canada. We have come out with a follow-up report that carried the advice and warning of POEA against unaccredited employers and recruitment agencies, Reyes added. We will continue to follow the issue, investigate, and report on the state of our Filipino workers in Canada and other countries. The Philippine Embassy based in Ottawa urged Filipinos to exercise caution when applying for jobs that bypass government standards after the report was aired. Filipinos abroad should coordinate with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration or the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in their respective areas, the embassy said in a statement dated April 10. Migrante called on the government to investigate the plight of Filipinos working in the agriculture sector in Canada. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25, 2018 08:15 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e06c77d 4 Editorial #Editorial,The-Jakarta-Post Free Reporting Indonesia has been an honor and a labor of love. On todays 35th anniversary, we would like to briefly share with you where we came from and where we are today, with a new generation of journalists tasked with continuing our mission. Our founders in 1983 included those who experienced and even influenced the emergence of the New Order under Soeharto. At the time, the staff shared the nervousness of Indonesian media over the invisible government axe that could slam down at any time. But readers spurred us to push the envelope ever onward and they became skilled at reading between the lines. Staying submissive and safe as the governments mouthpiece was not an option. We reported the fall of Soeharto with the iconic I quit headline, following days of rioting and bloodshed. In the next few years, we reported terrifying communal conflicts as best as possible despite the glaring lack of staff. Today, for all its grave shortcomings and with much work to do, Indonesia is nevertheless recognized as Southeast Asias largest democracy. A critical part of that contribution was the struggle for press freedom, in which we also participated despite the risks. Now, with that freedom and facing a new digital era, our challenges are much greater than reporting under authoritarianism. Constant online access with Indonesias internet penetration at 137 million people from a population of more than 250 million has not entirely contributed to a much more critical readership. In this post-truth age, we compete daily with information that may neither be important, relevant, nor even true. While instilling journalistic ethics into our younger staff, these digital natives help us secure the best of todays technology to serve our readers need for credible journalism through multiple platforms. Filtering hoaxes and irrelevant noise from real news requires us to step up our skills especially as Indonesia prepares for local elections in June and next years general and presidential elections. Instead of authoritarian rule, todays great challenge is the age of digital politics, with readers struggling to distinguish truth from lies and spins making the skills of conventional media ever more urgent. The discipline of verification and zero compromise for accuracy can only be achieved with the honest reporting of facts that is free from non-journalistic interests. These principles remain essential to a newspaper that attempts to remain bold and independent in an ever-changing media environment. Good journalism doesnt come easy and cheap, but it is the support including criticism of loyal readers and stakeholders that encourages us to improve ourselves as the voice of Indonesia in Southeast Asia and in the world in this exciting era. Thank you all for these 35 years and beyond. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Paul Pronyk and Maria Endang Sumiwi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25, 2018 11:52 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e07cd2e 3 Opinion health,#health,malaria,mosquito,disease Free Today, March 25, is World Malaria Day. This day is dedicated to the fight against malaria: a disease that kills half a million people around the globe each year, most of whom are children. Malaria eradication is now back on the global health agenda, sixty years after the world first attempt to eradicate the disease in 1955. An upcoming article in the Lancet Global Health highlights Indonesias extraordinary progress over the past decade. Previously felt to be impossible, malaria has now been eliminated in half of the countrys 517 districts. More than 70 percent of Indonesias population now lives in areas free from malaria transmission. Island countries have some advantages when it comes to controlling malaria. Mosquitos only fly around 2 kilometers in their lifetime and dont easily jump island-to-island. Screening arriving travellers at ports of entry is also easier. Scaling up proven interventions such as insecticide-treated bed nets, rapid diagnostic testing (which provide results in minutes) and effective drug treatment can quickly drive down malaria. In some areas, such as swamp lands with standing fresh water, targeting mosquito breeding sites can also play an important role. Using these strategies, malaria has been successfully eliminated in the islands of Singapore, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. However, Indonesia is more complex. The islands are large. The population is highly mobile. Economic inequalities make it difficult for some to access basic interventions. Control strategies need to be adapted to diverse settings. For example, what works in the Papuan rainforest looks very different from malaria control among mining communities in the hills of Aceh. Finally, decentralized systems can make it difficult to create the needed momentum to coordinate the delivery of effective interventions. Nevertheless, areas such as Aceh have been a beacon for Indonesia. In 2008 the decision was taken by the provincial government to eliminate the disease on the island of Sabang, the district with the highest malaria transmission. High-level political commitment coupled with relentless efforts to find, treat and cure every case of malaria. Another pioneer was Seribu Islands District in Jakarta where a push to scale up interventions was initiated after an outbreak caused 50 deaths in 2001. Both districts are among the first in the country to be certified malaria-free by the minister of health in 2013 and 2014. Since then, local malaria responses have taken root from South Halmahera to Buru. Areas which just ten years ago had among the highest number of malaria deaths in the world are now approaching elimination. The Ministry of Health deserves much of the credit for leading this steady march which has included a ministerial decree setting the target for nation-wide malaria elimination by 2030. Partners in the fight have included UNICEF, WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control, the private sector and civil society organizations. Major initial financing was received from The Global Fund, with core government resources becoming increasingly important. These investments are both good for health and value for money. Malaria takes a heavy toll on economies. Hidden costs include lost wages, time home from school, and time spent caring for sick family members. In the public sector, resources spent on prevention and treatment programs are massive. A 2015 report by the Roll Back Malaria partnership highlights the 40-fold return on investment to be achieved once 2030 targets are realized. The race towards malaria elimination has become deadly serious for countries across the Asia Pacific region. The Greater Mekong Sub-region is currently a hot-spot for drug-resistant strains of malaria. While these have not yet been detected in Indonesia, the spread of these strains would be catastrophic as they do not respond to the newest drugs and few new treatments are on the horizon. A joint malaria elimination commitment was endorsed by the regions leaders at the ninth East Asia Summit in Myanmar in November 2014. Despite Indonesias extraordinary gains, the battle is far from over. Seventy percent of the countrys malaria cases take place in lowland Papua where aggressive malaria control is needed. This must be coupled with wider health system strengthening efforts, while documenting, learning and scaling programs that work. Malaria is also concentrated elsewhere hidden in hard to reach mining and forest areas where active outreach is essential. Finally, we cant be complacent in areas that have been declared malaria-free and are at risk of imported cases. Coupling these local approaches with continued high-level political commitment is essential for achieving a malaria-free future for all of Indonesias children. *** Paul Pronyk, an infectious disease and public health physician, is the chief of Child Survival and Development with UNICEF Indonesia. Maria Endang Sumiwi, a medical doctor, has been managing UNICEF support on malaria program to the Indonesian government. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Facebook Inc on Tuesday released a rule book for the types of posts it allows on its social network, giving far more detail than ever before on what is permitted on subjects ranging from drug use and sex work to bullying, hate speech and inciting violence. Facebook for years has had community standards for what people can post. But only a relatively brief and general version was publicly available, while it had a far more detailed internal document to decide when individual posts or accounts should be removed. Now, the company is providing the longer document on its website to clear up confusion and be more open about its operations, said Monika Bickert, Facebooks vice president of product policy and counter-terrorism. You should, when you come to Facebook, understand where we draw these lines and whats OK and whats not OK, Bickert told reporters in a briefing at Facebooks headquarters. Facebook has faced fierce criticism from governments and rights groups in many countries for failing to do enough to stem hate speech and prevent the service from being used to promote terrorism, stir sectarian violence and broadcast acts including murder and suicide. At the same time, the company has also been accused of doing the bidding of repressive regimes by aggressively removing content that crosses governments and providing too little information on why certain posts and accounts are removed. Read also: Over 1m Indonesian users affected in Facebook privacy scandal New policies will, for the first time, allow people to appeal a decision to take down an individual piece of content. Previously, only the removal of accounts, Groups and Pages could be appealed. Facebook is also beginning to provide the specific reason why content is being taken down for a wider variety of situations. Facebook, the worlds largest social network, has become a dominant source of information in many countries around the world. It uses both automated software and an army of moderators that now numbers 7,500 to take down text, pictures and videos that violate its rules. Under pressure from several governments, it has been beefing up its moderator ranks since last year. Bickert told Reuters in an interview that the standards are constantly evolving, based in part on feedback from more than 100 outside organizations and experts in areas such as counter-terrorism and child exploitation. Everybody should expect that these will be updated frequently, she said. The company considers changes to its content policy every two weeks at a meeting called the Content Standards Forum, led by Bickert. A small group of reporters was allowed to observe the meeting last week on the condition that they could describe process, but not substance. At the April 17 meeting, about 25 employees sat around a conference table while others joined by video from New York, Dublin, Mexico City, Washington and elsewhere. Attendees included people who specialize in public policy, legal matters, product development, communication and other areas. They heard reports from smaller working groups, relayed feedback they had gotten from civil rights groups and other outsiders and suggested ways that a policy or product could go wrong in the future. There was little mention of what competitors such as Alphabet Incs Google do in similar situations. Bickert, a former U.S. federal prosecutor, posed questions, provided background and kept the discussion moving. The meeting lasted about an hour. Facebook is planning a series of public forums in May and June in different countries to get more feedback on its rules, said Mary deBree, Facebooks head of content policy. Read also: WhatsApp co-founder says its about time Facebook was deleted From cursing to murder The longer version of the community standards document, some 8,000 words long, covers a wide array of words and images that Facebook sometimes censors, with detailed discussion of each category. Videos of people wounded by cannibalism are not permitted, for instance, but such imagery is allowed with a warning screen if it is in a medical setting. Facebook has long made clear that it does not allow people to buy and sell prescription drugs, marijuana or firearms on the social network, but the newly published document details what other speech on those subjects is permitted. Content in which someone admits to personal use of non-medical drugs should not be posted on Facebook, the rule book says. The document elaborates on harassment and bullying, barring for example cursing at a minor. It also prohibits content that comes from a hacked source, except in limited cases of newsworthiness. The new community standards do not incorporate separate procedures under which governments can demand the removal of content that violates local law. In those cases, Bickert said, formal written requests are required and are reviewed by Facebooks legal team and outside attorneys. Content deemed to be permissible under community standards but in violation of local law - such as a prohibition in Thailand on disparaging the royal family - are then blocked in that country, but not globally. The community standards also do not address false information - Facebook does not prohibit it but it does try to reduce its distribution - or other contentious issues such as use of personal data. The Jakarta x Beauty 2018 Festival is set to be held on April 27-29 at Senayan City shopping mall in Central Jakarta. Themed #yourbeautyrules, the annual beauty fair is set to promote self-confidence, encouraging local beauty enthusiasts to feel comfortable in their own skin. Local beauty website Female Daily Network, which is the organizer of the event, said in a press release that beauty did not mean clear skin without freckles, acne or wrinkles. Through the event, the company aims to educate visitors that each woman is different and should be able to accept themselves. Read also: Three tips for becoming a professional makeup artist The event is set to feature 60 beauty brands, more than 40 beauty influencers, 15 makeup artists, 20 classes and 20 beauty discussions. CEO Female Daily Network Hanifa Ambadar said the number of participating brands had increased from the previous installment. Hanifa also shared that local beauty enthusiasts were proud of local brands. Based on a survey conducted by the company, 21 percent of its readers had purchased more than 10 local beauty products in the past year, showing the popularity of local brands. (jes/kes) In 2006, moments before he passed away, great Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer asked his children to put some money in a kangaroo pouch. He wanted to give some of that money to whoever was begging on his walk. Even when there was a neighbor asking him for his watch, hed give it, his daughter, Astuti Ananta Toer or Titiek, told The Jakarta Post. Pramoedya did not need to subject himself to that kind of empathy. But empathy was all he had he wasnt rich; being a celebrity never crossed his mind. His empathy also put him in the pantheon of some of the most-venerated figures of Indonesian literature his books, such as the breathtaking Perburuan (The Fugitive) or the sprawling Buru tetralogy, have irrevocably become its face. It was also what led him to multiple prisons: in Cipinang, in Bukit Duri, on Buru Island, his own house. Because of it, he saw his house ransacked, his belongings taken away. Pramoedyas life and work were on display at the gallery Dia.Lo.Gue in Kemang, South Jakarta. Until May 20, the exhibition, titled Namaku Pram: Catatan dan Arsip (My Name Is Pram: Notes and Archive) his face both nurtured by a bright future and ravaged by a grave past will appear on a wall chronicling his life. Read also: Exhibition reveals rare glimpse of literary legend Pramoedya Ananta Toer Papers containing his words, be them in the form of letters sent to his family or first-edition copies of his books, are encased in glass boxes for visitors to see, to remember. One of the rooms on display contains Prams desk, complete with a typewriter and a mock Djarum cigarette pack. The exhibition was the product of admiration. Actress Happy Salma, through her Titimangsa Foundation, mounted a play based on Pramoedyas once-banned novels Bumi Manusia (The Earth of Mankind) and Anak Semua Bangsa(Child of All Nations) called Bunga Penutup Abad (The Flower That Ends a Century). In 2016 and 2017, Happy and Dia.Lo.Gues owner Engel Tanzil worked on the display by meeting with Pramoedyas estate and collecting his archives. World-renowned: A collection of Pramoedya's books that have been translated. (JP/Jerry Adiguna) He was the best documentarian Indonesia has ever seen, Happy said during the gathering at Dia.Lo.Gue. A smaller scale of the exhibition is also being held at Galeri Indonesia Kaya, Jakarta, until May 2. The gathering featured a performance by Pramoedyas grandchildren and ended with a ceremonial tumpengan procession and the handing out of Prams books to those involved with the exhibition. A diarist since childhood, Pramoedya was born on Feb. 6, 1925 in Blora, Central Java. According to Titiek, his upbringing was what led Pramoedya to pass no judgment on people living under the dark clouds of discrimination: from women to beggars he gave money to. In 1960, he published the book Hoakiau di Indonesia (Overseas Chinese in Indonesia) an extensive, sympathetic non-fiction work detailing the plight of Chinese-Indonesians. His reward? A stay at Cipinang prison. Hes been recognized by the likes of the association of writers called PEN International. In 1988, he was awarded the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award for the book Rumah Kaca (The Glass House, the fourth entry in the Buru tetralogy). Perburuan also received an award from Balai Pustaka. He was the closest person Indonesia had to a Nobel laureate in literature. Conversely, hes also remembered for his lost manuscripts, such as his first novel Sepuluh KepalaNICA (NICAs Ten Heads) or Ditepi Kali Bekasi (On the Edge of the Bekasi River). Touring the exhibition which also screens a video of several testimonials, including from Titiek these accolades seemed to be an afterthought. What felt moving was the intimate portrait of a man whose image is still being shaped to this day. Though conceding that the exhibition is the best one that shes seen so far, pain lingers in Titiek. Being reminded of Pram is like having your heart cut up to pieces. It was like seeing his face all over again, she said. Living her life oscillating between pain and relief when her father was taken, when her father came back might have crowded her head. Speaking to reporters to mark the opening on April 16, Pram's daughter, Astuti Ananta Toer, said the family together with organizers had carefully curated manuscripts of his works as well as personal letters written by him. (Galeri Indonesia Kaya/File) Pram was an individualist. He never believed in organizations, Titiek said, when asked her what the biggest misconception we have of him was. He also never stopped working. His books were like his spiritual children. Pramoedya was also linked to organizations such as the now-defunct leftist artists association Lekra and the Peoples Democratic Party. There is a passion project by Pramoedya that has yet to see the light of the day: two expansive, incomplete encyclopedias called Ensiklopedia Geografi Indonesia (Enclycopedia of Indonesias Geography) and Ensiklopedi Citrawi Indonesia (Encyclopedia of Indonesias Image) of Indonesias history and cultures (some parts of it were snatched from under him by the government). His family still owns and has been approached by publishers, but they have yet to agree for a release. Forever etched in Indonesias history, what we have now is his books and his memories. What he saw then is what we could see now and all we need to do is turn a page. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jihye Lee (Bloomberg) Seoul, South Korea Wed, April 25, 2018 08:00 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e06c4b2 2 World #KoreanPeninsula,#SouthKorea,#NorthKorea,#PeaceTalks,#Culinary Free South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will dine together Friday after the first inter-Korean summit in 11 years at the border village of Panmunjom. The specially curated banquet menu reflects the leaders that contributed to the history of the peninsula, and includes specialties from the hometowns of the two liberal South Korean leaders that have met their counterparts north of the border, presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a briefing Tuesday. Heres whats on offer: Dumplings with croaker fish and sea cucumber The dish hails from Gageo Island, Shinan county, where former President Kim Dae-jung was born. South Koreas only ever Nobel Peace laureate coined the term Sunshine Policy for his dovish stance on North Korea, and in 2000 met then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang at the first-ever inter-Korean summit. Rice organically produced using ducks This process of using trained ducks for weeding and pest control on rice farms originated in Bonghwa county, South Gyeongsang Province, where former President Roh Moo-hyun was born. Roh carried on with the Sunshine Policy, meeting Kim Jong Il in 2007. Charcoal-grilled beef The beef comes from Seosan county, South Chungcheong province, the hometown of Chung Ju-yung, the founder of the Hyundai group who in 1998 delivered 500 cattle in a convoy of trucks across the border as a donation to North Korea. Kim Jong Il sent a personal condolence message and a wreath to honor the 10th anniversary of Chungs death in 2011. Grilled John Dory The fish comes from the southern South Korean port city of Busan where Moon spent his youth. He also started his first human rights law firm in the city with former president Roh Moo-hyun in 1982. Cold salad with octopus The octopus is from Tongyeong at the southern tip of the peninsula, where Korean-born German composer Yun I-sang was born. He was known for his works on the resistance against the Japanese occupation. Rosti A potato fritter style popular in Switzerland, where Kim Jong Un studied as a youth. North Korean cold noodles The noodles are from Okryu-gwan, a restaurant in Pyongyang founded in 1960 that North Korea-watcher Andrei Lankov has called a living museum of culinary art. Moons spokesman said that the president specifically requested them, adding that the head chef of the restaurant will specially install a noodle-making machine in the venues kitchen. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Elisabeth Behrman (Bloomberg) Beijing, China Wed, April 25, 2018 07:40 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e06b4bf 2 Business #China,#automotive,#Mercedes-Benz,#Maybach Free Mercedes-Benz is considering extending its ultra-luxury Maybach badge with a crossover, complete with a porcelain tea service embedded in a heatable ebony-wood tray, to take on high-end competitors such as Bentleys sought-after Bentayga SUV. Aimed squarely at billionaires perusing the Beijing auto shows offerings this week, a concept model being displayed includes optional white nappa-leather lie-flat seats with massage and aroma-therapy functions. Mercedes isnt commenting on when itll decide on offering the vehicle. The car would help Mercedes catch up to Volkswagen AGs UK car brand Bentley, whose US$229,000 Bentayga is part of a money-spinning trend for high-seated models thats prompted even Ferrari and Rolls-Royce to add sport-utility vehicles to their line-ups. Its a totally new archetype, of a kind never seen before, Gorden Wagener, chief design officer at Mercedes parent Daimler AG, said in a statement Tuesday in advance of the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition. The crossover would add to Mercedess growing line of lucrative top-end vehicles, such as this years gas-guzzling AMG GT four-door coupe, as the worlds biggest luxury-car maker seeks revenue to finance its expensive shift to battery technology. The concept being shown in Beijing features an electric drive with a 320-kilometer range. Mercedes declined to outline any plans for a battery vehicle for the Maybach sub-brand. Chinese Demand Putting a Maybach crossover into Chinese showrooms would tap into a ready audience for the nameplate. Buyers in the country have snapped up more than 60 percent of the 25,000 Maybach sedans that Mercedes has sold since rolling out the model in 2015. That version, currently priced at $168,600, is the companys second effort to revive the 1930s-era name in a challenge to BMW AGs Rolls-Royce brand. An earlier try in 2001 was dropped following almost a decade of losses. In the past couple of years, Mercedes has unveiled attention-grabbing limited-edition Maybach derivatives, helping drive home the Stuttgart-based manufacturers luxury standing even as most of its customers drive an A-Class compact or C-Class sedan. Just over a year ago, the carmaker presented the Mercedes-Maybach G50, with a limited run of just 99 vehicles. The worlds most expensive SUV at around $500,000, the full-size G50 is able to cross desert dunes powered by a V12 engine, and features a retractable, landaulet-style fabric roof in the back. Customers have also clamored for a 300,000-euro ($366,000) convertible with quilted seats and matching luggage. Mercedes only made 300 of the cars. While Maybach represents a fraction of Mercedess total deliveries, which last year amounted to 2.4 million vehicles, boosting sales of high-earning models is a necessary counterbalance to ballooning spending thats weighing on earnings. Daimler is investing 10 billion euros to create 10 electric vehicles by 2022. The new cars may generate only about half the profits earned by equivalent combustion-engine autos, the company said last year. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Rizal Harahap (The Jakarta Post) Pekanbaru Wed, April 25, 2018 06:03 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e06a8e4 1 National Bonita,Sumatran-tiger,wildlife,Arsari-Djojohadikusumo,conservation Free A Sumatran tiger named Bonita that was recently caught in Indragiri Hilir regency, Riau, after a 100-day hunt is now under the watchful eye of the Arsari Djojohadikusumo Foundations (YAD) medical team. Bonita was weak and refused to eat when she first arrived at the Dharmasraya Sumatran Tiger Rehabilitation Center (PRHSD) in West Sumatra on Saturday, according to YAD executive director Catrini Pratihari Kubontubuh On Sunday, a team of veterinarians took samples of her blood and treated her for two hours. The team found several diseases, such as a tumor located under the skin around her stomach. The team performed surgery to remove the tumor; its not [malignant], Catrini told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. She added that Bonitas condition had been improving in the last two days. We gave her a chicken and she was able to catch it by herself, just like in her natural habitat. She previously refused to eat, maybe because she was too tired. It took 20 hours to bring her to the rehabilitation center from where she was caught. Throughout the trip, she had to be kept conscious, Catrini said, adding that it was prohibited to use anesthesia on animals that were being transported. She rejected rumors claiming that Bonita suffered from obesity. She weighs around 82 kilograms; thats normal for a 4-year-old tiger. Claims were also made that Bonita might be pregnant, which the veterinarian team has been unable to confirm. Well need to check that using an ultrasound, Catrini said. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25, 2018 16:28 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e093ff6 1 City Pari-island,protest,City-Hall Free Around 50 residents of Pari Island, Thousand Islands regency, protested in front of City Hall on Wednesday, urging Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan to revoke land ownership certificates (SHMs) and right to build certificates (SHGBs) used by parties to claim ownership of the island. Previously, the Indonesian Ombudsman's Jakarta office stated that it found a case of maladministration when the North Jakarta Land Agency issued 62 SHMs to individuals and 14 SHGBs to PT Bumi Griyanusa and PT Bumi Pari Asri. Both companies claimed to own 90 percent of the island. The acting head of the ombudsman's Jakarta office, Dominikus Dalu, said the issuance of the certificates should be evaluated and an internal audit should be conducted at the land agency. In the previous week, the residents protested in front of the land agency office, demanding that it revoke the certificates. As they had yet to receive a formal response to their demand, they decided to protest in front of City Hall on Wednesday. One of the protesters, Ujen, said that if Anies did not meet with them, the protests would continue. We will stay here until were asked to leave. We will sleep here if necessary, Ujen said on Wednesday according to tempo.co. Ujen said the residents departed from the island at 10 p.m. They slept in Kaliadem, Muara Angke, and headed to City Hall to protest at 8 a.m. (cal) An oil well that caught fire and killed 10 people in Pasir Putih village, Ranto Peureulak subdistrict, East Aceh, on Wednesday morning was illegal, says the Aceh Disaster and Mitigation Agency (BPBD Aceh) Nineteen people were injured in the incident that also damaged five houses in the village. It is an illegal well. The well was built on land belonging to Bu Zainabah, whose house also burned down during the incident. The owner of the well is still unknown because it is a shared well. Some people exploit the crude oil from the well together, a BPBD Aceh official who requested anonymity told The Jakarta Post in a phone call on Wednesday. She said the fire had yet to be extinguished. Two fire trucks were deployed at 2:30 a.m. but nine hours later it has yet to be put out." Sutopo said state oil and gas firm Pertamina and BPBD Aceh would apply special technology to put out the fire. The Environment and Forestry Ministrys law enforcement director general, Rasio Ridho Sani, said the ministry had deployed officials to Pasir Putih village to investigate the incident. We have assigned a team to the location, Rasio told the Post. The fire happened only a month after an oil spill disaster caused by Pertamina's burst undersea pipeline in East Kalimantan.(ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ivany Atina Arbi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25 2018 For the elderly: Tenants walk up a ramp at an apartment for senior citizens in Cibubur, East Jakarta. The building, which was inaugurated by the Public Works and Housing Ministry on Tuesday, houses 90 units that will be rented out for Rp 3.5 million (US$252) per month. (Warta Kota/Muhamad Azzam) The Public Works and Housing Ministry inaugurated on Tuesday an apartment compound reserved for senior citizens in Cibubur, East Jakarta. The project was initiated by the ministry and Karya Bhakti Ria Pembangunan, a foundation formed by the wives of former New Order government officials, including the late Tien Soeharto. The foundation also manages the Sasana Tresna Werdha nursing home in Cibubur. A member of the foundations board of supervisors, Haryono Suyono, said the facility could be used as a permanent home or temporary place of residence. It will a... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25, 2018 17:21 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e0977c7 1 City land-dispute,Jakarta-International-Korean-School Free Heirs of Rasim bin Salim, the former owner of a plot of land where the Jakarta International Korean School (JIKS) stands in Cipayung, East Jakarta, has blockaded the schools parking area over a land dispute. One of the heirs, Niwan, said on Wednesday that a 7,300-square meter plot of land owned by Rasim bin Salim had been sold by a second party, named Santoso, to the JIKS foundation with falsified documents. All of the signatures on the documents have been forged without our knowledge, Niwan claimed, as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com. He added that one of his cousins had handed the land certificates to Santoso as a debt security. But Santoso later sold the land, he said, adding that the dispute had been going on for decades. (vny) The appeal from two of the signatories to the landmark 2015 accord came as French President Emmanuel Macron was on a state visit, received with much pomp by US President Donald Trump. Trump Tuesday laid transatlantic divisions bare, pillorying a three-year old agreement designed to curb Iran's nuclear program. The US leader described it as "insane" and "ridiculous," despite European pleas for him not to walk away. Instead, Trump eyed a broader "deal" that would also limit Iran's ballistic missile program and support for militant groups across the Middle East. Macron said the agreement should impose tougher terms on Iran including a settlement in Syria, where it backs President Bashar al Assad. Macron was to address a joint session of the US Congress on Wednesday, with more freedom to speak his mind on world issues after his talks with Trump. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday questioned the legitimacy of these demands for a fresh nuclear agreement with Tehran. "Together with a leader of a European country they say: 'We want to decide on an agreement reached by seven parties'. What for? With what right?" Rouhani said in a speech. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini insisted Wednesday that the current Iran nuclear deal was working and "needs to be preserved". "On what can happen in the future we'll see in the future, but there is one deal existing, it's working, it needs to be preserved," the former Italian foreign minister said as she arrived for a donor conference on Syria in Brussels. In Moscow, the Kremlin said there can be 'no alternative' to the current deal with Iran. "We believe that no alternative exists so far," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that Iran's position on the subject was paramount. Trump said earlier that "they should have made a deal that covered Yemen, that covered Syria. No matter where you go in the Middle East, you see the fingerprints of Iran behind problems." Looming decision Macron said after meeting Trump that he did not know whether the US president would walk away from the nuclear deal when a May 12 decision deadline comes up. Putting on a brave face, he said he wished "for now to work on a new deal with Iran" of which the nuclear accord could be one part. Speaking to US lawmakers on Wednesday in English, Macron will address what he thinks are historically warm Franco-US ties now challenged by differences over economic inequality, climate change, how to tackle terrorism, threats to democracy and the rise of nationalism, according to sources in Macron's entourage. Macron, completing a three-day state visit, was also scheduled to visit the Library of Congress and be received by House of Representatives speaker Paul Ryan. On Tuesday neither Trump nor Macron indicated whether Iran would get something in return for concessions on its ballistic programs, activities in the Middle East or extending nuclear controls beyond 2025. Trump -- true to his background in reality TV -- teased his looming decision. "This is a deal with decayed foundations. It's a bad deal, it's a bad structure. It's falling down," the US leader said. "We're going to see what happens on the 12th." Trump's European allies have repeatedly tried to persuade him not to abandon the 2015 deal, which gave Iran massive sanctions relief and the guarantee of a civilian nuclear program in return for limiting enrichment that could produce weapons grade fuel. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will renew those calls when she visits Washington on Friday. Iran, meanwhile, has warned it will ramp up enrichment if Trump walks away from the accord, prompting a blunt warning from the US leader. "They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before. And you can mark it down," he said. Simmering tensions For months American and European officials have been working behind the scenes trying to find a compromise on Iran that allows the mercurial US president to claim a public victory, while keeping the deal intact. More hawkish American officials accuse Europeans -- particularly Germany -- of putting business interests ahead of security, and of opposing a tougher stance against Iran to safeguard investments in the Islamic Republic. That charge is sharply rejected by European officials, who are increasingly frustrated at spending time dealing with Trump's complaints rather than tackling Iran's behavior. The disagreement threatens to plunge transatlantic relations to their lowest point since the Iraq War. Trump's comments on Iran contrast markedly with the exuberant welcome he gave the French leader. Tuesday morning both men waxed lyrical about shared heroes of yore -- from the Marquis de Lafayette to Alexis de Tocqueville -- as they listened to strains of "La Marseillaise" and "The Star-Spangled Banner." Later, the Trumps rolled out the red carpet for the Macrons once more at a lavish state dinner -- of which the US first lady was said to have fine-tuned every last detail, from gold tableware to white floral centerpieces, for star guests including Apple CEO Tim Cook and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Melania Trump dazzled in a sequined Chanel dress of black Chantilly lace, while Brigitte Macron stepped out in a long-sleeved creamy white gown with gold lattice detailing by Louis Vuitton. The key question is whether Macron can translate their privileged relationship into concrete results -- as he also pushes for a permanent exemption for Europe from US steel and aluminium tariffs. Earlier in the Oval Office, Trump offered a striking -- and slightly awkward -- sign of their much-vaunted intimacy. "We have a very special relationship, in fact I'll get that little piece of dandruff off," Trump said, swiping something off Macron's jacket. "We have to make him perfect -- he is perfect." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25 2018 Watch your step: Former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto (center) arrives at the Jakarta Corruption Court in Central Jakarta on Tuesday. Setya, once among the country's most influential politicians, was found guilty of taking billions of rupiah in kickbacks and bribes linked to the governments e-id procurement. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan) From the time he was first elected as a House of Representative member in 1999, Setya Novanto had built reputation as one of the most powerful and influential politicians in the country. He gained notoriety for his ability to evade responsibility for legally questionable proceedings in which he was alleged to have been involved. That reputation collapsed on Tuesday. Judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court handed him a 15-year prison term after finding him guilty of playing a major role in the corruption case surrounding th... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25, 2018 10:26 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e07282a 1 Business Wijaya-Karya,shareholders-meeting,new-directors Free The government has appointed Tumiyana as president director of state-owned construction company PT Wijaya Karya (Wika), replacing Bintang Perbowo, who has retired. Corporate secretary Puspita Anggraeni said Tumiyana, who was previously president director of another state-owned construction company, PT Pembangunan Perumahan, was appointed during a shareholders meeting in Jakarta on Tuesday. The company has selected a new board of directors," she said at a press conference after the meeting. Puspita added that the meeting also agreed to appoint Agung Budi Waskito as operations director, replacing Chandra Dwiputra. During the meeting, the company also said it had established a directorate to oversee quality, safety, health and environment (QSHE), led by Danu Prijambodo, who was previously an executive at state-owned gas distributor PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN). The directorate was established in response to recent accidents at infrastructure construction sites. The meeting also agreed to distribute Rp 240.41 billion (US$17.31 million) in dividends, 20 percent of its 2017 net income. The dividends will be paid within the next 30 days. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25, 2018 18:40 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e09c2d6 1 City high-rise-building,fiber-optic-network,regulation,requirement Free In a bid to spur digital economic growth in Jakarta, the government and city administration are set to require high-rise buildings to provide access for the installation of fiber optics to internet or phone operators. Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said the regulation should be implemented soon, without the city administration having to wait for the completion of the planned project to fix utility ducts in Jakarta. The most important thing is that all high-rise buildings in Jakarta have to give access for the installation of fiber optic, Rudiantara said on Wednesday, according to kompas.com. Meanwhile, to support the growth of the digital economy, Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno said the city administration would invite private parties to participate in the project to install all cables into ducts through a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme. We want to ensure that high-rise buildings will be served by an integrated duct system, Sandiaga said, adding that the project to fix utility ducts would kick off soon. The city administration has long planned to build a duct system to house underground utility cables, which often clog waterways and cause flooding. The messy cables may also harm residents. In September last year, 49-year-old Suriyah died after she was electrocuted by a power pole on Jl. Percetakan Negara, Central Jakarta, while taking her granddaughter to school. (cal) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan, North Sumatra Wed, April 25, 2018 19:14 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e09d1a9 1 National Walhi,East-Aceh,crude-oil,illegal-mining,oil,oil-well,aceh Free Environment watchdog Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI) is calling on the government to immediately stop illegal crude oil drilling activities in Aceh, following a fire at an illegal oil well in Peureulak, East Aceh, early on Wednesday that killed 11 people. WALHI Aceh director M. Nur said his group had reported the illegal crude oil exploration activities in Peureulak to local administrations a long time ago. However, the authorities have tended to play down their complaints so that the illegal wells continue to operate until today. Since 2012, we have called on the government to close down the illegal exploration activities because they are dangerous and have polluted the environment. However, the mining activities conducted in the name of people have continued to take place, Nur told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. The environmentalist further said Aceh had two illegal crude oil drilling locations, namely in Peureulak and in Bireun. The two sites still operated even though in 2016 an oil well in Bireuen was set ablaze. No fatalities were reported in that incident. Nur deplored the Aceh administration for not taking tough measures against illegal oil exploration activities that were dangerous to residents living in the surrounding areas. Drilling activities in the illegal wells were conducted without clear regulations and adequate safety equipment. Citing an example, Nur said, many workers smoked as they carried out drilling activities. They were also not supplied with safety equipment, posing dangers to the drillers themselves and people nearby. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Jodhpur, India Wed, April 25, 2018 19:51 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e09eb95 2 World rape,India,religious-figures,sexual-abuse,child-abuse,rape-culture Free An Indian guru with millions of followers was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for raping a teenage devotee on the pretext of ridding her of evil spirits, his lawyer said. Asaram Bapu, one of India's most charismatic and controversial "godmen", was given the maximum sentence at a closed jailhouse hearing in Rajasthan state, where hundreds of police were on high alert for a backlash from his disciples. "Asaram has been sentenced for life until death," Rajendra Singh, a lawyer for the defence team, told AFP outside the court in the western city of Jodhpur. The white-bearded guru, 77, who urges followers to live a pious life free of sexual desires, has always denied raping the then 16-year-old in 2013 during a spiritual retreat at his ashram in Jodhpur. His lawyer said they would appeal the sentence. Asaram is just the latest high-profile guru jailed for sex crimes, and his conviction comes as India reverberates with anger over a series of child rapes in recent weeks. Two of the four other co-accused, including a woman, were also found guilty and were sentenced to 20 years. Two others accused in the case were acquitted. The hearing was closed to media and the prison surrounded by tight security, with thousands of police deployed across several Indian states amid fears his devotees could riot if "Bapuji" was found guilty. There were no initial reports of violence. The woman, now 21, accused Asaram of assaulting her on the pretext of driving away evil forces. The influential guru, who has been in custody since 2013, had called the trial a political conspiracy and refused to cooperate with a police investigation. A perceived reluctance to bring the charismatic leader to account sparked public outrage. The Hindu televangelist and yoga guru still commands a devoted following despite his star power fading following the rape charges and other controversies. Asaram's followers have been accused of attacking or pressuring those who have spoken out against the guru into withdrawing their allegations. Two close aides who turned key witnesses against him were murdered in 2014 and 2015. Asaram is also accused of raping another devotee and involvement in the killing of two students at another of his Hindu retreats. His son is also on trial for rape. But this conviction was the first for the spiritual preacher who once attracted huge crowds to hear his sermons. "We argued that Asaram is not a saint," public prosecutor Pokar Ram Bishnoi told reporters after the sentencing. Controversial 'godman' His conviction follows weeks of revulsion and protest over the gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old and a separate assault on a teenager by a ruling party politician. Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- who was criticized for a slow response to the crimes -- last week approved the death penalty for child rapists and vowed "to hang the people of demonic tendencies who misbehave with daughters". "There is a government in Delhi which listens to the hearts of the people and decides on the basis of it," he told a political gathering Wednesday. Asaram sparked revulsion in 2013 after saying a 23-year-old student gang raped and murdered in Delhi could have averted the ordeal by begging for mercy from her attackers. But the preacher has retained a devoted following despite his controversies. His website boasts of many high-profile believers and admirers, including Modi and other past prime ministers. Officials from Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party responded angrily Wednesday as the main opposition Congress party distributed photos of the prime minister alongside Asaram. India has numerous "godmen" backed by legions of devoted followers, many from the country's rural heartland, but several have been embroiled in scandals in recent years. Last year, a spiritual leader dubbed the "guru in bling" was jailed for 20 years for rape. His devotees went on a rampage that lasted days and left 38 dead. In 2014 the guru Rampal Maharaj barricaded himself in his ashram guarded by devotees armed with stones, petrol bombs and other weapons after a court issued a warrant for his arrest. Six people died during the siege. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25, 2018 12:10 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e07e438 1 Politics Jokowi,212Rally,controversy,Muslim Free President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, addressing rumors circulating in the media, confirmed on Wednesday that a meeting between him and members of the self-proclaimed 212 Rally Alumni group took place at the Bogor Palace last Sunday. Recently, a photo of Jokowi walking in a mosque with several members of 212 Rally Alumni went viral in media reports. The President was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and a black peci (traditional cap) while the clerics mostly wore white gamis (Muslim gowns). Jokowi said the meeting was only a silaturahmi (friendly gathering), similar to other meetings with ulema during his visits to Islamic boarding schools and his meetings with clerics who were routinely invited to the Presidential Palace for discussion. "The purpose is to build cordial relations with ulema, religious figures and clerics from across the country's provinces [...] in order to maintain brotherhood and unity," Jokowi said on Wednesday. The President said that during the meeting on Sunday, he and the members conducted a midday prayer together and had lunch. The discussion was mainly about issues in society, Jokowi added. The alumni group comprises Islamic groups and activists that participated in street protests to call for the prosecution of then-Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama for blasphemy in 2016. The alumni is set to hold a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to talk about the meeting with the President. (dmr) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25, 2018 12:20 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e08533a 1 City Kwik-Kian-Gie,Fraud Free Fraudsters have allegedly extorted Rp 50 million (US$3,590) from a brother of prominent economist and former cabinet minister Kwik Kian Gie after they threatened to kill the former minister. Through a phone conversation, one of the fraudsters allegedly ordered Hari Budianto Darmawan to transfer a fixed amount of money, otherwise he would rob and kill 83-year-old Kwik, South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Indra Jafar said. Kwik was the coordinating economic and finance minister from 1999 to 2000 and minister of national development planning from 2001 to 2004. "Hari Budianto Darmawan was told that his brother [Kwik] would be robbed," Indra said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com, adding that Hari received the phone call while he was at a hotel in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. Another fraudster, Indra added, also talked over the phone with Hari while mimicking Kwik's voice. They allegedly asked Hari to transfer Rp 60 million. "Soon after he transferred Rp 50 million to the criminals, Hari then called one of Kwik's children, only to find out that his brother was fine," Indra explained. The police are currently investigating the case to identify those who made the phone call. (vla) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25, 2018 14:16 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e08cb6e 1 City national-exam,theft,computer,junior-high-schools Free Nineteen laptops were stolen at SMP PGRI Batuceper junior high school in Tangerang, hours before the start of national exams on Wednesday morning, in the third case of laptop theft at a school in Greater Jakarta this month. The headmaster of the school, Lutfi Suryadi, said the thieves had allegedly broken into the room where the laptops were stored by breaking locks on the school gate and the door to the computer lab. As a result, the students had to take the exams at a nearby school, SMAN 14 high school in Tangerang. I was shocked. Its a pity that the students [had to take the exams elsewhere], Lutfi said on Wednesday as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com. On Monday, 14 laptops owned by several students and SMP Muhammadiyah 14 junior high school in Koja, North Jakarta, were stolen at the school hours before exams. Similar to what occurred in Tangerang, the lock securing the room where the laptops were stored was damaged. The school then had to borrow laptops from SMK Muhammadiyah 12 vocational school, which is located near the school, before starting the exams. The school's vice principal, Slamet, said on Tuesday that the exams went well despite the theft. We havent seen technical or substantial problems during the exams, Slamet said according to tempo.co. Earlier this month, 40 borrowed laptops were stolen a week before the national exams at Madrasah Tsanawiyah al Falah, an Islamic junior high school in Penjaringan, North Jakarta. (cal) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 25, 2018 18:24 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e09a40e 1 City safety,vessel-accident,Thousand-Islands-regency Free Most of the boats operating in waters of Jakartas Thousand Islands regency fail to meet safety standards set by the National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT). "Our recommendation issued last year has not been heeded until today," KNKT chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono told tempo.co on Tuesday. His comment follows an incident on a vessel belonging to the Jakarta Transportation Agency. An explosion occurred aboard the boat on Sunday at 10:20 a.m., shortly after the engine had been turned on. The vessel was due to transport passengers to Pramuka Island. Nine people were reportedly injured. Police investigating the case are looking into possible negligence and have questioned 15 people so far. Last year, 24 people were killed aboard the Zahro Express boat traveling from Muara Angke Port in North Jakarta to Tidung Island in Thousand Islands regency when a fire caused an explosion. Soerjanto said he had urged boat owners to seriously consider safety standards after the fatal incident, but the suggestions had been largely ignored, as officials from his office still found many vessels that did not meet the safety standards. He also lamented a lack of communication from crews regarding the location of their boats at sea, which would hamper rescue efforts in case of an emergency. He added that crew members were often careless. "I often saw them smoking while refueling vessels. That's very dangerous," he said. (fac) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Novi Abdi (The Jakarta Post) Balikpapan, East Kalimantan Wed, April 25, 2018 12:23 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e08601e 1 National oil-spill,#oil-tanker-fires,#environment,pertamina,Balikpapan,Balikpapan-Bay,East-Kalimantan Free Police have seized Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel MV Ever Judger 2 as evidence for their investigation into a fatal fire reportedly caused by a burst undersea pipeline belonging to state oil and gas Pertamina in Balikpapan Bay, East Kalimantan, on March 31. The vessel is tied up to a dock in Semayang Port waters. The confiscation is in line with a Balikpapan District Court order, the East Kalimantan Polices special crime investigation directorate head, Sr.Comr. Yustan Alpiani, said on Tuesday. Four personnel were deployed to guard the vessel on Tuesday evening. The police have asked the immigration office to ban MV Ever Judger crew members from leaving Indonesia for investigation purposes. They are among 54 people the police have questioned as witnesses. MV Ever Judger 2 reportedly entered Balikpapan Bay waters on March 29 to pick up coal in northern Balikpapan Bay. Semayang Port Authority head Sanggam Marihot said the vessel, which was carrying 78,000 tons of coal, was en route to waters outside Indonesian territory on the evening of March 30. Alpiani said the oil spill was reported to have spread across Balikpapan Bay at 3 a.m. on March 31, while at that time, only the MV Ever Judger 2 had been sailing in waters above the burst pipeline. The oil spill caused a massive fire, killing five fishermen and polluting Balikpapan Bay. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Suherdjoko (The Jakarta Post) Semarang, Central Java Wed, April 25, 2018 10:05 1258 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e06f0ff 1 National National-Police,Traffic-Corps,Idul-Fitri,idul-fitri-exodus,Lebaran,Holiday Free The National Police are ready to deploy 170,000 personnel to secure homebound travel during the upcoming Idul Fitri holiday season. Mobile Brigade (Brimob) members in Central Java and West Java may be deployed to strengthen security if needed. More people are expected to travel home on the trans-Java toll roads spanning from Jakarta to Surabaya, in East Java, which will be ready before Idul Fitri, according to the police. To anticipate any traffic disruptions in the holiday season, the polices traffic corps observed toll road construction in Central Java over two days. They also monitored the readiness of police personnel in areas along the homebound travel route. People will travel in great numbers to their hometowns via the trans-Java toll roads, Traffic Corps chief Insp.Gen. Royke Lumowa said. Royke said the government had accelerated the construction of four sections of trans-Java toll roads, which connected Pemalang Batang, Batang Semarang, Salatiga Kartasura and Kartasura Kertosono. He said the traffic corps was striving to put an end to the usual heavy traffic at the East Brebes toll road exit gate over Idul Fitri. State toll road operator Jasamarga Semarang-Batang technical director Abdul Rokhim said the Semarang-Batang toll road would be ready for use 10 days before Idul Fitri. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Allison Hore (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, April 26 2018 Sweet tooth: A creative take on chocolate. Produced using an ethos of sustainability and locally sourced ingredients, this chocolate will not leave you feeling guilty about eating it. Originally from Australia, Toby Garrit moved to Bali 17 years ago. He was inspired to start chocolate manufacturing company Pod Bali in 2010 after seeing cocoa growing all around him in his village and noticing that no one was using it to make chocolate. I started what turned out to be a very long process of learning how to make chocolate, he said. This distance between cocoa farmers and the chocolate-making process is not uncommon. Indonesia produces around 350,000 tons of cocoa beans, making it the third-largest cocoa producer in the world after the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Most of these beans are exported raw to Malaysia, the United State... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Yuliasri Perdani (The Jakarta Post) Bandung Thu, April 26 2018 Exploration: The I Can See the World camera obscura installation is made of plywood and acrylic. (Yuliasri Perdani) Iswanto Soerjanto may be willing to give up his camera but that doesnt mean hell give up photography. With the help of honey, sun and light-sensitive papers, Iswanto Soerjanto goes on a cameraless exploration, producing works on display at his first solo exhibition, titled RE-DEFINITION at Bale Tonggoh, Selasar Soenaryo in Bandung, West Java. Among the artwork being exhibited until April 30 is a stand-out installation called Transformative Moments. It is a line of hanging glass bottles filled with alkaline and acidic liquids that endlessly drip onto three photo papers. Honey that covers the photo papers slowly reacts with the chemical substances and the surrounding light, creating unpredicta... Chief Supt. Marcelo Morales, Central Mindanao police director, identified the three Indonesians as Sugonop Bentelu, 54; Rafles Pangutesang Salaka, 45; and Aris Bintilo, 26. They were arrested in a house owned by Filipino Toto Malik, in Purok Kulasi in Barangay Labangal. Malik was able to flee. Seized from the suspects were 130 boxes of kretek cigarettes. Each box contained 40,000 pesos worth of contraband or a total of 5.2 million pesos. Morales said the three were arrested two weeks ago for the same offense but managed to post bail and resumed their illegal activities. We will file a motion preventing them [from posting] bail, Morales said. He said a manhunt had been launched against Malik. Police raided the house of Malik about 9 p.m. where the smuggled cigarettes were being kept before its distribution to various outlets. Regional police spokesperson Supt. Aldrin Gonzales said the cigarettes were manufactured in Indonesia. Morales said the contraband were loaded on four motorized boats from Indonesia and brought inside the country through the so-called southern backdoor. Malik hosted the three in his house and made his home as warehouse for the smuggled cigarettes. But neighbors became suspicious of their activities and the presence of the Indonesians, who could not speak Filipino, so they alerted the police. Morales said his office had already coordinated with the Philippine Navy, Coast Guard and Maritime command to intensify coastline and deep-sea patrol to prevent smuggling. He also sought the help of Filipino fishermen in information gathering. Gonzales said smuggling of goods has been rampant in the coast of the region and was reduced only when the police and maritime police intensified the campaign against smuggling. State-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I (AP I), which manages 13 airports in central and eastern Indonesia, said it would scrap landing fees for a limited time for airlines opening new routes to Pattimura International Airport in Ambon, in a bid to spur tourism to Maluku. According to a statement, AP I said it would exempt airlines from paying landing fees for six months and halt promotional charges for one month for airlines opening a new route to the Ambon airport. The move aims to increase tourist arrivals, especially from foreign countries. "The full incentive of landing fee exemption is expected to attract airlines to open new routes to and from Ambon through Pattimura airport. In addition to Pattimura airport, a full incentive landing fee will be offered to airlines opening new routes in El Tari in Kupang and Frans Kaisiepo in Biak," Angkasa Pura I president director Faik Fahmi said. The airport operator will also renovate several areas of Pattimura airport, including by extending its terminals, refurbishing the boarding lounge, check-in area, baggage claim and corridors. Read also: Garuda Indonesia opens direct flight to reach Wakatobi from Ambon The announcement comes following a discussion on Maluku tourism stimulation, which was held recently in Ambon with the participation of Angkasa Pura I and related stakeholders, such as the local government, tourist industry representatives and academics. Last year, Pattimura airport served 1.19 million passengers. In the first half of 2018, 346,116 passengers passed through the airport, up from 297,777 in the same period last year. Maluku province is targeting 25,000 domestic tourists and 150,000 foreign tourists this year through 23 major events in the region. In 2017, Maluku welcomed 18,000 foreign tourists, an 20 percent increase from the 15,000 in 2016. (liz/kes) Breakups are always hard, but why make them uglier than they need to be? Relationship experts are increasingly concerned about the damaging role phones and social media are playing in young peoples breakups, as new research launched today shows that 48% of 16-24-year-olds say relationship breakups have had a negative effect on their mental health. Leading experts representing a range of relationship organisations including Relate and Tavistock Relationships have today launched a guide to better breakups which aims to minimise hurtful and humiliating behaviours online, including ghosting and revenge porn. The research, commissioned by statusonline.org amongst 1,000 16-24-year-olds, reveals that although 90% of 16-24-year-olds think the best way to end a relationship is face to face, in reality, the temptation to hide behind a screen is too much. As a consequence, 41% have been dumped by text, 33% on social media and 28% have been a victim of ghosting. The development of social media over the last 20 years means that young people are also having to deal with an extra layer of issues involving public humiliation and harassment when breaking up with a partner. This can be seen by the concerning results, which showed that: 38% were sent hurtful private messages 27% were harassed with frequent contact online 23% had hurtful comments posted or shared about them online 14% had nude photos/videos shared publicly by ex-partner Sarah Abell, relationship expert for statusonline.org said, The way we use our devices is damaging our ability to break up in a healthy way. If you are in the jungle miles away from your partner or if you are wanting to escape an abusive relationship - texting might be a good idea. But in most other instances, it isn't. The golden rule is to treat people like you would want to be treated. Would you like to be dumped on Snapchat? The majority of young people in the survey said they would want to be told face-to-face but sadly their responses show that isn't happening as much as they would like. We need to encourage more young people to be kinder and more courageous and not hide behind their screens. The research suggests that young people find breaking up very difficult so its no wonder they are looking to avoid awkwardness. In fact, 62% of young people who have been in a relationship have wanted to end a relationship but not felt able to end it. Of particular concern is the fact that nearly half of those who have been in this situation were worried that the person they were breaking up with might hurt themselves. Thankfully, statusonline.org have come up with a guide to better breakups: 1. Look for the tell-tale signs that its over Some conflict in a relationship is normal but if youre arguing more often than not, something may need to change. Consider the causes of the conflict it may be that theyre actually external pressures such as stress from work, studying or pressures from friends and family. If cant be yourself with them or dont trust them to be there for you when you need them it may be time to call it a day. If you dont feel safe or if they are abusive, call the police or contact an organisation such as Relate who can connect you with the right support. Cheating doesnt always signify the end. Relate counsellor Dee Holmes said, If your partner has cheated this is often a sign that there are issues in your relationship which need addressing. You may decide you want to end the relationship entirely or if youre both willing to work at your relationship and have the right support, its possible to rebuild trust. 2. Choose your moment to bring up the subject Let them know in advance that you want to talk to avoid it being a shock. Be honest, direct but considerate and kind. Choose a time to talk when youre both sober, calm and away from distractions and try to avoid blame or loaded language. You might start the conversation by saying Ive noticed we dont seem to be getting on as well and think we need to work out what to do about it. or I am not happy, or I am not feeling good about the way we are. Relationship expert for statusonline.org Sarah Abell suggests Think about how you would want to be told if someone broke up with you. 3. Let them down gently Saying Its not you, its me risks sounding cliched or insincere but what is behind this commonly used phrase is how you feel. Talking about yourself can avoid sounding critical - so rather than saying I dont like you now Ive got to know you properly you could say Im not feeling enough of a connection between us. Couples therapist Kate Thomson from Tavistock Relationships said Your partner is unlikely to be in the same place emotionally as you. It may take them some time to catch up. Try to confront difficulties as they occur rather than store them up and finally cause them to explode with frustration or anger. If you can understand and talk about your more vulnerable emotions, it may well make the break-up less stormy. 4. Talk face to face There may be situations where you have to end a relationship by text, email, or instant message for example if you havent known them for long, they dont live nearby or youre escaping an abusive relationship. However, texts and messages can often be misunderstood and interpreted wrongly. Face to face and in private is usually best. Sarah Abell said: The golden rule is to treat people like you would want to be treated. Be kind and courageous and dont hide behind a screen. 5. Protect yourself from bitterness and online recriminations Think very carefully before sharing intimate photos or details with another person and dont do it if you feel under pressure. Your ex could publish any sexual content online which will be entirely outside of your control. Actions like this are a criminal offence so if you find this has happened, contact the police. If somebody posts something bitter on social media or humiliates you publicly, avoid retaliating publicly. If you do choose to talk to them about it, take the conversation offline. Be aware that posts showing you having fun may create more unhappiness for your ex. This doesnt mean you shouldnt have fun but its worth being aware of the impact social media posts could have. Couple therapist, Kate Thomson from Tavistock Relationships said: Break up in a way that both of you acknowledge the part you had to play in the relationship and how it ended, sharing the loss. That will hopefully eliminate the need for revenge acts, the idea that one party was more wronged. If you have been left, the old saying, the best revenge is living well may have quite some truth to it so have fun, rather than sinking to cruel behaviour that you may later feel ashamed of once your life has moved on. 6. Tread carefully if you want to stay friends Giving each other some space and time to heal at first may make it possible to remain friends in the long-run. Be honest about new relationships and remember to be kind to and about each other. Ask yourself, do you need to stay friends? Think about the pros and cons of maintaining contact. It might make you feel less guilty but actually isnt helpful to them. Look after yourself - take positive steps like talking to any mutual friends and ask them not to take sides. Accept this is a process that you have to go through and that it will help you to learn about yourself. Relate counsellor Dee Holmes said Try to be calm, reasonable and dont sweat the small stuff. If breaking up means splitting belongings, ask yourself if its really worth an argument over who keeps a pair of sunglasses. George Barker from Sexpression:UK adds It is possible to be friends with an ex, but only after both parties are completely over the relationship. Two Nottingham Trent students are to appear in court in May in connection to a video which contains people making racial slurs and shouting we hate blacks in a university halls. Nottinghamshire police have said Joe Tivnan, 18, from Birmingham, and Lauren Leigh, 18, from Nottingham, have been summoned to appear before Nottingham Magistrates court on May 24, to answer charges of racially or religiously aggravated harassment. In March footage containing audible racist chanting outside the bedroom of a first year student, Rufaro Chisango, went viral. In the video people can be heard chanting, "we hate the blacks" and "sign the Brexit papers now". Chisango, who has now moved to a different student accomodation, was the only black person on her floor and says other racial slurs about cotton picking were made but these were not recorded. It is alleged that Tivnan and Leigh are two of the voices that can be heard in the video. No further action is being taken against a second man, also an 18-year-old Trent student, who was arrested in connection with the incident. Nottingham Trent University had suspended all three students who were arrested, pending enquires. In a statement at the time the video emerged they said: We are shocked and appalled to see the video of racist chanting posted yesterday evening. This kind of vile behaviour will not be tolerated at Nottingham Trent University. Those suspected perpetrators have been suspended immediately pending a full investigation. When visiting Italy, how do you make the most of the delicious delicacies (without putting on half of your body weight in food and wine!) and soak up as much culture as possible? The secret to this major holiday issue is Italys summer festivals. This summer, near and far regions of Italy are hosting food and wine festivals for you to divulge your taste buds and immerse yourself in the local culture. 1. Granita Siciliana Sicily. The land of sun, sea, history, breathtaking sceneries, ancient wonders and Granita Siciliana! Granita Siciliana is a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water, and various flavourings . Almost like what us Brits would call a sorbet. Enjoy three days of ice cream heaven, as well as getting to know the ins and outs of Sicil ys agricultural and food sectors at Nivarata festival. The line-up of events includes conferences, live food shows, workshops, handicraft, panel discussions, exhibitions, art displays and special guests. Sweet succulent strawberries. Nothing quite like it to sum up the taste of summer. Nemi is a quaint medieval town of the Castelli Romani, 20 Km south of Rome perched on a hill overlooking the small volcanic lake of Nemi. It is famous for its wild strawberries, small, sweet and with a distinctive flavour . Make sure you waste no time at all getting into the spirit, devouring a strawberry pizza and a wild strawberry tart- they are truly delicious. 3. Stragusto, Street Food Festival Image courtesy of Stragusto.it This celebration of Italian street food fills the streets with flavours , smells, and bright colours each year. The festival spills over the whole of the old town of Trapani, celebrating the best of the Mediterranean. Find delicacies in Fish Market Square such as : panelle , arancine , sfincioni , rascadura , focacce , panini c a meusa , dolci ... and more! 4. Calici Di Stelle Relax under a sky alight with shooting stars, in the most beautiful wine-producing locations in Italy. Wine tastings across different regions allow visitors to explore and appreciate the local culture, through their most precious crop. This is a must-visit on Italy's summer calendar. 5. Mangialonga, Walking and Food Festival Soak up the Italian sunshine in the wonderful hills and vineyards of La Morra, in the renowned wine region of Langhe, Piedmont. 6. Parma Ham Festival Each year this annual celebration brings over 100,000 visitors to the area, who indulge in more than 1,000 different types of ham. A big attraction of the festival is the Open Doors of the ham factories, which offers visitors a unique chance to discover the ham production process, which is still made today like it was two thousand years ago using only two ingredients: the prized Italian pig leg and a pinch of sea salt. If ham history is your niche, this is the festival for you. 7. Cous Cous Festival San Vito lo Capo is a stunning seaside location in western Sicily, which has been hosting the Cous Cous Festival since 1998. It is a true celebration of food and cultural integration, seeing chefs from all over Sicily, Italy and other Mediterranean countries travel to participate in the competition that celebrates the best and most creative couscous dishes. Every evening there are shows with traditional music, dance, songs and, of course, tastings. flavours and flavours The 4km trail crosses beautiful landscapes and offers travelers the chance to experience the true taste of Langhe, through local cuisine and prestige wines. It is truly a unique event which attracts people from all over the world.The old town center of Senigallia hosts an event incorporating the best, fragranceshistory of bread making in Italy. Bread is made to order, with the chance to taste tens of differentand learn the tricks of the trade. Get ready to unleash your inner Paul Hollywood. Collin Dingsor leaps into Watertown homecoming history, Week 7 list of top performers Watertown High School senior Collin Dingsor is a pretty good hurdler in track and field and put those skills to use on the football field to head the Public Opinions Week 7 list of top area high school football performers. Salad Fingers is back with a brand new 3 minute episode You'll either love this, or hate it so much. Or both. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Special artistic guest at this years Art by the Water Wayne Larsen working at his easel. Almost 200 paintings on displays will be available for sale from varied artists coming from the West Island and as far away as Ontario and the Eastern Townships. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. The Office of the UnitedNations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 bythe United Nations General Assembly. UNHCRs mandate under the Statute of theOffice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is to lead andco-ordinate action for international protection to refugees; seek permanentsolutions for the problems of refugees and safeguard refugee rights andwell-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 theReduction of Statelessness. Israels Justice minister vowed to help Ethiopias Jews immigrate to Israel as soon as possible during a rare visit to Ethiopia. Ayelet Shaked visited the synagogue in Addis Ababa on Sunday. These programs that will eventually reunite Ethiopian Jews with their families in Israel are not generally easy, said Shaked to the group gathered in the synagogue. But I will try everything within my power to work with relevant offices to make this happen in the shortest time possible, she said. Shaked, on what is reported to be her first official visit to Africa, said she came to find out more about the situation of Ethiopias estimated 8,000 remaining Jews. Members of the Ethiopian Jews who attended the meeting told her that they want to move to Israel, where many family members moved years ago. They said they want aliya, the Hebrew term for the immigration of Jews in other parts of the world to Israel. We know aliyah for Jews that are descendants in other countries happened so swiftly that sometimes even their dogs were also included as they moved to Israel. Are we less important than these dogs? asked Meles Sidisto, the community head of Ethiopias Jews in Addis Ababa. In an emotional speech, Sidisto reaffirmed that members of Ethiopias Jewish population plan to stage a mass hunger strike should Israel fail to reunite them with their families soon. We are unhappy here. We have had enough here. If our situation is not resolved in a very short time, we will hold a momentous mass hunger strike that will help us present our voice to Israel and the world, he said. The Ethiopian Jews met with Shaked in the small hall decorated with Israeli flags and scriptures. Some said they have been separated for decades from close family members who moved to Israel. Tigabu Worku, one of the synagogues most active members, read a letter to Shaked in which he complained that he has been separated from his family for years. I have been torn from my younger sisters Leah and Sarah for 18 years, said Tigabu. Eighteen years I have missed them. Eighteen years I have waited to see their faces that I no longer remember. Ethiopias Falashmuras are believed to be descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel. Ethiopias Jewish people mainly live in the Amhara and Tigray provinces. Thousands of Falashmuras moved to Israel following the Law of Return in April 1975 and most of those who remain in Ethiopia have been separated for well over a decards from family members who moved to Israel. About 140,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel today, a small minority in a country of over 8 million. Their assimilation hasnt been smooth, with many arriving without a modern education and then falling into unemployment and poverty. Although many of those remaining in Ethiopia are practicing Jews, Israel doesnt consider them Jewish, meaning they are not automatically eligible to immigrate under its law of return, which grants automatic citizenship to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent. Instead, the government must OK their arrival. Ethiopian community members have been permitted to immigrate over the last two decades in limited bursts that have left hundreds of families torn apart. The Israeli government did not approve the funding for the movement of the Ethiopians in its new budget but said a special ministerial committee would to discuss the issue. A date for that meeting had not been announced. (AP) (PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE) A new campaign launched by the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu is calling on the Israeli government to end all cooperation with the New Israel Fund. The campaign will see billboards titled Ridding Israel of the NIF displayed throughout the country, the first of which, a 100-foot sign, was displayed on Tuesday morning, 9 Iyar, on Tel-Avivs Ayalon Highway. The billboard depicts NIF President Talia Sasson as harming IDF soldiers, and states that the NIF has transferred over 310 million NIS ($87 million) to activities against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel. According to Im Tirtzu, the campaigns goal is to expose the NIF as a foreign political organization operating as a political opposition within Israel against the government and IDF, while engaging in anti-Israel lawfare by means of its grantees in the Supreme Court. At the same time, Im Tirtzu published a new position paper detailing what it dubs the NIFs M.O. in wiping Israel of the map. The position paper, titled The Roadmap to Israels Destruction, comes in the form of an Israeli map and accuses the NIF and its grantees of exploiting various issues in the country in order to accuse Israel of perpetrating war crimes, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and other crimes against humanity. The report also notes how many NIF grantees receive extensive funding from European governments, the European Union and United Nations. According to Im Tirtzu, its decision to launch the campaign came following the NIFs subversive efforts to torpedo the governments plan to remove thousands of illegal migrants, as well as the recent wave of petitions by NIF grantees against the IDF. In response to the Gaza riots, a number of NIF-funded NGOs petitioned the Supreme Court against the IDF with the demand that it change its rules of engagement in dealing with the rioters. Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg called it absurd that government ministries and public institutions continue to cooperate and hold events with NIF grantees. There is no parallel to this phenomenon in the democratic world, said Peleg, where a foreign political organization openly declares that it represents the political opposition in its host country. This unique problem, coupled with the fact that the NIF transfers millions of dollars to NGOs that work to slander the IDF, erase the Jewish character of the state, and petition the Supreme Court against state policy, leads one to the conclusion that the government must cut all ties with this insidious organization. We hope, added Peleg, that our elected officials will adopt this approach and work immediately to implement it. Photos: the billboards. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Im Tirtzu) One in five financial sector firms are considering trading cryptocurrencies in the next 12 months according to a Thomson Reuters survey. Of those who were willing to trade cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ripple, 70 per cent said they would begin trading in as soon as three to six months, the survey revealed. Published on Tuesday, the survey comes after the once-dark world of cryptocurrencies hit the mainstream late last year when the value of one Bitcoin, the best known digital cash, surged to almost $20,000. Crypto-mania: 70 per cent of those who would trade said they could start in as soon as three to six months' time It has dropped sharply since reaching such lofty heights, dropping as low as around $6,000 before climbing back up to $9,300 as the end of April approaches. These sharp swings in value have not put off significant a portion of professional investors working for some of the biggest banks, asset managers and hedge funds. The survey covered more than 400 Thomson Reuters professional clients. Poll Are you planning to buy any cryptocurrency? Yes No Are you planning to buy any cryptocurrency? Yes 210 votes No 115 votes Now share your opinion While nothing can be certain in cryptocurrency, the findings suggest that professional traders and financial firms are now taking it seriously and see money to be made. Retail interest in the buying and selling of digital coins exploded last year after prices skyrocketed, and institutional involvement has been predicted to grow. The growing interest has continued despite regulatory warnings that cryptocurrencies are highly risky and prone to scams. Banks are examining client interest and some hedge funds have already tried their hand trading virtual currencies. Large falls in cryptocurrency prices earlier this year saw critics warn that the market is a bubble that investors should stay away from. Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters News, provides data and news to the financial services industry. MBABANE Good food, beverages and music sums up what a perfect day looks like. Last Saturday, the Rotary Club Swaziland hosted about 20 different restaurants for the Taste of Swaziland Food and Drink Festival which was held at House on Fire. The 20 restaurants cooked meals that were sampled by guests at discounted prices compared to the regular prices that they get to pay on a normal day when they decide to eat at these eateries. Food plates were sold from as little as E10. The event was an ideal family affair where food lovers came with their enjoy sampling dishes that were sold on the day. On the day, food that was served was not only limited to just traditional meals as there were different stalls featuring much loved and old favourite meals from famous eateries in the kingdom. There were different kinds of food stalls scattered around House on Fire presenting their mouth watering signature dishes that people smapled. At some stalls, the chefs would now and again demonstrate a few exotic cooking techniques right in front of food lovers. Food coupons were available upon entry where food lovers paid E60 and automatically received coupons to purchase items that they found interesting. This day was a celebration of food in the kingdom in a full day event that saw over 300 food lovers enjoy exquisite food, good fun and each others company. The event was entirely organised by the Rotary Club of Malkerns with other major sponsors. Through this day the Rotary Club aims to raise funds to finance their mentorship programme Hawane Project for disadvantaged adolescents and children with HIV. Rotary Club employees were going around fun lovers tables selling raffle tickets and the draw will take place sometime this week where revellers will get a chance to win themselves prizes of spending a night or two with their loved ones in one of Eswatini leading exquisite hotels. The show ended with a bang as fun lovers kept commanding the DJ not to stop playing some music which they danced to. MBABANE Former SNAT Secretary General Muzi Mhlanga is demanding a sum of E1 million from government after losing a tooth during an alleged assaulted by police. The incident allegedly happened on March 14, 2015 near the SNAT Building opposite the William Pitcher College in Manzini, during a TUCOSWA meeting. The police were there to maintain peace and order. In his particulars of claim, Mhlanga, who still spots a gap in his front teeth, submitted that he was assaulted by 10 police officers who were allegedly led by one Thembinkosi Mngometulu. Mhlanga alleged that he was hit with fists and open hands all over his body, particularly on his face and chest. He informed the court that he was further kicked in the mouth, allegedly by Mngometulu, and one of his teeth got damaged. The former secretary general told the court that he was assaulted in full view of members of the public and senior police officers allegedly did not rescue him despite that he was bleeding. Mhlanga, who is represented by Sabelo Mngomezulu of Mngomezulu Attorneys, submitted that he was attended to by Dr Ntiwane and the damaged tooth was extracted. According to Mhlanga, when the police allegedly attacked him, they were acting within the course and scope of their employment with government. He was the substantive secretary general of SNAT when the incident occurred. As a result of the assault, Mhlanga said he received medical treatment at Mbabane Clinic. He stated that he was unable to work for a period of two weeks since his face was swollen. He told the court that during this period, he suffered loss of income. Mhlanga further said as a direct consequence of the alleged unlawful assault by the police, he suffered damages in the sum of E1 000 000, which government failed to pay him despite making a demand. Notwithstanding statutory demand, the first defendant (commissioner of police) fails and or /refuses to pay the aforesaid amount or any reasonable portion thereof, which amount is now due, owing and payable, he said. The police denied assaulting Mhlanga. In its plea, government submitted that the police preserved peace and order during the meeting. It is inconceivable that the police could simply assault the plaintiff (Mhlanga) without justifiable course. If there is any tooth gap the plaintiff has, it was not occasioned by any assault by the police, submitted government. The matter, which was heard by Judge Nkululeko Hlophe, was postponed to August 20 21 after the Crown informed the court that certain dockets in relation to the matter went missing. Ndabenhle Dlamini and Nhlanhla Dlamini appear for the Crown. Seen here tackling hardcore mode, this is a video of South Korean balancing artist Rocky Byun demonstrating his talent by balancing four bottles in a square on top of another bottle, all inside a wobbly frame suspended at a single point. Impressive. I bet this guy is *putting on cool guy shades* a Gemini. "Why's that?" You know, because of the scales -- this guy is all about BALANCE." That's Libra, Gemini is the twins." I have to be the dumbest person alive. Keep going for the video. Thanks again to Greencycle, who agrees the key to happiness is a healthy work/life balance. Obviously, the happiest balance is zero work and all life. LUANDA, ANGOLA Will the kingdom of eswatini nominate one of its experienced judges to assist in clearing the criminal justice backlog in Lesotho, that is posing a serious threat to security? The question arose yesterday after a recommendation was submitted to Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) leaders by the secretariat, during the Double Troika summit attended by His Majesty the King. A progress report delivered at the Summit, noted an urgent need to normalise a volatile security situation that prevails in Lesotho, by bringing to trial all the security personnel implicated in various acts of murder, torture, bombings, attempted murder and treason, among others. Derailing the prosecution of the suspects is the fact that the Lesotho High Court has a backlog of more than 4 000 fresh matters to be dealt with by only 11 judges. It needs 10 more judges to cope. The Government of Lesotho has solicited financial assistance from the European Union, which has agreed to pay for the 10 judges needed from SADC member states. The trials of the army personnel suspected of criminal activities already in custody, should be expedited as their continued incarceration poses a security threat, in that they can mobilise easily and cause instability, noted the Expanded Oversight Committee(EOC) which was deployed to assess the situation in Lesotho last year. The mountain kingdom has been beleaguered by internal turmoil as leaders of political formations jostle for power, which has seen the country security forces joining in the fray. As a result, SADC has had to step in to normalise the situation by helping the Basotho conduct their elections last year, which brought former exiled Prime Minister Thomas Thabane back into power. A SADC preventative mission in the Kingdom of Lesotho (SAPMIL), with the support of various structures of SADC and the government, has largely been responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Comprehensive National Reforms as recommended by SADC. In compliance, the Lesotho government has since adopted a roadmap entitled: The Government we want: Dialogue and reforms for national transformation. Nationwide consultations are underway, that will culminate in a multi-sectoral national dialogue that is hoped will address the root causes of the recurring political strife for the Basotho. SADC leaders were urged to extend the term of SAPMIL for another six months to ensure this reform process is carried out accordingly. MBABANE A house purchase scandal which has rocked NAPSAWU has resulted in the union suspending its former president Quinton Dlamini. NAPSAWU is an acronym for National Public Service and Allied Workers Union. Dlamini, who is now the chairperson of the Manzini branch of NAPSAWU, has been suspended from participating in all activities of the union. His suspension comes after the union set up a commission of inquiry to investigate how he purchased the house and the amount involved thereto. Dlamini is accused of having purchased the house without the consent of the executive of the union. The house is situated at Trelawney Park in Manzini. Dlamini was served with a letter of suspension on April 5, 2018. The letter was signed by the unions Secretary General Celumusa Tembe. Decision I am directed to instruct you that the National General Council of February 1, 2018, took a decision to suspend you. This decision was subsequently confirmed by the mid term conference on March 1, 2, 2018. Your suspension is in relation to your role in the purchase of Portion 25 of Farm Trelawney Park, when you held office of the president of the union, reads part of the letter. Dlamini was further informed that his suspension was pending until finalisation of the work of the inquiry. The commissions terms of reference are: to look and establish how the union entered into the deed of sale of Portion 25 of Farm No.868 Trelawney Park; look into why the 2013 Congress secretariat report states that the union had not entered into an agreement for the sale of the house, yet the deed of sale reflects that the agreement was signed on January 27, 2013; establish how much was the purchase price of the house; how much was the union supposed to pay Nompumelelo Vilakati (former owner of the house) and how much was the union supposed to pay in total to the bank. The matter has also been reported to the Fraud department of the Royal Swaziland Police and the Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC). Dlamini is, however, denying to have purchased the house without the knowledge of the other executive members. He claimed that the decision to purchase the house was a collective resolution by the then national executive of the union. He said it was a mystery as to why he should be the only one suspended if there was any wrongdoing. Giving a background of the matter, Dlamini alleged that in the year 2010, NAPSAWU at its congress, resolved to acquire property to save the union from rental costs which were forever escalating. According to Dlamini, an expedition for such started soon thereafter but the funds were not sufficient enough at that point in time. On or about the month of September 2012, I heard about a house that was about to be auctioned for failure to settle a debt and the owner wanted someone to buy her out and proceed with the bond, alleged the unionist. MHLANE Over 100 police officers yesterday engaged in a search for a suicidal senior police officer, who disappeared from home on Monday after his salary and all his belongings allegedly got burnt. The officer, *Sergeant Mduduzi of Matsapha Police Station (Esigodvweni), has been allegedly having problems most of which emanated from muti allegations. The officer was eventually found yesterday on fire at about 2pm, 24 hours later, near Usuthu River at Siphofaneni, after he had disappeared from Matsapha Police Camp. The two places are about 50km apart. Traditionalists call the curse Lubane and the officers wife, *Mary confirmed that they had been living a miserable life since August last year as everything her husband owned got burnt. Disappearance According to Mary, before Mduduzis disappearance on Monday, they went to the bank to withdraw a sum of E2 500, which when they got home, got burnt inside their vehicle. She revealed that while her husband tried to put out the flames on the women, Mduduzi got burnt on the stomach and sustained injuries. Everything he owns gets burnt and in a strange way, from his clothing, his work uniform, shoes, food items and even the house we currently occupy at the police camp. When he withdraws some money, it all gets burnt. This tends to frustrate him as he is the sole breadwinner in the family. We have tried to take him to prophets and pastors to be prayed for, however, he does not get any assistance. On the day of his disappearance, he said he was going to kill himself as everything he owned got taken, Mary said. The wife also revealed that Mduduzi was seen by their children at about 2pm on the day, retrieving a rope from the house and leaving. She mentioned that when she realised that her husband had left, she tried following him to the forests at Mhlane, where he normally goes during such similar episodes. Mary added that when she could not locate the officer, she went back home and further informed his superiors at the police station. A search began and the whole night a team of officers went all over Matsapha, Mhlane and Phocweni, however he was not found. He always wanted to kill himself and several times he had been stopped trying to shoot himself with his service pistol or trying to hang himself inside the house. He has nothing now, no clothing, no work uniforms and money, everything got burnt from the several mysterious fires. The only clothing he had was donated by church members, however, everything got burnt too last week, a teary Mary added. She further mentioned that after trying to shoot himself with the service pistol, senior officers at the police station had to be roped in and they made a decision that he be transferred from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to another department. This was after he had been promoted to a sergeant. ABC/Randy HolmesThe band Portugal. The Man was way out of the mainstream...until they released their groovalicious, '60s-flavored hit "Feel It Still." It hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, won the band a Grammy and sold more than two million copies. Earlier this week, they were honored with the prestigious ASCAP Vanguard Award, and at that event, bass player Zach Carothers revealed the moment when he suspected the song might appeal to more than just their usual crowd. "We're not dum-dums. We knew that we had something good, but no one can predict what has happened. That was just crazy," Zach told ABC Radio. "I thought, 'Oh wow, we've got a really good song here, my friends seem to like it.'" "Then, suddenly, within the same couple of days, we had [the Today show's] Kathy Lee and Hoda say it was their song of the summer, and we had Lars [Ulrich] from Metallica say that it was his song of the summer," he continues. "And I was like, 'Wow, we cast the net pretty wide...if we get a few people in the middle, I think we've got something special here!" Now that the song has become a massive global hit, Portugal.The Man guitarist Erik Howk says even he seems to hear it everywhere he goes. "So many Ubers, in lounges and bars, in commercials," he tells ABC Radio. "I had a friend that was in Russia that sent me a video of it just playing in the square, like, to no one in particular. Like, the city of Moscow was playing 'Feel It Still.' That's as psycho as it gets!" Portugal. The Man kick off a summer tour May 19 in Nashville, and will also play numerous summer festivals including Lollapalooza. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. A sign outside the Pleasantville Volunteer Fire Department makes a plea for recruiting volunteer firefighters. The Pennsylvania Association of Township Supervisors is asking VFDs for input on how to remedy the current lack of volunteers across the state. [April 25, 2018] Goodwin Expands International Private Equity and Private Investment Funds Platform with Partner Eric Goldstein in New York Global 50 law firm Goodwin announced today that Eric Goldstein has joined the firm's New York office as partner in the Private Equity and Private Investment Funds practices. "Having practiced both at law firms and in-house at Insight Venture Partners, a premier private equity and venture capital firm, Eric brings a diverse experience to Goodwin's market-leading, international private equity and private investment funds practices," said Ilan Nissan, senior partner in Goodwin's Private Equity practice. "We are excited to welcome Eric to the Goodwin partnership." "Eric joins Goodwin as we continue to bolster our leading fund formation practice in the United States, Europe and Asia," said A.J. Weidhaas, Co-Chair of Goodwin's Private Equity practice. "Adept at regulatory matters and securities law, he is the perfect addition to Goodwin's international fund formation bench. We are delighted to have Eric on our team." Goldstein specializes in the formation and operation of private equity, venture capital and other private investment funds, including advising on regulatory, compliance, structuring and governance matters involving private funds and sponsors. Goldstein also counsels on the organization of fund management companies and general partners. "I am thrilled to join Goodwin and work with its talented and experienced attorneys to provide best in class legal services to our clients," said Goldstein. Goldstein joins from Goodwin client Insight Venture Partners in New York City, a $20 billion private equity and venture capital firm, where he served as Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. Prior to that, Goldstein was a member of the Asset Management Group of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. He is a member of the Private Investment Funds Committee of the New York City Bar Association. Goldstein received a J.D. from New York Law School cum laude and a B.A. from the University of Florida. He is admitted to practice in New York. Goldstein can be reached at EGoldstein@goodwinlaw.com and 212.813.8847. Goodwin's Private Investment Funds practice handles every stage in the life cycle by providing fund managers with the sophisticated level of counsel required for forming, advising and operating private investment funds. Within fund formation, Goodwin takes a creative approach, starting with not only the specific objectives of a particular fund but also an assessment of how the fund fits within the client's broader business goals. The team understands the issues specific to different types of funds and offers advice that comes from a wealth of experience across industries and global markets. Goodwin's Private Equity Practice is a market leader in the expansive middle market sector, having earned a reputation for notable buyouts, growth equity deals and growth company representations in key sectors such as technology, healthcare, financial and business services, consumer and manufacturing. With over 200 private equity lawyers across the globe, Goodwin represents early through late stage investors and companies, lenders and financial institutions, covering the full life cycle of their investments and financings. About Goodwin At Goodwin, we use law to achieve unprecedented results for our clients. Our 1,000 plus lawyers across the United States, Europe, and Asia excel at complex transactions, high-stakes litigations and world-class advisory services in the financial, life sciences, private equity, real estate, and technology industries. We partner with our clients to practice law with integrity, ingenuity, agility and ambition. To learn more, visit us at www.goodwinlaw.com and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) at @goodwinlaw and on LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005337/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 24, 2018] WhatEOS holds successful Sydney Roadshow, look towards Melbourne SYDNEY, April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WhatEOS, an organization regrouping a community of EOS enthusiasts formed by companies supporting EOS blockchain technology including CollinStar Capital, successfully held its first roadshow in Sydney, Australia, on April, 20, 2018. At the event, held at Sydney's Portside Centre, WhatEOS was introduced by marketing representative Acqeel Ziyad and security manager Roger Zhou to a full room of entrepreneurs, Blockchain and cryptocurrency specialists. The next stop will bring together EOS fans in Melbourne in May. The event was held in the presence of Jayden Wei, Managing Director of CollinStar Capital, and moderated by Acqeel Ziyad, who on top of being a marketing representative for WhatEOS, is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Fintech Review - a publication focusing on the intersection of finance and technology. During his presentation, Acqeel emphasized that "EOS is a leader in the Blockchain sphere globally. Technologies being developed by the team are going to have a major impact on the way people see parts of Blockchain technology, most notably consensus algorithms such as EOS' DPoS mechanism". Roger then introduced the organisation as one aiming to become Oceania's most stable and secure EOS Block Producer (BP). EOS Block Producers are points of connection in a Blockchain which collect transactional information and pack them into blocks. According to the EOS.IO Technical White Paper, the consensus algorithm utilised by EOS Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) requires 21 Block Producers to run the entirety of the EOS network. Block Producer elections help mitigate centralization and maintain the stability of the EOS network. Using the DPoS algorithm, thse who hold EOS tokens can vote for Block Producers through a continuous approval voting system. Anyone can choose to participate in block production, and will be given an opportunity to produce blocks, provided they can persuade token holders to vote for them. Roger explained that to achieve this, "the WhatEOS team has created multiple specialist departments, including the cloud service development team, legal team, and a vetted security team, with additional help and support from world-renowned cryptocurrency development communities". WhatEOS uses local and cloud servers to store data, creating a hybrid system which will adopt the advantages, and alleviate some of the disadvantages of both systems. They take a multi-regional approach to building the node, which will help prevent it from facing certain geo-political obstacles while ensuring that it won't be exclusively running in one single country for security and availability purposes. WhatEOS consists of an exceedingly experienced and educated team, including members of many other highly successful Blockchain projects, exchange platforms and related companies. Many members of the team have previously worked on projects together and are able to communicate effectively with each other. WhatEOS has a number of co-sponsors, providing funding to set up the crucial infrastructure to run the system. These consist of the aforementioned CollinStar Capital; Hyper Pay - a company providing a multi-functional zero-fee digital asset wallet; and JNB - an exchange platform based in Japan, focused on providing strong service, security and support. Additionally, there are four main strategic partners joining WhatEOS. These are: Alibaba Cloud, who will be providing WhatEOS with world-class cloud computing infrastructure; Hatchstone, a VC investment and advisory firm, which will be providing legal and compliance advisory; and HPX, a cryptocurrency exchange with a focus on providing RMB pairs for leading cryptocurrencies with zero-fees for EOS trades. Finally, the CollinStar Joint Laboratory, based at Monash University's Clayton campus in Melbourne, with a newly established arm at Hong Kong Polytechnic university, will provide necessary academic research to assist with WhatEOS' future services. The WhatEOS ecosystem is held accountable by a three-part system. Firstly, with a range of rigorous internal control measures, then using professional external auditing services to act as a more in-depth accountability system, and lastly by the community, ensuring that WhatEOS works in the best interests of the EOS and Blockchain community. The architecture of WhatEOS' server is highly capable, with an advanced security design, incident response plan, and robust disaster recovery strategy. This, alongside WhatEOS' technical capabilities including all aspects relating to the industry from research to building core infrastructure, to complex management systems, to app development, and beyond, makes it a top-tier competitor in the race to become an EOS Block Producer. About CollinStar Capital CollinStar Capital operates as the interface for investors and FinTech innovators to collaborate and interact. Acting as a premier asset management firm, CollinStar Capital has established one of the largest Blockchain asset funds in the Asia-Pacific region. The company's specialised investment banking advisory solutions provide entrepreneurs with deep insights into the Blockchain revolution and financing development process. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/whateos-holds-successful-sydney-roadshow-look-towards-melbourne-300635328.html SOURCE CollinStar Capital [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 24, 2018] 2nd Annual Medical Capital Innovation Competition Winners Announced BioEnterprise, in partnership with the Global Center for Health Innovation (Global Center), Cuyahoga County, and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is pleased to announce the winners of the second annual Medical Capital Innovation Competition, "The Next Generation of Healthcare": OPEN (News - Alert) DIVISION 1st Place/$50,000: VastBiome, Houston, TX - VastBiome utilizes artificial intelligence to identify how the microbiome impacts diseases. Their proprietary microbiome collection methods and the analytical power of its data-drive technology enables personalized cancer medication. 2nd Place/$25,000: nGageIT, Anaheim, CA (News - Alert) - nGageIT's platform detects and verifies the unique fingerprint of medication you take or inject. Using smart health tools and the world's first ingestible nanoparticle "bar coding" technology, nGageIT measures medication treatment effectiveness, enriches the patient experience, and helps physicians optimize clinical outcomes. 3rd Place/$15,000: EBT Medical, Toronto, Canada - EBT Medical is developing innovative, easy-to-use, non-invasive neurostimulation therapies and disease state support systems for pelvic floor disorders, starting with overactive bladder. With just 30 minutes of stimulation twice per week, EBT Medical's system delivers long-lasting pharmaceutical- or invasive therapy-equivalent efficacy without the side-effects, invasiveness, or costs that are typically associated with those therapies. COLLEGIATE DIVISION 1st Place/$6,000: RADIOME, Case Western Reserve University - Approximately 70,000 women annually will receive some combination of chemotherapy and surgery. By predicting which of these patients will benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy and be eligible to receive breast-conserving surgery (rather than an entire breast-removing mastectomy), RADIOME reduces ineffective chemotherapy and surgery. 2nd Place/$3,000: InSpirit, Case Western Reserve University - InSpirit is developing a novel wrist wearable hydration sensor to continuously monitor dehydration in real-time and to improve lives of elderly and reduce nursing homes fines. 3rd Place/$1,000: SurgiSight, Johns Hopkins University- When surgical patients are discharged from the hospital, they receive limited instruction on caring for their incision wounds and monitoring for sins of infection. SurgiSight is designing a mobile application that allows discharged surgical patients to communicate with their healthcare providers for better wound reporting and diagnosis of surgical site infections. The theme of MCIC2 was "The Next Generation of Healthcare" - how big data, artificial intelligence, enhanced reality and other disruptive technologies will engage patients and clinicians, and take healthcare to new levels. The Competition, open to professional and collegiate teams, attracted applicants from 24 countries and 33 states. In addition to cash prizes, the winning teams will receive meaningful assistance, including mentoring and access to world-class healthcare systems and collaborators. Open and Collegiate division first place winners also receive an opportunity to demonstrate innovation at the HIMSS19 Conference in February 2019. Competing teams represented a variety of big data healthcare categories including patient engagement and compliance, clinical trial optimization, EHR (electronic health records) optimization, and decision support. For a complete list of participating teams and their product solutions go to https://bit.ly/2J9f7lO. Supporting sponsors include: Cleveland Clinic Innovations, Case Western Reserve University, Develoco, Jumpstart, The MetroHealth System, and University Hospitals. About The Medical Capital The Medical Capital initiative is a collaboration of Cleveland's internationally renowned clinical, educational, and research institutions, philanthropies, government, and economic development engines. Convened by BioEnterprise, the initiative promotes the vibrant biomedical and healthcare industry in the 18-county Northeast Ohio region. The Medical Capital includes more than 700 biohealth companies, 30 clinical, research and educational institutions, $735 million annually in research funding, and more than $200 million annually in private startup funding. For more information: TheMedicalCapital.com. About BioEnterprise BioEnterprise is a business formation, recruitment, and acceleration effort designed to grow the Northeast Ohio healthcare industry. Located in Cleveland, at the Global Center for Health Innovation and in University Circle, BioEnterprise provides management counsel and support services to health IT, medical device, and biopharmaceutical companies. In addition, BioEnterprise convenes and leads strategy for industry-building initiatives such as The Medical Capital, HIT in the CLE, and the Global Center for Health Innovation. BioEnterprise founders are Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, and University Hospitals. Additional technology partners include the NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland State University and BioOhio. Since 2002, BioEnterprise and its partners have created, recruited and accelerated more than 350 health IT, medical device, and biopharmaceutical companies, and have helped these companies raise more than $2 billion in new funding. To learn more: BioEnterprise.com. About Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County is home to world-renowned healthcare facilities, including Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and the MetroHealth System. It is also home to 1.2 million people and is comprised of 59 unique and distinctive communities, with Cleveland as its nucleus. The county is the economic center of Northeast Ohio. With more than 120,000 healthcare professionals, the healthcare field is the largest employer in Cuyahoga County. Additionally, Greater Cleveland has a booming biotechnology and biomedical industry, with more than 700 companies employing 230,000 people. About HIMSS HIMSS is a global voice, advisor and thought leader of health transformation through health information and technology with a unique breadth and depth of expertise and capabilities to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health, healthcare and care outcomes. HIMSS designs and leverages key data assets, predictive models and tools to advise global leaders, stakeholders and influencers of best practices in health information and technology, so they have the right information at the point of decision. HIMSS drives innovative, forward thinking around best uses of information and technology in support of better connected care, improved population health and low cost of care. HIMSS is a not-for-profit, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with additional offices in North America, Europe, United Kingdom and Asia. About The Global Center for Health Innovation The Global Center for Health Innovation is a convening platform for multi-partner public, private and philanthropic collaborations on healthcare matters of global interest. Capitalizing on Cleveland's healthcare assets and resources, it acts as the gateway between Ohio's healthcare and biomedical communities and the rest of the world. Connected to the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland, the Global Center was built to attract additional investment and convene biomedical and healthcare activities that lead to ongoing innovation. To learn more: TheGlobalCenter.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180424006693/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 24, 2018] Biocompare Launches Trends in Flow Cytometry Future Lab SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Biocompare, the leading online information resource for the life sciences, has re-launched its digital flow cytometry information hub Future Lab: Trends in Flow Cytometry. The interactive Future Lab is designed as a comprehensive information resource for the latest technological advances in flow cytometry. It will be sponsored for the first time by Beckman Coulter Life Sciences. Since their launch in 2016, the Future Lab content hubs have developed a global audience of over 2.4 m scientists. Attracting regular visitors, the hubs are recognized worldwide as highly valued information sources. The new Flow Cytometry Future Lab has been completely redesigned to deliver information in an easily accessible format helping researchers stay abreast of the latest enabling methods and applications in flow cytometry. Topics will cover everything from first experimental design steps to final analysis. A key feature is the way users are notified as soon as a topic of interest to them is provided or updated. Previous Future Labs have focused on seminal topics in life science research including Protein Production, Immunodetection, Cell Culture, Liquid Handling, Next Generation Sequencing and Biopharmaceutical Analysis. "We are really excited to have developed this platform to allow the more than 2.4 million scientists who visit Biocompare each year to consume content in a much more engaging environment. This fully supports Biocompare's mission to educate scientists in the latest technology while providing the tool provider community a unique and novel way to engage with our audience," says Joan Boyce, VP GM of Biocompare. Future Lab brings together informative content and presents it in an interactive environment to keep readers up to date on the latest developments in a given area of research. One major benefit of Future Lab is that as content gets added, users will be notified and can come back to re-engage with whatever content interests them the most. "With all the available resources out there to users, it's the best way to push out content and see an immediate response," adds Boyce. "Our goal with each content hub is to leverage Biocompare's extensive industry knowledge and editorial resources to create cutting-edge content on these indispensable technologies," says Tamlyn Oliver, Managing Editor of Biocompare. "The unique content created for Future Lab provides scientists with a fast and easy way to engage with the latest updates in their field of interest." Dr. Mario Koksch, Vice President and General Manager of Beckman Coulter's Cytometry Business Unit in Miami said: "Flow cytometry is a powerful tool for the detailed and fast analysis of complex populations. The technological developments now taking place open up its potential across biopharma, life sciences and clinical research environments. "As a leader in this technology, Beckman Coulter is proud to be associated with the Future Lab initiative and its objective of keeping scientists informed of the latest innovations and breakthroughs." About Biocompare Biocompare, a Division of CompareNetworks, Inc., is the leading resource for up-to-date product information, product reviews, and new technologies for life scientists. Biocompare combines an in-depth knowledge of life science products and new technologies with the power of the Internet to offer scientists the most dynamic, relevant, and innovative resource that enables them to make better product, technology, and service purchasing decisions. Produced by scientists, Biocompare's mission is to provide free, time-saving services to life science researchers, allowing scientists to find and learn about the technologies that drive discovery. Biocompare continually strives to serve the life science community by providing new and improved online services that facilitate product discovery and technology education. For more information, please visit www.biocompare.com. About Beckman Coulter Life Sciences Beckman Coulter Life Sciences is dedicated to improving the health of people around the world. The company's global leadership and world-class service and support delivers sophisticated instrument systems, reagents and services to life science researchers in academic and commercial laboratories, enabling new discoveries in biology-based research and development. A leader in centrifugation and flow cytometry, Beckman Coulter has long been an innovator in life sciences instruments and solutions used at the forefront of important areas of investigation, including genomics and proteomics. For more information, http://www.beckman.com/home. Follow Beckman Coulter Life Sciences on Twitter @BCILifeSciences; LinkedIn and https://www.facebook.com/BCILifeSciences. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/biocompare-launches-trends-in-flow-cytometry-future-lab-300635910.html SOURCE Biocompare, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 24, 2018] Mobilearth Partners Up With Imaged Original BURNABY, British Colombia, April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile app provider, Mobilearth has partnered with content management and archive specialist, Imaged Original Inc. to provide their customers with a new twist to the Mobilearth secure chat platform; the ability to pull documents out of archive for discussions either one on one or in groups, or place documents being shared in secure chat into automatic archive. Mobilearth's tablet or phone app for employees has numerous features that will rely on archive retrieval by Imaged Original Inc. Secure chat between employees will allow employees to retrieve archived documents for discussion. The Document Viewer will allow archived documents to be retrieved for viewing. Products and Services will retrieve data from the archive to pre-fill forms. The Dashboard will allow more specific searches of the archived repository. Mobilearth apps will empower employees to be more mobile and interact with customers in any location. Imaged Original's document archive will give the employees access to the entire repository of documents that is normally only accessible onsite. This will free up employeesto be able to work from anywhere. "Customers expect instant access to information from any location, at any time," according to Andrew Leamont, President of Imaged Original Inc. "Organizations are obligated to provide that information, not only immediately but more importantly in a secure manner. Our joint solution provides exactly that." "Any company using paper forms or existing archives would benefit from using our joint solution," says Tia Lee, CEO of Mobilearth. "Organizations face challenges of accessing valuable customer archive data rapidly in real time. We solve this problem by providing instant access to archive data which allows employees make faster and more accurate decisions for their customers." About Imaged Original Since 2010, Imaged Original Inc. has been providing world class content management solutions to valued clients from two users to 1000's of users. Elegant business process development, electronic workflows, electronic forms and document management are the core drivers we use to make your business run better. About Mobilearth Incorporated in 2005, Mobilearth provides an omni-channel app experience for any company who wants to make their employees more mobile by removing location restraints. Mobile apps for customers and/or employees will streamline processes and provide a unified user experience on both sides of the counter. Tia Lee TRG Mobilearth Inc. info@mobilearth.com Related Images partnership-for-mobilearth-and.png Partnership for Mobilearth and Imaged Original Archive capabilities for the Mobilearth Apps mobilearth-logo.png Mobilearth Logo Related Links Mobilearth Imaged Original View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mobilearth-partners-up-with-imaged-original-300635900.html SOURCE TRG Mobilearth Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 24, 2018] MPS to Acquire Tata Interactive Systems MPS Limited (MPS) and Tata Industries Limited (TIL) announced today that they have entered into definitive agreements for the acquisition of TIL's enterprise e-Learning business. Through this acquisition, MPS will acquire Tata Interactive Systems India (a division of TIL), Tata Interactive Systems AG, and Tata Interactive Systems GmbH. The transactions are likely to close in the next several weeks, subject to the fulfillment of customary closing conditions and shareholders' approval of TIL. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180424006703/en/ Over the last 27 years, Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) has established itself as a pioneer in technology-enabled learning. The company's innovative products and strategic learning advisory services are driven by excellence in learning and development and process efficiency. The German and Swiss subsidiaries, acquired by TIL in 2005, have gained considerable reach in European markets through their unique platforms TOPSIM and Quizbiz. TIS has consistently featured in the Top 20 list of Training outsourcing companies, content development companies, and gaming companies. Milind Shahane, currently the CEO of TIS and Tata ClassEdge, will continue to be the CEO for both entities till closing of the transaction after which he shall continue in the role of CEO for Tata ClassEdge. Rahul Arora, CEO of MPS Limited, said, "The acquisition of TIS is our definitive entry into the Enterprise Learning Solutions market after the initial launch through Magplus in 2016. TIS has pioneered innovations in the Eterprise Learning space through high-end custom e-Learning delivery including web-based learning, simulations, serious games, custom apps, and micro learning. They have deep relationships with more than 70 Fortune 500 companies and have been recognized as a leader with more than 100 global awards, including 46 Brandon Hall awards, over the years through expert capabilities and quality delivery. The acquisition adds a global sales and marketing engine that has a rich background in scaling business and will unlock combined value. MPS has a strong track record in making publishing smarter through efficient workflows and rich platform solutions, and we look forward to bringing this expertise to the Enterprise Learning space through TIS." KRS Jamwal, Executive Director, Tata Industries Limited, said, "We are very proud of the expertise and consequent success TIS has achieved in the last three decades. Its endeavor to be one of the best-in-class learning solutions providers has always attracted marquee clients. We are confident that TIS will see even greater success as part of the MPS family given MPS' track record in integrating and growing acquisitions, and most importantly creating meaningful and long-term value for their customers, with a strong focus on talent management and retention." Avendus Capital has acted as the financial advisor and Wadia Ghandy & Co., Hengeler Mueller and Bratschi Attorneys-at-law have been the legal advisors to TIL for this transaction. Ernst and Young (Mumbai) performed the role of a financial advisor and JSA Law (Gurgaon) advised on all legal aspects to MPS for this transaction. About MPS Limited MPS is a leading provider of platforms and content solutions for the digital world and was established as an Indian subsidiary of Macmillan (Holdings) Limited in 1970. The long service history as Macmillan's captive business allowed MPS to build unique capabilities and talents through strategic partner programs. Flash-forward, MPS is now a global partner to the world's leading enterprises, publishers, and platforms. The recent momentum developed after completion of the strategic sale of MPS by Macmillan in 2012 to the ADI Group, which has a rich history of managing and growing knowledge-based businesses. In the recent past, MPS has developed significant momentum as a result of consistent reinvestment in the business and five successful acquisitions in the same number of years. MPS is listed on the major Indian Stock Exchanges and has a market capitalization upward of USD 150 million. More than 2500 professionals power MPS across five delivery and development centers in India and six US offices. About Tata Industries Tata Industries is a subsidiary of Tata Sons, set up in 1945 as a managing agency for companies promoted by Tata Sons. Its mandate was recast in 1980s to promote entry into new and high-tech businesses. Current investments and areas of interests span life sciences and healthcare, digitally enabled businesses, education, renewable energy, consulting, aerospace manufacturing and foods. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180424006703/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 24, 2018] Millennials will Drive Flexible and Remote Working in Singapore -- Report Singapore is the least advanced in adopting flexible workplaces among countries surveyed Millennial workers have reshaped the office to be more open plan and are now leading a drive to greater flexibility but Singapore is lagging behind other countries More remote working means communication and coordination is vital but workers say that meeting rooms are often unavailable The quality of meetings must improve if workers are to function efficiently SINGAPORE, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WORKING patterns are becoming more flexible across the world, with the US and Australia leading the way, while businesses in Singapore have been the slowest to adopt new ways of working, according to new research, The Modern Workplace 2018: People, Places & Technology, by software company Condeco. The workplace is shifting towards more flexible and remote working, with staff spending more time working from home, on the move or from multiple locations. In two fifths of businesses surveyed, the majority of staff work flexibly at least some of the time. This figure is highest in the US (52 per cent) and Australia (43 per cent). Although Singapore companies are more likely than average to offer flexible working, the proportion of the workforce that works flexibly is lower than elsewhere. In Singapore, three per cent of companies don't offer flexible working at all, compared with seven per cent globally. However, worldwide 40 per cent of those surveyed said over half of their workforce works flexibly at least some of the time. In Singapore, that proportion was 31 per cent, suggesting that flexible working has not advanced as far in Singapore as in some countries. The research also found that the Millennial generation, born between 1983 and 2000, have shaped the workplace to meet their need. That means a space that is more open plan, with fewer barriers between desks and multi-disciplinary teams working together in 'pods'. Sixty-nine per cent of those surveyed said they work in open plan, or mostly open plan, offices. This arrangement was most common in Australia (84 per cent) and least common in Singapore (60 per cent), where working arrangements remain somewhat traditional, compared with other nations. This marks a significant change from previous generations, for example the cubicle office of Generation X or the personal offices of the Baby Boomers. The oldest members of Generation Z - born between the mid-1990s and 2000s - are now entering the workforce and they will likely move further towards flexibility, remote worker, and cross-functional teams with less hierarchy. "This report demonstrates how the modern workplace is changing," said Peter Otto, Product Strategy and Design Director at Condeco. "Flexbility and remote working are increasingly important to today's workers. Singapore has been slow to adjust to these changes and that could hold back companies that are trying to recruit the best international talent or collaborate with firms abroad." The shift to flexible and remote working puts more emphasis on meetings to coordinate teams, who may be spread across a wide area but still need to be in close communication. This is highlighted by the report finding that workers are more likely to feel that there are too few meetings, rather than too many. Two-fifths of business leaders worldwide report an increase in video conference meetings, as teams coordinate over long distances. Of respondents in Singapore, 54 per cent said they had seen an increase in video conferences - almost double the figure for Australia (28 per cent) and higher than the US (47 per cent). Just over one in 10 (12 per cent) said the quality of meetings should be better. That sentiment was strongest in Australia (20 per cent), while Germans (6 per cent) and those in Singapore (9 per cent) were least likely to be dissatisfied with meeting quality. Globally, 10 per cent of business leaders said they only have access to a suitable meeting room sometimes or rarely. The situation was worst in the UK (14 per cent) and France (12 per cent) and best in Germany (7 per cent) and Singapore (9 per cent). "Meetings have a bad reputation as time-wasters but it's important that companies understand that this is not necessarily the case. Effective collaboration is essential for the success of every organisation," said Otto. "To remain effective, modern companies must ensure that they commit to providing a variety of spaces to help their teams communicate and collaborate, along with a fast and efficient way to find and reserve space, at any time, on any device." For more information and to view the full report, please click here. NOTES TO EDITORS The report, The Modern Workplace 2018: People, Places & Technology, draws on a survey of 500 business leaders in six countries: the UK, the USA, France, Germany, Australia and Singapore. This was supplemented by in-depth qualitative interviews with senior executives in the same countries. About Condeco Condeco Software is the fastest growing company in workspace utilisation technology, with headquarters in London, England as well as additional locations in America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. The company has had a revenue growth hitting 35 per cent year-on-year, including a 35 per cent growth in new clients. Its world-class portfolio of workspace solutions is becoming essential tools in the strategies employed by senior business leaders heading up major multinational brands, optimising real estate and transforming business operations. SOURCE Condeco [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 24, 2018] BRF S.A. SHAREHOLDER ALERT by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Reminds Investors with Losses in Excess of $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against BRF S.A. - BRFS Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until May 11, 2018 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against BRF S.A. (NYSE: BRFS), if they purchased the Company's securities between April 4, 2013 and March 2, 2018, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. What You May Do If you purchased securities of BRF S.A. and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-brfs/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by May 11, 2018. About the Lawsuit BRF S.A. and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) BRF employees bribed regulators, among others, to unduly influence results of inspections to conceal unsanitary practices at the Company's food processing plants; (ii) the discovery of the foregoing conduct would foreseeably subject the Company and its officers to heightened regulatory enforcement and/or prosecution; and (iii) as a result of the foregoing, BRF's financial statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include the former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180424005997/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Gigya Solutions from SAP Help Companies Protect Customer Data and Build Trust across Greater China HONG KONG, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced three new solutions to support organizations in Hong Kong and across Greater China that have a need to collect customer data while delivering a personalized experience, and at the same time comply with the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The three new solutions, SAP Hybris Indentity, SAP Hybris Consent and SAP Hybris Profile, all form part of SAP's integration of its recent acquisition Gigya. Deployed separately or as a package, SAP Hybris supports its customers with solutions for delivering transparency and control over their data, while also helping them overcome the compliance challenge with robust registration, consent preferences and profile management. The launch of these solutions is timely given that GDPR will take effect May 25. Although it's an EU regulation, GDPR will have global impact because it will affect all companies that gather personal information in the EU, such as those operating in financial services, ecommerce, education, healthcare, marketing, or cross-border transactions. It gives extensive new rights to EU residents and visitors, and applies to organizations anywhere in the world. "In Asia, we now have some of the world's largest data companies, and there's an appreciation of both the value of data and responsibility that comes with looking after it. GDPR is just around the corner and will pose risks for those who are unprepared, so the timing of these solutions couldn't be better," SAP Hybris President Alex Atzberger said. "At a time when SAP is doubling down on its strategy to provide the leading front-office suite, the combination of SAP Hybris and Gigya solutions is a tremendous benefit for customers. Importantly, it turns a compliance need into a strategic business advantage and creates more trusted customer relationships." Each of the new SAP Hybris solutions offers fast, secure scalability to enable companies to manage billions of identities and thousands of digital properties across hundreds of brands, helping those companies meet the requirements of evolving privacy and data protection regulations. This helps protect both companies and their online customers at a time when brands are struggling to initiate and build trusted customer relationships. Lack of transparency and control of personal information by brands has eroded trust in digital customer experiences. In fact, a recent survey shows that data being used without their knowledge is the chief reason consumers leave brands. Three New SAP Hybris Solutions from Gigya The three solutions aim to help organizations adopt a digital approach to drive more effective marketing, sales and service through data, while keeping the customer in control of how much data is shared: SAP Hybris Identity establishes secure customer registration and login across websites, mobile applications and Internet of Things devices using flexible user authentication options, federation standards and single sign-on functionality. It captures and stores customer identity data for trusted and personalized digital experiences. Optimized registration flows increase conversion, while the platform helps protect consumers against identity fraud and data theft. SAP Hybris Consent presents and captures customer consent for terms of service and privacy agreements, including cookie consent and marketing communications. For auditing purposes, consent agreements and consent history are tracked across the customer lifecycle. This information can be synchronized with marketing, sales and service applications. Customers are in control of their personal information with features for consent revocation, data export and account deletion. Consent records are stored in a secure data vault. SAP Hybris Profile transforms customer identity information, profile attributes and other system data into a single customer view, which can be orchestrated in real time or in batch to virtually any application, service or data warehouse. Organizations can govern all the information in these single customer views throughout the customer's lifecycle. With the platform -- and providing consumer consent and transparency has been granted -- SAP customers can analyze data within these single customer views to plan, predict and optimize digital experiences to support sales and services. "If data is the new oil, then trust is the ultimate currency that drives this new data economy," Gigya CEO Patrick Salyer said. "In Asia, we see a greater willingness to put trust in data-gathering tools for the convenience of it. But if that trust is undermined, it's very hard to win back -- and that can have profound business ramifications. To create trust, consumers demand transparency and control over how their customer data is managed. GDPR goes further by legally requiring it. With these new SAP Hybris offerings from Gigya, we can provide one of the only solutions on the market that create trusted customer relationships -- just four months after SAP announced its intent to acquire Gigya." Further details about Gigya solutions are available here. For more information on SAP Hybris solutions, visit the SAP Hybris News Center or follow SAP Hybris solutions at @saphybris. For more information on SAP, visit the SAP News Center or follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews. About SAP As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device -- SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 378,000 business and public sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com. Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. 2018 SAP SE. All rights reserved. SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx#trademark for additional trademark information and notices. Note to editors: To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit www.sap.com/photos. On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit www.sap-tv.com. From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links, and subscribe to RSS feeds from SAP TV. For customers interested in learning more about SAP products: Global Customer Center: +49-180-534-34-24 For more information, press only: Helen Lam, SAP Hybris, +852-9559-0019, helen.lam@sap.com Charmaine Chan, FleishmanHillard, +852-2586-7859, charmaine.chan@fleishman.com SAP News Center press room; press@sap.com Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20171219/2017580-1LOGO SOURCE SAP Hybris [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Novartis launches FocalView app, providing opportunity for patients to participate in ophthalmology clinical trials from home EAST HANOVER, N.J., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Novartis announced the launch of its FocalView app, an ophthalmic digital research platform created with ResearchKit. FocalView aims to allow researchers to track disease progression by collecting real-time, self-reported data directly from consenting patients. By adapting the design of clinical trials to suit the daily routine of patients, the app may reduce barriers to participation, leading to a more nuanced understanding of ophthalmic diseases and potentially accelerating the development of novel treatments. Data capture in traditional ophthalmic clinical trials can be inflexible and infrequent, making it difficult for researchers to monitor patients' disease activity and capture real-world patient experiences. FocalView aims to help patients complete various assessments, gaining feedback on their visual function, including any changes over time. At the same time, the app could provide researchers with a greater volume of real-world, patient-reported data, creating more flexible and accessible clinical trial designs. "Because patients with eye diseases are often not as mobile, FocalView has the potential to offer tremendous benefit for the ophthalmic community and for researchers looking to develop better treatments for these patients," said Dr. Mark Bullimore, Medical Advisor for the creation of FocalView and Dean of the Southern California College of Optometry, Marshall B. Ketchum University. "Collating validated patient-reported outcomes in clinical trial research is no longer a nice-to-have. This kind of data is fast becoming a critical element of research and development, because it offers a better reflection of real-world patient experiences, fosters better patient compliance and provides researchers with richer and more accurate data points." FocalView will be tested in a prospective, non-interventional study to evaluate the app's efficacy and usability in assessing visual function. These measurements include visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. Researchers will in turn assess ease of use, level of enrollment and the ability to obtain important documentation for future clinical trial research, such as informed consent. In the next phase, the app will be validated against traditional visual testing that takes place within conventional clinical settings. "Optimizing digital technology in research and development, particularly in ophthalmic disease, could have a marked impact on the quality of the data we capture," said Bertrand Bodson, Novartis Chief Digital Officer. "We believe apps like FocalView, which we've made freely available to the research community on an open-source platform, can help accelerate the development of treatments and bring them to the patients who need them most." FocalView is now available for download from the App Store in the U.S. Consent to contribute to research data will be required before a user can interact with the tool. Novartis is planning to launch in additional markets in the future. About Novartis in ophthalmology Novartis is a leading ophthalmology company, with therapies that treat both front and back of the eye disorders, including retina diseases, glaucoma, dry eye and other external eye diseases. In 2016, approximately 200 million patients worldwide were treated with Novartis ophthalmic products. Disclaimer This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as "potential," "can," "will," "plan," "expect," "anticipate," "look forward," "believe," "committed," "investigational," "pipeline," "launch," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding the potential efficacy and usability of the FocalView app, or regarding the potential of the FocalView app to allow Novartis to gain a more nuanced understanding of ophthalmic diseases and to potentially accelerate the development of investigational treatments, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the FocalView app will be determined to be effective and useable for assessing visual function in the planned prospective, non-interventional study, or in any other study, or at any particular time. Neither can there be any guarantee that the FocalView app will enable more sensitive trial endpoints and more accurate patient-reported outcomes. Nor can there be any guarantee that the FocalView app will accelerate the development of investigational treatments or that the FocalView app and such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding the FocalView app and such products could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems; global trends toward health care cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures; our ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; general political and economic conditions; safety, quality or manufacturing issues, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About Novartis Located in East Hanover, NJ Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation is an affiliate of Novartis which provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals and eye care. Novartis has leading positions globally in each of these areas. In 2017, the Group achieved net sales of USD 49.1 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.0 billion. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 124,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are sold in approximately 155 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com (link is external). Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis For Novartis multimedia content, please visit www.novartis.com/news/media-library For questions about the site or required registration, please contact media.relations@novartis.com Novartis Media Relations Central media line: +41 61 324 2200 E-mail: media.relations@novartis.com Eric Althoff Novartis Global Media Relations +41 61 324 7999 (direct) +41 79 593 4202 (mobile) eric.althoff@novartis.com Martin DeBenedetto Director, Communications (862) 778-7619 (direct) (973) 738-4104 (mobile) martin.debenedetto@novartis.com Novartis Investor Relations Central investor relations line: +41 61 324 7944 E-mail: investor.relations@novartis.com North America Richard Pulik +1 212 830 2448 Cory Twining +1 212 830 2417 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/novartis-launches-focalview-app-providing-opportunity-for-patients-to-participate-in-ophthalmology-clinical-trials-from-home-300635584.html SOURCE Novartis [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] BridgeStreet's Bold Technology Platform Attracts Another Industry Leader Claire Barrie joins BridgeStreet as new VP Sales for EMEA RESTON, Virginia, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The world of Extended-Stay Accommodations is forever changing. The industry is forced to keep up with the speed of transition as corporate travel struggles to evolve. And it's telling. Corporate travel has always been on the forefront of technology evolution yet choices have drastically lagged. BridgeStreet bucked the trend years ago, taking on the financial and reputational risk to push innovation forward. As each iteration of BridgeStreet's technology commitment is fulfilled, the industry takes notice. As does talent. Michael Snapkoski, BridgeStreet's SVP of Revenue Generation, comments "Last year, we committed to developing the industry's deepest bench as our technology platform was proven. Claire understands how critical this evolution is to building the strongest solution for Alternative Accommodations and Global Relocation. We are so fortunate to welcome Claire's dynamic experience and wisdom. After all, it's our strength of leadership that makes BridgeStreet's pioneering a reality." Claire Barrie is a leader with a proven record of major contributions while developing her notable talents over 15 years. Having observed the sharp changes in travel habits, booking and need for real security (data and otherwise), Claire was attracted to BridgeStreet's investment in customer-centric experience, enabled by best-in-class technology. Not as a reaction to competition, but as a genuine response to the evolving neds of the modern business traveler for business travel and Global Mobility. "Change hasn't been easy for the Extended-Stay market in recent years. Agile and disruptive entrants have challenged the status quo which has led to a fundamental technological evolution. BridgeStreet confidently embraced technology which enhanced their core promise, guarantee and duty of care - and I've seen the market impact. I believe their platform reflects the consciousness of today's modern traveler and the future of flexible accommodations. There's an extraordinary opportunity to change business travel and make Global Mobility a rewarding experience." Claire continued; "This is a company where I knew I would be supported by a team that's never satisfied with status quo. We are firmly, and enthusiastically, committed to the positive disruption that we bring to this industry." Ms. Barrie will oversee Sales in the EMEA for BridgeStreet, having direct responsibility for the performance and profitability of BridgeStreet's sales and its standing in the marketplace. Another major focus will be growing the company's footprint in key markets throughout Europe to connect quality customers with their supplier community. Claire has held key positions throughout her career including Regional Manager, Sales Director and now Vice President of Sales EMEA with BridgeStreet. She is an expert at developing and implementing Sales strategies, gathering performance data and delivering impressive results for her team. Claire is also respected as a trusted industry advisor and was appointed Supplier Board Director to ITM (Industry of Travel Management) in 2016. She has a Global Mobility Specialist (GMS) designation which is a program developed for Global Mobility and service partners to multinational organsiations. It serves to differentiate industry leaders in the Relocation and Global Mobility sectors, inspiring innovation and growth, whilst attracting and nurturing new talent to the Global Mobility industry. About BridgeStreet With more than 160,000+ ExtendedStay Experiences in over 80 countries, BridgeStreet.com is the first unified technology platform built for business travel offering clients unparalleled access to serviced apartments, homes and extended-stay hotels while providing our supply partner community access to built-in demand from BridgeStreet's 5000+ client portfolio and 100+ global sales team. Widely recognized for uncompromising standards of quality and innovative bespoke client services, BridgeStreet is a renowned award winner in both the Americas and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa). BridgeStreet makes it EASY to LIST and BOOK ExtendedStay experiences. For more information about BridgeStreet, please visit www.bridgestreet.com or call 800 278 7338/ +44 (0) 20 7792 2222. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] SysGroup PLC Unveils Corporate Re-Brand Following Four Acquisitions LIVERPOOL, England, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Managed IT services and cloud hosting provider, SysGroup PLC ('SysGroup') has today revealed its corporate identity that unifies the four brands that it has acquired over the last three years. The acquisitions, which include System Professional, Netplan and Rockford IT, have seen SysGroup increase its headcount by 168 per cent in the last two years, with plans to grow employee count further across its Liverpool, London and Telford sites to underpin its growth strategy. The rebrand announcement follows a 46 per cent uplift in revenue since its financial year end in March 2017. Central to this growth has been investment in direct marketing and scaling up inhouse sales and marketing teams. This investment is set to capitalise on organic growth opportunities as well as further expand its service offering through future strategic acquisitions. SysGroup delivers a wide range of managed IT, hosting, IT security and consultancy services under one core brand, which is aligned to the transformation and strategic growth it has experienced in recent years. The company works with a total of 950 customers across a number of regions and sectors, including financial services, insurance, retail, technology, not-for-profit, education and healthcare. Newly appointed CEO of SysGrou, Adam Binks commented: "This new brand identity underpins our commitment to providing our customers, across a range of sectors, with powerful, innovative and transformative IT solutions. It compliments our growth strategy and also conveys the credibility and trust that we offer to our employees and partners, as well as our new and existing clients." The rebrand SysGroup worked with creative agency, Tokyo Wolf, on an exercise to engage employees and customers to help identify the organisation's personality and the traits that define it. The exercise revealed four key traits: innovative and authoritative, which is demonstrated by the level of expertise found in SysGroup and reflected in its customer-centric approach and commitment to using powerful technology in creative ways. Dependable and helpful were also highlighted through the Group's relationships with clients - including Home Bargains, SEGA Europe, Hill Dickinson LLP, and the Science Museum Group. Visitors to the website (http://www.sysgroup.com) will find a sharp new visual identity and logo, which incorporates circular nodes in a connected pattern to highlight the importance of connections with partners and clients. For further information contact hello@sysgroup.com or visit http://www.sysgroup.com. SysGroup is a leading provider of Managed IT Services, Cloud Hosting, and expert IT Consultancy. The Group delivers solutions that enable clients to understand and benefit from industry leading technologies and advanced hosting capabilities. SysGroup focuses on a customer's strategic and operational requirements - enabling clients to free up resources, grow their core business and avoid the distractions and complexity of delivering IT services. The Group boasts a range of strategic partnerships with leading technology vendors, including Microsoft, WatchGuard, Veeam, VMWare, Dell, Mimecast and HPE, and accreditations including ISO 27001:2013 that protects your company information, and ISO 9001:2015 for quality management. The Group also boasts Visa Level 1 Merchant Service Provider status to underpin its PCI hosting capabilities. SysGroup has offices in Liverpool, Coventry, London and Telford. For more information on SysGroup, visit http://www.sysgroup.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] China Minsheng Financial cooperates with the world's leading investment platform eToro in innovation of financial technology HONG KONG, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- China Minsheng Financial Holding Corporation Limited ("CM Financial") always puts fintech innovation high on its agenda so as to better serve the real economy and meet the clients' demand with more efficient and enhanced financial services. As a strategic platform of CMIG Asia Asset Management co., Ltd. ("CMIG Asia"), CM Financial will cooperate with the world's leading investment platform eToro in building an ecosystem where the new blockchain technology can be applied to financial service. It will promote the Group's strategy of developing fintech to a whole new level. CM Financial has recently led the investment in eToro's E-round financing and formed a strategic cooperation partnership with the fintech pioneer. Founded in 2007 in Israel, eToro is one o the first financial technology companies to apply the copy trading technology. As of March 2018, eToro had over 9 million global users, covering over 140 countries and regions. Users can invest more than 1,500 popular financial products on the eToro platform, including 47 kinds of foreign exchange products, over 1,000 stocks in European and American markets, 12 different stock indexes, 6 kinds of commodities, 58 kinds of ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and 26 different replication funds. The users can also copy the investment portfolios and transactions of outstanding investors for free and communicate with global investors in the interactive community on eToro platform. In 2015, eToro was ranked 34th in Fintech 100 by the City of London, the United Kingdom. In 2016, eToro was ranked 7th on the list of Lujiazui's China Financial Herald Top 20 Fintech Companies. Always attaching great importance to innovation and investor service, CM Financial adheres to the strategy for making technology a growth driver in this wave of financial technology development. CM Financial has been making full use of such digital technologies as big data, blockchain and artificial intelligence to innovate financial products and services so as to adapt financial services to a wide range of fields and make them computerized, personalized and differentiated. Such move marks CM Financial's endeavour to develop smart finance and inclusive finance. Through the combination of its own professional asset management capabilities and eToro's technological innovation capabilities, CM Financial will tailor its products and services to the needs of its customers as investors. For instance, it will provide precise solutions for clients' wealth management. The move will be part of the Group's strategies for internationalizing its business and for building a comprehensive, innovative financial service platform. Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180425/2114585-1 SOURCE China Minsheng Financial Holding Corporation Limited [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Asetek Receives Confirmation of HPC Award From Quanta Computer OSLO, Norway, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Asetek today received confirmation of an award from new OEM partner Quanta Computer of Taoyuan, Taiwan, for the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) in Hsinchu. The new cluster will focus on artificial intelligence (AI), and will be the largest supercomputer in Taiwan when commissioned. The award has a value of approximately USD 500,000 with delivery schedule to be confirmed. "We are very pleased to include Quanta Computer as an OEM partner. Developing strong partnerships is a key component of our strategy to develop the emerging data center market," said Andre Sloth Eriksen, CEO and founder of Asetek. "We are now involved in the construction of the largest supercomputers in Taiwan and Japan, which confirms the strength of our liquid cooling solutions when combined with the right partners." This will be the second Asetek cluster installed at NCHC. The first installation was ranked no. 95 on the Top 500-list of the largest supercomputers in November of last year. About Asetek Asetek is the global leader in liquid cooling solutions for data centers, servers and PCs. Founded in 2000, Asetek is headquartered in Denmark and has operations in California, Texas, China and Taiwan. Asetek is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ASETEK). For more information, visit www.asetek.com For further information, please contact: Andre S. Eriksen CEO and Founder +45-2125-7076 email: ceo@asetek.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/asetek/r/asetek-receives-confirmation-of-hpc-award-from-quanta-computer,c2504866 The following files are available for download: http://mb.cision.com/Main/6758/2504866/828961.pdf PDF View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/asetek-receives-confirmation-of-hpc-award-from-quanta-computer-300636162.html SOURCE Asetek [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Calligo Selects Corent SurPaaS to Accelerate Privacy-Aware Clients' Migration to Appropriate Clouds, including Azure Stack ALISO VIEJO, Calif., April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corent Technology, a leader in Azure cloud migration, optimization and SaaSification technology, today announced it has entered into a partnership with Calligo, a world-leading cloud solution provider. The SurPaaS platform from Corent will give Calligo the ability to better support its clients by using automation to analyze their on-premise or pre-existing cloud applications and workloads, optimize them for the cloud and ultimately migrate them to new, more appropriate environments. With this new partnership, the SurPaaS platform from Corent will give Calligo the ability to better support its clients by using automation to analyze their on-premise or pre-existing cloud applications and workloads, optimize them for the cloud and ultimately migrate them to new, more appropriate environments. These may include Azure public cloud, Azure Stack or Calligos own multi-jurisdictional public cloud environment, CloudCore. Calligos public and hybrid cloud platforms were the first to be designed with data priacy and sovereignty at their core, rejecting the industrys myopic focus just on cloud basics such as uptime and scalability. Calligo is one of the first independent cloud service providers to offer Microsoft Azure Stack and has datacentres in the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, Switzerland, Canada, Singapore and Luxembourg. We are excited to announce our partnership with Calligo, said Feyzi Fatehi Corent CEO. We share a commitment to Azure Stack as a private cloud option for the markets we serve, and with Calligos global deployment we are uniquely placed to offer the full range of Microsoft cloud options via SurPaaS. Delivering excellent customer service is absolutely crucial for Calligo, and this starts with supporting clients first steps into the cloud, commented Julian Box, Founder and CEO, Calligo. Our partnership with Corent will allow us to give our clients full reassurance during the otherwise daunting migration process. By automating the analysis and migration of workloads to the cloud, we are able to guarantee their journey to the cloud is optimized both in terms of enabling full value to be extracted from their data and adhering with the data privacy regulations that apply to them. Corent's SurPaaS is a fully integrated platform to automatically Analyze, Migrate, Cloudify, Paasify and if desired - SaaSify - practically any software application. About Corent Technology Corent Technology, is a leading innovator in the Cloud Migration and SaaS-enablement technology space. Corents SurPaaS Platform is used by key enterprises, system Integrators and cloud providers to enable rapid discovery, analysis, planning, optimization and migration to the cloud; and optionally, automated transformation of software applications to SaaS. Corent is managed by a team of Silicon Valley veterans from Microsoft, IBM, HP, EMC, Oracle, and VMware among others. For more information about Corent, please visit www.corenttech.com and to contact Corent please drop a note to info@corenttech.com About Calligo Calligo is an innovative cloud service provider offering mid-sized companies the highest levels of data privacy and security. Calligo offers unparalleled application performance guarantees, commercial flexibility and a personalised support service from its globally located cloud platforms. Through its four pillars of focus, Calligo delivers a platform that businesses can trust to deliver the high level of service and protection they expect and which is lacking in many cloud offerings Corent Media Contact: Dan Chmielewski Madison Alexander PR (949) 614-0634 info@corenttech.com Calligo Media Contact: Julian Box Founder & CEO, Calligo +44 330 124 2496 Julian.box@calligo.cloud A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/f070f9bc-a21b-45fa-b5b2-46bb502bfa67 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] SF Perio & Implants Selects Identillect's Delivery Trust to Secure all Email Communications IRVINE, Calif., April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Identillect Technologies Corp. (the "Company" or "Identillect") (TSX-V:ID) (OTCQB:IDTLF) (Frankfurt:8ID), a trusted leading provider of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant email security, announced today SF Perio & Implants (SF Perio) has selected Delivery Trust to secure their email communications containing sensitive protected health information (PHI). SF Perio provides world-class care in periodontal (gum) disease, oral surgery and dental implants. They focus on providing the latest procedures for treating periodontal disease and placing dental implants tailored to their clients needs. As with many surgical and dental practices, SF Perio deals with a substantial amount of PHI in their communications with clients and referring physicians. SF Perios Dr. Olivares states, In our industry, staying current with the latest technological advances is vital to truly serving the needs of our patients. The trust our patients place in us to treat their medical needs extends to protecting their personal information as well. Delivery Trust enables us to leverage the latest technology in secure communications and continue delivering the quality care our patients deserve. The medical industry has been plagued by a continual stream of data breaches, it is estimated 70,000 cyber-security attacks occur every minute in the United States. The dental industry is no different, seeing an increase in cybersecurity threats in 2017. Dentists are held to the same rigorous regulations other medical entities across the United States are held to, and are subject to the same fines for being outside of compliance when protecting patients protected health information (PHI). Many dental practices still utilize outdated technology like File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to transfer and transmit patient information. The FBI is warning that cyber-criminals are targeting these methods because they are no longer safe, and it is urging dental and medical offices to use more stringent security such as Identillects Delivery Trust end-to-end email encryption to protect health information. Identillect CEO Todd Sexton states, We are pleased to be a leading provider of email security for the dental community, which has historically been underserved. SF Perio is another example of an exceptional organization Identillect is able to assist in expanding their security protocols to meet and exceed HIPAAs expanding regulations. Identillect will continue growing its impact on the medical and dental industry as it expands its subscriber growth in 2018. On Behalf of the Board of Directors of: IDENTILLECT TECHNOLOGIES CORP. Todd Sexton Chief Executive Officer Tel: (949) 468-7878 Email: todd.sexton@identillect.com About Identillect Identillect Technologies is the leading provider of email encryption service Delivery Trust, empowering enterprises of all sizes to protect their business and their clients critical information against cyber security attacks. Delivery Trust is an award-winning, multi-platform plug-in, which gives users complete control of their emails, for one low price. One simple integration complies with all regulations and most importantly provides peace of mind. For more information, or your free trial, please visit www.identillect.com About SF Perio & Implants SF Perio & Implants specialize in treating periodontal disease, esthetic periodontal surgery, pre-prosthetic periodontal surgery, and dental implants. They use their combined 45 years of experience and countless hours of continued education to provide you with exceptional results. SF Perio staff is comprised of caring and dedicated professionals. They ensure that the patients surgical and administrative needs are met as efficiently and smoothly as possible. Their entire teams goal is to make you feel comfortable and relaxed. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward-looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] StaffConnect Announces Record Year and Continued Exponential Growth of Employee Engagement Mobile App Platform as Customers Experience Huge Benefits LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StaffConnect, provider of the award winning enterprise mobile employee engagement platform, today announced it has closed 2017 as a record year, having recorded year-over-year growth of 114%, and Q1 2018 quarter-over-quarter recurring revenue growth of 22.6%, over the same period last year. StaffConnect demonstrated continued market strength and leadership in manufacturing and healthcare; while also growing its retail and hospitality market presence. In addition, StaffConnect expanded its reach in the US, Europe and Australia. The most highly respected thought leaders from around the world continue to produce evidence* that supports the need and desire for the unique capabilities delivered by the StaffConnect mobile app platform to address the market demand which is huge and growing rapidly. According to Margolis, in 2015 the annual revenue for Enterprise Social Networks (ESN) was $1.7 billion, with a forecast of 19% average year-on-year growth to $3.5 billion by 2019. Marketsandmarkets has stated that the Enterprise Social Software (ESS) market will be worth $8.14 billion by 2019. Marketsandmarkets has also stated that the Enterprise Collaboration Market will be worth $4.95 billion by 2021. 2018 has hit the ground running following on what was a truly tremendous breakout year for StaffConnect, having enjoyed record growth across virtually every aspect of our business especially our customer roster, said Bulent Osman, CEO and Founder, StaffConnect. We continue to dedicate ourselves to delivering the best employee engagement solution on the market, and making the investments necessary to take advantage of the sizable and growing employee communications and engagement market opportunity while providing real benefits and value for our customers. A Sample of New Customers From Around the Globe: Jeromes Furniture has been furnishing homes across Southern California for over 60 years. A locally-owned, third-generation family business with 17 store locations, they are committed to providing a sense of care and a culture of honesty to their network of 900 employees. With a reputation for providing excellent customer care, Jeromes Furniture understands that a people first approach will result in an excellent customer experience. has been furnishing homes across Southern California for over 60 years. A locally-owned, third-generation family business with 17 store locations, they are committed to providing a sense of care and a culture of honesty to their network of 900 employees. With a reputation for providing excellent customer care, Jeromes Furniture understands that a people first approach will result in an excellent customer experience. MRC is an events and hospitality business with 15 unique sites, with over 300 permanent employees and about 1,500 casual employees. MRC operates two different brands Melbourne Racing Club and Pegasus Leisure Group. StaffConnect was chosen to support MRCs drive to improve communications across the group, an initiative which is being driven by the recently appointed CEO (especially to their non-desk employees). is an events and hospitality business with 15 unique sites, with over 300 permanent employees and about 1,500 casual employees. MRC operates two different brands Melbourne Racing Club and Pegasus Leisure Group. StaffConnect was chosen to support MRCs drive to improve communications across the group, an initiative which is being driven by the recently appointed CEO (especially to their non-desk employees). Worcester Bosch is a leader in domestic boilers and a holder of a Royal Warrant. Has achieved record adoption rates since choosing StaffConnect to help transform its employee communications and engagement, in order to deepen employee loyalty, improve productivity, and maintain its high standards in business services and manufacturing. is a leader in domestic boilers and a holder of a Royal Warrant. Has achieved record adoption rates since choosing StaffConnect to help transform its employee communications and engagement, in order to deepen employee loyalty, improve productivity, and maintain its high standards in business services and manufacturing. A leading healthcare provider that employs approximately 1,100 people in Spain chose StaffConnect to help them to reach their large number of non-desk employees (NDE), most of whom do not have a laptop. The customer had a newsletter system in operation, but it has proven to be ineffective, and therefore the organization is leveraging StaffConnect to better communicate with its non-desk workforce. that employs approximately 1,100 people in Spain chose StaffConnect to help them to reach their large number of non-desk employees (NDE), most of whom do not have a laptop. The customer had a newsletter system in operation, but it has proven to be ineffective, and therefore the organization is leveraging StaffConnect to better communicate with its non-desk workforce. One of the UKs largest NHS trusts, which provides a full range of primary, community, mental health and acute hospital services for a population of around 694,000 people, and has 17,000 employees, is leveraging StaffConnect to reduce unnecessary send to all emails, while ensuring vital communications are received by the appropriate audience(s) especially its clinical workers, who rarely have the opportunity to check email. A Sample of New Strategic Partners: CorporateVIP is an exclusive invite only club for employees, working professionals, business owners and companies, utilized by employers to reward, incentivize and show appreciation for hard work, loyalty and results. is an exclusive invite only club for employees, working professionals, business owners and companies, utilized by employers to reward, incentivize and show appreciation for hard work, loyalty and results. Plaxma Visual Networks delivers an alternative digital network experience for internal communications, advertising, production and music. A leading provider in the digital signage industry in Mexico, the company delivers tailored advertising spots in targeted markets including health clubs, hair salons, hospitals, medical facilities and restaurants. Product Innovation: StaffConnect Launched Version 2.1 - featuring a wave of innovations designed to enhance the employee experience, and provide customers with more powerful analytics to achieve employee communications and engagement goals. Thought Leadership and Education: StaffConnect Accepted into Forbes Technology Council CEO and Founder, Bulent Osman, was accepted into the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. CEO and Founder, Bulent Osman, was accepted into the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Can Technology Help the Manufacturing Industry Solve Its Employee Engagement Crisis new eBook reviews the current state of employee engagement in the manufacturing industry, discusses what has led to what can be described as epidemic levels of disengagement, reviews the resulting dire consequences and offers immediately actionable solutions. new eBook reviews the current state of employee engagement in the manufacturing industry, discusses what has led to what can be described as epidemic levels of disengagement, reviews the resulting dire consequences and offers immediately actionable solutions. Can Technology Help Revive Employee Engagement in the Healthcare Industry - The two new eBooks were developed to help healthcare organizations in the U.S. and U.K. assess their own level of employee engagement (or in some cases, their inability to do so), understand the consequences of an under-engaged workforce which ranges from a lower standard of care for patients to recruitment and retention challenges, and learn how technology can help them to address the underlying issues triggering their employee disengagement. *The latest Deloitte 2018 Global Human Capital Trends report identifies 10 key trends that are all in some part addressed through StaffConnects platform, in particular: From Careers to Experiences reinforcing StaffConnects mission to uniquely provide engaging end-to-end employee experiences. The Hyper-Connected Workplace directly ties to StaffConnects seamless internal communication delivery across geographies, and functions regardless of whether the employee is sitting in an executive office, a cube, on the manufacturing floor, or in the field. The Workforce Ecosystem: Managing Beyond the Enterprise with StaffConnects capabilities in enabling its clients to extend cultural initiatives across distributed workforces, including external workers, consultants, contractors and freelancers. Osman added, Our expansion across verticals and geographies is a testament to the growing well-documented demand for solutions like ours and the importance of the workforce and employee satisfaction to the growth and profitability of all businesses. This, combined with the strength of our platform and our Customer Success program ensures seamless adoption and rapid, ongoing benefits for our customers. Tweet this: .@StaffConnectApp announces record year and continued exponential growth of #mobile #app platform customer adoption https://www.staffconnectapp.com/latest/press-releases/ #EmployeeEngagement #EmployeeCommunications #AppSuccess #HR #Workforce #BusinessShift About StaffConnect StaffConnect delivers the award winning mobile employee engagement platform. The StaffConnect solution transforms the employee experience by enabling large enterprises to connect, communicate and engage their entire workforce, especially remote, non-desk employees. The customer-branded mobile app gives employees a voice - with access to company and user-generated content to increase loyalty and productivity. The cloud-hosted platform empowers employers to target that content, with analytics, to deepen engagement with everyone. From offices in London and San Francisco, StaffConnects platform and domain expertise are supporting large businesses around the world to inspire their workforces to deliver better performance, improved customer experiences and greater shareholder value. For further information, please visit: www.staffconnectapp.com. Media Resources (logos, screenshots, etc.): https://www.staffconnectapp.com/media-resources/ PR Contacts: Sabrina Sanchez The Ventana Group for StaffConnect (925) 785-3014 ssanchez@theventanagroup.com Nicole Gorman The Ventana Group for StaffConnect (508) 397-0131 ngorman@theventanagroup.com [April 25, 2018] AUTOSAR Releases Latest Adaptive Platform Adopting the DDS Standard SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Real-Time Innovations (RTI), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connectivity company, today announced that AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open Systems ARchitecture) has just released the latest version of the Adaptive Platform, Release 18-03, which features the Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard. The AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform is a standardized software platform designed to meet the increasing technology demands of new automotive applications. For the first time, the Adaptive Platform supports the Object Management Group (OMG) DDS connectivity standard for mission-critical real-time systems, allowing the AUTOSAR standard to further meet the requirements of highly autonomous systems, such as level 4 and level 5 autonomous vehicles. Together, the DDS and AUTOSAR standards contribute to a robust ecosystem for autonomous systems, with DDS offering a data-centric architecture that eases the integration path to other IIoT systems, and connects applications and systems of systems together. The automotive industry is a significant growth market for RTI due to the rise of autonomous vehicles and the need for a reliable, secure and high-performance connectivity framework. Since autonomous vehicles are highly complex systems that combine vision, radar, LIDAR, proximity, sensors, GPS, mapping, navigation, planning and control, autonomy is an extreme technical challenge. These systems must analyze and respond to chaotic environments in real time while maintaining the highest safety and security requirements. RTI is the only company with the depth of experience in delivering standards-based solutions for these sophisticated autonoous systems. RTI joined AUTOSAR in 2017 to help advance the platform and ensure that it meets the technical requirements for autonomous vehicles. With AUTOSAR now including the DDS standard, a new technical market has been created within the automotive industry, said Bob Leigh, senior market development director, autonomous systems at RTI. As autonomous systems continue to evolve, there is a growing importance on the underlying architecture, safety and security. At RTI we have extensive experience in working with customers that have some of the most demanding mission and safety-critical applications, and who have selected DDS as the backbone of their systems. Traditional car manufacturers and vendor ecosystem providers, who have embraced AUTOSAR, will now be able to use DDS to compete in this race for the future of transportation. AUTOSAR is a worldwide development partnership of car manufacturers, suppliers and other leading companies in the electronics, semiconductor and software industries. This latest revision of the AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform integrates several new features into the open system architecture standard. The release defines a DDS communication binding for the Adaptive Platform Communication Management API and is the first in a series of releases that will add support for new functionality. Prior to this update, AUTOSAR applications were limited in terms of communications protocols and integrations. Now, using the DDS standard, system architects can improve the evolvability of their designs, preparing all systems for future technical advancements. Additionally, DDS allows auto manufacturers to leverage other technologies outside of the AUTOSAR specification including connected and cloud-based technologies. The world is becoming more connected and self-driving cars are just one examplecombining personal transportation, social media and a connected infrastructure in one place. The new Adaptive Platform offers broader integration possibilities for autonomous vehicles enabling a more innovative and exciting future. Read more about RTIs work in the autonomous driving industry here . About RTI Real-Time Innovations (RTI) is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connectivity company. The RTI Connext databus is a software framework that shares information in real time, making applications work together as one, integrated system. It connects across field, fog and cloud. Its reliability, security, performance and scalability are proven in the most demanding industrial systems. Deployed systems include medical devices and imaging; wind, hydro and solar power; autonomous planes, trains and cars; traffic control; Oil and Gas; robotics, ships and defense. RTI lives at the intersection of functional artificial intelligence and pervasive networkingSM. RTI is the largest vendor of products based on the Object Management Group (OMG) Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard. RTI is privately held and headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. Download a free 30-day trial of the latest, fully-functional Connext DDS software today: https://www.rti.com/downloads Media Contacts Rachel Shatz Karbo Communications for RTI 650-270-1097 Rachel@karbocom.com Cameron Smead Public Relations Senior Manager at RTI cameron@rti.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Philips Avent uGrow App Gives Parents Peace-of-Mind with Immediate Video Access to Healthcare Providers STAMFORD, Conn., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- New parenthood is full of questions especially as it relates to baby's health and wellbeing. Sometimes those questions arise when you are home with a little one, on vacation, or during the night. Recognizing the need for new parents to have easy, on-demand access to medical advice wherever they are, day or night, Philips Avent the brand most recommended by moms worldwide* has launched a new telehealth feature provided by American Well in its popular uGrow parenting app that will easily connect parents with doctors and healthcare professionals. The previously announced partnership between Philips and American Well the leading U.S. telehealth provider that connects millions of consumers with care professionals through video visits will enable users to gain remote access to a large database of providers through the Philips Avent uGrow app platform. The uGrow app helps parents track their baby's development and get insights based on their development and routines. With the addition of telehealth technology provided by American Well to the uGrow app, parents can connect directly via video call to doctors and healthcare professionals, 24/7. The app will offer healthcare professionals specializing in children and adult health, as well as lactation consultants and mental health professionals. Telehealth is covered by many insurance plans or can be paid for out of pocket. /p> Brenda Kapner , Marketing Director at Philips. "We listened to what parents needed and evolved our uGrow parenting app to provide them with peace of mind knowing that they now have around the clock video access to healthcare providers with a touch of a button, from the comfort of their own home." The Philips Avent uGrow app with telehealth provided by American Well is available for download from the App Store and Google Play. Visit the Philips Avent website at www.Philips.US/AVENT to learn more, or follow us on Facebook.com/PhilipsAVENT or @AVENT_US. *Based on December 2015 GemSeek online satisfaction survey conducted among more than 9,000 female users of childcare brands and products. About Royal Philips Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2017 sales of EUR 17.8 billion and employs approximately 74,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter. About American Well American Well uses telehealth to improve people's access to quality care. Through our partnerships with the nation's largest health systems, insurers, employers, and retailers, our award-winning telehealth Exchange and our direct-to-consumer service, Amwell, we connect millions of Americans to the doctors they trust for live video visits. Through the power of telehealth, we help patients get the care they need in a timely fashion, and help doctors be there for their patients. We build technologies to make healthcare go where people need it most. For more on how we are changing healthcare delivery through telehealth, visit AmericanWell.com. American Well, Amwell and The Exchange are registered trademarks or trademarks of American Well Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. American Well, Amwell and The Exchange are registered trademarks or trademarks of American Well Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/philips-avent-ugrow-app-gives-parents-peace-of-mind-with-immediate-video-access-to-healthcare-providers-300635589.html SOURCE Philips Avent [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Dynamo Furnaces Launching New Website April 2018 CAMBRIDGE, Ontario, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dynamo Furnaces is pleased to announce the launch of their new website: http://DynamoFurnaces.com It was important to the team at Dynamo Furnaces to make a website that delivers the best possible user experience. Part of that effort was implanting an easy-to-use Product Quotation and Shopping Cart System. Dynamo Furnaces will be updating users with interesting industry news and users can subscribe to updates. User feedback is welcomed during the launch phase. Dynamo Furnaces builds a wide variety of Electric or Gas Melting Furnaces, Holding Furnaces and Related Equipment. The furnaces are reasonably priced and delivered on time, and have more standard features than any other furnaces on the market. Each client's needs are different - Dynamo Furnaces understands that and can adapt, configure and build what is needed without a hassle. All design and engineering is done in-house with a quick turnaround. Sooner or later all furnaces require maintenance and repairs. Dynamo Furnaces has a strong team of technicians who can get users up and running in the shortest tme possible. Dynamo Furnaces' support staff has over 30 years of customer support experience, and speaks English, Spanish, Polish, Chinese and Italian. Critical parts are in stock, which can be shipped overnight. In addition, Dynamo Furnaces has a network of local dealers who are here to help with their own service personnel. More about Dynamo Furnaces: Service, flexibility, short delivery times and a full stock of replacement parts make them an ideal industrial business partner. Dynamo Furnaces is a company that is dedicated to offering customers superior service and value added products that exceed their expectations. Dynamo Furnaces are adapted to geographic locations with the correct voltage and standards. Dynamo Furnaces is equipped with their own Design, Manufacturing, Assembly, Testing and R&D facilities, which are situated in various locations around the world. Leveraging state-of-the-art infrastructure, Dynamo Furnaces designs and manufactures a complete range of furnaces in a very effective and highly competitive manner. Each manufacturing facility has the most advanced and sophisticated machinery and equipment installed, which help conduct the manufacturing process easily and quickly. Much of how things are done is proprietary and has been devised and refined over many years of experience. As such, facilities are not open to the public. Nevertheless, there is a dedicated network of sales associates who sell and service Dynamo Furnaces' products worldwide. Please visit the new website for more information http://DynamoFurnaces.com Contact for Dynamo Furnaces: Ron Bordier 193944@email4pr.com 519-800-0027 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dynamo-furnaces-launching-new-website-april-2018-300636100.html SOURCE Dynamo Furnaces [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Horizn Knowledge Platform Capabilities That Facilitate RBC's Digital Activation Strategy Recognized By Celent With A Model Bank 2018 Award Horizn is pleased to share that the Horizn Knowledge Platform used to power the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Digital Activation Strategy led to RBC winning a Model Bank 2018 award for Employee Productivity. Celent is a global research and advisory firm for the financial services industry. RBC is Canada's largest bank by market capitalization, the 5th largest in North America, and the 11th largest globally. Celent's annual Model Bank Awards recognize the best practices of technology usage in different areas critical to success in banking. Nominations are submitted by financial institutions and undergo a rigorous evaluation process by Celent analysts. The Horizn Knowledge Platform equips RBC's employees and customers with the knowledge they need to improve the client experience and increase digital adoption. Each time RBC launches a digital capability to clients, it's essential employees understand how the capability works. The Horizn agile go-to-market platform provides a revolutionary approach to micro-learning with elements of gamification and proven measurable results. The Horizn platform is being used with RBC employees, in branch, with the call center and directly with RBC's customers through three scalable platforms: RBC Digital Learn, RBC Digital Demo, and RBC Demo. Together, these gamified platforms provideRBC with the infrastructure to support rapid digital deployments. As a result, in a short period of time, RBC's Digital Activation Strategy advanced dramatically without losing sight of the importance of the client relationship in the process. "We are excited to support these initiatives with RBC and are very proud of the Celent Model Bank award for Employee Productivity," said Janice Diner, Horizns' CEO and founding Partner. "The Horizn Knowledge Platform equips RBC's employees and clients with the knowledge they need to improve the client experience and increase digital adoption." "According to Bob Meara, Senior Analyst at Celent: "The Model Bank Awards recognize how banks are using technology to change the face of banking. These banks should serve as an inspiration to others looking for strong examples of best practice implementation that will have a truly meaningful impact on business results and the industry overall. RBC's Digital Activation Strategy clearly demonstrated this." The Celent Model Bank Awards were presented at Celent's sold-out Insight & Innovation Day on April 24, 2018 in Boston. To read the Celent case study, "RBC Digital Activation Strategy Winner of Celent Model Bank 2018, for Employee Productivity" Download the RBC Celent Case. About Horizn The Horizn Knowledge Platform helps financial institutions dramatically accelerate market adoption of digital innovation and new products at lightning speed. Whether the bank is adding artificial intelligence (AI) into their mobile app or launching a new online application, the Horizn platform helps onboard, retain and grow customers. Horizn is the first ever knowledge platform that focuses both on employees and bank customers, equipping them with the knowledge they need to improve the customer experience and drive digital adoption. Horizn has trained over 400,000 employees, made product learning available directly to 60+ million bank customers. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005044/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust Announces Date for Release of First Quarter 2018 Results PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE: PMT) will announce results for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 in a news release to be issued after the market close on Thursday, May 3, 2018. The release will be available online at www.PennyMac-REIT.com. The Company's executives will review the results in a recorded presentation. The recording and accompanying slide presentation will be available on the Company's website concurrently with the news relase. Individuals who are unable to access the website but would like to receive a copy of the slide presentation should contact the Company's Investor Relations department at (818) 224-7028. About PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust is a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests primarily in residential mortgage loans and mortgage-related assets. PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "PMT." PMT is externally managed by PNMAC Capital Management, LLC, a controlled subsidiary of PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: PFSI). Additional information about PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust is available at www.PennyMac-REIT.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005645/en/ [April 25, 2018] Puppet Defines the Path to Pervasive Automation, Expands Product Portfolio PORTLAND, Ore., April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Puppet, the standard for automating the delivery and operation of the software that powers everything around us, today announced new products that expand its product portfolio and accelerate customers journey to pervasive automation. In order to harness the potential of the latest technologies, CIOs must execute on a roadmap that scales DevOps and automation success, said Sanjay Mirchandani, CEO, Puppet. Extending automationmaking it pervasive across every environmentis critical to delivering better software, faster. Puppets State of DevOps research shows that, although organizations successfully deliver business outcomes with DevOps practices and modern automation, success is often isolated to specific teams within much larger IT organizations. The next era of automation is about scaling that automation success to transform how companies operate. The conversation is shifting from talking about how every company is a software company to instead focus on whats needed to drive that transformation, said Omri Gazitt, chief product officer, Puppet. Puppets product portfolio gives companies what they need to use automation as the foundation of that change, across every domaininfrastructure, applications, cloud, containers, and networking devices. Today, were introducing new automation products that help companies take control of their journey to pervasive automation. Taking the first step to pervasive automation with the new Puppet Discovery Not knowing whats in a companys IT inventory is often the first hurdle that prevents teams from getting started with automation. The journey to pervasive automation starts with discovering existing resources. Now, with one of the newest additions to the Puppet portfolio, Puppet Discovery, users can discover and take action on whats running across their IT estate. Its the only product that treats traditional, cloud, and container-based infrastructure and applications as first-class citizens. It features an intuitive dashboard that provides insights about infrastructureand gives users the power to automate and manage it. Puppet Discovery will be generally available in mid-May 2018. Splunkcustomers are always looking for data to enrich their IT operations. With Puppet Discovery, we have a great data source that gives us the ability to provide even richer analytical capabilities to our joint customers, helping turn insight into action so problems get resolved quickly, said Rick Fitz, senior vice president and general manager, IT Markets, Splunk. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Puppet to provide customers with the ability to drive change across their entire organization. Scaling automation success with Puppet Enterprise 2018.1 The latest version of Puppet Enterprise includes enhancements that empower customers with the breadth and depth they need to automate infrastructure faster and more securely. New functionality includes: Puppet Tasks role-based access control , which allows users to define node groups corresponding to business functions or units, and offers fine-grained control over who can run tasks across these node groups. , which allows users to define node groups corresponding to business functions or units, and offers fine-grained control over who can run tasks across these node groups. Puppet Bolt integration with Puppet Orchestrator enables users to run Bolt task plansa set of tasks run in a specific sequence as part of an orchestrated deploymentagainst hundreds of thousands of Puppet Enterprise nodes using the highly scalable Puppet Orchestrator. The execution of those plans can be tracked in the Puppet Enterprise console. enables users to run Bolt task plansa set of tasks run in a specific sequence as part of an orchestrated deploymentagainst hundreds of thousands of Puppet Enterprise nodes using the highly scalable Puppet Orchestrator. The execution of those plans can be tracked in the Puppet Enterprise console. A faster, more user-friendly console that delivers significant accessibility improvements for users with a screen reader, that work exclusively with a keyboard or that see color uniquely. that delivers significant accessibility improvements for users with a screen reader, that work exclusively with a keyboard or that see color uniquely. Support of Puppet Development Kit (PDK) for Puppet Enterprise , including support for the new resource API, which makes it easier for Puppet developers to create custom types and providers, and allows for agentless operations. , including support for the new resource API, which makes it easier for Puppet developers to create custom types and providers, and allows for agentless operations. Simplified backup and recovery features that provide an added layer of automation for disaster recovery and ongoing business continuity efforts. Unifying Dev and Ops with Continuous Delivery for Puppet Enterprise Organizations have struggled to break down traditional Dev and Ops silos because these teams rely on disconnected processes and tools to automate infrastructure and application delivery. New to the Puppet Enterprise family is Continuous Delivery for PE. The new offering brings the continuous integration, continuous delivery (CI/CD) experience that developers love to the world of infrastructure-as-code, helping standardize the way customers deliver their infrastructure. Ops teams can now use the same tools and interface as their dev teams to build, test and promote Puppet code through a standardized delivery pipeline. Continuous Delivery for Puppet Enterprise will be available in June. Bringing pervasive automation to the cloud, networking and security Customers need technology breadth and depth, and Puppet is helping them automate manual, error-prone process across whatever they havetraditional infrastructure, cloud, containers, networking and application development. Today, Puppet introduced new additions to its partner ecosystem, including new collaborations and innovations with Barracuda, Cisco, Microsoft and Nutanix to extend pervasive automation across on-premises and cloud environments. Additional resources Learn more about Puppet. Follow Puppet on Twitter @puppetize. Try Puppet Enterprise for free. About Puppet Puppet is driving the movement to a world of unconstrained software change. Its revolutionary platform is the industry standard for automating the delivery and operation of the software that powers everything around us. More than 40,000 companiesincluding more than 75 percent of the Fortune 100use Puppets open source and commercial solutions to adopt DevOps practices, achieve situational awareness and drive software change with confidence. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Puppet is a privately held company with more than 500 employees around the world. Learn more at puppet.com. Media Contact: Allison Cefalo pr@puppet.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Carbon Neutrality is Now Reality at American University WASHINGTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today President Sylvia M. Burwell announced that American University has achieved carbon neutrality, which means it has a net zero carbon footprint. AU publicly pledged to become carbon neutral by 2020 back in 2010. Now because of the commitment, leadership, and innovative strategic planning of its staff, faculty, and students, AU has reached its goal two years early. AU becomes not only the first carbon neutral university in the nation, but it is also the first urban campus and the first research university to accomplish this important achievement. AU has met the guidelines set by Second Nature, a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating climate action in and through higher education, to become a carbon neutral university. "Our community joined together to accomplish this important goal established in 2010," said President Burwell. "We wanted to demonstrate leadership and innovation in addressing the serious social, economic, and environmental issues associated with global warming. Having a net zero carbon footprint reflects our commitment to acting on our values and leading into the future." Concerns about the increasing pace and intensity of global climate change and the potential for unprecedented harmful effects on our world, are important to the AU community and has led to the university's continued action and leadership in this effort. President Burwell further solidified that commitment when she signed the "We Are Still In" pledge to work towards the goals of the Paris Climate Accord. "As the first university to achieve carbon neutrality, and achieving it two years ahead of schedule, American University is truly raising the bar for the country," said Timothy Carter, president of Second Nature. "With this type of leadership and innovation, we can meet our shared climate goals faster than anyone expects." AU's innovative approach to reducing emissions, using green power and purchasing strategic offsets helped it meet its commitment to neutrality two years early. The university concentrated on measures that directly impact its own footprint. AU works to reduce energy use per square foot and produce renewable energy on campus and within its electricity grid. The university purchases renewable energy and offsets to balance the greenhouse gas emissions it produces. Fifty percent of AU's electricity comes from solar power sources. AU hopes to be a model for other institutions looking to drive down their carbon footprints and become carbon neutral. Looking ahead, AU plans to do more. Currently, the university is undergoing a massive two-year hot water and heat conversion project that will drive down campus use of fossil fuels. Current underground steam lines will be replaced with low temperature hot water lines to serve the university's heating needs. This new system will provide American University with reliable energy and carbon savings for the future. The Path to Carbon Neutrality In 2010, AU wrote ts first Climate Action Plan and committed to carbon neutrality by 2020. In April of 2016, AU became a charter signatory to the Climate Commitment through the nonprofit Second Nature. It was this pledge that added resiliency to the university's existing pledge to become carbon neutral by the year 2020 and further expanded upon its pledge to increase its sustainability efforts and education. One year later, in April of 2017, the university committed to working toward the goals of the Paris Climate Accord by signing the "We Are Still In" pledge. AU's carbon neutral campus is the result of a campus-wide community effort which was led by strategic planning efforts of the Office of Sustainability and students, faculty, staff and significant contributions from offices such as Facilities Management and Transportation. AU strategically approached the goal of carbon neutrality by driving down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions wherever possible, then using renewables and finally purchasing offsets that align with the source of emissions. Students came together at zero waste events, joined in campus-wide competitions to reduce waste and AU's carbon footprint, and became ambassadors for sustainability. Faculty integrated sustainability into their classes not just through their research and what they teach, but how they teach. For example, students taking an environmental studies course organized a Waste Audit on Campus and an Urban Ecosystem walk on and around campus to collect data on their local environment (light pollution, animals, birds, trash). Other students produced short films about AU waste practices and campus waste infrastructure. AU Scholars prepared a Sustainability City design project. Staff members participated in the Green Office program to understand how our day-to-day work can be more sustainable, and environmentally responsible. "Climate change is one of the most urgent issues of our time," said Megan Litke, AU director of sustainability programs. Each organization and individual has a responsibility to act to reduce their environmental impact. I'm proud to be a part of a university that takes this responsibility seriously and has acted to achieve carbon neutrality." "Sustainability is something that our students care deeply about. But more than talking about it, we have to model the behavior we want to see in the world around us," said Kiho Kim, environmental science professor at AU. "Achieving carbon neutrality is a very strong statement about what is important to us, the entire AU community, and shows that we will continue to lead by example." AU's Diminishing Carbon Footprint Carbon Neutrality at AU: = 10,000 vehicles off the road per year = 5,524 U.S. homes off the grid per year = 1,253,460 trees planted AU's Electricity is 100 Percent Renewable: 50 percent of AU's electricity comes from 250,000 solar panels at a solar farm in North Carolina . This site was the largest solar purchase/installation by a non-utility company when it was constructed in 2014. . This site was the largest solar purchase/installation by a non-utility company when it was constructed in 2014. 50 percent of AU's electricity comes from renewable energy credits AU Builds Sustainably: 6 LEED Certified Buildings Plus 4 On Track 8 Green Roofs More than any other university in D.C. 9 Bioretention basins & rain gardens 7 Solar Panel Installations AU is a Sustainable Community: 500 Certified Green Teachers incorporate sustainability in the classroom 327 AU classes incorporate sustainability in the curriculum 84 percent of AU students commute sustainably 100 percent of AU shuttle buses run on biodiesel 1 million UPass rides taken (on Metro) in the programs first year AU is a Bicycle Friendly University AU Strives for Zero Waste to Landfills: 208 tons of waste composted (2017) 260 tons of waste recycled (2017) AU Chooses Strategic Carbon Offsets*: Efficient cookstoves in Kenya , in partnership with The Paradigm Project, offset study abroad air travel and decrease deforestation, which is a major contributor to climate change. They also improve indoor air quality. , in partnership with The Paradigm Project, offset study abroad air travel and decrease deforestation, which is a major contributor to climate change. They also improve indoor air quality. Planting trees in D.C. helps offset GHG emissions from commuting, and helps the District move toward its tree canopy goals. Homeowners also benefit from onsite stormwater management. Landfill methane projects offset natural gas use and landfill waste, decreasing the GHG emissions from landfills *these are thoughtful alternatives to reducing emissions that are difficult to reduce by other means American University is a leader in global education, enrolling a diverse student body from throughout the United States and nearly 130 countries. Located in Washington, D.C., the university provides opportunities for academic excellence, public service, and internships in the nation's capital and around the world. #CarbonNeutralAU View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carbon-neutrality-is-now-reality-at-american-university-300636317.html SOURCE American University [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Sirrus Corp. Finalizes Delivery, Installation, and Testing of First Security Driven High Performance Computer System JOHNS CREEK, GA, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sirrus Corp. (Sirrus or the Company) (OTC PINK: SRUP), an emerging cybersecurity solutions provider, is pleased to announce that the Company has finalized delivery, installation, and testing of its previously announced initial high-performance computer (HPC) system sale. This first of its kind Sirrus Secure HPC was purchased by an international client that specializes in fire simulations, which require high computing power. At a cost of more than $50,000 for the entry-level configuration, each Sirrus Secure HPC system offers extremely high power and greatly improved price/performance over traditional computing systems. Just one Sirrus Secure HPC has the capability to replace an entire rack of legacy servers and close hundreds of potential security gaps. As a result, the total cost to operate and maintain a Sirrus Secure HPC has been shown to be greatly reduced compared to traditional systems of this capacity. Sparrow Marcioni, Sirrus Corp. CEO, commented, The successful completion of the onsite installation and testing of the first Sirrus Secure HPC supercomputer for a sophisticated customer needing secure and cost-effective computing power has validated our expanded business strategy, which included establishing an HPC business division to specialze in cluster computer design, build, and deployment services. We continue to work with other potential Sirrus Secure HPC clients and anticipate additional system sales and installations in the near future. About Sirrus Corp. Sirrus Corp. (OTC PINK: SRUP) provides security technology products and services to assist companies with protecting their assets and information. The Company is primarily focused on providing cybersecurity services to healthcare companies in the United States, which are required to be in compliance with government regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Additional information regarding Sirrus Corp. and Sirrus Security can be found at www.sirrussecurity.com . Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release by Sirrus Corp. (Sirrus) may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by words such as expects, plan, believes, will, achieve, anticipate, would, should, subject to, or words of similar meaning, and by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Although Sirrus management believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; and the ability to obtain necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Known risks and uncertainties include those identified from time to time in the reports filed by Sirrus Corp. with the SEC. Sirrus assumes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Sirrus Corp. - Investor Relations: Toll-Free: (888) 263-7622 E-mail: investors@sirrussecurity.com Website: www.sirrussecurity.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] OMVS: Robotic Assistance Devices SCOT Solution Honored with Awards at ISC West RENO, NV , April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On the Move Systems (OTC PINK: OMVS) is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Robotic Assistance Devices (RAD - www.roboticassistancedevices.com ), announced today that its latest guarding solution, the Security Control and Observation Tower (SCOT), was awarded a New Product Showcase Award from the Security Industry Association (SIA), a 2018 Secure Campus Award from Campus Security & Life Safety, and a 2018 Government Security (Govie) Award from Security Today during this year's ISC West in Las Vegas. SIA's New Product Showcase recognizes innovative products, services and solutions in electronic physical security, and SCOT's award comes in the Law Enforcement/Guarding Systems category. Technologies within the program are used in the protection of life and property in residential, commercial and institutional settings, displaying SCOT's importance in long-range human detection and acting as a force multiplier for safety and defense against outside threats. The SIA New Product Showcase challenges our industrys solutions developers to create and deliver exceptional security offerings, and this year we saw many new entrants competing in the showcase, said Don Erickson, CEO, SIA. Its always a highly competitive program, and I congratulate Robotic Assistance Devices for distinguishing itself. The Secure Campus Awards, chosen by an independent panel of judges from the security industry, honor outstanding campus security services and products. SCOT's Platinum Secure Campus Award in the Perimeter Protection category demonstratesits user friendliness, unique innovation technique and comprehensive safeguarding abilities to protect students and staff at K-12 and higher education facilities. SCOT's Gold Govie Award in the Intelligent Communications category positions the solution as an outstanding government security product chosen by an independent panel of judges. Its AI-powered features, including the debut of the RAD Software Suite, contribute to a visible security presence at government buildings that ensures the most timely and effective resolution to incidents. We are thrilled to see our latest security solution honored with these awards. The recognition we received at ISC West has been echoed by our customers who are implementing the SCOT solution into their security operations, said Steve Reinharz, President and CEO, Robotic Assistance Devices. SCOT's ability to help an organization expand its security reach in a way that is budget conscious is a win-win for our customers. SCOT is a standalone, remote, portable, self-sufficient intelligent observation tower designed to expand an organizations security reach instantly. The SCOT solution is ideal for perimeter surveillance for critical infrastructure, distribution and storage centers, data centers, high-value outdoor areas, homeowners associations and other restricted properties. SCOT is customizable and can be used anywhere a stand-at-post guarding position is in use, at any visitor/employee check-in location and at any kiosk location. SCOTs use of artificial intelligence allows it to deliver guarding services at a fraction of the cost and is considerably more affordable than any human or automated solution on the market. The company may post important information about its subsidiary RAD on its website at www.Robotic AssistanceDevices.com and through tweets from RAD President and CEO Steve Reinharz ( https://twitter.com/SteveReinharz ) CAUTIONARY DISCLOSURE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this news release other than statements of historical fact are "forward-looking statements" that are based on current expectations and assumptions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements, including, but not limited to, the following: the ability of On the Move Systems to provide for its obligations, to provide working capital needs from operating revenues, to obtain additional financing needed for any future acquisitions, to meet competitive challenges and technological changes, and other risks. On the Move Systems undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement(s) and/or to confirm the statement(s) to actual results or changes in On the Move Systems expectations. Investor Relations: Everest Corporate Advisors Inc. Jack Thompson www.everestcorp.net 702-902-2361 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Xerox Plans Live Audio Webcast to Discuss First-Quarter Results Xerox (NYSE: XRX) will host a live audio webcast with online presentation slides at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 3 to discuss the company's 2018 first-quarter results and guidance. A news release containing this information will be issued earlier that day at 4:15 p.m. ET. WHEN: 5 p.m. ET, Thursday, May 3, 2018 WHAT: Review of Xerox's 2018 first-quarter results and guidance WHO: Jeff Jacobson, chief executive officer, Xerox Bill Osbourn, Jr., chief financial officer, Xerox AUDIO WEBCAST: https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/emsien49 or https://www.news.xerox.com/investors About Xerox Xerox Corporation is a technology leader that innovates the way the world communicates, connects and works. We understand what's at the heart of sharing information - and all of the forms it can take. We embrace the integration of paper and digital, the increasing requirement for mobility, and the need for seamless integration between work and personal worlds. Every day, our innovative print technologies and intelligent work solutions help people communicate and work better. Discover more at www.xerox.com and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) at @Xerox. Note: To receive RSS news feeds, visit https://www.news.xerox.com. For open commentary, industry perspectives and views, visit http://twitter.com/xerox, http://connect.blogs.xerox.com, http://www.facebook.com/XeroxCorp, https://www.instagram.com/xerox/, http://www.linkedin.com/company/xerox, http://www.youtube.com/XeroxCorp. Xerox and Xerox and Design are trademarks of Xerox in the United States and/or other countries. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425005231/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Pizza Boli's "Delivers More" Convenience, Value & Fun With New Mobile App PIKESVILLE, Md., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pizza Boli's, which offers more product variety than any other major pizza chain in the country, is helping customers enjoy more convenience, value and fun with the launch of a new mobile app. The app is available for Android devices from Google Play, and for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod touch) from the App Store. To celebrate the launch, for a limited time customers who download the app will receive a free medium cheese pizza. Commented Pizza Boli's founder Javed Nasir: "Since we launched our first location more than 30 years ago, we've focused on delivering more to our customers. Our new app is the latest way that we're fulfilling this fundamental promise." In addition to making ordering from Pizza Boli's as easy as eating a pizza, the new app lets customers conveniently and quickly: Track their "Boli's Rewars" loyalty points and earn their way to free food. View coupons and enjoy special deals on pizzas, subs, wraps, wings, pastas, salads, and more. Find the nearest Pizza Boli's location and get directions. Call any Pizza Boli's location with a single tap. Access previous orders for easy and fast re-ordering (guest checkout is also available). Follow Pizza Boli's on social media to connect with the community, post pictures, and more. www.pizzabolis.com using their desktop or laptop can tap the mobile app's sync button, and instantly update their order history and account details. Commented Pizza Boli's marketing director Maroula G. Mavrophilipos: "Whether they want to place an order, check their loyalty points, get special offers, connect with us on social media and more, our customers can now do it all from wherever they are. And for a limited time, they can enjoy a delicious Pizza Boli's cheese pizza for free by downloading the app!" For more information, visit www.pizzabolis.com. About Pizza Boli's For more than 30 years, Pizza Boli's has been delivering award-winning dishes to an enthusiastic fan base. With over 75 stores in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, Pizza Boli's provides diverse menus for dining, delivery and catering. Related Links http://www.pizzabolis.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pizza-bolis-delivers-more-convenience-value--fun-with-new-mobile-app-300635504.html SOURCE Pizza Boli's [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Magento Commerce and DHL Partner to Enhance Merchant and Buyer Experiences LAS VEGAS, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Magento Commerce, the worldwide leader in cloud digital commerce innovation, today announced industry-leading Deutsche Post DHL Group as a Premier Partner. The Premier-level partnership recognizes best-in-class technology solutions that help drive commerce innovation. Together, Magento Commerce and DHL will work to provide merchants with the progressive and flexible shipping options they need to deliver exceptional, end-to-end customer experiences. Businesses have a tremendous opportunity to increase revenue by offering more shipping choices to customers. However, there is still a large disconnect between what consumers expect and what merchants can deliver. According to a recent study from eConsultancy, 50 percent of abandoned purchases are due to inadequate shipping options. The partnership with DHL will provide merchants with various options for their customers to receive and return, including next day delivery, international shipping, and returns management. Commerce is no longer just about the buy button and our merchants are looking to meet their customers when and wherever they want to engage, buy, and receive their purchases, said Mark Lenhard, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Growth at Magento Commerce. By partnering with DHL, our joint merchants will be able to offer improved customer experiences and grow their business, by providing their customers with the fast, convenient shipping options they expect. As a Premier Partner, DHL will work with Magento Commerce and its global partner etwork on strategic go-to-market strategies to educate and enable merchants on how to enhance their eCommerce shipping programs. In addition, DHL will have the opportunity to share best practices, product innovation, and thought leadership on key challenges that merchants are facing today, including how to increase cross-border shipping. Were particularly excited about the potential of Magento Shipping, and will integrate our most advanced shipping solutions there, said John Pearson, CEO Europe and Global Head of Commercial, DHL Express. Deutsche Post DHL Group has a history of working with leading technology partners like Magento. We will maintain our global leadership position only by innovating and adopting new technologies. Magento Commerce is at the leading edge of ecommerce technology, and DHL is the global logistics leader. Our association is sure to benefit both organizationsmost importantly our ecommerce customers. The announcement was made during the companys 2018 Imagine conference, which brings together more than 3,000 eCommerce experts. The companies plan to integrate the full set of DHL shipping capabilities directly into the Magento Commerce platform. To learn more about how Magento and DHL are driving commerce beyond compromise, visit Magento.com. About Magento Magento is the leading provider of cloud commerce innovation to merchants and brands across B2C and B2B industries, with more than $155 billion in gross merchandise volume transacted on the platform annually. In addition to its flagship digital commerce platform, Magento Commerce boasts a strong portfolio of cloud-based omnichannel solutions that empower merchants to successfully integrate digital and physical shopping experiences. Magento Commerce is the #1 provider to the Internet Retailer Top 1000, the B2B 300 and the Top 500 Guides for Europe and Latin America. Magento Commerce is supported by a vast global network of solution and technology partners, a highly active global developer community and the largest eCommerce marketplace for extensions available for download on the Magento Marketplace. More information can be found at www.magento.com. About Deutsche Post DHL Group Deutsche Post DHL Group is the worlds leading mail and logistics company. The Group connects people and markets and is an enabler of global trade. It aspires to be the first choice for customers, employees and investors worldwide. The Group contributes to the world through responsible business practices, corporate citizenship and environmental activities. By the year 2050, Deutsche Post DHL Group aims to achieve zero emissions logistics. Deutsche Post DHL Group is home to two strong brands: Deutsche Post is Europes leading postal service provider. DHL offers a comprehensive range of international express, freight transport, and supply chain management services, as well as ecommerce logistics solutions. Deutsche Post DHL Group employs approximately 510,000 people in over 220 countries and territories worldwide. The Group generated revenues of more than 60 billion Euros in 2017. More information is available at www.dpdhl.com/en/about_us. Contact Information Cat McCormack magento [at] launchsquad [dot] com 415-625-8555 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Smart Manufacturing Experience 2018 fosters STEM career support through two-day Mars Rover challenge for students BOSTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For students interested in pursuing a career in STEM, the Smart Manufacturing Experience 2018 offers an immersive three-day event that features a hands-on learning experience through its partnership with the SME Education Foundation, Ripple3D, Boston Public Schools, and area universities. The SME Education Foundation inspires, prepares and supports the next generation of manufacturing engineers and technologists through STEM education opportunities. On Tuesday, May 1 and Wednesday, May 2, students ages 16 and older get to test their design skills and learn about the intricacies of manufacturing with Ripple3D's Mars Rover Challenge. "Our student program sheds a new light on manufacturing and the different career pathways available in industry," said Dina Fattom, wokforce development program specialist, SME. "It's a great opportunity for students to understand different product development models, engineering and technology being used in a real-world scenario." In addition, event registration and exhibition access are free for students interested in participating in the challenge and attending the Smart Manufacturing Experience. "Our mission is to expand interest in STEM-based education and employment opportunities," Fattom said. "We want to help students as much as we can and inspire them by connecting them with manufacturers. This event will give them an opportunity to interact with college students, mentors and educators." Three one-hour long Ripple3D Mars Rover Challenges will start at 9:30 a.m. both days. Teams of five students will design, print and build their Mars Rover to learn how wheel size and shape combine with gear train to complete two missions: Mission 1 Carry a payload over Mars rocky terrain Mission 2 Carry a payload over Mars sandy terrain To find out more about the Student Innovation Tour, click here, and to learn more about bringing SME Membership to high schools, click here. Schools that are interested in participating in the student event should contact Dina Fattom at dfattom@sme.com or at 313-920-3254. For more information about the Smart Manufacturing Experience, visit smartmanufacturingexperience.com. About SME SME connects manufacturing professionals, academia and communities, sharing knowledge and resources to build inspired, educated and prosperous manufacturers and enterprises. With more than 85 years of experience and expertise in events, media, membership, training and development, and through an education foundation, SME is committed to promoting manufacturing technology, developing a skilled workforce and attracting future generations to advance manufacturing. Learn more at sme.org, follow @SME_MFG on Twitter or facebook.com/SMEmfg. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smart-manufacturing-experience-2018-fosters-stem-career-support-through-two-day-mars-rover-challenge-for-students-300636336.html SOURCE SME [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] ABI Research's Teardown Service Reveals ZTE's Ill-Attempt to Revolutionize Smartphone User Interface Government Ban on U.S. Components Add to ZTE's Troubles, Including Lack of Google Android Support OYSTER BAY, New York, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ZTE, the fourth largest smartphone vendor in the United States, attempted to create a totally new user experience with its Axon M smartphone. The Axon M features dual-folding screens and a fingerprint sensor on the side of the smartphone. Both features aim to provide the largest screen possible without distractions. ZTE's attempt via the Axon M represents one of the very few to provide a tablet-like screen experience without growing the phone proportionately in a mass-produced smartphone. The innovation could be hampered though since this month the U.S. government banned American firms from exporting components directly to ZTE or through a third party for seven years, announced the Teardowns service of ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies. The ban was implemented because ZTE allegedly shipped telecom equipment to Iran and North Korea. ZTE's approach is to provide two full HD resolution (1920x1080) screens: one on the front and one on the back of the smartphone. The rear display is supported by strong hinges that allow it to fold out to reside side-by-side with the front display. "The double sized screen and placement of the fingerprint sensor on the side of the smartphone could have provided a very exceptional experience, but ZTE did not fully capitalize on its creativity," said Jim Mielke, Vice President of ABI Research's Teardown service. "Once again we were disappointed to see a total of more than an inch of borders at the top and the bottom of the of each display that had minimal functionality. ZTE did not follow the trend of making the Axon M borderless," Mielke added. Of the entire 16-centimeter (6.4"), only 13 centimeters (5.2") is actual display. The Axon M also shares other another downfall inherent with a dual display: the power draw is more than twice as much when both displays are active (2500mW vs 1000mW). "A second version of the Axon M could have been very interesting if ZTE worked on just a few of the shortcomings of the first," Mielke added. But the U.S. sanctions will prohibit a quick release of a second version. Although the display itself is not from the United States, the protective glass (Corning Gorilla Glass 5) and 60% of the other electronics are sourced from U.S. companies: Qualcomm, SanDisk, and Skyworks Solutions. "The ban on Qualcomm chips is not great for ZTE's supply chain, but since ZTE also uses MediaTek and Spreadtrum Communications chipsets in its smartphone portfolio, it may not be too problematic," said David McQueen, Research Director for Handsets and Devices at ABI Research. "The most crucial aspect of the ban may be ZTE not being allowed to use Qualcomm, Qorvo, Skyworks, or Avago Technologies for front-end components as well as Google and therefore Android for the operating system. ZTE could start to use the Android Open Source Platform instead as some of its Chinese counterparts do already, namely OPPO, Vivo Communication Technology and Xiaomi. But this change will undoubtedly affect its ability to hold on to its U.S. market share, particularly on a platform that generally won't support Google's services," McQueen adds. There were 1.46 billion total global smartphone shipments for 2017. Of those, ZTE shipped 42.8 million. "ZTE will have difficulty reaching that same number during the next seven years," concluded McQueen. For a detailed analysis of the ZTE Axon M teardown, visit https://teardowns.abiresearch.com/teardowns/pe_zteteardown-axon-m-z999-64/#features. ABI Research's Teardowns reports feature ultra-high-resolution imaging, pinpoint power measurements, detailed parts list with fully costed BOMs (bill of materials), block diagrams and x-rays. ABI Research performs the highest resolution imagery in the teardown industry, providing unprecedented competitive analysis on components, cost, and chip system functionality. About ABI Research ABI Research provides strategic guidance for visionaries needing market foresight on the most compelling transformative technologies, which reshape workforces, identify holes in a market, create new business models and drive new revenue streams. ABI's own research visionaries take stances early on those technologies, publishing groundbreaking studies often years ahead of other technology advisory firms. ABI analysts deliver their conclusions and recommendations in easily and quickly absorbed formats to ensure proper context. Our analysts strategically guide visionaries to take action now and inspire their business to realize a bigger picture. For more information about ABI Research's forecasting, consulting and teardown services, visionaries can contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific or visit www.abiresearch.com. Contact Info: Global Deborah Petrara Christopher Leary Tel: +1.516.624.2558 Tel: +1.516.624.2544 pr@abiresearch.com pr@abiresearch.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/682258/ABI_Research_Axon_Teardown.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/276887/abi_research_logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] LiveWorld Appoints Seasoned Healthcare and Venture Capital Professionals to Board of Directors LiveWorld, Inc. (OTC Markets: LVWD), the leading social customer experience company announced today the addition of Arthur A. Ushijima, CEO and President of The Queen's Health Systems (Queen's), Michael A. Gold, former CEO and President of Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA), and Barry Weinman, Co-founder and former Managing Director of Allegis Capital and AVI Group, to its Board of Directors. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425006300/en/ Arthur A. Ushijima (Photo: Business Wire) The newest members of LiveWorld's Board of Directors bolster the company's expanding business of consulting services (strategy, adverse events management, moderation, engagement), and conversation management software in the healthcare and pharma markets. LiveWorld's pharma and healthcare business grew 20%/year over 2016 and 2017. LiveWorld will further expand its suite of marketing, customer service, and operational solutions to help healthcare providers improve the patient experience by having a more engaging presence in social media, messaging apps, and on mobile devices. "We welcome the insights and experience from Arthur, Michael, and Barry, as LiveWorld sharpens our focus on using 1to1 real-time conversations to improve the patient journey," said Peter Friedman, Chairman and CEO, LiveWorld. "Their deep expertise in strategic business management, health services, and technology will strengthen our ability to innovate new solutions, enter new markets, and increase revenue." Ushijima is a healthcare executive with more than 40 years of experience managing and leading hospitals and health systems in five different states. For the past 28 years, he has been with The Queen's Medical Center, which is the parent corporation for more than 10 healthcare and real estate companies. In addition to serving as a member of Queen's internal boards, he serves on a start-up board, Kineticor, which is commercializing a novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) motion-correction technology developed by the University of Hawaii and Queen's. Ushijima also established a novel position emission tomography (PET) joint venture with Hamamatsu Photonics of Japan, which brought the first PET scanner to Hawaii twenty years ago. He serves on the joint venture management committee. His past corporate board service includes Vizient, Inc. (formerly VHA, Inc.), which is the nation's largest group purchaing organization with more than 60 billion dollars in medical supply and equipment spend, representing more than 2,000 hospitals. He has served on the boards of numerous charitable organizations and trade associations. Also, Ushijima was recognized as Pacific Business News Leader of the Year in 2013 and Hawaii Business Magazine's CEO of the Year in 2014. "It's an honor to work with LiveWorld to deploy conversation engagement programs that will maximize the efficiency of communication in hospitals," says Ushijima. "Hospitals utilizing an effective messaging channel that integrates human agents and automation provides an invaluable resource that will greatly enrich the patient experience." Michael A. Gold was the CEO and President of HMSA until he retired at the conclusion of 2017. During his 43-year career at HMSA, he also served at the Chief Operating Officer and its Executive Vice President and Assistant Treasurer. Throughout his illustrious career working for HMSA, he gained extensive knowledge in underwriting, marketing, provider services, customer relations, account services, community relations, and corporate planning. Gold is recognized as a visionary whose new ideas and practices have improved the health and well-being of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association members and everyone in Hawaii. Those accomplishments during his tenure include: creating HMSA's Online Care, the first telehealth system in the nation offered by a health insurer, introducing Blue Zones Project to Hawaii, a communitywide initiative to help make the healthy choice the easy choice for everyone in the state, partnering with digital health care leaders to put all of a person's health on a single digital platform, and establishing HMSA Centers, state-of-the-art spaces that bring HMSA into communities and closer to members for servicing, sales, and educational programs. Further, Gold formed strategic partnerships with Hawaii Pacific Health and The Queen's Health Systems to improve the health of HMSA members and all patients. Also, he was integral in leading the forward-thinking implementation of payment transformation, which worked with Hawaii doctors and national health care leaders to transform insurance payments, reimbursing doctors for improving their patients' overall physical, mental, and emotional health. HMSA grew to more than 732,000 members under the leadership of Gold as CEO, and was named Hawaii's top company in 2015 and 2016 by Hawaii Business magazine. "I'm excited to be a part of LiveWorld's board and work with a company that's developing health care solutions that will enhance the patient experience," stated Gold. "As a company specializing in conversational engagement programs, their platform will modernize the way payers can support and scale healthcare delivery to consumers and how businesses communicate with individuals." Weinman joins LiveWorld as a Silicon Valley staple for venture capital investments. He serves as a board member and is Chairman of the 2.2-billion-dollar endowment of The Queen's Health System. He is also a board member for TruTags, a company focused on brand-protection and fraud detection. Since 1980, he has led and participated in investments resulting in more than 35 billion dollars in market value. Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, he held management positions with AT&T (News - Alert) , IBM, and Fairchild Semiconductor. He also co-founded Interactive Applications Inc., the first online manufacturing software and services company. Weinman is currently Chairman of Kineticor. Further, he joined the University of Hawaii Foundation Board, serving first as Chair of the Endowment Committee and then Chairman of the Board. He was Co-chair of the University of Hawaii Centennial. He previously served on LiveWorld's Board from 1997 through 2014. "I've always respected the accomplishments LiveWorld has achieved for many of the most recognizable brands," stated Weinman. "It's an exciting time to rejoin LiveWorld's board and provide healthcare companies with innovative solutions for social media and messaging apps that can transform how patients engage with caregivers." As leader in social media for over 20 years, and with more than 10 years of experience servicing leading healthcare companies, LiveWorld is committed to expanding conversation management solutions for healthcare and pharma brands with the appointment of its latest board members. For more information, visit www.liveworld.com or schedule a demo by contacting us at hello@liveworld.com. About LiveWorld LiveWorld provides enterprise-class software and services for managing customer conversations in social media and messaging apps, on the web and mobile devices. By blending human engagement and automation, we help companies get closer to their customers to bolster relationships, loyalty, and lifetime value. Our clients include Bank of America, Pfizer, Wells Fargo (News - Alert) , and Zoetis, among others. Visit www.liveworld.com to learn more or contact us at @LiveWorld. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425006300/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Golden Leaf Holdings Appoints Rick Miller to Board of Directors TORONTO, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Golden Leaf Holdings Ltd. (Golden Leaf or the Company) (CSE:GLH) (OTCQB:GLDFF), a leading cannabis oil solutions company built around recognized brands, today announced the appointment of Karl R. Rick Miller, Jr. to the Companys Board of Directors, effective April 17, filling a previously vacated board position. With his addition to the Board, he will join the Audit and Nomination and Compensation Committees. Mr. Miller is a seventh generation Oregonian with a prominent local presence as an entrepreneur, highlighted by his co-founding of Rogue Venture Partners, a private equity firm that provides funding and mentorship to other entrepreneurs in Oregon. He was also a founder and served as chairman of the Avamere Group, one of the Northwest's largest senior care and housing providers. Mr. Miller currently serves on the boards of the Oregon Investment Council, Diabetomics, Payless Pharmacy and is Chairman of Portland State University Board of Trustees. Rick is past chairman of the American Health Care Organization, the Oregon Health Care Association and the Portland-based chapter of the Young Presidents Organization. Mr. Miller also previously served as Chairman of the Board at Golden Leaf for approximately 2 months in late 2015, before stepping down due to personal reasons. We are pleased to welcome Rick back to Golden Leafs Board. Rick has been involved with the Company since its early days. His proven expertise as an entrepreneur, mentorship to growing businesses, and affiliations across multiple healthcare-focused organizations make him an ideal fit for our Board," said William Simpson, CEO of Golden Leaf. "We look forward to his contributions, as Golden Leaf looks to leverage its established presence in Portland, Oregon to expand its validated business model into new markets, with an initial focus on Nevada and Canada. Mr. Miller commented, As an early investor in Golden Leaf, I am delighted to rejoin the Board at this exciting time in the Companys history. Golden Leaf is well-positioned to achieve rapid growth as it continues to enhance its retail brand across its target markets. I look forward to working with my fellow directors and utilizing my background in venture capital and private equity, and my passion for helping companies grow to help drive value creation for all of our shareholders. Among multiple honors and awards received, Mr. Miller was recognized in Portland Business Journals Forty Under 40 in 2004 and his company has repeatedly been selected as one of Oregons Most Admired Companies. He was honred as the 2012 Distinguished Graduate Alumnus by the PSU School of Business Administration, and he and his wife, Erika, are recent recipients of the Simon Benson Award for philanthropy. To be added to the distribution list please email GLH@kcsa.com with GLH in the subject line. About Golden Leaf Holdings Golden Leaf Holdings Ltd., a Canadian company with operations in multiple jurisdictions including Oregon, Nevada and Canada, is one of the largest cannabis oil and solution providers in North America, and a leading cannabis products company built around recognized brands. Golden Leaf cultivates, extracts and manufactures and distributes its products through its branded Chalice Farm retail dispensaries, as well as through third party dispensaries. Golden Leaf leverages a strong management team with cannabis and food industry experience to complement its expertise in extracting, refining and selling cannabis oil. Visit goldenleafholdings.com to learn more. Investor Relations: Steve Silver / Phil Carlson KCSA Strategic Communications GLH@kcsa.com 212-896-1220 / 212-896-1233 Media Relations: Anne Donohoe / Nick Opich KCSA Strategic Communications adonohoe@kcsa.com / nopich@kcsa.com 212-896-1265 / 212-896-1206 Company: William Simpson Chief Executive Officer Golden Leaf Holdings Ltd. 503-477-7626 William@chalicefarms.com Disclaimer: This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Companys future business operations, the establishment of, and the future scope and scale of, the Chalice Farms retail system, the level of funding needed to establish the Chalice Farms franchise model, that the Chalice Farms franchise model will be successful and generate positive cash flows, the opinions or beliefs of management and future business goals. Generally, forward looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to general business, economic and competitive uncertainties, regulatory risks including risks related to the expected timing of the Companys participation in the adult use market, market risks, risks inherent in manufacturing operations, difficulties of establishing a successful franchise model and other risks of the cannabis industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. Forward-looking information is provided herein for the purpose of presenting information about managements current expectations relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purpose. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. This press release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States, and such securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration or an exemption from registration. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Kinderhook Bank Corp. Reports Earnings for First Quarter 2018 Kinderhook Bank Corp. ("KBC"), (OTCQB:NUBK), the holding company for The National Union Bank of Kinderhook (the "Bank"), announced results for the three months ended March 31, 2018. For full financial details, click here. Net income available to common shareholders was $1.3 million, or $0.93 (diluted) per common share, for the three months ended March 31, 2018, compared with $0.2 million, or $0.33 (diluted) per common share, for the three months ended March 31, 2017. Results for the first three months of 2018 included an after-tax gain on loan sales of $248 thousand or $0.17 per share (diluted). Results for the first three months of 2017 included an after-tax charge of $243 thousand or $0.23 per share (diluted) of one-time merger and transactions costs related to the Bank's acquisition of Patriot (News - Alert) Federal Bank which was completed on November 10, 2017. Total assets at March 31, 2018 were $19 million compared to $467 million at March 31, 2017. KBC and Bank President and Chief Executive Officer, John A. Balli, stated, "This is the first full quarter since our November 2017 acquisition of Patriot Federal Bank and we are very pleased with the successful integration and positive impact on our financial results. We have grown significantly in the last year and we warmly welcome our new customers and shareholders." Balli continued, "We had a terrific first quarter 2018 and the entire team is excited about providing stellar Kinderhook Bank service to our expanded customer base." In operation since 1853, Kinderhook Bank's main office is located in Kinderhook with branches in Albany, Amsterdam, Canajoharie, Chatham, Delmar, East Greenbush, Greenport, Johnstown, Latham, and Valatie NY. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain statements relating to future results of KBC's and the Bank's future results that are considered "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the beliefs and expectations of management as well as the assumptions and estimates made by managing using information currently available to management. Since these statements reflect the views of management concerning future events, these statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including among others: changes in market interest rates and general and regional economic conditions; changes in laws and regulations; changes in accounting principles; and the quality or composition of the loan and investment portfolios, technological changes and cybersecurity matters, and other factors. Forward-looking statements made by KBC in this news release speak only as of the date they are made. Events or other facts that could cause KBC's actual results to differ may arise from time to time and KBC cannot predict all such events and factors. KBC undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement unless as may be required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180425006640/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] CI Top Broker Feature: Surex Direct Spearheads AI & Machine Learning Charge MAGRATH, Alberta, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Surex Direct, Canada's fastest growing online insurance brokerage, continues to propel the artificial intelligence and machine learning movement from a broker's perspective as evident by their latest feature in CI Top Broker magazine. Already incorporating AI to automate and optimize billing processes, Surex Direct is focused on researching and developing AI and machine learning processes in-house. ''We take pride in being a trailblazer in the online insurance space,'' Lance Miller, CEO of Surex Direct, said. ''By developing our technology in-house, we're able to tailor products specifically for our customers' long-term benefit.'' Aside from the development and deployment of AI, Surex Direct plans to license products, allowing other brokerages to increase their efficiencies. ''We're fully nvested in the AI and machine learning movement,'' Matthew Alston, COO of Surex Direct, said. ''The insurance industry is evolving. We look forward to creating strategic partnerships with fellow brokers who want to benefit from a more digital presence.'' Surex Direct hired Dr. Eric Chalmers in the fall of 2017 to serve as the company's director of data science. Improving efficiencies in the billing department is just the beginning. In Q2 or Q3 2019, Surex Direct will introduce ''Pulse'', an AI solution that will be the most advanced way to monitor your insurance premiums. ''AI can be used to address many problems shared by players in the industry,'' Chalmers, said. ''We are working towards higher efficiency and better decision-making processes, and are looking forward to sharing what we have learned.'' About Surex Direct Since inception in 2012, Surex Direct's book of business has grown to over $50 million in annual insurance premiums. Working with 10+ partner carriers, Surex Direct offers personal lines insurance in six provinces and two territories. Awards Placed 4th on the 2018 Top 10 Brokerages in Canada list, by Insurance Business (placed 5th in 2017) Placed 30th on the 2016 Startup 50 Canada list, by Canadian Business & PROFIT Media contact: Jamey Holt jholt@surexdirect.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ci-top-broker-feature-surex-direct-spearheads-ai--machine-learning-charge-300636650.html SOURCE Surex Direct [April 25, 2018] Audio Precision Engineers Contribute to "The Power of Sound," Deliver Trio of Presentations at AES-Milan BEAVERTON, Ore., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Audio Precision, a recognized standard in audio test, previewed today its planned contributions to the 144th International AES Convention next month in Italy. Themed "The Power of Sound," AES Milan will bring together audio professionals and advanced audio technologies from around the world for four days of audio immersion, experiences and networking. In addition to the three technical presentations, AP will exhibit in stand 213 with their partner in Italy, AudioLink S.r.l. Speech Intelligibility Delivered as part of the Audio Quality session track (P02), AP's first paper, "An Auditory Model-inspired Objective Speech Intelligibility Estimate for Audio Systems," is scheduled for Wednesday, May 23. The paper presents the implementation of a new algorithm for objective speech intelligibility, based on the modified rhyme test using real speech. Chirp-Based Measurements On Thursday, May 24, AP's second presentation, "The Evolution of Chirp-based Measurement Techniques," will be part of the Measuement Poster Session (P11). This session describes how these signals have been used in measuring audio systems, describes the current state of the art, and clarifies the theoretical foundations and limitations of this useful measurement technique. Smart Speaker Testing The AP engineering team will wrap up their contributions to the AES Milan technical program with "The Anatomy, Physiology, and Diagnostics of Smart Audio Devices," an Engineering Brief (EB03) on Friday, May 25. The discussion explores the audio subsystems and pathways found in smart speakers and suggests ways to test and validate their functionality and performance. The 144th International AES Convention runs May 23-26 in Milan, Italy. Visit http://www.aes.org/events/144/ for details. About Audio Precision Audio Precision (AP) is a recognized world leader in electronic audio and electro-acoustic test instrumentation. Since 1984, AP's analyzers have helped engineers to design and manufacture innovative solutions ranging from semiconductor devices to consumer, automotive, and professional audio products. For more information, visit http://www.ap.com/. Contact Eric Hodges +1 503 805 0053 erichodges@ap.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/audio-precision-engineers-contribute-to-the-power-of-sound-deliver-trio-of-presentations-at-aes-milan-300636499.html SOURCE Audio Precision [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Ziyen Inc. CEO Alastair Caithness Discusses Novel Approach to Drive Down US Oil Production Costs on ESPN's BISTalk Radio Show SAN DIEGO, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alastair Caithness, Ziyen Inc. CEO was recently invited to ESPNs BISTalk Radio to discuss Ziyen Inc. and the companys ambitious and aggressive business plan along with the practical considerations for oil production while assessing the potential for energy sustainability. During the interview, Alastair Caithness discussed his deep connections and experience in the oil and gas industry in Aberdeen, Scotland. Mr. Caithness commentary focused on how Ziyen formed and, importantly, the recent, fortuitous events that led to the opportunity to enter the burgeoning market of acquiring domestic oil leases. With Ziyen Inc.s total of 11 oil acquisitions and the help of Shane Fraser, Director of Oil Intelligence, Alastair Caithness announced the Ziyen Advantage concept during the interview. Once an oil well goes into production, one of the biggest costs outside unplanned maintenance is the electricity required to power the motor for the pump jack. Ziyen Energys new strategy involves using renewable energy infrastructure to create our own electricity to initially drive down oil and gas production costs with the long term goal of generating power back onto the grid with the launch and development of a new inverter technology. Podcast of the Radio Show - BISTalk Radio - ESPN1700 Facebook Live recording - BISTalk Radio - ESPN1700 Alastair Caithness, CEO, said, BISTalk Radio with host, Bob Ryan, and co-hosts Sandra Montana Smit and Aaron Cannata provided an excellent platform to not only showcase Ziyen and the direction he company is taking, but equally importantly we discussed some of the key points into our history and upcoming value inflection points. For information on investing in Ziyen, please visit the company website at www.ziyen.com, or for a copy of the latest company overview, please email support@ziyen.com About Ziyen Inc. Founded in 2016, Ziyen Inc. is a Scottish-American company focused on delivering 100% Energy Independence to the USA. Initially launched as a software company providing information on oil and gas related procurement contracts, Ziyen Inc. diversified in 2017, instating Ziyen Energy Division with intent to produce oil in the U.S. with advanced extraction methods and technology implemented and guided by career experts in the oil and gas industry. In 2017 Ziyen acquired the mineral rights to its first oil field in Indiana, and now has eleven oil assets. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently qualified Ziyen Inc. in November 2017 for our second round of funding, with a pre-IPO share price of $1.50. More information may be found in its Offering Circular filed with the SEC, or on their website www.ziyen.com. Forward Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements related to anticipated commencement of commercial production, targeted pricing, performance goals, and statements that otherwise relate to future periods are forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, which are described in more detail in the Company's periodic reports filed with the SEC- specifically the most recent reports which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made and based on information available to the company on the date of this press release. Ziyen Inc. assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release. Contact: Josh Berg Berg Capital Markets josh@bergcapitalmarkets.com Dean Holter, Esq. Berg Capital Markets dean@bergcapitalmarkets.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Dyadic International to Announce First Quarter 2018 Financial Results and Host Conference Call on Thursday May 10, 2018 JUPITER, Fla., April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dyadic International, Inc. (Dyadic) (OTCQX:DYAI), a global biotechnology company focused on further improving and applying its proprietary C1 expression system to help speed up the development and production of biologic vaccines and drugs at flexible commercial scales, announced today that it will report its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 after the market close on Thursday, May 10, 2018 and that it will host a conference call that day at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss those results. In order to participate in the live session, please use the following dial-in numbers five to ten minutes prior to the start time: Calling from the United States or Canada: 800-839-7875 Calling from other countries: + 719-325- 4891 Confirmation Code: 7239777 A replay of the conference call will be available on Dyadics website (www.dyadic.com) within 24 hours after the live event. About Dyadic International, Inc. Dyadic International, Inc. is a global biotechnology company which is developing what it believes will be a potentially significant biopharmaceutical gene expression platform based on the fungus Myceliophthora thermophila, named C1. The C1 microorganism, which enables the development and large scale manufacture of low cost proteins, has the potential to be further developed into a safe and efficient expression system that may help speed up the development, lower production costs and improve the performance of biologic vaccines and drugs at flexible commercial scales. Dyadic is using the C1 technology and other technologies to conduct research, development and commercial activities for the development and manufacturing of human and animal vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, biosimilars an/or biobetters, and other therapeutic proteins. Dyadic pursues research and development collaborations, licensing arrangements and other commercial opportunities with its partners and collaborators to leverage the value and benefits of these technologies in development and manufacture of biopharmaceuticals. In particular, as the aging population grows in developed and undeveloped countries, Dyadic believes the C1 technology may help bring biologic drugs to market faster, in greater volumes, at lower cost, and with new properties to drug developers and manufacturers and, hopefully, improve access and cost to patients and the healthcare system, but most importantly save lives. Please visit Dyadics website at www.dyadic.com for additional information, including details regarding Dyadics plans for its biopharmaceutical business. Dyadic trades on the OTCQX tier of the OTC marketplace. Investors can find real-time quotes, market information and financial reports for Dyadic in the Companys annual and quarterly reports which are filed with the OTC markets. Please visit the OTC markets website at www.otcmarkets.com/stock/DYAI/quote. Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, which are often indicated by terms such as anticipate, believe, could, estimate, expect, goal, intend, look forward to, may, plan, potential, predict, project, should, will, would and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on managements beliefs and assumptions and on information available to management only as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause Dyadics actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Dyadic expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, any changes in expectations or any change in events. Factors that could cause results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: (1) general economic, political and market conditions; (2) our ability to carry out and implement our biopharmaceutical research and business plans and strategic initiatives; (3) our ability to retain and attract employees, consultants, directors and advisors; (4) our ability to implement and successfully carry out Dyadics and third parties research and development efforts; (5) our ability to obtain new license and research agreements; (6) our ability to maintain our existing access to, and/or expand access to third party contract research organizations in order to carry out our research projects for ourselves and third parties; (7) competitive pressures and reliance on key customers and collaborators; and (8) other factors discussed in Dyadics publicly available filings, including information set forth under the caption Risk Factors in our December 31, 2017 Annual Report filed with the OTC Markets on March 27, 2018. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect us. Contact: Dyadic International, Inc. Mark A. Emalfarb Chief Executive Officer Phone: 561-743-8333 Email: memalfarb@dyadic.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 25, 2018] Conduent Announces Agreement to Sell Off-Street Parking Business FLORHAM PARK, N.J., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Conduent Incorporated (NYSE: CNDT) today announced it has entered into a binding agreement to sell its off-street parking business, including the Conduent Multipark System in France and the U.K., along with its U.S. airport parking business, to Andera Partners, an investment firm in France. These businesses, which generate approximately $43 million in revenue are part of the announced Conduent plan to divest up to $500 million in revenue in 2018 associated with non-core assets across the company. "Our off-street parking business primarily provides highly customized products and solutions for local clients. As part of our re-positioning as a technology platform-based digital interactions company, we are selling this business so we can focus on our large enterprise and government customers," said David Amoriell, president, Conduent. "This business decision is consistent with our goal to remain focused on our core business and primary transportation offerings." The transaction, which i subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the coming months. About Conduent Conduent is the world's largest provider of diversified business services with leading capabilities in transaction processing, automation and analytics. The company's global workforce is dedicated to helping its large and diverse client base deliver quality services to the people they serve. These clients include a majority of the Fortune 100 companies and over 500 government entities. Conduent's differentiated offerings touch millions of lives every day, including two-thirds of all insured patients in the U.S. and nearly nine million people who travel through toll systems daily. Whether it's digital payments, claims processing, benefit administration, automated tolling, customer care or distributed learning Conduent manages and modernizes these interactions to create value for both its clients and their constituents. Learn more at www.conduent.com. Note: To receive RSS news feeds, visit www.news.conduent.com. For open commentary, industry perspectives and views, visit http://twitter.com/Conduent, http://www.linkedin.com/company/conduent or http://www.facebook.com/Conduent. Conduent is a trademark of Conduent Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/conduent-announces-agreement-to-sell-off-street-parking-business-300636710.html SOURCE Conduent Incorporated Clay Chastain: KC's government files Act of War against petitions from the people. The City has filed a Motion to Dismiss (Case No. 1816-CV06058) a complaint filed against it by Clay Chastain and the Committee of Petitioners. This historic complaint seeks to hold the government accountable for hi-jacking a valid transit petition from the people (that proposed building Kansas City a new citywide multimodal "Rapid Rail / Electric Bus / Bike way public transportation system ((August 2017 election)) and distorting it into a self-serving plan to expand the City's controversially - enacted and archaic - operating streetcar system.Here is the baseless arrogant signature line from City Hall's 'Motion to Dismiss" filed last week,In other words, valid petitions from the people, that challenge Kansas City's government, will mean what Kansas City's Government wants them to mean... (1) The petition is "unworkable" says KC's Government which then used its "discretion" to overturn a light rail petition election in 2007;(2) The petition is "facially unconstitutional" says KC's Government which then used its "discretion" to tie a light rail petition up in court for 3.5 years. (2011 to 2014);(3) The petition is "illegal and can be repealed, if approved by voters," says KC's Government which then used its "discretion," and that public and legally unsubstantiated proclamation, to undermine the petition question right before the 2015 light rail election;(4) The petition does not really mean building Kansas City a "Rapid Rail / Electric Bus / Bike way" public transportation system says KC's Government which then used its "discretion" to exploit the petition by replacing it on the ballot with the City's own vague misleading plan to expand its streetcar system. (August 2017 petition election).Long ago the voters of Kansas City empowered themselves to legislate directly by approving a charter which enabled voters to take their petition question directly to the voters. But Kansas City's dictatorial-acting government has now interfered with and corrupted that democratic ideal by arbitrarily and unilaterailly alleging that any petition question must first pass through the City's prejudicial and discretionary filter.Since Kansas City's local print media (the Kansas City Star, the KCBJ, the Pitch and The Call, etc.) seem unconcerned ( absence of coverage) about this takeover of the people's democratic petition process by Kansas City's Government, it is time to alert the national news media to the democratic carnage going on in Kansas City.Clay Chastain...leading member and official spokesperson for the 2017 Committee of Petitioners.###############Developing . . . Fact Meter: Kobach falsely blames Kansas counties for his contempt finding Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says a federal judge's contempt of court finding against his office is "ridiculous" and blames county-level operations for their failure to follow instructions.But in breaking his silence on the topic, Kobach fails to mention his own shortcomings.U.S. Call it trickle-down leadershipcalling out local bureaucracy. Here's the newsie hot take: "The Topeka Capital-Journals Fact Meter finds this statement to be false. Testimony from Kobachs elections director, Bryan Caskey, makes it clear the office didnt attempt to comply with the postcards order until after the contempt hearing."Read more: Kansas City Crash Sites Your chances of getting a traffic ticket in Kansas City are increasing Your chances of getting a traffic ticket in Kansas City are increasing. Kansas City, Missouri police are stepping up traffic enforcement, and they're doing it by issuing more tickets. 2017 was a deadly year on Kansas City's streets. 99 people died in vehicle crashes. MLK Talk & More Later MLK advisory board discusses renaming options, including The Paseo About 40 people attended the first public hearing of Kansas City's Martin Luther King advisory group. The panel was assembled after some people suggested it would be a good idea to rename The Paseo after the civil rights leader. Local Life Lessons Herald returns to KC's Notre Dame de Sion School as its president - Kansas City Business Journal Alicia Herald has found a new match for her career. As the CEO and founder of myEDmatch LLC, she ran a startup that created a platform that pairs teachers and schools based on their compatibility, saving schools on teacher attrition costs. Now, she's returning to her own high school to serve as its president. Meth Town Burnout Aftermath Independence family loses everything in house fire just one day after insurance expires INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- An Independence family lost everything in a fire, only to discover their insurance policy expired the day before. In fact, they were trying to come up with the money needed to renew it after premiums went up. Now, they struggling through a hard-learned lesson. "It was unbelievable. TKC Reader Suggestion: Uranus Stinks!!! Uranus' clouds smell like rotten eggs, says Oxford researcher We might not know a lot about Uranus, but now, thanks to scientific research, we know it smells like rotten eggs. According to Patrick Irwin from the University of Oxford, Uranus contains hydrogen sulfide, which has an odiferous gas smell. City Hall Hobo Kindness KC Council approves allocation for indigent care Samuel U. Rodgers has been allocated $927,030 for indigent care by the City of Kansas City during the next fiscal year, while the Kansas City CARE Clinic will receive $538,660 for the same purpose. The funds are part of a nearly $31 million budget to cover primary health care services for uninsured individuals in Kansas City, Missouri. Warm Welcome To Defeat LoCain returns to Kansas City, helps lift Brewers over Royals 5-2 KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Lorenzo Cain spent seven seasons with the Kansas City Royals, winning two American League pennants and a World Series title while growing accustomed to the cheers of their adoring fans. The jersey has changed. That love for Cain has not. This reality TV star hottie proves that we can all clean-up the planet and our industry . . .Her latestprove that she takes the fashion game seriously . . .Closer to home we check these morning news links that are also worth a peek:is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now . . . KANSAS CITY INSIDERS TELL TKC THAT CITY HALL IS PREPARED TO PAY THE KING FAMILY LICENSING BIZ BIG BUCKS BUT DOESN'T WANT PUBLIC DEBATE REGARDING THE BUDGET!!! "I think we all know this could be a valuable step forward for Kansas City no matter how we choose to honor Dr. King's legacy. Taxpayers would gladly fund any reasonable cost. But City Hall hopes to present the bill as a lump sum rather than an itemized list that will show a good chunk of taxpayer funding spent on very expensive licensing fees that have proven controversial." "The builders of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial at the National Mall had to pay $761,160 for the right to use King's words and images, according to financial documents obtained by the Associated Press. The money went to Intellectual Properties Management Inc. a foundation controlled by King's youngest son, Dexter. Another $71,000 was paid out in a "management fee" to the family estate back in 2003." "Dodge (owned by Chrysler) used a recording of a Martin Luther King Jr. speech in a controversial Super Bowl ad on Sunday. It kicked up quite a lot of controversy -- even though his speeches have been used to sell other things in the past, including both cars and mobile phones." "Critics, including civil rights icon Julian Bond, bristle over the fact that I Have a Dream is kept under strict watch in the name of controlling Kings image at the same time its licensed by rich companies for use in TV commercials, including a 2010 Mercedes-Benz spot, an Alcatel ad, and a particularly galling 2001 Cingular Wireless campaign that also included quotes from Kermit the Frog and Homer Simpson." CITY HALL INSIDERS ESTIMATE THAT LICENSING KANSAS CITY TRIBUTE TO MLK COULD COST AROUND $100K TO START ALONG WITH ANNUAL BILLING TO RENEW PERMISSIONS!!! Recent talk of renaming The Paseo Blvd or finding another venue to honor the legacy of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. has heretofore ignored the sordid topic of coin. In the latestthe question of payment to the lucrative licensing business run by the King family was purposely neglected.To wit . . .Here's the word . . .Accordingly, here's are a few highlights of the high price of using MLK's words and images . . . Thankfully, this photo was taken by the Marines and is free from copyright claims:But I digress . . .A monument might be too rich for Kansas City . . .has pushed fees higher and raised objections at this year's big game . . .Any quote from Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" Speech is likely too expensive for KCMO public tribute:And so . . .Thing of it is, the Revs and politicos already know that honoring MLK comes with a hefty price tag but shy away from talking about costs with MSM.Many proponents of the street naming proposal actually considered copyright and licensing fees and- That's not that case and other municipalities already have payed the King family big bucks for their own memorials.Either way, right now the behind the scenes consideration of local MLK tribute hopes to quiet discussion of a City Hall funding mechanism for a proposed name change or any other local, taxpayer funded MLK memorial.Developing . . . LOS ANGELES, CA To celebrate the long-anticipated opening on April 18 of the newly reinstalled galleries for its antiquities collection at the Getty Villa, an elegant grand reception took place the day before at the Villa groundsfor more than 700 guests. It was one of the premier events of the Los Angeles spring cultural season. The reinstallation of the Villa presents the antiquities collections in a historical sequence that allows visitors to follow the evolution of Greek and Roman art over some 6000 years said Getty Museum Director Timothy Potts. The new installation features an increase of 3,000 square feet in gallery space from the repurposing of underutilized areas. The reinstallation also brought an upgraded lighting system, display cases for many of the objects as well as digital tools to facilitate close inspection of coins, gems, and other small items. I am particularly pleased that the process of planning this reinstallation has led to identifying objects in storage that could be placed on view after many years, or in some cases for the very first time, Potts added. One of those objects is a group of newly-conserved first century frescoes from the Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus at Boscoreale, near Pompei that is now housed in a dedicated gallery. A major highlight of the reinstallation is a newly renovated gallery on the first floor dedicated to the age of Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic world (336-30BC). The centerpiece is The Victorious Youth (Getty Bronze) that can be better appreciated now in the company of other objects of the same style and period including a marble Head of Alexander the Great and luxurious silver vessels and gold jewelry. The statue of Hercules that is displayed in a grandiose style, was one of J. Paul Gettys most prized possessions and it was a great motivator for Getty to build a museum in the style of an ancient Roma villa. The sculpture was unearthed in 1790 near the villa of Roman emperor Hadrian. The statue of Leda and the Swan which is displayed near the statue of Hercules shows God Jupiter who has disguised himself as a swan in order to seduce Leda the mortal Queen of Sparta. Their mythical affair produced Helen whose abduction by Paris led to the Trojan War. This is the Roman version of an earlier Greek statue of Leda and was discovered in 1775 on the Palatine Hill in Rome. The new exhibit Plato in LA: Contemporary Artists Visions is highly imaginative and it is a conceptual marriage of the Greek philosophers fundamental principles and ideas with the city of Los Angeles as a laboratory of existential and institutional experimentation. Some of todays most famous artists, such as Paul Chan, Rachel Harrison, Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, Adrian Piper and Michelangelo Pistoletto, have created original art just for this exhibit that is a collection of sculptures, paintings, drawings and large-scale installations. Highlight of the Plato exhibition The Museum of Modern Art in New York lent to the Plato exhibit the most important of Mike Kelleys Plato Cave drawings. A highlight of the Plato exhibition is an original art work created by Koons, whos lifes work estimated to worth close to $1 billion. His aluminum sculpture Play-Doh meant to resemble a pile of its namesake childrens toy, it is created by giant pieces of painted aluminum that are not held together by adhesive, but each piece is perfectly fitted together. Because the cracks had to be done by hand and eye, a tedious and detailed process, it took Koons 20 years to complete. The Palmyra exhibit features some of the citys most uniqueartwork and it pays tribute to the ancient city of Palmyra that was situated in an oasis in the Syrian Desert and flourished between the first and third centuries. Palmyra was at the crossroads of trade routes between the Roman and Pathian Persian empires and the citizens of Palmyra embellished their tombs with distinctive funerary portraits. Even though the Eastern lands that Alexander the Great had conquered gradually shrank back to Syria, the influence of Greek art remained strong in places like Mesopotamia, Persia, Pakistan, and Palmyra. The Roman Empire succeeded Alexanders rein and the influence of Roman art is evident in the Palmyra monuments.The city of Palmyra was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980 but buildings and artifacts that had survived hundreds of years were tragically destroyeddeliberately during the recent Syrian civil war. However we are fortunate that well preserved photographs of the site taken in 1864 by Louis Vignes, a French naval officer who was trained by the renowned photographer Charles Negre have survived and are the earliest photographic record of the Roman ruins. The collection was recently acquired by the Getty Research Institute and is on view at the exhibit for the first time. Another proud acquisition of the J. Paul Getty Museum that will be on display at the Villa exhibit is the Etruscan bronze Applique of the Sun God Usil. The bronze applique that probably decorated an Etruscan chariot or funeral cart is of exceptional quality, representing the peak period of an artistic milieu in which Greek and Italic aesthetics merged to create a distinctively Etruscan style said Potts. The applique represents the solar deity Usil, the equivalent of the Greek God Helios or the Roman God Sol and it is part of a selection of bronze statuettes and reliefs that are a particular strength of the Gettys collection of Etruscan art. Athenian pottery isprominently displayed, a collection of Greek works from Southern Italy and Sicily that includes the amazing terracotta group Orpheus and Sirens. The exhibition will run until September 3. 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: Bobak Ha'Eri License: CC-BY-SA Source: thenationalherald.com ATHENS For centuries people have been coming to Greece for various reasons and unexpectedly fall in love with the country. It happens with villages and islands too. The story of painter Nikolaos A. Houtos love affair with the island of Siphnos was expressed in paintings at a recent exhibition + at the Ersis Gallery in Kolonaki. Despite setting his Alexandria Quartet novels in Egypt, author Lawrence Durrell used his rich palette of words to describe experiences he had in Greece. Henry Millers Colossus of Marousi was another colorful but verbal expression of an artists Greek Passion. Houtos uses paint for Siphnos, as the exhibitions title suggests, his images glow with mainly two colors, ochre, signifying the soil, and the Aegean blue that christens sea and sky. In recent years many Americans, Greeks and non-Greeks, have visited Siphnos, Houtos told The National Herald. My story is rather mythical, he said of the decision to move much of his life to the Island in the middle of the Aegean whose light impacts souls, canvases and photographs alike. Read full story here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Kondephy License: CC-BY-SA Source: thenationalherald.com The tradition of lace-making in the village of Lefkara in Cyprus dates back to at least the fourteenth century and has been passed down from generation to generation On Thursday, April 19, 2018, the Japanese Club Nippon, in cooperation with the Consulate General of Cyprus in New York, successfully organized the exhibition Lefkaritika Laces: From Cyprus, a beautiful island county in the Mediterranean. The Consul General of the Republic of Cyprus in New York, Ambassador Vassilios Philippou, inaugurated the exhibition, that exposed more than 50 Lefkara laces. In his opening remarks, the Consul General of Japan, Ambassador Reiichiro Takahashi, expressed his enthusiasm for the Cypriot handmade Lefkaritika laces and their history. He also gave his promise that he will visit Cyprus very soon. In his speech, Mr Philippou welcomed the attendees and thanked the Nippon Club for organizing the exhibition. He emphasized the tradition of lace-making in the village of Lefkara in Cyprus dates back to at least the fourteenth century and has been passed down from generation to generation. He pointed out that the laces represent an authentic Cypriot culture. According to tradition, in the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci visited Cyprus and took a Lefkara lace back to Italy with him, which today decorates Duomo Cathedral in Milan, Mr Philippou said. In 2009, the Lefkara laces or Lefkaritika are officially inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO, he concluded. The exhibition will be open to the public until April 25, 2018. 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: Cyprus Tourism CH License: CC-BY-SA The events will be showcasing Greeces wine culture to media and trade, and will be focusing on wines with a Protected Designation of Origin In celebration of the increasing popularity of Greek wines in North America, Wines of Greece have announced their annual road show and events schedule. The road show is set to launch events in Canada, with first stop being in Montreal on May 1 and Toronto on May 8, followed by Seattle on May 8, San Francisco on May 10 and New York on May 15. The events will be showcasing Greeces wine culture to media and trade, and will be focusing on wines with a Protected Designation of Origin. Local trade and media in each city will enjoy a Grand Tasting of wines from regions throughout Greece and will showcase different styles of classic varieties plus wines from up and coming Greek grapes. Educational workshops that will explore the next generation of Greek wines with speakers Konstantinos Lazarakis, MW, well-known Sommelier Michael Madrigale, and Enologist, Sofia Perpera, will also be incuded. Greek wine exports to the US on the rise Greek wine exports to the US from 2009-2016 grew by 81.6% in value and 28.4% in volume, according to Eurostat data, and the average price per liter increased 41.3%. Greek wine exports in 2017 rose by 14.8% in value compared to 2016 and 5.5% in volume. We will have a new generation of Greek winemakers present who are crafting world class wines from our classic indigenous and other relatively unknown varieties, while exploring their potential with new styles of wine, single vineyard bottlings and wines with less intervention, notes Sofia Perpera, Director of the Greek Wine Bureau for North America. With the increasing popularity of Greek wine in the U.S., we are always excited to return to New York and San Francisco, and be introduced to the Seattle market for the first time, continues Perpera. Wines of Greece Canada/US Roadshow Schedule of Events Montreal (May 1) Toronto (May 3) Seattle (May 8) Exploring Greek Winethe Next Generation Workshop presented by Konstantinos Lazarakis, MW: 10:30am 11:45am Trade Tasting: 12:30pm 4pm To register for the Wines of Greece Seattle Roadshow, please visit: https://winesofgreecegrandtastingseattle.eventbrite.com San Francisco (May 10) Exploring Greek Winethe Next Generation Workshop presented by Konstantinos Lazarakis, MW: 10:30am 11:45am Trade Tasting: 12:30pm 4pm To register for the Wines of Greece San Francisco Roadshow, please visit: https://winesofgreecesanfrancisco.eventbrite.com New York (May 15) Exploring Greek Wine.. the Next Generation Workshop with Michael Madrigale & Sofia Perpera: 10:30am 11:45am Trade Tasting: 12:30pm 4pm To register for the Wines of Greece New York Roadshow, please visit: https://winesofgreecegrandtastingnyc.eventbrite.com Follow Wines of Greece on Facebook at Facebook.com/NewWinesofGreece and Twitter at @DrinkGreekWine. The hashtag for the event is #WOGRoadshow. About EDOAO (Wines of Greece) Wines of Greece is the national umbrella organization representing the wineries of Greece in their international efforts to introduce, educate and promote the modern revival of the Greek wine sector. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Marcelo Costa License: CC-BY-SA Source: greekreporter.com Bahrains value of imports increased by 15 per cent as it reached BD1.293 billion ($3.43 billion) during first quarter of 2018 compared to BD1.124 billion ($2.98 billion) for the same quarter of the previous year, said a report. The top 10 countries account for 67 per cent of the imports value and the rest other countries, said the foreign trade report by Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) for the first quarter of 2018, which encompasses balance of trade, imports, exports and re-exports (national origin). According to the report, China was ranked as the top exporter to Bahrain with BD160 million ($424.35 million); UAE came second with BD116 million ($307.6 million), whereas Saudi Arabia (KSA) ranked third with BD99 million ($262.56 million). Aluminium oxide emerged as the top product imported to Bahrain with BD60 million ($159.13 million), while the four-wheel drive cars as the second with BD51 million ($135.26 million). Sedan cars came as third products with BD45 million ($119.34 million) during first quarter of 2018. Additionally, the value of the exported national origin decreased by 9 per cent as it reached BD538 million ($1.426 billion) during first quarter of 2018 compared to BD594 million ($1.57 billion) for the same quarter of the previous year. The top 10 countries account for 79 per cent of the exported national origin value and 21 per cent for other countries. Saudi Arabia was ranked as the first country importing from Bahrain with BD145 million ($384.5 million), UAE second with BD67 million ($177.6 million) and US comes third place with BD63 million ($167.08 million). As for national exported products, aluminium wire emerged as the top products exported in the first quarter of 2018 with BD66 million ($175.04 million); agglomerated iron ores and concentrates were positioned second products imported with a value of BD55 million ($145.87 million); and rectangular alloyed aluminium plates stood third place for exported products with BD40 million ($106.08 million). As for re-exported field, the value of re-exports decreased by 10 per cent as it reached BD118 million ($312.9 million) during first quarter of 2018 in comparison to BD131 million ($347.4 million) for the same quarter of the previous year. The top 10 countries account for 91 per cent of the re-exported value and 9 per cent for other countries. Saudi Arabia was ranked as the first country to re-export from Bahrain with BD40 million ($106.08 million), China came in second with BD23 million ($61 million), and UAE came third with BD15 million ($39.78 million). Four-wheel drive cars emerged as the top product re-exported from Bahrain with BD24 million ($63.6 million), cigarettes came in second with BD7 million ($18.56 million), and Sedan cars finished third with BD3 million ($7.95 million). The value of trade balance, difference between exports and imports, increased the deficit reaching BD637 million ($1.689 billion) during first quarter 2018, compared to BD399 million ($1.058 billion) for the same quarter of the previous year with increase of 60 per cent. TradeArabia News Service ABB, a pioneering technology leader, has expressed its support to Egypt's energy hub vision during a meeting of its chief executive officer Dr Ulrich Spiesshofer with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, Egypt. Also present at the at the meeting were Dr Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi, Egypts Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy; Jan Thesleff, Ambassador of Sweden to Egypt; and Naji Jreijiri, ABBs country managing director. Spiesshofer said: I was honoured to discuss the Presidents bold vision for economic and social development. Energy is a pre-requisite for industrialisation and our company is proud to be a partner of Egypt in electrification and automation, he said. We fully support Egypts goal of becoming an energy hub and a centre for export-oriented industrial production, he added. For us, Egypt is our hub for the Near East, North and Central Africa. We have been present here since 1926 and are proud to invest and provide job opportunities for Egyptians, he concluded. ABB is the partner of choice for stronger, smarter and greener power grids globally. The company is also a partner of choice in industrial automation and robotics and motion. In Egypt, ABB employs 1,800 highly skilled employees in its five Egyptian factories; with its local partners, the total number of people employed by the ABB ecosystem is approximately 3,500. ABB has invested more than $200 million in expanding and upgrading its facilities in the last decade. About 20 per cent of ABBs production in Egypt is currently exported; the target is to increase that figure to 25 per cent. ABBs recent landmark projects in Egypt include power stations serving the new Terminal 2 at Cairo airport; the control system for the new Cairo water treatment and filtration plant built by the Construction Authority for Potable Water and Wastewater; a control system for a 280 kV wind farm; and the electrification of important new national buildings like the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Saudi Aramco, a major oil company, recently co-hosted the Governance in Focus forum with the Pearl Initiative at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event was held under the patronage of Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources. Addressing an audience of business leaders, executives, officials and experts, Amin Nasser, president and CEO, Saudi Aramco, said: It is a privilege to be working with the Pearl Initiative in promoting higher corporate governance standards. We have been global from our very beginning more than eight decades ago. International standards of governance have always been an integral part of what we do and how we do things In our efforts to achieve Saudi Vision 2030 and align ourselves with its aspirations, the Kingdoms corporations and entities - regardless of size, now have the opportunity to apply or redefine its set of governance at the highest standards, which is vital for the economic transformation thats currently underway in the kingdom, he added. Nasser emphasised the role of corporate governance in maintaining the highest standards of ethical conduct and promoting commitment to effective oversight, leadership, and reporting. Badr Jafar, founder of the Pearl Initiative and CEO of Crescent Enterprises, said: The forum has brought together multi-stakeholder leaders from across the region and internationally to deliberate some of the most pertinent issues affecting our business environment today. We are honoured to work with Saudi Aramco shine a light on the various important roles that the government, business and philanthropic sectors need to play in creating corporate governance frameworks that support the competitiveness, inclusiveness and sustainability of our regions economies, he said. The forum marks the beginning of the Pearl Initiatives strategic relationship with Saudi Aramco, an invaluable member of our growing network of partner companies from across the gulf region committed to a vision of thriving economies underpinned by a Private Sector that embraces good governance as a pillar of sustainable growth, he added. Saudi Aramco goes above and beyond to fulfil its commitment to its corporate values through corporate governance structures that involves the companys board and leadership team, independent reporting and performance management, and compliance with voluntary and compulsory regulatory standards. From the diverse experience of Saudi Aramcos board members to its regular reporting and independent auditing practices, the companys structured governance process ensures transparency, effective oversight and accountability at all levels of operation. The forums theme was Boosting Competitiveness in a New Business Paradigm and featured prominent speakers, including Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources; Amin Nasser, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco; and Badr Jafar, CEO of Crescent Enterprises and founder of the Pearl Initiative. In addition to speeches, the event featured a number of panel discussions and workshops conducted by high-profile experts. The forum focused on the business case behind corporate governance and how good governance frameworks support the rapidly developing private sector in the GCC region and the overall economic goals. The Pearl Initiative was formed by prominent business leaders from across the GCC in 2010 to create a non-profit vehicle for the private sector to collectively take a lead in adopting higher standards in corporate governance, accountability and transparency. It seeks joint collaborative action among regional and global business leaders, international institutions, government bodies and wider initiatives within the GCC region, exhibiting positive leadership and sharing knowledge and experience in order to influence the entire regional business and student community. TradeArabia News Service As part of its push to grow tourism from the GCC region, the German National Tourist Office (GNTO) - which is participating at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai - recently hosted a special dinner event at the Jumeirah Al Qasr hotel. Marking this years celebration of the asparagus season, the GNTO put out a feast of German delicacies at the Jumeirah Al Qasr hotel The dinner was organised in support of the GNTOs annual Culinary Germany campaign, which was launched this year to promote Destination Germany as one of the worlds best culinary destinations. While the initiative promotes traditional dishes from Germanys different regions, the aim is also to raise awareness for the wide range of international cuisines from all parts of the world available to travellers, and that halal food is served in many restaurants across the country. The GCC is one of the top 20 source markets for Germany and the third largest non-European source market, after China and US. In 2016, Germany ranked top among GCC travellers, even ahead of UK, Turkey and France. Visitor numbers recorded in 2017 further exemplified Germanys attractiveness as a destination of choice for tourists worldwide. - TradeArabia News Service Flydubai announced today that flights to Sulaimaniyah in Iraq will resume from May 10. The carrier now operates to five points in Iraq including Baghdad, Basra, Erbil and Najaf. The decision to relaunch the flights was taken following the Iraqi authorities announcement that the airport reopened in March. Flydubai is the first carrier from the UAE to operate direct flights to the Kurdish city with a twice a week service from its Dubai hub to Sulaimaniyah International Airport. The frequency is set to increase to three times a week from June this summer. Flights FZ205/206 will operate between Dubai International Airport, Terminal 2 and Sulaimaniyah International Airport on Thursdays and Sundays and will be the 92nd destination on the codeshare list with Emirates. Commenting on the recommencement of flights to Sulaimaniyah, Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive officer of flydubai, said: "We are pleased to see the direct air links between the UAE and Sulaimaniyah return after three years of suspension. Flydubai first operated to the Kurdish city in 2010 and we have seen over the years the positive demand from the region. We look forward to further strengthening our network in Iraq, a key market that has been witnessing a rise in investment, trade and tourism. Sulaymaniyah's economy today relies on tourism, agriculture and a rising number of SMEs, most of which are involved in the building trade. The city is also home to the second biggest museum after the national museum in Baghdad, and hosts a number of Kurdish and ancient Persian artefacts dating back to 17921750 BC. Iraq is an important market for flydubai served by 46 weekly flights. Operating from Dubais aviation hub, passengers from Iraq have access to a wide network of destinations in Europe, Asia, India and Russia. Flydubai recently announced the launch of flights to Helsinki in Finland and inaugurated a number of routes including Dubrovnik in Croatia, Krakow in Poland and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The carrier has grown its network to more than 95 destinations in 48 countries, served by a fleet of 61 modern Boeing 737 aircraft. Return fares to Sulaimaniyah from Dubai start from Dh6,500 ($1,769.4) in Business Class and Dh1,500 ($408.3) in Economy class, while return fares to Dubai start from Dh1,500 and Dh370 ($100.7) respectively. - TradeArabia News Service In line with The Ascott's global target of reaching 80,000 units by 2020, the serviced-residence owner-operator continues its expansion, opening two new properties in Saudi Arabia this year - Ascott Corniche Al Khobar and Spectrums Residence Jeddah. Ascotts current Saudi Arabian presence spans 12 properties and 1,624 units. These two new properties are set to open in the second half of the year. This is the first property of three that will open in Al Khobar in the next two years, with the seaside location a key area supporting the growth of domestic tourism in the region. Additionally, the first property to open in Makkah will capture the expected rise of visitors to the region. The number of religious tourists is expected to rise from 17.5 million recorded last year to between 25 and 30 million in 2025. This week, Ascott was named Best Serviced Residence Company Middle East at the 2018 BTME Awards and as Ascott continually expands its award-winning global presence, it has also announced its first foray into the continent of Africa. Ascott plans to open three properties in the capital, Accra, which will pave the way for further expansion across Africa in the coming years. The companys first entry into Africa will see the opening of Kwarleyz Residence Accra in the capital city of Ghana in Q4 this year, ahead of Ascott 1 Oxford Street Accra in mid-2019. World Travel & Tourism Council forecasts Ghanas tourism industry to expand 5.1 per cent annually through to 2027, from a contribution to GDP of 7.1 per cent in 2016. Vincent Miccolis, Ascotts regional general manager for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, said: This is an incredibly exciting move for the business and a stepping stone into one of the largest continents for growth opportunity. Our venture into Africa stretches the global reach of Ascott to all continents, which is a major milestone for us. These exciting expansion plans follow an excellent year of growth in 2017, where The Ascott increased its global portfolio from just over 51,000 units to nearly 70,000 units, through investments, management contracts and franchises. While we aim to reach 80,000 units by 2020, were looking even further into the future, and target to double our portfolio to 160,000 units by 2023, he said. - TradeArabia News Service TRADERS Q&A: Batons Jayaram Explores Viability and Future of DLT Is distributed ledger technology (DLT) really going to be as revolutionary as many say? Or is it all about the hype? Baton Systems CEO and Founder Arjun Jayaram thinks the technology is real, viable and coming to a company near you. In a conversation with Traders Magazine, Jayaram told of how his company has onboarded major financial firms such as Citi and CME as new clients and is currently one of only 4 fintech vendors working on a distributed ledger technology POC with the Bank of England. He shared his thoughts with editor John DAntona Jr. on the applications and viability of DLT, how ready it actually is for banks and financial institutions, and when and where we should expect to see it in the next several years. The following is an edited version of the conversation: Traders Magazine: With the many potential applications of distributed ledger technology (DLT), do you see a wide adoption of the technology by banks in the next few years? Arjun Jayaram: It will be at least a few years before we see any wide adoption of distributed ledger technology or blockchain. However, the underlying concept of DLT should not be overlooked as a great starting point, including as a foundational idea for our solution. A key factor will, of course, be the budgets at financial institutions. Are they going to be willing to continue committing resources to testing and proof of concepts? The big hurdle for banks is finding and investing in technology that can solve their challenges now, not in five years. With that being said, there are a litany of tests and proof of concepts being conducted by banks around the world. In fact, the Bank of England is currently working with Baton and three other fintech vendors on a proof of concept project for real-time gross settlement using distributed ledger technology. TM: What regions do you foresee having the most promise in DLT development over the coming years? Jayaram: Were still seeing a lot of testing done across major banks and institutions in the US and the UK. With Brexit looming, many European firms are sprinkling their internal technologists across different regions within the EU, as opposed to targeting single fintech-heavy cities. As a result, we should see an uptick in DLT experimination in cities like Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Dublin. 1 2 next For more information on related topics, visit the following channels: Tenfold revenue increase from continuing operations over Q2 2017 TORONTO, April 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Electrovaya Inc. (Electrovaya or the Company) (TSX:EFL) (OTCQX:EFLVF) today reported its financial results for the fiscal second quarter ended March 31, 2018 (Q2 2018). All numbers are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. The Company is pleased to report a tenfold increase in revenue from continuing operations in Q2 2018 compared to the fiscal second quarter ended March 31, 2017 (Q2 2017). Revenue from continuing operations was US$3.3 million (Cdn $4.2 million), compared to US$0.3 million (Cdn $0.4 million) in Q2 2017. The increase was primarily attributable to revenue collected on the Cdn $4.3 million purchase order from Walmart Canada announced on September 18, 2017, and also included other purchase orders for materials handling electric vehicle (MHEV) batteries. Electrovaya is encouraged by continued interest in its lithium ion forklift battery systems from new and existing customers. In addition to the six Fortune 500 companies which have issued initial and/or follow-up purchase orders, validation testing is ongoing by major global companies, and the Company is confident that sales momentum for these products will increase during fiscal 2018. Multiple manufacturers of MHEVs have approved the use of Electrovayas lithium ion batteries in certain of their vehicles for the North American market. Q2 2018 Financial Highlights All Q2 2018 financial highlights are from continuing operations Revenue was $3.3 million (Cdn $4.2 million), up significantly from $0.3 million (Cdn $0.4 million) for Q2 2017. Gross profit was $0.9 million (Cdn $1.1 million) with a gross margin of 28% compared to $0.0 million (Cdn $0.1 million) with gross margin of 14% for Q2 2017. For the six months ended March 31, 2018, revenue was $4.0 million (Cdn $5.1 million) and gross profit was $1.2 million (Cdn $1.5 million), while revenue and gross profit were $1.1 million (Cdn $1.4 million) and $0.7 million (Cdn $0.9 million), respectively, for the six months ended March 31, 2017. Net loss was $2.7 million (Cdn $3.4 million) compared to $0.5 million (Cdn $0.6 million) for Q2 2017. The increased loss was primarily due to a $2.4 million increase in general and administrative expenses from Q2 2017 to Q2 2018, resulting from approximately $0.4 million in legal and professional fees primarily relating to the structured insolvency proceedings for the Companys German subsidiary in Q2 2018, and a reimbursement of expenses without the corresponding inclusion of the discontinued operations expenses in Q2 2017. Cash and equivalents were $2.0 million as at March 31, 2018. On January 25, 2018, the Companys wholly owned German subsidiary commenced a voluntary structured insolvency process. An administrator has been appointed who has engaged a merger and acquisition specialist to conduct an orderly sale process. The Company has determined that it is no longer necessary to own unprofitable subsidiaries carrying out component production of electrodes and separators when alternate customized supply chain arrangements are available. Q2 2018 Business Highlights Electrovaya continued commissioning of MHEVs on the Cdn $4.3 million purchase order from Walmart Canada. Walmart is converting all the forklifts at one of its Ontario distribution centers from lead acid batteries to Electrovayas lithium ion batteries. The Company believes this is the single largest installation of materials handling vehicles powered by lithium ion batteries in North America. During the quarter, Electrovaya announced purchase orders for its lithium ion battery systems from three major global companies, including two U.S. Fortune 500 companies. In addition, multiple manufacturers of MHEVs have approved the use of Electrovayas lithium ion batteries in certain of their vehicles for the North American market. On March 29, 2018, two new directors, Dr. James K. Jacobs and Mr. Suresh Madan were elected to the Companys Board of Directors at its Annual and Special Meeting. Dr. Jacobs co-founded Electrovaya in 1996. He welcomed the opportunity to re-join Electrovayas Board as he is excited about recent advancements in the Companys battery technology and the potential for significant sales growth. Mr. Madan is currently President and CEO of MyHealth Centre, which operates a chain of more than 30 diagnostic health facilities across Ontario. Mr. Madan brings deep financial knowledge and business skills to the Company. Subsequent to Q2 2018, Electrovaya attended the MODEX conference in Atlanta, Georgia from April 9-12. MODEX is the leading manufacturing and supply chain expo in the United States. In addition, Electrovayas batteries are on display at the CeMAT logistics and supply chain conference in Hannover, Germany, which runs from April 23-27. The batteries are integrated in multiple trucks of a leading materials handling vehicle manufacturer. It is estimated by the Worldwide Industrial Truck Statistics1 that approximately 281,000 materials handling vehicles were sold in North America, and about 1.1 million globally, during 2016. In the United States, about 65.5% (~185,000) were electric vehicles, mostly powered by lead acid batteries. By comparison, approximately 200,000 electric cars (battery and plug-in electric vehicles)2 were sold in the United States in 2017, mostly powered by lithium ion batteries. Typically, a lithium ion battery powering an intensive-use MHEV could work ten times longer than batteries for electric cars and must have the ability to be charged rapidly and cycled multiple times per day. Thus, MHEV battery requirements are substantially more demanding than those required for electric cars, and the MHEV batteries are expected to deliver superior value to the logistics and materials handling user. 1 WITS as reported in Modern Material Handling (MMH) magazine, Dec 6, 2017 2 https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/01/2017-was-the-best-year-ever-for-electric-vehicle-sales-in-the-us The Companys complete Q2 2018 Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis are available at www.sedar.com or on the Companys website at www.electrovaya.com. Conference Call Details: The Company will hold a conference call on Wednesday, April 25, 2018 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) to discuss the Q2 2018 financial results and to provide a business update. Conference ID: 13679391 US and Canada toll free: (807) 407-8291 International: +1 (201) 689-8345 To help ensure that the conference begins in a timely manner, please dial in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. For those unable to participate in the conference call, a replay will be available for two weeks beginning on April 25, 2018 through May 9, 2018. To access the replay, the U.S. dial-in number is (877) 660-6853 and the non-U.S. dial-in number is +1 (201) 612-7415. The replay conference ID is 13679391. About Electrovaya Inc. Electrovaya Inc. (TSX:EFL) (OTCQX:EFLVF) designs, develops and manufactures proprietary Lithium Ion Super Polymer batteries, battery systems, and battery-related products for energy storage, clean electric transportation and other specialized applications. Headquartered in Ontario, Canada, Electrovaya is a technology focused company with extensive IP, supplying leading global customers. To learn more about how Electrovaya is powering mobility and energy storage, please explore www.electrovaya.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to, among other things, the Companys need for commoditized contract manufacturing facilities in its product development process, the effect of Litarions insolvency filing on the Companys financial position and performance, the future direction of the Companys business and products, the effect of a structured sale of Litarion, including on the Companys overhead and operations, the Companys ability to source supply to satisfy demand for its products and satisfy current order volume, revenue forecasts, anticipated orders and deliveries in CY2018 and beyond, demand for the Company's products, technology development progress, pre-launch plans, plans for product development, plans to work with OEMs, plans to sell directly to user, plans for shipment using the Companys technology, production plans, the Companys markets, objectives, goals, strategies, intentions, beliefs, expectations and estimates, and can generally be identified by the use of words such as may, will, could, should, would, likely, "possible", expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, believe, plan, objective and continue (or the negative thereof) and words and expressions of similar import. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Material assumptions used to develop forward-looking information in this news release include, among other things, that current customers will continue to make and increase orders for the Companys products, that the Companys alternate supply chain will be adequate to replace material supply and manufacturing, that the Companys interpretation of the effect of any comfort given to Litarions auditors of the Companys financial support for Litarions operations is correct, and that Litarions insolvency process will proceed in an orderly fashion that will satisfy Litarions debt without a significant negative effect on the Company or its assets. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include but are not limited to: actions taken by creditors and remedies granted by German courts in the Litarion insolvency proceedings and their effect on the Companys business and assets, negative reactions of the Companys existing customers to Litarions insolvency process, the ability to sell the Companys premises or to do so at a price reflecting appropriate value, general business and economic conditions (including but not limited to currency rates and creditworthiness of customers); Company liquidity and capital resources, including the availability of additional capital resources to fund its activities; level of competition; changes in laws and regulations; legal and regulatory proceedings; the ability to adapt products and services to the changing market; the ability to attract and retain key executives; and the ability to execute strategic plans. Additional information about material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations and about material factors or assumptions applied in making forward-looking statements may be found in the Companys Annual Information Form (AIF) for the year ended September 30, 2017 and in the Companys most recent annual and interim Managements Discussion and Analysis under Risk and Uncertainties as well as in other public disclosure documents filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the forward-looking statements contained in this document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. FocalView is a first-of-its-kind app designed to modernize ophthalmic clinical trials, making them more accessible and flexible Using patients' self-recorded measurements, FocalView aims to enable more sensitive trial endpoints and more accurate patient-reported outcomes Using the Apple ResearchKit platform, Novartis is making FocalView vision tests freely available to the scientific community Basel, April 25, 2018 - Novartis announced the launch of its FocalView app, an ophthalmic digital research platform created with ResearchKit. FocalView aims to allow researchers to track disease progression by collecting real-time, self-reported data directly from consenting patients. By adapting the design of clinical trials to suit the daily routine of patients, the app may reduce barriers to participation, leading to a more nuanced understanding of ophthalmic diseases and potentially accelerating the development of novel treatments. Data capture in traditional ophthalmic clinical trials can be inflexible and infrequent, making it difficult for researchers to monitor patients' disease activity and capture real-world patient experiences. FocalView aims to help patients complete various assessments, gaining feedback on their visual function, including any changes over time. At the same time, the app could provide researchers with a greater volume of real-world, patient-reported data, creating more flexible and accessible clinical trial designs. "Because patients with eye diseases are often not as mobile, FocalView has the potential to offer tremendous benefit for the ophthalmic community and for researchers looking to develop better treatments for these patients," said Dr. Mark Bullimore, Medical Advisor for the creation of FocalView and Dean of the Southern California College of Optometry, Marshall B. Ketchum University. "Collating validated patient-reported outcomes in clinical trial research is no longer a nice-to-have. This kind of data is fast becoming a critical element of research and development, because it offers a better reflection of real-world patient experiences, fosters better patient compliance and provides researchers with richer and more accurate data points." FocalView will be tested in a prospective, non-interventional study to evaluate the app's efficacy and usability in assessing visual function. These measurements include visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. Researchers will in turn assess ease of use, level of enrollment and the ability to obtain important documentation for future clinical trial research, such as informed consent. In the next phase, the app will be validated against traditional visual testing that takes place within conventional clinical settings. "Optimizing digital technology in research and development, particularly in ophthalmic disease, could have a marked impact on the quality of the data we capture," said Bertrand Bodson, Novartis Chief Digital Officer. "We believe apps like FocalView, which we've made freely available to the research community on an open-source platform, can help accelerate the development of treatments and bring them to the patients who need them most." FocalView is now available for download from the App Store in the US. Consent to contribute to research data will be required before a user can interact with the tool. Novartis is planning to launch in additional markets in the future. About Novartis in ophthalmology Novartis is a leading ophthalmology company, with therapies that treat both front and back of the eye disorders, including retina diseases, glaucoma, dry eye and other external eye diseases. In 2016, approximately 200 million patients worldwide were treated with Novartis ophthalmic products. Disclaimer This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as "potential," "can," "will," "plan," "expect," "anticipate," "look forward," "believe," "committed," "investigational," "pipeline," "launch," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals, new indications or labeling for the investigational or approved products described in this press release, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding such products could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; global trends toward health care cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures; our ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; general political and economic conditions; safety, quality or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About Novartis Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals and eye care. Novartis has leading positions globally in each of these areas. In 2017, the Group achieved net sales of USD 49.1 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.0 billion. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 124,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are sold in approximately 155 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com. Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis For Novartis multimedia content, please visit www.novartis.com/news/media-library For questions about the site or required registration, please contact media.relations@novartis.com # # # Novartis Media Relations Central media line: +41 61 324 2200 E-mail: media.relations@novartis.com Eric Althoff Novartis Global Media Relations +41 61 324 7999 (direct) +41 79 593 4202 (mobile) eric.althoff@novartis.com Amy Wolf Novartis Ophthalmology Communications +41 61 696 5894 (direct) +41 79 576 0723 (mobile) amy.wolf@novartis.com Novartis Investor Relations Central investor relations line: +41 61 324 7944 E-mail: investor.relations@novartis.com Company to relocate its growing U.S. development operations to the North Carolina biotech hub in Research Triangle Park Nicox Research Triangle Park team strengthens and expands Nicox's development capabilities, with a focus on advancing NCX 470 and NCX 4251 ............................................... April 25, 2018 - release at 7:30 am CET Sophia Antipolis, France Nicox S.A. (Euronext Paris: FR0013018124, COX), an international ophthalmology company, today announced the opening of its U.S. development office in Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina. The decision to relocate from its prior development office in Fort Worth, Texas, and to expand the Company's presence at RTP, is driven by the anticipated progress of NCX 470 for patients with glaucoma and NCX 4251 for patients with blepharitis towards Phase 2 clinical testing. "The new office opening prominently positions Nicox in a U.S. region known for its culture of leading-edge innovation and diverse scientific and medical expertise," stated Mike Bergamini, PhD, Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer of Nicox. "We believe our presence in RTP will allow us to better meet the evolving needs of our company, accommodate the expected growth and recruit top talents." Along with the existing senior R&D management, the team based in RTP currently includes clinical operations, project management, and pharmaceutical and technical operations. Nicox's new temporary offices have been located in the North Carolina Biotechnology Center since early March and the company expects to secure permanent office space in the RTP area in 2019. The U.S. development office located in Fort Worth, Texas, is planned to be closed by year end. "This is an exciting time for Nicox as we expand our U.S. development capabilities and build upon the strong research and development teams located in France and in Italy," said Tomas Navratil, PhD, Vice President, Head of Development at Nicox. "Together, our teams will continue to drive forward the development programs for our pipeline assets, first of all our two main projects, NCX 470 for patients with glaucoma and NCX 4251 for patients with blepharitis, and hopefully in the near future to transition into development new lead compounds of our NO-donating therapeutics under research. The opening of our office in the RTP area is an investment in the future of the company and we believe it will be an asset as we progress our entire pipeline." editorial@tribune.com Nikhila Pant Dhawan Tribune News Service Bathinda, April 24 Students of Senior Secondary School for Meritorious Students, Bathinda, have brought laurels to their institution by registering 100 per cent result in the PSEB Class XII exams, barring a few re-appears in physics. Shiv Kumar, Gagandeep Singh and Davinder Kumar, students of non-medical stream secured the first three positions in the school with 94.4, 93.5 and 92.4 per cent marks, respectively. In the medical stream, Navjot Kaur and Sandhya Rani tied for the first position by securing 91.5 per cent marks. Kulwinder Kaur stood second in the stream with 88.8 per cent and Ramandeep Kaur stood third with 88.4 per cent. In the commerce stream, Anto Kaur and Madhu Bala tied for the first place with 91.5 per cent marks. Arshdeep Kaur and Manminder Singh tied for the second place with 90 per cent while Uma Rani scored 89.7 per cent marks to be placed at third position in the school. Congratulating the students, school principal Ruby Gupta also appreciated the staff members for their dedication and hard work. A total of 457 students from the school had appeared for the examinations and all managed to clear. As many as 17 students secured more than 90 per cent marks, she said. Dashmesh School All students of science and commerce streams of Dashmesh Senior Secondary School cleared the examination. In the humanities stream, the school registered 97 per cent pass percentage. Science student Jyoti scored 92.4 per cent marks to stand first in the school. Science student Amandeep and commerce student Manpreet Kaur stood second in the school with 92 per cent marks. Commerce student Renu stood third in the school with 90.4 per cent marks. School principal Dr Ravinder Singh Mann and vice-principal Renu Uppal congratulated the students. SSD School Commerce students Ritika, Aayushi and Dimple bagged the top three positions in SSD Public Senior Secondary School by scoring 94.88, 03.55 and 92.44 per cent marks, respectively. The students were congratulated by the school principal and management members. Government School, Ballianwali Students of Government Senior Secondary School, Ballianwali, also performed well in the examination. Priya Rani (95.11 per cent), Komalpreet (93.77 per cent) and Sonpreet (93.11 per cent) secured the top three positions in the school. School principal Randhawa Singh and staff members honoured the students and wished them luck for their future endeavours. Jalalabad boy tops in Bathinda district Karan Kapoor, a student of Baba Farid Senior Secondary School, Deon, brought laurels to his family and institution by securing the ninth place in the top 10 list for boys in the state. With a score of 95.78 per cent, Karan also grabbed the first place in Bathinda district. A student of humanities stream, Karan aspires to get into judicial services and had in fact left for Delhi after appearing for his examinations to pursue law. He is a resident of Gubaya in Jalalabad. While his grandfather Subhash Kapoor is the sarpanch of Gubaya, his father Jaswant Singh runs a daily utility store. His mother Usha Rani is a housewife. Principal of the school, Baljinder Singh, and Baba Farid Group of Institutions chairman Dr Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal congratulated him. editorial@tribune.com Ravi Chandel Tribune News Service Bathinda, April 25 The state government may have claimed that they are providing free medicines to the patients visiting the Civil Hospital, but the fact is otherwise. Patients visiting the Bhai Mani Singh Civil Hospital have to return without medicines as the hospital has been reeling under an acute shortage of medicines for the last one month. The civil hospital has been facing shortage of life-saving drugs, antibiotics and anti-allergic medicines. Besides, the anaesthetic drug Lignocaine injection, (local anaesthetic) has been out of the stock for the last six months. Pleading anonymity, a hospital employee said, We have sent a list of 50 medicines to the higher authorities, but we have not received any response from them. However, we always ensure that life-saving drugs are available at the emergency ward of the hospital. Apart from this, in this month they have not received any fund from the National Health Mission (NHM) to smoothly conduct the available diagnostics tests at the civil hospital. However, the condition of the Mother and Child hospital located on the premises of the civil hospital is slightly better than this. If they do not get the required stock of medicines from the civil surgeon medical store then they purchase the same under Janani Suraksha Yojna (JSY) running under NHM. On the other hand, Kamal, Drug ware house in-charge, claimed that they have sufficient stock of anti-allergic, antibiotics and life-saving drugs in the store. When contacted, Sukhjinder Singh Gill, SMO, civil hospital, confirmed that they are reeling under shortage of medicines. He further stated that they have sent letters to the Civil Surgeon regarding the shortage of medicines in the hospital, but in vain. Gill, said, As per the guidelines of the health department we cannot directly contact the drug ware house in-charge to provide us the essential medicines. We can only send letters for the required medicines to the civil surgeon. Further, they have to provide us the medicines. Civil Surgeon Hari Narayan Singh refused to comment on the issue of shortage of medicines. He said, I have not checked the records yet so I cannot say anything whether the SMOs concerned have sent the list of shortage medicines to my office or not. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 24 The police have registered a rape case against unidentified persons and have also slapped Sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act a day after a 14-year-old Hallo Majra girl, who was admitted to Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, was found to be one-and-a-half-month pregnant. The case was registered after Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairperson Sangita Vardhan demanded the mandatory reporting of the case. Legal action was taken as the treatment of the girl was on. She will soon be inducted in a care and protection programme, said Vardhan. The girl was brought to the hospital by her mother on Monday afternoon. On learning that the girl was pregnant, the hospital authorities informed the police, who sought assistance of women and child helpline officials to record the girls statement. Sources said initially, the family was reluctant to report the matter to the police. However, it agreed after officials of the Social Welfare Department counselled the family and told it about the legal repercussion for not getting a case registered. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 24 A joint team of the Estate Office and the Municipal Corporation demolished illegal constructions on government land by residents of Jammu and Kashmir Colony amid a protest on Tuesday. Arjun Sharma, SDM (East), who supervised the drive, said residents had extended their houses by encroaching upon land. The structures were constructed by owners of 27 houses (house number 1001 to 1027). The residents protested against the drive and tried to stop the drive, but the police controlled them. Two protesters suffered minor injuries during a scuffle with the police. Basir Ahmed, a resident of the colony, said no time was given to them to take away their belongings. He said the police evicted the residents forcibly from the houses. A large number of residents raised slogans against the Administration and the local councillor after the drive. Women residents also alleged that the police forcibly evicted them from the houses. The drive was carried out on the directions of the Deputy Commissioner after MC officials took up the matter with him. The drive started around 9.30 am and continued for over two hours. A heavy police force was deployed at the site and two JCB machines were used for the demolition, besides a large number of labourers. Amit Kesar, another resident, said the drive was carried out without giving any notice to them. The residents said the the Jammu and Kashmir Government had allotted the houses to laboures working in Chandigarh in 1984. A total of 60 houses were allotted to them. editorial@tribune.com Satinder Pal Singh Dera Bassi, April 24 One worker was killed in the series of blasts and the fire that ripped through a chemical plant at Behra village here on Monday night. The loss has been estimated to be around Rs 4-5 crore, said sources. Rakesh Kumar (50), who had suffered over 70 per cent burn injuries, was taken to a private hospital in Dera Bassi from where he was referred to the PGI. His condition deteriorated on the way to the PGI and was taken to the GMCH, Sector 32, where he was declared brought dead. Rakesh Kumar, a resident of College Colony, Dera Bassi, was working as a production manager at the Maggu chemical plant. Sources said seven people were working in the chemical plant and standard operating protocol lapses might be the cause of the explosion. Dera Bassi fire personnel were on their toes even on the second day on Tuesday as the containers containing solvents kept smouldering. Two fire engines were stationed on the spot to sprinkle water at regular intervals to check recurrence of the blaze, said a fire official. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Initial reports suggest that high pressure and temperature reportedly led to an uncontrolled and unstable solvent reaction, causing an explosion in a chemical reactor. There were a series of blasts in chemical containers, leading to high flames. The entire plant was gutted. The incident took place around 9.30 pm on Monday. Sources said the solvent containers exploded one after the other, making it difficult for the firefighters to venture closer to the plant. The Dera Bassi police on Tuesday registered a case under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code against the management of the chemical plant. Paramjit Singh, SDM, Dera Bassi, said: One casualty has been confirmed. He said he would seek a report from the Fire Department whether the safety norms were in place and if any discrepancies were found, action would be taken. Jatinder Singh Bhatti, Deputy Director, Factories, Labour Department, who visited the spot on Tuesday afternoon, said he might form a committee of chemical engineers to probe the incident. Chemicals are supposed to be handled with care. There must have been some negligence, said Jatinder Singh. We have started investigations to check whether the plant had the requisite clearances, said Jatinder Singh. editorial@tribune.com Mohit Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 24 A day after an HIV patient was allegedly thrashed by a doctor at the PGI, the project director of the Chandigarh State AIDS Control Society, Dr Vanita Gupta, formed a committee to probe the incident. Confirming the development, Dr Gupta said the team would investigate the cause behind the incident and submit its report. The team visited the PGI on Tuesday and took the versions of the doctor concerned and the staff that were present on Monday to find out what led to the incident. The HIV patient, who had allegedly accused the doctor of thrashing him, said no one contacted him for recording his statement. High drama had taken place on the second floor of the New OPD at the PGI on Monday when a woman doctor allegedly slapped and thrashed the HIV patient in full public view. The 37-year-old HIV patient had come for a check-up of his visually impaired wife, who is also suffering from HIV. The incident occurred around 10 am when Ramesh (name changed) from Ambala was standing in a queue along with his wife outside the antiretroviral therapy (ART) ward. Ramesh said he was reprimanding a man who blocked the passage, but the doctor thought that he was mocking at her. The doctor got infuriated and slapped him. Behaviour classes for doctors in May After Mondays incident, the PGI Director, Prof Jagat Ram, said behaviour classes for doctors would start in the second week of May. In January this year, the PGI Director had stated that resident doctors would attend classes to improve their behaviour. A group of senior doctors was asked to teach resident doctors how to deal with patients properly. An emeritus professor and renowned ophthalmologist, Dr Amod Gupta, was made the head of the committee, which was supposed to hold orientation classes for the resident doctors. The step was taken following a spurt in the number of complaints of misbehaviour against junior doctors. KC Singh KC Singh The informal summit announced between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 27-28 came as a bit of a surprise though some signals were there since February of an emerging thaw. The relationship had not fully normalised since the Doklam standoff last year, although the claimed withdrawal of Chinese forces had allowed Modi to attend the BRICS Summit. Subsequent reports, not convincingly denied by India, indicated that the Chinese had withdrawn a few hundred yards and then bivouacked in greater numbers, when normally they should have returned to the Tibetan plateau once winter set in. The Chinese conduct in again vetoing the listing of Pakistani terrorist Masood Azhar by the United Nations Sanctions Committee and persisting to oppose Indian membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group showed, if anything, the Chinese were post-Doklam more confrontational. Freezing of joint military exercises, an effective confidence-building measure for the maintenance of peace and stability at the LAC also signalled sullenness. But geopolitical changes began to overtake this downturn in relations between the two Asian powers. The Quad, a grouping of Australia, India, Japan and US, was revived last year after its first and last meeting in 2006, on the sidelines of the Asean Regional Forum (ARF). (I led the Indian delegation as an additional secretary.) The move then was led, as now, by Japanese PM Shinzo Abe with then US President George W Bush, a reluctant participant, as the US still counted on Chinese goodwill to resolve the nuclearising of the Korean peninsula. The message to China was then, and now, clear. Its actions in unilaterally revising maritime regimes by creating artificial islands in the South China Sea and then turning them into military bases, disregarding the sovereignty of half a dozen neighbours, was unacceptable. The election of President Donald Trump as the US President has also adversely affected China. While he has blown hot and cold on Russia, about China he has stridently argued trade imbalances and intellectual property theft. His outreach to the supreme leader of the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong-un, announcing even readiness for a face-to-face meeting, impinges on the Chinese strategic calculus. Mike Pompeo, head of the Central Intelligence Agency and future Secretary of State, meeting Kim means the US game is moving apace. China would also be concerned about losing an important buffer that keeps Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) distracted and tied down. Trump has also, as promised, fired the first salvo in a potential trade war between the US and China, announcing in March $50 billion in tariffs on select Chinese products. US Treasury has been asked to craft investment restrictions on China, characterising them as defence against economic aggression. In 2016, while the US exported goods worth $115.6, its imports from China were $462.4. The $385 billion deficit is actually half US trade deficit globally. US sanctions can affect Chinese industry drastically. For instance, Chinas state-owned and second largest telecommunication company ZTE has been sanctioned for illegal re-export of US routers, servers and microprocessors to Iran and DPRK. Estimates are that 80-90 per cent of their products rely on US components. The Modi government perhaps realises that antagonism with China makes it more difficult to handle neighbours in SAARC. Ranging from Sri Lanka to the Maldives, and now Nepal Sino-Indian differences are used for economic and strategic advantage. India also realises that Trump, despite his bonhomie, will not dilute his core beliefs and promises to his base. India should expect little, or no accommodation, on immigration or trade issues. He could also cut a deal with China, provided he gets trade and market access concessions. His flip-flop on joining Trans Pacific Partnership shows he is ideology neutral, but driven by tangible gains, thus capable of jettisoning Asia-Pacific if his self-interest so dictates. Global Times, often used by China to signal antagonism or warmth, has been gushing of late that within China hostility toward India is being replaced by hopes for friendly ties. It claims, Indian academia and political circles have agreed the country needs cooperative ties with China. Perhaps allusion is to the BJP or CPM circles in India as others have not yet revised the opinion on China softening its India-containment policies of the past five decades. It then likens the informal summit to the 1988 Rajiv Gandhi-Deng Xiaoping meeting. Modi may not like the comparison; the Chinese take history very seriously. Is China preparing for a fundamental shift, allowing India strategic space in South Asia, in exchange for India not ganging up with the US and Japan? Thus, Wuhan meeting could be an inflection point for Sino-Indian relations. It is good no joint statement is planned as both sides need to insulate the process from hyper nationalists at home. Significantly, the last major Sino-Indian agreement was in 2005, during the visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. In it were spelled out the political parameters and guiding principles for the settlement of the boundary dispute. India was then in the final stages of concluding the nuclear agreement with the US, which was to liberate India from the shackles of dual technology control regimes. China perhaps gamed to draw India away from a closer and strategic engagement with the US. After the Indo-US agreement in 2008 and the global financial crisis the same year, India and Asia have been dealing with a different China. The current thaw commences from the visit of Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale to China in February and his note thereafter to the Cabinet Secretary to downgrade official participation in the 60th anniversary celebration of the arrival of the Dalai Lama in India. Then followed visits by the National Security Adviser, External Affairs Minister and Defence Minister. That has set the stage for the summit. Ideally, Modi should meet opposition leaders before leaving to project national unity that the Chinese appreciate. China sees the political dissonance in India and mounting domestic difficulties for Modi. The temptation to score points over the Opposition must be avoided. It is perhaps the most critical inflection point for Modis foreign policy. Modi has an opportunity to show that despite multiple foreign policy stumbles, Modi the statesman has finally emerged and eclipsed Modi the showman. The writer is a former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs shalender@tribune.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 25 Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel has written a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan alleging that the power of legislation is being encroached upon by the Lt Governor, Anil Baijal, who has killed democracy with his order. Noting that he is also exploring legal option on the issue, Goel in his letter to Mahajan has demanded that the LGs communication be withdrawn immediately. Last month, the Ministry of Law advised the LG office to communicate to the Speaker that he should not admit questions related to reserved subjects such as public order, police, services and land, with the departments concerned refusing to answer questions on this ground. I have written to the Lok Sabha Speaker complaining about LGs order to Assembly Secretariat that the Assembly Speaker cannot admit questions on reserved subjects. In the letter, I have told the Lok Sabha Speaker that the LG has killed democracy by issuing this order, Goel said. Goel also sought to know why legislators cannot ask questions on reserved subjects. Can an MLA not ask a question in the Assembly if there is a rape of a girl? Also, a person can ask a question (on reserved subjects) through RTI, but legislators are denied the same, the Assembly Speaker said. During the Budget Session of the Assembly, Goel, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, cabinet ministers and AAP MLAs wore black bands in protest against the Centres move. Goel had said the Central Government has insulted the Assembly with the directive. Informing the House on March 28, Goel said out of 40 questions, the House has not received answers of 17 questions as the departments concerned have denied answering on reserved subject. It is unfortunate that the law ministry has issued such directions. It is a very dangerous incident in the history of Independent India. The Centres move is highly condemnable... I want to sit with black band as mark of protest, Goel said. uttara@tribuneindia.com New Delhi, April 25 Painstaking scientific investigations virtually starting from scratch, including use of advanced DNA mapping and technical surveillance, spread over nearly nine months in complete secrecy helped investigators finally crack the sensational Kotkhai rape-murder case. Narcoanalysis and polygraphy and technical data also helped the agency come to the conclusion that those accused by Himachal Pradesh Police in the rape-murder case of the 16-year-old girl in Shimla's Kotkhai area in 2017 were not the culprits, an official said on Wednesday. "When we took over the case, there were already six accused named by police," he said, adding that one of the accused had died in police custody. The Class 10 student went missing on July 4 last year while returning from school, 5 km from her home. Two days later, her body was found in the Halaila forest area. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the case on July 22, 2017, after the Himachal Pradesh High Court's orders. "After taking over, we started collecting digital footprints of the accused named by Himachal Police," he said. The official said that the agency officials soon found that the accused had never visited the area where the crime occurred. "We matched their blood samples with DNA found on the girl and from blood samples collected from the spot and other material like liquor bottles and the victim's clothes. All the results were again negative," he said. "The CBI carried out four polygraphy and narcoanalysis tests on the accused that too were negative. Thus, we gave clean chit to them," he said. The official said that the agency had to then start all over again from the scratch. "We started investigation afresh, thoroughly combing the area. The agency questioned over 2,000 area people and recorded the statements of over 400 persons," he said. The CBI official maintained that area residents didn't cooperate as the case had gained wide publicity. The CBI also didn't take police help as it had arrested nine police officers, including Inspector General of Police Zahur H. Zaidi, for the custodial death of one of the accused. "However, the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) team's help proved very important as it gave a lot of clues initially about the age group of the perpetrator. We collected blood samples of over 250 persons from the area around the crime spot but DNA tests did not provide any clue," he said. The CBI also followed persons with criminal antecedents to Kashmir and Uttarakhand. He said that when effort proved futile, the CFSL team suggested more advanced DNA analysis technique on 250 blood samples collected earlier on. And in one case, the blood sample matched with the crime scene to a significant extent. It cane from a family from Kangra district. The CBI team visited the family's house and profiled its members and found that one of them was a suspect in several criminal cases but was out on bail. He was also absconding since September 2016. "More blood samples of the family members were drawn, which confirmed that we had identified the right suspect," the CBI official said. The official said accused Anil Kumar alias Neeluwho was finally arrested on April 13was not in touch with his family and did not even keep a mobile phone. The official said that Anil first got in touch with one of his probable contacts in August 2017, followed by in February 2018, early March, and early April by using mobile phones of others. "The CBI identified the mobile owners, mapped their movements on call days and got the sketches of the suspect made with the help of mobile owners. "In mid-April, he made another phone call, and a CBI team rushed immediately to a farm in Rohru area of Shimla and arrested on the basis of a sketch prepared earlier. The official said that Anil Kumar had gone to the village only four days ago to work as a farm labourer. He was brought to Delhi for questioning, and presented in the high court on Wednesday. The official said when the crime was committed, Anil Kumar was working only 8 km away from the girl's house in Shimla district. Anil Kumar was very clever as he never left any footprintsdigital or otherwiseon his whereabouts, due to which the CBI kept its operation a total secret, he added. He was very clever no doubt, but the CBI team outfoxed himof course, with the help of painstaking scientific investigations. IANS gspannu7@gmail.com London, April 25 Spider-man will go a globe-trotting adventure in "Homecoming 2" after Kevin Feige confirmed that the film will be shot in London. Speaking to io9, the Marvel Studios president said the next Spider-Man movie will take place primarily outside Peter Parker's hometown of Queens, New York. "We start filming early July. We film in London. We shot (the) first film in Atlanta. We shoot a lot of films in London but there's another reason we're shooting in London which is, yes, Spidey, of course, will spend some time in New York, but he'll spend some time in other parts of the globe," Feige said. Tom Holland will be back as Spider-man in the sequel, which has a release date of July 5, 2019. Actors Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon and Marisa Tomei are also expected to reprise their respective roles. PTI. English Dutch Papendrecht, 25 April 2018 Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) has emerged as best bidder in a tender to construct an artificial island in the IJmeer lake adjacent to the existing IJburg islands. Boskalis was informed about this result by the municipality of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Based on the current plans the contract is valued at around EUR 85 million. The project involves the construction of an artificial island in the IJmeer lake for the development of residential housing to accommodate the further growth of Amsterdam. In the initial phase around 82 hectares of land will be created by constructing both soft and hard bank protection and filling the reclamation area with nearly 9 million cubic meters of sand. In addition 3,500 kilometers of vertical drains will be used to improve the soil. The project includes an option to create an additional 53 hectares of land; this option does not form part of the contract value. The municipality of Amsterdam is expected to award the contract in mid-May, with operations commencing in the third quarter of 2018 and scheduled to be completed in mid-2020. In addition to this artificial island Boskalis will also create a nature area measuring more than 3 hectares and consisting of reeds and a mussel bed. Constructing the nature area in the initial phase will enable the natural elements to develop sooner. Boskalis' strategy is designed to benefit from the key macro-economic drivers that fuel global demand in our selected markets: global trade, increasing energy consumption, population growth and the challenges posed by climate change. This land reclamation project is closely linked to the need for new land to help cater to the growing population in a densely populated area. For further information Investor relations: Martijn L.D. Schuttevaer ir@boskalis.com Press: Arno Schikker press@boskalis.com T +31 78 6969310 Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. is a leading global services provider operating in the dredging, maritime infrastructure and maritime services sectors. The company provides creative and innovative all-round solutions to infrastructural challenges in the maritime, coastal and delta regions of the world with services including the construction and maintenance of ports and waterways, land reclamation, coastal defense and riverbank protection. In addition, Boskalis offers a wide variety of marine services and contracting for the oil and gas sector and offshore wind industry as well as salvage solutions. Furthermore, Boskalis has a number of strategic partnerships in harbor towage and terminal services (Kotug Smit Towage, Keppel Smit Towage, Saam Smit Towage and Smit Lamnalco). With a versatile fleet of more than 900 vessels and floating equipment and 10,700 employees, including associated companies, Boskalis operates in 90 countries across six continents. This press release can also be found on our website www.boskalis.com. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 25 On the directions of Civil Surgeon Dr Parwinder Pal Singh Sidhu, the district Health Department observed World Malaria Day under the guidance of District Epidemiologist Dr Ramesh here on Wednesday. An awareness rally was taken out by the department. A mosquitoes eating fish, Gambusia, was released in a pond at Ailiwal village. Villagers were made aware of symptoms and prevention form malaria. Meanwhile, a quiz competition was organised at the Civil of Hospital Khanna in which Dr Harvinder was the quiz master. More than 50 students from the Kular College of Nursing participated in the competition. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Rajinder Gulati, Senior Medical Officer of the Khanna Civil Hospital, said malaria was a health-related problem in several parts of the country. He said fever, headache, vomiting and flu were the symptoms of malaria. Dr Gulati said malaria parasite infects and destroys red blood cells, resulting in easy fatigue-ability due to anemia, fits or convulsions and loss of consciousness. uttara@tribuneindia.com New Delhi, April 25 Preacher Asarams life sentence for having raped a 16-year-old girl has turned the spotlight on two other women who have charged him and his son with sexual assault. The woman, sisters from Surat, have accused the 77-year-old Asaram and his son Narayan Sai of having illegally confined and raped them in ashrams. The case is pending before a court in Gujarats Gandhinagar. The older of the two women accused Asaramwho was arrested in 2013 in the rape case for which a court in Jodhpur sentenced him on Wednesdayof raping her several times between 1997-2006 at his ashram in Gujarats Motera. The younger sister accused Narayan Sai, who was arrested between 2002 and 2005, of raping her at an ashram in Surat. One woman also accused Asarams wife and daughter of helping the two men rape them. Both Asarams wife Lakshmi and daughter Bharti are part of Gujarat Police 2014 charge sheet, as are four women followersDhruvben, Nirmala, Jassi and Meera. The Supreme Court adjourned Asarams bail application earlier this month, and pulled up the Gujarat Police for tardy investigations, asking them to record evidence within five weeks. "It cannot go like this," the court had said after the state government said police had completed recording victims statements. Asaram's counsel told the Supreme Court in the hearing that of the 92 witnesses in the Gujarat case, 22 witnesses had been examined so far and 14 had been dropped. The court had also criticised police for dragging its feet over investigations in August last year, and has repeatedly refused bail to Asaram. Land deals Asaram also faces criminal charges for illegal acquisition of 200 acres of land worth Rs 700 crore on the Delhi-Pune freight corridor in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, in 2000. The land allegedly belonged to a company, Jayant Vitamins Limiteda public limited company de-listed from the Bombay Stock Exchange in 2004 for defaulting on the mandatory listing fees that companies have to pay to list themselves. PTI harinder@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 24 The Congress was left red-faced on Tuesday with senior party leader and former Union minister Salman Khurshid saying the party had Muslims blood on its hands. The party was quick to distance itself from the remarks, saying Khurshids views were personal, even as the party leader later tweeted that the media had distorted his statement. The Congress disagrees with his statement...It is his personal view, not the partys, Congress spokesperson PL Punia said. Speaking at an event at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Khurshid admitted to Congress lapses during communal riots under its rule. He was responding to a query by a student as to how the Congress would wash off the blood stains of Muslims from its hands. It is a political question. There is blood on our hands. I am also a part of the Congress so let me say it, we have blood on our hands. Is this why you are trying to tell us that if someone attacks you, we must not come forward to protect you, Khurshid asked. His remarks went viral on the social media, raising a storm. The BJP latched onto Khurshids remarks with Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi raking up a number of riots, including the Bhiwandi, Bhagalpur and Malegaon riots besides the 1984 anti-Sikhs riots. What Khurshid said was an acknowledgement of the Congress history of engineering communal riots, he said. Alleging the Congress wore a mask of secularism but practised communalism, he asked the party to come clean on the matter. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 24 A day after he rejected Congress-led opposition parties impeachment motion seeking the removal of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said his decision was timely and not a hasty one and one that came after over a month of due diligence. Freedom of expression allows that but ultimately truth prevails. I have done the just thing in the best possible manner expected of me, sources quoted Naidu as saying, apparently in response to the Oppositions criticism over the speed at which he disposed of the motion. The Congress termed it hasty, illegal and ill-informed. However, sources said the Chairman specifically referred to media reports for over a month about the Congress moving a notice against CJI while making his case. Naidu also said the CJI was the highest judicial functionary of the country and any issue in public domain concerning him requires to be resolved at the earliest following prescribed procedures so as to prevent the atmosphere from being further vitiated. Naidu also said his decision was in strict conformity with provisions of the Constitution. The Rajya Sabha chairmans office is not a mere post office but a Constitutional functionary, he said. Meanwhile, on indication that the Congress would challenge the order in the Supreme Court, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Parliament was supreme in its own jurisdiction and its process could not be subjected to judicial review. For the Congress party to carry forward its mistake of subjecting legislative processes to judicial review would be a blunder. Parliament is supreme in its own jurisdiction. Its process cannot be subjected to judicial review, Jaitley said in his Facebook post Why the Malafide Impeachment Motion was bound to fail? RS Chairman on surprise check editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 24 Noting that even the dead have dignity, the Supreme Court on Tuesday took exception to disclosure of identity of rape victims, including the eight-year-old girl who was raped and killed in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir. Think of the dignity of dead also. It (media reporting) can be done without naming or shaming them. The dead also have dignity, a Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said. The issue was raised by senior counsel Indira Jaising who said Section 228-A of the IPC prohibited disclosure of identity of victims of sexual offences. Jaising who is assisting the court as amicus curiae on the issue of safety and security of women and use of Nirbhaya Fund said the court should clarify the legal position on the issue. While agreeing to examine the Section 228-A IPC, the Bench, also comprising Justice Deepak Gupta, wondered how the identity of a minor rape victim could be disclosed even after getting her parents consent. Why should this happen, that the identity of a minor victim be disclosed just because her parents have given consent Even if a person is of unsound mind, she has a right to privacy. A minor will become major. Why should this stigma be there for life? it asked. Jaising, however, said there could not be a blanket ban on the media in such cases and the court would have to strike a balance between freedom of press and rights of rape victims. The Bench posted the matter for hearing on May 8 after the Centres counsel sought time to seek instructions. The Delhi High Court had last week asked 12 media houses to pay a compensation of Rs10 lakh each for revealing the identity of the Kathua rape victim. These newspapers and TV news channels had tendered apology to the HC for revealing the identity of the victim. Section 228-A IPC provides for a jail term of up to two years along with a fine for revealing the identity of a rape victim. Section 23 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act prescribes certain curbs on the media with regard to reporting of cases of sexual offences against children. It also sought details of the funds allocated to the states by the Centre from Nirbhaya Fund, set up in 2013 after the December 16, 2012, gang-rape and murder case in Delhi to support initiatives on womens safety across the country. monicakchauhan@gmail.com Jodhpur, April 25 Soon after Asaram was held guilty of raping a teenage girl, father of the victim said that they were happy that at last they have got justice and sought strict punishment for the self-styled godman. He said: Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now, I hope, he gets strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice. Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice: Father of Shahjahanpur victim #AsaramCaseVerdict pic.twitter.com/sUJ3atJJJY ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2018 "For the past four months, our family members had not been coming out (of our house)...it is satisfying that the verdict has gone against him," he said. "We were living in constant terror, our business was adversely hit," he said. Asaram is accused of raping a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, who was studying at the godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. The victim had alleged that Asaram called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. Security was also stepped up around the victim's house in Shahajahanpur. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He is under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. Agencies uttara@tribuneindia.com Smita Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 25 As US and Russia remain locked in a tense relationship reminiscent of the Cold War, the Ministry of External Affairs is lobbying hard with the US administration to ensure it does not get caught in the crossfire, impacting, among other things, defence deals in the pipeline with The Kremlin. The Tribune has learnt from top Indian sources that India has made a three-fold argument on Capital Hill for exemptions from Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which imposes secondary sanctions on countries dealing with Russian oligarchs and firms blacklisted by the US. The law could have significant impact on Moscows profitable military and nuclear relationship with New Delhi. For instance, NPO Mashinostroyeniya, a Russian firm that is partnering with India on its flagship Brahmos joint supersonic cruise missiles project, is one of the firms blacklisted, exposing the latter to possible punitive restrictions. India argues that its dependence on Russian arms has been shrinking. We have asked the US to look at our trend of defence purchases for past ten years. Not only have we diversified our supplies, but substantial part has gone to US which is the net beneficiary, said an official source. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institutes (SIPRI), Indias import of Russian military hardware stands at 62 per cent for the past five years, down from 79 per cent between 2008 and 2012. Washington is Indias second largest arms supplier, with sales at $15 billion. Indias negotiations with Russia on major S400 air defence missile systems and Kamov-226 T helicopter have been slow, leading to questions of possible American pressure. Russian entities like Rosboronexport, Indias partner on dual use technology, could also face the heat. India argues that US restrictions could impact its existing arms reserve and defence preparedness. It is not known yet how CAATSA will be work, and whether spares for legacy items will come under its ambit. But if we face sourcing issues, how will it help the two countries in areas where our interests converge, such as Indo-Pacific or Afghanistan? a source asked. As Russia faces allegations and international backlash over its supposed involvement in a nerve-agent attack on a Russia double agent in UKs Salisbury and a chemical attack in Syrias Douma that killed scores of people, India chooses to tread carefully, generally condemning the attacks and calling for impartial investigations without accusing The Kremlin. New Delhi is also believed to have told Washington that its Russian purchases would not harm America or its interests. Russian Ambassador Nikolai Kudashev during a recent public lecture in Delhi underlined that his countrys historic military relations with India are independent of any strategic US calculations. harinder@tribunemail.com Smita Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 24 India resetting ties with China does not imply Delhi will soften its position on Pakistan and terrorism sponsored from its soil, said sources. Questions are being raised if Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be in the same room with his Pakistani counterpart during the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) summit in China in June, will be open to formally reviving dialogue with Islamabad. India and Pakistan became full members of the SCO last year. New Delhi believes multilateral dynamics are different from bilateral ones and that it is too early to comment on the possibility of a handshake or conversation between the India-Pakistan PMs on the SCO sidelines in Qingdao, the sources say. Also, India is not warming up to the idea of reviving SAARC this year. The summit dialogue to be hosted in Islamabad in 2016 saw an India-led boycott in the wake of the Uri terror strikes. Unless Pakistan passes on the hosting right, Indian PM will be unwilling to participate. And the eight-member South Asian grouping charter states that even if one head of government or state does not attend, the summit meet cannot be held. In the current situation, we do not contemplate a SAARC summit. It is difficult to have a summit when one of the countries is involved in actively sponsoring cross- border terrorism. There has to be a conducive environment for it, underlined a government source, ahead of Modis talks with Xi Jinping, President of Pakistans all-weather friend China. Interestingly, India managed to win Chinese support at the global counter-terror funding body FATF (Financial Action Task Force) meeting recently to grey-list Pakistan. pardeepdhull@gmail.com London, April 25 Cambridge Analytica (CA), the data consultancy firm at the heart of a fake news investigation in the UK, has said that all its activities around the world, including in India, will be investigated and reported on. A spokesperson for the company on Tuesday said that while CA was focussed purely on the US market, its global arm SCL Elections handled other regions. All the national issues and national associations are part and parcel of the independent investigation. Rest assured, India, Kenya, Nigeria, all the other countries that SCL has been working in historically, will be investigated and reported on as part of the independent investigation, he told reporters during a press conference here today. The press conference came soon after an academic associated with the company, Aleksandr Kogan, gave his evidence to the UK Parliaments Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee on its ongoing investigation into fake news. Kogans company, Global Science Research (GSR), developed a Facebook app that reportedly collected data from people who signed up to use the app as well as information from their Facebook friends, without the explicit approval of all involved. He accused CAs now-suspended CEO Alexander Nix of total fabrication when it came to denying the links between Cambridge Analytica and GSRs data. DCMS Committee chair Damian Collins said that Nix had told the committee in February that CA never received data from Kogans company GSR, which did not have much credibility any more given his own testimony today. Last month, Christopher Wylie, a former employee of CA turned whistleblower, had told MPs during his evidence before the committee that the company had worked extensively in India and named the Congress as one of its clients. In a post on Twitter later, the 28-year-old also named the Janata Dal (United) as a client during the 2010 Bihar elections and revealed some caste surveys carried out in Uttar Pradesh by SCL India the parent company of CA. Ive been getting a lot of requests from Indian journalists, so here are some of SCLs past projects in India. To the most frequently asked question yes SCL/CA works in India and has offices there. This is what modern colonialism looks like, Wylie had tweeted. His message included documents which indicate that SCL India boasted a database of over 600 districts and 7 lakh villages, which is constantly being updated. Its reach in India is said to include a head office in Ghaziabad, with nine regional offices in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cuttack, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Patna and Pune. I dont remember a national project but I know regionally. Indias so big that one state can be as big as Britain. But they do have offices there, they do have staff there, he had said, offering to provide more documentation to the committee on CAs India links. PTI editorial@tribune.com Mandla, April 24 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the promulgation of an ordinance on rape demonstrated his governments determination to act on the issue, but stressed that people had to respect their daughters and make their sons more responsible for a safer atmosphere. Modi also pitched for a social movement to ensure the safety of women and girls while the National Panchayati Raj Sammelan at Ramnagar in the tribal-dominated Mandla district. Shivraj ji (Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan) just referred to the capital punishment provided in the ordinance for rape against minors and I could see that it (the remark) received cheers from everyone present here, he said. There is a government in Delhi which listens to your voice and takes decisions. So, the Centre has made a provision for capital punishment to the monstrous intent, he said while referring to the recent ordinance. The Union Cabinet on April 21 approved the ordinance under which the death penalty could be awarded to those convicted of raping girls below 12 years of age, amid a nation-wide outrage over cases of sexual assault and murder of minors. PM Modi, however, called upon the people to create an atmosphere for the safety of daughters. Families will have to enhance the honour and respect of daughters. Families should also make their sons more responsible. In this way, the safety of daughters would not be a difficult task. We have to launch a social movement in this direction, he said. He also talked about the welfare of tribals and farmers and asked the elected representatives of Panchayats to educate villagers to become self-dependent in farming. PTI Panchayats told to use NREGA funds for conserving water PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday suggested panchayat representatives that funds provided under the MGNREGA scheme be used for water conservation during April, May and June to curb water shortage in villages and boost farm activities. He said human power available in rural areas could be harnessed to realise Mahatma Gandhi's dream of a village-centric model of development. PM Modi said people living in rural areas should focus on jan dhan, van dhan and gou dhan to develop villages. English Swedish The shareholders of Xbrane Biopharma AB, reg. no. 556749-2375, (the "Company"), are hereby convened to the annual general meeting to be held on Thursday 24 May 2018, at 17.30 p.m. at Baker McKenzie's preemies at Vasagatan 7 in Stockholm. The doors to the meeting will open at 17.00 p.m. Right to attend the annual general meeting and notice: Shareholders wishing to attend the annual general meeting must: on the record date, which is Friday 18 May 2018, be registered in the share register maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB. Shareholders, whose shares are registered in the name of a nominee, must temporarily register the shares in their own name at Euroclear Sweden AB. Shareholders whose shares are registered in the name of a nominee must, no later than on Friday 18 May 2018, via their nominee, temporarily register the shares in their own name in order to be entitled to participate at the general meeting; and Registration Certificate") shall be enclosed. The proxy in original and the Registration Certificate, if any, must be available at the general meeting and a copy should well before the meeting be sent to the Company by regular mail to Xbrane Biopharma AB, Banvaktsvagen 22, 171 48 Stockholm or by e-mail to ir@xbrane.com , and should, in order to facilitate the entrance to the general meeting, be at the Company's disposal no later than on 18 May 2018. A form proxy will be available for downloading on the Company's website notify their participation at the general meeting no later than Friday 18 May 2018. Notice of participation at the general meeting shall be sent by regular mail to Xbrane Biopharma AB, Banvaktsvagen 22, 171 48 Stockholm or by e-mail to ir@xbrane.com. Upon notification, the shareholder should state their full name, personal identification number or corporate registration number, address and telephone number, and, where applicable, details of representatives, proxy holders and advisors. A shareholder who wishes to be represented by proxy shall issue a written and dated proxy to the proxy holder. If the proxy is issued by a legal entity, a certified copy of the registration certificate or corresponding document ("") shall be enclosed. The proxy in original and the Registration Certificate, if any, must be available at the general meeting and a copy should well before the meeting be sent to the Company by regular mail to Xbrane Biopharma AB, Banvaktsvagen 22, 171 48 Stockholm or by e-mail to ir@xbrane.com , and should, in order to facilitate the entrance to the general meeting, be at the Company's disposal no later than on 18 May 2018. A form proxy will be available for downloading on the Company's website www.xbrane.com Proposed agenda: Opening of the meeting and election of the chairman of the general meeting Preparation and approval of voting list Approval of the agenda Election of one or more persons to certify the minutes. Determination of whether the general meeting has been duly convened Presentation of the annual report and auditor's report and the group annual report and the group auditor's report. Resolutions regarding Adoption of income statement and balance sheet and the group income statement and the group balance sheet. Decision regarding the profit or loss of the company in accordance with the adopted balance sheet. Decision regarding discharge from liability for the board of directors and the general manager, if any. Determining the number of directors and auditors Determining the fees for the board of directors and the auditor. Election of board of directors and auditor, and if applicable, deputy directors and any deputy auditor Resolution regarding adoption of principles for the nomination committee Resolution regarding guidelines for the determination of remuneration to senior executives Resolution regarding amendments of the articles of association regarding limits for the number of shares and the share capital Resolution regarding long term share based incentive program (LTIP 2018) Resolution to issue warrants and approval of subsequent transfer in order to secure delivery of shares in the company's long term share based incentive programs Resolution regarding approval of transfer of warrants Resolution regarding authorisation for the board to issue shares, warrants and/or convertibles Closing of the meeting Proposals for resolutions: Item 1: Opening of the meeting and election of the chairman of the general meeting The board of directors proposes that Ian Gulam, LL.M., Baker & McKenzie Advokatbyra, is appointed as chairman of the general meeting. Item 7.b: Resolution regarding decision regarding the profit or loss of the company in accordance with the adopted balance sheet The board of directors proposes that all funds available for the annual general meeting shall be carried forward. Item 8-10: Determining the number of directors and auditors, determination of fees to the board of directors and to the auditors, and election of the board of directors and auditor The shareholder Serendipity Group AB proposes the following: It is proposed that the board of directors shall comprise of seven directors without deputies. The number of auditors shall be one registered audit firm. It is further proposed that the remuneration to each director elected by the meeting a shall be SEK 150,000 and the chairman of the board of directors is to receive SEK 300,000, in total SEK 1,200,000 (600,000 previous year). Remuneration to the auditor is to be paid according to approved invoice. It is proposed re-election of the directors Giorgio Chirivi, Peter Edman, Saeid Esmaeilzadeh, Maris Hartmanis, Alessandro Sidoli, Anders Tullgren och Karin Wingstrand. Furthermore, Anders Tullgren is proposed to be re-elected as chairman of the board of directors Re-election of the registered audit firm KPMG AB for the period until the end of the annual general meeting 2019. KPMG AB has announced its appointment of Duane Swanson as main responsible auditor. Further information regarding the for re-election proposed directors is available at the Company's website www.xbrane.com and in the annual report for 2017. Item 11: Resolution regarding adoption of principles for the nomination committee The shareholder Serendipity Group AB proposes that the annual general meeting adopts the following principles for the nomination committee. Role of the nomination committee The Company shall have a nomination committee with the task of preparing and proposing decisions to the shareholders' meetings on electoral and remuneration issues and, where applicable, procedural issues for the appointment of the subsequent nomination committee. The nomination committee is to propose: the chairman of the annual general meeting; candidates for the post of chairman and other directors of the board; fees and other remuneration for board work to each director; fees to members of committees within the board; election and remuneration of the Company auditor; and principles for the nomination committee. The nomination committee shall in its assessment of the evaluation of the board an in its proposal in particular take into consideration the requirement of diversity and breadth on the board and strive for equal gender distribution. Regardless of how they have been appointed, the members of the nomination committee are to promote the interests of all shareholders of the Company. Members of the nomination committee The nomination committee, which shall be appointed for the time until a new nomination committee has been appointed, shall consist of four members, of whom three shall be nominated by the Company's three largest shareholders with respect to voting power and the fourth shall be the chairman of the board. The chairman of the board shall as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of the third quarter, in an adequate manner, contact the three owner-registered largest shareholders, with respect to votes, according to the share register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB at that time and request that they, taken into consideration the circumstances, within a reasonable time which may not exceed 30 days, nominate in writing to the nomination committee that person whom the shareholder wishes to appoint as member of the nomination committee. If any of the three largest shareholders elects not to exercise their right to appoint a member of the nomination committee, the next shareholder in consecutive order shall be entitled to appoint a member of the nomination committee. In the case that several shareholders abstain their right to appoint a member of the nomination committee, the chairman of the board shall not be required to contact more than eight shareholders, unless its necessary in order to obtain a nomination committee consisting of a minimum of three members. Unless otherwise agreed between the members, the chairman of the nomination committee shall be nominated by the largest shareholder. A member of the board shall never be the chairman of the nomination committee. If a shareholder who has appointed a member of the nomination committee during the year ceases to be one of the Company's three largest shareholders, the member appointed by such shareholder shall resign from the nomination committee. Instead, a new shareholder among the three largest shareholders shall be entitled to independently and in its sole discretion appoint a member of the nomination committee. However, no marginal changes in shareholding and no changes in shareholding which occur later than three months prior to the annual general meeting shall lead to a change in the composition of the nomination committee, unless there are exceptional reasons. If a member of the nomination committee resigns before the nomination committee has completed its assignment, for reasons other than set out in item 2.3, the shareholder who has has appointed the member shall be entitled to independently and in its sole discretion appoint a replacement member. If the chairman of the board resigns from the board, his/her successor shall replace the chairman of the board also on the nomination committee. A change in the composition of the nomination committee shall be published immediately. Announcement of the nomination committee members The chairman of the board shall ensure that the names of the members of the nomination committee, together with the names of the shareholders they have been nominated by, are published on the Company's website no later than six months before the annual general meeting. If a member leaves the nomination committee during the year, or if a new member is appointed, the nomination committee shall ensure that such information, including the corresponding information about the new nomination committee member, is published on the website. Proposals to the nomination committee Shareholders shall be entitled to propose board members for consideration by the nomination committee. The nomination committee shall provide the Company with information on how shareholders may submit recommendations to the nomination committee. Such information shall be announced on the Company's website. The chairman of the board of directors shall, as part of the work of the nomination committee, keep the nomination committee informed about the work of the board of directors, the need for particular qualifications and competences, etc., which may be of importance for the work of the nomination committee. Proposals by the nomination committee When preparing its proposals, the nomination committee shall take into account that the board of directors is to have a composition appropriate to the Company's operations, phase of development and other relevant circumstances. The directors shall collectively exhibit diversity and breadth of qualifications, experience and background. The nomination committee shall further strive for equal gender distribution. The nomination committee shall provide the Company with its proposals for board members in such time that the Company can present the proposals in the notice of the shareholders' meeting where an election is to take place. When the notice of the shareholders' meeting is issued, the nomination committee shall issue a statement on the Company's website explaining its proposals regarding the composition of the board of directors. The nomination committee shall in particular explain its proposal against the background of the requirement to strive for an equal gender distribution. The statement is also to include an account of how the nomination committee has conducted its work. In case a resigning managing director is nominated for the position of chairman of the board of directors, the nomination committee shall specifically explain the reasons for such proposal. The nomination committee shall ensure that the following information on candidates nominated for election or re-election to the board of directors is posted on the Company's website at the latest when the notice to the shareholders' meeting is issued: year of birth, principal education and work experience; any work performed for the Company and other significant professional commitments; any holdings of shares and other financial instruments in the Company owned by the candidate or the candidate's related natural or legal persons; whether the nomination committee deems the candidate to be independent from the Company and its executive management, as well as of the major shareholders in the Company. If the committee considers a candidate independent regardless of the existence of such circumstances which, according to the criteria of the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance, may give cause to consider the candidate not independent, the nomination committee shall explain its proposal; and in the case of re-election, the year that the person was first elected to the board. Account of the work of the nomination committee All members of the nomination committee, where possible, and as a minimum one of the members, shall be present at the annual general meeting. The nomination committee shall at the annual general meeting, or other shareholders' meetings where an election is to be held, give an account of how it has conducted its work and explain its proposals against the background of what is provided about the composition of the board as set out above. The nomination committee shall in particular explain its proposal against the background of the requirement set out above to strive for an equal gender distribution. Fees and Costs No fee shall be payable by the Company to any member of the nomination committee. The Company shall bear all reasonable costs associated with the work of the nomination committee. Where necessary, the nomination committee may engage external consultants to assist in finding candidates with the relevant experience, and the Company shall bear the costs for such consultants. The Company shall also provide the nomination committee with the human resources needed to support the nomination committee's work. Confidentiality A member of the nomination committee may not unduly reveal to anyone what he/she has learned during the discharge of his/her assignment as a nomination committee member. The duty of confidentiality applies to oral as well as written information and applies also after the assignment has terminated. A nomination committee member shall store all confidential materials that he/she receives by reason of the nomination committee assignment in a manner so that the materials are not accessible to third parties. After the assignment has terminated, a nomination committee member shall hand over to the chairman of the board all confidential materials that the nomination committee member has received in his/her capacity as nomination committee member and still has in his/her possession, including any copies of the materials, to the extent reasonably possible taking into account inter alia technical aspects. The chairman of the nomination committee may make public statements about the work of the nomination committee. No other nomination committee member may make statements to the press or otherwise make public statements regarding the Company and the Company group unless the chairman of the board has given permission thereto. Item 12: Resolution regarding guidelines for the determination of remuneration to senior executives Upon recommendation of the remuneration committee, the board of directors proposes that the annual general meeting resolves to adopt the following guidelines for remuneration to senior executives. The remuneration to the senior executives in the Company shall comprise of fixed salary, possible variable salary, other customary benefits and pension payments. The total remuneration shall, on a yearly basis, be in line with market practice and competitive on the labor market where the senior executive is based and take into account the individual qualifications and experiences of the senior executive as well as reflecting any notable achievements. The fixed salary shall be revised on a yearly basis. Senior executives mean the managing director and the other members of the group management. Fixed and variable salary shall be related to the senior executive's responsibility and authority. The variable remuneration shall be paid in cash and/or shares/warrants/convertibles other share-based instruments such as synthetic options or employee stock options and be based on the outcome of pre-determined targets and should be designed with the aim of achieving greater alignment of interest between the participating senior executive and the Company's shareholders. The vesting period, or the time from the conclusion of the contract until the shares may be acquired, shall not be less than three years. The variable remuneration shall amount to a maximum of 50 per cent of the fixed salary (calculated at the date for vesting or, as regards, shares/warrants or share-based incentive programs the date of allotment). Terms for variable remuneration should be designed so that the board of directors may limit or omit payment of variable remuneration, provided that exceptional economic circumstances are at hand, if the board of directors finds the payments unreasonable and incompatible with the Company's responsible in relation to its shareholders. With respect to yearly bonuses, it should be possible to limit or omit payments, if the board of directors finds it motivated because of any other reasons. Payment of consultancy fees and additional remuneration may be paid to directors after decision by the board of directors, if a director performs services on behalf of the Company, which do not constitute board work. Fixed salary during the notice period and severance pay shall in total not exceed an amount corresponding to a maximum of a two years' fixed salary. Pension payments shall be fee determined. Senior executives shall be entitled to pension commitments based on those that are customary in the country in which they are employed. The maximum pension commitment shall not exceed 30 percent of the fixed annual salary. Pension commitments will be secured through premiums paid to insurance companies. The board of directors shall be entitled to deviate from the guidelines in an individual case if there are special reasons for it. Decisions regarding salary and other remuneration to the managing director and other senior executives are prepared by the remuneration committee and resolved on by the board of directors. The total amount of remuneration granted or to be granted directly or indirectly by the Company to the senior executives is fully described in the consolidated financial accounts of the Company, as disclosed in its annual accounts for 2017, which is available at the Company's website, www.xbrane.com. Item 13: Resolution regarding amendments of the articles of association regarding limits for the number of shares and the share capital The board of directors of the Company proposes that the annual meeting resolves to amend the Company's articles of association as follows: It is proposed that the limits for the share capital in the articles of association are changed from a minimum of SEK 500,000 and a maximum of SEK 2,000,000 to a minimum of SEK 1,335,000 and a maximum of SEK 5,340,000. The articles of association 4 will thereby have the following wording: "The share capital shall be at least SEK 1,335,000 and no more than SEK 5,340,000." It is also proposed that the limits for the number of shares in the articles of association are changed from a minimum of 2,200,000 and a maximum of 8,800,000 to a minimum of SEK 5,950,000 and a maximum of 23,800,000. The articles of association 5 will thereby have the following wording: "The number of shares shall not be less than 5,950,000 and not more than 23,800,000." It is further proposed to make a technical adjustment of the central securities depositary clause since the name of the law has been changed. It is finally proposed that the board of directors or a person appointed by the board of directors be authorized to make such minor adjustments in the above resolution that may be required in connection with the registration with the Swedish Companies Registration Office. Item 14: Resolution regarding long term share based incentive program (LTIP 2018) Upon recommendation of the remuneration committee, the board of directors of the Company proposes that the annual general meeting resolves on a long term share based incentive plan ("LTIP 2018"). The LTIP 2018 is proposed to include in total 26 employees and other key persons within the company group, where 18 persons are or will be employed by the Company and 8 persons are employed by the subsidiary Primm Pharma s.r.l. (the "Subsidiary"). The participants in the LTIP 2018 are required to personally invest in shares in the Company. These shares may either be shares already acquired during 2018 or shares purchased on the market in connection with the LTIP 2018. The participants will thereafter be granted, free of charge, retention and performance share rights on the terms stipulated below, which may entitle to shares in the Company depending on the Company's (i) total shareholder return, (ii) achievement of certain milestones for the Company, and (iii) achievement of certain milestones for the Subsidiary. Entitlement to shares is further conditional upon the participant remaining employed by the company group and that all his/her investment shares are retained under the LTIP 2018 during the vesting period. As a result of the LTIP 2018, a maximum of 172,800 shares in the Company may be allotted. The dilution impact on the total share capital and voting powers in the Company will as a maximum be app. 2.66 percent, based on the number of shares in Company currently outstanding. Participants in LTIP 2018 The LTIP 2018 comprises 26 employees and certain key persons within the company group, where 18 persons are or will be employees of the Company and 8 persons are employees of the Subsidiary, divided into two categories (the "Executives"). The first category comprises employees and key persons in the Company ("Xbrane Participants") and the second category comprises employees and key persons in the Subsidiary ("Primm Participants"). The personal investment, allotment of Share Rights and Vesting Period To participate in the LTIP 2018, an Executive must own shares in the Company ("Investment Shares") and allocate these to the LTIP 2018. These Investment Shares can either be shares already acquired during 2018 (provided that they have not already been allocated to an on-going incentive plan) or shares purchased for the purpose to participate in the LTIP 2018. The Senior Executives are offered to invest in maximum 2,200 Investment Shares and the Company Group Employees are offered to invest in a maximum of 1,500 Investment Shares to the LTIP 2018 as from 1 June 2018 up to and including 31 January 2018. The Executives will, free of charge, be granted a certain number of share rights (each a "Share Right") per Investment Share. The Share Rights will be granted to the Executive following the annual general meeting 2018 in connection with, or shortly thereafter, an agreement is made between the Executive and the Company concerning participation in the LTIP 2018. Each Share Right will, if vested, entitle to one share in the Company at a subscription price corresponding to the quota value of the shares. Allotment of shares under the LTIP 2018 shall be made following the annual general meeting held in 2021. The time period that runs from the date the incentive plan agreement is entered into, and which ends on the day of the annual general meeting 2021, is referred to as the "Vesting Period". In the event delivery of shares under the LTIP 2018 cannot be achieved at reasonable costs, with reasonable administrative efforts or due to market conditions, participants may instead be offered a cash-based settlement. Conditions for Share Rights The Share Rights are divided into Series A Rights (matching right), Series B Rights, Series C Rights, Series D Rights. Vesting of these Share Rights is dependent on the degree of fulfillment of certain financial and operational performance conditions during the measurement period 1 January 2018 - 31 December 2020 (the "Measurement Period"). Series A Rights are allotted to the Executives as matching rights, one right for each Investment Share, provided that they remain employed by the company group and that all their Investment Shares are retained under the LTIP 2018 during the Vesting Period. The financial and operational performance conditions relate to: Series B: The share price development for the Company share compared to a benchmark index during the financial years 2018-2020. Each Investment Share entitles to 1.0 Share Right of Series B. Series C: The outcome of strategic objectives relating to the development and commercialization of Spherotide during the financial years 2018-2020. Each Investment Share entitles to 1.0 Share Right of Series C. Series D: The outcome of strategic objectives relating to the development and commercialization of Xlucane during the financial years 2018-2020. Each Investment Share entitles to 1.0 Share Right of Series D. The following maximum number of Investment Shares may be invested in the LTIP 2018 and the following maximum number of Share Rights may be allotted in each respective category of Executives: Senior Executives may invest in a maximum of 2200 Investment Shares within the LTIP 2018. Each Investment Share entitles to a maximum of 1.0 Share Right of Series A, 1.0 Share Right of Series B, 1.0 Share Right of Series C and 1.0 Share Right of Series D, which entitles the Senior Executive to a maximum allotment of 4.0 Share Rights at full allocation; and Company Group Employees may invest in a maximum of 1500 Investment Shares within the LTIP 2018. Each Investment Share entitles to a maximum of 1.0 Share Right of Series A, 1.0 Share Right of Series B, 1.0 Share Right of Series C and 1.0 Share Right of Series D, which entitles the Company Group Employee to a maximum allotment of 4.0 Share Rights at full allocation. The board of directors intends to disclose the outcome of the LTIP 2018 in the annual report of 2021. Further, the following conditions shall apply for all Share Rights: The Share Rights are granted free of charge. Entitlement to shares (based on Share Rights) is further conditional upon the Executive remaining employed by the company group and that all his/her Investment Shares are retained under the LTIP 2018 during the Vesting Period. The Executives are not entitled to transfer, pledge or dispose of the Share Rights or exercise any shareholders' rights regarding the Share Rights during the Vesting Period. So-called "good leaver" and "bad leaver" provisions will be agreed with the Executives, tailored to incentivize the Executives to stay with the company group. The number of shares that may be allotted will be subject to recalculation in case the Company resolves on a bonus issue with issuance of new shares, split of shares or reverse split of shares, issue of new shares with preferential rights for the shareholders or similar corporate actions. The board of directors are granted the right to terminate or adjust the program in case of a takeover bid or similar event. The Executives' maximum profit per Share Right is SEK 680 (corresponding to 10 times the average closing price of the Company's shares on Nasdaq First North in March 2018 (rounded to closest SEK 1)). If the value of the Company's share (including any dividends paid and other adjustments) exceeds SEK 680 at vesting, the number of shares that each Share Right entitles the Executive to receive will be reduced correspondingly. Scope of LTIP 2018 As a result of the LTIP 2018, a maximum of 172,800 shares in the Company may be allotted. The dilution impact on the total share capital and voting powers in the Company will as a maximum be app. 2.66 percent, based on the number of shares in the Company currently outstanding. Hedging and delivery of shares under the LTIP 2018 The board of directors proposes that the annual general meeting resolves to issue warrants in accordance with item 15 in order to secure delivery of shares under LTIP 2018 and previous share saving programs. The warrants shall be subscribed for by the Subsidiary, any other group company or a third party, which shall undertake to transfer the warrants to the Executives to cover the number of shares that the Share Rights may entitle. The arrangement set out above if a third party is used to secure the obligation of the Company to deliver shares under the plan, if applied, will meant that the third party will deliver the warrants or shares (after exercise of the warrants) to the Executives in the LTIP 2018 once the shares are vested. In the meantime, while the warrants, or, if applicable, shares are in the third party's custody, the Company will pay interest on the cost for purchasing the shares. Any dividend on the shares during such period will be refunded to the Company. Any remaining shares not delivered to the Executives will be sold on Nasdaq First North. Any profit will be paid to the Company, who also will carry the risk of potential losses. As an alternative, the shares in the swap arrangement may be rolled-over to future LTIP programs. Estimated costs and value of LTIP 2018 The cost for the LTIP 2018 will be charged to the income statement during the Vesting Period. Based on the assumptions of maximum participation and full vesting of the Share Rights, the cost for the LTIP 2018, including social security costs, is estimated to approximately SEK 7,2 million. Social security costs will be recorded as a personnel expense in the income statement by current provisions. For information on other incentive programs refer to the annual report for 2017. Preparation and administration The board of directors and the remuneration committee shall be responsible for preparing the detailed terms and conditions of the LTIP 2018 between the Company and the Executives, within the scope of resolved terms and guidelines. To this end, the board of directors shall be entitled to make adjustments to meet foreign regulations or market conditions. The board of directors may also make other adjustments, including e.g. a right to resolve on a reduced allotment of shares, if significant changes in the company group, or its operating environment, or in case of a takeover bid, would result in a situation where the resolved terms and conditions of the LTIP 2018 no longer serve their purpose. The board of directors' possibility to make such adjustments does not include the grant of continued participation for Executives in the Company's long-term incentive programs after the termination of their respective employments. The board of directors, or a committee established by the board of directors for these purposes, shall further be responsible for the administration of the LTIP 2018. New persons in the Company or the Subsidiary that have not yet commenced their employment at the time when notification to participate in the LTIP 2018 at the latest shall be given, may, upon the condition that the employment commences during 2018, be offered to participate in the LTIP 2018 if the board of directors deems it to be in line with the purpose of the LTIP 2018. The rationale for the proposal The purpose of the LTIP 2018 is to allow the Company to attract competent employees and to encourage these to stay with the company group, and to encourage them to drive shareholder value. The LTIP 2018 has been designed based on the view that it is desirable that employees and other key persons within the group are shareholders in the Company. Participation in the LTIP 2018 requires that the participants own shares in the Company, which either are shares already held or shares purchased on the market in connection with the LTIP 2018. By offering an allotment of performance rights which are based on profits and other retention and performance based conditions, the participants are rewarded for increased shareholder value. Linking the employees' remuneration to the Company's result and value creation will also promote continued loyalty to the Company and thereby long-term value. Against this background, the board of directors is of the opinion that the adoption of the LTIP 2018 as set out above will have a positive effect on the company group's future development and thus be beneficial for both the Company and its shareholders. Preparation of the proposal The LTIP 2018 has been prepared by the Company's remuneration committee in consultation with external advisors and major shareholders. The proposal for LTIP 2018 is supported by major shareholders in the Company. Item 15: Resolution to issue warrants and approval of subsequent transfer in order to secure delivery of shares in the company's long term share based incentive programs The board of directors proposes of the Company that the annual general meeting shall resolve to issue a maximum of 192,338 warrants, which may result in a maximum increase in the Company's share capital of SEK 43,119.4957 The warrants shall entitle to subscription of new shares in the Company. The following terms shall apply to the issuance: The warrants may, with deviation from the shareholders' priority right, be subscribed for by the subsidiary the Subsidiary, any other group company or a third party who undertakes to deliver warrants or shares in accordance with item 14. The warrants are issued at no consideration and shall be subscribed for through a separate subscription list payment no later than on 15 June 2018. The board has the right to extend the time for subscription. Each warrant entitles to subscription of one new share in the Company during the period from registration up to an including 30 June 2021 or the earlier date set forth in the terms for the warrants. The subscription price shall be at every time current quota value rounded upwards to two decimals. A new share subscribed for by exercise of a warrant has a right to dividends as of the first record day for dividends following registration of the new share issue with the Companies Registration Office and after the share has been registered in the share register maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB. The purpose of the issuance, and deviation from the shareholders' preferential rights, is within the LTIP 2018 and previous share saving programs secure delivery of shares to the participants of the programs. The complete terms and conditions for the warrants are available no later than two weeks prior to the meeting , including conditions regarding re-calculation, in certain cases, of the subscription price and the number of shares a warrant entitles to. The board of directors or anyone appointed by the board of directors is given the right to make the adjustments necessary in connection with the registration of the resolution at the Companies Registration Office and possibly Euroclear Sweden AB. Dilution As a result of the LTIP 2018 and the other outstanding share saving programs a the maximum dilution impact on the total share capital and voting powers in the Company will be a maximum of app. 2.95 percent, based on the number of shares in Company currently outstanding. The total number of registered shares and votes at the time of this proposal amount to 6,329,239. The maximum dilution of the issue of warrants, taking into account the full subscription and exercise of all warrants issued in the Company is estimated to be a maximum of app. 5.01 percent of the total number of shares and votes in the Company, provided that full subscription of warrant and exercise of all warrants in the Company occurs (calculated on the number of existing shares the Company). Item 16: Resolution regarding approval of transfer of warrants The board of directors proposes that the annual general meeting resolves to approve that the Subsidiary, any other group company or a third party may transfer a maximum of 192 338 warrants in the Company to participants of LTIP 2018 or previous share saving programs, or in any other matter dispose of the warrants to fulfill the obligations under LTIP 2018 or previous share saving programs. Transfer of the warrants shall be made at no consideration. The number of the warrants that may be transferred to the participants of LTIP 2018 and other share saving programs shall be subject to recalculation in the event of an intervening bonus issue, reversed split, split, rights issue with preemptive rights for the shareholders and/or other similar events. Transfer of warrants shall be made at the time and according to the other terms pursuant to which participants in the LTIP 2018 and other saving programs are entitled to receive shares. The reason for deviating from the shareholders' preferential right is that the transfer of warrants is part of the execution of the LTIP 2018. Therefore, the board of directors is of the opinion that the transfer of warrants in accordance with the proposal is to the benefit of the Company. A general meeting in the Subsidiary or other group company shall also approve the subsequent transfers of warrants as set out above. Item 17: Resolution regarding authorisation for the board to issue shares, warrants and/or convertibles The board of directors of the Company proposes that the annual general meeting resolves to authorize the board of directors during the period up until the next annual general meeting, on one or more occasions, to resolve to issue shares, convertibles and/or warrants, with or without preferential rights for the shareholders, in the amount not exceeding 2,000,000 shares in the Company, to be paid in cash, in kind and/or by way of set-off. The purpose for the board to resolve on issuances with deviation from the shareholders preferential rights in accordance with the above is primarily for the purpose to broaden the shareholder base, raise new capital to increase flexibility of the Company or in connection with acquisitions. If the board of directors finds it suitable in order to enable delivery of shares in connection with a share issuance as set out above it may be made at a subscription price corresponding to the shares quota value. The board of directors or anyone appointed by the board of directors is given the right to make the adjustments necessary in connection with the registration of the resolution at the Companies Registration Office. Number of shares and votes The total number of shares in the Company as of the date hereof amounts to 6,329,239 shares, with a corresponding number of votes. The Company holds no own shares. Majority requirements A resolution in accordance with items 15-16 requires support by shareholders holding not less than nine-tenths of both the shares voted and of the shares represented at the general meeting. A resolution in accordance with item 13 and 17 requires support by shareholders holding not less than two-thirds of both the shares voted and of the shares represented at the general meeting. Further information Copies of accounts, auditor statement and proxy form are available at least three weeks in advance of the annual general meeting. The complete proposals and other documents that shall be available in accordance with the Swedish Companies Act are available at least two weeks in advance of the meeting. All documents are available at the Company at Banvaktsvagen 22 in Solna and at the Company's website www.xbrane.com in accordance with the above and will be sent to shareholders who request it and provide their e-mail or postal address. The shareholders hereby notified regarding the right to, at the annual general meeting, request information from the board of directors and managing director according to Ch. 7 32 of the Swedish Companies Act. **** Stockholm in April 2018 Xbrane Biopharma AB The board of directors amansharma@tribunemail.com Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai, April 25 Nearly 71 years after they were resettled in different parts of Maharashtra, Partition refugees from West Pakistan will finally get to own their homes. Following a Cabinet decision on Tuesday, the Maharashtra government has decided to transfer ownership of the plots on which homes of refugees stand to the occupants. In all, residents of 31 colonies across Maharashtra, including Ulhasnagar, Chembur Colony, Sion Koliwada, Mulund, Kurla and other places, will stand to benefit from the government move. The residents of these colonies largely hail from Sind and Punjab. Following partition, those fleeing to India were housed in refugee camps which were meant to be temporary in nature. However, over the decades, the occupants put down roots in these places and were finding it difficult to sell, mortgage or redevelop their homes. Those wanting to sell their homes in these refugee camps are required to share 50 per cent of the profits with the state government since the land is owned by the collector, explains a state government source. Following the decision taken by the state government, the land on which the refugees homes and business establishments stand will be classified as freehold land. This is expected to help occupants of properties to sell or even redevelop their homes without much hassles. Apart from Mumbai these clusters, known as Sindhi colonies since most of the occupants originally belonged to Sind in Pakistan, exist in Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Yavatmal, Akola and Amravati. State government sources say, other states had long ago designated the land on which the refugees are housed as free-hold properties which allowed occupants to transfer them without much hassles. In Maharashtra, the transfer of properties to the partition refugees and their descendents is expected to be completed within six months if all the documents are in order, according to officials. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters that the government took this decision as most of the properties occupied by Partition refugees were in poor shape and could not be redeveloped due to the restrictions. Many of these buildings have been declared dangerous for habitation. gspannu7@gmail.com New Delhi, April 25 A fresh plea has been moved in the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe into the CBSE paper leak case and its order to conduct re-examination saying it was done to protect the real culprits in the Board. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra has said that the plea would be taken up for hearing next week. Meanwhile, the CBSE conducted the re-examination of the economics paper of Class 12 across the country today. The petition sought to strike down the Central Board of Secondary Educations (CBSE) order to conduct the re-examination of the Class 12 economics paper which was allegedly leaked last month. The plea filed by a social activist Sanjoy Sachdev, also sought to declare the results of the students who have already appeared in the test in good faith and trust. Order an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation to take charge of all the cases of leakage from police of various states in order to the fix the criminal liability of the respondent no.1 to 4 (Centre, CBSE, Controller of examination of the Board and the Director of CBSE) and nexus involved, the plea said. This order (re-examination order) appears to have been issued in order to save the skin of real culprits within the Central Board of Secondary Education or their subordinates or affiliates, the plea added. The petition said that the re-examination order was bad in law and against the principles of law of natural justice as it was taken without the students being heard. It said the order penalises the innocent and harmless students without a fault of theirs. No authority or the respondents ever gave any chance of hearing in the matter to lakhs of students from all over India, the plea said. Sachdev, in his plea, said the action of the respondents (Centre and CBSE) has put a black scar on the lives of innocent and harmless students majority of whom are minors in age throughout the country as being convicts in paper leakage, which is totally in contrast to the law of natural justice. If the majority of these minor students have not committed any offence or crime then why are they being treated like that and being forced to undergo re-examination, the plea said. It also suggested that the affected students and their parents should have been given ample opportunity to appear before competent authorities in person and state truthfully in the matter, but that was not done. Amid widespread outrage over the paper leak issue, the CBSE had on March 30 said that the re-examination of CBSEs Class 12 economics paper will be held on April 25 i.e., today. The Delhi Police had registered separate cases on March 27 and March 28, respectively, to probe the leak of the Class 12 economics paper and Class 10 mathematics paper, following a complaint by the regional director of the CBSE. PTI ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM London, April 25 Indias ranking in the Press Freedom Index has fallen two places to 138, a watchdog said on Wednesday in an annual report, blaming physical violence against journalists like Gauri Lankesh as the key reason behind the countrys low ranking. Norway topped the list of having the worlds freest press for the second year in a row, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said, adding that North Korea remained the most repressive country followed by Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Syria and China. Indias ranking has fallen two places to 138th position in a ranking of 180 countries. The report warned that hate crime was another issue plaguing India. Hate speech is also an issue in the continents other giant, India, which has fallen another two places to 138th. Ever since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, Hindu fundamentalists have been referring to journalists in extremely violent terms, the report said. Any investigative reporting that annoys the ruling party or any criticism of Hindutva, elicits a torrent of online insults and calls for the death of the reporter or writer responsible, most of it coming from the Prime Ministers troll army, the report said. The RSF cited the case of the killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh who was shot down outside her house in Bengaluru in September last year. The newspaper editor, Gauri Lankesh, was gunned down outside her home in September after being the target of hate speech and death threats for criticising Hindu supremacy, the caste system and discrimination against women, the report said. PTI harinder@tribunemail.com Suresh Dharur Tribune News Service Hyderabad, April 24 Amid concerns over the adverse impact of the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission, the Andhra Pradesh Government will host the second round of Finance Ministers conclave in Vijayawada on May 7 to firm up a joint action plan. The first such conference of Finance Ministers of southern states was held in Thiruvananthapuram on April 10 where concerns were raised over the skewed terms of reference, particularly the proposal to take the 2011 Census as the basis for fixing the share of central taxes for the states. The members felt that such a yardstick would amount to penalising the southern states which have performed well in population control and other social indicators. The meeting also demanded amendments to the terms of reference in the interest of equitable distribution of central taxes among the states. Andhra Finance Minister Y Ramakrishnudu pointed out that several states were already under stress on account of the double whammy impact of demonetisation and the GST. He said the 15th Finance Commission could be another setback as its terms of reference indicated the Centre could take away more powers from states. The spirit of federalism is being damaged, despite the Finance Commission being an independent body under the Constitution, he said. The proposed meeting is the first attempt by the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP to rally the states since its exit from the NDA government over denial of special status. The CPM, at its 22nd party congress recently in Hyderabad, had termed the terms of reference as anti-federal and accused the NDA government of trying to use the Finance Commission to further centralise financial powers. The loss to southern states itself will be to the tune of Rs 80,000 crore. States, such as Odisha and West Bengal, will also stand to lose if 2011 is taken as the base year for population, the Kerala Finance Minster had said after meeting his Andhra counterpart in Vijayawada. There is an attempt by southern states to mobilise support for amendments to the ToR of the 15th Finance Commission and act as a pressure group. They contend that the terms of reference would only help states which had no discipline in population control while those which took strict measures on birth control would end up as losers as the commission had been told to take the 2011 Census as basis instead of the 1971 Census. editorial@tribune.com New Delhi, April 24 The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) why it needed to collect meta data of personal transactions of citizens which go for Aadhaar authentication to avail services and benefits. A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, hearing a clutch of petitions challenging Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law, was responding to the submission of UIDAI that it collected only limited technical meta data. Why do you (UIDAI) have to retain meta data of personal transacations of persons entered through Aadhaar authentication, the Bench, also comprising Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, asked. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for UIDAI and the Gujarat government, said the petitioners, opposing the Aadhaar scheme, have completely misunderstood the concept of meta data and the UIDAI collected limited technical meta data to have control over the requesting entities (REs) which seek Aadhaar authentication for granting services and benefits. He said that on one hand, the petitioners were saying that UIDAI had no control over requesting entities, but simultaneously, they were also alleging that UIDAI will have so much control over the meta data that may lead to surveillance. While it was important to exercise control over the REs, there was no data about the location or purpose of transaction or authentication which was being collected by UIDAI, he said. The Bench then asked him So you are not collecting meta data about the person but only about the machine, to which Dwivedi replied in affirmative. The senior lawyer referred to foreign judgments and said there was reasonable and legitimate expectation of privacy, but the context was very important. A criminal might not have any expectation of personal autonomy whereas a common man will, he said, adding that there will be different levels of privacy rights when a person was inside home and when he ventured out in relational world. Individuals live in communities and their personality is shaped by imbibing cultural and social values of the society. Regulations are designed to protect objective principles that define reasonable expectation of privacy, he said. He said the possibility of data breaches cannot be a ground to strike down the Aadhaar law and efforts should be to make it work and not to strike it off. He then referred to the example of doctors trying to save a patient and asked the court to adopt the same approach in saving the Aadhaar law and suggest it measures to strengthen the statute. The Bench said there was one area which required consideration was the provision of remedies for the breaches. The lawyer said the Information Technology Act provided for penalties and recently, UIDAI had imposed penalties on Airtel and Axix Bank for the breaches. Dwivedi will conclude his submissions on Wednesday. Earlier, the Bench had said it was not sure whether bringing people face to face with the authorities through Aadhaar was the best model as the State should reach them to accord the benefits of the welfare schemes. We are not sure if that is the best model. The individual should not be a supplicant. The State should go to him and give him benefits, the Bench had said. The Bench had also said that if biometric authentication is attached to every transaction entered into by a person, it would form a wealth of information necessitating the need for data protection. PTI vinaymishra188@gmail.com Ashok Kaura Phagwara, April 24 The town is yet to recover from communal tension, which came to the fore following the April 2 Bharat bandh. The local police on Tuesday managed to avert a clash after shopkeepers of Bazar Bansan Wala shut their establishments in support of a bookseller whose shop was forcibly closed by a few Dalits. Activists of the General Samaj Manch (GSM) rushed to the spot and asked all shopkeepers to protest the Dalits action. The situation turned tense when few Dalits too reached there and challenged the activists in the presence of SP Parminder Singh Bhandal. Later amid slogans against the civil and police administration, hundreds of manch activists sat on a dharna on the Phagwara-Banga road. They demanded arrest of Lok Insaf Party leader Jarnail Nangal and Harbhghan Suman and transfer of the Phagwara SP, ADC and the SDM. Meanwhile, an indefinite strike by Bahujan Sangharsh Organisation leader Rajinder Ghera ended on Tuesday after SSP Sandeep Sharma announced that the names of seven persons booked in connection with a clash between two groups on April 13 were excluded from the FIR. In another development, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday gave in-principle approval for renaming the city's Gol Chowk as Samvidhan Chowk. The CM on Tuesday met a delegation of Dalit Samaj, including the families of the victims of the violence. "There is nothing wrong in naming the roundabout as Samvidhan Chowk, as our Constitution does not belong to any particular caste or creed. We all are proud of it," Capt Amarinder said, while directing the local administration to follow the procedure to rename the chowk. The CM also directed DGP Suresh Arora to assess if stringent provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act could be invoked against perpetrators of April 13 violence. He appreciated restraint shown by the Dalit community. On their demand for the cancellation of FIRs against Dalit youths, Capt Amarinder directed the IGP, Jalandhar Range, to examine all such cases and submit a report to the DGP. The CM was told that more than 3,500 policemen have been deployed in and around Phagwara to prevent any untoward incident. Opposing the chowk renaming, the manch has announced "social boycott" of local Congress leader Joginder Maan. Its activists raised slogans against Congress MP Santokh Singh and MLA Raj Kumar Chabbewal. Several local Congress leaders announced to quit the party. The activists gave a bandh call for Wednesday. They demanded that the chowk be named as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk. amansharma@tribunemail.com Tribune News Servoce Chandigarh, April 25 In a move to placate senior party leaders, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday appointed Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a former MLA from Amritsar and wife of Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, as Director and Chairperson of Punjab Warehousing Corporation. She is first among the lot of leaders -- who were denied ticket during the last assembly elections -- to be given a political appointment in wake of heartburn caused among the legislators due to the recent Cabinet expansion and reshuffling of portfolios. Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and Panchayats and Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa also accompanied Dr Sidhu. It is part of strategy recently worked out by senior state Congress leadership to placate different pressure groups that have been crying foul after the Cabinet expansion. Others likely to be accommodated in the coming days are Jasbir Singh Dimpa, who was denied ticket from Amritsar, Tejinder Bittu, whose ticket was cancelled from Jalandhar, and wife a sitting MLA owing allegiance to Namdhari sect. Next in the lot would be Dalit and OBC leaders and MLAs, who have been knocking at the door of senior leadership at Delhi before other sitting MLAs are adjusted at different positions. Happy to have @DrDrnavjotsidhu join the government as Director & Chairperson of Punjab Warehousing Corporation. I wish her all the best and look forward to her contribution in strengthening the Corporation and its functioning. @sherryontopp pic.twitter.com/icxlU3x6gT Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) April 25, 2018 The Chief Minister took to Twitter to congratulate Navjot Kaur on her appointment. I wish her all the best and look forward to her contribution in strengthening the Corporation and its functioning, Amarinder said. harinder@tribunemail.com Attari, April 24 Amarjit Singh (24), a member of a Sikh jatha in Pakistan for Baisakhi celebrations who had gone missing, was traced to Pakistans Sheikhupura and sent back home on Tuesday. Carrying a placard to express gratitude to the Pakistan authorities and a portrait of Sikh Gurus, he crossed the Attari-Wagah check post in the afternoon. Facing a battery of mediapersons, he was ill at ease as he tried to explain why he had overstayed in Pakistan after his visa expired on April 21, often making contradictory statements. A resident of Niranjanpur village near Amritsar, Amarjit admitted he had lied to the family of his friend Razzaq in Sheikhupura that his visa was valid for more than a month. I made a mistake. I should not have lied to my Pakistani hosts, he regretted. Hours before he crossed over to India, two video clips on Amarjit appeared on the social media. One of these showed him confessing he had deliberately gained entry into Pakistan in the garb of a pilgrim and told Razzaks family that he had deposited his passport with the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB). In the clipping, he acknowledges that he came in contact with Razzak six months ago while he was in Malaysia. "When news about my disappearance was flashed on the TV, Razzaks family informed the ETPB and I was taken into custody on Monday evening, " he explained. Amarjit reportedly told Pakistan officials that he had "dodged security only to meet my friend. His father Rajinder Singh and mother Gyan Kaur, relieved to see their son back, said they were thankful to both the Indian and Pakistan governments for not initiating legal proceedings against him. TNS editorial@tribune.com Aman Sood Tribune News Service Patiala, April 24 Stuggling to contain stubble-burning, Punjab features among the top four states with maximum cities that have failed to meet the national air quality standards in India. The recent report in this regard submitted by Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Environment, on April 6 in Lok Sabha states that Punjab features third on the list after Maharashtra with 17 cities topping the chart and Uttar Pradesh being a close second with 15 cities on that list. In Punjab, eight cities Khanna, Ludhiana, Dera Bassi, Gobindgarh, Jalandhar, Naya Nangal, Pathankot and Patiala have been labelled the worst when it comes to air quality. In Himachal Pradesh, the industrial town of Baddi, Damtal, Kala Amb and cities of Nalagarh, Sunder Nagar, Paonta Sahib and Parwanoo feature on this list. Experts say the spurt in respiratory complications is a direct outcome of the falling air quality. Even in such a backdrop, pollution board teams are threatened by farmer unions whenever they go out to check stubble-burning. The Punjab Remote Sensing Centre recorded almost 43,800 stubble-burning incidents after the paddy harvesting season in the state last year, the highest to date. While the authorities had imposed a fine of Rs 75 lakh on offenders, a majority of them have not bothered to pay. With the political will missing, the deputy commissioners concerned, too, are yet to expedite steps to recover the penalty. With politicians in Punjab opposing the drive to challan farmers who burn stubble in their fields, the situation is sure to turn from bad to worse, said a senior Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) official. Kahan Singh Pannu, Chairman, PPCB, The real problem is the dust particles and the stubble burning which happens at the onset of winters when the air speed is low and the moisture content makes it worse as the smog engulfs the region. We are trying our best but serious steps are the need of hour at every level. Chandigarh also on list Chandigarh also features among cities identified by the Central Pollution Control Board that failed to meet the national air-quality standards from 2011 to 2015, along with other states. Experts say the spurt in respiratory complications is a direct outcome of the falling air quality. uttara@tribuneindia.com Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 25 The Punjab and Haryana High Court will hear on Thursday a Public Interest Litigation challenging a law that enables MPs to move a motion to impeach judges of high courts or the Supreme Court. An advocate, Hari Chand Arora, wants Section 3 of Judges Inquiry Act quashed on the ground that more than 200 MPs faced criminal charges, and a substantial number of lawmakers were lawyersfacts he claimed would make moving an impeachment motion a conflict of interest. Arora claimed that the provision, which says that 50 lawmakers of Rajya Sabha or 100 of Lok Sabha could move a motion to have a judge of the higher judiciary impeached, was unconstitutional and could upon the judicial system to ridicule. Chairman of Rajya Sabha Venkaiah Naidu on Monday rejected Oppositions motion to have Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra impeached. Opposition has said it would challenge Naidus act in the Supreme Court. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- US Cobalt Inc. (the "Company") (TSXV:USCO) (Frankfurt:26X) (OTCQB:USCFF) announces results from the final four surface core holes drilled during 2017 at the Iron Creek project (the "Property") in Idaho, USA. Significant cobalt values drilled in steeply dipping sulfide mineralization are tabulated below. All widths or thicknesses reported here are true thickness based on 3-D modeling. The Company has completed nine drill holes during the ongoing 2018 drilling campaign, which is beginning from underground. The first shipment of core samples has been delivered to the laboratory for analysis, and results will be reported as received. The objective of the initial 2018 drilling is to extend known mineralization westward beyond the limits of the 2017 drilling. The current results also continue to indicate the strength and size potential of the Iron Creek mineralization as indicated by substantial true widths of cobalt mineralization: drill hole IC17-37 contains 71.4 feet (21.8 meters) grading 0.15% CoEq (0.15%Co+0.00%Cu), drill hole IC17-38 contains 55.0 feet (16.8 meters) grading 0.17% CoEq (0.17%Co+0.00%Cu), drill hole IC17-40 contains 95.9 feet (29.2 meters) grading 0.16% CoEq (0.12%Co+0.50%Cu). High grade intervals from the current four holes include: 3.6 feet (1.1 meters) grading 0.36% CoEq (0.34%Co+0.26%Cu) in hole IC17-36, 5.3 feet (1.6 meters) grading 0.32% CoEq (0.30%Co+0.21%Cu) in hole IC17-36, 3.5 feet (1.1 meters) grading 0.36% CoEq (0.36%Co+0.00%Cu) in hole IC17-37, 2.9 feet (0.9 meters) grading 0.54% CoEq (0.54%Co+0.00%Cu) in hole IC17-37, 5.6 feet (1.7 meters) grading 0.50% CoEq (0.50%Co+0.00%Cu) in hole IC17-38, 14.5 feet (4.4 meters) grading 0.43% CoEq (0.29%Co+1.53%Cu) in hole IC17-40, 5.4 feet (1.6 meters) grading 0.67% CoEq (0.49%Co+1.96%Cu) in hole IC17-40, The Company has contracted Mine Development Associates ("MDA") with Principal Geologist, Steven Ristorcelli, to begin the first Iron Creek Resource Estimate. MDA provides geologic and engineering services to the mining industry, with expertise in mining projects at any stage of exploration, development, production, or closure. MDAs experience ranges from grass-roots exploration to daily mine operations and includes every step of a projects development. MDAs senior mining experts have extensive experience in all types of mining, providing over 30 years of integrity, competence and independence. The minimum data set that will contribute to the Iron Creek Resource Estimate is the 40-hole, 35,000 foot (approximately 10,700 meter) 2017 core drilling results. This drilling covers over 1,500 feet (457 meters) of strike length along the west-northwest striking, steeply northerly dipping mineralized zone which contains cobalt and copper mineralization in sulfides. Plans are to confirm the historical estimates of cobalt mineralization (see Company news release - September 7, 2016). The Company has also begun density testing and mineralogical investigations. Sr. Vice President, Exploration, Brian Kirwin commented: "We are thrilled to begin the first modern resource estimate at Iron Creek. The 2018 drill campaign is designed to double the known strike length of the mineralization and in 2018 we will conduct exploration further along strike. The first holes designed to extend the known strike length are underway, and we are excited to test the project's size potential." On March 14, 2018, First Cobalt Corp. (TSX-V:FCC) (ASX:FCC) (OTCQB:FTSSF) announced a friendly merger with US Cobalt, which remains subject to regulatory approvals. This transaction will strategically position First Cobalt as a leading non-DRC cobalt company with three significant North American assets: the Canadian Cobalt Camp, with more than 50 past producing mines; the Iron Creek Project in Idaho, which has a historic mineral resource estimate (non-compliant with NI 43-101) of 1.3M tons grading 0.59% cobalt; and the only permitted cobalt refinery in North America capable of producing battery materials. US Cobalt has scheduled a shareholder vote on May 17, 2018 with the transaction expected to close by the end of May 2018. Wayne Tisdale, President and CEO commented: We are excited to have set the May 17th shareholder meeting date pursuant to our previously announced transaction with First Cobalt Corp. Management fully supports this transaction which is intended to strengthen and de-risk both company's assets by strategically positioning the combined entity as a leading vertically integrated, non-DRC cobalt company. A summary of the intercepts from the current drill holes are [CoEq = Cobalt Equivalent; calculated as copper/10.58=CoEq, January 4, 2018]: Hole ID From feet To feet Drilled Length feet True Width feet True Width meters Cobalt % Copper % CoEq % IC17-36 Interval 180.4 214.5 34.1 14.8 4.5 0.18 0.23 0.20 including 180.4 188.6 8.2 3.6 1.1 0.34 0.26 0.36 Main Interval 276.0 281.0 5.0 2.1 0.6 0.22 0.12 0.23 Target Interval 375.5 412.0 36.5 19.2 5.9 0.11 0.29 0.14 West Side including 375.5 386.0 10.5 5.3 1.6 0.30 0.21 0.32 IC17-37 Interval 64.0 322.0 258.0 71.4 21.8 0.15 0.00 0.15 including 69.0 81.0 12.0 2.9 0.9 0.23 0.03 0.24 Main and including 115.0 128.3 13.3 3.5 1.1 0.36 0.00 0.36 Target and Including 199.5 204.0 4.5 1.3 0.4 0.29 0.00 0.29 East Side and Including 226.0 256.0 30.0 8.8 2.7 0.28 0.00 0.28 which includes 246.0 256.0 10.0 2.9 0.9 0.54 0.00 0.54 and including 299.3 322.0 22.7 7.4 2.3 0.22 0.00 0.22 Interval 508.0 523.0 15.0 4.8 1.5 0.14 0.00 0.14 Interval 645.0 663.0 18.0 5.3 1.6 0.15 0.00 0.15 Interval 785.0 830.0 45.0 16.0 4.9 0.16 0.00 0.16 including 785.0 790.0 5.0 1.7 0.5 0.39 0.01 0.39 and including 810.0 820.0 10.0 3.5 1.1 0.28 0.01 0.28 IC17-38 Interval 249.7 258.3 8.6 1.7 0.5 0.22 0.12 0.23 Interval 333.5 364.8 31.3 5.1 1.6 0.14 0.06 0.15 Main including 334.6 342.7 8.1 1.3 0.4 0.28 0.16 0.30 Target Interval 397.0 419.1 22.1 2.6 0.8 0.23 0.00 0.23 West Side Interval 602.4 612.9 10.5 1.7 0.5 0.14 0.00 0.14 Interval 671.9 684.7 12.8 2.0 0.6 0.28 0.00 0.28 Interval 735.8 1025.7 289.9 55.0 16.8 0.17 0.00 0.17 including 747.9 751.0 3.1 0.5 0.2 1.10 0.01 1.10 and Including 763.0 771.1 8.1 1.3 0.4 0.42 0.01 0.42 and Including 813.6 843.8 30.2 5.6 1.7 0.50 0.00 0.50 which includes 817.5 826.8 9.3 1.7 0.5 0.80 0.01 0.80 and Including 887.6 894.7 7.1 1.3 0.4 0.28 0.00 0.28 and Including 924.1 950.9 26.8 5.6 1.7 0.27 0.00 0.27 which includes 941.8 950.9 9.1 1.9 0.6 0.39 0.00 0.39 and including 977.3 987.6 10.3 2.1 0.6 0.31 0.00 0.31 IC17-40 Interval 332.0 350.0 18.0 8.6 2.6 0.06 0.45 0.11 Interval 370.2 377.1 6.9 3.3 1.0 0.02 1.87 0.20 Main Interval 435.0 628.6 193.6 95.9 29.2 0.12 0.50 0.16 Target including 503.0 517.0 14.0 7.0 2.1 0.18 0.16 0.20 West Side and including 540.0 550.0 10.0 5.0 1.5 0.16 0.40 0.20 and including 580.0 609.0 29.0 14.5 4.4 0.29 1.53 0.43 which includes 591.3 602.0 10.7 5.4 1.6 0.49 1.96 0.67 As previously announced, The Project is leased from Chester Mining Company (OTC:CHMN) subject to the Company's buy-out rights. As previously announced, historic tonnage and grade estimates indicate that the Property contains 1,279,000 tons grading 0.59% cobalt please refer to the Company's news release dated September 7, 2016. Due to the age of the geological work done to establish current anticipated tonnage, the Company is treating these tonnage and grade estimates as historical estimates. The historical estimates do not use categories that conform to current CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves as outlined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and have not been redefined to conform to current CIM Definition Standards. They were prepared in the 1980s prior to the adoption and implementation of NI 43-101. The historical estimates are contained within a report entitled "Iron Creek Prospect, Lemhi County, Idaho (#0483) Progress Report" by Terry A Webster and Thomas K Stump for Noranda Exploration, Inc., July 1980, which report does not detail cut-off grades and metal prices used to estimate the historical mineralization and used a tonnage factor of 11 cubic feet per ton. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources and the Company is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources. More work, including, but not limited to, drilling, will be required to confirm the estimates to current CIM Definition Standards. Investors are cautioned that the historical estimates do not mean or imply that economic deposits exist on the Property. Other than as provided for in this press release, the Company has not undertaken any independent investigation of the historical estimates or other information contained in this press release nor has it independently analyzed the results of the previous exploration work in order to verify the accuracy of the information. The Company believes that the historical estimates and other information contained in this press release are relevant to continuing exploration on the Property because they identify significant mineralization that will be the target of the Company's exploration program. The drill samples and underground channel samples are collected by Company personnel or contractors working for the Company at the drill or portal. All of the Company's facilities are kept secure. The core is transported to the Company's core processing facility in Challis operated by Earl Waite and Sons Mining Contractors who are contracted by the Company. There the core is logged, cut and sampled and subsequently delivered to the laboratory. All facilities are secure. All core is logged for recovery and other geotechnical features, prior to being sawed lengthwise in half by the Company's contractors. Individual core samples are selected on a geological basis to characterize mineralization. The core is geologically logged and half core is stored on site as reference samples in a secure facility. The samples are bagged, labeled and tied at the core processing facility by the Company's contractors. Geologic information is recorded on standardized sample description forms which included color, rock type, alteration, mineral species and abundance. Samples are stored in a secure facility at the core processing site until delivered to the laboratory. Blanks, duplicates and standards are inserted at the core processing site as part of the QA/QC program. The drill samples were loaded directly from the core processing facility to the truck of a shipping company and driven directly to the laboratory where the lab took custody directly from a Company employee. The sampling was overseen by Brian Kirwin, Senior Vice President Exploration for the Company. American Assay Laboratories (AAL) in Sparks, Nevada conducted the analyses of the drill core samples, and analyzed the Company's QA/QC samples at the same time, and the Company plans to utilize the services of AAL for the core samples. AAL is ISO / IEC 17025 certified and has successfully completed Canadian proficiency testing (CCRMP). Over 15% of the samples analyzed are control samples consisting of checks, blanks, and duplicates inserted by the Company - this is in addition to the control samples inserted by the lab. Correlation of the standards with expected values were excellent. At the AAL laboratory, the drill core samples were dried, weighed crushed to 85 % passing -6 mesh, roll crushed to 85% passing -10 mesh, split 250 gram pulps, then pulverized in a closed bowl ring pulverizer to 95 % passing -150 mesh, then analyzed by a 5 acid digestion for ICP analysis. Mr. Garry Clark, P. Geo., of Clark Exploration Consulting, is the "qualified person" as defined in NI 43-101, who has reviewed and approved the technical content in this press release. For additional information please contact: US Cobalt Inc. Wayne Tisdale, President T: (604) 639-4457 E: info@uscobaltinc.com Website: www.uscobaltinc.com. Reader Advisory This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the proposed exploration program on the Property. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in Canada and globally; industry conditions, including governmental regulation and environmental regulation; failure to obtain industry partner and other third party consents and approvals, if and when required; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; liabilities inherent in mining operations; competition for, among other things, skilled personnel and supplies; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; geological, technical, processing and transportation problems; changes in tax laws and incentive programs; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions and dispositions; and the other factors. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking information to conform such information to actual results or to changes in our expectations except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. vinaymishra188@gmail.com Varinder Singh Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 24 The state has recorded an all-time high average per acre wheat yield of 21.5 quintals, which is way ahead of the highest average per acre yield of 20 quintals in 2011-12. A combination of right weather, prolonged cold conditions, sowing of right varieties of wheat by farmers, enhanced farmer awareness and timely pest and yellow rust control in the Doaba region has led to high production in Punjab. The state was expecting 125 to 130 lakh metric tonnes of wheat arrival in its mandis this time against 119.76 lakh metric tonnes arrived during last year. Punjab, which has 35 lakh hectares under wheat cultivation was expected to produce around 180 lakh metric tonnes this time as against 176 lakh metric tonnes of the crop produced during rabi season of 2017. Though 125 to 130 lakh metric tonnes will straight away land in mandis for sale, the rest of the crop will be used by farmers and other consumers for domestic consumption. Farm experts observed that the biggest role in enhanced production of wheat in Punjab was played by timely control of yellow rust and aphids the deadly pest, which sucks sap from leaves and maturing grains. The Punjab Agriculture Department had set up 238 surveillance teams for the control of yellow rust, which mainly attacks wheat crop in districts falling in Shivalik foothills like Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, parts of Jalandhar, Ropar, parts of Nawanshahar and Mohali. The awareness of farmers about right kind of wheat varieties also contributed to enhanced wheat production this year in a big way. Mostly, they preferred to go in for ICAR-recommended wheat varieties like HD-2967, HD-3086 and PAU-725 for sowing this time and their ability to detect the right varieties has paid rich dividends. They also helped the department in a big way in timely pinpointing yellow rust attack, which saved costs on spray of fungicides like Propiconazole, said Dr Jasbir Singh Bains, Director, Agriculture Department, Punjab. He said harvesting season was set to get prolonged for at least a weak due to persisting cold weather conditions, particularly during night and early morning times. Jalandhar-based farm expert Dr Naresh Gulati says, Instead of proving to be a dampener, spell of rains in the end of December and first half of January proved beneficial for wheat crop. It rather nurtured the crop and there was no discolouration of grains. Unlike in the past, there was virtually no effect of yellow rust on the crop this time, said Dr Naresh Gulati. Ensure smooth lifting: Ashu to officials Chandigarh: Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Tuesday said the department would ensure timely procurement of wheat. Addressing officials of the department, Ashu said they should perform their duty with utmost devotion and honesty so that smooth procurement and lifting of wheat crop could take place. TNS Factors at play harinder@tribunemail.com London, April 24 A top UK diplomat has called the Golden Temple a mosque following which he apologised for the gaffe amid protests by Sikhs. Simon McDonald, Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, referred to the Golden Temple in Amritsar as the Golden Mosque in a tweet on Monday. At the Queens birthday party, presented with picture of The Queen at Golden Mosque in Amritsar in 1997, a permanent memento for Deputy High Commissions wall, he tweeted. On realising his mistake, he apologised for the gaffe. The Foreign Office top diplomat said this morning: I was wrong: I am sorry. I should, of course, have said the Golden Temple or, better, Sri Harmandir Sahib. However, Bhai Amrik Singh, the chairman of the Sikh Federation, said: This was a major gaffe by a top civil servant and unacceptable. It demonstrates a remarkable level of ignorance from someone in his position. In our view, a public apology and admitting the mistake is not enough. What we need is a commitment from the UK government and senior civil servants to root out such ignorance and discrimination or we will continue to face hate, abuse and threats of violence, he was quoted as saying by The Guardian. The gaffe comes as Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to launch an independent inquiry into Britains military role in the Indian Armys 1984 raid on the Golden Temple under his partys government. The Labour leader promised that an investigation into the attack, which is said to have left thousands of people dead, would be in the partys next manifesto. PTI vermaajay1968@gmail.com Jotirmay Thapliyal Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 25 Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu has expressed concern over the rising man-animal conflict. Addressing the annual convocation of 2016-18 course of IFS probationers at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy in Dehradun on Wednesday, the Vice-President said the rising incidents of man-animal conflict were a cause of concern and called upon forest officers to work towards reducing the problem. He said people residing along forests were suffering a lot due to the man-animal conflict. He also asked the forest officers not to disturb tribals residing in forests. You should not disturb tribals residing in forests but rather take them as helping hand, Naidu said. He also categorically held that those states which are doing good work in conserving forest should be given benefits and rewarded with incentives, amply hinting towards the long-standing demand of green bonus raised by forest-predominant states like Uttarakhand. Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Dr Harsh Vardhan, who was also present, exhorted the forest officers not to manage forests in isolation but as joint enterprise of the government and people. He called for conserving forests by empowering local communities. Uttarakhand Governor Dr KK Paul reminded that the Chipko Movement, was launched for environment conservation and was considered a forest conservation model in the entire world, had its origins in Uttarakhand. He said the forest officers should use scientific techniques and social-economic inputs for forest conservation. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat hoped that new forest officers would work towards new technologies and research in the sphere of forestry. He also stressed the need to use new technologies in checking incidents of forest fires. The Vice-President handed over diplomas to 53 IFS probationers. Those given diplomas included two foreign trainees from the Royal Government of Bhutan. He also presented awards to the IFS probationers, who excelled in various spheres of training. Arun Vignesh CS, who was allotted the Assam cadre, was awarded for All- Round Outstanding Performance. Among the IFS probationers, three have been allotted the Punjab cadre and two two Haryana cadre, while seven have been allotted Rajasthan cadre. harinder@tribunemail.com Washington, April 24 The Trump administration is planning to propose to end giving work permits to the spouses of H1-B visa holders to work legally in the US, a top federal agency official has told lawmakers, a move that could have a devastating impact on tens of thousands of Indians. A formal communication is expected to be made later this summer, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Francis Cissna said in a letter to Senator Chuck Grassley. The Trump administrations move to end the Obama-era rule could have an impact on more than 70,000 H-4 visas holders, who have work permits. H-4 is issued to the spouse of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India. They had obtained work permits under a special order issued by the previous Obama administration. Indian-Americans were a major beneficiary of this provision. More than 100,000 H-4 visa holders have been beneficiary of this rule. A 2015 rule issued by the Obama administration allows work permits for spouses who otherwise could not be employed while H-1B visa holders seek permanent resident status - a process that can take a decade or longer. The Trump administration is planning to terminate this provision. As with other revisions to regulations, the public will have an opportunity to provide feedback during a notice and comment period, Cissna said. When asked about the proposal, sources in New Delhi said Indias position has always been not to change the existing visa system. PTI singhking99@yahoo.com Banda Aceh, April 25 The death toll from a blaze at an illegal Indonesian oil well today has jumped to 18 with dozens injured, authorities said, warning there could be yet more victims. Images from the accident showed a towering flame shooting some 70 metres above homes and palm trees dotting a small community in Sumatra islands Aceh province. Firefighters this afternoon were still battling the blaze sparked by an oil spill at about 1:30 am in a residential area. Several homes were destroyed. Were still unable to control the fire, said Syahrizal Fauzi, head of the local disaster mitigation agency. We dont know if there are still victims because we cannot get any closer. Authorities initially said at least 10 people died and some 40 severely injured victims were being treated. The jump in the death toll was due to the subsequent deaths of eight victims who had been rushed to hospital, authorities said. There was a group of people digging in the old well but suddenly a huge fire was sparked and it exploded, said national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto. The victims were collecting oil from around the entrance of a well bore when the blaze erupted, police said. It was not known how much oil was spilled or what ignited the fire, but authorities suggested a lit cigarette as a possible cause. AFP pardeepdhull@gmail.com Tel Aviv, April 25 Israels Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday that Israel will strike back if Syria uses Russian S-300 missiles against its air force. There has to be one thing clear: if someone shoots at our planes, well destroy them, Lieberman told the Hebrew-language Ynet news site, Xinhua reported. The minister referred to comments by top Russian officials to the Kommersant newspaper that Russia is expected to provide Syria with S-300 anti-aircraft defence systems. Russian systems are there (in Syria) and are not being used against us, and if the Syrian systems act against us, we will destroy them, said Lieberman. We are not interfering in Syrias internal affairs, but on the other hand, we will not allow Iran to flood Syria with sophisticated weapons systems aimed at Israel, he added. On the Israeli-Russian ties, the Israeli defence minister said Israel maintains an open line with the Russian army in Russia. I think Russians have no reason to seek friction with us, and we are not looking for friction with them, he said. Israel has been carrying out occasional airstrikes against Syrian army positions, usually in response to errant fire from the Arab country plagued by a seven-year-long war between the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups. Tensions between Israel and Iran have been on the rise following an alleged Israeli attack on the T-4 air base in Syria earlier in April. IANS uttara@tribuneindia.com Seoul, April 25 North Korea condemned US criticism of its human rights record as ridiculous as a diplomatic whirlwind accelerated ahead of leader Kim Jong Un's summits with the South and with US President Donald Trump. In the latest sequence of messaging before Friday's summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the Demilitarized Zone, Trump demanded the North give up its nuclear weaponswhile describing its leader as very open and very honourable. Seoul said Moon will brief Trump by phone immediately after Friday's summit, and promised close co-ordination with the US. The isolated North has been accused of a litany of state-sanctioned rights abuses including extrajudicial killing, torture, brutal crackdowns on dissent and even kidnapping foreign citizens. The US State Department's latest rights report on the North, released last week, described egregious human rights violations in the authoritarian state from public executions to widespread surveillance of citizens. In recent weeks Pyongyang has been uncharacteristically reticent in its criticisms of Seoul and Washington, sometimes casting their actions as chilling the atmosphere for dialogue as it mounts a charm offensive ahead of the summits. But it angrily slammed the State Department report for viciously slandering the nation, accusing the US of being a hotbed of rights abuses itself, beset by cancer-like gun violence and all sorts of injustice, deprivation of rights. Washington was appointing itself as a human rights judge, the official KCNA news agency said in a commentary late Tuesday, adding its true aim was to create a pretext for political, military and economic aggression and pressure. The remarks came days before only the third-ever inter-Korea summit, in which Moon will focus on persuading Kim to give up his widely-condemned nuclear weapons and easing military tension between the two Koreas. They could discuss a path towards a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, which stopped with a ceasefire, and reunions of families left divided by the conflict. Moon told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he would raise the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the North's agents to train Pyongyang's spiesan enduring issue in Tokyo. I plan to tell... Kim that resolving the Japanese abduction issue will help establish peace in northeast Asia, Moon's office cited him as saying. Seoul said Moon's national security advisor Chung Eui-yong had met his US counterpart John Bolton in Washington. The two promised to co-ordinate closely and discussed a possible meeting between Moon and Trump before the US-North Korea summit, it added. The US president's praise for Kim Tuesday was in marked contrast to the colourful personal insults he hurled last year, when he dubbed the young leader Rocket Man and warned of fire and fury against the North. But he insisted: I want them to get rid of their nukes. Kim has overseen a rapid acceleration in the North's weapons capabilities, with Pyongyang last year carrying out by far its most powerful nuclear test to date and launching missiles bringing the US mainland within reach. Pyongyang announced a moratorium on testing at the weekend and said its nuclear proving ground at Punggye-ri would close. But the respected 38 North website said that tunnelling had been observed at the site up to March. It was still going on at a reduced level earlier this month, suggesting that either the tunnel was complete and ready for future renewed testing or that the slowdown simply mirrored the ongoing political changes underway. A day before Kim's announcement, satellite images showed unusual activity involving a dozen mining carts, 38 North said Wednesday. Friday's summit will be held on the southern side of the border truce village of Panmunjom, with symbolic gestures like food from both Koreas and chairs engraved with a map of the peninsula. That depiction includes the Seoul-controlled islands of Dokdo, at the heart of decades-long territorial row with Japan, which claims them as its own. AFP vinaymishra188@gmail.com Washington, April 24 French President Emmanuel Macron and his American counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday jointly called for a new nuclear deal with Iran, after the US leader denounced the three-year-old accord as insane. After lengthy talks at the White House, Macron told a joint news conference with Trump that they had discussed a new deal that would strengthen the 2015 accord along the lines Trump wants, such as by addressing Iran's expansion in the Middle East and its ballistic missile programme. But with a deadline on US economic sanctions against Iran looming next month, it was unclear whether the two allies made substantial progress on the future of the nuclear deal, which the West sees as vital to preventing Iran from building a nuclear bomb. Trump continued his hostile rhetoric toward the nuclear deal, calling it terrible, ridiculous and insane and threatening Iran with repercussions should it restart its nuclear programme. Theyre not going to be restarting anything. They restart it theyre going to have big problems, bigger than theyve ever had before. "If Iran threatens us in any way, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid," Trump said. Trump has until May 12 to decide whether to keep the US in the agreement and is under strong European pressure to remain in it, with Macron saying that while imperfect it holds the best chance of containing Tehran. Meanwhile, Iran's Hassan Rouhani said the US will face grave consequences if Washington decides to withdraw from the 2015 pact that curbed Irans controversial nuclear programme in exchange for lifting international sanctions on the Mideast nation. An Iranian official on Tuesday said Tehran might quit a treaty designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, if Trump scraps the agreement. Agencies Panel confirms Pompeo as State Secy rchopra@tribunemail.com Houston, April 25 Two police officers were shot and critically wounded outside a home improvement store in the US state of Texas, police said. The suspect, identified by police as 29-year-old Armando Luis Juarez, is still at large. Police said he might have fled in a white pickup truck. A civilian was also shot and the incident sparked a manhunt, police said. The incident began on Tuesday when an off-duty officer at the Home Depot called to request backup officers for an arrest. The two officers who responded to the call were wounded, police chief Renee Hall said. A civilian who was working as a loss prevention officer at the store was also injured, police said. The three injured were being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, police chief Renee Hall told reporters. She declined to give their names or more details about their condition. The suspect is considered dangerous, Hall said, adding it is unclear how he was able to get a gun and shoot all three of the victims. Earlier on Tuesday, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings also tweeted on the shooting: We are closely monitoring the situation in northeast Dallas and praying for our officers and their families. Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent thoughts and prayers to the officers in a tweet. Texas honours all the men and women who protect and serve our communities, and justice will be served, he said. Five Dallas officers were killed and seven others injured in July 2016 when a military veteran who had served in Afghanistan fired on them. The shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of Mesquite, Texas, was killed after a lengthy standoff with police. PTI uttara@tribuneindia.com Maungdaw (Myanmar), April 2 A United Nations Security Council delegation that wants to see first-hand the impact of the Rohingya refugee crisis will arrive in Myanmar on Monday and visit Rakhine state, a senior government official said. It will be the highest-profile UN visit to Rakhine since the start last August of a violent military crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority, which the UN and US have described as ethnic cleansing. Mainly Buddhist Myanmar disputes the charge but has severely curtailed access to the conflict zone, blocking UN fact-finders and a rights envoy from entering the country. After the Security Council first proposed a visit in February, Myanmar's government said it was not the right time but it gave approval earlier this month for the visit by the 15 council ambassadors. The crackdown has driven some 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh. "They will come to Naypyidaw on 30th (April) and will proceed to Rakhine the next day," a senior Myanmar official with knowledge of the trip said, without providing more details. The army's scorched-earth campaign left hundreds of Rohingya villages razed to the ground while refugees have given consistent testimony of murder and rape. Myanmar's military rejects the allegations and insists the response was a justified campaign to root out members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, who killed around a dozen members of the security forces in August raids on police posts. Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a repatriation deal for refugees to return in January but so far only one family has returned from a no man's land between the two nations. Several thousand Rohingya remain in the border zone, refusing to join the throngs in Bangladesh's refugee camps but also reluctant to return until their safety and rights are secured. Many Rohingya fear that returning to Myanmar will mean they fester for years in apartheid-like camps. In southern Rakhine some 130,000 Rohingya remain trapped in displacement camps after fleeing persecution in 2012. The stateless group has faced decades of discrimination in mainly Buddhist Myanmar, which stripped them of citizenship. "We will carry on waiting here until we are allowed to go back to our homes," Rohingya leader Dil Mohamed told reporters from no man's land through the border fence on Wednesday during a government-organised press trip. "Our parents and grandparents are all citizens of this country... how come we are not citizens?" AFP English French (Copenhagen) - This May 16, 2018, CF&B Communication is organizing the 4th edition of the European 'MidCap Event' Scandinavia, where selected Midcaps travelling to European financial capitals will make a stop in Copenhagen to meet the attending institutional investors. For one day, the top managers of listed companies from France, Finland, Germany, Italy and Spain, will present fund managers with their activity and perspectives in pre-organized one-to-one meetings. 30 listed companies, as well as about 40 institutional investors are expected to attend this increasingly successful event. INVEST SECURITIES (Paris), BANCO SABADELL (Madrid) and INTERMONTE (Milan) are the main Partners in this edition, and they will share their analysis, know-how and knowledge on their markets. BOLSA DE MADRID will be the Partner Stock Exchange for the event. Registration is free for investors. For further information and queries, please contact Caroline BADER - c.bader@cfbcom.fr FORM 8.5 (EPT/NON-RI) PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY AN EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER WITHOUT RECOGNISED INTERMEDIARY ("RI") STATUS (OR WHERE RI STATUS IS NOT APPLICABLE) Rule 8.5 of the Takeover Code (the "Code") 1. KEY INFORMATION (a) Name of exempt principal trader: HSBC Securities (South Africa) (Pty) Limited (b) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Sibanye Gold Ltd (c) Name of the party to the offer with which exempt principal trader is connected: Sibanye Gold Ltd (d) Date position held/dealing undertaken: For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 24-Apr-2018 (e) In addition to the company in 1(b) above, is the exempt principal trader 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 - Lonmin plc. 2. POSITIONS OF THE EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER 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(b), 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: (2) Cash-settled derivatives: 3,426,871 0.151 3,170,731 0.140 (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell: TOTAL: 3,426,871 0.151 3,170,731 0.140 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 EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(b), 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 Purchases/ sales Total number of securities Highest price per unit paid/received (ZAR) Lowest price per unit paid/received (ZAR) Ordinary Shares Purchase 4 1082.000 c 1082.000 c Ordinary Shares Sale 4 1082.000 c 1082.000 c (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 (ZAR) Ordinary Shares Swap Increasing a Short Position 451,587 1078.260 c (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 exempt principal trader 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" (b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the exempt principal trader 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? No Date of disclosure: 25-Apr-2018 Contact name: Abdul Qader Telephone number: 0207 088 2000 Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service. 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. The Turkmen-Uzbek business forum was held in Tashkent on the occasion of the state visit by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the Republic of Uzbekistan. During the forum, representatives of the state-owned and private structures of the two states discussed issues relating to increasing trade relations, export-import operations, the range and amount of goods supplied and services rendered to each other. The plenary session concluded with the talks between representatives of the state-owned structures and private businesses of the two countries. Enhancing mutually beneficial partnership, creating new joint ventures and implementing investment projects were the focus of the talks. In conclusion, representatives of the business structures of the two countries signed contracts and memoranda on implementation of joint projects worth over USD 250 million. TURKMENISTAN.RU, 2021 Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbott Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbott will be the keynote speaker for 150 entrepreneurs graduating from the University of Houstons Stimulating Urban Renewal through Entrepreneurship (SURE) Program. Its part of UHs Third Ward Initiative, a collaborative partnership with the historic Third Ward neighborhood aimed at improving the quality of life in the area by improving educational outcomes, securing jobs, developing and strengthening businesses, and celebrating the arts, culture and history of the area. The graduation will take place at 9 a.m., Saturday, April 28 in Michael J. Cemo Hall, Stubblefield Auditorium at UH. As wife to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the First Ladys primary focus is promoting volunteerism and service to others. Cecilia Abbott has devoted her life to serving others. Shes been a teacher, vice-principal and principal at several Catholic schools across Texas. She currently serves on the board of several educational organizations. The SURE Program through the C. T. Bauer College of Business is an educational partnership that connects UH students and industry experts with current or aspiring entrepreneurs from under-resourced communities, including Third Ward. The program, which is free for the entrepreneur, is an effort to stimulate urban renewal while providing opportunity for UH students to hone their skills by managing projects and serving clients. Students receive course credit by consulting for the local entrepreneurs, who, in turn, receive hands-on, one-on-one guidance from students and world-class business experts. The honorable Cecilia Abbott told me that her passion, like mine, is serving under-resourced communities and empowering them to achieve great success. Her support illustrates the strength and quality of the SURE program and demonstrates that we can spread our program across higher education institutions to bring positive change to local communities. Were thrilled that she will be speaking at the SURE graduation, said Saleha Khumawala, Robert Grinaker Professor of Accounting at Bauer College and founding director of the SURE Program. The SURE Program received the Governors Volunteer Award for Higher Education Community Impact last fall. Since its inception in 2012, the SURE Program has: Trained more than 630 entrepreneurs across more than 60 Houston zip codes Helped launch or expand more than 115 businesses Of the entrepreneurs SURE has served: 77 percent have been women 50 percent African-American 27 percent Hispanic or Latino Who: First Lady Cecilia Abbott, Keynote Speaker What: SURE Program Graduation When: Saturday, April 28 at 9 a.m. (Doors open at 8 a.m.) Where: UH Michael J. Cemo Hall, Stubblefield Auditorium 4746 Calhoun Rd. Houston, TX 77204 (map) SEATTLE, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DIGITALTOWN, INC. (OTC:DGTW) As part of the growing youth interest in DigitalTown, Inc., students from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), via TRITON FUNDS, are investing $1,000,000 in order to accelerate the rollout of the worlds leading Global Smart City Network across university communities powered by DigitalTown. DigitalTown CEO, Rob Monster, commented, Momentum is building for the global adoption of our blockchain-based platform for empowering thriving local economies built on the decentralized Internet. UCSD students and TRITON FUNDS have not only the prospect of financial return but, more importantly, the opportunity to make a real difference for the millennial generation of digital natives that are poised to unleash their true productive potential on the world. Sam Yaffa, one of three co-founders of TRITON FUNDS, says, DigitalTown is one of the few companies that is making progress towards the evolution of the modern city. Led by their visionary CEO, Rob Monster, DigitalTown understands the big picture of implementing a seamless platform for locals and visitors. In addition, the company gives municipalities the opportunity to fund operations through revenue rather than tax. This feat should be applauded, particularly when compared to modern corporate conglomerates that often fail to invest in communities. Yash Thukral, co-founder of TRITON FUNDS, adds, Society is evolving at an unprecedented rate because of the advancements in technology. As members of the millennial generation, our goal is to support companies that understand how to shape an environment that will adapt and revolve around these changes. DigitalTown does it all seamlessly. Echoing the sentiment, TRITON FUNDS co-founder, Nathan Yee, comments, DigitalTown contributes to the essence of what we invest in at TRITON FUNDS. DigitalTown strives to take advantage of the technological innovations of the last decade and focuses on the big picture of connecting people. DigitalTown helps people search, connect, and buy local in over 13,000 cities globally. The companys innovative search technology is branded in the identity of each city and creates discoverable online communities on web and mobile where residents and visitors take part in local economic success. Any member of any DigitalTown is also able to access the services of any other DigitalTown through a single login that empowers residents and visitors to see the world through local eyes. DigitalTown has embarked on an ambitious plan for the future of communities. The company envisions a global network of thriving sovereign local economies where residents and visitors buy local and buy direct. In effect, every city, town or village becomes its own Google, Amazon, Expedia, OpenTable, AirBnB, PayPal and Coinbase, all in one, branded in the identity of the city, and owned by locals through Blockchain-based CityShares. DigitalTowns senior leadership team is comprised of proven executives with experience in building large global enterprises. In addition to fast-paced internal development, the company has completed 7 acquisitions over the last 30 months in order to accelerate time to market for the integrated local-first platform called DigitalTown. The Companys 11 Board of directors, include 9 non-executive Directors who bring diverse experience. Rob Monster, CEO of DigitalTown concluded, The values of DigitalTown and TRITON FUNDS are perfectly aligned. The Triton team is a timely accelerator in our efforts to engage youth, notably in university communities, in San Diego and beyond. Looking ahead, this partnership will help us to more effectively activate the millennial age cohort who have much to gain from the shift to a decentralized Internet based on Blockchain. Users can sign up for the DigitalTown platform here. About DigitalTown, Inc. DigitalTown, Inc. (DGTW) powers Smart Cities to succeed in the Digital Age. The company provides turn-key hosted solutions to power "Digital Towns", which improve Quality of Life for residents and visitors through locally owned solutions for economic development, civic engagement and digital inclusion for cities around the world. For more information about the company, please visit www.digitaltown.com. About TRITON FUNDS LLC TRITON FUNDS is a private investment fund launched by students from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). TRITON FUNDS provides students the invaluable opportunity to gain real-world experience investing alongside experienced financial professionals. We invest in high performing teams with revolutionary aspirations to grow their company into industry leaders. TRITON FUNDS creates an ecosystem that assists talented entrepreneurs in successfully growing their ideas and maintaining strong community ethical standards. We provide strategic capitalization, business development support, and engineered exits to organizations we believe have a viable future in the modern economy. More information about TRITON FUNDS, please visit www.tritonfunds.com. (TRITON FUNDS LLC is not a subsidiary of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) administration or its student body. The fund is a separate entity from the school and should be treated as such.) Contact Rob Monster, Chief Executive Officer 425-295-4564; rob@digitaltown.com Disclaimer - Forward Looking Statement Safe Harbor Language: Any statements contained herein related to future events are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act 1995. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. DigitalTown, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update any such statements to reflect actual events. My recent visit to Nepal suggested indications of positive developments in the country. Today, as we observe the third anniversary of the destructive 2015 earthquake in Nepal, which caused 9,000 deaths and a loss of US$7 billion, these developments have strong implications for the process of recovery and reconstruction in Nepal. With the new majority government in place following the elections of December 2017, it is indeed expected for the Nepalese to hope for greater political stability and a faster implementation of the earthquake recovery programme. Even though the international community pledged $4.1 billion for the entire programme following the 2015 earthquake, the programme got off to a slow start. UNDP has been actively supporting the National Reconstruction Authority, which was set up following the earthquake, on various aspects of the recovery programme. Almost three years later, UNDP has now undertaken an ambitious task of supporting housing recovery in Gorkha district, one of the worst affected districts by the earthquake. With the Government of Indias assistance, UNDP launched a programme in March 2018 to assist about 27,000 home-owners to rebuild their houses. If all goes as planned, the programme will be one of the largest post-disaster recovery programme that UNDP has ever implemented. Along with UNDP, UNOPS will provide similar support to housing recovery in adjacent Nuwakot district. As India extends its support through its financial and technical resources, the programme serves an excellent example of South-South cooperation. UNDPs approach to recovery has always emphasized inculcating skills and capacities at the household and community levels an owner-driven approach to housing recovery. Such an approach involves a continuous dialogue with home-owners during the process of design and layout of the houses, and technical assistance and oversight for effective implementation. UNDP has been actively supporting the National Reconstruction Authority on various aspects of recovery. Photo: UNDP UNDP will provide on-site technical assistance on construction technology, earthquake-resistant features, government policies, material procurement and process management. UNDP will train engineers, masons and building artisans in large numbers to provide relevant technical assistance to home-owners. UNDP has partnered with several NGOs, which have come together to set up the Owner-driven Reconstruction Collaborative (ODRC). Building upon local knowledge and practices, UNDP will offer housing solutions that are affordable, environment-friendly and gender-sensitive. While UNDP will help home-owners rebuild their houses, the programme will also demonstrate the efficacy of building technologies and practices which improve both resilience as well as living conditions of the people. The two-year programme has kicked off! The decentralization process offered by the 2015 federal constitution and set in motion by the recent elections will allow new provincial and local governments to play a major role in disaster response and recovery. It could also be seen in wider application of earthquake recovery policy. After the floods in 2017, the national government decided to apply these policies to the flood-affected people as well. Following the floods, and the post-disaster needs assessment that UNDP supported in October 2017, the government announced a slew of measures to help people recover from the impact of floods. The national government has also just enacted the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, 2017. As UNDP works closely with the government to implement the Act and set up a new institution, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the good news is that, in the wake of the earthquake, disaster risk management has emerged as an important priority at all levels in Nepal. As prepared for delivery. Excellencies, Commissioner Hahn As we discussed in this mornings parallel session on the region, the Syria crisis continues to have a devastating effect on civilians inside the country, beyond its borders and across generations. We are here to reinforce the type of global solidarity that is required to address many of the key international challenges that we face, and in this case, to foster an active burden sharing between the international community and the countries most affected by the Syria crisis. In early February, I visited Lebanon, where I saw how the poorest communities have generously hosted the most vulnerable Syrian refugees and how national systems help people manage day-to-day issues from earning an income to sending children to school to accessing health services. Neighboring countries affected by the refugee crisis face similar challenges. Jordan now hosts 600,000 registered refugees, although generosity extends beyond this; Turkey, more than 3.57 million refugees. Egypt and Iraq also host significant numbers of refugees. The continuing effects of the crisis against a backdrop of strained resources and institutions make the resilience section of this years 3RP particularly crucial. Since 2015, the 3RP has been a pioneer for what is todays New Way of Working. Allow me to highlight a few key results from last year: In Lebanon, partners in the Livelihoods and Social Cohesion sector provided job training to nearly 36,000 Lebanese and Syrian refugees. In Turkey, with support from UNICEF, some 140,000 teachers and education personnel both Syrian and Turkish were trained to develop a variety of relevant skills, from classroom management and psychosocial support to teaching in camps and to children who have witnessed war. In Jordan and Turkey, UNDP has supported Municipalities to undertake significant improvements to waste management facilities The 2018 3RP covers five countries with a total appeal of USD$5.6 billion, comprising USD 4.4 billion for UN and NGO partners and up to USD 1.2 billion in multi-year funding already committed to address immediate needs and resilience building. 41 percent of the inter-agency ask is dedicated to resilience. UNDPs ask is USD 466 million to support resilience and livelihoods across the five 3RP countries. However, as the Brussels Conference also recognizes this year, while support to the current humanitarian and resilience priorities in the 3RP remains a priority, we must also do more to support structural reform and development as the most sustainable approach to managing the effects of the protracted crisis. Earlier this month in Paris, I had the honour to represent the UN Secretary General at the International conference in support of Lebanons development and reforms (CEDRE) in support of the Lebanese Prime Ministers new Vision for Stabilisation, Growth and Employment embedded within a reform agenda. The UN strongly supports this effort to help Lebanon manage the influx of refugees and chart a sustainable development path. We must also recognise the efforts underway in Jordan to manage the current humanitarian challenges while shifting gears towards longer-term development within a difficult economic environment. It is positive that this years Brussels Conference emphasizes increasing international support for longer-term development and reform efforts, while complementing humanitarian priorities. This is a real gain for the countries most affected by the crisis in line with the Grand Bargain discussed at the 2016 Humanitarian Summit. A recent meeting hosted by UNDP in Amman provided an opportunity for key stakeholders, such humanitarian and development actors, governments and NGOs, to reaffirm the importance of the commitment to resilience and longer-term development. Despite this, our overall funding for the regional appeal has gone down from 71 percent in 2013 to 53 percent last year. Just as concerning is the under-funding of the resilience components of the 3RP, which last year came to only 33 percent. The 3RP is approximately 27 per cent funded as of the end of Q1 against the total requirements of USD 5.6 billion. I ask you all to redouble your financial efforts to support more resilience at this crucial moment for the region and its vulnerable people, while laying the basis for stronger support for longer-term development. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has called for immediate action to reduce backlogs and cut the length of time people are waiting for a decision on their protection applications. Speaking before this Wednesdays Conference, Beyond McMahon the future of asylum reception in Ireland, organised jointly by Nasc, the Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre and UCCs Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, UNHCRs Head of Office in Ireland said that asylum-seekers are now waiting on average of 19 months to be interviewed by the International Protection Office (IPO) at the Department of Justice and Equality, unless their case is prioritized. With decisions likely to take longer again after interview, many asylum-seekers may now expect to wait two years before they will receive a decision on their asylum claim. UNHCRs own research shows that long periods of time spent in State-funded accommodation is leading to dependency and disempowerment among many people seeking protection, hampering their integration prospects said Enda ONeill, Head of Office with UNHCR Ireland. The introduction of a more general right to work from June, for those who can avail of it, should ease some of the stress people experience while waiting. Ultimately however, they need certainty about their fate to move forward with their lives. Provisional statistics from the Irish authorities for 2017 indicate that there were approximately 5,200 people awaiting a decision at the IPO at the end of 2017. This is up more than 1000 over the course of the previous 12 months in spite of the introduction of a new single procedure in December 2016 intended to reduce processing times to six months. European Union law requires states to ensure that decisions are made on applications as soon as possible, and in normal circumstances within six months. Many countries have laid down such time limits in national law with a majority of countries setting the limit at six months. Under Irish law, where a decision has not been taken within six months, all that is required is for the Department of Justice and Equality to provide the applicant, upon request, with an estimate of the time it is likely to take to reach a decision. Shorter processing times would also result in savings for the state. Each year one person spends in direct provision costs the state 10,950 said ONeill, referring to figures in the 2015 McMahon Working Group report. The cost of processing is a fraction of this amount. Investing in decision making not only improves outcomes for refugees, but also makes financial sense. Much of the focus in Ireland of late has been on direct provision and the accommodation system itself. However, the key underlying issue is not the accommodation necessarily but rather processing times. Ireland is to be commended for its ongoing efforts to improve conditions in refugee accommodation centres, but when direct provision was introduced in 2000, the intention was that it should only be for a short period of time. This must be our goal again. Enda ONeill will be chairing a panel at this Wednesdays Conference, Beyond McMahon the future of asylum reception in Ireland, in Cork. The conference is being organised by Nasc and UCC Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights. PSI Shinde get judicial custody in bribery case 04 Oct 2021 | 11:48 PM Nashik, Oct 4 (UNI) A court here on Monday sent police sub-inspector of Rural Police Mahesh Wamanrao Shinde and a private person Sanjay Kharade, who were arrested in a case of bribery, to judicial custody for 14 days. see more.. Huzurabad bypoll: Eatala Rajendars wife, Jamuna files nomination 04 Oct 2021 | 11:43 PM Hyderabad, Oct 4 (UNI) : BJP leader and former TRS health Minister Eatala Rajenders wife on Monday filed her nomination for the Huzurabad Assembly bypoll scheduled to be held on October 30. see more.. Criminals looted over Rs 47 lakh in Bihar 04 Oct 2021 | 11:43 PM Patna, Oct 4 (UNI) Some criminals, laced with firearms looted Rs 47 lakh in two separate incidents of crime at different places in Bihar today. see more.. Kozhikodes Jolly Shaju Murder Saga retold in bestselling author Sourabh Mukherjees latest book 'Death Served Cold' 04 Oct 2021 | 11:42 PM Kochi, Oct 4 (UNI) The sensational story of Kozhikode cyanide murders, which rocked the South Indian state of Kerala, is now set to be revisited in nationally-acclaimed and bestselling author Sourabh Mukherjees latest book Death Served Cold. see more.. Stock Exchange Notice 25 April 2018 GC Rieber Shipping - Minutes of the Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting in GC Rieber Shipping ASA was held today 25 April 2018 at 14:00 hours (CET) in Skipsbyggerhallen, Solheimsgaten 11, 5058 Bergen. A total of 91.10 % of the share capital and voting rights was represented. All items on the agenda dated 4 April 2018 were addressed and approved by the General Meeting. The minutes of the Annual General Meeting is attached. For further information: Christian W. Berg, CEO, phone: +47 974 05 553 Einar Ytredal, CFO, phone: +47 975 20 184 About GC Rieber Shipping: GC Rieber Shipping's business within offshore/shipping includes ownership in specialized vessels, high quality marine ship management and project development within the segments subsea, ice/support and marine seismic. The group has a specialized competence in offshore operations in harsh environments as well as design, development and maritime operation of offshore vessels. GC Rieber Shipping currently operates and has direct and indirect ownership in 11 advanced special purpose vessels for defined markets within the subsea, ice/support and marine seismic segments. The company has its headquarter and a ship management office in Bergen, and an additional ship management company in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Russia). The company is listed on Oslo Brs with ticker RISH. Further information is available on the company's website www.gcrieber-shipping.com. This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. Shiv Sena leader's murder: wife among 2 arrested Thane, Apr 25 (UNI) The Thane Rural Police on Wednesday claimed to have finally cracked the case of murder of a Shiv Sena leader whose partially-burnt body was found at a village in Ganeshpuri of the district about five days ago, and arrested two people, including the wife of the victim. Addressing an impromptu press conference here, Thane Rural Additional Superintendent of Police Prashant Kadam said this was a case of contract killing and also a sensitive one. The body of former deputy Taluka chief of Sahapur Shailesh Nimse (43) of Aghai, was found on April 20, within the limits of the Devchole village at the foot of a hillock. During probe, police first detained one Pramod Developing a community of practice: How training prosecutors in Egypt will help in the fight against human trafficking and migrant smuggling Alexandria, Egypt - 25 April 2018 - Under the framework of the Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT), UNODC collaborated with the National Coordinating Committee on Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling and the International Cooperation and Human Rights Division in the Office of The Egyptian Prosecutor General in organizing a a four-day training workshop from 15-18 April 2018 to further strengthen the capacity of Egyptian prosecutors to investigate and prosecute trafficking in persons (TIP) and smuggling of migrants (SOM) cases. The 18 prosecutors participating in the workshop came primarily from Egypt's delta region. Egypt is a source, transit, and destination country for TIP and SOM. Primary SOM routes are from the Horn of Africa and Eastern Africa and are taken by migrants seeking passage to Europe. In 2016, Egypt adopted Law No. 82/2016 on Combating Illegal Migration and the Smuggling of Migrants, which merged the National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and the National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Trafficking in Persons (NCCPIM & TIP). Together with Law No. 64 of 2010 on trafficking in persons, Egypt has a comprehensive legal framework to combat trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. UNODC supports the implementation of the legal framework with a training series designed for police officers, prosecutors and judges in order to strengthen national capacity to investigate, prosecute and adjudicate crimes of human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The aim of this workshop series to is to create a community of practice amongst Egypt's national prosecutors by building their capacity on topics such as: The existing international legal frameworks on TIP and SOM; The existing national legal framework on TIP and SOM; Cyberspace, the phenomenon of cybercrime and its relevance to TIP and SOM; and Different types of interviewing techniques, including when interviewing TIP victims. The workshop allowed participants to engage in animated discussions with UNODC experts and to discuss real TIP and SOM cases. Post workshop evaluation forms confirm that participants are particularly keen on the interactive nature of the training, as it enables everyone to ask follow-up questions on specific TIP and SOM cases as well as about international and national legislation. In addition, the prosecutors were also very interested in learning more about cyberspace and cybercrime, and how this is relevant with regards to TIP and SOM investigations. During the workshop, it became very clear that many case examples contained digital evidence stored on mobiles phones or social media platforms such as Facebook accounts. More importantly however, the workshop achieved real results with regards to perception issues. During an informal discussion session, the participating prosecutors revealed that prior to the workshop their perception of a smuggled migrant was very different and rather negative than post workshop. They said that the workshop helped them understand what makes people vulnerable to being smuggled and that the smugglers are the criminals who need to be prosecuted. The Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) is a four-year (2015-2019), 11 million joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The project is being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). GLO.ACT aims to provide assistance to governmental authorities and civil society organizations across 13 strategically selected countries: Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, South Africa, Ukraine. GLO.ACT works with the 13 countries to plan and implement strategic national counter-trafficking and counter smuggling efforts through a prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships approach. It supports the development of more effective responses to trafficking and smuggling, including providing assistance to victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants through the strengthening of identification, referral, and direct support mechanisms. For more information, please contact: Mr. Faisal Hegazy GLO.ACT National Programme Officer faisal.hegazy@unodc.org www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act/ Email: glo.act@un.org Twitter: @glo_act English French Paris, 25 April 2018 (6.00 p.m.) GOOD PERFORMANCE IN THE FIRST QUARTER WITH 1.7% GROWTH LFL CONFIRMING 2018 GUIDANCE Digital continues to drive the Group's business growth Q1 2018 1 gross profit (GP) of 20.73 M, up 1.7% on a reported basis and 1.7% LFL 2 . Strong growth in digital business: Q1 LFL up 6.1%. Strong growth in France: Q1 LFL up 6.2%. Decline in Belgium: Q1 LFL down 8.9%. 2018 guidance confirmed Growth in 2018 gross profit higher than LFL growth in 2017 (2017 GP: up 1.4% LFL). Share of Digital in the Group's total 2018 business higher than the share in 2017 (47.8% in 2017). Rise in adjusted operating margin (adjusted headline PBIT/gross profit)3 (2017 adjusted operating margin: 18.1%). ( M) 2018 2017 Reported 2017 LFL2 2018/2017 Reported change 2018/2017 LFL2 change Q1 Gross Profit1 20.73 20.38 20.38 +1.7% +1.7% 1 Unaudited data. 2 Like for like: Based on a comparable scope and at constant exchange rates (i.e. applying the average exchange rate over the period to data from the compared period). 3 Adjusted headline profit before interest and tax: Recurring operating income before restructuring costs and excluding the cost of performance share plans. Adjusted operating margin: Adjusted headline PBIT/Gross profit. Cecile Collina-Hue, Chairman of the Management Board, stated: "HighCo had a good first quarter in 2018, with business growth of 1.7%, driven by France. This solid performance, also spurred by growth in our digital businesses (up 6.1%) and the development of our expertise in data marketing, confirms our 2018 guidance, with business growth and profitability expected to outpace figures reached in 2017." DIGITAL CONTINUES TO DRIVE THE GROUP'S BUSINESS GROWTH Digital picked up its pace of growth, rising 6.1% like for like in Q1 2018. The share of Digital in the Group's total business rose from 45.8% in Q1 2017 to 47.7% in Q1 2018. Offline businesses declined, primarily in Belgium, showing a like-for-like drop of 2%. As a result, the Group posted business growth in Q1 2018 of 1.7%, on both a reported and like-for-like basis, to 20.73 M. Given the importance of digital business in the Group's development, and to guide its clients and ensure its stakeholders that they comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will take effect on 25 May 2018, HighCo has been taking measures over the past year at all its businesses, especially in data marketing, to meet these new regulatory requirements. STRONG GROWTH IN FRANCE BUT FURTHER DECLINE IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS With strong like-for-like growth of 6.2%, France turned in gross profit of 15.31 M in Q1 2018, representing 73.8% of the Group's gross profit. This increase is driven by the strong surge in digital businesses (up 7.8% like for like), which rose from 51.2% to 51.9% of total business over the period, particularly in DATA solutions. This growth also draws on the good performance in offline businesses, rising 4.5% like for like over the quarter. International gross profit dropped 9% like for like to 5.42 M in Q1 2018, i.e. 26.2% of the Group's gross profit. In Benelux, gross profit fell 8.9% like for like in Q1 2018, amounting to 5.14 M. This decline is due to the steady decline in the volume of paper coupons cleared and in offline in-store media. Digital businesses in Belgium grew 1.6% in Q1 2018, with their share in total gross profit rising from 29% to 32.4%. 2018 GUIDANCE CONFIRMED In light of the strong performance reported in Q1 2018 and the outlook expected for the months to come, the Group has confirmed its guidance for 2018: Growth in 2018 gross profit higher than growth in 2017 on a like-for-like basis (2017 gross profit: up 1.4% LFL); Share of Digital in the Group's total business for 2018 higher than the share in 2017 (47.8% in 2017); Rise in adjusted operating margin (2017 adjusted operating margin: 18.1%). 2017 ANNUAL REPORT AND 2018 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HighCo's 2017 Annual Report was filed with the Autorite des Marches Financiers (French financial markets authority) on 18 April 2018 under No. D18-0343. The report is delivered as the Group's registration document and is available on HighCo's website (www.highco.com), under Finance/Legal>Regulated Information>Annual Report. The Annual General Meeting will be held at the head office in Aix-en-Provence on 22 May 2018. A dividend of 0.14 per share for FY 2017, i.e. an increase of 16.7%, will be proposed at the meeting, with payment scheduled for 5 June 2018 (ex-dividend date of 1 June 2018). About HighCo Since its creation, HighCo has placed innovation at the heart of its values, offering its clients - brands and retailers - Intelligent Marketing Solutions to influence shopper behaviour with the right deal, in the right place, at the right time and on the right channel. Listed in compartment C of Euronext Paris, and eligible for the "long only" DSS, HighCo has more than 700 employees and since 2010 has been included in the Gaia Index, a selection of 70 responsible Small and Mid Caps. Your contacts Cecile Collina-Hue Cynthia Lerat Chairman of the Management Board Press Relations +33 1 77 75 65 06 +33 1 77 75 65 16 comfi@highco.com c.lerat@highco.com Upcoming events Publications take place after market close . Q2 and H1 2018 Gross Profit: Wednesday, 18 July 2018 2018 Half-year Earnings: Wednesday, 29 August 2018 Conference call on 2018 half-year earnings: Thursday, 30 August 2018 Q3 and 9-month YTD 2018 Gross Profit: Wednesday, 17 October 2018 Q4 and FY 2018 Gross Profit: Wednesday, 23 January 2019 HighCo is a component stock of the indices CAC Small (CACS), CAC Mid&Small (CACMS) and CAC All-Tradable (CACT). ISIN: FR0000054231 Reuters: HIGH.PA Bloomberg: HCO FP For further financial information and press releases, go to www.highco.com. TORONTO, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trigon Metals Inc. (TSX-V:TM) (Trigon or the Company) is pleased to provide an update on various workstreams in terms of its strategy to bring the Companys Kombat operations located in northern Namibia (Kombat or the Kombat Mine) back into production. The Company is targeting the commencement of open pit mining at Kombat by the end of the third quarter of 2018. Feasibility study on track for completion by the end of May 2018. Environmental reports to be submitted to the authorities to secure the necessary environmental approvals for open pit mining and underground exploration. Application for increased power supply approved by the Namibian Power Corporation (Proprietary) Limited (Nampower). Final due diligence in progress by a major international trading house for a financing facility of up to US$7.7 million (the Facility) to fund the restart of open pit mining. Stephan Theron, President and CEO of Trigon, commented: We continue to take positive steps towards bringing Kombat back into production. We are extremely pleased with the progress to date and remain on track for open pit production towards the end of 2018. Feasibility Study As previously announced, the Company is currently undertaking a feasibility study, including a feasibility analysis on the surface mining areas and a pre-feasibility design on the Asis Far West underground mine, in respect of dewatering and development work. The preliminary results from the feasibility study to date are positive and the process is on track for completion by the end of May 2018. The Company has also commenced with the process of evaluating contract miner proposals and preparation for the necessary restaffing requirements at site, further details of which will be provided at the appropriate time. The Company does not currently have a feasibility study in respect of Kombat and production restart activities are based on internal management forecasts. Historically, projects that are re-commenced prior to the mining company completing a feasibility study have a much higher risk of economic or technical failure. Estimates regarding production levels, development timetable and economic feasibility in respect of the Kombat Mine are based on internal management forecasts and are inherently uncertain and subject to continued refinement. Environmental Permitting The Company is in the process of finalizing the Environmental Impact Assessment reports for submission to the relevant authorities in connection with its application for the Environmental Clearance Certificate required for open pit mining and associated activities and exploration activities for underground mining. The Company will then await the necessary approvals to proceed with the aforementioned activities. Power The application made to Nampower in 2017 to increase the current power supply by 4.5MVA, in order to meet the requirements for the targeted mining and processing operations, has been approved and terms will now be finalized with Nampower for completion of the necessary upgrades. Financing Facility As previously announced, Trigon, together with its 80% owned subsidiary, Manila Investments (Pty) Ltd (Manila), has agreed terms with a major international trading house for copper concentrate offtake from Kombat (the Offtake) and the Facility of up to US$7.7 million to fund the restart of open pit mining. Trigon will act as guarantor for the Facility, and security will include first ranking charges and security interest over all present and future property and assets of Manila. The terms of both the Offtake and the Facility are subject to various conditions precedent, including final due diligence and approvals from the trader, which are in the process of being completed. Trigon Metals Inc. Trigon is a publicly traded Canadian exploration and development company with its core business focused on copper operations in Namibia, one of the worlds most prospective copper regions, where it has substantial assets in place with significant upside. The Company continues to hold an 80% interest in five mining licenses in the Otavi Mountain lands, an area of Namibia widely recognized for its high-grade copper deposits. Within these licenses are three past producing mines including the Companys flagship property, the Kombat Mine. For further information, contact: Stephan Theron +1 (416) 861 5899 stheron@trigonmetals.com Website: www.trigonmetals.com Cautionary Notes This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements include statements regarding the Companys ability to complete the feasibility study, the Companys strategies and the Companys abilities to execute such strategies, the Companys ability to obtain the necessary permits and approvals, the Companys ability to obtain adequate power supply for the Kombat Mine, the Companys ability to restart the Kombat Mine, the Companys ability to obtain adequate financing, the Companys ability to execute on the Facility and the Offtake, the Companys expectations for the Kombat Mine, the economic viability of mining at the Kombat Mine and the Companys future plans and objectives. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. UW Defender Aid Clinic Earns Giant Victory in Wyoming Supreme Court The University of Wyoming College of Laws Defender Aid Program recently achieved a major victory in one of its cases that has spanned a few years. Last week, the Wyoming Supreme Court issued an opinion reversing Johnson County District Courts refusal to modify a sentence of life imprisonment, with a consecutive 20- to 50-year sentence, for a client of the UW aid program. In recent years, students in the Defender Aid Program began representing a series of cases seeking resentencing for juvenile clients through the application of the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision on Miller v. Alabama. Many of those cases represented by the UW Defender Aid Program made their way before the Wyoming Supreme Court. The recent victory stems from one of those cases: Donald Clyde Davis v. State of Wyoming. Alyssa (Clegg) Conway, a 2017 College of Law graduate from Saratoga, was the primary UW student who worked on this case. In 2016, Conway, with the assistance of fellow student Hannah Toland, also a 2017 graduate from Powell, appeared in Johnson County District Court in Buffalo for a full-day hearing regarding a motion to correct an illegal sentence for the client. Unsuccessful at the District Court level, Conway drafted the initial appeal of the case to the Wyoming Supreme Court. She appeared before the court, making her argument a few weeks after graduating from the College of Law. Following oral arguments, the state Supreme Court requested additional information. Catherine Young, of Casper, the current UW College of Law Defender Aid Program student director, was tasked with providing the supplemental brief to the court in collaboration with attorney Julianne Gern, of Laramie, a 2014 UW law graduate who had previously served as the clinics faculty supervisor, and Laramie attorney Tom Fleener, the current clinic faculty supervisor. Their collaborative efforts culminated with the ultimate win for the client. I am immensely proud of the work done by the students in the Defender Aid Clinic, Gern says. Alyssa drafted an outstanding brief for the Wyoming Supreme Court, and her oral argument was better than many practicing attorneys. Catherine stepped up and learned a complex area of law in a short period of time. Her outstanding written advocacy skills contributed tremendously to our success in this case. The successful outcome was a team effort, she adds. One of the strengths of the clinical program is that the cases remain housed within the UW College of Law clinic, rather than with one particular student or faculty supervisor. The clinic provides continuity of representation for the client from start to finish. The client received a level of dedication from the faculty and students since the cases initial acceptance into the clinic under the direction of the late UW College of Law Professor Diane Courselle, Gern says. Without the clinic, Mr. Davis likely would not have had the opportunity to argue his case, which would mean that he would still be serving an illegal sentence, and the state and country would be without the important ruling made in this case, she adds. In addition to the win for the client, the Supreme Courts 4-1 decision established several procedures Wyoming district courts must use when determining whether a juvenile offender is one of the rare, irredeemable children who deserves to serve a life sentence or its functional equivalent. In an evolving area of law, the ruling in this case will help defense attorneys and juvenile defendants nationwide, Gern says. This case and its history will set the legal standard for all juvenile offenders in Wyoming, Fleener says. Im very proud of all of the work that was put in by each of the UW College of Law students and the impact they are making in the state. About the Case In 1982, when Davis was 17, he and a friend picked up a hitchhiker, then robbed and murdered him. In 1983, he was sentenced to life plus an additional 20-50 years to be served consecutively, meaning one after the other. However, following the U.S. Supreme Courts decision in Miller v. Alabama -- which found life without parole is an excessive sentence for all but the rarest of juvenile offenders -- Davis was granted parole in 2015 from his life sentence and began serving his consecutive 20- to 50-year sentence. Davis had served almost 34 years on his life sentence when he began serving the 20- to 50-year sentence. Represented by the UW College of Law Defender Aid Program, Davis first filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence, arguing that this new aggregate sentence remained a de facto life sentence with no meaningful chance of release during his lifetime. The decision by the Wyoming Supreme Court reversed the District Court and remanded for resentencing. A 19-year-old was given a minor and ticketed for distracted driving after being involved in two car injury crash near Grand Forks. It happened around 4:00pm Tuesday on Hwy 81. Matthew Voll of Manvel, North Dakota was traveling southbound towards Grand Forks on Highway 81 when he rear ended vehicle that was yielding to other traffic. That driver was taken to Altru Hospital to be treated for injuries sustained from the crash. The identity of the driver in the Toyota Tacoma will remain confidential due to the driver's rights being invoked pertaining to Marcy's Law. Voll was arrested for minor in consumption, and cited for failure to maintain control of a motor vehicle while being distracted. NEW YORK, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Building on the success of last years inaugural Women in Leadership Forum, CPhI North America, the only event to bring the complete North American pharma supply chain together, today announced details of the 2018 Women in Leadership Forum, which will take place on Thursday 26th April, from 8:00 am to 11:30am at Pennsylvania Convention Center. There is a full schedule of proceedings, including a keynote address by Lynn Taylor, Senior Vice President, Head of Healthcare Global Government and Public Affairs & Head of Corporate and Government Relations USA, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and a panel discussion - Empowering Women to Thrive - also featuring Taylor plus executives from Chromocell, DSM and Pfizer, who will discuss the vitality and importance of women leaders and progression within the pharmaceutical and specialty chemicals markets, as well as challenges women still face. Moderated by Alise Cortez, podcast host and a Consultant at Insigniam, an international management consulting firm, the panel includes keynote speaker Lynn Taylor, Tina Garyantes from Chromocell, Hugh Welsh from DSM, and Mike Kosko from Pfizer. According to the most recent data from the National Science Foundation, 57.2 percent of all bachelors degrees, 59.9 percent of all masters degrees, and 50.1 percent of all doctoral degrees are all earned by women. Yet today we still see a discrepancy in employment in many places, the pharmaceuticals industry included. To put it into perspective, among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the Fortune 500, only 17 percent of executives in those companies are women, and three had no women in an executive position at all. Furthermore, according to a Glassdoor report, even after adjustments to account for factors such as age, experience, and occupation theres still a notable and unexplained wage gap of 5.4 percent between men and women. On the bright side, however, the adjusted wage gap is amongst smallest in the biotech and pharmaceuticals companies. The Women in Leadership forum seeks to address these issues head-on and provide constructive dialogue where experts in this industry share experiences and strategies helpful in establishing equality for everyone and unleashing untapped potential in the pharmaceuticals industry. As DSMs Hugh Welsh has stated, Its pretty well understood that when youre in the majority cultureit could be by gender, by race, by national originyoure completely blind to your privilege. And I was blind to the privilege that I enjoyed until I built up a relationship with those who are part of the minority culture in the company who could help enlighten me. The full schedule (subject to change) for the Forum is as follows: 08:00 08:30 | Breakfast & Networking - Start your day at CPhI North America by networking with like-minded women in Pharma 08:30 08:35 | Welcome from the Chair 08:35 09:05 | Keynote 09:05 10:10 | Panel Discussion and Q&A: Empowering Women to Thrive How can you leverage your support systems to realize your potential? Topics to include: Mentoring - helping each other to succeed Corporate strategies & company culture Self-empowerment - what can you do to create your own opportunities? Paying it forward 10:10 11:00 | World Cafe (dynamic networking space) - Join group discussions focusing on answering your questions and discussing yours, the panel's and your peers' experiences. 11:00 11:30 | Coffee & Networking The 2018 edition of the CPhI North America Women in Leadership Forum will focus on leveraging support systems, from mentoring to exploring inspiring corporate initiatives, commented Joseph Marks Brand Director for CPhI North America. This years speaker line-up a highly experienced and diverse panel of Pharma experts - will share wisdom, personal experiences and advice throughout the discussion, enabling attendees to take away tangible tools to benefit both their own career and to help others career growth. The Women in Leadership Forum is an important opportunity for networking, personal development and promoting diversity in Pharma, issues that were passionate about. To reserve your place at the Women in Leadership Forum, log onto http://cphinorthamerica.com/wilf About CPhI CPhI drives growth and innovation at every step of the global pharmaceutical supply chain from drug discovery to finished dosage. Through exhibitions, conferences and online communities, CPhI brings together more than 100,000 pharmaceutical professionals each year to network, identify business opportunities and expand the global market. CPhI hosts events across Europe, Asia and, now, North America and co-locates with iCSE for contract services, P-MEC for machinery, equipment & technology, InnoPack for pharmaceutical packaging and Bioprocessing for biopharma. CPhI provides an online buyer & supplier directory at www.CPhI-Online.com. For more information, please visit www.CPhI.com. About UBM Americas UBM Americas, a part of UBM plc, delivers events and marketing services in the fashion technology, licensing, advanced manufacturing, automotive and powersports, healthcare, veterinary and pharmaceutical industries, among others. Through a range of aligned interactive environments, both physical and digital, UBM Americas increases business effectiveness for customers and audiences through meaningful experiences, knowledge and connections. The division also includes UBM Brazil's market leading events in construction, cargo transportation, logistics & international trade, and agricultural production; and UBM Mexico's, construction, advanced manufacturing and hospitality services shows. For more information, please visit www.ubmamericas.com. Media Contacts: Jess Schoenholtz, CPhI North America Mark Button, CG Life jess.schoenholtz@ubm.com mbutton@cglife.com 609-433-8655 408-310-2168 Sport Al Wasl and Shabab Al Ahli bag U16 and U14 honours in Dubai Football Club Academies Tournament The tournament is being organised under the framework of Dubai Sports Councils development plans for junior football in Dubai, and its plans to increase opportunities to compete for age group players as well as to prepare the academy teams for the upcoming season. Firefighters work near the site of a fire at an oil well in Peureulak, Indonesia's Aceh province on Apr 25, 2018. (Photo: AFP / ILYAS ISMAIL) Flames towered over houses and trees as firefighters hosed down the area while villagers looked on, pictures posted on social media by Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency, showed. "We are still collecting data on the number of victims because the fire has not been extinguished," the agency said in a statement. The fire had broken out about 1.30am (2.30am, Singapore time) in a residential area on Sumatra island's Aceh province, after a well of depth 250 metres (820 ft) overflowed and residents gathered to collect the oil. Dozens of people were taken to hospital in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, several hours away, the agency said, adding that state oil firm Pertamina was providing equipment to help fight the fire. "There was a group of people digging in the old well but suddenly a huge fire was sparked and it exploded," said national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto. Police said the victims were collecting oil from around the entrance of a wellbore when the blaze erupted. At least eight fire trucks had been deployed to douse the blaze. The head of police in the area said the oil well might have been drilled illegally and the fire might have been started when someone was smoking a cigarette. "We suspect this is a well drilled by the community ... and we suspect there was someone smoking in the area at the time," said police official Wahyu Kuncoro. "There were many people there who were smoking," police spokesman Wasisto added. "It's a village so many were scrambling to get oil and it was crowded," he said. East Aceh is dotted with numerous small-scale oil mining operations, which are often run illegally by local villagers. Although authorities said the operation was illegal, deadly fires are not uncommon in Indonesia, a sprawling country of more than 260 million people where safety regulations are often flouted. In October, 47 people died after a blaze tore through a fireworks factory outside Jakarta. Workplace safety is often lacking in Indonesia and there are also concerns about lax building standards. This year, Jakarta temporarily halted all elevated transportation projects after a dozen major accidents killed five and wounded dozens more. That directive followed a balcony collapse at the Jakarta Stock Exchange building which injured dozens. Chin Well Fasteners Vietnam may not have put a stop to its environmental violations On April 18, during the inspection to verify whether the firm has successfully remedied the damage caused by its environmental violations, the authority found large amounts of waste mud and chemicals buried around the factory of Chin Well Fasteners Vietnam. The representative of the board of management of Dong Nai Industrial Zones Authority told VIR that during the past two years, the inspection team of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has conducted weekly inspections to supervise the firms actions to mitigate the it caused. At the latest inspection, the inspection team found abnormal signs at the firms landfill. The team collected samples of waste at the landfill for testing. To date, the authorities have not published their findings, said the representative. He added that entirety of the wastewater pipeline system which was directly connected to the surrounding lakes and rivers was removed and the firm paid the fine to the provincial authority. Previously, Dong Nai Police co-operated with the provinces Department of Natural Resources and Environment to stage an unannounced inspection at the facility, whereby they detected that the company discharged untreated wastewater into the environment. In addition, the company was found to have illegally buried approximately 200 tonnes of harmful waste mud. At the time, local residents also complained that their daily lives were affected by environmental pollution caused by Hung Nghiep Formosas industrial park subdivision, where Chin Well Fasteners is located. Established in June 2005 with the investment capital of $80 million, Chin Well Fasteners Vietnam, a subsidiary of Chin Well Fasteners Co., Sdn., Bhd., manufactures screws, nuts, bolts, threaded parts, rivets, and special cold form parts. Its products are exported to the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Vietnam is currently ranked second in the number of incubator, accelerator, and innovation labs in the region, behind only Singapore. This is a positive signal for the development of fintech in Vietnam. The country has another advantage in being a young and digitally savvy economy. As per an EY report, around 90 per cent of payments are still in cash. That is the reason why Vietnamese fintech startups have strong focus on payment47 per cent specialises in this sub-sector, ranking highest in the region. There are also some fintech associations in Vietnam where fintech startups can gather to update, improve their knowledge, seek support, share experiences, and develop a legal framework for this industry. Fintech companies are still small in scale and the policies and regulations for these companies are still limited. Many banks are still cautious in their decision to cooperate with fintech. They do not realise that there are people who have never opened a bank account, but the number of smart phone users is increasing. Fintech is the bridge that helps banks bring more services closer to more people, said Duong Nguyen, EY Vietnam partner, leader of Financial Service Organisations and IT Advisory Services, and vice president of Vietnam Fintech Association (VietFintech). E&Y launched this new fintech reporting initiative reacting to powerful market dynamics Apart from the funding issue, talent shortage and government support policies and regulations are other major challenges that fintech in Vietnam as well as the region have to face. Brian Thung, managing partner at EY ASEAN Financial Services, said, Governments play a vital role in shaping a conducive fintech ecosystem that helps attract and develop the right talent pool and promotes innovation and collaboration and healthy competition. Surveying more than 250 fintech companies in more than 10 countries, EYs Fintech ASEAN 2018 Global Survey analyses the ASEAN fintech ecosystem in addition to providing a platform for fintech enterprises to express their views on a range of matters related to adoption, investment, talent, and environment. The report examines in depth how governments across the ASEAN have and can further facilitate thriving fintech hubs. The census also provides views from industry and domain experts on the ASEAN fintech ecosystem. According to Tracxn, investment in the ASEANs fintech sector has surged, jumping 45 per cent year-over-year to $366 million in 2017. However, little has been discussed and published about the opportunities and challenges facing the fintech industry in the region. To understand the key factors shaping the industry and bringing to the forefront the voice of fintech in the region, EY has undertaken this research and surveyed more than 250 fintech in early 2018. Participants include fintech enterprises primarily from the ASEAN countries as well as those outside who are looking to enter the region. The findings are presented in the inaugural EY ASEAN Fintech Census 2018. The financial services industry in the ASEAN region is rapidly evolving as a result of disruption by new-age Financial Technology companies (fintech). Fintech, which combines innovative business models with digital technologies to render financial services, is witnessing a visible ascendance in the ASEAN, as well as around the world. Rapidly expanding economies, young, urban, and digitally-savvy population, increasing mobile and internet penetration, and largely underserved small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and consumer markets by traditional financial institutions are all factors that have led to the rapid adoption of fintech innovation in the region. On the back of strong fundamentals and with fintech adoption on the rise, the ASEAN as an engine of economic growth and prosperity has caught the eye of global investors. Investment in the regions fintech sector has surged, jumping 45 per cent year-over-year to $366 million in 2017, according to Tracxn. APG is the submarine cable with the largest traffic operating in the Asian region.-Photo CMC Telecom The breakdown is blamed on problems in the cables branch to the Chongming/APG/China landing station near China. This is the third time this year the cable system has suffered the problem. VNPT, one of the countrys largest Internet service providers, said to address the situation, it has re-directed the Internet traffic to other cable systems and been working with foreign partners to ensure the quality of Internet services so customers would not be severely affected due to the problem. The cables repair is expected to finish within three weeks. In 2018, the APG experienced the first rupture on January 6, caused by the expansion of Changi Airport in Singapore. The second time was on February 27, at a location about 125 km away from Hong Kong. Initiated in 2009, the APG is a partnership between Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan), China Telecom (China), China Unicom (China), KT Corporation (RoK), NTT Communications (Japan), PLDT (the Philippines), Telekom Malaysia (Malaysia) and VNPT (Viet Nam). The 10,400 km-long APG boasts a capacity of 54Tbps, the highest of any network in Asia, connecting eight countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Viet Nam. It was funded by VNPT, Viettel, FPT and CMC Telecom. The cable system was put into operation at the end of 2016, aiming to reduce Viet Nam dependence on the Asia-America Gateway (AAG), which broke down several times last year. PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc offers incense to commemorate Hung Kings at the Hung Kings Temple Relic Site on Nghia Linh Mountain in the northern province of Phu Tho on April 25, 2018. Photo: VOV Ruling the country through 18 generations (2879258 BC), the Hung Kings taught locals how to grow wet rice. They chose Nghia Linh Mountain, the highest in the region, to perform rituals devoted to rice and sun deities to pray for lush crops. The worshipping rituals of the Hung Kings are closely related to the ancestral worship traditions of most Vietnamese families, an important part of people's spiritual life. It was recognised as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012. Viet Tri city, which was the first capital of Viet Nam under the Van Lang administration, still owns many archaeological and historical relics related to the Hung Kings reign. Annually, millions of people converge on the Hung temple at the Nghia Linh mountain in Phu Tho province to commemorate their ancestors and pray for good weather, abundant harvests, good luck and good health. The largest ceremony, the Ancestral Anniversary festival of the Hung Kings, is celebrated for about one week at the beginning of the third lunar month. People from surrounding villages dress in splendid costumes and compete to provide the best palanquin and most highly valued objects of worship for the key rite in which drums and gongs are conveyed to the main temple site. Communities make offerings of rice-based delicacies such as square cakes and glutinous cakes, and there are verbal and folk arts performances, bronze drum beating, Xoan singing, prayers and petitions. Secondary worship of Hung Kings takes place at sites countrywide throughout the year. The rituals are led and maintained by the Festival Organizing Board knowledgeable individuals of good conducts, who in turn appoint ritual committees and temple guardians to tend worship sites, instruct devotees in the key ritual acts and offer incense. The tradition embodies spiritual solidarity and provides an occasion to acknowledge national origins and sources of Vietnamese cultural and moral identity. File photo of Razer CEO Tan Min-Liang. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman) The company, which currently holds a 34.9 per cent stake in MOL, plans to buy out the remaining 65.1 per cent for about US$61m (S$81 million). "This acquisition will combine Razers zGold and MOL Globals MOLPoints virtual credits, creating one of the largest virtual credits platforms for gamers in the world, said Razers co-founder and chief executive officer Tan Min-Liang in the press release. Razer's zGold is a virtual credit service for gamers which allows them to purchase virtual goods and items from more than 2,500 games. The proposed acquisition will see MOL Global become a wholly owned subsidiary of Razer. The deal is subject to approval from MOL Global shareholders, although Razer said it has already secured support from other major shareholders. The move comes after Razer announced earlier this month that it will launch its digital game distribution platform in Southeast Asia, starting with Singapore. The Razer Game Store will be on Lazadas e-commerce platform. The store will subsequently be launched elsewhere in the region, including in Malaysia and Thailand, followed by Indonesia and the Philippines. Southeast Asia represents one of the highest GDP growth regions with one of the youngest demographics in the world, said Mr Tan. Citing low credit card penetration in the region, Razer said that MOLs unique offline-to-online payment model, with approximately 1 million offline payment points, makes it the largest virtual credits platform for gamers in the region. MOL handled more than US$1.1 billion of payments last year through its e-payment network. Founded in 2005 and dual-headquartered in Singapore and San Francisco, Razer is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after going public last year. Its latest push into e-payments comes after last year's offer by Mr Tan to Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to roll out a unified e-payments system for Singapore. Environmental concerns may override Vinh Phuc province's thirst for FDI On April 21, the Vinh Phuc Peoples Committee organised a conference to collect opinions from representatives of departments, relevant authorities, and experts about the TAL Groups textile and garment dyeing project, according to local media. The conference was organised after the investor insisted on developing the project despite the provincial leaders refusal due the risk of environmental pollution. Notably, in October 2016, after taking its second garment factory into operation, TAL expressed interest in developing a textile and garment dyeing project in Ba Thien 2 Industrial Park with the aim of creating a closed manufacturing chain. At the time, the province estimated that if the project was approved, it would use 12,000 cubic metres of water per day, 11,840cu.m of which it would discharge in the form of wastewater. Besides, it would use 22.5 million litres and 517,000 kilogrammes of chemicals per year. After studying the scale as well as the demand for electricity, water, and chemicals for the project, Vinh Phuc was afraid that it may discharge large volumes of wastewater that would affect highly populated areas, having potentially adverse effects on agricultural production, aquaculture, and daily life. Thus, in December 2016 the province submitted its decision to the prime minister to refuse the project. However, fuelled by the desire to build a closed manufacturing chain, the investor proposed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to approve its environmental impact assessment report. In October 2016, TAL Group took its second, $50-million garment factory into operation in Vinh Phuc province. The company entered Vietnam in 2004 with the $40-million Viet My Garment Textile and Garment plant in Thai Binh provinces Phuc Khanh Industrial Zone. TAL Group manufactures products for large-scale global retailers in the US, Europe, and Asia, including famous brands like Burberry, Brooks Brothers, Banana Republic, and Tommy Hilfiger. Women on the wall: A mural depicting the two sisters of Kieu. Photo ngoisao.net Artists from the province are giving its walls a makeover by creating murals depicting figures and landscapes mentioned in the Tale of Kieu (a Vietnamese epic poem), as the poet, Nguyen Du, was a native to this locality. Painters from the province-based Nguyen Du Art and Culture College have completed 30 murals on the walls surrounding the village. Walls along the roads in Phong Giang Village, which falls in Dus native commune of Tien Dien, got murals earlier this month. Some murals include the lines of the poem in Vietnamese and English. According to Pham Ngu Binh, the communes chairman, the bilingual inscription is to encourage foreign visitors to visit the late poets hometown. Binh expects the murals to lure more tourists to the village and boost the business of its homestays, run by 14 families in the locality. The murals have received popular support, as the local residents say they give the villages roads a vibrant look. We are happy with the colourful walls. No more boring, rusty fences in the village, said Nguyen Thi Tan, a resident. Cao Tien Hung, one of the painters, said it was more challenging to depict the poem than any other artwork as the description of figures and landscapes mentioned in the poem needed to be accurate. The idea of murals was suggested by the provinces Department of Culture and Sports, which proposed some 200 murals around the village. Ha Tinh is the eighth locality in the country to be getting mural streets. Others include Tam Thanh and Tam Hai villages in central Quang Nam Province, Ganh Yen Village in central Quang Ngai Province, Cao Lanh Village in southern Dong Thap Province, a fresco alley in Da Nang, Phung Hung Street in Hanoi and Canh Duong mural village in neighbouring Quang Binh. Tale of Kieu is recognised as a top literary work in the country. It was written by poet Nguyen Du (1766-1820), who was also a mandarin in the eras of the Nguyen Lords (1558-1777) and Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). Danang's annual International Fireworks Festival Danang remains the most sought-after destination among Vietnamese travellers in the upcoming holidays, according to global online booking platform Agoda. The central city of Danang is well-known for its nice landscapes, diversified outdoor activities, and rich food culture. Furthermore, Agoda also provides a large range of accommodations in Danang at all prices for all kinds of travellers. Rank Destination 1 Danang (Vietnam) 2 Dalat (Vietnam) 3 Nha Trang (Vietnam) 4 Phan Thiet (Vietnam) 5 Phu Quoc (Vietnam) 6 Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) 7 Bangkok (Thailand) 8 Singapore (Singapore) 9 Vung Tau (Vietnam) 10 Seoul (Korea) 11 Hanoi (Vietnam) 12 Taipei (China Taiwan) 13 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) 14 Hue (Vietnam) 15 Hoi An (Vietnam) 16 Sa Pa (Vietnam) 17 Tokyo (Japan) 18 Halong Bay (Vietnam) 19 Bali (Indonesia) 20 Phnom Penh (Cambodia) In particular, the city in Vietnams central part will host its annual International Fireworks Festival from April 30 to May 1, which remains a remarkable attraction for tourists. At weekends, tourists may travel to Hoi An ancient town, about an hour drive from Danang. This place ranked the 15th among the top 20 travel destinations this summer. The Hung King Festival taking place on April 25, before the National Reunification Day (April 30) and Labour Day (May 1), is especially popular. As the summer is approaching, tourists are looking for cooler or seacoast destinations, including Dalat city (second), Nha Trang city (third), Phan Thiet city (fourth), and Phu Quoc Island (fifth). In addition, the bright lights of Thailands Bangkok (seventh), Singapore (eighth) or Koreas Seoul (tenth) and Chinas Taipei (12th) are all good options for foreign travel. Especially, Taipeis increasing low cost carrier (LCC) services and liberalised visa policies have made it a more popular destination for tourists from Vietnam and Korea. 1. Danang: Naman Retreat Resort Naman Retreat Resort is the perfect choice for travellers wishing to stay at favourable position. The resort is located about 15km from the city centre and 22 minutes from the airport. The resort offers swimming pools and high-quality spa services. 2. Dalat: Lu Tan Inn Located in the centre of Dalat city, Lu Tan Inn is a great place for exploring Dalats beauty. This homey inn is located 1km from Dalat Market and about 30 minutes from the airport. 3. Nha Trang: Sea View Luxury Zoom Apartments The Sea View Luxury Zoom Apartments offer stunning sea views and modern furnishings. Only 2km from public transportation points, travellers can easily explore the seacoast city. 4. Phan Thiet: Mia Resort Mui Ne Mia Resort Mui Ne is good accommodation for travellers seeking ultimate relaxation. This resort is located less than 1km from Mui Ne Beach. 5. Phu Quoc: TS Beach House TS Beach House features stunning ocean views and offers bright furnishings, and is located less than 2km from the Coco Dive Centre. Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM News Updates The daily news, sports, and events delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Sports Update This current sports headlines delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Upcoming Events This email is the events of the area delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens. Luigi Di Maio: If someone thinks about disengaging Italy from our historic allies, who are the West and NATO countries, he will always find me against it. Italy, and especially the 5 Star Movement, has never said that it intends to separate from our historical allies. This declaration by the candidate for premier (on La7 TV, 16 April) raises a basic question that goes beyond the current political debate. What is the assessment of Italys seventy years of bonding with its "historic allies"? In 1949, with the 5th De Gasperi Government (Christian Democracy - Pli - Psli - Pri), Italy became a NATO member under US command. Subsequently, according to the secret agreements signed by De Gasperi in Washington in 1947, the deployment in Italy of US bases and forces began, with about 700 nuclear weapons. For 40 years, in the USA/NATO strategy, Italy was at the forefront in confronting the USSR and the Warsaw Pact. Italy could be sacrificed in case of war (the US also kept atomic demolition mines ready on our territory). The end of the Cold War, with the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the USSR in 1991, opened for Italy not a period of peace but a continuous series of wars in the wake of its main "historic ally". In 1991, with the 6th Andreotti Government (DC - Psi - Psdi - Pri - Pli), the Italian Republic participated, in the Gulf under US command, in its first war, violating Article 11 of its Constitution. In 1999, with the DAlema Government (Ulivo - Pdci - U-deur), Italy plaid a fundamental role, with its bases and its fighter bombers, in the NATO war against Yugoslavia. In 2003, with the 2nd Berlusconi Government (Forza Italia - AN - LN - Ccd-Cdu), Italy began its participation (currently in progress after 15 years) in the US / NATO war in Afghani-stan. Also in 2003, with the same government, it participated in the US-led coalitions invasion of Iraq In 2011, with the 4th Berlusconi Government (PdL, LN, MpA), Italy plaid a role of primary importance in the NATO war against Libya, in which it participated with 7 air bases, fighter bombers and warships. In 2014-2018, with the Renzi Government (Democratic Party, NCD, SC, UCD) and the Gentiloni Government (same coalition), Italy participated in the US/NATO escalation against Russia, by deploying troops in Latvia and jet fighters in Estonia. At the same time these and other governments ceded our national territory to the Pentagon, which uses it as its bridge and flight deck to launch military operations in a wide geographic area. The Command of the US Naval Forces Europe-Africa in Naples-Capodichino, led by the same US admiral who commands the Allied Joint Force Command Naples at Lago Patria, covers half of the Atlantic Ocean and the seas bordering throughout Europe and Russia and almost the whole of Africa. The US bases in Aviano, Vicenza, Camp Darby, Gaeta, Sigonella, and the MUOS ground station in Niscemi are used to carry out military operations in Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe. Italy is tied to the US directly and through NATO, in which since 1949 the US maintain the leading position of Supreme Allied Commander Europe and all the other key commands. Italy is thus deprived of sovereign power in foreign policy. The new nuclear bombs B61-12, that the United States will deploy in Italy by 2020, will expose us to even greater risks. Luigi Di Maio signed the ICAN Parliamentary Pledge to have Italy adhere to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, that is removing US nuclear weapons from Italy. Will he keep the pledge or break it so as not to "disengage Italy" from its main "historic ally"? Bill Cosby. Photo: Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images Closing statements in Bill Cosbys felony sexual assault trial officially wrapped up this evening at the Montgomery County Courthouse near Philadelphia. After more than two weeks and 25 witnesses, the judge is expected to hand off the case to the jury to begin deliberations Wednesday. Highlights from the long and final day of this retrial included a blistering attack against all of Cosbys accusers by lead defense attorney Tom Mesereau. He asked the jury to reject the case, which he called flimsy, silly, ridiculous because Andrea Constand, the woman at the center of the retrial who has accused Cosby of drugging and raping her in his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004, is a pathological liar. No one was safe from the defenses scorn today. One by one, Cosbys legal team ripped each accusers testimony apart in a summation that lasted about two hours. Bill Cosby got conned big time, Mesereau said, pandering to the jury by focusing attention on the comedians old age and impaired vision. Defense attorney Kathleen Bliss also chided the prosecution for calling five accusers to the stand during the retrial accusers who had a major impact on the case. How unfair is that? she asked, digging up stuff from three decades ago? The defense implored the jury to not allow the #MeToo movement to influence their decision in this case. They reiterated several times that while Cosby may have made bad judgments, hes not a criminal. Lara Yeretsian, a defense attorney with Yeretsian Law in Southern California who has worked on several high-profile cases, including those involving Michael Jackson and Scott Peterson, said that #MeToo is unavoidable in this case no matter how hard the defense downplayed it in closing. Before the #MeToo movement, she said, I would have said [Cosbys] status as a celebrity was a great advantage. Now, Im not as confident celebrity is as advantageous as it used to be. Today, prosecutor Kristen Feden reminded jurors that its Cosby, and not Constand or any of the accusers, who are on trial. She also emphasized how each woman told strikingly similar stories that paint a portrait of the 80-year-old as a dangerous sexual predator who used his fame and money to escape prosecution for decades. This case has become symbolic in many ways because it appears to be the last opportunity for Cosby to be charged criminally within the state of Pennsylvanias statute of limitations. No one has come forward since Constand filed charges just under the statutes deadline. A big challenge for the prosecution, said Yeretsian, is convincing the jury to convict Dr. Huxtable. That is not an easy task. Feden said today that Cosby is not the man the jury may remember from television at all. He preyed on Andrea Constand the same way he preyed on all those five women, she said, revisiting their graphic testimonies about how Cosby drugged and raped them over the past three decades. The prosecution team also criticized the defense for their ongoing character assassinations, notably attacking accusers on the stand throughout the retrial. Feden said Bliss was utterly shameful to put accusers through such grueling testimony. Shes the exact reason why women, victims of sexual assault and men dont report these crimes, she said. If the jury comes back with a guilty verdict, Yeretsian said that Cosbys age, a focal point for the defense today, would not preclude him from serving jail time. I would expect [the defense] to appeal, she said, particularly in light of some of the judges evidentiary decisions. She added that this case is being closely watched because it involves several controversial elements: fame, money and shocking accusations about a man who was beloved by millions. If Cosby is not convicted, the case becomes another example of the power of celebrity and the difficulties surrounding prosecuting celebrities, Yeretsian said. If convicted, many will view it as a win for #MeToo. But the Cosby case didnt start the movement and regardless of the outcome, it wont be the end of the movement. Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams in Disobedience. Photo: Courtesy of Bleecker Street Media The lesbian Orthodox drama Disobedience starts with a kind of challenge. An elderly British Orthodox rabbi the most respected kind, a rav played by Anton Lesser with fun Olivier cadences, turns away from the Ark and tells his rapt congregation (bearded men down front, bewigged women in the rafters) that humans, unlike angels and demons, are free to choose. Then he keels over, dead, which doesnt look like a choice. But his words nonetheless hang over the film. Rachel Weisz plays the ravs estranged daughter, Ronit, who is told of his death while in New York photographing an old man covered with tattoos (you shall not incise any marks on yourself); promptly has sex in a bathroom stall (you shall not drunkenly fornicate with strangers in loos); and goes ice-skating (the Torah is silent on ice-skating, except on the Sabbath). Then Ronit returns to London to help bury her dad, not expecting to run promptly into her old lesbian lover, Esti. It turns out that Esti (Rachel McAdams) hasnt just remained within the Orthodox fold but has married Ronits old chum and the ravs most dedicated disciple, Dovid (Alessandro Nivola). This creates all manner of crosscurrents. First, the bearded men and bewigged women are taken aback by Ronits mere presence. (They say, May you live a long life, which roughly translates as, May you live somewhere far away from me, you godless slut.) Dovid, though more welcoming, is antsy. It turns out that many in the community knew of Estis un-Orthodox sexual appetites but appreciated that she sought to curb them with a traditional marriage to a man as frum as they come. But can Esti withstand temptation? One look at McAdamss ashen face and you know shes farklempt. Anyway, if she doesnt succumb, theres no movie. Disobedience isnt packed with surprises, but thats not why you go to a movie like this. You go to watch humans with wayward emotions labor to make peace with (or opt to war against) a formal, ritualized way of life. You go to see them argue over such words as freedom and choice. You go to see the sex scenes and then to be ashamed for thinking in such sexist terms and to atone publicly in what has become a familiar ritual. The love scenes are above all romantic. Both women have been lost, Esti with her dutiful sexual service and Ronit with her reflexive but joyless assertions of freedom. They long for connection. The Chilean director, Sebastian Lelio, is a specialist in portraying longings for connection that go against the prevailing orthodoxy. His radiant Gloria centered on a 58-year-old divorced womans unapologetic search for sexual fulfillment. His Oscar-winning A Fantastic Woman was unorthodox even in its transgender title character. Disobedience might be his stiffest film, but its stiffness is meant to reinforce the milieu. As depictions of fundamentalists go, this one is relatively sunny: These Orthodox are not as egregiously hostile toward those who leave the fold as, say, the Hasidim are. But their quiet judgments are nearly as lacerating. If nothing else, everyone is always watching everyone else for signs of nonconformity. Her character wilting under those judgments, McAdams does a fine job of submerging her buoyant personality, but shes hurt by the spareness of the script, which doesnt capture the acid observations of the character in Naomi Aldermans novel. A bigger change from the novel is Dovid, whom Alderman makes a schlemiel, but as played by Nivola is by the standards of Orthodox Jewish males like vintage Tom Selleck crossed with vintage Burt Reynolds. If Esti isnt into him, she must be really gay. I think Nivola would make a great rebbe. He even brings off one of those movie-ish scenes where the character sets aside a prepared text and speaks from the heart. Weisz continues to work miracles. She captures Ronits divided existence in every gesture and expression, whether rending a garment at a skating rink or donning a leather skirt for a Shabbes dinner while looking both guilty and, in an impish, little-girl way, determined. Its a bit of a letdown when Ronit becomes more passive, and Esti and Dovid turn out to be the movies dramatic fulcrum. What really left me farblondzhet was the resolution, which isnt just different from the novels but in some ways opposed to it. (What so Im not supposed to read the novel? Its acclaimed!) I suppose that this less conservative finale can be taken as an exercise of the filmmakers freedom to choose, and of an even higher level of disobedience. *This article appears in the April 30, 2018, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now! Harrison Ford. Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney Your handsome but gruff movie grandpa, Harrison Ford, will make his first foray into voice acting for animated films. Deadline reports that the superstar has signed on for The Secret Life of Pets 2, and though his role is not named, anyone with a sense of humor should know that Fords deep, gravely voice would be best paired with a soft, small rodent of some kind, or perhaps a fancy bird. Also joining the cast are Tiffany Haddish, Nick Kroll, Patton Oswalt, and Pete Holmes, with Oswalt reportedly taking over the lead role of Max the dog, who was previously voiced by Louis C.K. Crawford and Wayans. Photo: Darren Michaels/FOX/Fox Broadcasting Co. Following Lethal Weapon star Clayne Crawfords admission in a social-media message that widespread reports of his toxic on-set behavior were not exaggerated, Deadline is expanding on the circumstances surrounding these blowups. Specifically, the outlet is now reporting that one of the two reprimands Crawford experienced this season actually involved the shows other star, Damon Wayans, whom Crawford only identified as an actor in his apology message. The incident reportedly occurred between the duo during a recent episode Crawford directed, when the episode had been behind because Wayans had called in sick the first day. Wayans was then sent home the next day after he was hit by shrapnel, and when he ultimately returned to set, he set limitations to what he was willing to do in the episode, even if it was in the script, including not holding a gun or running down stairs, citing safety concerns. This apparently lead to a not-so-nice confrontation with Crawford, who used strong words as a means of taunting Wayans. While it doesnt sound too dramatic in theory, Deadline reports that it escalated to the point where the high ranks of the studio had to be alerted to the issue, and Crawford and Wayanss relationship is now nonexistent offscreen. Crawfords behavior, as previously noted, is putting the future of Foxs Lethal Weapon in jeopardy. While the series has consistently drawn solid viewership numbers, the network has yet to renew it for a third season, owing to Crawfords behavioral issues. In fact, Fox is reportedly seriously considering recasting him with a new actor if the series indeed returns in the fall. If season one of The Handmaids Tale revolved around the profane rituals of life inside Gilead, this season looks into the dark places outside its walls: the landscape destroyed by war, the women not fit to serve as Handmaids in the city, the buildings and lives abandoned by the fleeing and the dead. June is being moved again, and this time her drop-off advice is even less inspiring. I come by here once a week, says the elderly driver. Check the rat traps and make sure nothings leaking too bad. He offers her no instructions except to stay inside. The building turns out to be eerily, for this journalist the home of the Boston Globe, not just shuttered but obviously shut down in some sort of raid. She glances through cubicles, finding the abandoned remnants of everyday life: coffee mugs, photos, kids art, and a single high heel, kicked off in mid-flight. The headline of the papers on the abandoned press reads, The Aftermath Americas Bloodiest leading us to believe that the government was entirely seized because of the D.C. attacks, or that something even worse came afterward. It makes sense that any coup bent on total authoritarian domination would dismantle the media, but in this case, the presses didnt stop because of threats or coercion. The hanging nooses, the walls covered in bullet holes, the dried blood on the floor, and the matching high heel strewn on the floor confirm as much. This was the site of mass execution. Junes breakdown is a long time coming. Shes not only opening the floodgates on her own trauma, but seeing, perhaps for the first time, the destruction of the world she used to live in. So when Nick arrives, and he isnt there to flee with her to Canada, Junes rage makes sense. Shes been captured by militant religious forces, her husband may be dead, her daughter was ripped from her arms, shes been raped, humiliated, oppressed, and enslaved. Anything short of a run for the border feels too slow, too gradual. An exceptionally long sex scene lets June unleash some of that anger and wraps up with Nick panting, I cant, I cant, and Junes pert response, Try. Our girl is back to form, which includes building an altar to the Boston Globe victims and finding her way back to her own God. But really, this episode belongs to Emily, whom we last saw plowing an SUV over a Guardians body, trying to rack up as much carnage as possible since she already saw herself marked by the Aunts as trouble, with her clitoris surgically removed in a dead end. But it turns out that life can get worse. Much, much worse. In Margaret Atwoods novel, it isnt clear if the Colonies are actually real. Theyre a vague threat deployed to keep Gileads citizens, especially the Handmaids, in line. But their depiction here is even more brutal than what Atwood described. In a cold, dry, toxic wasteland, Unwomen (the term used to describe women who have violated Gileads codes and lose their status) stand toiling in the dust, shoveling dirt into bags without the benefit of the gas masks that the guards wear. Its a foreboding place, like a Gulag that was bombed into radioactive nonexistence, and Emilys face shows the wear of even a few weeks of toil. Inside their barracks, conditions arent much better the sights and sounds are like something from one of Dickenss squalid homes for the poor and its clear that whatever doesnt kill the women in the short term will certainly dig into their bodies and grow like a cancer in the long run. Emily, whom we discover in the flashbacks was a university biology professor, has taken on the role of camp doctor, bandaging infected blisters and doling out bartered Tylenol. But her work only has minimal effect. The women are broken down, both physically and emotionally, and Emily is bandaging minor wounds while their insides turn to ash. Only the slightest hint of her former spunk rears its head when another Unwoman jokes that Emilys work on her hands was the best manicure in town. Leave me a good review on Yelp, she lets out with a tiny crack of smile. A bus of new recruits pulls up, and the first womans blue cloak marks her as a Wife (Marisa Tomei, whose work here is phenomenal). She receives the expected greeting from a group of former Handmaids: spit to the face, a fucking bitch, reluctance to let her take a cot. The first thing she does is to kneel down and pray, Dear God, thank you for your good and generous blessings. One gets the feeling that if she were smacked in the face with a chain, shed thank God for his loving wake-up call. Infection is apparently a way of life in the Colonies. Even the water is contaminated, Emily explains to the Wife, offering her alcohol to scrub her hands. The Wife, alone and justifiably disliked, wants to worm her way into Emilys good graces, so she explains that she wasnt in favor of the university purges, assuming that is why Emily has been sent here. Like a new prison inmate who doesnt know the drill, the Wife too readily answers Emilys question about why shes been sent. I was weak. I committed a sin of the flesh. And my husband was so busy with the Handmaid, he didnt even notice. Emily listens with a seemingly sympathetic ear, and there could be a flash of commiseration when the Wife half-jokes that her husband was probably promoted after she was caught in her affair. Emily then offers what she says are expired antibiotics to combat the E. coli in the water. You are truly a lamb of God, the Wife responds before asking why Emily is being so kind to her. A mistress was kind to me. Once. In flashbacks in some of the most heart-wrenching, devastating scenes that this epic encourager of emotional self-flagellation has given us were shown Emilys life in the immediate time before Gilead. A university biology professor, shes pulled aside by her dean, Dan, and told that shell be gaining some extra lab time next semester, meaning shell be teaching in the classroom less. But Emily sees through the babble. Its cautionary, Dan explains: The new board ostensibly some religious body that has been put in place is concerned that she isnt maintaining a healthy learning environment. In other words, shes a lesbian, and her students know about it, courtesy of the photo of Emily, her wife, Sylvia, and their son thats on her phone. Dan recommends that she lay low for a while, which Emily interprets as an appeal to crawl back into the closet, and hide who she is, something she is unwilling to do. Dan explains that hes taken down all the photos of his partner, Paul, from his office (a move that earned him the title of collaborate from Paul), but shes still hopeful that this crackdown on the LGBTQ community is a blip on the radar, something to endure. The conversation asks a larger question: In the face of such a mighty, violent foe, is it more honorable to flee or fight? To stay alive and live to battle another day, or to stand your ground and force the enemy to face you? We know, however, that this conversation comes after the attacks on D.C. things wont improve. And they dont. Dan is strung up by a noose over a university path, the word Faggot spray-painted at his feet. Hes a warning sign one that Emily heeds. Emily and Sylvia (Clea DuVall, who Im praying returns in later episodes with more to do) head to the airport, baby in tow. The check-in area is overflowing. Crowds extend out the doors and soldiers patrol the crowd with machine guns. The rules for who can exit the country and how they can get out are suddenly Byzantine. If youve wondered to yourself, as I have, Why didnt more people just flee America when they realized what was happening? the airport scene answers that question. And if your anxiety has kept you awake with thoughts of whether or not you should get your baby a passport, just in case, or keep a go bag somewhere by the door, youll feel unhappily justified in your neuroses by what awaits Emily and Sylvia. If it took you two hours to get through this scene pausing and then unpausing, pacing a little, and then calming yourself back down you arent alone. Even though Emily makes it through check-in after wielding her and Syls marriage license, her passport wont allow her to leave the country under normal circumstances. The scene looks typical enough by normal standards a beige cubicle somewhere in the airport but in this case, an egotistical ICE agent has been given license to assert his authority and take an extended power trip. And this is how Emily realizes that the protections of bureaucracy demanding a lawyer, insisting on speaking to a superior no longer matter, because bureaucracy only exists when the government is interested in serving its citizens. Emilys marriage license, he declares, is no longer valid. You are not married. It is forbidden. And in one fell swoop, her life is declared null. The next silent moments, as she walks Sylvia to the escalator, hugs her son, and tearfully presses her lips to her now non-wifes, are the best and emotional worst of an already outstanding episode. Back in the present day, the Wife is sick, vomiting and shaking, covered in sweat. She realizes that the pills Emily provided werent antibiotics, but some sort of poison. Yet shes still claiming that God will save her. Emily wont let that happen. Every month, she reminds the Wife, with the cold stare of someone who might be dead inside, you held a woman down and your husband raped her. This Emily is vicious, and now we can see why. You should die alone, she mutters before walking away. The Wife, in a sick parody of the Lord she thought would come save her, ends up strung high on a cross. The Athens Fire Department will soon have a new tool to help keep firefighters safe. This week, the Athens City Council approved the purchase of 10 new thermal imaging cameras. Athens Fire Chief Bryan Thornton told WAAY 31 the cameras cost around $600 each and will allow fire fighters to see through smoke, darkness and walls. "Anytime they go out into a fire situation, then they should have their own personal cameras. I think that's a great thing for anyone they're trying to service. Whether it's a fire situation or a collapsed building," said Julie Martin. Julie Martin understands why it's important for first responders to be safe. She works in the security office at Athens State University. "If they don't stay safe, then they can't rescue or save anyone else," Martin said. She's glad that the Athens Fire Department is purchasing 10 new thermal imaging cameras also known as a 'tick'. The cameras will help firefighters to be able to see objects or people through heavy smoke. "It also will give you the temperature inside of the structure. If you're getting closer to dangerous temperatures, you can look and find out your temp," said Chief Bryan Thornton. Right now, the department only has the large thermal camera that costs over $6,000. Only one fire fighter at a time can use the camera. The new cameras are less expensive and are the size of a cell phone. "It gives you the ability to not only do search and rescue, but find your other crew members or find a safe way out," Thornton said. "It's just part of their uniform, so they'll just service the people that need it the most," Martin said Chief Thornton said they will place the order for the cameras soon and will start using them after everyone has completed training. Gov. Kay Ivey and a state delegation departed today for Japan as part of an economic development team to meet with auto executives at Toyota, Mazda, and Honda. According to Ivey, the goal of this trip is to facilitate growth in the state's automotive sector and strenthen ties with the automakers. In a press relase sent to WAAY 31 from the office of the Gov., Ivey states that "The auto industry has been a key driver of economic growth in Alabama for two decades, and we want to make sure we're positioned to see that growth accelerate in coming years. Its important that we work closely with these automakers to ensure they thrive in Alabama, because that will bring more jobs and investment to the state. This trip comes as the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA joint project is moving forward with it's plan to build a $1.6 billion factory in Huntvsille. It is estimated that this venture will add around 4,000 jobs to the local economy. Alongside Ivey on this trip are, Alabama Department of Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Tennessee Valley Authority CEO Bill Johnson, and presisdent and CEO of the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce Chip Cherry. Steve Pelham, Governor Iveys Chief of Staff, and Hollie Pegg, Assistant Director of Business Development at the Alabama Department of Commerce, will also be included in these meetings. The Alabama group will visit the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo to meet with Ambassador Bill Hagerty for a discussion expected to center on the current business climate in Japan and unfolding trade developments affecting the two countries. Ambassador Hagerty was one of the first people to call me and congratulate Alabama on attracting the Toyota-Mazda investment. This meeting shows the importance that Alabama plays on the world stage and I appreciate the work the Ambassador does on behalf of our nation, Governor Ivey continued. I look forward to the meeting and to working with him to continue the strong relationship between Japan and Alabama. Police in the city of Sebastian, Florida, arrested a man for hurling a singing Billy Bass fish at his friend, WFTS-TV in Tampa reported. According to the report, Greg Carney slapped his friend with the fish after the friend threw the fish in the trash. He told police he did it because Carney kept making the fish sing when he knew it irritated him. Police said Carney took it out of the trash can and tossed it at his friend which resulted in a cut just above his eyebrow. Carney said he didn't intend to hit his friend. Carney was booked into the Indian River County jail on a charge of domestic battery. He was later released on $500 bond. Billy Bass is an automated wall-mounted fish which sings when you press a button. A new version is now compatible with Amazon's Alexa. When President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived on the White House South Lawn Tuesday morning to formally welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, one thing was clear: The first lady commanded attention. Without speaking a word, dressed in a white Michael Kors Collection asymmetrical blazer and skirt -- and an eye-catching, custom-made Herve Pierre hat -- Melania Trump spoke volumes. This was her house, her dinner and her terms. It has truly been a spotlight week for the first lady, kicking off with her attendance at Barbara Bush's funeral, the sole White House representation joining other first ladies and former presidents and culminating with her first state dinner. In many ways, the events showcased Melania Trump's contrasts with her husband -- where he is impulsive, she is meticulous; where he is combative, she is compassionate. The first lady paid homage to France with a Chanel Haute Couture gown, hand-painted with silver and embroidered with crystals and sequins. Dresses for state level events are allowed to be gifted by the designer to be worn at the occasion and then are the property of the National Archives. The President gave his wife a warm thank you for all her efforts on the dinner during his toast Tuesday night. "To America's absolutely incredible first lady, thank you for making this an evening we will always cherish and remember. Thank you, Melania," he said to applause. Former "Smallville" actress Allison Mack is free on a $5 Million bond after a judge approved thr release. Mack was arrested on Friday, April 20th for her alleged role in a sex trafficking case. Mack will be under house arrest in California and must wear an electronic monitoring device. Mack's approved release comes on the same day it came to light that her attorneys are in the process of negotiating a possible plea deal with prosecutors, according to public filings. The documents, signed by a judge last week and obtained by CNN, indicate a "reasonable likelihood" that the plea negotiations will "result in a disposition of this case without trial." Mack was indicted last week on charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy, according to a statement released by the Justice Department. Mack's charges relate to her alleged involvement with an organization called Nxivm (pronounced NEX-ium), an Albany, New York-based group that claimed to be a self-help program but was, in reality, a pyramid scheme in which some recruits were exploited sexually and for their labor, prosecutors allege in court filings. Mack pleaded not guilty. As part of her release, Mack is prohibited from contacting or associating with any present or former members of Nxivm, the U.S. Attorney's Office official told CNN. Nxivm's founder, Keith Raniere, also known within the group as Vanguard, is also fighting charges. Mack, 35, is professionally best known for her role as Clark Kent's confidant Chloe Sullivan on CW's "Smallville," which ran for 10 seasons. According to court documents, Tanner High School teacher Mae Edwards pleaded not guilty to charges of public intoxication and illegal possession of prohibited liquor. The 40-year-old family and consumer science teacher wasn't in court on Tuesday as scheduled because she chose the option to plead not guilty to the two misdemeanor charges and waived her arraignment hearing. On March 27, Edwards was arrested at Tanner High School in Limestone County and placed on paid administrative leave just weeks after Principal Louis Gordon was also placed on paid leave. The Limestone County Sheriff's Office told WAAY 31 students at Tanner High School tipped off school staff about Edwards acting strangely, which led to liquor being found in her classroom. The school resource officer wrote in the arrest report that he smelled alcohol on Edwards's breath while they were talking. Edwards told the officer and principal she had taken her prescribed Xanax and Klonopin that morning, according to the report. The officer said Edwards refused to take a breath test for alcohol. WAAY 31 requested the personnel file from Limestone County Schools for Edwards. According to a letter of reprimand, in December of last year, Edwards was written up by Principal Gordon for falling asleep in class during a 90-minute school wide testing window. According to the letter, students tried to wake Edwards up several times and were unable to take their exams. According to the files, Edwards previously worked for Decatur City Schools since 2001. She said she left in September 2017 because class sizes were too large to be productive. According to Karen Tucker with Limestone County Schools, both Edwards and Gordon are still on paid leave and the school system is investigating. Limestone County Schools Superintendent Tom Sisk said Gordon was placed on leave due to complaints about the culture and climate at the high school this year. WAAY 31 called Gordon on Tuesday and he told WAAY 31 he was ready to get back to working with students. Tucker did say that another Tanner High School teacher has recently requested to be transferred to another school. She also confirmed that the custodian from Tanner High School who was placed on paid leave in Feburary was transferred to another school. This weekend, James Shaw Jr. from Nashville, Tennessee will be honored at Oakwood University Church in Huntsville. Shaw was hailed a hero after he wrested a rifle away from alleged shooter Travis Reinking at a Nashville Waffle House restaurant on Sunday. Four people were killed and two were injured in the attack. Shaw's arm was grazed by a bullet and he suffered a burn from grabbing the rifle's barrel. At 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 28, Oakwood University Church and Breath of Life Television Ministries will recognize Shaw for his bravery and he will address the audience. The event is open to the public. The Tennessee General Assembly recoginzed Shaw this week for his heroism in a joint resolution. Reinking was arrested Monday after a woman spotted him walking through a construction site. His $2 million bond was revoked by a Tennessee judge on Tuesday. Lindsay Thomas's attempt to reboot his AFL career with Port Adelaide has hit a roadblock after he was suspended for three games for the bump he laid on Geelong midfielder Scott Selwood. The decision means he will effectively miss four matches as he was suspended for one week when he tangled with Joel Selwood after the incident. The 30-year-old veteran who is on a one year rookie contract was playing his first game with his new club after 205 games with North Melbourne when he flattened Selwood in a bump that left the Geelong on-baller concussed. Thomas's career now sits on the precipice as he is unlikely to be available for selection for the next six rounds with Port Adelaide suggesting he will need at least two weeks before being considered again for senior selection. The chief executive of Alibaba Group, the Chinese retail goliath often described as Asia's Amazon, says rising political tension between China and Australia has not damaged business or trade relations. Daniel Zhang instead insists that demand from middle-class Chinese consumers is too great to be disrupted by geopolitical friction, and sees "tremendous" growth ahead for Australian exporters to the region. Daniel Zhang speaking at an event in Melbourne on Monday. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui Some business leaders, including Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, have criticised domestic debate about Chinese Communist Party influence on Australian politics and China's territorial ambitions in the South China Sea, saying it jeopardised the relationship with our largest trading partner. But Mr Zhang said he saw no sign of it damaging business relationships, with his first trip to Australia as CEO of the $US449 billion ($590 billion) group highlighting to him the potential for more cross-border trade. These changes are due to the "life cycle stages" of an area where the "empty-nester syndrome" sets in, Professor McManus said. "People move into these suburbs with a couple of kids and when the kids grow up and form a household somewhere else, the demographics change." The area around Parramatta had the largest shifts in NSW for three measurements of regional population growth - the most new overseas migrants (2840), the highest natural increase (565 more births than deaths) and the most internal migration of people moving out (1434) between June 2016 and June 2017. The migrants' movement throughout Sydney is concentrated in some suburbs, such as Parramatta and Auburn, that serve as "landing pads" for thousands of new arrivals while other growth suburbs, such as Kellyville, provide a second more permanent stop in their journey. Western Sydney University associate professor of urban planning Awais Piracha said Parramata was the entry point for many migrants to Sydney because of its access to public transport and the existing ethnic communities from south Asia who provide a support network. "The second stop for many of these migrants after they save some money to buy a house is north west of Sydney, places like Kellyville, Rouse Hill, and other growth areas," Mr Piracha said. "And at the same time, what we could also be seeing [in this data] is a bit of white flight going on, which is where people see too many immigrants, or the density is getting too high, and they decide to leave." Commonwealth funding to arrest declining water quality on the Great Barrier Reef has dropped by more than $11 million a year, internal government figures suggest, despite growing concerns over threats to the reef. The figures have emerged weeks out from the federal budget, which critics last year said ignored the coral bleaching crisis that has severely damaged the reef, as well as other environmental problems that are expected to hurt tourism and jobs. Federal government funding to improve reef water quality has declined, figures show. Flight Centre founder Graham Turner said more Commonwealth funding is needed to protect the reef, and former government official Adam Smith said current funding levels were probably not adequate. After climate change, poor water quality is the most pressing problem facing the reef. It is largely caused by nutrient, pesticide and sediment run-off from agriculture and coastal development. It can cause algal growth at the expense of coral, block light and smother corals, as well as exacerbate outbreaks of the venomous crown-of-thorns starfish, which are a major cause of coral loss. Berlin: Malcolm Turnbull has honoured the thousands of fallen Australians who served in the First World War, opening a new centre outside the French village of Villers-Bretonneux to tell their story. A century after the final year of the war, the Prime Minister prepared for Anzac Day on the western front by opening a new historical centre named after acclaimed Australian general Sir John Monash. The $99.6 million centre was officially opened on Tuesday after years of work to build an interpretive centre behind the monument that records the names of 11,000 Australian soldiers whose bodies were never found. A display at the Sir John Monash Centre. Credit:Nick Miller The centre tells the story of the Australian experience in the trench warfare of the western front, including the battles where Monash led troops to a series of victories that helped cut short the war. There are no quick fixes to curb recurrences of the shocking revelations at the banking royal commission concerning financial advice. But there is a move you'd think would be obvious: licence planners individually. The authorities have told consumers to only seek advice from those who meet certain requirements, promoting the fiction that advisers are created equal. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) ran a campaign for years urging consumers to invest as they swim - "between the flags". While it is true that George Orwell, who fought in the Spanish Civil War, did famously say that wars are won by fighting, no army in history has ever been focused on indiscriminate killing. Indeed over the centuries there have been developed strict and sophisticated laws relating to war and the use of armed force. My father, who is 91, saw action in Europe at the end of the Second World War. He has never talked about his experience of war, nor has he ever marched on Anzac Day. I suspect many are like him. But having seen the face of battle he is deeply suspicious of politicians and commentators who demand that there is a right and wrong way to honour those who served in war. After all, to dictate that there is only one way to love ones country and to be a patriot is to act exactly like the people that we all fought against in the two great wars of the last century. Or to quote Orwell again, All the war-propaganda invariably comes from people who are not fighting. Yassmin Abdel-Magied: in the eye of the storm this time last year. Credit:Kristoffer Paulsen We honour and respect the Anzacs not by wrapping ourselves in the flag or displaying death insignia but by understanding that our soldiers, sailors and nurses who have served in war have in the words of Paul Keating, taught us to endure hardship, to show courage, to be bold as well as resilient, to believe in ourselves, to stick together. Violent footage of dozens of teenagers kicking and punching each other in a wild schoolyard brawl in Melbourne's north-west has emerged. Students at Staughton College in Melton can be heard screaming as teachers attempt to break up the altercation, which was filmed on a smartphone during recess on Tuesday morning. The disturbing footage was later shared on Snapchat and widely circulated on social media. Marijuana use is linked to increased risk for mental illnesses like psychosis (although the exact nature of this relationship continues to be debated). Whether marijuana law reform shifts community levels of mental illness is not yet known. Other potential harms include accidental childhood exposure, and driving-related risks. Drug-driving is a particular issue because current roadside tests do not measure levels that cause impairment, but rather any exposure. An urgent question will be how to detect impairing levels of exposure, if use itself is no longer illegal. Opponents of legalisation have used the gateway theory of marijuana to argue that marijuana use leads to use of "harder" drugs, such as methamphetamine or heroin. There is clear evidence for a progression of drug use, with people who use harder drugs often starting with cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. However, most people who use marijuana do not go on to use harder drugs. Even in those who do, there is no evidence that marijuana is the cause. Legalisation could substantially reduce harms caused by marijuanas illegality. It would reduce the high personal costs of criminal justice involvement for individuals and community costs incurred for policing use. Regulation of production and supply would improve control over the contents and dose of marijuana used. Another argument in favour of marijuana legalisation is that regulating and taxing marijuana would destroy the black market for the drug. Although this may be true in time, it will depend on the model adopted. If the cost of legal marijuana is too high, or the quality not sufficient, illegal supply will persist. A major issue in the USA is "big marijuana". This has led to a proliferation of marijuana products, including extremely potent "edibles", flavoured products likely to appeal to children and young people, and even artisanal cannabis. In Australia, lessons from cigarette and alcohol regulation must be applied to reduce the potentially harmful influence of powerful corporate interests in an emerging legal marijuana industry. An old US diplomatic cable uncovered by Privacy International has confirmed the existence of a secret room at Americas Pine Gap spy base that Australians were not allowed to enter - except for one time when Bill Hayden had a look. It calls into question a claim made at the time in March, 1985, by then defence minister Kim Beazley, who said the government was fully aware of everything that takes place at Pine Gap, near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The Joint Facility at Pine Gap - the spy station at the centre of fascination and consternation in the Australia-United States alliance. Credit:Kristian Laemmle-Ruff The cable was released to PI by the US State Department after a lawsuit seeking access to details of the scope of intelligence gathering across the globe. PI said it was a "case study" of how intelligence sharing arrangements are "typically confidential and not subject to parliamentary scrutiny" and could be used to circumvent a countrys laws. Jobs and growth. Its a familiar promise. But when it comes to young people and unemployment, our nation faces a paradox and a crisis. We have many young Australians who desperately need jobs. And as the Boomer generation of workers retires, we have many jobs that desperately need filling. Why then todays mismatch, and its miserable consequences for far too many young people? A report by the Brotherhood of St Laurence revealed more than a third of all unemployed people in Australia are aged 15-24. The youth unemployment rate is above 12.2 per cent, double the national unemployment rate of 5.6 per cent. To put that in context, 11 per cent unemployment is equivalent to the overall joblessness rate experienced in the early 1990s after a global recession the highest in the last 20 years. Outside metropolitan areas, the statistics are worse with areas like Murray in NSW recording youth unemployment levels of 21.5 per cent and the Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands almost 29 per cent. This is a youth unemployment crisis. The confusing part is this; there are jobs available. The 2017 Skills Shortage List NSW listed 25 occupations where businesses were experiencing a shortage or difficulty recruiting. And there will be more in the future, according to a report by the National Centre for Vocation Education Research, which predicts increasing job opportunities for young people as the Baby Boomer generation retires. More than half of employers in NSW say they are experiencing skill shortages and 64 per cent of the jobs we need filled are in the trades. This reflects NCVERs analysis modelling, which found only a quarter of workers will be employed as professionals by 2024, while every trade will experience job growth in their market. This shift towards online learning raises some questions - how exactly can a computer teach a bricklayer to build a wall? Credit:Fairfax So whats going wrong? The jobs available are largely in the trades, which require vocational education. Vocational education and training (VET) used to be synonymous with TAFE; a system that was affordable, trusted and recognised by industry. A TAFE qualification meant graduates were job ready; having gained practical, hands-on training delivered by teachers with real industry experience. The likes of David Attenborough have described it as one of the greatest natural wonders on Earth but Christmas Islands remoteness means its annual red crab migration isnt the easiest spectacle to view in person. Fortunately it can now be experienced from the comfort of a couch thanks to a recent partnership of Google street view and Parks Australia. Parks Australia Ranger Dr Alasdair Grigg captuing Flying Fish Cove for Google street view in December. Credit:Google/Supplied In December Parks Australia staff took Googles backpack laden camera, the street view trekker, to the island to capture 360-degree photographs of its lush rainforests and diverse wildlife. The most stunning pictures are of the 45 million Christmas Island red crabs that overran the island on their annual journey from their rainforest burrows to the coast to release their eggs. A 56-year-old Claremont man has been charged after an alleged indecent assault on a woman at a Claremont shopping mall in March. Police have charged a man about an indecent assault in Claremont in March. Credit:WA Police/Google Police say about 11.50am on March 28 the woman in her 40s was walking through the mall toward the exit to Bayview Terrace before the man approached her and indecently assaulted her. He was last seen exiting the mall onto Bayview Terrace. Police have today charged the man with one count of common assault. He is due to appear in Perth Magistrates Court on May 22. Having spent a night at sea in a 3m inflatable Zodiac boat, two boys missing since yesterday afternoon are now in safe hands after rescuers spotted them 7km off the Ningaloo coast. Two boys lost off the Ningaloo coast were winched to safety on Wednesday, after spending the night in their 3m inflatable Zodiac boat. Credit:WA Police The boys, aged 12 and 18, left shore on a 3m inflatable zodiac from South Lefroy Bay about 4pm yesterday. They intended to travel south/south-east inside the reef towards Norwegian Bay and were due back by 6pm, but did not return. About 12.45pm this afternoon a helicopter located the boat with the boys on board about 7km offshore, 30km west of Learmonth. Former Unions WA secretary Tony Cooke lost his battle with cancer last night, aged 62 years old. Mr Cooke served as assistant secretary and secretary of Unions WA - then known as the Trades and Labour Council of WA - from 1993 to 2001. He was the face of one of the biggest union campaigns in WA's history against the Court coalition government's third wave of industrial reforms in the late 90s. Tony Cooke was the face of the WA union movement in the 90s. Credit:CFMEU WA/Facebook Current Unions WA Secretary Meredith Hammat said Mr Cooke had been unwell for about 18 months. Official statement of the EU Delegation to Armenia released today The European Union takes note of the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. We applaud the peaceful nature of the changes that we have been witnessing. It remains imperative that the current situation is resolved swiftly and peacefully. A national dialogue involving all political stakeholders remains crucial. On this important day in the history of the Armenians, the European Union looks forward to continuing working together with Armenia to implement the ambitious EU-Armenia agenda in line with the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement unanimously ratified by the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on 11 April 2018, with a view to consolidating democracy, strengthening the rule of law and protecting human rights, as well as building a prosperous and resilient economic and social system. The United States Urges Constructive Dialogue in Armenia The coming days represent a historic moment for the people of Armenia and its elected leaders, as they embark on the process of forming a new government. We urge all sides to engage constructively, within the legal framework of the Armenian constitution, to ensure a peaceful transition of power that follows the rule of law. We look forward to working closely with a new government on the many areas of shared interest between the United States and Armenia. As a friend and partner to Armenia, we commend the Armenian people for engaging in dialogue to forge their sovereign future through democratic and peaceful means. Welcome to Weird Science DC Comics, the DC Comics site for the common man and woman. We love comics and hope you do too. Remember, our reviews are only one persons opinion and doesnt mean you have to agree or disagree, just be you. For all the links of everything Weird Science, go here campsite.bio/weirdsciencecomics Amy Sapp Mary Lynch fifth grade students are in Lincoln today as leaders in the Nebraska Stock Market Game. Pictured above, teacher Laurie Janicek's students stopped in Kearney for lunch on their way to the capitol. While in Lincoln they will take the stage for celebration and recognition of their hard work and winning stock picks. They will also join government leaders for a formal meal, tour the Capitol and spend some time at Memorial Stadium. The Observer sent a list of questions to candidates whose names will be on the Primary Election ballot in May. We are printing their answers as we received them. City Council Stephanie Pedersen 1. Tell me about yourself. I have lived in Kimball the majority of my life. I am married with 3 children and 2 grandchildren. I have witnessed the good and the bad times of Kimball. 2. For which office are you running and why? I am running for City Council to be a voice and advocate for the citizens of Kimball, with an honest and common sense approach. 3. If elected, what do you hope to achieve while in office? I hope to help Kimball get back on the right track for growth and betterment. The community needs to revamp in order to continue to grow and we need to work together on cleaning up our community and bringing new businesses and housing to Kimball. 4. From your perspective, what makes you the best candidate for this position? I know our community can be great, as I have witnessed and have had the privilege to enjoy it. I will be open to everyone in the community and will bring all concerns and ideas before the City Council. I will also work hard to get everyone involved. Unfortunately, the City Council cannot fix it without support and input of the community. 5. How will you represent your constituents? With an honest and common sense approach. 6. Is there a message you wish to relay to the constituents? Please educate yourself, get involved in your community and let your voice be heard. Jim Calvin 1. Tell me about yourself. I am 58 years old, am married and have four grown children and seven grandchildren. I have lived in Kimball for almost two years. I work at the Kimball County Courthouse as the Building and Grounds Superintendant. I am a member of Calvary Memorial Church in Gering, where I serve as a greeter and usher. 2. For which office are you running and why? I am running for City Council. The reason I am running is that I have been involved in the past and feel it is time to get involved in Kimball. 3. If elected, what do you hope to achieve while in office? If I am elected, it wont be about me, but the people of Kimball who elect me. I want to be a spokespoerson for the concerns of the people. I would also like to see more jobs come to Kimball so that Kimball can grow. 4. From your perspective, what makes you the best candidate for this position? I believe what makes me the best cnadidate for this position is my experience serving 8.5 years on the Gurley Village Board. Also serving on several church boards and being secretary/treasurer of a church. I am also a former Lions Club member. 5. How will you represent your constituents? I will represent my constituents by being a good listener to their concerns. I will present their concerns to the council and be their spokesperson . 6. Is there a message you wish to relay to the constituents? My message to the constituents is if you want someone who is reliable, honest, has integrity and is conservative, then I am that person. I will listen to your concerns and be your spokesperson. Please let me be your voice and vote for Jim Calvin, City Council. School Board Matt Shoup 1. Tell me about yourself. I was born and raised south of Bushnell on a farm and ranch. I went to school in Kimball and graduated from Kimball High School in 1999. After school I left, and joined the Army and served for approx. 9.5 years. I did three tours overseas in 2001-2002 in Afghanistan, 2003-2004 in Iraq and once again in 2009-2010 in Iraq. I moved back to Kimball in 2010 and got married to Stephanie, we have three kids Landen (Sophmore), Cole (8th grade) and Kalli (Pre-K). I am currently on the Board of Education, Airport Board Authority, VFW and the Eagles. I am very happy to raise our kids here in Kimball. 2. For which office are you running and why? I am running for the Board of Education. I believe that the education we provide our children is the cornerstone of their future. I want to do what I can to help to provide that for them with this opportunity. 3. If elected, what do you hope to achieve while in office? I do not have an agenda for why I would like to be elected. While on the School Board I have learned that it takes time and persistence to achieve anything of substance. We have many projects going on right now and I would like to continue to be apart of those and see them through. 4. From your perspective, what makes you the best candidate for this position? I am young and have an open outlook to new ideas for how our school system can work. We are a fast growing world and we need to keep up with the changing technology and philosophies of education. I am not afraid to make hard decisions and will always at all times do my job with the up most integrity. 5. How will you represent your constituents? I am an open person who will listen to anybody that needs an ear. I will always do my best to do what is best for our children. 6. Is there a message you wish to relay to the constituents? Children are our future. They are the next leaders of the world. We need to give them the best head start in life that we can as a community. Lets not fail them, we all as a community need to get involved in our future leaders. Renee Castagna 1. Tell me about yourself. My name is Renee Castagna and I was born and raised in Kimball, NE. My husband, Shawn and I are both graduates of Kimball Jr/Sr High School. We have been married 7 years and have two young daughters. Our oldest, McKenzie will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall and our youngest, Layla, is 2 years old. I work at FirsTier Bank and my husband works at Clean Harbors. 2. For which office are you running and why? I am running for a position on the school board. With my girls being so young and starting school I want to make sure Im involved and understand the school system not only for them but all the student and faculty members. I want to be an advocate for our students and help them get the best possible education. 3. If elected, what do you hope to achieve while in office? If elected, I hope to better assister in achieving the students and teachers being proud of the education and school system. I want to bring the pride back to the school system. 4. From your perspective, what makes you the best candidate for this position? I have a background in accounting and planning so I feel that will be very beneficial to bring to the school board. I am also very open to change and hearing new ideas that need to be discussed. I will always put the students of Kimball Public Schools first and foremost. 5. How will you represent your constituents? I want to help be that voice for the students so I will work with the administrators to achieve the best possible education for our students. 6. Is there a message you wish to relay to the constituents? I really want our school system to be the best out there for our students. It would be an honor to be a part of the school board and help be that voice and help push for results. I would greatly appreciate your votes. Thank you. Jared Reich and Travis Cook were unable to respond prior to press time and, though they will be listed on the primary ballot, their answers are not displayed in this forum. Editor's note: We are reprinting a past story this week, as Cristina Moore-Urrutia is in charge of an Air Force band, and this week the Offutt Brass Ensemble will perform in Kimball. Former Kimball resident, Christina Moore, who is the granddaughter of Mary Moore of Kimball, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force, on April 1, 2016, which is her third official command in the USAF. "I am in charge of 40 personnel, 25 in Japan and 15 in Hawaii. 39 of these personnel are US Air Force enlisted, and 1 is a Japanese civilian who works with our group in Japan as our Community Relations Specialist." Moore-Urruitia is in charge of the vision and direction of the unit, including decisions involving operational strategy, budget, training, and discipline. She works with other Department of Defense and at times Department of State agencies to synchronize their efforts and align with Air Force priorities in the region in which they are located. A ceremony for Moore's honorable promotion was held in March at the Yokota Air Force Base near Tokoyo, Japan, with her mother, Stella, in attendance. Mrs. Moore had the honor of pinning her daughter during the ceremony. "I found out back in June of 2015 that I was selected for promotion," offered Moore Urruitia, " but I didn't actually "pin-on" until April 1, 2016." Moore graduated from Scottsbluff High School in 1991, and then went on to college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, receiving her Bachelor's of Music degree in Horn Performance, and her Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting. "In 1992 I joined the Army National Guard as the Principal horn of the 43rd Army Band in Lincoln," stated Moore-Urruitia, "At the time, this was an opportunity for me to serve part-time in the Guard while going to college, allowing me to focus on my music in both places and have some steady income to help cover expenses outside of my scholarship." "I was also gigging as a horn player in the local symphony where I met the Deputy Commander of the Heartland of America Band who was subbing as a percussionist. When I told him I was working on a Master's degree in conducting, he encouraged me to audition to participate in a conducting clinic the band had that summer." Moore began her career in the US Air Force in April of 2001, and throughout her service -- was an instrumental part of the U.S. Air Force band as the Conductor. Prior to moving to Japan, Moore was stationed in Boston, Mass., Washington, D.C., San Antonio, TX, Belleville, IL, and Montgomery, AL. Alongside being a Conductor, she is also the Commander of her unit. Moore Urruitia explained that at that time, she wasn't really sure if she wanted to be in the military full time, but after lots of prayer and soul searching, she decided to "go for it!". "I am so grateful that I made that leap of faith," shared Moore Urruitia, "It has been such a joy to serve my country through music. It hasn't been easy, having to pick up and leave friends and family every few years to go where the AF said I needed to go, but it has certainly been an exciting journey thus far." She also stated that at this point in her life, she has made the commitment to make the military her lifetime career. The USAF of the Pacific band in which the young woman belongs, as well as others in the military, have been throughout history as a key part of the United States' strategy in using music to help build strong and lasting relationships with a diverse set of allies throughout the Pacific region and many different regions. The most exciting part of being a commander of an Air Force band is being able to use music to break down barriers and build relationships in ways that no other military tool can do. I have performed for diverse audiences , from local communities to heads of state, and each one is important as we seek to honor our veterans, inspire patriotism and boost morale, as well as foster trust in our Air Force and nation worldwide. "Frankly, I'm just thankful. Nothing in life is guaranteed, and I am grateful that my leadership saw fit to recommend me for promotion. Commanding such a gifted group of Airmen is an awesome responsibility, and I pray that I am able to lead them well." Moore Urruitia explained that being stationed in Japan is "incredibly exciting." "The Pacific is a very dynamic theater, and there has never been a more important time for the US to work on strengthening relationships with our current allies and partners in this area," gave Moore Urruitia, "as well as seeking to reach out to other nations for the security and stability of the region. Air Force bands are often able to open doors where other military units may not have as much success. We have seen this first hand in Okinawa, and being part of our nation's efforts to strengthen ties with the local population is more important than ever!" Moore Urruitia offered that as a member of the Air Force, she never expected to have to do "sea duty," but she had the opportunity to deploy with the Navy on a humanitarian training mission to Central and South America. "I commanded a small Air Force band aboard the USNS Comfort as part of Operation CONTINUING PROMISE in 2009. The band's mission was to take the message of the US' friendship and partnership to the local population in the areas that we docked, sharing the story of the US' ongoing efforts to build relationships in our own hemisphere. We visited nine countries, some of which included Haiti, Colombia, Panama, and Nicaragua." Moore Urritia is on a two-year assignment in Japan, but there is a chance she stated that it will be extended to a four year tour. She should learn more about the length of the assignment this summer, she added. Civil disobedience actions have resumed in different parts of Yerevan since early morning. Several streets in different parts of Yerevan are blocked at the moment. Protesters led by Nikol Pashinyan have blocked the traffic on Melik-Adamyan Street, where police forces are concentrated in front of the Central Office of the Republican Party of Armenia. Police have been transported here by public buses with missing or covered plates. Thousands of demonstrators, including students, are in Republic Square now. Protesters are chanting Reject Serzh's Karen, Republican Party, leave, Armenia is ours. Here's an update on what's happening in the Armenian capital: 12:28pm A number of protesting students left Garegin Njdeh Square and are marching on Khandjyan Street, where traffic is already blocked. Other protesters are joining them there. Marching to the beat of drums, marchers are converging on Alek Manoogian Street, chanting Armenian, independent and free. 1:05pm Nikol Pashinyan and his entourage have joined the marchers who are now on Vardanants Street. Pashinyan has a new chant up his sleeve Reject Serzhs Karen. (The reference being acting prime minister Karen Karapetyan) Note to Readers: On April 23, after 11 days of protests against Serzh Sargsyan's election as prime minister, Sargsyan resigned. It was announced that Nikol Pashinyan would meet acting prime minister Karen Karapetyan on April 25 to discuss other items of the agenda proposed by Pashinyan, including the election of the prime minister by peoples choice and snap parliamentary elections. However, later in the evening yesterday, the planned negotiations between Karapetyan and Pashinyan were cancelled due to disagreements over the aforementioned agenda. Karen Karapetyan called on President Armen Sarkissian to organize a meeting at which all parliamentary and non-parliamentary political forces would attend to discuss the current situation in Armenia and the possibility of holding snap parliamentary elections. In his address to citizens earlier today, Pashinyan contradicted that elections could not take place under the rule of a Republican Prime Minister and announced the continuation of peaceful civil disobedience acts. At 6pm today, Armenian "Nemra" band will hold a concert in the Republic Square, followed by a rally scheduled at 7pm. By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 24, 2018 | 09:15 PM | PADUCAH, KY Paducah City Commissioners heard two more presentations at Tuesday's meeting and later approved opioid litigation.Commissioners approved a legal service agreement between the City of Paducah and Bryant Law Center and Friedman, Dazzio, Zulanas & Bowling for legal representation in the pursuit of damages incurred as a result of the illegal sale, distribution, and marketing of opioids and opioid derivative drugs in Paducah.This agreement is on the basis that there is no cost to the city. If there are disbursements at the time of a judgement or settlement of a lawsuit, the city will provide legal services payment equal to one-third the total amount recovered.Before the vote, in the board's effort to continue its information gathering concerning the opioid crisis, they heard a fourth presentation in a series. They first heard from Terrye Peeler, Paducah Lifeline Ministries' executive director. Peeler said Kentucky currently has the third highest overdose rate in the country, with four people in the state overdosing each day.Paducah Lifeline Ministries is a Christ-centered solution for those battling drug and alcohol addiction. It is a residential and non-residential community-based recovery program for women and men. Peeler says Paducah Lifeline Ministries has a 62 percent success rate withpeople completing the nine month program staying sober or drug free for a year or more.She said in 2017 they were able to help 82 men and 50 women. Peeler said it was 132 people struggling given an opportunity to change their lives. One hundred eleven people were from counties in Kentucky, 12 from Illinois, six from Tennessee, and one each from Alabama, Misouri and Florida."Our nine-month program isn't easy, but it is so worth it. Our goal is to build new facilities at the locations where we are. Both places are out in the county but close to town," said Peeler, who invited the commissioner to come by so they could see first hand what they are dealing with.The commission also heard from Ashley Miller, who is a 2014 graduate of Ladies Living Free, and the office manager at Paducah Lifeline. She supports husband Eric, who is the men's director and a graduate. Peeler said the Millers are proof that addiction can be overcome.Miller said her journey began five years ago when she entered Ladies Living Free and described her life as one of loss and brokenness up until that point. She said she grew up in a family with parents who abused prescription medication. At the age of 14 she said she ended up in the emergency room after taking too many of her parents' pills and it escalated from there. In 2013 she said she ended up in jail with 12 counts of controlled substance. She entered Ladies Living Free, which was her third and last treatment center."Once I got to Ladies Living Free, I was able to sit still long enough to see there was a better way of life. The program offered me love but most importantly they did not enable me and they taught me structure," said Miller. On the Net: Lane restrictions planned on sections of I-24 this week for asphalt patching By The Associated Press Apr. 25, 2018 | 11:34 AM | LOUISVILLE, KY In response to a lawsuit filed by the University of Louisville and its foundation, a lawyer for former university President James Ramsey says his client "has done nothing wrong." The lawsuit was filed Wednesday against Ramsey and other officials claiming they conspired to divert millions of dollars from the foundation's endowment. The suit says Ramsey and his chief of staff, Kathleen McDaniel Smith, colluded to pay excessive compensation to themselves and others. It also claims they conspired to divert millions of dollars from the foundation's endowment into speculative and unauthorized ventures. Attorney Steve Pence said Wednesday that he hasn't had a chance to review a lawsuit, but denied any wrongdoing by Ramsey. He said the University of Louisville should move forward with managing what has been built "rather than tearing it down." Nikol Pashinyan's Facebook page reports that he met with EU ambassadors accredited to Armenia this morning and he's going to meet with Russian and US ambassadors to Armenia soon. Note to Readers: On April 23, after 11 days of protests against Serzh Sargsyan's election as prime minister, Sargsyan resigned. It was announced that opposition movement leader Nikol Pashinyan would meet acting prime minister Karen Karapetyan on April 25 to discuss other items of the agenda proposed by Pashinyan, including the election of the "people's" prime minister and snap parliamentary elections. However, later in the evening yesterday, the planned negotiations between Karapetyan and Pashinyan were cancelled due to disagreements over the aforementioned agenda. Karapetyan called on President Armen Sarkissian to organize a meeting at which all parliamentary and non-parliamentary political forces would attend to discuss the current situation in Armenia and the possibility of holding snap parliamentary elections. In his address to citizens earlier today, Pashinyan declared that elections could not take place under the rule of a Republican Prime Minister and announced the continuation of peaceful civil disobedience. At 6pm today, the "Nemra" band will hold a concert in Republic Square, followed by a rally at 7pm. BLUE RIDGE HONOR FLIGHT PLANS FLIGHT IN OCTOBER FOR VIETNAM WAR VETS THEFIRST OFFICIAL TRIP FOR THESE DESERVING VETS Blue Ridge Honor Flight is proud to announce its 2018 Community Fund page that will enable the organization to make its first official flight of Vietnam War Veterans in October of 2018. Since 2006, Jeff Miller and HonorAir (now Blue Ridge Honor Flight) have been flying our WWII and Korean War veterans to Washington, D.C to visit the memorials dedicated to their service and sacrifice. Now its time to do the same for our Vietnam War Veterans. While we will of course continue to take World War II and Korean War Veterans, we are now very excited to offer this opportunity to our Vietnam War Veterans as well. We want this to be a day created just for them, states Jeff Miller, Founder of Blue Ridge Honor Flight. The first official trip for these very deserving men and women will take place on October 6 of 2018 out of the Asheville Regional Airport. In 2006, the generous donations of Henderson and Buncombe County businesses and residents helped us bring two charter planes of WWII veterans to D.C. Please consider donating to Blue Ridge Honor flight at our new community fund page sponsored by Shuler Funeral Home and let us do the same for our Vietnam War veterans. Lets give them the honor and welcome home they so deserve. Please visit https://www.tmcfunding.com/search-events/campaign/2262?layout=single to make a donation. Your gift honors the service and sacrifice of the men and women who have worked and fought to keep us free. You may make your donation on the above site using your credit or debit card, or you can send your check made out to Blue Ridge Honor Flight to Shuler Funeral Home, 125 Orr's Camp Rd., Hendersonville, NC 28792. Embed from Getty Images Mohamed Salahs run of good fortune is showing no signs of waning anytime soon as the Liverpool star continues to send defenders a-spiralling and goal-scoring records a-tumbling. Now, in addition to surpassing the 40-goal mark this season and firing the Reds toward a Champions League final, Salah is set to be bestowed with an honour of holy significance. Indeed, the Egyptian forward is reportedly to be given his very own plot of land in Mecca, specifically as a reward for winning the PFA Player of the Year Award. Fahd Al-Rowky, who is vice-president of the local municipality in Mecca, has mentioned in passing that Salah will be given the land outside Islams most sacred city if hes willing to accept the gift. Speaking to My Salaam. Al-Rowky said: There are several choices regarding giving this piece of land. The way to go will be determined by Mohamed Salah as well as the Saudi system. If the Saudi system allows the land to be owned by Salah, he will be given a piece of land in Holy Mecca outside Haram. The other option will be to have a mosque built on the land in his name. None too shabby, whichever way it pans out. Tavoush: Armenian Church Primate Says Will of the People is Paramount Bishop Bagrat Galstyan has remained side-by-side with anti-government protesters in Noyemberyan since this morning, even when they blocked the highway to the Georgian border. Galstyan, Primate of the Tavoush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, has said that if the will of the people is regime change, that demand must be met. Despite the huge traffic jam that has been created on the highway, a vital trade artery for Armenia, truck and car drivers are showing remarkable patience, each waiting their turn to pass. Williamson, WV (25661) Today Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 80F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Armenias Ministry of Education and Science has issued the following release, claiming its the statement of rectors of public colleges and universities on developments in the country. We appeal to all political forces in Armenia, to civic groups, to the entire society. The ongoing political processes must immediately take place within the confines of the law, through a platform of dialog and consensus. We must rule out any deepening of an atmosphere of hate and the potential for violence. Only this way can we pull the country out of the current tense situation. By: Paige Cline The hills are still green for the most part, but a little[Read More] Protests targeting the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) arent confined to the streets of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. Pupils and students in Gavar, a town of some 20,000 which is the capital of Gegharkunik Province, boycotted class today and marched through the town. The message they chanted was simple RPA, take a hike. Students from Gavar State University, Gavar State Agricultural College, and pupils from local public schools have declared the strike. Photos: Vardan Dadikyan Anti-government protesters in Noyemberyan have blocked their section of the highway leading to the Georgian border. Noyemberyan is a town of some 4,500 residents in Armenia northeastern Tavoush Province. Pupils have declared a school strike in Berdavan and Koghb, two villages incorporated in Noyemberyan. Gohar Aslikyan, one of the protesters, told Hetq that young people from Koghb have joined protesters from Berdavan and Noyemberyan, and that they are all headed to Bagratshen, to surround the customs check point on the Georgian border. Armenian National Academy of Sciences has issued a statement on protests in Armenia, which we present below. Dear Compatriots, Today, civil society continues the struggle for the sake of a democratic Armenia. The Armenian National Academy of Sciences, being a part of the public, urges all sides to find legal solutions to problems, to avoid possible clashes and ensure the security of citizens and stability and reputation of the country. As protests continue to erupt in the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and across the world in outrage against the horrific shooting of Jacob Bla Read more The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued approval on April 25 allowing the city of Racine to divert an annual average of 7 million gallons a day of water from Lake Michigan for its customers in Mount Pleasant. Most of the water would be used in the Foxconn Technology project. Foxconn is preparing to build a plant to produce liquid crystal flat-screen panels. Racine requested 7 million gallons per day withdrawal from Lake Michigan for the village of Mount Pleasant, which straddles the divide between the Lake Michigan basin and Mississippi River basin. The DNR, in a news release, said, "This withdrawal would still put the Racine water utility under its existing withdrawal capacity and below its 1995 average day water sales number as cited in its application." The approval allows the Racine Water Utility to extend public water service to the 8 percent of the village that is in the Mississippi River basin, "partially including the Foxconn facility site," according to the DNR statement. The DNR said it determined the diversion is for "public water supply" purposes "because Racine's public water system will continue to serve a group of largely residential customers, including the straddling community of Mount Pleasant." As part of the approval, Racine must ensure that the diverted water is returned to Lake Michigan minus consumptive use such as evaporation. The water returned to Lake Michigan will be treated at the Racine Wastewater Treatment Plant. The department said it had taken public comments under consideration in issuing the approval and drafted a comment and response document available by searching the DNR website, dnr.wi.gov for keywords "Racine diversion." "We received approximately 800 comments on the Racine application, which shows the public's strong interest in this topic," said Adam Freihoefer, water use section chief for the Bureau of Drinking Water and Groundwater. "We appreciate the public's involvement and I thank those who took the time to comment." Racine filed the application in January, prompting a period public comment that included written filings and a hearing in Sturtevant in March. About 300 people attended the public hearing on the application. The point made by speaker after speaker had been that approval by the state would violate the Great Lakes Compact, which says diverted water must be for public use as opposed to private industrial use. If we allow this to happen, its going to happen all over the basin, with other states and then its going to be the thirsty states and nations to come, warned Jennifer Giegerich of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters. The application has drawn criticism from many environmental organizations in the state and also the Great Lakes region. Earlier this month, the Wisconsin Compact Implementation Coalition urged the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Water Resources Regional Body to initiate a formal review of the city of Racines proposal to divert Great Lakes water. The coalition said Racines application raised serious questions about its compliance with the Great Lakes Compact. The coalition emphasized that although Racine is located entirely within the Lake Michigan Basin, it was seeking an approval for a diversion of Great Lakes water to supply an area of the neighboring village of Mount Pleasant that lies outside the Great Lakes Basin. And the purpose of the diversion is to provide Great Lakes water to Foxconn Technology Group, a private, large multinational electronics manufacturer, for its first U.S. manufacturing plant. Racines application, for the coalition, triggered a series of serious questions that strike at the heart of the compacts prohibition on diversions. How these questions and concerns are resolved will surely set the course for future diversions across the Great Lakes Basin and we want to be sure a precedent is set that complies with the spirit and intent of the compact, Jimmy Parra, a lawyer with Midwest Environmental Advocates and a member of the CIC, had said earlier this month. Also, prior to the April 25 approval by the state, Jennifer Bolger Breceda, the executive director of Milwaukee Riverkeeper and current lead of the CIC, warned, If central provisions of the compact are ignored by Wisconsin, or interpreted in a way that violates the goals of the compact, the regional body should be alarmed." Editor's note: This report will be updated. WiGBits Headline News Would you like to receive our WiGBits? Signup today! WiG Entertainment News Would you like to receive our WiG Entertainment News? Signup today! Digital Issue Would you like to receive our Digital Issue? Signup today! Venezuela has reached an inflection point for its people and the Western Hemisphere. The crisis in Venezuela is not just a regional irritant. Its socialist government has become a danger to its neighbors and our own national security. The regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicol-s Maduro threatens US interests. While the Maduro regime has denied such charges, it is a state sponsor of drug trafficking. The United States has sanctioned the country's vice president, calling him a "drug kingpin," and the nephews of the first lady were sentenced last year to 18 years in prison for drug trafficking charges in the United States. The regime provides safe harbor for US-designated foreign terrorist organizations like the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and ELN (National Liberation Army). It has attacked the regional democratic order, and actively allies itself with enemies of the United States, including the Cuban dictatorship, Russia, as well as Iran and Hezbollah. The spillover effects of the Maduro regime's authoritarian actions are undermining efforts by the United States and its regional partners to promote democracy, human rights and stability in the Western Hemisphere. The Venezuelan dictatorship's corrupt governance, economic mismanagement, and violent suppression of popular dissent have yielded a grave humanitarian crisis of historic proportions. In turn, the destabilizing flow of millions of Venezuelan migrants has strained the resources of surrounding countries like Colombia and Brazil. While the United States and our partners have repeatedly condemned the Maduro regime and demanded an end to the crisis, we must now follow our words with decisive actions. It is time for the region's democratic nations to work together and hasten Maduro's exit from power. Earlier this month, I traveled to the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, where the crisis in Venezuela dominated nearly every discussion among our allies. In turn, the United States issued a joint statement with the so-called "Lima Group" of 16 regional neighbors to reject Maduro's plan for a sham presidential vote on May 20. Together, we called unequivocally for free elections and urged the Venezuelan dictatorship to release all political prisoners. In an ideal world, the Organization of American States (OAS), a group of 34 nations in the Western Hemisphere, would provide the forum to coordinate multilateral action on Venezuela. But a small minority of the OAS's member states remain economically or ideologically aligned with Maduro and are doing all they can to prevent the organization from fulfilling the promise of its charter to protect peace, justice, and solidarity. As an alternative, I urge the United States to persuade the Lima Group nations and other like-minded neighbors to hold meetings with our respective foreign and finance ministers in May and chart a regional way forward on Venezuela based on three core elements. First, the United States should work with the Lima Group countries to coordinate their national-level sanctions with our own growing efforts to target the Maduro regime's criminal elements, its access to international banking and financing, and those individuals, shell companies and other entities that it is using to evade foreign financial pressure. The goal is to maximize the pain felt by corrupt, oppressive, and illegitimate government officials in Venezuela who are undermining democracy and human rights, as well as those actors who are keeping them in power. Second, we should coordinate our efforts to alleviate Venezuela's spiraling humanitarian crisis. As millions of Venezuelans have fled their country to escape starvation, deprivation and violence, neighboring states have borne disproportional burdens and need foreign assistance, including continued aid for migrant programs. It's critical that we also make clear to the Venezuelan people that food, medicine and international humanitarian aid are ready to be delivered to them in their country, but their dictatorship cynically will not allow it. The Maduro regime should face mounting international pressure to allow humanitarian assistance inside Venezuela's borders, and to let it be distributed by credible charities and nongovernmental organizations. Finally, we must stand ready to help rebuild a free and democratic Venezuela after Maduro leaves power. We need a multilateral equivalent of the Marshall Plan, the American initiative to rebuild Europe after the end of World War II, for post-Maduro Venezuela. This plan should include investment from the Inter-American Development Bank, which the United States contributes to, and from other international economic organizations aligned with our interests. At the same time, we must be prepared to help the Venezuelan people to restore their democratic institutions and processes. Given the Maduro regime's efforts to prevent opposition leaders from going abroad to criticize the dictatorship and rally international support, the United States and our regional partners must work to enable all legitimately-elected members of the country's National Assembly the ability to travel freely, including by providing visas and permitting expired passport travel or other alternatives. It also means cooperating with the legitimate constitutional courts of Venezuela that Maduro has undermined. The crisis in Venezuela has become a complex regional challenge. The United States should therefore persuade our liked-minded neighbors to support a regional solution aimed at increasing pressure on the Maduro regime, alleviating the country's dire humanitarian crisis, and laying the groundwork for international efforts to rebuild a free and democratic post-Maduro Venezuela. It's high time for the democracies of the Western Hemisphere to back up our words of support for the suffering Venezuelan people with decisive, collective action. Kyle Bass, the founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management, believes that "there's been a trade war with China since 2001." "The only side that's been fighting it, though, is China," he added. While business leaders have warned that President Trump's tariffs could end up hurting US companies, Bass criticized what he described as a historically "pacifist" attitude towards trade with China. "The US strategy has been unilateral disarmament, while China has basically taken over the trade relationship with the US," Bass told Richard Quest on CNNMoney's "Markets Now" on Wednesday. Bass, who is known for anticipating the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007, said he doesn't expect much from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's planned visit to China. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the delegation will also include US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. "My own view is we're not going to see him get anywhere," he said. Before he started the investment management company, Bass was a managing director at asset manager Legg Mason and a senior managing director at Bear Stearns. Related: Watch 'Markets Now' here every Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. ET "Markets Now" streams live from the New York Stock Exchange every Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. ET. The fifteen-minute long show is hosted by CNNMoney editor-at-large Richard Quest and CNNMoney anchor Maggie Lake. It features sharp commentary on the biggest topics of the day. Austan Goolsbee, former chief economic adviser to President Barack Obama, told Quest last week that economic growth is "okay, but not as good as the optimists believe." In a previous episode legendary investor Jim Chanos told Lake that Tesla investors are "paying money to lose money." He added, "I think the company is ultimately going to become a troubled company." You can watch the show at your desk or on your phone or tablet at CNNMoney.com/MarketsNow. Can't watch at 12:45 p.m. ET? Interview highlights will be available online and through the Markets Now newsletter, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. UTICA The Utica Police Dept. closed off two streets in Utica, Tuesday, while a film crew works overnight on a brand new movie project. Railroad St. and Division St. closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday and will open around 4 a.m. Wednesday. Filmmaker Anthony Owens and Lt. Bryan Coromato spoke about the protocol of closing roads for movies. "First you got to have your insurance, Owens said. You got to make sure that if anybody trips over a light, you're covered. And you also want to make sure, like for what I did, I developed a relationship with the city. With Paul Buckley, who's our film commissioner here, and reached out to him before I was at the point of actually filming and saying hey, this is what I'm looking to do." Over the last few years we've seen an uptick in people coming here, Coromato said. Whether it be an independent movie or a more high end movie. Theyve asked for us to be involved, whether it be with security. There have been some where they've requested our police vehicles being in the film and officers be involved. So yeah, anything to help the city, and help people continue to come here and have projects here" Owens is a native of Rome. Hes been a part of filmmaking for many years. Owens says he wanted to film a movie locally before venturing out to other cities. The movie is expected to release in 2019. Owens says he hopes to have the movie released on a digital platform such as Netflix or Hulu. A Fulton County man is accused of distributing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Grant Jaquith of the Northern District of New York. Charles Guyer, 59, was arrested Tuesday on a charge of distributing child pornography. According to the news release, Guyer allegedly used a file-sharing software to distribute child porn over the internet in March and April of this year. A judge ordered that Guyer be detained pending further court proceedings. If Guyer is ultimately convicted on the charge, he faces at least 15 years in prison and a maximum of 40 years in prison. He also faces a maximum fine of $250,000, and five years to life of post-release supervision. This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, which was launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice. The Guatemalan man who was arrested in an immigration raid last week in Rome will remain in detention. At a detention hearing on Tuesday, a federal judge called Marcial DeLeon-Aguilar a flight risk and said he had been deported three times since 1997. One of those deportations came after an aggravated assault conviction, and the other two were after his illegal re-entry into the U.S. DeLeon-Aguilar was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at John Collins farm on Thomas Road in Rome on April 18. DeLeon-Aguilar works and lives there with his pregnant wife and their four children. A new hearing date has been scheduled for next week. ________________________________ RELATED COVERAGE: ICE responds to detainment of Guatemalan man working on Rome farm Rome farmer says ICE agents stormed property, detained employee UTICA The lawsuit against a Utica police officer and the City of Utica for a 2013 officer-involved shooting has been dismissed by the United States District Court, according to city officials. On Boilermaker Sunday in July 2013, Utica Police Officer Anthony Ellis fired two rounds at Jessie Lee Rose at Addison Miller Park when Rose discharged a shotgun several times and didnt comply with Ellis commands to drop the weapon. One of the shots fired by Ellis struck Rose in the hand, and she died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to city officials. In 2014, Roses parents and estate filed a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming that Ellis used excessive, unconstitutional deadly force, and also that the Utica Police Department didnt adequately train officers on the use of deadly force and interactions with mentally ill people. The U.S. District Court dismissed the lawsuit and all federal claims against Ellis on April 19, and Roses parents also abandoned their claim that the department failed to properly train its officers. ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York's governor is threatening to sue federal immigration officials following a raid on an upstate dairy farm that he says was illegal. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a cease and desist letter to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency Wednesday. The unusual move came after armed ICE agents arrested a worker at a farm in Rome last week. Farmer John Collins says the agents did not produce a warrant or identify themselves and handcuffed him when he tried to videotape the incident. He says they also destroyed his cellphone. Cuomo says the officers' conduct violated the Constitution and basic provisions of state and federal law. ICE has said that it did have a warrant. A spokesman did not immediately respond to questions about the officers' conduct Wednesday. (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) _________________________________________ PREVIOUS WKTV.COM COVERAGE: Rome farmer says ICE agents stormed property, detained employee ICE responds to detainment of Guatemalan man working on Rome farm Guatemalan man arrested in ICE raid in Rome will remain in detention China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page City firefighters were on the scene at the Woonsocket Trust Co. Bank Tuesday afternoon to knock down a smoky fire in the rear of the building that was allegedly started in a concrete overflow area where trash had accumulated. Shine picks I&C protection system supplier 25 April 2018 Share Shine Medical Technologies has selected Rock Creek Innovations LLC to lead design and implementation of the instrumentation and control (I&C) protection systems for its medical isotope production facility in Janesville, Wisconsin. Construction of the main production facility at the site is due to start soon. 3D model of the cabinet systems designed by Rock Creek Innovations for the Shine production facility (Image: Shine) Shine's facility will produce medically important isotopes, including molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), using an accelerator-driven subcritical assembly - not a nuclear reactor - to irradiate a low-enriched uranium target solution. Molybdenum-99 is the precursor of technetium-99m (Tc-99m), the most widely used isotope in nuclear medicine. With a half-life of only 66 hours, Mo-99 cannot be stockpiled, and security of supply is a key concern. Most Mo-99 is currently produced from highly-enriched uranium targets, which are themselves seen as a potential nuclear proliferation risk. Shine noted that Rock Creek had invented the Highly Integrated Protection System, or HIPS. "The HIPS takes advantage of the best of both analogue and digital control systems by combining the long-proven analogue safety channel approach used by nuclear protection systems today with the comprehensive diagnostic and self-testing capabilities of digital logic," Shine said. "The HIPS platform has been approved by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for use in safety-related applications in US nuclear power plants." Shine submitted its construction licence application to the NRC in 2013. In October 2015, following an independent review of Shine's preliminary safety analysis report, the NRC's advisory committee on reactor safeguards recommended that a construction permit should be issued. In February 2016, the NRC issued a construction permit for the facility, the first it had issued for a non-power utilisation or production facility since 1985. Ground was broken for Building One at the Janesville site in August last year. Shine announced in February that it had completed construction and taken occupancy of that building, which will initially be used to house the first fully-integrated, full-size Shine production system. During construction of Shine's main production facility, which is due to start soon, Building One will be used to train employees and develop operating experience with equipment. Gregg Clarkson, president and owner of Rock Creek Innovations, said the Shine team "bring a reliable supply of high surface-area moly-99 to US patients". He added: "Rock Creek Innovations looks forward to being a critical member of the team that sees the Shine project to realisation." Greg Piefer, founder and CEO of Shine, added: "Rock Creek's creative thinking and passion for partnership are what differentiates them from the traditional nuclear industry contractor. The entrepreneurial, problem-solving culture that Gregg Clarkson brings to his organisation is well-aligned with our needs." Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics People were shocked to learn that a long time humanitarian who won multiple awards for helping suffering children is facing charges of sexual assault. Nepal police said that they have arrested 60-year-old Peter John Dalglish of Canada for allegedly having sex with two boys under the age of 15. The boys were found inside his apartment and were rescued by police. Police believe that he sexually assaulted young children over a period of 15 years. Dalglish is a humanitarian and founder of the Street Kids International charity. Until recently, he was the Country Representative for UN-Habitat in Afghanistan. Dalglish was born in London, Ontario. Dalglish is a leading authority on working children, street children, and war-affected children. Dalglish was appointed as the first director of Youth Service Canada. He served as the executive director of the South Asia Childrenas Fund. Dalglish is the recipient of a Vanier Award, Fellowship of Man Award, and the Dalhousie Law School Weldon Award. Dalglish was arrested by Nepal Police from Kavre District on allegations of child sexual abuse. Nepals central investigation bureau confirmed that Dalglish has been accused in a case involving two boys under the age of 15. A Nepal police spokesman confirmed that the bureau is investigating the possibility of more victims and DIG Pushkar Karki and director of the CIB, said: that preliminary investigation by CIB suggested that Dalglish might have sexually abused many children. Police said that they found photos inside his home of naked children. Dalglish, speaking from behind bars, denied any improper contact with children. NHS bursary to continue in Wales This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Apr 25th, 2018 Student nurses, midwives and allied health professionals starting their studies in Wales from September 2019 will still be able to apply for bursaries, despite the scheme being scrapped in England. Wrexhams Assembly Member, Lesley Griffiths has welcomed the extension of the scheme by the Welsh Government. In order for the full bursary package to be available, students must commit to working in Wales for up to two years after gaining their qualification. Only 3% of the 2,180 students applying for bursaries in 2017/18 declined to work in Wales after their studies. Lesley Griffiths AM said: The NHS bursary scheme has proved to be a successful Welsh Labour Government initiative, highlighted by the fact the vast majority of students who train in Wales remain working here after completing their studies. Whilst the Conservative UK Government decided to scrap the scheme in England last year, the Welsh Government will continue to support health care students in Wales, helping safeguard the future of our NHS. Police ask for help in locating a missing woman from Wrexham This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Apr 25th, 2018 North Wales Police are asking for help in tracing a 37 year old woman from Wrexham. Officers say Kate Rance was last seen in Rhosddu Road on Tuesday afternoon. Kate is described as having straight blonde hair, she is approximately 5ft tall and of a medium build. Only detail for clothing is that she was wearing jeans police have said. If you have seen Kate or have any information which may help police call 101 and quote I-TRACE reference 22169. Temporary 50 mph speed limit on the bypass to reduce nitrogen dioxide This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Apr 25th, 2018 A temporary speed limit of 50 mph will be introduced in the next few months on the A483 near to Wrexham to try and reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions by 18%. The move is part of a package of measures to improve air quality in Wales that has been announced by Environment Minister Hannah Blythyn. The Minister confirmed immediate measures, including temporary speed limits, will come into force within the next two months to reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels on roads where levels are currently above legal limits. Among the restrictions will be the introduction of 50 mph speed limits over the short length of the exceedance at five locations including the A483 by Wrexham between the Mold Road B&Q roundabout and Gresford. Among the measures will be a new 20m fund to reduce emissions and improve the environment in Wales. The Air Quality Fund, which will run until 2021, will support local authorities to comply with nitrogen dioxide limits and improve air quality in their areas. Speaking during a plenary debate, the Minister announced a consultation will be launched today on plans for Clean Air Zones, designated areas where action is taken to reduce public and environmental exposure to airborne pollutants. The proposals include stopping or restricting access for the most polluting vehicles entering a Clean Air Zone, thereby reducing road congestion and emissions within the Clean Air Zones and neighbouring areas. A new Air Quality in Wales website will also be launched, enabling people to check live air quality information for their area. The website will provide local data on current and forecasted air pollution levels, as well as historical data. It will also include educational materials, games and tools for schools and improved health advice. Minister for Environment Hannah Blythyn said: I am delighted to announce a package of measures to improve air quality in Wales, including a 20 million fund to help local authorities put arrangements in place to reduce air pollution in their areas. We will encourage local authorities to introduce Clean Air Zones, where evidence suggests they are needed to reduce harmful emissions, as well as launching a new website which allows people to check the air quality in their area. Delivering clean air in Wales is one of my key priorities. I am committed to taking action to reduce air pollution in Wales to support a healthier future for our communities and protect our natural environment. I am confident the measures I am announcing today will help support the changes we need to make in Wales to deliver cleaner air. We will pass on details from Welsh Government on the speed limit changes if provided, however going by last year it might get buried in the back of a newspaper first before it is picked up thirteen days later due to the superb way such things are communicated to you. The Conservative government is wracked by divisions over Brexit, with Downing Street insisting that a parliamentary vote tomorrow is not a vote of confidence in Theresa Mays premiership. May suffered more blows last week, after the House of Lords voted to amend the European Union Withdrawal Bill to require the government to try to stay in the EUs customs union. In a vote with a much larger than expected majority, the government was defeated by 348 to 225. The motion was put forward by a cross-party section of the Lords, with the amendment jointly authored by John Kerr, a former civil servant, and pro-EU crossbencher, former Conservative cabinet minister Chris Patten, backed by Labour and Liberal Democrats shadow ministers. The amendment won the support of 24 Conservative rebels. Supporting the government were just 26 crossbenchers, one Labour and two Liberal Democrats. The Lords also defeated the government in another amendment tabled by the Labour frontbench, with backing from the Lib Dems and Tory backbencher Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate. The amendment was passed by a majority of 97 and would mean retained EU law relating to rights in the fields of employment, equality, health and safety, consumer standards and environmental standards, can only be amended or revoked post-Brexit via primary legislation. On Monday evening, the government lost a further two votes over Brexit in the upper house. These set off a firestorm within the hard Brexit faction of the Tories, led by Brexit Secretary David Davis, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Environment Secretary Michael Gove. Thursdays debate is non-binding, but next month MPs are set to take part in a number of key votes on a customs union, with the Sunday Times reporting that the hard Brexiteers are demanding May face down around ten Tory MPs who may back opposition MPs on remaining in the customs union. That number of rebels would imperil Mays position, as she leads a minority government relying on the support of ten Democratic Unionist Party MPs for a majority. According to reports, leaders of the hard Brexit wingthat she is in thrall towarned May they would resign if she backed any form of a customs union. In response, a Downing Street spokesman said Monday that no soft Brexit would be considered as, We are leaving the customs union, we will have an independent trade policy and we will strike trade deals around the world. The spokesman described Thursdays vote as a routine backbench business debate. Tory MPs are not being whipped, either to attend the debate or to vote against the pro-customs union amendment. On Tuesday, the pro-Brexit Daily Telegraph bemoaned that the issue of future trading relationships with the EU is not on the agenda at todays Brexit war cabinet meeting. Thursday non-binding vote was secured by the leaders of 10 of parliaments 32 select committees. They tabled a motion aimed at bringing forward a binding vote demanding the government include as an objective in negotiations the establishment of an effective customs union. It was backed by three Tory select committee heads, two Labour heads, a Liberal Democrat and a head from the Scottish National Party. Thursdays debate will see amendments to several bills tabled by Remain-supporting Conservative Anna Soubry and Labour right-winger Chuka Umunna. Umunna tweeted of the crucial amendments he had authored with Soubry to the Trade and Customs Bills that they would be legally binding and force Ministersto seek to keep us in the EU Customs Union. Support for the customs union from a sizable cross-party factionrepresenting the interests of the majority of big businessis a stalking horse towards ensuring the UK remains in the Single Market and possibly reversing Brexit entirely. Following the Lords customs union vote, Labours Shadow Brexit Secretary, Keir Starmer said it reflected I think a majority view in parliament now, that it is in our national interest and economic interest to stay in a customs union with the EU. Weve got a huge manufacturing sector in the UK that needs to be protected. Starmers position was underlined by the intervention of the Japanese ambassador to Britain, Koji Tsuruoka, who warned of the dire consequences of a hard Brexit. Interviewed by the pro-Remain Observer he said, We have 1,000 companies operating in the UK today funded by Japanese capital. It accelerated after Margaret Thatcher promoted the UK as the gateway to Europe for Japanese firms. The total Japanese investment to the EUs 28 countries is of course huge, but out of 28 countries the UK alone now absorbs about 40 percent of total Japanese investment destined for the EU. Speaking about the two major Japanese auto manufacturers in the UK, Nissan and Toyotaas Nissan announced hundreds of job losseshe said, They are currently considering and thinking and watching very closely what they need to do. That is why they are not investing additionally today. Tsuruoka warned, The reason that many of those companies have come is that this is the best gateway to Europe. If that is in danger, if that is no longer sustainable, of course they will have to look at what they will have to do best. The Financial Times insisted, After Brexit the UK must keep its borders open to European trade. The House of Lords has already signalled support for a customs union; a majority in the House of Commons would probably back one, too. Mrs. Mays equivocation is becoming ever more untenable. May campaigned for Remain in the 2016 referendum but cannot accept any customs union because it would result in her removal as leader by her partys hard Brexit wing. Concluding the first round of negotiations with the EU, May proposed either of two post-Brexit trading models a customs partnership orin a move to placate the eurosceptic factiona highly streamlined customs arrangement. In an article earlier this month Germanys main business newspaper, Handelsblatt, was scathing about claims that EU withdrawal would inaugurate a brave new world for Global Britain: One year after Brexit negotiations started, Britains place in the world is shrinking fast. At some point, Theresa May will have to tell her people the truth long after the loss of its colonies, Britain continued to benefit from the Empires fading aura. But with Brexit, that magic has finally worn off. Left to its own devices, Britain is just a medium-sized state with limited global influence, its Empire long gone. It continued: Mr. [Michel] Barnier [the EUs Brexit negotiator] leads a rock-solid EU negotiating front, against which Britain has butted heads for a year without making progress. This month has seen repeated warnings by the EU of a potential no-deal Brexit. Most seriously, the EU was scathing regarding UK plans to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state, after Brexit during a technical talks meeting last week. Barnier told French TV that 25 percent of the final withdrawal deal had yet to be settled and it could still be derailed by disagreements over the border and other issues. European Council President Donald Tusk told the European Parliament that without a solution to the border question, there will be no withdrawal agreement and no transition Leaders will assess the negotiations in June. Facebook, the worlds largest social media company, spelled out for the first time the criteria it uses to censor speech on its platform, purely at its own discretion, and with no legal oversight or recourse. Its community guidelines are so sweeping and broad that effectively any statement expressing any critical political view can be constrained as violent, defamatory, extremist, bullying orin the most sweeping catchallfake news, and flagged for removal or undetectable censorship. These community guidelines are used by the 20,000 in Facebooks security and moderation departmentsconstituting the absolute majority of the companys employeesto shape political discourse and block content the massive and unaccountable technology monopoly deems objectionable. The centerpiece of this censorship apparatus is Facebooks policy regarding fake news. In its newly released community guidelines, the social media monopoly made clear that it would not let users know their content is being blocked from distribution as fake news because such censorship is a sensitive issue: Reducing the spread of false news on Facebook is a responsibility that we take seriously. We also recognize that this is a challenging and sensitive issue. We want to help people stay informed without stifling productive public discourse. There is also a fine line between false news and satire or opinion. For these reasons, we dont remove false news from Facebook but instead, significantly reduce its distribution by showing it lower in the News Feed. The campaign against Fake News was initiated in November 2016, immediately following the 2016 election, by the US intelligence agencies, the Democratic Party, and the major technology giants. This cabal, shocked by the electoral defeat of Hillary Clinton, the favored candidate of the military/intelligence apparatus, and the widespread support for socialist ideas reflected in broad support for the campaign of Bernie Sanders, initiated a media offensive aimed at pinning the growth of social opposition on an amorphous, and rarely defined, concept called fake news. Although the hundreds of accounts in major newspapers devoted to the topic never defined what fake news is, Hillary Clinton, in her memoir of the 2016 election, put the genesis of fake news with WikiLeaks and its release of documents revealing the Clinton campaign to have rigged the 2016 primary and engaged in corrupt relations with Wall Street. Given that no one has ever pointed out any inaccuracies in WikiLeaks reporting, the clear implication is that the definition of fake news is any information, whether true or false, that is damaging or discrediting to the state. In other words, the blocking of fake news by the major technology giants, working on behalf of the US intelligence agencies, is nothing but political censorship. Given this fact, Facebooks wording is highly significant. Because the suppression of fake news, i.e., censorship, is a sensitive issue, the company will do it secretly, by significantly reduc[ing] its distribution by showing it lower in the News Feed. La Rochefoucaulds maxim that hypocrisy is the compliment vice pays to virtue applies here. Since journalists, publishers and users would raise a hue and cry over their content being censored, Facebook simply carries out its censorship in secret. By blocking distribution on the Facebook news feed, the companys actions have the same effect as simply deleting content, but without any legal proof that the company violated its users First Amendment rights. While Facebook is the only technology company that has spelled out these actions with such directness, Google and Twitter have both admitted, via legal representatives in congressional testimony that they follow a similar policy to suppress fake newsi.e., oppositional viewpoints. Facebooks admission is yet another vindication of the campaign launched by the World Socialist Web Site to expose political censorship by Google and other technology giants, an allegation in an open letter published August 25 that the company was engaged in enforcing authoritarian-style direct and deliberate blacklisting. The World Socialist Web Site published its letter in response to the revelation that leading left-wing, anti-war, and socialist web sites had their search traffic from Google fall by up to 75 percent after the company announced measures to improve its search system. It is now clear that the WSWSs allegations were entirely correct. The technology giants, unbeknownst to their users, are blocking alternative news sources and promoting trusted news outlets, including, as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg put it earlier this year, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal . The measures taken in secret to limit the distribution of critical political viewpoints are accompanied by more explicit censorship measures. In a quarterly report published Monday, Google bragged that it removed over 8 million videos from YouTube, of which the great majoritysome 6.7 millionwere first flagged for review by machines rather than humans. More than three quarters of the videos flagged by Googles AI systems were removed before they received a single view. The company declared, Deploying machine learning actually means more people reviewing content, not fewer. Our systems rely on human review to assess whether content violates our policies. Like Facebook, Google has hired an army of censors, aiming to employ 10,000 people in this department by the end of the year. Facebook and Google are under no legal obligation to police its content. As communications companies, they are not responsible under US law for what its users say or do on its platform. They have, rather, voluntarily become an arm of the US police and law enforcement agencies, but with one caveat: as a private corporation, they claim exemption, speciously, from the protections under the First Amendment barring the state from impinging on the freedom of expression. The real target of the crackdown by the technology giants on the freedom of speech is not fake news, extremist content, or any other of the myriad catchphrases used to justify censorship. It is, rather, the growth of oppositional sources of news and political analysis, and the use of social media to organize political resistance. As the strike movement by workers in the United States and internationally continues to grow, the technology giants will only expand their assault on the freedom of expression. As shown by the powerful response by workers to the meeting held by the World Socialist Web Site and Socialist Equality Party at Wayne State University last weekend, a growing section of workers sees the defense of the freedom of expression on the Internet as an urgent task. We urge workers and young people to contact the WSWS and join the fight against Internet censorship! Four years ago, on April 25, 2014, the mayor of Flint, Michigan, Dayne Walling, pushed a button ending the citys 50-year reliance on the Detroit water system and shifting instead to water from the heavily polluted Flint River. This act set in motion an environmental and health disaster with few precedents in American history. The shift from a safe water source to one that was suspect, at best, was carried out under the auspices of Republican Governor Rick Snyder, his Democratic state treasurer, Andy Dillon, and an emergency manager appointed by the state to impose the austerity measures dictated by the banks. Over the previous three-and-a-half decades, the city had been plunged into mass poverty and insolvency by the desertion of its primary employer, General Motors, which, after taking in billions in profits from the labor of Flint workers, closed virtually all of its plants, leaving behind empty lots, rotting buildings and toxic waste. The chief beneficiary of the change in the water supply was a new, private water authority, the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA), which was backed by big investors who saw an opportunity to make a killing by utilizing the unlimited powers of the emergency manager to effect the switch-over. Residents soon began to complain of foul-smelling, discolored water coming out of their spigots. There was an eruption of skin rashes, respiratory problems and hair loss. State environmental and health officials told residents who complained that the water was safe. Nothing was done to address the mounting crisis. Though it was concealed from the public at the time, one of the largest outbreaks in US history of Legionnaires disease, a particularly deadly form of pneumonia, sickened close to 100 people and killed at least 12 in the Flint area. The same officials who told Flint residents the water was safe had been warned before the shift to the Flint River that the citys antiquated water treatment plant was not up to the task of rendering the water safe for drinking, cooking or washing. The most elementary safeguards were not taken, including treating the caustic Flint River water with corrosion control chemicals to prevent the leaching of lead from the citys ancient lead water pipes into the residents water supply. The cover-up by state officials was abetted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. EPA officials appointed by the Obama administration backed up the lies of the Michigan authorities. The Flint population of 100,000, largely working class and low-income, was systematically poisoned by toxic levels of lead. The fertility and birth rates in the city fell sharply. There was a rash of miscarriages. The long-term damage to children remains unknown, although lead is known to harm the brain and stunt mental and emotional development. Were it not for the independent initiative taken by Flint residents themselves in seeking outside water experts to do independent sampling and expose the lies of the government, the social crime committed against them would never have been exposed. Flint workers and youth organized protest demonstrations that began to shake the Snyder administration, which shifted from brazen cover-up to a strategy of containment and damage-control, aided by the Obama administration and local Democratic officials. The United Auto Workers and other trade unions did nothing. Their main concern was to protect their relationship with the Democratic Party and the corporate establishment. To this day, four years later, not a single top official has been prosecuted. The KWA continues to operate, even though Flint has shifted back to the Detroit-based water system. The only people who have been arrested are six Flint residents. They were hauled off to jail last April for demanding answers from Democratic Mayor Karen Weaver at a town hall meeting. At the height of the scandal, during the 2016 election campaign, the Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders went to Flint to exploit the situation for their own electoral gain. Soon after, they and the media brigades that had swooped into the town vanished, never to return. In May of that year, Obama finally made an appearance in Flint. He notoriously minimized the impact of lead poisoning on children, took a sip of what he said was Flint tap water, and told Flint workers, in effect, to shut up and drink the water. Four years after the switch, no serious measures have been taken to address the health crisis in Flint. Earlier this month the state government halted the provision of free bottled water, signaling an end even to the pretense of official concern and action on behalf of the tens of thousands of people it victimized. Just four days earlier, the Snyder administration granted Nestle Water, the worlds largest bottler of water, the right to increase by almost 200 percent the amount of water it draws from Michigan aquifers. For a $200 administrative fee, Nestle can draw 570,000 gallons per day. The experience of Flint workers is a major experience of the working class as a whole, not just in the United States, but internationally. Residents of the devastated former coal mining region of Martin County, Kentucky have been demonstrating against the cutoff of their water supply. Toxic levels of lead have been found in water systems all across the country. The collapse of basic social infrastructure and the indifference of the corporate-financial elite and its bribed politicians of both parties have been seen in one disaster after another over the past decade, from Hurricane Katrina to the BP oil spill to the hurricanes last year in Houston, Florida and Puerto Rico. In a country where three billionairesJeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffetthave more wealth than the bottom 170 million people, and corporations are sitting on a cash hoard of some $2 trillion, workers are told there is no money for safe water, education, health care, housing, a living wage or decent pensions. A central lesson of the past four years is the dead end of all perspectives based on seeking to appeal to and pressure the ruling class and its political stooges to halt their attacks on working class living standards and address the needs of the people. Those organizations that work to tie the working class to the pro-corporate business enterprises that call themselves unions and to the Democratic Party are betraying the struggle of Flint workers and the working class as a whole. What above all has changed since the onset of the Flint water crisis is the emergence of a new upsurge of the working class. Since the start of 2018, a wave of teachers strikes and protests organized by rank-and-file teachers in defiance of the unionsWest Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky and elsewherehas shown that the decades-long suppression of the class struggle by the unions is coming to an end. And the new movement of the working class is international. Major strikes and workers protests have broken out in Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Greece, Eastern Europe, Iran, Tunisia and Africa. High school students have organized mass protests in the US and internationally to oppose the horrific conditions faced by the young generation. This movement of the working class is the force to which Flint workers and youth must turn, not the stooges of the financial oligarchy in the Democratic and Republican parties. This is the force that can put an end to the capitalist profit systemthe source of poverty, oppression, inequality and war. The precondition for guaranteeing safe and free water for all, along with all of the other social rights of the working class, is ending the economic dictatorship of the corporate-financial oligarchy. The vast fortunes of the ruling elite must be seized and used to meet the social needs of the majority. The trillions squandered on war and militarism must be reallocated to meet social needs. The Pentagon war machine must be shut down and the unity of workers of all countries, races and nationalities forged to put an end to war and the profit system that breeds it. Ownership and control of natural resources and utilities such as water and electricity, along with manufacturing, communications, technology, transportation, must be taken out of private hands. These economic levers must be turned into publicly owned enterprises under the democratic control of the working class. This is the only way to end economic parasitism and social inequality. The wealth is there to provide good-paying jobs, health care, education, housing, and pensions for all. The issue is: who will control the wealth? The super-rich or the masses of working people? The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality call on Flint workers and youth to take up the struggle to build a socialist movement of the working class. This requires above all the building of a new political leadership in the working class. Join and help build the SEP and the IYSSE today! After sixteen days of deliberation, US Border Patrol Agent Lonnie Swartz was acquitted on Monday of second degree murder for the slaying of a 16-year-old Mexican youth through a US-Mexico border fence. The court deadlocked on lesser charges of manslaughter leaving open the possibility of a re-trial. The murder of Antonio Elena Rodriguez occurred late in the evening on October 10, 2012 in the city of Nogales which straddles the Arizona-Mexico border. The defense claimed that Rodriguez was among a group of youth throwing rocks at border agents in an attempt to cover for drug smugglers. In self-defense from the rocks, Schwartz fired 16 rounds in 34 seconds from three different firing points. During this brief time, he emptied an entire magazine from his pistol, reloaded, and fired three more times. An autopsy later revealed that Rodriguez had been shot at least 10 times, with eight bullets entering his back and two in the head. He was dead within seconds. Attorneys for Swartz said the officer was justified in shooting and that he was acting in self-defense and in defense of his fellow officers. From his first day in the Border Patrol, it had been ingrained in him that rocks were dangerous, said his defense attorney, Sean Chapman, in his closing arguments. The Mexican side the border at the location of the shooting is at a much lower elevation than the US side. Many reports note that someone throwing rocks from the Mexican side of this location would have had to clear not only the height of the cliff, but also the 18-foot fence perched atop it casting severe doubt on an already flimsy argument of lethal rock throwing. Swartz testified that he had been frightened and decided to fire after rocks appeared to hit a fellow agent and a police dog. This has gotta stop. Somebodys going to get hurt, he reported thinking. Swartz did not explain the contradiction between his supposed concern someone would get hurt and his decision to fire 10 bullets into a child. The case marks the first time a US Border Patrol agent has been brought to trial for killing a civilian on the other side of the border. The case against Swartz has been both shrouded in secrecy, and deliberately drawn out from the very beginning. The Border Patrol concealed Swartzs identity as long as they could manage and even blocked local media from accessing surveillance camera footage from the incident, despite multiple Freedom of Information Act requests. Not until a year after the killing, in November 2013, was the Border Patrol finally ordered by a federal court to reveal Swartzs name and unseal other documents that Swartz and his attorneys did not want uncovered. Swartz was not indicted until 2015, three years after the incident. Over the course of the last almost six years, Swartz has walked a free man, able to travel at will throughout Arizona and Nevada on administrative leave. For the Rodriguez family the last six years have been the most painful of their lives. Antonios mother, Araceli Rodriguez told a local Mexican news source at hearing several months ago, which was made to push back the trial yet another time, that the process had worn her down and made her feel powerless after long years of fighting. These five years, for me, have been exhausting, fighting for justice that doesnt come, she said. Its always the same. Im tired. Were tired. During the trial, Antonios mother sat silently, avoiding looking at the screens on either side of the courtroom showing images of her sons body face down on the ground. When witnesses were asked to describe the position of the 16-year-olds head and whether he was facing the fence or the wall, Ms. Rodriguez reportedly broke down sobbing and was escorted out of the courtroom. Unsurprisingly, an internal investigation of 67 shooting incidents since 2012 by the Border Patrol has absolved agents of criminal misconduct in all but three cases, which are still pending. Of the cases in question, which left 19 people dead, only two agents faced disciplinary action in the form of oral reprimands. The murder of Antonio Rodriguez and Swartzs trial have spanned over two administrations, Democrat and Republican. The not guilty verdict continues a long-standing policy upheld by the Obama administration that the various bodies of armed men who defend the capitalist system can kill with impunity. The verdict comes amidst an escalating attack on immigrants from the highest levels of the political establishment including the call by President Donald Trump for National Guard troops to be sent to the Mexican border to free up Border Patrol agents to escalate the repression of immigrant workers. Six months after what the Pentagon proclaimed as its liberation of the Syrian city of Raqqa from ISIS militants, reports are emerging about the devastation caused by the relentless US siege of airstrikes and artillery bombardments against the city. The population of approximately 100,000 people, roughly a quarter the number living in the city prior to the US attack, is still without running water and electricity. Between 70 and 80 percent of the city was reduced to rubble by the US assault, with 11,000 buildings either damaged or destroyed. Six months on, an unknown number of thousands of civilians, men, women and children, remain buried beneath the rubble, filling the citys neighborhoods with the stench of decomposing corpses. An April 19 on-the-spot report by Tamer El-Ghobashy for the Washington Post a supporter of US military intervention in Syriadetailed the efforts by 37 emergency services personnel to recover the remains of those killed. Since October, they have recovered more than 300 bodies. There are another 6,000 reports of human remains throughout the city that are yet to be responded to. Many of those discovered are so badly decomposed that they are unidentifiable, or can only be identified by family members based on pieces of clothing. Yasser Khamis, one of the rescue workers, told the Post, People want to settle back into their neighborhoods and begin to rebuild. But everywhere we go, people are reporting more and more bodies. This has given rise to a new threat to the citys population: the spread of leishmaniasis, a parasitic skin disease spread by sand flies attracted to rotting corpses. Khanis noted that The danger alarms are beginning to sound in this area, diseases and epidemics are starting to spread. Omar Khalf, a member of the US-backed forces, told Syria Direct that the emergency teams are seeking to extract the bodies before summer comes to limit the spread of disease. The Post article quotes a 66-year-old Raqqa resident who lost seven family members to the airstrikes. We suffered under [the Islamic State], but were suffering more from this American liberation. Raqqas four major public hospitals were all destroyed by US bombs, including the Syrian National Hospital, which was deliberately targeted by the US forces in the final days of the assault in October, on the pretext that it was being used as a command and control centre by ISIS militants. The citys population is also threatened with hundreds of unexploded munitions as well as improvised explosive devices and landmines left behind by ISIS fighters as they fled the city. Up to 200 people have been reported killed by these devices since October. The US assault on Raqqa was a war crime of Hitlerian dimensions, waged against a heavily populated city, and described by US military commanders as some of the deadliest urban warfare since World War II. From June onwards, a 50,000-strong ground force of largely Kurdish US-backed proxy forces, which included embedded US special operations forces, made their assault backed by shelling and air bombings that have devastated Raqqas social and physical infrastructure. An indication of the scale of this crime is provided by the fact, reported by Airwars, that the US used 20,000 munitions over four months alone, surpassing the number of bombs dropped on Afghanistan over the entire previous year. Witness statements, reported by multiple news outlets including the New York Times, indicated that the US military used white phosphorus munitions, a violation of international law. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group with ties to the US-backed anti-Assad Syrian rebels, reported that from August 14 to 22 alone, 168 civilians died from US bombings. The siege took place in parallel with the US militarys destruction of Mosul. The Trump administrations secretary of defence, James Mattis, who as an army general directed the destruction of the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004, declared that the assault on the Iraqi city was based on annihilation tactics, rather than attrition tactics. The number of people killed in Mosul has yet to be confirmed, but a report by Kurdish intelligence estimated it as high as 40,000. The siege of Raqqa, which had been captured by ISIS militants in June 2014, was aimed at consolidating US control over the Syrian territories east of the Euphrates River, which cuts through Raqqa, including the oil-rich Deir el Zorr region. It was carried out without the approval of Syrias government, in violation of Syrian sovereignty, as part of the seven-year-long CIA campaign to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad, employing Islamic fundamentalist fighters as proxy forces. An investigative report published by the BBC in November, entitled Raqqas Dirty Secret, revealed that the Pentagon allowed hundreds of ISIS fighters to flee Raqqa for other areas of Syria at the end of the siege. The presence of the ISIS fighters in Syria has been the justification for maintaining the permanent illegal stationing of US troops in the country. The corporate media has remained virtually silent on the continuing revelations over the US war crime in Raqqa. One can only imagine the wall-to-wall newspaper and television coverage that would be dedicated to it if the bombings had been carried out by Russian, Iranian or Syrian government forces, rather than American. This hypocrisy is a function of the Western medias role as a propaganda arm for the government and intelligence agencies. The New York Times and the Washington Post have inundated the population with denunciations of the supposed chemical weapons attack by the Assad government in Ghouta on April 7, which was staged by the CIA in order to provide a pretext for US, French and British airstrikes and cruise missile attacks on Syrian government facilities. The medias limited coverage in Raqqa has reflected concerns within the intelligence agencies that mass opposition to the US-backed occupying forces will allow the Syrian government to regain control of the territory. In the April 19 Washington Post report, El-Ghobashy cited intelligence officials in Raqqa warning that frustration could open the door for the Syrian government to return and fill the void, benefiting President Bashar al-Assads main backersRussia and Iranand weakening American influence in the region. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) strongly condemns the Sri Lankan governments cancellation of May Day meetings and rallies scheduled for May 1, which amounts to an effective ban on marking the international workers day. The SEP vehemently opposes the governments decision to prevent it, as well as several trade unions and other organisations, from holding May Day events. This is a frontal attack on the democratic rights of the working class. We call on all workers, oppressed people, youth, students and intellectuals to join the SEP in protesting against this blatant attack on a constitutional right enjoyed by the working people of Sri Lanka for more than three quarters of a century. The SEP made the necessary payment to the Colombo Municipal Council to reserve the New Town Hall for its May 1 public meeting. The party also obtained police permission for the meeting, as required by the law. On Monday, however, the SEP received an undated letter from Acting Municipal Commissioner, Engineer L. R. L. Wickremaratne, cancelling the allocation of the Town Hall for our meeting. Wickremaratne noted in his letter that as the government decided to cancel May Day meetings on May 1, heeding a request by Chief Buddhist sangha (clergy), the municipal council also decided not to allow meetings at its premises. Other organisations that have planned May Day events on May 1 have come under similar attack. They are an alliance of 14 trade unions, including the Ceylon Bank Employees Union, Ceylon Mercantile Industrial & General Workers Union, Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union, Ceylon Estate Staff Union, Ceylon Teachers Union and Federation of Media Employees Trade Union, as well as the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), United Socialist Party (USP) and Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP). The government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe early this month cancelled the May Day public holiday, heeding a request by Buddhist chiefs not to permit working-class activities on that day because it falls on Wesak Week, a traditional Buddhist holy festival. Accordingly, the government arbitrarily shifted the May Day holiday to May 7. * The SEP and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) demand that the government and other authorities rescind this effective ban on May Day, imposed by cancelling facilities for meetings and rallies on May 1. * We warn the working class that the governments decision to sabotage May Day is an indication of the wholesale attack being prepared by the government to tear up the democratic and social rights of the working people and youth. The ban is an extension of the anti-democratic offensive already waged by this capitalist government through attacks on peaceful demonstrations and legitimate protest actions by students, unemployed youth and rural poor. The government also has shown its viciousness against workers struggles by using the military as scabs to break strikes. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government is determined to use the full force of the bourgeois state to crush the hard-won democratic rights of the working people, in order to implement the socially counter-revolutionary measures demanded by imperialist finance capital. The governments imposition of the Buddhist hierarchys so-called request to block workers rights to hold May Day celebrations is completely illegal and unconstitutional. The constitution says, at least in name, that all citizens and their organisations are equal before the law, while guaranteeing them freedom of expression and assembly. The governments actions clearly discriminate against all non-Buddhists and atheists, and violate their fundamental rights. The governments move to bar any mobilisation of the working class and the oppressed stems from the fear that it would deepen the already festering political crisis of capitalist rule. The ruling coalition headed by Sirisena and Wickremesinghe is in tatters. The growing opposition of the masses to the government was sharply expressed in the local council elections, held in February, where the United National Party (UNP) of Wickremesinghe and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) of Sirisena, both lost their vote base. The gains were made by the rival Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), led by former President Mahinda Rajapakse. This was not because of any popular approval of Rajapakse, who was defeated three years ago, but because of the widespread hostility toward the present administration. On a daily basis, protest actions of different sections of workers, students, farmers and professionals, and oppressed Tamils in the north, continue to erupt, objectively challenging the whole political establishment. Most significantly, these struggles across the island coincide with an international offensive of the working class, propelled by the systemic crisis of world capitalism, affecting class relations and political stability in every country. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government is preparing to impose further ruthless attacks, dictated by the International Monetary Fund, on the social conditions of the working people. It is pushing for immediate price increases on fuel and electricity that will have a chain effect on the cost of all essentials. The government must pay foreign debts totalling $US2.9 billion this year and $4.9 billion next year, and the price will be extracted from workers and the poor. The government is aware that these attacks will trigger waves of struggles that cannot be curbed without unleashing the full force of the military that was used in the civil war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. From this flows the governments decisions to do away with all the basic democratic rights of the working people. As part of moves toward the establishment of a military police-state, the government is engaged in discussions with Facebook to establish an office in Colombo to curb social media. Successive governments since formal independence in 1948 have resorted to anti-Tamil discrimination to divide workers along ethnic lines when the ruling class faced political crises. Such actions included abolishing plantation workers citizenship rights in 1948 and making Sinhala the only official language in 1956. In 1972, a coalition government led by the bourgeois SLFP, joined by the former Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and Stalinist Communist Party, gave the foremost place in the constitution to the Buddhist religion. Since then systematic provocations have taken place, triggering the anti-Tamil war in 1983 that continued for nearly 30 years. Although Rajapakse militarily won the war in May 2009, communal provocations did not stop. Instead, extremist Buddhist groups, such as Bodu Bala Sena, Ravana Balakaya and Mahasohon Balakaya, have been nurtured, unleashing terror against Muslims as well as Tamils. The UNP, SLFP and Rajapakse-led SLPP are competing with each other to win the favour of the Buddhist hierarchy, giving it substantial bribes to obtain its blessings and to receive its advice on how to use a religious cover for the anti-democratic and anti-social acts of the ruling capitalist class. The May Day celebration, established by Socialist International in 1889, is a fundamental democratic right of the international working class. The Sri Lankan working class has observed this day as a right for decades. The governments attack has far-reaching reactionary consequences and must be defeated with all the political strength of the working people and youth. The SEP, the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, and the IYSSE call for the strongest mobilisation of workers, poor, youth, students and members of the intelligentsia and professionals to join a public picket in front of the Colombo Fort Railway Station at 4 p.m. on Friday April 27. The SEP insists that the governments attack on May Day has demonstrated, once again, the unavoidable necessity for the working class to break from every faction of the capitalist class, and lead the oppressed, on the basis of an international socialist program, for the establishment of a workers and peasants government. This is the only way to defend the democratic and social rights of the working people and prevent capitalist dictatorship and the threat of a Third World War being prepared by the imperialist powers. The Liberal-National Coalition government has just made it harder for working class families to migrate to Australia, and effectively cut migration numbers at the same time. The changes feed into the right-wing agitation against immigrants, making them scapegoats for deteriorating economic and social conditions. They also take to a new level the corporate model of migration, imposed by successive Coalition and Labor governments. This utilises a points-based system to prioritise readily-exploitable skilled employees for business, while restricting the number of poorer families. As of April 1, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls government made significant alterations to the assurance of support scheme. This reactionary scheme denies migrants the right to bring family members to Australia unless they demonstrate to the government they can financially provide for them. The scheme is specifically designed to target poorer migrant families and is touted as a means to keep new migrants off welfare. The amount of income that families must have to act as financial backers for their parents has been doubled. For example, previously a couple had to have a combined annual income of $45,185 to vouch for their parents. That total is now $115,475 a year. Similarly, a single person must now earn $86,606, up from $45,185.40. These income levels exclude millions of working class households. Additionally, as of April 1, 2019, bank guarantee requirements for certain visas will be increased and expanded. These guarantees force migrant families to provide lump sum assurances to the government, which they must pay if a newly-arrived family member requires a payment from the government. For example, an assurer must guarantee $15,000 if the family member applies for a Contributory Parent or Aged Parent visa, up from $10,000 previously. Chelsea Liu, a migration agent, told the media her clients, predominately from Chinese backgrounds, were confused and worried. Some of our clients, they are already thinking of withdrawing their application, or [getting] family members or friends help to support their parents as well, she said. This attack on poor migrant families has paralleled moves by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to reduce the annual immigration intake. In February, Dutton publicly called for immigration levels to be cut. At the time, Treasurer Scott Morrison said that would cost the Australian economy up to $5 billion over four years by slowing growth and reducing the pool of skilled workers for employers. It was reported this month that in a private meeting Dutton proposed reducing the annual immigration intake, currently capped at 190,000, by 20,000. Both Turnbull and Morrison denied the media report, but it is now clear that such a cut is being implemented. The Australian reported last week that with tighter vetting methods undertaken by the Department of Home Affairs, the intake for 2017-18 was expected to hit a 10-year low of between 160,000 and 170,000. Senator Pauline Hansons right-wing populist One Nation party has continued to demonise immigrants and refugees, especially Muslims and Asians, and demand harsher cuts to immigration. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has echoed this demand, reflecting worsening rifts inside the Coalition government. Despite Turnbulls formal rejection of large-scale immigration reductions, the entire migration policy is geared toward denying entry to poor and working-class families, while prioritising wealthy business people and workers with specialised skills required by big business. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) recently reported that changes made in July 2017 to the skilled independent subclass 189 visa may already have cut the migration intake. The new visa subclass is allocating places to New Zealand residents who have been in the country for five years or more. The ABC revealed that 1,512 of these new visas had been issued since February, with 7,500 applications still being processed. With a 44,000-annual cap on skilled visas and between 60,000 to 80,000 eligible New Zealand residents in Australia, the changes may crowd out applicants from other countries. New Zealanders living in Australia should have full civil, employment and political rights, as should all workers internationally, but the government is playing them off against other immigration applicants. As part of this divisive policy, the government is also seeking to introduce university-level English language tests for citizenship, and give special treatment to white South African farmers supposedly facing persecution. Greens immigration spokesman Senator Nick McKim said he was deeply concerned by the changes. [Dutton] is seeking to cut immigration by stealth and to have more English-speaking, white and wealthy people migrate to Australia, he told the Guardian. The reality is Australias immigration policy has always been biased against poor working-class people, dating back to the racist White Australia policy, championed by the Labor Party and the trade unions, which existed for most of the 20th century. Since the 1980s, one government after another has introduced anti-working class immigration cuts. During 198990, the Hawke Labor government specifically cut the parent intake from 10,900 to just 2,500 annually. In 1992, the Keating Labor government slashed migrant intakes and introduced vocational English language proficiency tests into the visa points system. These policies were intensified by the Howard Coalition government from 1996 to 2007. It increased the required pass mark on English tests, imposed further limits on family immigration and introduced the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme for companies in regional or remote areas to recruit workers from overseas. After 2007, the Rudd-Gillard Labor governments and the Abbott-Turnbull Coalition governments stepped-up these discriminatory policies, focusing on making residency and citizenship for poor families increasingly difficult. While the Greens voice concern, they had firsthand experience in overseeing anti-immigrant and anti-refugee policies when they formed a de facto coalition with the minority Labor government from 2010 to 2013. The latest attacks on poor migrant families will leave thousands of people scrambling to get large sums of money together, while their elderly parents and relatives languish, often in isolation, denied the basic right to family reunion. The author also recommends: Australia proposes visas for white South Africans [6 April 2018] The new White Australia Policy [20 January 1999] BRAZIL, Ind. (WTHI) - Police say a homeowner shot an alleged intruder in Brazil, Indiana. The Brazil Police Department told News 10 the incident happened early Sunday morning at a house on Ashley Street. Officers said they found Raymond Morris with a gunshot wound to his leg. The homeowner told police Morris kicked in his front door. The homeowner said Morris approached him after being told to leave. That's when the owner said he shot Morris. Police said Morris underwent surgery and was in stable condition later on Sunday. Now, the investigation is under review in the Clay County Prosecutor's Office. WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Kim Jong Un wants a historic, high-stakes meeting as soon as possible and suggested the North Korean dictator has been very open and very honorable, a sharply different assessment of a leader he once denounced as Little Rocket Man. The United States and North Korea have been negotiating a summit between Trump and Kim to be held in May or June to broker a deal on Pyongyangs nuclear program. Trump, who has struck a decidedly optimistic tone on the situation in recent days, said Tuesday that the United States and North Korea were having good discussions. We have been told directly that they would like to have the meeting as soon as possible. We think thats a great thing for the world, Trump said at the White House alongside French President Emmanuel Macron. Kim Jong Un, he really has been very open and I think very honorable from everything were seeing. Trump cautioned that North Korea had not followed through on previous promises, but credited tough steps from his administration including sanctions and organizing pressure from international allies for having forced Pyongyang to hold talks. And he again suggested that he would leave the table if the negotiations were not productive or if North Korea was not operating in good faith. Well see where that all goes, the president said. Maybe it will be wonderful or maybe it wont. Trumps comments came days after a flurry of moves from North Korea that the White House was anxious to promote as signs that its coercion campaign was working. On Saturday, North Korea announced it will close its nuclear testing facility and suspend nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests a move welcomed by Trump as big progress. However, the North stopped short of suggesting it will give up its nuclear weapons as Trump suggested in a weekend tweet or scale back its production of missiles and their related components. When pressed Tuesday on what he meant by the goal of denuclearization, Trump said, It means they get rid of their nukes. Very simple. It would be easy for me to make a simple deal and declare victory. I dont want to do that, the president said. This week, U.S.-allied South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim will hold a summit in the Demilitarized Zone between the Koreas that could lay the ground for Trumps planned meeting with the North Korean dictator. The leaders of the U.S. and North Korea have never met during six decades of hostility since the Korean War. The exact date and location of the possible summit has not been determined. As diplomacy gathered pace, White House officials and congressional aides said the Trump administration was considering nominating Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, as ambassador to South Korea. That key position has been vacant since Trump took office 15 months ago. It would entail a shuffle in the administrations plans for key diplomatic assignments. Harris has already been nominated to be ambassador to Australia. His Senate confirmation hearing for the Australia position had been due to take place Tuesday but was postponed. One of the congressional aides said both the State Department and governments in both Australia and South Korea were informed that the administration is looking at a switch of postings for Harris, although nothing has been made official yet. The aide and other officials requested anonymity to discuss the plans as they were not authorized to discuss them. CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who is Trumps choice for secretary of state, told his own confirmation hearing this month that the vacancy in Seoul needed immediate attention. The man earlier tipped for the post, Korea expert Victor Cha, was passed over in January. He later voiced concern the administration was considering military action against North Korea. Harris has spent nearly 40 years in uniform and has a reputation as a straight talker. In testimony last month before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Harris said that the U.S. could not be overly optimistic about outcomes for the planned Trump-Kim summit. We have to go into this, eyes wide open, he told lawmakers. Last year, the U.S. spearheaded through the U.N. Security Council the toughest international sanctions yet against North Korea in response to three long-range missile launches and its most powerful nuclear test explosion yet. The Trump administration supplemented those restrictions with unilateral U.S. sanctions against firms that had conducted illicit trade with the North. This year, Kim has pivoted from confrontation to diplomacy and, according to South Korea and China, has expressed a commitment to denuclearization. There is still uncertainty about what he seeks in return. Trumps praise for Kim on Tuesday stood in stark contrast to his previous bellicose rhetoric toward the North Korean leader. Beyond dubbing him Little Rocket Man from the rostrum of the United Nations last fall, Trump has threatened to deliver fire and fury upon North Korea and taunted Kim on Twitter that his own nuclear button was larger than the one in Pyongyang. Later Tuesday, Trump sidestepped a question as to why he would use the word honorable to describe Kim, who has been accused of starving his own people, executing his political opponents and ordering the killing of a member of his own family. ___ Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Ken Thomas and Matthew Lee contributed to this report. HUTSONVILLE, Ill. (WTHI) - Schools in Illinois are breathing a sigh of relief. That's as payments are going out for the new school funding formula. Officials say the formula is based on 26 different categories. These are determined by the state. A photo of a Hutsonville School Building. (WTHI Photo, Lacey Clifton) A photo of a Hutsonville School Building. (WTHI Photo, Lacey Clifton) This includes student enrollment, the poverty level, and the money a school gets from property taxes, just to name a few. All 26 categories are measured each year. Each school will get a certain amount of funding based on the data. Schools that are Tier 1 are deemed most at-need for money from the state. They are the first to receive funding. Tier 2 follows Tier 1, and so on. School officials say the plan is a much more fair way to fund schools. If youd like to see where your school ranks, click here. Under "Calculations" click "Full FY 18 EBF Calculation." That will download a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet. That's where you can see how much money your school district will get, as well as what Tier they fall under. To list a few: Hutsonville- Tier 1 Marshall- Tier 1 Martinsville- Tier 1 Casey-Westfield- Tier 1 Paris#4- Tier 2 Paris #95- Tier 2 Jasper- Tier 2 DALLAS (AP) A Dallas police officer died Wednesday after a shooting that wounded another officer and an employee at a home improvement store, the city's mayor said. Mayor Mike Rawlings was presiding over a city council meeting when he announced the death of Rogelio Santander, a member of the police force for three years. Santander, officer Crystal Almeida and a loss-prevention officer for Home Depot were shot Tuesday by a man identified by police as 29-year-old Armando Luis Juarez. Armando Juarez | Photo: MGN Online Armando Juarez | Photo: MGN Online The two officers and the store loss-prevention officer underwent surgery for their injuries after the shooting in the north of the city, Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall said late Tuesday. Almeida and the loss-prevention officer, who hasn't been identified, were in critical condition Wednesday. Police arrested Juarez following a high-speed car chase. He's being held at the Dallas County jail on charges of aggravated assault on a public servant and felony theft. He was taken into custody shortly before 10 p.m. "We got our man," Rawlings said at a late-night news conference at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. But relatives of Juarez said they couldn't believe he would be involved in such a violent episode. "There's no way my son could've done this," Ruben Juarez told The Dallas Morning News, adding that he didn't think his son owned any guns. Armando Juarez's grandmother, Janie Longoria, told reporters Tuesday that her grandson is a "sweet, lovable person," but that his friends are a bad influence. "And I told him to stay away from those people," she said. Police were called to the store to help an off-duty police officer to remove Juarez from the store. Police have not said if he was suspected of shoplifting or why he was being ejected from store. Juarez opened fire as he was being escorted from the store and made his escape. Several law enforcement agencies were involved in the pursuit that led to his eventual arrest. Rawlings said late Tuesday that he remains "upset at the lack of respect for our police in this city and in our country." In 2016, four Dallas police officers and a transit officer were shot dead by a sniper in an ambush that came toward the end of a peaceful protest over the police killings of black men in other cities. Juarez was arrested in January on a charge of unlawful use of a motor vehicle after authorities say he was found in a stolen vehicle. He also pleaded guilty to a drug-possession charge. BOONEVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - Northeast Mississippi Community College has been named one of the nation's best colleges when it comes to using technology to help students, faculty and staff. The Center for Digital Education (CDE) announced Wednesday the winners of its 2017-2018 Digital Community Colleges Survey. The survey analyzes how community colleges use a range of technologies to improves services at the college. It also revealed insights about the colleges' technology priorities, such as the use of mobile devices. NEMCC tied for 10th place in the "Small Colleges" category. The following are digital priorities for the surveyed colleges for the coming year. 1. Mobility (devices and app support) 2. Cyber Security Tools and Testing 2. Website Redesign/Updates 3. Upgrade Classroom Technologies 4. Digital Content and Curriculum 5. Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity 5. Network Infrastructure Modernization (Wired and/or Wireless) 6. Server Consolidation and Virtualization 7. Computer Refresh 8. Hire and Retain Competent IT Personnel 9. New/Updated Enterprise System 10. Server Refresh "We have only scratched the surface with the use of technology to enhance and assist our faculty in the classroom. We will enjoy this recognition today, but we will continue to push forward with our technology initiative because our students deserve it," said NEMCC President Ricky Ford. In January we announced our commitment to making a college education relevant, equitable and affordable through our iPad initiative, Dr. Michelle Baragona, vice president of instruction said. RELATED: New iPad initiative at NEMCC You can see the full list here. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A North Carolina man is behind bars in Leon County, accused of asking a 12-year-old child to "pleasure him" before touching himself in front of the child. Bernard Wardrick, 24, was arrested on Tuesday for lewd or lascivious exhibition. According to a complaint document, the incident happened on May 26, 2015 and was reported to the Tallahassee Police Department the next day. The then 12-year-old victim said that Wardrick, who was 21 and living in Bainbridge, Georgia at the time, was a family friend known to the victim as "Junior". On May 26, the victim was waiting in the car with Wardrick as the victim's sister was having surgery. After being woken up from a nap, the victim and Wardrick went inside the hospital to use the bathroom. While walking there, Wardrick said he needed to use the bathroom but couldn't because he was aroused. The victim noted that Wardrick kept his hands in his pants and was touching himself. Documents say the victim tried to steer the conversation in a different direction after expressing disgust with Wardrick, but he kept bringing it back up, saying that "If [the victim] was a little bit older, [the victim] could handle it for him." Again the victim expressed disgust, but Wardrick kept going and told the victim they could "do it now" in the bathroom and "it would be our little secret." According to court documents, the victim didn't want to do it and let Wardrick know that. However, Wardrick continued to ask the victim to "pleasure him." Eventually the two went into the recovery room with the victim's sister before coming back to the car. Once back in the car, Wardrick, who was sitting in the back seat, began touching himself in front of the victim. The victim, who was in the passenger seat, quickly turned around and began crying silently while "Wardrick started laughing." Documents say that soon, the victim's family, along with Wardrick, packed up and traveled back to Georgia. That evening, the victim told a relative what happened. The next day, the victim's mother learned what happened and victim's step-father confronted Wardrick. Wardrick denied exposing himself to the victim, saying the victim was too young. Based on victim and witness testimony, a warrant was issued for Wardrick's arrest on August 5, 2015. On Thursday, he was taken into custody, nearly three years after the incident occurred. Wardrick was in court for his first appearance on Wednesday. A judge denied bond and ordered that Wardrick have no contact with the victim, wear a GPS monitor, have no interaction with the internet and SUWANNEE COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Its official: Suwannee County is the first district in our area to approve Floridas new Guardian Program. Sheriff Sam St. John tells WTXL ABC 27 he already has a few candidates in mind for this program, including a few district employees who are former law-enforcement or ex-military. Sheriff says hes been working with the district to do research and look at what would make a program like this successful ever since the Florida legislature passed the School Safety Bill in response to the Parkland school shooting. WTXL will have more on this story tonight at 11. SUWANNEE COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - The first school district in our area may vote "yes" to Florida's Guardian Program. The program allows certain trained district employees to concealed carry on campus. Although WTXL has heard push back from some Suwannee County parents, it seems the superintendent, most of the school board and the sheriff are on board for a guardian program. The sheriff says he already has a few candidates in mind for this program, a few district employees who are former law enforcement or ex-military. Superintendent Ted Roush says he hasn't had any board members speak out strongly against the program. "We are in strong support of placing a regular school resource officer in each school and have negotiated a contract that will do just by the start of the next school year, pending school board approval," said Roush. "In addition, we are also proposing the implementation of the guardian program by the start of the new school year." The school board meeting starts Tuesday night at 6 p.m. THERMOPOLIS Two attempted murder suspects and one unidentified accomplice made an appearance in Hot Springs County this week, as law enforcement arrested two of the men on Monday, while one remains at large, possibly in the local area. The Riverton Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service and Fremont County Sheriffs Office arrested Cody Breeden, 24 of Abilene, Kansas, on Monday at 5:20 p.m. in the Riverton Walmart parking lot, according to the Riverton Police Departments social media. Cody and Jeremy Breeden, 28 also of Abilene, are wanted in connection with the March 29 shooting of 19-year-old Trenton Penn of Minneapolis, at a motel in Junction City, Kansas. Later on Tuesday, the Thermopolis Police Department issued a warning to be on the lookout for Jeremy Breeden, 28 of Abilene, Kansas, in conjunction with an investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service. The Thermopolis Police encouraged residents to lock cars and homes, and not to approach the subject, as he could be armed and dangerous. The social media post immediately spawned false sightings of the suspect in Hot Springs and Washakie counties, although no evidence of Breedens whereabouts was discovered. At this time we have no credible indication as to where the suspect is, noted Washakie County Sheriff Steve Rakness. Representatives from The Thermopolis Police Department and Hot Springs County Sheriffs Office could not be reached for comment. Anyone with information on Jeremy Breeden is requested to call the Thermopolis Police Department at (307) 864-3114 or Washakie County Sheriffs Office at (307) 347-2242. Washakie County School District No. 1 hears from parent opposed to arming staff WORLAND After hearing from both sides regarding allowing armed staff in the schools, the Worland school board opted Monday to seek input from staff and parents, as well as consider conducting a safety audit of the district facilities. Last month Sarah and Clint Lungren presented a letter to the board, which Chairman Don Bryant said was a petition on behalf of the Lungrens and several other... WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would be traveling to China next week to discuss trade issues. Trump made the remarks at the White House following a meeting with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the White House pool report. "I think we've got a very good chance of making a deal," Trump said. Trump's remarks came after Mnuchin said Saturday that he was considering a trip to Beijing to discuss trade issues with his Chinese counterparts. "I am not going to make any comment on the timing, nor do I have anything confirmed, but a trip is under consideration," Mnuchin told reporters. China has received information regarding Mnuchin's possible trip to China and China welcomes this information, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday. The Trump administration has recently threatened to impose tariffs on up to 150 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese imports, while China has vowed to retaliate against U.S. exports if the Trump administration moves forward with the tariffs. Unilateralism and trade protectionism will inevitably harm others without benefiting oneself as the global economy is deeply integrated, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said last week. Citing a report from the Brookings Institution, Hua said a U.S.-China trade war would result in a loss of more than 2.1 million jobs in 2,700 U.S. counties. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 01:20:05|Editor: yan Video Player Close TEHRAN, April 24 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian security official said on Tuesday that his country would consider withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if the U.S. scraps the 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran Times daily reported. "According to the NPT, the (contracting) countries can easily withdraw from the treaty if they realize that it does not benefit them and this is a possible option for the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. Shamkhani made the remarks at a press conference before his departure to Russia's Sochi to attend an international security conference. Iran has not benefited from the fruits of the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which went into effect in January 2016, he said. "The other side (the United States) has been creating obstructions since the day of implementation of the agreement," the Iranian official added. He also highlighted Iran's capability of "resuming nuclear activities," saying his country will take "surprising actions" if the nuclear deal is sabotaged. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to decide by May 12 whether to pull the U.S. out of the nuclear deal reached between Iran and six major world powers in 2015. Trump, however, has said he would not extend the waiver suspending the U.S. sanctions on Iran. The U.S. president has repeatedly criticized the landmark nuclear pact in which the West promised to relieve sanctions on Tehran in exchange for a halt in Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision on Tuesday that a foreign corporation, even with branches in the United States, cannot be sued in U.S. courts for damages stemming from claims they participated in some way in or facilitated terrorist attacks and other human rights violations abroad. The Supreme Court, citing the Alien Tort Statute for violations of international law, thus affirmed a lower court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit that 6,000 victims of a terrorist attack tried to bring against Arab Bank, PLC under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) for allegedly financing terrorist attacks in the Middle East. This decision will effectively put an end to human-rights lawsuits against overseas corporations that have ties to the United States, according to local media reports. Justice Anthony Kennedy on Tuesday called the connection between the terrorist attacks at issue in this case and the alleged conduct in the U.S. relatively minor and said that most of the petitioner's allegations involve conduct that occurred in the Middle East. "The ATS was intended to promote harmony in international relations by ensuring foreign plaintiffs a remedy for international-law violations in circumstances where the absence of such a remedy might provoke foreign nations to hold the United States accountable," the Justice wrote. "But here, and in similar cases, the opposite is occurring." he wrote. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch joined Kennedy in the majority. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the court's ruling in an opinion Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan joined. The court's ruling absolves corporations from responsibility under the ATS for "conscience-shocking behavior," said Sotomayor. BERLIN, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing "dieselgate" scandal is weighing heavily on the business of car dealerships in Germany, a study by the German Automotive Trust (DAT) showed on Tuesday. According to the study, sales of used diesel vehicles in particular were still in free fall due to growing fears among customers that German cities could soon impose driving bans. The "dieselbarometer" compiled by DAT showed that 87 percent of car dealers were only able to sell used diesel vehicles with significant discounts, while 22 percent thereof no longer accepted used diesel vehicles themselves as a means of payment. The federal government in Berlin has admitted that at least 20 major cities in Germany will fail to comply with European Union clean air regulation by 2020 due to high Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) levels. According to the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA), diesel vehicles are the major source of NOx pollution which poses risks to human pulmonary health when inhaled. In a recent landmark verdict, the German Federal Administrative Court ruled that municipal governments affected by high NOx levels have the right to impose driving bans on diesel vehicles as a last resort. Car dealers polled by DAT said that the need to advise customers on sales and related cost had increased dramatically since the decision. Furthermore, some 58 percent of respondents surveyed in the study indicated that they were selling fewer new diesel vehicles to commercial customers. Some 86 percent complained that both new and used diesel sales to private customers had declined. DAT warned that car dealers consequently face a growing "diesel dilemma" which poses a significant threat to their business model. Whereas 61 percent of firms had begun to create financial reserves in anticipation of resulting losses, many were still likely to rely on "support from carmakers, importers and policymakers" to prevent them from sliding into insolvency. The findings of DAT "Dieselbarometer" were derived from a representative survey among car dealers, complemented by data from the German Federal Motor Transport Authority. FILE PHOTO: Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman chairs the Yisrael Beitenu faction weekly meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, in Jerusalem, March 12, 2018. (REUTERS) JERUSALEM, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday that Israel will strike back if Syria uses Russian S-300 missiles against its air force. "There has to be one thing clear: if someone shoots at our planes, we'll destroy them," Lieberman told the Hebrew-language Ynet news site. The minister referred to comments by top Russian officials to the Kommersant newspaper that Russia is expected to provide Syria with S-300 anti-aircraft defense systems. "Russian systems are there (in Syria) and are not being used against us, and if the Syrian systems act against us, we will destroy them," said Lieberman. "We are not interfering in Syria's internal affairs, but on the other hand, we will not allow Iran to flood Syria with sophisticated weapons systems aimed at Israel," he added. On the Israeli-Russian ties, the Israeli defense minister said Israel maintains "an open line with the Russian army in Russia." "I think Russians have no reason to seek friction with us, and we are not looking for friction with them," he said. Israel has been carrying out occasional airstrikes against Syrian army positions, usually in response to errant fire from the Arab country plagued by a seven-year-long war between the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups. Tensions between Israel and Iran have been on the rise following an alleged Israeli attack on the T-4 air base in Syria earlier in April. Protestors gather on the Republic Square during a rally against the newly-elected Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan in downtown Yerevan, Armenia, on April 22, 2018. (Xinhua/Gevorg Ghazaryan) MOSCOW, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The Kremlin hopes that the situation will return to normal in Armenia after its newly-elected Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned under pressure of mass anti-government protests, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday. "We hope that order and stability will be maintained in that country, and in the foreseeable future a political configuration based on the consensus of all forces that represent the Armenian people will be outlined," Peskov told reporters in a daily briefing. "So far we see that the situation does not go in the way of destabilization, which is satisfactory," he added. Sargsyan, 63, who was elected Armenian prime minister by the parliament on April 17, said in a statement on Monday that he would resign following days of street protests against him. He served as Armenian president in 2008-2018 and was succeeded by Armen Sarkissian on April 9. The South Caucasus nation has been transitioning from a direct presidential system to a parliamentary one after constitutional reforms approved in a national referendum in December 2015. Under the amendments, although recognized as the head of state, the president will hold a largely ceremonial role with real executive power lying in the hands of the prime minister. Large-scale protests were held before Sargsyan took office. Protesters led by Armenian opposition MP and leader of the Civil Contract party Nikol Pashinyan accused the former president of clinging to power. After Sargsyan's resignation, his post is temporarily occupied by his deputy Karen Karapetyan, former prime minister and former senior executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom. Late on Monday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev held a phone conversation with Karapetyan. "Medvedev expressed support to the friendly Armenian people and stressed the importance of preserving the situation in the legal constitutional field," the Russian government said in a statement. Russia has a military base in Armenia, a major ally of Moscow in Transcaucasia. MEXICO CITY, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Negotiators from Canada, the United States and Mexico could reach an "agreement in principle" on the modernization of NAFTA in the next 10 days, said a Mexican private sector representative on Tuesday. Moises Kalach, coordinator of international negotiations for Mexico's Business Coordination Council (CCE) which advises the government on the talks, said that ongoing technical negotiations in Washington had made significant progress. "In the next 10 days, we could really have a new treaty in principle," said Kalach in an interview with Radio Formula. "We are already very advanced, we have between nine and ten chapters ready for the approval of the ministers." Technical teams from all three countries have been holding permanent talks in Washington since April 9, instead of the official rounds of negotiations, in order to reach a quicker solution. Kalach said that the negotiators had been analyzing some of the more sensitive areas of the talks, such as rules of origin for the automotive sector, and that advances had been on chapters such as e-commerce and the environment. "As long as we see political will from the American government to move toward a final treaty, I feel we can do it," said Kalach. The three countries have been renegotiating NAFTA since August 2017, at the behest of Trump, who feels the free-trade pact has been bad for the American economy. The U.S. president has also regularly threatened to scrap NAFTA altogether. SAN FRANCISCO, April 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. leading audio technology company Dolby Laboratories (Dolby Labs) Tuesday reported profits of 70.6 million U.S. dollars for its fiscal second-quarter (Q2) 2018. Dolby Labs said its total Q2 revenue stood at 301.4 million dollars, up from 267.5 million dollars for the same period of 2017. On a per-share basis, the San Francisco-based company said it had profit of 66 cents for the second quarter of 2018, compared with the 49 cents for the same period of last year. On the basis of non-generally accepted accounting principles (GAPP), Dolby Labs registered a Q2 net income of 83.5 million dollars, or 78 cents per share, compared to 63 cents for the 2017 Q2 period. The company forecasted its total revenue for Q3 of fiscal 2018 at about 310 million dollars to 320 million dollars. For the overall fiscal year of 2018, Dolby Labs said its revenue would range from 1.165 billion dollars to 1.185 billion dollars, while its operating expenses would be estimated between 744 million dollars and 749 million dollars on a GAPP basis, and from 670 million dollars to 675 million dollars on a non-GAPP basis. Kevin Yeaman, president and CEO of Dolby Labs, hailed the company's "solid quarter with growth." "Both Samsung and Huawei adopted Dolby Atmos into their mobile phones, and we have continued expansion of Dolby Cinema entering Japan and adding another major exhibitor in China," he said. Dolby Labs has been geared for an expanded business in China in recent days. Last week, it announced 20 Disney titles created in Dolby's advanced imaging and sound technologies to meet the growing demand of Dolby Cinemas around the world, especially in China. Those new titles to be shown at Dolby Cinemas include live-action and animated films, such as Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Infinity War" and Lucasfilm's "Solo: A Star Wars Story." KIGALI, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Over 200 human remains have been unearthed from a mass grave of the 1994 Rwandan genocide discovered last week in Rwanda's capital city of Kigali, survivors' association Ibuka said on Tuesday. Remains of those who have been exhumed from the 30-meters deep mass grave in Rusororo sector of Gasabo district were kept at cell offices and await a decent burial, said Theogene Kabagambire, head of Ibuka in Gasabo district. Three more mass graves were yet to be dug under residence in the same area, Kabagambire told media. "I cannot understand why it took more than two decades to discover these mass graves," said a survivor. "This is really tough, because people have been living in this area." On April 6, 1994, then Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana died in an air crash, swiftly triggering a three-month-long genocide. The 1994 genocide against Tutsi claimed lives of more than 1 million people mainly Tutsi and moderate Hutus. Kabagambire estimated that 3,000 genocide victims from surrounding areas could have been dumped in the discovered mass graves. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 06:51:35|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close By Mahmoud Fouly, Abdel-Maguid Kamal AIN SOKHNA, Egypt, April 24 (Xinhua) -- "My life has seen career and moral development as well as a better standard of living since I started working for the Chinese company five years ago," said Ayyad al-Ayyad, an Egyptian deputy manager at Chinese fiberglass giant Jushi's Egyptian branch. Al-Ayyad, 29, started his career in Jushi as a technician, before promoted to a group leader and then the deputy manager of the fiberglass formation workshop department. Jushi is a tenant company of China's TEDA corporation, one of the oldest and largest industrial developers of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) in Ain Sokhna district of the eastern province of Suez. And the SCZone is currently working on the development of an area of 7.23 square km in the industrial region. Hiring some 1,800 employees, including 1,750 Egyptians, the fiberglass firm helped Egypt become world's third largest producer of fiberglass after the United States and China. "At Jushi, I not only gained a lot of technical expertise but also learned many administrative skills including planning, productivity and goal achievement," he continued, noting that the company also provides training courses for its staff, including English training as well as leadership and teamwork training. Workers at Jushi are engaged in a daily fair competition. They are divided into three shifts with each group trying to achieve the highest level of production. "Jushi company has made my life better professionally, morally and financially," said Ayman Hassan Mohamed, a technician specialized in machine operation. Mohamed told Xinhua that he had been working abroad before joining Jushi four years ago, where he learned the values of responsibility and punctuality both at work and in life. "We are developing every day. Jushi Chinese management treats us professionally and works on the constant development of our technical and professional skills," said the young man. The Egyptian-Chinese bilateral relations have been elevated to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership with growing economic cooperation between the two countries under China's Belt and Road Initiative. Established in the SCZone in January 2012 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jushi Group Co., Jushi's investment in Egypt's SCZone has reached about 520 million U.S. dollars and the company produces about 200,000 tons of fiberglass every year. TEDA's developed area in the SCZone, where Jushi Egypt was founded, is known as TEDA Cooperation Zone, whose construction started in 2008 with the strong support of the Chinese and the Egyptian governments. "This piece of land was basically a wasteland 10 years ago," Liu Aimin, chairman of China-Africa TEDA Investment Co., said at a recent ceremony at the TEDA Cooperation Zone in Ain Sokhna. By the end of 2017, about 70 tenant companies have already been set up in TEDA Cooperation Zone, including four among the 500 largest Chinese firms, with a total investment of 1 billion U.S. dollars, according to Liu. Shandong Ruyi Technology Group, one of China's leading textile and clothing corporations, is among the Chinese companies expected to join TEDA Cooperation Zone this year. "We started the large-scale construction in 2008 and we launched investment-attractive facilities and infrastructure projects, and we focused on providing high-quality services for mm-enterprises to keep optimizing the environment," Liu added. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 07:59:05|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close People attend a memorial event in Dhaka, Bangladesh on April 24, 2018. Thousands of Bangladeshis participated in memorial events Tuesday for 1,136 people, mostly garment workers, who died in the country's worst-ever industrial tragedy five years ago. (Xinhua) Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 08:31:47|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close TIANJIN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Police in north China's Tianjin Municipality have confiscated 600 Bitcoin mining computers after the local power grid reported abnormal electricity consumption. Eight high-power fans were also seized, local police said on Tuesday, adding that it was the largest power theft case in recent years. The power company monitored recent sudden increases in line loss on one electricity line, up to 28 percent at the peak. The phenomenon is usually closely related with increased load current. An investigation found that the junction box of the suspected power user's electricity meter had been short-circuited -- a typical way to avoid billing. Bitcoin mining is a very power-consuming process which mainly depends on high-performance computers. The monthly electric charge of 600 such computers is estimated at hundreds of thousands of yuan (1 U.S. dollar is worth 6.3 yuan). Five people are under investigation and another has been detained. This undated photo shows a 45-day-old Artemisia seedling. (Xinhua) by Xinhua writers Yao Yuan and Wen Hao NAIROBI, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Comoros, a small African country located in the Indian Ocean, is pursuing a total annihilation of malaria, five years after a Chinese-backed project drove out the lethal disease from its two islands. The archipelago nation is currently discussing collaboration to achieve that goal in three years together with Chinese scientists, who confirmed this to Xinhua ahead of the World Malaria Day that falls on Wednesday. The Chinese team hopes that the Comoros victory, using a Chinese-developed drug and an unconventional approach, can pave a new trail for the battle against this mosquito-borne disease. Malaria kills about half a million people every year in the world, with Africa claiming some 90 percent of the casualties. Comoros, however, is among the few African nations that now seem ready to shake off this stigma. Song Jianping, who heads the visiting team from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (GZUCM) of southern China, said that they aim to help Comoros basically annihilate malaria by 2020. Researchers from GZUCM helped administer the 2007-2013 projects with medicines donated by China. They will pinpoint the remaining infection areas and apply small-scale mass drug administration (MDA), said Song, director of GZUCM's Tropical Medicine Institute. For many residents in Comoros, malaria and the horrors it invokes are already becoming a fading memory. Nassurddine Houssen, 51, remembered how his parents used to spend every evening worrying about the cost of buying mosquito coils. Malaria kills a child every two minutes. "During my childhood, I knew many friends (who were) killed by the mosquito disease (malaria)," said Houssen, a resident of Anjouan Island. "My younger sister nearly died from it." "Children died, and we did not know exactly why. Many parents thought it was because of the demon," said Echat Malide, director of Anjouan's Hombo Hospital, recalling a time when malaria affected two thirds of Comoros' population of 800,000 and was the top killer disease on the islands off Africa's southeastern coast. The tides of change began in 2007, when a team of Chinese scientists introduced an anti-malaria project to the island of Moheli before extending it to Anjouan in 2012 and Grande Comore in 2013. On the three islands, it led to a 98-percent drop in malaria cases, from over 100,000 to 1,300 a year, said Chinese Ambassador to Comoros He Yanjun. Unlike traditional methods of killing mosquitoes and preventing mosquito bites, the project asked residents to simultaneously take medicine to flush out the malaria parasites in a procedure called MDA. It builds on the concept that mosquitoes are vectors passing the parasites from person to person. Therefore, if the human "source" is purged, the mosquitoes will have no bugs left to pass on. Five years after the project, Comoros' two islands of Moheli and Anjouan are today considered malaria-free. Officials said that all 16 cases in 2016 were "imported". The island of Grande Comore, where the MDA participation rate was lower than the two islands, recorded 1,641 cases in 2016. ENDING SCOURGE The new project, likely to be launched later this year, will build on the popularity of the previous MDA efforts, whose success in containing malaria spread have excited Comoros residents. "In Anjouan and Moheli there is no malaria now ... There are still a few cases in Grande Comore but it has dropped a lot," said Layar Idoine, citing her experience as a doctor having worked on Grande Comore and Anjouan. Also gone with the constant breakouts are the prevalent fears of contracting malaria and the financial burden imposed by the treatment costs on this nation, regarded as among the poorest in the world. "(In the past) Malaria was in the minds of people. When a person is sick, everyone thought it was malaria ... Whenever someone got fever, they went out to buy nivaquine (an anti-malaria drug) and paracetamol," said Idoine. Affane Barcar, chief of Comoros' national anti-malaria program, said that the previous project's success further motivated the Comoros people to eliminate malaria. "Malaria caused the economy to fail. The country's productivity used to be at half mast, and the success rate of children in schools was low because of the absenteeism," he told Xinhua. "Now we see the difference from the years past. We see an increase in success of our students, and attendance in health facilities has decreased by 40 percent." In a 2016 report, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed Comoros as among the six African nations on course to eliminate malaria by 2020. In January this year, Comoros also won the award of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) at an AU meeting in recognition for its efforts to tame malaria. Africa is committed to eliminating malaria by 2030, as articulated in the continent's development agenda 2063. The disease remains Africa's major healthcare challenge, and is estimated to rob the continent of 12 billion U.S. dollars per year in lost productivity, investment and healthcare costs, Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the AU Commission, said in January. Song Jianping (C), who heads the visiting team from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (GZUCM) of southern China, exchanges views with chief of Comoros' national anti-malaria program Affane Barcar (1st R) during a meeting in Comoros' anti-malaria center, in Comoros, on April 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Lyu Shuai) CHINESE WEAPON In an interview with Xinhua, He, the Chinese ambassador to Comoros, hailed the anti-malaria project for demonstrating China's medical innovation and its robust cooperation with Africa. "This project is a good demonstration of the China-Africa friendship, partnership and brotherhood, as well as of China's African policy of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith," He said. The main weapon used in the project is a Chinese-developed drug called Artequick, a new artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) that combines artemisinin, piperaquine and a small dose of primaquine. Its main ingredient artemisinin, now at the front of the world's battle with malaria, was discovered by renowned Chinese scientist Tu Youyou, 2015 Medicine Nobel Prize winner, from sweet wormwood, a herb mostly grown in China. "Artemisinin has a swift effect against malaria parasites, while piperaquine has a longer-lasting effect," said Deng Changsheng, a researcher at GZUCM and member of the anti-malaria team. "The combination also makes it less likely to build drug resistance." Li Guoqiao, who led a team to administer the Moheli project, explained that by mass administering that drug in a limited period of time, the real source of the disease will be addressed. "The MDA strategy is like a running match with mosquitoes' life circle. It requires residents to take medicines twice in two months, a period when new mosquitoes will not get parasites; It is also a period that old, infected ones cannot outlive," said the GZUCM professor. Song said the strategy suits the island nation's conditions, including its small population and limited mobility of people. Such innovations are also needed in African nations where traditional methods of killing mosquitoes and distributing mosquito nets failed to work, he said. "There is no fixed solution for malaria, and Comoros is just a good example of that. It tells us that seeing to the local conditions is very important," Song said. TOWARD TOTAL ERADICATION Going forward, the Chinese scientists said they will also strengthen cooperation with Comoros on medical personnel training and anti-malaria capacity building. Deng said such efforts are important if Comoros hopes to maintain its victory against malaria. The good news is that the previous cooperation has helped Comoros build up its own malaria monitoring team. In a lab inside Comoros' anti-malaria center, several local technicians were looking for malaria parasites on purple-colored chips that contained blood samples of local villagers. Beside it is another lab for sampling mosquitoes. Kamal Said Abdullah, a technician at the center, told Xinhua that they go on field trips twice a week to collect blood and mosquito samples from different places of Comoros. "We're closely monitoring the situation. When we detect malaria cases, we will revisit the place and distribute medicines to timely address the issue," he said. (Xiao Sisi in China's Guangdong also contributed to the story.) Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 08:56:51|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close HARBIN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China is striving to send a group of new satellites into orbit around 2020, as part of the country's fast-expanding space science program, a national science official said at a space conference on Tuesday. The satellites include a Sino-European joint mission known as "SMILE," which will focus on the interaction between the solar wind and the Earth magnetosphere, according to Wang Chi, director of the National Space Science Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer, or SMILE, will also help study magnetospheric substorms, so as to further our understanding of the impact of solar activities on Earth's environment and space weather, Wang said. The Einstein-Probe, also among the new satellites, is tasked with discovering celestial bodies that emit X-rays during fierce changes as well as quiescent black holes with transient high-energy radiation, Wang said. The satellites also include the Advanced Space-borne Solar Observatory (ASO-S) and the Gravitational Wave Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM). The former will help scientists understand the causality among magnetic fields, flares, and coronal mass ejections, and the latter is aimed at searching for electromagnetic signals associated with gravitational waves. The Water Cycle Observation Mission (WCOM) will become world's first satellite to help scientists better understand Earth's water cycle by simultaneous and fast measurement of key parameters such as soil moisture, ocean salinity, and ocean surface evaporation, according to Wang. The Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere Coupling Exploration (MIT),is also in the satellite group. MIT aims at investigating the origin of upflow ions and their acceleration mechanism and discovering the key mechanism for the magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere coupling. While Europe and the United States have traditionally led in scientific development, China has emerged as a new science and technology player in recent years. However, compared with leading powers in space, China is still going through unbalanced development in space scientific research, technology, and application. Hopefully, these new space science satellites will help roll up the curtain of change, said Wang. "We hope to build a state lab for space science as soon as we can and achieve a significant breakthrough in the space field by 2030." YANGON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar President U Win Myint will visit Singapore and attend the 32nd summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to an announcement of Myanmar's Ministry of International Cooperation Wednesday. The visit will be made at the invitation of Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The 32nd ASEAN summit will begin on Wednesday and last until Saturday. It will be U Win Myint's first foreign trip after he took office on March 30. SINGAPORE, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Heads of state and government of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gather here from Wednesday to Saturday for their 32nd summit and related meetings, under the theme of "Resilient and Innovative ASEAN." ASEAN, a regional bloc comprising 10 Southeast Asian nations, aims to promote intergovernmental cooperation and facilitate economic integration among its members. It was originally established in August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The group has now expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. ASEAN has a combined population of approximately 629 million people, accounting for 8.8 percent of the world's total. The region recorded a combined GDP of 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars, the seventh largest economy in the world, according to Robert Yap, chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council. ASEAN celebrated its 50 years' anniversary last year. Integration is gaining momentum in recent years as the regional bloc announced the establishment of the ASEAN Community on Dec. 31, 2015 at its 27th summit. The ASEAN Community has three pillars: the Political-Security Community, the Economic Community and the Socio-Cultural Community. At its 28th and 29th summits held in Vientiane in September 2016, the leaders adopted the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Work Plan III and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) 2025, an integral part of the ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together, in a bid to advance the ASEAN community building process. The 30th summit, held in April 2017 in the Philippines, pledged to strengthen ASEAN's integration process and make the regional body a global player. The following summit convened there in November last year upheld the goal of "Partnering for Change, Engaging the World." The highest decision-making body of ASEAN is the summit meeting of the ASEAN heads of state and government. The ASEAN summit is convened every year. According to the ASEAN Charter, the chairmanship of ASEAN rotates annually among the member states. Singapore is this year's rotating chairman. WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that Iran will have "bigger problems" if it restarts its nuclear program. Meeting with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House, Trump said "it won't be so easy for them to restart" the program. "They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before," he said. When asked whether he would be willing to stay in the Iran deal, also known as JCPOA, Trump said the deal was "insane," "ridiculous" and "should never have been made." The JCPOA, short for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is an international agreement reached on July 14, 2015 between Iran and six world major countries, namely China, France, Russia, Britain, the United States and Germany, plus the European Union. The West pledged to relieve sanctions on Iran in exchange for a halt in Tehran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. In January, Trump set 120-day time for U.S. lawmakers and the European signatories of the deal to fix the deal's "terrible flaws." Trump has stressed that the United States and its European allies involved should fix the "Sunset Clauses" in the deal by May 12, otherwise he would withdraw from the agreement. The "Sunset Clauses" stipulate when restrictions imposed on Iran's nuclear program expire, which critics say would allow Tehran to advance its program. However, Macron who arrived Monday in Washington for the first state visit since Trump took office last year is expected to persuade Trump to stay in the deal. "The Iran deal is an important issue but we have to take a far broader picture which is security in the overall region," Macron said. He added that "what we want to do is to contain Iran and its presence in the region." Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday urged the European parties to help protect the nuclear deal against Trump's threats. "European leaders should encourage President Trump not just to stay in the nuclear deal, but more importantly to begin implementing his part of the bargain in good faith," Zarif tweeted. "It's either all or nothing ... there's no Plan B on JCPOA." MOSCOW, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Russian air defenses at Hmeimim airbase in Syria had intercepted and destroyed several unidentified objects targeting the base, according to Russian media reports. "On April 24, the airspace monitoring facilities at Russia's Hmeimim airbase detected a group of small-size unidentified airborne targets approaching the base," Sputnik news agency quoted an airbase spokesperson as saying on Tuesday. All the targets were destroyed by air defense means deployed at the base. There were no damage or casualties due to the attempted attack, added the spokesperson. Hmeimim base in the northwestern province of Latakia, Syria, is the largest Russian-run military facility in the country. Russian positions in Syria, including its embassy in the capital Damascus, have repeatedly been targeted by rebels who oppose Russia's role in supporting the Syrian government. Earlier in January, the Russian defense military reported that 13 drones had been used to attack two of its military facilities in Syria, but were captured or destroyed by Russian servicemen. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 10:17:14|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close HAVANA, April 24 (Xinhua) -- World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom on Tuesday praised Cuba's success in improving the healthcare quality for its population. "Cuba is the perfect place to learn how to achieve universal coverage, even with few resources," Adhanom said at a press conference here. The WHO leader is attending the island country's third International Health Convention "Cuba Salud 2018," an event held from April 23-27 that brings together high-ranking authorities of the sector from over 80 countries as well as the WHO. In praising the Cuban healthcare system, Adhanom also mentioned Cuba's medicine manufacturing industry, in which the island enjoys over 160 patents, and its efforts in sending doctors, nurses and health technicians to other countries. Over 48,000 Cuban medical professionals are now involved in 60 nations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. With the Pan-American Healthcare Organization currently hosting its Vaccination Week in the Americas, Adhanom praised Cuba for providing 13 free vaccines for children, eight of which are produced on the island. Adhanom also called on the participants in the convention to devote themselves in curbing the spread of diseases such as dengue, malaria and chikungunya in their own countries. by Xinhua writer Deng Xianlai BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Divided by a war almost seven decades ago that ended in a truce, the two Koreas on each side of the 38th parallel are beefing up preparations for an ice-breaking summit scheduled for Friday. With the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announcing the suspension of its nuclear and missile tests and South Korea proposing to ink a peace agreement that formally ends the stalemate following the 1950-53 Korean War, the world has welcomed these reconciliatory gestures leading up to the summit, for which expectations are high. POSITIVE INTERACTION In what is widely perceived as a dramatic turn of events, Kim Jong Un, the DPRK's top leader, announced Saturday that his country would "discontinue" its nuclear and missile tests. The surprise decision was made public at a plenary session of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, where Kim also said Pyongyang was dismantling the nuclear test site in the country's north since it "no longer needs" nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests. Also at the plenum, Kim rallied his people to shift focus on economic development and improve the standard of living, heralding a major policy change. Kim invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in for direct talks in a message delivered by his sister, Kim Yo Jong, when she met Moon in Seoul in February. In early March, Moon's national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, led the first high-level South Korean delegation to Pyongyang since Kim took power six years ago, and had a four-hour "openhearted talk" with Kim. After briefing U.S. President Donald Trump on his trip to Pyongyang, Chung told reporters outside the White House that Trump accepted Kim's offer for a meeting and said it was expected to happen "by May." In addition to the DPRK's efforts in easing confrontation, South Korea, for its part, has also been busy preparing for the much-anticipated inter-Korean summit, which observers say will also lay the groundwork for the planned Trump-Kim talks. A third round of working-level talks between officials of the two Koreas was held Monday at the Peace House on the South Korean side of Panmunjom, a village at the Demilitarized Zone. The Peace House has been chosen as the site of Friday's summit, making Kim the first DPRK leader to step onto South Korean soil after the Korean War, although the distance between the demarcation line and the Peace House is only several hundred meters. Building upon the previous two rounds of talks, the two sides continued to discuss details concerning the arrangement of the summit, involving matters of security, protocol and media coverage. They talked about the way Kim crosses the border and how he will be greeted by Moon, and reached consensus on a live broadcast of the historic event by South Korean media. Furthermore, South Korea's presidential office, known as the Blue House, said last Friday that a hotline had been created to link the two leaders for the first time since the separation of the two Koreas. Moon and Kim can now call each other directly from their respective offices, skirting the phone link at Panmunjom, which used to be a main communication channel. In a further sign to set a friendly climate for Friday's talks, Seoul's defense ministry said the propaganda broadcasts to the DPRK were silenced at midnight on Monday. It was a break from what is known as the anti-DPRK psychological warfare, which Seoul resumed in 2016 following Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test. HIGH EXPECTATIONS In South Korea, the DPRK's decision to halt its nuclear and missile tests was hailed by Moon as an "important decision" that would give "a green light" to the success of both inter-Korean and U.S.-DPRK summits. Having been extending olive branches to Kim and bridging Pyongyang and Washington since South Korea hosted the Winter Olympics in February, Moon regards improving the situation on the Korean Peninsula as a major task of his presidency. To achieve that goal, however, he will also have to quell skepticism from conservative political factions at home. "The entire world is watching and the entire world is hoping for its success. I ask that our political circles, too, will halt their political warfare at least during the summit," Moon said Monday in remarks carried by the Yonhap news agency. Eliminating the possibility of war is something South Korea wants to bring up at the Moon-Kim summit. However, to replace the fragile armistice treaty -- Seoul and Pyongyang today are still technically at war -- with a permanent peace deal will be no easy task. Up until now, the United States has not yet openly confirmed its desire to respect the DPRK's current political system, and Seoul and Washington will have to decide what to do with the U.S. troops deployed on South Korean territory should a peace deal be struck between the two Koreas. China, which shares borders with the DPRK and is a major stakeholder in the Korean Peninsula issue, welcomed Pyongyang's decision. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the move will ease tensions, promote denuclearization and facilitate a political settlement on the Korean Peninsula. On Kim's announcement to concentrate on economic development, Lu said China hopes that "the DPRK will continue to achieve results in its economic development and improvement of people's living standards." In the meantime, Russia, also one of the six nations that formed a multilateral mechanism seeking a political solution to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, asked Washington and Seoul to reciprocate the DPRK's efforts to reduce tension on the peninsula. "We urge the United States and South Korea to take adequate measures aimed at reducing military activities in the region and achieving mutually acceptable agreements with the DPRK at the upcoming inter-Korean and U.S.-DPRK summits," said a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday. The six-party talks mechanism, grouping China, the DPRK, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United States, has been suspended since 2009 when the DPRK pulled out. China and Russia have repeatedly called for its resumption. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 10:52:23|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TRIPOLI, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations delivered 12 explosive disposal kits to Libya in a bid to enhance its capacity to rid the country of explosive remnants, said the United Nations Support Mission for Libya (UNSML) on Tuesday. Explosive Ordnance Disposal kits were delivered to the Libyan Military Engineers and the National Safety Authority thanks to a 500,000 euros (611,000 U.S. dollars) contribution from the government of Austria, said the UNSML. The donation is part of a capacity enhancement program, supported by the Austrian and British governments and coordinated by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), the mission added. "The presence of explosive hazards may prevent internally displaced persons from returning to their homes, and humanitarian actors from helping people in need. In short, it hampers socio-economic progress. For this reason, Austria, as a friend, a partner of Libya was happy to make this contribution," said Ronald Sturm, Ambassador of Austria to Libya. Several Libyan cities, particularly northern cities of Benghazi and Sirte, are suffering from a large spread of unexploded ordnance and mines after violent battles between army and government forces against terrorist groups. Explosives and landmines in Benghazi killed 197 soldiers and civilians in 2017, according to military sources. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 11:02:24|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TRIPOLI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Libya's UN-backed government will set up a higher committee to secure the return of displaced Libyans abroad, according to one official. Minister of Displaced People's Affairs Yousuf Jalala told Xinhua,"The process will be carried out through the personal application of every Libyan (displaced) in a particular country to return and restore their rights and properties." He also stressed that the application will be carried out through Libyan embassies abroad, where representatives will be appointed to handle applications. Since the 2011 uprising in Libya, many Libyans affiliated to the former government and those involved in the conflict had to flee the country for fear of persecution. Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria are the main destinations for displaced Libyans. WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Navy on Tuesday received the initial delivery of the Zumwalt-class destroyer Michael Monsoor, the second of its three stealth destroyers, more than eight years after the start of its fabrication. The warship's combat system will be installed later in the Navy's two-part approach to delivering the three Zumwalt destroyers, said a U.S. Naval Institute report. Michael Monsoor conducted its builder's trials in December 2017 and January 2018, and completed its acceptance trials on Feb. 1, said the report. Its shipbuilder is General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW), based in the northeastern U.S. state of Maine. The ship will now sail to its home port in San Diego, California, for commissioning in January 2019 and for the combat system installation, activation and testing. Among the U.S. Navy's three stealth destroyers, the lead ship, Zumwalt, was delivered in May 2016 and the third ship Lyndon B. Johnson is still being built in BIW. A U.S. Defense News report said the three destroyers will make up the class for changes in their mission made earlier this year. The Navy added Raytheon's SM-6 missiles to the stealth destroyer enabling performance as a ship killer and strike platform, compared to primarily a land-attack platform, said the report. File Photo taken on Sept. 10, 2016 shows the Bay Amed and Mount Agung in Bali, Indonesia. (Xinhua/Du Yu) JAKARTA, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's Bali has won 3 awards in the recently-held Global Destination Marketing Summit and World Culture and Tourism Forum in China's Xian, a statement released by the Indonesian Tourism Ministry said here on Tuesday. The awards were obtained in categories of Top 10 Overseas Destination, Top 10 Luxury Travel Destination and Top 10 Honeymoon Destination for Chinese Tourists throughout 2017. The event was co-organized by the Chinese government and C-Trip, China's prominent travel agent, the statement said. Assistant Deputy Minister for Greater China Marketing Development Vincensius Jemadu said the assessment to deliver the awards for each category was based on the search, booking and comment volumes on the internet and votes of 300 million global members of C-Trip. "This year we have picked China as the most ultimate tourism market due to its huge aspects of size, sustainability and spending," Deputy Tourism Minister for International Marketing I Gde Pitana said. About 1.9 million Chinese tourists visited Indonesia throughout last year, growing 42.2 percent from a year earlier, with total spending of 1.94 billion U.S. dollars, he said. Other priority countries included European countries, Australia, Singapore and India, he added. Praising the awards, Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said that the awards have proved Indonesia's capability to compete in the international tourism sector. "Winning some awards were important to advance national tourism as it would further expand the 3 Cs in our tourism, consisted of Confidence, Credibility and Calibration," the minister said. JAKARTA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Ten people were killed and scores injured as an oil well in Indonesia's Aceh province caught fire, spokesman of national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told Xinhua on Wednesday. The incident occurred at 02:15 a.m. Jakarta time Wednesday (1915 GMT Tuesday) in Pasir Putih village of Aceh Timur district in Aceh, the northern tip of Sumatra Island in western Indonesia, when a worker was carrying out welding on a pipe which will be put into the well. The sparks ignited fire at three houses, the spokesman said. The number of the injured and evacuees is being assessed, he said. A column of black ash climbed to the sky as the fire remains, said Sutopo. File Photo: Chinese tourists visit Glenorchy, New Zealand, May 1, 2017. (Xinhua/Su Liang) WELLINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese visitors made up 11 percent of New Zealand's total visitor arrivals in the March 2018 year, the statistics department Stats NZ said on Tuesday. A new high count of 3.82 million visitors arrived in New Zealand in the March 2018 year, up 8 percent year on year, it said. Two-thirds of this rise were due to more visitors from Australia, China, Britain and the United States, population insights senior manager Brooke Theyers said in a statement, adding that over half of all overseas visitors were holidaymakers, and over one-quarter were visiting friends and family. The top source of visitor arrivals in the March 2018 year was Australia, at 37 percent of all visitor arrivals. China, the U.S. and Britain were also top sources of visitor arrivals, Theyers said. About 11 percent of the Chinese visitors were visiting friends or relatives, and 80 percent of them were holidaying, Stats NZ said. In the March 2018 year, New Zealand residents set a new annual record of 2.89 million overseas trips for any 12-month period, with trips to China, Fiji, Britain and Australia seeing the largest rises, Theyers said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 11:22:29|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close KATHMANDU, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Nepal has welcomed the upcoming informal meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying it will enhance trust between Nepal's two giant neighbors, whose economic growth can be beneficial to Nepal. "We are happy to know that the leaders from our neighboring countries are going to have an informal meeting later this week. Being an immediate neighbor, Nepal welcomes such high-level engagements and dialogues between China and India," Nepali Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali told Xinhua on Tuesday. "We hope the meeting will help to enhance goodwill and ... trust between China and India. We want to see a trust-based partnership between our two immediate neighboring countries," he said, adding that Nepal expects to reap benefits from the rapid economic growth taking place in China and India. The Chinese president will hold the informal meeting with the Indian prime minister in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, on Friday and Saturday. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the announcement Sunday, after talks with visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Beijing. The Nepali foreign minister said Nepal always wishes for cordial relations between China and India. With the world order evolving, China and India can play a bigger role in maintaining global peace, stability and prosperity, he said. Gyawali said Nepal is always open and positive toward the concept of trilateral cooperation with China and India in many fields, including economic development. Referring to his visit to China last week, the foreign minister said a long-term, broader partnership to enhance economic development was discussed. Noting that the Belt and Road Initiative, put forward by Xi in 2013, "is a far-sighted and wise proposal ... and Nepal has already become a part of it," he said Nepal is working to identify and implement relevant projects. He added that his country has prioritized connectivity projects such as cross-border railways, highways and transmission lines, as it is keen on developing a trans-Himalayan multidimensional transport network with Beijing. CANBERRA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Australians gathered on Wednesday to mark the Anzac Day, the anniversary of Australian and New Zealand troops landing at Gallipoli in 1915 during World War I. Celebrated on April 25 annually, Anzac Day commemorates members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. In Canberra, approximately 38,000 people attended the dawn service at the Australian War Memorial. Colonel Susan Neuhaus delivered the official address, making special mention of the women who have served in Australia's armed forces. "Like all of us, I benefit from what they have done," Neuhaus said. "Inscribed in these walls behind me are the names of 102,000 Australians who have lived, and fought and died for our country." Dean Lee, chief executive of Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance, estimated that 35,000 people attended the dawn service at the shrine, up from 25,000 in 2017. Anne Holian, a Royal Australian Air Force member, became the first female serving member of the Australian Defence Force to address the Melbourne service and used the opportunity to speak of the men and women she had aided in war zones. "There was the young soldier whose hand was blown to pieces by a grenade," she said. "We tried to put enough of it together so he could hold his newborn baby." Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull commemorated the day in the French town of Villers-Bretonneux, the site of a crucial World War I battle in 1918 involving Australians. Turnbull noted that while Australia is "hardly militaristic", it was important to honor the "triumphs of arms won by the Australian forces in the midst of all the horrors of the Great War." He described the victory at Villers-Bretonneux as "momentous," noting that John Monash, Australia's commander, described it as "the real turning point of the war." Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 11:37:33|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, April 24 (Xinhua) -- President of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Miroslav Lajcak has urged a global diplomacy dedicated to preventing conflicts. The senior Slovak diplomat said this when speaking of the ongoing two-day UN high-level meeting on building and sustaining peace. "Diplomats should be focused on preventing conflicts," he said. "There are too many conflicts around and we as the international community usually react to the conflict after they break out, not before. That is why we want to use this high-level meeting to speak about the prevention of conflicts," Lajcak told Xinhua on Monday. It is a very important topic to prevent conflicts, he added, so as to save human lives and reduce economic losses. First of all, diplomacy is about preventing conflicts, he noted. "Conflicts don't happen overnight. There are signals." There should be enough political will to prevent them from happening, he said while praising the African country Gambia as a good example for stifling potential conflicts through diplomacy in a very difficult situation. Lajcak meanwhile stressed the central role of the United Nations in its multilateral efforts to maintain peace. "The United Nations is the home of multilateralism. This is the place where we should discuss our problems, our issues, our different views before we find ourselves in conflict," he said. On the UN meeting, he said, "I really hope that the high-level event will send a strong signal and will change the way we look at peace." "My expectation is to strengthen multilateralism, to strengthen the rules-based system, to strengthen the world that is based on the same rules for everyone, for big and for small, because that is the only way we can prevent conflicts," he noted. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 11:42:34|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close SEOUL, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Chung Eui-yong, top national security advisor for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, met with his U.S. counterpart John Bolton in Washington ahead of the inter-Korean summit later this week, the Blue House of South Korea said Wednesday. Chung met Bolton at 3:00 p.m. Washington time, exchanging opinion for about an hour ahead of the summit between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday in the border village of Panmunjom. They finished coordination to prepare for the upcoming inter-Korean summit, including ways of a close cooperation between Seoul and Washington in achieving the goal of the denuclearized Korean Peninsula. The Blue House and the White House advisors also discussed situations after the inter-Korean summit. South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to share the result of the inter-Korean summit via telephone right after the end of the summit, according to the Blue House. Chung and Bolton discussed ways to push for the meeting between Moon and Trump before the expected summit between Trump and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un in May or early June. WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- A third U.S. federal judge, based in the capital of Washington D.C., ruled on Tuesday against President Donald Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program(DACA). DACA is an American immigration policy that allows undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children to receive a renewable two-year deferral from deportation and become eligible for a work permit. John Bates, Judge of the District of Columbia Circuit, gave the U.S. Department of Homeland Security 90 days to come up with better explanation for winding down the program, otherwise he would enter an order reinstating DACA in its entirety. "Each day that the agency delays is a day that aliens who might otherwise be eligible for initial grants of DACA benefits are exposed to removal because of an unlawful agency action," Bates wrote, calling the Trump administration's move to end DACA is "unlawful," "capricious," and "virtually unexplained." After the White House announced its plan to end DACA in September, federal judges in New York and San Francisco also ordered the Trump administration to resume accepting new applications for protection under DACA. However, in February, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the administration's appeal of the San Francisco ruling. Some 700,000 undocumented immigrants, most of them brought to the United States as children, had signed up for DACA introduced by the then Barack Obama government in 2012. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 11:52:38|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close JAKARTA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed and 19 injured as an oil well in Indonesia's Aceh province caught fire, an official said on Wednesday. The incident occurred in Pasir Putih village of Aceh Timur district in Aceh, the northern tip of Sumatra Island in western Indonesia, according to spokesman of national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo. Overproduction caused the oil to spill out from the surface of the well and spread around it at around 12:00 a.m. Jakarta time Tuesday (1700 GMT Monday), attracting dozens of villagers to gather and collect it, the spokesman told Xinhua. "But suddenly, at 1:30 a.m. (Jakarta time, 1830 GMT Monday) fire appeared and engulfed the area around the well. So that those collecting the crude oil could not escape the fires," he told Xinhua in a text message. The spokesman said the fire was ignited when a worker was carrying out welding on a pipe which will be put into the well. A display showed that a column of black ash climbed to the sky as the fire remains, said Sutopo. The fire consumed three houses. Fire vehicles arrived at the scene in about an hour to help douse the blaze from a well with a depth of about 250 meters, said Sutopo. The number of casualties as well as evacuees is still being assessed, he said. The state-owned oil and gas firm, PT Pertamina planned to stop the fire with a special technology, according to him. The injured have been rushed to several hospitals, he added. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 13:07:51|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said here on Tuesday that he hopes the United States could deal with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in a "honorable fashion." Speaking in a joint press conference with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump said: "I hope that we will be able to deal in a very open and honorable fashion with North Korea (the DPRK)." "A lot is happening right now ... And I think it's going to be very positive. And I hope it's going to be very positive for North Korea (the DPRK) and for South Korea, and Japan, and the rest of the world," he said. Speaking of the preparations for his meeting with the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un, Trump said "we're doing very well." However, he added that the United States has made no "concessions" in this regard. "I haven't even discussed a concession other than the fact that meeting is a great thing," he said. "I will say this: we put the strongest sanctions on a country that we ever have put on any country, by far." He said the U.S. definition of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula means that Pyongyang getting "rid of their nukes." "Very simple. They get rid of their nukes, and nobody else would say it. It would be very easy for me to make a simple deal and claim victory. I don't want to do that. I want them to get rid of their nukes," he said. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said before his expanded bilateral meeting with Macron that his meeting with Kim will be "very soon." "We have been told directly that they would like to have the meeting as soon as possible. And we think that's a great thing for the world," he said. He also said Kim is "very open" and "very honorable." "We're having very -- very good discussions," he said. "Kim Jong Un, he really has been very open and I think very honorable from everything we're seeing." "I think we have a chance of doing something very special with respect to North Korea (the DPRK). Good for them, good for us, good for everybody," Trump added. Positive momentum around the Korean Peninsula has been built up in recent months thanks to inter-Korean good faith with the diplomacy around the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and denuclearization, and efforts to promote dialogue between the DPRK and South Korea and the DPRK and the United States. South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet with Kim on April 27. Trump said his meeting with Kim maybe happens in May or early June. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 13:22:54|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said that Syria should be included in negotiating his proposed new deal on Iran during his three-day state visit to the United States. Macron proposed to forge a new deal with Iran to restrict the country's nuclear activities, as U.S. President Donald Trump has considered pulling the United States out of the current Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed in 2015. The French president said Syria should be part of the fourth concerning party, referring to the new deal, alongside the European nations, Russia and Turkey to be brought to the negotiating table. "What we have to work on, obviously, with Iran and the different parties in the region, the P5 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council) and our allies, is to find a fair deal where we can fix the overall situation," he said at a joint news conference with Trump. Macron also argued that within the new framework, countries can find a solution to the Syrian situation in the long run. "In the long run, we need to ... make sure that Syria does not fall into hegemony in the region," he said. "The approach ... means that we can work ...to contain Iran in the region." "The Syrian situation should be part of this broader picture," he said. "We will have to find a way to fix the situation from a political point of view, not automatically from a military point of view." He also vowed to increase the French contribution in the war against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. "The very first goal of this intervention and the international coalition on the ground is to finish this work with ISIS," he said. "Beyond this military presence, and beyond our troops on the ground, we will have to build ... a new inclusive framework." Trump seemed to agree with Macron on this aspect. "When they made the Iran deal, what they should have done is included Syria," he noted. "When I say 'should have' -- before giving them, Iran, $150 billion ... they should have made a deal that covered Yemen, that covered Syria, that covered other parts of the Middle East where Iran is involved," he said. (Zhu Dongyang, Liu Chen in Washington also contributed to the report.) KABUL, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Taliban militants on Wednesday announced the start of their yearly rebel offensive in Afghanistan, the outfit said in a statement. Zabiullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, said in the statement that their offensive codenamed "al-Khandaq jihadi" operation started early Wednesday. "Both our land and air space are under the control of foreign occupying forces and our religious sanctities as well as helpless people are indiscriminately being targeted," the Taliban statement said. "The existence of multiple American bases set up under the Strategic Agreement between the American invaders and the puppet regime in Kabul are reasons through which America sabotages all chances of peace and plays crucial and decisive role in intensifying and prolonging the ongoing war in Afghanistan...," it said. The Taliban militants, who ruled the country before being ousted in late 2001, renewed armed insurgency, killing government troops as well as civilians. They urged civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as the legitimate targets by militants besides warning people not to support the government. The NATO and U.S. forces completed their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 after 13 years of military presence in the country. But around 16,000 foreign troops remain in the country to train and assist the Afghan forces. Following the announcement, the Taliban claimed multiple attacks across the country. MANILA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Bureau of Immigration (BI) of the Philippines has ordered Australian nun Patricia Fox, 71, to leave the country in 30 days after it cancelled her missionary visa for "her involvement in partisan politics." BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said on Wednesday the BI Board of Commissioners has decided to forfeit Fox's visa after "she was found to have engaged in activities that are not allowed under the terms and conditions of her visa." In a one-page order issued on Monday, Morente said the board ordered the forfeiture of Fox's missionary visa which was due to expire on Sept. 5, 2018. It also directed the deactivation of her alien certificate of registration, he said. President Rodrigo Duterte said he has ordered an investigation into Fox's "disorderly conduct" in the Philippines. He accused Fox of badmouthing his administration, for which she deserves to be barred entry from the Philippines. Duterte's spokesman Harry Roque said Fox has been seen participating in anti-government rallies. The bureau detained Fox on April 16 but released her the next day after BI found she had a valid missionary visa. Fox's legal counsel in the Philippines said they would appeal the BI order. Source: Xinhuanet| 2018-04-25 13:45:01|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close By Lu Jian, Qian Chunxian GUANGZHOU, April 25 (Xinhuanet) -- "Just take a glimpse of this trade fair, we can easily find the tremendous achievement of China's reform and opening-up policy in the past four decades," Val Thompson, an American businessman, said at the 123rd China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair). Held from April 15 to May 5, Chinas biggest fair is held biannually in Guangzhou every spring and autumn with a history of 61 years. The Fair has been hailed by overseas buyers and enterprises as an epitome of China's reform and opening-up and Chinas efforts to move closer to the center stage as well as a symbol of deepening international business ties. Photo shows the popularity of the Canton Fair held in south China. (Xinhuanet/Lu Jian) "Since the reform and opening up, many U.S. citizens have visited China and are well impressed by its dynamic manufacturing capabilities and its diligent people," said Val Thompson, president and CEO of Houston International Trade Development Council. In the new global economic situation, the Fair has become a vital step toward better business environment and a more open market. "It is not only a stage for China to display itself, but also a platform for international cooperation when facing challenges and opportunities of globalization," Thompson said. Thompson is not the only one impressed by China's rapid development in economic and social sectors. The Canton Fair has served as a platform where global buyers and sellers communicate with each other in the past decades, said Alim Markus, Chairman of the Indonesia China Business Council. "I have attended the Canton Fair for eight consecutive years. During the period, China has become the second largest economy in the world and Canton Fair is a window through which the world witnessed such rapid growth. It sent a clear message that China welcomed others to board the express train of its development. "The 123rd Canton Fair is a great event held on the same year of the 40th anniversary of Chinas reform and opening up, which lays a solid foundation of facilitating Chinese and Indonesian enterprises to expand business and promote brands," Markus added. The history of the Fair reflects the development of Chinas foreign trade as well as its reform and opening up policy. Forty years ago, there were approximately 21,000 overseas buyers from 97 countries and regions attending the 44th session of Canton Fair, with an export transaction volume of 2.448 billion U.S.dollars. In 2017, there were some 191,950 overseas buyers attending the 122nd Canton Fair, with an export volume of 30.16 billion U.S. dollars. Up to the 122nd session, the accumulated export transaction volume has amounted to 1.26 trillion U.S. dollars and the overseas buyers reached 7.85 million. This year, over 25,000 exhibiting companies from home and abroad are estimated to attend the Fair. In 1978 the total value of Chinas import and export was 20.64 billion U.S. dollars, ranking the 30th in the world, accounting for only 0.77 percent of total value of worlds import and export. In 2017, the total value of Chinas import and export reached 4.1 trillion dollars, an average annual growth of 14.5 percent since 1978, and accounted for 10 percent of the worlds total, ranking the first in the world. China is "the world's factory" from which global consumers benefit significantly. The tremendous consumer market offers a huge potential and its economic miracle provides a powerful momentum for worlds economy. China has become the second largest economy in the world and has contributed more than 30 percent of global economic growth, serving as a major stabilizer and strong impetus for global economic growth. The import and export of goods is not only an important part of China's efforts to build an open economy, but also a powerful engine of economic growth and a main force propping comprehensive national strength. Over the past 40 years, China's trading partners have become more diversified, market participants have become more active, the growth engines have upgraded and structural adjustment has accelerated, and the transformation to international trade power has become more determined. The Canton Fair opens on April 15. (Xinhuanet/Wu Jiawei) Canton Fair is a wind indicatorof economic and trade ties between China and other countries when new challenges arise. Xu Bing, spokesperson of the Fair and Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre, said that the Fair should consolidate its image as the window of China to open wider in all aspects. Chinese exhibitors are striving vigorously to optimize their product structure and explore diversified markets. Since its 101st session in April 2007, the Canton Fair has set up an International Pavilion inviting overseas enterprises to participate. During the 123rd session, the International Pavilion is set up in the first and the third phases. 617 enterprises from 34 countries and regions attend the Fair, with the Ukrainian, Thai and Nepales pavillions making debut. Experts said under the new circumstances, the Fair should strengthen its role as a platform of opening up for enhanced utilization of markets and resources at home and abroad, while making newer and greater contributions to the rest of the world. Most of the African countries have benefited from Chinas commitment to maintaining and developing an open economy, said Caroline Silwamba, President of the Agriculture and Commercial Society of Zambia, who attended the Fair for the first time. She said she was impressed by the small farming instruments at Canton Fair, including small tillers and tractors. Some exhibits made in China are of good quality and at affordable prices, she added. As a global leader in e-commerce, China will provide the overseas market with unlimited potential, according to Alexey Fedotov, Co-chairman & Chief-representative of the Russian Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, who has attended 21 sessions of Canton Fair. He regarded the International Pavilion of the Fair as an important platform for communication for both Chinese and Russian companies. "We are glad to see that digital economy and e-commerce have been thriving in China in recent years, Russian's entrepreneurs will not only exhibit at the Fair but also set up online stores to sell more goods via internet," he added. Businessmen at the fair are looking forward to the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) to be held in Shanghai in November. We are confident that more Indonesian companies will participate in CIIE and set up more booths, said Markus. From Guangzhou to Shanghai, China's strong determination inspires the world to cooperate more closely in face of challenges and opportunities. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 14:03:01|Editor: ZX Video Player Close U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and French President Emmanuel Macron attend the state arrival ceremony at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, April 24, 2018. Visiting French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday proposed to work with other parties to forge a new deal on Iran. However, bilateral divergence on Iran and other issues remain as his state visit to the United States drew to a close. (Xinhua/Yang Chenglin) WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Visiting French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday proposed to work with other parties to forge a new deal on Iran. However, bilateral divergence on Iran and other issues remain as his state visit to the United States drew to a close. Speaking in a joint press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump, Macron said that the current Iran nuke deal, or internationally known as the JCPOA signed in 2015, was not "sufficient," but "enabled us, at least until 2025, to have some control over their nuclear activities." "We therefore wish, from now on, to work on a new deal with Iran," said Macron. NEW DEAL ON IRAN He further explained that the new deal should cover four topics: to block any nuclear activity of Iran until 2025, to make sure that there is no Iranian nuclear activity in the long run, to put an end to Tehran's ballistic activities in the region, and to generate the conditions for a political solution to "contain" Iran in the region. However, he denied any change in his stance on the JCPOA, calling the JCPOA "the first pillar" of the framework of the new deal. "On these topics, I did not change. I constantly said that we needed to find the framework so that, together, and with the powers of the region, and with the Iranian leaders, manage to find a deal," he said. "I'm not saying that we're moving from one deal to another. I'm saying it is one aspect of the problem. I have never been as critical of the JCPOA as President Trump has, because I believe that we can usefully add to it," Macron noted. He added that the new agreement will involve European nations, Russia and Turkey. For his part, Trump said Macron's suggestion is "a pretty good idea," yet remained unsure "whether or not it will be possible to do a new deal with solid foundations." "Because this (the current Iran nuclear deal) (is) a deal with decayed foundations. It's a bad deal. It's a bad structure. It's falling down. Should have never, ever been made," he said. Trump will decide whether to leave the JCPOA on May 12. The chance for U.S. staying, judged by Trump's recent pejorative tone towards Tehran and the deal, has been increasingly slim. "But no matter the decision that President Trump will take, what I would like is to work, as from now, on a new deal with four pillars," said Macron. DIFFERENCES REMAIN However, Macron admitted that he still has "a disagreement" with Trump regarding the JCPOA. "I always said we should not tear apart the JCPOA and have nothing else. I think this would not be the good solution," he said. As regards the Syrian issue, Trump said he would still like to withdraw the U.S. troops out of the country. "We're going to be coming home relatively soon. We finished, at least, almost our work with respect to ISIS in Syria, ISIS in Iraq," he said. However, he added that Washington does not want to give Iran "open season to the Mediterranean, especially since we really control it." "So we want to come home. We'll be coming home. But... we will have a strong blockage to the Mediterranean, which to me is very important -- because if we don't, you have Iran going right to the Mediterranean. Not going to have that," said the White House host. He also urged "very rich" regional countries to step up their contributions -- militarily and financially -- in the military operations in Syria, so as "to prevent Iran from profiting off the success of our anti-ISIS effort." "The United States is embarrassingly into the Middle East," he said. "They have to step up tremendously -- not a little bit, but tremendously -- their financial effort... And they will also put soldiers on the ground, which they're not doing. And we will, in fact, bring lots of people home." Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 14:33:06|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close MANAGUA, April 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 27 people, including at least two police officers, have been killed and another 121 injured in latest violent protests against the government of President Daniel Ortega and its reform of the social security system, media reports said. Ortega on Sunday repealed a controversial reform of the country's welfare system that triggered riots. The reform, which became effective last week, was set to increase employer contributions while decreasing overall benefits. The unrest has exposed public resentment of the 72-year-old leftist leader and his wife Rosario Murillo, who is the vice president. Liz Throssell of the UN Office for the High Commissioner on Human Rights said Tuesday that the deaths during the protest may have been "unlawful" and called for an investigation. "The incident of violence that have happened are regrettable," and "we must reestablish order, we will not allow chaos, crime and looting to reign," said Ortega earlier. The protests are widely regarded as the biggest challenge since Ortega took office in 2007, and this is his fourth term as president. LONDON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Differences over treatment of a 23-month-old terminally ill British toddler have developed into a legal fight as parents are appealing a High Court travel ban blocking the boy from being further treated in Italy, local media reports said. The case is expected to be heard at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday afternoon, Britain's Press Association reported. A High Court judge ruled Tuesday that infant Alfie Evans will not be allowed to travel to Rome for further treatment. The child, who is almost two years old, was earlier granted Italian citizenship in order to facilitate his battle for survival. Meanwhile, the parents are allowed to remove the boy from intensive care to a ward, a hospice or home. The boy suffers from an undiagnosed degenerative neurological condition, and doctors at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in the northern English city of Liverpool have decided that any further treatment attempt is "futile." Earlier, the parents had failed to stop doctors from withdrawing life support for the boy. Their opposition to this had led to another emergency hearing by the High Court on Tuesday. The toddler's 21-year-old father, Thomas Evans, said his son had breathed unaided since Monday night, with no need of "any pain relief." However, the High Court judge had rejected his claims that the boy was "significantly better" than initially thought. Media reports cited medical experts as saying it was common for terminally ill children to survive for several days after life support is withdrawn. Crowds of supporters for the Evans family have gathered outside Alder Hey Children's Hospital, and police were put on watch after several people tried to force their way inside and block the hospital entrance on Monday. LAGOS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Suspected herdsmen killed at least 16 people, including two priests, in a dawn attack Tuesday on a Catholic church in Benue state, local police confirmed. Police chief Owoseni Fatai told reporters that some 30 assailants opened fire on worshippers at the St. Ignatius Quasi church during morning mass around 6:00 a.m. (0500 GMT). "They attacked the venue of a burial ceremony and also...the church where the two reverend fathers were holding mass," Fatai said. The Catholic diocese of Makurdi confirmed the death of priests Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha in a statement condemning the violence. Fatai said preliminary investigation indicated that the herdsmen had stayed around the area for some time before carrying out the attacks. There have been clashes between herdsmen, who are mostly Muslims from the Fulani ethnic group, and members of the settled farming communities, who are mainly Christian. President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the killings. "Violating a place of worship, killing priests and worshippers is not only vile, evil and satanic, it is clearly calculated to stoke up religious conflict and plunge our communities into endless bloodletting," he said in a statement. The toll brings the number of people killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen to 45 since Governor Samuel Ortom proceeded on his annual leave on April 12. Last week, killings took place in Logo, Guma, Makurdi and Naka areas of the state, also by suspected Fulani militia. Benue is located in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt which separates the predominantly Muslim north from the largely Christian south. The area has long been a hotbed of ethnic, sectarian and religious conflicts, a lot of it over land. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 14:48:08|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- If there was a list of things that China does not lack, culture would be at the top. Now Chinese tech companies are drawing from the rich cultural pool to create their digital content. Chinese internet giant Tencent announced this week its new content strategy, highlighting a shift to cultural themed products. Tencent, Asia's most valuable company with a market capitalization of 477 billion U.S. dollars, is a major Chinese online content provider with products ranging from games, music, films, to books and cartoons. Cheng Wu, vice president of Tencent Holdings Ltd., said the company will cooperate with cultural institutions to create culture-related digital content. In the pipeline is anime themed on the history and culture of the Dunhuang grottoes, a UNESCO-listed world cultural heritage, and a TV series about Chinese antiques. "Traditional culture will become more appealing to young people when presented in these forms," said Zou Zhengyu, head of Tencent's anime arm. Dunhuang Academy and the Place Museum, more commonly known as the Forbidden City, have teamed up with Tencent to digitalize their art collections and archives. Tencent is not the only tech firm promoting digital content based on Chinese culture. Toutiao, a popular Chinese news app with 120 million daily active users, also announced this week it will add a column for content on Chinese classics, including classical literature, calligraphy, opera, and customs. The company said it will give preference to distributing the content and will work with the government, media, and cultural institutions to create such content. "China has 5,000 years of stories to tap into," Michael Uslan, producer of the Batman series, said during the Tencent conference, adding "the world wants and needs your superheroes." Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 15:13:11|Editor: pengying Video Player Close SINGAPORE, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Amid its trade dispute with the United States, China champions the rules-based trade system and wants more regional cooperation, said Chinese Ambassador to Singapore Hong Xiaoyong in an article published here Wednesday. In the article entitled "China: From humble student of world trade to staunch defender," Hong noted that China was welcomed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, to the applause of the U.S. and the Western world. Since then, China, like a humble student learning the trade rules, has integrated its own development into this system. Today, China is a staunch defender of and a contributor to the global rules-based system. In contrast, the rule-maker is behaving more like a rule-breaker, breaching what it once cherished so dearly. It bears reminding that rules are made to be followed, not discarded when convenient, Hong said in his article carried on the local English-language newspaper The Straits Times. In his opinion, the United States tries to paint itself as a victim of trade problems with China. It made unilateral demands of trade tariffs, which suddenly escalated threefold from 50 billion U.S. dollars to 150 billion U.S. dollars. This shows not only the country's arrogance towards China, but also its disdain of the global trade system. Worldwide, there is a growing consensus that anti-globalization and protectionism only generate endless troubles, said the article. Anti-globalization is not the solution to the problems caused by unfettered globalization, and protectionism is not the right medicine for the "illnesses" caused by free trade, Hong added. China and Singapore are working together for the early conclusion of an upgraded bilateral free trade agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. They are also working on the early entry into force of an upgrade to the China-ASEAN free trade agreement and the building of the Asia-Pacific free trade area, the ambassador noted. At the same time, China is ready to strive with the international community for open and win-win cooperation, and contribute to a better world with a new type of international relations and a better shared future for all, he concluded. MEXICO CITY, April 24 (Xinhua) -- In the narrow streets of Zitacuaro city in west-central Mexico, Rogelio Sosa drives his Chevy powered by non-polluting biogas produced from the prickly nopal cactus, which grows extensively in Mexico. "A tank of 15 liters lasts me 10 days," the 66-year-old owner of a tortilla bakery said. Since 2016, Sosa has been getting the biofuel from a small filling station run by Nopalimex, his own company that produces emission-free biogas from the cactus. Sosa is a co-founder. His partner is Miguel Ake, an engineer who is director of the Institute of Technology of Iztapalapa in Mexico City. The venture materialized when Sosa was looking for ways to reduce costs for his corn and cactus chip company. Now the electricity cost at his tortilla mill has been halved. "Nobody believed in this. They told us we were crazy," said Ake, who has been studying alternative energies since 1982. He had tried to produce fuel from jatropha, yucca, maize and sugarcane but was not satisfied with the results until he tried nopal. Nopal is so well entrenched in Mexican culture that it appears on the national flag. Ake was thinking of making biogas from the desert plant when he met Sosa. Scientists from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and Mexico's National Electric and Clean Energies Institute also participated in the biogas generation. In the process, nopal leaves are first mashed in a pit and converted into biomass. This aromatic blend is then mixed with water in huge biodigestors at a certain temperature and hermetically sealed so that no oxygen can enter. The heat produces bacteria that work on the biomass and generate methane gas, which is then purified. The entire process is emission-free. "From the moment the nopal is sowed (to) the moment it exits the vehicle's exhaust, we can say, with full confidence, that it is absolutely neutral. Zero emissions of greenhouse gases," Ake said. Each ton of nopal produces about 100 cubic meters of biogas, which is equivalent to 100,000 liters of gasoline. It is also cheaper since each liter of nopal biogas sells for 12 pesos (64 U.S. cents) compared to the current gasoline price of 18 pesos (95 cents) in Mexico City. Sosa said research has proven that 100 hectares of nopal would be able to generate one megawatt of energy, capable of powering 5,000 cars or 12,000 houses. Biogas currently contributes a very small percentage of Mexico's total energy output, but the country is seeking to increase the use of clean energy and move away from fossil fuels. Ake and Sosa want to extend their biogas project to public transport and cargo vehicles in Zitacuaro, which sees about 100,000 vehicles on road each day. "We don't need anything more than political will to make this happen," Sosa said. Mexico has set a target of obtaining 35 percent of its electricity from clean sources by 2024, and increasing that goal to at least 50 percent by 2050. It looks like the cactus can help Mexico reach that ambitious goal. SAN FRANCISCO, April 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday that it has partnered with a local internet service provider to deliver broadband internet and voice services to about 65,000 rural residents in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region. Microsoft said in a statement that it is working with Declaration Networks Group Inc. (DNG) to provide the services over the next three years. The company's Airband Initiative aims to provide better broadband to 2 million rural Americans in 12 U.S. states by 2022. The state include Arizona, Georgia, New York, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. It estimates that about 19.4 million people in rural America do not have broadband access. DNG is using a combination of advanced wireless technologies, including TV white spaces - the invisible, wireless radio airwaves that are not owned by broadcasters - to deliver high-speed internet and voice services. Microsoft said the project will allow unserved regions to participate in the digital economy through access to technology and services that will benefit farmers, healthcare professionals and businesses. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 15:28:14|Editor: ZX Video Player Close JERUSALEM, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Two cars were torched and a nationalist graffiti was spray-painted in an Arab village in Israel on Wednesday, amidst a string of hate crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel. The so-called "price tag" attack took place in Iksal, southeast of Nazareth, the capital and largest city of Israel's Northern District. A police statement said firefighters were called to put off the fire after two cars were burnt down. A slogan read "Jews let's win" was spray-painted on a wall. The police said they have launched an investigation. It was the third hate attack in northern Israel over the past year after similar attacks took place in Yafia and Na'ura. Also in the region, ultra-nationalist Israelis torched the Church of Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish near the Sea of Galilee in 2015. Two years later, an Israeli court convicted an Israeli settler in vandalizing the iconic Catholic church. He was sentenced to four years in prison. On Monday, two hate attacks took place in the town of Rammun, east of Ramallah city, and in the village of Beit Iksa, northwest of Jerusalem. In both cases, cars were vandalized and hate slogans were spray-painted. Israeli-perpetrated hate crime attacks have been on the rise over the past months, according to figures released Sunday by the Shin Bet security service. Since the first four months of 2018, the Shin Bet documented 13 such attacks, after 2017 saw eight attacks throughout the entire year. Far-right Israelis have carried out thousands of the so-called "price tag" attacks over the past years. The attacks include violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel and vandalism of mosques, churches, cemeteries, and personal property. Most of the incidents remain unsolved as the law enforcement authorities usually fail to arrest and charge any suspects. Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and had controlled it ever since, in a move denounced by the international community. LOS ANGELES, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Southern California's median home price increased 8.4 percent in March from a year earlier, setting a new all-time high. The six-county region's midpoint of all sales hit a record 519,000 U.S. dollars last month, up 40,000 dollars from a year earlier, real estate data provider CoreLogic said on Monday. March's median topped the previous all-time high of 509,500 dollars set in December. Home prices have gone up steadily for six straight years. Sales, meanwhile, fell 6.2 percent from the same month last year. "The rate we are seeing price appreciation is simply the lack of inventory," Selma Hepp, chief economist with California brokerage Pacific Union International, told Los Angeles Times. Prices hit all-time highs in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. A 110-million-dollar home sale in Malibu is set to be a new record for Los Angeles County. The median-priced home in Los Angeles County sold for 585,000 dollars, a gain of 36,000 dollars or 6.6 percent. The typical Orange County homebuyer paid 725,000 dollars in March, up 58,000 dollars or 8.7 percent year over year. In the long run, the current rate of price increases is unsustainable, said Hepp, who predicted a slowdown to a 5 percent annual gain in 2019 and 2 percent a year later. SEOUL, April 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in was pushing to meet U.S. President Donald Trump around mid-May before a summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), local media reported Wednesday. An unnamed senior Blue House official of South Korea told local reporters that the South Korea-U.S. summit seemed to be held around mid-May though the exact date of Moon's visit to the United States had yet to be finalized. Moon and Kim are scheduled to meet Friday at the border village of Panmunjom in what would be the third-ever inter-Korean summit. It is forecast to be followed in late May or early June by the Trump-Kim summit, the first-ever U.S.-DPRK meeting of leaders. Moon is expected to coordinate with Trump on the results of his summit meeting with Kim to help make the DPRK-U.S. summit successful. The South Korean leader has said the inter-Korean summit will end up a success only with the successful DPRK-U.S. summit, showing his willingness to play a mediating role between Pyongyang and Washington. Chung Eui-yong, top national security advisor for Moon, met his U.S. counterpart John Bolton in Washington ahead of the inter-Korean summit, the Blue House said. Chung and Bolton finished coordination to prepare for the inter-Korean summit, including ways of close cooperation between Seoul and Washington in achieving the goal of the denuclearized Korean Peninsula. The Blue House and the White House security advisors also discussed situations after the inter-Korean summit. Moon and Trump agreed to share the result of the inter-Korean summit via phone right after the end of the summit, according to the Blue House. Chung and Bolton discussed ways to push for the meeting between Moon and Trump before the expected summit between Trump and the DPRK leader. After meeting with Bolton, Chung said his meeting with the White House security advisor was very substantive and helpful, adding that Seoul and Washington agreed to closely cooperate for the success of the U.S.-DPRK summit. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 15:38:15|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close U.S. President Donald Trump (1st L) and First Lady Melania Trump (2nd L) pose for photos with French President Emmanuel Macron (1st R) and his wife Mrs. Brigitte Macron at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States on April 23, 2018.(Xinhua/Shen Ting) by Xinhua writers Zhu Dongyang, Liu Chen WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday reached agreements with U.S. President Donald Trump on efforts to fix the Iran nuke deal to "contain" Tehran, but bilateral disparities remained as Macron's state visit to the United States was about to end. NEW IRAN DEAL Macron has made efforts to salvage the Iran nuclear deal, internationally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed in 2015, which Trump has slashed and threatened to leave ever since his inauguration. As the "deadline" for his final decision on May 12 drew closer, Macron on Tuesday proposed to work with Russia and Turkey to forge a new deal with Iran. Speaking at a joint press conference with Trump, Macron said that the new deal would cover four topics: to block any nuclear activity of Iran until 2025, to ensure that there is no Iranian nuclear activity in the long run, to put an end to Tehran's ballistic activities in the region, and to generate the conditions for a political solution to "contain" Iran in the region. The current agreement, which doesn't include measures to curb Tehran's missile ability and regional influence, was not "sufficient," he said. "But once we are placing ourselves in ... a broad agreement ... we take on board the concerns and the criticism of President Trump regarding this deal." Macron's statement seemed to win Trump's approval, as the White House said that the new offer is "a pretty good idea." However, Trump refused to say whether he will accept the new deal and leave the old one. "But we'll see ... whether or not it will be possible to do a new deal with solid foundations," he said. "Because this (is) a deal with decayed foundations. It's a bad deal. It's a bad structure. It's falling down. Should have never, ever been made." Trump will decide whether to leave the JCPOA on May 12. Judging by Trump's recent pejorative tone towards Tehran and the deal, the chances of the United States remaining are increasingly slim. "But no matter the decision that President Trump will take, what I would like is to work, as from now, on a new deal with four pillars," said Macron. WITHDRAW FROM SYRIA? NOT NOW Before arriving in Washington, Macron vowed to convince Trump not to call the U.S. troops in Syria back home soon. His goal was met halfway in the White House, as Trump said that though he would still love to withdraw the U.S. troops from Syria soon, he does not want to give Iran "open season to the Mediterranean, especially since we really control it." "We'll be coming home. But ... we will have a strong blockage to the Mediterranean, which to me is very important -- because if we don't, you have Iran going right to the Mediterranean. Not going to have that," said the White House host. Still, he complained about the U.S. involvement in Syria. "They have to step up tremendously -- not a little bit, but tremendously -- their financial effort ... And they will also put soldiers on the ground, which they're not doing. And we will, in fact, bring lots of people home," Trump said. He urged "very rich" regional countries to step up their contributions -- militarily and financially -- to the military operations in Syria, so as "to prevent Iran from profiting off the success of our anti-ISIS effort." Trump's offer came with a price. Macron promised to increase the French contribution in the war against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, and agreed to include the Syria issue in his new deal to curb Tehran's influence, something Trump has demanded many times. "In the long run, we need to win peace and make sure that Syria does not fall into hegemony in the region," he said. "The approach ... means that we can work ... to contain Iran in the region." Trump echoed that by saying that "when they made the Iran deal, what they should have done is included Syria." "They should have made a deal that covered Yemen, that covered Syria, that covered other parts of the Middle East where Iran is involved," he said. DIFFERENCES REMAIN However, Macron admitted that he still has "a disagreement" with Trump regarding the JCPOA. "I always said we should not tear apart the JCPOA and have nothing else. I think this would not be a good solution," he said. On the Syria issue, to Macron's disappointment, Trump said that "the United States is embarrassingly into the Middle East," adding that he would pull lots of troops out. The two leaders also clashed on trade tariffs. Speaking before their expanded bilateral meeting, Trump said "trade with France is complicated, because we have the European Union." "The Union is very tough for us. They have trade barriers that are unacceptable," he said. "We have to make a change ... It's been very unfair for a long time. We had a trade deficit with the European Union of 151 billion U.S. dollars last year. That's unacceptable." For his part, Macron said it's very important to bear in mind that "it's impossible to make any trade war" between allies "especially when you work so closely together on security issues like Iran and Syria." The two also failed to make convergences on the Paris climate accord, as Macron said in the press conference that "France will continue to work on major pieces, including the global compact for the environment." Darrell West, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua that there have been many ups and downs in the French relationship with Trump. "European leaders are disappointed when the United States pulls out of the Paris climate accord, criticizes the Iranian nuclear agreement, and imposes tariffs on other nations. All those things make it difficult for them to continue long-held policies," he said. (Matthew Rusling in Washington also contributed to the story.) Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 15:43:17|Editor: ZX Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, April 24 (Xinhua) -- President of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly Miroslav Lajcak has called for the need to respect the rules of international peace efforts. He made the remark when speaking of the ongoing two-day UN high-level meeting on building and sustaining peace. The Cold War was difficult, "but at least it had rules. What is worse now is that we don't seem to have rules or there is definitely not enough respect for the rules," said the senior Slovak diplomat. "My expectation is to strengthen multilateralism, to strengthen the rules-based system, to strengthen the world that is based on the same rules for everyone, for big and for small, because that is the only way we can prevent conflicts," he said while calling for a global diplomacy committed to preventing conflicts. "There are too many conflicts around and we as the international community usually react to the conflict after they break out, not before. That is why we want to use this high-level meeting to speak about the prevention of conflicts," he told Xinhua on Monday ahead of the UN meeting. It is a very important topic to prevent conflicts for the sake of saving human lives and reducing economic losses, he said. "Diplomats should be focused on preventing conflicts," he added. "I really hope that the high-level event will send a strong signal and will change the way we look at peace," he said while stressing the UN's central role in multilateral diplomacy. "This is the place where we should discuss our problems, our issues, our different views before we find ourselves in conflict," he said. The UN official praised the African country Gambia as a good example for defusing potential conflict through diplomacy amid difficulties, as well as China for its contribution to the UN budget, peacekeeping missions and commitment to multilateralism. "China is playing a crucial role in the work of the United Nations with regard to saving peace and preventing conflicts," said the UNGA chief. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 15:48:17|Editor: ZX Video Player Close Malaysian police chief Mohamad Fuzi Bin Harun (C) shows a fresh photo of one of the two suspects who killed a Palestinian lecturer, during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 25, 2018. Malaysian police on Wednesday released a fresh photo of one of the two suspects who killed a Palestinian lecturer, and asked for public assistance to find the suspects believed to still be in the country. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei) KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian police on Wednesday released a fresh photo of one of the two suspects who killed a Palestinian lecturer, and asked for public assistance to find the suspects believed to still be in the country. Malaysian police chief Mohamad Fuzi Bin Harun told a press conference that the police was able to confirm the photo of a suspect after finding the motorbike that the two were riding when conducting the murder. The two suspects on Saturday gunned down Fadi M. R. Albatsh, an electrical engineer from Palestine who was lecturing at a Malaysian university in the capital of Kuala Lumpur. The motorbike was abandoned near a lake around 9 minutes from the crime scene, Fuzi said. Police have previously released computer-generated photos of the two suspects based on accounts by eye-witnesses but have yet to identify them. "We believe the suspects at this moment are still in our country," said Fuzi, adding that the duo had been in Malaysia since the end of January and had used fake identities. Hamas, the Palestinian political organization, said Fadi was its member and some in Palestine had blamed Israeli agents for his death. Fuzi agreed that the killing was "very professional in manner," but declined to say whether it was conducted by the Israeli intelligence agency of Mossad. "We have to look into all angles," he said. "We are confident that through the assistance of the public we will be able to get these suspects," he said. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said earlier that the killing could have some links with foreign intelligence agencies. Fadi's body is expected to be sent back to Palestine on Wednesday. KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will not attend the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit held in Singapore this week, instead delegating former deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam to lead the Malaysian delegation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday. Musa Hitam will be accompanied by officials from the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry as well as the Prime Minister's Department, said the statement. The ministry did not specify the reason of Najib's absence, but the nomination day for the upcoming general election falls on Saturday, when candidates are expected to submit their nomination papers. Najib, who has been the Member of Parliament in Pekan of the Malaysian state of Pahang for four decades, is expected to return to his constituency on that day. Najib, who is seeking a new mandate for the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, is also expected to begin his election campaign soon after the nomination. The polling day falls on May 9. Najib is the second leader among ASEAN members to skip the summit, held from Friday to Saturday. It is reported that Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, who attended the summit last year in the Philippines, will also skip the Singapore summit. Myanmar President Win Myint will attend instead. The upcoming summit will be the first meeting of ASEAN leaders under Singapore's Chairmanship for the year 2018. Leaders are expected to deliberate on ASEAN solidarity and the organisation's ability to navigate emerging challenges such as terrorism and violent extremism, with the theme "Resilient and Innovative." Several meetings of different levels, such as the Meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN and the ASEAN Senior Officials' Meeting, will precede the summit. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 17:08:33|Editor: pengying Video Player Close Ulrich Spiesshofer, chief executive officer of ABB, speaks during an exclusive interview with Xinhua at Hanover Fair 2018 in Hanover, Germany, on April 23, 2018. Regarding the development of AI in China, Spiesshofer said "China is already playing and will play a major role in AI" and it's natural for companies like ABB to work with Chinese partners. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi) HANOVER, Germany, April 25 (Xinhua) - Last September, Switzerland-based ABB Group demonstrated its hi-tech robot YuMi, which conducted an orchestra in Italy. Ulrich Spiesshofer, chief executive officer of ABB, said YuMi, based on artificial intelligence (AI), learned to conduct in only 17 hours, showing a high level of learning ability. Spiesshofer, whose company focuses on robotics, power, heavy electrical equipment as well as automation technologies, gave Xinhua an exclusive interview while attending the Hanover Fair that kicked off Monday. Self-learning AI can be a good complement to human expertise in the industry, he said, adding that it can be used in all kinds of fields as "a real productivity booster". "Today we are in digital-enabled automated industry," the CEO said. "In the future ... (AI) will really complement human potentials in a huge way." Regarding the development of AI in China, he said "China is already playing and will play a major role in AI" and it's natural for companies like ABB to work with Chinese partners. He mentioned Chinese companies with strong technology, such as Alibaba and Baidu, saying ABB wants to build partnerships with them. Spiesshofer called China's efforts in developing AI impressive, especially in the education sector, where the technology has been widely adopted. For him, Industry 4.0 has moved from "pure ambition to reality" since the concept was first proposed at the Hanover Fair 2011. Industry 4.0, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is the current trend of combining advanced manufacturing with the Internet of Things. A connected industry, open data architecture, sensor-enabled devices, cloud-based data storage and AI-supported manufacturing are the new normal in industrial production. In Spiesshofer's vision, future factories will be much smaller, closer to demand, and smarter with the help of self-learning AI. Besides AI, ABB also sees great opportunity in the electric mobility market in China as half of the world's total sale of electric vehicles was made in China last year. At the Hanover Fair, ABB unveiled its 350-kilowatt electric vehicle charging technology which enables electric cars to run 200 km after eight minutes of charging. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 17:13:35|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close The production of customized product with Haier's COSMOPlat is displayed at the booth of Haier at Hanover Fair 2018 in Hanover, Germany, April 24, 2018. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi) by Xinhua writer Ren Ke HANOVER, Germany, April 25 (Xinhua) -- As the world's leading trade show for industrial technology, the Hanover Industrial Technology Fair is renowned for its showcase of the latest trends in production. This year, the expanded use of Industry 4.0 in the whole production process has been in the spotlight of the exhibition. With the theme of "Integrated industry -- Connect & Collaborate," Hanover Fair 2018 has attracted over 5,000 exhibitors from 75 countries and regions. It runs until April 27. Among the world leaders in manufacturing, Chinese companies are catching up with their latest in cutting-edge technology. MORE INTELLIGENT, CONNECTED PRODUCTION As the organizer of the fair, Deutsche Messe said this year witnessed the trend of more digitized production, the integration of automation technology, IT platforms and machine learning which would take Industry 4.0 to a higher level. These include the integration of IT and traditional industry, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and others. For example, Europe's largest software company SAP showcased a simulated production line for beverage bottling. Thanks to the AI system in analyzing real-time data on the production line, bottles can be filled with beverages with different colors, an example of efficient customized production. The latest IT technology makes machines more clever. Germany's leading intelligent censor maker SICK demonstrated its products that not only know the dimensions of a vehicle, but also could judge whether it is a car, a bus or a truck. "Traditional sensors transmit only data, which is the result of the third industrial revolution. But smart sensors not only transmit data, they can also process and analyze data into information. That is Industry 4.0," SICK's senior vice president Bernhard Mueller told Xinhua. "The Industry 4.0 implementation is no longer a showcase or test, instead it is a series of practical implementations," said Wolf-Henning Scheider, CEO of German car parts maker ZF Group. "With the help of intelligent sensors, cloud computing and the Internet of Things, robots can see and think," said Scheider. ZF Group demonstrated a fully-automatic electric forklift with AI control modules, which enable humans to teach machines so that the forklift can select solutions by itself under any situations, and hence substantially reduce error rates and improve productivity. PROGRESS IN ADVANCED INDUSTRY The Hanover Fair is a miniature of the development of industry technology in its 71 years of history. As China has become one of the world's major manufacturers, over 1,000 Chinese companies participated the fair this year, ranking second after Germany. China's home appliance maker Haier demonstrated its new industry idea: from mass production to mass customization. Taking into customers' preferences into consideration, a model fridge or washing machine was produced within six minutes. At the booth of China's IT giant Huawei, a robot, empowered by the high-speed 5G technology, can analyze and process data in order to prevent a ball from falling out of a tray by constantly adjusting the position of the tray. "I had thought Chinese products were simply cheap. But when I saw Haier and Huawei's cool technologies here I was really impressed," said Jorn Ids Heins, a student from the Netherlands. Similar to Germany's Industry 4.0 concept, China unveiled a 10-year national plan, Made in China 2025, designed to upgrade the country's manufacturing industry. The plan aims to promote development in 10 key sectors, including robotics, aerospace equipment and new materials. Since the plan was introduced in 2015, steady progress has been made in industrial capability, smart manufacturing, innovation, as well as product quality and branding. Besides Huawei and Haier, the cloud service of heavy machinery maker SANY displayed the integration of traditional industry with intelligence. With the service, heavy machines and wind turbines can be monitored and their data analyzed so that they can be better maintained. "China has a large number of high-quality professionals," said Ulrich Spiesshofer, CEO of ABB Group, the Zurich-headquartered industry giant expert in robotics, power and automation technology. Spiesshofer added that China will continue to play an important role in artificial intelligence, and ABB will deepen its cooperation with Alibaba, Baidu and other Chinese companies. STRIVING FOR CORE TECH As the rising tide of isolation and protectionism was perceived as a major threat to the global economy, ideas for free trade and global cooperation were widely embraced at the fair. Juergen Friedrich, chief executive of Germany Trade and Investment, the country's economic development agency, said that over 4,000 Chinese companies operating in Germany have created more than 60,000 jobs, a solid proof of China's contributions to Germany. Friedrich called for the Germany-China relationship to be furthered tapped. "Globalization is an inevitable and irreversible trend and we are the beneficiary of the process. Only through opening up and cooperation can a win-win outcome be achieved," said Wei Yiyin, vice president of the China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation (CASIC). After acquiring an electronic engineering company in Luxembourg in 2013, the CASIC's sales volume was doubled five years later. Qiu Heng, head of global market of Huawei, said the company is making forward-looking plan for core technologies like 5G and a time-sensitive network. "Corporations must input more in R&D," said Qiu, adding that the company's investment in R&D this year will surpass 100 billion yuan (15.86 billion U.S. dollars). Ren Xueliang, senior director of Haier Industrial Engineer, said the company spent 10 years to develop COSMOPlat, an industrial Internet platform introducing users into the whole process of production and mass customization solutions. R&D needs time, resolution and patience, said Ren, stressing that only persistence can lead to success. "One of the major differences in industries between China and the developed countries is the accumulation of experience: we have only 30 years of history but Schneider almost two centuries," said Gao Jianguo, president of Changde Tianma Electrical Corporation, which signed a new cooperation agreement with France's electrical giant company Schneider Electric. "If we want to catch up with the world's most advanced technologies, we need to be open and keep learning," Gao said. (Video editor: Zhao Yuchao) TOKYO, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Japanese investigators on Wednesday began a probe into a protracted quality-data fabrication scandal by Kobe Steel Ltd. that authorities believe might have violated an unfair competition law, which could result in criminal charges. By misrepresenting inspection data and providing false information about the strength and durability of its products, authorities believe the firm, Japan's third-largest steelmaker, may be criminally liable and could face criminal charges. "We deeply apologize for causing great trouble to the people involved" and the company will "sincerely respond to the probe and cooperate with the authorities," Kobe Steel said in a statement. The scandal-mired steelmaker said in October last year that it had found cases of improprieties regarding inspection data that failed to meet industry inspection standards. The results of an internal probe initially found that products sold that had their inspection data fabricated were shipped to hundreds of companies. Japan's quality control authorities subsequently revoked certification for some copper products of a Kobe Steel subsidiary and the Japanese government said it had tasked industrial standards-approved bodies to carry out inspections at Kobe Steel Ltd.'s plants in an effort to deal with the company's wide-reaching falsified inspection data scandal. Kobe Steel Ltd. had initially admitted to falsifying inspection data on a number of its products, including aluminum, copper, steel powder and special steel products. It came to light that the embattled steel maker's own investigations had, additionally, revealed cover-ups and more incidents of data falsification thereafter. Companies ranging from automakers and airplane manufacturers, to defense equipment and Shinkansen bullet train makers, have been affected by the scandal. Kobe Steel said that its products, with falsified data about their strength and durability, had been sold to around 600 companies. MOSCOW, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The use of force by some countries bypassing the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) plays into the hands of terrorists, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday. "Some members of the international community have been increasingly trying to ignore the generally recognized norms and principles of the international law and resort to the use of force bypassing the UN Security Council and refuse to hold talks as a key tool of resolving international disputes," Putin was quoted by local media as saying in a greeting message to representatives at an international security meeting in Sochi. The message, read out by Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Pastrushev, said that such actions "generate political and social instability" and play into the hands of forces of terrorism, extremism and transnational crime, leading to an escalation of local conflicts and crises. Putin did not name any specific country in his message, but it came only a few days after the United States, Britain and France conducted a joint air strike against Syrian government forces, without getting authorization from the UN Security Council. "Russia is ready for the closest cooperation with foreign partners" to maintain global and regional security, Putin said in the message. The Russia-organized two-day Sochi security meeting, which kicked off on Wednesday, will be attended by prime ministers, aides to presidents, heads of security councils, defense ministers, representatives of security services and law enforcement agencies from 100 countries, according to the Russian Security Council. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 17:28:38|Editor: pengying Video Player Close MOGADISHU, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A contingent of Sierra Leone's police officers have completed orientation course tailored to familiarize them with African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) mandate and have been deployed in southern Somalia, the mission said on Wednesday. The AU mission said a total of 160 police officers from the Formed Police Unit (FPU), Sierra Leone's largest deployment in Somalia to date, have been deployed in Jubbaland state as part of a surge capacity that is fast tracking the implementation of policing programs. "They were taught by a number of instructors who are experts in various fields, so this Formed Police Unit is now ready for deployment to conducting activities that brought them to this Mission," Martin Ernest Abilu, AMISOM's Police Coordinating Officer for Jubbaland said at the end of the induction training in the port city of Kismayo. AMISOM said in a statement issued in Mogadishu the police officers who arrived in Somalia last week to boost the capacity of the local police have started work in earnest. Their deployment follows a UN Security Council Resolution last year, which authorized an increase in the number of police officers serving under the AMISOM to boost the technical capacity of the Somali police officers, who will be deployed in recovered areas to restore law and order. The plan envisages an increased need for police officers, in areas that will have been vacated by the military, as a result of the phased, conditions-based drawdown. "The officers are expected to train and mentor their Somali counterparts in public order management among others things. They will also undertake joint police patrols and assist them in the protection of critical facilities and installations," AMISOM said. A total of 145 police officers from Sierra Leone arrived in Kismayo on April 17, where they joined an advance team of 15 officers who had arrived earlier. Other than Sierra Leone, other Police Contributing Countries to AMISOM are Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Zambia. CAIRO, April 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 30 terrorists were killed in a week of anti-terror security raids in North Sinai province east of Cairo, the Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement Wednesday. The confrontations also left three military officers dead and two soldiers wounded, said military spokesman Tamer al-Refaay in the statement. During the week-long raids in the northern and central parts of the Sinai Peninsula, the Egyptian military and police forces arrested 173, destroyed 10 vehicles loaded with weapons and ammunition, and detected and defused 74 explosive devices planted to target the forces. The raids are part of the country's massive anti-terror operation "Sinai 2018" that left so far about 238 terrorists and 35 soldiers dead since it started in February. Terrorism rose in Egypt following the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group. Terror attacks gradually expanded from North Sinai province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip to other provinces including the capital Cairo and started to target the Coptic minority via church bombings and shootings. Terrorists further stormed a mosque in North Sinai's Arish city last November, killing more than 300 Muslim worshippers and injuring over 120 others, marking the deadliest terror attack and the first against a mosque in Egypt's modern history. Following the mosque attack, Egyptian newly re-elected President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who led Morsi's 2013 removal as the army chief then, ordered the armed forces to uproot terrorism in Sinai within three months. In mid-April, Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail announced that his government allocated 275 billion Egyptian pounds (about 15.6 billion U.S. dollars) for the development of the Sinai Peninsula within four year as part of the country's efforts to eradicate terrorism. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 17:33:39|Editor: pengying Video Player Close DOHA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A wide range of human rights violations have been caused by the blockade imposed on Qatar by its Gulf neighbors, the state-run Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported on Wednesday. The remarks were made by the Austrian ambassador Willy Kempel who addressed a lecture on human security which was organized by Qatar's Diplomatic Institute on Tuesday. The Austrian envoy said his embassy has received a document of violations of human rights caused by the ongoing Gulf crisis from the National Human Rights Committee in Qatar, QNA said. On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar over allegations of Doha's support for terrorism and interference in their internal affairs, which Qatar has all denied. JUBA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has rejected demands by several groups that he should step down as a precondition for ending more than four years of civil war in the east African nation. "The people who are fighting with us have very unreasonable conditions to make peace," president Kirr said on Tuesday evening during an occasion to mourn the country's fallen army chief, James Ajongo who died in Egypt last week. "They want me to sign the agreement and then step down immediately. What is my incentive in bringing peace if it is peace that I will bring and then I step aside? Nobody can do it," the South Sudanese leader said. An alliance of eight opposition groups who are part of South Sudan's peace negotiations early this month called for president Kiir to resign as part of the peace deal. The groups also demanded that president Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar who now leads an opposition group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), be excluded from the unity government. But Kiir has dismissed the demands as being unreasonable. South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013, and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world. The UN estimates about 4 million South Sudanese have been displaced internally and externally. A peace deal signed in August 2015 between the rival leaders under United Nations pressure led to the establishment of a transitional unity government in April 2016, which was shattered months later by renewed fighting in July. The next round of peace talks spearheaded by the East African bloc, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) was scheduled to be convened in Ethiopia on April 26, but IGAD last week postponed the negotiations to a date yet to be announced. NAIROBI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Education ministers from the Sub-Saharan African region on Wednesday renewed call for investments in continuous education and training in a bid to achieve shared prosperity and stability. The ministers who attended the Pan African Conference on Education in Nairobi said that life-long learning holds the key to the continent's socio-economic and political transformation. Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Education, Amina Mohamed in her opening remarks said that higher literacy levels coupled with vocational training have the potential to lift African countries from the scourges of poverty, disease, conflicts and under-development. "The future growth and prosperity of our continent lies in the investments we make to ensure universal access to quality education is achieved," Mohamed said. More than 40 African education ministers, policymakers, scholars and representatives of multilateral institutions are attending the three-day forum to review the status of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4 on education in the continent. Kenya's Ministry of Education is co-hosting the forum together with African Union (AU) and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Mohamed said the conference is taking place against a backdrop of renewed political goodwill in Africa to expand learning opportunities to the continent's youth in order to tackle unemployment and attendant social ills. "We must realign our policies and learn from each other to boost literacy and numeracy skills of our youth. This demographic will determine realization of goals outlined in the Africa's Agenda 2063 on socio-economic transformation," said Mohamed. Realization of a prosperous, integrated and peaceful Africa hinges on access to quality and affordable education from primary to tertiary levels. Sarah Anyang Agbor, the AU Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology, urged governments and private sector to invest in literacy programs whose ripple effects will be felt across key sectors of the economy. "We should equip African youth with skills and knowledge in order to generate home-grown solutions to our challenges," said Agbor, adding that school curriculum in the continent should be reviewed in order to make it responsive to market needs. Firmin Edouard Matoko, the UNESCO Assistant Director General for Education, said that African countries have the capacity to achieve universal education targets subject to policy reforms and targeted investments in early childhood learning as well as vocational training. "The debate should now focus on best practices that we can apply to close gaps in access to quality education," Matoko remarked. He added that multilateral agencies have rallied behind technologies and innovations that would transform education sector in Africa. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 18:33:48|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Nepalese people participate in a candlelight vigil to mark the third anniversary of the devastating earthquake near the ruins of Kastamandap temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, April 25, 2018. April 25 this year marks the third anniversary of a deadly earthquake in the country that killed more than 8,000 people and injured 16,000 more others, with half a million people homeless. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma) By Shristi Kafle KATHMANDU, April 25 (Xinhua) -- April 25 this year marks the third anniversary of a deadly earthquake in the country that killed more than 8,000 people and injured 16,000 more others, with half a million people homeless. Three years on, the country has moved toward political stability with the promulgation of a new constitution and the formation of federal parliaments. However, the post-quake reconstruction is still slow as over half of the damaged houses, schools, health centers, heritage sites and structures are need to be rebuilt. "We don't have time to wait or linger. We need to lead the country toward economic development so let's focus on reconstruction simultaneously. Let's move ahead with unity," Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said in an event to commemorate the earthquake on Wednesday morning. Addressing the event held in the ruins of the historical nine-storey tower Dharahara in Kathmandu, the prime minister reiterated the commitments to intensifying reconstruction efforts. "I would like to urge all to support in 'I will build Dharahara myself' campaign to rebuild this iconic tower. Let's rebuild our heritage sites like Dharahara, Rani Pokhari, Kasthamandap and Basantapur." The devastating quake damaged 753 cultural heritage cites of the country which were the major attractions for the foreign tourists. According to the National Reconstruction Authority, a government body formed to handle post-quake recovery, the reconstruction of 100 such sites has been completed so far. The reconstruction of 329 affected heritage sites is underway. However, locals, who regard the heritage sites as an integral part of their history, culture and lives, have been disappointed over the slow progress of the post-quake reconstruction. Rajan Maharjan, a local resident of Kathmandu Durbar Square, shared with Xinhua "We feel sad that the government is not that serious toward the reconstruction of the sites which carry the history of centuries. It's our identity and part of life. We want to see it as before at the earliest." The international community is helping the Nepali government with the post-quake reconstruction, including China, the United States and Japan. "Reconstruction of 141,626 private houses has been completed while 436,250 houses are under different stages of reconstruction. We can complete the reconstruction of all the private houses within the next 15 months," NRA's Chief Executive Officer Yubaraj Bhusal told the media on Tuesday. Many of the displaced families are still living under tarpaulins and temporary houses in various districts like Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha, Dhading, Nuwakot and Rasuwa. They are complaining that the government has not done its best to ease their plight. Manoj Balami, a local of Nagarjun municipality located in the outskirts of Kathmandu, told Xinhua: "the government's grant is not sufficient to rebuild the house as per their standard. The process is not that easy either so I am still living in a rented room." HARARE, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo has hailed Zimbabwe's strong relations with China, saying that the country's foreign policy is geared towards getting the best advantage so that it can be positioned as a key player on the global scene. Speaking at an Africa Invest Business Forum in London, Moyo said Zimbabwe's rapprochement strategy centred on deepening relations with its traditional friends while restoring ties with hitherto estranged nations, The Herald reported Wednesday. In response to a question on Zimbabwe-China relations in the context of Zimbabwe's ongoing re-engagement with the West, Moyo said that Zimbabwe-China relations were progressive and manifest in several key infrastructure projects. "China is a friend to Zimbabwe and it has been a friend to Zimbabwe. You are aware that most of the Chinese investment has been coming in the area of infrastructure development in Zimbabwe. Recently we commissioned a power station which was funded by the Chinese and which has introduced 300 megawatts. "Even the airport I was talking about was built by the Chinese, Victoria Falls International Airport. So we are saying now the rest of the world, this is the time to come in and co-operate and partner Zimbabwe so that we can all become players," he added. PYONGYANG, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Wednesday lashed out at the U.S. State Department's annual human rights report, calling Washington the "worst human rights abuser". The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the DPRK's official news agency, said in a commentary that the United States had arbitrarily judged human rights performances in 199 countries and viciously slandered the DPRK. "By nature, the U.S. is the worst human rights abuser with neither justifications nor face to talk about human rights of other countries," it said, pointing out the frequent gun-related crimes in the United States. Dismissing the report as "a wanton distortion of genuine human rights and an intolerable challenge to international justice and conscience", the commentary said it revealed "the U.S. sinister intention to check the advances of the DPRK and bring down its social system". MANILA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Starting Thursday, no foreign or local tourists will be allowed to enter the world-class Boracay Island resort in the central Philippines. "The Boracay closure will begin on April 26, 2018 as it undergoes environmental rehabilitation for the next six months. We urge the public to be guided accordingly as we restore the island to its former glory," said the Department of Tourism (DOT) in an advisory issued on Wednesday. The DOT warned that "identified tourists will be stopped at the jetty port" if they would attempt to enter the island, adding that only residents, workers and resort owners with proper identification cards and terminal passes will be allowed access to the island. Moreover, the DOT said that only residents will be allowed to swim in designated beach. Not even visitors of Boracay residents will be allowed entry into the island "except under emergency situations with the clearance security of the (government) security committee," the DOT said. The DOT said "no floating structures will be allowed up to 3 km from the shoreline." "Foreign residents will undergo checks and will have to be revalidated by the Bureau of Immigration." About 2 million tourists pour into Boracay every year to enjoy the popular resort island's powdery white sand and calm blue waters. Malay Mayor Ciceron Calawaing and Caticlan port administrator Never Maquirang vowed to implement President Rodrigo Duterte's order to close the island for six month to give way to the government's efforts to clean up and rehabilitate the island. Some business owners, resort owners and sporting associations on the island have opposed the shut down. Already, armed security personnel have been sent to provide "maximum" security to the island. Some 600 policemen will be sent to the island to maintain peace and order, the police said. On Tuesday police held a practice run of security measures in case there will be disturbances that may break out during the clean up period. For instance, police conducted exercises simulating clashes with protesters, terrorist attacks and even hostage incident. The military and the Coast Guard said they are ready to help the police maintain order. Coast Guard spokesman Capt. Armand Balilo said the Coast Guard will deploy two ships, three rigid-hulled inflatable boats and about 100 personnel on Monday next week. "We (Coast Guard) will extend whatever help we can give...We will help in the patrol and enforcement of regulations.....We will monitor the development there," Balilo said. "If there will be people who will try to enter, we will block them if they will insist. We will help the PNP (Philippine National Police) since we have the water assets." Military spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said Army troops based in nearby Cebu in the central Philippines have been tapped to help ensure security on the island. The shut-down will affect the lives of nearly 47,000 residents on the island. Duterte ordered on April 4 the temporary closure of the world-class resort island Boracay in central Philippines for six months beginning April 26 to rehabilitate the island. The sixth month closure of Boracay will cost the Philippine economy about 1.96 billion pesos (roughly 34.5 million U.S. dollars), according to Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 19:13:56|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Riga, April 25, (Xinhua) -- The 15th "Chinese Bridge" competition, a contest for foreign students on their Chinese proficiency, concluded Tuesday at the University of Latvia with a record number of contestants. With 68 contestants, the competition was divided into three groups -- adult group, secondary school group and elementary school group. The secondary school group attracted the most with 32 contestants, followed by the elementary group with 19 participators and the adult 17. It shows that more and more people started to learn Chinese at a younger age. Professor Peteris Pildegovics and Professor Shang Quanyu, the Latvian and Chinese Directors of the Confucius Institute at University of Latvia, mentioned in their speeches that the increasing number of young people and children taking part in the competition was the biggest achievement of this year's "Chinese Bridge" competition. They said that the Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia will continue its efforts to promote Latvian's Chinese teaching. Chinese language teaching has made remarkable progress in Latvia since the Chinese language teaching center in the Baltic region was established. The holding of the 15th "Chinese Bridge" competition has pushed the Chinese language promotion in Latvia to a new level. Some of the winners will later be representing Latvia at the 2018 "Chinese Bridge" Universities and Middle Schools Students Chinese Competition, where they will meet excellent Chinese language learners from all over the world and compete for a chance to obtain 2017-2018 Chinese Government Scholarships. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 19:13:56|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close SOFIA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The 16+1 cooperation mechanism between China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) contributes to balanced and sustainable development of relations between China and the European Union (EU), an official said here on Wednesday. "The level of the China-CEEC cooperation in the economic and trade field still lags far behind the average level of the China-EU cooperation," Chinese Ambassador to Bulgaria Zhang Haizhou said at a conference. The conference, titled "Diplomatic, Economic, Academic and Cultural Days", was held under the aegis of Bulgaria's presidency of the Council of the EU. As much as 90 percent of the mutual investment between China and Europe occurs between China and the traditional developed countries, Zhang said. "This is inconsistent with the traditional friendship between China and CEEC, their huge potential for development, and especially their strong desire for cooperation," he said. The establishment of the 16+1 cooperation mechanism six years ago "is a beneficial attempt by China and CEE countries for a balanced and sustainable development of the China-EU cooperation," Zhang said. The 16+1 platform has been improving, the field of cooperation has been widening, and the results of the cooperation have been emerging, he said, adding that large-scale infrastructure projects such as the railway connecting Hungary and Serbia and many others have been progressed in an orderly manner. In 2016, the trade volume between China and CEEC reached 58.7 billion U.S. dollars, and the CEE has become the most dynamic and fastest-growing region in China-EU cooperation, according to the ambassador. "These tangible results show that 16+1 cooperation fits the industrial characteristics and development needs of the CEEC, expands the breadth and depth of China-EU cooperation, and provides a more diversified, mutually-complementary trade channel, investment sources and financing channel for China and CEEC," Zhang said. Meanwhile, he emphasized that China's perspective on the China-CEEC cooperation has never broken away from the context of China-EU cooperation. "The relations between China and the CEE countries are an integral part of China-EU relations." "The accelerated development of CEEC will help promote the balanced economic and social development of European countries and will be also beneficial to EU, as well the European integration," he added. Bulgaria's Deputy Minister of Education and Science Petar Nikolov, who also attended the event, said in turn that Bulgaria, Europe and the world are at a crossroads. Initiatives such as this conference were a way to overcome this challenge, Nikolov said. Nearly 100 experts and officials participated in the one-day conference, which had a special panel themed "16+1 in EU-China relations". Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 19:18:58|Editor: ZX Video Player Close HANGZHOU, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese automaker Geely on Wednesday announced that it has signed a deal to set up an automatic transmission joint venture with Japan's Aisin AW. The joint venture has a registered capital of 117 million U.S. dollars, according to the agreement. Aisin AW, the world's largest maker of automatic transmissions, holds a 60-percent stake and Geely Luoyou Engine Co. holds the remaining 40 percent. The plant, with a designed annual production capacity of 400,000 6-speed automatic transmissions, is scheduled to start mass production in 2020, Geely said. The carmaker said its current transmission production capacity cannot meet its growth demand, and the joint venture could offer more high-performance transmissions. An Conghui, president of Geely, said the joint venture will help Geely improve its research and development and manufacturing capacity in the advanced powertrain field. The two will establish a long-term and strategic partnership to further explore technology development and application cooperation, An said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 19:35:42|Editor: pengying Video Player Close Job hunters check for information during a job fair held in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2018. More than 160 universities and colleges nationwide took part in the fair, offering over 5,000 jobs. Over 1,500 PhDs have registered for the fair, according to the organizers.(Xinhua/Zhang Cheng) MADRID, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido confirmed Wednesday that Spanish authorities have found a shipment of nearly 9 tons of cocaine, the largest ever cache of drugs seized in a single container in Europe. The Spanish National Police and Spanish Customs Authorities discovered the 8,740 kg of cocaine in the southwestern port of Algeciras. The drugs were hidden inside 1,080 boxes of bananas imported from Colombia. Determined to fight drug trafficking, Zoido vowed Wednesday "to keep drugs out of the streets," according to media reports. Although the 9-ton case of drugs was discovered as early as Sunday, the container with the cocaine inside was allowed to continue its journey to an industrial estate in Malaga, where agents finally intervened and arrested six people. The amount of cocaine found on Wednesday in a single shipment is more than half of the 15,629 kg seized in 2016, most of which came from Colombia. The seizure once again highlights the need for international cooperation in the fight against drug smuggling. It also coincides with the First Interpol World Congress on Drugs which opened Tuesday in the central Spanish city of Toledo. Local media reported on Wednesday that over 20 people suspected of drug trafficking were arrested on the island of Mallorca, in a separate anti-drug operation involving some 400 law enforcement personnel. The raid was part of a larger campaign launched in March that had dismantled 30 drug dealing sites. TIRANA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Unemployment benefits in Albania in 2017 were nearly halved, with the government paying out only 536 million Albanian lek (5 million U.S. dollars) compared to the 1 billion lek it spent in 2016, according to the National Employment Service (NES). According to official NES data, the number of people registered as unemployed fell to 2,000 from the 3,700 that were receiving unemployment benefits in 2016. The number of people receiving benefits is the lowest since 2000, when the highest number of social assistance recipients was registered at around 21,900 people. The number of beneficiaries has progressively declined from year to year, while the unemployment benefit fund is the lowest in 20 years. The national unemployment in 2017 was 13.6 percent from 14.7 percent in 2016. In March 2016, Albania made changes to its unemployment program, aiming to raise the base level of unemployment income from 6,850 lek (around 65 U.S. dollars) per month to 11,000 lek (around 104 U.S. dollars) per month. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 19:49:08|Editor: pengying Video Player Close BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland warned Wednesday that it will take further actions if secessionists in Taiwan continue to act recklessly. Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office told a regular press conference that the recent military exercise by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has delivered a clear message. "We have strong will, full confidence and sufficient ability to defeat separatist attempts for 'Taiwan independence' in any form, and safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the spokesperson said. The exercise was directed at "Taiwan independence" elements and their separatist activities, and meant to preserve peace and stability of cross-Strait relations, and the common interests of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, he said. He criticized the current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration in Taiwan for destructing the political foundation for the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, conniving at "de-sinicization" by "Taiwan independence" separatists, obstructing cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, and producing hostility between the two sides of the Strait. Such acts have undermined the hard-won situation for the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties and caused a regress in relations, he said. Noting that "Taiwan independence" separatist activities are the biggest real threat to the peace and stability across the Strait, Ma pledged that "we will never allow 'Taiwan independence' elements to separate Taiwan from China." The spokesperson also stressed that the issue regarding Taiwan is a domestic affair of China and expressed resolute opposition against any intervention from outside forces. Five candidates are seen in a poster of all-women electoral list for Lebanon's upcoming elections due on May 6. (Xinhua photo) By Salah Takieddine BEIRUT, April 25 (Xinhua) -- As Lebanon's 2018 elections go on in full swing, an all-women electoral list has been formed in the northern border province of Akkar by five candidates who refuse to be placed in male-dominated lists on which it is unlikely for them to win. Rola Al-Murad, head of the all-women electoral list and founder of the 10452 party, said the aim of forming the list is to "create a positive shock on Lebanon's political scene." Al-Murad told Xinhua that the five female candidates on the list are three lawyers Souad Salah, Nidal Skaff and herself, two activists Golai Al-Assaad and Marie Khoury. She said they are running for three Sunni seats, one Maronite seat and one Greek Orthodox seat in the electoral district. Al-Murad said at first she tried to form an electoral list that excludes the current political parties but in vain. So she decided to form a women-only list along with the other four candidates in an unprecedented move in the history of Lebanon's elections. The female candidate said the list challenges the traditional electoral scene and shows the competence of women to participate in the political scene. She said they have been supporting the role of women in the political life since 2014 and will go on with the campaign. Al-Murad said the all-female electoral list counts on the support of the women in Akkar, but some wealthy candidates might buy votes which could make the campaign unfair. She also revealed that their chances to win the election are slim as many of their male competitors will try to block their election campaign. For the first time in the history of Lebanon, 111 women submitted their candidacies to the upcoming elections representing 14.89 percent of the total number of candidates which stood at 976. In 2009, only 13 women ran in the elections. Among them, four inherited the political representation from their families and are current members of the Lebanese parliament. Since 1953, only 15 women have been elected MPs though women take up 53 percent of the Lebanese society. The election, due on May 6, is the first of its kind organized in Lebanon in nine years. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 20:14:14|Editor: pengying Video Player Close KRATIE, Cambodia, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Wednesday that Chinese investors and tourists had importantly contributed to social and economic development in Cambodia. "Some 1.2 million Chinese tourists (to Cambodia in 2017) had brought a large amount of money from China to Cambodia," he said in a speech during the inauguration ceremony of the China-funded University of Kratie here. "Besides the Chinese tourists, a lot of Chinese companies have been investing in Cambodia and developing infrastructure in Cambodia," he said, pointing out to Chinese mega-projects in real estate, roads and bridges. Meanwhile, the prime minister defended the presence of Chinese skilled workers in Cambodia, saying that they worked here because Cambodia had not had enough skilled workers to meet the needs of those mega-projects. China is the largest source of both foreign direct investment and tourists to Cambodia. According to a report by the Council for the Development of Cambodia, the Southeast Asian nation had received the fixed asset investment of 12.6 billion U.S. dollars from China from 1994 to 2017. The figure did not include their investments in banking, finance and telecommunications. On the tourism side, Cambodia attracted over 1.2 million Chinese tourists in 2017, and was expected to receive up to 1.7 million in 2018 and 2.5 million in 2020, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 20:29:16|Editor: ZX Video Player Close GAZA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian medical official warned Wednesday that hospitals in Gaza suffer from acute shortages in medicine and medical supplies due to a large number of injuries caused by Israeli troops during the ongoing anti-Israel mass protests. "Medicines at hospital stocks could run out within a few days due to the high number of injuries we received," director of hospitals at the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Abdul Latif al-Haj, told Xinhua. He pointed out that the ministry sent urgent appeals to international organizations during the last few hours to provide medicines and supplies to public hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Hospitals in Gaza have already been suffering from lack of medical supplies, equipment, and electricity due to the blockade Israel has been imposing on the seaside territory since 2007. Thousands of Palestinians participate daily in anti-Israel rallies that started on March 30 and are held in five areas along the borders with Israel. The six-week protests dubbed the "Great March of Return" are expected to peak on May 15, the day after the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence but marked by the Palestinians as the Nakba Day, or "Day of the Catastrophe." Health Ministry in Gaza said the Israeli army shot dead 39 Palestinians and wounded more than 5,000 others since the outbreak of rallies. According to the ministry, 1,500 of the wounded were shot with live ammunition, 138 of them are in serious conditions while 17 have lost limbs of their bodies. Seven government hospitals out of 12 receive emergency cases during confrontations between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers. Al-Haj said the seven hospitals are struggling to deal with so many wounded amid shortage of human resources and supplies for operations. "Every week, the seven hospitals receive some 1,000 people, many of whom have serious gunshot wounds," he said. "Their injuries usually lead to the destruction of blood tissues, which requires several urgent complicated surgeries," he said. The official said this situation, which has been going on for more than four weeks, has made government hospitals unable to provide regular services to patients in the Gaza Strip. He pointed out that because of the lack of capacity to accommodate patients, 150 to 200 surgeries to ordinary patients are postponed daily. The ministry has set up five field clinics near the protest areas with emergency equipment to provide initial treatment for the wounded before transferring them to hospitals. Each clinic has about 10 doctors, 10 nurses, volunteers, and is equipped with a number beds and emergency equipment. RABAT, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Morocco has been designated to host the 2021 annual meetings of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), local media reported on Wednesday. The Moroccan financial daily L'Economiste said this designation came after a long process, which involved the evaluation of 13 countries' bid. The same source noted that this will be the first time an African country hosts the event since 1973. The source said the choice of Morocco will mark the 60th anniversary of the country's accession to both organizations, in 1958. The Boards of Governors of the WB Group and the IMF hold meetings in autumn to discuss issues related to poverty reduction, international economic development and finance. The annual meetings are traditionally held in Washington two years out of three and, in order to reflect the international character of the two institutions, every third year in a different member country. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 20:49:23|Editor: pengying Video Player Close President of Xinhua News Agency Cai Mingzhao (R) meets with Nguyen Duc Loi, general director of Vietnam News Agency (VNA), in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Wang Ye) BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Cai Mingzhao, president of Xinhua News Agency, on Wednesday met with Nguyen Duc Loi, general director of Vietnam News Agency (VNA), calling on both sides to further enhance cooperation. Cai said that as state news agencies, both Xinhua and VNA have the responsibility to create a sound media environment for the healthy development of China-Vietnam ties. Xinhua will follow the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries and the two political parties to further enhance cooperation with VNA in order to promote China-Vietnam ties via media reports, Cai said. He suggested both news agencies provide good coverage of the China-Vietnam friendship, further consolidate the mechanism for exchanging visits, intensify cooperation in economic news and information, and expand video and TV cooperation. Loi said this year marks the 60th anniversary of cooperation between VNA and Xinhua, adding that VNA appreciates the long-term support and assistance Xinhua has provided. Expressing admiration for the progress Xinhua has made in recent years, Loi said VNA is willing to learn from Xinhua and further strengthen cooperation with Xinhua in the areas of personnel training and information exchange. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 21:12:18|Editor: ZX Video Player Close A Palestinian man inspects severely damaged olive trees in Bardala village, near the West Bank town of Tubas on April 25, 2018. Palestinian farmers said that over 300 olive trees were damaged and cut off by Israeli military, under the pretext of planted in military land. (Xinhua/Nidal Eshtayeh) NAIROBI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Kenyans are currently taking stock of the devolved system of government, five years since the counties came into place. It is a mixed bag of fortunes for the form of government that took political and economic power to the grassroots. Opinion is divided on the successes and misses of the counties headed by governors as the country holds its fifth devolution conference that started Monday and ends at the weekend. While some Kenyans believe devolution is the best thing to have ever happened to the East African nation, others note the system is gobbling up funds with little to show for it. Kenyans isolate improved health systems, job creation, boosting of business and bettering of roads and education as the successes of devolution. On the other hand, failures include increased corruption and misuse of funds, rise in fight for resources and entrenchment of tribalism at the grassroots. President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday in his address to governors at the devolution forum in western Kenya lauded the counties, noting some have made good progress. "Makueni has made good progress in rolling out its version of subsidized healthcare provision, and in fruit processing too; in Mandera, child mortality has halved due to the county's investment in medical facilities; and Kapenguria now has its first Medical Training College," he said. However, he asked the county bosses to stop misuse of resources even as he steps up 500 million U.S. dollars in funding to upgrade towns in counties. More than 10 billion dollars have been transferred to the counties since 2013 to bring essential government services closer to the people, said the president. Opposition leader Raila Odinga on Wednesday similarly lauded development at the counties, but lamented corruption perpetrated by officials. "Members of County Assemblies, Speakers and other officials in the executive are being accused of conflict of interest. They are the contractors and at the same time purporting to be conducting oversight roles," he said. Ordinary Kenyans in Nairobi picked cue from their leaders as they shared their views on devolution. "I am happy with devolution because there is better healthcare. I come from Makueni county where the governor started a health insurance scheme that has seen people spend little on treatment," Oscar Mutinda, a banker in Nairobi, said on Wednesday. He noted that selected governors have upgraded road network in their regions opening up rural areas to business. "I stayed for three years without a job but was lucky to be employed by the county as soon as they came into place as an early childhood education teacher. For that I am grateful for the counties," said Henrietta Nelima, a resident of Kakamega. Critics of devolution, however, noted that a lot of money is wasted in counties, with the devolved units having become the new conduits of corruption. "I come from Kirinyaga and I can say there are county officials who have become extremely rich in a few years. Some of them have corruption cases in courts," said John Nyaga, a journalist working in Nairobi, noting it is the same case for other counties. A recent report by the National Taxpayers Association, a lobby group, noted that at least 16 percent of funds allocated to counties for development projects are wasted. The Auditor-General reports have shown similar wastage for the last four years. Henry Wandera, an economics lecturer in Nairobi, observed that the country would have made great progress if governors stuck to the ideals of the system. "Some governors have performed extremely well by building referrals hospitals and tarmacking roads in some areas for the first time but they are countable; a majority are still groping in the dark," he said. Wandera noted that most counties are saddled with heavy wage bills that have made it difficult for the units to engage in development. "Corruption and nepotism is also rampant in counties but these are teething problems that were expected. The good thing is that they can be eliminated," he said. TRIPOLI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Libyan military prosecutor Masoud Erhuma on Wednesday managed to escape with his two escorts from their kidnappers after more than a month of abduction. Fadel Erhuma, son of Masoud Erhuma, told Xinhua that his father managed to escape earlier on Wednesday morning after being kidnapped last month and held captive in a farm on the outskirts of the capital Tripoli. "He took advantage of the weak guards in the location of his detention," Fadel said, stressing that his father is in good health. Fadel Erhuma did not provide further details on the identity or demands of the kidnappers. An unknown armed group in March kidnapped Masoud Erhuma and two of his companions near the family's home in Tripoli. The United Nations Support Mission in Libya had called on Libyan authorities to "investigate his whereabouts, clarify his status and ensure his safety." BRUSSELS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission said on Wednesday it has approved the acquisition of sole control over Saxo Bank, one of Denmark's biggest banks, by Geely Financials Denmark. The Commission concluded that the acquisition raised no competition concerns because the companies' combined market shares remain very limited on the markets concerned. Saxo Bank is an online investment bank offering online trading and investment services worldwide and banking services in Denmark. Geely Financials Denmark is part of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, a Chinese multinational company active in the automotive manufacturing industry. The transaction marks Zhejiang Geely's first move into international financial services. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 21:34:31|Editor: pengying Video Player Close BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A total of 287 overseas institutions have received quotas amounting to 99.5 billion U.S. dollars under China's Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) program to move money into the country's capital account, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said Wednesday. As of April 24, the quota in the RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) program came in at 614.9 billion yuan (97.6 billion U.S. dollars). China's currency, the yuan, is convertible for trade purposes under the current account, while the capital account, which covers portfolio investment and borrowing, is largely run by the state in an effort to control capital flows in and out of the country. To gradually open the capital account, the government introduced the QFII and RQFII programs in 2003 and 2011 respectively. They give foreign investors the right to move money into the account to encourage controlled flows. The RQFII program is currently open to countries and regions including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Britain, Singapore, France, the Republic of Korea, Germany, Qatar, Canada, Australia and Luxembourg. Wednesday's data also showed the quota under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor program, a scheme that allows domestic investors to access foreign assets, totalled 98.3 billion U.S. dollars. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 21:54:35|Editor: pengying Video Player Close Wang Chen (R), vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), meets with Tsuneo Kita, chairperson of Japan's Nikkei media group at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling) BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Wang Chen, vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), met with Tsuneo Kita, chairperson of Japan's Nikkei media group, on Wednesday,vowing to promote the healthy development of China-Japan relations. Wang said China attaches great importance to relations with Japan, and bilateral ties currently showed momentum of improvement. He called on the two countries to meet each other halfway so as to jointly safeguard the political basis of relations between China and Japan. The NPC stands ready to strengthen exchanges with all sectors of Japanese society and make contributions to promote the healthy development of China-Japan relations, he said, adding that he hopes Nikkei can play an active role in enhancing public support for bilateral ties. Kita said Nikkei has committed itself to promoting friendly exchanges between the peoples of the two countries, and will provide more news coverage on China's economic development. U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and French President Emmanuel Macron attend a joint press conference at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, April 24, 2018. Macron is on a state visit to the United States from Monday to Wednesday. (Xinhua/Yang Chenglin) by Xinhua writers Zhu Dongyang, Liu Chen WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday reached agreements with U.S. President Donald Trump on efforts to fix the Iran nuke deal to "contain" Tehran, but bilateral disparities remained as Macron's state visit to the United States was about to end. NEW IRAN DEAL Macron has made efforts to salvage the Iran nuclear deal, internationally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed in 2015, which Trump has slashed and threatened to leave ever since his inauguration. As the "deadline" for his final decision on May 12 drew closer, Macron on Tuesday proposed to work with Russia and Turkey to forge a new deal with Iran. Speaking at a joint press conference with Trump, Macron said that the new deal would cover four topics: to block any nuclear activity of Iran until 2025, to ensure that there is no Iranian nuclear activity in the long run, to put an end to Tehran's ballistic activities in the region, and to generate the conditions for a political solution to "contain" Iran in the region. The current agreement, which doesn't include measures to curb Tehran's missile ability and regional influence, was not "sufficient," he said. "But once we are placing ourselves in ... a broad agreement ... we take on board the concerns and the criticism of President Trump regarding this deal." Macron's statement seemed to win Trump's approval, as the White House said that the new offer is "a pretty good idea." However, Trump refused to say whether he will accept the new deal and leave the old one. "But we'll see ... whether or not it will be possible to do a new deal with solid foundations," he said. "Because this (is) a deal with decayed foundations. It's a bad deal. It's a bad structure. It's falling down. Should have never, ever been made." Trump will decide whether to leave the JCPOA on May 12. Judging by Trump's recent pejorative tone towards Tehran and the deal, the chances of the United States remaining are increasingly slim. "But no matter the decision that President Trump will take, what I would like is to work, as from now, on a new deal with four pillars," said Macron. WITHDRAW FROM SYRIA? NOT NOW Before arriving in Washington, Macron vowed to convince Trump not to call the U.S. troops in Syria back home soon. His goal was met halfway in the White House, as Trump said that though he would still love to withdraw the U.S. troops from Syria soon, he does not want to give Iran "open season to the Mediterranean, especially since we really control it." "We'll be coming home. But ... we will have a strong blockage to the Mediterranean, which to me is very important -- because if we don't, you have Iran going right to the Mediterranean. Not going to have that," said the White House host. Still, he complained about the U.S. involvement in Syria. "They have to step up tremendously -- not a little bit, but tremendously -- their financial effort ... And they will also put soldiers on the ground, which they're not doing. And we will, in fact, bring lots of people home," Trump said. He urged "very rich" regional countries to step up their contributions -- militarily and financially -- to the military operations in Syria, so as "to prevent Iran from profiting off the success of our anti-ISIS effort." Trump's offer came with a price. Macron promised to increase the French contribution in the war against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, and agreed to include the Syria issue in his new deal to curb Tehran's influence, something Trump has demanded many times. "In the long run, we need to win peace and make sure that Syria does not fall into hegemony in the region," he said. "The approach ... means that we can work ... to contain Iran in the region." Trump echoed that by saying that "when they made the Iran deal, what they should have done is included Syria." "They should have made a deal that covered Yemen, that covered Syria, that covered other parts of the Middle East where Iran is involved," he said. DIFFERENCES REMAIN However, Macron admitted that he still has "a disagreement" with Trump regarding the JCPOA. "I always said we should not tear apart the JCPOA and have nothing else. I think this would not be a good solution," he said. On the Syria issue, to Macron's disappointment, Trump said that "the United States is embarrassingly into the Middle East," adding that he would pull lots of troops out. The two leaders also clashed on trade tariffs. Speaking before their expanded bilateral meeting, Trump said "trade with France is complicated, because we have the European Union." "The Union is very tough for us. They have trade barriers that are unacceptable," he said. "We have to make a change ... It's been very unfair for a long time. We had a trade deficit with the European Union of 151 billion U.S. dollars last year. That's unacceptable." For his part, Macron said it's very important to bear in mind that "it's impossible to make any trade war" between allies "especially when you work so closely together on security issues like Iran and Syria." The two also failed to make convergences on the Paris climate accord, as Macron said in the press conference that "France will continue to work on major pieces, including the global compact for the environment." Darrell West, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua that there have been many ups and downs in the French relationship with Trump. "European leaders are disappointed when the United States pulls out of the Paris climate accord, criticizes the Iranian nuclear agreement, and imposes tariffs on other nations. All those things make it difficult for them to continue long-held policies," he said. (Matthew Rusling in Washington also contributed to the story.) Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 21:59:37|Editor: pengying Video Player Close Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart Erlan Abdyldaev in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi Wednesday held talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart Erlan Abdyldaev, and the two sides agreed to promote cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative. "China always respects Kyrgyzstan's choice of development path that suits its national conditions and firmly supports the new government of Kyrgyzstan to speed up national development and construction," Wang said. He said China stands ready to work with Kyrgyzstan to enhance alignment of respective development strategy, expand cooperation in various fields, and bring the two countries' relations to a new level under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. Wang said China stands by Kyrgyzstan to take the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) rotating chair after the Qingdao summit, and will work with the Kyrgyz side to hold a successful summit in 2019. Abdyldaev, who is on a visit to China, attended the meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers Tuesday. Abdyldaev said Kyrgyzstan would fully cooperate with China to guarantee the success of the upcoming SCO Qingdao summit in June. SKOPJE, April 25 (Xinhua) -- An 8.3 million U.S. dollars agreement on the 2018 annual employment program was signed here on Wednesday. The agreement, with an emphasis on young people and vulnerable categories of citizens, was singed between the Macedonian Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Macedonian Employments Service Agency and United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Macedonian Prime minister Zoran Zaev present in the signing ceremony underlined that the government still has to face many challenges in order to fight unemployment, provide quality and sustainable jobs as well as assistance for the unemployed to lift hurdles in the labor market. Louisa Vinton, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Macedonia, emphasized that under this annual program they aim to open some 980 small businesses, including 50 businesses for disabled people. "A concern in Macedonia is the fact that 50 percent of young people are leaving the country. At the same time, emerging private businesses find difficulties in finding qualified staff," said Vinton. Mila Carovska, Minister of Labor and Social Policy, highlighted that active employment was adjusted to the need of employees and also the profile of young job seekers and vulnerable groups. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 22:09:43|Editor: pengying Video Player Close CHANGCHUN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Volkswagen Group China and its joint-venture partners will invest 15 billion euros (about 18.3 billion U.S. dollars) in developing new energy vehicles and automated driving by 2020. The company said Tuesday that it plans to roll out 15 new car models in China by 2020, and launch 40 new energy vehicle models for the Chinese market by the end of 2025. "As the world's biggest automotive market, China plays a prominent role across all Group brands. The strong bond with our joint ventures and business partners will remain," said Herbert Diess, the new chief executive officer (CEO) of Volkswagen. "We are accelerating to make mobility cleaner, safer and more intelligent to really improve people's lives. We will be starting local production of battery-electric cars in at least six factories by 2021 in China," he said. Meanwhile, Volkswagen and Chinese automaker Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp., Ltd. (JAC Motors) jointly released their first electric SUV, the SOL E20X, Tuesday, which will enter the market in the third quarter. Data showed that the company, along with two joint ventures -- SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen -- delivered 1.01 million automobiles to the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong in the first three months, up 13.4 percent year on year. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 22:14:45|Editor: pengying Video Player Close DUBROVNIK, Croatia, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A record number of 250,000 Chinese tourists are expected to visit Croatia this year, Mario Rendulic, president of Chinese Southeast European Business Association (CSEBA) told Xinhua on Wednesday. Chinese tourists in Croatia are most interested in history, sightseeing and gastronomy, according to Rendulic, whose association is one of the organizers of the three-day "Silk Road Tourism Conference" in Dubrovnik that ends on Thursday. Chinese tourists expect the improvement of the tourist offer in the places they visit in Croatia. During the conference, public signs in Chinese were also suggested in the cities that Chinese tourists most often visit. "Croatia still does not use enough potentials when it comes to Chinese tourists, and the arrival of 40 Chinese businessmen at this conference confirms that there is a great interest for investing in Croatian tourism and tourism industry," said Rendulic. Leading Chinese tourism operators also participated in the conference co-organized by Hong Kong-based Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce (SRCIC), showing great interest in investing in resources on the Adriatic coast and building hotels in the continental part of Croatia. The number of tourists from Chinese mainland reached 160,000 in 2017, an increase of nearly 57 percent from the previous year, according to data from Croatian government. DAR ES SALAAM, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A Tanzanian senior police officer on Wednesday warned against political demonstrations across the east African nation planned for the next day. "The police are ready for deployment to ensure there is no breach of peace," said Sweethbert Njwele, the Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commander. Njwele warned people to stay away from the demonstrations planned for Union Day, marked on Thursday across the country to commemorate the union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar that formed Tanzania in 1964. On Tuesday, at least seven people were arrested in Arusha for interrogations in connection with their role in the possible political demonstrations across the country. The Arusha Acting Regional Police Commander, Yusuph Ilembo, told a news conference that the arrests followed investigations conducted by the police. "As government, we will not relent. These demonstrations are illegal. We will not be put to the test by some few people who are bent on denting Tanzania's peaceful atmosphere," said Ilembo. The arrests came hours after the United Kingdom issued a travel alert for its citizens in Tanzania, saying the possibility of political demonstrations across the country on Thursday may result in fatalities. A U.S.-based Tanzanian social media activist, Mange Kimambi, has called for nationwide anti-government demonstrations on April 26 to protest over what she terms as a diminution of political freedoms and human rights abuses. YEREVAN, April 25 (Xinhua) --- Armenian opposition continued mass protests on the streets of capital city Yerevan and other cities on Wednesday after canceling their meeting with acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan a day before. The downtown and suburbs of Yerevan as well as other cities, also some main highways of the state were paralyzed by protesters calling for the appointment of Civic Contract Party leader Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister, according to local reports. After Serzh Sargsyan's resignation, Nikol Pashinyan and his supporters called for new elections and considered Pashinyan's candidature for prime minister until new elections could be organized. At a press conference on Wednesday, Karapetyan said that the new prime minister and government could be formed through elections. Karapetyan on Tuesday called for Armenian President Armen Sarkissian to help resolve the situation. Sarkissian, who succeeded Sargsyan on April 9 as the country's president, said on Wednesday that he would be meeting with all the parties involved. On Wednesday, Armenia's second largest party in the parliament Prosperous Armenia released a statement, saying that the party continued supporting protesters and called on its supporters to join. Pashinyan and his supporters staged protests before April 17, accusing the 63-year-old former president of clinging to power. On April 17, the National Assembly of Armenia elected ruling Republican Party leader and ex-President Serzh Sargsyan as the country's new prime minister, with 77 lawmakers voting for and 17 against. On Monday, Sargsyan resigned from the post of prime minister after 11 days of street protests against his premiership. Under a revised constitution approved in a referendum in Armenia in December 2015, although recognized as the head of state, the president will hold a largely ceremonial role with real executive power shifting to the prime minister. On Wednesday, Pashinyan called for another rally at 7 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Republic Square in downtown Yerevan to press the government for early parliament elections. TRIPOLI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The EU mission to Libya provided support of 5 million euros (6.1 million U.S. dollars) for the Libyan election commission, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said on Wednesday. "Bettina Muscheidt, head of the EU Delegation to Libya, and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Director to Libya, Sultan Hajiyev, signed an agreement at the UNDP Libya office in Tunis, through which the EU donates 5 million euros to the UN integrated electoral assistance project 'Promoting Elections for the People of Libya' (PEPOL)," the mission said in a statement. The program will provide training to the Libyan High National Elections Commission's staff on "international best practices in electoral systems, and in promoting public awareness and participation in elections." "The EU and UN are joining hands once again in a very tangible way in support of ongoing collective international efforts to help Libya achieve democracy, peace and stability," Muscheidt said during the signing ceremony. Hajiyev stressed UNDP's commitment to support Libya "on its way towards recovery, and democratic and accountable governance." "To this end, and through PEPOL, we are providing the High National Elections Commission in Libya with tools it needs to enable active participation of Libyans in the democratic transition of their nation," Hajiyev said. The head of the UNSMIL Ghassan Salame proposed an action plan in September 2017 to end the political crisis in Libya. Salame's plan includes amendment of the current UN-sponsored political agreement, and presidential and parliamentary elections before the end of 2018. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 22:24:50|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Visiting head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Song Tao (L) shakes hands with Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi during their meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, on April 24, 2018. (Xinhua/U Aung) NAY PYI TAW, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China and Myanmar have pledged to further boost bilateral cooperation and party-to-party exchanges. The pledge was made while Myanmar President U Win Myint and State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi respectively met with Song Tao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday. U Win Myint said at the meeting that the Myanmar government attaches great importance to relations with China and hopes for enhanced high-level exchanges and strengthened practical cooperation between the two countries. While meeting Song, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, also chairperson of Myanmar's National League for Democracy, thanked China for its support for Mynamar's peace process as well as its social and economic development. Suu Kyi expressed the hope that the two countries should promote cooperation in major projects, deepen party-to-party exchanges and further enhance bilateral ties. For his part, Song said China cherishes China-Myanmar "paukphaw" friendship and is willing to strengthen the alignment of each other's development strategies, deepen party-to-party exchanges between the two countries and further promote bilateral ties. COLOMBO, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday instructed the country's Public Utilities Commission to take measures for the implementation of the long-term power generation plan, a statement from his office said on Wednesday. The statement said the president has held talks with the relevant authorities on Wednesday regarding the implementation between 2018 and 2037. Sri Lanka's annual electricity requirement is 15,000 Gigawatt hours. The spokesman from Ceylon Electricity Board, Sulakshana Jayawardane told Xinhua that the requirement had an annual growth of 5 to 6 percent, therefore the country needed to build major power plants under its long term generation plan. Sri Lanka depends on hydro-power and coal energy for its electricity requirements at the moment. PARIS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Jobless in France was down by 1 percent for the first three months this year from a quarter earlier as an economic improvement bolstered job creation in the eurozone's second largest economy, official figures showed on Wednesday. Over the period, France registered 33,300 fewer jobless people, pulling the country's total number of people without work to some 3.4 million, the Labor Ministry said. Year on year, the jobless rate dropped by 1.4 percent, the ministry's figures showed. French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to bring down unemployment rate to 7 percent by 2022. To lower the rate, which is currently at 9.7 percent, the president has pledged to pour 15 billion euros (18.28 billion U.S. dollars) during his five-year mandate to train poor skilled jobless youth. ( 1 euro = 1.219 U.S. dollar) Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 22:34:55|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday refuted U.S. charges of "breaches of WTO rules" saying such judgements should be made within the WTO framework rather than be decided by any single country. The U.S. consul general of Hong Kong Kurt Tong said Tuesday that China's breaches of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules are detrimental to the United States. Tong said China's size and international economic success had fostered the idea that it was acceptable for the country to ignore global trading rules. The U.S. side has to provide evidence when it charges China on violations of WTO rules, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a regular press briefing. "It's good that the U.S. side is willing to talk about WTO rules," Lu said, adding that recent discussions within the organization in Geneva clearly indicated that many WTO members strongly expected the United States to abide by WTO rules. "Since joining the WTO, China has been fulfilling the obligations as a member state and abiding by WTO rules," Lu said, adding that China had always been an active participant, firm supporter and key contributor to the multilateral trade system. "As a matter of fact, China's development results are achieved by following international rules and by the hard work of Chinese people," Lu said. "Trade conflicts between China and the United States can be resolved through bilateral talks, or be managed under multilateral frameworks, but should not be handled unilaterally," he said. LUSAKA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's governing party on Wednesday said its splendid performance in the local government by-elections was an indication that Zambians were not ready to embrace the opposition. The governing Patriotic Front retained all its seven seats in its strongholds and grabbed five of the nine seats previously held by the main opposition, the United Party for National Development in the opposition stronghold while one seat was in dispute and will be determined by the country's electoral body. The country's electoral body, Electoral Commission of Zambia, held 16 local government by-elections on Tuesday, April 24. Davies Mwila, Secretary-General of the governing party said the outcome of the elections was a sign that the party was still popular and that citizens still had confidence in its governance. He told reporters during a press briefing that the resounding victory in the local government by-elections was a demonstration that people have rejected the main opposition party which has been trying to tarnish the governing party. The governing party chief added that the victory was also a clear demonstration that the opposition parties have failed to provide proper checks and balances as they have concentrated on politics of bitterness, lies, hate and cheap propaganda. The governing party, he said, would use the victory to enhance its mobilization program to ensure that it makes further inroads in opposition strongholds. The governing party, formed by late President Michael Sata, has been in power since its victory in 2011 when it defeated the then governing Movement for Multiparty Democracy which had been in power for 20 years. People protest against the new travel restrictions near the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Oct. 18, 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump on Sept. 24 expanded a travel ban to include visitors from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in East Asia, Venezuela in Latin America and Chad in central Africa. Meanwhile, Trump kept the controversial travel ban which was set to expire on Sept. 24 on five of six countries, namely Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, and lifted restrictions on Sudan. (Xinhua/Ting Shen) HOUSTON, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The United States should not cover up its own human rights issues by focusing on human rights practices of other countries, an American professor told Xinhua on Monday. Commenting on the Country Report on Human Rights Practices released by the U.S. Department of State last week, Peter J Li, associate professor of East Asia politics and international relations at the University of Houston-Downtown, said by focusing on human rights practices of other countries, the report has succeeded in covering up worsening human rights violations in the United States. Talking about the U.S. is facing a more serious human rights violation situation. Li gave an example that religious freedom in the U.S. has been under attack. "President Trump's travel related policies unfairly target people from Muslim countries in such a way that America's core value of respect for religious freedom is becoming a laughing stock," he said. "Bias and discrimination against people of different sexual orientation, different cultural background and political views have never been so pronounced among certain groups in the U.S.," he continued, adding that "the U.S. is once again a divided country." The professor believed there are several reasons for issuing annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices as it serves to remind the world of America's moral authority in promoting its version of human rights and individual freedoms. "The Report is no doubt a 'stick' in the hands of the U.S. government to censure other countries it sees as unruly or defiant with regard to the American version of individual freedoms," he said. Li argued that it is time for the U.S. State Department to include human rights practices of the U.S. in the annual Report so that the U.S. knows where to improve and where the U.S. has a lot to catch up. "The Report cannot be a 'carrot' and 'stick' for other countries. It has to serve as a warning for the U.S., particularly the chief of the U.S. administration," said Li. KIGALI, April, 25 (Xinhua) -- The municipal government of Kigali on Wednesday announced a series of legal and regulatory reforms in obtaining construction permits in order to attract infrastructure investments in Rwanda's capital city. The reforms are geared towards facilitating investments in the construction projects in the city, said Parfait Busabizwa, acting mayor of Kigali, at a news conference in the city. The reforms will be implemented next month, according to him. The reforms will help reduce the procedures an investor goes through to apply for a construction permit from 15 days to 7 days and reduce the number of days to obtain a construction permit from 113 days to 55 days, Busabizwa said. They will also help cut down other associated costs, he said. He further said it will take only three days to obtain an occupation permit and a freehold land title when requested by a licensed firm. Topographic survey is not a mandatory requirement for obtaining a construction permit in areas where the city's Masterplan features are available online, according to the official. Construction projects that fall in category one such as building single family houses and warehouses among others will be exempted from carrying out geotechnical studies before construction commences, he said. Construction projects will no longer be required to notify One Stop Center of commencement of work after obtaining the construction permit, he added. According to the city authority, a risk-based approach in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will only apply to construction projects that carry risk to the environment instead of all construction projects. Last week, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) introduced new reforms in electricity provision, and export facilitation to ease doing business. The reforms target to decrease bureaucracy in construction, ensure timely electricity provision for investors, and reduce the amount of time exporters spend at customs, according to the RDB. Rwanda recorded Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth 1.041 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 compared to 650.4 million dollars in 2016, statistics from the RDB shows. In the World Bank Group report Doing Business 2017, Rwanda is ranked 56th out of 190 countries' economies in ease of doing business. BRUSSELS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) on Wednesday took forward the decisions to establish the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) in an aim to protect the external borders. In a statement, the European Commission welcomed a political agreement on the ETIAS was reached by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU Wednesday. The system will apply to visa-exempt third country nationals. They will need to obtain a travel authorization before their trip, via an online application. "Today's agreement on the ETIAS is an important step towards building a safer and more secure Europe for our citizens," European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said, together with Commissioner for home affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos and Commissioner for security union Julian King. "We need to know who is crossing our borders. This new system, once operational, will carry out pre-travel screening for security and migration risks of travelers benefiting from visa-free access to the Schengen area," they said. The regulation will be submitted to the European Parliament for a vote at first reading, and to the Council for adoption. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 22:50:00|Editor: yan Video Player Close RAMALLAH, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned on Wednesday of halting its basic services, including education, by early September. "The agency may not be able to provide its services to Palestinian refugees in early September if the financial crisis it is experiencing is not resolved," UNRWA spokesman Sami Mashashaa told the official Voice of Palestine radio. He added that despite the recent generous donations from some countries, UNRWA still suffers from a large financial deficit exceeding 200 million U.S. dollars. "The agency will strive to bridge the gap through the convening of international conferences to highlight the financial crisis," he added. He said that UNRWA Commissioner-General will soon travel to Germany and other countries, and will conduct meetings to mobilize the necessary support to keep the regular services of the agency. In January, the agency launched a global campaign entitled "No price values dignity" to raise funds for its budget and avoid the risk of disruption of services it provides to the Palestinian refugees. Since the launch of its campaign of donations, UNRWA has received 150 million U.S. dollars from Rome International Conference, which convened last month, besides 50 million dollars from Saudi Arabia. The United States, the main donor to UNRWA, announced earlier this year that it withheld 65 million dollars of the total grant of 125 million dollars that was planned for UNRWA. Washington later suspended 45 million dollars of food aid it had pledged to the agency. The U.S. move was made to pressure on the Palestinians to resume the Middle East peace negotiations with Israel. More than 5 million registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will suffer if the agency is shut down. In Gaza alone, which has been under a tight Israeli blockade since 2007, UNRWA takes care of some 1.3 million refugees living in eight camps. SINGAPORE, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The 32nd summit and related meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) kicked off here Wednesday, with topics including innovation-driven growth, smart cities and cyber security. Singapore acts as the chair of ASEAN for 2018 under the theme "Resilience and Innovation." The summit and related meetings will end on Saturday, when leaders of most ASEAN member countries gather under the host of Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. According to a press release issued by Singapore's Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday, the leaders will discuss ASEAN's priorities, as well as the challenges and opportunities that it faces. They will also exchange views on regional and international developments. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will be absent from the summit as it coincides with his country's election season, according to reports from Kuala Lumpur. The related meetings of the summit include the 16th ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Council Meeting and the 17th ASEAN Political-Security Community Council Meeting. The two meetings will be chaired by Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) Lim Hng Kiang and Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, respectively. The 16th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting and the 11th Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle Summit will also be held on the sidelines of the summit. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 23:00:01|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Against the backdrop of uncertain global economic recovery and uprising of protectionism, China's determination of a further opening-up is impressive, which will inject fresh force into its sustainable growth, thus driving world economic recovery. At the 2018 annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia, Chinese leadership has reassured the world that China will step up its reform and opening-up as a strategic choice, and push forward economic globalization to benefit world with concrete measures. Analysts lauded China's determination and believed that its role as a locomotive and stabilizer of world economy will be greater. They reached consensus that China has been an important engine of world economy, and will continue to provide world with strong demand, abundant capital, new business model, and cooperation mechanism and plans with Chinese wisdom. With the upgrading of residential consumption, China provides the world with a strong demand. The middle-income population has hit 400 million and is fast growing. Moreover, China has announced several significant measures to enhance opening-up at Boao, including cutting auto import taxes, and has promised to ease limitation on foreign equity in banking, security and insurance industries. With a flurry of Chinese outbound investment, China is able to offer the world with funds. In the first quarter of this year, China has directly invested a total of 25.5 billion U.S. dollars in 140 countries and regions. With the transfer from the "old-fashioned growth model" to a fresh one, China is able to offer new business models to other countries. Starting on a new technological and industrial revolution, China has explored a brand new economic model on the basis of mobile Internet, with e-commerce, mobile payment and sharing economy developing robustly. China also has put forward a series of mechanism and initiatives that aim to boost global cooperation, most notably the Belt and Road Initiative. It has also joined others in establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the Silk Road Fund to finance major cooperation projects that have helped promote local economic growth. At present, the world economy still faces many "structural problems". China's pledge to further open up would be helpful for the international community to cope with a host of challenges and risks in such sectors as trade, debts and monetary policies. In recent days, protectionism seems to be rising around the globe, casting shadows over the future growth of global trade and economy. Maurice Obstfeld, chief economist with the International Monetary Fund, said last week that "the prospect of trade restrictions and counter-restrictions threatens to undermine confidence and derail growth prematurely." China, a key engine for global economic growth, has always stuck to trade liberalization and contributed to the steady and balanced development of world economy. China has now become the top trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions, and is the signatory to 16 bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements. Beijing's recently-unveiled major measures on opening-up and reforms, including building a pilot free trade zone on its tropical island province of Hainan, have been a shot-in-the-arm for those in Asia and beyond who seek to join China in promoting global free trade and economic integration. China's past four decades of reform and opening-up have vividly demonstrated that it will always keep its door open to the wider world as it sticks to its path of development. As China is in a transition to quality-oriented growth, it is expected to offer more contribution to a stronger global economic up-trend. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 23:25:07|Editor: yan Video Player Close KUWAIT CITY, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that it had notified the Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa to leave Kuwait in a week, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) said. The ministry, which called the ambassador "persona non-grata" in Kuwait, said its action against the top Filipino envoy was in retaliation for undiplomatic acts by Philippine embassy staff who encouraged Filipino domestic workers to flee employers' households, KUNA said. Renato Villa on Tuesday issued an apology to Kuwait for the controversial "rescue" of Filipino household service workers from their employers' homes which the Kuwaiti government viewed as a violation of its sovereignty. Kuwait has protested over the "rescue" of Philippine citizens working as domestic helpers, and summoned the Philippine ambassador for an explanation. The Philippines is one of the primary sources of domestic workers abroad, including the Middle East like Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said there are about 250,000 Filipinos working in Kuwait, most as domestic helpers. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 23:35:10|Editor: yan Video Player Close BRUSSELS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China's greater openness will provide huge opportunities for China-EU economic and trade cooperation, Chinese ambassador to the bloc has said. Ambassador Zhang Ming, head of the Chinese Mission to the EU made the remarks Monday in the communication with European Parliament's International Trade Committee in Brussels. "Looking ahead, it is not difficult to see that China's greater openness will provide huge opportunities for China-EU economic and trade cooperation," he said. Emphasizing the mutually beneficial nature of the China-EU economic and trade relations, Zhang said, 40 years after China started reform and opening-up, China-EU trade and investment combined have increased by nearly 250 folds, and "such a growth would be impossible if it were not mutually beneficial". He said there are indeed some issues in the economic and trade relations but he underlined that the issues only take up a very small part of the overall cooperation worth nearly 1,000 billion U.S. dollars. "With open and smooth channels of communication, China and the EU could seek solutions through friendly consultation. We also believe, to solve problems, we must look ahead, not looking back," the ambassador said. "If one retreats back into the tower of protectionism, he would certainly miss the lovely spring outside," he added. He told the MEPs opening-up was key to China's economic and social development in the past 40 years, and by the same token, the high-quality development of China can only be achieved through greater openness. Earlier this month, China has announced further measures to significantly broaden market access, create a more attractive investment environment, strengthen IPR protection and expand import. "As we gradually implement these measures, China will enter a new phase of opening-up," Zhang said. The ambassador noted China have just set clear time frames for revising the negative list on foreign investment, easing restrictions on the establishment of foreign financial institutions, and lifting restrictions on foreign equity shares in such industries as automobiles. "For the China-EU economic and trade relations, opportunities are far more than challenges. To fully unleash the potential, a stable global economic environment, in particular a rules-based multilateral trading system, is of crucial importance," Zhang said. Given the rising trends of unilateralism and protectionism, as well as the international uncertainties, Zhang stressed a stable China-EU relationship is of great value. He called on the EU and China, both major members of the WTO and comprehensive strategic partners for each other, to stand up together with a clear-cut stance against unilateralism and protectionism, preserve the rules-based multilateral trading system, and sustain the sound momentum of global economy. "This is our joint responsibility, and we need to act together to make that happen," he said. Facing unilateralism and protectionism, Zhang believes one thing is certain that compromise or policy of appeasement for the sake of short-term interests will weaken economic globalization, undermine the multilateral trading system, and hurt the fundamental interests of all members of the international community. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 23:35:11|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close A woman visits the photo exhibition "Greek Photographers focusing on Beijing" in Piraeus port, Greece, on April 24, 2018. Piraeus port has warmly welcomed Chinese in recent years, becoming a strong symbol of Sino-Greek friendship and cooperation. As such, the port is hosting a photo exhibition "Greek Photographers focusing on Beijing" from April 24 to May 4 to bring Greeks closer to China's capital. (Xinhua/Lefteris Partsalis) ATHENS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Piraeus port has warmly welcomed Chinese in recent years, becoming a strong symbol of Sino-Greek friendship and cooperation. As such, the port is hosting a photo exhibition "Greek Photographers focusing on Beijing" from April 24 to May 4 to bring Greeks closer to China's capital. Hosted at Piraeus Municipal Art Gallery, the photo exhibition was organized for the year of cultural exchanges and cooperation of creative industries between Greece and China. It features some 100 photographs of Beijing by Greek photographers George Doupas and Ioannis Marinoglou. Invited by the information office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, the two Greek photographers spent a week in Beijing last November taking pictures of the autumnal landscapes, architecture, and the intangible cultural heritage -- the daily life of Beijingers and the unique intersection of tradition and modernity. Doupas and Marinoglou joined over 100 photographers from dozens of countries which have participated in the program that aimed to showcase Beijing to the world since it was launched in 1999. Addressing the opening ceremony at Piraeus on Tuesday evening, Xu Hejian, director of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality information office, explained that the foreign photographers offer a fresh look at the city and help people across the globe better understand Beijing and its residents. "Ancient and modern Beijing is well displayed by these photos. In particular, these photos were taken by a Greek photographer, so they are from the perspective of foreign photographers, and they feature the beauty of Beijing from their perspective," Xu told Xinhua. Although Greece and China are far away from each other, their mutual respect for each other's ancient civilizations is a guarantee for the further enhancement of bilateral ties, deputy mayor of Piraeus Irene Daifas noted. "Even though I did not have the opportunity so far to visit Beijing, to be honest -- and I should have done it already -- I now have such a good image of all that is happening there, that I believe when I will visit, it will be very familiar," Daifas told Xinhua. Wang Chao, an official with the Chinese Embassy in Athens, stressed the significance of such projects. "I think it is a good way to make the friendship between the peoples...I hope this cooperation and exchange can continue," he told Xinhua. The two Greek photographers who participated in the project talked about their admiration of Beijing and China. "Everything is mind blowing in China...You always see something new in China, always have new experiences," Doupas told Xinhua. The first time he visited Beijing in 2005 he fell in love with a city with enormous energy, Doupas said. Since 2009, he has lived and worked in Beijing with his Chinese wife. He has travelled across China and his dream is to also show Greeks the remote China in a future photo exhibition, he said. Marinoglou also lived and worked in Beijing from 2005 until 2010. During his stay in China he took more than 100,000 photographs, he said. "I did my best to give the most with what I had at my disposal," he said. Armed with his photographic equipment and passion, he captured the rich cultural heritage, economic growth and the hospitality of Beijing, saying he was confident visitors of Piraeus gallery will get more acquainted with China through his work. The photographs of the two Greek artists were first displayed in Beijing from March 29 to April 5. File Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on new Iran strategy at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Oct. 13, 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump rolled out his new Iran strategy, vowing to deny Tehran "all paths to a nuclear weapon" in a major shift in Washington's Iran policy. (Xinhua/Ting Shen) WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that Iran will have "bigger problems" if it restarts its nuclear program. Meeting with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House, Trump said "it won't be so easy for them to restart" the program. "They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before," he said. When asked whether he would be willing to stay in the Iran deal, also known as JCPOA, Trump said the deal was "insane," "ridiculous" and "should never have been made." The JCPOA, short for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is an international agreement reached on July 14, 2015 between Iran and six world major countries, namely China, France, Russia, Britain, the United States and Germany, plus the European Union. The West pledged to relieve sanctions on Iran in exchange for a halt in Tehran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. In January, Trump set 120-day time for U.S. lawmakers and the European signatories of the deal to fix the deal's "terrible flaws." Trump has stressed that the United States and its European allies involved should fix the "Sunset Clauses" in the deal by May 12, otherwise he would withdraw from the agreement. The "Sunset Clauses" stipulate when restrictions imposed on Iran's nuclear program expire, which critics say would allow Tehran to advance its program. However, Macron who arrived Monday in Washington for the first state visit since Trump took office last year is expected to persuade Trump to stay in the deal. "The Iran deal is an important issue but we have to take a far broader picture which is security in the overall region," Macron said. He added that "what we want to do is to contain Iran and its presence in the region." Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday urged the European parties to help protect the nuclear deal against Trump's threats. "European leaders should encourage President Trump not just to stay in the nuclear deal, but more importantly to begin implementing his part of the bargain in good faith," Zarif tweeted. "It's either all or nothing ... there's no Plan B on JCPOA." Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 23:45:13|Editor: yan Video Player Close JERUSALEM, April 25 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli border police officer was sentenced to nine-month imprisonment on Wednesday over charge of shooting dead a Palestinian teenager in a protest in the West Bank in 2014. The officer, named Ben Deri, was found guilty of causing death because of negligence for using live ammunition, instead of rubber bullets, when he was ordered to disperse a crowd of protesters during Nakba Day demonstrations in the West Bank village of Beitunia on May 15, 2014, said a Jerusalem court. In addition to the imprisonment sentence, Deri will also pay a fine of NIS 50,000 (about 14,000 U.S. dollars) to the family of the deceased Palestinian. The court noted that the victim, 17-year-old Nadeem Siam Nawara, had previously thrown rocks during a protest, but he was at a considerable distance from the demonstration and posed no threat to Deri's Border Police unit at the time of the shooting. "Nakba Day," also translated as "the catastrophe," is marked every year on May 15. This year, May 15 will coincide with the inauguration of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as U.S. President Donald Trump had made the controversial announcement to relocate it from Tel Aviv on Dec. 6, 2017. Israel seized the Gaza Strip, along with the West Bank, in the 1967 Middle East war. It withdrew its forces from the enclave in 2005 but kept much of its control over the territory. KABUL, April 25 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was wounded in a blast in downtown Afghan capital of Kabul on Wednesday, which caused panic among pedestrians, a media relation official of Kabul police said. "Two grenades were hurled by unknown men on a police security checkpoint in Da Afghanan locality at around evening, injuring one person," Hashmat Stanikzai told Xinhua. Security forces have cordoned off the area for precautionary measures. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 23:55:17|Editor: yan Video Player Close THE HAGUE, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Investigators from the global chemical arms watchdog on Wednesday carried out a visit to a second location in Douma, Syria to gather facts in connection with the reported use of chemical weapons there, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced. "The FFM (Fact-Finding Mission) team carried out a visit to a second location in Douma. It also collected samples at this site. These samples will be brought back, together with other samples, to the OPCW laboratory in Rijswik. They will be split and dispatched for analysis by the OPCW designated labs," said an OPCW press release. The FFM of the OPCW was sent to Damascus on April 14. Security arrangements for the team's deployment to various locations in Douma were made by the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) in liaison with the Syrian authorities and the Russian Military Police. Due to the security situation, the team was only able to visit Douma on April 21. The team also interviewed people related to the Douma incident, who were brought to Damascus. Activists, local rescuers and rebels in Syria claim the Syrian forces used chlorine gas in the attack on April 7 against Douma. The Syrian government has denied the allegations and called it fake news. The West, convinced Syrian forces carried out the attack with chemical weapons, launched airstrikes a week later. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-25 23:55:18|Editor: yan Video Player Close BRUSSELS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- International donors Wednesday were expected to pledge 4.4 billion U.S. dollars in aid for Syrian people, falling short of UN and EU expectations. "My best forecast is by the end of this day we will hear pledges for 2018 of 4.4 billion U.S. dollars," Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, said at a press conference here, standing alongside EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura. The amount, however, plainly fell short of UN and EU expectations, which co-chaired a two-day international conference aimed to pump financial aid for Syrians and garner political support for UN-led Syria peace talks. The two organizations had hoped pledges would match last year's levels of 5.6 billion euros (6.8 billion U.S. dollars) in aid for 2017 and 3.47 billion euros for 2018-2020. Lowcock said a number of important donors, including the United States, have not yet been in a position to confirm their financing for 2018, due to "their international budgetary discussions." He, however, insisted that "what we have today is a good start." EU Commissioner Christos Stylianides, whose portfolio covers humanitarian affairs, is expected to announce the final pledges when the conference closes on Wednesday. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 00:05:19|Editor: yan Video Player Close DAMASCUS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The chemical weapon inspectors visited Syrian capital Damascus' eastern district of Douma on Wednesday, marking their second visit to the site since arriving in Syria on April 14. In a statement, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said its fact-finding mission that was dispatched to Syria earlier this month visited Douma on Wednesday after their first visit on April 21. It added that the team visited another site Wednesday and collected samples that will be send to the OPCW laboratory in the Netherlands, as the team is inspecting the alleged chemical attack on Douma that took place ahead of the rebels' evacuation from Douma on April 7. Meanwhile, the OPCW said the Russian delegation to the OPCW will organize a briefing for States Parties in The Hague on April 26, adding that the delegation would bring some Syrians to question about the reported Douma incident. The statement pointed out that in line with previous requests by the OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu, the Russian delegation was advised that the witnesses should be first interviewed by the fact-finding mission. It recommended that the briefing should take place after the investigators finish their work in Syria. However, the Russian delegation decided to go ahead with the briefing while noting that it has no intension to interfere in the work of the inspectors, according to the OPCW statement. Meanwhile, the OPCW said the fact-finding mission in Syria will continue its "independent and impartial mission" based on interviews with relevant people, as well as its findings from the site visits, analysis of the sample results, and other information and materials collected. The arrival of the OPCW team came after the Syrian government invited the OPCW to investigate the April 7 incident, in which the rebels and activists accused the Syrian forces of using chlorine gas in an attack on Douma. At the time, the Syrian government denied the allegations and said the rebels and their foreign backers were fabricating events to attract foreign military action. On April 14, the United States, France and Britain launched a series of missile strikes on Syrian positions over the allegations, and the OPCW team arrived on the same day after the strikes were over. However, the Syrian government maintained that it demands an inspection into the allegations to "expose the lies of the Western powers." Imperial Valley News Center Department of Energy Announces $14.5 Million to Advance Geothermal Drilling Technologies Washington, DC - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $14.5 million in new funding to advance geothermal energy development. The Efficient Drilling for Geothermal Energy (EDGE) funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will focus on geothermal drilling in support of accelerating the research and development of innovative geothermal energy technologies in America. Advancing research in geothermal drilling technologies will help harness the heat beneath our feet to expand our domestic energy resources, said Daniel Simmons, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Geothermal is a reliable, baseload renewable energy source with firm and flexible operation, allowing it to provide a range of essential services that contribute to our nations grid stability and resiliency. Geothermal energy represents a clean, efficient, and nearly inexhaustible domestic energy resource. The U.S. currently has an installed geothermal capacity of more than 3.8 gigawatts (GW), and there is an estimated 100 GW or more of additional potential geothermal development accessible in undiscovered hydrothermal and enhanced geothermal systems. Technological innovation is necessary to economically convert these resources into cost-effective energy services. DOEs Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) supports early-stage research and development (R&D) to achieve these necessary technological breakthroughs. The EDGE FOA aims to continue and expand GTOs R&D in geothermal drilling by covering three topic areas: Topic Area 1 focuses on early-stage R&D projects to reduce common delays in drilling operations like lost circulation, stuck pipe, unstable wellbores, and other issues that take time away from deepening the hole, typically referred to as non-drilling time. Topic Area 2 focuses on early-stage R&D projects in innovative drilling technologies that improve the rates of penetration for drilling geothermal wells. Topic Area 3 focuses on exploring innovative approaches and models to accelerate the transfer of geothermal drilling and related technologies from the laboratory into the real world by focusing on building partnerships that will increase adoption of nascent technology and improving knowledge transfer in the geothermal industry. The application process will include two phases: a Concept Paper phase and a Full Application phase. Applicants must first submit a Concept Paper by 5 PM ET on May 31, 2018 to be eligible to submit a Full Application. WASHINGTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A gunman is at large after shooting a police officer dead, stealing his police car and robbing a gas and convenience store early Wednesday in the northeastern U.S. state of Maine, the authorities said. Local police are searching for John Williams, the 29-year-old suspect who is believed to be on foot with arms after ditching the police vehicle, according to local media reports. Williams is accused of killing Somerset County Sheriff's Deputy Eugene Cole, 62, at about 1:45 a.m. in Norridgewock, a town located about 85 miles north of Portland, said the reports. "Our deepest condolences go out to the family of fallen Deputy Sheriff Corporal Eugene Cole," Maine Governor Paul LePage said in a tweeted statement. "If you live in Somerset County and the surrounding area, please cooperate with law enforcement and stay safe." The shooting came one day after two police officers were critically wounded by a gunman in Dallas, northern Texas. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 00:05:19|Editor: yan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese American scientist Sherry Chen, who was wrongfully arrested and fired due to baseless spying claims several years ago, is the "victim of a gross injustice", a U.S. judge ruled on Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Commerce did not have cause to fire Chen, said Chief Administrative Judge Michele Schroeder of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), ordering to reinstate her employment at the department's National Weather Service (NWS) and pay her back pay plus benefits. In a more than 130-page detailed decision, the judge completely rejected the Commerce Department's allegations based on baseless claims that she purportedly attempted to obtain secret information from a restricted government database, according to the Sherry Chen Legal Defense Fund. "We hope this decision sends a strong message to the federal government: stop targeting innocent Chinese Americans," the fund said in a statement released following the judge's decision. "Three and a half years after her wrongful arrest in October 2014 and two years after her termination in March 2016, Sherry Chen finally has received justice," said the statement. Chen, an employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the NWS, was accused in 2014 of stealing sensitive information from a database for the nation's dams and lying about the breach. In March 2015, U.S. federal prosecutors dropped charges against Chen. Two months later, 22 U.S. Congress members urged then U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to investigate whether there was a practice of targeting federal employees based on their race or national origin. "There's been a history of discrimination against Asian Pacific Americans, and the recurrent theme is one of suspicion," House Representative Ted Lieu said during a press conference at that time. KABUL, April 25 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was wounded in blasts in downtown Afghan capital of Kabul on Wednesday, which caused panic among pedestrians, a media relation official of Kabul police said. "Two grenades were hurled by unknown men on a police security checkpoint in Da Afghanan locality at around evening, injuring one person," Hashmat Stanikzai told Xinhua. Security forces have cordoned off the area for precautionary measures. Police and the security forces have launched a massive manhunt in the area to nab the culprits, the official added. The capital city has been hit by a series of terror attacks over the past couple of years. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 00:25:23|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects the Three Gorges Dam, which lies on the Yangtze River in Yichang City, central China's Hubei Province, April 24, 2018. As the world's largest hydropower project, the Three Gorges project is a multi-functional water control system consisting of a dam stretching 2,309 meters long and 185 meters high, 32 hydropower turbo-generators, a five-tier ship lock and a shiplift. Xi inspected the ship lock, the shiplift and the power plants on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, and listened to reports about work on topics including construction, power generation, navigation and environmental protection. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) YICHANG, Hubei, April 25 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping has urged stronger independent innovation capacity for China during an inspection to the Three Gorges Dam, saying the country must master the core technology of high-end equipment. China must rely on its own efforts, Xi said Tuesday at the dam, which lies on the Yangtze River near Yichang City, central China's Hubei Province. As the world's largest hydropower project, the Three Gorges project is a multi-functional water control system consisting of a dam stretching 2,309 meters long and 185 meters high, 32 hydropower turbo-generators, a five-tier ship lock and a shiplift. China would not have its leading ability if it had relied on others to build the dam, said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation can only be achieved through untiring struggle, he said. Xi inspected the ship lock, the shiplift and the power plants on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, and listened to reports about work on topics including construction, power generation, navigation and environmental protection. During an inspection to a new material industrial park on the Yangtze River, Xi stressed coordination in ecological protection and economic development. Ecological restoration should be the top priority, Xi said, noting China's mother river must be protected, and any exploitation that is destructive to the environment must be forbidden. China will push for industrial transformation and upgrades in the region, and foster suitable sectors under the precondition of ecological protection, to achieve high-quality development in a scientific, orderly manner, Xi said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 00:30:24|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A new study revealed that a daily dose of baking soda may help reduce the destructive inflammation of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. The study was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Immunology. Scientists at Augusta University have some of the first evidence of how the cheap, over-the-counter antacid can encourage our spleen to promote an anti-inflammatory environment that could be therapeutic in the face of inflammatory disease. They have shown that when rats or healthy people drink a solution of baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, it becomes a trigger for mesothelial cells sitting on the spleen to tell the fist-sized organ that there's no need to mount a protective immune response. "It's most likely a hamburger not a bacterial infection," is basically the message, said Paul O'Connor, a renal physiologist at Augusta University and the study's corresponding author. According to the researchers, mesothelial cells line body cavities, like the one that contains our digestive tract. It was found that these cells had little fingers, called microvilli, which could sense the environment, and warn the organs they have covered that there is an invader and an immune response is needed. They said drinking baking soda told the spleen, a part of the immune system that acts like a big blood filter and is where some white blood cells, like macrophages, are stored, to go easy on the immune response. The conversation, which occurs with the help of the chemical messenger acetylcholine, appears to promote a landscape that shifts against inflammation, they said. In the spleen, as well as the blood and kidneys, the researchers found after drinking water with baking soda for two weeks, the population of immune cells called macrophages, shifted from primarily those that promote inflammation, called M1, to those that reduce it, called M2. Macrophages, best known for their ability to consume garbage in the body like debris from injured or dead cells, are early arrivers to a call for an immune response. The researchers also saw a shift in other immune cell types, like more regulatory T cells, which generally drive down the immune response and help keep the immune system from attacking our own tissues. That anti-inflammatory shift was sustained for at least four hours in humans and three days in rats. The study has shown that the shift ties back to the mesothelial cells and their conversations with our spleen with the help of acetylcholine. "We think the cholinergic signals that we know mediate this anti-inflammatory response aren't coming directly from the vagal nerve innervating the spleen, but from the mesothelial cells that form these connections to the spleen," O'Connor said. When they cut the vagal nerve, a big cranial nerve that starts in the brain and reaches into the heart, lungs and gut to help control things like a constant heart rate and food digestion, it did not impact the mesothelial cells' neuron-like behavior. But when they removed or even just moved the spleen, it broke the fragile mesothelial connections and the anti-inflammatory response was lost, O'Connor said. "You are not really turning anything off or on, you are just pushing it toward one side by giving an anti-inflammatory stimulus," he said, in this case, away from harmful inflammation. "It's potentially a really safe way to treat inflammatory disease." Also, the spleen got bigger with consuming baking soda, and the scientists think this is because of the anti-inflammatory stimulus it produces. NICOSIA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Italian state-run energy company ENI will not abandon its program to explore for natural gas in Cyprus's exclusive economic zone despite having been prevented from doing so recently by Turkish warships, the company's Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi said on Wednesday. "The company has invested 700 million euros and it is not planning to just leave it there," Descalzi told reporters after meeting Cyprus's President Nicos Anastasiades. Turkish warships on naval exercises southeast of Cyprus prevented ENI's drillship Saipem 12000 from proceeding to its drilling target in the island's offshore block 3, called "Cuttlefish", between Cyprus and Lebanon in a two week standoff in February. "One has to try again and again and again to succeed... We have invested about 700 million euros in Cyprus and this means that we have a strong commitment to the country," Descalzi said when asked whether the company will return in block 3 to complete its program. ENI has obtained concessions in a total of four out of 13 Cypriot offshore blocks and in a fifth block in association with French Total, where it discovered a sizeable find of what was described as excellent quality gas in January. ENI is bound by contract to drill at least two more exploratory holes in its concessions. Descalzi said Europe imports more than 80 percent of its natural gas and added that therefore the eastern Mediterranean region was of great geopolitical importance to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. "Cyprus has a very important place in the heart of Europe, in the heart of this region," he said. Cypriot Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said that ENI is an important partner in the eastern Mediterranean, because of its activities in Cyprus and Egypt, and also soon in Lebanon. He also said that that the European Commission is expected to comment soon on a plan to build a pipe from another Cypriot gas well to one of Egypt's liquefaction plans, either at Idku or at Damietta. The gas well from where gas will be piped to Egypt, known as Aphrodite, was drilled by U.S.-based Noble Energy and will be exploited in association with Israeli Delek and Royal Dutch Shell companies. Lakkotrypis also said that a drilling planned by U.S. giant ExxonMobil in association with Qatar Petroleum in Cyprus's block 10 is set for the second half of this year. The drilling point is close to the mammoth Egyptian Zohr gas field discovered by ENI. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 00:40:26|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A UN official has depicted a bleak picture of the humanitarian situation in Syria and asked for full access to people in need. "After seven years of conflict that continues to see escalation after escalation, the needs of Syrians have never been higher," Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ursula Mueller told the UN Security Council on Wednesday. Of the 13.1 million people in need, some 5.6 million are in acute need, she said. Despite the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2401 in February that demanded a cease-fire across Syria, attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure have reached some of the highest levels since the conflict began, she said. In the first three months of 2018, the United Nations has verified 72 attacks on health facilities, compared with 112 attacks in all of 2017, said Mueller. At the same time, cross-line humanitarian access remains extremely constricted, with only five convoys deploying so far in 2018, she said. Mueller called for firm steps to ensure that all parties respect the rules of war, adding "civilians must be provided protection, with constant care taken to spare them and the infrastructure they rely on. Attacks on hospitals in particular must end. The wounded and the sick must be afforded the treatment and care they need." She asked for safe, sustained and unimpeded access to all people in need. In addition, when convoys deploy, She said medical items must stop being removed, stressing "there is no reason why items previously agreed with the authorities for delivery are removed at the last minute. These are critical life-saving items, and they must be allowed on our trucks." WARSAW, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Poland and Slovakia share a common view on the future of the European Union (EU) budget as well as the importance of cohesion policy, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his Slovakian counterpart Peter Pellegrini stated in Warsaw on Wednesday. "We believe that we should maintain equal and solidarity access to funds within the next EU budget perspective," Morawiecki said at a press conference, following his meeting with Pellegrini. Both prime ministers expressed common opinion on the importance of maintaining the cohesion policy, so that people of all the EU member countries could share common living conditions. Pellegrini underlined the fact that both countries understood the new challenges the EU was facing after Brexit, and were eager to increase their contributions into the EU budget. However, they both agreed that cohesion policy was important, as there were still differences in living standards between "old" and "new" EU members. The two also emphasized that both Poland and Slovakia were countries "fully supporting the European integration" and underlined the fact that the Visegrad Group was an integral part of the EU, and its aim was to strengthen the European Union. They added that the Visegrad Group countries had similar views on the migration policy. The topics discussed during the meeting also covered cooperation within NATO, current bilateral issues, regional cooperation as well as security and defense. Peter Pellegrini's visit to Warsaw on Wednesday was one of his first foreign visits since being appointed as the Slovakian prime minister on March 22. NAIROBI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's merchandise trade deficit widened to 11.31 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, up from 8.53 billion dollars in 2016, official data released on Wednesday shows. According to the 2018 Economic Survey, the expanding deficit was mainly driven by the high import bill which grew by 20.5 percent from 14.31 billion dollars in 2016 to 17.25 billion dollars in 2017. "The main drivers of the import bill were industrial machinery; petroleum products; roads motor vehicles; iron and steel; animal and vegetable fats and oils and sugar," said the report which was published by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). The report is produced on an annual basis and highlights the performance of various sectors of the economy over a five-year period, with emphasis on the performance of the latest calendar year. According to the survey, total exports increased by 2.8 percent from 5.78 billion dollars in 2016 to 5.94 billion dollars in 2017. Domestic exports increased from 5.065 billion dollars in 2016 to 5.3 billion dollars in 2017, representing an increase of 4.8 percent. Re-exports registered a decline of 11.2 percent to 635 million dollars in 2017. The findings show that the major foreign exchange earners in the review period were tea; horticulture; articles of apparel and clothing accessories; coffee and titanium ores and concentrates, collectively accounting for 64.8 percent of total domestic export earnings during the period under review. The data from KNBS indicated that Kenya's volume of international trade in 2017 expanded by 15.4 percent to reach 23.19 billion dollar. According to the report, Africa remained the leading destination of Kenya's exports despite registering a decline in volume. "The decline in total export earnings from the East African Community region partly attributed to a reduction in the value of total exports to Africa, since the region accounts for more than half of total exports to the continent," says the survey. Data from the statistical agency shows that the total exports to Africa accounted for 37.7 percent of total exports in 2017, down from 40.6 percent the previous year. According to the 2018 Economic Survey, the value of exports to Africa continued on a downward trend for the second year to hit 2.23 billion dollars in 2017. Destinations in Africa that recorded decline in earnings included Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Egypt, Zambia, Comoros and Rwanda. KNBS said total export earnings from Asia continued to rise for the third year in a row to 1.62 billion dollars. "The growth in total exports was largely due to increased earnings from the Far East which grew by 23.5 percent to 1.11 billion dollars in 2017," said the agency. Total exports to Pakistan rose from 400 million dollars in 2016 to 641 million dollars in 2017. Similarly, the value of exports to the European Union rose by 3.6 percent to 1.25 billion dollars and constituted 21.1 percent of total exports. The reports indicates that total export earnings from the North and South American region continued to exhibit an upward trend during the period under review. "The sustained growth in total exports is largely attributable to growth in total exports to the United States of America which accounts for more than 80 percent of total exports to the region," says the survey. BERLIN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Robert Bosch GmbH (Bosch), the world's largest automotive parts supplier, announced a new exhaust gas treatment technology and issued a defense of diesel on Wednesday. "There are technical solutions to the Nitrogen Oxide (Nox) problem in street traffic," chief executive officer Volkmar Denner said at the presentation of Bosch's annual earnings figures for 2017. Denner was responding to mounting calls in Germany to impose driving bans on diesel vehicles as a means to improve urban air quality. Diesel motor-related products still accounted for around half of record total revenue of 78.1 billion euros (95.1 billion U.S. dollars), up 6.8 percent year on year, at Bosch in 2017. Last year, operative profit rose by 17 percent to the highest ever level of 5.3 billion euros. Chief financial officer Stefan Asenkerschbaumer set out modest goal for revenue growth of between two and three percent for 2018 whilst vowing to further increase profitability. Bosch will also introduce a new ethical codex in response to revelations in the "dieselgate" scandal to prevent any future involvement in emissions-cheating practices. Defending the tarnished reputation of diesel vehicles, Denner announced that the Gerlingen-based company had developed a new system which would dramatically lower NOx emissions from everyday use. The European Union has threatened to sue before the European Court of Justice (JCEU) unless Berlin swiftly ensures the full compliance of German cities with EU NOx pollution limits. "Following our technological break-through we are certain: No one will be able to impose blanket bans on diesel vehicles in cities," Denner said. Denner also said that his company was simultaneously investing billions of euros in electric mobility. Nevertheless, he insisted that the wider industry needed "highly-efficient conventional propulsion systems until electric-mobility can be feasibly-used in mass markets". ADDIS ABABA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, on Wednesday vowed to support Ethiopia's efforts to ensure human rights as an impetus to unlock the full potential of people and in realizing inclusive development. Hussein announced UN's support to Ethiopia's efforts during his meeting with Muferiat Kamil, the newly elected house speaker of the Ethiopian House of People's Representatives, the Ethiopian parliament's lower house in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. According to Hussein, the multitude of different views and opinions in Ethiopia as well as the existing need for dialogue "provides the Ethiopian parliament the right atmosphere for such discussions." "We are going to build a stronger relationship and we will continue our continuous deliberation with you," he said during his discussion with Kamil. Noting the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, he stressed that it "would enable our work to continue in Ethiopia and deepen within the relevant authorities and we are we look forward to working with you." Opening a high-level dialogue at the Headquarters of the African Union (AU) on Tuesday, Zeid said upholding the right of peoples is the whole purpose of governments. "Wherever we are present, we propose assistance to states to build their capacity to uphold rights because those rights are the accelerative force that will enhance development social justice, participation, inclusion and peace," he added. Hussein's second official visit to Ethiopia from April 22 to 25 is part of his follow-up visit to the East African country and the African Union (AU). Ethiopia has sworn in its new Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, earlier this month, who stressed the need to strengthen democracy, freedom and liberty. "We will continue to respect the rights of citizens, the right to question, criticize and hold its public servants to accountability," Ahmed said. ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Governor of Egypt's Alexandria Province Mohammed Sultan said on Wednesday that the conditions of eight Chinese tourists who were injured in a car accident are stable. On Tuesday, three Chinese tourists were killed and eight others wounded when a travel van carrying a group of 11 Chinese tourists overturned into a ditch by the roadside near Egypt's Cairo-Alexandria highway north of the country. "Necessary medical care has been provided to the injured," the governor told Xinhua during his visit to the wounded at Mustafa Kamel military hospital in Alexandria. The governor was accompanied by Xu Nanshan, consul general of China's Consulate General in Alexandria. He pointed out that seven of the injured could leave the hospital on Friday, while the eighth could stay a bit longer until his health conditions improve. Sultan expressed hope that this accident would not affect the flow of Chinese tourists to Egypt. For his part, director of the hospital, Magdy Shalaby, told Xinhua that President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi gave directions to provide best medical care for the Chinese tourists. "The president phoned the governor of Alexandria to check on the Chinese tourists and make sure they receive the needed medical care," he added. One of the injured told Xinhua that the Egyptian officials showed great care for the wounded Chinese tourists, which made them feel relieved. Another tourist said watching Egyptian residents help rescue them was extremely touching. Egypt is a favorable attraction to hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists each year for its historical sites and sunny sandy beaches. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 01:05:36|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Greek pensioners shout slogans during a demonstration in Athens, Greece, on April 25, 2018. Thousands of Greek pensioners took to the streets of Athens on Wednesday to protest a new planned round of cuts to payouts scheduled for 2019 under bailout agreements with Greece's international lenders. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) By Maria Spiliopoulou ATHENS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Greek pensioners took to the streets of Athens on Wednesday to protest a new planned round of cuts to payouts scheduled for 2019 under bailout agreements with Greece's international lenders. Although Greece is due to exit this summer the third bailout program since 2010, harsh austerity policies and bold reforms will continue under the agreements, a prospect which does not please the retirees who have seen their pensions shrinking to half in many cases the past eight years. Based on laws voted by the parliament the past three years, pensioners will suffer a further 18-percent cut in auxiliary pensions from the new year. As about one in two pensioners currently, according to official data, supports with monthly pensions as low as 700 euros (852 US dollars) entire families, because children and grandchildren are jobless for several months or years, the new blow will be severe for many Greek households, protesters said. "We request what they have taken away. We have worked hard and they took away so much. There seems to be no end in the pay cuts," Panagiotis T., one of the protesting pensioners told Xinhua on Wednesday. "Since I received my pension for first time in 2010 I have lost about one third of my income to pay cuts," he said. "Pensioners will continue the struggle. We will not allow anybody to go ahead with such laws which are against the interests of workers and pensioners, and have reduced pensions to more than half," Panagiotis Tsichlis, President of the Pensioners of Aghia Paraskevi district in Athens told Xinhua. "Otherwise, we will all end up as beggars. This is it. We will continue our mobilization in the near future. There is no other way than protesting," he said. Pensioners will be back on the streets again on Labor Day on May 1st and plan at least three more rallies until mid June, he added. CAPE TOWN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- As protests against the national minimum wage (NMW) took place across the country, the South African government on Wednesday urged protesters to refrain from violence. "We call on all those participating in the marches across the various provinces to refrain from violence, destruction of property and intimidation," said Phumla Williams, Acting Director-General of the Government and Communication Information System (GCIS). The right to assemble and to protest in order to advance a particular cause is enshrined in the South African Constitution, Williams said. However, it also equally caters for protesters to conduct themselves in a responsible manner, she said. "Peaceful protests are quintessentially a characteristic of a strengthened democratic and progressive society," Williams added. The rights of people who do not want to participate in the marches must be respected, Williams stated. When marches deviate from the intended cause and becomes characterized by violence, looting and civil-disobedience, it is less likely to produce democratic progress, she said. The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) has mobilized workers and employees to shut down the country with nationwide protests. All major cities have been affected. In Cape Town, thousands of people were marching to the Civic Center before making their way to Parliament to deliver a memorandum of demands. "Government further calls upon the conveners of the march to ensure that chaos does not ensue around Parliament, as it is a national key point, and the highest law making arm of the State," Williams said. The same sentiments should be applied to other areas across the country, where members plan to gather, she said. The government appeals to all unions and those participating in the march to allow the law enforcement agencies the space to work and safeguard properties in line with the Regulation of Gatherings Act, Williams said. "Law enforcement has a duty to protect and ensure the safety and security of all people in South Africa. The law enforcement agencies have a constitutional obligation to protect and ensure all citizens are and feel safe in South Africa," added Williams. The protesters are demanding a higher NMW, taking into consideration the recent hike in the value-added tax (VAT) from 14 percent to 15 percent and a number of levy increases, including the Fuel Levy and Road Accident Levy. The government is pushing the current NMW, which is 3,500 rand (about 292 U.S. dollars) per month or 20 rand (about 1.7 dollars) per hour. The SAFTU argues that the NMW perpetuates and legitimizes the unequal apartheid wage structure, and will keep millions of workers mired in poverty and make South Africa an even more unequal society. The federation said more than 20 unions took part in various marches to put pressure on the government not to implement the NMW Bill. KIGALI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Severe malaria cases and deaths declined in Rwanda in 2017, an official said Wednesday. Malaria deaths dropped from about 490 in 2016 to 300 in 2017 thanks to interventions, said the director of vector control of Rwanda Biomedical Center Emmanuel Hakizimana. The interventions by the government include distribution of treated bed nets, training community health workers on treating malaria among adults, unlike before when they only treated children under five, according to the Rwanda Biomedical Center. In Rwanda the national celebrations of the World Malaria Day were postponed until May to coincide with the national health week, according to the ministry of health. In Rwanda, malaria cases jumped to 4.7 million in 2017 up from 400,000 cases in 2014, statistics from the Rwanda Biomedical Center show. Districts in eastern Rwanda such as Kirehe, Bugesera and Ngoma were mapped as most prone to malaria outbreaks, according to the center. Aimable Mbituyumuremyi, director of other blood-borne infections and sexually transmitted infections unit at Rwanda Biomedical Center, on Wednesday attributed the increasing malaria cases to increased resistance to interventions, saying mosquitoes adapted to drugs and prevention mechanisms. In 2016, there were an estimated 445,000 deaths from malaria globally, 91 percent of which are in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Fifteen countries accounted for 80 percent of global malaria deaths in 2016 and all of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa, except for India, said the report. LUSAKA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Zambia on Wednesday joined the rest of the African continent in commemorating the Africa Pre-trial Detention Day with the country's human rights body expressing concern over the slow process in delivering judgments by the judiciary, a move that was a gross violation of human rights. Mudford Mwandenga, Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, said delayed delivery of justice amounts to extra-judicial punishment through prolonged detention without trial and undermines respect for the rule of law, human rights and constitutionalism. "There is need therefore to scale up efforts towards significant reduction of pre-trial detainees and enhanced efficiency and effectiveness in the criminal justice system," he said. According to him, investigations conducted by the human rights body last year revealed gross violations of human rights in places of detentions related to access to justice, with most cases involving unlawful detentions, delayed trials, delayed committal orders and delayed delivery of judgments. The human rights official, however, expressed gratitude over government's commitment to reform the criminal justice system in order to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. The Africa Pre-trial Detention Day was declared by the Network of African National Rights Institutions on April 25, 2015 through a declaration made in Cameroon. The Declaration was a collective reaffirmation that acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in all their forms or manifestation, were absolutely prohibited in international and regional human rights and humanitarian law. The objective of the Day is to raise awareness of the human rights violations of thousands of individuals held in detention facilities across Africa for prolonged periods without trial, in violation of their rights and freedoms. The Day was deliberated declared on the day when the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, under the auspices of the Africa Union (AU), adopted the Luanda Guidelines in Angola in 2014. The Luanda Guidelines are aimed at guiding African states on conditions of arrest, police custody and pre-trial detention. NAIROBI, April 25(Xinhua) -- There is need for African governments to scale up investments in broadband infrastructure in order to expand access to education, experts said on Wednesday during the Pan African Conference on Education taking place in Nairobi Callistus Ogol, a senior education expert at the African Union (AU) department of human resources, science and technology, said that a digital revolution will strengthen efforts to tackle illiteracy in the world's second largest continent. "Africa stands to reap from investments in high speed internet connection that will support virtual learning even in the remote corners of the continent," said Ogol. He stressed the need for supportive policies, infrastructure and training of tutors to scale up digital learning in a continent grappling with high levels of illiteracy and skills deficiency. African ministers, policymakers and scholars attending the three-day High Level Pan African Conference on Education agreed that information and communication technologies (ICT) are key to supporting continuous learning and skills development targeting the youth. Ogol said e-learning has gained traction in many African countries thanks to political goodwill, abundance of skilled trainers and enthusiasm among the young generation. Julius Jwan, the CEO of Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), said realization of education for all goal in Africa is dependent on harnessing of digital tools to promote learning. "Our focus should be on rollout of infrastructure, content development and training of teachers to support virtual learning and bridge access gaps in education," Jwan said. He noted that Kenya and Rwanda have pioneered transformative digital literacy programs to ensure the youth are equipped for the 21st century jobs. Charlotte Oloya, the program manager of a Ugandan education charity, said that technology and innovations have promoted access to quality education among youth in resource-constrained settings. "We need to explore innovative partnerships to ensure students have devices and schools are connected to promote digital learning," said Oloya. Jaco Du Toit, the advisor for communications and information at UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa, said that enlightened policies coupled with public private partnerships are key to ensuring virtual learning is an integral part of Africa's quest to eliminate illiteracy. ADDIS ABABA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- About 50 Chinese companies are expected to participate in China Trade Week in Ethiopia from May 3-5, event organizer said on Wednesday. Speaking to Xinhua, Nebiyu Lemma, Managing Director at Misgana Events company, an Ethiopian business promotion firm, said the trade week which will be held in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa will see the participation of Chinese companies engaged in automotive, construction materials, electrical and power supplies, agricultural machinery, agro-food processing, office equipment production and daily necessity products. "Our desire to have a Chinese companies trade week is related to the need to create a trade platform where Chinese companies can interact with local business stakeholders in focus areas," he further said. This will be the second edition of the China Trade Week in Ethiopia, with a similar trade show held in Addis Ababa from July 4-6, 2017. The China Trade Week in Ethiopia is supported by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. China is already Ethiopia's biggest trading partner, with Ethiopia exporting 144.5 million U.S. dollars of goods to China in the first six months of the current Ethiopian Fiscal Year 2017/18. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 01:40:48|Editor: yan Video Player Close BRUSSELS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- International donors have pledged 4.4 billion U.S. dollars in aid for Syria this year and 3.4 billion U.S dollars next year and beyond, European Union (EU) Commissioner Christos Stylianides announced Wednesday. Stylianides, whose portfolio covers humanitarian affairs, made the announcement in his closing remarks at an international conference in Brussels. Earlier on Wednesday, Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian affairs, unveiled the same figure when he addressed a press conference alongside EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura. The amount, however, plainly fell short of UN and EU expectations, which co-chaired a two-day international conference aimed to pump financial aid for Syrians and garner political support for UN-led Syria peace talks. The two organizations had hoped pledges would match last year's levels of 5.6 billion euros (6.8 billion U.S. dollars) in aid for 2017 and 3.47 billion euros for 2018-2020. The conference, the second of its kind since 2017, brings together participants from more than 85 countries and organizations at ministerial level, as well as those from more than 200 non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The UN-backed intra-Syrian negotiations have been suspended since the ninth round, which was held in Vienna on Jan. 25-26 and ended up with a truce between the warring sides in Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus. The eighth round of the talks concluded in Geneva on Dec. 14, 2017, making little progress due to a wide rift. According to UN data, the Syrian crisis over the past six years has caused 330,000 deaths and displaced half of the country's population, with 13.5 million people in need of humanitarian aid. (1 euro=1.22 U.S. dollars) KHARTOUM, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Sudan and Chad on Wednesday agreed to enhance the joint forces on their borders, provide logistic support and extend work along the joint borders. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby on Wednesday attended the concluding session of the Sudanese-Chadian border development conference held at El Geneina, capital of Sudan's West Darfur State. The two presidents signed the final communique of the conference, and agreed to strengthen the judicial, police and customs cooperation on the joint borders to combat terrorism, organized crime and all forms of illegal trade. The two countries also reiterated commitment to reviewing and completing their border demarcation by putting clear border signs. In the economic field, both sides agreed to facilitate flow of commodities, enhance the border trade protocol, establish joint evaluation, open banking branches to facilitate trade, funding and money transfers in the border states. The first Sudanese-Chadian border development conference convened during April 24-25 in El Geneina. DUBLIN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China will become Ireland's fifth largest export market by the year 2030, said a report released here on Wednesday. The report, compiled by Enterprise Ireland, a government agency for helping Irish companies to explore overseas markets, said the Irish exports to China are expected to grow annually at about 10 percent in the years running from 2020 to 2030. Last year, Ireland exported 8.1 billion U.S. dollars of goods to China, accounting for about 5 percent of its total goods exports which were valued at around 149 billion U.S. dollars, according to Ireland's data. However, with the transformation of the Chinese economy from investment and manufacturing driven growth to a model based on services in recent years, there have arisen immense opportunities for overseas businesses, said the report. The report called on Irish companies to seize the opportunities offered by China particularly in the fields of education, information and communications technology, healthcare and medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture where Ireland is well-positioned in the world. China is an economy with a rapid growing number of middle-class people where chances remain in many sectors, even with its equine market, said the report. At this point, the 900-plus equestrian clubs in China had bought more than 8,000 horses in 2016, of which nearly half were imported, providing good opportunities for Irish equine products and services, according to the report. The report was launched at an international conference jointly organized by Enterprise Ireland and Cathay Pacific, a Hong Kong-based airline which recently announced the opening of its first direct flight from Dublin to Hong Kong in early June of this year. Entitled "Routes to Growth Asia Pacific Conference 2018", the event is aimed at encouraging Irish companies to explore new markets in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in China so as to set off the possible negative impact of Brexit on the Irish economy which currently depends much on its exports to Britain. More than 200 Irish companies and over 100 business leaders, prospective buyers and investors from the Asia Pacific region participated in the one-day event. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 02:15:57|Editor: yan Video Player Close TEHRAN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian president on Wednesday ruled out any change to the 2015 nuclear deal which ended international disputes over the country's nuclear program. "We will not add anything to the deal or remove anything from it, even one sentence," said Hassan Rouhani. The Iranian president also lampooned U.S. President Donald Trump's capacity as a politician, saying Trump is "just a businessman," "a tower builder." Trump is expected to decide by May 12 whether to pull the U.S. out of the nuclear deal reached between Iran and six major world powers in 2015. Under the deal, the U.S. president must sign a waiver suspending the American sanctions on Iran every 120 days. Trump, however, has said he would not extend the waiver. He has repeatedly criticized the landmark nuclear pact in which the West promised to relieve sanctions on Tehran in exchange for a halt in Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. The United States is the only side that has threatened to scrap the nuke pact. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 02:20:59|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China plans to introduce default judgment in corruption-related criminal cases as authorities step up the fight against crooked officials who have fled overseas. Lawmakers were briefed on the move Wednesday as a draft revision to the Criminal Procedure Law was submitted to the top legislature for review. The bimonthly legislative session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) will run from Wednesday to Friday. "The default judgment will be used against suspects and defendants in corruption or bribery cases who have fled abroad," said Shen Chunyao, chairperson of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee. This piece of legislation is meant to strengthen the efforts to catch overseas fugitives. "It is a brand new practice in our legal system," said Zhang Xingkuan, a Beijing-based lawyer, adding that the practice will become increasingly important as the country's anti-corruption fight deepens. Shen, the NPC official, said China's international hunt for fugitives and stolen assets has made great progress since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It has won broad support from the public. According to a government white paper, from 2014 to mid-October 2017, 3,453 fugitives were brought back from more than 90 countries and regions. Illegal assets worth 9.5 billion yuan (around 1.5 billion U.S. dollars) were recovered. "In the past, fugitive officials can only be tried after being repatriated," said Chen Weidong, a professor at Renmin University of China. "With default judgment in place, they will be punished by law even if they escape to the farest corner of the world." "Under default judgment, prosecutors having thoroughly investigated the case and obtained clear and substantial evidence can bring these cases to court," Shen said. "A collegiate panel will be formed and a copy of the subpoena needs to be sent to the defendant. If the defendant fails to appear, the court can adjudicate the case by default and rule on the defendant's ill-gotten wealth and other related assets. The defendant's rights to litigation will be protected." According to the draft, the defendant has the right to be represented by defense lawyers. Upon reaching a judgment, the court should inform the defendant of his or her right to object. If such an objection is raised, a retrial will be initiated. "The draft gives substantial protection of the defendant's rights. It is in line with internationally recognized principles and is similar to the practices taken by most countries," said Chen, the law professor. Besides corruption cases, Shen said default judgment could also be invoked in other cases if the defendant had died or was mentally ill to the level of being unfit for trial. Shen said the draft revision to the Criminal Procedure Law would also codify leniency for guilty pleas. The practice allows suspects and defendants to be considered for mitigated punishment if they voluntarily confess and sign affidavits. The prosecutors make the proposal and the court, upon examining whether the guilty plea is voluntary and the affidavit is legitimate, decides on it. A pilot has been in place since September 2016. In the 281 participating courts and procuratorates, the practice was invoked in 91,121 cases, or 45 percent of the total cases settled in the court. Chen said the practice worked and raised the efficiency of litigation. ALGIERS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Algeria and the U.S. are working as equal partners to promote security and stability, visiting Commander of the U.S. Command for Africa (Africom) General Thomas D. Waldhauser said Wednesday. "We look forward to exploring future security cooperation activities with Algeria," General Waldhauser told reporters after he met with Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel. "My visit to Algeria is a good opportunity to discuss directly with the Algerian senior officials our common defense and security concerns," he noted. For his part, Messahel said the talks were fruitful and an opportunity "to exchanged analysis and experiences in terms of regional security," adding that Algeria and Africom have to work more closely to further strengthen cooperation on security issues." "The two parties discussed bilateral military cooperation, and exchanged analysis and points of view on issues of common interest," the Defense Ministry said in a statement. AFRICOM and Algeria have been holding recurrent meetings to coordinate counterterrorism efforts and exchange views over prevailing crisis in Africa. AFRICOM is one of nine Unified Combatant Commands of the U.S. Armed Forces, responsible for U.S. military operations and military relations with 53 African nations. Some Algerian opposition parties fear that the U.S. is pressing on Algerian government to accept the establishment of foreign military bases under the authority of AFRICOM in this north African nation, although the government dispels such allegations. In 2010, Algeria, Niger, Mali and Mauritania established the Joint Military Staff Committee of the Sahel Region (CEMOC) which aims at fighting terrorism and organized crime in the region. This mechanism is seen also as an argument for the Sahel countries to block any potential foreign intervention in their region. KIGALI, April, 25 (Xinhua) -- The proprietor of Rwanda's radio station Amazing Grace Christian Radio on Wednesday said it has taken legal actions over the revocation of broadcasting license for airing a sermon that was perceived as discriminatory against women. "On Thursday, April 26 we have our first court date to get the radio back on the air," said American evangelist and owner of the station Gregg Schoof in a statement. Both Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) and Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) "have not respected the laws of Rwanda," said Schoof. RURA ordered him to plead guilty against his conscience, he said, adding that he refused so that the regulator revoked the station's broadcasting license. According to him, RURA ordered him to apologize for Nicolas Niyibikora, who made the sermon. RURA on Tuesday announced the revocation of broadcasting license of the radion station, saying it failed to comply with the sanctions including making an apology to the public by correcting the aired program and paying a fine of 2 million Rwandan francs (about 2,331 U.S. dollars). In the sermon aired live on Jan. 29, pastor Nicolas Niyibikora said women are "source of evil." Niyibikora's sermon, delivered in Kinyarwanda, immediately went viral on social media, igniting anger among women rights activists. The preaching was condemned by the National Women's Association and Rwanda Women Journalists' Association who filed separate complaints to RMC, the media self-regulatory body. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 02:46:08|Editor: yan Video Player Close TEHRAN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the killing of a top Houthi official in a recent airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Tasnim news agency reported Wednesday. Saleh al-Sammad, president of the Houthi-backed Supreme Political Council, was killed last Thursday when the coalition's air raid hit his residence in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi expressed sympathy with his bereaved family and the members of the political body run by the Yemeni rebel group. Qasemi praised what he called the resistance of the Yemeni people against the Saudi-led coalition over the past three years. The Yemenis would "enjoy the sweet taste" of victory against aggressors in near future, he said in a statement. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to roll back Iran-allied Shiite Houthi rebels and support the internationally-recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Since September 2014, the rebels have seized control of much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, forcing Hadi and his government into exile in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The war has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and displaced 3 million others, triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. KAMPALA, April 25 (Xinhua)-- Car dealers in Uganda are asking Parliament not to pass a law that will stop the importation of cars manufactured more than eight years ago. Led by Marvin Ayebale, the secretary general of Associated Motor Dealers, the members petitioned Parliament on Wednesday, saying the new law would create greater demand and lower supply of vehicles into the country. "The population is not financially ready for the proposal," Ayebale said, adding that many Ugandans will be driven out of business if the Traffic and Road Safety Act 1998 (Amendment) Bill, 2018 is passed into law. The same Bill also proposes that importers of cars that were manufactured five years ago or more would have to pay an environment tax. The proposed law, however, exempts heavy vehicles such as breakdown lorries, crane lorries, road sweeper lorries, fire fighting vehicles, concrete mixer lorries, spraying lorries, mobile workshops and forklifts among others. Armored vehicles, agricultural and forestry tractors will also be exempted. "We are with government on the intentions of this Bill but disagree on the approach. We propose gradual phasing out of these vehicles starting with a 15-year threshold. We need to be prepared," said Ayebale earlier before meeting the Members of Parliament. BELGRADE, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) will remain the most reliable partner of Serbia, President of the European Council Donald Tusk said at a joint press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic here. Tusk visited Serbia as part of his tour of Balkan countries and met Vucic to discuss preparations for the EU-Western Balkans summit to be held on May 17 in the capital of Bulgaria. "EU will remain the most reliable partner of Serbia. At the summit we will repeat our readiness to work on the European perspective of the region," he announced. Tusk said "the whole world today knows that Moscow, Washington, Ankara or Brussels will not decide on Serbia's future" and stressed that it is up to Serbia itself to decide. "EU is a place where nothing is imposed to others. We should look at the EU as a project with a strategic dimension. Together we can achieve everything -- highest standards of public life, security and above all, mutual respect and preservation of national identities," he said. Tusk added the EU wishes to deepen economic ties with Serbia. "We wish to strengthen cooperation that will bring biggest benefits -- investing in roads, railways, as well as student and cultural exchange," he said. Vucic said the meeting discussed concrete projects such as the financial agreement that was signed Wednesday between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the flight controls of Serbia and Montenegro, worth more than 45 million euro (54.7 million U.S. dollars), intended for improvement of flight control. Vucic and Tusk also talked about projects of regional highway interconnection, especially the future Nis-Pristina highway to be financed by the EIB, as well as the future gas interconnection between Serbia and Bulgaria, which the EU supported with a grant of around 50 million euros. Vucic said that the issue of Serbia's south province of Kosovo and Metohija, that unilaterally declared independence without recognition of Serbia, will become the biggest obstacle on country's European path, if no adequate solution is found. "Serbia fulfilled everything in its power in that regard, and we feel that it is important that we reach a compromise solution," said Vucic, adding that he has shown a copy of the Brussels agreement between Belgrade and Pristina signed in 2013, but still not fully implemented by Pristina authorities. "I told Tusk that we can accept any compromise, but we cannot accept the humiliation of Serbia," he said, adding it would be best if Serbia solved the question first internally, then with Albanians, and then with the EU and the international community. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 03:06:14|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presides over a bimonthly legislative session of the NPC Standing Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature began its bimonthly session on Wednesday, with amending the Criminal Procedure Law and several other pieces of legislation on the agenda. Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presided over the meeting, which was attended by 169 committee members. DEFAULT JUDGMENT A highlight of the session is the draft revision to the Criminal Procedure Law. Shen Chunyao, chairman of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, said the revision would codify default judgment, and leniency for guilty pleas, as well as expedite trial practices. The default judgment, for example, will be used against suspects and defendants in corruption or bribery cases who have fled abroad as authorities step up the fight against corrupt fugitives. The legislation plans to strengthen efforts to catch overseas fugitives. "China's international hunt of fugitives and stolen assets has made great progress since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It has won broad support from the public," Shen said. According to a government white paper, from 2014 to mid-October 2017, 3,453 fugitives were brought back from more than 90 countries and regions. Illegal assets worth 9.5 billion yuan (around 1.5 billion U.S. dollars) were recovered. "In the past, fugitive officials can only be tried after being repatriated," said Chen Weidong, a professor at Renmin University of China. "With default judgment in place, they will be punished by law even if they escape to the farest corner of the world." Leniency for guilty pleas allows suspects and defendants to be considered for mitigated punishment if they voluntarily confess and sign affidavits. Also added is the practice of expedited trial at primary people's courts, involving mostly petty criminal offenses. Both leniency for guilty pleas and expedited trial have been tested in pilots. The revision will also adjust certain provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law to avoid conflict with the Supervision Law. The Criminal Procedure Law was created in 1979 and underwent two major revisions, in 1996 and 2012. LAWS ON ASSESSORS, HEROES AND MARTYRS A draft law on "people's assessors" and another to protect the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs were tabled to the legislature for second readings. The first legislation will give assessors a bigger role to play, including in cases in which the death penalty is possible and cases which cause "severe social impact." Zhou Guangquan, deputy chairman of the NPC Constitution and Law Committee, said the bill was now ready for a vote. The second legislation adds punishment for people who "glorify wars of invasion" and disturb the social order. Hu Keming, another deputy chairman of the NPC Constitution and Law Committee, said the bill was meant to protect public interest and promote socialist core values. "The legislation is very necessary and the text is now mature enough to be adopted," Hu said. President of the Supreme People's Court Zhou Qiang briefed the legislature on a decision to set up a special Shanghai Financial Court to deal with finance-related commercial and administrative cases in the city. "The court will bolster the international influence of China's financial justice, forestall financial risks and steer the financial sector to serve the real economy, and to build Shanghai into an international financial center by 2020," Zhou said. Justice Minister Fu Zhenghua explained a motion to revise seven laws. The revisions will bring the laws in line with a State Council institutional reform adopted at the NPC annual session in March. On Wednesday morning, the top legislature also heard reports on environmental protection, supply-side structural reform in agriculture, rights protection for overseas Chinese and a pilot reform of the people's assessors system. Panel discussions were held on Wednesday afternoon. Li, the NPC Standing Committee chairman, also took part in the discussions. The legislative session will run until Friday. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 03:11:15|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A UN official has depicted a bleak picture of the humanitarian situation in Syria and asked for full access to people in need. "After seven years of conflict that continues to see escalation after escalation, the needs of Syrians have never been higher," UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ursula Mueller told the Security Council on Wednesday. Of the 13.1 million people in need, some 5.6 million are in acute need, she said. Despite the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2401 in February that demanded a cease-fire across Syria, attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure have reached some of the highest levels since the conflict began, she said. In the first three months of 2018, the United Nations has verified 72 attacks on health facilities, compared with 112 attacks in all of 2017, said Mueller. At the same time, cross-line humanitarian access remains extremely constricted, with only five convoys deploying so far in 2018, she said. While Eastern Ghouta is no longer besieged as it has come under the control of the government of Syria, the United Nations has not been granted access to Douma, where an estimated 70,000 individuals remain in dire need of humanitarian assistance after years of besiegement and months under intensified shelling and airstrikes, she said. The United Nations was last permitted to reach Douma in Eastern Ghouta on March 15, with food assistance only for 26,100 individuals. More than 160,000 people left Eastern Ghouta between March 9 and April 15 following weeks of fighting, she noted. There has been an alarming escalation of violence between government forces and non-state armed opposition groups in northern rural Homs and southern Hama governorate impacting an estimated 210,000 people in the area, said Mueller. The United Nations has received reports of airstrikes and ground-based strikes resulting in scores of civilian casualties, destruction of civilian infrastructure and displacement, she said. The situation in the northern governorate of Idlib remains catastrophic, with almost 400,000 people displaced since mid-December, in addition to tens of thousands who were displaced from the south, including Eastern Ghouta, she said. "There are simply no more sites or shelters available for the vast majority of new arrivals. There has been a 25 percent increase in Idlib's displaced population than a year ago, with 1.2 million of the 2 million people in the governorate now displaced, many of them multiple times,"she added This extreme situation places incredible pressure on the host communities. In addition, in recent weeks, airstrikes have hit hospitals and markets, and have come very close to shelters for internally displaced persons, reportedly killing scores of civilians, including many women and children, she said. In neighboring Aleppo governorate, between mid-January and mid-March, an estimated 137,000 people were displaced by hostilities in Afrin district, and freedom of movement remains an issue for those who have been displaced, said Mueller. While there have been some reports of returns taking place to Afrin, the movement back to Afrin also remains extremely limited as people are allegedly prevented from returning, she said. Late last week, hostilities between government forces and the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in the besieged area of Yarmouk and neighboring areas in the far northeastern corner of the country have resulted in reports of civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure. The access points for over 66,000 people in need are virtually closed, she said. On April 1, the United Nations undertook an assessment mission to Raqqa in the north. Since the IS was forced out of Raqqa in October 2017, nearly 100,000 people have returned to Raqqa city. However, conditions are not conducive for returns due to the high levels of unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive device contamination, widespread and severe infrastructural damage, and a lack of basic services, said Mueller. Every week, there have been over 50 casualties reported due to remnants of war. An estimated 70 to 80 percent of all buildings inside Raqqa city are destroyed or damaged, she said. While public services are slowly resuming, the city lacks electricity and mobile communications, and water is only pumped at a very limited capacity to the outskirts of the city. Up to 95 percent of households who have returned to Raqqa are food insecure, she said. Some 50,000 people in Rukban along the Syria-Jordan border remain in critical need of assistance, having last been provided aid from Jordan in January, she said. The United Nations is working to deliver assistance directly to people in need. At the same time basic health services and water continue to be provided from Jordan, she said. Mueller called for firm steps to ensure that all parties respect the rules of war. "Civilians must be provided protection, with constant care taken to spare them and the infrastructure they rely on. Attacks on hospitals in particular must end. The wounded and the sick must be afforded the treatment and care they need," she pointed out. She asked for safe, sustained and unimpeded access to all people in need. In addition, when convoys deploy, she said, medical items must stop being removed. She added that "there is no reason why items previously agreed with the authorities for delivery are removed at the last minute. These are critical life-saving items, and they must be allowed on our trucks." KIEV, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The 11th Ukrainian edition of Chinese Proficiency Competition "Chinese Bridge" for school students was held here on Wednesday. Ten contestants aged between 15 and 18 years old from the Ukrainian capital and the eastern city of Kharkiv participated in the competition staged at Kiev Gymnasium of Oriental Languages. They delivered self-introduction speeches in Chinese, answered questions about China and showed their talents to the seven-member jury and the audience of about 200 people. Ilia Li, a 16-year-old student from Kiev Gymnasium of Oriental Languages, won the competition for high proficiency in Chinese language and the bright performance "Flying dragon dancing phoenix." "Thanks to this victory, I will get an opportunity to be enrolled to the Peking University in Beijing. I had a dream of studying there, and thanks to this competition, I moved a little closer to this dream," Li told Xinhua. The international contest "Chinese Bridge," launched by China's Confucius Institute Headquarters in 2002, aims to encourage foreign students to learn Chinese. ARUSHA, Tanzania, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The African Development Bank (AfDB) is set to inject 1.5 billion U.S. dollars into various Tanzanian development projects in the next two years, the bank's president Akinwumi Adesina announced on Wednesday. According to a statement issued by Ben Mwaipaja, Tanzania's Ministry of Finance and Planning spokesperson, Adesina made the pledge at Dar es Salaam's Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) on arrival for a working visit to the east African nation. The AfDB boss said ongoing projects financed by the bank are worth two billion dollars in the areas of infrastructure, energy, agriculture, water and sanitation. "We at AfDB are very proud of our relationship with the United Republic of Tanzania which dates back to 1971. The bank has so far invested a total of 2.6 billion U.S. dollars in the country in grants and aid," he said. He explained that the bank has invested 1 billion dollars in infrastructure development alone, the aim being to improve transportation in the country and hence spur economic growth. In the energy sector, AfDB has pumped in 220 million dollars for a 400KV electricity transmission line measuring 670 kilometres in the southern and western parts of Tanzania, he said. "These projects will complement the efforts of President Magufuli who is working hard to turn Tanzania into an industrialized economy," Adesina noted. He added that AfDB also plans to help transform the Tanzania Electric Supply Company into an efficient and profitable firm capable of producing and distributing electricity at a reasonable price. Tanzania's Finance and Planning Minister Philip Mpango, who received Adesina at the airport, described AfDB as Tanzania's true partner in development. Adesina is in the country at the invitation of Tanzanian President Magufuli and is scheduled to deliver remarks at this year's national Union commemoration event at the Jamhuri Stadium in the country's capital, Dodoma on Thursday. TRIPOLI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan Foreign Ministry on Wednesday hosted the third international meeting on illegal immigration, in the presence of international organizations and foreign ambassadors, the UN Support Mission in Libya said. "During the meeting, participants heard the national identified priorities for international assistance in the areas of migration and analyzed existing modalities to match them with offers of support, aiming to address current challenges," the mission said in a statement. "Some of the priorities highlighted the development of policies and strategies for migration management," the statement said. The discussion included the engagement of Libyan municipalities and their needs, as well as the private sector's agriculture initiatives in the south as potential options to addressing migration challenges in Libya. The Libyan Ministry of Labour addressed labour migration in Libya, focusing on opportunities and means to benefit from labour sources and skills available in the country. The Migration Working Group was launched in 2017 to coordinate technical assistance and policy advice on approaches to migration. HOUSTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Subsidies for many energy categories from the U.S. federal government declined since the fiscal year (FY) of 2013 through 2016, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday. According to EIA's newly updated data, between fiscal years 2013 and 2016, direct federal financial interventions and subsidies in energy markets decreased by nearly half, from 29.3 billion U.S. dollars in FY 2013 to 15 billion dollars in FY 2016. EIA's report focused on direct financial interventions by the federal government that provide financial benefits with identifiable federal budget impacts and are specifically targeted at energy markets. EIA figures showed that between FY 2013 and FY 2016, the share of direct expenditures as part of total financial interventions and subsidies declined from 46 percent to 31 percent. This shift reflected decreasing direct expenditures for renewable electricity. Federal subsidy support for fossil fuels declined from almost 3.9 billion dollars in FY 2013 to 489 million dollars in FY 2016. Within those fossil fuel subsidies, support for coal slightly increased, while support for natural gas and petroleum liquids decreased substantially. Photo taken on March 18, 2018 shows wheat and flowering rapeseed field in Zhonglou Village of Wuhou Township in Mianxian County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Tao Ming) WASHINGTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- An American team of scientists suggested people in wheat-growing northern China are more individualistic than those in rice-growing southern China. A study published on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances has shown that people in northern China are tempting to sit alone or actively move chairs that blocked their way in cafes while those in southern China show more interdependent behaviors, like sitting in groups or squeezing themselves through narrowly placed chairs, though many of them aren't involved in farming at all. The authors said these behavioral differences among customers was providing the first evidence that historical rice versus wheat cultural differences extend into modern life. It seems to challenge the modernization theory of culture, which suggests that as countries become wealthy, modernized, and urbanized, people in those cultures become more individualistic and more Western. According to authors, people's farming legacies seemed more important than factors like wealth, in explaining their everyday behavior. For thousands of years, people in northern China grew wheat, while people in southern China farmed paddy rice. Rice farmers often shared labor and coordinated irrigation, which likely resulted in an interdependent culture, something not common in wheat-growing regions, where farmers were more individualistic. To evaluate whether behaviors indicative of rice versus wheat cultures persist in culture today, Thomas Talhelm, assistant professor of Behavioral Science University of Chicago Booth School of Business and his colleagues observed customers in Starbucks in six modern Chinese cities, including in Hong Kong. They first counted the number of people sitting alone in each cafe, and found that out of the 8,964 people observed across 256 cafes, most customers in rice-growing regions were less likely to sit alone. Also, the authors placed chairs in aisles to observe how people responded: moving the self to squeeze around the chair, showing a willingness to adjust to their environment, or moving the chair out of the way, in an attempt to control the environment. A total of 678 people in five cities walked through this "chair experiment" and people in rice-growing regions were less likely to move the chair. Among other findings, customers in the wealthier cities, more Westernized and thus thought more in-line with wheat-growing cultures, were in fact less individualistic. According to Talhelm, their study shows evidence of historical cultures as being at the root of meaningful regional differences in people's current behavior in everyday life. ARUSHA, Tanzania, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The prevalence of the malaria disease in Tanzania has gone down by almost half in the past three years, a senior official said on Wednesday. According to the latest research figures on the disease of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the prevalence rate dropped from 14.4 percent in 2015 to 7.3 percent in 2017. Albina Chuwa, NBS director general revealed this during the formal launch of the 2017 Tanzania Malaria Indicator Survey (2017 TMIS) report as part of the International Malaria Day commemoration held in western Tanzania's region of Kigoma. The survey was implemented by NBS and the Chief Government Statistician's office in Zanzibar, in collaboration with the health ministries of both the Mainland and Zanzibar. The 2017 TMIS report incorporates assessments of the level of ownership and use of mosquito nets in the country and coverage of intermittent preventive malaria treatments for pregnant women. It also identifies various treatment practices including the use of specific anti-malarial medications for children aged 6 to 59 months and measures the prevalence of the disease along with anaemia among children of this age group. Ummy Mwalimu, Tanzania's Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, cited regions with the highest rates of malaria infections especially among children aged below five years as Kigoma (leading with 24.4 percent), Geita (17.3 percent), Kagera (15.4 percent), and Tabora (14.8 percent). Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Manyara, Njombe, Songwe, Dodoma and Songwe regions have the lowest rate of infections with less than one percent each, Mwalimu said. "As a nation and a society, we should continue to join hands in fighting malaria, especially for the sake of young children and expectant mothers," said the minister. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 03:51:30|Editor: pengying Video Player Close Guo Weimin (L), deputy chief of the State Council Information Office of China, and Levente Magyar (R), State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, attend the opening of the 2nd China-CEEC Spokespersons's Dialogue in Budapest, Hungary on April 25, 2018. Government spokespersons from China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) gathered here on Wednesday for the 2nd China-CEEC Spokespersons's Dialogue under the theme "Openness and Communications: Building a Community with a Shared Future of Mankind". (Xinhua/Yang Yongqian) BUDAPEST, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Government spokespersons from China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) gathered here on Wednesday for the 2nd China-CEEC Spokespersons's Dialogue under the theme "Openness and Communications: Building a Community with a Shared Future of Mankind". "The theme of this dialogue suits the current trend, meets expectations from all sides, and reflects our historical thinking and undertaking as spokespersons," said Guo Weimin, deputy chief of the State Council Information Office of China, at the opening of the dialogue. "Notwithstanding China and CEEC have different domestic situations, our jobs in promoting transparency in government information are the same, our functions to connect government and society, connect home and abroad are the same, our goals to cultivate societal consensus and push forward communication and cooperation are the same," he added. "In recent years, China and CEEC have been engaged in more comprehensive cooperation, including cooperations in humanity and journalism. The exchange and cooperation among spokespersons play a vital role in deepening such cooperation," Guo said. Guo also told that China and CEEC have established a very good foundation for spokespersons' dialogue. "As the press service of the Chinese government, Chinese State Council information office will adhere to the principle of open communication, and promote the cooperation and dialogue with CEEC, in order to strengthen mutual understanding and build consensus," he added. Levente Magyar, state secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, said that China-proposed Belt and Road initiative is "very important for Central and Eastern Europe and presents great opportunities." Noting that many Central and Eastern European countries have expressed their willingness to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, he said, "In the future, we will strengthen the promotion and interpretation of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern Europe and expand this cooperation." He also explained that Hungary was willing to serve as an engine for China's cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe, linking our goals with the "Belt and Road". The spokespersons of CEEC participating in the dialogue came from Albania, Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Croatia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. "16+1" PLATFORM FOR COOPERATION Participants shared their views and opinions on the role of the spokespersons in national governance and crisis communication, press and communications under the new media environment, and cooperation between China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. "Albania reaffirms its full commitment to China-CEE initiative, sharing the common aspiration to turn this cooperation into a success story," said Donika Hoxha, director of Economic and Public Diplomacy and Diaspora, Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania. "In our assessment, '16+1 cooperation' continues to be a very important platform that serves primarily economic cooperation, but at the same time it is also a communication and cultural understanding platform between east and west." Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 04:01:34|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China will make further tax cuts worth over 60 billion yuan (about 9.5 billion U.S. dollars) to drive innovation and entrepreneurship and boost the development of small and micro businesses, a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Wednesday. The move aims to reduce the cost for innovation and entrepreneurship, energize small and micro businesses and spur job creation. As part of efforts to implement blueprints set out by the Central Economic Work Conference and the Government Work Report, the annual taxable income threshold of small and micro businesses eligible for halved income tax will be raised from 500,000 to 1 million yuan. The per unit value of newly-purchased research and development (R&D) instruments and equipment eligible for one-time tax deduction will be raised from 1 million to 5 million yuan. These two measures will be effective from Jan. 1, 2018 to Dec. 31, 2020, the meeting decided. In his Government Work Report delivered in March this year, Premier Li said that the government will further lighten the corporate tax burden. Far greater numbers of small low-profit businesses will see their income tax halved and the ceilings on deductible business purchases of instruments and equipment will be significantly raised. The pilot preferential tax policies for venture capital investment and angel investment will be extended nationwide, he said. According to a decision at the meeting, the tax incentive enjoyed by venture capital firms and angel investors that sees 70 percent of their investment deducted from the taxable income of the seed and early stage high-tech startups they finance will be extended nationwide. This policy has been piloted in the China's eight innovation and reform experimental zones, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, Shanghai and Guangdong, as well as in Suzhou Industrial Park. Such tax cuts will be implemented from Jan. 1 for corporate income tax and from July 1 for personal income tax this year. The meeting also decided to abolish the preclusion of the expenses of commissioned overseas R&D from additional tax deduction. The time limit for the capital loss carryover of high-tech firms and technological small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) will be extended from 5 to 10 years pending approval by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. All enterprises will see the tax deduction for employee training costs raised from the current 2.5 percent to 8 percent, the same rate as high-tech companies enjoy. These three measures are effective from Jan. 1 this year. Li said that while this round of tax cuts is targeted at small and micro businesses to spur innovation, the whole economy stands to benefit. Though being the biggest job providers, small and micro businesses have long had difficulty in accessing affordable financing. Supporting their development is critical to ensuring employment. The meeting also adopted measures of stamp duty relief for books of account starting from May 1, 2018. All the above mentioned measures are expected to reduce corporate tax burden by over 60 billion yuan. The move follows a 400 billion yuan tax cut package for 2018, which was decided at a State Council executive meeting on March 28. Li stressed that while established firms receive due attention, greater support must be extended to all growth enterprises, including SMEs and micro businesses. "Tax cuts and fiscal input are like the two sides of a coin. Both can catalyze innovation," he said. The premier once again called for full implementation of the above policies to deliver concrete benefits to all businesses concerned. By Alex Osei-Boateng ACCRA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Ghana is readying itself for the smooth pilot of the world's first malaria vaccine later in the year, officials said here on Wednesday. Ghana, Kenya and Malawi will be the first African countries to try out the MosquirixTM vaccine, which acts against Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly malaria parasite globally, and the most prevalent in Africa. Specifically, the pilot implementation program will evaluate the feasibility of delivering the required four doses of the vaccine, impact of the vaccine on lives saved, and the safety of the vaccine in the context of routine use. The vaccine is being considered as a complementary malaria control tool in Ghana that could potentially be added to and not replace the core package of proven malaria preventive, diagnostic and treatment interventions such as bed nets and indoor spraying with insecticides. Kezia Malm, Manager of the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), said Ghana was selected for the trial because of its high malaria burden and well-functioning malaria and immunization programs. Malaria is a dreaded disease which kills more children than any other disease and is the leading cause of miscarriage and stillbirths in pregnant women in Ghana. In Ghana, malaria occurs every year with varying transmission intensity throughout the year, affecting all ages, with children under-five and pregnant women being the most vulnerable. In 2017, Ghana recorded approximately 10.2 million suspected malaria cases in the out-patient department (OPD) in a population of some 30 million people, representing a 23 percent decrease over OPD malaria cases reported in 2016. Malaria deaths also reduced from 1,264 in 2016 to 599 in 2017, representing a decrease of 52.6 percent. "Although the figure from 2016 represents an improvement over that of 2015, we recognize that a lot of work has to be done in reducing prevalence of malaria to the barest minimum," Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said at a Malaria Summit in London recently. Badu Sarkodie, Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, has called for the support of the citizenry in the fight against malaria, as Ghana joined the rest of the world to observe World Malaria Day (WMD). He said Ghana had the potential to eliminate malaria, and called for the maximum support and collaboration of stakeholders and individuals to reach that goal. "The idea is not just to put malaria down but to end it forever," he said at an outreach service to mark the WMD at Ashaiman, a cosmopolitan community near the port city of Tema, 38 km east of the national capital. The WMD is an occasion to highlight the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment to malaria prevention and control. Ghana has set the target to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality by 75 percent by the year 2020. Ghana's goal, through the national strategic plan for malaria control, is to achieve and sustain near-zero malaria deaths and ultimately a malaria-free nation. Key interventions of this plan include integrated vector management; malaria case management, seasonal malaria chemoprevention; integrated support systems; surveillance; and the strengthening of health systems. Malm said if stakeholders lost focus, Ghana risked losing giant strides made in the fight against malaria over the past decades, calling on all to put in more efforts to beat malaria. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 04:26:42|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close RIYADH, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Saudi-led coalition affirmed Wednesday that the rebels hinder the entry of humanitarian aids to the country, highlighting that 40 ships are waiting to access Al Hudaydah port, Al Arabiya local news reported. The spokesperson of the coalition Col. Turki Al Maliki accused the militias of risking the security of Saudi Arabia and the navigation. He also revealed that his country has provided more than 3 million Yemenis with various assistance, citing that the captives are dealt with in accordance with the international law. Saudi Arabia and other countries are fighting in support of Yemen's exiled internationally-recognized government. Houthis also targeted Riyadh and other major cities with missiles, most of which were intercepted by the air forces. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 04:26:43|Editor: yan Video Player Close by William M. Reilly UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Wednesday called on all parties in Myanmar's northeastern Kachin State to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and end the violence. Chief UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that "humanitarians must be able to access and provide assistance to those in need, the parties must take constant care to spare civilians and civilians should be able to safely and voluntarily return to their homes as soon as conditions allow." "Thousands of civilians have been displaced by renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), while many others are trapped in conflict-affected areas, unable to flee," he said. "There are grave protection concerns for these communities as a result." The violence in Kachin is separate from the alleged government and militia attacks in western Rakhine State where the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said 671,000 Rohingya, ethnic Muslims, fled into neighboring Bangladesh since August 2017. The Rohingya refugees -- mainly in the Cox's Bazar region of southeastern Bangladesh -- said they were routed when their villages were razed and women raped. The UNHCR has said it is "one of the largest and fastest growing refugee crises in decades." On the opposite side of Myanmar in Kachin State, "a UN assessment team met with displaced civilians in one area, Namti, on Monday and identified high levels of immediate need -- notably food, shelter, healthcare, water and sanitation, the spokesman said. "Local authorities and humanitarian partners are now moving to respond but access for the UN and international humanitarian partners to civilian populations in need continues to be extremely limited in Kachin, notably in non-government controlled areas," he said. The KIA and government forces have clashed several times since the beginning of the year with reports from humanitarian agencies of a number of civilians killed or wounded. Staff members of UN agencies have not been permitted in Kachin State conflict areas to verify the reports. Government forces and the KIA have been fighting since 2011 when a 1994 cease-fire was breached. The conflict has receded to the background recently with the outpouring of refugees from Rakhine State into Bangladesh. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 04:51:51|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close A Sudanese student takes part in the "Chinese Bridge" competition in University of Khartoum in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 25, 2018. The overseas preliminary round of the 17th "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students was held here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir) KHARTOUM, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese proficiency competition for foreign college students was held in Sudan's University of Khartoum on Wednesday. The competition, known as the Sudanese regional contest of the 17th "Chinese Bridge" Competition, brought together 14 contestants from three major universities in the African country. Five of them were selected for the African final round of the Chinese language contest. Mohamed Hassan Mohamed, head of the Chinese Department at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Khartoum, said that the champion of the African final round will travel to China to compete with contestants from other countries and regions in this year's "Chinese Bridge" final. Mariam Muhsin Hassan, a contestant from the Chinese Department of the university, said the competition is "very important" for a college student choosing Chinese language as major. "It provides the opportunity for the students to go and study in China, and helps them improve Chinese language," she said. Hosted by the Confucius Institute Headquarters in China, the "Chinese Bridge" competition, one of the most significant platforms for college students across the world to study Chinese language, serves as a bridge to promote the cultural exchanges between China and the outside world. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 05:11:54|Editor: yan Video Player Close DAMASCUS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army and law-enforcement forces entered the eastern part of the Qalamoun region north of Damascus on Wednesday, following the full evacuation of the rebels, state news agency SANA reported. Celebrations broke out in several towns in the rugged region of Qalamoun, as the last batch of rebels and their families left the region on Wednesday. The people gathered in public squares in the towns of Ruhaibeh, Nasiriyah and Ataneh in Qalamoun, welcoming the arrival of the Syrian forces, said SANA. A total of 124 buses transported hundreds of rebels and their families from eastern Qalamoun over the past four days, to evacuate them toward rebel-held areas in northern Syria. Their evacuation comes under a recent fresh deal, which also allows rebels who don't want to leave to remain in the areas after surrendering weapons. SANA said a number of rebels handed over their weapons to the Syrian army on Wednesday to settle their criminal records. Earlier this month, the Syrian army captured the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus after the rebels evacuated in accordance with a deal mediated by Russia, Syria's main ally. With Qalamoun and Eastern Ghouta under control, the Syrian army is now fighting intense battles against Islamic State (IS) militants in the city of Hajar al-Aswad and the Yarmouk Camp area, the last strongholds of the terror group south of the capital. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 05:21:56|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (L, Rear) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R, Rear) listen as French President Emmanuel Macron (Front) addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress in Washington D.C., the United States, on April 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen) WASHINGTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Without directly chiding Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday forcefully challenged many of his U.S. counterpart's policies, urging Washington to embrace multilateralism and economic globalization. In a speech to a joint meeting of Congress, Macron called on American lawmakers to construct a "new breed of multilateralism" in the face of urgent global threats -- from climate change to terrorism. His emotional appeal to U.S. lawmakers, as well as the broader American public, came as he capped a three-day state visit to the United States that also included closed-door negotiations on the fate of the Iran nuclear deal. MULTILATERALISM VS ISOLATIONISM In his speech, Macron advocated multilateralism, which his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump has not been quite a fan. "We can choose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism. This is an option. It can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy to our fears," he said. "But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. It will not douse, but inflame the fears of our citizens." "I'm convinced that if we decide to open our eyes wider, we will be stronger, we will overcome the dangers, we will not let the rampaging work of extreme nationalism shake a world full of hopes for greater prosperity," he said. "It is a critical moment. If we do not act with urgency as a global community, I am convinced that the international institutions, including the United Nations and NATO, will no longer be able to exercise a mandate and stabilizing influence," he added. In the speech, Macron promoted what he called "a new breed of multilateralism." "We can build the 21st century world order based on a new breed of multilateralism, based on a more effective, accountable and results-oriented multilateralism, a strong multilateralism," he said. "This strong multilateralism will not outshine our national cultures and national identities. It is exactly the other way around: A strong multilateralism will allow our cultures and identities to be respected, to be protected and to flourish freely together." Despite his apparent failure to convince Trump back to the Paris climate accord, Macron said "I'm sure one day the United States will come back and join the Paris Agreement." "I'm sure we can work together to fulfill with you the ambitions of the global compact on the environment," he added. ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION VS "COMMERCIAL WAR" Speaking of the tilt towards trade protectionism that Washington has been increasingly interested in, Macron defended globalization against nationalism. "I believe in the power of intelligently regulated market economies. We are experiencing the positive impact of our current economic globalization, with innovations, with jobs creations," he said. "We see, however, the abuses of globalized capitalism and digital disruptions." He urged "the opposite of massive deregulation and extreme nationalism" to counter these challenges. "Commercial war is not the proper answer to this evolution," he said. "A commercial war ... is not consistent with our mission, with our history, with our current commitments for the global security. At the end of the day, it will destroy jobs, increase prices and the middle class will have to pay for it." He believed that the two nations can build the right answers to Trump's concerns regarding trade imbalances, excesses and overcapacities by negotiating through the World Trade Organization and building cooperative solutions. "We wrote these rules. We should follow them," said the French leader. NEW IRAN DEAL In his address, Macron urged the United States not to walk away from the Iran nuclear agreement and, again, advertised his proposal to work with Russia and Turkey to forge a new deal on the Iran nuclear issue. Saying the new deal "more comprehensive," Macron highlighted again its four "pillars" -- to block any nuclear activity of Iran until 2025, to make sure that there is no Iranian nuclear activity in the long run, to put an end to Tehran's ballistic activities in the region, and to generate the conditions for a political solution to "contain" Iran in the region. "These four pillars ... cover the legitimate fears of the United States and our allies in the region," he said. "I think we have ... to be sure that whatever the decision of the United States will be, we will not leave the floor to the absence of rule, we will not leave the floor to this conflict of powers in Middle East." Saying that "Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons," Macron noted that the West's policy "should never lead us to war in the Middle East. We must ensure stability and respect sovereignty of the nations, including that one of Iran." "Let us not replicate past mistakes in the region. Let us not be naive on one side. Let us not create new walls ourselves on the other side," he said. The statement echoed his words at Tuesday's joint press conference with Trump, when he said that "we do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past. Each time we tried to unilaterally replace the sovereignty of the people, we brought about some more terror." He also defended the existing framework of the Iran nuclear deal, or the JCPOA, saying it worked to control the nuclear activity of Iran. "We signed it at the initiative of the United States. We signed it, both the United States and France. That is why we cannot say we should get rid of it like that," he said. "We should not abandon it without having something substantial and more substantial instead ...That's why France will not leave the JCPOA." Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 05:31:58|Editor: yan Video Player Close BRUSSELS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The fighting against terrorism in Syria needs to continue in parallel with pushing for the ceasefire between Syrian government and opposition, Chinese special envoy Xie Xiaoyan said on Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference at the Chinese mission to the EU, Xie stressed that the international community should continue to apply the same and unified standard when striking all terrorist organizations listed by the United Nations(UN). Despite that the group the Islamic State was defeated in Syria, he said, there are other groups of terrorists in the country and the neighboring regions. The breeding ground of terrorists and radicalism has not yet been uprooted, he noted, adding that the fight would take quite a long time. Xie was in Brussels attending a two-day international conference on the future of Syria co-hosted by the EU and the UN. The conference, aiming to pump financial aid for Syrians and garner political support for UN-led Syria peace talks,brought together participants from more than 85 countries and organizations at ministerial level, as well as those from more than 200 non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Xie said China is deeply concerned about the worsening situation in Syria and urged the relevant parties to resolve the issues within the framework of international law and through dialogue and consultations. "We should stick to the direction of the political settlement. Military action will only bring more suffering to the Syrian people," he said, To find out a sustainable political solution, he said, there must be respect for sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria and the Syrian people must decide the future of their country by themselves. He said China has made consistent and persistent efforts in search of a political solution to the Syrian crisis. He noted China has kept contacts with various parties from different sides. "Since November last year, we have received both government and opposition delegations from Syria. " "Our message is simple and clear: encourage the parties to reconcile their differences and engage in dialogue and negotiations," he said. Though it's unrealistic to see a breakthrough in the short term due to gasping difference on so many issues, Xie said it's important for relevant parties to keep the momentum of dialogue. "Every cloud has a silver lining. We firmly believe that there is always a way out for the Syrian crisis," he underlined. When it comes to China's role in humanitarian aid to Syria, he said China "is never absent". "Since the start of the crisis, China has provided multiple humanitarian assistance in the form of goods or in cash through bilateral or multilateral channels, totaling 740 million RMB (about 117.5 million U.S. dollars), " said the special envoy, adding that China will "continue to do so within our command." RABAT, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Morocco expects auto industry exports to reach an annual 20 billion U.S. dollars by 2025, said an Moroccan minister on Wednesday. Car industry is already the first industrial exporting sector with more than 7 billion U.S. dollars turnover in 2017, the minister said at the opening of the Automobile Subcontracting Exhibition in the northern city of Tangier, said Moulay Hafid Elalamy, the Moroccan Minister of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy. He stressed that the government is on track to reach its goal of making 10 billion U.S. dollars auto industry export turnover by 2020. The sector created some 83,845 jobs, which represents 93 percent of the goal set for 2020. Moroccan aims to lift the overall industrial component of gross domestic product (GDP) to 20 percent by 2020. Morocco's automotive industry is rapidly growing due to government incentives as well as other competitive factors. By Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Questions remain unresolved over the Iran nuclear deal, even after U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up an official visit from his French counterpart. "The major unresolved issue is the Iran nuclear agreement. All of the European countries want the U.S. to uphold that agreement. Trump has major reservations about it, but seems to have a better understanding of the risks if he nullifies that agreement," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua. Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at Saint Anselm College, also noted the Iran deal is a key challenge. "For me, the biggest question is whether the existing Iran deal can be preserved. Trump's tone on it changed dramatically over the course of the visit, but with Trump there's always a chance -- a likelihood, even -- that what he says one day won't stick," he told Xinhua. From the start of the Iran nukes agreement, Trump has continuously called it a "bad deal," but experts said that outside of the Iran issue, Trump's chemistry with French President Emmanuel Macron went well. "The meetings seem to be going well. Macron is the Western leader best able to connect with Trump and get him to shift his views," West said. "He has encouraged America to stay engaged in Syria and Trump appears to be open to that. It remains to be seen what concrete progress will come out of the conversations because it is hard to pin Trump down on specifics," West said. Galdieri said: "I think the apparent development of a working relationship between the two, whether out of genuine affinity or necessity, is the big takeaway. The fact that Macron is floating a new Iran deal that would run alongside the existing one strikes me as particularly noteworthy." For it's part, Iran this week blasted Trump. A senior Iranian security official said on Tuesday that his country would consider withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if the U.S. scraps the 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran Times daily reported. "According to the NPT, the (contracting) countries can easily withdraw from the treaty if they realize that it does not benefit them and this is a possible option for the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. Iran has not benefited from the fruits of the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which went into effect in January 2016, Shamkhani said. "The other side (the United States) has been creating obstructions since the day of implementation of the agreement," the Iranian official added. He also highlighted Iran's capability of "resuming nuclear activities," saying his country will take "surprising actions" if the nuclear deal is sabotaged. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to decide by May 12 whether to pull the U.S. out of the nuclear deal reached between Iran and six major world powers in 2015. Trump, however, has said he would not extend the waiver suspending the U.S. sanctions on Iran. The U.S. president has repeatedly criticized the landmark nuclear pact in which the West promised to relieve sanctions on Tehran in exchange for a halt in Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. BERLIN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Angela Merkel cautioned on Wednesday that several hurdles remain to be cleared before formal European Union (EU) accession talks can begin with Albania. "For accession talks to commence, a whole host of pre-conditions must first be met", Merkel told press ahead of a meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. Nevertheless, she praised Tirana's prior efforts to conclude judicial reform, as well as seeking to reduce domestic corruption and organized crime. "In the next weeks we will reach a conclusive verdict on whether there are still some outstanding issues, or whether sufficient progress has already been achieved", Merkel said. Earlier, the EU Commission given its recommendation to the start of accession talks with Albania. The German chancellor highlighted that it was now up to the EU council to reach a decision on the matter. Merkel also emphasized, however, that EU membership was theoretically open to all countries of the Western Balkans as long as they fulfilled the necessary accession criteria. Speaking in Berlin on Wednesday as well, the Albanian prime minister called on Europe not to turn its back on the country. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 05:47:04|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close A visitor looks at exhibits during the press preview of Chinese Medicine in America: Converging Ideas, People and Practices and On the Shelves of Kam Wah Chung & Co. in the Museum of Chinese in America in New York, the United States, April 25, 2018. New York City's Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Wednesday unveiled two groundbreaking exhibitions on Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and practices in America through historical medical artifacts and contemporary art. Chinese Medicine in America: Converging Ideas, People and Practices and On the Shelves of Kam Wah Chung & Co. will both be on view for the public at the museum in Manhattan's Chinatown from April 26 to Sept. 9. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) NEW YORK, April 25 (Xinhua) -- New York City's Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Wednesday unveiled two groundbreaking exhibitions on Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and practices in America through historical medical artifacts and contemporary art. Chinese Medicine in America: Converging Ideas, People and Practices and On the Shelves of Kam Wah Chung & Co. will both be on view for the public at the museum in Manhattan's Chinatown from April 26 to Sept. 9. "These exhibitions break new ground by promoting a multi-faceted discussion of how ancient Chinese medicine principles and practices evolve when circumstances and space demand its change," said Nancy Yao Maasbach, MOCA's president at Wednesday's press preview. "By seeing how we treat illness and maintain our health, we hope visitors can learn about the ancient philosophical concepts that are the backbone of Chinese culture," said Herb Tam, MOCA's Curator and Director of Exhibitions. "For a period of time in America, Chinese medicine seemed relegated to the past -- particularly in contrast to the high-tech advances made in biomedicine during the 20th century," said Donna Mah, a faculty member of Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York. "But it is fortunate that much has been preserved and brought forward, as Chinese medicine is relevant today in our evolving understanding of the human body, medical sensibilities, and the nature of health and healing," The exhibition Chinese Medicine in America: Converging Ideas, People and Practices tells a cross-cultural story of Chinese medicine and practices in America through historical medical artifacts, contemporary art, and profiles on notable figures in Chinese medicine history to create an engaging space for exploring how medicine, philosophy and history are linked. On the Shelves of Kam Wah Chung & Co.: General Store and Apothecary in John Day, Oregon, is an immersive historical exhibition that celebrates the medical practice of Ing "Doc" Hay who became a prominent figure in eastern Oregon after the California Gold Rush. Ing Hay, who immigrated to the United States in 1887, brought his knowledge of herbology and pulsology to a remote part of Oregon during a time when Western medicine was still in its infancy. Through the presentation of the historical Kam Wah-chung general store, the exhibition includes Chinese patent medicines developed by the doctor, archival materials such as historical photos, patient records and correspondences with non-Chinese settlers. It also provides an illustration of day-to-day life in the region, and a lesser-known history of Chinese immigration in the Pacific Northwest. The exhibitions, the first of their kind to be shown in New York City, feature work by local artists including Zhang Hongtu and by infographics pioneer Fritz Kahn. MOCA also has commissioned emerging artists Vincent Chong and Robert Cipriano to create original woodblock prints, a technique deeply rooted in Chinese culture, to highlight the historical figures featured in the exhibition. For decades, Traditional Chinese Medicine has been recognized as an alternative therapy in the United States. The treatment is included neither in the country's medical system, nor in the curricula of most of its medical schools. Yet demands for TCM, and acupuncture in particular, has been on the rise. Only four states in America to date do not have legislation on professional practices of TCM. It has grown into an industry with 40,000 licensed therapists, and treats over 380 million patients every year. BERLIN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The German Foreign Office expressed its support for the existing Iran nuclear agreement on Wednesday despite U.S. President Donald Trump's vocal criticism of the pact. "The preservation of the nuclear treaty has the highest priority", a spokesperson for the Foreign Office told press in Berlin. "A new nuclear treaty is not an option on the table", he added, pointing out that the current agreement had been signed by seven states, as well as the European Union (EU) and could not be altered without the agreement of all parties involved. The German Foreign Office hereby supported the position adopted by Russia in response to U.S. and French proposals to renegotiate the existing deal. Trump has threatened to withdraw from the agreement by May 12 unless the U.S. Congress and European nations agree to amend it. The U.S. president has previously described the agreement as the "worst deal ever" but said following a recent meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron that he could be persuaded to remain a party to it if it was altered in substance. Speaking to press on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the German Foreign Office noted that Berlin shared Washington's concerns with regards to the Iranian ballistic missile programme which is currently not affected by the deal. Although Germany did not believe that changes to the existing text were feasible, the Foreign Office highlighted that it would help in finding "the right process" to resolve the issue and called for diplomatic discussions with Iran. In the meanwhile, Teheran has hit back at Trump for failing to grasp the complexity of international relations. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday ruled out any change to the 2015 nuclear deal which ended international disputes over the country's nuclear program. "We will not add anything to the deal or remove anything from it, even one sentence," said Rouhani. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 06:22:11|Editor: yan Video Player Close LONDON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China's Guizhou province and Britain could jointly build "a bridge of friendship and cooperation" with focus on the Belt and Road Initiative, Guizhou's governor said here Wednesday. Presenting Guizhou to the British audience under the title "Colorful Guizhou, Global Vision", the province's governor Shen Yiqin told a conference that Guizhou is ready to cooperate with Britain in areas such as finance and trade, big data, tourism and environmental protection. Recalling that the leaders of China and Britain have promoted the bilateral relations to the "Golden Era", Shen said "the deepening of Sino-British strategic cooperation has provided a broad arena and unlimited opportunities for the exchange of visits between Guizhou and Britain." China's Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming said there has been a sound momentum in the exchanges and cooperation between China's Guizhou and Britain in recent years, in which companies and research institutions from Guizhou and Britain have engaged in extensive cooperation and harvested fruitful results in areas ranging from big data and innovation technology to new energy and tourism. Liu said the two sides should seize the "precious opportunity" arising from their matching development strategies, tap the "precious potential" of their comparative strengths to foster growth points in their cooperation and make full use of the "precious opening-up platform" of Guizhou to deepen cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative. "Looking forward, I am full of confidence and expectations for Guizhou to make even greater achievements and play a more 'precious' role in China-UK relations," he said. In the conference, The Guizhou provincial government signed a memorandum of understanding with Britain's Midlands Engine to further strengthen cooperation. Lord James Sassoon, chairman of the China-Britain Business Council, said as Guizhou is one of the fastest-growing provinces in China in recent years, Britain and Guizhou will have many opportunities for cooperation in agriculture, big data and other fields. He believes that the signing of the MOU will further enhance Sino-British economic and trade exchanges. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 06:52:15|Editor: yan Video Player Close HAVANA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Wednesday met with the Council of Ministers for the first time since assuming office last week to discuss economic and social issues. Diaz-Canel and his first vice president, Salvador Valdes, chaired the meeting to discuss economic and social issues, including the impact of "irregularities in foreign trade operations," state media reported. Cuba's leading decision-making body also addressed the nation's debt and fiscal accounts, the results of a national anti-graft operation and measures to tackle corruption in the urban and rural construction sector. The council additionally reviewed the execution of the country's economic plan in the first quarter of the year. This is Diaz-Canel's first meeting with the cabinet of former President Raul Castro, following his decision to put off announcing any potential changes to the posts until July, when parliament is set to convene again. Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-26 06:57:17|Editor: yan Video Player Close CHICAGO, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural commodities closed higher on Wednesday amid massive fund buying. CBOT brokers reported that funds bought 12,000 contracts of corn, 5,500 contracts of soybeans, and 4,800 contracts of wheat. The most active corn contract for July delivery rose 5.75 cents, or 1.47 percent to settle at 3.9575 dollars per bushel. July wheat delivery went up 14.75 cents, or 3.05 percent to close at 4.99 dollars per bushel. July soybeans were up 5.25 cents, or 0.51 percent to settle at 10.3925 dollars per bushel. CBOT wheat continued its rally in the second straight day with sharp gains, on short- covering after prices fell to the lowest level in a week. The CBOT traders are also paying attention to conditions of key overseas wheat producers. The eastern Australian drought is deepening with the forecast for another two weeks of hot and dry weather. Soybeans got some support from President Donald Trump's confirmation on Tuesday that he would send a high-ranking team to China to start negotiations on trade dispute with China. Additional support to soybeans came from reported shipping delay out of Argentina, which might turn some of demand for soybean meal or soybeans to the U.S.. Hungarys foreign ministry in a statement on Tuesday expressed the countrys solidarity with Canada in the wake of the deaths of pedestrians in a van attack in Toronto. We assure our ally Canada of our solidarity and we express our condolences to the families of the deceased, and wish the injured a speedy recovery, the statement said. The ministry said it had no knowledge of any Hungarians who may have been caught up in the incident in which ten people died and 16 were injured in central Toronto when a van ploughed into them on the pavement. Magyar Telekom has announced the resignation of its chief executive Christopher Mattheisen, who will leave the company on July 1 after many years in charge of the giant Hungarian company. He will be replaced by Tibor Rekasi. MTels board of directors approved the termination of Mattheisens employment contract and appointment as CEO at his request at a meeting on Monday. Mattheisen has been MTels CEO since December 2006, as well as a member of the board, including many years as its chairman. Before that, he was deputy-CEO in charge of the fixed-line division for four years. Rekasi has been Chief Commercial Officer - Residential at Magyar Telekom since 2017. Before that, he held positions as CEO of T-Systems and Chief Commercial Officer - Enterprise. He joined the MTel group in 2008 as CEO of IQSYS. The board decided to appoint Melinda Szabo, who until recently worked in sales and marketing at Vodafone Hungary, to replace Rekasi as Chief Commercial Officer - Residential. Fully 53% of Hungarians think the countrys economic and general situation will improve in the next four years, while 31 and 32% expect them to deteriorate, respectively, a new survey by the Nezopont Institute shows. Over 90% of supporters of the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance were optimistic about the countrys future development. Of radical nationalist Jobbiks voters, 20% trust that the countrys general situation will improve and 29% expect the economy to do so. Among leftist voters, optimists account for 24 and 28%, respectively, the survey showed. Fully 80% of respondents expect progress in the countrys fight against the mandatory resettlement quota for asylum seekers, 75% think family allowances will be expanded, 72% hope for progress in protecting the countrys sovereignty, 71% in governmental stability and 64% in financial and economic stability, the pollster said. The survey was conducted between April 14 and 23 over the phone, on a representative sample of 1,000 adults. Zoltan Balog is to tender his resignation as head of the ministry of human resources (Emmi). In an interview to the news portal Origo, Fideszs politician said he will head the Foundation for a Civic Hungary fulltime instead. In the interview published late on Monday, Balog said he had discussed the post-election future in two long conversations with the prime minister, and Viktor Orban told him that Emmi would keep its structure and composition. I suggested some changes which he did not accept. He offered me a choice: either do the job in its current form or I could have a different job. I have been involved in the ministrys work for the last six years, and what I know is that I dont want to continue in this way, Balog said. He said Orban had asked him for three names for his replacement and would soon make his choice between them. Balog said the other task Orban had outlined - the foundation which provides the intellectual and legal background in the fight against Europe - seemed very exciting. He said it was time to do a job in which there was less daily exposure to the public. Whereas he has formally led the foundation run by the ruling Fidesz, his government work prevented him devoting himself to the job fulltime, he said. Balog noted that Orban was basically in favour of small government, so the number of ministers was not expected to change. MTI photo: Soki Tamas VILLANOVA, Pa. Villanova Universitys Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICE) Institute has announced the winners of its seventh annual Pitch Day competition held April 19. Pitch Day gives students from across the Universitys schools and colleges the opportunity to showcase their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, while gaining real-world experience in building an idea from the ground up. Pitch Day features the Villanova Student Entrepreneurship Competition (VSEC), in which student entrepreneurs presented original ideas and prototypes to a panel of alumni and guest judges involved in business development, investments, marketing and technology. In addition to the $10,000 that will be awarded to student startups through VSEC, students received invaluable feedback from mentors and advisors that can help advance their ideas. Pitch Day is the culminating event for our innovators and entrepreneurs, said II Luscri, Executive Director of the ICE Institute. Having the opportunity take action on ideas is a major key in the entrepreneurial process, and thats what the day is all about. Whether working to innovate in social ventures or create the next cutting edge mobile app, Villanovans across campus continue to find unique ways to ignite change. Pitch Day also includes the announcement of Villanovas annual Meyer Innovation and Creative Excellence Awards winners. The ICE Awards were created and endowed by Patrick Meyer '74 VSB in honor of the Meyer family (Patrick '74, Edward '86, and C. Paul '30) to recognize the spirit of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship that enhances Villanova University. The Meyer ICE Award is conferred on a student in each of the Universitys schools and colleges, as well as one faculty recipient. Winners from the 2018 Pitch Day: VSEC: Memorable Care 1 st Place Power Pearls Place Power Pearls Burke Family 2nd Place Renew DealerWeb/Grey Advertising 3rd Place Peris Tech VUers Choice Chiron Interactive Resume Builder Halloran Social Venture - Renew Klingler Unitas Prize - HelmeTrax REALtech Competition: 1st Ascension 2nd - BECA Business Executive Concierge Assistant 3rd - WorkPass Virtual Reality Competition: 1st Kingdom Carver 2nd - Popup Philly 2018 Meyer ICE Award Student Winners: James Ghiorse, 18, College of Engineering, created an app that gives users the opportunity to round up their transactions to the next whole dollar, the remainder of which goes toward a donation to vetted charities and philanthropic organizations. The app has grown greatly in relevance on campus as Ghiorse continuously seeks to further develop and expand its capabilities. William Repetto, MA 18, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was a driving force behind crafting the Falvey Librarys Diversity and Inclusion Resource Guide, a community-curated webpage that includes both library and user-generated content to create a space that encourages community building, outreach, and intersectionality. Agnes Cho, 18, M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, mentors first-year and new multicultural students as they acclimate to Villanova. She was selected as a Villanova Undergraduate Research Fellow in summer 2017 to explore the role of pediatric nurses in preventing unintentional gun violence by toddlers. She is the first nursing student in several years to pursue an Honors Degree by writing a thesis on philosophy and nursing. Reece Cooke, 18, Charles Widger School of Law, served as a member of the Clinic for Law and Entrepreneurship, working with Sanctuary Farms, an innovative nonprofit start-up developing community farm spaces to engage Philadelphias homeless and housing-unstable population with work, food and social services. Cooke developed a workable governance structure, created bylaws, established a board of directors, led the first board meeting, and created policy and disclosure guidelines for Sanctuary Farms. Brady Acton, 18, Villanova School of Business, has throughout his college career co-founded and grew a multi-million dollar tech startup, operated his own non-profit organization, developed several gaming and studying apps, and volunteered for CodedbyKids, an organization that helps underprivileged youth acquire coding and technology skills. He is an award-wining inventor and entrepreneur, and nationally-recognized student who consistently prioritizes mentoring his peers. 2018 Meyer ICE Award Faculty Winner: Shawn Howton, Faculty Director of The Daniel M. DiLella Center for Real Estate and Professor of Finance at Villanova School of Business has been an innovator at Villanova University for many years as the creator and developer of the DiLella Center for Real Estate, its courses and many of its programs. Dr. Howton has been working toward a more cross-college approach to the study of real estate since the DiLella Center was founded in 2007. For the past two years, he has explored real estate-related offerings across campus and in 2016, he put together a committee of professors representing real estate development, investment, urban planning, architectural history, and GIS. As a team, they created a series of courses that will be experienced by students campus-wide. The new Built Environment certificate program will teach students to strategically examine how the built environment reflects and shapes lives and impacts issues concerning social justice, racial equality, distribution of and access to public goods, and engagement in political life. About Villanova University: Since 1842, Villanova Universitys Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University's six collegesthe College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Villanova School of Business, the College of Engineering, the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, the College of Professional Studies and the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. Ranked among the nations top universities, Villanova supports its students intellectual growth and prepares them to become ethical leaders who create positive change everywhere life takes them. For more, visit www.villanova.edu. File Photo: U.S. Navy's Zumwalt Class of multi-mission guided missile destroyer is seen docked at the Balboa port in the Panama Canal as it is under maintenance and repair in Panama City, Panama Nov. 29, 2016. (Xinhua/REUTERS) WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Navy on Tuesday received the initial delivery of the Zumwalt-class destroyer Michael Monsoor, the second of its three stealth destroyers, more than eight years after the start of its fabrication. The warship's combat system will be installed later in the Navy's two-part approach to delivering the three Zumwalt destroyers, said a U.S. Naval Institute report. Michael Monsoor conducted its builder's trials in December 2017 and January 2018, and completed its acceptance trials on Feb. 1, said the report. Its shipbuilder is General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW), based in the northeastern U.S. state of Maine. The ship will now sail to its home port in San Diego, California, for commissioning in January 2019 and for the combat system installation, activation and testing. Among the U.S. Navy's three stealth destroyers, the lead ship, Zumwalt, was delivered in May 2016 and the third ship Lyndon B. Johnson is still being built in BIW. A U.S. Defense News report said the three destroyers will make up the class for changes in their mission made earlier this year. The Navy added Raytheon's SM-6 missiles to the stealth destroyer enabling performance as a ship killer and strike platform, compared to primarily a land-attack platform, said the report. New Delhi: Instant messaging app WhatsApp owned by Facebook Inc has raised the age bar to use its services in Europe. Informing about the latest change in age limit, WhatsApp wrote, If you live in a country in the European Region, you must be at least 16 years old to use our Services or such greater age required in your country to register for or use our Services. If you live in any other country except those in the European Region, you must be at least 13 years old to use our Services or such greater age required in your country to register for or use our Services. In addition to being of the minimum required age to use our Services under applicable law, if you are not old enough to have authority to agree to our Terms in your country, your parent or guardian must agree to our Terms on your behalf, WhatsApp said. It is however not clear as to how the messaging app will ascertain the age of the users, media reports say that the new age update is meant to help it comply with new data privacy rules coming into force next month. WhatsApp, founded in 2009, has come under pressure from some European governments in recent years because of its end-to-end encrypted messaging system and its plan to share more data with its parent, Facebook. Facebook itself is under scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers around the world since disclosing last month that the personal information of millions of users wrongly ended up in the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, setting off wider concerns about how it handles user data. With Reuters Inputs New Delhi: Actor Ranveer Singh, who had been busy shooting for Zoya Akhtar's 'Gully Boy' despite his shoulder injury, recently wrapped up the film. However, as per several media reports, the actor is still not finished with work as he will soon be recording a song with his other co-star Kalki Koechlin for the film. Apparently, Kalki plays the role of a video producer in the film. Since 'Gully Boy is based on the lives of rappers Vivian Fernandes aka Divine and Naezy, the song will have rap in it. The rappers are known for their song 'Mere Gully Mein' in Mumbai. Ranveer is playing a rapper in the film and has already taken classed and is a pro at it by now. On the other hand, Kalki has begun learning how to do it. Speaking to PTI, Kalki confirmed the news, "We did not prepare much except that we listened to a lot of rap. I started listening to Divine, Naezy and tried to understand where this voice was coming from. My character has studied music in Berkeley and she comes back and is producing a video, she also writes music as well," said Kalki. She also said that she listened to a lot of rap. "I listened to a lot of rap, especially to get into that zone because Ranveer and I have to sing a song together. Anand Tiwari, is doing the music of the film, so he is teaching me the song," she added. It is to be noted that Kalki and Zoya Akhtar have previously collaborated for 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara', also starring Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol. The film is slated to release on February 14 next year. The film also features Pooja Gaur, Parmeet Sethi, Ali Asgar and Prakash Raj. New Delhi: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for raw jute for 2018-19 and the centrally-sponsored scheme of National Bamboo Mission (NBM) under the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) during the remaining period of Fourteenth Finance Commission (2018-19 and 2019-20). The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) met in New Delhi to discuss the two issues. The MSP for Fair Average Quality (FAQ) of raw jute has been increased to Rs 3700 per quintal for 2018-19 season from Rs 3500 per quintal in 2017-18 season. The MSP would yield returns of 63.2 percent over the weighted average A2+FL cost of production. The MSP of raw jute is expected to ensure appropriate minimum prices to the farmers and step up investment in jute cultivation and thereby production and productivity in the country. The increased MSP is based on recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) which while recommending MSP takes into account the cost of production, overall demand-supply, domestic and international prices, inter-crop price parity, terms of trade between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and the likely impact of MSP on the rest of the economy. The Jute Corporation of India would continue to act as Central Nodal Agency to undertake price support operations at the Minimum Support Prices in the Jute growing states. The National Bamboo Mission (NBM) would ensure holistic development of the bamboo sector by addressing complete value chain and establishing effective linkage of producers (farmers) with industry. CCEA has also approved Empowerment of Executive Committee for formulation of guidelines of the NBM and to make the changes therein, including cost norms for various interventions from time-to-time as per the felt needs and specific recommendations of States, with the approval of Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. An outlay of Rs 1290 crore (with Rs 950 crore as Central share) is provisioned for implementation of the Mission during the remaining period of 14th Finance Commission (2018-19 and 2019-20). The scheme will benefit directly and indirectly the farmers as well as local artisans and associated personnel engaged in bamboo sector including associated industries. Since it is proposed to bring about 1 lakh ha area under plantation, it is expected that about one lakh farmers would be directly benefitted in terms of plantation. The Mission will focus on the development of bamboo in states where it has social, commercial and economical advantage, particularly in the Northeastern region and states including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Mission is expected to establish about 4000 treatment/ product development units and bring more than 100000 ha area under plantation. Bamboo plantation will contribute to optimizing farm productivity and income thereby enhancing livelihood opportunities of small & marginal farmers including landless and women as well as provide quality material to industry. Thus, the Mission will not only serve as a potential instrument for enhancing income of farmers but also contributing towards climate resilience and environmental benefits. The Mission will also help in creating employment generation directly or indirectly in both skilled and unskilled segments. The restructured NBM strives to - (i) To increase the area under bamboo plantation in non forest Government and private lands to supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change. (ii) To improve post-harvest management through establishment of innovative primary processing units, treatment and seasoning plants, primary treatment and seasoning plants, preservation technologies and market infrastructure. (iii) To promote product development at micro, small and medium levels and feed bigger industry. (iv) To rejuvenate the under developed bamboo industry in India. (v) To promote skill development, capacity building, awareness generation for development of bamboo sector. Implementation strategy and targets: The following steps would be adopted for the development of bamboo sector: I. The Mission will focus on development of bamboo in limited States where it has social, commercial and economical advantage with focus on genetically superior planting material of bamboo species of commercial and industrial demand. II. Adoption of end to end solution in bamboo sector i.e. complete value chain approach starting from bamboo growers to consumers would be emphasized. III. Mission has been developed as a platform for integration of Ministries/ Departments/Agencies with implementation responsibilities given based on their mandate. IV. Capacity building of the officials, field functionaries, entrepreneurs and farmers through skill development and trainings will be emphasised. V. Focus will be given on Research & Development (R&D) to increase the production and productivity of bamboo. NBM started as a centrally-sponsored scheme in 2006-07, was mainly emphasizing on propagation and cultivation of bamboo, with limited efforts on processing, product development and value addition. There, was weak linkage between the producers (farmers) and the industry. The restructured proposal gives simultaneous emphasis to propagation of quality plantations of bamboo, product development and value addition including primary processing and treatment; micro, small & medium enterprises as well as high value products; markets and skill development, thus addressing the complete value chain for growth of the bamboo sector. It was subsumed under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) during 2014-15 and continued till 2015-16. Funds were released thereafter only for maintenance of bamboo plantations raised earlier under NBM, and no new work or annual action plan was initiated. Since 2006-07, an area of 3.62 lakh ha covered under bamboo plantations and 39 bamboo wholesale markets, 40 bamboo bazaars and 29 retail outlets were set up. New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a long-term agreement for export of iron to Japan and South Korea through state-owned trading firm MMTC. "Cabinet approves renewal of long-term agreements for supply of iron ore (lumps and fines)...To Japanese steel mills and POSCO, South Korea for another five years (from April 2018 to March 2023) through MMTC," an official release said. The range of quantity of iron ore to be exported would be 3.8 million tonnes per annum to 5.5 million tonnes per annum, it added. The supply of iron ore, although of smaller quantities, has been a core element in the bilateral ties with Japan and South Korea. The quantities of iron ore proposed for supply to JSMs and POSCO, South Korea through MMTC Limited under these LTAs will be of grade +64% Fe content, it said. The agreement will enable India to secure international market for its ores and ensure stable economic ecosystem which provides direct and indirect employment in mining, logistics and related sectors, the release said. MMTC will be supplying iron ore of grade (plus) 64 Fe, or high grade content, to Japanese and Korean steel mills from NMDC's Bailadila mines in Chhattisgarh. It added that the existing policy of single agency operation and exports through MMTC, with trading margin of 2.8 per cent of FOB (free on board) price, shall be continued. AHMEDABAD: Over 5,000 people in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district, battling against the acquisition of land by a state power utility, have written letters to authorities seeking permission to die, a farmers' body leader on Wednesday claimed. "A total of 5,259 people, comprising farmers and their family members from 12 affected villages, have sought "icchha mrityu (right to die) as the land they cultivate is being forcibly snatched by the state government and Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL)," claimed Narendrasinh Gohil, a local farmer and a member of Gujarat Khedut Samaj, an organisation fighting for farmers' rights. He claimed that the letters, signed by these farmers and their kin, have been sent to the President of India, the Prime Minister and the chief minister of Gujarat. Harshad Patel, Collector, Bhavnagar, said that the farmers had dropped these letters, in which they have demanded permission for "icchha mrityu", at the registry branch of the collectorate. The registry branch receives and dispatches all the letters of the collectorate. In the letter, the farmers accused the state government, and GPCL, of using police force to get them to vacate the land which the farmers claimed was being tilled by them for several years now. The farmers alleged that GPCL was trying to possess the land more than 20 years after the power firm had acquired it, adding that such a move was against the law. "As per the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, a company cannot take possession of a land which it had acquired more than five years ago. To possess such a land, it will have to initiate the process of acquisition afresh," Gohil said. "On two occasions, the police have fired teargas on a peaceful gathering of farmers. We are being threatened and bullied by the government," Gohil alleged. He added that the district administration has imposed section 144 of the CrPC, a provision prohibiting any assembly of persons the authorities term unlawful, in the 12 villages since over a month now. "GPCL and Gujarat government want to usurp our land, despite the land legally belonging to the farmers. What shall we do in such a situation? If we do not have cultivable land, we shall be as good as dead," the letter claimed. The farmers, in their letter, said that the "forcible acquisition" of land was making them feel like "terrorists" and, therefore, they would like to be killed by bullets fired by Army personnel. "We wish for this because we have been made to feel like terrorists by the authority. So my last wish is to be killed at the hands of the Army," the farmers said in the letters. London: Spider-man will go a globe-trotting adventure in "Homecoming 2" after Kevin Feige confirmed that the film will be shot in London. Speaking to io9, the Marvel Studios president said the next Spider-Man movie will take place primarily outside Peter Parker's hometown of Queens, New York. "We start filming early July. We film in London. We shot (the) first film in Atlanta. We shoot a lot of films in London but there's another reason we're shooting in London which is, yes, Spidey, of course, will spend some time in New York, but he'll spend some time in other parts of the globe," Feige said. Tom Holland will be back as Spider-man in the sequel, which has a release date of July 5, 2019. Actors Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon and Marisa Tomei are also expected to reprise their respective roles. Self-styled godman Asaram was convicted and given a life sentence on Wednesday for raping a teenage girl. By the time the day had come to a close, one of his ashrams had been attacked and a street sign with his name on it was taken down. Just hours after he was sentenced to life in prison, one of Asaram's ashrams in Maharashtra's Akola was thrashed. The attack was reportedly carried out by members of an extremist fringe outfit called the Sambhaji Brigade. However, police are yet to detain or arrest anyone for the attack. Meanwhile the Bhopal Municipal Corporation removed signs that identified a bus stop named after Asaram. Security had been ramped up massively in Jodhpur, where the court convicted Asaram. The precautions had been taken to avoid violence similar to what had broken out after the conviction of another self-styled godman, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, in Panchkula in 2017. However, there was little trouble reported from Asaram's followers who had gathered at Jodhpur or at any other location. The only violence incident of the day that was reported seems to have been the attack on the ashram in Akola. Asaram has been convicted under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The special SC/ST court also convicted two others and acquitted two accused. When the judgement against him was read out, Asaram did not seem to be able to comprehend what was going on. As per Zee News sources present in court, he initially started laughing. Later, he began mumbling some religious chants then turned to his lawyer, questioning if he could do anything. Realising the gravity of the order, he then slapped his hands against his head and started crying in court. He sought leniency but was told that he will have to face the punishment if he has done anything wrong. Chinese officials and the state-run media have majorly toned down their rhetoric on India ahead of the two-day informal summit meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The coverage, which only weeks ago continued with the harsh language of 'teaching a lesson' that had been adopted during the Doklam standoff, was largely positive and hopeful. Officials and media write-ups fell over themselves to speak of the consensus that could be reached in the Modi-Xi meeting in Wuhan. They also repeatedly mentioned the 'once-in-a-century shift' in global affairs and the strategic nature of exchanges between the two leaders. The indications are that China could be looking to secure India's backing in support of a globalised world, as a foil to US President Donald Trump's isolationist and protectionist 'America First' policy platform. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson had said on Tuesday that the country hoped for an "important consensus" between Modi and Xi at the informal summit. This came on the heels of a statement by Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan on Monday after a meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj that he believed the two leaders would "reach more strategic consensus on bilateral issues ties and major issues of common concern". Chinese government-owned news agency Xinhua also reported Wang as saying he expects India to play a bigger role within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The increased level of talk in Chinese circles of a strategic alignment of Indian and Chinese positions comes just weeks after the same Chinese voices were lashing India for its participation in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with the US, Japan and Australia. Chinese state-owned Global Times newspaper, which is considered to reflect the thought processes of the Communist Party of China (CPC), carried a remarkably softly-worded and positive piece, titled 'Hints of major shift in Sino-Indian relations', on the upcoming Modi-Xi meeting. The piece noted the recent spate of high-level engagements between India and China, including the visits of top officials from both sides to either country and the previous meetings between Modi and Xi. "Such a dense and intense series of high-level diplomatic exchanges has rarely happened in the history of Sino-Indian interactions, signaling both sides' aspirations to chart a new course like never before," the article read. It also spoke against a 'megaphone approach' and suggested a mood of detente. "Friction can be handled with deft diplomacy. With the return of frequent and attentive diplomatic exchanges, the two sides can quietly work out their issues. As tellingly demonstrated in India's actions taken to address China's concerns over the Dalai Lama as well as China's endorsement of India's demand for including a specific anti-terrorism section in the BRICS' Xiamen declaration, they can deal with each other's sensitive issues in a prudent, low-key manner," the article read. PM Modi is set to make his second official visit to China, and will be in the country on April 27 and 28. He is set to hold informal talks with Xi, with few or no officials around. He will also meet Xi at the SCO summit in June. The visit comes on the heels of a dense series of meetings between Indian and Chinese officials and leaders, including the just-concluded visits by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, apart from recent visits of other top officials Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. JODHPUR: Self-styled godman Asaram was on Wednesday convicted of raping a teenager at his ashram in 2013. As the court read out its verdict, the media was barred from entering the courtroom to maintain law and order. The court rejected the petitions seeking entry of media persons in Central Jail of Jodhpur for the coverage of Asaram Bapu rape case judgment. The 'godman' has been convicted under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. There are several guidelines that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has given on how media should cover cases which come under the POCSO Act. It states that media has to secure the identity and privacy of the child. "Disclosing or publishing the identity of the child victim by mentioning name, address, neighbourhood, school name and other particulars is punishable with imprisonment of not less than six months but extendable to one year or with fine or with both. It also prohibits making of negative reports that cause harm to the childs reputation. Provided that for reasons to be recorded in writing, the Special Court may permit such disclosure, if in its opinion such disclosure is in the interest of the child," the NCPCR states in its User Handbook for Implementation of the POCSO Act. Here are the Dos and Don'ts that the government has listed out for media in connection with the coverage of rape cases. Dos Don'ts Be exact when describing the nature of the offenceuse the right terminologies Use ambiguous or minimizing language (e.g."sexual relationship with a child" or "affair with a minor" etc) Be clear that 'consent is immaterial' Blame the victim. It is NOT his or her fault. The abuser is solely responsible for this crime Hold institutions or individuals in position of power accountable Refer to abuse as an "alleged accusers." They are not "alleged" Report on relevance of CSA in society; look beyond the story as it unfolds in the criminal justice system Assume the victim is alone; often it takes one person coming forward for others to share like experiences include information about the social and cultural impact of CSA cases Downplay the severity of this crime, the long-term effects of which can be devastating Focus on multiple aspects of the case including rehabilitation, prevention. Source experts in the field, such as child advocates, lawyers, and psychologists. Always check your facts with credible organizations Only focus on the role of police and judiciary Seek help of a support Person/NGO or a person known to the victim and the family before interviewing Directly approach the victim and family on your own with all the questions Read the case file (if available) or the copy of the FIR before approaching the victim and families with specific questions Ask them questions directly on the offence and its nature or publish the FIR in your article Take consent of the parent or the trusted adult/organization before talking to the victim Directly approach the victim without parental consent Focus on the modus operandi of the offender and grooming process to create larger awareness Focus only on the nature of sexual offence e.g. Rape etc Highlight cases from different socio-economic strata and high profile paedophiles Label this as a problem pertaining to poor and uneducated communities The POCSO Act, 2012 was enacted by the government to provide an extremely strong legal framework for the protection of children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography, while safeguarding the interest of the child at every stage of the judicial process, by incorporating child friendly mechanisms for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and speedy trial of offences through designated Special Courts. The NCPCR has been mandated to monitor the implementation of POCSO Act, 2012. JODHPUR: Four and a half years since self-styled godman Asaram Bapu was sent to Jodhpur Central Jail for allegedly raping a teenage girl, the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court is set to pronounce its verdict on Wednesday. Follow live updates of the verdict on ZeeNews.com. Click Here. The chargesheet against Asaram and four other co-accused Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash was filed by the police on November 6, 2013 under various sections of the POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC. If convicted, Asaram could be jailed for a minimum of 10 years or awarded a maximum life term, according to prosecution lawyers. Apprehending a threat to law and order, the Centre has asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana governments to tighten security and deploy additional forces as the three states have a large number of followers of the 77-year-old Asaram who faces a minimum term of 10 years if convicted. As per the directions of the Rajasthan High Court, the trial court will deliver its verdict in the Jodhpur Central Jail premises where Asaram has been lodged for the past over four years. Asaram is accused of raping a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, who was studying at the godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. Asaram has denied the rape charges. The victim had alleged that Asaram called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. Security has also been stepped up around the victim's house in Shahajahanpur. The Union Home Ministry's advisory was sent in view of the fact that large-scale violence was witnessed in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh after a special court in Mohali. Final arguments in the Asaram case had been completed by the special court for SC/ST cases on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He is under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. NEW DELHI: Shortly after Asaram was convicted of raping a teenage girl at his ashram in 2013, the survivor's father reacted to the development and said they have got justice. Thanking everyone who had supported them, he expressed hope of the self-styled godman getting strict punishment. The rape survivor's father also urged for the justice of the witnesses who were murdered or abducted. "Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice," said the victim's father. The verdict was announced by the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court on Wednesday inside the Jodhpur Central Jail premises where Asaram has been lodged for the past over four years. Along with Asaram, four others were also charged in the case. Among the other four, Sharad and Shilpi have been held guilty while Shiva and Prakash have been acquired by the court. Asaram's involvement was probed in two separate cases - one from Rajasthan and the other from Gujarat. In the case registered in Rajasthan, a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15, 2013, while in Gujarat, two Surat-based sisters lodged separate complaints against the self-styled godman and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape. Asaram was arrested in Indore and was brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. Since then he has been lodged inside the prison. Several courts had repeatedly denied his bail requests. The Surat-based girl filed a case against him, alleging sexual assaults between 1997 and 2006 when she was living in his ashram on the outskirts of Ahmedabad city. The girl belonging to Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh was a student at the ashram. JODHPUR: Self-styled godman Asaram has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping after he was found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl at his ashram in 2013. Asaram will spend the rest of his life in jail unless a higher court acquits him in the case. He was convicted in the case earlier on Wednesday. The verdict was announced by the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court on Wednesday inside the Jodhpur Central Jail premises where Asaram has been lodged for the past over four years. Two other accused, Sharad and Shilpi, who had also been held guilty have been sentenced to 20 years in jail. Asaram has been convicted under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) act. While Asaram along with Sharad and Shilpi have been convicted, two other accused Shiva and Prakash were acquitted by the court. When the judgement against him was read out, he did not seem to be able to comprehend what was going on. As per Zee News sources present in court, he initially started laughing. Later, he began mumbling some religious chants then turned to his lawyer, questioning if he could do anything. Realising the gravity of the order, he then slapped his hands against his head and started crying in court. He sought leniency but was told that he will have to face the punishment if he has done anything wrong. What the court said in its judgement: Reacting to the verdict, spokesperson for Asaram, Neelam Dubey, said that they respect the judiciary but will appeal against the order in a higher court after reading the details of the judgement. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He is in judicial custody since September 2, 2013. Final arguments in the Asaram case had been completed by the special court for SC/ST cases on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved for Wednesday. NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force conducted pan India Exercise Gagan Shakti-2018 from 08-22 Apr 2018. The aim of the exercise was real-time coordination, deployment and employment of air power in a short and intense battle scenario. For an exercise of such scale, the planning process started almost nine months back. During Gagan Shakti-2018, lAF exercised its entire warfighting machinery to validate its concept of operations and war-waging capability. The focus of the exercise was to check the viability of our operational plans and learn meaningful lessons. The exercise was conducted in two phases so that all Commands get adequate opportunity to test the efficacy of their preparedness. Phase-I of the exercise involved activation of Western, South Western and Southern Air Commands, with affiliated Army and Naval components. Phase-II of the exercise involved activation of Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Air Commands. Re-deployment for Phase-II involved relocating the forces so as to be effective at the new Locations within a short span of 48 hours. This was made possible by round the clock operations of heavy-lift transport aircraft like C-17 and IL-76 as well as by employing a large number of tactical airlift aircraft like C-130 and An-32 aircraft. IAF also used civil chartered flight and trains for mobilisation of resources. During the exercise, all types of combat missions, encompassing all air campaigns, were conducted. Fighter aircraft undertook surge operations i.e. generating maximum number of sorties in a 24 hours cycle. These included long-range missions with concentrated life and simulated weapon releases across all air to ground ranges in India, creation of Air Defence umbrella to facilitate operation of ground forces and Counter Surface Force Operations in support of Army in various sectors, during both phases Maritime Operations involving long-range maritime strikes with Maritime Reconnaissance support by Indian Navy aircraft were also practiced. The efficacy and integration of indigenous LCA aircraft and Akash Missile system in the operational matrix of the IAF were also checked out. In addition, capabilities of upgraded Mirage-2000 and MiG-29 aircraft were tested for the first time in an operational environment. All types of aerial weapons, including standoff and precision weapons, were employed to validate their use in the Air Operations Matrix. Combat Support Operations involved missions by force enablers like AWACS and Air to Air refuellers, Special Ops comprising a Battalion Group paradrop, Special Ops with Garud Commandos, Combat Search and Rescue for effective extraction of downed aircrew behind enemy lines, sea rescue and operations from Advanced Landing Grounds. The transport aircraft also undertook mass casualty evacuation missions in all Commands employing C-17, C-130 and An-32 aircraft. Helicopter missions included Special Heliborne Operations, casualty evacuation, strike missions against enemy formations and Inter-Valley Troop Transfer. For joint operations, lAF s joint command and control structures with Indian Army and Navy, such as Advance HQ of IAF co-located with Army Commands, Tactical Air Centres, Maritime Air Ops Centre and Maritime Elements of Air Force etc, were activated. Army troops and combat vehicles were deployed to simulate Tactical Battle Areas in all Commands and some of the Army exercises were dovetailed with air operations for simulation of realistic battlefield environment. Ships were deployed, both in the Arabian Sea as well as in the Bay of Bengal, for anti-shipping strikes by IAF maritime aircraft operating from bases on the east and west coast, as well as from island territories. During the exercise, more than 11000 sorties were flown, which include approx 9000 sorties by fighter aircraft. To sustain the tempo of operations on such a large scale, on a 24 x 7 basis, the training status of entire IAF was enhanced, especially the aircrew. All qualified and medically fit crew upto 48 years of age were made proficient and current by giving them re-validation training on combat assets, employed during the exercise. Even the technical manpower focused on their primary tasks and rehearsed their SOPs/ practices in the run-up to the exercise. Over 1,400 officers and 14,000 men were pulled out of training establishments and deployed for the exercise, to augment existing resources. Intense operations of this magnitude, in a short span of time, involved very close coordination with Airport Authority of India for airspace coordination. It was an endeavour of the IAF to conduct this exercise with negligible disruptions of civil traffic anywhere in the country. IAF had also activated a number of civil airfields to support combat operations during the exercise. All operations were conducted in a Network Enabled scenario with a very high reliability of communications, networked air defence systems employing op enabling software. A major highlight of the exercise was a very high availability and reliability of all combat assets including aircraft, missile systems and radars. High tempo operations also enabled the IAF to ascertain sustainability of the logistics chain. IAF was able to achieve 80 per cent serviceability of aircraft while radars and surface to air guided weapons maintained a serviceability of 97 per cent, which included some of the legacy systems that were over 40 years old. Focused effort enabled a dispatch rate of more than 95 per cent for the Combat Assets, 100 per cent availability of Combat Support Systems and almost 100 per cent dispatch rates of Combat Enablers. This had been possible due to good planning and dedicated efforts of our air warriors as well as continuous support by DPSUs that is HAL, BEL and DRDO. Flight line unserviceabilities were promptly rectified by dedicated maintenance crew. The logistics stamina of the IAF and the ability to sustain continuous operations through day and night was put through a rigorous assessment. Contingencies such as repair of battle-damaged aircraft and relocation, of essential services due to enemy air action were also practised. The exercise also focused heavily on base security aspects. Simulated drills involving infiltration into operational area by various means were practised. Dedicated contingencies were conducted towards sustaining operations in a Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear attack scenario. Different techniques for repairing runway after bomb damage were practised in addition to restoration of essential services and mass casualty evacuation at forward bases. Extensive coordination with Territorial Army Units and Local Civil Administration was undertaken to refine response during various security and administrative contingencies. Exercise Gagan Shakti-2018 provided IAF with an excellent opportunity to practice its war time drills and undertake operations in realistic scenario. Activities were undertaken in a cohesive manner to achieve the stated objectives of the Indian Air Force, in case of any contingency. The exercise also enabled the IAF to validate operational efficacy of new platforms and refine existing Standard Operating Procedures. Joint operations with Army and Navy, conducted during the exercise, would help in achieving better operational synergy between the three services, in application of combat power. NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday shot-off notices for the second time to both Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, seeking more details on the data breach issue, sources said. Taking a tough stance against Cambridge Analytica's "cryptic response" to its first notice, the government has again sent notices to both the British data analytics firm and Facebook, confronting them with additional questions on potential misuse of data. It has asked Facebook to list out security architecture proposed to be created by the company "so that data concerning Indians are not pilfered or manipulated again for extraneous purposes including to influence the elections". The government also asked Facebook about steps it plans to clamp down on any unauthorised use of data or manipulation, and fixed a deadline of May 10 for responses. It had earlier questioned both the companies on the impact of the data breach, following which Facebook had admitted that nearly 5.62 lakh people in India were "potentially affected" by the incident. Earlier this month, Facebook and Cambridge Analytica had submitted their responses, following which the government has now sought more details. The sources, who did not wish to be identified, said the two companies have now been given time till May 10 to respond. Over the last few weeks, the US social networking giant has drawn intense criticism from users and governments globally over the data leak scandal that hit millions of users. Information of over 80 million Facebook users was allegedly harvested by data analytics and political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, leading to a global backlash against the American company. New Delhi: A Dakota DC-3 aircraft of 1940 vintage landed in Jamnagar, Gujarat on Wednesday. It has been gifted by Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar to the Indian Air Force. Update on #DakotaHomeBound : Indian Air Force welcomes the Dakota DC-3 #VP905 , home. The Aircraft #VP905 got airborne from Muscat International Airport, Oman & touched down at home grounds, Jamnagar, Gujarat at 16:30 hrs, today. pic.twitter.com/NJgZREyQxE Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 25, 2018 #DakotaHomebound : The #Dakota #VP905 aircraft was received with lot of splendour at AFS Jamnagar, today. The crew is seen posing with the beautiful machine along with the Commander-in-chief SWAC, team Jamnagar & Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar MP Rajya Sabha. pic.twitter.com/6Qm0EjwwhZ Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 25, 2018 #Dakotahomebound : The Dakota #VP905 carried out an overshoot & familiarised with the airfield, before touching down on the home ground. To honour the old war horse in its new residence, induction ceremony is scheduled on 04 May 18 at Air Force Station Hindan. pic.twitter.com/ETHEx0kxmN Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 25, 2018 Earlier, the IAF had tweeted: Update on #DakotaHomebound : On 23 Apr 18, #VP905 got airborne from Bahrain at 1300 h & landed at Muscat International Airport, Oman. A short flight of 3H30Mins. Today the aircraft will land at Jamnagar. The Planning is done, Aircraft & the Crew is all set for the last lap home. pic.twitter.com/IBrr1exunj Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 25, 2018 Update on #DakotaHomebound : On 22Apr18, #VP905 flew the longest leg (1598.47 Kms) of the ferry from Aqaba Royal Jordanian Air Force Base to Bahrain International Airport & carried out its first Night Landing. The homebound lap from Muscat to Jamnagar, India is planned on 25Apr18 pic.twitter.com/RpwhaFdPbk Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 24, 2018 The World War II-era aircraft was obtained from scrap in 2011 and was restored to flying condition in the UK by Chandrasekhar for gifting it to the IAF. His father Air Commodore (retd) MK Chandrasekhar was a Dakota pilot in the IAF. The Chief of Air Staff, BS Dhanoa, had ceremonially accepted the aircraft into the force from Chandrasekhar in February 2018. The IAF also signed a contract with Reflight Airworks Ltd London for upgrading its navigational systems. Chandrasekhar's father was present at the ceremony. Legendary Aircraft #Dakota being gifted to #IAF : The CAS ACM BS Dhanoa, along with VCAS Air Mshl SB Deo, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament & Air Cmde MK Chandrasekhar (Retd) during the gift deed signing ceremony at AkashOffrsMess, NewDelhi, today. pic.twitter.com/jrvlNAh4Vu Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) February 13, 2018 The aircraft commenced its journey from the UK on April 17 and was flown to India by a joint team crew of the IAF and Reflight Airworks Ltd. #DakotaHomebound : After successfully completing all test flights, aircraft commenced its homebound journey on 17 Apr 18. Its being flown to India by a joint team crew of #IAF & M/s Reflight Airworks Ltd. Details on https://t.co/JieqVhzAYa@DefenceMinIndia @rajeev_mp @ReflightAW Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 23, 2018 The Dakota, christened 'Parashurama', will bear the tail number VP 905, the same as the first such aircraft in the Indian service that transported the troops in 1947 during the 'Kashmir conflict'. The induction ceremony of the Dakota is scheduled to take place on May 4, 2018, at Air Force Station Hindan. A large fleet of Dakota DC-3 served in the IAF till 1988. Hailing the qualities of the aircraft, the Chief of Air Staff had said earlier, "They were introduced in the 1930s. As part of the 12th squadron of the then Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF), Dakotas were the main workhorse in Ladakh and Northeast region. And, they intervened in time to save the Valley of Kashmir (in 1947)." "Military historian Pushpindar Singh had said that Dakota is the reason why Poonch is still with us. They helped in hastening the fall of Dhaka and liberation of Bangladesh. And, in 2014, we had given a shell on the Dakota to the Bangladesh Air Force," he had added. Beijing: In a veiled attack on Pakistan, India on Tuesday had asserted that arguments of "political convenience" to provide an alibi for terrorist organisations were no longer tolerable and the international community should identify states that provide "sanctuary" to terror groups. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, addressing separate meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) here in the Chinese capital, underlined India's strong opposition to cross-border terrorism and the urgent need to build a strong security architecture to combat the threat posed by it. In her address at the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers' meeting, also attended by Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Swaraj raised the issue of global terrorism. There are a number of challenges that are being faced by the world today, foremost being the threat of global terrorism and the imminent need to build a strong security architecture to combat it, she said. "Terrorism is an enemy of the basic human rights: of life, peace and prosperity," Swaraj said. The criminal terrorist militias are not impeded by borders as they seek to destroy the architecture of international stability and build walls of fear in societies that believe in pluralism, she said. "We strongly believe that our fight against terrorism should not only seek to eliminate terrorists but should also identify and take strong measures against States that encourage, support and finance terrorism and provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups," Swaraj said without mentioning any country. Addressing the SCO Defence Ministers' meeting, Sitharaman raised the issue of cross-border terrorism and said the world has now realised that there are no good terrorists. "Arguments of political convenience to provide an alibi for terrorist organisations that support terrorism through material support or otherwise are no longer tolerable. Indeed, as the world has now realised, there are no good terrorists," she said in the presence of Pakistan Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan. India and Afghanistan blame Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. The Haqqani network has carried out a number of kidnapping and attacks against US interests in Afghanistan. The group is also blamed for several deadly attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan, including the 2008 bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul that killed 58 people. "We must adopt an uncompromising approach towards the persisting threat of terrorism in Afghanistan. India is committed to assisting Afghanistan in regaining stability, including cooperation in building capabilities of Afghan security forces," the defence minister said. Swaraj said maiming and killing innocent lives indiscriminately, constitutes the most blatant violation of human rights. "We have to work together to wipe-out this scourge from the face of the earth. In order to realise this objective, we must unite across our differences, strengthen our resolve and script an effective strategy against terror. We welcome the clarity shown by the SCO on terrorism from its inception. "We should also urgently resolve to establish Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that India proposed more than two decades ago in the United Nations. We are determined to consistently strengthen cooperation within the SCO framework for comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security," Swaraj told the SCO foreign ministers. The SCO, headquartered in Beijing, was founded in 2001. Comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan, the SCO aims at military cooperation between the member states and involves intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism operations in Central Asia and joint work against cyber terrorism. India and Pakistan were admitted last year into the organisation in which China plays an influential role. NEW DELHI: Microsoft Corp is not auditing how its partner KPMG cracks down on illegal use of Microsoft software in India, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The denial comes after a prior claim made by an executive of the U.S. technology giant following a client complaint in March. Microsoft runs a global "software asset management" (SAM) programme under which it partners with global consultants such as KPMG in India. Under that programme, KPMG seeks permission from business owners to check for the use of unlicensed software. Reuters reported earlier this month that Microsoft had begun probing KPMG`s work in India after a member of Bharatiya Janata Party, Vinit Goenka, complained to both companies that a KPMG employee had "barged in" to his Mumbai recruitment firm without an appointment to check its software last month. Following the incident, a senior Microsoft India executive, Rajiv Sodhi, wrote to Goenka and apologised, saying Microsoft was "getting an assessment agency to carry out an audit of the process delivery at KPMG to identify and correct gaps, if any," according to an e-mail reviewed by Reuters. Microsoft and KPMG, who had earlier declined to comment on the probe, on Tuesday denied there was such an audit, and said allegations made against the programme`s implementation were "incorrect". "Microsoft and KPMG strongly refute any suggestion that Microsoft is auditing KPMG, or either company has engaged in any wrong doing," the companies said in the statement sent to Reuters. A spokeswoman for Microsoft in India clarified on Tuesday that the company was only examining conduct around the recent incident and was not carrying out a broad probe into KPMG`s other anti-piracy work for Microsoft. POLICE COMPLAINT Microsoft declined to comment on why Sodhi previously told Goenka there was an audit being carried out. It also declined to comment on whether it hired an assessment agency to do such an audit, citing employee and customer confidentiality concerns. "When a customer complains to us about a process issue they may have experienced, Microsoft and KPMG take the concern seriously and address appropriately through process review and gap assessment, if any," the companies said in the joint statement. Sodhi did not respond to a request for comment. Told about the statement from Microsoft and KPMG, Goenka said the companies should be addressing the issues he raised. "Why would he (Sodhi) apologise if they had not done any mistake?" said Goenka, who advises government committees on IT initiatives and filed a police complaint after the incident. India is one of Microsoft`s biggest markets in Asia, but over half of all software installed on computers in the country is unlicensed, advocacy group Business Software Alliance said in 2016. Goenka said his firm, Ratein Infotech, used genuine software. Last month, he received a letter from Microsoft saying his company needed help in "interpreting licensing policies of Microsoft", according to emails seen by Reuters. The issue escalated when a KPMG employee, identified only as Srijesh, entered Ratein`s office on March 15. Microsoft and KPMG apologised to Goenka and Srijesh wrote an e-mail resigning, the emails showed. "The resignation of the KPMG employee was involuntary and hence KPMG has not accepted the resignation," the companies said in their statement, without elaborating. Srijesh could not be reached for comment. Here are the top headlines of the day: 1. Asaram rape case: Security heightened outside Jodhpur jail, verdict shortly Four and a half years after self-styled godman Asaram Bapu was jailed for allegedly raping a teenage girl, the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court is set to pronounce its verdict on Wednesday. Read full report 2. India-Russia defence deals face US sanctions as Trump tries to punish Putin US sanctions on Russian military exports have put the brakes on a $6 billion deal with India and may derail the arms purchases of other US allies around Asia, experts say. Read full report 3. Gagan Shakti 2018: IAF conducts pan India exercise, aims real-time coordination in intense battle scenario The Indian Air Force conducted pan India Exercise Gagan Shakti-2018 from 08-22 Apr 2018. The aim of the exercise was real-time coordination, deployment and employment of air power in a short and intense battle scenario. Read full report 4. Over 5,000 Gujarat farmers battling land acquisition seek 'death' Over 5,000 people in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district, battling against the acquisition of land by a state power utility, have written letters to authorities seeking permission to die, a farmers' body leader on Wednesday claimed. Read full report 5. IPL 2018: Williamson wears Orange Cap on Matchday 18; Purple Cap back to Markande Hyderabad's Kane Williamson went past Rajasthan's Sanju Samson (239 in six matches) during his innings of 29 against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium and became the new owner of the Orange Cap with 259 runs in six matches. Read full report New Delhi: The government is learnt to have cleared the appointment of senior advocate Indu Malhotra as a judge of the Supreme Court, sources in the Law Ministry said on Wednesday. She will be the first woman judge to be appointed to the top post directly from the bar. With this development, the government has decided to put on hold the elevation of Justice KM Joseph, who heads the Uttarakhand High Court. On January 22, the apex court collegium's file recommending the elevation of Justice Joseph and Malhotra reached the Law Ministry. After processing the file in the first week of February, the recommendations were kept in abeyance as the government wanted to elevate only Malhotra. But now, the government has went ahead with the appointment of Malhotra and kept on hold the elevation of Justice Joseph. The government feels that while recommending the name of Justice Joseph, the collegium has disregarded seniority and regional representation. He is 42nd in the seniority list of 669 high court judges. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad would now write to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra about its decision to appoint only Malhotra, the sources added. NEW DELHI: U.S. sanctions on Russian military exports have put the brakes on a $6 billion deal with India and may derail the arms purchases of other U.S. allies around Asia, experts say. Under a law that U.S. President Donald Trump signed in August, any country trading with Russia`s defence and intelligence sectors will face sanctions. The law is designed to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, involvement in the Syrian civil war and meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But American allies who buy weapons and equipment from Russia, the world`s second-largest arms exporter, could suffer as well. The highest-profile example is India, which wants to buy five S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile systems that the country`s military sees as a game changer. The systems are touted as being able to counter the ballistic missiles and stealth aircraft that China is developing, while overwhelming the capabilities of Pakistan, India`s other main adversary. The deal, which Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck as part of an inter-government agreement in 2016, has run headlong into the U.S. sanctions law, two officials in Delhi said. Indonesia and Vietnam also buy weapons from Russia while being regional partners of the United States. Jakarta closed a $1.14 billion pact for Sukhoi fighters recently, while Vietnam is seeking more jet fighter-bombers from Russia. And with both Almaz-Antey Air and Space Defense Corporation, which makes the S-400, and Rosoboronexport, which negotiates Russian export deals, listed as under sanction, those deals have become trickier. "The optics of a major arms purchase from Russia looks quite `iffy` from the point of view of Western capitals, especially at a time when Russia-West relations are at an all-time low and India seeks strategic convergence with the West, including with the U.S." said Abhijnan Rej, a defence strategy expert at Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi think tank. The U.S.-led airstrikes this month against facilities of the Syrian government, an ally of Russia, has further aggravated tensions between the superpowers. A Russian source close to the Indian S-400 deal said "a lot will depend on the confidence and sanity of our Indian partners." WIDER IMPACT The effects of the U.S. sanctions law could be more sweeping than intended, said Cara Abercrombie, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Vietnam, whose air force flies Russian-made Su-30 fighters and uses the S-300 air defence system, wants to continue modernising its inventory. Vietnamese military scholar Carl Thayer said he believed Moscow was still pushing Hanoi to invest in state-of-the-art S-400 missile defences as part of its long-term military plans. "I think it is clear that Russia is still pressing Vietnam for big deals," Thayer said, noting that the two countries already have had reciprocal visits by defence ministers this year. But with the United States working hard to promote sales of American military hardware, and sanctions against Russia`s exporting agencies, Vietnam`s plans could prove overly costly. Indonesia, meanwhile, said the delivery of the first couple of Sukhoi Su-35 jets out of a total of 11 is on track for this year. Officials said that so far they did not anticipate any changes to the deal with the Russians. Indonesian defence officials declined to describe what, if anything, they might do to tackle the fallout of the sanctions imposed on Russian arms sales. A THORNY PROBLEM Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra held discussions with U.S. officials in Washington last month to try to find a solution, a second Indian official said. The issue is crucial to the Indian military, because without Russian parts, supplies and maintenance help, "our ships wont sail, our planes wont fly," the official said. "We can hardly be the regional security provider that America wants us to be at this rate." One way to avoid secondary sanctions would be if the U.S. determines that India is reducing its dependence on Russian arms, said Atman Trivedi, managing director of Hills & Company, a Washington-based firm that advises on international trade and investment. Russian hardware represented 62 percent of the country`s total weapons imports during the past five years, compared with 79 percent in 2008-2012, the Stockholm Peace Research Institute said in a report last month. The U.S. administration could also declare that imposing sanctions on India, a major defence partner, would hurt U.S. national security interests. That would allow a waiver permitting India to do business with Russia. The United States has emerged as India`s No. 2 weapons supplier, closing $15 billion worth of deals over the last decade. Now Lockheed Martin and Boeing are leading the race to provide India with a fleet of new fighter-bombers, one of the world`s largest open tenders. "The intent of the legislation was never to disrupt U.S.-India defence relations, which Congress has repeatedly recognised in law as a strategic priority to the U.S.," said Benjamin Schwartz, aerospace and defence head at United States India Business Council. Abercrombie of Carnegie added that if Congress grants waivers to India, it may also need to do so for other countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia. "The bottom line: India warrants an exemption from these secondary sanctions, as does any country with which the U.S. is forging new and strategically important defence relations," she said. Srinagar: A 'political activist' Ghulam Nabi Patel was shot dead by terrorists in Pulwama's Rajpora in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. His vehicle was fired upon when he was coming to Pulwama from Yader. He later succumbed to injuries on the way to the hospital. Patel's two personal security officers also sustained injuries. Patel was a resident of Shadimarg area. Meanwhile, the ruling PDP and opposition Congress were locked in a row over the party affiliation of the victim. J&K Congress leader, Salman Anees Soz, said, "In a despicable attack, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Patel was shot dead in Rajpora, Kashmir. My deepest condolences to his family. His two PSOs are battling injuries. Please keep them in your prayers." Later he posted another tweet, saying: Ghulam Nabi Patel sahib was associated both with Congress (earlier) & PDP (in recent years). What is important is that another political activist has been targeted. His loss impacts all political parties in Kashmir. May he rest in peace. https://t.co/6VjG4DQ7EE Salman Anees Soz (@SalmanSoz) April 25, 2018 A Congress party spokesperson, while strongly condemning the killing, said in a statement Patel was a 'well-known PDP activist', PTI reported. In a statement, Anwar Bhat, vice president of the state's Congress unit, said the killings, in any form, were highly condemnable and must be condemned by every section of the people. He offered deepest condolences to the bereaved family. On the other hand, expressing condolence, J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti called him a Congress leader and tweeted: Heartfelt condolences to the family of senior Congress leader, G. N. Patel who was killed by militants today in Rajpora. Such cowardly acts achieve nothing but leave one more family devastated. Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 25, 2018 National Conference leader and former J&K CM Omar Abdullah waded into the row, saying if neither PDP nor Congress was willing to own Patel as one of their own, he could be called an NC worker. The Congress and the PDP were not keen on owning the killed leader as their own to avoid conveying to their workers that they were at risk, he claimed. What terrible news to start the day with here. My heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased & prayers for the injured. Allah Jannat naseeb karay. https://t.co/IP1A5Z25yY Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) April 25, 2018 How tragic that Patel Sahib, a political worker assassinated by militants in Kashmir is being disowned by both the PDP & Congress. If neither party is willing to own him as one of their own lets just call him a NC worker so his death is not in vain. Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) April 25, 2018 Ghulam Nabi Patel is being denied the dignity of having been assassinated for belonging to a political party just so the PDP & Congress can lie to their workers to claim they arent at risk from militant bullets. Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) April 25, 2018 Patel had contested the 2002 J&K Assembly elections on a Congress ticket but switched over to Socialist Democratic Party in 2008 Assembly elections. He did not contest the 2014 state polls. (With Agency inputs) BENGALURU: At a time when the political temperature in Karnataka is soaring and the Lingayat issue is adding on to the heat, Siddalinga Swami, the junior pontiff of the influential Lingayat - Siddaganga mutt, clarified that "the mutt only blesses politicians for their future endeavours and does not make any attempt to influence the voters." In the light of the Siddaramaiah government`s decision to accord `religious minority` status for Lingayat, politicians have been thronging the Siddaganga mutt to lure the community. Earlier this month, both Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah and Congress President Rahul Gandhi called on the seer of the prominent mutt, Shivakumara Swami. The 111-year-old seer is considered to be one of the most esteemed living religious and social practitioners of the Lingayat-Veerashaiva faith. Thousands of young children, mostly orphans are educated in the Siddaganga ashram in Tumkur. Abandoned widows, senior citizens find solace in the calmness and service-oriented ashram premises. Gowramma who came here eleven years ago cooks for the little children who live and study here. Several IAS, IPS officers besides state administration officers, lawyers, accountants have had their early education in this ashram claims one of the functionaries. But the mutt, like all the other Lingayat mutts in Karnataka, is now is in the eye of the storm after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah raked up the issue of separate religion status for the community, a demand they have been making for decades, but rushed through by the Congress government apparently in an election gimmick. However, when asked why mutts in Karnataka played an important role during elections, Siddalinga Swami told ANI, "There is no political connection, but on the religious front and spiritual front, they (the politicians) come to seek blessings." Further, when asked whether Siddaganga mutt politically influenced the people, the junior Pontiff told Smita Prakash, Editor, ANI, in an exclusive interview, "No, we (mutt) only encourage voting, we never take sides, we don`t ask anyone to choose a specific party. As a citizen of the country, we must vote. The Constitution of India has given us the right and we must perform our duty and exercise our franchise. We only advocate and appeal to the people to come out and vote where ever may be." "None of the mutts supports any party or vouch for them. But yes, the government (whichever comes in power) does support all the mutts which are running, as a noble cause," he added. While commenting on the political parties trying to use the Lingayat-Veerashaiva debate and the decision to accord minority status to the Lingayat community as the basis to make or mar the chances of parties, Siddalinga Swami dashed the idea and asserted, "All this is completely political, common people know nothing about it. This will not affect anything." Further, condemning the tactics of polarisation, communalism commonly used during elections to syphon votes, Siddalinga Swami underscored that one must not resort to such negative campaigning, as it adversely affects the society and the nation. "For political gains, some people will resort to this, but this is not good for the society and the country also. We are Indians first, we must love India first and try to become a good human being despite the religion or community we belong to. We are human beings first and we must realise that," he said. Lingayats, who make up for 17 percent of Karnataka`s population and are considered a sub-sect within the Hindu faith, on March 19 this year, were proposed to be given minority status as members of a separate religion by the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah government. The final decision regarding the same would be taken by the BJP-led Central government. Reportedly, the Lingayats are known to influence at least 100 out of 224 constituencies in the state. The Assembly election will be held in Karnataka on 12 May 2018 in all 224 constituencies of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The counting of votes and announcement of the results will take place on 15 May 2018. NEW DELHI: In the run-up to the Karnataka assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday interact with all candidates, office bearers, elected representatives and karyakartas of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state via the NaMo App. The interaction will take place on 26 April at 09:00 am. PM Shri Narendra Modi will interact with all candidates, office bearers, elected representatives and karyakartas of BJP Karnataka via NM app on 26 April at 09:00am. #KarnatakaTrustsModi pic.twitter.com/iiVyfbv7hj BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 25, 2018 Karnataka BJP also said on Wednesday that the party is celebrating #NammaManeBJPMane campaign where lakhs of BJP karyakartas are hoisting the party flag atop their houses and are resolving to win their booths to win Karnataka on May 12. We are today celebrating #NammaManeBJPMane campaign. Lakhs of BJP karyakartas are hoisting the party flag atop their houses & are resolving to win their booths to win Karnataka on May 12th. Karnataka will see glorious days ahead with the dual leadership of PM Modi & CM BSY. pic.twitter.com/FxLiI3DJpU BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 25, 2018 The video interaction comes days after the Prime Minister interacted with several party legislators through the NaMo App on Sunday. During the interaction, PM Modi had urged BJP MPs and MLAs to focus on rural development and strengthen 'gram swaraj'. The BJP had earlier announced that PM Modi will be visiting Udupi in poll-bound Karnataka on May 1. However, the announcement made by the BJP on its Twitter handle did not go down well with social media. The twitter handle of Karnataka BJP, which has been extremely active in the run-up to the elections, posted a photo from the popular American fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones to announce Modi's schedule for Udipi. "PM Shri @narendramodi will be visiting Udupi on May 1st, 2018. He will be first visiting Udupi's Shri Krishna Mutt, and will later address a massive public rally in Udupi #ModiIsComing," BJP Karnataka tweeted. The photo posted along with the tweet has a message for Congress. It says, "Brace yourself Congress, Modi is coming." PM Shri @narendramodi will be visiting Udupi on May 1st, 2018. He will be first visiting Udupi's Shri Krishna Mutt, and will later address a massive public rally in Udupi.#ModiIsComing pic.twitter.com/GTaUZghI2w BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 22, 2018 However, soon after the photo was tweeted, Twitter users started asking the logic behind why the photo of Ned Stark, a character why had been killed in the series, was used. The party is planning to organise over 12 public meetings by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to campaign for the party for the upcoming Assembly elections, voting for which will be held on May 12. The party is hoping that Modi's magic will work in favour of the party and will help them remove the Siddaramaih-led Congress government in the state. The PM had previously held public meetings in Davangere and Mysuru in March where he had listed out the policies that the government had brought for the welfare of the people. He had also hit out at the Siddaramaiah for lack of development initiatives in the state. BHOPAL: Two people have been arrested in connection with the alleged assault of the Madhya Pradesh-based model who had met with an accident following the incident. The accused tried to 'pull' her skirt while she was travelling on her scooter. The incident allegedly took place at a busy stretch of road on Sunday morning. Indore: 2 people have been arrested by the police for allegedly molesting a model. #MadhyaPradesh pic.twitter.com/VpKGpLbh30 ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2018 The victim claimed that she was riding her scooter when two guys tried to pull her skirt. While trying to avoid them, she lost balance and met with an accident, receiving several injuries. Taking to social media, the woman had written, "Two guys tried to pull my skirt while I was on my XXX and said, 'dikhao Iske niche Kya hai?' I tried to stop them and lost control and met with an accident." "It happened on one of the busiest roads and nobody tried to stop them. They ran away, and I couldn't even see their number. I've never felt so helpless. I'm not the kind of girl who will just sit and watch. Those fiends ran away, and I couldn't do anything. The woman later revisited the area but could not find any CCTV cameras on the spot. This incident comes days after the body of a six-month-old infant was recovered from the basement of a building in Indore, with the police arresting the victim's uncle for rape and murder. Police in Odisha say they are close to cracking the parcel wedding parcel bomb case, in which a newly-married man and his aunt were killed and the bride sustained severe injuries. They have named an English lecturer as the mastermind in the case, and said he may have masterminded the attack after he lost his principal's post to the groom's mother. Odisha DGP RP Sharma said the investigation zeroed in on the English lecturer, and identified him as Punjilal Meher, media reports said. He was a lecturer at a private college in Bolangir district of Odisha. Police said Meher, with the help of a few others, sent the parcel bomb to the home of the newlyweds from Raipur. The couple had married on February 18, and had a reception three days later. The explosion happened on February 23, when the newlyweds seem to have been opening gifts. The blast killed 26-year-old Soumya Shekar Sahu and his 85-year-old aunt. The new bride, 22-year-old Reema sustained severe injuries that kept her in hospital for a month. Police said Sahu's mother had taken charge as the principal of Bolangir's Jyoti Vikas College in May 2017, a post previously held by Meher. Police said they found he had repeatedly tried to harass her, instigating vulgar slogans to be painted on the walls in her name. He had also reportedly attended the reception and the funeral, according to the police, to avoid suspicion. The case had been transferred to the CID last month. Six people have been detained so far, and the cops say they will arrest Meher soon. However, Meher's wife has said her husband would not have committed the murder and alleged the he is being framed. Mumbai: Three of Bollywood's celebrated actors -- Kareena Kapoor Khan, Swara Bhaskar and Sonam Kapoor - known for mincing no words on issues, refrained from commenting on the prevalence of the casting couch in the film industry a day after veteran choreographer Saroj Khan's controversial remark. The three actresses, along with newcomer Shikha Talsania, were present at the trailer launch of their upcoming film 'Veere Di Wedding' here on Wednesday. During the interaction with media, they were asked for their opinion on the casting couch in the Indian film industry. Swara, who is known for being very vocal about women empowerment and gender equality, said, "Firstly, this topic has nothing to do with our film 'Veere Di Wedding', and I think today we should keep our focus on the film. For the rest of thing, you please come on my Twitter timeline." Adding to that, Kareena said, "I do not think we should divert focus from this film. This is a very special film, and we have put a lot of effort. I think the film should get its relevant attention." Sonam promised to answer questions on the casting couch and women empowerment when she gives personal interviews for the movie. "I would like to say that all these questions which are not related to film, I promise that we will answer them on one-on-one interactions with you people. But not today. We are trying to keep the focus on the film. We will talk about it in our personal time." Produced by Rhea Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor, directed by Shashanka Ghosh, the film "Veere Di Wedding" is releasing on June 1. Saroj Khan, at an event in Sangli, had said the casting couch had been happening since the beginning of time, and that it was not restricted to the film industry where "it provides a livelihood at least". She later retracted and apologised for the comment. JAIPUR: It has been a week that Ashok Parnami resigned from the post of state party chief resigned, however, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan has not picked a replacement yet. This is apparently due to caste equations and pressure politics. The delay is alleged because of a stalemate situation between Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and the Central leadership over appointing a BJP state president. Raje is pressurizing to make her favourite person as party's state head, while the top leadership is in favour of Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as the state president, DNA quoted sources as saying. BJP national general secretary Arun Singh appointed Parnami as a member of the national working committee following which the latter submitted his resignation. Parnami was appointed as Rajasthan BJP chief in February 2014 and is also a BJP legislator from Jaipur's Adarsh Nagar constituency. The preparations of the ruling party for the state assembly elections, slated to be held later this year, have certainly hit a pause button after Parnami put down his papers last week. BJP national president Amit Shah is allegedly considering the caste equation before appointing someone. According to sources, Shah wants to make Shekhawat the state president. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is also in favour this decision. But in view of the opposition from Raje camp, the announcement of the new state president has been not made. Highly placed sources in the BJP revealed that the top leadership is considering several other names as an alternative to Shekhawat, that can benefit the party in the upcoming assembly and general elections. (With inputs from DNA) Mumbai: In the about-to-release Drishtikone, Bengali cinema's distinguished actor Prosenjit Chatterjee plays a man who loses his eyesight and then regains it partially. He is happy to push the envelope with such a role. "My character has a chance to regain sight in both his eyes. But he chooses not to. He opts for just one eye to be restored because he feels there are so many in the world who need that one eye to see... It is an idealistic thought, yes. But I do feel we need to tap the humanism within us for mankind to survive," Prosenjit said. Drishtikone marks Prosenjit's first collaboration with multiple National Award-winning director Kaushik Ganguly. Pronsenjit says he fell in love with "Drishtikone" when he heard the subject. "It took really long for the two of us (director Ganguly and Prosenjit) to come together. But now we're doing two back-to-back films together. The first is 'Drishitkone' and then we've also completed a film called 'Kishore Kumar Junior' which will release during Durga Puja. "I play a Kishore Kumar fan. We got the chance to use a lot of Kishore Kumar's Bangla and Hindi songs in this film. It was fun." It helped that Prosenjit's co-star in "Drishtikone" is the super-talented Rituparna Sengupta. "Ritu and I have done so many films together. We instinctively know how to approach a scene. It's a very rewarding collaboration." The film was tough to shoot as Prosenjit had to go through the film with a fake eye lens. "I play a man with vision in one eye. We got a special lens from the US." Wearing the lens was hazardous to the actor's eyes. "We consulted a doctor who said I should not wear the lens continuously while shooting. So I would take it off after a couple of hours of shooting. It was a lot of painful physical work, but all worth it." But then when has Prosenjit ever shied away from painful work? Smiling modestly, he said: "I think it must have been a decade back in my career when I decided that doing the safe commercial cinema was not my cup of tea. "I could have made lot of more money and I would have got the 'taalis and seetees (claps and whistles)' for doing the matinee-idol roles. But I preferred to take the unconventional route." Working with directors as diverse and dynamic as the late Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadev Dasgputa, Goutam Ghose and Srijit Mukerji, Proseenjit has established a formidable reputation for character transformation, comparable with the legendary Soumitra Chatterjee with whom Prosenjit shared screen space in his last film. Recalling the experience fondly, Prosenjit said: "I finally got to act with Soumitrada in "Mayuraskshi' last year. It was a memorable experience. When the film became a success, I was over the moon. "But to my surprise, 'Mayurakshi' had more waiting. It was re-released in select theatres of Kolkata and it ran to full houses even in the second release." The actor, who confesses he lives, breathes, eats and sleep with cinema, sees a lesson in the "Mayurakshi" experience. Atanu Ghosh's "Mayurakshi", a father-son story, won the Best Bengali film at the 65th National Film Awards. "Audiences' tastes are changing even in Bengal where the conventional potboiler is not acceptable anymore. I am so glad to see the younger generation of actors also attempting something different. "Riddhi Sen, who won the National Award for Best Actor is just 19, a child whom I have seen grow up in front of me." This year, he was happy that regional cinema was whole-heartedly appreciated and rewarded by the jury. "I was so happy to see so many regional language films from many states, including Bengal getting recognition at the National Film Awards this time. "And the Awards' chairperson (filmmaker Shekhar Kapur) expressed such joy at the diversity and excellence of regional cinema. I am so glad to be a small part of the movement towards regional cinema acquiring an identity." LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Dr Kafeel Khan, eight months are he was arrested in connection with the hospital tragedy in Gorakhpur in which sixty-three children had died due to shortage of oxygen. Khan is among those accused in the BRD Medical College case involving death of 63 children last August. He was earlier brought to district hospital for medical checkup after his wife alleged that her husband was being denied medical care. The district hospital's cardiologist Dr KK Shahi tested his blood pressure, carried out other tests and advised him to undergo complete lipid profile test to ascertain risks of heart ailments. After the tests, the police tried to take him away without any media interaction but on the way from cardiology department to the police vehicle, he told reporters present there that he was being framed. "It is complete administrative failure and I have been framed. When the budget was not released from higher level, where from the payment could have been made (for oxygen cylinders)?" he had asked. Asked if the jail administration was providing medicines to him, he replied in the affirmative. "Yes, they are giving (medicines)," he said. But before soon, the police bundled him into the vehicle and he was not able to answer as to why he did not get bail despite Manish Bhandari, the director of oxygen supplier firm Pushpa Sales, got the relief. Dr Kafeel's tests were to be carried out last week but due to lack of sufficient security forces, it was delayed. When contacted, district jail superintendent Ramdhani said, "For last eight months, Dr Kafeel is in the district jail and he felt uneasiness and high blood pressure symptoms on April 12, when the officials called the jail's cardiologist for his tests and the doctor advised for ECHO test. "But, due to lack of adequate security force, it got delayed. More policemen were provided yesterday from the police lines for his security but his tests were postponed because of the doctors' strike at the district hospital. Today Dr Kafeel was taken to the district hospital for the tests," he said. Sixty-three children, including infants had died in August 2017 within four days due to disruption in supply of oxygen to medical oqing to non-payment of dues to the vendor. The state-run medical college is the single largest government-aided facility in Gorakhpur which also attends to the patients from nearby areas like Maharajganj, Deoria, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Sant Kabirnagar, Ballia, certain areas of Bihar like Gopalganj and Siwan, besides border areas in neighbouring Nepal. Dr Khan's wife Dr Shabistan Khan had in a press conference alleged that her husband and other doctors were being denied medical care in jail. The district prison authorities, however, had rejected the charges. In her press conference, Dr Shabistan had apprehended that the doctors lodged in the prison might be "killed. "She said her husband suffered a heart stroke on March 29 but was not given proper treatment." "Former BRD Medical College principal, Dr Rajiv Mishra, is suffering from liver disease and diabetes but he is also not getting proper medical attention," she had claimed. She had also said another accused, Dr Purnima Shukla, who is suffering from a hairline fracture, was also not getting the requisite medical attention. "I met Dr Rajiv. He has turned pale and lost weight. My husband has also lost weight and they need good treatment," she said. "Over eight months have passed but no justice has been delivered," she had said. She said the doctors were being made scapegoats for the tragedy while the "big fish" were responsible for the tragedy as the state government's medical department had not released the fund to the company supplying oxygen cylinders to the hospital. The jail's senior superintendent had said Purnima Shukla hurt herself when she slipped while going to the bathroom, and was given medical treatment. "The condition of Dr Rajiv and Dr Purnima is improving," he had said. GREATER NOIDA: Medical and pathology reports of a Greater Noida class 11 student who had alleged that she was raped do not show any signs of rape or injury, officials said on Wednesday. Investigators say they are proving other facts related to the alleged case to uncover the truth. The girl had alleged that she was gangraped in a car by one of her relatives and a school friend on April 18. Following her complaint, Greater Noida police lodged a case against three people, all of whom are currently absconding. According to the girl, she was allegedly abducted by the accused after school and raped in a car. She was later found in an unconscious state near Galtiya college in Greater Noida. The Union Cabinet had on Saturday cleared Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance stipulating stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape, particularly of girls below 16 and 12 years. The ordinance was signed by President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday. The Ordinance provides death sentence for rapists of girls under 12 years. The minimum punishment in case of rape of women has been increased from the rigorous imprisonment of seven years to ten years, extendable to life imprisonment. The Centre's decision came in the wake of a nationwide outrage over cases of sexual assault and murder of minors in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Surat in Gujarat, and the rape of a girl in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh. (With ANI inputs) Whatsapp has become one of the mediums through which candidates have filed their nominations for the West Bengal panchayat elections. The Calcutta High Court was informed on Tuesday that nine candidates have used Whatsapp to file their nominations for the West Bengal panchayat elections which are scheduled to take place in three phases on May 1, May 3 and May 5. West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) Secretary Nilanjan Shandilya told the High Court that the poll panel has accepted all the nominations filed through WhatsApp. The single judge bench of Justice Subrata Talukdar had earlier on Tuesday taken up a petition filed by Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist Red Star leader Sharmishtha Chowdhury in which she had claimed that several candidates failed to reach Bhangar in South 24 Parganas to file their nominations due to poor law and order situation in the area. The court directed the WBSEC to accept all the nominations papers sent through WhatsApp. The court had on Tuesday directed the WBSEC to make arrangements for the filing of the nominations of 11 candidates of the Polerhat II gram panchayat at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district after they claimed that they were being prevented from reaching the office designated for the purpose by armed hooligans. Nine of the 11 candidates filed their nominations using WhatsApp, petitioner Chowdhury told the High Court. All the nominations will be scrutinised on April 25 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 28. Counting of votes will take place on May 8 and the results will be declared on the same date. The candidates had sent photos of their filled up nomination papers to the authorities concerned through WhatsApp as they were manhandled and their papers were snatched at the Alipore Survey Building where they had been directed to go by the commission to file their nominations, she claimed. She also claimed that as the fees for the nominations, the filing of which ended on Monday, could not be paid as the original papers were snatched and that the nominations could be treated as invalid during scrutiny on this ground. Justice Talukdar then directed the SEC secretary to treat the nominations of the nine candidates as valid and said that no fuzziness would be accepted by the court over technicalities. Nilanjan Shandilya gave an undertaking before the court that the nominations would be treated as valid and the candidates' names would appear in the ballot papers. Justice Talukdar had directed the commission to file a compliance report on Tuesday in respect of the court's direction. The court had said that the commission will lie in contempt if its order is not executed. The SEC had extended the nomination process by a day for Monday at the direction of Justice Talukdar. There has been pre-poll violence in several areas of the state and several candidates belong to the opposition parties have accused the Trinamool Congress government of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of intimidating its rivals. NEW DELHI: The Internet has found United States President Donald Trump's doppelganger in Dolores Leis Antelo, a farmer from Nanton, La Coruna. A snap of Antelo holding a hoe and gazing into the distance on her farm has gone viral after an interview with a local newspaper, La Voz de Galicia. If ONLY he were just an Spanish lady working a small farm, and not the leader of the free world.@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/b9ZfiZLADT David N (@DNealeColorado) April 24, 2018 According to the Spanish news outlet, Antelo has been branded as the "Donald Trump of the Costa da Morte." "My photo seems to have traveled far. I say it is because of the colour of my hair," she told. One twitterer wrote: "If ONLY he were just a Spanish lady working on a small farm, and not the "leader" of the free world @realDonaldTrump". Meanwhile, some netizens are questioning whether Trump has a long lost relative in Spain. The Russian occupation cabinet of ministers had issued a decision to hand the 6.5 m of land into Russian federal ownership. The decision was reportedly taken in response from an application from Russias contractor for the Crimea Bridge which Russia is building from the Taman Peninsula in Russia to Kerch, in Crimea, via the Tuzla Spit and Tuzla Island The Russian-controlled government in occupied Crimea has decided to hand over Ukraines Tuzla Island to Russia. The move is linked with Russias construction of a bridge between Russia and Crimea, and is legally meaningless. The territory remains Ukrainian according to international law, and, in accordance with Ukraines Constitution would require a national referendum to alter its geopolitical status. Interfax reported on 17 April that the Russian occupation cabinet of ministers had issued a decision to hand the 6.5 m of land into Russian federal ownership. The decision was reportedly taken in response from an application from Russias contractor for the Crimea Bridge which Russia is building from the Taman Peninsula in Russia to Kerch, in Crimea, via the Tuzla Spit and Tuzla Island. It is the island that the government originally established by Russian invading soldiers in February 2014 has now handed over from Crimean to Russian federal property. The Tuzla Island has been considered part of Crimea since January 1941, before the decision on February 19, 1954, that Crimea should be included within the Ukrainian SSR. From an international point of view, there is no dispute over either the Tuzla Island or over Crimea. They were and remain part of Ukraine. Back in 2003, Russia did not dispute that Crimea was Ukrainian but tried to claim that the Tuzla Island had not been included in the 1954 decision. It began building a dam between the Taman Peninsula and the island without any consultation with Ukraine. The latter reacted firmly to what was clearly called a threat to its territorial integrity, and the dam works were eventually suspended. Ukrainian political commentator Vitaly Portnikov, in a text entitled The occupiers fear suggests that Russia may, in fact, realize that it will not be able to hold on to occupied Crimea, and is trying to grab what it can. Whether or not this is the case, the fact that Russia earlier disputed Ukraines sovereignty over the Tuzla Island makes it look very foolish now. The Kremlin has tried to justify its landgrab by citing the invalid and rigged referendum on 16 March 2014. It can give no justification for appropriating the Tuzla Island. Despite all of Russias attempts to assert a historical claim to Crimea, the peninsula was always organically linked and dependent on Ukraine for water and power, as well as for food and other goods. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a bridge to be built between the Taman Peninsula and Kerch soon after annexation, and vast amounts of money have been spent on the project. The entire construction of the Kerch bridge has gone to a firm owned by a Putin crony Arkady Rotenberg. He and his brother are reported to have increased their personal wealth by $2.5 billion over contracts for the Sochi Olympics and state-controlled Gazprom. Rotenberg has long been under western sanctions for his role in undermining Ukraines territorial integrity, so would not lose more internationally over the bridge, while the open cheque style of funding gave him even greater possibilities for increasing his own wealth. Ukraine has severed any agreements made between Moscow and Ukraines disgraced former President Viktor Yanukovych over the construction of a bridge. Since Russia is now building it without Ukrainian consent, it is in breach of the Ukrainian and international law. With sanctions in place, it would be very foolish for any foreign investors or insurers to have any involvement at all, and the only mention of an insurer has been of an obscure Crimean insurance company. In fact, there are other reasons as well why insurers would want to stay well away from this project. There appears to have been no environmental accountability despite the fact that the Kerch Strait is an area of seismic activity, with extremely difficult weather and geophysical conditions. It was reported back in June 2015 that the bill being "pushed through parliament made it possible for the bridge to be designed and built simultaneously. Permits were effectively issued on the basis of an unspecified amount of preparatory work and friendship. In addition to the potential for disaster, if the bridge collapses, there has been zero concern about major damage to the environment and the disruption of the water flow between the Black and Azov seas. Read the original text at Human Rights in Ukraine Open source Since Tuesday morning, four Ukrainian servicemen sustained combat wounds in the conflict zone. According to the press centre of the counter-terrorism operation HQ, they are now at hospitals, receiving the necessary medical aid. In Donetsk region, the enemy shelled Vodyane and Shyrokyne, using 120 and 82 mm mortars; in Lebedynske, Talakivka, Lomakyno, Avdiivka and Mariinka, militants opened fire from RPGs and small arms. Enemy snipers fired on Ukrainian positions on Talakivka and Pavlopol. In Luhansk region, the illegal armed units opened fire in Troitske, Valuiske, Luhanske and Novoluhanske; 82 mm mines hit positions of Ukrainian troops in this area. Another provocation by Russia-backed militants in Luhansk region put the end to an attempt to disengage troops and forces near Stanytsia Luhanska. The Ukrainian military reported that on Wednesday noon. 'The attack on positions of Ukraine's Armed Forces lasted for about ten minutes. The counter-terrorism operation HQ considers this as the attempt to avoid living up to the decision about the division of troops and force, and shows that the leaders of the Russian occupant administration have no intentions to stabilize the situation on the contact line', reads the Facebook post on the page of counter-terrorism operation HQ. The incident occurred at about 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Ukrainian side added that the government troops are ready for disengagement if the militants fully abide by the conditions of Minsk agreements. The Donetsk Filtration Station and the pumping station of the first rise of the South-Donbas water supply system were heavily attacked. The personnel was evacuated to the shelter as Donbas Water reported. Today, at 6:20 am the Donetsk Filtration Station and the pumping station of the first rise of the South-Donbas water supply system were heavily attacked. The personnel is at the shelter until 7:30 am, the message said. At the moment, the territory and equipment are examined for the damages. As we reported the militants shelled the convoy of the filtration station's workers. Five workers suffered, one of them is in the serious condition. On April 18, Donetsk Filtration Station has stopped its work and the supply of the drinking water was stooped to Avdiivka, partially to Donetsk and Yasynuvata, Chervony Partyzan, Kruta Balka and Verkhnyotoretske villages. The Headquarters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is sure that the situation was staged and provoked by the leaders of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics. U.S. State Department condemned the shelling of the filtration station and claimed that Russia is responsible for the worsening of the humanitarian station in the east of Ukraine. The water supply to Avdiivka was stopped on April 20. However, on April 23, the water supply mechanism in Avdiivka, Donetsk region was fully restored at 3 p.m. A blast thundered at the police station in occupied Makiivka, Donetsk region. According to Telegram channel VMakeevke, the local residents heard a loud explosion at about 8.30 p.m. Tuesday. 'A powerful blast thundered not far from a local shop. The unknown people set the charge near the window of a police station and blew it up!', reads the message. 'The window glass is shattered, but it seems there are no casualties'. In February 2017, Mikhail Tolstykh, a.k.a. Givi, the high-ranked commander of Russain mercenaries in Donbas was killed during the attack on his office. The forensics found out the attacker used a rocket-propelled flamethrower. Open source Ukrmetprom, the association of Ukrainian steel-making enterprises and World Steel Dynamics (USA) signed a memorandum of cooperation in Kyiv on 24 April, UNIAN reports. The deal could lead to Ukraine being a European platform for industry professionals from across the globe. The parties are looking to hold international industry forums and conferences for top industry executives to share ideas and experience. The cooperation with World Steel Dynamics is likely to create additional opportunities for the steel-producing businesses of Ukraine to gather data, expertise and essential skills, the president of Ukrmetprom Oleksandr Kalenkov said. This is an opportunity for Ukrainian companies to establish their presence in new markets and industries. The global metallurgy market is extremely competitive. We hope to create a situation, where companies compete with each other not only in production costs, but also in customer service, the quality of their products, and access to new markets. If that is the case, it would create substantial support not only for the metallurgy sector, but for the Ukrainian economy as a whole, Kalenkov explained. Kalenkov said that the agreements are also within the framework of the nations export strategy that could considerably influence the metallurgy industry, which provides some 28% of Ukraines revenues denominated in foreign currency. World Steel Dynamics is the worlds prominent steel information service that holds numerous industry events for over a decade. World Steel Dynamics Inc. provides strategic information services to deliver perspectives on steel industry developments. The company also undertakes customized steel research assignments and investment banking assessments. When soldiers come back home, they see a totally different reality: they see peace. But they also want to see positive changes in Ukraine We were moving through flashing fields. And I realized history was evolving right in front of my very eyes. I had yellow goggles on; everything was yellow with them. I took the goggles off, and then the wind started blowing in my eyes. I couldnt see anything, says volunteer soldier Bizhan Sharopov, who fought against Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine in 2014-15. Hes talking about the battles for Lutuhyne and Heorhiivka that took place in the summer of 2014. Bizhan was among Donbas veterans participating in the Voice of War project, which teaches writing skills so that veterans can share their experiences about the war in eastern Ukraine. You know that the next bullet or a fragment might be for you. But you dont fixate on fear. You just do your job: you are firing back. You are helping the wounded. You are making barricades, says Vitalii. Another hot spot was Ilovaisk in August 2014. Ukrainian forces were withdrawing from the besieged town through a humanitarian corridor agreed on with the Russians. But the Russian forces opened fire. First they did not expect our counterattack: their equipment and people were so close to us. We destroyed what we could. They asked for a truce to recover their wounded and killed. But what the Russians really wanted was to move their equipment a safe distance away: our maximum firing range was only 600 meters through grenade launchers, says a volunteer soldier, Ihor Mykhailyshyn, of the Donbas Battalion. Ukrainian soldiers knew that they had already lost the battle of Ilovaisk. Those who remained surrendered to the Russian army, not to cossacks or separatists, so they had the illusion that they would be treated in a civilized way. Both of us are armies: at least they wont kill us, we thought, continues Ihor. Nobody told us where we were going. One local saw the road to Donetsk through a slit in a truck. And we started saying farewell to our lives. The separatists kept the captives in a basement. Two days later they brought us food. Why would you feed death row prisoners? Then we realized that they wouldnt kill us, recalls Ihor. Women face particular challenges in war. Alina Viatkina, a paramedic of the volunteer medic battalion Hospitallers, which is part of the Right Sector, a Ukrainian nationalist party, confesses that women competed to see who could be more similar to the men. You couldnt identify yourself with other women. I talked to or took smoke breaks mainly with men. Also, you had to constantly prove that you could do your job, she added. I was on duty at night when I did not have to. I ran to the wounded when I did not have to. Alina provided medical aid to the injured during the battle that raged at Donetsk Airport in the winter of 2015. We regularly went behind Vodiane, closer to the airstrip. We waited for wounded troops for eight to ten hours. Some soldiers put alcohol wipes under their tongues to wake up. We barely slept. I had never drunk so many energy drinks before, recalls Alina. War is not only about heroes. Its also a job, a routine job, says Yurii Rudenko, a serviceman who guarded military staff in Kramatorsk (2015-16) and Chasiv Yar (April-July 2016). It was a period of trench warfare in the Donbas with frequent truces. It was calmer than maneuver warfare, and the main challenge for soldiers was to stay on their toes. During his service, the Ukrainian army often shot down Russian surveillance drones. In my unit, we were training to launch fire right after the order in no more than forty seconds. This helped keep us busy, Yurii continues. Talking about the situation after the so-called ceasefire of February 2015, which was often violated, Vasyl Antoniak, a volunteer soldier fighting in Donbas in 2014-15, says, The longer you are at war, the more you like it. When its calm and there is no shelling, you start worrying, he adds. I asked Vasyl what the scariest moment was. He told me it was the retreat from Khriashchuvate to Shchastia. We had to defend the bridge in Shchastia and blow it up when needed. We were awaiting a massive advance of Russian tanks and, therefore, withdrawing our weapons. Looking at this was very painful. We heard a constant hum night and day. And I realized that this was it. Read the original text at Atlantic Council. This could also have geopolitical consequences for the entire world, Yuriy Vitrenko says There's a danger that the shutdown of gas transit via the Ukrainian territory will increase the risk of a large-scale conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Yuriy Vitrenko, the sales manager of Naftogaz Ukraine company said this to 112 Ukraine TV channel in an interview. 'We are now making sure that European politicians are aware of this issue as well; they should realize not only the economic consequences of this for Ukraine but also geopolitical consequences for the entire world', he said. On April 24, Russia's Gazprom, the state-run energy monopolist ruled out the possibility to extend the gas transit contract with Naftogaz Ukraine. The Russian side mentioned there are no official negotiations in this regard so far. National Anti-Corruption Bureau does not disclose her name; the bribe amounted to USD 50,000 A worker of Ukraine's State Security Service, the SBU, was busted on bribery in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday evening. A correspondent of 112 Ukraine TV channel reported that directly from the scene. 'Operatives of the NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau, - 112 International) detained a woman; her identity remains unrevealed, and she herself did not disclose her name. No comments from NABU agents, either', he said. Meanwhile, the SBU assists the NABU in this case; according to Olena Hitlyanska, the spokeswoman of the agency posted this on Facebook. 'We've been cleaning our Service from traitors and corrupt actors since June 2015. Over the last three years, we registered 89 criminal cases against such workers of the SBU. The courts announced verdicts in 21 of these cases', she wrote. The animosity towards the journalists and media rises in the world, including Europe according to 2018 World Press Freedom Index published on April 25 as DW reported. According to the index, at four of five countries where the situation with the press freedom deteriorated. Particularly, it takes place in Malta, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Serbia. One of the recent cases of the journalists murder was in Slovakia with Jan Kuciak investigative reporter. Moreover, the populist politics and the leaders of some countries, for example, the Czech Republic, negatively influence the democracy and freedom of the journalism. I think the developments in Central and Eastern Europe make it clear that we are dealing in many cases with not-yet-established democracies, whose EU membership may have come too early, Christian Mihr, the head of the German branch of Reporters Without Borders said. Also, Hungary is at risk as far as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban supports the pro-government titles and the spread of the countrys ideology. Talking about other countries under the threat of the press freedom deterioration, China, Russia and the USA are also on this list. As we reported Ukraine is placed 101st of 180 countries in the annual media freedom ranking composed by Reporters Without Borders. Compared with the 2017 ranking, this country appears to have progressed, but just a little bit - one rank up (in 2017, Ukraine was placed 102nd). The media freedom degree was estimated at the level of 33.19 points. Oleksandr Avakov is suspected of embezzling over $536 thousand from the budget during the purchase of the backpacks for National Guards in 2015 Kyiv Solomenskiy District Court has again set aside the arrest of the real property which belongs to Arsen Avakovs, Internal Minister, son Oleksandr suspected of embezzling money during the purchase of backpacks for National Guard, as the Courts decision states. According to the decision the Court canceled the arrest of three parking slots and two apartments. The decision cannot be appealed. As it was reported earlier, Oleksandr Avakov is suspected of embezzling over $536 thousand from the budget during the purchase of the backpacks for National Guards in 2015. Serhiy Chobotar, former Deputy Internal Minister, and Volodymyr Lytvyn, the representative of the backpacks supply tender winner company, are suspected of the same crime. The General Prosecutors Office opened a criminal proceeding on the case of backpacks purchase for our soldiers in Donbas in June 2015. According to journalist Roman Bochkala, the Internal Ministry has purchased backpacks $114 each for around $536 thousand in total. Later, a video with a conversation of the individuals similar to Serhiy Chobotar and Oleksandr Avakov and one more person appeared on YouTube. They were negotiating on backpacks supply before the tender was held. The Court imposed a pre-trial restraint in the form of a personal commitment to wear an electronic bracelet. The same restraint was imposed on Chobotar. Kyiv Solomenskiy District Court arrested the real property of Oleksandr Avakov, Chobotar and Lytvyn in the early November in 2017. Kyiv Court of Appeal canceled the arrest of Avakovs son property in December 2017. Later, it was reported that the Court has again seized the property of Avakos son on April 5. It was about three parking slots in Kyiv underground parking and two apartments in Kyiv and Kharkiv. A woman was detained at the border with Crimea on April 23 The City Court of Kherson decided to arrest a citizen of Ukraine detained at the administrative border with annexed Crimea and who was the 'confidant' of Vladimir Putin at the recent election of Russia's president in the peninsula for two months. The press service of the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea reported this to 112.ua. The term of the arrest is until June 21, 2018. The possibility to bail a detainee is not provided. As we reported, on April 23, the Ukrainian law enforcers detained a woman who was the 'confidant' of Vladimir Putin at the recent election of Russia's president in the peninsula at the administrative border with annexed Crimea. It was established that she organized and held the illegal gathering of the signatures at the peninsula for the support of the nomination of Putin for the presidency. She acted in the interests of Russia and Russian non-governmental organization 'Victory Volunteers'. On April 24, a woman was served with charge papers on the state treason. On March 18, 2018, at the fourth anniversary of the annexation, the election of the president of Russia took place there. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognized the Russian election in Crimea illegal and doubted the legitimacy of the election. Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine submitted a draft law to the parliament that provides the revoking of the Ukrainian citizenship due to the participation in the Russian election in Crimea. Ukraine asks the court to explain the Order on use of the provisional measures adopted last year Open source Pavlo Klimkin, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine treats the appeal to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with a request to explain the Order on use of the provisional measures as the additional pressure on Russia as he reported on Twitter. Our appeal to the ICJ toward the explanation of the Order on use of the provisional measures against Russia is an additional pressure on Russia that should begin to fulfill the judicial order instead of pretending that they do not exist, he wrote. As we reported Ukraine appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with a request to finally explain its Order on use of the provisional measures adopted last year. The appeal dated April 19, 2018, was filed on April 24. On February 19, 2018, Ukraine submitted its Memorial in Arbitration Proceedings against the Russian Federation under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is noted that since 2014, Russia has unlawfully excluded Ukraine from exercising its maritime rights; it has exploited Ukraines sovereign resources for its own ends, and it has usurped Ukraines right to regulate within its own maritime areas. Through these violations of international law, Russia is stealing Ukraines energy and fisheries resources, harming the livelihoods of Ukrainian fishermen, and blocking traffic to Ukrainian ports with its illegal bridge over the Kerch Strait, among other serious violations. The Council of Europe state members are recommended to establish observatories for monitoring the disinformation and fakes The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution on the support of the counterwork to Russian propaganda at the EU level on Wednesday 25, as Volodymyr Ariev, the Chairman of Ukrainian delegation in Parliament Assembly of Council of Europe, wrote on Facebook. Another victory of ours. The PACE has just unanimously adopted a resolution under my report: expressed support of the counterwork to Russias propaganda at the EU level and recommended the Council of Europe state members to establish observatories for monitoring the disinformation and fakes, Ariev stated. It was noted that the document states that some Russian state media turned into propaganda schemes for spreading fake news and incite hatred. Earlier, the Pope condemned fake news spreading to achieve political goals and called for fighting against evil of fake information. Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko thinks, that populism and fake news are one of the most dangerous problems in Europe. As it was reported earlier, the PACE spring session is to be held on April 23-27. It was noted that the PACE acknowledged the ORDLO (separated districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions) occupation by Russia on April 24. BTR-80 Open source The Ukrainian military hardware has arrived in Germany for the participation in the international Combined Resolve X drills as the press service of Ukraines Defense Ministry reported. On April 24, the Ukrainian military hardware has arrived at the proving ground Hohenfels, Germany for the participation in the international Combined Resolve X drills, the message said. It is noted that the air assault company will be equipped with seven BTR-80 and the tank-men will participate with five T-84 tanks. As we reported the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has begun the main stage of the joint special operation Border-2018. It aims to decrease a level of an illegal activity at the state border areas and regions. The special operation will last from April 24 until November 30. Also, the Ukrainian army went one rank higher on the list of the world's strongest armies composed by Global Firepower Company. Currently, the Ukrainian Army is 29th in this ranking, among the 136 countries listed. Ukraine is placed between Greece (28th) and the Czech Republic (29th). 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!) Air Canada will be able to handle more COVID vaccines, lobsters and other perishable products after it builds out a YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. The US State Department has released a statement over the ongoing events in Armenia calling for dialogue. The coming days represent a historic moment for the people of Armenia and its elected leaders, as they embark on the process of forming a new government, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a press release. Nauert urged all sides to engage constructively, within the legal framework of the Armenian constitution. We look forward to working closely with a new government on the many areas of shared interest between the United States and Armenia. As a friend and partner to Armenia, we commend the Armenian people for engaging in dialogue to forge their sovereign future through democratic and peaceful means, the statement said. On April 23, at 16:00, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned as widespread protests entered the 11th day. On the same day, as required by law, the government resigned. First Deputy PM Karen Karapetyan was named acting PM at an emergency Cabinet meeting. Later it was announced that Mr. Karapetyan will have a meeting with Mr. Pashinyan leader of the opposition on April 25. But around midnight of April 24, the government said that the meeting has been cancelled because the opposition leader unilaterally made new demands. Acting PM Karen Karapetyan addressed the President to organize a meeting in a format of his preference, with participation of a wide spectrum of political parties within and outside the parliament. English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. National security agents and police officers of Armenia have apprehended Garegin Chugaszyan, a long-time fugitive wanted by law enforcement agencies since 2016 for organizing riots. Chugaszyan, 53, was chairman of the Founding Parliament initiative, an opposition movement, and was detained in 2015 for organizing riots ahead of April 24 the Armenian Genocide commemoration day. However, the prosecution changed the detention a few days later and Chugaszyan was released on a signature bond. Chugaszyan later failed to appear before court. He had changed his place of residence without notifying authorities as required by law, thus violating the signature bond. The court issued an arrest warrant and Chugaszyan was declared wanted. English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan doesnt accept opposition MP Nikol Pashinyans proposal on the election format of the peoples candidate, reports Armenpress. I dont know any country where peoples candidate is elected in that way, there are elections for that purpose. Now for one citizen someone is acceptable, and for the other another figure is acceptable, so what to do? The peoples candidate is not being elected in this way. I propose to hold snap parliamentary elections, and if he is the peoples candidate, he will come [to power], the acting PM said. He said it would be better for the political forces to meet and discuss the current situation, and for this purpose a platform is being proposed. We have developed laws, Constitution, we cannot get out of this field. Its not so that everything is being done by the will, dictation of one political force, everyone must sit and decide how to hold snap elections. The laws say so, the peoples candidate is being elected by elections, the choice is the election, if you know a country that is being elected in another way, please tell me, the acting PM said, adding that it is maximally necessary to return to normal life. On April 23, at 16:00, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned as widespread protests entered the 11th day. On the same day, as required by law, the government resigned. First Deputy PM Karen Karapetyan was named acting PM at an emergency Cabinet meeting. Later it was announced that Mr. Karapetyan will have a meeting with Mr. Pashinyan leader of the opposition on April 25. But around midnight of April 24, the government said that the meeting has been cancelled because the opposition leader unilaterally made new demands. Acting PM Karen Karapetyan addressed the President to organize a meeting in a format of his preference, with participation of a wide spectrum of political parties within and outside the parliament. On April 24 MP Pashinyan told foreign media outlets that the peoples candidate will be decided at the Republic Square. The name of the candidate will be announced, and the candidate will determined by the reaction of the people. English translator/editor Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey promises not to stop the fight in the Senate until the Armenian Genocide is fully and properly recognized, reports Armenpress. The Senator issued a statement on the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. On this day each year, we honor the memories of the 1.5 million Armenians who perished in the Armenian Genocide. It is our moral obligation to fully and properly recognize the Genocide, and for too long, we have not lived up to that obligation. Pope Francis has rightly called the Armenian Genocide the first Genocide of the 20th century, rightfully proclaiming that it is our duty to honor the memory of those who died. I will not stop fighting in the U.S. Senate until we completely and totally fulfill this duty, and that it is made the clear, unequivocal conclusion once and for all of our nation as a model for tolerance and freedom around the world, the statement said. English translator/editor Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan sees the solution in the current situation in all political forces sitting at a negotiations table within the framework of the Constitution. Asked by ARMENPRESS at a April 25 press briefing if he doesnt fear that the situation will escalate again, the acting PM said: I have both fears and a solution. I have proposed for all political forces to sit down and negotiate within the framework of the Constitution and rules and that none of us dictates will to each other. And it is maximally necessary to return to normal course of life, we wont have anything good from this. Within the framework of political processes, the acting PM suggests snap elections. According to Karapetyan, it isnt him that rules out the election of a street-popular candidate of PM, but the law. Weve said that the choice of the people, the vote of confidence of the people is decided through elections. If a certain segment trusts someone, by which indicator are you saying that he is the peoples choice? The only indicator are elections, there is no other indicator. I am suggesting holding snap elections, he said. The acting PM noted that the political force which is in favor of changes has the chance to nominate its candidate in the parliament under the active Constitution. Let them nominate and not claim to be the peoples choice when the election hasnt been made, he said. Earlier on April 24, opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan told a press conference that the peoples candidate should be decided in the Republic Square of Yerevan. Pashinyan suggested announcing the name of the candidate and it will be decided by the peoples response. On April 25, the President of Armenia announced he is starting consultations with both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary political parties. English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan and his crowd of supporters resumed their rallies April 25 from the Republic Square of Yerevan. Earlier on April 24, all sides agreed to put aside political differences to honor Armenian Genocide victims. 16:04 - State Revenue Committee says all border checkpoints function normally, denies opposition MP Pashinyan's claim on closure of Bagratashen checkpoint. 14:30 - A group of protesters who blocked a road in Vardenis, Armenia, didnt allow a military convoy heading to on-duty combat service to pass, Yerkir Media reports. The commander of the soldiers was forced to interfere and only afterwards the road was briefly opened. As demonstrations continue in various parts, protesters once again resumed their tactic of blocking streets. 12:30 Police release statement calling on drivers who take part in ongoing rallies in Yerevan to maintain law and order, respect the rights of others and to behave within the framework of reasoning. Many have been seen driving recklessly. 12:45 Protesters attempt to shut down Arshakunyats Avenue, Garegin Nzhdeh Square and nearby streets, Halabyan Kievyan intersection. Pashinyan-led crowd marches through Yerevan. In the early morning of April 25, a group of students began marching down Abovyan Street towards Republic Square. Protesters attempted to block traffic in the Arshakunyats Avenue, Garegin Nzhdeh Square and nearby streets and the Halabyan Str. Kievyan Str. intersection. Pashinyan, wearing the same outfit for already the 13th day, camouflage t-shirt and a hat, and also a beard is seen leading the crowd from Charents Street to Alek Manukyan Street. Pashinyan said he has had a meeting with EU Ambassadors stationed in Armenia. He said he is planning to meet with the Russian and US Ambassadors soon. Police presence is seen in central streets and Republic Square. Earlier on April 24, opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan told a press conference that the peoples candidate should be decided in the Republic Square of Yerevan. Pashinyan suggested announcing the name of the candidate and it will be decided by the peoples response. Acting PM Karen Karapetyan said the only way to determine a choice of the people are elections. Karapetyan said he is in favor of snap elections. On April 23, at 16:00, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned as widespread protests entered the 11th day. On the same day, as required by law, the government resigned. First Deputy PM Karen Karapetyan was named acting PM at an emergency Cabinet meeting. Later it was announced that Mr. Karapetyan will have a meeting with Mr. Pashinyan leader of the opposition on April 25. But around midnight of April 24, the government said that the meeting has been cancelled because the opposition leader unilaterally made new demands. Acting PM Karen Karapetyan addressed the President to organize a meeting in a format of his preference, with participation of a wide spectrum of political parties within and outside the parliament. The President said Wednesday that he has commenced consultations with both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary political forces. English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. The Council of Rectors of State Universities of Armenia has urged to immediately shift the ongoing political processes to the legal framework, the ministry of education and science told ARMENPRESS. We address a call to all political forces, social groups, the entire society of Armenia. It is necessary to immediately shift the ongoing political processes only to a legal framework, dialogue platform and solve all issues with the complete participation of the political segment and through consensus ruling out the deepening of an atmosphere of hatred and the possible use of violence. Only this way it will be possible to bring the country out of the tense situation, the statement of the council said. English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Egyptians show a great compassion over the issue of the Armenian Genocide, Atef Saadawy expert, researcher at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said, adding that Egypt considers the recognition of the Genocide as a fair issue, Armenpress reports. The expert delivered a report titled Official position of Egypt and Arab world on the Armenian Genocide during the scientific conference Armenian-Arab Relations: From the Armenian Genocide to current challenges in Armenias National Academy of Sciences on April 25. A bill on recognizing the Armenian Genocide has been submitted to the Egyptian Parliament. In addition, there are issues voiced in courts in order for the Egypt to recognize it. Culture days, different initiatives and events commemorating the Genocide are being held in the country, Atef Saadawy told Armenpress. Asked whether the stances of the state and the people are different on this matter, the Egyptian researcher said the difference between the views of the people and the leadership is not great. Talking about the Armenian Genocide recognition bill, the expert said it is in the Parliament for already three years, but they hope the bill will be adopted during the next sitting. Egypt doesnt want to view the adoption of the Armenian Genocide from this perspective, Atef Saadawy said. English translator/editor Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Political scientist Alexander Margarov, commenting on the proposal of acting Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan to hold snap parliamentary elections, says opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan and his supporters are not ready for such elections. The Republican Party of Armenia, which is a majority in the Parliament, today says that they are ready to hold new parliamentary elections within the law, and this proposal is understandable. In response they receive the reaction that Pashinyan and his supporters are not ready to participate in such elections, the political scientist told Armenpress, adding that Pashinyan and his supporters have already announced that they will boycott such elections. The political scientist is not sure how the current situation will end in Armenia, its still unclear which side will win. According to him, there are two parallel processes in Armenia. The first one is that the RPA is trying to return the Constitutional institutional legal framework, and the second one is what is taking place not only in Yerevan, but also other places in Armenia where rallies are being held with an attempt to dictate their own logic to these processes. On April 23, at 16:00, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned as widespread protests entered the 11th day. On the same day, as required by law, the government resigned. First Deputy PM Karen Karapetyan was named acting PM at an emergency Cabinet meeting. Later it was announced that Mr. Karapetyan will have a meeting with Mr. Pashinyan leader of the opposition on April 25. But around midnight of April 24, the government said that the meeting has been cancelled because the opposition leader unilaterally made new demands. Acting PM Karen Karapetyan addressed the President to organize a meeting in a format of his preference, with participation of a wide spectrum of political parties within and outside the parliament. The President said Wednesday that he has commenced consultations with both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary political forces. Earlier on April 24, opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan told a press conference that the peoples candidate should be decided in the Republic Square of Yerevan. Pashinyan suggested announcing the name of the candidate and it will be decided by the peoples response. Acting PM Karen Karapetyan said the only way to determine a choice of the people are elections. Karapetyan said he is in favor of snap elections. YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Moments ago a group of protesters who blocked a road in Vardenis, Armenia, didnt allow a military convoy heading to on-duty combat service to pass, Yerkir Media reports. The commander of the soldiers was forced to interfere and only afterwards the road was briefly opened . As demonstrations continue in various parts, protesters once again resumed their tactic of blocking streets. English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. A helicopter is being used for ensuring the normal process of ensuring the militarys management and combat-readiness, Armenian defense ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said. Taking into account the difficult passage of roads, a helicopter is being used for ensuring the normal process of ensuring the management and combat-readiness of the Armenian Armed Forces. Please dont spread disinformation, Hovhannisyan said. Earlier a group of protesters who blocked a road in Vardenis, Armenia, didnt allow a military convoy heading to on-duty combat service to pass, Yerkir Media reports. The commander of the soldiers was forced to interfere and only afterwards the road was opened briefly. As demonstrations continue in various parts, protesters are resuming their tactic of blocking streets. English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Acting minister of transport, communication and information technologies Vahan Martirosyan received French-Armenian businessman Raffi Yeramyan on April 25, the ministry told Armenpress. The businessman presented to the acting minister the main goal of his visit to Armenia. He said tourism development can play an important role for the progress of Armenias economy, and he and his family have carried out significant works on this path in different countries. But the businessman noted that the construction of quality roads is also very important, and he wants to invest in this process. Vahan Martirosyan thanked the Armenian businessmen and said over the past year significant work have being conducted in the field of road construction. There are great programs for road construction which are being gradually implemented. During the meeting a number of options for more effectively using the investments proposed by the businessman in the road construction works were discussed. English translator/editor Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. The U.S. Embassy in Armenia issued a statement denying some media reports according to which changes have been made in visa requirements, Armenpress reports. The statement says: The U.S. Embassy has learned that some news outlets have erroneously been reporting changes to visa requirements for Armenians for travel to the U.S. These reports, which lack sources or quotes, are false, and all visa requirements remain the same. Please visit our website for accurate information on U.S. visas: https://am.usembassy.gov/visas/. English translator/editor Aneta Harutyunyan Most read of the week YEREVAN, 25 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 25 April, USD exchange rate up by 0.33 drams to 480.46 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.85 drams to 586.40 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.04 drams to 7.78 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.22 drams to 670.67 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price down by 107.85 drams to 20526.94 drams. Silver price down by 7.77 drams to 256.35 drams. Platinum price down by 206.36 drams to 14195.93 drams. YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan received Head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski on April 25. The interlocutors referred to the domestic political situation in Armenia, mutually highlighting the necessity to settle the situation through dialogue and in the framework of the Constitution. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the pres service of the Government of Armenia, speaking about the proposal of President Armen Sarkissian to organize debates with the broadest possible scope of participation, including forces not represented in the parliament, the acting PM emphasized that all the issues can be discussed around the table of negotiations. Ambassador Piotr Switalski informed that he also had meetings with different stakeholders, highlighting the settlement of the situation through consensus. English translator/editor Tigran Sirekanyan YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Police Chief of Armenia Vladimir Gasparyan has issued a statement addressing the citizens of Armenia. Dear fellow citizens, I address you both as the Police Chief and a citizen. I do not want to refer to the legal sides of the recent developments the Police have spoken about that numerous times, not questioning the high legal awareness and civil perceptibility of the public. I do not want to give any assessments to the sides as well, since the Police are a depoliticized structure and keep away from political developments. Moreover, we clearly understand that the issue is not in the rightness of this or that side, but the Truth, which is an absolute value and unquestioned, like the role of the Police in our social life is unquestioned. Remember, any revolution becomes senseless when an attempt is made to ruin what has been created, and we have sacrificed everything to build our Army and Police. The State is what we have built together. The Police are the guarantee of stability, tranquility and peace of that state. The Police are the servant of the state, but not of the leadership or opposition. And the attempts to push the Police to this or that side enlarges the fracture in which all of us can appear. Remember, decades and lives of thousands are necessary for building a state, but it can be ruined during a few hours. Its inadmissible, Vladimir Gasparyan said, stressing that the same goes for the army. We have reached a situation as a result of the mistakes of all of us, where we can fully lose control of the situation. It must not happen. And now I address all of you. Wake up, my friends, the Police Chief said. I again address to all my fellow citizens. My friends, I am convinced that a peaceful settlement of the situation will be the victory of all of us, otherwise we all will be defeated. I believe in your great love and unquestioned prudency, Gasparyan concluded. English translator/editor Tigran Sirekanyan LOS ANGELESWhen we last heard from alleged copyright troll Perfect 10 Inc., its cert petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, appealing the District Court's award, later affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, was denied last December. Because of the ruling, the magazine/website will have to pay Giganews News and LiveWire Services more than $5.6 million in attorney fees and costs. The figure was awarded to Giganews after is had to defend itself against Perfect 10's claims that thumbnails of its images had appeared on the defendants' websites, and that therefore they were liable for copyright infringement of those images. But thanks to the apparently litigious nature of Perfect 10's owner, Norman Zada, Giganews and LiveWire have been back in court, looking for additional legal fees and costs accrued in their defense of Perfect 10's federal appeals since the original verdict was renderedand earlier today, District Court Appellate Commissioner Peter L. Shaw awarded both companies an additional $855,532.72 for those legal expenditures, raising Perfect 10's debt to more than $6.5 million in total. Giganews had asked the commissioner to award it nearly $730,000 in new legal fees and roughly an additional $230,000 for clerical work performed by paralegals, but based on Shaw's examination of the hours billed by Giganews' attorneys, the San Francisco law firm of Fenwick & West, LLC, and its paralegals, Shaw reduced the claim by about $100,000still leaving a quite a dent in Perfect 10's cash flow if Giganews ever manages to collect the sum. Perfect 10 has been on a losing streak for more than a dozen years, having been trounced in alleged copyright infringement cases by everyone from Visa and Mastercard to Microsoft to Google to Amazon to Tumblr to CCBill to several others, and it had been fighting the Giganews case since 2011. However, the commissioner's award should put the final nail in the coffin of that case. PENNSAUKEN, N.J.Adult distributor Williams Trading is now stocking and shipping PHS Internationals Gaysentials rainbow Pride line. Williams Trading Co is pleased to be supporting the full product line of Gaysentials from PHS. We feel this line is a unique fit and allows our dealers to provide a comprehensive retail solution in support of the LGBTQ community, said Scott D., marketing and sales director This new line will be available for all brick and mortar dealers and we also provide a drop ship solution for all e-commerce dealers. Pride is an important time of year. It is a time where the gay community stands up for themselves to show how proud and confident they are to express their true selves. It is an important event in the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) history within the United States and worldwide. The vibrant rainbow flag was born. It was first flown in the San Francisco Gay Freedom parade on June 25, 1974. The flag represents taking action and each color has a specific meaning; red is life, orange is healing, yellow is sunlight, green is nature, indigo is harmony and violet is spirit. Gaysentials is fully packaged for the PRIDE season and can help you recover from those slower summer months sales. This line contains a variety of rainbow-themed products. Rainbow key chains, lapel pins, stickers, magnets, necklaces, bandanas. Even some rainbow designed goodies for you pooch. This is fully merchandised right out the box with a table top display or you can pick and choose with items you would like to showcase in your store or your e-commerce site. For more information about the Gaysentials line and the rest of PHSs fully merchandised product lines, contact your preferred distributor or email Michael Merrill, general manager, at [email protected]. For sales information, contact Crystal Gerling, international sales executive, at [email protected] or at (778) 480-1963. For more information about PHS International, visit PHSWholesale.com. Costa is to be demerged from the Premier Inns business and become listed as a separate company within the next two years. Owner Whitbread today (25 April) confirmed a demerger would be pursued as fast as practical and appropriate to optimise value for shareholders. The company said it had developed Costa into the UKs clear leader in the out-of-home coffee market, and had made improvements in product innovation and digital capability. According to British Baker research, Costa grew by 358 sites in 2017, making it the largest bakery/coffee shop operator in the UK, ahead of Subway and Greggs. The Whitbread board said it was confident that both Premier Inn and Costa would soon be businesses of sufficient strength, scale and capability to enable them to thrive as independent companies. It added that the 24-month time frame would enable it to: complete complex and critical IT and business system upgrades and improvement programmes deliver a recently upgraded efficiency programme that would offset a significant proportion of industry inflation and minimise disruption to trading and product innovation, particularly in the UK further develop the international strategies in both Premier Inn and Costa manage the Whitbread pension fund deficit and funding facilities, and ensuring Whitbread and Costa had appropriate governance structures in place as separate entities. A separation will provide enhanced focus for each business and give shareholders an investment in two high-quality businesses, said Whitbread chairman Adam Crozier. We will ensure that prior to separation each business is sufficiently developed and well-positioned to take advantage of the structural growth opportunities available to them in the UK and internationally. The team will now also be focused on ensuring the demerger of Costa is conducted as fast as practical and appropriate to optimise value for Whitbreads shareholders. Whitbread chief executive officer Alison Brittain said the company had made tremendous progress in innovation and growth in our core UK businesses. Costa will become a listed entity in its own right and the clear market leader in the out-of-home coffee market in the UK. Costa will also be well positioned to build further on its strong international foundations, with growth expected in China and Costa Express. Redistricting ruling forced Hardister to move or be double-bunked; McDaniel criticizes changes in state sales tax base GREENSBORO It's a three-way race in the state House of Representatives District 59 Republican primary, with incumbent Rep. Jon Hardister squaring off against former state Sen. Mark McDaniel and newcomer Karen Albright.Democrat Steve Buccini has no primary opponent.The 59th District was caught up in North Carolina's ongoing legal battle over the 2011 redistricting following the Republican takeover of the General Assembly in the 2010 election.When Republicans redrew legislative districts last year in response to a lawsuit by voters, Hardister was "double-bunked" with fellow Republican John Faircloth in District 61.In order to avoid a primary duel with Faircloth, Hardister moved to Whitsett in eastern Guilford County to be in District 59.In an email response, Hardister said he supported redistricting reform, but disagreed with court rulings that the 2011 districts were unconstitutional.Hardister wrote.McDaniel, a retired business manager for Southeastern Eye Center, served in the state Senate from 1995-99. He wrote in an email "there will always be challenges regardless of the redistricting process.McDaniel said.He said when Democrats were in control they created districts so favorable to them they thought were electoral mountains Republicans could not climb.and lost their legislative majority in 2010, McDaniel said.Hardister said he was running again because he has a track record as an effective legislator and a problem solver.Hardister is the House Majority Whip, and serves on the Select Committee on Judicial Redistricting. He supports judicial redistricting, especially in his home Guilford County.he said in a news release.Hardister supports the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, saying it will create jobs, and help the U.S. achieve energy independence.But he strongly disagreed with Gov. Roy Cooper's direct negotiations with pipeline operators that established - without legislative input - a $57.8 million mitigation fund he said was for economic development, renewable energy projects, and repairing environmental damage.Critics questioned the ethics of the fund, claiming it was a government "pay to play" scheme. Some said it gave the appearance the Department of Environmental Quality's permitting process has an unstated requirement companies must contribute funds in order to gain DEQ approval for a project.Hardister said. The legislature redirected all funds towards public education to kill Cooper's improper action, he said.McDaniel said CooperMcDaniel's biggest issue in the campaign is the legislature's enactment of a sales tax on services - including repairs and installations - which he has described as a "misery tax."McDaniel wrote in an e-mail to CJ.McDaniel said that legislative Republicans areHardister pushed back In a Facebook post, writing in all capital letters, "LET'S SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT."Hardister wrote.Hardister called McDaniel's claims about a health services tax "an outright lie," and a "scare tactic."he said.Albright, a Greensboro-based paralegal, did not respond to a request for an interview. However, she told the Greensboro News & Record that the most pressing issues she would pursue if elected to the House would beAlbright questioned the need to appoint a special master to redraw election districts, as federal judges did when they hired Stanford University professor Nathaniel Persily in the court challenge to legislative districts. House District 57 in Guilford County was one of the districts Persily drew that was upheld in court she asked.she said. Global firm Ipreo will invest $2.1 million to expand North Carolina operations Contact: Ford Porter Ford Porter govpress@nc.gov RALEIGH: Ipreo US LLC, a global provider of financial services, technology, data and analytics, will add 250 jobs over the next four years in Wake County, Governor Cooper announced today. The company will invest $2.1 million with this project.said Governor Cooper.Ipreo's services support the capital-raising process for all market participants, including sell-side banks, public and private companies, buy-side investors, and research, asset management and wealth management firms. The company's US headcount has doubled since 2013 with one third of its US workforce located in North Carolina. With this expansion, the company will focus on its financial software, capital markets intelligence and real-time data and analysis products.said O'Hara Macken, EVP of Global Infrastructure and head of Ipreo's North Carolina operations.said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Anthony M. Copeland.The North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. (EDPNC) led the state's support for the company's expansion.Once all positions are filled, the average salary will be $66,720, which is higher than the current average salary in Wake County of $56,244.Ipreo's expansion in Wake County will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state's Economic Investment Committee earlier today. Over the course of the 12-year term of this grant, the project will grow the state's economy by an estimated $549 million. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $2,085,000, spread over 12 years. State payments only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets. JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant's reimbursement payments to a given company.Because Ipreo chose to expand in Wake County, classified by the state's economic tier system as Tier 3, the company's JDIG agreement also calls for moving nearly $695,000 into the state's Industrial Development Fund - Utility Account. The Utility Account helps rural communities finance necessary infrastructure upgrades to attract future business. Even when new jobs are created in a Tier 3 county such as Wake, the new tax revenue generated through JDIG grants helps more economically challenged communities anywhere in the state. More information on the state's economic tier designations is available here Partnering with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the EDPNC on this project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, Wake County, the City of Raleigh and Wake County Economic Development. Endless hours spent with computers and cameras, a fascination with the digital documentary, storytelling and first-person narrative techniques...come at the expense of instruction in the subject matter of journalism-how the courts work, the sociology of the police department... How many editors and news directors want to hire liberal arts majors straight out of college or even research-oriented Columbia master's degree holders with their page-long paragraphs, gratuitous opinions, and "Could I have an extension" requests? What journalism needs are newsroom rookies with the ability to assess situations quickly, to figure out whom to contact and how and where to get information, and then be able to write what they learn accurately, fairly and clearly-and do all of this, usually, in one day. It might have been drilled into your head from a young age that the only way to be successful in life is to get a college degree. You might have bought into the idea that college would be the best four years of your life. Replete with parties, filled with office hours with inspiring professors, and chock full of intellectually rigorous debates with your fellow classmates in ivy-covered buildings.Or you might have been told that there is a set path journalists need to take: work for your college's paper, graduate college, get a job in a newsroom, and work your way up the ranks.But that format is changing as the cost of college is skyrocketing: the College Board estimates that four years of tuition, fees, room, and board will cost more than $56,000 at public colleges for in-state residents. For students who opt to spend their four years at a private college, that number nearly doubles to $104,400. There is also a hidden cost: what could those four years have been spent doing instead? What else could you have done with your time and talents?I went to undergrad at the College of William & Mary, a small, four-year liberal arts school in the swamplands of eastern Virginia. I studied government but was also required to take classes to fulfill general education requirements. My last year of school, when I should have focused on honing my craft, I shuttled myself back and forth to campus for a required astronomy class. It was an utter waste of my time, but college is full of inefficiencies like these.Thankfully, I knew what I wanted to do. I started writing articles my freshman year of college and they evoked strong reactions from the people around me, going viral on campus and in the broader libertarian political circle. Although I wasn't studying what I wanted to do-my school didn't even offer an undergraduate journalism program-I was able to write for local newspapers and the school paper. I stopped focusing on my GPA and obsessively dedicated myself to a single focus: writing articles, getting them published, and having clips to show employers. I began to learn about composition and the craft of writing by simply getting my work torn apart by editors, left and right. Plus, I learned valuable freelancing skills that still come in handy: how to pitch work to editors, how to make and keep contacts, how to tailor a given piece to fit the editorial guidelines and style of different publications, and how to advocate for your work without being a pest.But spending four years in college means tons of required classes. Even if you enter an undergraduate journalism program, it's inevitable that you'll have general education requirements-and even major requirements that aren't relevant to what you'll be doing as a journalist.In college, you waste a lot of time in the name of well-roundedness and "general" education (or, in my case, the dreaded astronomy course). Is that any different in journalism programs, though?The journalism trade publication Nieman Reports describes how in journalism school (both undergraduate and graduate),In journalism school, you're not necessarily learning the skills that will help you in the day-to-day. You're still at the whims of your professors, some of whom are veteran journalists, and others who have never been in the field at all-or haven't been in it for 20 years. Another Nieman Reports piece scoffs at the caliber of students graduating from journalism school, even graduate school:The author's point is that universities aren't doing what they're supposed to if their goal is to prepare students to be valued workers in the industry.So, if journalism schools aren't preparing students to be valuable workers in their chosen industry, why not? The incentives of school are fundamentally mismatched to the incentives of the workplace: school incentivizes obedience and compliance, but workplaces (or at least good workplaces) prize ingenuity, creativity, and anticipating organizational needs and the needs of supervisors. Of course, some aspects of school are aligned with aspects of the workforce-the ability to meet deadlines is crucial in the journalism industry and will earn you respect from editors. School teaches that skill, but at the end of the day, a good self-starter can learn that discipline on their own.There's some value of the critical thinking skills undoubtedly fostered in the college environment-but at what price do those skills come? Again, a good self-starter will learn how to contextualize a story, how to connect the dots, and how to write about different beats on their own.There is also the opportunity cost component too often neglected by too many: spending four years in school means losing out on-or trading in-hours and hours of productive time. That time could be used learning more about grammar and editing (memorizing the AP Stylebook, for example), tracking down sources and learning how to interview people, and getting internships where you can generate clips.As a journalist, your clips are a hundred times more valuable than your degree-or, God forbid, your GPA. Your clips indicate to editors what you will be like as a staff writer. Your GPA indicates how bored or entranced you were by your classes, and how well you can follow instructions. In the journalism field, you absolutely need to be a competent instruction-follower (at least from your editor), but having an inquisitive mind, a healthy dose of skepticism, and the persistence of a Bloodhound on the scent helps you excel when talking to sources. A lot of journalism skills are learned on the job: conversational skills for talking to sources, internet stalking skills for tracking down comments from sources, and analytical skills for putting it all together and noticing patterns.Journalists aren't paid to regurgitate talking points from some source with a clear agenda. That makes for bad journalism-or worse, boring journalism. Journalists are paid to represent sources accurately, but also to contextualize a situation and add background and analysis that our readers need in order to fully grasp what happened. We're not in the business of solely following directions.And frankly, a lot of it is hustle. Journalism and rejection go hand in hand: you will pitch thousands of story ideas and very few of them will come to fruition. You're going to have to know when to abandon, when to morph, when to adapt, and how to manage your time accordingly so you don't get stuck on an idea that there's simply no market for. This is especially true for freelancers who have to constantly shop their ideas around.Another Nieman Reports piece says it best Some journalism schools train you to do this, but do they do it better, and more efficiently, than freelancing or self-teaching would? At what cost do these lessons come?Keep in mind: "There is not one path that, if followed, transforms young people into quality journalists. Certain aspects of character-integrity, in particular, an inquisitive personality, a persistent temperament-seem innate."Although it's intoxicating to believe that going to the right school will set you on the right path or guarantee a certain income or caliber of newspaper job, that's not how it works. Journalism school could be valuable for an aspiring reporter, but at what cost does that value come?As the news environment changes, so does the traditional path to success. The days of getting a job as a fact checker or cub reporter and working your way up are no longer here. News is increasingly national, not local. News is increasingly digital. News is increasingly partisan, and the premium placed on objectivity is mostly gone, or only given lip service to. But the good news is that there are fewer barriers to entry and growing your skills and your brand is easier than ever before. Of course, the downside to that is that the marketplace is saturated with wannabe writers of varying skill levels, integrity, and value, and it can be hard for consumers to parse out who to listen to and who to ignore.The last thing to consider, as unromantic as it is, is that journalism is a sorely undervalued profession-and with that comes low pay. When weighing college and graduate school paths, future journalists would be prudent to not just consider the cost of a degree, but also their earning potential. Being saddled with $80,000 of debt might be reasonable for a future doctor, or someone taking a consulting job straight out of school, but an entry-level reporter might be making $35,000 for the next three years, and maybe $45,000 for five years after that. Paying off $80,000 in debt is pretty tough on a low salary in an industry wading through the murky waters of changing revenue models and historic public distrust.College is expensive. I'm glad I finished my undergraduate degree early, and I'm even more glad I didn't go into a journalism undergraduate or graduate program. Had I done so, I might not have been inspired to learn the skills I sought. I might have been hemorrhaging money while bored in class, not seeing the connection between school skills and job skills. A more entrepreneurial approach might not be the course for everyone, but with the field of options for entry into journalism constantly expanding, I highly recommend taking the scrappy approach and seeing what comes of it. 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 California measure would prohibit the confinement of egg-laying hens, pigs used for breeding, and calves raised for veal in cages or crates so small that they are essentially immobilized for their whole lives. Photo by iStockphoto 4.2K shares Fueled by nearly 1,600 volunteer signature gatherers, the Humane Society of the United States and other members of the Prevent Cruelty California coalition have surpassed the 600,000 signature goal needed to qualify the historic farm animal ballot initiative. This places California voters in a strong position to deliver a powerful punch to agribusiness interests who want to keep locking farm animals in cramped, overcrowded cages. This measure would prohibit the confinement of egg-laying hens, pigs used for breeding, and calves raised for veal in cages or crates so small that they are essentially immobilized for their whole lives. It would also require that eggs, pork and veal sold in California meet this same standard. Its passage will produce dramatically better outcomes for millions of animals, establishing a bright-line legal standard that cage confinement is forbidden. Once approved, it will be the strongest law against farm animal confinement in the world. Gathering so many signatures in a short period of time is an incredible feat. Id like to offer a heartfelt thanks to the volunteers who spent their evenings and weekends gathering in their communities. I applaud and celebrate their spirit and determination. These volunteers live throughout the state, in cities, suburbs, and rural communities, and come from all walks of life. They are the bedrock of this campaign. Its even more gratifying to know that California voters met their hard work with enthusiastic support by signing their petitions in such large numbers. Californians have shown time and time again that they want commonsense protections for animals. I also want to thank our esteemed coalition made up of organizations focused on animal welfare, family farming, food safety, the environment and more. This moment is a celebration of what organizations can achieve when we come together. The campaign is also bolstered by the support of hundreds of California veterinary professionals, faith leaders, farmers, elected officials and business leaders. We still have more work to do and I hope that you will support us in the next phase of our confrontation with the wealthy agribusiness interests that profit from factory farming. They have vast resources to use against this effort. But were in it to win, and we have the commitment and fight on our side. Were forever grateful for all of your support. Lets take a moment to savor this milestone and then press on forward to ensure that the Prevent Cruelty California measure wins in November. P.S. We are also looking forward to your help in passing two more crucial ballot measures in November. In Florida, residents can vote to phase out greyhound racing by the end of 2020 at this years elections, bringing down the last big bastion of this cruel sport in the United States. And, in Ohio, the second largest puppy mill state in the nation, we are working to place a measure on the ballot that would require humane standards of care for thousands of breeding dogs, greatly improving their quality of life. 7:45 am Mr. Amaral escorts Carolina along with the rest of BU 5 silently to their homeroom/advisory. Carolina proceeds to her pre-assigned desk. Mr. Amaral gives a non-verbal cue for Carolina's group to move to the back cubbies to get organized, and signals with his other hand that they have one minute to complete their cubby tasks. Carolina silently stands up and brings her backpack to her cubby, unzips it, and removes all of her binders. She puts her white writing binder and blue science binder in her cubby and places her empty and zipped backpack on top of the cubby, along with the other scholars' empty backpacks. She brings her green math binder, red reading binder, and black social studies binder to her desk. She places the reading and social studies binders in the rubber band that wraps around the two right-hand legs of her desk. This rubber band keeps her binders tightly secured and out of the way, and Carolina finished her cubby tasks in less than 60 seconds. Carolina sharpens two pencils from her pencil case, and places them along with a black pen and an eraser at the top of her desk. She begins reading her DEAR book, as the other students work for their minute time blocks to get their cubby work done. Mr. Amaral calls, "1-2-3 Eyes on me!" The class responds in unison, "1-2-3 Eyes on you!" and then proceeds to close their DEAR books and place them on the left corner of their desks. Mr. Amaral uses the last few minutes of class to review the main objective for the lesson, give feedback to the class using DREAM Points, remind scholars to copy HW, and provide direction for transition.Mr. Amaral says, "Scholars, yesterday you transitioned to Reading in 38 seconds. Your challenge now is to transition in 35 seconds. I am waiting for 100% eye contact.Good. Go." Scholars quickly and silently switch out binders from their rubber bands around their desk legs. Carolina and her peers absolutely enjoy being timed for tasks and being challenged to beat their best times. If you want to erode the public's trust in the legal system, making a court house an unsafe place to be, even during what's supposed to be a joyful occasion, is a great place to start. Just ask Alexander Parker and Krisha Schmick: They went to a courthouse in Pennsylvania, intent on getting married. The pair had known one another since high school and it seemed like the right time. There was just one problem Alexander's skin was brown and the judge he and his bride were to stand before was a raging bigot. According to Newsweek, when Parker and Schmick stood before Judge Elizabeth Beckley in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, instead of presiding over their wedding ceremony, she called Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents to check out Parker. Parker, originally from Guatemala, was adopted by American parents and brought to the United States when he was eight months old he is legally allowed to be in the country. He has the paperwork to prove it, too. But for some reason, maybe because, I dunno, HE WAS GETTING MARRIED, he forgot the official documents that proved his right to be in the country at home. All he had on him was a Guatemalan identification card. Court staff, believing for some reason that the document was a fake, contacted ICE to check Parker out. On his wedding day, when he should have been exchanging vows, Parker was answering questions. Instead of having a ring slipped on his finger, he was forced to provide fingerprints. A honeymoon with his wife? Nah: ICE warned that if he could not prove that he was in the country legally, he'd be whisked away to a detention center. As it turns out, ICE was able to verify that Parker was cool to be in the country. They apologized to him. Good enough! It gets better: once Judge Beckley was sure that Parker was allowed to be in the country, brown or not, she offered to continue with the wedding ceremony. Parker and Schmick, still traumatized by what had just happened to them, decided to accept: they'd had relatives come in from out of state to attend the wedding. Now, you could argue that the judge was just doing her job: She didn't have any proof that Parker had the right to be in the country. As a representative of the state of Pennsylvania, she was obligated to do so. Lemme tell you a story. My partner and I just finished spending six months in Texas' Rio Grande Valley. We decided that, after a number of years together, we didn't just want to get married: we wanted to get Texas married. When we went to the county clerk's office to get our marriage certificate, we told the attending clerk that we were Canadian. He shrugged, congratulated us and told us to let them know which courthouse we were going to so that they could send over the required documents. So, we did that. When we went to the courthouse, she in her wedding dress and I in an embroidered black suit (remember: Texas married,) we met the Judge. He asked us where we were from. We told him we were from Canada. "Are you going back?" was his response. It wasn't a joke. It was definitely a serious question. Our answer, of course, was yes we were returning to Canada at the end of March. There was no talk of not being allowed to get married there. No threat of being checked out by ICE or anyone else. Just our vows, happiness, and a great meal thereafter with a small group of family and friends. There's no difference between the reasons that I, my wife, and the Parkers came to the courthouse. Alexander Parker and I have a lot in common: we were both born outside of the United States, looking to get married in an American court of law. I'd argue that Mr. Parker has more of a right to be in the United States than I do: He was adopted by Americans when he was a baby. I was just a long-term tourist. But I'm white. So, no threats or fingerprinting for me. Image: Allan Ajifo https://www.flickr.com/photos/125992663@N02/14597585461/, CC BY 2.0, Link In 1970, Chile elected Salvador Allende, a socialist, to office; he instituted sweeping reforms aimed at ending the corrupt rule of a small, monied, brutal elite; in 1973, the dictator Augusto Pinochet led a US-backed military coup that involved horrific torture and mass executions of political enemies. In a Journal of Development Economics paper, Daniele Girardi and Samuel Bowles investigate the stock market's response to these two events. They find that share prices fell by 50% in response to Allende's democratic election, but the prices rallied, rising by 80% on the news that the country had been taken over by an autocratic dictator who had pledged to execute everyone who disagreed with him. Pinochet was given direct, on-the-ground assistance by economists from the University of Chicago including Milton Friedman; Pinochet's cheerleaders included such notable advocates of personal liberty as Friedrich von Hayek. To study the effect of political and institutional changes on the economy, we look at share prices in the Santiago exchange during the tumultuous political events that characterized Chile in the early 1970s. We use a transparent empirical strategy, deploying previously unused daily data and exploiting two largely unexpected shocks which involved substantial variation in policies and institutions, providing a rare natural experiment. Allende's election and subsequent socialist experiment decreased share values, while the military coup and dictatorship that replaced him boosted them, in both cases by magnitudes unprecedented in the literature. The most parsimonious interpretation of these share price changes is that they reflected, respectively, the perceived threat to private ownership of the means of production under a socialist government, and its subsequent reversal. Institution shocks and economic outcomes: Allende's election, Pinochet's coup and the Santiago stock market [Daniele Girardi and Samuel Bowles/Journal of Development Economics] (non-paywalled version) (via Marginal Revolution) Deux policiers de Dallas, dans l'Etat du Texas, ont ete grievement blesses par balle mardi dans un magasin Home Depot, et un civil a aussi ete blesse par balle, a annonce sur Twitter la police de la ville americaine. Le magasin a ete evacue. We can confirm that two @DallasPD officers have been shot and critically wounded. We will provide updates as we get them. Please pray for our officers and their families. Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) 24 avril 2018 A civilian was also shot in this incident. The condition of the civilian is unknown at this time. Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) 24 avril 2018 Les autorites sont a la recherche du suspect, a annonce l'antenne locale de la chaine de television CBS. #Breaking more video of DPD officers searching creek bed with rifles drawn off Centea Expressway looking for suspect after reports that at least one but possibly 2 officers have been shot pic.twitter.com/v2BWHLnLxf J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) 24 avril 2018 La police de Dallas a identifie le suspect et diffuse sa photo. Il s'agirait d'un homme de 29 ans considere comme dangereux. Une camionnette blanche est egalement recherchee. Featured Post Mohawk Nation News 'Pandemic of Political Amnesia in Montreal and Canada' PANDEMIC OF POLITICAL AMNESIA IN MONTREAL & CANADA Audio Posted on October 3, 2021 Mohawk Nation News Listen to audio at MNN https://... Archive Search This Blog Donate to Censored News Please donate to Censored News for travel and equipment for our live coverage. Thank you, Brenda. 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 Translate Business / Your Money by Agencies What are the differences? How to Choose Between Binary Options & Spread Betting? Binary options in trading has never been as popular as it is in 2018. The same could also be said for spread betting, which is something many have come to immerse themselves in via betting apps and online sites.In the UK, more and more would-be traders are looking to various trading platforms to provide a means for them to establish their success stories from. As such, many shrewd investors scour the internet with searches such as " best spread betting platform UK for traders " in the hope of finding the key to unlocking immense financial potential. Some opt to learn while they trade, while others tend to do research before diving in to this form of trading.Binary options (despite the moderately bad reputation some have) and spread bets have distinctive differences, yet are very similar in how they work. Fundamentally, traders will predict the price movements of underlying assets and back their picks with money. There is no purchase of underlying assets, but simply a bet placed on whether the prices will go up or go down.Binary options are classed as fixed risk, which means that there are only two possible outcomes: a profit of a certain amount or a loss of a certain amount. Spread betting works differently in the sense that there are technically no caps on wins and losses, unless, of course, you do not set stop losses points. Binary options are attractive to traders due to what some credit as the limited risk involved. However, with minimised risk come smaller profits. Spread betting allows you to make money which grows on the size of the movement. Binaries, however, simply wins on the movement of an asset price itself. For example, spread betting allows you to bet a certain amount on each pip, so if there is a dramatic rise, you will win a considerable amount.As previously mentioned, there are similarities to how both operate. Both binary options and spread betting essentially give you the chance to make money from predicting on the performance of an underlying asset.When it comes choosing what is best for you as a trader, this will depend on your goals and how seriously you want to take it. There is no doubt that spread betting is the more complex of the two, as it requires more attention to detail and consideration of the parameters of trading. Binary options are easier to participate in, but not child's play by any means.Many traders who have moderately to majorly success in these areas tend to do a lot of research into what they are putting their money into. The advent of demo and practice accounts has also seen a rise in participants, due to the risk-free nature of how they work. A large number of practice accounts also provide educational content which can certainly help you decide what is best for you, and your ambitions as a trader.Try to solve the new Formula Cube! It works exactly like a Rubik's Cube but it is only $2, from China. Learn to solve it with the tutorial on rubiksplace.com or use the solver to calculate the solution in a few steps. News / National by Staff reporter Bona Chikore and her husband Simba were among the glitterati that attended Davido's concert held at the Harare International Conference Centre on Saturday.The daughter of former President Robert Mugabe and her husband proved to be the life of the party at the "All White, Green, Red, Blue, Purple, Black" party hosted by businessman and liquor pusher Ginimbi Kadungure.Bona took selfies with her adoring fans together with her husband Simba.Those in the VVIP besides rubbing shoulders with the celebrated couple, also joined the couple on the dance floor.Pictures of Bona and Simba have been trending on Facebook with most social media users expressing their joy at seeing the couple.One follower Melody Nemasango wrote: "She looks stunning Chichi."Wonai Masvingise also complemented Bona and said: "She is beautiful."Another fan Chipo Evelyn Chigama-Gura commented: "She is cute."Tapiwa Mapila said: "Bona cute & smart."The well attended gig had besides Davido, ExQ, Killer T and Jah Prayzah. News / National by Staff reporter A NAMIBIAN pressure group has threatened to demonstrate against former Zimbabwean High Court judge Justice Maphios Cheda, who is embroiled in a nasty land row in that country.The demonstration is scheduled to take place tomorrow in Namibia's Oshakati town.Cheda, a former Bulawayo High Court judge, moved to Namibia in 2011 and has been serving in that country's High Court ever since.The pressure group, known as AR from the Oshakati Town Council in northern Namibia, has organised the #ChedaMustFall for the mass demonstration.A poster from the group read: "Objecting and stopping Oshakati Town Council from giving plots to family and friends through corruption and private negotiations, including the plot that was recently given to judge Maphios Cheda, a foreign national who has been in Namibia less than five years, while Namibians have been on Oshakati waiting list for over 20 years."An attached picture of an advertisement in one local newspaper for the "sale" shows Cheda identified as "C Maphios".The organisers also want to petition the Namibian High Court to push for Cheda's removal from the bench."Submitting to Oshakati High Court a petition asking for a removal (sic) of Judge Maphios Cheda for he is a proven land monger both in Zimbabwe and Namibia and his judgments are a danger to the relationship between the masses of Namibian people and the judiciary that is losing credibility," AR argued.NewsDay could not get Cheda to comment.The Oshakati Town Council, on 13 April 2018, listed Cheda as a beneficiary of "Erf No 4035, a 1,260 square metre plot in the Extension 16 suburb, at a price of N$189 000."A Namibian newspaper reported that the same plot was also allocated to one Patrick Pangashoye Shilongo in 2015 who, according to the paper, has "already paid a deposit and approached a local commercial bank for a building plan to construct hishouse".Namibian President Hage Geingob has reportedly acknowledged that land reform is not taking place at the desired pace due to numerous legal and technical obstacles.Geingob has according to reports instructed local authorities, especially those with the required capacity to play a constructive role in the provision of serviced land.In 2015, the Special Cabinet Committee on Land and Related Matters in Namibia presented recommendations on agricultural (commercial), urban and communal land, particularly concerning urban land.The committee made amendments to the Local Authorities Act of 1992 and the Regional Councils Act of 1992 to prohibit the sale of urban land through auction as well as prohibit ownership of urban land by foreign nationals. News / National by Staff reporter Hillbrow and Berea residents were left shocked after a shooting incident that happened outside Discount foods shop, in Hillbrow. It is claimed that a young man was coming from the shop, having bought a China bag and some few things. All of a sudden people closeby saw another man following him and pulled a gun and shot him without saying a word.The Zimbabwean man, who is in his late thirties, is said to be a soldier back home. Sources close to the deceased said he was in South Africa for a visit."He has been here for a week now and was preparing to go back home, that is why he came to the shops to buy the china bag. He had already bought his groceries and wanted to pack them in the bag", said a source close to him.It is, however, unknown why he was shot and who shot him, but according to the police officers who attended the scene, the two had an argument earlier on inside the shop. It is suspected that the killer wanted to rob the deceased right inside the shop, which led the two to a beefed up argument. All this was seen on the CCTV footage from Discount Foods.According to eyewitnesses, the man struggled for almost an hour on the ground, and in the process he lost lots and lots of blood. "Had the ambulance arrived earlier, this man was supposed to be alive as we speak", said the witnesses. The only people who tried to offer some help are the traffic cops who were close by, but there was nothing they could do without any medical equipment. After almost an hour of struggling, the man gave up and passed on just like that." We are not safe at all here. You go to the shops or to work fearing for your life. The worst thing is we are living with these criminals in the same area. We are now even afraid of reporting them because if they get arrested today, you meet them in the same street again tomorrow, a situation that puts our own lives at risk", said a certain lady who was so devastated by the incident. News / National by Staff reporter They call it survival of the jungle and the tobacco auction floors currently typify this.As farmers seek to enjoy the benefits of their toil so too are commercial sex workers and thieves.During the day, it is a hive of activity at the tobacco auction floors as vendors and other business people gather to sell their products to farmers outside the premises of the floors.However, it is a different story at night with commercial sex workers roaming around the place soliciting for potential clients.Coming from rural setups and too often with no close relatives to offer immediate shelter, commercial sex workers are quick to smell this vulnerability and pounce on the farmers to drain them of their earnings.Equally aware of the evolving economic dynamism the owners of this oldest profession have also adopted electronic systems of payment for their services.Some farmers' wives however expressed their dismay at the ladies of the night for short changing their families."When plastic money was introduced we were all happy and thought our husbands will finally bring money home little did we know the ladies of the night are moving with the times. After all the hard work and toil, we end up failing to raise even school fees," said the farmers' wives.Tied to the menace of the commercial sex workers, the farmers have also fallen prey to fraudsters and thieves as some of the ladies now work in cahoots with thieves. Opinion / Columnist For the last 38 years Zimbabwe's economy has been in decline and yet year on year without failure our political leaders have said steadfastly refused to even acknowledge the decline and talked of economic doom. When they were finally forced to acknowledge the economic decline, they have talked how they had fit on the answers to guarantee economic recovery.If the country's economic problems had been dealt with openly and honestly, in which failure was acknowledge and those responsible held to democratic account, the country would not be in the mess it is in today. Zimbabwe's economy is in total meltdown. Unemployment is a nauseating 90% and has been 80% plus for the last decade already. Worse still, there is no reason to believe things are ever going to improve because, instead of dealing with country's problems honestly, we continue to hear the same empty promises founded on conjuncture and wishful thinking."The ZITF remains an important platform to promote trade and investment for Zimbabwe, and is quite strategic under the new economic order of Government," said President Mnangagwa. He was opened 59th Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF). "The theme for ZITF 2018, "Sustainable Industrial Development: Inclusive-Competitive-Collaborative" articulates an important pillar of the new trajectory that has prioritised industrialisation to contribute to sustained economic recovery of Zimbabwe."The Government is making significant strides to put in place and effect viable policies and strategies to improve the business operating environment and address challenges that have affected industrial development and growth. Attracting both domestic and foreign investments, mobilising funding for industrial development, supporting the agriculture and mining sectors, and infrastructure development, are key priority areas of focus expected to help attain sustained economic growth and development."But that is just the point, you keep talking of "the new economic order", conducive to economic recovery, when there no such order and thus the recovery will remain a mirage!Mr President, for the last five months, you have been selling the nation and the world at large the notion that the removal of Robert Mugabe from the presidency, booting a few of his G40 friends from power and the scrapping of a few obnoxious laws have completely transformed Zimbabwe. The country has shed-off its pariah state ruled by thugs status to become a democratic nation given to holding free elections and to upholding the rule of law. If all these things have happened, they would certainly constitute a new order; none of them have happened!The regime says it has "zero tolerance policy towards corruption". Yes, some G40 Zanu PF members have been arrested but no one else. It is nonsensical to even suggest that only G40 faction members in the party were corrupt. It is no secret that many of the November 2017 coup plotter also benefited of the wholesale looting of Chiadzwa and Marange diamonds. Whilst some people have since been brought before a Parliamentary Committee investigating the looting, the Army top brass is yet to do so.The "new dispensation", as President Mnangagwa and his coup junta want to call themselves, had the golden opportunity to prove, beyond all doubt, that it was not the same corrupt, vote rigging and ruthless thugs by keeping its promise to hold free, fair and credible elections. The regime has time and time again scuffed its lines!President Mnangagwa appointed retired Major Engelbert Rugeje, Zanu PF National Political Commissar. Rugeje in notorious for having led the Zanu PF military and party thugs who harassed, beat, rape and even murdered civilians in the election mayhem of 2008. The party was punishing the people for rejecting Mugabe in the earlier vote. The wanton violence of that year has been the benchmark of the nauseating heights of political barbarism Zanu PF would climb in its resolve to retain power at all cost. If President Mnangagwa was serious about transforming Zanu PF, then why would he appoint a notorious political thug to head the party's organization, education and indoctrination!President Mnangagwa bought and dished out the twin cab trucks to all the country's 282 Chiefs; Robert Mugabe had already promised to do this before he was deposed. Everyone knows that the Chiefs have always done a sterling job of carolling and frog marching rural voters to vote for Zanu PF. ED was making the down payment to the Chiefs to make sure they never tire!The regime has refused to implement even one of the many democratic reforms Zanu PF had agreed to at the start 2008 GNU. It is impossible to see how the country can have free and fair elections without a free media, verifiable voters' roll, independent ZEC, with the Army and Police meddling in the election process, etc.President Mnangagwa has made his trademark "Zimbabwe is open for business!" proclamation from every platform, for these last five months. Sadly, there have been very few foreign and local investors who have taken up the invitation for one simple reason, they are not convinced Zimbabwe has changed.No investors like to do business in a country that rigs elections and the next regime change can only be yet another military coup!"I wish to reiterate that Zimbabwe is Open for Business. Both domestic and foreign investors are welcome to invest and do business in Zimbabwe and tap the diverse opportunities offered by all sectors of industry including investing in Special Economic Zones and infrastructure development," continue President Mnangagwa.Well, you can reiterate you call a thousand times a day, if you wish; no investors are coming. The idea that the November coup could ever transformer Zanu PF is laughable!After 38 years of enjoying absolute political power, murderous abuse of power and some of the worst cases of looting in human history Zanu PF thugs have become addicted to power and the luxuries it brought along; Mnangagwa and the junta stage the coup, risking their very lives, because they could not bear the prospect of giving it all up. The junta has one additional reason why it cannot hold free and fair elections and risk losing to the opposition, with a dirty past, they can imagine the nightmare of having it all come out!The nearly four decades in power had allowed Zanu PF dictatorship to grow into a monster in both numerical head count and in political power as the party's influence extended its reach into every section and facade of the nation. The rot in the leaders was so deep set the party could only be transformed by uprooting the corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical members. The November coup boot out of the party Robert Mugabe and a dozen or so others nowhere near enough to justify President Mnangagwa's claim the party was a "new dispensation".The party's refusal to give up its dictatorial powers including the carte blanche power to rig elections has confirm Zanu PF has not change one bit; it is still a party of corrupt vote-rigging thugs.So, as long as the "new dispensation", "new era", "new trajectory", "new economic order", remain fragments of President Mnangagwa and his coup junta's imagination, no different from many imaginary changes by Robert Mugabe and his cronies; economic recovery will too remain a mirage. With unemployment already at 90%, of the people living on US$1.00 or less a day, etc. Zimbabwe cannot afford another rigged elections and another five more years celebrating imaginary economic recovery because real people need real jobs!The booting out of Robert Mugabe from Zanu PF, influential as he clearly was, was not enough to transform Zimbabwe from a pariah state to a democratic one "open for business. Just as one swallow does not constitute a summer, Zanu PF will have to hold free, fair and credible elections to prove its Damascene democratic claims are not just a figment of President Mnangagwa's wishful thinking. Opinion / Columnist Military rule governs more by an iron fist than sanity! Breathes more by the hand than the nostrils! Feels more by the foot than the heart! Relies more on emotional turbo-drive Animal Farm judgment than quality common sense judgment! This explains the cause as to why and how retired general and now Vice President of The Republic, Constantino Guveya Nyikadzino Chiwenga (CGNC) finds it a most prudent quick-fix to seek to cure diarrhoea and cholera by stitching the anus in the health sector as against sustainable creative value-adding, well researched and professionally articulated interventions! The nurses industrial action required not only human, but professional value-adding interventions from high office! That is a disasterous military technic upon civilians in essential service and a population in excruciating poverty.A people under rule and extreme abuse as opposed to good governance. The world's most powerful and most abusive Vice President ever ready to breathe fire instead of fresh air against the health sector. Military hooliganism against civilian health personnel! CGNC thinks with his shoes in broad-day light. That puts his level of consideration by far below the level of an Early Childhood Learning pupil. CGNC thinks and implements avoidable death upon the masses. He plays tricks and takes most grave experiments with human life. CGNC has opted to run The Zimbabwe Nurses Association like another division of The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA).He carries zero common sense in a humanity driven calling to serve the public! Nurses were drafted in the frontline of the health battlefield with neither relevant armour nor empowerment battle-cry that inspired the pioneers of the profession such as Florence Nightingale! And yet were expected to perform militaristic miracles on-the-job with this iron military motivation! This most primitive CGNC stone-age rule that abundantly lacks the desired common sense! When Iron Men descend from the hills to misrule, humanity suffers irrepairably. The most desired joy does not come in the morning as Iron Men play deaf to the voice of God that manifests through the abused multitudes and over-worked and yet underpaid nurses!CGNC so recklessly believes in action before thought! And cares less about avoidable deaths and quaIitative service delivery in the essential services for the public. For the less feeling elite with the right to live and earn, Airforce jets on free charter are kept on stand-by to ferry them and their families to prestigious health institutions of the world as the voter perishes in deliberately paralysed local health institutions. When the quality of top leadership depreciates! When a vaccum takes place at the top! When management strategy deteriorates in the hands of reckless and unskilled metal thinkers in power, life becomes brutish, nasty and short for the voting public. Military rule in the health sector! Slavery in the health profession! Hospitals reduced to death- traps! And CGNC makes no-sense out of the gruesome man-made deplorable mess of the worst order three months down-the-line to an election. Deliberate suffocation of the health sector! Immeasurable humiliation for the health personnel upon the already highly compromised health service delivery system pre-eminently marked-by empty dispensaries and acute lack of other most critical on-the-job basic sundries. New mode of extra-judicial killings in health institutions! An already highly demotivated personnel! No! Ladies and gentlemen! The soldier must start thinking with his brains and feeling with his heart! CGNC must think value-addition in the Vice President's office rather than liability decision-making! Must look east for the best adult toys rather than taking to gaming with human lives in Zimbabwe's health institutions! Nurses hired today! Fired tomorrow! And re-hired the day after! Unparrallelled nonsense in high decision-making echelons! And public life on peril mode! Surely this makes of sufficient causative factors to re-call CGNC fron The Vice Presidency of The Republic! Chiwenga has proved himself to be one of the greatest peace-time risks of the time in modern governance! Chiwenga peace-time horror and terror in the health sector! And surely makes it a performance issue for Zimbabwe President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa (EDM) not to dismiss. A most critical performance issue for the ruling ZANU PF politburo! A politburo that has proved itself to be a window-dresser institution but out to win a July 2018 election against The Movement for Democratic Change Nelson Chamisa-led alliance. It makes of most critical incompetence on the part of The President. Or, confirms that EDM was surely non-presidential material himself. Not governing for, through, by and with the people but for other reasons. The two men failed or never had an iota of intention to rise beyond restoration of their personal legacies and lost gainful employment. Surely nothing betters the duo from the former president Robert Gabriel Mugabe whom they kept in power by hook or crook for 37 years of national sub-standard living.Evangelist Reginald Thabani Gola. Cell. 00263 775184749. E-mail:regtgola@gmail.com By Cate Cadell BEIJING (Reuters) - China is looking for billions of dollars in funds to propel its domestic ambitions in chips to cut a heavy reliance on imports, and has invited overseas investors to help it get there. The country's industry ministry said on Wednesday that it welcomed foreign enterprises to invest in its top state-backed semiconductor fund, even as tensions simmer over tech transfers between China and the United States. China is looking to accelerate plans to develop its semiconductor market amid a fierce trade stand-off with the United States and a recent ban on U.S. sales, including of American chips, to ZTE Corp. China's National Integrated Circuit Investment Fund is now putting together a second fund to support the sector, a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) official said. "We welcome foreign enterprises to participate," MIIT spokesman Chen Yin said at a press conference in Beijing. The fund, which raised about $22 billion previously, has been a target for U.S. politicians concerned that Chinese firms, flush with state money, could challenge U.S. chip giants like Qualcomm Corp for whom China is a key market. The United States Trade Representative referenced China's semiconductor roadmap, which includes national funding, in a trade report that authorized U.S. President Donald Trump to levy up to $100 billion in tariffs against the country. Jack Ma, the founder of tech giant Alibaba, said in Japan on Wednesday that China needed to control its "core technology" like chips to avoid over-reliance on U.S. imports. Alibaba last week said it had bought Chinese microchip maker Hangzhou C-SKY Microsystems, though Ma said the timing of the deal was not linked to U.S.-China trade tensions. "We believe the internet of things is the future ... most things that have electricity will have chips inside. So we need cheaper chips, effective chips, inclusive chips that can be everywhere," Ma said during a live-streamed event at Tokyo's Waseda University. China's state-backed semiconductor fund, commonly referred to as the "Big Fund", has previously backed major local projects including a $24 billion Tsinghua Unigroup memory chip plant that is under construction in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Beijing says its supportive investment policies are designed to reduce China's reliance on foreign semiconductors, which are one of the country's top imported products by value. That dependence was highlighted this month after the United States banned American firms from selling components, including semiconductors, to ZTE. Analysts say the ban could be potentially fatal for ZTE's smartphone business. Chinese firms have also had a number of overseas deals to buy foreign chip companies blocked by U.S. regulators in recent years, including a bid by Tsinghua Unigroup to acquire U.S. chip group Micron Technology Inc. ($1 = 6.3219 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Cate Cadell; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Himani Sarkar) Conservative MPs are urging the federal government to take "immediate action" to halt illegal border crossings, describing the flow of asylum seekers from the United States as a "crisis without a plan." Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel tabled a motion in the House of Commons on Tuesday calling on the Trudeau government to come up with a strategy by May 11 to deal with the spike in migrants crossing the border between legal checkpoints. Rempel said she worries that the absence of a more forceful response from the federal government to illegal border crossings could erode Canadians' support for immigration. "You're not going to get any argument from Canadians that we support immigration in this country," Rempel told reporters on Tuesday. "My concern is that if the government does not take steps to rectify [its] failure to manage our borders, we are going to rapidly see Canadians lose that social licence for immigration, because there will be a lack of faith in the ability of the government to ensure planned and orderly migration." 'Crisis without a plan' In 2017, RCMP officers apprehended 20,593 asylum seekers between official border checkpoints. More than 90 per cent of those crossings happened in Quebec. This year, the number of people crossing illegally into the province between January and March more than tripled compared to the same period last year, with 4,828 people intercepted by the RCMP in 2018 compared to 1,351 in 2017. Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen told CBC News Network's Power & Politics Tuesday that efforts to stem the flow of Nigerian asylum seekers to Canada are already under way. That effort has involved meeting with U.S. officials and telling them that a number of Nigerians have been applying for U.S. visitor visas with the intention of travelling through that country to claim asylum in Canada. "We've dispatched a number of senior officials to Nigeria to deal with the United States mission there to again compare notes and see how we can share best practices ... in terms of dealing with our common interests, securing our common border," Hussen told host Vassy Kapelos. Story continues Those interventions, the minister explained, have resulted in the U.S. cutting the number of tourist visas it offers to Nigerians by 10 per cent. Conservatives say they have been calling on the Liberals to respond to the spike in crossings for more than 18 months. "They knew that this was going to happen and they have done absolutely nothing to restore order and to manage our borders," Rempel said. "This is the second summer that we're going into a potential immigration crisis without a plan." Earlier this month, Quebec Immigration Minister David Heurtel said up to 400 people could be crossing into the province daily by this summer. Quebec has asked the federal government for help, warning that its education and social service agencies won't be able to cope with the influx. Differing views on solutions As part of their motion, the Conservatives want to see more federal government support for the agencies that police Canada's border with the United States, including the Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP. Speaking to reporters in French, Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus told reporters that CBSA officers were being asked to "cut corners" when processing people who cross the border illegally. Later that day in the House of Commons, Paul-Hus said he had been informed that security processing times at the border had been cut "considerably" and accused the government of offering "first-class service to those who don't respect our laws." The Conservatives are also calling on the Liberals to declare the entire Canada-U.S. border an official point of entry a measure that would close a perceived loophole in the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement. Under the agreement, most people who make an asylum claim at the border are turned back to the United States. As a result, critics of the agreement say it has been driving asylum seekers to cross illegally in order to file claims. The NDP and refugee advocacy groups have instead called for the agreement to be suspended, arguing that would eliminate the need for asylum seekers to cross illegally. 'Certainly not a crisis' Lobat Sadrehashemi, president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, said asylum seekers who cross illegally shouldn't be labelled as queue-jumpers. "There is no legal channel for them to cross to have their asylum claims determined," she said. "The Safe Third Country Agreement means that if they do try and cross at a regular land border they will be sent back to the United States, where we know many will face detention and deportation without a fair process." Asylum seekers who cross between official checkpoints are identifying themselves to Canadian authorities, Sadrehashemi said. After undergoing security and eligibility checks, those deemed eligible to enter Canada are allowed to remain, so that their claim can be determined by the Immigration and Refugee Board. "That is certainly not a crisis," Sadrehashemi said. 'Rigorous response' A spokesperson for Hussen says the federal government has put in place a rigorous response to the spike in asylum seekers. "Canada is an open and welcoming country to those in need of protection, but our government is committed to orderly migration to protect Canadians and our immigration system," said Mathieu Genest. "Every person crossing the border undergoes a thorough security screening and we are taking action to speed up the asylum claim hearing process." The federal government committed $173 million in its latest budget to security operations at the Canada-U.S. border and the processing of asylum seekers who cross over in 2018-19, but Conservatives say more money isn't the solution. "All the government has done is throw hundreds of millions of dollars at the problem and it's only become worse," Rempel said, citing continued arrivals by asylum seekers. Motion unlikely to pass Conservatives blame Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the increase in illegal crossings, arguing he encouraged would-be asylum seekers to come to Canada when he tweeted a message of welcome in January 2017. Trudeau posted the message one day after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a four-month ban on refugees and temporarily restricted entry to the U.S. for travellers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The prime minister later reminded would-be asylum seekers that crossing illegally in the country offers no advantage when it comes to obtaining refugee status in Canada. Unlikely to win the support of MPs from other parties, the Conservative motion will almost certainly be defeated. LONDON (Reuters) - England captain Dylan Hartley will miss this year's tour of South Africa and the rest of the Premiership season due to concussion, his club Northampton Saints said on Monday. Hooker Hartley was injured in England's Six Nations match against Ireland last month and has not played since. "I'm very disappointed that I will not be available for selection for Saints' remaining Premiership games, as well England's tour to South Africa," Hartley said in a statement. "It has been recommended by specialists that I take a break this summer and while I find that decision hard to accept, its important I listen to that advice." England's three-test series in South Africa starts on June 9. (Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond) It's something that many people can do, but not well. Saskatoon's Mike Sheinin is an expert whistler. The uniquely talented musician will soon be heading to Japan to compete in the World Whistlers Convention. Sheinin, who works in the technology sector by day, said he has whistled all his life but didn't know he could compete until last year when he came across a video online. "I thought, I can hang with those people," he said. "I've been practising all my life. Everytime I'm in the car...to the radio. If I have a song in my head, I just whistle it." Sheinin participated in his first competition in Hollywood in 2017. He said participants came from all over Canada, U.S., Japan and India. For the upcoming competition in Japan, Sheinin said each participant has to whistle a piece of classical music, which means perfecting the sounds of instruments, including the flute. He's also been practising Believer by Imagine Dragons. Sheinin said he also enjoys whistling to Bruno Mars and Sam Smith. It's a departure from his original whistling musicStyx, Meatloaf and The Eagles three of his mother's favourites. Last week, Sheinin said he took his whistling to the stage of an open mic night in Saskatoon. Many people in the audience started recording his performance on their phones. "I haven't done it in front of too many people but the people that I have are kind of amazed," he said. Perfecting the whistle Most whistlers play instruments, Sheinin said, but he doesn't have a musical background. He said he hones his craft by whistling the same songs over and over again, finding ways to change up songs and make them his own. Even good whistlers have different styles and techniques, Sheinin said, explaining that he has a higher pitch than many others. Perfecting the whistle is all about controlling your breath and changing notes mid-breath, he said. If you want to improve your whistling, Sheinin suggests taking it easy. He said most people blow too hard, when it actually requires a soft, H-like sound. Listen to Sheinin's rendition of Believer above. The province's real estate regulator is raising the alarm over unregistered builders who it says may be putting Ottawa homebuyers at risk. Following an investigation into illegal building in Ottawa, Tarion, a non-profit organization that administers warranty coverage on new homes, announced Monday it's joining the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Home Builders' Association to clamp down on the problem. The regulator said since 2013, its compliance and investigations department has opened 72 investigations into 136 homes in the Ottawa area. In that same period it has laid 66 charges and secured 47 convictions in provincial offences court relating to illegal building. "We only know what is reported to us, and we want to make sure homeowners understand that they can come to us," said Siloni Waraich, Tarion's vice-president of stakeholder engagement, in an interview with CBC News at a model home in Findlay Creek. Builder pleaded guilty In February, local builder Livingstone Developments pleaded guilty to three counts of submitting false information and two counts illegal vending under the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act, according to Tarion. The company was also under under investigation by Tarion in 2012 after a couple complained work on their home had come to a grinding halt. Waraich said all builders in Ontario must be registered with Tarion if they sell a new home or new condo, and pay an enrolment fee of up to $1,800. Those who do not register aren't eligible for the regulator's seven-year warranty. Unregistered builders can put homebuyers at risk often by building homes with defects, or vanishing before the home is completed, Waraich said. She said realtors can also be on the hook by selling illegally built homes. Expanding pilot project The Ontario Building Partnership, a consumer protection group, started a pilot project in 2015 in 15 municipalities in Ontario to have municipal building departments refer permits from prospective homebuyers to Tarion to educate them on warranty requirements. Story continues Tarion hopes to push the provincial government to expand the program Ontario-wide. "We're disappointed that we're still waiting for that legislative change," said Joe Vaccaro, CEO of the Ontario Home Builders' Association. "The reality is that when a consumer looks to build their own home and bring in a contractor they generally don't realize the kind of obligations they're taking on. Things like health and safety, work compensation issues, and just general building issues." Tarion urges all homebuyers to consult their website for more information and to search a directory of registered home builders. By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN (Reuters) - An appeal by Apple and Ireland against a European Union ruling for the U.S. firm to pay 13 billion euros ($16 billion) in disputed taxes is likely to be heard before the end of the year, Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said on Tuesday. The European Commission ruled in August 2016 that Apple had received unfair tax incentives. Both Apple and Dublin are appealing against the original ruling, saying the iPhone maker's tax treatment was in line with Irish and European Union law. "We expect the appeal is likely to begin in the autumn," Donohoe told journalists on Tuesday. "How long the hearings will last will depend on the judges overseeing it and could be open to either party after that to take any further action." The Commission told Ireland to collect 13 billion euros in back taxes, a figure Ireland's finance department estimated last year could reach 15 billion euros including EU interest. Interest due by Apple will be calculated after the initial 13 billion euros is collected, Donohoe said. Last October the Commission said it was also taking Dublin to the European Court of Justice over delays in recovering the money that was due to be recovered in January 2017, four months on from the initial ruling. The Commission said on Tuesday that it hoped the funds would be recovered fully as soon as possible to allow it to close the EU Court of Justice's action against Ireland for missing that deadline, a spokesman said. Ireland has insisted that it has acted as fast as it could to facilitate collection and management of such a large sum. Last month it appointed managers for an escrow account to hold the money and Donohoe on Tuesday said the money would begin to be paid by Apple in a series of payments starting in the second quarter, with all funds in place by the end of the third quarter. Donohoe said the fund would make investment decisions that are low risk and that the Irish taxpayer would be protected. "Any loss from the fund will reside with the fund, not with the taxpayer," he said. ($1 = 0.8189 euros) (Additional reporting Conor Humphries and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Editing by Alexander Smith and David Goodman) MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday it did not regard political tumult in Armenia, a close Russian ally, as a Ukraine-style revolution and was pleased that the situation there appeared stable for now. The Kremlin was speaking a day after Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan resigned after almost two weeks of mass street protests that plunged the ex-Soviet republic into political crisis. "For now we see that the situation is not unfolding in a destabilizing way which is a cause for satisfaction," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. "We hope that order and stability will be maintained in the country and that the outlines of a consensus political configuration will appear in the near future." When asked if the Kremlin regarded the events as a revolution, Peskov said he would not draw parallels with what happened in Ukraine in 2014 when big protests brought about a change in power that shifted the country away from Russia's orbit toward the West. (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Andrew Osborn) Putting Power Smart advertising on pause as it's moved to a new Crown corporation was just efficient, Manitoba's Crown Services minister said Monday. Cliff Cullen said Hydro's energy efficiency programs are transitioning to Efficiency Manitoba, which he expects to be up and running by the end of the 2018-19 fiscal year. "There's quite a few opportunities for us to continue to get the message out about the existing programs but we just thought it was prudent not to spend additional money on a program that's on the way out," said Cullen. A CBC News report revealed that Hydro president and CEO Kelvin Shepherd warned that cutting advertising could mean the end for two programs and cause at least one partner company to move to Alberta. NDP MLA Rob Altemeyer raised the issue in the Legislature during question period Monday. He questioned why the government is cutting funding to educate Manitobans about ways to cut their utility bills at a time when they are facing rising heating and electricity costs. "If the government wants to help Manitobans, then maintaining existing successful Power Smart programs might be a good thing to do," said Altemeyer. Cullen said the Power Smart program is owned by B.C. Hydro and it is coming to an end. "We're bringing forward a new program. It's been recommended by the Public Utilities Board. It's been recommended by energy consultants across the province. Other provinces such as Alberta are signed on to efficiency-type programs. This is the way to go. This will reduce Manitoba's power bills," he said during question period. Instead of paid advertising, Cullen said the government will use direct mail, bill inserts through Hydro, social media, community events, and electronic newsletters. Altemeyer also asked if the government is cutting Power Smart as part of a larger mandated cut to Manitoba Crown corporations. "The problem is this government's mangled managing of the transition from one to the other. And yet a more sinister ploy could be at work here," he said. Cullen said it will be up to the new board of Efficiency Manitoba, expected to be in place within the next couple of months, to decide how they want to deal with existing contractors. "Our view is it will probably be an open competition to provide some of those services to Manitobans," he said, adding there will be a review of existing programs and consultations with Manitobans and key stakeholders. BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Japan's Softbank Group and Alphabet Inc's venture capital fund CapitalG are among investors pouring $1.9 billion into a truck hailing service platform Manbang, the Chinese company said in a statement on Tuesday. Manbang, formally known as Full Truck Alliance Group, said the investment was led by SoftBank's Vision Fund - which counts Apple Inc, Foxconn and Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund among its backers. Investors also include state-backed private equity firm China Reform Fund and Hong Kong-based investment firm Ward Ferry, said Manbang. The investment will help Manbang develop new business areas and markets, the company said. Around 5.2 million out of China's 7 million trunk line trucks are members of the Full Truck Alliance, Manbang added. Manbang, often described as China's "Uber for trucks", runs an app that allows shippers to connect with truck drivers, tapping into demand for haulage in one of the world's busiest markets for goods transport. The investment was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing sources, who said the fund raising would put the company's valuation north of $6 billion. Manbang CEO Wang Gang said in a statement that the firm would use much of the funds "to recruit talent", which when necessary could include making acquisitions. "The deal has brought Manbang's development into a new stage," Wang said, adding it would help the firm "become the world's largest platform in terms of transportation capacity." (Reporting by Pei Li and Adam Jourdan; Editing by Himani Sarkar) 'They are now a part of us': Makeshift memorial for Toronto van attack victims comes down LATEST UPDATES: - Alek Minassian charged with 10 counts of 1st-degree murder, 13 counts of attempted murder - Two victims named so far Anne Marie D'Amico and Dorothy Sewell, 80, identified as a victim by her grandson - 2 from South Korea reported dead, 1 victim identified by Jordanian media as Munir Abdu Habib Al-Najjar - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says no evidence of a "national security element" to attack - Police seek help from the public to identify some victims The man accused of plowing into pedestrians along a strip of one of Toronto's busiest streets on Monday is expected to be charged with a 14th count of attempted murder in addition to the 10 counts of first-degree murder he already faces. Alek Minassian, 25, of Richmond Hill, Ont., was arrested after a white van left a trail of death and injury down a busy stretch of Yonge Street in north Toronto. At a news conference Tuesday, police said little about any possible motive the suspect may have had, but did refer to a "cryptic" message posted on Minassian's Facebook account moments before he allegedly drove south down a nearly kilometre-long stretch causing what paramedics described as "pure carnage." The post referred to the "Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger." Rodger was the 22-year-old California man responsible for a deadly rampage in Isla Vista, Calif., that left six people dead and a dozen people wounded. In a video posted ahead of that 2014 attack, Rodger raged about a number of women turning down his advances. Arrest made within 7 minutes: police Det. Sgt. Graham Gibson told reporters that in the morning hours before the attack Minassian allegedly rented a panel van from Ryder before making his way to the Yonge Street and Finch Avenue area around 1:30 p.m. and "deliberately striking" pedestrians. Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said Tuesday Minassian was arrested within seven minutes from the time that police received their first 911 call. On Monday, he said the arrest was made 26 minutes from the time of the call. Story continues Gibson also clarified the number of injured is 14, not 15, saying the miscount was the result of a "fluid" situation. The majority of those struck, he said, were women, ranging in age from their 20s to 80s. Asked if they may have been targeted, Gibson would not say. Asked if Minassian had any mental illness, he replied that it was too early to know. Court appearance Gibson told reporters that investigators retrieved a cellphone from the suspect. He could not confirm that it was the cellphone seen in Minassian's hand in video footage that showed his arrest. Minassian appeared in court wearing a white jumpsuit on Tuesday morning, showing little emotion, only giving his name and confirming he understood conditions imposed on him by the court. CBC News has confirmed that Minassian spent 16 days in basic training with the Canadian Forces last fall before he asked to leave and then was ultimately released from service in late October. Also at the news conference, chief coroner Dirk Huyer told reporters investigators have not confirmed any of the victims' identities. "We also have to ensure that we're completely accurate when we do this," he said. "It's far different, for example, than somebody found in their house deceased." He said it may take days before forensic pathologists are able to confirm names of those killed. Investigators will leave 'no stone unturned' Toronto Mayor John Tory, meanwhile, lauded Torontonians for showing their best "even on our darkest days," making reference to a growing memorial in the area where the attack took place and a number of fundraising campaigns that have sprung up since the attack. The city will be partnering with with GoFundMe as well as Canada Zakat, a Muslim fundraising organization, to co-ordinate donations, as well as launching the hashtag #TorontoStrongFund. The Queen also sent sympathies through the Governor General: "Prince Philip and I join all Canadians in expressing our sadness following the terrible tragedy that occurred in Toronto yesterday. We offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who were lost, as well as our hopes for full recovery to all who were injured and affected by this incident. You are all in our thoughts and prayers." Earlier in the day, Tory addressed city council and said investigators will leave "no stone unturned" in their effort to find out what happened and why. "This unfathomable loss of life has left our city in mourning," the mayor said. "While we do not yet know the identities of all those who lost their lives, we can be sure that they were people who were loved, who had dreams and families, who had accomplished many things and would have done so much more." Earlier Tuesday, one of the people killed in the attack was identified as Anne Marie D'Amico, CBC News has learned. Since then three foreign nationals have also been confirmed dead: two from South Korea, and one from Jordan. D'Amico was an employee at Invesco, a U.S.-based investment management firm. Her next of kin have been notified. Invesco's Canadian headquarters are on Yonge Street, between Sheppard and Finch, close to the nearly one-kilometre stretch of Yonge Street where pedestrians were struck. Fourteen victims remain in hospital. D'Amico's colleague at Invesco, Jon Tam, said she was "full of life, loved to travel, loved to help volunteer." He said the workplace has been devastated by the news that D'Amico is among the victims. "She was a very warm, friendly presence in the office. Always smiling," he said in an interview with CBC's Metro Morning. "I'll definitely be missing seeing that smile around the office." Police say the probe into the attack will take time as investigators appeal for information to help them identify victims and determine a motive. Saunders said Monday night that the attack "definitely appeared deliberate," but what motivated it was less clear. Speaking to reporters early Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there is no evidence to suggest the "horrific" and "senseless" attack has a national security element. It appeared Minassian, listed on his LinkedIn profile as a student at Seneca College from 2011 to 2018, was brought into custody without serious injury. The police officer who arrested Minassian has been identified as Const. Ken Lam, a longtime veteran of the force. Attack 'basically at our doorstep' Kenneth Wu, one of many people who saw the van on the move, told CBC News he saw the van strike a woman and then locked eyes with the driver. "As soon as he passed my car, he turned around and looked at me face to face," Wu said. "That's when I saw he was a very angry and scared young guy." Saunders said police are still investigating and collaborating with provincial and federal counterparts as they work at the scene, gather information and talk to witnesses. Anyone missing a friend or family member is asked to call Toronto police at 416-808-8085. Anyone with information for investigators can contact 416-808 8750. Police have also set up a video/photo portal at: torontopolice.on.ca/yongefinch/. If you're seeking mental wellness help, you can call 416-808 7066. Correction : An earlier version of this story stated that Minassian had been asked to leave the Canadian Forces. In fact, he asked to leave after 16 days of basic training and then was ultimately released from service in late October.(Apr 24, 2018 5:47 PM) By Sarah N. Lynch and Dustin Volz WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. regulators fined Altaba Inc, the company formerly known as Yahoo! Inc, $35 million on Tuesday to settle charges that kept its massive 2014 cyber security breach a secret from investors for more than two years. The Securities and Exchange Commission's case marks the first time it has gone after a company for failing to disclose a cyber security breach. Altaba agreed to settle without admitting or denying any wrongdoing. A company spokesman declined to comment. Yahoo's information security team learned just days after the December 2014 breach that Russian hackers had stolen the company's "crown jewels," including email addresses, encrypted passwords and security questions, the SEC said in a statement. Despite becoming aware of the breach and reporting it to Yahoo's senior management and legal department, the company failed to properly investigate and did not disclose it to the public until more than two years later, when it was in the process of being acquired by Verizon Communication Inc, the regulator said. Steven Peikin, co-director the SEC's enforcement division, said cyber breaches were a priority for the agency and hoped companies facing similar issues would take note. "The message in this case and the package of remedies here I think is a pretty strong one and I hope will be viewed as a significant penalty by other issuers," he told reporters on a call. "We are not seeking to second guess good faith disclosure decisions, or be unsympathetic to the perils that companies face from these kinds of intrusions," he said, but Yahoo's material misstatements, omissions and lack of controls fell substantially short of expectations. The U.S. Justice Department announced charges last year against four men, including two officers in Russia's Federal Security Service, for their roles in the theft of 500 million Yahoo accounts. One of them, Karim Baratov, a Canadian citizen born in Kazakhstan, pleaded guilty late last year to charges related to helping Russian intelligence agents break into email accounts as part of a massive 2014 breach. Baratov was expected to be sentenced on Tuesday for his role in the Yahoo hack. During its investigation into the 2014 breach, Yahoo uncovered a separate 2013 breach that compromised all 3 billion of its accounts, by far the largest known breach of consumer information. Cyber breach disclosures have drawn intense scrutiny after credit reporting agency Equifax Inc announced last year that personal information on nearly 150 million Americans had been compromised. The SEC has filed charges against a former Equifax executive for alleged insider trading on the information. In February, the regulator published new guidance on how and when firms should disclose cyber security risks and breaches. The investigation into Yahoo is continuing and the SEC has yet to make a decision about the role or culpability of individuals, the SEC said. In a Tweet on Tuesday, Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner applauded the SEC action. "Holding the company accountable is important, and I hope others will learn you can't sweep this kind of thing under the rug." (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Dustin Volz in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Michelle Price in Washington and Nate Raymond; Editing by Richard Chang) KIEV (Reuters) - Hackers took down the website of the Ukrainian energy and coal ministry on Tuesday, posting a message in English demanding a ransom paid in Bitcoin to recover encrypted files. The attack appeared to be an isolated incident with no other government websites or systems affected, cyber police spokeswoman Yulia Kvitko wrote in a message to Reuters. Hackers have repeatedly targeted Ukrainian government systems and critical infrastructure such as energy companies. Kiev typically blames attacks on Russia, though Moscow denies involvement. "This case is not large-scale. If necessary, we are ready to react and help," Kvitko said. The websites of state-run energy companies have not been affected and the ministry's email system was working normally, the ministry spokeswoman said by phone. "Our specialists are working right now ... We do not know how long it will take to resolve the issue," she said. "Ukrenergo, Energoatom - everything is okay with their sites, it's only our site that does not work." (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Kevin Liffey) An Edmonton woman visiting Halifax says she was removed from an Air Canada flight after the crew wrongly assumed she had a contagious disease. On Sunday evening, an Air Canada flight between Halifax and Toronto was delayed from 6:25 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday, which the airline says was because "a passenger was believed to have a transmissible skin disease." That passenger was Jeanne Lehman, who says she started feeling unwell and developing a rash on her forehead after arriving in Halifax on Wednesday. Over the next two days the rash spread to the area around her eye, so she visited a walk-in clinic and the QEII Health Sciences Centre emergency department. Doctors there gave her antiviral medication and told her it was fine for her to be around other people. Lehman said later she was diagnosed with shingles, which is not contagious. (Infectious disease doctors say it is impossible to transmit shingles, although in certain circumstances a person in direct contact with someone with shingles can catch chicken pox if the blisters are open.) Removal from flight On Sunday evening, she tried to board a plane to go home to Edmonton. By that time her eye was quite puffy and she felt self-conscious about the condition of her face, so she asked if she could be seated beside a window. "When I arrived on the plane, I saw the flight attendant. I asked her, I said, 'Please, if you have a seat by the window ... I would like please to have that favour to give me that place. Because I'm not contagious, but I don't want people to see this side of my face. It is damaged,"' Lehman said Monday. Lehman said she was only seated for a few moments when the flight attendant came back dressed in a mask and gloves, and asked Lehman to bring her belongings and follow her off the plane. "Then she said to me, 'You are contagious. You said you are contagious, so I cannot leave you in the plane. Just follow me.' Then I said to her, 'First of all, I'm not contagious. You don't have to scream it like what you're doing right now.'" Story continues 'It was bizarre' Other passengers said announcements were made about a passenger with a contagious disease, and they observed staff disinfecting the area where Lehman had been seated. Eventually everyone was deplaned. "It was bizarre," said Susan McAlister, a Toronto resident. "I started to feel angry that she had been treated this way." McAlister does not know Lehman but said they struck up a conversation about Lehman's eye while waiting to board. Lehman told McAlister she had been seen by doctors and it was fine for her to be around others. McAlister said she also judged the condition was not infectious because of her own background. "As a nurse, I wasn't worried because I knew that she wasn't. I had observed her physical state. None of her things were weeping. It wasn't contagious," McAlister said. Second trip to hospital Lehman said she attempted to explain that she had been seen by doctors but she was taken by Air Canada staff to the QEII hospital where she was seen again late on Sunday evening. In a statement to CBC News on Sunday night, an Air Canada spokesperson explained the decision was made to take Lehman to the ER "after consulting our medical experts." "Out of an abundance of caution passengers on board were also asked to disembark and a different aircraft will transport them later [Sunday]. We regret the inconvenience but this was deemed a necessary precaution taken after consultation with doctors and we will follow up with customers directly if they have any concerns," wrote Peter Fitzpatrick. Lehman said a doctor at the ER on Sunday night said she had shingles and that she was clear to fly, although it was so late that Air Canada chose to put her on a flight the next day. She was given a hotel room overnight, along with food vouchers. Asking more questions McAlister said before the other passengers left Halifax an announcement was made over the PA system that Lehman's condition was not contagious. Both she and Lehman want to know why staff did not ask more questions to understand the situation. "Yes, have safety of people in heart. This is very normal. I don't blame that. But the thing is, they should have another type of protocol. They are not doctors," said Lehman. "They said 'Oh, maybe because I don't speak English.' Yes, I know maybe my English is not perfect because I am a French speaker," she said. "But if my English is not perfect, Air Canada is bilingual. If the flight attendant cannot understand what I am saying, maybe she should have called someone else who could explain that." Air Canada said it could not elaborate on Lehman's case. "For privacy reasons we cannot provide details about individual customers, but we can confirm that once the passenger received medical clearance she was able to travel," it said in a statement. "Our priority is always the health and safety of our customers and employees, so we acted out of an abundance of caution. Regrettably, the situation resulted in inconvenience for some customers and we will be dealing with them directly." 'Psychologically, that affects me' Lehman said the incident troubled her deeply, and she keeps going over it in her mind. "Psychologically, that affects me. I couldn't sleep all this night," she said, although her friends and family advised her to try to rest. "Every time I would wake up and go, why did they do that? Why did this lady? She doesn't know me. Why did that happen?" Lehman said she is tired but not in pain. She was able to board another flight home on Monday. Data Science MIT Hackathon Applies Data Science to Public Policy Challenges The Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently held the MIT Policy Hackathon, an event that brought together data science, engineering and policy students to come up with solutions to real problems brought by the event's organizers. More than 100 researchers and students from MIT and a half-dozen other universities participated in the weekend-long event, hosted by the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS). "It's a different type of hackathon in that it is focused on public policy outcomes," said Amy Umaretiya, a student organizer with IDSS's Technology and Policy Program (TPP), in a prepared statement. "We have these concrete challenges put forth by organizations that have data analytics needs for social good that aren't being met." "We wanted to create a hackathon where interdisciplinary teams tackle complex societal problems," said Marco Miotti, a doctoral student at IDSS, in a prepared statement. "The challenges were structured so you can't solve them without both data and policy expertise." Participants were given access to datasets from government, education and nonprofit institutes and asked to tackle problems in fields such as transportation, the future of work, cybersecurity, energy and climate and health. The winning team, NappyTime, proposed a solution that is covered by a nondisclosure agreement and aims to help solve the problem of insufficient diaper supply for some parents. The problem was proposed by event sponsors Mental health Outreach for Mothers (MOMS) Partnership and the National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN). "The crux of this proposal was the need for more data on diaper need, and quantifying the benefits of addressing it," said Lawrence Baker, a TPP student on the winning team, in a prepared statement. "We wanted to propose policies that would be inexpensive for Connecticut, easy to implement, and would allow the collection of more data." The Massachusetts government proposed two problems and asked students to find solutions to traffic congestion and how to help Boston meet its declared goal to become carbon neutral by mid-century. The Boston University Law School's Technology and Cyberlaw Clinic asked participants how to deal with data breaches such as the massive one that hit Equifax recently, and the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy asked students for suggestions to ensure there is a safety net in place for members of the gig economy. "It is very satisfying to use the skills we normally only apply to narrowly focused, high-level scientific problems in the lab instead on a broad range of social issues that impact the daily life of many community members," said participant Ryan Badman, a Cornell University Ph.D. candidate in physics. For more information, visit mitpolicyhackathon.org. From a young age we are taught about ourselves, others and the world through dichotomy. Hot and cold, up or down right and wrong, form the basis of our logic and our humanity. We cannot bypass this developmental structure but we must learn to live beyond it. Finding our way beyond, can only begin when we have learned to live in it well enough to come to the end of it. In other words, there are no short cuts, living deeply and thoroughly with the truth and light that God has gifted us with will bring us to a place beyond it. As a youth worker, who has worked with society's most abused and disadvantaged, one of the key ingredients to bringing some life back into a person is teaching them to live within boundaries. Strong boundaries that define right and wrong, consequences and rewards and pleasure and suffering is the beginning. Seeing how a young person handles these boundaries and working together with them to understand why they must be is probably the foundation of my job. It is an art not a science so it boundaries can be very individual and unique to every person and situation. This does not mean that we live in a purely subjective and individualistic world of ethics. It is crucial to a person's humanity that they understand limits, boundaries and laws. There is no moral, emotional, psychological, social or spirituality development without coming to grips with this. Having said that, I also live in the kingdom of God which as times, includes the church. Let me just qualify that I love the church, in all its diversity and even conflicts. I love when the church is in unity with the spirit of God and when she brings the truth and life of God in this world. The church however is usually a battleground, so much more recently because of these factors. First the majority of people are educated and taught to think objectively more so than ever before. Secondly our culture has the internet, giving people access not only to more information and experience, but also giving the rise of people's ability to express their opinion to wider audiences. Lastly our worlds intersect more than ever before, politics, the sciences, history, religion all intersect and intermingle like never before. An example of this in modern times is the debate and subsequent vote on homosexual marriage. This debate took place in a very complex environment unlike which has never occurred before. The results of this is we are living in a very diverse society, and the church reflects that. Our society is also very divided and the church reflects that as well. I must admit that I go down the rabbit hole of YouTube, and find myself listening to some controversial stuff, particularly when it comes to church and theology. I find people are without fear when they label others as false teachers and apostates and churches as cults. When people do this, even with the best intentions, they reveal their own personal biases and limitations of their own understanding of God. God is love and when he judges us, it's in order to save us, usually from ourselves. You see most of the evil that has happened in the world has been justified with good intentions. We cannot be naive and believe that we are not mired in the same mud we claim to see others mired in. I am not saying we do not judge at all, but that to understand what judgement is by passing through it and understanding it. Passing through judgement is a very deep and personal thing that primarily feels painful and overwhelming. Once we pass through judgement we are not morally perfect but the mystery is we have a holy wound, a wound that prevents us from causing pain to others out of selfish motives. Before this process we can pass judgement on others according to our own jealousy, arrogance or insecurities, no matter how justified we feel. This wound will help us understand the bible and the people of the bible a lot better. Saint Paul's writing gives some deep insight into this, especially his writing to the Corinthians. The clearest example of this judgement process, which both hard and loving, is the narrative of the Old Testament. A brief summary of this is the Exodus of the Israelite's and their journey through the wilderness and into the promised land. 'Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.' (Deuteronomy 8:2) This process brought the people out of Egypt, but then God had to bring Egypt of to his people. This process of purification or judgement, shows God's love (Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 5), but also his relentless work to bring us back to our unfallen nature, the nature of Christ. In this process God allows us to suffer, not unjustified suffering, but he opposes our desires. This forces us to face the forces that are at work within us. It's not pretty usually, when we face the dark forces within. I just have to look at my 3 year old to see how human nature can turn ugly when it doesn't get what it want. The Israelite's would continually grumble against their situation and they would suffer, their suffering though was only to the extent that the pleasures and comforts of Egypt would tempt and entice them back. God wanted to change not only their, behaviour, but their very desires. He wanted their nature to be transformed. This is the end purpose of the judgement process. Mark Flippance is a Press Service International young writer from Adelaide. WEDNESDAY, April 25, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Despite media hype this week around what's being called "dry drowning," a group representing U.S. emergency physicians says the water is still safe for kids this summer. Reports of so-called dry drowning have made headlines, and just this week the family of 4-year-old Elianna Grace of Sarasota, Fla., sounded the alarm that she had almost died from the condition. According to CBS News, Elianna's mother, Lacey Grace, said her daughter accidentally inhaled swimming pool water into her lungs. After vomiting, Elianna appeared normal, but then two days later developed a fever and was taken to an emergency room. Elianna was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia -- called "dry drowning" by some -- which is a lung infection that can develop if people inhale water into the lungs. The preschooler is now out of the hospital and recovering at home. However, while these incidents can occur, they are rare, stressed the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in a news release. The group said parents should not be worried about their children's risk of the condition. The group also believes the term "dry drowning" is misleading. "Swimming is not without some risk. You could develop pneumonia or other infections from inhaling water, for example. But there are no cases of completely normal healthy children who suddenly die because they went swimming days earlier," ACEP President Dr. Paul Kivela said in the news release. "If water gets in your airway or lungs, symptoms show very quickly, they do not emerge out of the blue days later," Kivela added. "The concept of 'dry drowning' is a misnomer and a myth, let's stop using the term and avoid causing undue alarm." Also, he said, there are no medically recognized conditions known as "near-drowning," "dry drowning," or "secondary drowning." Those terms are often used instead of the proper term, drowning, which is a process with effects that can range from mild to severe with fatal and nonfatal outcomes, Kivela explained. He noted that many other medical groups, including the World Health Organization, the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross and the International Lifesaving Federation, also discourage the use of these terms. And of course, "if a child has breathing problems at any time, a parent should take him or her to the emergency department," Kivela said. Nonfatal drowning injuries can cause long-term disabilities or brain damage. Every day, there are about 10 drowning deaths in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the meantime, simple precautions can help prevent drowning deaths, the ACEP said. These include teaching kids to swim, supervising kids around water, learning CPR, and encouraging the use of life jackets. More information The American Academy of Pediatrics offers water safety advice. TUESDAY, April 24, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Medical marijuana shouldn't be used to treat sleep apnea, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine says in a new position statement. The group warned that the drug and its synthetic extracts haven't been shown to be safe, effective or well-tolerated by patients with this condition. "Until we have further evidence on the efficacy of medical cannabis for the treatment of sleep apnea, and until its safety profile is established, patients should discuss proven treatment options with a licensed medical provider at an accredited sleep facility," said statement lead author Dr. Kannan Ramar. He's a professor of medicine with the Mayo Clinic's division of pulmonary and critical care medicine, in Rochester, Minn. In November 2017, the Minnesota Department of Health announced plans to add obstructive sleep apnea as a new qualifying condition for its medical marijuana program. But in the statement published in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, the sleep academy urged states to exclude sleep apnea from the list of chronic health issues that may be included in these programs. In the United States, nearly 30 million adults are affected by sleep apnea. This condition occurs when the upper airway repeatedly collapses during sleep, resulting in snoring and daytime sleepiness. Current treatments for sleep apnea include CPAP therapy, where patients wear a mask that provides mild levels of air pressure that help keep their throats open. Some animal studies have suggested that the synthetic marijuana extract, dronabinol, could improve respiratory stability. Follow-up studies involving people have investigated the use of this drug as a new treatment option for those with sleep apnea. But the sleep academy pointed out that dronabinol is not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of sleep apnea. The long-term safety and effectiveness of the drug and various ways people can take the drug, such as vaping and liquid formulations, are unknown. Medical marijuana may also cause daytime sleepiness and other side effects, which may make driving dangerous, the sleep academy added. "Until there is sufficient scientific evidence of safety and efficacy, neither marijuana nor synthetic medical cannabis should be used for the treatment of sleep apnea," Dr. Ilene Rosen, president of the sleep academy, said in an academy news release. "Effective and safe treatments for sleep apnea are available from licensed medical providers at accredited sleep facilities," she added. More information The National Sleep Foundation provides more information on treatments for sleep apnea. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Istanbul, April 25, 2018An Istanbul court today convicted 14 people affiliated with the independent daily Cumhuriyet of aiding terrorist organizations and sentenced them to jail terms ranging between three and seven years, the newspaper reported. The court placed the journalists on probation and banned them from traveling until the appeals process has ended, according to reports. We condemn the convictions handed down to Cumhuriyet journalists by a justice system so compromised it should be on trial itself, said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova in New York. Conflating journalism with terrorism is a transparently cynical ploy by the Turkish authorities to shut down the press. We call for all of these verdicts to be overturned on appeal. Turkish prosecutors accused the journalists and newspaper staff of being or aiding followers of exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom the government accuses of masterminding a failed military coup in July 2016, and of aiding the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey classes both groups as terrorist organizations. Before issuing its verdict, the court removed Cumhuriyets former chief editor, Can Dundar, and a reporter, Ilhan Tanr, from the trial because they are not in Turkey. The court acquitted three of the defendantsBulent Yener, a former board member of Cumhuriyet, Turhan Gunay, chief editor of the dailys literary supplement, and Gunseli Ozatalay, the chief accountant. The court handed down the following prison sentences, Cumhuriyet reported: Seven years, three months, and 15 days: Akn Atalay, Cumhuriyet Foundation chair Six years and three months: Columnists Orhan Erinc and Hikmet Cetinkaya Two years and six months: Kadri Gursel, a columnist and chair of the International Press Institutes Turkish National Committee Three years and nine months: Columnists Guray Oz and Hakan Kara; the cartoonist Musa Kart; lawyer and foundation board member Mustafa Kemal Gungor; board member Onder Celik Seven years and six months: Columnist Aydn Engin; former chief editor Murat Sabuncu; reporter Ahmet Sk Three years, one month, and 15 days: Accountant Emre Iper Four years and six months: Cumhuriyet Foundation board member Bulent Utku [EDITORS NOTE: This alert was corrected to reflect the number of people affiliated with Cumhuriyet who are sentenced by the court, and to include the name and sentencing details of Bulent Utku.] Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram The United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in cooperation with the 19 Member States composing the Group of Friends for the Protection of Journalists in New York invites you to an event in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day 2018. Theme: Keeping Power in Check: the Protection of Journalists and Media Workers. The event will also feature remarks from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and CPJs Deputy Executive Director, Robert Mahoney. Points of discussion: Participation of media workers in the struggle to uphold rule of law and human rights and how this affects their safety Risks vis-a-vis incidents of threats and attacks against media workers Determining awareness, knowledge, and attitudes toward media workers roles, relevance, and safety Steps needed to ensure better safety for locally employed media workers Role of the media outlets Role the UN have to play in ensuring compliance with the obligation to protect journalists and media workers When: Thursday, 3 May 2018 High-Level Opening Session: 10 to 11 a.m. Panel Discussion: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Where:Conference Room 1, United Nations Headquarters Click here to RSVP The Union Government (Ministry of Finance) has signed a Loan Agreement with the World Bank for IBRD credit of US$ 125 (equivalent) for Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project. The objective of project is to nurture indigenous innovation, foster local product development and accelerate commercialization process in biopharmaceutical and medical devices industry in India. Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project The projects seeks to achieve its objective by bridging critical skill and infrastructure gaps to promote affordable and innovative healthcare products generation for inclusive development and increasing competitiveness in India. The project will support consortia of public, private, and academic institutions to overcome key market failures currently holding back development of innovative biopharmaceutical and medical devices industry in India. The components of project are strengthening of pilot-to market innovation ecosystem, accelerating of pilot to market process for specific products and project management and monitoring and evaluation. The closing date of project is June 2023. Rajahmundry: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu made serious comments about Governor E.S.L. Narasimhans controversial behaviour. The Governor is bringing all Opposition parties against the Telugu Desam, this has been reported in newspapers. It is not correct for a Governor to behave like this, Mr Naidu said. He said that it was not correct for a Governor to behave in a partisan manner. Mr Naidus comments against the Governor came after a two-hour discussion between them two days ago, after which the Governor left for Delhi to submit a report on AP affairs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a public meeting held to mark the National Panchayat Raj Day celebrations at Dwarapudi village in east Godavari district on Tuesday, Mr Naidu said the Telugu Desam had been opposing the practice of making Governors as agents of the Centre from a long time, as it results in abuse of office. Rajahmundry: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu made serious comments about Governor E.S.L. Narasimhans controversial behaviour. At one point of time, the Telugu Desam was even opposed the very existence of the office of Governor as head of state as the Centre could misuse the office to intervene in the affairs of states. There was a need to streamline the role and functioning of a Governors office to keep it away from politics, he said. Reiterating one of his strongest allegations against his former ally, he said the BJP-led NDA regime is conspiring to target me when I am fighting for justice. I am fighting for all of you people, to safeguard your rights, and ensure the future our younger generation. I call upon you to be aware of the Centres plot, be alert and protect me in case the Centre targets me directly or indirectly. Meanwhile, former TD MP Kambhampati Rammohan Rao speaking to media in Hyderabad objected to the Governor asking Mr Naidu to go easy against the Central government. When the people of our State are agitating against the injustice done by the Centre, is it proper to a Governor to ask like that, he asked. Rouhani spoke to a crowd of supporters in the city of Tabriz on Tuesday. (Photo: AFP) Tehran: Irans president has issued another warning as meetings between President Donald Trump and Frances Emmanuel Macron are underway in Washington. Hassan Rouhani says the United States will face grave consequences if Washington decides to withdraw from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. Rouhani spoke to a crowd of supporters in the city of Tabriz on Tuesday. State TV broadcast the speech. He said the Iranian nation and government will strongly resist any plots by those who sit in the White House. He didnt elaborate except to say Tehran has abided by commitments. Trump did not re-certify the deal in January but extended the main sanctions waivers and gave the Europeans until the next waiver deadline on May 12 to come up with fixes to the deal. Ukraine's Ukrmetprom, U.S. World Steel Dynamics sign memorandum of cooperation The parties agreed on arranging international industry forums and conferences for leading market experts to exchange experience. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter EU expert mission to help Ukraine improve methodology for calculating structural business statistics The two-day visit has been organised by the European Commission's Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX), in cooperation with the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Next week the Labor Department will release employment estimates for the month of April. With an unemployment rate close to 4 percent, and the labor force participation rate at 1970s levels, more legal visas for immigrants are needed to meet employers demand for labor. The Startup Act, sponsored by Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), would permit an additional 75,000 visas for immigrants attempting to start high-potential companies. The International Entrepreneur Rule allows the Department of Homeland Security to grant a period of authorized stay to entrepreneurial immigrants if they are able to prove that staying in the United States would provide significant public benefit through their business venture. The Startup Act, if passed, would allow entrepreneurial immigrants, who would likely benefit the economy, to remain in the country. New evidence for the benefits of the Act comes from a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research entitled Immigrant Entrepreneurship in America: Evidence from the survey of business owners 2007 & 2012. Utilizing the Survey of Business Owners (SBO), economists Sari Kerr and William Kerr compared the success and growth of firms founded by native-born Americans against the success and growth of immigrant-founded businesses. According to their research, immigrants start about 25 percent of new U.S. businesses. In states with more immigrants, such as California and New York, the share of firms founded by immigrants rises to about 40 percent. Kerr and Kerr found that many of the differences between first-generation immigrant firm owners and native-born firm owners were diminished when looking at second-generation immigrants. This trend of high immigrant entrepreneurship is consistent with previous research from the Kauffman Foundation. In 2016, the Foundation reported that immigrants are more than twice more likely to become entrepreneurs than native-born Americans. Additionally, the Foundation found that between 2006 and 2012, approximately 25 percent of engineering and technology companies created in the United States had at least one key founder who was an immigrant. Immigrant-owned businesses offer new job opportunities for native-born workers and immigrants. First-generation immigrant-owned firms account for about 16 million jobs. When including second-generation immigrant-owned firms, the number of jobs increases to 20 million. Although the jobs created by immigrant owners are typically lower paying and offer fewer benefits when compared to jobs created by native-born owners, when accounting for other variables, this difference can be partially explained by the types of firms founded. The majority of firms owned by immigrants are in retail trade, professional and technical services, and accommodation and food services. According to research from the Center of American Entrepreneurship, approximately 43 percent (or 216 firms) of 2017 Fortune 500 companies were founded or co-founded by immigrants or children of immigrants. This includes about 45 percent of high-tech companies. Although entrepreneurial business growth, as measured by the Kauffman Index of Growth Entrepreneurship, is up approximately 0.2, the number of jobs created by new businesses is down by about 1.5 million since the late 1990s. To boost job growth through new businesses, the United States needs to continue to encourage immigration of both high- and low-skill workers into the United States. A 2016 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper by economists Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan concluded that if prior immigration policies had been more selective, many immigrant-founded companies that exist today would not have been created. Opponents of increasing immigration in the United States argue that immigrants pose a high cost to America because of crime and the costs that communities face with higher numbers of immigrants. It is clear that visas for immigrants should be revoked if a crime is committed. In the recent court case Session v. Dimaya, the Supreme Court held that under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows noncitizens of the United States convicted of an aggravated felony to be deported, the phrase crime of violence is unconstitutionally vague. Although President Trump has claimed this opens a loophole for violent immigrants to remain in the country, immigrants can still be charged under aggravated felony, which includes a long list of unaffected violent crimes such as murder, rape, and other violent and burglary offenses. In order to reduce the cost of immigrants to communities, economists Pia Orrenius, Giovanni Peri, and Madeline Zavodny have suggested charging fees on employers and/or the immigrants themselves to acquire a visa. Both groups have shown a willingness to pay for visas, and the proceeds from the visas could go towards education and other costs. Immigrants are vital to the development of new U.S. businesses and the advancement of our economy. For enduring economic growth, America should continue to encourage the legal immigration and assimilation of foreign-born workers. Emily Top is a research associate at Economics21. Interested in real economic insights? Want to stay ahead of the competition? Each weekday morning, E21 delivers a short email that includes E21 exclusive commentaries and the latest market news and updates from Washington. Sign up for the E21 Morning Ebrief. Spring is in the air, which can only mean one thing: discussion of a common consolidated corporate tax base by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This years IMF Spring Meetings included ample discussion of international taxation and attempts to make multinationals pay a fair share of earnings to local host governments. The simple question of Where should corporations pay their taxes? has no easy solution, as experts debate competing models of revenue collection. For many experts at International Governmental Organizations (IGOs) such as the IMF and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the current system of transfer pricing is simply too fragmented to work. IGO officials insist that replacing this decentralized model with a common international system of formulaic apportionment (for at least some profits) would lead to more fairness and simplicity. Beneath all of this bureaucratic jargon, however, lies a plan to stifle tax competition across the globe. Punishing entrepreneurs of the Global South to prop up corrupt governments is not a recipe for prosperity. The current system of international tax collection for multinationals has no shortage of critics. To understand the status quo, it is helpful to flesh out the inner-workings of multinationals. Businesses located in multiple countries are headquartered in one place, and often have subsidiaries in strategic markets. An international car manufacturer located in the United States may wish to sell auto parts to its subsidiary in Thailand as a part of a broader strategy to sell cars in that country. But part of the goal of this arrangement may also be to shift as much taxable income as possible to Thailand, a country with a lower corporate tax rate than the United States. To prevent this sort of tax gaming, countries pretend that a sale to a subsidiary is a sale to another company entirely. Thus, the car maker would have to report a fair value for the goods sold to the subsidiary and pay tax on that value. Obviously, estimating the value of goods being shifted around is not fool-proof, and companies have some leeway in low-balling the stated value when the taxman comes knocking. To centralization advocates, however, this system goes too far in allowing companies to minimize their taxes. There is a knowledge gap between businesses and governments on the true worth of assets being sold to subsidiaries, which is especially large when considering intangibles such as intellectual property. And since a large fudge factor exists, companies are able to move into a low-tax jurisdiction. To stem the (alleged) bleeding, OCED researchers and officials have all but called for a system of apportionment, in which factors like sales and property holdings are weighted by formula in determining tax burden. This formula, which would need to be agreed upon by all participating countries, would mean that simply holding property in a higher-tax jurisdiction would set a company up for higher taxes. In order to take advantage of that low Thai corporate rate mentioned earlier, property, sales, and capital would all have to be based in the Asian nation. This solution may make sense if corporations were indeed minimizing their tax bills through artificial business arrangements. The limited data available, though, does not bear this out. Mercatus Center senior fellow Jason Fichtner and Heritage Foundation policy analyst Adam Michel find that, over the past fifty years, corporate tax revenue as a percent of the economy across the OECD has increased despite the widespread implementation of transfer pricing norms. Amongst U.S. states, which largely have apportionment formulas and the worlds highest rates until tax reform, corporate tax revenue as a percentage of all tax revenue has declined over the past fifty years. This is consistent with the academic literature, which implies that a fine-tuned system of transfer pricing can actually be better at collecting revenue than a system of apportionment. This evidence supports the idea that centralization is a solution in search of a problem. Maintaining a system of transfer prices promotes tax competition, without leading to large revenue swings via loopholes in fair value accounting. With this in mind, it is hard to know what the OECD researchers mean by harmful tax practices and harmful tax competition. Countries like Thailand know that, without the bounds of reason, reducing their corporate taxes will lead to companies based in the developed world to ramp up sales in their country. If that incentive went by the wayside due to fixed formulas, developing countries with corrupt governments would have little incentive to slash rates. The poorest residents of the Global South would see fewer opportunities, and the pockets of corrupt public officials would be further padded. So, for the sake of the most vulnerable taxpayers worldwide, it is time to embrace the best system weve got. Ross Marchand is the director of policy for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. Interested in real economic insights? Want to stay ahead of the competition? Each weekday morning, E21 delivers a short email that includes E21 exclusive commentaries and the latest market news and updates from Washington. Sign up for the E21 Morning Ebrief. President Donald Trump met recently with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago, referred to as the Southern White House. It was the third meeting between the two leaders who have forged a strong friendship and are determined to nurture the robust alliance between the United States and Japan. The summit took place as preparations commence for a possible meeting between President Trump and North Koreas dictator Kim Jong Un. North Korea was a key issue in the discussions between President Trump and Prime Minister Abe. The President praised Japans critical support in helping to bring about a potentially historic moment, if talks with the North Korean leader prove fruitful. He also promised to urge North Korea to promptly resolve the Japanese abduction issue. During their discussions, both leaders reiterated their commitment to achieving a permanent and verifiable denuclearization of North Korea. They stressed that North Korea needs to abandon all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. They agreed that until North Korea denuclearizes, the global maximum pressure campaign on North Korea will continue. Trade was another key issue. The United States has a persistent trade deficit with Japan, and President Trump and Prime Minister Abe agreed to intensify trade and investment discussions in order to expand free, fair and reciprocal trade and investment between their two countries. President Trump expressed his preference for a new bilateral deal with Japan, rather than a multilateral agreement, like the Trans Pacific Partnership from which the U.S. has withdrawn. Both leaders also stressed the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, underpinned by respect for the shared norms and values that enable every responsible nation in the region to prosper. President Trump made clear that the United States commitment to Japans defense was unwavering; and the two leaders agreed that South China Sea claimants, including China, should halt their militarization of disputed features, and that all disputes should be resolved peacefully and in accordance with the United Nations convention on the Law of the Sea. At a post-summit news conference, President Trump declared, The friendship between Japan and the United States has never been closerIn the months ahead, we will rely on this great friendship as we face an array of old challenges and new opportunities, and we will face them together. The Antonov State Enterprise (Kyiv) will exhibit new medium-haul transport An-77 and An-178 aircraft at the Eurasia 2018 Airshow to be held on April 25 through April 29 in Antalya (Turkey). The press service of the enterprise told Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday that the new Ukrainian transport aircraft arrived to Turkey on April 22 will take part in the flight show of the exhibition and will be presented to potential customers at a stand. The press service said that Antonov plans to hold a series of meetings and negotiations with representatives of government agencies, industrial enterprises and air carriers of Turkey and other countries to discuss areas of cooperation in the medium-haul transport programs for An-178, the family of regional passenger new generation An-148/ n-158, An-77 transport aircraft with short take-off and landing and unmanned aerial systems. "All these programs are planned to develop and implement within broad international cooperation," the enterprise said. The new An-178 aircraft is created to replace An-12 planes and is designed for the effective fulfillment of its tasks as a transport aircraft, including logistics and transportation of equipment. Some experts say the An-178 aircraft can serve as a modern replacement of the C-160. The aircraft has a modified form of fuselage, a ramp for loading and unloading of bulky cargo and can lift up to 18 tons of cargo, including heavy maritime containers. The industrial cooperation program for the An-178 involves about 200 companies from fifteen countries. The Antonov Enterprise is promoting the aircraft in the Middle East and Central Asia. The United Arab Emirates, China and Azerbaijan expressed interest in the new Ukrainian transport aircraft. According to the sources of Interfax-Ukraine in the industry, currently the Antonov State Enterprise is also negotiating with the European NATO countries on the joint development of the An-178 program. The new medium-haul military transport An-77 aircraft is a modification of the military transport An-70 aircraft with short take-off and landing with a maximum carrying capacity of 47 tonnes. Soldiers of the 79th separate landing and assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a tank platoon of 14th separate mechanized brigades will take part in the international exercises Combined Resolve X, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said. "About 3,700 servicemen from 13 NATO member countries and NATO partners are taking part in the event this year. The Ukrainian air assault company will be equipped with BTR-80s, and the tankers will participate with five T-84 tanks," Poroshenko said on his Facebook page Wednesday morning. Earlier in the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said Ukrainian military and equipment arrived at the military training ground near the city of Hohenfels (Federal Republic of Germany) to participate in the international exercises Combined Resolve X. Combined Resolve is a multinational exercise that is conducted by the U.S. Armed Forces in Europe twice a year during the rotation of parts of the U.S. Army. The European Union is designing a new investment program for Ukraine entitled "Reform Contract for Investment," European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy Johannes Hahn has said. Hahn said in his article on the website of the Yevropeiska Pravda publication that this year as part of the new external investment plan of the EU for Ukraine some UAH 1.6 billion (EUR 50 million) could be reserved, including for compensation of lending by banks and, finally, for investing in the real economic sector. Ukraine-wide this sum seems not too large, but if the money is used rationally, this would allow attracting up to UAH 16 billion (EUR 500 million) of private investment, Hahn said. He said that first EUR 50 million will be provided this year only if before summer parliamentary holidays Ukraine will make next steps: independent regulation in the energy sector, fully featured work of members of the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER), the approval of the business ombudsman and the annulment of e-declaration for anti-corruption activists. The Ukrainian government has decided to submit to the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) a proposal to introduce a total ban on the transit and transportation of Russian ships in Ukrainian territory. The government made the relevant decision on Wednesday. The proposal will be submitted to NSDC in a month's time. If the NSDC issues a resolution approving the proposal, the government will instruct the Foreign Ministry to contact the relevant authorities of the European Union, the United States, and other countries to ask them to consider similar sanctions. Sanctions are to be introduced for the period until the restoration of the constitutional order of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and Sevastopol. On Friday, April 27, at 10.30, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference, entitled "Public Prevents Crime by Ukrainian Education Ministry." Violations during the elections of the rector of the National Aviation University resulted in a judicial ban on the recognition of their results, but the Education Ministry ignored the court ruling. The participants will include President of the All-Ukrainian NGO "MOLFAR" Yulia Votcher, Head of the Public Council under the Kyiv Svyatoshyn District State Administration Olha Kvasova and Head of the Public Council under the Defense Ministry of Ukraine Petro Haraschuk (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. More information by phone: (067) 321 79 01 and (067) 505 1583. On Thursday, April 26, at 16.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency will host a press conference entitled "Will the Education and Science Ministry provide schoolchildren with new textbooks before September 1?" Participants include President of the Ukrainian Association of Book Publishers and Book Sellers Oleksandr Afonin, editor-in-chief of the Geneza publishing house Natalia Zablotska, and representatives of the publishing houses of educational literature. The moderator is President of NGO Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Association Dmytro Hamash (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. KYIV. April 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) About 2 million Ukrainians work in Poland, and the need for foreign workers will only grow, Chairman of the Polish-Ukrainian Economic Chamber, former Polish Economy Minister Jacek Piechota has said. "Last year in Poland, more than 1.7 million documents were issued that allow Ukrainians temporary employment in the territory of the Republic of Poland ... Together with those people who work illegally - about 2 million Ukrainians who work in Poland," he said at a press conference, titled "Legal employment of Ukrainians in Poland as a prospect of Ukraine's rapid European integration," he said at the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Wednesday. According to Piechota, in the future, given that the Polish economy continues to grow rapidly, there will be a need for foreign workers. In turn, the president of the All-Ukrainian Association of Companies for International Employment Vasyl Voskoboynyk said Ukrainians employed in Poland, should not pay intermediaries. "Ukrainians need to know that they need to look for work in Poland only through licensed companies in Ukraine, which are responsible for where they send people. It is better to work at large enterprises where salary goes to a bank card and all the protection norms provided by Polish labor law are observed, including social insurance," Voskoboynyk said. He added that Ukrainian licensed intermediary companies should receive income not from individuals, but from foreign employers. U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday to try to resolve U.S.-European differences on Iran but Trump gave no clear signal about whether he would carry out a threat to abandon an international nuclear deal with Tehran. After lengthy talks at the White House, Macron told a joint news conference with Trump that they had discussed "a new deal" that would strengthen the 2015 accord along the lines Trump wants, such as by addressing Iran's expansion in the Middle East and its ballistic missile program. Before the meeting Trump warned that Iran "will have bigger problems than they have ever had before" if it restarts its nuclear program and called the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers "insane." He said that the accord -- inked under his predecessor, Barack Obama -- does nothing to tackle Tehran's ballistic missiles program or support for militant groups across the Middle East. "No matter where you go in the Middle East, Iran seems to be behind everything where there is a problem," Trump said, citing the conflict in Yemen. Macron, who is seeking to convince the U.S. president not to torpedo the deal, told reporters that he wants to contain Iran in the region. Trump has given the nuclear agreement's European signatories a May 12 deadline to fix what he calls its "terrible flaws," threatening to effectively withdraw the United States by refusing to extend waivers on U.S. sanctions if they do not do so. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Iran signed with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany, put curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Aside from the United States, the other signatories of the agreement have all voiced support for the deal. Tehran has always claimed that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. It has also warned that it will revive and step up its nuclear program if the deal collapses. In a speech broadcast live on state television on April 24, Iranian President Hassan Rohani said the United States would face "severe consequences" if it violates the pact. "I am telling those in the White House that if they do not live up to their commitments, the Iranian government will firmly react," Rohani told a crowd of thousands in the northeastern city of Tabriz. "If anyone betrays the deal, they should know that they would face severe consequences. Iran is prepared for all possible situations," he added. At a UN nonproliferation conference in Geneva, Russia's delegate said on April 24 that his country and China have submitted a draft statement voicing "unwavering support" for the deal and hope the draft will receive broad backing at the meeting. Vladimir Yermakov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's director general for nonproliferation and arms control, told the meeting that the Iran agreement was fragile and any attempt to change it would impact on the global nonproliferation regime. Yermakov's remarks came a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had agreed with his Chinese counterpart that Moscow and Beijing would try to block any U.S. attempt to sabotage the deal. With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters GENEVA, April 25 (Reuters) The United States is not seeking to reopen or renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal but hopes to stay in it to fix its flaws with a supplementary agreement, U.S. non-proliferation envoy Christopher Ford said on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday to seek stronger measures to contain Iran, but Trump refrained from committing to staying in the 2015 nuclear deal and threatened Tehran with retaliation if it restarted its nuclear program. "We are not aiming to renegotiate the JCPOA (nuclear deal) or reopen it or change its terms," Ford told reporters on the sidelines of a nuclear non-proliferation conference in Geneva. "We are seeking a supplemental agreement that would in some fashion layer upon it a series of additional rules - restrictions, terms, parameters, whatever you want to call it - that help answer these challenges more effectively." Macron said he spoke to Trump about a "new deal" in which the United States and Europe would tackle the outstanding concerns about Iran beyond its nuclear program. "If we were able to meet that challenge of bringing our partners together ... President Trump made it clear that his decision not to renew the sanctions waivers would be revised, and that is where I hope we are now today," Ford said. Asked if Macron had saved the JCPOA in talks with Trump, Ford said: "I hope the JCPOA has been saved in the context of the challenge that President Trump set for us, of trying to remain within the deal but in the context of moving forward with our partners on an approach that stands a pretty good chance of turning what was in effect a temporary postponement ... into a more enduring answer." Some diplomats have expressed concern that reopening the Iran deal could undermine Trump's talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which Trump has said could take place in May or June. But Ford said fixing the flaws in the Iran nuclear agreement would provide a model for other deals, including one with North Korea, which should aim for complete, irreversible and verifiable dismantlement of any nuclear threat. "They (the North Koreans) have given us very hopeful and interesting signs that it may be possible to negotiate towards that end. We are determined to pursue that as best we can and make sure we have an enduring solution ... in ways we think the JCPOA did not do," Ford said Details added (first version posted on 14:00) Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: Following the official welcoming ceremony, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a one-on-one meeting in Ankara. At the meeting, the sides expressed satisfaction with successful development of friendly and fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey in all spheres. The importance of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Turkey was emphasized in terms of development of the relations. Further, it was stressed that bilateral relations have been developing successfully in political, economic, energy and other fields between the two countries. The sides expressed confidence that the cooperation would continue to develop. The importance of the global projects that Azerbaijan and Turkey have been implementing together was also highlighted. The sides further exchanged views on bilateral relations and other issues of mutual interest. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 95 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said April 25. The Armenian armed forces were using heavy 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 25 Trend: Once again Azerbaijan witnessed the double standards prevailing in Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Sevinj Fataliyeva said April 25. In case of any insignificant event in Azerbaijan, PACE discusses it for many days, she said. But PACE does not touch upon and does not discuss the current serious processes in Armenia. "Today Armenia is on the brink of a precipice, she said. The position of people is a priority in the struggle between people and government. The current processes in that country are also important for us. These processes affect the region, the agenda of PACE." Fataliyeva said that PACE immediately expresses its position on the current events in the world. "When rallies are held in the Middle East and other countries and the people's position and will are not taken into account, PACE, other international structures immediately react and demand to establish democracy in those countries and ensure freedoms, she said. However, no statement is made regarding Armenia; the situation in that country is not analyzed, the MP said, adding that this shows the weakness of PACE. Armenian opposition launched mass protests against the candidacy of Serzh Sargsyan for prime minister of the country. Rallies have been held in Yerevan since April 13. Sargsyan resigned on April 23 amid protests. The opposition accuses Sargsyan of poor governance and deteriorating economic situation in the country. On April 17, the opposition announced the beginning of a "velvet revolution". Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend: Azerbaijani MP Bakhtiyar Sadigov voiced belief that Serzh Sargsyan will answer before the tribunal for the Khojaly genocide, for murdering innocent Azerbaijani people, elderly and children. The history shows that war criminals, who had the blood of innocent people on their hands, have not gone unpunished, the MP told Trend. "First of all, they are punished by their people and then the army that they head. Later, the international tribunal punishes them. Sargsyan relied on his army; Sargsyan admitted that he committed the Khojaly genocide and did everything to continue self-confident criminal activity," Sadigov said. Sadigov stressed that the current deplorable state of the Armenian economy, impoverishment of the population and country's blockade are "great merits" of Sargsyan. "The people have already questioned him, the army rose up against him and removed him from the power. But this is only the beginning of his punishment," he noted. Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned on April 23 amid protests. He was elected President of Armenia twice, in 2008 and 2013. Protests against his election as the Prime Minister began on April 13. The opposition accuses Sargsyan of poor governance and deteriorating economic situation in the country. On April 17, the opposition announced the beginning of a "velvet revolution". Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Samir Ali - Trend: The results of the elections held in Azerbaijan and Armenia have created completely different prospects for these countries, Aydin Mirzazade, Deputy of the Milli Mejlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan told Trend. The MP noted that despite the fact that both Azerbaijan and Armenia gained independence at the same time, the development of these countries is very different. "Observance of democratic principles in Azerbaijan, normal relations with neighboring states, desire to restore peace in the region created conditions for development in the country. In Azerbaijan, these principles were observed at the election. In Armenia, there was a split between society and the government. This is because Armenia has not yet been able to determine its development strategy," Mirzazade said. He noted that the election in Armenia were held within the framework of the severe state crisis. "The shameful resignation of one of the perpetrators of the Khojaly tragedy Serzh Sargsyan says that the statehood of Armenia is experiencing great problems. Armenia's territorial claims against neighbouring countries, the occupation of Azerbaijani lands, the hostile policy towards its citizens led to a public protest against the government, and as a result to its change. Interference in the internal affairs of Armenia by some states in the run-up to the election, as well as at other times, also testifies to the fact that the mistakes made in laying the foundations of the statehood of Armenia are at the heart of all the above-listed problems," Mirzazade said. The MP added that unlike in Armenia, there is unity of people and authorities in Azerbaijan. "Stability and development have been achieved in the modern Azerbaijan created by great leader Heydar Aliyev, and as a result of the purposeful policy pursued by President Ilham Aliyev, this development continues successfully. Stability is ensured in Azerbaijan, democratic principles are strengthened. Azerbaijan is gaining high prestige in the international arena," Mirzazade said. He added that due to the fact that Azerbaijan has been correctly building its domestic and foreign policy since 1993, no foreign forces were able to intervene in the internal affairs of the country. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Azerbaijan remains the most reliable strategic partner of Turkey, the Turkish presidential administration told Trend April 25. It was noted that the relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey are at a high level and are developing in all spheres. Turkey and Azerbaijan managed to direct all their potential for the development of the region, the message said. It was also stressed that Azerbaijan and Turkey are bound not only by historical roots, but also important economic and energy projects. Turkey supports Azerbaijan in all spheres and also always feels the similar support of Azerbaijan, said the message. It was noted that strengthening relations with Azerbaijan in all spheres, as well as with other Turkic-speaking countries is one of the priorities for Turkey. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend: The situation that emerged after the elections held in Azerbaijan and Armenia once again showed a great difference between the two countries, Azerbaijani MP Aydin Huseynov told Trend. Following the election, a new government was formed and reforms were continued in Azerbaijan, while in Armenia the election led to confrontations, political chaos and people demanded the resignation of the government. The MP stressed that the April 11 presidential election in Azerbaijan was held in stability. "Because, over these years, President Ilham Aliyev, first of all, defended the interests of the people, kept in focus the growth of Azerbaijani citizens' social well-being. In addition, the country's economy grew by 3.2 times and major projects were realized," he said. The Armenian president, on the contrary, destroyed and plundered his country, according to Huseynov. "People leave Armenia due to hunger, poverty and unemployment. Over the years, as many job places as the number of Yerevan's residents have been opened in Azerbaijan, salaries and pensions have been increased several times. That is, the difference between Azerbaijan and Armenia is obvious. Therefore the Armenian people began to protest against the government and had their say," he said. He added that the tensions will continue in Armenia, and even may deepen. Huseynov further noted that Sargsyan committed cruel crimes both against the Azerbaijani people and Armenians. "Sargsyan himself admitted that he was directly involved in the Khojaly genocide committed back in 1992. Therefore, he must be sued and will be sued at the international tribunal. Sargsyan led the processes taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1988-1993; then he was the defense minister. Sargsyan is the culprit of bloodshed in Karabakh. He not only committed the Khojaly genocide, but also shed the blood of Armenians. The shooting of the parliamentarians at the Armenian parliament, the March events of 2008 are also 'merits' of Sargsyan. That is, Sargsyan is a criminal and should stand the international court. Armenians themselves must sue him. He is the enemy of all mankind and humanity," he said. Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned on April 23 amid protests. He was elected President of Armenia twice, in 2008 and 2013. Actions against his election as the Prime Minister began on April 13. The opposition accuses Sargsyan of poor governance and deteriorating economic situation in the country. On April 17, the opposition announced the beginning of a "velvet revolution". Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Resignation of Armenian prime minister Serzh Sargsyan is the most positive event in the countrys recent history, political analyst and international relations expert at the Milwaukee-based Marquette University Peter Tase told Trend. He noted that April 23, 2018 will be remembered for a long time among the people of Armenia, and the world community, due to the fact that democratic forces inside the country have prevailed and ousted one of the nations longest serving autocrats and blood thirsty criminals, Serzh Sargsyan, who has succumbed the Armenian economy into ruins during his ten years in office as president. Sargsyan was made a Prime Minister by mid April 2018, heavy protests against his attempts to clutch into power, resulted fruitful and the Armenian people have hopes to move forward in a positive fashion. Sargsyan was heavily pressured to resign from domestic and international actors, it is certain that he was not expecting such an abrupt escalation of protests, said Tase. The US political analyst believes that the international community must pressure the current government of Armenia to find a solution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and ensure the full and complete withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian must initiate a new proactive chapter of negotiations with the government of Azerbaijan and reject the current status-quo in regards to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Tase. He noted that today there is more hope than ever before, to bring before the International Court of Justice all Armenian war criminals that have committed massive crimes against humanity in the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan and killed innocent Azerbaijani civilians. Mass rallies broke out in Yerevan and other Armenian cities on April 13 following former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans nomination as prime minister. The opposition accused him of ineffective governance and worsening the economic situation in the country. On April 23, Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: An official welcoming ceremony was held for President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the residence of the President of Turkey on April 25. Accompanied by the cavalry, President Ilham Aliyev arrived at the residence of the Turkish President. A ceremonial guard of honor was arranged for the Azerbaijani president at the square in front of the residence. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Anthems of Azerbaijan and Turkey were performed accompanied by gun salute in honor of President Aliyev. The chief of the guard of honor reported to President Ilham Aliyev. The heads of state reviewed the guard of honor. President Ilham Aliyev saluted the soldiers. Turkish officials were introduced to President Aliyev, while members of the Azerbaijani delegation were introduced to President Erdogan. The Azerbaijani and Turkish presidents then posed for photographs. Details added (first version posted on 13:03) Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) Ismail Kahraman in Ankara on April 25. Kahraman welcomed President Aliyev and congratulated him in connection with the brilliant victory in the presidential election. "Your victory with the overwhelming majority of votes is a pride for us. President Ilham Aliyev is an important personality not only for his country, but also for the region and the world," he said. President Aliyev expressed gratitude to the TBMM chairman for his sincere congratulations. The head of state voiced confidence that his visit will be a new stage in the development of bilateral relations. Satisfaction with the successful development of bilateral relations between the countries was expressed at the meeting. It was noted that interparliamentary cooperation contributes to the expansion of ties. During the meeting, importance of the contribution made by Azerbaijan and Turkey to the regional cooperation and security, as well as the joint implementation of major strategic projects of global significance were emphasized. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov will leave for Beijing on April 26 at the invitation of Defense Minister of the People's Republic of China, Member of State Council of the Peoples Republic of China, Colonel General Wei Fenghe, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a message April 25. Within the official visit, Hasanov will hold meetings with the officials of the military-political leadership and other state structures of China in military, military-technical, military-educational and other spheres. While visiting China's defense industry enterprises, the Azerbaijani delegation will review modern military equipment and other military products that can strengthen the military capability of the Azerbaijani army. Details added (first version posted on 15:55) Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: Turkey and Azerbaijan are the closest countries to each other and the closest allies, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on April 25. Dear Mr. President, dear ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I am very grateful to you, my dear brother, for the hospitality towards me and the delegation. As you said, following the presidential election, I paid my first visit to the brotherly country. This is natural. As you noted, this is a tradition and this tradition shows that today Turkey and Azerbaijan are the closest countries and the closest allies on a global scale. My dear brother was the first leader to congratulate me with the victory in the presidential election. The inauguration ceremony was held a week ago in Baku. The formation of the government was completed two days ago. Yesterday I already was in Ankara and we started meetings, and they continue today, said President Aliyev. President Aliyev noted that todays ceremony, the discussions held yesterday and today once again show that the unity, brotherhood, the friendship between Turkey and Azerbaijan is strong and has great future. First of all, I would like to heartily congratulate my dear brother and the entire Turkish people with the success achieved. Turkey has come a great and honorable way thanks to the leadership of my dear brother. We, the people loving Turkey in Azerbaijan, are very glad to see the development in Turkey. The economic, political and social development of Turkey during Recep Tayyip Erdogans presidency makes us heartily glad, said the head of state. President Aliyev said that today Turkey is a power on a global scale and this power is getting greater and this makes the friends glad, and upsets ill-wishers. I am confident that Turkey will continue to go only towards victories and success. I would like to take this opportunity to invite my dear brother to pay his first visit to Azerbaijan after the election, so that this tradition would continue, said the head of state. We are together in these issues. As I said, there are no other countries so close to each other. We are always together both in terms of roots, culture, history and common interests. There is no other country to support us in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as much as Turkey. Turkey is always with us and defends Azerbaijans just position in all international organizations. This support, solidarity gives us additional strength, said President Aliyev. The head of state noted that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved fairly in accordance with the norms and principles of the international law and on the basis of the UN Security Council resolutions, and Azerbaijans territorial integrity should be restored. Azerbaijan, for its part, always supports Turkey in all international organizations. Azerbaijan has shown its constant solidarity with Turkey in fighting terrorism and has said that it is always with Turkey. I congratulate the entire brotherly Turkish people for successfully conducting the Operation Olive Branch. Azerbaijani people have always shown solidarity in this issue as well. This is our common issue, said the president. President Aliyev noted that today Turkey and Azerbaijan are implementing major projects in the region with joint efforts. As my dear brother said, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars and TANAP are historic projects. Our will, initiative and unity made these projects real. Today, we are drawing up the energy and transport map of Eurasia, said the head of state. These projects increase our strength, make the regional cooperation stronger and ensure stability in the region. The initiatives and projects, which we are implementing jointly, do not only have an economic sense. They have a great political sense. These are the projects strengthening security and stability. I am sure that our joint projects will be completed successfully, said President Aliyev. The head of state went on to add that Azerbaijan and Turkey are increasing the mutual investment making. To date Azerbaijan has invested around $14 billion in Turkeys economy, while Turkey has invested more than $12 billion in Azerbaijans economy. Only brotherly countries can make such amount of investments, said President Aliyev. The opening of TANAP and Start Refinery in the near future will even more increase our opportunities. I should also note that the largest port of the Aegean Sea, the Petlim port, was built by using Azerbaijani investments. This is Turkeys third largest port. We have come close to signing a preferential trade agreement. I hope this agreement will be signed in the near future and, thereby, the trade turnover will even more increase. The Azerbaijani president noted that the two countries hold joint military exercises and researches in defense industry. Turkey has a very developed defense industry. We meet our armys needs with military products manufactured in Turkey as well. During the talks held today, we decided to further take steps in this sphere. We see that Turkey has a very developed defense industry and the manufactured products meet the highest standards, said the head of state. We are always together in all spheres culture, education and humanitarian fields as well. We are bound by the ancient history. We are bound by recent history. President Aliyev noted that the country will mark the 100th anniversary of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in May this year. After this, we will together mark the day of liberation of Baku from Armenian bandit groups by the Islamic Army of the Caucasus jointly with the army of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. This is our glorious history. This history shows that we have always been together. We are together today as well and I am confident that we will always be together. I once again express gratitude to you, my dear brother, for the great attention and hospitality. I wish constant prosperity and progress to the brotherly Turkish people, said President Aliyev. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 21 Trend: Prime Minister of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang has congratulated Novruz Mammadov on his appointment as Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, Xinhua reported. Keqiang positively assessed the progress achieved in development of the bilateral ties after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Azerbaijan. He further stressed that China is ready to promote together with the Azerbaijani side continuous progress in bilateral cooperation in all areas. The two countries should also work together on the Belt and Road Initiative to bring more benefits to peoples of Azerbaijan and China, Li said. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has completed his official visit to the Republic of Turkey. A guard of honor was arranged for the Azerbaijani president at the Esenboga Airport in Ankara decorated with the national flags of the two countries. Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Fikri Isk and other high-ranking officials saw off President Aliyev. Chief of the guard of honor reported to the head of state. President Ilham Aliyev saluted the guard of honor. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Turkey opened a new page in relations between the two countries, Azerbaijani MP Eldaniz Salimov told Trend on April 25. Salimov said the 7th Session of the Azerbaijan-Turkey High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, held in Ankara, will further deepen cooperation between the two brotherly countries. "The documents signed between Turkey and Azerbaijan in the field of trade, culture, environmental protection and personnel exchange mean a new stage in cooperation," Salimov said. He stressed that the relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan are an example for the whole world. "The relations between the two countries have deep historical roots. Azerbaijan and Turkey have always been close to each other. As President Ilham Aliyev said, Turkey and Azerbaijan are the closest countries in the world, the closest allies," according to the MP. Salimov further emphasized that there is no other country like Turkey that would provide such a great support to Azerbaijan in resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan once again stated that he stands by Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict issue. "Surely, this statement shows the high level of relations between the two fraternal peoples. I can confidently say that this meeting has raised the Azerbaijani-Turkish strategic cooperation to a higher level. Azerbaijan and Turkey have always been close to each other both at difficult and happy times. And it will be the same in the future," he said. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 24 Trend: OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger has congratulated President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in connection with his victory in the April 11 presidential election. "Your Excellency, I convey my most sincere congratulations on your re-election as the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan," reads the congratulatory message. Greminger stressed that Azerbaijan's long-standing commitment to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) deserves appreciation. "I highly value your efforts to create a democratic, secure and stable environment for all citizens of your country," he said. The OSCE is committed to further strengthening its cooperation with Azerbaijan in comprehensive security and implementation of the Organization's commitments, as well as efforts of Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and his special envoys in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group for peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Greminger said. He stressed that the OSCE is also ready to support further strengthening of the reforms in democratic governance, security and economic development in Azerbaijan at any moment. "Your Excellency, please accept my highest esteem," reads the congratulatory message. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend: In January-March 2018, 943,300 Azerbaijani citizens visited foreign countries. The figure is less by 2.4 percent compared to the same period of 2017, Azerbaijan's State Statistics Committee said in a message April 25. According to the Statistics Committee, out of the total number, 31.6 percent of the country's citizens visited Georgia, 27.2 percent - Iran, 21.8 percent - Russia, 12.3 percent - Turkey, 1.8 percent - Ukraine, 1.5 percent - the United Arab Emirates, and 3.8 percent - other countries. Among them 69.9 percent are men and 30.1 percent are women. During the period, the number of Azerbaijani citizens traveling to Iran increased by 5.9 percent, while the number of people traveling to Turkey dropped by 21.6 percent, Georgia - 7.4 percent and Russia - 0.1 percent. The State Statistics Committee said 79.7 percent of Azerbaijani citizens visiting foreign countries used railway and automobile transport, 19.4 percent - air transport and 0.9 percent - sea transport. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: You will not meet such a track, as in Baku, in other countries, said in an interview with "Moscow-Baku" the driver of the team Russian Time Formula 2 and test driver of Formula 1 Artem Markelov. "I've been here since the very first race, I come to participate for the third time. I will say that everything is at the same height as two years ago. Organizers of the competition know how to quickly and efficiently organize the track", he said. According to the driver, the Baku track differs from the other by the atmosphere, the speed of the turns. "In the Old Town, the turns are rather narrow, peculiar, you will not find them in other countries, but we have already adapted to them, we know what to expect from this route," Markelov added. Lord John Browne is joining the Tel Aviv company, which analyzes maritime risks by mapping information about traffic on the seas and oceans, Globes reports. Lord John Browne, 70, formerly the dominant CEO of British Petroleum (BP), is joining the board of directors of Israeli company Windward, founded in 2010 by CEO Amit Daniel and VP product Matan Peled. The big-data company, based on Hashlosha Street in Tel Aviv, analyzes maritime risks through reliable mapping and analysis of all the information about maritime traffic on the oceans and seas. The information gathered from satellites and other sources is processed using big data technology and analytic forecasting. Windward's technology has thus far been used mostly by government agencies for dealing with smuggling, protection of resources, and gathering information for strategic needs. At the same time, Windward provides services to organization dealing with maritime security and safety. The company launched maritime insurance activity a year ago, signing a cooperation agreement with Lloyds of London, which uses Windward's technology to identify high-risk areas, predict risks, identify fleets at high risk of accidents, etc. Browne says, "Windward is a company I have esteemed for a very long time because of its vision, the way it cooperates with organizations in order to solve real problems in depth, and the way it uses technology to make the world, and the seas, safer. I expect to continue accompanying Windward's growth process and its becoming a global standard in maritime risk." Daniel said, "We are proud to have someone with Lord Browne's experience and expertise join us. There is no doubt that the inexhaustible knowledge of someone who was one of the strongest people in the global economy will help us move the company forward following the dramatic steps we took last year (expansion into the insurance industry, N.Y.). Lord Browne is joining the consultant committee, which includes the most influential people in the industry in Israel and worldwide." Windward has raised $22.5 million to date and has 70 employees. Its investors include the Aleph fund, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's Horizon fund, former CIA director General (res.) David Petraeus, "Start-Up Nation" author Dan Senor, and former Thomson-Reuters CEO Tom Glocer. Former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi and former Mossad director Tamir Pardo are consultants for Windward. In recent years, Browne has been chairperson of L1 Energy, a company operating out of Luxembourg, founded by Russian Jewish billionaire Mikhail Fridman, that invests in oil and natural gas ventures. Browne was CEO of BP in 1995-2007 and president of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering for five years up until 2011. He holds a BSc in physics from Cambridge University and an MBA from Stanford University. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: The US is interested in developing economic relations with Kazakhstan, the US Ambassador to Kazakhstan George Krol said at the forum of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan, Kazakh media outlets reported. He added that American and Kazakh experts interact with each other both in Washington and Astana, participating in regular consultations, in order to find new ways of increasing bilateral trade turnover. "As for sanctions (US sanctions against Russia), they are not aimed against Kazakhstan. I hope that these sanctions will be removed, with further development of trade relations between the US and Russia, as well as other countries," Krol said. The ambassador also stressed that the ongoing reforms on modernization of the economy in Kazakhstan will affect the attraction of investment in the country and increase trade between the US and Kazakhstan. In January 2018, Kazakhstan and the United States signed agreements worth over $2.5 billion. The United States ranks second in terms of direct investment in the Kazakh economy, and the trade turnover between the countries in 2017 was about $2 billion. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Ilkin Shafiyev - Trend: Azerbaijans PASHA Bank intends to actively develop digital banking, which will become a key tool for servicing clients representing small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). One of such digital banking solution is Tacir network, Alexander Golovko, Director of the Bank's SME Department told Trend. He said this goal will be served by an innovative Tacir Kart product a corporate card that allows automation of VAT administration and other useful solutions for business. "This product is our next step in the development of banking services for our customers. The Tacir card will ensure the security and efficiency of business transactions and efficient cash management. The Bank sets a goal for the development of digital banking, which is why our customers can also be confident in the continuous development and improvement of the Tacir Kart product," Golovko said. "The advantages of the solution offered by PASHA Bank for clients are the reduction of operating costs and risks while working with cash, improving the efficiency of the settlement process, improving the efficiency of cash management," Golovko said. He added that through Tacir Kart, suppliers can offer customers discounts and implement their own loyalty programs to increase sales and more efficiently manage the working capital. "The solutions offered by PASHA Bank contribute to the development of the supplier-distributor-Bank ecosystem and the transition to a digital format where all processes are fast, safe and comfortable. This initiative fits perfectly into the overall strategy of the state to encourage non-cash payments," Golovko said. It should be noted that Tacir Kart is a card that allows paying all business expenses to legal entities, as well as to persons engaged in entrepreneurial activities without establishing a legal entity. Tacir Kart allows cardholders to make non-cash payments in shopping and service centers, payments via the Internet, as well as withdraw cash from banks and ATMs in Azerbaijan some 200 other countries. PASHA Bank has been operating in Azerbaijan since 2007 and is a member of PASHA group of companies a large investment holding company in Azerbaijan, which is also widely represented in such sectors as insurance, construction, production of building materials, tourism, and other areas of business. Baku, Azerbijan, April 25 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: A new joint Uzbek-Kyrgyz enterprise on manufacturing of Imzo metal-plastic windows and doors has been opened in Osh city of Kyrgyzstan, local media reported on April 25. The work on opening new joint enterprises in interests of Kyrgyz and Uzbek peoples will continue in line with the ongoing cooperation programs. Kyrgyz people are very glad and are talking with great hope about the foreign policy of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev towards the neighbors, Major of Osh city Aytmamat Kadyrbayev said at the opening ceremony. According to him, large-scale changes in various spheres in Uzbekistan are positively affecting the development of Uzbek-Kyrgyz relations in joint projects. More than 70 workplaces and two production lines are going to be created in the enterprise. Relations of Tashkent and Bishkek have gained momentum after almost a decade of significant coolness. The differences were being related to the indeterminacy of the interstate border after collapse of the USSR. In 207, the sides have signed an interim agreement, which determined roughly 85 percent of the border for the first time in history. Since then, leaders of the two states held several high-level visits and signed breakthrough agreements on economic cooperation. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Anvar Mammadov Trend: In the first quarter of 2018, investment company Unicapital continued to led the ranking of brokers in the Azerbaijani market of public and corporate securities, the Baku Stock Exchange said in a message on April 25. The investment company provided brokerage services worth 1.58 billion manats during the reporting period. PASHA Capital took second place with the rendered services worth 1.46 billion manats. PASHA Capital is followed by InvestAZ, which rendered services worth 1.29 billion manats in January-March 2018. Below is the ranking of brokers in Azerbaijans securities market in terms of services rendered in January-March 2018: Brokers name Value of brokerage services (AZN) Brokers current place in terms of services volume Unicapital 1, 579, 689, 534.13 1 PASHA Kapital 1, 462, 131, 124.1 2 Invest-AZ 1, 289, 189, 583.77 3 AzFinance 1, 273, 416, 033.64 4 Xalq Kapital 386, 127, 796.35 5 PSG Kapital 131, 972, 223.95 6 Kapital Menecment - 7 ($1 = 1.7 AZN on April 25). Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Ilkin Shafiyev - Trend: Azerbaijan and Turkey are entering a new level of cooperation, Muslim Ibrahimov, an expert-economist, doctor of economic sciences, told Trend. He stressed that Azerbaijan and Turkey are key economic partners. The trade turnover and the value of mutual investments between the two countries are growing, Ibrahimov said. Such projects implemented by the two countries as the Southern Gas Corridor create a new format of cooperation in the region. In general, they contribute to closer integration of Turkey with the countries of the South Caucasus region, with the exception of Armenia. Speaking about joint projects being implemented by Azerbaijan and Turkey, he noted the importance of the Southern Gas Corridor project. Azerbaijan is developing the non-oil sector of economy, however, the country isnt going to abandon oil and gas projects, Ibrahimov said. Azerbaijan will not only be an exporter of energy resources, but it can also receive additional profit from fuel transportation. In general, the project will contribute to the development of economy of both Azerbaijan and Turkey and all the involved countries. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is on a visit to Turkey. As part of his visit on April 25, Ankara hosted the 7th Session of the Azerbaijan-Turkey High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council. In particular, a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of electronic signature and a Memorandum of Understanding on negotiations on the preferential trade agreement between Azerbaijan and Turkey were among the documents signed. Both documents will make significant contribution to the development of trade and business ties between Azerbaijan and Turkey. The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkey amounted to $573.101 million in the first three months of 2018, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan. The value of mutual investments for the years of cooperation amounted to about $22 billion. In the reporting period, Azerbaijan invested $10.1 billion in Turkey, $8.7 billion of which were invested in the oil sector and $1.4 billion in the non-oil sector. The value of Turkish investments in Azerbaijan amounted to $11.7 billion, $8.96 billion of which were invested in the oil sector and $2.7 billion in the non-oil sector. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will invest $5 billion in the program of Central Asian regional economic cooperation until 2020, Kazakh media outlets reported. Eleven countries participating in the mentioned program will receive funds for further development of the region's infrastructure and improvement of its transport and energy potential. The development of the transport and logistics network in Central Asia is particularly important, as this region is a transit route for Chinese and Southeast Asian goods to Europe, according to Giovanni Capannelli, director of the ADB office in Kazakhstan. "Central Asia will play an increasingly important, binding role. Kazakhstan, certainly, will become a point of intersection of different transit routes. In turn, the decisions of the leaders of Central Asian countries, which they make today with respect to infrastructure investments, logistics centers, transport routes and energy sector - will become important a factor in determining the future of this region," said Capannelli. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Maxim Tsurkov - Trend: In the framework of the project of construction of urea factory, the Azerbaijan state company SOCAR spent 320 million euros from 500 million euro loan allocated by foreign banks, said the Director of the factory Khayal Jafarov. He made the remarks during III SOCAR International forum entitled as "Downstream of the Caspian Sea and Central Asia - trade, logistics, refining and petrochemicals" in Baku on April 25. He said that the total cost of construction of the plant is estimated at 770-780 million euros. "The payback period of the plant is estimated at seven to eight years at current prices for carbimide," said Jafarov. At first, financing of construction work was carried out from the Azerbaijani state budget and about 210 million manats were allocated from there before the beginning of 2015, another 60-65 million euros were allocated to SOCAR. But later it was decided to switch to project finance and negotiations with banks were started. As a result, the ExportImport Bank of South Korea (EximBank) opened a line of credit worth 500 million euros under Azerbaijans state guarantee to complete the construction of the plant. EximBank will directly provide 251 million euros, while 249 million euros will be allocated by three commercial banks (Italys UniCredit S.p.A., Frances Societe Generale S.A. and Germanys Deutsche Bank AG) with the support of EximBank. The plant will produce 1,200 tons of ammonia and, subsequently, 2,000 tons of urea per day. It is planned to supply a quarter of production, that is, 150,000 tons of urea (with a potential growth of up to 200,000 tons, or 30 percent of production) to the Azerbaijani domestic market. The remaining part will be exported to Turkey, Georgia and the markets of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea countries. South Koreas Samsung Engineering won the tender for the construction of the urea plant. Samsung Engineering acts as a general contractor of the plants construction, but it has no license for production of urea and ammonia, which will be by-product in the urea production process. Therefore, the relevant licensing agreements were signed with Haldor Topsoe company (Denmark) for production of ammonia and Stamicarbon B.V. company (the Netherlands) for production of urea. Production at the plant will be environmentally friendly, that is, no pollutant emissions into the atmosphere are expected. The plant will have an autonomous electricity system. The plant will consume 25-26 MW of electricity per hour. Some 1.3 million cubic meters of gas per day will be required to operate the urea plant at full capacity. By the end of 2018, Gazprom plans to complete construction of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline until the border with China, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom Management Committee Vitaly Markelov said on Wednesday, TASS reports. "Before the end of this year we plan to complete construction of the gas pipeline at this site in full. In 2019, we planned only eliminating technological gaps after testing," he said. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) are two very important strategic projects for the region, said Greek Minister of Energy and Environment Giorgos Stathakis. He noted that the process of implementation of the IGB project is going well, according to a message from Greek energy ministry. Stathakis said that it is planned start the construction of the pipeline in the second half of 2018. The IGB also has a second track linking with Serbia. We had the opportunity to discuss this too thoroughly with the Serbian minister. IGB together with TAP are two very important strategic projects for the region, the minister added. 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. TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union (EU). The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries. Connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Greek-Turkish border, TAP will cross Northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy to connect to the Italian natural gas network. The project is currently in its construction phase, which started in 2016. Once built, TAP will offer a direct and cost-effective transportation route opening up the vital Southern Gas Corridor, a 3,500-kilometer long gas value chain stretching from the Caspian Sea to Europe. TAP shareholders include BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent). --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend: The project on reconstruction and modernization of the Ethylene-Polyethylene plant of the Azerikimya Production Association, operating under Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR, was executed by 33.5 percent, said Deputy Executive Director for Investments and Development of the Azerikimya PA Orkhan Jafarov. He made the remarks at the 3rd SOCAR International Caspian and Central Asia Downstream Forum on Trading, Logistics, Refining and Petrochemicals in Baku April 25. He said that the construction of new facilities began in 2017, and will cover the period until the end of 2019. "Thanks to this project, the ethylene production will increase from 100,000-105,000 tons to 192,000 tons a year, the propylene production will increase from 50,000-55,000 to 187,000 tons a year. The operational period of the plant will increase by another 20 years," he said. Particularly, according to him, four new pyrolysis furnaces and a PSA hydrogen treatment unit will be built, which will allow increase purification of the hydrogen fraction up to 99.9 percent. Jafarov went on to say that it's also planned to build a new hydrogen electrolysis unit, a new purification plant for propane-propylene fraction, cleaning raw materials from pollutants and poisons (sulfur, water, arsenic, mercury, phosphine, mono and carbon dioxide), a dry gas cleaning plant and a new DCS for EP-300, as well as to construct a new storage facility for ethylene and propylene. He noted that to date the project is completed at 33.5 percent. "The engineering work is completed by 88.3 percent, procurement - by 45.9 percent and construction itself - by 13.7 percent. Presently, within the framework of the project, the number of workers at the facility is 950 people, and at the peak it will reach 2,000 people," Jafarov said. He added that 100 percent of equipment orders and 90 percent of orders for bulk materials have already been placed. "All equipment and materials will be supplied by 50 suppliers from 15 countries until September 2018. In general, the modernized plant is planned to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2020. This project will allow to produce high-quality products, promote Azerbaijani products around the world, including in CIS countries, Turkey, Eastern Europe, China and bring foreign currency to Azerbaijan, "Jafarov said. -- Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrend Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: Solving the issue of the Farhad hydropower plant between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is an important strategic step, Tajik media reported on April 25, citing Speaker of the lower chamber of the Tajik parliament Shukurjon Zuhurov. Addressing today the members of parliament, he said that by signing the agreement on cooperation on ensuring the functioning of the Farhad hydropower plants dam at Dushanbe on March 9, the presidents of the two states put an end to one of the most urgent problems in the relations between Dushanbe and Tashkent. This facility is still an important strategic object for both Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The reservoir of the Farhad hydropower plant irrigates more than 45,000 hectares of land in northern Tajikistan and over 330,000 hectares in Uzbekistan, Zukhurov said. Speaking on this issue, First Deputy Minister of Energy and Water Resources of Tajikistan Sulton Rahimzoda said that in line with the above-mentioned agreement, the maintenance and financing of the Farhad hydropower plant will be carried out by Uzbekistan, and the protection of the facility by Tajikistan. The members of parliament unanimously ratified the abovementioned agreement. The agreement was signed by the leaders of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for a period of 49 years on March 9. After almost 20 years of dispute over the dam of Farhad hydropower plant, Dushanbe and Tashkent came to a compromise: the object is recognized as property of Uzbekistan, the land on which it stands belongs to Tajikistan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Huseyn Veliyev Trend: From May 1, 2018 the "123" support service hotline of the citizen service center "Sbk" stops its work, Trend was told on April 24 in the center. Citizens' requests for postal and financial services will be handled by a single call-center "155" of the support service. Currently, the 155 center handles requests (in Azerbaijani, Russian and English) for telephone, Internet, postal and financial services. As previously reported, in the near future, the integration of the phone numbers of reference services of Aztelekom LTD Company and information-processing center - "157" into a unified Call-center is expected. In the future, it is planned to connect to the Call-center those structural units of the Ministry of transport, communications and high technologies of Azerbaijan, which have their own centers for customer service. The issue is about creating a centralized system, to which any structure will be able to connect. Ideally, as the source said earlier, it would be rational for citizens to have the opportunity to address any questions they are interested in, through a single hotline number. These may be issues related not only to communication services, but also to water supply, electricity, etc. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend: The Postal Administration of Azerbaijan elected member of the Board of Trustees of Quality of Service Fund (QSF) of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the Ministry of transport, communications and high technology told Trend on April 25. The election was held in the framework of the spring session of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) which was held in the Swiss city of Bern from 16 to 20April. Candidates from five geographical regions of the world were nominated for membership in the Board over the next three years. The representative of Azerbaijan was among the candidates from Eastern Europe and North Asia regions. By a majority vote, the candidate from Azerbaijan was re-elected as a member of Board of Trustees of Quality of Service Fund. The Board consists of representatives of 11 countries of the world. According to the UPU statement, Nasir Gamidov, the chief consultant of the postal sector of the Ministry of communications of Azerbaijan, is assigned the functions of the member of the Board of Trustees of the Fund from Azerbaijan. QSF was created by a decision of the Beijing UPU Congress in 1999 and is intended to finance projects aimed at improving the quality of activity of postal administrations in developing countries. The purpose of the Fund is to improve the quality of the service of international written correspondence, first of all to reduce the time of passage, to ensure stability, and to improve the safety of postal items. The Fund's Board of Trustees is responsible for: reviewing, presenting findings and approving projects developed by the postal administrations of developing countries aimed at improving the quality of postal services in those countries. Projects can be accepted for funding from QSF funds only if they are approved by the Board of Trustees. Israeli real-time big data database company ScyllaDB today announced that it has closed a $10 million Series C funding round led by TLV Partners. Previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Magma Venture Partners, and Western Digital also participated in the round. This latest round brings ScyllaDBs total funding to $35 million. Shahar Tzafrir of TLV Partners will join the companys board of directors, Globes reports. Tzafrir said, ScyllaDB has quickly built a thriving community of users who recognize the architectural advantages of the Scylla database. Beyond its distinct performance advantages, Scylla is unique in its ability to fully exploit available hardware resources, leading to a dramatic reduction in TCO. Thats one of the reasons so many organizations are migrating to Scylla from Cassandra, MySQL, Hbase, MongoDB, Redis and others. We are very excited to join the team and to guide the company as it moves forward. ScyllaDB will use the funds to accelerate its entry into the database-as-a-service (DBaaS) market, leveraging the early success of the Scylla open source database and the companys acquisition of DBaaS intellectual property in October of last year. With offices in Herzliya and Palo Alto, ScyllaDB was founded by CEO Dor Laor. He said, Organizations are looking for their development teams to spend less time on the database and more time focused on their business. We will continue to add more functionality to our product set, and later this year we will launch our database-as-a-service offering as the next logical step for our high-performance NoSQL database. Were pleased to see that our investors share our excitement for the future of our company. ScyllaDB is an open source drop-in replacement for Apache Cassandra. Its unique, close-to-the-hardware design delivers scale-up performance of 1,000,000 IOPS per node, scale out to hundreds of nodes, and a 99% tail latency of less than 1 msec. As a result, Scylla users can significantly reduce the hardware resources they require, lowering both the total cost of ownership and complexity of their systems. ScyllaDB is in production at hundreds of leading organizations, including AppNexus, AdGear, CERN, Discord, IBM, Nauto, Ola Cabs, Samsung and Ytel. It is used for a variety of business-critical purposes, including as a key value store, time-series database, large blob store, and graph database backend. The company is also partnering with industry leaders such as Qualcomm, IBM Compose, Samsung SDS, and many more. Scylla delivers tremendous value in a number of industries and a wide variety of use cases, said Amit Karp, partner at Bessemer Ventures. The company has quickly taken a technology leadership role in the industry, having pioneered a highly performant database thats built from the ground up for real-time big data systems. Rapid adoption by leading companies like IBM speaks to the architectural superiority of the Scylla database. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend: Turkmenistan Airlines Open Joint-Stock Company has announced a tender for the supply of business and economy class seats with payment in local currency. Applications are accepted at the following address: 744008, Ashgabat City, airport, administrative building of " Turkmenistan Airlines" Company (the former Petrozavodskaya Street). Applications will be accepted until May 23, 2018. For those who wish to participate in the tender, it is necessary to submit an application indicating the full name of the participant, legal status, country of registration and details; acquire a package of tender documents; accept an invoice for payment of the tender fee in the amount of 1 000 turmen manats (excluding VAT and bank costs). Contact phone/Fax: (+99312) 23-52-04. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Dulkadiroglu municipality in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras has announced a tender to construct a water supply system in a number of settlements within 150 days from the date of announcement of the tender results. Turkish and foreign companies can participate in the tender. The tender will be held on May 16, 2018 at 14:30 (GMT +3). Tender bids and proposals of the interested parties are accepted at: Yavuz Selim Mahallesi Recep Tayyip Erdogan Bulvar No 79 46100 Dulkadiroglu/Kahramanmaras. The participation fee is 250 Turkish liras. For more information, call: (+90 344) 236 03 33 Fax: (+90 344) 236 13 33 Email: [email protected] (1 USD = 4.0922 TRY on April 25) --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: Uzbek and Kyrgyz border agencies are strengthening cooperation in ensuring security of the interstate border, press service of the Border Guard Service of the State Security Service (SSS) of Uzbekistan stated on April 25. In early April 2018, border guards of Kyrgyzstan announced that Uzbek border guards opened fire at a Kyrgyz citizen in Mamay settlement of Aksyy district of the Jalal-Abad province, who had been on the Kyrgyz territory, eventually killing him. The State Border Security Committee of the State Security Service of Uzbekistan stated that the man had illegally crossed the border and refused to follow orders of the border guards. Heads of the border security services of the two countries agreed to hold a joint investigation of the incident and not to use weapons in case of accidental border crossing in the future. In line with the agreements between the heads of the border security services of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, a close interaction between divisions and units of both sides has been established, an official message on the Gazeta.uz news portal read. The work is aimed at operative reaction on changes of situation, reliable security of border, prevention of the border regime violation. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov An armed gunman attacked the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Washington DC was attacked early Saturday morning, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. An unidentified attacker threw stones and fired shots at Iran's only official consular office in the US around 4:30 AM local time. Eyewitnesses reported that the attacker shouted anti-Iranian slogans. One worker was injured in the attack, Iranian media stated. The attacker was arrested by police, but no further information about his identity or motives has been released. IRNA posted a video of the arrest on social media. The reported attack comes in the wake of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States over the 2015 nuclear deal and Iranian involvement in Syria. The Iranian Interests Section, housed in the Pakistani embassy, is Iran's only consular representation in the United States. By Omid Shokri Kalehsar for Trend: Iran, in the post-sanctions era, was expected to attract more foreign capital and technology, especially in energy sector. Prior to the imposition of sanctions, Iranian officials had, on many occasions, stressed that Iran needs about $200 billion to recover and potentially increase its oil and gas production capacity. Iran has devised a new oil contract entitled Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) aiming to ease foreign investment in its oil fields. The majority of oil fields are in the second half of their production and their production capacity is dropping annually to average 8 percent. This is while any attempt at recovering oil fields production capacity requires high technology and foreign investments. By April 2018, Iran succeeded in signing only two contracts with foreign energy firms to recover and increase its oil and gas production capacity. One contract was signed with Frances Total and Chinas CNP for the development of the 11th phase of South Pars. The other one was signed with the Russian company Zarubezhneft for the re-development of the Aban and Paydare Qarb oil fields. Iran is also planning to sign agreements with Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina for Mansouri oil field development. Pertamina is interested in making investments in this field in a bid to produce 60,000 bpd and eyes for possible exports to Indonesia. For that matter, it is safe to argue that Irans priority is to attract foreign technology and capital for development of its oil and gas fields. However, if the Trump administration decides to withdraw from Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), Iran will encounter significant challenges in order to attract investments. Further, if the US decides to impose new or further sanctions on Iran, it is likely that foreign energy firms, whose capital and investments are currently in the US or have mutual projects with American private and federal companies, would shy away from making investments in Irans economic and energy sectors. In 2017 Iran lost its oil market share in Asia to Saudi Arabia, US and Russia in spite of gaining higher share in the EU market. Obtaining higher share in the EU market helps Iran to benefit from "Oil for Investment/Goods" with EU companies even if further sanctions are to be imposed on the country. It already has difficulties to receive its oil revenue. I believe that Iran is a lucrative target for many foreign private and state energy firms who have sufficient experience and hold enough capital and technology needed to be able to enter the Iranian market. The real problem, however, is for foreign investments to be made without hindrances. Iran needs a legal framework as well as an efficient and fast decision-making process and, most importantly, political stability in both domestic and international levels. Iran can use difference-pricing policy to preserve its share in regional and global markets. Accordingly, Iran can offer discounts to major oil costumers, as this policy was pursued during the sanctions period in which India benefited from such discounts. During the sanctions period, Russia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia captured Irans share in global oil market. The quality of Iranian oil is in many respects very similar to Iraqi Kirkuk and Russia Ural crude oil. The oil industry will be affected by the forthcoming US decisions regarding the future of Iran nuclear deal. In the post sanctions era Iran increased its oil exports by 1,000,000 bpd. It is thus expected that Irans oil export would drop significantly in case of re-imposition of sanctions. Since supply and demand is the overarching principle ruling the worlds oil market, other major suppliers hold a potential to produce more if Iran or any other country faces a decrease in its production capacity because of sanctions. In addition, if tensions surface in relations between Iran and other OPEC or non-OPEC producers, they may exploit the situation to raise their production capacity and use it as a viable political leverage against Iran. Omid Shokri Kalehsar is a Washington-based energy security analyst follow him on Twitter : @ushukrik Tehran will return to its nuclear program, if the United States unilaterally withdraws from the Iran deal, Secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council Admiral Ali Shamkhani said on Wednesday, TASS reports. "[Should the United States withdraw from the deal], we will return the operation of our nuclear facilities to the level of activity that existed before the deal was reached," he told reporters. The US withdrawal from the deal wont affect Irans security but will have its impact on international security and the situation in the world, the Iranian security chief said. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: Russia and Iran discussed the latest progress of the joint nuclear projects. Rosatoms Deputy Director General for International Affairs Nikolai Spassky and Behrouz Kamalvandi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), met in Tehran to discuss the nuclear projects under implementation by Russian company in Iran, the AEOI press office said April 25. During the meeting, the latest status of ongoing projects, including the process of building phases 2 and 3 of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran, the project to produce stable isotopes at Fordow site, cooperation in the production of fuel for research nuclear plants were discussed. The two sides also discussed implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA aka nuclear deal), its perspective and the sides commitments under the deal. In an agreement between the AEOI and Rosatom, phases 2 and 3 of Irans Bushehr nuclear power plant will begin supplying electricity to Irans power grid in 10 years. Iran plans to produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear-generated electricity. Each of the two new phases will produce 1,057 megawatts of electricity. Combined with phase 1, Iran will produce some 3,300 megawatts of nuclear-generated electricity in a decade. Irans 1,000-megawatt Bushehr plant was connected to the national grid in September 2011. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: Irans president Hassan Rouhani said that the Islamic Republic is seeking a comprehensive cooperation with the global community. "We have always said that the right solution for settling the issues is a win-win solution," Rouhani said April 25, addressing the inauguration ceremony of Tabriz 2018, The Capital of Islamic Tourism, the state-run IRINN TV reported. Tabriz, the third largest city in Iran, has been chosen by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as tourism capital of the Islamic World in 2018. The Iranian president said that no agreement will last if one party acts in favor of itself and against the other party. Rouhani said that Tehran is seeking a comprehensive constructive cooperation with the world, adding that this cooperation is not only limited to the nuclear deal. He further slammed the US policy towards the Middle East, saying many problems in the region root from wrong viewpoints and decisions towards the regional nations. Referring to the US politicians, Rouhani said that some think that the region should move in line with their will and the White House should make decisions for the Middle East." Rouhani noted that the US cannot make the decisions for the Middle East. Rouhani also accused the United States of planning to plunder the Arab states resources. The Iranian president said that Iran has showed its goodwill to the world and showed that iranophobia was baseless. He added that the US side is violating the nuclear deal, threatening the banks and investors to not cooperate with Iran. US President Donald Trump is expected to sign a presidential waiver on sanctions on the Islamic Republic on May 12. European officials have already held several talks with Tehran, Moscow and Washington as part of a drive to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran that President Donald Trump is threatening to scuttle. So far, Iran has adhered to the terms of the nuclear deal, as verified by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in previous reports since the pact was implemented in January 2016. Details added (first version posted on 11:19) Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: Irans president Hassan Rouhani said that the Islamic Republic is seeking a comprehensive cooperation with the global community. "We have always said that the right solution for settling the issues is a win-win solution," Rouhani said April 25, addressing the inauguration ceremony of Tabriz 2018, The Capital of Islamic Tourism, the state-run IRINN TV reported. Tabriz, the third largest city in Iran, has been chosen by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as tourism capital of the Islamic World in 2018. The Iranian president said that no agreement will last if one party acts in favor of itself and against the other party. Rouhani said that Tehran is seeking a comprehensive constructive cooperation with the world, adding that this cooperation is not only limited to the nuclear deal. He further slammed the US policy towards the Middle East, saying many problems in the region root from wrong viewpoints and decisions towards the regional nations. Referring to the US politicians, Rouhani said that some think that the region should move in line with their will and the White House should make decisions for the Middle East." Rouhani noted that the US cannot make the decisions for the Middle East. Rouhani also accused the United States of planning to plunder the Arab states resources. The Iranian president said that Iran has showed its goodwill to the world and showed that iranophobia was baseless. He added that the US side is violating the nuclear deal, threatening the banks and investors to not cooperate with Iran. US President Donald Trump is expected to sign a presidential waiver on sanctions on the Islamic Republic on May 12. European officials have already held several talks with Tehran, Moscow and Washington as part of a drive to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran that President Donald Trump is threatening to scuttle. So far, Iran has adhered to the terms of the nuclear deal, as verified by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in previous reports since the pact was implemented in January 2016. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: Irans defense minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said that his ministry is prepared to implement its special plans if the US decides to withdraw from the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the six world powers. Hatami said that entire country has a integrated plan, in case of US possible whdrawal from the nuclear deal, which came into force in 2016, Fars news agency reported April 25. The defense ministry also will implement the dedicated plan on time, the minister added. In July 2015, Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia, Great Britain, China, USA, and France) and Germany reached an agreement on the settlement of Tehran's nuclear issue. The US president Donald Trump has repeatedly called the deal with Iran harmful, arguing that it did not prevent Iran from creating nuclear weapons, but only delayed it. President Trump is expected to sign a presidential waiver on sanctions on the Islamic Republic on May 12. European officials have already held several talks with Tehran, Moscow and Washington as part of a drive to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran that Trump is threatening to scuttle. Irans defense minister criticized the US, saying disloyalty to an internationally-endorsed deal will result in serious consequences. Those who have distorted confidence on the international scene re responsible for its international consequences, Hatami said, adding that "this is a serious issue." Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend: Serzh Sargsyans resignation is logical conclusion of the policy pursued by the military junta regime, Azerbaijani MP Hikmat Babaoglu told Trend April 24. Sargsyan and his gang, having established a dictatorial regime, exploited all the resources of Armenia, Babaoglu said. Thousands of protesters want Sargsyan to answer for all this. Babaoglu added that the gangster oligarchy, together with Sargsyan, by using the corruption machine created in Armenia, got their hands on not only the budget, but also the donations of the Armenian diaspora, and is now looking for the ways to leave the country. But if Sargsyans oligarchy leaves the country with the corruption capital, Armenias very weak economy will once again be paralyzed, so the protesters will try not to allow this, the Azerbaijani MP said. Babaoglu said that the aggressive policy of Armenia led the country to a blockade, the socio-economic situation in the country is on the brink of crisis, there is unemployment, poverty, and very serious demographic situation emerged in Armenia. The country remained aloof from all international and regional projects, Babaoglu said. Thanks to Azerbaijans flexible and effective diplomatic strategy, even traditional historical friends of Armenia turned into Azerbaijans partners. Under such circumstances, it became impossible for Armenia with its aggressive policy to exist in the region. Therefore, Sargsyans resignation was considered as the only option for salvation, and the Armenians had to protest. The Azerbaijani MP added that political leaders at the new stage must take into account these factors in determining their strategy. As for Sargsyans punishment for the Khojaly genocide, we can say that this criminal confessed to the committed crime before international European organizations, Babaoglu said. They should give an objective response to Azerbaijans demands, organize a military tribunal and punish the murderer Sargsyan just like they punished the military-political criminals who committed the genocide in the Balkans. Of course, Azerbaijan will do everything possible to make Sargsyan stand trial before the international military tribunal. Mass rallies broke out in Yerevan and other Armenian cities on April 13 following former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans nomination as prime minister. The opposition accused him of ineffective governance and worsening the economic situation in the country. On April 23, Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: US called all parties in Armenia for constructive dialogue to ensure peaceful transition of power, said State Department spokesman Heather Nauert. "We call on all parties for constructive dialogue within the framework of the Armenian Constitution to ensure a peaceful transition of power that would flow within the framework of the law", she said. Mass rallies broke out in Yerevan and other Armenian cities on April 13 following former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans nomination as prime minister. The opposition accused him of ineffective governance and worsening the economic situation in the country. On April 23, Serzh Sargsyan resigned as Armenian prime minister. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: US President Donald Trump once again declined to call the events of 1915 a genocide, the US media reported citing the official statement of the White House. The US president, just as before, used an Armenian term translated as a great tragedy. The former US presidents, starting from 1981, including Barack Obama, also refused to call the historical events a genocide. Obama, however, had promised during his election campaign to use the term, while Trump never made such a pledge. Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, allegedly carried out genocide against the Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915. While strengthening the efforts to promote the genocide in the world, Armenians have achieved its recognition by the parliaments of some countries. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The opposition in Armenia will boycott the parliamentary election if it is held under the direction of the Prime Minister representing the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), leader of the protest movement Nikol Pashinyan said April 25, RIA Novosti reported. In his video message posted on Facebook Pashinyan touched upon the statement of acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on the possibility of holding early parliamentary election. "They want the election to be held in conditions when the acting Prime Minister will be a representative of the RPA. We know what these elections will be like since 2017... we can simply boycott these elections, not passively, but by blocking polling stations and not allowing to organize an event on the revival of the RPA," Pashinyan said. Earlier, he stated that after the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, a candidate from the people should be elected as the head of the government, then an interim government should be formed and early election should be carried out. Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned on April 23 amid protests. He was elected President of Armenia twice, in 2008 and 2013. Actions against his election as the Prime Minister began on April 13. The opposition accuses Sargsyan of poor governance and deteriorating economic situation in the country. On April 17, the opposition announced the beginning of the "velvet revolution". Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: On April 25, the Russian Embassy in Yerevan took additional security measures in connection with the ongoing protests in the Armenian capital city, the diplomatic mission told RIA Novosti news agency. "Our Armenian partners have taken external security measures, we, in turn, have restricted the departure of our employees, recommended not to go outside the Embassy today. In general, the situation in the Embassy area is peaceful," the source told to the agency. The diplomatic mission has not yet commented on the statement of opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, who announced his intention to hold a meeting with Russian Ambassador Ivan Volynkin. Pashinyan had earlier met with the EU ambassadors, in addition to the meeting with the Russian ambassador he intends to meet with the head of the US diplomatic mission. On April 25, the acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan and Pashinyan were to hold talks, but they turned out to be disrupted. Supporters of the opposition gathered in the square in the center of Yerevan, and then staged an unauthorized march through the center of the capital city. Pashinyan stated that the rally will be held "today and tomorrow" until oppositions demands are fulfilled. The actions against the election of former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan as Prime Minister began on April 13. The opposition accuses Sargsyan, who was twice elected President, of poor governance and deteriorating economic situation in the country. On April 17, the opposition announced the beginning of the velvet revolution. Less than a week later, on April 23, Sargsyan resigned amid continuing protests. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: Sargsyan's resignation is not sufficient either if real change is going to happen, says Amanda Paul, senior policy analyst with the European Policy Center (EPC) in Brussels. On April 23, the new Prime Minister of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan resigned after several days of protests by thousands of demonstrators in the capital city against his election at the end of his yet another presidential term. In her interview for Eurasia Diary, Amanda Paul talked about the reasons of such a huge scale demonstrations taking place in Armenia and about what made Sargsyan to resign. Through these protests Armenians said enough is enough. Armenians were fed up with the shenanigans and skullduggery of Sargsyan and his allies. They refused to accept the underhanded way that the political system was changed to allow Sargsyan to stay in power by moving from the Presidency to the Prime Ministers post," she said. Paul highlighted the fact that while this was the development that broke the camels back it is certainly not the first time that Armenians have protested over the last few years to signal their anger with their leadership, as for example during the Electric Yerevan protests in 2015. However the numbers of people that took to the streets this time, almost 200,000 in Yerevan, was unprecedented, she said. People are fed up with corruption, economic hardship, autocratic practices, undemocratic governance, social inequality, etc. and want a better life. Society has become more active, particularly the younger generation who wants real change, not just cosmetic reforms. Civil society has also become much stronger. Armenians have demonstrated that they are ready to stand up to the authorities, demand change, and not go home until Sargsyan stepped down, no matter what. His resignation is not sufficient either if real change is going to happen. There is a demand for new parliamentary elections which should be a next step," Paul added. Talking about the reaction of the international community to the protests in Armenia, the expert said that they stated for dialogue and asked for restraint; however, in the end Sargsyan saw sense and resigned rather than resorting to heavy handed tactics and the use of force, which has happened in the past. Taking such a step would have seriously risked relations with the West, in particular the EU, with which Armenia has just signed a new agreement. This agreement is important for Yerevan," she said. Clearly a key moment was the decision by some of the Armenian military peacekeepers based in Yerevan to stand shoulder to shoulder with the protesters. This would have undermined the confidence of the authorities and their ability to control the situation," said the expert. Paul suggested that it seems unlikely that these circumstances will lead to any changes in the process over the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. She said time is required to see how it will impact the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Georgias Finance Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze is visiting the United States where he is holding meetings with various financial institutions and governmental officials, Agenda reports. Bakhtadze met representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and received a positive assessment of Georgias economic development from them. The Georgian delegation headed by Bakhtadze also met with the vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), where they talked about how the EIB supports the development of Georgias small and medium-sized business. Bakhtadze also met Finance Minister of Latvia and Swiss government officials, where they talked about the importance of free trade agreements which is important for Georgias economic progress. To note, the free trade agreement between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Georgia will enter into force for Switzerland on 1 May. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius says that Georgia will dispel of all existing doubts over the Georgia-EU visa free deal, Agenda reports. "Despite some problems we believe this will happen. We see Georgias progress and advancement in many fields. The success is obvious within the Eastern Partnership program as well, The foreign minister told Georgias Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia today in Lithuania. Gakharia briefed Linkevicius over the changes the Georgian Dream government had initiated to prevent the illegal flow of Georgians to EU member states, with the help of the Georgia-EU visa waiver obtained in March of last year. "We are ready to continue supporting Georgia, Linkevicius said. Gakharia thanked the Lithuanian government for their continued support for Georgias Euro-Atlantic integration and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia. US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday a new North American Free Trade Agreement could be agreed on quickly, as Canada hailed progress on forging new rules for the auto industry, the pivotal issue in talks to revamp the 24-year-old accord, Reuters reported. Ministers from the United States, Canada and Mexico responsible for NAFTA met in Washington to try to narrow differences on regional content rules for autos in the hope of tying up a deal in the coming days. NAFTA, as you know, is moving along. They (Mexico) have an election coming up very soon, Trump said at a Cabinet meeting briefly attended by reporters. But were doing very nicely with NAFTA. I could make a deal really quickly, but Im not sure thats in the best interests of the United States. But well see what happens, he said. While details are still being negotiated, a new NAFTA is likely to push the regions automakers to source more parts from North America in order to create more jobs. Such an outcome could also raise costs for Detroits main car manufacturers. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, leaving a 3-1/2-hour meeting with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, said there was progress on autos, which she described as the heart of NAFTA. Rules of origin for autos is fiendishly complex, Freeland told reporters. We are very, very focused right now on digging into some of the details, being sure that there are no unintended consequences, being sure we get things right. She added there were other major issues that needed to be addressed in the NAFTA talks expected to continue for several days in Washington, such as dispute-settlement mechanisms. Freeland, Lighthizer and Mexicos Ildefonso Guajardo are pressing for a quick deal to avoid clashing with Mexicos July 1 presidential election. Trumps negotiators initially demanded North American-built vehicles contain 85 percent content made in NAFTA countries by value, up from 62.5 percent now. But industry officials say that has been cut to about 75 percent, with certain components coming from areas with higher wages. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said that Qatar should pay for the presence of US military forces in Syria, Al Arabiya reports. Jubeirs statement came on the basis of statements made by US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macaron. Jubeir said in a statement that Qatar must send its military forces (to Syria), before the US president cancels US protection of Qatar, which consists of the presence of a US military base on its territory. Jubeir added in statement on Tuesday that if US withdraws protection of its military base from Qatar, the regime would fall there in less than a week. An Algerian criminal court has awarded death penalty to a Lebanese-born Liberian national over a case of spying for Israel. The court also sentenced six individuals from Guinea and Mali to 10 years in jail in the same case Al Arabiya reported A legal source said on Tuesday that the Ghardaia court south of Algeria has condemned seven individuals of different African nationalities on a case related to espionage for Israel. The main accused Elm al-Deen Faisal, a Liberian national, earned death penalty, while six others were sentenced to 10-year imprisonment. Each one of them will also pay an $8,000 fine, the source added. The seven defendants were arrested in an Algerian police operation in the city of Ghardaia, 600 kilometers south of Algiers, in January 2015. They were found with documents and communications equipment, which prosecutors said were related to spying for Israel. The defendants lawyers claimed that the evidence is inadequate and incoherent, therefore charges cannot be made based on a delicate and sensitive issue such as espionage. Germany will provide 1 bln euro in humanitarian assistance for Syria, the countrys Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, TASS reports. "We cannot leave Syrias citizens alone," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said, according to the ministry. Last week, the minister pledged in the Bundestag that the German authorities planned to increase the assistance for Syria. "So far, we have provided more than 2 bln euros and we should reach a higher figure," he said. Last year, Germany earmarked 720 mln euro in humanitarian assistance for Syria. Since the beginning of the conflict in 2012, Germany has provided a total of 2.2 bln euros in humanitarian aid to the Middle East country. The European Union will mobilize additional 3 bln for Syrians in Turkey in the coming two years, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said at a UN-EU donor conference in Brussels on Wednesday, TASS reports. "For Syrians in Turkey, the European Union and member states will uphold their commitments and mobilize additional 3 bln in the coming two years," she said. According to Mogherini, the EU has so far devoted almost 11 bln to the Syrian people, both inside Syria and in the region. She added that the EU had "a very strict way of delivering aid that reaches the people." A two-day international donor conference on Syria, which opened in Brussels on April 24, involves representatives of more than 85 countries and organizations. The conferences participants are expected to raise funds to provide aid to the Syrian people, particularly refugees, as well as to discuss the recent developments in the country and the current state of the political process aimed at resolving the crisis. Damascus hasnt been invited, unlike various Syrian non-governmental organizations most of which are based abroad. The coordination mechanism on Syria established by the Russian and Israeli militaries, has been operating smoothly and not a single incident has happened so far, Russian Ambassador to Israel Alexander Shein said in an interview with the Ynet news outlet, TASS reports. "We have a mechanism for coordinating our activities and provide information to each other as far as Syrian developments go, which involves the two countries defense ministries," the ambassador said, adding that "there hasnt been a single incident so far." Shein added that Russia always took Israels security interests and concerns into consideration. He said that Moscow, in turn, was concerned over the current state of relations between Israel and Iran, as the two countries continued to make accusations against one another. The Russian ambassador pointed out that Moscow could not but be worried over tensions between Iran and Israel as both were present in Syria and their disagreements could destabilize the situation in the Middle East. Israel insists that it does not support any of the parties to the Syrian conflict. It also does not take part in talks on resolving the Syria issue. At the same time, according to foreign media, Israeli air force carries out air strikes on the Syrian territory on a regular basis. In the autumn on 2015, Russian and Israel established a deconfliction mechanism in order to avoid collisions in Syrian airspace. In this regard, the Israeli General Staff set up a special coordination center. Semi-nomadic herdsmen armed with guns killed 16 people on Tuesday in an attack on a church congregation in a central state of Nigeria plagued by communal violence, police said, Reuters reoprted. Hundreds of people have died in clashes this year between herders and farmers in central Nigeria in an outbreak of violence that has put pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari less than a year before an election he wants to contest. The bloody clashes, linked to grazing rights and dwindling fertile land, have raised questions about the governments ability to maintain security in the country. Moses Yamu, a police spokesman in Benue state, said the attack took place around 6 a.m. (1 a.m. ET) in the village of Ayar Mbalom, in Gwer East local government authority. Sixteen persons were confirmed killed, including two priests, said Yamu. The Afghan government has not received a response from the Taliban movement on a proposal to launch a direct dialogue, but expects to get its backing, the presidents adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar told TASS on Wednesday. "We have not yet received the answer, but expect that it will be positive," he said. "We hope that the response will be given soon," Atmar added. When asked if the talks may be held in the framework of the Moscow consultations on Afghanistan, he stressed that "the choice of a venue is a secondary matter." In late February, Afghanistans President Ashraf Ghani in his statement at the opening of the second international conference, the Kabul Process, called for a dialogue with the Taliban, proposing talks without any preconditions. Also, he declared readiness to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate political force and to open its official mission in Kabul. Addressing the international conference on Afghanistan in Uzbekistans capital of Tashkent in late March, Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani voiced hope that direct talks with the Taliban would start soon. The United Kingdom persistently rejects Russias requests on information concerning the investigation into Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkovs murder case, the Russian Embassy in London said on Wednesday, TASS reports. "Numerous attempts of the Embassy to obtain coherent answers from the Foreign Office, or Scotland Yard, in line with the international obligations of the UK, have failed. What causes bewilderment is the fact that the investigation is being conducted in secrecy and the British Side is absolutely refusing to engage with Russia," the embassy said in a statement. "This is unacceptable from the point of view of diplomacy and international law," the statement continues. "Such blatant violation of accepted norms outlined in international agreements has no rational explanation, unless we are dealing with another operation of the British secret services." "In accordance with the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters 1959, the Prosecutor Generals Office of the Russian Federation has forwarded a request for legal assistance in relation to the criminal case on the murder of Mr N.A.Glushkov opened in Russia," the Russian embassy said. "The murder of Mr N.A.Glushkov is one of the several deaths of our compatriots in the UK in the recent years, marked with the UKs unwillingness to cooperate and to ensure transparency of investigation." Glushkov was found dead at his London home on March 12. The Metropolitan Police said he had died from compression to the neck. At the same time, according to media reports, the businessman was strangled with a dog lead so investigators believe that the killer could have aimed at giving his death the appearance of suicide. On March 16, Russias Investigative Committee launched a criminal case over Glushkovs murder. Russia plans to deliver new air defense systems to Syria in the near future, RIA news agency cited Russias Defence Ministry as saying on Wednesday, Reuters reports. The ministry added it plans to study a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile captured by Syrian forces in a recent attack, in order to improve Russias own missiles. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeirs statement, in which he said that Qatar should send troops to Syria to ensure US military aid, is nothing but blackmail, Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Defense and Security Committee member Frants Klintsevich told reporters on Wednesday, TASS reports. Al-Jubeirs statement followed another one made by US President Donald Trump, who pointed out that "we've spent $7 trillion in the Middle East and we've got nothing for it. Nothing, less than nothing." "The Saudi foreign ministers statement is nothing more but blackmail," Klintsevich said. "Saudi Arabia is pushing Qatar to take illegal actions," he added. At the same time, he was doubtful that the United States really planned to withdraw from Syria any time soon, despite Trumps statements. "Saudi Arabia probably wants Qatar to join the operation alongside the US and not take its place, which is even stranger because Riyadh cannot but understand that it will only increase chaos and lead to new needless deaths," the Russian senator said, adding that in his view, the Saudis actually had other goals "that they prefer not to talk about." Qatar hosts the United States Al Udeid Air Base, the largest in the Middle East, where 11,000 US and US-led coalition forces are deployed. The Syrian air defense forces shot down 46 cruise missiles fired by the United States and its allies against Damascus and its suburbs on April 14, Head of the Russian General Staffs Main Operations Department Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi said on Wednesday, TASS reports. "The reconnaissance and air defense systems recording data we have obtained, the work at the scene and polls of eye-witnesses show that the Pantsyr, Osa, Strela-10, Buk, Kvadrat and S-125 surface-to-air missile systems protecting the Syrian capital and the nearby Duvali, Dumayr, Bley and Mezze airfields of the Syrian Air Force destroyed 46 cruise missiles," the general said. Considering the missiles flight paths and the capabilities of the Syrian air defenses, these missiles were destroyed in five interception areas: three of them are located to the west of Damascus and the other two to the east of Syrias capital, the Russian general said. It is crucial for all political forces in Armenia to show restraint and responsibility so as to overcome the domestic crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian counterpart Armen Sargsyan agreed in their phone conversation on Wednesday, TASS reports. Putin and Sargsyan "discussed the current situation in Armenia," the Kremlin said. "Vladimir Putin and Armen Sargsyan emphasized that to overcome the internal crisis as soon as possible, it is of importance to show restraint and responsibility, readiness to solve the existing problems through constructive dialogue in strict compliance with the Constitution." Armenias opposition launched mass protests against the candidacy of Serzh Sargsyan for prime minister of the country. Rallies have been held in Yerevan since April 13. Sargsyan resigned on April 23 amid protests. The opposition accuses Sargsyan of poor governance and deteriorating economic situation in the country. On April 17, the opposition announced the beginning of a "velvet revolution". Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 Trend: A group of Turks and Azerbaijanis living in the United States held a protest action in connection with the Armenians' claims about the so-called. "genocide". The action was held in Chicago under the slogan "No to Armenian lie!", Turkish media reports. Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, allegedly carried out "genocide" against the Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915. While strengthening the efforts to promote the "genocide" in the world, Armenians have achieved its recognition by the parliaments of some countries. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkish Foreign Ministry rejects the inaccurate expressions and the subjective interpretation of history in the written statement by US President Donald Trump, released April 24, 2018 regarding the events of 1915, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a message April 25. Our expectation from the US Administration is a fair assessment of a period during which all the peoples of the Ottoman Empire suffered tremendously, the message said. In this context, we remind President Trump that during the same period more than 500,000 Muslims were slaughtered as a result of the events in which Armenian insurgents took part. Turkey continues to offer the establishment of a Joint Historical Commission in order to shed light on this painful period of history and has opened its archives to researchers, said the message. US President Donald Trump in his statement posted on the official website of the White House once again didnt use the word genocide when referring to the events of 1915. Instead, the US president used an expression in Armenian, which means a great tragedy. Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, allegedly carried out "genocide" against the Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915. While strengthening the efforts to promote the "genocide" in the world, Armenians have achieved its recognition by the parliaments of some countries. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Ten members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed this morning as part of the Turkish air force operations in Northern Iraq, Turkish media reported April 25. The operations were carried out in the Avashin area. Turkey's conflict with the PKK, which demands the establishment of an independent Kurdish state, continues for more than 30 years and claimed more than 40,000 lives. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by the UN and the European Union. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkey is still facing a terrorist threat from Syria, the Turkish media quoted Prime Minister Binali Yildirim as saying April 25. Today, all terrorist organizations, including the "Islamic State", are a real threat to the entire region, Yildirim said. "Proceeding from the principles of national security, Turkey launched the Operation Olive Branch against terrorists in Syria," he said. Yildirim added that Turkey ensured not only its own security, but also brought stability to Syrias Afrin district within Operation Olive Branch. 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. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Azerbaijan and Turkey will develop relations in all spheres, including the defense industry, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara at a joint press conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Turkish media reported April 25. Azerbaijan and Turkey implement important economic and energy projects, such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project, the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which will be commissioned very soon, Erdogan said. He noted that TANAP is important not only for Azerbaijan and Turkey, but also for the energy security of Europe. He added that Turkey and Azerbaijan will also implement a number of important projects in the future, including transition to the national currency in trade. Erdogan said that after the launch of the Star oil refinery, Azerbaijan will become the number one investor in Turkey. Development of economic and energy relations is a strategic priority for us, he said. Turkey and Azerbaijan are one nation and two states. Erdogan also noted that Azerbaijan supported Turkey during the Operation Olive Branch and the military coup attempt in Turkey. The Azerbaijani government continues to provide the necessary and important support to Turkey in the fight against the FETO movement, Erdogan said. He also congratulated Azerbaijan on the centenary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is continuing to discuss working with other partner countries on the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway program, the US space agency told Sputnik. "NASA is still gathering information for Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway development," a NASA communications official told Sputnik on Monday. "This includes continuing to discuss potential International Space Station partner contributions to the gateway." Earlier, a space industry source told Sputnik that the United States had offered to use US-made space suits instead of Russian-made Orlan suits for conducting spacewalks outside the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway. In 2017, Russia and the United States signed an agreement to build a gateway to future deep space missions in lunar orbit. The segment that Russia intends to build will serve as an exit for astronauts going on spacewalks. However, according to the source, foreign partners explained such requests by the fact that Russia was not producing space suits designated for the Moon, noting that keeping two different sets of space suits would be irrational. Along with it, the partners also insist that Russia should construct its airlock module in line with US standards and, hence, adjust it to US-made space suits which are designed for lunar orbit missions, the source added. KYODO NEWS - Apr 25, 2018 - 04:51 | All, World U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday prodded North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons as his planned high-stakes meeting with the country's leader Kim Jong Un draws closer. While asserting that the dialogue with Kim will turn out to be "very positive" for North Korea and the world, he said the U.S.-led maximum pressure campaign on Pyongyang will continue. "I want to see denuclearization of North Korea...I want them to get rid of their nukes," Trump said at a joint news conference after his White House meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. During the talks with Macron, parts of which were open to the press, he said he expects to meet with Kim "very soon" and lauded him as being "very open" and "very honorable." (U.S. President Trump wants denuclearization of North Korea.) [Getty Images] Trump made the remarks days after Pyongyang announced it will suspend nuclear tests and test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as dismantle its only known nuclear test site. He is to meet with Kim by early June. On Iran, the U.S. president warned of the consequences Tehran would face if it were to restart its nuclear program. "I will say if Iran threatens us in any way, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid," he said. Trump also called the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers including the United States "a deal with decayed foundations" that should have never been sealed. He has set a May 12 deadline to fix the agreement or walk away from it. For his part, Macron proposed negotiations on a "new deal" designed to curb Iran's nuclear program in view of Trump's concern about the current pact. Earlier in the day, a top Iranian security official said Iran may withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the United States trashes the nuclear deal. In July 2015, Iran and the six powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- struck an accord formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in which Iran pledged to curb activities such as uranium enrichment. As for Syria, Trump said he wants to withdraw U.S. troops from the country "relatively soon," but noted that such a move might not happen right away. The United States, Britain and France coordinated targeted missile strikes in Syria earlier this month in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack on civilians. By Mohammad Gharebag, KYODO NEWS - Apr 25, 2018 - 21:17 | World, All Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reiterated Wednesday that for Tehran, the 2015 six-party agreement is non-negotiable, and will collapse if European powers succumb to U.S. pressure to demand even greater restrictions on Iranian security forces. "It's all or nothing. The JCPOA is not correctable or renegotiable," Rouhani said at a news conference in Tabriz, referring to the Iran nuclear moratorium agreement by the acronym for its formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. "If the JCPOA is destroyed, everyone should say farewell to it," said Rouhani, speaking a day after a summit ended in Washington between U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withdraw the United States from the pact, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who tried to persuade Trump to maintain the agreement. Under the 2015 pact, Tehran agreed to actions to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons in return for the lifting of crippling financial sanctions. Trump has threatened to withdraw the United States from the deal also negotiated by Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union, if an agreement to revamp it cannot be reached by May 12. "I talked with President Macron several time and I stressed that it's not possible to add any single sentence to the JCPOA or remove a sentence from it and Macron agreed," Rouhani said. Rouhani's remarks follow a joint press conference in Washington on Tuesday, at which both Macron and Trump criticized Iran for developing missiles and its involvement in conflicts throughout the Middle East and Persian Gulf, and raised the possibility of pounding out a new deal with Iran. Macron said he spoke to Trump about a "new deal" which would address outstanding U.S. and European concerns regarding not only Iran's nuclear program, but other security matters as well. At the joint press conference, Trump again called the Iran nuclear deal a "terrible deal" that was "insane" and "ridiculous" because it did not deal with Iran's ballistic missiles or Iran's involvement in conflicts in Yemen, Syria and elsewhere. "We made this terrible deal but we're going to discuss it," Trump said. In separate comments that Rouhani made Wednesday while opening a tourism exhibition in Tabriz, Iran's president said the United States ought to uphold its own commitments under the existing six-party agreement before demanding changes. The United States pledged to fulfill certain commitments in the 2015 pact. But Washington has violated the deal by threatening banks throughout the world and investors if they do business with Iran, Rouhani said in separate comments to Iranian officials and foreign guests. "You have a debt to us over the (existing) nuclear deal. First settle your debt, then talk about the future," Rouhani said. Referring to the U.S. leader's previous business career as a property developer and wheeler-dealer, Rouhani described Trump as a "trader and tower maker" with a poor understanding of international law and global affairs. He then posed a series of rhetorical questions concerning the 2015 pact and the U.S. leader's assessment of it. "If the nuclear deal was bad and dangerous, why did your predecessor sign it? Only you can distinguish bad and good?" Tehran has said it will withdraw either from the nuclear deal or from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and restart uranium enrichment at a higher level, if Washington withdraws from the agreement. Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif told the Associated Press on Tuesday that it's likely Iran will abandon the six-party deal in retaliation if the United States withdraws. But Supreme National Security Council secretary Admiral Ali Shamkhani told reporters in Tehran the same day that withdrawing from the NPT, a landmark agreement signed by 191 nations, is more likely. Trump warned Iran at the joint news conference Tuesday with Macron about restarting uranium enrichment, saying: "If they restart their nuclear program, they will have bigger problems than they have ever had before." KYODO NEWS - Apr 25, 2018 - 13:05 | All, World Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. said Wednesday it has raised its offer for acquiring Irish drugmaker Shire Plc. to $64 billion as it extended the deadline for what would be the biggest-ever overseas purchase by a Japanese company. Takeda raised its offer price per share to 49 pounds from 47 pounds in its fifth attempt to buy Shire, which would make the deal worth around 46 billion pounds. The deal would eclipse SoftBank Group Corp.'s 2016 purchase of British semiconductor designer ARM Holdings for 24 billion pounds -- the largest foreign acquisition by a Japanese company. (Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s headquarters in Tokyo) The Japanese drugmaker said it and Shire extended the deadline for talks on the acquisition to May 8. It had been due to expire Wednesday. Takeda's share price briefly fell 9 percent from the previous day on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as concerns grew about the hefty cost of the deal. By acquiring Shire, known for its strength in medicines for rare diseases, Takeda aims to counter overseas rivals, banking on Shire's strength in the key U.S. market. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the two companies plan to announce a basic agreement, citing people familiar with the matter. The Irish company "has indicated to Takeda that it would be willing to recommend" the latest proposal to its shareholders, according to Takeda. Takeda has been aggressively buying pharmaceutical companies in Europe and the United States. It acquired U.S. drugmaker ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2017. Shailaja's Calling Attention on the need to ensure admission to all students who had passed the SSLC exam came right after the walkout staged by the Opposition. WCVB-TV(BOSTON) -- Dozens of endangered North Atlantic Right whales were seen feeding off the coast of Massachusetts over the past few days. The massive ocean mammals were seen swimming at the surface of the Atlantic Ocean near Marshfield -- a town about 30 miles southeast of Boston -- in chopper video captured by ABC Boston affiliate WCVB-TV over the weekend. The Marshfield Police Department's harbormaster and the U.S Coast Guard patrolled the waters nearby to make sure no other boats got too close to the pods of about 50 whales, Marshfield Harbormaster Mike DiMeo told ABC News. They were likely migrating north from Florida and the Carolinas, he said. Marshfield resident Doug MacFarland, who watched the whales through a pair of binoculars, told The Patriot Ledger that he lost count of how many he saw in the ocean. The 10 to 12 pods of whales were spread out over up to 10 miles along the Atlantic coast, DiMeo said. "It's an anomaly for us," DiMeo said of the number of whales. DiMeo was able to witness the whales for himself on Monday from about 50 yards away, he said. "It's quite fascinating to see them in that close range," he said, adding that they "basically shut the engines down" and kept a distance to "let them go their way. The species was hunted to near-extinction about a century ago, according to the local newspaper. The Right whale remains critically endangered, although recent analysis suggests that the species has recently experienced a slight growth in population size, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In 2011, at least 465 individual Right whales were in existence, according to the NOAA. The last time the area had seen a large number of whales was in May 2015, when about 15 to 20 whales were spotted off the coast, DiMeo said. It could be a sign of a population increase, he added. Among the biggest threats to the species include ship collisions, entanglement in fishing gear, habitat degradation, climate and ecosystem change, disturbance from whale-watching activities and noise, according to the NOAA. Right whales have a protection zone of 500 yards, NOAA regulations state. So the harbormaster and Coast Guard were helping to enforce it, DiMeo said. Regulations also state that vessels over 65 feet must travel at 10 knots or less. Humarock resident Paul Armstrong was paddleboarding when he had a close-up encounter with the whales, which can weigh up to 79 tons. "I was almost on top of them at one point," Armstrong told The Patriot Ledger. "They were kind of curious about what I was." The avid surfer described the sighting as "a really cool experience," adding, "Its something Ive always wanted to do." Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. A daily dose of baking soda may help reduce the destructive inflammation of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, scientists say. AUGUSTA, Ga. (April 25, 2018) - A daily dose of baking soda may help reduce the destructive inflammation of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, scientists say. They have some of the first evidence of how the cheap, over-the-counter antacid can encourage our spleen to promote instead an anti-inflammatory environment that could be therapeutic in the face of inflammatory disease, Medical College of Georgia scientists report in the Journal of Immunology. They have shown that when rats or healthy people drink a solution of baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, it becomes a trigger for the stomach to make more acid to digest the next meal and for little-studied mesothelial cells sitting on the spleen to tell the fist-sized organ that there's no need to mount a protective immune response. "It's most likely a hamburger not a bacterial infection," is basically the message, says Dr. Paul O'Connor, renal physiologist in the MCG Department of Physiology at Augusta University and the study's corresponding author. Mesothelial cells line body cavities, like the one that contains our digestive tract, and they also cover the exterior of our organs to quite literally keep them from rubbing together. About a decade ago, it was found that these cells also provide another level of protection. They have little fingers, called microvilli, that sense the environment, and warn the organs they cover that there is an invader and an immune response is needed. Drinking baking soda, the MCG scientists think, tells the spleen - which is part of the immune system, acts like a big blood filter and is where some white blood cells, like macrophages, are stored - to go easy on the immune response. "Certainly drinking bicarbonate affects the spleen and we think it's through the mesothelial cells," O'Connor says. The conversation, which occurs with the help of the chemical messenger acetylcholine, appears to promote a landscape that shifts against inflammation, they report. In the spleen, as well as the blood and kidneys, they found after drinking water with baking soda for two weeks, the population of immune cells called macrophages, shifted from primarily those that promote inflammation, called M1, to those that reduce it, called M2. Macrophages, perhaps best known for their ability to consume garbage in the body like debris from injured or dead cells, are early arrivers to a call for an immune response. In the case of the lab animals, the problems were hypertension and chronic kidney disease, problems which got O'Connor's lab thinking about baking soda. One of the many functions of the kidneys is balancing important compounds like acid, potassium and sodium. With kidney disease, there is impaired kidney function and one of the resulting problems can be that the blood becomes too acidic, O'Connor says. Significant consequences can include increased risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. "It sets the whole system up to fail basically," O'Connor says. Clinical trials have shown that a daily dose of baking soda can not only reduce acidity but actually slow progression of the kidney disease, and it's now a therapy offered to patients. "We started thinking, how does baking soda slow progression of kidney disease?" O'Connor says. That's when the anti-inflammatory impact began to unfold as they saw reduced numbers of M1s and increased M2s in their kidney disease model after consuming the common compound. When they looked at a rat model without actual kidney damage, they saw the same response. So the basic scientists worked with the investigators at MCG's Georgia Prevention Institute to bring in healthy medical students who drank baking soda in a bottle of water and also had a similar response. "The shift from inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory profile is happening everywhere," O'Connor says. "We saw it in the kidneys, we saw it in the spleen, now we see it in the peripheral blood." The shifting landscape, he says, is likely due to increased conversion of some of the proinflammatory cells to anti-inflammatory ones coupled with actual production of more anti-inflammatory macrophages. The scientists also saw a shift in other immune cell types, like more regulatory T cells, which generally drive down the immune response and help keep the immune system from attacking our own tissues. That anti-inflammatory shift was sustained for at least four hours in humans and three days in rats. The shift ties back to the mesothelial cells and their conversations with our spleen with the help of acetylcholine. Part of the new information about mesothelial cells is that they are neuron-like, but not neurons O'Connor is quick to clarify. "We think the cholinergic (acetylcholine) signals that we know mediate this anti-inflammatory response aren't coming directly from the vagal nerve innervating the spleen, but from the mesothelial cells that form these connections to the spleen," O'Connor says. In fact, when they cut the vagal nerve, a big cranial nerve that starts in the brain and reaches into the heart, lungs and gut to help control things like a constant heart rate and food digestion, it did not impact the mesothelial cells' neuron-like behavior. The affect, it appears, was more local because just touching the spleen did have an effect. When they removed or even just moved the spleen, it broke the fragile mesothelial connections and the anti-inflammatory response was lost, O'Connor says. In fact, when they only slightly moved the spleen as might occur in surgery, the previously smooth covering of mesothelial cells became lumpier and changed colors. "We think this helps explain the cholinergic (acetylcholine) anti-inflammatory response that people have been studying for a long time," O'Connor says. Studies are currently underway at other institutions that, much like vagal nerve stimulation for seizures, electrically stimulate the vagal nerve to tamp down the immune response in people with rheumatoid arthritis. While there is no known direct connection between the vagal nerve and the spleen - and O'Connor and his team looked again for one - the treatment also attenuates inflammation and disease severity in rheumatoid arthritis, researchers at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research reported in 2016 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. O'Connor hopes drinking baking soda can one day produce similar results for people with autoimmune disease. "You are not really turning anything off or on, you are just pushing it toward one side by giving an anti-inflammatory stimulus," he says, in this case, away from harmful inflammation. "It's potentially a really safe way to treat inflammatory disease." The spleen also got bigger with consuming baking soda, the scientists think because of the anti-inflammatory stimulus it produces. Infection also can increase spleen size and physicians often palpate the spleen when concerned about a big infection. Other cells besides neurons are known to use the chemical communicator acetylcholine. Baking soda also interact with acidic ingredients like buttermilk and cocoa in cakes and other baked goods to help the batter expand and, along with heat from the oven, to rise. It can also help raise the pH in pools, is found in antacids and can help clean your teeth and tub. ### The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Workforce OPM chief looks to elevate CHCOs Office of Personnel Management Director Jeff Pon wants to make sure agency human capital chiefs have a seat at the top table. In an April 23 memo to federal agency heads, Pon said he wanted agencies to assign the chief human capital officer role to individuals in the topmost ranks at agencies. "I believe the role of the CHCO should be assigned to an individual at a very senior-level who has the trust of the Secretary or agency head and serves as an integral part of the leadership team," Pon wrote. "The CHCO should share accountability with the other members of the leadership team for the agencys bottom line performance, mission results, accountability, and best use of taxpayer money." Pon said the move is necessary because of Trump administration initiatives that will affect the federal workforce. "With major civil service reforms, information technology modernization efforts and changes to various Federal benefit programs under consideration, I need the advice and assistance of the most senior management officials in planning and implementing human capital initiatives," Pon said. Jeff Neal, an executive at the human resources consultancy ICF and former CHCO at the Department of Homeland Security said he agreed that "the CHCO should have the confidence of the agency head and should be a member of the agencys senior leadership team." In an email to FCW, Neal said the best way to accomplish this is to take an agency's senior human resources executive out of the administration or chief financial officer organization and make that person a direct report to the agency secretary or deputy secretary. Neal said that designating the CFO or the assistant secretary for administration as the CHCO isn't the answer. "Most people found that did not work well because the [dual-hatted] CHCO did not attend meetings with OPM and did not know much about HR matters," he said. Neal also cautioned against the CHCO job going to political appointees "across the board." "There are some excellent CHCOs who are political appointees," he said, "but the track record for political CHCOs is not great." The memo from Pon may be evidence that momentum is building behind administration plans to change workforce rules to make it easier to fire low-performing feds and offer pay for performance, and even to rethink the general pay schedule. At an April 24 web event hosted by GovExec, OPM workforce policy lead Mark Reinhold said the agency is "very interested in taking a fresh look at things, and doing an assessment of the rules and the regulations and the policies that are on the books today and see what needs to be changed in order to meet the needs of today's federal government and tomorrow's federal government. The memo calls on agency heads to confirm their CHCO assignment to OPM by April 27. FCW staff writer Chase Gunter contributed reporting to this story. By Margarita Antidze and Hasmik Mkrtchyan YEREVAN, April 24 (Reuters) - A politician who forced Armenia's prime minister to resign led thousands of people on a march on Tuesday to mark the anniversary of Ottoman Turk massacres of Armenians in 1915, cementing his growing political stature. Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan resigned on Monday after almost two weeks of street protests prompted by accusations he had manipulated the constitution to cling to power. nL8N1S048K] Lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan played an instrumental role in ousting Sarksyan, organising many of the protests and calling for the premier to go in a televised exchange before being jailed and then released. He is set to start talks with the ruling party on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Pashinyan led thousands of people through the capital Yerevan to a hilltop memorial dedicated to the victims of the 1915 massacres. Some chanted his name and waved the national flag. Armenia say the killings during World War One constituted genocide. Muslim-majority Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed in fighting during the war but denies the killings amounted to genocide. Given the anniversary's solemn nature, politicians decided to largely refrain from making political statements about the country's future on Tuesday. But acting prime minister Karen Karapetyan, an ally of the ousted Sarksyan, said it was important to stay united amid the political tumult. "We are going through a very difficult stage in our new history...demonstrating to the entire world that despite difficulties and unresolved problems we are united," Karapetyan said in a statement after laying flowers at the memorial to the victims of the massacres. "We reaffirm our determination to build strong statehood and a free and civilised society." Sarksyan's allies like Karapetyan remain in important positions in government and it remains unclear whether his resignation will herald any real change. Armenia's political parties in parliament must now put forward the name of a new prime minister within seven days. Story continues Pashinyan, 42, appears keen to play a major role in the political reconfiguration. He has a history of political activism and was among opposition activists who demonstrated against Sarksyan's 2008 presidential election victory. Ten people were killed in clashes that followed that win. After a period of hiding, Pashinyan surrendered to the police in 2009 and was sentenced to four years in prison for organising civil disturbances. He was released two years later under an amnesty. "Nikol is a really popular leader, whom we trust," Karen Mkhitaryan, a 19-year-old student, said of Pashinyan. PROSPECTS UNCLEAR Politicians and experts said on Tuesday that Sarksyan, who was president for a decade before trying to extend his time in power, decided to step down due to what they described as unbearable pressure coming from the mass protests. "Thousands of people were in the streets for days demanding his resignation and the moment came when he had no resources to suppress this movement," Ararat Mirzoyan, an opposition leader, told Reuters. Some said Sarksyan's move was a rare example of political wisdom from a leader under pressure. "Serzh Sarksyan has confirmed once again that he is a real statesman," Eduard Sharmazanov, a vice speaker of parliament, told Reuters. Others praised him for not resorting to a bloody crackdown to stay in power, something he had hinted at on Sunday. Sarksyan was a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow is closely watching events in Armenia, where it has two military basesy. The Kremlin said on Tuesday it was pleased the situation appeared stable for now. Many experts say it is too early to predict what lies ahead however. "What is needed is a sober power-sharing reconfiguration," said Richard Giragosian, a director of the Regional Studies Centre. "Yet such consensus and compromise seems very far away, and with mounting expectations and anger dangerously high, the real challenge of governance is only just beginning." (Writing by Margarita Antidze/Andrew Osborn; editing by Angus MacSwan) A BMW iX3 electric concept car is displayed during a media preview at the Auto China 2018 motor show in Beijing, China April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee By Ilona Wissenbach BEIJING (Reuters) - German luxury carmaker BMW (BMWG.DE) expects the pace of growth of its China sales to almost halve this year, the firm's chief executive said on Wednesday, amid a broader slowdown in the world's largest auto market. The firm is targeting growth of 7-8 percent, versus 15 percent in 2017, BMW CEO Harald Krueger told reporters at China's main annual auto show being held in Beijing. "We don't expect huge double-digit growth like in the past, we expect single digit growth," he said. China's overall auto market grew just 2.8 percent in the first quarter of the year. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers has predicted a 3 percent market growth this year, in line with 2017, but significantly below the steep 13.7 percent gain in 2016. BMW, which has a local venture with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings (1114.HK), is also planning a new alliance with Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motor Co to develop the carmaker's Mini brand in China. Krueger said Chinese plans to remove caps on foreign ownership of local ventures, currently limited to 50 percent, should not impact its tie-ups in the country, but said that discussions with its partners in the market were ongoing. China said earlier this month it would scrap a long-standing limit on foreign ownership of new-energy vehicle ventures this year and for the wider car market by 2022, in a major policy shift that will help open up the market. Krueger also said the firm could, in the long-term, export vehicles from China to other markets in the region, though this would depend on factors including logistics costs and tariffs between China and other countries like Thailand. "We will think those scenarios through," he said. (Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; Writing by Brenda Goh and Adam Jourdan; Editing by Himani Sarkar) BRASILIA, April 25 (Reuters) - First-quarter profit at Fibria Celulose SA jumped 87 percent from the year before but sill undershot analyst expectations, the Brazilian wood pulp producer said in a securities filing on Wednesday. Net income reached 615 million reais ($177 million), below a consensus estimate of 696 million reais compiled by Reuters. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, a gauge of operating profits known as EBITDA, soared 168 percent to 1.783 billion reais. ($1 = 3.4730 reais) (Reporting by Bruno Federowski, editing by Louise Heavens) * China chip fund open to overseas investors - ministry * China looking to rev up local chip sector, trim imports * Chips a key tension point in China-U.S. trade stand-off * Alibaba's Jack Ma says China should control "core" tech (Adds comments from Alibaba founder Jack Ma in paragraphs 8-10) By Cate Cadell BEIJING, April 25 (Reuters) - China is looking for billions of dollars in funds to propel its domestic ambitions in chips to cut a heavy reliance on imports, and has invited overseas investors to help it get there. The country's industry ministry said on Wednesday that it welcomed foreign enterprises to invest in its top state-backed semiconductor fund, even as tensions simmer over tech transfers between China and the United States. China is looking to accelerate plans to develop its semiconductor market amid a fierce trade stand-off with the United States and a recent ban on U.S. sales, including of American chips, to ZTE Corp. China's National Integrated Circuit Investment Fund is now putting together a second fund to support the sector, a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) official said. "We welcome foreign enterprises to participate," MIIT spokesman Chen Yin said at a press conference in Beijing. The fund, which raised about $22 billion previously, has been a target for U.S. politicians concerned that Chinese firms, flush with state money, could challenge U.S. chip giants like Qualcomm Corp for whom China is a key market. The United States Trade Representative referenced China's semiconductor roadmap, which includes national funding, in a trade report that authorized U.S. President Donald Trump to levy up to $100 billion in tariffs against the country. Jack Ma, the founder of tech giant Alibaba, said in Japan on Wednesday that China needed to control its "core technology" like chips to avoid over-reliance on U.S. imports. Alibaba last week said it had bought Chinese microchip maker Hangzhou C-SKY Microsystems, though Ma said the timing of the deal was not linked to U.S.-China trade tensions. Story continues "We believe the internet of things is the future ... most things that have electricity will have chips inside. So we need cheaper chips, effective chips, inclusive chips that can be everywhere," Ma said during a live-streamed event at Tokyo's Waseda University. China's state-backed semiconductor fund, commonly referred to as the "Big Fund", has previously backed major local projects including a $24 billion Tsinghua Unigroup memory chip plant that is under construction in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Beijing says its supportive investment policies are designed to reduce China's reliance on foreign semiconductors, which are one of the country's top imported products by value. That dependence was highlighted this month after the United States banned American firms from selling components, including semiconductors, to ZTE. Analysts say the ban could be potentially fatal for ZTE's smartphone business. Chinese firms have also had a number of overseas deals to buy foreign chip companies blocked by U.S. regulators in recent years, including a bid by Tsinghua Unigroup to acquire U.S. chip group Micron Technology Inc. ($1 = 6.3219 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Cate Cadell; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Himani Sarkar) FILE PHOTO: View of the Piraeus Container Terminal, near Athens A view of the Piraeus Container Terminal, near Athens, Greece, September 20, 2017. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/Files By Angus Berwick and Renee Maltezou MADRID/ATHENS (Reuters) - European Union and Italian authorities are investigating suspected wide-scale tax fraud by Chinese criminal gangs importing goods via Greece's largest port of Piraeus, a trade gateway between China and Europe, officials said. "The VAT is completely evaded, with enormous damage to the national tax authorities and to the community," Fabio Botto, of the Italian Central Anti-fraud Office's special investigative unit, said in an interview. He said the suspected scam at Piraeus, part of China's vast Belt and Road infrastructure project, had cost Italy tens of millions of euros in unpaid value-added taxes (VAT), though the total could be far higher as the investigation was not over. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) confirmed it was working with Italy on the investigation but declined to give details, citing confidentiality. Botto said his agency had evidence that Chinese-owned firms run by the criminal groups were fraudulently avoiding import duties and VAT on large shipments of goods through Piraeus. The groups import goods, often counterfeit clothing and footwear, and massively understate their value to EU customs to avoid import duties, he said. They also lie about the firms that receive the goods, enabling them to avoid VAT. Greece's Financial Crime Unit is conducting a separate investigation into a suspected tax fraud case involving Chinese goods imported via Pireaus. The Greek unit has had little contact with Italian and EU authorities and has not been informed about the wider investigation, an official there said. China's state-owned COSCO Shipping has majority-owned Piraeus since 2016. China wants to transform the port into its "gateway to Europe" under the billion Belt and Road initiative, which envisions a new "Silk Road" of land and sea routes with trading partners. Botto and the Greek official said neither investigation had evidence of any wrongdoing by Piraeus port authorities. COSCO owns a majority stake in the Piraeus Port Authority (PPA), which manages one container terminal, and a wholly-owned COSCO subsidiary owns and manages two other terminals. Story continues COSCO said: "The company has in its global operations consistently and strictly followed local and international laws, and persevered to operate legally and compliantly". PPA said it had not received any information about criminal groups using the port and it would alert authorities if it did. It said it took all necessary measures to ensure that goods had customs supervision. "(PPA) is under no circumstances responsible for conducting checks for illegal activities," PPA said in a statement. OLAF and national authorities in recent years have clamped down on customs loopholes used by Chinese smugglers, whose tax scams they estimate cost the EU billions of euros a year. Italy began investigating the Piraeus case in late 2017 after seizing falsified invoices at customs offices, Botto said. Reuters has not seen this evidence and Botto declined to name the suspect firms as the investigation is ongoing. Piraeus has become a major new entry point, Botto said, as northern ports have tightened controls and Piraeus's import capacity has leapt six-fold under COSCO. "We are investigating the new routes developing with the Belt and Road project. Currently the predominantly beaten path appears to be through Piraeus," he said. (Writing by Angus Berwick; Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas in Athens and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Giles Elgood) Vincent Bollore, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of media group Vivendi, attends the company's shareholders meeting in Paris, France, April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau By Emmanuel Jarry and Richard Lough PARIS (Reuters) - A French judge on Wednesday placed tycoon Vincent Bollore under formal investigation over allegations his company undercharged for work on behalf of presidential candidates in two African nations in return for port contracts. Bollore's company, Groupe Bollore, announced the decision by Judge Serge Tournaire, which came after Bollore had been questioned for two days by French fraud police. Bollore, whose logistics empire is a powerhouse in former French colonies across West Africa, is suspected of corrupting foreign public officials and complicity in corruption, his lawyer has said. The lawyer, Olivier Baratelli, has denied any wrongdoing by Bollore. "Vincent Bollore has been indicted by Judge Tournaire," Groupe Bollore said in a statement. "Bollore, who continues to be presumed innocent, will now have access to this dossier (of evidence) whose content he had no knowledge of and will have the opportunity to answer these unfounded accusations," it added. Although the company used the term indicted in its statement in English, the French term is usually translated as placed under formal investigation. A judicial source said Bollore, and Groupe Bollore's Chief Executive Gilles Alix were placed under formal investigation for corrupting foreign public officials and complicity in breach of trust, forgery and use of forgery. The head of the international division at advertising group Havas Jean-Philippe Dorent was placed under formal investigation for breach of trust and forgery, and he is also assisting as a witness in the corrupting of a foreign public official, the source said. The judge's decision means Bollore is now formally treated as a suspect and takes the legal process one step closer to trial. Under French law, however, a suspect is not formally charged with a crime unless he is sent to trial. Shares in Bollore closed down more than 2 percent on Wednesday after shedding 6 percent in the previous trading session. Story continues The probe involves two separate cases, one in Guinea and the other in Togo. Groupe Bollore confirmed on Tuesday its African business interests were under investigation over the billing for work carried out in Guinea and Togo between 2009 and 2010 by its communications business Havas Worldwide. The group denied any wrongdoing. Bollore, 66, was questioned by police alongside Alix, Dorent, and Francis Perez, the head of Spanish hotel and casino firm Pefaco, a judicial source said. Advertising company Havas was a subsidiary of Groupe Bollore at the time of the alleged corruption in 2010. It is run by Bollore's son Yannick. Pefaco has wide interests in West Africa. Le Monde reported in 2016 that French fraud police had been investigating Pefaco for two years, and were interested in the relationship between Perez and Groupe Bollore. Asked what ties Pefaco had with Groupe Bollore, a Pefaco spokesman declined to comment. The spokesman also declined to comment on why Perez might be under investigation. SPRAWLING EMPIRE Billionaire Bollore transformed a family-run paper factory into a sprawling empire that spans the media, transport, logistics and telecoms through opportunistic investments and ruthless acquisitions. He counts presidents among his friends, including former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy. Havas is alleged to have advised Guinean leader Alpha Conde during his first presidential campaign in return for the Conakry port concession. In a 2016 interview in a luxury Parisian hotel, Conde told Le Monde of Bollore in an interview: "He is a friend. I favour friends over others. So what?" Conde is now midway through his second five-year term. A Guinea government spokesman on Tuesday told Reuters Groupe Bollore obtained the port concession "in strict compliance with the laws in force." The investigation into Bollore's activities in Guinea and Togo raises questions over whether other contracts won in the region by his holding company are under scrutiny. Groupe Bollore's Bollore Africa Logistics has a strong grip on port operations in West Africa, holding 16 container port concessions, as well as several rail concessions. It employs 25,000 people. Groupe Bollore had revenues of 18.3 billion euros (16 billion) in 2017 according to Thomson Reuters data. Bollore has launched numerous defamation complaints against media investigating his business activities, in a challenge to press freedoms, Reporters Without Borders said in its annual report on Wednesday. (Additional reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic, Mathieu Rosemain and Bate Felix in Paris, Paul Day in Madrid; Writing by Richard Lough and Bate Felix; Editing by Alexander Smith and Adrian Croft) By Nick Carey DETROIT, April 25 (Reuters) - General Motors Co said on Wednesday it will start a third shift at its Spring Hill assembly plant to meet strong demand for its popular GMC Acadia midsize SUV and the Cadillac XT5 crossover, adding around 700 jobs. The No. 1 U.S. automaker said the third shift is expected to begin production in September. Retail sales for the GMC Acadia were up 15 percent in the first quarter versus the same period last year, while total sales for the XT5 were up 10 percent. As U.S. consumers have shifted away from traditional passenger cars in favor of roomier, higher-margin sport utility vehicles, crossovers and pickup trucks, automakers have been left juggling production capacity to catch up. While this has been good news for GM plants like Spring Hill, others have suffered. For instance, the automaker recently announced the removal of a shift at its Lordstown, Ohio, plant, with 1,500 workers to be laid off. That plant makes the Chevrolet Cruze sedan - sales of which were down 26 percent in the first quarter. (Reporting by Nick Carey in Detroit Editing by Matthew Lewis) (Adds context, changes dateline to Bishkek) BISHKEK, April 25 (Reuters) - Kyrgyz gold miner Kyrgyzaltyn has not yet seen or studied an offer by Chaarat Gold Holdings to take over the Kumtor gold mine, its deputy chief executive, Bektur Sagynov, said on Wednesday. Chaarat Gold on Tuesday made a proposal to buy Kyrgyzstan's largest gold mine, Kumtor, from Canada's Centerra Gold for an undisclosed cash sum, in a deal that would also involve Kyrgyz state firm Kyrgyzaltyn. "We cannot say we are ready for the deal," he told Reuters by telephone, referring to the surprise bid by the London-listed miner. Kumtor's current owner, Centerra Gold said this week it was not interested in a proposed three-party deal under which it would receive cash and its own stock held by Kyrgyzaltyn. The mine, valued at about $1 billion, is the biggest industrial enterprise in the former Soviet republic and accounts for about 10 percent of its domestic product. The Central Asian country's government and the Canadian company have repeatedly clashed over how to share Kumtor's profits and the sacking of the Kyrgyz cabinet this month could disrupt their latest plan to settle mutual claims agreed last year. Chaarat Gold is an exploration and development company operating in the Kyrgyz Republic and it has the Chaarat Gold Project which is in the north west of the country. (Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko; editing by Jane Merriman Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Polina Ivanova) SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) A man once sworn to protect the public from crime was accused Wednesday of living a double life terrorizing suburban neighborhoods at night, becoming one of California's most feared serial killers and rapists in the 1970s and '80s before leaving a cold trail that baffled investigators. Former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested at his home Tuesday after DNA linked him to crimes attributed to the so-called Golden State Killer and he initially was charged with eight counts of murder and could face dozens more charges, authorities said. The culprit also known as the East Area Rapist, among other names, is suspected of at least 12 slayings and 50 rapes in 10 counties from Northern to Southern California. The armed and masked prowler sneaked in through windows at night and surprised sleeping victims who ranged in age from 13 to 41. When encountering a couple, he was known to tie up the man and pile dishes on his back. He threatened to kill both victims if he heard plates crash to the floor while he raped the woman. He then ransacked the house, taking souvenirs, notably coins and jewelry before fleeing on foot or bicycle. Despite an outpouring of thousands of tips over the years, DeAngelo's name had not been on the radar of law enforcement before last week, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said. "We knew we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we also knew that needle was there," she said. "It was right here in Sacramento." A break in the case and the arrest came together in "light speed" during the past six days, Schubert said, though authorities refused to reveal what led to DeAngelo. Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones said detectives with "dogged determination" were able to get a sample of DNA from something DeAngelo discarded, though he wouldn't say what the item was. The genetic material was not a match, but there were enough similarities for investigators to return for more and they said they were able to get a conclusive match. Story continues After watching DeAngelo for several days, deputies took him by surprise Tuesday. "It looked as though he might have been searching his mind to execute a particular plan he may have had," but never had time to act, Jones said. DeAngelo was arrested on suspicion of committing double-killings in Sacramento and Ventura counties and later charged with four counts of murder in Orange County, officials said. Ventura County District Attorney Gregory Totten said that before prosecutors decide whether to seek the death penalty, there will be a "solemn and formal death review process that typically takes many months before a decision is made." DeAngelo, who served in the Navy, was a police officer in Exeter, in the San Joaquin Valley, from 1973 to 1976, at a time a burglar known as the Visalia Ransacker was active, Jones said. He transferred to the force in Auburn in the Sierra foothills near where he grew up outside Sacramento. About 50 crimes, including two killings, were attributed to the East Area Rapist during the three years DeAngelo worked in Auburn, but Jones said it wasn't clear if any were committed while on duty. DeAngelo was fired from the Auburn department in 1979 after being arrested for stealing a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a drug store, according to Auburn Journal articles from the time. He was convicted of the theft and fined $100. Ten slayings occurred after he was fired and all took place in Southern California. DeAngelo worked for 27 years in a distribution center for Save Mart Supermarkets in Roseville, a Sacramento-area suburb. He retired last year, said Victoria Castro, spokeswoman for The Save Mart Companies. "None of his actions in the workplace would have led us to suspect any connection to crimes being attributed to him," Castro said in a statement, adding that the company was working with investigators. Although it's unusual for serial killers to stop, Jones said they have no reason to think DeAngelo continued to commit crimes after 1986, when the last rape and killing occurred in Orange County. "We have no indication of any crimes with a similar or at least a close enough link to his MO and other things that he's done in the past to link him to anything from '86 on," Jones said. "We just have nothing at this point." Jones said he always thought the rapist was alive, but might be in prison. For the prosecutors and investigators, the arrest not only marked a significant professional achievement but also a personal one that had touched their formative years and early careers. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley was a college student volunteering at a rape crisis center and "sat with survivors who had been assaulted by this guy." The wave of horrifying crimes had brought an end to a more innocent era in the Sacramento suburbs when children rode bicycles to school, played outside until dark and people didn't lock their doors, Schubert said. "It all changed," said Schubert, who was 12 at the time. "For anyone that lived here in this community, in Sacramento, the memories are very vivid. You can ask anyone who grew up here. Everyone has a story." Totten said he was a young law clerk in the office during the investigation into the 1980 slayings of Lyman and Charlene Smith that "struck terror in the hearts of Ventura residents." "We had no idea this killer was connected to so many other crimes," Totten said. In 1999, Orange County sheriff's homicide detectives were able to use DNA to link the Irvine slaying of Keith and Patrice Harrington to nine other slayings in in Orange, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The genetic evidence was later used to connect the same suspect to dozens of rapes in Northern California. Harrington's brother, Bruce, helped bankroll a successful 2004 ballot initiative campaign to take DNA from all convicted felons and some arrestees. "To the victims, sleep better tonight, he isn't coming through the window," Bruce Harrington said at the news conference announcing the arrest. Jane Carson-Sandler was one of the first victims when she was sexually assaulted in 1976 in her home in Citrus Heights, the same community where DeAngelo was arrested at home. She said she received an email Wednesday from a retired detective who worked on the case telling her they identified the rapist and he's in custody. "I have just been overjoyed, ecstatic. It's an emotional roller-coaster right now," Carson-Sandler, who now lives near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I feel like I'm in the middle of a dream and I'm going to wake up and it's not going to be true. It's just so nice to have closure and to know he's in jail." FBI agents and other investigators were gathering evidence at DeAngelo's neatly kept home on Wednesday. Jones said they were looking for mementos that may have been stolen from victims. Neighbors said DeAngelo took meticulous care of his house, which was always perfectly painted and his lawn manicured. But he was known for an explosive temper and loud cursing. Kevin Tapia said when he was a teenager, DeAngelo falsely accused him of throwing things over their shared fence, prompting a heated exchange between DeAngelo and his father. "No one thinks they live next door to a serial killer," Tapia said. "But at the same time I'm just like, he was a weird guy. He kept to himself. When you start to think about it you're like, I could see him doing something like that, but I would never suspect it." ___ Melley reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press Writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Citrus Heights, Sophia Bollag and Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, Michael Balsamo in Los Angeles, and Olga Rodriguez, Paul Elias and Juliet Williams in San Francisco and investigative researcher Randy Herschaft in New York contributed to this report. ___ This story has been corrected to show that prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek the death penalty for DeAngelo. For her inaugural state dinner as first lady, Melania Trump changed out of the supremely white Carmen Sandiego-meets-Bianca Jagger hat that puzzled the internet all day, and slipped into something a little more comfortablenamely, Chanel haute couture. A former fashion model, Melania is no stranger to the power of the fashion, which doesnt entirely explain the hat, but it does explain the Chanel. The guests of honor, of course, were French president Emmanuel Macron, and the French first lady Brigitte Macron. And it doesnt get much more French than Chanel couture. The gown that Melania wore was made of Chantilly lacea delicate lace that often consists of floral motifs, dating back to Chantilly, France in the 17th centuryembroidered with lots and lots of silver sequins, beading, and hand-painting. Chanel haute couture, 2018. The look made its first appearance on Chanels haute couture runway in January, where it was quite something in jumpsuit formwith a little black veil to boot. Couture, by definition, is made-to-order, so its no surprise that Chanel would change the style to suit the customerand the first lady has worn couture by Karl Lagerfeld (Chanels creative director) in the past. This collection in particular seemed tied to the designers positive feelings about the French president and first lady. When he showed the designs in January, Lagerfeld told Vogue that the Macrons made him feel optimistic about the political climate in France: Its the feeling I have, and the mood, he said. For her part, Brigitte Macron stuck to her standard Louis Vuitton, in a long-sleeved cream gown with gold criss-cross chain motifs and an empire waist accented with a gold belt. With all these metallics, its hard not to feel nostalgic for the last state dinner at the White House, when Michelle Obama welcomed Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi in rose-gold chainmail Versace. Story continues Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: FILE - In this April 10, 2018, file photo, Democratic candidate for the Arizona 8th Congressional District special election, Dr. Hiral Tipirneni, left, talks with a supporter at a local restaurant in Sun City, Ariz. Tipirneni is running against former Arizona Republican state Sen. Debbie Lesko in a special election, Tuesday, April 24, to fill the seat vacated by Republican Rep. Trent Franks. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Republican Debbie Lesko won the special election in Arizona's 8th Congressional District on Tuesday, keeping the U.S. House seat in GOP control but by a much narrower margin than expected. The former state senator defeated Hiral Tipirneni, a former emergency room physician who had hoped to replicate surprising Democratic wins in Pennsylvania, Alabama and other states in a year where opposition to President Donald Trump's policies have boosted the party's chances in Republican strongholds. Trump won the district by 21 percentage points in 2016, but early returns show Lesko winning by just 6 percentage points. Republican political consultant Chuck Coughlin called the margin "not good" for national Republicans looking at their chances in November. "They should clean house in this election," said Coughlin, longtime adviser to former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. "There's a drag on the midterms for Republican candidates that's being created by the national narrative. And it would be very hard to buck that trend if you're in swing districts, much less close districts, if you can't change that narrative between now and November." Lesko replaces former Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican who resigned in December amid sexual misconduct allegations. At a victory party in her Glendale neighborhood, Lesko greeted supporters and looked back in wonder. "I've really come a long way and this is really quite overwhelming, it's very surreal," she said. "Twenty-five years ago I left an abusive husband and I sure as heck never would have dreamt in a million years that I would be running for Congress to be a congresswoman. I mean, that's right, now I'm actually running for Congress, I won!" The district sprawls across western Phoenix suburbs, covering some of the most conservative areas of the red state, including the retirement community of Sun City. Tipirneni worked the district hard, making inroads rarely seen in an area that hadn't elected a Democrat since the early 1980s. She was seen as a fresh Democratic face with relatively moderate views that could get support in the district. Making a push for older voters, she had said Lesko would vote to go after entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts that mainly benefit the wealthy. She's pushed a plan to allow some people to buy into Medicare. Story continues Tipirneni said she still plans to run again in November. She said she wasn't shocked to see her close to Lesko, despite the big GOP advantage in the district, saying people were ready for a change. "We weren't surprised, we're not surprised," Tipirneni said. "And we're still waiting to see the rest of the votes. We're not conceding. We're still waiting for votes to be counted -- so this isn't over." The Associated Press called the race for Lesko after state officials released tallies of more than 155,000 mail-in ballots, which represent about 75 percent of the votes expected. National Republican groups spent big to back Lesko, pouring in more than $500,000 in the suburban Phoenix district for television and mail ads and phone calls to voters. National Democratic groups didn't commit money to the race, a sign they didn't believe the seat was in play. In the Feb. 27 primary, two out of every three ballots were cast for a Republican. The seat became open when Franks stepped down after acknowledging that he had discussed surrogacy with two female staffers. A former aide told The Associated Press that he pressed her to carry his child as a surrogate and offered her $5 million. Lesko slammed Tipirneni as being out of touch with voters who oppose government-run health care. She called the Democrat too liberal for the area, and pointed to Tipirneni's opposition to a wall on the Mexican border. Several Republican voters who spoke with AP said they backed Lesko primarily because she supported Trump's border security plans. David Hunt, a 64-year-old retired construction and warehouse worker from Glendale, said he cast his vote Tuesday for Lesko because he believed that immigrants in the country illegally are creating unfair competition for jobs for recent high school students in Arizona. "She's the best candidate to deal with the porous border," Hunt said. His views were echoed by Larry Bettis, a retiree from Glendale. "Immigration - the fence," Bettis said. "That's all I really care about." Democrats said they wanted to send a message to Trump and supported Democratic health care plans. "I don't like the president and felt it was time to take a stand," said Nikole Allen, a 45-year-old medical assistant from New York now living in Glendale. "It's time for us to vote the Republicans out." . U.S. West Texas Intermediate and international-favorite Brent crude oil closed lower on Tuesday after giving up all of its earlier gains. The rally in WTI crude oil stopped just short of last weeks high at $69.55 before the sellers came into the market. Brent, however, posted a new multi-year high before forming a potentially bearish technical closing price reversal top. On Tuesday, June WTI crude oil settled at $67.70, down $0.94 or -1.37% and June Brent crude oil finished the session at $73.86, down $0.85 or -1.14%. There were no major shifts in the fundamentals on Tuesday with traders blaming some of the loss on profit-taking related to the steep drop in U.S. equity prices. Some traders also raised concerns over rising U.S. fuel inventories and production. Daily June WTI Crude Oil Forecast Crude oil futures are trading lower early Wednesday as investors show their reaction to yesterdays dramatic reversal down and to a private industry report showing a slight rise in U.S. inventories. At 0655 GMT, June WTI crude oil is trading $67.60, down $0.10 or +0.17% and June Brent crude oil is at $73.79, down $0.07 or -0.09%. Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprise build of 1.099 million barrels of U.S. crude oil inventories for the week-ending April 20. Analysts were looking for a draw of between 1.047 and 2.648 million barrels. The API also reported a draw for gasoline inventories for the week-ending April 20, in the amount of 2.724 million. Analysts were looking for a draw of 995,000 barrels. Distillate inventories also posted a draw last week of 1.911 million barrels. Analysts had forecast a slightly smaller decline of 807,000 barrels. Daily June Brent Crude Uncertainty has entered the market place with the decision on the reimposition of sanctions on Iran less than a month away and traders not sure what to expect from todays U.S. Energy Information Administrations weekly inventories due to the surprise API number. The latest estimate calls for a 1.6 million barrel draw, but that could change. Story continues Just 24 hours ago, WTI crude was in a position to break out to the upside on the daily chart, but yesterdays selling momentum has put it in a position to challenge the last swing bottom at $67.14. A trade though this level will change the trend to down on the daily chart. Also the divergence yesterday between WTI and Brent crude suggests the fundamental traders may be ahead of the market. This could also be a sign that a correction is coming. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: princess charlotte canada Getty/Pool Princess Charlotte became a middle child on Monday, with the birth of her baby brother, Louis Arthur Charles. The science of birth order is complicated, but some researchers say middle children tend to be more independent, empathetic, and altruistic. Other scientists say differences in personality and intelligence related to birth order are so small as to be almost unnoticeable. Prince George and Princess Charlotte have a new baby brother. And for Princess Charlotte, the arrival of baby Louis Arthur Charles means she's got a new role in the family: the middle child. No one can say with 100% certainty what that will mean for her future. For one, the royal family dynamic is pretty different from your average family dynamic. Plus, scientists have yielded different conclusions about the significance of birth order. Here's what we know so far. A 2015 study, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, found that birth order predicts some differences in personality and intelligence but those differences are small enough that they're not even noticeable without running a battery of psychological tests. Meanwhile, a (much smaller) 2016 study, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, found that middle children are more likely to demonstrate "prosocial" behavior, meaning they're altruistic and willing to take risks that will end up benefitting other people. In an interview with Psychology Today, Katrin Schumann, an author of "The Secret Power of Middle Children," said that because middle children tend to be "neglected" by parents, they often become more independent and empathetic, which makes them good team players. Catherine Salmon, a psychology professor at the University of Redlands in California and Schumann's co-author, told Business Insider's Lindsay Dodgson that middle children can make excellent romantic partners since they tend to get along with many different personality types. Story continues It's worth noting here that, had Princess Charlotte and her baby brother been born just a few years earlier, Princess Charlotte would have been bumped from her position as fourth in line for the royal crown. A change in legislation, passed by Parliament in 2013, means that a royal family member's gender no longer determines their place in the line of succession. (Traditionally, royal sons took precedence over their sisters.) Ultimately, middle kids like Princess Charlotte have every opportunity to succeed in life. In the interview with Psychology Today, Schumann offered some sage advice for middle children royal or otherwise. She said, "The amount of parental attention you receive as a child doesnt define how well you turn out." NOW WATCH: This 90-year-old woman is a fashion icon, WWII vet, and ruler of one of the world's largest economies See Also: SEE ALSO: How your birth order predicts the rest of your life FILE PHOTO: A Ryanair logo is seen on a wing of a passenger aircraft travelling from Madrid International Airport to Bergamo Airport, Italy, January 14, 2018. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini By Conor Humphries DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ryanair (RYA.I) has agreed to buy a further 25 Boeing (BA.N) 737 MAX planes, worth $3 billion (2.15 billion pounds) at list prices, lifting its order of the U.S. planemaker's flagship short-haul plane model to 135, the two companies said on Tuesday. The Irish low-cost carrier, which is the largest operator of Boeing planes in Europe, purchased 100 737 MAX planes in 2014 and took out options on 100 more. Ryanair said the order leaves it with 75 more options. It purchased 10 additional MAX planes in June last year, which were on top of the 2014 order. Chief Executive Michael O'Leary in March said he expected to exercise "pretty much all" of its options. Ryanair has dubbed the MAX a "game changer" for its business, due to a fuel consumption improvement it says could be up to 16 percent and a greater number of seats. The configuration Ryanair has ordered has 197 seats compared to 189 in its current fleet of 737s. Ryanair rivals easyJet (EZJ.L) and Wizz (WIZZ.L) have ordered Airbus (AIR.PA) A321 planes, which seat up to 239 passengers. [L8N1JB2EO] Ryanair (RYA.I) has held talks with Boeing about its new larger version of the 737 airliner, the MAX 10, which can carry up to 230 passengers, but has made clear it would only be interested if the price is lowered. The first of Ryanair's 737 MAX planes are due for delivery in the first half of 2019 and will use CFM Leap-1B engines. Ryanair, which currently operates around 430 Boeing 737 planes, says the MAX order will allow it reach its target of carrying 200 million passengers per year by 2024. (Reporting by Conor Humphries; editing by Jason Neely and Adrian Croft) CAPE TOWN, April 25 (Reuters) - Court proceedings against 18 banks accused of rigging the rand currency are likely to start early next year, as prosecutors need time to prepare the complex case, the head of cartels at South Africa's Competition Commission said on Wednesday. "Our case against the banks is very strong and we want to deal with all these technicalities so the matter can go on trial, maybe by the second quarter of next year," Makgale Mohlala said. Competition authorities will first hold a series of "exception hearings" to discuss the possible exclusion of banks on technical grounds. South Africa said last August that it would no longer offer deals to banks cooperating with investigations into the alleged currency rigging, a blow to some lenders that had discreetly approached the watchdog for a settlement. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf Editing by Catherine Evans) Beijing, China, trade war, tariffs, donald trump, president, xi jinping The first shots in a potential trade war have been fired, the International Monetary Fund exclaimed in its latest World Economic Outlook last week. The US-China trade standoff certainly has investors worried, too and that fear is intensifying. In the latest fund manager survey carried out by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 38% of investors said the trade war was the biggest tail risk, up from 30% in March. Thats no surprise since peaking in late January, Hong Kongs Hang Seng has fallen almost 9%. US markets have slipped around 5-6%, too. The ructions began in early March, when US President Donald Trump announced plans to place tariffs of 25% on steel and other Chinese imports and 10% on aluminium. His counterpart Xi Jinping retaliated by imposing duties on up to $3 billion of US imports. The episode has continued to escalate, leading Maurice Obstfeld, the IMFs economic counsellor, to caution that the post-war trading system, which has nurtured unprecedented growth in the world economy is now in danger of being torn apart. But are investors right to be so concerned? Mike Bell, global market strategist at JPMorgan, says its important to put the figures into perspective. The most aggressive numbers floated are 25% tax on up to $150 billion of goods. Thats $37.5 billion. Its very tricky for us to conceptualise whats going on when there are numbers in the billions range being thrown around, Bell notes. In fact, $37.5 billion is 0.3% of Chinas GDP in 2017 and 0.2% of the USs. In total, exports to China account for just 0.7% of US GDP; exports from China to the US is around 3.6% of Chinas GDP. That does a good job in framing how important this trade discussion is, Bell adds. Its not that its irrelevant; its just that the numbers really arent big enough to warrant the sort of panic in markets that weve seen over the last month or two. Both Bell and Chetan Sehgal, manager of Templeton Emerging Markets (TEM), global trade remains robust, and is likely to continue to do so. Story continues How Will A Trade War Impact China? As for the impact on China, Andy Rothman, investment strategist at Matthews Asia, thinks it will be negligible. What people have forgotten is that China is no longer an export-led economy, he explains. China has successfully transitioned from being an export-led economy to a service-led economy. A decade ago, net exports were equal to 9% of Chinese GDP. Last year, it was equal to 2%. And even within that, exports to other emerging market nations has grown. Rothman says Trump may have had more success if he had joined forces with the EU and Japan. That would have been a bloc that was taking 45% of Chinas exports that would have really put some pressure on China. Instead, the unilateral approach hes taking means only 19% of Chinas exports are at threat. A trade war will hurt China, but not as much as people think, Rothman continues. Actually, the two countries that would be most affected are the USs two biggest trading partners, Mexico and Canada. With the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) currently being re-negotiated, too, Bell thinks the US-China spat is potentially distracting. The biggest risk is that people focus too much on the US-China discussion and dont focus enough on what is actually the major trade relationship that exists, he adds. How Will A Trade War Impact The US? Rothman think it will have more of an impact on the US, though more politically than anything. He says that while Trump is attempting to inflict maximum economic damage on China, China is trying to inflict maximum political damage on Trump. Its actually pretty clever. Theyre going after the parts of the US economy that might not be the biggest parts but are the parts that can bring political pressure to bear. Take soy beans, one of the products on Chinas list of retaliatory tariffs. China imports about 60% of globally traded soy beans. The majority of US farmers soy bean crops go to China. Most soy beans are grown in places that vote for Trump. Chinas focus now is on riling the soy bean and wheat farmers and its working. The price of both is down 3.4% and 5.45 respectively in the past seven weeks. Soy bean and wheat farmers are up in arms and theyre calling their congressmen and saying you gotta talk Trump out of this, says Rothman. Russias a Worry Sehgal says hes more worried about the impact of trade sanctions on the Russian economy and stock market. The manager says his team curtailed its exposure to companies that derive the majority of their revenues from Russia in the wake of the sanctions to 7.5%. This time the sanctions have been impactful, says Sehgal. They will have a real impact in the financial markets. That said, the funds his team runs are overweight Russia due to the oil price tailwinds he sees. On the sanctions, he says its important that the biggest victims of them are not Western investors and that he and his fellow shareholders have a full, clear visibility as to in what cases sanctions will be imposed. This will be helpful because the uncertainty is driving valuations down in those markets. Russia's RTS Index rallied 36% to a record high between June 2017 and late February 2018. Since then, it's down 14%. Will We Have a Trade War? That brings us to the big question: will these policies be followed through with, or is it all rhetoric? Of course, a large part of the USs motives is to stop China from stealing its companies intellectual property. Bell likens the tit-for-tat exchanges to a WWE wrestling bout an awful lot of talk but not a lot of damage likely to be done. He doesnt think there will be a full-blown trade war as its in no-ones interest. Manraj Sekhon, chief investment officer for emerging market equities at Franklin Templeton, says its important to remember that no tariffs have yet been imposed. Whilst I think it would be unwise for anyone to underestimate what the Trump administration is capable of, I dont think it is in anyones interest for this posturing to turn into something more dangerous, he says. Rothman agrees. This is not about a bare-knuckle trade war and whos going to win nobody wins. Its about putting pressure on Trump to avoid a trade war. My view is that theres only a 20% probability of a real trade war. I believe that President Trump will, before very long, realise that it is in his own personal self interest to sit down a negotiate with the Chinese because every time someone talks trade way the stock market goes down, and hes very into promoting his success in the stock market. Still, odds are the rhetoric, at least, will rumble on. As a result, the stock market will continue to see swings in sentiment, on both sides of the debate. On the Chinese side, the general opinion is that any fall in stock prices will be a buying opportunity. Most are still bullish on the consumer story in China, and GDP is continuing to grow, albeit not at the rate weve come accustomed to in past years. Sukumar Rajah, manager of Templeton Asian Growth, sees exactly that happening. He sees volatility in the market, but no major disruption to the trading story. And if volatility caused some of the stocks to go down quite a bit, as bottom-up investors its going to give us some opportunities to buy some of these stocks, he concludes. For Immediate Release Chicago, IL April 25, 2018 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Texas Instrument TXN, Wynn Resorts WYNN, iRobot IRBT and Hawaiian Airlines HA. Here are highlights from Tuesdays Analyst Blog: Q1 Earnings After the Bell Tuesday: TXN, WYNN, IRBT and HA Following a topsy-turvy day of regular trading this Tuesday -- which saw a nearly 700-point swing in the Dow, from up triple digits early in the day to more than 400 points down at the close -- we see another slew of Q1 earnings results from prominent companies in each of their various industries. Results have been uniformly positive thus far; hopefully these will help carry forth into a positive trading day Wednesday. Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)-rated Texas Instrument easily outperformed expectations on its top and bottom lines, posting $1.35 per share in the quarter on $3.79 billion in sales, up from the $1.11 per share and $3.65 billion expected, respectively. Guidance for next quarter is in a range of $1.19-1.35; the prior Zacks estimate for Q2 was $1.23. Shares are up more than 5% in the after-market; T.I. had been trading off its recent highs by as much as 18%. For more on TXN's earnings, click here. Wynn Resorts also zoomed passed expectations in its quarterly earnings release after today's closing bell: $2.30 per share outshined the $1.96 estimate, and well ahead of the $1.24 per share in the year-ago quarter. Revenues eked out a beat as well, to $1.72 billion from the $1.71 billion expected. The company's also announced a 50% dividend hike, which seems a bit out of the ordinary for a company that just lost its founder and CEO, Steve Wynn, ten weeks ago on charges of sexual misconduct. That said, the company has averaged more than a 22% positive surprise over the previous four quarters. For more on WYNN's earnings, click here. Story continues Shares ofiRobot, the maker of the Roomba, easily surpassed expectations and year-ago earnings: 71 cents per share versus 50 cents in the Zacks consensus and 52 cents in Q1 2017. Revenues of $217.1 million topped the $215.6 million analysts were looking for. Guidance for full-year 2018 earnings is currently $2.15-2.40 per share; the Zacks estimate had been $2.31 per share. iRobot is also no stranger to positive earnings surprises -- its trailing 4-quarters averaged a beat of 113%. For more on IRBT's earnings, click here. And Hawaiian Airlines, which itself has recently changed CEOs, also outperformed in its most recent quarter: $1.09 per share over the 82 cents anticipated, on $665.4 million in sales that beat the $652.4 million analysts had been expecting. The new CEO, Peter Ingram, was quoted as saying the company had higher revenue and more guests than any quarter in its history. 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 >> Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (HA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) : Free Stock Analysis Report iRobot Corporation (IRBT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Police in the restive southern Afghan city of Kandahar are investigating the murder of a journalist. Unknown assailants killed Abdul Manan Arghand during morning rush hour in Kandahars ninth district. Matiullah Hilal, a spokesman for the police in Kandahar, says they are investigating the killing, which involved two attackers riding on a motorcycle. Arghand was driving to his work when two assailants intercepted him and shot him dead, he told Radio Free Afghanistan. The assailants are on the run, but police are trying to arrest them soon. Arghand, 30, reported for the private Kabul News television. His colleagues say he had received threats recently. We had informed and shared all evidence [of threats to Arghand] with the Kandahar police, provincial governor, and other officials, says Javed Ahmad Tanvir, head of the Kandahar Press Club. Arghand is the third journalist killed in southern Afghanistan in the past two years. Nematullah Zaheer and Yaqoob Sharafat were killed in the neighboring restive provinces of Helmand and Uruzgan. Arghand is survived by his widow, their son, and two daughters. He was killed on the same day that a meeting held in Kabul discussed ways to protect journalists. The United Nations Assistance Mission has condemned the killing. Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. Last year, at least 20 journalists were killed while the Afghan Journalists' Safety Committee recorded 169 cases of violence or threats. Pakistani police have arrested the father and uncle of a Pakistani-Italian woman on suspicion they killed her because she refused to marry the man they chose for her. The two men were charged late on April 24 with killing Sana Cheema, 25, while she was visiting family in the neighborhood of Mangowal in the city of Gujrat in eastern Punjab Province, police said. Police said they are still searching for the woman's brother, who they suspect of also playing a role in the murder. Police said her father and uncle claim she died of a heart attack brought on by "excessive drinking in Italy." Nearly 1,000 women are killed by relatives every year in Pakistan in so-called "honor killings" for violating conservative Pakistani traditions on love, marriage, and public behavior. The Italian Foreign Ministry said it was following the case through its embassy in Islamabad and has offered its assistance. Pakistani police say Cheema died on April 18 under mysterious circumstances. Her body is expected to be exhumed on April 25 to determine the cause of death. Cheema's case came to light after her friends shared posts on social media about her death, eventually prompting police to arrest her family members. Members of the Pakistani community in Brescia, Italy, rallied there over the weekend, demanding that authorities investigate to find out what happened to her. Cheema graduated from high school in Brescia and received Italian citizenship in September. She briefly operated an agency that handled paperwork for driver's licenses. She returned to Pakistan for a visit in November, the news agency ANSA reported. Police said Cheema's family took her to a hospital two times earlier this month and that police are trying to get details from doctors about her hospital stays. According to Italian media, she was in love with a man from Brescia who, like her, was a second-generation immigrant with Italian citizenship. If confirmed, her case will be the second recently publicized honor killing in Punjab involving Western women of Pakistani descent. A father and the ex-husband of a British-Pakistani woman, Samia Shahid, were charged in 2016 over her rape and murder. The trial in Shahid's case is still under way, but her father died last year, leaving only her ex-husband to face the charges. With reporting by AP and dpa Agencies see big upsides to RPA Folk hero John Henry won the race against the steam-powered drill, and though he died from exhaustion after the contest, the steel-drivin' man proved that, with enough determination, men can best machines. In the late 1800s, anyway. An employee at the Defense Information Systems Agency was not able to make the same claim when a computer came out on top in a recent man-against-machine competition. DISA began piloting four robotic process automation applications in 2017 and went into full production with one bot just a few weeks ago, according to DISA Accounting Operations and Compliance Division Chief Barbara Crawford To commemorate that and to see what we were up against, we did a Race the Bot event in the office, Crawford said at an April 24 event hosted by UiPath, a company that develops RPA technology. The task was to pull supporting documentation for an audit request. We gave our bot 15 minutes and we gave one of our better employees 15 minutes, she said. The employee was able to pull two items; the bot pulled 150. The results spoke volumes, Crawford said. DISAs first bot is being used to gather information and financial data required to present an accurate and reliable financial picture of the agency. This information is needed to support financial decisions and a current compliance audit. Moving the data-gathering responsibilities to the bot will allow the human workers to conduct more analytic analysis rather than data gathering, she said. DISA is not the only federal agency that is interested in working with RPA. There are currently 21 federal agencies using the technology, according to figures presented at the event by Chris Huff, the public sector robotics leader at Deloitte Consulting. UiPath, which already works with larger private companies like Walmart to implement RPA, moved into Washington-area offices at the beginning of 2018 to address the increasing adoption of RPA within government. Ive never seen this kind of growth, UiPath Vice President of U.S. Public Sector Jonathan Padgett said. Ive been working with technology in the public sector for 25 years, and Ive never seen the inbound interest, the excitement, around a truly transformational technology. I cant think of a sector that can better benefit from a new technology like RPA [more] than the public sector. It's easy to see why. A 2017 report from Deloittes Center for Government Insights estimated that RPA could save federal agencies $41.1 billion within five to seven years if there is significant investment in automation. However, Forrester analyst Craig Le Clair said the deployment of RPA within government is not happening as quickly as UiPath says. Based on inquiries we receive, the public sector is middle of the pack compared to financial services, Le Clair said in an email to GCN. The technology, financial services and insurance sectors have shown the most interest, according inquiries received by Forrester. But there are some federal agencies leading the way. The United States Postal Service, for example, has taken RPA from the pilot phase to full implementation, and has even drawn up an org chart for a staff that will oversee the implementation of the technology. In January, the USPS rolled out its first bot, which automates the process of supplying missing information on packages. When a package is shipped into the U.S., weight information helps determine its shipping cost. If that weight information is missing, then USPS has to retrieve it from an international system that contains the weight tables for the packages. Its a very mundane financial process, USPS Vice President and Controller Maura McDevitt. said. USPS already plans for a second bot within HR -- probably within the next 30 days, McDevitt said -- and a third bot within payroll, which will take another three months to complete. UiPath describes two types RPA: attended and unattended. Attended RPA works on a desktop and assists a worker. The unattended bot runs with no human interaction. Currently, DISA's attended bot is running on an employee's laptop, which is leveraging that worker's credentials to move around the network. But DISA has plans to get the bot its own credentials. USPS' unattended bot runs on a server and has no interaction with human workers. The General Services Administration is also testing RPA, according to Jeff Lau, the acting regional commissioner for GSA's Federal Acquisition Service. In its tests, the speed difference between the bot and the human worker did not go unnoticed. In less than 10 seconds, the software was able to accomplish a task that took a human worker 15 minutes, Lau said. When a bot takes over these mundane tasks, Lau said, it provides an opportunity for the employees to focus on things like industry engagement, customer engagement and training. The USPS has eliminated positions as a result of implementing RPA, McDevitt told the crowd. But it is not firing anyone. USPS, GSA and DISA plan to expand their use of RPA, according to the officials at the event. Were at a time in government where this technology can really create a huge impact, Lau said. MONTREAL, April 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HPQ Silicon Resources Inc. (HPQ) (TSX-V:HPQ) (FWB:UGE) (OTCPink:URAGF) is pleased to inform shareholders that its newly created subsidiary, Solar Blockchain Energies Inc. (SBEI), has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with an Undisclosed Blockchain Company (UBC) to advise, develop and implement a new set of blockchain solutions for the monetization of solar and renewable energy carbon credits through a marketplace, which will also serve to complete the Companys vertical integration plans from quartz to solar cells. The UBC is one of the world's first developers of a hybrid permission-based blockchain protocol with big data capability. The UBC will develop a new set of blockchain solutions running on its core protocol that will develop, amongst other things, a marketplace for the monetization of solar based carbon credits generated in the near future by HPQ PUREVAP process by both the Company and its customers in the solar and renewable energy industries. Solar Carbon Footprint Lifecycle Requires Blockchain Traceability While the end result of traditional solar energy solutions is often referred to as low carbon or carbon neutral because it does not emit CO 2 during its operation, it is anything but a carbon-free form of energy generation due to significant CO 2 emissions that arise in earlier phases of its life cycle. Specifically, production of silicon wafers from quartz can contribute to over 70%1 of the Solar Carbon Footprint Lifecycle (SCFL). The Economist, in an article titled How Clean Is Solar Power? stated Silicon is melted in electric furnaces where most electricity is produced by burning fossil fuelsso when a new solar panel is put to work it starts with a carbon debt that has to be paid back before it can become part of the solution. A panel made in China, for example, costs nearly double the greenhouse-gas emissions of one made in Europe.2 Since production processes and the geographical location of the plants play an important role in the extreme variability of each silicon wafer SCFL, it is almost impossible to accurately and transparently monetize the carbon credit that should be generated by Solar energy over its lifecycle without a universal ledger that can track the actual carbon footprint at both the production stage, as well as, the actual green energy produced by each silicon wafer. By combining HPQs vertically integrated low carbon foot print PUREVAP production process to produce Solar Grade Silicon Metal with the UBC proprietary blockchain capacity, HPQs SBEI subsidiary will seek to create an open solar energy blockchain ecosystem that invites and allows other actors in the field to participate. HPQs SBEI subsidiary will also collaborate with the parent company of the UBC in order to monetize the carbon credit ledgers on a commercial marketplace, which should consolidate the Companys leadership position in the low carbon foot print solar space. Though final data is not yet available, HPQ and its partners believe the PUREVAP process can reduce the carbon footprint of a silicon wafer at production by 75%3. If so, this blockchain and marketplace initiative will help drive our global business by providing customers with significant carbon credit monetization opportunities. Blockchain is the Key to Carbon Credit Monetization Carbon credits, which put a price on carbon reductions, is a clear way in which companies and individuals can be empowered to reduce or offset the negative or unavoidable impact of their business and choices on the environment. However, since its inception, the market is beset by a lack of visibility, which prevents people from trusting the carbon credit as an asset. Differing standards and regulations in different jurisdictions and the potential for double counting have resulted in a lack of confidence from potential market participants. Without a universal ledger it isnt easy to track how much carbon youve used or if you offset it what the impact of your reduction has been on a tangible level. As an individual, it is hard to incorporate carbon credits into your daily life. Carbon credits are the perfect candidate for a digital currency as they are data-driven, rely on multiple approval steps and exist separately from the physical impacts to which they correlate. Put simply, blockchain is the name for a digital ledger in which transactions often made with "tokens" or a cryptocurrency are recorded chronologically and publicly. By placing a value on the ecosystems that support our planet, carbon credits internalise the invisible costs of everyday choices and allow a sustainable marketplace to emerge. This is the ultimate goal of the HPQ SBEI subsidiary and UBC partnership. Creating both an ecosystem, (Solar Blockchain Energies) and a "carbon currency" in order to consolidate the Solar generated carbon market. Bernard J. Tourillon, Chairman and CEO of HPQ Silicon stated, Our entry into the solar and carbon credit blockchain space is a logical extension of our business model, and consistent with our proven approach of working with industry leaders in their specific fields. The Company has been considering this for some time but we waited until the right partnership project presented itself before moving forward. This transaction was done in such a way that both our PUREVAP project and our blockchain project will be independent from each other but will also benefit significantly from their respective strengths. This News Release is available on the company's CEO Verified Discussion Forum , a moderated social media platform that enables civilized discussion and Q&A between Management and Shareholders. 1 Assessing the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from solar PV and wind energy: A critical meta-survey, Energy Policy, February 2014, Pages 229-244 2 https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21711301-new-paper-may-have-answer-how-clean-solar-power 3 Versus traditional chemical processes to purify SoG Si (Siemens Process) (HPQ PR dated March 15, 2016) About HPQ Silicon HPQ Silicon Resources Inc. is a TSX-V listed resource company planning to become a vertically integrated High Purity, Solar Grade Silicon Metal (SoG Si) producer and a manufacturer of multi and monocrystalline solar cells of the P and N types, required for high performance photovoltaic conversion. HPQs first goal is to develop, in collaboration with industry leaders Pyrogenesis (PYR.T) and Apollon Solar the innovative metallurgical PUREVAPTM Quartz Reduction Reactors (QRR) process (patent pending), which will permit it to produce SoG Si in one step. The start of the pilot plant that will validate the commercial potential of the process is planned for second half of 2018. Disclaimers: This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "in the process" and other similar expressions which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current expectation and assumptions, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, our expectations regarding the acceptance of our products by the market, our strategy to develop new products and enhance the capabilities of existing products, our strategy with respect to research and development, the impact of competitive products and pricing, new product development, and uncertainties related to the regulatory approval process. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company's on-going filings with the securities regulatory authorities, which filings can be found at www.sedar.com. Actual results, events, and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Shares outstanding: 194,867,557 For further information contact Bernard J. Tourillon, Chairman and CEO, Tel: (514) 907-1011 Patrick Levasseur, President and COO, Tel: (514) 262-9239 www.HPQSilicon.com English Norwegian (Oslo, April 23rd 2018) Statkraft and Finnfjord have signed a new long-term power contract for the period 2018 to 2031. The total volume is 8.5 TWh with annual supply of 0.65 TWh. The contract will contribute to supplying power to Finnfjord's ferro-alloy plant in Finnsnes and replaces the contract Statkraft and Finnfjord entered into in 2011. - We are happy to extend our comprehensive and long-term cooperation with Finnfjord. The company has shown impressing stamina in tough markets in recent years, and I am satisfied with the fact that Statkraft can offer competitive contracts and still be a preferred partner for Finnfjord and the industry, says Hallvard Granheim, EVP Market operation & IT in Statkraft. - This contract secures a solid economic foundation for Finnfjord for the next 13 years and enables the company to further develop more efficient and environmentally friendly manufacturing solutions. We are pleased that our power supplier since 1962 is with us and able to offer Finnfjord competitive and predictable framework conditions, says CEO of Finnfjord, Geir-Henning Wintervoll. About Statkraft Statkraft is a leading company in hydropower internationally and Europe's largest generator of renewable energy. The Group produces hydropower, wind power, solar power, gas-fired power and supplies district heating. Statkraft is a global company in energy market operations. Statkraft has 3400 employees in 16 countries. About Finnfjord Finnfjord is the world's most energy-efficient ferro-alloy plant and one of Europe's leading producers of ferrosilicon. The company also generates electricity from its energy recovery plant. Finnfjord's total sales amounts to about NOK 800 million and the company has 130 employees. For further information: Knut Fjerdingstad, press spokesperson, Statkraft AS Tel: +47 901 86 310 knut.Fjerdingstad@statkraft.com www.statkraft.com Geir-Henning Wintervoll, CEO, Finnfjord AS Tel: +47 951 77 000 geirw@finnfjord.no www.finnfjord.no TORONTO, April 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OMERS Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment manager of OMERS, the defined benefit pension plan for municipal employees in the Province of Ontario, Canada, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its interests in Airports Worldwide (AWW) to Vinci Airports. Active on two continents, AWW is a portfolio of airport assets and management contracts located in the United States, Costa Rica, Northern Ireland and Sweden. "OMERS first invested in AWW in 2009. We have focused our efforts since that time on positioning the asset for long-term success, and are very proud of the value we have created with this investment for OMERS members. We wish the AWW team and Vinci all the best, as the company takes this next step in its evolution," said Ralph Berg, Executive Vice President & Global Head of Infrastructure, OMERS Private Markets. OMERS has worked closely with the management teams across the group to grow the portfolio, optimize performance and build strong relationships with airline partners and other stakeholders. We are grateful to AWW management for their efforts and wish them continued success, added Juan Camargo, Director, OMERS Infrastructure. The transaction is expected to close later this year. Further financial information will not be disclosed. OMelveny served as OMERS legal advisor; Citi served as OMERS financial advisor. About Airports Worldwide The AWW portfolio comprises operations at 12 airports located in the United States, Costa Rica, Northern Ireland and Sweden. AWW interests include long-term management contracts or concession agreements at the Orlando-Sanford International Airport in Florida, and Costa Rica's two main airports, Juan Santamaria International Airport (San Jose) and Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport (Liberia). AWW also owns as freehold airports Belfast International Airport in Northern Ireland, and the majority interest in Stockholm Skavsta Airport. In addition, AWW provides services under management contracts at seven US airports, including Hollywood Burbank Airport and Ontario International Airport (California), Atlantic City International Airport (New Jersey), Raleigh Durham International Airport (North Carolina), Macon Airport and Middle Georgia Regional Airport (Georgia) and the International Terminal, including Concourses E and F, at the Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (Georgia). About OMERS OMERS Private Markets (OMERS Infrastructure and OMERS Private Equity) invests globally in infrastructure and private equity assets on behalf of OMERS, the defined benefit pension plan for Ontarios municipal employees. Investments are aimed at steady returns to help deliver strong and sustainable pensions to OMERS members. OMERS Private Markets diversified portfolio of large-scale infrastructure assets exhibits stability and strong cash flows, in sectors including energy, transportation and government-regulated services. OMERS has employees in Toronto and other major cities across North America, the U.K., Europe, Asia and Australia. OMERS is one of Canada's largest defined benefit pension funds with net assets of more than C$95 billion. Visit www.omersprivatemarkets.com for more information. Contact OMERS: Neil Hrab, Manager, External Communications and Media Relations nhrab@omers.com +1 416.369.2418 LUXEMBOURG, April 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX), announces that it has filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2017 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The annual report can be downloaded from the SEC website at www.sec.gov and from Terniums website at http://www.ternium.com/en/investor-center/. Holders of Terniums shares and ADSs, and any other interested parties, may request a hard copy of the annual report, free of charge, through our website at http://www.ternium.com/contact/. About Ternium Ternium is Latin Americas leading flat steel producer, with operating facilities in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, the southern United States and Central America. The company offers a broad range of high value-added steel products for customers active in the automotive, home appliances, construction, capital goods, container, food and energy industries through its manufacturing and service center network and advanced customer integration systems. More information about Ternium is available at www.ternium.com. Sebastian Marti Ternium - Investor Relations USA +1 (866) 890 0443 Argentina +54 (11) 4018 8389 www.ternium.com NEW ORLEANS, April 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC (KSF) and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until June 25, 2018 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation (NYSE:MIC), if they purchased the Companys shares between February 22, 2016 and February 21, 2018, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. What You May Do If you purchased shares of Macquarie and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-mic/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by June 25, 2018. About the Lawsuit Macquarie and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. On February 21, 2018, the Company disclosed negative Q4 results, including earnings per share well below analysts estimates and a substantial dividend cut, attributing the dismal performance to declining demand in a specific fuel oil product, revealing for the first time the significance of that specific product to its business segment, despite prior statements touting the stability and strong performance of that segment. On this news, the price of Macquaries shares plummeted from $63.62 on February 21, 2018, to $37.41 on February 22, 2018. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. Contact: DENVER, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Elixinol LLC, a subsidiary of Elixinol Global (ASX:EXL) announces an agricultural operations extension for Elixinol LLC in the state of Colorado. Named Northern Colorado High Plains Producers (NCHPP), the joint venture with Kersey Ag strengthens Elixinols hemp and CBD supply chain. Kersey Agricultural Company, who has held ranching operations in Colorado since 1901 uses the newest in efficient drip-irrigation techniques and technologies with no added foreign chemicals. Elixinol will inject $1.8 million into NCHPP with Kersey Ag contributing $.7 million plus long-term lease of land and water rights. Elixinol and Kersey Ag will each hold a strategic 50% interest in the joint venture. NCHPP will utilize up to 700 acres of farmland traditionally used to grow alfalfa, silage corn, and other forage crops with additional land available as required. The farmland, secured by an initial 5-year lease term extendable up to 30 years, in the pristine Northern Colorado High Plains, includes water rights. NCHPP will strengthen Elixinol LLCs Colorado-domestic, organic industrial hemp sourcing while bolstering access to premium organic hemp while ensuring maximum yields, decreasing production costs and securing against drought. This partnership signifies Elixinols commitment to support US hemp while leading the global hemp industry with a modern supply chain, which enables us to consistently and predictably provide premium CBD products that meet not only our standards, but our customers standards also, said Gabriel Ettenson co-founder and general manager of Elixinol LLC With expanded hemp access and operations solidified for at least three decades, Elixinol LLC will be able to continue its market demand expansion of full-spectrum CO2 extracted CBD with bulk CBD hemp oil sales and expanded retail product availability. About Elixinol: Colorado-based Elixinol, co-founded by Paul Benhaim, hemp entrepreneur since 1991, is widely regarded as one of the most influential CBD brands in the world. With a proven track record of growing and manufacturing high-quality hemp, Elixinol also conducts rigorous laboratory testing and quality control. A global leader in hemp distribution, Elixinol distributes CBD products in 40 countries globally including North and South America, throughout Europe, Asia and the Pacific Region. Elixinols parent company Elixinol Global (elixinolglobal.com) is publicly traded under on the Australian Stock Exchange as EXL. More information available at Elixinol.com. About Elixinol Global Elixinol Global is publically traded on the ASX under EXL. The holding company has a global presence in the cannabis industry including hemp, CBD dietary supplements, food and wellness products, and the cultivation and manufacture of medicinal cannabis products. Elixinol Globals brands include: Elixinol LLC, founded in 2014, manufacturer and distributor of industrial hemp based dietary supplement and skincare products, with operations based out of Colorado, USA. Hemp Foods Australia Pty Ltd, founded in 1999, manufacturer and distributor of industrial hemp food products in Australia. Elixinol Pty Ltd, founded in 2014, to take part in the emerging Australian medicinal cannabis market. Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to statements regarding the Companys 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 Companys 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 ASX has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this press release. Media Contact: Chris Husong Elixinol +1 844-804-3504 ext 420 chris@elixinol.com TORONTO, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ARHT Media Inc. (ARHT or the Company) (TSXV:ART), a global leader in the development, production and distribution of high quality hologram content through its patented Augmented Reality Holographic Telepresence technology, is pleased to announce that on April 21, 2018, Mr. Ray Kurzweil, Head of Engineering at Google LLC, was successfully holoported from Boston, MA to the HIGH-TECH NATION forum in Minsk, Belarus. Mr. Kurzweil, a keynote speaker at the forum, was holoported from Boston, USA to Minsk, Belarus using ARHTs Holographic Telepresence technology for a 90 minute session to present in front of more than 3,000 attendees in real-time during an interactive session with the audience, including a Q&A session. We are extremely excited to have had the opportunity to work with Ray and showcase the power of our technology which enabled him to present at a venue which he couldnt physically attend, commented ARHT CEO, Larry OReilly. Not only did we enable him to keep his commitment as keynote speaker, we also provided the audience the opportunity to enjoy a live Q&A session with Ray as if he was physically present. About ARHT Media ARHTs patented Augmented Reality Holographic Telepresence technology is the worlds first complete end-to-end solution for the creation, transmission, and delivery of lifelike digital human holograms, known as HumaGrams. The Company's technology is protected by U.S. Patent No. 9,581,962. Connect with ARHT Media Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ARHTmedia Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ARHTmediainc LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/arht-media-inc- For more information, please visit http://www.arhtmedia.com/ or contact the investor relations group at info@arhtmedia.com. ARHT Media trades under the symbol ART on the Toronto Venture Stock Exchange. ARHT Media Investor Contact: Ali Mahdavi am@spinnakercmi.com ARHT Media Press Contact Salman Amin samin@arhtmedia.com This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, the Companys technology; the potential uses for the Companys technology; the future planned events using the Companys technology; the future success of the Company; the ability of the Company to monetize the HumaGram technology; the development of the Companys technology; use of the Companys technology by Ray Kurzweil; and interest from parties in ARHTs products. Generally, forward looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic and competitive uncertainties; regulatory risks; risks inherent in technology operations; and other risks of the technology industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Washington, D.C., April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) is thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2018 USHCC Local Chamber Grant Awards. The grants will be awarded to local Hispanic chambers of commerce that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the Hispanic business-owners they serve. The grants will be presented to the winning chambers at the 2018 Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C. Our local chambers allow us to have a deeper relationship with Hispanic Entrepreneurs across the country, and the level of ideation by our chambers on new programs to support Hispanic business development was outstanding," said Fernand Fernandez, Interim President & CEO of the USHCC. Our local chambers are the core of our organization, and we are proud to support them." This 2018 USHCC Local Chamber Grant recipients include: Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce ESL Entrepreneurship Program Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Small Business Technical Assistant Program Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey Hispanic Entrepreneurship Training Program The recipients were recognized during the Opening Reception of the 2018 Legislative Summit on April 24, 2018 at 5:00 PM EST in Washington, D.C. The USHCC actively promotes the economic growth, development and interests of more than 4.37 million Hispanic-owned businesses, that combined, contribute over $700 billion to the American economy every year. It also advocates on behalf of 260 major American corporations and serves as the umbrella organization for more than 200 local chambers and business associations nationwide. For more information, visit ushcc.com. Follow us on Twitter @USHCC. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ashanti Gold Corp. (Ashanti or the Company) - (TSXV:AGZ) announces it will commence drilling at Kossanto East (the Project) starting in May 2018. Two drilling rigs have been mobilized and will be drilling both diamond core (DD) and reverse circulation (RC) holes to provide sufficient information to develop a robust geological interpretation and mineral resource estimate to be complete in 3Q2018. Plans are for 10,000m of drilling with approximately 8,000m dedicated to RC and 2,000m of DD. Sixty RC holes are planned, to be drilled at a 100-150m depth and 10 diamond core holes to a depth of up to 200m. This drilling program will build on the strong results of previous drilling (see press releases August 2, August 10, August 21, September 12, and September 19, 2017) and will provide fill-in data between existing holes and to depths that are thus far untested. Most drilling to date has evaluated material from surface to a vertical depth of only ~75m. Demonstration of mineralized material to greater depths is expected to provide significant additional tonnage to the planned resource estimate. The drilling program goal is to provide higher geologic confidence, improved continuity of mineralization, and expand the volume of mineralized material along strike and at depth. Following Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) and construction of wireframe mineralization models by independent consultant CGK Consulting Services Inc., along with in-house 3D geologic modeling in Vulcan software, Ashanti has been able to select optimal drill locations for resource estimation. In addition, it is anticipated that several holes will test newly established anomalies to the north, east, and southwest of both main targets on the Project: Gourbassi East and Gourbassi West (see press releases February 13, 2018 and March 5, 2018). Historic drilling identified mineralization along approximately a 1 km zone at each of Gourbassi East and Gourbassi West. Drilling in 2017 by Ashanti verified, improved the continuity and expanded these mineralized zones, which were identified by historical drilling before Ashantis exploration work. Soil sampling has outlined anomalies along strike with Gourbassi West and Gourbassi East and within several other zones untested with drill holes. Drilling in this program will improve the data density to a level that will allow resource estimation work, which is planned for completion later this year. A drilling contract has been entered into with DCS Mali (Sahara Drilling) for commencement of drilling in May 2018. Ashanti staff are now on site preparing for the drill program. The Company anticipates a rolling laboratory assay process throughout the coming months to announce drilling results as they come available. Tim McCutcheon, Ashantis CEO, said Now that we have closed our increased-size placement to fund this drill program (see press release April 23, 2018), we are wasting no time in putting shareholder funds to work. This is a very exciting period for Ashantis development. ABOUT ASHANTI GOLD Ashanti is a gold-focused, exploration and development company that targets projects where it has a competitive advantage due to past work experience of the team and specific project know-how. The Company is driving forward its 100%-owned Kossanto East project in Mali on the prolific Kenieba Belt, which hosts such deposits as Loulo, Fekola and Sadiola. Ashanti is also working to advance, together with its earn-in partners, the Anumso project and the Ashanti Belt project in Ghana, which are near-adjacent to the Akyem deposit. On Behalf of the Board of Directors of ASHANTI GOLD CORP. "Tim McCutcheon" Tim McCutcheon CEO For further information, please contact: Ashanti Gold Corp. 2300 1177 West Hastings Street Vancouver BC, V6E 2K3 Phone: 604-638-3847 Qualified Person and Historical Data The information presented in this Press Release has been reviewed by Dr. Paul Klipfel CPG of Mineral Resource Services Inc. and a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian NI 43-101. Dr. Klipfel is not an Independent Person, as he is a shareholder of Ashanti. Historic data presented has been generated by historic explorers. The company has endeavored to check all data through resurvey of collars and check samples, but has not completed thorough, independent verification of historic data, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance thereon. All drill, soil, rock, and trench samples are subject to standard QA/QC procedures with certified standards and blanks inserted into all sample streams at the rate of 1:20. Duplicate samples are also inserted at the rate of 1:50. All assays are performed by international known (SGS in Mali) and accepted laboratories which insert their own QA/QC samples into the sample stream. Their results and Ashantis results are monitored for bias and errors in absolute and temporal terms. Batches with certified standards or blanks that do not meet QA/QC requirements are reassayed. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented in this news release and the information incorporated by reference herein, constitutes "forward looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Ashanti Gold Corp. (the "Company"). All statements, except for statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that management of the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including such things as future exploration plans concerning the Company's mineral properties, acquisitions, capital expenditures (including the amount and nature thereof), business strategies and measures to implement strategies, competitive strengths, goals, expansion and growth of the business and operations, plans and references to the future success of the Company, and such other matters, are forward looking statements. Often, but not always, forward looking information can be identified by words such as "pro forma", "plans", "expects", "may", "should", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development and mine development activities at the Project, including the geological mapping, prospecting and sampling program being proposed for the Project (the "Program"), actual results of exploration activities, including the Program, estimation or realization of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, the costs and timing of the development of new deposits, the availability of a sufficient supply of water and other materials, requirements for additional capital, future prices of precious metals, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates, possible failures of plants, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, hedging practices, currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, risks related to joint venture operations, and risks related to the integration of acquisitions, as well as those factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Management Information Circular (December 2017) and as discussed in the annual management's discussion and analysis and other filings of the Company with the Canadian Securities Authorities, copies of which can be found under the Company's profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward looking information in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law. Latvian English Notice of convening of the ordinary shareholders` meeting of JSC Ditton pievadkezu rupnica Under sections 269 and 273 of the Commercial Law and subsections 54 (2)1 and 541 of the Financial Instruments Market Law of the Republic of Latvia, pursuant to Company`s Articles, Regulations on the convening and course of shareholders meeting, the Management Board of JSC DITTON pievadkezu rupnica (reg. No.40003030187) is pleased to invite shareholders to the ordinary shareholders` meeting that will take place at the Company's registered office (at Visku St. 17, Daugavpils), on 1 June 2018, at 9 a.m. Agenda: Approval of the annual report for 2017. Profit distribution of year 2017. Registration of shareholders will take place on the meeting day on 1 June 2018 from 8 a.m. until 9 a.m. at the venue of meeting. Only those shareholders, who on 23 May 2018 - the record date for participation in the ordinary shareholders` meeting of JSC Ditton pievadkezu rupnica - are registered with the number of shares by the Commercial Register Office in the registration file of the Company, have the right to participate in the ordinary shareholders` meeting of the JSC Ditton pievadkezu rupnica on 1 June 2018. Each shareholder may exercise the rights: to the extent that an order under sections 274 (2) and 276 (3) of the Commercial Law, subsection 54 2 (1) and 54 2 (2) of the Financial Instrument Market Law provides within seven days from the day of publication of the notice and on the day of shareholders` meeting; in pursuance of an order under sections 276 (4) and 283 (1) of the Commercial Law at least seven days before the shareholders` meeting and on the meeting day. Additional information on shareholders` rights mentioned above is available on the website of the JSC Ditton pievadkezu rupnica www.dpr.lv . The total number of voting shares is 7 400 000. All shares are of the same category. Each share is entitled to one vote. The shareholders may participate at the meeting in a person or by delegating an authorized representative or a proxy. Authorized representative of the shareholder, registered as a legal entity in Latvia, should provide a document justifying the identity and an original of the notary decision on the appointment as a legal representative or a statement on the granting of rights to represent the interests of this legal entity issued by the Enterprise Register not earlier than 5 days prior to the day of meeting (printouts from data bases of Lursoft or Firmas.lv shall be accepted as well). Authorized representative of the shareholder, registered as a legal entity in a foreign country, should provide a document justifying the identity and a power of attorney granting authority to represent this legal entity, issued and certified under the law of the corresponding state. Proxies should provide a document justifying the identity and the power of attorney certified according to the Laws of the Republic of Latvia, Articles and Regulations on the convening and course of shareholders meeting of the Company. Form of the power of attorney is available in the attachment. Other pro forma procedures on the convening and course of shareholders meeting of the Company can be found on the Companys website www.dpr.lv . In case, on 1 June 2018, the ordinary shareholders` meeting of JSC Ditton pievadkezu rupnica will fail due to lack of quorum pursuant to Company`s Articles regardless of the reasons, the shareholders may postpone decision-making process on issues of the agenda announced in accordance with Company`s Articles. The reconvened meeting with the agenda mentioned before shall be held on 2 July 2018 at 9 a.m. in the administrative rooms of JSC Ditton pievadkezu rupnica at Visku St.17, in Daugavpils. The registration of shareholders will take place on the meeting day when the meeting is continued from 8 a.m. until 9 a.m. due to order mentioned before. The shareholders can become acquainted with the draft decisions on the considered issues and fulfil other procedure formalities starting from 16 May until 31 May 2018 including, and additionally, in case shareholders` meeting is adjourned - from 16 May until 1 July 2018 including, on working days from 9 a.m. until 16 p.m. in the secretariat of the Company at Visku St.17, in Daugavpils. Draft decisions will be available also on the website of JSC Ditton pievadkezu rupnica www.dpr.lv. For more information, please contact by (+371) 65402333. Management Board JSC Ditton pievadkezu rupnica KIPI MALOY, Indonesia, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Continental Energy Corporation (OTCQB:CPPXF) (the Company) today announced that the Company's Maloy Refinery business has been designated a "Pioneer Industry" and as such will be eligible for a newly announced Indonesian corporate income tax holiday. Indonesia's Ministry of Finance this month issued a new "Tax Holiday" policy to encourage new investments in certain specified, strategic industries and business sectors that it designates as "Pioneer Industries". Integrated oil and gas refineries such as the Maloy Refinery project currently being developed by the Company's PT Kilang Kaltim Continental ("KKC") subsidiary are included in the list of designated Pioneer Industries. The new Tax Holiday policy confers a corporate income tax reduction for any Pioneer Industry for a fixed term. The length of the term is dependent upon the amount of total capital investment. Accordingly, the Company's KKC subsidiary expects to receive a Tax Holiday facility of 100%, and pay zero corporate income tax, for a period of 7 years commencing from the date of first commercial production and sale of refined products from the Maloy Refinery. After the initial 7 year tax free period, an additional 2 years period applies during which KKC shall pay income tax at a 50% reduced rate. Indonesia's current corporate income tax rate is otherwise a flat 25% on taxable income. About PT Kilang Kaltim Continental - KKC is the holder of a foreign direct investment license with the Indonesian government which permits it to build, own, and operate a crude oil refinery at the KIPI Maloy port and industrial park, a special economic zone located in the Kutai Timur Regency of East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The planned 24,000 barrels per day capacity Maloy Refinery will be built in two phases and the first phase will have a capacity of 10,000 bpd. The refinery will produce motor fuels for local sale direct to underserved industrial and retail consumers within the East Kalimantan Province. The Company owns an 80% shareholding in KKC, and the Company's 85% owned Indonesian subsidiary, PT Continental Hilir Indonesia, owns the remaining 20%. On behalf of the Company, Byron Tsokas Vice President of Business Development Source: Continental Energy Corporation Media Contact: Byron Tsokas, Vice President, (1-403-629-8840) btsokas@continentalenergy.com Further Information is posted on the Company's website at: www.continentalenergy.com No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved the contents of this news release. We welcome you to sign up for our FREE informative Newsletter, which provides useful tips, insider information and guidance for applying to top MBA programs. Sign up on the right hand side of our homepage at http://www.mbaadmit.com For a FREE profile evaluation directly from Dr. Shel Watts, a Harvard and Oxford graduate with Harvard admissions experience and over 25 years of work with MBA applicants, fill out the form on our homepage at http://www.mbaadmit.com For a Ding Analysis, in which we can review your prior application and give you detailed feedback about how to improve your next application, send an inquiry to info@mbaadmit.com or visit http://mbaadmit.com/category/ding-analysis/ . Current Special Pricing: $265. Ask about our current specials Comprehensive packages beginning at $1495 (Compare with our competitors who charge $4,400!); Basic editing of one application for $925. Valid through March 30, 2016. Opt to work directly with Dr. Shel on your MBA applications! From Dr. Shel (Shelly Watts), http://www.mbaadmit.com , email: info@mbaadmit.com 7 Best Practices for Reapplicants Best Practice #1: Do a complete and accurate diagnostic. Best Practice #2: Strengthen your academics as needed. Best Practice #3: Re-examine your recommendations. Best Practice #4: Assess your essays both in terms of strategic content and presentation. Best Practice #5: Re-examine your designated short-term and long-term goals. Best Practice #6: Re-examine non-essay portions of your application. Best Practice #7: Show improvement by the time of your next application! You can opt to have our president and founder, Dr. Shel Watts, a professional with Harvard admissions experience, look at your application and draw on nearly 25 years of experience to help you understand your applications deficits and identify a plan of action. Need assistance in putting together a strong application? We are here to help! Feel free to reach out to us at Read more: Website: www.mbaadmit.com Need a Ding Analysis to direct your reapplication efforts? We can examine your prior application through our Ding Analysis Service!You can opt to have our president and founder, Dr. Shel Watts, a professional with Harvard admissions experience, look at your application and draw on nearly 25 years of experience to help you understand your applications deficits and identify a plan of action.Need assistance in putting together a strong application? We are here to help!Feel free to reach out to us at info@mbaadmit.com Read more: http://mbaadmit.com/ding-analysis-special-pricing-march-2016-235/ Website: From MBA Admit.com: Proudly, one of the most affordable MBA admissions consulting companies. Direct email address: info@mbaadmit.com Direct email address: info@mbaadmit.com Signature Read More At many of the top MBA programs, admission rates are as low as 7-13%. Significantly, this means that 87-93% of all applicants in a given year are rejected! So if you received a rejection letter from one of your top-choice MBA programs, you are not alone. You may find yourself doubting whether you put your best application forward and whether it is possible to have a better outcome if you correct weaknesses in your candidacy or in your application. But you may also be wondering, If I was rejected once by my target MBA program, is there any hope of success on a second try?You will be happy to know that most MBA programs will look at a candidate with fresh eyes if the candidate fixes whatever served as the main reason(s) for the rejection. We have seen many candidates succeed in gaining admission to schools the very schools from which they were rejected in the past (even when they had applied just the year before), including schools such as Harvard Business School, Stanford Business School, Wharton, Columbia Business School, Booth, Kellogg, Tuck, Fuqua, Haas and MIT, among others. Success in achieving a better outcome with a reapplication is not a matter of mere luck. Improving the application alone can have magnificent results. The actual application essays, recommendations, resume, application form matter that much! Improving key credentials can also be crucial. There are many best practices that can help boost your odds of success with a reapplication.If you want to reapply with a better shot at admission, a key step is to gain a good understanding about the factors that were obstacles to your admission. You need a complete diagnostic. This is absolutely a crucial first step. Why? Because you cannot fix the problem if you dont know what the problem is.The list of things that could have been a problem for an applicant can be extremely varied. For some candidates, there might have been a problem with their academic credentials, by which we mean their GPA or GMAT score. For other candidates, the problem might have been timing the Round in which they applied, or the week in which they applied if the admissions process involved rolling admission. For candidates with extremely competitive profiles particularly candidates who are foreign national East Asian men or foreign national South Asians (men and women) applications can be very affected by the Round at some schools and applying too late in a rolling admissions cycle can also be a notable problem.For some candidates, the essays they wrote did not aid their quest for admission and they need to re-write the essays with much better content. That alone can sometimes allow a candidate to go from rejected to accepted at their top-choice business school. For some candidates, the recommendations were weak. Many candidates do not realize that one weak recommendation alone can close the door to admission at the most competitive schools, even if the rest of their application is impeccable. (And sometimes, the weakness in the recommendation can boil down to one or two horrible sentences that dealt you a fatal blow.)Too little work experience, too much work experience or disjointed work experience can all be problems. The list goes on! Your first step to reapplying successfully is to determine what the weaknesses of your application were and to strengthen those weaknesses so that you put forward a stronger application and candidacy when you reapply.How can you get an excellent understanding of the precise factors that caused your rejection? First, try to reach out to the business school that declined to admit you. Some schools offer formal feedback sessions in which they will discuss with you many of the factors that contributed to your rejection. Even in the absence of such a formal process, some candidates succeed in making contact with admissions officers and are able to arrange a feedback session. If you cannot speak directly with a school, you can consider hiring a reputable consultant to review your application and provide feedback. Among the important factors that should be assessed are these:GMAT scoreGPA undergraduateGPA graduate (if applicable)Impact of citizenshipTiming of application (Round, etc.)Essay content topics chosenEssay content writing qualityStrength of recommendationsStrength of resumeStrength of application formPrestige of college/ grad schoolDemonstrated leadershipImpact of ageAdequacy of work experienceQuality of work experienceConsistency of work experienceIndustry asset or negative?Prestige of companyEffectiveness in conveying work experienceLong-term goalShort-term goalQuality of personal storyQuality of extracurricular activitiesEffectiveness in showing a fit with the schoolYour academic credentials comprise a key area to assess at a deeper level. Were your GMAT score and GPA sufficient for the school you were applying to? Please note, to answer this question, you cannot necessarily just look at the average GPA and GMAT score for the school to which you applied, because where your particular GPA and GMAT score need to be is impacted by your profile. In general, underrepresented candidates (ethnic minorities who dont apply in large numbers, as well as most women) can be a little lower on the GMAT and GPA than the average for matriculating students of a particular school. Overrepresented candidates scores (such as East Asian foreign national men and South Asians) often need to be higher than the average for matriculating students of a particular school.How important is the GMAT in particular? The GMAT provides MBA admissions officers with a standard metric by which to compare candidates from all over the world and offers an indication of whether a candidate will be able to excel in a rigorous MBA program. Because of this, a GMAT score plays an important role in admissions outcomes. If you find your GMAT score is really low relative to where it needs to be for admission to a particular school, you should consider taking a formal GMAT prep course or otherwise studying and taking the test again.If you have a lower-than-ideal GPA, you should to try to override it through different means, such as securing a high GMAT score, securing other indicators of your strong analytical skills like certifications or a CFA credential, building an alternative transcript (take courses at a reputable school in business-relevant areas and get As), and earning promotions and awards in the workplace. Time is also a useful factor: the more time you put between your less-than-ideal GPA and applying, the less important that GPA will be. If you apply only two years after college and you had a low GPA, the low GPA will likely factor much more strongly in your admissions outcome than if you put four years in between college and applying.This is a very key step! It is a rare day when we review a rejected application and find that the recommendations did not play a role. Many candidates do not realize how important the recommendations are in determining admissions success. You can have a wonderful application in all other ways (essays, GMAT score, GPA, resume, app form), but if the recommendations are lukewarm about you, this alone can often close the door for an interview to the top MBA programs. The admissions committees want to hear that you are a great performer capable of success in business school and beyond. If any one of your recommendation writers indicates that you are just second best, the admissions committee may lean instead toward other candidates with much stronger recommendations. If your recommendations were a problem, be certain to make sure that with your reapplication your recommendations support your candidacy excellently.Your MBA essays are absolutely critical for admission to business school. It is hard to underscore this enough. Nearly every time we review the application of a candidate who failed to gain admission to their desired business school after applying on their own, we see a great deal of room for improvement in their MBA essays both in terms of their strategic content and the specific wording they used to talk about their achievements and credentials. Did you shine a light on the credentials and experiences that are very impressive, distinguish you and are most likely to get you admitted? Did you highlight personal, professional or academic experiences that make you stand out? Did you skillfully address weaknesses, directly or indirectly, to minimize the importance of those weaknesses? If not, it may be possible to revise or completely re-craft the essays and achieve much better outcomes.Sometimes a key contributing factor to a rejection is the stated short-term or long-term goal. When assessing whether your short-term goal worked for you, think about whether the admissions committee would have thought that you could attain your short-term goal relatively easily. If not, they could be concerned that with you, they would have a job placement problem on their hands (bad for their statistics and their rankings), and hence they might reject you on the basis that you were seeking a goal for which you had inadequate preparation or credentials. In fact, Cornell issued a feedback sheet to some of its unsuccessful candidates that explicitly indicated a problem was planning a significant career transition without prior preparation.When considering whether your long-term goal worked for or against you, consider at least three things. First, was the goal clear? Dont sound too uncertain or mention multiple possible career goals. Second, given your work experience and training, do your long-term goals look realistic? Some candidates find themselves rejected when their past experience on the surface shows no relationship to their stated long-term goal. If you do indicate you will be making a big change, you need to spell out how you will get from point C to point F. What are steps D and E? Third, does your career goal distinguish you? For example, if you are a foreign national male engineer and you have indicated that you want to start you own manufacturing company, you can only imagine the number of candidates with similar backgrounds who are indicating the same thing. Without providing more definition about your goal, you will look very generic.What are the key non-essay portions of your application to consider? Your resume, application form and interview performance. Because many top MBA programs have adopted shorter MBA admissions essay content, the resume and application form are all the more important. Interviews have also seemed to play a greater role in admissions outcomes at several top MBA programs. Was your application form a strength of your application? Or did you fill out your application form quickly and fail to give deep thought to how to summarize your jobs and your achievements on the application form? Did the resume highlight your key achievements in the professional, academic and extracurricular arenas? Was it presented in a very business-like fashion using action-oriented words? How did your interview go? Did you prepare adequately? Did you perform poorly in the interview? If you did not maximize your use of these items, be certain to correct this in your reapplication.Knowing that the top MBA programs value excellence professionally, academically and in your extracurricular activities, you should strive to strengthen your credentials in these areas even if you have no glaring deficits. During the time you have between your last application and your reapplication to a business school, you should be certain to continue to build your credentials and be able to articulate those improvements in a reapplication or reapplicant essay. For example, if you had a low college GPA, you ideally should be able to point to some online courses you have taken since applying that have helped strengthen your academic and/or analytical skills. If your feedback session with an admissions committee member indicated you did not perform well in your interview, you should be able to point to some opportunities you have taken to get more practice with public speaking. If you determined that your extracurricular activities were weak, you should be able to point to new activities you have engaged in since your last application. Even if you did not have a notable weakness in these areas, showing continued growth is a plus. For example, even if a candidate had a high GPA and GMAT score, it will only impress the committee if that candidate moves forward to gain extra training, takes an online business-relevant course or gains a reputable certification. A demonstrated commitment to continual growth, even when a weakness is not present, is an asset. Be certain to articulate through your essays all you have done to make yourself an even better candidate as you reapply._________________ While new census data reveals that unemployment numbers are more dire than was previously suspected, it is not clear that the forecast for American entrepreneurship is equally alarming. An article in a major national newspaper suggests that the contraction in hiring at existing companies might result in more new companies being founded. College graduates, unable to find traditional jobs, instead opt to start their own businesses. Where a recession may seem an unpropitious time for such a historically risky endeavor, with no better options, would-be entrepreneurs have little to lose. Unfortunately, this situation does not necessarily impact the economy positively. Though the average number of new businesses started per year has been higher during the recession than it was before, the proportion of high-value businesses founded each year has declined. So even if a business manages to stay solvent, it may not bring significant returns. Also, because of an inevitable dearth of angel investors and venture capitalists, many new entrepreneurs are putting their own money on the line. In certain ways, the choice between accepting a traditional job and starting a business is not unlike the choice between renting and buying property. The latter requires a significant initial outlay and carries heavier risks, but the rewards can be equally substantial. Show Spoiler OA C 1. The primary purpose of the passage is to (A) propose changes in the way the public generally interprets census data (B) maintain that college students should form their own companies, especially during economic recessions (C) present a nuanced view of a contemporary economic issue (D) evaluate the viability of low- versus high-value businesses under various environmental conditions (E) draw an analogy between career decisions and real estate decisions,specifically the choice to rent or buy property. Show Spoiler OA B 2. According to the passage, the reason that many college graduates are choosing to launch their own companies in the present economic climate is that (A) they are hampered by the difficulty of finding outside investors (B) they cannot easily find positions typically open to workers of their experience (C) the prevalence of low-value companies has increased (D) they are forced to decide between renting and buying property (E) forecasts of the unemployment rate are likely to become less dire in coming years Show Spoiler OA E 3. It can be inferred from the passage that over the course of the recent recession, the number of American high-value businesses founded per year (A) has fallen sharply (B) has fallen moderately (C) has risen sharply (D) has risen moderately (E) may have either fallen or risen (A) propose changes in the way the public generally interprets census data(B) maintain that college students should form their own companies, especially during economic recessions(C) present a nuanced view of a contemporary economic issue(D) evaluate the viability of low- versus high-value businesses under various environmental conditions(E) draw an analogy between career decisions and real estate decisions,specifically the choice to rent or buy property.(A) they are hampered by the difficulty of finding outside investors(B) they cannot easily find positions typically open to workers of their experience(C) the prevalence of low-value companies has increased(D) they are forced to decide between renting and buying property(E) forecasts of the unemployment rate are likely to become less dire in coming years(A) has fallen sharply(B) has fallen moderately(C) has risen sharply(D) has risen moderately(E) may have either fallen or risen Apr 24, 2018 12:00 AM Author: Moran Eye Center When most people think of organ donation, they naturally think of the four most common organs transplanted: kidney, liver, heart, and lung. All are critical, and matching a donor with a recipient can mean the difference between life and death. But did you know that the eyes are also an organ and can be donated to restore sight to people with corneal blindness? The only substitute for a human cornea is another human cornea donated at death by someone who then leaves a living legacy, says Utah Lions Eye Bank executive director, Chris Hanna. But not everyone thinks about, or has a lot of information about this type of donation, so were constantly trying to shed light on the facts. With more than 10 million people awaiting corneal transplants and researchers all over the world in need of eye tissue, heres what Hanna and his team at the Utah Lions Eye Bank want you to know and to share. What Does the Cornea Do? The cornea is the clear, dome-shaped surface of the front of your eye. It makes up about two-thirds of your eyes total optical power. It also helps protect your eyes from germs, dust, and things that might fly into them. People with corneal blindness live with significantly impaired vision because of damage to this complex, five-layer surface. This type of blindness can be caused by either a disease or a corneal injury. The two most common diseases are keratoconus and Fuchs dystrophy. Keratoconus causes a steep curve on the cornea that causes visual distortion. It may result in double vision, glare, halos, and starburstsall of which make day-to-day living a challenge. Fuchs dystrophy happens when the endothelial cells that make up one of the five layers of the cornea slowly deteriorate, causing the eye to swell. The result is an uncomfortable glare and sensitivity to light, eye pain, halos, and difficulty seeing at night. There is no cure for advanced cases of either condition, but 95 percent of corneal transplant surgeries can successfully restore a persons vision. Who Can Donate? Unlike many transplant needs, eye donors and recipient dont have to be matched by blood type. Anyone, of any age, and just about any health condition is a universal donor and can designate their eyes for donation. Exceptions include people suffering from highly communicable diseases such as HIV or hepatitis. You can still donate even if you have bad eyesight or have had cataract or LASIK surgery. Only the cornea is transplanted, and surgeons only do one cornea at a time, so when a pair of eyes is donated, two recipients benefit. Donors may also opt to donate their eyes for ongoing research into eye diseases. The Utah Lions Eye Bank works with numerous labs at the John A. Moran Eye Center and other institutions. Will Eye Donation Affect Funeral Arrangements? One of the questions we get from a lot of donor families is whether or not eye donation will affect a loved ones appearance or delay funeral plans, says Hanna. The answer is no, it will not. The process is timely and respectful and our eye bank specialists work very hard to maintain the loved ones normal appearance. There is always a waiting list for cornea tissue, so once it is evaluated and processed, the tissue is sent to surgeons in Utah or around the world to be placed in the eyes of patients waiting for a transplant that only a donor can provide. We understanddonating the gift of sight is a life-changing decision that touches so many peoples lives, Hanna emphasizes. Its normal to have questions, so please ask. We welcome them all. The Utah Lions Eye Bank-John A. Moran Eye Center is the only nonprofit eye bank procuring eyes in Utah, southwest Wyoming, and northeast Nevada. Learn more and find a donation form. Did Dr. Dean Lorich expose Clinton Foundation corruption in Haiti and was he killed because of this? Although the doctor died in December 2017 and the conspiracy theory surrounding his death has already been debunked months ago the website Daily Presser decided to republish allegations again in April 2018. An article appeared on The Daily Presser on April 25, 2018 titled "US Surgeon, Who Exposed Clinton Foundation Corruption In Haiti, Found Dead" (archived here) which opened: Dr. Dean Lorich, an orthopedic surgeon who volunteered in Haiti and exposed Clinton Foundation corruption and malpractice on the island, has been found dead in New York. He was 54. Dr. Lorich was found by his 11-year-old daughter on the bathroom floor of his tony Upper East Side apartment with a knife in his chest at around 1 pm on Monday. The knife missed the surgeon's heart, leaving him to bleed out and be found by his daughter. Despite the fact police were called to the property regarding an "assault", they instantly registered the death as "suicide" and closed the case. But the article was basically a repost of this YourNewsWire article which was already debunked by Snopes on December 14, 2017: FACT CHECK: Did a Surgeon Who Exposed 'Clinton Foundation Corruption' in Haiti Die a Suspicious Death? A U.S. surgeon who exposed "Clinton Foundation corruption in Haiti" was found dead in his home under suspicious circumstances. The domain name of the website dailypresser.com appears too have been owned by several different people over the years but in April 2016 the registration details were made private and it seems the site became part of a network of sites mainly reposting hyperpoliticized right-wing content. STORY UPDATED: check for updates below. Forget Macedonia, the real capital of fake news might just be Accra in Ghana On April 17, 2018 former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away but a full day earlier an article prematurely announcing her death from a website pretending to be CNN managed to rack up a combined 2.3 million likes, shares and comments on Facebook. Barely a week later a similar site pretending to be the New York Times got a quarter million likes, shares and comments on a false story claiming her husband George H.W. Bush had now also died at the age of 93. Fake News: Former First Lady Barbara Bush Did NOT Die At 92 (UPDATE: She Did Now) | Lead Stories STORY UPDATED: check for updates below. UPDATE: Barbara Bush did now pass away on April 17, 2018 as reported by the NY Times: As the wife of the 41st president and the mother of the 43rd, George W. Bush, Mrs. (Facebook engagement count of Barbara Bush death hoax, courtesy of get.trendolizer.com) To give some perspective on those 2.3 million engagements: BuzzFeed News published a list of the top 50 fake news articles of 2017 at the end of last year. The stories in positions one and two on that list received 1.2 and 1.1 million Facebook engagements respectively. The Barbara Bush death hoax got those amounts combined and most of it happened in a single day. Yikes! An investigation by Lead Stories in collaboration with Jeremy Massler of Manic News has now revealed the origin of these sites and the many, many other ones that made up a vast network of fake news websites that had been operating since at least the beginning of 2016. The hub of the network seems to be centered in Ghana, Africa. Move over Veles, Macedonia, the new capital of fake news might just be Accra. The Network Let's start from the beginning: the site breaking-cnn.com that published the Barbara Bush death hoax was being used to promote the (now defunct) Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/World-News-1061040047315656 back in September of 2017 according to records kept by Lead Stories. That same page was also promoted at various points in time by these websites (all defunct now): breaking-bbc.co.uk radiogtv.com tv-bbc.com usanews-tv.com From these sites Lead Stories was able to drill down into the network by comparing advertising tags, Google Analytics ID's, IP adresses, historic WHOIS records and various other bits & pieces of data. In the end we found over 80 connected sites, you can see the full list here along with some of the properties we used to link them to each other and a list of their most popular articles on Facebook (and the number of engagements there). The site breaking-cnn.com had ID's from the MGID advertising network on it (212510 and 223718) which were also found on these two sites, neatly linking the Bush death hoaxes together: theguidian.com nytimes-news.com Both these sites were recently used for spreading death hoaxes and on both we found a code from the MGID advertising network linking it to the site dream1k.com (archived here), which offers to donate $1000 to someone that needs it according to its about page: Welcome to Dream1k.com. Dream 1k is a philanthropic project embarked on by Travel Blogger, Akesse Sanza of Jetsanza.com. Dream 1k is here to unlock potentials by providing funding for persons who think $1,000 can help them run a business, handle educational needs, pay off medical bills, run a community project, or any special activity that seeks to develop persons or the society. Dream1K is hosted on the IP address 198.71.233.195 which is also used by jetsanza.com and several other sites in the fake news network (most notably glonews360.com). But more about that in a moment. Fake news themes & tactics When looking at the sites in the network and the types of fake stories posted on them several patterns started to emerge. Many of the sites would hide their true nature by only publishing real news copied from legitimate sources on their front pages while hiding the hoaxes on pages deeper down. Generally the domain names of the sites were chosen to resemble the names of legitimate news outlets but with things like 'news', 'breaking', 'tv' or 'channel' added to it: bbc-tv.com, nytimes-news.com, tv-cnn.com, breaking-cnn.com, cnn-channel.com, elpais-tv.com. Other times the names were simple misspellings or letter/number substitutions of real news website domain names: theguidian.com, 1ndependent.co.uk, m1rror.com. Stories from the network were sometimes aimed at audiences in different specific regions or countries but these would often appear side by side on the same site with articles meant for completely different audiences. We found news about politicians, celebrities and local issues from the Caribbean, various African countries, the Philippines, various European countries, the U.S., Australia, Latin America... Some sites would even mix articles in English, French or Spanish. Very often the same articles would be repeated over and over again but with names and places changed or even translated in a different language. One popular theme was visa-free travel to the United States or Europe soon becoming possible from a country or region. We debunked several such stories in the past mentioning Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, The Phillipines, Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana And Malawi, Ghana, Ethiopia And Kenya, the entire Caribbean... Another favorite trope was celebrities being arrested at an airport with 2kg (or sometimes 20kg) of cocaine. Here's a recent example of a story like that. Or the story about a restaurant serving human meat that kept happening in different cities all over the world. Or a story about a local kid getting 30 million dollars and a lifetime scholarship from Apple. Or stories about celebrities donating whopping sums of money to hurricane victims. The thing the network is most famous for is a long string of death hoaxes culminating in the premature Barbara Bush death announcement that netted those 2.3 million engagements on Facebook. Usually a few days after mainstream news sources would report some celebrity or politician was ill or had been hospitalized the network would put out a death hoax claiming the person had passed away. Sceptical readers would find plenty of mainstream news reports about the victim being very ill or in hospital and would just assume the hoax site got the scoop on the death announcement. Famous victims of this practice include David Cassidy, Ken Dodd, Charles Manson, Malcom Hebden, Morgan Tsvangirai and recently George H.W. Bush. Note that in some cases the person actually did die a few days later. The network monetized its sites using various ad networks like Google Adsense, ContendAd and MGID at different times. Connecting the dots: Agnes, Glorian and Akesse Back in February 2018 while researching the WHOIS information behind the domain names of two sites connected to the network (fox-news24.com and usa-television.com) the name "Agnes Arthur" popped up, a woman supposedly living in Accra, Ghana. We were unable to locate any social media profiles matching the description (there seem to be a lot of Agnes Arthur's in Ghana though). A Google search revealed this article (archived here) on fact checking site memebuster.net that claimed a Facebook user by that name had been posting a pro-Duterte fake news story from network site usa-radio.com to a Filipino Facebook group. Alex Kaplan, a writer at MediaMatters, recently noted that a Facebook account belonging to "Glorian Maame Nyarkoh" (archived) had been spamming the Barbara Bush hoax in a variety of Facebook groups. Glorian's profile indicates she lives in Ghana, and she has a long history of sharing links to these hoax sites. We found a second Facebook profile using her name and profile picture that was friends with the profile of Akesse Sanza, the blogger from Ghana we mentioned earlier who runs jetsanza.com. A glance through Nyarkoh's posting history shows she has a long history of posting hoaxes from the network onto Facebook: for example she shared a texas-express.com article in September, 2017 about an alleged gang rape carried out by rescue workers during Hurrican Harvey. On November 16, 2016, Nyarkoh shared a cbn-tv.com article claiming South Korean President Park Geun-hye had resigned (an event that never occurred). Calling Ghana... We tried contacting the phone number of Agnes Arthur found in the domain name registration records but got a very confused sounding woman over a terrible mobile connection who wasn't able to provide us any information. In the morning of April 24, 2018 we also sent email and Facebook messages to Nyarkoh and Sanza asking if they knew about some of the sites, Agnes Arthur and each other. Both replied. Nyarkoh said she didn't know Sanza but she did know Agnes and that it was her friend. When confronted with a second Facebook profile we found with her name and her picture that was friends with Sanza's profile she said it was hacked and she didn't know Facebook friends in person. Sanza on the other hand said he did know Nyarkoh but denied working together. He said Agnes Arthur ran the hosting on his websites but he didn't have any contact information for her except her email address (which matched the one we found in the WHOIS records). He claimed he couldn't find any of her social media profiles because it seemed like she deleted them and stated he met her through a Facebook advertisement. He also mentioned he should probably be getting his own hosting soon, explaining that he owned the jetsanza.com domain but that Arthur hosted it. We also contacted the Agnes Arthur email address (mentioning two of the websites in the network and saying Sanza gave us her info) and got back a short reply: Yes he forwarded me your email. I do own three of them and just deleted them after receiving your forwarded message. If it's truly large, then they may belong to some of my clients. I do host sites for people as well. The network goes dark Shortly after our initial contact with Sanza, Nyarkoh and Arthur several of the websites in the network went offline, including some of the ones that had been most active recently: breaking-cnn.com, nytimes-news.com, theguidian.com, texas-express.com, glonews360.com and stluciantimes.com. Simultaneously the public Facebook page for Akesse Sanza with over 200.000 fans was suddenly restricted to just visitors from Ghana: So, who is really behind the network? The person behind the Agnes Arthur email claimed to have owned and deleted three of the sites. That leaves about 80 other sites that we know of. All run by her 'clients'? And if she only owned three, why did all of them go dark all of a sudden along with Sanza's public page? And why do they all follow the same pattern when it comes to content, naming style and advertising networks? Our investigation continues: we found some very interesting news articles and social media posts that merit further investigation and we are preparing a follow-up article that will do a deeper dive into how this network operated and how it got its stories to trend. To be continued... Addendum: the list of sites in the network Srinagar, April 25: Two rebels Abid Ahmad of Khargund and Ishfaq Ahmad of Handoora were killed along with two others in a 12-hour-long gunfight with Indian troops in Lam forests of Tral yesterday. A soldier and a policeman were also killed and two army men wounded in the gunfight. Indian army use choppers and para-troopers in the operation. Eye witnesses said that thousands of people assembled in both the villages and participated in the last rites of the slain militants. They said that militants appeared during the funeral of Ishfaq Ahmad in Handoora and offered a gun salute. Meanwhile, clashes erupted in Aripal area after youth took to streets and hurled rocks at the forces deployed there. Despite the ban on internet and amid restrictions, several thousand people poured onto streets as the bodies of slain militants, were lifted the scenes were poignant amid the chanting of pro-freedom slogans, hailing the martyr. Reports said four rounds of funeral prayers each were held for both slain militants in Handura and Khargund villages. Abids relatives, who were waiting for his body to arrive, were holding a pot full of candies in their hands. Women showered the bodies with candies. Woman sang eulogies tera bayee, mera bayee, Abid bayee Abid bayee, wala myani shahedo, bochh ma lajee (come my martyr, you might be hungry). Scores of men and women wept bitterly as the body was being carried towards its final resting place. Reports said that some armed militants appeared at the funeral of Ishfaq Ahmad Khan and offered a gun salute to Ishfaq and raised pro-freedom, pro-Islam and pro-Pakistan slogans. The slain militants were identified as Omar Khalid, Ishfaq Ahmad Khan of Handoora, Yasir a foreigner who was the area commander of Tral and Abid Maqbool of Khargund and all of them belonged to Jaish-e-Muhammad militant group. The local sources informed Kashmir Life that Ishfaq Ahmad Khan belonged to Handoora Tral, who was first arrested in March 2014 after he tried to snatch a service rifle of a SOG man on duty in Pampore. That time police issued a statement suggesting Khan was an OGW with Hizbul Mujahideen militant group. He was jailed for one year and later released. But after his release, he joined JeM. Abid Maqbool, another local militant, is the son of a policeman and belongs to Khangund in Tral. He was a student of the second year when he joined JeM in the month of February 2018. Meanwhile, Tral and its peripheries observed complete shutdown Wednesday to mourn the death of the three local militants. George Soros gave Ivanka's husband's business a $250 million credit line in 2015 per WSJ. Soros is also an investor in Jared's business. As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Crime Branch will soon approach a court in Kathua against a defence lawyer who is allegedly circulating twisted facts in the case of the gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old girl to vitiate the atmosphere, officials said here. The police has taken cognisance of a CD in which a witness is seen as saying that he had been coerced by the Crime Branch to give a statement against Vishal Sharma, one of those alleged to have raped the child, officials said. Sharma is the son of Sanji Ram, alleged to be the main conspirator in the case that has outraged the nation. The CD, which has gone viral on social media, was passed off by the lawyer as a statement that the witness had given in front of the magistrate, the officials said. However, initial investigations showed that it was prepared outside the court premises by the lawyer to mislead the public and create disaffection towards the government, they said. This is definitely an attempt to browbeat the witnesses in the case and we have to immediately step in keeping in mind the sensitivities attached with the case, an official said. According to investigations, the girl from a minority nomadic community was allegedly kidnapped at the behest of Sanji Ram, who wanted to scare away the Gujjar and Bakherwals communities which would migrate to the village, about 90 km from here, in winter. She was allegedly held in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district for a week in January this year during which she was kept sedated and sexually assaulted before being bludgeoned to death. On January 23, the government handed over the case to the Crime Branch of the state police, which formed a Special Investigation Team and arrested eight persons. Ram was allegedly joined by special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma, friend Parvesh Kumar alias Mannu, Rams nephew, a juvenile, and his son. The chargesheet also named investigating officers, Head Constable Tilak Raj and Sub-Inspector Anand Dutta, who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Ram and destroyed crucial evidence. The Crime Branch filed two separate chargesheets a separate chargesheet was filed for the juvenile before the chief judicial magistrate in Kathua on April 9 and 10 despite protests by local lawyers, who demanded that the case be handed over to the CBI for a fair probe. The accused pleaded not guilty on the opening day of the trial in the principal district and sessions court on April 16. The court posted the next hearing in the case for April 28. Srinagar, April 25: Thousands of mourners on Wednesday turned up at the funeral of two slain rebels in Handura and Khargund villages of Tral in south Kashmirs Pulwama district. Two rebels Abid Ahmad of Khargund and Ishfaq Ahmad of Handoora were killed along with two other, identified by the police as Umar Khalid and Yasir, in a 12-hour-long gunfight in Lam forests of Tral yesterday. A soldier and a policeman were also killed and two army men wounded in the gunfight. Eye witnesses said that thousands of people had assembled in both the villages to take part in the last rites of the slain militants. Meanwhile, a spontaneous shutdown is being observed in Tral area to mourn the killings. New York, Apr 25 (IBNS): With the conflict in Syria into its eighth bloody year and human suffering worsening by the day, the United Nations and partners on Tuesday made a major appeal for additional funds, as well as for reinvigorating the stalled UN-led Geneva talks. We want Syrians to know that they are not forgotten; that we are trying to find better ways to help them in this terrible situation, said Mark Lowcock, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, at the opening of a two-day conference in Brussels, co-organized by the European Union, called Supporting the future of Syria and the region. Despite fighting, bombing and violence, we will not give up, Mr. Lowcock said. The fighting in Syria, which erupted in March 2011 and has now lasted longer than World War II, has left hundreds of thousands dead and more than 13 million in dire need of humanitarian assistance within the country. Another 5.6 million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries for refuge. The first few months of 2018 saw over 700,000 people fleeing their homes many more than once as well as 72 reported attacks on medical facilities. As the number of people in urgent need of assistance continues to grow, the United Nations has exhausted its resources to respond, Mr. Lowcock said. We call on donors to pledge funds to assist and protect Syrian families wherever they are, said Mr. Lowcock, who is also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which Mr. Lowcock heads, only $2.3 billion, or about 25 per cent, of the $9.1 billion needed for humanitarian and development assistance in 2018 has been received. The total includes funds needed to meet needs both within Syria and among some 3.9 million vulnerable people in in communities hosting refugees. Unless more funding is secured, critical programmes risk closure or sharp reductions in the coming months, with a potentially devastating impact on the most vulnerable and desperate families. Of all the humanitarian emergencies facing us today none match Syrias in terms of scale or in the immensity of need, said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Whether for refugees, for host countries, or for host communities those needs are as urgent, as great, as ever. Development set back decades The widespread destruction of livelihoods and infrastructure has pushed 70 per cent Syrians into extreme poverty. At the same time, neighbouring countries are reeling under the strain of the massive influx of refugees from Syria. Host countries have demonstrated outstanding generosity to Syrian refugees for many years despite the huge pressure on national services and infrastructure, said Achim Steiner, the Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP). Conference programmeThe international community must enhance their support for longer term development efforts to these countries on the front line who have been providing a global public good, he said. The two-day conference in Brussels is expected to draw ministerial-level participation from over 85 countries. On the first day, more than 200 non-governmental organizations from Syria and the region discussed ways to improve services with ministers and top UN and EU officials. Separately, Staffan de Mistura, the UN Special Envoy for Syria and Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, met with Syrian civil society leaders. Speaking to the press following the meeting, they called on all parties to the negotiating table. They [the civil society] were sitting around the table together today, many of them did not agree with each other, in fact we noticed it, but they were able to sit around the table, thats exactly what we want at the political level, said Mr. de Mistura. Results from the first day of discussions will feed into the plenary sessions on Wednesday, which will cover all key aspects of the conflict, including the political process. Also on day 2, the total amount of aid pledges received will be announced. The co-chairs plan to release a declaration at the closing of the meeting. UNICEF/Souleiman Islamabad, Apr 25 (IBNS): A suicide bomber targeted a police van on Airport Road in Quetta city of Pakistan on Tuesday, leaving at least six policemen killed, media reports said. The incident left seven others injured. At least six policemen were martyred and seven others were injured when a suicide bomber targeted a police van on Airport Road in Quetta on Tuesday evening, Quetta DIG Razzaq Cheema told DawnNewsTV. Moreover, two suicide bombers also attacked a Frontier Corps (FC) checkpost in Quetta's Mian Ghundi area, however, the FC personnel killed the attackers following an exchange of fire, the Pakistan-based newspaper reported quoting the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. Security officials said the attacks might be coordinated. Police and FC personnel went to the site following the attack. The entire area has been cordoned off. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far. Condemning the attacks, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief and Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted: "Strongly condemn the attack on the check post in Quetta. I extend my heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families and pray to Allah Almighty to rest the departed souls in peace!" Paris is playing the role of organiser in the efforts to project a Unified Europe and the country is trying to get European leaders on the same page with contentious issues such as potential future sanctions on Iran. Furthermore, preparations are already underway for the European Parliament elections. Iran is keeping a close eye on Frances moves both on an international scale and with regards to the Middle East. Following immense domestic pressure after weeks of protests and anti-government demonstrations, and of course the pressure coming from the United States, the Iranian regime is feeling particularly vulnerable. The European Union has been relatively easy on Iran, even since President Trump took office. During the election campaign, Donald Trump voiced his concern about Iran and its regional activities and vowed to pursue tougher foreign policy. Last year, his administration undertook a comprehensive policy review and worked on strategies to overcome its malign influence. During this time, Europe gave Iran welcome relief. Many European officials ignored Irans belligerence and instead prioritised business deals, investment opportunities and trade. Not many wanted to confront Iran rather they turned a blind eye much like the Obama administration. However, the situation is changing and more and more European officials are sharing Trumps concerns. This is certainly the case for France which barely seemed to hesitate in getting involved in the strikes on Syrian regime targets earlier in the month. The United Kingdom proposed a United Nations Security Council resolution in February. The proposal was with regards to Irans smuggling of weapons and missiles to the Houthi rebels in Yemen and it was backed by France. Macron has said that he will willing to increase sanctions on Iran, especially because it is a move that may persuade the US President to remain in the deal. Despite the European leaders being rather lenient on the Iranian regime, scores of members of European Parliament have urged the relevant officials to take action against Iran. Many have also voiced their support for the Iranian opposition that has been working towards peaceful regime change for years. Many high-profile figures in France are supporters of the resistance and are regular participants in the many events organised to raise awareness about the plight of the people of Iran. The future of the nuclear deal remains uncertain, but by this time next month, Trump will have already reached a decision and the next stage of relations with Iran will have begun. European leaders who are reluctant to support sanctions on Iran must realise that the EU was founded on human rights and equality for all. Should business dealings with Iran be a priority? NCRI President-elect The President-elect of the NCRI is Maryam Rajavi. Her role is to serve as the President-in-exile until the end of the mullahs Regime. Then she will take over as President of Iran during the six-month transition period, until a new constitution has been ratified and a new president chosen in the elections. NCRI Secretariat The NCRI secretariat is headed by Mahnaz Salimian, the Senior Secretary of the NCRI. It comprises of five secretaries, including Abolghasem Rezai, the Deputy Senior Secretary of NCRI, and is responsible for arranging NCRI meetings, communicating with NCRI members, and performing all administrative tasks. NCRI Assembly The NCRI assembly is the decision-making body. It holds weekly informal discussions on current political issues with NCRI members present at the time, as well as meetings with the committee chairs. NCRI Committees There are 25 NCRI committees, which are responsible for researching and planning for the future of Iran, effectivity acting as shadow ministries. Some committees have more responsibilities than research and planning, so lets look at some of those. Foreign Affairs Committee The Foreign Affairs Committee of the NCRI must maintain contact with parliamentarians, political personalities, think tanks, UN bodies, NGOs, and human rights organizations from around the globe as well as publishing numerous papers on the Iranian Regime and any new developments in Iran, in English, French, German, Italian and Arabic. Womens Committee The Womens Committee of the NCRI works with Iranian women both inside and outside Iran to provide the NCRI with information on womens rights in Iran. They are also actively involved with global womens rights groups and NGOs to improve womens rights in Iran. The Womens Committee also regularly attends international or regional conferences on womens issues. Defense and Strategic Research Committee The Defense and Strategic Research Committee of the NCRI monitors the Iranian Regimes military activities, especially surrounding its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, through close work with the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) network inside Iran. This has resulted in many revelations about the regimes nuclear and ballistic missile activities. Political Research Committee The Political Research Committee of the NCRI is focused on the political situation inside of Iran, from social unrest to factional disputes and any other important developments. It then prepares reports into these developments, with research from the MEK, which help the NCRI to assess policies and positions. Security and Anti-Terrorism Committee The Security and Anti-Terrorism Committee of the NCRI is responsible for countering any terrorist or intelligence threats from the Iranian Regime that would undermine the resistance. In recent years, the Regime has used its Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to conduct a cyber war against the NCRI and the MEK, which includes spreading disinformation. The Security and Anti-Terrorism Committee also works with the MEK to reveal the Iranian Regimes terrorist activities. Arts and Culture Committee The Arts and Culture Committee of the NCRI is responsible for working with various Iranian societies to enrich Iranian culture and arts, including holding cultural gatherings, concerts and artistic programs. They also assess the situation of artists and writers under the Iranian Regime as artists are so often a target of the mullahs. Representative offices of the NCRI These are not based in Paris, unlike most of the NCRI, and are situated in countries across Europe and in the US. These offices must maintain contact with their countrys local and national governments, NGOs, and Iranian Diaspora. Nepali UN peacekeepers accused of child rape in South Sudan The United Nations (UN) peacekeepers from Nepal serving in South Sudan are facing allegations of child rape, reported AFP. According to Kryshchenko, suicides usually occur once or twice a week. Chief of the National Police's Kyiv department Andriy Kryshchenko says the number of suicides in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, has increased significantly. "There is a surge in suicides. Two or three per day. There were even five suicides in one day: two shot themselves, two hanged and one jumped out," he said in an interview with the Ukrainian news outlet 112.ua. Read alsoKyiv to welcome 50,000 fans for UEFA Champions League final in Kyiv: Interior Ministry According to him, suicides usually occur once or twice a week. At the same time, Kryshchenko added there had been fewer murders, and almost all of them, about 95%, had been solved. "Kyiv has not seen such a rate for a long time," he said. A question of sovereignty S Asia is full of cooperative ventures that have stalled due to perceived notions of eroding national control Andrea Constand was hooked on mushrooms and marijuana and she came to America to try and become a millionaire, according to a possible defense witness in the Bill Cosby sexual assault trial, who prosecutors want barred from taking the stand.Robert Russell, who said in a sworn statement that he, Constand and her mother, Gianna, were close friends in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was expected to take the stand late Friday, April 20, to detail his relationship with the woman who has accused comedian Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her. The prosecution is trying to say that [Constand] is some innocent babe in the woods, Cosbys lead defense attorney, Tom Mesereau said. Theyve painted the idea thats shes naive, pure and holistic and that she was naive in accepting pills from Bill Cosby. Russell has said that Constand wasnt this holistic person she portrayed herself to be and that she obviously had a plan to get $1 million. ADVERTISEMENT As has been the case throughout this two-week old trial, Judge Steven T. ONeill has repeatedly rejected defense motions and has already prohibited defense lawyers from questioning Russell in front of jurors about Constands desire to become a millionaire. ONeill also indicated that hes unlikely to allow them to question Russell about Constands alleged drug use. Its alleged that Russell may have also used drugs with Gianna Constand. If somebody does drugs in 2001, does that make it relevant in 2018? ONeill queried, blatantly disregarding that defense attorneys are referring to her motive and that Cosbys alleged assault occurred in either 2003 or 2004. Mesereau said that, The persona painted here of Andrea Constand is false. The bombshell comes, as two defense witnesses appeared to have successfully raised the issue of statute of limitations. Cosbys tour manager Debbie Meister and his former executive assistant, Kimberly Harjo, both testified and presented documents showing that the comedian could not have been in Pennsylvania in January 2004, when prosecutors claim the alleged assault occurred. ADVERTISEMENT Prosecutors filed charges against Cosby on December 30, 2015 and, because the statute of limitations is 12 years in Pennsylvania, if the alleged crime happened before 2004, it cannot legally be prosecuted. Harjo said she spoke with Constand on the telephone in February 2003 and records produced by the prosecution during testimony by Temple University employee Marguerite Jackson, also reveal a February 2003 date. Further, Cosbys former personal chef testified that he cooked dinner for Cosby and Constand five times before he left his position in May of 2003. The commonwealth has the burden of proof in this case and they must prove that there was a crime and when it happened, Cosby spokeswoman Ebonee Benson said. They have not done this. They rested their case and they failed to prove this. The defense has produced evidence that the defendant was not in Pennsylvania the night in question. Benson continued: We have no burden of proof, yet we have proved there was no crime. We also established this morning that the alleged incident, which is not a crime because its a consensual relationship, did not happen within the statutory limit of time. Major Unrest Tests South African President Only Three Months in Office South African President Cyril Ramaphosa cut short his appearance at the Commonwealth leaders summit in London after rising citizen anger at corruption and poor public service at home exploded into violence. South African police fired rubber bullets at protestors while shops were looted, roads were blocked and vehicles set on fire. Some 23 people were arrested and one man reportedly died in the melee in Mahikeng, the capital of the North West Province. The province has been seething with frustration over a lack of housing, health services and jobs. The provincial premier, Supra Mahumapelo, has been linked to such scandals as the payment of 30 million rand ($2 million US) to a company run by friends of former president Jacob Zuma before they did any work in two provinces. At least a half dozen investigations into fraud and corruption in the provinces health department have been launched by government investigators. A month-long dispute over salaries and contracts has closed some health facilities and almost 400 clinics are reporting essential medicines out of stock. Since his return, the new president has been meeting with worker groups who are demanding salary increases of up to 12%. There is an inadequate offer on the table, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said in a statement. The national minimum wage and new amendments to the Labor Relations Act are a full frontal attack on workers rights, added Zwelinzima Vavi of the South African Federation of Trade Unions. The minimum wage was supposed to be introduced on May 1 but has been postponed. This national minimum wage would mean that a worker would have to work all day to afford a burger from McDonalds, Vavi said, in a reference to President Cyril Ramaphosas holdings in the fast-food chain. Writing in the Daily Maverick this week, visiting professor at the University of Johannesburg, Raymond Suttner, summed up: The issues over which people protest in North West and in many other cases relate to the diversion of funds from meeting their basic needs into the pockets of the powerful and their associates. More and more of these acts of corruption are being uncovered, notably in North West and Free State provinces, as in the alleged gift of R 1.5 million worth of cattle by Premier Supra Mahumaphelo to Jacob Zuma, resources meant for poor farmers in the province. Zuma has gone but the diversion of funds has continued and many, many of those who practice this continue to hold office at various levels. A national walk-out is already planned for April 25. ADVERTISEMENT More African Nations Discard Term Limits and Let Leaders Rule for Life Absent any influence from the White House towards democratic reforms, a number of African leaders are quietly tweaking their laws to ensure a lock on the presidency for decades to come. Fifteen of Africas 54 heads of state hold or have held power for more than 20 years. Yet Africa has the worlds youngest population where the median age is 19.4 years. The past few years have seen presidential term limits ended from coast to coast. In Gabon, the end of term limits this year effectively allowed President Ali Bongo Ondimba to rule for life. The constitutional changes also allow the president to determine the policy of the nation. This replaces the previous wording that stated he or she would govern in consultation with the government. The net effect of these changes is to give the president the powers of an absolute monarch, warns David E. Kiwuwa of Princeton University writing for The Conversation, an online community of academics and researchers. Since Ali Bongo replaced his father in 2009, many Gabonese have only known the familys 50 year-long father-and-son rule. Legislative elections are scheduled for this month and prospects for change are on the ballot. South of Gabon, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Brazzaville won a third term in 2016 after term limits were lifted in a vote the opposition claimed was marred by massive fraud. In neighboring Congo, President Joseph Kabila has promised not to seek a third term but will choose his successor for elections scheduled for December. In Burundi, a constitutional referendum allowing President Pierre Nkurunziza to remain in office until 2034 is scheduled for May. Moving to the east, Uganda ended age limits for presidential candidates, a move that favors the 73 year old incumbent Yoweri Museveni. And in Sudan, Omar al-Bashir is reportedly seeking a constitutional amendment to permit a third term. His current term expires in 2020. African leaders recklessly push their countries down a dangerous path by attempting to cling to power, writes Claire Wilmot in the online African Arguments. But It will not be the presidents themselves who suffer the consequences of civil conflict elites rarely do. It will be the people whose interests these leaders claim to represent. ADVERTISEMENT South African Women Take Prize For Anti-Nuclear Effort Using the knowledge gained in the anti-apartheid struggle, two South African women challenged a secret, multibillion-dollar nuclear deal that would have dotted South Africa with nuclear power plants from Russia. The women, Makoma Lekalakala and Liziwe McDaid, waged a five-year court battle against the plants. Against all odds, including a secret agreement between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and former President Jacob Zuma, a high court ruled with the women, finding the deals unlawful and unconstitutional a victory that protects South Africa from a dangerous expansion of the nuclear industry and production of radioactive waste. This week, international judges of the prestigious Goldman Environment Prize tapped Lekalakala and McDaid as one of their winners from six continents. Both of us grew up in the 1970s and 1980s and we made a commitment then to challenge any injustices taking place, Lekalakala told the BBC. We need to protect our hard-won gains and rights. McDaid called their victory just a step on the path to a nuclear-free South Africa. Success would be for our one existing plant to be decommissioned and for the government to make a nuclear-free declaration. The court ruling means that any future nuclear proposals must first be passed in parliament and opened up to the public. Also capturing the Goldman prize was LeeAnne Waters of the U.S. who led a citizens movement that exposed the Flint, Michigan water crisis. Testing results showed that one in six homes impacting over 100,000 residents had lead levels in water between seven and 800 times the legal limit far exceeding the EPAs safety threshold. Walters persistence compelled the government to take action. However a recent move to end free bottled water before all lead pipes are replaced has infuriated Flint residents. Others winners of the global award include Francia Marquez, a leader of the Afro-Colombian community who organized local women to end the clear-cutting of forests and contamination of water by illegal miners with backhoes. The mountainous area of La Cauca is home to a quarter million Afro-Colombians, many who resided there since the days of the slave trade. With Afro-Columbian music as part of her political expression, she challenged illegal mining, leading a 10-day, 200-mile march of 80 women to the nations capital. ADVERTISEMENT Chinas Communist Party is reportedly expanding activities aimed at Chinese university students in America and other nations. Radio Free Asia, or RFA reports the expansion is an effort to keep the partys ideology in the minds of Chinese citizens studying abroad. It also seeks to defend against bad ideas picked up in other countries that could influence the students. The Communist Party is organizing at overseas universities in a similar way it operates in China, RFA reports. The efforts are part of an ideological campaign called United Front, which aims to bring specific groups of people into the party. The foreign branches are reportedly used to spread the party's ideological message worldwide. One such branch was set up last year by Chinese students in an exchange program at the University of California, Davis in northern California. Chinas University of Science and Technology, in the northeastern city of Dalian, reported on its website that seven Chinese students had set up the party branch at the U.S. university. The group made up of students from several different universities held its first meeting in November 2017, the website reported. It added that the first meeting centered on teaching students ways to fight various kinds of negative influences on their thinking while overseas. The group was expected to meet twice a month to study the latest ideological thinking of the Communist Party, Hong Kongs Ming Pao newspaper reported. The organization also aimed to provide "care and warmth" to Chinese students abroad. A recent report in the U.S.-based publication Foreign Policy said party branches have been set up by Chinese at universities in several states. These include Illinois, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, North Dakota and West Virginia. A Communist Party branch was set up in July 2017 by a group of nine Chinese students and teachers from Chinas Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the publication reported. The students were taking part in a summer program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The group held meetings to discuss party teachings and provide ideological guidance to the Chinese students, Foreign Policy reported. A photo of the group was posted on the Huazhong University website along with a report about its activities. Last October, a newspaper in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang reported temporary party branches had been set up in Canada, Singapore and New Zealand. The Zhejiang Daily News said the branches were created by Yiwu Industrial & Commercial College to serve its overseas students. The partys goal was to provide services to educate and manage foreign students, the newspaper reported. RFA reports many of those operating the party branches are Chinese teachers sent to overseas universities as part of educational exchange programs. About 350,000 Chinese students are studying at U.S. universities, the Institute of International Education estimates. This makes up about 35 percent of the nearly 1 million foreigners studying in the U.S. Chinese intelligence on American campuses In February, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee the FBI has investigated possible Chinese intelligence operatives at American colleges and universities. He said the FBI had monitored visiting Chinese professors, scientists and students across the U.S. The director described China as using many nontraditional collectors of intelligence and technology, both in the business community and at universities. He said he believes many U.S. university officials have been naive about these activities. Wray noted that he thinks such intelligence gathering takes advantage of the openness in research and development found at U.S. universities. Wray also expressed concerns about Chinese-run Confucius Institutes at many American universities. The institutes offer courses in language and culture for American students. China says the program is designed to inform about Chinese language and culture in educational settings around the world. But Wray said the FBI is currently monitoring the development of the institutes and in some cases had taken investigative steps. A 2017 report by the U.S.-based National Association of Scholars accused the Confucius Institutes of limiting educational freedom and teaching a distorted view of Chinese history and culture. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on a report from Radio Free Asia and other sources. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Quiz Quiz - Chinas Communist Party at Universities Worldwide Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story branch n. a local group that is part of a larger organization negative adj. harmful or bad monitor v. watch something carefully and record the results naive adj. having or showing a lack of experience or knowledge take advantage of v. to use someone or something in a way that is helpful to you without regard to the needs or feelings of others distort v. change information so that it is not true or realistic Abduction of Dr Devkotas daughter: Man accused gets 17 years in jail The Patan High Court has sentenced one of the accused in the abduction of senior neurosurgeon Dr Upendra Devkotas daughter to 17 years in prison and slapped a fine of Rs 23,519. A new report accuses top Chinese technology companies and the Chinese government of sex discrimination in hiring. The report concerns the advertising of jobs. It says discriminatory ads are linked to a shrinking percentage of women in the labor force. Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent Holdings Ltd are among the companies whose ads most dissuade female interest in jobs, says Human Rights Watch. The organization released the report on Monday. Many of the ads described having beautiful girls at the company workplace. Others included height, appearance and personality requirements for women. The qualities that were sought were unrelated to those needed for the work, the report said. The company Tencent has answered the report. It said, We have investigated these incidents and are making immediate changes. The company also apologized and promised actions to prevent a repeat of the behavior. A spokesperson for Alibaba said the company would do more careful examinations of employment advertisements to make sure they observe company policy. A Baidu spokesperson described the advertisements as isolated instances. A movement against discrimination and sexual harassment is growing in China. The worldwide #MeToo movement has helped support it. However, Chinese internet officials have blocked much of the #MeToo related material online. The worldwide movement began last year as victims of sexual harassment used social media to share their stories under the hashtag #MeToo. American technology companies have since been accused of discriminatory behavior. This helped turn the focus to technology companies worldwide. Human Rights Watch examined 36,000 Chinese job advertisements. Most of them were posted in 2013 or after. The report also found sexist job advertisements for government workers, construction workers and teachers. It said that 19 percent of the Chinese civil service job ads it examined from this year were men only or men-favored. Only one job posting this year sought a female candidate over a male candidate. The Reuters news agency requested a comment from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, an agency that was noted in the report. It did not provide an answer. Human Rights Watch said some businesses used code words in ads to suggest favoritism for males. One used the Chinese word for south, which is said in the same way as the Chinese word for male. In addition, the report said that sexist hiring behavior was a major reason for the lower numbers of women in the workforce and unfairness of pay between the sexes. Chinese laws ban discrimination based on gender. However, Human Rights Watch said, enforcement is low and Chinese authorities rarely proactively investigate companies that repeatedly violate relevant laws. The Human Rights Watch report received little attention on Chinese social media after its release. Chinese social media companies are often required to restrict civil rights discussions, including past Human Rights Watch findings and posts related to the #MeToo movement. Im Ashley Thompson. Reuters reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story hire - v. to give work or a job to (someone) in exchange for wages or a salary isolated adj. happening just once harassment n. the act of annoying or bothering (someone) in a constant or repeated way focus n. a subject that is being discussed or studied : the subject on which people's attention is focused usually singular code n. a set of letters, numbers, symbols, etc., that is used to secretly send messages to someone authorities n. people who have power to make decisions and enforce rules and laws relevant adj. relating to a subject in an appropriate way instance n. an occasion of something happening construction n. the business of building things Facebook published detailed guidelines Tuesday for what users can and cannot post on the social media service. Earlier this month, lawmakers called on Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to appear in Congress. They demanded that his company take more steps to protect the privacy of its users. Some even raised the possibility of regulating the social media service. Most of the newly-announced guidelines - which Facebook calls Community Standards have already been in place. But it is the first time Facebook has publicly shared complete and detailed information about all its restrictions on user content. About 7,600 Facebook moderators use the guidelines in examining Facebook content. The employees work in 40 languages. Facebook says its goal is to answer every report of possible content violation within 24 hours. Facebook removes material that violates the rules. In some cases, Facebook employees also contact police or other officials to investigate dangerous situations or possible crimes. The guidelines for posting content cover many areas. These include hate speech, violent threats or incitement of violence, self-harm and human trafficking. Monika Bickert is Head of Global Policy Management at Facebook. She told reporters that the company felt it was important to be more open about its operations and totally clear about its user rules. You should, when you come to Facebook, understand where we draw these lines and whats OK and whats not OK, Bickert said. She added that the guidelines themselves are always being reexamined and the latest changes are sent to employees weekly. The guidelines demonstrate how complex and difficult decisions on restricting content can be. For example, Bickert said there are community standards that differ widely in nations across the world. Another complex issue is how moderators decide how and when expressions of ideas and opinions violate policy. For example, the Facebook guidelines permit a user to share another persons hate speech. But only if it is done for the purpose of raising awareness or educating others. Users sharing such content must clearly show such purpose or moderators will remove the content. Facebook says comments concerning violence must also be carefully examined in an effort to prevent real threats. The guidelines say that many times, people express their disagreement by threatening or calling for violence in non-serious ways. The moderators have to consider the language, context and details of posts in order to separate non-serious statements from threatening statements. Facebook says moderators call law enforcement when they believe there is a real risk of physical harm. In addition to human moderators, Facebook also uses artificial intelligence or AI in an effort to find content violations. Facebook says the machines can help identify some pieces of banned material. But it says they are not equipped to judge the history and context related to it. It is also difficult for AI to correctly identify humor as well as a human can. Facebook also announced that people will now be permitted to appeal decisions about the removal of individual photos, videos or posts. Until now, appeals could be launched only over the removal of whole accounts, groups or pages. The service is also beginning to provide exact reasons for content removal action. The new guideline information was released one week after Facebook announced a major change to its privacy settings. The change makes it easier for people to approve or deny the company permission to use different kinds of user data. Everyone no matter where they live will be asked to review important information about how Facebook uses data and make choices about their privacy on Facebook, the company said in a post on its website. Users now will be asked directly whether they want Facebook to block facial recognition, some kinds of targeted advertising or personal information. The European Union forced the enactment of those changes. Facebook said its new privacy protections went into effect in Europe last week, but will be extended to users worldwide in the future. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on information from Facebook and reports from the Associated Press and Reuters. Caty Weaver was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Quiz Quiz - Facebook Makes Public its Full Content Guidelines Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story regulate v. to make rules or laws that control something moderator n. person who monitors or manages public information awareness n. feeling, experiencing or noticing of something context n. the situation something happens within and that can help explain it artificial intelligence n. the ability of a machine to reproduce human behavior review v. look at or examine carefully An American nonprofit group called Justice Rising is working to educate young people in areas where conflicts are taking place. The United Nations Childrens Fund or UNICEF says the California-based group is one of many organizations struggling to meet a need that usually is unmet in conflict zones. The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is one such area. Justice Rising built its first school in eastern Congo in 2015. Since then, it has built six other schools. They employ 60 teachers and administrators, and serve more than 1,600 students. Fighting was a major problem in eastern Congo from 1996 through 2003. Today, clashes and killings are continuing in the area. Changing lives with schools Cassandra Lee is the founder of Justice Rising. She told VOA that setting up schools in a community affected by war can make a big difference in the lives of young people. "You can see a decrease of child soldiers, Lee noted. She added, You can see young girls less likely to be taken as a child bride and in turn become child mothers. You can see community health increase." UNICEF officials say 27 million children are out of school in conflict zones such as Syria, South Sudan, Iraq and Yemen, or in areas divided by religion and natural resources. Linda Jones, an education expert with UNICEF, says that when children miss school because of conflict, it also affects their social development. She added that this can have an effect on the society, and that getting children into schools contributes to a nation's stability. Cassandra Lee feels that having more than one school in a community can help people come out of war and into a culture of peace." Lees interest in education started when, at the age of 10, she learned how war affects the lives of children. Years later, she moved to South Sudan and Uganda and traveled to eastern Congo. There, she heard many personal stories from people affected by war. Lee met her husband, Edison, in Africa, where he advised businesses. Together, they are trying to improve the reach of the aid group. Their goal is to open 40 schools by the year 2020. They are also creating partnerships with groups in the Middle East. "In Syria and Iraq," said Edison Lee, "we're really trying to empower local organizations that are already doing great work, supporting them financially or sponsoring their programs." Providing the right services Less than 4 percent of humanitarian appeals worldwide is directed at financing for education, said Linda Jones of UNICEF. The UN agency launched an appeal this year for $900 million to aid education in countries affected by conflict and natural disasters. UNICEF says it will spend one billion dollars a year over the next four years on education. Jones says the programs need to be flexible. One example is a program in Afghanistan where community schools reach out to the village where the children are. "There are also programs with learning through radios," she added, and using games on computers to improve skills in mathematics. Jones has also worked in Somalia, where some education solutions did not require modern technology. "Children had libraries brought to them on the backs of camels," she said, and, "The librarian walked with the camel from place to place...children had opportunities to learn to read different books." Both large and small organizations have the same difficulty of changing their operations to meet the need, which UNICEF says is growing. The question, says Cassandra Lee of her organizations schools in Congo, is not how can you help a few hundred lives every year, but a few thousand. Im Phil Dierking. Michael OSullivan reported this story for VOANews.com. Phil Dierking adapted his report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. Is education affected by conflict in your country? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story bride - n. a woman who has just married or is about to be married resource - n. something that a country has and can use to increase its wealth opportunity - n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done library - n. a place where books, magazines, and other materials (such as videos and musical recordings) are available for people to use or borrow camel - n. a large animal of Africa and Asia that has a long neck and one or two large humps on its back and that is often used for desert travel empower - v. to give power to (someone) sponsor - n. a person or organization that gives someone money for participating in a charity event (such as a walk or race) flexible - adj. willing to change or to try different things contribute - v. to give (something, such as money, goods, or time) to help a person, group, cause, or organization stability - n. the quality or state of something that is not easily changed or likely to change 20 minutes ago Biden tells GOP to 'get out of the way' on debt limit WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden on Monday told Republican senators to get out of the way and let Democrats suspend the nations debt limit on their own, hoping to keep the U.S. government from Read Article Army to probe rape claim against Blue Helmets in South Sudan The Nepal Army has formed a board of inquiry to investigate the claim of rape against Nepali UN Peacekeepers in South Sudan. A few troopers from the Blue Helmets allegedly raped two minors at their duty stations. Community College Students Want to Use More Effective Birth Control Methods But Cant Always Get What They Want Kristine Hopkins, Celia Hubert, Kate Coleman-Minahan, Amanda Jean Stevenson, Kari White, Daniel Grossman, and Joseph E. Potter Introduction Female community college students who have a child while in college are 65% more likely to drop out than those who dont. Community college students experience several risk factors for having a child before they are ready. Many are between the ages of 18 and 24, which is the age group that has the highest rates of unintended pregnancy and births. Many are also lower-income and racial/ethnic minority students, groups that are more likely to experience an unintended pregnancy or birth than higher income women and non-Latina white women. Community college students are also less likely than four-year college students to have health insurance or access to reproductive health services from on-campus health centers. In this brief, the authors examine if community college students want to use more effective birth control methods and, if so, whether they are able to access those methods. Methods of birth control that are more effective include those for which nine or fewer women in 100 will get pregnant while using the method over the course of a year. The IUD and implant (which are sometimes called long-acting reversible contraception, or LARC) are the most effective of these methods; fewer than one woman per 100 per year will get pregnant while using one. Hormonal methods such as the pill, ring, patch, or shot, are also considered more effective. Condoms, withdrawal, and natural family planning are considered less effective methods. This brief focuses on the results for 966 young women from three community colleges in Dallas, South Texas and West Texas who provided complete information and were considered at risk of unintended pregnancy. Key Findings Overall, 68% of the women wanted to be using more effective birth control methods but only 30% were actually using them (see figure). 21% of young women in the study wanted to use an IUD or implant but only 9% were using one of these LARC methods. 47% wanted to use the pill, ring, patch, or shot, but less than half, 21%, were using a hormonal method. Only 18% of women said they wanted to use condoms or withdrawal but three times that many, 54%, were using one of these less effective methods. 16% of women surveyed used no birth control method at all. Among the young women who wanted to use more effective birth control methods but were not, top reasons were financial, such as not being able to afford the method, and informational, such as not knowing where to get the method. This figure1 shows that 68% of Texas community college students at risk of pregnancy wanted to be using the IUD, implant, pill, ring, patch, or shot but only 30% were actually using these more effective methods. *<1% (8 students) used a natural family planning method. Click here to expand figure Policy Implications These findings suggest that improving information about and access to health insurance coverage and low-cost contraception could increase community college students use of more effective methods of birth control. This could help community college students have children when they are ready, thus improving their chances of successfully completing college. Community colleges could implement several strategies to help students avoid having a child before they are ready. Colleges could provide information about enrolling in public or private health insuranceas well as information about pregnancy prevention and contraceptive methodsduring orientation, in academic courses and events on campus, and through peer-to-peer and staff-to-student mentoring. Colleges could also connect students with local family planning clinics by, for example, providing links to clinic finders on the college website. Clinics, state health officials, and other groups that administer subsidized family planning programs could also improve outreach to students. Reference 1Hopkins, K, Hubert, C, Coleman-Minahan, K, Stevenson, A.J, White, K., Grossman, D, & Potter, J.E. (2018). Unmet demand for short-acting hormonal and long-acting reversible contraception among community college students in Texas. Journal of American College Health. Suggested Citation Hopkins, K, Hubert, C, Coleman-Minahan, K, Stevenson, A.J, White, K., Grossman, D, & Potter, J.E. (2018). Community college students want to use more effective birth control methods but cant always get what they want. PRC Research Brief 3(5). DOI: 10.15781/T2RJ49B80. About the Authors Kristine Hopkins (khopkins@prc.utexas.edu) is a research assistant professor of sociology and faculty research associate at the Population Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin; Celia Hubert is a Catedra-CONACYT researcher assigned to the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico; Kate Coleman-Minahan is an assistant professor of nursing, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Amanda Jean Stevenson is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder; Kari White is an associate professor in the department of Health Care Organization & Policy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; Daniel Grossman is a professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences and director of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the University of California, San Francisco; and Joseph E. Potter is a professor of sociology and a faculty research associate at the Population Research Center. Potter is the principal investigator; Hopkins, Grossman, and White are investigators; Coleman-Minahan and Stevenson are co-investigators, and Hubert is an affiliated researcher with the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, which is based at UTs Population Research Center. Acknowledgements This project was supported by a grant from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. Infrastructure support for the Population Research Center at the University of Texas was provided by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD042849). President Donald Trumps escalating dispute with China over trade and technology is threatening jobs and profits in working- class communities where his America First agenda hit home. The Commerce Department has received more than 2,400 applications from companies seeking waivers from the administrations tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which may result in duty payments of millions of dollars for larger businesses. The department has begun posting the requests online for public comment; several of the applications released so far suggest deep misgivings with Trumps protectionist strategy, especially in areas where he won strong support during the 2016 election. The tariffs are aimed primarily at China for flooding the global market with cheap steel and aluminum. But theyve also led to confusion and uncertainty, according to Associated Press interviews and a review of records. In Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin, for example, businesses operating in the furniture, energy and food sectors have outlined the financial difficulties theyd face if theyre not excused from the steel tariff. In Okmulgee, Oklahoma, dozens of jobs hang in the balance as office furniture giant Steelcase waits to hear back from the Commerce Department. A Steelcase subsidiary, PolyVision, operates a plant in Okmulgee that uses a special type of steel from Japan to manufacture a durable glass-like surface for whiteboards and architectural purposes. PolyVision cannot and will not be able to procure from U.S. companies the cold-rolled steel it requires in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or of a satisfactory quality, Steelcase said. Trump won most of the votes cast for president in Okmulgee County. Without a waiver, Steelcase warned, the economic viability of PolyVision [and] the small town of Okmulgee would be jeopardized. The waiver request also indicates that a USD15 million plant expansion may be at risk. Steelcase and PolyVision are on the verge of making the investment, which would create new construction and manufacturing jobs, according to the request. Roger Ballenger, Okmulgees city manager, said he and other local officials are very concerned about the situation with PolyVision. The tariffs 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum are designed to protect and rebuild the U.S. companies that manufacture the metals. The U.S. temporarily exempted several major trading partners, including the European Union, Mexico and Canada. China, which was left on the target list, retaliated by imposing tariffs on $3 billion in U.S. products, including apples, pork and ginseng. Trump responded by adding more protectionist measures as punishment for Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property. And Beijing punched back by proposing tariffs on $50 billion in U.S. products including small aircraft and soybeans a direct threat to rural areas that were key to Trumps victory. John Hritz, CEO of JSW Steel USA in Baytown, Texas, said his company is in lockstep with Trumps approach. Were in favor of growing the steel industry in this country, Hritz said. JSW Steel, owned by Indian conglomerate JSW Group, is embarking on a $500 million overhaul of the plant that it says will create hundreds of jobs. The growth would be welcomed in Baytown, where unemployment is 9.8 percent, more than double the national rate. Baytown is located partly in Harris County, which Democrat Hillary Clinton won, and partly in Chambers County, which Trump handily won. The future is much murkier for another Baytown steel business, Borusan Mannesmann Pipe. Without a waiver, Borusan may face tariffs of $25 million to $30 million annually if it imports steel tubing and casing from its parent company in Turkey, according to information the company provided to the AP. Borusan said the Baytown production line would no longer be competitive and jobs would be threatened if it cannot import 135,000 metric tons of steel annually over the next two years. The pipes Borusan produces are used primarily as casing for oil and natural gas wells. But if Commerce says yes, Borusan will be able to unlock a $25 million investment in the Baytown facility as it seeks to become a 100 percent domestic supplier, according to the waiver request. An additional $50 million expansion in pipe fabrication capacity would follow, the company said, leading to as many as 170 new jobs. Seneca Foods Corporation, the nations largest vegetable canner, said in its waiver application that its unclear, at best, if U.S. suppliers have the ability or willingness to expand their production in the long term to meet the companys annual demand for tinplated steel. But clearly they cannot meet demand in the short term, Seneca told Commerce officials. That means Seneca has to buy a portion of what it needs from overseas. A person with knowledge of Senecas situation said the company would face a $2.25 million duty if the Commerce Department doesnt approve its waiver request for 11,000 metric tons of tinplate it already agreed to purchase from China. The material is to be delivered this year and next, according to the waiver request. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. Seneca said it employs more than 400 people at can-making facilities in Wisconsin and Idaho and near its headquarters in New Yorks Wayne County, where Trump bested Clinton. The company doesnt warn layoffs are imminent if the waiver isnt approved. Instead, the tariffs would likely come out of Senecas bottom line, the person said. Richard Lardner, Washington, AP Steve Wynn may be gone from the casino company that bears his name, but he still has friends in high places, including the chairman of the board. D. Boone Wayson took over as chairman of Wynn Resorts Ltd. in February after Wynn stepped down, a shake-up spurred by reports that Wynn sexually harassed female employees over decades. The Wynn and Wayson families go way back, to a bingo parlor operated by Steve and Boones fathers in the 1960s. Now those longstanding ties may become a liability for Wayson and other so-called legacy directors. Steve Wynns ex-wife Elaine, who has become the companys largest individual shareholder, made it clear this week that she intends to go after board members who were close to her former husband. To start, she is withholding her votes for John Hagenbuch, a director since 2012. He sits on the companys compensation committee and the special committee of the board investigating the allegations against Steve Wynn. Hagenbuch is a real estate investor from Ketchum, Idaho, near where Steve Wynn has vacationed for years. I am deeply concerned by what I view as the lack of independence and responsible oversight demonstrated by the current board of directors, she said in a letter to shareholders on Monday. My opposition to Mr. Hagenbuchs re-election serves as a referendum on all of the longstanding legacy directors. In response, the company noted that it has added three new experienced and distinguished directors since Wynns departure. Neither the company nor any board member is providing information to, or accepting information from, the former chief executive officer, according to an e-mailed statement. Wayson is an experienced, seasoned and accomplished gaming and real estate professional and the right person to lead the refresh of the board, the company said. Wynn Resorts has implemented many changes since Steve Wynn stepped down two months ago. Three longtime board members have left the company or announced plans to retire. And the three new directors, appointed last week, are all women. That means four of the companys 10 directors are now women, well ahead of the 23 percent average of Fortune 500 companies, according to the corporate research firm Equilar Inc. Among those not on the board: the companys new chief executive officer, Matt Maddox. That puts him in the minority among CEOs of large corporations. The board believed that it was important to appoint independent and diverse directors as a first step, Wynn Resorts said in a statement. As we move forward to further strengthen the company and board, we anticipate adding additional directors this summer including insiders. Elaine Wynn is opposing Hagenbuch because his term on the board is up at this years annual meeting, slated for May 16 in Las Vegas. Under the companys current rules, hed serve until 2021 as part of Wynns staggered board a situation she would also like to change. Among her other complaints, Maddoxs compensation of USD24 million is exorbitant, and a possible sale of a still under-construction casino near Boston, which the CEO has said he is contemplating, is short-sighted. In an April 19 letter to Elaine Wynn, Wayson said that the deadline for nominating directors had passed. The board didnt see fit to reopen the process, he said, but would look forward to engaging with you constructively in the future. The Wayson and Wynn families have a long history. After Steve Wynns father Michael died unexpectedly in 1963, Steve Wynn stepped in take over the bingo hall near rural Lothian, Maryland, that was co-owned with Edward Wayson Sr., according to a 1981 casino filing in New Jersey. Steve Wynn used cash from the bingo operation to begin his legendary rise in Las Vegas. D. Boone Wayson, 11 years younger than Steve, tagged along for much of it, working with the casino mogul at the Golden Nugget casinos in Las Vegas and in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he served as president. Wayson was involved in one of the more colorful moments in Wynns career, when an alleged drug trafficker named Anthony Castelbuono, aka Tony Cakes, came in to gamble at the New Jersey resort. Wayson was questioned by federal regulators about his contact with the gambler, but his conduct was not an issue, Massachusetts officials concluded. The relationship between Wayson and Wynn could still play a role in the companys future. Regulators in Nevada, Macau and Massachusetts are investigating the allegations of sexual harassment, including questions of what other Wynn executives and board members knew about the behavior. On April 12, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission declined to immediately remove Steve Wynns name from the companys gambling license, despite his having left the company and sold all of his shares. Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said he wanted to make sure the former CEO wont have any residual influence over Wynn Resorts. Through a spokeswoman, the commission declined to comment on Waysons ongoing role at the company, saying its preparing for an upcoming hearing on Steve Wynns license status. Anne Sheehan, who formerly ran the corporate governance program at the California State Teachers Retirement System, said it would be difficult for a company the size of Wynn Resorts to replace its entire board at once. Sheehan said she recommended one of the new members, author and former executive Betsy Atkins, to the Wynn board. This is a good first step, Sheehan said in an interview. Im confident well see additional changes with some of the long-tenured board members. Hal Shear, a management consultant who said he is friends with gaming commissioner Crosby, said the ties between Steve Wynn and current board members such as Wayson are worth examining. Youd like to see as few entanglements as possible, Shear said in an interview. The fact that he knows the person from long ago needs to be looked at in the context of the recent past. Do they vacation together? Do they have houses next to each other? Do they do anything that creates any conflicts of interest? Christopher Palmeri, Bloomberg Chinas defense minister said yesterday that fighting the threat of terrorism is a top concern to be discussed by a Beijing-led group of Central Asian states at a meeting this week that highlights Chinese ambitions to dominate the Asian security agenda. Wei Fenghe told fellow defense officials from the eight-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Beijing that the group stood as a force for peace. Foreign ministers from the group were also meeting in Beijing and a heads of state summit is planned for June in the Chinese port of Qingdao. Chinese President Xi Jinping also plans to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an informal summit Friday and Saturday in the central city of Wuhan. Their two nations are rivals for Asian leadership and share a disputed and often tense Himalayan border. The focus on terrorism reflects Chinas hopes to use the grouping to stamp out threats of cross-border support for low-level separatist insurgencies particularly in the predominantly Turkic-speaking region of Xinjiang. Along with China and Russia, the SCO includes the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan as well as close Chinese ally Pakistan and its arch-rival India. Cooperation among member nation defense ministries has made important contributions to maintain peace in the region and the world, Wei said. Wei said the meeting would also discuss the South China Sea, where China has rapidly been consolidating its claim to virtually the entire strategic waterway through the construction of man-made island military bases. China has encouraged Central Asian countries to play a bigger role in regional affairs as part of the SCO. Apart from stepping up security cooperation, China has funneled significant economic investment into Central Asia, a critical hub in President Xi Jinpings Belt- and-Road infrastructure initiative connecting the Eurasian continent. Beijing has also sought a bigger role in Afghanistans political future, pushing for settlement talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government. AP Cabinet ratifies foreign visit rule for officials The Cabinet has endorsed the Foreign Visit Management Directive for government officials including ministers, aimed at controlling unnecessary foreign trips by those holding public office. For the first time, Facebook Inc. is letting people know its specific rules for taking down content once its reported to the social networks moderators. The 27-page document governs the behavior of more than 2 billion users, giving Facebooks definitions of hate speech, violent threats, sexual exploitation and more. Its the closest the world has come to seeing an international code of conduct that was previously enacted behind closed doors. The release of the document follows frequent criticism and confusion about the companys policies. The community standards read like the result of years of trial and error and are used to provide workers with enough specificity to make quick and consistent judgments. While fully nude close-ups of buttocks arent allowed, they are permitted if photoshopped on a public figure. Content from a hacked source isnt acceptable except in limited cases of newsworthiness. Facebook published the policies to help people understand where the company draws the line on nuanced issues, Monika Bickert, vice president of global policy management, said in a blog post. The company will for the first time give people a right to appeal its decisions. The release of the content policies comes just days after Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg testified to Congress, where he faced frequent questions about the companys practices. They included lawmakers asking if Facebook unfairly takes down more conservative content than that from liberals or why bad content such as fake profiles and posts selling opioid drugs stay up even though they have been reported. Our policies are only as good as the strength and accuracy of our enforcement and our enforcement isnt perfect, Bickert said. In some cases, we make mistakes because our policies are not sufficiently clear to our content reviewers. More often than not, however, we make mistakes because our processes involve people, and people are fallible. The company has 7,500 content reviewers, up 40 percent from a year earlier, working in 40 languages. Facebook also has said its working to increase the number of workers who speak the various languages that require more attention. But with 2.2 billion users around the world, that means each reviewer is responsible on average for a userbase that is equivalent to the population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In his testimony to Congress, Zuckerberg promised that the application of standards would improve with artificial intelligence. Those systems, however, are trained by humans and are likely to also be fallible. While Facebook aspires to apply its policies consistently and fairly to a community that transcends regions, cultures and languages, it frequently fails to do so. Recent reports in the New York Times have detailed how the company has been slow to respond to posts that incite ethnic violence in countries including Myanmar and Sri Lanka. In many cases, people have reported content that Facebook has allowed to remain up, even though it violates standards. The policies are detailed when it comes to specific problems the U.S. has experienced especially gun violence. The profiles of mass murderers are taken down if theyve killed four people at once, as defined by whether they were convicted or identified by law enforcement with images from the crime, or whether they were took their own life or were killed at the scene or aftermath. One of Facebooks definitions about harassment involves claims that a victim of a violent tragedy is lying about being a victim, acting/pretending to be a victim of a verified event, or otherwise is paid or employed to mislead people about their role in the event. That definition applies only when a message is sent directly to a survivor or immediate family member as occurred with victims of the Sandy Hook and Parkland shootings. Now that Facebook has published the policies, its asking for feedback to edit them. The company will host a series of events around the world to solicit advice, starting in May. Our efforts to improve and refine our Community Standards depend on participation and input from people around the world, Bickert said. Sarah Frier, Bloomberg A report by a British-based conservation group says rising Chinese demand for products made from elephant skin is driving poaching and posing an even greater threat to Asias wild herds than the ivory trade. The group Elephant Family says the threat is currently greatest in Myanmar, but warns that the Asian elephant could become extinct in half of the areas where it now ranges in the region if the problem escalates. It says the threat exceeds that from the ivory trade because poachers are targeting any elephant, not just those with tusks, and threatens elephants that are scattered in poorly protected areas. The reports authors say their research shows that the elephants skin is ground into powder and sold in China as a cure for stomach ailments, as well as being fashioned into beads for necklaces, bracelets and pendants. The products are sold in physical markets and increasingly over the internet, where the report says sellers post videos showing workers in backyards in Myanmar and Laos cutting up and carving elephant carcasses, to vouch for the authenticity of their wares. Belinda Stewart-Cox, Elephant Familys director of conservation, told reporters at a news conference yesterday that from the time the group started monitoring in 2014, there has been a major ramping up of the advertising, the promotional pitches and the apparent sales. She said it seems as if there are marketers and profiteers behind this looking to ratchet up what has, I think, long been a very, very minor incidental or local market trade of no great scale, or no scale that was threatening, anyways. Researchers identified 50 individual Chinese traders selling through social media forums. They said labels are printed in Chinese, prices are quoted in Chinese currency and sales online are conducted in Mandarin. The report Skinned: the Growing Appetite for Asian Elephants also said that Chinas State Forestry Administration has apparently licensed some products that contain elephant skin. At a time when China has shown commitment to ending its domestic trade in elephant ivory, it would be troubling and perverse to find that, at the same time, it is creating a new, legal demand for elephant skin products, it said. Stewart-Cox said her organization has reached out to Chinese officials and has worked closely with Myanmar officials to address the issue. It is our intention to facilitate collaboration if possible, she said. I think we should pull together on this, there is no time, Myanmar is losing too many elephants, too fast. Elephant Family puts the current size of Myanmars wild population at approximately 2,000. Quoting figures from Myanmars Forest Department, the group says that wild elephant deaths there have risen significantly in recent years, from 26 in 2013 to at least 61 in 2016, most of them due to poaching. Many were found with the skin stripped from the carcasses. The timescale fits in with the appearance of elephant skin products online. AP Police in a southern Chinese city have caught a man suspected of setting a fire at a three-story building yesterday that killed 18 people and injured five others. The public security bureau of Qingyuan City in Guangdong province said authorities arrested a 32-year-old man named Liu Chunlu in the county- level city of Yingde, which Qingyuan oversees. Police had offered a 200,000 yuan reward for the man they accuse of starting the fire early yesterday morning. The bureau said the man had burns on his hips. It did not provide a motive for the arson, but state broadcaster China Central Television reported the suspect had set fire to a karaoke parlor after an argument with others. The suspect blocked the entrance of the joint with his motorcycle and then ignited it, setting it ablaze, CCTV said. The parlor had only one passage for entering and exiting, the report said. Police, fire, health and other departments sent rescuers to the site after receiving a call around half-past midnight about the fire, the Qingyuan police said. The fire was put out at 12:55 a.m. and the injured had been sent to the hospital, the bureau said on its official account on the microblog site, Sina Weibo. China suffers frequent deadly fires and industrial accidents, often blamed on negligence. Last year, police arrested a man suspected of setting fire to a two-story house in eastern China, killing 22 people. At that time, investigators discovered traces of gasoline at the scene of the pre-dawn fire in Jiangsu province and found all the doors of the house locked. Noble Group Ltd. dissident shareholder Goldilocks Investment Co. says the Singapore regulators handling of the traders drawn-out battle for survival is being closely followed by overseas investors, highlighting the importance of the case for the city-states reputation as a financial hub. This was our first investment into Asia: we were looking at this as making an investment into Asia, especially in Singapore, Ajit Vijay Joshi, a fund manager at Abu Dhabi-based Goldilocks, said in a phone interview. He added: Im sure a lot of other people are watching what they will do. Once Asias largest commodity trader, Noble Group has imploded over the past three years, losing billions, defaulting on USD3.4 billion of debt, and shredding its market value. That decline has been marked from the outset by allegations of improper accounting by long-time foe Iceberg Research, which the company has denied. While Noble Group Chairman Paul Brough is now pushing a debt-for-equity rescue, Goldilocks is resisting, saying its unfair in its current form, and appealing to Singapore Exchange Ltd. to address its concerns. Were closely watching how the whole regulatory regime responds to the minority shareholder rights, Joshi said on Monday in his first media interview on the dispute. Im sure a lot of other people are looking at SGXs response to some of the allegations that have been put forward. The Singapore exchange, the front-line regulator in the city-state, did not immediately provide a comment on Joshis remarks. Earlier on Monday, an SGX spokesperson said the exchange remains in active engagement with Noble Group when asked about the fight between the company and Goldilocks. An external spokesperson for Noble Group declined to comment yesterday, referencing past announcements to the SGX, including last weeks letter from the chairman setting out the case for the debt-for-equity rescue. In that note, Brough said if shareholders dont approve the plan, the company would opt for a pre-packaged administration in the U.K. to implement the restructuring. Our regulators need to rethink their strategy on when to intervene and investigate, Associate Professor Mak Yuen Teen, co-director of the Corporate Governance and Financial Reporting Centre at the National University of Singapore Business School, said by email yesterday. Not limited to this case, but theres a sense that until something escalates to a huge public scandal, the regulators are quite content to stay on the sidelines. Goldilocks bought into Noble Group in mid-2017, and now has 8.1 percent, the largest holding after founder Richard Elman and Chinas sovereign wealth fund. Since then, Goldilockss relationship with Noble Group has soured as it objected to the rescue plan. In March, it sued the company and its executives, alleging managers paid themselves inflated salaries and then attempted a cover-up. Noble Group has said the allegations are without merit. While the fund has been battling the debt-for-equity proposal, more than 80 percent of senior creditors are in support, according to Noble Group. The next key date comes Monday, when the annual general meeting is scheduled. A separate special meeting will be held for a shareholder vote on the rescue. Over the past 12 months, the shares have collapsed more than 90 percent. Goldilocks says Broughs plan will leave existing equity holders with too small a share of a new company. The latest row flared this week, when Noble Group rejected a submission from Goldilocks to nominate five directors, saying the paperwork was invalid. Goldilocks described the move as unprecedented. Iceberg has also sought to draw the regulators into the fray. In August, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said it will investigate any potential breaches of the law flagged to it, responding to allegations from Iceberg that authorities failed to make adequate checks on the trader. I see so many cases of bad behavior harming minority shareholders that it is seriously damaging trust in our market, said Associate Professor Mak. Regulators cannot only step in and investigate where there is incontrovertible proof of wrongdoing by then everyone is dead metaphorically. Joshi said that hes optimistic that the company can still be saved, and the fund is working on an alternative to Broughs current plan. At the same time, he said that lots of overseas investors are keeping tabs on its struggle. Krystal Chia, Bloomberg A company based in Taiwan plans to build a USD9.4 billion chemical manufacturing complex on a 970-hectare site in Louisiana, officials announced yesterday. Gov. John Bel Edwards and Formosa Petrochemical Corp. Executive Vice President Keh-Yen Lin announced the plans for the plant in St. James Parish, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The project is expected to provide 1,200 permanent jobs with average salaries of $84,500 and up to 8,000 construction jobs, according to a state news release. The plant will be the parishs largest industry, Parish President Timmy Roussel said. It will add about $28 million a year in property taxes once the exemption offered as an industrial incentive expires, Roussel told The Advocate \. The parish now gets about $60 million a year in various taxes, he said. Part of Louisianas standard incentive package is, with local approval, a full property tax exemption for five years, followed by an 80-percent exemption for three years. That alone would add up to about $207 million in tax breaks over eight years. Gary Perilloux, spokesman for Louisiana Economic Development, said he was working to get dollar figures for the exemptions. Construction is expected to take 10 years, possibly beginning as soon as 2019 if all permits are approved. The work would be in two phases, with the first permanent jobs expected to be filled in 2021. That hiring would trigger the first of four $3 million installments of a performance-based grant to offset infrastructure costs, the news release said. The complex downriver from Donaldsonville would take natural gas and make ethylene, propylene, ethylene glycol and associated polymers used in many plastic products. Its the latest big petrochemical expansion in Louisiana motivated by cheap natural gas produced by the American fracking boom. At least one such project, however, has been dropped. South African energy and chemical company Sasol called off plans last year for an $11 billion to $14 billion plant to convert natural gas to liquid fuels. Sasol continued with plans for an $11.1 billion ethane cracking plant in southwest Louisiana. Formosa has 410 employees at three existing Louisiana facilities. Three U.S. subsidiaries agreed to pay $12.8 million in remediation costs and fines in 2009 after a long-running battle over air, water and hazardous waste violations at two petrochemical plants in Texas and Louisiana. The proposed plants would be run by a Louisiana-registered subsidiary of Formosa, called FG LA LLC, with Lin as its CEO. Since the site is just downriver from the Sunshine Bridge, Formosa has dubbed it the Sunshine Project. The bridge opened in 1964 in what was then a sparsely populated area and described by detractors as a bridge to nowhere got its nickname from then-Gov. Jimmie Davis song, You Are My Sunshine. These days, it is heavily used. For more than 50 years, the Sunshine Bridge has connected the river parishes in a strategic fashion that has enabled tremendous industrial growth and thousands of new jobs along both sides of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, Edwards said. The new Sunshine Project continues that bridge into a brighter economic future for Louisiana. AP Army rebels are in control of Portugal tonight after an almost bloodless dawn coup ended nearly 50 years of dictatorship. Shortly after midnight, tanks rolled into the centre of Lisbon. The Salazar Bridge over the River Tagus was seized and the airport, radio and television centres were taken. Troops armed with machineguns stormed the barracks where the Prime Minister, Dr Marcello Caetano, and several of his ministers had taken refuge. The former deputy armed forces minister, General Antoniio de Spinola, received the surrender of the prime minister, who has now fled into exile to the Portuguese island of Madeira. By sunrise the Movement of the Armed Forces, or MFA, was in control. It issued an immediate proclamation appealing for calm and patriotism. After almost five decades of dictatorship, it promised to restore civil liberties and hold general elections to a national assembly as soon as possible. The MFA condemned Portugals foreign policy. After 13 years of fighting, it said, Portugal had been unable to achieve peace between Portuguese of all races and creeds. It also called for a clean-up of state-run institutions which had legitimised the abuse of power. A seven-man junta, led by General Spinola, would oversee the transition period until democracy could be established. General Spinola and his troops received a heros welcome from crowds, who gave them cigarettes, food, newspapers and carnations which were in full bloom at the time. In one violent outburst, up to six civilians were killed after shots were fired from the headquarters of the police station and troops responded by storming the building. The Democratic Elections Commission group, which contested last years parliamentary elections against the Government, issued a statement today saying that the group considered as positive an act which could lead to the overthrow of a regime which for 50 years has oppressed the people of Portugal. The majority of Portuguese troops, nearly 140,000 out of 204,000, are posted overseas, propping up Portugals tottering colonial empire in Angola, Guinea and Mozambique. General Spinola was sacked from his job as deputy armed forces minister last month after writing a book, Portugal and the Future, in which he argued that the Portuguese could not win its African wars by military means alone. He was Governor and Commander in Chief of Portuguese Guinea between 1968 and 1972 and was widely respected for trying to win over the hearts and minds of the local population. His book was regarded as heretical by the countrys right-wing establishment in particular his stated claim that Portugal was not defending the West and its civilization by colonising African states. Courtesy BBC News In context The 25 April coup became known as the Carnation Revolution. It ended the longest dictatorship in Europe, the Estado Novo. The new regime pushed through a rapid and hasty programme of decolonisation. Over the next few years Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Cape Verde Islands, Sao Tome and Principe, and Angola all became independent. General Spinola served briefly as interim president and was succeeded by General Francisco da Costa Gomes. Between them they nationalised about 60% of the economy and carried out a major redistribution of land. Hundreds of political prisoners were released. Over the course of the next decade a stable two party system was established. Caetano spent the rest of his life in exile in Brazil. Freedom Day is now celebrated as a national holiday on 25 April. Cabinet ministers from the G7 countries have committed to taking Russia to task for what Britains foreign secretary described yesterday as a broad range of malign behavior Boris Johnson said the G7 ministers agreed during their weekend discussion on the need to address the disruptive influence of Vladimir Putins Russia. The G7s foreign and interior ministries are holding talks in Toronto, where Chrystia Freeland, Canadas foreign affairs minister, has pushed Russia to the top of a packed agenda that includes North Korea, Iran and the ongoing Syrian crisis. The talks are part of a series of ministerial-level gatherings in the run-up to the G7 leaders summit which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will host in June in Charlevoix, Quebec. What we decided [] was that we were going to set up a G7 group that would look at Russian malign behavior in all its manifestations, whether its cyberwar, whether its disinformation, assassination attempts, whatever it happens to be, and collectively try and call it out, Johnson said. Russia is so unbelievably clever at kind of sowing doubt and confusion and spreading all this fake news and trying to muddy the waters. We think theres a role for the G7 in just trying to provide some clarity. The ministers will also be tackling the issue of how best to deal with foreign fighters who are returning from Middle East battlefields. Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said that the defeat of Islamic State militants last year in Syria has caused them to spread out geographically as well as on the internet and pose a renewed and potentially more insidious threat. Other security issues include the nuclear standoff with North Korea, the crisis in Venezuela, possible war crimes committed against Rohingya Muslims and ongoing civil unrest in Syria and the Middle East. AP 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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Treating young children in Sub-Saharan Africa with azithromycin, a safe, inexpensive, and widely used antibiotic, significantly reduced deaths of children under five in a large randomized trial led by scientists at UC San Francisco. The finding could help speed progress toward the United Nations' goal of ending preventable child deaths by 2030. Researchers randomized 1,533 communities in Niger, Malawi, and Tanzania, so that all young children in a given community received either a single dose of oral azithromycin or a placebo four times over two years. During visits to these communities, the researchers enrolled all the children they could find who were between one month and five years oldabout 190,000 children each time. By the end of the trial, child mortality in the azithromycin-treated communities was 13.5 percent lower overall than it was in the communities that received the placebo. The results of the study (the French name for which is abbreviated "MORDOR") will be published April 25, 2018, in The New England Journal of Medicine. "The study shows we can prevent young children from dying with a simple intervention," said Jeremy Keenan, MD, MPH, the study's first author. Keenan is a professor of ophthalmology and director of international programs at the Francis I. Proctor Foundation at UCSF, which has overseen long-standing programs in Africa that give antibiotics to entire communities to prevent blindness from an infectious disease known as trachoma. "We could scale our newly studied intervention to reach millions of vulnerable children in resource-poor countries, in much the same way that trachoma programs, which give children and adults a single dose of azithromycin each year, have been doing for years," he said. The scientists said more research is needed to determine exactly how the drug prevented children from dying. Although the mechanism of azithromycin's effect on mortality has yet to be determined, it may act against microbes that can cause respiratory infections, diarrhea and malaria, three of the biggest killers for children under five years old. The largest effects were seen in Niger, where more than 10 percent of children die by their fifth birthday. Child mortality in the azithromycin-treated communities there fell by 18 percent. The results were less dramatic in Malawi and Tanzania, where childhood mortality rates are lower than they are in Niger. The researchers said that although giving azithromycin widely could foster antibiotic resistancethe evolution of bacterial strains that are resistant to the drugthe evidence from trachoma elimination programs suggests such resistance would be to macrolide antibiotics, such as azithromycin and erythromycin, and not necessarily to other classes of antibiotics, such as penicillin, which are used in Africa as first-line treatments for respiratory infections. "Treating only young children may select for less resistance than treating the entire community, as we've done in trachoma programs," said Thomas Lietman, MD, professor of ophthalmology and director of the Proctor Foundation at UCSF, the study's senior author. "The potential for resistance will have to be balanced against the potential to save the lives of thousands of young children." He noted that the youngest children in the study, those most vulnerable to life-threatening diseases, benefited the most from receiving azithromycin. Deaths among one to five-month-olds fell by nearly 25 percent, nearly double the rate of the group overall. In response to the findings, the World Health Organization announced the formation of a guidelines development group to review evidence from MORDOR and other azithromycin intervention studies. This is the first of several steps in the process that WHO uses to develop treatment guidelines. The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and run in partnership with researchers from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. "This study shows that azithromycin, which has been so effective in reducing trachoma, has the potential to save the lives of young children who live in places where a child dying before their fifth birthday is a tragically common event," said Rasa Izadnegahdar, MD, MPH, a deputy director in the global health division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "While we will need to keep an eye on antibiotic resistance and identify the best way to deliver this intervention in some of the hardest-to-reach communities where we partner, we are optimistic that this will be a new tool to help prevent childhood mortality." Pfizer Inc., which has donated more than 730 million doses of azithromycin, or Zithromax, for the treatment of trachoma, provided the study drug which was administered orally, along with a placebo made to match its look and taste. "MORDOR provides a breakthrough in our understanding of how we can best support the global community in future collaborations to improve survival of young children in countries with high mortality rates," said Charles Knirsch, MD, MPH, vice president, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development and an infectious diseases researcher who has helped lead Pfizer's scientific and regulatory support of the global trachoma elimination program since 1997. "These important results confirm what we had previously observed about the benefits to children in studies who participated in the mass drug administration for trachoma in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last 20 years," Knirsch said, "and they are remarkable not only for child survival but also to continued evidence of the safety of our long-standing trachoma program." Explore further Breakthrough in treatment to prevent blindness A deadly batch of synthetic marijuana laced with rat poison has claimed its fourth victim in the US Midwest, as health experts warn the public to avoid the illegal drug. Officials in several states have raised alarm over a recent outbreak of illness caused by brodifacoum, a lethal blood thinner used in rat poison, which was in the synthetic pot that victims consumed. Patients have shown up to hospitals with severe internal bleeding and vomiting blood. A fourth victim, a woman in her 30s, has died from the outbreak in Illinois, health officials announced Tuesday. The Midwestern state, where all of the deaths have occurred, is the hardest hit. "We continue to see new cases of individuals experiencing severe bleeding after using synthetic cannabinoids," Nirav Shah, the state's health director, said in a statement. Officials believe at least some of the tainted drug originated in the Chicago area, where a 20-year-old man died. The number of people who have been sickened increased over the last two weeks to more than 150 in Illinois alonewith additional cases popping up in several nearby states. Synthetic marijuana is dried plant material sprayed with various chemicalsaiming to mimic a similar reaction to the one pot delivers. The illegal drug is sold in small foil packages with street names such as Spice and K2. It is also produced in liquid form. The cure for the rat poison is high doses of Vitamin K. Valeant Pharmaceuticals has donated 800,000 tablets of the supplement to treat patients without cost, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Explore further Fake pot likely tainted with rat poison kills 3, sickens 100 2018 AFP Dr. Tara Gomes is a researcher at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). Credit: St. Michael's Hospital One out of every six deaths among young adults in Ontario is related to opioids, suggests a study led by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). The study, published today in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, found that the rate of opioid-related deaths nearly tripled in Ontario from 2000 to 2015, with one in every 133 deaths in Ontario related to opioid use by 2015. However, this number varied importantly by age group. The study expands on earlier research from Dr. Tara Gomes, which showed that one in 170 deaths in Ontario was related to opioid use in 2010. "It is striking to see that despite the efforts put into harm reduction, proper prescribing practices, and education around opioid use, the number of opioid-related deaths continues to rise," said Dr. Gomes, a scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's. "The other alarming fact is how this crisis is increasingly impacting our youth and young adults." Researchers reviewed all deaths in Ontario where prescribed or illicit opioids were determined to be a contributing factor between 2000 and 2015. In the last five years examined in this study (2010 to 2015), the most dramatic increase in opioid-related deaths occurred among those aged 15 to 24 years. By 2015, more than 1 in 9 deaths in this age group were opioid-related - up from 1 in 15 deaths five years earlier. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Dr. Gomes, who is also an ICES scientist, and her team found that a total of 29,410 years of potential life were lost prematurely due to opioid-related causes in 2015, which exceeds the years of life lost prematurely annually from diseases such as pneumonia, HIV/AIDS and influenza in the most recent data available. "These shifting patterns show us that we have to better understand the dynamics of drug use in younger populations who are succumbing to opioid-related deaths," Dr. Gomes said. "We can only truly understand this by talking directly to affected communities to learn what they need to create a safer environment in which to live." Explore further One of eight deaths among young adults related to opioid use, research finds Enact law for Chure range conservation Former President Ram Baran Yadav has urged the government to come up with policies to conserve Chure range that is going through severe degradation since decades. Credit: PLOS Blogs More and more processed products are coming on to supermarket shelves developed specifically for children. Most are designed and marketed to appeal to parents, particularly mothers, and many despite appearing to be healthy are in fact not. Many countries have consumer protections to ensure that commercial marketing is not misleading or deceptive. In Australia, the process largely relies on complaints being made to the body overseeing this legislation, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC) has tested the application of these laws in relation to Coca Cola's Mythbusting marketing campaign, which was found in 2009 to be potentially misleading and deceptive for the public. In 2015 the OPC examined products developed for toddlers, which are frequently marketed using images and words that imply that the products are healthy and/or nutritious, often suggesting they are packed with fruit, when they are not. Many of the products looked at were high in free sugars derived from fruit, regarded as free sugars by the World Health Organization, to be eaten only in small amounts. The OPC brought these products to the attention of the ACCC which decided to take action in Australia's Federal Court against one of the product ranges produced by Heinz, called Heinz Little Kids fruit and veg SHREDZ. There were three products in this category, "berries, apples and veg"; "peach, apple and veg"; "strawberry and apple with chia seeds". The packaging of the SHREDZ product contained a stylised picture of a tree on the front, with an image of a boy climbing a ladder up the tree, with coloured photographs of an apple, strawberry, raspberry, blackcurrant, with some sweetcorn kernels and slices of pumpkin. The front of the packaging carried the words '99% fruit and veg' and 'No Preservatives and No artificial colours of flavours'. The front of the box also gave prominence to the age the product was aimed at: 1-3 years. On the back, in smaller font, were the words: "Made with 99% fruit and vegetable juice and purees, these tasty treats are a fun and convenient snack for toddlers on the go. Our range of snacks and meals encourages your toddler to independently discover the delicious taste of nutritious food. With our dedicated nutritionists who are also mums, we aim to inspire a love of nutritious food that lasts a life time." In fact, the SHREDZ products did not contain real fruit and vegetables, but were made with fruit juice pastes and concentrates which are regarded as free sugars by the World Health Organization. The SHREDZ products contained between 62% and 66% sugar. Figure 1: SHREDS packaging The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleged that in its packaging of the SHREDZ products, Heinz made a number of representations that the product: is of an equivalent nutritional value to the natural fruit and vegetables depicted on the packaging; is a nutritious food and beneficial to the health of children aged 1-3 years; and/or encourages the development of healthy eating habits for children aged 1-3 years. The Court held that the SHREDZ packaging did convey the second representation that the product was a nutritious food and beneficial to the health of children aged 1-3 years. The judge said that "[e]ven a cursory examination of the packaging indicates that Heinz was promoting the Berries Product as being healthy and nutritious and that ordinary reasonable consumers would have understood that that was so. This is evident from the imagery and colours used as well as from the wording on the packaging" (as described above). According to the judge, the ingredient list and nutrition information panel (which lists that SHREDZ comprised 60% sugar) would not detract from this overall impression, as they were on the back of the box, in smaller print, and could be regarded as "fine print." The Court also held that the representation that the SHREDZ product was beneficial to the health of children aged 1-3 years was false and misleading. In reaching this conclusion, the judge discussed the WHO Guideline on sugar consumption which recommends that intake of free sugars (including fruit juice concentrates and pastes) be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake, (or ideally, to less than 5% of total energy intake), and concluded that the SHREDZ products contained high levels of free sugars well beyond the guideline which are not beneficial to the health of toddlers. Further, the judge was swayed by the argument that the high levels of sugar and the stickiness of the products lead to dental cavities in children. It is encouraging that the court is prepared to look at WHO Guidelines as well as expert evidence from nutritionists around rising obesity rates in children and the contribution of sugar. This case should send a powerful message to food manufacturers seeking to exploit parents trying to make healthy food choices for their children, by surrounding unhealthy products with a health halo. Such packaging and health claims are misleading and parents need transparent information on the health of the products they are buying, including clear labelling. What you can do Name and shame: Does a food's health claim look too good to be true? It probably is. Share examples of dodgy health claims with the #kidsaresweetenough hashtag on social media. Write to the Health Minister for your state: Ask them to make 'added sugar' labelling mandatory in your state. Write to the manufacturer: If you see misleading health claims on a kids' food (especially with a high sugar content), write to the manufacturer and call them out. Watch and share the kids are sweet enough video Explore further Study finds shortcomings in Canadian regulations governing use of sugar claims This story is republished courtesy of PLOS Blogs: blogs.plos.org. Credit: CC0 Public Domain As the nation's opioid epidemic claims thousands of lives, more and more people are hospitalized with infections, overdoses, and other medical and surgical complications of substance use. This resonates across Oregon, with a recent national report revealing that Oregon had among the highest cumulative increases of opioid-related hospitalizations of any state between 2009 and 2014. Despite high need, most hospitals lack systems to engage people with substance use disorder, initiate life-saving treatment or connect people to care after hospitalization. This causes tremendous distress among health care providers and patients alike. A new study published today in the Journal of Hospital Medicine provides a glimmer of hope. "Existing research shows the life-saving benefits of medications for addiction and that most hospitals are not well-prepared to manage complex needs of adults with substance use disorder," said lead author Honora Englander, M.D., an associate professor of medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine. "Our study shows that not addressing addiction contributes to burnout and frustration among hospital providers. And that by introducing high-quality addiction care, providers feel empowered and relieved. We found that providers' distress was not inevitable; that by treating people's addiction not only do we help patients, but we can fundamentally change how providers understand the disease of addiction and change culture." The researchers describes a "sea change" after implementation of a hospital-based addiction medicine team, called the Improving Addiction Care Team, or IMPACT. The study lays out hospital staff perceptions before and after IMPACT, which started at OHSU in 2015, and brings together physicians, social workers, peer-recovery mentors and community providers to tackle the root causes of addiction when patients are admitted to the hospital. Patients struggling with addiction can be disruptive and challenging for hospital providers who have little background in understanding or managing addiction. Some acknowledged their own resistance to engaging with patients due to the stigma they associated with addiction, and many described feelings of "moral distress," including frustration and futility of providing intensive medical and surgical care with resources or expertise to address addiction. In the new study, physicians, nurses and other clinical staff reported that Project IMPACT is making a difference by fundamentally reframing substance use disorder. "Participants felt the IMPACT 'completely reframes' addiction as a treatable chronic disease," the authors write, "improving patient engagement and communication, and humanizing care." Providers included in the study described widespread relief. They felt that IMPACT transformed care by treating patients' withdrawal, prescribing medications to treat the underlying brain disease of addiction, supporting direct communication between patients and providers, and modeling compassionate care. As one nurse participant described, "I think you feel more empowered when you've got the right medication ... the knowledge and you feel like you have the resources. You actually feel like you're making a difference." The study concludes that hospital-based interventions for substance use disorder can play a crucial role in addressing the nation's opioid epidemic. "Hospitals need a workforce and systems that can address both the physical and behavioral health needs of this population," the authors write. "By doing so, hospitals can support staff and reduce burnout, better engage patients, improve care, and reduce stigma from this devastating disease." Explore further Who should treat patients with opioid use disorder? Dr. Damiano Rondelli. Credit: UIC/Jenny Fontaine Doctors at the University of Illinois Hospital have cured seven adult patients of sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder primarily affecting the black community, using stem cells from donors previously thought to be incompatible, thanks to a new transplant treatment protocol. The doctors report on the new technique in the journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. With the new protocol, patients with aggressive sickle cell disease can receive stem cells from family members if only half of their human leukocyte antigen (HLA) markers match. Previously, donors had to be a family member with a full set of matching HLA markers, or a "fully-matched" donor. HLA markers are proteins on the surface of cells that help to regulate the immune system. The human body uses these proteins to identify which cells belong in the body and which cells do not. Because HLA markers are inherited from parents, family members are the most likely to have matching proteins. In transplants, matching HLA markers between the patient and the donor help to limit the risk that the patient's body will reject the donor cells. While doctors always try to find a closely matched donor for patients who need a stem cell transplant, only 20 percent of sickle cell patients have a family member with a full set of matching HLA markers. "We have made great strides curing adults with sickle cell disease with stem cell transplants, but the unfortunate truth is that the majority of these patients have, until now, been unable to benefit from this treatment because there are no fully-matched HLA-compatible donors available in their family," said corresponding author Dr. Damiano Rondelli, the Michael Reese Professor of Hematology and director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Rondelli and his team run the largest adult sickle cell program in the Chicago area and pioneered the use of chemotherapy-free fully-matched stem cell transplants for sickle cell patients nearly six years ago. Now, by allowing for "half-matched" donors, the new treatment protocol, which uses only a small does chemotherapy, significantly increases the number of potential donors for each patient. The doctors screened 50 adult sickle cell patients as candidates for a half-matched stem cell transplant between January 2014 and March 2017. Ten patients received a transplant. Following two unsuccessful transplants, the doctors adopted the new treatment protocol, which included modifications to a process first developed at Johns Hopkins University. "We modified the transplant protocol by increasing the dose of radiation used before the transplant, and by infusing growth factor-mobilized peripheral blood stem cells instead of bone marrow cells," Rondelli said. "These two modifications helped ensure the patient's body could accept the healthy donor cells." Of the eight patients who underwent the revised transplant, one experienced chronic graft-versus-host disease following the transplant and died of unknown causes. The other seven patients are alive and maintain 95 percent or higher stable engraftment - acceptance of donor cells - with improved blood work at least 12 months following the transplant. "These patients are cured of sickle cell disease," Rondelli said. "The takeaway message is twofold. First, this transplant protocol may cure many more adults patients with advanced sickle cell disease," he said. "Second, despite the increasing safety of the transplant protocols and new compatibility of HLA half-matched donors, many sickle cell patients still face barriers to care - of the patients we screened, only 20 percent underwent a transplant." Rondelli says that medical insurance denial accounted for 20 percent of the lack of access to the transplant. Other factors included personal decisions and high rates of donor-specific antigens in patients who had received frequent blood transfusions. Explore further UI Health validates cure for sickle cell in adults More information: Santosh L. Saraf et al, Haploidentical Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation Demonstrates Stable Engraftment in Adults with Sickle Cell Disease, Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (2018). Santosh L. Saraf et al, Haploidentical Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation Demonstrates Stable Engraftment in Adults with Sickle Cell Disease,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2018.03.031 The anatomy of our brain can provide indications of the development of psychoses. Simplified representation of cortical folding in different brain regions. Credit: University Psychiatric Clinics Basel Imaging techniques can be used to detect the development of psychosis in the brains of high-risk patients at an early stage, as reported by researchers from the University of Basel and Western University in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. Detecting psychosis early increases the chances of effective treatment. Despite advances in diagnosis, however, it has previously not been possible to examine young people with initial psychotic symptoms and reliably say who will develop acute psychosis and who will not. It has long been supposed that the condition is caused by disturbed communication between various groups of nerve cells. Modern imaging techniques have made it possible to make these connections between regions of the brain visible. Researchers from the University of Basel have now examined the question of whether changes in the anatomical structure of brain networks can already be detected in people with an increased risk of psychosis. The study was carried out in collaboration with scientists from the Psychiatric University Clinics Basel, Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute in Ontario, Canada. Focus on cortical folding The researchers, led by Drs Andre Schmidt and Lena Palaniyappan, focused on cortical folding, known as gyrification: they examined how the folds in various regions of the brain interact with each other, and whether this interaction is impaired in high-risk patients. They also tested how precisely they could use the cortical connectivity to predict which high-risk patients would suffer from psychosis and which would not. Reduced interaction For their study, the researchers examined 44 healthy control subjects, 38 patients with first-episode psychosis, and 79 people with an increased risk of psychosis, of which 16 later developed fully-formed psychosis. They reconstructed the brain's nerve pathways using magnetic resonance imaging and methods from mathematical graph theory, with which they described a network of nodes. The results show that in comparison to the healthy control group, the folding in individual regions of the brain in patients with an initial psychotic episode and those with a later psychosis transition showed reduced integration and increased segregation. The analysis also showed that this process enabled predictions to be made with more than 80% accuracy about which patients would later suffer from psychosis and which would not. Biomarker for clinical diagnosis "Our results indicate that this type of network analysis could significantly improve individual risk prognoses," says Andre Schmidt, who led the project. "Future longitudinal studies with larger samples are now needed to validate the prognostic accuracy of this measurement." Credit: CC0 Public Domain Drinking kefir may have a positive effect on blood pressure by promoting communication between the gut and brain. Kefir is a fermented probiotic milk beverage known to help maintain the balance of beneficial bacteria in the digestive system. Researchers will present their findings today at the American Physiological Society (APS) annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2018 in San Diego. Previous research has shown that an imbalance in the gut's colony of bacteria (microbiota) may cause high blood pressure in some people. Similarly, probioticslive bacteria supplements that are beneficial to the digestive systemhave been found to lower blood pressure, but the mechanisms by which this occurs are unclear. A research team from Auburn University in Alabama, in collaboration with the University of Vila Velha in Brazil, studied three groups of rats to determine how kefir reduces high blood pressure (hypertension): One group had hypertension and was treated with kefir ("treated"). One group had hypertension and was not treated ("untreated"). One group had normal blood pressure and was not treated ("control"). After nine weeks of kefir supplementation, the treated rats had lower levels of endotoxins (toxic substances associated with disruption in the cells), lower blood pressure and improved intestinal permeability when compared with the untreated group. Healthy intestines allow some substances to pass through, but generally act as a barrier to keep out harmful bacteria and other potentially dangerous substances. In addition, kefir supplementation restored the natural balance of four different bacteria in the gut and of an enzyme in the brain essential for normal nervous system function, suggesting that the nervous and digestive systems work together to reduce hypertension. "Our data suggests that kefir antihypertensive-associated mechanisms involve gut microbiota-brain axis communication during hypertension," the researchers wrote. Explore further Researchers find unhealthy gut microbes a cause of hypertension More information: Mirian Silva-Cutini, of Auburn University, will present "Probiotic kefir antihypertensive effects in spontaneously hypertensive rats involve central and peripheral mechanisms" on Wednesday, April 25, in the Sails Pavilion of the San Diego Convention Center. Provided by Experimental Biology 2018 The reconfigurable lab-on-a-chip platform, dubbed the MR Box. Credit: Wheeler Lab For millions of displaced people around the worldmany of them refugees, living in temporary shelters under crowded conditionsan outbreak of disease is devastating. Each year, the measles virus kills more than 134,000 people globally, and another 100,000 children are born with defects caused by congenital rubella syndrome. Both diseases are preventable by vaccination. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Toronto has applied a hacker mentality to developing a portable, reconfigurable lab-on-a-chip diagnostic platform and field-tested the system in remote Kenya. Their validated platform can gauge the level of immunity to vaccine-preventable diseases among vulnerable populations. Their work appears today in the journal Science Translational Medicine. "We found that our low-cost device matched the international laboratory-standard reference tests of the Kenyan Medical Research Institute for 86 per cent of measles samples, and 91 per cent of rubella samples," says Darius Rackus, one of the lead authors of the paper. These results underscore their platform's potential to help identify populations susceptible to epidemics in remote or under-resourced locations. "Our platform is inexpensive, fast and flexiblethere's nothing like it out there," says Rackus. "We see it as a powerful tool for public health workers on the front lines, who have no access to health records, or may be dealing with humanitarian emergencies." From left: Christian Fobel, Alphonsus Ng and Julian Lamanna run blood tests on their MR Box instruments in their temporary lab at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Credit: Ryan Fobel Rackus and his team, led by Professor Aaron Wheeler, are world leaders in the area of digital microfluidics, a technique used to move, split, recombine and mix miniscule droplets of liquid all on a tiny 'chip.' The chips are made using low-cost fabrication techniques such as ink-jet and 3D printing, and the droplets are controlled by applying electrical signals to different electrodes. In June 2016 four members of the Wheeler Lab travelled to the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya to validate their platform, dubbed the MR Boxa desktop lab the size of a toaster oven configured to test for measles and rubella. They arrived in Kakuma following a massive public-health immunization campaign and tested hundreds of children and their caregivers for the presence of molecular markers indicating disease immunity. They then sent their samples to the Kenyan Medical Research Institute national laboratory in Nairobi for validation. The Wheeler Lab researchers prepare to leave Kakuma in June 2016. Credit: Ryan Fobel "For the first time taking digital microfluidics out of the lab, this is phenomenal result," says Julian Lamanna, one of the paper's authors and a member of the team who was on the ground in Kakuma. "In future, with simple statistical analyses our point-of-care system could be used to monitor the levels of immunity within dynamic populations, helping prevent outbreaks before they happen." "If you could distribute these devices at airports or points of entry around the world, they could become a powerful tool for disease surveillance and monitoring," adds Rackus. "They also have the potential to significantly reduce the burden on expensive and sophisticated diagnostic labs that currently do all these epidemiological tests." Since the trip to Kakuma, the team has taken MR Boxes for additional testing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are also developing new chips to test for different markers and diseases, including zika and malaria. "What we've demonstrated is a universal platformour microfluidic chips are relatively generic, and highly customizable," says Wheeler. "Now that we've seen how practical it is in the field, we want to adapt it to as many diseases and environmental conditions as we can." Explore further Science Says: Why Europe still has so many measles outbreaks More information: A.H.C. Ng el al., "A digital microfluidic system for serological immunoassays in remote settings," Science Translational Medicine (2018). Journal information: Science Translational Medicine A.H.C. Ng el al., "A digital microfluidic system for serological immunoassays in remote settings,"(2018). stm.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/ scitranslmed.aar6076 Brief arousals during sleepsometimes as many as ten to fifteen per nightappear random in time and occur in humans and even in animals. What is the origin of these arousals? Scientists from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, together with colleagues from Boston University, have discovered that brief arousals are probably triggered by the intrinsic electrical noise from wake-promoting neurons (WPN) in the brain. Their research, published in the journal Science Advances on April 25, reveals a previously unrecognized neurophysiological mechanism that links sleep arousals with temperature regulation, and may also provide an important new link between temperature and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). During sleep, WPN are suppressed by sleep promoting neurons. Nevertheless, Dr. Hila Dvir, lead co-author of the study from Bar-Ilan's Department of Physics, surmised that WPN still maintain a low level of activity, in the form of noise ("neuronal noise"). This neuronal noise is due to electrical fluctuations in the neuron voltage, which appear even without any input signal. For each neuron this noise is very low. However, since neurons are coupled to each other, the accumulated noise from many neurons can occasionally form a strong enough signal to activate WPN, causing a brief arousal. Temperature-induced arousability during sleep, a missing piece in the puzzle for triggers of sudden infant death syndrome. Credit: Hila Dvir & Ronny Bartsch Neuronal noise is very much affected by body temperature, so if the temperature is high, neuronal noise is low and vice versa. Dvir and lead co-author Dr. Ronny Bartsch, of the Department of Physics, joined forces with Prof. Lior Appelbaum, of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, to test whether the temperature dependence of neuronal noise directly translates into a different arousal behavior in zebrafish. Zebrafish are the optimal species for such an experiment since their body temperature can be easily manipulated by water temperature. The researchers analyzed periods when the zebrafish were predominantly sleeping and determined sleep duration and number of arousals in varying water temperatures. They found that, indeed, an increase in water temperature led to fewer and shorter arousals. These experimental results were in excellent agreement with computer simulations that Dvir and Bartsch developed prior to the experiments, and which are based on a statistical physics model of the temperature dependent noise. "Because of this excellent agreement between model predictions and the experiment, we believe that sleep arousals can be attributed to the neuronal noise of wake-promoting neurons," says Bartsch. The findings of the study present a possible new link between temperature, sleep arousals and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the sudden, unexplained death during sleep of children under one year of age. Elevated room temperature, extensive crib bedding and prone sleeping positionall factors that contribute to higher body temperatureare known to increase the risk of SIDS. So far, the mechanism of why higher body temperature increases the risk of SIDS is unknown but neuronal noise and brief arousals could be a key. Since thermoregulation in young infants is not yet fully developed, their body temperature is highly affected by the environment/room temperature (similar to fish). "We think that SIDS can occur when as a result of higher temperature, neuronal noise levels and the associated probability for arousals are low," says Dvir. "In contrast, when the temperature is lower, an infant has higher neuronal noise level that yield more arousals during which the infant can change his position to help himself breath more freely or move a blanket that may be covering his face." Explore further Blood of SIDS infants contains high levels of serotonin More information: H. Dvir el al., "Neuronal noise as an origin of sleep arousals and its role in sudden infant death syndrome," Science Advances (2018). http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/4/eaar6277 Journal information: Science Advances H. Dvir el al., "Neuronal noise as an origin of sleep arousals and its role in sudden infant death syndrome,"(2018). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aar6277 Mobile health applications (apps) for improving diagnostic decision-making often lack clinical evaluation, but one app that has undergone testing by researchers is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention PTT Advisor. In a recently published study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and the CDC evaluated whether the app improves diagnostic and test ordering decisions of physicians for certain coagulation and bleeding disorders and if they find the app to be useful for learning. "There are increasingly more physician-focused health apps available, and while physicians are becoming more comfortable using these apps, they don't necessarily know which ones can help with diagnosis because they haven't been evaluated," said lead author Dr. Ashley Meyer, assistant professor of medicine at Baylor and researcher in the Houston Veterans Affairs Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (IQuESt). "Test ordering and diagnosis for certain hematologic disorders is particularly difficult for physicians. The team at the CDC's Clinical Laboratory Integration into Healthcare Collaborative developed PTT Advisor to address these issues and approached our research group to conduct an evaluation." Meyer and her team looked to the literature for established methodologies to evaluate these types of apps. Finding none, they took this opportunity to establish a foundational methodology to evaluate the usefulness of these apps. "Our first step was figuring out how to rigorously evaluate an app that aimed to improve physician decision-making, such as PTT Advisor, and then to use our methodology to evaluate the app," Meyer said. To evaluate the app, the evaluation team used eight vignettes based on real and challenging clinical cases that would prompt physicians to make clinical laboratory test ordering and diagnosis decisions. The scenarios tested physician decision-making while they sought help from one of two resources: PTT Advisor or usual clinical decision support (including any internet, text or personnel resources the physicians wanted). Forty-six physicians from seven different healthcare institutions participated in the study. Each physician solved four of the eight vignettes using the app and the other four using usual clinical decision support. "We found that using the app increased diagnostic accuracy, which is a good step forward given that we previously found 5 percent of U.S. adults are misdiagnosed every year," Meyer said. Results indicated that when physicians used the app, the accuracy of their diagnosis and testing decisions was 13 percent higher than when they used usual clinical decision support. Additionally, using the app helped them come to a diagnosis about 51 seconds faster than when they used usual clinical decision support a reduction in time of 22 percent. On a subsequent survey, physicians reported positive perceptions of the app's potential for improved clinical decision-making and benefit to patients. "Moving forward, we hope that such evaluation methods will be adopted by others to determine usefulness of apps to improve diagnosis. Apps that add value to physician decision-making will be much easier to integrate with physician workflow and help impact clinical practice and reduce misdiagnosis," said senior author Dr. Hardeep Singh, chief of the Health Policy, Quality and Informatics Program at the Houston VA's IQuESt and professor of medicine at Baylor. Explore further Head-to-head comparison reveals human physicians vastly outperform virtual ones More information: Hardeep Singh et al. The frequency of diagnostic errors in outpatient care: estimations from three large observational studies involving US adult populations, BMJ Quality & Safety (2014). Journal information: Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association Hardeep Singh et al. The frequency of diagnostic errors in outpatient care: estimations from three large observational studies involving US adult populations,(2014). DOI: 10.1136/bmjqs-2013-002627 Credit: CC0 Public Domain People with more fast food outlets near their home are more likely to develop heart disease, according to research published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a European Society of Cardiology (ESC) journal. Dr. Maartje Poelman, study author and assistant professor at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, said: "The number of fast food outlets has been increasing over the past several decades, selling food that is high in salt, saturated fat, refined carbohydrates, and calories. These types of foods are associated with cardiovascular disease." The study, which was conducted in the Global Geo Health Data Centre at Utrecht University, examined whether individuals living close to a higher number of fast food outlets also have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The study included 2,472,004 adults aged 35 years and older who did not have cardiovascular disease on 1 January 2009 and had been living at the same address for at least 15 years. Participants were followed for one year for the incidence of cardiovascular disease. The researchers counted the number of fast food outlets that could be reached by road within 500 m, 1 km, and 3 km of each participant's home. The researchers found that the incidence of cardiovascular disease, particularly coronary heart disease, was significantly higher in urban residents who had one or more fast food outlets within 500 m of their home compared to none. For example, individuals had an approximately 13% greater risk of developing coronary heart disease in 2009 if they lived within 500 m of two fast food outlets compared to none. The incidence of cardiovascular disease, particularly coronary heart disease, was also significantly increased for urban residents living within 1 km of two or more fast food outlets compared to none. For example, individuals had a roughly 17% greater risk of developing coronary heart disease in 2009 if they lived within 1 km of five or more fast food outlets compared to none. The associations were less pronounced for 3 km zones, rural areas, and incidence of stroke or heart failure. Dr. Poelman said: "We know from previous research that the type of food available to purchase where people live influences their food choices. Our study suggests that city dwellers living within 1 km of fast food outlets eat more fast food, which increases their risk of coronary heart disease. In our next series of studies, we will further examine this assumption." "The weak association in rural areas could be due to the lower density of fast food outlets compared to urban areas," she noted. "It may also be related to the way people behave in rural areas, for example using the car more often and being less reliant on the residential area." The authors state that "public policy makers should be aware of the likely impact of urban fast food outlet density on health, especially since the number of fast food outlets is still increasing". European guidelines on the prevention of cardiovascular disease, of which the ESC is a co-author, recommend that regulation of the location and density of fast food outlets should be considered. Dr. Poelman said: "Policies are starting to reflect the influence of the food environment on health. The Mayor of London, for instance, has proposed banning new hot food takeaways around schools." She continued: "We need to create healthier environments to prevent heart disease and banning fast food outlets, or regulating a maximum number, is one piece of the puzzle. Other elements include improving the availability of fresh and healthy food to buy. We can stimulate people to buy healthy food if we create an environment where it is the default choice." Credit: University of the West of England A robotics company which began as a startup at Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) has launched the world's first medically certified 3-D printed artificial arms for amputees. After working with NHS England on the first trial of a wearable 3-D printed medical device for children and young people, Open Bionics are ready to launch the device commercially in the UK. The Hero Arm, an advanced bionic arm, is small enough to fit children as young as 9 years old for the first time. Current bionic limbs are sized for teenagers and adults. This is the first time anyone with a below-elbow amputation can buy a 3-D printed artificial arm in the UK. The UK is the only country in the world to have these devices available, with Open Bionics planning a US launch at the close of 2018. One of the company's youngest users is Cameron Millar, aged 10. Cameron was born without a hand and has already used his new 3-D printed bionic arm to try archery for the first time. Cameron, who was fitted by the clinic HCi Viocare in Glasgow, said: "I absolutely love my Hero Arm, it's the one prosthetic that I have used more than any other device I've tried. It's lighter, it moves better, and is way cooler than any of my previous prosthetics." Another user who was fitted with one of the company's first prototype bionic limbs is 12-year-old Tilly Lockey. Tilly was just a baby when she lost both hands to meningitis, and was fitted with her new 3-D printed hands by the clinic, Dorset Orthopaedic. Sarah Lockey, Tilly's mum, said: "The day Tilly lost her hands, I made a promise to her that I would get her hands back. Working with Open Bionics on Tilly's new hands has been incredible. The technology has come such a long way since Tilly was a baby. We were essentially told it was impossible to get her bionic hands because the technology was too big and couldn't be shrunk down for her. "It has been incredible to watch Open Bionics. What they are developing, a lot of kids want. What went from a sad state of prosthetic design came this explosion; a 3-D printed device that was lighter, cheaper, a very stylish design that helped Tilly play with the Wii for the first time without having to sellotape the controller to her arm. She can brush her own hair with it and paint one handed. Things that we all take for granted. The design has been carefully considered to stop kids from getting bored. Tilly's favourite feature is that it has interchangeable covers and she can match them with her outfits. "Open Bionics has created a hand that my 12 year old wants to wear and has fun with. It helps her with everyday life and it looks great too." The award-winning company has built a reputation for building bionic limbs from the world of science fiction. It developed its technology at BRL's business incubator before relocating to the neighbouring Future Space innovation centre at the University of the West of England's Frenchay campus. In 2017 the firm won a Guinness World Record for fitting an amputee with the world's first bionic arm built from a video game; the popular gaming title Deus Ex. NHS England was the first healthcare system in the world to deliver 3-D printed bionic hands to patients as part of a study with Open Bionics in 2017. Co founder of Open Bionics, Samantha Payne said: "We're incredibly excited to launch the Hero Arm after spending four years working with amputees and healthcare professionals to develop a device that is advanced and low cost. We're particularly proud of our collaboration with NHS England and look forward to working together to make these devices suitable and available for NHS patients." Joel Gibbard, co founder and CEO, added: "The limb different community has been absolutely amazing in their support of us developing the Hero Arm. Huge thanks goes to the parents of young children who need bionic limbs for their patience and tireless enthusiasm for our work. They have been a huge motivation. Open Bionics ultimately hopes to have the devices made available to NHS patients. The company is currently in the planning stages of a medical trial to assess the suitability of the device for NHS standards with a group of patients across three NHS clinics. Explore further Hand prosthetic gives teen new independence Fired Spanish contractor seeks $101m from Caan The Spanish contractor who was fired from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) improvement project has filed an arbitration claim against the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, demanding return of its guarantee money and compensation for losses resulting from the termination of the contract. Only about one per cent of all gun transactions in the US are thefts, and there is no evidence that theft is an important source of guns to those who use them to commit violent crimes. In an analysis of nationwide and state-specific data in Springer's Journal of Urban Health, Philip Cook of Duke University in the US emphasizes that what happens to stolen guns has not been studied systematically. New data from Chicago demonstrates that only a tiny proportion of crime guns in that city were ever reported stolen to the Police Department. That and other evidence challenge the popular belief that crimes are mostly committed using stolen weapons. The research drew on the best available evidence on how many guns are stolen each year in the US, and the extent to which these are then used to commit further offences. Cook used publicly available national data from the National Crime Victimization Survey, and information from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and other federal agencies. He also scrutinized data about guns reported stolen to the Chicago Police Department, as well as surveys conducted among convicted felons. On average 232,400 guns were stolen nationwide between 2005 and 2010, and 251,300 weapons between 2010 and 2014. Residential burglaries accounted for 58 per cent of such thefts between 2005 and 2010, and the most common type of gun stolen was the handgun. Cook put these statistics in the context of all gun transactions and showed that gun thefts represented only about one per cent of the 32 million gun transactions nationwide. Cook's analyses of data obtained from the University of Chicago Crime Lab showed that 4,010 gun thefts were reported to the Chicago Police Department between 2010 and 2016, averaging 573 per year. One in every two reports included a serial number and manufacturer name. In 2016, 84 (1.5 per cent) of the stolen guns could be matched to one of the more than 5,600 crimes committed in Chicago that year. Taking account of the missing data on half of the stolen guns, it is reasonable to conclude that 3% of recovered guns had been reported stolen. One in every five guns reported as stolen were likely to be recovered again, usually following an arrest for illegal carrying. Less than half of perpetrators picked up with a stolen gun already had a criminal record that included violent offences. "The tentative results tend to support a conclusion that stolen guns play only a minor role in crime," says Cook, who notes that surveys of convicted felons indicated that they rarely stole the guns they used. Cook says the current findings are consistent with evidence from other studies that found that theft is relatively rare as a means of directly providing active criminals with guns. Most of the convicted criminals interviewed indicated that they either bought, traded, shared or were given the weapons they used to commit an offence. While these findings are based on the best available data, those data have limitations and further research is necessary. "Even if gun theft is not the largest contributor to gun violence, it still does play some role, and it is prudent to consider what authorities could do to combat it," says Cook. To this end he cites proposals for stronger state legislation that requires licensed gun dealers to adopt stricter security measures at their establishments, and gun owners to secure their weapons from being stolen from their homes and vehicles. More comprehensive plans could include the development of smart guns that can only be fired by their owners, or guns equipped with tracking devices. Explore further Guns used in cross-border crimes originate from states with more lax laws More information: Philip J. Cook, Gun Theft and Crime, Journal of Urban Health (2018). Philip J. Cook, Gun Theft and Crime,(2018). DOI: 10.1007/s11524-018-0253-7 Direct-to-consumer telemedicine is a viable way to deliver medical care in the days following a natural disaster, although most people who use such services do so for routine matters rather than disaster-caused illnesses, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Examining the experience of one direct-to-consumer service in the weeks following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma during 2017, researchers found that use of the service peaked three to six days after the hurricanes made landfall. The top diagnosis during the first month included acute respiratory illnesses and skin problems, which was similar to the trends the telemedicine service observed among all patients it treated nationally. However, during the first week post-hurricane, telemedicine visits for chronic conditions, advice, counseling and refills, and back and joint concerns, including injuries, were more common among people affected by the hurricanes than among the other patients treated by the service. The findings are published online by the Journal of General Internal Medicine. "Our study suggests that direct-to-consumer telemedicine is a new way to deliver routine health care to people in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, although it does require that certain infrastructure like cellular service and Wi-Fi remain intact," said Lori Uscher-Pines, lead author of the study and a senior policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. While telemedicine has been used during disasters for many years, providing care via direct-to-consumer telehealth only has become viable in recent years because of the widespread growth of smartphones and the creation of services that allow consumers to directly access thousands of U.S. physicians. Several direct-to-consumer telemedicine companies offer patients with minor illnesses around-the-clock access to physicians via telephone or videoconferencing on their smartphone, tablet or laptop computer. Use of such services has grown rapidly, with more than 1.2 million visits reported nationally in 2015. During the 2017 hurricane season, at least five direct-to-consumer telemedicine companies offered free visits to hurricane victims. RAND researchers analyzed the experiences of one of those providers, Doctor on Demand, during the 30 days following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Researchers say a key advantage of telemedicine in disaster response is that out-of-state providers can be tapped to expand the response workforce quickly and cost effectively, so long as the cellular services and Wi-Fi infrastructure generally remains in place. The RAND analysis found that 2,057 people affected by Harvey and Irma used Doctor on Demand services, with 63 percent of those being first-time users of the service. Physicians located outside the affected states handled slightly more than half of the visits. "Relying on direct-to-consumer telehealth services may help relieve the immediate burden on local health care system so that limited in-person care resources can be reserved for those patients with the greatest need, Uscher-Pines said. "Our study illustrates the emerging role for direct-to-consumer telemedicine in disaster response." Support for the study was provided by RAND and the National Institutes of Health. Other authors of the study are Dr. Shira Fischer and Rosalie Malsberger of RAND, Dr. Ian Tong of Doctor on Demand, Dr. Ateev Mehrotra of the Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Kristin Ray of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. RAND Health is the nation's largest independent health policy research program, with a broad research portfolio that focuses on health care costs, quality and public health preparedness, among other topics. Explore further Study finds the cost-savings promise of the approach may not be realized " " All you can eat? The placement of the buffet items is not random. Batista Moon Studio/Getty Images It's lunchtime on a Tuesday, and you have exactly 27 minutes before you need to be back at the office for a marketing meeting. If you have to choke down one more dry turkey sandwich from the corner deli or a tasteless salad from the hippy co-op, you're gonna cry. But what's this the Indian place that's usually only open for dinner has an $8 lunch buffet? Score! When it comes to food, time-crunched Americans love variety, speed and low prices, which is precisely why they love a good buffet. For decades, savvy restaurant owners have been cashing in on the buffet boom not just all-you-can-eat chains like Golden Corral or China Buffet, but regular a la carte restaurants that choose to offer a weekday lunch or Sunday brunch buffet. Chefs and restaurant industry consultants say that when executed right, a well-designed buffet with steady foot traffic (stomach traffic?) is a certified moneymaker. Here are five reasons why: Advertisement 1. Variety and Volume Make a Killer Combo "The purpose of a buffet is twofold: to feed a lot of people and to give them choices," says Shawn Bucher, a chef, author and host of the podcast Business Chef. Making money in the restaurant business is all about getting people in the door and turning over tables. When you load up a buffet with lots of choices, customers get excited. And since the self-service model is much faster than the waiter-and-menu system, guests are in and out quicker. Which is also why buffets are ideal for extremely high-volume occasions. When Bucher worked in the restaurant of a large hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah, it drew big crowds for its annual Mother's Day and Easter buffets. "We knew we were going to be feeding somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 people that day," says Bucher. "When you have seating for 500, trying to do 10 table turns is just unrealistic. But a buffet, which allows people to come and go quickly, works out a lot better." Advertisement 2. Restaurants Save Money With a Skeleton Crew The three main costs of running a restaurant are rent, food and labor. One of the big reasons why weekday lunch and Sunday brunch buffets are so popular with restaurant owners is that they are major labor-saving devices, and therefore cost-saving devices. Aaron Allen is a restaurant consultant and industry analyst. He explains that a buffet cuts back on staff throughout the restaurant. "If the guest is walking through the buffet and plating their own food and basically serving themselves, you don't need as many front-of-house workers," says Allen, referring to waiters and bussers. "And for the back-of-house [kitchen staff], you don't need to have an a la carte culinary team making items to order. Just a few cooks can make items in batches and replenish, so you can work with a smaller crew and produce more volume." Matthew Britt, a chef and instructor at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, says that lower staffing needs and the predictability of buffet cooking are a great way for an a la carte restaurant to balance risk. Britt says that with the rise of nouvelle cuisine in the 1970s and 1980s light, freshly prepared dishes with seasonal ingredients profit margins at restaurants became much thinner. "There's a lot of uncertainty in a nouvelle cuisine dinner service. You don't know who's coming in or what they're going to order. You need an army of highly trained cooks to facilitate all the guests' needs," says Britt. "The lunch or brunch buffet was the answer to that." Advertisement 3. The House Always Wins Like a casino, a restaurant buffet lures customers in with the promise of a big payoff all-you-can-eat shrimp, crab legs or prime rib while disguising the fact that the economic odds are entirely in the restaurant's favor. "All you can eat is a fallacy," says Britt. "Some people think they're going to take down the house, but the house always wins. You're not going to eat your way past the profit margin." Allen says that restaurants set their buffet pricing very carefully and lay out the buffet offerings strategically to ensure that for every Homer Simpson who attempts to eat the entire steam tray of lobsters, there are 20 other customers who get distracted by the sheer variety of choices and fill up on the cheap stuff like bread, soups, salads and desserts. In almost all buffets, the expensive proteins like prime rib and seafood are placed at the end of the line. By the time customers get to the slicing station or shrimp tray, their plate is already filled up with sides and starches. The strategy is based on behavioral economics. A study from the Food & Brand Lab at Cornell University found that 75 percent of buffet customers took the first food offered on the buffet line, and that the first three foods encountered in a buffet accounted for 66 percent of what they ate. Britt says that buffets also use smaller plates to further mess with the diners' minds. "When they start to get full, they'll think, I've already had two plates, so maybe it's time to quit." Advertisement 4. You Can Get Creative With Last Friday's Fish Not only are buffet customers encouraged ("tricked" is such a nasty word) to fill up on the cheap stuff, but Bucher says that "a lot of the salads and soups are generally leftovers that have been repurposed for the buffet." It's no great surprise to anyone who's worked in a restaurant, or read Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential," that, as Britt says, "Half the Sunday brunch buffet menu is left over from the week's service." That's not saying that the kitchen is trying to pawn off nearly expired fish or meat on unsuspecting customers, only that buffets are excellent opportunities for chefs to stretch their creative culinary muscles. Extra prime rib, for example, can be turned into an eggy prime rib hash or a french dip sandwich. It's all about reducing waste while giving customers something new. Britt remembers a brunch dish called Eggs Goldenrod from a restaurant where he worked as a teen, which was nothing more that leftover hard-boiled eggs in a creamy bechamel sauce. "You put it in a chafing dish with a fancy name and all of a sudden you have something that's new and exciting and seems to regular weekday guests like it's just a brunch thing. When in reality, it's a trickle-down special," says Britt. Advertisement 5. Even High-end Buffets Are Still Profitable Buffets don't have to be cheap. Far from the quantity-over-quality philosophy of big-box buffets is a separate but equally booming market for super high-end fare. At the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California, brunch guests can feast on a chilled seafood bar, fill up at several carving stations, and be their own bartender at the gourmet Bloody Mary bar. The hotel's regular Sunday brunch buffet runs $98 for adults. The Mother's Day brunch sells for $140 per adult. The concept of a high-end buffet is the same from an economic standpoint, says Britt. The higher price point allows you to offer higher-quality items, but the overall idea is still to wow with selection while balancing less-expensive and filling choices with the Beluga caviar bar. Now That's Too Bad Cornell's Food & Brand Lab has been the source of some headline-grabbing research around food psychology and creating healthier school cafeterias, but lead researcher Brian Wansink has come under fire recently for allegedly fudging data. Some buffet studies are among those being re-evaluated, but not the one we cited, as of the time of publication. Govt bans essential service disruption The government has banned all kinds of strike by essential service providers. A Cabinet meeting on Tuesday decided to publish a notice in the Nepal Gazette to enforce the order. SqwidNet has launched a new technology competition for university students across South Africa. SqwidNet is a licensed Sigfox IoT network operator in South Africa, and the competition will challenge students to build IoT solutions on the Sigfox network. The challenge will begin on 25 April 2018, and entries will be accepted until 25 July 2018. The market is ripe with opportunities and these young students and graduates are welcome to submit the ideas for their projects, said SqwidNet. Qualifying entries will be inspected by SqwidNet partners, who will evaluate their potential for commercial implementation. SqwidNet will also offer participants access to its entrepreneurship programme and give them the opportunity to register as a Sigfox partner. Competition winners will be announced on 1 August, with cash prizes for the winning teams and their faculties. Winners will also get the chance to present their designs in IoT Valley in Toulouse, France. Participants will be provided with free development kits and access to SqwidNets IoT network, in addition to support from the companys local team. Now read: SqwidNet signs IoT partnership with Activate Group Developments in self-driving car technology is progressing rapidly, with carmakers, ride-hailing services, and tech companies like Google competing to create the first viable products. Regulation has struggled to keep up with these developments, and many nations have not yet created rules regarding AI-operated vehicles. Certain areas such as California in the US have embraced the technology, allowing autonomous vehicles to travel without a human occupant. These locations have become testing hotbeds for vehicles, although accidents and incidents are still inspected carefully by both the authorities and the companies testing their vehicles. While many national and local authorities have accommodated the testing of self-driving vehicles, there is no regulation in South Africa regarding the issue. Driverless cars in South Africa The National Department of Transport told MyBroadband that the operation of self-driving cars on public roads is not allowed in South Africa. Currently in terms of our legislation, there are no provisions that deal with self-driving cars. It is not allowed in terms of our legislation, it said. The department added that vehicles cannot be operated without a driver onboard. Companies may be able to test self-driving vehicles in South Africa, but they would have to comply with existing regulations and minimise the risk to other drivers. We allow for the process of motor vehicle testing in the republic, as long as it is going to be conducted in the manner that does not endanger other road users said the Department. The operation of motor vehicles on a public road is governed by the National Road Traffic Act and its regulations, and there is currently no regulation regarding the operation of self-driving vehicles in South Africa. Risks The race to develop a capable and safe self-driving vehicle has resulted in motoring technology breakthroughs, as well as safety concerns. Ubers self-driving technology suffered a serious setback recently, following an incident where one of its self-driving vehicles hit and killed a pedestrian crossing a road. The vehicles failure to detect and avoid the pedestrian caused Uber to lose its operating rights for driverless cars in Arizona incited increased wariness of autonomous vehicles. If the safety of motorists and pedestrians is not ensured, the progress of self-driving technology could be hindered by a crackdown on public road testing. On the other hand, the potential payoffs of self-driving cars range from cheaper transport services and reduced accident rates, to improved traffic flow. If public roads were populated exclusively by self-driving cars, they would be able to communicate with each other and navigate intersections without the need for traffic lights, for example. This would make traffic jams a thing of the past, and would free up time for the cars occupants including that of the driver. Now read: Uber South Africa showing strong growth as attacks decline In the last 10 years, at least 42 countries have adopted or implemented the blocking of access to websites which facilitate copyright infringement. According to Motion Picture Association Canada, the countries include members of the European Union, Australia, Iceland, India, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, and South Korea. With so many nations running a blocking regime, it raises the question as to whether it is inevitable that similar laws will be passed in South Africa. The Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft (SAFACT) is strongly in favour of blocking websites in South Africa. The Film and Publication Board is advocating for similar bans to protect children from harmful content. However, the Internet Service Providers Association of South Africa (ISPA) has warned that blocking websites alleged to aid copyright infringement is a dangerous path to tread. Enabling censorship ISPA understands the challenges facing copyright holder associations and has engaged with them on responses which fall within the current legislative framework, ISPAs Dominic Cull told MyBroadband. Copyright holders, on the other hand, need to understand that the broad actions which they propose create unintended avenues for censorship that are particularly concerning in light of our recent history. Cull said South Africa has copyright legislation and that a Copyright Amendment Bill is expected to be debated in Parliament this year. Concerns about the adequacy of the current legal position should be addressed to that forum, he said. ISPAs members have made it clear that they will not block websites other than through a lawful process or order of court, said Cull. South Africa, a country with a short democratic history, must not allow legitimate concerns by intellectual rights holders to lead to questionable website blocking that threatens freedom of expression. Ster-Kinekor on pirate sites Ster-Kinekor said it is involved in fighting piracy, and contributes and participates actively in anti-piracy education and campaigns. It has also has partnered with SAFACT in this regard. No one solution will combat piracy. The reasons for the existence of piracy sites vary and so should the solutions, said Ster-Kinekor. It said that one cant necessarily compare South Africa to other countries when it comes to solutions for piracy, as they have their own regulations. While banning piracy sites may have an impact, Ster-Kinekor argued that website blocks may not be as effective in a country like South Africa where broadband Internet access is not highly prevalent. The fight against piracy should also be about showing how enjoyable legal and authentic means of consuming content can be, so that consumers see value in them and see no need to pirate movies. Q: I am a layperson (not an ordained member of the clergy) working for a religious nonprofit that requires its employees to be members of the faith in good standing and to provide a reference from our clergy to prove it. In the past year, I have lost my faith and no longer practice the religion. I love my job and would stay if I could. But my status is up for review soon, and when it is discovered that I no longer attend services, I will be immediately terminated. According to policy, I could be terminated today if it were discovered. I had hoped to find another job before now, but I havent yet.If I quit, I might not qualify for unemployment. If I wait until my reference expires, I will be fired, and I dont know how to justify that to prospective employers. If I tell my boss sooner, I may be fired on the spot. Part of me thinks the company should have to deal with the consequences of its draconian policy, though I realize those consequences will fall mostly on my immediate co-workers, who will be left with my unfinished projects. How do I handle this? One of the big benefits and one of the things that the Netflix team was quick to acknowledge, and we requested both as a chamber and as a city, was Youre welcome to film here, were happy to have you, but dont make us a generic wine town. Theyre actually going to brand us, were going to be Calistoga in the movie, Canning said. That was important to us, but were very warmed by the fact that it was important to them. Crews will be in Napa Valley filming for two weeks at three vineyards, with some driving shots throughout the valley, and the film will be released sometime in the fall or winter, Valenti said. The comedy that will star Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and other Saturday Night Live stars will be in Calistoga for two days of preparation and one day of filming. The story is about a group of women celebrating a 50th birthday that heads to wine country to celebrate. The disruption will include restricted traffic flow and parking. Lincoln will be closed from Cedar Street to Fair Way starting Friday, May 4, at 9 a.m. until Saturday, May 5, at 2 a.m. Law enforcement patrols will assist in rerouting traffic and safety. Washington Street will remain open. 19492018 19492018 Debra Beth Landis Fatherree passed away at home, with her family on April 21st, 2018 as a result of an inoperable glioblastoma. Debbi was born to Bill and Beth Landis in Long Beach, CA on August 12, 1949. She spent her youth in southern California, before settling in Napa where she spent the last forty years of her life. She is survived by brothers Chris Landis and Dennis Landis, her husband Peyton, her three children Thomas, Taylor and Jackson, and her two grandchildren, Jade and Michael. Debbi dedicated her life to bettering the lives of others. Her warmth and kindness greeted countless faces during her 40 years in Napa at First Presbyterian church and more recently Crosswalk community Church. She contributed greatly and loved her work at Napa State Hospital as a psych tech and substance abuse counselor. A memorial service is planned for April 28th at 1 PM at CrossWalk Community Church Napa, at 2590 First Street. All are welcome. In lieu of flowers Debbi asked that those wishing to donate give to CrossWalk Community Church to support the Furaha Community Foundation in Kenya. 1925-2018 Richard W. Dennis, foremost a patriot, an Army Air Corps trained pilot, passed away at home surrounded by his loving family on Friday, April 20, 2018. Born in Oakland, his family moved to Napa when Dick was five. He attended school there, graduating from Napa High School with the class of 1943. World War two was raging and Dick, a young man 18 years old, wanted to get involved. His love of airplanes and flying drove him to Hamilton AFB in Marin County where he happily signed up. Two years later the war ended shortly after he, now a fighter pilot, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. Disgruntled he hadnt gotten into the fight, he returned home to Napa. A group of his high school friends planned a welcome home party for several returning veterans including Dick, and a girl, Marilyn Kern, was asked to be his blind date. Two years later Marilyn and Dick were married, August 17,1947, never imagining they would be together for 71 years. He continued his affiliation with the military achieving the rank of Lt. Colonel, retiring from Travis AFB after 25 years of service. Napa State Hospital could be getting a solar farm along the Highway 221 gateway to the city of Napa, though a berm should block hundreds of gleaming panels from the sight of motorists. The earthen berm was built 18 years ago so motorists wouldnt see a 16-foot security fence that made the hospital look like a prison compound. A state report concludes that this same berm will render the proposed solar farms aesthetic impacts less than significant. When tracking the sun, the solar panels will extend to a maximum of eight feet in height. The berm is six feet tall at the project site, but extends 11 feet above Highway 221, the report said. The majority of the array would be shielded from view by the 11-foot berm, said the report released by the state Department of General Services. And the few spots from the highway that might afford a glimpse of the array already overlook a security fence and hospital facilities. The report concluded that the array wont make this view look any worse. Hike in duty on sugar may boost smuggling The recent hike in import duty on sugar has made the essential product dearer in Nepal, raising chances of smuggling from India due to the price differential, industrialists and traders based in the eastern region said. SANTA ROSA - A Santa Rosa man was sentenced to six years in prison for first-degree burglary and felony looting during the wildfire state of emergency in October. Douglas James Rosado, 50, pleaded no contest in March to the charges and was sentenced Friday in Sonoma County Superior Court. Witnesses confronted Rosado at the evacuated Hope Village group home run by California Human Development around 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 15, Sonoma County prosecutors said. Witnesses saw Rosado trying to load a dryer from a Hope Village residence on Spears Road in Rincon Valley into his truck, and saw a shop vacuum in the bed of Rosado's truck, prosecutors said. Rosado told the witnesses his wife was a former employee of the facility and asked him to check on the Hope Village residence because of the fire, according to prosecutors. Rosado opened the doors of the truck so the witnesses could look inside but he drove away before they were able to do so. During a probation search at Rosado's home and storage unit, the shop vacuum seen by the witnesses and two televisions from Hope Village were recovered, prosecutors said. Insurers argue that Dodd is working to address a problem that doesn't exist, although state data show that complaints about renewing homeowners' insurance or spiking premiums have more than tripled in ZIP codes at the greatest risk of wildfire over the last six years. "We believe this is a fair and efficient approach to help homeowners in our community rebuild," McGuire said. The show begins at 1:30 p.m. in room 112 at the Capitol. Welcome to the AM Alert, your morning rundown on California policy and politics. To receive it regularly, please sign up for it here. MEMORY LANE: U.S. Senate hopeful Kevin de Leon returns to his old stomping grounds in San Diego today and invited the press along. The former California Senate leader is touring the border with community leaders and activists this morning and later speaking out against the San Diego County Board of Supervisors' vote to oppose his sanctuary state bill at a press conference in Chicano Park. Then he plans to take a "stroll" through Barrio Logan, where he grew up. With a little over a month until the June primary, de Leon has notched impressive endorsements from major labor groups and his wealthy pal Tom Steyer, but continues to struggle in the money race against veteran U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Please log in to keep reading. Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever. DeAngelo is a former Auburn police officer who was reportedly fired from the department in 1979 after he shoplifted a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a Sacramento drug store, according to archives from the Auburn Journal. His attorney at the time, Maurene Wheland, told The Chronicle on Wednesday that she did not remember representing him and hadn't heard of his arrest in the cold case. In 1967, the Journal reported that DeAngelo had returned from serving in the U.S. Navy in North Vietnam, where he worked on the gun line. In addition to violent murder and rapes, authorities suspect the East Area Rapist in more than 150 residential break-ins across the state. He'd sometimes go out night after night, targeting multiple houses within a neighborhood to stoke fear among residents. Targets were often single women living in one-story homes. From 1976 to 1978, the suspect developed one of his most sadistic signatures. If the home he chose for his crime had a couple living inside, he would incapacitate the man first, binding him with strips of towels or shoelaces. He would then carefully balance a stack of dishes from the kitchen on the male victim's back. It is true that some Californians those in the far northeast of the state who would like to break off and form the state of Jefferson, and others in the deeply Republican Central Valley feel they are not represented by the likes of Democratic U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, let alone our popular outgoing Democratic governor, Jerry Brown. But the cloud of gloom over our state, borne on the winds of the great recession, has lifted. California has high taxes, yes, but it also has a budget surplus, a low unemployment rate and a renewed sense of optimism. Last week, in fact, The Los Angeles Times published a story based on interviews with more than 100 Californians and their consensus was that the state is in good shape and improving all the time. 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, wrote my colleagues Mark Z. Barabak and Phil Willon. Californians hardly seem to be in the restive mood necessary for such a convulsive reordering of things. Measure C allows 795 acres of oak woodlands to be removed. Once the oak removal limit is reached, any two oaks 5 inches in diameter (smaller than a water glass) or greater would be considered an oak woodland, and removing two 5-inch diameter oaks without a permit could result in misdemeanor criminal charges, even if those two trees are in your backyard. Permits could be issued after the oak removal limit is reached, but only for residential and urban related uses, not farming. The authors and several vocal proponents exempt their own existing urban and residential uses, while discriminating against farming and open space, creating serious issues to the long-term preservation of agriculture and open space. The unintended consequences of Measure C encourage landowners to creatively look at the remaining use of agriculturally-zoned land. Examples stipulated to in court include tucking permanent, non-agricultural structural developments around oak woodlands (which could range from luxury homes to wineries) or result in lower property values if there are no longer any income-producing opportunities for agriculturally-zoned lands. This is a real and serious unintended consequence of Measure C. Heitz Wine Cellars, one of Napa Valleys most storied producers, has traded hands. The winery on Wednesday, April 18 announced its sale to billionaire investor and business owner Gaylon M. Lawrence, Jr. Speaking shortly after the sale was announced, Kathleen Heitz Myers, former president and CEO of the winery and daughter of founders Joe and Alice Heitz, said the timing of the sale followed the winerys best year ever, and the whole family was in agreement. She and her brother David, Heitz Cellars winemaker, were planning to retire, Heitz Myers said. And the next generation wants to go off and do their own thing and new adventures ahead. Joe Heitz worked alongside winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu Vineyard in the 1950s and in 1961 he and his wife Alice purchased eight vineyard acres south of St. Helena, founding Heitz Wine Cellars. The business grew in 1964 with the Heitzs purchase of 160 acres in Spring Valley, east of St. Helena, where the winerys 1898 grey stone cellar sits today. The Heitz family had not known Gaylon or the Lawrence family personally prior to talks about a potential sale, Heitz Myers said. A news release noted Lawrence and his family own one of the largest citrus grove management operations in Florida, hold a stake in a large HVAC distributorship based in California and own seven community banks spread throughout Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee. According to Heitz Myers, Lawrence had been looking for some time in the Napa Valley and just hadnt found a match for he and his family. Though the family owns land throughout the South and Midwest and comes to Napa with more than 75 years of farming experience, the purchase of Heitz Cellars is their first foray into the wine industry and vineyard ownership. For us, its always been a family business, Heitz Myers said, and I think they have a real connection to the land as well. And his hope is to keep it in his family for generations. In a April 18 statement, Lawrence said, Ive enjoyed coming to the Napa Valley for some time and have long admired the wine industry from afar. Our family was fortunate to have an extraordinary opportunity to acquire such a remarkable family business with Heitz Cellars. Were very excited about the winerys bright future. Heitz Myers said, Its kind of nice to have somebody new come into the wine industry. We wish them all the success in the world. We sure have enjoyed it during our tenure of it. The sale included the winery, trademark and more than 1,000 acres of Heitz land in the Napa Valley, of which 450 are farmed, Heitz Myers said. A sale price was not disclosed. In addition to growing their own grapes, the winery also sells fruit to other winemakers whose contracts may be continued going forward, Heitz Myers said. I think they will use some of the grapes for themselves and they will continue to sell grapes too, she said. So its a combination. As for the Lawrence family carrying on the legacy of the storied winery and property, Heitz Myers said, They seem committed to it and we sure hope they do There may be some changes but that will be their decision, not mine. The main thing is were really excited its being sold to someone who appreciates land, kind of a farmer-to-farmer transaction, and that theyll take care of it and be the next stewards for our company and property. Robert Boyd, who was promoted to president of Joseph Phelps Vineyard in February of this year, will now take on the role of winery president and CEO at Heitz, Lawrence announced. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The St. Helena City Council voted Tuesday to fully fund all 17 of the grant requests submitted by local nonprofits for the upcoming fiscal year, at a cost of $145,200. The total exceeded the $110,600 the council doled out in the current fiscal year. Councilmembers talked about whittling down the grant requests and debated the merits of a few of them, but they ultimately decided to award all 17 and overhaul the grant process for next year to clarify which kinds of projects are eligible. For the second time in just over a month, St. Helena High School students walked out of class on Friday to speak out against a wave of gun violence in the nations schools. What had been planned as a lunchtime letter-writing campaign to mark the 19th anniversary of the Columbine massacre was hastily reorganized as a morning walkout as word spread about yet another school shooting that injured one student in Florida. Starting at 10 a.m., more than 30 students silently stood on the sidewalk along Highway 29 in front of Vintage Hall, holding signs with dates and locations of recent school shootings and messages like School Shootings Should Not Be The New Normal and Am I Next? After 20 minutes, they broke their silence and chanted The people united will never be divided as they walked back to class. The walkout lasted exactly 20 minutes because Fridays shooting at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida was the 20th school shooting of 2018. The walkout was intended to show solidarity with victims of school violence, protest the lack of changes to gun laws, and send the message that todays students will soon be voting and running for office, said members of the high schools Students for Change club. We want to send a message that were not going to stand for this any longer, and we will do anything we can, no matter how small, to get the point across that our congressmen and women need to do something to change the laws now, said sophomore Ivy Shaw. We should have a sense of safety when were at school, said sophomore Carrie Steil. The walkout started during the high schools morning break and extended about five minutes into third period. As was the case with the previous walkout, Vice Principal Greg Fetters said none of the participating students would face any disciplinary consequences. That decision hadnt been announced when the walkout began, and Shaw said participating students were willing to risk lunchtime detention or suspension to exercise their First Amendment rights. Sophomore Larkin Dewyer said the Students For Change club is following up with a Students Rock the Congress event at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 3, at the St. Helena Performing Arts Center, featuring keynote speaker Congressman Mike Thompson and Napa County Supervisor Belia Ramos. Fridays walkout was smaller than the one on March 14, which was organized days in advance and drew scores of students. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Nepali in death row in Saudi Arabia: Pakistani family agrees to grant clemency A Nepali man convicted in Saudia Arabia for a murder of a Pakistani national has been given clemency by the victims family. Umesh Yadav, of Dhanusha district, has been doing time in Saudia Arabian Jail. Increasing corporate interests from Texas, Australia, New York and London want you to vote against protecting the watersheds in Napa County. Recently such outside interests have used their Napa Valley henchmen and henchwomen to print mistruths" as seen in the voters pamphlets. Rob Muelrath, the paid campaign manager for those opposed to Measure C, seems to be steering them down a slippery slope. According to Ryan Kobas, they paid $54,000 in legal fees to resolve litigation in favor of Yes on C in addition to their own attorney fees. They had to admit to false and misleading statements before the judge could sign the writ of mandate to conclude the case. Do you really think that the people cant see through their tales? On Feb. 26, St. Helena's mediation movement organized a mayoral town hall, focusing on due process. Xulio Soriano, advocate for Latinos and indigenous immigrants, discussed ways in which Latinos are systemically excluded from civic engagement, due to lack of information, fear, and cultural incompetency of city leaders. Mayor Galbraith says he agrees, obstruction of due process within the Latino community is a systemic issue. Historically, city leaders, along with large swabs of Napa County's white residents, deny the systemic nature of racism; they argue, racism reduces to isolated instances of individual racial prejudice and discrimination. This view is out of step with contemporary sociological research and the academic field of humanities. Racism, is in fact, a system of oppression and Mayor Galbraith's acknowledgment of this is a significant step towards understanding racial justice. David T. Wellman, author of "Portraits of White Racism," defines racism as a "system of advantage based on race," intended to maintain "the continuation of a privileged relationship," e.g. white supremacy. Put crudely, racism is racial prejudice plus power. 2018 marks the beginning of the 50-year anniversary of Napa Countys Agricultural Preserve the first of its kind in the nation. This landmark set of zoning laws, which encompasses AP and AW lands, established agriculture as the highest and best use of the land in Napa County. As grapegrowers, we believe this is a time to recognize the Countys successes that have resulted from its commitment to preserving ag land. This is the second article in a three-part series commemorating 2018 as the 50th anniversary of the Ag Preserve. As a community, we have much to celebrate as a direct result of our agricultural based local economy. As touched upon in the first article of this series in addition to curbing the urban sprawl that the Bay Area has experienced over the past 50 years, by designating agriculture as the highest and best use of the land, we have provided our small California county with a windfall of economic benefits. Through the adoption of land use policies that promote and protect agriculture, our community has established Napa County as one of the top agricultural areas in the world; so much so, that municipalities all around the world look to Napa County as a model for their own success. France and Spain call on Europe for a coordinated response to rising global energy prices Armenia FM: There was no word or agreement on so-called "Zangezur corridor" Armenia President congratulates 2021 Nobel Prize laureate Ardem Patapoutian Indonesia to partially reopen resort island of Bali to international travelers Armenian, Iranian FMs discuss a broad range of issues related to regional developments Armenia premier: We consider resumption of peace process within scope of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs format necessary Garibashvili, Hasanov discuss 'strategic partnership' between Tbilisi and Baku Lithuania to share experience with Armenia in waste recycling sector Armenia Security Council Secretary, Iran Ambassador discuss regional security issues UAE tries to manage long-standing rivalry with Iran and Turkey through dialogue Azerbaijan President threatens to 'break the heads of Armenians and not care what others say' Armenia revenue committee chief meets with his counterpart in Karabakh 11 horses of resident of Armenia's Shurnukh cross over into territory under Azerbaijan's control Armenia MOD receives EU Ambassador, presents Azerbaijan's destabilizing actions Digest: Armenian PM visits Lithuania; David Julius, Ardem Patapoutian win 2021 Nobel Prize Armenia premier blames former government for fall of Shushi again Kremlin confirms news about preparation for Putin-Pashinyan meeting Armenia PM pays respects to those who fell for Lithuania's independence Vahidi: Enemies do not want good relations between Iran and its neighbors Amir-Abdollahian: Iran will not let foreigners interrupt ties with neighbors including Armenia Armenia Supreme Judicial Council terminates powers of judge due to entrepreneurial activities Russia, Iran FMs to discuss situations in Caspian Sea and Transcaucasia Armenian minister, Russia Ambassador discuss activities of Russian mining companies in Armenia Simonyan thanks Lavrov for his considerable contribution to development of Armenia-Russia collaboration Dollar somewhat steady in Armenia Some unresolved issues remain between Azerbaijan and Armenia, says US ambassador to Baku Ardem Patapoutian, David Julius win Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Iran says has good ties with Azerbaijan, Armenia Armenia Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Ministry on Russia widening road near Lars checkpoint Armenia deputy minister on amendments to law on financial equalization and subsidies for communities Robert Kocharyan on Armenia being entangled in processes and Iran's perception of the country Armenia Parliament Speaker in Moscow pays tribute to those who fell in the Great Patriotic War Russian FM: Russia and Armenia will resume interparliamentary cooperation soon Cmilyte-Nielsen: Lithuania ready to support democratic reforms in Armenia Armenia premier, Lithuania President speak about processes in South Caucasus Ex-president: Armenian authorities are ready to cooperate even with Pakistan - if it helps to stay in power California oil spill kills animals Simonyte: I hope Karabakh conflict will be settled under OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs auspices Pashinyan to Lithuania PM: Armenia will continue taking decisive steps to strengthen democracy Kocharyan speaks on sale of arms to Azerbaijan by Russia: The question is more on a moral plane Armenia ex-Prosecutor General, Investigative Committee former chief to remain in custody Drills kick off in Tbilisi with participation of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia Pashinyan: Lithuania can play important role in promoting Armenia-EU cooperation Armenia ex-president says he never 'disrespected' Azerbaijani ex-president Lithuania premier: Vilnius, Yerevan will soon be connected by direct flights Azerbaijan MFA announces 'positive signals' from Armenia regarding border delimitation Ex-president: I can't imagine the delimitation process in the interests of Armenia Pashinyan: Karabakh conflict settlement should be based on OSCE Minsk Group-supported principles Armenia premier announces condition for starting border delimitation, demarcation with Azerbaijan Armenia ex-president: OSCE MG never had a mandate to enforce peace Kabul: 95% of libraries, bookstores, and publishing houses closed in 2 months Paris mayor: France may recognize Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Kocharyan: Armenian authorities are not responsible for Aliyev, as there may be something unknown behind this Armenias Pashinyan: No time, place restrictions on meeting with Azerbaijans Aliyev Putin bestows order upon Russian Armenian historian Armenia PM: I hope we will make progress with Azerbaijan in opening of roads, railways 627 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Lithuania PM: European organizations play very important role in Armenia Armenia FM meeting with Iran counterpart World gold prices increase somewhat Prophet Muhammad sketchs creator dies in Sweden road accident Armenia parliament speaker travels to Russia on 3-day official visit Japan parliament elects new PM Armenia FM heading for Iran Monday on working visit Aging Japanese decide to pay for early retirement pension More than 10,000 children fallen victim to pedophile clergy in France since 1950 Drone video records storm from inside for first time Planet with 3 suns discovered Erdogan shares basketball video after rumors of serious illness Armenia will never be involved in a conspiracy against Iran, PM says Plane crashes on building in Italy Media: Kabul explosion leaves 12 people killed European companies file for bankruptcy over record gas prices Nikol Pashinyan arrives in Lithuania on official visit Azerbaijan and Turkey to hold exercises near Armenian border Ali Sayyid Khamenei: Events in Northwest Iran must be resolved without foreign interference Iranian Foreign Minister expresses concern over Israel's provocations near Iran-Azerbaijan border 19th century bridge partially collapsed due to fire in southern Rome China sends dozens of military aircraft to Taiwan's air defense identification zone Nikol Pashinyan sends congratulatory message to Angela Merkel Armenian President congratulates his German counterpart on the day of German unity Algeria recalls ambassador from France due to Macron's irresponsible statements Artsakh Defense Army blesses khachkar in memory of those killed in 44-day Karabakh war (PHOTOS) 907 COVID-19 new cases reported in Armenia per day Georgian CEC: Ruling party leads local elections with 48.56% of votes Armenia PM to pay official visit to Lithuania Armenia pavilion opens at Expo 2020 Dubai FM warns Azerbaijan ambassador: Iran does not tolerate Israel's presence near its borders Catholicos of All Armenians receives new Ambassador of Sweden 3 persons serving life sentence in Armenia on hunger strike Aliyev promises appropriate response if Armenia provides clear maps of minefields 168.am: Why Turkey private plane lands in Yerevan? Turkey, Russia play important role in stability and security in the region, says Azerbaijan president Azerbaijans Aliyev ready to meet with Armenias Pashinyan at any time when latter is ready Armenia deputy PM, Czech Rep. FM discuss regional developments Petition filed with court to arrest Armenia army general staff deputy chief Armenia ex-ruling party official: Inadmissible to start substantive talks with Turkey, Azerbaijan today Armenia official: Corridors or roads may be opened which Azerbaijanis or Turkey will be able to use Man, 55, found dead hanging from tree in Armenias Vayots Dzor Province village forest 1,152 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia YEREVAN. Acting Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Hrach Rostomyan has resigned. In his statement issued on Wednesday, Rostomyan said as a member of Prosperous Party he is joining the call of the party leader Gagik Tsarukyan to join people in the streets. I am calling on my Republican and Dashnak counterparts to join people and fulfill their demands, he said. Earlier Prosperous Armenia issued a statement saying their leader Gagik Tsarukyan joins the wave of popular uprising and stands next to the people. We call on all our party members in all regions of the country and in Yerevan to mobilize and take to the streets, they said. After 11-day protest rallies by the Nikol Pashinyan-led movement, two-term-ex-President Serzh Sargsyan on Monday resigned from his recently-elected post of Prime Minister. Subsequently, Pashinyan announced that on Wednesday they will continue negotiations with the incumbent authorities, and toward achieving a smooth transfer of power in Armenia. But it became clear on Tuesday evening that this talk will not take place. Acting PM Karen Karapetyan stated that Pashinyan had posited new, unilateral demands. Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, announced that they are resuming their protests, since the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) wants to retain power at the expense of Sargsyans resignation. And he called on people to resume the civil disobedience actions on Wednesday, so as not to allow the RPA to remain in power. Nepals only ICP fails to operate at full capacity The countrys only integrated check post (ICP) in Birgunj, which formally started functioning earlier this month, has not been able to operate in full capacity due to delay in widening of a road that links it to the dry port in Sirsiya. People in Ijevan have closed off the road leading to Armenias Bagratashen customs checkpoint on the border with Georgia. The Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter informed from the town that the residents of Ijevan and neighboring villages have blocked this interstate road. They demand to meet with the governor of Tavush Province, and the mayor of Ijevan. There are demonstrations also in Vanadzor, the third largest city of Armenia, since early Wednesday morning. Students here are boycotting classes and marching through the city streets chanting, RPA, go away! Labor strikes and boycotting of classes are in progress in Gyumri, the second largest city of Armenia. After 11-day protest rallies by the opposition Civil Contract Party Political Council member and National Assembly Way Out (Yelk) Faction head Nikol Pashinyan-led movement, two-term-ex-President Serzh Sargsyan on Monday resigned from his recently-elected post of Prime Minister. Subsequently, Pashinyan announced that they will continue negotiations with the incumbent authorities on Wednesday, and toward achieving a smooth transfer of power in Armenia. But it became clear on Tuesday evening that this talk will not take place. Acting PM Karen Karapetyan stated that Pashinyan had posited new, unilateral demands. Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, announced that they are resuming their protests, since the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) wants to retain power at the expense of Sargsyans resignation. YEREVAN. The demonstrators, led by opposition Civil Contract Party Political Council member and National Assembly of Armenia Way Out (Yelk) Faction head Nikol Pashinyan, have reached the David of Sassoun Square in capital city Yerevan. Their march had started at Republic Square, the heart of Yerevan, and then continued through downtown Yerevan and the Erebuni District. Widespread protest demonstrations are in progress in Yerevan and various places all through Armenia. The Way Out Factions other two forces, Republic and Bright Armenia Parties, on Wednesday announced that they are joining this movement. In addition, the Prosperous Armenia Party urged its supporters to go out to the streets and be at the peoples side. After 11-day protest rallies by the Nikol Pashinyan-led movement, ex-President Serzh Sargsyan on Monday resigned from his recently-elected post of Prime Minister. Subsequently, Pashinyan announced that they will continue negotiations with the incumbent authorities on Wednesday, and toward achieving a smooth transfer of power in Armenia. But it became clear on Tuesday evening that this talk will not take place. Acting PM Karen Karapetyan stated that Pashinyan had posited new, unilateral demands. Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, announced that they are resuming their protests on Wednesday, since the ruling Republican Party of Armenia wants to retain power at the expense of Sargsyans resignation. YEREVAN. Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on Wednesday received US Ambassador Richard Mills, and they discussed the internal political situation in Armenia. Karapetyan underscored the resolving of internal political matters by way of dialogue and the Constitution, and thanked the US government for the position it has expressed regarding this issue, press office of the government informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. Ambassador Mils, in turn, once again reaffirmed the US governments respective stance, and stressed that all processes in Armenia need to take place pursuant to the Constitution. He added that there is no alternative to dialogue to normalize the political situation. Mills said the ongoing demonstrations and civil disobedience actions in Armenia are a violation of the law, and the government must ensure public order and safety. The US ambassador expressed the confidence that the road to democracy, or to strengthening the democracy, is not through the PM candidates selection on the streets, during demonstrations. Also, Richard Mills highlighted the importance of dialogue between political forces. The talks set for April 25 between the Civil Contract party leader, MP Nikol Pashinyan and acting PM Karen Karapetyan were cancelled. We cannot allow the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) to retain its power by sacrificing its leader, Pashinyan said, calling to continue civil disobedience actions. Karapetyan said he had appealed to the President proposing to call on the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary political forces that a meeting in any format be organized, even until snap [parliamentary] elections be held. Thousands took to the street starting from Wednesday morning. Members of Yelq faction Republic and Bright Armenia parties have joined Pashinyan-led movement. RPA faction held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the agenda of the snap parliamentary elections. Baghdasaryan said RPA will make a statement either tonight or tomorrow. We have majority in the National Assembly, and we will decide on the candidate for PM, he said. Prosperous Armenia party called on its party members to take to the streets and to stand by people. Several hours later acting minister of sport who is also Prosperous Armenia member Hrach Rostomyan said he resigns to join the popular movement. As of 6 pm, two members of ARF Dashnaktsutyun faction declared they are joining the public movement as well. As for the entire faction, head of ARF parliamentary group Armen Rustamyan said they are still discussing the candidate for PM. Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the position of the Kremlin has not changed with respect to the current political situation in Armenia. We, as before, believe that it is Armenias internal affair, Peskov said. And we hope that our Armenian friends will be able to settle this situation and reach consensus in the near future President Armen Sarkissian on Wednesday is continuing the consultations and telephonic conversations with representatives of Armenias parliamentary and extra-parliamentary political forces, and discussing the situation in the country and the avenues for a solution. Earlier Sarkissian said it is regrettable that the negotiations were terminated. US President Donald Trump did not pronounce G-word in his statement on the 103th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Today we commemorate the Meds Yeghern, one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century, when one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, he said in a statement. Oli scoffs at autocratic slur Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday dismissed accusations of imposing totalitarianism and stressed the governments focus remains on accelerating development in the country. The European commission approved a monopoly energy deal with Azerbaijan under which Maltese taxpayers could be losing tens of million of euros a year, according to an analysis of leaked files, The Guardian reported. A whistleblower gave a cache of data to the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed by a car bomb in October. The leaked material has been shared with the Daphne Project, a collaboration of 18 media organisations from 15 countries, including the Guardian, Reuters and Suddeutsche Zeitung, led by Frances Forbidden Stories. Caruana Galizia died before being able to publish any findings from the leak. However, three energy experts in London have examined the files. They contain pricing information and contracts that Maltas current government has so far refused to share with the public. Some of the material concerns a deal with Azerbaijans state-owned oil and gas company Socar, worth more than 1bn, under which Malta agreed to import all the gas needed to supply its power stations for the next 10 years. Over the past year, Malta has paid at least 131.6m ($153m at annualised exchange rates) for its gas nearly twice the open market rate. Maltese taxpayers were losing money hand over fist, according to one expert. The deal was struck with Socar in 2015. Benchmarking indicated Malta was paying a significantly higher rate than similar purchases from the wider market negotiated at that time by Greece, Italy and Turkey. Estimates by the Guardian suggest Socar paid $40m less for the gas than the sum it charged Malta. The gas is transported in liquid form, known as liquefied natural gas. Experts said there were questions to answer about why Socar, which had no relevant experience in producing or trading LNG when the deal was signed, was chosen as Maltas partner. The conquest of malaria Eliminating malaria is both possible and necessary, heres how to accelerate progress Home | Latest Addition | Alleged money laundering: Court remands ex-governor in EFCC custody - Former Katsina state governor, Ibrahim Shema has been remanded in EFCC custody until April 27 - He was remanded for alleged money laundering by a Federal High Court sitting in Katsina - The former governor is facing a 26-count charge bordering on fraud contrary to Section 15 (2d) of Money Laundering Prohibition Act A Federal High Court sitting in Katsina on Tuesday, April 24, ordered that the former Katsina state governor, Ibrahim Shema be remanded in EFCC custody until April 27, for alleged money laundering. Shema is standing trial before the court for allegedly misappropriating about N5.7 billion SURE-P funds during his tenure. The defendant is facing a 26-count charge bordering on fraud contrary to Section 15 (2d) of Money Laundering Prohibition Act, punishable under Section 15 sub (3) of the same Act. READ ALSO: How Dino Melaye escaped and how we rearrested him - Police Shema pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against him. During the proceedings, the defence counsel, Mr Emmanuel Ukala, told the court they had filed a bail for application on April 18. He said that the defendant is a senior lawyer, former governor of Katsina state and his international passport is with the Federal Government of Nigeria. The prosecution counsel, Mr Sam Olugunarisa, however,objected to the application, saying that the court cannot take bail cognisance because the court does not assume jurisdiction, it is not ripe at that stage. He said that the jurisdiction of court takes effects at the time plea is taken. The application is prematured, he said, urging the court to disregard it. The defense counsel again moved oral bail application which was objected by the prosecution counsel. The prosecution counsel still told the court that there was no room for double applications. He urged the court to disregard the applications and send the defendant to prison. Justice Babagana Ashigar, ordered that the defendant be remanded in EFCC facility until April 27, when the court would hear the written bail application. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app NAIJ.com had reported that a former governor of Katsina state, Ibrahim Shema, was on Tuesday, April 10, arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He pleaded not guilty to 24-count charge filed against him at the court. What does Nigeria need right now? (Nigerian Street Interview) | NAIJ.com TV: [embedded content] Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Latest Addition Home | Latest Addition | American rapper Meek Mill released from prison American rapper Meek Mill has been released from prison after being incarcerated for violating his probation .The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered that the rapper be granted bail on Monday . I d like to thank God , my family , my friends , my attorneys , my team at Roc Nation including JAY- Z , Desiree Perez , my good friend Michael Rubin , my fans . The Pennsylvania Supreme Court and all my public advocates for their love , support and encouragement during this difficult time , Meek said in a statement released to Billboard . While the past five months have been a nightmare , the prayers, visits , calls , letters and rallies have helped me stay positive . To the Philadelphia District Attorney s office , I m grateful for your commitment to justice not only for my case , but for others that have been wrongfully jailed due to police misconduct, he said . Mill said further , Although I m blessed to have the resources to fight this unjust situation , I understand that many people of color across the country don t have that luxury and I plan to use my platform to shine a light on those issues . In the meantime , I plan to work closely with my legal team to overturn this unwarranted conviction and look forward to reuniting with my family and resuming my music career . Meanwhile , Philadelphia 76 ers co owner Michael Rubin posted a picture on Instagram celebrating Meek s release from prison . @ meekmill is FREE !!! Just left visiting Meek with @ kevinhart 4 real and I m on the way back to pick him up as we speak ! # MeekisFree # GoSixers , he wrote . NAN CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Latest Addition Special Adviser to Senator Dino Melaye, Gideon Ayodele on Tuesday faulted reports that his principal jumped out of a moving vehicle in an attempts to evade police move to take him to Lokoja, Kogi State capital. Ayodele in a statement late Tuesday noted that it was not possible for Melaye to have jumped out of a moving police vehicle when he was sandwiched by armed policemen forcing him against his will to Lokoja. Insisting that nothing could be farther from the truth, Ayodele said that the insinuation is practically impossible for a man saddled between gun-wielding policemen. He added that the incident was a last resort by Senator Dino Melaye in order foil attempt to kidnap him and kill him by agents of Kogi State governor in connivance with the Police. The statement entitled Todays Incident Involving Senator Dino Melaye: A Last Resort said: Sequel to the avalanche of calls by well-meaning Nigerians and supporters of Senator Dino Melaye for enquiries about the well-being and safety of the Senator and against the backdrop of baseless rumours being spread on the social media, we are constrained to make the record straight as follows: Earlier in the morning, Senator Dino Melaye as a law-abiding citizen voluntarily submitted himself to the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) who had laid siege to his private residence since around 3.35pm of Monday, April 23, 2018. He, along with his lawyers and personal aides, was driven in his private car to the SARS office in Guzape district of Abuja, sandwiched among the numerous police vehicles earlier deployed to his house. For the avoidance of doubt, he had never evaded police invitation before now because there was none extended to him in the first place. Rather, what the Police FPRO, Mr. Jimoh Moshood, had been doing was to summon the Senator through media briefings, a practice which is unconventional. But given the media hype the whole saga had generated especially his unwarranted travails in the hands of Immigration officials at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Monday, April 23 and the attendant but dramatic police siege to his private residence thereafter, where family members and political associates were subjected to traumatic experience for hours, it became necessary for Senator Dino Melaye to end the drama, hence his choice of appearing before the police today. Later on they moved to take him to Lokoja, Kogi State. The public will vividly recall that this same case involving Senator Dino Melaye had already been transferred to Abuja by the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court after Senator Melaye expressed worry about his safety in Lokoja. Now, the question is why will they want to forcefully take him to Lokoja? The Senator believes they are doing the Kogi Governors bidding in order to assassinate him. Contrary to online reports about jumping out of a moving police vehicle; Nothing could be farther from the truth as such insinuation is practically impossible for a man saddled between gun-wielding policemen. Todays incident was a last resort by Senator Dino Melaye in order foil attempt to kidnap him and kill him by agents of Kogi State governor in connivance with the Police. The Nigeria Police Force on Tuesday explained how the Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye, escaped from its custody. The police said Melaye jumped out of a police vehicle through the window after some hoodlums in two Toyota Hilux vehicles blocked the police vehicle conveying the Senator to Kogi State. The police said the senator was rescued from policemen by the hoodlums and taken to an unknown destination. The incident took place around Area 1 Roundabout in Abuja. The Force Spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, disclosed these in a statement in Abuja. The statement reads: At about 1200Hrs of today (Tuesday) Sen. Dino Melaye while in lawful custody of the Nigeria Police Force and being taken for arraignment in Federal High Court, Lokoja, from Abuja, escaped from lawful custody when hoodlums and miscreants in two Toyota Hilux Vehicles blocked the police vehicle conveying Senator Dino Melaye around Area 1 Round About, Abuja. In the process, the senator jumped out of the police vehicle through the window and was rescued from the policemen by hoodlums and miscreants to an unknown destination. The police team re-enforced and trailed Senator Dino Melaye to Zankli Hospital, Abuja, where he was re-arrested. The police said Melaye would be arraigned in court without further delay, adding that one of the Toyota Hilux vehicles used by the hoodlums and miscreants in aiding the senators escape has been recovered by the police investigation team. Moshood said the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has directed a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to Melayes escape from lawful custody. Home | News | General | SEC laments as investors shun direct cash settlement initiative By Nkiruka Nnorom Investors have shunned the Direct Cash Settlement, DCS, introduced by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, and the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, to end the incidence of unauthorised sale of investors shares. Lamenting this development, Ag Director General of SEC, Mary Uduk, said that only 1,191 investors have subscribed to the initiative out of 5.1 million accounts domiciled in the Central Securities Clearing System, CSCS. Nigerian Stock Exchange DCS is an initiative that allows proceeds from sale of investors shares to settle directly into their account as against the system whereby the proceeds go to the brokers account before passing it to the investor. The DCS, which commenced last year, has been voluntary, but was made compulsory by the Commission starting from September 2017. Speaking at the post Capital Market Committee (CMC) first quarter media briefing, Uduk called for collaborative effort among all stakeholders in the market to achieve the objective of the DCS, noting that only 15 out of 18 settlement banks have contributed to the DCS initiative so far and called for collaborative effort among all stakeholders in the market to achieve the objective. Considering the fact that DCS will instill confidence in the market, there is the need for all parties involved in the process to work harder to achieve a 100 percent migration, she said. She said SEC is working with various trade groups and other Self Regulatory Organisations, SROs, in the market to adopt electronic Initial Public Offerings, IPOs. She said: Globally, the capital market is working towards electronic IPOs and the Nigerian capital market is working to adopt this trend. A Committee comprising of the SEC, NSE, the Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria, ASHON, Chattered Institute of Stockbrokers, CIS, the CSCS, Institute of Capital Market Registrar, Capital Market Solicitors, Fund Managers Association of Nigeria, FMAN, and the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System,NIBSS, has been set up to work on modalities for issuance of e-IPOs. Additionally, she noted that a total of 2.5 million accounts, translating into 466,000 unique investors accounts have keyed into the e-dividend registration initiative, while saying that distribution of e-Annual Report and Accounts for quoted companies has since commenced. She informed that though some shareholder groups have raised concerns, the one year pilot phase would continue while the commission deliberates on the concerns raised so far. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Dangote exports 211kt cement to 3 African countries in Q1 Records N242bn revenue By Yinka Kolawole Dangote Cement exported a total of 211 kilotons of cement to three African countries namely, Ghana, Togo and Niger in the first quarter (Q1) of 2018, while also significantly increasing its local supply by 5.3 per cent to nearly 4 million tons during the period. Group Chief Executive Officer, Joe Makoju, disclosed this in his comment on the first quarter (Q12018) audited results for the three months ended 31st March 2018. Alhaji Aliko Dangote In the results announced on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Dangote Cements gross revenue increased by 16 percent to N242.1 billion in Q12018, from N208.12 billion in the corresponding period of 2017. The companys gross profit for the period also rose to N144.76 billion from N120.36 billion indicating an increase of 20.30 percent, while profit before tax (PBT) rose by 40.2 percent to N108.04 billion from N77.32 billion and profit after tax (PAT) went up by 29 percent to N72.12 billion from N55.8 billion. A breakdown of the results showed that the total volume of cement sales by the Group went up by 2.8 percent to 6.2 million tonnes with Nigerian volumes up by 5.3 percent to nearly 4.0 million tonnes. Speaking on the results Makoju stated: The first quarter of 2018 has started strongly with substantial increases in revenues and profitability that drove excellent cash generation across the Group. Despite a slightly slower start to the quarter, Nigerian volumes increased significantly in March and underpin our confidence that 2018 will be a good year for the Group. Across our Pan-African operations, higher revenue per tons boosted revenues and increased EBITDA (i.e. Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) margins, with great potential to improve further when Tanzania switches to gas. Expatiating further, Makoju said: Through our recent investments, Dangote Cement has eliminated Nigerias dependence on imported cement and has transformed the nation into an exporter of cement serving neighbouring countries. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Ward chairman held for drug smuggling The District Court Makwanpur has directed police to keep ward chairman of the municipality in custody for his alleged involvement in drug smuggling. Home | News | General | Missing Mexican students were slain, their bodies dissolved in acid Three Mexican film students whose disappearance last month sparked large-scale protests in the city of Guadalajara were beaten, killed and their bodies dissolved in acid, Mexican authorities said Monday. Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the gruesome crime, said officials of the attorney generals office in Jalisco State, which includes Guadalajara. Arrest warrants have been issued for six other suspects. The investigation is continuing, the Jalisco State Attorney-General, Raul Sanchez, told reporters in a videotaped news conference providing shocking new details on the closely watched case. Prosecutors blamed a criminal group, which they believe to be the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, for the crime. Dissolving human remains in acid to conceal traces of slain victims is a tactic associated with drug cartels in Mexico. Why the three young men were targeted has been a matter of i ntense speculation since their disappearance March 19. None of the three had any known link to criminal gangs, authorities stressed. But on Monday investigators revealed what they called a probable motive for their abduction and slayings. According to official accounts, on the day of their disappearance, the three students had been doing schoolwork in a house in Tonala, a Guadalajara suburb, associated with a major criminal figure. The house belonged to the aunt of one of the students, authorities said. Rival traffickers were watching the house, and the presence of the three men probably aroused suspicions, authorities said. Heavily armed men who identified themselves as police officers later led the three away from their vehicle, which had stopped because of a mechanical problem, according to witness accounts. Jalisco state in central-west Mexico is home turf of a number of organised crime syndicates, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, considered among Mexicos fastest-growing and most violent. Authorities said genetic evidence found at two of three homes linked to the crime provided a forensic connection to the students Javier Salomon Aceves, 25; Jesus Daniel Diaz, 20; and Marco Garcia Avalos, 20. All studied at the University of Audiovisual Media in Guadalajara. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Edo plans biggest oil palm plantation in Nigeria By Jimoh Babatunde & Simon Ebegbulem Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, yesterday, said the state planned to cultivate over 200,000 hectares of oil palm plantation, saying this will make the state the biggest oil palm producing state in Nigeria. This came as members of the llushi community in Esan South East Local Government Area of the state, invaded the 500 hectares of land earmarked for rice production by the state government claiming ownership of the land. The governor made this disclosure at the launch of the Round table on Sustainable Palm Oil, RSPO: Nigeria National Interpretation Working Group in Benin. According to the governor, Edo State Government is committed to the principles of the RSPO, because this is important to achieve our goal to be the biggest palm oil producing state in the country. Edo State Government under my leadership will pioneer the establishment of oil palm council in Nigeria in collaboration with other oil palm producing state governments and stakeholders. Mr.Fatai Afolabi, facilitator of national interpretation RSPO, in his remark, said oil palm production remained a major vocation in many communities involving hundreds of thousands of poor producers and tens of thousands of poor processors. He noted that the RSPO is about social responsibility, saying: If you show no respect for the environment you operate as an oil palm producer, you will not be certified,, adding that some of the worlds leading companies had joined RSPO, in a bid to put the oil palm industry on a path to sustainability. Meanwhile, llushi community farmers alleged that they paid one Moses for the farmland therefore went there to cultivate the land for rice planting. Officials of Edo FADAMA who were at the farm called China Camp to map the farms for various registered cooperative societies were shocked when they saw the local farmers planting rice. Efforts by the FADAMA officials to stop work fell on deaf ears. The FADAMA officials informed the farmers that the state government had acquired the land for the purpose of large scale production of rice, warning that tractors would soon move in to remove whatever they were planting. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Learning from 2015 mistakes will help take over Imo APGA as more aspirants join race for APGA gov, NASS tickets Confusion trails Imo LG polls By Chidi Nkwopara & Chinonso Alozie OWERRIAHEAD of Imo 2019 gubernatorial election, chieftains of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, in the state said their experience in 2015 election would be a lesson to them, just as the former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission ,NERC, Mr. Sam Amadi, yesterday joined Imo gubernatorial race. This was even as the 2015 gubernatorial candidate of APGA in the state, Mr Emmanuel Iheanacho, said his party has taken note of what happened in the last election. His statement is coming at a time the former Secretary of APGA in the state, Mr. Mike Nwachukwu declared to contest for Imo East senatorial seat in Owerri North local government. APGA Logo Amadi while declaring at the APGA secretariat, briefly said: Imo people have found APGA for them to be salvaged. Two things are involved in this 2019 election: one is integrity and the other one is governance. APC lacks integrity and true governance and that is what APGA has come to offer to Imo people. I will be the one APGA will use to chase Rochas Okorocha out of office in 2019. It is good you know that since Okorocha came into office, allocations to Imo has increased to almost 100 per cent. On the 2015 Imo gubernatorial election, Iheanacho said: Our people have realised what we were telling them in 2015. In 2015, under APGA, I put myself to be the next governor of Imo State and of course, you know what happened. If we had a free and fair election and proper votes were counted, we wouldnt have had the results that were announced. So, we are going to put the details of that experience into 2019. Also speaking, Nwachukwu said: We, the people of Imo East Senatorial District have not been properly represented at the Senate. So, the time has come to address the infrastructure deficit in the senatorial district. I will use legislative activism and I will be in constant communication with my constituents.For me to achieve this, I need your prayers and support to succeed. I will win the election. Confusion trails Imo LG polls Meanwhile, palpable confusion now trails the planned local government council elections in Imo State, following developments emanating from two courts. In the first instance, the embattled chairman of Imo State Independent Electoral Commission, ISIEC, Chief Amaechi Nwaoha, is in court not only to challenge his alleged wrongful sack, but also urging the court to declare that all actions already taken or about to be taken by his supposed successor, are illegal, null and void. In a similar development, the elected local council functionaries, who are pursuing their illegal sack by Governor Rochas Okorocha in 2011, had a breather when the Supreme Court presided over by Justice Rhodes Vivour, advised the governor against doing anything that will tamper with the subject matter of the suit. Vanguard gathered that while counsel to Chief Enyinnaya Onuegbu and 26 others, Mr. Ngozi Olehi, drew the apex courts attention that the respondents were planning to tamper with the subject matter, through the conduct of local council elections, the defence counsel, Milletus Nlemadim, SAN, asked for a date to respond to the further affidavit. The matter was thereafter adjourned to December 3, 2018. Meanwhile, the Governors Chief Press Secretary, CPS, Mr. Samuel Onwuemeodo, said there is no existing Supreme Court order, restricting the state government from conducting the council polls. This clarification has become diametrically necessary, following a false claim in circulation, by some of the former local government chairmen that the Supreme Court has given an order against the state government, stopping the local government elections scheduled by ISIEC, Onwuemeodo said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Lagos traders clash with LCDA over market demolition Members of Ile-Epo Commodity Market Association, Lagos, have raised the alarm over moves to demolish the market by Agbado-Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area, LCDA. The traders toook to the streets in a peaceful demonstration, bearing placards with inscriptions such as: We say no to demolition, Ambode, please come to our rescue, Ambode save Oke-odo market from demolition. Financial Secretary of Araromi Oke-Odo Market Association, Mrs. Egbu Augustina, told newsmen that the market leaders had kicked against the demolition because of thousands of traders, especially widows, who will lose their source of livelihood. Representative of the Hausa community, Yinasa Yusuf, said: We have a business turnover that runs into millions, but since last Friday, we could barely sell up to N100,000 worth of goods. We believe the state government can intervene and bring peace to this troubling situation. Govt reacts In his response, Chairman, Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA, Arogun Augustne Adeoye, said the planned upgrade of the market was on ground before he assumed office saying he did not initiate the upgrade of the market. He noted that currently, the market does not meet up with the mega city agenda of the state government and thus an upgrade of the market was essential. Asked if the traders, their leaders interests and investments are put into consideration, Adeoye said the market leaders have agreed, except two or three persons who are against the upgrade. Although he admitted that the upgrade was initiated by the council, he added that it requires the approval of the state government for any upgrade to be done. The council boss said anyone aggrieved or has any documents to back up his or her property in the market should approach the state government and the developer for resolution. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | APC NATIONAL CHAIR: Nigerian Professionals root for Emokpaire By Dave Oso A group of Nigerian professionals, within and outside Nigeria, Contact Group (CG) has urged former Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria, United Kingdom Chapter, Dr. Ibrahim Emokpaire to join the race for the post of the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC). APC The group, in a statement by its media officer, Ibrahim Sule said Emokpaire has the requisite knowledge and ability to take the party to greater heights. He said: While serving as the chairman of the ACN UK, and as a founding member of APC, Emokpaire displayed a high sense of purpose and competence in his efforts to ensure that APC garnered much support at infancy, especially in the UK and in his home state. The group, while commending the present national executive of the party, said new people are needed to run the affairs of the party right now, especially at the national level, considering the fact that the party is currently factionalised. Ibrahim added that the group believes that Emokpaire would perform better as party chairman because of his non-alignment to any of the factions in the party, noting: Emokpaire is a complete party man, who believes in the oneness of the party. He is a die-hard democrat. While commending the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over his efforts at reconciling aggrieved groups in the party, the group said: We believe if Emokpaire is elected the national chair of the party, he will bring his experience to bear and move the party forward with fresh ideas. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Fresh bloodbath in Benue, 2 Catholic priests, 17 others killed by herdsmen Buhari mourns with Benue people, says killings satanic, despicable We are under siege Benue govt; Catholic Church laments Stop the killings, or forget 2019, CAN tells Buhari; MURIC condemns killings Buhari has mandated me to tackle religious persecution Osinbajo By Sam Eyoboka, Wahab Abdullah, Johnbosco Agbakwuru & Peter Duru Makurdi Suspected herdsmen in the early hours of yesterday, stormed St. Ignatius Catholic Church, Ukpor-Mbalom Parish, Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State, killing two Catholic priests and 17 parishioners. The latest attack came barely four days after the murder of 10 persons by herdsmen in neighbouring Guma Local Government Area and the destruction of 300 houses by men suspected to be military personnel in Naka, Gwer West Local Government Area of the state. Vanguard learned that several persons sustained bullet wounds, while the invaders also sacked part of the village, razing close to 60 houses, huts, and farmland, economic trees as well as food barns of their victims. According to a source, the deceased were members of the parish who were in the church to attend the 5:30am Mass and burial ceremony. He said: There is usually the daily 5:30am mass which many parishioners attend. The services had barely started and worshippers were still coming for the Mass after which a burial ceremony would take place when sounds of rapid gunshots rent the air. People started scampering and wailing, 19 persons, including Reverend Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha, who were holding the morning Mass were gunned down in cold blood, while many sustained injuries, including bullet wounds. After attacking the church, the invaders descended on the community and razed over 60 houses, farmland, food barns after carting away what the people had in their barns. As usual, after killing the helpless worshippers and razing the community, the attackers fled from the scene. As I speak with you, part of the community is on fire and deserted. People are fleeing to neighbouring villages, hoping to find a safe haven for their families. Reacting through a statement, the Director of Communications Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Father Moses Iorapuu, confirmed the attack. Catholic church laments The statement read: Rev Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha have been confirmed dead in the deadly attack by herdsmen/Jihadists early today (yesterday) on Mbalom village and St. Ignatius Quasi Parish Ukpor-Mbalom. In their classic style, they burnt down homes, destroyed food items and killed at will. The police seem to know nothing of the attacks which have been going on in other villages within Benue State since the Anti Open Grazing Law came into effect last year. Many people are asking why the international community has remained silent over the massacre of Benue citizens? The answer is simple: It has been the goal of the Jihadists to conquer Benue and Tiv people who resisted their advance into the Middle Belt and the Eastern part of Nigeria since 1804; the people who rejected Islam and fought for the unification of Nigeria in the civil war of 1967-1970. The people of Eastern Nigeria, therefore, have little sympathy for Benue people who fought on the side of Nigeria. The Muslim North is enjoying a sweet revenge overshadowed by an insensitive regime. There were over 170,000 internally displaced persons before the Naka invasion and surely with the current situation in Mbalom, Benue will be flooded with thousands more. What cannot be said at this point is the consequences of the death of Missionaries in the silent killings that have been ignored by the government for over a year. The Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, which is one of the largest Dioceses in Nigeria, has been active in providing relief materials including education and skills acquisition lessons. To go for the Priests means total destruction of everything we stand for and believe in, as a people! Tension in Makurdi Meanwhile, there is palpable tension in Makurdi town as the bloody attack has sparked angry reactions from youths in the town who took over the popular Wurukum roundabout and Vandeikya Street junction in protest over the killings. The irate youths made bonfires at both points, stopping all vehicular movements from parts of the country at the Wurukum roundabout. The development has also forced owners of business outlets in the town, including those doing business in the popular Makurdi Modern Market and banks to close shop for fear of being attacked by hoodlums. People of northern extraction doing business in the town were also seen moving in droves back to Wadata, an Hausa settlement in Makurdi town for fear of being attacked by the irate youths. It took the intervention of the Police who fired teargas canisters to dispersed the surging crowd of angry youths in parts of the town from unleashing mayhem in the state capital. Reacting, the Acting Governor of Benue State, Mr. Benson Abounu, said the government and people of the state are saddened by the incident, adding that the state is under siege. Abounu said: The governor, myself and the entire people of the state are very sad because I can put it now that Benue is under siege. We have been attacked from all corners and this is unacceptable. What happened today is a calculated attack, well planned and executed. They must have taken their time, they hit their targets and they got what they desired to do. As I talk to you, I have got information, I waited all day to get the right information before I brief the press. I have spoken with the Commissioner of Police who had been there himself with his team and had seen the victims. He was able to see 16 corpses, one had earlier been brought to Makurdi and as I talk to you now, all the corpses have been brought to Makurdi. I understand that two Reverend Fathers were killed right inside the church. This is a new dimension in the attacks, it has never happened before; therefore, it is very worrying. I also understand that 17 other people lost their lives, making a total of 19. You can, therefore, see why I said this is another black day in the history of Benue State. The Commissioner of Police has deployed enough men to the place who are already there. As we speak, the Commanding Officer of 72 Special Forces has also deployed a good number of soldiers to the place. Police confirm killings Confirming the attack, Benue State Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, said the command received information that suspected herdsmen numbering about 30 carried out the attack. Owoseni said: We got information that some bandits suspected to be herdsmen attacked Mbalom community, killing two Reverend Fathers. We went there and discovered that they invaded the village around 5am and they were about 30 in number. They attacked the venue of a burial ceremony and also attacked the church where the two Reverend Fathers who were holding Mass, also to conduct the burial ceremony, were killed. At the time we visited, we were able to recover 16 bodies from the scenes of the attack and those of the two priests. The terrain is made up of thick forests but we are working assiduously and we are combing the entire area and the bushes. We will go after them. We are currently working on every piece of information that will help us track these people and bring them to justice. Meanwhile, Governor Samuel Ortom through a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, CPS, Terver Akase, announced his decision to cut short his three weeks leave to take full charge of the state. The statement read: Governor Samuel Ortom has cut short his vacation to return home and address the security challenge occasioned by the on-going killings of Benue people by armed herdsmen. In the Governors absence, the Acting Governor, Engineer Benson Abounu has done a commendable job. Its despicable and satanic Buhari Reacting to the killing, yesterday, President Muhammadu Buhari described it as despicable and satanic. President Buhari, who also said the action of the murderers was sacrilegious in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina in Abuja, said those behind the act would be fished out to face the consequences of their wicked act. He said: I extend my sincere condolences to the government and people of Benue State, the Mbalom community, and especially the Bishop, priests and members of the St Ignatius Catholic Church, whose premises was the unfortunate venue of the heinous killings by gunmen. This latest assault on innocent persons is particularly despicable. Violating a place of worship, killing priests and worshippers is not only vile, evil and satanic, it is clearly calculated to stoke up religious conflict and plunge our communities into endless bloodletting. Stressing that the country will not bow to the machinations of evildoers, President Buhari vowed that the assailants would be hunted down and made to pay for the sacrilege. Stop killings or froget 2019 CAN In its reaction, Christian Association of Nigeria., CAN, yesterday, called on all churches in the country to devote time on Sunday, April 29, 2018, to organise peaceful protests to express the Churchs disgust over the inability of government to arrest the increasing orgy of killings of innocent Christians across the country. Speaking to Vanguard, the National President of CAN, Rev. Samson Olasupo Ayokunke, said he has directed all churches in the country to protest against these unending orgy of violence. He said: I have directed that all the Christian churches in Nigeria should all protest around their churches on Sunday, April 29 and they should let the television stations cover it or use their phones and send it on to the social media. They should say no to bloodshed, Mr. President should put an end to blood shed, we do not need blood shed anymore in this nation, enough is enough. Number two: Release Leah Sharibu now and all other Chibok girls in captivity or he should forget 2019. The magic wand the federal government used to release Dapchi girls, the same magic wand must be used to release other Christian girls. As long as Leah Sharibu is in captivity, the burden of her captivity is on the government because the negotiation with Boko Haram that led to the release of others leaving one on the basis of religion and this has put a dent on the government. It is an unwise and unacceptable negotiation. We are saying enough is enough. All Christians should go on protest on that Sunday, if they want to kill all of us, they should go ahead and kill us. This is a direct assault on all Christians; for these killers to go to a Catholic Church and kill people in the same Benue that has been under siege is unacceptable, he ended. MURIC reacts Reacting, Professor Lakin Akintola, Executive Director of Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, said: Any act of killing is condemnable. However, all over the country, Nigerians are not respecting the law; Nigerians are at each others throats. This is because some people are preaching hate. A lot of people preach hate in the mosques and the churches. Particularly, our Christian brothers have been vehement on preaching hate speech on daily basis. All these noise about Islamisation are causing some of all these problems. We need to stop all these for us to have peace in the country. I have Buharis mandate Osinbajo Meanwhile, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said yesterday that President Buhari has given him the mandate to tackle religious persecution in the country. Osinbajo, who disclosed this while dedicating the ultra-modern headquarters of Deeper Life Bible Church located in Gbagada area of Lagos State, valued at over N5 billion, said: The President has mandated that I take up those cases in specific states and local authorities. The right to freedom of worship is also a right to build places of worship. Second is the physical persecution of Christians, a phenomenon we have seen for years. Just this morning on my way here, I was notified of the violation of a Catholic Church in Benue State by armed killers who went there while burial mass was taking place and they killed the priests and some worshippers. Its not only a heinous sacrilege, but high wickedness to kill persons in a place of worship. As I discuss these issues with the President and other ministers in the security council, its evident to me and to many that the devils bigger agenda is to stoke up a religious conflict in Nigeria that will make it impossible for anyone to preach the gospel or even for Muslims to worship in their mosques. A few days ago in Bama, a mosque was burnt and many people died. Many such examples abound. While the security agencies continue to work relentlessly to hunt down the perpetrators of ths evil acts, to bring a permanent end to all of the killings that are going on in the name of insurgents, Herdsmen or any other name, we as a Body of Christ must not lose focus. We are called to bring men and women to salvationall men, even those who kill and persecute us. The enemy wants us to stand on our pulpits and preach hate, we will not! We will obey the Lord Jesus Christ who said we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Governance is spiritual warfare. I ask that you pray for everyone of us who is in the position of authority in this land. Taking a cue from the biblical Book of Esther, Prof. Osinbajo acknowledged that the devil is even more desperate and devious as the end comes nearer, stressing that governance especially in this end time is a spiritual warfare that requires a joint spiritual battle to tackle, and like Esther, the Church must rise and fast and pray for them inauthority, vowing that if they perish, they perish. Ambode lauds Kumuyi The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode who was represented by the state Commisioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Lola Akande, also congratulated the church leadership for the dedication of the church which he hoped will bring transformation to the state at a time like this. In his address at the inauguration, the General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Folorunsho Kumuyi said the auditorium itself comes complete with modern and latest facilities and equipment for the comfort and convenience of worshippers. According to him the main building consists of a four storey amphitheater with central air conditioning units, chiller farm, and air handling units. In the statement, Kumuyi commended leaders and members of the church worldwide for their contributions and patience, in the face of harsh economic realities. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Bonfires, road blocks in Makurdi as residents protest over herdsmen killing of 2 Catholic priests, 17 worshipers - There is tension in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, over the killing of two priests and 17 worshipers by suspected armed herdsmen - Impromptu protests erupted in major areas of the city as news of the attack filtered into the town - Some youths took to the streets, blocked roads and made bonfires which caused tension Impromptu protests erupted in major areas of Makurdi, the Benue state capital as news of the killing of two priests and 17 worshipers by suspected armed herdsmen filtered into the town. Among the victims were two priests; Rev Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha, two primary school headmasters; Peter Di*k and Ape Chia, a secondary school principal; Michael Tor and 14 other worshipers. The protesters blocked major roads and created bonfires in the metropolis. Photo source: Twitter READ ALSO:4 herdsmen killed in Benue as troops repel attack on communities The victims had gone to morning mass at St Ignatius Quasi Parish when their attackers who had laid ambush on the community attacked them around 5.30 am and killed them. The herdsmen extended their terror to other villagers burnt their houses numbering about 100. Angered by the news, youths took to the streets, blocked roads and made bonfires which caused tension. Motorists and commuters diverted for alternative routes to get to their desired destination as schools quickly alerted parents/guardians to pick up their children/wards from schools even before closing hours. But, for the timely intervention of security operatives who took charge of flash points, the situation would have degenerated into lawlessness when corpses of the dead victims arrived Makurdi to be taken into the morgue. Also, the Wadata, Wurukum and Modern markets were hurriedly closed even as other shops in the metropolis were also shut as hoodlums attempted to take advantage of the situation to cause more trouble. Though adequate security has been beefed up in and around the state capital, residents are still entertaining fears and panicking from fear of further attacks and have called on security agencies and state government to rise up to their responsibility to protect lives and property of the people. READ ALSO: Ranching law not responsible for current killings, Ortom insists Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed condolence over the killings in the state. The presidents condolence was published via his official Facebook page on Tuesday, April 24. He described the killing as despicable and unfortunate, adding that some persons were trying to stoke up religious crises in the country. He however assured the people of Benue that the assailants will be caught and brought to justice. Benue IDPs: Education amidst crisis | NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Major success as police defeat alleged sponsor of Badoo cult group, Abayomi, over N500m claims A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Tuesday, April 24, refused to award N500 million damages against the Nigeria Police Force for the arrest, detention and parade of Alhaji Alaka Abayomi before the media on July 31, 2017. Abayomi was paraded as an alleged sponsor and godfather of the murderous ritual group, Badoo, which activities have almost been crippled by the police. READ ALSO: Just in: APC governors in closed door meeting with President Buhari The Punch reports that even though Justice Muslim Hassan slammed the police for detaining Abayomi beyond 24 hours without a court order, the court declined to award exemplary damages of N500 million in favour of Abayomi, an oil marketer against the police. The report said the judge also declined a prayer by Abayomi that it should order the police to publish and furnish an unreserved apology to the applicant in four national daily newspapers and social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp. The judge was not, however happy that the police did not show up in court despite service of the suit which had the Inspector-General of Police, commissioner in Lagos state; and CSP Obot Umoh of the IGP Special Tactical Squad, Lagos joined as defendants. I can see that despite the hearing notice ordered by this court to be served on the respondents, no counter-affidavit was filed to controvert the claims of the plaintiff, which amount to an admission by the respondents. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app I have read and examined the relief and the affidavit of the applicant in the instant suit, which is not contradicted, and discovered that the detention of the plaintiff herein beyond 24 hours, without an order of court, is a breach of his fundamental rights enshrined in the 1999 constitution. I agree that the police cannot be prevented from carrying out their constitutional duty but this must be done within the purview of the law and the constitution, Justice Hassan declared. NAIJ.com earlier reported that Alhaji Alaka Abayomi, the oil tycoon accused of being a kinpin of the dreaded cult, Badoo, denied it and accused the Lagos state police command and commissioner of police, Edgal Imohimi, of high-handedness. Abayomi, who was declared wanted by the Lagos state police, alleged that no proper investigation would be done by the state police and insisted he would not appear before the state command or the commissioner. African Drum Festival 2018: Nigerian youths show Buhari that they are not lazy | NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | 2019 elections: PDP accused of mischief, blackmail to discredit INEC Editor's note: Lagos-based political affairs analyst, Okechukwu Nwanguma, writes on the recent allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) concerning the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), accusing the main opposition party of resorting to panic, mischief and blackmail. Read below: For the umpteenth time, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cast a slur on the integrity and credibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu. This time, the PDP has pointedly accused the electoral body and its leadership of conniving and plotting with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the 2019 general election by allocating votes to the ruling party and its presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari. On several occasions, the PDP and in particular its strongman and major financier, Governor Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, have accused the electoral body of lacking credibility and of planning to rig elections in favour of APC. Before this time, the bases for Wike and PDPs constant tirade against INEC have been that the electoral management body is manipulating the continuous voter registration exercise with a view to compromising the voters register and that the electoral management body is complicit in alleged incidents of underage voting, particularly, in Kano and Katsina states. READ ALSO: CSO slams PDP over claims of additional 30,000 polling units by INEC This time, the PDP has introduced a new element and a new dimension to its string of frivolous reasons for constantly hurling unfounded accusations at INEC and Professor Yakubu. This time PDPs allegation is that INEC is plotting to sneak in 30,000 illegal polling units. It said, quite laughably, that its investigation revealed INECs intention to allocate votes to the APC and its presidential candidate. Notably, INEC responded by stating that although it has been under pressure to create additional polling units, and although it has the powers under the law to create new polling units as it deems fit, yet, it has no plan to create 30,000 polling units in the country as alleged by the PDP. But this is what opposition has come to mean in Nigeria. PDP is toeing a familiar path with its infantile antics. Any keen watcher of politics in Nigeria will be familiar with this hoax. I recall that when PDP was the ruling party and APC was in the opposition, the APC was, like the PDP today, on the prowl and on the offensive, hurling all manner of accusations at the electoral body. Now the two parties have exchanged roles. Its PDPs turn to play to the gallery this time. It would appear that when an opposition party is not sure of its fate in coming elections, it resorts to panic, mischief and blackmail. PDP is frustrated at its failure to warm itself back to Nigerians and it is expressing its frustrations by raising false alarms, assailing the electoral body with malignant and malicious allegations. PDPs latest allegations against INEC, like the previous ones are baseless and lacking in substance. They are as wide as they are preposterous, devoid of credibility and the slightest proof. If PDPs claims are, as they stated, based on investigation, the PDP should be able to name who conducted the investigation and who the compromised officials of the commission and certain agents of the presidency and APC who have been holding series of clandestine meetings are. At least, we know that the INEC chairman has the reputation of not tolerating misbehaviour by INEC officials and has been handing over for investigation, INEC officials accused of or involved in electoral misconduct. The case of Rivers state is too fresh in our memories to be forgotten. The PDP should also mention the location or venue of the alleged series of clandestine meetings and specify the particular remote areas where INEC plots to sneak in the 30,000 illegal poling units. The INEC chair has vowed at several forums that he is determined to ensure that the 2019 general elections would be better than 2015 and that he is conscious of history. He has repeatedly explained and constantly updated Nigerians on the efforts he is making to address the problems plaguing the continuous voter registration exercise. There is yet no reasonable ground to doubt him or question his credibility. His track record speaks for him. PDP is simplistic and characteristically crying wolf. Its shenanigans are understandably aimed at stampeding INEC and inciting the voting public against the electoral body so that when it loses elections, it would blame it on INEC and say we said so. Even if Nigerians have rejected Buhari and the APC as the PDP also claims, what makes the party think that it represents the option or alternative to Nigerians? Nigerians are not deceived by the PDPs antics. Nigerians rejected PDP in 2015 and will reject it again. Indeed, APC has failed Nigerians, but it is not for the PDP to pontificate to Nigerians on integrity, an attribute it is not possessed of. PDP cant be the party to be accusing INEC of plotting to rig elections, an act that was its trademark during its 16 years of waste and mismanagement of the countrys fortune. It will amount to shameless hypocrisy! PDPs desperation is becoming increasingly clearer, especially after it purported to have confessed its utter failures and apologised to Nigerians. This latest one is part of its desperate machination to warm itself back to Nigerians. Wike, who single-handedly funded the party primaries that led to the emergence of the current chairman of the party, is no doubt in total control of the party and the party leadership is simply doing his bidding. He had to get the party leadership this time to be the one making the frivolous accusation so that it would not seem like its only him who is seeing what others are not seeing. PDPs antics is diversionary because we are also aware of allegations that certain agents of the party in Rivers state loyal to Wike hijacked the voter registration process to ensure that the equipment are stationed only in areas where the party has dominant presence. PDP should stop distracting INEC and face its own self-imposed predicament. It cannot regain its loss of public trust by continually assailing and distracting INEC. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NAIJ.com. Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@corp.naij.com drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Naij.coms step-by-step guide for guest contributors. Were ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App. Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Twitter. NAIJ.com special report on Anambra governorship election on NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Tenure elongation: We fought hard for congress, we got it Tinubu .As APC bars Ajomale, other third term executives from re-contesting By Olasunkanmi Akoni lagosAs part of preparations towards 2019 general elections, All Progressives Congress, APC, National Leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, yesterday, said the party fought hard for the conduct of congress against all odds and got it for true party democracy. Bola Tinubu He also announced ban on members who had spent a minimum of eight years as ward, council and state executive members from seeking re-election in its congresses across the state and by extension to all APC- controlled states. The announcement came barely 24 hours after Tinubu congratulated his party for embarking on the congresses inspite of oppositions, saying: It is the way to go in building and upholding a truly democratic political party. Tinubu, who announced the ban at the party Secretariat of the Lagos chapter, at ACME Road, Ikeja, during a stakeholders meeting with leadership and members of the party ahead of the May Congress, stressed that the decision was arrived at to inject new blood, new ideals, new development into the executives at all levels. According to him, The decision was to allow fresh people to occupy party offices at ward, local government and state levels with a view to taking the APC to the next level in the state. Tinubu commended the 68-member National Convention Committee headed by Governor Abubakar Badaru, saying: I congratulate the Chairman and members of the Congresses/Convention Committee of our party. Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State, who is the chairman of the committee, is a man reputed to be of high character and integrity. Working with other members of the committee, Im persuaded that our party would conduct hitch-free congresses at all levels and the national convention. I also congratulate our party for embarking on the congresses against all odds. This is the way to go if we are desirous of building and upholding a truly democratic political party. Our ultimate goal should be the greater interest of the party. Tinubu, at the meeting which was well attended said: We fought hard against tenure elongation and now we are going to have our congresses. You sent a message through our leader, Oluyole Olusi, on behalf of Lagos that we dont want tenure elongation. Ever since, we have worked tirelessly. Now the council has agreed that there will be congress. Congress committee members have been inaugurated yesterday (Monday) with Governor Badaru of Jigawa as the chairman. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Omo-Agege: NASS set to tighten security By Henry Umoru & Levinus Nwabughiogu ABUJAIN an unprecedented development, the Senate and the House of Representatives yesterday separately resolved to constitute a joint committee to strengthen security in the National Assembly complex towards avoiding a repeat of last Wednesdays invasion of the Senate chamber by suspected thugs. In denouncing the Senate invasion, Speaker Yakubu Dogara affirmed that an attack on the National Assembly could be likened to an attack on the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. Senate The resolution in the Senate, following a stormy session where the invasion was exhaustively discussed, came as the Senate summoned the nations security chiefs to brief them on the spate of killings in the country. The decision to constitute the joint committee was announced by Senate President Bukola Saraki who presided at the plenary session that followed the closed-door session. He announced this as he paid special compliments to chamber staff who fought off the invaders who allegedly came in with Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, APC, Delta Central into the chambers last Wednesday. The committee, he said, will also be tasked with coming up with recommendations that will ensure that such security breaches do not reoccur in both the Senate and the House. We have also directed our security agencies, head of services and the Inspector General of Police to look at how to strengthen the security of the National Assembly to ensure that this kind of security lapses never occur again, the President of the Senate said. While commending the chamber staff for fighting off the invaders, he said, My Distinguished colleagues and I would like to thank the Chamber Staff for their gallantry courage during the invasion of the Senate Chamber on Wednesday, 18th April 2018. We want to thank you immensely, particularly two of your colleagues, Chuks and Sandra, who have been admitted due to the invasion we are happy to see them recovering, and we wish them a speedy recovery. Earlier, following the approval of the Votes and Proceedings of last Thursday, Senate Chief Whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye, moved for the Senate to go into a closed-door session. The session which commenced at 10.54 a.m. ended at 1.36 pm. Senate spokesman, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, unusually did not brief the media on what transpired at the session. But a source told Vanguard that the senators who were passionate about putting in place a serious security network for the National Assembly, said that against the backdrop of what happened last week Wednesday, if proactive measures were not taken, Boko Haram insurgents and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, also known as Shiites could one day invade the hallowed chamber and attack the lawmakers during plenary. According to the source, the lawmakers resolved that as part of moves to beef up security, every vehicle would be checked henceforth. As part of the new security measures, visitors to the National Assembly complex even those accompanying senators would from henceforth be subjected to rigorous security checks. While bemoaning the breakdown of unity, Senator Kabiru Marafa, APC, Zamfara Central was said to have given his colleagues a chronological presentation on how they formed groups to support President Muhammadu Buhari before the 2015 Presidential election and how many who now claim to be with him were not with the president at the beginning. Marafa was quoted as bemoaning as unnecessary the formation of the Parliamentary Support Group( Senate) for President Muhammadu Buhari. Following him, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, APC Nasawara West was said to have told his colleagues that there was no smoke without fire, an assertion that was said to have provoked several senators who took turns to challenge the former governor. Also yesterday, Senate President Saraki disclosed that following the rate of killings in some states which has become a daily occurrence, it has become very imperative for the Senate to summon all the heads of security agencies for them to brief the Senators at plenary or at a closed session. Speaking following a point of Order raised by Senator Marafa, Zamfara Central on the killings in his state with many dead, others seriously injured, Saraki said that there was the urgent need for the Senate to review the entire security situation in the country, just as at the end of the day, the lawmakers observed a minute silence for those who died. Condemning the attack on the Senate, Speaker Dogara while presiding at yesterdays session of the House expressed dismay over the silence of security agencies on the matter saying that collusion by security forces could not be ruled out. Dogaras reaction followed a point of order raised by Hon. Ado Garbo Doguwa (APC Kano) which urged the House to set up Ad-hoc committee along with the Senate committee to probe the incident. Meanwhile, former Minister of Defence, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, has described Wednesdays incident where thugs stormed the Senate and went away with the mace as akin to a coup. The former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in a text message to Vanguard said, What happened at the Senate was akin to a coup detat. The attack has also been attacked by Senators Matthew Urhoghide, PDP, Edo South, Mao Ohuabunwa, PDP, Abia North and Clifford Ordia, PDP, Edo Central who separately condemned the attack on the Senate, describing the action as a threat to the nations democracy. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Afenifere asks NASS to sanction Buhari over purchase of $496m aircraft By Dayo Johnson AKURETHE pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday described the anticipatory approval and payment of $496 million by President Muhammadu Buhari for the purchase of the A29 Super Tucano Aircraft as an act of corruption and misappropriation of public funds even as it called on the National Assembly to ensure that the full wrath of the law is brought to bear on the issue. NASS Rising from its monthly meeting at the home of their leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, Afenifere also condemned the statement credited to the President in London, where he degraded youths. On the activities of herdsmen, the group said they should be declared a terrorist group while the President resigns his position as the Patron of the Myetti Allah. Reading the groups communique, its Publicity Secretary Yinka Odumakin said Afenifere frowned at the anticipatory approval and payment of $496 million to the US government by President Buhari for the purchase of 12 A29 Super Tucano aircraft. It is disturbing that this impetuous act was carried out by the President, who is now asking the National Assembly to include money he already spent in 2018 Appropriation Act under consideration. This is against Section 83 of the 1999 constitution. Since there was no act of National Assembly for this money, it is clear that the Presidents action is a clear subversion of 1999 constitution. It is an act of corruption and misappropriation of public funds and we call on the National Assembly to ensure that the full wrath of the law is brought to bear on this issue because this act of impunity is getting too much. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Reps mull Buharis impeachment over $496m Tucano aircraft purchase How Dogara saved President Muhammadu Buhari By Levinus Nwabughiogu ABUJAMIFFED by his unilateral decision to expend the whopping $496,374,470.00 for the purchase of Super Tucano aircraft, members of the House of Representatives almost began moves to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari. The lawmakers queried the powers of President Muhammadu Buhari to appropriate and spend money without any recourse to the National Assembly, which statutory function it was to give approval to all national expenditures. The queries were occasioned by the reading of a letter from the President by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, at resumption of plenary yesterday. Dated April 13, 2018, and titled Supplementary input to the 2018 appropriation bill: Purchase of Super Tucano aircraft from the United States Government, part of the letter read: I wish to draw the attention of the House of Representatives to the ongoing security emergencies in the country. House of Representatives These challenges were discussed with the state governors and subsequently at the meeting of the National Economic Council on December 14, 2017, where a resolution was passed with the council approving that up to US$1 billion may be released and utilised from the Excess Crude Account to address the situation. In the expectation that the National Assembly would have no objection to the purchase of this highly specialized aircraft which is critical to national security, I granted anticipatory approval for the release of US$496,374,470.00. This was paid directly to the Treasury of the United States. Usually, presidential communications are not debated but hardly had Dogara finished reading the letter with a long title than the House erupted into anger against the decision and action of the President. Kingsley Chinda from Rivers State was the first person to raise a Point of Order, saying: There is no language on the presidential approval. The expenditure has already been secured without any approval. We cannot sit down and do nothing. National assembly is not a rubber stamp. Today , it is as if we are like dogs that cannot bark. It is an impeachable offence. At this juncture, the atmosphere was fully charged and the thunderous shouts of yea, yea welcomed his remarks. Apparently sensing that the issue was gaining unusual currency and that the members were becoming unanimous in their submission, the speaker, again, intervened, reminding the members that the letter was actually addressed to him. He, however, said a new date would be slated for the debate of the letter, either on impeachment procedure or necessary steps to take. Yet the lawmaker continued: For three years now, there is no day in the country that people are not being killed. We should commence impeachment now. By our rule, the letter of this nature should not be debated upon but should be carried out with action. Also speaking, Aliyu Madaki (Kano) supported the impeachment move on President Muhammadu Buhari, urging an immediate action from the House. My brother and colleague, Chinda made same explanation which is very clear and we should follow suit, he said. In the same vein, Sunday Karimi (Kofi) said President Muhammadu Buhari had broken the law and must face the consequences. The issue he raised bothered in our responsibility. This is the time to tell Mr. President that we are prepared to serve our people. He has broken the constitution and should be ready to face the consequences. He has spent public money without approval, he said. Also speaking, the Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Onyema Chukwuka, suggested a reply to President Muhammadu Buharis letter with a detail on how he had breached the law. We should talk about this now. What we should talk about now is to reply Mr. President. We should write back to the executive, asking him that he has breached the constitution. And he should be ready to face law. There us one law we all stand by. And he is not different, he said. In his submission, the Chairman, Rules and Business, Oker Jev said Chinda was putting the cat before the horse, adding that following the House rules, that was the first reading of the Bill. He added that the letter could be debated during second reading. At his stage, the speaker intervened, reminding the House that the issue was related to procedures. and referred the House to the inputs by Jev. But again, the House erupted in deafening shouts of yea and nay. With the House under control, TJ Yusuf (Kogi) asked the House to jettison the sentiment of party affiliations and speak truth to power for Nigerians What we have here is a letter telling us what he has done. We should drop the idea of being partisan. It is about Nigeria people. The public dont know whether you are PDP or APC when they go out there to write about us. It is about all of us,, he said. Similarly, Samson Okwu said: This matter is a serious matter and we need to be very careful. It is not an issue that should be politicised and tribalised. On his part, Shehu Garba asked the House to make the President to also account for the funds spent on petroleum subsidy. I believe we should not be tribalised. Our letter should also include that the President needs to explain $460 million that was already spent and N4 billion spent on petroleum. It is very annoying for any body to mislead the House. It is an impeachment offence and everybody should stand by it, he said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Methodist Church to Buhari: Empower herdsmen to pursue education By Chimaobi Nwaiwu NNEWIMethodist Church Nigeria, Diocese of Onitsha, Eastern Gateway, has expressed worry over the state of the Nigerian nation, saying that something urgent should be done in the area of security, health, power, roads and employment, to save the nation from total collapse. The church also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to stop blaming the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan for the woes of the country but should consolidate on Jonathans achievements and legacies, like the process of educating herdsmen which the former president started. Buhari Bishop of the Methodist Church Nigeria, Diocese of Onitsha, Rt. Rev. Livinus Biereonwu Onugha, spoke in Onitsha in an address he presented during the 16th Annual Diocesean Synod 2018, which held at All Saints Methodist Church Onitsha. It still beats my imagination how the All Progressives Congress, APC, government of President Muhammadu Buhari is not consolidating on the legacies of Goodluck Jonathan who started the process of educating the herdsmen, by establishing schools for them. At this digital age, the APC government is encouraging herdsmen to continue to wander from place to place in rearing flocks. The core north has governed this nation more than any other but unfortunately, we have more uneducated youths in the north than any other place in Nigeria. , why the misplacement of priorities of their leaders. Today many people conceive of this nation as failed state, Nigeria as a state has failed to provide the basic expectations to her citizens, particularly security, health, power roads and in employment, yet we are yet to understand why a president who seem to have failed virtually in all his campaign promises, is being asked by some shameless group to come back in 2019. Nigeria is a nation that is divided spiritually already and togetherness physically is totally in doubt, development of this nation is focused only in two sections of the country, North and West. Raji Fashola told Nigerians that a serious government can fix the power problem of Nigeria in six months. He is directly in charge of power, he has fixed the North and the South, but yet to fix the East after three years and some months in office, the inference here therefore, is that this government in not serious, we must commend the past administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan for building power generating plants before leaving office. If Dr Jonathan, was selfish like some Nigerian politicians in power, he would have rigged the election and perpetuate himself in power, but had a godly idea and indeed Christian idea: My political ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian, unlike those who say blood of the Baboons and Monkeys will flow on the street of Nigeria if they are not elected presidents. Today the blood of unborn babies, pregnant women, children, adults, soldiers, policemen and other paramilitary is flowing in the Sambisa forest, in Agatu land in Benue, Taraba, in the Northeast, in Southern Kaduna, in Oyo, Edo, Imo and Enugu States, Nigeria is bleeding profusely. Bishop Onugha noted that Nigerian government is fast loosing the remaining trust, if any is left from the populace, the recent Dapchi girls kidnap drama and the manner they back raises a lot of questions in the minds of Nigerians. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | We still have a lot do on infrastructure maintenance - Fashola confesses - The minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola has said that the federal government has not done enough in the area of infrastructure maintenance - Fashola stated that the ministry was endeavouring to establish a pilot maintenance framework - He said this at an award-giving ceremony organised by the Association of Indigenous Construction Contractors of Nigeria (AICCON) Babatunde Fashola, the minister of power, works and Housing, has said that the federal government has not done enough in the area of maintenance of infrastructure throughout Nigeria. Fashola stated this while receiving an award of recognition from the Association of Indigenous Construction Contractors of Nigeria (AICCON) as a result of the regular payment of the federal governments contractors in the last one and a half years, the Punch reports. READ ALSO: Nigerian Imam returns a bag full of money he found in Mecca The minister, in a statement issued by his special adviser on communications, Hakeem Bello, told his guests that another area where massive scope existed for partnership was in the maintenance sector, adding that the ministry was already working on setting up an infrastructure maintenance framework. Fashola remarked: Whatever we build is built to a design life, subject to certain types of maintenance, and that is an area that we havent really done enough. He said the ministry was endeavouring to establish a pilot maintenance framework, beginning with governments buildings. Fashola said: Hopefully, maybe in the 2019 budget, if we are lucky, we will be able to put a sizeable global maintenance budget for the first time and see how to engage labour and contracting companies to help grow the economy. The minister appealed to stakeholders to step things up within the framework of the indigenous construction companies, telling the guests to compete so as to improve their capacity. Lekan Osifeso, the head of AICCON, praised Fashola for the constant payment of contractors, noting that the yearly size of the construction industry in Nigeria was N1tn, while the contribution of the federal ministry of power, works and housing was in excess of N200bn. Osifeso, however, remarked that unfortunately the greater part of the funds was lost to capital flight as a result of the non-patronage of local contractors over the years. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! Osifeso said: Our mission is in line with Mr. Presidents Executive Order 5 that clearly supports the participation of indigenous construction contractors by the government by way of commitment to patronage. Meanwhile, NAIJ.com reported that Fashola had said that the federal government generated about 64,000 jobs across the nation through the 2016 national housing programme. The minister said the present administration had succeeded in reducing unemployment across the nation by injecting over 2,000 housing units in the country. What is working well and what needs improvement in Nigeria? On NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Flashback: How Dino Melaye was 'arrested 14 times' by Jonathans administration Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi west senatorial district is arguably the most controversial lawmaker in the history of Nigeria. He gained an unparalleled national attention when he was in the House of Representatives. He has continued to build on the attention since he was elected to the Senate in 2015. As a senator, some believe he stands as a watchdog for the ruling APC because of his usual anti-APC stance while many associates his name with brigandage, rascality and unimaginable notoriety. Senator Dino Melaye speaking during a plenary session at the Senate. READ ALSO: Breaking: Again, SARS team reportedly arrests Senator Dino Melaye The Kogi state senator is currently facing the possibility of recall by his constituents. Recently implicated in a case of unlawful possession of prohibited firearms, the Nigerian police declared Melaye wanted following his failure to comply with criminal summon issued on him by the Federal High Court, Lokoja on alleged involvement kidnappings and robberies, murders and other violent crimes in Kogi state. On Monday, April 23, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) arrested Melaye at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Sunday James, the spokesperson for the immigration service had earlier said that Melaye was arrested by Immigration officials based on instruction. The embattled senator was later released, but for a few hours. On Tuesday, April 24, he was re-arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and moved to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Headquarters, Guzape, Abuja. On being conveyed to Kogi state to appear before the court, Senator Melaye reportedly jumped off the police van; perhaps in a desperate attempt to escape. He got himself injured and was rushed to Zankli hospital in the Mabushi district of Abuja. Senator Dino Melaye rushed to hospital. Credit: Facebook, Sumner Shagari Sambo What is significant to note, however, is that Senator Melaye is not a stranger to the recent travails unfolding around him. In an exclusive interview with NAIJ.com about a year ago, Melaye revealed that he was arrested 14 times during the administration of former Goodluck Jonathan. His words: I am one of the most investigated Nigerians maybe what they are yet to find out is where my placenta was buried and they will have to go to Kano to get that. Anyone who has any negative thing about me should please come out. Even right now, I am being investigated, petitions with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), some with the CCB, I even got information that the bureau is investigating me, I laugh at this because it will turn out to be a beautiful nonsense. I am a straight Nigerian and have never been involved in anything illegal. Today I can buy a private jet and I will buy one and put a D on it. I did not steal, I cannot steal and I will not steal. I am not frivolous, I know the value of money. I am big time into properties. "I am a politician. Whatever I do is my business but I will never do anything illegal. I was arrested last year alone by Jonathans administration 14 times." One of the things that seem to put the Kogi senator in the negative limelight is his generally acclaimed flamboyant lifestyle. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app It was reported that some aggrieved Nigerians also called on the EFCC to probe Melaye to reveal his source of wealth. The Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC), an anti-corruption coalition, reportedly petitioned the EFCC to probe Senator Melaye over his lifestyle. In the petition signed by Olanrewaju Suraju, the chairman of CSNAC, the group mentioned several instances of questionable wealth belonging to the senator representing Kogi West senatorial district. The anti-corruption coalition recalled the media reports claiming that Melaye purchased a home in Abuja estimated at 1.3 billion naira. Dino Melaye and 2019 Criminal Conspiracy | NAIJ.com TV - Nigeria News [embedded content] Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | PFN declares one-year prayer over alleged killings by suspected herdsmen - The PFN decries the mindless killings in the country - President of the PFN, Rev Felix Omobude, calls on Christians and non-Christians to join in the prayer holding from May 1, 2018 to April 31, 2019 - Protests in Makurdi over killing of priests, worshipers The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Rev Felix Omobude, has declared a one-year prayer project for peace and harmony in Nigeria following the alleged killing of citizens by suspected herdsmen and armed gangs. President of the PFN, Rev Felix Omobude on Tuesday, April 24, also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to deal with the ugly security situation in the country. Omobude in a press statement in Benin, decried the mindless blood-letting in the country and called on calling on Christians and non-Christians alike to join in the prayer exercise holding from May 1, 2018 to April 31 2019. READ ALSO: National convention: President Buhari reportedly asks APC governors to support Oshiomhole The statement read in part: "We cannot continue like this as a nation and as a people. A situation where some criminally-minded people are holding the nation and Nigerians hostage is not acceptable. Every day, you hear of killings by Boko Haram, herdsmen or other armed criminal gangs operating in the country. This is barbaric and the security forces should do more to stop the senseless killings and destruction of property. It is time for the government to do the needful by protecting lives and property of its citizens. Perpetrators of these heinous crimes should be apprehended and adequately punished for their crimes. PFN is urging all political leaders, particularly elected government functionaries, to concentrate their efforts in arresting the ongoing human carnage in the country instead of engaging in election campaigns for 2019. He also said the continuous incarceration of the Dapchi school girl, Leah Sharibu, by the Boko Haram sect was worrisome. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Omobude said Leah should not be made to continue to suffer inhuman treatment in the hands of Boko Haram members because of her refusal to renounce Christianity and accept Islam as her religion. Meanwhile, impromptu protests erupted in major areas of Makurdi, the Benue state capital as news of the killing of two priests and 17 worshipers by suspected armed herdsmen filtered into the town. Among the victims were two priests; Rev Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha, two primary school headmasters; Peter Di*k and Ape Chia, a secondary school principal; Michael Tor and 14 other worshipers. The victims had gone to morning mass at St Ignatius Quasi Parish when their attackers who had laid ambush on the community attacked them around 5.30 am and killed them. The herdsmen extended their terror to other villagers burnt their houses numbering about 100. Nigerian herdsmen vs Nigerian farmers on NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Honest Nigerian Imam shows integrity as he returns a bag full of money he found while in Mecca (photos) - A Nigerian man has shown integrity while he was on pilgrimage in Mecca - The man who is an Imam returned a bag of money he found in Mecca - He shared a photo of the bag of money he returned to the police NAIJ.com came across a story that shows true integrity. A Nigerian man who was on pilgrimage in Mecca has showed the depths of his integrity after he reportedly returned a bag of money he found. The man who is an Imam took to social media to share the story of how he found the bag of money. The Imam identified as Ejalonibu Ganiyu shared the story on his Facebook page. Ganiyu revealed that he had found the bag of money after observing his evening prayers. The honest man said he had immediately called the police to hand it over to them in other to find the owner of the money. Nigerian Imam returns a bag full of money he found in Mecca Photo source: Facebook user Ejalonibu Ganiyu READ ALSO: Kenyan conductor returns N108k to passenger who misplaced wallet (photos) According to Ganiyu, the police officer was shocked about the incident. He said the police officer was surprised that a Nigerian man could show such honesty. He said: "Today after solat suhur, I lost my phone somebody brought it to me then I went for mogrib prayer with four people whom we went together I found huge money my mind told me Allah is greater than this money. I called the police and handed the money to him. He was very surprised DAT a Nigerian can return such money and he thanked me. DAT is the money in the picture may Almighty Allah reward All of us with Aljanat fridaos Amin masalam." PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News on NAIJ.com News App Emanuella Asking Mark Angel Tricky Questions - Street Gist | NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Finima killings: Soldiers, youths shot my son in my presence Deceaseds father By Egufe Yafugborhi PORT HARCOURT BEREAVED Gogo Onyeoma, yesterday, alleged that military men, guided by youths of Finima, Bonny Local Government Area, Rivers State, shot his son, Goodnews Gogo, in his home at Ajalamoni fishing settlement of Finima. Goodnews, 22, was among Andoni settlers, including a pregnant woman, reportedly killed April 22 when military personnel safeguarding oil installations in Bonny area, moved into the fishing settlements over brewing conflict between the Andoni settlers and the landlord, Finima. His Majesty, Dr. Miller Ikuru, Ikwut VII, Okaan-Ama Ikuru, Chairman, Andoni Area Council of Traditional Rulers, in a briefing in Port Harcourt, yesterday alleged that the unwarranted attack on April 9 and 22 by Finima and Andoni in the fishing ports resulted in killing of five, many others drowned and yet others missing till this moment. According to Onyeoma, I was in my home when the soldiers with Finima boys, about 40, invaded and started beating up people. Before I knew what was happening, my son, who was in my front, was shot dead. By 1.30pm, they had shot and killed Goodnews, killed one pregnant woman and killed Lazarus. They left and suddenly came back asking for my sons corpse. The soldiers wanted to take the body, but I sensed it and quickly removed him. That was how they left. However, Finima General Youth Leader, Eric Tay-Brown, said: The Andoni people are not telling the truth. They claimed on April 9 that Finima youths abducted one of their person, Prophet Blessing. We got the police, JTF to investigate and nothing of such was established. Now we heard that Blessing, allegedly abducted, has been sighted in Ngo, Andoni village. But they went ahead and attacked Anthony Diepriye, a Finima son, nearly beating him to death. We reported the matter to Police and soldiers who went in for investigation. But Andoni people attacked the security operatives and I hear it got fatal. They attacked JTFPolice Police Public Relations Officer, Rivers State Command, Nnamdi Omoni, also said: I can also confirm that two persons died there. That encounter was between men of the JTF and youths in Finima fishing settlement. They attacked them and there was return fire, which explains the situation. Normalcy has been restored to the area. The Andoni Area traditional council, however insisted: Chiefs and the people of Bonny should, without sentiments, aid law enforcement agencies in their investigations to get to the root of this matter in order to restore peace and normalcy in the area. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, says embattled Sen. Dino Melaye (APC-Kogi West) currently receiving treatment at National Hospital, Abuja is in stable condition. Saraki made the disclosure when he visited the lawmaker at the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital on Wednesday in Abuja. Melaye, who sustained injury during his arrest by security operatives on Tuesday, was earlier taken to the Zankli Hospital, Abuja. He was later transferred to National Hospital by men of the Nigeria Police for treatment. He is being interrogated by the police in connection with sponsoring of political violence in Kogi and illegal possession of firearms. Saraki, who led some senators to the hospital, said we have seen Sen. Dino; he is in intensive care unit and he is stable for now. He is on fluids; he is being seen by cardiologists and all specialists. Saraki thanked the management and staff of the hospital for what they have done so far. He (Melaye) is stable and being monitored. We pray for him to fully recover soon. He is not in handcuffs, Saraki said. Home | News | General | Herdsmen crisis: Edo police meets with Miyetti Allah leadership, says culture of impunity would no longer be tolerated - The Edo state Police Command has met with the Miyetti Allah leadership in the state, over the herdsmen clashes with farmers - The police commissioner said the command would no longer tolerate any act of impunity and that farmers should be able to go about their duties without fear - The Miyetti Allah leadership said the association would put heads together and fish out the criminals; stressing that it is not a terrorist organisation The Police Command in Edo on Wednesday, April 25, in Benin, met with the national leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Rearers and representatives of herders and farmers in the state, as part of efforts to curtail the crisis between the two groups, NAN reports. Declaring the meeting open, the commissioner of police, Johnson Kokumo, said that the meeting was part of the measures put in place to address the critical issues in the constant conflicts between both sides. READ ALSO: My household prayed, fasted for 40 days before I declared for Osun governorship - Sen Adeleke NAIJ.com gathers that Kokumo said this was to prevent the problems from degenerating, and to foster peaceful coexistence between the two parties. He said that the national executives of Miyetti Allah were invited to speak with and sensitise their members as the culture of impunity by any persons would no longer be tolerated in the state. He said farmers should be able to go about their normal businesses without fear of being attacked, kidnapped or maimed by herders under the guise of grazing. The commissioner emphasised that the meeting was strictly a peace one aimed at finding a lasting solution to the lingering problem. The national president of Miyetti Allah, Alhaji Muhammad Kiruwa, said they were in the state to sensitise their members to the need for peaceful coexistence. Kiruwa, who was represented by the national secretary of the union, Alhaji Baba Ngalzarma, condemned the wanton killings being perpetrated by those he described as Fulani cattle rustlers. He stressed that the association had existed for more than 30 years, adding that the union was not a terrorist group and did not condone violence in any form. He also decried the effects of the violence on members of the association whom he said had lost more than 3 million cows since the crisis started. The national president said the association did not encourage night grazing and minors grazing, adding that these practices were part of the problem. He also said that some of the crisis was politically-linked. Kiruwa, however, expressed optimism that things would begin to change, and appealed to both farmers and herders against taking laws into their hands. He said his association would put heads together and fish out the criminals. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app In a related development, NAIJ.com earlier reported that an attack by suspected herdsmen on three Benue communities led to the deaths of about 37 persons while several others were injured and some missing. The villages which were targeted in the attacks included Tse Umenger in Mbadwem council ward, Mbakpaase in Saghev council ward as well as Tse-Ali in Mbawaar council ward all of Guma local government area of Benue state. A resident of Umenger said 15 people were killed in the community when heavily-armed bandits suspected to be herdsmen numbering over 50, stormed the Umenger village on Tuesday evening, April 23, and set the entire village on fire. Nigerian herdsmen vs Nigerian farmers - on NAIJ.com TV: [embedded content] Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | WhatsApp raises minimum age in Europe to 16 ahead of data law change London WhatsApp, the popular messaging service owned by Facebook Inc (FB.O), is raising its minimum age from 13 to 16 in Europe to help it comply with new data privacy rules coming into force in May. WhatsApp will ask European users to confirm they are at least 16 years old when they are prompted to agree new terms of service and a privacy policy provided by a new WhatsApp Ireland Ltd entity in the next few weeks. It is not clear how or if the age limit will be checked given the limited data requested and held by the service. Facebook, which has a separate data policy, is taking a different approach to teens aged between 13 and 15 in order to comply with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law. It is asking them to nominate a parent or guardian to give permission for them to share information on the platform, otherwise they will not see a fully personalised version of the social media platform. But WhatsApp, which had more than 1.5 billion users in January according to Facebook, said in a blog post it was not asking for any new rights to collect personal information in the agreement it has created for the EU. Our goal is simply to explain how we use and protect the limited information we have about you, it said. WhatsApp, founded in 2009, has come under pressure from some European governments in recent years because of its end-to-end encrypted messaging system and its plan to share more data with its parent, Facebook. Facebook itself is under scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers around the world since disclosing in March that the personal information of millions of users wrongly ended up in the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, setting off wider concerns about how it handles user data. WhatsApps minimum age of use will remain 13 years in the rest of the world, in line with its parent. GDPR is the biggest overhaul of online privacy since the birth of the internet, giving Europeans the right to know what data is stored on them and the right to have it deleted. Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and some other tech firms have said they plan to give people in the U.S. and elsewhere the same protections and rights that Europeans will gain. European regulators have already disrupted a move by WhatsApp to change its policies to allow it to share users phone numbers and other information with Facebook to help improve the product and more effectively target ads. WhatsApp suspended the change in Europe after widespread regulatory scrutiny. It said on Tuesday it still wanted to share the data at some point. As we have said in the past, we want to work closer with other Facebook companies in the future and we will keep you updated as we develop our plans, it said. Other changes announced by WhatsApp on Tuesday include allowing users to download a report detailing the data it holds on them, such as the make and model of the device they used, their contacts and groups and any blocked numbers. This feature will be rolling out to all users around the world on the newest version of the app, it said. The blog post also points to safety tips on the service, such as the ability to block unwanted users, and delete and report spam. (Reuters/NAN) CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Why I rejected request by Judges to form an association CJN By Ikechukwu Nnochiri ABUJA The Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, on Wednesday, revealed that he turned down request by Judges across the country to be allowed to form an association to speak up for the judiciary when it is attacked. Justice Onnoghen He said the proposed Association of Nigerian Judges, if allowed, would have had the mandate of defending embattled judges, just like the Nigeria Bar Association does for lawyers, since sitting judicial officers are barred from granting media interviews. The CJN who disclosed that the proposal was presented to him during the 2017 All Nigerians Judges Conference, said he rejected the idea considering that the primary responsibility of a judicial officer is adjudication and not advocacy. The honourable Judges position was that periodic press statements issued after the meetings of the National Judicial Council are too few and far between to make any impact. My obvious response was an emphatic No! The mandate of a judicial officer is adjudication and not advocacy, the CJN insisted. Justice Onnoghen made the revelation while unveiling Apex Quarterly Magazine, a Supreme Court publication he said would help to improve the public perception of the judiciary. He said the publication would help to counter the widespread perception of the judiciary is an inefficient and corruption-ridden institution lacking integrity and efficiency in performance of its functions. According to the CJN, I consider the poor public perception kd our arm of government a grave concern that requires special effort to correct by telling the world the true state of things in the judiciary. As I have said several times in the past, cautiously opening up the judiciary to the public helps to change the wrong perception people have of the activities of the Courts. Where people are well informed, incidents of rumours, fake news, false allegations, petitions, among others, are reduced. And as I have always insisted, we must be in absolute control of our Institutions and Courts as well as what information we put in the public domain. This effort will ensure that we do less of damage control, and more of pro-active dissemination of information. The Apex Quarterly Magazine, which I will be unveiling presently, is one, but certainly not the only step taken to show the world what we do in the judiciary, he added. Besides, the CJN said he has directed the Chief Registrar of the apex court to reconstitute the courts website management committee to ensure among other things, that Chambers Sittings were uploaded on the site not later than 24 hours after every sitting on Wednesdays. I also directed that the website should be re-designed to render it compatible with both desktops and handheld devices. In addition, I gave instructions that the Courts Practice Directions should be regularly uploaded and updated while the bio-data of Justice of the Supreme Court and the Cause List should be regularly updated. In the same vein, I have directed that all judgments and decisions of the Court should be uploaded on the website within seven days of delivery. The objective of these directives is to, as I said earlier, cautiously open the judiciary to the public, the CJN stated. Aside serving and retired Supreme Court Justices, other dignitaries at the event included the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Abdu-Kafarati, President of the National Industrial Court, Justice Babatunde Adejumo, as well as heads of courts from various states of the federation. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General A federal high court in Abuja has ruled that the national assembly does not have the power to amend the election timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Although the move to amend the timetable had sparked friction in parliament, two-third of the assembly were in support of the bill. The National Assembly Conference Committee on Electoral Act (amendment) bill had adopted a reordered sequence of the 2019 general election, putting the presidential election last. The proposed sequence of elections would have made the national assembly election come first, followed by governorship and state houses of assembly, and presidential. This is against the sequence rolled out by INEC, which put presidential and national assembly elections first and governorship and state assembly to follow. Refusing assent to the bill after it was forwarded to his office, President Muhammadu Buhari had said the amendments if allowed to pass violate parts of the constitution. Shortly after the bill was refused by the president, some legislators said the national assembly would evoke its powers under section 58(5) of the 1999 constitution to override the president. Through Wole Olanipekun, its counsel, Accord Party filed an application to stop the lawmakers from tampering with the electoral act. More to follow Home | News | General | Promise of Igbo presidency in 2023 is a grand deceit and evil machination - Obasanjo - Olusegun Obasanjo called on Igbos to vote out President Buhari in 2019 - The former president claimed the promise of an Igbo presidency in 2023 was a deceit - He said it was Igbos interest not to believe the lies Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has reportedly told Igbos not to believe the promise of zoning the presidency to them describing it as a grand deceit. The former president also said it was in their best interest to vote out President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019. The Punch reports that Obasanjo spoke at a meeting of the Coalition of Nigerian Moment (CNM), in Awka, Anambra State chapter. In a statement through the South East convener of CNM, Dr. Okey Nwosu, Obasanjo asked them not to believe the promise of producing the presidency in 2023 describing it as a grand deceit and evil machination. He called on the people to collectively work with the CNM towards ousting Buhari from office in the 2019 general elections. The former president accused the ruling All Progressives Congress-led government of perpetrating carnage and wanton destruction of lives and property across the country. He said: The meeting is a wake-up call for NdIgbo to dump APC and collaborate with CNM, which is the best alternative for their rescue from poverty, hunger, recklessness and ethnic cleansing in the hands of the Hausa/Fulani marauders. Every Nigerian leader is very much embarrassed with the state of the nation where people are attacked, killed and made refuges in their own homes. Political leaders must advocate action against these senseless killings and seek how to design a new democratic action plan to ensure we take care of this conundrum democratically, and say, Enough is enough. If unchecked, these unethical activities will lead to the destruction of the country. It does not augur well for Nigerias development. He said their objective to sack Buhari from Aso Rock in 2019 and ensure that a visionary government is elected. Nigerias eminent personalities, including Generals Yakubu Gowon, Ibrahim Babangida and T.Y. Danjuma have all spoken and condemned the killings and destruction in the country. If these people can say that the nation needs to be saved from these calamities, the South-East geo-political zone must add their voice to the clarion call. Meanwhile, a leader of the Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Ayo Adebanjo, reportedly tongue-lashed former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, saying the latter has no moral right to accuse anyone of being corrupt. The Punch reports that Adebanjo noted that Obasanjo had not disputed that he had only N20,000 in his bank account as at when he returned from the prison in 1999 and that he was rescued from bankruptcy by Atiku Abubakar, and a businessman, Oyewole Fasawe. According to Adebanjo, Obasanjo should not feature in public life again if Nigeria was a decent country as it was rather amazing that the former president continues to assume undue prominence in spite of his known character. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | NAF empowers 100 barracks youths on fish farming in Lagos In a bid to curb criminality within its vicinity, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Base in Lagos on Wednesday empowered 100 barracks youths on fish farming. The beneficiaries of the programme in a group photograph with Lagos State Director of Fisheries, Mrs Tokunbo Emokpae, Air officer Commanding, Logistics Command, Air Vice Marshal Nnamdi Ekeh and other senior officers at the flag off ceremony on barracks youths fish farming The Base Youths Empowerment Through Agriculture (BYETA) was flagged off by Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Toyin Suarau, at the Sam Ethnam NAF Base, Ikeja. Speaking at the occasion, Head of NAF Lagos Logistics Command, AVM Nnamdi Ekeh, said the initiative was aimed at empowering youths economically to curb social vices within barracks. Ekeh said that the programme was also aimed at promoting agriculture and self-sufficiency among the youths. He thanked the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, for the laudable initiative and support for the military. Addressing the beneficiaries, Suarau said that the programme was in line with the vision of the state government on food security and job creation. The state development plan for agriculture is to move the present local food production from 18 per cent to 25 per cent of the state food demand by year 2025. The state has put in place various projects and programmes in agriculture for our youths. We have the rice for job programme which we have started in Epe and Badagry, he said. The commissioner said that 400 youths had benefited from the programme. He added that the states Agriculture Youths Empowerment Scheme was aimed at training youths in the three basic fields of agriculture fishery, livestock and crop. This scheme has trained 600 youths, the commissioner said. Earlier in his welcome address, the Commander, 651 Base Service Group, NAF, Musbau Olatunji, advised youths to make good use of the rare opportunity. It is hoped that this will encourage the youths in the air force base and surrounding community to take up fish farming and other agricultural activities to empower themselves, he said. He said that the programme was initiated to promote agricultural entrepreneurship among youths in the base and surrounding communities. A representative of the beneficiaries, Mr Ibrahim Afeeze, lauded the programme and called on other youths to key into the entrepreneurship programme. (NAN) CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Obiligbo brothers set to headline Legend Real Deal Experience in Onitsha Legend Extra Stout is set to provide the residents of the commercial city of Onitsha and its environs a platform to unwind this weekend 29th of April 2018 as it brings its Real Deal Experience to the beautiful city of Onitsha. This fun event is coming on the heels of the hugely successful one recently held in Aba. The Onitsha event will have the current highlife sensation in the Southeast, the Obiligbo Brothers, thrill the audience with their wave-making songs and dances. The musical duo, who are fan favourites in their home state of Anambra and indeed the whole of South-Eastern Nigeria, are still basking in the euphoria of the release of their fourth studio album UDO GA DI. The brothers will be bringing their latest release as well as the best of highlife music when Legend Real Deal Experience comes to town. Speaking ahead of the show, the two brothers expressed their excitement at being part of the Legend Real Deal Experience. We love performing in front of our fans here in Onitsha and Legend Real Deal Experience is one of the shows we look forward to every year. We are glad to be performing at this edition. We cant wait to step on stage to thrill the audience. The Legend Real Deal Experience show which involves music, comedy, role play, brand education, eulogy, games, prizes and a lot more, will see former BBNaija 2018 housemate and lover of the brand Ifu Ennada co-host the event alongside popular comedian De Don. According to the Portfolio Manager Mainstream Lager & Stout Brands NBPlc., Mr. Emmanuel Agu, this edition, which marks the return of the show to Onitsha, the root of Highlife music, is sure to be a core inspiration for most artistes from the region and a huge delight to the fans Nothing beats the thrill of seeing your favourite artistes on stage. This is what the Real Deal Experience is about. Bringing the best of music, comedy and fun games to the fans of the Legend Brand The show will also feature the taste, tell and win competition which is a blind taste test whereby consumers identify Legend Extra Stout as the Real Stout and winners get to win exciting prizes. Over the years, Legend Extra Stout has taken the Real Deal Experience to different cities including Lagos, Ibadan, Onitsha, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Abakaliki, Owerri & Umuahia and has featured some of Nigerias biggest entertainers including Timaya, Kcee, Oritsefemi & Small Doctor. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | UNIDO unveils $50m programme to drive industrial devt in Nigeria By Yinka Kolawole The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is set to commence a 4-year programme to drive inclusive and sustainable industrial development in Nigeria, at an estimated cost of $50 million. UNIDO Regional Director and Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Jean Bankole, in a statement made available to Vanguard, said the new country programme is expected to commence July 1, 2018. Bankole said the new UNIDO Country Programme would be relying on the strong support of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the partners for the funding and successful implementation. ECOWAS Parliament In the statement he said, Nigeria has shown a good example regarding support for industrial development, and we are calling on our international partners and financial institutions to support Nigeria to move ahead in this particular sector, as the development of the industrial sector in Nigeria will help to create more jobs for the country, the ECOWAS region and the continent. Speaking at a Validation Workshop for UNIDO Country Programme for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development in Nigeria (2018 2022), in Abuja, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs Aisha Abubakar, who was represented by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Edet Apkan, noted that the programme document had already identified major areas of intervention which would help the country to develop and grow its industrial sector. Abubakar stated: The new Country Programme (2018-2022) has identified intervention plans in nine thematic components as follows : industrial governance , research and statistics; Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) development ; Special Economic Zones (SEZs) , industrial parks and private sector development ; innovation, science and technology management ; agro-industry and agri-business development; minerals and metals development; trade capacity building; renewable energy development, and environmental management. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Experts urge Buhari, other African presidents to sign Digital Rights Bill - The Internet Freedom Forum 2018 kicked-off in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on Tuesday, April 24 - Delegates from some 30 countries within Africa and beyond are attending the forum - Experts at the forum want the Nigeria's Digital Rights Bill replicated in other African countries Digital rights experts have called for the replication of Nigerias Digital Rights and Freedom Bill by other African countries. The bill which was recently passed by the National Assembly was praised by experts as a step in the good direction in strengthening digital rights on the continent. The experts made this call at the 6th Internet Freedom Forum, an international conference organised by Paradigm Initiative, which is currently taking place at NAF Conference Centre, Abuja. Speaking at the event, Ephraim Kenyanito of Article 19 East Africa, said, It would be great if the Nigerian president could immediately sign the bill into law. This would be seen as a challenge to other African countries. It would be great for Nigeria to set a good example in this area. Panelists at one of the sessions during the IFF 2018. Photo credit: Paradigm Initiative READ ALSO: YIAGA Africa set to partner EFCC on anti-corruption fight According to Adeboye Adegoke, Paradigm Initiatives digital rights program manager, The Digital Rights and Freedom Bill was drafted by a coalition of civil society, private sector and government to protect the digital rights of Nigerians in the emerging digital age. The bill is great for the protecting citizens rights and also great for the economy as it would energise the tech industry. John Edokpolo, Microsoft Nigeria head of legal affairs, called on the government to enact good laws in encouraging innovation and development in the tech industry. If you want foreign direct investment in the technology industry, you need to have a good data privacy law, among other things. It helps when businesses can help government see the economic benefits of having positive legislation around digital rights. The job should not be left to the civil society alone, he said. The forum also provided an opportunity to discuss the adversarial relationship between government and media in the digital age. Speaking at the session dedicated to the theme, Henry Maina, regional director of Article 19 Eastern Africa, said: Nigeria remains one of the many African countries which still retain criminal libel laws, an unfortunate reality that simply erodes freedom. Tolu Ogunlesi, special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on digital media, said, an effective media ensures a free society and serves as a check on government. The media should, therefore, avoid engaging in only broadcasting what different actors are saying but go beyond the press statements to finding out the truth. The media must do more to combat fake news and ensure truthfulness in their reports. While I would not campaign for government regulation of media space, I would argue for the media to be more accountable and self-regulate. I believe the Buhari government has put out more information in the recent history of Nigeria. Obviously, this is not enough, but it is important to acknowledge this. We are deliberately communicating regularly with the public. Dapo Olorunyomi, the publisher of Premium Times, said the media was already accountable and it was the government that needed to improve transparency and its proactiveness in releasing information. READ ALSO: OPINION: Technology and the challenge of election integrity by Samson Itodo The Internet Freedom Forum also had a session dedicated to discussing the impact of intentional internet disruptions on the economy. This session, coordinated by the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) at Strathmore University Kenya, analysed the economic impact of internet shutdown on the economies of the countries that have experienced. Speakers at the session bemoaned the ease with which African countries now resort to internet shutdown without any consideration for its impact on their peoples and economy. The forum, which runs between Tuesday, April 24 to Thursday, April 26, brings together experts from across some forty countries in Africa and beyond. Young talented artist paints prominent Nigerians on NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | APC reacts to President Buharis choice of Oshiomhole as party chairman The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that President Muhammadu Buharis reported support for Adams Oshiomhole as chairman of the party is not binding. Premium Times reports that this was reiterated by the national publicity secretary of the party, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Wednesday, April 25. READ ALSO: Vote out President Buhari in your own interest - Obasanjo sends message to Igbos He said: What we were told at the meeting was that he was asked who he wanted and he told them his preference which has nothing to do with the meeting today. He also said they were reviewing the time table of the national convention because some governors noted that it was too close. He also said the initial timetable was set with Ramadan in view so as not to conduct any political activity during that period. There were also observations from the side of the governors about the timetable for the congresses and convention, and the observation was that the timetable was closely packed and that it doesnt leave much room for errors but the observation was that the timetable as it is currently composed was determined because of the Ramadan. We want to be sensitive to the feelings of Muslims who will be fasting in the month of Ramadan. Therefore, we tried avoid conducting any political activity during the month of Ramadan. There were also other arguments. Therefore, there is a possibility the timetable will be reviewed. So its not decided yet, we agreed that the NWC will take a second look at the timetable and see the possibility for adjustment. Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state also noted that the congresses were set to hold on weekdays which will be a problem as they use schools and secretariats which will not be available on weekdays so they suggested they be conducted on weekends. In that respect, the NWC has been mandated to go and fashion it out. Also, it may fall within the Ramadan time, we will make consultations to see if only one congress can be held during Ramadan then after Salah we hold the national convention. I think that will be sorted out and the national committee is working on that. Also, we all agreeed that the NWC will organise the congresses from the ward, local government and states while the the committee for the national convention will organise the national convention. We also agreed that zoning will be maintained for the officers but also that those governors within that zone should go and discuss but the post(s) will reamain as it is. NAIJ.com had reported that governors on the platform of the APC held a closed-door meeting with the partys National Working Committee. According to Premium Times, the meeting is taking place at the partys secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday, April 25. The governors had met President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, April 24, and endorsed his presidential candidacy. APC chieftains in Benue state say PDP has nothing to offer on NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General We have just come out of a military coup six month ago when all human rights activists spoke well of coup drivers General C Chiwenga inclusive. It was difficult then, clouded in the harsh reality of Mugabe elongated ruling time that was filled with abuse, to understand the flakiness of the condition. We have had Harsh Tags # organizations such as #TheFlag, #Tanjamika, activists like A Lumumba even though a Zanu , as well as my revered allies WOZA, including the human rights lawyers. Why does it become difficult for people to rise and talk strong against killing people by a stroke of a pen as done by the General Chiwenga in announcing dismissal of nurses without considering the dire situation people go through already lacking in supplies of medicines and no doctors, and sacrificing nurses. Instead of making nursing a respectful profession it was and is, we are busy running down hospitals to Magaba styles and levels by firing nurses when they are seeking for a solution. Is Zanu government a negotiating government or a dictatorship of the military and veterans? We need promote our health professionals away from a beggar mentality we have grown them into by lack of care and commitment from misguided leadership. Zimbabweans need to redefine NATIONAL INTEREST in perspectives and correctly. As I write this article, it is true that one of the high ranking leaders in Zanu is in South Africa for treatment. If these guys are proud of their work in ruling Zimbabwe why go out of the country using public funds to get treatment? To add insult on injury, they then fire nurses who are asking for a negotiation on salary increase without even attempting to negotiate and better the situation. Who is the bigger criminal here those who seek improvement through union activities or those who close doors and let masses suffer ailments that could have been removed easily by committing funds to buying drugs and looking after those who provide us with professional services? Is it not fair for the country to demand for a publication of all political parties' financial accounts so people can see how funds are used? Because to think that Zanu has used more than $70 million each year on campaign logistics does not make sense particularly when a country cannot increase nurses salaries by 3% or anything at all. What have become of us Zimbabwe citizens? How in our minds do we justify passive acceptance of innocent people dying in hospital from lack of medicine then even watch them get worse when government unilaterally withdraw their services against a universal right to ask for wage increase? If ever there is time when citizens can show solidarity it is now when we can show sympathy with the common citizens in the country suffering from poor medical services delivered by a mercenary government. I do not understand what sacrifice veterans gave when their national priorities are blinkered and self centered that they encourage suffering of the already suffering? How can any government improve upon public service when citizens go quiet when they are supposed to speak out so as to doctor the situations from deteriorating? These questions have answers in the heart of honesty citizens and not of criminals and with a mercenary attitude. There is no justification what so ever meeting needs for negotiation with firing. It is an abrogation of people's rights to make suggestions or demonstrate their un happiness in a decision or prolonged delays in averting an increasingly hostile human affecting condition. If simple computation was done it will show that for the thirty-eight years Zanu ruled Mr. Mugabe and Zanu-Pf hierarchy's medical bills for treatment outside the country will come to millions of dollars. It will be reasonable at that point for the public to be given answers why these treatments were not done at home. How can sustain the country good governance when we take advantage of our positions to disadvantage the majority? It simply defies logic and good practice of the biblical injunction of; Do unto other as you want them do unto you.' And the first group of people to refuse that abuse are the citizens of the country. There are no piece meals to freedom ever, its either it is attained in full or never. Zimbabwe let the freedom walk back through acquiescence of bullish behavior by the likes of General Chiwenga who uses the force of violence to force people into acceptance and docility. He then made a mistake resorting to removing Mr. Mugabe with ulterior motives blind to unfolding reality from simple truth of oppressive hustles. Truth be told, the people have no trust in this government of Zanu-pf and need some changes hopefully they will be honest to the late heroes and redeem the situation the country is locked into. Real soldiers ready and willing to defend citizens are in agreement that constitutional changes to government be our way forward hence forth. And there are real soldiers in the army who values their role and those who sacrificed to free the country from the legacy of oppression by anyone including our own native born dictators. But one signal that should show that we are ready and willing to commit the country to democracy is for all Zimbabweans exercising the right to vote and also voice support for justice. We must be ready to stand with those in the right and against those in the wrong irrespective of who they are. General Chiwenga is wrong on firing nurses for voicing their long standing concerns and his mentality is poor and bonders on mischievousness or outright ignorance on governance procedures. Zimbabweans need to show solidarity with nurses because they are the back born of good health in any country Zimbabwe included. Nurses need better pay so we do not lose them to neighbouring countries. How can we not burst our economy if we train people at millions of dollars then loose them to the benefit of our neighbouring nations and overseas countries simply because we cannot establish a policy to resolve pay for service deliveries? Zimbabweans have to learn to push for revised improvements if we surely did not like Mr. Mugabe and all he stood for. While its good to trust others and give people a chance the second time round Zanu is Zanu she cannot change except we change them. We have to refuse to be divided by few petite bourgeoisies that are undermining the country as we watch. Soldiers can no longer ask us to march because it is a fight for the ordinary person who makes up Zimbabwe. It is the like of Hatch-Tags# associations and common people that should champion the people's causes whether it is Zanu or any other government when it ignores the plight of the ordinary by failure to respect human life. We are able to give statistics of road accidents but no more on deaths in the hospitals. We need to keep a watch of what improves life in Zimbabwe and what deteriorates human life too. Leaders must be compelled to stop seeking outside medical treatment unless it is something beyond what the nation cannot give otherwise this mercenary mentality will see the country gravitate from poverty to poverty. But then if we cannot speak out for it and demand it how do we hope the ordinary people will survive? Indeed how do we hope we can as a country survive? Zimbabweans need to fight on Public platforms and open forums for the rights that make humans have dignity. It will not be difficult running a country of understanding people from community leaders who are teacher committed to explain simple issues than dictate them. Thirty-eighty years have been dictation, it is time we make a change and educate people on rights and not to abuse them. It is painful to know my mother, my father, my brother or sister or son or grandson are in hospital when nurses are withdrawn from service indefinitely simply because the government does not have capacity to govern. People of Zimbabwe let us stop to think for a few minutes, it deserves our supportive voice to tell any government to be humane and understanding. These coming elections should be that chance, Meanwhile Chiwenga need telling he shold stop acting like he is in a battle when confronting citizens who have need for negotiation without guns or being violent. Let us change our mentality. Why remove Mugabe to have another Mugabe? Why Zimbabweans, why, please, tell me why? Home | World | Africa | Makamba comeback ends in shame Businessman James Makamba made a triumphant return to Zimbabwe last year after years in exile and the crowning glory would have been him being allowed to stand on a Zanu-PF ticket in the upcoming elections, but as fate would have it, he has been chalked off the ruling party's list of primary election candidates. Makamba was withdrawn ostensibly because he fell short of the selection criteria, but party insiders say his coup de grace was the leaking of an audio, where he seemed to be gunning for Information Communication Technology minister Supa Mandiwanzira and accusing senior government officials of failing to assist him on the Telecel issue. In the leaked audio, Makamba is recorded allegedly plotting a smear campaign against the minister. Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairperson, Kazembe Kazembe yesterday told NewsDay that Makamba was disqualified for failing to meet the set criteria. "According to the final list by the national elections commission, he did not meet the criteria," Kazembe said. Makamba had filed nomination papers to contest the party's primary elections for Mt Darwin South constituency, previously under former national commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere. "Our guidelines are very clear that the final decision as to who qualifies is made by the party's national elections commission and the decision is based on a clearly spelt out criteria. "He, therefore, couldn't make it," Kazembe said. On Saturday, Makamba's name was announced as one of the Zanu-PF candidates approved to contest in the primaries, before it was unceremoniously withdrawn, with sources citing the leaked tape as the source of his troubles. In the audio, Makamba was recorded allegedly saying he was plotting a smear campaign against Mandiwanzira, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy, Constantino Chiwenga. "He is no longer standing. His supporters will tell you that he withdrew from the race, but the truth of the matter is that he was disqualified on Monday night," a source said. Zanu-PF insiders said top Zanu-PF officials were unhappy with Makamba's conduct and his attempt to fund some people so that they could de-campaign, Chiwenga and some ministers One of the candidates who were supposed to face Makamba in the party's primary polls, Godfrey Tsenengamu said he was "not concerned with Makamba's presence in the race". "He is just one among 20 other candidates, so whether he is in or not, I will not bother myself," Tsenengamu said. The leaked audio recording circulating on social media illustrates Makamba's frustration with Mnangagwa for failing to assist him regain control of Telecel. He is also heard taking a dig at Chiwenga and his wife, Marry. Makamba, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, is heard suggesting names of journalists that can be paid $200 each to undertake his alleged assignments. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa Home | World | Africa | Econet and the mystery of disappearing data REPORTS have emerged of increased disappearing data from Econet Wireless's mobile subscribers on the telecom company's daily and weekly data packages, which the company blames on subscribers' mobile phones using background data. While smartphones do use background data, the number of affected mobile subscribers has begged a new look into the mystery of Econet and disappearing mobile data. Last week, NewsDay did a poll on both its Twitter account and Facebook page asking whether anyone had experienced unexplained missing data. In a few hours, more than 300 people had responded to experiencing this phenomenon, with some claiming to have received no joy from Econet's customer care service. On Twitter, more than 200 mobile subscribers complained about disappearing data, forcing the telecoms firm to respond to some of the complaints, and asking clients to visit their shops. So bad were the complaints that NetOne, Econet's distant but closest rival, tried to pitch to some of the affected Econet mobile subscribers to move on to their platform. The issue of disappearing data has been topical for years and Econet's explanations may no longer hold any weight. Econet subscriber, Innocent Masedze said he bought a $1 WhatsApp weekly bundle that offers 90MB of WhatsApp and 45MB of Twitter data as well as another 90MB of WhatsApp data through WiFi, but says within two hours, the package had expired. "What happened is that I bought that WhatsApp bundle with Twitter and that bundle usually does not view images or play videos. So in order to have that function as well, I bought the daily data bundle of 250 megabytes (MB) to also play videos and download images or even use YouTube. "After, maybe, about two hours, I was sent a message saying my Twitter bundle had expired and when I went to Econet, I was told that these bundles were promotional," he said. "They said that since these are promotional bundles, if I buy that WhatsApp weekly bundle and buy the 250MB afterwards, the first bundle is the one that will be used." Masedze said he was told to look at his data usage and when he checked on his Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime Plus handset, he found that there was a high data usage on Twitter, but dismissed that as the weekly WhatsApp bundle limits a subscriber's usage. Kudzai Murahwa said she bought the $1 WhatsApp weekly bundle, but it did not last three days. She said she uses a Samsung Duos, which is not a heavy consumer of background data, and she uses WiFi during the day, hence, the disappearance of data was a mystery to her. "I juiced up my bundle on Thursday night and on Saturday morning, I was sent message saying that my bundles expired," Murahwa said. "But, during the day, I am at work and use WiFi. I did not download anything and was only using those bundles for messages, only to be told that on Saturday morning they had expired. "I contacted Econet customer care service . . . and I spoke to a lady, who told me that the guys who set up my internet settings are the ones with the problem and was asked what type of handset I used. "She said on their (Econet's) part, they were clean and that the fault in the data usage was with the guys who fixed internet setting on my phone." Already, Econet offers the most expensive data bundles compared to its competitors, NetOne and Telecel. A telecoms industry report in December 2017 found that Econet had the highest average revenue per user of $8,57 between July and September. On their promotional bundles, the $1 weekly WhatsApp package translates to $0,004 per megabyte. For daily bundles, Econet charges as low as 30 cents to $3, while the weekly ones range from $1 to $10. The questions about disappearing data coincides with the Postal and Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) sector report for 2017 that found that the mobile operators had increased their revenues from the mobile data. Experts claimed that while more advanced smartphones use more data, they usually relied on WiFi rather than cellular data. In emailed responses to NewsDay on Friday about the issue, Econet said they were not aware of disappearing mobile data. "We always take very seriously any cases relating to data or other credit balance changes that customers may not be aware of," the company said. "Where applicable, usage due to any actions by the customer that debits their account is explained, within the limits of the customer's right to privacy relating to specific usage. "In the unlikely event that a change in the customer's balance was actually due to a system challenge, we do not hesitate to inform and refund the customer. "We are not aware, at this time, of any such instances. In general, however, such anomalies have often pointed to background data consumption occurring particularly on smart phones, which can run many background applications that the customer may not be aware of. "To prevent this, we introduced out-of-bundle blocking, which stops background data usage from occurring." Zimbabwe Information and Communication Technologies chairperson Jacob Mutisi said the issue of disappearing data had been raised. "As long as a client cannot identify what is happening to their data bundles, it might be them who have got something that is active in the background, but it is very difficult to identify that, so it could be Econet's fault or the client's," he said "But, nine times out of 10, we do not have a structure that you go to the mobile networks and say what happened to my data bundle? If that provision was available, it would be easier to identify that." This comes as State-owned mobile telecoms company, NetOne, was forced by Potraz last month to reimburse about 180 000 subscribers with 150MB of data each after a glitch with its OneFusion platform last December. ICT and Cyber Security minister Supa Mandiwanzira said the government had received numerous complaints from Econet mobile subscribers about disappearing airtime and it was now time for Potraz to act if the loss of data was the mobile phone company's fault. "We have asked Potraz to investigate," he said. "We have received complaints and have passed them on to Potraz, the regulator, to investigate and if there are some problems, they must take action. They recently fined NetOne for similar issues. "We have spoken about it before, but it does not look like the issues are going away. So we want to implore the regulator to take action and protect the consumer." However, Potraz director-general Gift Machengete said they had not received complaints about the disappearing airtime by Econet subscribers, but encouraged anyone affected to report directly to them. "When we then do our investigations on the operator and find there is something wrong, we write to the operator to correct the mistake and if they do not do that, we penalise them," he said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa Home | World | Africa | 'Makamba not fit to be an MP,' says Zanu-PF ASPIRING Zanu PF MP for Mt Darwin South constituency businessman James Makamba has been disqualified from contesting in the party primary elections expected to take place this Saturday. According to NewZimbabwe.com, Makamba's name was in the final list of 19 aspiring candidates announced last Saturday by the party's national election commission chairperson Engelbert Rugeje. Zanu PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairperson Kazembe Kazembe confirmed the latest development, saying Makamba does not meet the criteria. According to the guidelines for one to qualify to represent the ruling party as MP you should have served at least at provincial level for a minimum effective time of five years, well versed with national issues and should also have been part of the party's district structures for a five years. "We got the final list for aspiring candidates for Mashonaland Central province and yes Makamba's name was there, but according to the national election commission criteria he did not meet the said requirements," said Kazembe Kazembe. Makamba returned to Zimbabwe after 17 years of self-imposed exile. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa California Democratic Senators Newman and Pan caught fabricating racism to exterminate civil rights bill Last week California Democratic Senators Josh Newman and Richard Pan fabricated claims of racism to exterminate a civil rights bill, and they got away with it despite their failure to provide any evidence substantiating their allegations. To date, Senators Newman and Pan have not been held accountable for their actions. (Article by Tom Stavola republished from VacTruth.com) The civil rights bill these Democratic Senators exterminated was simple: it would have guaranteed individuals and families the right to self-quarantine in their homes in the event of a pandemic, without fear of being criminalized for simply existing in their natural state (i.e., free of antibiotics or experimental vaccines). Why would anyone want to exterminate a persons obvious right to simply exist at home in an un-medicated state, especially a perfectly healthy person? Well, apparently the California Senate Health Committee wants to exterminate such a right. Background of this Civil Rights Bill: PANDA The bill in question was a scientifically supported, common sense civil rights safeguard introduced by Republican Senator John Moorlach. It was originally authored and named the Peaceful and Natural Dignity Act (PANDA) in the year 2013 by Greg Glaser, JD, for the Pandemic Response Project. Here is the original Change.org petition from the year 2013: link. PANDA was written and named by Glaser before virtually everyone (including Glaser) had ever heard of Senator Pan. This is because the PANDA bill was written 1-year before Senator Pan gained notoriety by introducing Californias mandatory vaccination law SB277. Recall that Senator Pan capitalized on the 2014 Disneyland measles event to push SB277 through the California legislature, even though not a single child was injured by those measles, or even by most measles see here; and further, the measles-containing vaccine has not been scientifically proven to be safer than the measles see here. We spoke with Glaser to confirm these details. And indeed, Glaser helped us confirm the obvious: his bill PANDA was named before Pans SB277 and it was a reference to the word pandemic because it came through the Pandemic Response Project. Interestingly, when naming the bill in 2013, Glaser chose the panda bear analogy because, in his words, The panda is a beautiful symbol of both peace and nature, especially given the legal protection pandas enjoy. As an endangered species they are afforded legal protection to exist in their own natural home habitat. So protecting pandas in their home is a good analogy for also protecting the right of peaceful humans to live naturally in our homes, even if there is a pandemic somewhere among the public outside. Moreover, PANDAS is also the well-known acronym for the prominent vaccine injury, Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus. Democratic Senators Newman and Pan Fabricate a Race Card to Exterminate Civil Rights Senator Moorlach who introduced the bill was shocked when Senator Newman claimed on the record that there were racial and offensive undertones to the pneumonic title PANDA (Peaceful and Natural Dignity Act). In addition to whispering something to Senator Newman before the event in question, Senator Pan nodded along in agreement with Senator Newman that the bills name was a personal affront to Senator Pan. In the words of Senator Newman: Where did the acronym PANDA come from? The panda animal would seem to have very little to do with vaccinations, but it does tend to have a racial or ethnic tinge to it; it also includes the first three letters of my colleagues name, and I could see where one might take offense. See video at 2:03:40: link. From the video recording, Senator Moorlach was obviously stunned and speechless at Senator Newmans allegation. Senator Moorlach said he did not know what to say, because he had never drawn the same pneumonic association that Newman was suggesting was racial. The video also shows the Democratic chair of the Committee refused to let Glaser even speak a word to explain the bills name origin (naturally, Glaser would have explained that PANDA was a reference to pandemic because it came through the Pandemic Response Project, long before SB277). It is currently unknown whether the chair of the committee was also collaborating with Newman to intentionally fabricate a racism allegation, especially because he was also involved in the pre-event whispers with Senator Pan. It is also unknown how much information the other Senators had about PANDAs name origin. Their complete silence on the video suggests they lacked context or information necessary to know that Newman and Pans race card had indeed been fabricated. The notion of racism here was simply a non-issue, but as no California Senator would ever go on record supporting a civil rights bill that could be perceived or labeled as having a potentially racist title, they obviously all voted no. Perhaps the majority would have voted no anyway on the merits, but we will probably never know. PANDA: Why It Is Necessary Glaser says the PANDA bill is necessary to create a civil rights safeguard against current California law that allows authorities to exercise a form of absolute power, by arresting healthyindividuals who simply choose to remain un-medicated at home during a pandemic: The local health officer may take any preventive measure that may be necessary to protect and preserve the public health from any public health hazard during any state of war emergency, state of emergency, or local emergency. Any person who refuses or neglects to conform is guilty of a misdemeanor . Cal. Health and Safety Code 101040 and 120275 According to Glasers research submitted for the Senate hearing, PANDA was based upon a report by public health scholars at Boston University, in partnership with the ACLU, who found: Highly discriminatory and forcible vaccination and quarantine measures adopted in response to outbreaks of the plague and smallpox over the past century have consistently accelerated rather than slowed the spread of disease, while fomenting public distrust and, in some cases, riots Annas, G., Mariner, W., Parmet, W., Pandemic Preparedness: The Need for a Public Health (Not A Law Enforcement/National Security) Approach. American Civil Liberties Union, January 2008. And the CDC has observed the exact same phenomenon, which was reported in the CDCs published journal in the year 2013: During outbreaks of plague and cholera, the fear of discrimination and mandatory quarantine and isolation led the weakest social groups and minorities to escape affected areas and, thus, contribute to spreading the disease farther and faster, as occurred regularly in towns affected by deadly disease outbreaks. [And] in the globalized world, fear, alarm, and panic, augmented by global media, can spread farther and faster and, thus, play a larger role than in the past. Tognotti, E., Lessons from the History of Quarantine, from Plague to Influenza A, Centers for Diseases Control EID Journal, Volume 19, Number 2February 2013; DOI: 10.3201/eid1902.120312 Glaser also highlighted during the Senate Hearing that PANDA has a legal precedent in Californias current Tuberculosis control law: No examination or inspection shall be required of any person who depends exclusively on prayer for healing in accordance with the teachings of any well recognized religious sect, denomination or organization and claims exemption on that ground, except that the provisions of this code regarding compulsory reporting of communicable diseases and isolation and quarantine shall apply where there is probable cause to suspect that the person is infected with the disease in a communicable stage. Such person shall not be required to submit to any medical treatment, or to go to or be confined in a hospital or other medical institution; provided, he or she can be safely quarantined and/or isolated in his or her own home or other suitable place of his or her choice. Cal. Health & Safety Code section 121370 Sixty physicians were on record supporting PANDA, along with several PhDs and rights groups. By contrast, the AAP was opposed to the bill. Ultimately, the Senate Health Committee voted no on the bill. But suspiciously, they never even engaged Glaser or Moorlach in dialogue regarding the substantive points raised by the ACLU and CDC Journal findings. Read more at: VacTruth.com Thousands of tons of New Yorks human sewage is stuck on a train in Alabama say what? The 982 residents who live in the tiny town of Parrish, Alabama, have been stuck with a stinky, poop-filled freight train thats been sitting on its tracks for several months now, and nobody seems to know where or when it might be removed. The train had reportedly been sent from New York City carrying tons of human excrement from the Big Apple, which was destined to be dumped into landfills in the rural south. But an injunction apparently stopped this from taking place, leaving the waste train with nowhere to go. While the dumping of human waste into southern landfills is nothing new, this particular load seems to contain something that the residents of West Jefferson, its destination, dont want in their backyard. According to the towns legal filing, previous releases of so-called biosolids results in the town becoming infested with flies, accompanied by the smells of dead rotting animals as well as human waste. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), biosolids are basically treated wastewater that can either be buried in landfills, incinerated, or recycled as fertilizer, meaning it ends up getting dumped onto crop fields. In this case, the waste load was destined to be buried in Big Sky landfill, located some 20 miles east of Parrish. But because of the injunction, it now sits idle with nowhere to go, and with no timeline for removal and this, despite the fact that Big Sky has been taking New York Citys human sewage waste since early 2017. Oh my goodness, its just a nightmare here, Parrish Mayor Heather Hall told the Associated Press (AP), noting that the stinking train, which is currently parked near a grouping of little league ball fields, smells especially horrible around dusk after the atmosphere has reached peak heat. It smells like rotting corpses, or carcasses. It smells like death. The human waste of New Yorkers is presumably being spread on crop fields in the south Much of the south has been used as a dumping ground for human waste in recent years, as places like Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina all have relatively lax environmental restrictions and zoning laws. But it usually doesnt sit on trains for months at a time, which begs the question: What will happen in Parrish come summertime when things get really hot and humid? Since the EPA has decided that biosolids are safe for use on crops as a fertilizer, theres a good chance that much of whats been flushed down the toilets of Manhattanites could end up being dumped all over southern crop fields. Natural News reported on this as far back as 2012, highlighting a case of toxic biosolids fertilizer being spread all over farm fields in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, a rural area located in the eastern portion of the state. But until a decision is made, the waste train will continue to remain parked in Parrish, which has many local residents reeling over the negative effects its having on their local community. Would New York City like for us to send all our poop up there forever? asked one local resident by the name of Sherleen Pike, who lives about half a mile away from where the train is parked. Pike told the AP that she routinely applies essential oil of peppermint underneath her nose because the biosolids smell is so pungent. They dont want to dump it in their rivers, but I think each state should take care of their own waste. In order to not be left with rotting mounds of putrid fecal matter in the future, the town of Parrish is in the process of developing new zoning laws to ensure that this type of thing doesnt happen again. See Biosludge.news for more coverage of this alarming issue. Sources for this article include: LiveScience.com APNews.com NaturalNews.com White mediocrity gotta stick together Reply Thread Link Lack Of Talent Always Wins. Reply Thread Link omfg this gif has so much mileage potential. I can imagine it pairing well with the Tom Hooper/Tarantino gif... exquisite. Reply Parent Thread Link I never realized how gif-able this moment was when I first watched it Reply Parent Thread Link But what does he think of his teenage daughter dating a father of 3? Reply Thread Link LoL, his response to Nicole until she became famous. Reply Parent Thread Link I miss one of the boys Katy Reply Thread Link Her transition from like Warped Tour pop alt rock queen into legit pop star makes me lol Reply Parent Thread Link She loves her fellow Christian. Reply Thread Link go to any town in Ontario and find a Tim Hortons or West 49 and you will find a lookalike Reply Parent Thread Link HAHAHA damn Reply Parent Thread Link He has a long and girthy dick. Probably shoots HUGE loads too. Thanks to the power of prayer. Edited at 2018-04-25 12:32 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I hope Superboy sues you for plagiarism. Reply Parent Thread Link you need to calm down, this is a workplace Reply Parent Thread Expand Link This comment is trash but Ive done worse for a big dick Reply Parent Thread Link when are we going to cancel katy perry? serial racist, hasn't had a good bop in years, awful personality, certified flop in every way Reply Thread Link You forgot nun killer Reply Parent Thread Link worry about Scott Dicisk, Lionel Reply Thread Link I agree, he seems to have strong swimmers Reply Parent Thread Link idc what anyone says, ever since watching that weird youtube experiment thing she did during promo for witness, she's rly grown on me. i like her now. Reply Thread Link Is AI doing well in the ratings? I never hear about it except the commercials I see when watching blackish Reply Thread Link Can't even think of one now that EVERYONE watches. Reply Parent Thread Link a lot of people talk about game of thrones Reply Parent Thread Link Wut u talking bout, Game of Thrones is absolutely massive. I wasnt even a fan of the show when the Red Wedding happened but that episode completely took over all my social media feeds. On a more personal note it feels like everyone In my circle watches and dissects insecure (and has an opinion about Lawrence lmao) Reply Parent Thread Link The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones were those shows. And now ............. Reply Parent Thread Link does that stupid fucking trivia game count. cuz that's 2 times a day. Reply Parent Thread Link IDK why but I loathe her Reply Thread Link I tuned in to American Idol last night for the firs time for some reason, nothing else was on TV... Why is no one talking about that Drag Queen, Ada Vox, who made top 10? I would think someone in here would have made a post about her already. Reply Thread Link The judges love Ada but America aint having it. In fact, they didnt vote for any of my favs (my lesbian queen Jurnee, Mara, Dennis, Ada). Reply Parent Thread Link This is the first time I tuned in, it happened to be them announcing the top 10 and to no surprise, the 6 fixed that america voted in (with the exception of one) were all,white/country/rock/folk/middle america contestants. The judges literally had to bring in the color with the 4 they got to chose to bring in to the top 10. It reminded me why American Idol started failing in the first place back in the day,.. It literally only panders to middle america (or they're actually the only ones who care to vote, bloop!),. those are it's main voters and the show ultimately caters to them. Because of that, the show then only started churning out country acts which found no main stream success outside of American Idol. Reply Parent Thread Link Your flawfree taste!!! Dennis and Mara not being voted is a tragedy. Then no JUrnee and Ada. Puhlease Reply Parent Thread Link Her performance last night was all kinds of pitchy, dawg. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I can see Katy joining his cult. Reply Thread Link Cancel this show. Christ. Reply Thread Link It sounds like Daman Wayans is also part of the problem so it's not just Crawford. Reply Thread Link in what way Reply Parent Thread Link The refusal to do table reads, also not having representation, and the fact that neither of them are speaking to each other. Sounds like Crawford is a huge problem and he deserves the blame but he's not alone in it. Anyway, as someone who doesn't watch the show, I'm living for all this drama and can't wait to see where this leads. LOL. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link how dare he set limitations! it was a really selfish move. he doesn't want to get hurt on set? actors are soooo sensitive. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Yeah let's just blame the black man as well. We all know white men can't have 100 percent of the blame in this world Reply Parent Thread Expand Link One person is a diva the other is abusive to the point of needing multiple interventions. Its not really comparible. Reply Parent Thread Link the teeeea Reply Thread Link Damn Reply Thread Link Why does Damon not have an agent? I know hes not a top brass actor, but shouldnt someone with his clout have one? Reply Thread Link Maybe Crawfords agent dropped him since it sounds like hes a nightmare to work with. Reply Parent Thread Link Damn. I'm genuinely sad to hear this because I un-ironically love this show. It's a good way to spend an hour if you don't really want to watch anything that's too heavy. Reply Thread Link me too!! my husband and i save up a bunch of episodes to watch and have an ice cream night. Reply Parent Thread Link same Reply Parent Thread Link Just move the budget to an original show with plenty of poc and flush this down the drain. Reply Thread Link Lol this happening on fox is laughable. I mean look at how many poc shows they currently. Reply Parent Thread Link I didn't know things were so bad on this show. OP left out the best bit, Crawford had to complete studio-appointed therapy! lol He sounds like a nightmare. He also had to payoff a director that he abused. I feel like something really bad must have happened for the studio to insist on those two things. Reply Thread Link If this gets cancelled, I'll miss Trish, Bailey & Bowman. Reply Thread Link Neither Wayans not Crawford has had agency representation this is really weird Reply Thread Link Cancel this show and bring back Minority Report with Megan Good Or Almost Human with Karl Urban/Micheal Ealy Cancel this show and bring back Minority Report with Megan GoodOr Almost Human with Karl Urban/Micheal Ealy Reply Thread Link I've found the other person who watched Minority Report and Almost Human. I loved those shows. Reply Parent Thread Link Add me to that short list. I loved both of those shows! Reply Parent Thread Link Almost Human was good, I'm still pressed about that cliffhanger Reply Parent Thread Link Almost Human was pretty good tbh Reply Parent Thread Link Yes, Minority Report! Reply Parent Thread Link I loved Minority Report Reply Parent Thread Link yes to this <3 Reply Parent Thread Link if you're going to cancel this, BRING BACK PITCH!!!!! Reply Thread Link I miss them. So much. Reply Parent Thread Link YAAAAASSSSS! (Sorry Jordana, but you've got Fast 9 and 10 so you'll be fine) Reply Parent Thread Link I just can't believe they managed to find someone to out-diva Damon. Reply Thread Link The relationship between the two stars suffered irreparable damage. They had stopped speaking to each other. My favorite type of gossip revolves around stars who hate each other and only really speak to each other when they're in character. Especially when they're supposed to be partners/teammates or romantic interests. Bwaha. Reply Thread Link Lol or worse, look at Vin Diesel and The Rock, who don't even have scenes with each other for a movie, smh. Reply Parent Thread Link lol yeah! Like Julianna and Archie's final scene together for The Good Wife, didn't they film separately and the footage was merged?? The hatred is ott. Reply Parent Thread Link I actually enjoyed the show quite a bit during season 1. It seemed to have wrapped up all of Rigg's issues and so on and was moving forward. Instead season 2 is even darker and Riggs is a hot ass mess. They need to cancel it or do a major overhaul because its fucked... even before this all came to light. Also there's like 40 episodes and Clayne had issues during 2. The episode he directed hasn't even aired so none of this is making much sense. Reply Thread Link Season 2 has been a mess. I forget its even on now so Ill always end up watching it weeks later. And they keep taking breaks so I really dont know when its on. Reply Parent Thread Link Same here! I was going to hang in there and see if they will develop the next season and move past Riggs and his man pain or if they will find something new for him to be angsty about. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Same here. I'll be scrolling Hulu and it will suggest it and that's honestly the only reason I remember to watch at this point. It's like they are airing one episode a month at this point. Reply Parent Thread Link There are probably smaller issues that werent escalated. Reminds me a bit of to build up to Thomas Gibson being fired from criminal minds. He also directed episodes in the build-up to his ousting. It seemed like Thomas only did one or two things then he gets fired all his bad behaviour and on set beef is revealed. I think they chalk the smaller incidents to "having a bad day" till it gets overly threatening. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I wonder if he will ever come play Mexico City. Cause I need to see him live. I'm still upset I didn't go to the Carrie & Lowell tour but I wasn't in a good place mentally to have gone, lmao. Reply Thread Link Awkward, adorable bae <3<3<3<3<3<3<3 Reply Thread Link Velvet vocal prince<3 please, never let me down Suf!!! Reply Thread Link I am so honored to have this post dedicated to me, OP <3 Reply Thread Link How was Mystery of Love nominated over Visions of Gideon? Reply Thread Link probably because "is it a video?" is a stupid lyric ...and MOL was basically the theme song of the movie Reply Parent Thread Link Oblig... This one kills me... I was in the crowd during this and it will live with me forever... Reply Thread Link Ugh! Im obsessed with him! Those biceps...his fingers...his speaking voice...his brain!!! Reply Parent Thread Link That was nice. The other guy was dry jizzing because of him, it was getting annoying tbh Reply Thread Link i just pressed "next" on my spotify after reading this post and john wayne gacy jr came up #blessed HEIRLOOM IS SO GOOD tonya harding is so cringeyi just pressed "next" on my spotify after reading this post and john wayne gacy jr came up Reply Thread Link ITA re Heirloom and Tonya Harding, I can't even listen to the latter but the former is A+++++ Reply Parent Thread Link heirloom is my faaaaavorite sufjan song. its so beautiful and calming Reply Thread Link + just about any live performance of 'Fourth of July,' I legitimately cri everytiem. The eternal king of melodic sorrowful whispering! Reply Thread Link He seems adorable and hit outfits seems very mid 2000s to me. I can't really get into his music though Reply Thread Link mad @ myself for not catching his rsd vinyl. ppl are posting pics on insta and it looks gorgeous. Reply Thread Link Omg, same. I am hoping that some reasonably priced ones turn up eventually, 10,000 copies is apparently a pretty big pressing. Reply Parent Thread Link same. it looks so beautiful. but i already bought the cmbyn vinyl and couldnt find the rsd one. BUT STILL Reply Parent Thread Link I wonder if he has any more music inspired by CMBYN Reply Thread Link godddddd I just love him so Reply Thread Link #6 - being British Monarchy period. Reply Thread Link Proud father of three and lifelong welfare recipient Prince William has opinions on Africa Preach. He needs to GTFO with that fucking bullshit. He cares so much about population how many kids does he have already Reply Thread Link wow @ this ONTD inside out ugly post Reply Thread Link lmao Reply Parent Thread Link lol Reply Parent Thread Link even though I agree this comment feels like a slight against Bill Abs Preston, Esq. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Standard give me a Republic please comment Reply Thread Link Maybe if these crusty inbred white devils kept their prematurely balding heads out of brown and black peoples business, we wouldnt be having the problems we have today. But nah they just had their third welfare baby and dared to criticize a continent that suffered at their hands while these assholes have never had to work for their fancy suppers. Reply Thread Link I'm dead at crusty inbred white devils Reply Parent Thread Link What kills me is that they really think they're out here changing the world for the better. All they're doing is continually sidestepping responsibility for the ruination of much of the world. Until they acknowledge that and makes aims at actual restitution/reparations/reconciliation they can fuck off. And the younger generation has enough knowledge/access/education to understand what they're doing is the height of hypocrisy. Reply Parent Thread Link lol well damn Reply Parent Thread Link Let ! These ! Brother-cousins! Know! Reply Parent Thread Link BlOoP Reply Parent Thread Link Accurate read. Reply Parent Thread Link good luck to your future black kids, harry! Reply Thread Link moreso good luck to meghan present tense Reply Parent Thread Link true smh Reply Parent Thread Link i know people fuck up and can change, but i would love to know what is going on in sparkle's mind. maybe she read him the riot act and he apologized. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I'm so worried about how they're gonna be raised. Reply Parent Thread Link Those kids are going to be like 25% black. They'll be fine at the royal palace Reply Parent Thread Link These people view Africa as just a personal playground, Harry has been to Botswana how many times and im sure the only contact he has with a black person is when theyre guiding him and his white friends on some bullshit safari. They only view POC as props and use their engagement work to manipulate gullible members of the public into thinking theyre doing a real job. Reply Thread Link Yup and people even on here fall for it. Its bullshit. This isnt some disney fairytale. These are actual colonizers with no life skills and a lifetime bottomless money fund stolen off of others backs that for some reason are given importance for the mere act of being born. Reply Parent Thread Link MFTE i can't believe there are commenters in this community who stan this garbage family Reply Parent Thread Link basically. i live for the gossip and the jewelry, but i have no problem criticizing the fuck out of them. Reply Parent Thread Link Right?! As if they've earned even a fraction of the wealth and resources at their disposal. Not even counting the fact that the majority of said resources were stolen, bought with the blood of the rest of the non-western world. Reply Parent Thread Link yup Reply Parent Thread Link I liked this headline better when I thought it was about how Jeremy Corbyn was so excited about the royal baby that upon hearing the news he just COULD NOT EVEN & spent hours mutely staring at the wall pic.twitter.com/XFGObDW6ul Kat Rosenfield (@katrosenfield) April 25, 2018 LMAO Reply Thread Link lmao Reply Parent Thread Link lmao the horror a politician not really caring another baby has been born Reply Parent Thread Link LMFAOOO Reply Parent Thread Link The way the media treats Corbyn truly has become satire. Reply Parent Thread Link LOL @ that attempt - three whole hours?! Reply Parent Thread Link edward had already abdicated by then but his slimy ass was such a traitor and he really should've received a harsher punishment for what was almost betrayal of not only his entire family but his country. Reply Parent Thread Link The Queen Mother wasn't Queen Elizabeth I -- she was the 16th century one. Reply Parent Thread Link fucking yikes...also the sun ain't shit for that title Reply Parent Thread Link i thought everyone knew about how close edward viii was with the nazis? like there was speculation that he was secretly hoping for germany to win the war because hitler was going to depose his brother and reinstate him as king (idk who he thought his heir was going to be unless he divorced wallis to have legitimate children but w/e) elizabeth and margaret were children and i'm not going to fault them for something that two grown ass adults who should've known better told them to do. Reply Parent Thread Link William had an abrupt descent into ugliness courtesy of the white man's curse. Colonizers are forever doomed to age like avocados. Reply Thread Link Lol The aging is their cross to bear. Reply Parent Thread Link white man aging + British white man aging + the Windsor ugly. Reply Parent Thread Link HAhahahahahahahhahaha Reply Parent Thread Link Age like avocados omg Reply Parent Thread Link I know they bring tourists to the country but why r they still a thing? Reply Thread Link Do they tho? Like that's such a standard response but the French beheaded theirs and I go there for weekend trips pretty often still lmao. Reply Parent Thread Link The tourist argument is invalid. No royal actually bring in tourists. Their residences and the occassional event do. They're glorified ambassadors at this point. Reply Parent Thread Link that make sense. I always come across the phrase they bring tourists to the country in royals article and I thought hmm I guess? I dont know how royalties work lol but hey all the more reason to get rid of them tbh Reply Parent Thread Expand Link They are mostly trash who's surprised? I can't at his 3 kids breeder ass talking about over-population, rmfe straight people. Reply Thread Link There's been a lot of talk with people around me about the royals and tbh I don't think they're going to be very popular in general if Charles takes over. The older generation here don't like Camilla, the younger generation don't like Charles. And if he does abdicate then tbh I think the royal family will be more popular than ever. I just think there's no place for a monarchy in a democracy. Reply Thread Link Eight charged in China over Ponzi scheme posing as P2P lender that took US$9 billion Chinese authorities say they have exposed a Ponzi scheme that lured 60 billion yuan from retail investors, in what would be the latest success for the countrys risk prevention campaign. Eight ringleaders of the Shanghai-based Shanlin Finance have been charged with illegally obtaining deposits and taken into custody, according to local public prosecutor the Shanghai Pudong district Peoples Procuratorate, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday. The scheme was disguised as a peer-to-peer lending platform, police said. Shanlins online lending platforms and mobile apps have been suspended from service. Shanghai police called on victims to come forward with information, with the amount of money embezzled and the number of victims still unclear. Shanlin stated in a social media post on February 11 that one of its online platforms, Shanlin Wealth, had registered more than 500,000 users and raised 5.4 billion yuan. But its mastermind Zhou Boyuan turned himself in to local police two weeks ago as the amounts due to be repaid snowballed and new investment dried up, partly as a result of the intensified government crackdown on such activities. Internet finance, including Chinas thousands of online P2P and crowdfunding platforms, and internet-related frauds are key targets of Beijings derisking campaign, launched last year and expected to continue for the next three years. According to Shanghai police, Shanlins operations were revealed to be similar in nature to the Bernie Madoff fraud in the United States, and Ezubao conning 58 billion yuan from 900,000 investors. Its investment projects have no prospect of profitability, the police said in a statement. Instead, it runs the business by repaying old debt through new money. Its collapse eventually came when the gap grew bigger and bigger. Illegal fundraising flourished after monetary easing and a fragmentation of the regulatory regime a decade ago. Starting in October 2013, Shanlin opened more than 1,000 outlets nationwide to sell wealth management fund products packaged with lending to infrastructure and public-private partnership projects, with promised annual returns ranging from 5.4 per cent to 15 per cent. It migrated online a year later. Story continues However, none of its activities were licensed by financial regulators, and little was known about such platforms operations until the stock market rout in the summer of 2015. Beijing has closed its regulatory loopholes by merging the banking and insurance regulators and establishing the Financial Stability and Development Commission for better regulatory coordination. The police, meanwhile, have vowed to continue to pursue financial crimes. Under the ironhanded leadership of Guo Shuqing, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission has punished 646 financial institutions and 798 individuals in the first quarter of 2018 to help defuse risks in the financial system. This article Eight charged in China over Ponzi scheme posing as P2P lender that took US$9 billion first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. The Land Transportation Office (LTO) marked its 160th anniversary yesterday, April 24, 2018, by inaugurating its very own Plate Making Plant at the LTO Central Office in Quezon City. Together with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) led by DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, LTO Chief and Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante inaugurated seven Manual Embossing Machines, which at full production, can reportedly produce up to 22,000 plates per day. With one Automated Embossing Machine arriving in July, the Plate Making Plant should be operational by August 2018. LTO Plate Making Plant The LTO had a lot on its plate when we took over. There was a huge backlog in license cards, while the court stopped the distribution of plates. Isa-isa nating sinolusyunan yan. Ngayon, may lisensya na at five years pa ang validity. Ngayon, hindi lang basta na-distribute ang mga plaka. Gagawa pa tayo ng sariling plaka (We solved all the problems one by one. Now, we have the drivers license that is valid for five years. And now, we wont just distribute the license plate. Well make our own,) Transportation Secretary Tugade said. Earlier this month, Secretary Tugade, along with Assistant Secretary Galvante, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman Martin Delgra III and other road sector officials of the DOTr, inspected the plate making machines, which were delivered last February 26, 2018. The plate-making machines were part of the contract of Trojan Computer Forms Manufacturing Corporation and JH. Tonnjes E.A.S.T. GmbH Joint Venture, who won the contract for the procurement of motor vehicle and motorcycle license plates to address the backlog from July 2016 onwards. LTO Plate Making Plant The post LTO Marks 106th Anniversary with Inauguration of Plate Making Plant appeared first on Carmudi Philippines. Azteca brevis workers using their gallery-shaped trap to catch insect prey. A, a gallery-shaped trap with workers hiding under holes with their mandibles open. B, a fly ant trapped on the gallery was later cut up on the spot. C, an insect pulled inside the gallery. (Photographs by M. Schmidt.). Credit: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (2018). DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/bly028 Two researchers, one with Biofaction in Austria, the other with Universite de Toulouse in France, report an example of ants (Azteca brevis) in Costa Rica who have developed a truly unique way of capturing prey that are much larger than they are. As Markus Schmidt and Alain Dejean describe in their paper published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, the ants have found a way to take advantage of the impact a type of fungus has on trees to help them capture prey. As Schmidt and Dejean note, a type of fungus grows on tree branches in the Piedras Blancas National Forest, in Costa Rica. In addition to creating a dark residue on the branches, the fungus softens the bark, which allows the ants to dig tiny holes and build a nest beneath it. The holes, the researchers note, are just big enough for the ants to crawl into and hideand for trapping the feet of crawling insects. Once an insect's foot falls into a hole, the ant that is hiding in it latches on and begins pulling. As the insect attempts to free itself, it flails about, trapping its other feet (and sometimes antennae) in other holes where there are more ants hiding. They, too, clamp onto the insect and begin pullingtogether, the ants trap the spread-eagled insect, preventing it from escaping. What happens next depends on the size and nature of the captured insect. For those that that are large and can still fight back, the ants simply hang on until it diesa wait that can last for hours. For those that are smaller or weaker, other ants emerge from holes in the tree and attack. In either case, the insect is eaten where it was killed. The researchers report that the technique allows the ants to capture prey almost 50 times larger than they are. They further report that it is an example of an extended phenotype, which was introduced by Richard Dawkins in 1982 to describe all effects that a gene has on its environment, whether inside or outside the body of an individual organism. Explore further Ants sacrifice their colony mates as parts of a deadly disinfection More information: Markus Schmidt et al. A dolichoderine ant that constructs traps to ambush prey collectively: convergent evolution with a myrmicine genus, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (2018). Markus Schmidt et al. A dolichoderine ant that constructs traps to ambush prey collectively: convergent evolution with a myrmicine genus,(2018). DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/bly028 Abstract Azteca brevis Forel, a dolichoderine ant species, builds along the branches of its host plant galleries that bear numerous holes slightly wider than a worker's head. We noted that the workers hide, mandibles open, beneath different holes, waiting for arthropod prey to walk by or alight. They seize the extremities of these arthropods and pull backwards, immobilizing the prey, which is then spreadeagled and later carved up or pulled into a gallery before being carved up. The total duration of the capture ranges from a few minutes to several hours. This ambush group hunting permits the capture of insects of a wide range of sizes, with the largest being 48.71 times heavier than the workers, something that we compared with other cases of group hunting by ants and trap use by other arthropods. A convergence with myrmicine ants of the genus Allomerus is shown. Thus, this study also shows that the genus Azteca presents the largest panel of group hunting strategies by ants and that there is polyethism related to polymorphism, as hunting workers are larger than their nestmates. We concluded that these gallery-shaped traps correspond to the notion of 'extended phenotype'. 2018 Phys.org The Tombos horse was discovered in 2011. The ancient horse is dated to the Third Intermediate Period, 1050-728 B.C.E., and it was found more than 5 feet underground in a tomb. The horse, with some chestnut-colored fur remaining, had been buried in a funeral position with a burial shroud. The discovery provides a window into human-animal relationships more than 3,000 years ago. Credit: Purdue University An ancient horse burial at Tombos along the Nile River Valley shows that a member of the horse family thousands of years ago was more important to the culture than previously thought, which provides a window into human-animal relationships more than 3,000 years ago. The research findings are published in Antiquity. The Tombos horse was discovered in 2011, and members of the Purdue team - professor Michele Buzon and alumna Sarah Schrader - played a part in the excavation and analysis. The horse is dated to the Third Intermediate Period, 1050-728 B.C.E., and it was found more than 5 feet underground in a tomb. The horse, with some chestnut-colored fur remaining, had been buried in a funeral position with a burial shroud. "It was clear that the horse was an intentional burial, which was super fascinating," said Buzon, a professor of anthropology. "Remnants of fabric on the hooves indicate the presence of a burial shroud. Changes on the bones and iron pieces of a bridle suggest that the horse may have pulled a chariot. We hadn't found anything like this in our previous excavations at Tombos. Animal remains are very rare at the site." Buzon, a bioarchaeologist, has worked with Stuart Tyson Smith, anthropology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for 18 years at this site in modern-day Sudan, and both are principal investigators on the project. Buzon uses health and cultural evidence from more than 3,000-year-old burial sites to understand the lives of Nubians and Egyptians during the New Kingdom Empire. This is when Egyptians colonized the area in about 1500 B.C. to gain access to trade routes on the Nile River. Over the years, hundreds of artifacts, including pottery, tools, carvings and dishes were unearthed at this burial site for about 200 individuals. Michele Buzon, a professor of anthropology, (top) and Sarah Schrader, an assistant professor of human osteoarchaeology at Leiden University in The Netherlands, excavate at the Tombos site along the Nile River Valley in modern day Sudan in 2010. Both archaeologists were part of the team that unearthed an ancient horse in 2011 at the site. Schrader was a Purdue graduate student at the time. Credit: Purdue University "Finding the horse was unexpected," Schrader said. "Initially, we weren't sure if it was modern or not. But as we slowly uncovered the remains, we began to find artifacts associated with the horse, such as the scarab, the shroud and the iron cheekpiece. At that point, we realized how significant this find was. Of course, we became even more excited when the carbon-14 dates were assessed and confirmed how old the horse was." Schrader, who graduated from Purdue in 2013 with a doctoral degree in anthropology, is an assistant professor of human osteoarchaeology at Leiden University in The Netherlands. Schrader is lead author on this article, and she helped frame this find within the context of Nubian history. Once the archaeologists discovered the horse, Sandra Olsen, curator-in-charge at the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas and a well-known ancient horse expert, was invited to Purdue to analyze the horse skeleton. Buzon coordinated the analysis between the team, and she established the chronology of the horse via radiocarbon dating. Michele Buzon, (left) and Sarah Schrader. Credit: Purdue University "The horse was treated well in life, seeing as how it lived to a mature age," Schrader said. "It also was important to the people of ancient Tombos because it was buried - a rite that is usually reserved for humans. Furthermore, the fact that one of the earliest pieces of iron from Africa was found in association with the horse reiterates how special it was to the people. It is also important to assess the context of Tombos with regard to the horse - the horse is an important and rare find. The fact that it is buried at Tombos indicates that this town may have served an important function in the post-colonial Napatan Period." Explore further Archaeologist begins dig in the Sudan, Nile River Valley area More information: Sarah A. Schrader et al, Symbolic equids and Kushite state formation: a horse burial at Tombos, Antiquity (2018). Journal information: Antiquity Sarah A. Schrader et al, Symbolic equids and Kushite state formation: a horse burial at Tombos,(2018). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2017.239 The Boeing logo on the first Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplane is pictured during its rollout for media in March 2017 Boeing profits jumped, and the company upgraded its earnings forecast for this year Wednesday amid a strong commercial aviation market and as executives expressed optimism the US and China will avoid a trade war. The aerospace giant reported that earnings surged 56.9 percent from the first three months of 2017, rising to $2.5 billion. Revenues rose 6.5 percent to $23.4 billion. The upbeat report sent the company's share price higher, and reflects the health of the airline industry as flying becomes much more common in the Middle East, Asia and other developing regions. A big player in China, Boeing has often been seen as vulnerable to a trade war between Washington and Beijing, a possibility that topped Wall Street's list of worries earlier this month but has receded of late amid softer rhetoric between and the prospect of talks in coming days. Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said he was encouraged that the US planned to send a high-level trade team to Beijing. President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will travel to China soon. "We know aerospace is very important to both countries and while some initial statements have been made about potential tariffs, none of those severe actions have been implemented," Muilenburg said on a conference call with analysts and reporters. "And we're frankly encouraged by the continuing dialogue and we've heard from leadership in both countries that both are seeking to find negotiated positions that will be productive for both countries." Muilenburg said Boeing's supply chain had not been significantly affected by tariffs on aluminum and other measures that have been implemented. Cargo demand rising In the quarter ending March 31, Boeing notched higher commercial plane deliveries compared with the year-ago period. Planes with gains included the narrow-aisle 737 and the 787 "Dreamliner." The aerospace giant has been consulting with customers on launching a possible "middle market" plane that would fall between its narrow-body model, which carries up to 200 people, and its wide-body design, which typically flies around 300. The company said it would raise production for the Boeing 767 plane to three a month from 2.5 due to strength in the cargo market as industrial demand picks up. Earnings in Boeing's defense division were lifted by strong weapons volume. The company won new business from Kuwait and said it was on track with the KC-46 tanker program, a US Air Force transport aircraft contract that has led to unexpected cost increases in prior quarters. A report earlier this month by the US Government Accountability Office warned that deliveries of the first fully capable KC-46 tankers could slip to May 2019 from the current timetable of October 2018, citing a number of risks to the timeframe that need to be mitigated. But Muilenburg said the company was making "steady progress" on the project and towards delivering the first 18 tankers this year. Iranian deliveries delayed Other key questions surrounding Boeing include the status of talks with Brazilian company Embraer on a potential collaboration that must be blessed by the government in Brasilia. Boeing also could be impacted if President Donald Trump scotches the nuclear agreement between Iran and major governments that opened the door to commercial plane sales in the sanctions-constrained country. Muilenburg said Boeing has delayed deliveries of 777 planes to Iran in line with the US government process and its targets for 2018 had not accounted for them. "The plan that we outlined for your is not dependent on the Iranian orders," he said. "If those orders do come to fruition, if we do ultimately deliver airplanes, those represent opportunities for us." Shares climbed 2.3 percent to $336.58 in midday trading, the biggest gainer in the Dow. 2018 AFP Brain cells shaped like sea anemones rapidly beat their arms to keep cerebrospinal fluid circulating.Courtesy of Chay Kuo, Duke University. Credit: Chay Kuo, Duke University. Viruses may spark hydrocephalus by exploiting a suprising weakness of cells that circulate fluid in the brain, says a new study by Duke University scientists. Cells shaped like sea anemones line the cavities of the brain, rapidly beating their cilia to keep cerebrospinal fluid circulating. These cells, called ependymal cells, provide homes to neural stem cells and can play a key role in preventing hydrocephalus, the potentially deadly build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. The researchers discovered that mature ependymal cells from mice require a continuous production of a transcription factor called Foxj1 to maintain their shape and function. Without Foxj1, the cells lose their waving hair-like structures and rapidly revert to an earlier stage of development. Viruses known to infect the brain have found a way to shut down the production of Foxj1 and disable the cells, the researchers report April 25 in Nature Communications. "We found that when we infected ependymal cells with viruses that can cause major problems in the human brain, ependymal cells completely degraded Foxj1 and transformed," said Chay Kuo, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of cell biology in the Duke School of Medicine. "They lost their cilia so they could not move fluid." Currently the only treatment for hydrocephalus is inserting a shunt to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid, an approach which only works in roughly half of patients and can cause serious complications. This study indicates that drugs that preserve the production of Foxj1 in ependymal cells may provide an alternative treatment. Kuo and postdoctoral fellow Khadar Abdi, Ph.D., initially set out to grow ependymal cells in hopes of studying their role in nurturing neural stem cells, Kuo said. They found that infusing brain cell progenitors with a drug known to pump up the production of Foxj1 triggered more cells to grow into ependymal cells. Surprisingly, when they switched off the Foxj1 gene in mature ependymal cells in mice, the cells swiftly transformed back into their early undifferentiated state. "This was quite shocking to us," Kuo said. "Many people thought that ependymal cells were terminally differentiatedthat when you are born, these are supposed to last a lifetime." In another unexpected experimental result, Abdi observed that Foxj1 is fragile: the protein can degrade in as little as two hours, meaning that cells must continuously manufacture new Foxj1 to preserve their cilia and shape. "They are constantly running to stand still," Kuo said. The team discovered that ependymal cells use an enzyme called IKK2 to spur the production of Foxj1. A number of viruses, including the herpes simplex virus, have evolved machinery to block IKK2 and, in the process, halt the continuous production of Foxj1. Wellington Cardoso, M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Columbia Center for Human Development at the Columbia University Medical Center, praises the study for charting how multiciliated ependymal cells maintain their identity and function in the brain, thus preventing brain defects such as hydrocephalus. "This study not only answers the question of whether these ependymal cells are stable or plastic, but also provides the mechanism that makes them lose their features and turn into something no longer functional," said Cardoso, who was not involved in the study. "The paper nicely identifies and links all the little pieces of this mechanism. It is like reconstructing the scene of a crime where they identify every culprit." "I would be curious to see if this same mechanism applies for other multiciliated cells of the body, like those in the airways of the respiratory tract," Cardoso said. For his part, Kuo wants to know why an important cell in the brain would have such an unexpected Achilles' heel. "There are a class of viruses that have figured out that ependymal cells have this major weakness, so why hasn't evolution eliminated this back door for viruses to target the brain?" Kuo said. "There must be a benefit." Explore further Flow of spinal fluid disrupted in inherited developmental disorder More information: Khadar Abdi et al, Uncovering inherent cellular plasticity of multiciliated ependyma leading to ventricular wall transformation and hydrocephalus, Nature Communications (2018). Journal information: Nature Communications Khadar Abdi et al, Uncovering inherent cellular plasticity of multiciliated ependyma leading to ventricular wall transformation and hydrocephalus,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03812-w Cheap, flexible and sustainable plastic semiconductors will soon be a reality thanks to a breakthrough by chemists at the University of Waterloo. Professor Derek Schipper and his team at Waterloo have developed a way to make conjugated polymers, plastics that conduct electricity like metals, using a simple dehydration reaction the only byproduct of which is water. "Nature has been using this reaction for billions of years and industry more than a hundred," said Schipper, a professor of Chemistry and a Canada Research Chair in Organic Material Synthesis. "It's one of the cheapest and most environmentally friendly reactions for producing plastics." Schipper and his team have successfully applied this reaction to create poly(hetero)arenes, one of the most studied classes of conjugated polymers which have been used to make lightweight, low- cost electronics such as solar cells, LED displays, and chemical and biochemical sensors. Dehydration is a common method to make polymers, a chain of repeating molecules or monomers that link up like a train. Nature uses the dehydration reaction to make complex sugars from glucose, as well as proteins and other biological building blocks such as cellulose. Plastics manufacturers use it to make everything from nylon to polyester, cheaply and in mind-boggling bulk. "Synthesis has been a long-standing problem in this field," said Schipper. "A dehydration method such as ours will streamline the entire process from discovery of new derivatives to commercial product development. Better still, the reaction proceeds relatively fast and at room temperature." Conjugated polymers were first discovered by Alan Heeger, Alan McDonald, and Hideki Shirakawa in the late 1970s, eventually earning them the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000. Researchers and engineers quickly discovered several new polymer classes with plenty of commercial applications, including a semiconducting version of the material; but progress has stalled in reaching markets in large part because conjugated polymers are so hard to make. The multi-step reactions often involve expensive catalysts and produce environmentally harmful waste products. Schipper and his team are continuing to perfect the technique while also working on developing dehydration synthesis methods for other classes of conjugated polymers. The results of their research so far appeared recently in the journal Chemistry - A European Journal. Explore further Mass production of new class of semiconductors closer to reality Figure 1. Proposed Model. Credit: IBM At IBM Research, we are exploring new solutions for a range of health care challenges. One such challenge is emergency room (ER) overcrowding, which can lead to long wait times for treatment. Overcrowding results in part from people visiting the ER for non-emergency conditions rather than relying on primary physicians. Patients who use the ER for non-emergency situations are more likely to return to the ER multiple times (Poole et al. 2016), further contributing to overcrowding. Identifying those patients who are likely to return to the ER may enable hospitals to intervene to ensure access to necessary care outside the ER and potentially alleviate overcrowding. A neural network model My team at IBM Research-China took on this challenge. We developed a novel neural network model to predict how many times a person will visit the ER based on information from his or her electronic health records (EHRs). The model is based on a typical recurrent neural network, but unlike traditional machine learning methods, it exhibits dynamic temporal behavior based on EHR information and has a complex structure to better model the correlation between ER visits and other patient data (Figure 1). We used the model to make precise predictions of whether and how many times a person will visit the ER and found that it outperformed other common techniques. For example, precision of our model was 6.59 percent greater than a typical logistic regression model in predicting whether a person will visit the ER and >90 percent greater in predicting number of ER visits compared with linear regression model. Our model also had approximately 2 percent greater precision than the popular XGboost model in predicting number of ER visits. By better predicting how many times a person will visit the ER, we hope that this model might enable hospitals to establish, prioritize, and target interventions to ensure that patients have access to the care they require outside an ER setting. Sharing our work These results along with five other papers from the IBM Research team in China have been accepted by Medical Informatics Europe 2018, a premier medical informatics conference taking place this week in Gothenberg, Sweden. The other papers involve analysis of real-world evidence on treatment-subgroup interactions, detection of anomalies in the utilization of medical supplies, use of deep learning and other machine learning technologies to answer questions from patients, and prediction of in-hospital major adverse cardiac events using a generalized linear model. Details of all six accepted papers are listed below. Our collaborators on these projects represent top hospitals (Fuwai Hospital and Anzhen Hospitals) and top pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer). By working with the best partners with the best data on the most challenging real-world problems, we can generate world-class research results in China. Explore further Machine learning predicts which patients benefit from prostate multiparametric MRI More information: Fine-Tuning Neural Patient Question Retrieval Model with Generative Adversarial Networks. Fine-Tuning Neural Patient Question Retrieval Model with Generative Adversarial Networks. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29678055 Clinical Similarity Based Framework for Hospital Medical Supplies Utilization Anomaly Detection: A Case Study DOI: 10.3233/978-1-61499-852-5-31 Using Machine Learning Approaches for Emergency Room Visit Prediction Based on Electronic Health Record Data. DOI: 10.3233/978-1-61499-852-5-111 Using Model-Based Recursive Partitioning for Treatment-Subgroup Interactions Detection in Real-World Data: A Myocardial Infarction Case Study. Stud Health Technol Inform. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29678026 Financial District, New York. Credit: Stig Ottesen/Unsplash In 1969, Hurricane Camille, a Category 5 storm, destroyed every structure on the coast of Mississippi, including the beach home of Duke University geologist Orrin H. Pilkey's parents. Previously a specialist in deep-sea sediments, Pilkey began to investigate the relationships among climate, sea level, and beaches. As early as 1979, he began to sound the sea level alarm with books like The Beaches are Moving: The Drowning of America's Shoreline. Like many whistleblowers, he was not always warmly received. "Twenty-five years ago," Pilkey said in a 2006 Grist interview, "when I began speaking and writing about seawalls and how they destroy beaches, I was shocked at the tenor of the response to this idea both from professional engineers and from developers and politicians As a scientist, I was unaccustomed to such personal attacks." Nonetheless, he persisted. In 1990 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released their first assessment report. Each section included a summary for policymakers. The data available at the time suggested sea level would rise 6 centimeters (~2.5 inches) per decade in the coming century. In 2006, former Vice President Al Gore released the film An Inconvenient Truth. If the general public wasn't thinking seriously about climate change and sea level rise before that, they have been since as sea levels have risen faster than projections with sharply increasing economic costs. On May 4, 2018 the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at the Columbia Business School and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory will convene a conference to discuss the potential effects of sea level rise on coastal property and investment. Lamont polar experts Marco Tedesco and Robin Bell provide a primer for non-scientists on the study of climate change as it relates to sea level changes. According to Tedesco and Bell, since 2000 the consensus that global warming is the cause of sea level has grown stronger and stronger in the scientific community. "The consensus about global warming being responsible for sea level rise comes from the knowledge of the physical processes," wrote the LDEO scientists in response to emailed questions. "A warming planet promotes sea level rise through the expansion of water as the oceans warm and the melting of the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets, as well as mountain glaciers." Credit: Columbia University While both scientists study the polar regions, Tedesco has focused on Greenland and Bell on Antarctica. Both have been part of recent recognition that not only is sea level rising, but the rate may be accelerating. Tedesco and his colleagues have found that algae growing on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet may be accelerating melt by darkening the surface. Bell and her colleagues have discovered that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may be subject to rapid collapse if the ocean is allowed beneath it, past the line where it is presently grounded. Since 1800 sea level has been measured around the world using tidal gauges, essentially marked sticks fixed in the intertidal zone. The TOPEX/Poseidon satellite, which was launched in 1992, was equipped with the first space-based altimeter, and it has been succeeded by the Jason series of satellites. This database is one with unprecedented coveragetidal gauges make only near-shore measurementsand accuracy. By the 1990s, satellite data suggested that sea level was rising slowly, indicating a gradual linear rise of 25 centimeters (~10 inches) by the end of the century. However, a new analysis of an updated record confirms that sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, and future sea level rise projections from these observations have more than doubled to 65 cm (~2 feet) by the end of the century. As long ago as the first IPCC report (1990), the consensus of the community was for at least a 60-centimeter rise by 2100. This three-foot increase will put underwater much of LaGuardia Airport, most of the Meadowlands, and nearly all the islands in Jamaica Bay. According to Bell, some new models of Antarctic ice loss predict 2 meters (~6.5 feet) of sea level rise by 2100, which would almost entirely inundate Coney Island, all the Rockaways, and Long Beach. But as Tedesco and Bell note, the ocean is not a bathtub. The ocean is advancing upon the land (or retreating from it) at different rates around the world. Tectonic movements can be upward or downward, human withdrawal of fluids (particularly water or fossil fuels) causes sinking and rebound of the Earth's surface from the weight of past glaciations causes uplift. These parochial factors introduce uncertainty to predictions for particular regions. In addition, there is uncertainty about the mechanisms that drive global changes in sea level. Rivers of meltwater flow across the Greenland ice sheet. Credit: Marco Tedesco/Columbia University Bell and Tedesco listed three caveats: As with weather forecasting, we are improving our understanding of how ice sheets change. The main 'gotchas' include one, when the air warms and there is more melt, will that additional melt fracture the ice shelves triggering collapse or will the water drain harmlessly into the ocean? Two, will a warming ocean continue to reach the grounding lines [of the West Antarctic ice sheets] where there is thought to be a feedback that accelerates collapse. And three, do changes in atmospheric patterns due to changes in the Arcticfor example, the Arctic Amplificationpromote more melting, as it has been happening over the past decade or so. This can also promote more extreme eventslike floods and inundationsthat will add up to the sea level rise effect. The Arctic Amplification that they mention is the term given to the effect of the much-publicized loss of Arctic sea ice. It is an example of the many non-linear processes in the Earth systems that contribute to sea level rise. The loss of Arctic sea ice darkens the ocean's surface in the north polar region, and re-radiation of heat from the water warms the overlying air, changing atmospheric circulation, with consequences well beyond the Arctic region. Many of the phenomena that contribute to sea level can be understood once they begin to occur, but not all of them have necessarily been predicted. Furthermore, at times when they have been predicted, the predictions have not been heard or heeded. For decades Orrin Pilkey repeatedly described to the dismay of developers how sea level rise would exacerbate the erosive power of storms that surged over East Coast beaches. A Metropolitan Transportation Authority employee inspects flooding in the L train tunnel under the East River in New York City. The tunnel was flooded during the unprecedented 13-foot storm surge of Hurricane Sandy. Credit: MTA of New York Sea level has risen 11 inches in Manhattan during the last century. "Even these seemingly small changes in sea level have a tremendous impact during storms," Tedesco and Bell noted, echoing Boothroyd and many members of the coastal geology and climate science community. "Sandy is the easiest example." In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy swept up the East Coast from the Caribbean. The storm surged over the seawalls and sent the ocean into the streets and subway stations of Manhattan. In one day, the weather killed 42 people and did an estimated $19 billion damage in New York City alone. Given what is understood about sea level rise and climate change, much is uncertain, but we know that storms like Sandy will come again. And again. On May 4 LDEO climate scientists and members of the business community will gather together in the same room to talk about how "ice sheet and sea level rise trends [will] affect returns, creating both risks and opportunities for investors and business leaders." This new and constructive approach is one sign that Orrin Pilkey and other coastal geologists have been heard. Explore further Alarming projections for polar ice sheets Humpback whales are one of most common whales heard on the MARS hydrophone. The inset shows a spectrogram of humpback whale songs from Monterey Bay. Credit: NOAA For centuries poets and writers have imagined the depths of the ocean as eerily quiet. But scientists now know that the oceans, and especially coastal areas, are full of sound from both natural and human activities. Starting this week, anyone can eavesdrop on sounds in the deep sea via a continuous streaming YouTube video that carries live sound from 900 meters (3,000 feet) below the surface of Monterey Bay. The sounds on this stream come from an underwater microphone (hydrophone) that the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute placed on the seafloor in 2015. The hydrophone is located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from shore, just west of Monterey Bay. It is attached to the MARS undersea cabled observatory, which carries data from the hydrophone back to shore. For over two years MBARI researchers have been fascinated by the variety of sounds captured by this hydrophone. "When we first listened to these recordings we thought they were wonderful," said lead scientist John Ryan, "and we wanted to share them with the public. I'm excited that we'll finally have a chance to do this." Although the MARS hydrophone is located on the deep seafloor, most of the sounds it picks up are from animals and activities higher up in the water or even at the sea surface. For example, it is common for the hydrophone to pick up the calls of sea lions, dolphins, and other near-surface animals, as well as the sounds of rain, waves, and wind blowing over the sea surface. Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute High-pitched sounds, such as dolphin clicks, do not travel very far through the water, so if these sounds show up in the stream they are probably being generated within a few kilometers of the hydrophone. However, the low-pitched sounds of ship engines can travel dozens of kilometers, and some whale calls may come from animals hundreds of kilometers from Monterey Bay. The MARS hydrophone can capture sounds both above and below the range of human hearing. The new live stream does not carry high-pitched sounds above human hearing, but it does include very low sounds such as those produced by some whales. Listeners can hear these sounds if they have good headphones or subwoofer speakers. Ryan notes that sounds in the bay can vary dramatically. "It can be quiet at times, and then go from quiet to cacophony in minutes. So if people don't hear much at one point in time, they should definitely check in again later." The MARS hydrophone is located on Smooth Ridge, just outside of Monterey Bay. Basemap: Google Maps In addition to hearing sounds from the hydrophone, listeners can also "see" the sounds in the form of a spectrogram that scrolls across the screen of the YouTube video. There is a 30-minute delay for computer processing and archiving between the time when the sounds are captured by the hydrophone and the time that they show up on the screen. To help listeners explore the variety of sounds from the hydrophone, the MBARI team also prepared an online "listening room" web page. Recordings on this web page help visitors identify and learn about the calls made by different types of whales and dolphins, as well as natural processes such as rain and earthquakes. Ryan explained, "Using the listening room as a model, we are currently building a soundscape exhibit for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center in Santa Cruz. This will allow thousands of visitors to hear the sounds of Monterey Bay." The MARS hydrophone sits on the seafloor on Smooth Ridge, just outside of Monterey Bay. It is connected to the MARS cabled ocean observatory, which supplies power and a high-speed data connection to shore. Credit: MBARI For researchers and others who would like to explore sounds previously detected by the hydrophone, the MBARI team created a web page where visitors can browse through two and one half years of spectrograms. Although visitors cannot hear the sounds using the spectrogram browser, they can look for certain types of sounds or find out what the hydrophone recorded during certain days or months. MBARI researchers are collaborating with scientists at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the US Naval Postgraduate School, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and other organizations to analyze the sounds from the MARS hydrophone. Their work is revealing new information about the behavior of whales and other marine mammals along the Central California coast. Beyond their scientific value, the recordings from the MARS hydrophone are fascinating in their own right. So even if poets and writers have to give up the idea of a silent sea, the sounds revealed the MARS hydrophone provide a wonderful and insightful alternative. Westland Petrel (Procellaria westlandica). Credit: T. Poupart Today's shifting environmental conditions are creating an uncertain future for many top predators in marine ecosystems, but to protect the key habitat of a species, you first have to know where that habitat is and what threats might be affecting it. A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications looks at where New Zealand's endangered Westland Petrel forages during its breeding season and shows that its range overlaps more with trawl fishing activity than conservationists realized. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa's Susan Waugh and her colleagues outfitted 73 petrels with GPS loggers over the course of four breeding seasons to track where they went during their foraging trips in the Tasman Sea. The results show that the birds' core feeding areas were consistent from year to year, located within 250 kilometers of their breeding colonies and focused on highly productive areas where the seafloor is steeply sloped. These sites often overlap with areas of significant trawl fishing activity, and further data is needed to see whether this co-occurrence translates into bird mortality. The species is the tenth most at-risk species from the impacts of New Zealand commercial fishing, but it appears that its actual ranking may be even higher as a result of the finding that the species is exposed to more fisheries activity than was previously understood. "Our work on Westland petrels started in 2010, with a desire to understand how this species was faring demographically, as well as the key influences on it," says Waugh. "Our work highlights a key factor in the birds' ecology that has strong implications for conservationthese birds predictably use the same waters year in and year out, regardless of El Nino cycles, and they are therefore a great candidate for a marine protected area to create protection of their trophic relationships. We feel this Westland Petrel foraging data will provide a high-quality information source to help define key areas for marine conservation that will also provide protection for a whole suite of species." "A remarkable and important aspect of this study is that they performed this investigation during a six-year period, encompassing a variety of environmental conditions. Whatever the sex or the breeding stage considered, Westland Petrels consistently foraged in the same core areas from year to year," adds Christophe Barbraud of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, a seabird conservation expert who was not involved in the study. "Since these areas were also consistently and heavily used by trawl fisheries, these results call for the implementation of marine spatial management tools, such as marine reserves or restrictions and monitoring of interactions between individual Westland Petrels and trawl fisheries, to ensure the conservation of this endangered petrel species." Explore further Stopping the impact of fishing fleets on the most threatened marine birds More information: Susan M. Waugh et al, Environmental factors and fisheries influence the foraging patterns of a subtropical seabird, the Westland Petrel (Procellaria westlandica), in the Tasman Sea, The Condor (2018). Susan M. Waugh et al, Environmental factors and fisheries influence the foraging patterns of a subtropical seabird, the Westland Petrel (Procellaria westlandica), in the Tasman Sea,(2018). DOI: 10.1650/CONDOR-17-179.1 Illustration of the 15-micrometre-wide drumheads prepared on silicon chips used in the experiment. The drumheads vibrate at a high ultrasound frequency, and the peculiar quantum state predicted by Einstein was created from the vibrations. Credit: Aalto University/Petja Hyttinen & Olli Hanhirova, ARKH Architects. Perhaps the strangest prediction of quantum theory is entanglement, a phenomenon whereby two distant objects become intertwined in a manner that defies both classical physics and a common-sense understanding of reality. In 1935, Albert Einstein expressed his concern over this concept, referring to it as "spooky action at a distance." Today, entanglement is considered a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, and it is the key resource for a host of potentially transformative quantum technologies. Entanglement is, however, extremely fragile, and it has previously been observed only in microscopic systems such as light or atoms, and recently in superconducting electric circuits. In work recently published in Nature, a team led by Prof. Mika Sillanpaa at Aalto University in Finland has shown that entanglement of massive objects can be generated and detected. The researchers managed to bring the motions of two individual vibrating drumheadsfabricated from metallic aluminium on a silicon chipinto an entangled quantum state. The macroscopic objects in the experiment are truly massive compared to the atomic scalethe circular drumheads have a diametre similar to the width of a thin human hair. The team also included scientists from the University of New South Wales Canberra in Australia, the University of Chicago, and the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. The approach taken in the experiment was based on a theoretical innovation developed by Dr. Matt Woolley at UNSW and Prof. Aashish Clerk, now at the University of Chicago. "The vibrating bodies are made to interact via a superconducting microwave circuit. The electromagnetic fields in the circuit are used to absorb all thermal disturbances and to leave behind only the quantum mechanical vibrations," says Mika Sillanpaa, describing the experimental setup. Eliminating all forms of noise is crucial for the experiments, which is why they have to be conducted at extremely low temperatures near absolute zero, at -273 degrees C. Remarkably, the experimental approach allows the unusual state of entanglement to persist for long periods of time, in this case up to half an hour. "These measurements are challenging but extremely fascinating. In the future, we will attempt to teleport the mechanical vibrations. In quantum teleportation, properties of physical bodies can be transmitted across arbitrary distances using the channel of "spooky action at a distance,"" explains Dr. Caspar Ockeloen-Korppi, the lead author on the work, who also performed the measurements. The results demonstrate that it is now possible to have control over large mechanical objects in which exotic quantum states can be generated and stabilized. Not only does this achievement open doors for new kinds of quantum technologies and sensors, it can also enable studies of fundamental physics in, for example, the poorly understood interplay of gravity and quantum mechanics. Explore further Researchers nearly reach quantum limit with nanodrums More information: C. F. Ockeloen-Korppi et al, Stabilized entanglement of massive mechanical oscillators, Nature (2018). Journal information: Nature C. F. Ockeloen-Korppi et al, Stabilized entanglement of massive mechanical oscillators,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0038-x Credit: Shutterstock Africa's elephants are under siege from rampant poaching for their ivory. Everyone agrees that Africa's elephants need protecting from the ongoing slaughter. But countries with wild elephant populations (range states) disagree vehemently on a central policy issue: should we ban all trade in ivory or not? Debates on ivory trade dominate the world body that determines which wildlife products can and cannot be traded. Discussions at the Conferences of the Parties (CoP) of the Convention of the Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) can become fierce, consume scarce conservation resources and create a combative environment among elephant conservationists and policymakers. Kenya along with most central and West African countries argues that prohibiting all trade in ivory is the only way to protect elephants. The supporters of ivory prohibition also advocate for the public destruction of ivory stockpiles to stigmatise ivory consumption. The opposite position is held by southern African countries such as Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. They criticise ivory prohibition arguing that trade bans and stockpile destruction have a perverse effect of reducing supply, increasing prices and therefore incentivising further poaching. These pro-trade countries also argue that revenue from regulated ivory sales can be put to good use. The money can be used to finance the protection of elephants and their habitats and provide socio-economic benefits to communities who bear the costs of living with elephants. Prohibition countries strongly oppose this view and argue that any legal trade facilitates laundering of illegally poached ivory and stimulates further demand, therefore increasing poaching. This prohibition position has more policy momentum. The US, China, and the UK have all introduced domestic ivory bans in recent years. Yet, the fierce debates continue and the policy gridlock persists. The result of these dramatically divergent positions is an inability to develop an evidence based consensus policy. We have argued in two publications that overcoming the deadlock needs understanding of what drives the two divergent views. This can only happen if there's a recognition that different values are at play. And that they influence the way in which evidence is interpreted. Values also affect how people view trade-offs what people are willing to give up in exchange for something else. But trade-offs are emotive when they pit money against sacred moral values what are known as "taboo trade-offs". These are very evident in the ivory debate. Taboo trade-offs Some elephant conservation stakeholders view any trade in elephant products as morally unacceptable, akin to trading human body parts. The ivory trade debate pitches this value against the secular value that ivory is a source of conservation revenue. The taboo trade-off represented in this debate explains why it has been so long-standing, contentious and impassioned and remains unresolved. Taboo trade-offs can only be managed through a process that involves divergent views and stakeholder values being discussed and evaluated in a structured way that incorporates evidence. Such an approach has the potential to increase awareness of the trade-offs, promote discussion of what is acceptable, and potentially identify and strengthen successful policy and management compliance. Discussions among small groups of key stakeholders help to build trust and help understand the perspectives of others. This approach has been successful at resolving other long standing conflicts. The best, and most recent example, is the negotiation of the Paris Climate accord. Other examples include the peace deal in Colombia and the end of apartheid in South Africa. In both cases the discussions yielded more than having open debates in the media. Adam Kahane, who facilitated discussions in both South Africa and Colombia, authored two books. One was on transformative scenario planning and collaborating with the enemy. He details how small group processes worked in situations of conflict. African range states Our suggestion isn't that discussions on ivory should take place outside of CITES. Rather, we believe that space is provided to African elephant Range States, the ultimate custodians of Africa's elephants, to take ownership and work through such a process. This will feed into and contribute to CITES policy decisions. The African Range State Dialogues provide an example of how this could work. These dialogues brought together African range states in a forum where they could discuss and debate issues on elephant conservation with less external pressure than at CITES CoPs. The outcomes of these dialogues fed into CITES policy decisions. Discussion on the ivory debate could also include the consideration of other pressing threats to elephants including habitat loss and human wildlife conflict. Such discussion could help identify novel solutions to tackle threats facing Africa's elephants that are acceptable to a broader group of African range states. We believe that this approach will help ensure that policies and actions to conserve Africa's elephants are more acceptable and sustainable. Moreover, that it incorporates the values and perspectives of African governments and societies responsible for, and that bear the costs of, conserving elephants. Explore further Britain to ban ivory sales This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Two certified legally fished totoabas are seen at the Pescamar fair in Mexico City on June 28, 2017; the totoaba's swim bladders are prized in Chinese traditional medicine and can fetch up to $20,000 on the black market Mexican authorities arrested a Chinese airline passenger after a strong smell emanating from his suitcases led to the discovery that he was transporting body parts from hundreds of endangered totoaba fish. Police at the Mexico City international airport "found 416 totoaba swim bladders in (the passenger's) two suitcases," the prosecutor general's office said in a statement Wednesday. The totoaba's swim bladderan organ certain fish species use to control their buoyancyis prized in Chinese traditional medicine for its purported rejuvenating qualities, and can fetch up to $20,000 on the black market. The man was arrested and then granted conditional release after paying a $600 fine, the statement said. The critically endangered totoaba is native to the Gulf of California, off Mexico's western coast. Authorities say drug cartels and heavily armed poachers are involved in trafficking its swim bladder, dubbed the "cocaine of the sea." The nets used to catch the totoaba have also contributed to the demise of another critically endangered species, the vaquita marina, the world's smallest porpoise. Researchers estimate just 30 of them now remain. Explore further Mexico hopes fish farming can help save endangered porpoise 2018 AFP A fossil tooth contains isotopes that offer clues of aridification. Around 260 million years, the Earth was dominated by mammal like reptiles called therapsids. The largest of these therapsids were the dinocephalians, a genus composed of several herbivorous and carnivorous species. Then something enormous happened: a mass extinction event killed off between 75% and 80% of all the creatures that lived on land around the world. Many ocean creatures were also rendered extinct. The dinocephalians were wiped out. Several hypotheses have been offered about what could have provoked this mass extinction. For instance, many scientists have favoured the notion that a volcanic eruption was the trigger. It has been demonstrated that at the time of the extinction interval a gigantic volcanic eruption occurred at Emeishan in the south of China that lasted for almost two million years. It released around 300 000 km of lava. My colleagues and I wondered whether a change in climate might have caused or contributed to the mass extinction in South Africa. So we examined environmental change during the extinction event in what's today the western and northern Cape of South Africa. We studied the fossil teeth of Diictodon feliceps, a small herbivorous therapsid which lived before the extinction event and survived through it (as with much else from this period, we don't know how the species survived the catastrophe). Our findings suggest that a local event rather than a global shift in climate was to blame for the mass extinction in South Africa. Specifically, we propose that deformations in the Cape Fold Mountains meant there was less water available; species in the region were decimated. This marks the first time that data has shown a correlation between the mass extinction event and an event of aridification the process that occurs when a region becomes increasingly dry. It's a long-term shift in climate rather than a seasonal variation. Our findings are supported by earlier work conducted on sediment which showed a decrease in river and stream output in the basin of the Cape Fold Mountains during that time. It seems from this study that while the Emeishan eruption may have triggered the mass extinction event other more local events might have amplified it. The Drakenstein Mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt. Credit: Shutterstock/Victoria Field Teeth reveal climate secrets Fossil teeth contain different atoms, like oxygen or carbon, which are represented with several "forms", called isotopes. Examining their ratio allows scientists to interpret how the humidity and temperature were changing when the animal in question was alive. The teeth we studied showed that an aridification a decrease in humidity as produced by water supply or rainfall occurred at the time of the extinction. But there was no change in temperature. This suggested that global climate change didn't lead to the mass extinction, since in the case of global climate shifts humidity and temperature changes go together. Our focus was on the stable oxygen and carbon isotope compositions in the fossil teeth. Several factors can affect the ratio between the different isotope of these elements. For instance the ratio of oxygen isotopes is correlated with the air temperature of the environment; for carbon, the isotope ratio depends on the water availability. This makes it a good proxy to estimate an environment's aridity. Measuring the oxygen and carbon isotope composition in the teeth helped us estimate the temperature and the aridity of the environment where the animal lived. Future learning This kind of work is valuable because it shows how local climate events like aridification can affect a region's ecosystems. It might also help climate change researchers to better estimate how certain parts of the planet might react as water becomes scarcer. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Absorption on the plane of incident angle and wavelength. Credit: Springer Graphene has many properties; it is e.g. an extremely good conductor. But it does not absorb light very well. To remedy this limiting aspect of what is an otherwise amazing material, physicists resort to embedding a sheet of graphene in a flat photonic crystal, which is excellent for controlling the flow of light. The combination endows graphene with substantially enhanced light-absorbing capabilities. In a new study published in EPJ B, Arezou Rashidi and Abdolrahman Namdar from the University of Tabriz, Iran demonstrate that, by altering the temperature in such a hybrid cavity structure, they can tune its capacity for optical absorption. They explain that it is the thermal expansion and thermo-optical effects which give the graphene these optical characteristics. Potential applications include light sensors, ultra-fast lasers, and systems capable of modulating incoming optical beams. The authors study the light absorption of the material as a function of temperature, the chemical energy potential, the light polarisation and its incidence angles. To do so, they use a modelling method called the transfer matrix method. They find that for normal light incidence, there is enhanced absorption at room temperature, while the absorption peak is shifted toward the red as the temperature increases. As light comes in at an angle, the authors show that the absorption peaks are sensitive to the incident angles as well as the polarisation state of the light. They also find that by increasing the incident angle, the peak wavelength is shifted toward the blue. They conclude that the peak wavelength can be controlled by varying either the temperature or incident angle, as well as the chemical energy potential of graphene. This shows that there are a number of tunable features that could be exploited for the design of graphene-based nano-devices, such as temperature-sensitive absorbers and sensors. Explore further Graphene origami as a mechanically tunable plasmonic structure for infrared detection More information: Arezou Rashidi et al, Tunability of temperature-dependent absorption in a graphene-based hybrid nanostructure cavity, The European Physical Journal B (2018). Journal information: European Physical Journal B Arezou Rashidi et al, Tunability of temperature-dependent absorption in a graphene-based hybrid nanostructure cavity,(2018). DOI: 10.1140/epjb/e2018-80506-2 Shown is the space-filling model of human telomerase holoenzyme structure determined by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Telomerase catalyzes the synthesis of telomeric DNA (green) at the ends of chromosomes (blue) to compensate for the loss of telomeres during genome replication. The structure comprises two lobes with distinct functionalities: the catalytic core (purple) responsible for DNA synthesis and an H/ACA ribonucleoprotein lobe (cyan, teal and light green) important for telomerase biogenesis and localization to the Cajal body (red dots and lower left in closeup). Given that telomerase regulation is implicated in cancer and aging, this first architectural visualization of human telomerase represents an important breakthrough in the telomerase field and telomerase-based therapeutic design. Credit: Janet Iwasa More than 30 years ago, when University of California, Berkeley researchers discovered telomerasean enzyme that lengthens chromosome ends and prevents them from fraying enough to kill a cellspeculation ran wild about its role in aging and cancer, setting off a full-court press to produce drugs to activate or block the enzyme. While neither telomerase-based anti-aging drugs, touted as a "fountain of youth," nor anticancer drugs have yet appeared, the publication today by UC Berkeley scientists of the first detailed picture of the molecular structure of human telomerase should jump-start that effort, allowing more targeted drug screens and intelligent design of new drugs. "It has been a long time coming. It took a lot of persistence," said Kathleen Collins, a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology who has worked on the enzyme for 26 years. Collins and Eva Nogales, also a professor of molecular and cell biology, are the senior authors of a paper describing the 3-D molecular structure of the human telomerase enzyme published this week in the journal Nature. One bottleneck has been obtaining pure samples of this complex molecule, which is composed of an RNA backbone decorated by six types of protein that move around as they add DNA to the ends of chromosomes. Labs around the world have debated whether the enzyme operates singly or as conjoined twins, and how and how many proteins decorate the RNA backbone. Cryo-EM density of human telomerase holoenzyme with fitted subunits. Credit: Kelly Nguyen, UC Berkeley Without consensus on these questions, it has proven difficult to design a drug to target the molecular machine and either destroy telomerase activitywhich could stop a cancer that has boosted its telomerase levelsor restart telomerase, perhaps to prime the body for rapid cell division after a bone marrow transplant. The newly revealed structure still lacks fine detail, but combined with knowledge of the gene sequence of human telomerase, it provides enough information to start thinking about potential targets for drugs, said first author Thi Hoang Duong "Kelly" Nguyen, a Miller Institute postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley. "The best previous images of human telomerase had a resolution of only 30 Angstroms; we were able to get about 7 to 8 Angstroms resolution using cryoelectron microscopy," Kelly said. "When I got to the point where I could see all the subunitswe had 11 protein subunits in totalit was a moment of, 'Wow, wow, this is how they all fit together.'" Nguyen, Collins and Nogales are actively working to improve the resolution to 3 or 4 Angstromsabout the size of two carbon atomswhich is sufficient for drug design. Telomerase tops up the telomeres Telomeres were first detected at a molecular level in the late 1970s by Elizabeth Blackburn, then at UC Berkeley and now president emerita of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Working with the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena, she and colleagues showed that the ends of the chromosomes are capped by repeating sequences of DNA. Armed with knowledge of telomere sequence, researchers then showed that telomeres in tissues of multicellular organisms grow shorter each time a cell divides. The telomeres protect the DNA strands from fraying and getting damaged at their ends, much like the plastic tip on the end of a shoelace. The fact that they drop off with each cell division is thought to protect us from cancer, when a cell is hijacked and proliferates continually. In 1985 at UC Berkeley, Blackburn and then-graduate student Carol Greider discovered telomerase, an enzyme that adds DNA back to the ends of chromosomes, lengthening them and extending the lifespan of the cell. Blackburn, Greider and another colleague, Jack Szosak, shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of telomerase. Scientists have since found that, in humans and other multicellular organisms, telomerase is expressed only in the embryo, not in most adult cells. That means that most cells at birth have a predetermined ability to grow and divide, after which they die. Many scientists believe that depleted telomeres are a major cause of aging. Collins has been trying to determine the structure of telomerase ever since the first human telomerase protein was discovered in 1997, and she and her colleagues have discovered and extensively characterized many of the proteins in the large enzyme, as well as the broken-up hairpin structure of the RNA backbone of telomerase. Yet how they all fit together was an enigma because of conflicting results from many different labs. Nguyen was able to isolate the active enzyme and purify it much better than anyone had before, and employed a new, state-of-the-art cryoelectron microscope to determine the structure of the active telomerase unambiguously. Cryo-EM is a technique for determining molecular structures of compounds that cannot be crystallized and imaged with X-rays, and its developers won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Once the UC Berkeley team had the structure, Nguyen said, it became clear why genetic mutations in some of the proteins in telomerase interfere with the enzyme to cause disease. In 1999, Collins discovered the first known human disease caused by a telomerase mutation: a mutation in a telomerase protein called dyskerin that is responsible for a rare disease called dyskeratosis congenita. Patients develop anemia as well as skin and gut problems, and most frequently die from bone marrow failure. The reason, Collins says, is that there are two dyskerin molecules bound to the RNA backbone that have to not only reach out to the network of other proteins but also touch one another, and disease-causing mutations prevent these linkages, crippling the ability of the RNA backbone to survive in cells. Some children with dyskeratosis congenita have telomerase levels about 25 percent of normal and a lifespan of less than two decades. Those with half the normal level of telomerase typically reach a health crisis in mid-life. Collins is ecstatic to finally have a definitive structure for telomerase and looks forward to learning more about the intricate assembly process of one of the most complex enzymes in the body: a polymerase as complicated as the ribosome, which reads RNA to produce proteins. "I didn't think it would be this complicated when I decided to study this molecule," she said. "I became curious about how telomerase works in 1991, when I was just finishing as a grad student, and I was looking for a really simple polymerase system in which to understand nucleic acid interactions. And I thought, my god you can't be simpler than this. That was super naive." Explore further Scientists explore the structure of a key region of longevity protein telomerase More information: Thi Hoang Duong Nguyen et al, Cryo-EM structure of substrate-bound human telomerase holoenzyme, Nature (2018). Journal information: Nature Thi Hoang Duong Nguyen et al, Cryo-EM structure of substrate-bound human telomerase holoenzyme,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0062-x Michael Harold, a chemical engineer at the University of Houston, will lead a $2 million project to develop and optimize a lower-cost, more efficient catalyst to eliminate unreacted methane. Credit: University of Houston Thanks to advances in drilling technology, there is enough natural gas in the U.S. to last well into next century and beyond. This has renewed the idea of using inexpensive, domestically produced natural gas as a transportation fuel. Primarily made up of methane, natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than gasoline or diesel when it comes to hydrocarbons and nitrous oxides, but the undesired "slip" of unreacted methane can reduce that advantage because methane is a potent greenhouse gas. The U.S. Department of Energy has chosen a team led by a chemical engineer from the University of Houston for a $2 million project to develop and optimize a lower-cost, more efficient catalyst to eliminate unreacted methane. Michael Harold, chairman of the UH Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, will work with Lars Grabow, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UH, and researchers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Virginia and CDTi Inc., an emissions technology company based in Oxnard, Calif. Natural gas combustion produces far less carbon dioxide than gasoline or diesel combustion. Methanethe primary component of natural gaswasn't considered a concern until recently, partly because it hasn't been associated with the health risks linked to carbon dioxide. But it is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2, making an effective catalyst crucial for wider adoption of natural gas vehicles. Harold, an expert in catalytic reaction engineering, said the team will focus on the so-called "four-way catalyst," building on the three-way catalysts used with gasoline and diesel engines. Those simultaneously convert nonmethane hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. The new catalyst will also convert methane. A critical aspect of the work is to reduce the use of precious metals, lowering the cost. Traditional vehicle exhaust catalysts rely on platinum, palladium and rhodium, which are effective but expensive. The new four-way catalyst will test the use of metal oxides containing lower-cost elements iron, cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel and others. Those metals are less effective, as well as less expensive, and Harold said the design may still require the use of a small amount of precious metals to meet emission control targets. CDTi's Spinel technology will be a key element in developing a new class of high-performance catalysts with low levels of precious metals for natural gas engine emissions control. The process is likely to involve the development of a new material, work Grabow will pursue using atomistic computational modeling, while CDTi's Steve Golden will lead the catalyst development and commercialization effort. "The project brings together a significant market opportunity with our innovative Spinel materials, coupled with the state-of-the-art characterization and testing capability of the University of Houston and the other key partners," Golden said. Once a prototype has been synthesized and tested with simulated exhaust, Harold said it will be tested at the Texas Center for Clean Engines, Emissions & Fuels, a research, development and testing center based at the UH Energy Research Park. "We're working on something that's important for the country," Harold said. "We have a surplus of natural gas, and we are helping break down barriers for its expanded use." Explore further QU research team innovates ways to synthesize new nanocatalysts Credit: Wageningen University The much-feared Tropical Race 4 strain of the Fusarium oxysporum soil fungus which causes Panama disease in Cavendish bananas has now been discovered in Myanmar. This follows closely on the heels of its discovery in Vietnam and Laos. The fungus is expected to have disastrous consequences on individual banana growers and the global banana industry. Scientists from Wageningen University & Research working with colleagues abroad have detected the fungus and used advanced techniques to find out where it came from. Panama disease is a form of Fusarium wilt, which is caused by Fusarium oxysporum. The strain of this fungus known as Tropical Race 4 (TR4) affects many local banana varieties as well as the Cavendish cultivar, which accounts for 85% of world trade in bananas. Since all Cavendish bananas are clones of each other and there is little variation, they are highly susceptible to TR4, making the sector extremely vulnerable. The fungus, which appeared several decades ago, infects the roots, attacks the vascular system and eventually kills the plant. Once a plot is infected, bananas can no longer be cultivated there. This is a major threat to the global monoculture of Cavendish bananas. Genome research shows links between TR4 in different countries TR4 has now been detected in Myanmar for the first time and its presence in Vietnam and Laos has been confirmed. In addition, research has made it possible to see which path it took to get there. There are links between the strains found in TR4 in China and these countries and in Pakistan and the Philippines, and between those detected in Libanon and Jordan. Credit: Wageningen University After sampling missions, the fungus was isolated from infected plants and then further studied by means of DNA testing. By determining the number and nature of mutations in the fungus, scientists were able to see exactly which strains are related. "This has reaffirmed the need for quarantine measures to prevent international spread and the need for sustainable solutions," states Gert Kema, professor by special appointment of tropical phytopathology at Wageningen University & Research. Credit: Wageningen University Crucial crop Bananas are the fourth most important food crop in developing countries after wheat, rice and maize. They are also the world's most eaten fruit. In developed countries they are a popular snack, but for many people in the tropics they represent a major source of nutrition. Millions of farmers depend on good harvests and these are increasingly under threat from the TR4 fungal strain. The study was conducted by Wageningen University and Research in cooperation with international partners and published in Frontiers in Plant Science on 22 March 2018. Credit: Wageningen University Explore further Spread of Panama disease in banana caused by one single clone of the Fusarium fungus More information: Si-Jun Zheng et al. New Geographical Insights of the Latest Expansion of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense Tropical Race 4 Into the Greater Mekong Subregion, Frontiers in Plant Science (2018). Si-Jun Zheng et al. New Geographical Insights of the Latest Expansion of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense Tropical Race 4 Into the Greater Mekong Subregion,(2018). DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2018.00457 Justin Grimes via Creative Commons on Flickr. Credit: University of Kansas Much of the narrative surrounding Donald Trump's surprising 2016 election victory has focused on economically stressed voters in Rust Belt statesfeeling forgotten by both major parties and fretting over globalizationwho rallied behind an outsider pushing for change. But an analysis by two University of Kansas sociologists found instead that white voters who supported Trump did so mainly because they shared his prejudicesnot because they were worried about their finances. Among the legions of "white working class" voters who are often stereotyped as the core of Trump's base, millions, the sociologists say, voted against Trump because they opposed his negative attitudes toward minorities, immigrants, Muslims and women. "People who voted for Trump did not worry more about their personal finances than white voters who supported other candidates," said David Smith, professor of sociology. "Economic worry doesn't help us distinguish between the two camps." In March the journal Critical Sociology published the findings by Smith and Eric Hanley, associate professor of sociology. They used American National Election Studies data on 1,883 presidential election voters, of whom 52 percent supported Trump. The researchers examined voting behavior along five demographic lineswith respect to gender, education, age, marital status and incomeand in connection with a dozen attitudes, including biases and the wish for a domineering leader who shares their biases. "A lot of what has been said about the election so far has been guesswork, and sometimes stereotypes are brought to bear. A lot of the conversation has revolved around the Rust Belt and the white working class," Smith said. "But when we looked at attitudes and population variables at the same time, we found that the strongest effects came from attitudes." It's true, Smith said, that the attitudes that inspired support for Trump are more common in some groups than others. Married, older, male and less-educated white voters were all more likely than average to support Donald Trump. But the reason for that trend, Smith and Hanley found, is that Trump-like attitudes were more widespread in these groups. Younger, college-educated, unmarried and female voters who agreed with Trump also voted for him in large numbers, while many married older white men with college degrees voted against him. "We're not trying to tie everything up with a ribbon and say it's just one thing. What we found is that the vote was a complex reality in which many factors played a part, above all, attitudes," Smith said. "And one of the attitudes that stood out statistically was a wish for a domineering leader who would 'crush evil' and 'get rid of the rotten apples' who disturb the status quo." The researchers also find that the intense polarization that culminated in Trump's electoral college victory reflects deep-seated partisan anger. That could explain much of the attraction of the idea of a "domineering leader," Smith said, in a political climate in which open expressions of hostility toward minorities, women and immigrants have become more common. "What our data suggest is that not many white voters just wanted to shake things up," Smith said. "One implication of our findings is there's sharp polarization, with fewer people in the middle." Smith and Hanley also found that white Trump voters who called themselves his strong supportersabout three-fourths of his white votediffered little from his milder supporters in their basic attitudes and that Trump voters in general, whether enthusiastic or not, differed strikingly from non-Trump voters in those same attitudes. So the widely held idea that Trump voters included many who did not share his biases appears unfounded. "That was certainly true for some of his voters, but it doesn't appear to be a very high percentage," Smith said. The researchers say that insight into our current political divide is best obtained from data of the kind they studied random nationally representative findings from a major national survey. "It's sensible for anyone who is concerned about our culture to be as well-informed as possible. Knowledge is power," Smith said. "If we hope to overcome our present polarization, we need to understand it." Explore further The revolt of the Rust Belt may explain Trump's election More information: David Norman Smith et al. The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?, Critical Sociology (2018). David Norman Smith et al. The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?,(2018). DOI: 10.1177/0896920517740615 The bacterial ancestor of mitochondria diverged from the Alphaproteobacteria prior to their diversification and at some point engaged in endosymbiosis with an archaeal host cell related to the Asgard archaea. From their 'union', complex, eukaryotic cells as we know them emerge. Credit: Joran Martijn, Uppsala University. In a new study published by Nature, an international team of researchers led by Uppsala University in Sweden proposes a new evolutionary origin for mitochondriaalso known as the "powerhouse of the cell." Mitochondria are energy-converting organelles that have played key roles in the emergence of complex cellular life on Earth. Mitochondria are essential organelles that are best known for the energy conversion reactions that fuel cells. Mitochondria represent important hallmarks of eukaryotic cellsthese comprise all complex cell types, including animals, plants, fungi, and so onessentially all multicellular organisms. The fact that all eukaryotic cells have (or once had) mitochondria indicates that the origin of these organelles likely played a profound role in the evolutionary emergence of complex eukaryotic cells. Evidence from the past few decades strongly supports that mitochondria evolved via endosymbiosis, a process in which a free-living bacterium is taken up by a host cell. Yet, the identity of the mitochondrial ancestor, as well as the nature of the endosymbiosis, are subjects of fierce debates. "Previous work has provided strong evidence that mitochondria are related to a bacterial group known as the Alphaproteobacteria," says Joran Martijn, postdoctoral researcher at Uppsala University and first author of the study. "From which alphaproteobacterial lineage mitochondria evolved is still uncleardifferent studies have pointed to radically different alphaproteobacterial groups. For understanding the origin of mitochondria, but also that of eukaryotes, knowing the identity of the mitochondrial ancestor is crucial." Some scientists have proposed that mitochondria evolved from the Rickettsiales, a parasitic group of bacteria that, like mitochondria, live inside eukaryotic cells and are generally completely dependent on their host cell for survival. Its most renowned member, Rickettsia prowazekii, is a notorious human pathogen that causes typhus. "We believe that there are two main reasons for the lack of consensus on the identity of the mitochondrial ancestor," says Thijs Ettema, researcher at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at Uppsala University, who led the team conducting the study. "First, it is possible that present-day relatives simply have not been found yetif they even still exist. Second, the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of the mitochondria is extremely challenging, and can easily lead to very different and hence conflicting results." The Uppsala team tried to tackle this impasse by employing a bold approach. By analysing large amounts of environmental sequencing data from the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean, they managed to identify several previously unidentified alphaproteobacterial groups. Using newly developed methods, the team then managed to reconstruct the genomes of over 40 alphaproteobacteria, belonging to 12 different groups. "The expanded set genomes of these newly identified alphaproteobacteria substantially helped our efforts to pinpoint the position of mitochondria," says Martijn. "We hoped that by using a more balanced set of alphaproteobacteria in our analyses, we could overcome some of the problems that previous studies were struggling with." Unexpectedly, their analyses supported a new position of mitochondria, which were now placed outside of the Alphaproteobacteria. These results indicate that mitochondria are not the closest relatives to any of the currently recognized alphaproteobacterial groups, including the Rickettsiales. Rather, the mitochondria evolved from an ancestor which later gave rise to all currently recognized Alphaproteobacteria. "We suspect that the popular Rickettsiales-related ancestry of mitochondria is the result of a methodological artefact." explains Martijn. "Mitochondria and Rickettsiales have evolved under very similar conditions, which could have resulted in very similar but independent modes of evolution and sequence patterns. This in turn may have complicated previous efforts to determine the evolutionary origin of mitochondria." The study failed to identify any present-day relatives of the mitochondrial ancestor. "This was somewhat disappointing of course," says Ettema. "But perhaps we have been looking in the wrong place. In this study, we focused on oceanic waters as these were known to contain a multitude of uncharacterised alphaproteobacteria." Ettema and his team will continue their quest for mitochondrial relatives. "Unravelling the origin of mitochondria is key to understanding the origin of complex life. If modern mitochondrial relatives still exist, I am convinced we will find them at some point." Explore further Study tracks protein's role in stem cell function More information: Joran Martijn et al, Deep mitochondrial origin outside the sampled alphaproteobacteria, Nature (2018). Journal information: Nature Joran Martijn et al, Deep mitochondrial origin outside the sampled alphaproteobacteria,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0059-5 On Hall Island, Franz Josef Land, a Landsat 7 image, left, from July 17, 2002 shows strong ice coverage on land and the surrounding sea. The Landsat 8 image, middle, from September 23, 2013 unveils far less ice coverage, while the Landsat 8 image, right, from September 12, 2016, shows substantially less glacier coverage. Credit: Cornell University Geophysicists examining glacier changes in the Russian Arctic have found that the rate of ice mass loss has nearly doubled over the last decade when compared to records from the previous 60 years, according to Cornell-led research published April 24 in Remote Sensing of Environment. The scientists focused on Franz Josef Land, a glaciated Russian archipelago in the Kara and Barents seas among the northernmost and most remote parcels of land on Earth. They examined the island group with very high-resolution optical satellite images, available to federal-funded researchers from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, to study glacial dynamics. "Glaciers there are shrinking by area and by height. We are seeing an increase in the recent speed of ice loss, when compared to the long-term ice-loss rate," said lead researcher Whyjay Zheng, Cornell doctoral student in geophysics. The shrinking glaciers have uncovered at least one new island, he added. From 1953 to 2010, the average rate of ice surface loss was 18 centimeters (7.1 inches) per year. From 2011 to 2015, the ice surface decrease was 32 centimeters (13 inches) per year, which is a water loss of 4.43 gigatons annually, said Zheng. For perspective, that much water would raise the level of Cayuga Lake (the longest of New York state's Finger Lakes, at 38 miles) by 85 feet and inundate the cities of Ithaca and Seneca Falls. The Arctic has been warming in recent decades, but glaciers across the region are responding in different ways. "Previous studies have shown that the glaciers in northern Canada seem to be shrinking at a faster rate than the ones in some parts of northern Russia," said senior author Matt Pritchard, Cornell professor of geophysics. "Our work takes a closer look at the Russian glaciers to understand why they might be responding to a warming Arctic differently than glaciers in other parts of the Arctic. Why glaciers in Franz Josef Land have been shrinking more rapidly between 2011 and 2015 than in previous decades is possibly related to ocean temperature changes," said Pritchard. Zheng explained a scientific dictum that states glacier change should happen slowly in the Arctic because temperatures are low, the ice is very cold and it melts more slowly than ice elsewhere. "We are finding out that the ice is changing more rapidly than we previously thought," said Zheng. "The temperature is changing in the Arctic faster than anywhere else in the world." Co-author Michael Willis, University of Colorado assistant professor of geosciences and former research scientist at Cornell, helped Zheng process the satellite data on the paper, "Accelerating Glacier Mass Loss on Franz Josef Land, Russian Arctic." Other co-authors are Paul Tepes, University of Edinburgh, Scotland; Noel Gourmelen, Universite de Strasbourg, France; and Toby Benham and Julian Dowdeswell, University of Cambridge, England. Explore further Canadian glaciers now major contributor to sea level change More information: Whyjay Zheng et al, Accelerating glacier mass loss on Franz Josef Land, Russian Arctic, Remote Sensing of Environment (2018). Whyjay Zheng et al, Accelerating glacier mass loss on Franz Josef Land, Russian Arctic,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2018.04.004 Solar flares are caused by magnetic reconnection in space and can interfere with our communications satellites, affecting power grids, air traffic and telephony. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have found a new way to imitate and study these spectacular space plasma phenomena in a laboratory environment. Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA/Goddard Space Flight Center Solar flares, cosmic radiation, and the northern lights are well known phenomena. But exactly how their enormous energy arises is not as well understood. Now, physicists at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have discovered a new way to study these spectacular space plasma phenomena in a laboratory environment. The results have been published in the renowned journal Nature Communications. "Scientists have been trying to bring these space phenomena down to earth for a decade. With our new method we can enter a new era, and investigate what was previously impossible to study. It will tell us more about how these events occur," says Longqing Yi, researcher at the Department of Physics at Chalmers. The research concerns so-called 'magnetic reconnection' the process which gives rise to these phenomena. Magnetic reconnection causes sudden conversion of energy stored in the magnetic field into heat and kinetic energy. This happens when two plasmas with anti-parallel magnetic fields are pushed together, and the magnetic field lines converge and reconnect. This interaction leads to violently accelerated plasma particles that can sometimes be seen with the naked eye for example, during the northern lights. Magnetic reconnection in space can also influence us on earth. The creation of solar flares can interfere with communications satellites, and thus affect power grids, air traffic and telephony. In order to imitate and study these spectacular space plasma phenomena in the laboratory, you need a high-power laser, to create magnetic fields around a million times stronger than those found on the surface of the sun. In the new scientific article, Longqing Yi, along with Professor Tunde Fulop from the Department of Physics, proposed an experiment in which magnetic reconnection can be studied in a new, more precise way. Through the use of grazing incidence of ultra-short laser pulses, the effect can be achieved without overheating the plasma. The process can thus be studied very cleanly, without the laser directly affecting the internal energy of the plasma. The picture shows the experiment setup. The laser (the red triangle on the right) hits the micro-scale film (the grey slab), which splits the beam like a knife. Electrons accelerate on both sides of the knife and produce strong currents, along with extremely strong, anti-parallel magnetic fields. Magnetic reconnection occurs beyond the end of the film (the blue frame). The magnetic field is illustrated with black arrows. The boomerang-like structures illustrate the electrons in the different stages of the simulation. The rainbow colours represent the electrons transverse momenta. Credit: Longqing Yi The proposed experiment would therefore allow us to seek answers to some of the most fundamental questions in astrophysics. "We hope that this can inspire many research groups to use our results. This is a great opportunity to look for knowledge that could be useful in a number of areas. For example, we need to better understand solar flares, which can interfere with important communication systems. We also need to be able to control the instabilities caused by magnetic reconnection in fusion devices," says Tunde Fulop. The study on which the new results are based was financed by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation, through the framework of the project 'Plasma-based Compact Ion Sources', and the ERC project 'Skena och skina' (Running away and radiating). Explore further Plasma bubbles help trigger massive magnetic events in outer space More information: Longqing Yi et al. Relativistic magnetic reconnection driven by a laser interacting with a micro-scale plasma slab, Nature Communications (2018). Journal information: Nature Communications Longqing Yi et al. Relativistic magnetic reconnection driven by a laser interacting with a micro-scale plasma slab,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04065-3 A picture taken on March 20, 2018 shows a view of the dried-up shore of an irrigation canal near the village of Sayyed Dakhil, south of Baghdad Abu Ali carefully crank-starts a generator to pump water from a well out into his parched field in southern Iraq. There used to be no need for a well in his village, but a creeping drought is now threatening agriculture and livelihoods in the area. "Last year, the river started to dry up and today we only have wells to supply us with water," the 73-year-old farmer told AFP. Since childhood, Abu Ali and his family have lived off this land in the village of Sayyed Dakhil, to the east of Nasariyah city some 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of Baghdad. It cost him $1,600 (1,290 euros) to dig the well, a lifeline that provides access to the water table deep below. "The water that we draw serves as drinking water for our cows and our sheep, and despite the bitter taste, we also use it to cook and even drink ourselves," said Abu Ali, dressed in a traditional beige robe. But his family's main supply of drinking water comes from six small reservoirs that are refilled at least once a week for around 20,000 dinars ($17 or 13.50 euros). Abu Ali is determined to stay put, but the drought has already forced dozens of families to flee more than 20 villages in the area. A boy watches as 73-year-old Iraqi farmer Abu Ali uses a shovel to dig in a stream of water in the village of Sayyed Dakhil, to the east of Nasariyah city some 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of Baghdad, on March 20, 2018 Weather patterns are largely to blame for the crisis, according to an engineer with Iraq's ministry of water resources. "For the second consecutive season, the rains have been poor and temperatures have risen," Mehdi Rashid told AFP. Marshes under threat But while rain accounts for 30 percent of Iraq's water resources, the remaining 70 percent is drawn from rivers and marshes shared with Iran, Turkey and Syria, he said. The diversion of these shared waterways has played a part in Iraq's drought. "Iran has completely re-routed the course of the Karun river," he said, once a cross-border river and a key water source for Iraqis. Rashid said Iran had also "built three big dams on the Karaj river", significantly reducing water levels in cross-border wetlands shared by the two countries. A female Iraqi farmer digs with a shovel in a field in Diwaniyah, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of the capital Baghdad, on April 2, 2018 Of the 45 tributaries once shared by Iran and Iraq, only three or four remain viable, said added. The famous marshes of Mesopotamia, among the largest in the region, are victims of the "worst drought in their history," according to Jomaa al-Daraji. He works with an organisation trying to protect the UNESCO world heritage site, which stretches from Basra into Dhi Qar province. Meanwhile, Iraq and Turkey are locked in talks over the latter's controversial Ilisu dam project on the Tigris, which began in 2006. The Iraqi stretch of the Tigris is downstream from Turkey, leaving it vulnerable to reduced flows. Along with the mighty Euphrates, the enduring presence of the Tigris river helped give Iraq its nickname: "the land of two rivers". With water increasingly scarce, Iraq's three major dams and 20 smaller ones are running low. Iraqi farmers have traditionally lived off their land with no need for wells, but a creeping drought is now threatening the livelihoods of nearly a quarter of the country's population in the provinces of Diwaniyah, Muthanna and Missan According to Rashid, the government engineer, the country's reservoirs currently hold about 12 percent of their total collective capacity. The southern agricultural provinces of Diwaniyah, Muthanna and Missan, home to nearly a quarter of Iraq's population, are also suffering from the drought. Some 80 percent of the province's agriculture depends on generators and pumps to draw water, according to Ismail Abdel Wahed, head of water resources with Diwaniyah's provincial council. And with warming temperatures, less rain and progressively dryer riverbeds, "the struggle is increasing each year", added his colleague Safa al-Janabi. Explore further Iraq's marshes showing fast recovery 2018 AFP Mattershift CEO, Rob McGinnis (front) and UConn associate professor of chemical and biomedical engineering, Jeff McCutcheon. Credit: Sean Flynn/UConn When Rob McGinnis needed a well equipped lab for his startup company, his graduate school friend, Jeff McCutcheon, associate professor of chemical and biomedical engineering, suggested he apply for UConn's Technology Incubation Program (TIP) at the Storrs campus. The lab gave McGinnis the research facilities and access to other University resources that he needed to launch his business. He developed carbon nanotube technology that will have multiple, far-reaching business applications. "UConn is far ahead of other institutions," says McGinnis, who met McCutcheon when they were both at Yale University working on their doctorates. "It's not just the physical space that provides value. I am pleased to be treated as a member of the University community." McGinnis joined TIP when he formed Mattershift, a company that designs and manufactures nanotube membranes for carbon-zero fuels, optimized air and water, and precision medicine. The company seeks to convert carbon dioxide from the air into fuels, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, and construction materials without using fossil fuels as inputs. McGinnis sought to find a way to make carbon nanotube membranes - which he calls a "wonder material" - in a way so they could be mass produced. The technology had been around for about a decade when he started his company. "This technology gives us a level of control over the material world that we've never had before," McGinnis says. "We can choose which molecules can pass through our membranes and what happens to them when they do." Currently, the company is working to remove carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into fuels, a task that has been done using conventional technology, but is too expensive to be practical. "Using our tech, I think we'll be able to produce carbon-zero gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels that are cheaper than fossil fuels," says McGinnis. McGinnis didn't share intellectual property with McCutcheon or explain how he cracked the code. But McCutcheon tested the technology and confirmed its accuracy. McCutcheon, who owns less than a 1 percent stake in Mattershift, says his credibility as a scientist is paramount because he has a reputation to maintain. Nanotube membrane developed by startup Mattershift through the TIP program. Credit: Sean Flynn/UConn "I enjoy serving as a consultant and as a member of their Scientific Advisory Board," says McCutcheon. "But as with any new tech that comes into the membrane field, I am going to be extremely critical. Mattershift needs someone like me to be impartial evaluating their technology. I can be that person since I don't work with competing forms of technology." In today's environment, a good idea is not enough to garner research and development funding from some sources, McCutcheon says. Entrepreneurs need this type of unbiased review to prove that their theory works. They also need partners to publish this work in the scientific literature and seek grants. McGinnis says he benefits from proximity to researchers like McCutcheon and highly trained student talent. McGinnis, who says he "lives in a sea of risk," says he appreciates the resources offered through TIP. Universities typically offer startups some desks with laptops, he says. "Very few places provide material science space for a startup," says McGinnis. Unlike some universities, UConn provided the lab space and assistance with no strings attached. His inventions and intellectual property belong to him exclusively, the entrepreneur says, adding, "There's no attempt to try to own it." McCutcheon and his students benefit as well. "I was glad to be part of it. I was excited to see a startup from the inside, and I learned a lot about not only the business aspects, but how technology is vetted by different members of the finance community," McCutcheon says. "Having Rob around gave me a sounding board for my ideas and I learned how the two groups, academics and entrepreneurs, with divergent incentives, could work together for mutual benefit." There are more tangible benefits as well. The group published a paper March 9 in Science Advances. And, one of McCutcheon's graduate students, Kevin Reimund, from East Haven, Connecticut, worked or McGinnis as an assistant for two years, gaining real-world experience before pursuing his Ph.D. with another one of Mattershift's advisors, Benny Freeman, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Texas, Austin. Mattershift has completed development of its programmable molecular gateway technology, and the company has already booked its first sales to Trevi Systems of Petaluma, California. It will ship products later this year for use in a seawater desalination process. "Academics should seek to work with someone like Rob," says McCutcheon. "He's a pure entrepreneur. He offers me a window into a world I know little about. " Explore further Startup scales up carbon nanotube membranes to make carbon-zero fuels for less than fossil fuels More information: Robert L. McGinnis et al, Large-scale polymeric carbon nanotube membranes with sub1.27-nm pores, Science Advances (2018). Journal information: Science Advances Robert L. McGinnis et al, Large-scale polymeric carbon nanotube membranes with sub1.27-nm pores,(2018). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700938 Dispersants contain detergents, not unlike those people use to wash dishes, which help break oil into small droplets that can become diluted in the ocean. They also contain an organic solvent that helps the detergents (also known as surfactants) mix with both the oil and water. The solvent is not as effective on oil that has been oxidized by sunlight, so dispersants are less effective on oil that has floated on the sea surface for a few days, especially during sunny weather. Credit: Natalie Renier, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Two new studies have shown that sunlight transforms oil spills on the ocean surface more significantly and quickly than previously thought. The phenomenon considerably limits the effectiveness of chemical dispersants, which are designed to break up floating oil and reduce the amount of oil that reaches coastlines. A research team led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) found that sunlight chemically alters crude oil floating on the sea surface within hours or days. In a follow-up study the team reported that sunlight changes oil into different compounds that dispersants cannot easily break up. The results of these two studies could affect how responders decide when, where, and how to use dispersants. The related studies were published on February 20, 2018 in the Journal Environmental Science & Technology and today (April 25, 2018) in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters. "It has been thought that sunlight has a negligible impact on the effectiveness of dispersants," said Collin Ward, a scientist at WHOI and lead author of both studies. "Our findings show that sunlight is a primary factor controlling how well dispersants perform. And because photochemical changes happen fast, they limit the window of opportunity to apply dispersants effectively." Dispersants contain detergents, not unlike those people use to wash dishes, which help break oil into small droplets that can become diluted in the ocean, and/or are eaten by microbes before the oil can be swept to sensitive coastlines. But to do their work, the detergents (also known as surfactants) first need to mix with both the oil and waterand oil and water, famously, don't mix. To overcome this barrier, dispersants contain an organic solvent that helps the oil, detergents, and water to mix. Only until this key step occurs can the surfactants do their work to break oil into droplets. But sunlight obstructs this key step, the new studies show. Before dispersants can even be applied, light energy from the sun is already breaking chemical bonds in oil compoundssplitting off atoms or chemical chains and creating openings for oxygen to attach. This photo-oxidation process (also known as photochemical "weathering") is similar to the process that causes paint on your car or colors on your clothes to fade if they are left out in the sun for too long. To date, tests to determine dispersants' effectiveness used only "fresh" oil that hadn't been altered by sunlight. In their studies, the researchers conducted extensive lab tests exposing oil to sunlight. They showed that sunlight rapidly transforms oil into residues that are only partially soluble in the dispersant's solvent. That limits the ability of detergents to mix with the photo-oxidized oil and break the oil into droplets. The finding suggests that responders should factor in sunlight in determining the "window of opportunity" to use dispersants effectively. It would be far shorter than previously thought on sunny days than it would on cloudy days. "This study challenges the paradigm that photochemical weathering has a negligible impact on the effectiveness of aerial dispersants applied in response to oil spills," Ward said. "Sunlight rapidly alters oil into chemical compounds that dispersants can't easily break up into droplets. So photochemical weathering is a critical factor that should be considered to optimize decisions on when to use dispersants." In laboratory experiments in the 1970s, scientists had shown that light alters the chemistry of oil, but the findings could not be applied to large-scale oil spills in the ocean. This was largely because in most spills, the oil quickly flowed away from the scene before it could be sampled immediatelyin the critical short timespan before sunlight photo-oxidized it. The continuous flow from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster provided a unique opportunity: Because oil floated on the sea surface for 102 days, it gave officials a chance to collect oil shortly after it surfaced and was exposed to sunlight. The WHOI scientists obtained and tested samples of Deepwater Horizon oil that was skimmed from the surface almost immediately after it surfaced. They found that the longer the oil floated on the sunlit sea surface, the more the oil was photo-oxidized. They estimated that half of the spilled oil had been altered within days. The next step was to test how the photo-oxidized oil would respond to dispersants. The scientists tested fresh unaltered Deepwater Horizon oil that was collected directly from the broken riser pipe on the seafloor. They meticulously controlled laboratory conditions to prevent temperature changes, evaporation, light infiltration, and other factors, and they exposed the oil to increasing durations of light. Cassia Armstrong, a guest student from Trinity College, played a key role in conducting these tests and is an author of the paper. The WHOI scientists also closely collaborated with Robyn Conmy, one of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's leading experts on developing new technologies for responding to oil spills. To conduct tests on the effectiveness of dispersants, the EPA uses a specific method and custom-designed glassware, which Conmy loaned to the WHOI scientists for their experiments. Results of the experiments showed that light rapidly photo-oxidized the fresh oil, changing it into compounds that reduced the effectiveness of dispersants by at least 30 percent in a few days. Next the scientists teamed with Deborah French McCay, an internationally recognized oil spill modeler at RPS ASA, a science and technology consulting firm in Rhode Island. They simulated conditions that might have occurred during the Deepwater Horizon spill, including a range of winds speeds and sunlight levels. Then they superimposed all the 412 actual flight lines of planes that sprayed dispersants during the crisis. The results showed that under average wind and sunlight conditions, the majority of dispersant applications would not have achieved minimum effectiveness levels (designated by the EPA) because they targeted photochemically weathered oil. Even under the best-case scenarios for aerial dispersant sprayingcloudy weather (which would limit photochemical weathering) and high-wind conditions (which would transport oil farther from the spill area before sunlight transformed it)dozens of aerial dispersant applications still would not have achieved EPA-designated effectiveness levels. "We assembled a team that combined the expertise of academia, government, and industry," explained Christopher Reddy, marine chemist at WHOI. "In future oil spill crises, the community needs the same kind of cooperation and collaboration to efficiently make the wisest decisions on how to respond most effectively." "This study shows how important it is to do the most basic research on chemical reactions that take place in the environment," said Henrietta Edmonds, a program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research. "The results help us learn how to effectively respond to oil spills." Explore further Oil dispersants not as harmful to marine life as predicted More information: Collin P. Ward et al. Photochemical Oxidation of Oil Reduced the Effectiveness of Aerial Dispersants Applied in Response to the Deepwater Horizon Spill, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (2018). Journal information: Environmental Science & Technology Letters Collin P. Ward et al. Photochemical Oxidation of Oil Reduced the Effectiveness of Aerial Dispersants Applied in Response to the Deepwater Horizon Spill,(2018). pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.estlett.8b00084 The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft arrives at the International Space Station. Copyright: NASA. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft arrives at the International Space Station. Credit: NASA A team of researchers, which includes the University of Southampton, have developed new technology which could prompt a significant change for a spacecraft or satellite. Metamaterial optical solar reflectors (meta-OSRs) are the first-surface coatings on the outside of a spacecraft, designed to effectively radiate infrared heat away from it while reflecting most of the optical solar spectrum. For a satellite or spacecraft, the OSRs play a crucial role in the system's thermal control. Glued to the external skin of the radiator panels, OSRs are designed to reject solar radiation and dissipate the heat that is generated on board. OSRs are commonly made of quartz tiles that combine thermo-optical properties with an ability to withstand the environment in space. However, quartz tiles are heavy and fragile, add significantly to assembly and launch costs, and cannot be applied to curved surfaces. Other commercial solutions based on polymer foils suffer from fast performance degradation and are therefore unfit for missions lasting more than three to five years. The team demonstrated that a new meta-OSR coating is enabled by the use of metal oxide, a material commonly used for transparent electrical contacts, which, in this instance, is patterned into a metamaterial with very strong infrared emissivity while retaining a low absorption of the solar spectrum. The team also demonstrated a 'smart' radiator based on their metamaterial design, which allows tuning of the radiative cooling of the spacecraft using another type of metal oxide. Prof Otto Muskens, from the University of Southampton and principal investigator of the study, said: "The meta-OSR technology is entirely based on durable and space-approved inorganic coatings, which can be applied onto flexible thin-film substances with the potential to be developed as a new technology solution. The International Space Station seen from Space Shuttle Discovery. Credit: NASA "Since the assembly and launch costs of OSRs is several tens of thousands of US dollars per square metre, even small improvements in weight reduction can make a significant change to the space industry." Supported by a two-year Horizon 2020 space technology project, the University of Southampton is a member of the META-REFLECTOR consortium, which also includes the Italian research centre Centro Ricerche Elettro-Ottiche (CREO), Danish nanoimprint developer NIL Technology and Thales Alenia Space. The work of the consortium is featured in ACS Photonics in two reports: 'VO2 Thermochromic Metamaterial-Based Smart Optical Solar Reflector' and 'Metasurface optical solar reflectors using AZO transparent conducting oxides for radiative cooling of spacecraft'. Dr. Kai Sun from the University of Southampton added: "All of the partners have actively worked together to ensure the design and fabrication are suitable for its transfer to mass-production. It is an exceptional research experience to transfer the cutting-edge research idea to a commercial product." The team are currently working on upscaling the prototypes to larger areas through processes developed by NIL Technology, while first tests of the metamaterials in space are being prepared. Dr. Sandro Mengali, from CREO who have supported the study, said: "Passive control of the thermal emissivity is important to preserve precious heat during start-up and eclipses and to maintain the temperature stability of the spacecraft. "Currently, thermal emissivity control requires bulky mechanical components such as louvers, which are extremely expensive and prone to failure, posing significant risk to missions. "The smart meta-OSR technology will offer a valuable new tool for thermal engineers of spacecraft, of particular importance for the lightweight segment of the satellite market." Explore further Image: Prepping the Parker Solar Probe for space More information: More information regarding the META-REFLECTOR consortium is available online: More information regarding the META-REFLECTOR consortium is available online: www.meta-reflector.eu/index.htm Kai Sun et al. VO2 Thermochromic Metamaterial-Based Smart Optical Solar Reflector, ACS Photonics (2018). DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.8b00119 Kai Sun et al. Metasurface Optical Solar Reflectors Using AZO Transparent Conducting Oxides for Radiative Cooling of Spacecraft, ACS Photonics (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.7b00991 Journal information: ACS Photonics Although the parallels between my life and that of J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy, seem flat-out astonishing, its actually the differences that are more interesting. Vance and I both started out with grandparents who migrated from southeastern Kentucky to the Dayton, Ohio area, and we ultimately ended up in pretty much the same place: Yale Law School for him, Harvard Law for me. But our experiences of that journey were very, very different. As Ive mentioned, Vances Papaw and Mamaw left Kentucky not because they wanted to but, at least in part, because they had to. My grandparents left Kentucky solely because they were looking for a better life. Vances grandparents took their hillbilly culture with them intact and, when they discovered that it didnt work in middle-class Ohio, they proudly struck with what they knew. My grandparents, by contrast, were determined to be successful in Ohio, almost no matter what it took. They werent prepared to change their fundamental characterswhich were, in any event, wholly admirable (as was true of Vances grandparents)but everything else was fair game. Still, even with all the steadfastness in the world, making a successful leap from Barbourville, Kentucky to Springfield, Ohio wasnt easy. While Vances grandparents and mine looked, from a distance, like any other white, middle-class couple in Ohio, up close the differences were staggeringand very difficult to eradicate. Consider the problem of the spoken language. When I was a kidreally, right up to my mid-teensI spent a lot of time with my grandparents. My mother had me when she was 19, and three more kids came along very quicklyfour of us in five and a half years. Every morning when my mother got out of bed the first thing on her mind was how to get rid of her oldest Energizer Bunny so that she wouldnt go stark raving mad. Soon enough, here would come Granddad in his pickup truck and off we would go. Living with Granddad and Grandma was like learning a different language. Although they had been in Ohio for 20 years by the time I came along, they still spoke with a Kentucky twang that would curl your toes. And they used, in almost every sentence, words and phrases that hadnt been heard in polite, middle class society for a century or more. If I asked Grandma, Wheres Granddad? shed jerk her head toward the back yard and say, Es out yonder. Out yonder? Who talks like that? To my grandparents, Thanksgiving wasnt a holiday that happened very late in the year. It was a holiday that happened way down in the fall. In the early 1950s the Winston cigarette brand launched an advertising slogan that went, Winston tastes goodlike a cigarette should. My grandparents version was, Winston tastes goodlike a cigarette had oughta. Around the house Grandma and Granddad never shut up. They were both strong personalities and, while they were devoted to each other, they bickered constantly, often from several rooms apart. But once out in public they went strangely silent. The reason for this, of course, was that as soon as they opened their mouths they identified themselves as Kentucky hillbillies. Most Americans have never heard anyone speaking the true, 100-octane Appalachian dialect. The versions of it we hear in the movies (Deliverance) or on television (Beverly Hillbillies) have been dumbed way down so we can understand it. But the real McCoy is a whole other enchilada. Heres an illustration. When I was about 15, I attended another of our endless series of family reunions in Barbourville, Kentucky with my grandparents. Also attending was a girl named Emmalou, who turned out to be my third cousin. Far more important, Emmalou was drop-dead gorgeous. (She was a dead ringer for Annette Funicello, every boys favorite Mouseketeer.) Emmalou had an older sister, Bettylou, whod been a finalist in the Miss Kentucky pageant a few years earlier. That is, Bettylou had been a finalist until they found out she wasnt a miss. At the age of 18, Bettylou had been married and divorcedtwice. The early-marrying proclivities of Emmalous family caused my grandmother to keep a very sharp eye on me, much to my annoyance. Fortunately for me, though, the grandmother hasnt been born who could keep a 15-year-old boy away from a girl like Emmalou. In no time at all Id made my escape and had strolled up to where Emmalou was standing talking with her friends. When she heard me coming, Emmalou turned, smiled at me, and said Well, what the hell did she say? Since I was staring at her blankly, Emmalou repeated herself, but I was none the wiser. Eventually, concluding that she was speaking to a deaf-mute, Emmalou rolled her eyes and walked off with her friends, leaving me in the lurch. I found out laterfrom my cousin, Alvinthat Emmalou had merely asked if I was going to go swimming with her and her friends. (And since she meant skinny-dipping, my response would have been, Is the Pope Catholic?) Alas, the outlandish noises that came out of Emmalous mouth were completely unintelligible, and can only be (but poorly) reproduced like this: Isyallgwinswmminwitweens? It was one of the saddest days of my young life, separated from that spectacular girl by, as they say, a common language. Next week well take a look at another hurdle standing between recent immigrants from southeastern Kentucky and the Promised Land of middle-class Ohio. Next up: On Hillbilly Elegy, Part VI Pipitone Group, an ad agency in Pittsburghs Observatory Hill neighborhood, counts Vitro Architectural Glass as one of its largest clients. For the Cheswick-based company, which purchased PPG Flat Glass in 2016, Pipitone manages advertising and web strategy. Yet when Vitro wants to develop and implement a public relations initiative, it brings to the table another Pittsburgh agency, Push 7, for that piece of the plan. Its an arrangement that doesnt ruffle Scott Pipitone, founder, president and CEO for his shop. Full-service agencies still exist, but sometimes a client integrates a team, Pipitone says. Some customers will silo us or silo other companies with whom they have good relationships, Thats the sort of teamworkvoluntary or otherwisethat characterizes the regional ad agency scene today. Collaborative work is more common than it used to be. Full-service agencies may outsource work to specialists, particularly in the digital planning and buying discipline, and even agencies of record must share client business with other shops. In this dynamic new world, agencies find themselves competing for business one day, collaborating with their erstwhile competitors the next. For all that, the agency sector here is robust, versatile and, as far as employees are concerned, perhaps more stable than it used to be. Putting together a dream team In the days when Fortune 500 companies dominated Pittsburghs economy, the ad agency scene reflected that. The leading players were huge and powerful. At its peak, for example, Ketchum employed a reported 1,100 people and enjoyed annual billings exceeding $1 billion. The big boys demanded, and usually got, agency of record status that assured they would get every nickel of their clients communications business. Moreover, they often were remunerated on a retainer-plus basis that is, clients would pay thousands per month just to assure their agencies availability, then pay again for any actual work done. It was a cushy time for ad agencies, yet there was a downside: if an agency lost a big account, it typically fired the staff who had serviced that client. Those junior ad men and women often became agency gypsies, following their accounts wherever they might land. But the post-industrial economy in the region is dramatically different, featuring more, smaller entities that emphasize speed, flexibility, efficiency and controlled costs. The ad agency sector has morphed to again reflect the economic landscape. Two who noticed the emerging trends were Bill Garrison and Dave Hughes, each a mega-agency veteran. More and more clients were moving away from the agency of record model, Garrison recalls. They wanted to get the best ideas, no matter where they came from. Technology had a big impact on it. You could service a client, deliver ideas and work, through technology. You didnt need to throw teams of people at a client. We were able to work with clients who got that. In 2003, with the law firm Reed Smith as its anchor client, the duo founded Garrison Hughes, a Downtown agency that developed a template for partnering with larger agencies. In our first five years, I would say we worked with 23 of the top 25 ad agencies in town, says Garrison, whose shop has grown to 53 employees. We were so small we werent really a threat to them. It was good for all parties. Yet another force reshaping the sector was the explosion of digital media and the ever-growing number of buying opportunities they present. In an earlier era, media buyers had only a handful of channels to considerprint, broadcast, billboards, direct mail and eventually cable. A daring buyer might try something really exotic, bus shelter benches, perhaps. Contrast that with todays digital line-up: websites, social media, search engine optimization, search engine marketing. Add research to help plan digital buys and analytics to help measure their impact and you have an area of advertising that cries out for specialists. Thats the way Wendy Ann Clayton saw it. A veteran of two stints at Ketchum, Clayton in 2004 launched Splash Media to focus on media research, planning and buying. Splash is a three-person shop in Whitehall thats been able to thrive by helping clients navigate the tricky digital waters. The biggest item in a companys marketing budget typically is media, Clayton notes. Clients started to scrutinize that. They had to get smarter about their dollars. To be sure, Pittsburgh still boasts a healthy share of full-service agencies. Jeff Lizik, president and CEO of the Downtown agency Z Brand Group with 13 employees, finds that can be a strength to pitch to prospects. Large national agencies have gone by the wayside, Lizik says, but theres still something to be said for having everything under one roof. Clients appreciate having one point of contact. Its easier to have everything consolidated. Alan Boarts, founder, CEO and chief creative director of A to Z Communications, a 10-person shop Downtown, has observed much the same phenomenon. If were working on a print campaign, they like that it can be transitioned to a broadcast or web campaign without having to leave our shop, Boarts says. Yet even A to Z finds itself outsourcing work in the digital area. If we had one or two programmers in house, Id be overloaded. I can outsource and keep moving at a better pace. Still, even full-service shops find themselves at times sharing clients, if not partnering outright. In fact, Ned Show, CEO of Chemistry, a full-service agency of 90 people in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, considers it his duty to bring on outsource partners when the situation calls for it. About 20 percent of the time, clients may be trying to reach targeted, nuanced audiences, Show says. We might look throughout the country to find a niche marketer who understands that market very well. That can be a more efficient way for us to use a clients money than to spend six months to get up to speed. We try to be agnostic about the tactic and spend the clients money in the way that returns the greatest value. Thats the way you build trust with clients. Some full-service agencies develop their own specialties to make themselves more attractive as outsource partners. Thats the case at 321Blink, a 26-person shop in Aspinwall, which has built a particularly robust video production capability. Says Tim McLaughlin, one of the agencys two founders and presidents (along with Tripp Clarke): Sometimes an agency will call us and say, We saw this cool thing you guys did. Can you do that for our client? The trust level is at an all-time high. That sounds kind of corny, but we recognize we cant have every piece of business in town. Were not threatened by others, and we love working with them. We cant offer the creative services that some of the bigger agencies can, but they cant offer the production services that we can. Its worked out nicely, but you wouldnt have seen it four or five years ago. Brunner, one of the regions larger agencies with 155 employees in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, has developed an unusual specialty, as Partner/President Scott Morgan explains: In the mid-nineties, we invested in digital in a big way, even though websites then were mostly brochure ware. We bought an interactive firm we were dealing with and evolved that into an Innovation Lab. Weve created technology products there, such as a trading platform for major financial institutions. Its very different from what we did 20 or 25 years ago. Still other agencies focus on certain industries or marketsverticals, as theyre known in the biz. Bynums Marketing & Communications, Inc. is a small Downtown shop that has succeeded for about 30 years by serving niche markets and sticking to them. We specialize in reaching out to the minority communitythat goes beyond technology, says agency President Russell L. Bynum. There has to be a thought process that isnt based on numbers and analytics. You know the community youre trying to reach because youre part of it. Technology wont tell you that. Pipitone Group and its 35 employees also emphasize a verticalarchitectural building productswhich, according to Scott Pipitone, accounts for more than 35 percent of company revenue. We have about eight customers in that space, and we have a full-blown strategy of growing in that space. We have a strategic director of architectural building products, and weve developed good contacts with editors at the leading magazines in the industry. Once you get customers in that space, theyre very loyal. Some have been with us for a decade. Whether they consider themselves full service or specialists, agencies can expect their clients to work with multiple providers. Says Clayton: Its a new way to put together a dream team. Fewer large, predictable revenue sources One aspect of the contemporary agency landscape that may not be quite as dreamy is compensation. As clients divvy up business among multiple agencies, those accounts arent the large, predictable revenue sources they once were. Theyre not committing to an agency of record as much as they used to, Bynum confirms. Clients arent making five-to six-year commitments. With the number of retainer-based clients on the wane, agencies willingly pursue smaller accounts, even chunks of accounts, to stay busy. We used to have five or six big accounts that were our anchors, CEO Boarts says. Now, we probably have one or two of those but 10 or 15 smaller accounts to keep everything healthy. Oddly enough, clients may be more receptive to retainers when theyre engaging agencies for digital media, shape-shifting though those media may be. Digital makes retainers a lot easier, Lizik says. We can put together a plan for a year based on what data are telling us rather than a campaign someone wants to throw out there. To help in the area of compensation, Brunner pioneered an incentive system based on metrics the agency developed in its Innovation Lab. We focus on results and measure and track them through data analytics, Morgan says. We can tell our clients where theyre being effective and where not. If we move the business needle, we get a performance bonus. We have that with about 25 percent of clients. However much agencies may mourn the decline of the agency of record model, the workforce is more stable in the new configuration. Agencies need to be more versatile, so theyre hiring, training and retaining staff who can contribute across a number of specialties and verticals. The phenomenon of agency gypsies has all but vanished. We all wear multiple hats, Boarts says, so if we lose an account or it goes quiet, I dont have to lay people off. They can do other things for me. Chemistrys Show agrees: Were able to be more invested in young people and have them stay on board. Even if we dont have anything going on in their vertical, we have them pitch in on something else. They enjoy it. Theyre learning more about the business and making themselves more marketable. Creativity is back Its fair to say that the agency sector locally has been reshaped, and it may not gel into permanent alignment anytime soon, thanks to the dizzying digital phenomenon. Keeping up to date on digital marketing is critical, ZBrands Lizik says. I spend four or five hours each Saturday catching up with industry blogs so that I can pick up on trends before they become trends. Speed is the watchword in digital, and agencies will be pressed to keep up. The biggest challenge will continue to be creating content that plays across all the platforms, observes 321Blinks McLaughlin. In todays digital world, speed trumps perfection. You have to look good and be good, but now that there are deadlines every minute, you have to be nimble and responsive. I see that trend continuing. Moreover, digital has pretty much overpowered the quaint notion of flightsa three-month campaign, say, followed by a similar quiet period. Thanks to digital, agencies must harvest impressions on all platforms, all the time. Interrupted advertising is gone and never coming back, says Show. Younger people wont allow you to interrupt what youre doing with their messages. You have to integrate the brand into what they want to see and do. You need a feel for that culture. The flighting of medianot many folks live in that world today. Yet in this quicksilver new environment, Pittsburghs ad agencies are well positioned to thrive because ideastheir most admired productare more critical than ever. Its content that can lift an ad up from the clutter. Apologies to Marshall McLuhan, but the medium might not be the message after all. The message still might be the message. In the beginning [of digital], as long as you were on the Internet with a banner ad and a Facebook page, you were good, Garrison says. Now, its not just about being there. Creativity is back. The best idea wins. Pittsburghs ad agencies: Best of show The regions ad agencies long have been known for the originality and boldness of their work, a reputation that has helped them build an impressive roster of regional and national clients. Over the years, the sector has changed dramatically. Local shops have gone smaller and nimbler, even as theyre forced by cost-conscious clients to share business with other agencies. The one constant has been first-rate creative output. Youll get a taste of that creativity in the sampler below. The work spans traditional and digital advertising, brand building, public relations, collateral material, even street performances. Enjoy this Best of Show from Pittsburghs agencies. 321Blink Video production; graphic design; web design; media strategy and buying; digital marketing and social media; marketing communications consulting. 26 employees. Tim McLaughlin, president, Tripp Clarke, president. Campaign/Project: During the summer of 2017, Herrington & Company, an interactive consultant, reached out to 321Blink for video production support for their long-time client, Songer Services, an industrial contractor based in Washington, Pa. Songer was performing a delicate vent stack demolition project at the National Historic Landmark Carrie Furnace in Braddock and decided a video documentary was the perfect storytelling device to share Songers 40-year connection with Western Pennsylvania and Big Steel. Herrington drove the creative vision and turned to 321s diverse production resources to help make that vision a reality. Over the course of two months, 321 shot industrial drone footage, on-site interviews, documentary footage, still photography and, most notably, time-lapse footage of the entire demolition using GoPro cameras that had to be managed daily during construction, rain or shine. The agencies collaborated on editorial supervision, voice casting, graphic development, music selectionall the special seasoning a unique video needs to stand out. The result: a compelling long-form and teaser video for the Songer project that Herrington deployed and marketed successfully as a dynamic landing page and storytelling device for an industrial contractor on the rise. A to Z Communications A to Z is a full-service branding, marketing and advertising agency that molds strategy, design and digital capabilities. The agencys mix of integrated marketing expertise includes advertising, PR and online campaigns, assuring continuity across all media. 10 employees. Alan Boarts, CEO, founder and chief creative director. Campaign/Project: After a six-month media blitz to promote the live-stream announcement of the Steelers-wrapped F-150 winner, Neighborhood Ford Store needed a new agency to pick up the ball. With just three weeks until show time, A to Z teamed up with the 81-dealer association to execute the highly anticipated New Years Eve event. A to Z choreographed and scripted the event logistics at Heinz Field, hired a pro camera crew and shot B roll to spice up the live feed. A to Z secured key film footage from Ford in Detroit, branded graphics from their national agency of record, plus worked with the Steelers organization to display Fords logo on the stadium scoreboard. Tackling frigid temps at Heinz Field, A to Z live-streamed the Facebook event to more than 1,200 viewers. In less than a week, the stats had almost doubled. Apple Box Studios Apple Box is a full-service agency specializing in integrated marketing solutions that include branding, traditional and digital campaigns, website design, social media and video production. 14 employees. Michael Wertz, CEO. Campaign/Project: Gateway Rehab is at the epicenter of our regions fight against substance abuse and the opiate epidemic. It is recognized as an Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence by the state and is currently expanding services into Westmoreland County and eastern Ohio. To define and clearly communicate Gateway Rehabs new brand image as a leading addiction recovery program, Apple Box was tasked with creating a high-impact campaign on a limited budget. Under the tagline Bring yourself to life, the campaign speaks to the courage of recovery with life-affirming images and copy. Audiences are encouraged to bring their true selves to life by conquering their dependencies and replacing them with self-awareness, self-determination and self-esteem. Blender, Inc. Blender, Inc. is an integrated marketing agency with a creative boutique at its core. A women-owned business, Blender was founded 13 years ago by veteran creative directors determined to bring big-agency ideas to clients with smaller budgets. Seven employees. Kris Knieriem, president. Campaign/Project: A small Croatian Catholic church high above Millvale hosts one of the regions hidden treasuresmurals. Painted by immigrant artist Maxo Vanka in two sessions in 1939 and 1942, the murals tell the story of immigration, social justice, war and religion. The murals are crumbling off the walls due to age and weather, so the Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka engaged Blender to alert the community to the plight of the murals and create a rallying cry that would unite supporters. In response, Blender developed the Save Maxo Vanka Campaign. Launched earlier this year, the multifaceted initiative includes boulevard banners along Millvales streets as well as t-shirts and pint glasses emblazoned with Maxo Vanka logos. All these elements have combined to build momentum for preservation of a Pittsburgh treasure for the next generation. Brunner Brand management advertising; cross-channel digital performance marketing; social media and content marketing; emerging technology and innovation; digital + content activation; data analytics; strategy + insights; public relations. 150 employees in Pittsburgh. Michael Brunner, CEO. Campaign/Project: In the construction industry, where half the labor force left following the housing crash and the other half is nearing retirement age, 84 Lumber was finding it nearly impossible to staff its 250 stores and meet customer demand, especially with their planned goal of expanding in the West. To elevate the companys recognition, Brunner created a 90-second commercial for Super Bowl LI that focused on a journey of sacrifice and commitment through the lens of an issue on everyones front burner: immigration. The Journey anchored an integrated campaign. Other elements included: the full story of The Journey as a 5:45 online film; sponsorship of a Super Bowl green room; broadcast partnerships with ESPN, FOX and FOX Deportes; pre- and post-game public relations efforts; a dedicated microsite; digital display ads; social media, community management and targeted paid ads; comprehensive SEO/SEM campaigns. Ongoing recruitment messaging in the months after the Super Bowl leveraged a similar tonality as part of the I Am 84 Material campaign to keep the conversation going. The campaign produced greater than 14,000 media placements that were shared more than 147,000 times, more than 17 million cumulative video views and the No. 1 trending video on YouTube. Perhaps most importantly, 84 Lumber has since received more than 92,000 applications, and more than 135,000 people have opted into the 84 Lumber talent network. Bynums Marketing & Communications, Inc. Bynums provides marketing, advertising and public relations services to a broad variety of clients, with particular strength among business professionals; families; children and youth; churches/faith-based organizations; senior citizens; urban communities; ethno-centric markets; low-to moderate-income residents; affluent individuals. 3-10 employees. Russell L. Bynum, President. Campaign/Project: Bynums created a report for the Pittsburgh Public Schools to highlight the progress of the annual Take a Father to School initiative. Services included project coordination, copyediting, graphic design and finished art. Chemistry Chemistry is a full-service agency offering advertising, branding, digital, social media and mobile marketing services. 94 employees. Ned Show, CEO. Campaign/Project: On a destination island loaded with amazing hotel properties, how do you stand out and create consumer engagement without breaking the bank? For one of those properties, Aruba Marriott Resort, Chemistry created an inspirational social campaign around the universal language of travel. The result is a campaign that feels more like organic content than paid advertising. Thanks to the campaign, engagement for the resort through Facebook and Instagram is up 150 percent, and the number of people sharing the content is 12 times higher than seen in previous campaigns. Garrison Hughes Garrison Hughes is a full-service agency offering media, creative, research and interactive capabilities. 53 employees. Bill Garrison, partner; Dave Hughes, partner. Campaign/project: A major study conducted by The Heinz Endowments revealed that misperceptions about veterans were affecting their ability to find employment and other opportunities. That drove Garrison Hughes to develop a compelling campaign that brought this issue to the forefront and shed a positive light on returning soldiers. Through interviews and video testimonials with local veterans, the agency learned that veterans dont want to be thanked for their service. Rather, they want to be treated like everyone else and judged on their skills and job performance. Based on these findings, Garrison Hughes launched a two-week teaser campaign to grab the attention of business executives and employers, followed up with ways to help veterans. Also included was a website featuring stories and stats that supported the premise. The campaign received strong print media coverage and caught fire on social media, eliciting a call from The American Legion to see this campaign go national. MARC USA Full-service marketing strategy and communications, including: research/brand strategy; customer journey mapping; digital experience; creative; production; media planning/buying; public relations; social/influencer marketing; content marketing; multicultural marketing; business innovation consulting. 270 employees. Michele Fabrizi, president & CEO. Campaign/project: MARC USA launched the Know No movement to build awareness and understanding of sexual consentespecially on campuseswith the goal of changing behavior and fostering support for victims. Created well before the current intense national dialogue about sexual assaults and harassment, the Know No movement includes a video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oaIxolB4Dg&feature=youtu.be), experiential public events, website (www.knowno.us), online resource kit and social media. The campaign portrays seemingly unconscious young men and women on a bed or couch in highly public locations with a poster saying If I cant say yes, I cant say no. MARC videoed the street events to create shareable content for social media. The campaign has resonated widely. Lady Gaga found the Know No video so compelling that she donated the use of her song Til It Happens to You as the soundtrack. Know No has been adopted as a key educational tool on campuses across the country and recognized for effectiveness by leading public health professionals. The video was accepted by the Upworthy media platform and has been viewed more than 1 million times while Instagram and Twitter posts of campus events have been shared more than 100,000 times. In addition, the Black Womens Health Imperative forged a formal partnership to bring Know No to the campuses served by the organizations My Sisters Keeper program. Splash Media Media planning and buying in all facets of media, from traditional to digital; media research; media analysis; media strategy; trafficking; media reconciliation and billing; competitive research; consultation. Three employees. Wendy Ann Clayton, owner & president. Campaign/project: Love Your Library was a first-of-its-kind countywide campaign developed by the Allegheny County Library Association (ACLA) and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to encourage investment in local libraries. Donations were eligible for a match from the Jack Buncher Foundation, with up to $125,000 in matching funds to be split among ACLA member libraries. For the 2017 campaign, Splash planned a media buy that featured these percentage allocations: radio41; print10; digital27; out of home17; collateral5. The campaign raised nearly $100,000 more than the previous years total. The number of donors increased by 25 percent, the number of new donors by 29 percent. West Media Group West has considerable experience in political campaigns. By its count, the agency has managed 183 such campaigns and won 135 of them, or 73.8 percent. Five employees. Jim Wasylik, president. Campaign/project: Because of the controversy surrounding gun ownership and use, the development and implementation of a campaign for A&S Indoor Pistol Range of Youngwood brought a number of challenges, including working within the strong anti-gun positions of Google and Facebook. Wests creative strategy was to utilize young, attractive (but not overly so) females pointing a gun at you in photographic images proportionately large relative to the end products dimensions. The goals were to make audiences identify with the models and understand A&S offers classes and/or personal instruction in safe gun handling. For the campaign, West used billboards; digital display advertising and Facebook ads; newspapers (both print and online); radio; contests to build an email database, and internal eblasts. Thanks to the success of the campaign, A&S classes are booked months in advance, and the company has launched construction of new classroom space to meet increased demand. Z Brand Group For its clients, Z Brand Group uses a mix of traditional and digital media to engage potential customers and develop brands. 13 employees. Jeff Lizik, CEO. Campaign/project: GNC International engaged Z Brand to find ways to improve the companys social media strategy and presence with their international partners, who were struggling to identify content that they were authorized to share on social media. There was also a lack of consistency in how international partners were representing the GNC brand on social media. Z Brands solution started with the documentation of a detailed social media guidelines handbook for distribution to GNCs international partners. The guidelines cover topics such as profile name standards, brand voice and personality, key brand messages, social channel strategies and general social media best practices. Z Brand and GNC International also developed a bi-monthly system for distributing original contentincluding custom-made social media graphics and poststo GNCs international partners. With these innovations, GNCs brand is now better represented internationally, and GNCs international partners are growing their social media results. Resolute Forest Products Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates in the forest products industry in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Market Pulp, Tissue, Wood Products, and Paper. The Market Pulp segment offers virgin and recycled bleached kraft pulp, which is used to make a range of consumer products, including tissue, packaging, specialty paper products, diapers, and other absorbent products. The Tissue segment provides various tissue products, such as recycled and virgin paper products for the away-from-home and retail markets; and sells parent rolls. The Wood Products segment produces construction-grade and spruce-pine-fir lumber products, wood chips, bed frame components, finger joints, and furring strips for pulp and paper mills, as well as I-joists for the construction industry. The Paper segment offers newsprint to newspaper publishers, as well as to commercial printers for a range of uses comprising inserts and flyers. This segment also provides various uncoated mechanical papers, including supercalendered and white papers, as well as uncoated freesheet papers to commercial printers, direct mailers, publishers, catalogers, and retailers. Its specialty papers are used in books, retail inserts, direct mail, coupons, magazines, catalogs, bags, and other commercial printing applications. This segment sells specialty papers to commercial printers, direct mailers, publishers, catalogers, and retailers. The company also produces electricity at six cogeneration facilities and seven hydroelectric dams. Resolute Forest Products Inc. is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Read More Grafton Group plc engages in the distribution, retailing, and manufacturing businesses in Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Its Distribution segment distributes building and plumbing materials to professional trades people engaged in residential repair, maintenance, and improvement projects, as well as in residential and other new build construction. This segment operates 487 branches primarily under the Selco, Buildbase, and Leyland SDM brands in the South East, Midlands, and North of England; the Chadwicks brand in the Republic of Ireland; and the MacBlair brand in Northern Ireland; and the Isero, Polvo, and Gunters en Meuser brands in the Netherlands. The company's Retailing segment engages in DIY retailing and home improvement business that supplies a range of products, including paints, lighting products, homestyle products, housewares, bathroom products, and kitchens, as well as gardening and Christmas products. This segment operates 35 stores primarily under the Woodie's brand. Its Manufacturing segment manufactures silo-based dry mortar for use in new build residential and commercial construction projects in England and Scotland; plastic pipe systems in Dublin; and wooden staircase in the United Kingdom. Grafton Group plc was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Read More KAZ Minerals PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing copper and other metals primarily in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. It operates through Bozshakol, Aktogay, East Region and Bozymchak, and Mining Projects segments. The company operates the Aktogay and Bozshakol open pit copper mines in the east region and Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan; three underground mines in the east region of Kazakhstan; and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. It also develops greenfield metal deposits; operates Koksay deposit in Kazakhstan, and the Baimskaya licence area in the Chukotka region of Russia; and produces and sells various by-products, such as gold, silver, molybdenum, and zinc. In addition, the company supplies and distributes heat, water, and electricity; and offers construction, project management, financing, management, sales and logistics, and repairs and maintenance services. The company was formerly known as Kazakhmys PLC and changed its name to KAZ Minerals PLC in October 2014. KAZ Minerals PLC was founded in 1930 and is based in London, the United Kingdom. Read More For the third time in the past two years, Lompoc voters will be tasked with deciding the fate of a bond measure that could spur significant up Education Reporter Mathew Burciaga is a Santa Maria Times reporter who covers education, agriculture and public safety. Prior to joining the Times, Mathew ran a 114-year-old community newspaper in Wyoming. He owns more than 40 pairs of crazy socks from across the globe. Where can one find tastings from over 100 wineries, chefs serving farm-to-table fare and local live music all in a concentrated area? The Sa " " Matt Groening, creator of TV's "The Simpsons" and an acquaintance of lead scientist and program developer Joe Tash, designed a special commemorative patch for the experiment. It depicts Homer Simpson as an astronaut, riding an angry-looking sperm cell with bull horns and a nose ring. The Simpsons(TM) and 2018 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. When a SpaceX supply mission recently visited the International Space Station, its 5,800 pounds (2,631 kilograms) of cargo included equipment for studying thunderstorms from the vantage point of space and growing vegetables in orbit the sort of stuff that you'd expect astronauts to need for their research. But tucked in with those items was something more unusual containers with samples of frozen sperm from 12 anonymous human donors, obtained from a California sperm bank, along with six samples of sperm from breeding bulls. Those samples will be used in a planned experiment, Micro-11. Astronauts will thaw the sperm and add chemicals that trigger activation of movement and preparation for fusing with an egg. Then, they'll put the sperm under a microscope, so they can shoot video footage of the sperm swimming. In addition, they'll perform chemical tests. Meanwhile, back on Earth, other researchers will be performing the same tests on identical samples of sperm for comparison. Advertisement Capacitation is Key The experiment is designed to study sperm motility that is, the ability to move and swim in microgravity conditions, and how successful they are in triggering the physiological changes known as capacitation, which enables them to penetrate and fertilize eggs, according to this article from the NASA website. That information could help to answer the question of whether humans would be capable of reproducing if they settle in future colonies on the Moon or Mars, or if they venture on even longer journeys into the cosmos. "If you don't have healthy sperm, you've got real risk to multi-generational survival in space," explains Joe Tash, an emeritus professor in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Tash was the lead scientist in developing the experiment, and continues to be involved as a consultant. NASA has been conducting research on reproductive and developmental space biology since the 1990s, according to an email from researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, who are involved in the Micro-11 research. In one study published in the March 14, 1995 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, for example, female frogs aboard a space shuttle were induced to ovulate so that their eggs could be fertilized. The study demonstrated that gravity-induced rotation of the zygote, the cell formed by the fusing of a sperm and egg, wasn't necessary to develop a free-swimming tadpole with a normal body. Micro-11 marks the first time that human sperm that is, aside from the ones inside male astronauts' bodies have been launched into space, though there have been previous research efforts involving animal sperm. Back in the 1980s, German researchers launched bull semen into space on a suborbital rocket that briefly subjected them to a minute and a half of weightlessness, which was recorded on video, Tash says. Then, in 1997, Tash and colleagues sent samples of sea urchin sperm on two space shuttle missions. In those two experiments, it wasn't possible to shoot video under a microscope, so instead they looked at signal transduction, the molecular mechanism within the sperm cell that tells it when to start wriggling its tail. The results of the German study and Tash's 1997 research both found that the sperm actually swam faster in microgravity than they do back on Earth. But in one of Tash's experiments, he detected what may be a big hindrance to procreating in space. When sea urchin sperm were exposed to chemical compounds called peptides that would be released by eggs, the signaling that triggers capacitation an essential part of reproduction occurred much more slowly. The Micro-11 experiment will gather data on the effect of microgravity on swimming and capacitation in separate trials, according to Tash. Advertisement Radiation Exposure Is a Problem But microgravity isn't the only factor that could influence reproduction in space. Outside of the Van Allen Belts that shield the Earth from high-energy particles from space, radiation exposure could create serious problems. A study published in the May 20, 2017 issue of Reproduction found that exposure to charged particles of the sort found in space damaged the ovaries of female mice. "Our research found that the finite ovarian follicle reserve is depleted by exposure to charged oxygen or iron particles, which are components of galactic cosmic rays," the study's corresponding author, Ulrike Luderer, writes in an email. She is a professor of Medicine, Developmental and Cell Biology, and Public Health at the University of California, Irvine. "This damage is irreversible and will result in early onset of ovarian failure (premature menopause)." Additionally, Luderer said human and animal studies provide evidence that exposure to gamma radiation and charged iron particles decreases sperm motility. But even if it's possible to conceive in space, pregnancy and childbirth could be problematic. Kris Lehnhardt, a senior faculty member at the Baylor College of Medicine's Center for Space Medicine, says in an email that it's not known how well an embryo would develop in the environment of space, or whether natural birth would be possible. Now, That's Interesting According to NASA, in total, 53 different women, including astronauts, cosmonauts, payload specialists and foreign nationals have flown in space. The European police have shut down webstresser.org, the worlds biggest DDoS-for-hire service, that allowed crooks to launch over 4 million attacks. An international operation dubbed conducted by the European law enforcement agencies led by the UKs National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Dutch Police, with the help of Europol, has taken down the worlds biggest DDoS-for-hire service. The operation dubbed Power Off allowed to shut down the biggest DDoS-for-hire service (webstresser.org) and arrest its administrators, according to the investigators the platform was involved in over 4 million attacks and arrested its administrators. The police arrested 6 members of the crime group behind the webstresser.org website in Scotland, Croatia, Canada, and Serbia on Tuesday. The Europol confirmed that Webstresser.org had 136,000 registered users and was used to target online services from banks, government institutions, police forces and the gaming world. The administrators of the DDoS marketplace webstresser.org were arrested on 24 April 2018 as a result of Operation Power Off, a complex investigation led by the Dutch Police and the UKs National Crime Agency with the support of Europol and a dozen law enforcement agencies from around the world. reads the press release published by the Europol. Webstresser.org was considered the worlds biggest marketplace to hire Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) services, with over 136 000 registered users and 4 million attacks measured by April 2018. DDoS-for-hire service allows criminals without specific technical skills to launch powerful cyber attacks by renting their service. Stressed websites make powerful weapons in the hands of cybercriminals, said Jaap van Oss, Dutch chairman of the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce. International law enforcement will not tolerate these illegal services and will continue to pursue its admins and users, The service was shuttered and the police seized the hacking platform, the Europol announced further measures were also taken against the top users in the above four countries, as well as in Italy, Australia, Hong Kong and Spain. Registered user on Webstresser.org could access the DDoS-for-hire service an entry fee of 15 per month. We have a trend where the sophistication of certain professional hackers to provide resources is allowing individuals and not just experienced ones to conduct DDoS attacks and other kind of malicious activities online, said Steven Wilson, Head of Europols European Cybercrime Centre (EC3). Its a growing problem, and one we take very seriously. Criminals are very good at collaborating, victimising millions of users in a moment form anywhere in the world. We need to collaborate as good as them with our international partners to turn the table on these criminals and shut down their malicious cyberattacks. Abusing legitimate booter services or using a DDoS-for-hire service is a crime, the Europol remarked that penalties can be severe. DDoS attacks are illegal. Many IT enthusiasts get involved in seemingly low-level fringe cybercrime activities, unaware of the consequences that such crimes carry. The penalties can be severe: if you conduct a DDoS attack, or make, supply or obtain stresser or booter services, you could receive a prison sentence, a fine or both. concluded the Europol. Pierluigi Paganini (Security Affairs DDoS-for-hire service, cybercrime) Share this... Linkedin Share this: Twitter Print LinkedIn Facebook More Tumblr Pocket Share On If youve ever seen young kids working at food stalls or employed to distribute flyers, you might wonder about labour laws in Singapore and whether there is a legal age for employment. Here is a concise summary of the regulations regarding the employment of children and young persons in Singapore. Read Also: Fresh Graduates Guide To Starting Work In Singapore Employment Of Children And Young Persons The Employment Act forms the foundation of labour law in Singapore, with the Ministry of Manpower charged with the duty to enforce it. In particular, Part 7 of the Employment Act (Restriction on the employment of children and young persons) and Employment (Children and Young Persons) Regulations contain additional provisions on hiring minors. Depending on the age of the employee, different kinds of work is generally permitted: As you can see, children below the age of 13 are not legally allowed to work, while those 16 and above can be hired as an regular adult worker. For those between the ages of 13 to under 16, their employment is contingent on employers fulfilling additional conditions, outlined in the next section. Read Also: In The Market For A Job? Here Are 4 Free Tools That Will Give You An Edge Additional Conditions For Employment Of Children And Young Persons # 1 Notifying the Ministry of Manpower For employment of children or young persons in industrial environments, employers must inform the Commissioner of Labour within 30 days of employment and submit a medical certificate to certify fitness for work. # 2 Cap on Working Hours Per Day Children under the age of 15 who are still schooling can only work up to 6 hours each day. Young persons below the age of 16 who are still schooling can only work up to 7 hours each day. The exception is when the young person is working at MOE or ITE-approved internships or apprenticeships under proper supervision. # 3 Conditions on Manual Labour If you employ children or young persons below the age of 16 to perform manual labour, they would be classified as workmen. They cannot work at night between the hours of 11pm to 6am. They are also not allowed to work on their rest days without permission from the Commissioner for Labour. Story continues In addition to the cap on working hours per day (See point # 2), children must be given a 30-minute break every 3 hours of work, while young persons must be given a 30-minute break every 4 hours of work. # 4 Conditions on Work Environment In general, while children and young persons are allowed to work in industrial settings (such as in construction, manufacturing or transportation), they are not allowed to work in hazardous environments, work on board a vessel, or work underground. They are also not supposed to service or operate moving machinery. Read Also: Looking For A Job? Here Are 4 Mistakes You Cannot Afford To Make At Your Next Job Interview As Singapores pioneer generation would attest, working at a young age fosters an independent spirit and forges a strong character. Perhaps during their time, our grandparents were already working at an age that is now allowed now under current labour laws. Over time, laws were enacted to ensure children and young persons are protected and for them to have adequate time for their studies. After all, work is a lifelong endeavour, and there is no shortage of productive, working years ahead for the precious youths! The post Can Children And Teenagers Work Legally In Singapore? appeared first on DollarsAndSense.sg. A Colombian former right-wing paramilitary accused of heading one of the country's largest drug cartels was formally charged Tuesday in New York after his extradition one day prior. Daniel Rendon Herrera, known as "Don Mario," appeared in federal court in Brooklyn where he was charged with leading a criminal enterprise -- one of the most powerful and feared drugs cartels in the country, known as the Gulf Clan. Donning sportswear and black-rimmed glasses, the 54-year-old -- a former leader of Colombia's "united self-defense forces," the right-wing paramilitary groups that formed to fight Marxist rebels -- pleaded not guilty during his appearance before Judge Viktor Pohorelsky. According to prosecutors his organization "imported tons of cocaine into the United States and employed hit men who carried out acts of violence across North and South America." Between 2013 and 2014 the Gulf Clan was linked to multi-ton cocaine shipments and "coordinated the production, purchase and transfer of shipments of cocaine, as well as the receipt of shipments of cocaine in Mexico and Central America," prosecutors said. The organization also imposed a "tax" on other drug traffickers operating in territories it ruled over. Rendon was captured in a jungle raid in 2009 but the Supreme Court initially ruled that he could not be extradited until he had taken part in the country's reparations process, which provides a degree of amnesty for former fighters who testify about crimes committed during the country's half-century of civil war. The self-defense groups had been formed in the 1990s to fight the Marxist guerillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and were disbanded in 2006 during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe. The FARC signed a final peace deal with the Colombian government in 2016, but the country remains the world's leading supplier of cocaine, much of which is smuggled to the United States, the world's leading consumer of the drug. The Canadian man accused of killing 10 people when he drove a rental van onto a busy Toronto street praised an "Incel Rebellion" in his apparent final social media post just prior to the massacre. So what does incel mean? Alek Minassian, 25, has been charged with 10 counts of murder over Monday's incident, in which police say most of the victims were women. Here are a few facts about incels and what they stand for: - What does 'Incel' mean? - A Canadian woman reportedly coined the term "involuntary celibates" when she launched a website more than 20 years ago to offer support to people struggling to find partners. But since then, the 40-something woman, who asked to be identified only as Alana, said she had been saddened to see the phrase -- shortened to "incel" -- coopted by online trolls and misogynists. It now generally refers to men who feel unable to enter into sexual relationships -- and they generally blame women. "It was meant to be a helpful, supportive movement," she told The Globe and Mail newspaper, explaining the term was meant to include "people of all genders who find themselves celibate or lonely and not dating." "It was a shock to discover that there was someone whose particular reason for violence was that they were lonely and celibate," she added. - Online forums - Incels have taken to internet message boards and forums to vent their frustrations and anger. Sexist, racist and homophobic comments are apparently common. Anti-feminist screeds are also frequent. Lead investigator Detective Sergeant Graham Gibson on Tuesday revealed Minassian's 11th-hour Facebook post, which referred to 4chan, an online bulletin board where people post anonymously. "The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys!" Minassian's post read. Incels refer to attractive sexually active men as "Chads" and attractive women as "Stacys." Sites devoted to incel have been criticized for hosting violent content, and increasingly are earning police attention. In November, online forum Reddit banned a controversial subgroup dedicated to incels -- which counted tens of thousands of members. - US killer a role model? - In the Facebook post, Minassian praised "Supreme Gentleman" mass killer Elliot Rodger -- a 22-year-old American who murdered six people and then killed himself in California in 2014. Rodger -- something of a hero among incels -- had professed frustration over his virginity and women rejecting him. In a disturbing video posted on YouTube, Rodger ranted about women who rejected and ignored him, vowing to "punish you all for it." "I will slaughter every single spoiled, stuck-up blonde slut I see inside there. All those girls that I've desired so much, they have all rejected me and looked down upon me as an inferior man," he said. Facebook said it had quickly identified Minassian's last post as hateful, and deleted his account. A Copenhagen court on Wednesday found Danish inventor Peter Madsen guilty of the premeditated murder and sexual assault of Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his homemade submarine last year, handing him a life sentence. Madsen, 47, had admitted chopping up the 30-year-old's body and throwing her remains overboard in waters off Copenhagen on the night of August 10, 2017, but claimed her death was accidental. "He committed a cynical, planned murder, of a particularly brutal nature," judge Anette Burko said as she read out the verdict, adding that Madsen "dismembered the body in order to hide the evidence of murder." A life sentence in Denmark averages around 16 years. Wearing a black T-shirt and blazer, Madsen stood in the courtroom to hear the ruling. As it was read out, he sat down next to his lawyer, visibly affected and dejected. Defence lawyer Betina Hald Engmark said afterwards Madsen was "shocked" by the verdict, and plans to appeal. "My client and I are not satisfied with the conclusions the court has drawn. That is why my client will appeal," she told reporters. Wall, a freelance reporter, had set off with the eccentric, self-titled "inventrepreneur" on his vessel on the evening of August 10 to interview him. Reported missing by her boyfriend, Wall's remains were retrieved from waters off Copenhagen in the weeks following her death. During the trial, prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen argued that Madsen killed Wall as part of a macabre sexual fantasy, showing the court videos found on Madsen's computer of women being tortured, beheaded, impaled, and hanged. -'Untrustworthy' - Madsen confessed to stuffing the journalist's head, arms and legs into plastic bags, weighing them down with metal pipes before tossing them into the sea. "He tried to create the perfect crime," Buch-Jepsen told the court. But after changing his version of events several times, he testified that she died when the air pressure suddenly dropped and toxic fumes filled his vessel as he was up on deck. Despite the testimony of many experts, the lack of tangible evidence in the case and the decomposed state of Wall's remains made it impossible to determine an exact cause of death. An autopsy report concluded she probably died as a result of suffocation or having her throat slit. Fourteen stab wounds and piercings were also found in and around her genital area. Madsen had argued that he stabbed her because he wanted to prevent gases from building up inside her body that would prevent it from sinking to the seabed. The court -- made up of one professional judge and two lay judges -- found the incriminating circumstances were enough to find Madsen guilty, citing the gruesome videos he watched, the fact that he brought a saw, plastic strips and a sharpened screwdriver on board just before the voyage, and the fact that he invited three other women onto the vessel around the same time who all turned him down. The judge said the court found Madsen "untrustworthy", noting that his explanations about why he brought the objects on board, and how and why he cut up the body, were not reasonable. The court found that Wall's remains showed "signs of trauma when she was still alive, and wounds from around the time of death or shortly after." The prosecution also presented as evidence the fact that on the night before Wall boarded his vessel, he googled "beheaded girl agony", which Madsen tried to claim was "pure coincidence". He also told the court his interest in the videos was "not of a sexual nature." - 'Loving psychopath' - In his final words to the court on Monday, Madsen said: "I'm really, really sorry for what happened." "What was decisive (for the court) was that it was a crime that was prepared and planned," the prosecutor told reporters after the verdict. Psychiatric experts who evaluated Madsen -- who described himself to friends as "a psychopath, but a loving one" -- found him to be "a pathological liar" who poses "a danger to others" and who was likely to be a repeat offender. He is a semi-celebrity in Denmark, known for his ambitious development of rockets and amateur space travel. Wall was an award-winning journalist who criss-crossed the globe in search for intrepid and unique news stories. The New-York based Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement welcoming Wednesday's verdict. "This gruesome crime and the tragic loss of Kim Wall is a reminder that freelance and women journalists in particular can be exposed to great risk, even when they least expect it," it said. International donors are expected Wednesday to pledge billions of dollars for Syria after the UN's special envoy warned of a looming humanitarian disaster in the rebel-held region of Idlib. The UN's aid agency says some $8 billion is needed from the gathering of ministers and aid organisations in Brussels for work both inside Syria and with refugees in neighbouring countries. As forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad wage a new offensive against Islamic State jihadists entrenched in a southern district of Damascus, the conference will also try to re-energise the floundering UN-led peace process in the hope of ending the bloody war, now in its eighth year. Idlib, on the Turkish border in northwestern Syria, is held by an array of rebel, Islamist and jihadist forces and has seen an massive influx of people fleeing the conflict. "We were and are concerned on the humanitarian side by Idlib. Because Idlib is the big new challenge, 2.5 million people," UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told the first day of the conference on Tuesday. "We hope that this would be an occasion for making sure that Idlib does not become the new new Aleppo, the new Eastern Ghouta, because the dimensions are completely different." Some 6.1 million people are now internally displaced in Syria, more than five million have fled the country and 13 million including six million children are in need of aid, according to the UN. More than 700,000 people have been displaced since the start of this year alone. The head of UN aid agency UNOCHA Mark Lowcock said the gathering needed to raise some $8 billion for work inside Syria and with refugees in neighbouring countries, warning that some programmes may have to be cut back if funds are not forthcoming. "We are quite desperately short of resources," he told reporters, saying UNOCHA managed to raise only half of the funds it needed in 2017. - Political pressure - Europe is also keen to use the conference to restart UN-led talks in Geneva which have made little progress in eight rounds, with Assad's government paying little interest and Russia, Iran and Turkey launching a rival process in the Kazakh capital Astana last year. Russia and Iran are Assad's key allies and their military intervention in Syria is widely seen as tipping the balance in the civil war. Mogherini and de Mistura both called on Moscow, Tehran and Ankara to do more to reach a ceasefire. "The main message is that Syria is not a chessboard, it's not geopolitical game," Mogherini said. Moscow has repeatedly defended its Syrian ally at the UN, most recently over the suspected chemical attack in the town of Douma, blamed by Western powers on Assad's forces. Britain's development minister Penny Mordaunt is expected to urge delegates at the conference to step up the pressure on Moscow. "In wielding its UN veto 12 times on Syria, (Russia) has given a green flag to Assad to perpetrate human rights atrocities against his own people," Mordaunt will say, according to her office. "We're here to address the urgent humanitarian needs in Syria and the wider region, but all of us here know that the only solution to end the suffering in Syria is a political settlement that brings peace." A UN Security Council retreat in a secluded farmhouse in Sweden at the weekend, called in a bid to overcome its paralysis on Syria, had lowered the "temperature" but failed to find a political solution, Mistura said. But it is not clear how effectively the Brussels conference will be able to mobilise political pressure on Assad and his backers. As with previous editions, neither the Syrian government nor opposition groups will be represented and it also remains unclear who, if anyone, will come for Russia, Turkey and Iran. The European Union has voiced concerns over the gradual erosion of Hong Kongs high degree of autonomy as it questioned the implementation of the one country, two systems policy in its latest report on the city. In response, the Hong Kong government said that the city had been exercising a high degree of autonomy since its return to the motherland from British rule. It reiterated calls for foreign institutions not to interfere in its internal affairs after a US report released on Saturday highlighted a chilling effect on political protest in the city. The European Commissions 2017 annual report, released on Tuesday, cited as examples British activist Benedict Rogers being refused entry to the city, and Chinese businessman Xiao Jianhua going missing from his hotel in Hong Kong. Rogers, a Conservative Party activist and a vocal critic of China, was turned away at the Hong Kong airport last October. He said the purpose of the trip was to visit friends. The commission report read: It appears that this decision was taken by Beijing on the basis of its competence in foreign affairs. This raised questions about the implementation of the one country two systems principle, inasmuch as, under the Basic Law, immigration falls under the remit of Hong Kong. One country, two systems is the model under which Beijing governs Hong Kong. On Xiaos alleged abduction, the report said it raised concern that mainland security forces may be operating on Hong Kong soil. One night in January last year, the businessman was reportedly taken away by several men from the luxurious Four Seasons Place, where he was staying. He later crossed the border into Shenzhen and has since disappeared. The report also highlighted the controversial joint checkpoint plan for the West Kowloon terminus of the cross-border high-speed rail link connecting the city, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The arrangement grants Beijing almost full jurisdiction in the designated port area leased to the mainland by Hong Kong. The report noted that questions have been raised about the compatibility of this co-location arrangement with the one country, two systems principle. Story continues Regarding political developments in the city, the report said that groups calling for self-determination or outright independence have been weakened and calls for independence have faded. But it did not say what had caused the decline. While the report agreed that Hong Kongs media enjoyed a high level of freedom, it noted that there had been rising concern about its limits in relation to the sensitive issue of calls for self-determination or independence. The report noted that Reporters Without Borders downgraded Hong Kong by four places to 73rd on its press freedom index in 2017 a historic low and that the annual report by the Hong Kong Journalists Association also said that self-censorship was getting worse. The EU report once again called on Hong Kong to kick start electoral reform, saying this would give the government greater legitimacy to tackle the citys social and economic challenges. In response, a spokesman for the Hong Kong government said: Since the return to the motherland, [Hong Kong] has been exercising a high degree of autonomy and Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong in strict accordance with the Basic Law. This demonstrates the full and successful implementation of the one country, two systems principle, which has been widely recognised by the international community. Foreign institutions should not interfere in any form in the internal affairs of [Hong Kong]. This article EU concerned over gradual erosion of Hong Kongs autonomy first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. By Marine Pennetier and Robin Emmott WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron called on the United States on Wednesday not to abandon the Iran nuclear deal as Western envoys said Britain, France and Germany were nearing a package that seeks to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to save the pact. Trump has described the 2015 accord, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of economic sanctions, as the worst deal ever negotiated and has threatened to wreck it by re-imposing U.S. penalties next month unless the three European allies agree to fix its "flaws." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused the United States of seeking to unilaterally change the terms of the multilateral deal and derided Trump as a "tradesman" lacking the background to handle with international affairs. Brian Hook, the lead U.S. negotiator with the three European nations trying to keep Trump in the deal before his self-imposed May 12 deadline, told National Public Radio in Washington that "we're not there yet, but weve made some progress." Capping a three-day visit to the United States, France's Macron told a joint meeting of Congress the 2015 deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was not perfect but must remain in place until a replacement was forged. "This agreement may not address all concerns," Macron said. "But we should not abandon it without having something substantial and more substantial instead. That's my position." In a Tweet, Macron added: "France will not leave the JCPOA, because we signed it. We decided with President @realDonaldTrump to work on a new comprehensive deal." It is not clear what Macron means by a new, comprehensive deal. One possibility is an idea, long under consideration, to seek to negotiate a successor to the JCPOA with Iran. Another might be for Washington and the three European powers to impose additional nuclear constraints on Iran and to threaten it with additional sanctions if it violates these. Story continues Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France, which all struck the accord with Iran and the United States, see the deal as the best way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. Western envoys told Reuters three months of meetings among Washington and the three European allies were culminating in a package of separate measures that could be taken against Tehran in the hope they would satisfy Trump and keep the deal intact. "This is about convincing President Trump, it's not a new deal with Iran," a senior European Union diplomat said. "TRADESMAN" Britain, France and Germany have proposed fresh EU sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missiles and its role in Syria's war. Trump sees three defects in the 2015 deal: a failure to address Iran's ballistic missile programme; the terms under which international inspectors can visit suspect Iranian nuclear sites; and "sunset" clauses under which key limits on the Iranian nuclear programme start to expire after 10 years. Diplomats have cited progress on ballistic missiles and on inspections but the "sunsets" issue remained unresolved. One way to address the sunsets, sources briefed on the talks say, would be for the United States and the three European nations to define what a purely civil nuclear programme might look like and to threaten consequences if Iran exceeded these. That would technically leave the Iran nuclear deal intact but would, in effect, impose additional conditions on Tehran. In Geneva, a U.S. nonproliferation official, Christopher Ford, laid out such an approach without providing details. "We are not aiming to renegotiate the JCPOA or reopen it or change its terms," he told reporters. "We are seeking a supplemental agreement that would in some fashion layer upon it a series of additional rules." Richard Nephew, a former White House Iran sanctions expert, said there are disagreements among the Europeans on this. "What I have heard is that the French are less opposed to that way of thinking than the Germans. That doesnt mean that they are necessarily keen on it, but they can see the value of that where as the Germans cant." In Berlin, a German foreign ministry spokesman, Rainer Breul, said Germany would carefully examine the idea of a supplementary deal but rejected changing the JCPOA. "For us ... the highest priority is keeping the nuclear agreement and full implementation on all sides," he said. "The nuclear agreement was negotiated with seven countries and the EU and can't be renegotiated or replaced on a whim." German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks with Trump in Washington on Friday. Iran's president earlier said foreign powers had no right to tinker with the deal, and questioned Trump's qualifications to grapple with a complex international agreement. "They say that with the certain leader of a European country we want to make a decision about a seven-sided agreement," Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state TV. "For what? With what right?" he added. He reserved particular scorn for Trump, who informed European powers on Jan. 12 they must agree to "fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal" or he would refuse to extend U.S. sanctions relief on Iran. The U.S. sanctions will resume unless Trump issues fresh "waivers" to suspend them on May 12. "How can a tradesman, a merchant, a building constructor, a tower constructor make judgements about international affairs?" Rouhani said, referring to Trump's career as a property developer. (Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed and Patricia Zengerle in Washington, Sabine Siebold in Brussels, Tom Miles in Geneva, Maria Tsvetkova and Polina Ivanova in Moscow and Markus Wacket and Thomas Escritt in Berlin; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Paul Simao and James Dalgleish) Thousands of Guatemalan protesters including farmers, activists and indigenous groups, marched through the capital of the Central American country Tuesday to demand the resignation of President Jimmy Morales, who faces allegations of campaign finance corruption. The protesters converged on the historic center of Guatemala City demanding not only that Morales quit, but that members of Congress who have refused to strip him of his legal immunity so he can be fully investigated also step down. "We demand the resignation of President Jimmy Morales and the corrupt deputies," said Erika Martinez, head of the Committee for Rural Development in Guatemala, the organization that called the protests. The crowds took almost six hours to march from all corners of the city, occupying public squares as they went, before converging in the center where speaker after speaker ripped into the government. Morales, a 49-year-old former television comedian, has spent the past eight months denying that his right-wing FCN-Nation party received campaign donations which it failed to report to the Supreme Court, as it was required by law to do. The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a UN-sponsored body charged with fighting corruption in the country, has backed prosecutors' calls for Morales' presidential immunity to be lifted, to allow investigators to properly delve into the case, but Congress has so far sidestepped any move to do so. Both prosecutors and CICIG announced last week a second investigation into allegations that Morales had skirted the rules on reporting campaign funds in order to accept a million dollars' worth of donations from business leaders to his party. Protesters carried placards that repeated Morales' campaign slogan that promised "no corruption, no thieves" and called his election a "fraud." The march organizers also demanded an investigation into links between organized crime and the judicial sector -- following the revelation earlier this year of a bribery ring led by a high-profile lawyer designed to rig elections for supreme court justices. Martinez said they are demanding assurances that the country's next chief prosecutor will have "no links to corruption." Morales has until mid-May to replace Thelma Aldana, the current attorney general who has worked with CICIG to combat public sector fraud. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will appoint the Swiss ambassador to Germany, Christine Schraner Burgener, to be his new special envoy to Myanmar, UN sources said Wednesday. The General Assembly in December asked Guterres to appoint a special envoy in a resolution that called on Myanmar to end its military campaign in Rakhine state. The appointment will be announced on Thursday, just days before the Security Council travels to Bangladesh and Myanmar for a first-hand look at the Rohingya refugee crisis. At least 700,000 Muslim-minority Rohingya have been driven out of Myanmar and are living in crowded camps in Bangladesh since Myanmar's army launched a military operation in Rakhine state. The violence has left a trail of torched villages in its wake, with allegations of murder and rape at the hands of troops and vigilantes. Myanmar has vehemently denied US and United Nations allegations of ethnic cleansing. The UN spokesman did not confirm the appointment of Schraner Burgener, but said an announcement was imminent. Schraner Burgener has also served as Swiss ambassador to Thailand. Myanmar authorities say the operation in Rakhine state is aimed at rooting out extremists. Iran invited Gulf countries Tuesday to open talks on regional security, telling the United Nations it was time to move away from "hegemonic illusions" that have fueled devastating wars. Addressing a UN meeting on sustaining peace, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif proposed the creation of a "regional dialogue forum." "We here invite our neighbors in this volatile waterway, which has seen too many wars, to join us in this endeavor," Zarif added. The initiative came as US President Donald Trump met his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Washington to discuss shared concerns about Iran's behavior in the region. Trump is threatening to scrap the 2015 nuclear deal reached with Iran unless concerns about Tehran's missile program and military role in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon are addressed. "All over, no matter where you go in the Middle East, you see fingerprints of Iran," Trump told a news conference with Macron in Washington. In a UN General Assembly speech, Zarif said "advancing hegemonic illusions or attempting to achieve security at the expense of the insecurity of others" had caused conflict, in an apparent reference to arch-rival Saudi Arabia. The foreign minister said it was crucial to "now shift to a new paradigm based on combining our forces... instead of any one of us seeking to be the strongest in our region." He suggested creating new security networks to replace what he termed as "security blocs." Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, supports Hezbollah militias in Lebanon and backs Yemen's Huthi rebels, who are locked in a war with a Saudi-led coalition. The United Nations is pushing for political talks to end the war in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country that has been brought to its knees in the three-year conflict. UN diplomats say Iran has signaled it is ready to put pressure on the Huthis to go to the negotiating table, in what some see as a sign that Tehran wants to confront US complaints about its behavior. Zarif met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has held recent meetings with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to press for an end to the war in Yemen. On the sidelines of the UN meeting, Zarif also held talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to discuss the fate of the Iran nuclear deal as Chancellor Angela Merkel prepares for her White House visit on Friday. Israel announced on Tuesday it has abandoned controversial plans to expel African migrants who entered the Jewish state illegally, after failing to find a country willing to host them. The plan had targeted some 42,000 migrants of Eritrean and Sudanese origin currently living in Israel and denied refugee status. Government legal advisers informed the Supreme Court of the plan's cancellation after certain unspecified countries refused to host the migrants, a government source said. "At this stage, the possibility of removal to a third country is no longer relevant," the advisers said in a statement. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously mentioned Rwanda as a possible host country and, earlier this month, Uganda said it was "considering" an Israeli proposal to accept the deportees. The deportation plan has attracted a wave of criticism, including from the UN refugee agency, Holocaust survivors, and parts of Israeli civil society. The government originally announced a plan under which it would present migrants with $3,500 (2,800 euros) and the opportunity to leave on their own accord, or face indefinite imprisonment with eventual forced expulsion. In early April, Netanyahu agreed to cancel the plan, saying a new agreement with the UN would allow 16,000 migrants to be transferred to "developed countries like Canada, Germany or Italy". In exchange, Israel would give residency to an equal number of migrants. But the premier cancelled the plan several hours later, after caving to pressure from his right-wing base. - 'Reopen detention centres' - Shortly after news of Tuesday's cancellation broke, Netanyahu tweeted that he had instructed Interior Minister Aryeh Deri "to immediately prepare for the reopening of the detention facilities to the infiltrators" and to set up "means to find a solution to the problem". The prime minister was referring to the February closure of the Holot detention centre in southern Israel. The presence of migrants in Israel has become a key political issue, and Netanyahu is already under heavy pressure due to a string of graft probes. He has repeatedly referred to them as "not refugees but illegal infiltrators". Some 200 migrants detained for refusing to leave Israel were released in mid-April following a Supreme Court ruling. Israel's highest judicial authority had ordered their release because of the government's inability to conclude an agreement with third-party host countries. Human rights groups have long condemned Israel for its immigration policy and treatment of Africans seeking asylum. Most of the migrants arrived to Israel after 2007, mainly from the Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Security along the once porous border has since been signficantly tightened. Many of them settled in a number of poor neighbourhoods in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, the country's economic capital. Amnesty International welcomed the cancellation, but voiced concern over the continued practise of "voluntary" expulsions. "Israel is still conducting what it calls 'voluntary' deportations, though in reality there is nothing voluntary about them," the London-based rights watchdog said in a statement. "Israel remains under the obligation not to transfer anyone to a country where they would be at real risk of serious human rights violations," it added. The UN has accused the Eritrea government of committing "widespread and systematic" crimes against humanity. The jury that found former Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen guilty of misconduct in public office was misdirected on fundamental features of the crime, a court heard on Wednesday. Tsangs counsel, Clare Montgomery QC, said the mental element of the offence had always been a source of problem, as seen in the direction given by trial judge Mr Justice Andrew Chan Hing-wai, who failed, she argued, to adequately explain it to the nine jurors before their deliberations. She also argued that Tsangs culpability did not justify an immediate custodial sentence, and said the judge had adopted a wrong starting point for the sentence even if jail was necessary, given the strong mitigating factors that included her clients serious ill health. Tsang, 73, is seeking leave to appeal from the High Court against his conviction and sentence, and a HK$4.6 million (US$590,000) legal bill demanded by prosecutors. The former chief executive was the first leader in the city to be tainted by a criminal conviction, following a high-profile, six-week trial that concluded in February last year. The jury found him guilty of one count of misconduct in public office by a majority verdict of eight to one, over his failure to declare his interest in a three-storey penthouse in mainland China, as well as his ties to the boss of radio broadcaster Wave Media, when he approved three licence applications from the local radio station during his term in office. But the same jury cleared him of a separate count of misconduct in public office, and failed to reach a verdict on a bribery charge, which led to a second trial by a new jury that also failed to reach a consensus. Sentencing Tsang to 20 months imprisonment in February, Chan said: Never in my judicial career have I seen a man fallen from so high. Tsang was released on bail pending an appeal, after two months in maximum-security Stanley Prison, on April 24 last year. Story continues At a minimum, there has to be an indication that the defendant must know what he was doing was a breach of duty Clare Montgomery QC, for Donald Tsang On Wednesday, he returned to the dock before Court of Appeal vice-presidents Mr Justice Wally Yeung Chun-kuen and Mr Justice Andrew Macrae, and appeal judge Mr Justice Derek Pang Wai-cheong for a two-day hearing. Montgomery argued that the offence of misconduct in public office required complex and elaborate direction to the jury. At a minimum, she said, there has to be an indication that the defendant must know what he was doing was a breach of duty. She said the offence also involved an improper motive, and required a very specific direction that personal motivation has to be main reason behind the act, and there has to be no genuine belief in the public interest. She said good direction on wilful misconduct involved explaining to the jury that the crime requires the accused intending to secure a personal gain that he did not disclose; his representations being in breach of his duties; and the misconduct being wilful, in that the accused knew his obligations. But Montgomery said Chan failed to mention such requirement of subjective appreciation of wrongfulness in his most serious and obvious example of misdirection, despite defence counsels request for clarification after the jury raised questions. There is an inescapable consequence of what the judge said to the jury: they would convict, she said. Montgomery also argued that the judge was required to accurately identify the nature of duty that had been breached to ensure the jury was properly directed on how serious a crime needs to be to warrant a conviction. In cases of non-disclosure such as the present one where there was no underlying corruption, she said, the jury should have been told that they could not assess seriousness unless they had decided on the context, the basis for disclosure, the motive for non-disclosure and the consequences, such as the impact on decision-making, public confidence and public office. Its not sufficient to say the conduct was so serious that it amounted to an abuse of office, she said, in reference to Chans direction. But prosecutor David Perry QC countered that the judge had made clear a deliberate breach of duty was required to prove the offence. The misconduct concerned in this case was extremely serious, he said. It raises serious doubts why these important and sensitive decisions involving a broadcasting license were taken at a time when [Tsang] was hopelessly compromised. Perry also said that an immediate complaint was the best indicator of whether the judges summing up of evidence and the law was seen as unfair at the time, yet there was none in the present case. The obvious implication is it was clear that this was a serious case of deliberate suppression of information, he argued. Secondly, it was clear the summing up was favourable to the defendant. The hearing continues. This article Jury misdirected in former Hong Kong leader Donald Tsangs misconduct trial, appeal court told first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. Photo credit: Getty From Cosmopolitan Until now, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom getting back together was still technically a rumor, but Katy essentially confirmed everything in an interview with ET. A journalist asked her and her fellow American Idol judges whether they would ever date a contestant. Luke Bryan made a joke that Katy is "totally like that" and could definitely do it. Perry responded by saying, "No, I'm sorry I have been spoken for and speak for myself," and added, "And I'm very happy!" Wait, wait. WHAT? Did she just flat-out say she was spoken for? The ET reporter picked up on this, and said, "You're spoken for right now?" and Perry replied, "Yeah, girl, of course I am!" OF COURSE YOU ARE? Did she honestly just drop that? Casually? In an interview? Okay, cool, that settles it then. The rumors are true, the Mario and Luigi costumes were not a lie. Photo credit: Getty Images Rumors of a salvaged romance first circulated in February when The Sun reported the couple was back together. Apparently, they went on a vacation to the Maldives in January. After that, Katy was seen wearing a onesie with Orlando's face on it. Then, they were spotted together in Japan, which seemed like it sealed the deal but again, no confirmation. The time they spend together alone is a way for them to build a new healthy relationship that is not under the eyes of their fans and the world," the source said. "They both live very busy lives and have carefully made a plan to give their love a second chance." Glad we cleared the air on this one! Follow Emma on Instagram. You Might Also Like Brazil's ex-president Lula, who is imprisoned for corruption, on Tuesday gave his Workers' Party (PT) the green light to find a new candidate for the October presidential election in which he remains the frontrunner. "I want you to feel totally free to take whatever decision you need because 2018 is an important year for the PT, for the left and for democracy," wrote Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in a letter to the party leadership. But the PT dismissed his offer, with party president Gleisi Hoffmann writing on Facebook that they would keep him as their candidate. "The people want Lula freed, that Lula be president! There is no plan B because Lula is innocent," she wrote, saying his candidacy would be formally approved at a national convention later this year. The party has said it will exhaust all legal avenues in the hope that he can run in an election that he is the favorite to win. Ahead of the vote, the PT has stepped up displays of unconditional support for its co-founder who was jailed for 12 years on April 7, moving its headquarters to the southern city of Curitiba where he is serving his sentence. But experts say it is highly unlikely he will be allowed to run and the party has no other leaders with his charisma or experience to replace him, with polls predicting it will struggle to pass the 2.0 percent mark. One possible substitute is ex-Sao Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad, while another is former minister Jaques Wagner -- but the former is unlikely to win unanimous support and the latter is plagued by suspicions of corruption. In his letter, Lula said he was "happy" about the latest Datafolha research, which showed that despite his incarceration, he would still receive 31 percent of the vote -- although that was six percentage points lower than the previous poll. The former head of state was convicted for accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe from a huge construction company linked to the state-controlled oil major Petrobras. He claims he has been framed to prevent him from running in October's election. The deadline for registering as a candidate is August 15. Under Brazil's clean slate law, his conviction means he would be barred from running, but the Superior Electoral Tribunal will make a definitive ruling by September 17. Malaysian police have found the motorbike allegedly used in the drive-by shooting of a Palestinian scientist in Kuala Lumpur, the national police chief said Tuesday. Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, 35, was killed in a hail of bullets by two attackers Saturday as he walked to a mosque for dawn prayers. The family of Batsh, a member of Islamist militant group Hamas who was said to be a rocket-making expert, has accused Israel's Mossad spy agency of carrying out the killing. Israel has denied the claims. Kuala Lumpur police have launched a manhunt for the pair and have released photofits of the two suspects, who are light-skinned, bearded men. National police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said that the motorbike allegedly used by the assailants had been found in the Setapak area of Kuala Lumpur. "The motorcycle is in good condition," he told reporters, without giving further details Police previously said they believed either a BMW or a Kawasaki was used in the attack. Mossad is believed to have assassinated Palestinian militants and scientists in the past, but rarely confirms such operations. Batsh's expertise in making weapons could have made him a target -- militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza regularly fire rockets at southern Israel, usually without causing casualties. But Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman Sunday denied claims of the Jewish state's involvement, suggesting instead that it was a "settling of accounts" between factions of a terror group. It was the second high-profile killing of a foreigner in Malaysia in just over a year. In February 2017 assassins smeared the banned VX nerve agent on the face of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, killing him within minutes. North Koreas mountain nuclear test site has collapsed, putting China and other nearby nations at unprecedented risk of radioactive exposure, two separate groups of Chinese scientists studying the issue have confirmed. The collapse after five nuclear blasts may be why North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared last Friday that he would freeze the hermit states nuclear and missile tests and shut down the site, one researcher said. Time to educate Chinese about the nuclear threat next door The last five of Pyongyangs six nuclear tests have all been carried out under Mount Mantap at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Koreas northwest. A research team led by Wen Lianxing, a geologist with the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, concluded the collapse occurred following the detonation last autumn of North Koreas most powerful thermal nuclear warhead in a tunnel about 700 metres (2,296 feet) below the mountains peak. The test turned the mountain into fragile fragments, the researchers found. US reveals how its forces would secure North Koreas nuclear sites The mountains collapse and the prospect of radioactive exposure in the aftermath, confirms a series of exclusive reports by the South China Morning Post on Chinas fears that Pyongyangs latest nuclear test had caused a fallout leak. Radioactive dust could escape through holes or cracks in the damaged mountain, the scientists said. It is necessary to continue monitoring possible leaks of radioactive materials caused by the collapse incident, Wens team said in the statement. The findings will be published on the website of the peer-reviewed journal, Geophysical Research Letters, likely next month. North Korea saw the mountain as an ideal location for underground nuclear experiments because of its elevation it stood more than 2,100 metres (6,888 feet) above sea level and its terrain of thick, gentle slopes that seemed capable of resisting structural damage. Story continues The mountains surface had shown no visible damage after four underground nuclear tests before 2017. But the 100-kilotonne bomb that went off on September 3 vaporised surrounding rocks with unprecedented heat and opened a space that was up to 200 metres (656 feet) in diameter, according to a statement posted on the Wen teams website on Monday. As shock waves tore through and loosened more rocks, a large section of the mountains ridge, less than half a kilometre (0.3 mile) from the peak, slipped down into the empty pocket created by the blast, leaving a scar visible in satellite images. Wen concluded that the mountain had collapsed after analysing data collected from nearly 2,000 seismic stations. Three small earthquakes that hit nearby regions in the wake of the collapse added credence to his conclusion, suggesting the test site had lost its geological stability. Another research team led by Liu Junqing at the Jilin Earthquake Agency with the China Earthquake Administration in Changchun, reached similar conclusions to the Wen team. The rock collapse was for the first time documented in North Koreas test site, Lius team wrote in a paper published last month in Geophysical Research Letters. The breakdown not only took off part of the mountains summit but also created a chimney that could allow fallout to rise from the blast centre into the air, they said. Zhao Lianfeng, a researcher with the Institute of Earth Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, said the two studies supported a consensus among scientists that the site was wrecked beyond repair. Their findings are in agreement to our observations, he said. Different teams using different data have come up with similar conclusions, Zhao said. The only difference was in some technical details. This is the best guess that can be made by the world outside. Speculation grew that North Koreas site was in trouble when Lee Doh-sik, the top North Korean geologist, visited Zhaos institute about two weeks after the test where he met privately with senior Chinese government geologists. Although the purpose of Lees visit was not disclosed, two days later, Pyongyang announced it would no longer conduct land-based nuclear tests. Hu Xingdou, a Beijing-based scholar who follows North Koreas nuclear programme, said it was highly likely that Pyongyang had received a stark warning from Beijing. The test was not only destabilising the site but increasing the risk of eruption of the Changbai Mountain, a large, active volcano at China-Korean border, said Hu, who asked that his university affiliation not be disclosed for this article because of the topics sensitivity. The mountains collapse has likely dealt a huge blow to North Koreas nuclear programme, Hu said. Hit by crippling international economic sanctions over its nuclear ambitions, the country might lack sufficient resources to soon resume testing at a new site, he said. But there are other sites suitable for testing, Hu said. They must be closely monitored. Guo Qiuju, a Peking University professor who has belonged to a panel that has advised the Chinese government on emergency responses to radioactive hazards, said if fallout escaped through cracks, it could be carried by wind over the Chinese border. So far we have not detected an abnormal increase of radioactivity levels, Guo said. But we will continue to monitor the surrounding region with a large [amount] of highly sensitive equipment and analyse the data in state-of-the-art laboratories. Zhao Guodong, a government nuclear waste confinement specialist at the University of South China, said the North Korean government should allow scientists from China and other countries to enter the test site and evaluate the damage. We can put a thick layer of soil on top of the collapsed site, fill the cracks with special cement, or remove the pollutants with chemical solution, he said. There are many methods to deal with the problem. All they need [to do] is ask. This article North Koreas nuclear test site has collapsed ... and that may be why Kim Jong-un suspended tests first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. More from South China Morning Post: ASUNCION (Reuters) - The No. 2 finisher in Paraguay's presidential election said on Tuesday he had evidence of fraudulent voting and demanded a recount of ballots while the president-elect said he may try to change the constitution to allow reelection of future leaders. Efrain Alegre, a lawyer from the centre-left GANAR coalition, said on social media that the country's official elections tribunal was too quick to announce that Mario Abdo of the conservative Colorado Party won the election. "We already have very clear samples of fraud that we are going to denounce case by case," Alegre said. "We are going to participate in the recount." International observers who monitored Sunday's election reported no major irregularities. Abdo, a 46-year-old former senator who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, is scheduled to be sworn in as president in mid-August. With 97.67 percent of ballots counted on Sunday, the tribunal said Abdo won 46.44 percent to Alegre's 42.74 percent. Abdo's Colorado party also appeared to have lost fewer seats in the Senate than expected, possibly emboldening its reform agenda. Official results of the Senate race will be released next month. Abdo said in an interview with TV channel CNN en Espanol on Tuesday that he would seek political consensus for a constitutional reform early next year but would not seek reelection himself. "Within that consensus could be the idea of reelection... but I would not benefit in a direct way from the changes," he said. Reelection is a thorny issue in Paraguay. Most presidents of the democratic era have tried to push it unsuccessfully, in many cases unleashing serious institutional crises. A year ago, protesters reacted to the aspirations of then-president Horacio Cartes, also of the Colarado Party, to extend his mandate by burning part of Congress. Abdo is the son of the late private secretary of dictator Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled Paraguay for 35 years. Abdo was 16 when Stroessner's rule ended in 1989. Story continues Abdo's conservative policies and family history were a concern to some voters who had doubts about his commitment to clean up government. Abdo has said on several occasions that he will govern for a single five-year term. The constitutional reform would also include a campaign promise of modifying the country's judicial system, Abdo said. (Reporting by Mariel Cristaldo and Daniela Desantis; Writing by Hugh Bronstein and Caroline Stauffer; Editing by James Dalgleish and Leslie Adler) One of Inukas caregivers placing her hands on his paws while saying a final goodbye on 25 April, 2018. (PHOTO: Wildlife Reserves Singapore) The Singapore Zoos beloved polar bear Inuka was put down on humane grounds on Wednesday (25 April) morning due to his rapidly declining health, said Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS). It is a (very emotional) and sad day. While we feel sadness and do not want to let him go, it is the right thing (to do) from Inukas point of view, said Dr Cheng Wen-Haur, the WRS deputy chief executive officer and chief life sciences officer during a press conference held at the zoos Forest Lodge. From Inukas point of view, its a good day for him. Following a medical examination on Wednesday morning, the 27-year-old polar bear estimated to be in his 70s in human years was found to have not made any significant improvements despite intensive treatment. The findings had in fact indicated that his welfare had been seriously compromised and would only deteriorate further. Since December, his condition had actually taken a toll for the worse. He started deteriorating much faster than he normally would, said Dr Abraham Mathew, assistant director of veterinary services at the zoo. Inukas care team then made the unanimous but difficult decision not to revive him from the anaesthesia-induced sleep he was put into at 7am for the examination. The polar bear was later injected with an additional chemical and died at around 9.30am, surrounded by a team of carers past and present -, a welfare committee and a team of veterinarians. Inukas family of care givers past and present gathered around him as Dr Mathew administered the final injection to relieve him from suffering on 25 April, 2018. (PHOTO: Wildlife Reserves Singapore) A full autopsy will be performed on Inuka and it has not yet been determined which part of his remains will be kept for educational purposes, said Dr Cheng. Unlike Ah Meng, the zoos iconic orangutan who died in 2008, Inuka would not be buried on site at the zoo. In preparation for the health check, Inuka had been removed from his exhibit since Tuesday. Inukas daily interaction sessions had earlier been suspended in favour of allowing the bear to enjoy his time as he pleased. WRS, which runs the zoo, said there are plans to refurbish Inukas space into a sea lion exhibit a few months down the road. Story continues A private memorial service will be held for Inuka on Thursday but it will not be open to the public. A tribute wall will be put up at the polar bear exhibit on the same day at 12pm for visitors to pen their thoughts. Bear had been suffering Over the past three months, the Inukas activity levels had dipped significantly, with the animal preferring rest to daily interaction sessions with his keepers. The zoos deputy head keeper Mohan Ponichamy said on Wednesday that the team of caregivers understood why Inuka had to be put down. In December 2016, we noticed that he was unresponsive and slept the whole day, he said. Over the years, we observed that his lameness in his right leg was getting from bad to worse. The polar bear, which has been under the zoos senior animal care programme since 2013, had been suffering from arthritis, dental issues and occasional ear infections, as well as age-related muscle atrophy. His keepers also recently noticed that he had a stiffer gait particularly in his hind limbs which resulted in abrasions on his paw pads. An earlier health examination on 3 April had revealed that Inuka suffered additional problems due to his ailing limbs, which were unable to properly support his over 500kg frame. As a result, this had caused ulcerations on his pads that led to deeper infection between his toes. He also had a wound on his lower abdomen, likely caused by urine-burns from incontinence and recurrent urinary tract infections. Wednesdays examination revealed that these open wounds which were quite deep and would be aggravated as Inukas arthritis worsened did not significantly improve despite additional treatment over the last three weeks. We wanted to give it a try and we placed him on palliative care We could not help him at all with his pressure sores on his fore pads and to allow him (to continue to) move around in the forepads in those conditions was just not fair, said Dr Abraham. Apart from long-term glucosamine and anti-inflammatory treatment for his arthritis, veterinarians had boosted Inukas daily care regime to include intensive treatment for his feet, and started him on specific painkillers and antibiotics to further alleviate his symptoms. First polar bear born in the tropics Born on 26 December 1990 at the Singapore Zoo, Inuka is the first polar bear to have been born in the tropics. At 27 years old, he had surpassed the 25-year average lifespan of polar bears under human care and is among the 2 per cent of the total zoo population to be placed under a special senior animal care programme. Male polar bears in the wild have a life expectancy of between 15 and 18 years. Inuka, which means silent stalker in the Inuit language, is also one of four polar bears to have resided at the zoo to date, including his parents Nanook and Sheba, as well as Anana, a female polar bear caught in the wild. Nanook and mother Sheba arrived at the zoo in 1978 from Winnipeg Zoo in Canada and Cologne Zoo in Germany, respectively. Nanook died in 1995 at the age of 18, while Sheba died five years ago when she was 35. Anana arrived from Canada in 1979 and died in 1999. Following deliberations with its Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee in 2006, the zoo announced that it would no longer bring polar bears to Singapore. Related stories: Singapore Zoos polar bear Inuka may be put to sleep end-April due to poor health Inuka the polar bear turns 27, treated to 10kg cake at Singapore Zoo ACRO Biomedical, a Taiwan-based developer of skin, bone and cornea graft materials, plans to restructure via a reverse takeover and seek an initial public share offer in Hong Kong so that it can tap into the mainland China market. The company, based in the southern city of Kaohsiung, has raised some NT$200 million (US$6.8 million) from friends and family since its inception in 2014 and aims to raise a further US$6 million by next month, chief executive Hsieh Dar-jen said in an interview. Hsieh, the former chief executive of Taiwan-listed collagen-based medical devices developer Sunmax Biotechnology and holder of a doctorate in cell molecular biology, is seeking investment from institutional investors to help the company meet Hong Kongs new listing requirements for biotechnology firms that do not have a profit track record. These include a minimum market capitalisation of HK$1.5 billion (US$191.2 million) at the time of listing and at least one sophisticated investor six months before listing. Our talent cost in Taiwan is lower [than in the United States], but the downside is that our market capitalisation is small, he said in the interview on Tuesday. We must increase our equity capital to bolster our market cap. ACRO plans a reverse takeover that will see its assets owned by a Hong Kong holding company, to help it get around Taipeis restrictions on Taiwanese firms investing in mainland China. The company said it had completed in 2016 what it called the worlds first successful canine corneal graft, which was conducted on a five-year-old Chihuahua, with no sign of rejection. It has licensed its cornea product to Australia-based Oculus BioMed, and clinical trials involving about 30 human patients will be conducted in Taiwan by ACRO, Hsieh said. He added that ACRO has filed for patents on its cornea graft technology in the US, South Korea, Japan, India, China, Taiwan and in Europe, all of which are pending approval. Story continues The technology involves the extraction of pig corneas, which are processed to remove cells, lipids and non-collagen proteins so that a collagen scaffold is left. The scaffold is then transplanted and fused with the hosts stem cells to induce the regeneration of a new cornea. ACRO plans to price its artificial cornea in a way that a graft would be slight cheaper than a donated cornea transplant for humans, which costs some NT$300,000 including surgical fees, according to Hsieh. Some four million people in mainland China are waiting for cornea donations, while only a few dozen are donated per year, Hsieh said. Hsieh said ACRO has also received approval from the food and drug administrations in Taiwan and the US in the past 12 months to sell its skin and bone graft materials. The company has not filed patent applications in view of the large number of products on the market, he said. He said it plans to price its skin graft product 20 per cent less than Terudermis, a Japanese rival product, saying that ACROs product has a much shorter healing period. This article Taiwan biotech firm eyes Hong Kong IPO for push into mainland China market for cornea transplants first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. More from South China Morning Post: Taiwanese military veterans on Wednesday scuffled with police as they tried to storm parliament in the latest of a series of protests against planned pension cuts. Hundreds gathered outside the legislature's main entrance and some threw smoke bombs and water bottles at police guarding the building in central Taipei. They also tried in vain to hurl an empty wooden coffin into the parliament compound's courtyard, television footage showed. "How can the government unilaterally cut (our pensions) without our consent? The government is lousy, unfair and unjust!" said Wu Chih-chang, chairman of the Blue Sky Action Alliance which organised the protest. Around 63 protesters were taken away after they climbed parliament's gate according to police. Others tried to pull down the gate using ropes and chains. Some barricades outside the compound were torn down by protesters, while 32 officers and 11 reporters were injured, police said. "We strongly condemn the serious violent actions by anti-pension groups and reiterate our determination to investigate (the violence)... we urge the public to use peaceful and rational means to express their opinions and refrain from breaking the law," Taipei police said in a statement. The Taiwan Media Workers Union also condemned the violence. "Many journalists were injured and their equipment was damaged ... protesters intentionally used violence and inflicted injuries," it said in a statement. Some protesters vowed to stay overnight as parliament was scheduled to review a pension reform bill for military veterans on Thursday. Proposed pension cuts for the veterans are part of wider cutbacks in Taiwan that have triggered mass street protests as well as clashes inside parliament among lawmakers. In February a rally by military retirees ended in tragedy when a former colonel fell while climbing a wall and later died in hospital. Last week legislators brawled in parliament as a draft bill proposed by the cabinet was being deliberated for the first time, with the opposition Kuomintang demanding President Tsai Ing-wen apologise to the veterans. The backlash over the cuts is a major challenge for Tsai, who has seen her popularity rating fall since her election two years ago. She condemned Wednesday's clashes but vowed not to change course. "The government will not bow to violence and will persist to the very end with the reforms," said a statement from her office. Legislators passed a separate pension reform bill last June that targeted civil servants, as the government warned it could no longer afford their preferential deals. Tsai admitted in a television interview earlier this month that the reforms have "offended many people" but stood by the plan to make the pension system more sustainable. Taiwan's pension schemes vary for different occupations and public-sector retirees typically receive more generous packages than workers from other sectors. The government has warned that various pension funds could go bankrupt as early as 2020 if the system is not overhauled. FILE PHOTO - U.S. Navy Admiral Harry Harris Jr, head of the Pacific Command, attends at a Fullerton Lecture on "Challenges, Opportunities and Innovation in the Indo-Asia-Pacific", in Singapore FILE PHOTO - U.S. Navy Admiral Harry Harris Jr, head of the Pacific Command, attends at a Fullerton Lecture on "Challenges, Opportunities and Innovation in the Indo-Asia-Pacific", in Singapore October 17, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su By David Brunnstrom and John Walcott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration plans to nominate Admiral Harry Harris, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command already nominated to be the next U.S. ambassador to Australia, to fill the long-vacant post of ambassador to South Korea instead, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. President Donald Trump's nominee to be secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, had asked Harris to take the key post in Seoul, which has been vacant since Trump took office in January last year, a source with knowledge of the situation said. Three U.S. officials confirmed the plan to nominate Harris, who was in Washington on Tuesday for a Senate committee hearing on his Australia nomination. That hearing was postponed indefinitely. The national security situation on the Korean Peninsula is of the highest priority, one of the officials said when asked to confirm the switch in nominations. "Our relationship with Australia is and remains steadfast." The sources spoke on condition of anonymity. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump nominated Harris, who is known for hawkish views on China's military expansion, to serve as ambassador to Australia in February, but filling the Seoul post has become even more of a priority as diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons have intensified. South Korean President Moon Jae-in is due to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday and Trump has said he will hold an unprecedented summit with Kim himself in May or June. Pompeo told his Senate confirmation hearing this month that filling Seoul and a handful of other diplomatic posts required "immediate attention." "I will find what I believe to be the best fit to execute America's diplomatic mission around the world," he said. The White House said in February it was no longer considering Victor Cha, a former official who questioned the wisdom of a preventative military strike on North Korea being mulled by the administration earlier this year. Story continues WASTING TIME? Harris told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee last month Washington could not be overly optimistic about the outcome of a Trump-Kim summit and must go into it with "eyes wide open." He said he was encouraged by the prospect of a summit, but North Korea remained the biggest Asia-Pacific security threat. Harris said he believed Kim would like to see reunification of the Korean peninsula under his rule, and sought respect, status and security through the possession of nuclear weapons. Trump said on Tuesday Kim had been "very honorable" and discussions on a planned summit were going well, but tempered expectations for any quick denuclearization deal by saying "it may be we're all wasting a lot of time." Andrew Shearer, a former Australian national security adviser now at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said there would be "intense disappointment" in Australia - like South Korea, a U.S. ally - about the switch in nominations. "Harris is well known and highly respected there, and his nomination enjoyed strong bipartisan support. There's no doubt he would have been a highly effective advocate at a time when there is growing debate in Australia about the U.S. alliance and its implications for the country's substantial economic interests in China. "It would be surprising if the Australia government doesnt feel let down," he said. "That said, no-one doubts the urgency of the North Korea threat and Canberra has little choice but to take it on the chin." Australias foreign minister, Julie Bishop, said Australia was not offended by the sudden withdrawal of Harris. "While we would have welcomed Admiral Harris as ambassador here in Australia, we understand there are significant challenges for the United States on the Korean peninsula, Bishop told reporters after a service to commemorate ANZAC Day in Sydney. "We look forward to a new ambassador being nominated as soon as possible." Australia has been without a U.S. ambassador for 18 months. (Additional reporting by Alison Bevege in SYDNEY; Rporting by David Brunnstrom, John Walcott and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish, Robert Birsel) Numbers Edition 4 Magnus Bordewick The latest edit to drop from the Numbers Edition camp sees Magnus Bordewick taking to the streets of Scandinavia without care for weathered crete or cobblestone run ups/landings. Despite looking like someone in Maidstone town centre circa 2005 who is either going to aggressively shout the chorus of Sk8er Boi at you or try and mug you, Magnus is solidly stylish on a board with a penchant for massively popped tricks and an ability to navigate the less than perfect terrain offered by Norwegian architecture with the same ease that most would cruise about MACBA. The rewind moments stack up fast in this one despite its comparatively brief timeline, with the need to double check the ground proving too much for me anyway on more than one occasion. That big flip up the long six set in Berlin is worthy of a few watches, while the switch pop shuv which precedes it isnt too shabby either! Thankfully the editing of this piece follows on from the previous edition, eschewing the realist, friends cruising through the streets without much in the way of editing approach of their first couple of releases in favour of a more hammers-centric style. This is probably something to do with Chris Mulhern sitting in the editing chair, a man whose output were always hyped on and whos upcoming Philadelphia based video is bound to be killer peep both the first and second trailers to whet your appetite for that one. It was only this time last year that Magnus alongside our own Kyron Davis were welcomed to the team to join Eric Koston, Guy Mariano, Rodrigo TX, Miles Silvas and Antonio Durao. Now to our minds, following on logically, this hopefully means Kyron has a similar clip on its way to follow this one? Fingers are well and truly crossed! The Associated Press BAYONNE, France.- Basque civil society groups and international observers said that there will be an event next month in southern France that will be key to ending the Basque conflict. Organizers had said that important elements for the process of demobilization of ETA would be announced at their news conference in Bayonne, but they refrained from mentioning the Basque separatist militant group on Monday. Observer Raymond Kendall, former Interpol general secretary, said the May 4 meeting in the French town Cambo-les-Bains near the Spanish border will aim to lay a new stone on the path of a just and lasting peace. We believe this event will be primordial in advancing the definitive peace process. Basque media reported last week that ETA would announce that it was disbanding the first weekend in May. That was followed by ETA taking the unprecedented step of apologizing for some although not all of the more than 800 killings it perpetrated over four decades as part of its struggle for independence for the Basque regions of Spain and France. ETA, which the Spanish government considers a terrorist organization, gave up its armed campaign in 2011 and got rid of its arsenal one year ago. Its dissolution will mark the end of one of Europes last violent nationalist conflicts. Police put hundreds of ETA members behind bars before it stopped killing. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said earlier Monday that ETAs crimes wouldnt go unpunished just because they disband. The Best Little Floorhouse in Texas Your choice for flooring in Central Texas! Your flooring is more than just the surface you walk on it's an integral part of your home. With over 35 years of flooring experience, The Best Little Floorhouse in Texas has the resources and knowled SHEILA BURKE Tennesse, US | April 24 Without knowing who he was or what he might do, police briefly had Travis Reinking in their sights days before the deadly assault on a Waffle House restaurant. Alerted to the theft of a BMW from a car dealer last week, officers decided against a risky police chase, knowing the car had a GPS device and could soon be located. Tambien te puede interesar: Toronto driver charged with 10 counts of 1st degree murder Sure enough, the car was recovered the same day, outside Reinkings apartment. But police didnt figure out who stole it until Sunday, after the Waffle House attack. By then, police say, the 29-year-old with a troubled past used an assault weapon the same AR-15 once taken from him at the FBIs request to kill four people and wound four others. Reinking escaped on foot from the restaurant after a quick-thinking customer wrestled the gun from his grasp, and he shed the only item of clothing he was wearing, a green jacket. By the time he was captured in the woods nearby, police had searched his apartment, and Travis Reinking, suspected of killing four people in a late-night shooting at a Waffle House restaurant, is escorted into the Hill Detention Center in Nashville, Tenn. found the key fob to the stolen BMW. Nashville Police Department Lt. Carlos Lara told reporters that a detective was tipped to the suspects presence by some construction workers, and confronted Reinking, who lay down on the ground to be handcuffed. He carried a black backpack, with a silver semi-automatic weapon and .45-caliber ammunition. Reinking then asked for a lawyer and was taken to a hospital before being booked. He was formally charged late Monday with four counts of criminal homicide. A judge on Tuesday revoked his initial bond of $2 million pending a Wednesday hearing. The arrest ended a 24-hour manhunt involving more than 160 law enforcement officers, but it left troubling unanswered questions about official responses to months of bizarre behavior before the restaurant attack, including encounters with police in Illinois and Colorado and an arrest at the White House that raised red flags. In May 2016, Reinking told deputies from Tazewell County, Illinois, that music superstar Taylor Swift was stalking him and hacking his phone. Reinking agreed to go to a local hospital for an evaluation after repeatedly resisting the request, the sheriffs report said. He would make a similar claim about Swift in Salida, Colorado, nearly a year later, in March 2017, authorities there said. DARLENE S. | KEN THOMAS Washington, US.- Weighing U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear accord, President Donald Trump declared on Tuesday that if the Iranians restart their nuclear program, they will have bigger problems than theyve ever had before. Trump issued his warning alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in the Oval Office, where the two allies discussed the multinational nuclear agreement, the war in Syria and trade issues during a day of meetings at the White House. Speaking at a joint news conference Tuesday, Trump appeared to be more in line with Macrons push for a longer-term U.S. presence in Syria. Trump, who announced weeks ago that he would withdraw American troops, said Macron reinforced the idea of a potential Iranian takeover of territory liberated from the Islamic State group. Well be coming home, Trump said, but we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint. Macron told Trump that together the U.S. and France would defeat terrorism, curtail weapons of mass destruction in North Korea and Iran and act together on behalf of the planet, a reference to Macrons work to revive a U.S. role in the Paris climate accord. As for Iran, Trump was asked by reporters if he might be willing to stay in the Iran agreement. He replied, People know my views on the Iran deal. ... Its insane, its ridiculous. It should have never been made. One of Macrons main objectives during his three-day visit to Washington is to persuade Trump to stay in the accord, which is aimed at restricting Irans development of nuclear weapons. Trump, skeptical of the pacts effectiveness, has been eager to pull out as a May 12 deadline nears. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned the Trump administration that pulling out would undermine Americas talks with North Korea by proving the U.S. reneges on its promises. He told The Associated Press in an interview that if Trump withdraws, Iran would most likely abandon the deal as well. UQROO INTERNACIONAL.- As part of the activities that promote the integral education of its students, the University of Quintana Roo will organize the conference Charismatic Leadership. The Formula of Charisma , delivered by Alper Almelek, TEDx speaker. The event will be held on May 2nd and 3rd at the Presidents Room of the University of Quintana Roo, from 6 to 8 pm. Tambien te puede interesar: New lynching memorial evokes terror of victims The topics covered in the conference include charismatic leadership, the formula of charisma, visionary leadership and workers motivation. Its purpose is to raise the awareness of charisma, its diverse definitions, sources and styles, in addition to viable advice on the use of charisma in a more effective way. The conference will also mention interesting scientific experiments on charisma from several institutions from around the world. The conference is highly interactive; the audience will feel the impulse to get involved with questions and ways to use charisma. There are also some activities that the audience will perform during the presentation, such as meditation and conversation exercises. Alper Almelek was born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1971. He studied Political Science at the University of Southern Maine and music (opera and piano) at Sonoma State University. Since 2011 he serves as president of two companies: Almelek Co., (www.almelek.com) and VAmatco Co. (www.vamatco.com). He began his career as a lecturer and speaker on April 2, 2016, when he gave the conference Leadership and Shakespeare at TEDx, at the University of Bahcesehir. Erika Kinetz INTERNATIONAL.- It was looking like a banner year for business in China. The U.S. clothing company was expecting a 20 percent jump in online sales on Alibabas Tmall, thanks to the e-commerce giants massive reach. But executives soon learned that what Alibaba gives, it can also take away. The company refused to sign an exclusive contract with Alibaba, and instead participated in a big sale promotion with its archrival, JD.com Inc. Tmall punished them by taking steps to cut traffic to their storefront, two executives told The Associated Press. They said advertising banners vanished from prominent spots in Tmall sales showrooms, the company was blocked from special sales and products stopped appearing in top search results. Tambien te puede interesar: Clinton: Free press is under open assault in Trump era The well-known American brand saw its Tmall sales plummet 10 to 20 percent for the year. Based on our sales record, we should have been in a prominent position, but we were at the bottom of the page, said the brands e-commerce director, who spoke only on condition of anonymity for fear of further retaliation. Thats a clear manipulation of traffic. Thats a clear punishment. As the Trump administration pushes China to play by fair trade rules, companies are caught in a quieter but no less crucial struggle for fair access to a $610 billion online marketplace, an AP investigation has found. Executives from five major consumer brands told the AP that after they refused to enter exclusive partnerships with Alibaba, traffic to their Tmall storefronts fell, hurting sales. Three are American companies with billions in annual sales that rely on China for growth. One of the most remarkable things about the tax bill Republicans passed last year was how it took a rotary saw to the mortgage interest deduction. The benefit for homeowners was once considered a politically untouchable upper-middle-class entitlement, but the GOP aggressively curtailed it in order to pay for cuts elsewhere in the tax code. This week, Congresss Joint Committee on Taxation offered new projections showing just how radical this move was. The report predicts that just 13.8 million households will subtract mortgage interest from their 2018 returns, down from 32.3 million in 2017. The total cost of the deduction will fall from $59.9 billion to $25 billiona drop of about 58 percent.* Advertisement At the same time, the deductions benefits will become more skewed toward the wealthy. Come next tax season, about 24 percent of the deductions benefits will go to households earning more than $500,000, up from about 12.4 percent this year. The MID has long been criticized for being a large giveaway to well-off blue staters with expensive homes. Going forward, it will be a smaller giveaway but an even more regressive one. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Why did the GOPs reforms work out that way? In order to simplify and cut taxes for many middle-income households, lawmakers doubled the standard deduction that most Americans take on their returns. As a result, many fewer taxpayers will bother to itemize any deductions, including the one for mortgage interest, in the future. Those who do will likely tend to be wealthier households with bigger home loans to pay off. Congress did take steps to limit the deduction for wealthy taxpayers too; homeowners can only claim interest on up to $750,000 worth of mortgage debt, down from $1 million previously. But the end result is a rump artifact of the tax code more geared than ever to the McMansion set. Advertisement Advertisement Which is why, if Democrats ever get a chance to kill off the vestigial remains of the mortgage interest deduction down the line, they might as well. At this point, getting rid of the MID would impact relatively few households, and the economic effects would probably be minimal. The major concern that some writers, myself included, voiced about slashing the mortgage interest deduction overnight was that it could end up bringing down home values in some parts of the country, hurting the major source of American middle-class savings. But at this point, theres little evidence thats happening (or, to be blunt, I might have been worrying about nothing). Outside of a few select (and extremely luxe) markets like Manhattan, home prices still seem to be rising quickly, and even accelerating. While its possible theyd be rocketing up even faster if Republicans hadnt diluted some of the tax benefits of homeownership, or that the new tax law will become more of a drag as people get more familiar with it, theres no sign of an imminent crash. For now, any negative effect of the tax law seems to have been drowned out by a healthy economy. And if problems do emerge down the line, junking the diminished remnants of the deduction probably wont make them all that much worse. In the meantime, Democrats could use the money for a more worthwhile causelike providing housing help for the people who actually need it. More than 80 years ago, the federal Home Owners Loan Corporation released its Residential Security maps, guides of American cities for lenders and brokers infamous for the color they used to condemn black neighborhoods to decades of disinvestment: red. The four-tiered HOLC maps worked to both hamper black home-buying and quash its gains, setting in motion a racial disparity in home values that helps explain todays racial wealth gap. In some cases, redlining reflected the overcrowded housing conditions characteristic of American ghettos, where black familiesdenied access to most of the citywere forced to pay exorbitant rates for substandard apartments. But in other cases, the designation simply marked the presence of any black residents at all. Older ethnic neighborhoods with a mix of residences and businesses, such as Manhattans Lower East Side and Bostons South End, were also redlined. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 2016 Mapping Inequality project, produced by the University of Richmonds Digital Scholarship Lab and a whole host of other researchers, knitted the HOLC maps together in a searchable digital interface. Zillow has used that project to show how the correlation between home values and redlining endures, 50 years after the 1968 Fair Housing Act outlawed the practice. Nationally, the median home value in redlined areas is $276,100, compared with $324,489 outside of thema difference of nearly $50,000. Advertisement How much of this is actually due to redlining, rather than just correlated with it? Researchers from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, also working off of Mapping Inequality, estimated in August that although HOLC maps did sometimes describe conditions on the ground, they also determined what would happen. The team showed that redlining alone accounted for 15 to 30 percent of the gap in segregation and homeownership between redlined, or D-grade, areas and yellow, or C-grade, neighborhoods. (Other studies have shown similar long-term causation related to redlining.) But those researchers came away with another interesting finding: The effects of redlining have decreased since the passage of the Fair Housing Act, and differences in home values and homeownership have largely dissipated between D and C areasand are now more pronounced between C and B areas (blue on the old HOLC maps). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whats most striking about the Zillow data is how much variation there is between cities. Researchers from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition had previously determined that redlined neighborhoods in Sun Belt cities were more likely to have remained segregated, despite evidence of the regions general integration. They also found redlined neighborhoods in the South and West still had the highest degrees of economic inequality. In Tampa and Atlanta, Zillow found that homes redlined in the 1930s arent worth even half as much as neighboring properties. In Baltimore, Dallas, Miami, and Detroit, the value is only just higher than half. The largest dollar gapmore than $500,000not surprisingly is in the super-expensive California market of Los Angeles, with San Francisco close behind. One thing several of those cities have in common: high postwar growth. What was redlined in the 1930s today marks a very small fraction of the city. Advertisement Then there are cities like Seattle, Columbus, New York (Manhattan only), and St. Louis, where home prices dont really change in and out of redlined areas. And finally, weve got Denver, Portland, Boston, and Minneapolis, cities in which redlined homes are worth more now than their nonredlined counterparts. All four had very small black populations in 1940, indicating that the old HOLC maps may not have neatly matched up to the ensuing decades of racially motivated disinvestment. And three of those citiesDenver, Portland, and Minneapolisranked among the top five American cities for tracts that gentrified between 2000 and 2010. Kanye West is stirring up controversyand letting his conservative flag flyonce again. The rapper, who just days ago praised Candace Owens, the communications director of Turning Point USA, has recently garnered a number of allies on the right: Alex Jones applauded the artist in a video published Monday, and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk also delighted in Wests support. Now, West, who tweeted and deleted some Trump praise back in 2017, has returned to Twitter and is once again using the platform to express his opinions about the president. Advertisement In a series of tweets posted Wednesday, West said that, while he doesnt agree 100% with Trump, the mob cant make me not love him. In the same tweetstorm, West also voiced support for Hillary Clinton, though his most eyebrow-raising tweets featured a signed MAGA hat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought. ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 Advertisement If your friend jumps off the bridge you don't have to do the same. Ye being Ye is a fight for you to be you. For people In my life the idea of Trump is pretty much a 50 50 split but I don't tell a Hillary supporter not to support Hillary I love Hillary too. ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 I love when people have their own ideas. You don't have to be allowed anymore. Just be. Love who you want to love. That's free thought. I'm not even political. I'm not a democrat or a republican ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement And also I'm all the way out the sunken place. And I'm not scared anymore. I'm not scared of the media. I'm not scared of the past and I'm optimistic about the future. This tweet is in love not fear. ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 Advertisement no race religion region or political party can argue with the power of love ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 Advertisement my wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone. I don't agree with everything Trump does. I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself. ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 Advertisement my MAGA hat is signed pic.twitter.com/DrDHJybS8V KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 Advertisement West wore the hat, apparently the same one signed by Trump, in a selfie with Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge and YouTube Head of Music Lyor Cohen.* we got love pic.twitter.com/Edk0WGscp6 KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of the men with his arm around West (probably Cohen, who is the center) appears to be giving the OK hand gesture in the photo, which is itself somewhat fraught with controversy: It has been compared to one of the hand gestures meaning white power, but the Anti-Defamation League has called that comparison a hoax, ruling that the familiar gesture is not a hate symbol. Advertisement West has been hospitalized for mental health issues in the past, leading several gossip outlets to speculate that these latest comments, as well as Wests decision to part ways with his longtime manager, are the result of mental health issues. Twitter commentators have also been referencing Jordan Peeles Get Out in response to the controversy, saying that West is in his own sunken place. Advertisement *Gets inspired *Starts writing Get Out 2 https://t.co/zqOW6Xxx9v Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) April 25, 2018 Wests wife, Kim Kardashian, pushed back against those claims, stating that Kanye will never run in the race of popular opinion and we know that and thats why I love him and respect him. Advertisement To the media trying to demonize my husband let me just say this... your commentary on Kanye being erratic & his tweets being disturbing is actually scary. So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) April 25, 2018 Advertisement Yesterday it was announced that Kanye had parted ways with some business people and media outlets made this about Kanyes mental health. Rather than just a simple business decision. So Im glad he tweeted about the state of his company and all of the exciting things happening Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) April 25, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement Hes a free thinker, is that not allowed in America? Because some of his ideas differ from yours you have to throw in the mental health card? Thats just not fair. Hes actually out of the sunken place when hes being himself which is very expressive Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) April 25, 2018 Now when he spoke out about Trump... Most people (including myself) have very different feelings & opinions about this. But this is HIS opinion. I believe in people being able to have their own opinions,even if really different from mine He never said he agrees with his politics Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) April 25, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement Kanye will never run in the race of popular opinion and we know that and thats why I love him and respect him and in a few years when someone else says the same exact thing but they arent labeled the way he is and you will all praise them! Kanye is years ahead of his time Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) April 25, 2018 Mental Health is no joke and the media needs to stop spitting that out so casually. Bottom line Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) April 25, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trumps, for their part, seem to be returning the love for the Kardashian-Wests: Thank you Kanye, very cool! https://t.co/vRIC87M21X Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement The actress Margo Martindale appeared in a number of feature films and television series before winning an Emmy for her role as Mags Bennett in the FX show Justified at the age of 60. But she has probably become best known for her recurring role on another FX series, The Americans, which is currently in its final season. She plays Claudia, the handler of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, a seemingly normal (albeit gorgeous) American couple who are in fact Russian spies in Gorbachev-era Washington, D.C. (They are played by Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, who became a couple in real life.) Claudia, alternately ruthless and nurturing, has very little in common with Mags Bennett, the fierce matriarch of a Kentucky crime family; all of Martindales performances come with unique shadings and surprising depth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I recently spoke by phone with Martindale, who was promoting The Americans as it approaches its final episode next month. (Disclosure: The Americans was created by Joe Weisberg, brother of The Slate Groups editor in chief Jacob Weisberg.) During the course of our conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity, we discussed becoming famous late in life, why TV demands a different type of acting, and what her previous career as a private investigator has in common with her current one. Isaac Chotiner: A lot of actors reach fame or fortune early in their lives. How do you think it is different when you become well known later in life? Margo Martindale: Well, it certainly couldnt have been better for me. I dont know how it would have been. I loved that it makes life so much fuller this way. It made me work harder. It made me need things. If you need things, you work harder to get them. Im delighted with how my career unfolded. Advertisement Do you think its often harder for younger actors or actresses when they make it big at a young age? I think it is really hard. What do you have to look forward to? Try and match what you did last? I like to see if I can get something better next. Advertisement Tell me a little bit about what you were doing before you started. I noticed your first movie credit was Days of Thunder, that Tom Cruise movie. Everybody has talked about Days of Thunder today. That is so hilarious. Whos talking about Days of Thunder? I played Donna, the pit girl. I do not remember you, Im sorry to say. No, I dont remember me either, but Im there. Advertisement OK, so what led you to get into movies? Advertisement I had done plays all my life. Many, many, many plays, off-Broadway plays. Finally, Broadway plays. I did a play that became extremely famous called Steel Magnolias, and everybody in Hollywood came to see it. I was on the list of people to see when movie [people] would come to town. Thats how I got in the movies. Youve done a lot of plays, a lot of movies, a lot of television. Do you enjoy one more than the other? I love television because its the most alive, because you dont know how its going to end. Its a living thing. Sometimes the writers are watching you to see how things will unfold. Sometimes the writers have written it, and you come to it, and they have to change their way of going because of what youve done. You inspire them, and they inspire you. In movies, theyre written. Its done. In plays, its a beginning, a middle, and an end. Thats the difference. I love all of them. Everything comes from the same place, but in plays you have to transmit it in a different way. Advertisement Advertisement It seems like it would be difficult to act in an episode not knowing your characters full arc. I suppose you could say thats the way real life is. But there might be things that will develop later about your character that youd want to examine or exhibit earlier that you dont get to because you dont know where your character is going. I dont find it difficult. If the people who are running the show are smart enough, theyll tell me, You cant do that because of something thats going to happen. The Americans would definitely say, when I would do something, to change it sometimes from being too hard, too tough, or too emotional. Advertisement Advertisement And that was because they had an idea of the way the character would develop eventually? They knew how the character was going to end. I finally did around Episode 5 of this season. Most of the time, I had no idea. They knew how the character was going to end. I finally did around Episode 5 of this season. Most of the time I had no idea. If you think back on your Justified character, do you see her as much different from Claudia? Let me just say, Justified is a single thing all by itself because it was sort of a gift from God for me. It was a coming together of all the things that I am and all of my imagination. I didnt need to put it past anyone because I knew where I was going, what I was doing. I knew that I knew what I was talking about doing that part. Advertisement Advertisement What was it about the character? My background. My insanity. My playing in the backyard playing different people. It was the most child-like Ive been. I dont mean Mags Bennett was child-like, but it was the purest Ive been ever. Is that an unalloyed good for a person doing a performance, or is it emotionally draining in some way? It was exhilarating. It was like flying to me. How is this character on The Americans different from that? That is a person that is boxed up in ironclad handcuffs and buttoned down. Id never done that before. I was excited at what came out. Exact opposite of Mags Bennett, exactly the opposite. What has it been like to do the show as Russia has become such front-page news? Has it changed the way you think about the show youre doing at all? Advertisement No, I dont think it changed anything about how they wrote the show because they had no idea what was going to happen, so I think they stayed true to their voice on how they wanted to write it. If there were any parallels, so be it. Advertisement I only understand I have a deeper understanding of spies. Advertisement Advertisement Say more. I understand that there are spies living among us at all times. I have enjoyed being a spy because I am kind of a spy in my own life. How do you mean? Well, I spy on people I want to play. Ive always been observant of people. I think that to be a spy, and in fact I was a private investigator during a time of my life Advertisement We cant skip over that. When were you a private investigator? I was Margo Martindale, private dick. I was. For how long? For about maybe a year, but probably more like eight months. I was a private investigator during the day, and I was doing a play at the Manhattan Theatre Club at night. When you started saying this, I thought the two roles do have something in common. They do have something in common. Thats the interesting thing about it. You need to be able to read people. I think thats how I was chosen as a soldier, how Claudia was chosen, because they could see that I was intuitive. Youd better be intuitive if you act, too. Advertisement Robert Mueller should send you to Moscow. Advertisement [Laughs.] How does it feel to have the show coming to an end? Do you want to do another long series? Absolutely. I always want it to be long, most of them. Ill truly miss seeing Keri and Matthew and [the executive producers]. [Referring to a publicity person listening in] Ill see her. Ill see these girls. Dont you worry about that. Its different from doing a play because then youre with the people every single day. The family is much tighter, much closer, much more focused. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys fell in love on the set though. Yeah, but they were there a lot more than I was. Lets just say that. A federal judge in Washington has issued the most resounding rejection yet of the Trump administrations justification for dismantling the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, ruling on Tuesday not only that the administration must continue to allow Dreamers to apply for renewal but that it must also accept new applications. It is the third ruling against the administration by a federal judge since the administration rescinded DACA starting in Marchjudges in California and New York have previously ruled that the Department of Homeland Security must process renewal applications, which is what DHS is doing nowand it would essentially restore the DACA program to its pre-Trump days. However, the judge, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, placed a 90-day stay on his ruling to allow DHS to submit a more adequate justification for its decision to end the program. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The decision, the judge ruled, was virtually unexplained, as well as arbitrary and capricious. As a result, it was unlawful. According to the Washington Post, the Trump administration argued that because Texas and other states threatened to sue over DACA, and because the Trump administration believed that the program would not survive a court challenge, it decided to end the program. The threat of a lawsuit, Bates ruled, was not a sufficient justification. Donald Trump, echoing arguments long made by conservative opponents to the program, had consistently argued that President Barack Obama had overstepped his constitutional authority in creating the program. When the administration announced it was ending the program, Trump urged Congress to find a solution and at times used DACA for leverage in negotiations over the budget, with an aim to secure funding for a border wall. Congress failed to reach an agreement that would protect the Dreamers. Trump seemed to pull back his support for the young immigrants. Advertisement Tuesdays case was brought by the NAACP, Microsoft, and Princeton University. In a statement in response, the Justice Department said that the Trump administration was reviewing the decision and that ending DACA was simply intended to protect the border and enforce the law. Todays order doesnt change the Department of Justices position on the facts: DACA was implemented unilaterally after Congress declined to extend benefits to this same group of illegal aliens, spokesman Devin OMalley said in a statement. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously defend this position. Around 700,000 dreamersundocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children, before age 16are currently protected by DACA. If the Trump administration fails to submit a more satisfying reason for the programs termination, thousands more could apply. The good news keeps coming for Democrats, even when they lose. On Tuesday, Democrat Hiral Tipirneni lost Arizonas special election to Republican Debbie Lesko, but by just 5 percentage points in a district that Donald Trump won by more than 20 less than two years ago. It was the ninth special election for federal office during Trumps presidency, and the Democratic candidate in all nine has outperformed the partisan lean of their district, by an average in the double digits. Advertisement Democrats are celebrating the Arizona margin as another sign that they can retake the House in November. But how far ahead are Democrats, really, a little more than six months out from Election Day? And what will that mean for how many seats they might eventually take? There are a whopping 147 GOP-held House seats that are less Republican than Arizonas 8th, according to the Cook Political Report. Democrats can take control of the House by flipping just two dozen of them, a number history suggests should be within reach for a minority party. As of last week, Cooks nonpartisan handicappers gave Democrats a realistic chance to win 56 GOP-held seats, with another 28 having the potential to become competitive before November. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Arizona results suggest Democrats might be able to put even more Republican seats in play than previously thought. The 8th Congressional District was rated an R+13 in Cooks Partisan Voting Index, owing to its heavy concentration of GOP voters, which includes a number of reliably Republican retirees. Tipirneni beat the partisan lean by 20 points according to FiveThirtyEight, which uses a weighted average of recent presidential vote tallies to set expectations. She beat the lean by 31 points according to the New York Times, which used the most recent congressional election in the district as a baseline. (Democrats didnt even bother to run a candidate in the 8th in the past two cycles, though that also speaks to how surprising Tuesdays results were.) While those numbers put Tipirneni near the top of the list of performers relative to expectations, shes hardly an outlier. By FiveThirtyEights count, the Democratic candidate outperformed the partisan lean by an average of 17 points in the other seven special elections in GOP-held districts since Trump took office. (Democrats easily defended the only U.S. House seatin Southern Californiathat came up during that time.) Advertisement The fact that Democrats keep overperforming in districts of all different shapes and sizes should strike fear into the 156 Republicans whose seats are currently considered locks to stay red. As Cook editor David Wasserman conceded as the Arizona results were coming in, Its time to start rethinking how many of those are truly safe in November. Advertisement Still, Democrats can have the wind at their backs but still not be able to reclaim the House this November. Thanks to gerrymandering, geographical quirks, and other factors, the GOP has a sizable built-in advantage in the midterms. Some experts, like those at the Brennan Center for Justice, believe that Democrats will need to win the national vote by nearly 11 points to retake control of the House in the midterms. They currently only enjoy a 5.5-point lead in an unweighted running average of the generic ballot, and a 7-point lead in weighted ones. Advertisement Advertisement Its not entirely clear why those polls diverge so much from the special election results. Its plausible that the generic ballot will move in the direction of the special election results as November draws near, and voters start paying more attention and pollsters focus more on likely voters. But its also possible that once pollsters stop asking about generic candidates and start asking about specific ones, the advantages of incumbency will kick in. According to FairVote, incumbents have outperformed the partisanship of their district by roughly 5 points since 2000. That number has fallen in recent cycles, but it still stood at 3.2 points in 2016. While the growing list of Republican retirements means many battleground districts wont have a GOP incumbent, those Congress members who are running will have a built-in advantageone that the Republicans running in special elections to fill vacant seats didnt have. Advertisement Advertisement Democrats have also benefited from the fact that the GOPs special-election candidates have been anything but generic. Roy Moore was credibly accused of being a child sex predator during his Alabama Senate campaign. Greg Gianforte body-slammed a reporter the day before his at-large House election in Montana. Rick Saccone was a forgotten man even in the heat of his Pennsylvania campaign. Trump may be the defining political issue of the moment, but candidates still matter at the local level. While Democrats have had an easier time recruiting this cycle, Republicans will have far more Debbie Leskos on the November ballot than Roy Moores. And all but the most seriously flawed candidates are likely to go unnoticed by a national press corps spread thin trying to cover 100 House races. Advertisement You also dont need to look into the future to see the steep hill Democrats need to overcome in conservative districts this fall. Despite the anti-Trump energy fueling the party, Democrats won only two of the eight federal special elections for GOP-controlled seats since Trump took office: Conor Lambs House victory in western Pennsylvania last month and Doug Jones Senate stunner in Alabama last December. The party lost the rest, including this weeks election in Arizona and last years election in Kansas, both of which saw the Democrat beat recent partisan trends by about 20 points apiece and still come up short. Likewise, Democrats also lost last summer in Georgia, where Karen Handel survived a well-organized challenge in an affluent Atlanta suburb from Democrat Jon Ossoff and last spring in Montana, where Gianforte did his best WWE impression. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those losses have mostly been forgotten as Democrats posted a pair of recent upset victories, and nearly made it three in a row on Tuesday. National Republicans invested heavily in Lesko to break their losing streak and prove they can still win somewhere this cycle. But the narrative that Democrats are on track for a massive blue wave will be tougher to beat. Democrats, after all, dont need to win everywhere in November. They just need to win in a few dozen districts that are more hospitable than the one where they nearly pulled off another shocker this week. On Friday, the news broke that Gilberto Escamilla, also known as the Fajita Bandit, had been handed a sentence of 50 years in prison for his near-decade-long fajita scam. Fans and admirers were saddened. Escamillas escapades came to an end in August, when a delivery truck carrying 800 pounds of fajitas arrived at the Darrel B. Hester Juvenile Detention Center in San Benito, Texas, according to the Brownsville Herald. The driver called the kitchen to ask where he should unload the fajitas, and the woman who answered the phone told the driver that the center did not serve fajitas. Confused, the driver told her he had been delivering fajitas there for nine years. Advertisement Unfortunately for Escamilla, who was working at the facility at the time, he had taken the day off to go to a medical appointment and wasnt there to intercept the delivery. Otherwise, things would have continued as they had for nearly a decade, with him placing orders of meat with county funds and reselling it to, often enough, regular customers who preordered. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police searched Escamillas house and found packages of fajita meat in his refrigerator. Ultimately, investigators concluded that he had stolen more than $1.2 million through the scheme. Escamilla confessed and pleaded guilty to his charges. It was selfish, Escamilla said while testifying, according to the Brownsville Herald. It started small and got bigger and out of control. Advertisement Escamilla was convicted under the charges of theft by a public servant, a distinction Texas makes that added to what would otherwise still be a first-degree felony. According to Texas Monthly: The theory behind that is that theft committed by a private individual harms the person or people who were stolen from; but theft by a public servant harms the taxpayers who pay their salary, and harms society at large by eroding trust in those whove agreed to serve us. In cases where a public employee is accused of stealing less than $300,000, charges involving public servants using their official positions to facilitate the crime are automatically escalated to the next-highest level of felony. In Escamillas case, the value of the meat he stole meant that it was already the highest class of felonywhich helps explain why his sentence was so high. Escamilla, 53, was also ordered to pay back the cost of the fajitas. In a rousing speech before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron criticized trade wars, celebrated international institutions, rejected extreme nationalism, stood up for science, expressed hopes that the United States would one day return to the Paris talks on climate change, and defended the Iran nuclear deal. In short, the morning after a lavish White House state dinner and reports of a blooming bromance between the French and American presidents, Macron took several serious jabs at the policies and beliefs of his host, Donald Trump. Advertisement At times, his nearly hour-long speech resembled a modern State of the Union, with lawmakers in half the chamberin this case, the Democratic halfrising and cheering lustily, while those in the other half clapped politely or sat on their hands. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Macrons critiques, which started out subtle, soon grew so pointed that one wondered if, with each passing moment, he was wrecking the charm campaign that hed been workingsmiling at Trumps jokes, placing a hand on his knee as they sat side by sidesince his trip to Washington began. The biggest item on Macrons agenda for the trip is to persuade Trump to stay in the Iran nuclear deal. After their meetings on Tuesday, Trumpwho has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the dealseemed willing to find a way to stay on board. But after Macron recited his defense of the deal and his critique of Trumps position in such a public and political forum on Wednesday, one wonders if Trump might react by burrowing back into his shell. Advertisement Macron did acknowledge that the original deal with Iran has problems, and he declared as a common objective that Iran should never have any nuclear weapons. (One critique of the deal is that some of its provisions expire in 2025.) However, he also said, There is an existing frameworknamely, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the technical term for the Iran nuclear dealand, after all, we signed itwe cannot say we should get rid of it. In recent weeks, the European leaders who co-signed the deal have been searching for a way to revise or extend its terms so that Trump will stay in. Echoing his comments following his meeting with Trump a day earlier, Macron expressed support for a more comprehensive agreement, which would stretch the deals restrictions on Irans nuclear program beyond 2025, address Irans ballistic missile program, and create conditions for a political solution to contain Irans activities in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. Advertisement Advertisement We signed it we cannot say we should get rid of it. Emmanuel Macron However, Macron emphasized, these extensions needed to build on the existing frameworknot to replace it or throw it out. Iranian officials have derided the notion of changing the deal, which international inspectors have saidand even Trump officials have admittedIran is fully obeying. However, some European officials have suggested that negotiators from the countries that hammered out the deal might discuss a supplemental to the accord, in the same way that SovietAmerican arms-control treaties built on each other during the Cold War. However, the prospects seem grim. Those early arms-control treaties were strictly limited to the subject of nuclear weapons. The treaties were hailed as advances toward detente, even at a time when Moscow was supporting anti-Western regimes and revolutionsas well as building up its non-nuclear military forces in Eastern Europe. Advertisement Advertisement Similarly, the powers that negotiated the nuclear deal with Iranthe five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain), plus Germany and a delegation from the European Unionall deliberately kept non-nuclear issues out of these talks. No one contested that Iran had expansionist intentions in the Middle East, but they reasoned that an expansionist Iran without nuclear weapons was preferable to one with nuclear weapons. Certainly Iran would not agree to further restrictions on its policies unless, at minimum, there were further relaxations of sanctions on its economy. Yet no leadernot Trump, Macron, or anyone elsehas proposed any specific accommodations. In fact, some sanctions, which should have been lifted, are still in place; and Trumps repeated threats to re-impose all sanctions have discouraged many American and European companies from doing business with Iran out of fear they might have to pull outand thus lose their investmentsif Trump carries out his threats. Trumps next big decision on these matters comes May 12, when he will either sign another waiver extending sanctions relief, as he has done twice already, or pull out of the deal and crack down. He has said hes inclined to do the latter. Macrons bonhomie in their private meetings seemed to have softened Trumps stance. Well soon see whether his tougher talk in publicand the roaring cheers from congressional Democratsmight harden it again. White House budget czar Mick Mulvaney told banking executives that while he was serving in congress before joining the Trump administration, he enacted a pay-to-play scheme for lobbyists looking to meet with him. We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress. If youre a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didnt talk to you, Mulvaney explained to the 1,300 banking industry officials at the American Bankers Association conference. If youre a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you. Advertisement This alarming anecdote came as part of a larger call by Mulvaney encouraging banks to aggressively pursue their agenda with lawmakers. The comments raise a number of pretty clear cut ethical, much less legal issues, one of which is that Mulvaney currently presides over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the interim director of the very body thats supposed to protect individuals from unseemly (and illegal) banking and lending schemes. Mulvaneys comments Tuesday laid bare the conflicts of interest present in his running of the Obama-era financial regulator into the ground, while also raising obvious questions about his time as a legislator. The Trump administration generally, and Mulvaney specifically, have not done much to hide their disdain for the consumer protection mandate given the CFPB in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and have intermittently worked to roll back its authority where possible and sabotage it elsewhere. Hours after being released from prison Tuesday, rapper Meek Mill made an emotional appearance at the 76ers playoff game. Mill, born and raised in Philadelphia, had the support of the organization and in particular one of its owners, Michael* Rubin, in his high-profile legal battle against a controversial sentence of two to four years in prison for a 2017 probation violation stemming from a 10-year-old conviction. Mill, whose legal name is Robert Rihmeek Williams, served nearly five months of that sentence, before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the 30-year-old rappers immediate release on bail Tuesday. Advertisement After leaving jail, Mill, who was a frequent presence at Sixers games before his imprisonment, was helicoptered to Tuesday nights game 5 of the Sixers v. Miami Heat series. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement #Repost @meekmilly215_ #meekmill A post shared by Meek Mill (@meekmill) on Apr 24, 2018 at 4:55pm PDT Advertisement Meek Mill is in the building for Game 5. pic.twitter.com/m8oH7j1BwX NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 24, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement Sixers run out to Meek Mills Ima Boss pic.twitter.com/nL87FnPPZB Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 24, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement Mills probation violation stemmed from a 2008 drug and gun conviction for which he served eight months in jail and was then put on probation for five years, which was extended several times. Meek has maintained his innocence of the original charge and looks set to get a retrial after the officer most involved in the case has since being found to be deeply corrupt in dozens of cases by an internal police review. The years-long sentencing for a parole violation outraged criminal justice reform activists as a miscarriage of justice and an example of the unfairness of a criminal justice system stacked against black men. A woman with multiple sclerosis has claimed that Delta Air Lines employees tied her forcefully to her wheelchair with a dirty blanket off the floor because they did not have the proper chair to accommodate her disability. Maria Saliagas told WSB-TV in Atlanta on Tuesday that Delta usually provides a wheelchair with straps to help her sit up. Her son, Nathan, also claimed that the blanket left her with bruises and that a supervisor cursed at her as she cried. Advertisement #Delta used a dirty blanket off of the floor to tie my mom to a broken wheelchair, with it so tight that it bruised her. Delta supervisor then cursed at her as she cried. How dare you @Delta. Your answer was miles. My demand is refund. Shameful. #abuse pic.twitter.com/H3XUFX0jxa Nathan Saliagas (@SaliagasNathan) April 2, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When she started crying, she was told to shut the fuck up or she will be left there, Nathan Saliagas said in a Facebook post afterward. This highly inhumane and disgusting treatment by Delta Airlines is unacceptable and a need for change. Advertisement A Delta representative sent WSB-TV a statement saying the airline had reached out to the family about their concerns, though it didnt address the accuracy of the familys statement. We regret the perception our service has left on these customers, the statement said. Saliagas told the station she flew out of Atlanta on April 1 and arrived in Amsterdam, where the incident took place. The family says they complained to Delta, and Delta offered them 20,000 SkyMiles as compensation. The son asked for a reimbursement for the flight in his tweet. According to the Associated Press, the family also is seeking a policy change regarding how Delta accommodates people with disabilities. Nathan Saliagas said he has filed a complaint to federal transportation officials. While Mark Zuckerbergs congressional testimony over the Cambridge Analytica fallout earlier this month may have seemed more beneficial to meme-makers than to policymakers at the time, the introduction of new data privacy legislation in the Senate this week shows that the two-day circus wasnt all for naught. The bill, the Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act of 2018, has already garnered bipartisan support, and would require websites such as Facebook and Google to provide consumers with a copy of the data thats being collected on them, a list of third parties that have had access to that data, and to notify users within 72 hours if their data is mishandled. Slates April Glaser assesses the sweeping new bill, and how deep the support for reining in the sprawling online data collection industry really goes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To succeed, this new legislation will also need the support of privacy activists. But as Glaser argues in her Slate cover story this week, the usual ferocity of these watchdogs was noticeably absent from discussion surrounding the recent Facebook fallout. When moments that capture public outrage over digital privacy issues come along so infrequently, will their silence mean well miss the opportunity for change? Elsewhere on Future Tense, Rachel Withers looks at one obvious precedent for data protections that policymakers might be missing: the Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act. Starting in 2000, the bill mandated certain data protections to internet users under 13. But, as Withers argues, with the digital savvy of kids today, it might make more sense to extend those protections to us clueless adults. Until then, if you want to seem less childish talking about the politics of Facebook, its worth reading up on the platforms new content moderation guidelines, the new AI Zuckerberg claims is on the way to combat hate speech, and whether the platform could use the massive amount of data it collects to combat racism. Advertisement Other things we read this week between revisiting Neopets with Chrissy Teigen: Good news for cheap music lovers: Can Spotifys upgrades to its free service help it keep an advantage over Apple Music? Advertisement Social justice: Orem Samet asks how much blame Facebook should take for tragic ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. Alexa untethered: Amazon wants to build a mobile home robot that can go where Alexa cant. The Peoples Republic of Desire: A new documentary shows the dark side of online fame in China. CryptoKitties: Meg Charlton writes about what the manic markets for trading technicolor blockchain cats might have in store for the future of art. Coming to a Netflix near you: Netflixs new disruption? Building the same physical theaters its tried to compete with. Muting all spoilers, Tonya Riley For Future Tense Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University. Bad Lip Reading, a popular YouTube channel that distorts footage by dubbing it absurdly, has released a video parodying Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergs hearing before Congress. Lawmakers requested that Zuckerberg appear before House and Senate committees earlier this month in light of revelations that political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed personal info from up to 87 million accounts. Zuckerberg offered a contrite testimony in which he apologized for mishandling the data and promised to improve Facebooks privacy practices. Advertisement Bad Lip Reading eschews this somber tone in its reimagining of the hearings, instead having the legislators ramble incoherently about trucks and treehouses while Zuckerberg lashes out at them. Below, you can watch Zuckerberg obnoxiously slurping water, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham singing Judy Moonlight, and other ridiculous exchanges. Advertisement Advertisement On April 16, the Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor began blocking Telegram, an encrypted messaging app created by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov that has more than 200 million users worldwide. The apps developers had previously refused to provide the countrys Federal Security Service with encryption keys that would give the government access to users communications, and a Russian court ultimately handed down a decision to ban Telegram. Roskomnadzor has cast a very wide net in its suppression, going so far as to block IP addresses owned by Google and Amazon that are associated with Telegram services. Millions of other IP addresses for local companies and individuals that reportedly have no relation to Telegram have also been blocked. Advertisement In order to better understand the Telegram ban against the wider backdrop of internet freedom in Russia, I spoke Tuesday with Tanya Lokot, an assistant professor at Dublin City University who studies digital media and internet freedom in Russia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Below is a transcript of the interview, which has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Aaron Mak: What role did Telegram play in Russia prior to the ban? Tanya Lokot: Its not the most popular social media platformit doesnt have nearly as many users as Facebook or WhatsApp. But it was a messenger developed by a team and founder that had a history with Russia, and in building the app, they made the point that this was something made for Russia with the situation in the country in mind. Many people saw it truly as an alternative space for debate and discourse. Its not just individual users talking to each other anymore. By adding the channel functionality and chats, they really created this space where there are a lot of political debates happening. There is a lot of news-related content that is being shared and discussed. And so I do think it had this role as an elite and political space, which many people also saw as a protected space because Telegram insists on the fact that all the communications are end-to-end encrypted. People saw this as a safe space to express themselves and debate political and social issues. Advertisement Advertisement What kind of activity would the Russian government want to monitor or stymie on Telegram? There are several fairly popular accounts that share political news and commentary. Some of these accounts actually claim to be insiders within the Kremlin. They leak behind-the-scenes stuff or provide commentary on things that happen within the government. There are also a lot of different channels and chats that focus specifically on very narrow issues. I, by virtue of doing the work that I do, follow a few channels that focus on information security. They share recommendations and discuss cases, like when somebody gets arrested and prosecuted for doing something online. They have that space to debate those things as well and offer valuable tips on how to make your internet experience more secure. Advertisement Advertisement These people may or may not be persecuted on the wider Russian internet, but they found that Telegram for them is a more focused way to get to their target audience. Some of the major independent Russian media outlets have their own Telegram channels, which they use to share and push out news they create. Its a diverse space and theres room for different kind of debates. It is more politicized than (Russian social media network) Vkontakte or Facebook, perhaps because people feel more secure on it. Advertisement What influence does the regulator Roskomnadzor have over on the internet in Russia? Theyre a weird body. They are part of the state apparatus, and theyre usually referred to as the Russian states media censor or media watchdog, because they dont just watch over the internet but also telecommunications and mass media. But theyre more famous for trying to regulate the internet. Its really interesting because they dont actually have that much power to block things themselves; they dont actually hold the levers of what is and isnt blocked. Advertisement The problem with them is that they do control the blacklist. They decide what goes onto that registry, and thats how much of the blocking actually happens. They add a web URL or IP address to the registry, and then all of the internet service providers in Russia regularly update their own filters based on what is in that registry. There have been a lot of complaints against Roskomnadzor because they do a lot of arbitrary blocking. In Russia, I dont think anybody is terrified of Roskomnadzor in terms of the power it has. People are more terrified of its incompetence. In a case like this, where they just block thousands to millions of websites that have nothing to do with Telegram, its more a testament to their incompetence than it is to how easy it is to abuse the power they have. Theyre not doing this because theyre competent. They know very well what theyre doing, its just that they dont have a better solution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Were you at all surprised by the decision to block Telegram? I wasnt surprised by the decision to ban Telegram itself because theyve been gearing up for it for quite a while. Its not like they havent blocked things like this in the past. They blocked LinkedIn for failing to adhere to the data localization law, which demands that companies with Russian users store their data on servers in Russia. LinkedIn refused to do that, so its currently blocked in its entirety in Russia. People werent surprised. In fact, they were prepared. Im not surprised that Telegram was chosen as scapegoat in this case because of the contentious relationship of its founder, Pavel Durov, with the Russian state. Advertisement People are worried because its not just Telegram thats been blocked because it refuses to share encryption keys, but that the decision also affects other companies that use encryptionthat other companies may have to face a similar fate, companies like Facebook or WhatsApp. In this case, myself and others are more surprised at the scale of Roskomnadzors attempts to block Telegram and how well Telegram has been avoiding attempts to block it. Theyre willing to go this far to basically shut down half of the Russian internet and disrupt the work of so many other companies, including Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and a bunch of Russian companies. That surprises me more than anything. Advertisement Advertisement Whats next for the other companies that were unintentionally swept up in the ban? Advertisement I think this is a question that the Roskomnadzor is trying to find an answer to right now. Its funny because, on the one hand, Roskomnadzor has denied that their actions have disrupted any other services. On the other hand, they did also start a hotline for complaints from businesses or individuals who believe their websites or online presences have been disrupted. Advertisement I think theyre really trying to crack down on the number of websites theyre adding to the blacklist. Right now, its hovering at around 18 million IP addresses. There was one point a few days back when it was over 20 million. Around April 19, Roskomnadzor set up a meeting with some of the big internet service providers in the country to discuss what they were doing. At least from the reports that Russian media have published, they didnt reach a consensus. They really dont know how to do it so that they can roll back all the blocking and people can continue working. Theyre looking for a more elegant solution that hasnt presented itself. Advertisement Advertisement The advocacy organizations and lawyers that work on internet and human rights basically plan to appeal to the courts, the interior ministry, and the European Court of Human Rights, accusing Roskomnadzor of committing negligence. Reaction from the state so far has been very mixed, too: The Kremlin spokesman basically said, Well have to wait and see. Whos going to compensate these companies for the fact that their websites were blocked and they lost money? Putin also has an adviser who works on internet issues, German Klimenko, and he said that Roskomnadzor didnt do so well, and that they should apologize to the businesses whose work was disrupted. Theres just some words and not a lot of action, so I dont know if theres a plan going forward. Advertisement What are human and internet rights organizations doing in Russia right now in response? There are some things they could realistically do. There are two human rights organizations that represented Telegram in court, RosKomSvoboda and Agora. Their lawyers said that theyre taking this to the European Court of Human Rights. Theyll have to go through many levels of appeal: They have to first go through all the courts in Russia, and if the Russian supreme court doesnt overturn the ban, then they can go to European Court of Human Rights. Advertisement Advertisement What theyre also doing right now is saying that if youre unhappy with what Roskomnadzor is doing, you can also complain to the Ministry of the Interior. Theyve basically created a class-action appeal to the Ministry of the Interior in Russia, and theyre saying you can join this appeal by coming to their office and signing it or by writing your own. They have a set of instructions on how to complain. Another thing theyre asking people to do is to install tools that help verify and measure what is blocked. Advertisement They are quite vocal in claiming that if they take this case about Telegram being banned to the European Court of Human Rights, then the court will say that this is not legal. The only thing then is what Russia will do in response to a court decision that would overturn not just the Telegram ban, but also a key provision in the anti-terrorism legislation that was just passed. Theres a part in the legislation saying companies have to share encryption keys. I dont know how Russia would respond to an international court decision once they have it. What effect will the Telegram ban have on online privacy in Russia? Advertisement This decision banning Telegram is also threatening other similar platforms that protect communications with end-to-end encryption. Were talking about Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and potentially any other encrypted communication services. All of those could also be banned in Russia using the same principles. Telegram sets a precedent here. And if that were the case, then that really narrows down the space for private and secure communications. If you arent sure that your communications are encrypted, or whether the encryption keys have been shared, that basically means there is very little space for privacy and security for Russian users on the internet. Thats ultimately the danger: Its not just one platform, its the whole principle of encrypted communication thats under threat. Controversial Dobroslav Trnka remains prosecutor The regional court turned down the original decision of the disciplinary commission, returning the prosecutor known for the Glance House scandal to his original spot. Font size: A - | A + Dobroslav Trnka will keep his prosecutor post after the Bratislava Regional Court cancelled the decision of the disciplinary committee on April 24. The committee wanted him to take off his gown due to the Glance House case. The court explained its verdict by saying that Trnkas fate was decided by the wrong disciplinary senate. The whole case will now return to the General Prosecutors Office, the TVnoviny.sk website reported. The verdict cannot be appealed. It will become effective after it is delivered. Case stuck for three years The disciplinary commission of the General Prosecutors Office first decided on Trnkas removal from the prosecutors post on November 29, 2013. However, the Bratislava Regional Court cancelled the decision in December 2014 and ordered the commission to deal with the case. Read also: Read also: Court refuted fraud claims in Glance House case Read more The Commissions new members confirmed the strictest punishment for Trnka in April 2015, TVnoviny.sk reported. However, he appealed the verdict again. Then his file lay around at the court for nearly three years. The proceeding was launched only after the Sme daily inquired about the case in early 2018. The Justice Ministry, at the time led by Lucia Zitnanska, wrote that it would check why it took so long to decide on Trnka, the daily wrote. The courts president meanwhile launched a disciplinary action against the judge responsible for the matter, proposing to reduce her salary by 50-70 percent for three to 12 months. The Glance House case The Glance House case concerns the ownership rights dispute over the residential complex in Bernolakovo, which dates back to 2010. Though any actions concerning the residential complex were blocked by the Special Prosecutors Office, head of the Senec cadastral office, Igor Svitek, in 2012 enabled the transfer of the building to the Gapeja company, close to tycoon Marian Kocner, based on a letter from Trnka. While Svitek lost his job and is currently facing charges for abusing the public officials powers, no crime is mentioned in Trnkas case, Sme reported. The building itself stalled in legal disputes in the meantime. In late December 2016 the court announced its bankruptcy, following the request of OTP Banka, which financed the project in the beginning. Moreover, the flats are still part of the bankruptcy estate of Gapeja, according to the daily. 25. Apr 2018 at 14:21 | Compiled by Spectator staff FlixBus adds new connections between Bratislava and Vienna A total of 14 new connections a week are added to the route between the Slovak and Austrian capitals. FlixBus will add 14 new connections to the bus route between Bratislava and Vienna 14 a week from April 26. Demand for bus transport in Slovakia is on the rise, and we plan to continue expanding our offer, Martina Cmielova, the spokeswoman for FlixBus, told the SITA newswire on April 24. "From April 26, we start running new connections on the route between Bratislava and Vienna," she added. The company operates 41 connections per day on the most frequent route between the Slovak and Austrian capitals. Bratislava joined the FlixBus green bus network in 2015 and according to the company, it has become a significant hub within its European lines. About 300 regional carriers provide bus transport services under the Flixbus brand. 25. Apr 2018 at 13:58 | Compiled by Spectator staff Slovakia drops in press freedom ranking Hatred of journalism threatens democracies, and journalists are killed even in Europe, RSF Index 2018 finds. Policemen guard the entrance to offices of news website Aktuality.sk, the employer of the murdered investigative journalist Jan Kuciak, in Bratislava. (Source: AP/SITA) The 2018 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters without Borders (Reporters sans Frontieres, RSF), reflects the growing animosity towards journalists. Hostility towards the media, openly encouraged by political leaders, and the efforts of authoritarian regimes to export their vision of journalism pose a threat to democracies, the index summed up in a press release. The Index annually evaluates the level of press freedom in 180 countries, and most recently, it has found that the atmosphere of hatred is ever more and more palpable, with animosity being demonstrated by political leaders no longer only in authoritarian countries like Turkey and Egypt. Read also: Read also: Valcek Interview: With Jan Kuciak, we got to the Mafia through Troskova Read more For example the United States has fallen again in the Index under Donald Trump, this time two places to 45th. A media-bashing enthusiast, Trump has referred to reporters enemies of the people, the term once used by Joseph Stalin, RSF comments. Regional indicators worsening, two CEE countries pinpointed The line separating verbal violence from physical violence is disappearing, the international NGO writes, continuing that verbal violence from politicians against the media is also on the rise in Europe, even though it is the region that respects press freedom the most. In the Czech Republic (down 11 at 34th), President Milos Zeman turned up at a press conference with a fake Kalashnikov inscribed with the words for journalists. In Slovakia, (down 10 at 27th), then Prime Minister Robert Fico called journalists filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes and idiotic hyenas, RSF point out, adding that Slovak reporter Jan Kuciak was shot dead in his home in February 2018, just four months after another European journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, was killed by a targeted car-bombing in Malta (down 18 at 65th). In Europe where press freedom is the biggest, the regional indicator has worsened the most this year, the RSF regional report notes. Four of this years five biggest drops in the Index are those of European countries: Malta (down 18 at 65th), the Czech Republic (down 11 at 34th), Serbia (down 10 at 76th) and Slovakia (down 10 at 27th). Read also: Read also: UPDATED: Investigative journalist killed in his house Read more The European models slow erosion is continuing, and besides the two murders, threats to investigative reporters and unprecedented verbal attacks on the media have contributed, the regional report points out. Even the countries at the top of the Index are affected by this alarming climate. Two murders in the space of five months have capped a worrying decline for the continents democracies. What is the World Press Freedom Index? Published annually by RSF since 2002, the World Press Freedom Index measures the level of media freedom in 180 countries, including pluralism, media independence, the environment and self-censorship, the legal framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure supporting the production of news and information. It does not evaluate government policy. The global indicator and the regional indicators are calculated on the basis of the scores assigned to each country. These country scores are calculated from answers to a questionnaire in 20 languages completed by experts around the world, supported by a qualitative analysis. 25. Apr 2018 at 14:05 | Compiled by Spectator staff Special trains take passengers for a nostalgic ride Regional tourism board continues popular train rides, connecting northeastern Slovakia with Kosice and Kosice with Gothic sites in the area of Spis. The historical train rides around Gothic UNESCO sites in the Spis Region. (Source: Courtesy of Detska zeleznica Kosice) More information about travelling in Slovakia Please see our Please see our Spectacular Slovakia travel guide Kosice Region Turizmus, the institution promoting regional tourism, launched last year one-day trips on a nostalgic train to world UNESCO heritage sites. In 2018, several rides from northeastern Slovakia to Kosice have been added, and the rides from Kosice to regional sites will continue, head of Kosice Region Turizmus, Lenka Vargova Jurkova, told the SITA newswire. Read also: Read also: Spectacular Slovakia: St Elizabeths Cathedral on film Read more Already at the beginning of May, on May 1 (a state holiday, ed. note), passengers from Humenne, Michalovce and Trebisov can enjoy a ride to Kosice, she said, as quoted by TASR. A rich programme has been organised in Kosice: a tour around the historical city centre, a visit to the oldest inn combined with a tasting as well as celebrations of Kosice City Day. Tourists can also go to the local zoo or to the Childrens railway, which both open their summer season on May 1. Spis UNESCO gothic art from a train At the end of the same week, on May 5, another nostalgic train will be dispatched from the Kosice railway station. The destinations of this trip called Following Master Pavol are two historical royal towns of the Spis area, Levoca and Spisska Nova Ves. Both pride themselves on several unique features. Read also: Read also: Gothic treasures across Slovakia (Spectacular Slovakia - travel guide) Read more Both the ellipsoid main square in Spisska Nova Ves and the mediaeval oblong square in Levoca are the biggest of their kind in Europe, Vargova Jurkova told SITA on April 23. The tallest wooden altar is situated in St James Cathedral in Levoca, created by the famous Gothic artist Master Pavol of Levoca. The Ascension of Virgin Mary Church tower in Spisska Nova Ves, with its height of 87 metres, is the tallest in Slovakia. Read also: Read also: Spisska Nova Ves offers a tourist-guide mobile app Read more In both cities, passengers of the With Train to UNESCO (Vlakom za UNESCO-m) trip will get guided tours with professionals. More information can be found on the Unesconadosah.sk website. 25. Apr 2018 at 14:12 | Compiled by Spectator staff Babis sues the Slovak daily, wants 1 million The Czech prime minister sues the Novy Cas daily for a story with a former agent of the communist-time secret service, StB, who confirmed the PMs collaboration. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has filed a lawsuit against the publisher of the most-read Slovak daily, the tabloid Novy Cas, for breaking a story from an interview with a former member of the Czechoslovak communist-time secret service State Security (StB), Jan Sarkocy, who claimed Babis as a willing collaborator. Babis is asking for an apology and one million euros, the Sme daily wrote on April 25, adding that Babis is also suing Sarkocy along with Novy cas. Babis is denying cooperation with StB in the long term; a Slovak court in January turned down his suit, however, which contested the findings of the Nations Memory Institutes (UPN) finding, claiming that he was unjustly registered as an StB agent. What Sarkocy said about Babis In an interview with a Novy Cas reporter and other journalists, Sarkocy said last February that he saw the original Babis file concerning the PMs collaboration with StB, and that nothing in the file is fake. He called Babis a person who wanted to benefit from cooperation with StB and who liked money. Read also: Read also: Babis loses dispute over his collaboration with the communist secret police Read more Babis then responded by saying that Sarkocy lied and his lawyer wrote, in the lawsuit, that the Czech PM (who is of Slovak origin) perceives the publishing of negative statements on his person as a huge wrongdoing. Sarkocys statements allegedly intentionally create the wrong image of him as a calculating and dishonest person. The publisher of Novy Cas which also publishes the Aktuality.sk news website for which murdered journalist Jan Kuciak worked refused to apologise. Its lawyers say Babis has failed to prove he was not a StB collaborator. Babis vs. UPN Babis demanded that his name be cleared in Slovakia, and local courts first decided that he had been recorded in StB archive files as its agent unjustifiably. Last year, however, the Constitutional Court overturned the original decisions, and the case saw a sudden turnaround. The CC cancelled the original ruling of the Bratislava Region and the Supreme Court, which ruled in Babis's favor, and it found that the Slovak courts falsely based their verdicts on the testimonies of former StB employees who were not stripped of a confidentiality oath, while questioning their trustworthiness. In a renewed trial, the Bratislava Regional Court, in compliance with this finding, turned down Babiss suit this year. Most recently, Babis filed an appeal against this effective verdict with the Slovak Supreme Court. 25. Apr 2018 at 14:18 | Compiled by Spectator staff US Embassy will rename an award after Jan Kuciak The award is granted annually to people trying to improve the lives of their fellow citizens and strengthen democracy. Murdered investigative journalist Jan Kuciak (in memoriam), Evangelic theologian Ondrej Prostrednik and founder of the Slniecko Centre in Nitra, Mariana Kovacova, were awarded for their effort to pursue human and women rights and transparency in Slovakia. The awards were granted by US Ambassador to Slovakia Adam Sterling at a ceremony held on April 25. Read also: Read also: Slovakia drops in press freedom ranking Read more The US Embassy is annually awarding the remarkable successes of Slovaks, who are trying to improve the lives of their fellow citizens and strengthen Slovak democracy, the US Embassy wrote on its Facebook page. These awards confirm the US commitment to basic values of equality, tolerance, good management of public affairs and transparency. The award will bear journalists name Kuciak received the Transparency Award in memoriam for his investigative reports on corruption, his courage to search for the truth and personal sacrifice to the public service. Sterling gave the award to his family members and colleagues from the Aktuality.sk website. Read also: Read also: EP calls for thorough investigation of Kuciaks murder Read more To honour his courage, the embassy will rename the Transparency Award as the Jan Kuciak Memorial Transparency Award, the embassy informed. Prostrednik was granted the Human Rights Award for his open protection of vulnerable minorities in Slovakia. Ondrej Prostrednik is exhaustingly protecting the equal treatment of the LGBTI community as well as religious tolerance and understanding between Christians, Jews and Muslims, the embassy wrote. Read also: Read also: Theologian who attended Pride prevented from teaching Read more The embassy also granted Kovacova the Women of Courage Award. Slniecko Centre offers supporting and protecting services to domestic violence and sexual abuse victims. Mrs. Kovacova is fighting for women rights and better social and protective services in Slovakia, the embassy wrote. 25. Apr 2018 at 23:36 | Compiled by Spectator staff Groundwater in Zitny Ostrov is contaminated The environment minister warned that similar incidents of contamination could reoccur due to herbicide use in the past. By the end of 2017, six villages in ZItny Ostrov could not use water from piping due to atrazine contamination. (Source: TASR) Font size: A - | A + The Water Policy Institute has filed a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator for the contamination of ground water with atrazine in the Zitny Ostrov area in south-western Slovakia, alleging environmental harm and a threat to human health. Atrazine, the poisonous herbicide, can appear again in the drinking water in Zitny Ostrov villages and towns, Environment Minister Laszlo Solymos said April 25, as quoted by the Sme daily. He has also initiated extraordinary checks of farmers. Solymos explained that atrazine was used in agriculture between 1998 and 2005. In those seven years, about 40,000 kilograms of the chemical seeped into this area. In this way, atrazine got into the soil there, and it will take some time before it decomposes, the minister said. We have to accept that it will last for several years until it is fully cleaned. The Ministry should monitor the situation and if the contamination is repeated, they must react again. To react flexibly and effectively, we are preparing a law on areas protected due to their water-management importance, which would involve all the ministries concerned i.e. agriculture and health, Solymos said, as cited by Sme. The current situation involving several state institutions overseeing the quality of water should thus changed, and the law to be adopted as early as this year should unify proceedings and expand public information on potential water pollution. Polluted water By the end of last year, six villages in the Dunajska Streda district were hit with water contamination but the situation is now already under control: five were connected to the Western-Slovak Water-management Company which installed a carbon filter, effectively filtering the contamination. The sixth village has its own water piping, and it should be financed by the Environmental Fund so they can put a carbon filter on the piping, Solymos said. What is atrazine and why is it harmful? Atrazine is a herbicide used in the past to kill weeds in agricultural crops. Its presence in drinking water is limited by a Health Ministry regulation. The Water Policy Institute is a non-governmental, non-profit organsiation that has been arguing on violations of water legislation for a long time. Most recently, they filed a motion with the police, charging an unknown perpetrator with the crimes of harming the environment and threatening public health, they wrote in a press release. 25. Apr 2018 at 23:57 | Compiled by Spectator staff Velka Maca house to commemorate Jan Kuciak The house of the murdered journalist is frequently visited and locals do not oppose to turning it into a museum for freedom of speech. Font size: A - | A + Inhabitants of the village of Velka Maca (in Trnava Region), where journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova, were murdered, do not protest to turning their house into a freedom of speech museum. Many people, from countries like the Czech Repulic, Germany, Austria or as far as Sweden, come here, the Sme daily wrote on April 25. Read also: Read also: UPDATED: Investigative journalist killed in his house Read more Trnava Mayor Jozef Viskupic (opposition OLaNO) plans to build the museum in close cooperation with the survivors and also Kuciaks colleagues from the journalistic community, artists and personalities of culture, local self-government politicians and civic activists. Viskupic has already met with musician and cultural organiser Michal Kascak, who represented an informal community around painter Peter Kalmus, the original author of the idea. How neighbours feel about the murder Most locals are dissatisfied with how the investigation into the double murder is developing. Mayor of the village, Stefan Lancz, told Sme that he does not understand how the police could have come to the site to examine in detail the surroundings of the house and the municipality one month after the murder. The mayor also does not like that the village has provided the police recording devices from the camera system with the respective software in order to examine the recording from the time around the murder. Police promised to return the components of the recording system as soon as possible but the village still does not have them back, and thus, the system is dysfunctional. Read also: Read also: Slovakia has lost one of its best investigative journalists, foreign media report Read more Locals did not know Kuciak and Kusnirova very well, as they only moved in quite recently but they considered them a nice and smiling young couple who went to church. Their murder shocked the community. They cannot be forgotten, Juraj Lancz, who lives close to the house, told Sme. The fact that the engaged couple were ordinary people who were murdered scared locals and made them more attentive towards foreigners or towards suspicious situations. Future plans with the memorial house The Freedom of Speech Museum should become not just a memorial site but also a venue for exhibitions, meetings and expert or artistic workshops, the activists opine. The museum would be under the remit of the Trnava Region, according to Sme. 26. Apr 2018 at 0:04 | Compiled by Spectator staff LVMH MoAt Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, SociAtA EuropAenne operates as a luxury products company. The company offers champagnes, wines, and spirits under the Ao Yun, Ardbeg, Belvedere, Bodega Numanthia, Cape Mentelle, Chandon, ChAteau Cheval Blanc, ChAteau d'Yquem, Cheval des Andes, Clos des Lambrays, Clos19, Cloudy Bay, Dom PArignon, Glenmorangie, Hennessy, Krug, Mercier, MoAt & Chandon, Newton, Vineyard, Ruinart, Terrazas de los Andes, Veuve Clicquot, Volcan de mi Tierra, and Woodinville brands. It also provides fashion and leather products under the Berluti, Celine, Christian Dior, Emilio Pucci, Fendi, Givenchy, Kenzo, Loewe, Loro Piana, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Moynat, Nicholas Kirkwood, Pink Shirtmaker, and Rimowa brands. In addition, the company offers perfumes and cosmetics under the Acqua di Parma, Benefit Cosmetics, Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, Fresh, Parfums Givenchy, Guerlain, Kat Von D Beauty, Kenzo Parfums, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Make Up For Ever, Marc Jacobs Beauty, Parfums Christian Dior, and Perfumes Loewe brands; watches and jewelry under the Bvlgari, Chaumet, Fred, Hublot, TAG Heuerand Zenith brands; and custom-designed yachts under the Feadship brand name, as well as designs and builds luxury yachts under the Royal Van Lent brand. Further, it provides daily newspapers under the Les Achos brand; Belmond, a luxury tourism service; home other activities under the Belmond, Cheval Blanc, Connaissance des Arts, Cova, Investir, Jardin d'Acclimatation, La Samaritaine, Le Parisien, and Radio Classique brands; and selective retailing products under the DFS, La Grande Epicerie de Paris, Le Bon MarchA Rive Gauche, Sephora, and Starboard Cruise brands, as well as operates Jardin d'Acclimatation, a leisure and amusement park. The company operates 4,915 stores worldwide. LVMH MoAt Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, SociAtA EuropAenne was incorporated in 1923 and is headquartered in Paris, France. Read More Billie Faiers joins sister Sam Faiers for a third series of The Mumm Diaries on ITVBe. The new series concludes tonight at 9PM on ITVBe. Advertisements For the third instalment of The Mummy Diaries, Billie joins sister Sam in opening up her home and sharing her day to day life and experience of being a mother. In this evening's series finale, Sam takes matters into her own hands and finally pops the question to Paul. Meanwhile, Billie tries to get things back on track with Greg, and Sue gets a little more than she bargained for at her birthday bash in the country. In series 3, Sam is pregnant with her second child and has just moved into her dream home, a mansion in Hertfordshire. Her son Paul is now walking and talking and Sams businesses are all thriving. Sister Billie and her partner Greg are making plans for their dream wedding whilst adapting to life with new baby Arthur. Billie wants to get married in the Maldives but Greg isnt convinced as he thinks it will be too expensive. Greg is also enjoying spending more time with daughter Nelly when Billie is kept busy with baby Arthur and Billie has asked Greg to up his game around the house. Also in the opening show, Billie and Sam attend a beauty awards evening where one of their Minnie beauty products is up for an award. Sam takes photos at a fashion shoot for her new clothes collection which she has designed herself. And her and Paul celebrate their third year anniversary by spending a night together in a London hotel away from baby Paul for the first time. Sam and Billie Faiers: The Mummy Diaries airs Wednesdays on ITVBe. Advertisements A fourth series has already been revealed. The new series airs at 9PM and has eight episodes. 15. Miriam A. Ferguson Miriam Amanda Wallace (Ma) Ferguson (1875-1961), first woman governor of Texas, daughter of Joseph L. and Eliza (Garrison) Wallace, was born in Bell County, Texas, on June 13, 1875. She attended Salado College and Baylor Female College at Belton. In 1899, at the age of twenty-four, she married James Edward Ferguson, also of Bell County. Mrs. Ferguson served as the first lady of Texas during the gubernatorial terms of her husband (1915-17), who was impeached during his second administration. When James Ferguson failed to get his name on the ballot in 1924, Miriam entered the race for the Texas governorship. Before announcing for office, she had devoted her energies almost exclusively to her husband and two daughters. This fact, and the combination of her first and middle initials, led her supporters to call her "Ma" Ferguson. She quickly assured Texans that if elected she would follow the advice of her husband and that Texas thus would gain "two governors for the price of one." Her campaign sought vindication for the Ferguson name, promised extensive cuts in state appropriations, condemned the Ku Klux Klan, and opposed passing new liquor legislation. After trailing the Klan-supported prohibitionist candidate, Felix D. Robertson, in the July primary, she easily defeated him in the August run-off to become the Democratic gubernatorial candidate. In November 1924 she handily defeated the Republican nominee, George C. Butte, a former dean of the University of Texas law school. Inaugurated fifteen days after Wyoming's Nellie Ross, Miriam Ferguson became the second woman governor in United States history. Political strife and controversy characterized her first administration. Although she did fulfill a campaign promise to secure an anti-mask law against the Ku Klux Klan, the courts overturned it. State expenditures were slightly increased, despite a campaign pledge to cut the budget by $15 million. The focal point of discontent centered upon irregularities both in the granting of pardons and paroles and in the letting of road contracts by the state highway department. Ma Ferguson pardoned an average of 100 convicts a month, and she and "Pa" were accused by critics of accepting bribes of land and cash payments. Critics also charged that the Ferguson-appointed state highway commission granted road contracts to Ferguson friends and political supporters in return for lucrative kickbacks. Though a threat to impeach Miriam Ferguson failed, these controversies helped Attorney General Daniel James Moody defeat Mrs. Ferguson for renomination in 1926 and win the governorship. Miriam A. Ferguson 'Pa' and 'Ma' Ferguson Governor Ferguson and group Miriam Ferguson did not seek office in 1928. However, after the Texas Supreme Court again rejected her husband's petition to place his name on the ballot in 1930, she entered the gubernatorial race. In the May primary she led Ross Sterling, who then defeated her in the August runoff. Her defeat proved fortuitous politically because Sterling, rather than she, was blamed by the voters when Texas began to feel the full impact of the Great Depression. In February 1932 she again declared for the governorship; she promised to lower taxes and cut state expenditures, and condemned alleged waste, graft, and political favoritism by the Sterling-controlled highway commission. After leading Sterling in the May primary by over 100,000 votes, Ma Ferguson narrowly won the Democratic nomination in the August primary. She then defeated the Republican nominee, Orville Bullington, in November to secure her second term as governor. Her second administration did not engender as much controversy as the first, despite dire predictions to the contrary by her political opponents. The fiscally conservative governor held the line on state expenditures and even advocated a state sales tax and corporate income tax, although the state legislature did not act on these proposals. Mrs. Ferguson continued her liberal pardoning and parole policies, but even that action did not stir as much controversy as in her first administration since every convict paroled or pardoned represented that much less fiscal strain on the state during the depression. Miriam A. Ferguson In 1934 the Fergusons temporarily retired from direct involvement in politics and also refused to seek office in 1936 and 1938. However, Ma Ferguson did declare for governor once again in 1940. Although sixty-five years old, she alleged that she could not resist a "popular draft" for the nomination and joined a field of prominent Democrats that included incumbent governor W. Lee O'Daniel. Ma's platform advocated a 25 percent cut in state appropriations, a gross-receipts tax of .5 percent to raise social security funds for the elderly, support for organized labor, and liberal funding for secondary and higher education. O'Daniel proved to be too popular to unseat, but the Ferguson name was still strong enough to poll more than 100,000 votes. After her husband's death in 1944, Miriam Ferguson retired to private life in Austin. She died of heart failure on June 25, 1961, and was buried alongside her husband in the State Cemetery in Austin. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Norman D. Brown, Hood, Bonnet, and Little Brown Jug: Texas Politics, 1921-1928 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1984). James Edward Ferguson Collection, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin. Ouida Ferguson Nalle, The Fergusons of Texas, or "Two Governors for the Price of One": A Biography of James Edward Ferguson and His Wife (San Antonio: Naylor, 1946). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary (4 vols., Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1971-80). Women of Texas (Waco: Texian Press, 1972). John D. Huddleston Reprinted with permission from the Handbook of Texas Online, a joint project of the Texas State Historical Association and the General Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin. 2003, The Texas State Historical Association. Texas Politics: 2005, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services University of Texas at Austin < prev next > 1. Yes. There should be absolute certainty that the election was free and fair. 2. Yes. The audit could and should lead to stronger laws governing elections in the state. 3. No. Former President Trump wants the audit to further cast doubt on the 2020 vote. 4. No. Its a waste of money, an attempt by Abbott to gain favor among Trump backers. 5. Unsure. It seems unnecessary but it may provide some worthwhile findings. Vote View Results "With webstresser.org, any registered user could pay a nominal fee using online payment systems or cryptocurrencies to rent out the use of stressers and booters," Europol said. "It's a growing problem, and one we take very seriously. Criminals are very good at collaborating, victimizing millions of users in a moment from anywhere in the world," said Steven Wilson, Head of Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3). "As part of the operational activity, an address was identified and searched in Bradford and a number of items seized," NCA said. "Don't do it," Gert Ras, head of the Dutch police's High Tech Crime unit, said. "By tracking down the DDoS service you use, we strip you of your anonymity, hand you a criminal record and put your victims in a position to claim back damages from you." In a major hit against international cybercriminals, the Dutch police have taken down the world's biggest DDoS-for-hire service that helped cyber criminals launch over 4 million attacks and arrested its administrators.An operation led by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Dutch Police, dubbed "" with the support of Europol and a dozen other law enforcement agencies, resulted in the arrest of 6 members of the group behind the "" website in Scotland, Croatia, Canada and Serbia on Tuesday.With over 136,000 registered users, Webstresser website lets its customers rent the service for about 10 to launch Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against their targets with little or no technical knowledge.The service was also responsible for cyber attacks against seven of the UK's biggest banks in November last year, as well as government institutions and gaming industry.The Webstresser site has now been shut down, and its infrastructure has been seized in the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States. The site has been replaced with a page announcing that law enforcement authorities had taken the service offline.Moreover, the authorities have also taken against the top users of this marketplace in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Croatia, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Hong Kong, Europol announced.The Dutch police said the Operation Power Off should send a clear warning to users of sites like webstresser.The police also reminded people that DDoSing is a crime, for which the "penalties can be severe." If you conduct a DDoS attack, or make, supply or obtain stresser or booter services, you could end up in prison, and fine or both. Camera? Check. Sunglasses? Check. And a Geiger counter? Check. For a growing number of thrill-seekers visiting Chernobyl's radiation-contaminated lands the device is used to help navigate the site of what remains the world's worst nuclear accident. The uninhabited exclusion zone, a 30-kilometre (19-mile) radius around the former nuclear power station, has seen a surge in tourists in the past few years. Almost 50,000 people toured the area last year -- a 35 percent rise on 2016 -- to see the plant that contaminated a large swathe of Europe when its fourth reactor exploded on April 26, 1986. 70 percent of visitors were foreigners. "(I wanted to) see something totally different," said Maja Bandic, a Croatian in her 50s, who described the day as "amazing". A souvenir kiosk at the main entrance to the exclusion zone sells T-shirts and fridge magnets with the black-and-yellow radiation warning symbol as well as Soviet-era gas masks. It is even possible to stay a few nights in a basic hotel or one of two hostels near the power station. The number of visitors to Chernobyl in 2017 rose 35 percent on the previous year, reaching almost 50,000 people mostly from abroad / AFP Viktor Kharchenko, whose travel agency Go2chernobyl.com has run tours to the site since 2012, says the growth in visitor numbers came after the 30th anniversary of the disaster in 2016 and the installation that year of a huge metal dome over the damaged reactor that significantly reduced radiation leaks. These developments were widely covered by international media and alleviated people's fears over whether it was safe to visit Chernobyl, Kharchenko said, arguing that the risk to tourists is minimal. "A day's stay in the area equals two hours of flying over the Atlantic Ocean in terms of the dose of radiation absorbed," he says. A souvenir kiosk at the main entrance to the exclusion zone sells T-shirts and fridge magnets with the black-and-yellow radiation warning symbol as well as Soviet-era gas masks / AFP/File But one of the tour group member, Joel Alvaretto, a 28-year-old student from Argentina, confessed he is "a little afraid" of radiation, since he has heard "you can see the effects later, many years after". Leaving Chernobyl, everyone has to go through radiation checks. Members of the tour group take turns to stand inside a large dosimeter which indicates that they are all "clean." - 'Nature is stronger than humans' - Several Ukrainian travel agencies offer tours from one to seven days, priced from 25 to 650 euros ($30 to $790). The activities on offer include viewing the new shield covering the damaged reactor, feeding gigantic catfish in the radioactive waters of cooling pools, and driving past the "red forest" - where pine needles turned from green to red after the accident due to absorbing massive levels of radiation. The ghost village of Kopachi near Chernobyl was one of the locations affected by the disaster / AFP/File The trees were felled and buried during the clean-up operation, but even now, when a tour bus drives past the area without stopping, the tourists' Geiger counters all start beeping frenetically, signalling a very strong increase in radiation. "A symphony," one of the tourists said. The highlight of the trip is a visit to Pripyat, the ghost town built for nuclear workers a few kilometres from the plant. The nearly 50,000 residents were evacuated the day after the disaster, never to return home. Blocks of flats and schools where children's toys, books and handwritten notes still lie abandoned and a big wheel still rises above an amusement park on the central square. Adam Ridemar, a Swedish student who came with his father to see this "iconic place" says that it is "very cool to see all this, to see how a whole city is just a relic of what it used to be." Tourists use Geiger counters to measure the level of radioactivity in the area / AFP/File He voices surprise at the luxuriant vegetation, saying he had expected a "concrete jungle". Nature is reclaiming this abandoned land with tarmacked roads gradually choked by wild grasses and apartment blocks disappearing behind green foliage - a sight that fascinates many visitors. "It proves that nature is stronger than humans after all," Bandic says. People "have sun, wind, they don't need nuclear energy: its so dangerous," she concludes. Getty Images En espanol | Boat-sharing, a newly exploding segment of the sharing economy, enables the rental of someone elses boat in the same way one rents a place to stay through sites such as HomeAway and Airbnb. The number of boats rented by each peer-to-pier operation is doubling or tripling every year, the companies report, and now include a large variety of watercraft. Water enthusiasts can rent everything from paddleboards, kayaks and Jet Skis to houseboats and luxury yachts all through a smartphone app. The options are many: Spend a day in a 22-foot sailboat in Miami for $203, or rent a stylish motorboat in Barcelona with room for six for $334. Take a group of 25 people on a fishing charter in San Francisco Bay for $2,568, or relax on a 12-foot pontoon in Paw Creek, N.C., for $225. The sharing system makes sense for owners, too, considering that the average boat owner uses his or her craft only 17 days a year, according to a U.S. Coast Guard survey. Among some sharing services: Boatsetter. The Florida-based enterprise is the biggest boat-sharing company, with 200,000 registered renters and 20,000 boats available. Rentals include 24-hour on-water support, and there is a network of captains you can hire if you arent experienced at the helm. Click&Boat. This European-based company handles 60,000 annual rentals and has 150,000 boat renters registered on its platform, with one-third of the 22,000 listed vessels piloted by a Coast Guardlicensed skipper or the boat's owner. GetMyBoat. A worldwide service launched in San Francisco, it has more than 108,000 listings in 184 countries, from Australia to the Caribbean to the Oregon coast. To rent a boat, you need to register at one of the sites; pick a location and boat; specify the date, time and duration of your desired sailing; await approval by the owner; and then pay for the rental, fees and security deposit online with a credit card. If you are planning to captain a boat yourself, the owner is likely to ask about your boating experience. All three boat-sharing companies require that owners boats be insured and that both owners and renters pay a commission. (GetMyBoat, for instance, charges a 7 percent commission to both renters and boat owners.) Emergency towing services are typically included, but its important to read a companys terms of service closely so there are no surprises. HANOI, April 24 -- Vietnam plans to slash its black pepper growing area by 26.7 percent in response to falling global prices, the chairman of the countrys pepper association said Tuesday. Vietnam is the worlds largest black pepper exporter, accounting for 60-65 percent of global trade, and nearly half of global output. We will cut the area to 110,000 hectares from 150,000 hectares over the coming years by encouraging local farmers to grow other crops and remove pepper farms with poor quality, said Vietnam Pepper Association Chairman Nguyen Nam Hai. Hai said the surge in world pepper prices in the 2013-2015 period led local growers to expand their farms uncontrollably, from 50,000 hectares in 2013 to the current of 150,000 hectares. Now with the increased output, prices have fallen and we need to cut the area, Hai said. Vietnams black pepper exports in the first quarter rose 17.5 percent from a year earlier to 60,033 tonnes, but export revenue in the period fell 31.4 percent to $221 million, according to official customs data. Hai said exports for the entire 2018 are forecast to stay flat from last year at around 215,000 tonnes. Vietnams key markets for the spices include the United States, India, China and Europe. Teachers in north-central Vietnam have crossed long distances during the past several months to arrive at the houses of students in a mountain hinterland who have not re-attended class, in the hope of bringing them back to school. When Vietnams Lunar New Year the largest national holiday in a year approached, students from Muong Ly Middle School, a boarding school for ethnic-minority children in a border area of Thanh Hoa Province, left classrooms for their homes to enjoy family reunion. But many of them have not returned to school, chiefly because their poverty-stricken parents forced them to get married at a tender age or work in the fields with their family. This happens every year, said Nguyen Van Quy, the schools vice principal, The old-fashioned customs of underage marriage have tenaciously clung on to the lives of the Hmong people here. Quy is amongst many teachers who have traveled nearly 20 kilometers on mountain dirt roads to give potential dropouts another opportunity to education. Along the way, he usually caught his students walking to the fields with their parents or playing around in their village. He stopped the motorbike and asked them questions. Sung Thi La, a 15-year-old sixth grader who left school last year, showed shyness when seeing the teacher again. I really want to go to school, but my parents asked me to stop to grow rice, because the family is poor, she said. They also said Hmong girls of 16 or 17 years of age have to get married or theyll be left on the shelf, she added. Thao Thi Su, mother of seventh grader Mua Thi Dua, cited similar reasons for her decision to have the daughter stay home. My familys still in great difficulty. Duas three elder sisters are all married, and her younger brother only studies in grade 4. She has to work with me for a living, Su said to Hoang Trong An another teacher in the outreach-like initiative. If she studies too much, shell end up single all whole life, she continued. Her arms are still very weak, unable to hold a machete to cut plants or a hoe to break earth. You should think about her future, let her go to school, in the future she may become a teacher, doctor or factory worker, An told the mother while holding Duas hand. The mother agreed on the strength of his advice and then began packing a bag with her daughters clothes. I allow you to go to the school with your teacher. Try to study well to benefit our village, she said to Dua. Brimming with joy, the daughter climbed on Ans motorcycle, heading toward the school. The government has provided some assistance to ethnic-minority and financially disadvantaged students at Muong Ly Middle School in an effort to improve education in remote regions. They each receive VND500,000 (US$22) for meals, VND100,000 ($4.4) for tuition fees, and 15 kilograms of rice a staple of Vietnamese people on a monthly basis, according to Nguyen Van Ha, a local education official. He added that students who attend school late after the Lunar New Year will learn on the weekend to help them keep pace with their peers. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Nguyet Quyet Thang, a math and English teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, overcomes his visual impairment to pursue his passion for the teaching profession. Born with normal visual capacity, Thang started to experience faltering eyesight around age seven when he was a student in Di Linh District, Lam Dong Province, over 200km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City. He was initially believed to suffer from short-sightedness, but despite wearing medical eye glasses he still could not see the board clearly. After the family took him to an ophthalmologist in Hanoi, he was diagnosed with retinal degeneration, a medical condition which can damage eyesight to the point of total blindness. His eyesight will worsen until he can no longer see anything. Try to learn as much as possible now, said the eye specialist. In 1998, Thang had to stop schooling at age 13, and has had to live in total darkness ever since. Those were the most terrible days of my life, Thang said. Geometric metal models are used when Thang teaches geometry to his blind students. Photo: Tuoi Tre Light at the end of the tunnel While Thang was buried in disappointment due to the life imprisonment to a most unwanted physical condition, he learnt of a high school in Ho Chi Minh City for the visually impaired. Admitted, Thang found his feet again. He mixed in well with his new peers and somehow managed to maintain excellent performance. The blind boy was deeply drawn to mathematics, especially geometry, though he could only use imagination to visualize shapes and sizes. Determined to become a math teacher, Thang applied to the Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, which is a leading teacher-training college situated in District 5 of the southern metropolis. He met with opposition from almost everybody, mostly the officer in charge of student admissions therein. No blind student has been able to learn math before, he said. Thang was relentless in his intention, though. He managed to secure a personal meeting with the dean of the math department. Ive never seen a blind student pursuing math in Vietnam, but theres a famous blind math professor in Russia. I believe in you, said the department head. Thangs flickering motivation flames were set ablaze following this milestone meeting. The strong-willed student made it to college. Here, however, hurdles were taller than ever. Two students help each other walk forward along a corridor at Nguyen Dinh Chieu High School for the Visually Impaired. Photo: Tuoi Tre Perseverance and dedication One thing to note, though, is that textbooks for the visually impaired were something of a luxury during this time. Thang was deeply distressed since he could not get hold of tailored materials or recorded lessons. It was painstaking trying to keep up, but Thang successfully went through the four years at the university thanks to his classmates encouragement and after-class group work hours. After graduation, the daredevil was instated as a teacher in Nguyen Dinh Chieu School for the Visually Impaired, located on Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City. He gave algebra lessons not using a blackboard, but a Braille textbook designed specifically for his blind students. For geometry, they relied on metal models of different shapes like triangles, hexagon, trapezoid, and others, using their sense of touch for visualization. Thang had another problem, however. His math competence was sufficient for the transfer of knowledge, yet the pedagogical skills in dealing with visually impaired students were a different ball game. Since references on such methodology were not readily written in Vietnamese, but in English mostly, the math teacher had to take up English lessons. In fact he earned a second college degree in English language teaching and was assigned English classes alongside his math sessions. So far, Thang has been teaching for eight years. Nguyen Quyet Thang reads Braille textbooks for the blind. Photo: Tuoi Tre In front of a successful man stands a loving woman Back home, the blind man is not alone. He is tenderly supported by his wife, Xuan. Unlike most couples in Vietnam where the male would drive the female around town for late-afternoon sightseeing, in their case Xuan would be her husbands personal chauffeur and guide. While driving him around, she would patiently describe to him what there is along the way: how this building on the right looks, or how the street art is displayed. Xuan is as strong-willed as her husband, for she too had to defy intense familial opposition in her pursuit of happiness. By nature, her parents would not risk their daughters future considering the burdens that should be laid upon her shoulders once she is tied to this blind man. I love him so much. I wont give him up, Xuan said firmly. Together the couple proved to her parents that Thang was not a wreck, but a man with stable work and the ability to fend for himself. The two met during their college years, went down the aisle in 2014 and currently have one son. He named his child Nguyen Thai Son, after the name of the very teacher who gave him the opportunity to pursue the teaching career. According to Thang, life is not a bed of roses. If we have something, its great. But if we dont have something, its totally fine. Just do what we think we can, but lets not be frustrated at things we want to do but cant do, he explained. Im still better off than many other blind people as I already had 13 years to see the world. Im also better off than many elders who have to be out on the streets under harsh sunshine and torrential rain selling lottery tickets. The visually impaired teacher and students are seen in a classroom at Nguyen Dinh Chieu High School for the Visually Impaired in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Check out the news you should not miss today, April 25: Politics -- Vietnam demanded China immediately end illegal activities in the areas of Vietnams Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos to respect the Southeast Asian countrys sovereignty, the foreign ministrys spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang made the request on Tuesday in response to reporters queries about Chinas recent activities in the East Vietnam Sea. -- At a Tuesday meeting with RoK Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon in Seoul, Vietnamese Minister of National Defense Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich expressed his hope that the PM will continue supporting the two countries defense ministries to step up effective collaboration in the coming time. Society -- Illegal construction is ongoing on a number of islets in Cat Ba National Park in the northern city of Hai Phong. -- Vietnamese Nguy Thi Khanh, director of the Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID), will be among the honorees at an honors ceremony held in Washington, D.C., for winners of the 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize. -- A video has gone viral on the Internet showing a man allegedly attacking a traffic police officer while shouting police hit civilian in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. Police are investigating the incident. -- A crash occurred on Tuesday afternoon between a truck and two cars on National Highway No. 1 through Ho Chi Minh Citys District 12, blocking traffic for hours. Business -- There are 40 foreign shipping companies running their business in Vietnam and transporting 88 percent of cargo from Vietnam to other countries. Lifestyle -- Vietnam has been chosen as the first stop in the Southeast Asia tour of English electronic music group Above & Beyond, with a show scheduled for May 5 in the northern province of Hung Yen. -- The capital city of Hanoi has recently requested government workers to put on their desk a copy of code of conduct which was issued by the city in 2017. -- The Labor Confederation of the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on Tuesday organized a mass wedding for 12 couples of workers in difficult circumstances, with the grooms and brides attending their wedding on cyclos. Vietnamese police have arrested five people suspected of using battery chemicals to dye waste coffee beans, the Ministry of Public Security's online newspaper, Cong An Nhan Dan, said on Tuesday, apparently passing the mixture off as black pepper. Vietnam is the world's largest exporter of black pepper, accounting for half of global trade. The country is also the world's largest producer of Robusta coffee, which has a bitter taste and is used mainly in instant coffee. The five, led by Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan, 43, were arrested on suspicion of violating food safety regulations after they were caught mixing coffee waste with a black, tar-like liquid made from manganese dioxide found in the batteries, the report said. Police seized 40 litres of the liquid, along with more than 21 metric tonnes of dyed coffee waste and over 200 kg of used battery parts from Loan's home in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong, the report said. Calls to police in the province went unanswered on Tuesday. The Central Highlands is Vietnam's largest coffee-producing region. It also produces much of the country's black pepper. Loan sold three metric tonnes of the mixture to a black pepper trading firm in the neighbouring province of Binh Phuoc, the Ministry of Public Security newspaper said. Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan, owner of a facility caught using dirty and harmful materials in food production in Dak Nong Province in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre Police seized nine tonnes of pepper at the firm which had been blended with the battery and coffee mixture, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. The firm had been selling pepper mixed with the battery-laced coffee granules for years, the paper said. "Whatever purpose they may have, what they are doing is posing threat to people's health. If they mix that substance with coffee or pepper, it would be awful and unacceptable," said Nguyen Nam Hai, chairman of the Vietnam Pepper Association. "I don't understand why they do it. Vietnam accounts for half of the world's black pepper output and 60-65 percent of global black pepper trade and prices are falling," said Hai. "It's just a small firm and I don't think this dirty product could end up being exported." If found guilty, the five face up to 20 years in prison. A small stick over ten centimeters long has been removed from a Vietnamese mans penis after staying in it for a day, a doctor at an infirmary said on Tuesday. N.V.D., residing in Dong Nai Province, was taken to the local Saigon-Dong Nai ITO Hospital having difficulty urinating and suffering pain in the sexual organ. A doctor found inside the 42-year-olds urethra a tube carrying liquid waste out of the body a foreign object lying about three centimeters from the urethra opening. The object was not detected in X-ray scanning, prompting the professional to surmise it was not metal. It peeked through the opening at a slight push of the doctor, who then took it out completely. The object was a chopstick from six to seven millimeters in diameter, according to Tran Phuong, a doctor at the hospital. The mans urination returned to normal and he was discharged the same day. According to Phuong, the patient said that one of the friends having a drink with him on April 16 had put the chopstick into his body for fun while he was blind drunk after the carouse. One day later he visited the hospital for an examination after feeling problems in the penis. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Da Nangs Department of Internal Affairs told media on Monday it had submitted a report to the municipal administration on the case of Tran Van Man, Minhs son, regarding his overseas study using state budgets back in 2008. According to the report, Man in 2008 was selected for a government-sponsored scheme to send 100 officials or fresh college graduates in Da Nang abroad for masters and doctoral education. Scholarship recipients were contractually bound to work in assigned government positions for at least ten years after completion of their respective programs. Among the requirements for candidates was university graduation with a GPA of 8.0 out of 10 or higher. Despite not meeting this requirement, Man was still chosen to receive the scholarship in 2008 and enrolled in a masters program in Australia the same year. Man was assigned a post at Da Nangs Department of Planning and Investment after finishing his studies and is now head of the departments investment monitoring and evaluation division. The citys internal affairs department only recently discovered the wrongful selection of Man as a recipient of the state grant after looking into case files related to his father Tran Van Minh, who was in office as chairman of Da Nang between 2006 and 2011. Minh was last week arrested on suspicion of violating state regulations on land management and state assets in a corruption crackdown that also saw his successor Van Huu Chien, who was chairman of Da Nang between 2011 and 2014, put under house arrest. A former deputy head of the Ministry of Public Security's intelligence department was also detained on suspicion of revealing state secrets in the same case. A ministry statement said the arrests were part of a wider criminal case involving businessman Phan Van Anh Vu, who was captured in January over allegations of revealing state secrets, tax evasion and abuse of power. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Next Thursday TEN screens a comedy special Joel Creasey: Fame Whore. This will follow his weekly appearance on Show Me the Movie. Creasey is also coming up on the SBS broadcast of Eurovision plus hosting Sevens Take Me Out dating series. Australias acid tongued prince of comedy, Joel Creasey, takes to the Sydney Opera House stage for a sizzling night of no-holds barred, adults-only stand up. With his unique brand of sass, Joel takes the audience on a roller-coaster ride through his celebrated coming out, his Twitter beef with Russell Crowe, Zumba classes with his mum, partying with Carrie Fisher and opening for Joan Rivers in New York. Joels journey will leave his reputation in tatters and the rest of us in stitches. 8:30pm Thursday May 3 on TEN. Dear Ita Firstly I was pretty impressed that you ever agreed to the grind of morning television with those early rises. If it wasnt for the 9am ratings ritual I would be lucky to haul my arse out of bed some days. Yet there you were, the woman who created Cleo, who took on Kerry Packer, who stood up for those with HIV / AIDS when everyone had been spooked by the Grim Reaper campaign there you were on my screen day in, day out tackling the minutiae that is morning television. That meant having an opinion on everything from politics to celebrity to dogs crapping on the studio floor. It meant smiling through gritted teeth at launch when a water taxi stunt was the trip from hell. It meant having to watch Joe Hildebrand do a nudie run, donning silly costumes, turning up at network functions for shows youve probably never heard of let alone seen, getting your head around social media and clickbait headlines, learning the name of the latest CEO, and putting up with advertorials for all kinds of nonsense products. Id like to buy a Nutrabullet please. And all this in the face of ratings that are dwarfed by the competition despite the fact yours offers several points of difference in a cookie-cutter landscape. But it was with some disappointment that I watched your farewell yesterday. It just didnt feel right. Jessica Rowe was sent off with all manner of tributes, tears, flowers, montages, costumes and castmates. I wasnt sure if she had done 4 years or 40 years with the show. Yours was reduced to 2 segments and a bunch of flowers they had already given to you the day before. Id like to buy a treadmill please. Today we farewell the legendary @ItaButtrose, who has decided to leave #Studio10 to spend more time with her family & focus on her writing & charity work. pic.twitter.com/2WoOLA3wGJ Studio 10 (@Studio10au) April 24, 2018 Admittedly, the lovely Sarah Harris told us you didnt want any fuss (and it was also ANZAC Day, a day for Diggers). I was presuming it was also short notice until you revealed you had actually resigned 2 days before Jessica Rowe. Huh? Talk about a twist. And while Im not about to presume we know all, what should have been a fond farewell was one of the years most awkward telly moments, due to the silence of Denise Drysdale. This reminded me of Sam Newmans silent spat on The Footy Show. It stood out for what was not said, rather than what we heard and for the awkward way Joe and Sarah danced around the bleedingly obvious. The network has been denying any rift. Frankly I dont know when they last looked at their own show. Perhaps at this point in ones TV career we are no longer happy to maintain appearances. I just feel pretty sad that two iconic women have clearly reached an impasse that there are barely exchanges on screen anymore. Id like to buy an ab-belt please. Admittedly Australia has a seemingly-endless fascination with the backstage drama of morning television but it seems to me Studio 10 is lacking the unity that made it special. This contrasts with the current #metoo movement and the things women are achieving together. On the back of a network very nearly going under, these are risky take-outs when television is already struggling to retain audiences. I hope the way forward demonstrates direction, confidence and fun. And I hope you enjoy some well-deserved sleep-ins, more time with the grandkids, and a few more causes to grace with your vast media experience. Id like to buy a pain erazor please. Two days ago, Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth to her third baby with her husband Prince William. The arrival of the new royal baby had been highly anticipated among the family, as well as the British media and the pro-monarchy general public. The new baby is a boy who has yet to be named (or at least have his name publicly disclosed by the family), and yesterday, both Kate and her child were discharged from St. Marys Hospital, where they were both met by a barrage of media coverage. Now that Kate and the new baby are out of the hospital and have returned to their home at Kensington Palace, where they have been visited by many members of the family. Some of them have released statements publicly in which they discussed how they feel about the arrival of the new child. Kates sister Pippa Middleton who is reported to pregnant herself, with what will be her first child was among the very first visitors to Kensington Palace after the baby made it home, where she met her tiny nephew for the first time. prince charles of Wales has been reached for a response to the birth of the new royal baby, and he says that it is a great joy to have been granted yet another grandchild by Will and Kate. He also added that he is worried about keep[ing] up with his trio of energetic grandchildren. He said that he is so pleased that both the child and his mother made it through the birthing process safely and are back at home, safe and sound and perfectly happy. The baby weighs in at 8lb 7ozs The baby was born in the Lindo Wing at St. Marys Hospital two days ago in the morning hours at 11:10am, weighing in at eight pounds and seven ounces, according to the official Twitter account of Kensington Palace, who posted a later tweeted that said, Welcome to the family. All across the city of London, there have been a bunch of gun salutes to mark and celebrate the birth of the new little prince. Clearly, people are happy about this babys arrival. The birth of the baby was also celebrated by the ringing of a bell at Westminster Abbey, which is always done when the royal family is graced with a new child or some other important event. However, for all of this hype and celebration, the baby still does not have a name. Official statements have said that the name of the child will be announced when the time feels right, but at the moment, the most important thing for them is making sure the baby is okay and simply celebrating the fact that he has been born and nothing has gone wrong. Kate was taken into hospital as she went into labour at about 6:00am on Monday morning, where she spent about five hours in childbirth before the baby was born and the midwives called it (11:10am, to be exact), and the birth wasnt announced to the news until the heat had died down at about 1:00pm. Shortly after Kate came out of labour, the new princes brother and sister, Will and Kates first two kids, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, got to see their new sibling in the hospital on Monday, right after he was born. Some royal family lovers had been camped outside the hospital for weeks After the birth was announced on Monday, large crowds started to gather outside St. Marys Hospital to with Kate, Will, the new baby, and the family well. But some more dedicated fans of the royal family had been camped outside that hospital, anticipating the birth around Kates due date, for more than two weeks! Thats commitment. When the couple left the hospital, Prince William said that the family were happy and joked that being a dad was thrice the worry now. So, hes just a regular dad like we are he just happens to be mega rich, thanks to his family. Ava DuVernay, the director of Selma and 13th who is a strong voice in the black community and a strong critic of sitting US President Donald Trump, has responded to the US air strikes against Syria and the Assad regime by digging up an old tweet from Trumps account that was posted way back in 2013, in which he criticised Barack Obama for bombing Syria. Trump once said that bombing Syria was a big mistake One of two tweets by Trump from five years ago says that he believes that the President of the United States must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria and that it is a big mistake if he does not! Oh, how the tables have turned. Now that the guy is himself the US President, hes gone and broken his own rule. A second tweet says that all America has to gain by bombing Syria is more debt and a possible long term conflict. Well, look whos bombing Syria now! The two tweets have since by brought up by Jerrold Nadler, a US Representative from the Democratic Party that strongly opposes Trump and his right-wing ways, in order to point out the rabid hypocrisy of this guy and how quickly the Republicans will change their minds on an issue, depending on whose idea it was. This has been the subject of a lot of criticism by the Democrats and the more left-wing UK citizens. FILE PHOTO: Branding is seen outside the headquarters of GKN in Redditch, Britain, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's business minister said there were no national security grounds to intervene in turnaround specialist Melrose's takeover of UK engineering company GKN , giving the deal the green light from government. Melrose clinched an 8 billion-pound takeover of GKN in March in a deal which the government said it needed to examine for any public interest concerns. During the three-month battle for GKN, lawmakers had raised concerns that Melrose could in the future sell GKN's aerospace business, which is involved in defence programmes, to an overseas buyer. But business minister Greg Clark said told parliament on Tuesday there were no grounds for objecting to the deal and that Melrose had agreed to more undertakings with the Ministry of Defence. "On the basis of the commitments given relating to national security, the ministry of defence concluded that statutory intervention is not required," Clark said in a statement. "My judgement is that there are not reasonable and proportionate grounds to make a statutory intervention on the grounds of national security," he added. Security worries had centred on GKN being a supplier of parts to the Eurofighter Typhoon jet. Clark said Melrose had agreed to keep the government informed of any advanced plans to divest the business or parts of it, and agreed not to dispose of any parts of the business without the consent of the government, amongst other promises. "In important respects, these undertakings go beyond commitments given by the previous management team," Clark said. Melrose had already made a series of legally binding commitments about GKN's future ahead of the takeover. They included pledges on research and development expenditure and a promise the combined firm would remain headquartered in Britain. (Reporting by Sarah Young; additional reporting by William James, editing by Stephen Addison) JOHANNESBURG, April 25 (Reuters) - World No. 1 platinum producer Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said on Wednesday it had raised 390 million rand ($31 million) after the sale of most of its stake in smaller black-owned rival Royal Bafokeng Platinum. The unit of Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) sold 17.3 million shares at 22.50 rand in an accelerated book build, a 10.6 percent discount on the RBPlat closing share on Tuesday of 25.17 rand. RBPlat's share price had fallen over 7 percent at midday to 23.35 rand while Amplats was down over 2 percent. Amplats said it will use the money to fund its share of a concentrator plant and to provide ongoing funding requirements for the Styldrift mine project which its unit Rustenburg Platinum Mines (RPM) is a partner in with RBPlat. Amplats said in a statement it will retain about 2.6 percent of RBPlat's shares. At the end of December, Amplats held over 11 percent of RBPlat via RPM, according to Thomson Reuters (Dusseldorf: TOC.DU - news) ' data. (Reporting by Nomvelo Chalumbira Editing by Ed Stoddard and Louise Heavens) TSB's mobile app and online banking have returned to service after being disabled thanks to a botched IT upgrade and apparent data breach. The meltdown had left the lender, which has five million customers, and its chief executive Paul Pester, under intense scrutiny after days of disruption which has left account holders in the dark over their finances. TSB's digital banking services were taken offline for more than a day from 10.30am on Tuesday - nearly five days after an initial planned shutdown - only being brought back online in the early hours of Wednesday morning. "Our mobile banking app and online banking are now up and running," Mr Pester tweeted at around 3.40am. "Thank you for your patience and for bearing with us." Appearing on Sky (Frankfurt: 893517 - news) 's Ian King Live on Tuesday, Mr Pester said he apologised "profusely" to those affected but declined the opportunity, when asked, to offer to give up his bonus, saying that was a matter for the bank's remuneration committee. He also insisted that "for the vast majority of our customers things are running very smoothly". The bank had switched to new servers over the weekend, preventing its 1.9 million digital customers accessing their accounts from Friday afternoon. However, it quickly became clear on Sunday evening that all had not gone as planned as scores of account holders turned to social media to complain - with some indicating they could even see other people's account details . TSB acknowledged that 402 customers were able to view "some data that we would not normally show them online" for a period of 20 minutes on Sunday evening. The bank said each person had "connected accounts" with the bank - typically created between family members and insisted their data was safe. This issue resulted in services being shut down again for several hours on Sunday evening until 2am, but after they were turned on again, users experienced further problems when going online and there was a renewed shutdown on Tuesday. Story continues The login and data protection problems have attracted interest from regulators and stinging criticism from the chair of an influential committee of MPs (BSE: MPSLTD.BO - news) at a time when the industry is facing a backlash over branch closures and a shift towards mobile banking. TSB had previously blamed the continuing disruption on high volumes of customers trying to access the new systems. The old servers it replaced dated back to TSB's ownership within Lloyds. Mr Pester told his Twitter (Frankfurt: A1W6XZ - news) followers he was "deeply sorry" for the problems - seeking to explain his public silence on the issue to date by saying he had "just resurfaced after 48 hours with my teams who have been working as hard and fast as they can to get our services back up and running." He added: "We're still seeing issues with access to our digital services. One of the steps we need to take to resolve this is to take our mobile app and online banking down for a few hours." Customers continued to vent their frustration on Tuesday to complain about a lack of information. Sky News has asked the bank to check whether it had contacted them by email since the login problems began. TSB, which has five million customers in total, has pledged that no one will be left out of pocket, but that was of little comfort to many. One customer called Lauren tweeted: "@TSB Day 5 of your systems being down/incorrect. Can't get through to anyone on the phone. This is absolutely ridiculous the minute I get through to someone I'll be closing my account!!" Another wrote: "@TSB I need help. Please. My wages went in on Friday and I need to pay rent and other DD. My wages are not showing and I cannot login. I may go overdrawn I don't know what to do. I tried calling was on the phone 45mins and then got cut off. Please help I'm actually in tears." The Financial Conduct Authority and Information Commissioner's Office are in contact with the bank, with investigations widely expected to follow the debacle. It later emerged that the Treasury Committee of MPs, which has previously demanded better standards of banks following similar IT glitches, had written to Mr Pester to seek answers. Nicky Morgan MP, who chairs the committee, said: "The reports of unauthorised transactions, access to other customers' accounts, and failures of in-branch services have all the hallmarks of an IT meltdown. "This is yet another addition to the litany of failures of banking IT systems. Potentially millions of customers could be affected by uncertainty and disruption. "It simply isn't good enough to expose customers to IT failures, including delays in paying bills and an inability to access their own money. "Warm words and platitudes will not suffice. TSB customers deserve to know what has happened, when normal services will resume, and how they can expect to be compensated. "I will be writing to the FCA in due course for their assessment," she added. TSB customers are reporting access to their accounts after the lender took its digital banking platforms offline to fix a bungled system upgrade. The bank's boss took to Twitter (Frankfurt: A1W6XZ - news) in the early hours of Wednesday to declare services were "up and running" again. They had been taken down on Tuesday morning for urgent work as customers endured a fifth day of frustration. It had been hoped the fix would take a few hours. While TSB mobile app and online customers said, via Twitter, they could access their accounts, many messaged Paul Pester directly to complain about continuing problems. Gripes among those able to log in included sub-accounts and premier features going missing. Others said they were still unable to access the platforms. One user said she had used the opportunity to transfer all her money to another lender. TSB is facing the prospect of paying regulatory fines and compensation over the incident, which began on Friday when it had warned its 1.9 million digital customers they would be unable to access their money because of a platform upgrade from old servers linked to its previous owner, Lloyds. That work was scheduled to be completed on Sunday evening but left customers without access to their money. The disruption spilled over into branches as people demanded answers and TSB later admitted that several hundred customers had been wrongfully given access to customer data they should not have seen. The bank has pledged to consider every case for compensation and not leave any customer out of pocket. More follows... (Adds detail, background) April 25 (Reuters) - Persimmon (Frankfurt: 882058 - news) , Britain's second-largest housebuilder, on Wednesday reported robust trading since the start of the year, with sales conversion and cancellation rates in line with expectations. "Customer activity since the start of the year has been encouraging with the group's total enquiry levels running about 13 percent ahead of the prior year," the company said. Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) forward sales revenue, including completions, was up by about 8 percent at 2.76 billion pounds ($3.85 billion), it said. The average selling price of its homes was 236,500 pounds, compared with 229,500 pounds a year earlier. In March, Persimmon named Roger Devlin as its new chairman, hoping he will help the company move on after a row over an executive incentive plan saw his predecessor quit last year. The corporate pay scheme has since been scaled back. Originally, it could have seen the firm's top management, including Chief Executive Jeff Fairburn, make a profit of more than 200 million pounds on share options. The company will be holding an annual general meeting later on Wednesday, where shareholders will vote on remuneration for senior bosses. ($1 = 0.7161 pounds) (Reporting by Radhika Rukmangadhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter) Guy Verhofstadt updating MEPs on Brexit negotiations today (European Parliament) The UK government has been told to find a solution to the Irish border issue within two months or risk a back stop which would keep Northern Ireland in the EUs customs union becoming a reality. The European Parliaments Brexit coordinator said today that an agreement on the Irish border issue should be reached by the next European Council meeting on June 28. Guy Verhofstadt said the proposals put forward by the UK so far were not satisfactory and dismissed a suggestion by UK Brexit Secretary David Davis that the issue could be left until October. Our hope is that we can find a way forward in June already on this, he told the European Parliaments constitutional affairs committee. I have heard that Mr David Davis said maybe October, but I think in October it is late because in October we need to be ready with the whole Withdrawal Agreement including Ireland, plus already a declaration on a future relationship. So, if you look to the agenda the best way forward, is that this problem is solved as fast as possible and ultimately before the June European Council. That timeline would give the UK government just eight weeks to reconcile their ambition of avoiding a hard border in Ireland while leaving the EUs single market and customs union. The two proposals set out by Theresa May in her Mansion House speech last month were annihilated by the EU side in the last round of negotiations, it was reported last week. The Withdrawal Agreement states that Northern Ireland will remain in the EUs customs union if the a hard border cannot be avoided through a trade deal that would make customs checks unnecessary. David Davis told MPs at Westminster today that this option was only a reserve parachute. Brexit Secretary David Davis addressing the UK Parliaments Brexit committee today (PA Images) But in Brussels , Mr Verhofstadt said the backstop would become a reality unless another workable solution was found soon. He said: People say there is no solution to Ireland I say there is a solution to Ireland because there is a back stop. Story continues The reason for the back stop is that if there is no other satisfactory solution that can be found with the UK, or if the UK doesnt come forward with a convincing solution, then we have the written assurance that the back stop will be put in place and would apply. Without an agreement on the Irish border, the European Parliament would veto the entire Withdrawal Agreement, Mr Verhofstadt vowed. Mairead McGuinness, a vice-chair of the European Parliament from Irelands ruling Fine Gael party, said she wanted to avoid a hard border through a deal that allowed frictionless trade rather through than the backstop. But she added: Im anxious about it being left until October. I would prefer that this is done in June. The people I represent are also anxious and they deserve better than having to wait many months for some certainty. Pro and anti-Brexit MEPs clashed over the idea of a second referendum during the meeting. Labour MEP Richard Corbett shouted rubbish when UKIP leader Gerard Batten predicted Leave would win by an even bigger majority if another poll was held. Bulgarian citizen Zhelyaz Andreev, 29, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Sofia, Bulgaria, April 16, 2018. Picture taken April 16, 2018. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov SOFIA (Reuters) - It is unlikely that five Bulgarians will be extradited to the United States to face charges of exporting aircraft parts to Syria's national airline in violation of a U.S. embargo, Bulgarian chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said on Wednesday. Washington has sought the arrest and extradition of Zhelyaz Andreev and four other Bulgarians who worked at the Sofia office of the Miami-based export company AW-Tronics. "There are not enough legal prerequisites for the extradition," Tsatsarov told reporters after a meeting with the prime minister, the justice minister and the U.S. ambassador. "The chance that the extradition requests will be respected by the Bulgarian court is, in our view, minimal," he said. Andreev has already been released from detention and Tsatsarov had said he would not detain the others for now. Andreev, 29, has denied the accusations, saying he did not take any managerial decisions at the company and was not aware of a U.S. embargo. Consultations between the U.S. Department of Justice and Bulgaria's Justice Ministry started on Monday, and U.S. officials had agreed that there was no need to detain the suspects, Tsatsarov said. The United States has about two months to send detailed extradition requests. Tsatsarov said he believed they lacked a legal basis as the offences in question did not appear to be crimes in Bulgaria. A total of 11 people have been indicted in the case, including two AW-Tronics managers, Miami residents of Iranian origin. They, along with the company's export compliance officer, pleaded guilty last October to conspiracy to defraud the United States and illegally export aviation parts and equipment to Syrian Arab Airlines. They were sentenced to up to two years in prison. (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Piyaset / www.shutterstock.com The Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, wrote the then-UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon back in 2007, about an ongoing war which arose, he said, at least in part from climate change. Since then the idea that climate change has caused and will cause human conflict and mass migrations has become more and more accepted just look at the claimed effects of droughts in Syria and Ethiopia. The media has even started using terms such as climate refugees and environmental migrants to describe people fleeing their homes from these climate-driven conflicts. But it isnt clear whether there is much evidence for this link between climate change and conflict there certainly seems to be no consensus within the academic literature. In our recent paper, my student Erin Owain and I decided to test the climate-conflict hypothesis, using East Africa as our focus. The region is already very hot and very poor, making it especially vulnerable to climate change (in fact neighbouring Chad is by some measures the single most vulnerable country in the world). As the planet warms, East Africas seasonal rains are expected to become much more unpredictable. This is a particular problem as recent economic development has been concentrated in agriculture, a highly climate-sensitive sector that accounts for more than half of the entire economy in countries like Ethiopia or Sudan. One study led by the European Commission found that declining rainfall over the past century may have reduced GDP across Africa by 15-40% compared with the rest of the developing world. East Africa also has a long history of conflict and human displacement, which persists in some countries to this day, such as the civil wars in Sudan and Somalia. The UN Refugee Agency reports there were more than 20m displaced people in Africa in 2016 a third of the worlds total. The World Bank predicts this could rise up to 86m by 2050 due to climate change. Is it really because of climate change? Story continues To test the climate-conflict hypothesis, Erin and I therefore focused on the ten main countries in East Africa. We used a new database that records major episodes of political violence and number of total displaced people for the past 50 years for each of the ten countries. We then statistically compared these records both at a country and a regional level with the appropriate climatic, economic and political indicators. We found that climate variations such as regional drought and global temperature did not significantly impact the level of regional conflict or the number of total displaced people. The major driving forces on conflict were rapid population growth, reduced or negative economic growth and instability of political regimes. Numbers of total displaced people were linked to rapid population growth and low or stagnating economic growth. The evidence from East Africa is that no single factor can fully explain conflict and the displacement of people. Instead, conflict seems to be linked primarily to long-term population growth, short-term economic recessions and extreme political instability. Halvard Buhaug, a professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, looked at the same questions in 2015 and his study reached much the same conclusion: sociopolitical factors were more important than climate change. Melih Cevdet Teksen/Shutterstock But refugees are linked to climate change Things were different for refugees, however those displaced people who were forced to cross borders between countries. Refugee numbers were related to the usual demographic and socio-economic factors. But in contrast to total displaced people and occurrence of conflict, variations in refugee numbers were found to be related significantly to the incidence of severe regional droughts. And these droughts can in turn be linked to a long-term drying trend ascribed to anthropogenic climate change. However, it is important to consider the counterfactual: had there been slower population growth, stronger economies and more stable political regimes, would these droughts still have led to more refugees? Thats beyond the scope of our study, which may not be a definitive test of the links between climate change and conflict. But the occurrence of peaks in both conflict and displaced people in the 1980s and 1990s across East Africa suggest that decolonisation and the end of the Cold War could have been key issues. Nonetheless, while conflict has decreased across the region since the end of the Cold War, the number of displaced people remains high. We argue that with good stable governance there is no reason why climate change should lead to greater conflict or displacement of people, despite the World Banks dire predictions. Water provides one reason to be optimistic. The UN reports that, over the past 50 years, there have been 150 international water resource treaties signed compared to 37 disputes that involved violence. What our study suggests is the failure of political systems is the primary cause of conflict and displacement of large numbers of people. We also demonstrate that within socially and geopolitically fragile systems, climate change may potentially exacerbate the situation particularly with regards to enforced migration. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The Conversation Mark Maslin is a Professor at University College London, Founding Director of Rezatec Ltd, Director of The London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership and a member of Cheltenham Science Festival Advisory Committee. He is an unpaid member of the Sopra-Steria CSR Board. He has received funding in the past from the NERC, EPSRC, ESRC, Royal Society, DIFD, DECC, FCO, Innovate UK, Carbon Trust, UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, Leverhulme Trust and British Council. By Kumerra Gemechu ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Britain must permanently return all artifacts from Ethiopia held by the Victoria and Albert Museum and Addis Ababa will not accept them on loan, an Ethiopian government official said. The call comes after the museum, one of London's most popular tourist attractions, put Ethiopian treasures plundered by British forces in 1868 on display. "Well, it would be exciting if the items held at the V&A could be part of a long-term loan with a cultural institution in Ethiopia," museum director Tristram Hunt said. "These items have never been on a long-term loan in Ethiopia, but as we look to the future I think what we're interested in are partnerships around conservation, interpretation, heritage management, and these need to be supported by government assistance so that institutions like the V&A can support sister institutions in Ethiopia." Among the items on display are sacred manuscripts and gold taken from the Battle of Maqdala 150 years ago, when British troops ransacked the fortress of Emperor Tewodros II. The offer of a loan did not go far enough for Ethiopia. "What we have asked (for) was the restitution of our heritage, our Maqdala heritage, looted from Maqdala 150 years ago. We presented our request in 2007 and we are waiting for it," government minister Hirut Woldemariam said. Ephrem Amare, Ethiopian National Museum director, added: "It is clearly known where these treasures came from and whom they belong to. Our main demand has never been to borrow them. Ethiopias demand has always been the restoration of those illegally looted treasures. Not to borrow them. The V&A said on Tuesday the idea of a long-term loan had come up as it discussed its Maqdala exhibition with Ethiopian authorities. "The V&A is committed to continuing this important and wide-ranging dialogue with colleagues at the Ethiopian Embassy in London, it added in a statement. Story continues In launching the Maqdala 1868 exhibition of what Hunt called "stunning pieces with a complex history" this month, he said the display had been organized in consultation with the Ethiopian community in London. "As custodians of these Ethiopian treasures, we have a responsibility to celebrate the beauty of their craftsmanship, shine a light on their cultural and religious significance and reflect on their living meaning, while being open about how they came to Britain," he said in a blog on the museum website. (Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Alison Williams) See Also: Residents of the Canadian city of Winnipeg were left in a panic on Sunday night as a prankster broadcast a nuclear attack warning message declaring that the city would be destroyed within minutes. The warning sounded in the downtown neighborhood of Osborne Village warning that an attack had been launched against the U.S. and Canada and urging citizens to flee to nearby fallout shelters, CTV News reported. The mechanical-sounding voice said six missiles were incoming within the next 15 to 25 minutes, and warned people to stay away from windows and start collecting vital survival supplies. The recording, which police believe was played through a home stereo system, said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would address the nation shortly. Trending: Destiny 2 Warmind DLC Reveal Stream: Time, Date, How to Watch Online Police received several calls before arriving at s suspected broadcast location, at which point the messages stopped. Police believe the audio was taken from an online video, which encourages others to replay the message as a prank, Global News said. Authorities are now attempting to track down the perpetrator. If you heard a loud audio message about a nuclear threat last night in the Osborne-River area, it was a prank. It was not part of any official alert system and we are investigating the incident. Media release: https://t.co/igoUa11354 Winnipeg Police (@wpgpolice) April 23, 2018 This is some jokester who probably thought it would be funny to play this audio and it's unfortunate, said police Constable Jay Murray. I don't think they probably realized the amount of fear and panic they put into some people and the stress on, not only the police system, but other systems as well. Don't miss: Macron-Trump Summit Carries Risks for France and the U.S. | Opinion Story continues I can't imagine if you have someone who thinks this is imminent, what is going through their mind, Murray added, so it's a matter we take very seriously. Ron Schuler, Manitoba states minister responsible for emergency measures, assured Winnipeggers that no official threat was issued on Sunday, and any real alert would be broadcast through radios, televisions or cell phones. If you are going to be notified, first of all, it is done by the proper channels, Schuler explained. Its not done by a rusty van with speakers hanging out the side. The false alarm came just weeks after Canadian residents were connected the the new Alert Ready warning system, allowing them be quickly notified of weather, fire, biological, hazardous, environmental, civil or terrorist events. Most popular: Transfer News: Manchester City Beat Liverpool to Serie A Star, John Stones' future questioned Hawaii warning REUTERS/Hugh Gentry The fake warning has echoes of the accidental nuclear alert sent out in Hawaii in January, warning that a ballistic missile had been launched at the islands. The message was sent to cellphones and broadcast on television stations, before being officially cancelled 38 minutes later. Coming at a time of high tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, the false warning sparked panic in the islands as residents scrambled for cover, with some even resorting to hiding in storm drains. The alert was issued when an employee at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency mistook a drill for a real threat. The anonymous worker said he did not hear the exercise, exercise, exercise announcement that followed the drill, and was 100 percent sure the threat was real. The employee was later fired from the agency after an investigation. Weeks later, Japanese citizens also received a false alarm warning of a North Korean ballistic missile launch. The accidental alert was quickly canceled with an apology from the broadcaster that sent it out. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek This article originally appeared on the Conversation. French President Emmanuel Macron can expect a warm welcome from Donald Trumpand, most likely, some glitz and pompwhen he arrives in Washington on April 23 for a two-day summit. It is the Trump administrations first state visit of a foreign leader. The two leaders, both political outsiders who achieved surprising electoral victories, have developed a strong working relationship despite their many ideological differences. Macron and Trump speak regularly on the phone, and Trump reportedly greatly appreciated the warm reception he received in France when he visited Macron in July 2017. Trending: Jared Kushner Defended by His Father Over Disastrous Deal Struck by Familys Real Estate Business 10_25_MacronTrump_01 (Photo by Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images) As a scholar who studies France, I believe the stakes in the summit are particularly high for Macron. The two presidents will tackle a list of complex international challenges, such as the Syrian civil war, terrorism and relations with Russia and North Korea. Macron will also have to convince Trump, a conservative with protectionist instincts, not to break with Europe over trade tariffs and the Iran nuclear deal. A successful return from Washington would give Macron a political boost at home and abroad. Triumphs, then strikes Macrons rise to power was remarkable. In 2014, most French people had no idea who he was. By 2017, he was elected president in his first-ever run for public office. Shortly afterward, the political party he created from scratch, En Marche, captured a large majority in the French Parliament. Macron achieved all this before turning 40. In office, Macron has tried to deliver on his campaign promises of transforming France by revitalizing its moribund economy and restoring its influence on the world stage. Story continues After years of sluggish growth and persistently high unemployment, he easily passed controversial reforms to Frances labor market. Among other changes, the new rules make it easier for companies to hire and fire employees. Don't miss: Osama Bin Laden's Alleged Bodyguard Collecting Welfare Checks in Germany But the French president faces stiffer resistance to his latest batch of proposed reforms. A government plan to prevent new hires at Frances state-owned national railway from being awarded the same generous benefits as current workerssuch as early retirement, extra vacation time and lifelong employment guaranteehas been met with three months of strikes. Railworkers also oppose Macrons decision to end the railways monopoly, opening it up to foreign competition by 2020, in line with European Union rules. At the same time, college students across the country are also protesting a proposal to make university admissions more selective and merit-based. They have staged sit-ins, barricaded campuses and disrupted classes. French medical workers and Air France pilots have now joined this broader strike movement. Challenges at home and abroad Union opposition is a significant first political test for Macron. It comes at a critical time: A year into his presidency, Macrons approval rate is 40 percent. It was 64 percent just after his election. Macron also faces challenges abroad. He campaigned as a uniter who would deepen European cooperation. He has championed the European Union at a time when rising nationalism threatens to divide its membership. Macron enjoyed early support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has emerged in recent years as the reluctant leader of Europe. But Germanys new coalition government disagrees with parts of Macrons plans to create a largerand more flexibleEuropean Monetary Fund that would offer countries bailouts to prevent a repeat of Europes continuing debt crisis. Frances strikes mark a particularly crucial juncture for Macron. If he faces down Frances powerful unions to implement his labor reforms, he will have achieved something none of his predecessors could do. And that, I expect, is something Donald Trump could respect. Most popular: Is Julio Jones Done With the Falcons? Atlanta Receiver Misses Team Workouts, Removes Team Pics from Social Accounts Convincing Trump Trump is rolling out the red carpet for Macrons visit: a private dinner at George Washingtons home, Mount Vernon, and a joint address to Congress. Macron and Trump agree on several important foreign policy issues. France joined recent U.S.-led air strikes against Syrias chemical laboratories and both countries continue to cooperate well on counterterrorism. But it is less clear that Macron can leverage his good relationship with Trump to prevent a major breakdown over two important areas of discord: trade and Iran. The U.S. administration temporarily exempted the European Union from its major tariffs on steel and aluminum imports announced last month, but this exemption is set to expire on May 1. Trump has called on the European bloc to rectify what he deems unfair trade practices. Macron is probably hoping to secure a permanent exemption for Europe while in Washington. But European leaders have stated their steadfast refusal to negotiate under what they consider blackmail, so Macron has limited room to maneuver on trade. Macron will also try to convince Trump to stick with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal President Barack Obama signed along with France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia and China. Trump has said the agreement has disastrous flaws and gave Congress until May 18 to fix them. Otherwise, he has said, he will withdraw the U.S. from the deal. Do no harm The French president is a skilled diplomat, but still I find the odds of a breakthrough over trade and Iran unpromising. Donald Trump has historically paid little heed to his foreign counterparts input on global issues like climate change and NATO. Reports suggest that Macron himself is not very optimistic. He probably hopes simply to avoid further damaging transatlantic relations by entering in a prolonged dispute on either subjector, worse, on both. A trade war would be very costly for the U.S. and Europe, which are economically interdependent. And if Trump withdraws from the Iran deal, it would both provoke and humiliate the United States European partners who spent more than a decade crafting this agreement. The summit could not have higher stakes for Macron. He must realize that the fate of the more than a half-century-old Western alliance might rest on his ability to sway Donald Trump in Europes directionwhich will be no easy task. Garret Martin, Professorial Lecturer, American University School of International Service. The Conversation This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Inuka celebrated his 27th birthday last December (Picture: Rex) The only polar bear born in the tropics has died. Inuka was put down at Singapore Zoo after suffering a series of age-related ailments. The polar bear was born at the zoo and lived to the age of 27. Inuka was kept in a climate-controlled enclosure (Picture: Rex) In a statement, Singapore Zoo said: We have jointly made the difficult but necessary decision to not revive Inuka from anaesthesia on humane grounds. Inuka was suffering from arthritis, ear infections and dental issues, while his weakening limbs hampered his ability to walk. MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO Inuka was born on December 26, 1990 and was Singapore Zoos fourth polar bear. He spent his time at the zoo in a climate-controlled enclosure. But his presence at the zoo angered animal rights activists and conservationists who said polar bears should not be kept in tropical countries. In 2006, Singapore Zoo said it would not bring in any more polar bears. The polar bear was born in Singapore Zoo (Picture: Rex) Inuka suffered from a series of ailments (Picture: Rex) As much as we would like to keep Inuka with us for as long as possible, our ultimate responsibility is his welfare, Cheng Wen-haur, Wildlife Reserves Singapores deputy chief executive officer, told the BBC. Our decision to let Inuka go was made with the knowledge that his health issues have seriously impacted his welfare. Beyond the point where we can ensure a good quality of life for Inuka, the greater kindness would be to relieve him from prolonged suffering. FILE PHOTO - Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) from Kuwait gather upon arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay city, Metro Manila, Philippines February 21, 2018. Following President Rodrigo Duterte's call to evacuate workers after a Filipina was found dead stuffed inside a freezer. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait on Wednesday ordered the ambassador from the Philippines to leave within a week and recalled its own envoy for consultations after embassy staff tried to "rescue" Filipino domestic workers amid reports of abuse. The decision was the latest episode in a three-month conflict sparked by reports that several Filipinos had been driven to suicide by the abuse of Kuwaiti employers. The two countries have been working on a pact to protect expatriate workers after the Philippines banned the dispatch of workers to Kuwait, after reports of abuse. The Philippines had apologised on Tuesday for what Kuwait viewed as a "flagrant" violation of its sovereignty. The Philippine foreign secretary said the embassy was forced to "assist" Filipino workers who sought help as some situations were a matter of life and death. Kuwait's foreign ministry said it had given the ambassador three days to provide the names of Filipino residents in Kuwait who had "kidnapped" domestic workers from their employers' homes, adding it had yet to receive a response from the embassy. Kuwaiti security forces "will continue to chase down those who violated the security of the country" and put them on trial, the ministry added in a statement. In a statement, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said the action taken by the Kuwaiti government was "deeply disturbing" and inconsistent with assurances given by the Kuwaiti ambassador during his meeting with Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano on Tuesday. "In discussions at every level with Kuwait, the Philippines has always emphasized that the well-being of Filipino nationals wherever they may be will always be of paramount importance," the statement said. Domestic helpers account for more than 65 percent of the more than 260,000 Filipinos in Kuwait, according to the Philippines' foreign secretary. In February, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called on Filipino workers in Kuwait to return home after the discovery of a domestic worker's body in a freezer in an abandoned home. He said then that a list of both reported and unreported cases of mistreatment of Filipino migrant workers would be prepared. Story continues Foreign workers in many Gulf states are employed under a sponsorship system that gives employers the right to keep their passports and exercise full control over their stay. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have long complained that Gulf states do not properly regulate working conditions for low-income domestic workers and labourers. They say excessively long hours and insufficient flexibility to change contracts or return home contravene international labour laws and deprive workers of their human rights. (Reporting by Ahmed Hagagy, with additional reporting by Manuel Mogato in Manila; writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi and Sarah Dadouch; editing by Larry) TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran's president has issued another warning as meetings between President Donald Trump and France's Emmanuel Macron are underway in Washington. Hassan Rouhani says the United States will face "grave" consequences if Washington decides to withdraw from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. Rouhani spoke to a crowd of supporters in the city of Tabriz on Tuesday. State TV broadcast the speech. He said the Iranian nation and government will "strongly resist" any plots by those who sit in the White House. He didn't elaborate except to say Tehran has abided by commitments. Trump did not re-certify the deal in January but extended the main sanctions waivers and gave the Europeans until the next waiver deadline on May 12 to come up with fixes to the deal. See Also: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the Chinese Embassy and the hospital where the victims of a bus accident were receiving treatment on Monday. North Korean state-controlled media painted a portrait of a grief-stricken, compassionate leader. "The unexpected accident brought bitter sorrow to his heart," an article published in both the North Korean news agency KCNA and in the ruling party's daily newspaper Rodong Sinmun said. "He couldn't control his grief at the thought of the bereaved families who lost their blood relatives." The vehicle crashed on Sunday in the North Hwanghae province on a North Korean road connecting the tourism attraction of Kaesong with the capital Pyongyang, in circumstances still to be clarified. Chinese officials said 32 Chinese tourists and four North Koreans were killed in the crash. Trending: Destiny 2 Warmind DLC Reveal Stream: Time, Date, How to Watch Online 04_24_Chinese_Embassy_KJU KCNA/via Reuters Kim visited the Chinese Embassy early on Monday, North Korean media reported, describing Chinese ambassador Li Jinjun's "deep impression" at the visit, in which Kim expressed his condolences to both Chinese president Xi Jinping and the victims' families. Kim then visited the victims in the hospital, holding a meeting with the hospital staff to "personally learn" about their treatment and promising to take "follow-up" measures to alleviate their pain, according to the reports. Don't miss: Macron-Trump Summit Carries Risks for France and the U.S. | Opinion 04_24_KJU_Hospital KCNA/via Reuters Story continues The visit represented another moment for Kim to present himself like a legitimate president rather than the authoritarian leader of a country brutally repressing his citizens and any form of dissentan image of which he is all too aware and has been trying to shed with his offer of talks with South Korea and the U.S. Kim said he would stop nuclear and missile testsa step South Korean President Moon Jae-in praised as a first step towards denuclearizationbut his position on giving up nuclear weapons, as well as what he would want in return for it, remains unclear ahead of the inter-Korean summit scheduled for Friday. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Taiwan will simulate taking on an invading force in war games next week amid its increasing tensions with China. Taipei will conduct exercises in which it will repair a major air base and use civilian operated drones, Reuters reported. The annual Han Kuang drills, which start on April 30, make no mention of China, only offensive forces invading Taiwan and will include a live-fire field training exercise and enemy elimination on beaches. Trending: Macron-Trump Summit Carries Risks for France and the U.S. | Opinion RTX37II8 REUTERS/Tyrone Siu Drones will aid with battlefield surveillance, building companies with runway repairs for the Ching Chuan Kang airbase and there will be air defense drills and exercises with the navy. Live fire drills will take place between June 4 and June 8 in what will be the first time civilian forces will work with other government branches. Civilian resources will also be integrated into this exercise to support military operations, Taiwans defense ministry said. In January, Taiwan held a military drill at the Port of Hualien using reconnaissance planes and F-16 fighter jets. Don't miss: Transfer News: Manchester City Beat Liverpool to Serie A Star, John Stones' future questioned Chinas claim on Taiwan, which has autonomy, has become more vociferous after the election of Tsai Ing-Wen as president, from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party. China has breached Taiwans sea and air borders over the last year during its increased military maneuvers. On April 18, it undertook live-fire military exercises. Chieh Chung, from the Taipei-based think tank, the National Policy Foundation, said Beijing's actions were part of its mind games with its neighbor. Most popular: Who is Alfie Evans? Terminally Ill Toddler's Parents Lose Life Support Battle Story continues "What is worth noticing is that over the past one or two years, Beijing has regularly taken advantage of these cheap, routine, small-sized, regional drills to serve its purpose of psychological warfare against Taiwan," he told Channel News Asia. The U.S. recognizes Beijings One China policy but has stated it would defend the island against any Chinese invasion and equipped it with American-made weapons. In a survey conducted in January by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, 68 percent of people said they would join the army or find other means of resistance should China invade. Some 55 percent of people said they would go to war for Taiwans independence while 91 percent said they preferred the status quo, whereby it kept its de facto sovereign status. Only 1.5 percent of people believed Taiwan should be reunited with the mainland, the National Interest reported. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek The president of Iran has raised the stakes in President Donald Trumps talks with his French counterpart by warning him not to pull out of the nuclear deal the Islamic republic signed in 2015. In a televised speech Tuesday, Hassan Rouhani said Trump should honor the deal struck with five other world powers, in which Tehran agreed to ease its nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of sanctions. Trump has criticized it as one of the worst deals ever negotiated. I am telling those in the White House that if they do not live up to their commitments, the Iranian government will react firmly," he said, according to Reuters. Trending: Even a Little Caffeine While Pregnant Could Increase Childs Obesity Risk: Study RTX5WXYB REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo "If anyone betrays the deal, they should know that they would face severe consequences," he added. Iran is on the table during this weeks talks with French leader Emmanuel Macron on the second day of his state visit to the U.S. Don't miss: Emanuel Macron's New Immigration Bill: What You Need to Know The Telegraph reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is also expected to tell Trump to stick to the deal as he has until May 12 to decide whether to continue with the eased sanctions or to reimpose them. U.S. disarmament ambassador Robert Wood said urgent discussions were being held with European allies ahead of that deadline. Trump says the Obama-era deal is not tough enough and wants Tehrans ballistic missile programs and its military activities in the region to be included. However, Irans Foreign Minister Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter that there is no Plan B and Washington must accept the three-year-old agreement all or nothing. European leaders should encourage President Trump not just to stay in the nuclear deal, but more importantly to begin implementing his part of the bargain in good faith, he said. Story continues This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek This originally appeared on Quora. Answered by Amanda Tendler. Absolutely. Im the stereotypical 30-something white woman Starbucks customer (with the app to get my stars and allboth in the U.S. and in China). In fact, this morning for breakfast, I ate their everything bagel bites and am currently drinking a cinnamon almond milk macchiato. Trending: Elliot Rodger's Father 'Very Sad' Toronto Van Attack Suspect Alek Minassian Referenced Son 04_19_Starbucks Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images I consistently go into Starbucks and request an extra-large water for free. Not just at one Starbucks, but Starbucks all over Southern California while driving for Lyft and Uber, all over the U.S. on roadtrips, and in multiple other countries around the world. In fact, I make it a point to use Starbucks bathrooms because they tend to be cleaner than average and are guaranteed to have western style toilets when I didnt feel like squatting abroad. The worst thing Ive ever been told is that they can no longer give me the extra-large cupthey can only give me the large cup. I was indignant about that too, but they were patient and kind in their explanation that it was a new policy and yadda yadda yadda. Don't miss: Toronto Van Victims 'Predominantly Female' Pedestrians, Police Say I probably asked to use the restroom on no less than 50 percent of these free-water visits. Ive never been asked to verify my purchase. Never been told I couldnt have the code. Literally. Never. And if they did, you can bet Id be on the phone to Starbucks customer service to let them know that Im unhappy about that kind of treatment and would also not be surprised if they compensated me for the inconvenience and nonstandard service with a free drink or two. In fact, most businesses that have the no public restroom sign will still let me use their restroom if I ask nicely and even if I dont purchase anything. One time a bouncer at a super bougie place on the beach gave me a tip: Just tell them Im pregnant, and they cant deny me access to the restroom. So while I hate to lie, my bladder convinced me there wasnt another option so I told him I was pregnant and voilaI was granted access. Story continues On top of that, at Starbucks specifically, Ive done hour long private tutoring sessions where both the student and I drank free water and used the restrooms to our hearts content. Ive also attended a regular Meetup group for people on the spectrum where multiple members didnt purchase anything, asked for waters, and used the restrooms without a do. Most popular: What Is a State Dinner? The History Behind Donald and Melania's White House Event I never realized just how much privilege I have for something so damn basic. Starbucks is a cultural icona branded meeting placewe feel a certain affection for the company because the spirit there is advertised as being so welcoming and inclusive. Sit down and enjoy a coffee for a few hours and get some work done. (They even refill drip coffee and iced tea for the duration of your in store visit.) In this case, they hired a racist (so acknowledge it and fire her) who did not represent their brand image accurately, and thats why it is so shocking. Theyre supposed to be a liberal bastion of tolerance where people dont mind paying $5 a cup because they feel good about the company and the companys values. That feeling isnt so strong right now because Starbucks representatives decided two black men should be forcibly removed from the premises for the same behavior theyve advertised and encouraged myself and other white folks to have for the last two decades. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has tapped Switzerland's Ambassador to Germany, Christine Schraner Burgener, to be his special envoy on Myanmar, U.N. sources said on Wednesday. Myanmar has faced international criticism over a military crackdown that has sent nearly 700,000 minority Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh. The United Nations, United States, Britain and others have described the operation as ethnic cleansing, which Myanmar has denied. In December the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution asking Guterres to appoint a U.N. special envoy on Myanmar, putting a special focus of the world body on trying to help resolve the crisis. Myanmar U.N. Ambassador Hau Do Suan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday on Guterres' plan to appoint Schraner Burgener, who was previously Switzerland's ambassador to Thailand. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday that he expected an announcement of an appointment "in the coming days." U.N. Security Council envoys are due to travel to Bangladesh and Myanmar shortly to assess the situation. Hau Do Suan told Reuters earlier this month that his country welcomed "any constructive engagement and counsel of any kind from the international community to advance human rights." However, he said Myanmar does not believe the appointment of a special envoy "will solve the multi-faceted and complex situation of Myanmar unless his or her mandate is carried out based on the principle of respect for the sovereignty and dignity of the country concerned, objectivity and impartiality." He noted that the position would need the full cooperation of the government and people of Myanmar to work. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Clive McKeef) LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Foreign Office (FCO) said on Wednesday it was urgently seeking information from Iran following reports of the detention of a British-Iranian dual national. The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran reported that Abbas Edalat, a professor of computer science and mathematics at Imperial College in London, had been detained by the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in mid-April. "We are urgently seeking information from the Iranian authorities following reports of the arrest of a British-Iranian dual national," an FCO spokesman said. He said he had no further details about the case at this time. (Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich) WASP-104b might be the darkest planet ever discovered. Shrouded in a haze that absorbs some 97-99 percent of starlight hitting its surface, researchers think this hot Jupiter-class planet reflects even less light than charcoal. Scientists from Keele University in Newcastle, UK, explored the gas giant's incredible light-absorbing prowess in a research paper uploaded to the academic preprint server, arXiv. From all the dark planets I could find in the literature, this is top five-ish, researcher Teo Mocnik told New Scientist. I think top three. Trending: Democratic Congresswoman Snubbed Trump, Only Talked to Melania, at White House Congressional Ball 4_23_Hot Jupiter JPL-Caltech/NASA WASP-104b and other extremely dark planetsTrES-2b and HAT-P-7breflect similarly tiny fractions of light, making it hard to say exactly which is the darkest. The differences are so small its hard to rule out a margin of error in the measurements, New Scientist reported. WASP-104b has a mass similar to Jupiters and an orbit that takes it close to its host star, hence the hot Jupiter designation. Most hot Jupiters are pretty dark, ScienceAlert reported, reflecting about 40 percent of the light that hits their surfaces. WASP-104b, however, is an extreme example. Don't miss: New Twisted 'Knot' Human DNA Structure Discoveredand It Looks Nothing Like the Double Helix The planet is so close to its star that it completes an orbit in just 1.75 days. This cozy distance is key to WASP-104b's impressive darkness as stellar radiation zaps away the planets clouds, unlocking potassium and sodium that can soak up starlight. Astronomers first came across the hot gas giant in 2014 during the Wide Angle Search for Planets project and the Kepler Space Telescope later revealed its impressive appetite for light. Astronomers also observed WASP-104b indirectly as it passed in front of its star and blocked some of the star's light multiple times. This transit tracking revealed key information about WASP-104b, including how much light it was absorbing. Story continues Read more: Planets Discovered Outside Milky Way Galaxy for First Time Undeniably dark, the planet may not actually appear as black as the charcoal comparison might suggest. When they say its darker than charcoal, its being a little misleading, Adam Burrows of Princeton University, who has been involved in previous work predicting dark planets, told New Scientist. Although it may reflect less light than charcoal, it can still emit some light. More like a bruise, the hot gas giant might glow purple. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Learning and skills development company Malvern International announced a partnership agreement with the University of East London (UEL) on Wednesday, which would see Malvern established as an embedded college within UEL, delivering pre-sessional foundation and English language courses for international students at both degree and masters levels. The AIM-traded firm said the courses would develop the students' English language skills, and prepare them academically for university-level study; initially at undergraduate level but with pre-masters programmes due to come on stream in 2019. Students taking the pathway course would be fully enrolled as UEL students, giving them the benefit of on-campus accommodation and access to all university facilities and services. In addition to the full foundation course, Malvern and UEL were working together to provide flexible-duration English as a second language (ESL) courses for pre-undergraduate and pre-masters students. The new partnership between UEL and Malvern House was expected to benefit both colleges, acting as an enhanced distributor of Malvern courses, whilst giving UEL improved access to student markets in South East Asia where Malvern remained a well-known and trusted brand. This partnership with University of East London is a good example of the collaborations being targeted by the group in pursuit of its growth strategy, giving both parties complementary benefits, said Malvern chief executive Sam Malafeh. These pathway courses will enable international students to reach their goal of enrolling on a university degree. Malafeh said it would achieve that by delivering high-quality English language support and a carefully crafted International Foundation Programme. This tailored support is expected to benefit over 4,000 students in the next 10 years. It will also enable Malvern to establish a strong long term partnership with UEL in London, contributing to Malvern's strategic objective of being regarded as a centre of excellence." Investors in water and wastewater treatment technology firm Modern Water were told how the company had started 2018 strongly on Wednesday, as they gathered for the annual general meeting. The AIM-traded companys group revenue in the first quarter was 37% higher than in the same period last year, they heard. Both divisions were said to be performing well, with China the primary driver for the monitoring division and the advance works contract for the Gibraltar wastewater treatment plant boosting the membrane division. Gross profit in the first quarter was 40% higher than 2017, and group overhead was 8% lower. The group's cash position as of 20 April stood at 0.34m, and the $0.6m finance facility secured on Modern Waters receivables remained un-utilised. Management is confident that the strategic decision to terminate the contract of our sole Chinese distributor and pursue a multi-channel sales approach in one of our most important markets, was correct and first-quarter financial results clearly support that, said non-executive chairman Alan Wilson. We expect further progress in the remainder of 2018 and for the monitoring division is expected to return to EBITDA breakeven for the year. In the membrane Division, our principal process engineer is currently on site in India overseeing the final commissioning of our first full-scale all membrane brine concentrator (AMBC). Wilson said two further paid-for trials with other industrial customers had been successful. The company was also well-positioned in China, and its first AMBC project was due to be commissioned shortly, he added. With reference AMBC plants operational in both our key markets, we expect to see an acceleration of licence sales for this product during 2018. The Gibraltar advance works contract is progressing well and we remain committed to helping HM Government of Gibraltar to achieve its goal of completing the waste water treatment plant in 2020." Tell us more You are seeing these quotes based on previous browsing related to sectors such as US President Donald Trump has extended his travel restrictions to the country to include North Korea , Venezuela and Chad . Trumps travel ban sparked chaos at airports across the US earlier this year after mass confusion over whether travellers from the likes of Iraq and Syria would be allowed to board flights or not. The controversial ban was first introduced by executive order and included Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Iraq and Iran. Several courts had rejected different versions of the ban with judges saying that while Trump has discretion to set immigration policy, it was still subject to assessment in accordance with the US constitution. Trump said in a statement the countries added to the ban 'remain deficient at this time with respect to their identity-management and information-sharing capabilities, protocols, and practices.' During his maiden address in front of the UN General Assembly last week, Trump reserved special criticism for Kim Jong-uns regime and that of Nicolas Maduro. "As President, I must act to protect the security and interests of the United States and its people," he added. The new proclamation will come into force on 18 October, with the countries being subject to varying degrees of restrictions. Only several government officials and family members from Venezuela will be banned from entering the US, while citizens of Syria and North Korea face a total ban. An announcement in the next few days is expected to confirm reports that US President Donald Trump will visit the UK in July. The Presidents visit, initially reported by Sky News, will be his first since he was elected in 2016 after plans for President Trump to open the new US embassy in January were scrapped following his assertion that the new building was too expensive. The President had allegedly informed Prime Minister Theresa May of his intention to visit the UK at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Over 1.8m people have signed a petition demanding that Trump should not be allowed to visit the UK and the prospect of large scale protests has scuppered plans for a procession up the Mall and a state banquet. As such, the July visit is expected to be a low-key working affair. Speaking this weekend, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has a history of butting heads with the President, called for any protests to be "lawful and "peaceful". "I have no doubt that if he does come, there will be some people who want to express their views loudly and peacefully to the President," said Khan. Trump has also enjoyed a tumultuous relationship with Theresa May who has openly chastised the President for retweeting videos from the far-right Britain First group and joined universal criticism from UK politicians of his rhetoric following white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. FTSE 250 manufacturer Fenner , which is due to be bought by France's Michelin in a 1.2bn deal, posted a 96% jump in half-year underlying pre-tax profit on Wednesday as all of its businesses continued to perform well. In the half year to 28 February, underlying pre-tax profit rose to 32.4m from 16.5m in the same period a year ago, on revenue of 354.1m, up 15%. Underlying earnings per share rose to 8.3p from 5.3p and the company hiked its dividend to 2.1p a share from 1.4p. Revenue in the advanced engineered products business was up 20% to 156.1m, while revenue in the engineered conveyor solutions arm was 21% higher at 198.0m. Chief executive officer Mark Abrahams said: "In line with the board's expectations at the time of the annual general meeting in January, the results for the six months ended 28 February 2018 show significant progress on all principal measures against the same period last year. "Since 11 January 2018, trading has continued the improving trend reflected in the AGM statement." Fenner, which provides conveyor belts and reinforced polymer products for the mining and general industrial markets, said that its shareholders are due to vote on the Michelin deal at meetings on 16 May. If the resolutions are passed, the acquisition is expected to take effect on 31 May. "The board of Fenner believes that the acquisition of Fenner by Michelin represents an opportunity for Fenner shareholders to crystallise in cash the value of their holdings on attractive terms; the board also believes that the combination with Michelin provides Fenner with a number of strategic benefits including the global scale and purchasing expertise of Michelin and access to Michelin's polymer capabilities." At 0910 BST, the shares were up 0.2% to 609.37p. Lloyds Banking Group said it made a strong start to 2018 as a lower PPI bill helped it post a 23% increase in profit for the first quarter. Pre-tax profit for the three months to the end of March rose to 1.6bn from 1.3bn a year earlier as Lloyds paid out less to compensate people mis-sold payment protection insurance. Revenue rose 4% to 4.6bn. Lloyds' bill for payment protection insurance or PPI dropped to 90m from 350m while the cost of settling other legal and regulatory matters fell to 60m from 200m. Underlying profit, which excludes PPI but includes other remediation costs, rose 6% to 2bn. Lloyds is Britains largest retail bank and was the biggest seller of PPI in the 1990s and 2000s. The results appeared to show the bank putting PPI behind it after a spike in costs towards the end of 2017 that caused annual profit to miss expectations. Banks have paid out 30bn in compensation for the insurance, which failed to pay out for many customers. Chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said: In the first three months of 2018 we have again delivered strong financial performance with increased profits and returns. Impairment charges doubled to 258m from 127m a year earlier but were unchanged from the final quarter of 2017. Horta-Osorio said loan quality remained strong and that the economy was in good shape. The UK economy continues to be resilient, benefiting from low unemployment and continued GDP growth," he said. "Asset quality remains strong with no deterioration seen across the portfolio. We expect the economy to continue to perform along these lines during 2018. Laith Khalaf, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "PPI costs are much lower than last year, and this is a theme we can expect to continue for the UK banks. As the largest source of compensation, Lloyds also stands to be the biggest beneficiary of PPI disappearing in the rear-view mirror." Khalaf said there was room for a further pick-up in PPI costs as the Financial Conduct Authority's August 2019 deadline draws near. The FCA is running a second series of its successful advertising campaign featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger urging consumers to enquire about PPI compensation. Lloyds said its financial targets for the year were unchanged. The bank's shares edged down 0.5% to 65.8p at 08:13 BST. Exploration and production group Tullow Oil highlighted the "strong progress" seen so far this year at its West African operations and kept its full year production guidance unchanged. Tullow left its full-year production forecast unchanged with working interest oil production expected to average between 82,000 and 90,000 barrels of oil per day and working interest gas production tapped to come in at around 3,500 to 4,500 boepd. The FTSE 250 group said it had reduced its net debt to $3.4bn as of 31 March as free cash flow was generated from the West African fields, with current headroom and free cash of roughly $1bn. UK gas production averaged 2,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day - a number which the London-based firm expects to drop to around 1,900 boepd as the final producing fields cease production in the third quarter of the year. Decommissioning activities in the North Sea were already underway with well plug and abandonment operations kicking off ahead of the announcement. Production in the first quarter of the year from Tullow's West Africa non-operated portfolio was "strong" across the majority of its fields, averaging around 23,100 bopd net, as its Equatorial Guinea fields performed "particularly well" over the period following a change of operator. Tullow's net production from the Jubilee field in Ghana increased to 32,200 bopd thanks to production-equivalent insurance payments as a result of the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah shutting down for 19 days during the quarter. Elsewhere, drilling of the first new production well on the Ntomme field was underway, with contracting of a second rig currently under review, while progress towards a final investment decision at its Ugandan and Kenyan developments continued. Chief executive Paul McDade said, "Tullow continues to make strong progress in 2018 and we continue to generate free cash flow from our high-return production assets in West Africa. The drilling programme is now underway at the TEN and Jubilee fields in Ghana and we remain on track to deliver on our existing production guidance." "The progress we have made is due to the hard work and financial discipline of the team and the support of our shareholders, allowing us to focus on growing our business and delivering returns," he added. As of 0830 BST, shares had lost 3.44% to 230.93p, though this may reflect crude oil prices dropping back overnight. London's FTSE 100 was down 1.2% to 7,339.34 in afternoon trade on Wednesday, with deal news for Shire and Sky doing nothing to lift the mood. Specialty chemicals group Croda International was the worst performer despite saying it was on track to meet expectations for the year and posting a 4% rise in core sales for the first quarter. GlaxoSmithKine was on the back foot after posting a 48% decline in net profit for the quarter to the end of March, as it took a hit from currency headwinds. Antofagasta retreated after it said copper production fell 10.5% in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago, mostly due to anticipated lower grades. Intertek took a hit as Credit Suisse cut its stance on the stock 'underperform' from 'neutral' and slashed the price target to 4,600p from 5,450p to reflect slightly lower near-term forecasts and an increased risk in the testing sector. On the upside, Sky was the standout gainer as Comcast made a formal 22bn offer for the broadcaster that represents a 16% premium to the offer from Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox. Sky has now withdrawn its recommendation for the 21st Century bid. Shire rose after its directors said they would be willing to recommend the latest takeover proposal from Takeda Pharmaceutical that was pitched at roughly 49 per share, subject to further conditions. The UK Takeover Panel has given the two companies a new deadline of 1700 BST on 8 May to conclude talks. Building materials group CRH advanced after saying it saw like-for-like sales fall 2% in the first quarter, with first-half profits expected to be flat, but announced a 1bn share buyback to keep investors sweet. British American Tobacco was also on the front foot despite saying it faced currency "headwind" this year that will hit profits. At the companys annual general meeting, chairman Richard Burrows said trading was challenging but the group was on track for good earnings growth excluding currency swings. FTSE 100 - Risers Sky (SKY) 1,351.00p 3.29% CRH (CRH) 2,556.00p 2.77% Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,439.50p 2.14% British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,790.00p 1.23% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,497.00p 0.99% Shire Plc (SHP) 3,965.50p 0.90% Compass Group (CPG) 1,501.50p 0.81% Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,604.00p 0.77% Next (NXT) 5,188.00p 0.74% Pearson (PSON) 791.00p 0.66% FTSE 100 - Fallers Anglo American (AAL) 1,655.80p -5.25% Croda International (CRDA) 4,417.00p -4.37% Antofagasta (ANTO) 940.20p -3.81% GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,408.69p -3.66% Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,041.00p -3.50% Glencore (GLEN) 375.60p -2.67% Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 3,022.00p -2.45% Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,877.50p -2.44% Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,781.00p -2.39% easyJet (EZJ) 1,585.00p -2.34% Resources sectors led the way higher in London on Tuesday, while the construction sector was among the main fallers. BP and Shell were higher as oil prices remained elevated and analysts looked forward to another rise in quarterly earnings expected from global oil players, while copper prices bouncing off their lows lifted miners such as Antofagasta and Glencore. On oil, analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets said: "Crude oil prices continue to be a cause for concern hitting a fresh three year high above $75, despite comments from Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh that there would be no need to extend the current pact of output freezes beyond this year. "It is this move higher in crude oil prices, along with the rise in demand, that is helping fuel the recent rise in yields as well as the positive tone for equity markets, however if it continues too far we could start to see it act as a drag on equity markets, if prices along with yields start to move even higher." On gold, broker SP Angel noted that safe haven demand was crimped, trading near five-week lows, by a strengthening dollar, rising US Treasury yields and receding geopolitical concerns. "Uncertainties surround trade-related issues could trigger risk aversion interest in gold, while major geopolitical events remain on the horizon." Housebuilders were lower after fairly solid spring forecasts for the sector's output from the Construction Products Association. The CPA forecasts a flat outcome in 2018, before accelerating to +2.7% in 2019 and +1.9% in 2020. With UK construction activity having got off to a slow start in 2018, after being negatively impacted by the snow and the liquidation of Carillion, analysts at Canaccord saw some positives in the report being in private new housing and infrastructure, where modest annual growth of 2-3% is expected in housing and stronger growth expected in infrastructure work. "These stronger areas should offset sharp falls expected in commercial work with London office and retail weak; office construction is expected to fall by 30% over the next two years as international investors back-off. Residential RM&I work is expected to be flat overall until 2020, but with public housing RM&I enjoying a return of growth." Top performing sectors so far today Industrial Metals & Mining +1.81% Oil & Gas Producers +1.57% Personal Goods +1.26% Forestry & Paper +1.14% Leisure Goods +0.99% Bottom performing sectors so far today Electronic & Electrical Equipment -1.85% Construction & Materials -1.57% Fixed Line Telecommunications -1.24% Travel & Leisure -1.20% Household Goods & Home Construction -1.16% A rather odd concept has emerged online regarding Melania Trump's Hand that sounds as if her appendage has become a separate entity, raising havoc on its own. After all the gushing about Melania's crisp white hat yesterday (April 24) and how it made her the epitome of fashion, something rather bizarre has popped up. According to what is written in an article by The Root today, they see Melania's hand as becoming the "most defiant member of the Trump administration." Twitter users also have a few things to say about her hand as well. Melania's hand has a mind of its own? Melania Trump's hand probably "hates that it's forced to be attached to her" the media site suggests and then they go on to explain why. For the people who dislike Donald Trump, Melania's hand has become their hero, as it goes against the president at every chance that appendage gets, suggests The Root. Trump trying to hold Melanias hand reminds me of Pepe le Pew chasing a bewildered Le Cat. pic.twitter.com/ZlhbtAJDuH laney (@misslaneym) April 24, 2018 So what are they really talking about here? It seems that Melania's alleged tendency to swat, dodge, slap, pull, and whip her hand away from Donald Trump when he makes an attempt to hold her hand has brought them to this consensus on her hand. You can check out what is being dubbed online as the latest pinky tickle coming from Donald Trump in the post below. There are plenty of comments about this move on Twitter today. While the person who posted this clip believes it is a romantic moment captured between the president and the first lady, others honed in on this as anything but romantic. Dudes, I hate to jump on this too...but that cringe-vid of Trump trying to hold hands with Melania, and his gross pinky finger tickle is simultaneously one of the saddest and most unsettling things Ive ever seen. The mortification on her face...I need a damn shower. Onkel Chrispy (@onkelchrispy) April 25, 2018 The first lady's hand a hero? Apparently, the writer from The Root sees Melania's hand doing something no one else in the Trump administration dares to do, which is go against Donald Trump. This, in turn, makes her hand a hero for Trump's critics, or so the article from The Root suggests. They have compiled all the moves that Trump has made toward Melania's hand from attempting to tickle it with his pinky to the foiled hand-holding attempt that left him with nothing but a chunk of her sleeve between his fingers. This list of hand-holding diversions, which were allegedly orchestrated by Melania, has made her hand seem like it has a mind of its own. They remind their readers about the hand-slapping event in Israel along with a few other incidents. They also suggest how through these diversion tactics "Melanias hand has embodied all of us who hate this man." While it sounds as if they are praising Melania, this is not the case. It is only her hand they put on a pedestal as if it were an entity on its own. Stormy times: Cringeworthy video of Melania Trump resisting Donald's attempt to hold hands https://t.co/X4ROWdzskh Alex (@aroseblush) April 24, 2018 The writer of the article, Stephen A. Crockett Jr. actually suggests, "Melania Trump is trash, but her hand is becoming the hero we all need." This appendage sounds powerful For some reason, Melania's hand has become somewhat of a mascot for Trump's critics. Melania's alleged tendency to pull away from her husband's hand when he extends it her way has been talked about for the better part of a year. Up until now, it was all about what Melania wanted or how Melania felt while allegedly dismissing a hand-holding session with her husband. Today it isn't about Melania, but her hand that supposedly has a mind of its own. What will they think of next? There are trigger happy gunmen around who do not hesitate to pull the trigger on unsuspecting innocents in schools or elsewhere. The incident of Gun Violence in Parkland, Florida, left 17 dead, and soon after that, there appears to have been a spurt in firearms sales. It seems people wanted to purchase their weapons before the authorities imposed restrictions. Daily Mail UK reports that this issue could feature in the forthcoming November midterm elections in a big way. Students all over the United States planned their walk out on Friday to commemorate a 19-year-old massacre in a school. The Parkland shootings have had a major impact on the people and they want strict Gun Control measures to ensure the safety of innocents. It could be an issue in elections The gun is a device meant to protect the owner. When it falls into the wrong hands, it can lead to gun violence and death of innocents as has been seen in a number of schools in recent times, from Sandy Hook to Parkland. These have led to large-scale protests with many people demanding imposition of strict gun control measures, including background checks. The net result is an uncertainty in the minds of people who want to buy a gun before restrictions are imposed. This benefits the gun makers. This issue could become a major one in the upcoming midterm elections because candidates at federal and state government levels could demand restrictions on the sale of AR-15s and other assault-style rifles. Weapons of this nature have been used by gunmen in recent massacres, and the political undertones could lead to an increase in the sale of guns because of possible gun control measures. The present scenario There was a surge in gun sales before the November 2016 presidential election. The reason was the fear that if Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton won, she would impose restrictions on gun sales. However, after Donald Trump was elected, the sale of guns dropped, probably because Trump, a Republican, had campaigned against gun control. Of course, after the February 14 massacre in Parkland, Florida, Trump had mentioned about imposing age restrictions and stricter background checks to control gun violence but later the issue seemed to fade away. The gunmen who carried out the shootings killed 28 in Sandy Hook Elementary School (2013), 58 at the Las Vegas country music festival (2017), and 17 in the Parkland High school (2018). The victims were innocent men, women, and children and the survivors remain traumatized even today. Those who are responsible for such actions do not appear to be normal people, and such situations could have been avoided if their antecedents had been checked before they bought the guns. Brandi Glanville can't stop trash-talking her former friend and co-star, lisa vanderpump. Years after the reality stars' friendship came to an abrupt end on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," Glanville is still reeling over a lawsuit that cost her tons of cash. As fans may recall, Glanville was sued by model and "Real Housewives of Miami" star Joanna Krupa years ago after claiming her lady parts smelled foul during a couple of appearances on Andy Cohen's series, "Watch What Happens Live." While Glanville claimed it was Vanderpump who delivered the shocking information to her, as well as Mohamed Hadid, whom Krupa was accused of having an affair with, Vanderpump reportedly denied doing any such thing. Although the outcome of the case was never publicly disclosed, Glanville has complained about the amount of money she was forced to pay as a result of the suit against her on Twitter on numerous occasions. She's also suggested that the entire ordeal was the fault of Lisa Vanderpump. Will Brandi Glanville ever 'get over it'? On April 22, after telling her podcast listeners that Lisa Vanderpump is "still ruining her life," Glanville was faced with backlash from fans who suggested she "get over it." "Get the f*** over what ever you think [Lisa Vanderpump] did!!" one person tweeted. "Sorry but you need to hear it!" they added. In response to the criticism, Brandi Glanville again spoke of her finances. "Okay, just pay my four year long lawyers bill," she told the woman. During her court battle with Krupa, it was reported that both Vanderpump and Hadid were called onto the stand to testify against her. Could Brandi Glanville return to Bravo TV? Throughout the past couple of years since Glanville was removed from her full-time role on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," she's faced a number of rumors suggesting she will soon return. That said, with Lisa Vanderpump continuing to appear on the show, it's hard to say if Bravo Tv would be willing to risk her role on the show to welcome her former nemesis back. In addition, Glanville is on the outs with Kyle Richards and has been for some time. As fans well know, Vanderpump and Richards are the longest running cast members of the series and have made themselves quite valuable to the network in the years they've been appearing on the show. "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" season eight is currently airing on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on Bravo TV. Kym Johnson Herjavec and her husband Robert Herjavec welcomed twins on Monday, April 23, 2018. It was no surprise that the couple would have a boy and a girl because that information was shared during a gender reveal ahead of the due date. The 41-year-old Australian mother posted a photo on Instagram of Robert holding both babies. She said they are so much in love with their two little angels. New post (Kym Johnson Gives Birth to Twins With Robert Herjavec) has been published on MBeatTV - https://t.co/UVahqfLCzn pic.twitter.com/sMjfD0lfeY MBeatTV (@MBeatTV) April 24, 2018 About the twins The twins were born just one minute apart. One was born at 7:44 a.m. and the other was born at 7:45 a.m. So far, there has been no notification if the girl or boy was born first or what their names are. Kym told People magazine that she has always wanted to be a mom, but she wasn't sure when it would happen. After turning to IVF, the couple was able to start a family two years after they were married. The new mother joked that because she waited so long to have children, she had to double up. The children are the first ones for Kym, but Robert has two daughters and a son with his ex-wife. Congratulations are in order! Dancing With Stars' Kym Johnson's first photo of her twins deserves it's own mirrorball trophy. https://t.co/c5mo8XyAEC E! News (@enews) April 24, 2018 About the parents It seems as though it was meant for Kym and Robert to get together. The pro-dancer had been absent from "Dancing With The Stars" for four seasons. When she returned in 2015 for Season 20, she was partnered with the 55-year-old "Shark Tank" star. They connected to the delight of the show's viewers and confirmed what fans already suspected. Robert proposed to Kym on February 27, 2016, and they got married on July 31, 2016, in Los Angeles, California. In December 2017, they announced the pregnancy. Shortly afterward, the Herjavecs revealed they were expecting twins, and the babies would be a boy and a girl. Kym has performed on the popular ABC reality show only once since dancing with Robert back in 2015. She returned in 2017 for Season 24 as a married woman to dance with Mr. T. Now that she is a mother of twins, it is not certain when or if she will return to "Dancing with the Stars." She and Robert will certainly have their hands full with two newborns for now and much longer as the twins grow. Kym and Robert are beaming with joy over their two babies. They call it a miracle about how they met and are now proud parents. They say they could not be happier. Other relationships have been formed on "Dancing with the Stars" but none with a great love story as the one that Kym and Robert are still writing. Perhaps other relationships will be formed in the future. The dance competition show returns on ABC on April 30 for a four-week all athlete season. On Wednesday afternoon, rapper Kanye West went on a lengthy Twitter rant explaining why he supports Donald Trump. After a confusing partial retraction, West received a shout out from the president, which resulted in a Fox News host having to fight back laughter in his reporting. Kanye West broke Shepard Smith. pic.twitter.com/QaFaeBopXw Based Monitored (@BasedMonitored) April 25, 2018 Fox News on Trump and Kanye Kanye West raised eyebrows on Wednesday when he went on a multi-tweet tirade where he expressed support for Donald Trump. In one of his first tweets on the issue, West referred to the former host of "The Apprentice" as his "brother" while claiming they are "both dragon energy." The controversial rapper then went on to warn that "the mob can't make me not love him," before adding in a follow-up tweet that he's "all the way out the sunken place. And I'm not scared anymore." Not long after, West tweeted out that he doesn't support everything Trump stands for, which he apparently posted on orders of his wife Kim Kardashian. After later tweeting a photo of himself wearing a Trump-signed "Make American Great Again" hat, the president tweeted back by telling the rapper "thank you" and this his remarks were "very cool." President Trump thanks Kanye West for complimenting him on Twitter https://t.co/oQRbMy9Yzy USA TODAY (@USATODAY) April 25, 2018 As the tweets went viral on social media, Fox News host Shepard Smith, who is one of the rare hosts on the network to criticize the president, couldn't help but laugh when reporting the story. "Well, theres a thing going on. Its Kanye West, who didnt tweet for a long time but now hes back," Smith said while fighting back the opportunity to chuckle. "Theres an album and hes running for president in 2024," be added, while noting, "he (West) really likes President Trump." You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought. KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 "Kanye West tweeted a lot of things but one of them is, 'you dont have to agree with Trump but the mob cant not make me not love him,'" Shepard Smith pointed out. After explaining that Kim Kardashian requested Kanye West clarify that he doesn't fully support Donald Trump, Smith added, "My guess is Kris Jenner gave a call." Following Trump's tweet, the Fox News host stated, "Now POTUS has tweeted. We'll see what happens." Next up While Kanye West has shown at least some support for Donald Trump and his administration, his tweets quickly made headlines and went viral across social media. Due to West's questionable behavior in recent years, many on Twitter linked his mental instability to his vocal support of the president, with even some fans of the rapper backing off and issuing criticism. With West and Trump both facing mockery, at least one host on Fox News appears to right in line with the mob who opposes them. General Hospital spoilers reveal that Nelle Benson (Chloe Lanier) will stop at nothing to drive carly Corinthos (Laura Wright) off the deep end. Next week's GH spoilers hint that Nelle turns up the heat on her unborn baby's grandmother, but it will backfire, and rumors says shell lose her baby! Thats when Nelle takes her awful scheme to a new low. Nelle still intent on wrecking Carly Nelle came to Port Charles with an agenda almost two years ago this August. She came to town determined to destroy Carly Corinthos, her adopted sister. Nelle wrecked Carly's marriage to Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) but luckily the two found their way back to each other. General Hospital spoilers remind that Nelle also wormed her way close to Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy) too. And now Nelle has Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell) on the hook because shes carrying his child. Carly's intent to prove she isn't crazy, West Coast. Unfortunately, that might be easier said than done. A brand-new #GH starts RIGHT NOW on ABC! pic.twitter.com/9gQSAG4Rlw General Hospital (@GeneralHospital) April 12, 2018 Carly vs. Nelle about to explode Longtime GH watchers know that nobody messes with Mama Bear Carly and her cubs. But the young woman is stupidly fearless when it comes to tangling with Carly. It seems she's on a suicide mission because shes messing with the wrong woman. General Hospital spoilers see Nelles gaslight plan using Carly's dead son Morgan Corinthos (Bryan Craig) is fast pushing her over the edge. That seems like the lowest Michael's baby mama can go, but there is something much worse ahead. Everyone thinks Carly is cracking Thanks to Nelles antics, those closest to Carly are beginning to wonder if shes having another mental breakdown. Her awful plan is succeeding. Even Carly is questioning her own sanity and thats a huge feat for such a strong woman like Carly. General Hospital spoilers for this week show Dr. Kevin Collins (Jon Lindstrom) put Carly on meds. Unfortunately, that opens a new avenue for Nelle to mess with her. That schemer has a history of tampering with meds. Unwilling to take Ava's advice, Nelle's ready to take her plan to the next level. Tune into a haunting, new #GH - STARTING NOW on ABC! pic.twitter.com/5jhktGNkeU General Hospital (@GeneralHospital) April 6, 2018 Carlys support system fails Ordinarily, Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), Sonny, and Michael would be watching out for Carly, but they are all distracted. Jason is chasing Henrik Faison while Sonny and Michael are worried about Mike Corbin (Max Gail) so this is a perfect time for vindictive Nelle to turn up the heat. General Hospital spoilers buzz says Nelle's hate for Carly is unprecedented and she will stop at nothing to drive Carly insane. Nelle let her emotions rule and it finally backfires. While scheming, Nelle puts herself and baby in harms way and gets into an accident that causes a miscarriage. Speaking of Carly, Nelle's plan to take her down is chugging along nicely. But what's her next step? #GH is brand-new and STARTS NOW on ABC! pic.twitter.com/jMk2n7yD6c General Hospital (@GeneralHospital) March 13, 2018 Nelle loses the baby, blames Carly GH spoilers wonder if Nelle is so depraved that she would use the loss of her baby against Carly. General Hospital chatter says Nelle sets Carly up, making it look like she tried to harm Nelle and, in the process, caused the death of her unborn grandchild. It will be Nelle's word against Carly's but since Nelle has been slowly driving Carly off the deep end for months, it doesnt look good. Nelle paints herself as the victim of crazy Carly. Will anyone believe Carly or will Nelle win and use the loss of her baby to draw Michael closer and win this sick game? Stay tuned to ABC for new GH episodes and watch for more General Hospital spoilers. Alfie Evans, 23 months old, continues to breathe on his own a day after Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in England turned off his life support. Alfie's parents, Tom Evans, 21, and Kate James, 20, have continued to battle the court's decision to let him die from an unknown brain condition. On Tuesday (April 24), Hon. Mr. Justice Hayden of the Family Division of the High Court in Manchester, denied the parents request to allow their son to be flown to the Vaticans Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital for treatment. Hon. Mr. Justice Hayden has agreed to allow the child to go home with his parents as he continues to fight and asked for medical experts in Italy to exam him. According to Lifesite, Tom Evans stated his son is doing well and is receiving oxygen and some water. Alfie's father claims his son has surprised the doctors by continuing to breathe on his own but says Alfie is being starved to death. No food has been allowed since his ventilator was removed and Tom Evans questions how this is considered humane. Support for Alfie Alfies parents have gained support from around the world, including Pope Francis, to allow the child a chance to live. Pope Francis has also made appeals to the High Court of England to allow Alfie Evan treatment for his condition. Tom Evans met with Pope Francis in Rome last week for a private meeting regarding Alfie. That was on Monday (April 23), at the same time as a last-ditch effort to keep the child on life support. Italy granted Alfie citizenship to allow immediate care, according to the National Catholic Register. Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted. Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 23, 2018 IL Foglio reports that Alfie Evans' case has now become a diplomatic case. By granting Alfie Italian citizenship, the Italian government claims that the child is being executed. The Italian embassy has also stated that if doctors proceed with this they will be reported for the murder of Alfie Evans now that he is a citizen of Italy. The BBC reports that as news of the court decision not to intervene spread, supporters of the child and family gathered outside the hospital. Over 200 protesters tried storming the hospital when they found out Alder Hey Childrens Hospital was moving forward with their plan to turn off life support. Extra police stood guard outside the entrances to prevent protesters from rushing inside the building. Protesters also held hands blocking the roads so that ambulances couldn't get by. Alfies story Alfie Evans was born a healthy normal little boy in May 2016. Everything seemed to be going fine with him, he was eating and sleeping with no issues. They began to notice that when Alfie woke up he was extremely cranky and began to have trouble lifting his head and that his limbs were twitching as he rolled his eyes. His parents were concerned and Alfie was taken to the doctor to be checked and at first, his symptoms were dismissed as him being a lazy baby. Alfie was admitted into Alder Hey Childrens Hospital on December 14, 2016, and was diagnosed with seven illnesses including pneumonia, bronchitis, and RSV. While receiving treatment, Alfie began to have seizures, lasting from a few minutes to an hour, repeatedly and was placed on life support. As time went by, the doctors at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital staff have not been able to give a diagnosis of what is wrong with Alfie. Doctors claimed that there was nothing left of the child's brain and for his best interest, life support should end against the parent's wishes. Alfie's parents began a legal battle to stop the Alder Hey Childrens Hospital decision to turn his life support off. All efforts made by Tom Evans and Kate James have been denied by the hospital and court. The couple has tried to have their child seen by experts from Belgium and Italy to examine him and try to figure out what is wrong with him. On April 23 over 900 people gathered outside Downing Street in London and Airdrie Sheriff Court in Scotland to protest the guilty verdict of Mark Meechan (better known as Count Dankula on YouTube). His crime was uploading a video demonstrating his dog training skills where he taught his Pug to do a Nazi salute as a joke to aggravate his girlfriend. This joke was intended for only 10 of his subscribers to see, but the video went viral and now has over three million views. This boost in popularity landed the Scottish comedian in trouble. Meechan was arrested, subjected to lengthy court proceedings and was branded "far right" and "Nazi." He was found guilty on March 20 and sentenced on April 23 when he was issued with a 800 ($1117) fine for being "Grossly offensive" under the Communications Act 2003 section 127. The reaction On March 20 Jewish comedian David Baddiel and Ricky Gervais came out to support of him. Gervais tweeted his opinion on comedy and Freedom Of Speech. Nick Pettigrew from the New Statesman scolded Gervais in his article "No Ricky Gervais defending offensive sh*tposters isn't a matter of free speech." Pettigrew expressed a distaste for Meechan's video and his support from unfavorable characters such as Katie Hopkins, Alex Jones, and Tommy Robinson. He advised that he stop blocking people from his Twitter to demonstrate his support for freedom of speech instead. Mainstream media either chose to state the facts or offer an opinion that showed a dislike for Meechans content but agreed he had a right to say what he wanted. Comment sections on mainstream media articles written by either left-leaning publications such as The Guardian and The Independent or the right-wing publications The Telegraph, Daily Mail, and Breitbart echoed the same opinions as Gervais. It is very clear that judges, politicians and far left activists have no value for freedom of speech. However, regular people, regardless of their political affiliations, care deeply and therefore oppose sentencing Meechan. For those working in alternative media, many were unsurprised by the guilty verdict after experiencing forms of censorship via Twitter bans and videos being demonetized on YouTube. YouTubers Lauren Southern, Chris Ray Gun, Jonathan Pie, and Milo are just a handful of people who made videos airing their concerns about the extent hate speech laws are violating human rights by pointing to Meechan's case as a prime example. One YouTuber who is particularly active in fighting against hate speech laws is Carl Benjamin ( better known as Sargon Of Akkad) who produced the most content defending his fellow YouTuber and performed speeches at the Protest. Reasons for the protest Sargon of Akkad was joined by journalist Tim Pool at the protest on April 23. The night before, Tim made a video about a discussion with Sargon on the injustice of the case and concerns for the future. The main points below are taken from this discussion, other videos created by Sargon of Akkad, and those who protested at the event; Under the Communications Act 2003 section 127, the terms of Hate speech are ill-defined and therefore leave people unaware of what is and what is not appropriate language. This causes a high probability of people being punished for breaking rules that they are unaware even existed. section 127, the terms of Hate speech are ill-defined and therefore leave people unaware of what is and what is not appropriate language. This causes a high probability of people being punished for breaking rules that they are unaware even existed. Today everything is offensive to somebody. Those in power can exploit these ill-defined terms to their advantage to punish those on the opposing side. The pendulum swings repeatedly in the game of politics and therefore creating weapons that will eventually end up in your opponent' hands is a dangerous action. these ill-defined terms to their advantage to punish those on the opposing side. The pendulum swings repeatedly in the game of politics and therefore creating weapons that will eventually end up in your opponent' hands is a dangerous action. Count Dankulas video only works on a comedic level because he mocks the Nazis, which would be a punishable offense under a Nazi regime. level because he mocks the which would be a punishable offense under a Nazi regime. A man from Finland also taught his dog to do the same trick by which actual Nazis were offended but they dropped the charges. By punishing Meechan the police are showing that they are more unreasonable than members of the Nazis. Context is not taken into consideration which creates confusing boundaries for comedians and creative artists in Britain. Britain has produced top-rated comedians such as Billy Connolly, Frankie Boyle and the Monty Python crew who would all face fines and potential prison sentences for their work if performed today. is not taken into consideration which creates confusing boundaries for comedians and creative artists in Britain. Britain has produced top-rated comedians such as Billy Connolly, Frankie Boyle and the Monty Python crew who would all face fines and potential prison sentences for their work if performed today. The judge sentencing Meechan was a known left-wing activist and has a history of being incompetent. The judge Derek OConnell had convicted a homeless man under the firearms act for possession of a fluorescent, plastic toy gun. and has a history of being incompetent. The judge had convicted a homeless man under the firearms act for possession of a fluorescent, plastic toy gun. There was no jury at the trial. at the trial. Currently, 4,000 people have been arrested for hate speech . . The cost of being issued with a criminal record affects future employment opportunities and travel plans. Should citizens face major consequences for minor crimes? There is a fear that fundamental human rights such as freedom of speech are being stripped away from people under the guise of morality. are being stripped away from people under the guise of morality. Environments that operate under morality guided regimes are undesirable. Sharia-compliant zones and the times of the Magdalene laundries demonstrate the horrors of being ruled by moral authority . . Many protesters sympathized with those who were offended by the video but agreed on punishment in the form of fines and imprisonment was not the answer. Those who oppose Hate Laws are not necessarily in favor of offending people or condone the opinions of those who say cruel things. They are individuals not willing to sacrifice freedom of speech in exchange for an unrealistic utopia where no one feels emotional pain. are not necessarily in favor of offending people or condone the opinions of those who say cruel things. They are individuals not willing to sacrifice in exchange for an unrealistic utopia where no one feels emotional pain. What action will be taken for journalists who share and quote content that is deemed offensive? Will they be punished even if they express the politically correct opinions in relation to it the story? What happened at the protest? The protest was arranged by Liberalist UK. Some of the group organizers chose to march through the British capital with tape over their mouths and a sign saying "You wouldnt tell a joke". They were followed by a diverse group of people who differed in race, economic status, gender, sexual orientation, age, political affiliation, and nationality. They achieved a peaceful display complete with speeches in their aim to show the government that their citizens do not support these hate speech laws. YouTuber Ashton Whitty traveled from America to be at the protest. She explained in an interview with Tim Pool that her reasons for being there were to show Americans how lucky they are that they have the first amendment and urges them to do the everything to protect it. Scotland at the moment On April 10 a six million "Scotland is Now" campaign was launched to advertise the wonders of Scotland to the world. It currently has an alarming like 2.7K to 1.9K dislike ratio. Indicating that there is a growing distaste for the country. YouTube videos mocked the "Be greater than a hater" campaign that was issued a day before Count Dankula's case surfaced online. This provoked questions like is Scotland still the land of the free? When are they not free to make a joke, is Scotland still the land of the brave? After all, they have laws that protect them from hurt feelings. Stephanie Arnold had a decision to make. The Virginia Tech junior could do a culminating project on any topic related to her Technology and Disability course. For someone studying to be a geriatric occupational therapist, the options were many. Yet she chose assistive technologies for the blind because they helped her grandmother live independently. And Arnold wanted to share the information so others could benefit from it. Making student research meaningful beyond course assignments is a core goal of the Department of Science, Technology, and Societys first Undergraduate Research Day, to be held April 27 in Newman Library. The Undergraduate Research Day will promote an awareness of what our department does studying the social dimensions and the ethical implications of emerging science and technology, said Daniel Breslau, an associate professor and chair of the department. And we hope it will give our students valuable experience in presenting their work to the world. To help fuel the event, faculty members incorporated research projects into four departmental courses. Students in Technology and Disability including Arnold, who is a human development major from Newport News, Virginia will tackle narratives about disability, rhetoric around technology, social and historical trends around disability technologies, and ethics of the body in the context of medicine. Students come to see resistance and counternarratives that some in the disability community hold when it comes to technological design, said Ashley Shew, an assistant professor who teaches the course. They come to see disability in terms of a long history of discrimination, the disability rights movement, and inaccurate media tropes that provide the dominant images of disability in our society. Students in the Humanities, Technology, and the Life Sciences class, taught by Rebecca Hester, an assistant professor, are using found objects to create 3-D models of ribosomes, sites of protein synthesis in living cells. The models reference the courses examination of historical scientific and social thought, especially since the 1950s, and links this to contemporary biological and political thought. In Lee Vinsels course Innovation in Context, students will present research exploring the moral and political questions surrounding three emerging technologies: CRISPR, cryptocurrency, and aeroponic farming. Vinsel, an assistant professor, introduced students to current thought about the sources of innovations, their consequences, and strategies for ensuring positive outcomes. And students in the Medical Dilemmas course of Cora Olson, a senior instructor at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, will present projects using cultural, historical, sociological, and philosophical modes of inquiry. These projects range from cultural comparisons of the timing of death to socioracial analyses of systemic health injustice. Project themes often intersect across courses. The gene-editing technology CRISPR, for example, is both one of the three technologies that students are investigating in Vinsels course and the principal topic that Maggie Rudnicki a senior from Lorton, Virginia, who is majoring in biological sciences is researching for her Technology and Disability class. During the Undergraduate Research Day, students will showcase both individual and collaborative projects on the relationship of science and technology to society, culture, politics, and social change. Instead of following a traditional poster-session format, the event will take advantage of the digital technologies available in the Athenaeum, a suite of spaces and services in Newman Library that was established in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. On April 27, from 1 to 5 p.m., screens will rotate presentations every half hour. Graduate students in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society which is part of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences will serve as project judges. The event is free and open to the public. Written by Leslie King Auburn High School looks just like the high schools Alex Alkandari had seen in movies and on TV, with banks of lockers lining the hallways and students decked out in hoodies and T-shirts. The scene was very different from the school hed attended in Kuwait. Spending time with the American students, though, revealed hopes and concerns just like those of students he knew at home. Alkandari is among a group of international students from the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute who are taking part in a new collaboration with Auburn High in Riner, Virginia, about 20 miles south of Blacksburg. Throughout the semester, the Virginia Tech students who hail from countries such as China, Taiwan, and Kuwait have been spending time with ninth-graders in Jennifer Rays World History I class. They share details about their native cultures while also improving their English proficiency and learning about U.S. life. Ray said one of the goals of her class is to explore different cultures. This exchange gives our students some practical exposure, she said. There was some hesitation at first, on both sides, but I think theyre really excited learning about what life is like in these countries. It gives them a chance to learn something thats not Riner. Alkandari and his Virginia Tech classmates spent a day shadowing students at Auburn. Its been really cool to see what its like for American high school students, he said. Jiyu Niu said he appreciated the variety of classes available at Auburn, a stark difference from the system in his native China. I even got to play guitar with students in guitar class, he said. The school is so beautiful, so clean, and the students have made me feel less shy, even though my English isnt always so good. COMMENTARY Revisiting the 3 Rs for GovCon success As time permits, I occasionally go back and read my blog posts, LinkedIn posts and my Washington Technology articles. I do this for several reasons: to see if the rules are changing, to see if I was right or wrong about something, and to see the evolution of the market and of my thinking. Back in July 2011, I wrote a column in WashTech on the Three Rs of Government Contracting: Research, Resources, and Relationships. The article was adapted from my book, Selling to the Government and these three Rs still remain basic building blocks for newbies and pros. While there are other things that must be done, the three Rs should be at or near the top of your list. Nearly every week I will get a call from someone with the latest, greatest tool, product or service, something without which the government might not survive. My first question is always do you know who the competition is, who the major players are in this category? The responses fall largely into two categories: We are so superior it doesnt matter, or, this is a new category so there are no competitors. Conversations with online training companies illustrate this well. In one case the company said the name of the company would create the marketshare necessary. The name of the company includes the name of the founder, a player in B2B IT, but not in B2G. They wanted help getting the word out but assumed their newly minted GSA Schedule would sell itself once people knew they were here. Needless to say, when I checked their GSA sales a year later, they were still at $0. Another company simply told me their IT training was the absolute best, hands down, and that sales would occur. Like the other company, they just wanted help getting the word out. I passed on both gigs because I dont like to take money when the prospect of marketshare is slim to none. Why? First, in both cases, they had not done the research, were not going to devote the resources, and neither had the relationships needed to get started -- nor did they seem to think they would need them. The research would have shown that there are entrenched players in the IT training arena (I have advised three of them over the years) and each had more than a GSA Schedule as a sales vehicle. The research would also have shown that each of the main players had grown incrementally over the past 24 years (it was around 1994 when IT training started to become widespread: see footnote), and that none was an instant success. Second, neither company was going to devote much in the way resources to this effort, assuming that either the company name or the (alleged) quality of the training would carry the day. No real dedicated sales or BD staff, no inclination to partner on other contractual vehicles, no real understanding of how to get traction. Third, when I looked up the key people from each company on LinkedIn I could see that they were not connected to this community. While it may seem arbitrary, I rate someones connectedness in our market by how many connections we share. With these two companies, it was minimal at best. Management Concepts is a major player in B2G training, and while I have not worked with them, I share 199 connections with the president, Steve Maier. I have 7 first degree connections at Management Concepts and share 1,331 connections with those 7 people. As a company they are well-connected with the government contracting community, feds and contractors alike. Can a company successfully enter the IT training space today? Certainly, but there will be no immediate traction. They have to be prepared for the long haul. The two companies seeking a quick, lucrative entry into this market faced a rude awakening. I told them what they were facing, but neither believed. Research, resources and relationships- dont go to market without them. (Footnote: In 1994, CompUSA had the first IT training offering on GSA. They had classroom training for things like WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, basically shrink-wrapped products. Learning Tree International followed around 1995 offering higher level, certificate-based training. Global Knowledge soon followed. I am not sure when Management Concepts got their first contract but it was certainly there at that time.) PEOPLE Steven Anderson joins Sallyport as chief growth officer Retired Army Brig. Gen. Steven Anderson has joined Sallyport Global Holdings as the companys new chief growth officer. Hell lead the companys global mission support and security and risk management operations, Sallyport said. Anderson served over three decades in the Army that included logistics, command and staff assignments in Korea, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Germany and Hawaii as well as four tours at the Pentagon. More recently, he was Afghanistan country manager for Fluor Corp. Anderson led 6,300 employees in providing logistics to U.S. and NATO forces operating out of 11 bases in the country. Sallyport provides a variety of logistics and mission support services to U.S. and allied military organizations. The company is based in Reston, Virginia. The following companies are subsidiares of UnitedHealth Group: 1031387 B.C. Unlimited Liability Company, 1070715 B.C. 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A., Endoscopy Center Affiliates Inc., Enterprise Life Insurance Company, Equian, Equian LLC, Equian Parent Corp., Esho Empresa de Servicos Hospitalares S.A., Etho Empresa de Tecnologia Hospitalar Ltda., Evercare Collaborative Solutions, Evercare Collaborative Solutions Inc., Everett MSO Inc., Excellion Servicos Biomedicos Ltda., Excellion Servicos Biomedicos S.A., Excelsior Insurance Brokerage Inc., Executive Health Resources, Executive Health Resources Inc., Executive Surgery Center LLC, Eye Clinic Oftalmologia Clinico Cirurgica e Diagnostico Ltda., FMG Holdings, FMG Holdings LLC, FOR HEALTH OF ARIZONA, Family Health Care Services, Family Home Hospice, Family Home Hospice Inc., First Rx Specialty & Mail Services, Florida MedTrans Network LLC, Florida MedTrans Network MSO LLC, For Health, For Health Inc., For Health of Arizona Inc., Fortified Provider Network Inc., Fortify Technologies Asia LLC, Fortify Technologies LLC, Foundation Financial Services Inc., Franklin Surgical Center LLC, Freedom Life Insurance Company of America, Freeway Surgicenter of Houston LLC, Frontier MEDEX Limited, Frontier Medex Tanzania Limited, FrontierMEDEX, FrontierMEDEX (RMS), FrontierMEDEX (RMS) Inc., FrontierMEDEX Government Services, FrontierMEDEX Government Services LLC, FrontierMEDEX Inc., FrontierMEDEX Kenya Limited, FrontierMEDEX US, FrontierMEDEX US Inc., Fundacion Banmedica, GRANTS PASS SURGERY CENTER LLC, Gadsden Surgery Center LLC, Gadsden Surgery Center Ltd., Gainesville Surgery Center L.P., Gainesville Surgery Properties LLC, Genoa, Genoa Healthcare Inc., Genoa Healthcare LLC, Genoa QoL Wholesale LLC, Genoa Technology (Canada) Inc., Genoa Technology Inc., Genoa Telepsychiatry Inc., Genoa of Arkansas LLC, Glenwood Surgical Center L.P., Glenwood-SC Inc., Golden Outlook, Golden Outlook Inc., Golden Rule Financial Corporation, Golden Rule Insurance Company, Golden Triangle Surgicenter L.P., Grapevine Finance LLC, Greater Hartford ASC LLC, Grove Place Surgery Center L.L.C., Guardian Health Systems Limited Partnership, H&W Indemnity (SPC), H&W Indemnity (SPC) Ltd., H.I. Investments Holding Company LLC, HCP ACO California LLC, HCP ACO Nevada LLC, HCentive Technology India Private Limited, HMI NewCo LLC, Harken Health Insurance Company, Hayes-Strub LLC, Health Business Systems, Health Care-ONE Insurance Agency Inc., Health Inventures Employment Solutions LLC, Health Inventures LLC, Health Net Insurance of New York, Health Net Services (Bermuda) Ltd., Health Plan of Nevada, Health Plan of Nevada Inc., Health Technology Analysts Pty Limited, HealthAllies, HealthAllies Inc., HealthCare Partners ASC-LB LLC, HealthCare Partners Management Services California LLC, HealthCare Partners RE LLC, HealthFirst IPA Inc., HealthMarkets Group Inc., HealthMarkets Inc., HealthMarkets Insurance Agency Inc., HealthMarkets LLC, HealthMarkets NewCo Inc., HealthMarkets Services Inc., HealthSCOPE Holdings Inc., HealthScope Benefits Inc., Healthcare Partners Plan of Nevada Inc., Healthcare Solutions Inc., Heartland Heart and Vascular LLC, Help S.A., Help Service S.A., Highlands Ranch Healthcare, Highlands Ranch Healthcare LLC, Home Care I.V. of Bend, Home Infusion With Heart, Home Medical S.A., Hospice Inspiris Holdings, Hospice Inspiris Holdings Inc., Hospitais Associados de Pernambuco Ltda., Hospital Alvorada de Taguatinga Ltda., Hospital Ana Costa S.A., Hospital Maternidade Promater Ltda., Hospital Samaritano de Sao Paulo Ltda., Hospital Santa Helena S.A., Hospital de Clinicas de Jacarepagua Ltda., Humedica, Humedica Inc., Hygeia Corporation, Hygeia Corporation (Canada), Hygeia Corporation (DE), Hygeia Corporation (Ontario), INOV8 Surgical at Memorial City LLC, INSPIRIS of New York IPA, INSPIRIS of New York Management, INSPIRIS of New York Management Inc., INSPIRIS of Texas Physician Group, IRX Financing I LLC, Illinois Independent Care Network, Imed Star Servicos de Desempenho Organizacional Ltda., Impel Consulting Experts, Impel Consulting Experts L.L.C., Impel Management Services L.L.C., Indian River Surgery Center Ltd., Indian River Surgery Properties LLC, Indiana Care Organization LLC, Infusource, Ingram & Associates, Ingram & Associates LLC, Inmobiliaria Apoquindo 3001 S.A., Inmobiliaria Apoquindo 3600 Ltda., Inmobiliaria Apoquindo S.A., Inmobiliaria Clinica Santa Maria S.A., Inmobiliaria Vinamed Ltda., Inmobiliaria e Inversiones Alameda S.A., Inspiris, Inspiris Inc., Inspiris Services Company, Inspiris of Tennessee, Instituto do Radium de Cammpinas Ltda, International Psychological Services Pty Limited, Inversiones Clinicas Santa Maria S.A., Isapre Banmedica S.A., Isapre Vida Tres S.A., Johnston Surgicare L.P., Joliet Surgery Center Limited Partnership, LHI, Laboratorio ROE S.A., Laboratorios Medicos Amed Quilpue S.A., LifePrint Health, LifePrint Health Inc., LifeStyles Marketing Group Inc., LifeWell Ltd. Co., Lifeprint Accountable Care Organization, Lifeprint Accountable Care Organization LLC, Lifeprint East, Lifeprint East Inc., Logistics Health Inc., Lotten-Eyes Oftalmologia Clinica e Cirurgica Ltda., Louisville S.C. Ltd., Louisville-SC Properties Inc., Loyola Ambulatory Surgery Center at Oakbrook Inc., Lusiadas - Parcerias Cascais S.A., Lusiadas A.C.E., Lusiadas S.A., Lusiadas SGPS S.A., MAMSI Insurance Resources, MAMSI Life and Health Insurance Company, MD Ops, MD Ops Inc., MD-Individual Practice Association, MD-Individual Practice Association Inc., ME AHS UC LLC, MEDEX Insurance Services, MEDEX Insurance Services Inc., MGH/SCA LLC, MHC Real Estate Holdings, MHC Real Estate Holdings LLC, MIAMI SURGERY CENTER LLC, MSLA Management LLC, MXMD Centros De Cancer, Mamoeco Mamografia e Ecografia Centro de Diagnostico, Managed Physical Network, Managed Physical Network Inc., March Holdings, March Holdings Inc., March Vision Care, March Vision Care Inc., Marin Surgery Holdings Inc., Maryland Ambulatory Centers, Maryland-SCA Centers LLC, Massachusetts Assurance Company Ltd. PIC, Massachusetts Avenue Surgery Center LLC, Mat-Rx Development, Mat-Rx Fort Worth GP, MedExpress Development, MedExpress Development LLC, MedExpress Urgent Care Alabama LLC, MedExpress Urgent Care Inc. - Ohio, MedExpress Urgent Care Maine Inc., MedExpress Urgent Care New Hampshire Inc., MedExpress Urgent Care of Boynton Beach, MedExpress Urgent Care of Boynton Beach LLC, MedSynergies, MedSynergies LLC, MedSynergies North Texas, Medalliance Net Ltda, Medalliance Net Ltda., Medica Health Plans of Florida, Medica Health Plans of Florida Inc., Medica HealthCare Plans, Medica HealthCare Plans Inc., Medical Clinic of North Texas PLLC, Medical Hilfe S.A., Medical Preparatory School of Allied Health, Medical Support Los Angeles Inc., Medical Surgical Centers of America Inc., Medical Transportation Services, Medical Transportation Services LLC, Medication Management Systems Inc., Melbourne Surgery Center LLC, Memorial City Holdings LLC, Memorial City Partners LLC, Memphis-SC LLC, Memphis-SP LLC, Mesquite Liberty LLC, Metro I Stone Management, Metropolitan Medical Partners LLC, Metropolitan Medical Transportation IPA LLC, Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, Midwest Center for Day Surgery LLC, Mile High SurgiCenter LLC, Mississippi Surgery Holdings LLC, Mississippi Surgical Center Limited Partnership, Mobile Medical Professionals, Modern Medical Inc., Monarch Management Services, Monarch Management Services Inc., Montgomery Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Mountain View Medical Group LLC, Mt. Pleasant Surgery Center L.P., Multiangio Ltda., Muskogee Surgical Investors LLC, Mustang Razorback Holdings, Mustang Razorback Holdings Inc., My Wellness Solutions LLC, NAMM Holdings, NAMM Holdings Inc., NSC Fayetteville LLC, NSC Greensboro LLC, NSC Lancaster LLC, NSC Seattle Inc., NSC Upland LLC, Nashville-SCA Surgery Centers Inc., National Foundation Life Insurance Company, National MedTrans LLC, National Pacific Dental, National Pacific Dental Inc., National Surgery Centers LLC, Neighborhood Health Partnership, Neighborhood Health Partnership Inc., Netwerkes, Netwerkes LLC, Nevada Medical Services LLC, Nevada Pacific Dental, New Orleans Regional Physician Hospital Organization L.L.C., New West Physicians Inc., Newton Holdings LLC, North American Medical Management - Illinois, North American Medical Management California, North American Medical Management California Inc., North Puget Sound Center for Sleep Disorders LLC, North Puget Sound Oncology Equipment Leasing Company LLC, Northern Nevada Health Network, Northern Nevada Health Network Inc., Northern Rockies Surgicenter Inc., Northwest Surgicare LLC, Northwest Surgicare Ltd., Nutritional/Parenteral Home Care, Nutritional/Parenteral Home Care of Huntsville, OC Cardiology Practice Partners LLC, OSB Tecnologia e Servicos de Suporte Ltda., Omesa S.A., OmniClaim LLC, Oncocare S.A.C., OneNet PPO, OneNet PPO LLC, Optimum Choice, Optimum Choice Inc., Optum, Optum Bank, Optum Bank Inc., Optum Biometrics, Optum Biometrics Inc., Optum Care Inc., Optum Care Services Company, Optum Clinical Services, Optum Clinics Holdings, Optum Clinics Holdings Inc., Optum Clinics Intermediate Holdings, Optum Clinics Intermediate Holdings Inc., Optum Digital Health Holdings LLC, Optum Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Optum Global Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Optum Global Solutions (India) Private Limited, Optum Global Solutions (Philippines), Optum Global Solutions (Philippines) Inc., Optum Global Solutions International B.V., Optum Government Solutions, Optum Government Solutions Inc., Optum Growth Partners LLC, Optum Health & Technology (Australia) Pty Ltd, Optum Health & Technology (Hong Kong) Limited, Optum Health & Technology (India) Private Limited, Optum Health & Technology (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Optum Health & Technology (UK) Limited, Optum Health & Technology (US), Optum Health & Technology (US) LLC, Optum Health & Technology FZ-LLC, Optum Health & Technology Holdings (US), Optum Health & Technology Holdings (US) Inc., Optum Health & Technology Servicos do Brasil Ltda., Optum Health Services (Canada) Ltd., Optum Health Solutions (Australia) Pty Ltd, Optum Health Solutions (UK) Limited, Optum Health and Technology FZ-LLC, Optum Healthcare of Illinois, Optum Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Optum Hospice Pharmacy Services, Optum Hospice Pharmacy Services LLC, Optum Inc., Optum Infusion Services 100 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 101 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 103 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 201 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 202 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 203 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 205 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 206 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 207 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 208 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 301 LP, Optum Infusion Services 302 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 308 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 401 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 403 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 404 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 501 Inc., Optum Insurance of Ohio, Optum Insurance of Ohio Inc., Optum Labs, Optum Labs Dimensions, Optum Labs Dimensions Inc., Optum Labs Inc., Optum Labs International (UK) Ltd., Optum Life Sciences (Canada) Inc., Optum Management Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Optum Management Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Optum Networks of New Jersey Inc., Optum Nevada Accountable Care Organization LLC, Optum Operations (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care Inc., Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Pennsylvania, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Pennsylvania Inc., Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Texas, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Texas Inc., Optum Perks LLC, Optum Pharmacy 701 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 702 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 703 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 705 LLC, Optum Public Sector Solutions, Optum Public Sector Solutions Inc., Optum Rocket, Optum Rocket Inc., Optum Senior Services LLC, Optum Services, Optum Services (Ireland) Limited, Optum Services (Puerto Rico) LLC, Optum Services Inc., Optum Solutions UK Holdings Limited, Optum Solutions do Brasil Tecnologia e Servicos de Suporte Ltda., Optum Technology, Optum Technology LLC, Optum UK Solutions Group Limited, Optum Women's and Children's Health, Optum Women's and Children's Health LLC, Optum of New York Inc., Optum360, Optum360 LLC, Optum360 Services, Optum360 Services Inc., Optum360 Solutions LLC, OptumCare ACO Florida LLC, OptumCare ACO Holdings LLC, OptumCare ACO New Mexico LLC, OptumCare Clinical Trials LLC, OptumCare Colorado ASC LLC, OptumCare Colorado LLC, OptumCare Colorado Springs LLC, OptumCare Endoscopy Center New Mexico LLC, OptumCare Florida CI LLC, OptumCare Florida LLC, OptumCare Health Plan of California Inc., OptumCare Holdings Colorado LLC, OptumCare Holdings LLC, OptumCare Holdings New Mexico LLC, OptumCare Management LLC, OptumCare New Mexico LLC, OptumCare New York IPA Inc., OptumCare South Florida LLC, OptumHealth Care Solutions, OptumHealth Care Solutions LLC, OptumHealth Financial Services, OptumHealth Financial Services Inc., OptumHealth Holdings, OptumHealth Holdings LLC, OptumHealth International B.V., OptumInsight, OptumInsight Holdings, OptumInsight Holdings LLC, OptumInsight Inc., OptumInsight India Private Limited, OptumInsight Life Sciences, OptumInsight Life Sciences Inc., OptumRx, OptumRx Administrative Services, OptumRx Administrative Services LLC, OptumRx Discount Card Services, OptumRx Discount Card Services LLC, OptumRx Group Holdings, OptumRx Group Holdings Inc., OptumRx Health Solutions LLC, OptumRx Holdings, OptumRx Holdings I LLC, OptumRx Holdings LLC, OptumRx Home Delivery of Illinois, OptumRx Home Delivery of Ohio, OptumRx Home Delivery of Ohio LLC, OptumRx IPA III Inc., OptumRx Inc., OptumRx NY IPA, OptumRx NY IPA Inc., OptumRx PBM of Illinois, OptumRx PBM of Illinois Inc., OptumRx PBM of Maryland, OptumRx PBM of Maryland LLC, OptumRx PBM of Pennsylvania, OptumRx PBM of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumRx PBM of Puerto Rico LLC, OptumRx PBM of Wisconsin, OptumRx PBM of Wisconsin LLC, OptumRx PD of Maryland, OptumRx PD of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumRx Pharmacy, OptumRx Pharmacy Inc., OptumRx Pharmacy of Nevada, OptumRx Pharmacy of Nevada Inc., OptumRx of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumServe Technology Services Inc., Orlando Center for Outpatient Surgery L.P., OrthoNet Holdings, OrthoNet Holdings Inc., OrthoNet LLC, OrthoNet New York IPA, OrthoNet New York IPA Inc., OrthoNet Services, OrthoNet Services Inc., OrthoNet West, OrthoNet West Inc., OrthoNet of the Mid-Atlantic, OrthoNet of the South, OrthoNet of the South Inc., Ovations, Ovations Inc., Oxford Benefit Management, Oxford Benefit Management Inc., Oxford Health Insurance, Oxford Health Insurance Inc., Oxford Health Plans (CT), Oxford Health Plans (CT) Inc., Oxford Health Plans (NJ), Oxford Health Plans (NJ) Inc., Oxford Health Plans (NY), Oxford Health Plans (NY) Inc., Oxford Health Plans LLC, P2 Lower Acquisition, P2P Link LLC, PCCCV, PCCCV Inc., PCN DE Corp., PHC Subsidiary Holdings, PHC Subsidiary Holdings LLC, PHYS Holding Corp., PHYSICIANS DAY SURGERY CENTER LLC, PMI Acquisition, PMI Acquisition LLC, PMSI, PMSI Holdco II, PMSI Holdings, PMSI Holdings LLC, PMSI LLC, PMSI Settlement Solutions, PMSI Settlement Solutions LLC, POMCO Inc., POMCO Network Inc., PPH Holdings LLC, PacifiCare Health Systems, PacifiCare Life Assurance Company, PacifiCare Life and Health Insurance Company, PacifiCare of Arizona, PacifiCare of Arizona Inc., PacifiCare of Colorado, PacifiCare of Colorado Inc., PacifiCare of Nevada, PacifiCare of Nevada Inc., Pacific Casualty Company Inc., Pacifico S.A. Entidad Prestadora de Salud, Paoli Ambulatory Surgery Center, Paoli Surgery Center L.P., Parkway Surgery Center LLC, Pasteur Plaza Surgery Center GP Inc., PatientsLikeMe, PatientsLikeMe LLC, Patrimonio Autonomo Nueva Clinica - PANC., Payment Resolution Services, Payment Resolution Services LLC, Peoples Health, Peoples Health Inc., Pharmaceutical Care Network, Pharmacy Review Services, Pharmacy Software Holdco Inc., PhyServe Holdings, Physician Alliance of the Rockies LLC, Physician Care Partners, Physicians Health Choice of Texas, Physicians Health Choice of Texas LLC, Physicians Health Plan of Maryland, Physicians Health Plan of Maryland Inc., Physicians Plaza Holdings LLC, Plano de Saude Ana Costa Ltda., Plus One Health Management Puerto Rico, Plus One Health Management Puerto Rico Inc., Plus One Holdings, Plus One Holdings Inc., Polar II Fundo de Investimento em Participacoes, Polar II Fundo de Investimento em Participacoes Multiestrategia, Polo Holdco, Polo Holdco LLC, Pomerado Outpatient Surgical Center Inc., Pomerado Outpatient Surgical Center L.P., Precision Dialing Services Inc., Preferred Care Partners, Preferred Care Partners Holding, Preferred Care Partners Holding Corp., Preferred Care Partners Inc., Preferred Care Partners Medical Group, Preferred Care Partners Medical Group Inc., Premier Choice ACO, Premier Choice ACO Inc., Premier Surgery Center of Louisville L.P., Prime Health, Prime Health Inc., PrimeCare Medical Network, PrimeCare Medical Network Inc., PrimeCare of Citrus Valley, PrimeCare of Citrus Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Corona, PrimeCare of Corona Inc., PrimeCare of Hemet Valley, PrimeCare of Hemet Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Inland Valley, PrimeCare of Inland Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Moreno Valley, PrimeCare of Moreno Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Redlands, PrimeCare of Redlands Inc., PrimeCare of Riverside, PrimeCare of Riverside Inc., PrimeCare of San Bernardino, PrimeCare of San Bernardino Inc., PrimeCare of Sun City, PrimeCare of Sun City Inc., PrimeCare of Temecula, PrimeCare of Temecula Inc., ProHEALTH Fitness of Lake Success, ProHEALTH Fitness of Lake Success LLC, ProHEALTH Medical Management LLC, ProHealth Medical Management, ProHealth Physicians, ProHealth Physicians ACO, ProHealth Physicians ACO LLC, ProHealth Physicians Inc., ProHealth Proton Center Management, ProHealth Proton Center Management LLC, Procura Management, Procura Management Inc., Progressive Enterprises Holdings, Progressive Enterprises Holdings Inc., Progressive Medical, Progressive Medical LLC, Progressive Solutions, Promotora Country S.A., Pronetics Health Care Group, Pronounced Health Solutions Inc., Prosemedic S.A.C., Prospero Management Services LLC, Pueblo-SCA Surgery Center LLC, Pulse Platform LLC, QoL Acquisition Holdings Corp., Quality Software Services, QuarterMaster Newco LLC, R&H Family Fitness Unlimited LLC, Rally Health, Rally Health Inc., Real Appeal Inc., Recaudacion y Cobranzas Honodav Ltda., Redlands Ambulatory Surgery Center, Redlands-SCA Surgery Centers Inc., Reliant MSO LLC, Research Surgical Center LLC, River Valley ASC LLC, Riverside Electronic Healthcare Resources Inc., Riverside Medical Management, Riverside Medical Management LLC, Riverside Surgical Center of Meadowlands LLC, Riverside Surgical Center of Newark LLC, Rocky Mountain Health Maintenance Organization Incorporated, Rocky Mountain HealthCare Options Inc., SC Affiliates LLC, SCA Alaska Surgery Center inc., SCA Athens LLC, SCA Austin Holdings LLC, SCA BOSC Holdings LLC, SCA California Surgical Holdings LLC, SCA Capital LLC, SCA Cedar Park Holdings LLC, SCA Clifton LLC, SCA Danbury Surgical Center LLC, SCA Development LLC, SCA EHSC Holdings LLC, SCA EWASC Holdings LLC, SCA Hays Holdings LLC, SCA Heartland Holdings LLC, SCA HoldCo Inc., SCA Holding Company Inc., SCA Holdings Inc., SCA IEC Holdings LLC, SCA Indiana Holdings LLC, SCA Nashville ASC LLC, SCA Pacific Holdings Inc., SCA Pennsylvania Holdings LLC, SCA Premier Surgery Center of Louisville LLC, SCA ROCS Holdings LLC, SCA Rockledge JV LLC, SCA SSC Holdings LLC, SCA SSSC Holdings LLC, SCA Sage Medical LLC, SCA Sage Medical MSO LLC, SCA Southwestern PA LLC, SCA Specialists of Florida LLC, SCA Stonegate Holdings LLC, SCA Surgery Center of Cullman LLC, SCA Surgery Holdings LLC, SCA Surgery Partners LLC, SCA Surgicare of Laguna Hills LLC, SCA Teammate Support Network, SCA eCode Solutions Private Limited, SCA of Clarksville Inc., SCA-Albuquerque Surgery Properties Inc., SCA-Alliance LLC, SCA-Anne Arundel LLC, SCA-Applecare Partners LLC, SCA-Bethesda LLC, SCA-Blue Ridge LLC, SCA-Bonita Springs LLC, SCA-Brandon LLC, SCA-Castle Rock LLC, SCA-Central Florida LLC, SCA-Charleston LLC, SCA-Chatham LLC, SCA-Chevy Chase LLC, SCA-Citrus Inc., SCA-Colorado Springs LLC, SCA-Connecticut Partners LLC, SCA-DRY CREEK LLC, SCA-Davenport LLC, SCA-Denver LLC, SCA-Denver Physicians Holdings LLC, SCA-Derry LLC, SCA-Doral LLC, SCA-Downey LLC, SCA-Dublin LLC, SCA-Encinitas Inc., SCA-Eugene Inc., SCA-First Coast LLC, SCA-Florence LLC, SCA-Fort Collins Inc., SCA-Fort Walton Inc., SCA-Franklin LLC, SCA-Frederick LLC, SCA-Freeway Holdings LLC, SCA-Ft. Myers LLC, SCA-GRANTS PASS LLC, SCA-Gainesville LLC, SCA-Gladiolus LLC, SCA-Grove Place LLC, SCA-Hagerstown LLC, SCA-Hamden LLC, SCA-Hilton Head LLC, SCA-Honolulu LLC, SCA-Houston Executive LLC, SCA-IT Holdings LLC, SCA-Illinois LLC, SCA-JPM Holdings LLC, SCA-Kissing Camels Holdings LLC, SCA-MC VBP Inc., SCA-Main Street LLC, SCA-Marina del Rey LLC, SCA-Mecklenburg Development Corp., SCA-Memorial City LLC, SCA-Merritt LLC, SCA-Midlands LLC, SCA-Midway Management LLC, SCA-Mobile LLC, SCA-Mokena LLC, SCA-Mokena Properties LLC, SCA-Morris County LLC, SCA-Mt. Pleasant LLC, SCA-ND VBP Inc., SCA-Naperville LLC, SCA-Naples LLC, SCA-New Jersey LLC, SCA-Newport Beach LLC, SCA-Northeast Georgia Health LLC, SCA-PORTLAND LLC, SCA-Palm Beach LLC, SCA-Palm Beach MSO Holdings LLC, SCA-Paoli LLC, SCA-Phoenix LLC, SCA-Pocono LLC, SCA-Practice Partners Holdings LLC, SCA-River Valley LLC, SCA-Riverside LLC, SCA-Riverside Partners LLC, SCA-Rockville LLC, SCA-Sacred Heart Holdings LLC, SCA-San Diego Inc., SCA-San Luis Obispo LLC, SCA-Sand Lake LLC, SCA-Santa Rosa Inc., SCA-Shelby Development Corp., SCA-Somerset LLC, SCA-South Jersey LLC, SCA-Sparta LLC, SCA-Spartanburg Holdings LLC, SCA-St. Louis LLC, SCA-St. Lucie LLC, SCA-SurgiCare LLC, SCA-Swiftpath LLC, SCA-VERTA LLC, SCA-Wake Forest LLC, SCA-Western Connecticut LLC, SCA-Westover Hills LLC, SCA-Wilmington LLC, SCA-Wilson LLC, SCA-Winchester LLC, SCA-Winter Park Inc., SCA-Woodlands Holdings LLC, SCAI Holdings LLC, SCP Specialty Infusion, SCP Specialty Infusion LLC, SHC Atlanta LLC, SHC Austin Inc., SHC Hawthorn Inc., SHC Melbourne Inc., SPINETRACK 20/20 Inc., SRPS LLC, SXC Comet, Sacred Heart ASC LLC, Saden S.A., Salem Surgery Center LLC, Salveo Specialty Pharmacy, Salveo Specialty Pharmacy Inc., Sand Lake SurgiCenter LLC, Santa Cruz Endoscopy Center LLC, Santa Helena Assistencia Medica S.A., Santos Administracao e Participacoes S.A., Savvysherpa Administrative Services LLC, Savvysherpa Asia Inc., Savvysherpa LLC, Scanner Centromed S.A., ScripNet, ScriptSwitch Limited, Seisa Servicos Integrados de Saude Ltda., Senate Street Surgery Center LLC, Senior Benefits L.L.C., Senior Care Partners, Serquinox Holdings LLC, Serquinox LLC, Servicios Integrados de Salud Ltda., Servicios Medicos Amed Quilpue S.A., Servicios Medicos Bio Bio Limitada, Servicios Medicos Ciudad del Mar Ltda., Servicios Medicos Santa Maria Limitada, Servicios Medicos Vespucio Ltda., Servicios de Entrenamiento en Competencias Clinicas Ltda., SharedClarity LLC, Shelby Surgery Properties Inc., Sierra Health Services, Sierra Health Services Inc, Sierra Health Services Inc., Sierra Health and Life Insurance Company, Sierra Health and Life Insurance Company Inc., Sierra Health-Care Options, Sierra Health-Care Options Inc., Sierra Home Medical Products, Sierra Home Medical Products Inc., Sierra Nevada Administrators, Sierra Nevada Administrators Inc., Sirona Infusion, Sistema de Administracion Hospitalaria S.A.C., Small Business Insurance Advisors Inc., Sobam Centro Medico Hospitalar S.A., Sociedad Editorial para la Ciencia Limitada., Sociedad de Inversiones Santa Maria S.A., Somerset Outpatient Surgery L.L.C., Southwest Medical Associates, Southwest Medical Associates Inc., Southwest Michigan Health Network Inc., Southwest Surgery Center LLC, Southwest Surgical Center of Bakersfield L.P., Space Coast Surgical Center Ltd., Specialists in Urology Surgery Center LLC, Specialized Pharmaceuticals Inc., Specialty Benefits, Specialty Benefits LLC, Spectera, Spectera Inc., Spectera of New York IPA, Spectera of New York IPA Inc., Spotlite, Spotlite Inc., St. Cloud Surgical Center LLC, StoneRiver P2P Link, StoneRiver Pharmacy Solutions, Stonegate Surgery Center L.P., Streamlines Health LLC, Summit Home Infusion, SunSurgery LLC, Surgery Center Holding LLC, Surgery Center at Cherry Creek LLC, Surgery Center at Kissing Camels LLC, Surgery Center of Boca Raton Inc., Surgery Center of Clarksville L.P., Surgery Center of Colorado Springs LLC, Surgery Center of Des Moines LLC, Surgery Center of Easton LLC, Surgery Center of Ellicott City Inc., Surgery Center of Louisville LLC, Surgery Center of Maui LLC, Surgery Center of Muskogee LLC, Surgery Center of Rockville L.L.C., Surgery Center of Southern Pines LLC, Surgery Center of Spokane LLC, Surgery Center of Summerlin LLC, Surgery Center of The Woodlands LLC, Surgery Center of Vero Beach Inc., Surgery Center of Wilmington LLC, Surgery Center of Wilmington Properties LLC, Surgery Centers of Des Moines Ltd. an Iowa Limited Partnership, Surgery Centers-West Holdings LLC, Surgical Care Affiliates, Surgical Care Affiliates LLC, Surgical Care Affiliates Political Action Committee, Surgical Care Partners of Melbourne LLC, Surgical Center of South Jersey Limited Partnership, Surgical Center of Tuscaloosa Holdings LLC, Surgical Health LLC, Surgical Health of Orlando LLC, Surgical Hospital Holdings of Oklahoma LLC, Surgicare LLC, Surgicare of Belleville LLC, Surgicare of Jackson LLC, Surgicare of Joliet Inc., Surgicare of La Veta Inc., Surgicare of Minneapolis LLC, Surgicare of Mobile LLC, Surgicare of Oceanside Inc., Surgicare of Owensboro LLC, Surgicare of Salem LLC, Surgicenters of Southern California Inc., Symphonix Health Holdings, Symphonix Health Holdings LLC, Symphonix Health Insurance, Symphonix Health Insurance Inc., THE SURGICAL CENTER OF THE TREASURE COAST L.L.C., TeamMD Holdings Inc., TeamMD Iowa Inc., TeamMD Physicians of Texas Inc., TeamUP Insurance Services Inc., Tecnologias de Informacion en Salud S.A., The Advisory Board (Chile) SpA, The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company, The Lewin Group, The Lewin Group Inc., The Magan Medical Group, The Outpatient Surgery Center of Hilton Head LLC, The Polyclinic MSO LLC, Thomas Johnson Surgery Center LLC, Thousand Oaks Endoscopy Center LLC, Three Rivers Holdings, Three Rivers Holdings Inc., Three Rivers Surgical Care L.P., Tmesys, Tmesys LLC, Topimagem Diagnostico por Imagem Ltda., Touchpoint Health Plan, Trails Edge Surgery Center LLC, Travel Express Incorporated, TriMed LLC, Trinity Infusion, Trio Motion LLC, Tucson Arizona Surgical Center LLC, U.S. Behavioral Health Plan, U.S. Behavioral Health Plan California, UHC Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, UHC Global Health Services BC Ltd., UHC International Services, UHC International Services Inc., UHC of California, UHCG Holdings (Ireland) Limited, UHCG Services (Ireland) Limited, UHCG FZE, UHG Brasil Participacoes S.A., UHIC Holdings, UHIC Holdings Inc., UICI Funding Corp. 2, UMR, UMR Inc., USHEALTH Academy 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Getty Images Heres some worrisome news if youre collecting Social Security: The day of the month you were born can affect the chances that youll bounce a check. Thats one finding of a new study looking at how the timing of monthly retirement benefits can have an impact on households financial health. The study shows the monthly budgeting difficulty many people on Social Security face. But the research also points toward some simple steps that could make it easier for recipients to manage their monthly spending. Studying the anonymized financial records of more than 33,000 households containing no more than one Social Security recipient, researchers found that each month, 13 percent of those households exhibited evidence of a financial shortfall: a bank overdraft (most common), a bounced check or an online payday loan. The studys authors also looked at the timing of two sets of transactions. One was the day of the month that the beneficiary received his or her retirement benefits. The other comprised the days of the month that bills were due for three major recurring expenditures: credit card payments, mortgages and car payments. Social Security recipients who began receiving benefits after May 1997, and do not also receive Supplemental Security Income, get their monthly benefit on one of three Wednesdays each month, depending on the day of the month they were born. People born in the first 10 days of the month receive their benefit on the second Wednesday of each month; people born in the second 10 days receive their benefits on the third Wednesday; people born on the 21st of the month or later get benefits the fourth Wednesday. Meanwhile, due dates for mortgages cluster around the first of each month, according to the researchers. Credit card bills tend to come due early in the month, and car payments cluster around the first and 15th. What the researchers found was that the longer the time period between the day Social Security benefits arrived and the day that major bills were due, the more likely it was that a household would suffer some sort of financial shortfall. In fact, an increase of one week between receiving benefits and having to pay a bill increased the chances of a shortfall by 18 percent. For a vivid illustration of the timing effect at work, imagine two retirees, Bill and Jeff, each with a mortgage payment due the first of every month and similar in all other ways but one: Bill was born Jan. 10 and Jeff on Jan. 30. Because Bill receives his retirement benefit on the second Wednesday of each month and Jeff on the fourth Wednesdaytwo weeks nearer to the next mortgage paymentBill is much more likely to overdraw his bank account or bounce a check, the researchers found. The study suggests that Social Securitys current schedule for payments is leading to disparities between people who happen to be born on different days of the month, says coauthor Jialan Wang, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In all households, everyday spending each month tends to be largest when Social Security income arrives, declining over the course of the month, she explains. In households with a long delay between receipt of benefits and committed expenditures like a mortgage, that makes for a greater chance that, when the day for the house payment rolls around, there will be an overdraft or bounced check. On the other hand, in households where the mortgage bill comes on the heels of the Social Security check, people will pay that mortgage bill and cut back on their discretionary spending as a result. Whatever is left at the end of the month, they make do, says Wang. The budgeting challenges documented in the study, she says, arent simply a function of a lack of wealth. Average income for the households in the sample was over $54,000 a year. I would consider it to be a pretty broad sample of the population, she says. Its possible that the households are more financially sophisticated than the average Social Security household, given their use of the financial tracking service that supplied data to Wang and her coauthor, Brian Baugh of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Theres no obvious, single way to reduced financial shortfalls among Social Security recipients, says Wang, but there are a number of possibilities. One solution would be for the Social Security Administration, which financed the study, to let people choose the day of the month on which their income would be paid. Or the SSA could simply return to its prior practice of sending out all payments at the beginning of each month. Sen. John Thune once again raises retirement question Local columnist Tom Lawrence takes a look back at Al Franken's career as a Minnesota senator as Franken speculates a return to politics. With advocates looking on, Mayor Tim Keller on Tuesday signed a resolution reaffirming Albuquerques immigrant friendly status. Albuquerque City Council members approved the resolution sponsored by Councilors Pat Davis and Klarissa Pena by a 6-3 vote on April 16. The resolution reiterates the citys policies that prevent federal immigration officials from entering city-operated areas, restricts city employees from collecting immigration status information and prohibits local tax dollars from being spent on federal immigration law enforcement. It codifies and makes clear this notion that were immigrant friendly, and we as a city are doing what we need to do as a city, as opposed to what other cities are talking about or trying to do, Keller said during the signing ceremony. For us, weve had very thoughtful research and work into this piece of legislation. The resolution also states that Albuquerque is a safe place for immigrants from all countries, as well as for war refugees, people of color, Muslims, Jews, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities. The City Council in 2000 first passed a immigrant-friendly resolution, which established policy for the city to treat all persons with respect and dignity regardless of their immigration status, ensured that immigrants who live in the city limits have access to municipal services and programs and instructed the Albuquerque Police Department not to enforce federal immigration laws. Last year, councilors approved a memorial that commits to continuing the policies and statements established under the 2000 resolution. That memorial did not require approval by Mayor Richard Berry as do ordinances or resolutions. Under Berrys administration, immigration agents were afforded a small space within the Prisoner Transport Center to check the immigration status of arrestees. Residents in opposition to the resolution told council members during the meeting earlier this month that the issue is not of racism. Opponents said the resolution would place the citys safety at risk and shield criminals from law enforcement. Less than 24 hours before a critical New Mexico Supreme Court hearing, the state Public Education Department announced plans to allow some students to put computer science coursework toward graduation requirements. The initiative is similar to legislation Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed last year without explanation triggering a legal fight that goes before the Supreme Court today. The computer science veto is one of 10 at the center of a lawsuit filed by legislative leaders who say the vetoes arent valid, either because Martinez didnt explain her objections or because she acted too late. A district judge invalidated the vetoes last year, but the Martinez administration appealed. Secretary-designate Christopher Ruszkowski made the surprise announcement Tuesday, saying new computer science curriculum is being developed and students may be able to apply the courses to high school graduation requirements. In a surprise announcement, Sec. Ruszkowski says that for the first time ever, students in New Mexico will be able to use computer science courses for math & science credits to graduate! the state agency wrote on Twitter. PED also said it came up with the academic standards and coursework plan to incorporate computer science into grades K-12. Sen. Jacob Candelaria, an Albuquerque Democrat who co-sponsored the 2017 legislation, said the states announcement is good news for students. This is a win for every kid in New Mexico, he said, and thats what matters more than the legal squabbles of adults. Starting next school year, students also will be able to use certain computer science courses toward math graduation credit. But students have to be proficient in PARCC Geometry or Algebra II and meet the Algebra II graduation requirement. Similarly, those who demonstrate proficiency in the science assessment can get science credit from the computer science course. Right now, there are three sets of courses that can count toward math or science high school graduation credit: Scientific Technologies: A science course that uses computer modeling to explore scientific concepts. Mathematical Modeling and Fractal Math: Math courses that use computer modeling to explore mathematical concepts. AP Computer Science A and AP Computer Science Principles: Computer and information sciences courses. PED says over the next year it will look into other existing courses to see what can be added to that list. Ruszkowski wrote in a statement that Martinez and PED are doing this to make kids college and career ready while also working toward a diploma. The department said the vetoed bill might have allowed computer science courses to count toward graduation without regard for their rigor or content. In the Dine language of the Navajo people, it is called Naaltsoos Sani or the Year of the Treaty. On June 1, 1868, a delegation of Navajo leaders signed a treaty with the United States, allowing the Navajos to leave internment at Bosque Redondo, Fort Sumner, and return to the ancestral homeland from which they were forced to leave in what became known as The Long Walk. Two known copies of that treaty are still in existence, one at the National Archive in Washington D.C., and one that was found by C.P. Kitty Weaver of Manchester, Mass., a great-grandniece of Col. Samuel F. Tappan, one of the original signers. Those copies will be on display in New Mexico and Arizona as the Navajo Nation commemorates the 150th anniversary of the signing of that document, it was announced Tuesday during a news conference at the Hotel Albuquerque. The copy from the National Archive will be on display from June 1 to the end of the month at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Ariz.; portions of the Tappan family copy will be on display from June 8 through August at the Bosque Redondo Memorial Museum at Fort Sumner State Monument, southeast of the village of Fort Sumner, N.M. Other events being held in conjunction with the commemoration include a series of runs throughout the month of May that roughly follows the route that the Navajos walked on the return from Fort Sumner to Fort Defiance near Window Rock; the April 27 Shiprock Justice Day, at the Shiprock Judicial District in Shiprock, with lectures on the History of Navajo Nation court system, and more. For additional information on events go to www.navajotreaty1868.navajo-nsn.gov. From 1863 through 1866, more than 11,500 Navajos were marched to Fort Sumner, a distance ranging from 350 to 400 miles. Because of age, illness and the harsh conditions, only about 8,500 were still alive after the treaty was signed and they walked back to their homeland, said Navajo Nation Vice President Jonathan Nez during the Tuesday news conference. We were not wanted in this land at one time and it was almost total annihilation of our people, he said. Now, 150 years later, we are the most influential indigenous nation in the world, with a population of 350,000 and a homeland that covers 27,000 square miles. Nez said it is important to retell the history of The Long Walk, as well as the entire history of the Navajo people, from the Navajo perspective. This will encourage a renaissance in the Navajo culture, language and way of life, he said. It is for our future and the younger generation that this commemoration is being done, to re-educate our people and let them know they can accomplish whatever they want in life, Nez said. It is no secret that we have problems in tribal communities, he said, We have domestic violence, sexual violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide, diabetes and heart disease. Nez encouraged healing, even as the Navajo people deal with contemporary problems while thinking about injustices and traumas of the past. That is all part of the history of the Navajo Nation and the resilience of its people to overcome tough times, he said. If we dont talk about it, we are doing a disservice to our people. Copyright 2018 Albuquerque Journal The owner of five dogs left to die in a hot car earlier this month allegedly by a woman hired to transport the animals was herself charged with dozens of animal welfare-related offenses the day before the tragic incident. According to court documents, an Animal Welfare officer met Albuquerque police after being called to check on four dogs inside a parked SUV with rolled-down windows near Los Altos Dog Park on April 3. The Animal Control officer told Annette Rosenow she could not leave the dogs unattended and Rosenow became defensive, according to the criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. After inspecting the SUV, the cab of a moving truck and a grooming trailer, the officer reported finding 31 dogs. The complaint states the animals, including two litters of puppies in the cab of the moving truck, were not in proper transport crates and did not have access to water. According to the complaint, Rosenow told the officer she was in the process of moving from California to Texas and was unable to provide proof of the animals rabies vaccinations or medical records. But at the time, Rosenow was already facing more than 60 counts that had been filed in January in Torrance County, where she apparently lived, for failing to register and vaccinate animals and for selling animals without a commercial permit. At Los Altos Park, according to the complaint, other individuals were present and helping Rosenow transport her belongings and animals. All of the animals observed by officers were active and healthy, except for one which had a limp and was matted in the rear area and also was impacted with feces stuck to its rectum. Rosenow told the officer she would take care of the limping dog. After running the vehicle identification number of Rosenows vehicle, it was determined to have expired California tags. I did ask the APD Officer if he could place Ms. Rosenow in custody for that violation, the complaint states. I was told he could not. Officers told Rosenow to leave the state or a warrant to seize the animals would be sought. The next day, on April 4, a woman Rosenow hired to transport five of her animals to her new home in Texas, allegedly abandoned the vehicle with the dogs inside. All five succumbed to the heat. It is unknown whether the dogs that died were among the 31 checked by authorities the day before. Sara Mauter, 31, was arrested in Phoenix and extradited to Albuquerque. She was taken into custody on Sunday and faces five counts of extreme cruelty to animals. Meanwhile, Rosenows former landlord had filed a civil suit against her in March. He alleges that she failed to pay rent while living on his Estancia property and that the multiple dogs living there had damaged his property. Ronnie Pace Jr. said he had several run-ins with Rosenow as her landlord during the nearly six months she lived on the 2,500-square-foot property. When he gained entry to the property in late March, he said he found 60 to 70 dogs living inside the home. Pace also claims he found five dogs inside an unventilated SUV inside the garage. It was completely trashed, he said of the home, adding that the inside floors were covered with urine and feces. It wasnt fit for human or dogs. Pace said the value of damages to his property was around $37,000. Rosenow did not respond to requests for comment. WASHINGTON Last week, one week after the first anniversary of Neil Gorsuchs ascension to the Supreme Court, he delivered an opinion that was excellent as it pertained to the case at issue and momentous in its implications pertaining to the institutional tangle known as the administrative state. If he can persuade his fellow court conservatives to see why they were mistaken in disagreeing with him, and if he can persuade his liberal colleagues to follow the logic of their decision with which he concurred, the judiciary will begin restoring constitutional equilibrium. It will limit Congress imprecise legislating that requires excessive unguided improvising by all those involved in seeing that the laws are faithfully executed. In 1992, when James Dimaya, a Philippine citizen, was 13, he became a lawful permanent resident of the United States, where, unfortunately, his behavior has been less than lawful: In 2007 and 2009, he was convicted of residential burglary. The Department of Homeland Security says he should be deported because he committed a crime of violence, hence covered by a portion of immigration law that, after listing specific crimes rape, murder, etc. adds a catch-all category of crimes involving a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense. How are judges supposed to apply this? Writing for the majority in a 5-4 decision and joined by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, with Gorsuch concurring in the judgment and much of the opinion Elena Kagan wrote: The laws category, a crime of violence, is so indeterminate fuzzy, she said that deporting Dimaya under it would violate the Constitutions due process of law guarantee. Vague laws beget two related evils: They do not give citizens reasonably clear notice of what behavior is proscribed or prescribed. And they give actually, require of judges and law enforcement officials excessive discretion in improvising a fuzzy laws meaning. In agreeing with this and disagreeing with John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito Gorsuch wrote: Vague laws invite the exercise of arbitrary power by leaving the people in the dark about what the law demands and allowing prosecutors and courts to make it up. The lack of precise and sufficient certainty criteria stipulated by the English jurist William Blackstone, whose writings influenced the Constitutions framers invites more unpredictability and arbitrariness than is constitutional. Furthermore, the crux of Americas constitutional architecture, the separation of powers, is implicated. All legislative power is vested in Congress. The judicial power, Gorsuch wrote, does not license judges to craft new laws but only to discern and follow an existing laws prescribed course. With the fuzzy crime of violence category, Congress abdicated its responsibilities for setting the standards of the criminal law. So, allowing vague laws would allow Congress to hand off the job of lawmaking. Hence such laws not only illegitimately transfer power to police and prosecutors but also would leave it all to a judicial hunch. The principle Gorsuch enunciates here regarding one provision of immigration law is a scythe sharp enough to slice through many practices of the administrative state, which translates often vague congressional sentiments into binding rules, a practice indistinguishable from legislating. Gorsuchs principle is also pertinent to something pernicious concerning which he has hitherto expressed wholesome skepticism: Chevron deference. This is the policy, named for the 1984 case in which the Supreme Court propounded it, whereby courts are required to defer to administrative agencies interpretations of ambiguous laws when the interpretations are reasonable. Gorsuch has criticized this emancipation of the administrative state from judicial supervision as a judge-made doctrine for the abdication of judicial duty. It also is an incentive for slovenly lawmaking by a Congress too lazy or risk-averse to be precise in making policy choices, and so lacking in institutional pride that it complacently sloughs off its Article I powers onto Article II entities. Gorsuch wants Article III courts to circumscribe this disreputable behavior. Gorsuch represents the growing ascendency of one kind of conservative jurisprudence, judicial engagement, over another kind, judicial deference. Many conservatives have embraced populism where it least belongs, in judicial reasoning. They have advocated broad judicial deference to decisions because they emanate from majoritarian institutions and processes. Progressives favor such deference because it liberates executive power from congressional direction or judicial supervision. Gorsuch, a thinking persons conservative, declines to be complicit in this, which raises this question: When has a progressive justice provided the fifth vote joining four conservative colleagues? Some people just cant stay out of the news. Take, for example, California investment banker Elliott Broidy, a major fundraiser for President Donald J. Trumps campaign. Typical investment bankers prefer their names be mentioned in the back pages of the Wall Street Journal or financial magazines. But this guy draws headlines like bees to honey although given his druthers its likely he would have preferred to have kept his role in the New Mexico state investment pay-to-play scandal during the administration of Gov. Bill Richardson out of the news spotlight. His company hired a fixer and friend of Bills to land a $16.3 million investment from the state during Richardsons first term. It is one of the bigger losers in the states portfolio and we still havent tallied up the total loss although the company he founded coughed up $1 million to settle a lawsuit against him by the State Investment Council. But enough of the good old days. Broidys most recent claim to fame: He is New York attorney Michael Cohens Client Number Two. Client Number One, of course, is Trump, and according to Cohens lawyer, Client Number Three is Fox News commentator Sean Hannity which Hannity has denied. Sort of. The client list came out at a court hearing after the FBI raided Cohens New York City offices and hotel room with search warrants looking for records in a criminal investigation. Broidy, who recently resigned as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, was represented by Cohen in a legal agreement with a former Playboy model who became pregnant during an affair. In exchange for a nondisclosure agreement, Broidy paid the model $1.6 million. And Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 just before the 2016 election to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump back in 2006. Cohen claimed Trump knew nothing and the money came out of his own pocket. Broidys New Mexico headlines are a little older. Broidy wanted an investment from the State Investment Council in 2003 for his Markstone Fund, which specialized in buying companies in Israel. He also was chairman of the Finance Committee for the Republican National Committee at that time. Broidy hired former Michigan Congressman Robert Carr, a Democrat and a close friend and supporter of Richardson, with whom the governor had served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Carr was never a registered representative of Markstone or a registered broker-dealer. His involvement in the deal was never disclosed to the State Investment Council, but surfaced only in the investigation of the wide-ranging scandal in which connected political insiders were paid hefty fees to guide investment decisions. In May 2003, Markstone was seeking an alternative investment from the State Investment Fund. Later that year, Carr forwarded information about Broidy and Markstone to a member of Richardsons staff, who in turn forwarded that information to then-State Investment Officer Gary Bland. Carr then contacted Bland directly, describing himself as (a) friend of Bill Richardson & yours. On Dec. 5, 2003, Carr attended a meeting in Santa Fe with Bland and Broidy to discuss an SIC investment in Markstone. According to a lawsuit filed against Broidy and others by the State Investment Council, political pressure was brought to bear on Bland to approve an SIC investment in Markstone in order to ensure that Carr, Gov. Richardsons friend, was paid a fee. Bland recommended the investment and it was approved by the State Investment Council. Carr received a $100,000 fee from Markstone but later agreed to cooperate with the SIC in its civil lawsuit against the company. Markstone settled the civil lawsuit without admitting it had done anything wrong, but paid the SIC $1 million. The states investment in Markstone has been among the worst performing of the older funds in its portfolio. The SIC invested $16.6 million of the $20 million it set aside for the investment. The state got $5.4 million from the Markstone investment but the value of the remaining Markstone assets is considered minimal, which means the state could lose $11 million. Back in New York, Broidy was also involved in the New York State Pension Fund scandal that opened the door on the scandal in New Mexico. In 2009, Broidy pleaded guilty to a felony charge for paying nearly $1 million in gifts to New York state officials to obtain a $250 million investment from the New York pension fund in Markstone Capital Partners, L.P. (the Markstone Fund) the same Markstone fund in which the New Mexico State Investment Council invested. Broidy also agreed to forfeit $18 million to the state of New York, and avoided prison time. Broidy resigned from any role in management of any of the members of the Markstone Group in December 2009. But some people just cant stay out of the news. There also have been recent news reports that Broidy is under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Muellers team over whether Broidy should have registered as a foreign agent because of his business dealings in the Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates. Broidy claims, according to news reports, those reports are part of a smear campaign emanating out of the country of Qatar, a rival of the United Arab Emirates. UpFront is a regular Journal news and opinion column. Comment directly to Mike Gallagher at mgallagher@abqjournal.com. Bernalillo County commissioners on Tuesday selected Merritt Hamilton Allen as their nominee to fill an unexpired term as state representative for House District 22. Allen, a Republican, is owner and executive director of Vox Optima, an Albuquerque-based communications, consulting and media relations company. The previous representative for the district, James Smith, was appointed to the post of county commissioner representing District 5 by Gov. Susana Martinez. He was sworn in last month. The vote was 2-1, with Republican Commissioners Smith and Lonnie Talbert supporting Allen, and Commissioner Steven Quezada voting for fellow Democrat Jessica Velasquez, who served as an educator in New Mexico at the secondary and college levels. Commissioners allowed both candidates to address the board during the meeting. Commissioners Debbie OMalley and Maggie Hart Stebbins did not attend Tuesdays meeting. House District 22 includes parts of Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties. Its kind of a bittersweet moment to see my successors show up to a commissioners meeting, Smith said. I knew this day was coming. I just wanted to say how proud I am and how excited I am to have two strong women who are willing to step up and run for the House of Representatives. State statute provides that if a vacancy occurs in the office of representative for any reason for a district situated within two or more counties, the board of county commissioners for each county in the district will submit one name to the governor. The governor will then appoint the representative to fill the vacancy from the list of names submitted. The Bernalillo County Commissions process for choosing a candidate required that individuals who were interested in seeking the boards nomination submit letters of interest and resumes to the county manager. Candidates were also required to be residents of House District 22. Resumes were accepted through April 17. After Tuesdays vote, County Manager Julie Morgas Baca is expected to submit a letter to Martinez providing the name of the nominee. As 2018 is an election year, the term of the appointment is through Dec. 31. Velasquez is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination for a full-term in post in the June primary. For the Republican nomination, Allen is facing Dr. Gregg Schmedes, an assistant professor of surgery at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Copyright 2018 Albuquerque Journal When the District Attorneys Office earlier this month asked for a 22-year-old man facing auto-theft charges to be held in jail until trial, a judge denied the motion, determining he was not a danger to the community. But a little over a week later, police say Charles Taylor kicked in a womans door in broad daylight before beating her, tying her up and raping her at a southeast Albuquerque apartment complex. Taylors defense attorney says the judge made the right decision to release him, while the 2nd Judicial District Attorney Raul Torrez called the case another example of a fundamental disagreement about who qualifies as dangerous and should be held until trial. When Taylor stood before state District Judge Charles Brown on April 10, he was facing charges of receiving and transferring a motor vehicle and, on the public safety assessment, was recommended for release to pretrial services with maximum supervision meaning drug and alcohol testing by request and avoiding all contact with witnesses or offenders. Brown also authorized the use of GPS tracking but it was not utilized by pre-trial services. District Court spokesman Sidney Hill said Taylors attorney argued against preventative detention because prosecutor Richard Reed had not presented evidence pointing to Taylor being dangerous. When asked by the judge if he wanted to respond to that argument, the (prosecutor) said he had no further arguments to make, Hill said in a statement emailed to the Journal in response to questions about the case. According to court documents, Taylor had previously been charged with receiving stolen vehicles. In that criminal complaint, police say he broke into a home on Jan. 31, threatened the homeowner with a knife and then stole the victims truck. But none of that showed up on the courts assessment tool because the case had been dismissed in Metropolitan Court and had yet to be filed in District Court. The public safety assessment tool provides background information to help judges make a decision on whether a suspect should be released while awaiting trial. Regardless of the assessment tool, a judge has discretion on whether to allow pre-trial detention. Hill said the DAs Office did not raise the issue of the earlier, more serious case at the April 10 preventative detention hearing and did not indict Taylor on any charges in that case until April 18, nearly three months after the incident and over a week after the detention hearing. In that indictment, he is charged with aggravated burglary, bribery of a witness, false imprisonment and receiving or transferring stolen motor vehicles. A spokesman for the DAs Office, when asked why Reed did not make the judge aware of that case, said the prosecutor requested the judge take judicial notice on Taylors previous cases, which would have included the criminal complaint involving the home invasion. Another piece of Taylors history that did not show up on the assessment tool was the fact that Taylor had been placed in pretrial services multiple times since his Jan. 31 arrest. In each instance, he failed to meet the conditions, was rearrested, only to be released again. Maxwell Pines, Taylors defense attorney, said he agreed with Browns decision. By his recollection, Pines said the state, which only presented a criminal complaint on the April 4 auto theft in support of its request for pre-trial detention, did not produce clear and convincing evidence that Taylors release would put the community in danger. In this case, they didnt, Pines said. Judge Brown was right to hold the state to that level of proof. But 10 days after being released, Taylor was back in jail, this time accused of raping a 59-year-old woman who suffers from multiple sclerosis in an attack that spanned two hours. Police say fingerprints left on a Gatorade bottle inside the womans home led detectives to Taylor, whom they arrested and charged with criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping, aggravated battery with great bodily harm, aggravated burglary and robbery. Torrezs office has once again requested preventative detention for Taylor with the hearing set for this morning. Torrez said, unfortunately, his office has seen a lot of push back from the District Court in cases such as this one. Last year, Torrez said his office sought preventative detention in 16 percent of cases and were denied about half the time. Of those released, he said 33 percent picked up a new charge. When you have one-third of the people not detained committing new crimes, something is wrong, he said. Something isnt working. So far in 2018, Torrez said they have bumped the number of preventative detention motions to over 26 percent of cases, with no intention of stopping. Were not going to back down the consequences of us failing to do otherwise are just too serious for the community, he said. Our hope is well start winning more of these cases. FARMINGTON The mother of an Aztec woman who died last week after an initial Hantavirus diagnosis described her daughter as someone who advocated for children and was always willing to give people a second chance. Kiley Lane, 27, died on Thursday afternoon at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, according to Lanes mother, Julie Barron. The familys experiences, including conflicting test results, has led Barron to vow to advocate in the future for better rural health care. We would like to see some things change so no one has to go through this, Barron said. Two this year diagnosed in initial tests Hantavirus is a respiratory disease in humans transmitted by infected rodents. San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington has had two patients whose preliminary tests for Hantavirus were positive, according to spokeswoman Laura Werbner. She added additional testing performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were negative for the disease. Barron said the CDC tests were not conducted on her daughter until about a month after the first test after Lane was transported to Albuquerque and those tests showed she no longer had an active strain of Hantavirus in her system. Lane made two trips to San Juan Regional before she initially tested positive for Hantavirus. Barron visited Lane on Feb. 1 and saw that her daughter looked worse and could not walk on her own. Lane was hospitalized and tested for Hantavirus on Feb 3. The preliminary results received on Feb. 5 were positive for the virus and she was transported to the UNM Hospital, Barron said. Barron said tests performed by UNM Hospital doctors on Feb. 5 were positive for Hantavrius. This experience has changed Barron, and she plans to be an advocate for better healthcare in rural areas. Barron questioned the reliability of the Hantavirus test used at San Juan Regional, and wondered why the CDC tests were not used in the first place. No update was available on the second case. George Hernandez told The Farmington Daily Times his nine-year-old son, Fernando Hernandez of Bloomfield, was diagnosed with Hantavirus in late February. George could not be reached for comment today. There are no confirmed cases of Hantavirus in New Mexico this year, according to NMDOH spokesman Paul Rhien. He said the state health department investigates and takes all reported cases of Hantavirus seriously. Family thankful for support Lane, a mother of one, was dealing with several medical complications when the family decided to turn down the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine and let her die peacefully, Barron said. The ECMO machine provides life support by pumping and oxygenating a patients blood. Some of the complications Lane developed included a hole in her trachea and multiple infections. She was having difficulty with her lungs. Barron thanked the staff at UNM Hospital for how well they took care of Lane as they exhausted every available option for treatment. We cant thank the people who took care of her enough, Barron said. About 50 people, including friends and family, visited Lane on Thursday. Lanes life celebration and memorial services are scheduled for Saturday in Cedar Crest. Donations for Lane can be made at http://bit.ly/kileylane. Donations for Fernando can be made at http://bit.ly/fernandodonations. Information on Hantavirus can be found at http://bit.ly/NMDOHhantavirus. Joshua Kellogg covers crime, courts and social issues for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4627 or via email at jkellogg@daily-times.com. 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. _____ THE HAGUE, Netherlands In a major hit against cybercriminals, an international police operation has taken down what investigators called the worlds biggest provider of potentially crippling Distributed Denial of Service attacks. On Wednesday, police hailed the success of the operation Wednesday, saying that a joint investigation led by Dutch and British experts and supported by European Union police agency Europol led to the arrest on Tuesday of the administrators of the website webstresser.org. Europol said webstresser.org had more than 136,000 registered users and racked up 4 million attacks on banks, governments, police forces and the gaming industry. Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS, attacks attempt to make online services unavailable by overwhelming them with traffic from multiple sources. It used to be that in order to launch a DDoS attack, one had to be pretty well versed in internet technology, Europol said in a statement. That is no longer the case. The agency said that registered users could pay a fee of as little as 15 euros ($18) per month to rent its services and launch cyberattacks. Administrators of the service were arrested Tuesday in Britain, Croatia, Canada and Serbia, Europol said. The illegal service was shut down and computers and other infrastructure seized in the Netherlands, the United States and Germany. Croatian police said that a 19-year-old Croat, whom they described as the owner of webstresser.org, was detained on charges of serious criminal acts against computer systems, programs and data that carry a possible sentence of one to eight years in prison. Gert Ras, head of the Dutch polices High Tech Crime unit, said the operation should send a clear warning to users of websites like webstresser. Dont do it, Ras said. By tracking down the DDoS service you use, we strip you of your anonymity, hand you a criminal record and put your victims in a position to claim back damages from you. WASHINGTON French President Emmanuel Macron drew sharp contrasts with President Donald Trumps worldview Wednesday, laying out a firm vision of global leadership that rejects the illusion of nationalism in a candid counterweight to Trumps appeals to put America first. In the spotlight of a speech to the U.S. Congress, Macron was courteous but firm, deferential but resolute as he traced the lines of profound division between himself and Trump on key world issues: climate change, trade and the Iran nuclear deal. A day after the French leader had put on a show of warmth and brotherly affection for Trump at the White House, his blunt speech prizing engagement over isolationism reinforced the French leaders emerging role as a top defender of the liberal world order. We can choose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism. This is an option. It can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy to our fears, Macron said. But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. It will not douse but inflame the fears of our citizens. Issuing a bleak warning, he urged against letting the rampaging work of extreme nationalism shake a world full of hopes for greater prosperity. It was a marked shift from the simpatico Macron of only a day earlier during his state visit at the White House. In his first year as Frances president, Macron has carefully cultivated as close a relationship to Trump as any world leader can boast. But addressing a joint meeting of Congress an honor granted only occasionally to leaders of close U.S. allies Macron confronted his differences with Trump head-on. As Trump weighs pulling out of the 2015 Iran accord, Macron made clear that France will not follow his lead. We signed it at the initiative of the United States. We signed it, both the United States and France, Macron said. That is why we cannot say we should get rid of it like that. Macron later told French reporters that he has no inside information on Trumps decision on the Iran deal but noted that its clear the U.S. president is not very much eager to defend it. Macron saved some of his most pointed comments during the speech on Trump administration policy on climate change, implicitly lamenting the presidents moves to withdraw from the global emissions pact reached in Paris. Macron said humans are killing our planet and added: Let us face it: There is no Planet B. On this issue, it may happen we have disagreements between the United States and France. It may happen, like in all families, Macron said. But thats for me a short-term disagreement. It was an allusion not to an impending Trump about-face, but to the prospect of America choosing a different path under a successor, whoever that may prove to be. Asked by French reporters about his comments later during a visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Macron said with a smile that he doesnt expect Trump to rejoin the Paris accord but does expect that America will. Macrons hourlong speech to Congress, delivered in English, provoked obvious delight from congressional Democrats, who erupted repeatedly in cheers and standing ovations for the visiting Frenchman a contrast to the mostly silent reaction from Republicans in the House chamber. To some, it was an ironic reminder that more than a year after being walloped by Trump in the election, Democrats have yet to coalesce behind either a cohesive message or a messenger, still plaintively searching for the kind of energetic, fresh-faced leader that Macron represents. For Macron, the exuberant reception may have been equally ironic. At home, Macron does not enjoy the same level of applause or enthusiasm. A centrist in France, hes currently criticized more from the left than the right, notably for ending Frances famed worker protection, and hes often derided as the president of the rich. Still, his soaring speech to Congress and closely watched visit to the United States have buttressed the notion that Macron, more than any other world leader, now carries the torch for the rules-based international system of freedoms, free markets and democratic governance that Western nations have championed since World War II. Trumps positions on trade and overseas obligations have chipped away at Americas position as the spokesman for that movement. And German Chancellor Angela Merkel, seen in recent years as the inheritor of that role, has faded somewhat amid domestic political challenges in her country. That France sees itself as uniquely equipped to help fill that void seemed evident as Macron called for communal action to address urgent threats to what he called fundamental values. Today, the international community needs to step up our game and build the 21st century world order, he said. It wasnt all criticism from Macron. He sought to showcase the historic bond between the U.S. and France, touting the two allies constant attachment to freedom and democracy. Yet he also mentioned fake news, a point of contention between Trump and others, and warned that lies disseminated online are threatening freedoms worldwide. In friendly fashion, he recounted trans-Atlantic links from the earliest days of the United States, Macron talked about a meeting between Ben Franklin and the French philosopher Voltaire, kissing each others cheeks. In an apparent reference to his affectionate rapport with Trump this week, Macron mused: It can remind you of something. ____ Associated Press reporters Alan Fram and Laurie Kellman in Washington and Angela Charlton and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A U.S. district judge has dismissed claims by environmentalists who argued that the approval of drilling permits violated historic preservation laws because of potential threats to culturally significant sites in northwestern New Mexico. Despite an earlier ruling that signaled the claims had merit, Judge James Browning issued an opinion and an amended order late Monday determining federal land managers did not violate the law since they considered the effects of the wells on historical sites. The decision comes in a long-running dispute over management of vast expanses of land surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Efforts in recent years to petition the federal government to set aside large parts of the Chaco region as an area of critical environmental concern have been unsuccessful. More recently, tribal leaders and other critics have asked for a moratorium on drilling, saying increased development has the potential to destroy parts of the landscape that could provide a better understanding of the ancient civilization that once inhabited the area. The oil and gas industry welcomed Brownings ruling, saying the 2015 lawsuit was more about derailing drilling rather than protecting the environment or the states cultural treasures. Ryan Flynn, executive director of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said in a statement it was yet another moment for activists to hijack economic growth for our state, pointing to the tax revenues and royalties that feed state coffers. Environmentalists on Wednesday refused to back down from their efforts to limit drilling in the region. Kyle Tisdel, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center, said the court case is one part of a broader campaign that still includes an overhaul of the resource management plan that guides development decisions for the region. The Bureau of Land Management has been working on updating that plan, and U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in March halted a quarterly oil and gas lease sale over concerns about cultural impacts after hundreds of people protested. Zinke said he wanted more time for his agency to complete an ongoing analysis of nearly 5,500 cultural sites in the area. Not only are we talking about historic properties some of the highest historic properties anywhere in the country but were talking about tribal people who still live in that landscape and have a cultural connection and relationship to that landscape, Tisdel said. A world heritage site, Chaco park and its outlying archaeological remnants include massive stone structures, kivas and other features that archaeologists believe offered something of a religious or ritualistic experience. Many of the structures are aligned with celestial events, such as the summer solstice. The Bureau of Land Management in recent years has deferred the leasing of parcels within a 10-mile (16-kilometer) buffer around Chaco park. Copyright 2018 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE A long-simmering dispute between Gov. Susana Martinez and top state legislators ended with the gavel trumping the veto pen. The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday the governor did not follow proper constitutional procedures last year in vetoing 10 different bills that, for the most part, had passed the Legislature with broad bipartisan support. The ruling puts an end to a nearly yearlong court battle and means the bills in question essentially take effect immediately. It also sets a legal precedent. The ruling today makes it clear it has to be done right, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, told reporters after Wednesdays hearing. I dont think youll ever see a governor again not submit reasoning (along with vetoed bills) and thats really important. Wirth and other top-ranking Democratic lawmakers had argued the 10 vetoes were not properly carried out because the governor either took too long to act on them or did not provide an explanation with each vetoed bill. They filed a lawsuit over the vetoed bills last summer, after a contentious 60-day session in which legislative leaders sparred frequently with the Governors Office over budget issues. Martinez, the states second-term Republican governor, has maintained the vetoes were valid. They came in a flurry in the final days of the 2017 session, after the Senate had voted to override Martinezs veto of a bill dealing with teacher absences. A subsequent override vote in the House failed to gain enough support to succeed. The Martinez administration has clashed frequently with the judicial branch in recent years most recently over pretrial detention for defendants accused of violent offenses and a spokeswoman for the governor called the Supreme Courts ruling disappointing but not surprising. Todays ruling shows one can pick and choose when it comes to following the Constitution, Martinez spokeswoman Emilee Cantrell said Wednesday. There is no dispute these bills were vetoed and yet partisan legislators along with submissive judges can circumvent an entire branch of government. The Supreme Courts decision upheld a district judges ruling in August 2017 that invalidated the governors vetoes. The states highest court had temporarily blocked the bills from becoming law in January after Martinez filed an appeal. During Wednesdays hourlong hearing, Martinezs attorney Paul Kennedy argued the District Court judge had erred in the initial ruling. He also said lawmakers received veto messages for five of the contested vetoes within the three-day period stipulated by the Constitution, leaving enough time for legislators to make changes to the bills or attempt an override vote. But the Supreme Court justices didnt seem impressed by the arguments, with Justice Charles Daniels at one point remarking, This is the only instance of the governor not sending messages over in the history of the state. They then issued the ruling after deliberating for just over one hour. The five-member panel included District Court Judge James Hudson of Roswell, who was designated to sit in on the case since Justice Edward Chavez recently retired and the governors pick to replace him has not formally joined the court. In announcing the decision, Supreme Court Chief Justice Judith Nakamura, also a Martinez appointee, dismissed the procedural concerns that had been raised and said the case boiled down to a simple question of law. The Constitution requires the objections must accompany the allegedly vetoed bills, Nakamura said. Because the objections did not accompany the bills, they became law. At least one of the 10 bills has essentially already been enacted, as the Public Education Department announced earlier this week it was moving forward with a plan to allow computer science to count toward high school math and science requirements. In addition to the computer science legislation, other bills in question included measures allowing industrial hemp to be grown for research purposes, clarifying drug testing requirements for racehorses and giving local governments more leeway to expand broadband access. The lawsuit was authorized via closed-door vote by the Legislative Council, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, but GOP lawmakers have been largely silent about the effort. Senate Republican floor leader Stuart Ingle of Portales said Wednesday the constitutional language on veto procedures has been in place since statehood and is unambiguous. I sure didnt think it was going to go any other way, Ingle said of the lawsuits outcome. At a glance Here are some of the bills now enshrined in state law: Authorize growing of industrial hemp for research purposes.n Require that county treasurers be notified when tax increment development districts are formed. Add computer science to allowable math and science requirements for high school graduation. Provide local governments with more leeway to expand broadband access. Clarify requirements for drug testing of racehorses. Give financial aid preference to medical students or health care professionals who attended or are attending New Mexico institutions. A Santa Fe man was charged with his 11th DWI after driving the wrong way on Cerrillos Road and nearly hitting a State Police officer, according to police. Santiago Garcia, 53, was taken into custody after a chase and additionally charged with resisting, evading or obstructing an officer, careless driving, having no drivers license and no insurance, a New Mexico State Police news release reads. State Police said Sunday, around 10:30 p.m., an officer with the agency was almost hit by a wrong-way driver on Cerrillos Road. The officer tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver fled and the officer gave chase. At the intersection of Cerrillos and Jaguar roads, the officer performed a PIT maneuver or Pursuit Intervention Technique forcing the driver to stop. The officer suspected the driver was intoxicated, the news release reads, investigated, and Garcia showed signs he was unable to safely operate a vehicle and was impaired. Garcia was booked into the Santa Fe County Detention Center. Neither Garcia nor the officer were injured during the pursuit. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump met Wednesday with Apple CEO Tim Cook at the White House to discuss trade as he engages in negotiations around the globe. Trump tweeted before the meeting that they would be talking about many things, including how the U.S. has been treated unfairly for many years, by many countries, on trade. The president met with Cook in the Oval Office a day after the leader of the technology giant attended Trumps state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump has had a fraught relationship with the electronics company, criticizing Apple Inc. on Twitter over its decision not to cooperate with law enforcement on breaching its phone encryption and over the size of the screens on iPhones. But Trump has praised the Cupertino, California-based companys planned investment in the U.S. after the passage of last years tax cuts. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the primary focus of the meeting was trade. Cook also met with White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is expected to travel to China soon for trade talks as both countries have proposed tariffs of $50 billion on the others products. Trump has said hes looking to impose tariffs of up to $100 billion more on Chinese goods. The administration is also engaged in negotiations with Canada and Mexico on a revised form of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump assailed during his 2016 Republican campaign. A 360 degree spin at the PromaxBDA India this year guarantees hobnobbing with some of the biggest creative minds of the world. Start with the Marketing Workshop by Bex Schwartz who is the Executive Creative Director and Director at Cause +Effect. Get tips, techniques, and best practices for using social media to amplify your voice and tickle your audiences fancy. This workshop will examine excellent examples of omnichannel TV promotion and explore analytics and metrics for watching social engagement transform into ratings. Next comes Tim Horwoods Masterclass about the changing creative space of Africa. Tim comes with 26 years of experience in the African broadcast industry. The worlds perception of Africa is riddled with stereotypes and misconceptions. In this session, Tim will be discussing the new, contemporary African creative space and showcasing some exciting work being produced in the rapidly growing music, TV and creative environments. For More Related Stories Visit Here. The power-packed masterclass sessions continue with truTVs Puja Vohra and creative mastermind Glenn Urquhart. During her masterclass, Puja will break down the award winning #TruTVIsAThing campaign- how she and her team took on an army of twitter trolls and won! According to Puja, her session- Know Thyself (and be as funny as hell), will help you understand how to tap into the power of great, real-time self-aware social media content. The multi-disciplined Glenn Urquhart comes with experience in copywriting, direction, music production, journalism and commercials. Glenns session Curiosity Skilled The Cat promises to reveal a secret formula to an effective creative. Speaking about his session, Glenn says, You can expect a huge shot in the arm, its basically about creative inspiration. There will be a robust discussion about what makes a good creative. Because a good creative doesnt happen in a vacuum. The masterclass sessions follow the much sought after Promo Workshop: THE [V]MACHINE, which is scheduled to take place on 22nd May 2018, at Indian School of Design and Innovation, Mumbai. The [V]MACHINE offers to be a unique drill where three hardcore creative geniuses: Rob Middleton, Arnab Chaudhuri and Pete Bishop come together and dive into the technicalities of creating promos that are versatile and relevant for all platforms. For More Related Stories Visit Here. The Tier 1 rates for the Bootcamp and Masterclass are applicable till April 29th, 2018 so hurry and register ! Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. CAIRO Sculpting with camel bones is a handicraft that has been practiced in Upper Egypt for thousands of years, since the Pharaonic era, but the trade is fast disappearing. Sahar Mubarak is one of the few remaining carvers in Qus, a city in Qena governorate. She told Al-Monitor that the most important reason for the disappearance of this ancient art was economic: The camel bones are getting more expensive after the international trade of ivory was banned, as camel bones have become a popular substitute. Like ivory, the bones are rigid and retain their whiteness for thousands of years. Camel bones are used in sculptures, which Europeans and Russians tend to buy, and necklaces and rosaries, favored by tourists from Gulf and Arab countries. There are some initiatives that help protect this historical craft, such as the nonprofit Egyptian Initiative for Integrated Development, also known as El-Nidaa. This NGO [nongovernmental organization] has provided us with the necessary funds to purchase bones and have craftsmen from the Egyptian market Khan al-Khalili come and provide workshops for us. There are currently a limited number of master craftsmen in Cairo's Khan al-Khalili bazaar, along with the 27 women at the center in Qus, said Mubarak. Ahmed Issa, a professor of Egyptology at Cairo University, told Al-Monitor that the first sculptures made of animal bones date to prehistoric Egypt, before unification at the hands of King Narmer in 3200 B.C. He pointed out that primitive sculptures using animal bones remained common in Egypt until the era of King Djoser (2686-2600 BC), when granite was introduced in the carving of temples and mosques and the construction of pyramids and huge statues. He said that during the Pharaonic era, it was common for Egyptian women to sculpt animal bones to decorate their homes. Camel bones were also commonly used in the wake of the Persian occupation, which brought camels to Egypt in 530 BC. Mohamed Al-Shorbaji, a professor of sculpture at Mansoura University, told Al-Monitor, Sculpture in animal bones is important because it shows that Egyptians, regardless of their social or economic class, are fond of art. Even in ancient times, when Egyptians had only animal bones, they would sculpt them to decorate their homes." He added, "Sculpting animal bones, especially camels, is one of the most difficult types of sculpture, which makes it more valuable. Asked about the rest of the problems facing the art form and the women who practice it, R.M., one of the women who practices the handicraft at the workshop at Qus, told Al-Monitor, The craft is facing a major problem with distribution because of the decline in tourism in Egypt. Most people who used to buy it were foreigners. There must be an alternative such as exporting sculpted products or organizing international exhibitions for our products because most of those who have mastered the craft have decided to quit due to the low financial return. She called on the government to organize a program to protect handicrafts, especially camel bone sculpture, saying there have been several initiatives to protect the craft and support workers, but government neglect led to failure. Four years ago, the nongovernmental Society Development Association organized workshops to train 12 women and girls from the Karate Center in Qena Governorate to sculpt camel bones. However, there was no news of the continuation of the training program or of any exhibitions aimed at selling or distributing workshop products. El-Nidaa's director Heba Handoussa told Al-Monitor that her association is keen to see sustainable dialogue with the government about protecting crafts and providing a source of income for poorer families, especially in Egypts countryside and Upper Egypt. She pointed out that the Egyptian government has so far failed to pay the craft the necessary attention because of the economic crises that have afflicted Egypt since 2015. A source at Luxor's provincial council told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, The governor has already begun to show interest in handicrafts by encouraging civil society organizations to organize trainings for artisans, create training centers and organize exhibitions. The council is also seeking to facilitate the procedures for artisans to obtain the loans they need to finance their projects and establish workshops. It is also looking to establish permanent channels of communication with the concerned ministries to promote and distribute the products of these workshops. Khamenei, Sistani, and the fight for the soul of Shiite Islam The protests that rocked Iran earlier this year barely affected how most countries engage with the worlds only Shiite theocracy. But in neighboring Iraq, they have forced a much deeper debate that goes to the heart of the countrys political future and that of the whole region. Download the Audm app for your iPhone to listen to more titles. With protesters demands ranging from lower egg prices to a transparent government, Iraqi Shiite politicians close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rushed to Tehrans defense. The street demonstrations, they insisted, were but the latest failed foreign plot to destroy the Islamic Revolution of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and derail its regional ambitions. The Shiite tide is on the rise in the region and will continue to rise culturally and politically, leaving no chance for others, Sheikh Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, a prominent leader of the Shiite Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, proclaimed in a Jan. 3 post on his Facebook page. The current Saudi, American and Israeli obsession in Iran led to rebellion in some of the corners of the country. Vice President Nouri al-Maliki likewise echoed the Tehran line in a Jan. 3 statement denouncing the protesters as "Irans enemies trying to stir up confusion. Iran won an overwhelming victory determined by its own people under the leadership of the late Imam Khomeini, said Maliki, a former prime minister with close ties to Tehran. The collaborators at home and Irans enemies abroad will fail. But the outpouring of sectarian solidarity was far from unanimous among Iraqi Shiites, who make up about 60% of the population. More than a few of them gleefully, if privately, delighted in seeing the big brother to the east get taken down a notch. Officially, the countrys most senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, stayed out of the fray. But those close to the reclusive leader of the Islamic seminary in Najaf make no secret of their disdain for what they see as overbearing Iranian mullahs who claim to speak for all Shiites everywhere. What is happening in Iran is the result of injustice and the oppressive approach of some Iranian clerics in governing Iran, a prominent Najaf cleric told Al-Monitor in a recent interview. "They abuse power for their interests and allocate the peoples wealth to empower their rule. At its core, the rivalry is rooted in an esoteric debate over a controversial bit of Shiite jurisprudence that calls for a trustworthy jurist to guide society until the return of an infallible descendant of the Prophet Muhammad whos been in hiding or occultation for more than 1,000 years. That doctrine, known as velayat-e faqih, is the guiding principle behind the system of clerical rule that Iran adopted in 1979. We must pursue the righteous man, Khomeini declared from his exile in Paris a few weeks before his triumphant return to Iran. When a righteous man comes to power, he will create a righteous state. The theory underpins a strategy of religious revival centered around the supreme leaders claim to absolute guardianship over the Muslim faithful. Yet its theological validity remains a matter of intense debate among clerics four decades after the fall of the shah, even inside Iran itself. The predominant model of [Shiite theology] was seriously challenged by Ayatollah Khomeini, since he directly and explicitly claimed both religious and political authority for jurists, a prominent cleric in the Qom seminary told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. With Iran gaining influence across the region, Tehran is eager to claim moral leadership over the more than 200 million Shiites around the world. With Sistani pushing 90 and facing persistent rumors of ill health, Khamenei and his allies see a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take over Najaf, the spiritual capital of the Shiite world. The outcome of this clash between the two dominant figures of Shiite authority promises major consequences both for Iranian clerics continued control inside the country as well as their ability to wield influence over Shiites around the globe. But its most immediate impact will be felt on Iraqs capacity to continue charting its own path in the shadow of the Islamic theocracy next door. The real-world effect of the two clerics dueling philosophies was on full display late last year after Iraqs Sunni-majority Kurds backed a referendum on independence from Shiite-dominated Baghdad. In an Oct. 10 meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Irans Khamenei denounced the independence referendum as a US-backed scheme to create a new Israel in the region. Days later, Iranian-backed militias joined Iraqi security forces to take back oil-rich Kirkuk and reassert Baghdads control over the region. Sistani by contrast advocated a more diplomatic approach even as he staunchly opposed the break-up of Iraq. In a Sept. 29 Friday prayer speech, Sistanis official spokesman, Ahmed al-Safi, called on the central government to mind the constitutional rights of the Kurdish brothers in its decisions and steps. Safi went on to invite the feuding parties to avoid anything that harms national unity in order to prevent the latest political crisis from spoiling the strong relations between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens. The two approaches have been competing in Iraq since 2003, when the US invasion ironically eliminated Irans main regional foe while simultaneously revitalizing a rival center of religious authority. For centuries, the ancient city of Najaf in south-central Iraq has been the epicenter of Shiite theology. Home to the tomb of Caliph Ali, revered by Shiites the world over as Prophet Muhammads successor, the city of more than 1 million is considered the third-holiest in Shiite Islam, behind only Mecca and Medina. After Saddam Hussein took power in 1979, however, many of the citys clerics fled or were deported to the Persian holy city of Qom. In recent decades, Qom has thrived as Shiites the world over have flocked to attend its dozens of seminaries and experience Khomeinis revolutionary ideals firsthand. By the time of the US invasion in 2003, the number of Shiite clerics in Qom had grown to an estimated 40,000-50,000; in Najaf by contrast they had dwindled to just about 2,000, down from five times that number in the 1960s, before the Baathist take-over. Following Saddams ouster and the subsequent establishment of a Shiite-majority government in Baghdad, however, Najaf once again began to outshine its Iranian rival. Sistani, an Iranian-born cleric who spent most of his life in Najaf, soon emerged from Saddams shadow to become one of the most powerful political figures in post-invasion Iraq. Iraqi Shiites celebrate as they make their way to Najaf, Iraq, April 18, 2003 (photo by Reuters/Yannis Behrakis) Born in 1930 to a family that traces its lineage back to the Prophet Muhammad, Sistani is the descendant of a long line of clerics dating back to the Safavid dynasty in the 17th century. Today the senior-most Shiite cleric in Iraq lives in an unassuming two-story house in an alley just off a main road to the Shrine of Imam Ali, where he continues to greet visitors who come to kiss his ring and pay their respects. The modest surroundings, however, belie his influence over millions of followers. Even as Iraqi clerics have filled the void after the fall of Saddams largely secular regime, religious rule in next-door Iran has paradoxically come under increased pressure as Iranians revolt against the theocratic regimes failure to improve their lives. Since 1989, Iran has been led by the 78-year-old Khamenei, who took over after Khomeinis death after serving as the countrys president for the previous eight years. As such he has ultimate authority over all branches of the government, as well as the military and the media. Despite his political powers, however, Khamenei lacks Sistanis religious credentials. The son of a poor Islamic scholar from the holy city of Mashhad, he studied for just a few years at the seminaries in Najaf and Qom before returning home to tend to his ailing father. Khamenei taught Islamic theology in Mashhad for several years before joining Khomeinis fledgling revolutionary movement in Qom in 1962, and was repeatedly imprisoned by the shahs security forces. Since the fall of Saddam, Tehran has looked to increase its influence in Iraq to secure its western flank and help spread its influence in the region. With Najaf on the rise after Saddams removal, it wasnt long before Sistani was openly clashing with the Shiite authorities next door and their ideology of clerical rule. Sistanis concept of velayat-e faqih implicitly rejects Khomeinis conception of absolute rule of the supreme jurist as an official member of the state, running the day-to-day political affairs of his community, University of California associate professor Babak Rahimi wrote in a 2007 US Institute of Peace report on Sistanis impact on Iraqs transition to democracy. The authority of the [grand ayatollah], therefore, lies in the defense of Islam and the Muslim community, not in absolute power over all state affairs as manifested in its authoritarian form in Iran. Instead of Khomeinis vision of an Islamic state, Sistani champions the theory of a civil state espoused by his mentor, the late Ayatollah Abul Qasim al-Khoei. Where Khomeini, who spent 13 years in exile in Najaf, broke with tradition by preaching that only a good society can create good believers a license for absolute clerical power in pursuit of a religious utopia Khoei argued the opposite, insisting that only good men can create a good society. With Iran gaining influence across the region, Tehran is eager to claim moral leadership over the more than 200 million Shiites around the world. Following Khoeis predilection for a noncoercive society still rooted in Islamic values, Sistani forbade clerics from engaging in politics and called on Shiites to get involved with the broader society and reject sectarianism. Sistani not only did not ask for an Islamic state but also made it clear on many occasions that he is looking for a civil state in Iraq; a state formed through a democratic process with a clear borderline between religious institutions and state institutions, Jawad al-Khoei, Ayatollah Khoeis grandson, told Al-Monitor. That approach has sometimes been identified as a form of secular Shiism. And as its highest-ranking senior clerical advocate, Sistani offers an alternative approach to the Iranian model of a politicized clergy. Nowhere has Najafs resistance to Irans global ambitions played a greater role than in post-invasion Iraq. As American troops overran the country in March 2003, Khamenei hoped Iraqi Shiite clerics would condemn George W. Bushs invasion and convince their followers to resist the US move against Saddams Sunni-dominated regime. His plea fell on deaf ears. Instead, Sistani released an unprecedented political edict that marked the first volley in his fight to restore Najaf to its former glory. In early April 2003, the grand ayatollah called upon believers not to hinder the forces of liberation, and help bring this war against the tyrant to a successful end for the Iraqi people, according to an interview at the time with Iranian-born Middle East expert Amir Taheri. In a premonitory Wall Street Journal op-ed that foretold a Shiite Schism between Sistani and Khamenei, Taheri described the edict, a tad hyperbolically, as the first pro-US fatwa in modern political Islam. More than five decades after establishing permanent residence in Najaf, Sistani has shed neither his thick Persian accent nor his Iranian nationality as he eschews the political spotlight. Over the past decade and a half, however, he has emerged, largely by happenstance, as a major force in shaping post-invasion Iraq. Religious scholars should distance themselves from positions of administrative and executive responsibility, Sistani told the Washington Post back in June 2003, days before issuing a religious edict, or fatwa, pushing for national democratic elections instead of a US-imposed interim government. Over the course of the next decade, Sistani found himself drawn ever deeper into the political fray as the country descended into civil war. Iraqi men drink tea under a poster of top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq, Jan. 13, 2005 (photo by Reuters/Abu Shish) With Iraq once again on the brink of disintegration as the so-called Islamic State (IS) conquered city after city in the summer of 2014, the Shiite leader made an urgent plea in favor of national unity. That put him on a collision course with Maliki, the beleaguered prime minister who had come to embody religious sectarianism. I see the need to speed up the selection of a new prime minister who has wide national acceptance, Sistani wrote in a July letter to the leaders of Malikis Islamic Dawa Party, a religious Shiite bloc. The missive sealed Malikis fate, and by September he had been replaced by Haider al-Abadi. Since then, Sistani and Maliki have been locked in a bitter feud fueled by political grievances and theological squabbles. Despite losing Ayatollah Khameneis support in the summer of 2014, Maliki retains close political connections to the clerical regime in Tehran. He spent years in exile in Iran and Syria starting in 1979 after Saddams security services found out he was a member of the outlawed Dawa Party. Ideological ties also run deep: The roots of the party date to a 1950s revolt against secular Arab nationalism and socialism in favor of an Islamic state in Iraq. Dawa notably drew on the ideas of Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Sayyid Qutb, a proponent of just dictatorship whose works Khamenei himself has translated into the Persian language and endorsed as a serious step toward the practical application of religion. With the advent of IS, those frictions have progressed from the political arena to the military battlefield. An eclectic assortment of several dozen Shiite militias marshalled to save the Iraqi republic from the extremist Sunni threat has since splintered into competing armed factions with sometimes conflicting loyalties to Khamenei and Sistani. When the Shiite-dominated militias known as the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) first exploded on the Iraqi scene in the summer of 2014, they were widely embraced as the last line of defense against the IS onslaught. But the militias themselves have at time also threatened to tear the country apart. Maliki, who was still prime minister at the time, issued a decree on June 13, 2014, right after the fall of Mosul establishing the parallel military force and cementing his own legacy as the godfather of the PMU, many of which trace their roots back to the resistance against Saddams Iraq in the 1980s. Days later, Sistani in turn used his religious influence to issue a fatwa calling on able-bodied Iraqis to take up arms against the terrorist group. Determined to avoid turning the anti-IS fight into the next sectarian proxy war after Syria, he deliberately targeted a domestic audience rather than encourage Shiites from other countries to come join the fight. From the beginning, the disparate militias displayed conflicting loyalties to Sistani and, through Maliki, to the Iranian religious apparatus led by Khamenei himself. At its heart, the debate is rooted in rival strands of Shiite theology emanating from Najaf and Qom. For Maliki, having loyal Shia militias, rather than the shaky cross-ethnic makeup of the Iraqi army, seemed a much more reliable way to secure a tighter command and control structure, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace concluded in an April 2017 study of the PMU and the future of Iraq. Sistani by contrast never endorsed an exclusively Shiite force. The fatwa was in fact bereft of any communal exclusivity, the Carnegie report says. [I]t was an appeal to Iraqis as a national community [and] steered clear of invoking sectarianism by not mentioning Shiism. Officially, the PMU are under the supervision of Prime Minister Abadi. But its most influential figure is deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a close Iranian ally who has worked with Tehrans intelligence services for three decades. And while dozens of groups of various sizes now make up the PMUs ranks, a core group of a half dozen or so formed the basis of Malikis anti-IS militia army back in 2014 all of them with ties to Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Sistani meanwhile is close to a different set of armed factions. While they have also earned a fierce reputation battling IS, the pro-Sistani factions have by and large avoided the sorts of exactions against Sunni populations that have tarnished some of their pro-Iranian counterparts. Also unlike pro-Khamenei militias, they have largely stayed out of the conflict in Syria. An Iraqi Shiite fighter from the Popular Mobilization Units wears an image of Iraqi Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on his vest during the advance against Islamic State forces near the village of Tal Faris, Nov. 29, 2016 (photo by Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images) The ideological differences between the PMU factions have also impacted their bottom line. As Khameneis favorites, the pro-Iran militias have received funding and equipment from Tehran while their counterparts have had to rely entirely on the cash-strapped central government in Baghdad. The commodore of Al-Abbas Combat Division, which is not linked to Iran, for example complained last November that his forces have yet to be officially included in the PMU organizational structure and still do not receive regular salaries, even though they have been fighting IS for more than three years. Sajad al-Rabihi, a cleric fighting in the militias ranks, told Al-Monitor that the division's salaries have been cut off several times. The pro-Khamenei militias outsized power was on full display last October, when they helped expel the Kurds from disputed parts of northern Iraq following their ill-fated independence referendum. Since helping to reclaim the oil-rich area from the Kurdistan Regional Government, the pro-Iranian militias have sought to capitalize on their newfound popularity as the guarantors of Iraqs territorial integrity. Several have even shown a willingness to take orders from Baghdad at least for now. Soon after Abadi declared victory over IS in December, Sistani spokesman Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalai called for integrating the "volunteers" Sistanis preferred term for the PMU fighters into the constitutional and legal framework that limits [the possession of] weapons to the state. The goal was to prevent the militias from being "exploited for political objectives. Several PMU factions responded by handing over their fighters and weapons to Abadi in his role as commander in chief of the armed forces. The Asaib Ahl al-Haq PMU, for example, announced on Dec. 13 that its forces were now under the prime ministers direct control despite a personal pledge of allegiance to Khamenei. The Badr Organization, the largest PMU faction, followed suit the following day, with military chief Hadi al-Amiri himself telling his fighters to follow the orders of the commander of the armed forces and withdraw from cities under their control. All the PMU were formally included into the country's security forces last month, but thats no guarantee that the pro-Iranian militias influence will decrease as a result. Their political wings are keen to participate in upcoming parliamentary elections in May, but cant as long as they are part of the security forces. By handing over their militias to the Iraqi government, PMU leaders are betting that they can run for elected office while retaining much of their influence over armed fighters. In contrast with the pro-Sistani militias, many of the factions close to Khamenei are determined to remain free to participate in Irans proxy wars across the region. The Iranian leader himself, in a meeting with Abadi last October, urged Baghdad not to dissolve the PMU, saying doing so would only facilitate US imperialist designs on the region. As the only Shiite organization outside of Iran to formally subscribe to Khomeinis religious doctrine, Lebanons Hezbollah militia has for decades brushed off accusations that its true allegiance lies with Tehran. The linkages date back to 1982, when the fledgling movement dispatched Sayyid Abbas al-Moussawi to meet with Khomeini and seek his blessing and advice. To this day, party officials defiantly adorn their offices with portraits of Khomeini and Khamenei while declaiming their shared commitment to standing up to Israel. They imagine that they insult us when they call us the party of the velayat-e faqih, Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah declared in 2008. Absolutely not. But even as it proclaims its commitment to the foreign religious movement and its leaders, Hezbollah has always boasted of its broad authority to make independent decisions. The civil war in Syria has tested that assertion. Reportedly at Tehran's behest, the Lebanese militia intervened early on to prevent the collapse of Bashar al-Assads regime, sending thousands of its foot soldiers to fight and die next door. A January analysis by the Carnegie think tank counted a minimum of 1,213 Hezbollah combat fatalities including 75 officers since the first documented death on Sept. 30, 2012. Hezbollah is feeling trapped as a result of the Syrian conflict, and cannot end its involvement without direction from the Supreme Leader in Iran, Lina Khatib, the head of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, argued back in 2015. As long as Iran continues to see value in supporting the Assad regime militarily, Hezbollah will remain on the ground in Syria. The Lebanese militia may be the most powerful and best known of the groups helping to carry out Khameneis edicts, but its far from the only one. The Islamic Republic has sought to spread its religious authority over Shiite communities across the region ever since its establishment in 1979. Inside Iran, Khamenei is known officially as the Guardian of the Muslims, or Wali amr Muslemeen. As such, it is his role to provide advice to Muslims, particularly Shiites, around the world. Today, that influence can be felt from Palestine to Pakistan. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech under a portrait of Iran's late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran, Jan. 8, 2007 (photo by AFP/Getty Images) Yemen, Bahrain and Palestine are oppressed, and we protect oppressed people as much as we can, Khamenei declared in 2015 following a meeting between Gulf leaders and then-US President Barack Obama. Those people who bring suffering to Yemeni families during sacred months are even worse than the ancient pagans of Mecca. A number of militant leaders in turn have spent time in Qom looking for ideological and political support. Yemens Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, for example, forged ties with the Iranian regime during a stay in the holy city in the mid-1990s. Soon after returning home, he founded his Zaydi revivalist moment, Ansar Allah now known simply as the Houthis. Increasingly, the Iranian regime has presented itself as a bulwark against global Salafist indoctrination pushed by the US-backed Gulf monarchies over the past few decades. But its also true that the Sunnis see Shiite empowerment as a threat, fueling a cycle of violence in places such as Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Bahrain. Najafi leaders by contrast have been careful to avoid interfering in the political life of Shiite communities abroad. In a 2016 speech in Mecca, Sistani spokesman Hamed al-Khaffaf said the ayatollah emphasizes the necessity of paying respect to state institutions and sees no other alternative for building a free, independent country. [He] believes in the integration of Shiites wherever they are in their countries and leave the decision of each country to its people. During a visit to Lebanon in 2004, for example, Sistani refused to have Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah welcome him at the airport. He is likewise picky about his meetings with Iranian officials, boycotting former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while getting along famously with Reformist Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. That balancing act has at times enabled Sistani to champion Shiites by assuaging sectarian tensions. After Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2006 accused Shiites the world over of being an Iranian fifth column, Sistani wrote him a letter insisting that the loyalty of Shiites in Iraq and other countries is to their countries, not somewhere else. He pointed to Bahrain as an example where the Shiite majority in 1970 voted in favor of independence under a Sunni ruling family rather than Iranian control. And when disenfranchised Bahraini Shiites erupted in protest during the 2011 Arab Spring, Sistani called for dialogue and negotiations even as Khamenei lambasted the ruling Al Khalifa family. A senior cleric in Sistanis office told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Bahrains ruling family invited the cleric at the beginning of the uprising to intermediate between them and the protesters. Sistani offered a proposal to improve Shiite representation in the government and King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa accepted it, the source said, but protest leaders rejected it under pressure from Iran, which insisted on getting rid of the Sunni royal family. Later, in a meeting with Shiite clerics from the Gulf states in 2015, Sistani called on them to interact positively with all parties in their home countries. The Sunni Gulf states in turn have sensed an opportunity to build bridges with Sistanis followers. There is now talk of opening a Saudi Consulate in Najaf and add direct flights to allow Saudi Arabias 2 million or so Shiites to visit the Shrine of Imam Ali. The more you engage with Iraqis, the less the Iranians will come, one Saudi official told The Economist back in September. Iraq belongs to the Arab world. Efforts to export the Shiite revolution arent only running into trouble abroad. While Irans stumbling economy triggered the biggest anti-government protests in a decade earlier this year, protesters also shouted slogans such as Leave Syria, think about us! and Death to Hezbollah! More and more Iranians are worried that Irans military adventures are bankrupting the country, as borne out by the latest polling by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland and IranPoll. In a survey of 1,002 Iranians from Jan. 16 to Jan. 24, almost half 41.8% of respondents said the government should spend less money in places like Syria and Iraq. And almost a third 32.6% thought the current level of involvement in both countries was not in Irans national interests, while 61.2% disagreed. Likewise, 41.2% wanted Iran to stay out of the conflict in Yemen, versus 46.7% who thought Tehran should help the Houthis win. With television bringing daily images of carnage across the region, many Iranians are growing weary of the deep human and financial cost of sectarian conflict. But the theocratic regimes investments in cultural influence are also drawing skepticism. When President Hassan Rouhani made public a draft budget request late last year, it came under fire for increasing funding for institutions tied to Iranian clerics by 10%. These include several religious organizations in Qom responsible for domestic Islamization and spreading Irans influence abroad. An analysis of the 2018-19 budget proposal by Al-Monitor found at least seven institutions on track to get $634 million. A quarter-billion dollars is set aside for medical care, rental assistance and other services for religious seminary students in Qom, Mashhad, Esfahan, Shiraz and other cities. Meanwhile, the Islamic Development Organization, which is responsible for pro-revolution propaganda and spreading Islamic culture in society, is meant to get $117 million. For years, Khamenei has relied on such payments to consolidate his hold on power. After the death of Khomeini, Khamenei, who lacked his predecessors religious bona fides, co-opted the clerical establishment through hefty government stipends as well as other exclusive and profitable privileges, former Qom seminary student Mehdi Khalaji wrote in a primer for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Perhaps no investment is as crucial to Irans ability to project influence abroad than the $83 million requested for Al-Mustafa International University in Qom. For the past decade, the school has trained, lodged and cared for more than 40,000 foreign students destined to become Shiite priests. The university, which falls under Khameneis ultimate authority, operates more than 100 seminaries, Islamic schools and religious centers in three dozen countries, from England to Afghanistan. In its January report on foreign fighters in Syria, Carnegie for example noted that Al-Mustafa seems to be the real recruiting ground for Pakistani Shia fighters. Export of revolution has always been one of the most important goals for the Islamic Republic, the universitys vice president declared in February 2016. Al-Mustafa plays a role in preparing the ground [to] attain this goal. Even as Iran exports its theological outlook around the world, however, it remains controversial even in Qom. "Out of 15 high religious authorities in Qom, only one-third of them are on the side of [Khameneis religious doctrine] more or less," Iranian dissident and former Qom Islamic theology professor Mohsen Kadivar told Al-Monitor. "Eighty percent of the Qom students attend classes of the religious authorities who are apolitical and do not support the velayat-e faqih." The heterodoxy hasnt escaped the authorities notice. Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a senior member of the Iranian Guardian Council, declared in a December 2017 interview with the Qom seminarys magazine that the religious authorities in Qom should train their students to be more friendly and cooperative with the religious political establishment. "The students of Qom religious seminary are increasingly keeping distance with the state, which causes concerns, Yazdi said. They think that the seminary should be independent from the state. The religious authorities and senior teachers must clarify to their students that cooperation with the state does not contradict [the seminaries'] independence. Things came to a head in early March when the authorities arrested a Shiite cleric after he delivered a lecture to his seminary students in Qom comparing Khameneis rule to that of the unaccountable pharaohs of ancient Egypt. The detention of Hussein Shirazi triggered protests across the region as his followers accused Tehran of being nothing more than a dictatorship masquerading as a theocracy. Elected political leaders, meanwhile, are increasingly looking to the semi-democratic sources of legitimacy in the Iranian system as a check on conservative clerics power. In a Feb. 11 speech marking the 39th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Rouhani notably called for a direct vote to end political gridlock within the country. Critics quickly pounced to denounce what they view as a thinly-veiled attempt to decrease Khameneis power. If we have differences on two issues, or the factions have differences, or they are fighting, bring the ballot box out and according to Article 59 of the constitution whatever the people have decided, implement that, Rouhani said. Our constitution has this capacity and we must act within the capacity of our constitution. Irans Reformist movement largely stayed out of the fray. In the past, however, its leaders have made no secret of their interest in the teachings coming out of Najaf. The rulings of Ayatollah Sistani are well-understood by the Reformists in Iran, Masoumeh Ebtekar, the vice president of Iran for Women and Family Affairs told the journal New Perspectives Quarterly back in 2005 shortly after Shiites in Iraqi took back power. There is a lot of debate on his thought, especially the way he is promoting tolerance. With the Iranian revolutions theological underpinnings under fire both at home and abroad, Tehran has increasingly turned its attention toward Najaf. Sistani is now 87, and Khamenei is keen to seize a once-in-a-generation opportunity to have an ally sit atop the Shiite worlds most prestigious seminaries and help reinvigorate Irans global ambitions. Shiite clerics attend a seminary in Najaf, Iraq, Aug. 12, 2017 (photo by Reuters/Abdullah Dhiaa Al-deen) The campaign to replace Sistani has grown increasingly bitter over recent months, with a black-clad attacker attempting to rush his spokesman Karbalai during a Friday sermon in late January. The aborted assault was widely blamed on deviant Shiite groups. But Sistani is no stranger to efforts to undermine him. Ever since his elevation to the top of the Shiite clerical pyramid following the deaths of his mentor Khoei and other top Najafi clerics in the early 1990s, he has faced periodical efforts to undermine his authority. Back in 1994, the imam in charge of Friday prayers in Tehran, Ahmad Jannati, attacked Sistani, calling him a British agent who did not have a good relationship with Khomeini during his yearslong exile in Najaf. And former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani revealed in his collection of daily memos that he and Khamenei would often talk about the rise of a religious authority outside of Iran and strategized about how to strengthen Qoms position against Najaf. Khamenei has long been thought to favor the candidacy of Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, a 69-year-old Shiite cleric who was born in Najaf to an Iranian family. Shahroudi currently chairs Irans Expediency Discernment Council, a powerful advisory body to the supreme leader, after serving as chief justice for a decade. The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 ironically eliminated Irans main regional foe while simultaneously revitalizing a rival center of religious authority. In a sign of Najafs entrenched distrust of Iranian influence, Shahroudi found himself on the sidelines during a five-day visit to Iraq last September. Despite being one of the most prominent graduates of the Najaf seminary, Shahroudi was not able to secure a meeting with Sistani or any of the other three leading religious authorities there. Sources close to Sistani told Al-Monitor that Najafi clerics deliberately avoided him because they did not want to be accused of accepting Irans agenda to dominate Najaf. Shahroudi issued a statement upon his return to Iran saying that his visit was not an official one but merely a religious trip to the holy sites and shrines of holy imams." He insisted, "What has been published in some media outlets about other objectives is unfounded." Yet he met with Abadi and Najafi provincial officials during the same trip. Sistani for his part has declined to endorse a successor, fueling the risk of a leadership vacuum after his death. If Khamenei dies first, the new supreme leader may well be too preoccupied with establishing his position in Irans unstable political system to pay Najaf much attention. In addition, Shahroudi himself is a possible candidate to replace Khamenei, which would leave Iran without a clear front-runner in Najaf. If Sistani dies first, however, Khamenei would have an opportunity to expand his influence in Iraq as a number of domestic candidates fight to claim his mantle, among them his son Mohammad Reza Sistani. Historically, the death of a great Shiite religious authority has been followed by a 5-to-10-year period during which candidates compete to establish a support base. That would give Khamenei ample time to seek to expand his own influence in Najaf, but he faces several obstacles. First, his paramount authority in Iran stems from his political stature in Tehran rather than his religious reputation in Qom. Three decades after taking power, the supreme leader still has to put up with insinuations that he is not a legitimate religious authority because he did not spend enough time studying in the seminary, training students or publishing theological works. Khameneis disputed standing came into sharp relief earlier this year when someone leaked a 20-minute video clip from 1989 that showed the mid-ranking cleric was dismissive of his qualifications to take over from Khomeini. Well, based on the constitution, I am not qualified for the job and from a religious point of view, many of you will not accept my words as those of a leader, Khamenei is seen telling the assembled clerics of the Assembly of Experts. What sort of leadership will this be? Second, he does not have many representatives in Najaf who could advocate for him and wield influence, according to Najafi sources. Shahroudi, for example, has only a small office and a few students there, while another Khamenei protege, Kamal al-Haidari, belongs to a Reformist school of Shiism that is unpopular among many Iraqis. By contrast, Sistani has a network of more than 600 representatives throughout Iraq who would serve as a bastion against Khamenei's influence, one of his representatives told Al-Monitor. Active students in the Najaf seminary would also play a role in promoting their teachers to replace Sistani. Regardless of its outcome, the competition between Khamenei and Sistani is part of a much broader clash between two Shiite religious schools of thought that will not end with the death of either cleric. Egypts parliament approved on April 15 a draft law to allow the seizure and assessment of funds of terrorist groups. On April 21, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signed it as Law No. 22 of 2018. The new legislation is part of government efforts to crack down on terrorism and make economic use of the funds of the Muslim Brotherhood, designated a terrorist group by the Egyptian government in 2013. The law applies to all designated terrorist groups, but it is mainly aimed at the Muslim Brotherhood and active business interests in Egypt. The group and its members have invested heavily in hospitals, schools, shopping malls and other real estate, in addition to both agricultural and desert lands, investment companies and online news platforms. The Egyptian government has been seizing these funds since 2014 without any legal structure to manage the process. In 2013, the Egyptian government labeled the Brotherhood a terror group following the ousting of former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. The next year, the government formed a committee to evaluate the activities and oversee the confiscation of funds of the group and its affiliates. Since then, the committee has been working to determine the value of the Muslim Brotherhood's funds and assets. The Cairo Court of Urgent Matters ordered their sequestration, and the government seized the funds of dozens of companies, hospitals and schools in addition to hundreds of individuals and nongovernmental and charity organizations. However, a higher administrative court annulled the sequestration order. The new law, which consists of 17 articles, calls for the establishment of an independent committee of judges who will be responsible for overseeing the seizure and management of the assets of groups, entities or individuals determined to have perpetrated terror. Article 10 requires governmental and nongovernmental bodies, authorities and banks to help the committee and its representatives obtain and examine any pertinent documents and relevant data in a timely manner. The law also states that anyone who refuses to provide the committee with information or documents necessary for undertaking its duties will be sentenced to a jail term of not more than one year and fined between 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($568) and 50,000 pounds ($2,840). Violators will also face suspension from employment for another period equal to their jail terms. According to local media outlets, judicial sources have stated that in 2014 alone, the total seized funds of the Muslim Brotherhood group stood at 60 billion pounds ($340 million). Bassant Fahmi, a member of the parliaments economic affairs committee, backed the parliaments decision to approve the law, saying it will drain the funding sources of terrorist groups. She told Al-Monitor, Article 237 of the constitution obliges the state to combat and confront terrorism, and one of the means of confrontation is a financial embargo and draining sources of funding. Fahmi said that these funds, which are being used to perpetrate terrorist operations against Egyptian police and military forces as well as civilians and to disrupt public peace, have to be directed to the families of the victims of terrorist acts alongside the development of the national economy. However, Fahmi added, the state is still in the process of seizing and processing these funds and has not yet ascertained whether they have all been used in connection with terrorist operations. The state will only be able to make use of the funds that have been proven according to the law to have been used in spreading terrorism and targeting stability and security in the country, she said. Fahmi also said that the government will need help from specialists to make the maximal economic use of the funds. According to the law, the committee will be responsible for appointing fund managers for the task. Amr Hashem Rabei, deputy head of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that passing a law on transitional justice ought to have come before signing this bill into law and questioned whether the government will make the best economic use of the seized money. The transitional justice law aims to pave the way for national reconciliation, compensate the victims and hold anyone who has perpetrated terrorist acts accountable for them, in accordance with international standards, he told Al-Monitor. In my opinion, this law on seizing the funds of terrorist groups will affect more than 700,000 people who work for the businesses owned by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is gearing up to nominate its imprisoned former co-chair, Selahattin Demirtas, as its presidential candidate in the June 24 snap polls. In an executive board meeting today, the country'y largest pro-Kurdish bloc agreed on fielding Demirtas and is expected to make a formal announcement in the coming days, CNN Turk reported. Though Demirtas faces a slew of terror charges over his alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), there currently are no legal obstacles to his candidacy. Accounting for some 18% of the electorate, the Kurds could tip the race. At his most recent courtroom hearing a defiant Demirtas echoed this view. We are the ones who will determine the [outcome] of the presidential elections. We are the lock. We are the key. An estimated 8-10% of Kurdish voters are thought to be core HDP supporters with a remaining 6-7 % mostly pious conservatives voting for the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The rest are divided among the more radical Islamist Huda-Par and far-left groups. The military offensive against a Syrian Kurdish militia in Afrin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's electoral alliance with ultranationalists, however, have alienated its Kurdish base. Still, Demirtas is unlikely to win enough backing to face the leading contender Erdogan in a potential second round of balloting. But his halo effect could torpedo Erdogans calls to bury the HDP in parliamentary elections that will be held concurrently with the presidential ones. Erdogan is bent on denying the HDP the minimum 10% of the national vote required to win seats in the parliament. Erdogans AKP remains the second-most popular party in the mainly Kurdish southeast provinces, and thus would, according to prevailing laws, pick up the HDPs share of seats as the first runner-up, bolstering the AKPs chances of retaining its majority in the parliament. The HDP and its sister party the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) have been emasculated by an unremitting barrage of arrests and intimidation tactics since the failed July 2016 coup. Over 80 DBP mayors have been stripped of their seats and jailed along with eight HDP lawmakers (not counting Demirtas) and thousands of party activists. With their best and brightest behind bars, the parties have been left rudderless, their grassroots networks in disarray. The decision to nominate Demirtas speaks to his enduring star power. At his hearing, Demirtas electrified the audience with his passionate yet incisive defense. They can ban me from politics but even my corpse would be more politically effective than some other [politicians] who are alive. He wasnt being immodest. In a landscape populated with sclerotic has-been and never-been hopefuls, Demirtas stands out as the most influential Kurdish figure to emerge since the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan ignited his armed campaign for Kurdish self-rule in 1984. The 45-year-old shot to national prominence when he ran for president in 2014 in an irreverent campaign tinged with mirth, hope and wit. Demirtas message of peace and inclusiveness resonated with millions of non-Kurdish voters, bagging him an unexpected 9.7%. In the June 2015 legislative race, Demirtas carried the HDP into the parliament for the first time with 13%. The AKP lost its majority for the first time in the chamber as a result and the famously vindictive Erdogan is said to have not forgiven him. Demirtas is the only imprisoned HDP lawmaker to not have been sentenced so far. That could change when he reappears in court on April 30. Concurrent with French President Emmanuel Macron's trip to the United States, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has warned Europe about going over Iran's head to reach a deal with Washington regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Macron appears to be offering US President Donald Trump a new deal to persuade him to remain in the nuclear deal, which was achieved in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 countries (United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany). In a joint press conference with Trump on April 24, Macron stated, Regarding Iran, we have a disagreement regarding the JCPOA. But I think we are overcoming it by deciding to work toward a deal an overall deal that will enable us to deal with the nuclear issue but also treat it together with [other] issues, which were not being dealt with so far. The deal Macron spoke of includes Irans ballistic missile program and its regional influence. In reaction to Macrons proposal, Rouhani said in a press conference during his trip to the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan on April 25, At present, the United States is on trial because it hasn't lived up to its commitments, and if Europe wants to satisfy Trump, it better spend out of its own pocket and not Iran's. He added, Not a single sentence will be added or removed from the [JCPOA]. Moreover, in a separate speech on April 25, Rouhani said, Together with a leader of a European country, [Trump] says: 'We want to decide on an agreement reached by seven parties.' For what? With what right? We have shown our goodwill to the world. We showed the world that [the tenet of] Iranophobia was a lie. Addressing Trump, Rouhani said, You should first implement what you signed and what the former [US] president and former secretary of state stated. Then you should speak about new subjects. You say that a very bad agreement was signed; why did your predecessor not understand this? You don't have any background in politics. You don't have any background in law. You don't have any background on international treaties, adding in a swipe, A businessman, a merchant, a builder and a tower constructor is talking about this agreement. The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, also reacted to a possible agreement between Europe and the United States about the future of the nuclear deal. In a speech April 25 at the ninth International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues in the Russian Black Sea resort town of Sochi, Shamkhani stressed, Any agreement that Europe and America reach about the future of the JCPOA and the future of Irans nuclear program for the period after [the expiry of] the predicted limitations under the JCPOA is invalid and worthless. He added, I assure you that their dreams about Iran will certainly not come true. Renewed talk about the period of the end of limitations on Irans peaceful nuclear activities is tantamount to the destruction of the JCPOA as the normalization of Irans nuclear program under the [nuclear] deal is an important part of the commitment that was given to Iran. Under the nuclear deal, certain restrictions on Iran's uranium enrichment program will expire in 2025, although the country commits itself under the JCPOA to never develop nuclear weapons and to open its doors to a long-term regime of the most rigid international inspections. Hamas' demonstrations have been taking place along the border fence for over a month now. The number of participants may have dropped, but the violence has intensified, with many Palestinians getting hurt and even killed. The Israeli military is currently investigating the death of a 15-year-old boy who was shot dead April 21. Nevertheless, there is almost universal consensus in Israel surrounding the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) measures to prevent Palestinians from breaking through the fence. Apart from a few isolated voices identified with the far left, there is hardly any criticism of the IDF for using snipers to prevent people from damaging the fence. These snipers only fire under direct order from a battalion commander or officer of higher rank to neutralize situations in which the fence could be breached, since a breach would require the IDF to open deadly fire at hundreds or thousands of Gazans trying to break into Israel. Almost everyone agrees that there is no alternative. This approach ignores that Israels political leadership did have another way available to it. According to senior sources involved in contacts between Israel, Egypt, the United States and the Palestinian Authority over the last two years, Israel should take part of the blame for Hamas having reached another dead end, which it is trying to break through with force. According to this view, an alternative existed, but Israel preferred to undermine it. Israel could have moved the Palestinian reconciliation efforts forward. It could have encouraged the return of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip to manage affairs there, and this would have allowed for the gradual lifting of the closure. The result would have been an immediate improvement in the quality of life of the Palestinians living there and fostered a renewed sense of hope. According to sources familiar with these contacts, Israel promised Egypt that it would encourage and advance the reconciliation process. Evidence of this was even published here in Al-Monitor. A Western diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu himself promised [Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-] Sisi that he stands behind the plan and will do everything he can to ensure its success. The source added, Gen. Khaled Fawzi, then-director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate, heard this promise directly from Netanyahu and other Israeli officials on more than one occasion. But then the process began. At its most critical stages, Israel underwent a transformation. Instead of encouraging Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, it intimidated him. Instead of helping, it undermined the process. Not only did Netanyahu have a change of heart, said the official, he managed to change the American administrations position, too. After [US envoys] Jason Greenblatt and Jared Kushner heard details of the plan from Sisi and expressed their agreement with it, the US realigned itself with the Israeli policy. It did not lift a finger to ensure the reconciliations success, and thus ensured its collapse. This turned Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar from a potential pragmatist into a much more extreme figure. Hence, Sinwar no longer supported reining Hamas in and returning the Palestinian Authority to Gaza. He has lost hope in the process and must now prove yet again that he is fit to head the resistance. The Egyptians poured vast amounts of energy, creativity and money into the reconciliation process. One diplomatic source revealed to Al-Monitor that the Egyptians trained a group of 1,200 young Gazans in Egypt for an extended period to serve as a popular base for the new approach, which rejects extremism in favor of pragmatism. The Yahya Sinwar who was released from prison in Israel and returned to Gaza was not the same violent radical and thug that left. Everyone has been surprised by Sinwars transformation since he came back. He was now more practical and moderate. He now preferred reconciliation with Abbas and the return of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip and even hinted at a more advanced stage in which the Palestinian Authority would also take control of security matters, said the diplomat. At this stage, there was a dramatic shift in the Israeli position. The diplomatic source described a meeting in Cairo with the head of Palestinian Intelligence in the West Bank, Majid Faraj, who said that Sinwar agreed to allow 3,000 armed Palestinian policemen from the West Bank into the Gaza Strip. Faraj then complained that it was Israel that was preventing the armed Palestinians from crossing through its territory. It was a critical balancing point on which Sinwar tried to prove his seriousness about giving up his monopoly over the control of weapons in Gaza. Israel undermined it. When Hamas offered to provide the Palestinian Authority weapons from the Hamas armories in Gaza, it was already too late. At the same time, Israel sent a clear message to Ramallah: Dont believe Hamas. Theyll slaughter your people in Gaza just like they did last time. What is happening now will end in disaster. And so, said the senior diplomat, when the moment of truth for the entire process arrived, Israel foiled it. Instead of instilling a skeptical Abbas with the courage and assertiveness he needed, it spread fear and dampened his enthusiasm. As was recently learned, the collapse of the reconciliation process was also a severe blow to Egypts prestige and a strategic disaster for Sinwar himself. He has accumulated quite a few enemies in Gaza since deciding to change his spots and promote a more pragmatic approach. That is precisely the reason that we are seeing the situation heat up again now, said the diplomat. Hamas has had another change of heart because it sees no way out of the situation apart from another explosion. It could have been prevented, he added. The riddle that remains is why Netanyahu agreed to go with the flow in the beginning only to double back later. One possible explanation is that Netanyahu is convinced that Sinwar himself will undermine the move. The intelligence community was very surprised to learn about Sinwars transformation. The predominant theory in diplomatic circles involved in efforts to turn down the heat on the crisis in the Gaza Strip is that at first, the Israelis could not believe that he was cooperating with the reconciliation efforts and upon confirming that he was, they had no choice but to undermine those efforts themselves. And what about Egypt? President Sisi is very disappointed with Netanyahu, an Israeli security source close to these contacts told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. This is the second time that Netanyahu stabbed him in the back. The first was when he added [right-wing Yisrael Beitenu head] Avigdor Liberman to his government instead of [center-left Zionist Camp leader Isaac] Herzog. But Sisi doesnt have the privilege of a chillier relationship with Israel right now, so he prefers to sit quietly and let off steam. The issue of conversion to Judaism is one of the most entrenched dilemmas on religion and state in Israel and has significant bearing on world Jewry. A committee appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to study the topic is now recommending a new conversion law that is rather unlikely to please all streams of Judaism. In 2016, the High Court recognized conversions conducted by private conversion institutes in Israel for the purpose of the Law of Return (offering all Jews the right to become Israeli citizens). The Chief Rabbinate, which is interested in keeping its monopoly on conversion, was not happy with this ruling. In light of this legal precedent, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party hastened to advance a stringent new law proposal on conversion, which would grant exclusive authority over conversion to the Chief Rabbinate. In July 2017, the bill was passed in the ministerial committee on legislation, despite the objection of Yisrael Beitenu. It caused a crisis with American Jewry, as the Chief Rabbinate rejects in principle conversions by progressive Judaism institutes. At the same time, the Israeli Reform and Conservative movements petitioned the High Court. Jewish billionaire Charles Bronfman, one of the main donors to the Birthright project, which offers Jewish youths free visits to Israel, then wrote a sharp letter to Netanyahu. He warned that the governments decisions on the conversion law and the Western Wall (freezing plans for dedicating a section of the wall to egalitarian prayer services) could hurt registration to the project among the young American generation that participates in it. We who love Israel and the Jewish People are left to ponder our relationship with Israel and particularly with the coalition you lead. These two new issues will ensure that our youth will be more and more estranged from the great Nation that we adore, Bronfman wrote. In light of the political crisis in Israel and US pressure, Netanyahu reached a compromise with the ultra-Orthodox parties and the petitioners to the High Court to postpone the debate on the conversion law for six months and to freeze the petitions. In August 2017, Netanyahu appointed Moshe Nissim, the former minister of justice from the Likud, to head a committee that would formulate recommendations on the issue of conversion. The committee met with representatives of all the streams of Judaism, as well as the chief rabbis and the heads of private conversion institutes. It based its work, among other things, on a similar committee appointed by the government in 1997, headed by professor Yaakov Neeman. That committee determined then that there should be a uniform national conversion process, which would be recognized by all Jews. In this framework, it recommended the establishment of an institute for the study of Judaism that would be responsible for the issue of conversion, to be run jointly by all streams of Judaism, including the Reform and Conservative movements. The Neeman committee also recommended that conversion processes be conducted in special conversion courts that would be recognized by all streams of Judaism. A government conversion institute was indeed established according to the recommendation of the Neeman committee, but the Reform and Conservative movements were not allowed any role in it. The Orthodox rabbis remained the only ones with conversion authority in Israel. The Netanyahu-appointed committee headed by Moshe Nissim has recently submitted its recommendations, which include an alternative bill to the conversion law and will be brought for debate in the ministerial committee for legislation. According to the proposed bill, a new public agency for conversion would be established that would have exclusive authority to convert and would recognize conversions conducted by rabbis from recognized Jewish communities, that is, it would authorize, by Jewish law, conversions conducted by non-Orthodox streams abroad. The draft law defined a recognized Jewish community as an established and active community with a common and acknowledged Jewish identity, with established frameworks of community administration, which belongs to one of the recognized streams among the world Jewish population. Such conversions, by the way, are already recognized by the Law of Return for the purpose of immigration to Israel and receiving citizenship, but the Chief Rabbinate and rabbinic courts do not recognize them according to their interpretation of Jewish law. This means that such converts cannot marry in Israel through the rabbinate, and if children are born to a woman convert, the rabbinate does not consider them Jews according to Jewish law. Yizhar Hess, the executive director of the Masorti Movement (Conservative movement in Israel), told Al-Monitor, We should be glad that the recommendations have finally been written up. Hess said that he has the impression in his meeting with the committee that they are listening and understand well the importance and complexity of the issue. He added that he doubts very much that the committee would succeed in squaring the circle, in his words, since the ultra-Orthodox will try to block any real attempt to solve the conversion issue if it does not grant them full control in such a system. The executive director of the Reform movement in Israel, Rabbi Gilad Kariv, told Al-Monitor that the recommendations dont represent a plan agreed on by all parties involved. Thus, in his opinion, theres a chance of a new conversion crisis that would pit the Israeli government against the Jewish world. He said, Any additional legislation on this sensitive topic will in the end lead to the strengthening of the ultra-Orthodox rabbinical establishment in all its circles and streams. The non-Orthodox movements can be expected to renew their petition to the High Court if they indeed arent allotted a role in the new conversion agency and conversions by their institutes are not recognized. Rabbi Seth Farber of the ITIM Institute, which provides Orthodox conversion services that are less stringent for converts, told Al-Monitor, Its better not to raise the topic now, since it will only intensify divisions with American Jewry. Farber praised the smaller role of the Chief Rabbinate under this proposal, but he said that the new draft law does not solve the issue of recognition of conversions conducted by private conversion institutes in Israel. Among the ultra-Orthodox, theres concern mainly regarding the legal recognition of conversions conducted among non-Orthodox communities abroad. A senior ultra-Orthodox political source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that such a proposal would create a political crisis and has no chance of passing. In light of this statement and the fact that the government is in its last year, with other crises anticipated on the horizon (such as the enlistment law exempting the ultra-Orthodox from conscription), we can expect that the recommendations of the Nissim committee wont ripen into an actual law anytime soon and that the conversion issue will wait for the next government. US President Donald Trump emerged from a wide-ranging meeting with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the White House today with a new outlook on Americas role in Syria. Instead of focusing on his oft-stated desire to quickly pull out the 2,000 US troops battling the remnants of the Islamic State (IS), Trump laid out a strategic justification for long-term US involvement in the conflict. He and Macron, he said, shared a common goal to leave a strong and lasting footprint, and that was a very big part of our discussion. As far as Syria is concerned, I would love to get out. Id love to bring our incredible warriors back home, Trump said at a joint press briefing with Macron after their meeting. With that being said, Emmanuel and myself have discussed the fact that we dont want to give Iran open season to the Mediterranean. The change of tone marked a significant win for the 40-year-old French president, who has used fist bumps, a military parade and an Eiffel Tower dinner to help persuade Trump to remain diplomatically and militarily active in the Middle East. Rather than rip up the Iran deal, Macron said, the United States should work with Europe to strengthen oversight of Irans nuclear program while keeping Tehran in check, notably in Syria. Im very happy about the discussion we had together, because we raised very new issues and very new solutions together, and especially the fact that the Syrian crisis and the Syrian situation should be part of this broader picture, Macron said. Todays comments alongside Macron represent a continuing evolution of the Trump administrations public position on Syria. Before his ouster, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for the United States to maintain an open-ended presence in Syria to roll back Irans influence and topple President Bashar al-Assad. US disengagement from Syria would provide Iran the opportunity to further strengthen its position in Syria, Tillerson said in a speech at Stanford University in January. As we have seen from Irans proxy wars and public announcements, Iran seeks dominance in the Middle East, outlining the so-called land bridge strategy that Trump alluded to today. At a National Security Council meeting in early April, Trumps chief military and diplomatic advisers asked the president to leave US forces in Syria to prevent insurgent IS cells from regrouping at the Iraqi border. But that same day, Trump doubled down on his calls for a quick US troop withdrawal, while urging regional powers to step up with money and troops an exhortation he repeated today. To me, the main thing [Trumps advisers] achieved seems to be getting Trump to back off the idea that the US is going to leave soon, Amanda Sloat, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for southern Europe and eastern Mediterranean affairs, told Al-Monitor. But it does raise the longer-term question of at what point do we draw down, and what that does to [US-backed Kurdish forces] that remain in those liberated areas. The US-led coalition has trained more than 11,000 Syrian Arab and Kurdish troops since the start of the counter-IS campaign in 2015. By some estimates, Iran may have as many as 125,000 proxy forces in Syria, making up much of Assads troop strength as the seven-year war has decimated the regimes once formidable army. A surge of recent US airstrikes near the border with Iraq, in addition to $1.3 billion in the Pentagons 2019 budget request for Iraq and Syria, could be aimed at stopping fighters, weapons and supplies from moving back and forth. Specifically, the Defense Department is asking for $290 million to help Iraq monitor its border crossings with Syria, including scanners, 1,500 border guards and other equipment. But experts say Iran primarily extends its supply lines in Syria through the air. The Islamic Republics primary supply route to Syria has been the air bridge, said Amir Toumaj, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. On the Syria side, the US doesnt have ground influence in certain areas that the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] has, most prominently the border town of Abu Kamal. France has also doubled down in supporting Kurdish fighters despite risking offending Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a NATO ally. Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, confirmed to Al-Monitor today that France has provided strike aircraft, ground artillery and trainers in Syria during the three-year campaign. France also fired missiles from naval and air forces during US-led strikes on Syrian chemical weapons facilities earlier this month. In the long run, we need to win peace, and make sure that Syria does not fall into any hegemony in the region, Macron said at todays press conference. So to that effect, the approach which is agreed means that we can work, and work on all of the situation, the whole of the situation in the region, and with these efforts, to contain Iran in the region. It's not yet clear how the United States and France could hold territory to resist Iran, beyond current American postings on the border and providing money to train Iraqi troops and put up checkpoints. In January, US Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters that Iran did not possess a land bridge in the region, and has called for the United States to stand by the UN-backed Geneva peace talks. Despite balking at US commitments in the Middle East, experts say the commander in chief will likely defer to the top generals and diplomats running the war unless it hurts him politically. President Trump does not think about Syria unless its going to put a crimp in his game in the 2020 elections, said Nick Heras, a Middle East fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank. So as long as he can act like a tough guy and dodge a grenade, hes fine. Turkish liberals commemorated the Armenian massacres this week but, for the first time, had to contend with a big drop in turnout and the police banning the word genocide. I can no longer [utter] Armenian genocide in public, and that is a big step backwards, said Nicolas Tavitian, director of the Brussels-based Armenian General Benevolent Union Europe. He was on his sixth visit to Istanbul to mark the day in 1915 when the Ottoman police arrested 250 of the citys Armenian doctors, engineers and lawyers in what is considered the start of the genocide. Turkish authorities only gave permission for the April 24 commemoration on the afternoon of April 23. Moreover, they insisted that the main ceremony be held at the bottom of Istiklal Caddesi, the main pedestrian street, rather than at the more popular upper end, where it is usually held. The upshot was that a mere 200 people took part in the event, a sharp decline from the 2,000 people who marked the 100th anniversary in 2015. Armenians and numerous historians contend that 1.5 million Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire were killed during 1915-18. Turkey admits that about 300,000 Armenians died during that period, but insists that they perished as a result of wartime clashes between Muslims and Christians. Ankara vehemently claims that there were no systematic killings of Armenians and therefore no genocide. The organizers of the April 24 events were dismayed that the government took a tougher position, which seemed irrelevant to the state of emergency that has been in force since mid-2016. During the state of emergency in 2017, the word genocide was used [in our banners], and we didnt have any problem, said Meral Cildir, an executive of the Human Rights Association, which bravely began commemorating the genocide in 2005. This year, the first encounter with the police took place at noon, when organizers unfurled banners outside the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Sultanahmet. The Armenians rounded up in 1915 had been taken to the stone building and held as prisoners there. Cildir said police officers objected to the banners containing the word genocide, saying they should read so-called genocide. The encounter ended with the police detaining the activists and confiscating their banners. Levent Sensever, a co-organizer from the group DurDe (Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism), told a crowd of 20 and an equal number of journalists that the decision had been made to call off the demonstration at the museum. Instead, a press conference would be held at the Human Rights Association's offices. The plainclothes police commander on the scene confirmed to Al-Monitor that the demonstration could have proceeded if the word genocide had been deleted. At the press conference, Benjamin Abtan, head of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement, said Turkeys position on the Armenian issue is not merely a matter of historical interpretation. There is a correlation between commemorating the Armenian genocide and the level of democracy and freedom today in Turkey, he said. French lawmaker Mireille Clapot, who represents the heavily Armenian constituency of Valence, said at the news conference, Every Armenian person living in France has one grandfather or grandmother who was a victim of the genocide. Armenians around the world have similar family histories. This has led to the genocide becoming a popular issue for some politicians abroad. In the United States, President Donald Trump released a customary statement April 24 We honor the memory of those who suffered but disappointed Armenians by declining to describe the event as genocide. This is a concession to Turkey that US presidents have observed since 1981, when Ronald Reagan used the G-word. In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad hosted a delegation of Armenians. According to the official Syria News, Assad said, Whats needed today is that various segments of the society open a dialogue with each other. If asked, the Syrian opposition would probably say that the current civil war could have been avoided had Assad been open to dialogue. In Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement, as he has done annually since 2014. It is Turkeys conscientious and ethical responsibility to share the historical pain of our Armenian citizens, he said. In what seems to have been a signal of his new hard line, Erdogan warned Turkeys 70,000 Armenians to spurn those who are trying to ignite hatred and hostility by distorting [our] shared past. In Istanbul, those who sincerely regretted what had happened in 1915 decided to compromise by cutting the word soykirim (genocide) from their messaging. When the main commemorative ceremony began at 7 p.m., activists laid a large banner on the paving stones of Tunel Square. It was printed with pictures of dozens of the genocide victims, their names written in Armenian. At the top, the banner read, Saygila Aniyoruz (We commemorate with respect). Some 50 people sat on the ground behind the banner, many holding pictures of individual victims. There were 150 more people surrounding those on the ground. The Armenian funeral dirge played over a PA system. The music was haunting. People stood with long faces, deep in thought. One man, his thumb supporting his jaw and his forefinger on his cheek, appeared to be pondering how his country could have done such a thing. Foremost among those sitting on the ground was Rakel Dink, widow of the late Armenian editor Hrant Dink, whose assassination in 2007 had drawn a cortege of 100,000 people. Three photographs stood propped against her knees one of her husband, one of Sevag Sahin Balikci, an Armenian performing national military service who was shot dead by a nationalist in 2011, and one of Ruben Sevak, the Armenian poet killed in 1915, reportedly after refusing to convert to Islam. The solemnity of the scene and the mournful music appeared to have no effect on the customers at the restaurants bordering Tunel Square. The diners continued to eat their kebabs and chat. Theyre ignorant, the Human Rights Associations Cildir remarked. About 300 feet away, along Istiklal Caddesi, 27 Turks staged a counter-demonstration. Members of the Peoples Liberation Party (HKP) held up posters that read Genocide lie is an American plan. The ultra-nationalists were constrained by a phalanx of about 30 riot police, who practically blocked the street, allowing casual strollers to pass but not demonstrators. The police also protected those commemorating the genocide. Officers wearing jackets emblazoned with Security Branch ringed the perimeter of the crowd, guiding pedestrians past and guarding against interference. This is a government that knows when to get the dogs out and when to get them back in, said Tavitian. There is large-scale repression [in Turkey], but it is managed. Analysts say rival factions are struggling to find consensus candidate to secure stability in post-Bouteflika Algeria. He last addressed the nation six years ago, but officials from Algerias ruling party insist that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika run for a fifth consecutive term in next years election. Aged 81, Bouteflika has been severely ill and confined to a wheelchair since suffering a stroke in 2013. A year later, Abdelmalek Sellal, the prime minister at the time, announced that Bouteflika would run again, assuring Algerians he was fit for office. This time, there has been no official announcement yet by the ruling National Liberation Front but a number of party executives and government officials have publicly said that Bouteflika would again be their candidate. If he wins, he will be 87 at the time of the next elections. More than 40 percent of Algerias 41 million population is under 25 and many of them know no other leader besides Bouteflika. Those who witnessed the war of independence in the 1950s and, more recently, the civil war in the 1990s are mostly apathetic about politics. Many Algerians choose peace and stability over political reform, pointing at the devastation in neighbouring Libya as a result of the countrys revolution. Analysts say the recent wave of announcements on Bouteflikas election bid was made for an entirely different audience. No sooner had the declarations been made, than key figures seen as contenders for the top post fell in line and accepted the dictum. Bouteflika and those around him are flying the proverbial kite to see in which direction the wind is blowing, to see how people react, Jeremy Keenan, an anthropology professor at the School of Oriental and Africa Studies in London, told Al Jazeera. They have an advantage both in declaring and in not declaring his candidacy. By not declaring it, it means that nobody else can jump in. The longer the ambiguity remains, the more difficult it is for [Prime Minister] Ahmed Ouyahia or anybody else to start putting forward their names. According to Keenan, nobody would dare declare their intention to run against Bouteflika because they would immediately be seen as disloyal and be crucified by the state media. This however stops short of answering a key question; if the president is unable to assume his duties as head of state due to old age, who is calling the shots? Military as central pillar The countrys military has played a pivotal role in politics since the country gained independence in 1962. In 1992, the army intervened in the political process to prevent the Islamic Salvation Front, a loose coalition of Muslim thought currents, from acceding to power, a move that antagonised many Algerians. As such, when Bouteflika announced the departure of his intelligence chief in 2015, many welcomed the development as ushering in a new era in the states historically troubled civil-military relations. General Mohamed Mediene, or Toufik as he is better known to Algerians, reigned over the countrys arcane Department of Intelligence and Security (DRS by its French acronym) for the better part of a quarter of a century. In 1999, Mediene, alongside top cadres from Algerias military, had engineered Bouteflikas rise to power. But when Bouteflika sought to run for a fourth term in 2014, Mediene is said to have objected, prompting the president to terminate his powerful generals duties, in what was largely seen as an effort to consolidate civilian control of the military. The divorce, however abrupt, would prove difficult to execute in a country where the military played so significant a role in running the country. For the military, abandoning their political role would be synonymous with jeopardising their nation Dalia Ghanem Yazbeck, resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center Algerias past and the fluid nature of the ruling FLN both a revolutionary party and armed movement blurred the state-army divide. The Peoples National Army (PNA), because of its role during the war of liberation and later during the civil war, identify with the nation itself, Dalia Ghanem Yazbeck, a resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, told Al Jazeera. For the military, abandoning their political role would be synonymous with jeopardising their nation, she said. To be sure, the president is not a powerless figurehead. Instead analysts describe politics in Algeria as a mutual pact, its strength depending on the presidents charisma and the state of the economy. The army and the presidency each exercise power over their respective spheres of influence ever in flux. Ghanem Yazbeck believes the army has learned from its past mistakes and knows better than to antagonise Algerians. I believe they will do their best to find a consensual person, a presidential civilian with a modicum of public support to replace President Bouteflika, she said. Replacing Bouteflika In 2014, in light of the presidents failing health, the military thought it unwise for Bouteflika to run for a fourth term. However, in a rare moment of indecision, the army is believed to have conceded to the ailing presidents demands, deeming it necessary to preserve stability in times of uncertainty. Within months of his re-election, Bouteflika announced through a series of decrees the dismissal of a number of officers suspected of disloyalty. Prominent amongst those dismissed were the presidents defence advisor General Mohammed Touati and army chief of staff General Mohamed Lamari. Some analysts believed the army had finally been tamed and would henceforth work on guarding the borders and focus on professionalisation. But, according to Ghanem Yazbeck, professionalisation does not necessarily mean becoming less politicised The professionalisation of the army is a fact. The Peoples National Army (PNA) invested in quality training, reduced military conscription from 18 to nine months. It also invested in womens training and their integration. But again, it does not mean that they are withdrawing their political arena. Their influence remains intact. For Ghanem Yazbeck, the president had replaced one loyal officer by another. Adlene Meddi, an Algerian journalist, paints a different picture. The quietism with which the president carried out these replacements, Meddi said, suggests a desire to rid the army of figures seen as potentially disruptive. Three years prior to the departure of the man [Mediene] whos referred to as Reb Dzayer, the God of Algeria, a showdown took place opposing the presidency and this security Leviathan that was the DRS, Meddi said. As with all matters relating to the secret service, it is through an unpublished presidential decree that the head of state [Bouteflika] buried this super structure created in 1990; a mix of political police and intelligence agency. The DRS was dissolved in January 2016 and replaced with the Departement de Surveillance and Security (DSS), an agency that falls under the direct control of the president. Headed by retired Major General Athmane Tartag since September 2015, the bodys chief is officially a coordinator. For Keenan, the army and the intelligence services cannot be lumped together as one. In his view, the presidency, the army and the DRS are separate entities, all involved in a constant struggle to control the state. The armys chief of staff, Ahmed Gaid Salah described in a 2008 leaked cable by US Ambassador to Algiers Rob Ford as perhaps the most corrupt official in the military apparatus was reinstated by Bouteflika and Mediene because of his vulnerability. He was appointed head of the army in 2004 when Mohamed Lamari was dismissed. At the time, Gaid Salah was not the obvious candidate. There were at least two or three candidates more senior to him, Keenan said. Why was he appointed? My guess is that, because he was corrupt, it meant Mediene and Bouteflika could blackmail him, Keenan added. If this is the case, Medienes dismissal is the product of inner machinations within the ruling elite. Stability and continuity According to Mohamed Hachemaoui, a political sociologist at Sciences Po Paris and author of Clientelism and Patronage in Algeria, the intelligence services still have considerable sway over the country. Its not because the secret police changed names again DSS or Department of Surveillance and Security that the structure has [actually] been dissolved, Hachemaoui told La Croix, a French daily newspaper. The presidents brother and advisor, Said Bouteflika, is considered by some to be the true decision maker but if that were the case, Hachemaoui remarked, he wouldnt have stood by idly after he was defamed in the press. He could not even sue those who slandered him, he said. Despite Bouteflika and Ouyahia not getting along, Hachemaoui believes that the latter was imposed on the president when he was appointed chief of staff in 2014 and prime minister for the fourth time in September 2017. Keenan believes that those like Said Bouteflika are ephemeral actors who will be asked to step down eventually, and if they do not, corruption scandals will force them to. This is the DRS way of doing business, Keenan said. Ouyahia is widely expected to take over in the event Bouteflikas health further deteriorates, or if he dies, but how much power, if any, he will be granted is a subject that is without relevance to many Algerians. It is telling that those in power have ominously been referred to as Le Pouvoir, or the powers that be, throughout much of Algerias contemporary history. Ultimately, as those in power say, the most important thing is not to know who would replace Bouteflika (the system knows how to work in all circumstances) but to know if the entire system agrees on the new candidate. Which is not a simple matter, Meddi said. Houthi leaders death could embolden the movement to carry out further attacks against Saudi Arabia, analysts say. The killing of Saleh al-Sammad has dealt a heavy blow to Yemens Houthi rebels, analysts have said, warning that it risks raising the spectre of further instability in the war-ravaged country. The rebels officially confirmed the death of their president on Monday, saying he was assassinated four days earlier along with six of his bodyguards in air raids launched by a coalition assembled by Saudi Arabia. The coalition has been backing forces loyal to Yemens exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in their fight against the Houthis. A former teacher by profession, al-Sammad joined the political wing of the Houthis in the early 2000s after two of his brothers were killed in government-led air raids. Rising through their ranks, he was elected leader of the Supreme Political Council in July 2016, after the Houthis established a government to administer the capital, Sanaa, and other areas they had previously seized. Although he was not a military commander, al-Sammad would go on to hold the number two spot on the coalitions most-wanted list, with the Saudis offering $20m for any information that would lead to his capture. Year of ballistic excellence At the beginning of April, Sammad dubbed 2018 the year of ballistic excellence, vowing to launch at least one missile across the border every day in retaliation to Saudi-led air raids. Despite his angry rhetoric, he was considered by many Yemenis to be a moderate who was willing to engage in peace talks and end the countrys three year-war that has killed at least 10,000 people and left 22 million Yemenis in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The most senior member of the Houthis to die during the three-year conflict, al-Sammads killing was lamented by senior Houthi officials. This crime wont go unanswered, the rebels leader, Abdul Malek al-Houthi, warned in a televised speech on Monday. Neither this, nor other crimes like the targeting of a wedding in Hajjah province that left dozens dead and injured will go unanswered, referring to an air attack that killed at least 20 people on Sunday. No one really knows how their leadership moves ... so they may well have been compromised at the highest level and this could affect them going forward. Baraa Shiban, Reprieve But with information about the whereabouts of the leadership tightly controlled, and only a handful of people informed of their movements, figures close to the Yemeni government were quick to suggest that the Houthis inner-circle had been compromised. {articleGUID} Some people within the movement gave his location to the Saudi-led coalition, claimed Colonel Abdul Basit Al Baher, the deputy spokesperson for Yemens army in Taiz. This is the president of the Supreme Political Council. His movements are secretive. Baraa Shiban, a Yemen analyst, echoed this view, saying that there appeared to be big holes in the Houthis security apparatus. This is a big hit for the Houthi movement, he told Al Jazeera. No one really knows how their leadership moves so they may well have been compromised at the highest level and this could affect them going forward. Al-Sammad was crucial to the Houthis military propaganda, Shiban said, adding that his targeting could signal plans to launch a major assault on Hodeidah city. Videos emerged on Friday of Tarek Saleh the nephew of former ousted Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed in December 2017, showing him preparing his fighters to launch an attack on the port. Hodeidah has witnessed an escalation in fighting over the last two weeks, and something this big [al-Sammads death] could indicate something bigger being planned, said Shiban. Theres been a trend of Houthi field commanders being killed by the coalition, so to ensure that this incident does not affect the morale of their fighters on the front lines, the Houthis may attempt to fire more missiles into Saudi Arabia. His death could lead to an escalation by the Houthis. Successor is a hardliner Just as they announced al-Sammads death, the rebels also said that he had been replaced by Mahdi al-Mashat. Saudi officials have reportedly held months of secret talks with the Houthis in Oman, and it was unclear whether al-Mashat would be prepared to continue negotiations. Mashat is a hardliner, said Osama al-Rawhani, the programme director of the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies. Sammad was good with building allegiances with tribes and non-Houthi factions, as well putting out fires within the Houthi movement. His death will have an impact within the Houthi movement which will be reflected on the ground. It may also serve a conduit for them to enact vengeance and that will put a temporary pause on the current peace negotiations. Peace talk plan in question? Earlier this month, Martin Griffiths, the newly appointed UN envoy to Yemen, said that he would develop a new framework to re-launch negotiations between the coalition and the rebels. But a Houthi source told Al Jazeera that the air raids could derail the proposed talks. Mohammed Abdul-Salam [a senior Houthi leader] may continue to meet Saudi officials for peace talks in Oman, but we have a responsibility to avenge Sammads death, the source said on condition of anonymity. Peter Salisbury, a senior consulting fellow at UK-based Chatham House, downplayed al-Sammads role in the movement. In terms of his decision making power on a day-to-day basis, he was increasingly more of a figurehead than a major figure, Salisbury told Al Jazeera. Sammad came from the Houthis political wing and as the war continued, the military wing, the more extreme wing of the movement, took over, Salisbury said. What were seeing now is the winnowing out of many political figures and the consolidation of military hardliners, he added. With the fighting showing no signs of abating, Yemens civilians are continuing to suffer through one of the worlds most devastating conflicts. Widespread shortages of food and medicine have caused what the United Nations has described as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. The Russian government has just scored an own goal trying to block popular messenger app Telegram. Roman Dobrokhotov is a Moscow-based journalist and civil activist. He is the editor-in-chief of The Insider. Last week, President Vladimir Putin declared war on the Russian internet. The Kremlin had been slowly and quietly encroaching on freedom of the internet in Russia for a while now, but this time it went all out: State institutions were mobilised to block access to one of the most popular Russian messenger apps, Telegram. The creator of Telegram 33-year-old Pavel Durov, also known as the Russian Zuckerberg gained fame for setting up the Russian social network Vkontakte shortly after Facebook was launched. It became the most popular social network in Russia in just a few years. In 2014, Durov was forced to resign as a CEO of Vkontakte. He publicly accused the FSB of pressuring him and claimed that the security agency demanded from him the personal data of Euromaidan protest organisers in Ukraine. His conflict with the FSB and his commitment to defending user privacy made Telegram popular. Durov created an app that very much defies oppressive governments that seek to spy on their citizens. When the Russian Duma passed legislation making it mandatory for messenger apps to hand over encryption keys, it became clear that a war over freedom of the internet was inevitable, and that Telegram would be leading the fight. The Russian constitution clearly guarantees the privacy of correspondence. Using this as an argument, Telegrams lawyers tried to challenge legislation that allowed the FSB to have direct access to users messages, but Russian courts took the side of the executive. And so the war began. It seems that the Kremlin had planned a blitzkrieg and hoped that it would finish the mission quickly and without much noise, as happened when LinkedIn was blocked in 2016 (back then there wasnt much noise because the service wasnt that popular in Russia). But, this time, it didnt go that smoothly. {articleGUID} On April 16, the Russian communications censor, Roskomnadzor, started blocking Telegram. More than 18 million IP addresses were blocked, more than the number of Telegram users in Russia. Some of these IP addresses belonged to Microsoft, Amazon and Google cloud services, which led to disruptions in the online services of dozens of companies, including banks, online shops, online payment websites, other messenger apps and even the Moscow Kremlin Museum. Ironically, Telegram continued to work. Throughout last week, Roskomnadzor continued to block new IP addresses and issue angry statements to the press, claiming that it had degraded 30 percent of Telegrams service. The app not only continued to work, but it also received a record number of new users. Whats more, blocking the app encouraged Russian users to start using virtual private networks (VPNs). Just 10 days ago, the average lazy Russian user would have deemed a VPN too complicated to set up, but today, discussions about VPN services can be found even on young moms forums, while elderly users are asking their grandchildren to set up that thing for them. To the dismay of Roskomnadzor, now there are all these Russian internet users who dont have to worry about Telegram being blocked and who will read all the other websites the censor has been blocking too. Even Edward Snowden, the American whistle-blower who is still hiding in Russia, took Durovs side and tweeted in his support. I have criticized @telegram's security model in the past, but @Durov's response to the Russian government's totalitarian demand for backdoor access to private communicationsrefusal and resistanceis the only moral response, and shows real leadership. https://t.co/KtZDpu33wh Edward Snowden (@Snowden) April 17, 2018 In other words, this was not just a defeat for the Russian authorities; it was an embarrassing disaster. The Russian political leadership dominated by 60-something-year-olds who rarely use the internet must not have known that imposing control over the internet is not the same as taking control of TV. Controlling the internet is a very difficult and expensive task. China, which in recent years has become a model for President Putin, has partially managed to solve this problem by establishing the Great Firewall a technological wonder, just like the Great Wall. But Russia is not China. Here is a simple illustration of that fact: China is building 3,500km of highspeed railways every year; Russia plans to build 4,000km of such railways in 10 years (and its still unclear whether it will succeed in doing so). Perhaps it's too difficult for Putin to watch how slowly, click by click, tweet by tweet, he's losing control over the country. Censoring the internet is a very difficult task, much more complicated than building railways, especially when the state has to face off with some of the best Russian programmers out there. Whats more, there are technological developments elsewhere that will soon make that task even more difficult. Theres Googles Jigsaw, a technology incubator, which is meant among other things to support freedom of expression and which has already released some tools allowing the circumvention of state censorship. Theres also Elon Musks Starlink project, which could provide global access to the internet through a network of satellites. Trying to impose internet censorship in the future will be almost impossible, even for countries like China. The war for free access to information in Russia is crucial for the state. For 18 years, Russian authorities have been relying on control of TV channels to spread propaganda. When Putin came to power in 2000, only two percent of the population used the internet, but today this number has reached 75 percent. Whats more, the young generation doesnt watch TV, and that is why its not surprising that 20-something-year-olds constitute such a big part of protest movements. The internet war will continue for some time. Up next are Facebook and Twitter. But whatever battles Putin manages to win, he will not claim victory in the end. He will also continue to lose popularity with that 75 percent of the population using the internet. Indeed, it would be sensible for him to give in and not make matters worse, to just leave the internet alone. But perhaps its too difficult for Putin to watch how slowly, click by click, tweet by tweet, hes losing control over the country. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. With many Muslim-majority nations under coronavirus lockdown, millions around the world are to fast from dawn to dusk. The first day of fasting for the holy month of Ramadan, which is determined by the sighting of the new moon, is likely to be Friday, April 24 in most Arab nations, with several still under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and many other Muslim nations are likely to begin fasting starting Friday. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, many activities during Ramadan are certain to be curtailed in Muslim-majority nations in the Middle East and elsewhere. Saudi Arabias government said it would maintain the ban on all congregation prayers in the country, including Taraweeh a set of special prayers that take place during the holy month. In the United States and Europe, Muslim communities rely on astronomical calculations and are likely to observe Ramadan from Thursday evening as well, with Friday being the first day of fasting. Scientific predictions Calculations by astronomers say Ramadans new moon will be born on April 23 at 02:27 GMT, the Qatar Calendar House (QCH) announced. On that day, the moon will be visible on in Central, North and South America. On April 24, the moon will be easily spotted in most parts of the world. The actual visibility of the crescent will depend on factors such as atmospheric conditions, cloudiness and the distance between the sun and the moon on the horizon. Visibility patterns of the new crescent moon on April 24 [Screenshot/UK Hydrographic Office] Visibility patterns of the new crescent moon on April 24 [Screenshot/UK Hydrographic Office] Lunar calendar Muslim lunar months last between 29 and 30 days, depending on the sighting of the new moon on the 29th night of each month. If the new moon is not visible, the month lasts 30 days. To declare the beginning of Ramadan, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim-majority countries depend on the testimonies of local moon sighters. The Judicial High Court then decides when Ramadan begins. Saudi Arabias official Umm al-Qura calendar marks the first day of fasting as April 24, 2020. [Alia Chughtai/Al Jazeera] For Muslims, Ramadan is the month in which the first verses of the Quran, Islams holy book, were revealed to Prophet Muhammad more than 1,400 years ago. During the holy month, Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from before dawn to sunset. The fast is intended to bring the faithful closer to God and to remind them of the suffering of the less fortunate. Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with the Muslim declaration of faith, daily prayers, charity, and performing the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. READ: Ramadans importance for Muslims In Muslim-majority countries, offices are required by law to reduce working hours, and many restaurants are closed during the daylight hours. However, amid the coronavirus outbreak, many workplaces, as well as most restaurants and recreational places are likely to be closed all day throughout Ramadan, in most Muslim countries and others, in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus and maintain physical distancing practices. Ramadan Mubarak and Ramadan Kareem are common greetings exchanged in this period, wishing the recipient a blessed and generous month respectively. Last year, fasting hours across the world ranged from 11 to 19 hours. At the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Eid al-Fitr in Arabic means festival of breaking the fast. Depending on the actual start date of Ramadan and the new moon sighting on the 29th night of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr this year is likely to fall on May 24. Opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan blames cancellation of talks on the ruling party, accusing it of clinging to power. Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan has called on supporters to stage a rally on Wednesday after talks with the ruling republican party were cancelled. Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyans office issued a statement, saying that Nikol Pashinyan has unilaterally put forward new conditions with respect to the format, the agenda and media coverage of the meeting. This is not a negotiation or dialogue, but presentation of ones own agenda and point of view, the statement read. The two sides were supposed to discuss transition plans after the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan on Monday following almost two weeks of street protests. Pashinyan blamed the cancellation on the ruling party, and accused it again of trying to cling to power. On Tuesday, Pashinyan told reporters during a press conference that the Republican Party of Armenia does not exist, only its ghost remains. {articleGUID} I do not need any guarantees from the RPA. We have a stronger guarantee, a guarantee of the people and the diaspora. I do not see any force that can resist the people of Armenia, he added. He also said that he would be against Karapetyans nomination even if he left the RPA. Asked by a reporter whether Pashinyan would want to become prime minister, he replied: If the people want me to be prime minister, I will take on that responsibility. We must ensure fair and free elections in Armenia. Concluding the press conference, Pashinyan stressed that no member of the ruling Republican Party can be a candidate for prime minister and they should not try to hang on to power. He also called for a peaceful transition of power. Karapetyan said on Tuesday that the current impasse can only be resolved through political negotiations and while we respect the wishes and freedom of the people on the streets, we need to adhere to the countrys laws and constitution. Following the cancellation of the transition talks, Pashinyan called for civil disobedience, starting on Wednesday. Students from a number of universities heeded the call, and announced a student strike. Armenia already saw 11 days of protest against the nomination of ex-president Serzh Sargsyan for the post of prime minister, resulting in his resignation. {articleGUID} The country had amended its constitution, from a presidential system to a parliamentary one in a 2015 referendum, making the presidency largely ceremonial and strengthening the office of the prime minister. This allowed Sargsyan, who served as the countrys president for a decade, to qualify for the post of prime minister. In his address in Republic Square on Monday, Pashinyan declared victory and said the revolution must not stop with Sargsyans resignation, but continue to final victory. Karapetyan, in his capacity of acting prime minister, subsequently called on the president to organise a meeting with parliamentary and extra-parliamentary political forces to discuss the current domestic political situation and possible ways of resolving it. Armenian opposition leader calls for renewed protests Nikol Pashinyan called on supporters to rally in the streets again on April 25 after planned talks he was scheduled to begin with the ruling Republican Party (HHK) were cancelled. Evidence gathered during five days of inspections will be brought to the Netherlands for testing and analysis. Inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog have reached a second location in the Syrian town of Douma, where a suspected gas attack took place in early April. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said its fact-finding mission had collected samples from the location, which it did not identify. OPWC said those samples and other materials gathered from the site would be brought to The Hague in the Netherlands for testing and analysis. They will be split and dispatched for analysis by the OPCW designated labs. The statement said inspectors would continue with their fact-finding mission based on interviews with relevant people and analysis of samples. The team did not say how long the inspections would take. Representatives of the OPCW arrived in Syria on the second week of April but were only allowed to visit Douma starting last Saturday, April 21. The delay of the inspections raised questions about whether there would still be enough evidence left for the investigators to gather. The United States and France accused Russia of blocking access to the site, where rescuers and medics said dozens of people were killed on April 7. The Syrian government and Moscow say the alleged chemical attack, which prompted a series of air strikes by Western allies as an act of retaliation, was staged. They also contend that the US-led air attacks only delayed the deployment the inspectors to Douma. Initially, the OPCW team deployed to Douma had not been able to enter the site because of security concerns. The UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) officials had to withdraw from the first location as the presence of large crowd there raised security fears. At the second site, they came under small arms fire, and an explosive device was detonated nearby. The town of Douma was under rebel control and facing a government air and ground assault when the suspected attack took place. Images that emerged from Douma at the time showed lifeless bodies collapsed in crowded rooms, some with foam around their noses and mouths. Opposition groups gave up the town in the days after the incident. Thousands of people rebels and civilians left on buses to northern Syria, believing they could not reconcile with the government after it took over the town. The Syrian war has been going on for more than seven years. Researcher tells Hong Kong-based daily collapse of Mount Mantap site may be reason for the Norths suspension of tests. A North Korean nuclear site in the countrys north has collapsed, threatening an unprecedented risk of radioactive fallout including in neighbouring China, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper reported. The Hong Kong-based publication said on Wednesday that the collapse at Punggye-ri near the border with China may be the reason why North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared an immediate halt of its nuclear and missile tests, according to one researcher, The newspaper report said the test site was wrecked beyond repair. The suspension of the tests on Friday came as North Korea prepared for a landmark summit with South Korea, as well as a breakthrough meeting between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump. Kim is to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a border village on April 27, and Trump in the coming months for separate summit talks. This weeks inter-Korean summit will be the first such meeting since 2007, and only the third since the 1950-1953 Korean War. Earlier, it was also revealed that Kim held secret talks with Trumps incoming secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who had also served as his CIA director. Last year, after conducting its most powerful nuclear test ever and saying it had successfully tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile, North Korea announced that its nuclear programme was complete. Pyongyang started nuclear blast experiments in 2006. The last five of six nuclear tests by Pyongyang were conducted in Mount Mantap, including the test on September 3, 2017, which caused the collapse of the mountain. The report quoted geological experts in China as saying that the mountain collapsed after the detonation of a warhead weighing 100-kilotonnes about 700 metres below the mountains peak. Mount Mantap is about 75km to the nearest Chinese city of Baishan in Jilin province, which has a population of 1.2 million people. According to the newspaper, there had been growing fears in China that the test in September had caused a fallout leak coming from cracks in the damaged mountain. SCMP also reported that following the blast, North Koreas top geologist, Lee Doh-sik visited Beijings Institute of Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and met with senior geology experts there. Satellite images published by the SCMP on Wednesday showed a mountain with thick green vegetation that turned reddish brown after the test and mountain collapse. At the time of the test, the US Geological Survey reported a magnitude 6.3 earthquake with a depth of 23km. China later said it had also detected a second quake in North Korea of magnitude 4.6, eight minutes after the initial tremor. The quake was felt as far away as the Chinese city of Changchun around 400km northwest of North Koreas test site at Punggye-ri, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Tremors were also reportedly felt in Russias eastern region. DRCs new opposition leader strives to unite party Felix Tshisekedi called on the opposition party to hold its first public rally in two years, in an attempt to show his ability to unite a fractured opposition. The cause of the explosion is unknown, but local police say the area is known for illegal drilling. At least 15 people have been killed and dozens others injured after an unregulated oil well in western Indonesia burst into flames. The incident took place in the northwestern region of Aceh during the early hours on Wednesday. National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the well in Pasi Putih village in the east of Aceh province ignited about 1:30am (18:30 GMT). Five nearby houses were burned in the inferno. He said the well, drilled to a depth of about 250 metres, was gushing when it ignited and many people were around it trying to collect the oil. The well was traditional and it was owned by none and was used by the local community in the Pasi Putih village of the eastern Aceh province, he added. Aceh has substantial natural resources of oil and natural gas. There are many illegal wells throughout the areas. I woke up when a very loud explosion shook our house like an earthquake, a resident in the area told the Associated Press. All our neighbours ran out to see what happened, but another loud explosion made everyone run away in panic, she said. Dozens of people were taken to hospital in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, several hours away, the agency said, adding that state oil firm Pertamina was providing equipment to help fight the fire. The exact cause of the explosion is unknown, but the head of police in the area said the oil well might have been drilled illegally and the fire might have been started when someone was smoking a cigarette. Such illegal drilling is common in Aceh, where state-run oil and natural gas company Pertamina operates an oil field. Journalists around the world face more hostility towards their work, a trend encouraged by an increasing number of politicians inhibiting journalism, according to the 2018 World Press Freedom Index. The annual report, published on Wednesday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), reflects the state of journalism around the globe. According to the index, journalists face more hatred than last year, not only in authoritarian countries but also increasingly in countries with democratically elected leaders. Norway tops the list as the country where journalists have the most freedom, followed by Sweden and the Netherlands. North Korea is at the bottom of the list, just below Eritrea and Turkmenistan. The Gambia has seen the biggest improvement in press freedom, rising 21 spots to 122 out of 180. It is followed by South Korea and Greece, which rose 20 and 14 places respectively. {articleGUID} Malta, Mauritania and the Czech Republic saw the biggest drops, dropping 18, 17 and 11 places respectively. RSF points to the United States and the Philippines as democratic countries where threats to journalists by political leaders have had a negative influence on freedom of the press. Both countries dropped several places in the ranking. The unleashing of hatred towards journalists is one of the worst threats to democracies, RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement. Political leaders who fuel loathing for reporters bear heavy responsibility because they undermine the concept of public debate based on facts instead of propaganda, he added. To dispute the legitimacy of journalism today is to play with extremely dangerous political fire. The report also analysed press freedom in five regions, with the Middle East and North Africa region being the worst for journalists. {articleGUID} Wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen play a big part in this, but Egypt, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are also singled out as countries where it is extremely hard for journalists to do their job. Europe, the safest region for journalists, has seen the steepest decline in the regional rankings. As examples of decreasing press freedom there, the report cited the killings of Maltese and Slovak investigative journalists and former Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman bringing a fake gun with the words for journalists engraved on it to a press conference. Overall, the 2018 report concludes, global press freedom is in a worse state than it was last year and a record number of countries this year have been classified as having very bad freedom of the press. The pensions cuts are proposed for next year. By Palestinian Ahmad Abu Hussein, 24, dies of wounds after being shot in the abdomen during protest on April 13. Ahmad Abu Hussein, a Palestinian journalist shot by Israeli forces while covering a mass demonstration along the Gaza border earlier this month, has died of his wounds, according to Palestinian officials. The 24-year-old, who was shot in the abdomen during a protest near Jebaliya on April 13, is the second Palestinian journalist to have been killed by Israeli soldiers since a wave of demonstrations known as the Great March of Return began on March 30. Health officials in Gaza said Hussein died on Wednesday in Israels Tel Hashomer hospital, near Tel Aviv. His body arrived later in the day at Al-Andalusi hospital in the Gaza Strip, according to Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the health ministry. Hussein was originally treated in Gaza, before being moved to a hospital in Ramallah on April 15 and then to Tel Hashomer four days later. Vest marked with PRESS According to eyewitnesses, Hussein, a photographer for the Gaza-based Voice of the People radio station, was wearing a protective vest marked PRESS at the time he was shot. Protective gear that clearly indicates individuals are members of the press should afford them extra protection not make them targets, said Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. {articleGUID} The death of Ahmed Abu Hussein underscores the need for Israeli authorities to urgently scrutinise its policies toward journalists covering protests and take immediate, effective action. Yaser Murtaja, a photographer with the Gaza-based Ain Media agency, died on April 7 as a result of wounds sustained when shot by Israeli forces the previous day. Murtaja, 30, was hit in the stomach despite also wearing a blue flak jacket marked with the word PRESS while covering a protest in Khuzaa in the south of the Gaza Strip. The Great March of Return The Great March of Return has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians take to the border area to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees 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 of about 360sq km. At least 40 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,000 wounded since the demonstrations began, according to Palestinian officials. Israel has drawn sharp criticism for its open-fire orders along the border. Move comes after discovery of Philippine embassy staff encouraging workers to flee employers households, KUNA says. Kuwait has ordered the ambassador of the Philippines to leave the country within a week and recalled its envoy to Manila for consultations, according to the official news agency KUNA. The moves on Wednesday came days after video emerged of Philippine embassy staff purportedly helping Filipino maids flee from allegedly abusive employers in Kuwait. KUNA quoted the Kuwaiti foreign ministry as saying that the action against Ambassador Renato Villa was in retaliation for undiplomatic acts by Philippine embassy staff, encouraging Filipino domestic workers to escape employers households. The ministry said it had given the envoy three days to provide the names of the Filipino residents of Kuwait who had kidnapped domestic workers from their employers homes, adding it had yet to receive a response from the embassy. It also said it had declared Villa persona non grata. On Tuesday, the Philippines apologised for what Kuwait viewed as a flagrant violation of its sovereignty. Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the embassy had to assist Filipino workers who sought help as some situations were a matter of life and death. We respect Kuwaiti sovereignty and laws, but the welfare of Filipino workers is also very important, Cayetano told reporters, adding that domestic helpers account for over 65 percent of the more than 260,000 Filipinos in Kuwait. The murder of Joanna Demafelis In February, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a ban on the further deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait over reports of abuse following the discovery of a domestic workers body in a freezer in an abandoned home. Joanna Demafelis went missing in September 2016, and her body was found on February 6 in a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait City, where it had reportedly been kept for more than a year. Her Lebanese and Syrian employers were given death sentences in absentia. {articleGUID} Not a clandestine operation In Saturdays operation which was caught on video and shared online the domestic workers were taken to shelters run by the embassy from where they would soon be repatriated, diplomats in Manila said, according to Reuters news agency. The workers voluntarily went with embassy staff who waited outside the homes of the domestic helpers employers, said a diplomat. The employers did not hand over their passports. Some workers were persuaded to leave their employers, the diplomat added. It was not a clandestine operation, said Elmer Cato, Philippine assistant secretary for public diplomacy. This diplomatic crisis between the two countries prompted Kuwaiti MPs to demand the expulsion of Manilas envoy. Expelling the ambassador of the Philippines is a correct measure that should have been taken when the Philippines president first started his threats, MP Shuaib al-Muwaizri wrote on Twitter. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should not accept any offers made by the Philippines president or his foreign affairs secretary. The Philippines called Kuwaits decision deeply disturbing, saying it reneged on an earlier agreement to work together. Why is Macron courting Trump? President Macron addressed US Congress to describe the French-US very special relationship and call for greater cooperation. Body of slain Hamas member Fadi al-Batsh set to be repatriated to Gaza, as police say suspects likely still in Malaysia. Malaysian police have released a photo of one of the two suspects in the killing of a Palestinian engineer, and say the duo could still be in the country. Gazas ruling Hamas group has accused Israel of being behind Saturdays shooting of Fadi al-Batsh, an important member of Hamas. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. Malaysian police earlier released computer-generated images of the two suspects, believed to be from Europe or the Middle East. A Kawasaki motorcycle was found abandoned near a lake about nine minutes from the scene, from which police were able to trace a photo of one of the suspects, Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun told reporters. The new photo shows a light-skinned man with dark, wavy hair and a prominent goatee. He said the men were believed to have entered Malaysia in late January and could still be in the country. The body of al-Batsh was taken from a morgue to a mosque in Kuala Lumpur for prayers on Wednesday, ahead of repatriation to Gaza where al-Batsh will be buried. Migrant caravan from Central America arrives at US-Mexico border Dozens of Central American migrants arrived at the border city of Tijuana late on Tuesday, despite warnings it would be futile to try to cross to claim asylum in the United States. Those released emerged from prison with shaved heads and some of them accused police of beating and torturing them. Dozens of students who were arrested during anti-government protests in Nicaragua have been released by police, after days of demonstrations in which nearly 30 were killed. Police said in a statement that detainees had been handed over to relatives and in some cases religious committees in six cities in Nicaragua by Tuesday 8:30am (14:30 GMT), but did not specify how many were let go. The alleged protesters emerged from prison with shaved heads and some of them accused police of beating and torturing them while in captivity. It was three hours of torture: beatings, kicks, they lined up to kick me, one of the students, who did not want his name publicised, told Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa. Also on Tuesday, the Roman Catholic Church agreed to mediate between members of civil society and Nicaraguas embattled President Daniel Ortega. In a press conference, cardinal Leopoldo Brenes called on Nicaraguans, as well as the goverment to avoid all acts of violence, [and acts that are] disrespectful of public and private property. Protests erupted in Nicaragua on Wednesday over a controversial reform of the countrys social security system. Police were criticised for their heavy-handed response to the protests, and accused of using live ammunition against demonstrators. Hundreds were injured, while dozens of shops in Managua were looted amid the unrest. In a televised meeting on Sunday evening, Ortega cancelled the reforms, but tens of thousands of people marched in Managua on Monday, with many calling for the resignation of their 72-year-old president. The former Sandinista guerrilla is on his third consecutive term and has been accused of nepotism his wife Rosario Murillo is the vice president and for undermining democratic institutions to tighten his grip on power. Murillo softened her rhetoric on Tuesday when she told protesters there was faith that we are going to go forward united, days after coining them vampires. World leaders have expressed their concern over the violent protests. A spokesperson for the United Nations Human Rights Office called for an investigation into the deaths that occurred during the demonstrations. We are particularly concerned that a number of these deaths may amount to unlawful killings, Liz Throssell told reporters at a Tuesday press briefing. The United States condemned the repugnant political violence by police and pro-government thugs against the people of Nicaragua in a statement issued by the White House on Tuesday. Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall, whose dismembered body was found in the sea off Denmark after she had joined Madsen on his submarine. A judge and two jurors at the Copenhagen City Court ruled on Wednesday that the 47-year-old Danish inventor, who had been accused of premeditated murder, aggravated sexual assault and desecration of a corpse, was guilty on all three charges. Judge Anette Burkoe said the court believed Madsen had dismembered the body to conceal the evidence from the crime he had committed. Madsens defence lawyer said he would appeal the murder conviction as well as the life sentence. The prosecution had claimed Walls murder was sexually motivated and demanded a life sentence for Madsen on Monday, who confessed to cutting the freelance journalists body into pieces and throwing them into the sea but has denied killing her. Wall went missing after joining Madsen on his submarine to interview him on August 10, 2017. Madsen, who was arrested the next day, had changed his story on what happened multiple times, ultimately claiming Wall died from inhaling toxic exhaust fumes. He said he had to dismember her body in order to lift her through the submarine tower. Madsens defence lawyer had said a six-month prison sentence would be fair punishment for dismembering Walls body but said that it had not been proven her client murdered the journalist. Walls cause of death was never determined. She was an award-winning journalist who had worked for media outlets including Al Jazeera English, The Guardian, The Atlantic and The New York Times. More than 20 groups issue statement condemning governments move to overturn ruling allowing freedom for new arrivals. Human rights organisations and aid groups have slammed the Greek governments decision to defy a court ruling to end its abusive policy of containing refugees and migrants on islands. On Tuesday, 21 groups issued a joint statement condemning the governments move to overturn a court ruling allowing newly-arrived refugees and migrants to move from the islands to mainland Greece. Describing the restrictions on movement as a containment policy, the NGOs said the measure raises rule of law concerns. Among the groups that published the statement were Human Rights Watch, Greek Helsinki Monitor, EuroMed Rights, Lesbos Legal Centre, Oxfam and Solidarity Now, among others. On April 17, the Council of State, Greeces highest administrative court, ruled that there was no legal justification for barring asylum seekers from moving from the increasingly overcrowded refugee camps on Greek islands to the countrys mainland. Three days later, however, the director of asylum services issued an order reinstating the restrictions of freedom of movement for asylum seekers. On Monday, parliament began discussing a bill drafted to formalise the restrictions. In Tuesdays statement, the rights groups and aid organisations said: there is no evidence that lifting the containment policy would be a pull factor, as Greece and others claim, especially given the largely closed borders along the Western Balkan migration route into Western Europe. Containing asylum seekers on the Greek islands in substandard and appalling conditions that violate their rights and Greeces international obligations cannot be justified for migration control purposes, the statement said. Upwards of 15,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded on the Greek islands, from which they cannot leave without permission from the authorities. The islands have seen growing tensions, including racist attacks. On Tuesday, Migration Minister Dimitris Vitsas downplayed concerns about conditions on the islands hosting asylum seekers. Im not scared about the islands because we know what we have to do. What is really worrisome is the huge increase through Evros, he said, as reported by the Greek daily Ekathimerini. Burn them alive On Sunday night, hundreds of far-right demonstrators swarmed Sapphous Square in Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos Island, and attacked a group of refugees who had been occupying the square for several days. {articleGUID} Yelling burn them alive and other violent threats, the assailants threw rocks, bottles and flares at the asylum seekers. Police intervened, but at least 10 people were hospitalised with injuries by the time the incident came to an end. More than 100 people were arrested. The following day, police forcibly transferred the protesting refugees and migrants back to Moria, an overcrowded camp where living conditions have prompted widespread criticism from rights groups and monitors. Spiros Galinos, the mayor of the island, subsequently published a statement blaming the Syriza-led government for the violence. Despite repeated requests from every level, but also desperate cries for help over the Sapphous Square protest, including amid fears of a reaction stemming from the local communitys fear, the governments persistent lack of action resulted in yesterdays events, Galinos said. The mayor went on to say that the responsibility for what happened lies exclusively with the government and the way it has for months handled the situation on the islands. According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), at least 7,497 refugees and migrants have reached Greece so far this year. While many make the treacherous journey by boat across the Mediterranean Sea, an increasing number of people have entered Greece by crossing the countrys land border with Turkey. Iranian president rejects Emmanuel Macrons suggestion of a new agreement with Tehran during talks with US president. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has accused the United States and France of acting unilaterally in announcing potential plans to reshape a landmark nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers in 2015. Rouhani, speaking on Wednesday in Irans northwestern city of Tabriz, questioned comments made a day earlier by French President Emmanuel Macron, alongside his US counterpart Donald Trump, regarding a potential new deal. You [Trump], along with the leader of some European country, are deciding for an agreement reached among seven parties. Who allowed you to do that? Rouhani said, according to Irans Press TV news website. I have spoken with Macron several times by phone, and one time in person at length. I have told him explicitly that we will not add anything to the deal or remove anything from it, even one sentence. The nuclear deal is the nuclear deal. Referring to the US president a property tycoon who assumed office in January last year as someone without any background in politics law [and] international treaties, Rouhani said: Donald Trump says this deal is a very bad deal. Well, if its a very bad deal, then why did the US government sign it? He added: How can a tradesman, a merchant, a building constructor, a tower constructor make judgements about international affairs. Macron said France hoped to work on a new deal with Iran following frank discussions with Trump during a three-day state visit to the US [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters] The Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), eased sanctions on Iran in return for it agreeing that it would not develop nuclear weapons. The US, Iran, France, Russia, Germany, China, the UK and the European Union are signatories to the agreement. Rouhani has warned of severe consequences should the deal falter. Earlier this month, a senior Iranian official warned that the country could ramp its uranium enrichment to 20 percent on short notice if the US withdrew from the nuclear agreement. France pursuing new deal On Tuesday, during a three-day state visit to the US, Macron said France hoped to work on a new deal with Iran following frank discussions with Trump, who is a fierce critic of the 2015 agreement signed during the administration of Barack Obama, Trumps predecessor. Together, and with the powers of the region and Iranian leaders, we need to find a deal. This is the only way to bring about stability, Macron said. He added that any new deal must block all Iranian nuclear activity to 2025, prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and contain Tehrans influence in countries throughout the Middle East, including Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Under the terms of the current agreement, Iran would be able to restart part of its nuclear programme from 2025 onwards as part of a so-called sunset clause. Trump denounces deals decayed foundations Trump, who has described the existing agreement as insane, said on Tuesday the deal has decayed foundations. In October, the US president refused to recertify that Iran was in compliance with the nuclear deal, despite the International Atomic Energy Agency having repeatedly certified Tehrans compliance with the agreement. Trumps decision meant the US Congress had 60 days to decide whether to re-impose sanctions that would have likely killed the deal, which it elected not to do. Referring to the prospect of a fresh agreement, Trump said on Tuesday there was a great shot at doing a much bigger maybe deal, maybe not deal. His comments come less than three weeks before he faces a May 12 deadline to decide whether or not to renew the agreements prescribed sanctions relief for Iran. Under US law, the president is required to renew the waiver on sanctions every 120 days. Trump last issued a waiver in January, but a White House statement said he would not do so again unless an agreement was reached between the US and Europe to strengthen the deal. Either fix the deals disastrous flaws, or the United States will withdraw, Trump said on January 12. However, Christopher Ford, the US non-proliferation envoy, said on Wednesday that Washington is not seeking to renegotiate JCPOA, rather it wants an entirely new agreement. We are seeking a supplemental agreement that would in some fashion layer upon it a series of additional rules restrictions, terms, parameters, whatever you want to call it that help answer these challenges more effectively, Ford told reporters at a nuclear-non proliferation conference in Geneva, Switzerland, according to Reuters news agency. International reaction Earlier on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Theresa May said that the UK, as a JCPOA signatory, would coordinate with its international partners to address the challenges Iran poses in the Middle East, Reuters reported. Including those issues that President Macron proposed a new deal might cover, the spokesperson said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been a vocal supporter of maintaining the 2015 deal, is scheduled to arrive in the US on Friday for a state visit which is expected to include talks on the agreement. Other signatories Russia and China meanwhile are seeking international support for a joint statement defending the existing nuclear deal. Vladimir Yermakov, Russias arms control envoy, urged fellow UN member states to support the statement, which calls for unwavering support for the JCPOA, on Tuesday at the nuclear-non proliferation conference. The JCPOA is quite a fragile compromise. Any deviation from it will inevitably affect the global non-proliferation regime and have powerful negative consequences for regional stability and security, Yermakov said. Statement comes a day after Israeli defence minister says Tel Aviv would destroy the system if it is used against it. The Russian army has hinted that it would supply the Syrian government with a sophisticated air defence system. Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi said on Wednesday that Moscow would supply Damascus with new missile defence systems soon. The statement did not specify what kind of system would be given to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a major ally of Russia. On Monday, Russian daily Kommersant reported that Moscow was close to delivering its S-300 missile defence system, but Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied the report, saying his country had not yet decided on whether to deliver the system or not. Well have to wait to see what specific decisions the Russian leadership and representatives of Syria will take, Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russias TASS news agency. There is probably no secret about this, and it can all be announced [if a decision is taken]. Avigdor Lieberman, Israels defence minister, said on Tuesday that Tel Aviv would strike the S-300 anti-aircraft defence system if it is used against it. One thing should be clear 0 if someone fires on our planes, we will destroy them Whats important to us is that the weapons defence systems that the Russians transfer to Syria are not used against us, Lieberman told Israeli website Ynet. If they are used against us, we will act against them. However, Russias ambassador to Israel, Alexander Shein, sought to downplay the potential transactions importance, stressing that Israel was not the target of the defence system. I cant imagine any such scenario, Shein said in response to Liebermans threat. We are mutually coordinating and updating about Syria So far, there have been no incidents between us, nor even hints at incidents, and I hope there will not be. Top Russian officials have said that in light of Western air raids on Syria earlier this month, Moscow may reconsider a pledge it gave a decade ago not to provide Syria with the S-300 system. The attacks by the United States, Britain and France were in retaliation to an April 7 suspected chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma, near Damascus, that killed dozens of people, according to rescuers and medics. Relatives of an unarmed Palestinian teen killed by an Israeli officer four years ago have slammed a nine-month sentence handed by an Israeli court to the member of the security forces, saying it exposes how unjust Israels judicial system is. Israeli border police officer Ben Deri was filmed shooting dead Nadim Nuwarra in May 2014 during a protest at the Beitunia checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, even though the 17-year-old posed no danger. A second teenage protester, Mohammad Abu Thaher, 16, was also hit with live rounds and killed. Israel did not make an arrest in that case, citing lack of evidence as an autopsy was not carried out. In a plea bargain, the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday handed Deri a nine-month jail term, an additional six-month suspended sentence and ordered him to pay 50,000 shekels ($14,000) in damages to Nuwarras family. Under last years plea deal, Deri had his original charge of manslaughter reduced to negligent use of a firearm. Prosecutors accepted Deris claim that he had mistakenly loaded a live round into his rifle when he intended to shoot a rubber bullet. Nuwaras family at the time called the plea agreement a trick and shame on the Israeli justice system. Siam Nuwarra, Nadims father, has over the years fought a long legal battle on behalf of his son from the moment, he says, he found a live bullet in the backpack Nadim was wearing when he was shot dead. I have proven that Israel has no justice or fairness when it comes to Palestinians, he told Al Jazeera. I proved this with evidence, because the case of Nadim is one of the strongest cases in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by evidence, it proves Nadim was intentionally killed. Unwarranted and unjust decision Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi also condemned the length of the sentence as ludicrous, comparing it to that of Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian teenager sentenced to eight months on assault and incitement charges after slapping an Israeli soldier. This unwarranted and unjust decision represents a double standard in Israels outrageous sentences passed against Palestinians by Israeli military courts while Israeli occupation forces and illegal and extremist settlers are given free license to act with complete impunity, Ashrawi said in a statement. Ammar Dweik, of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, agreed. Ahed Tamimi is a child who slapped a soldier and received almost the same sentence as a soldier who put an end to the life of a Palestinian child, he said. So you can compare the double standards that the Israeli justice system is following. The Israeli police declined to comment on Deris sentencing. US Supreme Court to decide legality of Trump travel ban Conservative-majority court is due to hear arguments and issue a ruling by the end of June on whether the US presidents travel ban policy violates federal immigration law or the US Constitutions prohibition on religious discrimination. US president says wealthy Middle East countries must foot the bill for US presence in Syria and deploy their own troops. US President Donald Trump has said that some immensely wealthy countries in the Middle East have to pay for American protection and deploy their own troops in Syria. Speaking at a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, Trump said these countries wouldnt last a week without US support. Countries that are in the area, some of which are immensely wealthy, would not be there except for the United States, and to a lesser extent France, Trump said. They wouldnt be there except for the United States. They wouldnt last a week. We are protecting them. They have to now step up and pay for what is happening. Trump did not name the countries but stressed that they will pay before adding that they will also put soldiers on the ground. Trump seemed to backtrack on an earlier decision to withdraw US forces from Syria, when he stressed on Tuesday that it was important not to allow Iran grow its influence in the region. As far as Syria is concerned, I would love to get out. Id love to bring our incredible warriors back home. Theyve done a great job With that being said, Emmanuel and myself have discussed the fact that we dont want to give Iran open season, especially since we really control it. Saudi Arabia: Qatar has to pay In response to Trumps remarks, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubair said Qatar should pay for US presence in Syria. Qatar has to pay for US military presence in Syria and send its military forces there, before the US president cancels US protection of Qatar, which hosts a [US] military base on its lands, al-Jubeir said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Thursday. Al-Jubeir said the [Qatari] regime would fall there in less than a week if the US pulls its troops out of Qatar. There are currently more than 9,000 US soldiers, most of them from the Air Force, and 100 military aircrafts at Al Udeid airbase, which lies about 30km west of Doha. It is the main air operations centre for the US Central Command, with cargo aircrafts, strategic bombers, and aircraft refuellers. Earlier in April, Trump said Saudi Arabia had to pay if it wanted US troops to remain in Syria. Weve almost completed the task [of defeating ISIS] and will be making a decision very quickly in coordination with others in the area, as to what we will do, Trump said at the time. Saudi Arabia is very interested in our decision and I said: Well you know, you want us to stay? Maybe you are going to have to pay.' A Turkish court has handed prison sentences to 14 staff of the Cumhuriyet opposition newspaper on terrorism charges, and acquitted three others, according to state media. The sentences for those convicted on Wednesday by the Istanbul-based court ranged from two-and-a-half years to seven-and-a-half years. Among them are renowned journalists, including investigative reporter Ahmet Sik, who was sentenced to seven years and six months. Journalist and columnist Kadri Gursel was sentenced to 30 months. {articleGUID} The court handed cartoonist Musa Kart a three-year-and-nine-month sentence, while Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu was sentenced to seven years and six months. The convicted staff members will remain free pending appeal, but they are barred from leaving Turkey. They will also regularly report to the judicial authorities. Three staff members were acquitted by the court. The court also ruled that the case against the prominent journalist Can Dundar, previously the newspapers editor-in-chief, would continue separately, the Cumhuriyet reported. Another defendant in the case, who was not employed by the paper and had been charged for his activities on Twitter, got the stiffest sentence: 10 years. Supporting Gulen The staff of the newspaper, one of the rare voices in Turkey that is still critical of the government, were charged with supporting in their coverage three groups that Turkey considers terror groups the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the ultra-left Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), and the organisation of Fethullah Gulen, the Muslim religious leader Ankara holds responsible for a failed 2016 coup attempt. The Turkish government says the members of Gulens movement have run a parallel state within the civilian and military bureaucracy, following their own agenda. Gulen, who is based in the United States, has denied the charges. A recent European Commission report said that under the state of emergency imposed in the wake of the coup bid, more than 150,000 people had been taken into custody, 78,000 arrested and over 110,000 civil servants dismissed. Turkish authorities say that some 40,000 have been reinstated in the process. Turkeys Western allies have repeatedly condemned the Turkish governments detentions and purges after the coup attempt. Local and international rights groups accuse the government of using the coup bid as a pretext to silence opposition in the country. The government says that the purges and detentions are in line with the rule of law and aim to remove Gulens supporters from state institutions and other parts of society. As America approaches her 250th birthday, her instruction manual, the U.S. Constitution, is under assault as never before. The First Amendment is under attack by campus speech police and social media, censoring and deciding which political statements are welcomed and which are verboten. The Second Amendment is threatened by leftist elitists happy to ban guns for the law-abiding as long as they can have armed guards protecting themselves and their families from the criminals who don't give a whit about whatever gun laws the left proposes. It's not only the Bill of Rights under assault, but also Article Two of the Constitution specifically, the first section, detailing how a president is elected to a four-year term. President Donald Trump was lawfully and constitutionally elected to serve as America's 45th president for a term of four years, commencing in January 2017. Unless he is impeached and removed from office, as dictated by the Constitution, for high crimes and misdemeanors, he is entitled to serve through January 2021. If he chooses to seek a second term and the voters re-elect him, he may serve eight years. This is how our government works: the peaceful transition of power from one president to the next. At least, this is how it is supposed to work and has for the first 44 American presidents. Instead, we had an outgoing administration, using its vast intelligence and judicial powers to influence a presidential election. Perhaps "influence" is too kind a word, as even an endorsement from the outgoing president is meant to influence. Far better would be a word like "rig" or "fix," deliberately dictating the outcome despite the constitutional process and the will of the people. That's exactly what the Obama administration did. A lie, dressed up as intelligence, was used to fraudulently justify spying on a presidential campaign before the election. Congressman Devin Nunes, on this weekend's Sunday talk shows, explained that the information used to justify spying on Trump was not intelligence material at all. Instead, it was opposition research, smears commissioned and paid for by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee. This in turn was treated by the Obama Justice Department and FISA courts as a legitimate intelligence product, justifying "wiretaps." The collected information was then leaked to a complicit and willing media, to be spread far and wide in an effort to determine the election outcome. Having failed, the Obama administration set the wheels in motion via its "insurance policy" to destroy the duly elected president through a special prosecutor and a relentless media attack, seeking to cripple and undermine President Trump. Having been unsuccessful at creating impeachable or criminal charges against Trump, the secondary goal was to turn public opinion against him until his supporters came out with pitchforks demanding his removal from office. What's the result? Pushing the make-believe Russian collusion narrative, of which there is and never was any evidence, undermines American trust in the electoral process. It also casts a taint on the ability of the president to effectively govern and fulfill his constitutional duties. Lastly, it ascribes undeserved powers to the Russian government. If they can hack an American election, what can't they do? When does this end? When do the relentless attacks and undermining of the Trump administration stop, with an acceptance of the now almost year and a half-ago election outcome? When will those guilty of this nefarious scheme be identified and held to account? Rudy Giuliani is joining the Trump legal team, ostensibly to negotiate an end to the Mueller jihad. That's great, but will this deal be a grand compromise? Will the deal let the kingpins off scot-free, those with the last name Clinton and Obama, while throwing a few foot soldiers, such as Andrew McCabe or James Comey, under the bus with convictions or even a short stint behind bars? That's nothing but a wrist slap those undermining the Constitution and rule of law getting caught but not punished. Better luck next time, and there will certainly be a next time. The next Democrat in the White House will try the same thing, learning from the mistakes of the Obama administration, ensuring that the scheme works and that its people don't get caught. The irony is that Trump could weaponize the agencies now under his control, to re-elect himself and then Mike Pence in 2024. Democrats should be keenly interested in transparency and accountability so this scheme isn't used against them. Politicized bureaucrats and investigations resulting in delegitimizing elections can just as easily be used against the Democrats in the future. The only way to end this is through a whopping dose of disinfectant, shining a bright light on the scheming and wrongdoing and punishing those guilty to the full extent of the law so no one dares try this again. This is not simply lying to the FBI or mishandling classified information. It is far worse treason and sedition. The U.S. Code defines treason quite simply: "[w]hoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them." Sedition is straightforward, too: conspiracy "to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them." Those participating in a conspiracy worthy of a Robert Ludlum novel or the current season of Homeland, using any and all means necessary to rig an election, then overturning a properly elected administration, deserve to pay a price. It is of utmost importance to send a message so loud and clear that this is never attempted again. The media deserve a slap-down, too, for their participation in this charade. They are unindicted co-conspirators at the least, hiding behind a free speech fig leaf, while they work hand in hand with the last administration to undermine a presidential election and the eventual winner. Some might call it sedition, but I'll leave it to the legal experts to decide. Are there any adults in Washington, D.C. who realize how this process is dividing and destroying the country? It's whipping up the anti-Trump forces into a frenzy bordering on civil war, balkanizing America to a point that she may not recover. Congressional Republicans, with a few exceptions like Nunes, Grassley, DeSantis, and Gaetz, are going along with the conspiracy via their silence, their hatred of Trump outweighing their love of country and Constitution. Where are the voices of sanity and reason, calling the Russian collusion story what it really is: a manufactured hoax designed to undermine and overturn an elected government? Trump is a junkyard dog from New York City. He will fight back and likely prevail, but at what cost to his administration, his agenda, the Constitution, and the country? Is this Trump coup, attempting to force him out of office or pressure him to resign, worth the damage to the Constitution and the country? Fortunately, the president's agenda successfully marches on, but imagine how much more he could be accomplishing if he didn't have everyone in Washington, D.C., including his own party, constantly throwing stones and placing roadblocks in his way. Are there any grown-ups in D.C. who see what is happening and realize the danger to America? Where are the statesmen (and stateswomen, to be politically correct) willing to step up and tell everyone to shut up and accept the results of the last election? From either side of the aisle. If there are no adults left in Washington, D.C., then Trump needs to send a message so loud and so clear that no one dares to attempt such a coup again. Otherwise, America will eventually become Russia, the country accused of orchestrating this a scandal causing such damage that any enemy of America would be proud to claim it as his own. Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., MPS is a Denver-based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. German chancellor Angela Merkel's goal for her White House this Friday would be humorous if it weren't so pathetically typical of what America often faces. Here's a brief background on the episode I reference. Ever since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and started encroaching on the Ukraine, Western Europe has been demanding that the U.S. sanction the Russians. Whatever was done, however, never seemed to be enough to satisfy the enlighten muckety-mucks in Europe. That brings us to today. President Trump you know, the man who is said to be beholden to Putin has recently issued strong sanctions on Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. So far, so good. But now Merkel and the rest of the German political establishment have flip-flopped. They want President Trump to exempt their county's companies from these tough new sanctions. Frau Merkel plans to bring this request up at her scheduled meeting with Trump at the White House this week on April 27, along with Germany's concerns about America's newfound attitude toward unbalanced trade, Iran, and Trump's withdrawal from the Paris accord. The Germans are in a pickle. Even more than China, Germany, the economic powerhouse of Europe, relies on exports for its economic well-being. Some 46 percent of that country's GDP is due to exports in goods and services. That's a staggering amount. For the U.S., exports account for only about 12 percent of its GDP. Germany's exports to Russia came to $30 billion in 2017. That might not seem like a lot, but a loss of any of it would hurt German companies at the margin. So Chancellor Merkel wants her industries protected. The Germans desperately need this, as multiple sources say Germany is headed for a recession here, here, and here. On trade with the U.S., Germany is enjoying a $65-billion surplus. This can only incur Trump's righteous wrath at his April meeting with Merkel. The German chancellor is a political cripple holding together a fragile coalition government. No question, Merkel is coming to Washington with an extremely weak hand to play. If Trump can't wring major concessions out of Germany on trade and other issues, then he's a dunce who doesn't deserve the title of the master of the deal. It would be a fortunate fly who is on the wall at the Trump-Merkel meeting. No doubt, Merkel will insist on her issues. It is as if she and much of Europe are in a time warp, thinking they're still dealing with Obama or someone like him. Other leaders are quicker on the uptake, like Shinzo Abe of Japan and Moon Jae-in of South Korea...and even Little Rocket Man in North Korea. China, too, is becoming "woke" to the new reality. This sanctions episode also sheds light on what I feel is a larger picture. So often in the past, our allies in Europe hector the U.S. to lead while they essentially sit back. And when action is taken, our trans-Atlantic armchair experts criticize that what was done for being too much or too little, too harsh, or whatever. This is called ankle-biting. It's like when an annoying poodle keeping gnawing at its owner's ankle while fully expecting its meal to be served. Trade is a good example. Our partners want America to take the lead. In their minds, this means free trade for them but not for us. American markets must be open to them while their industries are allowed protection. Europe has no problem in putting Europe first but goes apoplectic when Trump does likewise for America. An interesting dichotomy, no? Another example is Iran. Trump wants to tear up or at the very least significantly alter the nuclear deal with the mullahs. France and Germany are opposed. Why? Basically because it would jeopardize their business dealings with Iran. Look where that leaves us. If Iran does go nuclear, which country bears the brunt of dealing with that awful situation? Not France or Germany; it's the U.S. And of course, if that came to pass, the wise men and women in Europe would have no inhibition in advising America on what to do and what not to do. Past U.S. administrations have allowed the word "leadership" to be terribly misused. A leader isn't one who rolls up his sleeves and does all the heavy lifting. That describes a hired hand more than it does a leader. No, for although a leader may do actual lifting here and there as a way of example, the leader's main role is to set direction for the team, delegate what others are to do, and maintain accountability standards. It's time for the U.S. to get back to that type of leadership. And if others don't like that, they're free to quit the team and look for greener pastures elsewhere. Thanks to the sleuthing of Catherine Herridge and her producers Pamela K. Brown and Clyde Upson of Fox News, the public is belatedly learning that James Comey appointed his good friend and accomplice in leaking government documents to the New York Times, Columbia Law Professor Daniel Richman, as a Special Employee of the government. Fox News reports: The Columbia law professor James Comey used as a go-between last year to leak the contents of sensitive memos to the media confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that he previously worked as a special government employee (SGE) for Comeys FBI on an unpaid basis. The professor, Daniel Richman, confirmed the special status in response to an inquiry from Fox News, while referring other questions, including on the scope of his work, to the FBI. Apparently, there was no plan to disclose this information to the public. But it had not been kept from Congress, at least: Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, said the information about Richman and his special FBI status first emerged during closed-door testimony by Comey's former chief of staff James Rybicki before the House oversight and judiciary committees. This is highly intriguing. Did Rybicki cut some sort of deal? Richmans Junior G-Man status brought with it some serious perks: Sources familiar with Richmans status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to "special projects" by Comey, and had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building. Richmans status was the subject of a Memorandum of Understanding. I would be very interested in knowing how that security clearance was obtained. Was Richman screened by the FBI? How thorough was the investigation? Richman seems to have been working for Comey more than for the people of the United States: While Richman's portfolio included the use of encrypted communications by terror suspects, the sources said Richman also was sent talking points about the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Those talking points attempted to compare and contrast Clinton's use of an unsecured personal server exclusively for government business with the case of retired Gen.David Petraeus, who shared classified information with his biographer and mistress Paula Broadwell, as well as the case brought against the late Sandy Berger. The former national security adviser under President Clinton pleaded guilty to the unauthorized removal and retention of classified material from the National Archives. You can expect the get-Trump crowd to argue that since Richman was an "unpaid special employee" it is no big deal. But money is not the issue. The potential for abuse lies in access to secret information, and potential conflcts of interest in acting as an accomplice, and now as a personal lawyer for Comey. Since Comey took it upon himself to play the role of a prosecutor in determining whether or not to bring charges against Mrs. Clinton something that the FBI should not be doing Richman may have become his accomplice in obstruction of justice in that case, in addition to his role in leaking classified materials. The entire process by which Clinton skated on felony charges in the face of clear evidence is suspicious, to say the least. Especially since Comey has admitted in his new book that he shaped his offical actions on the basis of his belief that Mrs. Clinton woludl win the election. This is not the first time this status has been abusively used: Incidentally, another special government employee who has come under scrutiny was Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, among others, previously questioned Abedin's special status that allowed her to work at the Clinton State Department and private-sector entities at the same time. Lets hope that all of this is under investigation by the Utah US Attorney John Huber and his grand jury, who has been assigned responsibility for investigating FBI corruption. Image courtesy of Fox News. Facebook will once again be in the headlines when the popular vloggers Lynnette "Diamond" Hardaway and Rochelle "Silk" Robinson testify before a House Judiciary Committee on April 26. The biological sisters and North Carolina natives will discuss Facebook's social media filtering and policing practices. From a biting and hilarious 2016 viral video excoriating Fox News superstar Megyn Kelly for her snarky gotcha debate question directed at candidate Trump to their upcoming appearance in D.C., Diamond and Silk are proving to be unstoppable champions of the First Amendment. Before 2016, not many people had even heard of the sisters, but their gutsy honesty and made-for-media personalities have gained them a huge audience. Eventually, the pro-Trump enthusiasts, with almost two million followers, landed themselves on Facebook's "unsafe" list. Now the former Democrats are eager to present evidence to Congress that Facebook's technicians purposely targeted them because of their decision to leave the Democratic plantation and jump on the Trump train. In September 2017, the duo started a back-and-forth with Facebook when they noticed that traffic on their FB page had abruptly dropped and followers were no longer receiving notifications. Finally, on April 5, Diamond and Silk received a definitive response from Facebook after what the two called getting the "run around ... via emails, chats, phone calls, appeals, beating around the bush, and lies." Facebook wrote: "The Policy team has come to the conclusion that your content and your brand has been determined unsafe to the community." During a congressional hearing on April 10, Senator Cruz confronted Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about his company's "pervasive pattern of bias and political censorship," citing the controversy surrounding Diamond and Silk. Later, Rep Billy Long (R-Mo.) held up a picture of the pair and asked Zuckerberg, "What is unsafe about two black women supporting President Donald J Trump?" Zuckerberg answered that "nothing is unsafe about that" and blamed his staff for an "enforcement error." The CEO then told the committee he "works hard to root out any bias in the work that we do." He does if the affected groups are on the left. In October 2017, a month after Diamond and Silk contacted Facebook to discuss the company's blatant censorship, Facebook executives, including their public policy manager, Neil Potts, mentioned in an April 13 email to Diamond and Silk, convened a meeting with far left racial justice activists. Hillary Clinton-supporter and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg sat down with cop-haters and Obama insiders, Deray McKesson, Brittany Packett and Samuel Sinyangwe, to stifle criticism from the Congressional Black Caucus regarding FB's "lack of diversity." Also at the meeting were Muslim organizer Blair Imani and progressive media activist Sam White. When asked about the meeting later, BLM leader and Soros beneficiary McKesson said: "I think that it's always important that people in leadership roles hear from users affected in different ways." McKesson failed to add, "Unless they are Diamond and Silk or any other conservative, pro-Trump, pro-American patriot." Unsurprisingly, Diamond and Silk were not invited to share their own user experience of discrimination despite being in communication with Facebook about the company's attempt to shut them down a month before the October meeting. In fact, Facebook's appeasement meeting with social justice thugs in October 2017, while ignoring Diamond and Silk, proves that the left-leaning social media giant is wholeheartedly in sync with the entitled monsters its bleeding-heart policies have created. Go get 'em, Lynnette and Rochelle. A federal judge has ordered the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program resumed after a 90-day delay, handing the Trump administration another setback in its bid to end it. Two other judges had previously ordered the government to accept renewals of the program. But Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, said the government must begin accepting new applications after a 90-day delay to give the Department of Homeland Security time to make a different legal argument to end the program. CNN: In response to the ruling, the Justice Department said it stands by its original reasoning, calling DACA an "unlawful circumvention of Congress," and that it intends to continue making its case to the courts. ... In his 60-page decision, Bates took the administration to task for its justification for ending DACA, which was almost entirely based on a threat from Texas and a handful of other states to challenge DACA in court. Bates called the move "particularly egregious" given the hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients, young undocumented immigrants [sic] who came to the US as children, protected under the program over its five years. Given how many people's lives were built on the protections from DACA, Bates said, "its barebones legal interpretation was doubly insufficient." Bates concluded that the argument that a Texas court would have likely immediately halted the program "was so implausible that it fails even under the deferential arbitrary and capricious standard." I guess the federal courts don't believe that the chief executive is in charge of the Executive Branch. Sure, the reasoning was "specious." But so was the "selective prosecution" reasoning of the Obama administration when he issued his own executive order implementing DACA. Trump is not going to win this battle in the federal courts. Only at the Supreme Court will he have a chance. Even there, his immigration rulings have an uncertain future, given some of the straws in the wind we've seen from Judge Gorsuch. Let me preface my question with this: I'm not a psychologist or a psychiatrist. But after observing former FBI director James Comey on DMIC (Democrat Media Industrial Complex) outlets such as 20/20, The View and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, I am left to wonder: is J. Edgar Comey clinically insane? Mind you, my question was warranted before Comey embarked on his A Higher Loyalty book tour romp. I breathlessly wonder, every time James the Giant speaks, does he actually believe the bull dung coming out of his mouth? Comey sounds like every other masked Democrat fascist who calls himself "Antifa." He sounds like every Democrat who wants President Trump impeached for being the modern-day Julius Rosenberg. He sounds like U.S. senator Chuck Schumer. He sounds like every Constitution-hating Clinton and Obama sycophant who wants the Twelfth Amendment (the Electoral College amendment) overturned because normal thinking people don't want our president picked only by California. It's all got me thinking: is the United States run by insane people? And if so, exactly how many insane people? At times during his many interviews, Comey looked as though he was ready to cry a somber, emotional bloke he is. I am certain he's taken acting classes, although I cannot prove it. Then again, who needs proof and evidence in today's American justice system? When Comey speaks, with his trademark Comey Catharsis, his pacing and tonality are those of a Ted Bundy or a Charles Manson someone who has convinced himself into believing the grandest delusions of grandeur. Comey has been loved and hated by Democrats and loved and hated by Republicans. He thinks that makes him admirable, but I think that makes him a Tessio Republican; like Tessio in The Godfather, Comey gladly betrayed the integrity of his office. (Like other Tessio Republicans and NeverTrump Democrats, Comey has offered his sob story about how he didn't leave the GOP; the GOP left him.) J. Edgar Comey has shown himself to be a highly indecisive man, vulnerable to self-proclaimed bad judgment. Perhaps he deserves credit for his candor, but every other sentence he utters is about how he did or said something he shouldn't have not exactly a trait that behooves the head of America's primary law enforcement agency. He regrets his description of President Trump's appearance. When asked by George Stephanopoulos about the funding of the Russian urine dossier, here's how the exchange went: Stephanopoulos: "Did you tell him that the Steele dossier had been financed by his political opponents?" Comey: "No. I didn't." Stephanopoulos: "But did he have a right to know that?" Comey: "That it had been financed by his political opponents? I don't know the answer to that." Don't know the answer to that? Comey is really insane, really dumb, or really naive. I suspect, unfortunately, that it was something much more nefarious: he aided and abetted the weaponization of government and law enforcement agencies under Obama and was a willing political operative of the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton. Like all his other fellow cronies, such as former attorneys general Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder, and former interim FBI director Andrew McCabe, Comey never doubted that Clinton would win 57 states in a landslide which means we'd never have known how much those whose duty was to protect Americans and enforce the rule of law had run capital-A amok. Comey has branded himself as an aw, shucks flawed man who stands for truth, justice, and the American way. But anyone who has to work so hard to tell the truth undoubtedly has a great deal to hide. I'm embarrassed to say I once held Comey in high regard, particularly when he said increased scrutiny of police makes their jobs harder. Comey is another soldier on the losing side fighting the last war. In politics, when one is on defense and explaining, one is losing. But he wouldn't know anything about that, because Comey always assured us that he never made political decisions. Right, Jimmy? Rich Logis is host of The Rich Logis Show, at TheRichLogisShow.com, and author of the upcoming book 10 Warning Signs Your Child is Becoming a Democrat. He can be found on Twitter at @RichLogis. Image: thierry ehrmann via Flickr. CNN and many other news organizations have already tried and convicted a Navy combat doctor, Admiral Ronny Jackson, M.C., USN. This is really a political hit directed against President Trump. Essentially the MSM and Democrat enablers waited until the very last minute and dropped a P.R. bomb on their target. "I told Admiral Jackson just a little while ago, what do you need this for?" Trump said of his conversation with the White House physician. "This is a vicious group of people, they malign ... what do you need it for?" In case there was still any doubt about what path Trump wants Jackson to take, the president noted that "I don't want to put a man through a process like this. It's too ugly and too disgusting. ... If I were him, I wouldn't do it." Having been medically evacuated from combat for tangling with dirty SEA jungle water, I spent almost a year in the care of Navy medical personnel and then DVA physicians. To this date, I will take USN over DVA. USN medical teams are the very best. With that said, I fully respect whatever Admiral Ronny Jackson decides to do with full honor to his service. So let's level the media playing field with a few questions for honest inquiring reporters as this emerging feeding-frenzy destruction of Admiral Jackson is playing out. The takeaway is that Trump's lack of concern with vetting, coupled with his desire to surround himself with people he likes, leads to situations like this one with Jackson. And that's nobody's fault but Trump's. It has been charged that he was not "vetted," yet he would have had a White House Yankee White Clearance, so how could the raw allegations could be missed over his entire W.H. career? If the accusations predate his tour as physician to the three presidents, Bush, Obama, and Trump, they would have been adjudicated at the time of awarding a Yankee White Clearance. Why is this most stringent clearance vetting process in our national security not noted in his defense? With a Yankee White, did the FBI still miss everything alleged in their Presidential Appointment Schedule (PAS) vetting process? Did they review the USN Medical I.G. report that sided with Admiral Jackson? So far, it now looks like a six-year revenge move on a team that lost in a case of workplace conflict. The American people are fair heck the media is famous for workplace conflicts. Is that the new standard? A person who viewed the report confirmed to Fox News that the watchdog had recommended the Obama administration consider replacing either Jackson or his rival, Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman or both. President Trump actually gave President Obama a vote of confidence in his elevating Dr. David Shulkin in rank from undersecretary for the Veterans' Health Administration (VHA) to secretary of the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) last year. Now that Shulkin has been fired, let us all now see how that act of bipartisan comity is going to be repaid with the nomination of Admiral Jackson. So if reporters can actually ask inappropriate "dumb questions" of President Trump when he is with the president of France, why not ask a polite and important question of former President Obama? After all, President Obama is one of the most impressive "original sources" of Admiral Jackson's fitness for duty, and he and his family observed his medical skills and behavior and kept him on board. President Obama, did you find Admiral Jackson medically professional and competent at all times since there was a DON Medical I.G. report in 2012, and then, with that complete, did you make him your personal physician for your entire second term? Another indicator of a last-minute political hit is this: why wasn't Dr. Jackson's medical judgment attacked when he performed so well in a major W.H. press conference discussing President Trump's fitness for duty? If the opponents of Admiral Jackson had damning "raw" information, why did it not come out at that time? The MSM and all opponents unfairly maligning Dr. Jackson should always note that if this entire issue is seen as nothing more than a last-minute political attack, President Trump in his own words is a counter-puncher. Will the Democrat senators who waited until the last minute to blow up the confirmation process be held responsible for burning through the most precious resource for a veteran needing help: time? Birds of a feather are flocking together, as we learned last night, when Patrick Fitzgerald joined the legal team representing James Comey shortly after Comey was fired by President Trump in May 2017. Fitzgerald was the former U.S. attorney in Chicago who was the special prosecutor who railroaded Scooter Libby into an unjust conviction on perjury while allowing the actual leaker of information he was supposed to be going after to remain uncharged. Fitzgerald wanted to pressure Libby to provide information on his then-boss, Vice President Cheney, apparently to force Cheney out of office. That sort of bare-knuckle overtly politicized operation at senior levels in federal law enforcement must be part of the reason why the two men are such old friends that Fitzgerald reportedly is godfather to one of Comey's children. Two Capitol Hill sources confirmed to Talking Points Memo that Comey had retained Fitzgerald, though it was not immediately clear in what capacity he made the hire. "He's been representing me since I was fired," Comey told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday evening at a reception in Washington, D.C., for his new memoir. Comey said Fitzgerald is part of a three-member legal team that includes David Kelley, a former deputy U.S. attorney under Comey in New York, and former federal prosecutor Dan Richman, a Columbia Law School professor. According to the Chicago Tribune: "Fitzgerald is now a partner in Chicago of the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom," the big law firm that reportedly just separated itself from another political henchman, former impeachment lawyer for President Clinton and White House counsel for President Obama, Greg Craig. The Daily Caller News Foundation reports: Greg Craig, the White House counsel for President Barack Obama, abruptly left his law firm as it has come under scrutiny from the special counsel's investigation. A spokeswoman for Skadden Arps confirmed to The Daily Caller News Foundation that Craig is no longer with the firm. She did not address whether his departure is related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The website Above the Law first reported on Tuesday that Craig's biography had been removed from Skadden Arps' website. Skadden Arps has come under scrutiny because of its work with Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, on behalf of the Ukrainian government in 2012. A team led by Craig helped produce a report that sought to justify the imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko, a political rival of Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian president at the time and an ally of Vladimir Putin's. If this seems confusing, that means you are paying attention. Keep in mind that Manafort worked with super-lobbyist and Democrat fixture Tony Podesta, brother of John Podesta, on the Ukraine gig. The collective sleaze factor among this group of political insider manipulators is overwhelming. Sorting it all out is going to take a lot of time, and a grand jury probably would be helpful. I have seen a lot of pathetic stories from Washington Post, since it has been targeting Trump every day, but this piece by Philip Rucker is one of the most wretched: "Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble," Trump tweeted over the weekend. He added: "Sorry, I don't see Michael doing that." By asserting that the government would not be able to "flip" Cohen, Trump invited a question: If the Russia probe is the "witch hunt" the president says it is and if he is as innocent as he so often proclaims what incriminating evidence would Cohen have on Trump that would give him leverage to flip? It was only the latest instance of the president adopting a posture vis-a-vis his legal troubles that is both combative and defensive and, perhaps unwittingly, seems to assume guilt. I've got a few questions for the Washington Post: Why have you reported as if Trump is guilty of colluding with the Russians for almost eighteen months when there has been absolutely zero evidence that this is true? Why have the FBI and Justice Department been so slow in producing evidence if there is nothing to hide? Does the Post think Michael Cohen's office would have been raided if he weren't Trump's attorney? Why do journalists act as if the raid had nothing to do with Trump? Why did Obama's justice Department spy on a political opponent based on a garbage dossier funded by Democrats? Why did Hillary and her aides dump emails and destroy computers and other equipment if they weren't intentionally violating the law? Why did Obama and Hillary create the fake story of the video if they weren't guilty of gross negligence in Benghazi? The OnePlus 6 will support a Super Slo Mo camera mode, the Indian arm of the Chinese smartphone manufacturer confirmed as part of its product page teasing the launch of the upcoming Android flagship. The image that can be seen below explicitly mentions the existence of the shooting mode thats likely to be similar to the Super Slow-Motion capabilities of Samsungs Galaxy S9 lineup and Sonys latest Xperia XZ2-branded offerings. The last two OnePlus devices offered a Slo Mo feature which recorded 720p videos at 240 frames per second, with only custom kernels and tinkering being able to push their hardware to 480fps, albeit with inconsistent results. The new functionality is likely to be able to deliver 720p recordings and 960fps. The OnePlus 6 is expected to retain the dual-camera setup of its predecessor but while possibly upping its resolution and repositioning the two lenses to the center of its rear panel instead of placing them in its top left corner. Portrait Mode should also be making a return with the new Android flagship, together with optional beautification capabilities meant to smoothen the skin tones and complexion of your subjects. The Shenzhen, Guangdong-based original equipment manufacturer recently confirmed the OnePlus 6 will be officially introduced on May 16, whereas its launch in China and India is scheduled for a day later due to time zone differences. The handset will be powered by Qualcomms Snapdragon 845 and up to 8GB of RAM, with its most premium model also being set to ship with 256GB of storage space. Besides the regular series, the OEM once again partnered with Disney and will be releasing a limited edition of the OnePlus 6 themed after Marvels Avengers: Infinity War after launching a Star Wars-inspired OnePlus 5T in late 2017. The phablet will feature a display notch and a screen-to-body ratio of roughly 90-percent, as well as support for facial recognition authentication and iPhone X-like navigation gestures. The OnePlus 6 should begin retailing globally by late May and start at approximately $550, with the smartphone being widely expected to become the firms best-selling product to date, much like all previous devices from the company outsold their direct predecessors. Facebook is making some changes to its upper-management, likely due to the number privacy concerns that have risen in the past few months. Facebook is moving its current head of policy, Erin Egan back to her former role as Chief Privacy Officer. Facebook is moving the vice president of mobile global access policy, Kevin Martin to the head of policy for the US, role. Martin is a former FCC chairman before becoming a vice president at the social network. He was at the FCC from 2001 to 2009 (under the Bush Administration), and was chairman from 2005 to 2009. Egan had been chief privacy officer at Facebook for quite some time, and when Martin was hired, she also took the role as head of policy in the US. Facebook stated that for the last couple years, Erin wore both hats at the company. Facebook also noted that Martin will be the interim head of US Public Policy, and Egan will be focusing on her expanded duties as chief privacy officer. The reasoning behind the change is likely due to the fact that both roles have drastically expanded over the past few years and even more so in the past few months in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Its notable that Facebook has named Martin interim head of policy at the company, which means the company may be looking for someone else to fill that role permanently. Though, it is also possible that Martin will fill that role permanently down the road. Its obvious that both roles that Martin and Egan now have, are going to be changing a lot in the coming weeks and months, as changes after this data breach come down. Whether thats from Facebook or from the government, seeing as there is a good chance that there could be some regulation coming to Facebook after the data breach that actually occurred during the 2016 US Presidential Election. But having Martin in that position is a good choice for Facebook, seeing as he was in the FCC for eight years, and also worked on the Bush-Cheney Campaign in 2000 which helped make George Bush the 43rd President of the United States. A new leak claims that the Samsung smartphone with the model number SM-G8750 will be marketed as the Samsung Galaxy S8 Lite while the device with the model number SM-G8850 will be called as the Galaxy A8 Star. This information came from the industry insider MMDJ_, and this leak somewhat confirms earlier reports which mention that the South Korean device maker is developing a more affordable version of its 2017 flagship offering. Earlier leaks have provided details regarding the specifications of the two upcoming smartphones from the South Korean tech giant. Previous reports claim that the Galaxy S8 Lite will be powered by the Snapdragon 660 chipset from the semiconductor firm Qualcomm. This SoC is comprised of an octa-core Kryo 260 CPU and the Adreno 512 GPU. The handset will likely contain 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal flash storage. In addition, the smartphone is expected to sport a display with a resolution of 2220 by 1080 pixels and an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. There is no available information yet regarding the screen size of this device, although it has been reported that this handset will ship with Android 8.0 Oreo pre-installed. However, Samsungs proprietary skin will likely run on top of Googles operating system. On the other hand, the Galaxy A8 Star has already passed through the certification process of the Chinese telecommunications regulator TENAA two weeks ago, and the website of the regulator has also provided details regarding the design of the upcoming smartphone. The images included with the handsets listing on the regulators website shows that the rear panel of the handset will contain the fingerprint sensor and a dual rear camera setup. The two rear cameras are arranged vertically and it is placed near the upper left corner of the back panel. The listing also mentions that the handset will sport a 6.3-inch OLED display, and the device will also include 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal flash storage, which could be expanded using a microSD card with a capacity of up to 256GB. In addition, reports mention that the rear cameras of the device will be equipped with one 24-megapixel sensor and one 16-megapixel sensor, while the TENAA listing claims that the front-facing selfie shooter will have a 24-megapixel snapper. To keep its lights on, the handset includes a 3,700mAh battery. Lenovo today announced its plans to further expand its market share in the Indian smart wearables space by manufacturing them locally. As a result of this step, the Chinese brand expects its share to soar by three times to touch 20 percent by the end of 2018. The company currently holds close to 7 percent of the smart wearable market after about a year of its debut in the product segment. Sebastian Peng, head of accessories at Lenovo Mobile Business Group, expects the wearables market to grow 30-40 percent this year, and local manufacturing will help Lenovo in seizing this immense growth opportunity. As of now, all the fitness bands and smartwatches that Lenovo sells in India are imported from China and manufacturing them in the country itself will help keep the price low. Peng has confirmed to be in talks with Indian companies to shift Lenovos manufacturing base to India with an intention to make the South Asian country an export hub for smart wearables. The China-based company is positioning its smart wearables as a key category under its portfolio available in India and has partnered with the countrys largest online retailer Flipkart to market its products. According to the report, Lenovo will expand the product availability to other major sales platforms, including Amazon, and even open physical stores across major Indian cities. The wearables segment in India was reportedly valued at $157 million in 2017 with majority of sales coming from Chinese players including Xiaomi and Huawei offering low-cost solutions, while Fitbit also retails its entire range of smart devices in India, but they generally cater to the premium segment. The company today announced a pair of smart fitness bands HX03 Cardio and HX03F Spectra in the Indian market at a price of Rs. 1,999 ($30) and Rs. 2,299 ($34) respectively. Both of them include an optical heart rate monitor and are water resistant with IP68 rating. The latter smart band comes with a couple of more features over the former and includes a color display, hence its slightly increased price. Both of them will be available exclusively via Flipkart starting May 3. Lenovo will also be launching its Body Fat Scale HS11 next month in India at a price of Rs. 1,999. HMD Global is preparing for the introduction of a new Android mid-ranger called the Nokia X6, according to recent reports from China. Its presently unclear whether the handset is planned to eventually be launched on a global level, but its debut in the Far Eastern country has already been teased in recent days, with some previously sighted promotional materials hinting at the revival of the Nokia X family, though without explicitly mentioning the X6 moniker. The upcoming series is said to consist of two models identified as the TA-1099 and TA-1109, with both of them recently receiving 3C certification in China, usually the last step a smartphone manufacturer has to take before being able to commercialize a new product in the country. While initial speculation surrounding the new mobile offerings pointed to entry-level handsets in the vein of the 2014 Nokia X, one of the rare few Android-powered smartphones released by Microsoft, more recent reports suggest the handset in question will be meant to compete in the upper mid-range segment of the market, with its best variant featuring Qualcomms Snapdragon 636 chip and 6GB of RAM. The more affordable model is still said to be shipping with 4GB of RAM and MediaTeks P60 silicon, whereas both should boast a 5.8-inch display panel with a 19:9 aspect ratio, with that image format being indicative of a notch being present. The Nokia X6 is also said to be sporting a dual-camera setup with Carl Zeiss-made lenses, Android 8.0 Oreo, and a largely bezel-free design. The offering should hence be positioned between the Nokia 6 (2018) and Nokia 7 Plus in terms of raw hardware power, presumably with a price tag thats indicative of those capabilities, i.e. hovers around the equivalent of $280. As evidenced by the original Nokia 7 debuted last year, not every Android-powered Nokia handset launched in China makes its way to the global market, though most still do and even those that end up being exclusive to the country are usually revamped before being introduced internationally, with the Nokia 7 Plus being the most recent example of such a global revision from HMD Global. The launch of YouTubes new premium music service, Remix, will spell the end for Google Play Music All Access, according to a new report out of Droid Life which in turn credits an unnamed reliable source for the information. No specifics on the changeover from one service to the other were provided other than the suggestion Google will look to have migrated all of its Play Music users to Remix by the end of 2018. Although Remix is the name that has now been attributed to the service, it still remains unclear whether that is actually the official name the service will launch with. As it was simply said to be the name being used internally when the first reports on the new music streaming service came to light towards the end of last year. What does seem to be clear though is this is a music streaming service, and one that has very close associations with YouTube. Which had led to the assumptions that in addition to its catalog of audio files, one of the main selling points will be the access it offers to additional music-related content, such as music videos. In fact, a company exec recently expanded a little on the service suggesting how it will effectively combine the best of both worlds, Google Play Music and YouTube. Of course, this is not that different to what YouTube has now done with its live TV service, YouTube TV. As this also combines access to premium/live TV content with YouTubes own premium in-house movies and shows, as well as some integration with the standard YouTube catalog. So while the details are still light on what the new service will be like, it would seem plausible it will look to emulate the experience on offer with YouTube TV to some degree. In either case, it is also likely to lessen the confusion surrounding Googles various apps and services with all the companys paid-for media-related services (add-free, music, movies) all falling directly under the YouTube umbrella. As for Google Play Music, it is unclear how much it will be reduced by with the launch of Remix. For example, it is still unclear whether the details in this latest report are specifically related to All Access (paid) users only, and whether the base Google Play Music experience will remain in effect, or whether the entire Google Play Music ecosystem will give way to Remix. As the latter scenario will also need to account for the storage of songs owned by those who use Play Music and have uploaded their library for easier on-the-go access. A list of specs said to belong to the upcoming Galaxy S9 Active leaked online earlier this week, having been obtained from an unknown German source by tech blog Ready Tricks. The image that can be seen below indicates Samsungs next rugged Android flagship will be identified by the model number SM-G893, which is in line with the companys established product naming practices seeing how last years Galaxy S8 Active was also known as the SM-G892. The smartphone will be a more durable variant of the 5.8-inch Galaxy S9, featuring a screen of an identical size with a QHD+ resolution of 2,960 by 1,440 pixels amounting to a tall aspect ratio of 18.5:9, as per the same source. While the Galaxy S9 Active is hence expected to debut with yet another iteration of Samsungs Super AMOLED Infinity Display panel, the handset will likely lack curved edges, much like the Active-branded variants of every flagship from the South Korean tech giant since the 2015 Galaxy S6 lineup. The device will otherwise retain the core hardware of the regular Galaxy S9, the leak indicates, suggesting the upcoming rugged phablet will be powered by Qualcomms Snapdragon 845 and 4GB of RAM, in addition to offering 64GB of storage space and a single 12-megapixel rear camera with a variable aperture capable of switching between f/1.5 and f/2.4. The front-facing 8-megapixel camera mounted behind an f/1.7 lens will also be making a return with the Galaxy S9 Active, though the handset will feature a larger-capacity battery, improving on the Galaxy S9 by 25-percent in this regard, the newly uncovered specs suggest. Besides a flat screen, more durable exterior, and a 4,000mAh battery, the Galaxy S9 Active is likely to be identical to its standard-edition counterpart and will presumably retail at a similar price point. While the Active subseries of Samsungs flagships has been exclusive to AT&T for several years, it also became available on T-Mobile and Sprint last summer, indicating Samsungs exclusivity deal with the Dallas, Texas-based wireless carrier came to an end. The Galaxy S9 Active is also expected to be announced this summer, around the time the Galaxy Note 9 is thought to be arriving as well. MadridJunts per Catalunya MP Jordi Sanchez, who is being held on pre-trial detention in Spains Soto del Real prison, has revealed the punishment that he has been imposed by the prisons authorities for having made a voice recording that was used in the campaign ahead of the December elections in Catalonia. In a message on Twitter, Sanchez has explained that he will not be allowed to communicate with Nuria Guillaumes, the Catalan National Assemblys general manager, for six months. Guillaumes is the person who received Sanchezs voice recording. The JxCat MP has been moved to a different prison wing and will have to spend 18 hours a day locked up in his cell. That is the decision taken by Spains Secretary General of Penitentiary Institutions following Jordi Sanchezs recording of a voice message from prison which was later played at the main campaign rally of Junts per Catalunya. Sanchez, who took the second slot on the JxCat slate and is the latest name to have been suggested for the post of president of Catalonia, finished off his Twitter post with the word #freedom written in Catalan and a picture of some galloping mustangs. Sources close to Sanchezs legal counsel have confirmed that the decision was taken a few months ago, but was only implemented in early April. The same sources indicated that Puigdemonts deputy is allowed to leave his prison cell only in the morning and must remain confined in the afternoon. In his voice message, the former Catalan National Assembly leader stated that the only political opponent in the December elections was Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy and not the Ciudadanos, PP and PSC candidates. His election team mentioned that the recording was made on December 3, before Sanchez was formally given permission to take part in the election campaign. Nevertheless, they argue that it wasnt used until December 15, once judge Pablo Llarena had allowed him to address his voters. Jordi Sanchez has been imprisoned in Soto del Real since October 16. Not allowed on the campaign trail On December 14, the Supreme Court dismissed Sanchezs request for leave so that he might join the campaign trail. The Spanish judge decided to hold him in Soto del Real and denied him all contact with news organisations and internet access, outside of what inmates are allowed by the penitentiarys rules and regulations. Still, the judge noted that Sanchezs capacity to address his voters is not totally diminished at present and that his eligibility as a candidate was tied to that of his peers on the candidacy, who were fully engaged in the election campaign. COP26 may be a cop-out in the making COP26 is just about a month away. Delayed for a year by the Covid-19 pandemic, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference has built up even more expectations and momentum during the intervening months He is a current member of the international construction projects committee of the International Bar Association, co-chairing its project establishment sub-committee. He is a senior fellow at the University of Melbourne, a fellow at the International Academy of Construction Lawyers, and a committee member of the Resolution Institute. Greenham is also a principal at JBM Advisory, which provides advisory and training services to organisations involved in complex procurement. Norton has had a long career in private practice and working with US government agencies. He has been a lawyer with the US Senate and the US Department of State, where he played a key role in establishing and overseeing the US-Iran Claims Tribunal. He has also represented the US in matters before the International Court of Justice. Now based in New York, Norton began his private-practice career as an associate at Covington & Burling. He is also a former partner at AmLaw 100 firms Alston & Bird, OMelveny & Myers, and Steptoe & Johnson. At OMelveny & Myers, he was the managing partner in Beijing from 2003 to 2006. He was co-chair of Steptoe & Johnsons international arbitration practice group. Lloyd-Williams is currently the head of HSFs construction and infrastructure disputes practice in London. Bringing more than 35 years experience in international arbitration and dispute resolution in the major construction and engineering projects space, he was also head of HSFs Asian construction and arbitration practices in Hong Kong for more than 15 years. Arbitration Chambers has grown to 14 full-time arbitrators. The chambers opened in Londons historic Middle Temple last year. Arbitration Chambers was established by Gavin Denton, whos originally from Perth, in 2012. Around a third of legal matters in 2017 were considered high risk or complex, with one out of five in-house counsel expecting more high-risk lawsuits in 2018. Consumer products companies have always faced unique legal challenges, but in-house counsel are now under more pressure than ever to protect their brand and keep their consumers trust, said Erin Bosman, chair of Morrison & Foersters Product Liability and Counseling Practice. Our survey revealed that, while reputation and litigation threats continue to grow, advancing technology like the Internet of Things has created an even more complex legal landscape that will force companies to anticipate and plan for previously unknown risks. Survey respondents expect that product liability (45%), data privacy (44%), and regulatory/compliance (42%) will give rise to most new case activity. Allen & Gledhill SC appointed senior minister of state A senior lawyer at Singapore law firm Allen & Gledhill has been appointed Senior Minister of State (Ministry of Law, Ministry of Health) by the city-states prime minister. Edwin Tong joined the firm in 1995, became partner in 2000, and was appointed senior counsel in 2015. He is currently co-head of the firms litigation & dispute resolution practice and head of its restructuring & insolvency practice. Christina Ong, Co-Chairman and Senior Partner, said We warmly congratulate Edwin, who with his appointment joins a distinguished list of Allen & Gledhill alumni who have taken on public office in Singapore. We wish Edwin all the best and every success in his career of public service. It all started when a Racing Yellow incarnation of the Porscha was spotted by an Audi RS4 driver, with the latter being determined to keep up.It's worth noting we're dealing with a 2018 incarnation of the RS4, with the brand new status of the Ingolstadt machine probably encouraging the one behind the wheel.Keep in mind that the RS4 is animated by a twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V6 delivering 450 horses, with Porsche being no stranger to this motor.As for what happened during the chase that ensued, we won't drop too many details here, since we don't want to risk ruining the giggles delivered by the video.Returning to the 2018 GT2 RS, we'll remind you that the previous real-world adventure involving the supercar saw an example being bitten by the Nurburgring. We're talking about a car that was just three days old when it met the metallic barrier on the side of the track, with its driver having driven the machine straight to the Nordschleife upon taking delivery of it.Fortunately, though, the damage visible in the images that surfaced after the crash didn't seem to be all that serious, so here's to hoping the Neunelfer can return to its hooning activities soon.As for the official matters, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS continues to hold the Nurburgring production car lap record, despite the fact that the 2018 season has brought multiple machines that might just grab the accolade.We're talking about beasts like the almost-ready Lamborghini Aventador SVJ (the GT2 RS stole the record from the Lamborghini Huracan Performante, remember?) or the 800 hp McLaren Senna Electric Vehicle In terms of passenger cars, the Polestar 1 is the most expensive offered by Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. The Hangzhou, Zhejiang-based Chinese automaker that bought Volvo in 2010 also owns Lotus, Proton, The LondonCompany, 8.2 percent of Volvos truck division, and 9.7 percent of Daimler-Benz After our public introduction at the Geneva Motor Show in March, we are excited to be back in China one of the key markets for the Polestar brand, declared Thomas Ingenlath, chief executive officer in charge of Polestar . It feels great to bring the Polestar brand and the Polestar 1 closer to the public here in Beijing.Revealing the starting price at Auto China 2018 is no coincidence. After all, the 1 will be manufactured in Chengdu from mid-2019. Production is capped at 500 examples per year, though Polestar might change its mind if demand is strong and the company works around the exclusivity factor. Truth be told, the arrival of the Polestar 2 and Polestar 3 will take a toll on the Swedish automakers exclusivity.The Polestar 1 is expected to be offered in left-hand drive because of the 1,500-unit production run, which means that customers from right-hand-drive markets will have to accept the LHD compromise or look elsewhere for a plug-in hybrid grand tourer with 600 ponies, 1,000 Nm of torque, and an all-electric driving range of 150 kilometers (93 miles).The Chengdu facility where the Polestar 1 will be manufactured now has a completed roof structure and is on track towards tooling installation and pre-production testing by the end of 2018. Regarding the 2 mid-sized sedan and 3 utility vehicle (both EVs), Polestar didnt say if theyll be made in China as well.Pre-orders for the Polestar 1 were opened in 18 countries in March 2018, with over 7,000 people expressed interest. PHEV The one you'll recognize is the Corolla, which still looks like the older model and not the 2019 hatchback, not that this is of any importance.It also has a sister car, the market-specific Levin sedan. Both have a plug-in hybrid drivetrain that allows them to travel for up to the usual 50 km or 31 miles purely on electricity. Both models are probably fitted with 1.8-liter engines, though this is never officially mentioned.Toyota will begin producing the Corolla and Levinin 2019 in China, marking this the first overseas production of PHEVs.Obvious styling changes include new wheels, a charging port, badging and the trademark stripe across the front.The automaker has also pledged to launch full-electric versions of the C-HR/IZOA subcompact crossover from 2020. What's the difference? Well, the former will be sold Toyota partner GAC with the latter going to FAW Toyota Motor Sales.The Corolla and Levin Hybrid models, sold about 140,000 units last year in China, bringing the total of electrified deliveries to around 350,000 units. Toyota has been working with local suppliers to have locally made vital components. This includes the production of transaxles for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), which started in 2015 at the Changshu factory. Going forward, a new facility is expected to help boost capacity for nickel-metal hydride battery packs to 220,000 units in 2020.We are steadily and confidently advancing all aspects of our environmental strategy in China, the worlds most-advanced country in electrification," said Chief Executive Officer of the China region, Kazuhiro Kobayashi.With 10 electrified models expected to drop across China by 2020, we're likely to see a few new green Toyota. The company is also exploring fuel-cell vehicles with a Mirai test program and possibly buses. This photo does show the work troopers and local officers do to serve the public. But also in that photo is a man struggling with the decision to take his own life. Please remember help is available through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. pic.twitter.com/RBAlCIXT1o MSP Metro Detroit (@mspmetrodet) 24 aprilie 2018 On Tuesday morning, a portion of Interstate 696 in Michigan was blocked at Coolidge in both directions in what appeared at first sight to be either a drag race in the making for truckers or some spontaneous protest.It was neither. In fact, the thirteen truckers which blocked all lanes of the Interstate were responding to a plea for help coming from the Michigan State Police. The authorities were trying to prevent a man from committing suicide by jumping from an overpass onto the lanes below.As negotiators were going about their business, police officials thought it is best to play it safe, so they called upon all truck drivers in the Oak Park area to lend a hand by positioning their rigs under the overpass.Apparently, says Jason Brockdorff of the Huntington Woods Police Department according to Detroit News , this is a practice that has been used before, albeit not in such numbers. The goal of the entire parade of trucks in such scenarios is to shorten the fall of the jumpers should they decide to go for it.As it happened, the quick response of the truckers was not after all needed. The man was convinced to give up on his plan, and the incident ended without injuries.As for the truckers, the way in which they acted was praised by their colleagues.The photo makes us so proud and shows quick thinking, Sean McNally, American Trucking Association spokesman was quoted as saying by the source.It also shows how our industry works with law enforcement to keep our highways safe and the quality of people we have driving. At a nondescript building deep within the LTO compound in East Avenue, you'll find the Plate Manufacturing Facility, formerly the Plate Making Plant established 51 years ago. In 1967, the Land Transportation Commission, the precursor of the Land Transportation Office, established the Plate Making Plant. The used machines that were part of post-World War II reparations from Japan; the same, heavy, cast-iron machines that we can see sitting outside in the sun. With increased vehicle sales, the old facility was unable to keep up with demand, forcing the LTO to begin outsourcing plate production, and eventually closing the plant due to the requirements of the new standards for plates. But the contract for the supply of outsourced plates eventually encountered legal problems. Whatever the problems may be, the issues forced motorists to use conduction stickers for far longer than expected as a primary means of vehicle identification. Since 2014, the place has been sitting idle, but not anymore. The Department of Transportation, led by Secretary Arthur P. Tugade and the LTO have reopened the facility, and it couldn't have come at a more critical time. The facility itself is not really remarkable, but it's what's inside that really counts. Within a room is the actual machines provided by the company that won the contract from the Department of Transportation: a joint venture between Trojan Computer Forms Manufacturing Corporation and JH Tonnjes E.A.S.T. GmbH. They were faced with a tough task: address the backlog of motor vehicle and motorcycle license plates that stretches all the way back to July 2016. The backlog is massive; for 18 months up to December 2017, LTO data quoted by Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante in his speech indicates that they have a requirement of 775,000 pairs of new vehicle plates. Mind you, that doesn't include the 1.7 million pairs of plates they need for motorcycles sold in the same period, bringing the total requirement to around 2,475,000 pairs. And that also doesn't include the plates needed for the cars sold for the first three months of this year. The challenge is daunting, to say the least. Which is why the DOTr used a PhP 998.8 million procurement budget to re-establish the manufacturing of the plates in-house at the LTO. Interestingly, instead of going with fully automated production which would have been costly, the winning bidder brought in several manually-operated machines. By our count, the room has 7 embossing presses/stamping machines, 5 laminating machines, 6 sticker printers, and 2 machines for quality control. Some would question the manual nature of the plate making machines, but it makes sense: the cost of one fully automated machine could be used for multiple manual units. Also, a solitary automated plate making machine could fail and halt production entirely, defeating the purpose of re-establishing a plate facility. Each motor vehicle plate is actually imported from Europe (given that Tonnjes is a German company), and is already pre-cut. When they arrive at the LTO, they're embossed, laminated with the security, and checked. The stickers are produced by the printers which were also part of the contract. The maximum capacity of the manual system is 1,600 plates per shift. With 7 sets, that puts per-shift production at 11,200 plates for all the presses. The LTO says full production will involve 2 shifts, bumping up maximum daily production at 22,400 plates. After the production process, each plate is inspected for quality, and the data is cross-checked and matched with the correct vehicle in the LTO database. That could be a time consuming process, given that each plate now has quite a few security features such as an RFID tag (Radio Frequency Identification), LTO logos on the face, micro-etching, and even a QR code. All these features are intended to easily and positively identify vehicles. These features could actually be quite convenient in the future; perhaps the most significant one would be doing away with things like the archaic stencilling when you have your vehicle registered, instead they'll just need a QR code reader. The LTO also said that there is another fully automatic plate machine coming in July 2018, and it has a far greater daily capacity than its manual counterparts. At 12,000 plates per day, it could greatly enhance the maximum production of the LTO. There is a catch though: in his speech, LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante said that the plate facility will not be making plates for motorcycles for the time being. The reason is that there is a proposed bill in the House of Representatives for the motorcycle plates which are of a different size. That's very unusual, especially since the requirement for motorcycle plates within the same 18 month period at 1.7 million pairs is more than double the number of vehicles that need their plates. Those on two wheels will have to wait a bit longer until that's resolved. Given the production data, we can estimate the completion of the deliveries, the LTO can address the backlog of plates since the Administration took over at the end of June 2016. If the facility can produce 22,400 plates per day, and each vehicle requires a pair, it will take a little over 69 working days to produce a pair for the 775,000 vehicles. On the calendar, the production could cover the backlog by the end of July, though distribution will likely take a bit more time. Now it's really just a matter of time for many new vehicle owners to be finally rid of their conduction plates, creative as the designs may be. It took a while for the Department of Transportation and the Land Transportation Office to sort out the issue, but it's better plate than never. Since 1928, WVC has provided continuing education to veterinary professionals. It was founded in Logan, Utah, as Intermountain Livestock Sanitary Association and was renamed Western Veterinary Conference in 1965. In 2014, the name was officially changed from Western Veterinary Conference to WVC. Nearly 14,000 veterinary professionals gathered March 4-8 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas for the WVC 90th Annual Conference. Participants at the 2018 conference had the opportunity to attend more than 1,000 hours of CE, interact with more than 518 exhibiting companies, and network with colleagues from 27 countries and all 50 states. "WVC hosted veterinary professionals from around the world for an inspirational week of education and networking designed to help them grow their skills and clinical offering," said Dr. W. Mark Hilton, WVC president, in a conference summary. "This year's event gave us an opportunity to celebrate 90 years of tradition and excellence in education, but also provided a vibrant platform to share experiences with colleagues, discover the latest products and services, and reignite our collective passion for serving the health and welfare of animals." The WVC 90th Annual Conference, March 4-8 in Las Vegas, featured lectures, hands-on labs, and workshops for veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and practice managers. (Courtesy of Las Vegas Photo and Video) The Dr. W. Bruce Wren Food Animal Incentive Award was given to five postgraduates, and the Dr. Jack Walther Leadership Award to 36 veterinary students. The 2018-19 WVC officers are Dr. Darwin R. Yoder, Filer, Idaho, president; Dr. Dennis M. McCurnin, Henderson, Nevada, president-elect; Dr. Robert Smith, Stillwater, Oklahoma, vice president; veterinary technician E. David Stearns, Fall Creek, Wisconsin, secretary-treasurer; and Dr. W. Mark Hilton, West Lafayette, Indiana, immediate past president. At the conference, Clorox Healthcare and Merck Animal Health launched the Heroes for Healthy Pets Infectious Disease Management Certification Program at www.heroes4healthypets.com in coordination with the International Boarding and Pet Services Association, the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America, Pet Sitters International, VETgirl, and Barkleigh Productions. The Heroes for Healthy Pets program educates veterinary and pet professionals on the risks of infectious diseases and provides best practices for preventive care, including strategic vaccination alongside cleaning and disinfection protocols to help maintain disease-free facilities. The program consists of two educational modules: "Understanding Infectious Diseases" and "Effective Infectious Disease Control." Certification is free via the VetFolio platform and open to all veterinary and pet professionals. To become certified, participants must complete both educational modules and pass the certification exam. The certification provides two hours of CE credits for veterinary professionals. Individual pet professionals and veterinary and pet care facilities can also apply for certification. Heroes for Healthy Pets supplies certificate holders with a collection of podcasts on infectious diseases, a handbook on infectious diseases with information on viral and bacterial pathogens and best practices for infection prevention, and promotional materials including a virtual marketing toolkit and educational tools for pet owners. The WVC 90th Annual Conference, March 4-8 in Las Vegas, featured lectures, hands-on labs, and workshops for veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and practice managers. Related JAVMA Content WVC conference concludes with eye on expansion (May 15, 2017) Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce gargantuan, says it isn't in a race with Amazon for U.S. customers, but that it is eager to take U.S. merchandise to its 550 million customers in China. Why it matters: American politicians and technologists are unusually sensitive to what's often perceived as China horning in on American customers, markets and tech. But they may be missing a different game using an elaborately built system, Alibaba is linking U.S. merchants directly to millions of Chinese customers, bypassing Amazon and other American platforms as an essential way-station to the Chinese market. Brion Tingler, an Alibaba spokesman in the U.S., said the company was selling 7,000 U.S. brands in China as of last year, led by Apple, but wants more. "We have no designs on the U.S. consumer but we want to help U.S. companies sell to the Chinese consumer," Tingler tells Axios. Since his speech in Little Havana, Florida, last June, when he announced his reversal of President Obamas opening to Cuba, President Trump has put U.S. relations with Cuba on ice, limiting U.S.Cuba travel and investment and reducing embassy staffing after a health scare. The big picture: Many hope that last week's presidential transfer from Raul Castro to his protege Miguel Diaz-Canel will herald a new era for the U.S. and Cuba, but the transfer isn't a transition in any meaningful sense. Meanwhile, Trumps aggressive policy has continued hardening relations. On the campaign trail and in his Florida speech, Trump declared that he would strike a better deal for Cuban citizens than the one-sided one Obama pushed. To the Cuban government, I say: Put an end to the abuse of dissidents, Trump said. Release the political prisoners. Stop jailing innocent people. While Trump hasn't gone as far as he promised, his measures have done nothing to ease repression on the island: Dissidents are still being regularly detained, forced to remain in their homes or beaten during demonstrations. Nor did the new policy influence the long-planned CastroDiaz-Canel transition. In his acceptance speech, the newly chosen president defended Leninism and committed himself "to the struggle" (a not-so-veiled reference to anti-imperialism) all standard pre-Trump fare. And Castro, still the Communist Party's Secretary General and head of the armed forces, isn't going anywhere. The bottom line: In the 10 months since its debut, Trump's policy hasnt improved human rights on the island, and his rhetoric certainly hasn't given the U.S. any diplomatic leverage for when political, generational and economic change does come to Cuba. Christopher Sabatini is a lecturer at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and executive director of Global Americans. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is questioning the West's "right" to renegotiate the terms of the Iran nuclear deal after President Emmanuel Macron laid out the framework for a "new deal" in a press conference with President Trump, per the BBC. The big picture: Macron said the new deal would extend the duration of the 2015 agreement, restrict missile tests and contain Iran's regional influence. He and other European leaders are trying to reach a solution that would keep Trump from pulling the U.S. out of the nuclear deal. Rouhani hit back by saying the U.S. and France can't change a seven-party agreement alone, and that Trump doesn't have "any background" in politics, law or international treaties. Israel has approached Russia several times in the last few weeks to demand that they meet their obligations under a cease fire deal signed with the U.S. last November by preventing pro-Iranian militias from entering a buffer zone on the Syrian-Israeli border. Why it matters: The protests show Israel's growing nervousness over the Iranian buildup in Syria. Recent flashpoints between Israel and Russia in Syria are also making it harder for the countries to maintain close coordination. Israeli officials told me the message has been passed to the Russians by the Israeli ambassador to Moscow, by Israeli defense officials and at a senior political level. The backdrop Last November, Russia the U.S. and Jordan signed a cease fire deal in southern Syria which established de-escalation zones on the Syrian-Israeli border and on the Syrian-Jordanian border. As part of the deal, a buffer zone was to be established which Pro-Iranian forces would be excluded from. signed a cease fire deal in southern Syria which established de-escalation zones on the Syrian-Israeli border and on the Syrian-Jordanian border. As part of the deal, a buffer zone was to be established which Pro-Iranian forces would be excluded from. According to the deal, the Russians were the responsible for enforcing the zone. But Israeli officials told me that's not happening at all. They claim pro-Iranian Shiite militias and Hezbollah elements are inside the buffer zone in violation of the deal. The Israeli message: The presence of pro-Iranian elements near the Israeli border would lead to an escalation that undermines the ceasefire deal. The Israeli officials said that despite the protests, the Russian havent taken any action Following days of friendly handshakes and photo ops with President Trump during his state visit to the U.S., French President Emmanuel Macron shifted his tone during his address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday, taking jabs at Trump in four different areas. Macron's focus: Trade wars, isolationism, the potential collapse of the Iran nuclear deal, and Trump's decision to exit the Paris climate accord. Trade wars: Commercial war is not the proper answer. We need free and fair trade. Isolationism: We can choose isolation, withdrawal, and nationalism But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. Iran deal: There is an existing framework to control the nuclear activity of Iran. We signed it at the initiative of the United States That is why we cannot say we should get rid of it like that." Paris climate accord: Macron said he believes France can work to fulfill, with you [Congress], the ambitions of the global compact. Climate and science: By polluting the oceans, not mitigating CO2 we are killing our planet Let us face it. There is no planet B. Climate change: I believe in building a better future for our children, which requires offering them a planet that is still habitable in 25 years." The return to joviality: Macron closed his address on an upbeat note, with a nod to his bromance with Trump: "Vive notre amitie," he said, which roughly translates to "Long live our friendship." 1 Big Thing: The rule-free world of officials' personal accounts Federal agencies have no security requirements for federal employees' personal social media accounts. That leaves the door open to mischief and mayhem should one of those accounts gets hacked. Why it matters: Officials and federal employees often blur the lines between personal and official-business accounts as when the president announces policy from his personal Twitter account. If hackers took over the account of, say, a regulatory official, they could manipulate the stock market by tweeting regulatory changes. If they took over the account of the president, anything might go. "Social media, especially the lack of a policy, has become a real national security threat," said James Forster, founder and CEO of ZeroFOX, a company specializing in social media security. The effects could be geopolitical as well as financial. "We crossed a threshold. It was not common more than a year ago for world leaders to tweet at each other." as well as financial. "We crossed a threshold. It was not common more than a year ago for world leaders to tweet at each other." Tweets are different from TV statements: Forster notes that conflicts on social media escalate much faster than those on TV, as back and forth exchanges accelerate. How to fix it: Forster advocates extending the social media policies governing official accounts to any personal account mentioning an individual's federal role. Those policies are not particularly complex. Typically, they involve two factor authentication, good password hygiene and securing email addresses tied to the account. Why there's no policy: Tony Scott, formerly President Obama's federal CIO and currently senior data privacy and cybersecurity adviser at Squire Patton Boggs, told Axios the administration had weighed the problem but decided against acting. A worker quenches his thirst with water from a bottle taking a break from cleaning weeds from a park near India Gate amid rising temperatures in New Delhi on May 27, 2020. (Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images) Climate change and population growth have led to a worldwide surge in the number of people exposed to hazardous levels of heat, according to a sweeping study that examines 13,115 cities from 1983 to 2016. Why it matters: Extreme heat is the top weather-related killer in the U.S. each year, and studies show that as the world continues to warm in response to greenhouse gas emissions, heat exposure will become so severe that it will reduce economic output in many regions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it's using whole genome testing and on-the-ground investigation to try to determine why the current E. coli outbreak from romaine lettuce is more virulent than normal about half of all people affected have been hospitalized . Expand chart Data: Centers for Disease Control; Cartogram: Lazaro Gamio/Axios What's new: The E. coli outbreak stemming from romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Ariz., has spread to 19 states and infected at least 84 people, of whom 42 have been hospitalized with 9 suffering from the dangerous hemolytic uremic syndrome, according to a CDC update today. Threat level: Matthew Wise, deputy branch chief of CDC's Outbreak Response, tells Axios the CDC has confirmed the pathogen is E. coli 157:H7, which is part of the Shiga toxin-producing strain, but they don't know why so many patients need to be hospitalized. "157:H7 can be a very severe illness, but [50%] is a much higher hospitalization [rate] than we expect," Wise says. "We're doing whole genome sequencing to see if there's anything unique or unusual in this particular strain." Benjamin Chapman, food safety specialist and associate professor of North Carolina State University, tells Axios that normally the 157:H7 has about a 25%30% hospitalization rate. He says the higher rate now could be because the strain "picked up genes from other bacteria which cause toxins [in] us," during its normal evolutionary process. The big question: This episode of E. coli 157:H7 is one of 7 main multistate foodborne outbreaks of E. coli and salmonella that CDC has investigated in 2018. While this appears high compared with 2017 (which had a total of 8 including listeria and cyclospora), it's too early to tell if this is a new trend for the year, Wise and Chapman both say. Chapman says one reason it appears higher is that "we are getting better at connecting the dots, nationally." He says with new safety standards and systems to identify outbreaks, "food is probably safer now than it was for the last 50 years." Looking ahead: Wise says the CDC is focused on improving via 2 programs: An increase of funds to the state health departments so they can better track, report and halt outbreaks. A transition to whole genome sequencing during outbreaks, which should enable officials to see which illness is spreading where. They've completed a similar program for listeria, and the program for salmonella and E. coli should be finished by late 2018early 2019. Some challenges facing the CDC: Texas Governor Greg Abbott is calling for a special election on June 30 for the seat left vacant by the resignation of Rep. Blake Farenthold which came months after news surfaced about a sexual harassment settlement he made with a former staffer, the Texas Tribune reports. Why it matters: Abbott announced in his proclamation that it's important to fill the seat as the counties previously covered by Farenthold "continue to be under the state disaster declaration related to the devastation of Hurricane Harvey." The candidate deadline to file is Friday. "All counties contained within this district continue to be under the state disaster declaration related to the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, making it imperative that we fill this vacancy as soon as possible....Hurricane relief efforts depend heavily on action at the federal level, which can only occur if Texans residing in disaster zones have full and effective representation in Congress. I remain committed to ensuring that the 27th Congressional District is fully represented as the recovery process continues." Abbott Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned his Armenian counterpart Armen Sarkissian on Wednesday to discuss the continuing political crisis in Armenia. A statement by the Kremlin said the two men stressed that for quickly overcoming the internal crisis all political forces in the country need to display restraint and readiness to solve existing problems through a constructive dialogue. The dialogue should take place within the strict constitutional framework, it said. The statement did not elaborate. Sarkissians press office also gave no further details of the phone call. Earlier in the day, Putins press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, again commented cautiously on the crisis that led to the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian on Monday. We still reckon that that this is an internal affair [of Armenia] and hope that our Armenian friends will manage to settle this situation and reach a consensus-based solution very soon, he said. We are continuing to monitor this situation very closely, Peskov added, according to Russian news agencies. Peskov made similar comments on Monday shortly before Serzh Sarkisian stepped down under pressure from tens of thousands of people demonstrating in Yerevan and other parts of the country. Armenia, Russia is always with you! a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said following the announcement of Sarkisians resignation. The Kremlin, which frequently accuses the West of fomenting color revolutions in ex-Soviet states, thus stopped short of backing Sarkisian. It has made no public statements in support of Armenias acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetian. The latter is a former top executive of Armenian and Russian subsidiaries of the Gazprom energy giant. Nikol Pashinian, the opposition leader who has organized the massive protests, dismissed late on Wednesday speculation that the Kremlin would like Karapetian to stay in power. Pashinian said he met earlier in the day with official representatives of Moscow and they assured him that Russia is not interfering in Armenias internal affairs. Speaking at his latest rally in Yerevan, Pashinian also warned Karapetian and the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) against thwarting his appointment as the countrys interim prime minister. He claimed that some HHK lawmakers are ready to vote for his candidacy in the parliament. Pashinian warned that his supporters will blockade the parliament building and the prime ministers office in Yerevan if the HHK majority in the National Assembly moves to install Karapetian as prime minister. By Rashid Shirinov The launch of Azerbaijan's second geostationary satellite Azerspace-2 / Intelsat 38, has been postponed, French Arianespace company, which is carrying out the launch of the Azerbaijani satellite into orbit, informed on April 25. The launch was previously scheduled for May 25, but due to technical check-ups of the GSAT-11 satellite, conducted by the Indian space research organization, the timing of the launch of the carrier rocket was postponed for the summer. The new date will be announced soon. As previously reported, besides the Azerbaijani satellite, the carrier rocket Ariane 5 ECA will at the same time launch into orbit the Indian communications satellite GSAT-11. The satellites will be delivered to orbit from the Kourou spaceport (Guiana Space Centre) in northeastern South America, in French Guiana. The second telecommunications satellite of Azerbaijan will be placed in a geostationary orbit 45 degrees east longitude and its service area will cover the countries of Europe, Central and South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Azerspace-1, the nations first satellite, was launched into orbit on February 8, 2013. At present, its service area includes countries of Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The Azerbaijani satellite provides a variety of services, such as digital television, data transmission, VSAT multi-service networks, and governmental communications. The total cost of the Azerspace-1 project was $230 million. In December 2014, Azercosmos took over the rights to operate and commercialize Azersky, high resolution (1.5 meter imagery products) optical Earth observation satellite, and entered into the commercial business of Earth observation services, including geo-information services. Azerbaijans revenue from the operation of Azersky is expected to exceed $200 million within the next decade. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Kamila Aliyeva The 28th International Holland Music Sessions will be held in European countries on April 15-25. Azerbaijan will be represented at the festival by presidential scholarship holder, laureate of international competitions, world-famous pianist Togrul Huseynli. He is a graduate of the piano department of the Cologne Conservatory, doctoral student at the Mozarteum Conservatory in Salzburg and assistant professor at the Cologne Conservatory. His name is included in the Golden Book of Young Talents of Azerbaijan. The festival, one of the oldest in Holland, will feature performers on three musical instruments - piano, violin and cello. Within the framework of the festival, Huseynli has already performed three concerts in Holland, which took place in Texel, Egmond and Amsterdam. The pianist became the first Azerbaijani to perform on the stage of the Amsterdam Philharmonic. The musician will perform with a concert in the Bratislava State Philharmonic in Slovakia on April 24. At the concert, Huseynli, as in previous programs, will perform the works of Robert Schumann, Johann Sebastian Bach, and others. When he was ten, Huseynli was awarded the first prize of the 4th city competition named after Nazim Aliverdibekov, and the diplomas of the pianists festival named after K. Safaraliyeva, as well as the international festival in Tbilisi (Georgia). Togrul attended master classes of such famous musicians as President of the U.S. Pianists Association Joel Harrison, Polish pianist Stanislav Day, professor of the Cologne Conservatory Vasily Lobanov and others. The pianist is awarded a number of international awards - the second place at the International Competition of Musicians XXIX Concurso Internacional de Piano Cidade de Ferrol (Spain), laureate of the first degree of competition among students of higher schools in Aachen, laureate of the competition among students of the Higher Schools in Cologne (Germany), the first prize and the award of the international competition Steinway (Belgium), special diploma of the music community Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Koln, second place at the VII International Piano Competition in Granada (Spain). The musician gave concerts at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr 2016 international festival held in Germany, the 28th International Holland Music Sessions. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Trend: Armenias law enforcement officials have detained 33 participants of a protest rally in Yerevan against the election of former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan as the countrys prime minister, RIA Novosti news agency reported citing the press service of the Armenian government. Earlier, five police officers were beaten up by demonstrators in Armenias Aragatsotn province. Mass rallies broke out in Yerevan and other Armenian cities on April 13 following former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans nomination as prime minister. The opposition accuses him of ineffective governance and worsening of the economic situation. Despite the protests, Armenias parliament elected Sargsyan prime minister on April 17. On April 19, opposition members tried to disrupt the new cabinet of ministers meeting, blocking entrances to government facilities and marching down Yerevan streets. About 3,000 people took part in a rally in the evening. As many as 123 people were arrested over the day. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Trend: US called all parties in Armenia for constructive dialogue to ensure peaceful transition of power, said State Department spokesman Heather Nauert. "We call on all parties for constructive dialogue within the framework of the Armenian Constitution to ensure a peaceful transition of power that would flow within the framework of the law", she said. Mass rallies broke out in Yerevan and other Armenian cities on April 13 following former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans nomination as prime minister. The opposition accused him of ineffective governance and worsening the economic situation in the country. On April 23, Serzh Sargsyan resigned as Armenian prime minister. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Trend: The protest actions in Armenia first took place in an organized form, then became spontaneous, and as a result of the events, Serzh Sargsyan was forced to resign as Prime Minister, political expert Arzu Nagiyev told Trend. He noted that such protest actions took place during Sargsyan's rule in Armenia in 2013 and 2016. "During the years of Sargsyan's rule, 30 percent of Armenia's population, that is, about one million people, lived below the poverty line, more than 550,000 people left for Russia. According to the statistics for 2017, the same citizens brought into the country $1.5 billion, which is about half of the state budget of Armenia. That is, it shows that Armenia's economy is in a paralyzed state, and the so-called Karabakh clan is the culprit of all these problems," Nagiyev said. He noted that Serzh Sargsyan's government deprived his country of participation in all regional and international projects. "Armenia has no diplomatic relations with a number of states due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It has also stayed on the sidelines of international projects initiated by Azerbaijan." Nagiyev stressed that Sargsyan must be held accountable for the crimes he committed during the years of his ruling. "Sargsyan has committed grave crimes both against Azerbaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh and against his own citizens. I believe he should be held accountable both in his country and by an international tribunal. It is possible that in the forthcoming days, the Parliament in Armenia will be dissolved, and the question of legitimacy will arise. I believe that Sargsyan's resignation does not mean the end of these events in Armenia. If they call it a "velvet revolution" and have managed to achieve it without bloodshed, it does not mean that the struggle between clans has ended in Armenia," Nagiyev stressed. Nagiyev said the new government in Armenia should take important steps to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "The reason is that the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a priority issue for both Azerbaijan and Armenia. Today, no Armenian wants his child die in Nagorno-Karabakh. Therefore, the new government of Armenia should agree to normal, constructive negotiations," Nagiyev said. Mass rallies broke out in Yerevan and other Armenian cities on April 13 following former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans nomination as prime minister. The opposition accused him of ineffective governance and worsening the economic situation in the country. On April 23, Serzh Sargsyan resigned as Armenian prime minister. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Trend: Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan proposed to hold early parliamentary elections in Armenia, RIA Novosti reported. "We offer, let's hold early elections, and if the people elect him (protest leader Nikol Pashinyan), he will become a member of parliament... the candidate nominated by people shall be elected in the election," Karapetyan told reporters on April 25. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Trend: On April 25, the Russian Embassy in Yerevan took additional security measures in connection with the ongoing protests in the Armenian capital city, the diplomatic mission told RIA Novosti news agency. "Our Armenian partners have taken external security measures, we, in turn, have restricted the departure of our employees, recommended not to go outside the Embassy today. In general, the situation in the Embassy area is peaceful," the source told to the agency. The diplomatic mission has not yet commented on the statement of opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, who announced his intention to hold a meeting with Russian Ambassador Ivan Volynkin. Pashinyan had earlier met with the EU ambassadors, in addition to the meeting with the Russian ambassador he intends to meet with the head of the US diplomatic mission. On April 25, the acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan and Pashinyan were to hold talks, but they turned out to be disrupted. Supporters of the opposition gathered in the square in the center of Yerevan, and then staged an unauthorized march through the center of the capital city. Pashinyan stated that the rally will be held "today and tomorrow" until oppositions demands are fulfilled. The actions against the election of former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan as Prime Minister began on April 13. The opposition accuses Sargsyan, who was twice elected President, of poor governance and deteriorating economic situation in the country. On April 17, the opposition announced the beginning of the velvet revolution. Less than a week later, on April 23, Sargsyan resigned amid continuing protests. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz A 19-year-old man shot and killed his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend at a Southeast Side apartment complex Wednesday morning before killing himself in the woods behind the buildings, police said. Police have not identified the victim or shooter but said they ended a romantic relationship about a week ago. Both the victim and the suspect were seniors at Highlands High School, according to San Antonio ISD Communications Director Leslie Price. "It's very shocking news," she said. "We've sent a number of counselors to the school for support, and they're really working to support students during this time." RELATED: SAPD: Man stabbed several times during family argument on West Side The shooter tried to break into his ex-girlfriend's apartment complex in the 3900 block of Southeast Military Drive around 8 a.m. by shooting at the door. When that didn't work, he kicked the door open and entered, said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus. The victim was inside the apartment with her 16-year-old sister, police said. The suspect confronted his ex-girlfriend and fatally shot her in the head before fleeing on foot. The victim's sister called 911. McManus said the suspect made his way into a wooded area between Alsbrook Drive and Salado Creek and killed himself. Police later found his body with the assistance of K-9 and helicopter units. "We have a very, very, seriously tragic incident that happened here this morning," McManus said. The victim and suspect had dated for about a year and a half but had recently broken up. McManus said the victim had stopped taking the suspect's calls. "I'm the father of an 18-year-old myself, and I know the whole dating routine," McManus said. "I guess the lesson learned the hard way is if you're a parent with a daughter who's dating, make sure you pay attention to the status of that relationship once it's over." At the scene, several family members visibly mourned her death. "I spoke with the family," McManus said. "They're very very distraught, as you would expect. It just goes to point out the dangers of family violence." Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Staff writer Fares Sabawi contributed to this report. | Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns State officials are looking for ways to protect Missouri families from excessive air ambulance bills, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report. Here are six things to know about the situation. 1. At least 10 Missourians have been hit with excessive air ambulance bills since 2016, according to the report. In one instance, the family of an 8-year-old boy who was transported by air to a St. Louis hospital following a camping trip injury received a $32,000 bill. Another Missourian, Dee Goodin, 31, was told he owed $36,000 after fracturing multiple vertebrae and was transported from Reynolds County to Mercy Hospital in St. Louis County, according to the report. 2. Both residents were insured by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield at the time of their accidents and were transported by Air ambulance company Air Evac Lifeteam, part of Lewisville, Texas-based Air Medical Group Holdings. Air Evac Lifeteam was not in network under the residents' coverage, meaning patients were on the hook for out-of-network expenses. 3. Information submitted to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by the Missouri attorney general's office show the office has logged and investigated 10 consumer complaints of excessive air ambulance bills since 2016, according to the report. Complaints include allegations against Air Evac Lifeteam and other air ambulances, such as Arch Air Medical Service and Survival Flight. 4. Steps are being taken to address the issue. For instance, state Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, sent letters to multiple Missouri departments and talked with representatives of the Missouri Department of Insurance regarding concerns, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. 5. The report states the senator is also working on legislation to address balance billing in emergency situations. Balance billing occurs when patients receive care out of network and are billed for costs not paid by insurance. But the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Missouri legislation may not greatly affect the issue due to how the federal government regulates air ambulances. 6. Additionally, Randall Williams, MD, director of Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services, has urged other state departments to look at how they can help families, according to the report. Read the full report here. More articles on finance: RCM tip of the day: CMS results on RAC program highlight potential new revenue To reopen, shuttered California hospital may sell only profitable asset a $10.5M gym area Adventist Health sees net income jump 36% in FY 2017 Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, MD, the White House physician nominated for secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, has come under fire recently after allegations of misconduct, and though President Donald Trump has seemed to falter in his support, White House officials have not, according to The Hill. Senators postponed Dr. Jackson's confirmation hearing scheduled for April 25 after current and former White House medical staff accused Dr. Jackson of creating a hostile work environment through excessive drinking on the job and improper distribution of medication. Dr. Jackson has also been accused of drunkenly knocking on a female employee's hotel room door during an overseas trip in 2015, according to CNN. Dr. Jackson has faced questions about his managerial qualifications since his nomination was first announced, but as allegations of improper conduct lead lawmakers to further scrutinize him, President Trump has said it might not be worth Dr. Jackson's time to further pursue the nomination. "What does he need it for? To be abused by a bunch of politicians that aren't thinking nicely about our country?" President Trump said April 24, according to The Hill. "I really don't think, personally, he should do it. But it's totally his I would stand behind him totally his decision." However, White House officials reiterated their support for Dr. Jackson later that same day. "Dr. Jackson's record as a White House physician is impeccable," said a senior White House official, according to The Hill. "He has improved unit morale, received glowing reviews and promotions under Republican and Democrat presidents, and has been given a clean vet from the FBI." Seattle-based Virginia Mason Medical Center developed an affiliated consulting group specifically focused on addressing the challenges facing rural and community healthcare organizations. The group, called NetworxHealth, offers services such as C-suite staffing, pharmacy services, supply chain efficiency, regulatory compliance and finance. Services also include laboratory and imaging, facilities and construction, group purchasing services and continuing medical education. "We provide executive and management placement and consulting services for any hospital or medical center in the nation and we have a special focus on rural and community hospitals," said Noel Rea, senior director and hospital administrator. "Rural providers have a unique role in the fabric of their communities as they serve their friends, families and neighbors. Small hospitals often are the cornerstone for the entire health delivery system in their communities. It is important to keep them vibrant, successful and independent." NetworxHealth's services are provided by experienced healthcare professionals. The group is run by executive director Tammara Gibbons, who is also vice president for operations and business development for Seattle-based Health Resource Services, a Virginia Mason affiliate. More information about NetworxHealth is available here. More articles on leadership and management: Why leadership development needs to be fluid & ongoing 3 experts weigh in Hospitals should do the right thing for staff, as well as patients Maintaining hospital culture through C-suite leadership turnover Registered nurses at First Hospital, a private psychiatric facility in Kingston, Pa., and Moses Taylor Hospital, a 214-bed, acute care facility in Scranton, Pa., will begin to strike on April 25, according to a Times Leader report. Here are seven things to know. 1. The nurses, who are represented by the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania, plan to strike for 24 hours. "The strike follows months of unproductive negotiations that have failed to yield fair union contracts that include progress on key issues such as understaffing, safety, and the floating of nurses between hospital units," said the union in a news release cited in the report. 2. First Hospital mental health technicians, who are also represented by the union, will participate in the strike as well due to "the hospital's illegal implementation of its final contract offer," according to the release. 3. Hospital officials indicated both facilities will be fully staffed and operational during the strike. 4. Elizabeth Leo, chief human resources officer of Moses Taylor Hospital, said in an emailed statement to The Times-Tribune: "We have received the union's strike notice and are prepared to continue providing quality care to our patients. All inpatient, outpatient and emergency services will be available and surgeries and diagnostic procedures will occur as scheduled." 5. Clayton Nottelmann, chief human resources officer at First Hospital, provided similar comments. "Providing compassionate, quality care for patients needing behavioral services is always our top priority at First Hospital and we are ready to continue our mission during the union's strike," he said in an emailed statement. "First hospital will be open and will provide uninterrupted care for patients in our care." 6. SEIU said in a separate news release the strike comes as nurses from the hospitals have been working under expired union contracts. According to The Times-Tribune, the contracts for the nurses, as well as First Hospital mental health technicians, expired in 2017. 7. Both hospitals are owned by Commonwealth Health, which was formed by Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems in 2012. More articles on human capital: UPHS-Marquette nurses vote to put option for second strike on table Workers at Tenet hospital picket in California over patient care concerns Union says Mayo retaliated against striking employees in new NLRB charges: 7 things to know Former President George H.W. Bush, 93, was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital April 22, just one day after his wife Barbara Bush's funeral, for an infection that spread to his bloodstream, according to the Houston Chronicle. Family spokesperson Jim McGrath announced the 41st president's hospitalization in a tweet April 23 around 6 p.m. However, by the evening of April 23, Mr. McGrath said the former president's condition was improving. "President Bush was admitted to the Houston Methodist Hospital yesterday morning after contracting an infection that spread to his blood," Mr. McGrath wrote April 23. "He is responding to treatments and appears to be recovering. We will issue additional updates as events warrant." Mr. McGrath did not confirm whether Mr. Bush was in intensive care and did not clarify why the family chose to wait a day to announce his condition. Mild blood infections do not always turn into sepsis, and it is likely the former president will recover, Coburn Allen, MD, an infectious disease specialist with Austin-based Dell Medical School at the University of Texas, told the Houston Chronicle. "It sounds like he was septic at first because they said he was stabilized and generally if they say you're stabilized it means you weren't at one point," he said. "Generally if you get through the unstable part with a bloodstream infection, you don't go back to unstable, so it's likely he'll recover completely." Mr. Bush was moved from the hospital's intensive care unit April 25 and will stay at the hospital for several more days while he recovers, according to The Dallas Morning News. This article was updated on April 26 at 8:49 a.m. CT. Surgeons in military hospitals across the U.S. perform complex procedures on active-duty personnel, their family and retirees but the small volume of operations they perform may be putting patients at risk, according to U.S. News & World Report. Here are eight report insights. 1. While 30 years of research indicates physicians and hospitals with the highest numbers of certain complex surgical procedures achieve the best results, military surgeons serve a relatively young and healthy population who do not often require surgery. These physicians fail to see a consistent stream of older patients who need surgery to let them refine their surgical skills. 2. "You want to do more. In some cases, you're begging to do more," Scott Steele, MD, chair of colorectal surgery at Cleveland Clinic and former Army surgeon, told U.S. News. Every day, each of the 38 military hospitals across the country have a total of 1,900 inpatients on average, according to Defense Health Agency data. In comparison, Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan Medical Center alone serves approximately 900 inpatients daily. 3. The U.S. News investigation suggests the surgical case shortage, when combined with the remote location of some base hospitals from larger military or civilian medical centers, means numerous surgeons may be taking on cases exceeding their surgical skills. 4. To determine how patient shortages affect patient safety, U.S. News analyzed 10 categories of procedures, including weight-loss surgery, hip replacement, knee replacement and operations to remove cancers, using data from every military hospital across the globe between 2012-16. 5. The procedures in the study are routinely completed in civilian hospitals, and all the procedures have been shown to have worse outcomes, such as higher complication and death rates, when completed by surgical teams with low patient volumes. The findings highlight the military's failure to assure patients who require complex and risky surgeries are referred to facilities with surgical teams that perform the procedures regularly, the report authors noted. 6. In particular, cancer procedures are especially risky for patients, according to experts. "Should surgeons who do less than three rectal cancer [procedures] a year be doing them at all? No," Dr. Steele said, who reviewed the U.S. News data. The data revealed surgeons performed three or fewer rectal cancer procedures at 25 military treatment facilities in 2016 alone, from El Paso, Texas-based William Beaumont Medical Center to Fort Carson, Colo.-based Evans Army Community Hospital. 7. Not one of the 25 facilities, which are now designated as health clinics rather than hospitals, has colon or rectal surgeons on staff, according to information supplied by the Defense Health Agency. Additionally, in 2016, physicians at 13 hospitals did three or fewer esophageal and pancreatic cancer surgeries, which could result in significantly higher death rates in hospitals that rarely perform the operation. 8. "They've known this and ignored it for decades," one surgeon who wished to remain anonymous told U.S. News. "What's the solution? Form a task force? It's the same thing over and over. There's a civilian system in place that will help us prepare for war. The real question is whether there should be a military health system at all." To read the full U.S. News report, click here. Orthopedic surgeon Steve Garfin, MD, recently became interim dean of UC San Diego School of Medicine. He shared his story with The San Diego Union-Tribune. Here's what you need to know. 1. Being Dean, Dr. Garfin has to forfeit nearly half of the patients he sees. When originally confronted with the dilemma, Dr. Garfin came to an interesting discovery. He welcomed the idea that while he may not be able to see the same number of patients one-on-one, he can still impact them indirectly whether it be through educating spine fellows or lectures. 2. The San Diego Union-Tribune pressed Dr. Garfin if his age has influenced his decisions. The 71-year-old surgeon went on to express he feels no different than he did 10 or 20 years ago. Dr. Garfin still performs complex spine surgeries that may last up to 12 hours. However, he does worry about how patients see him. This is due to younger surgeons being capable and learning new approaches to surgery. 3. As Dean, Dr. Garfin hopes to further advance UC San Diego School of Medicine's research capabilities. He also hopes to improve patient experience. 4. In his new role, Dr. Garfin plans to increase medical students' time with patients and bedside manner education. He stressed medical students are required to master an always growing knowledge pool. To ease the challenge, he plans to implement and a patient- and person-oriented approach in regard to medical students' education. 5. When asked about the possibility of turning into a CEO, Dr. Garfin told The San Diego Union-Tribune he wants to be more of a mentor and problem solver. An artists impression of how the new Premier Inn will look A new 5m hotel to be built near Belfast International Airport has been given the green light. The 81-bedroom Premier Inn at Antrim Road in Crumlin will create 60 new jobs. Permission has been given by the Planning Committee of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council following public consultation. The new accommodation is being built by Moorefield Contracts next to the junction of Ballyrobin and Antrim roads. Around 30 jobs are expected to be created in the construction phase and a further 30 once it opens. There are already seven Premier Inn hotels in Northern Ireland - three in Belfast and one each in Carrickfergus, Lisburn, Coleraine and Londonderry. The development comes as Belfast International Airport is sold to Vinci Airports in what is believed to be a multi-billion pound deal. Canice Mallaghan of Moorefield Contracts said: "The demand for more hotel rooms has been created by the growth and success at the airport. We are excited by the opportunity to bring forward a new hotel creating a range of jobs in the process." Philip Brett, committee chairman of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, said: "This is a fantastic investment in the tourism infrastructure of our borough. "The development will create 81 bedrooms on a site of approximately eight hectares of land. "It will also bring much-needed construction jobs to the area and increase the offering further to residents and visitors using the gateway of Belfast International Airport." Tourism is estimated to have generated 38m in the Antrim and Newtownabbey economy in 2016. Last year, Belfast International Airport welcomed 5.8 million passengers. Graham Keddie, managing director of Belfast International Airport, said: "The proposed hotel development mirrors wider economic activity at the airport and is a direct result of passenger growth. "Clearly, there's a demand for new passenger and visitor facilities. The hotel isn't just good for the airport but good for the entire area." Moorefield Contracts is also behind the convenience food and drink outlet and fuel forecourt anchored by M&S Simply Food, which has opened at Belfast International Airport. Six national chains have taken space in the development including Burger King, Irish independent coffee chain Insomnia's first Northern Ireland branch, Subway, Chopstix and Emo. Thirty-five full and part-time jobs were created. Northern Ireland businesses have said the year has started badly, with domestic sales at their lowest in five years. According to the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry quarterly survey with business advisory firm BDO, the performance of manufacturers is well below average. And over three-quarters of firms say they are under pressure to increase wages. The Chamber called on the NI Executive to get back up and running to safeguard the future of the economy amid a troubling domestic backdrop. Christopher Morrow, head of policy at Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: It has been a poor start to 2018 for the local economy. "There are still some signs of growth but overall this has slowed and there are concerns for both manufacturing and services sectors. Northern Ireland is the weakest performing UK region across many of our key economic indicators, particularly manufacturing. We are seeing a growing sense of frustration among our members at the lack of progress on major issues including Brexit and the lack of Executive which are impacting on businesses bottom line. "We can't accept this any longer - it is damaging the economy. In what is a tired plea, we must see an Executive back up and running in order to safeguard the future of the economy amid a troubling domestic economic backdrop. Mr Morrow said there was increasing pressure on chamber members to increase wages. "This could prove challenging when so many are already facing wider cost pressures and a squeeze on profitability," he said. Brian Murphy, managing partner at BDO Northern Ireland, said: "Unemployment in Northern Ireland is currently at its lowest rate in a decade, and this coupled with the findings of this report, that local businesses are still recruiting, is a demonstrable indication of the confidence of local businesses to continue to grow despite the challenges that exist. The absence of the NI Executive and the lack of clarity regarding the arrangements for Brexit is clearly a matter of concern for many. However, this report shows there is also an increase in investment intentions by local businesses. This is a welcome sign that despite the current uncertainty at a government level, businesses in Northern Ireland will persevere and plan for future success." Owner-occupiers and investors seeking a berth in Dublin's Docklands may be interested in the office accommodation on offer at Portview House. The entire fifth floor of the property is being offered for sale with vacant possession by JLL for an asking price of 3.25m. Extending to 5,241 sq ft, the space comprises open-plan accommodation with meeting rooms, a conference room, kitchenette and access to a shared reception on the building's ground floor. The office also benefits from a balcony offering 360-degree views of Dublin's north and south docks. Three car parking spaces are also included in the sale. Portview House occupies a prominent location in the Dublin Docklands. Nearby occupiers include Matheson, Accenture, Google and Facebook, while Oxfam, INTL, FCStone, USI, Stratagem and Huskies also occupy space. The building is accessible using public transport. The Luas Red line is an eight-minute walk away while Grand Canal Dart station is located within a 15-minute walk. Numerous Dublin bus routes operate within the immediate vicinity. Stephen Noonan of JLL said: "Portview House provides an excellent opportunity to secure a high specification office suite in a landmark building... which will appeal to various parties as it has the benefit of vacant possession." Housebuilder Persimmon has said the property market remains 'solid' as it prepares to face down investors amid concerns over pay plans for its top bosses (Chris Radburn/PA) Housebuilder Persimmon has said the property market remains solid as it prepares to face down investors amid concerns over pay plans for its top bosses. In a trading update ahead of its annual general meeting for shareholders later on Wednesday, the Charles Church group said forward sales were around 8% higher year on year at 2.76 billion since January 1. It added that pricing conditions continue to be firm across the regions, with the average selling price up to around 236,500 across 9,048 homes sold in the private market, up 1% from 8,928 a year ago. Our weekly private sales rate per site since the start of the year of around 0.85 reflects solid market conditions, it added. Expand Close Chief executive Jeff Fairburn has faced anger over his generous pay deal (Persimmon/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Chief executive Jeff Fairburn has faced anger over his generous pay deal (Persimmon/PA) The figures comes amid a furore over executive pay, with boss Jeff Fairburns pay packet having sparked outrage among politicians and shareholders. At least one investor, the Church of England, has promised to vote against the companys remuneration report. Mr Fairburn is in line to pocket a near 75 million payout, including a 25 million share payout in the summer. Earlier this year, shareholders and politicians united to condemn what would have been an even higher 100 million payout, until Mr Fairburn voluntarily moved to calm the furore by handing back 25 million in bonuses. He has also pledged to forgo his annual bonus next year and hand over a substantial amount of his pay award to charity. Collectively, three Persimmon bosses agreed to hand back about 50 million in bonuses last month to calm the mounting anger. The groups recent annual report also showed that managing director Dave Jenkinson pocketed 20.4 million, up from 1.4 million in 2016. Meanwhile, finance chief Mike Killoran took home 36.7 million, also up from 1.4 million. Royal London Asset Management (RLAM), which holds a 0.5% stake in Persimmon, has said the pay awards were still extremely generous, even after the cuts. In its AGM trading statement, Persimmon said 2018 had got off to a robust start. It said: Customer activity since the start of the year has been encouraging, with the groups total enquiry levels running around 13% ahead of the prior year. This has resulted in robust trading since the start of the year, with visitor levels to site, sales conversion rates and cancellation rates all running in line with our expectations. Peter Capaldi portrayed terrifying spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in The Thick Of It (Jane Barlow/PA) Foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker has made a re-appearance on Australian TV. Peter Capaldi channelled his famous character, from The Thick Of It, when he was asked what advice he would give a struggling Australian politician. Appearing on The Sunday Project, he was asked what his infamous alter-ego would have said. Capaldi replied: I think he would have said she was as useless as a marzipan dildo. Were looking at a total omnishambles there. She was all over the place like a mad womans shit. And Im only getting started, he added. Continuing, he looked into the camera and addressed the politician, saying: Im willing to help, if you want to talk to me. Im not Doctor Who anymore! Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Nashville perform their final show of the tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on April 24th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) The stars of the hit TV series Nashville took to the stage in Belfast on Tuesday night to bid the city a final farewell. Clare Bowen (Scarlett O'Connor), Charles Esten (Deacon Claybourne), Chris Carmack (Will Lexington), Jonathan Jackson (Avery Barkley), and Sam Palladio (Gunnar Scott) performed at the SSE Arena in the city. The set list included huge favourites from the show as well as the stars own original tracks. Nashville is set against the backdrop of the citys music scene and follows the lives of country music superstars as well as the up-and-coming performers and songwriters trying to get ahead in the business. >>Take a look through our gallery of pics above as the stars of Nashville say goodbye to Belfast<< Think of the quintessential French chef, all floppy hair and twinkling eyes and extravagant gesticulation, and chances are that the first person that comes to mind will be the easy-on-the eye celebrity version of the species, Jean-Christophe Novelli. Jean-Christophe is an AA Rosette and multi-Michelin star award-winning chef, who may have been based in the UK since 1983 but still retains a pronounced French accent that only adds to his charm. Novelli - now 57 - began his career in food at the age of 14 when he became an apprentice baker in his home town of Arras in Northern France. By 19, he was the private chef to Elie de Rothschild (of the banking dynasty) and his son Nathaniel in Paris. In the UK he worked in numerous well-known restaurants, including Chewton Glen and Keith Floyd's pub, The Maltsters. His first Michelin star came in 1991; others followed in rapid succession. The first restaurant with Jean-Christophe's name over the door was Maison Novelli in London's Clerkenwell Green, which opened in 1996. It was the start of an international mini-empire that grew to seven restaurants, with outposts in Normandy and Cape Town. However, the chain collapsed when he was declared bankrupt in 1999. Since 2003, Jean-Christophe has been based at Crouchmoor Farm in Hertfordshire, home to the cookery school that he runs with his partner, Michelle Kennedy. After 10 years together, the pair are set to marry this year following the recovery of their youngest son, 19-month-old Valentino, from cancer. Earlier this month, Jean-Christophe opened the doors of Novelli at City Quays, at the new 25m AC Hotel Belfast, developed by the city's Harbour Commissioners and operated by Marriott, his first venture in Northern Ireland. Set on Belfast's waterfront, the 112-seat restaurant has a double-height glazed facade and open-air terrace, as well as a kitchen designed and built to Jean-Christophe's specific requirements, with a rotisserie oven to enable him to produce his signature roasts. It's a glamorous, contemporary space that's seen as a major coup for the city's hospitality offering. "I was approached many years ago and introduced to the directors at the Harbour Commissioners by a fantastic management company that I work alongside," Jean-Christophe explains. "When I found out the project was to be located in Belfast I got extremely excited. I first visited Northern Ireland 25 years ago when I gave a cookery demonstration and speech about my career in Omagh. It was a brilliant experience." The restaurant serves a Mediterranean-style menu and features French classics such as French onion soup, coq au vin and tarte tatin. Jean-Christophe has appointed Northern Irish chef Jim Mulholland as his 'grand chef'. The pair first met when Jim cooked for Jean-Christophe in 2016. "I was booked for a job in Derry and my flight was delayed," recalls Jean-Christophe. "When I arrived, I was told that I had a personal invitation for a late supper from the head chef at Ballyrobin Country Lodge near Aldergrove. "Even though it was nearly 11.30 at night and I had an early morning radio interview at 6am the following morning, I wanted to show my respect, chef to chef, and this is where I first met Jim. "I am so glad I did as I was blown away not only by his talent but his fabulous personality. We lost contact for a while but then met up again and became closer. The rest is the next chapter." Although Jean-Christophe will not be cooking at Novelli at City Quays himself, he says that he will visit as many times as he feels is required. "I adore the location of the restaurant in Belfast. I will do whatever it takes to make this a great success for me and my team. Also, Luton Airport is so close to my home in Hertfordshire - it makes travelling to Belfast so simple. In fact, I can get to Belfast quicker than I can drive into London!" The Novelli name is a valuable brand, and one that Jean-Christophe is careful not to over-expose. So how does he decide on the places where he allows it to be used, and what made Belfast stand out? "When I receive an approach, the first rule is that any new venture has to be far away from my existing involvements. Equally important is the team that I will be working with. Having the restaurant overlooking the Belfast City Harbour, at what used to be the home to the Titanic and so close by to many other exiting visitor attractions, is an incredible feeling. What more could I ask for?" Jim Mulholland's many years of experience working in Northern Ireland means that the menu at Novelli at City Quays will focus on local produce, with some of the region's best known producers amongst the suppliers, including Abernethy Butter, Hannan Meats, Ewing's Seafood, Yellow Door and North Down Group. Even the charcuterie board features homegrown chorizo and salami, produced by Limavady-based Corndale Farm. "It has always been my passion and my mission to source whatever I can locally," says Jim, "and it has been an incredibly rewarding experience to introduce our amazing local produce to such a globally celebrated chef as Jean-Christophe and to see him, in turn, become its champion." "You need to have wonderful ingredients to produce wonderful food, and I have been thoroughly inspired and excited by the quality and variety of produce available to me here on my Belfast doorstep," says Jean-Christophe. "I hope to get to know our local producers better by visiting their farms and production bases over the coming months." Jean-Christophe has not yet had an opportunity to eat in many of Northern Ireland's new generation of restaurants, something he hopes to rectify soon. "I have spent a lot of time on the preparation of my own place, but I know that the calibre of restaurants in Belfast has improved over the years since my first visit. "As in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, restaurants here have very high standards and it's a highly competitive market." After so many years in the business, Jean-Christophe says that he is just as excited about his new Belfast restaurant as any of his earlier ventures. "I love getting results and to be able to please is a massive satisfaction. To be honest, I feel like a kid, I generate the same buzz when I cook." For now there are no plans to open a restaurant in Dublin or elsewhere in Ireland - in 2005, he opened a restaurant at La Stampa on Dublin's Dawson Street, but departed after just 10 months - but Jean-Christophe says that he would love to one day. "It would be a dream and a great honour," he says. As for the current state of food in France, something that comes in for an amount of flak these days, Jean-Christophe says that he doesn't feel qualified to comment. "When in France, the only cooking I choose to eat is from my mum's kitchen!" To book Novelli at City Quays, see marriott.com or tel: 028 9531 3191 A solution for the Irish border problem may not be found until after the UK has left the European Union, Brexit Secretary David Davis has admitted. Mr Davis, giving evidence before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday morning, said that given there is a transition period agreed with the UK remaining in the customs union until January 2021, a final solution for the Northern Ireland border isnt needed to be fully in place until that period ends. Our undertaking is very plain, he said. We will avoid a hard border at all costs. We will underpin the peace process, the Good Friday Agreement and all the elements of it and we will come up with a mechanism which will enable that to happen at the border. What we have said all along and indeed the council [European Council] agreed, and indeed Mr Varadkar agreed, the best way to do that is with a good free trade agreement. That eliminates a lot of the issues from the beginning, not all of them, but a lot of them. Read More Mr Davis brushed aside reports that the European Council had set a deadline of June for a final decision on the Irish border. The Brexit Secretary has previously suggested he was looking to October for an agreement. He told the committee: In negotiations, people try to set up deadlines - sometimes artificial deadlines - to put pressure on an element of the negotiation which they think is in their favour. Mr Davis said he agreed with Irish Taioseach Leo Varadkar that a good agreement in October was better than any agreement in March. Expand Close David Davis at the border / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp David Davis at the border The Brexit secretary added that option C regarding the Irish border, regulatory alignment, was a reserve parachute. Mr Davis visited the Irish border in Co Armagh on Monday. Read More Mr Davis told the committee it was his hope that the first trade deal could come into force the day after the UK leaves. Asked if there was a risk of Britain staying in the customs union for an indefinite period while an problems with customs were resolved, he replied: I do not expect the solution to that to be extension of membership of the customs union. I would view that on my part as a failure. The Brexit Secretary insisted the deal that is agreed by October would be substantive. We will be voting for a bill of 35 - 39 billion. People want to know on the other side what we are getting in exchange. The hardest time Im going to have in October is people saying what have we got for this? He dismissed suggestions that discussions about future trade arrangements had halted because of problems to find a solution to the Irish border problem. The former Secretary General of the United Nations has warned that Brexit poses a threat to peace in Northern Ireland. Kofi Annan said the Good Friday Agreement was "painstakingly achieved after complex negotiations" and involved compromises on all sides as he insisted it must be protected. Mr Annan said the Agreement has helped secure peace in Northern Ireland for the past two decades and it will be under threat should a hard border be introduced when the UK leaves the EU. "Amid the wider political and economic uncertainty caused by Brexit, all stakeholders should place the preservation of peace and security as a high priority," he added. Mr Annan was speaking on behalf of The Elders - an independent group of retired, experienced global leaders originally brought together by Nelson Mandela - who work together to support conflict resolution. They said any imposition of a "hard border" as part of the Brexit process would "seriously undermine the Agreement". Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and a member of the group, said: "Peace in Northern Ireland was hard-won and needs to be protected. "The Elders welcome the assertion by UK Prime Minister Theresa May of the paramountcy of the Good Friday Agreement, and the importance of ensuring that nothing should be done to allow the reimposition of a hard border. "All governments and parties in all parts of the UK and Ireland must work to make this promise a reality." The group's comments come as the June deadline for "significant and measurable" progress on the Irish border issue appears on the horizon. Brexit sources say nothing of any positive consequence has been forthcoming so far from the British side on any solution to prevent a hard border. Sapper Telford Stuart was killed by the IRA in 1972 The brother of a British soldier killed by the IRA 46 years ago is set to gain access to police documents as part of a legal bid to have his death investigated by detectives examining a secretive army unit. Sapper Telford Stuart was murdered in Belfast in 1972 while undertaking a covert operation on behalf of the Military Reaction Force (MRF). The Police Service of Northern Ireland is currently probing allegations that members of the unit carried out random and unjustified shootings during the Troubles. The dead solider's brother, Colin Stuart, has brought judicial review proceedings against the Chief Constable for not including the killing in the broader investigation into MRF activities. He claims it amounts to an unlawful refusal to hold a human rights compliant inquiry into the death. As part of the challenge Mr Stuart's lawyers sought documents from the original RUC investigation into the killing after learning they had been reviewed before the decision not to include the murder in the MRF probe was confirmed. His legal team believe a ruling on discovery at the High Court in Belfast today should clear the way for the files to be handed over. Anurag Deb, legal representative from KRW Law, described it as an important milestone in the ongoing litigation. "The court very properly found that the police cannot simply justify their decision to exclude the murder of Sapper Stuart from the MRF investigation without disclosing the documents that lie behind that decision," he said. "We are hopeful that, subject to any further issues, we will have access to these documents in the very near future." Papers lodged in the case contend that the circumstances surrounding Telford Stuart's murder involve MRF actions in an operation that was compromised. Allegations concerning negligence and expendability also concern the planning of MRF operations by those commanding them, Mr Stuart's legal team contend. The wider investigation, by the PSNI's Legacy Investigations Branch, was triggered after a referral by Northern Ireland's Director of Public Prosecutions. Telford Stuart's murder has also been reviewed by the police service's now defunct Historical Enquiries Team (HET). But his brother's lawyer claim this failed to comply with Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The HET examination was incapable of leading to the identification and punishment of those with responsibility for the soldier's death, due to a failure to consider the role of the MRF in an operation that might have been compromised, it is argued. A controversial church that has been accused of being a cult whose only goal is to enrich itself is planning on coming to Belfast. The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) has filed plans with Belfast City Council to establish a place of worship at Equality House in the Donegall Pass area. Since it was founded in 1977 in Brazil by self-styled Bishop Edir Macedo, the UCKG has gained some 12 million members in 200 countries. Along the way, however, it has also been embroiled in several controversies. The church places a strong emphasis on money and employs tithing, a practice whereby members of their congregation donate a fraction of their income to the church. The tithe is 10% of all income, and it belongs to God. This is a very ancient practice followed by God-fearing people everywhere, according to the UCKG website. The UCKG has, according to Forbes magazine, also made Bishop Edir Macedo a billionaire. A 1997 report by the Belgian Parliament branded the church a dangerous cult and claimed it is simply out to defraud believers. This is an authentic crime organisation whose only goal is to enrich itself. This is an extreme form of religious merchandising, it read. The same year, the Advertising Standards Authority banned a church poster that claimed: Constant headaches, depression, insomnia, fears, bad luck, strange diseases These are just a few symptoms caused by demons. In 2009 another poster was banned for claiming blessed oil could cure heart problems. The UCKG has several HelpCentres in England, where it is registered as a charity with an annual income of 15m, and a small presence in the Republic of Ireland, however it has no permanent base in Northern Ireland. It isnt just financial or advertising standards issues the UCKG has found itself embroiled in over the years, however. Back in 2000, the church was linked to the death of 8-year-old Victoria Climbie in London, in what is still regarded as one of the UKs worst abuse cases. Victoria was taken to a UCKG centre for an exorcism by her great-aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, in February 2000. Kouao was found guilty of her murder in January 2001 and the church was later cleared of any wrongdoing, however the Charity Commission recommended the UCKG implement child protection policies in the future. In December last year, Portugals Attorney Generals Office opened an inquiry into the alleged illegal adoption of babies arranged by a centre run by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. A seven-month inquiry by a Portuguese TV station alleged that at least ten Portuguese children were stolen from their biological mothers in the 1990s from a reception centre in Lisbon that was funded by UCKG. Allegedly, the babies were taken from Portugal and adopted by couples based overseas. The Attorney General's Office has stated that "there is an investigation related to this matter, and it has been referred to the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action of Lisbon for investigation." The inquiry is ongoing. Denying these allegations, the church says any such claims are the result of a defamatory campaign of lies. The UCKG have not responded to a request for comment on their planned move to Belfast. Stormont leaders have traded fresh blows in their ongoing blame game ahead of talks with the UK government. Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists will have separate meetings with Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley in Belfast on Thursday, as Mrs Bradley continues to consider ways to revive devolution. Northern Ireland has been without a properly functioning powersharing government for almost 16 months due to the bitter stand-off between the two main parties. A row that broke out over a botched green energy scheme, and widened to encompass long-standing disputes such as the Irish language and gay marriage, shows no sign of resolution. Negotiations to restore the institutions have effectively been on ice since Valentine's Day, when the talks broke up in acrimonious circumstances amid claim and counter claim about a proposed deal to break the impasse. On Wednesday, Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O'Neill reiterated her view that the DUP's confidence and supply agreement with the UK government was preventing Mrs Bradley taking definitive action. DUP leader Arlene Foster insisted Sinn Fein was the only one of Stormont's five main parties standing in the way of an immediate restoration of powersharing. Mrs O'Neill said: "I will be telling the British Secretary of State that we need the powersharing institutions back up and running and there is a huge deal of frustration within the wider community at the unacceptable delay in restoring the Executive due to the British Government's pact with the DUP. "The British Government have obligations under the Good Friday Agreement and if they are not prepared to confront the DUP, then they need to deal with the issues directly and in partnership with the Dublin government. "The people of the north, our public services and our peace agreements should not be held to ransom by the DUP's anti-rights agenda." Mrs Foster downplayed the significance of Thursday's meeting with Mrs Bradley. "This is a routine meeting with the Secretary of State," she said.< "I am glad she is meeting all the parties and I hope she will recognise that four of the five main parties would restore devolution immediately. There is only one party which has placed barriers and preconditions in the path of returning local decision making to Northern Ireland. "In the absence of devolution there is still a need for decisions to be taken however. "Over the last few days, issues such as the 15 0million delivered for broadband by the DUP through the confidence and supply agreement have been in the news. "I will be urging the Secretary of State to ensure that necessary decisions are taken and the people of Northern Ireland do not suffer because of Sinn Fein's narrow agenda." Independent councillor Padraig McShane is taking a legal challenge to Europe after he was sanctioned for being pictured in 2015 with an Irish and Palestinian flag at Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council's Coleraine headquarters. An independent councillor suspended for three months in a row over flags has vowed to take his legal challenge to being sanctioned all the way to Europe. Padraig McShane was found to have breached a code of conduct after being pictured with the Irish tricolour and a Palestinian flag at Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council's Coleraine headquarters. His lawyers claim the decision should be overturned because of his right to freedom of political opinion. Mr McShane was pictured sitting behind a bench draped in the flags at the council chamber in June 2015. Alongside him in the photograph were Derry-based independent councillors Gary Donnelly and Darren O'Reilly, and visiting Gaza official Mohamed Al-Halabi. A Democratic Unionist representative lodged a complaint after the picture emerged. In November 2016 the Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards ruled that Mr McShane had breached the councillor's code of conduct. The adjudication covered a prohibition on the use of position to confer and secure personal advantage, and the use of council resources "for political purposes". Mr McShane, a former Sinn Fein member and now independent republican representative, did not attend the hearing where the finding was made. With the suspension period which saw him banned from all council meetings for three months since served, his legal team are continuing attempts to have the adjudication reversed. They contend that the councillor is entitled to express political opinion and free speech under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Although a High Court judge refused to grant leave for a challenge to the decision, proceedings have now reached the Court of Appeal. Senior judges reserved their verdict today on a preliminary point about whether they have authority to hear the case. Outside court Mr McShane's solicitor, Michael Brentnall, said: "If the court decides that it has no jurisdiction my client will be making an application to the European Court of Human Rights. "The basis of that will be his right to freedom of speech as an elected representative." The PSNI will receive funding for a new specialist officer to crack down on loan sharking by paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. The officer will work with the Paramilitary Crime Task Force to target illegal lenders. The PSNI, HM Revenue & Customs and the National Crime Agency have established the Paramilitary Crime Task Force to tackle criminality linked to paramilitarism as part of the Executives action plan on tackling paramilitary activity, criminality, and organised crime. A new education project will also be created to raise awareness of the dangers of loan sharks and to support vulnerable communities. The Consumer Council will lead its first ever education and awareness campaign to help prevent the most vulnerable from being bitten by loan sharks. In total, 5.67 million of funding will be provided to Britains Illegal Money Lending Teams (IMLT) and bodies in Northern Ireland to tackle illegal lending. The money will be used to investigate and prosecute illegal lenders, and to support those who have been the victim of a loan shark. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Karen Bradley said the money would bring those behind illegal lending to justice. "Loan sharks are a blight on society and prey on vulnerable people who struggle to make ends meet and their callous methods will not be tolerated," the Conservative MP said. "Northern Ireland is at the forefront of fighting back against their criminal activity with the Consumer Council educating potential victims on the dangers and the PSNI ensuring those responsible will be brought to justice. "More money than ever before is being spent to fund the fight against loan sharks as this Government continues to build a United Kingdom fit for the future." North Antrim DUP MLA Mervyn Storey welcomed the funding announcement. All too often people have forced themselves into debt and have turned to drastic measures as a means of help. Loan sharks are not the answer and often lead to bigger problems. Education and knowledge of the help out there is key whenever debt is looming overhead," he said. "Awareness of the dangers is much needed and I am glad that funding is now being made available to help crack down on the activity of loan sharks. I understand the Consumer Council will take a lead on the educational programmes and have a wealth of knowledge in relation to helping those in debt. "The message is - if you are in debt support is out there. Exhortation of vulnerable people in a difficult financial situation is wrong. Loan sharks are not the Robin Hood of society and their activity must be thwarted at every opportunity. This extra funding will go some way to tackling this scourge on society. A key report on the reform of abortion legislation in Northern Ireland is to recommend a change in the law. The Department of Health and Department of Justice have released the working group on fatal fetal abnormality's report from 2016. Both departments said the decision was taken to publish the report given the ongoing absence of ministers saying it was in line with Freedom of Information legislation and in the public interest. Previously they said the publication was delayed publication until power-sharing was restored and politicians could consider the report. Given there was no time-frame for the restoration of the Executive the departments said the need to preserve time and space for ministers to consider the findings "no longer carries sufficient weight to balance the public interest in favour of continuing to delay release of the information contained within the report". The report recommends the law should be changed to provide for termination of pregnancy where the abnormality is of such a nature as to be likely to cause death either before birth, during birth or in the early period after birth". It also states: "where a diagnosis has been made of such an abnormality, it is to be accepted that the continuance of such a pregnancy poses a substantial risk of serious adverse effect on a women's health and wellbeing." The group, chaired by Northern Ireland chief medical officer Michael McBride and including senior health workers, held meetings with medical professional bodies and with women, and their families, who had experience of fatal fetal abnormalities. On the issue of terminology and definitions, the working group report said fatal fetal abnormality "is an acceptable description of a diagnosis made, usually around 20 weeks gestation, of a fetal abnormality which will result in death in utero, at birth or shortly after birth." It also notes that modern diagnostic resources "allow for very accurate information to be provided to women regarding the condition of the fetus and its viability". Alliance MLA and former Justice Minister David Ford said: "The report provides full justification for the actions I took as minister to allow abortion in cases where the foetus has no prospect of a viable life. "I believe that would have eased the trauma some women go through every year, though - of course - any such decision would have been for the individual woman based on a full medical assessment." Other key findings in the report include: Some improvements can be made to the care and support of women with a fatal fetal abnormality diagnosis through proposals to improve the standard of care under the existing legal framework; Health professionals said that, in their professional opinion, retaining the existing legal constraints would continue to place an unacceptable burden on women's health and wellbeing. One of the most compelling cases for change was the overall recognition by those health professionals who spoke to the group that the existing legal framework prevents them from fully meeting their duty of care to all women in this situation and therefore denies those women who wish to terminate the pregnancy, access to proper standards of health care. Health professionals considered the current situation to be professionally untenable. Mr Ford continued: "Unfortunately, the Executive blocked my proposals, which were based on firm evidence from a detailed consultation process. The question needs to be asked of how many women have suffered since I made a promise to Sarah Ewart I would try to change the law some years ago. While we unfortunately have no Executive currently in place to take this forward, I believe we now have irrefutable evidence of the need to legislate to allow women in Northern Ireland to access abortion in the traumatic circumstances where they are given a diagnosis a child will not survive. Abortion is unlawful in Northern Ireland unless it is to preserve the life of the woman, and carries a potential sentence of life imprisonment. In 2015 a High Court judge in Belfast ruled that the current law was in breach of the ECHR in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities or where women are pregnant as a result of sexual crime. After the Department of Justice and the Attorney General successfully appealed the ruling, the NIHRC has now taken its case to the Supreme Court. Northern Ireland woman Sarah Ewart's first pregnancy was given a fatal foetal diagnosis, meaning she had to travel to England to terminate her pregnancy. She has campaigned for a change in the law. The full report can be viewed here. Londonderry Chamber of Commerce President Jennifer McKeever pictured with Tanaiste Simon Coveney, Mayor of Derry Maoliosa McHugh and Martin Gormley from event sponsors Frylite pictured at the Annual Presidents Lunch in Derrys City Hotel. Pic by Tom Heaney, NWpresspics Tanaiste Simon Coveney met with members of the Londonderry Bands Forum during a visit to the city on Wednesday. Mr Coveney, who is also the Republic of Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, visited the city to address the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce Presidents Lunch and meet with businesses and regional representatives in Derry and the North West region. He also met with civil society groups in the city and visited the Museum of Free Derry. The Tanaiste visited the Londonderry Bands Forum at their centre at Newgate Street. He met with members of the Bands Forum and also with representatives of An Culturlann, who are working in partnership through the Droichead programme. I was delighted to visit the Londonderry Bands Forum at their centre today and to hear about their positive work. I was very interested to hear also about the fruitful partnership between the Bands Forum and An Culturlann in Derry, on delivering cross-community and cross-cultural activities," he said after the visit. "The cooperation between these organisations highlights the degree to which work by community organisations in Derry can be a model for reconciliation efforts elsewhere. My department has supported both organisations through the Reconciliation Fund and will continue to engage with both groups to facilitate further collaboration within Northern Ireland and beyond. Mr Coveney also visited the Bloody Sunday Trust Museum and met with relatives of those who were killed in 1972 and the directors and staff of the Bloody Sunday Trust. I was glad to have the opportunity to visit the Museum of Free Derry today, which offers a fitting memorial to those who lost their lives on Bloody Sunday in 1972 and has helped to ensure that the history of that hugely difficult period is recorded and displayed in a meaningful way," the Tanaiste said. The Irish Government was pleased to contribute to the impressive new museum building which performs a vital role in educating and informing younger generations about this period in the history of this island. Speaking after attending the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce lunch Mr Coveney said he had met with businesses to help them prepare for the effects of Brexit. I was very pleased to address the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce today to outline the Governments priorities and engagement to address the risks of Brexit for the island of Ireland, and also on working with the British Government and the political parties in Northern Ireland to find a way beyond the current impasse with the devolved institutions, the Tanaiste said. I also met directly with a broad range of businesses and with regional representatives at the Chamber event. We discussed concerns around Brexit, the pressing need to get the devolved institutions operating again, and regional development issues in the North West. We also spoke about the impact of Brexit on organisations in the North West region, and what businesses have been doing to ensure they are Brexit-ready, as well as progress on a number of regional issues. It was a really useful opportunity to update members of the Chamber on progress in the EU-UK negotiations and to outline the Governments key priorities in that process. Mr Coveney said working with businesses in the North West was an important part of the Irish Government's Brexit strategy. I encouraged representatives at the Chamber event to stay engaged on Brexit issues, and I look forward to their continued participation in stakeholder engagement opportunities over the coming months. This forms an important part of the Governments approach to the Brexit negotiations. As part of the trip Mr Coveney also met with SDLP leader Colum Eastwood alongside MLAs Mark H Durkan and Daniel McCrossan. Foyle MLA Mr Eastwood said that he reiterated the need for the BIIC to be reconvened to clear the decks and challenge all parties back to a functioning Government to protect people here from Brexit. The SDLP delegation also discussed how the Irish Government can work with the SDLP to ensure the delivery of a City Deal for Derry and Strabane. We had a productive, honest and positive meeting with An Tanaiste. I was very reassured by An Tanaistes commitment to protecting citizens here from a hard Brexit and a hard border," Mr Eastwood said. I did make it crystal clear in respect to the North, that in order for us to find a way forward to restore government, the BIIC must be immediately reconvened. Only then can we clear the decks and challenge parties to get back to the job of Government. It is absolutely critical that we get to that place so that politicians here can work to protect citizens across this island from Brexit. An Tanaiste is aware of my view, unless both Governments step in and step up - another round of secret talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein wont work. A teenager has been through hell since he was wrongly accused of recording the recent assault of a teenage girl at Bangor Marina, a court has heard. Cameron McAuley (19) appeared in the dock of Newtownards Magistrates' Court as a result of breaching bail conditions. McAuley, with an address in Bangor, was charged with using disorderly behaviour on the Newtownards Road in Bangor, assaulting police on April 4, assaulting Jake McKenna occasioning him actual bodily harm and damaging Mr McKennas glasses on February 13 this year. Giving evidence to the court Detective Constable Holmstead said she believed she could connect McAuley to each of the offences. She told the court McAuley had been on police bail since he was charged earlier this month with a scheduled court appearance for next week but he was arrested for breaching three conditions - a prohibition on having alcohol in public, his bail address being withdrawn and failing to take a preliminary breath test. The officer revealed that essentially, the reasons for most of the breaches are that Mr McAuley was wrongly accused of being the person who videod the attack at the pier of Friday night". He did not video it, declared the cop adding that he and his family have been through hell since the weekend having been accused of being the person who shot the piece. He didnt. He wasnt on the pier. He has been in hiding...living in fear, so in those circumstances, I dont want to oppose bail, said the detective. McAuley was freed on his own bail of 100 with numerous conditions barring him from certain parts of Bangor, having alcohol or being drunk in public and to keep a curfew. He is due to appear again on 23 May. A 16-year old girl sustained severe facial injuries after being punched and kicked in the assault on Bangor pier last Friday. Footage of the incident was posted online and has been viewed millions of times. Appearing in court on Monday charged with causing grievous bodily harm were a 16-year-old girl, a 17-year-old boy and an 18-year-old woman, Cora Mary Linda Campbell, from English Street in Downpatrick. At that hearing a police officer described the assault as "sustained and vicious", adding that the injured party told police she had been punched and held down by four people known to her. A recording, which was posted on Facebook, shows her being punched around 30 times, stamped and kicked to the head and having her head banged on the ground, according to the officer. Cora Campbell (18) is one of the three teenagers charged with a range of offences following an attack on a young girl in Co Down. Credit - Picture by Justin Kernoghan A 16-year-old girl repeatedly punched and kicked in a "vicious" attack filmed and then posted online had been deliberately lured to the scene, the High Court has heard. Prosecutors also claimed the victim was held down and had alcohol poured over her face, leaving her fearing she was choking during the sustained beating in Bangor, Co Down. Details emerged on Wednesday as an 18-year-old woman police suspect to be the main instigator in last Friday's assault applied for bail. Cora Campell, from English Street in Downpatrick, is charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent. A 17-year-old boy and another girl aged 16 are accused of the same offence. The injured party was attacked after two people came to meet her at the marina in the seaside town, the court heard. A Crown lawyer said: "Police believe that the injured party was deliberately lured to this location by a number of individuals, including this applicant." It was claimed that Campbell grabbed her by the hair and started punching her after asking: "Do you want to go now, big girl?" She allegedly threw the victim to the ground, got on top and pinned her down as further blows to the face were inflicted. "The injured party recalled that a co-defendant came over and poured alcohol on her face while the assault was happening," the prosecutor continued. "She felt as though she was choking." Another accused then allegedly banged her head off the ground while she was being punched and kicked to the face. Although she managed to get up, the prosecution contended that Campbell dragged her back down. She eventually began walking away, only to be assaulted again by having her head ducked into a fountain as she struggled to breathe, it was alleged. Prosecution counsel said the girl realised the attack was being filmed. Footage was later shared on Facebook. "The video shows a sustained and vicious assault carried out by two female defendants, one of whom is this applicant," the barrister submitted. During police interviews Campbell said there were "issues" between her and the injured girl. She claimed that after drinking a large amount of vodka and seeing the victim "the red mist came down", the court was told. The Crown lawyer added: "She admitted punching, kicking and slamming the injured party's head off the ground. "However, she said that she believes she did not cause a lot of damage." Defence counsel Conor O'Kane raised an issue with how the incident has been reported. "The way this has been portrayed in the media is that my client is a certain type of person and the injured party is a different type of person," he said. "These people know each other very well, they have been in fights many times." He also claimed a photo posted on the alleged victim's Facebook account earlier this year depicts her with a tagging device on her leg. Following submissions Mr Justice McCloskey adjourned the bail application to a later date. Julie Flaherty has said she has received assurances from the Department for Communities A Stormont department says a scheme to waive part of the burial fee for grieving parents who have lost a child will be up for consideration for an incoming minister when power sharing is restored. Ulster Unionist Julie Flaherty, who lost her infant son, introduced the proposal to Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council on Monday night and received unanimous backing. Read More Ms Flaherty has now received an assurance from the Department for Communities that any incoming minister will have the introduction of a Childrens Funeral Fund presented to them for consideration. It has been implemented in England following the intervention of Prime Minister Theresa May. Under the scheme parents will no longer have to meet the costs of burials and cremations, with these fees being met by government funding. However, the scheme will only be considered in Northern Ireland when power sharing is restored. Expand Close Ulster Unionist councillor Julie Flaherty and her husband with two-year-old son Jake / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ulster Unionist councillor Julie Flaherty and her husband with two-year-old son Jake Ms Flaherty said: Having lost my own son, Jake at two years and two-months-old in 2013, I know from bitter experience how a gesture such as central government covering the costs of burial or cremation could mean a lot. I brought the proposal forward to my own council, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, that we waive the cost of opening a grave for those under 18-years-old as a gesture of goodwill towards their families. "I know that in the absence of an Executive implementing the fund as is in place in England at this time is unlikely to be achieved. However, I felt strongly that local government institutions should do all we can in the interim to help ease the burden on grieving families. I am delighted that my campaign has led to a commitment being given by the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Communities that the introduction of a scheme similar to the Childrens Funeral Fund will be presented for consideration by incoming ministers. I am glad that this important issue will be on the desk of the next minister and I will be one of the first knocking on their door to make sure that this important goodwill gesture is offered to families in Northern Ireland. Ms Flaherty's son Jake was born in May 2015 with Down Syndrome. He also battled other medical issues, including a congenital heart defect. Ms Flaherty said the cost of Jake's funeral was around 4,000. Northern Ireland has been without a government for over a year. On Thursday the Belfast Telegraph reported there was "no chance" of progressing talks until the autumn. US media giant Comcast has unveiled a formal 22 billion offer for Sky, setting the stage for a bidding battle with Rupert Murdoch's 21st First Century Fox and Walt Disney to snap up the pay-TV group. US media giant Comcast has unveiled a formal 22 billion offer for Sky, setting the stage for a bidding battle with Rupert Murdochs 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney to snap up the pay-TV group. Comcast confirmed its bid at 12.50 a share, as first proposed in its approach two months ago, which marks a 16% increase on the 10.75 a share offered by Fox to buy the 61% of Sky is does not already own. Sky withdrew its recommendation for the 11.7 billion Fox deal following Comcasts offer but stressed that both bids are subject to pre-conditions and neither offer is currently capable of being put to shareholders. It added its independent committee will co-operate fully with both suitors. The rival bid comes just ahead of a May 1 deadline for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to give its final advice on the Fox bid for Sky to Culture Secretary Matt Hancock, who must decide to either approve or block it by the end of May. Expand Close Rupert Murdoch's bid for Sky has been gatecrashed by Comcast (PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Rupert Murdoch's bid for Sky has been gatecrashed by Comcast (PA) Mr Murdochs 21st Century Fox said it was considering its options but remains committed to its recommended cash offer for Sky. Skys shares raced 4% higher as Comcasts move raises the prospect of a bidding war. The bid is yet to be given the backing of the Sky board, which is being advised by PJT Partners, Morgan Stanley and Barclays, but Comcast said it was in talks with the Sky Independent Committee with a view to obtaining a future recommendation of the acquisition. The group added that it plans to agree a raft of legally-binding commitments over Sky and its investment in the UK, in particular for Sky News, while it also said it would commit to keeping the groups Osterley headquarters for at least five years. Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive of Comcast, said: With its 23 million retail customers, leading positions in the UK, Italy, and Germany, and its history of strong financial performance, we see significant opportunities for growth by combining our businesses. He added: We also understand the role that Sky plays in UK society and in its customers lives and we are determined to be responsible and trusted owners of Sky. The offer marks yet another twist in the takeover saga, which began in December 2016 when Fox made its latest controversial bid to take full control of the group. The question now is whether Fox/Disney makes a knock-out bid to discourage any further Comcast offer and what it thinks this level is, without breaking the bank.Liberum analysts The CMA has raised a host of concerns over the Fox acquisition, while since then, Disney has also agreed to snap up a raft of Fox assets including Skys 39% stake. All eyes are now on the next move by Fox and Disney, with the latter having previously described Sky as the crown jewel of Foxs assets. Britains Takeover Panel has already told Disney it must bid for the whole of Sky even if Foxs offer is blocked. As part of its post-offer assurances, Comcast confirmed plans to establish a Sky News board, which will be maintained for at least 10 years, as well as promising annual expenditure on Sky News will be at least equal to that of the past financial year. Comcast also said it will give legally-binding commitments to maintain editorial independence at Sky News. In a bid to head off any competition concerns, the group said it will not acquire a majority stake in any UK newspapers for five years. Comcast, which owns cable channels MSNBC and CNBC as well as telecoms services, has already said it believes its approach would escape concerns over media plurality because of its minimal presence in UK media. Sky News has become a flashpoint in Foxs bid due to competition fears centring on Mr Murdochs ownership of The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers. Analysts at Liberum said a counterbid from Fox/Disney was very likely. They said: The question now is whether Fox/Disney makes a knock-out bid to discourage any further Comcast offer and what it thinks this level is, without breaking the bank. We think a credible counter-bid would be at 13.75p a share. Labour MPs Ruth Smeeth, Luciana Berger and Jess Philllips at a demonstration outside the Labour party disciplinary hearing for Marc Wadsworth in London (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Dozens of Labour MPs have marched in support of a Jewish colleague as she prepared to give evidence at the disciplinary hearing of a suspended party member accused of anti-Semitism. They were met by a small group of protesters carrying placards and chanting their support for Marc Wadsworth. He was suspended from the Labour Party after he challenged Ruth Smeeth MP at a press conference launching the Chakrabarti report on anti-Semitism within the party. A disciplinary hearing on Wednesday in Church House, Westminster, will decide whether he should be kicked out of the party, although a decision is not expected immediately. Ms Smeeth was accompanied to the hearing by colleagues on a march from Westminster Hall. One of the MPs, Jess Phillips, said: (We are) making sure she isnt walking into a protest on her own. The group was met by protesters gathered by the entrance to Church House, chanting reinstate Marc Wadsworth. Ahead of the hearing, Mr Wadsworth told reporters: Im confident, as Im not guilty. Based on the facts, this hearing, if its fair, I will be exonerated. Expand Close Labour party activist Marc Wadsworth arrives at the hearing (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Labour party activist Marc Wadsworth arrives at the hearing (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Im totally and utterly opposed to anti-Semitism, to all forms of bigotry, including anti-black racism and Islamophobia. Mr Wadsworth was described by supporters as a veteran anti-racist. Stan Keable said: The charges should be dropped. Hes been suspended for nearly two years. She has falsely accused him of anti-Semitism. He didnt even know she was Jewish. It comes as Labour reportedly pledged to settle the vast majority of outstanding cases of alleged anti-Semitism in the party within months. Jewish leaders accused Jeremy Corbyn of failing to turn words into actions in tackling anti-Semitism in the Labour party after a meeting with Jonathan Arkush, president of Board of Deputies of British Jews (BDBJ) and the chair of the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), Jonathan Goldstein, in Westminster on Tuesday. Expand Close Labour MPs march in support of Ruth Smeeth (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Labour MPs march in support of Ruth Smeeth (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Among the proposals put forward by the community leaders was a fixed timetable for dealing with outstanding cases of anti-Semitism and expediting long-standing cases like that of Ken Livingstone. According to the BBC, the party has pledged to settle most of the cases by July. Following the meeting, Mr Corbyn had said the talks had been positive and constructive. However Mr Arkush rejected the suggestion the meeting had been constructive, telling BBCs Newsnight: Positive yes, but if you measure constructiveness by the actions to go with the words then I dont think thats what I would call it. Mr Arkush said the meeting was friendly in tone and Mr Corbyn was extremely engaging (and) he looked interested. Expand Close Labour MPs Luciana Berger and Margaret Hodge outside the hearing (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Labour MPs Luciana Berger and Margaret Hodge outside the hearing (Stefan Rousseau/PA) But there were no actions to go with the words, yet again, and thats why we thought the meeting has been a real missed opportunity and a great disappointment, he added. Meanwhile, frontbencher Chris Williamson, an ally of Mr Corbyn, is reportedly planning to share a platform with Jackie Walker, who was suspended by Labour over allegedly anti-Semitic comments in 2016. Barry Gardiner, shadow secretary of state for international trade, said people were innocent until proven guilty. He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Its right that when somebody has been found guilty nobody should share a platform. My own view, my personal view, is that Chris is wrong to share a platform with somebody who has expressed the views that she has. A Northern Ireland man who tortured and murdered a Vietnamese mother-of-two while out on licence has been told he will never be freed. William McFall, 51, who is originally from Graymount Parade in Greencastle, and Stephen Unwin, 40 murdered Vietnamese nail technician Quyen Ngoc Nguyen after a four-hour ordeal and dumped her body in her car before torching it last August. Read More She had been lured to Unwin's home in Shiney Row near Sunderland, where McFall lay in wait, Newcastle Crown Court has heard. Unwin went on to rape the 28-year-old who was just 5ft and weighed seven stone. Mr Justice Morris ruled they should never be released, sentencing both to whole-life jail terms. The judge said: "Stephen Unwin, you are a calculating, manipulating and ruthless killer. "William John McFall, you are an extremely violent man capable of monstrous behaviour." McFall shouted angrily from the dock: "That's your personal opinion." Expand Close Stephen Unwin and McFall PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Stephen Unwin and McFall The sister of 35-year-old Quynh Ngoc Nguyen had earlier read a Victim Statement, saying: "We cannot comprehend how men like this can live freely in this country. "My sister believed, as I did, that you came to this country for a safer life, with better opportunities for herself and her children." She said their parents and her sister's two children had been left heartbroken by the actions of the murderers. "They did not act like human beings, they are evil," she said. Unwin had a history of setting fires to destroy evidence at the scenes of his crimes. He battered a pensioner to death during a break-in at his home on Christmas Day 1998 and the fire he started to cover his tracks meant the victim could only be identified by his medical records. Unwin admitted murder, was sentenced to life and was released on licence in December 2012. He met McFall in the prison system where he was also serving life for murdering a pensioner. McFall attacked his victim Martha Gilmore with a hammer after she disturbed him breaking into her home in Carrickfergus in May 1996. He was jailed for life and released on licence in October 2010. Jamie Hill QC told the court: "In cases where a defendant has been convicted of murder for a second time, normally the starting point for sentence would be a whole life order. "In the common parlance, life without parole." The judge was asked to consider whether the murder was racially aggravated, as the killers swapped text messages including a reference to "raping the chink". They ate curry as their victim lay lifeless on the floor before they dumped her in the burning car by allotments. The killers took 1,000 from her bank accounts, having tortured her for the PINs. Dapinder Singh QC, for Unwin, urged the judge not to impose a whole life tariff. Nicholas Lumley QC, for McFall, said his client continued to deny the murder and regretted coming into contact with Unwin after his release as his life was "on track" in Blackpool. The pair worked together in the North East maintaining properties for landlords, and also stealing cannabis from drugs farms. Mr Lumley said: "He (McFall) attributes his involvement in this terrible incident to his weakening to Mr Unwin's charms." Labour MPs and peers supporting the campaign to stop junk food ads before the watershed (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Social media companies must play their role in tackling spiralling childhood obesity levels, Labour has said. MPs and peers from the party gathered in Westminster in support of TV chef Jamie Olivers campaign for a ban on advertising unhealthy foods before the 9pm watershed. Labours deputy leader Tom Watson said social media firms can bypass parents to target unhealthy food directly at children. Expand Close #Adenough campaign PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp #Adenough campaign He said: We are saying to advertisers you have got to play your role in this, and TV. But we are also saying in the modern age of digital with these huge social platforms targeting children with high sugar, high fat advertising, it is a way that they get round parental control or parental oversight of what their kids see on this. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth warned there was a real crisis in childhood obesity levels. He said: We have got some of the worst rates of childhood obesity in Europe and if we dont act something like half of our children will be obese by 2020. Theres lots that government can be doing but we think one of the big changes they could make is by restricting the advertisement of junk food to our children, whether thats on television or the digital world. But we have got to do something because we have got a real crisis. Obese children grow up into adults with all sorts of health conditions. Its creating a huge burden on the NHS so its in our interests to solve this, not just for the health of children but for the future sustainability of the NHS too. It comes after opposition leaders wrote a joint letter to the Prime Minister urging her to tackle the obesity crisis. In the missive to Theresa May, seen by the Press Association, Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon, Sir Vince Cable, Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley urged her to take bold action to tackle one of the greatest health challenges of our time. They called for 13 measures, including an end to buy-one-get-one-free junk food deals. In a post on his website, Oliver wrote: Its time we put child health first. Im calling for the Government to introduce a 9pm watershed on junk food advertising on TV, and for proper controls on what ads kids see online, in the street and on public transport. Crucially, this campaign isnt about stopping big brands from advertising full stop; its about making sure kids arent being targeted with unhealthy products. Its about controlling the time and place. Protecting child health safeguards Britains future, which to me is morally above any political position. So this letter is a big moment! These major party leaders have put aside their differences and said, We dont agree on everything, but we do agree on this. #AdEnough https://t.co/gpukS7CiTu Jamie Oliver (@jamieoliver) April 25, 2018 He added: If kids are constantly being targeted with cheap, easily accessible, unhealthy junk food, just think how hard it must be to make better, healthier choices. We have to make it easier for children to make good decisions. These ads undermine any positive work were doing in schools or at home to tackle the rise of childhood obesity. Currently, theres nothing in place to protect our kids from seeing these adverts apart from literally covering their eyes! And thats where our #AdEnough campaign comes in. TSB says its internet banking service is currently working at around 50% capacity for customers as chief executive Paul Pester said he was truly sorry for the ongoing problems. The bank said it was working round the clock to fix problems that struck following a major IT upgrade on Sunday night, but said five out of every 10 customers who tried to access its internet banking service were still facing issues. Its mobile app was now operating at 90% capacity, it said. Mr Pester said: Our teams continue to work around the clock to fix the problems that some of our customers are having in accessing their TSB accounts. I want to reassure our customers that the engine room of the bank is working as it should. This means that for the vast majority of our five million customers, everything is running smoothly. The challenge we are facing at the moment is that while we know everything is working, one of the main ways that our customers see everything is working through our internet banking and mobile app isnt functioning as well as it should be, and for this Im truly sorry. I can appreciate how frustrating this must be for our customers. At this time, our call centres and branches may be busier than usual helping our customers. While we will try and help everyone as quickly as we can, there are a number of other ways to bank with TSB. For instance, customers can check their balance and withdraw money at a cash machine and they can also, as always, do this and make payments through their local Post Office. Of course, customers can rest assured that no-one will be left out of pocket as a result of these access issues. Mr Pester announced on Twitter on Wednesday morning that the services had been restored and thanked customers, many of whom had been left furious by the outage, for their patience and bearing with us. But a spokeswoman said the bank was limiting the number of customers to ensure those able to access its app and online banking received a normal service. TSB had intended to complete a major IT system upgrade on Sunday evening, although problems persisted into a third day. Delays meant customers were left unable to access their money online, while some reported being able to access other customers accounts. Data and banking watchdogs confirmed they were looking into the situation while MPs have demanded answers from the bank about the IT meltdown. Treasury Select Committee chairwoman Nicky Morgan wrote to Mr Pester asking for details of the problems and the banks response. She said: This is yet another addition to the litany of failures of banking IT systems. Potentially millions of customers could be affected by uncertainty and disruption. It simply isnt good enough to expose customers to IT failures, including delays in paying bills and an inability to access their own money. Warm words and platitudes will not suffice. TSB customers deserve to know what has happened, when normal services will resume, and how they can expect to be compensated. Customers complained of problems with mobile and online accounts several hours after the system upgrade was supposed to have been completed. One customer said they had access to other customers accounts totalling more than 20,000 and another reportedly discovered they had been credited with 13,000 after logging back in. A number of customers complained they were still unable to access their money on Tuesday. The Information Commissioners Office, which monitors data and privacy, said it was aware of a potential data breach in relation to TSB and are making inquiries. Banking regulator the Financial Conduct Authority said: We are aware of the issue and are liaising with the firm. France's President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he is introduced before speaking to a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) Frances President Emmanuel Macron drew on the shared history and special bond with the US as he opened a joint meeting of Congress. Mr Macron told Congress, the American and French people have had a rendez-vous with freedom. In recounting common bonds from the earliest days of the United States, he was telling of a meeting between Ben Franklin and the French philosopher Voltaire, kissing each others cheeks. Expand Close Emmanuel Macron, escorted by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is welcomed by US representatives (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emmanuel Macron, escorted by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is welcomed by US representatives (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) In an apparent reference to his friendly meetings this week with President Donald Trump, Mr Macron joked: It can remind you of something. As President Theodore Roosevelt said, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We must fight for it and protect it. Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 25, 2018 Mr Macron spoke on Wednesday as part of his visit to the United States. It is the first time a president from France has addressed Congress in more than a decade, but follows a tradition of foreign leaders appearing at the US Capitol. President Donald Trump has declared that if the Iranians restart their nuclear programme, they will have bigger problems than they have ever had before. President Trump issued his warning alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in the Oval Office, where the two allies discussed the multinational nuclear agreement, the war in Syria and trade issues during a day of meetings at the White House. President Trump was asked by reporters if he might be willing to stay in the Iran agreement on nuclear enrichment. He replied, People know my views on the Iran deal. Its insane, its ridiculous. It should have never been made. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned the Trump administration that pulling out would undermine Americas talks with North Korea by proving the US reneges on its promises. He said in an interview that if President Trump withdraws, Iran would most likely abandon the deal as well. Speaking before President Trumps comments with Mr Macron, Mr Zarif added that Iran would no longer be bound by the deals international obligations. That would free Iran to resume enrichment activity beyond the limits imposed by the 2015 accord. President Macron is correct in saying there's no "Plan B" on JCPOA. It's either all or nothing. European leaders should encourage President Trump not just to stay in the nuclear deal, but more importantly to begin implementing his part of the bargain in good faith. Javad Zarif (@JZarif) April 23, 2018 President Trump remains publicly undecided on the deal, saying on Tuesday no one knows what he will do at the deadline he set to determine Americas position. But he reminded his French counterpart of what he sees as flaws in the agreement, which he said fails to address ballistic missiles or Irans activities in Yemen or Syria. President Trump suggested he was open to doing something on the Iran agreement as long as it was done strongly. He told Mr Macron, We could have at least an agreement among ourselves very quickly. Expand Close Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (Richard Drew/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (Richard Drew/AP) But when he was asked by reporters what that agreement would be, President Trump said, Youll find out. During the press conference, Mr Macron added that he and President Trump discussed pursuing a new agreement with Iran on the broader regional concerns, including Syria. But it was not clear whether President Trump would be willing to keep the US in the current deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in the meantime. US military and intelligence officials have urged the president not to pull out of the agreement, arguing it has halted Irans nuclear programme. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has received a life sentence for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Walls death was a murder. She said that Madsen did not give a trustworthy explanation. Expand Close File photo of police and other authorities searching for a body during the Kim Wall case (Jens Dresling/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp File photo of police and other authorities searching for a body during the Kim Wall case (Jens Dresling/AP) Madsen stood quietly listening as the judge read out the verdict on Wednesday. Madsen, 47, had denied murder and said Wall died accidentally inside the submarine. He confessed to cutting up her body and throwing the body parts into the sea. Madsen said he would appeal against the conviction and sentence. Donald Trump is hosting Emmanuel Macron for the first state visit of his administration (Andrew Harnik/AP) With exaggerated handshakes and a pair of kisses, President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron professed a sunny, best-friends relationship on Tuesday, even as the two allies strained to bridge differences over the Iran nuclear agreement, Syria and more. Hosting Mr Macron for the first state visit of his administration, culminating in a lavish dinner on Tuesday night, Mr Trump remained firm in his criticism of past and enduring American undertakings in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East. But he appeared open to the French presidents pleas to maintain US involvement in Syria and expressed openness to negotiating a new agreement with Iran. As Mr Trump weighs withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear accord, he issued a warning to Iran against restarting its nuclear programme, saying, They will have bigger problems than theyve ever had before. At a joint White House news conference, he appeared to be more in line with Mr Macrons push for a longer-term US presence in Syria. Mr Trump, who announced weeks ago that he would withdraw American troops, said Mr Macron reinforced the idea of a potential Iranian takeover of territory liberated from the Islamic State group. Well be coming home, Mr Trump said, but we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint. Mr Macron told Mr Trump that together the US and France would defeat terrorism, curtail weapons of mass destruction in North Korea and Iran, and act together on behalf of the planet. That last point was a reference to Mr Macrons work to revive the US role in the Paris climate accord to fight global warming, another international agreement Mr Trump has spurned. Differences aside, Mr Trump and Mr Macron lavished praise and even a pair of kisses on each other Tuesday. Its an honour to call you my friend, Mr Trump said, after predicting Mr Macron would be a historic leader of France. In one light moment, Mr Trump sought to demonstrate some of the personal chemistry he claimed. The US president brushed something off Mr Macrons suit jacket, saying, We have a very special relationship; in fact, Ill get that little piece of dandruff off. We have to make him perfect he is perfect. The meetings followed a pomp-filled welcome ceremony on the South Lawn. Highlights included a 21-gun salute and Melania Trumps wide-brim white hat, which drew more comments than all the rest of the pageantry. Expand Close Donald Trump and Melania Trump, with Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House (Andrew Harnik/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Donald Trump and Melania Trump, with Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House (Andrew Harnik/AP) Mr Trump said before an audience of US soldiers and members of his Cabinet that the relationship he forged with Mr Macron at the start of his presidency was a testament to the enduring friendship that binds our two nations. He thanked the French leader for his steadfast partnership in the recent missile strike in response to the chemical attack in Syria. Mr Macron said, History is calling us. It is urging our people to find the fortitude that has guided us in the most difficult of times. France and with it, Europe, and the United States have an appointment with history. Later he placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery. The social highlight of Macrons visit was Tuesday nights formal state dinner at the White House. More than 130 guests dined on rack of lamb and nectarine tart and enjoyed an after-dinner performance by the Washington National Opera. The previous evening, the leaders and their wives took a helicopter tour of Washington landmarks and had dinner at the Potomac River home of George Washington in Mount Vernon, Virginia. As he gave a toast at the dinner, Mr Trump hailed the bonds between the US and France, saying, May our friendship grow even deeper, may our kinship grow even stronger and may our sacred liberty never die. Expand Close President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron share a toast (Susan Walsh/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron share a toast (Susan Walsh/AP) As for substantive issues, one of Mr Macrons main objectives during his three-day visit to Washington was to persuade Mr Trump to stay in the Iran accord, which is aimed at restricting Irans development of nuclear weapons. Mr Trump is sceptical of the pacts effectiveness its insane, its ridiculous, he said Tuesday but he declined to say whether he would withdraw the U.S. by the May 12 deadline he has set. He reminded his French counterpart of what he sees as flaws in the agreement, which he said fails to address ballistic missiles or Irans activities in Yemen or Syria. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that pulling out would undermine Americas upcoming nuclear talks with North Korea by proving the U.S. reneges on its promises. He told The Associated Press in an interview in New York that if Mr Trump withdraws, Iran would most likely abandon the deal as well and would no longer be bound by its international obligations. That would free Iran to resume enrichment activity beyond the limits imposed by the 2015 accord. Mr Macron told reporters that he and Mr Trump would look at the Iran deal in a wider regional context, taking into account the situation in Syria. We have a common objective, we want to make sure theres no escalation and no nuclear proliferation in the region. We now need to find the right path forward, Mr Macron said. Mr Trump suggested he was open to doing something beyond the current Iran agreement as long as it was done strongly. In the last two years, a coming together of six separate factors has presented unionism with an enormous challenge. Brexit has raised new and complicated questions about the nature of the relationship between Belfast/Dublin and Dublin/London; the loss of their majority in the Assembly (40-50) has spooked unionism; the collapse of the Assembly has focused attention on whether or not political stability is possible; the increasing polarisation (Sinn Fein/DUP taking two-thirds of the total vote) makes consensual, genuine power-sharing seem an unlikely prospect; in the last two elections the overall unionist/pro-Union vote hasn't represented a majority; and the narrowing of the Protestant/Catholic demographic means that Protestants (overwhelmingly unionist) won't represent the majority community within a few years. So, it's not really surprising that the issue of Irish unity is now something that is discussed in pubs, offices, across dining tables and within political parties and Government circles. Unity has become a water-cooler conversation. Read More The very fact that leading unionists - Arlene Foster, Christopher Stalford, Robin Swann and Lord Kilclooney - are prepared to talk about what they would do in the event of Irish unity strikes me as extraordinary. Economists have been commissioned to write reports about Irish unity; Sinn Fein has hosted a series of unity conferences; I get phone calls every other day from unionist politicians about it; and a joint committee of the Dail and Senate published a report last August - Brexit and the Future of Ireland: Uniting Ireland and Its People in Peace and Prosperity. Sinn Fein, which hadn't anticipated the Brexit result, now seem to have sidelined an internal settlement in Northern Ireland in favour of an all-out push for unity. They never expected to be in this position, of course; yet they know that, if they don't achieve unity in the next two to five years (and a soft-landing north-south arrangement as part of the final Brexit deal could still scupper their chances), then it could be another generation before an opportunity as seemingly good as this one comes along again. So, they'll wear their friendliest, most approachable, smile. What Sinn Fein wants - what it needs - is a border poll. That requires a judgment from the Secretary of State that it "appears likely that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the UK and form part of a united Ireland". The key words here are "appears likely": so, a mixture of election results (the 2019 local government elections will be important if "unionists", for the third time in a row, don't represent a majority) and firmer evidence on demographics will play a crucial role in that judgment. The Irish government will also have an input to the decision - albeit a discreet one - because the possibility of unification will bring enormous consequences for them, too. But even without an earlier-than-expected border poll, the unity debate is not going away any time soon - particularly if Brexit doesn't work out well. Unionists need to embrace that debate. They have nothing to fear; yet much to gain. For a start, they really do need to pin down the existence of that demographic sometimes described as "Catholic unicorns" - Catholics who support the Union. The electoral evidence is mixed at best. They also need to look at those demographics known as "small-n nationalists" and "small-u unionists": there is evidence of their existence, but not much hard information, so far, on whether their perceived concerns about the UK leaving the EU outweigh what was assumed to be their previous support for the constitutional status quo. Two other demographics are worth looking at. I don't know the exact figures, but there are tens of thousands of people who have moved into Northern Ireland over the past 30 years and who would be entitled to vote in a border poll. How would they vote? What are their priorities? Which arguments are most likely to persuade them one way or the other? Can unionism reach them? In 1998, in the Good Friday Agreement referendum, around 100,000 or so from a pro-Union background - who hadn't voted for years - came out to support the Agreement. But most of them didn't come out a few weeks later for the Assembly election. Are they still about? What is their view on the unity debate and constitutional question? Why don't they vote? All in all, there is a pretty broad pool of potential voters for unionism to tap into. It needs to do that now. It should have started the process decades ago. Most important of all, though, they need to reach into their own grassroots. Here are two emails I received in response to a recent interview I gave on The Nolan Show on the issue of unionism reaching out to its non-traditional bases: "What about the need for them to engage Protestants? I wonder how representative my peer group is. Largely middle-aged, university-educated and very critical of DUP attitudes, behaviour and dogma. We all virtually have Irish passports and in our circles there is an increasing view that a united Ireland would not be so bad. Certainly, Convey et al appear so much more statesman-like than some of the other folks up on the hill. You might consider tapping into that audience for a view."; "As ever, the working-class unionists and loyalists are ignored in all of this. What should be a proper internal debate about the economic impact of Brexit on us has been twisted into a pointless battle between the DUP and the Irish government about the constitutional question. The DUP backed Brexit, but they're not really telling us what the specific benefits will be. I agreed with your recent interview in which you talked about unionist outreach being important. Maybe they should focus on their own backyard first?" I get dozens of emails every week from pro-Union supporters: some of them public figures and businesspeople who want their opinions heard and passed on; others from ordinary, grassroots unionists who just want me to know that they feel let down and neglected by "our own side". And, irrespective of their background, there is one thing these people have in common: they are not stupid. They are not blind to the challenges facing unionism. They are not afraid to face those challenges. What they want, most of all, is a unionism which makes sense to them and which looks attractive, coherent and non-threatening to others. They want a positive, pro-active campaign for the Union, rather than the usual defensive, slightly dismissive one. And they are right. There is nothing inevitable about Irish unity - even with Brexit - and unionism is not solely the property of Protestants, the Orange Order and the unionist parties. I believe unionism is facing its biggest challenge in almost a century. But I also believe that the pro-Irish unity argument remains a long, long way from success. The present debate is the most important one in my lifetime. I welcome it. Ironically - and three years from Northern Ireland's centenary - it provides unionism with the opportunity to finally emerge from the divisive mess it has been in since the collapse of Stormont in March 1972. Put bluntly, guys, talk to anyone and everyone. Rise to the challenge. Police inspect the Ever Judgers anchor in Balikpapan Bay, in Indonesias East Kalimantan province, April 12, 2018. Police in Indonesias East Kalimantan province on Tuesday announced they had seized a Panama-flagged ship allegedly linked to an oil spill in Balikpapan Bay that led to a massive fire and five deaths on March 31. The Ever Judger, which was carrying coal, was anchoring off Balikpapan city when it damaged an underwater pipeline operated by Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation Pertamina, according to local authorities. We decided to seize the ship for a thorough investigation of the oil spill that harmed Balikpapan Bay for 21 days, East Kalimantan Police investigation chief Yustan Alpiani told reporters on Tuesday. In addition, police requested that the immigration office detain the ships captain and 20 crewmen all Chinese nationals. Evidence found during our investigation showed that the pipeline was damaged because of the ships anchor, Utsan said, adding that the evidence included three pieces of the pipe. We have secured the evidence at Pertaminas Jeti Port of Balikpapan. It will reconstructed by a team of Indonesia Polices forensic lab, Yustan said. In a recent statement, Pertamina expressed appreciation for the police investigation. We have heard from the police and were still waiting for them to officially announce the cause of the incident, Yudy Nugraha, Pertaminas Kalimantan regional communication manager, said. The underwater pipeline is one of five contracted by Pertamina to supply its Balikpapan plant with 260,000 barrels of oil daily. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment insisted that Pertamina was responsible for the environmental damage in Balikpapan Bay. The Environment Law states that the producer of waste is responsible in the environmental recovery process, said Tri Bangun Laksono, chief of Kalimantan Ecoregional Development Control. Pertamina, he said, could file a complaint against whomever was responsible for causing the spill. The spill covered more than 32,000 acres, according to officials. If the ship is later found guilty, Pertamina is advised to file a charge against it. But its now Pertaminas responsibility, he said. A section of Pertaminas pipeline is removed from Balikpapan Bay, April 21, 2018. (Courtesy Pertamina) Security The East Kalimantan office of Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) urged the government to improve security around the oil processing plant. Jatams Pradharma Rupang said the plants security could face threats from foreigners, adding the coal ship should not take full blame for the spill. Its a foreign ship. It will obey the countrys regulation when it enters the country. There was supposed to be assistance from Pertamina and the Indonesia Navy, he said. But we didnt see any. There was no early warning system that could help avoid the incident. Balikpapan Bay Care Forum activist Husein, who uses only one name, said oil could be found in the nearby waters of Balang Island, Tempadung, Pudak and Somber. Environmental activists predicted the recovery could take six months. Oil pollution will harm the underwater life in Balikpapan Bay, he said. Supporters of Sister Patricia Fox, an Australian Roman Catholic nun, display signs during a rally at the Bureau of Immigration in Manila after an announcement that President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered her expulsion, April 25, 2018. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday ordered the expulsion of an Australian nun and gave her a month to leave the country, after immigration authorities had arrested her for allegedly joining rallies against his government. Sister Patricia Fox, of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, has been a longtime resident of the Philippines where she has worked closely with the poor. But intelligence agents had photographed the 71-year-old attending anti-government street protests early this month. She was the second foreign activist ordered out of the country. Authorities had recently deported an Italian official of the Party of European Specialists upon arrival at an airport in the central Philippines. Bureau of Immigration (BI) head Jaime Morente said Fox was found to have engaged in activities that are not allowed under the terms and conditions of her visa. Morente did not explain the nature of those activities, but said Fox was ordered to leave the country in 30 days after receiving the order. We stand by the Bureau of Immigrations order to forfeit Sister Patricia Foxs privilege of holding a missionary visa and to leave the Philippines, Duterte spokesman Harry Roque said in statement. Duterte had said that he ordered Foxs arrest, and that he would take full responsibility for any public backlash. Roque said Fox had been given the right to properly respond at a hearing by the immigration bureau, but officials found out that she had engaged in activities that breached the conditions of her visa. Fox, in a statement, thanked the Filipinos for all the learning she said she had gained while working for almost three decades in the Philippines. I may lose my right to be in the Philippines, but I can never lose the learnings and beautiful memories, Fox said, expressing hope that Manila would reconsider its decision. The influential Catholic Church has often locked horns with Duterte, questioning his violent methods in his administrations anti-drug war in which thousands have been killed since he became president in 2016. Outrageous, unbelievable, legislators say Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who has been among those actively questioning Dutertes drug war, said ordering the expulsion of a nun who had been working to help the poor here during the past 27 years was outrageous, unbelievable. It is an act that promotes further the climate of impunity in the country rather than secures our sovereignty, Hontiveros said. Is the Duterte government saying that Sister Patricia is more dangerous than alleged big-time drug lord Peter Lim? So we deport nuns while we let known and self-confessed drug lords roam free? she said. Shortly after he became president, Duterte had carried around a supposed list of politicians, judges, police and military officers whom, he said, were involved in the illegal-drug trade. At least three of those on the list have been gunned down by the police, including one who had surrendered but was bizarrely slain while in detention. Lim was a suspected high-profile drug lord who was one of those named by Duterte. But he managed to have a meeting with Duterte at the presidential palace in 2016, with Duterte only giving him a reprimand. Senate President Aquilino Pimentel, Dutertes ally, said he found nothing wrong with the deportation order against Fox. I think that is within the power of our immigration bureau. Especially if the foreigner has violated some of our laws, he said. On April 17, immigration agents detained Fox for allegedly being an undesirable alien. She was picked up from her apartment and then freed the next day after her case gained traction on social media. Felipe Villamor in Manila contributed to this report. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, is Joe Biden lying to us? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices German Foreign Trade Award 2018: Biogas Manufacturer on Second Place German biogas specialist WELTEC BIOPOWER is currently building three anaerobic digestion plants in Northern Ireland. All three 500-kW plants will shortly be completed and will go live in summer 2018. Two of them are being set up in County Antrim in north-east Northern Ireland. Another plant is being built in Benburb in County Tyrone. Thus, WELTEC will soon account for nine of a total of about 40 biogas plants in Northern Ireland. In recognition of this strong overseas commitment, WELTEC BIOPOWER recently qualified for the second place in the ranking of the German Foreign Trade Award. At first glance, the three new 500-kW plants look similar. Henceforth, all biogas plants will largely be charged with slurry and pig, cattle and poultry manure as well as a small amount of renewable raw materials. Nevertheless, the WELTEC engineers have developed an individual concept for each plant, as the substrate composition and retention times vary. For example, the plant in County Antrim will only have one 2,625-m3 stainless-steel digester. The second plant, which is located nearby, provides for two digesters with a capacity of 2,625 m3 each. The plant in Benburb will use a slightly larger stainless-steel digester in order to extract as much energy as possible from the substrates. The strong market position of WELTEC in the United Kingdom has a solid basis. From the outset, the company from Lower Saxony has played a key role in the field of AD plant construction. On 19 April 2018, the award was conferred for the 10th time. The ceremony was conducted at the end of the German Foreign Trade Day by Dr. Carsten Sieling, mayor of Bremen, and Harald Emigholz, Chairman of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce. Specifying the reasons for the bestowal of the award, the jury pointed out that WELTEC BIOPOWER started engaging in foreign trade as early as a year after its foundation in 2001. Today, more than 300 WELTEC plants exist in 25 countries on five continents. At present, additional energy plants are being built in Uruguay, France, Croatia and Greece. The export of German regenerative energy know-how has greatly contributed to WELTEC's sales and earnings performance. True to its convictions, WELTEC has retained the main elements of its value chain in the region and in Germany. In this way, the company provides its customers around the globe in various industries with a consistent quality level. OMG! Real-life Story Of A Woman Whose Kidney Fell Into Her Pelvis Whenever She Stood Up Pulse oi-Syeda Farah This is the case of a young woman who suffered from a rare condition of a floating kidney. The detailing of the case will leave you baffled when you realise that her kidney indeed floated inside her body! Check out the details of this rare and bizarre condition of the unnamed woman whose kidney fell down to her pelvis every time she stood. Read on to know more about the interesting case... This is the case for a young woman whose name is not being revealed for privacy reasons. She lives in Michigan. She experienced the most unusual pain when she stood every single time! She revealed to the doctors that she felt like "a ball was rolling inside of her" every time that she would go from lying down to standing up. The doctors discovered that the "ball" the woman was referring to was her right kidney. According to the doctors who revealed about the bizarre case, this 28-year-old woman was known to be suffering from a rare condition known as a floating kidney. Apparently, the woman experienced pain for nearly 6 years, as she suffered from abdominal pain on her right side and claimed that her pain worsened when she was standing but felt better when she was lying down. She had revealed to the doctors that the pain had apparently reduced when she was pregnant. When the doctors examined her, initially they could not jump to any conclusion, as the scans revealed everything to be normal. In the scan, her kidneys appear at the same level on both sides of her spine. But the scan that was taken while she stood straight revealed the condition, as it clearly showed the woman's kidney to be floating. This medical condition is also known as the floating or "wandering" kidney, which is medically known as "nephroptosis". It is a condition in which one of the kidneys falls into the pelvis when a person stands up. According to the doctors, people with a floating kidney condition can face this issue due to the body fat. Since the kidneys in general have a lot of fat around them to support them and if there isn't enough fat to keep the kidney in place, it falls into the pelvis when a person stands up due to gravity. This condition is said to happen in people who are very thin. The doctors revealed that her right kidney fell more than 2 inches, which is almost 6 centimetres down, or the length of two vertebrae, when she shifted positions from lying down to standing up. This was the main reason why she suffered from constant pain. To treat the woman's problem and eliminate her pain, the doctors did a surgery, which is also known as a "nephropexy." It was revealed in the report that the doctors made small incisions in her abdomen and put stitches into the capsule of the kidney, which apparently covers the outer surface of the kidney. It was later tied to the back wall of her body. This process holds the kidney in place and prevents it from dropping down. The report also revealed that since the surgery was done, the woman no longer had symptoms or pain, and she has been doing fine. Wish to read about more such medical bizarre cases and real-life stories? Then, stay tuned to our section, as we bring in the most unusual and rare cases of the people around you. GET THE BEST BOLDSKY STORIES! Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 25, 2018, 15:00 [IST] PCI Pharma Services have announced 120 new jobs today. The company has opened a new High Containment Packaging Facility in Drogheda in Co Louth which will create 70 new positions. While 50 more are coming on stream at its facility in Stamullen in Co Meath. The project is supported by the Government through IDA Ireland. "The availability of this range of clinical and pharmaceutical services will increase the attractiveness of Ireland as an international base for early stage speciality Biopharma companies," said CEO of IDA Ireland Martin Shanahan. "It demonstrates a strong commitment by the company to its Irish operations with 70 new jobs being created at this facility in Drogheda on top of the 30 already there and a further 50 jobs being added to its facility in Stamullen, Co. Meath. "It is also proof that Ireland is viewed as an attractive location in Europe for global companies seeking to provide stability around the evolving Brexit situation. "I congratulate President and CEO Bill Mitchell and his team and wish them continued success with their operations here." By Debby Wu Investors hunting for clues to the iPhone Xs reception can take a deeper look at its main manufacturing partners. And the latest doesnt look good. Apples five largest device assemblers reported a sharp slowdown after peaking at the end of last year, suggesting demand for the high-end device may have faded just a quarter after its release. While Hai Precision Industry, Pegatron, and three other key suppliers reported an 8% rise in their total sales across the March quarter, growth cratered later in the period a drop that in the past has presaged a downturn for Apple. The concern is that the iPhone X, while enjoying a customary holiday quarter spike for new-generation Apple gadgets, fizzled out rapidly. Apples costliest smartphone has struggled to draw customers in emerging markets, while competitors from Huawei to Xiaomi roll out more premium phones and dominate China the US companys biggest foreign market. Last week, Morgan Stanley cut its estimate on iPhone shipments by six million, underscoring the growing unease since Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the maker of iPhone processors, issued a disappointing outlook that triggered a 7% loss in Apples value. Apples sales growth bears close correlation with that of its main quintet of assemblers, which depend on the iPhone maker for their own business growth Hon Hai alone gets about half its revenue from Apple. While its difficult to translate their numbers directly into Apples, a look at reported figures since 2016 suggests its possible to draw certain conclusions at the general health of the US smartphone titans top-line. The group is responsible for finishing most of Apples gizmos: Hon Hai, Pegatron, and Wistron assemble iPhones. Hon Hai also has a role in other Apple products, splitting MacBooks with Quanta Computer, and sharing iPads with Compal Electronics . Quanta and Compal also make Apple Watches. Hon Hai and crew can offer insights into Apples sales but to a limited extent, said Jusy Hong, a director with IHS Markit. While Hon Hai, Quanta and Pegatron both rely on Apple for more than half their business, Wistron, and Compal are far less dependent on Apple. Its true that they are major assemblers of Apple but at the same time they have other customers, he said. Investors remain concerned that iPhone sales at Apple, which reports results May 1st, failed to meet their lofty expectations. Mia Huang, an analyst at Taipei-based research firm Trendforce, estimates that overall iPhone production volumes grew slightly to 54-56 million units in the March quarter barely up from 52 million in the same period of last year. Bloomberg By Katya Kazakina and Devon Pendleton Bloodstock billionaire John Magnier is selling an Amedeo Modigliani nude estimated at $150m (122.5m), the most for any work of art at auction this season, according to people familiar with the matter. The 1917 Nu Couche (Sur Le Cote Gauche) depicts a reclining female nude from behind, one leg bent, looking calmly over her shoulder at the viewer a pose almost identical to La Grande Odalisque by Ingres from a century earlier. The piece, previously owned by casino mogul Steve Wynn, will be the star lot of Sothebys Impressionist and modern art sale on May 14th in New York. The May auction season is poised to be the biggest on record, driven by Christies offering a trove of masterpieces from the estate of David Rockefeller. The top end of the art market has been on a tear, with global art sales ringing up $63.7bn in 2017, a 12% increase from a year earlier. Leonardo da Vincis Salvator Mundi fetched $450.3m in November, the most expensive work ever sold. This is among the greatest modern paintings in private hands, Simon Shaw, Sothebys co-head of Impressionist and modern art, said of the Modigliani. The scale, the power, the subtlety, the fine level of finish its something he really threw himself into. He was painting it as a masterpiece, he said. If the work looks familiar, thats because images of it have been plastered around London for months. It was the cover of Tate Moderns exhibition of the artists 12 nudes that ran from November 23rd through April 2nd. Mr Magnier, 70, bought the nude for $26.9m at Christies in 2003 when it was sold by Mr Wynn, sources said. Sothebys and Mr Magnier declined to comment on the identity of the seller. Mr Magnier owns Coolmore Stud, the worlds biggest breeder of thoroughbred racehorses and his wife Susan co-owns a promising three-year-old colt, fittingly named Amedeo Modigliani. W ith farms in Ireland, Australia and the US, Coolmore and its training facility, Ballydoyle, have produced hundreds of winners of all the worlds major races. The operation also owns about 48 stallions, whose stud fees range from $7,500 to $125,000. The fees for Triple Crown-winner American Pharoah havent been disclosed. Coolmore acquired the breeding rights for $13.8m, the New York Times reported in 2015. Sothebys said it offered the seller a guarantee and found a client to back it with an irrevocable bid that ensures it will sell. Like many top consignments for May, the work is being unveiled in Hong Kong, Sothebys said. Another Modigliani nude sold for a record $170.4m in 2015 at Christies. Bloomberg By Ilya Arkhipov and Andrey Biryukov Russias government could take over Aughinish-owner Rusal temporarily to save the metals giant from the impact of US sanctions, a senior official said as the Kremlin struck a sceptical tone about Washingtons decision to ease some limits on the company. The Co Limerick smelter has been caught up in the sanctions spat, putting some 450 jobs and 200 agency positions under threat. The Limerick site in the Shannon estuary is Europes largest alumina refinery. Thats not being ruled out, but there havent been any concrete discussions about it, Industry Minister Denis Manturov said in response to a question about the possibility of a temporary takeover by the state or a government-owned bank of the stake owned by sanctioned billionaire Oleg Deripaska. Mr Manturovs comments came after the US Treasury announced it was giving US and other companies another five months to wind down contracts with Rusal and would consider the Russian companys appeal to be removed from the sanctions list. Rusal could get a reprieve if Mr Deripaska, the main target of the sanctions, relinquishes control, according to the US Treasury. The news sent a wave of relief through metals markets thrown into turmoil by the original April 6 decision to ban all US entities from transactions with Mr Deripaska, Rusal and other companies in his empire. Aluminum prices fell from recent highs and Rusal shares jumped in Hong Kong. But Kremlin reaction was more muted. Id be very cautious because these statements are of an absolutely hypothetical nature, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call. Russias government and business elite were shocked when Mr Deripaska and Rusal were hit with the sanctions and have struggled to come up with ways to protect Rusal, which employs more than 60,000 people and is a major exporter. Russias parliament also is readying a package of retaliatory measures against US companies and trade, though the Kremlin last week put the brakes on that plan to give time for more analysis. The signals coming from Washington now are very contradictory, so its hard to make any kind of conclusions, Mr Peskov said. Asked about the possibility of an easing of tensions in the wake of the sanctions shift, he said, for the moment, the reality and the actual steps coming from Washington point to the opposite. Mr Deripaska, who built Rusal from a collection of Soviet-era smelters and plants privatised in the 1990s into a global giant, has shown no willingness to give up his control over the company. Hes sought to find suppliers and customers unaffected by the US sanctions, but so far even Chinese companies have been reluctant to violate them. The Kremlin has denounced the US sanctions as unfair economic warfare and giving in to US pressure to take Rusal out of his hands would be painful politically. But just how far Moscow is ready to go to protect Mr Deripaskas wealth remains unclear. The US seems to be forcing the Russian state to buy him out of Rusal, joked Andrey Movchan, director of the economic policy programme at the Carnegie Moscow Centre. Given the situation, its unlikely that hell remain the owner of Rusal, he said. Government officials have said their priority in helping those hit by sanctions is the continued functioning of the companies and their workers, not their billionaire owners. It wouldnt be a defeat for the Kremlin if Deripaska gives up control, since the governments focus is on ensure the company continues to operate, said Andrey Margolin, an economist at the Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Moscow. Even if the government does nationalise it, that would be only temporary, as it could be resold later, he said. Still, the five-month extension the US granted for winding down transactions with Rusal could give the company time to reorient its operations away from partners affected by sanctions, potentially allowing Mr Deripaska to retain control. Bloomberg. Additional reporting Irish Examiner By Joe Dermody Digital data monitoring company Remote Signals has been awarded top prize at the Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers Programme at the Rubicon Centre, hosted by Cork Institute of Technology. Founded by Joe Perrott, Dan Stapleton and Tony Garvey, Remote Signals links data from fridges, motors and pumps to the internet. Its customers use this data to boost efficiency and unlock new revenue models. Winning this award is invaluable in terms of raising the companys profile and its future fundraising, said Liam Fitzgerald, New Frontiers programme manager. Joe Perrott and his colleagues bring huge experience from their days working with PCH in China and Europe. Last years winner, Paul Glavin of Glavloc Build Systems (GBS) has since expanded and moved into larger premises. Construction firms in Ireland and UK use GBSs rapid build systems to deliver complete buildings within six weeks. Liam Fitzgerald adds: The New Frontiers programme gives businesses exposure to the full suite of Enterprise Ireland supports, industry mentors, market research resources, and international offices. It is a very effective introduction into funding opportunities like the competitive start fund and high potential start-up funding. Participating on New Frontiers is likely to be the best strategic decision a business makes. New Frontiers Programme participants showcased their businesses last night in the Millennium Hall, City Hall, Cork. The event was attended by some of Munsters business leaders, banks and investors. The guest speaker was Tomas OLeary, former Munster, Ireland and Grand Slam winning rugby player, and a co-founder of Told & Co, a designer watch brand. This years other winners included: Dr Nusrat Sanghamitra of CyCa OncoSolutions, Most Innovative Business Idea; Kieran Gleeson, Freight Station, Best Business Plan; and James Gale, StampOwl, Best Video. In all, 13 businesses participated in the 2017-18 New Frontiers programme. The entrepreneur development programme is funded by Enterprise Ireland. It is delivered in the Rubicon Centre, CITs on-campus business incubator. No equity is taken in participant businesses. Previous programme participants included successful businesses such as Abtran, Aspira, Cully and Sully, Crest Solutions, Treemetrics and Radisens Diagnostics. By Joe Gill Amid the insanity that passes for Brexit commentary in the UK, there are people who know what they are talking about. Chris Patten is one of those heavyweight UK politicians who has the scars on his back from decades of high-level politics, and diplomacy on behalf of her majestys government. He led the negotiations with China over Hong Kong, was a stellar EU commissioner and is a grandee of the Conservative Party. Last week, in a House of Lords speech, he gave a withering assessment of the Brexit process. Instead of relying on cliches about the stiff upper lip or the bulldog mentality, Mr Patten surgically removed the reasons for leaving the EU with clinical preciseness, using facts and figures. The much-referenced line-up of countries gagging to do deals with the UK is dismissed concisely. India and South Korea, two major countries outside the EU that Brexiteers hope will deliver new trade deals, have strong vested interests in doing no such thing without major UK compromises. India will demand more access for its emigrants, in exchange for access to its markets. Imagine how that will travel with those who have a penchant for Union Jack trousers. People who are proud of their citizenship of the UK and who have admirable career records should be loudly campaigning against Brexit. Anyone voicing a view from Ireland is shot down by that section of the UK media that is hunting in packs against anyone who dares question Brexit. We must hope that those voices of reason in the British establishment become more influential in the coming weeks and months to blunt the departure from the EU. Businesses have to speak, too, particularly the SMEs that employ hundreds of thousands, which are in the heartland of Conservative politics and have the hard facts about how Brexit threatens their EU input costs and export markets. The UK is proximate to Ireland, not just geographically, but culturally and socially. It is a large market and the 49% who opposed Brexit contain people who want to remain Europeans. Even the 51% who voted for Brexit must include people who regard the likes of Chris Patten and John Major as true sons of Britishness. Those voices could yet induce seismic change in UK politics. Joe Gill is director of corporate broking with Goodbody Stockbrokers. His views are personal. The purchase of the Irish Examiner by The Irish Times after a so-called phase-two probe can go ahead without any conditions, the competition regulator has said. Though final approval for the media deal is required from Communications Minister Denis Naughten, the ruling by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) means the merger of the two media titles will likely be sealed in the coming months. Global wine output fell to its lowest level in 60 years in 2017 due to poor weather conditions in the Europe that slashed production, the international wine organisation has said. Wine production totalled 250 million hectolitres last year, down 8.6% from 2016, data from the Paris-based International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) showed. It is the lowest level since 1957, when it had fallen to 173.8 million hectolitres, the OIV said. A hectolitre represents 100 litres, or the equivalent of just over 133 standard 75 cl wine bottles. All top wine producers in the EU have been hit by harsh weather last year, which lead to an overall fall in the bloc of 14.6% to 141 million hectolitres. The OIVs projections, which exclude juice and must, or new wine, put Italian wine production down 17% at 42.5 million hectolitres, French output down 19% at 36.7 million, and Spanish production down 20% at 32.1 million. The French government said last year production had hit a record low due to a series of poor weather conditions including spring frosts, drought and storms that affected most of the main growing regions including Bordeaux and Champagne. In contrast, production remained nearly stable in the US, the worlds fourth-largest producer, and China, which has become the worlds seventh largest wine producer behind Australia and Argentina. Trends were mixed in Latin America, with a rise of 25% in Argentina after a very low production in 2016 and a decline of 6% in Chile. Global wine consumption edged higher at around 243 million hectolitres in 2017, up 1.8% from a year earlier. The US confirmed its position as largest world wine consumer with 32.6 million hectolitres, followed by France at 27 million. Chinese wine consumption rose significantly for a third year in a row with an increase in 2017 of 3.5% at 17.9 million hectolitres. On the export market, Spain remains the largest exporting country by volume with a global market share of 20.5%, while France keeps its leading position in value with 9bn of wine exported last year. In total, global exports totalled 107.9 million hectolitres in 2017, up 3.8% on the previous year, and 30bn in value, an increase of just over 5% on 2016. Hard-hit regions include those producing Rioja and prosecco, which make large quantities of the affordable wines sold in British and Irish outlets, The Guardian newspaper reported last month. Reuters Asylum seekers are waiting an average of 19 months for an interview, and up to two years for a decision on their status. The UN Refugee Agency is calling for immediate action to reduce the backlog of applications. By Ann O'Loughlin Update 1pm: Outside court Vicky Phelan called for an investigation into the CervicalCheck screening programme. "To know for almost three years a mistake had been made and I was misdiagnosed was bad enough but to keep that from me until I became terminally ill and to drag me through the courts to fight for my right to the truth is an appalling breach of trust and I truly hope some good will come of this case and there will be an investigation in the CervicalCheck programme as a result of this." 'There are no winners' terminally ill woman speaks after being awarded 2.5m settlement for missed cancer pic.twitter.com/CwemBjkckM RTE News (@rtenews) April 25, 2018 Ms Phelan broke down in tears as she thanked her husband Jim and family. "To my family and friends and my supporters who supported my decision to take this case at a time I really should be concentrating on my health, I would not have been able to do this without you." she said. There are no winners here today, I am terminally ill and there is no cure for my cancer. My settlement will mostly be spent on buying me time and on paying for clinical trials to keep me alive and to allow me spend more time with my children. "If I die - (which) I truly hope that won't be the case - the money will provide for my family," she said as her husband Jim comforted her. She thanked her solicitor Cian O'Carroll and her legal team for believing in her and bringing the case before the courts so quickly. She also thanked Mr Justice Kevin Cross who heard three days of evidence before the settlement was announced and said he was at all times conscious she was a terminally ill woman. Ms Phelan said evidence of a medical expert on their side in court on Tuesday had led to the settlement of the case. Earlier: Dying Limerick mother settles cancer smear test case for 2.5m in High Court A 43-year-old mother-of-two dying of cervical cancer who had sued over a smear test taken seven years ago has settled her High Court action for 2.5m. Vicky Phelan launched the legal proceedings after it emerged her smear test which showed no abnormalities was later in a review found to be incorrect. She told the High Court she was extremely angry she was not told of the 2014 review of her smear test for another three years. I was in shock when I was told. I am angry, extremely angry. If I was diagnosed I probably would have had to have a procedure and at worsen a hysterectomy." she said. She added: " If I was told sooner I would not be in a position of a terminal cancer diagnosis." Vicky was given the tragic news last January that without palliative chemotherapy she has just six months to live and with the chemotherapy about twelve months. Vicky Phelan. Her counsel Jeremy Maher SC, instructed by Cian OCarroll solicitor, told the court at the outset of the case if Mrs Phelans cervical cancer had been detected in 2011 when she had that smear test the young mother could have had a simple procedure and there was a 90% chance she could have been cured. Counsel said experts on the Phelan side would say she would not have developed invasive cancer and would have survived into her 80s, but she will die by the end of the year . "She should have another 40 years to look forward to but she has a couple of months, Counsel said. On the fourth day of the hearing today, the young mother and her husband Jim were in court as the settlement was announced. The court was was asked to make directions in relation to the part of the settlement which is for the Phelan children, Amelia (aged 12) and Darragh (aged 7). Mr Justice Kevin Cross said he was delighted the case had settled. Approving the settlement he said Ms Phelan was one of the most impressive witnesses he had come across in his court. The case against the HSE was struck out and the settlement was against the US laboratory Clinical Pathology Laboratories Inc, Austin, Texas, only. The settlement was without admission of liability. Wishing Ms Phelan success in the future as she attempts to go to the US for groundbreaking treatment, the judge said: If anyone can beat this you can. The judge also praised the legal teams for getting the case, which was only started in February this year, to court in record time. The mother of two who has recently started a new drug is still hopeful of being accepted onto the US programme offering radical innovative treatment and has already raised 200,000 through a GoFundMe page. In the action by Ms Phelan and her husband Jim there was also a claim for aggravated and exemplary damages over the alleged failure to tell Ms Phelan for three years that a review of her 2011 smear test showed the original result of no abnormalities was incorrect. University educational manager Vicky Phelan, of Carrigeen, Annacotty, Co Limerick along with her husband Jim Phelan, had sued the HSE and Clinical Pathology Laboratories Inc, Austin, Texas in the US over a smear test taken under the National Cervical Screening Programme, Cervical Check, and analysed in the US laboratory. The smear test of May 24, 2011, showed no abnormality was detected and Ms Phelan was advised by letter in June 2011 the smear test detected no abnormalities. She had another smear test in June 2014 and when it was sent off for analysis it showed a high-grade lesion and Ms Phelan was referred to a consultant. In July of that year Ms Phelan was diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent radical chemoradiotherapy. It was claimed that subsequent to her cancer diagnosis, and unknown to her, a review was carried out of previous smear tests from women who had a cancer diagnosis. A review of the May 2011 sample from Ms Phelan showed the original report in relation to the smear was incorrect and the smear test showed suspected cancerous cells. In September 2017, Ms Phelan was advised of the review and in November she was diagnosed with an incurable Stage 4 cancer and was given a life expectancy of between six and 12 months. It was claimed the alleged failure to diagnose the 2011 smear test sample caused a situation whereby Ms Phelan's cancer was allowed to develop and spread unidentified, unmonitored and untreated until she was diagnosed with cancer in July 2014. It was further claimed she was deprived of the opportunity of timely and effective investigation and management of her condition and deprived of the opportunity of treatment at a time when her disease was amenable to curative treatment. The claims were denied. Opening the case Jeremy Maher SC for the Phelans said an expert on their side would say there were plentiful abnormal cells in the 2011 smear sample and the failure to identify them allegedly amounted to a clear breach of duty. Counsel said Vicky Phelan was reassured when she was told there were no abnormalities and she would not need a check for another three years. In 2014, Ms Phelan was called for a smear test but Counsel said it was very bad news, and she was referred to a consultant for what counsel described as a series of invasive treatments. She generally felt well in 2015 and 2016 but reattended in September 2017 for a CT scan and Counsel said at this stage she was told of an audit of cervical smears from 2011 which was carried out in 2014. "For the first time she was made aware the smear test report of 2011 was incorrect and in fact it was an incorrect result," Mr Maher said. By Sarah-Jane Murphy A former senior banker at Anglo Irish Bank has told a jury that the practice of fast-tracking the approval of credit limits at the bank was not normal. Tony O'Hanlon, who was head of credit at Anglo, told David Drumm's conspiracy to defraud trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that he had concerns about the way the bank was run. The witness said he was unable to sign off on a 6.7bn credit increase for Irish Life and Permanent in September 2008 as he could not authorise it retrospectively. David Drumm (aged 51) of Skerries, Co Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with former bank officials Denis Casey, William McAteer, John Bowe and others to defraud depositors and investors at Anglo by dishonestly creating the impression that deposits in 2008 were 7.2bn larger than they were. The former Anglo Irish CEO has also pleaded not guilty to false accounting on December 3, 2008, by furnishing information to the market that Anglo's 2008 deposits were 7.2bn larger than they were. Today, Mr O'Hanlon told Sinead McGrath BL, prosecuting, that he received an email on September 29, 2008 from Mike Nurse, head of risk at Anglo. Mr Nurse instructed Mr O'Hanlon not to include ILP's name in the daily interbank excess report that he distributed to other members of staff at Anglo. Its very unusual, I have never seen anything like this in my banking background, Mr OHanlon told Ms McGrath. The jury viewed an email sent to Mr O'Hanlon by a colleague on October 1, 2008. It stated that ILP's credit limit was 500m but its exposure was 7.2bn, exceeding this limit by 6.7bn. Ms McGrath asked Mr O'Hanlon if he was asked to sign off on this credit increase. The witness said he had no ability to do so retrospectively and therefore could not. During cross-examination, Mr O'Hanlon agreed with Brendan Grehan SC, defending, that credit increases that took place at Anglo were often on-the-corridor type of conversations. He also agreed that regarding ILP's credit increase, the paperwork did not quite keep up with what happened. The fast-track approach in Anglo was just not normal in a banking environment, Mr O'Hanlon told the jury. Mr Grehan put it to the witness that he had not seen any emails from him to colleagues in 2008, outlining his concerns. I had concerns about the way this bank was run, I had concerns about their systems, their policies, their procedures, Mr O'Hanlon said. I suggest you're showing hindsight, as this is not in your statement, Mr Grehan said. Mr Drumm accepts that multi-million euro transactions took place in between Anglo and Irish Life & Permanent (ILP) in 2008 but disputes that they were fraudulent or dishonest. The trial, which is now in its twelfth week, continues before Judge Karen O'Connor and a jury of ten men and four women. The HSE has apologised to three women at the centre of a foster care scandal in County Galway. A Prime Time investigation has found they were left in the care of a foster family for a further four years after "credible" disclosures of abuse. By Eoin Reynolds A jury has today begun considering its verdict in the trial of a Polish man who denies attempting to murder his partner by suffocating her with underwear and beating her with a hammer. Justice Patrick McCarthy told the six men and six women there are three possible verdicts open to them - guilty, not guilty, or not guilty by reason of insanity. Tomas Gajowniczek (aged 37) of The Ice Rink Apartments, Dolphin's Barn, Dublin 8 has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the attempted murder of Alicja Kalinowska (aged 30) at their home on June 16, 2016. He also pleaded not guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Ms Kalinowska on the same date at the same location. Justice McCarthy explained that they should first consider whether the accused man assaulted Ms Kalinowska and intended to kill her. Should they find that he did, they should then consider the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. For that verdict, the accused must prove that as a result of a mental disorder he was unable to refrain from his actions at the time of the alleged offence. The judge added that the defence must prove their case on the balance of probabilities. During the trial, the jury heard from Ms Kalinowska who said that she was helping the accused with his taxes when he accused her of hiding something from him and punched her in the face, stuffed underwear in her mouth and held her nose to stop her breathing. She said he then beat her with a hammer before pouring a drink down her throat until she passed out. Dr Conor O'Neill of the Central Mental Hospital said Mr Gajowniczek was suffering from a mental disorder at the time and believed that his partner was poisoning or drugging him and their then two-year-old daughter. Professor Damian Mohan told the trial that he disagreed with his colleague. He said the accused was "acutely intoxicated" from cannabis use and suffering a drug-induced psychosis, which he said is not a mental disorder under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006. The jury spent about 40 minutes considering their verdict and will return to the Central Criminal Court tomorrow. The boss of Dublin Airport has today described restrictions attached to the building of a new runway as "catastrophic". The new runway should open by 2021, but it was given approval on the basis that it cannot be used between 11pm and 7am. By Ann O'Loughlin Businessman Sean Dunne "misled" and was "as obstructive as he could possibly be" in relation to his dealings with a Dublin 4 property called Walford when questioned by the official in charge of his Irish bankruptcy, the High Court has heard today. Mark Sanfey SC for the Official Assignee (OA) Mr Chris Lehane, told the High Court that Mr Dunne gave certain answers about Walford during a June 2016 interview with the OA which amounted to clear non-co-operation. The OA claims Walford forms part of Mr Dunne's estate. Mr Dunne denies this and says he bought the property in trust for his wife Gayle for 58m in 2005 The questions concerned a Cypriot company called Yesreb Holdings, whose ultimate beneficiaries are his children, which acquired Walford from Mr Dunne's wife Gayle in 2013. Counsel said the businessman gave answers about Yesreb aimed at "concealing information" about a potential sale of Walford, which ultimately did not proceed. Mr Sanfey said Mr Dunne had admitted in his evidence acting as an agent for Yesreb during the failed sale process. Mr Dunne's motivation for his answers was that if Walford had been sold it would have been much more difficult for the OA in his investigations to follow the cash compared to an asset such as a house. Counsel said that during his evidence to the High Court Mr Dunne denied misleading the OA during the interview. Mr Dunne did admit not giving the OA details concerning Yesreb in the interview because Gayle had asked him not to, as it was her business. Counsel said in June 2016 the OA lacked information about Yesreb, which he did not obtain until December 2016 from third parties. Mr Sanfey was making submissions in an application by the OA to extend Mr Dunne's bankruptcy on the grounds of non-co-operation He said the application, which the businessman opposes, was not to punish Mr Dunne but rather to protect the integrity of bankruptcy code where there is no co-operation. Counsel said there had been no co-operation by Mr Dunne with the process until early 2016. Mr Dunne failed to file a statement of affairs nor a statement of personal interests until spring 2016. When those documents were filed the OA learned Mr Dunne was employed by a company belong to Gayle Killilea and was paid US$120,000 plus 12,000 per year. In addition, Mr Dunne claimed he had given de facto co-operation to the OA through his American bankruptcy. Counsel said the lawyer acting for the US official in charge of Mr Dunne's bankruptcy, Mr Timothy Miltonberger had told the court the businessman had not co-operated with the process in America. On what was his third and final day in the witness box the businessman said he co-operated with Mr Lehane through the US trustee and with the process in America. He said the US trustee made "a song and a dance" over not being provided with emails concerning a project which Mr Dunne said were not relevant to his bankruptcy. Mr Dunne's Irish bankruptcy was due to expire July 2016 but has been extended pending the outcome of the hearing to decide if any extension, which can be for a maximum five years, should be granted. In 2013, Ulster Bank petitioned the High Court to have Mr Dunne adjudicated bankrupt here after he had defaulted on some 164m loans. The following month, Mr Dunne filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut in the United States, when he claimed to have debts of $1bn and assets of $55m. Arising out of that application a US bankruptcy trustee was appointed by a US court. In addition, the Irish bankruptcy proceedings continued and in July 2013 the Irish High Court adjudicated Mr Dunne bankrupt. The extension application, before Ms Justice Caroline Costello, continues on Friday. Ireland's two senior politicians are on the same page over the timetable for progress on the Brexit border question, the Taoiseach has insisted. Leo Varadkar said he and Tanaiste Simon Coveney both agreed that "substantive progress" on resolving the crucial outstanding issue was required prior to June's European Council summit in Brussels. The Taoiseach denied claims from Opposition parties in the Dail that the politicians were sending out mixed messages. Mr Varadkar has previously stated that he would rather have the "right deal" at October's EU summit, than "any deal" in June. Tanaiste Mr Coveney has repeatedly identified June as the key date in the negotiating process. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and Labour leader Brendan Howlin both raised concern during Taoiseach's questions in the Dail that the two senior Fine Gael Ministers were at odds. Mr Martin said there was "significant confusion". Mr Varadkar denied there was confusion at the heart of the Government. He said it was becoming the "fashion" to hunt out potential differences between him and Mr Coveney. "Both the Tanaiste and I are both of the same view" the Taoiseach told the Dail. "We are both of the view that we need to see sufficient and substantive progress by the June EU council meeting." The UK and EU remain at loggerheads on how to maintain a free-flowing border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland when the UK leaves the EU. While both sides signed up to an agreed text in December that would guarantee an alignment of many trading regulations north and south, even if a wider UK/EU trading deal did not materialise, the UK latterly objected to how the EU translating that "backstop" option into the legal text of a proposed withdrawal agreement. The two sides are still locked in negotiations as they try to hammer out a way to translate the backstop option into the withdrawal deal. The impasse has raised questions over whether an agreement will be possible if the UK government maintains its position on leaving the customs union. UK Brexit Secretary David Davis is confident a technology solution can be found to maintain an open border. Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald branded Mr Davis's stance on technology as "the stuff of Alice in Wonderland". Mr Varadkar told the Dail he did not share Mr Davis's view. "I am not aware of the existence of the technology that Secretary of State Davis seems to believe exists," he said. "We have always said there cannot be a technical solution to the Irish border challenge - it requires a political and legal solution and that's what we have been working towards." Mrs McDonald also asked Mr Varadkar to respond to a media report that claimed EU negotiators were concerned that the backstop plan agreed in December was inherently flawed and, if implemented, would undermine the European single market. The Taoiseach said he had contacted his lead official in the negotiation process about The Times report and he said he did not recognise that characterisation of the EU's position. - PA A court in Denmark will deliver a verdict today in the case of a submarine inventor accused of rape and murder. Peter Madsen faces a life sentence if found guilty of killing 30-year-old Swedish journalist Kim Wall. British Brexit Secretary David Davis has said that the UK will "avoid a hard border at all costs". Mr Davis is being questioned by the UK Commons Exiting the European Union Committee. Speaking this morning, Mr Davis added: "we will underpin the peace process...the Good Friday Agreement and all the elements of it. "We will come up with a mechanism which will enable that to happen at the border. "What we have said all along and the Council agreed and, indeed, Mr Varadkar agreed was that the best way to do this is with a good free trade agreement because that then eliminates a lot of the issues from the beginning - not all of them but a lot of them." The U.K. will avoid a hard Irish border "at all costs" after Brexit, David Davis says https://t.co/S3x4VKz1Z3 pic.twitter.com/rNTtw1zwMn Bloomberg (@business) April 25, 2018 Mr Davis has also told MPs the motion put before the British Parliament in the autumn on the final Brexit agreement will be amendable. He said there could be debates in Parliament on the agreement "when it is clear but not signed". As well as the "meaningful" vote on the deal, there will also be an implementation bill. "My aim is to give the House as much time as I can to do all of those things, not just the one vote," he said. Mr Davis said suggestions that Parliament was not being given enough time to debate Brexit were "at odds with reality". He insisted there was "no absence of information" on the exit process. The Brexit Secretary said it was "unlikely" there would be a no-deal outcome from the negotiations but there could be a "bare bones" agreement. It's "unlikely" that Britain and EU will end up with no Brexit deal, David Davis says https://t.co/S3x4VKz1Z3 pic.twitter.com/KknkFItaQ8 Bloomberg (@business) April 25, 2018 "I do not think no deal is a significant probability at all," he added. Mr Davis said it was his "hope" that the first trade deal could come into force the day after the UK leaves. Asked if there was a risk of Britain staying in the customs union for an indefinite period while an problems with customs were resolved, he replied: "I do not expect the solution to that to be extension of membership of the customs union. "I would view that on my part as a failure." He insisted the deal that is agreed by October would be "substantive". David Davis is questioned in Parliament on latest Brexit progress https://t.co/JDM1k7OjCa Bloomberg (@business) April 25, 2018 "We will be voting for a bill of 35 - 39 billion. People want to know on the other side what we are getting in exchange. "The hardest time I'm going to have in October is people saying 'what have we got for this?'" PA & Digital Desk France's President Emmanuel Macron drew on the shared history and "special bond" with the US as he opened a joint meeting of Congress. Mr Macron told Congress, "the American and French people have had a rendez-vous with freedom". The second most senior family court judge in England and Wales is preparing to analyse the latest stage of the Alfie Evans life-support treatment dispute. Andrew McFarlane, who in July will become the new president of the Family Division of the High Court, will head a panel of three Court of Appeal judges due to hear arguments about the 23-month-old at a hearing in London this afternoon. Alfie Evans cuddling his mother Kate James at Alder Hey Hospital, Liverpool. Pic: Alfies Army Official/PA Wire Judicial heads announced earlier this week that Mr McFarlane, currently Lord Justice McFarlane, would take over from James Munby as the most senior family court judge in England and Wales. Alfie's parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, who are both in their early 20s and from Liverpool, are appealing against a ruling made by a High Court judge late on Tuesday. They want to move Alfie from Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool to a hospital in Rome. Mr Justice Hayden decided, at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in Manchester, that Alfie should not be allowed to travel to Italy. Doctors stopped provided life-support treatment to Alfie late on Monday. Mr Evans said his son had confounded specialists' expectations by continuing to breathe. Alfie's parents have already lost two rounds of fights, in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. In February, Mr Justice Hayden ruled that doctors at Alder Hey could stop treating Alfie against the wishes of his parents following hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London and Liverpool. Specialists at Alder Hey said life-support treatment should stop and Mr Justice Hayden said he accepted medical evidence which showed that further treatment was futile. Mr Justice Hayden said flying Alfie to a foreign hospital would be wrong and pointless. Court of Appeal judges upheld his decisions. Supreme Court justices and ECHR judges refused to intervene. Alfie's parents, Tom and Kate. The couple then alleged that Alfie was being wrongly "detained". Mr Justice Hayden dismissed that claim. Appeal judges have upheld Mr Justice Hayden's decision and Supreme Court justices and ECHR judges said they would not intervene. Mr Justice Hayden then finalised plans for withdrawing treatment and allowing Alfie's life to end. Judicial heads announced earlier this week that Mr McFarlane would take over from Mr Munby, who is retiring, as the most senior family court judge in England and Wales in a few months' time. PA Russia has said it will supply the Syrian government with a sophisticated air defence system. It comes after Moscow condemned a missile attack launched by the US, the UK and France earlier this month. Medecins Sans Frontieres/ Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has described the latest attack on civilians in Yemen as a "serious violation of international humanitarian law". In a statement today the charity revealed how it has received 63 casualties in a hospital it supports in Hajjah, following a series of night-time airstrikes by the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition on a wedding party that took place in a remote, impoverished village in Bani Qays district in Yemen, on Sunday April 22. Local media in Yemen are reporting the overall death toll from the attack as 88. The MSF statement follows the emergence of aheart breaking video of a young boy clinging to his dead father following the Saudi bombing of the wedding. The graphic footage has been widely shared on social media originates, according to several media, with the Al-Masirah TV station. The station is overseen by the armed Houthi movement which controls much of northern Yemen and shows the young boy clutching what the station claim is his father's body in the Hajjah region. WARNING: Graphic footage. Attacks on civilians are a serious violation of international humanitarian law. What happened in Bani Qays is appalling; among the 63 wounded our teams have treated, 13 are children. These people arrived at the hospital in garlands traditionally worn to celebrate marriage. None were armed or arrived in military uniform, said Joao Martins, MSF head of mission in Yemen. MSF revealed how the hospital in Hajjah received its first patients at midnight, after the strikes occurred around 11pm and revealed how the wounded were initially carried away from the scene by donkeys, as the only two cars in the village were damaged in the strikes. The first responders and two ambulances from the MSF-supported hospital eventually arrived in the village, but were severely delayed because the aircrafts circling overhead raised the spectre of more strikes. I was inside the tent when I heard the airstrikes. After that I fell down and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I saw people running away from the tent. I had been inside with my brother and the groom is my friend. One of my cousins died in this attack, said 12-year-old Kamal. Darees, who had also attended the wedding, left 20 minutes before the attack. When he returned he was confronted with a chaotic scene and dismembered bodies on the ground, covered in blood. Children, he said, were frantically searching for their parents. Saudi-led air strike kills 30 people at a wedding party in Yemen. Most of the dead were women and children. pic.twitter.com/CAgbfav18H Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 24, 2018 Some of the dead bodies were children. Children were playing outside while their parents attended the wedding inside the tent. Thats when the attack happened, he said. MSF said that at Hajjah hospital, the ambulances arrived with as many as six patients at a time. The injured had mainly lost limbs and suffered shrapnel wounds. At least three patients required amputation, including two brothers, who each lost a foot. By early morning, many residents of Hajjah had come to the hospital to donate blood. In two hours, 150 bags were collected to treat the wounded. One woman arrived at the hospital in panic, searching for her son. He was attending the wedding and she doesnt know what happened to him. Many other women and children in the village are traumatised and dont know what happened to their loved ones, said Sally Thomas, MSF project coordinator in Hajjah. Warring parties to the conflict must respect the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution: it is prohibited to launch such attacks which may be expected to harm civilians. "The rules of war have constantly been violated in Yemen. All warring parties must commit to protecting civilians, and all parties fuelling the conflict by selling arms should uphold their responsibility to ensure that international laws established to protect civilians are respected, Martins added. MSF is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that works in 13 hospitals and health centres in Yemen and provides support to more than 20 hospitals or health centres across 11 Yemeni governorates: Taiz, Aden, Ad Dhale, Saada, Amran, Hajjah, Ibb, Sanaa, Abyan, Shabwa and Lahj. - Digital Desk Spanish police have found nearly nine tons of cocaine concealed in a banana shipment from Colombia. It marks a European record for drugs found inside a shipping container. Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said six people have been arrested, four of them in Spain and two in the French city of Lyon, after police and customs officials seized the 8.74-ton cocaine stash. It was aboard a cargo ship that docked last Sunday in the southern Spanish port of Algeciras. With 101 million tons of shipments handled in 2017, Algeciras is Spain's busiest cargo port and a main entry for cocaine into Europe. In January, authorities seized six tons of cocaine there. Mr Zoido vowed today to fight traffickers and "to keep drugs out of the streets". PA A website blamed for more than four million cyber attacks across the world has been shut down. Two men from Scotland were among seven people arrested, while an address in West Yorkshire - linked to attacks on seven of the UK's biggest banks last year - was searched. Other arrests were made in Serbia, the Netherlands, Croatia and Hong Kong, while servers were seized in Germany as the service was shut down today. Europol said the website was considered the world's biggest seller of so-called distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, in which high volumes of internet traffic are launched at target computers to disable them. Investigators said cybercriminals used the website, which could be rented for as little as 14.99 US dollars (12.25), to launch more than four million attacks around the globe. It had more than 136,000 registered users and could be rented by people with little or no technical knowledge to cripple online services offered by government institutions, police forces and banks. The National Crime Agency (NCA), which led the international probe, said its officers identified a "criminal infrastructure" in the Netherlands as part of an ongoing campaign against 'DDOS-for-hire' services. Jo Goodall, a senior investigating officer on the force, said: "A significant criminal website has been shut down and the sophisticated crime group behind it stopped as a result of an international investigation involving law enforcement agencies from 11 countries. "Cybercrime, by default, is a threat that crosses borders and our response must be one that utilises the close international law enforcement collaboration that is crucial to tackling this threat. "The arrests made over the past two days show that the internet does not provide bullet-proof anonymity to offenders and we expect to identify further suspects linked to the site in the coming weeks and months as we examine the evidence we have gathered." Gert Ras, from the Dutch National Police, said: "By taking down the world's largest illegal DDOS seller in a worldwide joint law enforcement operation based on NCA intelligence, we have made an unprecedented impact on DDOS cybercrime. "Not only were the administrators of this illegal service arrested, but also users will now face prosecution and civil liability for caused damage." PA Burma's campaign against Rohingya Muslims has taken the spotlight off a protracted offensive against another minority, this time one that is predominantly Christian. In the north of the country, the government is also intensifying operations against the Kachin. One of the longest-running wars in the world, it has intensified dramatically in recent months, with at least 10,000 people displaced since January alone, according to the United Nations. While attention has been dominated by the conflict that has seen 700,000 Rohingya forced into exile, the two disputes share a tragic theme, said Zau Raw. Zau Raw heads a rebel committee overseeing humanitarian aid in the mountainous sliver of territory the militants control along the Chinese frontier. Just like the Rohingya, the Kachin have begun to realise that "the army wants to wipe us out", he said. "This is a war to cleanse us." The Kachin, have fought for greater autonomy in this predominantly Buddhist nation since 1961. But their campaign is part of a much broader struggle for power pitting the ethnic Burman majority, who control the all-powerful military and top government posts, against dozens of ethnic minorities. At least 20 of those groups have taken up arms since independence from Britain in 1948, and the government in recent years has signed ceasefires with 10 of them. Six other groups, including the Kachin, are still fighting. More than 2,000 #Kachin civilians fled #Myanmar Army attacks and are trapped in the jungle w/ no access to aid for more than a week. More than ten women are reportedly in late stages of pregnancy. Pressure must be put on state and natl government urgently. Matthew Smith (@matthewfsmith) April 18, 2018 Although military atrocities do not match the scale of those documented against the Rohingya over the past year, a UN fact-finding mission in March reported "marked similarities" between the two conflicts. Just as in Rakhine, the UN has received new reports of grave abuse by security forces, including killings, abductions, pillage, torture, rape and forced labour. And just like Rakhine, the government has restricted humanitarian access to desperate populations who have fled, around 120,000 people in Kachin and neighbouring Shan states, according to local officials. Those restrictions have grown significantly tighter since former opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took office in 2016, Zau Raw said. The government is now stopping the UN and most international organisations from reaching rebel zones altogether, leaving it to local Baptist and Catholic groups to distribute dwindling aid. Last week, Kachin community leaders called on the government to allow medical aid to reach 2,000 people, including children and pregnant women, who have been trapped in a forest near the front with little food or water for weeks. There has been no response. Authorities have alleged that some of the aid ends up in the hands of rebel fighters, which rebels and humanitarian organisations staunchly deny. Zau Raw said the government's objective was simple. They are trying "to make life more difficult for civilians" living in rebel areas, he said, adding that malnutrition among children is worsening. Burma's military could not be reached for comment. But presidential spokesman Zaw Htay acknowledged human rights violations have occurred although he said both sides were to blame. Myanmar's fleeing Kachin community in urgent need of medical attention https://t.co/ElIqTbgXek pic.twitter.com/yy6VdzvR8m Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 19, 2018 "Whenever there is fighting, there is collateral damage," he said, adding that the government, for its part, is keen to end the war. "This is why we are urging the ethnic armed groups to sign a nationwide ceasefire." Rebels of the Kachin Independence Army have met the military repeatedly for peace talks, but they have refused to sign a truce because the government does not recognise several insurgent groups they are allied with. The Kachin have also refused to recognise the 2008 constitution, which endows the military with tremendous power. Like most other minorities, they view their struggle as an existential fight for survival and equal rights. The military, by contrast, sees the rebels as a "terrorist" force bent on destabilising the nation, according to rebel Brigadier General Maran Zaw Tawng. While both sides blame each other for reigniting hostilities in Kachin State in 2011 after a 17-year truce, there has only been one military victor since then: the vastly better equipped government army. It has seized more than 200 rebel outposts in the jade-rich state. The latest blow came in March when an entire rebel battalion retreated from Tanai, a region whose gold and amber mines brought in vital tax revenues for the militants. A wounded guerrilla who survived the battle, Dee La, said government forces pounded their positions for months with fighter jets, helicopter gunships and artillery. On the final day of fighting, he described being shelled in a non-stop bombardment so fierce, he and other rebels could not even carry away the bodies of five dead comrades. "They were using drones to locate our positions, then they would hit us with airstrikes," he said from a hospital bed in Laiza, the small town that served as rebel headquarters. "We lost everything ... it was a failure." The 39-year-old guerrilla was blinded in one eye and wounded in his arm when a land mine he was planting during their withdrawal detonated by accident. PA The Asian market is far, far bigger than just China, Australian agribusinesses and farmers have been told as annual farm exports to Southeast Asian nations rake in billions of dollars more than those to China. A new report from agribusiness banking experts at ANZ sees Australian farm exports to the 10 ASEAN nations climbing significantly over coming years, propelled by rising incomes and a growing middle class in the region, rising meat consumption, decreasing farmland, rising demand for Australian grains and a growing interest in dairy produce. Demand for Australian wheat from ASEAN nations has soared in recent years. The latest ANZ Agri-InFocus report said ASEAN nations would consume about 285 million tonnes of soft commodities by 2024-25, a jump of more than 60 million tonnes. The report confirmed that Australian farm exports to the 10 ASEAN nations in 2016 - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - were valued at almost $8.8 billion. This was well ahead of the value of the country's farm exports to China in the same period - almost $5.5 billion. The NSW government has received more ammunition to relocate the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta after key organisations and leaders from the region signed a letter urging it to remain steadfast in the face of growing opposition. More than 30 organisations have put their names to the letter, organised by the Sydney Business Chamber, which has been sent to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Opposition Leader Luke Foley. The site of the new Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta. Credit:Louise Kennerley Support for the building of a Powerhouse Museum to anchor a new cultural precinct on the banks of the Parramatta River has come from across the business, health, tourism, finance, media and education sectors. ''We believe the establishment of a reinvigorated tier-one cultural institution is critical to the artistic and recreational development of western Sydney and Parramatta'', they said. Variety's Marilyn Stasio said the show brings enchantment to a world that really could use a little magic right now in her review of the opening night. "Visually and aurally, the show presents a panorama of dazzling effects that draw audible gasps from the audience," she wrote. While hardcore Harry Potter fans argue the play should exist outside the traditional Harry Potter canon, despite it being devised by author JK Rowling, Stasio found there was plenty about the show audiences would be familiar with. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child production images. "The story is a brand-new one, but there are plenty of familiar pleasures. The talking portraits, for one thing. Theres a wonderful scene in which that long-gone sage, Albus Dumbledore (Edward James Hyland) leans out of his own portrait to speak to Harry. Those alarmingly mobile staircases also play a central role and are even more fun than the ones in the movies, because theres always a chance that someone will go flying around a curve. Best of all, theres a set of bookcases in the Hogwarts library that keep swallowing and spitting out unwary readers," she wrote. About 38,000 people have braved a chilly, but clear Canberra morning to commemorate Anzac Day, 103 years after troops from Australia and New Zealand landed at Gallipoli during World War I. Retired Colonel Susan Neuhaus delivered the dawn service address at the Australian War Memorial, highlighting the contribution of women to the armed forces by remembering 22 nurses who were ordered into the sea and executed by Japanese troops during World War II. Retired Colonel Susan Neuhaus delivers the dawn service address at the Australian War Memorial. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "When their ship, the Vyner Brooke, was torpedoed in the Banka Strait, they swam through the night to the shore," Colonel Neuhaus said. "There, on Monday, the 16th of February 1942, shortly after 10am, they were lined up along the beach, still in their uniforms, a red cross emblazoned into their left sleeve and at bayonet point they were ordered into the sea. Clinical staff at Centenary Hospital for Women and Children say mothers and babies' lives are being put at risk by chronic overcrowding within the maternity unit. It is understood senior nurses and midwives at the hospital - who remained anonymous - penned a letter and forwarded it to local politicians including the Minister for Health Meegan Fitzharris. Staff at Centenary Hospital have voiced concerns over the management of the maternity ward As a result of the letter open meetings were held with ACT Health executives with staff invited to air their concerns. Some staff within the hospital - which is located at Canberra Hosptial campus - said there were still ongoing tensions with the letter causing uproar among staff and management. A man who allegedly stole a station wagon from a woman at gunpoint in Brisbanes south was nabbed after he was spotted by an off-duty police officer. It would be alleged a man entered a Sunnybank Hills home with a firearm and demanded a woman hand over the keys to a Mitsubishi station wagon about 9.10pm on Wednesday. The man was charged by police overnight and was expected to face court on Thursday. Credit:Glenn Hunt He fled the scene and was spotted by an off-duty police officer 20 minutes later at Doolandella. The officer directed police crews to the location and the alleged robber was arrested. A teenager is in custody after a Gold Coast home went up in flames on Wednesday morning, sending plumes of "toxic smoke" into the air and forcing nearby residents to evacuate. The Southport house suffered extensive damage and partially collapsed as the flames took hold, with police also declaring the residence and asbestos zone. The remains of the Southport home. Credit:Queensland Ambulance Service - Twitter Firefighting crews were called to a property on the corner of North and Norman streets about 10.40am to find the residence well alight, a fire spokesman said. Surrounding streets were closed as the house burned and didn't reopen until about 1.20pm. Queenslanders who died in a pivotal battle 100 years ago on the French Western Front in World War I have finally been recognised in Brisbanes Anzac Square. At the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, a French town facing invading German forces, Allied forces defeated the Germans in two battles in April 1918. Queenslanders who fought with the 52nd Battalion in the pivotal Villers-Bretonneux Western Front victory have been honoured for the first time. Here troops have captured a German tank. Credit:Australian War Memorial Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull addressed a dawn service in Villers-Brettoneux on Anzac Day at the opening of the Sir John Monash Centre and spoke of the crucial nature of the battle. "Here at the village of Villers-Bretonneux - exactly one century ago - with that ANZAC spirit and the brilliant leadership of John Monash the Australian forces won a momentous victory - the first of many in 1918." Kym MacMillan, Gallipoli A common cause Nicholas Stuart in Wednesday's Canberra Times declares that Anzac Day means something to him. But it is impossible to detect that meaning from his article. Anzac Day is not the commemoration of war that Nicholas imagines. It is a remembrance of sacrifice in a common cause. I would urge Nicholas to visit the gas ovens at Buchenwald, the site of the Post Office in Darwin, the dockside area in London or the city of Warsaw. The smell of death may be long gone but the reality remains. War cannot be wished away because it offends his nostrils. It was the price of the freedom that Nicholas enjoys every time he puts pen to paper. Fred Bennett AM, Bonner Hidden symbolism Sophie Verass' article "The story behind Canberra's Anzac Parade" (April 25, p17) traversed the significance of Anzac Parade. An often forgotten aspect is the symbolism linking the War Memorial to the head of Anzac Parade on Limestone Avenue. Viewed at the right time and angle from the air, the true design significance of Anzac Parade as a memorial in itself is more obvious as a symbolic, national icon in the form of a huge grave in Canberra's heartland, with the Memorial building standing-out to shape a large cross at its head. It is easy for proponents of further development work on the Memorial building, on Anzac Parade and in the surrounds to overlook this undocumented iconic nature of the whole area. Administrators and politicians eager to aggrandise at great public cost need also to remember, to respect and to preserve the true symbolism of this Australian icon. Though hidden, it is still of the highest significance in particular to air force services and their families, to their ideals and to our national ethos. The National Capital Authority, Parliament's Public Works Committee and other advisory bodies are wont to forget carrying the risk of them agreeing to sacrilege in the name of progress. Roger FitzGerald, Macquarie Weapons of preference Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop recently stated that "the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances is illegal and utterly reprehensible". True, and therefore alleged use demands investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to establish the facts and hold any perpetrators accountable, rather than military action that could well destroy any evidence (as well as more lives). However, she has also specifically and consistently refused to state that nuclear weapons must never be used again under any circumstances. It seems that the most anti-human devices ever created are the minister's preferred weapons of mass destruction. Dr Sue Wareham, Medical Association for Prevention of War, Cook Electric future for roads I fully support the ACT government's plan to shift to an all-electric passenger-car fleet by 2020-2021 and to encourage the take-up of electric vehicles by the public ("All government vehicles to be electric by 2021", April 16, p10). This is clearly the path of the future. The federal Coalition government and state Liberal or LNP governments, however, are pulling in the opposite direction. The report "Federal energy plan may curb state ambitions" (April 16, p5) points out that the Turnbull government has a plan that will prevent any efforts by Labor-governed states or territories to reduce emissions by more than the very modest ambitions of its National Energy Guarantee will "not count towards the national target". Under the plan, the opposition in Victoria could attack the Labor government for pushing up power prices in its drive to cut emissions. The NSW Liberal government could take advantage of the plan by doing less to cut emissions and not being penalised. We won't get very far with efforts to tackle climate change with one major part of the country pushing in one direction and the other part pulling in the opposite direction. Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin Move people, not cars Stage 1 of Light Rail will see the ACT government's first use of overriding traffic signal priority for public transport. Hopefully this indicates their adoption of a "move people not cars" policy for our transport system. Our next step could be providing traffic signal priority for all public transport as occurs in other Australian jurisdictions. Canberra only needs a small SCATS software parameter change to give our buses over-riding traffic signal priority when a bus is caught facing a red light in their own dedicated bus lane. Let's start moving people not cars. Chris Emery, Reid Police use gas too Unfortunately there is a very serious flaw in the whole chemical weapons scenario. Where does that leave police use of capsicum spray and tear gas? Capsicum spray can be lethal. Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor Shareholders penalised The proposed imposition of fines of up to $210 million on miscreant companies, as an outcome of the banking royal commission, is a potential miscarriage of justice in that it penalises blameless shareholders who bear the subsequent loss, not one of the millions of whom have any input whatsoever into the criminal practices instigated by the policies introduced by the directors and managers. By all means impose lengthy prison sentences and heavy fines on the individual highly paid boards of directors, section managers and "advisers" who have received huge bonuses, and are responsible for these reprehensible acts, as both punishment and as deterrent to potential like-minded directors. How much of the "blind eye" that has been turned to these illegal practices in the past that can be attributed to the benevolence gained from the open slather of receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars in "bribes" (aka "political donations"), is debatable. Michael Adler, Gungahlin A matter of trust The extent of dishonesty and misconduct exposed by the royal commission highlights key learnings from my 30 years experience as an organisational psychologist. People do not go to work with the intention of damaging their organisation's culture; they typically intend to live basic core values: e.g. "Give everyone a fair go", "Do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay". Culture problems frequently arise in organisations but effective leadership and management typically resolves them. It takes years of systemic leadership and management failure at all levels in the hierarchy before culture problems can become systemic. Consequently, "systemic" culture problems cannot be fixed by self-regulation alone. Systemic culture problems require courageous new styles of leadership because wholesale changes always have to be made. Legislators must change regulations, penalties and methods in order to protect banking customers. Regulators must ensure structural changes are safe. "Vertical Integration" has enabled sub-cultures within banks to harm customers; similar sub-culture harm may be caused by some "Horizontal Integration" as well. Regulators must ensure they enforce regulations and penalties in ways that prevents systemic culture problems from evolving. Banks must change boards, CEOs and managers to ensure trust is rebuilt by selling only those products which make their customers safer, more prosperous, and more respected. James Cooney, Canberra Integrity still matters The royal commission into financial sector misbehaviour is sending shockwaves through Australia, but many Australians who experienced this misbehaviour directly will not be surprised. What is surprising is that financial institutions that so strenuously resisted the royal commission are now disclosing and admitting to serious misdemeanours, embarrassing conservatives who had defended these institutions. The lesson in this is that integrity still matters, and that the public expect regulators like ASIC that were created to uphold the integrity of national institutions, to consistently apply the highest standards. Politicians and others who are dismissive of the need for genuine systemic integrity will be seen for what they are: people who cannot be trusted to uphold higher community values. Trevor Wilson, Chifley Heat on industry funds Barnaby Joyce, apparently now a convert to candour, has made a direct admission that he was wrong to oppose the Haynes royal commission into financial services. Meanwhile, Kelly O'Dwyer has made a fool of herself by seeking to claim credit for widening the terms of reference so that AMP, for example, was caught in the net. Any effort by the government to broaden the scope was intended to direct attention to industry superannuation funds. This government's first priority in the area of financial services has always been to put the heat on industry funds so that more citizens will direct management of their compulsory superannuation to the likes of AMP and the banks. A superb policy to take to the next election! In the interests of disclosure: I am a satisfied member of an industry superannuation fund. H. Simon, Watson Far too close Alex White is again quick to label any questioning of the relationship between UnionsACT and the ACT government as union bashing ('Light rail justified...', Letters, p14, April 24). Mr White says they "do not have a veto over ACT government contracts". Let's accept that is legally the case. However, a quick look at the rules of the ACT Labor party makes it clear that unions and their delegates are the key power-brokers in that organisation. And anyone who remotely follows ACT local politics will know unions essentially determine who are the ministers, and will have followed the revelations about the memorandum of understanding between the government and certain unions that covers the construction of at least Stage 1 of the light rail (and which unnecessarily increases construction costs of the light rail and hence across Canberra), the number of pokies in union controlled clubs, the land deals in Dickson, etc. Because I worked on building sites when younger and was a union member at other times, I accept and support organised labour having a role in the economy and society. However, the relationship between certain unions and the ACT government has got far too close and appears to have become too one-sided. Bruce Paine, Red Hill In line for the throne I am pleased to announce the birth of our son, Gareth, a little over 40 years ago. Mother and son are both doing well. By virtue of his Pommie parents, Gareth will be 26,352,871st in line for the throne, and a possible future Head of the Commonwealth. Well-wishers should send donations to the Australian Republican Movement. John Walker, Queanbeyan, NSW TO THE POINT GENERALLY SPEAKING I do not consider myself qualified to comment on the merits (or none) of the proposal to posthumously elevate General Monash. I detect, however, a sub-text in recent letters on the subject, from those signing themselves off with their army ranks. I surmise that they are, or were, regulars and that said sub-text parallels something once expressed to me by a regular Army officer: that Monash was, after all, " ... just a bloody part-timer". G. S. McKergow, Forbes Creek, NSW WHO'S WINNING? With Sydney having positioned bollards along the Anzac Day march route this year you have to ask what next. As those who want to harm us appear to be winning their war against us. Which raises the question where to after this latest elevation? D.J. Fraser, Currumbin, Qld FOCUS ON THE LIVING Brendan Nelson is defending the proposed expenditure of $500million on the expansion of the War Memorial, saying it will benefit all returned servicemen/women. As important as this may be surely we should be focusing on the living, not the dead. A $500million trust fund, set up to look afterreturned servicemen/women, many of whom suffer PTSD and other health issues would be better for those who have been off to war. Errol Grace, Fountaindale, NSW DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH OK, so the government got it wrong with the banks. How long will it take them to realise they've got it wrong with live animal trading? Jeff Bradley, Isaacs SINCERE APOLOGIES Here's an idea to empty our prisons of thieves and robbers. Allow the criminals to sincerely apologise, pay back the loot and promise not to do it again. After all it works for the banks caught out by the royal commission. Tom Lindsay, Monash CANINE CHAOS In Cook on Tuesday morning I saw a dog foul the edge of the path and then run under the wheels of a bike. Fortunately the rider didn't fall. To judge by its squeal, the dog was hurt but not badly enough to stop it running away. The owner complete with leash over her shoulder watched all this happen but didn't even call the dog to heel. John Rogers, Cook PLEASE EXPLAIN Can Alex White (Letters, April 24) explain why Unions ACT supports a public transport system that, compared with bus rapid transit, employs half as many drivers, costs twice as much, doesn't offer express services, replaces direct services with services that require people to transfer between buses and trams, and further discourages patrons with less frequent services and longer walks to and from stops? Leon Arundell, Downer Former ambassador to Washington Kim Beazley has urged Donald Trump to abandon his vendetta against top Republican officials who refused to back his presidency and appoint one of them as his envoy to Canberra. Following the shock announcement that Washington was abruptly pulling its nomination of military commander Harry Harris as its next ambassador to Australia, Mr Beazley said there were many competent alternatives but most had been blacklisted as Never Trumpers. Admiral Harris, the outgoing US Pacific forces commander, will instead become ambassador to Seoul, where the Trump administration has decided he is more keenly needed to help resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. Villers-Bretonneux: The whistle of bullets became a swish and patter, and boys fell all round me, generally without a sound. These are the words of Captain Robert Forsyth, who witnessed the sacrifice of young Australian men in the French village of Villers-Bretonneux 100 years ago. As the light faded, the darkness in front started to tap, tap, tap, and bullets whistled round and the line shuffled forward with rifles at the ready like men strolling into fern after rabbits, he said years later in an account to Australian historian and WWI correspondent Charles Bean. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Prince Charles attend the ANZAC Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux on Wednesday. Credit:AAP That horror came on the evening before Anzac Day in 1918, when the Australian Imperial Forces fought to regain the village, in what was to become a series of victories that helped end the war. The live sheep export trade should be phased out. To do otherwise in the face of irrefutable and tragic evidence of systemic failure, negligence, abuse, neglect, and cover-up, now over many years, would serve as just another disturbing example of how our politicians and our political processes are rapidly losing their moral compass. The most recent evidence of failure relates to the deaths of 2400 sheep on a shipment to the Middle East in 2017. Animals Australia says that more than 4000 Australian sheep died last year during five routine shipments to Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. The sheep died while travelling in appalling conditions that clearly breached international standards, Australian standards for the export of livestock and the WA Animal Welfare Act. The exporter, Emanuel Exports, has a history of breaching standards without consequence. The Awassi Express, aboard which 2400 ship died during one voyage last year, is docked at Fremantle Port. Credit:Tony McDonough In the five decades since the live sheep trade began, 200 million sheep have been shipped to the Middle East and three million have died at sea. There should be zero tolerance for more excuses and promises from the export companies, and zero tolerance for more feigned shock and horrorfrom our politicians. There is no need for yet another review or for the appointment of an inspector-general of livestock exports. It is already far too late for that. Drivers will not be presumed at fault after crashes involving cyclists, with the proposal officially kiboshed. More than 1000 people signed a petition asking for a change to Queensland civil liability laws, so the driver would automatically be assumed to be at fault in crashes between a motorist and vulnerable road users, such as cyclists. More than 1000 people signed a petition asking the Queensland government to change civil liability laws for crashes involving motorists and vulnerable road users. Credit:Darren Pateman The onus would be on the driver's insurance company to prove the cyclist caused the crash. But Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the government was not considering changing the law. Farmers will auction off top quality bull semen to raise money to power a campaign against the Queensland government's vegetation management laws. The genetics fundraiser sale, to be held in Rockhampton next month, will feature semen donated from about eight high-priced bulls, with each package expected to sell for "upwards of $10,000". A genetics fundraiser sale in Rockhampton will help fund a campaign against the Queensland government's land clearing legislation. Credit:Louise Kennerley A group of farmers has banded together to campaign against the Palaszczuk government's vegetation management bill, with plans to launch a four-minute video and website on Thursday afternoon to spread their message to city people living in Brisbane. A True Story: From The Heart of Queensland features interviews with farmers, figures and beautiful landscape shots, in a professionally produced video. The company is being investigated by the US Federal Trade Commission over the misuse of data by a Trump-connected consultancy known as Cambridge Analytica, and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg recently testified before Congress about the issue. Bickert said discussions about sharing the guidelines started last year and were not related to the Cambridge controversy. The company's content policies, which began in earnest in 2005, addressed nudity and Holocaust denial in the early years. They have ballooned from a single page in 2008 to 27 pages today. As Facebook has come to reach nearly a third of the world's population, Bickert's team has expanded significantly and is expected to grow even more in the coming year. A team of 7500 reviewers, in places like Austin, Dublin and the Philippines, assesses posts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in more than 40 languages. Moderators are sometimes temporary contract workers without much cultural familiarity with the content they are judging, and they make complex decisions in applying Facebook's rules. Bickert also employs high-level experts including a human rights lawyer, a rape counsellor, a counter-terrorism expert from West Point and a PhD researcher with expertise in European extremist organisations as part of her content review team. Loading Activists and users have been particularly frustrated by the absence of an appeals process when their posts are taken down. (Facebook users are allowed to appeal the shutdown of an entire account but not individual posts.) Malkia Cyril, a Black Lives Matter activist in Oakland, California, who is also the executive director for the Center for Media Justice, was among a coalition of more than 70 civil rights groups that pressured Facebook in 2017 to fix its "racially-biased" content moderation system. Among the changes the coalition sought was an appeals process for posts that are taken down. "At the time they told us they could not do it, they would not do it, and actually stopped engaging at that point," Cyril said. "They told us they would get back to us when they had something new to say." Cyril said that Facebook's actions on Tuesday, while well-intentioned, do not go far enough in terms of addressing the white supremacist groups allowed on the platform. "This is just a drop in the bucket," she said. "What's needed now is an independent audit to ensure that the basic civil rights of users are protected, especially vulnerable users being targeted on the street by hate that's being fomented online." Bickert's team has been working for years to develop a software system that can classify the reasons a post was taken down so that users could receive clearer information, and so Facebook could track how many hate speech posts were put up in a given year, for example, or whether certain groups are having their posts taken down more frequently than others. Currently, people who have their posts taken down receive a generic message that says that they have violated Facebook's community standards. After Tuesday's announcement, people will be told whether their posts violated guidelines on nudity, hate speech and graphic violence. A Facebook executive said the teams were working on building more tools. "We do want to provide more details and information for why content has been removed," said Ellen Silver, Facebook's vice president of operations. "We have more work to do there, and we are committed to making those improvements." Though Facebook's content moderation is still very much driven by humans, the company does use technology to assist in its work. The company currently uses software to identify duplicate reports, a time-saving technique for reviewers that helps them avoid reviewing the same piece of content over and over because it was flagged by many people at once. Software also can identity the language of a post and some of the themes, helping the post get to the reviewer with the most expertise. Every two weeks, employees and senior executives who make decisions about the most challenging issues around the world meet. They debate the pros and cons of potential policies. Teams who present are required to come up with research showing each side, a list of possible solutions, and a recommendation. They are required to list the organisations outside Facebook with which they consulted. The Cambridge University figure at the centre of the Facebook data scandal has claimed that the social network regularly handed its user data to academics without questioning how it would be used. Dr Aleksandr Kogan, who created an app that harvested 87 million Facebook users' data, which was then allegedly used by Cambridge Analytica for political purposes, revealed that Facebook workers sent him several caches of user data when requested over email, without any measures in place to protect who accessed it. Dr Aleksandr Kogan created an app that harvested 87 million Facebook users' data. Credit:AP Giving evidence to the digital, culture, media and sport select committee on Tuesday (UK time), he claimed the social network "gave me the data set without any agreement to sign" and that many employees worked closely with academics to share this data to make their jobs more interesting. Dr Kogan said: "My perception was that management tolerated this because it makes employees happy. This was something they gave their employees to stimulate them." New York: Authorities say the alleged leader of a homicidal drug ring that imported tonnes of cocaine from Colombia into the US over a decade has been taken to New York to face charges. Daniel Rendon-Herrera, alleged drug-ring leader also known as "Don Mario", was extradited from Colombia to the US. Credit:AP Daniel Rendon-Herrera, also known as "Don Mario", pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn on Tuesday, local time, to leading a continuing criminal enterprise. His attorney, Johanna Zapp, says she's looking forward to representing him. Federal authorities say that the organisation sent multi-tonne, US-bound shipments of cocaine from Colombia through Central America between about June 2003 and December 2014. the view Wind energys swift growth, explained By JOHN HALL Assistant professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Reprinted from The Conversation The wind industry is growing quickly around the world, especially in China and the U.S., where the total amount of electricity generated by wind turbines nearly doubled between 2011 and 2017. All told, about 25 percent of global electricity now comes from renewable sources like hydropower, wind and solar energy. As a wind energy researcher, I realize it will be hard for the industry to keep up this pace. Yet ample evidence supports widespread predictions that the volume of wind energy will continue to grow quickly here and abroad, on land and offshore for reasons that most electricity consumers can support. Wind turbines, which convert moving air into electrical power, currently produce 6.3 percent of the electricity the U.S. consumes. Texas leads the nation overall in terms of the amount of power it gets from wind. Iowa gets a higher share of its electricity from wind turbines than any other state 37 percent. The U.S. still lags other nations, particularly those in Europe, with offshore wind production. But even on that front, the U.S. has seen growth. The nations first commercial offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Rhode Island, began operating in 2016. New York state plans to build a much larger offshore farm. And California may soon establish floating offshore wind farms. Wind is abundant, ubiquitous and free, but sometimes it dies down. Consequently, the energy from wind turbines cant provide power around the clock. Recent improvements in energy storage technology and turbine efficiency, however, are lowering costs and may potentially reduce the downside of winds intermittent nature. Today, wind power faces another challenge: politics. The Trump administration is sending mixed signals regarding the industry. It exited the Paris climate deal yet supports wind power growth as part of its American energy dominance policy. Meanwhile, market forces coupled with widespread concerns over climate change, continue to propel the wind industry. So is the enthusiasm from tech giants, such as Apple and Google, which are proactively seeking to rely on wind energy, rather than fossil fuels. And this wind rush is creating jobs in manufacturing, services and science. With total generating capacity projected to increase from about 89 gigawatts to more than 400 gigawatts over the next 30 years, the Energy Department says the industry may eventually employ 600,000 American workers. The bankruptcy tribunal NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) is facing a massive shortage of judges as the insolvency cases have gone up in the recent past. According to a report in Bloomberg, there are 26 judges in the country who are hearing more than 2,500 insolvency cases. A year ago, some researchers had estimated that India would need about 80 benches over five years. Currently, there are total 10 benches that hear company law matters and bankruptcy cases. The National Company Law Tribunal or NCLT is a quasi-judicial body that adjudicates all the cases related to Indian companies and also the bankruptcy cases. It was set up in June 2016 and gained full powers in January 2017 after India's new bankruptcy code came into being. As on January 31, the number of the insolvency cases in the tribunal was 2,511, which is likely to go up as the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) recently asked the banks to initiate the bankruptcy proceedings against defaulters with a loan outstanding of Rs 2,000 crore or more. The apex bank's move is expected to add more than 1,000 cases by the end of this year. This will create more chaos at the already flooded law tribunal. The NCLT has a time-bound mechanism of 180 days (maximum 270 days) to restructure a case or approve liquidation of the company. Experts suggest the government should increase the NCLT benches from current 11 to 20. There are times when cases are not getting listed for days. There is another issue of the appellate tribunal NCLAT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) where the NCLT orders are challenged. The NCLAT has only one bench. The cases are rising by the day and the IRPs (Insolvency Resolution Professional) population has also increased to 1,727, but the cases are going to get jammed at the NCLT. A Jodhpur trial court today convicted Asaram and two other accused for raping a teenager at his ashram in 2013. Special Judge (SC/ST court) Madhusudhan Sharma delivered the verdict in the Jodhpur Central jail premises. After conviction, the self-styled godman was sentenced to life imprisonment until death. Asaram was accused of raping a girl who was studying at the godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. The victim, who belonged to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, had alleged that Asaram called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. Following the allegations, Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He is under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. LIVE UPDATES 02:39 pm: Asaram gets life term for raping minor in 2013. 12:40 pm: Actor Farhan Akhtar asks people to stop sharing images of Asaram with PM Modi. So, Asaram is a child rapist. And he has been found guilty. Good. But can people please stop sharing images of him with PM Modi. Patronising him before he was exposed to be a pervert is no crime. Let's be fair and give him the benefit of doubt that he, like us, did not know. - Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) April 25, 2018 12:25 pm: The Congress takes a jibe at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi by sharing his old picture with rape convict Asaram. It says: "A man is known by the company he keeps - Aesop's fables." The time has come when people should be able to differentiate between the actual saints and the frauds, as this creates a bad image of the country in the international arena: Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Asaram conviction. 11:15 am: The special SC/ST court is now hearing arguments on the quantum of punishment. 10:56 am: Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice: Father of Shahjahanpur victim. 10:48 am: We will discuss with our legal team and then decide our future course of action. We have confidence in our judiciary: Neelam Dubey, Asaram spokesperson on Asaram convicted. We will discuss with our legal team and then decide our future course of action. We have confidence in our judiciary: Neelam Dubey,Asaram spokesperson on Asaram convicted pic.twitter.com/3LIcyuSAmU - ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2018 10:44 am: Asaram and two other accused have been convicted by Jodhpur Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Court in a rape case. Ahead of the verdict, the Centre asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana governments to tighten security and deploy additional forces as the three states have a large number of followers of self-styled godman. The Union Home Ministry in a communication told the three states to beef up security and ensure that no violence takes place after the judgment. The Union Home Ministry's advisory was sent in view of the fact that large-scale violence was witnessed in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh after a special court in Mohali convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim last year. Final arguments in the Asaram case had been completed by the special court for SC/ST cases on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved for April 25. The Rajasthan High Court directed the trial court to deliver its verdict in the Jodhpur Central Jail premises where Asaram has been lodged for the past over four years. The chargesheet against Asaram and four other co-accused Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash was filed by the police on November 6, 2013 under various sections of the POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. (With inputs from PTI) China failed to get India's support for its ambitious Belt and Road infrastructure project at the end of a foreign ministers' meeting of a major security bloc on Tuesday, ahead of an ice-breaking trip to China this week by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Belt and Road is Chinese President Xi Jinping's landmark scheme to build infrastructure to connect China to the rest of Asia and beyond, a giant reworking of its old Silk Road. India has not signed up to the initiative as parts of one key project, the $57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, runs through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Whether or not China will be able to bring India round to Belt and Road will likely be a key measure of the success of the Prime Minister's trip to China to meet Xi for an informal meeting on Friday and Saturday. But Foreign Minister did not express support for Belt and Road in the communique released after foreign ministers of the China and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation met in Beijing. India, along with Pakistan, joined the group last year. All the other foreign ministers - from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - "reaffirmed support for China's Belt and Road proposal", the statement read. It gave no further explanation. The communique otherwise was a broad expression of unity by the ministers on issues ranging from their support for the Iran nuclear deal to the need to combat the spread of extremism. Modi is visiting China as efforts at rapprochement gather pace following a difficult year in ties between the two neighbours. The Asian giants were locked in a 73-day military stand-off in a remote, high-altitude stretch of their Himalayan border last year. At one point, soldiers from the two sides threw stones and punches. The confrontation between the nuclear-armed powers underscored Indian alarm at China's expanding security and economic links in South Asia. In comments carried on the foreign ministry's website, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said holding the meeting in an informal way meant the two leaders could have a deep exchange of views in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere to promote cooperation. "This not only will benefit the two countries and two peoples, but will also have an important effect on peaceful development in the region and around the world," the ministry paraphrased Kong as telling Indian media in Beijing. Modi will again visit China in June for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. China will also have to tread carefully to avoid giving its close ally Pakistan cause for alarm. China on Monday reassured Pakistan that relations between the two countries were as firm as ever and would "never rust". Toyota India has revealed the prices of the Yaris in India. Interested buyers can book the car by submitting an amount of Rs 50,000. The price of the car, unsurprisingly, puts it in direct competition with the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Skoda Rapid, Hyundai Verna, Honda City and Volkswagen Vento. Here's a look at the dimensions and raw stats of the new Toyota Yaris when compared to its toughest competition in the segment. Maruti Suzuki Ciaz is expected to receive a facelift soon. The car's prices start at Rs 8.75 lakh (all prices ex-showroom, Delhi) for the base variant and goes all the way to Rs14.07 lakh for the highest variant. The prices are slightly higher than the competition. The company is offering the car with a single 1.5-litre petrol engine which churns out 107ps of power and 140nm of torque. The company provides a 7-step CVT automatic gearbox with each variant. The CVT variants are priced at a premium of around Rs 1.2 lakh when compared to their manual version. The car is offered in four variants. Starting with the base Yaris J variant, it is priced at Rs 8.75 lakh for the manual and Rs 9.95 lakh for the CVT variant. This variant gets seven airbags (including driver knee airbag) with ABS, EBD, and brake assist as standard across all variants. Apart from that, the variant also gets halogen headlamps with projectors, power adjustable mirrors, AC with manual controls, driver seat height adjustment, all four power windows, 4-speaker audio system, tilt steering, keyless entry, instrument cluster with LCD multi-info display and a cooled gloved box. The next variant is the Yaris G variant which comes with a price tag of Rs 10.56lakh and Rs 11.76 lakh for the CVT variant. This variant includes features like power folding mirrors with turn indicators, a chrome trim on the front grille, an instrument cluster with TFT multi-info display, engine start-stop button, 7.0-inch infotainment system with four speakers, steering-mounted audio controls, fog lamps, dual rear parking sensors and rear defogger. Next up is the Toyota Yaris V variant which is priced at Rs 11.70 lakh for the manual variant and Rs 12.90 lakh for the automatic. This variant will get disc breaks in all four wheels along with other feature upgrades like automatic headlamps, rain sensing wipers, 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with six speakers, dual front parking sensors, quad rear parking sensors and cruise control. This variant will also get 15-inch alloy wheels. The top Yaris VX variant is priced at Rs 12.85 lakh for the manual transmission and Rs 14.07 lakh for the automatic CVT variant. This top specked variant gets luxury additions like leather seats, eight-way adjustable powered driver seat, paddle shifters (for CVT variant) and daytime running lamps. Other than that, this variant gets nifty features like hill-start assist, tyre pressure monitoring system and even a rear sunshade. Gold bars worth over Rs 2.59 crore were seized from Jet Airways flight 9W 579 from Dubai at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai. The Air Intelligence Unit of Customs carried on a routine check-up of the flight once it landed in Mumbai. A Customs official said, "During the course of rummaging, the AIU officials recovered six gold bars, each weighing one kilogram each, with foreign marking, and six gold pieces, each weighing 2,990 grams." The official also said that the collective worth of the gold seized was Rs 2,59,04,146 and weighed 8.9kg. "The unclaimed gold bars were covered with black adhesive tape and were hidden below the cushion of two seats," the official added. The official informed that the gold was seized under provisions of the Customs Act due to 'reasonable belief' that it was being smuggled into the country. The investigative agency has also sought help from the airline to figure out who was allegedly trying to smuggle the gold into India. A list of all crewmembers and passengers has been drawn up and they are likely to be questioned soon. "A routine post-flight cabin inspection of Jet Airways flight 9W 579 Dubai-Mumbai on April 24, 2018, led to the recovery of certain contraband items. Our security team immediately informed the local authorities who took the items in their custody," said Jet Airways, as mentioned in a report in India Today. Earlier this year, a 25-year-old Jet Airways airhostess, who was part of a network was caught carrying Rs 3.24 crore in US dollars to Hong Kong. The airhostess was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence after they searched the flight upon receiving a tip-off. (With PTI inputs) The first inkling of bad news came earlier this month. Media reports claimed that the H-1B visa filing season for the 2019 fiscal saw a dramatic drop in the number of applications filed by Indian tech firms in the initial days itself. Supposedly, all thanks to the Trump administration's hard-line anti-immigration stance. But now it seems the downward trend predates US President Donald Trump. According to a US think tank, the top seven Indian IT companies experienced a whopping 43 per cent drop in their H-1B visa approvals between 2015 and 2017. The H1B visa is a non-immigrant work visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. American tech companies have long depended on it to hire highly-skilled employees from countries like India and China. The last few years tell an interesting story. According to the National Foundation for American Policy, the top seven Indian-based companies received only 8,468 approved H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY 2017. We are talking about companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro and Mindtree here. In comparison, in FY 2015, these companies had received 14,792 H-1B visas. The think tank's report added that the share of H-1B visas to Indian companies in FY 2017 equalled a miniscule 0.006 per cent of the 160 million strong US labour force. In April 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it had received 190,000 H-1B visa applications, or 105,000 more applications than the 85,000-annual limit would permit. Furthermore, 199,000 applications were filed in FY 2017 for the FY 2018 cap. So, even if none of these Indian companies received new H-1B visas, the annual limit still would have been reached on the first day of the April filing period, said the report, adding that the 85,000-annual limit is too low for an economy the size of the United States. "It's not surprising the annual limit on H-1B visas has been reach (sic) for 16 consecutive years, since it's much too low for an economy the size of America's and the limit was set in 1990 before the World Wide Web and smartphones greatly increased the demand for high-skilled technical labor," said NFAP Executive Director Stuart Anderson, former head of policy at the Immigration and Naturalization Service under ex-president George W. Bush. Based on the H-1B visa data obtained from the US Citizenship and immigration Services (USCIS), the foundation said that TCS received 2,312 H-1B visas in 2017 as against 4,674 in 2015, registering a drop of around 51 per cent. In the same period, Infosys saw a drop of 57 per cent to 1,218 H-1B visas in 2017 while Wipro registered a far steeper fall of 61 per cent. Interestingly, the report added that only TCS and Tech Mahindra had more H-1B petitions for initial employment approved in FY 2017 than in FY 2016, a jump of 13 per cent and 42 per cent respectively. In its analysis, the think tank said that "the decline in H-1B visas for Indian-based companies is due to industry trends toward digital services such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence, which require fewer workers, and a choice by companies to rely less on visas and to build up their domestic workforce in America." What Indian-based companies lost out on turned out to be an advantage for US tech firms. The report showed that more H-1B visas are going to US technology companies. Four of six high-profile US tech companies - Amazon, Microsoft, Intel and Google - were among the top 10 employers for approved H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY 2017. Amazon, in fact, saw a whopping 78 per cent jump in visas in a year, hitting 2,515 in FY 2017. However, Cognizant, an IT services company headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, which had the most H-1B petitions approved (3,194) for new employment in FY 2017, posted a 25 per cent decline over FY 2016. Significantly, the report noted that restrictions on visas may result in more work being performed outside the United States. "Reducing the H-1B annual limit in 2004 after the temporary increases of FY 1999 to FY 2003 did not increase the hiring of US-born professionals and limited hiring of the most highly skilled foreign nationals," it said. It added that economists had discovered that "the reduced pool of H-1B workers available to for-profit firms did not lead firms to hire more Americans as there was no comparable response in the employment of native workers after 2004 in for-profit firms." Given the above, the think tank suggested that the US administration should focus on reforms to raise the annual number of H-1B visas, increase the labor mobility of H-1B visa holders, raise the employment-based green card quota and eliminate the per country limit. "To benefit the economy the current regulatory and administrative actions against high-skilled foreign nationals and their employers also should end," it added. The timing of the report is certainly interesting. The big news yesterday was that over 70,000 immigrants working in the US could be staring at job loss in the near future with the Trump administration planning to terminate H-4 work permits. This group, with Indians in a huge majority, are spouses of H-1B visa holders who were allowed to find employment under a special order issued by the previous Obama administration in 2015. The provision has so far benefited more than 100,000 H-4 visa holders. With PTI inputs It was announced this week that agents Cushman & Wakefield and Knight Frank have been instructed by Grant Thornton to market The Grange, one of Dublins premier residential developments. This property is the largest single residential investment and development opportunity offered for sale in Dublin in recent years, allowing a buyer to acquire a significant footprint in Dublins strongly performing residential sector. With limited opportunities available to acquire standing stock and prime development land, strong demand is anticipated from both local and international PRS investors as well as from residential developers. The first apartments built at The Grange were completed in 2005. Currently, there is a total of 506 completed apartments across nine blocks, which range in height from 5-9 storeys. Two of these blocks (comprising 174 apartments) were completed in recent years and are included in their entirety in the sale. The additional 100 apartments included in the sale are peppered throughout the other seven blocks. The scheme provides high quality common areas including a central grassed courtyard, playground and mature planting. Despite the density of development, the common areas are bright and spacious. The scheme is also meticulously managed and maintained and benefits from a 24-hour concierge service catering for residents service, maintenance and housekeeping needs. Cushman & Wakefield and Knight Frank expect the property to appeal to the Private Rented Sector (PRS) investors and developers. The standing stock provides a rare opportunity for PRS investors, with a medium and long-term hold strategy, to acquire quality, well-located rental stock in significant scale. Developers will be attracted to the potential to realise 263+ units on the remaining landmark 3.97 acre site subject the completion of the site assembly and a grant of planning permission. A purchaser of the entire will be in a position to realise a portfolio of some 530 apartments (SPP) in south county Dublins premier luxury apartment scheme, suitable for either private renting or individual apartment sales. It is strategically located on the N11 just a short drive from Dublin city centre, Ballsbridge, Ranelagh and Donnybrook. It is served by numerous bus routes to the city centre and is within a 5-10 minutes drive from Sandyford Luas stops, Blackrock, Foxrock, Stillorgan and Dundrum Town Centre. Source: www.businessworld.ie Britain's TSB Bank, owned by Spain's Banco Sabadell, faced continuing problems with its digital services on Tuesday as Royal Bank of Scotland's Irish unit also reported an issue that led to salaries going missing from some accounts. TSB, which apologised on Monday after some customers were unable to access their accounts online, said it needed to take its mobile application and online banking down for a "few hours" after working for 48 hours to fix the problem. The bank said about 402 customers on Sunday were able to see data that they would not usually see online, often of so called "connected accounts" that family members typically use. "I'm truly sorry," TSB Chief Executive Officer Paul Pester said in a statement, adding that the services should be back online later on Tuesday. Nicky Morgan, chair of the British parliament's influential Treasury Select Committee, said customers deserved to know how they can expect to be compensated and that she would be writing to the FCA (UK finance regulator) on the matter. "Customers can rest assured that no one will be left out of pocket as a result of these service issues," TSB's Pester said. Ulster Bank, the Irish unit of RBS, said on Tuesday that it was aware that some transactions applied to accounts in the Irish Republic over the last five days were not appearing. The bank, which offered its customers access to emergency cash at its branches, said it had fixed the issues to facilitate the recovery of the funds overnight and that the problem was the result of a human error, not connected to a 2012 IT issue. The bank, Ireland's third largest, suffered a huge system crash in 2012 that deprived customers of basic banking services for almost a month and cost it 59 million euros in compensation and a 3.5 million euro fine from the country's central bank. Customers had complained to the bank's customer services account on Twitter that large sums were missing, debit cards had been declined and in some cases accounts were overdrawn. "It's a very concerning development for any customer of any bank to be worried about where their money has gone," Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe told reporters earlier on Tuesday, adding that the central bank was reviewing the matter. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie The gender composition of both boards and senior management in Ireland has not notably changed in the last year, with 26% women on boards and 32% representation in senior management. This is according to new research conducted by EY among more than 150 senior leaders across a range of indigenous, multinational and public sector organisations. The report was published this morning at the EY Diversity & Inclusion InMotion Summit held in the Mansion House, Dublin, where Irelands leading experts in Diversity & Inclusion gathered. Speakers at the event included Vice Admiral Mark Mellett (Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces), Dr. Orlaigh Quinn (Secretary General of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation) and Her Excellency Anne Anderson (former Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, UN, EU, France, and Monaco). Of those surveyed, almost half (49%) favour regulation as a driver for creating more diverse and inclusive organisations. Interestingly, in light of the lack of progress on gender diversity of boards, 91% of this group said they favour regulation to address the gender pay gap, and 79% said they favour regulation to address gender diversity of boards. The report shows that investment in D&I is increasing, with significant changes versus last year. However, investment appears to be lacking in strategy, data analytics and diagnostic assessment. The proportion of organisations investing 1,000 per year or less in D&I has decreased from 36% in 2017 to 20% this year while the proportion of businesses investing 50,000 per year has also increased from 9% in 2017 to 15% in 2018. Investment tends to be focused on events (77%) and sponsorship (42%). The research shows less than a fifth (19%) are investing in strategy development, a similar proportion (19%) in strategy implementation, and less than a third (31%) in data collection and analysis, while 16.7% are investing in diagnostics and benchmarking. Organisations that have invested in a D&I diagnostic assessment are three times more likely to attribute higher sales revenue and profit margins to Diversity & Inclusion than those who havent carried out a diagnostic assessment (57% vs. 18%). Speaking this week, Director of Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Service at EY Ireland, Olivia McEvoy said, "With gender pay gap legislation on the government agenda, its encouraging to see that many Irish businesses are supportive of the move. Organisations that begin preparing now and prioritising Diversity & Inclusion as a strategic imperative will reap benefits in the months and years to come. Diversity at board level is an issue, and its not improving." She added, "It is clear from the findings that organisations in Ireland emphatically acknowledge Diversity & Inclusion as a business imperative. However, actual progress and work practices do not entirely reflect that view. This seems in part due to a failure to make the connection between Diversity & Inclusion and the bottom line." Source: www.businessworld.ie Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said on Tuesday that it was right that big companies are scrutinized and said his firm would respond to any new regulations by finding new ways to please its customers. Bezos was speaking in Berlin, where he received an award from German media company Axel Springer, and was responding to a question about how seriously he took recent criticism ofAmazon by U.S. President Donald Trump. "All large institutions should be scrutinized or examined," Bezos said. "It is not personal." "We have a duty on behalf of society to help educate any regulators without cynicism or skepticism. We will work with any set of regulations that we are given... we will follow those rules and find a new way to delight customers." Trump has said he would take a serious look at policies to address what he says are the unfair business advantages of Amazon, accusing the firm of not operating on a level playing field and not paying enough sales tax. "We humans, especially in the western world, especially inside democracies, are wired to be mindful of big institutions... it doesn't mean you don't trust them or they are evil or bad," Bezos said. Amazon has also come in for criticism elsewhere over its tax policies and treatment of warehouse staff, with hundreds of European workers protesting on Tuesday outside the building where Bezos was speaking over pay and conditions. "I'm very proud of our working conditions and I'm very proud of the wages we pay," Bezos said. "We don't believe we need a union to be an intermediary between ourselves and our workers." Bezos also defended his ownership of the Washington Post, which Trump has called the chief lobbyist for Amazon. The Washington Post is privately owned by Bezos, not Amazon. Bezos said the need to scrutinize large organizations was one of the reasons why the Post's work was so important, adding he had no problem with the newspaper pursuing critical reporting aboutAmazon and said he would never meddle in the newsroom. "I would be humiliated to interfere. I would turn bright red. I don't want to. It would feel icky, It would feel gross. Why would I? I want that paper to be independent," he said. Bezos, the world's richest person with a fortune of more than $100 billion, added that he was not interested in buying other newspapers, despite receiving monthly requests to bail out other struggling media organizations. He said he would keep liquidating about $1 billion of Amazon stock a year to fund his Blue Origin rocket company, saying he hoped to test a tourism vehicle with humans at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. Asked about the scandal over the alleged misuse of the data of nearly 100 million Facebook users, Bezos said Amazon had worked hard on security: "If you mistreat your data, they will know, they will work it out. Customers are very smart." (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie European unions representing Ryanair cabin crew on Tuesday gave the airline until June 30 to adopt national employment laws for all their workers or face industrial action during the summer, the unions said after meeting in Lisbon. The SNPVAC union, which represents Ryanair Portuguese cabin crew staff, staged a strike early in April over what it says is the airline's failure to recognize Portuguese labour rights, including doctor-approved sick days. Five unions representing Ryanair European cabin crew met on on Tuesday and agreed on the deadline. Their demands include respecting national legislation where cabin crew are based and applying the same work conditions for all workers. "If Ryanair fails to comply with these terms, the undersigned unions will initiate all the statutory and legal procedures to call a coordinated industrial action, including the use of strike action, during the summer of 2018," they said in a statement. The unions present included Belgium's CNE/LBC, two Spanish unions and Italy's UILTASPORTI. Ryanair's contracts in Portugal have prompted the Socialist government to look into the terms of employment. Labour Minister Jose Vieira da Silva has said that while most Portuguese crews' contracts were signed under Irish jurisdiction, the EU Treaty of Rome still guarantees worker rights under local laws. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie April 25, 2018 Victoria, B.C. Galaxy clusters are the largest objects in our universe. With masses comparable to a million-billion suns, they contain as many as 1,000 galaxies, vast amounts of dark matter, gargantuan black holes and X-ray-emitting gas that reaches over a million degrees Kelvin. A dense concentration of galaxies is causing astrophysicists to question our understanding of how structures form in the universe. A study published in Nature journal today reports on a collection of galaxies observed when the universe was about one-tenth of its present age. This particular galaxy cluster is so far away it takes 12.4 billion years for light from it to reach Earth. So while it was first observed last year, it was seen as it existed 1.4 billion years after the Big Bangallowing astronomers a rare peek into galaxies forming in the early history of the universe. A team of researchers from institutions including the National Research Council of Canada, Dalhousie University, the University of Victoria (UVic), the University of Illinois and the Flatiron Institute, have discovered a cluster of galaxies assembling very differently and more quickly than current models would predict. The nascent cluster is made up of at least 14 galaxies packed into a region of space just three times the size of our Milky Way galaxy and each is forming stars up to 1,000 times faster than ours is forming them. Calculations indicate that the astronomers are witnessing the assembly of one of the most massive structures in the present-day universe. The study was co-led by Scott Chapman, Research Officer at the National Research Council of Canada and Professor at Dalhousie University, and Tim Miller, as a Masters student at Dalhousie University. It was co-authored by a team of scientists including UVic Distinguished Professor, Arif Babul; astrophysics doctoral student, Douglas Rennehan; UVic advanced research computing specialist, Belaid Moa; University of Illinois Professor, Joaquin Vieira; and Christopher Hayward, Associate Research Scientist at the Centre for Computation Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute. To predict how the cluster will assemble, a team led by Arif Babul used WestGrid and Compute Canada supercomputers to develop a numerical simulation. It showed that the core of the cluster will eventually combine into one giant galaxy, over the next billion years. Scientists anticipate that eventually this will prove to be one of the most massive clusters in the current-day universe. This cluster system, originally discovered by the South Pole Telescope, was studied in detail using the Atacama Large Millimetre-submillimetre Array (ALMA). ALMA has the worlds most advanced radio astronomy detectors, developed by the National Research Council of Canada, which provided the detail necessary for the discovery of the system. Modified On May 17, 2018 03:04 PM By Raunak for Honda Amaze 2016-2021 The second-generation Honda Amaze is available in four variants with the option of a CVT automatic with both its petrol and diesel engines Honda's first outing with the Amaze didn't exactly set the charts on fire, with sales dwindling soon after its launch. However, the sedan is now back, with the express intentions of fulfilling all the shortcomings of its previous iteration. Thats because the upcoming sedan has to take on the Maruti Suzuki Dzire as before. However, it appears to be a daunting task now as the best-selling third-gen model of the Dzire certainly offers the most well-rounded package in the segment. Honda has revealed the specifications of the Amaze 2018 and heres what it packs to take on the Dzire, along with the Xcent, upcoming Aspire facelift, Ameo and the Tigor. Variants The second-gen Amaze is available in four variants: E (base), S, V and VX (Top-spec), with both petrol and diesel engine options. Apart from this there are two automatic variants as well available with petrol and diesel engines in mid S and V levels. So that makes it a total of 12 variants in total. Dimensions and Weight Dimensions First-gen Second-gen Length 3,990mm 3,995mm (+5mm) Width 1,680mm 1,695mm (+15mm) Height 1,505mm 1,501mm (-4mm) Wheelbase 2,405mm 2,470mm (+65mm) Ground Clearance 165mm 170mm (+5mm) Boot Space 400 litres 420-litres (+20-litres) Though it had to be under 4m to save taxes like before, the second-gen Amaze is longer, wider and comes with significantly increased wheelbase too. The overall height, however, has been marginally reduced, while the ground clearance has received a boost. At 420 litres, boot space is 20 litres more than the previous model and is the largest in the compact sedan space. Kerb Weight First-gen Second-gen Petrol 965kg (MT)/ 985 (CVT) 924kg (MT)/ 945kg (CVT) Diesel 1075kg (MT) 1023kg (MT)/ 1039kg (CVT) Thanks to the new platform, the second-generation Amaze is lighter than the previous model. Both petrol and diesel variants have shed weight in the range of 40-50kg. Mechanicals The Honda Amaze carries forward the same 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engine options as before with a standard 5-speed manual. Theres an optional CVT automatic with the petrol as before. The petrol engine now develops 90PS (1199cc instead of 1198cc), 2PS more than the previous model. Interestingly, the diesel Amaze, too, is available with an optional CVT auto for the first time. However, it is a slightly detuned unit. Thanks to the lighter platform and new design, the mileage of both the petrol and diesel versions have improved. Petrol Honda Amaze Petrol First-gen Second-gen Engine 1.2-litre i-VTEC 1.2-litre i-VTEC Transmission 5-speed MT/ CVT 5-speed MT/ CVT (paddle shifters) Power 88PS (MT)/ 90PS (CVT) 90PS Torque 109Nm (MT)/ 110NM (CVT) 110Nm Fuel Efficiency 17.8kmpl (MT)/ 18.1kmpl (CVT) 19.5kmpl (MT)/ 19kmpl (CVT) Diesel Honda Amaze Diesel First-gen Second-gen Engine 1.5-litre i-DTEC 1.5-litre i-DTEC Transmission 5-speed MT 5-speed MT/ CVT Power 100PS 100PS (MT)/ 80PS (CVT) Torque 200Nm 200Nm (MT)/ 160Nm (CVT) Fuel Efficiency 25.8kmpl 27.4kmpl (MT)/ 23.8kmpl (CVT) To know what features the new Amaze pack, along with a detailed analysis of its evolved design, check out our previous story here: First Look: New Honda Amaze Read More on : Honda Amaze diesel Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. Government of Arunachal Pradesh has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for the posts under multitasking staff. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government jobs here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 56,900. The last date to apply for the government jobs is May 31,2018. Indian Railways Recruitment 2018 For 140 Act Apprentices Arunachal Pradesh Police Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Cook, Water Carrier, Seeper, Barber and Washerman Organisation Government of Arunachal Pradesh Educational Qualification Class 8 pass Age Limit 18 to 28 years Skills Required Physical fitness Number Of Vacancies 220 Salary Scale INR 18,000 to INR 56,900 Selection Process Written exam Job Responsibilities Cooking, cleaning, carrying water, sweeping, washing and shaving - according to the post Job Location Arunachal Pradesh Industry Police Experience Not required Application Start Date Apr 25, 2018 Application End Date May 31,2018 Also Read: Defence Jobs 2018: Ordnance Factory Board Recruitment For Apprentices How To Apply For Arunachal Pradesh Police Recruitment 2018 In order to apply for Arunachal Pradesh Police Recruitment 2018, follow these steps: Step 1: Log on to the Arunachal Pradesh Police department official website. Step 2: Click on the Media tab. Step 3: Select Advertisement. Step 4: Click View against Recruitment for the post of MTS (Civil Police/AAPBn/IRBn) in Arunachal Pradesh Police (General/APST/Ex-SM). Step 5: The detailed advertisement will be displayed on the screen. Read the instructions carefully. Step 6: Scroll down to the bottom of the file to find the application form. Step 7: Take a printout of the application and fill your details in the fields provided. Step 8: Send your applications to Arunachal Pradesh Police department. Arunachal Pradesh Police Recruitment 2018 Application Format And Mailing Address Enclose the application form in an envelope and superscribe on it, "Application for the post of *post you are applying for*". Attach your self-attested photos along with supporting documents and DD of INR 40 and send it to the Superintendent of Police in the respective division you want to apply for. With barely a week left for the Telangana State-Engineering, Agriculture & Medical Common Entrance Test (TS-EAMCET), the exam fever is on high for aspirants. At this stage, aspirants should be familiar with the admission process for the medicine courses, such as MBBS and BDS, which are done through the national-level entrance exam, NEET. TS-EAMCET stands as one of the most popular state-level entrance examinations in India conducted for admissions to engineering, agriculture and medical courses. JNTU Hyderabad, which is conducting the TS-EAMCET on behalf of the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE), has released the hall tickets recently. We understand that only a week is left for the preparations; hence, here are the last-minute tips to crack TS-EAMCET. TS EAMCET Exam Pattern The entrance test consists a total of 160 questions comprising of 80 questions in mathematics, 40 questions in physics and 40 questions in chemistry. The exam is conducted for three hours. All the questions are objective-type and candidates have to choose one out of four options. Each question carries one mark and there is no negative marking for wrong answers. However, the exam will be a computer-based test. Familiar With The Online Exam The first and foremost point is getting familiar with the computer-based test. Students have to understand that there is a special approach for taking the online test. We suggest you learn how to switch between sections and understand the marking scheme. Many students missed the cut-off because of not submitting the review questions. Hence, never encourage any ambiguity and get familiar with the online mode. Attempt All The Questions Compared to JEE or NEET, this state-level entrance examination will not deduct any mark for wrong answers. We advise students to take advantage of this option and attempt all the questions. One has to answer 160 questions in 180 minutes, which means a minute will be given for reading, understanding and answering a question. This can be a bit difficult and most of the students may not complete the paper. So go for flukes only when you are left with no time. Important Topics Experts always suggest students focus only on the most important topics during the last week. Extremely important topics in mathematics are probability, permutations and combinations, circles, matrices (determinants), straight lines, properties of triangles, integral calculus, vector algebra, trigonometric equations, mathematical induction, partial fractions and random variables. In physics, students should give more importance to the kinematics dynamics, elasticity, gravitation, atomic physics, thermodynamics and general physics. However, never ignore units and dimensions because direct questions are expected. While coming to chemistry, the periodic table takes the lion's share. If you are confident with the atomic structure and acid and bases, assume that more than fifty percent of marks are in your pocket. However, never ignore concepts such as chemical bonding, chemical kinetics and thermodynamics. Use NCERT Textbooks The syllabus for TS EAMCET looks similar to that covered in the NCERT books. Students are suggested to go through the solved papers of the national-level entrance examinations such as JEE. Try to read the NCERT textbooks only when you enough time. This will give you a broader view and make you understand the depth of the concepts. One can even solve the previous years' question papers of the national-level exams. Revision & Mock The last week should be kept for the revision and one should not compromise on that. Always try to cover the most important topic first while revising. The subject-wise preparation is suggested but never devote all day for one subject. Take at least two mock test that make you familiar with the exam format besides boosting your confidence. EAMCET : Top 9 Tips To Crack The Exam In One Month Photo: The Canadian Press A teenager who helped beat a young Manitoba woman and shared the footage of her bloody death apologized to the victim's family at a sentencing hearing Tuesday. Serena McKay's body was found on the Sagkeeng First Nation last April and two teenage girls, who were 16 and 17, were arrested. The older girl, who has since turned 18 but can't be named because she was underage when the beating occurred, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in December. "There are no words to describe how sorry I am," the girl told McKay's family in a Winnipeg courtroom. "I am living every day with this guilt and shame ... I want to do things in Serena's honour." The Crown and defence are jointly recommending the girl receive the maximum youth sentence of seven years. The Crown wants the girl to spend four years behind bars and serve 1 1/2 years in the community. Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky, who said his client has shown remorse, is asking for one year in jail with the rest of the sentence to be served in the community. McKay had been at a house party in the Sagkeeng community when there was an argument about alcohol, court heard. Two videos, which later circulated on social media, showed McKay being attacked. McKay's family members stood up and left before the videos were played in court. The woman being sentenced held her head in her hands and sobbed as the graphic footage showed McKay being punched and kicked while she begged for the beating to stop. Crown prosecutor Jennifer Comack said the woman texted the videos to a friend first, along with a message boasting that she "stomped her" out. The videos were widely shared, Comack said. McKay's mother recalled the pain of seeing her daughter's bloody, swollen face as it was circulated on social media. "I dream about her," Delores Daniels told court as she clutched an eagle feather and broke into tears. "I wake up crying and sad that she is not here and wonder what she would have become in life. "This has been a nightmare to me ... How can an only daughter be replaced?" Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Exactly how many saints are there? There are over 10,000 named saints and beati from history, the Roman Martyology and Orthodox sources, but no definitive "head count". How does the Church choose saints? Canonization, the process the Church uses to name a saint, has only been used since the tenth century. For hundreds of years, starting with the first martyrs of the early Church, saints were chosen by public acclaim. Though this was a more democratic way to recognize saints, some saints' stories were distorted by legend and some never existed. Gradually, the bishops and finally the Vatican took over authority for approving saints. In 1983, Pope John Paul II made sweeping changes in the canonization procedure. The process begins after the death of a Catholic whom people regard as holy. Often, the process starts many years after death in order give perspective on the candidate. The local bishop investigates the candidate's life and writings for heroic virtue (or martyrdom) and orthodoxy of doctrine. Then a panel of theologians at the Vatican evaluates the candidate. After approval by the panel and cardinals of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the pope proclaims the candidate "venerable." The next step, beatification, requires evidence of one miracle (except in the case of martyrs). Since miracles are considered proof that the person is in heaven and can intercede for us, the miracle must take place after the candidate's death and as a result of a specific petition to the candidate. When the pope proclaims the candidate beatified or "blessed," the person can be venerated by a particular region or group of people with whom the person holds special importance. Only after one more miracle will the pope canonize the saint (this includes martyrs as well). The title of saint tells us that the person lived a holy life, is in heaven, and is to be honored by the universal Church. Canonization does not "make" a person a saint; it recognizes what God has already done. Though canonization is infallible and irrevocable, it takes a long time and a lot of effort. So while every person who is canonized is a saint, not every holy person has been canonized. You have probably known many "saints" in your life, and you are called by God to be one yourself. When did the Church start honoring saints? By the year 100 A.D., Christians were honoring other Christians who had died, and asking for their intercession. Many people think that honoring saints was something the Church set up later, but it was part of Christianity from the very beginning. As a matter of fact, this practice came from a long-standing tradition in the Jewish faith of honoring prophets and holy people with shrines. The first saints were martyrs, people who had given up their lives for the Faith in the persecution of Christians. Is keeping statues or pictures of saints idolatry? Look at the pictures of your loved ones in your wallet or around your home or office. Why do you keep these particular pictures? You might answer that you carry those pictures to remind you of people you love, to help you feel that they're close to you when you're not together, or to share with people you meet. But you probably didn't say you worshipped them. Those are some of the same reasons we have statues and pictures of saints. Seeing a statue of Saint Therese of Lisieux who lost her mother when she was a child might make us feel less alone when we are grieving. A picture of Saint Francis of Assisi might remind us of how much he loved God's creation and make us more aware of our environment. Do Catholics pray to saints? We pray with saints, not to them. Have you ever asked anyone to pray for you when you were having a hard time? Why did you choose to ask that person? You may have chosen someone you could trust, or someone who understood your problem, or someone who was close to God. Those are all reasons we ask saints to pray for us in times of trouble. We ask you, humbly, to help. Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now > Since saints led holy lives and are close to God in heaven, we feel that their prayers are particularly effective. Often we ask particular saints to pray for us if we feel they have a particular interest in our problem. For example, many people ask Saint Monica to pray for them if they have trouble with unanswered prayers, because Monica prayed for twenty years for her son to be converted. Finally her prayers were answered in a way she never dreamed of -- her son, Augustine, became a canonized saint and a Doctor of the Church. What is a patron saint? Patron saints are chosen as special protectors or guardians over areas of life. These areas can include occupations, illnesses, churches, countries, causes -- anything that is important to us. The earliest records show that people and churches were named after apostles and martyrs as early as the fourth century. Recently, the popes have named patron saints but patrons can be chosen by other individuals or groups as well. Patron saints are often chosen today because an interest, talent, or event in their lives overlaps with the special area. For example, Francis of Assisi loved nature and so he is patron of ecologists. Francis de Sales was a writer and so he is patron of journalists and writers. Clare of Assisi was named patron of television because one Christmas when she was too ill to leave her bed she saw and heard Christmas Mass -- even though it was taking place miles away. Angels can also be named as patron saints.A patron saint can help us when we follow the example of that saint's life and when we ask for that saint's intercessory prayers to God. Is there a Feast day for every day of the year? Well, yes and no. The official Roman calendar of feast days for celebration by the Universal Church (in other words, all over the world) does not have a saint's feast day every day. The Church chooses saints to be celebrated worldwide very carefully -- they must have a strong message for the Church as a whole. That doesn't mean that other saints are somehow less holy -- although some of the saints that have been dropped were legendary and there is little evidence they existed. Religious orders, countries, localities, and individuals are free to celebrate the feast days of saints not listed on the universal calendar but which have some importance to them. And there are indeed feast days for saints every day of the year. As a matter of fact there are at least three saints for almost every day. Butler's Lives of the Saints has the most complete listing of saints' feast days I have found, though I advise care in choosing the edition. Recent changes have been made to the calendar that would affect feast days. Whatever happened to St. Christopher? Is he still a saint?" Before the 1969 reform of the Roman calendar, Christopher was listed as a martyr who died under Decius. Nothing else is known about him. There are several legends about him including the one in which he was crossing a river when a child asked to be carried across. When Christopher put the child on his shoulders he found the child was unbelievably heavy. The child, according to the legend, was Christ carrying the weight of the whole world. This was what made Christopher patron saint of travelers. His former feast day is July 25. Before the formal canonization process began in the fifteenth century, many saints were proclaimed by popular approval. This was a much faster process but unfortunately many of the saints so named were based on legends, pagan mythology, or even other religions -- for example, the story of the Buddha traveled west to Europe and he was "converted" into a Catholic saint! In 1969, the Church took a long look at all the saints on its calendar to see if there was historical evidence that that saint existed and lived a life of holiness. In taking that long look, the Church discovered that there was little proof that many "saints", including some very popular ones, ever lived. Christopher was one of the names that was determined to have a basis mostly in legend. Therefore Christopher (and others) were dropped from the universal calendar. Some saints were considered so legendary that their cult was completely repressed (including St. Ursula). Christopher's cult was not suppressed but it is confined to local calendars (those for a diocese, country, or so forth). In the next three rounds of the Brazilian championship, Flamengo will not call up its players to compete for the... Dangote Cement Group's revenue up 16% in 1Q18 25 April 2018 Dangote Cement group released its 1Q18 results and reported revenue up 16.3 per cent to NGN242.1bn (US$672m). This gives Dangote a market share of approximately 66 per cent. Group EBITDA rose by 22.2 per cent to NGN 125.9bn, while Pan-African EBITDA increased by 77.3 per cent to NGN13.1bn. In the domestic market of Nigeria, Dangote sold 3.7Mt of cement in the 1Q18, up 5.3 per cent on 1Q17 after slightly lower sales in January and February. Of Nigerias total 1Q18 sales, nearly 211,000t was exported to countries such as Ghana, Niger and Togo. The volume sold by Nigerian operations represents 63.9 per cent of the group total before inter-company adjustments. Pan-African operations sold more than 2.2Mt of cement in 1Q18, a fall of 4.4 per cent on 1Q17. Lower sales in Tanzania were due to maintenance and because of disruptions due to civil unrest in Ethiopia. Stronger performances were recorded in other pan-African territories, which also benefitted from maiden 1Q18 sales from operations in the Republic of Congo and a full quarter of sales in Sierra Leone. The total pan-African volume represents 36.1 per cent of group sales volumes before inter-company adjustments. In Cameroon Dangote Cement estimates the total market was 760,000t in the first three months of 2018 and the companys Douala plant sold approximately 332,000t of cement in 1Q18, up 9.6 per cent on 1Q17. In the Republic of Congo, the Mfila plant sold 39,000t of cement in 1Q18 while in Ethiopia the Mugher factory saw sales fall by 16.7 per cent to 443,000t after unrest in the region. In Ghana Dangote sold 193,000t in 1Q18, down 32.8 per cent on 1Q17. Meanwhile, the Pout plant in Senegal sold 388,000t of cement in 1Q18 up 7.7 per cent on 1Q17. The factory sold 145,000t of cement to customers in Mali. The Freetown bagging terminal in Sierra Leone sold 33,000t of cement in 1Q18, representing 44.5 per cent growth on 1Q17. South African sales for Dangote were up 7.3 per cent in 1Q18. The Mtwara factory in Tanzania sold 123,000t of cement in the period, down 46 per cent on 1Q17. In addition, in Zambia Dangote sold 194,000t of cement for the period, up 30 per cent on 1Q17. Published under GCC quintuples consolidated net income in 1Q18 ICR Newsroom By 25 April 2018 Grupo Cementos Chihuahua (GCC) reported a 13.6 per cent YoY rise in net sales to US$188.7m in 1Q18. The Mexico-based cement producer saw its EBITDA rise by 40.6 per cent to US$45.9m during the first quarter and improved its EBITDA margin from 19.6 per cent in 1Q17 to 24.3 per cent in 1Q18. Consolidated net income more than quintupled YoY to US$11.3m from US$1.7m in 1Q17. An 18 per cent rise in Mexican sales and an 11.9 per cent increase in US sales were key drivers to the improved results. In the US the companys sales rose to US$133.2m and accounted for 71 per cent of GCCs consolidated net sales. The strong growth mainly reflects higher cement sales volumes in Texas, New Mexico and Minnesota, said the company. US cement volumes were up 20.3 per cent, but concrete volumes fell 9.8 per cent, largely due to weather effects. Cement prices rose 2.8 per cent while concrete prices slipped 0.4 per cent. Oil well drilling, residential real estate and public sector construction were key growth markets. Sales in Mexico accounted for 29 per cent of total sales and the company benefitted from a rise in cement and concrete prices, which saw an increase of 9.6 and 3.2 per cent, respectively. In addition, cement volumes edged up two per cent and ready-mix concrete volumes were up 4.8 per cent. Domestic sales were further supported by the appreciation of the Mexican peso against the US dollar. Growth was particularly robust in the housing, commercial, industrial and mining sectors. Furthermore, GCC benefitted from a decrease in cost of sales, mainly due to operating leverage, higher prices, operating efficiencies and a fall in power costs in Mexico as well as slightly lower operating expenses at US$21.5m. Net financial expenses also decreased, by 24.7 per cent to US$11.1m. Income taxes totalled US$3.2m, compared to a tax credit of US$3.9m in 1Q17 resulting from a pretax loss in the prior-year period. Published under If youve ever flown to Iceland or the United Kingdom, you may have flown on a national airline and you may have noticed that the U.S. doesnt have one (no, American Airlines doesnt count). And while you may have thought nothing of it, the fact is, theres a reason the United States doesnt have a national airline and it might surprise you. But plenty of countries including most of Europe and some Asian and African countries do still have national airlines, also known as flag carriers. And just like privately owned airlines, some have better reputations than others. What is a flag carrier? A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline, the enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. The term also refers to any carrier that was once owned by a government, even after their privatization. Next: Most of Europe has flag carriers. Europe and the U.K. Of the 51 countries in Europe, the vast majority have flag carriers. The most commonly known are: British Airways Air France Lufthansa (Germany) Scandinavian Airlines (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) Icelandair Aer Lingus (Ireland) Turkish Airlines Malev from Hungary and Armavia from Armenia were also well-known national airlines, but they went bankrupt in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Next: Have you heard of these African flag carriers? National airlines of Africa If youre flying to Africa, you may find the best deals through one of its national airlines: EgyptAir South African Airways Royal Air Maroc (Morocco) Ethiopian Airlines Tamisair (Tunisia) Kenya Airways Air Algerie (Algeria) Arik Air (Nigeria) Air Mauritius Libyan Airlines There are a few other African-centered airlines, but those are the top 10. Next: Asia has its own unique national airlines. National airlines of Asia Asia is the largest continent, so it makes sense that it has the most airline options and, in fact, there are a whopping 30 national airlines. The top 10 are: China Eastern Airlines Air China Air Asia Group (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, and India) Emirates Airlines IndiGo (India) Lion Air Group (India, Malaysia, Thailand) Japan Airlines All Nippon Airways (Japan) Garuda Indonesia Singapore Airlines Group Next: North and South America have flag carriers, too. North and South American flag carriers The U.S. might not have national airlines, but that doesnt mean our neighbors to the north and south dont. Air Canada is Canadas largest airline (and a flag carrier). And South America has several, such as LATAM (Chile), and Viva Columbia. And as far as Central America goes, the San Jose-based Avancia Costa Rica is Costa Ricas official flag carrier. Next: Heres why the U.S. doesnt have a flag carrier. So why is there no official U.S. airline? So why doesnt the U.S. have an official flag carrier? The short answer is, it used to, and it no longer does. Prior to World War II, the U.S. did have a national airline, Pan American, which tried to retain its position postwar. But the U.S. government decided to deregulate airlines and opt for competitive private carriers instead. As a result, competition between airlines increased, fares dropped, and routes expanded. Next: There are some benefits of choosing a flag carrier for an international flight. Should you choose a national airline? If youre planning to visit a new country, there certainly are some perks to choosing a flag carrier. According to Travel + Leisure, theyre known for presenting a nations cuisine, flaunting their colors, and displaying a unique hospitality. Plus, since theyre government regulated, theyre (in theory) held to a high standard. One can only imagine what would be served or said on a United States-sponsored airline. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Japan's Secret to Long Life Was Never Really a Secret Christian Post Contributor | 24 April, 2018 by J. Warner Wallace The Guinness Book of World Records recently identified Masazo Nonakaas of Japan as the oldest living man. He is over 112 years old. Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world, and some contribute this longevity to a Japanese concept known as "Ikigai," roughly translated from two words: "iki" which means "life," and "gai" which means "worth." While it's difficult to translate precisely, it refers to those activities and pursuits that give us a "reason to live" or "make life worth living". In one recent article, Ikigai was described as the intersection between "what you love, what you care about, what the world needs, and what you can get paid for." Many people believe this Japanese strategy for success and fulfillment is the new secret to happiness. It isn't. "Ikigai" isn't new and it isn't even Japanese. The principles described in "Ikigai" are ancient Judeo-Christian values: Doing What You Love and Care About: We are generally happiest when working within our strengths. A popular assessment tool acknowledges this fact and helps applicants discover their assets and interests. Each of us is wired differently with strengths and weaknesses. We find the greatest joy and achieve the greatest success when we are allowed to work in disciplines that maximize our strengths. This truth is not new; it was described by the ancient, Biblical writers. According to Scripture, we have been gifted by God with specific talents and interests (1 Peter 4:10), and we find joy when we exercise our gifts (Romans 12:7-11). Responding to What the World Needs: It's a well-accepted truth (across political and philosophical spectrums) that serving the needs of others is perhaps the single most meaningful activity in which humans can participate. As Winston Churchill once said, "We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give." It may seem counterintuitive, but the more we do for others, the more satisfied we become. This is another ancient truth reflecting our God-given design. According to the Bible, Jesus came to serve rather than to be served (Mark 10:45), and He taught His followers that the "servant of all" would "be first" (Mark 9:35). Our greatest satisfaction is achieved when we meet the needs of others. Doing What You Can Get Paid For: It's gratifying to get paid for doing what you love and find satisfying. Financial compensation can act both as a reward and an incentive. While the singular, isolated pursuit of money can be incredibly destructive, a balanced understanding of the relationship between work and reward often leads to fulfilment. Once again, this concept is ancient and Biblical. The Scripture writers encouraged hard work (Proverbs 14:23) and celebrated the financial reward of honest labor (2 Timothy 2:6). The desire to find purpose and meaning is part of the human condition. We long for more than temporary happiness. We desire and seek lasting joy, even though most of us never seem to find it. "Ikigai" is yet another expression of this innate desire to establish a "reason to live" and to "make a life worth living". This modern formula for purposeful, joyous living is becoming increasingly popular because this kind of life seems illusive. Read more about Christian values on The Christian Post. Saying Science and Religion Are Incompatible Is a 'Myth,' 'Untrue to History,' Says Physicist 24 April, 2018 by Michael Gryboski , | The claim that science and religion are incompatible entities is a "myth" and "untrue to history," according to a physicist speaking at an event held at Quinnipiac University. Ian Hutchinson, plasma physicist and Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gave remarks at a Veritas Forum event held last week titled "Can Science Explain Everything?" During his comments, Hutchinson argued that the common idea that science and faith are in conflict with one another was incorrect and rejected by historians who specialize in the history of science. "That has been thoroughly debunked by historians of science in the past 50 years as untrue to history. Serious Christians, including clergy, were predominant in developing modern science for centuries," said Hutchinson. "But the myth still exerts powerful influence both on secularists and very often also on Christians. Its sustained by a frequent claim that there's no evidence for Christianity, but that's untrue." Hutchinson said that while he believes that science cannot prove Christianity, there is a lot of evidence to vindicate Christian beliefs "in history and in the lives of believers." The physicist stressed that science cannot answer every claim and by its nature cannot quantify many concepts, such as justice, altruism, and friendship. Hutchinson also pointed out that during his career as a scientist at MIT, he did not encounter a thoroughly secular environment. "You might think MIT, because it's the high temple of science and technology, would be a godless place. It isn't a godless place. There's lots of Christians and people of different faiths there, both on the faculty and amongst the students and amongst the staff," Hutchinson continued. There has long been debate over whether science and religion are incompatible. In 2011, researchers at Rice University found that only 15 percent of scientists considered faith and science as incompatible. Sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund, lead author for the 2011 study, stated that the majority of respondents believed that religion and science only sometimes conflict. Read more about science and faith on The Christian Post. School Shootings: Mental Health or Spiritual Warfare? CP Reporter | 25 April, 2018 by Brandon Showalter Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6 of The Christian Post's series on youth and school violence. Arguably, no other crime forces Americans to confront the reality of evil than when a gunman murders school children. Yet some of the reasons why horrific incidents happen are seldom discussed. Whenever mass shootings occur in the United States, the political discourse and public conversation often centers on how lawmakers might further regulate firearms. Yet other factors that are not spoken of nearly as much are worth considering, according to a Pentecostal theologian and a mental health counselor of 31 years, both of whom spoke with The Christian Post about some of the factors involved in mass shootings. To examine the issue from a theological and spiritual perspective, CP talked with Wave Nunnally, a professor of early Judaism and Christian origins at Evangel University, an Assemblies of God school in Springfield, Missouri. He explained that many Christians have in some ways failed to understand the spiritual dimension of evil, particularly grasping the interplay between the natural world and the spirit realm. And this is more than relevant when thinking about mass shootings, he said. Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland shooter from earlier this year, said "demons" told him how to execute the victims. "It's such an interesting statement, that he would make that voluntarily on his own," Nunnally said, suggesting that it's also possible those words might have been expressed with the intention of laying the legal groundwork for an insanity plea in court. But it's also necessary to investigate whether Cruz had ever been institutionalized in a mental hospital, been on any psychotropic drugs, been in therapy, or had a history of mental illness, in which case any actual demonic voices he said he heard would be an "add-on" to his condition, he said. "On the other hand, the enemy (Satan) is real and he has not declared any kind of truce," Nunnally noted. Though he's been a Pentecostal since 1976, Nunnally told CP it was explained to him in his traditional evangelical upbringing that God and the devil had come to some kind of an armistice treaty of sorts. "In turn for their being no supernatural expressions of God's power in the world today," he said of the cessationist theology he grew up with, "the devil agreed not to possess people," was the idea. "It always struck me, after I matured just a little bit past salvation, as being one of the most bizarre means of doing theology and conclusions that you could come up with. Because this is like light and darkness cooperating, shaking hands and agreeing to disagree and to play pretty. "And it's so bizarre because the people who say 'we don't have the power to cast demons out' because we don't have the power to exercise spiritual discernment since that is one of the gifts of the Spirit that has died off, God doesn't do stuff like that anymore. But they are never willing to come to the table and say, 'Well, the devil doesn't do that anymore either and that is the reason that God doesn't do it.'" Those who hold that view never carry that line of thinking to its logical conclusion, he said. "In the West, we are all too quick to dismiss the supernatural or to explain away the supernatural by referencing areas of mental illness. And while that is probably true of some, there are dots that connect," he said, being careful not to conflate mental health problems with the demonic. Cruz is not the first killer to speak of hearing devilish voices telling him how to commit acts of brutality. Decades ago, serial killer David Berkowitz, who was known as the Son of Sam, recounted that the devil was speaking to him in various ways about how to carry out his crimes. Other notorious murderers like Ted Bundy have also described this phenomenon. "I think we are really quick to knee-jerk react and say, 'Well, the problem is with guns, the problem is with our laws, with permissive society and mental illness.' And everybody seems to take their favorite whipping boy and trot that out every time this happens," Nunnally said. CP asked Nunnally if he believes there is any connection between the presence of demonic voices in the mind and mental illness, and if involvement in occultic spirituality could in any way bring about mental health problems that might lead to someone becoming a mass shooter. "We have to hold that open as a possibility," he replied. Read more about school shootings on The Christian Post. The Victories and Tragedy of King Solomon the Wise Christian Post Contributor | 25 April, 2018 by Justin Steckbauer Today we're looking at the saga of King Solomon of Israel, the decisions he made, the impact he had, and the legacy he left behind. How did Solomon impact Old Testament history? What were some historical and cultural facts that played into Solomon's reign as king? And what larger biblical themes play out in regard to who God is in Solomon's story, and how can those truths apply in our modern world? We'll see that King Solomon was a clear example of how God blesses and calls those whom he loves, yet our propensity to sinfulness and pride mire even the most beloved of God. This all points us to the need for the savior Jesus Christ. King Solomon was both a testament to the goodness of God and the deceitfulness of sin. But we see that in the end, God has the final victory even in the life of King Solomon. Solomon was the last son that King David had during his life, and Solomon was a result of David's marriage with Bathsheba, the woman he took from another man, whom he had killed (2 Samuel 11 NIV). Solomon was a child of David's old age. David had tired of constant war in the kingdom, and so he named his last son "Solomon" which means "the peaceful one" (Smith's Bible Dictionary). Nathan called him "Jedidiah" which means "beloved of God" which echoes the name of David "beloved" (Smith's Bible Dictionary). Nathan cared for and raised Solomon along with David and his court. When David was very old one of his other sons Adonijah attempted to claim the throne from Solomon but failed, and Solomon was made king over Israel. Solomon reigned as king over Israel for 40 years, from about B.C. 1015-975 (Smith's Bible Dictionary). He achieved a great deal during the first half of his reign as king. The construction of the temple of the Lord began in Solomon's 4th year of reigning and was completed in his eleventh. He also constructed a giant palace, which began in his 7th year and was completed in the 20th. His reign over Israel saw the nation at the height of its influence and power, renowned across the world, wielding massive armies, huge treasure troves, and unparalleled wisdom in King Solomon himself. Solomon is most well known for being an exceedingly wise king, at least in his early years. Famously, Solomon went up to the high place at Gibeon and made a sacrifice to the Lord (1st Kings 3). While there Solomon had a dream where he saw the Lord, and God offered to give him what he would ask for. Solomon famously replied: "...Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?" -1st Kings 3:9 (NIV) This response pleased the Lord, and so God gave Solomon great wisdom and additionally God gave Solomon wealth and honor. And God indicated that if Solomon would be careful to follow the instructions of the Lord he would have a long life, and there would be no one like him before or after (1st Kings 3:10-15 NIV). God blessed King Solomon and his wisdom was unmatched in the ancient world. According to 1st Kings 4:32-34: "He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. From all nations people came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom." Unfortunately, King Solomon became greedy, prideful, and power hungry, expanding his wealth, taking many foreign wives, collecting thousands of horses and chariots, and accumulating great wealth, which are all acts clearly prohibited for kings in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. Solomon established alliances with Egypt and Tyre through marriages. It's clear that during the reign of Solomon Israel became increasingly powerful, with his acclaim reaching across the ancient world (1st Kings 4:31 NIV). Many foreign kingdoms were feeble compared to the might and power of Israel at this time, coming to Solomon to offer up tribute. According to 1st Kings 4:20-21 (NIV): "The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon's subjects all his life." The high point for Solomon came at the completion of the temple of the Lord, with a great celebration and Solomon dedicated the temple to the Lord and prayed to God in regard to it (1st Kings 8 NIV). At the height of Solomon's accomplishments, the Lord once again came before Solomon in a dream. The Lord indicated His pleasure with the temple and the fact that His presence would abide there. But the Lord offered Solomon a choice: Observe the statutes of the Lord and follow all of His ways, you and your descendants, and you will be blessed and Israel will be great. But if you do not obey the Lord, and turn away from the Lord, the temple would come to ruin, and Israel would become a broken bygone country among the nations (1st Kings 9:1-9 NIV). After this Solomon completed many great feats, he accumulated a massive army, many horses, great wealth, built great ships, high walls, and great cities. The whole world sought audiences with King Solomon, including the Queen of Sheba (1st Kings 10 NIV). He gathered 666 shekels of gold each year, and accumulated many jewels and rare treasures. He gathered massive amounts of silver, so much so that silver was as common as stones in Jerusalem. His wisdom was unparalleled among the nations and lesser kingdoms and peoples came before King Solomon offering tribute and wealth to Israel. We see a great downturn in 1st Kings chapter 11, although Solomon had already been disobeying the Lord in other ways prior, Solomon's marriages with many women of foreign kingdoms truly began to change who Solomon was as a king. It says in no uncertain terms "His wives led him astray" (1st Kings 11:3 NIV). In 1st Kings 11 (NIV) it continues indicating: "He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done." King Solomon's heart was divided as he grew older, and his many wives and concubines guided him toward false gods. And despite all of Solomon's wisdom, the seduction of his wives, along with these false gods successfully turned his heart away from wisdom. The Lord had spoken directly to Solomon twice, and still Solomon turned away from the living God. And so the Lord spoke to King Solomon a 3rd time indicating His anger, and declared that the kingdom would be torn away from him, and he would be replaced by an unworthy subordinate (1st Kings 11:11-13 NIV). God also promised to raise up an enemy against the kingdom, though for the sake of David the Lord promised that these things would occur after Solomon had passed. Trouble began to stir in Israel, and Jeroboam became powerful in the kingdom, but then rebelled against Solomon. Solomon tried to have him killed, but he fled to Egypt. King Solomon later died, and his son Rehoboam followed after him as king. Just as the Lord promised, due to King Solomon's disobedience, the kingdom of Israel was ripped apart and divided, and Rehoboam suffered greatly for Solomon's sins. Solomon's legacy is quite full of contrary themes. King Solomon worshiped God almighty and established the temple, yet Solomon was later turned to foreign gods. "The Song of Solomon" is a beautiful book of the Bible depicting true love between husband and wife, yet later Solomon would give himself to foreign women, and eventually have 700 wives and 300 concubines. Solomon led Israel to great prominence and power in the ancient world, yet he enslaved over 160,000 people put to work in the forests of Lebanon (Smith's Bible Dictionary). King Solomon penned much of the book of Proverbs and most likely also penned Ecclesiastes, yet the foolishness of his decisions in disobeying the kingly laws of Deuteronomy, and his endless pursuits of treasure and pleasure ruined his kingdom. He left a lasting legacy of wisdom and power, yet the kings who followed Solomon were corrupt and ruined the progress Solomon had made. In fact, one can attribute the division of Israel into Judah and the northern kingdom to Solomon's slave labor programs, and his sexual immorality. The great kingdom Solomon had established once again dwindled into obscurity and would eventually be completely destroyed and driven into captivity in Assyria and Babylon. King Solomon had so much wisdom, yet he was seduced by the pleasures of this life. He penned the proverbs, but those proverbs could not save him from the wayward woman he wrote about (Proverbs 5-7 NIV). Solomon asked for a discerning heart from God, yet later in his life the scriptures say Solomon's heart was divided. But perhaps the book of Ecclesiastes was Solomon's work of repentance, declaring that all the pleasures he sought were "meaningless, meaningless!" So what can we learn about who God is from the life of King Solomon? I think there's several things we can learn. Firstly, wisdom is exceedingly important to God. And God delights in giving his people wisdom. God is the source of all wisdom, and God is the one who grants wisdom. Wisdom does not have human origin, but is a gift of God, and God delighted in giving this gift to Solomon. Wisdom's importance is great; which Solomon wrote in Proverbs: "The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding" (Proverb 4:7 NIV). Secondly, sin is exceedingly seductive, especially sexual sin. If the wisest man who ever lived could be seduced and carried away by sin's seductiveness, then it is clear that sin is exceedingly appealing. Solomon allowed the door to be opened to sin, and very often, once the door is open it is exceedingly difficult to close again. Perhaps pride was the chief sin that Solomon failed to recognize in himself. Perhaps Solomon thought "I can handle it" when he married the many women he married, and assumed that nothing could turn his heart from God. Yet that's exactly what happened. The influence of his wives led him to begin to worship false gods. Sin is seductive. And if the greatest and wisest king in Israel's history was seduced by sin, then we should be twice as concerned with shunning even the mention of sin. Thirdly, we see that sin has serious, long lasting consequences. Read more about King Solomon on The Christian Post. We believe in God, Amy Grant famously sang in the 90s. Today, 4 out of 5 Americans still say the same. But according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, what they mean by God varies a lot. Pastors and theologians often warn Christians against ascribing to a God of their own making, knowing that not all who say they believe understand God as described in Scripture or in the traditional creeds of the church. In the shifting spiritual landscape of the United States, Christians too can no longer assume that their friends and neighbors believe in the God of the Bible, if they believe in God at all. Though God regularly gets evoked in prayer, platitudes, and phrases like God bless America and in God we trust, Americanseven within Christianityhave different conceptions of who God is and how he operates. Does God judge? Does God love all? Does God control what happens on Earth? A Pew survey released today found that ... 1 In the living room at Carried to Full Term (CTFT), a residential home for mothers in Haymarket, Virginia, seven-month-old Fabia crawls toward her mother, stretches out her arms, and whimpers. Her mother, Samrawit (Sam) Biru, obliges and picks her up. The two touch heads for a moment, like a mother lion and cub. This is their homeat least for now. In October 2017, while pregnant with Fabia, Biru moved from Ethiopia to Virginia and was living in the US on asylum when she found herself homeless. She moved into CTFT before giving birth. (Her immigration case is still pending, and her husbandstill overseashopes to join her when her status is approved.) Even if shed been able to return to her native country, says Biru, she wouldnt have gone. She wanted to stay in the US and build a new life. As a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing long-term residential support to pregnant mothers in crisis, CTFT has helped her do just that. Unlike a pregnancy clinic that only offers medical care, CTFT focuses on the entire well-being of the women who stay, many for up to two years. What makes it unique is also what makes it a challenge for the women who live there: The home operates like a boot camp for moms. The Program, as staff and residents call it, albeit half tongue-in-cheek, is a set of strict but often-personalized covenants that are put in place for the good of the residents, the resident coordinator, and the 32 volunteers who help implement them. The guidelines are there to facilitate change, says Frances Robin, or Franie, the executive director of CTFT. At 510, the Caribbean-born, Jesus-loving mother of four is a formidable presence in the seven-bedroom home. The guidelines that Robin enforces come from a similar shelter in Maryland and have been adjusted to fit CTFT. Since the average age of a resident is 27, and many have aged out of foster care or come from broken homes, abusive backgrounds, or families that lacked structure, implementing these guidelines is often difficult. Undoing 27 years worth of bad habits takes awhile, says Robin. Image: Frances Robin Participants start the program by establishing objectives in six different CTFT categories that set the path toward independent living: spiritual goals, financial goals, employment goals, volunteering in the community, living skills, parenting skills, and health and mental well-being goals. Initially, some moms will not have goals or know what to say about any of these categories, they just want safety. We understand that, says Joanna Tang, the resident coordinator at CTFT. But from day one, we help a resident set their goals for the first two weeks. They have to apply for jobs, take care of household chores, make their appointments with local health providers, sit with our in-house therapist, [and attend] our in-house classes. In the first month, residents must give up their phones completely. This dry period helps break addictions and encourages authentic community and connection. That was the hardest part, Biru says after changing into her Chick-fil-A uniform. Working at the fast-food chain is one of two jobs she now works after getting help from CTFT. Biru and other residents also have mandatory household choresin addition to keeping their own rooms cleanand volunteer 10 hours a month in the local community. After the first 30 days, a settling occurs, Robin says. Then at the six-month mark, a desire for independence kicks in, and thats when many decide to stay or to leave. Depending on the stage of pregnancy, residents are required to find employment or actively track their job-search progress. Though residents typically utilize Medicaid, they learn to make their own medical appointments for themselves and their children. CTFT also offers (and requires) financial classes that help the women develop healthy spending habits and become economically independent. Sexual relations are not allowed, and if the residents have boyfriends, time with them is limited. Instead, the program focuses on self-care, not romantic love. Article continues below The hardest thing for the girls is having structure and chores, Robin says. Its even harder for them than finding and keeping a job. Three of the residents recently choseor were askedto leave the program because they could not abide by the guidelines. I asked Robin if this ever makes her reconsider the homes strict policies. No, she said firmly. I asked Biru the same question. No, its not, she said matter-of-factly. Image: Tiffany Coles For Biru, following the house guidelines, doing chores, and attending classes is worth what she receives from CTFT: a roof over her head, access to supplies for herself and her baby, as well as the resources, relationships, and education that she needs to move toward total independence. Robins story of building CTFT is a testament to Gods faithfulness and also her own tenacity. After becoming aware of the needs of pregnant-and-homeless women in the area, Robin felt called to start CTFT. In 2011, following the prompting of the Holy Spirit, she left a successful job as an intel analyst to sink her energies into the project. Without her income, however, her family had to give up their new home and even a car. Friends and family questioned whether Robin was being responsible, and she herself began to question whether she had really heard Gods voice. There were some things God had to do in my life to get to this point, says Robin. After five years of fundraising, difficult personal finances, and frustrated development efforts, Robin saw a for rent sign on a large white house. An Episcopalian church nearby owned the home, and after Robin explained her vision to the pastor, the board of directors allowed her to rent the home with the first months rent free of charge. With a physical home at her disposal and women in need of that home, financial donations began to come through, as well as gifts of diapers, clothing, and other supplies. Good came from these times of trial, including empathy, she says. I do believe one of the things God has taken me through is to identify with the people that we have to help. I was angry at God for [my hardships]. My heart was in the right place; things just didnt fall into place when I thought they would. So God had hard work to do. Now entering its third year, the home operates inside a loose network of nonprofit and social services organizations within Northern Virginia and beyond. If a woman comes to another shelter while pregnant, she is directed to CTFT for long-term help. CTFT was recently honored by local magazine Prince William Living with its Giving Back Award for positive contributions to the community. What now? I asked Robin. We could hear Fabia playing with another resident in the living room, since her mother, Biru, was at work. Robin flashed a broad smile. This house is Gods hand and feet, she said. We get to do the legwork. So he gets to do the hard work. Nicole Russell is a freelance writer and mother of four based in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Mick Mulvaney is under fire for remarks he delivered to a group of bankers Tuesday regarding access he granted to lobbyists as a congressman. We had a hierarchy in my office, in Congress," Mulvaney said during the American Bankers Association's Government Relations Summit. "If you were a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn't talk to you. If you were a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you. Mulvaney, however, then added that constituents from his South Carolina home district would be granted access first and foremost. If you came from back home and sat in my lobby, I talk to you without exception, regardless of the financial contributions, he said. ABC News independently obtained a transcript of remarks reported first by the New York Times Tuesday evening. The comments sparked controversy among Democrats and left-leaning groups, who have heavily scrutinized Mulvaney's activities since he was appointed by President Donald Trump as the independent watchdog agency's head in November of last year. While in Congress, Mulvaney was a vocal opponent of the CFPB and advocated for its elimination, but while he has moved to scale back the agency's oversight functions deemed by conservatives as over burdensome, he has insisted he would not do so in a way that would violate the law. Explaining the context of the remarks, Mulvaneys senior advisor John Czwartacki told ABC News that those who have attacked Mulvaney's remarks are not considering the overall context. As you can see he was praising people who come to town to participate in the democratic process and saying how being from back home was more important than being a lobbyist or having contributed cash," Czwartacki said. "Very different than others seem to be sharing and saying. In his remarks to the room filled with around 1300 banking and lending industry executives, Mulvaney, who also serves as director of the Office of Management and Budget, also offered tips on how best to approach lawmakers to urge them how to execute agendas that would best benefit their interests. They will never know as much about your industry as you do, Mulvaney says of lawmakers. They will never know as much about your issues as you do. And they will not know that it is as important to you as it is until you tell them. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment During the past few years, claims of high maternal mortality rates in Texas have been a key talking point for Planned Parenthood supporters. However, new research just out in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology finds the actual maternal mortality rate in Texas is far lower than what was previously reported. This new study shows that data coding errors in previous research misclassified a number of deceased women as pregnant, and therefore, the actual maternal mortality rate in Texas is less than half of what previous reports indicated. This study has been covered by a number of mainstream media outlets including The Washington Post, Fortune, and The Chicago Tribune. The original claim of a sharp increase in the Texas maternal mortality rate came from a study that was published in Obstetrics & Gynecology in September 2016. The primary author was Marian MacDorman of the Maryland Population Research Center. The original MacDorman study received a great deal of attention. It has been cited over 300 times by online news sources and by approximately 70 scholarly research articles. More importantly, these purported increases in the maternal mortality rate have been emphasized by several prominent Planned Parenthood supporters including Hillary Clinton and Wendy Davis. While it has been heartening to see the media correct the record, reporting of this new research has left a lot to be desired. The reporters have allowed the authors of the original Obstetrics & Gynecology article to save face. Several articles about this new study quote MacDorman, who points out that the new research presents corrected data for only one year. She also states that certain demographic groups in Texas still have high rates of maternal mortality. More importantly, not one media outlet has engaged the debate about Planned Parenthood funding. When MacDorman's study was first released in 2016, many in the media were quick to blame Planned Parenthood funding cuts for the purported increase in the maternal mortality rate. Now that good evidence shows the maternal mortality rate in Texas is far lower, not one mainstream media outlet has bothered to revisit this question. MacDorman's original article should not have been published in the first place, as explained by James Studnicki and John Fisher of the Charlotte Lozier Institute in a recent letter published by Obstetrics & Gynecology. Studnicki and Fisher looked at the original data that was used in the MacDorman study. They found that MacDorman and her coauthors analyzed data from 2000 to 2015, but mathematically adjusted their data only for the years between 2000 and 2005. If this mathematical adjustment is removed, the data indicate that the proportionally largest increase in maternal mortality occurred between 2004 and 2006 not in 2010. Additionally, the Texas Legislature established an investigative panel in 2013 that produced results that were inconsistent with the MacDorman paper three months before it was published. MacDorman had time to become aware of the inaccuracy of her calculations. All in all, the argument that Planned Parenthood cuts led to sharp increases in the Texas maternal mortality rate was never strong. MacDorman and her coauthors were guarded about their original conclusions, stating that "In the absence of war, natural disaster, or severe economic upheaval, the doubling of a mortality rate within a two-year period ... seems unlikely." If the original study was taken at face value, Texas would have a similar maternal mortality rate to Washington, D.C. an area with a much higher poverty rate and much worse public health metrics. The reported increase in maternal mortality in the original Obstetrics & Gynecology article occurred before the cuts to Planned Parenthood actually took effect. That said, ever since the Texas Legislature eliminated state funding to Planned Parenthood, the mainstream media have worked tirelessly to create the narrative of a public health crisis in Texas. Among other things, they have claimed significant increases in unintended pregnancies, teen births and the maternal mortality rate. However, most of what has been reported has been misleading, or, in this case, false. The previous research has given many the wrong impression that Planned Parenthood cuts resulted in skyrocketing maternal mortality rates. The damage will not be easily undone, but it's time to begin the effort. Originally posted at tribtalk.org Michael J. New is a Visiting Associate Professor at Ave Maria University and an associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_J_New Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg underwent hours of inquiry recently from Congressional lawmakers eager to get to the bottom of how the private data of nearly 87 million Facebook users was harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a political research firm. The revelations have fueled outrage over weak online privacy controls and even possible election meddling implications. Still, the hearings provided a stage for another critical issue: targeted censorship of conservative voices by tech companies. Texas Senator Ted Cruz took Zuckerberg to task for what he saw as Facebook's "pervasive pattern of bias and political censorship" and pointedly asked if Zuckerberg considered his company to be a neutral public forum. The media tycoon vaguely amended Facebook's description as a "platform for all ideas." Zuckerberg's definition of "all ideas" clearly does not include those of Republican social influencers Diamond and Silk. Facebook labeled the pro-Trump vloggers as "unsafe to the community" and has censored some of their content. Facebook has since backpedaled, with Zuckerberg himself acknowledging the kerfuffle as a "mistake." How is it that Facebook algorithms deem the political views of these conservative women as unsafe for the community, yet somehow neglect to block any content from liberal users? Cruz pressed Zuckerberg to name any liberal groups he knew had also been censored. Zuckerberg was conspicuously unable to answer. Unfortunately, this story is not unique and Facebook is not the only player in this one-sided censorship scheme. Google and its subsidiary YouTube are currently being sued for political bias by the conservative educational platform Prager University. Over 40 PragerU videos have been censored by Google on grounds of "inappropriate" messaging to younger audiences. However, these conservative clips have no mature content, such as profanity or nudity, and completely comply with YouTube's Terms of Use and Community Guidelines. This leads us to no other conclusion than that PragerU is being stifled because of its political perspective. Both Google and Facebook publically identify as free speech defenders, yet, as one of PragerU's lawyers puts it, they behave as "political gag mechanisms" for conservative principles. To date, PragerU's petition to push YouTube to stop blocking its content has over 473,819 signatures. Beyond an obvious political agenda, the biased censorship practiced by these so-called neutral public forums threatens the very freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment. Americans of all political stripes should be alarmed by these moves to silence opposing viewpoints. Former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, "Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify oppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears." In other words, our fear of what others believe does not justify seeking to shut them up. There is a natural balance that comes when voices from all points on the spectrum are allowed to, without fear of retribution, share their beliefs. It is when one party actively works to silence another that the balance is disturbed. Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address, encouraged citizens to respond to opposing views with reason, and to let poor or wrong ideas serve as "monuments of the safety" in which they were expressed. Tech companies like Facebook would do well to follow Jefferson's appeal. How much more powerful would their vast platforms be if they were seen as safe, impartial outlets that facilitated the free expression of reasoned thought? The Cambridge Analytica developments revealed that we must think proactively about how to guard personal data in the digital age. We need smart regulations and laws to protect us and prevent abuses of our information. At the same time, tech giants must be held accountable to protect the First Amendment rights of all of their users. For this reason, Americans must exercise their most powerful avenue of free speech: voting. We must elect representatives who will defend our first right the freedom to think and believe as we choose. Keep this in mind as state primary elections take place and as the 2018 midterms approach. Any political hopeful unwilling to defend freedom of speech doesn't deserve a seat in Congress. We must remember that the First Amendment is only freeing when the hearts of the American people unite in ceding authority to its words. The exchange and debate of ideas is a fundamental strength of our nation, one that must be cherished even to the point of allowing others to espouse views with which we may disagree. Otherwise, it will be a dangerous day for our democracy when only one political viewpoint is acceptable. My Faith Votes is a nonpartisan movement focused on motivating Christians in America to participate in local and domestic elections. By partnering with local churches, pastors and national faith leaders, My Faith Votes mobilizes and resources Christians to lead the conversation on the place of faith in culture and politics. Gov. Mike Huckabee serves as the organization's honorary national chairman. Jason Yates is the CEO of My Faith Votes, which is a nonpartisan movement focused on motivating Christians in America to participate in local and domestic elections. By partnering with local churches, pastors and national faith leaders, My Faith Votes mobilizes and resources Christians to lead the conversation on the place of faith in culture and politics. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, announced the birth of their third child Monday. They followed centuries of tradition by notifying the sovereign first, in this case, Queen Elizabeth. Per tradition, they also did not reveal the gender of their child until he was born. The royal baby will have a first name, then two or three middle names, typically names that have been used in the family for centuries. The latest royal baby might not be named until Wednesday, but betting companies have made "Arthur" the clear favorite for his first name. Carl Sandburg was right: "A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on." The fragility of life: Four examples The royal baby's birth was wonderful news on a hard day. A rented van plowed along a crowded sidewalk in Toronto yesterday, killing ten and injuring fifteen. Police officers arrested the driver, a twenty-five-year-old man named Alek Minassian. He is expected to appear in court today. Authorities are still trying to establish a motive for his actions. The tragedy follows several similar attacks in Canada, New York, and Europe. Meanwhile, Travis Reinking, the gunman suspected of killing four people at a Waffle House in the Nashville area, was apprehended yesterday. Authorities had mounted a massive manhunt for the man. It's not yet clear why he opened fire on restaurant patrons, though Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson said Reinking may have "mental issues." His bond has been set at $2 million. And former President George H. W. Bush was admitted to intensive care at Houston's Methodist Hospital after contracting an infection that spread to his blood. A spokesman said, "He is responding to treatments and appears to be recovering." A sacred gift from God All four stories are evidence of the preciousness and fragility of life. The first law of thermodynamics is clear: energy can be neither created nor destroyed. Humans cannot make anything from nothing. Therefore, the royal baby reminds us that we can conceive life, but we cannot create it. Every new life is a sacred gift from God. However, the sanctity of life does not preclude the fact of mortality. Barbara Bush's death a week ago showed that no person, regardless of status or health care, is immune from death. Her husband's hospitalization is another reminder that "people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27 NIV). "Humans really are exceptional" The sanctity of life should preclude atrocities such as the attacks in Toronto and Nashville, but it does not. It does amplify their tragic nature, however. We are the only species that is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). We are also the only species that can know how sacred it is. And yet, humans kill humans on a level nearly unprecedented in the animal world. According to National Geographic, 60 percent of mammal species are not known to kill each other at all, so far as anyone knows. Even primates, some of the most aggressive mammals, spend less than 1 percent of their day fighting or otherwise competing with each other. A Harvard biological anthropologist says that when it comes to murderous tendencies, "humans really are exceptional." Recapturing the majesty of life In a culture that has legalized abortion on demand and is on its way to doing the same with euthanasia, how can we recapture the wonder and majesty of life we experience at the birth of a child? Here's a start: see life as God does. Despite our secular society's depreciation of life, it is a fact that every person you meet today is someone created by the God of the universe in his unique image. Every person you know is someone Jesus loved enough to ransom with his own crucifixion (Romans 5:8). If the people you meet today see themselves as you see them, will that be a good thing? Now let's shift the sanctity of life from others to ourselves. Since every baby is the creation of a King, every child is a royal baby. Including you. Do you agree? Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Malaria is a terrible disease that kills more than 445,000 people per year. The World Health Organization has implemented amazing programs to reach their goal to cut down on 40% of malaria-related deaths by 2020. But this progress has been slow in low-income countries like Haiti. Malaria is transmitted through bites of female Anopheles mosquitos. The disease kills by attacking and infecting red blood cells and clogging capillaries that carry blood to vital organs. Mosquito nets and indoor residual spraying are the two best ways to prevent malaria. I work for international non-profit LiveBeyond, based in Thomazeau, Haiti. Many of our Haitian friends don't have access to netting or spray for mosquito prevention. Haitians across the country don't even go into clinics when they are exhibiting symptoms of malaria. They complain of headaches and "night sweats," but don't make the connection that they could have malaria due to a lack of educational resources prevalent in all of Haiti. This is especially distressing considering LiveBeyond has the necessary medications to treat malaria in our clinic available at no cost to patients. We at LiveBeyond are committed to educating the members of our community about malaria. We want to make sure that the people in our village recognize the warning signs for malaria and know to come to our clinic to get the treatment they need. We even hand out mosquito-netting when possible, thanks to generous donors. Haiti accounts for almost 10% of malaria cases in Latin America. But Haiti has no internal funding source for malaria prevention. Haiti relies on international support for all of its malaria programs. Even the poorest of African nations has some of its own government funding dedicated to preventing the spread of the disease, accounting for great progress on that Continent. But the systemic poverty of Haiti, compounded by natural disasters, keeps this struggling island nation lagging behind the rest of the world. Malaria is preventable and curable. As Christians, we should see this as a challenge. Jesus came to give life and give life abundantly (John 10:10). And while he saved us by His works, he created us for good works. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) He has called us to good works like preventing and curing malaria. Christians and Christianity are negatively perceived in many parts of the world today, as many representing the faith have seemed more interested in converts that in meeting physical needs. But just imagine what the world would say about Christianity and Christians if we were instrumental in malaria treatment? Would we continue to be considered hypocrites? What would people begin to understand about God's love for humanity if we helped to eradicate diseases like malaria? On World Malaria Day, let's let our lights shine before men so that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16) Many other faith-based organizations have joined us in these efforts, groups such as Samaritan's Purse and the Episcopal Church Relief and Development's Nets for Life program. With our faith and a common goal uniting us, there's no telling how much good we could do in Jesus' name, especially when it comes to trying to alleviate human suffering. Let's work together to #EndMalariaforGood! home World Judge refuses request to allow Alfie Evans to travel to Italy for treatment A judge in the U.K.'s High Court has refused a request to take the terminally-ill Alfie Evans to a hospital in Italy, where he could continue receiving life-support treatment. The Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool had withdrawn Evans' life support on Monday after a ruling from the High Court. The 23-month-old boy's parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, had filed appeals with the U.K. Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights, but both courts refused to hear their plea. Alfie Evans had been granted Italian citizenship earlier this week in the hopes that the parents would be allowed to transfer him to a hospital there to receive treatment. However, High Court Justice Anthony Hayden rejected the request and contended that the ruling "represents the final chapter in the life of this extraordinary little boy." The family's lawyer has noted that an appeal is underway to challenge the High Court's rejection. The judge noted that while the parents will not be able to take their son abroad, they can take him home. The boy suffers from an unidentified degenerative neurological condition and has been confined at Alder Hey in a "semi-vegetative state" since December 2016. Doctors at the hospital had requested the removal of his life support, arguing that further treatment is futile. Paul Diamond, who represents the family in court, contended that the child is doing "significantly better" than previously believed. Tom Evans noted on Tuesday that the boy had survived six hours without life support before the doctors resumed providing oxygen and hydration, the Los Angeles Times reported. The doctors stated that it is not clear how long the child would survive without life support, but they maintained that his condition does not have a chance of improving. The judge had dismissed the claims that the boy's condition was improving. "The sad truth is that it is not," the judge said, as reported by the BBC. "With little, indeed no hesitation, I reject that. The brain cannot regenerate itself and there is virtually nothing of his brain left," he continued. The parents are hoping to transfer their son to the Vatican's Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital, which has offered to treat the child. Last week, Tom Evans visited Pope Francis in Rome to urge him to grant "asylum" to his son. "If your holiness helps our child you will be potentially saving the future for our children in the UK, especially the disabled," Tom Evans said, according to Catholic Herald. The pope vowed at the time that the Vatican's Secretariat of State will take action to ensure that a "decisive diplomatic channel is opened up for Alfie" so that "the dignity of his life is respected." 70 years after the Holocaust, antisemitism rises in Germany Antisemitism in Germany is being fiercely debated after a series of attacks on Jews, with the leader of the country's Jewish community advising Jews not to wear traditional skullcaps or kippahs in public. Last week two young men wearing kippahs were assaulted in Berlin. One of them, a 21-year-old Israeli Arab, said he was wearing it to demonstrate his belief that Germany was safe for Jews. The young men were hit with a belt and had a glass bottle thrown at them. A video shared on Facebook shows the attacker yelling 'Yahudi', an Arabic word for Jew, before he is dragged away. The incident has provoked debate not just about antisemitism in Germany but about how Jews should respond. A 'Berlin Wears Kippah' solidarity march is taking place in the capital today, and a spokesman for the Jewish Forum for Democracy and against Antisemitism said: 'I used to always advise my Jewish friends and acquaintances not to wear a kippah so as not to show their Jewish identity. I changed my opinion. 'We must take up this fight and be visible again in public.' However, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, told Berlin public radio that Jews should exercise caution in big cities. 'Defiantly showing your colours would in principle be the right way to go,' he said. 'Nevertheless, I would advise individual people against openly wearing a kippah in big German cities,' he added. However, he warned of the consequences of failing to stand up to antisemitism, saying: 'This is not only about antisemitism it goes along with racism, it goes along with xenophobia. You need a clear stop sign here.' Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned what she described as 'another form of antisemitism' saying that as well as attacks coming from right-wing groups, threats were also coming from some Muslim refugees. While Germany has been praised for its exhaustive self-analysis in the decades after the Holocaust, a report for the Bundestag in 2017 said up to 10 per cent of Germans harbour classic antisemitic feelings, while 50 per cent harbour 'more mild' antisemitic feelings. Alfie Evans: Parents to appeal against Italy travel ban as judge criticises their legal team The parents of terminally ill toddler Alfie Evans will appeal for a second time against a judge's ruling that stops them taking their child to Rome for further treatment. After a series of legal appeals the high court upheld an earlier ruling that said it was in the 23-month-old's 'best interest' for Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool to remove his life support and treat him with palliative care. Doctors had previously told the court there was no prospect of Alfie's recovery. Parents Tom Evans, 21, and Kate James, 20, insist recovery is possible and want to take him to the Vatican-linked Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome. But at the end of an emotional three hour hearing in Manchester on Tuesday afternoon Mr Justice Hayden ordered the parents to work with doctors to move Alfie off intensive care and on to palliative care. Hayden rejected the arguments of barrister Paul Diamond, of the Christian Legal Centre, who claimed the boy's condition was 'significantly better' than previously realised after he had continued breathing unassisted for several hours after his ventilation was removed. Hayden criticised the Christian Legal Centre and said the fact he was still alive was a 'shaft of light' and a 'special opportunity' for his parents to be with him, not the time for more legal appeals. He said court witness statement prepared for Alfie's father was 'littered with vituperation and bile', doing the parents 'far more harm than it does them good'. He was also heavily critical of the Christian Legal Centre's Pavel Stroilov, who is not a lawyer but acts as a case worker. He described Stroilov as a 'deluded and fanatical young man' in danger of imprisonment for contempt of court after he advised the couple they had a right to remove Alfie from the hospital, despite a court order saying the exact opposite. 'This represents the final chapter in the case of this extraordinary little boy,' said Hayden. However the Christian Legal Centre has made clear it will launch an emergency appeal of the decision which will be heard this afternoon. The family have now lost multiple legal cases in the high court, the court of appeal, the supreme court and had their case rejected by the European court of human rights. Their case to bring Alfie to Italy was bolstered after Pope Francis voiced his support for the family following a meeting with Tom Evans in Rome last week. Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted. Pope Francis (@Pontifex) 23 April 2018 However Catholic bishops in the UK have been much more hesitant to back their case. They released a statement supporting the professionalism of doctors at Alder Hey hospital and said the court's rulings must be respected. 'It is tragic that parents and the staff are not able to come to agreement. We pray for a coming to agreement for the way forward,' Bishop John Sherrington told journalists last week. 'But the way dispute is resolved in this country is through the legal system and therefore if there are other views they must be presented through the legal system.' He declined to offer specific support for the Evans' appeal to fly Alfie to Italy, leading to criticism from some leading Catholic figures. Has the Catholic Church of England and Wales provided the best witness in the past few days? Has it accompanied the parents of Alfie Evans? The Pope has certainly done so, putting into practise that radical pastoralism the whole Church needs. Tim Stanley (@timothy_stanley) 24 April 2018 The president of Bambino Gesu, Mariella Enoc, flew to Liverpool on Monday to offer her support and help facilitate a transfer to Rome but said her offer was rebuffed. 'I feel totally impotent. I'm here and I'm ready to do whatever they ask me. The hospital knows I'm here but they told me they don't want to talk to me,' she said Analysis: The Times' Islamophobic coverage is shocking but not surprising The Times may not be the 'paper of record' that it undoubtedly was prior to Rupert Murdoch's takeover in 1981. But it is still widely regarded as the respectable newspaper to take and be seen with by ordinary people outside the beltway of those in the know about the inner workings of Fleet Street. In short, it has cachet. That reputation has taken a knock today with the news that the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) has upheld a complaint from Tower Hamlets council about the accuracy of the paper's reporting on a foster care case last August. The Times, which today publishes the IPSO ruling on the notorious backwater of page 2, claimed that a 'white Christian child' had been placed with a 'Muslim' family who did not speak English, that the girl's necklace with a cross was removed and that she was stopped from eating bacon. In fact, the family was English speaking and mixed race. The complaint from Tower Hamlets council specifically related to the third front page headline in one week, which read 'Judge rules child must leave Muslim foster home'. The council said it implied the judge had ruled against them when in fact the council has sought to remove the child from her foster home and place her with her grandmother, who is a Muslim. The story riddled with inaccuracies was shoe-horned into an apparently Islamophobic narrative by the paper's chief investigative reporter Andrew Norfolk, who had previously won the Paul Foot award for investigative journalism for his work on the targeting, grooming and sexual exploitation of teenage girls in the north of England. Norfolk, who has defended the coverage, appears still to be on The Times's payroll. Whether he should remain so is down to him and his bosses. The controversy is shocking but not surprising. The reality is that, of all Murdoch's British outlets, The Times is contrary to appearances the organ that most does Murdoch's bidding. Yes, it can be nuanced, as it showed by surprisingly backing the Remain cause in the Brexit referendum. And it has some wonderful writers in a pluralistic stable, most notably Matthew Parris. But huge stories in the rest of the press will be given the equivalent of tiny NIBs ('News in brief'), while apparently small stories will be blown up onto the front page to suit the proprietor's tastes. No, Murdoch does not directly interfere, as he used to with say the distinguished former editor Harold Evans despite assurances that he wouldn't. But as with all Murdoch outlets, the editors are well aware of what might please or anger the famous Australian. As a result, there appear to be some noticeably strange currents running through The Times's news reporting, when it comes to topics ranging from neoconservative wars (all 175 Murdoch editors at the time backed the 2003 invasion of Iraq) Israel, China, the Labour party, the US Democrats and, of course, Islam. But this is not a game. Because of how important the newspaper is seen, stories like last August's have a real affect on people's lives. Last month, I attended an evening hosted by the charity Muslim Aid in central London, with some 350 Muslims from across the country hearing a series of speeches from leading Islamic figures, including the heroic imam Mohammed Mahmoud who protected a suspected white terrorist last year at the Finsbury Park mosque. The lead speaker was the journalist and broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, my old friend and co-author, who was applauded for a blistering speech about how Islamophobia in the media is worse in the UK even than in Donald Trump's US, where he is now based. And one of the stories he highlighted was that of The Times about the foster carers case. After the speech, there was a long queue of Muslims who wanted to thank him. As Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, has said: 'It is about time The Times was forced to apologise for promoting what was widely known to be an inaccurate, misleading and bigoted narrative about Muslims. We hope that this will mark a turning point in the tolerance The Times has shown for anti-Muslim bigotry in its coverage and commentary.' And as Miqdaad Versi, who leads the MCB's work on media reporting on Islam, has said, the ruling was 'too little, too late'. He said: 'While Ipso's ruling on this shameful incidence of anti-Muslim reporting is welcome, their response thus far has been too little, too late.' The Muslim Aid evening provided a fascinating insight into British Muslims' hopes, dreams and fears. And one of those biggest fears comes from insidious Islamophobia among seemingly respectable media outlets, chief among them The Times. Ian Brunskill, the paper's assistant editor, appeared to go some way towards acknowledging this when he admitted the story and its reporting had cause 'enormous offence'. But he said the idea that the paper set out to cause offence was 'frankly absurd' and, contrary to some reports today, there has been no proper apology from the paper. The Times may no longer be the paper of record. But it can still put the record straight. Follow James Macintyre on Twitter @James_Macintyre Catholic groups denounce Philippine government's plan to deport Australian nun Catholic leaders from around the world have expressed their support for Australian Sister Patricia Fox, who was recently detained and is now facing deportation for taking part in protest rallies. Fox, a missionary of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion (NDS), was detained by immigration officials last week for allegedly violating a law barring foreigners from taking part in protest rallies. The 71-year-old nun, who has been advocating for the rights of farmers and indigenous people in the Philippines for 27 years, was later released but still faces an investigation and possible deportation over her alleged political activities. The Ecumenical Bishops' Forum denounced the government's treatment of Fox in a statement released on April 19. "We express outrage at this evil-doing," the bishops said, as reported by UCA News. "We cannot comprehend why church people become targets of political persecution. When has it become a crime to accompany the poor and the oppressed in their struggle? When has it become a crime to preach the words of God and live-out the works of Christ?" they added. The Sisters of Our Lady of Sion in Australia also condemned the nun's arrest and called on Christians to "stand their ground" in showing their solidarity with the poor. Fox's colleague in Rome has called on the Philippine government to abandon its plans to deport her. "We ask the government of the Philippines to allow Sister Pat and other fellow church people to continue their missionary work in the Philippines," said NDS Superior General Sister Mary Babic, as reported by Business Mirror. "We believe that Sister Pat and other religious and church people like her are a blessing and are blessed be able to work with and be among the Filipino people," she added. Last week, presidential spokesman Harry Roque released photos as evidence that the nun had spoken at a rally in Davao City on April 9. The spokesman said that the photo was released to dispute the statement by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) that the nun has never spoken at the rallies, PhilStar reported. President Rodrigo Duterte said he personally ordered an investigation into Fox because of her "disorderly conduct." He contended that the nun should be prohibited from entering the Philippines on the grounds that her criticisms of his administration constitute a "violation of sovereignty." He said that Fox should instead direct her criticisms to the Australian government over the way it handles refugees trying to enter the country. 'Evil' and 'Satanic' - 19 Christians slaughtered by radicals during church mass Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Tuesday's slaughter of 19 Christians, including two Roman Catholic priests, during morning mass on Tuesday is both "evil and satanic." "This latest assault on innocent persons is particularly despicable," Buhari said, according to AFP. "Violating a place of worship, killing priests and worshipers is not only vile, evil and satanic, it is clearly calculated to stoke up religious conflict and plunge our communities into endless bloodletting." The massacre occurred during early morning mass in a remote village in Benue state, when a group of radicals, which officials believe to be Fulani Muslim herdsmen, stormed the church and opened fire. Mbalom resident Terhemen Angor said the attack occurred at St. Ignatius Catholic church, where worshipers had gathered. "People started scampering and wailing," said Angor, saying that scores were "gunned down in cold blood while many sustained injuries including bullet wounds." State police spokesman Terver Akase told CNN that after the shooting, the radicals began setting homes on fire. "The herdsmen burned nearly 50 houses during the attack and sacked the entire community, " Akase said. "We expect arrests to be made because they (attackers) are becoming more brazen," he added. Nigerian groups, including the Benue Valley Professional Network, called for an end to the violence, which has seen hundreds of Christians, many of them farm-owners and villagers, killed since the start of the year. "We call on all humane persons and groups around the world to come to the aid of our farming and worship communities and end these terror attacks across Nigeria and especially in Benue, our food basket, which also threatens our collective food security," the group said in a statement. Benson Abounu, acting governor of Benue state, said that citizens are "under siege." "We have been attacked from all corners and this is unacceptable," he said. Persecution watchdog groups, such as Open Doors USA and International Christian Concern, have warned that although the Fulani conflict is often characterized as one over land and cattle grazing rights, Christians have been deliberately targeted and killed en masse. As many as 225 believers were killed in March alone by herdsmen, ICC said in a report, pointing out that the attacks have happened mostly in the Plateau and Taraba states. ICC Regional Manager Nathan Johnson told The Christian Post in an interview earlier in April that the religious aspect of the violence must not be ignored. "Though there are socioeconomic and ethnic components to these attacks, the majority of attacks are directed at Christian villages. If the attacks were simply driven by socioeconomic or ethnic factors, churches would not be common targets during these attacks. In most of the villages that have been ransacked over the past decade, churches and pastoral homes have been destroyed," Johnson told CP at the time. Others, such as the Rev. Musa Asake, general secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, have accused Buhari, who is of a Fulani Muslim background, of failing to do anything to protect Christians during the deadly raids. "Under President Buhari, the murderous Fulani herdsmen enjoyed unprecedented protection and favoritism to the extent that the herdsmen treat Nigeria as a conquered territory," Asake has said. "Rather than arrest and prosecute the Fulani herdsmen, security forces usually manned by Muslims from the North offer them protection as they unleash terror with impunity on the Nigerian people." Drinking coffee during pregnancy could make babies obese, experts say Moms who drink coffee during pregnancy are raising their babies' risk for obesity, a new study has revealed. Experts found links to caffeine and excessive weight gain in the unborn child among moms who still drank at least two cups of coffee while pregnant. The study, published in the BJM Open journal last Monday, looked into the data of over 50,000 women and children in Norway collected from 1999 to 2008. In their 22nd week of pregnancy, the moms self-reported whether they drank caffeine -- from coffee, black tea, chocolate drinks, soft drinks or energy drinks -- and the researchers tracked the growth patterns of their babies from six weeks to 8 years old. Some 44 percent of moms said that they drank at least half a cup to two cups of coffee regularly during pregnancy. Some seven percent drank three cups on average, while three percent drank more than three cups a day. The researchers learned that pregnant moms who had the highest caffeine intake had a 66 percent chance of giving birth to a baby with excessive weight during their first year. Pregnant moms with moderate caffeine intake had a 10 to 30 percent risk of having an obese child. Children who had very high exposure to caffeine in their mom's womb weighed at least 480 grams more than those who had low levels of caffeine exposure in the womb when they reached the age of 8. The risk of obesity also rose when the children reached 10 years old due to sedentary behavior. "This is an important finding, given that about 75% of women drink coffee during pregnancy and also because of our obesity problem," perinatal epidemiologist Dr. De-Kun Li, who was not part of the study, told CNN. "For childhood obesity, there are many risk factors that happen during pregnancy," he added. Study authors said their findings supported the recommendation that pregnant moms should reduce their caffeine intake to less than 200 milligrams a day, or below two cups of coffee. The research also supported an earlier study in 2015 that stated caffeine in pregnancy increases childhood obesity risks to as much as 87 percent. "Caffeine in utero may change how the brain develops," public health expert Lisa Bodnar told Reuters. "This is important because the brain has a strong influence over appetite." Islam on Lewis: Why the church should support Muslims' right to build mosques Recently it was announced that the first mosque is about to be built on the Western Isles a bastion of conservative evangelical Calvinism, dominated by the Free Church of Scotland (colloquially and somewhat pejoratively known as 'the Wee Frees'). The press sniffed blood surely this would outrage the Free Church and create civil war? The old headlines 'Wee Free Outrage' were dusted down and in some cases used by the tabloids, broadsheets and broadcast media. And with some justification, because a small breakaway group from the Free Church known as the Free Church Continuing had issued a press statement condemning the proposal. Perhaps it is expecting too much to expect the secular press to keep up with the various smaller Christian denominations. But The Guardian, demonstrating a degree of journalistic integrity, actually did some investigation and produced a more balanced report that included the news that the Free Church supported the right of the Muslims on the island to build their own mosque. Rev James MacIver, minister of the largest church in Stornoway, the main town of the island, is quoted as saying: 'Muslims have always been regarded by the local community as people who've contributed to the local economy and integrated well. I don't remember any animosity towards them. Outsiders may have got the impression that the Christian community here have resisted the mosque, but that's not the case...I have no right to come between someone's conscience and their god...I come at this from the point of view of liberty of conscience, freedom of religion. I don't personally see Islam as the way to salvation, but they have a civil right to a place of worship. I have no right to come between someone's conscience and their god.' Let me declare a personal interest here. I am a minister of the Free Church. I married a woman from Stornoway and know the people involved well. I, like my colleagues, am committed to the Bible as the infallible word of God and I agree with the theology summed up in our subordinate standard of the Westminster Confession of Faith. So what is going on when the Free Church does not oppose the building of a mosque in what was our heartland? Have we gone soft? Given into political correctness? Are we really opposed and just engaged in a game of political spin? Allow me to explain. The Free Church would prefer that there was no need for a mosque to be built in Stornoway, because we would love everyone, including Muslims, to come to a saving knowledge of Christ. But we also believe that there is no coercion in real Christianity and that people have the right to reject, or to worship as they see fit. It is for God to judge, not the State. We defend the freedom to preach the gospel as we also defend the freedom of others. The Christian message is pleading and persuasion, not force and coercion. In a world where religious and secular groups alike are seeking to use the power of the state to impose their beliefs, we must not go the way of the world. The FC has a catholic, Christian, traditional Scottish Reformed view of religious liberty. This is what is at stake for us here. We don't agree with Islam and maintain that Jesus Christ is the only way. But equally we don't believe that our beliefs can be imposed upon other people by denying them the religious liberty that we demand for ourselves. This is not a new position. When one of the early Free Church leaders, Dr Thomas Guthrie, appeared to give evidence before a select committee of the House of Commons in 1847, about the Free Church being granted sites to build churches, he was asked if he would grant a site to any group other than Christians. He said, 'I would grant a site to any man who desired to worship God according to his conscience'. The committee then asked, 'To a Jew, or a Muslim, or even an idolater?' He said, 'Yes, I have no right to stand between a man and his conscience.' This was the position of the Free Church in the 19th century and it still is in the 21st. We live in a world where we are told if we disagree with someone, we are disrespecting them, hurting them or taking them out of their safe space. Apparently people need to be protected from having their views, cultures or lifestyles challenged (unless they are biblical Christians). In many of our secular institutions, having a different view about the fundamental beliefs of the secular elites is considered to be grounds sufficient for banning or excluding from public space. Our society also seems to struggle with the concept that it is possible to have civil disagreement and to support the religious liberties of others. Maybe our society could learn from the church something about what real tolerance, equality and diversity is? Maybe the wider church also has something to learn from this small biblical Presbyterian denomination as well? In the church there are some who seem to think that campaigning against Islam, and giving implicit, if not explicit, support to far right groups, who wish to ban Islam, is somehow the Christian thing to do. It is not. Indeed, it is the very opposite and shows a blasphemous lack of faith in the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit. If we really wish to see the spread of Islam limited, if we are really concerned about the glory of God and the spread of the gospel, then we need to move away from the fear of Islam (the real Islamophobia) which seeks to prevent Muslims coming to our shores or having freedom of worship when they do. When Thomas Guthrie was asked if supporting the building of mosques would be a deterrence to conversion amongst Muslims, Guthrie answered that he thought refusing permission to build a mosque would be a means of preventing conversion, rather than hindering it. One Muslim was interviewed on the BBC and stated that since coming to the Island of Lewis in the 1950s he had never experienced one incident of racism or Islamophobia. Rather than be surprised that this should happen in the most evangelical church-going area of the UK, we should surely expect that to be the case. In the UK I suspect that the less Christian an area, the more likely you are to get fear of Muslims. It's the secularists who seem to be afraid of everything that does not fit their paradigm. This is illustrated by another story from the Western Isles. Recently there has been a fuss on Lewis about the island's tradition of keeping Sunday special. The failed attempt to change this has been driven by a small group called the Western Isles Secular Society (who were nominated by the National Secular Society for their award of Secularist of the Year). While the militant secularists couldn't contemplate a culture where their views were not the law, the Muslims have been supportive and accepting of local custom. The whole story is another reminder that the world is not as black and white as our soundbite culture portrays it. Thank the Lord that we live in a diverse and multi-coloured culture in which we still have freedom to preach the gospel to all. David Robertson is associate director of Solas CPC in Dundee and minister at St Peter's Free Church. Follow him on Twitter @TheWeeFlea Nigeria church attack leaves 19 dead in latest Fulani killing At least 19 people are dead after gunmen opened fire on a Catholic church in Nigeria's middle belt on Tuesday, police said. Armed men stormed the building during early morning mass in a remote village in Benue state in what appears to be the latest in an ongoing conflict between Fulani cattle herders and farmers. Two priests, Fr Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha, were among the dead, the local Catholic diocese of Makurdi said. 'The herdsmen burnt nearly 50 houses during the attack and sacked the entire community,' state police spokesman Terver Akase told CNN. 'We expect arrests to be made because they [the attackers] are becoming more brazen.' The conflict between nomadic Fulani herders, who are mainly Muslim, and resident farmers, who are mainly Christian, has spiked in recent weeks. Fulani herders are now more dangerous that Boko Haram for Nigeria's middle belt region, a report published earlier this month by the persecution charity International Christian Concern said. In March there were 27 attacks by Fulani herdsmen, which led to the deaths of 225 Christians, thousands of families displaced from their homes and the prolific destruction of property. In contrast, Boko Haram killed 37 people in the same period, ICC said. The group criticised the Nigerian government for a failure to keep the Fulani accountable. In a statement it said: 'This serious situation requires a serious response. Thus far in 2018, Fulani militants have killed more people than Boko Haram and affected a much larger area. Despite this, the federal government in Nigeria has paid little attention and allowed these militants to get away with mass murder. 'Even in areas where they have provided small amounts of security personnel, it has proven to be completely ineffective. We continue to call on the Nigerian government to reclaim the land that has been stolen by Fulani militants, rebuild the communities that have been destroyed, and protect Nigerian citizens from future attack.' Row as conservatives plan to display crosses in all Bavarian government buildings A plan to make it obligatory to display crosses in Bavaria's government buildings has drawn an angry reaction from opposition politicians and one prominent cleric accused the regional government of 'hypocrisy' ahead of an election. The conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party which is allied with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives at a national level faces a stiff challenge from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the October vote. Premier Markus Soeder's proposal to display the Christian symbol in all regional government buildings is almost certain to be challenged in court for breaching religious neutrality laws, according to Reuters. But Soeder said the crucifix was being displayed not as a Christian symbol but as a symbol of the identity of Bavaria, Germany's richest and most conservative state. 'We want to give a clear signal that people have a desire to stress their identity,' he said after being photographed affixing an ornate wooden cross, the gift of a former Munich cardinal, to a wall in the premier's office. The CSU is facing a rising challenge from the far right after governing Bavaria without interruption for more than 50 years and Soeder is under pressure to show he can preserve the dominance that makes his party a powerful lobbyist for its home state in Merkel's Berlin government. The south-eastern state was on the front line of the migrant crisis of 2015, when over a million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia arrived in Germany, fueling support for the AfD. The CSU has distanced itself from Merkel's decision to admit the refugees. Former premier Horst Seehofer, now federal interior minister, made waves on assuming his new office by stating that Islam 'does not belong to Germany'. But the AfD, which campaigns against Muslim immigration, dismissed the cross proposal as 'the usual gesture politics'. 'The Christian cross is being turned into an election accessory, while the conservatives refuse to protect our basic values with real actions,' the AfD's co-leader Alice Weidel said in a statement today. Even clerics were critical of the plan. 'Many see as a provocation and a hypocrisy the way you speak about Christianity,' wrote Burkhard Hose, a priest who ministers to the students of Wuerzburg University, in an open letter to Soeder. 'Stop this misuse of Christianity and its symbols as a supposed bulwark against Islam,' he added. Additional reporting by Reuters. Second priest killed in Mexico in a week, bishops call for culture of peace and reconciliation Another priest was violently murdered inside a church in Mexico on April 20 just as police were still investigating the killing of another priest two days earlier. Two unidentified men gunned down Fr. Juan Miguel Contreras Garcia, 33, at the Saint Pio of Pietrelcina Church in Guadalajara on Friday afternoon. Two days prior, a group also attacked and stabbed 50-year-old Fr. Ruben Alcantara Diaz before the 7 p.m. mass at Cuautitlan's Our Lady of Carmen Parish. Their deaths bring the total of murdered priests in Mexico to 23 since 2012, according to reports. The Mexican Bishops Conference immediately issued a statement to decry the acts of violence and call for a "culture of peace and reconciliation." "It's time to look honestly at our culture and society in order to ask ourselves how we lost respect for life and the sacred," the statement read. "We ask the Catholic faithful to accompany their priests with prayer, above all, in the pastoral service of the communities they are entrusted to." Mexico's Catholic population stands at 81 percent but for the last six years, violence against priests has escalated. Rev. Sergio Omar Sotelo Aguilar of the Catholic Multimedia Center, which has launched public investigations to the killings, told reporters that there was a rising trend towards persecution in Mexico. The priest expressed concerns over corruption and the ineffictiveness of those in authority to stop the violence. Professor Jorge Eugenio Hernandez Trasloheros told Christian Today in 2016 that priests are usually regarded as leaders in Mexican communities. "It is not strange that they are a target of the gangs," the professor said. "The criminals want people isolated and full of fear," he added. Singing sabbatical beckons for Ray Kelly, priest who stunned Britain's Got Talent judges Father Ray Kelly, the Irish priest who wowed the judges and audience on Britain's Got Talent with his soulful rendition of REM's 'Everybody Hurts', has said he's prepared to take time away from his parish duties to follow up his singing success. The priest, who is 65, told the Irish Sun: 'Most priests I know have taken a year off to study or do courses. I've never done that. 'I'm hoping I would be given a year off to sing. I'll be 29 years a priest this summer. I would love to try and pursue the music.' Kelly shot to fame in 2014 when he sang a version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' at a couple's wedding. The YouTube video racked up more than 60 million hits. His Britain's Got Talent performance was praised by famously hard-to-please Simon Cowell as 'one of my favourite ever auditions'. He was given a standing ovation by his congregation in Oldcastle, County Meath after the programme aired. Kelly has been revealed as third favourite to win the long-running show, with odds of 12/1. Magician Marc Spelmann, who performed a trick involving his daughter and the story of his wife's cancer treatment, is the current front runner, while dance group Rise, with a routine about the Manchester terror attack, is second. Live like a Rockefeller A set of George III dining chairs Gemma Sudlow, Head of Private & Iconic Collections, considers the English furniture that graced the dining rooms of two generations of Rockefellers and the stories they could tell of distinguished guests and their fascinating conversations This set of George III dining chairs was first purchased in 1955 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. for his apartment at 740 Park Avenue in New York. In 1971, Peggy and David Rockefeller acquired the chairs, placing them in their own dining room across town at their West 65th Street residence. Peggy and David Rockefeller were very focused on owning great works of art and objects across a variety different disciplines, says Gemma Sudlow, Head of Private & Iconic Collections at Christies. In decorating, the couple favoured English furniture made in the 18th century, with David being influenced by influenced by trips to London with his parents in the 1930s to research and acquire period furniture and other items for display at Colonial Williamsburg. The high American style and fashion of the time was to pair Impressionist paintings with richly gilded ornate French furniture, says Sudlow. I think that what is rather lovely is that David and Peggy chose the simplified elegance of English furniture that spoke to them in a more powerful way. Also influential on their tastes were several antique dealers whom Peggy and David befriended over the years. They were most helpful in educating us about the things we purchased and sharpened our skills in recognising quality and excellence in the objects we bought, David said. One of these dealers was Stephen Jussel, president of Arthur S. Vernay, Inc., the firm that assisted Junior and Abby with the acquisition of the chairs in 1955. When the time came for the furnishings to be distributed among David and his siblings, it was Stephen who was asked to give his judgment of the quality of objects on offer. He pointed out in particular this set of dining-room chairs, which he thought were quite outstanding, David recalled. Made around 1760, the mahogany dining room set is composed of eight side chairs and two armchairs, marked by ornate Gothic motifs and superb blind-fret-carved detailing popular during the late Georgian period in England. I like to imagine the conversations that these chairs were witness to in the Rockefeller home of politicians and society luminaries, of some of the cultural heroes of America Kinder Morgan / Kinder Morgan Phillips 66 Partners plans to build a new pipeline system that will carry crude from West Texas to markets in Corpus Christi, Sweeny and Freeport in South Texas, the company said. The Houston pipeline operator said it received enough commitments from oil producers in the Permian Basin to move forward with the construction of the Gray Oak Pipeline, which could pipe up to 700,000 barrels a day of crude starting by the end of next year. Hurricane Harvey's floods were largely concentrated in areas that were developed before the adoption of modern detention regulations and prior to the release of national flood plain maps, according to a new analysis focusing on Municipal Utility Districts. The study was commissioned by the Association of Water Board Directors Texas, a statewide educational and advocacy group for utility districts, to document flood damage to properties in MUDs across the Houston area and analyze their financial health. The findings included: Fewer than 8 percent of houses in local MUDs experienced flooding. Fewer than 3 percent of the houses identified as flooded were built after 2009 and complied with the drainage and detention regulations adopted after Tropical Storm Allison. Fewer than two dozen MUDs reported damage to district-owned infrastructure and the vast majority of that damage was almost immediately repaired. MUDs, which have been used for decades to build large subdivisions, can be created either through the legislature or the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. They provide water, wastewater, drainage and other services in unincorporated areas. Land developers and home builders have long argued that MUDs have allowed housing to remain affordable. Yet critics have questioned their transparency, their authority to sell tax-exempt bonds and the ways they are formed. In the Timarron Lakes neighborhood in The Woodlands, 100 homes flooded during Harvey, and residents blamed a faulty drainage system they had asked the MUD to fix. There are 857 municipal utility districts in the Houston area. As many as 190,000 houses 9 percent of the Houston area's housing stock experienced flooding in Harvey, the study found. Less than 20 percent of those flooded properties were within utility districts. The analysis was conducted by Meyers Research, a national market research and consulting firm specializing in the real estate industry, and Municipal Information Services, a firm specializing in the bond performance of municipal utility districts. The groups used reports from district officials and operators for portions of the report, and government data sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Texas General Land Office, the TCEQ, the City of Houston, Harris County, and the Harris County Flood Control District. It wasnt just the athletes who were celebrated for their post-graduate plans at Summer Creek High School on April 23. Friends and family members filled the Summer Creek auditorium wearing big smiles and various university jerseys supporting their loved ones as they prepare for the next phase of their lives. Principal Brent McDonald said about 250 seniors have committed to a university, community college or the military. We need to celebrate our kids. We celebrate our athletes (when they) sign their scholarships, but what about our kids that have committed to go and further their education?, McDonald said. Its been a great year and Im proud of them. They probably didnt think this is how their senior year (would go), but they have transformed our school forever. Class of 2018 students went upstage in front of the supporting crowd and signed their name on a white poster with their school logo. Seniors were accepted to several colleges in Texas, such as the University of Houston, Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University. Other students have plans to attend schools out of state, such as The Ohio State University, Dartmouth University and New York University. One student is traveling abroad after being accepted into the IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. SCHS Principal Brent McDonald said this is the first time the high school has done this for their graduating class and plans on keeping this tradition. When Fleetwood Mac returns to Houston's Toyota Center early next year they will be without one of its key members. Earlier this year longtime member Lindsey Buckingham left the group, according to a news release. BIG MAC SPLIT: Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac part ways Fleetwood Mac's remaining members (Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Christine McVie) have since enlisted former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers member Mike Campbell and Neil Finn from Crowded House to replace Buckingham. The road show won't hit Houston city limits until February 5, 2019, so the group will have plenty of time to gel before Houstonians see them live at the Toyota Center. Of course with the band's history of drama maybe Buckingham will be back in the fold by then. Photo by Richard Creamer/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images The band said in a statement in early April that Buckingham will not be on this upcoming tour. There was no further elaboration on the shake-up at the time. "Lindsey Buckingham will not be performing with the band on this tour," the statement said. "The band wishes Lindsey all the best." JAM ON: The most anticipated concerts in Houston for 2018 The remaining band members explained more of the story, though, this past week in an interview with CBS This Morning and Anthony Mason. Buckingham and then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks joined Mac in 1974 and would evolve its expansive blues-based sound into the emotional arena rock experience that would become popular over the next four decades. Buckingham left the band once before in 1987, returning for a massive tour in 1996. He has been around ever since. The band's 1977 epic break-up album "Rumours" has been embraced by a whole new generation of vinyl-obsessed young listeners as of late who might have heard through parents or (gasp) grandparents. Tickets for the upcoming Houston show go on sale on May 4 at 10 a.m. via Live Nation. Check out the Toyota Center website for further details. Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. Katy-native and girl-next-door icon Renee Zellweger turned 49 years old on Wednesday, April 25. Before becoming Bridget Jones, the Texas actress was widely known as Dorothy Boyd from the 1996 film, "Jerry Maguire." THE MORE YOU KNOW: Facts you never knew about your favorite Texas celebrity Apart from playing the "girl next door" type, Zellweger has shown variety in her acting with roles like Roxie Hart in "Chicago" and Ruby Thewes in "Cold Mountain." Zellweger has taken home several awards including an Academy Award, three Golden Globes, and three SAG Awards. From her debut in the late 1990s to today, Zellweger has gone through several changes, including a controversial moment in 2014 when people speculated the actress had work done on her face. After being MIA for a while, Zellweger arrived at the ELLE Women in Hollywood Awards looking different than usual. Fans and critics alike began speculating that the actress who has notoriously small eyes had her eyes widened. In 2016 the actress responded to the rumors in an open letter where she said: "Not that it's anyone's business, but I did not make a decision to alter my face and have surgery on my eyes." She went on to say that instead of focusing on appearance, people should take a moment to think deeper and acknowledge more pressing issues happening around the world. Take a look through the gallery above to see how Renee Zellweger has changed through the years. Daniela Sternitzky-Di Napoli is a digital producer at Chron.com. You can read more of her stories here and follow her on twitter at @Dani_DiNapoli. Fort Bend County commissioners agreed Tuesday to fund a study that would determine the cost and feasibility to add a levee to enclose the back of Barker Reservoir, which contributed to flooding in the area after Hurricane Harvey. The study, approved unanimously, would allow AECOM Technical Services to complete the project for about $67,200. "We've had major floods in three years," Fort Bend County Judge Bob Hebert said after the vote. ""We're looking at the reservoir because it's an option that we need to understand." The study comes after a Houston Chronicle investigation found that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers predicted that Barker and Addicks reservoirs would have record flooding from Harvey days before officials alerted the public. More than 3,000 homes in the Fort Bend County area were flooded from the Barker Reservoir after Harvey, Hebert said. Altogether, 6,800 homes were damaged during the storm and its aftermath, when more than 200,000 people were evacuated. Harris County homeowners and businesses sued the federal government last year and accused the Corps of Engineers of "knowingly condemning their properties by releasing water from the Barker and Addicks reservoirs after Hurricane Harvey." Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers said he supports the levee study because he believes it's a cost-effective solution that will prevent homes from future flooding. He said he also supports possible creation of a third reservoir in Cypress Creek. "My solution to the deal is a levee that would protect them. It doesn't matter how the Corps of Engineers operated their reservoir." Meyers said. "They would not be able to flood those people because obviously there would be a levee blocking the water from doing so." Engineers will have 90 days to complete the study and results will be released to the community. Hebert and Meyers said they want to know the cost of the levee in comparison to other flood control projects. "What I'm trying to come up with is a solution that would absolutely prevent the Corps of Engineers from flooding those private properties again," Meyers said. "When I started looking at the few alternatives that were being suggested, they were all very extensive and very long-term.... In the meantime, building a levee could actually work in conjunction with deepening of the reservoirs. It doesn't have to be an either/or type situation." Fort Bend County has 20 levee systems that were designed to protect developments from flooding. Representatives from the Willow Fork Drainage District, various engineering firms, the Harris County Flood Control District, and Stephen Costello, the city of Houston's chief resilience officer, were also consulted about the project before the study was approved on Tuesday, officials said. "These people never expected to flood," Meyers said. "They didn't have flood insurance and yet they got hammered. So, we're doing everything we can." A statue honoring victims of Galveston's deadly 1900 hurricane has been missing for nearly 100 years and the search is on to learn its whereabouts. Florentine sculptor Pompeo Coppini created "Victims of the Galveston Flood" that same year, in honor of the thousands who died in Galveston when that monstrous storm came ashore. NATURE'S TOLL: Looking back at the 1900 hurricane that wiped out Galveston Project manager John Bernardoni with the Lost Coppini Statue Project says that for two years now he and his team have been trying to find the 10-foot-tall statue that went missing in 1919. The history of the statue has many twists and turns, starting in 1900 with William Randolph Hearst's Galveston Orphan's Bazaar at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel that October. Coppini created a maquette of what the statue was to look like, a first draft of sorts, to be auctioned off to raise funds for the victims of the natural disaster. In all, around $500,000 was raised for needy islanders and Coppini was summoned to Galveston to show his artwork to the city fathers. OLD TIMEY: Vintage pictures of Galveston, Texas' underrated jewel What wasn't accounted for was the emotional turmoil that Galveston residents were still mired in after losing so many friends and loved ones. The dramatic sculpture of a mother holding a small child in the middle of the storm with another on her waist speaks to the horror. According to Bernardoni, city leaders told Coppini that the event was still too raw and fresh in their minds to think of a statue. Bernardoni says that the plaster statue was later on display at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Three photos of the statue survive to this day. The Lost Coppini Statue Project It eventually ended up at the University of Texas, along with other works of art, before it went missing during the 1919 campus holiday break. The artist never got a straight answer and he died in 1957 in San Antonio, the city in which his Alamo Cenotaph is on display near the Alamo. Other works by Coppini depicting Confederate heroes like Jefferson Davis have just recently been removed from public view after years of community complaint. According to the Texas State Historical Association, there are 36 public monuments, 16 portrait statues, and about 25 portrait busts created by Coppini currently in the United States. He was a busy man and Texans have no doubt seen his work countless times and haven't realized it. Bernardoni and the Lost Coppini Statue Project would like to recreate the lost work of art in bronze at a height of 10 feet. The cost? $450,000 according to Bernardoni. It would be given to the city of Galveston as a gift. (Galveston does have a statue dedicated to the 1900 storm, created by artist David Moore and installed in 2000 just off Seawall Boulevard.) Bernardoni has a very real family tie to the storm's drama too. TEXAS TIME: 25 awesome maps that help explain Texas "My great grandfather, from Italy, died in the storm trying to help another family after securing his own," he says. He left behind a wife and two kids. For Bernardoni it would not only be honoring those 6,000 who died and those left behind, but also his own lineage. He has even had archivist Ralph Elder perform an exhaustive search of the UT storehouses to see if its just been misplaced. LM Otero/AP "This isn't just another statue," Bernardoni says. "We have a chance to fulfill history, finally." He has a few theories about what ultimately happened to the statue. It's thought that it possibly broke apart while it was being moved around campus and was silently thrown out as damaged goods. Another theory is that it was destroyed on purpose by a UT staff member who didn't get along with Coppini. There is some evidence that the artist and faculty member J. Frank Dobie were not friendly and he had a hand in its demise. Bernardoni also thinks that it might have just been stolen or given away. "That's total conjecture. However, UT did have a history of giving items to benefactors as souvenirs," he says. It's all very much like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" it seems. Of course, it could very well be sitting in some oblivious Texan's home or backyard with not a clue as to its origin. Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. Precinct 4 Deputy Constables arrested Johnny Allen, 20, on Tuesday in Humble for assaulting a peace officer. Officers responded to a call in regard to a disturbance on the 5900 block of Timber Oaks Ridge. Upon arriving constables said Allen immediately turned aggressive toward the constable and assaulted her causing minor injuries. Allen was booked into the Harris County Jail and charged with assault on a public servant, a third degree felony. His bond is set at $10,000. Investigators are probing possible links between two macabre discoveries 150 miles apart, one on Lake Houston and the other near Calcasieu Lake in Louisiana, where the severed heads of two women were found in plastic bags near lakes and RV parks. The unidentified victims, both white women with reddish hair and good teeth, are thought to be within the same age range and were found in similar surroundings about three weeks apart, investigators said. In the Lake Houston case, two clean-up volunteers found a severed head in a large black plastic bag on March 24. They were working along FM 1960 East in Huffman and found the human head on rocks in a portion of the lake patrolled by the Houston Police Department. The Lake Houston Marina, an open access recreational vehicle park with residents and visitors alike, is adjacent to where the womans head was recovered. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences released an anthropological profile on April 5 that showed the Lake Houston victim was a woman between young adulthood and middle age, who was either white or Hispanic. She had reddish brown or auburn shoulder-length hair with 3 to 4 inches of very dark brown roots, and her eyebrows and eyelashes had either been permanently or semi-permanently tattooed, according to the MEs profile. Cameron Parish Sheriffs Office investigator Jake McCain and HPD homicide investigator Michael Perez have acknowledged the similarities in the cases and victims, and agreed to keep each other updated on their respective findings. The description of the remains found near Calcasieu Lake in Cameron Parish sounds real similar" to the Lake Houston case, Perez said earlier this month in a text message to the Houston Chronicle. But he added he "cant say much without actually meeting with detectives and seeing their crime scene photos. Perez noted that dental records could potentially help identify the Lake Houston woman because she had really good teeth, a condition that likely ruled out drug abuse. Perez and his partner, Andrew Barr, released information about a person of interest on April 6. The officers are looking for a man in his early to mid-20s who was seen about 2:30 to 3 p.m. throwing a black plastic bag off the bridge near where the head was found, two weeks prior to the discovery. The man, described as having short dark brown hair with long bangs, was seen getting out of the front passenger side of a teal or a bluish green Chevrolet Silverado extended cab truck. He is about 5-foot-4 to 5-foot-8 tall and has light skin. The truck was rusted and appeared to have been in several wrecks. The back left passenger window was missing and was covered by what looked like cardboard. While HPD has already released a description of a person and vehicle of interest, a forensic artists sketch and an anthropological profile, Cameron Parish is waiting on forensics from Louisiana State Universitys forensics lab to determine more about the victim whose decomposition was more advanced. The analysis could take up to six months to complete, McCain said. In the Cameron Parish case, a prison inmate doing clean-up labor found the severed head on March 1 in a small grocery bag in a grassy marsh next to Louisiana Highway 27, a couple of miles north of the Sabine National Wildlife Park headquarters. The site is about a mile south of a community of recreational vehicle parks in Hackberry, La., and less than a mile from Calcasieu Lake, whose tributaries appear to reach out to the marshes where the head was found. Based on Louisiana state highway maintenance records, McCain said the last date the lawn was mowed in that spot was Nov. 30. Had the bag been there at the time, mowers would have probably noticed, he said. Different agencies in Texas have contacted the Cameron Parish Sheriffs Office to determine if the head belongs to a missing person they are investigating, but the dates fail to fit the timeline of this person, according to McCain. Preliminary forensic analysis determined the victim in Cameron Parish to be white, between 25 and 40, with auburn or brown hair 10 to 12 inches long. The advanced stage of decomposition bars visually determining any facial features, according to the Cameron Parish Sheriffs Office. She had no apparent trauma to her skull. The condition of the teeth of the woman found in Cameron Parish was good, but were beginning to be affected from deterioration. McCain said X-rays determined the woman had undergone obvious dental work which included a couple of cavity fillings. He said the condition of her teeth made it unlikely she was a transient, but a missing persons dental records would have to first be submitted for cross referencing to be done. Cameron Parish has no persons who have been reported missing. McCain said the medical examiner in neighboring Calcasieu Parish has determined the womans remains were not consistent with the profiles of any of about a half dozen people reported missing there. jose.gonzalez@chron.com twitter.com/jrgzztx Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has dropped charges against two women who were arrested at a raucous Houston ISD school board meeting Tuesday night. In a statement, HISD said its police officers reviewed the arrests and agreed with the district attorney's office to drop the criminal trespassing charge against one woman and the resisting arrest charge against the other woman. "No further action is needed and the two detainees are being released now," HISD officials wrote. RELATED: Following skirmish, HISD trustees adjourn without partnership vote The arrests came at a special board meeting during which HISD trustees were scheduled to vote on handing over operations at its 10 longest-struggling schools to a charter-management nonprofit. Trustees adjourned about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday without voting on the proposal. The HISD board president, Rhonda Skillern-Jones, ordered the board room cleared during the meeting after audience members, nearly all of whom opposed the plan, applauded and chanted during public comments. Skillern-Jones had warned the crowd not to do so. Some in the audience refused to leave, and officers detained three women. One was released minutes later. The other two were taken to the Harris County Jail on misdemeanor charges. About 100 people were in the crowd as it dispersed. Crowd members were allowed to return to the HISD administration building to watch a livestream of the meeting from an overflow room. They were not allowed to sit in the main auditorium. Members of the crowd did not return, saying they were upset about their treatment and didn't want to legitimize the board's actions. Q & A: What's going on at Houston ISD? Skillern-Jones addressed the incident in a written statement Wednesday morning: "I hoped we could calm the tension and return for an orderly meeting. Unfortunately, the situation escalated and subsequently caused many unintended consequences. I'm saddened at this outcome as it was not at all what I wanted. I take responsibility for calling this recess and am regretful it only created more discord." Skillern-Jones said no decisions have been made on calling another meeting ahead of an April 30 deadline to submit plans to the state for giving up control over the 10 schools. "The one positive result from the chaos is that we did postpone a hasty decision, gained some additional perspective and broadened our considerations," Skillern-Jones said in her statement. NEW YORK A federal judge in Brooklyn agreed to release former television actress Allison Mack on $5 million bond Tuesday as she awaits trial on an indictment charging her and NXIVM founder Keith Raniere with sex trafficking and forced labor. Mack, who is known for her role in the former television series "Smallville," and Raniere, 57, are accused in an indictment unsealed last week of using coercive tactics to lure multiple women into a secret sex-slave club in which many of the women said they were branded with the pair's initials during secret rituals in Saratoga County. The Times Union first reported two weeks ago that Mack, 35, was identified in FBI records as an alleged co-conspirator with Raniere in his efforts to coerce women into joining the club. Mack was arrested Friday and held in federal custody over the weekend pending Monday's detention hearing. On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn consented to Mack's release under the conditions set by the judge. Those include forbidding her from using a cell phone or computer and also prohibiting her from communicating with any current or former NXIVM associates. "Let's not have any lack of clarity about that," U.S. Magistrate Viktor V. Pohorelsky said, cautioning Mack and her attorney that she should not violate the conditions. "In other words, basically avoid anyone you know who has associated in any way with NXIVM, do you understand?" Mack replied "yes." The actress, dressed in a tan prison jumpsuit, held her hands behind her back as she stood for the proceeding. She left the courthouse late Tuesday afternoon while flanked by her attorneys and refused to comment as she was whisked into a waiting vehicle. Mack's mother, Melinda, agreed to sign the bond securing her release, including putting up her California residence as collateral. Mack also agreed to use her retirement savings as collateral. Her father, John Mack, must sign the bond agreement by May 4 because he shares ownership of the couple's California residence in Los Alamitos, Orange County. Pohorelsky said conditions of Mack's release will include electronic monitoring and she must reside at her parents' California residence while her case is pending. Her passport was seized by the FBI on Friday. Raniere has been held in custody without bond since his arrest last month and will be arraigned on the indictment at a later date, prosecutors said. The indictment charges Raniere and Mack with multiple counts of sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor. They each face a potential minimum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted. FBI records unsealed two weeks ago at the request of the Times Union allege Mack helped recruit women into the club and made them pose for nude photographs that she would forward to Raniere. She also delivered some of the women to Raniere for sexual encounters, and at least one alleged victim described the sex as unwanted. According to people familiar with NXIVM, Mack joined the organization about a decade ago, around the same time several other young actresses were pulled into its ranks, including Nicki Clyne, Grace Park and Kristin Kreuk, who recruited Mack. Kreuk left NXIVM several years ago and has denounced the practices made public recently. Federal authorities on Friday said Mack and Clyne are a couple married in February 2017 and have shared an apartment in Saratoga County for more than a year. Mack also owns a residence in Halfmoon that she rents for about $500 a month, they said. The prosecutors described Mack as a high-ranking member of Raniere's inner circle who took part in his scheme to lure women into the slave-sex club. Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza said that "under the guise of female empowerment ... she starved women until they fit her co-defendant's sexual ideal and she targeted vulnerable women in order to do that." Penza told the judge on Friday that Mack poses "a true risk of danger here in the form of witness intimidation. She has ... slaves underneath her who have pledged vows of obedience and she literally has collateral on a number of the people who we view to be victims or potential witnesses in this case." Mack was with Raniere in Mexico when he was taken into custody on March 25 by Mexican federal police officers, who arrested Raniere at the request of U.S. law enforcement authorities. Raniere, whose organization has been described by experts as a cult, was arrested at a luxury villa in Puerto Vallarta. The federal complaint alleges that Raniere organized the secret group within NXIVM in which women said they were coerced into joining a slave-master club and later branded with a design that included the initials of Raniere and Mack. Raniere, in statements previously posted on NXIVM's website, had characterized the slave-master group as a consenting, private "sorority" and said that he and the corporation had no role in it. But federal court records indicate emails seized from Raniere's private messaging accounts "support the conclusion that Raniere created" the club, which was known as "Dominus Obsequious Sororium," which means "Master Over the Slave Women." The women in the group, according to the federal complaint, were lured into the club by other female NXIVM members, including Mack, who considered Raniere her "grand master," and were required to provide "collateral" in order to join. If they tried to leave, they were threatened that their collateral --sometimes damaging information about family members or close-up photographs of their genitalia -- would be released. In the federal criminal complaint filed last month against Raniere, prosecutors said a Halfmoon residence known as the Library was where Raniere, 57, repeatedly had sex with an unidentified actress in her 30s. That townhouse on Hale Drive, which was searched by the FBI on March 27, 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 allegedly a victim of Raniere's -- which is part of the reason the case is being pursued in Brooklyn. 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 oral sex with an unidentified person who was in the room with Raniere. It's unclear if the unidentified person was male or female. According to information referenced in a complaint filed with the state Health Department last year by Sarah Edmondson of Vancouver, at least 20 women associated with NXIVM were lured into the club and required to provide "collateral." Edmondson and another woman involved with NXIVM told the Times Union that they were brought into the club and subsequently branded by a physician associated with NXIVM, Dr. Danielle Roberts, who then gave them special bandages and advice on helping the wounds heal. Edmondson said she was told it would be a "tattoo" and that the symbol was a Latin symbol for "the elements." She learned weeks later that the brand was actually the initials of Raniere and Mack, whom Edmondson's complaint identified as having "started" the secret women's group with Raniere. The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn opened its investigation last fall. Brendan J. Lyons contributed reporting for this story. Uranus stinks and there's scientific proof. Researchers confirmed Monday the seventh planet from the sun has an upper atmosphere full of one of the smelliest chemicals known to humans, hydrogen sulfide, according to study published by Nature Astronomy. The odorous gas is what gives rotten eggs - and human flatulence - their distinctive and unpleasant smell. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, people can smell the gas when it makes up as little as three out of every billion molecules in the air, so imagine what being surrounded by clouds of the stuff would smell like. "If an unfortunate human were ever to descend through Uranus's clouds, they would be met with very unpleasant and odoriferous conditions," Patrick Irwin a physicist at the University of Oxford, who led the study, said in a statement. Scientists discovered evidence of "the noxious gas swirling high in the giant planet's cloud tops" after observing how sunlight bounced off Uranus' atmosphere, according to a news release from the Gemini Observatory, a high-power telescope located on top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano. The new findings come after decades of observations and even a visit by the Voyager 2 spacecraft to the blue-green ice giant, the release said. Before making the discovery, scientists had long inferred hydrogen sulfide existed in the planet's atmosphere, but never "conclusively detected" the gas before, according to Science News. Using a 26-foot Gemini North telescope, the team of scientists studied the reflected sunlight in infrared and determined what types of molecules made up the planet's atmosphere, the release said. While evidence of the molecular compounds was "barely there," Irwin said scientists were still "able to detect them unambiguously" given the sensitivity of their instruments and the "exquisite conditions" on Mauna Kea. ALSO It rains solid diamonds on Uranus and Neptune The Uranus' atmospheric composition was so difficult to nail down because when a cloud deck forms by condensation, it hides the gas responsible for forming the clouds beneath levels that can be usually seen with telescopes, Leigh Fletcher, a member of the research team, said in the release. "Only a tiny amount remains above the clouds as a saturated vapour," said Fletcher, who is a planetary scientist at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. "The superior capabilities of Gemini finally gave us that lucky break." Aside from lending credence to Uranus jokes, the hydrogen sulfide discovery sheds light (or maybe smell) on how planets and the solar system formed, the release said. Being able to confirm the composition information is "invaluable in understanding Uranus' birthplace, evolution and refining models of planetary migrations," the release said. Understanding what makes up distant planets, such as Uranus, could help scientists determine where in the solar system the planets first formed and how far they moved from the sun over time, Business Insider reported. Glenn Orton, a co-author of the new study and a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Business Insider the new research points to "evidence of a big shakeup early on in the solar system's formation." "There was definitely a migration taking place," Orton said. While the planet's smell may be more than enough to repel most from wanting to visit, Orton said researchers are working on a proposal for a new Uranus spacecraft, which they hope will help them learn more about where the outer planets actually formed and how the solar system came to be. Hopefully, the proposed spacecraft will be unmanned like its predecessor, Voyager 2, because Orton said the probe will be expected to plunge through Uranus' pungent clouds. When it comes to fraternity life, the common imagery involves red plastic cups, lots of alcohol and John Belushi in a toga. For years, Greek life has been linked to hazing and numerous scandals, while at the same time they are responsible for contributing millions of dollars to philanthropic efforts and driving career connections. Whether it's for the parties or the job placement, fraternities continue to be popular on college campuses across America. StartsClass, a higher education research site, used surveys to determine the percentage of male students involved in social fraternities. Two Texas schools cracked the top 10, while a couple of the schools reported about half of the males enrolled at the college were part of a fraternity. Law enforcement authorities in Howe, Texas have released photos of two men connected to a 2017 shooting death of a Houston man. According to police Tahbari Collins, 20, died on Aug. 24, 2017 in Howe. Howe is a small city 293 miles north of Houston near Dallas. That evening, police were called to a shooting scene along the highway. A Houston-based spirits company and its Dallas partners are being sued by the Jack Daniel's brand for allegedly lifting its trademarks for an "inferior" product. Jack Daniel's filed the infringement suit April 20 in a U.S. District Court in California against both Dallas' Dynasty Spirits and Houston's Gulf Coast Distillers. TEXAS BOOZE: Sipping on the spirit of Texas at Whiskey Ranch in Forth Worth The story has made headlines on industry websites and even Forbes. The lawsuit calls out a number of companies for similar allegations. The complaint by the Brown-Forman Corporation, which owns Jack Daniel's and other whiskey brands, accuses Dynasty and Gulf Coast of teaming up to produce and market Lonehand Whiskey, which bears a label that looks not unlike the Jack Daniel's label that consumers have grown accustomed to over decades. The lawsuit alleges that the "square bottle with angled shoulders, a ribbed neck, a black cap and a black neck wrap closure" have all been lifted for the Lonehand product. Brown-Forman also notes in the lawsuit that the Texas product itself is inferior, with less-than-stellar reviews from customers. Check out this link to see what the offending bottle looks like. This, according to Brown-Forman, "has impaired, and will continue to impair, the distinctive quality of the Jack Daniel's trade dress in the marketplace." EAT LOCAL: Where we like to eat, drink and be seen in the Bayou City The phrases that drinkers associate with Jack Daniel's products like "Old No. 7," "Jack Daniel's'", "Tennessee," and "Sour mash whiskey" are all registered trademarks. According to Brown-Forman, "Tennessee Sour Mash" added to the Lonehand label was a step to confuse consumers. In an email Wednesday sent to Chron.com, a representative for Jack Daniel's declined to offer additional comment, noting that the court filing speaks for itself. Brown-Forman has asked for injunctive relief and legal costs in the lawsuit, a standard process. Chron.com has reached out to representatives from both Dynasty Spirits and Gulf Coast Distilleries for comment on Wednesday and has yet to hear back. Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. Houston ISD board members adjourned late Tuesday without voting on a controversial measure to give up control over 10 low-performing schools after the meeting turned physical and police escorted members of the public nearly all of whom opposed the plan out of the room. Chanting "no more sellouts" and shouting at trustees, most of the roughly 100 community members in attendance watched angrily as officers began physically pulling disruptive residents out of the room. The skirmish came after HISD Board of Trustees President Rhonda Skillern-Jones declared a recess in the middle of the meeting and ordered the room cleared due to repeated public outbursts. RELATED: HISD partnership proposal met with skepticism, questions If trustees choose to meet again, they likely will not return until Saturday at the earliest. Trustees typically provide at least 72 hours advance notice of any public board meeting. The vote had been expected to be narrow, with several trustees already voicing support or opposition for the proposal. The uproar reflects the heated nature of HISDs proposal to allow Energized For STEM Academy Inc., which already runs four in-district charter schools, to take over operations of the 10 campuses for five years. Without the agreement, HISD would likely face forced campus closures or a state takeover of the districts locally elected school board due to its failure to improve academics at the schools. Heres part 1 of a video interview with Jenny Espeseth, who I videoed being dragged out of HISDs meeting. She has a 1st and 5th grader in the district. More of the interview on this thread pic.twitter.com/LKLYaetjbJ Shelby Webb (@shelbywebb) April 25, 2018 HISD Interim Police Chief Paul Cordova said one person was arrested on a misdemeanor criminal trespass charge, one person was arrested on a charge of interfering with duties of a public servant and one person was detained but not arrested. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg dropped the charges Wednesday. Jenny Espeseth, who said she has children in first and fifth grades in HISD, was dragged out of the board room by her arms and pulled into a hallway side room. She said police told her they intended to file a report, then released her. "It felt like (Skillern-Jones) was waiting for a moment to order the room cleared," Espeseth said. "I don't think any of the trustees in favor of charter-ization want to vote in front of the public." Members of the public were allowed to return for the brief ending of the meeting and watch from an overflow room, but many chose not to go back. Travis McGee, a community advocate from Sunnyside with three children in HISD, said those advocating against charter agreements didn't want to "legitimize their vote." "They put us out, and they don't want us in there," McGee said. "We don't want to give them the satisfaction of putting us in a side room." EDITORIAL: HISD should vote no on charter takeover In a statement, the district said attendees were instructed to clear the room after "continuous disruption," "multiple outbursts," and "several verbal requests" from Skillern-Jones to follow meeting rules. "While the district appreciates and shares the passion the community has for the students and schools and welcomes public input, audience members are expected to be respectful and observe decorum so that their views may be heard and appreciated," HISD officials said. Under a law passed in 2015, any school district with a campus that receives a fifth straight improvement required rating for poor academic performance this year would be subject to the sanctions. Ten HISD schools, all of which educate predominantly black and Hispanic student populations in high-poverty neighborhoods, risk triggering the law. HISD administrators have said its highly unlikely all 10 will meet state academic standards this year.latha RELATED: HISD trustees clear path for quicker approval of charter partnerships To avoid forced campus closures or a state takeover, HISD administrators proposed employing another law, this one passed in 2017, that would give HISD a two-year sanctions reprieve if it gives up control over the 10 schools to an outside organization. After several weeks of community meetings, HISD administrators recommended Energized For STEM Academy as their partner. Trustees must approve any partnership agreements and submit plans to the state by April 30. Texas Education Agency officials are expected to approve or deny any arrangements by early June. In the districts first public statement since Energized For STEM Academy was named Friday as the potential partner, Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said the organization will help our students to reach the level of achievement that we know is possible. Heres part 1 of a video interview with Jenny Espeseth, who I videoed being dragged out of HISDs meeting. She has a 1st and 5th grader in the district. More of the interview on this thread pic.twitter.com/LKLYaetjbJ Shelby Webb (@shelbywebb) April 25, 2018 Data shows Energized for STEM Academy has successfully led students to high levels of academic achievement as well as prepared them for college and careers since first partnering with HISD 10 years ago, Lathan said in a statement. She has not granted any interview requests in recent days. The choice, however, faced immediate resistance. Multiple trustees said they lacked enough information to properly evaluate Energized For STEM Academys academic and governance history. Several education advocates and leaders, including the Houston Federation of Teachers, also raised several questions about Energized For STEM Academys ethics. Theyve particularly focused on Energized For STEM Academys head of schools, Lois Bullock, who serves as both employee and landlord at another in-district HISD charter organization. Its not immediately clear whether Bullock has improperly profited off the highly unusual arrangement. All speakers at Tuesdays school board meeting opposed the districts plan. Many advocated for suing the state over the 2015 law that imposed sanctions. Several questioned whether Energized For STEM Academy is dedicated to special education students, noting that the organization has a disproportionately low special education population at its current schools. A few students implored trustees to maintain current operations at their schools. We are asking you to do the right thing for this community, speaker Kandice Webber, who was later among the two arrested, said during public comment. If you choose to sell us out now, this will be the absolute last board you sit on. Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect Kandice Webber as the speaker during Tuesday's board meeting. It has also been updated to reflect charges were dropped against the two individuals arrested. jacob.carpenter@chron.com shelby.webb@chron.com Harris County residents who believe their property has been inappropriately valued will have until May 15 to challenge the appraisal. Property tax protests are critical for many residents as the valuations set by the Harris County Appraisal District determine their property tax bills. Tens of thousands of protests are routinely filed every year by residential and commercial property owners as they seek to lower their valuations and tax bills. For the first time in 60 years, the Castro family on Thursday turned over leadership of Cuba to a non-Castro in an event that was historic but of uncertain importance for the impoverished communist island. Miguel Diaz-Canel, a Communist Party stalwart selected by President Raul Castro and party leaders five years ago for this moment, left no doubt that survival of the 1959 revolution led first by Fidel Castro, then brother Raul, would remain his top priority. The mandate given by the people to this house is to give continuity to the Cuban revolution in a crucial historic moment, he told the National Assembly. There were no surprises in his speech because party elders didnt want any. He was chosen because he is viewed as a younger Communist who hews hard to the doctrinaire dreams of Fidel and Raul. FROM 2016: Obama's historic visit to the communist Cuba could lead to bigger things Diaz-Canel has scored points with the Cuban people for expanding internet availability and showing some socially liberal tendencies, but his history is that of a true believer in the revolution and the Castros. He was once a bodyguard for Raul. Yet, Cuba watchers hope Diaz-Canel might be more amenable to change than the octogenarians who selected him if for no other reason that at 57 he is comparatively young. The truth is change may be forced upon him because Cubas economy is a sputtering mess that is losing the Venezuelan oil it got under the late Hugo Chavez, has huge debts and lacks a benefactor like the Soviet Union. OPINION: Texas will benefit from better U.S.-Cuba relations Rapprochement with the United States begun under President Barack Obama looks dead for now, because his successor Donald Trump has essentially turned Cuba policy over to the Miami hardliners who back our failed trade embargo in place since 1962. Much of Obamas work has been undone, which means the United States has been dealt out of any positive role in Cuba. Without much hope it will happen, we would urge Trump to redirect his policy toward positive engagement with the island. The current policy which is essentially the old policy has accomplished precisely nothing. We urge U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to remember that trade with Cuba offers plenty of opportunity for Texas farmers and ranchers and business at the Port of Houston. OPINION: How will history judge Fidel? And we would urge Diaz-Canel to truly be a modern leader for Cuba. It is time for the island to leave its own failed policies behind so that its people have more freedom, better lives and some say in who is running the show. Whether he can do that under the watchful eye of Raul Castro, who remains head of the military and the Communist Party and has shown a taste for only mild change, remains to be seen. We wish him luck. The Toys R Us bankruptcy filing last year sent shivers down spines of toy makers and has sent other retailers scrambling to grab the longtime toy purveyors market share. We can expect most toy retailers to attempt to step in where Toys R Us left off, yet the smartest ones of the bunch will use a variety of data analysis and insights to determine the best ways to take advantage of this new opportunity, whether they are retailers planning to boost toy offerings on store shelves or toy makers diversifying where they sell their products. No matter what, it will be a challenge. According to a March 2018 CNBC article, even though Toys R Us accounted for between 15 and 20 percent of toy sales in the U.S. last year, Jefferies analyst Stephanie Wissink estimated that about 10 to 15 percent of the stores total sales volume will disappear for good once the retailer is gone, which could mean toy retailers will be fighting over slices of a smaller pie. Mobile location data gives us clues After Toys R Us announced their intentions to file for bankruptcy, my company wanted to learn what sort of effect this might have on the toy retail ecosystem. Using our platform, which incorporates mobile user data to provide insights about retail shoppers and other audiences, we conducted a location affinity analysis to predict where Toys R Us visitors might shop once the stores locations were to close. First, we evaluated the impact on big box retailers like Target and Walmart and found that Target comes out the winner here. Although Toys R Us shoppers are more likely to visit both Target and Walmart than the average American consumer, they are 1.7x more likely to visit Target over Walmart. We also found those Toys R Us shoppers were more likely to visit Costco, Kmart and Sams Club than Walmart. But toy shopping has become more interchangeable than ever. If you look at toy makers such as Hasbro, Lego and Mattel, whose products are already sold by retailers like Amazon, Kmart, Target and Walmart, consumers can today can easily purchase Hasbros Monopoly board game on Amazon, or just as easily pick it up at a Target brick-and mortar-location. Chances are a lot of people will continue shopping for toys from these well-known manufacturers at their local big box stores, and theres no reason why these retailers cant add toy shelf space or promote themselves as the go-to place for a wide selection of toys. Even better, when it comes to reinforcing strategic decisions in the board room, they can use ground-level data showing affinities shared by their customers and Toys R Us shoppers. Toy innovators diversify However, innovative toy makers are not waiting around to figure out who wins the Toys R Us market share battle. They have already begun looking for alternative homes for their products. Today, some toy brands have branched out to sell their toys in drugstores, grocery stores and dollar stores. Hasbro now sells its toys and games at discount chains including Dollar General and Dollar Tree and even offers a subscription box service called Hasbro Gaming Crate. My team also wanted to get a better sense of how the Toys R Us fallout could affect other toy-centric retailers. So, we evaluated mobile user location data to determine the likelihood of Toys R Us shoppers visiting five other toy retailers: Build-a-Bear Workshop, Buy Buy Baby, The Childrens Place, The Disney Store and Once Upon a Child. We found that Toys R Us shoppers were about 2x more likely to visit Build-a-Bear Workshop and Once Upon a Child, a used toy and kids clothing retailer, than they were to visit The Disney Store. Toys R Us shoppers were even more likely to go to Buy Buy Baby or The Childrens Place. How might this sort of information be used? Retailers whose shoppers also showed a strong affinity to Toys R Us might think about opening a location where some former Toys R Us locations were, or nearby. They might affirm the best decisions using added information tying location data to demographics, shopping behavior and product interests associated with people who visit stores in the area. And who says The Disney Store cant build its brand among former Toys R Us shoppers? The brand could capture some of them by offering a discount to Toys R Us card holders or rewards program members, for instance. Like Hasbro, Build-a-Bear Workshop has begun to find interesting new arenas to spotlight its brand, too, such as setting up kiosks in AMC movie theaters and on Carnival cruise ships. Our overall business strategy is to kind of diversify, Mike Early, senior managing director and head of information technology at Build-A-Bear Workshop told Total Retail during the National Retail Federation's Big Show in January. Were looking to become not just a retailer who has a great brand but a brand who has lots of other business streams. As they redefine what the post-Toys R Us landscape looks like for toy makers and retailers, innovators such as Hasbro, Build-a-Bear and others will find a wealth of insights from shopper data, location-based foot traffic data and more. Why Cisco Secure? As the largest enterprise cybersecurity company in the world, we lead the way with solutions that are driving the industry in SASE, XDR, and zero trust. Integrating it all is Cisco SecureX, our security platform that provides simplicity, visibility and efficiency across your security infrastructure. The day was just beginning at Largo do Arouche, once a charming square in the center of Sao Paulo. It was just past 8am on January 10, and a group of protesters was trying to break down the entrance door of the office of the safety guards union, infuriated by an audio they heard via social media that was attributed to the unions president, saying guards have to be badly paid. The result of the protest: six people wounded by the explosion of a homemade bomb. The audio: false. The incident was really just a test run for the upcoming election season in Brazil, which will be as much about fake news as anything. Since 2002, when Luis Inacio Lula da Silva was elected president, corruption scandals have eroded the reputation of Brazils political system. (His successor, Dilma Rousseff, was hit by an impeachment process in 2016.) In the late 80s, when the country returned to a democratic system, more than 50 percent of Brazils voting population declared they identified with one of the main parties. Today, less than 10 percent still identify that way, according to a survey recently updated by the Center for Public Policy Research at Sao Paulo State University. And voters are convinced fake news will invade Brazils elections this year. In hopes of counteracting misinformation, newspapers have grown and independent watchdog agencies sprung up. In 2014, the newspaper O Globo created the Preto no Branco (Pen on Paper) blog, intended to fact-check information. Its creator, Cristina Tardaguila, left the papers newsroom in 2015 to create the Agencia Lupa, the first specialized watchdog team to operate in Brazil. Starting with four journalists, today Lupa is comprised of 15 people working for clients such as the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, the website Metropoles, Piaui magazine, and the CBN news radio network (where I am director of journalism). We have expanded the team to deal with this years events, says Tardaguila. She predicts the elections this summer will be packed with false news and robots trying to control the political narrative, adding that this will be the election of memes and misinformation. (Meantime, O Globo has created its own watchdog team called E isso mesmo? (Is that really it?) As in the US, news bots and fake social media profiles proliferate in Brazil. After unions called for a general strike in April 2017, over 20 percent of the Twitter interactions among users in favor of the strike were provoked by false profiles, according to a study by the education and research institution Getulio Vargas Foundation, which adds that in 2014, robots managed to generate over 10 percent of the online discussions around the presidential election. Referring to the foundations work, Twitter Brasil states that it had no access to the research methodology, but considers that external partners may face difficulties when making unilateral measurements on the platform. The elections this summer will be packed with false news and robots trying to control the political narrative, Tardaguila predicts. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Other fact-checking agencies have appeared, such as Truco (named for the shout-out in popular Brazilian card game that translates to Is it true?). This year, we will move from five states to 10, covering regional elections, says Natalia Viana, who runs Truco. The group has partnerships with Exame (a Brazilian economic and business magazine) and Jovem Pan, a national radio network. Created in 2015, Aos Fatos started with two individuals and now has a staff of nine professionals. This agency works for news websites and has a partnership with Facebook in Brazil providing cross-checking tips via Messenger. Tai Nalon, co-founder, says they are expanding partnerships, which included in 2016 BuzzFeed Brasil. Among others, they also work with UOL, a national news and internet services portal. In addition to the press, government agencies also are preparing to scrutinize the summer elections. Elections in Brazil have been 100 percent electronic since 2002, and paper ballots are no longer used. In January, Minister Gilmar Mendes, who at that time presided over the TSE (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, which is Brazils highest electoral court in charge of watching over the elections to prevent fraud) announced the creation of a task force against fake news. The initiative will form an advisory board constituted by the governments intelligence area, citizen representatives, and even the army. The first meeting of the TSE with the social media giants happened early in February. At the meeting, Mendes offered assurances that the measures against fake news wont result in censorship. But they will protect privacy and honor, he warned. Governors and politicians frequently label any information that bothers them as fake news. This is another risk we will have to face this year, says Patricia Blanco, president of the Instituto Palavra Aberta, a nongovernmental organization that watches over freedom of expression. Under the pretext of combating fake news, politicians and candidates may use this as an excuse for censorship, restricting publications or even asking for content to be removed. Among other causes, the Palavra Aberta has promoted a discussion on the danger of legal provisionssome already underwaythat may allow judges to determine the immediate removal of content. There are currently at least three bills underway at the National Congress proposed by members of the house who say they intend to fight fake news. The texts try to criminalize authors of false information and even establish fines. Brazilians have a habit of creating opportunistic, last-minute laws that are not always effective. And these may involve other risks against the free circulation of information, says press lawyer Tais Gasparian. ICYMI: Facebook pulls back the curtain on what kinds of speech it tolerates Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Ricardo Gandour is director of journalism at CBN News Radio Brazilian Network and associate professor of journalism at ESPM School, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Follow him @rgandour. I almost fell out of my chair when Oprah Winfrey told the nearly 20 million people watching the 2018 Golden Globes in January about a woman whose bold testimony sparked a nationwide anti-rape campaign decades before the #MeToo movement. Recy Taylor, Winfrey said, is a name I know and I think you should know, too. Then she told a story with which I was intimately familiar. Recy Taylor was a young African-American mother and wife in Abbeville, Alabama, who in 1944 was kidnapped and raped at gunpoint by seven white men. They threatened to kill her if she talked, but as soon as she was in the safe embrace of her father, husband, and local sheriff, she detailed the brutal assault. A few days later, a representative from the Montgomery NAACP called to say he would send his best detective. Her name was Rosa Parks. ICYMI: Meet the journalism student who found out she won a Pulitzer in class Parks arrived on Taylors front porch with a notebook and a pen, carefully documenting Taylors assault, then spirited that testimony back to Montgomery, where she and the citys most militant Black activists launched the Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor. Within a few months, chapters sprouted up across the nation, prompting the Chicago Defender to call it the strongest campaign for equal justice to be seen in a decade. It was somewhere in Rosa Parkss heart almost 11 years later, Winfrey said in closing, when she made the decision to stay seated on that bus in Montgomery, and its here with every woman who chooses to say, me, too. It was an incredible eulogy for Taylor, who passed away on December 28, and an enduring testament to her courageous stand decades before anyone said #MeToo. Historians are detectives and storytellers. No story ever comes in whole cloth. Sign up for CJR 's daily email I knew exactly who Recy Taylor wasnot least because I had just returned from her funeralbut because it took me nearly two decades of research in archives from Alabama to North Carolina to New York to Wisconsin to stitch together the story Oprah told in two minutes. I was thrilled to hear Winfrey give Taylors story such an enormous platformone that even the best historians and storytellers will likely never have. In the days that followed, hundreds of journalists, writers, and bloggers rushed to flesh out the untold story of Recy Taylor. In most essays, there was no mention of how her story was recovered or how the connection between Parks, Taylor, and the Montgomery bus boycott was established, much less who recovered it. Once a story circulates widely in the public sphere, like Taylors obituary in The New York Times (which I assisted with), it is often considered true and in the public domain, and attribution thereafter is forgotten. Plus, few people know how historical narratives are written. Historians are detectives and storytellers. No story ever comes in whole cloth. We find threads all over the placeone in an archive here; another in an old court transcript there; yet another in a microfilmed newspaperand pull them to see where they lead. We spend an enormous amount of time and money (often our own) crisscrossing the country and the world chasing these stray threads, hoping they will tell us something new and important about who we are. Individually, the threads reveal little. But when woven together over years of research, they expose patterns, textures, and details that may have not been otherwise visible. Those patterns and details may look different depending upon how the weaver positions the threadswhether Sally Hemings and her family is a dominant theme in a history of Thomas Jefferson and Monticello, for example, or barely visible. Many of us work with the same facts, but how we read, interpret, analyze, and stitch them together is the art of historical writing and storytelling. There are, after all, more than 15,000 books about Abraham Lincoln. When done well, history and its meaning appears as if it were there all along; historians best work can find the lost, make visible the disappeared, and resurrect the dead. When done well, history and its meaning appears as if it were there all along; historians best work can find the lost, make visible the disappeared, and resurrect the dead. Journalists who consult history for reporting are most likely to find historians with a public presence and whose books are published for popular audiences. But the relationship between historians and journalists can be beautifully symbiotic, providing a larger platform for historians work and a grounding for journalists own reporting. Ta-Nehisi Coatess essays for The Atlantic on the Civil War and reparations; Brent Stapless short editorial observations in The New York Times on the history of interracial marriage and slavery; Jamelle Bouies article on the legacy of nativism in the United States; and Atlanta Journal Constitution writer Rosalind Bentleys meditations on Floridas Underground Railroad and a landmark 1959 sexual violence case come to mind as examples of this collaboration. So when other writers, bloggers, and public figures take historians work, including our analysis, framing, and argumentour intellectual propertyand present it as an untold story or readymade fact, we feel that without reference or attribution it is not translation. It is presenting our work as their own. Surely this is not their intent. Now that almost all media is online, it is fairly simple to offer attribution. A hyperlink to historians books or essays is one way to acknowledge our work. In print articles, writers could ask us for a quote or identify us as a reliable source. If we spend an hour on the phone directing you to resources, explaining our research, or contextualizing an issue in the news, give credit where it is due. If this is unworkable in the piece, use social media to acknowledge us instead. In the long term, lack of attribution makes historical research and scholarship invisiblea disservice to readers who hunger for trustworthy stories that make sense of our past and present amid all the bloviation and clickbait. Attribution lends credibility to journalists reporting, points readers toward reliable content, and helps draw clear lines between fact and opinion. It also makes the production of knowledge in the arts and humanities visible at a time when its value is questioned throughout the country. Journalists and historians can be allies in these pursuits. ICYMI: She identified herself as a reporter. He then walked behind her and punched her in the side of the head Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Danielle McGuire is an award-winning historian and author of At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. She is currently writing a book about the 1967 police murder of three young Black men at the Algiers Motel in Detroit. Teens who admit to texting while driving may be convinced to reduce risky cellphone use behind the wheel when presented with financial incentives such as auto insurance apps that monitor driving behavior, according to a new survey conducted by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). However, while more than 90 percent of teens surveyed said they were willing to give up sending or reading text messages, almost half indicated that they would want to retain some control over phone functions such as music and navigation. Results of the survey are published in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention. More than half of teens in the United States admit to texting while driving, and this has become a significant public health issue leading to preventable deaths and disabling injuries, said study lead author M. Kit Delgado, MD, an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at Penn. Our study suggests a promising strategy to curb this epidemic would include enabling a phone setting or third party app with automatic responses to incoming texts, but with navigation and music functions accessible, combined with financial incentives to sustain use. For example, Delgado suggests this could be accomplished by enabling the Do Not Disturb While Driving setting on an iPhone to automatically turn on while the car is in motion and enrolling in an auto insurance program that offers financial incentives for using apps to track driving behavior, which have begun to emerge in the past year. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for American teens, and as cellphone use has become ubiquitous over the past two decades, texting while driving has become a significant factor in these accidents. Today, drivers 15- to 19-years-old are more likely than any other age group to die in crashes caused by cellphone-related distractions. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recommended a Driver Mode on smartphonessimilar to the existing Airplane Modeto limit use while driving. Since last year, the operating system for iPhones, iOS, has had a Do Not Disturb While Driving mode that locks the phone screen, blocks incoming texts and sends automatic text responses, and limits incoming phone calls. But, the settings are optional. To better understand the barriers to widespread teen adoption of cellphone-limiting strategies, he and his colleagues decided to ask some teens. Apps and settings aimed at reducing cellphone distraction while driving can only be effective from a population health standpoint if they are widely adopted, Delgado said. The researchers contacted the parents of adolescents who had previously been seen across the CHOP Care Network, and invited them to sign up their 16- and 17-year olds for a survey. The investigators ultimately received survey responses from 153 teens who met the study criteria, which included texting while driving in the past month and driving their own car. The vast majority of the teens indicated that they were willing or somewhat willing to give up reading emails (99 percent), social media apps (99 percent), sending texts (96 percent), reading texts (91 percent), and making or receiving non-hands-free calls (94 and 91 percent, respectively) while driving. Far fewer of them were willing or somewhat willing to give up music apps (55 percent) or navigation apps (40 percent). About half of the teens in the sample reported high frequency texting while driving defined as more than six days per month. These teens showed markedly less willingness to give up cellphone uses while driving. For example, 73 percent indicated they were unwilling to give up navigation apps compared with just 44 percent of the overall sample. The researchers asked the survey participants to consider several possible factors or strategies that could discourage them from texting while driving, such as an annual insurance premium discount, or a cash reward for every week in which they dont text and drive. Most of the teens indicated that financial incentives would be very effective, but many (54 percent) also indicated that automatic phone locking while driving would work. All in all, the findings suggest that teens might widely and voluntarily adopt a Driver Mode app or phone setting that automatically blocks or limits text and call functions while allowing navigation and music functions, especially if combined with a financial incentive. One scalable way to provide a financial incentive would be to offer teens auto insurance discounts, based on actual driving performance and phone use as measured by in-vehicle devices or smartphone apps, which are becoming more common and hold tremendous promise with the shift to usage-based insurance (UBI), Delgado said. These programs adjust insurance premiums and provide financial incentives based on directly observed driving behaviors. Our research team is currently conducting studies aimed at figuring out how to design UBI programs to sustainably reduce handheld cellphone use while driving. Its estimated that there are 16 million UBI subscribers currently in the U.S., which will increase to 60 million by 2023. Furthermore, Delgado says the industry is shifting from in-vehicle devices to smartphone apps that can now directly measure cellphone use while driving. When asked why they wouldnt want to use cellphone apps that monitor driving behavior, the survey participants cited an aversion to letting parents monitor their behavior which they believed such apps would facilitate as their top reason. A modest financial incentive may be enough to outweigh such concerns, Delgado said, though he noted that we need a better understanding of how to design interventions that optimally balance parental engagement and acceptance by teens. The study was conducted in partnership with the Center for Injury Prevention Research at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. The other co-authors of the study were Scott D. Halpern, Alison M. Buttenheim, Claudia Setubal, Yanlan Huang, and Kathryn A. Saulsgiver, all of Penn; Catherine C. McDonald, Flaura K. Winston, of Penn and CHOP; and Yi-Ching Lee of George Mason University. Source: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania The maker of the engine that blew up on a Southwest Airlines jet last week was getting ready to recommend inspections that would have included that engine right before the fatal accident. Engine maker CFM International Inc., in response to a similar malfunction in 2016, had recommended last year that carriers inspect a limited population of older fan blades that didnt include the one that failed last week. But a draft recommendation circulated to some carriers for their input would have expanded the list enough to include the engine that was powering Flight 1380 when a fan blade broke off midair over Pennsylvania. It shattered a window and sucked a woman partly out of the plane. Those recommendations were the basis of the emergency inspections ordered last Friday by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The companys recommendations had been in the works for weeks before the incident, said CFM spokesman Rick Kennedy. Its unclear whether the expanded inspections would have happened in time to prevent last weeks accident. The expansion of engine inspections was part of the process of trying to gather data on an extremely rare failure like the one that occurred two years ago and was not because of any indication of an impending risk of another blade failure, Kennedy said. Were on the very front end of trying to understand this phenomenon, Kennedy said. The biggest challenge in our industry is managing something thats exceedingly rare. You dont have a baseline. After a CFM engine failed in 2016, the company issued service bulletins calling for inspections of specific lots of fan blades with more than 15,000 flights since their last maintenance overhaul. The Southwest engine that failed last week had about 10,000 flights since being overhauled, according to the airline. It also wasnt among the fan blade serial numbers cited in that bulletin, according to Kennedy. The broader inspections, which are now aimed at all older fan blades, adds a new twist to the mystery of why two similar, severe failures on one of the worlds most common and most reliable jet engines have occurred within two years. Engines cant be certified until they demonstrate in tests that they can lose a fan blade without causing damage to an aircraft, but that happened in both incidents on Southwest planes. Southwest has completed inspections on 265 engines that had made more than 30,000 flights apiece since they were manufactured, as specified by last Fridays emergency order from the FAA. The carrier had done some of the fan blade reviews before the order was issued, said Brandy King, a spokeswoman for the Dallas-based airline. She declined to comment on findings from the examinations. Southwest is continuing voluntary inspections of its entire fleet. Evolving Hazard The process of deciding which engines should be inspected is typical for how manufacturers and regulators approach an evolving safety hazard, said Sarah MacLeod, executive director of the Aeronautical Repair Station Association. They have to make some assumptions in order to narrow the risks, MacLeod said. Since the incident, CFM has recommended that engines with 20,000 flights or more should have fan blade inspections by the end of August. The same inspections should be done in cases where airlines dont know how many flights a fan blade has made. Carriers sometimes move blades from engine to engine during routine maintenance and it can be difficult to track exactly the number of a blades flights. NTSB Probe Kennedy said he was addressing the inspection process only and couldnt comment on National Transportation Safety Boards investigation of the two incidents. The NTSB hasnt completed its investigations into either accident. In the 2016 case, a fan blade broke off and ricocheted out the front of the engine, causing damage that led the plane to lose pressure. The flight diverted to Pensacola, Florida, but no one was injured. Southwest Airlines Co. says it plans to inspect all engines of that make regardless of their number of flights. CFM is a partnership between General Electric Co. and Frances Safran SA. Under the emergency order issued Friday, the engine that failed in the latest case would have been inspected. It had a total of about 40,000 flights, so was above the threshold in the order. The order also doesnt make a distinction based on previous overhauls. The FAA, which is starting with the oldest engines first, says it is considering expanding its inspection order. The agency plans on following CFMs call for more checks by August in a separate action, according to a person familiar with the matter, who wasnt authorized to speak publicly about the information and asked not to be identified. The FAAs order on Friday covers an estimated 352 of the oldest CFM56-7B engines on U.S. carriers, which fell far short of the number of engines CFM had suggested that airlines eventually inspect. We are considering further rule-making to address these differences, the FAA wrote in its emergency airworthiness directive. Last November, Southwest began a program to inspect all its CFM56-7B fan blades every 3,000 hours, going beyond what the manufacturer had suggested, Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven said in a memo sent to employees last Friday. However, the engine that exploded last week hadnt gone through that inspection, according to King, the company spokeswoman. The accident April 17 was the first fatal accident involving a U.S. passenger airline since 2009. Investigators say a fan blade at the front of the engine that had been weakened by repeated stresses broke off on Flight 1380. The Boeing Co. 737-700, which was en route from New York to Dallas, made an emergency landing in Philadelphia. A passenger, Jennifer Riordan, who was a vice president at Wells Fargo & Co. in New Mexico, was killed after being partly sucked out of the opening. The plane made an emergency landing in Philadelphia. While the initial orders are focused on the overall time of an engine, carriers sometimes move older fan blades onto engines that were purchased more recently. That could complicate how the airlines target which engines they should inspect, said Gary Weissel, managing officer at Tronos Aviation Consulting Inc. Theyll have to go through all their engines and calculate how long have the blades been on. It will be a little more of a manual review, Weissel said. Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. A Washington appeals court has reversed a lower court ruling that held the federal government liable for some of the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina and other major storms a ruling that could have resulted in damage payments for residents and businesses of New Orleans Lower 9th Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana. The class action lawsuit by local governments and property owners blamed flooding on the now-closed Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. Often referred to locally as the Mr. Go, the canal was a man-made shortcut from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. The suit claimed construction, operation and failure to maintain the waterway contributed to government-caused flooding that amounted to an illegal government taking of private property. Judge Susan Braden of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims agreed in a 2015 ruling and granted class-action status in 2016. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a ruling dated April 20, said plaintiffs failed to prove that construction or operation of the outlet caused the flooding, in part because they failed to consider whether a levee project approved at the same time as the MRGO mitigated the flooding. And it said a taking claim cant be based on government inaction such as the failure to maintain the waterway. Takings liability must be premised on affirmative government acts, the appeal court said. The failure of the government to properly maintain the MRGO channel or to modify the channel cannot be the basis of takings liability. Bradens ruling had been a rare court victory against the government in lawsuits related to Katrina. Numerous other lawsuits filed against the federal government over Katrina-related flooding had failed. A string of court rulings insulated the federal government from liability for billions of dollars in flood damage that many residents and business owners have blamed on the Corps design, construction and maintenance of levees and floodwalls, as well as the MRGO. Were disappointed, naturally, Carlos Zelaya, one of the plaintiffs attorneys in the case. He said attorneys were analyzing the ruling and would make a decision soon on their next step. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. With the Chinese government recently announcing plans to allow full foreign ownership in its car industry starting with "new energy vehicles" at the end of 2018, one Chinese electric automaker is welcoming the increased competition. Speaking with CNBC's Nancy Hungerford, Lihong Qin, co-founder and president of Chinese automobile start-up Nio said: "We welcome big players and nice companies like Tesla." In new "emerging and fast-growing markets," Qin said, "I think we need more players." Adding that the car industry has never been monopolistic, Qin said the best players in the space should cultivate the market together. "If there is a green light, there should be a green light for everybody," Qin said of the wider auto industry, expressing his hope that the market could open further. Spirit Aerosystems Holdings: "No, no, I don't want you to lock in your loss. Right now the market is kind of anti the defense stocks and anti-aero, but how long can that last? This is a great company. I suggest that you just hold tight." Bristol-Myers Squibb: "Bristol-Myers has sold off so much, so much, and yet when I'm finished with it, it sells at 16 times earnings and it only yields 3 percent. So I would tell you I don't have a catalyst to make the thing come back other than a takeover, and I don't see one coming. Maybe it surprises you." Take Two Interactive: "Right now that whole video game group is in, let's just say, turmoil because of some other, cheaper games that are in. I want to see Take Two's earnings before I say pull the trigger, but you do have a high-quality situation." Dunkin' Brands Group: "I'm a holder of Dunkin' and then if it goes through $60 I would be a buyer of Dunkin'. Not that far from here." The Wendy's Company: "We just had the company on. I thought they told a real good story. I'm going to say buy." Univar Inc.: "The chemical stocks are getting crushed here and I'm going to let them come in before I feel like [saying] you've got to buy them right here. I can't feel that way." Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told banking industry executives on Tuesday that they should press lawmakers hard to pursue their agenda, and revealed that, as a congressman, he would meet only with lobbyists if they contributed to his campaign. "We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress," Mr. Mulvaney, a former Republican lawmaker from South Carolina, told 1,300 bankers and lending industry officials at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington. "If you're a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn't talk to you. If you're a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you." At the top of the hierarchy, he added, were his constituents. "If you came from back home and sat in my lobby, I talked to you without exception, regardless of the financial contributions," said Mr. Mulvaney, who received nearly $63,000 from payday lenders for his congressional campaigns. Mr. Mulvaney, who also runs the White House budget office, is a longtime critic of the Obama-era consumer bureau, including while serving in Congress. He was tapped by President Trump in November to temporarily run the bureau, in part because of his promise to sharply curtail it. Since then, he has frozen all new investigations and slowed down existing inquiries by requiring employees to produce detailed justifications. He also sharply restricted the bureau's access to bank data, arguing that its investigations created online security risks. And he has scaled back efforts to go after payday lenders, auto lenders and other financial services companies accused of preying on the vulnerable. But he wants Congress to go further and has urged it to wrest funding of the independent watchdog from the Federal Reserve, a move that would give lawmakers and those with access to them more influence on the bureau's actions. On Tuesday, he implored the financial services industry to help support the legislative changes he has requested. Read more from The New York Times: The Top Jobs Where Women Are Outnumbered by Men Named John When Presidents Go to War How 2 Trauma Surgeons Cope With the Onslaught of Mass Shootings He concluded the speech, which included an appeal to diminish the bureau's power, by describing the two types of people he was most responsive to as a congressman constituents and lobbyists who contributed to his campaign. Mr. Mulvaney said that trying to sway legislators was one of the "fundamental underpinnings of our representative democracy. And you have to continue to do it." The association, which invited Mr. Mulvaney to give the keynote address at its conference, strongly backs his efforts to consider the financial burdens on banks imposed by the bureau's actions. Asked about the comments, John Czwartacki, a spokesman for Mr. Mulvaney, said: "He was making the point that hearing from people back home is vital to our democratic process and the most important thing our representatives can do. It's more important than lobbyists and it's more important than money." In his remarks, Mr. Mulvaney also announced a series of moves intended to reduce the bureau's power. The agency was championed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Richard Cordray, who served as the bureau's director from its inception until last year. Such moves include cutting public access to the bureau's database of consumer complaints, which the agency had used to help guide its investigations. "I don't see anything in here that says I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government," he said. Mr. Mulvaney also said he would begin calling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by its official statutory name, the more obscure Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Administration officials said the rebranding was an attempt to diminish the agency's public profile. Mr. Mulvaney's political appointees at the agency have asked The Associated Press, which sets the style standard for many publications and broadcasters, to change how it refers to the bureau. "I'm trying to get in the habit of now saying the 'B.C.F.P.' It's really, really hard to do that when you've said the C.F.P.B. for so long," Mr. Mulvaney told the bankers. The consumer bureau was created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Law as a way to prevent banks and other financial companies from preying on vulnerable consumers. But the bureau has become a target of Republican lawmakers, who complain that it has unchecked power and is too aggressive in trying to punish financial firms. The head of Sears Holdings' real estate division, Jeff Stollenwerck, is preparing to step down from his role with the department store chain, a company spokesman told CNBC Tuesday. Stollenwerck has been with Sears for 15 years, leading the retailer through countless asset sales and serving a key role in 2015 when Sears spun off roughly 250 properties to form real estate investment trust Seritage. "We appreciate [Stollenwerck's] service leading the real estate business unit and wish him well in his future endeavors," Sears said in an emailed statement. "Our strong bench of talent for our Real Estate business unit and among the leadership team will ensure a smooth transition." Before joining Sears, Stollenwerck worked on Kmart's real estate team up until it merged with the department store chain in 2005. He was also once an employee of Sears CEO Eddie Lampert's hedge fund, ESL Investments. "I've enjoyed my time with [Sears] and working closely with Eddie and the other leaders. ... I'm ready for a new challenge and I wish all of Sears Holdings the very best in the future," Stollenwerck said in an emailed statement. The news comes as Sears continues to shed its unprofitable stores. Earlier this year, the company announced another round of roughly 100 store closures that are set to be completed this month. Seritage meanwhile said this month it will be taking back nine locations from Sears and redeveloping those spaces. 16 other Sears stores are being auctioned online. Sears operated slightly more than 1,000 locations in total at the end of fiscal 2017, compared with 1,430 the year before. The company once had more than 4,000 stores. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a campaign concert as supporters, celebrities and dignitaries look on at Luzhniki Stadium on March 3, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. U.S. senators are pressing many of the world's largest financial institutions to disclose any links between their companies and wealthy Russians allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a letter released on Tuesday. Two Democratic senators, Jeanne Shaheen and Sheldon Whitehouse, have written to the banks, hoping to increase pressure not just on individuals on the U.S. Treasury's so-called "oligarchs list," but also on financial institutions to closely consider those with whom they do business as Washington moves to impose sanctions on Moscow. The Trump administration announced sanctions on Russia on April 6, largely responding to what U.S. intelligence agencies have said was Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, although Treasury painted them as a response to a series of adversarial actions by Moscow. Russia denies meddling in the election. The letter was sent to three large U.S. banks Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase and Citibank as well as Europe-based Barclays, Deutsche Bank , UBS, HSBC and Credit Suisse. As part of sweeping sanctions legislation President Donald Trump signed into law in August, the U.S. Congress required Treasury to create a list of wealthy Russians the "oligarchs" with ties to the government who might later be targeted with sanctions such as asset freezes or denial of visas. "Given their wealth and relationship to the Russian state, many oligarchs in Russia either wield or are susceptible to considerable political influence," the two senators said in the letter, seen by Reuters, which also said oligarchs have used their wealth to shield the state from sanctions. The letter asked each bank whether it had, within five years, conducted a review to determine if it had any accounts controlled by anyone on the list released on Jan. 29 of oligarchs or senior Russian political figures. If so, it asked for information about the review and any findings. If a bank had not conducted a review, the letter asked what was done to identify activity between the institution and listed Russians. A JPMorgan Chase spokesman said the company had received the letter and was reviewing it. A Barclays spokesman declined comment. Staff at the other institutions did not immediately respond to a request for comment. If the banks do not provide the information, the senators plan to seek potentially more intrusive action, such as a government investigation. Retaliatory trade tariffs between the world's two largest economies could end up hurting automobile buyers, Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson warned on Wednesday. "We are very worried because the whole business concept is based on open trade...if we don't have that, we will have to invest in every single car line in every single country and that will be much more expensive for the consumers," he told CNBC's Nancy Hungerford at Auto China, an automotive show held in Beijing. Following President Donald Trump's decision to target billions in Chinese imports, Chinese President Xi Jinping's administration announced plans to impose duties on various U.S. exports, including cars. The U.S. benefits from open markets, Samuelsson said. "We're opening a plan in South Carolina, half of what we build there will be exported so half of the 4,000 jobs will be created with exports." But Beijing has since promised to reduce its 25 percent tariff on imported cars and scrap foreign auto ownership rules a move that Samuelsson praised. "The Chinese government is on the right track if they take away this protection because competition is a much more powerful way of improving and introducing new technology." Commenting on Chinese automaker Geely's recent $9 billion stake in Germany's Daimler, Samuelsson said the transaction had no direct implications for Volvo. Volvo and Daimler can still cooperate on projects, he said, adding that the two are not currently in talks on any prospective partnerships. China has poured tens of billions of dollars into Africa's development, but the continent's countries need a better strategy in order to properly reap the benefits, according to an expert. "China knows what it wants from Africa," Ibrahima Diong, Senegal-born former regional co-ordinator for Africa at the World Bank, told CNBC on Friday. "But, most African countries don't have a strategy vis-a-vis China." For Diong, who has served as a China adviser to the Senegalese president and is currently chief executive of consulting firm Africa Consulting & Trading Afrique Group, African countries need to adopt a two-pronged approach to managing China funded-development. African nations must make sure that such projects "will actually boost economic growth on the continent," he said. "If you have energy problems, infrastructure, railways, and yet you go to China to get money to build a stadium I'm not saying it's not important or to build a palace, the question is: who do you blame, the Chinese or actually the country that does not make sure that the support of the investment goes to areas that are actually being productive to the economy?" The second stumbling block for African countries to address is negotiation, Diong said. "They have to make sure that they're actually protecting their interests." Strength comes from African unity, and the collective understanding that, "We are a sizeable market, how do we make sure that we negotiate with China?" he added. Operation Unicorn nuclear test, May 22 1970. Galerie Bilderwelt | Getty Images Artificial intelligence (AI) could potentially result in a nuclear war by 2040, according to a research paper by a U.S. think tank. The paper, by the nonprofit Rand Corporation, warns that AI could erode geopolitical stability and remove the status of nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence. While peace has been maintained for decades due to the notion that any nuclear attack could trigger mutually assured destruction, the potential for AI and machine-learning to decide military actions could mean that the assurance of stability breaks down, Rand researchers warned. The researchers, who based their paper on a series of workshops with experts, said that AI in the future could encourage human actors to make catastrophic decisions. Improvements in sensory technology, for instance, could result in the destruction of retaliatory forces like submarine and mobile missiles. AI could also tempt nations to launch a pre-emptive strike against another nation to gain bargaining power, even if they have no intention of carrying out an attack, researchers said. "Some experts fear that an increased reliance on artificial intelligence can lead to new types of catastrophic mistakes," said Andrew Lohn, co-author of the paper and associate engineer at Rand. "There may be pressure to use AI before it is technologically mature, or it may be susceptible to adversarial subversion. Therefore, maintaining strategic stability in coming decades may prove extremely difficult and all nuclear powers must participate in the cultivation of institutions to help limit nuclear risk." The RAND paper highlights the dangers of the use of AI to take military decisions rather than the threat of autonomous drones and other so-called "killer robots." 1983 nuclear false alarm While the exact composition of North Korea's chemical weapons programs is unknown, it is believed to possess between 2,500 and 5,000 metric tons of chemical weapons and the capacity to produce up to 12,000 metric tons. Among its stockpiles, North Korea is suspected to have nerve agents such as VX and sarin, blister agents such as mustard gas, toxins that attack the blood and respiratory system, as well as crowd control agents. North Korea is also suspected to have supplied chemical weapons to its forward deployed units near the DMZ. In addition to chemical weapons, North Korea also possesses the capability to cultivate biological weapons. According to the South Korean Ministry of Defense, North Korea is capable of cultivating biological agents such as anthrax, small pox, and other pathogens. Other sources have suggested that North Korea can produce pathogens such as cholera, the plague, and dysentery. Although North Korea is a party to the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention, it is not a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention. Any agreement on North Korea's weapons programs should achieve three objectives in relations to Pyongyang's chemical and biological weapons programs. North Korea should make a full declaration of its chemical and biological weapons, it should agree to fully dismantle its programs and not reconstitute them, and it should agree to become a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention. Apple CEO Tim Cook walks to the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Manuel Balce Ceneta | AP An Apple spokesperson was not immediately available for request. The meeting comes at a time of heightened trade tensions between the U.S. and China with technology caught up in the spat. Both countries have proposed import tariffs on each others' products, but the U.S. has been tough on Chinese technology firms. For example, the government banned U.S. firms from providing technology to Chinese firm ZTE. China is a key market for Apple, one that it has struggled in recently and a potential cause for concern from some investors for Apple's upcoming earnings. The meeting also comes a day after Cook attended the state dinner held for French President Emmanuel Macron who is visiting the U.S. "Despite the strong first quarter results, the demand outlook for 2018 mobile device test capacity declined sharply in the quarter and our second quarter guidance reflects that revised outlook," CEO Mark Jagiela said in the release Tuesday. Teradyne , a maker of semiconductor testing equipment, blamed the smartphone market for its disappointing second-quarter sales guidance range of $490 million to $520 million versus the Wall Street consensus of $691 million. On Tuesday multiple chips and parts suppliers said the mobile market is weakening. Evidence pointing to a deteriorating smartphone market is now pervasive across many technology companies. "Apple weakness is the likely culprit for the soft 2Q guide," analyst Weston Twigg wrote in a note to clients Tuesday. "The key point of debate was whether the soft demand for Apple phones was already incorporated into the full-year SoC test outlook provided last quarter; it doesn't appear that it was." In similar fashion, SK Hynix said Tuesday that "weak mobile demand" spurred a sales decline in DRAM memory chips in its financial report. "Overall growth in smartphone sales will stagnate," Sean Kim, head of DRAM marketing at SK Hynix, said, according to Reuters. Corning also revealed its division that makes the glass for many popular smartphones will suffer another sales decline in its second quarter. It posted first-quarter sales of $278 million, down 7 percent year over year, in the company's specialty materials segment, which came in below the Wall Street consensus of $285 million. The company's management characterized the smartphone market as "maturing" and guided to a "similar year-over-year decline" in its second quarter for Corning's specialty materials business during its earnings call Tuesday. The negative comments from technology companies came as Apple shares already declined from a key chip partner's forecast last week. Apple's stock is cumulatively down 8.4 percent in the four trading sessions through Tuesday, wiping out $75.6 billion of shareholder value. The drop was sparked by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's weaker-than-expected guidance Thursday morning. The world's largest semiconductor foundry and Apple supplier said its revenue forecast range for the second quarter is $7.8 billion to $7.9 billion versus the Wall Street estimate of $8.8 billion. The company blamed "weak demand" in the mobile sector for its forecast. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The shares bounced back slightly Wednesday, up about 1.3 percent. Faster production helped Boeing deliver even more airplanes in the first quarter, boosting profits and bringing the company a step closer to its long-term goals for manufacturing efficiency. The strong start to 2018 enabled the aerospace giant to raise its full-year earnings forecast by 50 cents, to a range of $16.40 to $16.60 per share, while maintaining its revenue outlook at a range of $96 billion to $98 billion. Boeing's performance drove "revenue and earnings growth at all three business units," CEO Dennis Muilenburg said in a statement. Shares of Boeing climbed 2 percent in trading Wednesday. Here's how the company did compared with what Wall Street expected: Earnings: $3.64 per share vs. $2.58 per share forecast by Thomson Reuters Revenue: $23.38 billion vs. $22.26 billion forecast by Thomson Reuters In the quarter ended March 31, Boeing said net income rose to $2.48 billion, or $4.15 a share, from $1.58 billion, or $2.54 a share, a year ago. Excluding pension costs, Boeing earned $3.64 a share, outpacing an average analyst estimate of $2.58 a share, according to a Thomson Reuters survey. Revenue rose 6 percent to $23.38 billion from $21.96 billion a year ago, and also topped estimates, which called for $22.26 billion. Boeing is pumping out airplanes at a record pace and aims to keep climbing. Its commercial air division saw first-quarter revenue grow to $13.7 billion, a 5 percent increase from last year. The business delivered 184 airplanes. Muilenburg told CNBC in February that the company expects to be "building more than 900 airplanes a year" by 2020 a rate of about one aircraft every 10 hours. "We see air traffic growing and passenger traffic growing at about 6 percent to 7 percent a year, and that's feeding airplane growth throughout the world," Muilenburg said at the time. In-line with that forecast, Boeing now expects to increase production of its 767 aircraft to 3 per month by 2020. The commercial air division added 221 net orders in the first quarter. It has a backlog of 5,800 aircraft, valued at $415 billion. Boeing's defense and space division saw revenue increase by 13 percent from the same time last year but its order backlog fell to $50 billion, from $63 billion a year ago. The business won a new contract from Kuwait for 28 F-18 fighter jets, as well as made further progress on its delayed KC-46 program and completed the first power-on test of its Starliner spacecraft for NASA's commercial crew program. The global services division saw $3.9 billion in revenue, with growth largely coming from Boeing's commercial services business, the company said. Boeing also raised its estimate for full-year operating cash flow to a range of $15 billion to $15.5 billion. Previously, the company expected $15 billion in cash flow. Boeing's stock stumbled through the first-quarter of 2018, falling about 3 percent. The potential for a trade war between the U.S. and China cast doubt on Boeing's business overseas, although some analysts expect the company's tariff troubles were overblown. Boeing's stock is coming off a stellar run through 2017, when it gained about 108 percent. With control of Congress up for grabs in November, several rich donors are already lining up to spend big in districts they may never even visit, let alone step into the local voting booth. Campaign contributions from these long-distance donors are already flooding into some of the most competitive districts in the country, hoping to sway the outcome of the midterms. Just as much of this campaign cash is coming from just a handful of individuals, the biggest of those donors are concentrated in just a few areas of the country. Carl Icahn, billionaire activist investor, waits for Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, not pictured, to speak at an election night event in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, April 19, 2016. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn says he hasn't spoken with President Donald Trump for months. In a letter published Tuesday in The Washington Post, Icahn said he was concerned about the newspaper's characterization of his relationship with the president in a recent article. "The article seemed to imply that I've been speaking regularly with the president," he said. "I'd like to set the record straight: Neither I nor anyone in my office has spoken with the president or any high-level member of the Trump administration, including Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, regarding government business since August." Icahn resigned from his post as special advisor on regulation to Trump last year, ahead of a critical New Yorker magazine article describing his potential conflicts of interest. In the letter to the editor, Icahn reiterated that his White House departure stemmed from his distaste for partisan backbiting. "While I agree with many of the things his administration has done, I do disagree with others," Icahn wrote. "I simply found the constant drumbeat of vitriol and rhetoric in Washington on both sides of the aisle to be distasteful and a distraction from my busy schedule." "Washington is not for me," Icahn added. Read Icahn's full letter to The Washington Post here. Type 001A, China's second aircraft carrier, is seen during a launch ceremony at a shipyard in Dalian on April 26, 2017. China's first domestically built aircraft carrier is the latest sign that the world's second-largest economy is developing a unified carrier program to secure its interests in nearby and international waters. The new vessel, which doesn't yet have an official name but goes by "Type 001A," is widely expected to undergo its first sea trials soon. It is Beijing's second aircraft carrier and the first to be constructed entirely from scratch. The Liaoning, the country's first, is a former Soviet hull that was built in Ukraine and later refitted by the Chinese. "The Type 001A is a major milestone for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)," researchers at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, said in a note this week. "China is working toward incrementally matching some of the best carrier technology in the world, and the Type 001A is a big step in ... that direction." The new ship is anticipated to be delivered to China's navy by the end of the year, but it could be a few more years until it's ready to be used. The Type 001A isn't considered a major technological breakthrough in itself. It shares similar capabilities as the Liaoning, including comparable propulsion systems and ski jump-style launches for aircraft takeoff. The latter is considered more fuel-intensive and less efficient than the steam catapults used by the U.S. Navy. Brian Niccol's tenure at Chipotle Mexican Grill is off to good start. Shares of the company jumped 10 percent on Wednesday after the company posted better-than-expected earnings, on the back of price hikes, which it began to institute last April. The average check size rose 4.9 percent during the quarter, helped by the higher prices. That was partially offset by fewer transactions in its restaurants. Chipotle initiated the final wave of increases in January, bumping up prices by 5 to 7 percent in markets that did not already see increases in 2017. Wednesday's earnings report marked the first time that Niccol addressed Chipotle investors. He left his post as CEO of Taco Bell to take over the beleaguered burrito brand, inheriting a company that has suffered from a three-year sales slump. The hope is that Niccol, who joined the company on March 5, can revitalize the brand. He has a reputation for marketing and technology innovation, two key areas that have not been a top priority for Chipotle. At Taco Bell, he introduced mobile order and pay, repositioned the Mexican chain as a lifestyle brand and pushed for more ingenuity in the kitchen. During the earnings conference call, Niccol said Chipotle will be focusing heavily on digital, marketing and menu innovation. He told investors that he would share more detail about Chipotle's plan during a call ahead of the second-quarter earnings report. In the first quarter, Chipotle said net income rose to $59.4 million, or $2.13 per share, up from $46.1 million, or $1.60 per share, in the year-earlier period. Analysts had expected Chipotle to report earnings of $1.57 per share, according to Thomson Reuters. Total revenue climbed 7.4 percent to $1.15 billion, in-line with analyst expectations. Same-store sales for the quarter were up 2.2 percent, higher than the 1.3 percent analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. As the company embarks on the next phase of its turnaround under Niccol, investors will want to see if he can boost customer traffic. "One of [customers'] biggest complaints frankly is access to the brand," Niccol said. "The brand is not that convenient." Niccol said that customers want mobile ordering and delivery, but that about half of them don't know that Chipotle is starting to implement these things. The new CEO has already made some changes at the company. Chipotle, which has been slow to promote national television campaigns in the past, has created several light-hearted new ads that focus on the chain's "real" ingredients. Refreshing Chipotle's messaging and image are key components of Niccol's turnaround plans. In particular, he wants to remind customers why they love the brand and its food. While there were some concerns that Niccol would have to compete with Steve Ells, the ex-CEO and founder of the company, who has remained with Chipotle as executive chairman, Ells did not speak during the earnings call. Chipotle maintained its outlook for 2018, which calls for same-store sales to rise at a low-single digit pace. It also expects to open between 130 and 150 new stores. In addition, Chipotle said its board had authorized another $100 million in stock repurchases. A police dashcam video which has gone viral shows Turner, who lives in Tenafly, arriving in her own vehicle just as police were finishing up ticketing the driver for violations that included failure to have a current insurance card, driving an unregistered vehicle and driving with the license plate obscured. Turner, 60, had become increasingly frustrated and angry after police politely declined to discuss in detail why they had pulled over that car, which was being impounded after being found to have an expired registration. "You're an ass," Turner later told the officer, according to a police report released Wednesday. "Look at that smug-ass look on your face." "You may shut the f--- up!" fumed the lobbyist, Caren Turner , at a Tenafly, New Jersey, cop during a March 31 traffic stop of a car in which Turner's daughter had been a passenger. A Washington lobbyist who played a leading role in raising money for Hillary Clinton's presidential runs resigned her commissionership at a top transportation agency after being caught cursing out police on video. The Port Authority operates all three major New York area airports, river crossings between Manhattan and New Jersey, and the World Trade Center site in New York. And she promptly began taking a peremptory tone, dropping names and mentioning her position as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. She also flashed a gold badge from the PA at the cops. Turner, who heads her own government and public affairs firm, was appointed the head of the Port Authority's ethics committee last year by Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican. She has raised money for Republicans and Democrats, and in 2008 served on the national finance committee of Clinton's presidential campaign. Turner did not answer the door at her home on Wednesday when a CNBC reporter knocked. Efforts to reach her by phone for comment were unsuccessful. Her company's webpage notes that she has been described as having "an iron fist in a velvet glove," and that she "advocates winning on the merits of the argument, not the contacts." But she seemed to do just the opposite in the video. "No, don't call me 'miss,' I'm 'commissioner, thank you!' Turner snapped at one of the cops as they stood on the side of a road in broad daylight. "I'm the commissioner of the Port Authority, and I'm heading up over 4,000 police officers." "I'm also an attorney," she sniffed. Turner in short order told police she was there "as a concerned citizen and friend of the mayor" who has "been in Tenafly for 25 years," that she planned on reporting the officers to Tenafly's police commissioner, and that the occupants of the car included grad students at Yale and MIT. She also accused the two officers of having "ruined" the Easter and Passover weekend "of a lot of people" by stopping the car. "I got all your information, sweetheart," Turner told the officer, referring to his name and badge number. "I got your name." "I'm very disappointed in the way you are acting." The officer had several times calmly told Turner that she should ask the driver of the car why police had stopped the car. The cop noted that the driver and passengers were adults. "No, no, no, I need to know," Turner pointedly said when the officer explained that the car's driver had all the information about the stop and could tell her what was going on. At one point, as Turner harangued him, the officer said: "I just don't appreciate your demeanor. You're being very demanding." Later, he asked her to stop walking toward him as he was being forced against the front end of his car to avoid contact with her. When that cop told her she could take her daughter with her, Turner went ballistic. "You may not tell me when to take my kid, you may shut the f--- up!" Turner snapped. A police report about the incident written by one of the officers notes Turner's "condescending tone," and also that "she was attempting to misappropriately use her professional position to gain authority in this situation." Turner later was seen at Tenafly police headquarters speaking to a dispatcher and then a lieutenant, according to the report. Tenafly's police chief later contacted the Port Authority about the incident. The PA's inspector general opened an inquiry into Turner's conduct, which led her to resign last Friday. The Port Authority, in an emailed statement said, "The video speaks for itself. The conduct was indefensible." "The Board takes its recently adopted Code of Ethics for Commissioners extremely seriously and was preparing to form a special committee to review the findings of the Inspector General investigation and take action at this Thursday's Board meeting," the PA said. "Commissioner Turner's resignation was appropriate given her outrageous conduct." The PA was rocked in recent years by the "Bridgegate" scandal in which a Christie staffer and political appointees conspired to create traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey, at the George Washington Bridge. David Samson, the PA's executive director, later pleaded guilty to a crime relating to coercing United Airlines to restart a discontinued flight to South Carolina so Samson could more easily visit his vacation home there. Tenafly's mayor, Peter Rustin, told CNBC that the conduct of Turner, with whom he is friendly, was "unfortunate." "I support my police officers," Rustin said. "I think they did a good job under the circumstances. It was not an easy situation. I think they showed some restraint." New Jersey State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, who had backed Turner's appointment to the Port Authority, said in a prepared statement that "there are no excuses for what transpired" on the video. "Her resignation was appropriate. As was the Port Authority's condemnation of this behavior by a commissioner," said Weinberg, a Democrat. Tenafly Police Chief Robert Chamberlain on Wednesday issued a statement on the incident. "I want to thank and recognize the Port Authority of NY/NJ for their professionalism and prompt attention to the matter," Chamberlain said. "I would like to thank everyone who reached out to the Tenafly Police Department to offer words of praise and commendation for the two officers seen on the dash cam video involving a motor vehicle stop." "The outpouring of support from people across the country has been truly heartfelt. I am extremely proud of the composure, poise and restraint that Officer Savitsky and Officer Casper exhibited that day," Chamberlain said. "I truly believe their professionalism is a representation of the greater law enforcement community and is reflective of new training initiatives to assist law enforcement personnel in similar situations." Additional reporting by Ashley Turner. Facebook reported quarterly earnings and revenue well above expectations on Wednesday, as it made more ad money from each user despite recent scandals. The number of daily users on the platform also appeared to bounce back, indicating steady engagement despite backlash surrounding the leak of personal information to firms such as Cambridge Analytica. Shares jumped about 6 percent after the results were released. Here's how the company did: Earnings per share: $1.69 adjusted vs. $1.35 expected by a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate Revenue: $11.97 billion vs. $11.4 billion expected by a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate Daily active users: 1.45 billion vs. 1.45 billion expected by a StreetAccount estimate Monthly active users: 2.2 billion vs. 2.2 billion expected by a StreetAccount estimate A year ago, Facebook reported adjusted EPS of $1.04 on revenue of $8.03 billion. The quarterly results also emphasized Facebook's ongoing hiring investments and expansion into mobile. Mobile ad revenue is now 91 percent of the total, and headcount increased 48 percent year over year to 27,742. But CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a conference call that the company is investing "heavily" on safety and security, including workers with language skills for detecting hate speech, and tools for verifying government IDs ahead of elections in the U.S. and abroad by the end of the year. "Beyond the investments we're making to secure our platform, we're going to invest even more in building the experiences that bring people together on Facebook in the first place," Zuckerberg said. Early signs point to little financial impact of Cambridge Analytica data leak It's still early, but Wednesday's report showed that advertisers weren't too deterred by the latest negative press about Facebook: Ad revenue jumped 50 percent from the year-ago period. The average revenue per user hit $5.53, better than the $5.35 expected by analysts surveyed by StreetAccount. Facebook's financial results for the quarter that ended March 31 reflected the early reaction to a bombshell New York Times report published March 17. That report and subsequent media reports revealed that third-party firms, including Cambridge Analytica, may have kept and sold personal Facebook user data, even though Facebook thought the data were deleted. The revelations, alongside changing privacy regulations in Europe, have cast doubt on Facebook's business model of targeted advertising. Zuckerberg said Facebook is still proud of its business model. And based on key measures followed by Wall Street, Facebook's usership, margins and capital expenditures were little affected by the outcry, at least for the first few weeks. Capex results: $2.81 billion vs. $2.86 billion expected by a StreetAccount estimate Operating margin: 46 percent vs. 41 percent a year ago Usership: Up 13 percent from a year ago Facebook had already planned serious changes to its business headed into the first quarter, Zuckerberg said, and plans to continue taking a "broader view" on its responsibility and is focused on "moving forward." In January, the company said it has been adding workers to boost security and said it now has 14,000 dedicated to site operations, or roughly double a year ago. Changes to favor quality engagement on the platform reduced the amount of time users spent on its social network by 50 million hours a day in the quarter, or 5 percent. Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that the changes are "working" and that some types of sharing and engagement are up, even if the passive views of videos on Facebook are down. He also said 200 million people are members of "meaningful" groups, a figure he hopes will continue to double for the next few years. Outlook The first drone ship has joined the U.S. Navy's fleet and now nearly every element of it has become classified. The first warship to traverse open waters without a single crew member recently joined the U.S. Navy's fleet after eight years of development and testing. And now nearly every element of the vehicle, known as the Sea Hunter, has become classified. "About all I can tell you is that it has transitioned from [the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] to the Navy, and that's a success in the world of science and technology," said Rear Adm. Nevin Carr. "And that's a good thing, because that means that there's a there there." Carr talked to CNBC about the vessel's status shift during the Sea-Air-Space conference, the largest maritime expo in the United States. He is uniquely familiar with Sea Hunter since he oversaw its testing as chief of the Office of Naval Research and its current development as Leidos vice president and Navy strategic account executive. Leidos is the sole defense contractor helping to engineer the vessel. The product of 'mad science' The concept for the unmanned vessel was born in 2010 out of the Pentagon's so-called mad science wing, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. The Pentagon's request from DARPA was colossal: Develop a drone warship capable of hunting submarines, detecting torpedoes and avoiding objects at sea while traveling at a top speed of 27 knots, or 31 mph. Six years later, the crewless, 140-ton, 132-foot-long robotic ship, was christened as Sea Hunter on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. "The project is classic DARPA, not only game-changing but paradigm-bending," Paul Scharre writes in "Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War." "Sleek and angular, it looks like something time-warped in from the future," adds Scharre, a former U.S. Army Ranger and senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. "With a long narrow hull and two outriggers, the Sea Hunter carves the oceans like a three-pointed dagger, tracking enemy submarines." On hand for the ship's 2016 christening was then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, who referred to the vessel's narrow bow as a "Klingon Bird of Prey" from the "Star Trek" series. "This will operate wherever the United States Navy operates," Work told reporters after the ceremony. "It can operate in the South China Sea. It can operate in the Baltic Sea. It can operate in the Persian Gulf. And it can operate in the middle of the Atlantic or the middle of the Pacific." "These will be everywhere," he added. After its unveiling in 2016, Sea Hunter was transferred to the Navy for nearly two years of testing off the coast of California. Since the drone ships' inception, the Navy and Leidos have been hesitant to provide updates on its future role. A fraction of the cost of a destroyer Attorney Bryan Steil, a former driver for House Speaker Paul Ryan, announces he is running to succeed Ryan in Congress, Sunday, April 22, 2018, in Janesville, Wis. The Republican frontrunner in the race to fill House Speaker Paul Ryan's seat in Wisconsin's 1st District raised more than $250,000 during the first week of his campaign. Bryan Steil, who used to work as Ryan's legislative aide, announced the rapid fundraising haul in an email to supporters. "We came out of the gates hard," Steil said in the email. "In just one week, we have raised over $250,000 and received an outpouring of support from across the district that is incredibly encouraging. We are just getting started." A Steil campaign official confirmed the announcement to CNBC. Steil entered the fray after Ryan announced earlier this month that he would not seek re-election to the seat he has held for two decades. The nonpartisan elections-analysis site Sabato's Crystal Ball called the race a "toss-up" after the speaker's announcement. Steil's deep family roots in Wisconsin make him an ideal recruit for those looking to counter emboldened Democrats looking to flip the seat. Both Steil's father and grandfather were private attorneys who worked with clients across the Badger State. Republicans see Steil's immediate impact with donors as a sign of even better things to come. "I don't recall a race in Wisconsin almost at any level where out of the gate, a week after the announcement, that a candidate had raised $250,000. That is an amazing pace," Brandon Scholz, a veteran Republican strategist in Wisconsin, told CNBC. "For a campaign with the speed of this coming together, it means that they will continue move forward and enjoy more support." Going into his campaign announcement Sunday, Steil had been courting some of the state's top donors and laying the ground work for a run for office. He also met with members of the Wisconsin state GOP delegation. Steil currently is the general counsel and secretary at Charter NEX Films Inc., an independent producer of polyethylene film used for food and consumer packaging. He also is on the University of Wisconsin System's board of regents. Steil serves as the first vice chairman on the Rock County Republican board. The largest town in the county is Janesville, home of the Ryan family. Ryan has yet to endorse anyone running for his seat, but left the door open to getting involved with the election process within his home district. During a recent speech in Madison, Wis., Ryan said he will wait until after the filing deadline passes in June to decide whether he will support a candidate. The primary is slated for Aug. 14. French President Emmanuel Macron reacts to a standing ovation after addressing a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress April 25, 2018 in Washington, DC. Macron's call to "re-invent" cooperative approaches to international problems offered a point-by-point rebuttal to President Donald Trump 's "America First" insularity. Instead of wiping away national identities, Macron argued, "strong multilateralism will allow our cultures and identities to be respected." "But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world," he added. "I'm convinced that if we decide to open our eyes wider we will be stronger, we will overcome the dangers, we will not let the rampaging work of extreme nationalism shake a world full of hopes for greater prosperity." "We can choose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism," Macron said in the well of the House of Representatives. "It can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy to our fears. But French President Emmanuel Macron has seized it with words just the same. He underscored that with his speech to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday, which got a warm bipartisan reception even as it challenged the American host he calls "dear Donald" Trump. There's no election for leadership of the "liberal world order" the U.S.-constructed system of laws and values underpinning American prosperity since World War II. The French president warned that trade wars, rather than trade deals, "destroy jobs" and raise prices for the middle class. He appealed to the U.S. to rejoin the Paris climate accord and create a "low-carbon economy" because "there is no Planet B." He said remaining with America's allies in the Iran nuclear deal, at least until some replacement is negotiated, is the best path for fighting terrorism, preserving peace and avoiding nuclear proliferation. Reaction from lawmakers was far more positive than anyone could have predicted during the Bush-era estrangement of France and the U.S. over the Iraq War. It packed all the more punch following his public displays of warmth and friendship with Trump during the first state visit of the new American presidency. "A strong speech," said conservative Alabama Rep. Bradley Byrne, although like other Republicans he disagrees with Macron on the climate accord and Iran deal. In its uplifting tone and invocation of shared values, the speech evoked the 2004 convention address that helped turn then little-known Barack Obama into the leader of the Democratic Party. Macron did not call out Trump by name, just as Obama then did not call out Republican President George W. Bush. Both punctuated their speeches with an "I believe" peroration appealing to hope over fear. "Against cynicism, trust and good faith," Macron said. He cast "intelligently regulated market economies" as the path for preserving globalization's benefits while reducing the destabilizing inequality it has caused at the same time. There's reason to doubt that Macron's combination of flattering personal diplomacy and idealistic rhetoric can nudge the Trump administration in his direction. His top near-term goal is persuading the White House not to scuttle the Iran nuclear deal next month. Last year, he failed on a similar mission to convince Trump to remain in the Paris climate deal. Yet Macron offered momentary comfort to foreign policy veterans of past administrations the "establishment" Trump has disdained who fear for the future of institutions such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. Richard Haass, a former aide to both presidents Bush who now runs the Council on Foreign Relations, recently wrote an essay declaring "Liberal World Order, R.I.P." due to Trumpism and other threats. With Britain's Theresa May enmeshed in Brexit and Germany's Angela Merkel hobbled politically, Haass welcomed Macron's spirited defense. "It was refreshing to hear that from a French leader, and disappointing that we don't hear it from an American leader," he said. "The President of France is the de facto leader of the West." Many in Greenland see its future as independent from Denmark Greenland's 40,000 eligible voters delivered a bittersweet election victory for Prime Minister Kim Kielsen's social-democratic Siumut party Tuesday, as it lost ground to centrist rivals. With only one international airport and no roads connecting the territory's 17 towns, dog sleds were used to carry ballots to polling stations across the vast island. According to Greenland's government, some fishermen travelled 93 miles to deliver ballot papers to a remote town. As Kielsen began coalition talks with left-wing parties Wednesday, Greenland's politicians must tackle more problematic questions about the future of the sparsely populated Arctic nation. A brittle economy and independence from Denmark were among the most pressing issues for Greenland's 54,000 residents in the election. Greenland has been self-governing with its own parliament since 2009, 30 years after Denmark granted it autonomy. Despite having abundant natural resources across its 811,000 mile squared land mass, Greenland relies on 3.6 billion Danish kroner ($591 million) of subsidies annually some 60 percent of its annual budget. Splitting from Denmark would relegate Greenland to the lowly status as one of the poorest European nations, with its $2.2 billion gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015 on a par with San Marino. By comparison, Liechtenstein's $6.6 billion GDP outshines Greenland. Secessionist movements are looking to grab the moment in other Danish territories. Republicans in the Faroe Islands want a full divorce from Denmark, which controls the island's standing on foreign relations and currency. The Faroe Island votes Wednesday in a referendum to decide whether to implement a new constitution to pave the way towards independence. Ana Andrade, Greenland Analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, believes a close relationship between Denmark and Greenland could be fruitful for both regions. "Independence has always been a recurring theme in politics in Greenland. Nevertheless, the central questions debated are not if independence should be pursued, but rather how fast and under what terms," said Andrade. "Most political parties share the long-term goal of independence (with a few exceptions), but only the nationalist Partii Naleraq has put a specific year (2021) for independence to be achieved." Social issues also represent another major hurdle for politicians. Greenland has one of the world's highest suicide rates, especially among the indigenous Inuit population struggling to balance tensions between a traditional way of life and modernity. According to a study by the International Journal of Circumpolar Health, suicide rates dramatically increased between 1960 and 1980 as rapid infrastructure developments and an influx of Danish workers changed communities. Suicide rates in Greenland are seven times higher than in the U.S. Any hope of independence is balanced on tackling its health issues and one of the largest sectors in Greenland's economy fishing and mining uranium. Adarde believes that boosting the economy through exploiting its natural resources could provide the platform it needs for independence. "A new government means that we should see important decisions being agreed in these areas, which could contribute to the economic boost Greenland needs to pave the way for its independence from Denmark," she said. Bruce McGuire, the president of the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association, was holding court at a cocktail reception at Greenwich harbour late last year when he spotted one of his security detail milling about. Mr McGuire gently advised the guard that it would be best if he stayed outside. The guard shook his head. He wasn't working for the association, he explained. He had been hired by one of the speakers, an executive at one of the largest hedge funds in the world. Greenwich, Connecticut historically one of the richest towns in the US may not seem like the kind of place where security guards are needed for a networking event. But Connecticut's hedge fund managers are jittery. "They're not feeling welcome," says Stephen Candland, a Greenwich-based partner at Angela Mortimer, a recruitment firm that finds staff for hedge fund managers. "It is not [yet] a mass exodus, because the quality of life in Greenwich is still so high. They are not looking to leave but they are being compelled to leave. Connecticut is desperate for tax revenue, and when you're desperate for money, you have to go where the money is, that's the hedge fund community." Greenwich has become a touchstone for campaigners like the Hedge Clippers, an activist group calling for an end to income inequality, which has targeted previous gatherings of Mr McGuire's group. The growing divide in Connecticut is most apparent between the wealthy suburbs and the poorer cities like Hartford, the state capital which is on the brink of bankruptcy, and Bridgeport, an industrial city just up the coast from Greenwich. The Democrat-controlled state has the second-highest rate of income inequality in the US, only beaten by New York, according to the Economic Policy Institute. And Fairfield County, where Greenwich and many hedge funds are located, is the most unequal region in the state. In Connecticut, the income level of families in the top one per cent is 73.7 times that of families in the bottom 99 per cent. These numbers go some way to explaining why the industry is facing such intense scrutiny. Local lawmakers need to find new sources of income to alleviate the state's budget crisis created by years of overspending and an over reliance on tax dollars from the finance sector. Connecticut has raised income tax three times in the past decade, but now, struggling to meet its pension and healthcare obligations to state workers and facing a projected deficit of $240m for this financial year alone, it is under pressure to find a solution. Marquee companies, most recently General Electric, have shifted their headquarters away from the state, denting tax revenue and hitting property prices. "Connecticut has a legitimate budget crisis," says Michael Kink, executive director of the Strong for All coalition that campaigns for an end to inequality, and a member of the Hedge Clippers. "They've talked about closing schools, closing firehouses; this, while hedge fund managers are buying art at Christie's or Sotheby's for $100m a pop while paying less tax than teachers, is outrageous." Campaigners have seized on the so-called carried interest loophole, which allows hedge fund and private equity managers to claim their share of the profits as a capital gain for tax purposes, rather than at the higher income tax rate. Donald Trump vowed to close the loophole while campaigning for the US presidency, but it was not included in his federal tax plan. Mr Kink last month gave evidence to the state legislature's banking committee in support of a proposed bill calling for the creation of a task force to study the "effect of federal tax reform on hedge funds and investment management firms in the state". Its backers hope the bill will provide a mechanism for implementing tax increases on hedge funds and private equity firms by charging them an extra levy at the state level, until the federal loophole is closed. They estimate that would mean an additional 17 per cent tax on managers who take advantage of the loophole, raising an annual $519m in tax dollars. But increasing a tax on an industry made up of small firms that are wealthy and mobile would just force hedge funds to migrate, says Mr McGuire, who has successfully lobbied against similar legislation in the past. He adds: "There are other cities that would love to have what we have here." Greenwich, nestled in the south-west corner of Connecticut, has for many years been a wealthy enclave, beginning in the late 1800s and early 1900s when the town was flooded with New Yorkers seeking a summer escape. In the 1920s, the wealthiest city dwellers families like the Rockefellers and the Milbanks competed to build the most lavish homes on the largest swaths of land. Bordered by the Long Island Sound to its south, and the state of New York to the north and west, the town is a 45-minute train ride to Manhattan. Its 32-mile shoreline is dotted with private beaches, ocean-facing estates and yacht harbours. In the late 1990s, the area began to attract hedge fund managers seeking the quiet of the suburbs: a place to dock their boats and purchase secluded mansions. It was made more attractive by the low income tax rate that could be gained by crossing over the border from New York state. By the mid-2000s, the hedge fund boom was at its height, with Greenwich office rents going through the roof. But since the financial crisis, the funds have struggled to match previous returns, and the state's economy has faltered. In numbers: Connecticut's hedge funds 214 Hedge fund managers operate in Connecticut, although the growth in the number being launched has slowed. Of that total, 82 are based in Greenwich 17% In additional tax campaigners say should be levied to make up for a loophole that allows hedge fund and private equity managers to claim their share of profits as a capital gain for tax purposes, rather than at the higher income tax rate. $379bn Of investors' money is handled by the state's hedge fund industry Although the state's income tax rate has slowly crept up peaking at 6.99 per cent in 2015 it is still lower than the 8.82 per cent for the highest earners in New York state. And Connecticut remains third, only to New York and California, in terms of the number of hedge funds operating there, according to Preqin data, managing $379bn of investor's money. But while in New York and California the number of active hedge funds has grown by the hundreds over the past five years, Connecticut has remained flat. The number of new hedge fund launches in the state, a key indicator in an industry where openings and closures are commonplace, has also shrunk from 73 in 2015 to 29 last year. Miami and Palm Beach in Florida are making a push to attract hedge funds, and with no income tax in the state, many managers are starting to see the attraction, says Mr Candland. "I have neighbours who work for hedge funds who are relocating there," he says. "The reason people didn't go sooner is because you couldn't get the talent you needed, and that was partly because the school system wasn't great for their kids . . . Harvard, UPenn [university of Pennsylvania] and Columbia weren't there yet." Since then, he adds, the taxes have become so favourable that the hedge fund managers are starting to feel foolish for not giving Florida more consideration: "several new impressive schools have sprung up". Mr McGuire is uneasy about the departures. Paul Tudor Jones, who moved to Florida in 2016 and opened an office in Palm Beach, sold his hedge fund's campus in the backwoods of Greenwich last year, moving to a smaller office in Stamford as the fund shed staff amid a fall in returns. Edward Lampert, the founder of ESL Investments, left Greenwich in 2012 for Miami; and Barry Sternlicht, chairman and chief executive officer of Starwood Capital, left the state for Florida in 2016 while declaring Greenwich the worst housing market in the US. "You can't give away a house in Greenwich," he said at the time. Thomas Peterffy, the billionaire founder of Interactive Brokers, also left for Florida. His 80-acre estate in Greenwich, the largest in the town, sat on the market for more than two years. With an initial price tag of $65m, the home eventually sold for $21m. "Instead of finding creative ways to make their life more difficult, why don't you find creative ways to attract new funds to Connecticut?" asks Mr McGuire, a former banker who launched the association in 2004. The state's residents will also take a hit from Mr Trump's changes to the federal tax code, which introduced a $10,000 cap on the amount of deductions that could be claimed on state and local income and property taxes. Connecticut granted tax incentives to the two largest hedge funds in the state AQR and Bridgewater in 2016, worth $35m and $22m, respectively, a move met with public uproar. But one the state justified on the grounds that the finance and insurance industry contributed 11 per cent to its gross domestic product in 2016. "It has been relatively flat but we think it's a very important industry here," says Catherine Smith, commissioner at Connecticut's department of economic and community development. "When you talk to these funds, they love being in Connecticut because of the talent here, because of the access to the big markets. And they have absolutely been able to run their businesses at a lower cost." The impact of the departures not just for Florida but of other finance workers who have lost their Wall Street jobs to automation can be seen in house prices across Greenwich. According to data from Miller Samuel, a real estate appraisal firm, and Douglas Elliman, a real estate brokerage, sales of single family homes in the town in the first quarter of 2018 were down 22.2 per cent from the previous year. One of the town's zip codes, 06831, ranked the 65th-wealthiest district in the country in 2010, had slipped 300 places by last year with the median sales price dropping from $1.1m to $895,000 over the same period, according to data from PropertyShark. "I would short Greenwich real estate if I could," says one fund manager who lives in the town and asked not to be named. Ms Smith insists the state has been "quietly pursuing" the industry to encourage companies to stay. "If you look over the last couple of years, while there have been bills introduced, there has been no increase [in taxes]," says Ms Smith. "There is interest in this industry around the state, because they know hedge funds are in part responsible for paying the bills around here." Mr Kink describes the idea that funds will flee the state to avoid higher taxes as "really overblown". GE announced in 2016 it would shift its headquarters from Fairfield, Connecticut to Boston. "They moved to Massachusetts Taxachussetts!" he says, referring to the neighbouring state's nickname for its high taxes. GE cited the state's spend on research and development, Boston's 55 colleges and universities and its "diverse, technologically fluent workforce" as the reasons behind its relocation. "That's the kind of things that business is looking for," Mr Kink says. "A non-self-interested analysis of hedge funds will show they mostly succeed and prosper where there's an area of super-talented and educated people quants, traders, researchers and where there's also a lot of money to invest." "States can ask ultra-wealthy people to pay their fair share; they aren't now," he adds. "We think the state's economy will do better as a whole if they do." The bill to create a tax task force, introduced in February, narrowly won support in the state's banking committee, gaining all of the votes from Democratic lawmakers and none from Republicans. If it passes the state senate, it would then face a vote in the house. The issue could also play into November's gubernatorial election, which is likely to be dominated by the state's finances. One of the latest candidates to join the race is David Stemerman, a Greenwich resident and founder of the hedge fund Conatus Capital, who declared his candidacy standing in front of the former GE headquarters in Fairfield last month, vowing he was the right person to fix the state's budget. For Mr Kink, the activist, the decision for the politicians is clear: "As dire as things are in Connecticut right now, if there is a crash, they need to move quickly. I think it's going to be much easier to tax a hedge fund billionaire than to fire hundreds of kindergarten teachers." More from the Financial Times: These hedge fund numbers can't be right Netflix performance burns hedge fund short sellers A complex analysis reaches same conclusion as simple one: hedge funds suck In the hunt for high dividend yields in the , there are winners and losers. Philip Morris lives in the second camp, according to one market watcher. "The stock has broken down badly," Matt Maley, equity strategist at Miller Tabak, told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Tuesday. Recent sell-offs in the stock have pushed it to break below critical support levels, he says, and its technicals suggest more downside ahead. "It made a key lower low [Tuesday], breaking below its 2016 lows. But not only that, it has broken below its trend line going all the way back to the credit crisis lows back in 2009. So this is a double whammy for the stock," said Maley. Philip Morris gapped sharply lower a week ago after missing quarterly revenue estimates. The tobacco industry as a whole has been under pressure since mid-March when the Food and Drug Administration floated setting a cap on nicotine levels in cigarettes. Its sharp pullback could set up a near-term bounce, but Maley says to avoid those alluring shows of strength. "It's a little oversold on a near-term basis so it might bounce," he said. "But, this is a broken chart and this would be one I would sell on any kind of strength, any kind of near-term strength." The tobacco company's 22 percent drop for the year has pushed it into oversold territory. Its relative strength index has dipped to a reading of 20, below the 30 level that delineates normal and oversold conditions. A reading above 70 implies overbought levels and below 30 implies oversold. Philip Morris aside, there are some solid picks among the highest-yielding stocks in the S&P 500, according to Maley. BP, for one, looks to have some upside ahead. "The stock has seen a nice rally, a series of higher highs and higher lows, and made an important higher high above its January highs of this year," Maley said. "More importantly, it's above its trend line going all the way back to 2007, so you break a 10-year trend line and make a nice higher high, that's a very bullish sign." This year's rally in oil prices has supported BP and its energy peers. BP shares have increased 4 percent in 2018 and currently sit 11 percent above a 200-day moving average. "A little overbought near term but there's a stock I'd want to buy on weakness, rather than sell on strength," said Maley. Judging by activity in the options market, both Philip Morris' and BP's dividends look like a safe bet for now, said Stacey Gilbert, market strategist at Susquehanna Financial Group. "There does not seem to be any concern right now, at least in the going out a year within the options space, that these companies are going to cut their dividends," Gilbert told "Trading Nation" on Tuesday. "We're not seeing, at least anything in terms of market positioning, currently that these yields are at risk for the actual dividend payments themselves." Philip Morris has a dividend yield of 5.2 percent, higher than the S&P 500's average 1.9 percent. It has increased its dividend five times over the past five years. Meanwhile, BP's dividend yield is 5.4 percent and the company has raised it three times in five years. In the third installment of CNBC Make It's new series HR Confidential, a New York-based human resources professional with nearly five years of experience tells Ruth Umoh about a violent confrontation when an employee referred to a transgender co-worker by the wrong pronoun. The below is told in the HR pro's own words, and has been edited for length and clarity. The scenario: I was working in corporate HR for a retail company that had a bunch of small boutique stores. One of those stores employed a transgender woman who asked to be referred to as "she" and "her." In that same store, there was a co-worker who could not seem to comprehend that the transgender employee wanted to be called by those preferred gender pronouns. The co-worker kept slipping up and referring to the woman as "him" and "he." This happened consistently for many weeks and the transgender woman was becoming very upset. One Friday evening, the co-worker once again referred to the transgender employee with the incorrect gender pronoun. At the time, the transgender woman happened to be slicing soap so there was a knife in her hand. She just lost it. The transgender employee clenched the knife, lifted it up to the co-worker and threatened her, saying she was going to kill her for calling her the wrong pronoun. I requested that both employees be sent home through the weekend. Anonymous HR manager The co-worker immediately reached for a phone and called the cops. The police were initially going to arrest the transgender employee but the co-worker decided not to press charges. She did, however, obtain a restraining order against the transgender woman. I received a call about this incident late Friday evening. Because I observe Shabbat, my phone was turned off. When I finally heard what happened later that night, I panicked. I requested that both employees be sent home through the weekend, which gave me time to get all the information that I could from the police. Over the next two days, I began to unravel the situation and figure out what had happened. Luckily, the death threat occurred around 6 p.m. when there weren't any customers in the store. However, there had been prior incidents during which the two employees had engaged in full-blown arguments with customers present. The solution: We brought the transgender woman into the corporate office on Monday to hear her side of the story. She talked about how difficult her life is: She'd been disowned by her family, left out on the streets and had to do horrific things just to make money and stay alive. Mistakes do happen. Anonymous HR manager She told us that this altercation stems from the pain that she's been through and that the reason she's so defensive is because she has so much pent-up anger. She also said it's unfair that she felt unsafe in her workplace and that she shouldn't have to defend her job and identity. Despite all of these sensitivities and after hearing her rationale, we just had to let her go. At the end of the day, she threatened another employee with a knife. The lesson: The main question for us was, 'Well, if there's a restraining order and they both work for the company, what's our responsibility?' Coupled with the physical altercation, we told the transgender employee that we, unfortunately, could not continue to employ her. However, what we tried to explain to her is that we hear her personal story, we don't judge her for her personal story and we think that she has every right to be upset. But the main issue was how she dealt with the problem when she became upset. For that, we had to let her go. We also spoke with the co-worker whose life was threatened. She told us that she didn't mean to be ignorant, for lack of a better word. She said she was an open-minded person but she just wasn't familiar with the transgender community. The secret is out. Goats are not stupid. They're not mean. They don't even stink. They're actually intelligent, friendly, and soft. At least that's the case with the baby goats which jump on the backs of paying customers attending Original Goat Yoga classes in Corvallis, Oregon. Downward Dog, meet upright goat. People actually pay $35 to do yoga in a barn with goats. Lainey Morse started Original Goat Yoga in 2016. CNBC It's surprisingly relaxing to feel a couple of small animals jump up onto your back while you're trying to maintain something difficult, like a plank position. The little goats' hooves provide a bit of a massage as they move to keep their balance. It makes you giggle, and it certainly takes your mind off the yoga. "I never lived in a spot where I could have goats," says owner Lainey Morse. "I wanted them my whole life." So a few years ago she bought some property, purchased a copy of "Raising Goats for Dummies" (a real book), and took possession of her first two goats. She now has a small herd. But goat yoga? Really? In her first year of business, 2016, Morse made $160,000 in revenue. This year she expects to double that figure and finally be profitable. Moving the business into the black took longer than this 46-year-old accidental entrepreneur expected. "I just didn't think it would be six figures in expenses," she says. More on that in a moment. An idea is born of heartache The idea of marrying yoga and goats came about in what Morse calls "a series of serendipity moments" that followed some not so pleasant ones. She got divorced, and then she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. "I was super depressed," she says. Morse found solace on the farm: "I would go out every day and spend time with my goats." She dubbed that special time "Goat Happy Hour," and she began inviting people over. You never know what it means when something goes viral, but it feels like a roller coaster going 100 miles an hour, and you can't get off, Morse said. CNBC Morse's friends found the goats a stress reliever. One guest was a yoga instructor. "We're standing out in my field, and it's just beautiful with the mountain views, and the goats all standing around us," she says. The friend told her they should have a yoga class there. Morse replied, "'Okay, but the goats are going to be all over the humans." The friend's reaction? "Cool." Lainey Morse had been working in marketing, so she used her PR skills and took some photos of that first goat yoga class, sending them to Modern Farmer. "Within a few minutes, they contacted me and said, 'We have got to do a story on this.'" The story came out and changed her life. "You never know what it means when something goes viral, but it feels like a roller coaster going 100 miles an hour, and you can't get off." By the time Morse had the business fully up and running, "I had over 2,300 people on the wait list." She started listing classes on Facebook, and "realized I can't have 400 people on my farm showing up for goat yoga." She soon came up with a registration platform to bring order to the process. CNBC The business grew so quickly that Morse left her marketing job in November 2017. "I'd be in the office, and I'd say, 'I have to go to the bathroom,' or, 'I have to go to the bank,' and I'd go down the street and do a media interview," she says. "It was just taking over my life, and finally my boss was like, 'Listen, this is not working.'" Leaving a job with a secure paycheck and medical benefits was scary. "Everyone thinks I'm an international whack job," she laughs. That said, a friend loaned Morse $75,000 to get the business going and cover some bills. "I figured it would take me about $50,000 in expenses," she says, "and it's actually ended up about triple that." The big mistake Morse admits she spent way too much money trying to trademark "Goat Yoga." Her application was repeatedly denied. "They said it's too generic, it's like hot yoga," she explains. She grew frustrated as other operations calling themselves "goat yoga" popped up around the country, operations which she believes are circus-like compared to the farm experience she provides. "I get attacked by animal activists a lot, because they think I'm associated with those other people," she says. "That's the hard part, because I could have gone after them and they would've had to change their name [from 'goat yoga']. Now I can't, and that was really hard for me." But it's not a complete loss. Morse changed the name of her company to Original Goat Yoga, and she succeeded in trademarking the logo she created showing a goat in a lotus position. "I have a full line of merchandise," she says. There were other big expenses along the way, like spending thousands of dollars on tents to protect outdoor sessions during inclement weather, only to see the tents destroyed in wind storms. She also had to buy special mats for customers because the goats would eat (or poop on) yoga mats people brought themselves. Then there was the need for insurance, because even though Morse says none of her goats has ever attacked anyone, she knew she had to protect herself. "It took a really long time to find liability insurance," she says. "I got turned down six times." When someone finally agreed to cover her for about $1,200 a year, "We went out and celebrated, because I knew it's 'go time.'" Nigerian Dwarfs People have come from as far as Japan and Australia for Morse's classes just to meet the goats. Morse uses Nigerian Dwarf goats, miniature animals which max out at 30 to 40 pounds. CNBC President of Iran Hassan Rouhani addresses during the cabinet meeting in Tehran, Iran on December 31, 2017. Iran's president poured scorn on Wednesday on U.S. and European discussions over Tehran's nuclear agreement, and dismissed Donald Trump as a "tradesman" who lacked the qualifications to deal with a complex international pact. Hassan Rouhani spoke after French President Emmanuel Macron flew to Washington to try to persuade Trump not to scrap the 2015 agreement under which Iran curbed its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. "They say that with the certain leader of a European country we want to make a decision about a seven-sided agreement," Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state TV. "For what? With what right?" he added. He reserved particular scorn for the U.S. president, who has called the agreement one of the worst deals ever negotiated and has threatened to restore U.S. sanctions next month unless what he sees as severe flaws are fixed. "You don't have any background in politics. You don't have any background in law. You don't have any background on international treaties," Rouhani said. "How can a tradesman, a merchant, a building constructor, a tower constructor make judgments about international affairs," he added referring to Trump's career as a property developer. The other powers that signed the agreement with Iran Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France have all said they want to preserve it. Many in the West see it as the best hope of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb and heading off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. In a bid to salvage the deal while satisfying Trump's call for tougher action, Macron's has proposed that the United States and Europe block any Iranian nuclear activity until 2025 and beyond, address Iran's ballistic missile program and generate conditions for a political solution to contain Iran in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks with Trump in Washington later in the week. Senior Iranian officials have said repeatedly that Iran's ballistic missile program is not up for negotiation. We all know Jay Leno has a love for cars, but can he push the speed limit? The 200 mph club is a small pool but the kind of club you want to be included in if you're a real car enthusiast. Hitting that speed might seem like a small feat these days, but there are under 50 cars in the world that can push this high-speed limit and push it well. On an upcoming episode of "Jay Leno's Garage," Jay visits General Motors' Milford Proving Ground in Michigan, the first proving ground in the U.S. and the world. Created by Albert Sloan in 1924, the grounds were a place to test cars in controlled conditions without the worry of oncoming traffic. Now, with technological advances, cars are becoming extremely fast, and this proving ground is a great place to test your need for speed. The company behind the popular e-cigarette Juul said Wednesday it wants to help stop minors from using its products. The announcement came one day after federal regulators opened the door to taking enforcement action against the company. The e-cigarette has become so popular among teens it's acquired its own verb: "Juuling." Schools around the country have started training parents and installing vaping detectors in bathrooms to try to stop young people from using the e-cigarettes. Juul Labs said Wednesday it will invest $30 million over three years to fund independent research, youth and parent education and community engagement efforts. It will also support state and federal initiatives to raise the tobacco-buying age to 21. The company will work with Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, public officials and others interested in tobacco control to develop a framework to research the scientific and societal implications of vapor products. In a statement, Juul Labs CEO Kevin Burns said the company's mission is to eliminate cigarettes and help more than 1 billion smokers switch to a better alternative. "At the same time, we are committed to deterring young people, as well as adults who do not currently smoke, from using our products. We cannot be more emphatic on this point: No young person or non-nicotine user should ever try (Juul)," he said. The initiative does not cover the most scrutinized aspect of Juul: the product itself. Critics argue flavors like "creme brulee" attract kids and mask the fact that one pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. The device, which is as small as a flash drive, is easy to hide from parents. Dollar sales of Juul have soared 710 percent over the past year, according to Nielsen data compiled by Wells Fargo. The brand captured more than half of the $2 billion e-cigarette market in the four-week period ended March 24. Public health officials and lawmakers have urged the Food and Drug Administration to take some sort of action. The FDA issued a letter on Tuesday to Juul Labs asking for a slew of company materials, including marketing documents, research on whether certain products' design features, ingredients or specifications appeal to different age groups. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb also announced the agency has started an undercover campaign to see whether retailers are illegally selling to minors. So far, it's issued 40 warning letters. Juul said it will call on social media sites to remove content showing or encouraging minors using the e-cigarette and call on online shopping pages to remove Juul products when they don't require age verification. The company also plans to build on its existing secret shopper program and give retailers educational information on the negative effects of kids using nicotine. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids President Matthew Myers said Juul's actions aren't a substitute for effective regulation. The organization and a handful of others recently sued the FDA for delaying a rule that would require e-cigarettes to seek regulatory approval. "History has shown over and over again that voluntary action by tobacco manufacturers doesn't work," Myers said in a statement. "It is not a substitute for effective government regulation of the manufacturing, marketing and sale of tobacco products to protect public health and keep kids from using them." The revelation was confirmed by the CEO of its affiliate LendEDU. The name of the founder of The Student Loan Report, quoted by many major publications, is phony. A spokesman cited in publications, including a CNBC story in March about students using their financial aid money to invest in cryptocurrencies, is a fake, the CEO of a partner website has admitted. Nate Matherson, CEO of student loan refinancing company, LendEDU, said he started The Student Loan Report studentloans.net in 2016. Its stated mission is "to provide unbiased coverage on the latest student loan news and information." The "author and founder" of the news site, Drew Cloud, has been quoted in stories by publications including CNBC.com, The Washington Post, Fortune and The Boston Globe. LendingClub plunged as much as 17 percent on Wednesday after the Federal Trade Commission alleged that the online lender "deceived customers" on its fee structure. LendingClub sold users on loans with "no hidden fees," but actually collected "hundreds or even thousands of dollars in hidden up-front fees from the loans," the agency said in a statement. In its complaint, the FTC said LendingClub knew it was creating problems for consumers and likely misleading them. It's the latest setback for LendingClub, whose founder was ousted in 2016 after an investigation determined that company employees knowingly sold loans to an investor that did not meet the backer's criteria. The company pioneered the model of issuing consumer loans over the internet and selling the high-yield debt to investors through a marketplace. LendingClub shares fell as low as $2.69 immediately following Wednesday's announcement. The stock is down more than 50 percent in the past year and has lost 80 percent of its value since the company went public in late 2014. LendingClub's website and advertising materials told users there wouldn't be hidden fees. But often users received loans for a smaller amount than they'd applied for, the FTC said, because LendingClub would take a percentage of the loan after a bank had released the money but before LendingClub transferred it to the applicant. The FTC also said LendingClub falsely told applicants their loans had been backed by investors even though the applicants still had to pass multiple rounds of approval. LendingClub congratulated applicants on their forthcoming funds when it knew many of them would never get a loan, the FTC said. "This case demonstrates the importance to consumers of having truthful information from lenders, including online marketplace lenders," Reilly Dolan, acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in the statement. "Stopping this kind of conduct will help consumers make informed choices about loan offers." LendingClub called the allegations "legally and factually unwarranted," and said in a statement that "it intends to oppose the claims and work towards an early resolution of the matter in Federal Court." The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division. President Donald Trump speaks as French President Emmanuel Macron looks on during their joint news conference at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 24, 2018. French President Emmanuel Macron is in Washington this week on a charm offensive with a mission: to convince his counterpart Donald Trump to keep the Iran nuclear deal intact. But while the two leaders have developed what appears to be an affable friendship, analysts said this is unlikely to save the 2015 agreement, officially known as the JCPOA, which was signed by six world powers and Iran to lift international sanctions on the latter in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. Instead, despite Macron's visit, its eventual end still appears more likely than not. Macron may have indeed "successfully bought time to gin up support for a new accord," said Henry Rome, Iran researcher, and Cliff Kupchan, chairman, in a note from political risk consultancy Eurasia Group. This would be a notable achievement in itself given Trump's vocal disdain for the deal. But this is expected to be only a temporary success. "Macron's comments do not change our overall call that the Iranian nuclear deal has a 65 percent chance of collapsing during Trump's first term," the analysts said. Trump is required to recertify the agreement every 90 days or leave its fate to Congress. The next deadline is May 12, and European Union (EU) leaders, in particular, are hoping that he will decide to waive sanctions as he did during previous deadlines, although he warned that last January's waiver was Iran's "last chance." Meanwhile, Trump's anticipated meeting with North Korean President Kim Jong Un in the next few months also provides a reason to let the May deadline slide proponents of the deal have stressed that abandoning it would only harm America's credibility in negotiating agreements with other states. If the deal survives May, its next hurdle would be the next waiver due on July 11. Trump's messages have been mixed coming out of the bilateral talks, calling the deal "insane" and "ridiculous" while also saying he would discuss it and that he and Macron could achieve an agreement "fairly quickly." The last photo of Kim Wall with Danish inventor Peter Madsen taken before she disappeared A Danish court sentenced inventor Peter Madsen to life in prison on Wednesday for murdering and dismembering a Swedish journalist aboard his home-built submarine in Copenhagen harbour in August 2017. Madsen, dressed in black, sat completely still as his sentence was handed down in the Copenhagen City Court. Police detained him on August 11 last year when he emerged from his submarine without Wall, 30, who had boarded the vessel the previous day to do research on a story about Madsen. Later that month, police identified a torso washed ashore in Copenhagen as Wall's. Arms, legs and a head determined to be that of the victim were also later retrieved by the authorities. "After a total assessment, the court finds that the defendant murdered Kim Wall," Judge Anette Burkoe said. The court decided that Madsen had "dismembered the body to conceal the evidence from the crime he had committed," she said. The prosecutors had said that Wall died either by strangulation or having her throat cut. Forensics has not been able to confirm nor deny either allegation. Madsen, 47, admitted to dismembering the body and throwing it overboard but he denied murdering Wall. He claimed Wall died from breathing exhaust gases that had leaked into the submarine due to a technical error while he was on the deck preparing to submerge. Forensics has also not been able to back up his claim. Madsen will appeal the sentence, his defence attorney told the court. Sam Hodgson | Bloomberg | Getty Images With a preliminary NAFTA deal possible next week, attention is turning to how it could potentially affect U.S. agriculture. Canada's dairy market is protected by high tariffs and has been a key bone of contention by the U.S. but experts expect only "marginal" concessions from Ottawa. There's also an anti-dumping provision aimed at Mexico that has been sought by Florida and U.S. Southeast specialty crop producers, but analysts say it could ignite trade retaliation. "What dairy farmers in America need now is some good news," Tom Vilsack, president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council and former secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told CNBC in an interview. "Prices are very low, things are very stressed on the farm, and they see free trade agreements being negotiated by their competitors that open up market access." 'Opening up' Canada's dairy market In fact, Michigan and portions of the U.S. Northeast had milk prices so low last fall that it was being dumped as production exceeded the capacity to process the product. Vilsack called it "incredibly important" that any renegotiation of NAFTA include progress on "opening up" of the Canadian dairy market. Officials from Canada, Mexico and the United States met this week in Washington, and a Mexican business representative said Tuesday an agreement in principle could be reached next week, according to Reuters. Soybeans are harvested in Princeton, Illinois. Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images "NAFTA, as you know, is moving along," President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday. The president added, "I could make a deal really quickly, but I'm not sure that's in the best interests of the United States. But we'll see what happens." $40 billion in agricultural exports Mexico and Canada together represent nearly one-third of total U.S. agricultural exports, or about $40 billion last year, according to the USDA. Corn, wheat, soybeans, fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as livestock and dairy, are major U.S. exports to those countries. The future of NAFTA has been clouded ever since Trump notified Congress last May that the U.S. wanted to renegotiate the deal with Mexico and Canada. During this time, Trump has threatened to scrap the 24-year-old trade agreement. "Pulling out of NAFTA would be a horrendous mistake," said former USDA chief economist Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, an agriculture think tank based in Washington. "There are some improvements that can be made in this agreement, but understand that status quo is a far better deal than getting bad changes to this agreement." Mexico diversifies beyond NAFTA Amid the uncertainty over NAFTA and strained relations with the Trump administration, Mexico has looked to diversify trade partners beyond the United States. Mexico strengthened its trade ties with major producers in Latin America and looked for new suppliers of corn, wheat and soy, among other commodities. Mexico is the top buyer of U.S. corn, but shipments of corn from Brazil soared more than 900 percent last year. On Saturday, Mexico announced an agreement in principle on an updated free trade agreement with the European Union that will allow more goods to be exported tariff-free, including in the agricultural sector. Vilsack said the new Mexico-EU trade deal "could potentially impact access to a market that we have been dominant in." He added that there's also the recent EU-Japan trade agreement, and one of the EU's biggest food exports to Japan is dairy products. Mexico ranks as the largest U.S. dairy export market, accounting for about double the size of the industry's number two market, Canada. One of the biggest global competitors for American dairy producers is the EU, the leading exporter of many dairy products, particularly cheeses. For Trump, concerns about NAFTA go well beyond agriculture to industries such as auto manufacturing. But when it comes to agribusiness, the president has been very vocal in the past about Canada's dairy industry. Trump calls Canada 'a disgrace' A year ago, Trump tweeted about Canada hurting U.S. dairies in border states such as Wisconsin and vowed the U.S. "will not stand for this." He also fumed: "What they have done to our dairy farmer workers is a disgrace." TRUMP TWEET Even top Democratic lawmakers have weighed in on the Canadian dairy restrictions and pressed the Trump administration to act. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vented this week about "reversing restrictive dairy pricing policies in Canada that are hurting our dairy producers at their core." The Senate minority leader also revealed in remarks delivered during an appearance at an upstate New York dairy farm that if the Canadian situation is not addressed in the updated NAFTA it would be unacceptable. Canada uses a supply-management program to support various agricultural sectors, including dairy and cheese. In early 2017, the Canadian dairy industry created a new class of milk prices for so-called ultrafiltered milk, which is used to make cheese, yogurt and ice cream. Some U.S. officials have criticized the move as protectionist and harmful to American dairy farmers. "In addition to Canada's 270 percent tariff on milk, a program called the 'Class 7' pricing program, a market-distorting supply management system, has caused severe pain to New York dairy producers like Avon's Anderson Farm and their fellow Upstate Niagara Co-Op dairies since it came into force last year," Schumer said earlier this week. "In fact, Canada has used the Class 7 program to triple its milk powder exports in the past year by creating excess milk production capacity within Canada, then dumping the resulting milk powder onto world markets." Milk politics in Canada Regardless, Canada has defended itself against claims the dairy incentives they have are protectionism and contend they shouldn't be blamed for excess milk capacity by American dairy producers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has even said the system "works very well" for Canada. U.S. and Canadian experts say there's a slim chance of major dairy concessions from Ottawa. They point out domestic pressure from Canada's dairy industry is significant and complicated by elections later this year in the two large dairy provinces, Quebec and Ontario. "They'd walk away from a deal before they would actually give up supply management at this point," said Kevin Carmichael, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a think tank in Waterloo, Ontario. "It's just too sensitive for the Canadians." 'Marginal' concessions To secure trade agreements with the EU and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, though, Canada granted some dairy access. As a result, Carmichael expects Canada will do same for the United States, but he suggests "you're going to see something marginal." Others agree no significant concessions from Canada are likely on the dairy side. "They won't liberalize dairy very much," said Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a former U.S. Treasury international trade official who is now a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington D.C. "They might do some token stuff on ice cream but it won't amount to anything." Mexico's 'dumping' of fresh produce Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello wants to turn the devastation left by Hurricane Maria seven months ago into an opportunity for residents of the U.S. territory. While trying to restructure past financial troubles that were only exacerbated by the damaging storm, Rossello told CNBC on Wednesday he needs investment from public and private sources to help rebuild the island and update its "1950s energy grid." Maria wiped out power to all of Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2017. It's taken months to get most of the island back online, but the grid remains vulnerable. "Right now, we're putting the energy grid back up. We're about 98 percent of clients with energy," Rossello said on "Squawk Box," one week after a power line failure had plunged the entire island into darkness again. The governor has said he plans to privatize the bankrupt Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority, known as PREPA. "Puerto Rico already had antiquated energy systems. When the biggest devastating event in the modern history of the United States hit our island, we could anticipate that is was going to be a major disaster," he said. "We think we have a great opportunity to leapfrog into energy 2.0." Russia has gotten its hands on a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile and it's going to study it to improve its own weapon systems, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday, However, the U.S. Department of Defense told CNBC that the claims from Moscow are "absurd." An official within Russia's ministry said that an unexploded Tomahawk cruise missile and one high accuracy air-launched missile that the U.S. and its allies used in their last airstrike in Syria on April 14 has been brought to Moscow, Russian news agency TASS reported. The chief of the Russian General Staff's main operations directorate, Colonel-General Sergey Rudskoy, told a news briefing on Wednesday that Russian military specialists were already studying the missiles. "Some of the missiles failed to reach the designated targets apparently due to technical failures, which created the risk of destroying civilian facilities and causing civilian casualties," Rudskoy said. "Two of them, a cruise missile Tomahawk and a high-accuracy air-launched missile, have been brought to Moscow," he said, adding that Russian specialists were studying them. "The results of this work will be used to improve Russian weapon systems." A Pentagon spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense blasted Russia's claims, telling CNBC that they were an attempt to distract people from its alliance with Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. "This is another example of the Russian disinformation campaign to distract attention from their moral complicity to the Assad Regime's atrocities and the civilian carnage in western Syria," Eric Pahon, Pentagon spokesman, told CNBC via email on Wednesday. "The claims regarding our target selection are absurd, as is the rest of the (TASS) article. On the Tomahawk, we have seen no proof, other than statements made to Russian state-owned media, that their claims are true. This is likely another smoke screen of propaganda to distract from the real issue at hand the murder of innocent civilians by a murderous regime propped up by Russian backing," he said. Oceanic researchers are turning to autonomous sea drones to help them forecast extreme weather and understand the world's changing weather patterns. The 23-foot-long drones are made by Bay Area start-up Saildrone. Each Saildrone can be outfitted with a number of different sensors that it uses to gather and transmit real-time measurements on metrics including temperature, wind, humidity, solar radiation and weather patterns. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is gathering data from two Saildrones that are heading back to California from a voyage across the Pacific Ocean. The goal is to measure the accuracy of the data compared with conventional methods. The drones could eventually bolster NOAA's aging buoy system that's been used to monitor weather data since the 1980s. In the past, the organization used the Saildrones to track marine life in the Arctic. Boeing's Liquid Robotics makes a similar ocean drone that's used by the government and companies to collect ocean and weather data. In 2010, Forrest Fenn, a millionaire art dealer and self-taught archaeologist, buried a treasure worth millions somewhere in the Rockies. The now 87-year-old estimates that 350,000 people have gone searching for it since, with no luck so far. Years ago Fenn said he was getting about 100 emails a day but, after CNBC Make It covered his story recently, he said his inbox was filling up with closer to 50 emails an hour. Most who reach out offer thanks or express criticism, and many share how the Fenn Treasure has affected their lives. The emails he gets, he says, generally fall into these categories: The main guidance Fenn has offered is a 24-line poem he wrote in his memoir, "The Thrill of the Chase." Many of the emails come from eager treasure hunters fishing for extra hints. "They try to bait me," he tells CNBC Make It. "Have you ever hiked just south of Brown Canyon National Monument?" one person recently inquired. People also ask for his assistance on matters unrelated to the treasure hunt. "I am surprised that [there are] so many people who say they are sick and ask for help," Fenn says. People email claiming to be going through tough times and request assistance, citing a disability, sick mother or another unmanageable expense. Criticism Some insist the money could be put to better use if he donated the treasure's value. "I just wonder why you have made it so difficult for someone to get a little of your treasure when there are so many people who can benefit from your treasure right now, instead of 1,000 years from now?" one woman wrote him. Gratitude Others think the treasure is being put to great use already. "Your challenge gives me hope that we can find a way to encourage people to interact with each other and get outside more," someone wrote. Fenn has said that encouraging families to spend more time in nature is his ultimate goal. "I hope parents will take their children camping and hiking in the Rocky Mountains," he said. "I hope they will fish, look for fossils, turn rotten logs over to see what's under them, and look for my treasure." Others write Fenn to tell him how he has affected their lives. One man told him how his small town in Alabama hosted its own hunt for an $11,000 treasure, which led to a broader trash clean-up initiative. A kindergarten teacher emailed to tell him his students try to decipher his poem in the afternoons. Source: Forrest Fenn Fenn's responses Darrin Francois has a big decision to make. The senior at International High School of New Orleans (IHSNO) has been accepted by over 80 colleges so far. He tells CNBC Make It that he applied to approximately 100 schools and has been offered a total of $2,614,468 in scholarships so far. "I just applied, applied, applied. I didn't know how many it was, so once they started to come through the mail, I was like oh my gosh, this many? Then, they started coming more more and more. Now, today, I have 83," Francois told local station WGNO ABC. Sean Wilson, Head of School at IHSNO, says that Francois began 9th grade as a timid boy but has grown into a humble and hardworking student. The senior earned a 4.24 grade point average, was his school's National Honor Society president and has already taken several college courses. Now, Francois is spending his free time visiting colleges and has until May to decide where he wants to matriculate. The 17-year-old says he's looking for a school with a diverse student body and a strong criminal justice program. One day, he hopes to be a judge. "Eighty-three colleges? That is wonderful, that is a blessing from God. I'm very proud, a proud mother to see my son go forward into his success and go forward into his goals," Francois' mother Bridget tells WGNO. "My mom did not get a chance to actually attend the university of her choice, so I'm doing this for the both of us," Francois adds. The teen says that says the secret to his success has been perseverance and believing in himself. "Just stay true to yourself, if you know you're going to get in, you're going to get in," he recommends to fellow students. Many of Francois' peers at IHSNO seem to have taken his advice to heart. According to IHSNO, about a dozen of students in the class of 2018 have each received 20 or more college acceptance letters. "The kudos really goes out to our teachers who work with our students as well as the counselors who ensure that students are being pestered and hounded to make sure students are making applications to more than one institution," says Wilson. "The mere number is nothing to fret over, it is just part of the process. There's a strange divergence in the market that according to TradingAnalysis.com founder Todd Gordon could rock global currency markets. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hit 3 percent on Tuesday, which it hasn't done since January 2014. According to the trader, this suggests a changing economic outlook that can be felt globally. "Ten-year yields are pushing up above 3 percent, that's putting a bid into the U.S. dollar and out of the safe haven currency, which is the yen," he said Tuesday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." But in the charts, Gordon points out that the Japanese yen and 20+ Year Bond ETF (TLT) have just broken out of a pattern that from a technical standpoint suggests the yen could see an even bigger fall. While the yen-tracking ETF (FXY) and the TLT traded together throughout 2016 and 2017, Gordon noted that they have recently begun to diverge and trade inversely to each other. However, Gordon also believes the divergence is about to end. Gordon sees TLT eventually rising, implying that bond yields could fall further, which would essentially pull the yen down with it. To determine how low FXY could go, Gordon looked at an uptrend line that has been in place for FXY for over a year. He sees FXY falling back to that support line at around the $85 to $86 level. To profit from that potential move, Gordon wants to buy the June monthly 87-strike put and sell the June monthly 85-strike put for 45 cents, or $45 per options contract. Should FXY fall and close below $85 on June 15 expiration, Gordon could make up to $155 on the trade. But should FXY close above $87, Gordon could lose the $45 premium he paid to make the trade. Pres. Trump has been under siege in recent weeks juggling the Mueller inquiry into potential Russian meddling in the US elections, the mounting legal problems of his personal attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, the Stormy Daniels affair, and the general maelstrom of personnel issues revolving around his White House and cabinet. Politically, it would serve Trump well to release all remaining sealed documents to the public. The President could take a victory lap and claim that only under his administration has the government finally come clean about everything it knows regarding the JFK assassination. Despite the ongoing questions about his own transparency in his personal business dealings, he could raise the flag of transparent government over the JFK issue. But Trump, could even go one step further. According to the Mary Ferrell Foundation, a research foundation, there are an additional 21,890 documents still being withheld in full or in part that are not part of this batch of documents that Trump is scheduled to potentially release on Thursday. Judge Tunheim confirmed to me that there are in fact up to 30,000 additional JFK-related documents in the National Archives that his Commission received towards the end of his mandate and which were determined to not be directly relevant to the JFK assassination inquiry. "These additional documents never went through the traditional declassification process, because they were not determined to be directly relevant to the JFK case at that time," said Judge Tunheim. "In a few cases of which I'm aware, new evidence or facts have come to light in recent years that would make some of these documents perhaps tangentially relevant to the JFK case. I think it would be a smart move for the President - in an effort for complete transparency - to call for all of these documents housed in the National Archives to be released to the public as well." If Trump were to not only declassify the remaining documents that he promised to put into the public realm last fall, but also announce that he was going to unseal the tens of thousands of files still in the National Archives, it would be a news story there would receive widespread media attention - changing, albeit for perhaps only a few new cycles - the wall-to-wall coverage of the scandals brewing in the Trump White House. If there's one thing that Pres. Trump is really good at, it's manipulating the media and the intense public interest surrounding all things related to the assassination of Pres. Kennedy provides the perfect ingredients for our Entertainer-in-Chief to massage and control the next few new cycles, deflecting journalists' attention away with a shiny new object. Commentary by Arick Wierson, a six-time Emmy Award-winning television executive and former deputy commissioner under New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Currently, Wierson works as a political and branding consultant to clients in the United States, Africa and Latin America. He is currently advising candidates in U.S. House races in Southern California, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as several state gubernatorial candidates in Brazil. You can follow him on twitter @ArickWierson. For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. $125,000 though that figure could rise if he is called before special counsel Mueller's grand jury. The ongoing probes of Russian election meddling are roiling Washington, spawning new legal actions and increasingly, emptying the pockets of the people involved in them. Becoming ensnared in a federal investigation into the links between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Kremlin can pose a serious financial threat for those involved at any level. In an interview with CNBC, former Trump campaign advisor Michael Caputo described the financial strain of being a witness in the House Intelligence Committee's investigation. "If you don't go into a congressional hearing thoroughly prepared, then you should bring a toothbrush, because you're going to be there a while," Caputo said in a phone interview. While his legal fees were cheaper in his home state of New York than they would be in Washington, Caputo still paid about $25,000 per hearing. A good chunk of that fee actually goes toward producing the required documents for investigators. For Caputo, who has known and communicated with some of the central figures in the federal probes for decades, it's a huge task. "If I have 800 emails where I mention Trump and Russia in the same email, figuring out which ones are of interest to an investigator is above my pay grade" to sift through alone, Caputo said. Caputo said he first retained attorneys in March last year, after he was named by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., in congressional testimony as being Russian President Vladimir Putin's "image consultant." He has since filed an ethics complaint against Speier, whom he called "a liar all the way to the cellular level." Speier's office did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. Caputo has only been interviewed by the House committee as a witness, meaning he is not suspected of committing any crimes. He has been tapped to testify before investigators in the Senate, however, and said he expects to be called before special counsel Robert Mueller's team in the future. His status as a mere witness is all the more reason to go in prepared through legal counsel "even if you're telling a story about ice cream, because these are some of the most irresponsible people on earth," he said, referring to Congress. Stanley Twardy Jr., a former U.S. attorney in Connecticut, agreed that preparation is crucial, despite its expense. "You don't want to say anything false, because you could go from witness" to worse, Twardy said. Becoming a subject or a target in a case will likely exacerbate the time and money involved, he said. The process of preparing a client for multiple congressional hearings, and possibly a grand jury appearance, is time-consuming and expensive. "Hell, at my rates that's gonna be close to $100,000," Twardy said, hinting that the figure would be much higher inside the Washington beltway. All told, Caputo estimates that his legal fees will total $125,000. But that's a conservative figure, he said, adding, "If I go to the grand jury" as part of the special counsel's probe, "it'll be far more." He recently started a crowdfunding page to help pay his legal fees. Greater costs Being linked to a high-profile and politically charged investigation has dealt a severe blow to Caputo's career and personal life as well, he said. "It's a balancing act" between tending to the clients of his public relations firm and dealing with the requirements of the investigations, he said. "I've lost clients," he said. "It's had a dramatic effect on my business." He said his family, too, has suffered from his exposure. In an interview with conservative news site National Review Online, Caputo said his family received "constant threats of violence" for his public defense of Trump and involvement in the investigations. "Last month, my wife received a part of a sniper rifle in the mail," Caputo told the website. These threats have led to further investments in security. "I have guns in my house and in my office that I never had there before," he said. "If they're coming for me, I'm going to take them out first." Caputo has had to pay extra for security services, including cameras, in his home and office as well. Bigger figures Roger Stone, Trump's longtime confidant and surrogate, told CNBC that his mounting legal fees already add up to more than half a million dollars. "To date my legal costs all pertain to the House Intelligence Inquiry, the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Inquiries and defending against the harassment lawsuit filed by Project Democracy again me and the Trump campaign," Stone told CNBC in an email. His fees are projected to double to $1 million, he said, in light of a sweeping new lawsuit filed last week by the Democratic National Committee. The suit names more than a dozen defendants, including Stone, Wikileaks and Trump's family members, and alleges an illegal conspiracy to help Trump win the 2016 election. Stone called the lawsuit "bogus," and has said he intends to use the suit as leverage to get undisclosed records from the Democrats. But that strategy could be costly as well. Companies that use electronic programs to search for such records are sometimes more expensive than lawyers in the short term, Twardy said. "My clients have been aghast at the cost" of such services, he added. While Stone goes on the offensive, former national security advisor Michael Flynn's son, Michael Flynn Jr., recently suggested that the burden of defending against the special counsel was the real reason why his father pleaded guilty to federal crimes. Michael Flynn Jr. tweet Michael Flynn Jr. could not be reached for comment. WATCH: Bannon plans to thwart Mueller investigation [The stream is slated to start at 2:15 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.] White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is set to brief reporters on Wednesday as the Trump administration goes before the Supreme Court to defend its travel ban. President Donald Trump's travel ban, which he first tried to implement in January 2017, seeks to block entry for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. It also bans travel from Venezuela and North Korea, though those restrictions are not being fought in court. The administration is defending the legality of the ban, which Trump said will prevent ISIS militants from entering the country Hawaii argues that the ban violates immigration law and the constitution's rule against favoring certain religions over others, according to Reuters. A federal judge also ruled on Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security must continue to provide protection to the undocumented young adults enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The government must continue accepting new applications for the program, The New York Times reported. "The critics are right that China's economy has grown substantially in recent years, and it is now time for China to become a more equal partner in international economic affairs." By declaring itself a developing country as part of the negotiations, China was able to take on fewer commitments at the WTO. However, 17 years into its WTO membership, China has surged to become the second largest economy in the world. Parts of China are now as advanced as parts of the industrialized world. At the same time, before you assume that China has now "graduated" to rich country status, keep in mind that not all Chinese are doing so well. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow recently said, "China is a first-world economy, behaving like a third-world economy," but that is an exaggeration. China's GDP per capita, measured with PPP, was $16,660 in 2017. That is a vast improvement over where it was in 1986, or in 2001 when it joined the WTO, but it is still much lower than the United States ($59,501). This low figure for average wealth, despite high incomes in some big cities, is the result of substantial income inequality in China. And as a result, China can still call itself "developing" in the context of the WTO. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that China is much richer as a whole than it used to be, and this is largely thanks to the economic reform, including lowering its tariffs and liberalizing some sectors of the economy, that accompanied China's accession to the WTO. In this sense, its economic status has changed. While it is still developing, it is much closer to the developed countries than before. China's changed economic circumstances mean that its role in the world trading system merits reconsideration. A key objective of the WTO is to raise living standards, and although China's WTO membership has helped in this regard it still has a long way to go. While China should maintain its developing country status, if it wants to avoid the ire of the Trump administration and the world community, China should pay back some of the "raise" it got by playing a more active role in supporting the world trading system. In recent years, the WTO's liberalization agenda has stalled in a number of areas. There are no easy answers as to how revive it, but positive contributions by China could help. Here are some steps it could take to show that it is pulling its weight. One area that could use a boost is the ongoing negotiations on the liberalization of environmental goods, which would lower tariffs on a wide range of products, including solar panels and wind turbines (China's tariffs on these products are relatively low, but other countries' tariffs are as high as 35%). China has been accused of derailing these talks. A good way to change its image on the world stage would be to push this kind of basic tariff liberalization forward instead of getting in its way. In addition, China could finally make a serious effort to join the WTO's Agreement on Government Procurement, after years of tepid offers in the negotiations. Governments are some of the biggest purchasers of goods and services in the world, and taxpayers are better served when they buy from the highest-quality/lowest-cost producer, rather than simply give preference to domestic companies. Opening up more of its procurement market to foreign companies -- and getting access to foreign markets for its own companies in exchange -- would be a big step towards a more liberalized Chinese economy. Lastly, China could join the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) talks taking place in Geneva, which aim to make progress in dealing with the complex regulatory barriers that interfere with services trade. In doing so, however, China must be constructive and not drag its feet in the negotiations, as some fear. With greater wealth comes greater responsibility. Even if it continues to maintain its "developing" status, as China's economy grows it should take on additional international obligations and play a more equal role in international economic organizations such as the WTO. By doing so, China will improve its own economy, reduce international economic conflict, and help strengthen the world trading system. Commentary by Simon Lester, the associate director of Cato Institute's Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, and Huan Zhu, a research associate. For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. Many factors can contribute to an employee's unhappiness at work bad management, for example, or grueling hours. But what about the smaller, tougher to identify events that can contribute significantly to an employee's disengagement? Those small acts are often referred to as "microaggressions." Columbia University professor Derald Wing Sue tells CNBC Make It that microaggressions "are the every day slights, indignities, put downs and insults that minorities experience in their day to day interactions with well-intentioned individuals who are unaware that they have engaged in an offensive act or made an offensive statement." These acts are normally related to a person's race, gender, sexual orientation or disability status. And while these incidents are often subtle, their impact can have a huge affect on your performance and your confidence. Below are four examples of common workplace microaggressions some of which you may have encountered without even realizing it and what to do in response. Morsa Images | Getty Images 1. "You speak excellent English." As an Asian-American professor, author and speaker, Sue says it is not uncommon for students and colleagues to remark on how well he speaks English. While the comment is often intended to be a compliment, its underlying meaning can carry great offense. "What they are saying is you are a perpetual alien in your own country and you are not a true American," he says. "That is often communicated to Latinos and Asian-Americans. And to the person saying it, they are not mean and evil people. They just don't realize that what they are saying comes from this implicit worldview of what an American looks like." While a remark like this might go ignored in many professional settings, Sue says the proper way to address it is to kindly acknowledge the compliment, while also correcting the person's bias. "My response now is, 'Thank you, I hope so, I was born here,'" he says. "The 'thank you' catches and compliments their conscious thought that I am complimenting you. The 'I was born here' underlines the unconscious misconception that I am a foreigner in my own country." The best bosses make an effort to know their employees and encourage open conversations, Scott says. Thomas Barwick/Getty Images 2. "What she's trying to say is..." If you are a woman and/or racial minority, chances are you have been interrupted or talked over by a colleague in a meeting (a circumstance often referred to as "mansplaining.") According to Merriam-Webster, mansplaining is defined as the moment when "a man talks condescendingly to someone (especially a woman) about something he has incomplete knowledge of, with the mistaken assumption that he knows more about it than the person he's talking to does." California Western School of Law professor Leslie Culver says she's seen this occur several times in a professional setting. To address it, she suggests gathering a group of other female colleagues who will support you in calling out the microaggressor. "Have a conversation before bringing it up and say something like, 'Hey Hannah, I want to address Bob speaking over me. Can you help me to open the door to that discussion?" says Culver. This way, the next time a meeting occurs and Bob interrupts you, Culver says your allied female colleague could interject, "Yes, what Leslie was trying to say is really important." Then, if Bob speaks over that colleague, another female ally will jump in and say, "Yes, I agree. What Leslie was trying to say is really important." Culver adds, "that way, you all are working together to continue to point [the guy] out." Another way to combat this issue is to seek out male allies as well. According to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, men can be part of the solution too by speaking against their male colleague and saying, "That's a great idea. You know, Liz, that was your idea. Tell us about it." Jetta Productions | Getty Images 3. "Is that your natural hair?" Studies show that many women of color, especially black women, experience bias in the workplace related to the style and texture of their hair. As an African-American female professor, Culver says she has experienced this bias first-hand. At a conference earlier this year, she says she was asked by a white colleague whether or not her braids were her natural hair. "At the time, I didn't even know what to say," says Culver. "We are in this intellectual space and [she] put me in a position to have to defend my hairstyle. And then [she] asked, 'Am I presenting?' And it's like that's how [she] should have started the conversation." In a situation such as this, Culver says it's always best to weigh the pros and cons of addressing the person directly. If the microaggressor is someone in a position of power, then you may want to think about the impact they can have on your career before you hold a one-on-one conversation with them. If this is the case, then she says you will want to find a leader who can be your ally to kindly correct the person on your behalf. "You need to get an informed, intelligent and well-meaning leader who isn't afraid to say, 'Let me speak up against this,'" she says. Or, if the microaggressor is a peer who has no control over your job, then Culver says you can pull them to the side and kindly explain to them how their comment was offensive. This way, she says, "they don't have to ask the next black woman about her twists or braids." 4. "I think I'll sit over here." Types of obituaries The Missourian publishes two types of obituaries family obituaries and life stories. A family obituary is the version submitted by a funeral home or family. Please see the submission form for details on cost and deadlines. Family obituaries A life story is a closer look at a person's life and involves a reporter contacting family and friends. Life stories are based on newsworthiness and consent of the family. Life stories. The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form October 2020 brought a lighter-than-usual crop of patches. For the first time in recent memory, there were none at all for Internet Explorer or the (Chromium-based) Edge browser. The cumulative updates went in with few reports of problems, although there were many complaints about printers not working after the update. Strange things happened, though, outside the usual monthly patching schedule. The day after Patch Tuesday, Microsoft announced a(nother) fix for a security hole in the HEVC codec CVE-2020-17022 distributed, once again, only through the Microsoft Store. HPs Secure Click Enterprise started falling over immediately after installing this months Windows cumulative updates. HP released a Win10 update-friendly version a couple of days later. It continues to astound me that a mainstream product from a major manufacturer isnt tested before the cumulative updates roll out. There was a security hole plug specifically for Visual Studio programmers, CVE-2020-17023. Then theres the security patch for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce, CVE-2020-16943, that was announced but never appeared. Its still missing in action. Something in there about counting chickens before theyre hatched. As usual, we had dire warnings galore from the usual patch-right-now sources (Microsoft warns beeeelions of customers to patch immediately!). As usual, we havent seen any immediately exploited security holes, with the possible exception of SharePoint Server 2016 and 2019. The usual grab-bag of bugs Every month for the past year or two, weve seen a big accumulation of bugs arrive on the heels of Patch Tuesday. This months no exception. You can see a motley collection of blocked update error messages, error codes, blue screens, crashes, and peripheral problems in Mayank Parmars article in Windows Latest, Lawrence Abrams piece for BleepingComputer, Venkats rundown in Techdows, Gunter Borns post in Borns Tech and Windows World, and countless parrot sites around the web. I dont see any particular pattern to any of it, which has become increasingly common. New patches just seem to bring along a trove of unrelated bugs, any one of which can be hugely frustrating but none of which seem to be particularly widespread. The one exception: Ive seen many reports of printers that stop working after the latest cumulative update gets installed. In every case Ive seen, pulling the plug on the printer and plugging it back in solves the problem an easy task for individuals, not so much for admins. 'Windows cant verify the publisher of this driver software' Some people are reporting an unexpected error when installing certain drivers. Microsoft describes the situation in the Resolved issues portion of the Windows Release Information Status page: When installing a third-party driver, you might receive the error, Windows cant verify the publisher of this driver software." You may also see the error No signature was present in the subject when attempting to view the signature properties using Windows Explorer. This issue occurs when one or more of the following is present in a driver package: An improperly formatted catalog file is identified during validation by Windows. Starting with this release, Windows will require the validity of DER encoded PKCS#7 content in catalog files. Catalogs files must be signed per section 11.6 of describing DER-encoding for SET OF members in X.690. A driver catalog file extension is not one of the supported extensions. Thats a feature, not a bug. Microsoft suggests that you contact the driver manufacturer and ask for an update. If your hardware vendor isnt real interested in keeping up with Windows 10, well, jokes on you. Gunter Born puts it succinctly: Windows is a huge hardware exterminator, rendering still working devices as electronic waste, because drivers can no longer be installed. 'Optional' .NET previews arent optional any more Weve seen this problem for several months, and it still hasnt been fixed. Windows Update doesnt handle the .NET Preview monthly rollups the way you (or at least, I) would expect. Cumulative Update previews have to be manually approved by clicking a Download and install link. .NET Previews dont even offer the option. Theres a convoluted set of rules about Windows automatically installing .NET Previews. @abbodi86 has unrolled the behavior this way: The new .NET Previews are nothing different from all previous non-security .NET cumulative updates. They just have the term Preview in label. If youre a seeker (click Check for updates in Windows Update), the .NET Preview update will be installed regardless of your other settings. If you arent a seeker, when a normal update scan takes place, one of two things will happen. (1) If the previous .NET Security update is not yet installed, the .NET Preview update will be flagged as potentially superseded, and Windows Update will not offer it. (2) If the latest .NET Security update is already installed, the .NET Preview update will be installed. If that isnt confusing enough for you, @abbodi86 has full details here. I have no idea why Microsoft thinks that its preview (i.e., not-yet-ready-for-prime-time) patches should be installed on machines without any warning or opt-out capability. But there you have it. Microsoft pulls back on potentially unwanted PWA apps When is a PUP installer not a PUP installer? When its a Windows beta, of course. Somebody at Microsoft decided it would be a good idea to jury-rig some beta test versions of Windows 10 so they automatically installed the new PWA (progressive web app) versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. Several beta testers took umbrage at an operating system that cavalierly installed potentially unwanted programs. A couple days later, Microsoft changed course, claiming that the pushy behavior was a bug. Right. Sean Hollister at The Verge has details. Office 2010 and Exchange Server 2010 hit end of life As of Oct. 13, both Office 2010 and Exchange 2010 fell off the support cycle. You wont get any more patches. A pity, really, because Office 2010 (in spite of its interface peculiarities) was a real workhorse. Patch Lady Susan Bradley has details. Version 20H2 (or is it 2009?) rolling out Microsoft is starting to make Win10 version 20H2 available for the masses although you have to click Download and install to get it. At least, thats the theory. Considering version 2004 had almost no new worthwhile features, and 20H2 has fewer still (theme-related shading on Start tiles? Alt+Tab switching Edge tabs? Puh-lease), the push to 20H2 is now under way. Think of it as yet another cumulative update, except it doesnt plug any new security holes. If you ever needed a concrete example of why twice-a-year upgrades for Win10 make absolutely no sense at all, now you have it. Patching problems? Hit us on AskWoody.com. A former Federal Reserve executive believes it's only a matter of time before central banks adopt a form of digital currency that could look like bitcoin, and will offer a more convenient and anonymous way for businesses and consumers to buy and sell goods and store wealth. The advent of a government-backed, peer-to-peer (P2P) digital currency would likely be based on a blockchain-based electronic ledger, and it could signal the beginning of a cashless economy, not unlike what's occurring today in Sweden. It also may simply complement the modern-day current cash-based system. The percentage of cash in circulation as a function of Sweden's gross domestic product has fallen dramatically in recent years; cash now represents less than 1.2% of that nation's GDP. "So cash is really disappearing in Sweden. It's not accepted at many businesses and many banks won't deal with cash anymore," said Rod Garrett, an economics professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Garratt, formerly a vice president with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Money and Payment Studies Division, spoke at the "Business of Blockchain" conference at MIT in Boston this week. "I think there is a likelihood that some type of digital central bank money will become available in the reasonably near future because I think its a natural progression. Its something thats been talked about for a long time," Garratt said. Last year, Garratt worked as a digital currency technical advisor to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in Switzerland. The BIS, whose purpose is to foster cooperation between central banks around the globe, has been exploring the role cryptocurrencies could play if nations begin backing them. While the prospect of a government-backed digital currency that also provides anonymity may seem is far-fetched, Garratt noted that cash, too, is essentially a P2P process. "It might sound strange to think about the central bank providing something that allows anonymity from itself, but thats what cash is," Garratt told attendees at the MIT event. "So, its not such a crazy thing." A government-backed digital currency could do away with banking fees that often target the poor who make many small, electronic payment transfers via services such as Western Union, while at the same time creating greater efficiencies. For example, the time it takes for to clear and settle funds could be greatly reduced, with cryptography used to ensure privacy. Cryptographic keys controlling funds could be in a consumer's control; the consumer could be issued a private key associated with their electronic funds and be able to use public keys for payments. Sweden's central bank, The Riksbank, is currently considering issuing a digital currency or cryptocurrency similar to bitcoin for mobile payments. Called the e-Krona, the digital currency would be used for smaller payments between consumers, businesses or with government agencies, and it would create safer and more efficient transactions, the government has argued. In 2015, Ecuador created the world's first state-sponsored digital currency, called Sistema de Dinero Electronico (electronic money system), which was backed by the central bank; it allowed people to have money in accounts that could be traded on their phones. Ecuador, however, shuttered its electronic money system last year "due to lobbying by the banks," Garratt said. "They're pushing hard, as many countries are, for using distributed ledgers using blockchain to implement their own domestic digital token," Brian Behlendorf, executive director of the business blockchain collaborative Hyperledger, said in an earlier interview with Computerworld. "I know central banks in lots of places are looking at this." One idea originally floated by blogger J.P. Koning is called Fedcoin, a bitcoin-like currency based on blockchain that would offer a 1:1 ratio between a U.S. dollar and a digital token. While blockchain is the foundation for cryptocurrency, it is not anchored to digital currencies. Blockchain distributed ledgers are used for a myriad of business applications, such as authenticating real estate transfers or for digitizing supply chains or tracking international shipments in real time. Robleh Ali, a digital currencies research scientist at the MIT Media Lab, said a government-backed digital currency wouldn't necessarily have to exist on a distributed ledger, as bitcoin does today. It could be centrally administered by the Federal Reserve and other central banks. The question central banks need to ask themselves is what are they trying to accomplish, he said. "Do we want a token that can integrate with this new token economy? Then they may want to use an architecture that's similar to those [bitcoin] tokens to issue fiat money," Ali said. In 2013, Garratt was involved in a multi-bank proof of concept called Project Jasper, which explored the use of blockchain as the basis for a new bank-to-bank digital payments system for large monetary transfers. So, for example, if a homeowner were to sell their house, banks could use the electronic distributed ledger to settle the transfer of funds. If the Federal Reserve or other central banks were to back digital currency, it could take on many forms. For example, it could be operated as a closed system between banks for large money transfers, such as those used for daily clearance and settlement of thousands of smaller transactions. Or, it could open central bank accounts available for any consumer's use, a type of virtual bank account. The Fed could also issue a digital coin, similar to bitcoin, that would represent the stored value of fiat money. While a government-backed digital currency offers potential, it would also complicate monetary policies because central banks would have to manage and monitor cash reserves. Creating a token economy also raises difficult questions about whether it would disintermediate commercial banks. "Banks provide a valuable service in our economy. All productive enterprises in our economy typically work through commercial banks. We don't want to necessarily take that all away," Garratt said. "That doesn't mean that there isn't a role for central banks to provide a digital form of currency that would in some ways compete with [traditional currency] on equal footing. I don't think there's anything antithetical to the idea of a central bank providing this." As the reverberations of the Skripal affair continue, I have been to eastern Ukraine to see the effect of Russias territorial ambitions on states the Kremlin considers to be part of its sphere of influence. This is Europes forgotten war, between Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass and the Ukrainian government, which is determined to preserve sovereignty over the region. In recent days, there has been an increase in shelling and sniper activity, making trips to the conflict zone risky. Even so, after a briefing in Kiev from Lt. Gen. Sergiy Bessarab, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine, I was escorted by the Ukrainian Defence Ministry to the Donbass region and the frontline, where I spent time talking to Ukrainian troops at an observation post and in the trenches. I am looking forward to publishing more details of what was a fascinating trip in my forthcoming book on the state of the British Armed Forces, White Flag? The book will come out this autumn. Victoria Hewson is Senior Counsel in the Institute for Economic Affairs International Trade and Competition Unit. As the Customs Union debate rumbles on unhelpfully, it is useful to reflect on why proponents of a continued customs union between the UK and the EU favour this course of action. Putting to one side the cynical view that it is part of a broader continuity Remain strategy to dilute Brexit, and taking at face value the assertion that it is to protect trade, it is difficult to understand why so much energy is being devoted to a cause that could damage the UKs negotiating position with the EU, and so little to pushing for measures that will actually help support and improve UK trade. With that in mind, the International Trade and Competition Unit at the IEA has worked with leading customs specialists at the Automated Customs and International Trade Association (ACITA) to produce a set of practical recommendations that will make international trade more streamlined and efficient, and serve as preparation for all possible outcomes of the Brexit process. As expert witnesses from the haulage and trade industries told the Treasury Select Committee in March, if we had started all the necessary steps without delay after the referendum, industry would be a lot less worried about the Brexit timetable. The protracted Parliamentary time given to efforts to staying in the, or a, customs union have actively damaged the interests of businesses. It has meant that HMRC are in the difficult position of designing and implementing actions where there are (at least) three scenarios in play with very different implications: the highly streamlined arrangement and new customs partnership from the Governments position paper, and a continued customs union, which, despite being ruled out by the Prime Minister, has proved impossible to dismiss. Against this backdrop, the recommendations that we have put forward are intended to be beneficial in any of those scenarios. The root of the problem is this: even if a tariff-free trade deal is agreed between the UK and the EU, customs formalities will still apply. To enable businesses and border systems to cope with the resulting increase in customs declarations, applications for reliefs and authorisations, HMRC needs to make customs processes as simple as possible, and provide support and information to firms, especially those which currently trade only with the EU and so have no experience of customs compliance. Reaching a deal with the EU27 and co-operating with partner authorities in member states are vitally important, but for now we have focused on things that the UK Government can do unilaterally. The measures we recommend are all available under existing EU customs regulations that will generally be carried into UK law by the Taxation (Cross Border Trade) Bill that is currently going through Parliament. This means there would be no need to rewrite existing laws or depart from practices accepted by the EU (although ACITA members have lots of suggestions for reforms to customs legislation that will be open to the UK outside of the customs union). Implementation of the new CDS IT system is a key priority for HMRC, but there are many other technical and operational measures that should be looked at without delay. These include implementing self-assessment a mechanism that allows traders to carry out certain formalities normally undertaken by customs. For example, a business would itself determine the amount of import/export duty payable, and notify customs periodically (potentially monthly) of the amount payable. This could massively reduce the number of declarations to be processed through the CDS system, and allow HMRC to focus resources on supporting smaller businesses. Self-assessment has been trialled in the UK (and successfully implemented in the Netherlands), and we urge HMRC to expedite its rollout at scale before Brexit. The processing of applications for authorised economic operator (AEO) status should also be improved. AEOs are traders who have a record of compliance, and the systems and capabilities to qualify for various simplifications and waivers that minimise trade costs and frictions. More resource needs to be devoted to training and support for applicants, recognising external qualifications towards reaching the required standards and prioritising businesses that already hold customs freight simplified procedures accreditation. The private sector could have a role to play here training and compliance audits could be carried out by experienced professional services firms. AEOs can also be trusted to carry out pre-clearance checks, further alleviating the workload of authorities another policy already successfully operated in the Netherlands. HMRC also needs to engage more staff and improve training and career structures for officials. It has indicated it may need up to 5,000 additional staff. But the training and development offered to attract and retain talented people, and provide an effective service to businesses, is as important as the number of staff. Longer term, the Government should consider bringing the functions of the border force that relate to goods, separated from HMRC since 2007, back within HMRC to operate more streamlined border processing. A comprehensive national communication strategy will be required, calibrated to meet the needs of both large businesses with complex supply chains, who already have customs systems and expertise but need clarity on the changes they will have to make, and smaller businesses who will need to undertake customs compliance for the first time. Uncertainty that is holding HMRC back from taking and publicising preparations means holds businesses back from their planning increasing the risk of a disorderly Brexit . These steps are not by themselves sufficient to manage leaving the Customs Union and Single Market but they will improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the UKs international trade, whatever the outcome of the Article 50 negotiations. MPs and peers should be focusing their energies on these legal and technical matters, which have been neglected during our membership of the EU. They would bring huge improvements in our trade capability, which is desirable in all cases but essential to support leaving the Customs Union. Robert Halfon is MP for Harlow, a former Conservative Party Deputy Chairman, Chair of the Education Select Committee and President of Conservative Workers and Trade Unionists. Social justice and skills have been my compass since entering politics. It is for that reason I have been vocal in my defence of the Open University (OU) in recent weeks, including in my last ConservativeHome column. Our higher education sector is one of this countrys greatest strengths, but fees have increased and maintenance support is falling. At a time when students and industries seek options other than the traditional three-year, full-time degree, studying flexibly is becoming less and less feasible. Today, I wanted to build on my last column and write about what we need to do to get out of this logjam. It involves my two favourite words in the English language: degree apprenticeships. Degree Apprenticeships are the key to fighting social injustice in higher education and boosting Britains productivity. Students earn as they learn, do not incur mountains of debt, and get good quality jobs at the end. Following its tradition of flexible learning, the OU has embraced the apprenticeship revolution. Outside of the OU and in traditional universities, degree apprenticeships are slowly beginning to take off. Cambridge has announced that it will roll them out this September. Coventry, Nottingham Trent and Sheffield Hallam are all expanding their provision. Against a backdrop of increasing difficulty to study flexibly, degree apprenticeships are growing in popularity but how do we make sure the system meets demand? Three things need to happen in higher education to allow people the flexible study they want. First, our universities must diversify and modernise their provision. More Russell Group and elite universities must make these places available. I would like to see the Government making it easier for universities to expand their degree apprenticeship provision. The process for approving degree apprenticeship standards must be quicker and smoother as the sector becomes more involved. We should hold the elite universities properly to account for the numbers of disadvantaged students they admit and the support these students receive whilst studying. Perhaps we should regard universities as elite only if they are providing a real ladder of opportunity to the disadvantaged (which degree apprenticeships provide) and maybe universities should only be seen as the best when they lead their students to well-paid job destinations and reduce Britains skills deficit (which degree apprenticeships help to achieve). The new Office for Students must lead in this. There must be sanctions from the new regulator for those universities who are failing in this regard. Second, its vital that the places on degree apprenticeships that do open up are flexible. Apprentices must be able to hop on and off, transferring modules and bank their learning. Doing this will help make degree apprenticeships more available to the less advantaged, as well as older students who wish to study in a more flexible way. Finally, we need to improve careers and guidance. I have heard time and time again that students in schools and further education colleges are not getting the support and advice they need to make an informed choice. Too often, we find that young people dont know about degree apprenticeships and have instead fallen into and drop out of courses that theyre not interested in. The application process must be as simple as it is to apply through UCAS at the moment. In fact, I have been calling for a UCAS- style process for FE and skills for a long time. Making this a reality is key to helping more students into apprenticeships. On this note, not only do students need more information, but we should educate parents and employers too. Few parents are aware of degree apprenticeships, especially from disadvantaged families where the returns could be most profound. Both the existence of apprenticeships and the value they bring should be hard-wired into careers advice. I mentioned productivity at the beginning of this article. Degree apprenticeships are a vital tool in meeting the UKs skills deficit. The problem is clear: the UK lags behind most of its counterparts, with workers in the UK producing less in each hour they work than those in the US, Germany or France. In fact, more than a third of workers in England do not hold suitable qualifications for the jobs they do, and around nine million of all working aged adults in England have low basic skills. The Fourth Industrial Revolution promises to dramatically improve our productivity, but we are told that a third of jobs could become obsolete over the next 20 years. There will be fewer and fewer low-skilled jobs to go around, so we have to do something about it now. Our universities can respond to these challenges by upping their degree apprenticeship provision and help to prepare students, young and older, for the changes ahead. Degree apprenticeships will allow more people especially those who have the most to lose from the Fourth Industrial Revolution to climb the ladder of opportunity. Degree apprenticeships will allow them to get the education, skills and training they deserve, to achieve the jobs, security and prosperity, they and our country need. Do you know how to be tough yet tender? Trenchant yet compassionate? Angry yet calmly receptive? Can you be completely on top of the detail, yet able to declare your ignorance of various very important details which your department has not yet been able to establish? Do you offer hope for the future, while also being able to convey your deep remorse for the mistakes of the past half century, and even of the past few months? Do you yield to no one in your admiration for the journalism of Amelia Gentleman, of the Guardian, while also being able to explain why it is only in the last few weeks that you have taken her articles as seriously as they plainly deserve to be taken? Or to put things in even more personal terms, are you capable of standing up to an irate Yvette Cooper who is in full cry about the Windrush scandal at the Home Affairs Select Committee? If so, you may wish to apply for the post of Home Secretary, except that the present incumbent, Amber Rudd, this afternoon carried off the task of standing up to Cooper with a considerable degree of ability. So did Rudds predecessor, Theresa May, who for many years managed the unusual feat, for a Home Secretary, of seeing off all comers, including Cooper, who for a time shadowed her, and now chairs the select committee. May, indeed, gained the reputation of being a bloody difficult woman, more than capable of standing up for herself in difficult circumstances and against awkward colleagues. It is just conceivable that Rudd will come through the Windrush troubles with her reputation similarly enhanced. It is as yet too early to say. But she managed to sound, in some of her exchanges with Cooper, like a Lady Bracknell who is demonstrating an unexpected ability to get on top of administrative difficulties which would cause many of us to break down in bitter tears of frustration. Cooper wanted an answer to the key question of whether any member of the Windrush generation has been deported. Rudd replied: Not as far as we can see at the moment. That sounds a pretty feeble line, but she delivered it with a certain Bracknellish brio. In the last eight or nine days, her officials have been through 7,000 of the 8,000 cases, and they have not yet come across a deportation. But, she added, I bitterly deeply regret that I didnt see is as more than individual cases I didnt see it as a systemic issue until very recently. Cooper (who had earlier done well at Prime Ministers Questions, where she was generally reckoned to be more impressive than Jeremy Corbyn) cited a distressing individual case of a Windrush man who had been asked for four different pieces of proof for each year he has been living in Britain, and then tried to go for Rudd: Do you have four different pieces of proof for where you were living in 1989? Rudd naturally ignored that rather personal question. But it made one think that for those of us who find it virtually impossible to steel ourselves to fill in even the simplest form, it is more than imaginable that we would put off such a horrible administrative task for as long as we possibly could. The Home Secretary did not, of course, indulge in any such confession of human weakness. She remarked that different caseworkers demand different forms of proof. She added that her department does not have targets for deporting people. Cooper said a previous witness had said there are targets, and that caseworkers are instructed to go after the low-hanging fruit. Rudd: I think thats extraordinary language to use. Who would refer to anyone as low-hanging fruit? She proceeded to defend her departments caseworkers: Theyre much more sympathetic and compassionate than the way you describe them. She had recently visited some of them in Croydon, and had found them to be so. Perhaps, one thought, the caseworkers are sometimes sympathetic, especially when the Home Secretary has come on a tour of inspection, and sometimes unsympathetic? And in the background lurked the horrific thought of having to perform any bureaucratic task, especially one on which ones future residence in this country depends. That sort of bureaucracy is unBritish. In Germany, one is made to register ones place of residence at the local police station, but we are by tradition an unofficial nation. That is one of the things which makes the Windrush affair so unbearable. These Britons were being persecuted by officials, who ought not to be allowed to persecute any law-abiding citizens. Cooper was, however, having difficulty persecuting Rudd. For today, one felt, the Home Secretary did not look like low-hanging fruit, and it was hard to feel any overwhelming urge to replace her with someone else. In the manufacturing renaissance that is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), its clear that no one supplier can be all things to all plants. Its also clear more companies are trying to provide more options than before. SAP is an enterprise software company that has introduced a digital manufacturing cloud. Microsoft is a software company that has expanded into cloud computing, and now is tackling the issue of plant security with the help of the OPC Foundation. Igus, better known as a plastic chain and cable supplier, has branched out into robotics-and discovered lubrication-free gears in the process. "When you think about digital coming to the shop floor, you look at vertical integration," said Georg Kube, global vice president for industrial machinery and components for SAP. "That information has to be processed in the logistics system. Were the people who have done all the logistics, so it was a natural point for us to expand into actually producing the product." SAP said in a press release its Digital Manufacturing Cloud is a plant solution that features "loT size one and paperless production capabilities. It integrates business systems with the shop floor, allowing for complete component and material level visibility for single and global installations." "Manufacturing changed; its become more focused on the individual order, the individual workpiece," Kube said. "Now that become weve become faster, more individual needs needed to be catered to. We want and need more products in small batches. That was not humanly doable before, and that is why digital came onto the shop floor." Inherent in the digital age is cybersecurity, and Microsoft is working with the OPC Foundation to security connect its Azure cloud service through OPC UA servers. The goal is to allow automatic security in cloud computing. "The big thing weve added is the automatic discovery of assets in the factory. We make them available to the cloud by registering them automatically," said Erich Barnstedt, the principal software engineering lead for Microsoft. "The key word is automatic. You just want to be able to tell the user that their machines are secure." Barnstedt said many manufacturers arent far enough along on the IIoT journey to worry about security. Right now, theyre still struggling with whether their plant is big enough to extract value from IIoT technologies. "Its a big problem. What we tell them is that, you can generate value at just the first step by centralizing data and creating dashboards," he said. "That already is revolutionary to a lot of folks. The trick is to start collecting data." Igus had a simple plastic chain system and then took on the challenges of creating its own cables to go with the chains and housings. Now it has moved into the robotics business. Theyve collaborated with a university in Cologne, Germany to develop a fully plastic collaborative robot, and also introduced a low-cost robotics joint at Hannover Messe. A brushless direct-current motor powers the new joint and the robot features control systems housed inside the joints. "The cables can now be routed directly inside a robot arm, said Martin Raak, robolink product manager at igus GmbH, in a press release. "Joints can also be equipped with absolute encoders that remember the position of an arm even when a power failure occurs." Bob Vavra, content manager, Plant Engineering, CFE Media, bvavra@cfemedia.com. Microsoft has outlined plans to invest in Internet of Things (IoT) technology by setting aside $5 billion to grow its partner ecosystem, develop a more intelligent edge environment, and build on existing products and services. Microsoft will be revamping its IoT strategy over the next four years. Although the software giant has been invested in the space for years, booming adoption and exponential growthlong predicted by analystsmeans, in the companys own words, Microsoft is just getting started. In a company blog post outlining the move, Julia White, CVP of Microsoft Azure, explained how fresh investment and R&D will make Microsoft ideally positioned to work with customers of all sizes and industries. "Our goal is to give every customer the ability to transform their businesses, and the world at large, with connected solutions," she wrote. Investing at the edge The companys $5 billion investment will be spread across IoT security, building tools and services for the IoT and the edge computing environment, and in continued growth within Microsofts partner ecosystem. "Today, were planning to dedicate even more resources to research and innovation in IoT and what is ultimately evolving to be the new intelligent edge," wrote White. "With our IoT platform spanning cloud, OS, and devices, we are uniquely positioned to simplify the IoT journey, so any customerregardless of size, technical expertise, budget, industry, or other factorscan create trusted, connected solutions that improve business and customer experiences, as well as the daily lives of people all over the world." Developing a partner ecosystem Microsoft acknowledges the importance of a partner ecosystem in delivering products and support to clients with differing needs. "Were also getting a look into how both customers and partners overcome the specific challenges of building an IoT solution that harnesses massive amounts of data," White said. "Whether theyre building products that transform the home, office, or factory floor, one thing remains clear: IoT is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort that spans cloud development, machine learning, AI, security, and privacy. Microsofts Azure IoT suite allows companies to develop their own use cases and experiment with connected technologies. The platform was bolstered by the launch of Azure IoT Edge last year." Microsofts partner network already includes technology specialists Cisco and Hitachi and management consultants PwC and EY. Its likely the companys VC arm, Microsoft Ventures, will also make further investments in the IoT space as part of the strategy. White concluded, "It positions us to support customers as they develop new and increasingly sophisticated IoT solutions, which few could have imagined just a few years ago. We cant wait to see what comes from our customers and partners next, and well have more to share throughout the year." Malek Murison is editor at Internet of Business. Internet of Business is a CFE Media content partner. This article originally appeared here. Edited by Chris Vavra, production editor, CFE Media, cvavra@cfemedia.com. ONLINE extra See additional stories about the Internet of Things (IoT) linked below. SOUTH GLENGARRY, Ontario On April 16th, 2018, members of the Cornwall Regional Task Force (CRTF) were conducting a Border Integrity operation targeting smuggling activity in, and around the St. Lawrence River corridor. In the early morning hours of April 17th, officers located a trio of vehicles travelling in a convoy leaving Hamilton Island, all vehicles were heavily loaded with bags containing unstamped, fine cut raw tobacco. Further investigation led officers to believe that the contraband had been unloaded from a vessel onto a property on the island. In total, six people four males and two females all from Cornwall, were arrested without incident for Possession of Unstamped Tobacco. The following individuals were released and will appear in Cornwall Court on May 29th, 2018 to answer to charges of Possession of Unstamped Tobacco, contrary to the Excise Act (2001). Denis Bedard (32), Madison Bennett (25), Alex Daniel (63), Angel Lowe-Sweet (24) Warren Skye (23) Jordan MacDonald (27) facing the same charge, was held for a bail hearing set for April 26, 2018. All three vehicles and 894.10 kilograms of tobacco were seized. On April 18, 2018, CRTF Members on patrol in the east end of Cornwall, observed suspicious activities on the property of the Co-op Marina. Further investigation led the officers to discover that a vehicle, which had departed from the Marina, was loaded with unstamped fine cut tobacco. Ernest Corbiere (42) of Snye, Quebec, was arrested without incident, and a Chevrolet Tahoe 2004 was seized along with 20 bags of unstamped fine cut tobacco weighing 357.44kg. Corbiere was also found in possession of 10 pills, believed to be Oxycodone. He has been charged with: Possession of Unstamped Tobacco, contrary to the Excise Act (2001) Possession of a Schedule I drug, contrary to Section 4(1) of the Controlled Drugs & Substances Act. Ernest Corbiere is to appear in court on May 29, 2018. Border integrity is important for Canadians. Shore line residents can be the first to witness any suspicious activity along the St Lawrence River where Organized Crime Groups are trying to find weak spots to exploit. Its in everyones best interest to report suspicious activities, stated Insp. Sue Black, Officer in charge of the RCMP Cornwall Detachment. If you have any information regarding criminal activity in your area, please contact the CRTF at 1-613-937-2800 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. The CRTF is a joint forces partnership that includes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Ontario Ministry of Finance. As Google makes more inroads into the enterprise, the company unveiled a partnership with the $15 billion IT services giant Atos on Tuesday aimed at driving greater artificial intelligence adoption within large companies. "Together, we will enable fast and smooth adoption of AI for enterprises," said Thierry Breton, chairman and CEO of Atos, in a statement. "By combining Atos integration capabilities and technology expertise with Google Cloud technology, we enable organizations to thrive in the most innovative and trusted environments, in compliance with global regulations." Paris, France-based Atos has entered into an agreement with Google Cloud to create solutions in three key areas: hybrid cloud, data analytics and machine learning, and the digital workplace. To accelerate product development and go-to-market strategies, Atos said it will create three AI and machine learning customer innovation labs and R&D centers in France, Britain and the US. [Related: This Company Is Using IoT To Fight Rats] During Google's first quarter earnings report on Monday, CEO Sundar Pichai said Google is consistently landing bigger deals with enterprise customers. "We are signing significantly larger, more strategic deals in cloud," Pichai said, during the earnings call. "Our security capabilities, easy-to-use data analytics, the industry-leading collaboration platform, G-Suite, are really winning customers over." Atos is a $15 billion global service provider who also builds and sells a variety of products including high performance computing (HPC) systems and solutions targeting the Internet of Things market. The company is known for its role in the Olympics for which it's been an official IT partner since 2001. On the hybrid cloud front, Atos will develop and expand its Canopy Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud with Google Cloud Platform as Atos' preferred public cloud platform. Atos will also take advantage of technology -- such as container orchestration with Google Kubernetes Engine -- to drive hybrid cloud adoption in global enterprises. Atos said it plans to develop a machine learning practice that will leverage Google Cloud's APIs to create industry-specific solutions across multiple verticals. The company will also develop a Google G-Suite practice to further enrich its Digital Workplace offering for enterprise customers. CEO of Google Cloud Diane Greene said the Atos partnership will bring Google Cloud to more enterprises. "Together with Atos, we will allow companies to transform and improve their business by enabling access to the most advanced cloud infrastructure, cutting-edge machine learning capabilities and intelligent collaboration tools," Greene said in a statement. NetSuite, the Oracle subsidiary that offers popular cloud-based business management solutions for mid-market organizations, unveiled on Tuesday a comprehensive infusion of artificial intelligence across its entire Software-as-a-Service suite. Oracle Co-CEO Mark Hurd delivered the keynote introducing AI and machine learning capabilities into NetSuite's ERP, CRM and e-commerce applications at the SuiteWorld conference in Las Vegas. By embedding AI into its native business intelligence systems, NetSuite will enable customers to draw real-time insights from their business and customer data, automate processes for greater efficiencies, and act on predictive intelligence, Hurd told partners and customers. [Related: NetSuite Takes Center Stage On Final Day Of Oracle OpenWorld] NetSuite introduced AI-powered services specifically geared for finance and procurement teams, human resources, supply chain, manufacturing, e-commerce, customer service, marketing and sales. Mark Rhyman, managing partner of ERP Success Partners, told CRN he's thrilled to see the release of advanced capabilities that will further differentiate NetSuite's cloud-based applications. After 10 years in the NetSuite ecosystem with a previous channel venture, Rhyman recently launched ERP Success Partners, based in Montreal. He said he's eager to drive that practice by bringing NetSuite's latest innovations to his customers. AI "will be definitively a competitive advantage," Rhyman said, enabling customers to "compute huge amounts of data in a short amount of time." The technology will improve the user experience with dashboard reminders, analytics, reports and many additional features "to better navigate through their day-to-day [activities] by leveraging the AI to bubble up priorities," he said. Artificial intelligence will help customers decide what opportunities they should focus on, what processes need more attention on the shop floor, and how to get orders faster to their destinations, Rhyman said. NetSuite has been growing its footprint since it was acquired by Oracle in 2016, placing sales resources and infrastructure in international markets including Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan and Mexico. At the company's conference this week, NetSuite also released 14 new editions of SuiteSuccess, its pre-configured industry solutions to meet the needs of specific verticals. Rhyman said a major theme of SuiteWorld has been Oracle and NetSuite collaborating more closely with NetSuite Alliance Partners in delivering professional Services, Rhyman told CRN. Microsoft's serverless container service, Azure Container Instances, became generally available Wednesday, giving partners a low-cost, secure and highly scalable way to deploy workloads for their customers. The service allows Microsoft's cloud customers to run Linux and Windows containers without having to manage any underlying virtual infrastructure. ACI automatically scales on-demand, and meters usage by the second, allowing customers to only incur costs up to their storage and compute needs. The service has been in public preview since July. [Related: Container Commotion: 6 Hot New Products Aimed At Capitalizing On The Kubernetes Juggernaut] "I am also excited to announce new lower pricing, making it even less expensive to deploy a single container in the cloud," said Corey Sanders, corporate vice president for Azure, on a Microsoft blog. "ACI also continues to be the fastest cloud-native option for customers in the cloud, getting you compute in mere seconds that also provide rich features like interactive terminals within running containers and an integrated Azure portal experience." ACI protects containers at the level of the hypervisor, creating a strong security boundary across workloads running on multi-tenant infrastructure, he said. "It can sometimes be a challenge to secure multi-tenant workloads running inside containers on the same virtual machine. Enabling this isolation without requiring you to create a hosting cluster is unique from other clouds and is a true cloud-native model," Sanders said. New Signature, a Washington D.C.-based Microsoft partner, is seeing its enterprise clients starting to explore containers as a means of building seamless, highly available applications that can scale fast to meet customer demand, Reed Wiedower, the solution provider's CTO, told CRN. ACI "is the perfect fit," he said, for customers that demand strong security and, at the same time, are seeking the lowest-possible price point. Microsoft has lowered the price of the service with the general release, and therefore the bar to entry, making it easier for partners help their customers mature their cloud strategies. "Far too many [cloud customers] are running traditional IaaS workloads, and in some cases, are paying data center providers to host virtual machines without a real sense for how to get those applications to a serverless environment," Wiedower said. Containers can solve that problem by abstracting away the operating system entirely, allowing partners like New Signature to help customers focus solely on their applications, he said. "I wont have to worry about any dependencies," Wiedower told CRN. "The application will simply work, whether on Windows or Linux. And because ACIs are billed per-second, rather than slower virtual machines, youre really only paying for what you use." While smaller customers might not need that level of granularity, for enterprises running applications that support millions of users, those capabilities become critical when scaling up and down applications based on demand. With ACI now widely available, all Microsoft partners should contemplate a container strategy for customers running workloads that fit that serverless model, Wiedower said. Roman Avanesyan, practice director for Microsoft productivity and infrastructure at SADA Systems, said the container service again demonstrates Microsoft's "enterprise cloud chops." "Customers gain a simplified path to becoming 'serverless' and when paired with Cosmos DB and Traffic Manager, customers can quickly establish a multiregion, global footprint that allows them to reach end users anywhere in the world, Avanesyan told CRN. The service also can be easily incorporated into a Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery pipeline so new features can be delivered to end users in real time. IT infrastructure automation firm Puppet on Wednesday unveiled sweeping product updates including a new offering focused on bolstering the DevOps capabilities of its product portfolio, along with expanded partnerships with vendors such as Cisco and Microsoft aimed at improved automation. Puppet also announced general availability of Puppet Discoverya new standalone product that informs customers about all of the IT infrastructure they are runningalong with the newest version of Puppet Enterprise. [Related: Puppet Launches New Partner Portal As Channel Push Heats Up] Executives told CRN that the announcements demonstrate Puppet's evolution from a company with a single product into a platform companywhich provides far bigger opportunities for channel partners. "We're all focused now on helping partners to deliver that message," said John Schwan, vice president of global partner sales and programs at Puppet, who added that the company's percentage of sales through the channel have "significantly grown" over the past year. Puppet's core software is used to provide a common code for defining applications and infrastructureleading to a standard way to manage all infrastructure such as private and public cloud, containers, storage and networking. The Portland, Ore.-based company offers an open source version of its software as well as Puppet Enterprise, which is focused on automating key parts of IT operations such as infrastructure delivery and security. Puppet Discovery The new standalone Puppet Discovery product, which initially launched in limited preview in October, can uncover anything that an organization with a hybrid environment might be runningincluding on-premises, public cloud, container-based or virtual infrastructure. Puppet Discovery should serve as a "fantastic on-ramp" for partners that are looking to mature their automation practices, said Tim Zonca, Puppet's senior vice president of worldwide marketing and business development. Puppet Discovery means that "organizations can now start to address the shadow IT concerns that many are facing, even within containers," said Chuck Crawford, chief strategy officer and co-founder of Fishtech, a Kansas City, Mo.-based partner of Puppet, in an email. That includes conducting workflow and swim lanes for provisioning and de-provisioning of containerized environments, Crawford said. DevOps Offerings Due to its automation capabilities, Puppet's software has become a central component for many companies' DevOps initiatives, which target faster deployments of software. Puppet's newly announced product, Continuous Delivery for Puppet Enterprise, aims to go even deeper in terms of bringing together the development and operations sides of organizations. The product combines a continuous-integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) solution with Puppet's "infrastructure-as-code" approach. The promise, according to Puppet, is that operations and development teams will now be able to use the same tools and interface. The new offering is expected to launch in June. For channel partners, "this is an opportunity to bring to the table the functionality and features known by the dev world to help the ops world," Schwan said, calling it "another up-sell opportunity to a higher solution set" for partners. "I think this will have a massive impact for our partners that are helping customers to mature their DevOps practices and technologies," Schwan said. The team at Fishtech is "very excited about Puppet's portfolio expansion and focus in the DevOps space," Crawford said. "More organizations are adopting a DevOps model and struggling to incorporate a DevSecOps-type workflow. Issues of visibility, standardization, and automation complicate the effort, which affects compliance and risk management initiatives ... With a dedicated focus on the DevSecOps and automation space, Puppet is a crucial partner for our go-to-market strategy." Industry Partnerships Another major announcement from Puppet is the expansion of partnerships with a number of top industry vendors, including a partnership to enable improved management of Cisco devices. The aim is to provide enhanced automation for management of devices such as Cisco Catalyst and Meraki, as well as deployment and management of Cisco ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure). As part of the expanded partnership, Puppet announced the private beta release of its Cisco IOS Module. The module provides agentless management of Cisco Catalyst switches, and is so named because the switches run Cisco's IOS networking software. At Lake Oswego, Oregon-based IGNW, a Cisco Digital Solutions Integrator partner and Puppet Service Delivery Partner, "many of our customers use Cisco networking devices and want to leverage their Puppet expertise and investments to manage those networks," said Andrew Cadwell, CEO and managing partner at IGNW, in an email. "Customers are looking to increase their agility and bring automation to their network operations." The expanded partnership between Cisco and Puppet means that both legacy and modern Cisco networks can be managed with a single product, Cadwell said. "We're especially excited by the agentless management capability of the new modules coming out Cisco IOS, Cisco ACI and Cisco Meraki which gives our customers even more agility and choice," he said. Meanwhile, Puppet also announced updates geared toward better discovery and management of Microsoft Azure and Windows infrastructure. The updates include automatic generation of the Azure Resource Manager module, easier management of Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration resources and support for Microsoft's Task Scheduler 2.0 API in a new Scheduled Tasks module. Other new partnerships include Nutanix and Barracuda, which are partnering with Puppet around modules for networking and hybrid cloud automation. Puppet Enterprise Additionally, Puppet unveiled the newest update to its flagship offering with the release of Puppet Enterprise 2018.1. The release features upgrades including Puppet Tasks role-based access control (for improved defining of node groups), Puppet Bolt Task Plans (for enhanced running and tracking of tasks) and simplified backup and recovery capabilities. Schwan said the portion of Puppet's business going through the channel has expanded since the company introduced a new segmented sales model in early 2017, which designates mid-market accounts as partner-only. "That's had a huge impact in terms of getting mind share," he said. Internet of Things developers are increasingly favoring Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure as their cloud platforms of choice while Google Cloud loses muster, according to a new survey by the Eclipse Foundation. AWS was by far the most popular cloud platform for IoT developers, growing in popularity by 21 percent from last year to a 51.8 percent share of those surveyed this year. Azure gained favor by 17 percent from last year, with 31.21 percent of developers choosing that platform in the 2018 survey. Google Cloud, on the other hand, hasn't been as lucky. The platform's popularity fell 8 percent from last year, giving it an 18.8 percent market share for IoT developers this year. That put Google Cloud behind private/on-premise cloud solutions for IoT, which slightly increased to a 19.39 percent preference share. [Related: 2018 Internet Of Things 50] The survey had a total of 502 respondents, many of whom belong to different IoT developer communities, including IEEE and OMA SpecWorks. Google has been making efforts to turn up the heat on AWS and Azure, most recently by acquiring LogMeIn's Xively IoT device management platform for $50 million in February. The deal was done to deepen Google's technology and engineering expertise for Cloud IoT Core, Google's fully managed service that securely connects, manages and ingests data from globally dispersed devices. Rick Erickson, co-founder and executive vice president of business development at Agosto, a Minneapolis, Minn.-based Google Cloud IoT partner, told CRN that while it's still too early to tell who will ultimately win the IoT cloud platform race, Google will have to show good results as it integrates Xively. "Google has to make some significant headway in this Xively integration and [make it] statistically relevant and very easy for users in the mix," Erickson said. Once Google integrates Xively's device management system into Cloud IoT Core, it will fill a gap that previously made firms like Agosto build in support for third-party systems, he added. What will benefit Google in the long run, Erickson said, is the company's support of open standards. "Google has consistently been looked at as a developer-friendly cloud. I think you're going to see that translate to IoT," he said. Reed Wiedower, CTO of New Signature, a Washington, D.C.-based solution provider and Microsoft Azure IoT partner, told CRN in an email that "it's no surprise that AWS and Azure are leading the pack." "Both were designed to solve the thorny problems: massive scale, parallel data streaming, security, etcetera, that IoT causes when deployed widely in the field," he said. Wiedower said some of Microsoft's recent work in the past twelve months including the new Azure Sphere solution for microcontroller devices has been lowering the barrier to entry for IoT solutions. "Developers no longer have to dedicate a huge amount of time to get a solution working they can simply describe a business challenge and immediately jump into customizations," he said. "The quicker a developer can get a solution in front of a customer, the more rapidly a project can get going." All eyes were on AT&T's proposed acquisition of media giant Time Warner during AT&T's 2018 first quarter earnings call, an $85 billion deal currently tied up in federal court as the Department of Justice opposes the acquisition, maintaining that the merger could result in price hikes for consumers. Both AT&T and the DoJ are wrapping up their respective arguments in a trial on the case and closing arguments are expected to start April 30. "We optimistically wait for the court's decision Based on the ruling, we stand ready to close," John Stephens, AT&T's senior executive vice president and CFO, told investors during the carrier's earnings call Wednesday evening. [Related: AT&T Channel Chief: 'It's All About Enablement Of The Channel' ] But while Dallas-based AT&T waits for approval for its Time Warner deal, the carrier is focused on building a "premier" communications network, which will include virtualization and high-speed internet technology such as 5G. As of the end of 2017, AT&T had successfully virtualized 55 percent of its network. Stephens said the carrier expects to be at 65 percent by the end of this year. "We're already beginning to see operating expense savings from our move to a software-defined network," he said. "We are well on our way to meet or exceed our goal of 75 percent virtualized by 2020." AT&T's fiber network, the backbone for 5G, is extensive and growing, Stephens said. "We are on track to build fiber to 12.5 million customer locations. We now reach more than 8 million locations with fiber this is in addition to the 8 million business locations that we have today within 1,000 feet of our fiber," he said. For the first quarter ending March 31, AT&T's Business Solutions revenues dropped slightly to $9.19 billion from $9.69 billion in Q1 2017. However, strategic services, which include Ethernet, cloud, and VoIP sales, increased by 5.6 percent from $2.97 billion last year to $3.14 billion during the just concluded quarter. On the business wireless side, revenue rose to $2.37 billion in the first quarter from $2.29 billion a year ago. AT&T added new postpaid business subscribers during the quarter, reporting 11.94 million wireless connections compared to 11.24 million in the year-ago quarter. AT&T said it had 41.73 million connected devices on its network in the first quarter, up from 32.40 million in Q1 2017. Predictably, revenue from legacy voice and data services dropped to $2.84 billion during the quarter, down from $3.55 billion one year earlier. AT&T said that growth in strategic services and wireless equipment is helping to offset declines in legacy services. AT&T did not break out revenues for its Partner Solutions segment for the first quarter. The company reported revenue of $38.04 billion for the first quarter, down more than 3 percent from $39.37 billion in the same quarter one year earlier and missing Wall Street's revenue estimate of $39.31 billion. The carrier attributed the lower revenue to declines in legacy wireline, domestic video, and wireless services. Net income for the first quarter was $4.66 billion, up more than 34 percent from $3.47 billion in the first quarter of 2017. Earnings per share in the first quarter was $0.75 compared to $0.56 EPS one year ago. If you thought the state House of Representatives was already too liberal, too quick to tax your local billionaire, think again. The chambers left-leaning legion is now unified as a force on tax issues. Its the revival of the House Progressive Democrats Caucus, a group that held forth from the Vietnam War era until 1992, after the caucus helped deliver a state income tax. The caucus, set to debut publicly Wednesday, has 30 members so far. Organizer Josh Elliott, a first-term Democrat from Hamden, has made a name for himself pushing for higher income taxes for wealthy families, a higher minimum wage and legalized marijuana. The Capitol is rife with groups and subgroups, including the Black and Puerto Rican caucus; a moderate caucus and a womens caucus; and, I just learned Tuesday, a firefighters caucus and a sportsmens caucus. But the progressive Democrats caucus isnt just another group. If it gains traction and exerts power as a bloc, it could swing the debate toward earned (paid) family and medical leave, a $15 minumum wage and mostly, higher taxes for wealthy families without question the most vexing fiscal policy debate the state faces as we lurch from one crisis to another. What exactly does the caucus stand for? We want to be arms-open and were not going to have purity tests, Elliott said, but there are some things that differentiate us. Well, there is a litmus test. The one defining factor for people who are going to be in this caucus is you have to be fighting for equitable taxation, Elliott said. In a state that cant rely on growth to pay its bills, equitable tax policy is as big an issue as we have. Connecticut faces shortfalls of $2 billion and higher starting in two years or at least we did until this months favorable tax returns. That means either deep cuts in state services and delayed infrastructure improvements, which weve already seen, or tax increases, which, of course, weve also seen. Everyone agrees it would be fairer to raise taxes on the rich if and only if we had to raise taxes to run the state, but of course, as Rep. Themis Klarides, R-Derby, the House Republican leader, points out early and often, wealthy families can and do leave the state making tax hikes on the rich counterproductive. Or do they leave? Elliott cites studies that say thats just a myth. State data paints an unclear picture. And most of us know wealthy people heading for the exits, but do those anecdotes reflect widespread reality? We simply dont have enough data to know for sure. One thing is clear: The caucus will bring laser focus to the income tax issue, as Brian Flaherty, a Connecticut Business and Industry Association lobbyist and former ranking House Republican, put it. More Information Progressive Democrats caucus members: Terry Adams, Stamford James Albis, East Haven Juan Candelaria, New Haven Mike D'Agostino, Hamden Joe de la Cruz, Groton Michael DiMassa, West Haven Josh Elliott, Hamden Andrew Fleischmann, West Hartford Bobby Gibson, Bloomfield Bob Godfrey, Danbury Gregg Haddad, Mansfield Joshua Hall, Hartford Jack Hennessy, Bridgeport Susan Johnson, Windham Roland Lemar, New Haven Matthew Lesser, Middletown Rick Lopes, New Britain Brandon McGee Jr., Windsor Russ Morin, Wethersfield Robyn Porter, New Haven Geraldo Reyes Jr., Waterbury Kim Rose, Milford Robert Sanchez, New Britain Ezequiel Santiago, Bridgeport Hilda Santiago, Meriden Chris Soto, New London Peter Tercyak, New Britain Edwin Vargas, Hartford Toni Walker, New Haven Michael Winkler, Vernon See More Collapse For the legislative session that ends May 9, with a $1.2 billion budget cushion, were not going to see income tax hikes. But the cushion could melt away next year. Most progressive caucus members are from safe Democratic districts in cities. Some could see political risk in an election year if their districts include a lot of Republicans or Trump Democrats among them, James Albis, D-East Haven, whos organizing the progressive caucus with Elliott. The third-term lawmaker and deputy majority leader won re-election in 2016 by a scant nine votes over his Republican challenger. But Albis doesnt see the risk in his working-class district. One thing Ive always shown is my desire to fight for blue-collar families, he said. We have a completely inequitable system right now. Klarides was not quick to say the progressive caucus will give her GOP candidates a campaign advantage because she knows the issues are more complex than that. But she said, If they believe we dont get taxed enough in this state ... then yes. Battle on. If they try to turn this into a negative spin, Elliott said, then I welcome that. The caucus has Democrats in its name and there are no Republicans who would join, but that could theoretically change. I asked Rep. Peter Tercyak, D-New Britain, a member of the group, whether his late father, former Rep. Anthony Tercyak a liberal Republican would have joined the group. After a long pause, Tercyak, who succeeded his father in the seat, sighed and said he didnt know. Among Democrats, the caucus could make it harder for House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, to hold all his Democrats together on compromises. With only 79 Democrats to 71 Republicans (and one open seat) he needs just about every vote. An employee of the AFSCME Council 4 union, Aresimowicz has disappointed some labor leaders who say he hasnt fought hard enough for tax fairness. He views his House leadership more broadly and represents a moderate district. Elliott says that leadership by consensus hasnt led to progressive tax reform, but he doesnt view the caucus as a challenge to Aresimowicz and Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford. And Aresimowicz said caucus or none, he likes to think hes open to all viewpoints. Just because they formed as a caucus doesnt mean they werent here last year, he said, as individuals seeking his ear. Theyre formalizing something that has existed for years. One veteran of the group is Rep. Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury, elected in 1988 and a member of the last progressive caucus, which disbanded after former Rep. Thomas Ritter, D-Hartford, father of Matt Ritter, took over as speaker in 1992. I asked Godfrey, will this group meet regularly and function as a regimented force? No, Godfrey shot back, were liberals, we dont do anything regularly. Whatever it does or doesnt accomplish, by focusing on the states central economic issue, the caucus performs a service to Connecticut. dhaar@hearstmediact.com Walk into any store that sells prom gowns, and it's easy to become overwhelmed. With a stock of silhouettes that range from mermaid to ballgown and come in a rainbow of colors, choices abound in every dress shop in southwestern Connecticut and beyond. But before you get lost in a sea of sequins and tulle, knowing which styles are hot and which are not for prom 2018 can help ensure you say yes to the perfect dress. Going through the racks of her Wallingford, Conn. shop, owner of The Dressing Room Christine Rinere knows first hand what prom dress shoppers are looking for, and this season, it's all about going big literally. "We have sold a lot of ballgowns for prom," said Rinere of the prom dress trend she's noticed most this year. "This is the biggest thing that's different than prior years for us." For owners Danna Lane and Corinne Chapman of A Step Ahead in Stamford, the full-skirted style has been the most surprising and exciting trend they've seen this year. "What's so different this year is that so many dresses especially ballgowns have pockets, so girls can put their phones, money, lipstick, lipgloss in the pockets of their dresses, which is a huge selling point," said Chapman. "It's convenient and cool; it's not what you'd expect when you're dressed formally, but it makes for a beautiful pose and just looks different." While Rinere and Lane both find that ballgowns are the biggest silhouette trend for prom 2018 in Connecticut, it is not a necessarily new trend nationwide. "We usually lag behind a bit," said Rinere when it comes to accepting the ballgown style into the mix for prom, which she also mentioned as a nationally-popular silhouette. For Chapman, the prom gowns popular at A Step Ahead are indicative of the tastes of prom shoppers in their corner of Connecticut. "Very popular dresses for sale from different companies are dresses we could never sell here in a million years," said Chapman. "The dresses we sell are more Connecticut, and even Fairfield County, specific." Gowns with very elaborate trains and intricate detail work follow in a close second for popular styles in the state this year. And just as certain shapes are more popular than others for prom regionally and nationally this year, both find that certain colors stand out. Take blush, for example; Rinere says when shoppers are searching for gowns in subtle hues, they tend to opt for a rosy shade of pink instead of traditional pastels. Biggest 2018 prom trends Ballgowns Blush hues Jewel tones Bold earrings See More Collapse "For light colors, everything that's light is blush. Even black with blush," Rinere said. And the colors that aren't on trend? "There aren't a lot of pastels, light pinks and light blues," she said of the colors that didn't make the cut this year. Blush isn't the only color trend she's noticed. In fact, both Rinere and Chapman say their customers have been very attracted to hypersaturated colors that mimic jewel tones, such a deep purples, emerald greens, ruby red and navy. While these choices stand in contrast to the blush trend she's noticed, Rinere suggests the move toward jewel tones not only indicative of a national trend at play, but also of the fact that shoppers are paying closer attention to fashion trends they see on the runway. "I study fashion," said Rinere. "I'm always looking at the Christian Diors, the Oscar de la Rentasthose super high-end designersbecause their season is before the (prom) buying season, so you know that those trends are coming." Once shoppers find their red carpet-ready gown, the next step is accessorizing. According to Rinere, piling on jewelry is not a popular option for prom this year. Though she carries earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings in The Dressing Room, which has a second location Madison, Rinere said she has only sold one type of jewelry to her prom customers: earrings. "I'm seeing a lot of earrings, but not a lot of necklaces and not a lot of bracelets," Rinere said. "I've maybe sold five necklaces for prom this year. But big, drop earrings are popular." Bold earrings are also on trend at A Step Ahead, as well, where Lane and Chapman encourage their shoppers to forego a necklace in favor of dramatic ear chandeliers. "We try to get our girls to not wear necklaces, but instead a fantastic pair of earringssomething big, bold and fantastic," said Chapman. "Sometimes a big necklace will compete with the neckline of a dress too much." When it comes to totaling up the cost of a prom look, Rinere says that completed ensembles can range anywhere between $300 and $1,000, while Chapman and Lane say dresses alone in their store can start in the low $200s and span up to the $400 range. But the A Step Ahead co-owners offer that prom is about more than the cost of the gown. "A lot of people like to talk about the amount of money spent on prom in a negative way," said Chapman and Lane. "Prom is not about the things that money can buy, but the feeling that girls get when they go out in a beautiful dress and have a good time." With this year's prom trends apparent, Lane and Chapman agree that just because a style is trendy, doesn't necessarily mean it's something everyone should wear. In fact, they say prom style should be completely subjectivethe only thing you should wear while trying on gowns is an open mind. "Come in with an open mind," Chapman and Lane agreed. "Come in with ideas of what you like but be open to all styles because you never know how something is going to look. When girls try on the right dress, they get this big smile and that's the prom girl smile because you know they found the right dress for them." If youre a habitue of the evening shows on CNN and MSNBC, youre probably used to Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal to say nothing of Reps. Jim Himes and Elizabeth Esty holding forth on a variety of weighty topics: The Trump follies, possible firing of special counsel Robert Mueller, House Intel shenanigans, guns (yes, not strictly a national issue), and a lot more. You may wonder whether given the disarray in Washington, do these people have any time for what amounts to largely local issues? Well, if the foundation of your home is crumbling and youre looking for some financial relief, the answer apparently is yes. After scores of complaints and inspections showing contractor use of cement compromised with excessive levels of crack-causing pyrite or pyrrhotite, Blumenthal and Murphy formed a legislative tag team to win federal money for remediation. Repairing a foundation can run you northward of six figures. Murphys bill, the Aid to Homeowners with Crumbling Foundations Act, would set up a $100 million fund managed by HUD that would distribute aid to states like Connecticut that have non-profit funds for fixing cracked foundations. Connecticuts General Assembly already has authorized the Crumbling Foundations Assistance Fund, which allows bonding of $100 million over five years to assist homeowners. Blumenthal introduced the Crumbling Foundations and Small Business and Homeowners Assistance Act, which would bring about a similar grant program administered through FEMA. In a conference call Wednesday with reporters, Murphy said direct passage in Congress would be an uphill battle because dominant Republicans are likely to see it as a local issue. But Murphy has put in a direct appeal to HUD Secretary Ben Carson, inviting him to Connecticut for a personal inspection. Under questioning by Murphy at a hearing last week, Carson called it a very valid issue. Both senators argue its a local emergency that deserves a federal response. But time is not on our side, said Blumenthal. Litigation is ongoing but it may be too little, too late. The injustice done to these families is egregious and ongoing, said Blumenthal. So give these guys a little credit: On this one, they took the yokel out of local. ================= French President Emmanuel Macron may have charmed the dandruff off of President Donald Trump (and, as we now know, vice versa), but Murphy for one is not holding his breath for a 180 on Trumps promise to whack the Iran nuclear deal. Macrons bravura performances at a White House press conference and address to a joint session of Congress notwithstanding, Murphy sees little grounds for optimism that Trump will stick with the Obama agreement which keeps Iran out of the nuke-production business at least until 2025. Macron talked about an expanded side agreement between the U.S. and European allies that would incorporate concerns about missiles and Iran interference in neighboring states (Yemen and Syria, in particular), neither of which are covered in the 2015 agreement. "It is true to say that this agreement may not address all concerns and very important concerns but we should not abandon it without having something substantial and more substantial instead," Macron told Congress. "That's my position." Trump didnt dismiss it out of hand. But Murphy still has no faith. There hasnt been a single day since the inauguration that I was optimistic about Trump foreign policy, said Murphy, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Murphy said Mike Pompeo, who appears headed for confirmation as Trumps new secretary of state, told him that pulling out of the nuclear deal is a finished issue. Trump has until May 12 to play his cards one way or the other. What happens if Trump does indeed withdraw? Murphy predicts not only would Iran restart its nuclear program, but nervous neighbors such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt might jump-start theirs. Murphy witnessed Macrons speech to Congress along with his guest, Marc Nemeth, who is president of Jonal Laboratories Inc., in Meriden. No optimism, goose bumps when Macron quoted FDR, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself? It was a very strong speech, Murphy said. It was certainly a call to reject a lot of this nationalist, America first rhetoric. HARTFORD State Rep. Mike DAgostino, D-Hamden, ended his exploration of an attorney general run Wednesday and handed his endorsement to Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford. Tong, 44, the Ivy League-educated son of Chinese immigrant parents, is co-chairman of the General Assembly's law-writing Judiciary Committee. Outside the legislature, he is a commercial lawyer. If he wins the Democratic nomination next month and is elected in November, he would become the state's first Asian-American attorney general, representing Connecticut taxpayers and officials in civil court state- and nationwide. It was easy for DAgostino to endorse Tong, DAgostino said, because he has confidence in Tongs commitment to progressive values and the legal skills needed to defend them. This position is the bulwark, DAgostino said. It is the front-line defense against the Trump administration and, God forbid, a Republican governor. I can look at William and I know what his record is, and I know he will be standing up there protecting Connecticut residents. Later Wednesday, DAgostino, a partner in commercial litigation in the Hartford office of the law firm Morgan Lewis, said he will have to spend at least three weeks in Philadelphia immediately after the nominating convention in May. He has a case that did not reach a settlement and is now expected to go to trial. He appears to have had more than enough delegate support to force a primary against Tong. People close to his campaign said he still needed about $20,000 in donations, none more than $100, to qualify for public financing. The exit could put DAgostino, 47, in a strong position to run in the future - a possibility he did not rule out. DAgostino has advised Hamdens delegates to support Tong at the Democratic convention next month. We feel good going into the convention, Tong said. Having run statewide before is a tremendous asset. Tong announced he was running for attorney general just over two weeks ago. He unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2012 and mayor of Stamford in 2013. Tong is well past the $70,000 threshold he would need for participation in the state's voluntary public-financing program. DAgostino said he will put the funds he raised toward his re-election to the House. Tongs Senate co-chairman of judiciary, Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, is also seeking the party nomination for attorney general. Other Democratic candidates for attorney general include former U.S. prosecutor Chris Mattei and Clare Kindall, assistant attorney general under current Attorney General George Jepsen. emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson Nearly the entire Connecticut Supreme Court has resigned from the state judges association, an action prompted at least in part by the lack of support the group gave to Justice Andrew McDonalds nomination for chief justice, which failed last month in the state Senate. Five of the current six members quit the Connecticut Judges Association, a collegial group which sponsors a scholarship, but primarily lobbies for judges pay raises in the Capitol. Sources in the legal community who asked to remain anonymous said the action is at least partly based on the organizations tepid support during McDonalds controversial vetting process, in which Republican opposition was seen by Democrats and some members of the legal community as an attack on judicial independence, with no response from the association. Based upon recent decisions of the association, we do not see that membership in the organization has sufficient value to merit our continued participation at this time, said the letter written to association members and signed by Associate Justices Greg T. DAuria, Maria A. Kahn, McDonald, and Raheem L. Mullins, as well as Senior Associate Justice Richard N. Palmer. We do not resign our memberships lightly, and hope that one day we might rejoin its ranks if the mission and direction of the association is more clearly defined and implemented. A copy of the letter, dated April 11, about two weeks after McDonalds nomination was defeated in the Senate, was obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media. From our perspective, it speaks to itself, said Palmer, who declined further comment. The only sitting justice who did not sign the document was Justice Richard A. Robinson, who is currently being considered to become the next chief justice in the General Assembly. There is also a vacancy on the court, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloys nominee, Superior Court Judge Steven D. Ecker, is also awaiting action in the General Assembly. The current president of the group, Superior Court Judge Robert L. Genuario, a former state senator from Norwalk who led the state budget office under former Gov. M. Jodi Rell, declined comment. While there are around 200 state judges, the association, a registered state lobbyist, has no website and no list of members publicly available. kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT Leaked Emails Expose Russian Exploits In Ukraine Russian attempts to fuel dissent and spread disinformation have been exposed by a cache of leaked documents that show what the Kremlin is prepared to pay for hacking, propaganda and rent-a-mob rallies. Hacked emails sent by Moscow-linked figures outline a dirty-tricks campaign in Ukraine, which was invaded on the orders of President Putin in 2014. Experts said that they exposed the dangers faced by Britain and its allies because Russia used the same weapons of disinformation, bribery and distortion to attack the West. Bob Seely, a Conservative MP and expert on Russian warfare, said his analysis of the leaks, which comprise thousands of emails and a password-protected document related to the conflict in Ukraine, revealed a shopping list of subversion. There is overwhelming evidence that the tools and techniques of Russian covert conflict are being used in and against the UK, the US and the EU, he added. In the wake of the Skripal poisoning its more important than ever that we understand these methods. The cost and extent of tactics were disclosed in a third tranche of the so-called Surkov leaks, named after Vladislav Surkov, a Kremlin spin-master said by some to be Mr Putins Rasputin. Two previous tranches, published online by Ukrainian Cyber Alliance, a hacker activist collective, were said to include emails from an account linked to Mr Surkov. He has been closely involved with the management of Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics, two Russian-controlled statelets in Ukraine established by pro-Moscow separatists. The latest publication appears to contain emails found in accounts linked to Inal Ardzinba, Mr Surkovs first deputy, and to a Ukrainian Communist party leader. They suggest that the Kremlin paid local groups and individuals in Ukraine that were willing to advance its aim to fracture the country. One set of correspondence from October 2014, which appears to have been sent by a Russian politician to Mr Ardzinba, contained proposals to fund cyber operations, including hacking email accounts for between $100 and $300. A wider plan to troll opponents, demotivate enemies on social media, and amass the personal data of targeted individuals in Ukraines second largest city, Kharkiv, was priced at $130,500. The Russian foreign ministry has denied in the past that Mr Ardzinba has had anything to do with propaganda in Ukraine. According to Mr Seely, the leaks appear to reveal plans to plant new historical and philosophical ideas. The emails also include an event and two books that would claim that an area of Ukraine had Russian heritage. Other proposals included the orchestration of anti-Ukraine, pro-Russia rallies. These involved the transport of sportsmen trained in martial arts to agitate at the rallies, bribes to local media to feature the protests and bribes to police to turn a blind eye. A month of rallies in Kharkiv was priced at $19,200. It included 100 participants, three organisers and two lawyers. It is unclear if the rallies took place, though others orchestrated by the Kremlin did happen, the research said. Moves to get 30 ex-communist figures elected to local government were floated in June 2015, at $120,460, the leaks said. The Kremlin has claimed in the past that the Surkov leaks are fabricated and in the information war between Ukraine and Russia falsehoods may have been planted. However, the authors of correspondence in the first two tranches confirmed their authenticity. They were supported by the Atlantic Council, an international affairs think tank, after an analysis of metadata. In their analysis of the third tranche, Mr Seely and his co-researcher Alya Shandra, managing editor of an English-language Ukrainian news website, say the leaks are very likely to be authentic. Ms. Shandra and Mr Seely plan to publish their report with the Royal United Services Institute. Peter Quentin, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said: There is no reason to believe these leaks are any less credible than the previous tranches. This third tranche certainly seems to fit with the trend of well-documented subversion by Russian activists in the region. The Times: You Might Also Read: Russia's Experimental Hybrid War With Ukraine: A New Cold War Will Not Be Based On Hardware: Fake News & Botnets: Russia Has Weaponised The Web: Dont try to sleep it off get up! If you had put to even the most experienced of Beijings top strategists eight months ago that Chinas all-powerful President Xi Jinping would be breaking with protocol, leaving his Beijing bastion, and flying half-way across the country to welcome Indias prime minister, you would have been laughed at. It was only last August that the Chinese government was publicly reminding India about the lessons of 1962. But such is the nature of the India-China relationship and its unpredictable ups-and-downs that we are now talking about a strategic rapprochement that would have been unthinkable last year amid the 72-day border stand-off at Doklam. The announcement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to China on April 27 and 28 for an unprecedented informal summit with Xi, in the city of Wuhan on the Yangtze river (where Mao once hosted foreign leaders in his private villa, now a tourist site) was delivered Sunday evening in Beijing. When external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi came out of their hour-long meeting at Beijings Diaoyutai state guesthouse, the media knew it was not business as usual, given the elaborate arrangements for a press briefing (itself unusual in China where ministers dont take questions on a frequent basis). The visit is being seen in Delhi and Beijing as a bold move by both sides to reset ties, but it is not without risks. It is certainly a very bold step, former foreign secretary S Jaishankar told ANI. The fact that they have agreed on an informal summit shows that the two leaders realise the importance of this relationship, he said. Jaishankar added, They have taken on the responsibility themselves on putting it on a better course I think what is different about this particular summit would be that it is an informal summit so the meeting will be in a very informal and casual environment. The agenda would be open, theyll spend a lot of time over two days and therell be different kind of conversations, which would be much more personal and much more interactive in comparison with the formal meetings. Travelling to China for a summit meeting with President Xi that too only a month before an already scheduled June trip for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) security summit is certainly a bold move by PM Modi. Both leaders are approaching the summit with different motivations. For India, stabilising relations with China at a time of global uncertainty could yield dividends, both from attempting to avoid frictions ahead of an election year and also maximising the economic dividend from the worlds second-largest economy when it is embroiled with a trade spat with the United States and seeking alternative options. For President Xi, he is keen to show his statesmanship at the start of his second term and how could he be a global statesman if his relations with his biggest neighbour were fraught? and that he has allies in his Modi and Xi move fast to reset ties PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Sushmas Hindi-Chini diplomacy tense battle with the West over trade, with China and the US on the brink of a trade war. Their different objectives, however, wont matter all that much if they can find some much-needed common ground on the banks of the Yangtze. (Courtesy of Mail Today) Also read: Statement of Deepika Singh Rajawat, the lawyer representing Kathua rape victim The Trinamool Congress (TMC) claims that it has worked effectively towards the betterment of the villages in West Bengal and done enough developmental work across the state. The party has even claimed that it has been the first to launch several new projects in the state. The TMC government says it has received several honours and awards for the good work done both in the country and abroad. A woman panchayat poll candidate being beaten up. Source: Video grab However, the incidents of violence captured on cameras and circulated on social media during the filing of nominations for the panchayat elections in the rural areas of the state bears proof of the fact that the party has done little in terms of governance apart from engaging in propaganda. Had the party worked for the betterment of the villages and the villagers, there would have been no reason for it to stop people from filing their nominations. Armed with weapons, with police by their side and with the muscle power of the hooligans, TMC threatened and stopped the candidates of the Opposition parties from filing their nominations and in several parts even succeeded in their nefarious efforts. The recent decision of the Calcutta High Court also bears proof that only anarchy has prevailed in the name of submission of the nominations. Such is the state of affairs that the court asked the West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) to allow people to accept all the nominations papers sent through WhatsApp because TMC goons were stopping people from reaching WBSEC's offices. Even after the high court judgment, the TMC has not shown any restraint and has been continuing to kill people, setting the houses of Opposition leader on fire after ransacking them. The role of the police has been pitiful which either assisted the TMC hooligans or just looked on as party workers took law in their own hands. Neither the police department, nor the other state administrative bodies have said anything about the horrible targeted political violence. Despite knowing about the growing criticism against the party which has been reported by TV channels and newspapers, the TMC is shamelessly behaving as if nothing has happened. The state is indeed in a very sorry political condition. I believe the TMC's shameful encouragement to violence is driven by two factors. First, the growth chart of BJP in West Bengal has been phenomenal and the party has been gathering immense mass support. Second, is the internal politics of TMC. Unlike elections in the past, this year TMC could not even dare to make the list of its candidates public. The party filed the nominations for all the candidates to ensure its flock stays together fearing some might want to break out of the party mould. This shows the level of internal party rivalry that is prevalent in TMC. Candidates from both TMC and other parties were attacked while filing nominations on April 24. A couple of days ago, a few women were beaten up by a few TMC supporters in front of the SDO office, in South 24 Parganas. Rumours were spread about BJP being involved in the harassment of the women. The attack on women shows just how low TMC has fallen for votes. A TMC worker was shot dead inside his own house on April 24 because of the internal squabbling within the party. This shows that the TMC is slowly losing the mass support that it used to enjoy earlier and is scared of an adverse election outcome. The party tried to prevent Opposition candidates from filing their nominations to ensure its own candidates won uncontested. However, I feel that the strategy might be detrimental for the party in the long run because it is the same strategy of using violence as a tool to ensure electoral successes that cost the CPM its rule over West Bengal, and the TMC will fare no better. The hooligans who were once part of CMP have now joined the TMC. They are one's running the show for the party. The bunch of hooligans and the "election machinery" that CPM had used has now become Mamata Banerjee's "magic wand" to win the election. It is a blessing that the 2019 Lok Sabha election will take place under the supervision of the Election Commission of India in the presence of the central paramilitary forces, and not under state election commission. The state election commission is a mere puppet in the hands of the state government. Under the current situation, people will not be able to exercise their democratic rights freely and fairly. The poor governance that the TMC has delivered in West Bengal would soon call for the imposition of President's Rule) in the state. The law and order situation in the state is so bad that while TMC goons prevented candidates from filing nominations, the police actively participated in threatening them against doing so. In none of the 21 BJP ruled states this has ever happened. One of the big reasons of TMC's landslide win was that the people had actually believed in their slogan "Badla noy, Bodol chai" (We don't want revenge; we want change). People of West Bengal believed in TMC's slogan and voted for the party hoping for peace to prevail but what they actually got was widespread political unrest and numerous killings. We want this violence to stop. While TMC wants to bring democracy through bloodshed, we are committed to stop violence in the name of politics. I feel true politics is the establishment of just ideology. Bloodshed and violence can never be the answer to honest politics that can strengthen democracy. Against the backdrop of the violence in West Bengal, I think the panchayat elections a big farce. I am worried that if this is allowed to go carry on, when the next elections are announced in the state candidates will not be allowed to even campaign for themselves. Not only that the TMC may soon turn the heat on people who come out to vote. Under Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal is a scary place to be in. This is a bad sign for Indian democracy. Author is national secretary of BJP. He was earlier the West Bengal unit chief of BJP Read this story in Bangla (This piece first appeared on DailyO Bangla) Amid charges of curbing freedom of speech, and fears sparked by information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani making grand plans of regulating digital media in India, what has largely gone unnoticed is how effectively the ruling dispensation is throttling its users' ability to access information available on the web. As per the findings of an investigation by University of Toronto-based Citizen Lab in partnership with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and The Indian Express, India finds itself leading a list of countries with most websites blocked. NEW REPORT: Planet Netsweeper: An investigation into the global proliferation of Internet filtering systems manufactured by Canadian company, Netsweeper https://t.co/RAMPAzrhAV Citizen Lab (@citizenlab) April 25, 2018 The report claims that internet service providers (ISPs) in India have been found to have "installed the highest number of internet filtering systems and blocked the maximum number of web pages" in a list that includes nine other countries. The findings of the investigations see India facing the ignominy of topping a list that not only includes its neighbour, Pakistan, but other countries such as Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, UAE and Yemen, too, that have in the past been found guilty of trampling upon the rights of their citizens by censoring the press and internet. Netsweeper Citizen Lab in its investigations has uncovered that the censorship attempts by the respective authorities in these countries have been brought to fruition by various products, ranging from firewalls to other content censoring solutions provided by a Waterloo, Ontario-based Canadian company called Netsweeper. The installations provided by the company to the ISPs in many of these countries, however, aren't only being used to deny citizens access to child pornography or other morally contentious content, but also blocking passageway to "digital content protected by international legal frameworks", including access to news on religious content, LGBTQ+ resources, and political campaigns. As per Citizen Lab, a combination of publicly available "IP scanning, network measurement data, and other technical tests" were used to identify Netsweeper installations first in 30 countries, and then the list was narrowed down to 10 countries where the filter of content was taking place at a country-wide level by ISPs. Censorship attempts in India worse than Pakistan, Bahrain and UAE combined Shedding more light on the sorry state of affairs, Citizen Lab claims that firewalls and other content filtering solutions provided by Netsweeper were being used freely by Indian ISPs 42 installations by 12 internet providers to block access to a number of websites and URLs. All major ISPs, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Hathway, Reliance Communications, Tata Communications, Tata Sky Broadband, Telstra Global, Pacific Internet, Net4India, Primesoftex are using Netsweeper filtering systems in India. But that's not it. More damning is the revelation that the number of such installations used to censor the internet by the ISPs most likely at the behest of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre isn't just the highest of the 10 countries, but as it turns out is more than twice the combined total of the next two countries on the list, Pakistan as many as 20 such installations and Bahrain 16 such installations. India also has almost 15 times the number of such data censoring installations than one of the most censored nations in the world, UAE, which deploys three Netsweeper installations to curb access to information to its citizens. Apart from the highest number of Netsweeper installations, the highest number of blocked unique URLs 1,158 was also found in India. Interestingly, this number is almost half of the total websites blocked 2,464 across the 10 countries. What is being blocked? As the investigation reveals, Google searches for the keywords such as "gay" and "lesbian" were blocked in the UAE, Bahrain, and Yemen, while websites under the category "abortions" were entirely blocked in Kuwait, and many websites hosting political news, opinion, and criticism were blocked in Bahrain, Qatar, Sudan, Somalia and Pakistan. In India, however, other than websites hosting child porn or pirated content, an overwhelming number of blocked URLs included ones that hosted content related to the deaths of Muslims in Burma and atrocities on the minorities in India. Further, exposing the nefarious intentions of the authorities involved, websites of foreign NGOs, human rights groups, feminist groups and political activists were also blocked. Of these the most notable are many of the web pages belonging to ABC News, The Telegraph (UK), Al Jazeera, Tribune (Pakistan) which contain stories related to the Rohingya refugee issue, and the deaths of Muslims in Burma and India more generally that were found blocked as recently as in January 2018. As CBC news explains, "Facebook groups discussing the refugee crisis were also meant to be blocked, but were likely still accessible over encrypted connections." Why should concern us? Censoring data in such a covert and arbitrary manner fly right in the face of freedom and right enshrined in our Constitution and when allowed to go unchecked leads to violence and hate crimes going unpunished that further cause fissures in society. Blanket bans on internet in Kashmir and the alleged use of filtering technologies to control what we access on the web when used without following due process are gross violations of freedom of expression of not only the marginalised, but all us. With India reporting more blocked unique URLs than all other countries combined and its ISPs using more than twice the amount of Netsweeper installations than even countries such as Pakistan, Bahrain and UAE combined is beyond alarming and exposes an insidious game that is being played. A game that needs to be stopped at once. Suffice it to say, ahead of the general elections in 2019, for the authorities to be allegedly blocking access to news and information on atrocities being committed on minorities in India and abroad is a move that could have far worse ad reaching consequences than data leaks orchestrated by Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. The government, for what its worth, is maintaining non-complicity in the matter. When contacted by The Indian Express, officials in the ministry of electronics and information technology shrugged off responsibility, adding that they had not issued any order to block these websites. As for the officials in the department of telecom the authority through which the final orders are relayed to the ISPs has chosen to not respond to queries from the publication on the matter. Eerie. Also read: Is Ali Zafar sexual harassment case Pakistan's #MeToo moment? The following companies are subsidiares of Aramark: 1ST & Fresh LLC, AIL Servicos Alimenticios e Participacoes Ltda., AIM Services Co. Ltd., AMP Limited Partnership, ARA Catering and Vending Services Limited, ARA Coffee Club Limited, ARA Coffee System Limited, ARA Food Services Limited, ARA Marketing Services Limited, ARA Offshore Services Limited, ARAMONT Company Ltd., Active Industrial Unif, Alcatraz Hospitality, AmeriPride Services, American Snack & Beverage LLC, Aramark (BVI) Limited, Aramark Airport Services Limited, Aramark American Food Services LLC, Aramark Asia Management LLC, Aramark Aviation Services Limited Partnership, Aramark B.V., Aramark Beverages Limited, Aramark Business & Industry LLC, Aramark Business Center LLC, Aramark Business Dining Services of Texas LLC, Aramark Business Facilities LLC, Aramark CCT Trustees Limited, Aramark Campus LLC, Aramark Canada Ltd., Aramark Canadian Investments Inc., Aramark Capital Asset Services LLC, Aramark Catering Limited, Aramark China Dining Services (Shanghai) Limited, Aramark China Holdings Limited, Aramark Chugach Alaska Services LLC, Aramark Cleaning S.A., Aramark Cleanroom Services (Puerto Rico) Inc., Aramark Cleanroom Services LLC, Aramark Co. Ltd., Aramark Colombia SAS, Aramark Concessions Services Joint Venture, Aramark Confection LLC, Aramark Construction Services Inc., Aramark Construction and Energy Services LLC, Aramark Consumer Discount Company, Aramark Correctional Services LLC, Aramark Defence Services Limited, Aramark Denmark ApS, Aramark Distribution Services Inc., Aramark Educational Group LLC, Aramark Educational Services LLC, Aramark Educational Services of Texas LLC, Aramark Educational Services of Vermont Inc., Aramark Entertainment LLC, Aramark Entertainment Services (Canada) Inc., Aramark Executive Management Services USA Inc., Aramark FHC Business Services LLC, Aramark FHC Campus Services LLC, Aramark FHC Correctional Services LLC, Aramark FHC Healthcare Support Services LLC, Aramark FHC Kansas Inc., Aramark FHC LLC, Aramark FHC Refreshment Services LLC, Aramark FHC School Support Services LLC, Aramark FHC Services LLC, Aramark FHC Sports and Entertainment Services LLC, Aramark FSM LLC, Aramark Facility Services LLC, Aramark Food Service LLC, Aramark Food Service of Texas LLC, Aramark Food and Support Services Group Inc., Aramark Global Group S.a.r.l., Aramark Global Inc., Aramark GmbH, Aramark Gulf Limited, Aramark Gulf Limited Catering Services LLC, Aramark Healthcare Support Services LLC, Aramark Healthcare Support Services of the Virgin Islands Inc., Aramark Healthcare Technologies LLC, Aramark Holding Deutschland GmbH, Aramark Holdings GmbH & Co. KG, Aramark Holdings Ltd., Aramark Industrial Services LLC, Aramark Intermediate HoldCo Corporation, Aramark International Finance S.a.r.l., Aramark International Holdings S.a.r.l., Aramark Inversiones Latinoamericanas Limitada, Aramark Investments Limited, Aramark Ireland Holdings Limited, Aramark Japan Holdings Limited, Aramark Japan LLC, Aramark KSA LLC, Aramark Kazakhstan Ltd., Aramark Lakewood Associates, Aramark Limited, Aramark Management GmbH, Aramark Management LLC, Aramark Management Services Limited Partnership, Aramark Manning Services UK Limited, Aramark Mexico Group, Aramark Mexico S.A. de C.V., Aramark Monclova Manufacturing de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Aramark Monclova Support S.A.de C.V., Aramark Norway SA, Aramark Organizational Services LLC, Aramark Partnership Limited, Aramark Personnel Services, Aramark Peru S.A.C., Aramark Peru Servicios de Intermediacion SRL, Aramark Processing LLC, Aramark Property Services Limited, Aramark Qualified Opportunity Fund, Aramark Quebec Inc., Aramark RBI Inc., Aramark Rail Services LLC, Aramark Receivables LLC, Aramark Refreshment Group, Aramark Refreshment Services LLC, Aramark Refreshment Services of Tampa LLC, Aramark Regional Treasury Europe DAC, Aramark Remote Workplace Services Ltd., Aramark Restaurations GmbH, Aramark S&E/QCF Joint Venture, Aramark S.A., Aramark S.A. de C.V., Aramark S.R.O., Aramark SARL, Aramark SCM Inc., Aramark SM Management Services Inc., Aramark SMMS LLC, Aramark SMMS Real Estate LLC, Aramark School Catering Facility Ltd., Aramark Schools Facilities LLC, Aramark Schools LLC, Aramark Senior Living Services LLC, Aramark Senior Notes Company LLC, Aramark Service Industries (China) Co. Ltd., Aramark Services Inc., Aramark Services SA, Aramark Services of Kansas Inc., Aramark Services of Puerto Rico Inc., Aramark Servicios Industriales S. de R.L. de C.V., Aramark Servicios Integrales S.A., Aramark Servicios Mineros y Remotos Limitada, Aramark Servicios SRL, Aramark Servicios de Catering S.L., Aramark Servicos Alimenticos e Participacoes Ltda., Aramark Sports Facilities LLC, Aramark Sports LLC, Aramark Sports and Entertainment Group LLC, Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services LLC, Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services of Texas LLC, Aramark Sub Investments Limited, Aramark Technical Services North Carolina Inc., Aramark Togwotee LLC, Aramark Trademark Services, Aramark Trustees Limited, Aramark U.S. Offshore Services LLC, Aramark Uniform & Career Apparel Group Inc., Aramark Uniform & Career Apparel LLC, Aramark Uniform Holding de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Aramark Uniform Manufacturing Company, Aramark Uniform Services (Canada) Ltd., Aramark Uniform Services (Matchpoint) LLC, Aramark Uniform Services (Rochester) LLC, Aramark Uniform Services (Supply Chain), Aramark Uniform Services (Syracuse) LLC, Aramark Uniform Services (Texas) LLC, Aramark Uniform Services (West Adams) LLC, Aramark Uniform Services Japan Corporation, Aramark Venue Services Inc., Aramark WTC LLC, Aramark Workplace Solutions (UK) Ltd., Aramark Workplace Solutions Yonetim Hizmetleri Limited Sirketi, Aramark Worldwide Investments Limited, Aramark-Clarksville Club, Aramark-FINCO of Texas LLC, Aramark-Gourmet DPS LLC, Aramark-KWAME of St. Louis LLC, Aramark-SFS Healthcare J.V. L.L.C., Aramark/Dasko Restaurant and Catering Services S.A., Aramark/GM Concessions Joint Venture, Aramark/Giacometti Joint Venture, Aramark/Globetrotters LLC, Aramark/Gourmet HE-1 LLC, Aramark/Gourmet HE-2 LLC, Aramark/HF Company, Aramark/HMS LLC, Aramark/Hart Lyman Entertainment LLC, Aramark/Martin's Stadium Concession Services OPACY Joint Venture, Aramark/QHC LLC, Aramark/SFS Joint Venture, Avendra, Avendra Canada Inc., Avendra Gaming, Avendra Replenishment, Avoca, Avoca Handweavers Designs Limited, Avoca Handweavers Limited, Avoca Handweavers NI Limited, Avoca Handweavers Shops Limited, Avoca Handweavers UK Limited, Beijing Golden Collar Dining Ltd., Boompjes Hotel BV, Brand Coffee Service Inc., BuyEfficient, CDR Mantenimiento Integral S.A., Campbell Catering (Belfast) Ltd., Campbell Catering (N.I.) Ltd., Campbell Catering Holdings Limited, Campbell Catering Limited, Campbell Catering Ltd., Campbell Catering Services, Canadian Linen and Uniform Service Co., Canyonlands Rafting Hospitality LLC, Catering Alliance Limited, Caterwise Food Services Limited, Central Multiservicios S.R.L., Central de Abastecimiento Limitada, Central de Restaurantes Aramark Limitada, Central de Restaurantes Aramark Multiservicios Limitada, Central de Restaurantes S.R.L., Centrapal S.R.L., Centro de Innovacion y Servicio S.A., Cliff House Hospitality, Comertel Educa SLU, Comertel Residencia SLU, Comertel SA, Complete Purchasing Services Inc., Corporate Coffee Systems LLC, Crater Lake Hospitality, D.G. Maren II Inc., Delicious on West Street LLC, Delsac VIII Inc., Distributor JV Limited, Dongguan Best Property Management Co., Doyon/Aramark Denali National Park Concessions Joint Venture, Effective Partnerships Limited, Filterfresh Coffee Service, Filterfresh Coffee Service LLC, Filterfresh Franchise Group LLC, Fine Host Holdings LLC, Food JV Limited, Freedom Ferry Services, GTB Gastro Team Bremen GmbH, Gestion de Alimentacion y Limpieza Colectivadades SLU, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve Concessions LLC, Glen Canyon Rafting Hospitality, Glenrye Properties Services Limited, Golden Collar, Good Uncle Services, Gourmet Aramark Services LLC, Guaranty Energy Group 1981, HPSI Purchasing Services LLC, Harrison Conference Associates LLC, Harrison Conference Services of North Carolina LLC, Harry M. Stevens Inc. of New Jersey, Harry M. Stevens Inc. of Penn., Harry M. Stevens LLC, Hunters Catering Partnership Limited, Institutional Processing Services, Instituto ICS S.A., Inversiones Aramark Chile Limitada, Inversiones Centralcorp Limitada, Inversiones Palm Limitada, Inversiones en Aseo y Mantenimiento S.A, Irish Estates (Facilities Management) Limited, L&N Uniform Supply LLC, Lake Tahoe Cruises LLC, Landy Textile Rental Services LLC, Lifeworks Restaurant Group LLC, Lotus Facilities Management, MESA, Masterplan, Medical Equipment Solutions & Applications Sagl (MESA), Mill Mount Weavers Limited, Muir Woods Hospitality, MyAssistant Inc., New Aramark LLC, Nissho Linen, North Rim Hospitality, Old Time Coffee Co., Olympic Peninsula Hospitality LLC, Orange Support Services Limited, Overall Laundry Services Inc., Paradise Hornblower LLC, Pelican Procurement Services Limited, Philadelphia Ballpark Concessions Joint Venture, Prem Hospitality Limited, Premgroup Franchise Services Limited, Premier Management Company (Dublin) Limited, Premier Partnership (Catering) Limited, Quebec Linge Co., ReMedPar, Restaura Inc., Rocky Mountain Hospitality LLC, Rushmore Hospitality LLC, SeamlessWeb, Seguricorp Servicios S.A., South Rim Hospitality LLC, Spokesoft Technologies Limited, Stuart Cabeldu Catering Limited, Sun Office Service Inc., Tarrant County Concessions LLC, The Aramark Foundation, The Original Food Company Limited, Travel Systems LLC, Trinity Hospitality Services GmbH, Trinity Hospitality Services SARL, Trinity Purchasing N.V., Vector Environmental Services Limited, Vector Workplace and Facility Management Limited, Veris Plc, Veris Property Management Limited, Veris UK Limited, WearGuard, Wilderness River Adventures, and Yosemite Hospitality LLC. 52 minutes ago Biden tells GOP to 'get out of the way' on debt limit WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden on Monday told Republican senators to get out of the way and let Democrats suspend the nations debt limit on their own, hoping to keep the U.S. government from Read Article Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company. It engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The company operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Wealth; Corporate and Commercial Banking; and Insurance Holdings. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Read More Bunge Ltd. operates as a holding company, which engages in the supply and transportation of agricultural commodities. It operates through the following segments: Agribusiness, Edible Oil Products, Milling Products, Sugar and Bioenergy, and Fertilizer. The Agribusiness segment involves in the purchase, storage, transportation, processing, and sale of agricultural commodities and commodity products. The Edible Oil Products segment includes production and sale of vegetable oils, shortenings, margarines, and mayonnaise. The Milling Products segment consists of production and sale of wheat flours, bakery mixes, corn-based products, and rice. The Sugar and Bioenergy segment comprises manufacture and marketing of sugar and ethanol derived from sugarcane, as well as energy derived from the sugar and ethanol production process. The Fertilizer segment focuses on producing, blending, and distributing fertilizer products for the agricultural industry. The company was founded by Johann Peter Gottlieb Bunge in 1818 and is headquartered in Chesterfield, MO. Read More Aviva plc provides various insurance, retirement, and savings products in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, France, Italy, Poland, and internationally. The company offers life insurance, long-term health and accident insurance, savings, pension, and annuity products, as well as pension fund business and lifetime mortgage products. It also provides insurance cover to individuals, small and medium-sized businesses for risks associated with motor vehicles and medical expenses, as well as property and liability, such as employers' and professional indemnity liabilities, and medical expenses. In addition, the company offers personal and commercial lines insurance products; long-term insurance and savings products, primarily for individuals. Further, it provides investment management services for institutional pension fund mandates; and manages various retail investment products, including investment funds, unit trusts, open-ended investment companies, and individual savings accounts for third-party financial institutions, pension funds, public sector organizations, investment professionals, and private investors. Additionally, the company offers asset management and protection insurance products. Aviva plc markets its products through a network of insurance brokers, as well as MyAviva platform. The company was formerly known as CGNU plc and changed its name to Aviva plc in July 2002. Aviva plc was founded in 1696 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More Vivint Solar, Inc. provides distributed solar energy primarily to residential customers in the United States. It owns and installs solar energy systems through long-term customer contracts. The company also sells photovoltaic installation products, as well as solar renewable energy certificates. As of December 31, 2019, it had an aggregate capacity of 1,294.0 megawatts covering approximately 188,300 homes. The company was formerly known as V Solar Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Vivint Solar, Inc. in April 2014. Vivint Solar, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Lehi, Utah. Read More Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. engages in the natural gas midstream, and intrastate transportation and storage businesses in the United States. The company's Intrastate Transportation and Storage segment transports natural gas from various natural gas producing areas through connections with other pipeline systems, as well as through its ET Fuel System and HPL System. This segment owns and operates approximately 7,900 miles of natural gas transportation pipelines and three natural gas storage facilities in Texas. Its Interstate Transportation and Storage segment provides natural gas transportation and storage services; owns and operates approximately 11,800 miles of interstate natural gas pipelines; and has interests in various natural gas pipelines. The company's Midstream segment gathers, compresses, treats, blends, processes, and markets natural gas. It owns and operates natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) gathering pipelines, natural gas processing plants, natural gas treating facilities, and natural gas conditioning facilities. The company's NGL and Refined Products Transportation and Services segment transports mixed NGLs and other hydrocarbons; stores mixed NGLs, NGL products, and petrochemical products; and separates mixed NGL streams into purity products. This segment owns and operates various NGL pipelines, NGL and propane fractionation facilities, and NGL storage facilities. Its Crude Oil Transportation and Services segment engages in the transportation, terminalling, and acquisition and marketing of crude oil; and operates crude oil trunk and gathering pipelines. The company's All Other segment engages in the natural gas compression equipment business; provides natural gas compression equipment and compression services; manages coal and natural resources property, sells standing timber, and leases coal-related infrastructure facilities; and generates electrical power. Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. was founded in 1995 and is based in Dallas, Texas. Read More First BanCorp (Puerto Rico) is a holding company, which engages in the provision of personal, commercial, and corporate banking services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Commercial and Corporate Banking, Consumer (Retail) Banking, Mortgage Banking, Treasury and Investments, United States Operations, and Virgin Islands Operations. The Commercial and Corporate Banking segment consists of the company's lending and other services for large customers represented by specialized and middle-market clients and the public sector. The Consumer (Retail) Banking segment includes consumer lending and deposit-taking activities conducted mainly through FirstBank's branch network in Puerto Rico. The Mortgage Banking segment focuses on the origination, sale, and servicing of a variety of residential mortgage loan products and related hedging activities. The Treasury and Investments segment deals with treasury and investment management functions. The United States Operations segment represents all banking activities conducted by FirstBank on the United States mainland. The Virgin Islands Operations segment includes all banking activities conducted by FirstBank in Read More Herc Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental supplier. It rents aerial, earthmoving, material handling, trucks and trailers, air compressors, compaction, and lighting equipment, as well as generators, and safety supplies and expendables; and provides ProSolutions, an industry specific solution based services, such as pumping solutions, power generation, climate control, remediation and restoration, and studio and production equipment. The company also sells used equipment and contractor supplies, such as construction consumables, tools, small equipment, and safety supplies; provides repair, maintenance, equipment management, and safety training services, as well as offers ancillary services, such as equipment transport, rental protection, cleaning, refueling, and labor. It serves non-residential and residential construction, specialty trade, restoration, remediation and environment, and facility maintenance contractors; industrial manufacturing industries, including automotive and aerospace, power, metals and mining, agriculture, pulp, paper and wood, food and beverage, and refineries and petrochemical industries; infrastructure and government sectors; and commercial and retail service, hospitality, healthcare, recreation, entertainment production, and special event management customers through its sales team, industry catalogs, as well as through participation and sponsorship of industry events, trade shows, and Internet. As of December 31, 2017, it operated approximately 275 locations in the United States, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Herc Holdings Inc. is based in Bonita Springs, Florida. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Lear: AccuMED Corp., AccuMED Holdings Corp., Arada Systems, Autotech Fund II L.P.(Delaware) (5.56%, Beijing BAI Lear Automotive Systems Co. Ltd., Beijing BHAP Lear Automotive Systems Co. Ltd.(China) (50%, Beijing Lear Dymos Automotive Systems Co. Ltd., CelLink Corporation, Changchun Lear FAWSN Automotive Electrical and Electronics Co. Ltd., Changchun Lear FAWSN Automotive Seat Systems Co. Ltd., Chihuahua Electrical Wiring Systems S. de R.L. de C.V., China New Trend Group Co. Ltd, Consorcio Industrial Mexicano de Autopartes S. de R.L. de C.V., Cordelia Autoparts Sweden AB, Dunlop Cox Limited, Durango Automotive Wiring Systems S. de R.L. de C.V., EXO Technologies Ltd., Eagle Ottawa (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Eagle Ottawa China Ltd., Eagle Ottawa Fonseca S.A., Eagle Ottawa Foreign Holdings ApS, Eagle Ottawa Holdings Ltd., Eagle Ottawa Hungary Kft., Eagle Ottawa LLC, Eagle Ottawa North America LLC, Eagle Ottawa Warrington Ltd., Evolved by Nature Inc., Foshan Lear FAWSN Automotive Systems Co. Ltd., Grote & Hartmann, Guangzhou Lear Automotive Components Co. Ltd, Guilford Europe Limited, Guilford Europe Pension Trustees Limited, Guilford Mills, Guilford Mills Europe Limited, Guilford Mills Limited, HB Polymer Company LLC, Honduras Electrical Distribution Systems S. de R.L. de C.V., Hyundai Transys Lear Automotive India Private Limited, Industrias Cousin Freres S.L., Industrias Lear de Argentina SrL, Insys - Interior Systems SA, Jiangxi Jiangling Lear Interior Systems Co. Ltd., Kyungshin-Lear Sales and Engineering LLC, Lear (China) Holding Limited, Lear (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Lear (Shanghai) Auto Parts Technology Co. Ltd., Lear Automotive (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Lear Automotive (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Lear Automotive EEDS Honduras S.A., Lear Automotive Electronics and Electrical Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Lear Automotive Fabrics (RuiAn) Co. Ltd., Lear Automotive India Private Limited, Lear Automotive Interior Materials (Yangzhou) Co. Ltd., Lear Automotive Manufacturing L.L.C., Lear Automotive Metals (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., Lear Automotive Morocco SAS, Lear Automotive Operations Netherlands B.V., Lear Automotive Services (Netherlands) B.V., Lear Automotive Systems (Changshu) Co. Ltd., Lear Automotive Systems (Chongqing) Co. Ltd., Lear Automotive Systems (Shenyang) Co. Ltd., Lear Automotive Systems (Yangzhou) Co. Ltd., Lear Canada, Lear Canada Holding S.a.r.l., Lear Canada Investments ULC, Lear Changan (Chongqing) Automotive System Co. Ltd., Lear Changan (Hangzhou) Automotive Seating Co. Ltd., Lear China Engineering LLC, Lear Corporation (Mauritius) Limited, Lear Corporation (Nottingham) Limited, Lear Corporation (UK) Limited, Lear Corporation (Vietnam) Limited, Lear Corporation Ara S.L., Lear Corporation Ardasa S.L., Lear Corporation Asientos S.L., Lear Corporation Belgium CVA, Lear Corporation Beteiligungs GmbH, Lear Corporation Canada ULC, Lear Corporation Changchun Automotive Interior Systems Co. Ltd., Lear Corporation China Ltd., Lear Corporation Czech Republic s.r.o., Lear Corporation Engineering (UK) Limited, Lear Corporation Engineering Belgium B.V.B.A., Lear Corporation Engineering Czech Republic s.r.o., Lear Corporation Engineering GmbH, Lear Corporation Engineering Hungary Kft., Lear Corporation Engineering II GmbH, Lear Corporation Engineering Italy S.r.l., Lear Corporation Engineering Morocco S.a.r.l., Lear Corporation Engineering Poland Sp. z.o.o., Lear Corporation Engineering Slovakia s.r.o., Lear Corporation d.o.o. Novi Sad, and United Technologies Automotive. Rogers Communications Inc. operates as a communications and media company in Canada. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Cable, and Media. The company offers mobile Internet access, wireless voice and enhanced voice, device and accessory financing, wireless home phone, device protection, text messaging, e-mail, global voice and data roaming, bridging landline, machine-to-machine and Internet of Things solutions, and advanced wireless solutions for businesses, as well as device delivery services; and postpaid and prepaid services under the Rogers, Fido, and chatr brands to approximately 10.9 million subscribers. It also provides Internet and WiFi services; smart home monitoring services, such as monitoring, security, automation, energy efficiency, and smart control through a smartphone app. In addition, the company offers local and network TV; on-demand television; cloud-based digital video recorders; voice-activated remote controls, and integrated apps; personal video recorders; linear and time-shifted programming; digital specialty channels; 4K television programming; and televised content on smartphones, tablets, and personal computers, as well as operates Ignite TV and Ignite TV app. Further, it provides residential and small business local telephony services; calling features, such as voicemail, call waiting, and long distance; voice, data networking, Internet protocol, and Ethernet services; private networking, Internet, IP voice, and cloud solutions; optical wave and multi-protocol label switching services; IT and network technologies; and cable access network services. The company also owns Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre event venue; and operates Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet World, Citytv, OMNI, FX (Canada), FXX (Canada), and OLN television networks, as well as 55 AM and FM radio stations. Rogers Communications Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Read More Royal Dutch Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company worldwide. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Oil Products, Chemicals segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure necessary to deliver gas to market. The company also markets and trades natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil, electricity, carbon-emission rights; and markets and sells LNG as a fuel for heavy-duty vehicles and marine vessels. In addition, it trades in and refines crude oil and other feed stocks, such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil, aviation fuel, marine fuel, biofuel, lubricants, bitumen, and sulphur; produces and sells petrochemicals for industrial use; and manages oil sands activities. Further, the company produces base chemicals comprising ethylene, propylene, and aromatics, as well as intermediate chemicals, such as styrene monomer, propylene oxide, solvents, detergent alcohols, ethylene oxide, and ethylene glycol. Royal Dutch Shell plc was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands. Read More Daimler AG, together its subsidiaries, develops and manufactures passenger cars, trucks, vans, and buses in Germany and internationally. It operates through Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans, Daimler Trucks and Buses, and Daimler Mobility segments. The Mercedes-Benz Cars segment offers premium and luxury vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz brand, including the Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, and Mercedes-EQ brands; small cars under the smart brand name; and ecosystem of Mercedes-Benz under the Mercedes me brand, as well as vans and related services under the Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner brands. Daimler Trucks and Buses segment offers its trucks and special vehicles under the Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Western Star, FUSO, and BharatBenz brands; and buses under the Mercedes-Benz, Setra, Thomas Built Buses, and FU brands, as well as bus chassis. The Daimler Mobility segment provides financing and leasing packages for end-customers and dealers; and automotive insurance brokerage, banking, investment, and fleet management services under the Athlon brand. It also sells vehicle related spare parts and accessories. Daimler AG was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany Read More Schneider Electric S.E. provides energy and automation digital solutions worldwide. It operates through two segments, Energy Management and Industrial Automation. The company offers busway and cable support products, circuit breakers and switches, contactors and protection relays, electrical car charging, electrical protection and control products, emergency lighting, motor starters and protection components, power monitoring and control products, power quality and power factor correction products, pushbuttons, switches, pilot lights and joysticks, software products, and switchboards and enclosures. It also provides access control, building management, fire detection, network infrastructure and connectivity, sensors and room units, valve and valve actuator, variable speed drive and soft starter, surge protection and power conditioning products, home automation and security, installation materials and systems, light switches and electrical sockets, and uninterruptible power supply products. In addition, the company offers feeder automation, grid automation and SCADA software products, medium voltage switchgears and transformers, outdoor equipment, substation automation products, and switchgear components; solar and energy storage products; and energy access products, such as collective solutions and home systems. Further, it provides critical power and cooling services, data center software, IT power distribution products, prefabricated data center modules, racks and accessories, and security and environmental monitoring products; and human machine interface, industrial automation software, industrial communication, measurement and instrumentation, motion control and robotics, programmable logic and automation controllers, power supply and protection, process control and safety, RFID systems, signaling devices, and other industrial automation and control products. The company was founded in 1836 and is headquartered in Rueil-Malmaison, France. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Sealed Air: AFP (Shanghai) Limited, AFP Inc. (Branch), AFPTOH LTD, Aconcagua Distribuciones SRL, Air Ride Pallets Hong Kong Limited, Austin Foam Plastics Inc., Auto-C LLC, Automated Packaging Systems, B+ Equipment, B+ Equipment SAS, Beacon Holdings LLC, Biosphere Industries, BluPack (New Zealand), Blue Dot Packaging Pty Ltd., CPI Packaging Inc., CPI Packaging Systems Inc., Cactus (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Cactus Shanghai Trading Co. Ltd., Ciras C.V., Ciras C.V. - Luxembourg Branch, Ciras C.V. Luxembourg Branch, Cleanwise Inc., Cryovac (Malaysia) SDN. BHD, Cryovac (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Cryovac Brasil Ltda., Cryovac Chile Holdings LLC, Cryovac Holdings II LLC, Cryovac Inc., Cryovac International Holdings Inc., Cryovac LLC, Cryovac Leasing Corporation, Cryovac Londrina Ltda., Cryovac Packaging Portugal - Embalagens Ltda., Cryovac Packaging Portugal Embalagens Ltda, Cryovac Sweden AB, Cryovac-Sealed Air de Costa Rica S.R.L., DELTAPLAM Embalagens Industria e Comercio, Deltaplam Embalagens Industria e Comercio Ltda, Diversey, Diversey Australia Pty. Ltd., Diversey Austria Trading GmbH, Diversey B.V., Diversey Belgium BVBA, Diversey Brasil Industria Quimica Ltda., Diversey Canada Inc., Diversey Centroamerica S.A., Diversey Danmark ApS, Diversey Hungary Acting Off-shore Capital Management Limited Liability Company, Diversey J Trustee Limited, Diversey Trustee Limited, Diversey Ceska republika s.r.o. clen koncernu Diversey, Entapack Pty. Ltd., Fagerdala (Chengdu) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Chengdu) Packing Co. Ltd. (Chongqing Branch), Fagerdala (Chongqing) Packaging Co. Ltd. (Branch), Fagerdala (Huiyang) Packaging Co. Ltd, Fagerdala (Huiyang) Packaging Co. Ltd. (Branch), Fagerdala (Shanghai) Foams Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Shanghai) Polymer Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Shenzhen) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Suzhou) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Suzhou) Packing Co. Ltd. (Hefei Branch), Fagerdala (Thailand) Limited, Fagerdala (Xiamen) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala Leamchabung Limited, Fagerdala Leamchabung Ltd., Fagerdala Malaysia Sdn Bhd., Fagerdala Mexico S.A. de C.V., Fagerdala Mexico S.A. de C.V. (Chihuahua Branch), Fagerdala Mexico Supply Chain S.A. de C.V., Fagerdala Packaging Inc. (Indiana), Fagerdala Shanghai Foams Co. Ltd., Fagerdala Singapore Pte Ltd, Fagerdala Singapore Pte Ltd (Branch), Fagerdala Singapore Pte. Limited, Fagerdala Singapore Pte. Limited (Taiwan Branch), Fagerdala Singapore Pte. Ltd., Fagerdala Suzhou Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala Suzhou Packaging Co. Ltd. (Hefei Branch), Fagerdala Thailand Ltd., GEIE VES, Getpacking.com GmbH, Indonesian Rep Office of Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited, Invertol S. de R.L. de C.V., JCS Sealed Air Kaustik, JSC Sealed Air Kaustik, Kevothermal LLC, Kevothermal LLC, Kevothermal Limited, Nelipak Holdings, Pack-Tiger GmbH, Packaging C.V., ProAseptic Technologies S.L., Producembal - Producao de Embalagens Ltda., Proxy Biomedical Ltd., Reflectix Inc., SLD Air Packaging Paketleme Malzemeleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Saddle Brook Insurance Company, Sealed Air (Asia) Holdings B.V., Sealed Air (Barbados) S.R.L., Sealed Air (Canada) Co./CIE, Sealed Air (Canada) Holdings B.V., Sealed Air (China) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air (China) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air (China) Limited, Sealed Air (China) Ltd., Sealed Air (India) Limited, Sealed Air (Israel) Ltd., Sealed Air (Korea) Limited, Sealed Air (Latin America) Holdings II LLC, Sealed Air (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sealed Air (New Zealand), Sealed Air (Philippines) Inc., Sealed Air (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Sealed Air (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Sealed Air (Thailand) Limited, Sealed Air (Ukraine) Limited, Sealed Air Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Sealed Air Africa (Pty.) Limited, Sealed Air Americas Manufacturing S. de R. L. de C. V., Sealed Air Argentina S.A., Sealed Air Australia (Holdings) Pty. Limited, Sealed Air Australia Pty Ltd., Sealed Air Australia Pty. Limited, Sealed Air B.V., Sealed Air Belgium N.V., Sealed Air Central America S.A., Sealed Air Chile S.P.A., Sealed Air Colombia Ltda., Sealed Air Corporation (US), Sealed Air Denmark A/S, Sealed Air Embalagens Ltda., Sealed Air Europe Holdings C.V., Sealed Air Europe Holdings LP, Sealed Air Finance B.V., Sealed Air Finance II LLC, Sealed Air Finance II LLC (Sucursal Mexico), Sealed Air Finance Ireland Unlimited Company, Sealed Air Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l. Luxembourg (L) Root Finance Branch, Sealed Air Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l. US Finance Branch, Sealed Air Funding Corporation, Sealed Air Funding LLC, Sealed Air General Trading LLC, Sealed Air Global Holdings C.V., Sealed Air Global Holdings I C.V., Sealed Air Global Holdings I LLC, Sealed Air GmbH, Sealed Air Hellas S.A., Sealed Air Holding France S.A.S., Sealed Air Holding France SAS, Sealed Air HoldingS I LLC, Sealed Air Holdings (New Zealand) Pty. Ltd., Sealed Air Holdings I C.V., Sealed Air Holdings LLC, Sealed Air Holdings South Africa Proprietary Limited, Sealed Air Hong Kong (Jakarta Indonesia Branch), Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited, Sealed Air Hungary Ltd., Sealed Air International Holdings LLC, Sealed Air International Holdings LLC , Sealed Air Investment and Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Investment and Management Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Japan G.K., Sealed Air Korea Limited, Sealed Air LLC, Sealed Air Limited, Sealed Air Luxembourg (I) S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Luxembourg (II) S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Management Holding Verwaltungs GmbH, Sealed Air Multiflex GmbH, Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) I B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) II B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) II B.V. - Deutsche Zweigniederlassung, Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) II B.V. - Deutsche Zweigniederlassung, Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) III B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) III B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands Holdings V B.V., Sealed Air Nevada Holdings Limited, Sealed Air Norge AS, Sealed Air OY, Sealed Air Packaging (India) Private Limited, Sealed Air Packaging (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Sealed Air Packaging (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Packaging LLC, Sealed Air Packaging Materials (India) LLP, Sealed Air Packaging Materials (India) LLP, Sealed Air Packaging S.L.U., Sealed Air Paketleme Malzemeleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Sealed Air Peru S.A.C., Sealed Air Polska Sp. Zoo, Sealed Air Pty Limited, Sealed Air S.A S., Sealed Air S.A.S., Sealed Air S.r.l., Sealed Air South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Sealed Air Svenska AB, Sealed Air Taiwan Limited, Sealed Air US Holdings (Thailand) LLC, Sealed Air Uruguay S.A., Sealed Air Venezuela Corporation, Sealed Air Verpackungen GmbH, Sealed Air de Mexico Operations S. de R.L. de C.V., Sealed Air de Venezuela S.A., Sealed Air s.r.o., Shanklin Corp, Shanklin Corporation, Soinpar Industrial Ltda., TART s.r.o., TART s.r.o. Joint Venture, TTS-Ciptec, TXAFP Asia Pacific Ltd., TXAFP GP LLC, TempTrip LLC, Trigon Industries, and Vietnamese Rep Office of Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited. The following companies are subsidiares of Valero Energy: AIR BP-PBF DEL PERU SAC, BELFAST STORAGE LTD, CANADIAN ULTRAMAR COMPANY, COLONNADE TEXAS INSURANCE COMPANY LLC, COLONNADE VERMONT INSURANCE COMPANY, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY LLC, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY OF CANADA INC., DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL HOLDINGS LLC, DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL LLC, DIAMOND K RANCH LLC, DIAMOND OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., DIAMOND SHAMROCK REFINING COMPANY L.P., DIAMOND UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., DSRM NATIONAL BANK, ENTERPRISE CLAIMS MANAGEMENT INC., GCP LOGISTICS COMPANY LLC, GOLDEN EAGLE ASSURANCE LIMITED, HAMMOND MAINLINE PIPELINE LLC, HUNTWAY REFINING COMPANY, MAINLINE PIPELINES LIMITED, MAPLE ETHANOL LTD., MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT GP LLC, MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT L.P., MRP PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, NECHES RIVER HOLDING CORP., NORCO METHANOL LLC, OCEANIC TANKERS AGENCY LIMITED, PARKWAY PIPELINE LLC, PENTA TANKS TERMINALS S.A., PI DOCK FACILITIES LLC, PICKARD PLACE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, PORT ARTHUR COKER COMPANY L.P., PREMCOR USA INC., PROPERTY RESTORATION L.P., PURE BIOFUELS DEL PERU S.A.C., PURE BIOFUELS HOLDINGS L.P., Parkway Pipeline, Premcor, Pure Biofuels Del Peru, SABINE RIVER HOLDING CORP., SABINE RIVER LLC, SAINT BERNARD PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, SUNBELT REFINING COMPANY L.P., THE PREMCOR PIPELINE CO., THE PREMCOR REFINING GROUP INC., THE SHAMROCK PIPE LINE CORPORATION, TRANSPORT MARITIME ST. LAURENT INC., ULTRAMAR ACCEPTANCE INC., ULTRAMAR ENERGY INC., ULTRAMAR INC., Ultramar Diamond Shamrock, V-TEX LOGISTICS LLC, VALERO (BARBADOS) SRL, VALERO (PERU) HOLDINGS GP LLC, VALERO (PERU) HOLDINGS LIMITED, VALERO ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO ARUBA ACQUISITION COMPANY I LTD., VALERO ARUBA FINANCE INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO ARUBA HOLDING COMPANY N.V., VALERO ARUBA HOLDINGS INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO ARUBA MAINTENANCE/OPERATIONS COMPANY N.V., VALERO BROWNSVILLE TERMINAL LLC, VALERO CANADA FINANCE INC., VALERO CANADA L.P., VALERO CAPITAL CORPORATION, VALERO CARIBBEAN SERVICES COMPANY, VALERO COKER CORPORATION ARUBA N.V., VALERO CUSTOMS & TRADE SERVICES INC., VALERO EAST BAY LLC, VALERO ENERGY (IRELAND) LIMITED, VALERO ENERGY ARUBA II COMPANY, VALERO ENERGY INC., VALERO ENERGY LTD, VALERO ENERGY PARTNERS GP LLC, VALERO ENERGY PARTNERS LP, VALERO ENERGY UK LTD, VALERO ENTERPRISES INC., VALERO EQUITY SERVICES LTD, VALERO FINANCE L.P. I, VALERO FINANCE L.P. II, VALERO FINANCE L.P. III, VALERO FOREST CONTRIBUTION LLC, VALERO GRAIN MARKETING LLC, VALERO H2 PIPELINE COMPANY LLC, VALERO HOLDCO UK LTD, VALERO HOLDINGS INC., VALERO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS INC., VALERO LIVE OAK LLC, VALERO LOGISTICS UK LTD, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY (PANAMA) LLC, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY COMPANY, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPY INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO MARKETING IRELAND LIMITED, VALERO MKS LOGISTICS L.L.C., VALERO NEDERLAND COOPERATIEF U.A., VALERO NEDERLAND COOPERATIEF U.A., VALERO NEW AMSTERDAM B.V., VALERO OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., VALERO OPERATIONAL SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO OPERATIONAL SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO OPERATIONS SUPPORT LTD, VALERO PARTNERS CCTS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS CORPUS EAST LLC, VALERO PARTNERS CORPUS WEST LLC, VALERO PARTNERS EP LLC, VALERO PARTNERS HOUSTON LLC, VALERO PARTNERS LOUISIANA LLC, VALERO PARTNERS LUCAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MCKEE LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MEMPHIS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MERAUX LLC, VALERO PARTNERS NORTH TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS OPERATING CO. LLC, VALERO PARTNERS PAPS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS PORT ARTHUR LLC, VALERO PARTNERS SOUTH TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS TEXAS CITY LLC, VALERO PARTNERS THREE RIVERS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WEST MEMPHIS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WEST TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WYNNEWOOD LLC, VALERO PAYMENT SERVICES COMPANY, VALERO PEMBROKESHIRE LLC, VALERO PEMBROKESHIRE OIL TERMINAL LTD, VALERO PLAINS COMPANY LLC, VALERO POWER MARKETING LLC, VALERO RAIL OPERATIONS DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO RAIL OPERATIONS DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO RAIL PARTNERS LLC, VALERO REFINING AND MARKETING COMPANY, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-ARUBA N.V., VALERO REFINING COMPANY-CALIFORNIA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-OKLAHOMA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-TENNESSEE L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-MERAUX LLC, VALERO REFINING-NEW ORLEANS L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-TEXAS L.P., VALERO RENEWABLE FUELS COMPANY LLC, VALERO SECURITY SYSTEMS INC., VALERO SERVICES INC., VALERO SKELLYTOWN PIPELINE LLC, VALERO TEJAS COMPANY LLC, VALERO TERMINAL HOLDCO LTD, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO TEXAS POWER MARKETING INC., VALERO ULTRAMAR HOLDINGS INC., VALERO UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., VALERO WEST WALES LLC, VRG PROPERTIES COMPANY, VTD PROPERTIES COMPANY, WARSHALL COMPANY LLC, and ZELIG COMMERCIAL INC.. 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. Read More Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; And Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, and financial advisors pension plan consultants and banks. The Insurance and Annuity Products segment offers deposit and credit products; individual life, and individual and group long-term care insurance; and guaranteed and partially guaranteed annuity products through insurance agents, brokers, banks, financial planners, and direct marketing. The Corporate and Other segment is involved in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance businesses; and run-off reinsurance operations, including variable annuities, and accident and health. It also manages timberland and agricultural portfolios; and engages in insurance agency, portfolio and mutual fund management, mutual fund dealer, life and financial reinsurance, and fund management businesses. Additionally, the company holds and manages oil and gas properties; holds oil and gas royalties, and foreign bonds and equities; and provides investment management, counseling, advisory, and dealer services. Manulife Financial Corporation was incorporated in 1887 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Read More The Boeing Co. is an aerospace company, which engages in the manufacture of commercial jetliners and defense, space and security systems. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space and Security; Global Services; and Boeing Capital. The Commercial Airplanes segment includes the development, production, and market of commercial jet aircraft and provides fleet support services, principally to the commercial airline industry worldwide. The Defense, Space and Security segment refers to the research, development, production and modification of manned and unmanned military aircraft and weapons systems for global strike, including fighter and combat rotorcraft aircraft and missile systems; global mobility, including tanker, rotorcraft and tilt-rotor aircraft; and airborne surveillance and reconnaissance, including command and control, battle management and airborne anti-submarine aircraft. The Global Services segment provides services to commercial and defense customers. The Boeing Capital segment seeks to ensure that Boeing customers have the financing they need to buy and take delivery of their Boeing product and manages overall financing exposure. T Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Carnival Co. &: 1972 Productions Inc., 6348 Equipment LLC, A.C.N. 098 290 834 Pty. Ltd., A.J. Juneau Dock LLC, AIDA Kundencenter GmbH, Adventure Island Ltd., Air-Sea Holiday GmbH, Alaska Hotel Properties LLC, Barcelona Cruise Terminal SLU, Bay Island Cruise Port S.A., Belize Cruise Terminal Limited, CC U.S. Ventures Inc., CCL Gifts LLC, CSSC Carnival Italy Cruise Investment S.r.L, Carnival (UK) Limited, Carnival Bahamas FC Limited, Carnival Bahamas Holdings Limited, Carnival Corporation & plc Asia Pte. Ltd., Carnival Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Carnival Corporation Korea Ltd., Carnival Corporation Ports Group Japan KK, Carnival Finance LLC, Carnival Grand Bahama Investment Limited, Carnival Investments Limited, Carnival Japan Inc., Carnival License Holdings Limited, Carnival Maritime GmbH, Carnival North America LLC, Carnival Port Holdings Limited, Carnival Ports Inc., Carnival Support Services India Private Limited, Carnival Technical Services (UK) Limited, Carnival Technical Services Finland Limited, Carnival Technical Services GmbH, Carnival Technical Services Inc., Carnival Vanuatu Limited, Costa Crociere PTE Ltd., Costa Crociere S.p.A., Costa Cruceros S.A., Costa Cruise Lines Inc., Costa Cruise Lines UK Limited, Costa Cruises Shipping Services (Shanghai) Company Limited, Costa Cruises Travel Agency (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Costa Cruzeiros Agencia Maritima e Turismo Ltda., Costa Group Digital & Strategic Services GmbH, Costa International B.V., Costa Kreuzfahrten GmbH, Cozumel Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Creative Travel Lab Ltd., Cruise Ships Catering & Services International N.V., Cruise Terminal Services S.A. de C.V., Cruiseport Curacao C.V., D.R. Cruise Port Ltd., Ecospray Technologies S.r.L., F.P.M. SAS, F.P.P. SAS, Fleet Maritime Services (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services Holdings (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services International Limited, GXI LLC, Gibs Inc., Global Experience Innovators Inc., Global Fine Arts Inc., Global Shipping Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Grand Cruise Shipping Unipessoal LdA, Grand Turk Cruise Center Ltd., HAL Antillen N.V., HAL Beheer B.V., HAL Cruises Limited, HAL Maritime Ltd., HAL Nederland N.V., HAL Properties Limited, HAL Services B.V., HSE Hamburg School of Entertainment GmbH, Holding Division Iberocruceros SLU, Holland America Line Inc., Holland America Line N.V., Holland America Line Paymaster of Washington LLC, Holland America Line U.S.A. Inc., Ibero Cruzeiros Ltda., Iberocruceros SLU, Information Assistance Corporation, International Cruise Services S.A. de C.V., International Leisure Travel Inc., International Maritime Recruitment Agency S.A. de C.V., Milestone N.V., Navitrans S.R.L., Ocean Bahamas Innovation Ltd., Ocean Medallion Fulfillment Ltd., Operadora Catalina S.r.L., P&O Princess American Holdings, P&O Princess Cruises International Limited, P&O Princess Cruises Pension Trustee Limited, P&O Properties (California) Inc., P&O Travel Limited, Prestige Cruises Management S.A.M., Prestige Cruises N.V., Princess Bermuda Holdings Ltd., Princess Cays Ltd., Princess Cruise Corporation Inc., Princess Cruise Lines Ltd., Princess Cruises and Tours Inc., Princess U.S. Holdings Inc., RCT Maintenance & Related Services S.A., RCT Pilots & Related Services S.A., RCT Security & Related Services S.A., Roatan Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Royal Hyway Tours Inc., Santa Cruz Terminal S.L., SeaVacations Limited, SeaVacations UK Limited, Seabourn Cruise Line Limited, Shanghai Coast Cruise Consulting Co. Lda, Ship Care (Bahamas) Limited, Sitmar Cruises Inc., Spanish Cruise Services N.V., Sunshine Shipping Corporation Ltd., T&T International Inc., Tour Alaska LLC, Transnational Services Corporation, Trident Insurance Company Ltd., Westmark Hotels Inc., Westmark Hotels of Canada Ltd., Westours Motor Coaches LLC, Wind Surf Limited, and World Leading Cruise Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.. 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. Read More 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. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 211 E. Russell Road LLC, Air-Relief, Belliss & Morcom Brasil, Belliss and Morcom, Boardwalk Enterprises, Charm Merger Sub Inc., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Canada, CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir Holman Ltd, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., CompAir UK Ltd, CompAir USA, Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Emco Wheaton, Emco Wheaton GmbH Branch, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton UK, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Propriety Limited (South Africa), GD Aria Holdings #2 Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First UK Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings, GD Global Holdings II, GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SA, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Services Ltd, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Hoffman, Gardner Denver Holdings, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica, Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd. Branch, Gardner Denver International, Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Intl Ltd Middle East Regional Rep Office, Gardner Denver Investments, Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan, Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd South Africa, Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd. Branch (Ireland), Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co, Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oberdorfer Pumps, Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Petroleum Pumps, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia, Gardner Denver SudAmerica S.r.l., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas, Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH, Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver UK, Gardner Denver Water Jetting Systems, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, Indonesia Foreign Trade Representative Office, LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MP Pumps Inc., Mako Compressors, Nash, Nash Elmo, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Robuschi, Rotary Compression Technologies, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Syltone, TCM Investments, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, TODO AB, Tamrotor Marine Compressors AS, Thomas Industries, Thomas Industries Inc., Tri-Continent Scientific, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, and Zinsser NA. 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 around 400 million customer visits and 26 million website visits a year offering a multichannel approach that truly supports retail strategies. 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 tenants flourish, driving occupancy and income growth. We are committed to our local communities, with our centres supporting nearly 130,000 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. Read More Legg Mason, Inc. is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides investment management and related services to company-sponsored mutual funds and other investment vehicles including pension funds, foundations, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, private banks, family offices, individuals, as well as to global, institutional, and retail clients. It launches and manages equity, fixed income, and multi-asset customized portfolios through its subsidiaries. The firm also launches and manages mutual funds and exchange traded funds for its clients through its subsidiaries. It invests in private and public equity, fixed income, and multi asset markets across the globe through its subsidiaries. Through its subsidiaries, the firm also invests in alternative markets. It also employs a combination of fundamental and quantitative research to make its investments through its subsidiaries. Legg Mason, Inc. was founded in 1899 and is based in Baltimore, Maryland. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Lithia Motors: 797 Valley Street LLC, Albany CJD Fiat, Baierl Auto Group, Baierl Auto Parts LLC, Baierl Automotive Corporation, Baierl Chevrolet Inc., Baierl Holding LLC, Broadway Ford, Buhler Ford Inc, Cadillac of Portland Lloyd Center LLC, Camp Automotive Inc., Carbone Auto Body LLC, Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Fiat of Morgantown, Cranberry Automotive Inc., Crater Lake Ford Lincoln, Crater Lake Mazda, DCH (Oxnard) Inc., DCH Auto Group, DCH Bloomfield LLC, DCH CA LLC, DCH Calabasas-A LLC, DCH California Investments LLC, DCH California Motors Inc., DCH DMS NJ LLC, DCH Del Norte Inc., DCH Essex Inc., DCH Financial NJ LLC, DCH Freehold - V LLC, DCH Freehold LLC, DCH Holdings LLC, DCH Investments Inc. (New Jersey), DCH Investments Inc. (New York), DCH Korean Imports LLC, DCH Mamaroneck LLC, DCH Mission Valley LLC, DCH Monmouth LLC, DCH Montclair LLC, DCH Motors LLC, DCH NY Motors LLC, DCH Nanuet LLC, DCH North America Inc., DCH Oxnard 1521 Imports Inc., DCH Riverside-S Inc., DCH Simi Valley Inc., DCH Support Services LLC, DCH TL Holdings LLC, DCH TL NY Holdings LLC, DCH Temecula Imports LLC, DCH Temecula Motors LLC, DCH Thousand Oaks-F Inc., DCH Torrance Imports Inc., Dah Chong Hong CA Trading LLC, Dah Chong Hong Trading Corporation, Daron Motors LLC, Day Auto Group, Downtown LA, Driveway Motors LLC, Elizabeth Collision LLC, Florida SS LLC, Ford Lincoln of Morgantown, Freehold Nissan LLC, Fuse Auto Sales LLC, Hamilton Honda, Hazleton Honda, Hutchins Eugene Nissan Inc., Hutchins Imported Motors Inc., Jaguar Landrover Mission Viejo, LA Motors Holding LLC, LAD Advertising Inc., LAD Carson-N LLC, LAD Mission Viejo-JLR Inc., LAD Mobu Inc., LAD-AU LLC, LAD-MB LLC, LAD-N LLC, LAD-P LLC, LAD-T LLC, LAD-V LLC, LBMP LLC, LFKF LLC, LGPAC Inc., LLL Sales Co LLC, LMBB LLC, LMBP LLC, LMOP LLC, LSTAR LLC, Lithia AcDM Inc., Lithia Aircraft Inc., Lithia Anchorage-C LLC, Lithia Anchorage-H LLC, Lithia Armory Garage LLC, Lithia Auction & Recon LLC, Lithia Auto Services Inc., Lithia Automotive Inc., Lithia BA Holding Inc., Lithia BNM Inc. (nonoperating), Lithia Baierl-S LLC, Lithia Bryan Texas Inc., Lithia Buffalo-A LLC, Lithia CCTF Inc., Lithia CDH Inc., Lithia CIMR Inc., Lithia CJDO Inc., Lithia CJDSA Inc., Lithia CJDSF Inc., Lithia CM Inc., Lithia CO Inc., Lithia CSA Inc., Lithia Community Development Company Inc., Lithia Crater Lake-F Inc., Lithia Crater Lake-M Inc., Lithia DE Inc., Lithia DM Inc., Lithia DMID Inc., Lithia Des Moines-VW LLC, Lithia Dodge of Tri-Cities Inc., Lithia Eatontown-F LLC, Lithia FLCC LLC, Lithia FMF Inc., Lithia Financial Corporation (previously Lithia Leasing Inc. and Lithia Credit Inc.), Lithia Florida Holding Inc., Lithia Ford of Boise Inc., Lithia Fresno Inc., Lithia HDM Inc., Lithia HGF Inc., Lithia HMID Inc., Lithia HPI Inc. (nonoperating), Lithia Hamilton-H LLC, Lithia Hazleton-H LLC, Lithia Idaho Falls-F Inc., Lithia Imports of Anchorage Inc., Lithia JEF Inc., Lithia Klamath Inc., Lithia Klamath-T Inc., Lithia LBGGF Inc., Lithia LHGF Inc., Lithia LSGF Inc., Lithia MBDM Inc., Lithia MMF Inc., Lithia MTLM Inc., Lithia McMurray-C LLC, Lithia Medford HON Inc., Lithia Middletown-L LLC, Lithia Monroeville-A LLC, Lithia Monroeville-C LLC, Lithia Monroeville-F LLC, Lithia Monroeville-V LLC, Lithia Moon-S LLC, Lithia Moon-V LLC, Lithia Morgantown-CJD LLC, Lithia Morgantown-F LLC, Lithia Morgantown-S LLC, Lithia Motors Support Services Inc., Lithia NA Inc., Lithia NC Inc., Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #1, Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #3, Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #4, Lithia NDM Inc., Lithia NF Inc., Lithia NSA Inc., Lithia Northeast Real Estate LLC, Lithia Orchard Park-H LLC, Lithia Paramus-M LLC, Lithia Pittsburgh-S LLC, Lithia Ramsey-B LLC, Lithia Ramsey-L LLC, Lithia Ramsey-M LLC, Lithia Ramsey-T LLC, Lithia Real Estate Inc., Lithia Reno Sub-HYUN Inc., Lithia Reno-CJ LLC, Lithia Reno-VW LLC, Lithia Rose-FT Inc., Lithia SOC Inc., Lithia SSP LLC, Lithia Salmir Inc., Lithia Sea P Inc., Lithia Seaside Inc., Lithia Spokane-B LLC, Lithia Spokane-S LLC, Lithia TA Inc., Lithia TO Inc., Lithia TR Inc., Lithia Uniontown-C LLC, Lithia VAuDM Inc., Lithia VF Inc., Lithia Wexford-H LLC, Lithia of Abilene Inc., Lithia of Anchorage Inc., Lithia of Bend #1 LLC, Lithia of Bend #2 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 1 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 2 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 3 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 4 LLC, Lithia of Billings II LLC, Lithia of Billings Inc., Lithia of Casper LLC, Lithia of Clear Lake LLC, Lithia of Concord I Inc., Lithia of Concord II Inc., Lithia of Corpus Christi Inc., Lithia of Des Moines Inc., Lithia of Eureka Inc., Lithia of Fairbanks Inc., Lithia of Great Falls Inc., Lithia of Helena Inc., Lithia of Honolulu-A Inc., Lithia of Honolulu-BGMCC LLC, Lithia of Honolulu-F LLC, Lithia of Honolulu-V LLC, Lithia of Killeen LLC, Lithia of Lodi Inc., Lithia of Maui-H LLC, Lithia of Missoula II LLC, Lithia of Missoula III Inc., Lithia of Missoula Inc., Lithia of Pocatello Inc., Lithia of Portland I LLC, Lithia of Portland LLC, Lithia of Robstown LLC, Lithia of Roseburg Inc., Lithia of Santa Rosa Inc., Lithia of Seattle Inc., Lithia of South Central AK Inc., Lithia of Spokane II Inc., Lithia of Spokane Inc., Lithia of Stockton Inc., Lithia of Stockton-V Inc., Lithia of TF Inc., Lithia of Troy LLC, Lithia of Utica - 1 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 2 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 3 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 4 LLC, Lithia of Walnut Creek Inc., Lithia of Wasilla LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 1 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 2 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 3 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 4 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 5 LLC, Medford Insurance LLC, Milford DCH Inc., Northland Ford Inc., PA Real Estate LLC, PA Support Services LLC, Paramus Collision LLC, Paramus World Motors LLC, Personalized Marketing LLC, Prestige Auto Group, RFA Holdings LLC, Ray Laks Acura, Ray Laks Honda, Sacramento-L Inc., Salem-B LLC, Salem-H LLC, Salem-V LLC, Sharlene Realty LLC, Shift Portland LLC, Southern Cascades Finance Corporation, Subaru of Morgantown, Tampa-H LLC, Tustin Motors Inc., Wesley Chapel-H LLC, Wesley Chapel-T LLC, Zelienople Real Estate I L.P., and Zelienople Real Estate L.L.C.. 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. Read More NEXT plc engages in the retail of clothing, footwear, and home products in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and internationally. The company operates through NEXT Retail, NEXT Online, NEXT Finance, NEXT International Retail, NEXT Sourcing, Lipsy, NENA, and Property Management segments. It operates retail stores; an online retail platform; and 190 franchise stores in 36 countries. The company also offers consumer credit; NEXT branded products; and women's, men's, children's, home, and beauty products under the LABEL and Lipsy's own brand, and other third-party brands. In addition, it provides property management services, including holding and lease of properties. The company was formerly known as J Hepworth & Son and changed its name to NEXT plc in 1986. NEXT plc was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Enderby, the United Kingdom. Read More Governments proposal to introduce new taxes on mobile money transactions and social media, has been rejected by civil society activists. According to the proposals, a 10 percent final withholding tax on commissions by telecommunication companies to mobile money and airtime agents and a Shs 200 daily levy on social media users will be introduced in the 2018/2019 financial year. However, a number of Civil Society Organizations including Tax Justice Alliance Uganda and Consumer Education Trust and Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) among others, argue that the proposed taxes are regressive to the ordinary Ugandans. They quashed the proposals while presenting their views to the finance committee chaired by the Rubanda East MP, Henry Musasizi on April 24. Mobile money is currently a tool used by a cross section of Ugandans. We observe that this tax is regressive, it does not consider the income differences in the population and will hinder financial inclusiveness, said Nelly Businge from the Tax Justice Alliance. Mr Businge advised the committee to differ the tax until a thorough and comprehensive plan to tax internet and online services is formulated. Tax Justice Alliance also told the committee that the proposed tax on Social Media will make it more expensive for Ugandans to access online services and ultimately deter growth of e-commerce. But the CSOs said that the proposed tax will perpetuate inequality especially for low income earners who will shoulder the ultimate burden. There is no information on how this proposed tax will be administered. Therefore it may be expensive and hard to administer due to the technological and technical capabilities required to administer such a tax, Businge noted. While presenting the proposals before the Finance Committee, the state minister for Planning, David Bahati, said the proposed taxes are envisaged to fetch government Shs11.3 billion and Shs284 billion respectively. Henry Richard Kimera, a representative from Consumer Education Trust, told MPs that the proposed tax on mobile money transactions will reduce the amount of money available to cater for basic needs like education and health, which directly affects the rural-urban poor segments of the population. Whereas 59% of Ugandans have access to financial services (largely contributed to by Mobile Money accounts), there is a high risk that the tax will reverse this positive outlook. This speaks to the financial inclusion strategy of the Finance Ministry and negatively affects savings, said Kimera. He further noted that the proposed mobile money tax will kill the economy through job losses in mobile money operations. By Benjamin Jumbe. President Yoweri Museveni has commended Japan for the support and establishment of public private business partnership in Uganda. This was during a meeting with the visiting Director General in charge of the Department for Africa Affairs in Japan Ambassador Takeshi Osuga at statehouse Entebbe. President also called on Japan to join in the infrastructure development plan for Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) such as the construction of flyovers. He also urged Japan to prioritise areas of exploration of Ugandas iron ore deposits, phosphates and manufacturing of fertilizers. The president and ambassador discussed matters pertaining to the strengthening of bilateral relations between Japan and Uganda in particular and the African continent in general focusing on economic, political and infrastructure development. Ambassador Takeshi on his part, described Uganda as a model of stability adding that this offers good opportunity for the development and connectivity of physical infrastructure. The meeting was attended by the Japanese Ambassador in Uganda Kazuaki Kameda, Dalhousies 200th anniversary is already well underway, but theres so much more in store for the universitys milestone year, including a forum with legendary U.S. civil rights leader Angela Y. Davis. Dr. Davis, an academic and author well known for her activism during the countercultural heyday of the 1960s, will visit campus October 16 as part of the universitys Belong Forum series. Norma Williams, executive director of diversity and inclusiveness at Dal, says the forum will provide an opportunity to learn from an individual with incredible firsthand experience in the fight for equality. Growing up in an area of Birmingham often bombed by the Ku Klux Klan, she did not allow the groups hatred to negatively determine her lifes path, says Williams. Instead she looked to the examples within her home and community and used her life and learned skills to combat all forms of oppression and exclusion in the search for a truly democratic society. More unique perspectives Several other high-profile speakers have been added to the series as well, including Olympic gold medalist, author and human rights champion Mark Tewksbury (May 17) as well as professor and autism advocate Temple Grandin (Sept. 27). Canadian Senator Murray Sinclairs forum, previously announced, is scheduled for Sept. 5. Tewksbury first gained prominence in 1992 when he powered to a gold medal win in the 100-metre backstroke at the Barcelona Summer Games. One of the first openly gay Olympic champions, he has emerged as a powerful voice for social change and currently serves on the board of the Canadian Olympic Committee and as chair of the board of Special Olympics Canada. Dr. Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University who was diagnosed with autism as a child, has become a role model for other autistic people around the world and blazed a trail in the livestock industry, advocating for the humane treatment of animals in slaughterhouses. Her forum takes place on Dals Agricultural Campus in Truro. In October, Dr. Daviss forum will serve as the launch for the Viola Desmond Legacy Lecture Series a four-year series celebrating diversity and inclusiveness. The series takes its name from Viola Desmond, the African Nova Scotian businesswoman who fought systemic racism and, in 2018, was enshrined on Canadas $10 bill. Were honoured to have so many inspirational leaders and thinkers joining us this year to share their unique perspectives on diversity and inclusion as part of our 200th, said Catherine Bagnell Styles, assistant vice-president of marketing and communications and lead on Dal 200. Registration for the Tewksbury forum is open now, with registration for the fall events opening throughout the summer. Those who previously signed up for the forum with Senator Sinclair will need to re-register for the September 5th event this summer. Here are some other activities coming up this year The Great Debate (Nov. 5, 7 p.m.) Next November, Dal 200 brings some of the worlds greatest minds in oceans science and space exploration to campus for a fun and engaging debate inspired by the question: What is the final frontier: space or the ocean? Dal alumna Kathryn Sullivan (PhD78), a geologist and former astronaut with NASA who became the first American woman to walk in space, will be joined by Canadian astrophysicist Christian Marois on the team representing space. Mark Abbott, president and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, German marine biologist Antje Boetius and Dals own Boris Worm join forces on the ocean side. Well-known author, speaker and TV science broadcaster Jay Ingram of Daily Planet fame will serve as emcee for the event, which will be live streamed and open to the public. This will be a provocative, fun and inspiring discussion that engages both our academic community and the general public, says Chris Moore, dean of Dals Faculty of Science and project lead on The Great Debate. Dalhousie Coast to Coast (Various dates) Dal brings its 200th celebrations to alumni and friends across Canada later this month when it kicks off the first leg of its Coast to Coast bus tour with stops in Vancouver (April 21), Edmonton (April 23), Calgary (April 25), Saskatoon (April 26) and Winnipeg (April 27). Dalhousie wouldnt be the institution it is today without the support of our alumni, says Sheila Blair-Reid (BComm86), executive director of alumni engagement at Dal. Its Dalhousies birthday, but their celebration, so were excited to be holding these events in their cities. The Dalhousie-branded bus continues its journey east in June with events in Montreal (June 5), Ottawa (June 6) and Toronto (June 7), before rounding out the trip with stops across Atlantic Canada in September in Saint John (Sept. 13), Charlottetown (Sept. 14), St. John's (Sept. 17), and Truro (Sept. 27). The tour will pay homage to the impact and influence of alumni, providing festive events steeped in Maritime flavour. These events will be reminiscent of alumnis time at Dal and in Halifax, says Blair-Reid. The bus arrives back in Halifax in time for the first Homecoming celebration of Dal's third century, featuring Ignite: Dals Third Century (Sept. 28) an evening of celebration and imagining our next century together. Admission for all 200th events is free, but limited seating is available in certain cases. Visit Dal200.ca/events for more information and to register. In 1979, fresh from a Dalhousie MBA focused on international trade and finance, Mary Brooks began looking for work. What she found were closed doors and glass ceilings. At that point in time, the Canadian banking industry and international banking people were not interested in having a woman work in international banking, she recalls. I got turned down for more jobs than I can count. I got turned down for everything I applied for. One of the interviewers actually said to me, Our clients not interested in a woman. Their loss. Offered a temporary position at the Canadian Marine Transportation Centre by Dal faculty member (and future chancellor) Sir Graham Day, she shifted her focus to the shipping industry, and on his advice began an academic career one that, over four decades, has reshaped government policy, changed industry thinking and elevated the scholarship of shipping management. Now, shes the first woman to ever receive the most distinguished international prize in her field: the Onassis Prize in Shipping. Its a great honour, says Dr. Brooks, Professor Emerita in the Rowe School of Business, who shares this years award with Wayne Talley of Old Dominion University. For people who are interested in shipping and ports, this is a big deal. The Onassis Prizes, announced last Friday (April 20), recognize the foremost global academics in finance, international trade and shipping. Valued at $200,000, the prizes are only awarded once every three years and honour outstanding academic achievements with international significance. They are jointly presented by Cass Business School London and the Onassis Foundation, a public interest organization founded by a bequest from famed shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. A collaborative approach to complex problems Dr. Brooks was cited by the awards distinguished judges for her extensive work in ports and port management. She could just have easily been recognized for her work in short sea shipping, or her studies on liner regulation. Her multifaceted career is a reflection not just of the complexity of the global shipping industry, but also her personal drive to bring people together across disciplines to find practical solutions. I always felt that everybody succeeds more if you collaborate, says Dr. Brooks. You get to the answer more effectively if you collaborate with people who dont think like you do. She is the founder and past chair, for example, of the Port Performance Research Network, which has grown to include more than 60 varied scholars focused on port governance and performance issues. She was a founding editor of the journal for Research in Transportation Business and Management. Even though shes moved on from that role, she still serves on five journal boards at present. The scope of her scholarship has spanned continents North America, South America, Australia and Europe and includes more than 25 books and technical reports and more than 75 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Brooks work is significant in part because of its direct application informing both government policy and industry practice and also because shipping is such a vital part of global trade and commerce. Some estimates peg the percentage of world trade conducted through shipping at upwards of 90 per cent. When the Council of Canadian Academies commissioned an expert panel to study the social and economic value of marine shipping to Canada, its 2017 report estimated its national economic value at $30 billion much higher than previous estimates due to its role as a trade enabler. The person the Council asked to chair that distinguished panel? Dr. Brooks, of course. A continued career These days Dr. Brooks is retired from teaching, but her scholarly work continues. In addition to her service with the Council of Canadian Academies, in recent years she has continued to publish new work, ran a review process for a global conference, conducted a study on port performance for the Canada Transportation Act Review Panel, and served as chair of the Marine Board of the National Academies in the U.S. Shipping may be one of the oldest global industries, but time and time again, Dr. Brooks keeps finding something new to explore in it. Its the industry that is the most global because the assets are moveable, she explains. if a shipowner doesnt like a particular regulatory environment, he can take his ship to another country, another jurisdiction. He can change the name and suddenly his ships can be owned by a filing cabinet in Liberia Its a tough industry to make money in, and its a tough industry to compete in, too. That just makes it fascinating. It will be up to future scholars and policy makers to keep exploring those fascinations both those personally trained by Dr. Brooks (she considers the success of her students to be one of the most rewarding parts of her career), and those who will be able to take advantage of and build on the impressive legacy shes left. It was always about just adding another layer to an onion, she says, speaking to the varied perspectives it takes to comprehend global shipping. You add another layer, and then try to solve the problem. Sometimes, maybe you need to cut the onion a different way. New Delhi: The government today shot-off notices for the second time to both Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, seeking more details on the data breach issue, sources said. Taking a tough stance against Cambridge Analytica's "cryptic response" to its first notice, the government has again sent notices to both the British data analytics firm and Facebook, confronting them with additional questions on potential misuse of data. It has asked Facebook to list out security architecture proposed to be created by the company "so that data concerning Indians are not pilfered or manipulated again for extraneous purposes including to influence the elections". The government also asked Facebook about steps it plans to clamp down on any unauthorised use of data or manipulation, and fixed a deadline of May 10 for responses. It had earlier questioned both the companies on the impact of the data breach, following which Facebook had admitted that nearly 5.62 lakh people in India were "potentially affected" by the incident. Earlier this month, Facebook and Cambridge Analytica had submitted their responses, following which the government has now sought more details. The sources, who did not wish to be identified, said the two companies have now been given time till May 10 to respond. Over the last few weeks, the US social networking giant has drawn intense criticism from users and governments globally over the data leak scandal that hit millions of users. Information of over 80 million Facebook users was allegedly harvested by data analytics and political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, leading to a global backlash against the American company. New Delhi: Microsoft Corp is not auditing how its partner KPMG cracks down on illegal use of Microsoft software in India, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The denial comes after a prior claim made by an executive of the US technology giant following a client complaint in March. Microsoft runs a global software asset management (SAM) programme under which it partners with global consultants such as KPMG in India. Under that programme, KPMG seeks permission from business owners to check for the use of unlicensed software. Reuters reported earlier this month that Microsoft had begun probing KPMGs work in India after a member of Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Vinit Goenka, complained to both companies that a KPMG employee had barged in to his Mumbai recruitment firm without an appointment to check its software last month. Following the incident, a senior Microsoft India executive, Rajiv Sodhi, wrote to Goenka and apologised, saying Microsoft was getting an assessment agency to carry out an audit of the process delivery at KPMG to identify and correct gaps, if any, according to an e-mail reviewed by Reuters. Microsoft and KPMG, who had earlier declined to comment on the probe, on Tuesday denied there was such an audit, and said allegations made against the programmes implementation were incorrect. Microsoft and KPMG strongly refute any suggestion that Microsoft is auditing KPMG, or either company has engaged in any wrong doing, the companies said in the statement sent to Reuters. A spokeswoman for Microsoft in India clarified on Tuesday that the company was only examining conduct around the recent incident and was not carrying out a broad probe into KPMGs other anti-piracy work for Microsoft. Police complaint Microsoft declined to comment on why Sodhi previously told Goenka there was an audit being carried out. It also declined to comment on whether it hired an assessment agency to do such an audit, citing employee and customer confidentiality concerns. When a customer complains to us about a process issue they may have experienced, Microsoft and KPMG take the concern seriously and address appropriately through process review and gap assessment, if any, the companies said in the joint statement. Sodhi did not respond to a request for comment. Told about the statement from Microsoft and KPMG, Goenka said the companies should be addressing the issues he raised. Why would he (Sodhi) apologise if they had not done any mistake? said Goenka, who advises government committees on IT initiatives and filed a police complaint after the incident. India is one of Microsofts biggest markets in Asia, but over half of all software installed on computers in the country is unlicensed, advocacy group Business Software Alliance said in 2016. Goenka said his firm, Ratein Infotech, used genuine software. Last month, he received a letter from Microsoft saying his company needed help in interpreting licensing policies of Microsoft, according to emails seen by Reuters. The issue escalated when a KPMG employee, identified only as Srijesh, entered Rateins office on March 15. Microsoft and KPMG apologised to Goenka and Srijesh wrote an e-mail resigning, the emails showed. The resignation of the KPMG employee was involuntary and hence KPMG has not accepted the resignation, the companies said in their statement, without elaborating. Srijesh could not be reached for comment. Work-life balance, job security, career progression and strong management are the other influencing factors for the Indian workforce. New Delhi: Technology giant Microsoft India is the most 'attractive employer brand', followed by e-commerce major Amazon India, says a survey. According to the findings of Randstad Employer Brand Research (REBR) 2018, the other most attractive employer brands in India include Hindustan Unilever, IBM India, ITC Group, Larsen & Toubro, Mercedes-Benz India, Samsung India, Sony India and Tata Consultancy Services. The sectoral specific winners for the most attractive employers this year are Tata Consultancy Services for IT, Larsen & Toubro for Infrastructure & Construction and Hindustan Unilever for FMCG. "Employer Branding has never been more important than it is now. Candidates have choices, not only where they decide to work but in what capacity," said Paul Dupuis, MD & CEO Randstad India. The survey further noted that the top three sectors in India by awareness and attractiveness are companies operating in sectors like IT & ITeS cited by 69 per cent of respondents, followed by Automotive (68 per cent) and Retail & FMCG (67 per cent). The REBR covered 75 per cent of the global economy with 30 participating countries and more than 1,75,000 respondents worldwide. As per the survey, salary and employee benefits continue to be the top driver among the Indian workforce across all profiles while choosing an employer. Work-life balance, job security, career progression and strong management are the other influencing factors for the Indian workforce. Job security emerged as the top factor for an employee to stay with the current employer, with 45 per cent of the survey respondents indicating this. As per the survey, providing increased career growth opportunities could be a great asset for organizations to attract at least 43 per cent of the workforce, who said they left their employers for this reason. AAI needs to accelerate capacity expansion of existing airports and also build new ones in smaller towns and cities. New Delhi: Prodded by the prime ministers office (PMO), state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to raise about Rs 1,500 crore from the debt market, leveraging its balancesheet in the current financial year. Major portion of this fund would go for upgrading Kolkata and Chennai airports, which are facing capacity crunch in the wake of rising traffic. Official sources said that AAI held an internal meeting on capital expenditure last month where the proposal was discussed. The plan is to raise about Rs 1,500 crore, but depending on requirement it could be raised further, an official said. As the government has decided to expand airport capacity by more than five times to handle a billion trips a year, AAI needs to accelerate capacity expansion of existing airports and also build new ones in smaller towns and cities. Due to lack of infrastructure, some of the RCS (regional connectivity scheme) flights have been affected. Also, there is capacity constraint at bigger airports. Therefore, there is need to build capacity at faster pace, another official said. Domestic air traffic has been growing exponentially in double digit for the last about 42 months, necessitating airport expansion. Severe capacity crunch at most of Indias major airports has already rung alarm bells among the airlines, threatening to delay their aircraft delivery schedule. All the domestic airlines together are likely to induct more than 900 aircraft in the coming years, with largest domestic carrier IndiGo alone adding 448 planes. Global aviation advisory Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) estimates that most of the 30 largest AAI airports would saturate within 10 years. Further, India could face a capacity crisis without construction of 50 new airports over the next decade. This puts burden on AAI, the largest airport operator, to augment capacity. The government-controlled airport agency manages the countrys 125 airports. In order to handle additional capacity, it recently decided to keep four of its airports at Guwahati, Patna, Raipur and Ranchi -- open round-the-clock. It also encourages airlines to operate red-eye or late night flights to optimally use airport capacity. Banks are likely to challenge the notice and take up the issue with the finance ministry. New Delhi: Banks may soon be forced to stop all free services to customers. The DGGST is calculating tax on these free services on the basis of charges which banks have recovered from customers who do not maintain a minimum prescribed balance. While the government is said to be calculating tax liability on banks to be Rs 6,000 crore, bankers estimate that the tax dues could be much higher. Banks will find it difficult to recover charges from customers retrospectively. But they may be forced to charge taxes in the future on free ATM transactions and other services, which will put a burden on bank customers. Banks are likely to challenge the notice and take up the issue with the finance ministry. The SBI had to cut charges it had levied on non-maintenance of minimum charges on saving accounts recently due to public anger. The matter has already assumed political dimensions. Your bank could soon charge you for ATM transactions, cheques and cards. Why??? Hint: Modi Govt? Taxes. Enjoy people. More #AchheDin are coming!, tweeted Congress leader Salman Soz. The Civil Aviation Ministry could have a relook into the draft citizen charter that has proposed to increase compensation to Rs 20,000 for passengers who miss connecting flights due to cancellation or delays. New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry could have a relook into the draft citizen charter that has proposed to increase compensation to Rs 20,000 for passengers who miss connecting flights due to cancellation or delays, in the wake of stiff opposition from some airlines to the provision, sources indicated on Wednesday. The charter has also proposed abolishing penalties on ticket modifications done within 24 hours of booking. The sources said the charter is expected to be discussed threadbare during a meeting of the ministry with the airlines and other stake-holders on May 1. "There have been objections and we are studying them. During the meeting, we will try to find a way out which is beneficial both to the passengers as well as the airlines," the sources said. The collective apprehension is that the increase in compensation could see a spike in air fares, thus negating the benefits accrued to passengers from increasing the compensation, they said. The citizen charter, which would be put in public domain, has proposed a compensation which could go up to Rs 20,000 for missing connecting flights due to cancellation or delays in the initial journey. The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), comprising carriers such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, Go Air and Jet Airways with 80 per cent of the market share, has expressed fears that increase in compensation could affect the financial viability of the airlines. As per the draft citizen charter, in case of denial of boarding, the compensation could be Rs 5,000 as such instances have seen a sharp rise in the recent past. Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey had earlier said that the easy-to-understand passenger charter would mention all entitlements of an air traveller as the existing regulations of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the aviation watchdog, with regard to compensation were not passenger-friendly. After playing girl-next-door roles, actress Eesha Rebba has landed an interesting part in her forthcoming Telugu film Subramaniapuram. Directed by debutant director Santosh Jagarlamudi, the mystery thriller features Nagarjunas nephew Sumanth. Talking about the project, Eesha says, This is the first time that I will be part of a thriller, so when the opportunity came, I was more than thrilled to be a part of this. On her role, she says, I play Priya, the only daughter of the village president of an ancient village, Subramanyapuram. She is both beautiful and pious, and is deeply concerned about the welfare of the villagers. She falls in love with Karthik, an atheist and a rationalist. How she helps Karthik in his investigation is the crux of the film. When Nidhi Chanani, a freelance illustrator, cartoonist and writer, decided to tell a longer story, she had no qualms about the format of the book. She decided it would be a graphic novel. After creating single illustrations for years, I wanted more. I wanted to tell a longer story. My background in literature and illustration made comics the perfect choice, says the author about her debut graphic novel Pashmina, which narrates the story of Priyanka, who travels to India from a foreign land in quest for certain answers. She wants to know the reason why her mother abandoned her home in India years ago and how it looked like. Most importantly, she wants to learn about her father and why her mother left him. Priyankas mother is reluctant to answer all these questions. For Priyanka, India exists only in her imagination. Things change when she finds a mysterious Pashmina tucked away in a forgotten suitcase. She wraps it and soon gets transported to a different place. Her journey to find her roots begins at that point. It took the author, who was born in Kolkata and brought up in California, four years to complete the book that also deals with self-discovery. Has she drawn experiences from own life to set the background? Priyanka and I have many similarities. We both love samosas and drawing comics! says Nidhi. I did write a lot from personal experience. Priyanka enjoys drawing and only has one close friend. She is teased at school for her economical and cultural differences. These aspects are directly plucked from my life. Her mom Nimisha is a variation of my mother. Nimisha is strong, religious and loving. And her moms life choices shape her environment as she navigates questions about her past. As I developed her back story, the elements of Priyankas character became apparent, explains the author, who wants her creation to make others happy just like building it makes her so. PASHMINA By Nidhi Chanani Macmillan US pp.176, RS 319 In April 2012, the Obama Administration honoured Nidhi as a champion of change. She has also illustrated Misty The Proud Cloud, a childrens book. Writing happened to Nidhi while pursuing the path of art. She cannot pick the moment when she decided to be a writer. It was a slow and steady process. Im not sure it was a decision that was so clear, she says. It was a process of learning how I wanted to draw and then how I wanted to tell stories with art. From there the path to comics became clear. Nidhi follows a liner format for writing. I write the full script first. I do thumbnails next and then the final art, she says. She has reworked the script of Pashmina eight times. Thumbs, at least three times. The final art was minimally changed, says Nidhi, who is inspired by the works of Gene Luen Yang, an Asian-American cartoonist. I found Gene Luen Yang in college. More than any other graphic novel priors, this American born Chinese made me believe that I could make my own comic book. Good comics do that make you believe in yourself. Gene did not shy away from discussing difficult topics of internalised racism, the state of being a child of immigrants, and the universal awkwardness of being a teen. I saw how a difficult topic could be tempered through comics and allow for honest discussion. Its my great pleasure to have his quote about Pashmina on the cover and to see him as a peer now, she says. Nidhis graphic novel journey continues. Right now, she is working on her next book Jukebox. I am writing this book with my husband Nick Giordano. Its about two Muslim-American cousins Shaheen and Tannaz (or Shahi and Naz) who find a jukebox that takes them back in time. Its slated to release in 2020. I also have a childrens picture book that Im illustrating, I Will Be Fierce that will release next year, she sums up. Asaram has been convicted by Jodhpur Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Court in a rape case. Self-proclaimed godman Asaram Bapu was arrested in 2013 after a 16-year-old girl from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh alleged sexual assault by him in his ashram on the outskirts of Jodhpur. Not just that, he is embroiled in a rape case in Gujarat as well, where two sisters have lodged separate complaints against him and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape and illegal confinement. We look at 5 other godmen who have been embroiled in controversies over the years. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan: Head of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect has two murder charges against him. It is alleged that he killed journalist Ram Chander Chatrapati in 2001 and sect manager Ranjit Singh in July 2002. He has also been accused by a woman for raping her and two others in 2002. The same year saw a follower claim that he had ordered 400 men to undergo castration to be closer to God. Swami Premananda: Escaping civil war in Sri Lanka, Swami Premananda moved to India in 1984 and set up an ashram for women and orphans in Tiruchirappalli. However, in 1994, a young girl, Arul Jyothi, escaped from the ashram and reported that she was pregnant after being raped repeatedly by the Godman. In August 1997, Premananda, along with six accomplices, was convicted of raping 13 minor girls. He was also convicted of murdering a disciple who had tried to out him. Sant Rampal: The spiritual leader's arrest came on 18 November 2004, after the Haryana police found the bodies of five women and an 18-month-old child at his Satlok ashram in Hisar where they had gone to arrest him in regard to another case. Thousands of his followers fought a pitched battle with the police, and it took 20,000 security personnel to finally capture him the next day. Sant Rampal had earlier been jailed for 22 months after he was charged with the murder of a man who died when his followers clashed with those of the Arya Samaj on 12 July 2006. Chandraswami: The late spiritual leader, who passed away omn May 23, 2017, is alleged to have been involved in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. An income-tax raid on Chandraswami's ashram reportedly uncovered drafts of payments, totaling USD11 million, paid to arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. In 1996, he was arrested on charges of defrauding a London-based businessman of USD100,000, and in June 2011, the Supreme Court fined him Rs 9 crore for violating the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. Paramahamsa Nithyananda: He was arrested and spent 52 days in jail in 2010 after a leaked video showed him engaged in sexual activities with Tamil actress Ranjitha. Both Nithyananda and Ranjitha insisted that the video was morphed, a claim that was later proven by a confession by the ex-COO of Sun TV. However, in 2012, Indian-born American citizen Arthi Rao claimed that he had raped her for several years. A leading security think tank has warned that a devastating nuclear war that wipes out humanity could be brought about by artificial intelligence as soon as 2040. It further claims that advances leading to doomsday AI machines could encourage nations to take apocalyptic risks with their nuclear arsenals. During the Cold War, a condition called MAD (mutually assure destruction) maintained an uneasy truce between superpowers as both sides had little incentive to launch a nuclear attack, as it would have been met by a devastating retaliation that destroyed them. However, advances in AI may mean that this is no longer guaranteed, opening up the potential of taking out an enemy's ability to counter attack - and there may be no way to prevent such a future. The claims were put forward by Rand Corporation, a non-profit based organisation in Santa Monica, California, that offers research and analysis to the United States armed forces on global policy issues. It says that, in the coming decades, advances in AI could erode Mad's ability to keep nuclear nations in check. Improved AI agents, combined with more sensor and open-source data, could convince countries that their nuclear capabilities are vulnerable. That, the report says, may cause them to take more drastic steps to keep up with countires such as the US. Speaking about it, Andrew Lohn, co-author on the paper and associate engineer at Rand said, Some experts fear that an increased reliance on artificial intelligence can lead to new types of catastrophic mistakes. Another worrying scenario, the report claims, is that commanders could make decisions to launch strikes based on advice from AI assistants that have been fed the wrong information. The study is part of a broader effort to envision critical security challenges in the world of 2040, considering the effects of political, technological, social, and demographic trends that will shape those security challenges. According to the police, the woman allegedly lured the girl to her home before walking her to a forested area nearby. (Photo: Representational/File) New Delhi: In a horrific and shameful act, a woman forced her 13-year-old niece to get drunk after which she allowed her boyfriend to rape the child in a forested area in outer Delhis Shahbad Dairy on Sunday night. The 30-year-old woman has been arrested while her boyfriend, the alleged rapist, Mukesh Kumar is on the run, a report in Hindustan Times said. The woman, the child's aunt, used to look after the family as the girl's mother had left her and her father. According to the police, the woman allegedly lured the girl to her home before walking her to a forested area nearby. Mukesh was waiting there in his mini truck. The woman tried to trick the girl into drinking alcohol by mixing it with soft drinks. When the girl refused to drink, her aunt forced her. The woman and Mukesh too were drinking, an investigator was quoted as saying by HT. The officer said, Mukesh raped the girl once she was in an inebriated state with the woman staying around when the crime was being committed. He added that the woman knew of rape and that the police suspect it to be pre-planned. As a result, IPC section pertaining to criminal conspiracy was added to the case. The incident came to light, when the girl's father saw her bleeding and in pain on Monday. She was rushed to Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital where the doctors told that she had been raped. Rajneesh Gupta, deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) said a case has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections 376 (rape), 328 (causing hurt by intoxicating substance with intent to commit an offence), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy). The duo has also been booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. This incident took place on the day when President Ram Nath Kovind promulgated an ordinance to pave way for providing stringent punishment, including death penalty, for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years. Also Read: President signs ordinance on death penalty for rape of children below 12 The Union Cabinet on Saturday approved the ordinance to allow courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping girls under 12 years. In case of rape of a girl under 16 years, the minimum punishment was increased from 10 years to 20 years, extendable to imprisonment for rest of life, which means jail term till the convict's "natural life". The ordinance gained significance in the wake of huge outrage over Kathua and Unnao rape cases. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on 1 September, 2013. (Photo: PTI/File) Jodhpur: The Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court on Wednesday sentenced self-styled godman Asaram Bapu to life imprisonment for the rape of a 16-year-old girl at his ashram in 2013. Earlier on Wednesday, the court had held Asaram and two others guilty for the offence. The other two accused Shilpi and Sharad have been sentenced to 20 years each in jail. The verdict was pronounced by Judge Madhusudan Sharma inside the Jodhpur Jail due to security reasons. Two other attendants of Asaram Bapu were acquitted by the Jodhpur court in the case. In the case registered in Rajasthan, a 16-year-old girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15, 2013. The girl was brought to the ashram by her parents. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He has been under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. After the conviction, Asaram's spokesperson Neelam Dubey said after discussion with their legal team, a future course of action would be decided. Hailing the verdict, the victim's father said the family had finally got justice. "I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice," he said. Asaram was taken into police custody in August 2013, following which he was taken to Jodhpur Central jail. A month later, a potency test was conducted on him and was produced before a Jodhpur court. In November the same year, the chargesheet filed against Asaram and four others -- Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash -- had indicated blackmail in exchange of sexual favours, after which the former was booked under Sections 342, 376, 506 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). In the years that followed, a number of key witnesses in the case were attacked or went missing. In 2014, Asaram's personal aide was shot dead, while another associate was killed in 2015 in Muzaffarnagar. In the same year, two more witnesses were attacked by unidentified individuals, while another witness went missing from Lucknow. While the self-styled godman has filed a number of bail petitions, a total of 12 applications were rejected by the trial court, the Rajasthan High Court, and the Supreme Court. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. Two Surat-based sisters had lodged separate complaints against the self-styled godman and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape. Previously on Tuesday, the Centre asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana to tighten security and deploy additional forces ahead of the verdict. This is the fourth case in the history of Indian judiciary that verdict has been pronounced inside the jail The others were former Prime Minister Indira Ganshis assassinators (Tihar Jail), Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab (Arthur Road Jail) and Gurmeet Ram Rahim (Sunaria Jail Rohtak). Media too was bared from entering the jail as the Rajasthan High Court dismissed all appeals for coverage inside the premises. Asaram Bapu was represented by top lawyers Ram Jethmalani and Subramanian Swami. Earlier on Wednesday, the court had held guilty Asaram and two others in the case. (Photo: PTI/File) Jodhpur: The Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court on Wednesday sentenced self-styled godman Asaram Bapu to life imprisonment for the rape of a 16-year-old girl at his ashram in 2013. Earlier on Wednesday, the court had held Asaram and two others guilty of the crime. The other two convicted accused, Shilpi and Sharad, have been sentenced to 20 years each in jail. The verdict was pronounced by Judge Madhusudan Sharma inside the Jodhpur Jail due to security reasons. Two other attendants of Asaram Bapu were acquitted by the Jodhpur court in the case. In the case registered in Rajasthan, a 16-year-old girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15, 2013. The girl was brought to the ashram by her parents. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He has been under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. After the conviction, Asaram's spokesperson Neelam Dubey said after discussion with their legal team, a future course of action would be decided. Hailing the verdict, the victim's father said the family had finally got justice. "I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice," he said. Asaram was taken into police custody in August 2013, following which he was taken to Jodhpur Central jail. A month later, a potency test was conducted on him and was produced before a Jodhpur court. In November the same year, the chargesheet filed against Asaram and four others -- Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash -- had indicated blackmail in exchange of sexual favours, after which the former was booked under Sections 342, 376, 506 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). In the years that followed, a number of key witnesses in the case were attacked or went missing. In 2014, Asaram's personal aide was shot dead, while another associate was killed in 2015 in Muzaffarnagar. In the same year, two more witnesses were attacked by unidentified individuals, while another witness went missing from Lucknow. While the self-styled godman has filed a number of bail petitions, a total of 12 applications were rejected by the trial court, the Rajasthan High Court, and the Supreme Court. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. Two Surat-based sisters had lodged separate complaints against the self-styled godman and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape. Previously on Tuesday, the Centre asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana to tighten security and deploy additional forces ahead of the verdict. This is the fourth case in the history of Indian judiciary that verdict has been pronounced inside the jail The others were former Prime Minister Indira Ganshis assassinators (Tihar Jail), Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab (Arthur Road Jail) and Gurmeet Ram Rahim (Sunaria Jail Rohtak). Media too was bared from entering the jail as the Rajasthan High Court dismissed all appeals for coverage inside the premises. Asaram Bapu was represented by top lawyers Ram Jethmalani and Subramanian Swami. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on 1 September, 2013. (Photo: File) Jodhpur: Nearly five years after rape charges were levelled against self-styled godman, Asaram Bapu, the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court is set to pronounce its verdict on Wednesday. Asaram's involvement was probed in two separate cases - one from Rajasthan and the other from Gujarat. In the case registered in Rajasthan, a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15, 2013, while in Gujarat, two Surat-based sisters lodged separate complaints against the self-styled godman and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on 1 September, 2013. He is under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. Asaram was taken into police custody in August 2013, following which he was taken to Jodhpur Central jail. A month later, a potency test was conducted on him and was produced before a Jodhpur court. While the self-styled godman has filed a number of bail petitions, a total of 12 applications were rejected by the trial court, the Rajasthan High Court, and the Supreme Court. In November the same year, the chargesheet filed against Asaram and four others had indicated blackmail in exchange of sexual favours, after which the former was booked under Sections 342, 376, 506 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). In the years that followed, a number of the key witnesses in the case were attacked or went missing. In 2014, Asaram's personal aide was shot dead, while another associate was killed in 2015 in Muzaffarnagar. In the same year, two more witnesses were attacked by unidentified individuals, while another witness went missing from Lucknow. The Jodhpur High Court last week decided to pronounce the verdict against self-styled godman in a jail court to avoid any law and order situation in Rajasthan. The police had filed a petition in the high court stating that Rajasthan may witness Panchkula-like violence, which broke out after the conviction of controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a rape case. Previously on Tuesday, the Centre asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana to tighten security and deploy additional forces ahead of the verdict. In a communication, the Home Ministry told the three states to beef up security and ensure that no violence takes place after the judgment on Wednesday. Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana have large number of Asaram followers. The magistrate along with court staff, Asaram and the co-accused along with the defence and prosecution counsels will remain present in the courtroom in jail premises. Security was also stepped up around the survivor's house in Shahajahanpur. The Jodhpur Court has also dismissed a petition seeking entry of media persons in Central Jail of Jodhpur for the coverage of the judgement. Furthermore, Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) will be imposed in Jodhpur till April 30. Among the colleges that were served show-cause notices and warned against conducting classes during the summer vacations were Narayana Junior College, Dilsukhnagar and Sri Gayatri Junior College, Thummalakunta. Hyderabad: As many as 53 corporate colleges in Hyderabad, Medchal, and Ranga Reddy districts were inspected by District Intermediate Education Officers (DIEOs) recently to check if they were conducting special classes during the summer vacations. B. Jayaprada, the DIEO of Hyderabad, inspected 21 colleges; Mr Prabhakar, the DIEO of Medchal, inspected 20; and Venkaiah Naik, the DIEO of Ranga Reddy district, inspected 18. They were assisted by 27 teams from the three districts. The officers even checked locked classrooms. Among the colleges that were served show-cause notices and warned against conducting classes during the summer vacations were Narayana Junior College, Dilsukhnagar and Sri Gayatri Junior College, Thummalakunta. The classrooms of Narayana Junior College, Ibrahimpatnam, Sri Chaitanya Junior College, Kalasala, and Velociity Junior College were locked by the DIEOs, and the authorities of 9 Education Academy, Akash Academy and Dr JEE Academy were asked to meet with the Secretary of the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) after stopping the special classes they were conducting for NEET and JEE aspirants. The country will get its first two 'airport-like' railway stations -- Habibganj and Gandhinagar -- in 9 months from now as part of the railway's Rs 1lakh crore station redevelopment programme. (Photo: YouTube screengrab | Shilpa Tiwari) New Delhi: The country will get its first two "airport-like" railway stations -- Habibganj and Gandhinagar -- in nine months from now as part of the railway's Rs 1-lakh crore station redevelopment programme, a senior official said on Monday. While Madhya Pradesh's Habibganj station will be ready by December, Gujarat's Gandhinagar station will be completed by January 2019, said S K Lohia, the Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) Managing Director and CEO. He said the redeveloped Gandhinagar station will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The entire responsibility of maintenance and revenue generation from these stations lies with the IRSDC and we have to make sure that these stations are revenue surplus and to the extent that it can be invested back in the maintenance and development of the station, Lohia said. Once fully ready, the cost of maintenance of the Habibganj station will be in the range of Rs 4-5 crore, he said. The estimated revenue will be between Rs 6.5 to Rs 7 crore per annum with a planned increase to more than Rs 10 crore per annum, he said. The entire Habibganj Station redevelopment project is likely to be a Rs 450-crore project, of which Rs 100 crore would be spent on station redevelopment and Rs 350 crore on commercial development. The amenities at the station will include 600 additional waiting benches, cleaner toilets, retail areas, and Lohia said The IRSDC was exploring other ideas such as video-game zones, virtual museums. The new-look Habibganj railway station will boast of a glass dome-like structure and have facilities such as food plazas and cafeterias and a plush waiting lounge. Gandhinagar, the other station which will join Habibganj as the first two state-of-the-art stations, will be completed in record two years' time - its foundation stone was laid by the PM in January 2017. According to Lohia, 42 per cent of the civil work has already been completed and it will be ready in time to hold the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January 2019, he said. The Rs 250-crore redevelopment project is a SPV between the IRSDC and the Gujarat state government and will have a 5-star hotel with 300-rooms as its centre piece right above the tracks. The ground floor of the hotel will be 22 metres above the ground and it will have three buildings, combined to give the shape of petals. Singh went on to say that Hindus were unsafe in Bengal and if nothing was done to change the situation, it would soon become like Jammu and Kashmir. (Photo: ANI) Lucknow: Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned the BJP motormouths to keep quiet and not get carried away while making statements on "relevant issues", Surendra Singh, a lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh's Ballia on Tuesday said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was playing role of "Surpanakha". He said Mamata being the CM was not doing anything even when people were getting killed on streets. "Mamata Banerjee is playing role of Surpanakha. People are getting killed on streets and she being CM isn't doing anything about it, such leader isn't a good one," he said. Singh went on to say that Hindus were unsafe in Bengal and if nothing was done to change the situation, it would soon become like Jammu and Kashmir. "Hindus will be ousted from Bengal just like it happened in J&K. Terrorists from Bangladesh have entered West Bengal and are torturing Hindus," he added. Taking pride in Narendra Modi being the PM, he claimed that the BJP will oust all foreign elements from Bengal. Singh also accused the Congress of playing the role of "Raavan". Violence has been reported from various corners of the state ahead of the panchayat polls in the state. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sheikh Dildar Khan was shot dead at Suri in Birbhum district in a over the filing of nominations for the upcoming West Bengal panchayat elections on Monday. This is not the first time the MLA has made controversial remarks. Earlier, Singh had said that once India becomes a 'Hindu Rashtra', only those Muslims will stay in the country who assimilate into the Hindu culture. The BJP MLA also claimed that by 2024, India would become a Hindu nation. Recently, Singh had, while speaking in defence of the accused BJP MLA, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, said that the Unnao rape victim had filed a "false rape case" against a man in the past. He came out in support of Sengar, saying that no one could rape a mother of three children. Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra had advised his partymen to keep quiet and not get carried away while making statements on relevant issues. "Sometimes our workers blame the media. But have we ever thought that we provide 'masala' to media through our own mistakes? Whatever be the issue, we start speaking, as soon as we spot a camera," Modi had said. Also Read: Don't give 'masala' to media: PM Modi asks BJP motormouths to keep quiet Modi's advice came in the wake of increased outrage over the infamous Kathua and Unnao rape cases which have taken the country by a storm. (With agency inputs) Dr Manoj C. Mathur, senior ophthalmologist explained, Due to the reduced moisture content in the atmosphere the eyes become very dry. (Representational Image) Hyderabad: Erratic weather that shifts between stifling heat and thunderstorms, coupled with pollution, have led to an increase in allergic conjunctivitis in the city, affecting both children and adults. Dr Ravindra Goud, superintendent of Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, explained, This year the extreme weather conditions have started as early as March and as a result of this there has been an increase in the number of conjunctivitis cases in the city. Allergic conjunctivitis leads to an inflammation in the eyes which causes pain, redness, itchiness, gritty feeling and also constant tearing up. It is highly contagious and hence the affected person has to follow a proper hand washing regime. The medication for conjunctivitis is eye drops and use of dark glasses or staying away from direct sunlight. Dr Manoj C. Mathur, senior ophthalmologist explained, Due to the reduced moisture content in the atmosphere the eyes become very dry. People must splash cold water on their faces frequently during the summer months in order to keep the eyes hydrated. Women who share their eye make-up often get these infections. Ensure to keep your eyes clean and to wash your hands properly if you indulge in outdoor activities. The father of the eight-year victim girl had sought shifting of the case from Kathua court to a court in Chandigarh to ensure free and free trial. (Photo: File) New Delhi: Two of the accused in the Kathua rape incident have strongly opposed in the Supreme Court the plea for transfer of the trial from Kathua court to a court in Chandigarh. The father of the eight-year victim girl had sought shifting of the case to ensure free and free trial. Opposing shifting of trial outside Kathua court, two accused Sanji Ram and Vishal Jagotra said they have been falsely implicated in the case as accused 1 and 5 pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Kathua, where the charge sheet has already been filed. The applicants are directly affected if the trial is shifted outside Kathua without making them parties to the writ petition filed by victims father. On the investigation by the state police, they said probe must be fair, transparent and judicious and the investigating agency cannot be permitted to conduct an investigation in a tainted and biased manner. The convenience of the complainant cannot be the sole consideration for transferring a criminal case out of the state. They added that courts have to consider the convenience of the accused, prosecution witnesses and larger interest of the society. The trial had already commenced and there is no apprehension on behalf of the complainant for any threat or coercion of prosecution witnesses. They prayed for a direction to be impleaded in the writ petition. Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir government through the investigating officer in the Kathua rape case said that on the day when the crime branch police arrived at the court along with the accused to present the charge sheet, the agitating members of the Kathua bar association shouted slogans and asked the police to return back. The two officers however, managed to go inside the chambers of the judge. Thereafter attempts were made to humiliate and threaten the officers to leave the court premises and prevent filing of charge sheet. In view of this, the judge advised the officers to present the charge sheet the next day. Thereafter the judge summoned the officers to his residence around 9 pm where the accused were produced and charge sheet was presented. Charge sheet in respect of a juvenile accused was presented in the juvenile court on April 10, the affidavit said. The Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association has denied that the members of the bar threatened the lawyer of the victim and her family. The Association said the allegation that Deepika Singh Rajawat, advocate for the victim was threatened was false. It added that she was also not obstructed from appearing in court. It said that at its general house meeting held on April 3, the association approved the demand for handing over Kathua rape incident to the CBI to ensure that the victim gets justice and this demand was never to support the alleged rapists. On April 11, the association in support of its demands observed a bandh, viz deportation of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis settled in Jammu near Army camps to any other place in India. A motivated and malicious campaign was made by some national media channels about the motive of the bandh as if those who support the bandh are those who support the rapids, which is factually incorrect. On the same day charge sheet was also filed in the case and the victims lawyer was never threatened or obstructed the smooth functioning of justice delivery system. A 16-year-old girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15, 2013. (Photo: PTI/File) Jodhpur: Threats and attacks were not just extended to the witnesses of the Asaram rape case, revealed victim's school principal, who said that he was also threatened mentally and physically and pressured to prove that the girl was 18 years old. In a historic verdict, the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court on Wednesday held guilty Asaram Bapu and two others in the rape of a 16-year-old girl at his ashram in 2013. 77-year-old Asaram was sentenced to life imprisonment while the other two accused were awarded a 20-year jail term each by the court. Speaking to NDTV, the Uttar Pradesh school principal said that he was under constant pressure to fudge the girl's date of birth in school records. "I was pressured, threatened... have suffered mentally and physically... I received threatening letters. I was to mention the date of birth as in the records, they wanted it to be manipulated," the principal said. The verdict was pronounced by Judge Madhusudan Sharma inside the Jodhpur Jail due to security reasons. Also Read: Asaram Bapu gets life imprisonment in rape of minor schoolgirl In the case registered in Rajasthan, a 16-year-old girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15, 2013. The girl was brought to the ashram by her parents. During these five long years, a number of key witnesses in the case were attacked or went missing. In 2014, Asaram's personal aide was shot dead, while another associate was killed in 2015 in Muzaffarnagar. In the same year, two more witnesses were attacked by unidentified individuals, while another witness went missing from Lucknow. While the self-styled godman has filed a number of bail petitions, a total of 12 applications were rejected by the trial court, the Rajasthan High Court, and the Supreme Court. In a brief two-sentence letter, Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Madan Lokur demanded that the CJI call a 'full court' to discuss 'institutional issues' and the 'future' of the court. (Photo: PTI/File) New Delhi: Days after seven Opposition parties led by the Congress met Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and handed over a notice seeking the impeachment of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, two top court judges have asked the CJI to call a "full court" to discuss the "future" of the Supreme Court. The opposition parties, led by the Congress, initiated the unprecedented step to impeach the CJI by moving the notice levelling charges against him. In a brief two-sentence letter, Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Madan Lokur demanded that the CJI call a full court to discuss institutional issues and the future of the court, according to The Indian Express report. Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu had earlier on Monday rejected the notice to impeach the CJI citing lack of substantial merit in it. Naidu said in an order on Sunday that he had detailed personal conversation on all the aspects arising from the notice and had considered each of the allegations made in it individually as well as collectively. The Rajya Sabha chairman said that after having perused annexures to the motion, detailed consultations and studied opinions of constitutional experts, he was "satisfied that admission of this Notice of Motion is neither desirable nor proper". Following the decision, the Congress is likely to move the Supreme Court against the order. Earlier on March 21, Senior-most Supreme Court judge, Justice J Chelameswar, had shot off a letter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) asking him to consider convening a full court to take up the issue of alleged executive interference in judiciary. Justice Chelameswar, in his letter written on March 21, cautioned that "the bonhomie between the judiciary and the government in any state sounds the death knell to democracy". In April, top judge Justice Kurian Joseph had written to the CJI asking him to set up a seven-member bench of senior judges to take up the issue of the government sitting on the Collegium recommendation to appoint Justice K M Joseph and Indu Malhotra to the apex court. New Delhi/London: A top UK diplomat has called one of India's holiest places, the Golden Temple, a mosque following which he apologised for the gaffe amid protests by the Sikh community. Simon McDonald, Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, referred to the Golden Temple in Amritsar as the "Golden Mosque" in a tweet on Monday. "At Queen's Birthday party, presented with picture of The Queen at Golden Mosque in Amritsar in 1997, a permanent memento for Deputy High Commission's wall," he tweeted. On realising his mistake, he apologised for the gaffe. The Foreign Office top diplomat said this morning: "I was wrong: I am sorry. I should of course have said the Golden Temple or, better, Sri Harmandir Sahib". However, Bhai Amrik Singh, the chairman of the Sikh Federation, said: "This was a major gaffe by a top civil servant and totally unacceptable. It demonstrates a remarkable level of ignorance from someone in his position". "In our view, a public apology and admitting the mistake is not enough. What we need is a commitment from the UK government and senior civil servants to root out such ignorance and discrimination or we will continue to face hate, abuse and threats of violence," he was quoted as saying by The Guardian. The Golden Temple also known as Sri Harmandir Sahib, located in the city of Amritsar, is one of the most revered spiritual sites of Sikhism in the world. The gaffe comes as Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to launch an independent inquiry into Britain's military role in the Indian army's 1984 raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar under his party's government The Labour leader promised that an investigation into the attack, which is said to have left thousands of people dead, would be in the party's next manifesto. The juvenile, along with his father and mother, also allegedly beat up the girl, leaving her seriously injured. (Photo: Representational/File) Kanpur: A 13-year-old girl is in critical condition after she was allegedly raped and beaten by a 16-year-old juvenile in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Dehat district, the police said on Tuesday. The accused, a neighbour, allegedly committed the crime in the presence of his sister in Shivli town on Sunday, said Ratan Kant Pandey, Kanpur Dehat deputy inspector general (DIG). The juvenile, along with his father and mother, also allegedly beat up the girl, leaving her seriously injured. They threatened her of dire consequences if she dared to speak up, before letting her go home, Pandey said. The girl was admitted to a district hospital, from where she was shifted to Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital in Kanpur. Her condition is said to be critical, the DIG said. The victim, however, narrated the incident to her family, who reported it to Shivli police station on Monday, the officer said. An FIR was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the juvenile has been detained and his father and mother arrested today, he said. It has been decided to slap relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he added. This comes on the heels of a series of cases of rapes and murders which have taken the country by a storm. These incidents come amid huge outrage over Kathua and Unnao rape cases. It is to be noted that on April 21, the Union Cabinet approved the amendment in POCSO Act, putting a stamp on awarding death penalty to the rapists of children below 12 years of age. Janardhan Reddy, besides Yedyurappa, was responsible for BJPs victory in 2008 Karnataka polls. (Photo: File/KPN) Bellari: Despite being disowned by BJP president Amit Shah, former minister and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy is out on the streets, campaigning for the partys candidates for upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls. According to a report in NDTV, Reddy said, I am working for the BJP. The 49-year-old, who has spent three years in jail over multiple charges of corruption and illegal mining, is out on bail since 2015. The notorious politician, who has been barred from entering his home town Bellari, was on Wednesday seen just outside the district, campaigning for his friend V Sriramulu, the BJP candidate in Molakalmuru in Chitradurga district, NDTV reported. Janardhans road show was entirely a BJP affair, complete with the party colours in flags, banners and scarves. His younger brother Somashekhar Reddy said, BJP is the mother of all Reddy brothers. All three Reddys are in the BJP." The mining baron termed the charges against him as entirely political. During his roadshow, he said, "After nine years, there is no proof of illegality against me." In March this year Amit Shah, while responding to media questions, said the "BJP has nothing to do with Janardhan Reddy." However, Janardhan Reddy dodged a question on BJP presidents denial saying "No controversy questions please. Be positive." Vivek Reddy, a Karnataka BJP leader, said: "He is not involved in the ticket distribution or decision making. He is not in the core committee of the party. If he wants to help his friend out, what is wrong?" He further said Janardhan Reddy had gone in his "personal, individual capacity." Janardhan Reddy, besides Yedyurappa, was responsible for BJPs victory in 2008 Karnataka polls. His image was badly affected following his arrest in alleged illegal iron ore mining after Karnataka Lokayukta in its report made him the main accused. However, the CBI closed all cases against him saying that there were no proper evidence against him. Hyderabad: Cases have been registered against 11 sitting legislators of Telangana for hate speech, the second highest number in the country, according to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) on Wednesday. The state is surpassed only by Uttar Pradesh, which has 15 MPs and MLAs against whom hate speech cases have been registered. The report is based on an analysis of the self-sworn affidavits submitted by sitting MPs and MLAs prior to the last elections they contested. Fifty-eight current MPs and MLAs in the county have declared cases related to hate speech. A majority of them, 27, are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) rank second in the country, with six such legislators each; and the Telugu Desam (TD) ranks third, with three. Among the four cases registered against TRS Ministers K.T. Rama Rao and the 20 cases registered against T. Harish Rao, are cases for promoting enmity between groups. And among the eight cases registered against TRS MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha, is one for hate speech. Jaipur: Self-styled godman Asaram was convicted of raping a minor girl and sentenced to life imprisonment till death by a Pocso court in Jodhpur on Wednesday. Asaram, 77, after the sentence was pronounced said, Jaisai uparwale ki marzi (Its gods wish). We (sic) will stay here in jail. His legal team was expected to file an appeal in High Court on Wednesday. According to sources, Asaram was restless the entire Tuesday night and got up early on Wednesday morning. In the verdict pronounced at a specially-convened court inside Jodhpur Central Jail, where Asaram has been lodged for the last five years, additional sessions judge Madhusudan Sharma also convicted two of Asarams accomplices Shilpi and Sharad, who were hostel wardens in Chindwara. They were given 20 years jail term each for same charges in addition to Section 109/120B, Section 7/8 read with Section 17 of Pocso Act. Two other co-accused in the case, Shiva and Prakash, were acquitted by the court. Prosecutor Pokar Ram Bishnoi told reporters soon after the court pronounced its judgement that Asaram would be in prison till his natural death. The court, he said, had also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Asaram. Asaram was arrested from Indore in August 2013, after a teenage girl from Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, filed a police complaint accusing him of raping her at his Jodhpur ashram. The victim was a student at Asarams ashram. Jaipur: Self-styled godman Asaram was convicted of raping a minor girl and sentenced to life imprisonment till death by a Pocso court in Jodhpur on Wednesday. The victim had alleged that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. Following a thorough probe, the Jodhpur police had chargesheeted Asaram and four others on November 6, 2013. During the trial, the rape survivor and her family were threatened allegedly by the supporters of the godman. There were also lethal attacks on nine witnesses who had testified against Asaram. Of these, three could not survive. Chennai: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has cautioned students and the public about 24 self-styled universities which are fake ones. In its notice on Tuesday, the UGC said, at present 24 self-styled and unrecognised institutions are functioning in contravention of the UGC Act in various parts of the country. These universities have been declared fake and are not entitled to confer any degrees. However, M. Anandakrishnan, former chairman, IIT Kanpur and former Vice-Chancellor, Anna University, said, It has become the ritual for UGC to release the list of fake universities. They could have used their powers to close them down and penalise them. UGC should constitute a committee to investigate the fake institutions. Earlier the fake institutions were around 12. Now, the numbers have increased to 24 and many fake universities from the old list also still featuring in the new list, he said adding that a lot of innocent students are being lured by these fake institutions. UGC former Vice-Chairman H.Devaraj said that the best option for the commission is to caution the students about the fake universities as the fine amount was too small. UGC has not revised fine amount for fake institutions and the fine amount still is Rs.1,000. We need assent from the Parliament to increase the fine. Filing the police complaint and pursuing cases across the country is also financially not the viable option for the UGC, he said. Working professionals are alone lured by these institutions. Before joining any private universities, the students or working professionals should verify the list of fake universities released by UGC, he suggested. Eight of the fake universities on the list are in and around Delhi. Remaining 16 universities are spread across states like Karnataka, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. Sree Bodhi Academy of Higher Education in Pondicherry also features in the list. However, the university website said it has been legally closed since December 15, 2016 as per the order of higher education and technical education of Puducherry Government. Jaipur: Asumal Thaumal Harp-alani, now known as Asaram Bapu, once drove a tonga (horse-driven carriage) in Ajmer, Rajas-than. Asumal Sindhi Tangewallah, thats how people knew him before his transformation into a spiritual guru who boasted five crore followers and amassed wealth amounting to around Rs 5,000 crore. Locals say he lived in a rented room with his uncle and ran a tonga service at Diggi Chowk before he met Lilashah, a spiritual guru who, according to Sant Asaram Bapuji ki Jeevan Jhanki, accepted him as a disciple and named him Asaram ji Maharaj on October 7, 1964. Almost a decade later, he set up his first ashram, called Moksha Kutir, in Motera on the banks of the Sabarmati River in 1973, and there was no looking back. He went on to establish over 400 ashrams in India, the US, Hong Kong, Canada and South Africa. Along with his followers, his clout and wealth also grew sharply as politicians cutting across party lines, bureaucrats and businessmen frequented his ashram. Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi became CM for the first time, he began his election campaign by sharing a stage with Asaram, in front of a huge crowd. Former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Uma Bharti, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, former presidents K.R. Narayanan and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former ministers Kamal Nath and Kapil Sibal, and veteran politicians Prakash Singh Badal and Farooq Abdullah also took turns to pay obeisance. Inevitably, wealth followed clout, and successive governments, whether Congress or BJP, gave him land at concessional rates. Not surprisingly, the VHP criticised his arrest and the late VHP supremo Ashok Singhal visited him in jail in 2015. It was in 1997 that a 20-year-old sadhika (female disciple) accused him of sexual assault. The allegation, carried by a Gujarati daily, created a storm but was soon forgotten. A decade later, Asaram faced major trouble for the first time in July 2008. Cousins Dipesh and Abhishek Vaghela, who used to stay at the gurukul of Asaram's ashram in Motera, were found dead under mysterious circumstances on the riverbed nearby. The parents of both alleged that they were killed in the ashram,apparently as part of a tantric magic ritual. Following a public outcry, a month later, the state government led by Modi appointed a commission under Justice D.K. Trivedi to probe allegations of tantric practices. The Trivedi Commission submitted its report on August 1, 2013, but the report was not tabled in the Assembly. There were also cases of land grabbing against Asaram in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. However, the self-styled godman's empire really crumbled after he was accused of rape by a minor. The police charge sheet provides a detailed account of how Asaram and his associates conspired with Sharad and Shilpi, the wardens at the hostel in Chhindwara where the minor was staying, to sexually exploit the victim at his Manai ashram, 30 km from Jodhpur, on August 15, 2013.Two other associates, Shiva and Prakash (both acquitted by the court),allegedly contacted the father of the victim on his mobile to get her to Jodhpur. Asaram called the victim to a room in the ashramon the night of the incident and closed the door from inside. The victim was kept in the room for one-and-a-half hours. Hyderabad: The repeat examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for Class XII economics on Wednesday was easier than the previous paper. The retest was conducted nearly a month after it was leaked, triggering widespread outrage and confusion among students across India. According to students, Wednesdays paper was easier than the earlier one and had some direct questions. Though the students were able to finish the paper on time, they were inconvenienced by having to prepare for this alongside the college entrance exams from April 29. After reports of the leak surfaced on 28 March, the CBSE announced that it would re-conduct the examination on April 25 . About 6 lakh Class XII students of the CBSE syllabus nationwide appeared for the re-examination on Wednesday, which was held at around 4,000 centres across the country. Sree Kruthi, a CBSE economics student, who appeared for the exam on Wednesday, told Deccan Chronicle, The paper was easier than last time and we had a lot of direct questions. It was comparatively the same level like the last time; I finished my paper way before and had some extra time left. I think I will score better in this than in the last paper. The toughest part was to leave all the preparations for college entrance exams and to only prepare for the economics test. I have a few entrance tests on April 29, and it was a bit difficult for me to prepare for both the exams. 17-year-old Sathwik Somarouthu told Deccan Chronicle, The paper was quite good and was really easier compared to the previous one. We didnt have a lot of numericals, and almost every question was a direct question from the textbook. I could finish my paper in 2.5 hours itself; almost all the students were able to finish the exam quite early. The only challenge we faced was preparing for our board exams as well as the entrance exams which will begin in a few days. D. Ravinder, senior faculty for economics from P. Obul Reddy Public School, Hyderabad, told Deccan Chronicle, The paper was very easy; it had all the basic questions and the paper was so easy, even an average student could score good marks. The paper asked very basic questions and the numerical part in economics is usually challenging, but todays paper had all direct numericals without any challenges. He adds, The students were very joyful because they were worried that the paper would be difficult after the paper-leakage controversy, but it was quite easy. Lucknow: Dr Kafeel Khan, an accused in the death of dozens of children due to oxygen shortage at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur last year, was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday. Dr Khan had spent more than seven months in jail and his family had applied for bail on six different occasions. It may be recalled that the Gorakhpur police had already dropped charges of corruption and private practice against Dr Kafeel, who is one among the nine accused in the BRD Medical College case. The victim belonging to Bakarwal tribe went missing while grazing horses near her makeshift house in Rasana village of Kathua in January this year. Srinagar: The lawyer who is defending the accused in the case of alleged gangrape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmirs Kathua district has asked Hindus of the region to boycott the Muslim nomadic tribes of Bakarwals and Gujjars. He also asks them not to buy milk and other dairy products from them and not to sell their properties to Muslims. The victim belonging to Bakarwal tribe went missing while grazing horses near her makeshift house in Rasana village of Kathua in January this year. About a week later, her body was found in woods in the area and, as per the chargesheets filed in a local court against eight persons by the Crime Branch of the J&K police which investigated the case, she was held inside Rasanas Devesthan temple where she was drugged and gangraped before being murdered. According to Greater Kashmir newspaper, Ankur Sharma, the defence counsel of the accused, can be heard saying in a 7-minute video which was placed on social media platforms that Muslims believe Hindus were powerless. But we are not, he adds and while praising Hindu Ekta Manch, the outfit which is rallying behind the accused and spearheading the campaign for a probe into the incident by CBI in the case, appeals Hindus to boycott the Gujjars and Bakarwals. Hindus shall also make it sure that they will not purchase anything, especially milk and other dairy products from Gujjars and Bakarwals, he told this newspaper. Sharma also says in the video, We must ensure that we are not making them financially strong. If they become financially strong they will purchase our lands. Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday hinted at rechristening squares and bus stands in the state named after self-styled godman, Asaram, who was found guilty of raping a minor girl by a local court in Rajasthan. Mr Chouhan tweeted that necessary steps would be taken to change the name of the square in Bhopal, named after the disgraced spiritual leader. All the bus stands and squares in the state named after Asaram will be changed, official sources said here. Nobody is above our Constitution, the law and peoples sentiments. Appropriate actions will be taken, he twitted. A special court which sat in Jodhpur Central Jail on Wednesday sentenced Asaram to life in prison- until death- after declaring him guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur in Rajasthan in 2013. New Delhi: Two of the accused in the Kathua rape incident have strongly opposed in the Supreme Court the plea for transfer of the trial from Kathua court to a court in Chandigarh. The father of the eight-year victim girl had sought shifting of the case to ensure free and free trial. Opposing shifting of trial outside Kathua court, two accused Sanji Ram and Vishal Jagotra said they have been falsely implicated in the case as accused 1 and 5 pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Kathua, where the charge sheet has already been filed. The applicants are directly affected if the trial is shifted outside Kathua without making them parties to the writ petition filed by Mohd Akhtar, victim's father. On the investigation by the State police, they said probe must be fair, transparent and judicious and the investigating agency cannot be permitted to conduct an investigation in a tainted and biased manner. The convenience of the complainant cannot be the sole consideration for transferring a criminal case out of the State. Courts have to consider the convenience of the accused, prosecution witnesses and larger interest of the society. The trial had already commenced and there is no apprehension on behalf of the complainant for any threat or coercion of prosecution witnesses. They prayed for a direction to be impleaded in the writ petition. Meanwhile the Jammu and Kashmir government through the investigating officer in the Kathua rape case said that on the day when the crime branch police arrived at the court along with the accused to present the charge sheet, the agitating members of the Kathua bar association shouted slogans and asked the police to return back. The two officers however, managed to go inside the chambers of the judge. Thereafter attempts were made to humiliate and threaten the officers to leave the court premises and prevent filing of charge sheet. In view of this the judge advised the officers to present the charge sheet the next day. Thereafter the judge summoned the officers to his residence around 9 pm where the accused were produced and charge sheet was presented. Charge sheet in respect of a juvenile accused was presented in the juvenile court on April 10, the affidavit said. The Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association, Jammu has denied that the members of the bar threatened the lawyer of the victim and her family. The Association said the allegation that Smt Deepika Singh Rajawat, advocate for the victim was threatened was false nor she was obstructed from appearing in court. It said at its general house meeting held on April 3, the Association approved the demand for handing over Kathua rape incident to the CBI to ensure that the victim gets justice and this demand was never to support the alleged rapists. On April 11 the Association in support of its demands observed a bandh, viz deportation of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis settled in Jammu near Army camps to any other place in India. A motivated and malicious campaign was made by some national media channels about the motive of the bandh as if those who support the bandh are those who support the rapids, which is factually incorrect. On the same day charge sheet was also filed in the case and the victim's lawyer was never threatened or obstructed the smooth functioning of justice delivery system. All government agencies have been told to identify plots for parking complex in commercial areas and on the main roads. (Representational image) Hyderabad: With car users reluctant to shift to metro due to lack of parking facilities, the government is planning to construct multi-level car parking complexes to make metro travel easy. During a meeting with metro rail officials, principal secretary (municipal administration) Arvind Kumar said multi-level car parking complexes must be taken up in a big way in Hyderabad under public private partnership mode. The project will be coordinated by metro rail officials. All government agencies have been told to identify plots for parking complex in commercial areas and on the main roads. The parking lots are being planned in such a way that it will be a part of Integrated Smart Parking Management System. Hyderabad Metro MD N.V.S. Reddy said the city needs 40 parking complexes. Karimnagar: Finance minister Etala Rajender on Wednesday said that the state government will sanction loans with 80 per cent subsidy to SCs, STs and Minorities without bank linkage in May and June in the state. This is for the first time that the state government will give subsidised loans to beneficiaries without bank linkage through the SC, ST, BC and Minority welfare departments following allegations that bankers are not coming forward to give their consent though various departments were ready to sanction such loans. State to build Community Bhavans for all Finance minister Etala Rajender on Wednesday said the state government will construct Self-Respect Community Bhavans for all communities in the state at a cost of Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore each in five acre land in Hyderabad this year. He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for integrated hostel buildings for nine communities to be built at a cost of Rs 3 crore at Ujwala park in Karimnagar town. Mr Rajender said that the state government was committed to the welfare and development of BC communities. Bengaluru: The agitation in the BJP over the partys decision against fielding state BJP chief, B S Yeddyurappas son, B Y Vijayendra from Varuna constituency, died down after national BJP chief , Amit Shah reportedly put his foot down and made it clear that it had made no commitment to making its Chief Ministerial candidates son an MLA. As Mr Shah refused to bend under pressure , BJP candidates of 11 other assembly constituencies in Mysuru , who had threatened to withdraw in support of Mr Vijayendra, did a U-turn and backed the party decision. Mysuru-Kodagu MP, Pratap Simha and former Minister, S A Ramadasa who initially threw their weight behind Mr Vijayendra, also retreated in silence after Mr Shah asked them not to poke their nose in the affair. Although most had expected Mr Shah to succumb to pressure and clear Mr Vijayendra's name for Varuna, his candidature was turned down after he held talks with Union Minister, Prakash Jawedkar and BJP national secretary in- charge of Karnataka affairs, Muralidhar Rao . Mr Shah was reportedly angry over the big drama created over the Varuna ticket and wanted to know who was behind it. Going by sources close to Mr Yeddyurappa, he asked if there was any precedent of giving a ticket to the son or daughter of a Chief ministerial candidate in any state and is said to have pointed out that the party high command had taken the responsibility of making Mr Yeddyurappa the Chief Minister but not of making Mr Vijayendra an MLA from Varuna constituency. Besides, he wanted to know who had asked Mr Vijayendra to start a campaign without his name being cleared by the party high command. But Mr Shah reportedly assured that the Central leadership would make use of Mr Vijayendra's services at the right time. His stand is said to have come as a surprise to Mr Yeddyurappa, who had expected his son's name to be cleared with ease by the party high command. On Tuesday morning, the party decided to field Mr Thotadappa Basavaraj in place of Mr Vijayendra in Varuna and Mr Yeddyurappa told reporters that his son would actively campaign for the BJP in Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts. Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh unit of the BJP has taken a U-turn from its earlier stance on Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan. Even as ruling Telugu Desam ministers and leaders criticise the Governor's style of functioning, the BJP leaders who criticised him in the past have now come out in his defence. BJP MLA Somu Veerraju said, When it came to swearing in four defected ministers, the Governor was God in the eyes of (Chief Minister) N. Chandrababu Naidu. When speaking to the Centre on bifurcation issues, the Governor was still good for the CM. But now all of a sudden, the same Naidu is criticising the Governor. Veerraju added that the CM Naidu is making a mockery of the Governor, forgetting that he holds a Constitutional position. Earlier, when the BJP was part of Naidu's cabinet, party leaders were vocal critics of the Governor. When Narasimhan sent back the Conversion of Land for Non-Agricultural Purpose Act Amendment (NALA) Bill 2017, BJP floor leader P. Vishnu Kumar Raju had alleged that the Governor was being unjust to AP and favouring Telangana, thereby denigrating his office. He had also said AP needed an "exclusive Governor". Later, AP BJP chief and MP K. Haribabu wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, expressing resentment against Narasimhan and asking for a new Governor to be appointed to the state. Hyderabad: In an unexpected twist, Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan returned to Hyderabad on Wednesday morning, having travelled to Delhi on Tuesday evening on what was to be a two-day visit. Minister Kalva Srinivasulu said when the state government is fighting the Centre over the latters injustice to the state, it is not correct for the Governor to become a Central government agent. He added that the Governor also has a responsibility to protect the interests of the people of AP. APCC president N. Raghuveera Reddy also accused the Governor of behaving like an agent of the Central government, and said the Governor is doing injustice to AP. Reddy, however, also questioned Naidus current criticism of the Governor, when he has sailed with him for four years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana E.S.L. Narasimhan in New Delhi (Photo: File/PTI) Hyderabad: In an unexpected twist, Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan returned to Hyderabad on Wednesday morning, having travelled to Delhi on Tuesday evening on what was to be a two-day visit. According to his schedule, the Governor was to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday. Significantly, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu expressed his disapproval over the Governors style of functioning on Tuesday, and the speculation doing the rounds is that the Prime Minister and home minister cancelled their appointments with the Governor in the wake of Naidus remarks. In Delhi on Tuesday night, Narasimhan apparently left Andhra Pradesh Bhavan without his regular vehicle and security, and came back after two hours. It is not clear whether he went to visit his son, who lives in Delhi, or met the Prime Minister secretly and submitted his reports. Before leaving for Delhi, Narasimhan held separate discussions with Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Naidu. Sources said the Governor prepared reports on the political situation in both the Telugu states, including Raos proposal to float a Federal Front, Naidus unwillingness to patch up with the BJP in Andhra Pradesh, and other issues. As the Governor left for Delhi, Naidu alleged that Narasimhan was playing a key role in uniting all Opposition parties against the Telugu Desam, while former Congress MP V. Hanumantha Rao also made a few observations on the Governors meeting with Naidu. Given this background, the Governors premature return to Hyderabad has become a talking point in the states political circles. Minister Nakka Ananda Babu said Narasimhan has become a negotiator in the conspiracy of Modi and Amit Shah against AP. He alleged that Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan held a meeting to criticise Naidu and his son N. Lokesh after visiting the Governor, and questioned the Governors interference in state politics. He added that the government is opposing the Governor because he has shown his true colours. e questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi in showing partiality by releasing small amounts to Amaravati while releasing huge funds for Dholera. Hyderabad: To expose the partiality of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in sanctioning of funds for the construction of capital city Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh, the ruling Telugu Desam (TD) party has taken up the development of Dholera smart city in Gujarat, the home state of the Prime Minister. The TD alleged that the Prime Minister was giving huge funds for Dholera and neglecting Amaravati while promising to develop it on par with the National Capital Delhi. For the construction of Capital city in Amaravati, the Central Government had sanctioned only Rs 2,500 crores and released Rs 1,500 crores in the last four years. But the same Central Government is developing Dholera with around Rs 44,000 crores and has so far released around Rs 5,000 crores. Andhra Pradesh Governments argument is that Gujarat has a capital city in addition to other four big cities and now Dholera is being developed twice to Mumbai in size but Andhra Pradesh has no capital city after the states bifurcation. Andhra Pradesh Government said that priority should be give to AP for the construction of capital city than Dholera in Gujarat. Dholera is the dream project of Modi while he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. After he became the Prime Minister, he concentrated on Dholera and pumped in funds. TD former MP and Special representative of AP in Delhi Kambhampati Ram Mohan Rao said that the BJP leaders had been criticising on using around 33,000 acres for Amaravati city. Mr Rao said in fact out of 33,000 acres for the construction of capital city in Amaravati only about 600 acres are available. He also said that for the development of Dholera, the Gujarat government is acquiring around one lakh acres of land. Gujarat has a capital city and five more major cities and has Central Governments funds now for Dholera citys development, the TD former MP said. He questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi in showing partiality by releasing small amounts to Amaravati while releasing huge funds for Dholera. Funds sanctioned For Amaravati - Rs 2,500cr. For Dholera - Rs 44,000 cr. Funds released For Amaravati - Rs 1,500cr. For Dholera - Rs 5,000 cr. City area Dholera - 920 sq Km Amaravati - 217 sq Km Land acquired For Amaravati - 33,000 acres For Dholera - 92,000 hectares India raged again. This time over the rape, allegedly by a BJP MLA, and the death of the victims father in police custody in Unnao; and the horrific incident of rape and murder of an eight-year-old child in Kathua. While the entire nation was protesting, the nauseating news about the rape and murder of an eight-month-old baby came from Indore. What outraged people even more was that perhaps for the first time in the history of any civilised country, there were protests in support of the rape accused. In Kathua, the Hindu Ekta Manch organised rallies in support of the accused, attended and addressed by local BJP leaders, trying to give the rape and murder of a child communal overtones. Lawyers from the district bar even physically tried to prevent the police from filing the chargesheet. In Unnao, a protest march was organised in support of the accused, who is a sitting BJP MLA. In the wake of the nationwide protests, the Narendra Modi government promulgated a hasty ordinance prescribing minimum 20 years of imprisonment for raping a girl below 16 that could include the death penalty for raping girls below 12 years. In December 2012, after the horrific Nirbhaya incident in New Delhi shook the conscience of the nation and issues of rape and sexual violence against women came into the forefront of public discourse, one had hoped that there would perhaps be a decline in such crimes. After Nirbhaya, the criminal law under the Indian Penal Code was amended to widen the definition of rape, and it recognised several acts of sexual violence and harassment like stalking and voyeurism as offences and provided for stringent punishment. However, this not only failed to bring down sexual violence against women, but in the past three years India has seen an epidemic of rapes and murders spreading across Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, among other areas. Amid much protests by child rights activists, the Juvenile Justice Act that allows children between 16 to 18 years to be tried as adults in cases of heinous crimes like rape and murder was passed by Parliament in 2015 and became enforceable from January 15, 2016. As per the data provided by the Union minister of state for home in the Lok Sabha in August 2017, there was a 23 per cent rise in rapes carried out allegedly by juveniles in 2016 compared to the previous year. Delhi itself witnessed 155 rapes reportedly committed by minors in 2016. Many activists have pointed out that it is not the severity of the punishment, but the certainty of it that is the real deterrent. The conviction rate in rape cases in India continues to remain abysmally low, with just 24 per cent in cases of adults and 20 per cent under the POCSO Act. Even in a highly publicised case like Nirbhaya, the trial and subsequent appeals went on for several years. The decision on the review petition on the death sentence is still pending in the Supreme Court. While the underlying principle of modern jurisprudence in any civilised society is that it is better to let the guilty go free rather than punish an innocent person, and the judiciary is even more cautious in cases that could attract the death penalty, it could also be argued that justice delayed is justice denied. The new ordinance provides a timeframe of two months for completing trials and six months to dispose of all appeals. This is highly unrealistic keeping in mind the overburdened judiciary. There are at least 6,000 judicial posts lying vacant in the lower courts, with nearly 2.61 crore pending cases. As of February 2018, the all-India vacancy in lower courts was 26 per cent of sanctioned strength, 36 per cent in high courts and 19 per cent in the Supreme Court. Till December 2017, the number of pending cases in the Supreme Court was around 55,000 of which 32 per cent cases were pending for more than five years. On an average, there are around 1.65 lakh pending cases in each high court. In the current situation, its beyond anyones imagination how the government could create the infrastructure needed to dispose of cases within the timeframe mandated by the ordinance. However, that is not the only problem. The real problem with this hastily-drafted ordinance is that it doesnt have the interests of the child victim at its heart. According to latest NCRB report, 95 per cent of rapes happen by people known to the victim. This is even truer in cases of childrens rape. It mostly happens within families, by relatives or friends of the family. Already theres massive under-reporting of child rape. With the death penalty, theres a genuine fear there will be even less reporting as in most cases the culprit is a family member or is known to the family. This also enhances the risk of murder after rape to silence the victim permanently. While public outrage is completely justified, enacting laws cannot be a hasty or emotional process done as a damage control measure. Its subsequent effects and nuanced implications must be meticulously understood. But in typical Narendra Modi style, the government has undertaken the serious act of enacting laws more for gimmicks rather than as long-term solutions. Be it demonetisation, juvenile justice or criminalising triple talaq, the implications are completely ignored in order to grab media headlines. While laws are effective tools for bringing about desired changes in social behaviour, using punishment as a deterrent isnt enough. The entire discourse post-Nirbhaya has been to make laws more stringent; but without effective implementation, any law is useless. Also, punishments are meted out once the crime has occurred. But no death sentence can bring back Nirbhaya or the little girl in Kathua. It is perhaps far more important to look into measures to prevent rape than to punish it. No action is being taken for positive reinforcement of role models through gender sensitisation and other methods. The consent classes in Nairobi changed gender perception among the youth and purportedly brought down rape and sexual harassment by 51 per cent. Its high time that the government realises that it cant just wash its hands off by enacting yet another law. Mayawati is an Indian politician but she has a great message for Pakistan. Why? She has an excellent idea for all troubled democracies, not the least her very own India. She leads one of Indias most economically-exploited and socially-abused communities of the erstwhile outcastes, the dalits. With her base in the most populous Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati wields enough influence with her community to tip the balance in a close race elsewhere. She got zero seats, for the first time, in the 2014 Parliamentary elections despite her solid 20 per cent votes. The Congress won two seats in the Modi sweep Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul with fewer than 8 per cent votes in their kitty. The Modi sweep showed how the upper castes were ranged against Mayawati to the extent that a party with less than half her electoral net worth ended ahead of her in the head count. Being a dalit requires Mayawati to be of a scrupulously scientific temper unlike most Indian parties. Her Buddhism of necessity has to be a fountain of reason and scientific temper. What is the strategic selflessness that Mayawati has displayed which can be of interest to liberals and democrats in India and Pakistan? In this sense Mayawati is closer to the old Dravida parties of southern India ie avowedly rational. In her fight for social justice for the lowest in the caste heap she has embraced Muslims, Sikhs and Christians generously. Mayawatis message to everyone who could benefit from it goes beyond her agreeable appeal. Her message can be, in fact, a winning political strategy. Lets call the message strategic selflessness. Given her Buddhist faith, Mayawati may even see in it the only viable route to salvation. The trouble for ordinary men, women and children comes from the far Right, be it in Pakistan or in India, in Europe or the United States. A liberal polity allows for all ideas, including narrow ideas, to circulate freely in the belief that such ideas would wane before the magic of egalitarian democracy. The threat Mayawati faces is an Indian variant of European fascism, which never allows a liberal thought to escape its hateful vigil. So, what is the strategic selflessness that Mayawati has displayed, which can be of interest to liberals and democrats in India and Pakistan? She first identified the mortal threat to her people and their politics. She determined it came from the advent of Prime Minister Narendra Modis divide-and-rule politics of hate. She calculated that if she didnt act, her own people would discard their dalit identity to shore up Hindutva. Using a crucial by-election to test the ground, Mayawati committed her Bahujan Samaj Partys 20 per cent solidly transferable votes to the campaign of her erstwhile arch foe the Samajwadi Partys kitty of 23 per cent votes. The result of the BSP-SP alliance triggered a tame defeat for Modis party in Phulpur and Gorakhpur LS seats in UP. Lets transport that idea to Pakistan and then to the rest of India. There is a fear stalking Pakistan that a combination of Right-wing religious parties would quell all hopes of Jinnahs inclusive and open society. A combination of religious and revanchist parties of Pakistan are plotting to waylay and bury the modernist dream forever. But there is Mayawatis wisdom to guide Pakistan out of its despair. Why cant Pakistanis join hands against a common fatal threat, and stay there as an invincible, open-minded people? If the PPP could assure the Sharifs, for example, that their best interests would be protected by a confluence of new thought, led by all willing parties, based on the Quaids tenets for Pakistan, they should easily be able to go through the storm. For that everyone must shun the dream of becoming PM, and be willing to win the hearts of betrayed people with selflessness. They can then invite Mayawati to inaugurate their new government. There is an existential threat of religious and ethnic fratricide if the opinionated Right wing consolidates further in either country. The Indian conundrum is more intractable. Sample the fraught chessboard. Sitaram Yechury, the re-elected chief of the CPI (M) wants to unite the Opposition to defeat the Modi government in 2019. Rahul Gandhi too wants the Opposition to unite to defeat the BJP. The Congress and the CPI(M) are bitter foes in Kerala. For reasons of history, Congress and the CPI(M) have an axe to grind with Mamata Banerjee, the most convincing anti-Modi chief minister of West Bengal. Can they come together selflessly, though not cynically as Nitish Kumar had joined hands with Lalu Yadav in Bihar only to desert him midstream? Will Congress join hands with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. How much ground will Kejriwal yield on his anti-corruption plank to link up with Mayawati and Lalus realpolitik? Mayawati has shown a preference for sanity over suicide. Now it is for the rest to decide their route to salvation. By arrangement with Dawn Its a sign of the improved atmosphere in parts of the Northeast that the Centre has withdrawn the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from Meghalaya after 27 years and from eight police station areas in Arunachal Pradesh, where AFSPA was in force for at least a quarter century. The legacy problems of militancy and insurgency from the old Greater Assam seem to be dying, with insurgency incidents said to be falling by almost 80 per cent in some areas. The Army needed the special powers to tackle situations where not only peace but the very concept of national territorial integrity was threatened. To arm ordinary policemen with the power to deal with threats in the course of duty after clearing it with a magistrate makes them immune from criminal action, but an Army officer could technically be sent to the gallows for defending himself in a civilian area. If liberals have their way, this draconian law which absolves Army personnel of charges involving collateral civilian damage in operations should be scrapped everywhere, including Jammu and Kashmir. What they dont seem to factor in is that the Kashmir Valley is strategically significant and faces the threat of a foreign power aiding insurgency and exporting terror through trained disruptors. While it would be obviously desirable if the Army did not need special powers to tackle terrorism, it goes against the grain of logic, even in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur. Special provisions are needed to deal with disturbed areas. The Army would do well not to misuse its power to search, arrest or shoot. But as long as there is a major security threat to India, the Army should be armed with these special powers. The decision of vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu, Rajya Sabha Chairman, on Monday to reject the "notice of motion" to impeach Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, tendered by seven Opposition parties along with more than the number of needed signatures of Rajya Sabha MPs, points to the sharp partisanship in politics that we have come to see of late. It is widely felt that the decision of the Opposition parties led by the Congress to move to impeach the CJI was not called for despite the incumbent not having brought glory to the Supreme Court when judged on the yardstick of taking credible steps to maintain the independence of the judiciary in relation to the executive. And yet, this has to be established. It can't be a matter of opinion, even of the Upper House presiding officer, to whom the motion was submitted in compliance with constitutionally laid-down procedures. According to the same procedures, an impeachment motion is to be vetted, enquired into, and checked for reliability by a committee of three legal luminaries, and not by the V-P, no matter how learned. The "consultations" that Mr Naidu held with some well-known legal entities and others cannot be a substitute for a thorough vetting. In the circumstances, the V-P appears to have erred, possibly animated by considerations of wider politics. The mere fact that the motion was submitted by 71 Rajya Sabha MPs (64 current MPs and seven who have recently retired, but were MPs when they signed the notice) from as many as seven Opposition parties (it wouldn't have mattered even if they'd represented a single party), it should have been considered a constitutional obligation on the V-P's part to have it enquired into in the constitutionally sanctioned manner. In his 10-page order, Mr Naidu speaks of the "absence of credible and verifiable information". But he can't be the judge of this, at least not in this day and age. The Rajya Sabha Chairman is also unhappy that the notice of the Opposition parties contains phrases such as "may have been", "was likely", and "appears to have" - expressions which suggest to Mr Naidu that the movers of the notice are "unsure of themselves". Such an objection clearly gives the impression that the V-P is innocent of writing styles and norms. Surely, the use of such language is not an admission of anything. The aggrieved Opposition parties are said to be thinking of moving the Supreme Court against the V-P's order. It would be a travesty if the CJI, who is sought to be impeached, hears their complaint. The next four judges in seniority who had held a press conference against the CJI should also recuse themselves. We may not have heard the last of the matter yet. Vice-President of India and Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday rejected the motion to impeach the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. The Congress Party-led Opposition had levelled charges of corruption and favouritism in the allocation of cases to judges, and a suspect acquisition of land many years ago when Justice Misra was an advocate. Mr Naidu rejected the motion on the ground that the charges were conjectural. The Congress Party is likely to challenge Mr Naidus decision in the Supreme Court, where naturally Justice Misra would decide who would hear the case. He could recuse himself. Or he might not. But this is the typical Indian bottleneck in which things tend to turn on themselves and become a source for stand-up comedians naturally a flourishing breed. Deep down just everyone I know believes that politicians, bureaucrats and judges are corrupt. If our individual quotidian experience is any indication, this is likely to be true. We are a corrupt people. Perhaps because we dont believe in the efficacy and fairness of the system. Perhaps because we are, again, a people poor and insecure. Perhaps because we know all of us are on our own we dont live in the welfare-driven Nordic European countries. Seriously, then, we dont expect too much of integrity in institutions and individuals, so long as on the whole we are able to get by with little or large bribes given or taken. Justice Misra heads an institution that arbitrates even the most unethical Indians urge for justice when his skin is on fire. That is his right. Besides the commonsensical yardstick that Justice Misras reputation now tarnished for good should be above suspicion, we would, despite the cynicism born of our own despair at ourselves, be in the right to believe that someone out there is fairer than ourselves. The question is whether Justice Misra is that saint. Equally, the question is also about the process that produces that just man. Normally, the outgoing Chief Justice of India recommends and the President of India appoints the Chief Justice. What goes into this besides seniority is a bit of a mystery. Naturally, all ruling establishments would like a pliant CJI, as he has the powers to interpret the law and the Constitution. He will be vetted, of course. Even a police constable is. Thats not saying much for the process, though. Nearly a decade ago, under the Right to Information Act (RTI), the Central Information Commission had directed the Supreme Court to furnish details of whether judges had filed their declarations of assets; and the Supreme Court had challenged this in the Delhi high court. On September 2, 2009, the high court had ruled that the declarations were within the ambit of RTI. Yet, in October 2017, the Economic Times was reporting: Almost a decade after the Supreme Court passed a resolution deciding to make judges assets public, nearly half of the 25-odd judges of the top court are yet to make their assets public, a sign which bodes ill for its latest administrative resolution to place collegium decisions on appointments and the reasons for them in the public domain. The reason for not making assets public: the disclosure is voluntary and not mandatory. Only 13 of the 25 judges have so far made their assets public. Among those who have disclosed their assets are Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur, A.K. Sikri, S.A. Bobde, R.K. Agrawal, N.V. Ramana, Arun Misra, A.K. Goel, R. Banumathi and A.M. Khanwilkar. Most of the judges who have been recently elevated have not declared their assets. So this writer took a look at the man of the moment Justice Misras (and his wifes) assets declaration form, filed in 2012. His financial worth is modest. Outstanding possessions included two houses one in Delhi, one in Cuttack; a small fixed deposit of `7,40,000, and two gold rings. Not a rich man. Certainly, not corrupt. Thats on the positive side. But these details were accessed from a form filed in May 2012. We will leave it at that. If the assets of a Chief Justice are a crucial determinant of his integrity, it would be good to know what Justice Misras current assets are. Normally, these are questions that should be debated without fireworks in Parliament. But the Indian Parliament has long forfeited its role as an articulator of issues. When is the last time you were enlightened listening to a parliamentarians words? All the more reason why then that the judiciary should be seen as acting on the side of that curious monster, the Indian citizen, helplessly corrupt, but desperately aspirational. These are the golden days of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. Currently he is the most sought after indeed, the most fought after icon in Indian politics. Politicians kills and steal for the mantle of his legacy, if only because he is the future father of the nation. Here are his famous words spoken in the Constituent Assembly: There can be no difference of opinion in the House that our judiciary must be both independent of the executive and must also be competent in itself. And the question is how these two objects can be secured. Ah, that man, Justice Misra. Ah, that man, Ambedkar. And that question have we secured the two objects? During some five hours of Senate questioning on April 10, Zuckerberg apologised several times for Facebook failures. (Photo: AP) Cambridge Analytica unleashed its counterattack against claims that it misused data from millions of Facebook accounts, saying it is the victim of misunderstandings and inaccurate reporting that portrays the company as the evil villain in a James Bond movie. Clarence Mitchell, a high-profile publicist recently hired to represent the company, held Cambridge Analyticas first news conference since allegations surfaced that the Facebook data helped Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election. Christopher Wylie, a former employee of Cambridge Analyticas parent, also claims that the company has links to the successful campaign to take Britain out of the European Union. The company has been portrayed in some quarters as almost some Bond villain, Mitchell said. Cambridge Analytica is no Bond villain. Cambridge Analytica didnt use any of the Facebook data in the work it did for Trumps campaign and it never did any work on the Brexit campaign, Mitchell said. Furthermore, he said, the data was collected by another company that was contractually obligated to follow data protection rules and the information was deleted as soon as Facebook raised concerns. Mitchell insists the company has not broken any laws but acknowledged it had commissioned an independent investigation is being conducted. He insisted that the company had been victimised by wild speculation based on misinformation, misunderstanding, or in some cases, frankly, an overtly political position. The comments come weeks after the scandal engulfed both the consultancy and Facebook, which has been embroiled in scandal since revelations that Cambridge Analytica misused personal information from as many as 87 million Facebook accounts. Facebooks CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the US congressional committees and at one point the company lost some $50 billion in value for its shareholders. Details on the scandal continued to trickle out. A Cambridge University academic said the suspended CEO of Cambridge Analytica lied to British lawmakers investigating fake news. Academic Aleksandr Kogans company, Global Science Research, developed a Facebook app that vacuumed up data from people who signed up to use the app as well as information from their Facebook friends, even if those friends hadnt agreed to share their data. Cambridge Analytica allegedly used the data to profile US voters and target them with ads during the 2016 election to help elect Donald Trump. It denies the charge. Kogan appeared before the House of Commons media committee and was asked whether Cambridge Analyticas suspended CEO, Alexander Nix, told the truth when he testified that none of the companys data came from Global Science Research. Thats a fabrication, Kogan told committee Chairman Damian Collins. Nix could not immediately be reached for comment. Kogan also cast doubt on many of Wylies allegations, which have triggered a global debate about internet privacy protections. Wylie repeated his claims in a series of media interviews as well as an appearance before the committee. Wylie worked for SCL Group Ltd. in 2013 and 2014. Mr Wylie has invented many things, Kogan said, calling him duplicitous. No matter what, though, Kogan insisted in his testimony that the data would not be that useful to election consultants. The idea was seized upon by Mitchell, who also denied that the company had worked on the effort to have Britain leave the EU. Mitchell said that the idea that political consultancies can use data alone to sway votes is frankly insulting to the electorates. Data science in modern campaigning helps those campaigns, but it is still and always will be the candidates who win the races. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Facebook's recent data scandal is a reminder of how big tech corporations see your data as a business opportunity. You can never vouch for any of these companies to be innocent. But, the least you can do is ensure that no company gets access to all your data. Since a majority of the population uses Android devices, Google already has access to the amount of personal data that's beyond your imagination. iPhones fair slightly better when it comes to privacy. But, with prices going as high as Rs 98,000, buying an iPhone is not really a solution. Facebook also knows too much about you. Therefore, it only makes sense to stop feeding more data to these behemoths. So, lets begin by moving away from messaging services such as WhatsApp, Messenger, and Allo. To save you from the hassle of finding an alternative, we have handpicked a few messaging services that aren't evil (yet). Wafer Messenger Developed by a Luxembourg based start-up, this messaging service focuses on creativity. In addition to expressing yourself with text, it lets you communicate using sketches, stickers, photos, audio files, and video. Unlike the apps from our not-so-friendly neighbour, you don't have to pay for stickers or any other features in Wafer Messenger. More importantly, the company recently made it clear that it believes in Absolute Privacy of its users. It claims that other players in the industry may carry out data mining practices on its users, but it will never do such thing. If you are jumping the ship from WhatsApp, give this feature-rich app a shot. Telegram The brainchild of Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, Telegram messenger is known for its robust security. To avoid the government data requests, the company does not even reveal the location of its offices. Telegram enables its users to send messages over major mobile and computer platforms. The app also offers secure voice call service. Time and again, Telegram has refused to hand out data to governments across the globe. As a consequence, Telegram has been partially or completely blocked in Iran, Bahrain, Pakistan, and Russia. Making it an ideal choice if you care about the privacy. Signal Signal has its roots in Android apps TextSecure and RedPhone developed by Whisper systems. Twitter acquired this company, killed these apps, but eventually one of its creators Moxie Marlinspike resurrected those apps as Signal. This messenger is known for robust end-to-end encryption for messaging and calling. The company claims that even they can't read your messages or see your calls. Choosing user privacy over profits, Signal has so far resisted VC findings. It goes on to tell that "When we receive a subpoena for user data and have nothing to send back but a blank sheet of paper". Wire Wire messenger is developed by Wire Swiss company. The app lets you send text messages, share files, and make voice and video calls. All of this is secured by end-to-end encryption. The company claims that its messengers are compliant with European privacy laws. The wire has even made its code open source so that independent security experts can review it. It has an interesting feature that allows users to log in with multiple accounts and easily switch between them. This is ideal for separating your personal and professional chat. The app has impressive call quality, which shouldn't come as a surprise since many of its engineers previously worked for Skype. Cyphr Golden Frog, known for its security products, entered the messaging arena with Cyphr. It is promoted as a zero-knowledge messaging app. This means that the company can't read, decrypt, or share your messages. Cyphr claims that its messaging system generates a unique public and private key pair so only you and your friend can read your conversation. Golden Frog goes on to add that Cyphr is built ground up with privacy in mind. The company does not store your geo-location data, IP address, device platform, app version, or your device ID. Sounds like an ideal fit for those who don't wish to be tracked. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. In addition to the updated terms and policies, WhatsApp is also providing a new tool to download users own data. WhatsApp has shared its updated privacy and policy terms ahead of the EUs upcoming GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which is scheduled to update next month. The Facebook-owned company has mentioned these updates on its website blog. In addition to the updated terms and policies, WhatsApp is also providing a tool to download users own data; furthermore, the messaging service has also mentioned its working in the respective FAQ section on its website. Acknowledging Facebooks data breach concern, WhatsApp has specifically mentioned they wont be sharing users data with its parent company. The blog post states, We are not asking for new rights to collect personal information with this update. Our goal is simply to explain how we use and protect the limited information we have about you. We are not currently sharing account information to improve your product and ads experience on Facebook. As we have said in the past, we want to work closely with other Facebook companies in the future and we will keep you updated as we develop our plans, the company said. WhatsApp has also revealed the additional safety tips and the actions they take on spam or unwanted messages as well, the company claims that any such spam would be immediately shared and block the specific entity on both its platforms (WhatsApp and Facebook). In the coming weeks, you will be able to download and see the limited data that we collect. This feature will be rolling out to all users around the world on the newest version of the app, WhatsApp said in its blog post. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The post also voiced admiration for a man who killed six college students before taking his own life in California in 2014. (Photo: AP) Toronto: The man accused of plowing a rental van into pedestrians on a crowded Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people in Canada's deadliest mass killing in decades left a "cryptic message" on social media before his attack, police said on Tuesday. Suspect Alek Minassian, 25, was charged with 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder in the incident, which had the hallmarks of deadly vehicle assaults by ISIS supporters. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was no reason to suspect any national security connection. One possible clue to his motive emerged on Tuesday as Facebook confirmed Minassian said in a post before the incident that referenced an "incel rebellion," referring to a shorthand used in some online message boards for "involuntary celibacy." The post also voiced admiration for a man who killed six college students before taking his own life in California in 2014. "The accused is alleged to have posted a cryptic message on Facebook minutes before" the attack, Graham Gibson, a Toronto police detective sergeant, told a news conference. The majority of the victims were women, ranging in age from their mid-20s to early 80s, Gibson said. He declined to answer a question about whether anger against women motivated the attack, saying, "that's going to be part of our investigation." Facebook has since deleted Minassian's account, a representative said. "There is absolutely no place on our platform for people who commit such horrendous acts," she said in an email. Minassian kept his shaved head down during a brief court appearance in Canada's largest city, speaking quietly with a defence lawyer and stating his name in a steady voice when asked to do so. Trudeau called on all Canadians to stand united with Toronto as flowers and scrawled messages in multiple languages piled up at a makeshift memorial in the city's north end, an ethnically diverse neighbourhood of towering office buildings, shops, restaurants and homes. "We cannot as Canadians choose to live in fear every single day as we go about our daily business," Trudeau told reporters outside of parliament in Ottawa. The prime minister said the incident had not changed the country's threat level or security preparations for a G7 summit in Quebec in June. Minassian had briefly served in Canada's armed forces in late 2017 but asked to be voluntarily released after 16 days of training, defence ministry spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande said. The suspect's two-story red-brick home in a suburb north of Toronto was a crime scene Tuesday, taped off and surrounded by police vehicles. Officers went in and out of the house. South Koreans among victims Details about the dead began to emerge on Tuesday, with a South Korean foreign ministry representative saying that two of that country's citizens were killed and one injured in the attack. The representative spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. A Jordanian citizen was also killed, said an official at the country's embassy in Ottawa. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp identified one of the victims as Anne Marie D'Amico, an employee of asset manager Invesco Canada. In a statement, Invesco confirmed that one of its employees had been killed but did not name her. It could be days before all the victims are publicly identified, said Ontario Chief Coroner Dirk Huyer said, adding that the extent of their injuries was making some identities difficult to determine. "It ranges from scrapes and bruises to terrible injuries that I won't get into discussing here," Gibson added. The attack shook the usually peaceful streets of Toronto, which recorded 61 murders last year. The drama started at lunchtime on a warm spring day, when the driver drove his vehicle into the crowds. The street was soon covered in blood, empty shoes and bodies. Last October, eight people died in New York when a man driving a rented pickup truck mowed down pedestrians and cyclists on a bike path. The Islamic State militant group encourages its supporters to use vehicles for attacks. The travel ban's focus on Muslim countries has left Trump the target of allegations that it violates constitutional religious protections, which led lower courts, including the federal court in Hawaii, to rule it illegal. (Photo: AP) Washington: President Donald Trump's effort to ban immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries heads to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, which will decide if his argument asserting national security interests was tainted by religious bias. The case, known as Trump v Hawaii, will address the president's broad powers to set immigration policy, which the administration says permit Trump's travel ban, one of his hallmark policies since taking office in January 2017. Legal experts say the court usually loathes to rule on executive powers. But the travel ban's focus on Muslim countries has left Trump the target of allegations that it violates constitutional religious protections, which led lower courts, including the federal court in Hawaii, to rule it illegal. "This case has everything: weighty constitutional issues, complex statutory questions, and a fight over whether there are any real limits on a president's power to control immigration," said Cornell University law professor Stephen Yale-Loehr. "Whichever way the court rules, the decision will have profound implications for Americans, immigrants, and the president." Muslim ban promise One of Trump's first acts upon entering office in January 2017 was to announce a 90 day ban on travellers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The sudden move caused chaos at airports, with people unable to enter despite holding visas, and some families sent back to their homelands. Tens of thousands of legal visas were revoked. The order was made on national security grounds -- purportedly to protect the country from terror attacks -- and officials said the time limit would allow for a review and improvement of immigration vetting in those countries. But critics alleged in court, successfully, that it essentially targeted Muslims. They noted that during the election the previous year Trump repeatedly attacked the Muslim immigrants, whom he said "don't assimilate" and "hate us." And his campaign website stated that Trump "is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." Lower courts ruled that Trump's ban was illegal because of what they called an implicit bias against Muslims, violating the US Constitution. The ban was reissued twice, each time with adjustments aiming to get around such rulings. The So-called Version 3.0 in September was open-ended and changed the countries. It included Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Syria and added Chad, another predominantly Muslim country. It also included North Korea and certain officials from Venezuela. Those additions, rights groups said, were cosmetic: North Koreans were already essentially blocked from the United States, and economic sanctions have limited Venezuelan officials from coming. Lower courts again blocked Version 3.0, but the administration has successfully brought its appeal to the highest court, persuading the court to allow implementation while it reviews the case. That has made it impossible for family members, businessmen and students from those countries to come to the United States even if they have been cleared by security reviews. 'Legally unworkable orders' Normally the court should review the specifics of just the third travel ban version. But lawyers say it cannot ignore the haphazard issuance of the first two versions and the ties to trump's election promises and anti-Muslim statements. "The court should take note of the breakdown of internal norms and legal processes within the executive branch that have led to a series of legally unworkable orders in the administration's first year -- as well as the president's long public record of animus against the minority groups affected by those policies," said lawyers W Neil Eggleston and Amanda Elbogen in an analysis on Just Security. Nevertheless, Trump's case could be bolstered by the lifting of the ban on travellers from Chad on April 10. The government announced that the country had cleared up questions on immigrant vetting -- suggesting that the security issue, and not Muslims, is behind the ban. The attack came the same day as a meeting in Kabul to discuss how to safeguard journalists. The UN mission in Afghanistan issued a statement condemning the killing. (Photo: File | Representational) Kandahar: Gunmen killed an Afghan journalist on his way to work in the southern city of Kandahar on Tuesday, officials said, an attack that highlights the risks faced by media workers in Afghanistan. Abdul Manan Arghand, who worked for Kabul News TV, was shot by gunmen armed with AK-47s as he was driving his car, police spokesman Zia Durani said. The attack came the same day as a meeting in Kabul to discuss how to safeguard journalists. The UN mission in Afghanistan issued a statement condemning the killing. Year 2017 was the bloodiest for journalists in Afghanistan, according to the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, with at least 20 killed and 169 cases of violence or threats. Rudskoi did not specify the type of weapons, but his remarks follow reports in the Russian media that Moscow is considering selling its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. (Photo: AP | Representational) Beirut: The Russian military has indicated it will supply the Syrian government with a sophisticated air defence system, after condemning a missile attack launched by the US, Britain and France earlier in April. Col Gen Sergei Rudskoi said in a statement on Wednesday that Russia will supply Syria with new missile defence systems soon. Rudskoi did not specify the type of weapons, but his remarks follow reports in the Russian media that Moscow is considering selling its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. Also Read: Witnesses say Russians helping Assad in Syria use military base back home Top Russian officials said earlier in April, that Moscow may reconsider a pledge it gave a decade ago not to provide Syria with the S-300 system in light of the air-strikes on Syria in April. Russia is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Sushma Swaraj also shared in her speech that she will attend a birth centenary of a 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche who happened to be India's ambassador to Mongolia. (Photo: ANI) Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia): Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said that Mongolia is not only India's "strategic partner" but also a "spiritual neighbour" because of the common Buddhist heritage. Heading the 6th Joint Committee for Cooperation, Swaraj said, "Mongolia is well known in India for the valour of her kings and her strong Buddist heritage." Owing to the common Buddhist heritage shared by the two countries, Swaraj said that the Indian government encourages "students from Mongolia to visit India for further study and research in the field of Buddhist studies." The minister also shared in her speech that she will attend a birth centenary of a 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche who happened to be India's ambassador to Mongolia. Further, in her speech, she mentioned that both she and Mongolian Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar are committed for capacity building programmes for the people of Mongolia specifically in the areas of English language training and Information Technology. Thwarting terrorism was also one of the most important highlights of the joint summit. Both the foreign ministers also held discussions for economic cooperation in areas including infrastructure development, energy, services and Information Technology. In her speech, she highlighted the collaborative projects including the on-going refinery projects in Mongolia. India had provided one billion dollar Indian Line of Credit for the construction of the oil refinery in the mineral and oil-rich country Mongolia. The two foreign ministers also inked several bilateral agreements. Facebook Inc on Tuesday released a rule book for the types of posts it allows on its social network, giving far more detail than ever before on what is permitted on subjects ranging from drug use and sex work to bullying, hate speech and inciting violence. Facebook for years has had "community standards" for what people can post. But only a relatively brief and general version was publicly available, while it had a far more detailed internal document to decide when individual posts or accounts should be removed. Now, the company is providing the longer document on its website to clear up confusion and be more open about its operations, said Monika Bickert, Facebook's vice president of product policy and counter-terrorism. "You should, when you come to Facebook, understand where we draw these lines and what's OK and what's not OK," Bickert told reporters in a briefing at Facebook's headquarters. Facebook has faced fierce criticism from governments and rights groups in many countries for failing to do enough to stem hate speech and prevent the service from being used to promote terrorism, stir sectarian violence and broadcast acts, including murder and suicide. At the same time, the company has also been accused of doing the bidding of repressive regimes by aggressively removing content that crosses governments and providing too little information on why certain posts and accounts are removed. New policies will, for the first time, allow people to appeal a decision to take down an individual piece of content. Previously, only the removal of accounts, Groups and Pages could be appealed. Facebook is also beginning to provide the specific reason why content is being taken down for a wider variety of situations. Facebook, the world's largest social network, has become a dominant source of information in many countries around the world. It uses both automated software and an army of moderators that now numbers 7,500 to take down text, pictures and videos that violate its rules. Under pressure from several governments, it has been beefing up its moderator ranks since last year. Bickert told Reuters in an interview that the standards are constantly evolving, based in part on feedback from more than 100 outside organisations and experts in areas such as counter-terrorism and child exploitation. "Everybody should expect that these will be updated frequently," she said. The company considers changes to its content policy every two weeks at a meeting called the "Content Standards Forum," led by Bickert. A small group of reporters was allowed to observe the meeting last week on the condition that they could describe the process but not substance. At the April 17 meeting, about 25 employees sat around a conference table while others joined by video from New York, Dublin, Mexico City, Washington and elsewhere. Attendees included people who specialise in public policy, legal matters, product development, communication and other areas. They heard reports from smaller working groups, relayed feedback they had gotten from civil rights groups and other outsiders and suggested ways that a policy or product could go wrong in the future. There was little mention of what competitors such as Alphabet Inc's Google do in similar situations. Bickert, a former US federal prosecutor, posed questions, provided background and kept the discussion moving. The meeting lasted about an hour. Facebook is planning a series of public forums in May and June in different countries to get more feedback on its rules, said Mary deBree, Facebook's head of content policy. From cursing to murder The longer version of the community standards document, some 8,000 words long, covers a wide array of words and images that Facebook sometimes censors, with a detailed discussion of each category. Videos of people wounded by cannibalism are not permitted, for instance, but such imagery is allowed with a warning screen if it is "in a medical setting." Facebook has long made clear that it does not allow people to buy and sell prescription drugs, marijuana or firearms on the social network, but the newly published document details what other speech on those subjects is permitted. Content in which someone "admits to personal use of non-medical drugs" should not be posted on Facebook, the rulebook says. The document elaborates on harassment and bullying, barring for example "cursing at a minor." It also prohibits content that comes from a hacked source, "except in limited cases of newsworthiness." The new community standards do not incorporate separate procedures under which governments can demand the removal of content that violates local law. In those cases, Bickert said, formal written requests are required and are reviewed by Facebook's legal team and outside attorneys. Content deemed to be permissible under community standards but in violation of the local law - such as a prohibition in Thailand on disparaging the royal family - are then blocked in that country, but not globally. The community standards also do not address false information - Facebook does not prohibit it but it does try to reduce its distribution - or other contentious issues such as the use of personal data. North Korea must get rid of its nukes, President Donald Trump said today and expressed hope that the US would be able to deal in a very open and honourable fashion with the reclusive nation over the issue. Trump's remarks came during a joint news conference with the French President Emanuel Macron at the White House. Trump said his administration had made no concession to North Korea. A lot of concessions have already been made. We have made no concessions, despite some of the media saying that I've made concessions. I haven't even discussed a concession. Other than the fact that meeting is a great thing, Trump told reporters. Trump said he believed in complete denuclearization. It means they get rid of their nukes. Very simple, they get rid of their nukes and nobody else would say it. It'd be very easy for me to make a simple deal and claim victory, I don't want to do that. I want them to get rid of their nukes, he said in response to a question. Trump has agreed to meet the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The venue of the meeting has not been decided yet, but it would not be in the United States. I hope that we will be able to deal in a very open and honorable fashion with North Korea. I started a process, and when I did everybody thought I was doing it absolutely wrong, he said. The United States, he said, put the strongest sanctions on a country that it ever has had. China supported the US effort, he said, as he praised Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders also hinted about a new deal with Iran that includes a solution to the Syrian crisis, as the two leaders to contain Iran in the region and prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Trump, in fact, warned Iran of grave consequences if it threatened the United States. France and the United States, Trump said agree that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, and that regime must end its support of terrorism. No matter where you go in the Middle East, you see the fingerprints of Iran behind problems, he alleged. He also said countries in the Middle East, who have a lot of money, need to pay for the security that America provides to them. Countries that are in the area, some of which are immensely wealthy, would not be there except for the United States and to a lesser extent France. But they wouldn't be there except for the United States, they wouldn't last a week, Trump said. We are protecting them. They have to now step up and pay for what's happening. Because I don't think France or the United States should be liable for the tremendous cost. The United States is embarrassingly into the Middle East as of a few months ago, he said in response to a question. The US has spent USD 7 trillion for the war in the middle east. And when we want to build our infrastructure, everybody says that we want to be careful with our money. When we want to fix a highway or we want to build schools and lots of other things, tunnels, bridges, they say oh, let's be careful with our money, he said. India dropped two ranks to the 138 position from 136 last year, according to the latest press freedom index report released on Wednesday by the global watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The RSF warned that reporters were the target of a growing wave of authoritarianism with leaders whipping up hostility against them. It warned that a "climate of hatred and animosity" towards journalists combined with growing attempts to control the media pose a "threat to democracies." In the Indian context, the report flagged anti-national hysteria being whipped up by Hindu nationalists as a cause of growing self-censorship. It also cited reports about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's troll army who are targeting journalists with hateful online smear campaigns and messages. "In India (down two at 138th), hate speech targeting journalists is shared and amplified on social networks, often by troll armies in Prime Minister Narendra Modis pay," read a sentence from the report. The report also mentioned three murdered journalists in 2017, such as Gauri Lankesh. It also mentioned gag orders by the government by invoking Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code under which sedition is punishable by life imprisonment. It states that though journalists have not yet been convicted of sedition, the threat encourages self-censorship. It also mentioned that Kashmiri journalists are targets of violence by soldiers acting with the central governments tacit consent. Around the world On the global stage, the report emphasised that press freedom around the world is under threat from a triple whammy of US President Donald Trump, Russia and China's bid to crush all dissent. The group accused the world's three superpowers - the US, China and Russia - of leading the charge against press freedom, with Trump regularly launching personal attacks on reporters and Beijing exporting its "media control model" to strangle dissent elsewhere in Asia. The slide towards "strongman" and populist politics in Europe, stoked by Moscow, was threatening freedoms in the region where they were once safest, it added, with Hungary, Slovakia and Poland setting off alarm bells. Czech President Milos Zeman turned up at a press conference with a fake Kalashnikov inscribed with the words "for journalists" while Slovakia's former leader Robert Fico called journalists "filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes" and "idiotic hyenas". "The unleashing of hatred towards journalists is dangerous and a threat to democracy," RSF chief Christophe Deloire told AFP. The RSF said that hostility towards the media is "no longer confined to authoritarian countries such as Turkey and Egypt", but was poisoning the political atmosphere in some of the great democracies. "More and more democratically elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracy's essential underpinning, but as an adversary to which they openly display their aversion," the report said, picking out Trump, Modi and Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte for particular criticism. The US president had referred to reporters as "enemies of the people", a term once used by Stalin, it said. The RSF accused Vladimir Putin's Russia of "stifling independent voices at home... and extending its propaganda network by means of media outlets such as RT (Russian Today) and Sputnik." #RSFIndex RSF is unveiling its 2018 #PressFreedom Index: a world map that is getting darker and darker.https://t.co/4izhhdhZAo pic.twitter.com/stODHTzLUc RSF (@RSF_inter) April 25, 2018 It had even harsher words for Beijing, saying "Xi Jinping's China is getting closer and closer to a contemporary version of totalitarianism. Now the Chinese government "is trying to establish a 'new world media order' under its influence, by exporting its oppressive methods, information censorship system and Internet surveillance tools," it added. "Its unabashed desire to crush all pockets of public resistance, unfortunately, has imitators in Asia," the RSF said, condemning Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's "ruthless offensive" against the media. It said Beijing's influence and tactics were also being felt in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Turkey, the world's biggest jailer of journalists, has fallen into the most repressive 25 countries in the world. North Korea remains the most repressive country, closely followed by Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Syria and then China. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Vietnam, Sudan and Cuba also remain among the worst offenders, according to the RSF ranking of 180 countries. Malta tumbled 18 places to 65 after the assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. But not all the news was bad. Ecuador jumped 13 places after tensions eased between the government and privately-owned media, while Justin Trudeau's Canada entered the European-dominated top 20. Jamaica climbed to eighth overall, above Belgium and New Zealand, and the Gambia jumped 21 places, the biggest rise in Africa, just ahead of Angola and Zimbabwe. As usual, Scandinavian countries topped the list with Norway deemed as having the world's freest press for the second year in a row. A political worker was shot dead by unidentified militants in Rajpora area of south Kashmirs Pulwama district on Wednesday. A police official said that militants fired at the vehicle of Ghulam Nabi Patel at Rajpora chowk, 32 km from here, leaving him and his two personal security officers (PSOs) injured. Patil, a resident of Shadimarg, Pulwama later succumbed to injuries on the way to hospital while the PSOs are battling for their lives, he said. Reports had earlier suggested that Patel was associated with the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). But a party source said that he was no longer with them. In separate statements, both the Congress and PDP condemned the killing but neither of the two parties owned the slain activist. Last year in October, a PDP worker was shot dead by militants in neighbouring Shopian district while in the scuffle that ensued between the attackers and the family members of the victim, a Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant was also killed. A day after on October 18, the house of the slain worker was set ablaze by an angry mob which according to police was instigated by anti-national elements and over ground workers of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping may send out a strong message against trade protectionism when they meet at Wuhan in central China later this week. Modi and Xi are set to hold the informal summit when United States and China are embroiled in a trade war. American President Donald Trump's administration in Washington has drawn up plans to impose 25% tariff on 1,333 items (worth almost $50 billion) imported from China to the US. Beijing retaliated by identifying 106 items imported by the US from China for imposing a matching 25% tariff. The tit-for-tat moves by Beijing and Washington raised fears of a trade war with global implications. Modi and Xi will exchange views on trade protectionism and may reach a consensus on the need to resist protectionist measures. Though the two leaders are unlikely to issue a joint statement or interact with media-persons, the similarities in their views on the issue would be made public by Indian and Chinese officials, sources told DH. The US even dragged China to the World Trade Organisation for discriminatory technology licensing requirements in the communist country. Import duty challenged Washington last month also challenged New Delhi's export subsidies scheme at the WTO. Trump expressed his displeasure over high import duty imposed by India on high-end motorcycles of the likes of Harley-Davidson and others. New Delhi is also worried over Trump administration's move to make certain changes in H1-B and L-1 visa programmes that could cause inconvenience to Indian professionals working in the US. Speaking at a conclave of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Beijing, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday argued that economic globalisation should be more open, inclusive, equitable and balanced for mutual benefits. She called for rejection of protectionism in all its forms and stressed on the need for efforts to discipline measures that constitute barriers to trade. Free trade In an article published in China's state-owned People's Daily on Wednesday, Luo Zhaohui, Beijing's envoy to New Delhi, noted that the informal summit between the two leaders was taking place amid protectionist moves against globalisation. He wrote that the leaders of China and India had been strong advocates of free trade and globalisation and the similarities in the views of the two leaders on this issue was conducive to strengthening the solidarity and cooperation of developing countries and safeguarding fairness and justice around the world. Congress leader and rebel star M H Ambareesh on Tuesday announced his retirement from electoral politics, ending the suspense over his contesting the May 12 Assembly polls. I am growing old. I dont want to contest the elections. Let the party field anybody from Mandya constituency, the 66-year-old leader told reporters. The Congress had given him the ticket to contest from Mandya seat, but he had not collected the B form from the party. He cited his ill-health as a reason for not being able to campaign for the polls. I cannot do justice to people of the constituency even if I am elected. Hence, the decision to retire from the electoral politics, he stated. Asked why he refused to contest at the last minute, he said he had informed the party high command that he was not in a position to contest. Yet, he was given the ticket. The party is free to field any other leader from Mandya constituency, he added. He also said that he had not recommended anybodys name as his replacement to the Mandya seat. In an embarrassment to the Congress, Ambareesh said he was against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah contesting from two seats (Chamundeshwari and Badami). He (Siddaramaiah) had been saying that he will contest from Chamundeshwari. And he should have stuck to his stand. Losing and winning are common in politics. A leader has to fight, he added. Asked whether he would campaign for Siddaramaiah in Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru, the actor said, Siddaramaiah is a tall leader. He has given many Bhagya schemes (subsidy schemes) as the chief minister...I am not in a position to campaign for anybody. He also revealed that KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao had told him that he had fewer chances of winning in Mandya and that it had hurt him. Later, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal met Ambareesh and tried to persuade him to campaign for the party in the elections. But he is said to have not given any assurance in this regard. SALT LAKE CITY The state alcohol department overcharged customers nearly $1,200 because it incorrectly marked up the price on seven items, a new state audit shows. The Utah Legislature required the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to mark up its approximately 25,000 products to 88 percent from 86 percent last July. During that process, the price of the items was entered wrong in the DABC computer system. State auditors found the seven products involved in nine sales resulted in a $186 loss to the department, while 28 sales resulted in customers all businesses being overcharged $1,161. Most of those products were special orders. "That's something we try to ensure doesn't occur," said Sal Petilos, DABC executive director. The department intends to refund the overpayments, he said. The department now has a computer program to flag items that have an incorrect markup percentage and that applies the correct formula to help ensure the right price when entering new products and price changes into the system. Auditors noted that the report, by its nature, focuses on exceptions, weaknesses and problems. "I didn't find anything overly alarming in this report," said Neal Berube, a member of the seven-person commission that oversees the agency. The audit reviewed financial reconciliations and controls, liquor purchases and access to the DABC computer system. Auditors found that the department failed to transfer $4.6 million in revenue to the state school lunch and public safety programs as the law requires in November 2017. The department corrected the error after auditors discovered it. NAIROBI, Kenya Kenneth Matiba, a popular politician in Kenya who died last week, will be cremated this week a plan that has set off a debate in this mostly Christian country, where many view the practice as contrary to their faith and African culture. His family announced Monday (April 23) that Matiba, a democracy activist and Anglican who was 85 when he died, would be cremated on Friday. It was his wish that when he dies, that he should be cremated, his wife, Edith, said at a prayer service at their home in Nairobi. Cremation of prominent people is very rare in Kenya. And the anticipated cremation of Matiba, who came in second in the 1992 presidential race, has ignited a heated debate on the topic, with some Christian leaders denouncing the practice. Jesus was buried after he died on the cross. All fathers of faith from Abraham to Joseph were also buried. I think burying the dead honorably is the path God wishes for his people, Benjamin Mutungi, a Pentecostal pastor in Nairobi, told RNS. When we cremate we mock resurrection, Mutungi said. This is not the first time that cremation of a famous Kenyan has stirred the nation. In 2002, many were outraged when Anglican Archbishop Manasses Kuria cremated the body of his wife, Mary Nyambura. The primates remains were also cremated despite strong opposition from church members when he died in 2005. Nobel laureate and environmentalist Wangari Maathai was also cremated when she died, in 2011. But others in the church and government are speaking out in defense of cremation. The (Anglican) church does not have difficulties with it and wants to grant people their wish, said the Rev. Joseph Njakai, an Anglican priest in central Kenya. But I think the problem is in the culture and traditions. The people believe when their relatives die, they join their ancestors. When the body is burned, they fear the link is severed. The Roman Catholic Church accepts cremation as an option, according to the Rev. Wilybard Lagho, the vicar general of the Mombasa Diocese. We only advise that the ashes are not scattered,as required by the church guidelines, he said. Meanwhile, as the land available for burial in Kenya shrinks, and the price of burial increases, the Nairobi City County has been encouraging residents to opt for cremation. Three years ago, the county increased the cost of burial space for adults from about $250 to $300. It reduced the cost of cremation from $130 to $90. SANDY Sandy Police Chief Kevin Thacker was fired Tuesday over "concerns of inappropriate and unprofessional behavior" following a three-week investigation. Mayor Kurt Bradburn made the announcement Tuesday during a press conference in the Sandy City Council chambers. Thacker, who has been with the department for more than 30 years and chief for four years, was placed on leave three weeks ago. A final report conducted by a law firm found there were "multiple corroborating individuals who witnessed Chief Thacker engage in inappropriate touching and unprofessional conduct," Bradburn said. His behavior led to a "negative working environment," the mayor said. Furthermore, Bradburn said Thacker had been cautioned about similar behavior in the past, though he was not placed on leave for it. "Because the report found that this conduct had not stopped, I made the decision to terminate his employment with Sandy City effective immediately," the mayor said, calling it the right decision for the department and residents. "By swiftly dealing with this issue, I hope we have upheld public trust and sent the message this behavior will not be tolerated in my administration." Bradburn confirmed Thacker was accused of harassing police department employees but declined to say how many or for how long, only noting there were "multiple incidents" over a "number of years." Whether the harassment started before Thacker was chief was unknown Tuesday. Thacker's firing comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed last month against former Provo Police Chief John King. Five women are seeking an unspecified amount in excess of $600,000 in compensation, as well as new measures to prevent sexual misconduct from occurring in Provo government, for alleged behavior by King that ranged from leering to inappropriate comments to unsolicited touching, groping and one allegation of rape. King resigned in March of 2017. He stated at the time that he needed to spend more time with his family in Maryland. In Davis County, it was announced Monday that five employes from the sheriff's office and the jail were placed on paid leave amid a review of how the office handled a sexual harassment complaint. The employees returned to work last week. BREAKING: Sandy Police Chief Kevin Thacker fired for inappropriate touching of employees. Posted by KSL Newsradio on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 Bradburn said he could not make a legal judgment of whether Thacker's behavior rose to the level of criminal conduct. He did not specify whether a case would be presented to prosecutors to review for potential charges. Sandy Deputy Police Chief Bill O'Neal, who had been serving as interim chief during Thacker's absence, will remain as interim chief until a new one is hired. Thacker was hired as a full-time officer in 1983 and as chief in 2014. For many years he was the face of the department, acting as its spokesman. Thacker was the public information officer when three Sandy police officers including O'Neal found Elizabeth Smart on State Street in 2003 and took her kidnappers, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, into custody. Sandy police declined comment on Tuesday, referring all questions regarding Thacker to the mayor's office because it is considered a personnel matter. SALT LAKE CITY A Utah man who survived one of the most brutal periods of captivity during World War II died Sunday in Salt Lake City. Ninety-six-year-old Theodore "Ted" Kampf was the last living Utah resident to survive the Bataan Death March and the last to be held captive as a prisoner of war in a Japanese forced labor camp, where he was kept for 3 1/2 years. According to nephew Robert Race, despite the hardship Kampf endured in his time as a POW, he was one of the kindest people he ever knew. "He was a great man," Race said. "He was a quiet man who only had one daughter. Otherwise, it was just him and his wife, and they were always kind." Race said Kampf seldom spoke about his war experience until the last two years of his life, when he began to open up about it and gave his family a glimpse into the overwhelming ordeal he and his comrades endured at the hands of their captors. "I was in his front room when he started sharing for the first time," he said. "When we would go over as a family, he would sit in his chair very quietly and he would share a story." Kampf volunteered and served in the Army Air Corps in the early days of the war in the Pacific theater, Race explained, and was sent to the Philippines where they attempted to defend the coastline with only limited weapons. Surrounded and outnumbered by Japanese forces, 76,000 U.S. soldiers were forced to surrender, he said. Arriving at the mainland harbor in the Philippines, they were marched more than 50 miles to where trains would take them to an airstrip to be flown to Japan and used as forced labor, he said. On the way, they were starved, given little water and many fell ill, he said. "Ted remembers the Japanese bayoneting those who stopped to rest or just couldnt go on," Race said. "He carried some of the sick soldiers so they wouldnt be killed. It was brutal he said, the treatment and injustice that was handed to the Philippine and American prisoners at the hands of their captors." In one story, Kampf recalled how the Japanese rounded up about a thousand American soldiers, and as he watched helplessly, they pushed the captives into an underground bunker and rolled 50-gallon barrels of gasoline into the bunker and set them on fire, killing them all. Race said Kampf managed to survive 16-hour days in Japanese factories and other forced labor work, eating only small amounts of rice each day. There was just one water faucet for thousands of men to survive on, he said. The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 3 1/2 years into their ordeal and eventually, the Red Cross came and put all the POWs on trains to Tokyo to be transported to hospitals throughout America. At the time of his liberation, Kampf weighed only 78 pounds. In 1947, Kampf became part of the newly created U.S. Air Force. He served a total of 20 years in the Army Air Corps and the Air Force, receiving two Bronze Stars, numerous citations and awards. He retired with the rank of senior master sergeant. Race said he believes the harsh treatment his uncle faced, and witnessed others go through, had a lifelong impact on him. "I think that's why he was so kind," Race said. "He saw the real cruelty of man and chose not to be like (that). He never said harsh words to anyone and never criticized anyone in all the 36 years I knew him." In later years, Kampf attended luncheons honoring POWs in Utah and was awarded a special medal for his service by Gov. Gary Herbert. He wanted everyone to know that after the war, he harbored no animosity toward those who treated him and his fellow soldiers so cruelly, and moved on with his life, Race said. "He truly was one of the last of the 'Greatest Generation,'" Race said. "He was always one to say, 'We all need to love each other and be kind to each other.'" Kampf leaves behind one daughter, LaVon Kampf, who has served the Catholic Church for over 50 years as a member of the Marianist Sisters of San Antonio, Texas. A funeral Mass will be celebrated Monday at 2 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, 715 W. 300 North. Following the service, the Utah Patriot Guard will accompany family and friends to Fort Douglas for burial. SALT LAKE CITY Under a new ordinance the Salt Lake County Council passed on Tuesday, the once-failed $58 million sales tax hike that voters rejected in 2015 will come back from the dead if enough city leaders signal support. And at least one city Millcreek has already passed a resolution of support, while the county's largest city Salt Lake City will likely follow suit. Under SB136, the massive transportation bill the Utah Legislature passed this year, counties where the Proposition 1 sales tax hike failed can resurrect the tax hike through either approval of the county's legislative body or by placing it back on the ballot but Salt Lake County opted to take a different course. The new ordinance, passed by the County Council with one dissenting vote, transferred that power to cities. Under the new ordinance, the 0.25 sales tax increase which would raise taxes by roughly one penny for every $4 spent would automatically take effect if cities, towns and metro townships representing 67 percent of Salt Lake County's population adopt resolutions supporting the tax hike. The ordinance has a deadline for cities to signal support by June 22, in order to allow county leaders to notify the Utah State Tax Commission by July to start collecting the revenue in October. "We always say that the government closest to the people represents them and speaks for them the best," said Salt Lake County Councilman Michael Jensen, a Republican, who sponsored the ordinance. "Well, we're giving that opportunity to the municipalities, the cities and towns, that they get to decide whether or not they want to have this or not." But Councilman Richard Snelgrove, also a Republican, cast the lone dissenting vote against the ordinance, saying he was "uncomfortable" and "uneasy" with the process, claiming it was a strategy to diffuse "accountability" for the tax hike. "This was a method, a scheme put in place out of fear," Snelgrove said, saying county leaders were afraid of the tax hike either failing in a vote from the council or failing again on another ballot. "This other method had to be put in place to do an end run in order to get this tax implemented (with) little if any accountability," Snelgrove said. "So this method was created to hide accountability so no one can take responsibility for raising taxes, and everyone has plausible deniability." Salt Lake County voters in 2015 shot down the Proposition 1 sales tax hike, 51 percent to 49 percent. Its downfall was largely attributed to distrust of the Utah Transit Authority and its scandal-tainted past. This year, lawmakers hoped to fix its public image through SB136, which restructured its management and rebranded it as the Transit District of Utah. Councilwoman Jenny Wilson, a Democrat, disagreed with Snelgrove. "I think that everyone is showing accountability," she said, adding elected officials from the state, the county have played a role, and now so will cities. Wilson added the investment in roads and transit is necessary to address a growing need. "Really what choice do we have?" she said. "We're in a position in this community that we have to invest if we want to absorb growth and maintain the quality of life that we have." Councilman Jim Bradley, a Democrat, also disagreed with Snelgrove. "I think it wasn't that we were being duped by the Legislature, but we were offered a carrot that was irresistible to take," Bradley said. "So (state leaders) were very clever, maybe, rather than devious I don't know. Nevertheless, the outcome's the same, and that is we have this money available to the county ... to meet the end goal, and that is to provide transit and safe highways." Even before the County Council voted to approve the ordinance, Millcreek became the first city to pass a resolution supporting the tax increase. Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvestrini hand-delivered the resolution, passed Monday night, to the County Council during its meeting Tuesday. "This (tax increase) would greatly aid the residents of my city in funding road repairs," Silvestrini said, estimating the tax hike would generate at least $1 million for Millcreek streets. "We're pleased to tell you we unanimously supported it last night." And Salt Lake City may be next all while city leaders are also weighing whether to implement the city's own sales tax hike to pay for road projects and other priorities. Council Chairwoman Erin Mendenhall said in an interview Tuesday that Salt Lake City Council members had already discussed the possibility of passing a resolution urging Salt Lake County to implement the tax, knowing that the revenue city leaders have been eying from their own sales tax hike and bond extension still wouldn't be enough to fund every single road project the city needs. "Assuming that the (city's) sales tax passes in its entirety and so does the bond, we would still welcome transportation dollars to help us fill that actual need in our streets," Mendenhall said. "Salt Lake City knows with complete clarity the condition of every one of our roadways, and we know, therefore, what the actual cost would be to adequately address their decaying condition." Mendenhall said she expects Salt Lake City leaders will pass a resolution supporting the county tax hike, noting that while Proposition 1 failed in Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City voters supported it 62 percent to 38 percent, according to 2015 election results. Salt Lake City, with a population of about 193,000, represents about 17 percent of Salt Lake County's population of more than 1.1 million. West Valley City is the county's second-largest city with a population of about 136,000, and West Jordan comes in third with a population of nearly 114,000. SALT LAKE CITY Media coverage of Tuesday's ceremonial signing of eight pieces of legislation on suicide prevention and mental health issues will very likely give families "permission" to have needed conversations on these sensitive topics, said Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox. "This ceremonial bill signing, just like the bills that were actually signed, can save lives," Cox said during an event at the offices of the University Neuropsychiatric Institute's Crisis Call Center. Likewise, media reports about Gov. Gary Herbert signing the bills intended to enhance mental health services in communities and schools will reach people contemplating suicide or parents of children who are thinking about ending their lives. "A mom is going to go down to her kid's room tonight and ask if they've been thinking about suicide. It's going to start some really important conversations that we need and we need give people permission to have those conversations and have them more often. It's only way we're going to turn this around and change this," said Cox, co-chairman of the Suicide Prevention Task Force launched by Herbert earlier this year. Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, who sponsored or co-sponsored most of the bills signed by Herbert, said state lawmakers passed a record number bills on mental-health and suicide prevention in 2018, "possibly more than all sessions since statehood combined." The Utah Legislature also appropriated a record amount of new funding to related programs and services, he said. "From our calculations, we had a 30-fold funding increase over the next best session for mental health," said Eliason, co-chairman of the task force. The eight bills passed by lawmakers will add counselors to Utah schools, bolster the work of mental health crisis workers and expand the scope of youth suicide prevention programs in public schools, among other initiatives. Cox, who served in the Utah Legislature before Herbert named him his lieutenant governor in 2013, said lawmakers' funding decisions "tell you most about what the Legislature stands for." Herbert noted that there are few Utahns who haven't been touched by the issue of suicide. "It leaves a hole in our society and it leaves a hole in our hearts," he said. But he said he is heartened that government and private sector partners are working together on raising awareness and offering support. Herbert said the Governor's Suicide Prevention Fund has been created to accept grants or gifts to further suicide prevention activities by the state Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. HB370, one of the eight bills signed by Herbert on Tuesday, also creates a mechanism for taxpayers to contribute their income tax refunds to the fund. The fund has already received a $150,000 gift from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and $50,000 from Intermountain Healthcare, he said. As elected officials, religious leaders and community members celebrated the passage of the legislation and funding of key initiatives, licensed clinical social workers were hard at work down the hall answering telephones and responding to texts from people experiencing mental health challenges or those seeking service referrals. Eliason said he and others are laboring to increase awareness of the SafeUT app. The cell phone app, which can be downloaded free from the App Store or Google Play, provides youths and their parents confidential and anonymous two-way communication with crisis counselors at the University Neuropsychiatric Institute or school staffs via one-touch options to "Call Crisisline," "Chat Crisisline," or "Submit a Tip." Barry Rose, manager of the institute's crisis services, said mental health professionals on the receiving end of those texts and calls are carefully studying data showing rising demand for services, and are looking for new resources to support the crisis line's efforts beyond the new funding appropriated by lawmakers. Numbers of chats and tips reported via the SafeUT app have escalated from 994 in 2016 to 26,175 so far this year. "So we're trying to be strategic in how we promote it. Our main focus, of course, has been youth and children but now we're starting to enroll the University of Utah and higher education," Rose said. The Utah Department of Health offers suicide prevention help at utahsuicideprevention.org/suicide-prevention-basics. The national crisis hotline is 1-800-784-2433. PROVO Watching Caitlin Connolly prepare to paint is not entirely different than watching a surgeon prepare for surgery. She inserts her hands into gloves, turns on music and surveys the person portrayed on the canvas as she tries to determine their need. She likes to think of the characters she paints as little souls, and she is the one who brings them to life. Connolly is now the mother of 6-month-old twins. But there was a time, amidst years of infertility, when the Utah artist worried that she was not enough as a woman, not a mother, not a nurturer, not a good woman just not enough. But then she began to visualize the faces she had painted in her mind. In that moment, Connolly had a realization. No, I hadnt physically born children, but I had brought into existence hundreds and hundreds of characters that wouldnt exist if I hadnt created them, she said. That changed my heart and I understood my own ability as a nurturer differently after that point. And I think thats true for everyone, not just me as an artist. What have you created and cared for that wouldnt exist if you hadnt cared for it? Through her art, Connolly searches for answers. She chases ideas. And through each of her pieces, she tells the story of her life. Connolly grew up in a home with all brothers. Her father was an entrepreneur and her mother a flute teacher, a combination she believes gave her a unique set of skills. Connolly began playing the flute when she was 5 years old, and it initially seemed she might be destined to be a musician. She met and began dating her husband, Robbie, a guitarist currently on tour with The Killers, in high school at Salt Lake Citys East High. The two have always loved making music together. We have always had a very playful and passionate relationship, Connolly says. I remember singing backup vocals on the songs he was making in his bedroom on one of those old bubbly turquoise Mac computers and singing in bands together." It wasnt until a few years into college that she took a drawing class and began to feel that she might be able to find personal fulfillment through art while also offering something outside of herself to others. She was drawn to portrayals of womanhood and figurative art. Specifically she remembers being fascinated by Modiglianis representation of women. His art inspired Connolly to play with the traditional portrayal of women, toying with proportions and depth of field perspective, until she found the women she set out to discover. They feel big, substantial, capable like they can do things, Connolly says of the women in her work. When I go to museums, I see so many paintings where womens hands and feet have been painted smaller, I dont know why. Little dainty hands placed nicely on their lap. I dont understand that or identify with that. I paint women that can do things with their hands and go places with their feet. It just feels right to me. In a barn-shaped studio behind her Provo home, Connolly discovers these women and in doing so, she wrestles to understand herself. She says that while she was raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and grew up reciting the Young Women themes We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love him, she has long asked questions regarding her worth. Mortality, I think, is a dark, hard, difficult, confusing process at times, she says. Theres also joy and the scriptures say, Men are that they might have joy,' but what about all of the times that we dont have joy? And what do those mean? To say that Connolly struggled with infertility for seven years is the easiest way to place a time frame on a period of life that she says is actually much more complicated. She often wondered if she wanted to have kids and sometimes thought being a mom looked really hard. And as she explored her feelings on the subject, they were brought to life before her eyes. A lot of my paintings looked at the joy of motherhood, the struggle with motherhood, and I think that was a lot of me coming to terms with, What would this be like if this was my life? What would it be like to have kids? Connolly recalls. In retrospect, she views those seven years as years of preparation, and when she and Robbie decided to do in vitro fertilization, she felt very ready to become a mother, a feeling she hadnt felt before. One thing I have learned through exploring themes of womanhood and motherhood is that having children or not having children is such a central and emotional journey for women, Connolly says. Some women have children when they dont want to, some women want to have children and they cant, some women lose their children, some women have children and dont like being mothers, some women love being mothers its such a personal and unique experience. I feel very grateful for my experience with infertility and with fertility. My chapter of infertility was both difficult and very refining, and it prepared me for motherhood in a way that was very important and necessary for me. As the Connollys reached the decision to try the IVF process, Caitlin was working on a 13-foot painting that depicted a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother with their posterity. During the year that she worked on the painting, high on her scaffolding, Connolly spent much time looking at and thinking about this Heavenly Mother, motherhood and the beauty of a growing human family. It was as she prepared to drop the painting off after its completion that she found out she was expecting twins. The time had come for her to begin her own human family. One of Connollys most recent works is a sculpture in which she captures the intense and very new dynamic I felt being pregnant with our first children, our twin boys, last year and how I needed to lean on (Robbie) more than I ever had before. It is titled, Man Bearing Woman and Woman Bearing Man. Connolly says that she thinks that both she and her husband attribute a lot of their success and happiness to their individual endeavors, which is kind of fun, she says with a smile. Their latest is a joint venture that Connolly calls a balancing act. Author Greg McKeown's book, "Essentialism," resonates with Connolly as she has learned the value of identifying and choosing the most essential things and accepting the "trade-offs" that come as a result. "My husband and I both agree that family comes first. We love being together as a couple, being with our baby boys, being home, and we are also both very passionate and hard-working, she says. We talk very frequently about how we use our time and we try to do the best that we know how with what we have. And if things arent working, we pause, make adjustments, and then move forward again. She describes being a mother as a really emotionally and physically exhausting and draining way to spend time but says that with the help of others, she is happier than she has been in the past. And that worth she was searching to understand? Connolly spins around in a chair in her studio to face the many characters she has given life to, visibly pondering the question. My worth is concrete and independent of trials and hardships and also independent of achievements, even achievements like having children or being successful. My worth is just because it is, Connolly responds, later adding, I've also learned that mortality is difficult. My painting process reflects that experience. I work in a very subtractive and additive process. I build things up with paint and then I sand them down. I will spend hours and hours on a painting only to take it into my woodshop days or months later and sand it down (parts or the whole) to begin again. And it is this play, between the building and the removing of what isn't working, that produces my favorite paintings. It is a very symbolic and healing process for me on a personal level and reminds me that it is OK that I am a work in progress. I need experiences that sand me down and refine me, and I will have other experiences that build me back up, and I know that over time I am progressing and that is good. Heres a look at the news for April 25. MUST READS THIS MORNING: Loud crowd: Why Donovan Mitchell called Utah Jazz fans 'unbelievable' Why did Donovan Mitchell praise Utah Jazz fans? A quick look back at last Mondays playoff game against the Oklahoma City Thunder offers a clue. The scary and promising future of a digital world. Here's what the experts predict Living in a completely digital world isnt all its cracked up to be. But experts say you can continue to find benefits from a digital-based life if you know where to look. Spencer Cox hopes new bills will help families with mental health concerns Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox said on Tuesday that he feels media coverage about eight new pieces of legislation will help families have necessary conversations about mental health, according to the Deseret News. Cox held a ceremonial bill signing to draw the medias attention. "This ceremonial bill signing, just like the bills that were actually signed, can save lives," Cox said at the event, which took place at the offices of the University Neuropsychiatric Institute's Crisis Call Center. Cox said Gov. Gary Herbert will sign the bills, which will draw media attention that hopefully reaches the eyes of families. "A mom is going to go down to her kid's room tonight and ask if they've been thinking about suicide. It's going to start some really important conversations that we need and we need give people permission to have those conversations and have them more often. It's (the) only way we're going to turn this around and change this," said Cox. Read more at the Deseret News. Trump wants to strike deal with Russia U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump hopes to reach a detente with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Deseret News reported. "I dont know what the proper diplomatic term for it is, but my president has said repeatedly that he wants a better relationship with Russia. Repeatedly," Huntsman said Tuesday at a media roundtable in Vladivostok, Russia. "You can call it a desire for detente or a desire for a healthier relationship." Huntsman said that Trump will likely want a face-to-face meeting with Putin and that both leaders want a stable relationship between the two countries. "So, we have both presidents that want to move in that direction. And I think, Im hoping, and Ive said this before and I hope Im not proven wrong, that despite the events that weve experienced, the ups and downs, that we will end 2018 in a better place," Huntsman said, according to the Deseret News. "And I still believe that to be the case." Read more at the Deseret News. Sandy fires police chief for alleged inappropriate touching of employees A three-week investigation led to Sandy Police Chief Kevin Thacker being fired on Tuesday, according to the Deseret News. The police chief was fired over "concerns of inappropriate and unprofessional behavior, the Deseret News reported. Mayor Kurt Bradburn announced the decision on Tuesday. "Because the report found that this conduct had not stopped, I made the decision to terminate his employment with Sandy City effective immediately," the mayor said, calling it the right decision for the department and residents. "By swiftly dealing with this issue, I hope we have upheld public trust and sent the message this behavior will not be tolerated in my administration." Read more at the Deseret News. Iran president raises issues over proposed Iran deal change Iranian President Hassan Rouhani isnt on board with the recent move by the United States and European allies to change Irans nuclear deal, according to BBC News. The U.S. and France announced Tuesday that the countries wanted to create a new deal that would extend and change the original deal, which was made in 2015, BBC reported. However, Rouhani said the countries have no right to make any changes. Rouhani even said Trump has no business making these decisions. "You don't have any background in politics," he said. "You don't have any background in law. You don't have any background on international treaties." Read more at BBC. Los Angeles Times: Regime change in Tehran was never the goal of the Iran nuclear agreement MORE NEWS: CNBC: Trade war with U.S. could be the tipping point for Chinas $14 trillion debt-ridden economy The New York Times: After Trump Hints V.A. Nominee Might Drop Out, an Aggressive Show of Support Deseret News: OKC's Westbrook gets postgame technical, not suspension, for scuffle with Utah's Gobert USA Today: Exclusive: Social Security checks are lower than many Americans expect, survey finds SALT LAKE CITY The Supreme Court on Wednesday considered the travel ban's bad reputation, weighing whether restricting travel from five Muslim-majority countries constitutes anti-Muslim discrimination. "If you look at what was done, it does not look at all like a Muslim ban," said Justice Samuel Alito, noting that President Donald Trump's travel policy affects only around 8 percent of the world's Muslims. Justice Elena Kagan, on the other hand, argued that it's fair to worry about discrimination when dealing with a leader who's made hostile religion-related comments, even if he can offer other justifications for a travel ban. "The question is not really what his heart of hearts is. The question is what are reasonable observers to think," she said, after describing a hypothetical situation in which an anti-Semitic leader banned travel from Israel. During the hour-long oral arguments for Trump v. Hawaii, the justices pressed lawyers for both sides to define the scope of presidential authority and the ramifications of the travel ban. They appeared skeptical of allowing Trump's anti-Muslim tweets and campaign statements to influence their ruling, which signals that their decision will ultimately not say much about religious discrimination, according to legal analysts. Neal Katyal, arguing against the travel ban on behalf of the state of Hawaii and immigration rights groups, said the ban unlawfully discriminates on the basis of nationality, interfering with businesses and colleges who depend on foreign workers. "Our point about the discrimination has nothing to do with any campaign statements or anything else. It's purely the text of the proclamation, which is nationality-based discrimination through and through," he said. U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco, arguing in support of the travel ban, made the same point as Justice Alito, claiming that it's ridiculous to label the policy a "Muslim ban" when it leaves dozens of Muslim-majority countries untouched. "This is not a so-called Muslim ban," he said. "If it were, it would be the most ineffective Muslim ban that one could possibly imagine." The contested ban is Trump's third attempt at protecting national security through travel restrictions. He issued his first executive order on travel within a week of taking office in January 2017. It banned travelers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for 90 days and was soon blocked by several federal judges. Lawsuits related to the executive order accused Trump of unlawful anti-Muslim bias, citing inflammatory tweets and statements during the presidential campaign. The next travel ban, announced in March 2017, removed Iraq from the list of affected countries. But, like the first executive order, it was met with widespread protests and multiple lawsuits. "After Trump issued the third version in September subtracting Sudan, adding Chad, North Korea and Venezuela, setting separate criteria for each country and making it indefinite rather than temporary federal courts again struck it down. But in December, the (Supreme Court) justices allowed it to go into effect, and in January they scheduled it for oral argument," USA Today reported. Chad was removed from the list of affected countries this month, the article noted. During Wednesday's oral arguments, religiously affiliated organizations and other civil rights activists rallied outside the Supreme Court building. Speakers at the "No Muslim Ban Ever" event included Rep. Andre Carson, D-Indiana, and Khizr Khan, a Muslim who spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention about losing his son in the Iraq War and famously questioned then-candidate Trump's knowledge of the Constitution. Participants carried signs with slogans like "Love Thy Neighbor (No Exceptions.)" A variety of faith groups filed briefs opposing the travel ban, arguing that the policy is at odds with America's efforts to protect religious freedom, as the Deseret News reported earlier this month. "Our (country's) founders were clear that the nation's new laws prohibiting religious discrimination extended to people of all faiths and backgrounds," explained the brief signed by the Anti-Defamation League, Union for Reform Judaism and four other Jewish groups. Eighty-four percent of Muslims, 70 percent of Jews, 62 percent of Catholics and 58 percent of Protestants oppose a ban on visas to Muslims wanting to enter the United States, according to new research from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. White evangelical Christians are the most supportive of travel restrictions affecting the Muslim community, with only 34 expressing opposition. Jews, Catholics, Mormons and other faith groups have fought discriminatory policies in the past, which motivates political activism today, faith leaders said. "Having once bourne the brunt of severe discriminatory treatment, particularly in the immigration context, the Catholic Church will not sit silent while others suffer on account of their religion," reads the brief from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities USA and Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. In the end, however, the Supreme Court ruling may center on the question of presidential authority, rather than religious discrimination, legal analysts said. Justices returned to this topic again and again throughout oral arguments on April 25, and a majority of them resisted interfering with the work of the executive branch. "The court's conservative justices appeared sympathetic to the administration's contention that it has the authority to regulate immigration in the name of national security," USA Today reported. Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the court's four liberal justices, seemed more concerned about exceptions to the travel ban than the ban itself, the article noted. He "voiced concern mostly about the ability of travelers from five majority-Muslim countries to get waivers," USA Today reported. Justice Breyer and other liberal justices may be willing to join a ruling for the government if the waiver process is shown to be fair, according to The Wall Street Journal's live analysis of oral arguments. "Whether the court believes that the government truly is admitting people who fit the exceptions, or whether their inclusion in the travel ban order merely are window dressing, could be critical not only to whether the Trump administration wins," but also whether there is a broader ruling, joined by some liberal justices, for the government, it said. The Supreme Court's ruling is expected in June. Rachel Weisz And Daniel Craig's Kids Are Excited About Having A New Family Member Rachel Weisz had earlier revealed that she and her husband Daniel Craig would be expecting their first child together. Now the Oscar winner is opening up how their kids are reacting to this good news. The 48-year-old has an 11-year old son Henry Aronofsky with director Darren Aronofsky and Craig has a 25-year old daughter Ella Craig with actress Fiona Loudon. The British actress tied the knot with her Dream House co-star in 2011 During an event for her upcoming film, She said that the family is all geared up to welcome the boy or girl into the fold. "We are ready. Very excited," said the star. She also said that both Henry and Ella are thrilled about having a sibling on the way. When asked if they were excited, Weisz said, "Yes, they are they are. They are really excited". The actress announced her pregnancy news during an interview with the New York Times. "I'll be showing soon," she told the publication. She continued, "Daniel and I are so happy. We're going to have a little human. We can't wait to meet him or her. It's all such a mystery". For latest movie reviews, ratings and trailers, download the Desimartini App. Source: akns-images.eonline.com Chandini In A Women-Centric Horror Film Chandini Tamilarasan, who was last seen in Mannar Vagaiyara, has also signed a new film titled AiLa. The female centric horror thriller was officially launched on Sunday. The movie is directed by RV Suresh and featuring Arul Shankar, who played the antagonist in Vijay Antonys Yaman, and actor Dileepan in pivotal roles. Talking to CE about the film, Chandini says, AiLa is a women-centric film. Though its got horror elements, I wouldnt call it an out-and-out horror film. Theres also a nice twist to it. The script gives me a lot of scope to perform and Im glad that I got such a film so early in my career. The film will go on floors from July, and will be shot in Chennai and Kerala, as well as in Europe where a song will be shot. Produced by Riyanka films, the film will be shot in Chennai, Kerala and European countries. Moreover, Chandini has a slew of releases this year, including Raja Ranguski and Vanangamudi. She will be playing the role of a passionate photographer in AiLa. For latest movie reviews, ratings and trailers, download the Desimartini App. Source: images.newindianexpress.com A particular protein that affects the healing of foot and lower leg wounds in people with diabetes has been identified by US researchers. The thrombospondin-2 (TSP2) protein could be targeted to improve treatment for foot ulcers and aid wound healing, researchers say. TSP2 is an integral part of what is known as the extracellular matrix, which behaves like scaffolding in the development of cells. TSP2 is involved in how cells grow, and the research shows that it is a factor that affects how well wounds heal. Lead researcher Britta Kunkemoeller, a doctoral student at Yale University, and colleagues discovered that TSP2 was elevated in wounds of human patients with diabetes as well as in animal models of diabetes. To determine whether TSP2 contributed to delayed wound healing, they genetically removed the protein from a mouse model of diabetes and observed that it improved wound healing. Moreover, the wounds healed quicker and more comprehensively compared with mouse models that did not have TSP2. The factors behind how much TSP2 is produced were also examined, with the results suggesting that TSP2 production rises when blood sugar levels are higher, correlating with the fact that people with diabetes have higher levels of the protein compared to those without the condition. Our study shows that TSP2 could be a target for a specific therapy for diabetic wounds, said Kunkemoeller. Currently, our lab is developing engineered biomaterials derived from extracellular matrix that lacks TSP2. Our plan is to apply such materials to diabetic wounds in mouse models in order to evaluate their efficacy. Going forward, additional research will focus on either preventing the production or inhibiting the function of TSP2 in diabetic wounds. Kunkemoeller presented the findings at the national meeting of American Society for Investigative Pathology in San Diego. Foot ulcers affect people with both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes and it is thought that about one in ten people with diabetes will develop one. Keeping good control of blood sugar levels and getting regular exercise can help people with diabetes reduce the risk of foot wounds. If you have diabetes, it is recommended to check your feet for signs of damage each day, and to have your feet checked at least once a year by a doctor or healthcare professional. Foot wounds can become dangerous quickly and it is important to report any signs of foot damage to your doctor as soon as you notice it. Statistics report that around 135 diabetes-related amputations occur each week in the UK but most of these could be prevented through checking for signs of damage and letting your health team know as soon as damage is spotted. HMD Global, the licencee of the Nokia brand for phones, is aspiring to be top three players in the smartphone space globally and the company's India operation has already become profitable, an official said here on Tuesday. The Finland-based company is focusing on ramping up smartphone ranges along with feature phones and also working on design and software aspects as a part of its strategies to achieve the goal. "We are aspiring to be top three smart phone players globally and in India as well. As a part of strategy, the company has been focusing on design and software aspects along with quality. We are building the range in the smart and feature phones," HMD Global Business Head (North and East) Amit Goyal said here. In India, its six models of Nokia smartphones are already available and two more will be available shortly along with five feature phones, he said. "We have sold about 70 million phones globally in the last year or so. India is the significant contributor to this global sales and the country is already among the top three countries in terms of company's business. India's operation is already profitable," he said but declined to share the sales numbers. According to Goyal, the company would launch more products in the next few months and deepen its distributors' network. "We will also continue on focusing feature phones as these account for 50 per cent of the India market," he said. Since its inception in December 2016, the company has already operations in 80 countries and its products are available in about 170 countries. Nokia phones are manufactured at the Foxconn plant near Chennai. IHH, KKR submit binding bids for Fortis, Manipal revises bid Malaysian group IHH Healthcare Bhd and KKR-backed Radiant Life Care submitted binding offers for Fortis Healthcare Ltd on Tuesday to compete with Manipal Healthcare Enterprises-TPG and a joint offer from Hero Enterprise Investment-Burman Family Office. The moves come a day before the deadline to submit offers to be placed in front of an external expert committee set up by the Fortis board last week to review potential deals with the hospital group. The moves come a day before the deadline to submit offers to be placed in front of an external expert committee set up by the Fortis board last week to review potential deals with the hospital group. IHH has submitted a binding offer to infuse Rs650 crore immediately into Fortis Healthcare, while Radiant-KKR have submitted a binding offer to purchase Fortis Mulund for Rs1,200 crore without any due diligence. See: IHH was considered virtually out of the race for Fortis after it said earlier this month that Fortis Healthcare had declined to engage with the company regarding a takeover offer citing binding agreements made with other parties ( IHH out of race for Fortis as board refuses to weigh offer ). Manipal-TPG also submitted a revised offer, which includes a premium of Rs1,319 crore to Fortis Healthcare shareholders over and above the equity valuation of Rs5,003 crore of Fortis hospital business and a proposal to purchase shares representing 5 per cent of SRL Diagnostics share capital for the same price being paid for the purchase of stake in SRL from PE investors. IHHs revised offer proposes an immediate injection of primary equity, without due diligence, by preferential issue and allotment of equity shares at Rs160 per share. In exchange for this, IHH has asked for the right to appoint two directors on the Fortis board. The binding commitment is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval and confirmation that IHH will be given immediate access to carry out legal and financial due diligence to evaluate a subsequent infusion of Rs3,350 crore into the company, which is non-binding. The revised IHH proposal is a simple and clear proposal that is easy to execute and therefore provides a significantly higher degree of certainty, IHH stated in a letter to Fortis. The immediate infusion of Rs650 crore is to be applied primarily towards payment of immediate dues to employees and creditors as well as easing the debt servicing needs of the company, IHH told Fortis. The additional Rs3,350 crore is to be infused after completion of three weeks due diligence from the day IHH is granted access to the data room fully populated with information like the status of material litigations across priority Fortis hospitals in Delhi and Mumbai. IHH further wants details of any investigations under way by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, the Enforcement Directorate and other regulators. Radiant offer Meanwhile Radiant Life Care told Fortis in its revised offer letter on Tuesday that its binding offer to buy Fortis Mulund hospital for Rs1,200 crore would provide the company an immediate liquidity of approximately Rs680 crore. Like IHH, its offer also contains a nonbinding element to spin off SRL Diagnostics Fortis diagnostics business, so that Fortis Healthcare can run an independent competitive sale process. Radiant proposes a per share value of Rs170 per share for FHL if the valuation achieved for 100 per cent equity value of SRL is Rs4,000 crore. If this value is Rs4,500 crore, it proposes a per share value of approximately Rs175. Radiant has also proposed a demerger of the hospitals business from Fortis Healthcare into a new company, where it would launch an all-cash open offer to shareholders for this new entity at a price of Rs126 per share. The offer is subject to Radiant being able to acquire 26 per cent or more shares of the new company through the open offer. We believe that in order to maximise value for the FHL shareholders, the board of directors of FHL should facilitate a competitive value discovery process, which allows interested suitors to carry out due diligence in order to attract additional binding offers, Radiant Life Care told Fortis in a letter on Tuesday. However, we also understand that FHL has an urgent cash requirement and hence, due to liquidity constraints, FHL has been unable to run a formal auction process, and is only evaluating binding offers at this stage, it stated. Bosch profit up 17% at 5.3 bn as revenue hits record 78.1 bn Mobility solutions giant Robert Bosh has reported a 17-per cent growth in annual profits at 5.3 billion and a 6.8 per cent increase in annual sales at 78.1 billion for the financial year ended 31 December 2017. The sales revenue of 78.1 billion, the highest so far for the company, represents an increase of 8.4 per cent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects, which totaled some .2 billion, Bosch said. The sales revenue of 78.1 billion, the highest so far for the company, represents an increase of 8.4 per cent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects, which totaled some .2 billion, Bosch said. With all business sectors contributing to the positive results, Bosh said, EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) from operations reached 5.3 billion in 2017, thus improving by nearly 17 per cent compared with 2016. Both sales revenue and earnings are the highest ever in our companys history. Whats more, EBIT from operations increased at a higher rate than sales revenue, said Stefan Asenkerschbaumer, Bosch CFO and deputy chairman of the management board. The EBIT margin from operations came to 6.8 per cent, or 0.6 percentage points higher than in the previous year. Bosch also spent a substantial amount in research and development, with expenditure last year at around .3 billion, which is more than 9 per cent of its annual sales. Bosch said its real-world connectivity solutions include smart mobility, connected manufacturing (Industry 4.0), the smart city, and smart homes. So far, Bosch has put 170 in-house IoT projects into practice, focusing on fundamental challenges such as population growth, urbanisation, and climate change, the company said, adding, In 2017, the company sold some 38 million web-enabled products, roughly 40 per cent more than in 2016. Bosch currently employs more than 25,000 software engineers, with about 4,000 of them engaged in developing solutions for the internet of things. Bosch has identified significant potential in cross-domain ecosystems that link different industries, such as Logistics 4.0. Such ecosystems bring together solutions for manufacturing processes, building services, security, and mobility all areas in which Bosch plays an active role. As CEO Volkmar Denner emphasised, Cross-domain ecosystems are the ultimate IoT-related discipline. No other company is better qualified to realise them than Bosch. The competitive advantage offered by our diversification has never been greater. Bosch is working to achieve a breakthrough for electromobility. In 2017, the company won 20 contracts to produce electrical powertrain systems, valued at a total of 4 billion euros. Bosch expects the mass market for electric vehicles to take off from 2020, and aims to be a leading player in that market. Bosch is also making significant progress in the transition to automated driving. As early as 2019, the company expects to generate sales of 2 billion with driver assistance systems. Bosch said it is growing faster than the market, which is forecast to grow 20 per cent this year. Since more automation means greater technical complexity, Bosch plans to offer all-in-one solutions, not just discrete components, in future. Some 4,000 engineers are working for Bosch on automated-driving solutions, 1,000 more than a year ago. Connected mobility is another market in which Bosch expects to generate significant business. The value of this market is forecast to reach 140 billion worldwide by 2022. By 2025, there will be more than 450 million connected vehicles on the worlds roads. Bosch has also entered the ridesharing business through its acquisition of the US start-up Splitting Fares (SPLT). Bosch has brought SPLT and over 20 other mobile service providers together in its new Connected Mobility Solutions division. They include the COUP e-scooter sharing service, which will soon to expand its business to Madrid, Spain. Boschs Mobility Solution sales revenue increased by 7.8 per cent (9.4 per cent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects) to 47.4 billion. The margin from operations was 7.3 per cent, or one percentage point higher than in the previous year. In the consumer goods business sector, sales revenue rose 4.5 per cent (or 6.7 per cent taking exchange-rate effects into account) to 18.4 billion. The margin from operations was 8.1 per cent. The Industrial Technology business sector sales revenue increased by 7.8 per cent (or by 9.2 per cent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects) to 6.8 billion euros. The margin from operations was 3.3 per cent, up 2.1 percentage points on the previous year. The Energy and Building Technology business sector achieved sales of 5.4 billion, which represents an increase of 4.1 per cent (or 5.8 per cent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects). The margin from operations was 4.4 per cent. Sales revenue from European operations rose 5.6 per cent (or 6.6 percent taking exchange-rate effects into account) to 40.8 billion in 2017, as the company benefited from the recovery of important western European markets and the good economic developments in Germany. Sales revenue from eastern European countries such as Russia, Romania, and Turkey also increased significantly. Strong growth was also reported in Asia Pacific, including Africa. Sales revenue increased by 13.5 per cent (16.5 per cent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects) to 23.6 billion. After adjusting for exchange-rate effects, the groups sales revenue in North America remained on the previous years level. Due to lower output in the automotive sector and negative exchange-rate effects, sales revenue dropped by a nominal 2 per cent to 12.1 billion. In South America, by contrast, sales revenue increased substantially, rising 16.4 per cent (13.2 per cent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects) to 1.6 billion. As of end-December 2017, the Bosch Group had around 402,000 associates worldwide. This represents a year-on-year increase of 12,900. The Bosch Group Bharti Infratel, Indus Towers to merge in a $20-bn deal The board of Bharti Airtel Ltd formally approved the merger of Indus Towers Ltd with Bharti Infratel Ltd in a deal that would create a Rs1,32,416-crore ($19.85 billion) tower giant the largest tower company outside China. The deal, which values Indus Towers at an enterprise value of Rs71,500 crore ($10.8 billion), also will be control over one-third of the tower industry in India. It will also have a market share of close to 35 per cent. The deal, which values Indus Towers at an enterprise value of Rs71,500 crore ($10.8 billion), also will be control over one-third of the tower industry in India. It will also have a market share of close to 35 per cent. The merger will create a pan-India tower company, with over 1,63,000 towers. The tenancy ratio the number of tenants, or operators who have put up their antennae on the towers for the merged entity will be close to 2.25 times, ahead of the industry average of nearly two The merger ratio for the deal will be 1,565 shares of Bharti Infratel for every one Indus Towers share, Bharti Airtel said in an exchange filing. Besides the economies of scale that will bring down the combined entitys capital expenditure, the merger would also help the company save close to Rs560 crore on account of dividend distribution of tax and other corporate expenditures. The Bharti-Indus deal values Vodafones shareholding at $4.3 billion. Vodafone will get 783.1 million new shares in combined Bharti-Indus entity. Bharti Infratel and Vodafone currently own 42 per cent each in Indus Towers while Idea Cellular group owns 11.15 per cent and US-based private equity firm Providence owns the remaining 4.85 per cent. The board evaluated two options one an offer for sale of significant stake in Bharti Infratel from a consortium of leading PE investors and the other a proposal for merger of Indus Towers into Bharti Infratel. The board after due deliberations approved the proposal for merger of Indus Towers into Bharti Infratel, said Bharti Airtel in statement to the exchanges. Bharti Infratels acquisition move comes amidst a scaling down of infrastructure operations by all three telecom service providers Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd. Bharti Airtel has so far sold 18.5 per cent stake in its tower arm Bharti Infratel in different tranches for close to Rs12,000 crore while, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular sold their own tower assets to ATC India for close to Rs7,850 crore earlier this year. Telecom service providers have been looking to cut their stake in tower business to fund their core operations. The merger of Infratel and Indus Towers will provide Idea Cellular an exit and will give Vodafone Group a chance to exit in future date by selling its shares in open market. Idea group has the option to sell its 11.15 per cent in Indus Towers, the proceeds of which can be used for the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Group. It also has the option to get 7.1 per cent stake in the new Bharti Infratel entity. Providence will receive new shares equivalent to 1.1 per cent in the combined entity between Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers. The remaining 3.35 per cent will either be sold to Bharti Infratel for cash or be converted into shares in the new entity. Vodafone will get 783.1 million shares in the net entity in exchange for its 42 per cent stake in Indus Towers. This is on the basis that the other parties sell their prior holdings in Indus Towers. Vodafone Group Plc, Idea Group and Providence Equity Partners have agreed to merge their holdings in Indus Towers into Bharti Infratel, creating a combined company that will be owned by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone with equal rights, the companies said in a joint statement. Pro forma for the transaction, the combined company's equity value will be Rs96,500 crore, they said. The deal is expected to close before 31 March 2019 and the combined company, which is to be named as Indus Towers Ltd, will be listed on stock exchanges. Bharti Airtel, which owns a 53.5-per cent stake in Bharti Infratel, said it will consider a strategic stake sale in Indus Towers post merger. The board of the combined company will have 11 members three each from Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, one from KKR or Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and four independents (including the chairman), the companies said. Bharti Airtels shareholding will be diluted from 53.5 per cent in Bharti Infratel currently to 37.2 per cent in the combined company. The Bharti Infratel-Indus deal is expected to close before 31 March 2019 and the combined company, which is to be named as Indus Towers Ltd, will be listed on stock exchanges. With over Rs25,300 crore ($3.8 billion) in revenues for the financial year ended 31 March 2018, the combined company will be well placed to invest on a national basis to satisfy the future demand from all telecom operators in India as they continue to densify their networks to support sustained data traffic growth and roll out new network technologies, the statement added. BMW says lessons from its seven-year-old i sub-brand and technology originally developed for its upcoming iNext model have allowed it to provide the new Concept iX3 with a new dimension in performance, operating range, weight and packaging. The new pure electric SUV, unveiled at the 2018 Beijing motor show, closely previews a new third-generation X3-based model being developed as a rival to the likes of the Telsa Model X, Audi e-tron quattro, Mercedes-Benz EQ C. The production version of the iX3 is planned to be the third pure electric model from the BMW Group, following on from the recently facelifted i3 and an upcoming production version of last years Mini E concept due out in 2019. It is planned to go on sale in Australia in 2020, preceding the launch of a production version of the Vision Efficient Dynamics sedan revealed at the 2017 Frankfurt motor show featuring a similar powertrain that BMW chairman, Harald Kruger, says is due out in 2021. The styling of the Concept iX3 leans heavily on the standard X3. Among the unique design elements serving to differentiate it from existing petrol and diesel versions of the third-generation SUV is a newly styled grille, re-profiled bumpers, aerodynamically optimized wheels shod with low rolling resistance tyres, subtle additions to the sills and a new rear diffuser element. At the heart of the Concept iX3 is a newly developed electric powertrain. Mirroring the unit set to be adopted by the production version of the new SUV due out next year, it combines the German car makers fifth-generation electric motor with fourth-generation battery cells supplied by Samsung. Mitsubishi will offer the Outlander in India with a petrol engine and there will be no diesel option. The SUV will be available in India in only one fully-loaded trim. The new Mitsubishi Outlander will be available in a 7-seater configuration and will be loaded with premium features. The new Mitsubishi Outlander will draw power from a 2.4-litre MIVEC petrol engine producing 164bhp and 222Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a 6-speed CVT gearbox. The Outlander will be equipped with Mitsubishi's Super-All Wheel Control (S-AWC) AWD system and multiple driving modes. The interior of the new Mitsubishi Outlander will feature a 6.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system, leather seats, leather gear shift knob, dual-zone climate control and 710W sound system. The interior will be premium and will also feature an electric sunroof and electric parking brake. Other prominent features of the new Mitsubishi Outlander include LED headlamps with LED daytime running lights, LED fog lights, heated mirrors, LED tail light cluster and 16-inch alloy wheels. All the features will be standard as only one trim will be offered. The new Mitsubishi Outlander also comes with a host of safety features such as seven airbags, ABS with EBD, brake assist, active stability control and hill-start assist. As mentioned earlier, all the safety features will be standard as the India-spec model is a fully-loaded variant. The Outlander will be offered with seven colour options: Black Pearl, Cosmic Blue, Orient Red, Cool Silver, White Solid, White Pearl and Titanium Grey. The last-gen Outlander was discontinued in India due to the poor sales which was a result of the lack of a diesel model. Thoughts On The New Mitsubishi Outlander Mitsubishi is all set to launch the new Outlander in India in the coming days and the company has commenced the bookings for the SUV. But with the lack of a diesel engine, Mitsubishi might face the same result as with the last-gen model. Expect the Mitsubishi Outlander to be priced around Rs 30 lakh ex-showroom. Scientists found record levels of microplastics in Arctic sea ice, a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications revealed. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) sampled ice from five Arctic Ocean regions and found up to 12,000 microplastic particles per liter (approximately 1.06 liquid quarts) of ice, an AWI press release reported. "It suggests that microplastics are now ubiquitous within the surface waters of the world's ocean," British Antarctic Survey sea ice physicist Dr. Jeremy Wilkinson, who was not part of the research team, told The Independent Tuesday. "Nowhere is immune," he said. In addition to assessing the quantity of plastic particles in the ice, the researchers were also able to determine where they came from. They found that ice flows driven by Pacific Ocean water in the Canadian Basin contained high amounts of polyethylene, which is used in packaging. They hypothesized that these particles had originated in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. However, they also found local sources of plastic pollution in Siberian ice, such as paint chips from ships and nylon from fishing nets. "These findings suggest that both the expanding shipping and fishing activities in the Arctic are leaving their mark," the study's lead author Dr. Ilka Peeken said in the release. Overall, researchers found 17 types of plastic over the course of three expeditions on the research icebreaker Polarstern. In addition to packaging, paint and nylon, another major plastic source was cellulose acetate, which is used to make cigarette filters. In order to assess whether sea ice was transporting plastic, scientists collected samples from five areas along the Transpolar Drift that moves sea ice formed on the Siberian shelves to the Fram Strait between Norway and Greenland. They concluded that ice does temporarily store plastic and transports it to the North Atlantic via the Fram Strait. "The sea ice binds all this plastic litter for two to a maximum of eleven yearsthe time it takes for ice floes from the marginal seas of Siberia or the North American Arctic to reach the Fram Strait, where they melt," Peeken said. Once the ice melts, researchers did not know if the plastic stayed in the Arctic or traveled further south. A graphic from the study showing a) the locations samples were taken from and the ocean currents (blue arrows indicate Pacific water), b) the particle load of microplastics (MP) per core sample, c) the percentage of various plastic types in each sample, and d) the ice cores' drift trajectory. Nature Communications Peeken said that one major concern raised by the study was what impact the microplastics in the ice would have on marine life. "During our work, we realized that more than half of the microplastic particles trapped in the ice were less than a twentieth of a millimetre wide, which means they could easily be ingested by arctic microorganisms like ciliates, but also by copepods," Peeken said. As the 2018 climate talks kick off under the auspices of the UN next week, "business unusual" must be the mantra delegations need heard resoundingly in Bonn, said the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Speaking ahead of the start of the meeting, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF's global climate and energy programme leader, said the window of opportunity to keep global temperature rise below 1.5C is fast closing. "It will take an unprecedented effort by governments, non-Party actors and people to keep global temperature rise to below 1.5C. That's why 2018 has to be the year we step up our climate action. We can no longer afford to keep doing things at the pace and scale we've been doing. Now we need 'business unusual' tactics to drastically scale up our efforts to reduce emissions," he said. The Talanoa Dialogue being championed by the Fiji presidency during this year's climate talks is important because it should inspire countries to look at new ways they can enhance their efforts, said Pulgar-Vidal. This is particularly critical as countries must agree to table revised national climate action plans with the UN by 2020 under the Paris agreement. The national decision-making processes to do so should start now. Pulgar-Vidal also highlighted the role of non-Party actors in contributing toward 'business unusual' action. Cities and business, among many others, are making incredible efforts to align themselves to the Paris agreement goals and we hope the momentum we are seeing, including for the Global Climate Action Summit, taking place in September in San Francisco, triggers deeper commitments from national governments. Already, more than 389 global companies have committed to take action and set science-based targets, he said. The entry into force of the Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol in January next year offers countries another opportunity to scale up action through targets to phase out super greenhouse gases and short-lived pollutants like hydrofluorocarbons. Another indication that countries are serious about their climate action ambitions would be if the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (called the Doha Amendment) could enter into force by COP24. It commits developed countries to reducing emissions in the period before 2020. "The strong take-up of these actions by countries in the coming months will send a clear signal that there is the necessary commitment by governments to step up and do more to reduce emissions," said Pulgar-Vidal. By Tim Radford Ethnic conflict linked to tragic episodes of civil war, waves of refugees and even the collapse of nation states could be made more likely by climate-related disasters. A team of European scientists say they can demonstrate, "in a scientifically sound way," a link between civil violence based on ethnic divisions and episodes of drought, intense heat or other climate-linked weather extremes. Syrian refugee camp. That climate change seems to be a factor in social collapse is now fairly firmly established. Researchers have identified evidence of prolonged drought that preceded the collapse of Assyrian and Bronze Age civilizations in prehistory. And they have also made a connection between the worst drought in almost a thousand years in the Middle East and the continuing humanitarian tragedy of modern Syria. Repeated Warnings There have also been repeated warnings that, without concerted international action, global temperatures driven by rising greenhouse gas emissions could rise to make life almost intolerable in regions already increasingly insecure. The latest finding carries lessons for a planet that has yet to confront the demands of climate change. Researchers who looked at the patterns of political disturbance and climate-related events weren't especially concerned with climate change: They were looking for connections. And they found one: a demonstrable probability that inter-ethnic divisions could be brought to flashpoint by extended periods of drought. They report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that in the study period of 1980 to 2010, almost a quarter of all armed conflict in ethnically-divided societies could be connected to extremes of heat or drought. "Although we do not report evidence that climate-related disasters act as direct triggers of armed conflicts, the disruptive nature of these events seems to play out in ethnically-fractionalized societies in a particularly tragic way," they concluded. "This observation has important implications for future security policies as several of the world's most conflict-prone regionsincluding North and Central Africa, as well as Central Asiaare exceptionally vulnerable to anthropogenic climate change and are characterized by deep ethnic divides." The scientists matched data from the reinsurance group Munich Rewhich for decades has been recording disaster-related economic damage on a national levelwith records of armed conflict. They then used a mathematical method of coincidence event analysis to see whether a pattern emerged. And even without any accounting for climate change, there it was: a connection between ethnic bloodshed and climate calamity. Enhancing Risk Study leader Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, scientific adviser at the Berlin think tank Climate Analytics and researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), said: "Climate disasters are not directly triggering conflict outbreak, but may enhance the risk of a conflict breaking out that is rooted in context-specific circumstances. As intuitive as this might seem, we can now show this in a scientifically sound way." His co-author, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of PIK, said: "Armed conflicts are among the biggest threats to people, killing some and forcing others to leave their home and maybe flee to far-away countries. Hence, identifying ethnic divide and natural disasters as enhancing destabilization risks is potentially quite relevant. "Human-made climate change will clearly boost heatwaves and regional droughts. Our observations, combined with what we know about increasing climate-change impacts, can help security policy to focus on risk regions. "So our study adds evidence of a very special co-benefit of climate stabilization: peace." (Photo: Albin Hillert)Global Christian Forum Secretary Larry Miller (center) presents past (Huibert van Beek), present and future (Rev. Casely Essamuah) secretaries of the GCF on April 24, 2018 the opening day of the third Global Gathering of the Global Christian Forum, in Bogota, Colombia. The third Global Gathering of the Global Christian Forum, the world's most diverse high-level leadership grouping in global Christianity has begun in Bogota, Colombia. An opening prayer service on April 24 included scriptures read in Arabic, Spanish and English and French; music combined the soft chants of the ecumenical Taize and traditional Latin sounds of pan pipes, percussion and guitar. It is the first GCF global gathering in the Americas and the first in a Spanish-speaking ntion gathering under the theme "Let mutual love continue" (Heb.13:1), from the epistle to the Hebrews. World Council of Churches General Secretary, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit told participants that the GCF is remarkable in building trust among participants and opening ways for new forms of cooperation. The director of the WCC's Faith and Order Commission Rev. Odair Pedroso Mateus delivered a message from Tveit on 24 April, the opening day of the forum gathering. Tveit said that in August 1998, before the WCC's Harare assembly a group of 28 "visionary and committed people" met at the Ecumenical Institute at Chateau de Bossey, near Geneva to develop a proposal for a "forum of Christian churches and ecumenical organizations". They represented the WCC, Christian world communions, regional ecumenical organizations, national councils of churches, international ecumenical organizations, and churches that were not associated with ecumenical structures from Evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic traditions. FELLOWSHIP IN CHRIST "They recognized that fellowship in Christ transcends membership in a fellowship of churches such as the WCC," said Tveit. The WCC general secretary said that the effect of the GCF has resulted in "notably improved" and more extensive relations and cooperation between church partners that had few or difficult relations before. In his message, Tveit outlined the development of the WCC in the GCF noting, that GCF's trust building among its participants has enabled the opening of new forms of cooperation. The WCC general secretary said that the trust had "notably improved" and there were more extensive relations and cooperation between partners that had "few or difficult relations before". Bishop Efraim Tendero, Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance, also sent his greetings to the participants of the GCG gathering. Delivered by Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, WEA Associate Secretary General for Theological Concerns, Tendero expressed his appreciation for the GCF, describing it as "a precious gift from God to all of us at the WEA." He reaffirmed WEA's support for its continuation into the future. Serving a constituency of some 600 million evangelicals around the world in 129 nations, WEA is one of the founding members of the GCF and is considered one of the four "pillar organizations" together with the Vatican, the World Council of Churches and the Pentecostal World Fellowship. The third GCF Global Gathering is taking place April 23 28 and it is bringing together some 250-300 church leaders reflecting the breadth and depth of world Christianity. MEETING IN TIRANA, ALBANIA One of the most significant recent gatherings of the GCF was held in Tirana, Albania on the topic of discrimination, persecution, and martyrdom where there were prayers and solidarity in the face of religious persecution. There was also an expression of apologies and repentance for times when Christians of different traditions have persecuted each other. "We saw the GCF's unique effectiveness in bringing together believers of many traditions at the powerful 2015 Tirana conference on the persecution of Christians. "The GCF has helped us raise worldwide awareness of this crucial concern. It has enabled us to achieve consensus and collaboration on key issues while providing a platform for us to openly discuss sensitive matters, such as the current GCF process on proselytism," Tendero noted. He acknowledged the leadership transition taking place at this year's gathering in Bogota with Rev. Larry Miller handing over the role of GCF Secretary to Rev. Casely Essamuah, a Ghanaian evangelical pastor who has served in the United States for the past 13 years. The gathering of the Global Christian Forum represents the broadest expression world Christianity, with leaders coming from all streams of the Christian faith. This includes churches from African Independent, Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical, holiness, independent, mega, Orthodox, Pentecostal and Protestant churches. The search for closer understanding and joining in common challenges across the broad spectrum of Christian faith, comes at a time when global forces of division, mistrust and retreat from connection and community is occurring in across the world. GCF Secretary, Larry Miller said the gathering will be "testimonial, relational and missional". This will be reflected in the time given to sharing in faith discussion across traditions and inter-ecclesial groups, focussing on future common challenge together. Participation in the conference is based on a 50:50 ratio between leaders of 'older' churches (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant) and 'younger' churches (Evangelical, Pentecostal, independent). The GCF says it as a forum is a safe space for Christian faith to be shared across traditions. It does not seek to be an organisation or to replace other ecclesial bodies. Participants are drawn together for discussion, prayer and to explore common challenges. (Photo: Courtesy Global Christian Forum)Dr. Casely Essamuah Maryland-based, Ghanaian-born Dr. Casely Essamuah has .been selected as the next Secretary of the Global Christian Forum which brings together traditional ecumenical, evangelical and Pentecostal churches. After a February meeting at the Taize Community in France, the Global Christian Forum Committee said on Feb. 12 Essamuah was chosen to serve in the central role of its Secretary, the person who leads the alliance of Christians on a daily basis. Essamuah will take up the position on July 1, following the retirement of the Rev. Larry Miller, a Mennonite, who has led the GCF for the last six years, the forum said in a statement. Originally ordained in the Methodist Church, Ghana, Essamuah has worked for the last 13 years as Global Missions and Local Outreach Pastor of the Bay Area Community Church, Annapolis, MD in the United States. Essamuah describes himself as "evangelical and ecumenical." Coming originally from Africa and now ministering in North America, he views himself as a "bridge-builder" between the churches in the global North and global South. "In a time when the majority of the world's Christians now live in the southern hemisphere, creating new tensions and challenges in the life of world Christianity, Dr. Casely Essamuah is uniquely equipped to serve the cause of unity in the global body of Christ in the role of Secretary of the Global Christian Forum," said Rev. Wes Granberg-Michaelson, co-chair of the Search Committee. The Global Christian Forum brings together leadership from all streams of world Christianity. It including the full support of the four primary global church bodies, namely, the World Council of Churches, the World Evangelical Alliance, the Pontifical Council for Church Unity (Catholic Church), and Pentecostal World Fellowship. Dr Essamuah said his initial reaction to his appointment was one of "humility and surprise". "I thought I would never come this far in the process, and had to come to a place of surrender: if this is what the Lord wants me to do with my life, I found myself saying, 'I'm ready to do it'." Rev. Nicta Lubaale, the other co-chair of the Search Committee, said, "From 27 highly qualified candidates, and among seven candidates called for personal interviews, Casely Essamuah emerged as our unanimous choice through a process of discernment that was inspiring to us all." He received his Th.D. from the School of Theology at Boston University in 2003 and has written a book titled, "Genuinely Ghanaian: History of the Methodist Church Ghana, 1960-2000." Essamuah will be presented as "Secretary elect" to the third global gathering of the GCF, which occurs in Bogota, Colombia April 24-27, 2018. http://www.globalchristianforum.org/bogota.ht Teachers across the state of Arizona will walk out on Thursday in the first-ever statewide strike to press for higher salaries and school funding. The walkout is set for April 26, following three days of school walk-ins this week. Walk-ins are meant to be a nondisruptive way for parents and community members to join educators before or after school hours to show their support. There were about 57,000 votes cast by school employees across the state, and 78 percent voted yes to the strike. The announcement was made by both Arizona Education Association officials and organizers of the teacher-led Facebook group Arizona Educators United, which has about 45,000 members. Social media has been a driving force for this wave of teacher activism in Arizona. See Also How much do teachers make? A primer on teacher salaries, raises, performance pay, pensions, Social Security benefits, and health-care premiums. This is undeniably and clearly a mandate for action, said Joe Thomas, the president of the state teachers union. He added that educators were demanding actionmore school funding and a teacher pay raisefrom the state legislature and the governor. Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, has said he will urge the state legislature to pass a 20 percent pay raise for teachers. But many educators have remained skeptical of the plan, questioning where the money will come from. The states Parent Teacher Association has pulled its support from Duceys plan, calling it financially unsustainable. However, the Arizona School Boards Association and the Association of School Business Officials still support the plan. In a series of tweets, Ducey said he was committed to making sure the teacher pay raise passed the legislature. No one wants to see teachers strike, he said. If schools shut down, our kids are the ones who lose out. Noah Karvelis, a music teacher and an organizer of Arizona Educators United, told reporters that he didnt want to put any limitations on how long the walkout would last. Were truly in a state of crisis right now, he said, referencing crumbling public school infrastructure, broken desks, and outdated textbooks. The voting took place over three days, after a series of peaceful demonstrations and electrifying protests calling for better pay and more school funding. Arizona teachers, on average, make about $48,000 a yearabout $10,000 less than the national average. Teachers in Oklahoma recently concluded a nine-day walkout, as did West Virginia teachers last month. West Virginia teachers received a 5 percent pay raise after their strike. Oklahomas walkout ended on a more mixed note: Teachers received a $6,100 pay raise and some additional funding for schools, but legislators refused to bend to the teachers demands in full. In Arizona, striking is illegal for teachers, according to a 1971 opinion by the states attorney general at the time. Teachers could be fired or have their teaching licenses revoked. But according to the Arizona Daily Star, the superintendent of the Tucson Unified districtthe largest in the statesaid teachers wont lose their jobs if they strike. This is not a confrontation, Gabriel Trujillo told reporters. The #RedForEd movement and our teachers have been wonderful. Theyve exhibited great leadership in this movement, and certainly we dont view any of their actions as anti-Tucson Unified School District. New York U.S. 4th graders performed surprisingly well on a new international test of online reading ability, outperforming their peers in 10 of the 15 other educational systems that participated. We were actually elated, said Peggy G. Carr, the associate commissioner for assessment at the National Center for Education Statistics, during a discussion of the results at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association, held here this month. I think its very clear that our students are more savvy than many of us have given them credit for, Carr said. The findings come from the first administration of ePIRLS, a new version of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. The new assessment of online reading ability was taken in 2016 by 85,000 4th graders around the world, including 4,100 students in 153 U.S. public and private schools. The ePIRLS exam asks students to navigate a simulated internet environment"including web pages, tabs, and hyperlinks directing them to a mix of text, photos, charts, and interactive animationsin order to find and understand relevant information. The new assessment comes amid much hand-wringing about students ability to effectively read on the internet, where concerns about everything from digital distractions to fake news are prevalent. Outside experts expressed cautious optimism about the results. But they also emphasized the exams limitations, as well as disparities in achievements among different groups of students. ePIRLS provides an important early attempt to evaluate online reading of informational text for learning, said Donald Leu, an education professor and the director of the New Literacies Research Lab at the University of Connecticut. It does not fully represent online reading, however. A Familiar Achievement Gap The ePIRLS is a new supplement to a broader international assessment of 4th graders reading literacy. The PIRLS assessment aims to gauge how students are making the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. The exam has been administered every five years since 2001. Overall, the results of that exam suggest that the general reading ability of U.S. 4th graders has declined slightly, even as other coun tries have improved. The new ePIRLS exam is not intended to use computers to measure the same reading skills as the traditional assessment. Instead, it reflects the belief among literacy experts that reading online requires its own unique set of skills. Rather than identify the theme of a literary passage, for example, the ePIRLS asks students to integrate information from across a mix of web pages and interactive online elements. Problems on the test are structured as class projects. Students interact with an avatar who guides them through a series of tasksfor example, searching curated web pages for information about Mars, then answering questions about NASAs Rover explorer by navigating an interactive animation. Overall, the average score for U.S. 4th graders on the exam was 557 out of 1,000. About 18 percent of those students scored advanced (625 or better) on the exam, and 38 percent scored high. Familiar achievement gaps also showed up in the U.S. ePIRLS results. On average, girls scored higher than boys. Asian and white students scored higher than their black and Hispanic peers. And students in lower-poverty schools scored better than students in higher-poverty schools. The top performing international school systems on the ePIRLS exam were Singapore, Ireland, and Norway. Test has Limitations Researchers also found that 4th graders seemed to enjoy taking the new test. Students seem to be more engaged interacting with the [ePIRLS] assessment than with traditional paper-and-pencil exams, said Carr of NCES. But while there was some cause for enthusiasm, outside experts remained skeptical. Leu of the University of Connecticut said the performance of U.S. students likely does not demonstrate a level of performance adequate to be fully successful in learning during online inquiry. Among the limitations of the ePIRLS exam is that the online texts students are asked to read are pre-selected for them and presented at an age-appropriate reading level, effectively filtering out much of the messiness and complexity of the actual internet. In addition, Leu said, students are not asked to use a search engine to locate useful online information, nor are they asked to evaluate the reliability of material that is available on the open internet. He described such skills as essential to real-life online reading. Leu also noted that previous studies have shown that students of all ages struggle with important skills not measured by ePIRLS, including evaluating the reliability and credibility of online informationa growing concern in the age of misinformation, fake news, and internet hoaxes and conspiracy theories. Jill Castek, an associate professor of teaching, learning, and sociocultural studies at the University of Arizona, said the achievement gaps in ePIRLS results are a cause for concern, too. Of particular note, Castek said, is that students who reported the greatest access to digital devices in their homes scored significantly higher on the exam than those with lesser access. The ways students reported using computers in school also seems to matter: Using devices to prepare reports was associated with higher achievement, while using devices to read information on the internet was not. I worry that looking only at [the high-level] results makes it seem like were doing more in school to support good online reading than we really are, Castek said. And those things we are doing well, were not doing well with all students. Both PIRLS and ePIRLS are conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, based in the Netherlands. The next administration is scheduled for 2021. Beginning in 2019, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, commonly referred to as the nations report card, will begin incorporating some ePIRLS-style tasks intended to measure students online-reading skills. Teaching is not what someone does if they dont have the skills for a high-powered career in corporate America. As someone who has worked in both worlds, I know that being an educator is a calling that helps a country develop and defines the character of its citizens. Character is what gives educators in Arizona, who voted yes earlier this month to the first statewide teacher strike in the states history, the ability to stand confident in the face of fear and determine their best course of action. I am a high school teacher in Phoenix, and I have closely watched the events around teacher pay unfold. Arizona is the latest in a string of statesKentucky , Oklahoma , and West Virginia among themwhose teachers are walking out of schools to demand higher salaries and more funding and respect for education. The headlines have provoked political agendas, economic turmoil, and views that teachers actions will inconvenience parents and that they do not have students best interests at heart. What those who criticize teachers choices dont realize is that the underlying support structure to the survival of our country is its educatorsand they cannot continue to put up with current conditions. Drastic action is in order. I, like many of our teachers, am tired of expectations that I will remain silent and accept the trickle-down crumbs from the table of our state legislature." The experience I bring to my students as a teacher of career-and-technical education was hard-earned over a period of 30 years in corporate America. When I was a software engineer and developer, no one thought twice about my $750 hourly rates to write programs or perform system analysis for large corporations. My students now leave my classroom well-qualified to enter college or careers as network administrators, cyber-security technicians, or information-technology support staff. The average starting salaries for these jobs are anywhere from $60,000 to $90,000. Yet, my salary as an expert educator does not even come close, even with three decades of work experience. We Arizona teachers make, on average, $48,000 a yearthats about $10,000 less than the national teacher average. The state governor has promised that he will encourage the legislature to give teachers a 20 percent raise by 2020. But were skepticaland we cant wait. I, like many of my colleagues in Arizona, am tired of expectations that I will remain silent and accept the trickle-down crumbs from the table of our state legislature. On the contrary, I am fighting for our collective dignity and joining thousands of others in the walkout. What would happen if teachers with my kind of skill set stopped teaching the technology experts of tomorrow? Where would we be if we had no online systems for defense? When our elected officials put themselves in a position of elitism and superiority, I believe they have forgotten how they acquired their skills and abilities that got them to their elected positions in the first place. See Also Want to know more about how teachers strikes have changed over time? Wonder if striking is legal in your state? Weve compiled the answers to four common questions about teacher strikes. Educators across our nation deserve the right to have affordable living conditions and equitable working conditionsones in which rats dont fall through the ceilings and electrical outlets dont shock teachers. (Both of these things have happened to me.) No Fortune 500 company would put up with these conditions. We shouldnt have to, either. Yes, I could return to the corporate community and make two to three times the amount of money I make now. But I believe I am making a difference in the lives of my students by helping them develop the skills and abilities to be tomorrows technology experts. Teachers turn unbelievers into believers, fearfulness into hope, and dreams into reality. I ask you, America: What price are we willing to pay to accomplish this? Page Content The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) is expected to take a vote representing provisional agreement on the proposed Regulation for the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) later today. Voting is scheduled to start at 11am CET. The key function of ETIAS is to check information submitted by visa-exempt third country nationals, via an online application ahead of their arrival at EU external borders, and see if they pose certain risks for irregular migration, security or public health. This will be done by automatically processing each application submitted against other EU information systems and a dedicated ETIAS watchlist whilst respecting clearly defined screening rules. This examination will help determine that there are no factual indications or reasonable grounds to prevent a travel authorisation from being issued. A livestream of the LIBE Committee meeting can be followed here. Furter information on ETIAS: NEW YORK April 25, 2018 A new method for early and accurate breast cancer screening has been developed by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center, using commercially available technology. The researchers were able to isolate relevant data to more accurately identify breast cancer biomarkers using two different electronic nose gas sensors for breath, along with gas-chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to quantify substances found in urine. In their study published in Computers in Biology and Medicine, researchers detected breast cancer with more than 95 percent average accuracy using an inexpensive commercial electronic nose (e-nose) that identifies unique breath patterns in women with breast cancer. In addition, their revamped statistical analyses of urine samples submitted both by healthy patients and those diagnosed with breast cancer yielded 85 percent average accuracy. Breast cancer survival is strongly tied to the sensitivity of tumor detection; accurate methods for detecting smaller, earlier tumors remains a priority, says Prof. Yehuda Zeiri, a member of Ben-Gurion University's Department of Biomedical Engineering. Our new approach utilizing urine and exhaled breath samples, analyzed with inexpensive, commercially available processes, is non-invasive, accessible and may be easily implemented in a variety of settings. The study reports breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy among females and the leading cause of death around the world. In 2016, breast cancer accounted for 29 percent of all new cancers identified in the United States and was responsible for 14 percent of all cancer-related deaths. Mammography screenings, which are proven to significantly reduce breast cancer mortality, are not always able to detect small tumors in dense breast tissue. In fact, typical mammography sensitivity, which is 75 to 85 percent accurate, decreases to 30 to 50 percent in dense tissue. Current diagnostic imaging detection for smaller tumors has significant drawbacks: dual-energy digital mammography, while effective, increases radiation exposure, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is expensive. Biopsies and serum biomarker identification processes are invasive, equipment-intensive and require significant expertise. We've now shown that inexpensive, commercial electronic noses are sufficient for classifying cancer patients at early stages, says Prof. Zeiri. With further study, it may also be possible to analyze exhaled breath and urine samples to identify other cancer types, as well. ### Study contributors include: Ben-Gurion University biomedical engineering researchers Prof. Yehuda Zeiri, Or Herman-Saffar, Zvi Boger, and Raphael Gonen; Dr. Shai Libson, a surgeon in the Breast Health Center at Soroka; and Dr. David Lieberman, an associate professor in Ben-Gurion Universitys Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School, Faculty of Health Sciences. About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision: creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. As Ben-Gurion University of the Negev looks ahead to turning 50 in 2020, AABGU imagines a future that goes beyond the walls of academia. It is a future where Ben-Gurion U. invents a new world and inspires a vision for a stronger Israel and its next generation of leaders. Together with supporters, AABGU will help the University foster excellence in teaching, research and outreach to the communities of the Negev for the next 50 years and beyond. Visit vision.aabgu.org to learn more. AABGU, which is headquartered in Manhattan, has nine regional offices throughout the United States. For more information, visit http://www.aabgu.org For older adults, driving can mean living a more independent, satisfying life. Therefore, it's no surprise that about 86 percent of adults age 65 and older hold active driver's licenses, and many of us expect to drive for longer as we age. Car crashes can be devastating or even deadly for anyone, including older adults and other road users. However, the fatal crash rate based on the distance someone travels in a vehicle begins to rise at age 65. At the same time, when older adults stop driving due to health issues or other concerns, they may experience isolation and depression. They also may be more likely to enter long-term care facilities earlier than they otherwise would. Researchers have a history of studying driver safety in older adults after they've been diagnosed with dementia, a decline in memory and other mental abilities that make daily living difficult. However, we have limited knowledge about the effects on older drivers whose problems with mental abilities are less severe than those associated with dementia. Recently, a team of researchers designed a study to learn more about cognitive health and older drivers' crash risks. The study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. In this study, the researchers focused on links between levels of cognitive function and crash risk among older drivers without dementia over a 14-year study period. They also assessed the link between changes in cognitive function over time and later risks of crashes. The researchers used information from the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study, an ongoing study of adults aged 65 and older. The researchers linked ACT data from 2002 to 2015 to the Washington State crash database and to information from the Washington State Department of Licensing. ACT participants were tested for their ability to think and make decisions. Researchers followed 2,615 participants for an average of 6.7 years or until they dropped out of ACT, died, were diagnosed with dementia, or failed to renew their license. The researchers then looked at motor vehicle crashes involving ACT participants. They included all crashes resulting in injury, death, or property damage totaling at least $1,000. For older licensed drivers without dementia, lower levels of cognitive function were linked to a higher risk of motor vehicle crashes. Depression also was linked to a higher risk for crashes in older licensed drivers without dementia. The researchers noted that, unfortunately, there is not yet a widely accepted specific clinical exam, procedure, or lab test that can evaluate driving and crash risk related to cognitive function. The researchers concluded that older drivers with lower levels of cognitive function were somewhat more likely to be involved in a crash. These older drivers, their family members, and their healthcare providers must balance the benefits of independence, mobility, and social engagement with the potential for car crashes as they make decisions about whether an older person should continue to drive. ### With support from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the AGS Health in Aging Foundation offers a host of tools--including overviews, tip sheets, and check-lists--to help older adults and caregivers better understand driving safety and driving alternatives. For more information on assessing driving abilities or finding different transportation options when independent driving is no longer safe, click here. This summary is from "Cognitive decline and older driver crash risk." It appears online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The study authors are Laura A. Fraade-Blanar, PhD; Beth E. Ebel, MD, MSc; MPH; Eric B. Larson, MD MPH; Jeanne M. Sears, PhD; Hilaire J. Thompson, PhD, RN, ACNP-BC; Kwun Chuen G. Chan, PhD; and Paul K. Crane, MD, MPH. About the Health in Aging Foundation This research summary was developed as a public education tool by the Health in Aging Foundation. The Foundation is a national non-profit established in 1999 by the American Geriatrics Society to bring the knowledge and expertise of geriatrics healthcare professionals to the public. We are committed to ensuring that people are empowered to advocate for high-quality care by providing them with trustworthy information and reliable resources. Last year, we reached nearly 1 million people with our resources through HealthinAging.org. We also help nurture current and future geriatrics leaders by supporting opportunities to attend educational events and increase exposure to principles of excellence on caring for older adults. For more information or to support the Foundation's work, visit http://www.HealthinAgingFoundation.org. About the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Included in more than 9,000 library collections around the world, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) highlights emerging insights on principles of aging, approaches to older patients, geriatric syndromes, geriatric psychiatry, and geriatric diseases and disorders. First published in 1953, JAGS is now one of the oldest and most impactful publications on gerontology and geriatrics, according to ISI Journal Citation Reports. Visit wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/JGS for more details. About the American Geriatrics Society Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that has--for 75 years--worked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org. Today's shifting environmental conditions are creating an uncertain future for many top predators in marine ecosystems, but to protect the key habitat of a species, you first have to know where that habitat is and what threats might be affecting it. A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications looks at where New Zealand's endangered Westland Petrel forages during its breeding season and shows that its range overlaps more with trawl fishing activity than conservationists realized. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa's Susan Waugh and her colleagues outfitted 73 petrels with GPS loggers over the course of four breeding seasons to track where they went during their foraging trips in the Tasman Sea. The results show that the birds' core feeding areas were consistent from year to year, located within 250 kilometers of their breeding colonies and focused on highly productive areas where the seafloor is steeply sloped. These sites often overlap with areas of significant trawl fishing activity, and further data is needed to see whether this co-occurrence translates into bird mortality. The species is the tenth most at-risk species from the impacts of New Zealand commercial fishing, but it appears that its actual ranking may be even higher as a result of the finding that the species is exposed to more fisheries activity than was previously understood. "Our work on Westland petrels started in 2010, with a desire to understand how this species was faring demographically, as well as the key influences on it," says Waugh. "Our work highlights a key factor in the birds' ecology that has strong implications for conservation--these birds predictably use the same waters year in and year out, regardless of El Nino cycles, and they are therefore a great candidate for a marine protected area to create protection of their trophic relationships. We feel this Westland Petrel foraging data will provide a high-quality information source to help define key areas for marine conservation that will also provide protection for a whole suite of species." "A remarkable and important aspect of this study is that they performed this investigation during a six-year period, encompassing a variety of environmental conditions. Whatever the sex or the breeding stage considered, Westland Petrels consistently foraged in the same core areas from year to year," adds Christophe Barbraud of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, a seabird conservation expert who was not involved in the study. "Since these areas were also consistently and heavily used by trawl fisheries, these results call for the implementation of marine spatial management tools, such as marine reserves or restrictions and monitoring of interactions between individual Westland Petrels and trawl fisheries, to ensure the conservation of this endangered petrel species." ### Environmental factors and fisheries influence the foraging patterns of a subtropical seabird, the Westland Petrel (Procellaria westlandica), in the Tasman Sea will be available April 25, 2018, at http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1650/CONDOR-17-179.1 (issue URL http://www.bioone.org/toc/cond/120/2). About the journal: The Condor: Ornithological Applications is a peer-reviewed, international journal of ornithology. It began in 1899 as the journal of the Cooper Ornithological Club, a group of ornithologists in California that became the Cooper Ornithological Society, which merged with the American Ornithologists' Union in 2016 to become the American Ornithological Society. In 2016, The Condor had the number one impact factor among 24 ornithology journals. The elusive quantum mechanical phenomenon of entanglement has now been made a reality in objects almost macroscopic in size Perhaps the strangest prediction of quantum theory is entanglement, a phenomenon whereby two distant objects become intertwined in a manner that defies both classical physics and a "common-sense" understanding of reality. In 1935, Albert Einstein expressed his concern over this concept, referring to it as "spooky action at a distance". Nowadays, entanglement is considered a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, and it is the key resource for a host of potentially transformative quantum technologies. Entanglement is, however, extremely fragile, and it has previously been observed only in microscopic systems such as light or atoms, and recently in superconducting electric circuits. In work recently published in Nature, a team led by Prof. Mika Sillanpaa at Aalto University in Finland has shown that entanglement of massive objects can be generated and detected. The researchers managed to bring the motions of two individual vibrating drumheads - fabricated from metallic aluminium on a silicon chip - into an entangled quantum state. The objects in the experiment are truly massive and macroscopic compared to the atomic scale: the circular drumheads have a diametre similar to the width of a thin human hair. The team also included scientists from the University of New South Wales Canberra in Australia, the University of Chicago, and the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. The approach taken in the experiment was based on a theoretical innovation developed by Dr. Matt Woolley at UNSW and Prof. Aashish Clerk, now at the University of Chicago. 'The vibrating bodies are made to interact via a superconducting microwave circuit. The electromagnetic fields in the circuit are used to absorb all thermal disturbances and to leave behind only the quantum mechanical vibrations,' says Mika Sillanpaa, describing the experimental setup. Eliminating all forms of noise is crucial for the experiments, which is why they have to be conducted at extremely low temperatures near absolute zero, at -273 C. Remarkably, the experimental approach allows the unusual state of entanglement to persist for long periods of time, in this case up to half an hour. 'These measurements are challenging but extremely fascinating. In the future, we will attempt to teleport the mechanical vibrations. In quantum teleportation, properties of physical bodies can be transmitted across arbitrary distances using the channel of "spooky action at a distance",' explains Dr. Caspar Ockeloen-Korppi, the lead author on the work, who also performed the measurements. The results demonstrate that it is now possible to have control over large mechanical objects in which exotic quantum states can be generated and stabilized. Not only does this achievement open doors for new kinds of quantum technologies and sensors, it can also enable studies of fundamental physics in, for example, the poorly understood interplay of gravity and quantum mechanics. ### The experimental research was carried out at the OtaNano national research infrastructure for micro- and nanotechnologies in Finland, and was funded also by the European Research Council, the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, and by the Academy of Finland. Research article: C. F. Ockeloen-Korppi, E. Damskagg, J.-M. Pirkkalainen, A. A. Clerk, F. Massel, M. J. Woolley, M. A. Sillanpaa: 'Stabilized entanglement of massive mechanical oscillators'. Nature 556, 7702 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0038-x Contact information: Mika Sillanpaa, Professor Aalto University, Department of Applied Physics mika.sillanpaa@aalto.fi tel. +358 50 344 7330 (GMT +3) Matt Woolley, Senior Lecturer UNSW Canberra, School of Engineering and Information Technology m.woolley@unsw.edu.au tel. +61 434 731 519 (GMT +10) Aashish Clerk, Professor University of Chicago, Institute for Molecular Engineering aaclerk@uchicago.edu tel. +1 (773) 834 4568 (GMT -5) quantum theory is entanglement, a phenomenon whereby two distant objects become intertwined in a manner that defies both classical physics and a "common-sense" understanding of reality. In 1935, Albert Einstein expressed his concern over this concept, referring to it as "spooky action at a distance". Nowadays, entanglement is considered a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, and it is the key resource for a host of potentially transformative quantum technologies. Entanglement is, however, extremely fragile, and it has previously been observed only in microscopic systems such as light or atoms, and recently in superconducting electric circuits. In work recently published in Nature, a team led by Prof. Mika Sillanpaa at Aalto University in Finland has shown that entanglement of massive objects can be generated and detected. The researchers managed to bring the motions of two individual vibrating drumheads - fabricated from metallic aluminium on a silicon chip - into an entangled quantum state. The objects in the experiment are truly massive and macroscopic compared to the atomic scale: the circular drumheads have a diametre similar to the width of a thin human hair. The team also included scientists from the University of New South Wales Canberra in Australia, the University of Chicago, and the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. The approach taken in the experiment was based on a theoretical innovation developed by Dr. Matt Woolley at UNSW and Prof. Aashish Clerk, now at the University of Chicago. 'The vibrating bodies are made to interact via a superconducting microwave circuit. The electromagnetic fields in the circuit are used to absorb all thermal disturbances and to leave behind only the quantum mechanical vibrations,' says Mika Sillanpaa, describing the experimental setup. Eliminating all forms of noise is crucial for the experiments, which is why they have to be conducted at extremely low temperatures near absolute zero, at -273 C. Remarkably, the experimental approach allows the unusual state of entanglement to persist for long periods of time, in this case up to half an hour. 'These measurements are challenging but extremely fascinating. In the future, we will attempt to teleport the mechanical vibrations. In quantum teleportation, properties of physical bodies can be transmitted across arbitrary distances using the channel of "spooky action at a distance",' explains Dr. Caspar Ockeloen-Korppi, the lead author on the work, who also performed the measurements. The results demonstrate that it is now possible to have control over large mechanical objects in which exotic quantum states can be generated and stabilized. Not only does this achievement open doors for new kinds of quantum technologies and sensors, it can also enable studies of fundamental physics in, for example, the poorly understood interplay of gravity and quantum mechanics. The experimental research was carried out at the OtaNano national research infrastructure for micro- and nanotechnologies in Finland, and was funded also by the European Research Council, the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, and by the Academy of Finland. Research article: C. F. Ockeloen-Korppi, E. Damskagg, J.-M. Pirkkalainen, A. A. Clerk, F. Massel, M. J. Woolley, M. A. Sillanpaa: 'Stabilized entanglement of massive mechanical oscillators'. Nature 556, 7702 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0038-x Contact information: Mika Sillanpaa, Professor Aalto University, Department of Applied Physics mika.sillanpaa@aalto.fi tel. +358 50 344 7330 (GMT +3) Matt Woolley, Senior Lecturer UNSW Canberra, School of Engineering and Information Technology m.woolley@unsw.edu.au tel. +61 434 731 519 (GMT +10) Aashish Clerk, Professor University of Chicago, Institute for Molecular Engineering aaclerk@uchicago.edu tel. +1 (773) 834 4568 (GMT -5) ### Brief arousals during sleep - sometimes as many as ten to fifteen per night - appear random in time and occur in humans and even in animals. What is the origin of these arousals? Scientists from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, together with colleagues from Boston University, have discovered that brief arousals are probably triggered by the intrinsic electrical noise from wake-promoting neurons (WPN) in the brain. Their research, published in the journal Science Advances on April 25, reveals a previously unrecognized neurophysiological mechanism that links sleep arousals with temperature regulation, and may also provide an important new link between temperature and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). During sleep, WPN are suppressed by sleep promoting neurons. Nevertheless, Dr. Hila Dvir, lead co-author of the study from Bar-Ilan's Department of Physics, surmised that WPN still maintain a low level of activity, in the form of noise ("neuronal noise"). This neuronal noise is due to electrical fluctuations in the neuron voltage, which appear even without any input signal. For each neuron this noise is very low. However, since neurons are coupled to each other, the accumulated noise from many neurons can occasionally form a strong enough signal to activate WPN, causing a brief arousal. Neuronal noise is very much affected by body temperature, so if the temperature is high, neuronal noise is low and vice versa. Dvir and lead co-author Dr. Ronny Bartsch, of the Department of Physics, joined forces with Prof. Lior Appelbaum, of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, to test whether the temperature dependence of neuronal noise directly translates into a different arousal behavior in zebrafish. Zebrafish are the optimal species for such an experiment since their body temperature can be easily manipulated by water temperature. The researchers analyzed periods when the zebrafish were predominantly sleeping and determined sleep duration and number of arousals in varying water temperatures. They found that, indeed, an increase in water temperature led to fewer and shorter arousals. These experimental results were in excellent agreement with computer simulations that Dvir and Bartsch developed prior to the experiments, and which are based on a statistical physics model of the temperature dependent noise. "Because of this excellent agreement between model predictions and the experiment, we believe that sleep arousals can be attributed to the neuronal noise of wake-promoting neurons," says Bartsch. The findings of the study present a possible new link between temperature, sleep arousals and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the sudden, unexplained death during sleep of children under one year of age. Elevated room temperature, extensive crib bedding and prone sleeping position - all factors that contribute to higher body temperature - are known to increase the risk of SIDS. So far, the mechanism of why higher body temperature increases the risk of SIDS is unknown but neuronal noise and brief arousals could be a key. Since thermoregulation in young infants is not yet fully developed, their body temperature is highly affected by the environment/room temperature (similar to fish). "We think that SIDS can occur when as a result of higher temperature, neuronal noise levels and the associated probability for arousals are low," says Dvir. "In contrast, when the temperature is lower, an infant has higher neuronal noise level that yield more arousals during which the infant can change his position to help himself breath more freely or move a blanket that may be covering his face." ### The research was conducted in collaboration with Prof. Shlomo Havlin, of the Department of Physics at Bar-Ilan University, and Prof. Plamen Ivanov, of the Physics Department at Boston University. It was supported by a Shulamit Aloni Fellowship of the Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology and Space, the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation, the Israel Science Foundation, the German-Israeli Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the W.M. Keck Foundation and by a Marie Curie Fellowship. PITTSBURGH--Searches involving multiple websites can quickly get confusing, particularly when performed on a mobile device with a small screen. A new web browser developed at Carnegie Mellon University now brings order to complex searches in a way not possible with conventional tabbed browsing. The Bento browser, inspired by compartmentalized bento lunch boxes popular in Japan, stores each search session as a project workspace that keeps track of the most interesting or relevant parts of visited web pages. It's not necessary for a user to keep every site open to avoid losing information. "With Bento, we're structuring the entire experience through these projects," said Aniket Kittur, associate professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII). The projects are stored for later use, can be handed off to others, or can be moved to different devices. "This is a new way to browse that eliminates the tab overload that limits the usefulness of conventional browsers." Someone planning a trip to Alaska with a conventional browser, for instance, might create multiple tabs for each location or point of interest, as well as additional tabs for hotels, restaurants and activities. With Bento, users can identify pages they found useful, trash unhelpful pages and keep track of what they have read on each page. Bento also bundles the search result pages into task cards, such as accommodations, day trips, transportation, etc. The project could be shared with other people planning their own trips. Kittur's research team will present a report on their mobile web browser at CHI 2018, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, April 21-26 in Montreal, Canada. A research version of the Bento Browser for iPhones is available for download from the App Store. Mobile devices now initiate more web searches than do desktop computers. Yet the limitations of conventional browsers become more acute on mobile devices. Not only is screen size limited, but mobile users are more often interrupted and distracted and have more difficulty saving and organizing information, said Nathan Hahn, a Ph.D. student in HCII. In user studies that compared Bento with the Safari browser, users said they preferred Bento in cases where they wanted to continue a search later and wanted to pick up where they left off. They also said Bento kept their searches better organized. Though most participants found it easier to learn how to use Safari, they found Bento more useful for finding pages and believed that Bento made their mobile searches more effective. One goal was to design Bento to work in a way that complements the way the mind works. "If we get a lot of people using it, Bento could serve as a microscope to study how people make sense of information," Kittur said, noting people who use the research version are asked to consent to their searches becoming part of the research data. "This might lead to a new type of artificial intelligence," he added. Bento Browser is now a search app for iPhones, but its capabilities for organizing searches and helping people resume searches also could benefit people using desktop computers. To accommodate those users, Kittur's team is now preparing a Bento plug-in for the Chrome browser. Joseph Chee Chang, a Ph.D. student in CMU's Language Technologies Institute, also is part of the Bento team and a co-author of the CHI paper. More information is available at https://bentobrowser.com/. ### These novel telomere components are involved in the compaction of telomeric heterochromatin; TERRAs regulate the epigenetic state of telomeres by acting on the Polycomb 2 complex In 2008, the Telomeres and Telomerase Group led by Maria A. Blasco at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) was one of the first to discover TERRAs, long non-coding telomeric RNAs that are transcribed from telomeres are are part of the telomeric chromatin. Since then, this group has set out to decipher the function of these novel and still mysterious telomeric components. In a paper published now in Nature Communications, Maria A Blasco and her collaborators Juan Jose Montero and Isabel Lopez de Silanes, have taken an important step forward by discovering that TERRA play a decisive role in the assembly of telomeric heterochromatin. The authors discover that TERRAs are able to interact with components of the polycomb complex (PRC), an important epigenetic regulator of gene expression, and in this manner they facilitate the assembly of telomeric heterochromatin. In human cells, the majority of TERRAs are transcribed from the long arm of chromosome 20. "These are one of the newest telomere components, and at the moment there is very little information about what they do in vivo", says Blasco, director of this research. The discovery in 2016 by the CNIO team of the genomic origin of these RNAs in human cells allowed Blasco and her colleagues to first generate cells knock out for the TERRA locus and to demonstrate a role for TERRA in telomere protection and maintenance, but at the same time raised certain questions... "One of the questions we had was whether TERRAs deletion affected telomeric chromatin in any way, because we previously described that telomeric chromatin was enriched in heterochromatic marks that were important for telomere length regulation", explains Blasco. Epigenetic regulation of telomeric chromatin Telomeres are part of the heterochromatin or silenced chromatin. In the past, the Blasco Group has demonstrated that telomeres are enriched in histone trimethylation marks, which are characteristic of heterochromatin. The Group also showed that these marks were important negative regulators of telomere length and telomere recombination. To ascertain the possible relationship between TERRAs and telomeric chromatin, the authors studied telomere heterochromatin marks in cells deficient for TERRA. They found that in the absence of TERRA telomeres showed decreased heterochromatic marks, including loss of a histone mark which was not previously recognized at telomeres, H3K27 trimethylation, which is known to be catalysed by the Polycomb complex, a master regulator of gene silencing. They further demonstrated that TERRAs interact with components of the Polycomb complex, and that this interaction is important for establishment of telomeric heterochromatin. "Polycomb was known to be important for silencing certain genes and also for the correct compaction of large DNA structures, but so far, its function had not been associated with the epigenetic status of telomeres", explains Montero. "With this study, we show that Polycomb is important in the establishment of telomeric chromatin through interaction with TERRA", he adds. On the one hand, the relationship between TERRAs and Polycomb is interesting, since the Polycomb has been involved in many important physiological processes such as maintenance of stem cell identity and cell differentiation, as well as in cancer. On the other hand, telomeres are essential also for cancer and aging. "This finding is important to understand the biology of telomeres, but it is still too early to say whether TERRAs are related in some way with ageing and age-related diseases. We are generating mouse models without TERRAs in order to observe their function in normal development and in various pathologies", concludes Blasco. ### ITHACA, N.Y. - Ice mass loss in the Russian Arctic has nearly doubled over the last decade according to Cornell University research published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment. The research focused on Franz Josef Land, a glaciated Russian archipelago in the Kara and Barents seas - among the northernmost and most remote parcels of land on Earth. "Glaciers there are shrinking by area and by height. We are seeing an increase in the recent speed of ice loss, when compared to the long-term ice-loss rate," said lead researcher Whyjay Zheng, a Cornell University doctoral student in geophysics. "We are finding out that the ice is changing more rapidly than we previously thought," said Zheng. "The temperature is changing in the Arctic faster than anywhere else in the world." From 1953 to 2010, the average rate of ice surface loss was 18 centimeters per year. From 2011 to 2015, the ice surface decrease was 32 centimeters per year, which is a water loss of 4.43 gigatons annually, said Zheng. For perspective, that much water would raise the level of Cayuga Lake -- the longest of New York state's Finger Lakes, at 38 miles -- by 85 feet and inundate the cities of Ithaca and Seneca Falls. The Arctic has been warming in recent decades, but glaciers across the region are responding in different ways. "Previous studies have shown that the glaciers in northern Canada seem to be shrinking at a faster rate than the ones in some parts of northern Russia," said senior author Matt Pritchard, Cornell professor of geophysics. "Our work takes a closer look at the Russian glaciers to understand why they might be responding to a warming Arctic differently than glaciers in other parts of the Arctic. Why glaciers in Franz Josef Land have been shrinking more rapidly between 2011 and 2015 than in previous decades is possibly related to ocean temperature changes," said Pritchard. ### Support for Zheng's research was provided by an Overseas Ph.D. Scholarship funded by the Ministry of Education, Taiwan. Cornell University has television, ISDN and dedicated Skype/Google+ Hangout studios available for media interviews. Key takeaways: There was no difference in risk for adverse birth outcomes, including premature delivery and death of the newborn baby between three antiretroviral drug regimens taken by pregnant women with HIV: TDF-FTC-ATV/r, TDF-FTC-LPV/r, and ZDV-3TC-LPV/r Researchers recommend that use of TDF-FTC-LPV/r in pregnant women with HIV continue to be limited due to risks found by a previous study. Boston, MA - The risk for preterm birth and early infant death is similar for three antiretroviral drug regimens taken by pregnant women with HIV according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study will be published in the April 26, 2018 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Global use of three-drug antiretroviral therapy (ART) by pregnant women with HIV has reduced the risk of mother-to-child transmission of the virus to less than 1%, but an earlier trial, the PROMISE trial, had raised concerns about the safety of one regimen. In that trial, it was found that women in sub-Saharan Africa and India who took TDF-FTC-LPV/r (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, emtricitabine, and ritonavir-boosted lopinavir) had infants at greater risk for very premature birth (less than 34 weeks of gestation) and death within 14 days after delivery than those taking ZDV-3TC-LPV/r (zidovudine, lamivudine, and ritonavir-boosted lopinavir). Because the World Health Organization recommends a once-daily TDF-FTC-based regimen as first-line therapy for all HIV-infected adults, including pregnant women, the Harvard Chan researchers wanted to compare the risks posed by the two regimens studied in the PROMISE trial and an additional regimen using TDF-FTC and a different protease inhibitor (drug that prevents viral replication) called ATV/r (ritonavir-boosted atazanavir). The study analyzed data from 1,621 mothers in two U.S.-based cohort studies--the Surveillance Monitoring for ART Toxicities (SMARTT) study of the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS) and the P1025 study of the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network--who had started taking one of the three drug combinations before or during pregnancy. The researchers found that all three regimens pose similar risks for adverse birth outcomes. In addition, women using TDF-FTC-ATV/r had lower risks of preterm birth and low birth weight than those using TDF--FTC-LPV/r, and a similar or lower risk than those using ZDV-3TC-LPV/r. However, the authors noted that TDF-FTC-LPV/r is rarely used in the United States, which may have limited the statistical accuracy of the study to identify risks associated with this combination. "It was reassuring to see that the use of TDF-FTC-ATV/r during pregnancy was not associated with an increased risk of poor birth outcomes in our study," said first author Kathryn Rough, who conducted the study as a doctoral student at the School. "But based on the earlier results from the PROMISE trial, it may be wise to continue limiting the use of TDF-FTC-LPV/r in pregnant women with HIV." ### Other Harvard Chan researchers include George Seage, Paige Williams, Sonia Hernandez-Diaz, Yanling Huo, David Shapiro, and Kunjal Patel, the paper's senior author. The Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS) was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) with co-funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the Office of AIDS Research, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, through cooperative agreements with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HD052102) and the Tulane University School of Medicine (HD052104). Support for the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network was provided by the NIAID of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under award numbers UM1AI068632 (IMPAACT LOC), UM1AI068616 (IMPAACT SDMC), and UM1AI106716 (IMPAACT LC), with cofunding from the NICHD and the NIMH. Rough was additionally supported by grant number T32 AI007433 from the NIAID. "Birth Outcomes for Pregnant Women with HIV Using Tenofovir-Emtricitabine," Kathryn Rough, George R. Seage, III, Paige L. Williams, Sonia Hernandez-Diaz, Yanling Huo, Ellen G. Chadwick, Judith S. Currier, Risa M. Hoffman, Emily Barr, David E. Shapiro, and Kunjal Patel, NEJM, online April 26, 2018, doi: DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1701666 Visit the Harvard Chan School website for the latest news, press releases, and multimedia offerings. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health brings together dedicated experts from many disciplines to educate new generations of global health leaders and produce powerful ideas that improve the lives and health of people everywhere. As a community of leading scientists, educators, and students, we work together to take innovative ideas from the laboratory to people's lives--not only making scientific breakthroughs, but also working to change individual behaviors, public policies, and health care practices. Each year, more than 400 faculty members at Harvard Chan School teach 1,000-plus full-time students from around the world and train thousands more through online and executive education courses. Founded in 1913 as the Harvard-MIT School of Health Officers, the School is recognized as America's oldest professional training program in public health. An international team including researchers from King's College London have found physical activity can protect against the emergence of depression, regardless of age and geographical region. The researchers from Brazil, Belgium, Australia, USA, UK and Sweden pooled data from 49 unique cohort studies of people free from mental illness that examined if physical activity is associated with a decreased risk of developing depression. In total, 266,939 individuals were included, with a gender distribution of 47% males, and on average the individuals were followed up after 7.4 years. Once the data were extracted they found that compared with people with low levels of physical activity, those with high levels had lower odds of developing depression in the future. Furthermore, physical activity had a protective effect against the emergence of depression in youths, in adults, and in the elderly and across geographical regions, (in Europe, North America, and Oceania). Lead author Professor Dr Felipe Barreto Schuch, Universidade La Salle (Brazil), said, 'This is the first global meta-analysis to establish that engaging in physical activity is beneficial for protecting the general population from developing depression.' 'The evidence is clear that people that are more active have a lesser risk of developing depression. We have looked at whether these effects happen at different age groups and across different continents and the results are clear. Regardless your age or where you live, physical activity can reduce the risk of having depression later in life.' Co-author Dr Brendon Stubbs, Post-doctoral research physiotherapist, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London and Head of Physiotherapy, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, said, 'Our robust analysis of over a quarter of a million people found consistent evidence that people who are more active are less likely to develop depression in the future. We found that higher levels of physical activity were protective from future depression in children, adults and older adults, across every continent and after taking into account other important factors such as body mass index, smoking and physical health conditions. 'Given the multitude of other health benefits of physical activity, our data add to the pressing calls to prioritise physical activity across the lifespan.' Co-author Dr Simon Rosenbaum, Senior Research Fellow at UNSW Sydney and the Black Dog Institute, said, 'The challenge ahead is ensuring that this overwhelming evidence is translated into meaningful policy change that creates environments and opportunities to help everyone, including vulnerable members of our society, engage in physical activity'. Co-author Dr Joseph Firth, Research Fellow at NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University said, 'The compelling evidence presented here provides an even stronger case for engaging all people in regular physical activity; through schools, workplaces, leisure programs and elsewhere, in order to reduce the risk of depression across the lifespan.' Further studies are warranted to evaluate the minimum physical activity levels required and the effects of different types of activity and 'dosages' on subsequent risk for depression. ### The findings have been published today in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Dr Brendon Stubbs is supported in part by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) South London, where he is part of a team investigating ways to help people with severe mental illness to improve their physical health. Dr Stubbs is also partially funded by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. Scientists at King's College London are encouraging parents and carers to ensure even more rigorous protection of children against the harmful effects of the sun. The comments follow a study which has suggested that children may experience much more significant DNA damage from small amounts of sun exposure than adults. Published in the British Journal of Dermatology, the new study of 32 children under the age of 10 was undertaken at a 12-day summer camp in Poland. Children's skin types ranged from pale white skin that burns easily to olive skin that burns minimally. Researchers, led by Professor Antony Young at King's College London, measured levels of vitamin D alongside a urine biomarker of DNA damage that can lead to skin cancer, known as CPD, which is produced as a result of the skin repairing this damage. The scientists, in an EU funded collaboration with Professor Joanna Narbutt of the Medical University of Lodz, Poland and Dr Peter Philipsen of the Bispebjerg University Hospital in Copenhagen, measured exposure to UV rays via an electronic device on the wrist that absorbed the rays. Children filled in diaries with information about sunbathing, sunscreen use and sunburn. The study, found a 25% increase in average vitamin D concentrations in blood but measured nearly thirteen times more CPD on average at the end of the 12-day beach holiday in comparison to levels at the start. The final levels of CPD in the children were similar to those measured in Danish adults as part of a different study conducted by the same researchers which looked at sun exposure on a shorter holiday in Tenerife, despite the fact that the weather was not particularly sunny during the course of the children's summer camp. The NIHR-supported researchers think the results may suggest that either children are more sensitive to the damaging effects of the sun than even previously thought, or that they could be better at repairing the damage. Sun exposure is the main source of vitamin D, which is absolutely essential for healthy bone development in children. However, sunburn in childhood is a recognised risk factor for skin cancer in older age so researchers suggest that the findings support the need for a better understanding of the impact of UV rays on children, even in less sunny conditions. This is of concern because the incidence of skin cancer is increasing in most Western countries. 'Many parents are already very careful about protecting their children from the harmful impact of the sun,' commented the study's senior author, Professor Antony Young from the St John's Institute of Dermatology at King's College London, 'but it can be a confusing message when trying to balance this with the need for children to be healthy, exercise, play outside and produce sufficient levels of vitamin D.' 'Our study suggests that only small amounts of exposure to the sun are needed to ensure vitamin D sufficiency so we should make sure that children always have ample sun protection when playing outside for long periods. This should be in the form of sunscreen, clothing and hats and the use of shade, even when you may not judge the weather to be that sunny.' Nina Goad of the British Association of Dermatologists said: 'We would recommend that parents use a number of methods to prevent sun damage. The first line of defence for children should be protective clothing, such as hats, t-shirts, and sunglasses. In addition to this, it's important to make good use of shade between 11am and 3pm. 'You should bolster this protection with sunscreen. Look for one with a minimum SPF of 30 and good UVA protection. It should be applied 15 minutes before going outside and then again shortly after heading outdoors to cover any missed patches. Reapply it at least every two hours, and immediately after swimming, perspiring and towel drying or if it has rubbed off. 'If you are concerned about maintaining your family's vitamin D levels then the answer isn't to stop using sun protection, but consider options such as vitamin D supplements.' Another recent study by Professor Young's team, led by Dr Damilola Fajuyigbe from King's College London, suggested that people with very fair skin should be routinely using sunscreen products with a protection factor (SPF) of around 60 or more in order to reduce skin cancer incidence to the very low levels usually seen in people with dark brown or black skin. The scientists were examining the way in which melanin is distributed in different skin types and found that 70-80% of melanin in the skin was concentrated in the deepest layer (the basal layer that contains the crucial stem cells). For participants with black skin, who have higher overall concentrations of melanin, this equated to protection from DNA damage that was the equivalent of around SPF 60. ### CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Since the 1960s, researchers have been interested in the possibility of treating type 1 diabetes by transplanting islet cells -- the pancreatic cells that are responsible for producing insulin when blood glucose concentration increases. Implementing this approach has proven challenging, however. One obstacle is that once the islets are transplanted, they will die if they don't receive an adequate supply of oxygen. Now, researchers at MIT, working with a company called Beta-O2 Technologies, have developed and tested an implantable device that furnishes islet cells with their own supply of oxygen, via a chamber that can be replenished every 24 hours. "Getting oxygen to these cells is a difficult problem," says Clark Colton, an MIT professor of chemical engineering and the senior author of the study. "The benefits of this approach are: you keep the islets alive to perform their function, you don't need as much tissue, and you reduce the ability of the implants to provoke an immune response." Tests of these implants in rats showed that nearly 90 percent of the islets remained viable for several months, and most of the rats maintained normal blood glucose levels throughout that time. Yoav Evron of Beta-O2 Technologies is the lead author of the study, which appears in the April 25 issue of Scientific Reports. Protecting islets Type 1 diabetes occurs when a patient's own immune system destroys pancreas' islet cells, so the patient can no longer produce insulin, which is necessary for the body to absorb sugar from the bloodstream. Early attempts to treat patients by transplanting islets from cadavers were unsuccessful because the islets didn't survive after transplantation. One of the reasons the transplanted islets failed is that they were attacked by the patients' immune systems. To protect the transplanted cells, researchers have begun developing implants in which the islets are encapsulated in a material such as a polymer. However, a remaining challenge is making sure that the islets receive enough oxygen, Colton says. In a healthy pancreas, all islet cells come into contact with capillaries, allowing them to receive oxygen-rich blood, at an oxygen partial pressure of about 100 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). (Partial pressure is a measure of the concentration of an individual gas within a mixture of gases). When doctors first tried to transplant islets into diabetic patients, many of the cells did not have any direct contact with capillaries, so their oxygen supply was too low. Previous research in Colton's laboratory discovered that the outer surface of islets needs to be exposed to at least 50 mm Hg of oxygen to remain viable and produce insulin normally. Through a series of experiments, the MIT team, working with researchers at Beta-O2 Technologies, determined the operating conditions of the device needed for islets to stay alive and function for long periods of time while assembled in a compact form small enough to be implanted in human patients. In the device tested in the Scientific Reports paper, islets are encapsulated in a slab of alginate, a polysaccharide produced by algae, about 600 microns thick. A membrane on one side of slab keeps out immune cells and large proteins but allows insulin, nutrients, and oxygen through. Below the slab is the gas chamber, about 5 millimeters thick, which carries atmospheric gases such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide in addition to oxygen. Oxygen flows from the chamber, across the semipermeable membrane, and into the islets embedded in the alginate slab. As oxygen diffuses through the slab, it is gradually consumed, so the oxygen partial pressure continually drops. To ensure that the partial pressure remains at least 50 mm Hg for 24 hours, the researchers found that they needed to begin with an oxygen partial pressure of 500 mm Hg in the gas chamber. After 24 hours, the oxygen supply is replenished through a port -- a device implanted under the skin and connected to a catheter that leads to the encapsulated islets, which are also implanted under the skin. Long-term survival In tests in diabetic mice without immunosuppression, the researchers showed that nearly 90 percent of the islets survived the entire transplant period, which ranged from 11 weeks to eight months. They also found that most of these animals' blood sugar levels remained normal while the devices were implanted, then rebounded to diabetic levels after they were removed. Another benefit of this approach is that, because most of the islet cells remain alive, they are less likely to provoke an immune response. When cells die, they break down, and the resulting fragments of protein and DNA are more likely to attract the attention of the immune system. "By keeping the cells alive, you minimize the immune response," Colton says. Researchers at Beta-O2 Technologies are now working on new versions of the device in which an oxygen storage chamber is implanted below the skin, separate from the islets. This version would only need to be replenished once a week, which could be more appealing for patients. ### The research was funded, in part, by the Israeli Ministry of Sciences. In an advance that could shrink many measurement technologies, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and partners have demonstrated the first miniaturized devices that can generate desired frequencies, or colors, of light precisely enough to be traced to an international measurement standard. The researchers combined a pair of frequency combs, a tunable mini-laser and electronics to create an optical frequency synthesizer. The advance transfers the capability to program optical frequencies from tabletop-scale instruments to three silicon chips, while retaining high accuracy and precision. Just as radio and microwave chips powered the electronics revolution, the miniaturization of optical frequency synthesizers to make them portable and suited to high-volume fabrication should boost fields such as timekeeping, communications, trace gas monitoring and astronomy. The prototype synthesizer is described in the journal Nature, in a paper posted online April 25. Frequency combs are a Nobel-honored technology developed at NIST that are crucial to the latest experimental atomic clocks. "Nobody knew how to make an optical frequency synthesizer using little chips," NIST coauthor Scott Papp said. "This is the first breakthrough to show you can do this. Until now, no one's ever used a chip-scale frequency comb to do metrology that's fully traceable to an international standard." The project was led by NIST physicists in Boulder, Colorado, with one comb chip made at California Institute of Technology (Caltech in Pasadena, California) and the second comb chip made at NIST's Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (in Gaithersburg, Maryland.). The University of California at Santa Barbara developed a programmable semiconductor laser chip. Each of the three chips is about 5 millimeters by 10 millimeters. With further advances in materials and fabrication, the chips will likely be packaged together by one of NIST's partner institutions, Papp said. In a full-size tabletop frequency comb--typically assembled by hand from metal and glass components--laser light circulates inside an optical cavity, a specialized set of mirrors, to produce a set of equally spaced lines that looks like a hair comb in which each "tooth" is an individual color. In the chip-based versions, the cavities are flat, round racetracks that are fabricated on silicon using automated techniques similar to those used in making computer chips. The new optical synthesizer uses only 250 milliwatts (thousandths of a watt) of on-chip optical power-- much less than a classic, full-size frequency comb. The synthesizer output is the programmable laser, whose lightwave oscillations serve as optical clock ticks traceable to the SI second, the international standard of time based on the microwave vibrations of the cesium atom. The output laser is guided by the two frequency combs, which provide synchronized links between microwave and optical frequencies. Each comb is created from light emitted by a separate, single-color "pump" laser. The NIST comb is 40 micrometers (millionths of a meter) in diameter. This comb has wide spacing between the teeth but can calibrate itself by spanning an octave--which, as in music, refers to the interval between two notes that are half or twice the frequency of each other. This feature calibrates the synthesizer. The racetrack is a custom waveguide made of silicon nitride, which offers special properties that broaden the spectrum of light, concentrate the light in a small area to boost intensity, can be tuned through changes in geometry, and can be made like computer chips by lithographic techniques. The Caltech comb is physically larger, about 100 times wider and made of fused silica. But this comb's teeth are much finer and span a much narrower wavelength range--in the 1550-nanometer band used for telecommunications, the focus of the synthesizer demonstration. The spacing between the teeth is a microwave frequency that can be measured and controlled relative to the SI second. Through a digital mathematical conversion process, this fine-toothed comb identifies stable, accurate optical frequencies within the wider spacing of the calibrated NIST comb. Thus, the two combs function as a frequency multiplier to convert the clock ticks from the microwave to the optical domain while maintaining accuracy and stability. The research team demonstrated the system by synthesizing a range of optical frequencies in the telecom band and characterizing the performance with a separate frequency comb derived from the same clock. Researchers demonstrated the system architecture, verified the accuracy of the frequency synthesis, and confirmed that the synthesizer offered stable synchronization between the clock and the comb output. ### The research was funded in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The project is also part of a broader "NIST on a Chip" effort to make the instruments needed for NIST measurements and standards more portable, cost-efficient and suitable for mass production. Paper: D.T. Spencer, T. Drake, T.C. Briles, J. Stone, L.C. Sinclair, C. Fredrick, Q. Li, D. Westly, B.R. Ilic, A. Bluestone, N. Volet, T. Komljenovic, L. Chang, S.H. Lee, D.Y. Oh, M.-G. Suh, K.Y. Yang, M.H.P. Pfeiffer, T. J. Kippenberg, E. Norberg, L. Theogarajan, K. Vahala, N.R. Newbury, K. Srinivasan, J.E. Bowers, S.A. Diddams and S.B. Papp. 2018. An optical frequency synthesizer using integrated photonics. Nature. Advance Online Publication April 25. The first stars in the universe blazed to life about 200 to 400 million years after the big bang. Observing those very first individual stars across such vast distances of space normally would be a feat beyond any space science telescope. However, new theoretical work suggests that under the right circumstances, and with a little luck, NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will be able to capture light from single stars within that first generation of stars. "Looking for the first stars and black holes has long been a goal of astronomy. They will tell us about the actual properties of the very early universe, things we've only modeled on our computers until now," said Rogier Windhorst of Arizona State University, Tempe. Windhorst is lead author of the paper that appeared in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement. "We want to answer questions about the early universe such as, were binary stars common or were most stars single? How many heavy chemical elements were produced, cooked up by the very first stars, and how did those first stars effect star formation?" added co-author Frank Timmes of Arizona State University. The key will be to look for a star that has been gravitationally lensed, its light bent and magnified by the gravity of an intervening galaxy cluster. But not just any gravitational lensing will do. Typical gravitational lensing can magnify light by a factor of 10 to 20 times, not enough to make a first-generation star visible to Webb. But if the distant star and closer galaxy cluster line up just right, the star's light can be amplified 10,000 times or more, bringing it within the realm of detectability. This could be done via so-called cluster caustic transits, where the light from a first star candidate could be enormously magnified for a few months due to the motion of the galaxy cluster across the sky. The chances of such a precise alignment are small, but not zero. Astronomers recently announced that Hubble spotted a super-magnified star known as "Icarus." Although it was the farthest single star ever seen, it was much closer than the stars Webb might locate. With Webb, the team hopes to find a lensed example of a star that formed from the primordial mix of hydrogen and helium that suffused the early universe, which astronomers call Population III stars. In addition to the first stars, Windhorst and his colleagues investigated the possibility of seeing accretion disks surrounding the first black holes. Such a black hole, formed by the cataclysmic death of a massive star, could shine brightly if it pulled gas from a companion star. The longer an object shines, the more likely it will drift into alignment with a gravitational lens. First-generation stars are expected to have been both massive and short-lived, lasting for just a few million years before exploding as supernovae. In contrast, a black hole stripping a companion star could shine for 10 times longer, feeding from a steady stream of gas. As a result, Webb might detect more black hole accretion disks than early stars. The team calculates that an observing program that targets several galaxy clusters a couple of times a year for the lifetime of Webb could succeed in finding a lensed first star or black hole accretion disk. They have already selected some of the best target clusters, including the Hubble Frontier Fields clusters and the cluster known as "El Gordo." "We just have to get lucky and observe these clusters long enough," said Windhorst. "The astronomical community would need to continue to monitor these clusters during Webb's lifetime." ### The James Webb Space Telescope will be the world's premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries of our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Novel technology allows researchers to see dynamic reactions as they happen at the nanoscale EVANSTON, Ill. -- When famed physicists Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska first introduced the transmission electron microscope (TEM) in 1933, it allowed researchers to peer inside cells, microorganisms and particles that were once too small to study. For decades, these high-powered instruments had been limited to taking static snapshots of specimens, which only tell part of the story. Now researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Florida are filling in the blanks to make this story more complete. The team is part of an effort to develop a new type of TEM that takes dynamic, multi-frame videos of nanoparticles as they form, allowing researchers to view how specimens change in space and time. Knowing how these particles form could change how researchers design future drug-delivery systems, paints, coatings, lubricants and other materials for which having control over nanoscale properties can lead to large effects on macroscale materials. "We have demonstrated that TEM does not have to be a microscopy method solely used to analyze what happened after the fact -- after a reaction ends," said Nathan Gianneschi, professor of chemistry, biomedical engineering and materials science and engineering at Northwestern, who co-led the study. "But, rather, that it can be used to visualize reactions while they are occurring." "Before, we just had snapshots of what things looked like in particular instances of time," said Brent Sumerlin, the George Bergen Butler Professor of Chemistry at the University of Florida, who co-led the study with Gianneschi. "Now, we are beginning to see the evolution of materials in real time, so we can see how transformations occur. It's mind blowing." The research was published today, April 25, in the journal ACS Central Science. Mollie A. Touve, a graduate student in Gianneschi's laboratory, is the paper's first author. Gianneschi and Sumerlin's novel technology has three major components: polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA), a robotic system that assembles the experiments and a camera attached to the microscope that captures the particles as they form and change. An expert in PISA, Sumerlin has long used the technique, which makes large quantities of well-defined soft materials, in his laboratory. He specifically uses PISA to form self-assembling micelles, a type of spherical nanomaterial with many applications -- from soaps to targeted drug delivery. Although micelles are well known for having interesting functions, there are knowledge gaps in how they actually form. Gianneschi and Sumerlin wondered if they could use an electron microscope to watch micelles -- in action -- as they self-assemble with PISA. "Because these materials are on the nanometer length scale, we obviously needed an electron microscope to observe them," said Gianneschi, a member of Northwestern's International Institute of Nanotechnology. "So, essentially, we wanted to use the electron microscope as a test tube." With high precision and reproducibility, the team's robotic system assembled all of the chemicals needed to make the particles. Then, the microscope's electron beam triggered a reaction that caused the micelles to begin to form. Although Gianneschi's camera system did not capture the micelles' entire transformation, it did allow the researchers to see part of it. "I'm pleasantly surprised that we pulled this part off," Gianneschi said. "But optimizing the system -- so we can see the reaction's entire trajectory -- will keep us busy for the next few years." Still, Gianneschi and Sumerlin are pleased that they have introduced an important element to electron microscopy: time. Gianneschi likens their achievement to the process of cooking. "Imagine cooking dinner without being able to watch it," he said. "You can follow the recipe, but you don't really how it's going. You can't watch the meat brown on the stove or the dough rise. You need to be able to observe it directly. We take that for granted in normal life." "With traditional chemical analysis, sometimes the output is a two-dimensional line with a few peaks and valleys, and we use that to gain an idea of what's happening," Sumerlin added. "But now we are actually making nanostructures and watching them form. This is a big change." ### This research was supported by the US Department of Defense through the US Army Research Office (award number W911NF-17-1-0326), the Army's Multidisciplinary Research Initiative (award number W911NF-15-1-0568) and an Air Force Office of Scientific Research National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (award number 32 CFR 168a). As the nation's opioid epidemic claims thousands of lives, more and more people are hospitalized with infections, overdoses, and other medical and surgical complications of substance use. This resonates across Oregon, with a recent national report revealing that Oregon had among the highest cumulative increases of opioid-related hospitalizations of any state between 2009 and 2014. Despite high need, most hospitals lack systems to engage people with substance use disorder, initiate life-saving treatment or connect people to care after hospitalization. This causes tremendous distress among health care providers and patients alike. A new study published today in the Journal of Hospital Medicine provides a glimmer of hope. "Existing research shows the life-saving benefits of medications for addiction and that most hospitals are not well-prepared to manage complex needs of adults with substance use disorder," said lead author Honora Englander, M.D., an associate professor of medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine. "Our study shows that not addressing addiction contributes to burnout and frustration among hospital providers. And that by introducing high-quality addiction care, providers feel empowered and relieved. We found that providers' distress was not inevitable; that by treating people's addiction not only do we help patients, but we can fundamentally change how providers understand the disease of addiction and change culture." The researchers describes a "sea change" after implementation of a hospital-based addiction medicine team, called the Improving Addiction Care Team, or IMPACT. The study lays out hospital staff perceptions before and after IMPACT, which started at OHSU in 2015, and brings together physicians, social workers, peer-recovery mentors and community providers to tackle the root causes of addiction when patients are admitted to the hospital. Patients struggling with addiction can be disruptive and challenging for hospital providers who have little background in understanding or managing addiction. Some acknowledged their own resistance to engaging with patients due to the stigma they associated with addiction, and many described feelings of "moral distress," including frustration and futility of providing intensive medical and surgical care with resources or expertise to address addiction. In the new study, physicians, nurses and other clinical staff reported that Project IMPACT is making a difference by fundamentally reframing substance use disorder. "Participants felt the IMPACT 'completely reframes' addiction as a treatable chronic disease," the authors write, "improving patient engagement and communication, and humanizing care." Providers included in the study described widespread relief. They felt that IMPACT transformed care by treating patients' withdrawal, prescribing medications to treat the underlying brain disease of addiction, supporting direct communication between patients and providers, and modeling compassionate care. As one nurse participant described, "I think you feel more empowered when you've got the right medication ... the knowledge and you feel like you have the resources. You actually feel like you're making a difference." The study concludes that hospital-based interventions for substance use disorder can play a crucial role in addressing the nation's opioid epidemic. "Hospitals need a workforce and systems that can address both the physical and behavioral health needs of this population," the authors write. "By doing so, hospitals can support staff and reduce burnout, better engage patients, improve care, and reduce stigma from this devastating disease." ### Project IMPACT is funded by OHSU and CareOregon. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- An ancient horse burial at Tombos along the Nile River Valley shows that a member of the horse family thousands of years ago was more important to the culture than previously thought, which provides a window into human-animal relationships more than 3,000 years ago. The research findings are published in Antiquity. The Tombos horse was discovered in 2011, and members of the Purdue team - professor Michele Buzon and alumna Sarah Schrader - played a part in the excavation and analysis. The horse is dated to the Third Intermediate Period, 1050-728 B.C.E., and it was found more than 5 feet underground in a tomb. The horse, with some chestnut-colored fur remaining, had been buried in a funeral position with a burial shroud. "It was clear that the horse was an intentional burial, which was super fascinating," said Buzon, a professor of anthropology. "Remnants of fabric on the hooves indicate the presence of a burial shroud. Changes on the bones and iron pieces of a bridle suggest that the horse may have pulled a chariot. We hadn't found anything like this in our previous excavations at Tombos. Animal remains are very rare at the site." Buzon, a bioarchaeologist, has worked with Stuart Tyson Smith, anthropology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for 18 years at this site in modern-day Sudan, and both are principal investigators on the project. Buzon uses health and cultural evidence from more than 3,000-year-old burial sites to understand the lives of Nubians and Egyptians during the New Kingdom Empire. This is when Egyptians colonized the area in about 1500 B.C. to gain access to trade routes on the Nile River. Over the years, hundreds of artifacts, including pottery, tools, carvings and dishes were unearthed at this burial site for about 200 individuals. "Finding the horse was unexpected," Schrader said. "Initially, we weren't sure if it was modern or not. But as we slowly uncovered the remains, we began to find artifacts associated with the horse, such as the scarab, the shroud and the iron cheekpiece. At that point, we realized how significant this find was. Of course, we became even more excited when the carbon-14 dates were assessed and confirmed how old the horse was." Schrader, who graduated from Purdue in 2013 with a doctoral degree in anthropology, is an assistant professor of human osteoarchaeology at Leiden University in The Netherlands. Schrader is lead author on this article, and she helped frame this find within the context of Nubian history. Once the archaeologists discovered the horse, Sandra Olsen, curator-in-charge at the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas and a well-known ancient horse expert, was invited to Purdue to analyze the horse skeleton. Buzon coordinated the analysis between the team, and she established the chronology of the horse via radiocarbon dating. "The horse was treated well in life, seeing as how it lived to a mature age," Schrader said. "It also was important to the people of ancient Tombos because it was buried - a rite that is usually reserved for humans. Furthermore, the fact that one of the earliest pieces of iron from Africa was found in association with the horse reiterates how special it was to the people. It is also important to assess the context of Tombos with regard to the horse - the horse is an important and rare find. The fact that it is buried at Tombos indicates that this town may have served an important function in the post-colonial Napatan Period." ### The excavation was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation; the National Geographic Society; University of California, Santa Barbara; Purdue and the Schiff-Giorgini Foundation. The excavation and research also were supported by El Hassan Ahmed, director of fieldwork at the National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums. ABSTRACT Symbolic equids and Kushite state formation: a horse burial at Tombos Sarah A. Schrader1, Stuart Tyson Smith2, Sandra Olsen3 and Michele Buzon4 https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.239 1 Leiden University, RA Leiden, The Netherlands 2 University of California, Santa Barbara 3 The University of Kansas, Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, 4 Purdue University, Department of Anthropology The recent discovery of a well-preserved horse burial at the Third Cataract site of Tombos illuminates the social significance of equids in the Nile Valley. The accompanying funerary assemblage includes one of the earliest securely dated pieces of iron in Africa. The Third Intermediate Period (1050-728 BC) saw the development of the Nubian Kushite state beyond the southern border of Egypt. Analysis of the mortuary and osteological evidence suggests that horses represented symbols of a larger social, political and economic movement, and that the horse gained symbolic meaning in the Nile Valley prior to its adoption by the Kushite elite. This new discovery has important implications for the study of the early Kushite state and the formation of Kushite social identity. The European Space Agency (ESA) today released the largest dataset yet from the Gaia satellite, an orbiting observatory mapping the Milky Way. Launched in 2013, Gaia is mapping our Galaxy in unprecedented detail. The latest release includes high accuracy positions for almost 1.7 billion stars, 600 times the number in the satellite's first dataset, and far in excess of anything achieved before. Professor John Zarnecki, the President of the Royal Astronomical Society, said: 'Gaia is the culmination of efforts to map the Galaxy since the dawn of telescopic astronomy. In 1609 Galileo observed that the Milky Way, which appears as a band of light in the night sky, was composed of a vast number of individual stars. Astronomers later realised this is the view of the galaxy we live in from our home here on Earth.' 'Our founding president, Sir William Herschel, also attempted to map the Galaxy more than two centuries ago, and would have been delighted by today's results.' 'It gives me enormous pleasure to congratulate the scientists and engineers who work on Gaia, based in many different European countries including the UK, for their continuing achievement. This mission is measuring the Universe in a way we could not have imagined even a few decades ago.' The data release was announced at a briefing at the Royal Astronomical Society this morning. By the end of its life in 2024, Gaia is expected to have surveyed up to a tenth of all the stars in our Galaxy, and the data from this release will provide astronomers around the world with a rich source of material for many years to come. ### The hydrogen isotopic composition (D) of leaf wax long-chain n-alkanes from lacustrine sediments has been widely applied to reconstruct terrestrial paleoclimatic and paleohydrological changes. However, few studies have addressed whether the aquatic-derived n-alkanes can affect the D values of lake sedimentary long-chain n-alkanes, which are usually regarded as a recorder of the terrestrial hydrological signals. Therefore, the heterogeneous origins and relative contributions of these lipids provide challenges for the interpretation of the increasing dataset as an environment and climatic proxy. Two recent studies "Compound-specific D and its hydrological and environmental implication in the lakes on the Tibetan Plateau"and"Influence of aquatic plants on the hydrogen isotope composition of sedimentary long-chain n-alkanes in the Lake Qinghai region, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau" have been published in Science China Earth Sciences. The corresponding author is professor LIU Weiguo, coming from State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The researchers stated that aquatic plants were primarily dominated by C23 and C25 homologues, but they also contained high relative abundances of long chain n-alkanes (C27-C33). Submerged plants displayed slightly lower concentrations of long chain n-alkanes than that from terrestrial plants, indicating that submerged plants may have significant contribution of long chain n-alkanes to lake sediments. And this influence becomes more significant when submerged plants constitute a large percentage biomass in shallow lakes. D values of n-alkane in aquatic plants were correlated significantly with the lake water D values, but environmental condition changes (e.g. salinity) may also affect their D values. For each algae and submerged plant sample, they found uniformed D values of different chain length n-alkanes, implying that, in combination with other proxies such as Paq and Average Chain Length, the offset between the D values of different chain length n-alkanes can help determine the source of sedimentary n-alkanes as well as inferring the hydrological characteristics of an ancient lake basin (open vs closed lake). By comparing the D values of aquatic plants and surrounding terrestrial plants, they stated that the aquatic plants in a closed lake are significant enriched in D than those of terrestrial grasses around the lake, but they displayed similar D values with surrounding grasses in an open lake, suggesting that the n-alkane D values of the algae and submerged plants recorded the signal of D enrichment in lake water relative to precipitation only in closed lakes in arid and semi-arid area. This two studies focused on the n-alkane molecular characteristic and hydrogen isotope variations in aquatic plants on the Tibetan Plateau lakes, thus, creating essential implications of distinguishing the n-alkane input sources in lake sediments as a prerequisite for reliably use of n-alkane D data in lake sediments to reconstruct palaeoclimatic and palaeohydrological dynamics of lake basins. In future, more attention should be paid on distinguishing n-alkane input sources in lake sediments and seeking reliable proxies to individually reflect the terrestrial or aquatic record variations. ### This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41573005), the National Basic Research Programme of China (Grant No. 2013CB955901) and Key Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. QYZDY-SSW-DQC001). See the article: Liu Hu, Yang Hong, Cao Yunning, Liu Weiguo. Compound-specific D and its hydrological and environmental implication in the lakes on the Tibetan Plateau. Science China Earth Sciences, 2018, 61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-017-9182-2. http://engine.scichina.com/publisher/scp/journal/SCES/doi/10.1007/s11430-017-9182-2?slug=abstract Liu Weiguo, Yang Hong, Wang Huanye, Yao Yuan, Wang Zheng, & Cao Yunning. Influence of aquatic plants on the hydrogen isotope composition of sedimentary long-chain n-alkanes in the Lake Qinghai region, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Science China Earth Sciences, 2016, 59(7), 1368-1377. doi: 10.1007/s11430-016-5263-2 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11430-016-5263-2 A dense flock of 14 galaxies from 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang is destined to become one of the most massive structures in the modern universe New York City -- For the first time, astronomers have witnessed the birth of a colossal cluster of galaxies. Their observations reveal at least 14 galaxies packed into an area only four times the diameter of the Milky Way's galactic disk. Computer simulations of the galaxies predict that over time the cluster will assemble into one of the most massive structures in the modern universe, the astronomers report in the April 26 issue of Nature. Galaxies within the cluster are churning out stars at an incredible pace, ranging from 50 to 1,000 times the Milky Way's star formation rate. These rates are higher than can be explained for solitary galaxies, suggesting that the galaxies are influencing one another and are actively assembling into a cluster. "More so than any other candidate discovered to date, this seems like we're catching a cluster in the process of being assembled," says study co-author Chris Hayward, an associate research scientist at the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute in New York City. "This is the missing link in our understanding of how clusters form." Galaxy clusters are the largest structures held together by gravity in the present-day universe and contain hundreds or even thousands of galaxies. Clusters grow over time as gravity draws in more material. This newborn galaxy cluster, or protocluster, is around 12.4 billion light-years away from Earth. That distance means that the protocluster appears today as it existed 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang. How the assembly of galaxies got so big so fast "is a bit of a mystery," says study co-author Scott Chapman, the Killam Professor in astrophysics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. "It wasn't built up gradually over billions of years, as you might expect." Chapman, Hayward, Tim Miller of Yale University, and collaborators spotted the protocluster during a follow-up to a survey conducted using the South Pole Telescope in Antarctica. That undertaking inspected around 6 percent of the sky, but with relatively coarse resolution. In those observations, the protocluster was the brightest light source not magnified by the effect of a massive object's gravity, which bends light like a lens. While bright, the source just looked like a fuzzy blob composed of at least three galaxies. An additional study by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile provided clarity and a surprise. "It just hit you in the face because all of a sudden there are all these galaxies there," Chapman says. "We went from three to 14 in one fell swoop. It instantly became obvious this was a very interesting, massive structure forming and not just a flash in the pan." In total, the protocluster contains around 10 trillion suns' worth of mass. All that material in such a confined space means that the galaxies will probably merge over time, rather than drift apart. A numerical simulation developed by Hayward, Chapman and colleagues projected how the protocluster would grow over the next billion years. Over that time span, the 14 galaxies will merge into one giant elliptical galaxy surrounded by a halo of galaxies, stars and dust. The researchers estimate that in the modern-day universe, the cluster will contain roughly 1,000 trillion suns' worth of mass. That's comparable to the mass of the Coma cluster of galaxies that lies a few hundred million light-years from Earth. The surprisingly high star formation rates within the galaxies provide further evidence that the galaxies are forming a cluster, says Hayward. The observed surge of star formation during the protocluster's assembly fits with the composition of modern galaxy clusters, which contain an abundance of old stars of around the same age. "There's some special aspect of this environment that's causing the galaxies to form stars much more rapidly than individual galaxies that aren't in this special place," says Hayward. One possible explanation is that the gravitational tug of neighboring galaxies compresses gas within a galaxy, triggering star formation. The protocluster is a precursor to the larger and more mature galaxy clusters seen in the modern universe, making the protocluster an excellent test bed for learning more about how present-day clusters formed and evolved. Modern clusters, for instance, brim with superheated gas that can reach temperatures of more than 1 million degrees. Scientists aren't sure how that gas got there, though. The high rate of star formation in the newly discovered protocluster may provide a clue: A deluge of newborn stars in a forming cluster may spew hot gas into the voids between the galaxies. That expelled gas is not dense enough to form stars and instead lingers throughout the cluster. Further exploration of protoclusters will provide additional insight, Chapman says. The group has already identified two more protoclusters from the South Pole Telescope survey, though they are not as spectacular, he says. "As we flush out the details of those, we'll see just how similar they are to this structure." ### ABOUT THE FLATIRON INSTITUTE The Flatiron Institute is the research division of the Simons Foundation. Its mission is to advance scientific research through computational methods, including data analysis, modeling and simulation. The institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics creates new computational frameworks that allow scientists to analyze big astronomical datasets and to understand complex, multi-scale physics in a cosmological context. The cerebral neocortex is responsible for higher brain functions, such as conscious thought and language, in humans. In the neocortex, neurons are precisely arranged in an ordered 6-layered structure. This neocortical structure is formed by the sequential generation of billions of neurons and their migration toward the brain surface in the fetal period. "Subplate neurons" are one of the first types of neurons born in the neocortex. They work transiently during neocortical development and disappear when development is complete. However a function of subplate neurons in neuronal migration had been unknown. Synapses are structures that connect neurons. In mature neurons, synapses are critical for allowing neurons to communicate with each other, and this communication is essential for virtually all neuronal functions. However, a role for synapses in neuronal migration during cortical development had also not been known. In this study, the research team found that subplate neurons form transient synapses with newborn neurons, and send signals to control their migration. "We found that a special type of neurons, subplate neurons, control migration of newborn neurons by communicating with them through synapses. We were really surprised by this since synapses are thought to be structures used by mature neurons. This is the first time that synapses have been found so early in development." said Chiaki Ohtaka-Maruyama, PhD, a lead author of the study. The research results was published in Science on April 20, 2018. During neocortical development in the fetus, neurons are born deep within the brain from repeated cell divisions of neural progenitor cells. Subplate neurons are the first neurons born in the neocortex, and they form a layer called the subplate layer. After generation of subplate neurons, neural progenitors next generate enormous numbers of excitatory neurons, which then migrate en masse toward the brain surface, where they form the different layers of the neocortex. When excitatory neurons are first born, they are star-shaped, or multipolar, and migrate in a slow, meandering manner without a set direction. This type of migration is referred to as multipolar migration. However, at some point, multipolar neurons suddenly change into a spindle shape with two protrusions, and begin migrating quickly towards the brain surface in a process called locomotion or radial neuronal migration. The mechanism regulating this switch has been unknown. Dr. Ohtaka-Maruyama wanted to know how the massive migration of large numbers of neurons could be organized to form the precise, functional layers of the neocortex. Together with colleagues, she found that newborn neurons in mouse embryos switch from multipolar migration to locomotion at the subplate layer. From this, they hypothesized that subplate neurons could be involved in organizing neuronal migration. They found that subplate neurons actively extend processes to form transient synapses on newly born multipolar migrating neurons. Communication through these synapses is important for migration, since preventing communication prevents newborn neurons from effectively migrating. Conversely, spritzing newborn neurons with the neurotransmitter glutamate, which mimics synaptic activity, enhances radial migration. These results suggest that subplate neurons may function like organizers at a massively overcrowded time-trial race where organizers decide which racers will run at what time. Various mental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia are associated with defects in locomotion and radial migration. Thus the results from Ohtaka-Maruyama and colleagues will help in understanding the causes of these diseases. Their results will also help us understand how a massively complex structure like the human neocortex evolved. ### About the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science The Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science is a public interest foundation funded by the Tokyo metropolitan government. Its goal is to pursue medical and basic research to improve the health and well-being of the people of Tokyo and worldwide. The Institute contains 35 research laboratories, and was ranked as the top research institute in life sciences in Japan by Nature Index 2018 Japan. UNIGE researchers analysed the cerebral activity of egotistical people, discovering that they do not think about the future if it seems too far off to concern them Some people are worried about the future consequences of climate change, while others consider them too remote to have an impact on their well-being. Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, examined how these differences are reflected in our brains. With the help of neuro-imaging, the scientists found that people deemed egotistical do not use the area of the brain that enables us to look into and imagine the distant future. In altruistic individuals, on the other hand, the same area is alive with activity. The research results, published in the journal Cognitive, Affective & Behavioural Neuroscience, may help psychologists devise exercises that put this specific area of the brain to work. These could be used to improve people's ability to project themselves into the future and raise their awareness of, for example, the effects of climate change. The concerns experienced by human beings are built on their values, which determine whether individuals prioritize their personal well-being or put themselves on an equal footing with their peers. In order to encourage as many people as possible to adopt "sustainable" behaviour, it is thus necessary that they feel the consequences of climate change are relevant to them. Some individuals - who are more self-centred - do not worry about the consequences, believing that these potential disasters are too far off. "We wondered what magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could teach us about how the brain processes information about the future impact of climate change, and how this mechanism differs depending on the self-centeredness of the individual," says Tobias Brosch, professor in the Psychology Section at UNIGE's Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPSE). Are egoists only afraid of what directly concerns them? The UNIGE psychologists turned to the report drawn up by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, where they identified predictions about the outcomes of climate change, such as a reduction in drinking water supplies, an increase in border conflicts and a spike in natural disasters. They then assigned a year in the future to each of these effects, stating when it would come to pass. Brosch's team invited a panel of participants to complete a standardized questionnaire to measure the value hierarchies, marking the selfish or altruistic tendencies of each individual. One by one, the participants underwent an MRI before being shown the dated consequences of the events; they then had to answer two questions on a scale of 1 to 8: Is it serious? Are you afraid? "The first result we obtained was that for people with egotistical tendencies, the near future is much more worrying than the distant future, which will only come about after they are dead. In altruistic people, this difference disappears, since they see the seriousness as being the same", explains Brosch. Selfishness makes the brain lazy The psychologists then focused on the activity in the ventromedial pre-frontal cortex (vmPFC), an area of the brain above the eyes that is used when thinking about the future and trying to visualize it. "We found that with altruistic people, this cerebral zone is activated more forcefully when the subject is confronted with the consequences of a distant future as compared to the near future. By contrast, in an egotistical person, there is no increase in activity between a consequence in the near future and one in the distant future," says Brosch. This particular region of the brain is mainly used for projecting oneself into the distant future. The absence of heightened activity in a self-centred person indicates the absence of projection and the fact that the individual does not feel concerned by what will happen after his or her death. Why, then, should such people adopt sustainable forms of behaviour? Set your projection capabilities to work These outcomes, which can be applied to areas other than climate change, demonstrate the importance of being able to think about the distant future in order to adapt one's behaviour to the future constraints of the world. "We could imagine a psychological training that would work on this brain area using projection exercises," suggests Brosch. "In particular, we could use virtual reality, which would make the tomorrow's world visible to everyone, bringing human beings closer to the consequences of their actions." ### More than 30 years ago, when University of California, Berkeley researchers discovered telomerase - an enzyme that lengthens chromosome ends and prevents them from fraying enough to kill a cell - speculation ran wild about its role in aging and cancer, setting off a full-court press to produce drugs to activate or block the enzyme. While neither telomerase-based anti-aging drugs, touted as a "fountain of youth," nor anticancer drugs have yet appeared, the publication today by UC Berkeley scientists of the first detailed picture of the molecular structure of human telomerase should jump-start that effort, allowing more targeted drug screens and intelligent design of new drugs. "It has been a long time coming. It took a lot of persistence," said Kathleen Collins, a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology who has worked on the enzyme for 26 years. Collins and Eva Nogales, also a professor of molecular and cell biology, are the senior authors of a paper describing the 3-D molecular structure of the human telomerase enzyme published this week in the journal Nature. One bottleneck has been obtaining pure samples of this complex molecule, which is composed of an RNA backbone decorated by six types of protein that move around as they add DNA to the ends of chromosomes. Labs around the world have debated whether the enzyme operates singly or as conjoined twins, and how and how many proteins decorate the RNA backbone. Without consensus on these questions, it has proven difficult to design a drug to target the molecular machine and either destroy telomerase activity - which could stop a cancer that has boosted its telomerase levels - or restart telomerase, perhaps to prime the body for rapid cell division after a bone marrow transplant. The newly revealed structure still lacks fine detail, but combined with knowledge of the gene sequence of human telomerase, it provides enough information to start thinking about potential targets for drugs, said first author Thi Hoang Duong "Kelly" Nguyen, a Miller Institute postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley. "The best previous images of human telomerase had a resolution of only 30 Angstroms; we were able to get about 7 to 8 Angstroms resolution using cryoelectron microscopy," Kelly said. "When I got to the point where I could see all the subunits - we had 11 protein subunits in total - it was a moment of, 'Wow, wow, this is how they all fit together.'" Nguyen, Collins and Nogales are actively working to improve the resolution to 3 or 4 Angstroms - about the size of two carbon atoms - which is sufficient for drug design. Telomerase tops up the telomeres Telomeres were first detected at a molecular level in the late 1970s by Elizabeth Blackburn, then at UC Berkeley and now president emerita of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Working with the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena, she and colleagues showed that the ends of the chromosomes are capped by repeating sequences of DNA. Armed with knowledge of telomere sequence, researchers then showed that telomeres in tissues of multicellular organisms grow shorter each time a cell divides. The telomeres protect the DNA strands from fraying and getting damaged at their ends, much like the plastic tip on the end of a shoelace. The fact that they drop off with each cell division is thought to protect us from cancer, when a cell is hijacked and proliferates continually. In 1985 at UC Berkeley, Blackburn and then-graduate student Carol Greider discovered telomerase, an enzyme that adds DNA back to the ends of chromosomes, lengthening them and extending the lifespan of the cell. Blackburn, Greider and another colleague, Jack Szosak, shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of telomerase. Scientists have since found that, in humans and other multicellular organisms, telomerase is expressed only in the embryo, not in most adult cells. That means that most cells at birth have a predetermined ability to grow and divide, after which they die. Many scientists believe that depleted telomeres are a major cause of aging. Collins has been trying to determine the structure of telomerase ever since the first human telomerase protein was discovered in 1997, and she and her colleagues have discovered and extensively characterized many of the proteins in the large enzyme, as well as the broken-up hairpin structure of the RNA backbone of telomerase. Yet how they all fit together was an enigma because of conflicting results from many different labs. Nguyen was able to isolate the active enzyme and purify it much better than anyone had before, and employed a new, state-of-the-art cryoelectron microscope to determine the structure of the active telomerase unambiguously. Cryo-EM is a technique for determining molecular structures of compounds that cannot be crystallized and imaged with X-rays, and its developers won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Once the UC Berkeley team had the structure, Nguyen said, it became clear why genetic mutations in some of the proteins in telomerase interfere with the enzyme to cause disease. In 1999, Collins discovered the first known human disease caused by a telomerase mutation: a mutation in a telomerase protein called dyskerin that is responsible for a rare disease called dyskeratosis congenita. Patients develop anemia as well as skin and gut problems, and most frequently die from bone marrow failure. The reason, Collins says, is that there are two dyskerin molecules bound to the RNA backbone that have to not only reach out to the network of other proteins but also touch one another, and disease-causing mutations prevent these linkages, crippling the ability of the RNA backbone to survive in cells. Some children with dyskeratosis congenita have telomerase levels about 25 percent of normal and a lifespan of less than two decades. Those with half the normal level of telomerase typically reach a health crisis in mid-life. Collins is ecstatic to finally have a definitive structure for telomerase and looks forward to learning more about the intricate assembly process of one of the most complex enzymes in the body: a polymerase as complicated as the ribosome, which reads RNA to produce proteins. "I didn't think it would be this complicated when I decided to study this molecule," she said. "I became curious about how telomerase works in 1991, when I was just finishing as a grad student, and I was looking for a really simple polymerase system in which to understand nucleic acid interactions. And I thought, my god you can't be simpler than this. That was super naive." ### The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (GM054198) and the Miller Institute for Basic Research. Other UC Berkeley co-authors are Jane Tam, Robert Wu, Basil Greber and Daniel Toso. Nogales is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and with Collins a member of the California Institute for Quantitative Biology. This website is inclusive of tolerant people of all faiths, without exception. Neither anti-Semitism nor Islamophobia nor homophobia should ever be acceptable to anyone. We must all strive to live in peace and harmony with each other, regardless of religious affiliations, or none. Intolerance is the mother of strife and conflict. Mark Alexander We Britons are Europeans!Wir Briten sind Europaer! Nous, les Britanniques, sommes europeens ! Mark AlexanderEmail me at:markalexander.librabunda@gmail.com Treating young children in Sub-Saharan Africa with azithromycin, a safe, inexpensive, and widely used antibiotic, significantly reduced deaths of children under five in a large randomized trial led by scientists at UC San Francisco. The finding could help speed progress toward the United Nations' goal of ending preventable child deaths by 2030. Researchers randomized 1,533 communities in Niger, Malawi, and Tanzania, so that all young children in a given community received either a single dose of oral azithromycin or a placebo four times over two years. During visits to these communities, the researchers enrolled all the children they could find who were between one month and five years old--about 190,000 children each time. By the end of the trial, child mortality in the azithromycin-treated communities was 13.5 percent lower overall than it was in the communities that received the placebo. The results of the study (the French name for which is abbreviated "MORDOR") will be published April 25, 2018, in The New England Journal of Medicine. "The study shows we can prevent young children from dying with a simple intervention," said Jeremy Keenan, MD, MPH, the study's first author. Keenan is a professor of ophthalmology and director of international programs at the Francis I. Proctor Foundation at UCSF, which has overseen long-standing programs in Africa that give antibiotics to entire communities to prevent blindness from an infectious disease known as trachoma. "We could scale our newly studied intervention to reach millions of vulnerable children in resource-poor countries, in much the same way that trachoma programs, which give children and adults a single dose of azithromycin each year, have been doing for years," he said. The scientists said more research is needed to determine exactly how the drug prevented children from dying. Although the mechanism of azithromycin's effect on mortality has yet to be determined, it may act against microbes that can cause respiratory infections, diarrhea and malaria, three of the biggest killers for children under five years old. The largest effects were seen in Niger, where more than 10 percent of children die by their fifth birthday. Child mortality in the azithromycin-treated communities there fell by 18 percent. The results were less dramatic in Malawi and Tanzania, where childhood mortality rates are lower than they are in Niger. The researchers said that although giving azithromycin widely could foster antibiotic resistance--the evolution of bacterial strains that are resistant to the drug--the evidence from trachoma elimination programs suggests such resistance would be to macrolide antibiotics, such as azithromycin and erythromycin, and not necessarily to other classes of antibiotics, such as penicillin, which are used in Africa as first-line treatments for respiratory infections. "Treating only young children may select for less resistance than treating the entire community, as we've done in trachoma programs," said Thomas Lietman, MD, professor of ophthalmology and director of the Proctor Foundation at UCSF, the study's senior author. "The potential for resistance will have to be balanced against the potential to save the lives of thousands of young children." He noted that the youngest children in the study, those most vulnerable to life-threatening diseases, benefited the most from receiving azithromycin. Deaths among one to five-month-olds fell by nearly 25 percent, nearly double the rate of the group overall. In response to the findings, the World Health Organization announced the formation of a guidelines development group to review evidence from MORDOR and other azithromycin intervention studies. This is the first of several steps in the process that WHO uses to develop treatment guidelines. The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and run in partnership with researchers from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. "This study shows that azithromycin, which has been so effective in reducing trachoma, has the potential to save the lives of young children who live in places where a child dying before their fifth birthday is a tragically common event," said Rasa Izadnegahdar, MD, MPH, a deputy director in the global health division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "While we will need to keep an eye on antibiotic resistance and identify the best way to deliver this intervention in some of the hardest-to-reach communities where we partner, we are optimistic that this will be a new tool to help prevent childhood mortality." Pfizer Inc., which has donated more than 730 million doses of azithromycin, or Zithromax, for the treatment of trachoma, provided the study drug which was administered orally, along with a placebo made to match its look and taste. "MORDOR provides a breakthrough in our understanding of how we can best support the global community in future collaborations to improve survival of young children in countries with high mortality rates," said Charles Knirsch, MD, MPH, vice president, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development and an infectious diseases researcher who has helped lead Pfizer's scientific and regulatory support of the global trachoma elimination program since 1997. "These important results confirm what we had previously observed about the benefits to children in studies who participated in the mass drug administration for trachoma in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last 20 years," Knirsch said, "and they are remarkable not only for child survival but also to continued evidence of the safety of our long-standing trachoma program." Other authors of the study include Robin Bailey, BM, PhD, and John Hart, MBBS, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Sheila West, PhD, and Jerusha Weaver, MPH, of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Ahmed Arzika, MPH, of The Carter Center Niger; Khumbo Kalua, MBBS, of Lions Sight First Eye Hospital in Malawi; Zakayo Mrango, MD, of the National Institute of Medical Research in Tanzania; Paul Emerson, PhD, of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University; and Kathryn Ray, MA, Catherine Cook, MPH, Elodie Lebas, RN, Kieran O'Brien, MPH, and Travis Porco, PhD, all of UCSF. ### About UCSF: UC San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with nationally renowned programs in basic, biomedical, transitional and population sciences; and a preeminent biomedical research enterprise. It also includes UCSF Health, which comprises three top-ranked hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland, and other partner and affiliated hospitals and healthcare providers throughout the Bay Area. Please visit http://www.ucsf.edu/news. Follow UCSF ucsf.edu | Facebook.com/ucsf | YouTube.com/ucsf As they had for more than a decade, Stuart Tyson Smith and his colleagues were excavating a tomb in what was Upper Nubia in their years-long UC Santa Barbara-Purdue University mission to understand the history of an ancient village on the fringes of Egyptian dominance. But rather than finding mummified human remains, they unearthed the skeleton of a horse so well-preserved it had hair on its legs. It had been covered with a burial shroud, and among the items found with it was a piece of iron that appeared to be a cheek piece from a bridle. Smith, a professor of archaeology in UCSB's Department of Anthropology, called the find "a complete surprise. I was not expecting to find that. We had this nice pyramid tomb and we were going down the shaft expecting to find a few human burials, and there we were about half-way down the shaft and here's this horse." The horse turned out to be much more than an unexpected oddity. In their paper "Symbolic Equids and Kushite State Formation: A Horse Burial at Tombos," in the journal Antiquity, Smith and his collaborators -- lead author Sarah Schrader, horse specialist Sandra Olsen and co-director of the expedition Michele Buzon -- argue that the horse represents a shift away from Egyptian governance and towards a Kushite rule in which the animal was embraced as central to the state's identity. "One of the interesting things about our horse is that it foreshadows the later development where these Nubian kings are really into horses," Smith said. Indeed, when the Kushite king Piankhi put down a rebellion in northern Egypt he was said to be enraged that his horses there had been starved in his absence. "His complaint was not that they had rebelled against him, but they had mistreated his horses," he said. Using radiocarbon testing, the Tombos horse was dated to about 950 BC, in the Third Intermediate Period, when the Kushites of Nubia took advantage of strife in Egypt to coalesce into a political, economic and military power. The horse was buried about 100 years after the colony began to break away in 1070 BC. The burial, Smith said, was a new development in the village at the Third Cataract of the Nile. Buried in an older tomb that had been adapted for the task, the horse was laid to rest in sacred ground. "It's gorgeous, and the bones are a nice, rich brown color that you don't see in other contemporary horse burials," Smith noted. "All the pieces are there, everything's intact. It even had some fur left on it. As a result, because of the preservation, it's one of the most complete skeletons, and best preserved, of any of these early horses that have been found in northeast Africa." The Tombos horse, which was determined to be female, was carefully lain on its side. Close inspection of the skeleton also revealed it suffered from arthritis and degeneration associated with wearing a chariot saddle harness. Curiously, Egyptian art always depicted chariot horses as stallions. "It makes a certain amount of sense that they would emphasize stallions in the art," Smith said, "because they're fierce in warfare and that sort of thing. But it is interesting that in reality they were using mares as well. It's just that the artwork emphasizes the stallion as the pre-eminent chariot horse." Among the more intriguing items found with the horse was the piece of iron that Smith said radiocarbon testing dates to around 950 BC. "This is a very early date for iron," he noted. "For a long time people had thought that iron production in Nubia really didn't ramp up until about 500 BC." Smith, who owns a horse, said he quickly recognized the artifact as a cheek piece for a bridle, and co-author Olson has since confirmed the assessment. "It's rare to find iron like that in a good context," he said, "where you can really pin the date down. "It also counters the narrative that Nubians were backwards somehow, that anything good they got they got from Egypt," he continued. "But they seem to have been going out and seizing what they needed. They had the latest military technology in the form of iron weaponry like we found, but also these iron trappings from the horse." Smith and Buzon have been excavating Tombos, just east of the Nile River in Sudan, since 2000. It was founded by the Egyptians as an administrative center in Nubia around 1450 BC. Their work there has unraveled what they term "cultural entanglement," the process by which colonizing powers and indigenous people influence one another and change over time. "You can see this long, entangled history of the horse weaving its way through all these different cultures until it comes to Nubia," Smith said. "But then, horses were important in Egypt, but we have very few horse burials there. If it was a widespread practice you'd expect to see more of them." The Nubians, who would conquer Egypt and establish the Kushite Dynasty in 728 BC, proved to be adept at adapting Egyptian practices and technology and making them their own. "For Nubians, they really elaborated on Egyptian materials and practices in a way that you don't see in Egypt," Smith said. "That's the case with a lot of these features that Nubians were borrowing. They often take something they really like, like horses, and they make it much more elaborate, through ritualized burial, than the examples that you have in Egypt." ### Lead author Schrader, an assistant professor of archaeology at Leiden University in The Netherlands, focuses her research on bioarchaeological reconstruction; Olsen, of the University of Kansas, specializes in the history of horse domestication; and Tombos project co-director Buzon, a professor of anthropology at Purdue University, focuses her research on bioarchaeology. Principle funding came from National Science Foundation grants BCS-0917815 and 0917824. An innovative, eel-like robot developed by engineers and marine biologists at the University of California can swim silently in salt water without an electric motor. Instead, the robot uses artificial muscles filled with water to propel itself. The foot-long robot, which is connected to an electronics board that remains on the surface, is also virtually transparent. The team, which includes researchers from UC San Diego and UC Berkeley, details their work in the April 25 issue of Science Robotics. Researchers say the bot is an important step toward a future when soft robots can swim in the ocean alongside fish and invertebrates without disturbing or harming them. Today, most underwater vehicles designed to observe marine life are rigid and submarine-like and powered by electric motors with noisy propellers. "Instead of propellers, our robot uses soft artificial muscles to move like an eel underwater without making any sound," said Caleb Christianson, a Ph.D. student at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. One key innovation was using the salt water in which the robot swims to help generate the electrical forces that propel it. The bot is equipped with cables that apply voltage to both the salt water surrounding it and to pouches of water inside of its artificial muscles. The robot's electronics then deliver negative charges in the water just outside of the robot and positive charges inside of the robot that activate the muscles. The electrical charges cause the muscles to bend, generating the robot's undulating swimming motion. The charges are located just outside the robot's surface and carry very little current so they are safe for nearby marine life. "Our biggest breakthrough was the idea of using the environment as part of our design," said Michael T. Tolley, the paper's corresponding author and a professor of mechanical engineering at the Jacobs School at UC San Diego. "There will be more steps to creating an efficient, practical, untethered eel robot, but at this point we have proven that it is possible." Previously, other research groups had developed robots with similar technology. But to power these robots, engineers were using materials that need to be held in constant tension inside semi-rigid frames. The Science Robotics study shows that the frames are not necessary. "This is in a way the softest robot to be developed for underwater exploration," Tolley said. The robot was tested inside salt-water tanks filled with jelly fish, coral and fish at the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and in Tolley's lab. The conductive chambers inside the robot's artificial muscles can be loaded with fluorescent dye (as shown in the video accompanying the study and this release). In the future, the fluorescence could be used as a kind of signaling system. Next steps also include improving the robot's reliability and its geometry. Researchers need to improve ballast, equipping the robot with weights so that it can dive deeper. For now, engineers have improvised ballast weights with a range of objects, such as magnets. In future work, researchers envision building a head for their eel robot to house a suite of sensors. ### The research was supported with a grant from the Office of Naval Research. Christianson is supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Translucent soft robots driven by frameless fluid electrode dielectric elastomer actuators Caleb Christianson, Department of Nanoengineering, UC San Diego; Nathaniel N. Goldberg, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley; Professor Dimitri D. Deheyn, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego; Professors Shengqiang Cai and Michael T. Tolley, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego. Videos: http://bit.ly/eelbot (feature) http://bit.ly/UCSDScienceRobotics (research video) UC geologists are looking for an elemental biosignature that might help NASA identify life on the red planet during the Mars 2020 rover mission. A University of Cincinnati geology student is helping NASA determine whether life existed on other planets. Doctoral candidate Andrew Gangidine is working with UC geology professor Andrew Czaja to develop a marker for ancient bacterial life on Mars. The research could help scientists put to rest one of our most fundamental mysteries. "We're trying to answer the question: How rare is life in the universe?" Gangidine said. Czaja, an assistant professor in UC's McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, serves on a NASA advisory committee that will decide where on Mars to send the next remote-controlled rover. Among other objectives, the rover will look for evidence that life once existed on the red planet. The advisory committee has narrowed the list of landing-site candidates to three and will recommend a finalist later this year. Meanwhile, Gangidine is studying microbial life in silica hot springs to come up with a useful indicator of life on Mars. For the past two years, he has conducted fieldwork in the geyser basins of Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park to examine what elements are associated with bacteria that live in these geothermal pools. "We want to remain objective. Some people think there has to be life on Mars," Gangidine said. "Others think there certainly isn't life on Mars. And either side has a good chance of being correct. Both have valid arguments. Which is why if we go there and don't see anything, it won't be 'mission fail.'" Gangidine presented his research April 25 at the Second International Mars Sample Return conference in Berlin, Germany. Today, we know that life cannot exist on Mars, at least not on its dry surface. Solar radiation split most of its surface water into its elemental parts nearly 3 billion years ago when the red planet lost its protective magnetic field. But scientists are debating whether life might exist somewhere deep underground, among pockets of water trapped around geothermal areas similar to Yellowstone's geysers. Finding evidence of life on Mars is surprisingly complicated. If Mars ever sustained life, it's possible that it was wiped out when most of its atmosphere vanished in the solar wind, Czaja said. So NASA scientists must be prepared to look for fossil evidence of bacterial life dating back that far. Gangidine said the good news is that similar fossils of early bacterial life more than 3.5 billion years ago have been found on Earth. This makes him optimistic that if similar life ever existed on Mars, NASA has a chance of finding a fossil record of it. "We can look at life being preserved in these silica deposits today. We have evidence of this happening throughout geologic time," Gangidine said. "What we're trying to do is catch fossilization as it happens. What happens to the microbes themselves? And what happens to the trace elements we think are associated with them while they're alive?" To unearth clues about ancient life on Mars, geologists look to hot springs such as those found in America's first national park. Gangidine and his colleagues need permits to collect samples in the park's backcountry. But exploring the geyser basins can be tricky and dangerous. A tourist died in 2017 after falling into one of the basin's boiling pools while hiking off-trail. "These things really can strip the flesh off your bones," Gangidine said. "At the bottom of hot springs we study you see skulls of bison and other animals that were unfortunate enough to wander too close." Gangidine's team includes an experienced backcountry field researcher, UC postdoctoral fellow Jeff Havig who is now with the University of Minnesota. They pick their way carefully across the caldera. Sometimes, they can see where a bison's hoof has broken through the thin crust to reveal steaming mud. The geology work takes them across "quaking bogs," a thin layer of peat and grass covering deep shifting mud. Gangidine was walking alongside a colleague on one such hike when he sank above his knees in the treacherous mire. "Luckily, that place wasn't super hot. But I was walking just a foot away from someone else. The ground can really change quickly," he said. "When we go into these settings, we have to be very careful." Boiling acid and lava-like mud aren't the only hazards for researchers in the geyser basins. They also have to be careful not to spend too long around the steam vents, which contain a mix of gases such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and methane that can asphyxiate a person under the right conditions. The U.S. Geological Survey documented this phenomenon in 1888 in part of the park nicknamed "Death Gulch," a natural depression between two steep hills where toxic gases bubble up from Cache Creek. Harvard University geologist T.A. Jaggar Jr. returned to the area in 1899 and found six bears, an elk and various small animals that died apparently after succumbing to the toxic fumes. But even in the fresh air, the gas rising from the ground can have a cumulative effect, Gangidine said. "These hot springs emit a lot of gases you don't want to breathe in. They bind to the hemoglobin that carries oxygen through your body. Breathing that in, you get very fatigued," Gangidine said. "That's why we try to schedule a day out of the field for every three days we work in the field. If you're there for four days, you can really feel like a zombie. It's really hard to think, hard to move." As a biology undergraduate at UC, Gangidine worked with UC biology professor Dennis Grogan to examine microbial life called extremophiles that live in hostile places such as Yellowstone's acidic or alkaline hot springs. Now as a geologist, Gangidine is studying the fossils these hardy single-celled creatures leave behind. "Hot springs make silica deposits that preserve life really well," Gangidine said. "When left exposed on a planet's surface, it doesn't crystallize and doesn't metamorphose. So these samples should be relatively well preserved if we find them." In UC professor Czaja's geology lab, Gangidine peers through a microscope at slides he prepared from chunks of Yellowstone silica he took from a mountainous steam cone geyser. The bacterial filaments from samples taken at the top of the geyser are full of color. But the older samples, some perhaps thousands of years old, are colorless, even if they hold their shape. So for more clues about this basic form of life, Gangidine subjects the bacterial samples to elemental analysis using a secondary ion mass spectrometer. The analysis renders the elements in vivid color: deep yellows, reds and greens representing chromium or gallium perhaps associated with the bacterial life. If Gangidine finds a correlation between the concentrations and spatial distributions of particular elements and the bacteria, it might serve as a biosignature that scientists can use to identify past life on Mars. "The reason we chose gallium is it's not known to be associated with life. But when we look at the fossilized bacterial samples, we find it, so there must be something going on," Gangidine said. "Do the bacteria store certain elements preferentially as opposed to what you would find elsewhere in these rocks?" Gangidine is working with researchers in Australia, home to some of the world's oldest fossils, some dating back 3.5 billion years. "If I want to create a biosignature, I have to prove that it persists throughout time," Gangidine said. "It exists in these relatively younger samples. But does it exist in these ancient samples, too? That will be crucial to figure out." Gangidine also plans to build an artificial hot spring in a lab aquarium using similar elements found in geysers. By introducing a super-saturation to the water, the excess silica will precipitate much the same way it does in nature. Then he can add trace chemicals associated with life and study what happens in a miniature world absent of life. "To prove we found a biosignature, we have to prove the signature doesn't occur without life," he said. "Gallium is the one we were surprised by," Czaja said. "It is associated with silica near the bacteria but isn't in the bacteria." Like Gangidine, Czaja got his start in the sciences by studying biology before pursuing a career in paleontology. Czaja's NASA advisory committee will meet in October to decide where on Mars they would like to send the rover among the three preferred destinations. The rover is tentatively slated for launch in July or August of 2020, arriving on Mars about seven months later. "NASA tends to like to go new places to push the frontier. Geologists like to go back to the same places over and over to ask new questions," Czaja said. The rover will collect samples in sealed containers for shipping back to Earth in a later mission. So it could be many years before geologists such as Czaja and Gangidine know whether their hunches about where best to look for life on Mars were correct. Helping to frame a question that you may never live to see answered is one of science's most selfless pursuits, Czaja said. "One thing I like about these NASA missions is the long-term thinking and planning," he said. "People working on these projects now may never see the results. But they're still willing to put in the work because it's such a fascinating question." The Mars 2020 mission will not be a failure if scientists find no evidence of life. Quite the contrary, Gangidine said. "If we find it, we can say maybe life is not that rare among planets," Gangidine said. "But if we don't find life in places that would be the most ideal and best preserved candidates, then maybe life is pretty rare." But if NASA does find evidence of life on Mars, that might suggest that sparking life from a primordial soup isn't so extraordinary after all. And the first question will be how life on Mars compares to life on Earth, Czaja said. Was there a common ancestor? "Maybe we're all Martians," Czaja said. Any claim about the existence or absence of life on Mars will be subjected to worldwide scrutiny and skepticism. Czaja said researchers must be prepared to provide a wealth of evidence to fortify their findings. "It's not nearly enough to find something that looks like a bacterial cell," Czaja said. "There are nonbiological things that could look like that. But if you have a cascade of traits -- this and this and this added together -- it's hard to explain it any other way except for life." ### A University of Delaware researcher investigated the relationship between midday-napping behaviors and neurocognitive function in early adolescents and found some keys to helping the teens battle fatigue. In a study funded by the National Institutes of Health, School of Nursing assistant professor 's Xiaopeng Ji and principal investigator Jianghong Liu (University of Pennsylvania) turned to the Chinese classroom. With participants from schools in Jintan, she measured midday napping, nighttime sleep duration and sleep quality, and performance on multiple neurocognitive tasks. Ji is interested in the relationship between sleep and cognition. Because of the intensive learning and education demands, the adolescent population is key. Neurocognitive functioning is essential for learning, emotion and behavior control. Her findings suggest that an association between habitual midday napping and neurocognitive function, especially in China, where midday napping is a cultural practice. "Daytime napping is quite controversial in the United States. In Western culture, the monophasic sleep pattern is considered a marker of brain maturation," Ji said. "In China, time for napping is built into the post-lunch schedule for many adults in work settings and students at schools." Ji has studied the circadian rhythm of sleep (a person's 24-hour cycle). A developmental change takes place in circadian rhythm during adolescence; teenagers' rhythm shifts one to two hours later than the preadolescent period. "This phase delay is biologically driven in adolescents," Ji said. "Think about that in a school schedule. Teenagers have to get up early for school. And, with this phase delay of going to bed later, they are at-risk for chronic sleep deprivation." Ji explained that these adolescents may experience impaired neurocognitive function, which makes paying attention in school even more difficult. Memory and reasoning ability also suffer. A circadian dip occurs daily from 12 to 2 p.m. During that period, adolescents are more likely to fall asleep. In a U.S. school, a student does not have a formal opportunity to do so. "Throughout childhood, U.S. kids experience decreases in napping tendencies. Kids are trained to remove their midday napping behavior," said Ji. "Conversely in China, the school schedule allows children to maintain it." Researchers have taken a friend or foe mentality towards napping. Many consider a midday snooze as needed compensation for nighttime sleep deprivation; another faction believes daytime napping continually interferes with nighttime sleep. Many studies invite people to a lab setting -- experimentally imposing the nap -- and find the aforementioned cognitive benefits. But Ji said that's difficult to correlate with habitual sleep at home. "The results from lab studies may be different from what the population is habitually doing at home -- sleeping in their own bed," Ji said. Lots of research exists on adults, but that's not the case for adolescents. This lack of literature motivated Ji to take on the task. And since the American school schedule was a barrier to finding more information, researchers used Chinese data in the University of Delaware and University of Pennsylvania collaborative study. Key findings Ji investigated two dimensions of nap behavior -- frequency and duration. Routine nappers, who napped five to seven days in a week, had sustained attention, better nonverbal reasoning ability and spatial memory. How long to nap is also an important question? The sweet spot is between 30 to 60 minutes. A nap longer than one hour interferes with circadian rhythm. Participants who slept between 30 to 60 minutes produced better accuracy in attention tasks as well as faster speed. She recommends not to nap after 4 p.m., nor over-nap. Researchers were surprised to find a positive relationship between midday napping and nighttime sleep, which is different than the literature. Habitual nappers (who napped more often) tended to have a better nighttime sleep. "That's different than the findings in the United States, where napping may serve as a function to replace sleep lost from the previous night. Consequently, that may interfere with the following night's sleep," Ji said. "In China, a midday nap is considered a healthy lifestyle. Routine nappers are more likely to experience healthy nighttime sleep. So routine nappers are essentially trained to sleep well and sleep more at night." Ji was clear that this study was observational. At this point, she cannot conclude causality. She hopes this line of research can inform future studies and public health policy. ### Many people of African heritage are protected against malaria by inheriting a particular version of a gene, a large-scale study has shown. Another variation of the same gene can have the opposite effect of raising susceptibility to malaria - but it reduces the risk of other common childhood diseases, the study found. The findings give new insights to explain why some children, but not all, develop severe malaria. The condition, which is spread by mosquito bites, kills half a million African children each year before they have had time to acquire immunity to the disease. Scientists also revealed that the impact of both gene variations is linked to whether or not individuals carry a third genetic mutation. Their research, which highlights the complex links that can exist between genes in our DNA, helps explain inconsistencies in previous research. In a study of more than 5,000 Kenyan children, researchers from the University of Edinburgh with colleagues from Oxford, Kenya and Mali examined two variations, or mutations - known as Sl2 and McCb - in a gene called CR1. These gene variations, common in African populations, were believed to have evolved in response to malaria, but previous studies have been unable to confirm this. By studying the complex relationships between the gene variants, researchers found that the Sl2 mutation in the CR1 gene protects against cerebral malaria and death - but only if children did not carry a third gene mutation, known as alpha-thalassaemia. A separate study showed that the Sl2 variant helped prevent clumps of cells called rosettes, found in severe malaria. The other mutation in CR1, known as McCb, was found to be linked to increased risk of cerebral malaria and death, but to lower the risk of childhood diseases such as respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. The study, supported by Wellcome, was published in eLife. Professor Alexandra Rowe, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who supervised the study, said: "Genes have complex effects on one another and on the chances of disease. These findings point towards avenues for further research in understanding factors that influence life-threatening illness in African children." Dr Olivia Swann, of the School of Biological Sciences, who jointly led the study, said: "This study is a missing piece in the puzzle of how genes protect people against malaria. It also reminds us how complex this protection is and how hard it can be to untangle the influence of one gene from another." ### Thanks to advances in drilling technology, there is enough natural gas in the U.S. to last well into next century and beyond. This has renewed the idea of using inexpensive, domestically produced natural gas as a transportation fuel. Primarily made up of methane, natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than gasoline or diesel when it comes to hydrocarbons and nitrous oxides, but the undesired "slip" of unreacted methane can reduce that advantage because methane is a potent greenhouse gas. The U.S. Department of Energy has chosen a team led by a chemical engineer from the University of Houston for a $2 million project to develop and optimize a lower-cost, more efficient catalyst to eliminate unreacted methane. Michael Harold, chairman of the UH Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, will work with Lars Grabow, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UH, and researchers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Virginia and CDTi Inc., an emissions technology company based in Oxnard, Calif. Natural gas combustion produces far less carbon dioxide than gasoline or diesel combustion. Methane - the primary component of natural gas - wasn't considered a concern until recently, partly because it hasn't been associated with the health risks linked to carbon dioxide. But it is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2, making an effective catalyst crucial for wider adoption of natural gas vehicles. Harold, an expert in catalytic reaction engineering, said the team will focus on the so-called "four-way catalyst," building on the three-way catalysts used with gasoline and diesel engines. Those simultaneously convert nonmethane hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. The new catalyst will also convert methane. A critical aspect of the work is to reduce the use of precious metals, lowering the cost. Traditional vehicle exhaust catalysts rely on platinum, palladium and rhodium, which are effective but expensive. The new four-way catalyst will test the use of metal oxides containing lower-cost elements iron, cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel and others. Those metals are less effective, as well as less expensive, and Harold said the design may still require the use of a small amount of precious metals to meet emission control targets. CDTi's Spinel technology will be a key element in developing a new class of high-performance catalysts with low levels of precious metals for natural gas engine emissions control. The process is likely to involve the development of a new material, work Grabow will pursue using atomistic computational modeling, while CDTi's Steve Golden will lead the catalyst development and commercialization effort. "The project brings together a significant market opportunity with our innovative Spinel materials, coupled with the state-of-the-art characterization and testing capability of the University of Houston and the other key partners," Golden said. Once a prototype has been synthesized and tested with simulated exhaust, Harold said it will be tested at the Texas Center for Clean Engines, Emissions & Fuels, a research, development and testing center based at the UH Energy Research Park. "We're working on something that's important for the country," Harold said. "We have a surplus of natural gas, and we are helping break down barriers for its expanded use." ### New research has revealed that simple, commercially available computer programmes could be used to design next generation drug-delivery systems by predicting more easily how different chemical compounds interact. Led by Dr Jennifer Hiscock of the University of Kent, a team of researchers has identified a new more cost-effective way of predicting how compounds known as amphiphiles will interact with each other to impart specific physical properties to a solution. The study, entitled Towards the prediction of global solution state properties for hydrogen bonded, self-associating amphiphiles, has revealed for the first time the potential for simple, easily accessible new methods of predicting on a computer how the compounds will behave. The research involved the team using computer modelling to exhibit desired, pre-programmed properties before the chemical compounds even exist in real life. The research is likely speed up the development - and decrease costs - associated with developing new methods of delivering drugs and medical-grade soaps and gels. ### Towards the prediction of global solution state properties for hydrogen bonded, self-associating amphiphiles (Lisa White, Stilyana Tyuleva, Ben Wilson, Helena Shepherd, Kendrick Ng, Simon Holder, Ewan Clark and Jennifer Hiscock, all School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent) is published in the journal Chemistry - A European Journal. See: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/chem.201801280 For more information or interview requests contact Martin Herrema at the University of Kent Press Office. Tel: 01227 816768 Email: M.J.Herrema@kent.ac.uk News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent Notes to editors Established in 1965, the University of Kent - the UK's European university - now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome. It has been ranked 22nd in the Guardian University Guide 2018 and 25th in the Complete University Guide 2018, and in June 2017 was awarded a gold rating, the highest, in the UK Government's Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, it is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook and 66th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20th in its 'Table of Tables' 2016. Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality. In the National Student Survey 2016, Kent achieved the fourth highest score for overall student satisfaction, out of all publicly funded, multi-faculty universities. Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium (http://www.kent.ac.uk/about/partnerships/eastern-arc.html). The University is worth 0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes 293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals. Kent has received two Queen's Anniversary prizes for Higher and Further Education. In a groundbreaking new study, researchers at the University of Minnesota used a customized, low-cost 3D printer to print electronics on a real hand for the first time. The technology could be used by soldiers on the battlefield to print temporary sensors on their bodies to detect chemical or biological agents or solar cells to charge essential electronics. Researchers also successfully printed biological cells on the skin wound of a mouse. The technique could lead to new medical treatments for wound healing and direct printing of grafts for skin disorders. The research study was published today on the inside back cover of the academic journal Advanced Materials. "We are excited about the potential of this new 3D-printing technology using a portable, lightweight printer costing less than $400," said Michael McAlpine, the study's lead author and the University of Minnesota Benjamin Mayhugh Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. "We imagine that a soldier could pull this printer out of a backpack and print a chemical sensor or other electronics they need, directly on the skin. It would be like a 'Swiss Army knife' of the future with everything they need all in one portable 3D printing tool." Video: https://youtu.be/DTXqUrmr3FQ One of the key innovations of the new 3D-printing technique is that this printer can adjust to small movements of the body during printing. Temporary markers are placed on the skin and the skin is scanned. The printer uses computer vision to adjust to movements in real-time. "No matter how hard anyone would try to stay still when using the printer on the skin, a person moves slightly and every hand is different," McAlpine said. "This printer can track the hand using the markers and adjust in real-time to the movements and contours of the hand, so printing of the electronics keeps its circuit shape." Another unique feature of this 3D-printing technique is that it uses a specialized ink made of silver flakes that can cure and conduct at room temperature. This is different from other 3D-printing inks that need to cure at high temperatures (up to 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit) and would burn the hand. To remove the electronics, the person can simply peel off the electronic device with tweezers or wash it off with water. In addition to electronics, the new 3D-printing technique paves the way for many other applications, including printing cells to help those with skin diseases. McAlpine's team partnered with University of Minnesota Department of Pediatrics doctor and medical school Dean Jakub Tolar, a world-renowned expert on treating rare skin disease. The team successfully used a bioink to print cells on a mouse skin wound, which could lead to advanced medical treatments for those with skin diseases. "I'm fascinated by the idea of printing electronics or cells directly on the skin," McAlpine said. "It is such a simple idea and has unlimited potential for important applications in the future." Vidoe: https://youtu.be/t5C3OyKY_2g ### In addition to McAlpine and Tolar, the University of Minnesota team includes Ph.D. students Zhijie Zhu and Xiaoxiao Fan and postdoctoral researcher Shuang-Zhuang Guo from the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Science and Engineering; and research staff Cindy Eide and Tessa Hirdler from the Department of Pediatrics in the Medical School. This study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and state-funded Regenerative Medicine Minnesota. In addition, the first author of the paper Zhijie Zhu was funded by a University of Minnesota Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship. To read the full research paper entitled "3D Printed Functional and Biological Materials on Moving Freeform Surfaces," visit the Advanced Materials website. By using images of the brain to look at how its outer surface is folded on itself, researchers can predict which high-risk patients will develop psychosis with more than 80 per cent accuracy. Before now, there has been no way to examine young people before they become ill to reliably identify who will develop acute psychosis and who will not. Researchers from Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ontario collaborated with scientists at the University of Basel in Switzerland to develop an approach using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain that can identify which patients with pre-psychotic symptoms will go on to develop full-blown psychosis. The hope is that this information can then be used to begin early-intervention therapy with these patients before they develop illness. "We not only know that early intervention works, but many interventions for psychosis work only if they are given early enough," said Dr. Lena Palaniyappan, associate professor at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Robarts Research Institute, and associate scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute. "If we can identify patients early, before they drop-out of schools or lose their jobs due to a psychotic episode, we can reverse the trajectory of this illness. In the study published today in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, the researchers collected MRI data from a group of 161 participants in Switzerland. 44 healthy control subjects, 38 patients with first-episode psychosis (characterized by brief hallucinations or delusions), and 79 people with an increased risk of psychosis. The researchers followed the participants for four years to determine which of those patients developed psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, and which did not. The researchers point out that approximately 1 in 7 young people experience psychosis-risk symptoms, but only one per cent will develop long-standing psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. "Currently there is no tool available for clinicians to pin-point which of those who are at risk, will go on to develop psychosis," said Tushar Das, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Palaniyappan's lab. "Our end goal is to apply this to the clinic. Our idea would be to identify these patients before they fall into a psychotic illness." The researchers looked specifically at the structural relationship in the brain determined by the way that the brain is folded inside the skull, also known as gyrification. "The human brain is not the largest of the mammals - elephants and dolphins have larger brains than we do, but our brain is much more folded than other species' brains, and that is because it is the most economical way to send signals across a constantly busy system," said Dr. Palaniyappan, noting that this folding pattern is mostly developed by the time a person is two years old. Video of Dr. Palaniyappan explaining the work can be found here: https://youtu.be/DVzmFmCoa-s The researchers note that this may also point to the fact that psychotic illness is largely developmental rather than degenerative. "In search of the neural mechanisms that contribute to emerging psychosis, developmental processes are increasingly be recognized to be crucial," the researchers said in the study. ### MEDIA CONTACT: Crystal Mackay, Media Relations Officer, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, t. 519.661.2111 ext. 80387, c. 519.933.5944, crystal.mackay@schulich.uwo.ca @CrystalMackay ABOUT WESTERN Western delivers an academic experience second to none. Since 1878, The Western Experience has combined academic excellence with life-long opportunities for intellectual, social and cultural growth in order to better serve our communities. Our research excellence expands knowledge and drives discovery with real-world application. Western attracts individuals with a broad worldview, seeking to study, influence and lead in the international community. ABOUT THE SCHULICH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE & DENTISTRY The Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University is one of Canada's preeminent medical and dental schools. Established in 1881, it was one of the founding schools of Western University and is known for being the birthplace of family medicine in Canada. For more than 130 years, the School has demonstrated a commitment to academic excellence and a passion for scientific discovery. ABOUT LAWSON HEALTH RESEARCH INSTITUTE As the research institute of London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care London, and working in partnership with Western University, Lawson Health Research Institute is committed to furthering scientific knowledge to advance health care around the world. Have writer's block? Hopefully this resource will help librarians identify publishing and presentation opportunities in library & information science, as well as other related fields. I will include calls for papers, presentations, participation, reviewers, and other relevant notices that I find on the web. If you find anything to be posted, please drop me a note. thanks -- Corey Seeman, University of Michigan(cseeman@umich.edu) Approximately 80 percent of these great apes live outside protected areas, and gorillas are declining at an annual rate of 2.7 percent A massive decade-long study of Western Equatorial Africa's gorillas and chimpanzees has uncovered both good news and bad about our nearest relatives. The good news: there are one third more western lowland gorillas and one tenth more central chimpanzees than previously thought. The bad news: the vast majority of these great apes (80 percent) exist outside of protected areas, and gorilla populations are declining by 2.7 percent annually. The WCS-led study titled "Guns, germs and trees determine density and distribution of gorillas and chimpanzees in Western Equatorial Africa" appears in the latest edition of the journal Science Advances. The newly published paper was written by 54 co-authors from several organizations and government agencies, including WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Jane Goodall Institute, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) - Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE), Lincoln Park Zoo, and the Universities of Stirling and Washington, and involved the protected area authorities of five countries. Researchers collected field data during foot surveys carried out over a 10-year period across the range of both western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) - surveying an area of 192,000 square kilometers (72,000 square miles - equivalent to the size of the state of Washington) and including some of the most remote forests on the African continent. The authors of the study report an estimated abundance of over 360,000 gorillas and nearly 130,000 chimpanzees across the combined ranges of both subspecies, both of which were higher than previously believed. The gorilla estimate is approximately one-third higher and the chimpanzee estimate is about one-tenth higher. These revised numbers come largely from refinements to the survey methodology, new data from areas not previously included in range-wide estimates, as well as predictions of numbers in the areas between survey sites. "It's great news that the forests of Western Equatorial Africa still contain hundreds of thousands of gorillas and chimpanzees, but we're also concerned that so many of these primates are outside of protected areas and vulnerable to poachers, disease, and habitat degradation and loss," said lead author Samantha Strindberg of WCS. "These findings can help inform national and regional management strategies that safeguard the remaining habitat, increase anti-poaching efforts, and curtail the effects of development on great apes and other wildlife." Although the majority of great apes were found outside of protected areas, they were still in large forested landscapes close to or bordering existing national parks and reserves and away from centers of human activity. This suggests that protecting large and intact forested areas, with protected areas at their core, is critical to conserving gorillas and chimpanzees in this region. The data analysis also revealed a 2.7 percent annual decline in gorilla numbers, a finding that supports the continued status of the species as "Critically Endangered" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Chimpanzees are listed as "Endangered." The combined field time spent by researchers collecting data for the study totaled approximately 61,000 days (or 167 person-years) of time. Researchers walked more than 8,700 kilometers (5,400 miles)--a distance longer than the north-south axis of the African continent, or from New York to London--while collecting data on great ape nests that was used to generate population estimates and trends. Said co-author Dave Morgan of the Lincoln Park Zoo and Goualougo Triangle Ape Project: "The boots on the ground research teams and partnerships are crucial to the success of these programs and the conservation of gorillas and chimpanzees. These long-term studies enable us to make informed recommendations regarding protected lands and management to help great apes." The main factors responsible for the decline of gorillas and chimpanzees are illegal hunting, habitat degradation, and disease. At the same time, it was clear that where wildlife guards were present, above all in protected areas with intact forests, both gorillas and chimpanzees can thrive. David Greer of WWF said: "All great apes, whether in Africa or Asia, are threatened by poaching, especially for the bushmeat trade. Our study found that apes could live in safety, and thus in higher numbers, at guarded sites than if there was no protection." Said Fiona Maisels of WCS: "Our study underscores the huge importance of intact forests to gorillas and chimpanzees, and of preventing illegal felling of good quality forests." Other conservation recommendations made by the authors include land-use planning at national scales to keep ecologically-harmful activities, such as agriculture and new road construction, away from intact forests and the protected areas that serve as important gorilla and chimpanzee refuges. Another priority is the implementation of careful logging practices in existing logging concessions that follow Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Standards for reducing impacts on wildlife and habitats. These standards require that access to forests is controlled, old logging roads are effectively decommissioned and effective patrol systems are put in place to prevent illegal hunting. Ensuring strong implementation is critical. An additional threat to great apes - as well as human health - is the Ebola virus disease. Continued research into developing a vaccine and the means to deliver it are priorities, as are educational efforts on how to avoid spreading the disease and transmission between humans and great apes. Of all the 14 living great ape taxa, western lowland gorillas and central chimpanzees have the largest remaining populations. This is certainly good news. However, their future preservation cannot be taken for granted, given the fact that their dependence on suitable habitat collides with local to global demand for natural resources from their habitat, particularly outside of protected areas, where most of them occur. Said Hjalmar Kuhl of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology: "Protecting our gorillas and chimpanzees will therefore require a major increase in political will at all levels--national, regional, and global. Financial commitments from governments, international agencies for endangered species conservation and the private sector, are also critical for conserving our closest relatives and their habitats." Liz Williamson from the University of Stirling and the IUCN Red List Authority Coordinator for great apes said: "A combination of responsible industrial practices, conservation policies, and a network of well-managed parks and corridors would provide wildlife managers with a winning formula for conserving great apes in Central Africa. Our study has revealed that it is not too late to secure a future for gorillas and chimpanzees." ### The authors of the study are: S. Strindberg; F. Maisels; E.A. Williamson; S. Blake; E.J. Stokes; R. Aba'a; G. Abitsi; A, Agbor; R.D. Ambahe; P.C. Bakabana; M. Bechem; A. Berlemont; B. Bokoto de Semboli; P.R. Boundja; N. Bout; T. Breuer; G. Campbell; P. De Wachter; M. Ella Akou; F. Esono Mba; A.T.C. Feistner; B. Fosso; R. Fotso; D. Greer; C. Inkamba-Nkulu; C.F. Iyenguet; K.J. Jeffery; M. Kokangoye; H.S. Kuhl; S. Latour; B. Madzoke; C. Makoumbou; G.A.F. Malanda; R. Malonga; V. Mbolo; D.B. Morgan; P. Motsaba; G. Moukala; B.S. Mowawa; M. Murai; C. Ndzai; T. Nishihara; Z. Nzooh; L. Pintea; A. Pokempner; H.J. Rainey; T. Rayden; H. Ruffler; C.M. Sanz; A. Todd; H. Vanleeuwe; A. Vosper; Y. Warren; and D.S. Wilkie. This research was supported by the Agence Francaise de Developpement; Arcus Foundation; Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) - Monitoring of the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE); Columbus Zoo and Aquarium; Conservation International and the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation; the European Union's Ecosystemes Forestiers d'Afrique Centrale; the European Union's Especes Phares; Fondation Odzala-Kokoua; Foundation for Environment and Development in Cameroon; Global Environment Facility; Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Spain-United Nations Environment Programme Lifeweb; The Aspinall Foundation; Total (Gabon); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's Central Africa World Heritage Forest Initiative; United States Agency for International Development's Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE); U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Great Ape Conservation Fund, USFWS African Elephant Conservation Fund; Wildlife Conservation Society; the World Bank Group; and the World Wide Fund for Nature Germany, Netherlands, and USA. Deep-diving whales and other marine mammals can get the bends--the same painful and potentially life-threatening decompression sickness that strikes scuba divers who surface too quickly. A new study offers a hypothesis of how marine mammals generally avoid getting the bends and how they can succumb under stressful conditions. The key is the unusual lung architecture of whales, dolphins and porpoises (and possibly other breath-holding diving vertebrates), which creates two different pulmonary regions under deep-sea pressure, say researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Fundacion Oceanografic in Spain. Their study was published April 25, 2018, in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. "How some marine mammals and turtles can repeatedly dive as deep and as long as they do has perplexed scientists for a very long time," says Michael Moore, director of the Marine Mammal Center at WHOI and co-author of the study. "This paper opens a window through which we can take a new perspective on the question." When air-breathing mammals dive to high-pressure depths, their lungs compress. That collapses their alveoli--the tiny sacs at the end of the airways where gas exchange occurs. Nitrogen bubbles build up in the animals' bloodstream and tissue. If they ascend slowly, the nitrogen can return to the lungs and be exhaled. But if they ascend too fast, the nitrogen bubbles don't have time to diffuse back into the lungs. Under less pressure at shallower depths, the nitrogen bubbles expand in the bloodstream and tissue, causing pain and damage. Marine mammals' chest structure allows their lungs to compress. Scientists have assumed that this passive compression was marine mammals' main adaptation to avoid taking up excessive nitrogen at depth and getting the bends. In their study, the researchers took CT images of a deceased dolphin, seal, and a domestic pig pressurized in a hyperbaric chamber. The team was able to see how the marine mammals' lung architecture creates two pulmonary regions: one air-filled and the other collapsed. The researchers believe that blood flows mainly through the collapsed region of the lungs. That causes what is called a ventilation-perfusion mismatch, which allows some oxygen and carbon dioxide to be absorbed by the animal's bloodstream, while minimizing or preventing the exchange of nitrogen. This is possible because each gas has a different solubility in the blood. The terrestrial pig did not show that structural adaptation. This mechanism would protect cetaceans from taking up excessive amounts of nitrogen and thus minimize risk of the bends, says lead author Daniel Garcia-Parraga of the Fundacion Oceanografic. However, he said, "Excessive stress, as may occur during exposure to human-made sound, may cause the system to fail and increase blood to flow to the air-filled regions. This would enhance gas exchange, and nitrogen would increase in the blood and tissues as the pressure decreases during ascent." Scientists once thought that diving marine mammals were immune from decompression sickness, but a 2002 stranding event linked to navy sonar exercises revealed that 14 whales that died after beaching off the Canary Islands had gas bubbles in their tissues--a sign of the bends. The researchers say the paper's findings could support previous implications of decompression sickness in some cetacean mass strandings associated with navy sonar exercises. The team says further research will require the development of tools to analyze how lung blood flow and ventilation patterns change with various stressors during diving. ### This work was supported by funding from the Fundacion Oceanografic and the Office of Naval Research. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean's role in the changing global environment. For more information, please visit http://www.whoi.edu. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will appoint the Swiss ambassador to Germany, Christine Schraner Burgener, to be his new special envoy to Myanmar, UN sources said Wednesday. The General Assembly in December asked Guterres to appoint a special envoy in a resolution that called on Myanmar to end its military campaign in Rakhine state. The appointment will be announced on Thursday, just days before the Security Council travels to Bangladesh and Myanmar for a first-hand look at the Rohingya refugee crisis. At least 700,000 Muslim-minority Rohingya have been driven out of Myanmar and are living in crowded camps in Bangladesh since Myanmars army launched a military operation in Rakhine state. The violence has left a trail of torched villages in its wake, with allegations of murder and rape at the hands of troops and vigilantes. Myanmar has vehemently denied US and United Nations allegations of ethnic cleansing. The UN spokesman did not confirm the appointment of Schraner Burgener, but said an announcement was imminent. Schraner Burgener has also served as Swiss ambassador to Thailand. Myanmar authorities say the operation in Rakhine state is aimed at rooting out extremists. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has begun a two-day state visit to Switzerland on Wednesday, which includes military honours in Bern and talks on bilateral relations and Europe. Germany is Switzerlands most important trading partner. This is the first state visit to Switzerland by a German president since 2010. During his two days, Steinmeier will hold talks with the Federal Council (executive body), focusing on bilateral relations, cooperation between the two countries in an international context and European policy, according to a Swiss government statement. Ahead of his trip, the German president was full of praise for the small alpine nation, which he has frequently visited especially for walks in the Alps. He told Swiss public radio, SRF on Tuesday: When I look at Switzerland, I look at a country that is a world leader in business and science Germany is a friendly country. We are not just good neighbours. We have common interests on which we will continue to work together. Steinmeier, who became German president in February 2017, said he hoped the Swiss do not view the European Union as an enemy. He added that he was hopeful for progress in EU-Swiss talks on a framework agreement. I am sure that if such a framework agreement is reached, it will be a win-win situation for both parties, and that is why I would like to see progress, the 62-year-old centre-left Social Democrat declared. Switzerland is not a member of the EU; economic and other relationships are governed by more than 120 bilateral deals agreed over decades. Brussels wants Switzerland to reorganise its EU relationships around aninstitutional framework agreement.The institutional framework issue has been dragging on for years and politicians and the seven-member Federal Council appear divided over European policy. Trading partner Germany is Switzerlands most important trade partner, both in terms of imports and exports. In 2015, German companies employed around 121,000 people in Switzerland, more than any other country. Swiss companies employ around 425,000 people in Germany (second place behind the Netherlands); in 2016 there were around 62,000 cross-border workers from Germany. At the end of 2017, 300,000 German nationals were living in Switzerland and 88,000 Swiss nationals were living in Germany. During his visit, Steinmeier will be accompanied by his wife Elke Budenbender. After Bern, he is set to visit Fribourg University, where he and Swiss President Alain Berset will take part in a discussion on the challenges and prospects for democracy in the 21st century. In Fribourg, he will also visit the NeighborHub solar-powered modular community centre building which won the top prize at the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon event last year. Before his return flight to Germany on Thursday, Steinmeier will take a helicopter flight over the Aletsch Glacier in canton Valais to learn more about the impact of climate change. He also plans to visit the grave of the writer Thomas Mann at the Kilchberg cemetery near Zurich. The Swiss government has approved reforms of the Penal Code to toughen sanctions for sexual violence and bodily harm, as well as introduce a broader definition of rape. They must now be approved by parliament. The Bill, which was submitted to parliament on Wednesday, focuses on attacks on sexual integrity, as well as attacks that threaten life and bodily integrity. Whilst leaving judges with latitude to decide each case, the Bill proposes to raise the minimum prison sentence for rape from one year to two, should Swiss politicians vote the bill through. In addition, rape will no longer be defined with reference to gender and will include similar acts of sexual violence. At present, Swiss law defines rape as an act by a male against a female. Aside from rape, any other sexual act against a child under the age of 12 is to carry a minimum sentence of one year in jail. There are also to be tougher penalties for hooligans. The minimum sentence for causing serious bodily harm is to be doubled to one year in jail, whilst there will also be tougher penalties for group acts of violence against authorities and public officials. The relevant part of the Swiss Penal Code has been modified more than 70 times in 40 years to take account of evolving social values, technological advances and Switzerlands obligations under international conventions, explains a government press release. But, it says, there has never been an overall assessment of whether minimum sentences reflect the gravity of the acts committed or are coherent in relation to each other. The current Bill aims to address that gap. These reforms have been controversial and have been in the pipeline since 2012. They may also be the subject of heatedparliamentary debate. The government has decided to boost efforts aimed at preventing animal diseases from spreading in Switzerland. It agreed that necessary measures can be taken to combat the possible transmission of tuberculosis to Swiss cattle from contaminated deer in neighbouring Austria. It also gave the green light for a vaccination campaign for cattle to protect them against lumpy skin disease, a statement (in French/German)on Wednesday said. In a further measure, the government agreed to extend an animal database to include sheep and goats. Holders of such animals must notify the authorities of births, deaths, imports, exports as well as sales. Most of the new measures are due to come into force in June. The registration duty will be introduced by 2020. A similar system has been in place for bovines since 2000. It was later extended to include horses, donkeys and pigs. Four years ago, it also became mandatory to register the slaughter of fowl, sheep and goats. Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse on Wednesday posted a big jump in net profit for the first quarter, as a major overhaul under way since 2015 delivers firm results. The bank, Switzerlands second biggest after UBS, began to refocus its activities on wealth management over merchant banking. The revamp, launched after French-Ivorian businessman and former politician Tidjane Thiam took the reins as CEO in 2015, has also involved a relentless focus on efficiency, Credit Suisse said in a statement. We have reshaped Credit Suisse in less than three years, the statement said. For the first three months of 2018, the bank announced a year-on-year jump in profits of 16 percent to 694 million Swiss francs ($706 million, 579 million euros). Quarterly costs (were) reduced to (their) lowest level in five years, the statement said. Eighty percent of the banks core profitability is now generated by its wealth management and investment banking activities up 41 percent from 2015, it added. We had planned 2018 to be a year of acceleration in our performance, Thiam said in the statement. With these first quarter results, we got off to a good start in our third and final year of restructuring, and we are looking ahead to the future with confidence in our new business model and in our execution capabilities, he added. Investors welcomed the earnings report, as Credit Suisses shares jumped 4.5 percent in early Wednesday trading on the Zurich stock exchange. The banks wealth management activities achieved their highest quarterly results in seven years, at 14.4 billion Swiss francs, up 20 percent from last year, it said. The wealth management unit for the Asia Pacific region did particularly well, seeings its revenues rise 12 percent to 991 million Swiss francs. For the future, Credit Suisse struck a positive note. The global economy continues to show encouraging growth prospects across Asia, the US and Europe, it said, adding that it expected its wealth management activities to continue growing. Nonetheless, it said its client activity levels remained sensitive to geopolitical tensions and threats of a US-China trade war. noo/ser/bs/cw Former UBS precious metals trader Andre Flotron was acquitted on Wednesday of market manipulation, a development that could spell trouble for similar cases against other Wall Street traders. Authorities arrested Flotron late last year on charges he engaged in a Wall Street practice called spoofing, which involves placing and then immediately aborting trades to move prices. The acquittal follows Januarys $46.6 million settlement with UBS, Deutsche Bank and HSBC over allegations traders at the banks worked to manipulate futures markets in precious metals between 2008 and early 2014. Before this case, only three other people had ever been charged with spoofing, according to the Justice Department, a practice banned under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform legislation. Federal prosecutors in January unveiled charges against Flotron, a Swiss national, along with six other traders and a technology consultant allegedly involved in the manipulation. They were based in New York, Switzerland, Britain, Australia and the United Arab Emirates. Prosecutors said the conduct was a systemic threat to markets, creating the risk of eroding confidence and putting honest players at a disadvantage. Government witnesses included Flotrons former trainee, Mike Chan, who reportedly testified that he had learned to spoof at Flotrons side. But a federal jury in New Haven, Connecticut deliberated only a short time before unanimously acquitting Flotron. He still faces a civil action by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates futures markets. David Liew, a former Deutsche Bank trader, pleaded guilty in June and has since cooperated with investigators. The premier of Germany's Bavaria state sparked an uproar Wednesday after his cabinet ordered that Christian crosses be fixed in the entrance halls of all public buildings. Markus Soeder, whose conservative CSU party faces a far-right challenge in state elections in October, declared that the cross is a fundamental symbol of our Bavarian identity and way of life. It should be seen as a cultural rather than a religious symbol, added Soeder of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Critics pointed out Germanys constitutional separation of church and state, while some religious leaders charged Soeder was playing politics with a sacred symbol. The satirical website Der Postillon suggested that Soeders next move would be to decree that a copy of the German Basic Law be used as a doormat in front of all administrative buildings. The chairman of the Central Council of Muslims, Aiman Mazyek, said that we Muslims have no problem with the cross or the appreciation of religion in society, but that the states neutrality should always be respected. He also warned against the double standard of banishing Muslim or Jewish symbols from the public sphere, in comments to national news agency DPA. Protestant church leader Heinrich Bedford-Strohm said the cross should not be used to exclude others, and that Christian values such as helping the weak should apply to Germanys refugee policy. The CSU has strongly pushed for Germany to limit its refugee intake and step up immigration controls following a mass influx of more than one million mostly Muslim asylum seekers since 2015. Twitter users mocked the hardening theocracy in Bavaria, where crosses already hang in classrooms and court houses, and poked fun at a picture Soeder had posted of himself holding a cross. Under the hashtag #Kruzifix, they asked whether public swimming pools would soon be filled with holy water, or whether the tax office would issue Catholic letters of indulgence to forgive fiscal sins. Some suggested it would be more useful for Bavarian state offices to install public wifi servers. Soeders predecessor, Horst Seehofer, recently became Merkels cabinet minister for a re-branded interior and homeland ministry, where he was quick to revive a long-running debate by stating that Islam is not part of Germany. Airbus and Dassault Aviation announced Wednesday they intend to team up on the development of a French-German combat fighter, a project Paris and Berlin unveiled last year. The two firms have decided to join forces for the development and production of Europes Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, which is intended to enter service by 2040, they said in a joint statement released at the Berlin air show. The French and German governments are expected to make an announcement during the air show about their intention to move forward with the project. Airbus and Dassault have been rivals in the development of combat aircraft. Dassault builds the Rafale which is Frances main fighter jet, while the defence arm of Airbus based in Germany is a partner in the Eurofighter Typhoon which is used by several European nations, including Germany. Dassaults chief executive Eric Trappier told journalists that the two firms had reached an agreement in principle to work together. He called it a first message to tell (policymakers) we are ready in the field of a future air combat system. The chief executive of Airbuss defence unit, Dirk Hoke, called the project a huge step forward in ensuring the development of technologies needed to ensure European sovereignty. It can only be done, not only when the governments work together, but when key industrial partners team up, he said. Drones, cruise missiles The teaming up of Dassault and Airbus all but means that they will lead the development of the FCAS, which in addition to a new combat aircraft also plans to include drones and cruise missiles. Britain had agreed with France in 2014 to develop a new fighter aircraft, but Brexit has in practice put those plans on ice, and thus freezing out BAE Systems, which builds the Eurofighter Typhoon together with Airbus. The only other firm in the EU which produces fighter jets is Swedens Saab. Howard Wheeldon, an analyst with Wheeldon Strategic Advisory who follows the defence and aerospace sectors, welcomed the development of a new European combat jet. But this is going to be a very costly high risk investment for two countries to share and no guarantee of sales to others, he told AFP. In or out of the European Union, the UK needs to be part of this development project and it also needs NATO behind it. In a column published earlier this month in the La Tribune newspaper, French Defence Minister Florence Parly, said defence cooperation would continue with Britain and projects could later be integrated into SCAF. On Thursday, Parly and her German counterpart Ursula von der Leyen are expected to sign at the air show a document outlining what capacities they are seeking and inviting firms to develop proposals. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who visited the air show on Wednesday, praised Franco-German cooperation in the defence sector. Franco-German cooperation always spurs European cooperation and in this way are bringing to life more and more the European Defence Union under which EU nations can collaborate in defence outside of NATO, she said. dar-dlm/rl/ser The Cannes film festival on Monday denounced an attempt to thwart the world premiere of one of the most cursed films in history, standing by its director, Monty Python's Terry Gilliam. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which Gilliam has finally finished after nearly two decades of repeated disasters, was due to close the worlds top film festival in the south of France next month. But the comedys former producer Paulo Branco launched a legal challenge last Wednesday to stop the screening and its French cinema release, claiming that his company Alfama Films owns the rights. Festival organisers said Monday that they backed Gilliam, although they will respect a court ruling due on May 7 a day before Cannes opens on whether or not the screening can go ahead. We stand squarely on the side of filmmakers and in particular on the side of Terry Gilliam, they said in a statement. We know how important this project, which has gone through so many trials and tribulations, is to him, it added. Gilliams various attempts to shoot the surreal story have been beset by a series of calamities worthy of a film themselves they are in fact the subject of an acclaimed 2002 documentary, Lost in La Mancha. The set was washed away during an aborted attempt to make it in 2000 starring Johnny Depp, when the lead actor Jean Rochefort also had to be airlifted to hospital after falling ill. A host of Hollywood stars including Ewan McGregor, John Hurt, Robert Duvall and Jack OConnell were later linked with the project, but each time the production fell through. Intimidation Branco insists that he holds the rights to the film, but Gilliam argues that the Portuguese producer lost his stake when he failed to raise enough money to make Cervantes unfilmable novel in 2016. The producer then tried and failed to block a new and successful shoot last year, starring Star Wars actor Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce. Judges in France and Britain have previously sided with Branco in a series of rulings in the long-running dispute. Branco has accused Gilliam and the festival organisers of trying to railroad through the Cannes premiere and French release before the courts have had their final say. Cannes organisers shot back, accusing Branco and his lawyer his son Juan Branco, who also represents WikiLeaks Julian Assange of intimidation and defamatory statements, as derisory as they are ridiculous. Defeat would be to succumb to threats, they said of the dispute. They added that in a year when two filmmakers in the main Cannes competition are under house arrest, it is more important than ever to remember that artists need us to support them, not attack them. Branco hit back through his legal team Monday, condemning the virulence and aggression of the festivals organisers, which would change nothing. If the film exists today it is because of the work and investment of Alfama Films and Paulo Branco, who believed in it when no one else did, their statement added. French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called for more cooperation to deny jihadist movements the financing they need to carry out attacks, as dozens of ministers met to discuss how to cut off funds for extremists. Frances top anti-terror prosecutor, Francois Molins, had revealed earlier that the countrys security services had identified 416 French donors to the Islamic State (IS) group and had also detected 320 fundraisers mainly based in Turkey and Libya who transferred the money to the jihadists. Macron warned that the jihadists use all contemporary forms of financing in an address at the closing of a two-day conference on combating the funding of terror groups at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which brought together around 80 ministers and 500 experts. We have to cut off terrorism at its roots: it feeds on human trafficking, drugs and weapons. Theres always an underlying economy, said Macron, urging global transparency and mobilisation. We have to cross to a new stage in the fight against Daech (Arabic acronym for IS) and Al-Qaeda. Macron praised the No money for terror conference for committing to improving such measures as sharing intelligence, fighting against anonymous financial transactions and identifying sources of funding. Attacks on Western targets have become increasingly low-cost since the 9/11 atrocities in the United States in 2001, particularly in recent years when IS followers have often used only vehicles or automatic weapons to kill people. But Molins estimated that attacks in France in January 2015 targeting the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket would have cost 25,000 euros ($30,000). More deadly assaults by teams of IS jihadists in Paris in November of that year, including against the Bataclan concert hall, would have cost an estimated 80,000 euros, he said. A French presidential official briefing journalists ahead of the terror funding conference this week said that IS income was estimated at about one billion dollars (820 million euros) a year between 2014-2016. Most of this was from local taxation, oil revenues and looting, with far smaller amounts flowing in from overseas donors. French officials are concerned that the money has been transferred out of Syria and Iraq and could be used to rebuild the organisation. It has been moved since, at least in part. Its probably somewhere, the official said on condition of anonymity. These groups are very skilful in using sophisticated techniques to move financial resources around. Privacy Settings This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience. Which cookies and scripts are used and how they impact your visit is specified on the left. You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit. NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using. Freedom Day, Revolution Day or simply, Carnation Day, the 25th of April is a national holiday commemorating both the 1974 military coup and the first free elections on that date in 1975. Peter Booker, the President of the Algarve History Association, writes about at the lead-up to the events in 1974 that changed Portugal from an unhappy, tense place under the Estado Novo regime, even after the death of the dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, into a fledgling democracy: The dictatorship in Portugal had its roots in the military coup of 28 May, 1926, and this day was officially celebrated until 1974. A British and Dutch-led operation on Wednesday brought down a website linked to more than four million cyberattacks around the world, with banking giants among the victims, European law enforcement agencies said. Authorities in five countries including the Netherlands, Serbia, Croatia and Canada, with support from Police Scotland and Europol, targeted six members of the crime group behind webstresser.org, Britains National Crime Agency said in a statement. Cybercriminals used the websites services, which could be rented for as little as $14.99 (12.31 euros), to launch so-called distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, which swamp targets with spam traffic and disable their IT systems. British police searched an address in Bradford, northern England, and seized a number of items, while Dutch police, with assistance from Germany and the United States, seized servers and took down the website. British police believe an individual linked to the address used the site, the worlds largest illegal DDOS seller, to hit seven of Britains biggest banks in November, forcing them to reduce operations. Stressers services give users the ability to stress-test the resilience of servers, causing disruption to the target. Police also arrested two suspects, aged 19 and 21 in Serbia and a third, aged 19, in Croatia, Serbian and Croatian authorities said in separate statements. The Croatian national faced a sentence between one and eight years in prison, the Croatian interior ministry added. Two men have also been arrested in Scotland, police said. Warning to all DDOS-ers Europol, which set up a command and control post in The Hague on Tuesday to coordinate the operation, said further measures would be taken against the online marketplaces top users in Australia, Britain, Canada, Croatia, Hong Kong, Italy and the Netherlands. This could include arrests or just knock-on-door operations but it depends from country to country, Europol spokeswoman Claire Georges told AFP in The Hague. A significant criminal website has been shut down and the sophisticated crime group behind it stopped as a result of an international investigation, said the NCAs Jo Goodall. The arrests made over the past two days show that the internet does not provide bulletproof anonymity to offenders and we expect to identify further suspects linked to the site in the coming weeks and months as we examine the evidence we have gathered, Goodall added. Dutch national polices Gert Ras was quoted in the NCA statement as saying the operation had had an unprecedented impact on DDOS cybercrime. This is a warning to all wannabe DDOS-ers we will identify you, bring you to court and facilitate that you will be held liable by the victims for the huge damage you cause. But Steven Wilson, who heads up Europols EC3 Cybercrime Centre, warned in a statement that DDOS and other malicious online activities were on the rise, victimising millions of users in a moment. Law enforcement cooperation needs to be as good as the collaboration between criminal gangs to turn the tables on these criminals and shut down their malicious cyberattacks, Wilson said. Latte king Costa Coffee is to go it alone following pressure from activist shareholders on Whitbread, the global coffee chain's parent company, a statement said Wednesday. UK company Whitbread, which will hold onto hotel chain Premier Inn, said the spin-off is part of a restructuring drive that is set to be completed within two years. Given the progress Whitbread is making, we are confident that both Premier Inn and Costa will soon be businesses of sufficient strength, scale and capability to enable them to thrive as independent companies, Whitbread chief executive Alison Brittain said in the statement. The board, therefore, believes that it is in the best long-term interests of Whitbreads many stakeholders to separate Premier Inn and Costa, via a demerger of Costa, she added. Analysts welcomed the move. A cleaner operation should enable greater operational focus and afford investors greater clarity on profit and cash generation, said analyst Greg Johnson at Shore Capital. Whitbreads announcement comes after activist investor, US group Elliott last week became its biggest shareholder with a six percent interest. The question will of course arise over whether CEO Alison Brittain jumped or was pushed into this proposal by the arrival of two activist investors on the shareholder register, said Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers. Whitbread bought Costa in 1995 from founders Sergio and Bruno Costa and presently runs about 2,400 stores in the UK and some 1,400 around the world. Its shops are popular with a wide array of coffee lovers, ranging from students in London, to journalists and Beirut, and tourists in Paris. Premier Inn has 785 hotels in the UK plus some more in Germany and the Middle East. bcp/rfj/ser Several thousand protestors marched through Johannesburg Wednesday to demonstrate against a proposed minimum wage, a new test for President Cyril Ramaphosa who took office in February. South Africa, which is suffering record unemployment, is due to introduce the 20 rand ($1.60) hourly minimum wage, but it has been widely criticised as too low. It is a disgrace, said Martin Kgaladi, a car industry worker wearing a T-shirt denouncing the pay level as a salary of slaves. He accused Ramaphosa, a former trade union leader who supports the minimum wage, of being captured by the capitalists and oppressing the workers he once defended. Ramaphosa has vowed to boost economic growth and tackle unemployment by attracting foreign investment and cracking down on government corruption. He took over from scandal-tainted Jacob Zuma after nine years of weak growth, ballooning national debt and falling investor confidence. SAFTU, the second biggest trade union, also held protests in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, but the strike was not backed by COSATU, the biggest union group, which is a government ally. Employment has hit a high of 28 percent in South Africa, with the youth unemployment levels often peaking at over 50 percent in some areas. Last week, Ramaphosa left a summit in London early to hold talks over violent riots against alleged government corruption and poor public services. "Managing Rapid Growth When Manufacturing & the Supply Chain are Hot" CLAREMONT, CA April 25, 2018 APICS Inland Empire Chapter (APICS-IE), the leading association for supply chain and operations professionals, is proud to announce the Spring 2018 Executive Panel. The Symposium is focusing on: "Managing Rapid Growth When Manufacturing & the Supply Chain Are Hot". The event will be held on Saturday, May 5, 2018 at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. The panel features four key executives familiar with the rapid growth experienced by manufacturing and the impact on all aspects within the supply chain. "We are thrilled to have top notch manufacturing and supply chain experts and related trusted advisors on our executive panel to discuss rapid growth, change and associated impacts for manufacturers and distributors in the Inland Empire. They will discuss strategies for successfully navigating these waters and comment on the recent tax law changes and how to leverage opportunities for success" commented Lisa Anderson, APICS-IE Chapter Leader and President of LMA Consulting Group. The panel includes: Cindi Mullane Senior Director, Supply Chain and Operations, Feit Electric Jon Armstrong Owner, Do It American Manufacturing Company David Porter Chief Executive Officer, Rail Delivery Services Cristen Stier Shareholder, CPA, RP&B CPAs "Each panelist brings a unique perspective into the discussion. From strategy and operational excellence to logistics networks and tax implications, we will discuss the euphoria of a booming manufacturing environment, as well as the pain points that arise from it. What's most important is that we collaborate with industry leaders and share key insights, so that our attendees stay ahead of the needs of the business" Ms. Anderson concluded. The symposium attracts industry professionals from throughout the Inland Empire and Southern California and welcomes students. The APICS-IE Spring Symposium, "Managing Rapid Growth When Manufacturing & the Supply Chain Are Hot" will be held Saturday, May 5, 2018 from 8:00-11:30 AM at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. Fees to attend are $15 for members, $25 for non-members and students are free. A breakfast buffet is included. Register online at: https://conta.cc/2GhXymm Wednesday, April 25, 2018 The Herman Trend Alert April 25, 2018 Inventing Clean Meat Meat consumption in the United States and elsewhere is at an all-time high. Imagine satisfying that growing demand for meat without killing any animals? Worldwide, traditional animal farming accounts for about 18 percent of greenhouse emissions, uses 47,000 square miles of land annually, and exhausts 70 percent of the world's water. Clean Meat defined Given that technology is moving forward at a breakneck pace, it is not surprising to see the imminent appearance in stores and restaurants of meat that is lab-grown (or brewed)---sometimes called "clean meat". (In the past, we have called "clean food" nourishment that was free of herbicides, pesticides, and GMOs). Growing meat without killing animals With the growing world population, there is a serious challenge---raising enough animals to satisfy growing global demand. Made from stem cells harvested via biopsy from living livestock, in vitro animal products, or clean meat, may be grown in the lab in a matter of weeks. Real animal protein According to Paul Shapiro, author of the groundbreaking book Clean Meat: How Growing Meat without Animals will Revolutionize Dinner and the World (Gallery Books 20??), "Clean meat isn't an alternative to meat; it's real, actual meat, grown (or brewed!) from animal cells, as well as other clean animal products that ditch animal cells altogether and are simply built from the molecule up". Companies in the clean meat space Several entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley are working diligently to bring flavorful clean meat products to market. Memphis Meats, Just, Impossible Meats, SuperMeat, and Mosa Meat. Memphis Meats is supported by Tyson Foods, Bill Gates, the food giant Cargill, and even Sir Richard Branson. Other positive consequences According to former US Secretary of Health & Human Kathleen Sebelius Services, "the cellular agricultural revolution helps lower rates of foodborne illness, greatly improves environmental sustainability, and allows us to continue to enjoy the food we love". Not everyone is a fan Similar to the dairy companies fighting soy milk producers over what can be called "milk", the US Cattlemen's Association (USCA) filed a petition to the USDA contending that lab-grown meat startups should not be able to call their products "meat". Unfortunately for the USCA, recently the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) asked the USDA to regulate the startups as if they were traditional meat producers. Expect to see clean meat on menus The Just company might be the first to get its meat into restaurants, having said last year its clean chicken nuggets, sausage, and foie gras could be served in restaurants in the US and Asia "before the end of 2018". Others, including Memphis Meats and Mosa Meats, say they will start offering their products to the public in 2021. In the future, we anticipate seeing clean versions of other animal proteins, specifically fish, shrimp, and lobster. Copyright 1998-2018 by The Herman Group, Inc. -- reproduction for publication is encouraged, with the following attribution: From "The Herman Trend Alert," by Joyce Gioia, Strategic Business Futurist. 336-210-3548 or http://www.hermangroup.com. To sign up, visit http://www.HermanTrendAlert.com. The Herman Trend Alert is a trademark of The Herman Group, Inc." The Kerrville consulting company that sought bankruptcy protection amid possible financial wrongdoing has accused its former president of fraud. The HJH Consulting Group Inc., which does business as The Salt Group, also accused Stephen Canty of breaching his fiduciary duty, according to a filing in bankruptcy court Monday. The company said it also has a claim against Kerrville accounting firm Pressler, Thompson & Co. for committing malpractice in regards to conducting audits for the debtor for a number of years, according to the filing. HJH sought bankruptcy protection due to the fact that one of its employees manipulated (its) accounting records to its detriment, it said in an April 9 court filing. FBI agents are investigating possible wrongdoing at HJH, three people familiar with the probe told the San Antonio Express-News earlier this month. FBI spokeswoman Michelle Lee had no comment today. She has said it doesnt confirm or deny the existence of investigations. HJH and two related firms, US Tax Recovery Partners and B2B Prospecting, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on April 2. The cases have been consolidated. A search of Kerr County court records did not turn up any any litigation filed by HJH against either Canty or the accounting firm. James Wilkins, HJHs bankruptcy lawyer, declined to comment. HJH didnt elaborate on its claims against Canty. His attorney, San Antonio criminal defense lawyer Gerald Gerry Goldstein, declined to comment. Canty was terminated on March 26, court papers show. He worked at HJH since at least 2000. State corporate records listed him as HJHs president. He also served as president of US Tax Recovery. Pressler, Thompson partner Tim Porter said he wasnt aware of any claim HJH might have against his accounting firm. He said its possible HJH may contend the firm failed to detect fraud during its financial audits, but added thats not the job of an outside auditor. It says right on the opinion letter that if we detect (fraud), we will let it be known, Porter said in a phone interview. But the purpose of an audit is the expression of an opinion on financial statements. Porter said he hasnt done any work for HJH since the end of 2016. In this weeks court filing, HJH listed $2.5 million in assets and $25.2 million in liabilities. Its assets included about $866,000 in monies owed it and $1.2 million in office furniture and equipment. Texas Capital Bank is listed as the largest creditor, owed $24 million. Other notable creditors include HJH CEO and principal owner Harlan J. Hall, owed $350,000, and Lori VanBuren, a vice president and co-owner, owed $150,000. Hall did not immediately respond to a message left with the company. HJH reported revenue of almost $2.9 million in 2016, $1.5 million last year, and $160,872 this year before the bankruptcy filing. The HJH companies have provided cost and expense reduction advice to clients. On Friday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Gargotta issued an order authorizing HJH and the other debtors to use Texas Capital Banks cash collateral to pay company employees and cover operating expenses. The bank consented to interim use of its collateral through May 2, but hasnt revealed whether it will go along with the use of its collateral after that date. In a court filing last week, the bank said the debtors dont have an equity cushion or sufficient receivables to provide the Bank adequate protection given the amount the lender is owed. Eric Taube and Mark Taylor, lawyers for the bank, couldnt immediately be reached for comment. HJH has indicated in bankruptcy court papers that it intends to sell the business as a going concern under a reorganization plan. Meanwhile, a San Antonio man said he and about 10 others were terminated by The Salt Group on April 16 less than four hours after starting their first day on the job and going through training. I dont know what to say. Pretty flabbergasted by the whole thing, he said, adding he didnt want to be identified because he was still hoping to still be paid by the company. He said he signed an offer letter on April 2 the day the companies filed bankruptcy to accept employment as a business development advocate, earning $17.31 an hour plus commissions. He resigned from another job to join the company, he added. When I signed my offer on April 2, 2018, nothing was mentioned to me about any problems, he said. A few days before his start date, he said he received HR paperwork confirming training would start the following Monday and saying they looked forward to seeing him. Patrick Danner is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | pdanner@express-news.net | @AlamoPD One Oyster Bake attendee got a picture many say shows what "Fiesta is all about." Facebook user Flawz Don Rodriguez snapped the photo of his friend, Jose Garza, chugging a beer while surrounded by laughing SAPD officers on Saturday. "This is what Fiesta is all about!! CITY CELEBRATING," Rodriguez captioned the photo. He told mySA.com his group was on the way to another section of the Oyster Bake party when the photo opportunity arose. RELATED: 7 viral, funny stories you may have missed during Fiesta's first weekend Now Playing: Viva Fiesta! Video: San Antonio Express-News "[...] my friend wanted a pic with the cops, one of the cops dropped his beer and he picked it up fast and chugged it and they started laughing," Rodriguez said. Jesse Salame, a spokesman for the San Antonio Police Department, also explained what happened. He said officers ask residents to put away any alcohol they may be holding before posing for a picture, which is what happened with Garza. He said Garza dropped the beer as he was setting it down and then caught officers off guard when he quickly picked it up and chugged the rest. One officer saw Garza had too much to drink and tried grabbing the beer bottle from him. READ ALSO: San Antonio's new bikini-clad walking Fiesta meme speaks out on Market Square success "They (officers) made sure he got home OK with someone responsible," Salame added. Hundreds of San Antonians have chimed into the viral post. "Fiesta time is the most laid-back time of the year, but yet the most stressful," Joshua Cano commented. "I love this city." Others weren't as enthused. A woman named Shanell Pearl was one of hundreds who shared the post, saying she "can't stand SAPD" and tagged Facebook pages for activist Shaun King and the department. "Why is this ok? Why aren't people mad about this," she said. "Oh I know because it is San Antonio and it is Fiesta so it is ok." See the photo for yourself in the gallery above. Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for mySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkye The 323rd Army Band paid homage Tuesday to the heroes of the Alamo with a performance that many assumed would be its swan song the storied units last big gig in a civilian setting. But some good news followed the Alamo Plaza show. Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, commander of U.S. Army North, said the Department of the Army had reversed plans to break up the the 30-year-old orchestra. Caught in a cost-cutting move, the 323rd was to be the last in a long line of Fort Sam Houston bands that have serenaded command changes, honored fallen soldiers at funerals and lifted spirits at Fiesta parades for well over a century. Its final performance had been set for May 6 on the Army post. We made a strong case that if we have to cut bands, this should not be one of the ones cut. And so they decided to keep it, Buchanan told the San Antonio Express-News, noting that the decision was made about a month ago. Its wonderful, he said. Look, this is Military City, U.S.A.. This band means a lot to us here in the Army, but it means a lot to the entire community. Tuesdays show, on a cool, sunny Army Day at the Alamo, was part of the militarys salute to Fiesta. The 323rd, called Fort Sams Own, performed an original composition written by retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Charles Booker, a former commander of the band. Buchanan also read William Simmons poem The Alamo to a musical score composed by John Williams. The U.S. Army Drill team, a Virginia-based unit, wowed a crowd of several hundred as it tossed rifles with shiny fixed bayonets into the air. The band then played Fiesta de San Antonio and The Army Song before wrapping up the day with photos taken by folks in the crowd. Some asked the musicians to smile. They did. Related: Army lowers 2017 recruiting goal; more soldiers staying on One of 91 Army bands in existence last July when word of a restructuring broke, the 323rd was among four to be phased out this year. Some here reacted in shock and dismay. The bands commander, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jonathan Ward, pointed to his musicians as a crucial connection to the civilian world, the part of the Army the public can see, touch and interact with on a regular basis. Its been that way in San Antonio since before the 20th century, with Army bands performing around town going back to the 1890s. The 323rd itself keeps up a frenetic pace, doing around 350 shows a year, from locations in the Alamo City to stops in Austin, Houston and the Rio Grande Valley. It also spins off smaller groups that include a woodwind trio, a New Orleans-style brass band, jazz and rock groups, and the 12-member Latin Invasion ensemble. When you look at all the factors, like how important the band is to Army ceremonies for all these different commands that we have, let alone they do hundreds of outreach events every single year, its very important for what they do to help the Army stay connected with the community, Buchanan said. So for us its a big win to keep them here. It was not the first time the band had been on the ropes. These guys have been like Fidel Castro for the last several years. Hes dead, hes alive, hes dead, hes alive and somehow the 323rd Band keeps holding on, said retired Lt. Gen. Guy Swan, who commanded Army North from 2009 to 2011. This is not just Fort Sam Houstons band, this is South Texas band, this is part of the broader South Texas community. And it services not just Fort Sam, not just the United States Army, but the broader community, all services, all military bases, our veteran community. And I think this is a very wise call. Buchanan called the reassessment a strong sign of commitment by the Army to San Antonio. Citing retired Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Buchanan said one of the greater dangers the nation faces is of a military increasingly disconnected from the citizens it serves. This is just one example of what we can do to maintain the connections, Buchanan said. Read more: Behind the scenes: Army convoy through SE Texas With the band saved, the next step is reversing transfers to other posts that had been scheduled as part of the 323rds elimination and bringing in new musicians. Ward, the band commander, said he has 46 musicians under him at the moment but expects that number to fall as low as 16 by August. He hopes to add more performers after that. Its the best thing they could have possibly done, Ward said of the Armys decision. It made the Pentagon look at all of Army music and what were really trying to do and what our importance is at one of the largest installations historically one of the largest and still one of the largest. Its the home of medical, its the home of Army North, its the home of Installation Management Command, its the home of Army South. This is Pentagon South, basically. sigc@express-news.net AUSTIN The Texas Education Agency plans to spend nearly $212 million over the next five years in an attempt to fix systemic problems with special education in Texas schools, according to a final action plan released Tuesday. Finding funds for new programs is likely to be a major challenge when lawmakers return in January, but officials are confident theyve already found the money to launch the program. TEA officials acknowledged that students with special needs lag far behind their peers in reading and math skills, and say their plan includes efforts to boost academic achievement as well as address corrective actions required by the U.S. Department of Education. The federal agency determined that the state illegally set up an 8.5 percent benchmark some critics considered it a de facto cap on the number of students receiving special education services, well below the national average of 13 percent. A 2016 Houston Chronicle investigation found that the practice led school districts to deny access to special education services to tens of thousands of students with disabilities. Related: UTSA one of five universities to help failing public schools The final version of the plan comes after months of draft proposals and feedback sessions with parents, educators, education advocates and students. The state is aiming to repair a decade-old practice that drastically reduced the number of students receiving special education services. TEA officials have repeatedly said the 8.5 percent benchmark was not a cap but an indicator of performance. But in practice, districts used the number as a cap, the Department of Education found, and denied or delayed services for children across the state. TEA eliminated the policy two months after the Chronicles investigation. In May, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law prohibiting the use of performance indicators based solely on the number of students receiving special education services. The state will now increase school monitoring to ensure districts are meeting special education laws, train teachers and staff, increase family engagement and identify previously unidentified students who may be eligible for special education services. While the plan will require millions of dollars in funding, TEA officials said they have the money needed to put the plan in place. The agency does plan to ask the Legislature for more money in 2019 to cover costs associated with evaluating students who may need special education and offering compensatory services. The Texas Education Agency is committed to providing the quality of support needed to improve outcomes for students with disabilities, said Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath. This strategic action plan provides a solid foundation for our state to make meaningful, lasting change in how we educate and support children with special needs. Significant steps Gov. Greg Abbott, who issued a scathing letter after the federal investigation, praised TEAs plan. I am pleased with the urgency and commitment from the Texas Education Agency and Commissioner Morath to take significant steps to reform the special education system in Texas, Abbott said in a statement. Going forward, we will continue to work with parents and educators to ensure our students with special needs receive the services they deserve. In the next five years, the state plans to spend $90 million on professional development, $65 million on compensatory services, and nearly $20 million on new monitoring staff. Penny Schwinn, the states Deputy Commissioner of Academics, said the corrective action plan is only a starting point in overhauling special education in Texas. She said TEA will continue to meet with parents, advocacy groups and students to ensure schools are meeting their academic needs. Its step one, Schwinn said. The really hard work, and the test for the agency, happens moving forward. Read more: TEA details how it will calculate A-F letter grades Steven Aleman, a policy specialist with Disability Rights Texas, said the funding for the corrective action plan is only a down payment for meeting the needs of special education students. He also said the state needs to work with colleges and universities to ensure there are enough qualified special education teachers. Its encouraging that there is a tremendous opportunity to make changes in the system, he said. But so many of the details are left to be determined that it is still unclear whether or at, at the end of th day, systems will improve and be more responsive for students. alejandra.matos@chron.com twitter.com/amatos12 Police fatally shot a man armed with a .45-caliber pistol Tuesday morning in a downtown hotel, officials said. Hotel staff initially confronted the man around 5:15 a.m. in the lobby of the Embassy Suites hotel on East Houston Street, according to police. The man, who has not been identified, was described as being in his 40s. The man ran to the second floor, then took an elevator to the fifth floor, where he unsuccessfully tried to force his way into a room, police said. Around 6:15 a.m., the San Antonio Police Departments bike patrol and park police divisions confronted the man on the seventh floor, where he was again trying to break into a room, according to police. At that point, the situation escalated, said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, although he didnt provide details. McManus said it is unclear if the man ever raised his weapon or fired at the officers, but they felt compelled to use deadly force. The man didnt appear to be a guest at the hotel or know anyone staying there, the chief said. He was wearing work boots and had plaster residue on him, authorities said. Authorities blocked off the seventh floor of the hotel, with officers escorting any visitors staying on the floor to and from the area, while they investigated the shooting. Weve tried to make it as least inconvenient as we can for the guests that are staying here, McManus said Tuesday morning. He added that no guests were injured during the incident and that hotel staff were fully cooperating with the police. Jack Nevarez was in a room on the fifth floor of the hotel at the time of the shooting. He said that while he was getting ready, he heard someone yowling. He dismissed it as a couple fighting, but shortly thereafter, gunshots rang out. It was like deer hunting season, said Nevarez, who was visiting San Antonio from Las Cruces, New Mexico. cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns In the GOP runoff to replace retiring Texas House Speaker Joe Straus in his north Bexar County district, candidates Steve Allison and Matt Beebe have split on an issue that could divide the Republican Party later this year: How to select the next Speaker. Allison, who recently received Straus endorsement, has not committed to supporting the speaker candidate House Republicans choose when they caucus in December. The caucus voted last year to amend its rules and rally behind a candidate in a secret ballot, Republican-only vote in the hopes of preempting Democratic influence when the vote reaches the floor. Beebe, generally viewed as the more conservative candidate, has pledged to support the caucus decision, and has criticized Allison for their differing views on the issue. In a text, Allison confirmed that he differs with Beebe on the selection process. But he offered assurances that he would vote for a conservative speaker. Let there be no mistake about that, Allison said. I plan on voting for a candidate with staunch conservative values that best align with this district. I view my vote as belonging to the people of District 121 and the Texas Constitution, and to require anything else is inappropriate. Beebe has pointed to broad support for the caucus plan from Republican primary voters: More than 80 percent of voters in the district backed a proposition worded, Republicans in the Texas House should select their Speaker nominee by secret ballot in a binding caucus without Democrat influence. About 85 percent of statewide and Bexar County Republican primary voters backed the proposition, too. Some Republicans, including Straus, have questioned or disputed whether the vote can be binding, and the caucus December vote did not establish that constraint. Straus told reporters in December that the wiser approach would be to change the state constitution because you cant bind somebody to vote for a speaker candidate on the floor. But with a 95-55 Republican majority which will likely change after the November elections the caucus could withstand dissent from roughly 15 to 20 Republicans and still hold a majority of the 150 members when the speaker vote comes to the floor. Democrats worry that the GOPs selection-by-caucus decision will heighten partisan division, a notion that Beebe rejected. In a statement, he said the proposition is a simple message to Texas Republican legislators that asks them to stand on Republican principles and respect the majorities voters have consistently given them in the Texas Legislature. Allison called Beebes pledge of support another example of him taking instructions from Empower Texans, a conservative group known for targeting moderate Republicans. My opponent owes his allegiance to Empower Texans, the West Texas special interest group who has funded 90% of this and his prior two unsuccessful runs for this office. ... This should concern the people of our district, Allison wrote in a text. Beebe shot back in an email, saying Allisons reference to Empower Texans was an attempt at creating a distraction. It is not surprising that my opponent wants to redirect the conversation to supporters outside the district to avoid acknowledging how increasingly out of touch he is with the district, he wrote. ...The only reason a candidate would refuse to commit to (caucusing) is that they believe Democrats should have greater influence in the selection of the next Speaker this is simply unacceptable to me, and unacceptable to more than 80% of District 121 Republican primary voters. Caucusing to decide on a speaker candidate could compel reluctant Republicans to come on board if they want to avoid breaking from their party on the floor. But depending on the size of the moderate Republican wing, those lawmakers might hold sway if they form a large enough contingent with Democrats. In the days after the election, there will be a lot of jockeying, said Mark Jones, a Rice University political science professor. Everyone will play a game where ideally, moderate Republicans dont want to be seen as defecting from the party. At the same time, the moderates arent going to hand over their only real leverage: aligning with Democrats to avoid someone who they believe is too conservative. A coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans first elected Straus as speaker in 2009. He went on to serve in the position for five terms, and was unanimously voted to the speakership at the start of the 2017 session. In 2015, Straus easily turned back a challenge from the right from state Rep. Scott Turner, R-Frisco. Even before Straus announced he would not seek another term, state Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, announced his candidacy for speaker. A top Straus lieutenant, state. Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, quickly announced he would run after Straus October announcement, while a few other names have been floated. Jasper Scherer is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jscherer@express-news.net | @jaspscherer For years, Bexar County officials have attempted to institute some form of a syringe exchange program aimed at reducing the spread of infectious diseases and encouraging addicts to seek treatment. Though opposition to pilot programs and legislation have foiled and ultimately stalled needle exchange plans in recent years, officials with the local task force set up to combat the opioid epidemic are planning to give it another try. And District Attorney Nico LaHood, along with the Democratic and Republican nominees vying to succeed him in office, all support some form of an exchange program. The position of the countys top prosecutor is notable because, due in part to a 2008 opinion from then-Attorney General Greg Abbott, district attorneys have the final say on whether to charge program workers with possession or distribution of drug paraphernalia. LaHood, who will hold office until the end of the year, said in an interview he would support a well-thought-out program based on successful initiatives in other cities and counties. The initiative should not be one where workers just go around and pass out needles, he said, and would ideally be tied to wraparound treatment services. It has to be purposeful. If we can get this person out of this lifestyle, we need to encourage that, LaHood said. The idea of a needle exchange program remains in its earliest stages it came up for the first time at the task forces April 17 meeting so its unclear whether the initiative would begin before LaHood leaves office. He lost the March Democratic primary to local defense attorney Joe Gonzales, who in November faces another defense attorney, Republican nominee Tylden Shaeffer. Read more: Caught in the opioid snare Both candidates endorsed the concept of a needle exchange program. Distributing clean needles to addicts saves lives, saves money, and prevents the spread of deadly diseases. Done properly, by those with the right intentions, such a program should not cause more people to use and abuse drugs. I would allow a bona fide program to operate, Shaeffer said. Gonzales said the county should look beyond the closed-minded approach of, Are we doing something to encourage drug use? by authorizing needle exchanges. I think it comes down to a matter of public health, Gonzales said. I'm comfortable saying that at least in principle, I'm in favor of that. Anything that's going to combat those types of diseases I think is a good thing. But in the meantime, LaHoods approval has given officials including Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who supports syringe exchange, the green light to begin laying out logistics. Some of the biggest questions to answer: Who would host the program, and where would the money come from? Beyond broadly authorizing the program, officials have wondered whether LaHood and his successor would support mobile syringe distribution, behind the idea that users would be more difficult to reach from a fixed location like a clinic. LaHood he would accept a mobile-based program if its supported by evidence. I want it to be effective. If we know that data leads us to a mobile system, then I would be open to it, LaHood said. There has to be consistency. You dont want the clinic doing it one way and the mobile distribution doing it another way. Gonzales and Shaeffer both said they would back mobile distribution, with Gonzales basing his support partly on the need to reach low-income users who might have trouble getting to a facility. Shaeffer said he would ultimately trust the opinions of health care professionals and program workers. I don't see the need to differentiate between fixed locations and mobile ones, he said. Seems that the mobile ones would better ensure that those who would benefit most from such a program would be more easily reached. Related: Reasons for high maternal mortality rate in Texas remain a mystery Support from LaHood, Gonzales and Shaeffer reflects what some see as growing acceptance of needle exchange to stop the spread of diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C, which are passed through dirty needles. A 2000 study also found that people who used a needle exchange program in Seattle were five times more likely to enter drug treatment than those who had never used the program part of the reason the task force views it as an option to address opioid use. We know that when people who inject drugs are connected to a syringe services program, they are much more likely to seek treatment, said Metro Health Director Colleen Bridger, who co-chairs the task force. Its when they have that consistent place that they can go to that they know they can ask questions. Meanwhile, Texas remains the only state not to legalize syringe exchange. Opponents say the practice encourages drug use, and historical opposition has centered on moral and religious reasons. Wolff encouraged skeptics to consider the economic cost, on top of what he called a humanitarian issue. If you've got a dirty needle, you're going to transmit some disease, and that's going to be a huge cost to the public sector when that happens, Wolff said. The taxpayer's going to have to take care of him, and that's going to be a big expense. Bexar commissioners approved $60,000 in 2007 for a pilot syringe exchange program ultimately killed by then-DA Susan Reeds opposition. Though its unknown how much a newer and more robust version of the program would cost, studies of other exchanges have found the programs save money in treatment costs: While a new syringe can cost less than a dollar, the CDC estimates the lifetime cost of treating HIV infections at about $380,000. In 2016, 360 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in Bexar County, which has seen its rate rise amid falling state and national levels. In 2015, Bexar County recorded one of the highest rates of opioid-related overdose deaths in Texas. Bexar also reported the highest rate of neonatal abstinence syndrome, in which babies are exposed to drugs in the womb and born with substance-addiction problems. That point caught the attention of state Rep. Ina Minjarez, a San Antonio Democrat whos taken an interest in maternal mortality and related issues. Minjarez, who sits on the House Select Committee on Opioids and Substance Abuse, said she recently participated in hearings to learn more about effective evidence-based practices and securing federal funding to combat opioid use. She said shes interested in introducing opioid legislation next session, which could include needle exchange support, but its too early to tell whether the legislation would be statewide or specific to San Antonio. Jasper Scherer is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jscherer@express-news.net | @jaspscherer If viewed from a far enough distance, the commercial real estate markets in Fairfield and Westchester counties can be seen as one giant market trying to lure tenants seeking proximity to New York City without Manhattan-like lease prices. Many real estate firms announce quarterly reports that include data from both markets and have offices on either side of the border. At the macro level, they look the same, said Jim Fagan, senior managing director of Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut and who manages the firms offices in Fairfield and Westchester counties. A closer look, however, reveals markets with unique characteristics and interesting strengths and weaknesses when compared side by side. Fagan said transportation is a big factor in determining where a tenant will end up signing. Westchester holds advantages over Fairfield County in that it is closer to Manhattan, has an airport and boasts an infrastructure with numerous parkways and highways. All of Westchester is about the same distance from the city, he said. Fairfield County runs away from New York City. Fairfield County, Fagan said, has only three major roads, but the numerous train stops along the coast are attractive to prospective tenants. Transit-oriented districts are dominating now. If the building is close to a train, there is more desirability, he said. The idea of a tree-lined office park is not as desirable as being close to a train now. Weighing the costs Fagan said other considerations such as cost of living, commute distance for employees, cost of doing business, access to skilled workers and incentives play a big role in where a company settles. There tends to be more meaningful incentive packages from Connecticut, depending on the sector, said commercial real estate broker James Ritman of Newmark Knight Franks Stamford offices. Millions of dollars in tax credits and rebates from Connecticut ultimately lured animation giant Blue Sky Studios to Greenwich from White Plains in 2009. Two years ago, Norwalk-based Xerox threatened to move its headquarters out of state, but stayed put with $4.4 million in incentives. General Electric reportedly had Westchester County on its short list for new homes when it left Fairfield in 2016 before landing in Boston. New York is waving carrots in front of tenants, as well, both on the state and local level. In his first state of the county address this month after taking office in January, Westchester County Executive George Latimer made a general pledge to support business, including holding the line on taxes and soliciting input from companies on other steps Westchester can take. We want to partner with our businesses large and small to meet their employment needs and their technology needs, he said. We need to attract businesses and keep business here in Westchester. While business property taxes are typically hidden within lease rates, Fairfield County has much lower residential property taxes, which Fagan said is important to companies who have employees relocating. Emerging markets The popularity of each market ebbs and flows, Fagan said. Westchester County, particularly the White Plains Central Business District, is a stronger market now, having jumped ahead of Fairfield County about 18 to 24 months ago. White Plains CBD is very hot now, he said, adding that rents are up 15 to 20 percent there over the last 18 months. New York Life and Danone, the parent company of Dannon, recently signed large leases and moved hundreds of employees to downtown White Plains from other Westchester locations. Also in White Plains, Ginsburg Development Cos. and Robert Martin Co. earlier this month purchased a two-building, 571,000-square-foot complex for $83 million. Robert Weinberg, principal of Robert Martin, said he hopes the purchase adds to the positive momentum that has been driving recent demand in the downtown office market. Fagan said Yonkers, long a sleeper in Westchester County, is also an emerging market with a Brooklyn feel to it. Fagan said Fairfield and Westchester counties also compete with Long Island and New Jersey. Stamford, despite some large vacancies, remains the hotbed for commercial real estate in Fairfield County. According to a report from Colliers International Group, Stamford had eight of the top 10 leases in Fairfield County during the first quarter of 2018. What Carl (Kuehner) has done is Stamford is remarkable, Fagan said, referring to the principal of Building and Land Technology, the developer Harbor Point in the citys South End. Harbor Point in the last year has recruited two Westchester-based businesses Walters Hot Dogs and Patisserie Salzburg to join its mixed-use development. Harbor Point is one of many live, work, play development concepts popping up throughout Fairfield County. Karolina Alexandre, research manager at Newmark Knight Frank, said those types of mixed-used developments are working in Fairfield Countys favor. Westchester is just starting, but were way ahead, she said. Another good thing for Fairfield is that its diversifying its tenant base. Trademark Fairfield is another example of a new live, work, play development in Fairfield County. The luxury apartments are adjacent to Fairfields Metro-North station. The fact is its far more difficult in Westchester County to immediately eliminate more car travel, but to anticipate that it will change tremendously is difficult, Phil Kuchma of Bridgeport-based Kuchma Corp. said. They have mostly campus-type office development so the opportunity for people to use mass transportation and still keep their schedules certainly seems to be more difficult. By the numbers As of the first quarter of 2018, Fairfield County had 9.5 million square feet of available office space, as calculated by the Stamford office of Cushman & Wakefield, with the better class A space prized by corporations carrying a countywide average asking rent of $38.12 a square foot. That compared with 6.1 million square feet of total space in Westchester, where the asking rent was $28.73 a square foot for class A space. In its own first-quarter report, the Stamford office of Colliers noted Fairfield Countys stable fundamentals and Westchesters falling leasing activity, but rising lease rates. Fairfield Countys Eastern submarket, despite its distance from New York City, has evolved into one of the most competitive submarkets in the county, with availability rates falling for fourth consecutive quarters. Lease rates, however, have fallen slightly in the submarket. The Northern market in Fairfield County, which includes Danbury, is the most competitive it has been since 2016, according to the Colliers report. The writer may be reached at cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338 Macaela Bennett, Jordan Grice, Paul Schott and Alexander Soule contributed to this article. ANSONIA Whoever said too many cooks spoil the broth has not spent time with Emmett OBrien Technical Schools culinary arts program. It took 14 seniors under the tutelage of Ugo Maura, a chef from the Italian Food Culinary Institute in Turin, Italy, a single school day to whip up a menu of lamb chops, potato gnocchi with a turkey ragout, Panzerotti with Taleggio cheese and a cold sabayon with coffee sauce. And the red wine sauce came out just fine. Mauras overriding message to students who are a bit younger than the ones he teaches in Italy was to pay close attention to the ingredients. The work of the chef is Dont destroy what you buy, Maura said, as students around him cut, chopped, rolled and whipped. Without the proper ingredients, you can make food, but you cant make great food. Then there is the patience to painstakingly scrape fat off the meat or slice gnocchi dough in a uniform fashion before rolling it against the prongs of a fork. For some it came easy. Others struggled to get the dough to cooperate. It does get stressful sometimes, Jaden Marquez, 17, of Bridgeport, said. I want it perfect. It bugs me when things dont go my way. Maura was brought to Emmett OBrien by Kaisha Cave, owner of MCK Gourmet Cafe in Shelton and founder of My City Kitchen Cooking Program. Cave learned the craft at Lincoln Culinary Institute of Shelton under chef Perfecto Valle Jr,, who now runs the culinary arts program at Emmett OBrien. For these students, nearing graduation, it was a chance to learn some new techniques and get a taste of authentic Italian cuisine. It gives us a newer perspective, Kayla Piczko, 18, of Derby, said. It makes me nervous, but in an excited way, Kimberly Horton, 17, of Bridgeport, added. I am excited to learn new techniques that I never tried in my life. I am ready for it. Cave called Maura a very honest teacher. She studied with him for four months in Italy after graduating from Lincoln about 10 years ago. Some of these students will go off to culinary school, Cave said. This will give them some world-class exposure. Her hope is that some will want to do a study abroad program with a master chef like Maura. Valle said at least six of his seniors plan to study culinary arts after graduation. Others will find other ways to use the skill. Alex Madore, a senior from Ansonia, is joining the U.S. Marine Corps, and hopes to become a marine chef. Cooking is like my passion, Madore said. Destinee Ramirez, a senior from New Haven, plans to go to Gateway Community College, but to study medical or forensic science, not culinary arts. But she will graduate knowing how to make a wicked homemade chicken noodle soup and how to break down a menu so that all the courses are ready at once. On Monday, dessert was made first because it had to chill for awhile. For the rest of the menu, teams of two and three students worked to chop, mince, boil and lay out all the ingredients for quick assembly. They work on all the recipes because that is how food is produced in a restaurant environment, Valle said. As Allaurah Ribas of Ansonia tied a string around a bouquet of bay leaf and thyme to give the ragout flavor, Piczko worked on the gnocchi (pronounced nyawk-kee). Piczko wasnt sure what she was getting into when she chose culinary four years ago. She now calls it a passion. In the fall she heads to Johnson and Wales College of Culinary Arts in Providence. Her dream is open her own bakery. lclambeck@ctpost.com; twitter/lclambeck BRIDGEPORT A key, unpaid aide to Mayor Joe Ganims gubernatorial campaign has received a $13,000 taxpayer-funded raise in his municipal job. Thomas Coble has worked on minority outreach for Ganim in Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford cities the mayor needs to win a competitive Democratic gubernatorial primary and general election. Coble has also been a politically appointed, non-union project manager with the public facilities department, earning $80,000 a year. Ganims proposed 2018/19 budget shows that position Coble is not named would be moved as of June 30 from public facilities to the planning and economic development office, and paid $93,000. That is the same municipal budget that flat funds education and raises taxes to pay for $1.7 million in additional library funds that voters approved in a special referendum last November. Even though the City Council is still reviewing the mayors budget ahead of a vote, Rowena White, Ganims communications chief, said in a statement that Cobles promotion and pay hike already happened on Feb. 5. White said his title technically changed from assistant special project manager in public facilities to project manager with planning and economic development. His salary and duties are at the discretion of the managing department head and his salary is within the appropriate range of the position he held and the position he now holds, White said. She did not specify what Coble is doing to earn an extra $13,000 a year. He started in public facilities in 2016, ensuring roads were patched up following underground work by utility companies, then moved on to demolishing blighted properties. Cobles role with Ganims gubernatorial exploratory committee and campaign has been about building relationships with minority leaders and voters, and building up Ganim as the man urban neighborhoods need to run Connecticut. Coble and his wife, Felicia, are Stratford residents and have also helped Ganim with fundraising. Felicia Coble was reimbursed $730 for supplies needed for a March 27 dinner fundraiser at a banquet hall on Beers St. in Bridgeport, according to the campaigns most recent finance report filed with the state April 10. That event raised $12,440 with Coble giving $3,500, one of the highest individual contributions. Fundraising is particularly important for Ganim because of his criminal background. He was first mayor in the 1990s and convicted of running a pay-to-play operation out of City Hall. As a result, Ganim is barred from participating in Connecticuts clean elections campaign financing program, which rewards candidates with millions-of-dollars worth of state grants. Coble in a brief interview referred questions to White, but insisted his promotion was not related to his involvement in Ganims run for governor. Thats just crazy, for anyone to say that stuff, Coble said. Thats just ridiculous. Ganim and Coble have second chances in common. In 2011 then-Mayor Bill Finch fired Coble from his job overseeing anti-blight and neighborhood revitalization efforts. So when Ganim in 2015 was asking Bridgeport voters to choose him over fellow Democrat Finch in that summers mayoral primary, Coble campaigned for the former. And after Ganim beat Finch and won that Novembers general election, the returned mayor rehired Coble. Coble may not be the only political operative recently rewarded by the mayor. Sources have said another ally Danny Pizarro, who, like Coble, volunteered for Ganims mayoral campaign and got a politically appointed city job recently received an increase of several thousands of dollars. Pizarro, a young man who owns various properties in Bridgeport, was hired in 2016 as a $75,000-a-year mayoral aide, although his initial duties had never been made all that clear. Pizarro was temporarily suspended in March 2016 after Hearst Connecticut Media revealed he owed $55,000 in real estate back taxes. Ganim then quietly brought Pizarro back to work a few months later after that tax debt had been paid. Most recently Pizarros duties involved overseeing a crew of public facilities employees charged with cleaning up and beautifying highway exits and entrances. Pizarro is also frequently seen driving close Ganim friend Mario Testa, head of Bridgeports Democratic Party, around. White in an email said Pizarro had not received a raise. But members of the City Council have heard otherwise and want more information on Pizarro, Coble and other rumored salary hikes. I do have concerns, said Council President Aidee Nieves. Who and why have these people gotten raises? It is a concern when were trying to close budget holes. Is it extra duty pay? Added responsibilities? It just doesnt look right if you go through the budget and youre seeing shifting salaries, said Councilman Ernie Newton. A John Deere 6830 tractor worth 40,000 has been stolen along with a forklift worth 12,000 following a farm raid in Fife. Police Scotland are appealing for information following the theft of the two high-value vehicles from the farm near Kirkcaldy. Officers were called to Begg Farm, Cluny on Monday (23 April) after the theft of the tractor and a forklift truck. The John Deere 6830 tractor is green and yellow in colour, is valued at 40,000 and has the registration number SP11 AAE. The Manitou Mani Reach Forklift is red in colour, valued at 12,000 and has the registration number SP08 BZG. Both vehicles were stolen between the hours of 4pm on Sunday 22nd April and 8am on Monday 23rd April. Detective Constable Ross Gribbons of Dunfermline CID said: These were valuable farm vehicles which are essential for the work of the farm. This theft may well have happened in broad daylight and may have looked like the vehicles were being moved legitimately. New data shows rural crime cost the UK 44.5m in 2017, with the future trend showing a rise in this form of crime as thieves become more brazen as they target the countryside. Anyone with information is asked to contact us on 101 or via Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting incident number 0540 of 23rd April. The NFU President has urged farmers to participate in the government's consultation on the future of farming, calling it a "vital moment in time". Minette Batters has urged farmers to take part in the governments consultation on its Command Paper 'Health and Harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit'. The consultation will run for 10 weeks, closing on May 8. The government says that it provides an opportunity for farmers to be more central to government thinking than at any time for fifty years. More than 150 farmers and members of the public took part in a photo-call organised by the NFU on Tuesday (24 April) urging people to show their support for British farming and food production by responding to the consultation. It is the latest initiative in the NFUs Speak Up For Farmings Future campaign and comes out just two weeks before the Health and Harmony consultation closes. Farmers joined with the public this week to Speak Up For Farmings Future Among the crowd were members of NFU Council and active supporters of the NFUs Back British Farming campaign. 'Influential time' NFU President Minette Batters said it is both a "historic and influential time" for the farming sector with the current consultation looking to develop future farming policy. This is the time for the voice of farming to be heard loud and clear. It is also fantastic to see such a positive response from people out in force on social media and online saying why they think British food farming is so important to the nation, both now and post-Brexit, Ms Batters said. The Governments Health and Harmony consultation gives every single person in this country the chance to make clear the importance of British food and farming to the nation. 'Food at the heart' Ms Batters said it is a "vital moment in time" for emphasis on a profitable, progressive and productive farming industry - with food at the heart. The continued availability of high quality, safe and traceable food, affordable for everyone, is key to a successful Brexit, she added. The NFU has gathered views of its membership in over 30 meetings across the country and is now starting to form its response. However, there is still time for farmers to ensure their voices are heard by government ahead of the 8 May deadline by emailing Defra directly: agricultureconsultation@defra.gsi.gov.uk The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society has donated an impressive 22,750 to a leading farming charity. For more than a century, the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society (RWAS) has played a leading role in the development of agriculture and the rural Welsh economy. Today, that development includes the support of leading farming charities such as the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI). This year, RWAS increased their annual donation to RABI from 1,000 to 1,500 in recognition of the ever-increasing demands on the charity. Linda Jones, RABI regional manager for Wales, said: The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society does an outstanding job of promoting agriculture in Wales and were proud of the strong links weve forged with them over many years. Society events such as the Spring Festival, Summer Show and Winter Fair are always popular and a great way of bringing organisations from the business, educational, rural and charitable sectors together. Malcolm Thomas, RABI chairman, added: The money we receive from RWAS is greatly appreciated, but so is the support and goodwill representatives of the organisation have given us over the best part of two decades. We are grateful to the Society and the showground staff for the friendship that exists between us. RABI strives to help farmers and farmworkers of all ages, including those still working as well as others who have retired through age, illness or disability. Farmers and farmworkers are able to call RABI's Freephone Helpline confidentially on 0808 281 9490. Action is still needed to ensure responsible dog walking in the countryside following a campaign by the National Sheep Association on sheep worrying. The National Sheep Association (NSA) is stressing the importance of continued vigilance from members of the dog-owning public following its recent campaign to highlight the trouble caused by sheep worrying. As the days begin to get longer, NSA took to social media platforms to spread and increase awareness of the devastating problem. The association has shared personal case studies, statistics and hard-hitting graphics and photographs with the wide-reaching audiences of Twitter and Facebook. Social media is a proving to be an increasingly powerful tool used by many farmers to document terrible attacks on their animals. NSA said it is confident its use is a vital one to spread the simple message of responsible dog ownership and subsequent improved sheep welfare to the masses. Targeted campaign Each year NSA leads a targeted campaign against sheep worrying attacks by dogs. This year the campaign launch coincided with the official start of British Summertime and school Easter holidays. This is a time when more dog walkers head outside to enjoy the countryside, often at the costly and upsetting expense of sheep health and welfare. Phil Stocker, NSA Chief Executive comments: Sheep worrying by dogs is a very serious problem year-round but can be even more devastating at this time of year with fields full of heavily pregnant ewes or ewes with young lambs at foot. An attack on sheep can cause ewes to miscarry, lambs to become separated from their mothers, and of course injury and even death to any sheep involved. NSA does not want to discourage dog owners from enjoying the beautiful landscapes in Britain, only to do so responsibly and consider the impact an attack can have on farmers businesses and livelihood. Mr Stocker added: One campaign will not remove this problem overnight, but it can go some way to increase awareness and perhaps reduce incidences of attacks long term. Pig and poultry producers are looking forward to a bright couple of years ahead according to a new survey taken by 100 farmers. Canvassing the opinions of 100 pig, poultry and egg producers, the British Pig & Poultry Fair survey found that 83% of broiler producers had a positive outlook about the coming two years, along with 68% of pig farmers. However, the layer sector was less optimistic, with only 56% of egg farmers predicting a positive two years for their business. Brexit played a big role in each sectors outlook, with 83% of broiler farmers feeling it would be a positive move compared to 47% of pig producers and less than a third of egg producers. To date the weaker pound has benefited from the decision to leave the EU, said one pig farmer. In future there is a danger that Michael Gove sets higher welfare standards for the UK but financial pressure means the public choose to buy standard pork from other countries. Legislation, Brexit, disease Pig farmers saw the greatest challenges as legislation, Brexit and disease all fears that were shared by egg and broiler producers. However, in the broiler sector availability of labour was also a concern, with lower sale prices a big issue for egg producers most of whom were free-range. Given the drive for cage-free production from 2025, there is a risk that the whole industry will be encouraged to go free-range. But NFU Poultry Board chairman Duncan Priestner, who will be chairing the Egg Outlook forum at the Fair, reckons there is room for a barn-reared alternative. Retailers are looking at non-Freedom Food options, he explains. They do need a value line; we need to offer consumers a choice. Rise of tech When it comes to opportunities, farmers in every sector agreed that the greatest benefits would come through use of technology to improve performance, automation, and higher demand at home and abroad. We are very efficient, with high standards of animal welfare and we produce affordable, healthy food which is very adaptable, says NFU poultry adviser Gary Ford, who will be chairing the Poultry Meat Outlook forum at the Fair. For farmers, a profitable future will be a mix of tweaking what were doing well and making the most of bigger opportunities. Showcasing the professionalism of each sector, an impressive 95% of pig producers, 89% of egg producers and 83% of broiler farmers said data was important to their business. There are practical ways in which data can be captured and used to improve key performance indicators, explains Crowshall vet Ian Lowery, who will be speaking in the ABN forum. Its about using something youre collecting every single day to intuitively improve performance. African swine fever (ASF) has been reported in wild boar in Hungary for the first time, raising concerns over the vast distances the deadly pig virus can travel. Hungary has been monitoring dead wild boar for ASF in Eastern counties near borders with the Ukraine and Poland since 2016, with border checks for pork and increased passive surveillance in the rest of country from 2017. However, according to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), the first case of ASF in Hungary reported to international animal health body OIE was detected outside this surveillance zone in the Heves region in the middle of the country. The area will now become a restricted zone. Anna Williamson, APHA's pig veterinary lead, said: "This is concerning as it means that either infection in wild boar nearer the border has been missed, or that the case results from other means of transmission, such as illegal movement of infected pigs or feeding of infected pork/pork products, as was suspected to be the case for the geographical jump to the Czech Republic in 2017." Pork imports from Hungary represented only about 0.64% of all pork imports to UK in 2017, according to APHA. However, 'it is of note', it added, that 4.5% of lorries from mainland Europe through British ports are Hungarian-registered. Dr Williamson added: "This continued westward spread of ASF emphasises the need to raise awareness amongst all pig keepers across Europe of the need for them to take stringent external biosecurity precautions to reduce the risk of introduction." 'Leap vast distances' The UK's National Pig Association (NPA) chief executive Zoe Davies said it is a worrying development. "It highlights once again how ASF can leap vast distances, despite surveillance and checks in supposedly high risk areas," Ms Davies explained. "ASF is a real threat to the UK. This discovery reinforces once again the need for vigilance when it comes biosecurity on farms, particularly in cases where visitors or workers come from high risk areas of Europe. "We continue to remind all pig keepers that it is illegal to feed food waste to pigs, as this is one most likely routes for infection to reach the UK pig herd. Ms Davies added: "We also continue to call for measure to ensure our own feral pig populations, particularly in the Forest of Dean, are kept under control. If the virus ever gets into our feral pig population, it could take years before we are able to free ourselves from crippling export restrictions." The pig industry has produced materials urging the general public and farmers to do everything to keep ASF out of the UK. At present, it's difficult to gauge whether Jio is eating into others' share or adding to the pie with customers buying Jiophones as their secondary device. Highlighting the fact that the JioPhone is already a meaningful contributor to Reliance Jio's growth, a survey has estimated that the total number of JioPhones sold so far could be around 40 million. A survey by Credit Suisse on the Indian telecom sector said that as suggested by recent media reports, JioPhone had a 36 percent share of the feature phone market for the January-March quarter of 2018, on an expanded market base. "This implies JioPhone sales of around 21 million for the quarter or roughly seven million per month," the survey said. According to the report, the exit run-rate for March could be higher than that number as the Rs 49 plan was introduced in late January. "Now compare this with net adds reported by Jio running at 8-9 million for January and February 2018 (March data is awaited -- we will likely get to see a higher number when company reports on April 27)," it said. "Overall, we conclude that JioPhone is already a meaningful contributor to growth for Jio. We estimate the total Jiophones sold so far could be close to around 40 million," the report added. The survey stated that it is difficult to gauge, at this point, whether Jio is eating into others' share or adding to the pie, with customers buying Jiophones as their secondary device. "Given the mood in the incumbent camp on this topic (that is, not much alarm), the latter could be the more likely situation currently. Exit of smaller players (most recently Aircel) could be cushioning the blow for incumbents -- but that is a cushion that may not last for long," it said. The survey suggested that these trends, however, do indicate that JioPhone is a product that has passed the early adopter stage and is getting well accepted, and that should be a reason for worry for the incumbents. "Sooner than later, it could start eating into installed subscriber base of incumbents. Going forward, potential release of KaiOS version of Whatsapp could be an added catalyst for sales of this device," it noted. The report pointed out that it would be interesting to see Jio's experience of data usage on these devices. It said that Jio consistently saw around a 10 GB per month usage per sub in the smartphone segment. "We would be surprised if feature phone users match up to that level of consumption," the survey added. (Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd) As meeting of CoC of Essar Steel, ended inconclusive, there is likely to be a third round of bids in which ArcelorMittals offer for will be higher than that of Numetal The committee of creditors (CoC) of bankrupt Essar Steel, which owes over Rs 45,000 crore to over 31 banks, could meet again this week to decide on whether they should seek fresh bids, for the stressed firm, from ArcelorMittal and Numetal Mauritius. A decision to seek fresh bids will herald a third-round of bidding. Bids received on 2 April, the second-round, were declared invalid. Another meeting this week is absolutely necessary because the CoC is running out of time -- insolvency proceedings have to end within the next 94 days. On 24 April, a meeting of the CoC in Mumbai couldn't decide on whether they should re-consider bids received in the first-round, on 12 February, which were rejected on technical grounds. According to a report in the Business Standard, Arcelor has offered Rs 303 billion to secured lenders, around Rs 2 billion each to unsecured lenders and operational expenses. Arcelor has also committed equity infusion of Rs 80 billion. The newspaper cited sources close to the development as saying that lenders would have to take a 34 percent haircut if they selected ArcelorMittals offer and a bigger one if they chose Numetal's offer. Tuesday's meeting was called after the Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) led by adjudicating members Harihar Prakash Chaturvedi and Manorama Kumari had last Thursday asked the lenders to reconsider the first bids submitted by Numetal and ArcelorMittal on 12 February and declared that the second round of bids put up on 2 April were invalid. The first round of bids were rejected by the resolution professional and the lenders, citing technical reasons or ownership issues (promoters of these bidders being related to the original defaulting promoters) leading to the re-bids, which had three bidders--Numetal-JSW, ArcelorMittal-Nippon Steel, and Vedanta. The bankers meeting was to discuss way to wriggle out of the legal complication involving these bidders as section 29A of the IBC bars related parties of the original defaulting promoters from bidding through the IBC process. Essar Steel runs a 10-million tonne plant at Haziara on the west coast of Gujarat. Numetal Mauritius was set up only last October by the Ruias--four months after the Essar Steel was sent to NCLT. Originally, the company was floated by various entities led by Aurora Trusts controlled by Rewant Ruia, the son of Ravi Ruia, who is a defaulter in Essar Steel. Later, Rewant sold 75 percent in the company to the PE arm of the largest Russian lender VTB Bank (which took over the group's flagship refinery Essar Oil in Vadinar for close to USD 13 billion last year) and a Russian engineering firm TPE and some other investors. The company claims that Rewant does not enjoy any managerial position but is only an investor. But Aurora Trusts is in turn fully held by Aurora Enterprises, in which the ultimate beneficiary is only Rewant, according to the documents furnished by the company at the NCLT. Numetal had gone public saying if eligibility becomes an issue because of Aurora Trusts, they were ready to buy out the Rewant but nothing to that effect has been done yet. With inputs from PTI New member registrations with the EPFO for its various schemes declined to a four-month low of 4,72,075 in February New Delhi: Job creation slowed down in non-farm sectors during February as new member registrations with the EPFO for its various schemes declined to a four-month low of 4,72,075 during the month, according to the monthly data released by the retirement fund body on Wednesday. As many as 6,04,557 such members were registered in January 2018 and 5,57,633 in December 2017, the latest data by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) about all non-zero contributors or new members that are registered with the body every month showed. The number of all non-zero contributors registered with the EPFO was 647,019 in November, 3,93,904 in October and 4,35,283 in September last year. The EPFO said that these estimates may include temporary employees whose contributions may not be continuous for the entire year. All establishments across the country with 20 or more employees whose basic wages are up to Rs 15,000 are required to be mandatorily covered under the social security schemes run by the EPFO. The EPFO manages social security funds of workers in the organised/semi organised sector in India and has more than 6 crore active members (with at least one month contribution during the year). The maximum employment of 139,032 was generated in age bracket of 22-25 years in February, 2018 while in January, 2018, the highest number of new registered members were in 18-12 year age bracket. Prices for energy commodities like oil, natural gas and coal are expected to jump by a whopping 20 percent this year, the World Bank has said Washington: Prices for energy commodities like oil, natural gas and coal are expected to jump by a whopping 20 percent this year, the World Bank has said in a report. The increase in energy prices is expected to have adverse impact on India, given that the country is heavily dependent on import of major energy commodities. The latest World Bank forecast is a 16-percentage point upward revision from October's outlook, the World Bank said in its April Commodity Markets Outlook released yesterday. Oil prices are forecast to average $65 a barrel over 2018, up from an average of $53 a barrel in 2017, on strong demand from consumers and restraint by oil producers, while metals prices are expected to rise nine percent this year, also on a pickup in demand and supply constraints, the World Bank said. Agricultural commodities, including food commodities and raw materials, are anticipated to see a price rise of over two percent this year on diminished planting prospects. Weather disruptions are expected to be minimal, the report said. "Accelerating global growth and rising demand are important factors behind broad-based price increases for most commodities and the forecast of higher commodities prices ahead," said Shantayanan Devarajan, World Bank Senior Director for Development Economics and acting Chief Economist. "At the same time, policy actions currently under discussion add uncertainty to the outlook, he added. The World Bank said oil prices are expected to average $65 a barrel over 2019 as well. Although prices are projected to decline from April 2018 levels, they should be supported by continued production restraint by OPEC and non-OPEC producers and strong demand, the bank said. Oil prices have more than doubled since bottoming in early 2016, as the large overhang of inventories has been reduced significantly, said John Baffes, Senior Economist and lead author of the Commodity Markets Outlook. Strong oil demand and greater compliance by the OPEC and non-OPEC producers with their agreed output pledges helped tip the market into deficit, he added. According to the World Bank, in the first quarter of 2018, world oil consumption is estimated to have risen 1.6 percent. Consumption growth accelerated to 1.4 percent in OECD members with gains primarily in North America, as cold weather boosted heating oil demand. Consumption growth in non-OECD countries in the first quarter rose 1.8 percent (year over year), led by China, although its consumption growth slowed amid environmentally motivated production cuts and the late New Year holiday season. India's consumption, up 11 percent, also rose strongly, it said. Coal prices rose four percent in the first quarter (quarter over quarter), following a surge of 34 percent in 2017, mainly due to strong consumption in China spurred by cold weather, low inventories and production constraints, the report said. While several European countries plan to end coal consumption over the next decade, India is seeking to reach peak coal consumption over the same period, it noted. Coal prices are expected to average $85/mt in 2018, down slightly from 2017, as inventories are replenished and consumption is curtailed. The Tatas will benefit from veteran bureaucrat S Jaishankars deep understanding of geopolitics and international political economy. The Tata Group, comprising over a 100 companies, has roped in veteran diplomat Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to oversee the groups global strategy development. A Tata Sons statement said: In his new role [S Jaishankar] will be responsible for the Tata groups global corporate affairs and international strategy development. Dr Jaishankar will work with Tata companies to help them strengthen their business presence and positioning in their respective geographies globally. For his appointment, the Tatas, it appears, could convince Prime Minister Narendra Modi to waive-off a mandatory, one-year, cooling off period stipulated for bureaucrats seeking to join the private sector. But why Jaishankar? Jaishankar may not be able to influence bottom lines as such, experts told Firstpost. The Tatas, they said, are looking to tap the career diplomats expertise in navigating the power corridors in countries of interest to the conglomerate, which raked in around two-thirds of its revenue from outside India in financial year 2016-17. Prior to leading Indias foreign ministry, Jaishankar worked in North America, across Asia and in eastern Europe -- all key markets for the salt-to-software conglomerate. He served as the Indian ambassador to the United States, China and the Czech Republic, and also served as high commissioner to Singapore. Three firms in the Group -- TCS (17 percent), Tata Motors (43 percent) and Tata Steel (17 percent) -- contribute over 77 percent of the conglomerates revenue, according to a Credit Suisse report, and, incidentally, the top markets for these firms are the US, China, and Europe respectively. Camaraderie The fact that Prime Minister Modi cancelled the cooling off period in Jaishankars case speaks volumes about his rapport with the Prime Ministers Office (PMO), and the Tata Group want people who matter in power, said Kris Laxmikanth, CMD, The Head Hunters India. Jaishankar reportedly enjoys Modis trust, acting as his unofficial foreign policy advisor. He has accompanied Modi on foreign trips that secretaries usually arent a part of. When it comes to an overseas acquisition or negotiations, the Tata Group could not have hired anyone better than Jaishankar, who can open doors for them, Laxmikanth added. The Tatas will benefit from Jaishankars deep understanding of geopolitics and international political economy, according to management consultant Harish HV. He cannot be seen as a lobbyist as, by that yardstick, the Group will have to hire a lobbyist in every country. Jaishankar will not have much of an impact on the Groups bottom lines but the Group will be able to draw in on his deep experience in foreign affairs and use that to its advantage, Harish added. The governments loss is the Tata Groups gain, opined Arvind Singhal, Chairman, Technopak Advisors. The government doesnt have to let go of its top civil servants when they reach retirement. But, as the Group has made significant investments globally, Jaishankar will be able to guide the group. He is an expert on China and could advise the Group on further investments in China, said Singhal. Whats important is that Jaishankar will have a well-defined role, as president for global corporate affairs. He is not a glorified lobbyist, added Singhal. IT push The global IT industry is witnessing a technological transformation. Artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, robotics and automation are taking the sector by storm. These changes are impacting the way Indian IT firms do business, outside and within India. Furthermore, protectionist policies are also forcing IT firms to tweak their delivery models. For instance, US President Donald Trumps stand on outsourcing has been well-documented. Indian IT firms have been pulled up for, allegedly, not hiring enough foreigners for foreign jobs. In such delicate situations, Jaishankar could help the Tata Group navigate pitfalls, the experts added. Jaishankar isnt the Group's first exceptional hire. Previously, the Tatas hired former Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) CEO Madhu Kannan, who served as Group Head of Business Development and Public Affairs until October 2016 and was also a member of the Group Executive Council. In 2009, with Ratan Tata at the helm, the Tatas hired Alan Rosling, who was a special adviser to former UK Prime Minister John Major. By Roberta Rampton and David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump was set to meet with Apple Inc Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook to discuss trade issues on Wednesday as the technology industry grapples with a U.S. By Roberta Rampton and David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump was set to meet with Apple Inc Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook to discuss trade issues on Wednesday as the technology industry grapples with a U.S. spat over import tariffs with China, a manufacturing hub for the iPhone maker and other companies. Trump, in a morning tweet, said he was looking forward to seeing Cook. "We will be talking about many things, including how the U.S. has been treated unfairly for many years, by many countries, on trade," he wrote. Apple, the world's largest technology company, did not respond to a request for comment about what topics Cook planned to cover. Apple and other hardware makers have deep ties with China, where many of their products are built for export around the world. Cook urged an easing of U.S.-China tensions and called for more open trade after the trade dispute flared last month between the world's two largest economies. Trump announced about $50 billion in planned tariffs on certain Chinese imports, China retaliated with proposed tariffs on some American goods and Trump responded that the United States could counter with $100 billion in additional levies. U.S. and Chinese officials have been working to resolve the dispute. On Tuesday Trump said there was "a very good chance" the two countries could reach a deal as a U.S. delegation prepared to head to China in a few days. Trump's first round of import tariffs excluded most consumer electronics. But the second could have a more direct impact on U.S. shoppers by targeting cellphones, computers and other consumer goods and prompting price increases at Apple stores and other U.S. retailers. Cook arrived at the White House earlier on Wednesday for meetings ahead of his afternoon meeting with Trump, an official said. CNBC broadcast footage of Cook leaving the White House and heading to the U.S. Trade Representative's Office for a meeting. The White House did not disclose Cook's schedule, but White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said trade would be a "big part" of the discussion. 'GOOD GUY' After a rocky start during his election campaign, when Trump urged his supporters to boycott Apple and criticized the company for making its products in China, Cook has become one of his favourite go-to CEOs. He has mentioned Cook, who he has called a good guy, by name at least 10 times during public remarks including during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January - as well as during several high-profile interviews. The president frequently uses Cook and Apple as an example of how he says his tax cut package is creating jobs. Cook was among a small group of CEOs invited to Trump's first state dinner at the White House on Tuesday night, held in honour of visiting French President Emmanuel Macron. His praise for Cook aside, Trump, a Republican, has had a sometimes tense relationship with the U.S. technology industry, based in Democratic strongholds such as California's Silicon Valley and in Seattle. He has clashed with the tech sector on issues including trade, immigration and the environment. In addition to his concerns about trade, Cook has publicly objected to the president's decision to end a program protecting from deportation young immigrants who were brought illegally to the United States as children. He was also among business leaders who criticized Trump after the president cast equal blame on white nationalists and anti-racism activists for violence last year in Charlottesville, Virginia. Apple, with a market capitalization of $835 billion and 123,000 employees, 84,000 of whom are in the United States, said in January it plans to spend $30 billion in capital expenditures in the United States over the next five years, $10 billion of which will be spent on data centres. Apple said spending will create 20,000 new jobs through hiring at its existing campuses in Cupertino, Austin and a planned new campus. (Reporting by David Shepardson, Roberta Rampton and Susan Heavey in Washington and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by David Gregorio, Jeffrey Benkoe and Frances Kerry) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By David Lawder and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that a new North American Free Trade Agreement could be agreed quickly, as Canada hailed progress on forging new rules for the auto industry, the pivotal issue in talks to revamp the 24-year-old accord. Ministers from the United States, Canada and Mexico responsible for NAFTA met in Washington to narrow outstanding differences in the hope of tying up a deal in the coming days. By David Lawder and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that a new North American Free Trade Agreement could be agreed quickly, as Canada hailed progress on forging new rules for the auto industry, the pivotal issue in talks to revamp the 24-year-old accord. Ministers from the United States, Canada and Mexico responsible for NAFTA met in Washington to narrow outstanding differences in the hope of tying up a deal in the coming days. "NAFTA, as you know, is moving along. They (Mexico) have an election coming up very soon," Trump said at a cabinet meeting briefly attended by reporters. "But we're doing very nicely with NAFTA. I could make a deal really quickly, but I'm not sure that's in the best interests of the United States. But we'll see what happens," he said. While details are not yet clear, a new NAFTA is likely to push the region's auto makers to source more parts from North America in order to create more jobs. Such an outcome could also raise costs for Detroit's main car manufacturers. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo are pressing for a quick deal to avoid clashing with Mexico's July 1 presidential election. To do so, they must reach a compromise on several contentious U.S. demands, including raising the regional automotive content requirements to qualify for tariff-free trade. Trump's negotiators had initially demanded North American-built vehicles contain 85 percent content made in NAFTA countries by value, up from 62.5 percent now, and said that half the value must be U.S.-made. Industry officials say the regional demand has been cut to about 75 percent and the U.S. content pitch dropped. Entering the USTR's office near the White House, Freeland said the latest talks would focus on the auto sector rules of origin, calling it "the heart" of the new NAFTA. "We have been making good progress. This is an issue which is fiendishly complex," she told reporters. Trump on Monday again fanned uncertainty by threatening to tie a NAFTA deal to Mexico's immigration controls, a suggestion the Mexican government quickly dismissed. Mexico, which at the outset of the Trump presidency said it would treat the NAFTA revamp as part of a general review of its relations with the United States, has pushed back in the talks by threatening to become less cooperative with Washington. Two weeks ago Mexico vowed to analyse all cooperation with the United States and the government on Tuesday circulated an official's letter to the Mexican Senate saying President Enrique Pena Nieto would soon consider the findings of the review. Arriving for talks with Lighthizer, Mexico's Guajardo said flexibility will be needed to reach a deal. Guajardo said that Mexico would not accept any U.S. tariffs on aluminium or steel - another measure Trump has threatened to tie to NAFTA. A U.S. exemption to tariffs ends on by May 1. Negotiators say a new NAFTA could be possible by early May. "In the coming 10 days we can really have a new agreement in principle," said Moises Kalach, head of the international negotiating arm of the CCE business lobby, which represents the Mexican private sector at the talks. "As soon as there is political will from the American government to go for a final deal, I think we can close this," Kalach told Mexican radio. "We've had all our (negotiating) teams in Washington for two weeks and we will continue working all this week, the weekend and into next week." (Reporting by David Lawder and Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Anthony Esposito, Dave Graham and Veronica Gomez in Mexico City; Editing by James Dalgleish and Grant McCool) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Roughly 80 percent of H-4 visa holders are women, and many had successful jobs and held advanced degrees in their native countries before coming to the US with their H-1B spouses Washington: Influential lawmakers and representative of the American IT industry, including Facebook, have opposed the Trump administrations proposed plan to withdraw work permits to H-4 visa holders, who are spouses of H-1B visa holders. "Rescinding this rule and removing tens of thousands of people from the American workforce would be devastating to their families, and would hurt our economy,? Silicon Valley-based FWD.US, which was founded by top IT companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, said in a report released on Tuesday. It comes a day after the American media reported a letter from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services about its decision to terminate the Obama-era regulation that granted work permits to H-4 visa holders, a majority of whom are Indian professionals, and are mostly women. "This policy is important because it allows certain individuals to secure gainful employment without having to wait for their spouses to receive permanent residency, many of whom are experiencing a processing backlog of more than a decade," FWD.US argued. Roughly 80 percent of H-4 visa holders are women, and many had successful jobs and held advanced degrees in their native countries before coming to the US with their H-1B spouses, it said. Without the H-4 work authorisation rule, the spouses of H-1B high-skilled employees would be unable to work legally and contribute financially to their households and communities, as well as pay taxes on their wages, unless they had alternate immigration avenues for work authorisation, FWD.US added. "H-4 work authorisation has allowed an estimated 100,000 people to begin working and further integrate into their communities," the report quoted a group of 15 top American lawmakers from California as saying. In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M Nielson, the lawmakers argued that the Obama-era H-4 rule lessened the burden on thousands of H-1B recipients and their families while they transition from non-immigrants to lawful permanent residents by allowing their families to earn dual incomes. Many entrepreneurs used their EADs to start businesses that now employ US citizens. "Eliminating this benefit removes an important incentive for highly skilled immigrants to remain here to invest in and grow our economy to the benefit of all Americans," the letter signed by, among others, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, said. "The H-4 rule is a matter of both economic competitiveness and maintaining family unity. The United States has already invested in these workers with years of expertise and we should not be sending them abroad to innovate and use their experience and talents against US businesses. We ask that you reconsider the revocation of the H-4 rule," the lawmakers said in the letter dated March 5. As the issue affects a large number of highly qualified India professionals, mostly women, the Indian Embassy too has been engaging with lawmakers and officials of the Trump Administration. "Eliminating work authorisation for roughly 100,000 H-4 visa holders, most of whom are educated women like me, will hurt our country and have negative consequences on tens of thousands of American families. We must protect legal immigration channels that will help the US remain at the forefront of innovation for generations to come," said Dr Maria Navas-Moreno, Co-Founder of Lever Photonics and an H-4 visa holder. As employers continue to navigate the outdated immigration system, the administration should "reconsider its likely rescission" of the H-4 visa rule, that granted work authorisation to a limited subset of spouses and was critical in helping employers recruit and retain a high-skilled workforce, as well as in keeping the United States competitive in the global innovation race, Government Affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council director Karolina Filipiak said. Mumbai-based film-maker Teenaa Kaur Pasricha spoke to Firstpost about 1984- When the Sun Didnt Rise. Mumbai-based filmmaker Teenaa Kaur Pasricha won this years National Film Award for Best Investigative Film for her documentary, 1984 - When the Sun Didnt Rise. The documentary is a comprehensive account of the Sikh women in Delhi who survived the 1984 massacre, their emotions, and their continuing fight for justice. The filmmaker spoke to Firstpost about the film and her experiences of making it. Do you have a personal connection to the 1984 massacre? (During the time of the 1984 massacre) my uncle was travelling in Madhya Pradesh. He was pulled out of the train and his hair was cut. My mother told me this, and I realised that she was very angry with the entire state machinery. The stories that my mother told me were different from the ones I read in my textbooks. In my history books, Indira Gandhi was revered as a leader. I wondered why this gap in history existed. That is how the quest about 84 began. When did you notice this gap in the historical record? The stories about the 1984 massacre were always with me. This terminology gap in history came when I was struggling alone in Mumbai. I wondered that if I was leading a difficult life despite being educated, what were the women who survived the violence going through? What was their journey? How did they come to terms with it? So that was the common ground with them. I was researching the 1984 massacre when I realised that nothing has been done to document it properly. So I set about doing that in an impartial and balanced way. I feel that it was a grave injustice done by India, the biggest democracy in the world. The Sikhs are a minority and have contributed so much to the country whether it is with the green revolution in Punjab, or the Sikh regiment in the Indian army. So I really felt that it is time for us to be shameful of what we have done in the past. Would you say that there is still a sense of anger and despair in the massacre survivors? I would say that there is a lot of suppressed anger. People feel very marginalised and wronged by India. On the human rights index, India is nowhere. We have no freedom of speech. These heinous acts of rape are still happening. No one is safe. While talking to the 1984 massacre survivors, I tried to explore how many of them are rape survivors. But they dont want to talk about it, because they feel that it is about honour and survival. You also look into the impact of the massacre on the new generation. One of the things you touch upon is the drug crisis. Is there a link between 1984 and the drug crisis now? Yes, it is very simple. When we have to make someone forget about their past and their history, we simply introduce drugs. On drugs, a person is numb and doesn't respond to any kind of stimulus. These are fiery young Sikh men who could have revolted, raised their voices against the kind of conditions that they were living in, the kind of marginalisation that they faced. But they didnt do any of that. They were introduced to drugs when they were really young. The drugs are available there in the nearest chemist shop. So why did the government not do anything about it? Also among the people you interviewed for the film was Jagdish Tytler. What was that like? I wanted to interview both Sajjan Kumar and Tytler, because they are accused of being the faces of 1984. Sajjan Kumar never responded. Jagdish Tytler took six months to agree. I decided to look at him as a human being and not bring any of my hate perspective into it, because it wouldnt serve any purpose. That helped me stay neutral in the interview. Did you ever face any threats or intimidation when you were shooting the film? I got a call from the drug mafia, and they asked me what I was doing in the colony and whether I was making a film about them or about drugs. I told them I was making a documentary on 1984. There were a lot of drug addicts that I was following and they got my number from someone. Also, when I was screening the film in November in Delhi, I got a call from CBI, and they asked me what I was doing. They thought that screening the film would give rise to violence. Four of them came and saw the film. How many people did you speak with for the film? How much time did you spend in making it? For filming, I must have spoken to 50-60 people at least, maybe more than that. The issue was that I couldnt really figure out how the pain of one person was different from another. Everyone had a story to share that was very intense. In the end I think it was my connection with each individual that helped me find the people to be featured in the film. I started shooting in November 2011, and the edit was completed in January 2017. It was a considerable amount of time, but any documentary feature which is well-researched takes time. There are characters to be followed, for example. Which film festivals have screened the film? It has been shown in eight festivals, including Mumbai International Film Festival, Peoples Film Collective, Indian Documentary and Short Film Festival, and Jagran Film Festival. I had applied for some 100 film festivals. I got selected for only eight. It was heartbreaking for me because I felt that the film had a lot of potential, but maybe because of the nature of the film, many film festivals did not screen the film. But that is okay. It worked out nicely. Has making this film changed what you felt about the massacre? I think there is lesser angst in me now as somewhere the pain has decreased. I feel I have done my best for an issue that troubled me for long. I was so depressed when I was making the film because it was such a difficult and lonely path for me. I was on my own because I couldnt afford a lot of people for the project. I kept yearning to share my pain with the world, for the world to accept it, I was waiting to be heard. I realised that instead of being a film-maker, I have to be a human being, to just listen to what they are saying. Keep listening till they relieve themselves of the pain. After two-three years I realised that after they spoke to me they became a little lighter, a bit calmer, and I became emotionally heavy. I was absorbing what they were saying. The only thing that helped me was my friends and the amazing community that I am a part of in Bombay. There is much more compassion for people around me, and I think I have become a better human being. What is your next project? I have a feature film script on love, marriage and inner conflict of a couple. Then I have some short film scripts with me which I wrote when I was doing this documentary. Let us see what comes first. A former officer-in-charge of a police station in Assam has been chargesheeted for refusing to register an FIR (first information report) of a woman who was allegedly gangraped by army personnel seven years ago. A former officer-in-charge of a police station in Assam has been chargesheeted for refusing to register an FIR (first information report) of a woman who was allegedly gangraped by army personnel seven years ago. The chargesheet against Dhananjay Kumar Das, the then officer-in-charge of a police station at Kokrajhar in western Assam, came four years after the CID was tasked with probing the incident. In her statement to the magistrate, the victim had alleged that three to five army personnel in civil clothes arrived at her house in Kokrajhar's Tharaibari village on 20 April, 2011, assaulted and raped her. Her husband, who arrived a few hours after the accused had left, informed the police about the crime later the same day. He took his wife to the police station for an FIR as well. However, it took a week for a case to be registered, time in which civil society groups got involved and staged a dharna demanding swift justice. Days later, a medical examination report confirmed rape and injury as alleged by the victim. But even after the FIR was registered, the case didn't progress further. On 2 February, 2012, the chief judicial magistrate of Kokrajhar, CB Gogoi, passed an order saying the investigating officer caused "undue delay" in submitting the report, and urged senior officers to supervise the probe. The tardy pace in which the investigation was progressing prompted some NGOs to highlight the matter before the state women's commission and the Union home minister, but again to not much avail. Intervention by State Police Accountability Commission It was not until the Boro Women's Justice Forum decided to knock on the door of the State Police Accountability Commission that police officials in Kokrajhar came under the scanner for dereliction of duty. The subsequent order passed by the commission to the director general of police on 9 October, 2013, not only came down heavily on the shoddy probe but also recommended departmental action against superintendent of police PK Dutta, deputy superintendent AS Laskar, sub-inspector Sunil Kumar Das and officer-in-charge Dhananjay Kumar Das. "The officer-in-charge is primarily responsible for non-registration of the case. But the then superintendent of police is equally accountable for not registering the case as well as for initiation of the case for detection of the crime. The offences were of a serious nature considering the dignity of a woman was assaulted. The police inaction only aided in protecting the offenders," said the eight-page report, adding, "It seems like the police is conniving to shield the perpetrators of the crime." The commission was of the firm opinion that the case ought to be "reopened and reinvestigated" afresh since the culprits could not be apprehended. The report suggested that the photo identity cards of the army personnel posted at the Kokrajhar camp should be gathered and shown to the victim, and the vehicle used during the incident should also be identified from the camp's administrative records. Meanwhile, CID officials are tight-lipped over whether additional chargesheets would be submitted against the other officials mentioned in the report. An additional director general of police claimed on condition of anonymity that the recommendation for reinvestigation of the case was yet to be accepted by the government. Victims waiting for justice However, very few rape victims even get the opportunity to be heard. Many of them are too scared to even approach the police, while many others are threatened to keep things hushed. At times, civil society organisations have stepped in to stage demonstrations and blockades demanding action following sexual crimes. Such cases are found more in the remote villages along the India-Bhutan border, where villages are still bereft of roads, schools, electricity. "There is no dearth of such cases in the North East, but justice continues to elude most cases. In 1997, five minors were raped after being paraded naked by security forces at Sarubhera near Tamulpur. There are also many cases of women giving birth to children after being raped," said Anjali Daimari, president of the Boro Women Justice Forum. Daimary's opinion is corroborated by other social activists and occasional reports in the regional media. One such report published in The Sentinel on 12 September, 2011, mentions a deaf and mute Bodo woman who was allegedly gangraped by jawans of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) at No-1 Sonapur village in Kokrajhar. The report quotes president of the Bodo Samaj, RN Boro, as saying that such cases were frequent but there is no action against the guilty. In any counter-insurgency operation, security forces employ a range of tactics to gain an upper hand of the situation, drive the rebels on the back-foot, and if possible, compel them to a truce. This has continued for years, across different states and national boundaries, and at times, even following inhuman means and gross violation of human rights. For the police, the benefits weigh higher if a case of rape could be suppressed. "Such a case could come under scrutiny from different agencies and departments. And then, there will be pressure to produce results with the limited resources at your disposal, which could be very difficult sometimes," said a police official who had served in Kokrajhar. Other officials claimed that there have been instances when the army has refused to cooperate with the investigation or allow personnel whose names had surfaced in FIRs to be questioned. The author is a senior Guwahati-based journalist and author of the book 'Rendezvous With Rebels: Journey to Meet Indias Most Wanted Men' The withdrawal of the act from Meghalaya is to be seen as a response to decline in insurgency in Assam and reduction in security threat of insurgents from Assam fleeing to the jungles in the neighbouring state to escape counter-insurgency operations. Withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 from Meghalaya and three police stations in Arunachal Pradesh by the Central government has attracted widespread media attention which has gone to create a perception that the Army and paramilitary forces have succeeded in playing its role and are no longer required to be involved in counter-insurgency operation in large areas of North East due to decline in insurgency and significant improvement in the security situation. The Centres move came three years after the previous Left Front government in Tripura lifted the AFSPA from the state in 2015. However, the whole of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur (except in Imphal municipal areas), three districts of Arunachal Pradesh and areas under eight police station bordering Assam continue to be tagged as "Disturbed Areas" and the AFSPA continues to be in force in these three states and parts of Arunachal Pradesh. Therefore, the withdrawal of AFSPA from Meghalaya and some areas of Arunachal Pradesh cannot be expected to have much impact on the broader perception of AFSPA being a "Draconian Act" and that human rights continue to be violated by security forces in the North East under the garb of this act. Besides, the continuation of the "disturbed area" tag for the three districts of Tirap, Longding and Changlang and eight police stations in Arunachal Pradesh indicate that these areas continue to grapple in spillover Naga insurgency and the security threat from insurgent outfits of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland using these areas for infiltration and exfiltration from their base camps in Myanmar still persists, if notifications issued and renewed under AFSPA for declaring these areas as "disturbed" are any indication. The AFPSA allows any commissioned or non-commissioned officer from the armed forces or any other person of equivalent rank to enter and search any premises without a warrant, arrest without a warrant and even fire upon or otherwise use force even to the extent of causing death, against any person acting in contravention of any law in the notified disturbed area. The withdrawal of the act from Meghalaya is to be seen as a response to decline in the insurgency in Assam and reduction in security threat of insurgents from Assam fleeing to the jungles in the neighbouring state to escape counter-insurgency operations. As far as containing insurgent activities of local outfits of Meghalaya are concerned, the AFSPA had a little role and it was primarily the Meghalaya Police which inflicted the body blow to the extremist outfits. To the contrary, Meghalaya resisted enforcement of the AFSPA in Garo Hills areas when the High Court of Meghalaya directed the Centre on 2 November, 2015 to consider enforcement of AFSPA in Garo Hills districts following a spurt in militant activities. The high court directed the Centre to "to consider the use of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, in the Garo Hills area and deployment of Armed and Para-military forces to control the situation in the aid of but certainly not under the command of civil and police authorities till life becomes normal and the incidents of rampant kidnapping and killing totally stop." Asked to comment on the development, security analyst GM Srivastava, who had served as Director General of Police (DGP) in Assam and Tripura described it as a "routine perception management". He claims that "this has little impact on the overall security situation in the northeastern region as it is primarily the state police forces which have been playing the key role in containing the insurgency in the region with the army and paramilitary forces playing a supporting role." At the time of total withdrawal of the AFSPA in Meghalaya, it was in force along 10-km wide belt of the states 884.90 km boundary with Assam. In Arunachal Pradesh, the act has been lifted from areas under three police stations while it continues to be in force in three districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding and in eight police stations bordering Assam. These three districts have boundaries with Assam and border with Myanmar while Longding has a boundary with Nagaland. In the last notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 1 October, 2017 under Section 3 of the AFSPA the area under "Disturbed Area" was reduced from 20 km wide belt of Meghalayas boundary with Assam to 10 km for a period of six months till 31 March, 2018. In another notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on the same day, three districts of Arunachal Pradesh Tirap, Changlang and Longding and areas falling under the jurisdiction of 11 police stations of the state bordering Assam were declared as "disturbed area" for a period of six months till 31 March, 2018. The 11 police stations are Balijan and Kimin under Papum Pare district, Likabali in West Siang district, Ruksin in East Siang district, Roing in Lower Dibang Valley district, Seijosa in East Kameng district, Bhalukpung and Balemu in West Kameng district, Namsai and Mahadevpur police stations in Namsai district and Sunpura in Lohit district. In an earlier notification issued on 4 August, 2017, areas under 14 police stations of the Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam apart from the three districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding, were declared as "disturbed areas". In the last notifications dated 1 October 2017, the areas under AFSPA in Meghalaya was reduced from 20 km belt on Assam-Meghalaya border to 10 km belt and in Arunachal Pradesh from 14 police stations/police outpost areas of Arunachal Pradesh-Assam border to 11 police stations/outpost area, besides districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding. Previous notifications issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs for declaring entire Assam and 20 km wide belt in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh indicated that extension of the disturbed area tag to parts of the two neighbouring states of Assam was to contain the activities of the Paresh Barua-led United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent). The Ministry of Home Affairs notification issued on 4 November, 2013 states that ULFA (Independent) cadres "use Lohit, Changlang and Tirap district in Arunachal Pradesh for infiltration and exfiltration to Myanmar where their base camps are located. The outfit uses these areas extensively for temporary transit camps while on the move as also to escape counter-insurgency operations in Assam." It also stated that bordering areas of Assam with Meghalaya were used by underground outfits in the neighbouring state facilitating ULFA (Independent) in "establishing safe shelter base in bordering areas." On 27 March, 2015, the Ministry of Home Affairs notified all the districts of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam as "disturbed areas" for a period of one year on the following grounds: 1) the law and order situation in all the districts of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam has continued to be matter of concern due to violent activities by underground outfits; 2) presence of National Democratic Front of Boroland (Songbijit), NSCN(IM), NSCN(Khaplang), ULFA( Independent), KLO, MPLF along the Assam-Arunachal border and Manipurs under ground outfit KYKL, UNLF, PLA and KCP helping NDFB(S), ULFA (Independent), and KLO for movement of men, material, infiltration and exfiltration, 3) The NDFB (S) has set up their General Headquarters and training camp in Taga, Myanmar and are reportedly contemplating to find a new route for arms transshipment from Myanmar via Changlang district, 4) the geographical terrain of Arunachal Pradesh put the militants in advantageous position and is used by the underground outfits as their safe heaven and 5) the Left Wing extremism though silently tryian ng to infiltrate into the state as it is found to be most active in areas of Dhemaji and Tinsuka ia districts of Assam bordering with Lower Dibang Valley and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh. The annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs for 2017-18 states: "the number of insurgency incidents in 2017 declined in Assam (56%), Nagaland (67%), Manipur (28%) and Meghalaya (59%) compared to 2016. There was an increase in violent incidents in Arunachal Pradesh in 2017. The report states that there was a significant improvement in security situation in Meghalaya. "In 2017, the State witnessed more than 58% decline in the number of violent incidents (2016 - 68, 2017 - 28). Number of civilian casualties decreased by 75% (2016 - 8, 2017-2) and there was no SF (Security Force)s casualties in 2016 and 2017. In SFs action, both the number of militants killed (2016 - 15, 2017 - 06) and the number of cadres arrested (2016-59, 2017-13) saw a decline by 60% and 78% respectively. While the notification for withdrawal of the AFSPA in Meghalaya and parts of Arunachal Pradesh were issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the decision to extend or withdraw it in Assam was left to the Assam Government. On 31 August, 2017, it was for the first time in 27 years since the AFSPA was promulgated in Assam on 27 November, 1990, the state government on its own declared the entire state as "disturbed" to extend AFSPA for a period of six months with effect from 1 September, 2017. This indicates that New Delhi is not yet ready to take a call on the larger issue of repealing the AFSPA and instead it may be keen on testing the ground for passing the buck to the state governments as far as the invocation of the act for counter-insurgency operations are concerned so that it creates a new perception about the role of the Central government vis-a-vis the controversial legislation. The author is a senior journalist and editor of NEZINE. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday questioned Karti Chidambaram, son of Congress leader P Chidambaram, for the second time in a fortnight New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday questioned Karti Chidambaram, son of Congress leader P Chidambaram, for the second time in a fortnight for allegedly receiving kickbacks for getting FIPB clearance in the Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006 when his father was the Finance Minister. An ED official said the junior Chidambaram was questioned at the Directorate's headquarters. Earlier, the agency questioned Karti Chidambaram for over five hours on 10 April. The ED has so far found that Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Ltd, promoted by Karti and A. Palaniappan -- a nephew of Chidambaram -- was allegedly paid $200,000 by the Maxis Group in the guise of software consultancy fee. The ED is probing the financial irregularities committed as per the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the case, which is also being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Both agencies are trying to find out how Karti allegedly managed to get a clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for the Aircel-Maxis deal. The ED in September last year had also attached Rs 1.16-crore assets of Karti in connection with the case. According to the CBI charge sheet submitted in the special court, Mauritius-based Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Maxis, had sought approval for an investment of $800 million in Aircel. Though it was the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which was competent to grant the approval, it was cleared by then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on his own and the amount for FIPB clearance was wrongly projected to conceal the facts. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy has alleged that Chidambram had tweaked the FIPB norms for clearing the deal in 2006. Seeking a probe into the role of Chidambaram in alleged violation of the FIPB norms for approving the deal, Swamy has referred to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)'s 2015 report, which points to two alleged illegalities. According to Swamy, the CAG cited the illegality of FIPB approving Maxis' acquisition of 93.3 percent stake in Aircel Tele Ventures Ltd through its wholly-owned subsidiary, the GCSHL, well in excess of the then ceiling of 74 per cent investment by a foreign entity. The second illegality, Swamy has said, was that since the foreign investment in Aircel was more than Rs 600 crore, it should have gone to the CCEA for approval, but it was instead cleared by the FIPB. Karti is also an accused in the INX Media Case where he has been charged with receiving irregular FIPB clearance for investments up to Rs 305 crore. A Jodhpur trial court will pronounce its verdict on the Asaram Bapu rape case on Wednesday amid tight security. The self-styled godman was charged with rape allegations and was arrested on 31 August, 2013. Asaram was charged of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl at his ashram near Jodhpur earlier that year and was later sent to the Jodhpur Central Jail. A Jodhpur trial court will pronounce its verdict on the Asaram Bapu rape case on Wednesday amid tight security. The self-styled godman was charged with rape allegations and was arrested on 31 August, 2013. Asaram was charged of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl at his ashram near Jodhpur earlier that year and was later sent to the Jodhpur Central Jail. Who is Asaram? Asumal Sirumalani, who later came to be known as Asaram Bapu by his followers, is a religious leader who preaching in the early 1970s. Asaram went on to establish over 400 ashrams in India and abroad and has numerous followers. In an autobiography titled Sant Asaram Bapuji ki Jeevan Jhanki, which was published by his ashram, Asaram received formal education until his father's death and had studied only until Class III. In the following years, he lived at a series of ashrams and ran away from home for an ashram in Bharuch at the age of 15. The book also talks about Lilashah, a spiritual guru, who accepted him as her disciple and named him Asaram Bapu on 7 October, 1964, reports said. What are the charges? Asaram, 77, was booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for raping a minor girl in Jodhpur's Manai village. The incident took place in August 2013. An FIR against Asaram was registered in Delhi's Kamla Nagar police station on 20 August, 2013 after which the police took the victim for medical tests. Accused of trafficking, Asaram was arrested on 31 August, 2013. The police had filed an FIR under Sections 342, 376, 354 A, 506, 509/34 of the IPC, Sections 23, 26 of the Juvenile Justice Act and Section 8 of the POCSO Act. Asaram was charged for sexual assault, raping and illegally confining a minor, according to 1,300-page chargesheet filed by the Rajasthan Police. The girl, who reportedly visited one of his ashram's to cure her from evil spirits, said in her complaint that she was asked to perform oral sex and was touched inappropriately. The police booked Asaram under multiple non-bailable sections of IPC in August 2013 after the self-styled godman did not appear until 31 August. To avoid arrest, Asaram remained inside one of his ashrams in Indore. Clashes broke out between his disciples and the policemen, but he was eventually arrested by the Jodhpur police on 1 September, 2013. Since then the godman has been lodged at the Jodhpur jail as his bail pleas have been rejected six times. According to another report, Asaram also has been charged in another alleged rape case where two sisters from Surat, Gujarat lodged separate complaints against the self-styled godman and his son Narayan Sai. The two sisters accused Asaram and his son of rape and illegal confinement. There are two more cases against Asaram in Jodhpur in addition to the case of sexual assault against the minor. According to Hindustan Times, Asaram, his personal caretaker Shiva and three of his followers were charged by Jodhpur Police in November 2014 for allegedly threatening to kill the station house officer (SHO) of Udaimandir police station on WhatsApp. Witness-tampering and witness murder In following years, a number of the key witnesses in the case were attacked or went missing. Three key witnesses wound up dead as the cases have progressed and other witnesses and families of victims have been attacked or received death threats. Amrut Prajapati, a 56-year-old Ayurveda doctor, became the first witness to be murdered in the case. He was shot at on 23 May, 2014 and succumbed to his injuries a month later. He worked at Asarams Motera ashram for 15 years before he left in 2005. Prajapati had testified against Asaram saying that the self-style had a special chamber at the Motera ashram where he only met women. Akhil Gupta, 38-year-old witness was shot dead on 11 January, 2015. Gupta was once Asaram's confidant and a close aide. Kripal Singh, an LIC agent, on 10 July, 2015 became the third witness who was shot dead. Other witnesses who were attacked in the following years were: Mahendra Chawla was attacked on 13 May, 2015 in Haryana's Panipat. According to reports, Chawla told the court that Asaram sent vulgar signals to young girls. The longtime aide also told the court about the network that "supplied" girls to Asaram. Rahul Sachan, another witness, was attacked with a knife by one of the followers of Asaram on 13 February, 2015 inside a court in Jodhpur. Self-styled godman Asaram must credit much of his growth to his political connections. In Gujarat, successive governments of both Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aided his rise and helped him along. From the high pedestal of a preacher having crores of followers, many of whom were politicians and powerful businessmen, self-styled godman Asaram's fall from grace was complete on Wednesday, after he was convicted of raping a minor girl. Asaram's conviction came in a five-year-old rape case, but immediately after charges were filed against him, other accusations, including crimes such as land grabbing and practising black magic in his ashrams were also raised. Furthermore, he is accused of amassing wealth of around Rs 10,000 crore, excluding vast tracts of land he owns. Going by official figures alone, a report in news agency PTI said Asaram has created an empire of Rs 10,000 crore within four decades, starting from a humble hut on the banks of the Sabarmati river in the early 1970s to having over 400 ashrams across the country and the world today. Humble origins Asaram was born in 1941 as as Asumal Sirumalani in Berani village of Sindh province in Pakistan. After the Partition in 1947, Asumal came to Ahmedabad with his parents, but studied only till Class IV, and was forced to drop out of school following the death of his father Thaumal. After doing some odd jobs during his early youth, Asumal embarked on a "spiritual quest" towards the Himalayas, where he met his Guru, Lilashah Bapu, a documentary on his website claimed. It was this guru who gave him the name 'Asaram' in 1964 and "commanded him to carve his own path and guide people", the documentary said. In the 70s, Asaram came to Ahmedabad and started doing penance on the banks of the Sabarmati river near Motera. In 1972, he set up a 'Moksha Kutir' centre on the banks of the river. Over the years, his popularity as 'Sant Asaramji Bapu' started soaring, and 'Moksha Kutir' became a full-fledged ashram. Within a span of four decades, he added around 400 ashrams in India and abroad. Criminal cases begin piling up Asaram first ran into troubled waters in 2008, when two cousins Dipesh and Abhishek Vaghela who used to stay at the Gurukul at Asaram's ashram in Motera, were found dead under mysterious circumstances on the riverbed near the ashram. The state CID in 2009 booked seven of his followers. Parents of the two cousins had alleged that they were killed in Asaram's ashram since they practiced black magic. A report on Deccan Herald said that the parents went on a hunger strike to demand a CBI probe. However, a CID investigation gave Asaram a clean chit, while a report submitted by the DK Trivedi Commission, set up by the state government to probe the deaths, is yet to be tabled before the Assembly. However, his real fall started in 2013, after he was arrested for a minor's rape in Rajasthan. After that, two more Surat-based sisters came out and spoke about their alleged sexual exploitation at the hands of Asaram and his son Narayan Sai. Soon after this, a 16-year-old claimed that on the pretext of "curing her abnormality", the godman sexually assaulted her at his ashram in Jodhpur. The girl's parents claimed the incident took place in August 2013. The girl, who reportedly visited one of Asaram's ashrams, said in her complaint that she was asked to perform oral sex and was touched inappropriately as well. The police booked Asaram under multiple non-bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code, as well as sections of the Juvenile Justice Act and Section 8 of the POCSO Act. Asaram was charged with sexual assault, raping and illegally confining a minor, according to 1,300-page chargesheet filed by the Rajasthan Police. To avoid arrest, Asaram remained inside one of his ashrams in Indore. Clashes broke out between his disciples and the policemen, but he was eventually arrested by the Jodhpur police on 1 September, 2013. Since then, the godman has been lodged at the Jodhpur jail and his bail pleas have been rejected six times. In addition to this, there are two more cases against Asaram in Jodhpur. According to Hindustan Times, Asaram, his personal caretaker Shiva, and three more followers were charged by the Jodhpur Police in November 2014 for allegedly threatening to kill the station house officer (SHO) of Udaimandir police station on WhatsApp. The politics of Asaram The self-styled godman must credit much of his growth to his political connections. In Gujarat, successive governments of both Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aided his rise and helped him along. As reported by The Indian Express, the Congress governments in 1981 and 1992 allotted Asaram's ashrams 14,515 sq.metre of land, while the BJP governments in 1997 and 1999 helped Asaram to acquire 25,000 sq.metre land to expand his ashram's activities even more. The changing nature of Asaram's ties with the saffron party in Gujarat. In recent years, with Asaram falling out with the party, it has taken over land from the ashram in Ahmedabad and Sabarkantha. In 1997, it also tried to regularise the ashrams regarding possession of controversial land. In 2009, after Asaram had fallen out with the government, revenue minister Anandiben Patel told the Assembly that the Ahmedabad ashram had encroached on 67,059 sq.metre of land, while the government took it over on 8 January, 2010. The government also took over 70 acres of agricultural land bought by Asaram's family in three villages of Sabarkantha. And it's not just in Gujarat where Asaram benefited because of his clout with the politicians. He has also been given the status of a chief state guest by chief ministers including Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan (Congress), Vasundhara Raje, also of Rajasthan, Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh, Prem Kumar Dhumal of Himachal Pradesh, Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh and Parkash Singh Badal of Punjab (all BJP and allies). A report on India Today mentioned the names of political heavyweights like former prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and HD Deve Gowda, former president KR Narayanan, veteran leaders like LK Advani, George Fernandes and Farooq Abdullah, and the likes of Uma Bharti, Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, among others all having shared the dais and paying obeisance to Asaram. With inputs from agencies Security was stepped up on in Jodhpur where prohibitory orders have already been clamped ahead of Wednesday's trial court verdict in the alleged rape of a teenager by self-styled godman Asaram. Auto refresh feeds Ahead of the verdict in the rape case of a 16-year-old girl involving self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, security has been beefed up in Jodhpur. Apprehending a threat to law and order from followers of Asaram, the police have imposed prohibitory orders till April 30 banning the assembly of more than four people at a place. It further said that visitng Jodhpur would be a waste of time, money and energy and stated that Bapuji is innocent and will soon be among us again, News18 reported. The note advised people to not believe the information circulating on social media and to consult the nearest ashram or the one in Ahmedabad for the real news. A press note from Sant Sri Asaramji Ashram Trust in Delhi said any person who indulges in anarchy cannot be a devotee of Asaram. The note impressed upon his followers to exercise restraint and do nothing that creates an obstacle in the process of justice. "We will also seal the jail on the day of judgment and would not allow anyone to get close to jail premises," Singh said. "We have imposed section 144 of CrPC in the city from April 21 and would remain effective till April 30. Besides this, we have been keeping a sharp eye on ashrams of Asaram in the city and checking all hotels and guest houses as well as the bus and railway station," DCP (East) Aman Deep Singh said. "I am personally reviewing the security as the court judgement likely to come soon and officials are in touch with the family," the Superintendent of Police (SP) said. "The security of the rape survivor's family is continuously being monitored...Five policemen have been deployed at the house and a strict vigil is beingmaintained on all the visitors," SP (City) Dinesh Tripathi told PTI. With a special SC/ST court in Jodhpur all set to pronounce its verdit in a 2012 rape case against self-styled godman Asaram, the district administration in Shahjahanpur has stepped up security around the house of the victim. The advocates will be permitted to remain present at the time of pronouncement of judgment. It cannot be said that (Asaram's) followers will not create hurdle or unhealthy atmosphere which may create not only hardship and inconvenience to the public at large of Jodhpur city, but also law and order problem, the court said in its order. The verdict in the rape of a 16-year-old girl will be pronounced fron the Jodhpur central jail premises, where accused and self-styled 'god-man' Asaram is lodged. Verdict in rape case against Asaram to be pronounced on jail premises: Rajasthan HC Asaram, who is in jail since 31 August, 2013, was charged under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the counsel said. If convicted, Asaram faces maximum sentence of 10 years, he said. The special SC/ST trial court had completed the final arguments in the case on 7 April and the verdict is expected tomorrow. A teenage girl had accused Asaram of sexual assault at his ashram in Manai village. The girl, who belonged to Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was a student living in the ashram. 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. 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. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. Asaram also faces charges in two rape and assault cases in Gujarat Trial of the case had begun in the district and session court on 19 March, 2017, which had been shifted to the special court for SC/ST Cases on 16 December, 2016. A chargesheet against Asaram and 4 other co-accused namely Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash had been filed by the police on 6 November, 2013 under various sections of the POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC. Asaram was arrested from Indore and brought to Jodhpur on 1 September, 2013. He is under judicial custody since 2 September, 2013. In a communication, the Home Ministry told the three states to beef up security and ensure that no violence takes place after the verdict. The three states were also told to deploy additional forces in sensitive places, the Home Ministry official said. The Centre today asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana to tighten security and deploy additional forces ahead of the verdict by a Jodhpur court in a rape case against self-styled godman Asaram, an official said. "I have full faith in the judiciary and am confident that Asaram will be given the severest form of punishment," said the rape survivor's father. The victim had alleged that Asaram called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of 15 August, 2013. There would be check posts at all entry gates of the city where the police would ensure that his followers do not enter. Identity cards would be checked and in case of any suspicion, the holder would be made to return, the police said. We have set up control rooms at both the bus and railway stations and have urged the officers to constantly share information," DCP (West) Sameer Singh said. "We will also seal the jail on the day of judgment and would not allow anyone to get close to the jail premises," he said. "We have imposed section 144 of CrPC in the city from 21 April and it would remain effective till 30 April. Besides this, we have been keeping a sharp eye on Asaram's ashrams and checking all hotels and guest houses as well as the bus and railway stations, DCP (East) Aman Deep Singh said in Jodhpur. Asaram unsuccessfully moved 12 bail applications so far, of which six were rejected by the trial court, three by the Rajasthan high court and three by the Supreme Court in various cases against him. Given his clout, the course of justice hasn't been easy for the victims. "Ever since the recording of statements began, three witnesses have been murdered, three have gone missing and one was stabbed inside the court premises. Yet, no case under Section 302 (murder) has been registered against Asaram," an NDTV report said. Asaram, who has over 400 centres across 12 nations and over two million followers, is currently in Jodhpur jail while his son is lodged in a jail in Surat. Both are facing charges of rape and killing children for occult practices. Earlier, Sachan had been stabbed outside a courtroom in Jaipur but had survived the attack. The CBI is probing his disappearance. Sachan - a former personal assistant to Asaram from 2009 to 2013 had been calling cops every week from his home in Balagunj in UP for almost a year to make one, strange request: Save me till I depose in the courts, if they find me, they will surely kill me. Asarams personal (ayurvedic) physician, Amrut Prajapati, who was a key witness in the 2013 rape case was gunned down by motorcycle-borne assailants in Rajkot in June 2014. Another associate Akhil Gupta , Asarams personal cook, was shot dead in Muzaffarnagar on 12 January, 2015. The third witness to be killed was Kirpal Singh he was to testify in the 2013 case on 10 July, 2015 in Shahjahanpur. Another person, Rahul Sachan, a key witness, went missing in the afternoon of 21 November, 2015. He is also feared dead. However, the parents were asked to leave the child alone on the pretext of conducting some rituals to rid her of evil spirits. The girl alleged that she was asked to perform oral sex and was touched inappropriately by Asaram on the night of 15 August, 2013, The Indian Express reported. In 2013, a teenaged girl from Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur, whose parents were followers of Asaram, accused him of raping her at his ashram. The girl was brought to his Jodhpur ashram for treatment after she fainted one day at her school. The girls parents were told that she possessed evil spirits and she can be cured at the ashram. As per the directions of the Rajasthan High Court, the trial court will deliver its verdict in the case in Jodhpur Central Jail premises. Prohibitory orders are imposed in Jodhpur till 30 April to prevent self-styled 'godman' Asaram's followers from gathering in the city for a trial court verdict in a rape case against him on 25 April. "We are in touch with police forces from neighbouring states to avert any untoward incident. Senior officers from districts and SHOs of police stations concerned have been directed to keep a watch in their respective areas," he added. A senior police official said the department is keeping a close watch on Delhi's boundaries and inside the city areas, where Asaram's supporters might gather after the judgment. The Delhi Police said on Tuesday that it is on high alert ahead of a trial court's verdict in Jodhpur on Wednesday in the alleged rape of a teenager by self-styled godman Asaram, who faces a minimum 10-year prison term if convicted. The division bench comprising Justice Gopal K Vyas and Justice Ram Chandra Singh Jhala also issued guidelines to the Jodhpur police commissioner and the district magistrate and Collector to ensure law and order in the city on the verdict day. Considering an appeal from the Jodhpur police commissioner, a division bench of the Rajasthan High Court ordered the trial court to deliver its verdict inside the jail premises. Apprehending trouble from thousands of followers of Asaram in case of an adverse judgment, the Jodhpur court will pronounce its verdict in a rape case against him inside the premises of the Jodhpur Central Jail on Wednesday. The ministry is also in touch with the states concerned and Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba has spoken to top level administrative and police officials over the issue. The three states were also told to deploy additional forces in sensitive places. The Union home ministry on Tuesday issued an advisory to Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana to step up security in order to prevent any untoward incident, an official said. The trial court judge who will pronounce has reached the jail premises from where the verdict will be declared. According to India Today, the proceedings will begin at 8.30 since it is a summer court. A personal security officer has been deployed for the security of the judge Madhusudan Sharma and police personnel have been deployed at his residence, according to DCP Amandeep Singh Kapoor. Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana have large number of followers of Asaram. Prohibitory orders have already been issued in Jodhpur where a trial court will deliver its verdict in the central jail premises, as directed by the Rajasthan High Court. All the hotels and dharamshalas were being checked to ensure that Asarams followers would not be able to congregate, DCP Amandeep Singh Kapoor. Around 1,500 police personnel are deployed around the Jodhpur Central Jail premises, railway stations, roadways bus stand and court premises, the DCP informed. The Rajasthan High Court dismissed a plea filed by a News18 reporter and said that though media "was the fourth pillar of democracy", they would be allowed to cover the proceedings from outside the jail premises for the sake of "maintaining public order". Jodhpur DCP Amandeep Kapoor told mediapersons outside the Jodhpur Central Jail that law and order situation would be handled perfectly in any given situation. Four Asaram Bapu followers have been detained from Jodhpur railway station by Rajasthan Police. The entry and exit from gate number 2 of the Jodhpur railway station has been barred up till midnight of 25 April on request of district police, says PRO Gopal Sharma. The victim had alleged that Asaram called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of 15 August, 2013. Security has been tightened outside victim's house ahead of verdict by a trial court. Asaram is accused of raping a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, who was studying at the godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. Asaram has denied the rape charges. Asaram's sewadar Shiva has arrived at the jail ahead of verdict. Shiva is one of the two associates of Asaram who had allegedly helped in the crime by contacting the father of the rape survivor and told him that his daughter had been possessed and had to be taken to Jodhpur to meet babaji who would cure her. One of the witnesses, Mahendra Chawla, who was attacked on 13 May, 2015 in Haryana's Panipat, told ANI that he trusts the judiciary. "Trust judicary and am confident that Asaram will be convicted. I request judiciary that such rapists should be hanged. Though I have security, I request Centre for additional security, my life like other witnesses is constantly under threat," says Mahendra Chawla. The police in Jodhpur seems to be much more vigilant, combing all hotels every four house and sealing entry, exit points. According to News18 reports, unlike the Dera Sacha Sauda leader Ram Rahim's verdict, where thousands of supporters slept on pavements, the pro-Asaram group is "conspicuously invisible". Ram Rahim's supporters were organised and led by wing leaders. In Asaram's case, there does not seem to be any central leadership on the ground. "The court will pronounce a "very good" verdict which the entire nation will respect", rape survivor's advocate PC Solanki told reporters in Jodhpur. Defence lawyer Sajjan Raj Surana told News18 that Asaram's counsels were hoping for good news that he would be acquitted. Meanwhile, the self-styled guru's Ahmedabad ashram has appealed to supporters to maintain peace regardless. In Jodhpur, where a trial court will deliver the verdict in a rape case against Asaram on Wednesday, the police has been scanning Asaram's local ashram since many days. The followers from Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh kept coming till the last moment on 24 August and Haryana police was seen busy making arrangements for them. Haryana minister Ram Bilas Sharma even visited them and called to arrange food and water for them. Panchkula versus Jodhpur: A look at security arrangements during verdicts of two different rape cases (1/5) Intelligence in Jodhpur has done a better job of dealing with suspicious persons, compared to their Panchkula counterparts who were left confused about their next course of action. The Jodhpur police is taking strict action against anyone trying to enter the city with the intention of disturbing law and order. Police has scanned every nook and corner and has stepped up security measures since Saturday, issuing warning even on its social media platforms. Jodhpur police's strict attitude and absence of political interference has made the measures more effective. Panchkula versus Jodhpur: A look at security arrangements during verdicts of two different rape cases (2/5) Special Judge SC/ST Court Madhusudhan Sharma is in the jail premises to deliver the verdict. A tight security cordon has been thrown around the jail in Jodhpur where prohibitory orders have already been clamped. As per the directions of the Rajasthan High Court, the trial court will deliver its verdict in the Jodhpur Central Jail premises where Asaram has been lodged for the past over four years. Proceedings are underway in the Jodhpur Central Jail premises where a trial court judge is set to pronounce its verdict in the rape case of a teenager by self-styled godman Asaram. Meanwhile, the deceased's father Naresh Gupta said, "I am confident that justice will be given to the victim in Jodhpur case." Two sisters in Surat had accused Asaram and his son Narayan Sai of raping them. Gupta was a witness in the rape case against Asaram and had recorded his statement before a Gandhinagar court. Gupta was returning home from his shop on a scooter when the two motorcycle-borne assailant shot at him on 11 Januray, 2015. Gupta was a cook and personal aide of Asaram. Security has been provided to the family of Akhil Gupta, a witness in the rape case against Asaram Bapu in Surat, who was shot dead in January 2015, ahead of the godman's verdict in Jodhpur, police said. The Section of 144 CrPC imposed in Pachkula was flouted by followers of Ram Rahim during the conviction by Panchkula CBI court. There were thousands of Ram Rahim followers spread in entire Panchkula forcing the local residents to get imprisoned inside the houses. While in Jodhpur case, Section 144 of the CrPC has been enforced in true spirit with no public movements near the Jodhpur Central Jail premises. Barring media and posse of police force, not even a single person is present outside court. In Jodhpur, there is police personal present at every 10 metre. Panchkula versus Jodhpur: A look at security arrangements during verdicts of two different rape cases (3/5) Prohibitory orders have already been issued in Jodhpur where the trial court will deliver its verdict in the Central Jail premises, as directed by the Rajasthan High Court. Both the roads towards the central jail, where Asaram is lodged, have been sealed and only mediapersons are allowed outside the jail. According to News18 , Asaram reached was late to court by 15 minutes. He was reportedly offering puja and kept the judge and legal teams waiting for the time. "We will discuss with our legal team and then decide our future course of action. We have confidence in our judiciary," ANI quoted Asaram's PRO Neelam Dubey as saying. Will decide future course of action after discussing verdict with legal team, says Asaram's spokesperson He was being tried for IPC 342 (Wrongful confinement), IPC 376(2)(F) (Rape of a minor girl), IPC 376 D (Rape), IPC 354 A (Outraging the modesty of a woman), IPC 506 (Criminal intimidation) and IPC 109 (Abetment to an offence). The self-styled guru may be sentenced to 10 years in jail or life imprisonment. Asaram, 77, was booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for raping a minor girl in Jodhpur's Manai village. "Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered/kidnapped get justice," ANI quoted rape survivor's father as telling reporters after the verdict. According to jail DIG, Asaram's two associates Shiva and Prakash have been acquitted, while Shilpi and Sharad have been convicted. Welcoming the decision of the court, rape survivor said that four years (of waiting) was a very long term and "I am happy with the court's decision". After a Jodhpur trial court found Asaram guilty in a 2013 rape case against him, Congress leader Ashok Gehlot told reporters, "Such cases bring shame to the country. It's time we crack down on fake gurus." It's time we crack down on fake gurus, says Ashok Gehlot Rajasthan DGP told News18 that Asaram's conviction is under section 376(Rape) and POCSO Act. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court earlier in April gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. Seconds after the self styled guru Ram Rahim held guilty in rape case by Panchkula CBI Court on 25 August, his followers present outside the court scrambled in the city and took to arson, violent activites. Flabbergasted Haryana police had to take help of Indian Army on standby to curb the volatile situation. In Jodhpur, the situation so far remained peaceful with no reaction from his upset followers after Asaram along with two others held guilty in 2012 rape case by Special SC/ST Court at Jodhpur Central Jail. Panchkula versus Jodhpur: A look at security arrangements during verdicts of two different rape cases (4/5) 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. 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. According to Times Now, Asarams son Narayan Sai appeared in a Surat court on Wednesday. Other than the 2013 rape case in which he was convicted on Wednesday, Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court gave five weeks' time to the prosecution to complete the trial in April. Asaram's advocate is praying to court to be lenient while pronouncing the punishment citing the 77-year-old's old age and failing health. Reporters on the ground are facing difficulty in getting reactions from Asaram's supporters. Section 144 of the CrPC has been imposed in Jodhpur till 30 April, while security around the Jodhpur jail premises has been heightened since Wednesday morning. The Centre has also asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana governments to tighten security and deploy additional forces as the three states have a large number of followers of the 77-year-old Asaram who faces a minimum term of 10 years if convicted. The special CBI Judge Jagdeep Singh had flown from Panchkula in chopper and reached at Rohtak Sunaria Jail around 3 pm. The court hearing continued till 5.30 pm and awarded 20 years of jail term to Ram Rahim. In Jodhpur Asaram rape case, judge Madhu Sudan Sharma is present at central jail since Wednesday morning declared Asaram guilty in minor rape case against him around 11 am and decided to pronounce the quantam of punishment on the same day. Panchkula versus Jodhpur: A look at security arrangements during verdicts of two different rape cases (5/5) In a tweet, Bollywood actor and director Farhan Akhtar said, "Can people please stop sharing images of him with Narendra Modi. Patronising him before he was exposed to be a pervert is no crime. Lets be fair and give him the benefit of doubt that he, like us, did not know." "In Bhopal, there is a crossing and a bus stand named after him. I ask Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan that the names be changed of these places be changed to something else," she said. Rachna Dhingra, member of Bhopal group for information and action working for gas victims of Bhopal gas disaster for past 10 years demands to change the name of intersections named after Asaram. Reacting to Asaram's conviction, National Commission For Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) member Yashwant Jain said, "This judgment is a lesson to people who think they can get away by committing sexual offences against children." 'Asaram verdict a lesson to those who think they can get away by committing sexual offences against children' In a tweet, Congress shared a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Asaram, saying, "A man is known by the company he keeps." "For the past four months, our family members had not been coming out (of our house)...it is satisfying that the verdict has gone against him," he said. "We were living in constant terror, our business was adversely hit," he said. The father of the teenager raped by Asaram expressed satisfaction over the Jodhpur court verdict convicting the self-styled godman. "We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice," he told mediapersons soon after the court verdict. Survivor's father says satisfying that verdict has gone against Asaram Quoting jail sources, CNN-News18 reported that the staff of judge Madhusudhan is still inside the premises, which means the court is still functioning. The normal time till when the court functions is 1 pm. However, in some cases in the past the court has worked for extra hours. According to CNN-News18 sources, the special court has started reading out its order in the case. The self-styled godman is expected to get maximum 10 years in prison, however, the defence has sought leniency citing his age and failing health. The court has sentenced Asaram to a life term in the rape case, while two other of his aides Shilpi and Sharad are given 20 years in jail each. Asaram trust's spokesperson Neelam Dubey reacted to the verdict against the self-styled godman. She said that the sentence was a big blow and a disappointment, adding that the legal team will decide upon the course of further action. She said that the trust will definitely move high court against the verdict. The special SC/ST court has also fined Asaram, Shilpi and Sharad Rs 1 Lakh each in the case. The court handed out maximum punishment to Asaram while it sentenced the other two accused to 20 years in prison each. The rape survivor's father has expressed satisfaction on the SC/ST court's verdict. He said that the rapist of her daughter was sentenced to a life term and this is the biggest compensation they could ever get. Life term to Asaram biggest compensation we can get, says rape survivor's father According to reports, Asaram collapsed on his chair after hearing that he has been sentenced to life. The self-styled godman broke down after hearing the quantum of the sentence. The rape survivor's lawyer said that the family was happy with the life term given out to Asaram. He, however, added that after considering the options before them, they would like to move Rajasthan High Court against the acquittal of two of Asaram's aides, Shiva and Prakash. According to news reports, the defence counsel pleaded for leniency in handing out sentence as Asaram was also a phillanthropist. The lawyers cited his welfare programmes while seeking leniency. National Commission For Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) lauded the special court's judgment in the rape case of a minor by the high-profile godman. Speaking to ANI, NCPCR member Yashwant Jain said, "This judgment is a lesson to people who think they can get away by committing sexual offences against children. I would like to appreciate the girl and her family for fighting against the culprits." Reacting to the special court's verdict on Asaram, Jodhpur DCP told ANI , "I can say that hard work from everyone has finally paid off. We all are really happy with this decision. I need media's support to get the correct version out there to the supporters of Asaram." "All the attempts being made to defame a saint like Asaram Bapu, (this) isn't in the country's interest or in the interest of the Hindus or in the interest of Sanathan Dharm," Vanzara said. Speaking to NDTV , he termed other rape charges against him as bad publicity. Former Gujarat top cop DG Vanzara has claimed that the allegations against "pujya bapuji" were not made out to be that of rape in the first information report. He said that the girl only first alleged that she was touched inappropriately and he exuded confidence that the 'godman' would be released by the higher courts. "But society has a lot of faith in schools and it was my moral duty to live up to it and I fulfilled my responsibility," he added. The principal said he had received threatening letters and was sent a packet with cartridges to put pressure on him. The teacher said the security provided to him by the district administration was inadequate in the backdrop of deaths of some witnesses in the case. The teacher, who is also a witness in the case, said he had been facing threats from Asaram's followers to change the child's date of birth to help the godman evade stringent punishment under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The principal of the school where Asaram's victim studied was a much-relieved man today with a Jodhpur court pronouncing the self-styled godman guilty of her rape. Though he had once run a successful transport business and owned more than ten trucks, he had sold most of them to fund the legal battle against Asaram. His family members routine lives had been disrupted, since they had to travel often to Jodhpur to attend the trial. The trial period is so difficult and painful I cant tell you, the father said. What kind of life is this? We have to travel so often to a state that is not ours. That city is not our city, but we land up there every few days with bag and baggage. And the court gets over at five in the evening. What to do with the rest of the long days and long nights in that unknown city? We just lie there in a small hotel room thinking about what happened to us, the report read. "He (victim's father) was much more subdued when I visited him again, in December 2016. I entered a small office in front of the familys two-storey house to see a man at a table sorting papers and signing courier dispatches. It took me several seconds to realise that this was the victims father. He seemed to have aged a decade in the three years since I had met him last; he had grown slighter, and had lost most of his hair. A detailed report in Caravan magazine gives a glimpse of the life of a rape survivor after the initial anger subsides. The course of a long-drawn trial leaves shadows of trauma even years after the crime was committed. The chief minister's tweet came after, Firstpost tweeted out a video clip of Rachna Dhingra, member of a group in Bhopal for information and action working for victims of gas tragedy for past 10 years. Dhingra demanded that the name of intersections named after Asaram in Bhopal must be changed. But rape is not the only charge against Asaram. He is also facing prosecution in a Rs 700-crore land grab case of 2000 in Madhya Pradesh. The case pertains to 200 acres of land in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh. The verdict of a lifetime in jail slapped on self-styled godman Asaram for raping a 16-year-old girl has turned the spotlight on two other women who have charged the 77-year-old preacher with sexual assault and are awaiting justice. The sisters, based in Surat, had alleged they were raped and illegally confined by Asaram and his son Narayan Sai. According to news reports, the defence counsel pleaded for leniency in handing out sentence as Asaram was also a phillanthropist. The lawyers cited his welfare programmes while seeking leniency. National Commission For Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) lauded the special court's judgment in the rape case of a minor by the high-profile godman. Speaking to ANI, NCPCR member Yashwant Jain said, "This judgment is a lesson to people who think they can get away by committing sexual offences against children. I would like to appreciate the girl and her family for fighting against the culprits." Reacting to the special court's verdict on Asaram, Jodhpur DCP told ANI , "I can say that hard work from everyone has finally paid off. We all are really happy with this decision. I need media's support to get the correct version out there to the supporters of Asaram." "All the attempts being made to defame a saint like Asaram Bapu, (this) isn't in the country's interest or in the interest of the Hindus or in the interest of Sanathan Dharm," Vanzara said. Speaking to NDTV , he termed other rape charges against him as bad publicity. Former Gujarat top cop DG Vanzara has claimed that the allegations against "pujya bapuji" were not made out to be that of rape in the first information report. He said that the girl only first alleged that she was touched inappropriately and he exuded confidence that the 'godman' would be released by the higher courts. "But society has a lot of faith in schools and it was my moral duty to live up to it and I fulfilled my responsibility," he added. The principal said he had received threatening letters and was sent a packet with cartridges to put pressure on him. The teacher said the security provided to him by the district administration was inadequate in the backdrop of deaths of some witnesses in the case. The teacher, who is also a witness in the case, said he had been facing threats from Asaram's followers to change the child's date of birth to help the godman evade stringent punishment under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The principal of the school where Asaram's victim studied was a much-relieved man today with a Jodhpur court pronouncing the self-styled godman guilty of her rape. Though he had once run a successful transport business and owned more than ten trucks, he had sold most of them to fund the legal battle against Asaram. His family members routine lives had been disrupted, since they had to travel often to Jodhpur to attend the trial. The trial period is so difficult and painful I cant tell you, the father said. What kind of life is this? We have to travel so often to a state that is not ours. That city is not our city, but we land up there every few days with bag and baggage. And the court gets over at five in the evening. What to do with the rest of the long days and long nights in that unknown city? We just lie there in a small hotel room thinking about what happened to us, the report read. "He (victim's father) was much more subdued when I visited him again, in December 2016. I entered a small office in front of the familys two-storey house to see a man at a table sorting papers and signing courier dispatches. It took me several seconds to realise that this was the victims father. He seemed to have aged a decade in the three years since I had met him last; he had grown slighter, and had lost most of his hair. A detailed report in Caravan magazine gives a glimpse of the life of a rape survivor after the initial anger subsides. The course of a long-drawn trial leaves shadows of trauma even years after the crime was committed. The chief minister's tweet came after, Firstpost tweeted out a video clip of Rachna Dhingra, member of a group in Bhopal for information and action working for victims of gas tragedy for past 10 years. Dhingra demanded that the name of intersections named after Asaram in Bhopal must be changed. But rape is not the only charge against Asaram. He is also facing prosecution in a Rs 700-crore land grab case of 2000 in Madhya Pradesh. The case pertains to 200 acres of land in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh. The verdict of a lifetime in jail slapped on self-styled godman Asaram for raping a 16-year-old girl has turned the spotlight on two other women who have charged the 77-year-old preacher with sexual assault and are awaiting justice. The sisters, based in Surat, had alleged they were raped and illegally confined by Asaram and his son Narayan Sai. Asaram rape case verdict LIVE updates: Asaram, the 79-yr-old goman was given life imprisonment until death while two of his aides Shilpi and Sharad got twenty years in jail each. Two other accused Prakash and Shiva have been acquitted in the case. The father of the teenager raped by Asaram expressed satisfaction over the Jodhpur court verdict convicting the self-styled godman. "For the past four months, our family members had not been coming out (of our house)...it is satisfying that the verdict has gone against him," he said. The Congress shared a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Asaram, saying, "A man is known by the company he keeps." Bollywood actor Farhan Akhtar urged people to refrain from sharing Modi's pictures with the 'godman', saying that we should give him "the benefit of doubt that he, like us, did not know." An ambulance had entered the jail premises as the arguments on quantum of sentence in the rape case against self-styled 'godman' Asaram concluded on Wednesday. While Asaram's spokesperson has said that they have faith in the judiciary, the rape survivor's father said that they had got justice with Asaram's conviction. Reacting to Asaram's conviction, Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said that it is time that we crack down on "fake gurus". Asaram and two aides have been convicted, while two others have been acquitted by a Jodhpur court. A Jodhpur trial court has convicted self-styled godman Asaram Bapu and four others in a 2013 rape case against him. Expecting a repeat of the Panchkula violence during Dera Sacha Sauda's leader Ram Rahim verdict, officials beefed up security in three states. Unlike the Dera Sacha Sauda sect leader's verdict, where thousands of supporters slept on pavements, the pro-Asaram group is conspicuously invisible. According to News18, Ram Rahim's supporters were organised and led by wing leaders. In Asaram's case, there does not seem to be any central leadership on the ground. The police in Jodhpur seems to be much more vigilant, combing all hotels every four house and sealing entry, exit points. Around 1,500 police personnel are deployed around the Central Jodhpur Jail premises, railway stations, roadways bus stand and court premises. The trial court judge, who will pronounce the judgment on Wednesday, has arrived at the Jodhpur Central Jail premises. Security has been stepped up in Jodhpur Central Jail ahead of Wednesday's trial court verdict in the alleged rape of a teenager by self-styled godman Asaram who faces a minimum term of 10 years if convicted. Apprehending a threat to law and order, the Centre asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana governments to tighten security and deploy additional forces as the three states have a large number of followers of the 77-year-old Asaram. In a communication, the Union Home Ministry told the three states to beef up security and ensure that no violence takes place after the judgment on Wednesday. The three states were also told to deploy additional forces in sensitive places, a Home Ministry official said. As per the directions of the Rajasthan High Court, the trial court will deliver its verdict in the Jodhpur Central Jail premises where Asaram has been lodged for the past over four years. "We have made all arrangements for the judgment day, DIG Jail Vikram Singh said. The magistrate along with court staff, Asaram and the co-accused along with the defence and prosecution counsels will remain present in the courtroom in the jail premises, he said. Asaram is accused of raping a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, who was studying at the godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. Asaram has denied the rape charges. The victim had alleged that Asaram called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of 15 August, 2013. "I have full faith in the judiciary and am confident that Asaram will be given the severest form of punishment," said the victim's father. Security was also stepped up around the victim's house in Shahajahanpur. "The security for the victim's family is continuously being monitored... Two more constables will stand guard outside her house in addition to the five policemen already deployed there, and a strict vigil is being maintained on all the visitors using CCTV cameras," Superintendent of Police KB Singh said. A vigil was also being kept outside Asaram's ashram at Rudrapur, he said. The Union Home Ministry's advisory was sent in view of the fact that large-scale violence was witnessed in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh after a special court in Mohali convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in 2017. Final arguments in the Asaram case had been completed by the special court for SC/ST cases on 7 April and the court had kept the order reserved for 25 April. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on 1 September, 2013. He is under judicial custody since 2 September, 2013. The chargesheet against Asaram and four other co-accused Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash was filed by the police on November 6, 2013 under various sections of the POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC. If convicted, Asaram could be jailed for a minimum of 10 years or awarded a maximum life term, according to prosecution lawyers. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. "We have imposed section 144 of CrPC in the city from 21 April and it would remain effective till 30 April. Besides this, we have been keeping a sharp eye on Asaram's ashrams and checking all hotels and guest houses as well as the bus and railway stations, DCP (East) Aman Deep Singh said in Jodhpur. We will also seal the jail on the day of judgment and would not allow anyone to get close to the jail premises, he said. Asaram unsuccessfully moved 12 bail applications, of which six were rejected by the trial court, three by the Rajasthan high court and three by the Supreme Court. Self-styled godman Asaram and two of his aides were on Wednesday convicted by a court in Jodhpur for raping a teenager at his ashram in 2013. Asaram, a self-styled 'godman' who is reverred by his supporters and commonly referred to as Asaram 'Bapu', was convicted and given life term by a Jodhpur court on Wednesday for raping a teenager at his ashram near Jodhpur in 2013. Two aides of the godman, who were convicted too, have been given 20 years (each) imprisonment. Two other aides of Asaram were acquitted, reports said. Special Judge (SC/ST court) Madhusudhan Sharma delivered the verdict in the Jodhpur Central jail premises. According to CNN-News18, one of the convicted aides is likely to appeal against the verdict in the high court. Asaram could be jailed for a minimum of 10 years or awarded a maximum life term, according to prosecution lawyers. According to latest reports, the defence lawyers have been arguing for minimum punishment on the grounds that the accused (Asaram) has done several charitable work in his life. The survivor, in her complaint, had said that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of 15 August, 2013. The father of the survivor welcomed the judgment, saying he hoped the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped also got justice. Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice: Father of Shahjahanpur victim #AsaramCaseVerdict pic.twitter.com/sUJ3atJJJY ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2018 The father of the rape survivor welcomed the judgment, saying he hoped the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped also got justice. 101Reporters' Asif Ali also reported that the survivor also welcomed the decision. "I am happy with the court's decision," she said, adding that the wait for four years was a long time. Final arguments in the case had been completed by the special court for SC/ST cases on 7 April and the court had kept the order reserved for Wednesday. The 77-year-old Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on 1 September, 2013. He is under judicial custody since 2 September, 2013. The chargesheet against Asaram and four other co-accused Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash was filed by the police on 6 November, 2013 under various sections of the POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. Asaram unsuccessfully moved 12 bail applications, of which six were rejected by the trial court, three by the Rajasthan High Court and three by the Supreme Court. With inputs from PTI Ahead of Asaram's rape verdict in Jodhpur trial court, security was stepped up where prohibitory orders have already been clamped. Asaram allegedly raped a teenager and is now facing a minimum term of 10 years if convicted. Jodhpur/New Delhi: Security was stepped up in Jodhpur on Tuesday where prohibitory orders have already been clamped ahead of Wednesday's trial court verdict in the alleged rape of a teenager by self-styled godman Asaram who faces a minimum term of 10 years if convicted. Apprehending a threat to law and order, the Centre asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana governments to tighten security and deploy additional forces as the three states have a large number of followers of the 77-year-old Asaram. The Delhi Police also is on high alert ahead of the trial court's verdict. A senior police official said the department is keeping a close watch on Delhi's boundaries and inside the city areas, where Asaram's supporters might gather after the judgement. "We are in touch with police forces from neighbouring states to avert any untoward incident. Senior officers from districts and SHOs of police stations concerned have been directed to keep a watch in their respective areas," he added. In a communication, the Union Home Ministry told the three states to beef up security and ensure that no violence takes place after the judgment on Wednesday. The three states were also told to deploy additional forces in sensitive places, a Home Ministry official said. As per the directions of the Rajasthan High Court, the trial court will deliver its verdict in the Jodhpur Central Jail premises where Asaram has been lodged for the past over four years. "We have made all arrangements for the judgment day," DIG Jail Vikram Singh said. "The magistrate along with court staff, Asaram and the co-accused along with the defence and prosecution counsels will remain present in the courtroom in the jail premises," he said. Asaram is accused of raping a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, who was studying at the godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. Asaram has denied the rape charges. The victim had alleged that Asaram called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. "I have full faith in the judiciary and am confident that Asaram will be given the severest form of punishment," said the victim's father. Security was also stepped up around the victim's house in Shahajahanpur. "The security for the victim's family is continuously being monitored... Two more constables will stand guard outside her house in addition to the five policemen already deployed there, and a strict vigil is being maintained on all the visitors using CCTV cameras," Superintendent of Police K B Singh told PTI. A vigil was also being kept outside Asaram's ashram at Rudrapur, he said. The Union Home Ministry's advisory was sent in view of the fact that large-scale violence was witnessed in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh after a special court in Mohali convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim last year. Final arguments in the Asaram case had been completed by the special court for SC/ST cases on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved for 25 April. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on 1 September, 2013. He has been under judicial custody since 2 September, 2013. The chargesheet against Asaram and four other co-accused Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash was filed by the police on November 6, 2013 under various sections of the POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC. If convicted, Asaram could be jailed for a minimum of 10 years or awarded a maximum life term, according to prosecution lawyers. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat in which the Supreme Court earlier this month gave five weeks time to the prosecution to complete the trial. "We have imposed section 144 of CrPC in the city from April 21 and it would remain effective till April 30. Besides this, we have been keeping a sharp eye on Asaram's ashrams and checking all hotels and guest houses as well as the bus and railway stations, DCP (East) Aman Deep Singh said in Jodhpur. "We will also seal the jail on the day of judgment and would not allow anyone to get close to the jail premises," he said. Asaram unsuccessfully moved 12 bail applications, of which six were rejected by the trial court, three by the Rajasthan high court and three by the Supreme Court. While Asaram was arrested in September 2013 in connection with the Jodhpur rape case, his son Sai was arrested in December 2013 over the complaint lodged by the sisters. New Delhi: The verdict of a lifetime in jail slapped on self-styled godman Asaram for raping a 16-year-old girl has turned the spotlight on two other women who have charged the 77-year-old preacher with sexual assault and are awaiting justice. A Jodhpur court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced Asaram to a life in jail for the assault on the teenager, but another matter relating to the alleged sexual exploitation of two sisters is still pending before a court in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The sisters, based in Surat, had alleged they were raped and illegally confined by Asaram and his son Narayan Sai. While Asaram was arrested in September 2013 in connection with the Jodhpur rape case, his son Sai was arrested in December 2013 over the complaint lodged by the sisters. While the elder sister had accused Asaram of repeated sexual assaults in 19972006 at the Motera ashram in Gujarat, the younger sister had alleged that Sai sexually assaulted her from 2002 to 2005 at an ashram in Surat. One of the sisters also alleged that Asaram's wife and daughter helped the two men rape the women. Besides Asaram, the state police in its chargesheet filed in 2014 had mentioned among the accused his wife Lakshmi, daughter Bharti and four women followers --Dhruvben, Nirmala, Jassi and Meera. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had adjourned the bail plea of Asaram and pulled up the Gujarat Police for the delay in the completion of recording evidence in the case and directed it to conclude the process within five weeks. "It cannot go like this for months," the top court had said while asking the state police about the status of the trial. The government had informed the apex court that the victims' statement has been recorded. Asaram's counsel had told the court that in the Gujarat case, out of 92 witnesses, 22 material witnesses had been examined, 14 of them dropped and the rest needed to be examined. On 28 August, the apex court had expressed anguish over the tardy pace of progress in the case and had asked the state government to file a report. 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. But rape is not the only charge against Asaram. He is also facing prosecution in a Rs 700-crore land grab case of 2000 in Madhya Pradesh. The case pertains to 200 acres of land in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh. Asaram and his son Sai were accused of grabbing the land located on the Delhi-Pune freight corridor, which, it was said, belonged to a company, Jayant Vitamins Limited. Jayant Vitmins Ltd is a public limited company which was delisted from the Bombay Stock Exchange in 2004 for defaulting on the mandatory listing fees which companies pay to the stock exchanges to list themselves. The recent comments of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in London once again raised the topic of malpractices in the medical profession and governments efforts at stamping them out. The recent comments of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in London once again raised the topic of malpractices in the medical profession and governments efforts at stamping them out. Rather than discussing the propriety of the countrys chief policymaker to pass such comments in front of the world media on foreign soil, I will focus on the issues. Just like every other important professionbe it judiciary, the police, media, politics or even the armed forcesIndian medical profession, too, has its own share of rotten apples and no one will deny that. However, the heavy-handed policies and oversimplification run the risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Lets examine the three points the prime minister raised in his comments in London. He spoke about the government promoting generic medicines in a bid to replace the branded medicines. On the face of it, this might reduce the medicine cost to patients, but is it indeed such a great idea that it is being made out to be? If one goes to the bottom of it, the answer would be a resolute No. It is a fact that India lacks sufficient and efficient quality control mechanism when it comes to pharmaceutical manufacturing. Medicine brands are created when doctors prescribing the drugs are assured of their consistent efficacy over a period of time. In the world of generics, how can anyone ensure the quality of medicine? What if the doctor prescribes medicine and dosages assuming a particular level of efficacy, but the generic fails to deliver? These are problems at a very practical level and can lead to extreme and unwarranted consequences. I will share my experience on how inconsistent efficacy for the same medication with different manufacturers can lead to unnecessary complications. In a civil hospital I worked at for several years, the medicines were procured through tender process going by the lowest bidder. These were akin to the generic medicines that we talk of today. The doctors would routinely prescribe a certain dosage, say 20 units of insulin, to chronic diabetes patients, which they were administered separately by the hospital staff. On days when the hospital had no stock of insulin, the patients had to get insulin injection administered outside according to the prescription. On such days, the patients would invariably revisit the hospital with symptoms of hypoglycaemia or low blood sugar. Their regular insulin dosage would suddenly turn into an overdose, when taken outside the hospital with potentially life-threatening consequences. All this, because of different efficacy levels in the same drug across various manufacturers. Now imagine a hospitalised patient on life-saving drugs and the havoc the unpredictable efficacy of generic drugs can create. In the world of generics, the doctor wont prescribe brands, but only the pharmacological names of the drugs. Naturally, what a patient buys and consumes will be influenced by the chemist, who will push the products that offer him the best margins or commissions. What impact that can have on the patients health is for anyone to guess. The governments brouhaha about generic drugs focuses only on the cost angle, but entirely ignores the quality angle of medicines. Unfortunately, it will be the doctor who will be held responsible if a patient suffered from failed medication. The second point the prime minister made was about doctors sponsored overseas visits. They dont go there to examine patients," he quipped. Of course, no Indian doctor will be allowed to examine patients overseas where they are not registered practitioners. Doctors attend overseas conferences and workshops to update their knowledge, to know about innovative products and procedures, to attend lectures, to discuss case studies, and also for networking. This is common across various industries: from car dealers, interior designers, insurance agents to newspaper editors, everyone goes out on sponsored trips. What good is achieved by singling out doctors for public shaming? Today, the use of robotics has gone up substantially in medical instruments and procedures, which are not available in India. A doctor willing to learn these new techniques has to visit and get trained abroad. At the same time, few doctors would willingly spend to take up such training. But, the robotic equipment company will be interested in expanding to India and would hence be ready to sponsor such doctors. If we object to such interactions, we will be stalling the flow of technology and innovation to our society. The honourable prime minister also boasted about how controlled stent prices have brought down treatment costs. What he didnt mention, however, was how medical treatment has suddenly become impossible for certain types of heart patients. The government has conveniently classified stents into two categoriesdrug-eluting and non-drug-elutingand capped their prices. Unfortunately, this is too gross a classification. You need specially designed stents for complex blockages or where normal stents cant go. Such stents are now no longer available in India and a patient suffering from such block no longer has angioplasty as an option, but needs straightaway to undergo a bypass surgery. Covered stents is one such example. They are used in exceptional emergency situations where a patients artery ruptures during angioplasty to plug the leak. They were available at Rs 70,000 in India previously, but thanks to the price caps, the manufacturer has withdrawn the product. Non-availability of this life-saving equipment means a patients death is certain, if such an emergency arises. The price control over stents and the rule that hospitals cant charge any profit on them is also leading to hospitals destocking. This means the necessary type of stent may not be readily available for a patient in an emergency. It is unfortunate that today the discussions surrounding Indias healthcare industry and the governments actions are progressively alienating patients from doctors and discouraging young talent from taking up this noble profession. Unless the policymakers, as well as media, urgently revisit their deep-rooted bias that doctors work only to make money, the healthcare industry will suffer irreparable damage. The fact that a doctor has an inherent interest in curing his patients needs to be upheld. Today nearly 70 percent of Indias healthcare needs are being taken care of by the private sector. For an ordinary citizen, a private establishment is the first choice when in need of medical attention. A person would consider visiting a public hospital only when a private healthcare option is no longer viable. This is todays reality and it speaks volumes about the state of public healthcare in the county. Policymakers have to bear in mind that their zeal to over-regulate the private healthcare sector can only bring disaster in the long run. In his London dialogue, Modi was perhaps right in pointing out that the previous governments ruined industry by over-regulating. Yet, what his government is today dealing out to the medical profession is nothing different. Our prime minister is a studious person with the ability to go to the depths of any problem. The medical profession is a complex one with too many variables. And, as such, simplistic solutions to its problems are more damaging than helpful. I am sure our prime minister and his team would come out with real, rational and reasonable solutions to weed the ill out of our industry and ensure social welfare. It will be worthwhile to start Indian Medical Services, akin to IAS or IPS, to build capacity among policymakers to understand the nuances of the medical profession and form better regulations. Another thing they should try to achieve at the earliest is improving the public healthcare system to acceptable levels. The competition from public healthcare system will be the best way to keep private sector in check. The author is an interventional cardiologist and head of the cardiology department at Ashwini Co-operative Hospital, Solapur Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Monday had said that Tibet can remain a part of China as long as China respects Tibetans' culture and heritage. Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Monday had said that Tibet can remain a part of China as long as China respects Tibetans' culture and heritage. "We are not seeking independence...We want to stay with China. We want more development," the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people had said. He also welcomed the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China and said the two countries together can make huge contributions in different fields. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping will hold an informal summit in China's Wuhan city from 27 to 28 April to exchange views on bilateral and international issues and to enhance mutual understanding between them. China took control of Tibet in 1950 in what it called a peaceful liberation. In March 1959, the Dalai Lama, then 23 years old, fled to India along with his followers. Then-prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru welcomed the monk and allowed him to make Dharamsala his seat. But the ties have weakened as India tries to improve relations with China and avoid a standoff such as a 73-day military face-off along a stretch of their disputed border in 2017. According to CNN, the Dalai Lama has since 1974 sought "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet and not complete independence from China. The Dalai Lama's current remarks on China are actually very different from his remarks on China in the past. In March last year, in an interview with comedian John Oliver, the Dalai Lama had said that Chinese hardliners have "parts of their brain missing." "Our brain usually, you see, has the ability to create common sense...The Chinese hardliners, in their brain, that part of the brain, is missing," he had said. In April that year, Dalai Lama had once again said that Tibet wanted autonomy rather than independence from China. "We are not seeking independence. we are willing to remain within the Peoples Republic of China. I always admire the spirit of the European Union. Individual nations sovereignty is important but thats not so important. What is important is the common interests." So for material development to remain with the Peoples Republic of China is in our interest. So, the Chinese government also should feel ok (sic). At the same time, the Chinese government should give us meaningful self-role or autonomy, he had said. He had also said that India had never used him against China. India has never used me against China. I am a messenger of the ancient Indian thought and I talk about ahimsa, peace, harmony and secular ethics wherever I go, he had said. In November that year, the Dalai Lama had once again said that "the past is past" and Tibet wanted autonomy from China. "Tibet has a different culture and a different script... The Chinese people love their own country. We love our own country," Hindustan Times had quoted him as saying. In 2012, he had said that talks with China on Tibet's future was futile unless it adopted a "realistic" stance, adding it was useless trying to convince Beijing he was not seeking full independence. The issue is (the peoples) basic right. In future, unless they start a realistic approach for the Tibetan problem inside Tibet, theres not much to discuss, the Dalai Lama had told Reuters. In a 2008 interview to Newsweek, the Dalai Lama had also said that he was worried about violence between Tibetans and Chinese after he passed away. "Yes, I worry about that. As long as I am alive, I am fully committed to amity between Tibetans and Chinese. Otherwise there's no use. More importantly, the Tibetan Buddhist cultural heritage can eventually help bring some deeper values to the millions of Chinese youth who are lost in a (moral) vacuum. After all, China is traditionally a Buddhist country." With inputs from PTI Delhi and West Bengal were among a few states that did not participate in a national consultation organised by the Health Ministry. New Delhi: Delhi and West Bengal were among a few states that did not participate in a national consultation organised by the Health Ministry to seek feedback on the draft guidelines to implement the ambitious Ayushman Bharat scheme, according to an official statement on Tuesday. The Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission seeks to provide a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year to 10 crore poor and vulnerable families across India. According to the statement, the ministry has prepared a detailed timeline to ensure the scheme is rolled out anytime after July. The national consultation was attended by the CEOs of state health agencies, and state nodal officers. Most states attended the consultation, except for a few such as Delhi and West Bengal, according to the statement. The secretary, Health Ministry, briefed the states on the contours of the mission and encouraged them to participate. The states were divided into three sub-groups to ensure detailed discussions and seek in-depth inputs on the draft guidelines. These included guidelines on beneficiary identification process, empanelment of hospitals, portability of benefits, model tender document and modalities of premium release. Each sub-group presented the summary of the proposed changes they had suggested during the discussion. Based on the feedback received from states, the ministry will release a model request for proposal and operational guidelines by the second week of May. In this exclusive chat with Firstpost, Vijay opens up on making a sensitive film, roping in Sai Pallavi to play a mother and why he believes Diya will talk about respecting a womans choice. Director Vijays long-awaited Diya, a psychological horror thriller featuring Sai Pallavi (of Premam fame) in her Tamil debut, is slated for release this week. Amidst the never-ending debate on pro-life and pro-choice, this film will touch upon the issue of abortion and explore the relationship between a mother and her unborn child. In this exclusive chat with Firstpost, Vijay opens up on making a sensitive film, roping in Sai Pallavi to play a mother and why he believes Diya will talk about respecting a womans choice. Diya will be Vijays first attempt at making a full-length woman-centric film. Talking about the inspiration behind the film and the idea, he said: Its been a long-time desire of mine to make a film on a social cause. I wrote the script of Diya way back in 2012 after I came across a survey that over 7 million abortions take place in a year. Over a staggering 50 percent of these abortions are unsafe. I was absolutely shocked when I read this and I wanted to address this issue through a story. Thats how the idea of Diya was born. Vijay was hell-bent on roping in Sai Pallavi after being impressed with her performances in Premam and Kali. Even before I approached her, I was confident that she could pull it off. Its quite an intense role but she made it look so easy. Pallavi has the maturity to portray any character and thats why I didnt mind offering her a mothers role, said Vijay, who describes Diya as a very sensitive film. The film explores the bond between a mother and her unborn daughter. Its a sensitive film because it talks about a topic we rarely discuss. In most cases of abortions, women are forced by their partners or families. Nobody is interested in a womans choice. As a film, Diya will talk about the need to respect a womans choice. After missing out on making her Tamil debut on two occasions in the past, Sai Pallavi is being launched in Kollywood in Diya. Mani Ratnams Kaatru Veliyidai and Vikrams Sketch two films that were supposed to launch her in Tamil did not work out as planned. Vijay says he cant take the credit of launching her as shes already widely known in Tamil Nadu. Thanks to Premam, audiences already are familiar with Pallavi. Im sure theyre going to love her performance in Diya. I believe this would be a long-remembered film in her career. Pallavi has dubbed in her own voice in Diya, and Vijay says it has enhanced her performance. She came forward to dub on her own. I didnt even ask her. Dubbing has enhanced her role multiple times. The film also stars Telugu actor Naga Shaurya in a crucial role. It has been dubbed in Telugu as Kanam and has a simultaneous release on Friday. Vijays next release would be a dance-based Tamil film Lakshmi. The film reunites him with actor-filmmaker Prabhudheva after horror-comedy Devi, which also released in Hindi as Tutak Tutak Tutiya. Vijay said that it was a pleasure working with Prabhudeva again. This is my second film with him. He's known as a dancing legend but what people really dont know about him is that he has great script sense, and theres so much I learnt from him while working on this project. Vijay had a grand time working with kids in the project. We auditioned kids from all over India. We had actors from Assam, Aurangabad, Maharashtra and even Kolkata. Ditya Bhande, who plays the titular role, has a long way to go. Im sure audiences will love all their performances. Also starring Aishwarya Rajesh, Karunakaran and Salman Yusuf Khan, Lakshmi has been produced by Prateek Chakravorty and Shruti Nallappa. According to Chhattisgarh police, the ammunition was recovered after an encounter between the Maoists and security forces in the deep forests of Kanker on 23 April, in which a jawan of the Border Security Force (BSF) got severely injured. Two days after at least 37 Maoists were killed in encounters in Gadchiroli area of Maharashtra, experts believe that complacency on the part of cops as well as security forces could be a grave lapse as Maoists are known to avenge the killing of their comrades. "The fight is not over yet. Maoists can hit back in a bigger manner in the next 45-60 days. It'll be a big mistake if one thinks that Maoists have become weaker after Gadchiroli encounter," Prakash Singh, internal security expert and an authority on Left-wing extremism (LWE), told Firstpost. His view was echoed by other defence and security experts. The ultra-Left extremists would try to send the message that "we are alive and kicking," they said. Meanwhile, the police of states currently dealing with Maoists, including Chhattisgarh, have issued alerts to Maoist-hit districts close to Gadchiroli. Other Maoist-infested districts in Chhattisgarh too, like Dantewada, Sukma, Bijapur, Kanker, are on high alert. The move comes especially after a huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from Kanker on Wednesday. According to Chhattisgarh police, the ammunition was recovered after an encounter between the Maoists and security forces in the deep forests of Kanker on 23 April, in which a jawan of the Border Security Force (BSF) got severely injured. The anti-bomb squad of the state police recovered 24 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), 40 explosive-tipped arrows, and a rocket launcher, amid other things. The police strongly believe that the Maoists have been preparing for an ambush. It's not the first time that explosive-tipped arrows have been recovered in Chhattisgarh. Earlier, besides landmines, the Maoists also used these 'Rambo-style' arrows during an ambush on CRPF team at Kottacheru in the Bhejji area of Sukma on 11 March 2017. This gruesome incident was subsumed in the deafening celebrations of the BJP's electoral victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. But twelve CRPF jawans were killed in that incident. Taking a leaf out of the Hollywood blockbuster Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), in which actor Sylvester Stallone uses explosive-tipped arrows to take on his enemies single-handedly, the Maoists used explosive-tipped arrows to distract the attention of security forces, while leading them into an ambush trap dotted with landmines. "Over the last few days, we've been recovering arms and ammunition from various locations in Bastar. Immediately after the Gadchiroli encounter, we issued alerts keeping possible retaliation in mind," DM Awasthi, special director general (Naxal Operations), Chattisgarh police told Firstpost. Earlier in several instances, the Maoist cadre unleashed unexpected attacks on security forces as retaliation, which was not restricted to Chhattisgarh, but occurred in other states as well. Considered as one of the biggest successes in the anti-Maoist operations in the country, the credit goes to Gadchiroli police, including its elite commando force C-60 and CRPF battalion, for acting effectively on local intelligence inputs, efficient coordination, quick response and lightening attack on the ultra-Left rebels who had gathered near Kasnasur village in Maharashtras Bhamragad tehsil on 22 April. Even after Sunday, the police and security force continued their joint operation and eliminated a total of 37 Maoists in Gadchiroli. The effect of it is visible in the Maoist-hotbed Bastar in the neighbouring Chhattisgarh, which is more sensitive area than Gadchiroli. The recovery of IEDs and other ammunition has put Mahala village in Kanker district in spotlight. In the last five years, the Maoist cadre took a back foot in this highly sensitive area, but Wednesday's recovery has compelled the police to be on their toes. "We're closely liaisoning with all the Naxal-affected states through proper coordination and cooperation on operation front. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited and stayed for more than four hours in one of the most dreaded Maoist-infested districts of Bijapur. We've ensured a similar security arrangement for all the districts," added Awasthi. The internal security experts have suggested that the police and security forces in Chhattisgarh, and elsewhere, must continue to follow the methodology being adopted by the Gadchiroli police so that they are not caught unaware. "It's not over. As Maoists are expected to go very aggressive, Gadchiroli methodology whether it's inter-state coordination or acting fast on intelligence inputs must continue. The state police whether in Chhattisgarh or elsewhere must ensure this," Major General (retd) Dhruv Katoch, defence and strategic expert said. "State government must ensure proper communication and coordination between the state police and para-military forces. There shouldn't be any conflict at the leadership level, because Maoists wait for an opportune moment to strike back and they'll do it. The joint operation at Gadchiroli showed the way," former director general, BSF and ex-Uttar Pradesh DGP, Prakash Singh said. A former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader, Ghulam Nabi Patel was shot dead by suspected militants in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama on Wednesday. A Congress party leader Ghulam Nabi Patel was shot dead by suspected militants in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama on Wednesday, according to News18. Patel was killed when militants fired at his escort at Rajpora Chowk. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he passed away. His two police guards suffered injuries in the attack. They have been identified as Imtiyaz Ahmad of Handwara and Bilal Ahmad Dar of Kangon Pulwama. SSP Pulwama Mohammad Aslam Chaudhary confirmed Kashmir Reader the killing of Patel. He said that a case has been registered and a manhunt has been launched in the area to nab the attackers. Patel, who is a resident of Dangerpora Shadimarg was coming to Pulwama from Yader when the incident happened. Reports inform that Patel, who was earlier also associated with People's Democratic Party (PDP), was shot at three times from a close range with an AK assault rifle. While two bullets hit him in the chest, one hit his shoulder. A similar incident had taken place in April 2017 where militants shot dead the PDP's district president in Pulwama, Abdul Gani Dar. The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Kafeel Ahmad Khan, one of the accused in the BRD Medical college case of Gorakhpur Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Kafeel Ahmad Khan, one of the accused in the BRD Medical college case of Gorakhpur. Khan was arrested in connection with the death of several children in Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in Gorakhpur allegedly due to interrupted oxygen supply to the hospital and was in jail for the last seven months. Justice Yashwant Verma granted the bail after hearing the counsels representing Khan as well as the state government. Over 30 children died at the medical college on August 10-11, last year allegedly due to the disruption in oxygen supply. The Uttar Pradesh Police Special Task Force (STF) had arrested Khan near Kalesar in Sahjanwa when he was on the way to Gorakhpur. Khan was the nodal officer of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in the medical college. While granting bail to Khan, the court laid down several conditions including that the applicant shall not tamper with the records or documents and that he will not threaten or influence any witnesses in the case. Ninong Ering has reportedly written to Narendra Modi, asking him to highlight the issues of Arunachal Pradesh during his scheduled meeting with Xi Jinping A Congress MP from Arunachal Pradesh has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and asked him to highlight the issues of Arunachal Pradesh during his upcoming meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping. In his letter, Ninong Ering told Modi that China providing stapled visas to people of Arunachal Pradesh "is of concern and needs to be addressed immediately". Arunachal Pradesh is a state where people starting their day by greeting Jai Hind. The government must assert the territorial integrity of India and convey the feelings of Arunachal Pradesh people in a firm manner, Ering wrote in his letter. Modi and Xi will hold a summit in China's Wuhan city from 27 to 28 April for a "heart-to-heart" chat to explore a new paradigm for India-China ties and find ways to address the contentious issues such as the border dispute. Ering also asked Modi to raise Chinese transgressions into Arunachal Pradesh and the alleged diversion of Brahmaputra river water by the Chinese. At many instances in recent times, Chinese troops have tried to enter into Arunachal Pradesh and built roads, recently in Bising village You must protest against such incidents and tell China to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of India as envisaged in the Panchsheel agreement, Ering wrote. He also called upon Modi to negotiate a water treaty with China for sustainable development. "It will help the northeastern states of India to have natural right of clean and continouus water", Ering further added. The Modi-Xi summit meeting is taking place in the backdrop of a series of high-level interactions between both the two countries starting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi's visit to India in December, the first after the Doka La standoff. Both countries will not sign any agreements or issue a joint statement. With inputs from PTI The medical and pathology reports of a Class XI student, who had alleged that she was gang raped inside a car in Greater Noida, do not show any signs of rape or injury, according to media reports. The medical and pathology reports of a Class XI student, who had alleged that she was gang raped inside a car in Greater Noida, do not show any signs of rape or injury, according to media reports. Zee News reported that while the medical and pathology reports do not indicate any signs of rape or injury, other facts pertaining to the case are being investigated. According to a report in The Times of India, the 16-year-old was allegedly gang raped in a car last week by her classmate, a distant relative and another youth on the pretext of dropping her home after she had missed her bus. The girl was returning home from school. Narrating the incident to the police, the girl had reportedly said that she was walking home around 2.30 pm when the three accused arrived in a car and offered her a lift in Kasna area. They, however, allegedly took turns to rape her inside the car and roamed the city before dumping her near the Knowledge Park area at around 1 am. The girl was found loitering near Galgotias University in Knowledge Park area, where she had been dumped after the incident. Police handed over the girl to the family, The Times of India report had quoted Greater Noida station officer Ram Bhawan Singh as saying. Awneesh Kumar, senior officer at the Gautam Budh Nagar police station in Greater Noida, had said that the girl's father had reported her missing on 18 April, following which an FIR was registered against three people, according to NDTV. On examining the claim, Firstpost found that Prime Minister Narendra Modis Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a distant dream in Haryana. Despite the state government declaring all villages in Haryana as 'open defecation free' (ODF), households in several villages, including those adopted by or native to influential ministers, continue to lack accessibility to toilets. Last year, the Manohar Lal Khattar government had declared over 6,908 villages in rural Haryana as being open defecation free and the Centre gave the state a 100 percent ODF status while responding to a question in Lok Sabha during this years Budget Session. But on examining the claim, Firstpost found that Prime Minister Narendra Modis Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a distant dream in Haryana. In Chief Minister Khattar's birthplace Nindana in Rohtak, which was declared ODF in January last year, several households are yet to install toilets. One of four panchayats in the village adopted by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu was even awarded a cash prize for achieving a 100 percent ODF status. But villagers punctured this claim when they reached the district collectorate last year to expose how the village sarpanch colluded with officials to get the reward. An inquiry was promised at that time. A year later, a government survey showed that 30 households without toilets in Mamanpur panchayat in Nindana are yet to install toilets. "They built common toilets in the village and gave us the ODF tag. But the common toilets are not even functional," said Nanhi Devi, whose family continues to defecate in the open. Even in Baniyani village in Rohtak, where Chief Minister Khattar lived during the early days of his life, hundreds of houses do not have toilets. Village sarpanch Bansi Vig, a BJP worker, had claimed the village was ODF. But a panchayat member said that around 10-15 houses in each of the 17 wards of the village are yet to install toilets. "Visit here in the morning and you will see the entire street full of people squatting in the open. Even those who have toilets at their houses don't want to use them out of habit," said Satyawan, a panchayat member. Laxmi Devi, 46, a resident of Baniyani, under Kalanaur panchayat, demanded the government give funds under the Swachh Bharat Mission, before construction of toilets. "We don't have sufficient money to build a toilet. If the government agrees to pay us beforehand, we may consider the option," she said. "Till then, my 17-year-old daughter and I will have to defecate in the open," she added. A few kilometers away in Anwal village, adopted by recently-retired Rajya Sabha MP Shadi Lal Batra, sarpanch Anil Kumar told Firstpost that over 150 houses still lack toilets. But he feels that more than the government, peoples' mindset is to blame for the lack of toilets in villages. "We have used every way possible, but when people don't want to adopt a new habit, how much can we push it?" he said. Last year, Mewat deputy commissioner Maniram Sharma was heavily criticised after police arrested some men for defecating in the open. Sharma had even posted pictures of the 'defaulters' on his Facebook account, which he deleted following public outrage. Sharma had said, "Jo sarkar ka hukm hai..use saam daam bhed aur dand se laagu karwana mera kartavya hai (My duty is to enforce government orders by any means possible)." But despite this, villagers blame a lackadaisical attitude on part of authorities concerned to set up and maintain toilets. A villager pointed out that the government school for girls in Anwal was the first in Haryana to get an eco-friendly modern toilet facility, built by IIT engineers at a cost of Rs 11 lakh. The toilet had automatic flushing, automatic cleaning, sanitary napkins, was equipped with solar panel and an underground waste management system. But, a year later the toilet remains dysfunctional due to a lack of maintenance. The school's principal Sunita Devi said, "There is only one worker available at the school. She has passed her retirement age and remains unwell most of the time. That's why the toilet could not be maintained." However, some village officials feel that villagers are using the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan as a medium to cheat the government. At Mohana village in Sonepat, adopted by state urban local bodies minister Kavita Jain, the sarpanch said villagers cheat officials by showing their neighbors' houses instead of theirs to avail funds. "There will be over 200 houses in this village without toilets; but all of them would have received funds under Swacch Bharat," he said. Kalanaur panchayat officer Joginder Rathi also said that all villagers living in villages under Kalanaur, have availed funds under the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. "These people lie to media persons and show houses where they keep animals in hope of getting more funds. We have covered all the houses. A team from ADC office visits the village and checks the houses for toilets before transferring the money," he said. The Swacch Bharat Abhiyan is addressing concerns over hygiene and sanitation in some parts of Haryana. However, due to the apathy of officials, who are only concerned about achieving targets and neglect educating people on the issue, a lot remains to be done before the state can be declared as being 100 percent ODF. The author is a member of The NewsCart, a Bengaluru-based media startup. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she has plans to meet industrialists in Shanghai during her visit to China soon Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she has plans to meet industrialists in Shanghai during her visit to China soon. Stating that she has received a communication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this regard, Mamata said she would try to attract investments in the manufacturing sector. "I will make this visit on national interest since China wanted me to visit the country. I have received a communication from the Ministry of External Affairs. I will also try to meet industrialists in Shanghai," she told "News 18 Bangla". The chief minister is likely to visit China in June, state secretariat sources said. Prime minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to visit China on 9 to 10 June for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. Incidentally, a large business contingent from China had participated in this year's Bengal Global Business Summit, which received a huge proposal for investments. Secretariat sources said that during the proposed visit, the chief minister may be accompanied by state finance minister Amit Mitra and a host of industrialists from West Bengal. Besides, manufacturing sector, there could be business dialogues over healthcare, tourism and IT, they said. The chief minister also said that she would be visiting Chicago to celebrate the 125th year of Swami Vivekananda's speech at the World Parliament of Religion, on Ramakrishna Mission's invitation. "I have a plan to visit Chicago to attend 125th year of Swami Vivekananda's speech at World Parliament of Religion on Rama Krishna Mission's invitation," Banerjee said. "During the visit to the US, I along with my delegation will visit the Silicon Valley. We are planning to set up a similar type of facility here over 100-acre of land," Banerjee said. Sources at the chief minister's office said that Banerjee may visit Chicago in September. "We have also improved in infrastructure and as a part of it, three major ports are coming up at Sagar, Kulpi and Tajpur. A major coal block in the state will also help grow industry here," she said. A 38-year-old woman was, on Tuesday, arrested for allegedly pushing a man onto the tracks at Mulund station, resulting in the man getting run over by a train, Railway police said Mumbai: A 38-year-old woman was, on Tuesday, arrested for allegedly pushing a man onto the tracks at Mulund station, resulting in the man getting run over by a train, Railway police said. "Manisha Khakadiya was identified from CCTV images at the station and was placed under arrest. She has told police that the deceased, Deepak Patwa, touched her on the overbridge at the station," a Kurla railway police official said. He added that the accused had told police that she followed the man to the platform to pull him up for his behaviour. "She has said that an argument broke out between her and Patwa and he fell off the platform in the melee," the official said. Patwa was run over by a train after being pushed off the platform by two persons on Saturday, officials said. The incident was captured by the CCTV cameras at Mulund station, he added. "We have registered a case against the accused under section 302 (murder) of the IPC. A hunt is on for the other person involved in the incident. Further investigations are underway," he said. The 'informal summit' planned between Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping in Wuhan this week will be the first of two meetings in six weeks, and has confounded policy analysts, rightfully so given last year's standoff at Doka La. The "informal summit" planned between Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping in Wuhan this week has set the cat among the pigeons. This is part of an unprecedented schedule, during which Modi and Xi will meet twice in six weeks, and has confounded policy analysts and commentators, and rightfully so given last year's standoff at Doka La. The 'reset' in bilateral ties that's being mentioned from the Indian side, and Wang Yi's emphasis of this visit being a "new milestone", is another bit of information that's just as intriguing. On Modi's reasons to make these visits, most commentaries have offered issues such as a sagging Indian economy, an increasingly unfriendly neighbourhood courtesy China, naval incursions of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) into the Indian Ocean, and an overall aggressive approach visible in China's foreign and security policies against India. These are undeniably valid reasons that convinced Modi to seek a reset in India-China ties. Even the Chinese media reports emphasise India's security compulsions and incentives from trade relations with China being the main motives for Modi's visit. They offer an impression that it's the Indian government which is worried and anxious. Issues such as a large trade deficit, decreasing economic opportunities for India's service sector from the American market and opening up of opportunities in China's soybean and sugar market after China imposed punitive tariffs on the American agricultural products are some examples. However, these arguments do not adequately explain the speed of bilateral engagements that have taken place in the last six months. For example, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and top diplomat and Politburo member Yang Jiechi, have both made trips to India and offered multiple avenues of cooperation such as a trade corridor through Nepal, among others. India's top bureaucrats, including its new foreign secretary and ministers of defence and external affairs, have also made trips to China. In terms of tangible achievements, India and China have restored bilateral relations to a large extent. The agreement to restart the Kailash-Mansarover Pilgrimage has concluded; China has agreed to share the river data for Brahmaputra river with India, and both countries are negotiating to resume their bilateral military exchanges and exercises. On its part, India has clipped Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile's wings and cooperated with China in FATF and world trade platforms. India is also preparing to take on the Trump administration to the dispute settlement forum in the WTO on steel and aluminium tariffs. Nevertheless, both China and India have issues of extreme differences where no solution is possible in the near term. Issues regarding resolution of land borders, India's membership in the NSG, and the UN Security Council, designation of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists in the UN and India's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative are such that neither side is willing to budge. China cannot help make India a regional hegemonic challenger. China also cannot ignore Pakistan and endanger its massive investments in CPEC, neither will India join BRI when CPEC violates its territorial sovereignty. Therefore, Xi and Modi could have taken an extra day during the SCO Summit in Qingdao in June this year and discussed these issues. There was, quite frankly, no need for another trip by Modi to China, if the upcoming visit is treated a normal one. Instead, it can become a new milestone if both countries are able to agree to enhance their economic cooperation substantially. Modi's India earnestly needs investments and markets for its exports, especially when America and the West is increasingly becoming protectionist, the Middle East remains in turmoil, and Russia suffers under sanctions. Even Japan has lately shown willingness to join the BRI. If China offers India a massive investment package, to the tune of US$ 50-100 billion, it will be a considerable boost to Modis image back home. The investment package can remove the trust deficit to some extent, reduce the trade deficit and may even help improve China's image in India if common Indians can benefit in terms of employment and the availability of better infrastructure. China can even show its willingness to participate in the Make in India programme, as it already has excess capital goods production capacity, which it can shift out of China. India earnestly needs both, cash as well as the technology and this is a major opportunity to conclude an agreement to this regard. In addition, both countries can enter into an agreement to keep their land borders quiet and conflict-free in the near future. Indian investments in border infrastructure have lately begun showing results and boosted Indian military's capacity to respond effectively on the LAC. In the next decade, increasing completion of airports, roads and logistical facilities will qualitatively enhance the nature of India's military deployments on its land borders. That will become a big headache for China and the PLA. India and China share a 4,000-kilometre boundary, and so far, the PLA has deployed based on the philosophy of "light on the front, heavy in the back". China has improved the infrastructure of its borders with India but its deployments are not that comprehensive. The PLA remains heavily deployed away from the borders and regularly rehearses to arrive in time during conflict. However, Doka La has changed that equation. Following the standoff, the PLA had to build significant facilities to deploy its troops throughout the year and that's only in one valley. The entire land boundary consists of hundreds of valleys, mountains, rivers and forests. Deploying troops such as that on the India-Pakistan LoC would be an unnecessary drain for China. As it is, Chinese forces are focused more towards their eastern adversaries, and Xi is trying to manage threats emerging from the Taiwan Travel Act and Trump's forays into North Korea. He does not need a simultaneous hostile engagement with India, on his South West borders at the moment. Therefore, a temporary treaty of peace and tranquillity can be concluded to bring relief to both parties in this informal summit. In sum, there are many reasons that have brought both Xi and Modi to this peaceful negotiation table. The fact that will make it a "new milestone" has to be something substantial that gives face to both leaders. A major economic agreement and treaty to bring peace on borders, even temporary, would make this trip worthwhile for both leaders. This will also be welcomed by the entire Indo-Pacific region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Sweden will lead to greater cooperation between the two countries in green technology, says Nila Vikhe Patil, the political adviser in the Swedish PMO. Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Sweden will lead to greater cooperation between the two countries in green technology, says Nila Vikhe Patil, the political adviser in the Swedish PMO. Modi's talks with Swedish Prime Minister Kjell Stefan Lofven were fruitful, she said. The Indian prime minister visited Sweden last week with the purpose of striking up a collaboration on innovation and green technology a mutually beneficial partnership to enhance opportunities and development for both the countries, Vikhe Patil said. "I see a great potential for this collaboration. India has excellent world class engineers and unmatched out-of-the- box thinking on innovative solutions to problems," she told PTI. Sweden has a capital intensive labour market, it is at the forefront of green technology and feminist policies, and has a transparent tax and regulatory framework for startups, she said. "I hope that this visit by Modi will be a great starting point for India and Sweden for a bright future with green technology and a new wave of technology disruption," said Nila Vikhe Patil, the daughter of leading educationist in Maharashtra, Ashok Vikhe Patil. "I also feel that religious and political unrest (in India) should be addressed. Without equal gender rights, we will go nowhere," she said. Sweden is one of the most feminist countries in the world, said Nila Vikhe Patil, the granddaughter of late Union minister Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. She was born in Sweden and spent early years at Ahmednagar in Maharashtra. Sweden has been on a charm offensive towards India recently, supporting Modi's 'Make in India' manufacturing summit with Lofven leading a delegation of the Swedish industry leaders to the launch event in 2016. India is also an increasingly important market for Sweden, with more than 160 Swedish companies now established in the country. Close on the heels of China visits by Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman is an 'informal summit' between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping over the weekend The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that admitted India as a member last year is set to hold its annual summit in China's Qingdao in June, but New Delhi's groundwork has already begun in earnest. Close on the heels of China visits by Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman is an 'informal summit' between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping over the weekend. And while no agreements are expected to be signed, the meeting touted as a 'heart-to-heart' discussion between the two leaders is another part of India's ongoing process to 'reset' bilateral relations with China. As noted earlier, 2017 marked a low point in India-China relations and both countries appeared to want to set things right in 2018. Accordingly, Sitharaman and Swaraj have been meeting with a variety of Chinese leaders and marking largely conciliatory noises that appear to have been reciprocated. A quick rundown: Nirmala Sitharaman was quoted as telling her Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe that differences should not lead to disputes in relations between India and China. Elsewhere, Swaraj was quoted as saying, "I should be able to understand Chinese when you speak, and you should be able to understand Hindi when I talk... So, it is essential that we learn a language, and understand it". China, on its part, responded positively with foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying saying, "We believe Swaraj's visit will further enhance political trust between the two countries and elevate the China-India strategic cooperation partnership." The Chinese media normally very suspicious of India and critical in equal measure warmly took note of Sitharaman's meeting with People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers. This feeling of bonhomie is likely to receive a further boost when Xi and Modi roll out the latest chapter in their warm personal relationship. Amid all this goodwill, Swaraj took the time to lay down a red line of sorts by speaking firmly about terrorism and sovereignty: Two fairly prickly issues in India-China relations considering Beijing's refusal to designate Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Masood Azhar as a terrorist and the constant standoffs on the border. "We strongly believe that our fight against terrorism should not only seek to eliminate terrorists but also identify and take strong measures against States that encourage, support and finance terrorism or provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups", Swaraj was quoted as saying by PTI, leaving no one in any doubt about the intended recipients of the message. She also took a shot at Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), stating, "Connectivity with SCO countries is Indias priority. We want connectivity to pave the way for cooperation and trust between our societies. For this, respect for sovereignty is essential. Inclusivity, transparency and sustainability are imperative". What does this tell us? For starters, it signals clearly that India is eager to set bilateral relations on a positive path, possibly more so than China itself seeks to. After all, an adversarial India is likely to be far less of a concern to China than an adversarial China will be for India. It is with that in mind that Modi will hope to bring Xi on board with a variety of New Delhi's concerns and in the absence of any agreements, understandings can be arrived upon and a common minimum can be agreed upon in principle, if not on paper as yet. Second, and perhaps most pertinent, India is sending the message that while it seeks a reset in relations, sticking to its guns on a few key issues shows that it's not a 'factory reset' that is sought. Rather, it is a 'soft reset' that reinitialises the interface between the two countries, but hangs on to key concerns and issues. How this approach plays out will become clearer after the SCO Summit. Supreme Court justices Ranjan Gogoi and Madan Lokur have written to Dipak Misra, urging the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to call a full court to discuss 'institutional issues' regarding the future of the court. Supreme Court justices Ranjan Gogoi and Madan Lokur have written to Dipak Misra, urging the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to call a full court to discuss "institutional issues" regarding the future of the court. This comes a week after the Supreme Court had called an informal meeting, which ended without any conclusion being reached. A report on India Today wrote that there has been no response from the CJI's office regarding the judges' letter or the demands raised in it. A separate report on The Indian Express, meanwhile, said the issue of a full court was also raised by some judges during the customary morning meeting of all Supreme Court judges over tea on Monday. However, it said, Misra was non-committal on the matter even during the tea meeting with his peers. A full court meeting of the Supreme Court, one that involves all judges, is usually convened by the Chief Justice of India only when a matter of public importance relating to the judiciary comes up, the report mentioned. The issue comes two weeks after another letter, written by Kurien Joseph, among the senior-most Supreme Court judges, had lamented undue delays in clearing the collegium's recommendation to elevate a judge and a senior woman advocate to the apex court. Joseph, in his letter, had said the "very life and existence" of the institution was "under threat" and a "surgical intervention" is required. The apex court collegium, headed by the CJI, had in January sent to the Centre the names of senior advocate Indu Malhotra and Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph for their appointment as judges in the apex court. However, the Centre is yet to take a decision on the names. In the past, even Justice Chelameswar has raised the matter of the government not acting on the collegium's recommendations of judicial interference by the legislature, the India Today report mentioned. Meanwhile, sources were quoted in The Indian Express report as saying the "institutional issues" referred to by the two judges in their letter are regarding the independence of the judiciary. They allege the government's actions, and the CJI's reluctance to pursue the issue further, is "causing consternation" among the higher judiciary, and they are concerned about the integrity of the institution. This letter adds to the pressure building on the CJI to act to secure the independence of the judiciary and maintain its credibility, sources said. With inputs from PTI Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday called on Mongolian Prime Minister U Khurelsukh and discussed issues of bilateral cooperation Ulaanbaatar: Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday called on Mongolian Prime Minister U Khurelsukh and discussed issues of bilateral cooperation. According to a tweet by Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, both leaders "discussed cooperation in developmental cooperation, mining, capacity building, IT, films and other areas of bilateral cooperation". After calling on the prime minister, Sushma Swaraj held a meeting with the Mongolian Minister and Chief of Cabinet Secretariat Gombojav Zandanshatar and "had a good exchange of views on expanding cooperation across several sectors", according to Kumar. She also called on M Enkhbold, Speaker of the Mongolian Parliament, the State Great Khural. "Among other issues, discussed cooperation between our Parliaments, which is an important pillar of our bilateral relationship," the Indian spokesperson said in a separate tweet. Earlier in the day, Sushma Swaraj and her Mongolian counterpart Damdin Tsogtbaatar co-chaired the sixth round of the India-Mongolia Joint Consultative Committee (IMJCC), focusing on a range of issues including economic, energy, political, strategic, educational and cultural ties. Addressing the media following the meeting, Sushma Swaraj said that both sides agreed to jointly combat terror and boost bilateral trade. Sushma Swaraj arrived here from China on Tuesday in what is the first visit by an Indian External Affairs Minister to this landlocked Asian country in 42 years. A senior faculty member of the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) has been arrested, while a research scholar surrendered before a court today in connection with the sexual favours scandal involving a woman college teacher, police said. A senior faculty member of the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) has been arrested, while a research scholar surrendered before a court today in connection with the sexual favours scandal involving a woman college teacher, police said. V Murugan, an assistant professor at the university, was arrested last night and produced this morning before a court in nearby Sattur, which remanded him to a five-day custody of the CB-CID. Research student Karuppasamy of the university surrendered before a Madurai court and was remanded to judicial custody till tomorrow, the police said. Suspended assistant professor Nirmala Devi, the main accused in the scandal, has reportedly told the CB-CID that Murugan and Karuppasamy had instigated her to lure the students to extend sexual favours to the officials of the university, in return for higher marks and money. Devi of the private Devanga Arts College in Aruppukottai was arrested on 16 April, a day after an audio clip went viral in the social media, where she purportedly sought to persuade girls to consider extending sexual favours to senior MKU officials. As the issue snowballed into a major controversy, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, who is the chancellor of the university, ordered a probe by retired IAS officer R Santhanam. The case, initially registered by the local police, was transferred to the CB-CID on 17 April because of its "sensitive nature". Meanwhile, Santhanam arrived here today and two girl students of the Devanga Arts College, affiliated to the MKU, gave petitions to him through their lawyer, Muthukumar, the police said. The contents of the petitions were not immediately known. The woman assistant professor was alleged to have contacted the students a month ago, but the scandal came to light only after the audio clip went viral. The college management has said that she was suspended, pending inquiry, soon after a complaint was received from the students. Ahead of the trial court verdict in the alleged rape of a teenager by Asaram who faces a minimum of 10 years if convicted, security was stepped up in Jodhpur Ahead of the trial court's verdict in the alleged rape of a teenager by self-styled godman Asaram, who faces a minimum 10-year term if convicted, security was stepped up in Jodhpur on Wednesday, and prohibitory orders have been clamped. Apprehending a threat to law and order, the Centre asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana governments to tighten security and deploy additional forces, since the three states have a large number of followers of the 77-year-old Asaram. The Delhi Police is also on high alert ahead of the court's verdict. A senior police official said the department is keeping a close watch on Delhi's boundaries and inside the city areas, where Asaram's supporters might gather after the judgment. Asaram is accused of raping a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, who was studying at the godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. He has denied the rape charges. The victim had alleged that Asaram called her to his ashram in Manai near Jodhpur on 15 August, 2013, and raped her. The Union home ministry has sent an advisory was sent in view of the fact that large-scale violence was witnessed in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh last year after a special court in Mohali convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim of rape. Meanwhile, vigil was also being kept outside Asaram's ashram at Rudrapur in Uttarakhand. Here is a timeline of how the case progressed: With inputs from PTI In a bid to reinforce its claim that there is lawlessness in the state under the current regime, the BJP manifesto released on Tuesday has used a number of pictures of violence and vandalism. Kolkata: West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP of using a photograph of violence in Bangladesh in their election manifesto for the coming state Panchayat polls. In a bid to reinforce its claim that there is lawlessness in the state under the current regime, the BJP manifesto released on Tuesday has used a number of pictures of violence and vandalism, one of which was allegedly of the 2013 Bangladesh violence. "That is not a photograph of Bengal. They have used a 2013 photograph of Bangladesh in the manifesto and claimed it to be a picture of violence here. No party in the history of Bengal has constantly made such false, malicious and instigating statements. We are ashamed of their actions," Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee told reporters in Kolkata. "Such falsehood under the banner of a political party is an insult of democracy in Bengal," he addeed. The alleged photograph was taken by a news agency and its image description reads as: "Supporters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) shout slogans near a bonfire during a protest in Dhaka on 11 March, 2013." The BJP, however, claimed that the images portray the real picture from Bengal. "Our manifesto talks about how lawlessness and violence has taken over Bengal under the current government and how the Chief Minister and the administration are constantly backing the trouble mongers. In several places in the state communal violence took place and the Hindus were attacked like in Bangladesh. In that context the picture was used," state BJP President Dilip Ghosh said. Police on Tuesday arrested two men for allegedly harassing a woman 'model' on Sunday when she was riding her scooter on a busy road in Indore in Madhya Pradesh, an official said Indore: Police on Tuesday arrested two men for allegedly harassing a woman 'model' on Sunday when she was riding her scooter on a busy road in Indore in Madhya Pradesh, an official said. In a series of tweets, the woman, who claims to be a model, had alleged that two persons had tried to pull her skirt and asked her to reveal "what lies underneath"? "The accused duo are identified as Lucky and Bunty, aged between 20 years and 25 years. They are booked under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 ( word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police Harinarayanchari Mishra told reporters on Tuesday night. He said the accused work in a ready-made garment shop in Pardeshipura area of the city. "They didn't have any criminal background," the DIG said. Mishra said the police arrested the duo on the basis of the statement of the woman who had alleged harassment. "However, police are yet to find any witnesses to the purported incident," he said, adding they are probing the case from all the angles. The officer said though the accused have admitted that their motorcycle had collided with the woman's scooter, they have denied trying to pull her skirt, as claimed by the woman. "Police arrested the accused on the basis of the footage of a CCTV camera. However, police have not yet come across the footage showing that the two tried to pull the skirt of the woman," the DIG said. He said the police were informed about the purported incident 24 hours after the model claimed it had taken place. In a series of tweets on Monday, the woman stated that two persons had allegedly tried to pull her skirt when she was driving her scooter on a busy road in Indore on Sunday. "Two guys tried to pull my skirt while I was on my Activa and said, 'dikhao iske niche kya hai?' (show us, what is underneath). I tried to stop them and lost control and met with an accident". "It happened on one of the busiest roads of Indore, and nobody tried to stop them. They ran away, and I couldn't even see their number. I've never felt so helpless. I'm not the kind of girl who will just sit and watch. Those fiends ran away, and I couldn't do anything," she had said in another tweet. The woman had also posted pictures of the "injury" she claimed to have suffered in the "accident", along with the tweets. She had urged the media through twitter to keep her name secret. The woman on Tuesday told reporters that the attitude of some people in the society towards women's way of dressing is responsible for growing incidents of eve-teasing. "...The real reason behind this incident was the filthy thinking of some people in the society about the girls wearing short dresses," she said, adding that the society needs to change its "thinking about the girls' dresses". Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had on Monday termed the incident "shameful" and ordered the state Director General of Police (DGP) and Indore district collector to take necessary action. Police had registered a case against unidentified persons on Monday and set up a five-member special team, headed by a city superintendent of police (CSP), to investigate the matter. A 13-year-old girl is in a critical condition after she was allegedly raped and beaten by a 16-year-old juvenile in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Dehat district on Sunday, the police said Kanpur: A 13-year-old girl is in a critical condition after she was allegedly raped and beaten by a 16-year-old juvenile in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Dehat district on Sunday, the police said. The accused, a neighbour of the victim, allegedly committed the crime in the presence of his sister in Shivli town, said Ratan Kant Pandey, Kanpur Dehat deputy inspector general (DIG). The juvenile, along with his father and mother, also allegedly beat up the girl, leaving her seriously injured. They threatened her of dire consequences if she dared to speak up, before letting her go home, Pandey said. The girl was admitted to a district hospital, from where she was shifted to Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital in Kanpur. Her condition is said to be critical, the DIG said. The victim, however, narrated the incident to her family, who reported it to the Shivli police on Tuesday, the officer said. An FIR was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the juvenile has been detained and his father and mother arrested, he said. It has been decided to slap relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he added. It is not only politicians who are sweating in Karnataka, but also political consultants of all hues. Bengaluru: It is not only politicians who are sweating in Karnataka, but also political consultants of all hues. From those pitching for full-fledged political advocacy to handling social media campaigns to branding and promotion, consultancies anticipated huge spending and prepared their pitches to parties and candidates accordingly. But uncertainties till the last day and minute in finalising candidates for filing nominations and which party they will represent, plus the short time left for polling day after the last day of withdrawals on 27 April have left an army of so-called game changers for hire out on a limb. The Rs 500 crore the state Congress' unit spent for branding, sanctioned by a special allocations bill passed by the Assembly, through top firm JWT (J Walter Thompson) during the past year, raised expectations among other agencies of a similar bonanza from other parties. But all they've got thus far is requests for proposals, and the Election Commission limiting spending at Rs 28 lakh per candidate has further dampened spending decisions. All the costly, slick videos and social media strategy campaigns prepared have found no takers among aspirants, old and new. We anticipated a large part of the business to come from established politicians who needed to refresh their image, said Abhishek Shukla, head of Delhi-based agency Politics, who camped for weeks in Bengaluru anticipating good business. It was estimated that each of them would spend anything between Rs 5 to 8 lakh a month on brand building through social media alone with spends increasing on interviews on TV and media apart from usual advertisements. But sadly, not even a fraction of the expected amount has been spent. Big ticket election, but expectations crashed Kiran Kumar N, partner Media Hanger, a city agency, added that there was a lot of hype and expectation that Opposition parties and candidates "would spend huge amounts of money on such agencies in a short 3 to 4 months as we moved towards the 12 May polling". But in reality, very few politicians signed up except the bigwigs who, in any case, had their partys support. "Others who'd taken proposals from everyone are trying to replicate them on a smaller scale", Kumar added. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has spent more than Rs 300 crore on himself since September even as the BJP got its act together on social media. For us, Karnataka was a big ticket election for media advocacy and viewed as a precursor for the May 2019 Parliament elections, said one PR expert who'd worked with the Chief Ministers Office for five months before the Model Code of Conduct came into place. In Bengaluru, with its IT-savvy crowd and highly literate population with a high awareness of social media, we'd expected to rope in parties and aspirants, but multinational corporations entering the fray despite not having any local knowledge got a larger piece of the market, leaving bits for smaller companies like us. In the past six months, hundreds of proposals have been made and thousands of hours of discussion taken place in coffee shops in this startup city as parties and individual politicians shopped around for professional agencies to manage their election campaigns: PR, media advocacy, curating citizens campaigns to booth-level WhatsApp management. But many later dropped whatever plans they had on spending on social media and branding. Also, as some of the creative heads we spoke to said, even established politicians werent aware of the concept of election advocacy. As a result, campaigns, especially on digital media, was done in fits and starts. Take the example of the JD(S). The partys social media head Sadananda N said initially volunteers managed the Namma Kumaranna Twitter account and Namma HDK Facebook page, which did not make much headway despite their sincere efforts. Finally, Sadananda got JDS leaders, particularly party president and chief ministerial aspirant HD Kumaraswamy, to approve spending on a social media agency. Now, the page has become very vibrant and the number of followers are shooting up by the hundreds everyday with some posts getting 50,000 plus views. Politicians, a tough nut to crack Alaham Anil Kumar, who brings clients and companies together, says most people in the branding business have small teams which work on various aspects of the campaign. In my experience, there has always been a mismatch in terms of expectations, he said. Either the politician does not want too much gyaan or is simply not willing to listen to a professional. Giving the example of a JDS candidate, Kumar said the aborted plan was to stay in the region, do a dip stick survey to understand voter pattern and influences as the campaign there had to be run differently. For example, in Varuna Assembly constituency in Mysuru, where the chief minister's son Dr S Yathindra is contesting, There is no point in having a big social media campaign as less than 2,000 voters have a Facebook account and almost nil Twitter presence. This is where a hands-on campaign to reach the target audience is needed using traditional outreach techniques, but the candidate was just not willing to take any advice. And money is tight, as Naren Kumar, a former AAP member and Independent from Byatarayanapura constituency in Bengaluru city, presently held by three-time Congress winner Krishna Byregowda, the states agriculture minister, pointed out. I do not have money to spend like rich candidates. My resources are limited and most of my work gets done pro bono". Anil Budur Lulla is a Bangalore-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters Congress president Rahul Gandhi will release the party's manifesto for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls on 27 April in Mangalore New Delhi, Apr 25 (PTI) Congress president Rahul Gandhi will release the party's manifesto for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls on April 27 in Mangalore, sources said on Friday. During his two-day seventh leg of campaigning in the southern state, which starts from Thursday, Gandhi would also visit parts of Uttara Kannada like Ankola city, Mastikatte Circle (Kumta), Saraswati Circle (Honnavar) and hold a corner meeting at Bhatkal, the party said in a statement. "Rahulji will release the manifesto in Mangalore the day after tomorrow. It will be an all-encompassing document," a Congress leader said, requesting anonymity. He refused to divulge more details, but added that the manifesto would have "something" for all sections of the society. In the run-up to the high-stakes Karnataka polls, Gandhi had asked the Congress leaders to prepare a "people's manifesto", after taking the feedback of all the stakeholders. On Gandhi's campaigning, the Congress leader said the party workers wanted him to focus on the areas he was yet to visit. So far, the Congress chief has held six rounds of campaigning in the southern state. The sixth phase of campaigning was on 7-8 April. The election to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly will be held on 12 May. The southern state is slated to witness a three-corner contest involving the ruling Congress, the BJP and the H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S). The result of the polls will be announced on 15 May. Siddaramaiah may yet walk away with a comfortable majority if he is lucky, but the reports of depleting support for the Congress are not good Elections can jog memories. Politicians, for instance, may suddenly remember things that make citizens lives a hell, like presence of potholes on roads or absence of jobs. Elections can also bring on selective amnesia. This can mean sudden forgetfulness about things spoken or promised in the past. It would appear that Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah is suffering a sudden loss of memory about two things which were till recently close to his heart: 1) A promise to hike caste reservations from 50 percent to 70 percent. 2) A bizarre caste census he carried out to find out which community accounts for what proportion of people. To destroy the BJP in Karnataka, these two things were to be Siddaramaiahs ultimate weapons like the Brahmastra and Sudarshana Chakra of Mahabharata. But the chief minister has apparently decided to junk these weapons like Emperor Asoka threw away his infamous sword after deciding it was an evil with potential to annihilate both the enemy and user. One common reason for Siddaramaiahs decision to forget about both the promised hike in the caste quota and the census is to minimise the damage he has inflicted on his partys election prospects by advertising himself as a leader of only backward classes and minorities. He has also decided not to wax eloquent any longer on his decision to make the upper caste Lingayats a separate minority religion because he is confused over its impact on election. On quotas, bluff and bluster From 2016, Siddaramaiah was harping on raising the total reservations to 70 percent so that more sub-castes of SCs, STs and OBCs could benefit. His stoic silence over this now may also be the result of a lesson he learnt from Decembers Gujarat Assembly elections. The Congress' promise to raise reservations in Gujarat and to extend quota benefits to Patidars brought the party no major windfall. It got the party a few more seats, but probably at the cost of votes of other communities. The writing on the wall is clear and bold: Pampering some castes can leave others seething. Besides, it has become common knowledge among intended beneficiaries that such specious promises are no more than bluff and bluster, a charade and part of vote bank politics. Its no secret that a state can no longer raise the total reservations beyond 50 percent (for Scheduled Castes/Tribes and Other Backward Classes together), a ceiling imposed by the Supreme Court. One possible way to circumvent this limit is to persuade the Centre to include a states reservation scheme in the Constitutions Ninth Schedule, like in the case of Tamil Nadu. And it was unthinkable in the case of Gujarat as it would be in case of Karnataka to expect the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the trouble of bringing about a constitutional amendment to provide legal cover for a states ridiculous reservation policy. It would be especially preposterous if it means the BJP helping the Congress expand its support base while facing the wrath of the Supreme Court at the same time. Trailer out, but movie put off For the first time in Karnataka since 1931, Siddaramaiah commissioned the caste census in April 2015. Some 1.3 lakh enumerators visited 1.4 crore homes and completed the project at a cost Rs 150 crore. Its report was never released, but according to details selectively leaked to media in 2016, Lingayats constitute 9.8 percent of the states population and Vokkaligas, 8.2 percent. Lingayats and Vokkaligas are currently estimated to be 17 percent and 12 percent of the populous respectively. Siddaramaiah intended to establish that Karnatakas two dominant castes were not as numerically powerful as thought and that Dalits were, in fact, the states single largest community at 18 percent, deserving maximum benefits. The media leak of this census data amounted to something like the trailer of a movie whose release is permanently postponed by censors. Siddaramaiah chose not to release the report initially for fear of rubbing the two upper castes the wrong way. But he and his close supporters, however, blamed the delay in collating the massive data and kept insisting that it would be made public soon, before the Assembly election. With less than three weeks to go for polling, there is no sign, not even a whisper, of the census. While Siddaramaiah was sure earlier that the census would send the chances of a Congress victory sky high, he now appears to have convinced himself the opposite is true. With much pride, Siddaramaiah has been busy fashioning himself as an Ahinda leader (Kannada acronym for Alpa sankhyatara, Hindulida, Dalit or minorities, backward castes and Dalits), but he now appears to have developed cold feet about using the caste card more than he should. The realisation that caste is a factor in elections but not the only one to influence voters may have dawned on him finally, but it may have come a bit late. Siddaramaiah may yet walk away with a comfortable majority if he is lucky, but the reports of depleting support for the Congress, even if marginal, on account of his Ahinda obsession are not good news for him. As this report in The Times of India points out, for instance, though not all upper caste Vokkaligas are against Siddaramaiah, they have been increasingly hostile to the way he has been empowering his own backward Kuraba caste in southern districts. Also not music to Siddaramaiahs ears are opinion polls, the latest of them by Times Now, which projects a hung Assembly. Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti also expressed her condolences saying such killings achieve nothing and leave the families devasted. A former Congress and PDP leader Ghulam Nabi Patel died few minutes on way to the hospital in south Kashmirs Pulwama district soon after suspected militants suddenly appeared in front of his Scorpio vehicle and fired multiple shots, two of them hitting his face on Wednesday. His son and two security personnel were also injured in the attack. But ironically enough Patel, 67, a resident of Dangerpora Shadimarg on Pulwama-Shopian border in south Kashmir, who worked for different mainstream political parties in the Valley and was ostracised for the same reason in his own society, was disowned by the very same political parties in his death. Last year in June the Peoples Democratic Party distanced itself from the political activist telling people, in a statement, that they have nothing do with Patel. It is not clear why. "He was not part of PDP and we have said this in a statement last year," PDP spokesperson Rafi Mir told Firstpost. Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti also expressed her condolences saying such killings achieve nothing and leave the families devasted. "Heartfelt condolences to the family of senior Congress leader, G. N. Patel who was killed by militants today in Rajpora. Such cowardly acts achieve nothing but leave one more family devastated," Mehbooba tweeted. This is not for the first time that a political worker of a mainstream political party has been killed in Kashmir. In fact, hundreds of political workers have laid down their lives for "bringing democracy to the grassroots level" in the conflict-torn Valley. These workers are seen as eyes and ears of the Indian state in the embattled Valley, and in recent years, their lives have been turned upside down particularly after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant leader Burhan Wani. In south Kashmir, these grass root political workers have become easy targets for militants in recent years. They have appeared in their homes late in the night and made frightening videos only to put them on Facebook for people to keep a distance from mainstream political parties. After both PDP and Congress leaders distanced themselves from the slain leaders National Conference working president Omar Abdullah came up with a different idea. "How tragic that Patel Sahib, a political worker assassinated by militants in Kashmir is being disowned by both the PDP & Congress. If neither party is willing to own him as one of their own lets just call him a NC worker so his death is not in vain," Omar said in a tweet. Ghulam Nabi Patel is being denied the dignity of having been assassinated for belonging to a political party just so the PDP & Congress can lie to their workers to claim they arent at risk from militant bullets. Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) April 25, 2018 The former Congress leader was shot at around 3 pm in the afternoon when unidentified militants appeared in front of his car and shot at the leader from close range. "He was not brought to the hospital. He died on the way," Pulwama hospital medical superintendent Abdul Rashid Para told Firstpost over the phone. State Congress chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir said that Patel was a Congress leader long back and had left the party to join the PDP. "I am not sure if he is in Congress now but was a party activist for many years. It is said that he paid the ultimate sacrifice for being a political activist," Mir said. Patels and his two PSOs Imtiyaz Ahmad Zargar and Bilal Ahmad Mir suffered injuries, one of them is said to be critical and has been referred to Srinagar for further treatment. "He was fired upon and died on way to the hospital. Two of his PSOs are injured they have been shifted," Pulwama senior superintendent of police Aslam Chowdhry told Firstpost. The Kashmir Police said it has launched a manhunt to nab the assailants. According to eyewitnesses, the assailants were seen running towards a small lane after firing at the leader, "and looked like local militants". Since armed insurgency erupted in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, hundreds of political workers have been killed, a majority of them being from National Conference. In fact, if there is any community which is most vulnerable to militant attacks in the far and wide corner of the Valley, it is these thousands of workers belonging to different political parties. The sarpanches and local leaders of different political parties have often been targeted by militants for their political affiliations. Between 2011 and 2015, a spate of such killings took place and at least 10 sarpanches were allegedly killed by the militants. Most of these political workers are from South KashmirAnantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopianthat has emerged as the epicentre of the present uprising in Kashmir. In the recent months, there has been a clear sign of the shrinking space for mainstream politics in Kashmir as scores of political workers have left their homes and taken refuge in well-guarded hotels in Srinagar. In one instance last year in October a former sarpanch, Mohammad Ramzan Sheikh, was killed when three militants barged into his house and attempted to abduct him. When the family resisted, they opened fire. Sheikh died on the spot but a militant was also killed in the scuffle. The State Election Commission (SEC) is yet to take a decision on the dates for the panchayat polls in West Bengal as the issues of security arrangements and concluding the election either before or during the month of Ramzan remain to be settled. Kolkata: The State Election Commission (SEC) is yet to take a decision on the dates for the panchayat polls in West Bengal as the issues of security arrangements and concluding the election either before or during the month of Ramzan remain to be settled. According to official sources, the SEC and state government officials are likely to meet on Thursday afternoon to discuss the matter. Apart from the security arrangements in the over 58,000 polling booths, the issue of whether to conduct the election during the month of Ramzan also needed to be discussed, the sources said. Asked when the new dates would be announced, a senior SEC official said, "It is a million dollar question. Let us discuss the matter and hope that everything will be sorted out." The representatives of various Muslim organisations today met the SEC officials and urged the poll panel not to hold the panchayat election during the month of Ramzan, which is scheduled to start from 16-17 May. The entire election process should end before 16-17 May as during the month of Ramzan, after an entire day of fasting, Muslims could find it difficult to take part in the voting process and that too, in such hot and humid conditions, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, general secretary of the All Bengal Minorities Youth Federation, said. The imams of various mosques of Kolkata also met the SEC officials with a similar demand. Incidentally, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leadership had, during its meeting with the SEC officials last week, said their main concern was that the panchayat polls were not held during the month of Ramzan or the monsoon. According to the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 2003, there has to be a gap of at least 21 days between the last date for filing of nominations and the date of polling. According to this rule, the election cannot be held before 14 May. The panchayat polls were earlier scheduled to be held on 1, 3 and 5 May. However, following a Calcutta High Court order, the SEC had announced 23 April as the extended date for nomination-filing for the three-tier rural election. Rajendra K Aneja Rajesh living in village Sayar (population 600), in Bhadohi district in UP, grows wheat and potatoes. He is 42 years old, owns a motor-cycle and has a fridge in his small house. He proudly announces that his wheat crop has improved by 12 percent in output, due to improved seeds. I have an Esmart (smart) phone. I spend an hour daily on the Internet, on how to improve my wheat, he says. The mobile phone has revolutionised Rajeshs life in a tiny village in India's largest state. "The world has travelled to me, via my phone," he proclaims. Across the country, villagers are upgrading their productivity and lifestyles through the use of 4G smartphones. Kamla lives in a village near Jalna. She is beaming when she says, I can hear Kishore Kumar songs and even see Shah Rukh Khans Raees on my phone, as I work in the field. Kamla is also politically aware and checks the news regularly. She is very distraught about the Kathua case. A recent study by CMR (CyberMedia Research), reveals that one out of three 4G subscribers live in the villages. Rural India accounts for 83 million of the total 238 million 4G subscribers in the country, in December 2017. Jio leads the 4G market in India, however its competitors like Airtel. Vodafone and Idea focused on the rural markets and grew by 457 percent adding 64 million subscribers. Thus, the next gigantic frontier to conquer rural markets will be the opportunities being generated by the rapid proliferation of mobile phones, internet and social media. Booming villages The exponential growth of 4G subscribers in the villages is in line with the growth of rural markets in most consumer products in India. The markets for consumer products have been metamorphosing over the last three decades. The improvement in the availability of television sets, deodorants, packaged pickles, etc., in the villages is no surprise at all, considering that companies like Dabur, Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Godrej Consumer Products, Parle, etc., garner 35 to 45 percent of their sales from the 641,000 villages of the country, where 833 million people (2011 census), who comprise 70 percent of India live. About 40-50 percent of the markets for products like soaps, tea, bulbs, razor blades, etc., now exist in the villages. The market for FMCG products is expected to grow by about 8-10 percent annually in the future. Rural India could buy FMCG products aggregating to about $75 to $100 bn by 2025. More infrastructure needed According to a study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and other agencies, by 2020, about 315 to 435 million Indians living in rural areas will be connected to the Internet, compared to 120 million at present. This will be around 35 to 40 percent of the countrys total online population. This development could generate a huge opportunity for brands and marketers in the villages, where establishing a physical presence is still an infrastructural challenge. The study observed that around 70 percent of the internet users living in the villages use the internet mainly for social networking such as Facebook and emailing. Around 15 percent of rural consumers use the Internet to research products, purchase a product or register satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a product after purchase. In the urban areas, 30 percent of users deploy the internet for these tasks. The ongoing competition between the Jio, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea to augment their market-shares, will further benefit Indias rural population as operators ramp up their technologies and infrastructure to reach Indias farmers. By 2020, 4G subscribers are likely to reach 432 million. To augment their coverage in the rural areas, telecom companies will have to improve the depth of their reach in the countryside. For instance, 236,000 Indian villages have a population of less than 500. The 4G connection may begin as a status-symbol in a village, but will soon become a necessity, as villagers learn to use to upgrade their incomes and lives. The fascination of the rural dweller with 4G will provide opportunities to advertisers to precisely reach rural consumers. Advertisers can get more out of every rupee they spend in the rural markets. Major disruption The proliferation of villages with 4G smartphones is a major disruption in advertising. Companies now have an opportunity to reach consumers through their phones in the fields or their homes, with relevant rural communications. The spread of smartphones in the rural areas and the opportunity to reach rural consumers directly should spur companies to produce exclusive rural communications for villages. TV penetration is around 54 percent of rural households, so phones with 4G could take the advertiser directly to the farmer. The 4G revolution in the villages could yield significant advantages in enhancing productivity and improving the quality of life in the villages. Farmers can access information on how to augment crop productivity. They will be better informed on prices of the rice or maize that they grow. Kalma in Jalna can refer to the Internet for remedies for a cold which nags her. Bishamabhar in Sarvat village in Uttar Pradesh can access the latest movie of his favourite actor Amitabh Bachchan. As Mahatma Gandhi had opined, Indias heart beats in its villages. Now 4G, and very soon, 5G smart technologies phones, will make the heartbeats of villagers resound across the country. The writer is a management consultant. He is the author of Conquer Rural Marketing in Developing Countries". Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd Asheeta Regidi Editor's Note: This copy was published on 25 April, 2018. It is being republished in light of the Supreme Court's verdict on the constitutionality of Aadhaar likely being pronounced tomorrow. On Day 32 of the Aadhaar hearings, senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi continued his arguments on behalf of the state. First, he argued that the reasonable expectation of privacy, in terms of permissible invasions of the right to privacy, was not subject to the standard of the least intrusive invasion, as argued by the petitioners. Instead, the standard was whether the invasion was proportional to the state's purpose for which it (the invasion) was being made. He further disputed the applicability of many of the foreign judgments cited by the petitioners in support of their arguments. Lastly, the issue of metadata was discussed, where he argued that the metadata collected was in relation to the machine, and not the person. No reasonable expectation of privacy in the public sphere Dwivedi commenced his arguments for the day with a discussion on the reasonable expectation of privacy. He first quoted a judgment from the Constitutional Court of South Africa, which found that privacy is the strongest in the inner sanctum of the mind, but shrinks as you move outside into the world. Based on this, he questioned if private life is entitled to protection outside the home, since there, people often given up their privacy. He further argued that in Europe, the concept of a reasonable expectation of privacy was not considered by the Courts, making US and UK laws and judgments more relevant in the Indian context. Next, it was argued that in India there is a need for innovation and development of knowledge, along with the right to privacy. The correct test, he argued, was therefore not whether the invasion of privacy was least intrusive, but whether it was proportional to the purpose sought to be achieved. To emphasise the purpose sought to be achieved through Aadhaar, he quoted from the Puttaswamy judgment, arguing that ensuring that welfare benefits are not dissipated is a vital state interest. Expectation of privacy varies according to the context Next, he argued that in the public sphere, the right to privacy is diluted. The entire Aadhar project, he argued, is in the public sphere. Privacy concerns or reasonable expectation of privacy, further, could not be attached to information collected via Aadhaar, like demographic information and photographs. He further argued that since at the requesting entity level, the entities and the information in them are dispersed and decentralised, these dont deserve the same level of protection as the CIDR storing centralised information. The Bench, here, observed that core biometric information has higher privacy concerns, but this does not imply that there are no concerns with other information. Dwivedi agreed, stating that his point was that the reasonable expectation of privacy varies according to context. Applicability of EU and US judgment Next, he argued that 120 countries use biometric information, and nineteen European countries use biometric ID cards. Neither the Court of Justice of the European Union nor the European Court of Human Rights ever expressed any issued with such biometric cards. Further, he argued that there was no need to refer to European laws for tests on proportionality for an invasion of privacy since this had already been developed by the Indian Supreme Court in the case of State of Madras v. VG Row. The Supreme Court, he argued, has never accepted the proposition that a restriction of fundamental rights must be the least intrusive one. He also cited the US judgment of Ohio v. Akron, which dealt with disclosure requirements to authorities in relation to abortions, and Doe v. Reed, which dealt with the disclosure of signatures on a referendum campaign. Further, he cited the UK judgment of Wood v. Commissioner of Police, which held that taking of photographs in itself does not violate privacy. Marper case supports the case for the State Further, Dwivedi also argued that the ECHRs judgment in S and Marper v. UK, which had been quoted extensively by the petitioners, was actually in support of the States arguments. He argued that in Marper, it was held that whether retention of data raises privacy concerns depends on the context. He further argued that Marper had been decided in a very specific context, which was different from Aadhaar. First, a difference had been drawn out between collection of fingerprints and the collection of DNA. DNA collection was held to be an issue because it contained non-neutral information. Fingerprint collection was also held to be non-neutral when collected in the context of crime. Aadhaar, it was argued, does not deal with the collection and retention of data in the context of crime, and also does not involve the collection of DNA. Further, he argued that Marper discussed appropriate safeguards, not 100 percent safeguards. He also argued that most of the cases cited by the petitioners were similarly, in the context of crime or about censuses, and therefore inapplicable in the context of Aadhaar. Aadhaar only collects limited technical metadata Dwivedi next turned to the issue of metadata. He argued that the cases cited by the petitioners, such as the Digital Rights Ireland case, involved the large-scale storage of metadata which bore no relation to any State purpose, unlike the metadata collected via Aadhaar. The metadata being collected in the cases cited, he argued, was a lot more intrusive. The U.S. v. Jones case, additionally, dealt with GPS systems, which is not used in Aadhaar. He argued that Aadhaar, instead, only involved the collection of limited technical data. He argued that the need for the collection of metadata arose due to the need to exercise control over the REs. Further, no data was collected on the location or purpose of a transaction, but merely on the system. The Bench observed that the metadata collection was of the machine, but not of the person. Adequate safeguards and data collection Considering that surveillance and similar concerns with privacy invasions were cited by the petitioners with respect to the metadata collection in Aadhaar, he then cited the Supreme Courts judgment in G. Sundarrajan v. Union of India. This case dealt with the setting up of a nuclear power plant in Kundankulam. He argued that here, the Court held that apprehensions of a Fukushima like incident should not prevent the setting up of the power plant. The Court found that the power plant would help guarantee the right to life and that there were adequate safety measures in place. Based on this, he argued that this case establishes that safeguards can be read into Article 21. Further, with respect to the CIDR, this case establishes that the standard to be applied to the safety measures must be of adequate safety measures, and not of zero risk. Further, constant vigilance will be required to ensure safety. In the case of Aadhaar, he argued, the UIDAI was constantly improving and upgrading its safety measures. He further argued that a similar position had been adopted by the US Supreme Court in NASA v. Nelson. The US, he argued, had discarded the standard of the least restrictive invasion. He further argued that as per this case, the possibility of a data breach was not a ground to strike down the collection of data. Aadhaar completely bars the sharing of data To emphasise the protection of data in the case of Aadhaar, he argued, there is a bar on the sharing of data, and the data with the REs is completely dispersed. He argued that in Aadhar, further, there was consent for the data collection, and also a bar on using the data for anything other than authentication. He argued that if there are data breaches, they should be pointed to the UIDAI. Next, he pointed out that the data protection law will be in place by May. The Court, here, pointed out that an area that requires consideration is remedies for data breaches. The counsel pointed to the Information Technology Act and Section 43A Act as remedies, and to the actions taken against Airtel, etc. The EUs General Data Protection Regulation, he argued, dealt with balancing the free flow of data with data protection, while Aadhaar, dealt not with free flow, but no flow of data. The arguments will continue on 25 April. Sources of arguments include LiveTweeting of the case by Gautam Bhatia and Prasanna S. You can read our complete 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 Aadhaar hearing: Bench criticises the argument that Aadhaar can prevent bank frauds and terrorists from acquiring mobile numbers Aadhaar hearing: Additional Solicitor General argues Aadhaar-PAN linkage enables deduplication, prevents fraud and widens the tax base Aadhaar hearing: Not necessary to prove least possible invasion of privacy, argues Additional Solicitor General Aadhaar hearing: Counsel argues that Aadhaar is more secure than a data protection law, SC disagrees Aadhaar hearing: Supreme Court questions why both the right to privacy and right to food cannot be secured under the Constitution The author is a lawyer and author specialising in technology laws. She is also a certified information privacy professional. IANS Yahoo!, now known as Altaba, which was charged with failing to disclose a massive data breach, has agreed to pay $35 million in a penalty to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In a statement late on 24 April, the SEC said the entity formerly known as Yahoo! Inc. has agreed to settle charges that it misled investors by failing to disclose one of the world's largest data breaches in which hackers stole personal data relating to its three billion users. According to the SEC's order, within days of the December 2014 intrusion, Yahoo's information security team learned that Russian hackers had stolen what the security team referred to internally as the company's "crown jewels". There "crown jewels" were usernames, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, encrypted passwords, and security questions and answers for hundreds of millions of user accounts. The fact of the breach was not disclosed to the investing public until more than two years later, when in 2016 Yahoo was in the process of closing the acquisition of its operating business by Verizon Communications, Inc, the statement read. "We do not second-guess good faith exercises of judgment about cyber-incident disclosure. But we have also cautioned that a company's response to such an event could be so lacking that an enforcement action would be warranted. This is clearly such a case," said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC Enforcement Division. The SEC statement said that when Yahoo filed several quarterly and annual reports during the two-year period following the breach, the company failed to disclose the breach or its potential business impact and legal implications. "Instead, the company's SEC filings stated that it faced only the risk of, and negative effects that might flow from, data breaches," it added. In addition, the SEC found that Yahoo did not share information regarding the breach with its auditors or outside counsel in order to assess the company's disclosure obligations in its public filings. Verizon acquired Yahoo's operating business in June 2017 for $4.48 billion. Yahoo has since changed its name to Altaba Inc. Reuters Police in the north China city of Tianjin confiscated 600 computers used to mine bitcoin cryptocurrency after the local power grid operator reported abnormal electricity usage, Xinhua reported Wednesday. Eight high-power fans were also seized, Xinhua said, quoting local police and added that it was the largest power theft case in recent years. The report didnt say when the police had seized the equipment. China was home to the majority of cryptocurrency mining operations before Beijing last year began to discourage it as part of a larger crackdown on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It is unclear how much of mining activity has moved offshore or been shut down. Reuters reported in January that Chinas central bank told a top-level government internet finance group that the monetary authority can tell local governments to regulate the power usage of bitcoin miners to gradually reduce the scale of their production. Miners use high-powered machines to generate the massive computing power to produce cryptocurrencies, which is done by solving mathematical equations. The activity is also highly energy intensive, leading miners to seek locations with easy access to cheap electricity. Five people are under investigation and another has been detained in the Tianjin case, Xinhua said. tech2 News Staff HMD Global, which owns the Nokia brand, is expected to launch two new smartphones as part of its X-series on 27 April. The phones are expected to be called as the X6 and X7. Not much is known in the way specifications of these smartphones, however, it seems a render of the X6 seems to have surfaced online. As per a Weibo post, the Nokia X6 will be joining the ranks of many of the recent smartphones which have adopted an iPhone X-like notch to maximise display. The phone shows a 5.8-inch full-HD+ screen with a 19:9 aspect ratio. The phone has a small amount of chin at the bottom where we can see the Nokia branding. The back of the device shows a vertically aligned dual-cameras below which is the LED flash and a fingerprint sensor. This design seems to be quite reminiscent of the Nokia 7 Plus due to the placement of the cameras and the copper accents. The phone is said to have two variants of Snapdragon 636 SoC and MediaTek P60. The handset is tipped to be coming with the Android 8.1 Oreo. As far as pricing is concerned, a report by digi.tech.qq says that the Nokia X6 will be priced at CNY 1,599 (approx Rs 16,000) for the 4 GB RAM + 64GB storage variant, while the 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage model could be priced at CNY 1,799 (approx Rs 18,000). On a side note, it seems a bit unlikely that the Nokia X6 or X7 will come with a notch. We had managed to have a word with the Pekka Rantala, CMO of HMD and he said that Nokia will not bring a notch to the device unless the users want it. tech2 News Staff One of the most anticipated phones hitting stores next month is the OnePlus 6. OnePlus confirmed that the phone is going to be announced on 17 May in Mumbai, India at around 3:00 PM while sale starts from 21 May. The invites for the event will go live on 8 May from 10:00 AM. The company has gone out of its way to give us daily teasers of the smartphone. Between these teasers and the numerous leaks, it's quite hard to keep up with all the information. To ease that burden, here's a list of all the information about the flagship that's currently circulating around the internet. The iPhone X-like notch Right off the bat, Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus, confirmed in an interview with The Verge, that OnePlus 6 will come with an iPhone X-like notch. He explained that that notch helps move the entire notification bar higher up and that this, in turn, gives users more content on their screen. He said that the notch in the OnePlus 6 will be smaller than the one on the iPhone X, and even provided the exact dimensions, which are 19.616 mm x 7.687 mm. The phone's AMOLED display will have an FHD+ resolution along with a size of 6.28-inches. He also said that the software feature in the OnePlus 6 would give the users a notch-free experience from day one if they so desired. However, unlike the iPhone X, the OnePlus 6 will have a small chin. This is because the iPhone X uses a complex wrap-around OLED panel that bends under the smartphone to connect with the logic board behind the display. This flexible panel is one of the main reasons why the iPhone X is so expensive and OnePlus has likely avoided this in order to keep pricing in check. Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC and a 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage variant OnePlus had confirmed through a teaser video that the OnePlus 6 will come with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC. The image posted had further confirmed that the company will also launch a mammoth variant with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB internal storage. We had some hopes that OnePlus could perhaps launch a 12 GB RAM variant (Of course it's pointless, but bragging rights are bragging rights). It looks like we will be disappointed on that front. The 3.5 mm headphone jack Leakster Evan Blass had earlier leaked an image of the OnePlus 6 which had shown a wooden texture at the back of the phone, along with a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Carl Pei did tell The Verge that the headphone jack isn't going anywhere. Thumbs up to OnePlus for this. "Advanced" full-screen gestures OnePlus tweeted out a 6-second video a couple of weeks back which hinted at "advanced" full-screen gestures which would enable a smoother functioning of the operating system. Apple opted for a gesture-based input system on the iPhone X when they realised that there would be no room for buttons on the front. OnePlus has clearly adopted the same attitude. The possibility is high that the gesture functions will be similar to those on the iPhone X. Waterproof design Dont you just hate it when you have to stop using your phone when it rains? So do we pic.twitter.com/WsWc4Mw3Yz OnePlus India (@OnePlus_IN) April 16, 2018 The absence of a waterproof design in all the previous OnePlus smartphones left many fans disgruntled. However, it would seem that OnePlus is looking to change that after it tweeted a teaser video which showed water drops falling on a black surface, along with a caption which said "Dont you just hate it when you have to stop using your phone when it rains? So do we." We have no clue right now as to what IPXX rating the OnePlus 6 will have, but we can be sure that the phone will be at least partially waterproof this time. Vertical dual-cameras and repositioned alert slider Case maker Olixr had recently put OnePlus 6 cases on pre-order on Mobilefun. As per the Olixar renders, the phone has a vertically aligned dual-camera setup below which there is a rectangular fingerprint reader instead of the circular one we saw in the OnePlus 5T. More immersion in a refined form factor. Are you ready for the #OnePlus6? pic.twitter.com/2HR2YE5Jb6 OnePlus (@oneplus) April 11, 2018 In yet another teaser by OnePlus, we could see that the OnePlus 6 appears to be hidden below the OnePlus 5T and almost looked like a reflection of the device above it. The image showed that the OnePlus alert-slider has been moved from its usual position on the phone's left. The Olixar render had also revealed that the alert-slider has indeed moved towards the right of the phone just above the power button. Ceramic/Glass back and wireless charging In another tweet, OnePlus revealed something new about the OnePlus 6 body. The tweet showed an image of a shiny surface with "Designed by OnePlus" etched into it. Looking at the finish and the mention of "new materials", it's possible that the phone could come with a ceramic finish for the device. In another post titled 'Our approach to honest design, OnePlus co-founder Pete Lau revealed that the OnePlus 6 will come with a glass back to provide users with a "different experience" in comparison to the previous generation of devices. This could make the possibility of a wireless charging option in the OnePlus 6 come true. A demo video of the same was also shared recently, which indicated that OnePlus might include a wireless charger within the box. OnePlus 6 colours and Avengers collaboration OnePlus 6 images that were leaked on Chinese website cnmo sometime back suggested that the smartphone would come in three colour variants of white, black and blue, with a red-coloured alert button. The alert slider of the device will come with smart camera controls, the company tweeted with the teaser of the smartphone. Last year, OnePlus had a collaboration with Disney to sell a Star Wars Edition OnePlus 5T. Now, OnePlus has announced a collaboration with Marvel Studios to give out 6,000 free movie tickets for the movie Avengers: Infinity War in India. There are also rumours about the possibility of a special Avengers: Infinity Wars-themed OnePlus 6 smartphone arriving in the country. Let's see if those rumours hold true. Pricing It would seem that OnePlus has given out nearly all the key features of the OnePlus 6 and has raised the expectations tenfold for the device. The only mystery now is the pricing of the device. Some earlier leaks had suggested that the 8 GB RAM + 256 Storage variant will cost about $750 or approximately Rs 50,000. As for the Indian market, considering the OnePlus 5T launched at a starting price of Rs 32,500, one can assume that the feature packed OnePlus 6 would start at a price more than that. As it is, the registration page for OnePlus 6 is live on Amazon India's website. Stay tuned to our website as we update you about all information regarding the OnePlus 6. PTI Using wearable devices such as Google Glass for texting while driving may be just as dangerous as sending messages with an ordinary cell phone, a study led by an Indian-origin scientist has found. Researchers led by Murtuza Jadliwala, an assistant professor at The University of Texas at San Antonio in the US recruited about 20 volunteers on a university campus. They used a driving simulator in a laboratory that included a three-screen display, a wheel and pedals. Student volunteers were tasked with "driving" in the simulator, using either a smart phone or Google Glass, an optical head-mounted display designed in the shape of a pair of eyeglasses. Jadliwala and his collaborators sent the participants text messages and challenged them to drive safely while receiving and responding to the messages. The simulator recorded deviations in the steering wheel and whether the volunteers drifted out of their lane. "We found that the Google Glass distracts the driver slightly less. But that also gave the participants a false sense of safety," Jadliwala said. Because the wearable device responded quicker and used voice-activated controls, the drivers noticed the increased efficiency but also were more likely to engage with the device, which negated the marginal safety difference between the smart phone and the wearable device. While Google stopped producing Google Glass in 2015, wearable technology is becoming increasingly popular, researchers said. Jadliwala noted that wrist wearables such as Apple Watch has been very successful and that more modern head-mounted displays like Google Glass are in development. "It's important to keep asking these questions as technology becomes a bigger part of our everyday lives," he said. "A wearable device feels more accessible because it's on your body, which is why it's important to study how it could impact tasks like driving," Jadliwala said. "The research on evaluating the influence of technology on consumer safety and privacy is timely and significant," said Rajendra Boppana from The University of Texas. More than a quarter of car accidents reported each year are attributed to some form of distraction among drivers, often the result of talking or texting while driving, researchers said. Reuters WhatsApp, the popular messaging service owned by Facebook Inc, is raising its minimum age from 13 to 16 in Europe to help it comply with new data privacy rules coming into force next month. WhatsApp will ask European users to confirm they are at least 16 years old when they are prompted to agree new terms of service and a privacy policy provided by a new WhatsApp Ireland Ltd entity in the next few weeks. It is not clear how or if the age limit will be checked given the limited data requested and held by the service. Facebook, which has a separate data policy, is taking a different approach to teens aged between 13 and 15 in order to comply with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law. It is asking them to nominate a parent or guardian to give permission for them to share information on the platform, otherwise they will not see a fully personalised version of the social media platform. But WhatsApp, which had more than 1.5 billion users in January according to Facebook, said in a blog post it was not asking for any new rights to collect personal information in the agreement it has created for the European Union. Our goal is simply to explain how we use and protect the limited information we have about you, it said. WhatsApp, founded in 2009, has come under pressure from some European governments in recent years because of its end-to-end encrypted messaging system and its plan to share more data with its parent, Facebook. Facebook itself is under scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers around the world since disclosing last month that the personal information of millions of users wrongly ended up in the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, setting off wider concerns about how it handles user data. WhatsApps minimum age of use will remain 13 years in the rest of the world, in line with its parent. GDPR is the biggest overhaul of online privacy since the birth of the internet, giving Europeans the right to know what data is stored on them and the right to have it deleted. Apple Inc and some other tech firms have said they plan to give people in the United States and elsewhere the same protections and rights that Europeans will gain. European regulators have already disrupted a move by WhatsApp to change its policies to allow it to share users phone numbers and other information with Facebook to help improve the product and more effectively target ads. WhatsApp suspended the change in Europe after widespread regulatory scrutiny. It said on 24 April it still wanted to share the data at some point. As we have said in the past, we want to work closer with other Facebook companies in the future and we will keep you updated as we develop our plans, it said. Other changes announced by WhatsApp on 24 April include allowing users to download a report detailing the data it holds on them, such as the make and model of the device they used, their contacts and groups and any blocked numbers. This feature will be rolling out to all users around the world on the newest version of the app, it said. The blog post also points to safety tips on the service, such as the ability to block unwanted users, and delete and report spam. The mid-range smartphone segment has been gradually dying out with most buyers either going in for a budget smartphone (like a Redmi Note 5 Pro) priced between Rs 10,000 to 15,000 to a low-cost flagship like a OnePlus 5T that offers premium hardware at a starting price of around Rs 33,000. With that said, brands like Honor and Samsung are holding the fort with mid-range offerings, but they somehow never got it right. The problems are basically to do with underpowered hardware, often borrowed from budget smartphones. Ones that disappoint buyers when they try out a smartphone that's priced well into the Rs 20,000 segment but performs like a Rs 14,000 smartphone. In fact, you can thank Chinese smartphone manufacturers for bringing mid-range chipsets to budget smartphones spoiling the consumer when it comes to performance. With that in mind, most smartphone brands have seen little success with the mid-range segment as they either try to copy notched displays from the premium segment devices or try and offer under-powered hardware, which rarely makes up for their mid-range pricing (example Vivo V9). While Nokia too has stayed away from this segment for a while, HMDs efforts to diversify into various segment saw something new come out of the Nokia stable this year, a perfect mid-ranger that not just looks good, but is practical and comes with power-packed performance figures that for once make a mid-range device worthy of its asking price. Say hello! To the Nokia 7 Plus, the first smartphone, worthy of the mid-range title in years. Build and Design: 9/10 With most Chinese brands busy aping the Apple iPhone X and following its notch philosophy (you can now include OnePlus in that list as well), it was surprising to see Nokia go notch-less in 2018 with the Nokia 7 Plus back at the Mobile World Congress. Simply, put, the design is practical, looks gorgeous enough to distract an iPhone X owner and is built like a tank. In other words, Nokia has managed to make a smartphone in the mid-segment that will grab the attention of both mid-range and premium segment buyers. OnePlus, you really need to have something special on the OnePlus 6 this year! The matte black treatment with copper coloured accents (especially the idea of one placed around the screen) somehow reminded me of those crazy Nokia designs of the past, that were inspired more by trends in fashion than being practical (they came in weird shapes and sizes, but they sure looked cool). I loved how Nokia managed to mount the 2.5 D curved-edge screen without a visible lipping (that usually makes it scratchy when you swipe at the edges) and exposed the metal bezel with a copper finish before the ceramic coating takes over, sliding into the sides. The design feels luxurious and certainly does not pass off as something that will be priced in sub Rs 30,000 range, both in terms of its looks and the construction quality. The breath-taking design makes you want to hold the smartphone, just because it looks so good lying on the table. The ceramic feel coating covers the antenna bands and makes for a grippier surface as opposed to the metal or glass. This also gives the smartphone a solid feel, because its made from a single block of 6000 series aluminium and theres no glass or an edge-to-edge display to worry about when you drop it. In short, it feels like a tank. The best part is when you turn over the smartphone and read the fine print at the bottom. Its Made in India! which is surprising, keeping in mind the level of quality they have achieved with the 7 Plus. Features: 8/10 This is another area of the smartphone that Nokia seems to have taken care of. Theres a tall 6-inch LCD display sporting an FHD+ resolution. A top-notch Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC (a first for India) paired with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. The internal storage is expandable using microSD cards of up to 256 GB. Moving to the cameras, theres a dual camera setup on the rear which includes a 12 MP sensor with a f/1.7 aperture along with a second 13 MP camera that features a f/2.0 aperture with a telephoto lens. The front-facing camera features a 16 MP sensor. Connectivity options include, LTE Cat 6, 2CA, 300 Mbps DL/50 Mbps UL for the radios, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/AGPS+GLONASS+BDS, NFC. Unlike its elder sibling the Nokia 8 Sirocco, the 7 Plus features a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top of the smartphone and a USB Type-C port at the bottom. The handset runs Android 8.1 Oreo with latest April security patch and is powered by a sizeable 3,800 mAh battery. Display: 8/10 Firstly, theres no notch. So, for those of you who have been waiting for a notch-less mid-range smartphone, this is the one to go for. The display may not be as vibrant as the unit on the Oppo F7, but tips more towards the cooler tones, without being noticeably blue. While I prefer more natural-looking colours as opposed to saturated colours, the display does a decent job and appeals more to a mass audience with saturated colours. With that said, the brightness levels are good enough for viewing in direct sunlight, being able to read text and view images with no problems. The 6-inch Full HD plus display features a pixel density of 402 PPI, which is good enough for a mid-range device and comes in the taller 18:9 aspect ratio. While the display seemed well calibrated overall, the stock software means that there is no tweaking with the hues and contrast levels, something thats available on entry-level Xiaomi smartphones as well. But that would depend on whether you want to tweak this display as I did not find the need to do the same. Being an LCD unit, viewing angles were pretty good and better than the stuff we have seen on the Oppo F7 and Vivo V9 this year. Whats even better is that display does come with an oleophobic coating meaning that fingerprints are rare and even if you do manage to smudge your display, they are easy to wipe off, which is a common problem with the Oppo and Vivo smartphones. Software: 8.5/10 With the latest Android 8.1 Oreo software onboard, along with the latest April security patch, there is not much even I as a reviewer can rant or complain about here. Nokia recently enrolled all its smartphones under the Android One program and this is a good move that comes at a time when most manufacturers are struggling to deliver software updates or even security patches. The software experience is smooth and lag-free. The only area where I did notice some dropped frames was when zooming into photographs (clicked by the smartphone) in the default Google Photos app. Nokia should investigate this as the issue is present on the Nokia 8 Sirocco as well. Everything else including transitions and animations were smooth with the rest of the apps. Talking about apps, it's nice to see a smartphone that does not have duplicate apps by the manufacturer in them for once. The only custom third-party apps are the Nokia Camera app and the Nokia Support app both of which are useful. Once skinned almost all manufacturers will provide their own version of the Gallery app and the Google Photos app, which apart from adding to the clutter also hogs up space on the internal storage. So, the switch to stock has helped here. As with most stock Android 8.1 interfaces like on the Pixel, there is now a Pixel-like power menu that pops up from the right-hand-side when you press down the power/unlock button. The theme again like the Google Pixel 2 will change from a standard white to stealthy black when you change to a darker wallpaper. There are notification dots and previews as well as one would expect on a stock Android One-powered phone. Nokia has added a few customisable features to the almost stock software. This would include the ability to swipe down on the fingerprint reader to drop down the notifications tray. The fingerprint reader can also be used for navigation, but you cannot hide the navigation bar so its not all that useful. Apps that have not been optimised for the taller 18:9 display can be expanded with a single tap. Performance: 8.5/10 The Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 is what keeps the show running on the Nokia 7 Plus. The recently launched SoC from Qualcomm is the first of the mid-range chipset to feature a manufacturing process (10 nm) that is identical to the SoCs found in premium flagship devices. The chipset features the new Kryo 260 CPU (clocked at 2.2 GHz), which according to Qualcomm sees a 20 percent bump in performance as compared to previous CPUs in the 600 series SoCs. Handling the graphics is the Adreno 512 GPU thats a bump up from the 509 GPU found in the Redmi Note 5 Pro that performed well despite being a budget smartphone. With that said, the Nokia 7 Plus also becomes the first smartphone in India to feature the new mid-range SoC and as expected, it packs in quite a punch. Be it playing 3D intensive games or simply browsing through your Facebook News Feed, I experienced no hint of lag or stutter. Games ran smoothly without dropping any frames and becoming hot. Real Racing 3 ran buttery smooth at a high resolution, showcasing good detail accompanied by a rocksteady framerate. The same goes for Asphalt 8: Xtreme that did not even see the device warming up running at HPDI and Better Quality. The only game that saw the temperature of the device rise was PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds (PUBG mobile). However, I managed to heat up the smartphone with the settings maxed out, but I did expect that to happen, since it is a graphically demanding title. Another instance where I saw the device getting warm was during charging. Audio performance is good for a smartphone priced in this range, but do not listen to music with those in box earphones, as they are terrible and lack any bass even though they provide decent noise isolation. Call quality was clear and loud, both through the receiver and the speaker. The smartphones speaker could have been a bit louder (both for calls and music) as I always felt the need to plug in my headphones while streaming videos. Camera: 8/10 The switch from Android 8.0 to Android 8.1 Oreo update changed things drastically for the Nokia 7 Plus in terms of the camera. Lucky for future owners it came on time, way before this smartphone even goes on sale in India. The new update changes the camera interface from the complex and clunky interface of last years Nokia devices to a simple and easy to use UI. The Pro camera mode is a charm and works wonders if you can rest your arm against a wall, car while shooting to get amazing photography. I managed to use the Pro mode even without support or a tripod. The images look pretty impressive for a smartphone priced at Rs 25,000. They are vibrant showcase slightly saturated colours, with the Auto HDR mode allowing for great daylight images. However, the camera does tend to overexpose in extremely bright lighting conditions. Portrait mode in the main camera is not impressive, Nokia really needs to work on it. The images are just not sharp enough to stand out from the blurred background. Also despite the instructions relayed to the user in the Portrait mode, (too far, too near, depth success), a slight amount of shake is enough to ruin an image in good lighting conditions. Portrait mode using the selfies camera is really good and showcases sharp details with accurately blurred backgrounds. Also for some reason, the rear cameras white balance often went awry under artificial lighting (like our office). The front-facing camera was more accurate when it came to white balance. Outdoors, both front and rear cameras performed well and were accurate when using the auto mode. The Pro Camera mode also allowed for tweaking the white balance, ISO, exposure, focus, and shutter speed. Some of these tweaks were also available in the video mode. Low light is impressive as well. But if the dimly lit scenarios do see some noise, but thats the case with most smartphones in this range. The luminance noise did not ruin any images. Save for the Portrait mode from the rear camera, the Nokia 7 Plus beats the Vivo V9 and the Oppo F7. The video recording needs plenty of work though. The output is smooth and well stabilised (airplane footage in the gallery) provided you dont pan across the scene because the frame rate drops and the video looks jittery. This is in the 1080p recording. With 4K recording, the effects are not too good. The Bothie (or dual camera capture) was really fun to use especially when it comes to videos, but the stabilisation problems and panning issues with the rear camera seemed to ruin the experience. Bothie photos worked well in all lighting conditions. Whats unique about Nokia 7 Plus apart from the Bothies is the OZO audio capture when shooting video. We compared it to an iPhone 8 Plus, and while the video recording on the 7 Plus did not keep up (the iPhone can shoot buttery smooth 4K 60 fps video), the audio sounded fantastic. Plugging in our headphones, into both handsets, the OZO audio simply makes you feel like you are standing in the midst of the conversation rather than being a spectator which is what it feels when you listen to the audio output from the iPhone. Whats even cooler, is that tapping on the audio button in video capture mode, lets you choose between audio coming from the people in front of you, behind you or simply all around (by using all the directional mics). How I wish Nokia would have done a better job with video stabilisation and capture. Battery Life: 8.5/10 With a sizeable 3,800 mAh battery onboard the Nokia 7 Plus I expected the goodies when it came to battery life. Thankfully, the smartphone met those expectations during the review period. The smartphone easily got me through a day of use nearing the almost two days of usage as advertised by Nokia. This was possible if I didnt end up gaming excessively. My regular usage would include shooting about 10-15 photographs, three email accounts on sync with about 200+ emails hitting my inbox every day, continuous chatter on Telegram, WhatsApp, casual gaming and streaming Netflix for about 2-3 hours before I call it a day. Add some extended gaming sessions and you will end up with about 20-10 percent left by the end of the day. So yes, the Nokia 7 Plus can pull off some good battery figures. My only problem with it was the phone heating up while charging. In short, Nokias recipe of using stock Android 8.1 with a Snapdragon 660 (10 nm) SoC, a large 3,800 mAh battery paired with a FHD+ display has resulted in some good battery figure even though our standard PC Mark 2.0 Battery Life test gave us figures of 11 hours 19 minutes (not bad for a 6-inch devices). Verdict and Price in India The Nokia 7 Plus is the best mid-range smartphone I have seen in years. And its shocking that after so many years, its HMDs Nokia that suddenly stands tall in a segment that has been dominated by the selfie-happy class of Chinese smartphones from Vivo, Oppo and Huawei. All of a sudden, theres now a smartphone that looks really good, is built like a tank, comes with a class-leading SoC, packs in the latest Android software with the latest updates and it all comes at a reasonable Rs 25,999. It does not feature a stupid notch. More importantly, it takes down the iPhone X lookalikes like they did not even exist! The 7 Plus is the new Nokia poster boy and the smartphone to buy in the Rs 20,000 - Rs 27,000 bracket. It looks good, performs even better. And it is the first promising Nokia smartphone in years. Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison. President Donald Trump appears likely to win his travel ban case at the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy both signaled support for the travel policy in arguments Wednesday at the court. President Donald Trump appears likely to win his travel ban case at the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy both signaled support for the travel policy in arguments Wednesday at the high court. The ban's challengers almost certainly need one of those two justices if the court is to strike down the ban on travelers from several mostly Muslim countries. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the most aggressive questioner of Solicitor General Noel Francisco in his defense of the Trump policy, and the three other liberal justices also raised questions about it. The justices voted in December to allow the policy to take full effect pending their full consideration. Wednesday was the first time they took it up in open court. The Trump administration is asking the court to reverse lower court rulings that would strike down the ban. The Supreme Court is considering whether the president can indefinitely keep people out of the country based on nationality. It is also looking at whether the policy is aimed at excluding Muslims from the United States. A decision is expected by late June. Kennedy challenged lawyer Neal Katyal, representing the challengers, about whether the ban would be unending. He said the policy's call for a report every six months "indicates there'll be a reassessment" from time to time. His only question that seemed to favor the challengers came early in the arguments, when he asked Francisco whether Trump's campaign trail call to keep Muslims from entering the United States should be considered in evaluating the administration's ban. Francisco told the justices that they shouldn't look at Trump's campaign statements. Kennedy pressed on that point. Speaking of a hypothetical "local candidate," he asked if what was said during the candidate's campaign was irrelevant if on "day two" of his administration the candidate acted on those statements. Francisco held his ground saying the presidential oath of office "marks a fundamental transformation." People waited in line for seats for days, and on Wednesday morning opponents of the ban demonstrated outside the court holding signs that read "No Muslim Ban. Ever" and "Refugees Welcome," among other things. In another sign of heightened public interest, the court was taking the rare step of making an audio recording of the proceedings available just hours after the arguments. The last time the court did that was for gay marriage arguments in 2015. The travel ban is the first Trump policy to undergo a full-blown Supreme Court review. The justices are looking at the third version of a policy that Trump first rolled out a week after taking office, triggering chaos and protests across the U.S. as travelers were stopped from boarding international flights and detained at airports for hours. The first version was blocked by courts and withdrawn. Its replacement was allowed to take partial effect, but expired in September. The current version is indefinite and now applies to travelers from five countries with overwhelmingly Muslim populations Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. It also affects two non-Muslim countries, blocking travelers from North Korea and some Venezuelan government officials and their families. A sixth majority-Muslim country, Chad, was removed from the list this month after improving "its identity-management and information sharing practices," Trump said in a proclamation. Trump's campaign pledge to shut down Muslims' entry into the U.S., his presidential tweets about the travel ban and last fall's retweets of inflammatory videos that stoked anti-Islam sentiment all preceded the justices' questioning of Francisco, defending the ban, and Katyal, the former acting solicitor general under President Barack Obama. The administration has argued that courts have no role to play because the president has broad powers over immigration and national security, and foreigners have no right to enter the country. Francisco also has said in written arguments that Trump's September proclamation laying out the current policy comports with immigration law and does not violate the Constitution because it does not single out Muslims. The challengers, backed by a diverse array of supporting legal briefs, have said that Trump is flouting immigration law by trying to keep more than 150 million people, the vast majority of them Muslim, from entering the country. They also argue that his policy amounts to the Muslim ban that he called for as a candidate, violating the Constitution's prohibition against religious bias. The case is Trump v. Hawaii, 17-965. BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Khalifa Haftar, the powerful military commander who is the dominant figure in eastern Libya, will return to Benghazi on Thursday, a spokesman for his forces said on Wednesday, after receiving medical treatment in Paris. Haftar had been in Paris on a foreign tour two weeks ago and his spokesman said he was treated there after feeling unwell. BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Khalifa Haftar, the powerful military commander who is the dominant figure in eastern Libya, will return to Benghazi on Thursday, a spokesman for his forces said on Wednesday, after receiving medical treatment in Paris. Haftar had been in Paris on a foreign tour two weeks ago and his spokesman said he was treated there after feeling unwell. From Paris, Haftar flew to Cairo for talks with officials from Egypt, his main backer, several Libyan and Egyptian sources told Reuters. Haftar, 75, has long been seen as a likely contender for national power, and reports about his health sparked a flurry of speculation inside Libya. A representative of his Libyan National Army (LNA) said that on his return, Haftar would take part in celebrations marking the anniversary of his "Karama" (Dignity) campaign, the military operation he started in 2014 to drive Islamist militants out of Benghazi. He declared victory in July 2017, though sporadic fighting continued until late last year. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Aidan Lewis and Ulf Laessing; Editing by Kevin Liffey; editing by) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. French President Emmanuel Macron drew sharp contrasts with President Donald Trump's worldview Wednesday, laying out a firm vision of global leadership that rejects 'the illusion of nationalism' in a candid counterweight to Trump's appeals to put 'America first.' Washington: French President Emmanuel Macron drew sharp contrasts with President Donald Trump's worldview Wednesday, laying out a firm vision of global leadership that rejects "the illusion of nationalism" in a candid counterweight to Trump's appeals to put "America first." In the spotlight of a speech to the U.S. Congress, Macron was courteous but firm, deferential but resolute as he traced the lines of profound division between himself and Trump on key world issues: climate change, trade and the Iran nuclear deal. A day after the French leader had put on a show of warmth and brotherly affection for Trump at the White House, his blunt speech prizing engagement over isolationism reinforced the French leader's emerging role as a top defender of the liberal world order. "We can choose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism. This is an option. It can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy to our fears," Macron said. "But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. It will not douse but inflame the fears of our citizens." Issuing a bleak warning, he urged against letting "the rampaging work of extreme nationalism shake a world full of hopes for greater prosperity." It was a marked shift from the simpatico Macron of only a day earlier during his state visit at the White House. In his first year as France's president, Macron has carefully cultivated as close a relationship to Trump as any world leader can boast. But addressing a joint meeting of Congress an honor granted only occasionally to leaders of close U.S. allies Macron confronted his differences with Trump head-on. As Trump weighs pulling out of the 2015 Iran accord, Macron made clear that France will not follow his lead. "We signed it at the initiative of the United States. We signed it, both the United States and France," Macron said. "That is why we cannot say we should get rid of it like that." He saved some of his most pointed comments on Trump administration policy for the issue of climate change, implicitly lamenting the president's moves to withdraw from the global emissions pact reached in Paris. Macron said that humans are "killing our planet" and added: "Let us face it: There is no Planet B." "On this issue, it may happen we have disagreements between the United States and France. It may happen, like in all families," Macron said. "But that's for me a short-term disagreement." It was an allusion not to an impending Trump about-face, but to the prospect of America choosing a different path under a successor, whoever that may prove to be. Asked by French reporters about his comments later during a visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Macron said with a smile that he doesn't expect Trump to rejoin the Paris accord, but does expect that America will. Macron's hour-long speech to Congress, delivered in English, provoked obvious delight from congressional Democrats, who erupted repeatedly in cheers and standing ovations for the visiting Frenchman a contrast to the mostly silent reaction from Republicans in the House chamber. To some, it was an ironic reminder that more than a year after being walloped by Trump in the election, Democrats have yet to coalesce behind either a cohesive message or a messenger, still plaintively searching for the kind of energetic, fresh-faced leader that Macron represents. For Macron, the exuberant reception may have been equally ironic. At home, Macron does not enjoy the same level of applause or enthusiasm. A centrist in France, he's currently criticized more from the left than the right, notably for ending France's famed worker protection, and he's often derided as the president of the rich. Still, his soaring speech to Congress and closely watched visit to the United States have buttressed the notion that Macron, more than any other world leader, now carries the torch for the rules-based international system of freedoms, free markets and democratic governance that Western nations have championed since World War II. Trump's positions on trade and overseas obligations have chipped away at America's position as the spokesman for that movement. And German Chancellor Angela Merkel, seen in recent years as the inheritor of that role, has faded somewhat amid domestic political challenges in her country. That France sees itself as uniquely equipped to help fill that void seemed evident as Macron called for communal action to address "urgent" threats to what he called fundamental values. "Today, the international community needs to step up our game and build the 21st century world order," he said. It wasn't all criticism from Macron. He sought to showcase the historic bond between the U.S. and France, touting the two allies' "constant attachment to freedom and democracy." Yet he also mentioned "fake news," a point of contention between Trump and others, and warned that lies disseminated online are threatening freedoms worldwide. In friendly fashion, he recounted trans-Atlantic links from the earliest days of the United States, Macron talked about a meeting between Ben Franklin and the French philosopher Voltaire, "kissing each other's cheeks." In an apparent reference to his affectionate rapport with Trump this week, Macron mused: "It can remind you of something." Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron called for a 'new' deal with Iran on Tuesday, looking beyond divisions over a landmark nuclear accord Washington: US president Donald Trump and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron called for a "new" deal with Iran on Tuesday, looking beyond divisions over a landmark nuclear accord that still hangs in the balance. Trump laid transatlantic divisions bare during a visit by the French president, pillorying a three-year old agreement designed to curb Iran's nuclear programme. The US leader described the deal as "insane" and "ridiculous," despite European pleas for him not to walk away. Instead, Trump eyed a broader "deal" that would also limit Iran's ballistic missile programme and support for militant groups across West Asia. "I think we will have a great shot at doing a much bigger, maybe, deal," said Trump, stressing that any new accord would have to be built on "solid foundations." "They should have made a deal that covered Yemen, that covered Syria, that covered other parts of West Asia," said Trump. "No matter where you go in West Asia, you see the fingerprints of Iran behind problems." Macron admitted after meeting Trump that he did not know whether the US president would walk away from the nuclear deal when a 12 May decision deadline comes up. "I can say that we have had very frank discussions on that, just the two of us," Macron told a joint press conference with Trump at his side. Putting on a brave face, he said he wished "for now to work on a new deal with Iran" of which the nuclear accord could be one part. Neither Trump nor Macron indicated whether Iran would get something in return for concessions on its ballistic programmes, activities in West Asia or extending nuclear controls beyond 2025. Trump true to his background in reality TV teased his looming decision. "This is a deal with decayed foundations. It's a bad deal, it's a bad structure. It's falling down," the US leader said. "We're going to see what happens on the 12th." Trump's European allies have repeatedly tried to persuade him not to abandon the 2015 deal, which gave Iran massive sanctions relief and the guarantee of a civilian nuclear programme in return for limiting enrichment that could produce weapons grade fuel. German chancellor Angela Merkel will renew those calls when she visits Washington on Friday. Iran, meanwhile, has warned it will ramp up enrichment activities if Trump walks away from the accord, prompting Trump to issue a blunt warning. "They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before. And you can mark it down," he said. Simmering tensions For months American and European officials have been working behind the scenes to trying to find a compromise over Trump's demands to change the agreement. Officials have toyed with the idea of a separate joint declaration: promising to tackle non-nuclear issues, while searching for a tougher successor agreement post 2025. The challenge, they say, is to find a solution that allows the mercurial US president to claim a public victory, while keeping the deal intact. More hawkish American officials accuse Europeans particularly Germany of putting business interests ahead of security, and of opposing a tougher stance against Iran to safeguard investments in the Islamic Republic. That charge is sharply rejected by European officials, who are increasingly frustrated at spending time dealing with Trump's complaints rather than tackling Iran's behavior. The disagreement threatens to plunge transatlantic relations to their lowest point since the Iraq War. "It's quite possible that Macron successfully bought time to gin up support for a new accord," said Henry Rome, an Iran expert at the Eurasia Group, a consultancy. But he predicted multiple problems that could scupper Macron's efforts. Trump comments contrasted markedly with the red carpet roll out that the French leader received at the White House. Earlier on Tuesday both men waxed lyrical about shared heroes of yore from the Marquis de Lafayette to Alexis de Tocqueville as they listened to strains of "La Marseillaise" and "The Star-Spangled Banner." "The wonderful friendship we have developed over the last year is a testament to the enduring friendship that binds our two nations," Trump glowed. In the Oval Office, Trump offered another, slightly awkward sign of their intimacy. "We have a very special relationship, in fact I'll get that little piece of dandruff off," Trump said, swiping something off Macron's jacket. "We have to make him perfect he is perfect." Observers are uncertain that Macron can translate the privileged relationship into concrete results. There are also problems in the economic sphere, with Macron and Merkel both trying to secure a permanent exemption for Europe from US steel and aluminum tariffs. Trump complained about having to do trade "deals" with the European Union as a bloc, rather than individual states like France. A news media coalition is asking specifically for transcripts of hearings in the ongoing prosecution of President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, as well as access to sealed search warrant applications filed by investigators. The Associated Press and other news organizations asked a judge Wednesday to unseal records in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, citing overwhelming public interest in a case they said was among the most important in American history. The news media coalition is asking specifically for transcripts of hearings in the ongoing prosecution of President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, as well as access to sealed search warrant applications filed by investigators. Any interest in protecting the integrity of the probe, which is examining potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, is outweighed by the public's right to the records and by public interest in "one of the most consequential criminal investigations in our nation's history," the media court filing states. "Under the common law, courts balance the public's right to information about the workings of the criminal justice system against the legitimate countervailing interests of the government; here, that balance tips decisively in favor of the public," the media organizations wrote. Though Manafort's court appearances have largely been open, the news organizations are seeking transcripts of portions of the hearings that occurred behind closed doors and out of public view. That includes a specific court hearing in which lawyers for Manafort's co-defendant, Rick Gates, argued to withdraw from the case. In addition, the news media organizations are asking for copies of applications and supporting affidavits for search warrants that have been executed in the case, including last year on Manafort's home in Virginia and on a storage unit. The public interest in those records could not be greater, said the media court filing. "The Russia Investigation goes to the heart of the integrity of the political process, the potential corruption or other misconduct of the President of the United States and his closest advisers_or, as some of the President's supporters have argued, a corrupt conspiracy by some in law enforcement to harm the President_and the ability of the justice system to fairly and effectively investigate and, where necessary, prosecute any of these potential crimes," the lawyers wrote. So far, 19 people including Manafort and three companies have been charged in Mueller's investigation. Three Trump aides from either the presidential campaign or the White House have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the investigation. The other organizations in the coalition include The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and Politico. Neal Katyal, the Indian immigrant lawyer representing challengers of the Donald Trump-led travel ban which faces its reckoning in the US Supreme Court today, once argued for the White House when he was acting solicitor general under President Barack Obama. Now hes on the other side. Neal Katyal, the Indian immigrant lawyer representing challengers of the Donald Trump-led travel ban which faces its reckoning in the US Supreme Court today, once argued for the White House when he was acting solicitor general under President Barack Obama. Now hes on the other side. In the last ( and biggest) case before October, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments Wednesday over President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from several mostly Muslim countries where Solicitor General Noel Francisco is defending the ban. Katyal, on his Twitter feed, has a steady flow of summary arguments against the Trump travel ban, posting it in chronological order. "The arguments come from every corner of our country. They are both logical and emotional, constitutional and statutory, liberal and conservative. It comes down to who we are as a nation", Katyal tweeted hours before his final stand in America's highest court. Katyal's engagement with Trump's travel ban is not new; it began minutes after the US President brought it on in early 2017 via an executive order restricting travel from seven majority-Muslim countries. Within 24 hours of the executive order last year, Katyal had Apple, Netflix and Facebook on his side, signing on amicus brief opposing the ban. Amicus briefs are legal documents filed in appellate court cases by non-litigants with a strong interest in subject matter. These briefs typically advise the court of relevant context and arguments that inform the case. Katyal graduated from Dartmouth College in 1991 and went on to become one of Georgetown Law Schools youngest-ever professors at age 27. From that time till now, Katyal describes himself with a two-word tag line - "extremist centrist". Tmrw, I have the priv to argue #HawaiivsTrump. As my usual, no substantive comment on arg after. Huge thx to amazing @hoganlovells & HI teams,who created the finest brief I've ever filed+amici across globe, as well as to the fabulous lawyers on other side.https://t.co/FbE1RjkTlp Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) April 25, 2018 Katyal, now a tenured professor at Georgetown University, has worked on rules governing Department of Justice appointment of special prosecutors. He was also lead counsel for the 2006 case Hamdan versus Rumsfeld which got rid of military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay. Apart from his teaching job, Katyal is partner at Hogan Lovells lawfirm and runs a nonprofit - Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection created in 2017 in response to the Trump effect on society and politics. Katyal's challenge to the travel ban is the first one by his young nonprofit to make it all the way to America's highest court. The US Supreme Court previously voted in December to allow the travel ban policy to take full effect. But Wednesday was the first time the justices considered the travel ban in open court. Last heard on the beat, arguments are breaking down on "ideological" lines, reporters are relaying back to US networks. President Donald Trump appears likely to win his travel ban case at the Supreme Court, reports Associated Press shortly before noon EST. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy both signaled support for the travel policy in arguments Wednesday at the high court. The ban's challengers almost certainly need one of those two justices to strike down the ban on travelers from several mostly Muslim countries. Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, on Tuesday, met with Russian Army Commander-in-Chief Colonel General Oleg Salyukov and discussed security and defence related issues. Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, on Tuesday, met with Russian Army Commander-in-Chief Colonel General Oleg Salyukov and discussed security and defence related issues. Colonel General Salyukov said Pakistan is a geo-strategically important country and Russia is keen to expand its existing bilateral military-to-military cooperation, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan Army's media arm, said in a statement. General Bajwa, who is in Russia on an official visit, thanked him and said that Pakistan "reciprocates desire of enhanced bilateral military engagements", the statement said. The Russian commander acknowledged the achievements of the Pakistan Army in the fight against terrorism and its contributions for regional peace and stability, the ISPR said. General Bajwa said that Russia has recently played a positive role to help resolve complex situations in the region. He also said that Pakistan will continue to do its part to keep conflicts away from the region and seek approaches which bring regional convergences into play rather that the divergences. Earlier, General Bajwa was accorded a guard-of-honour upon his arrival at the Kremlin Palace where he met the Russian commander. His visit came a day after a high-level inter-ministerial delegation, led by National Security Adviser Lt-Gen (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, visited Moscow on 22 to 23 April and held talks on defence-related issues. Pakistan's ties with Russia have moved past the bitter Cold War hostilities in recent years and the chill in the relations between Pakistan and the US, especially after President Donald Trump warned Islamabad for providing safe havens to terrorists, has further pushed the country towards Russia and China. In 2016, Russia held its first-ever military exercises with Pakistan and also started selling weapons to Islamabad. Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Australia: Muslima claims Muslims suffer great misery there, calls on Muslims to Infidel lop guest User ID: kaput 04-25-2018 02:49 AM Post: #1 Australia: Muslima claims Muslims suffer great misery there, calls on Muslims to Advertisement this woman appears to be a convert to Islam, but in any case, nothing is stopping her from going to live in a Sharia state. That option is out of the question because she believes it part of her responsibility before Allah to bring the light of Sharia to the Infidels. https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/04/austr...-caliphate Australia: Muslima claims Muslims suffer great misery there, calls on Muslims to reestablish caliphatethis woman appears to be a convert to Islam, but in any case, nothing is stopping her from going to live in a Sharia state. That option is out of the question because she believes it part of her responsibility before Allah to bring the light of Sharia to the Infidels. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 03:38 AM Post: #2 RE: Australia: Muslima claims Muslims suffer great misery there, calls on Muslims to Countries need to bring back exile. She's never going to anything but undermine Western culture and has to be removed. She can go live in the place she wants to, but she likes Western dollar or she would. I'd bet she sends western dollars to dubious causes and would be a terrorist sympathiser. For sure. Just listen to her bullshit. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 03:47 AM Post: #3 RE: Australia: Muslima claims Muslims suffer great misery there, calls on Muslims to replies section: Sarah says Apr 23, 2018 at 6:10 pm You want a Caliphate, huh? Well you Muslims HAD a Caliphate, remember? It all ended in tears just recently. If you want to experience a life as a good Muslim in an environment that is as close as possible to a real Caliphate then by all means, head off to the caves of Afghanistan. Go on, I dare you. Youll find a very close facsimilie right there. Ahhh, but you dont get Centrelink in the caves of Afghanistan. You dont get free education for your giant brood of children there. You dont get free healthcare for you or your family there. You dont get a nice modern home full of creature comforts there. You dont get any of those awful Capitalist inventions there, like electricity. Or airconditioning. Or your mobile phone. Or the Internet. You dont get a computer, or a tablet. Your kids dont get their Xboxs and Playstations. You dont get laws in Afghanistan that you can hide behind that protect you and your rights as a human being. You dont even get toothpaste, deoderant, a properly fitted bra or tampons and pads there. You wont even be able to pop down the road and buy a new burqa when youre in the caves of Afghanistan. And youre not going to be able to hop online to source instructions on how to weave wool so good luck working that all out, on your own. What about when you need dental work? You wont trade in a fully trained dentist from the West, equipped with the best technology, skills and modern pain-relief techniques. Youll get some filthy old man with a rock in one hand and a roll of rusty, blunt old instruments hes carried around since the 1950s. What happens when you get sick? When you or one of your kids needs surgery, or cancer treatment,or mental health treatment? Good luck getting that in the caves of Afghanistan. You cant even go to the damn Optometrist and get a new prescription for glasses when you need them. Youll be draped from head to toe in a rough-woven sheet, sitting on the hard-pack dirt floor of your tent, with your head bowed and silent. While your husband seats himself on a cushion, a few feet in front of you, close to the tent opening, so he gets all the nice cool breezes and fresh air. Youll spend your days consumed with backbreaking manual labour tasks, just to survive a subsistence experience. When your husband goes to the Mosque to pray 5 times a day, youll just drop to your knees in the dust, by your straggly little herd of half-starved goats and quickly run through your prayers there, because you desperately have to get back to finishing all your chores theres never quite enough daylight hours for everything you have to do, amiright? At night, after you feed your husband and son/s, you and your daughters get to eat the leftovers and then clean up from the meal. Then youll wash yourself with a bucket of cold water outside the tent and hurry back in, to lie on your back, spread your legs and let your husband have his rights. Youll fall into an exhausted sleep and wake at dawn to the muezzins call to prayer and start it all over again. And just wait for the day, Soraya, after youve spend the best years of your life slaving after that man, raising his kids, breaking your back with the day to day hardships of your beloved Caliphate life, when your darling husband brings home the new wife. Shes only 12 so not only do you have another kid to watch, but your husband has lost interest in you. Better hope you dont require expensive care of some type as you descend wearily into old age, well before your time, because hes not going to spend what little money he has, on you. Youre just the worn out, old workhorse and its time to be sent to the glue factory in the sky. It doesnt sound so good in reality, huh? No, you wont go there. There is, after all, a very good reason why you live in the West. Because its nice, its comfortable, its safe and its rewarding. The problem is you think that Muslims and Islam are completely capable of building the same. You also think youre all entitled to it and that its your due in this world. You think if a new Caliphate arises, that once the kinks are ironed out, youll basically have first world standards, all wrapped up in a cloak of Sharia. Youll have the best of everything and itll be halal. Yeah, Id like to see that, myself. Id like to see, just once, a Muslim built Islamic state with infrastructure and all the other things that you seem to think is your due that is, at first world standards, that is maintained the same way that the West maintains itself. That is respected and looked after by Muslims the way we Westerners respect and look after our societies and states. That is constantly growing, improving and developing, with new inventions and discoveries and breakthroughs, like the West. Id really like to see that. Because itd be a sight to see! The first time ever in recorded history where Muslims have actually created, built, maintained and improved a society with all new infrastructure that does not rely on stealing from conquered, enslaved innocents. Because the truth is, you lot cant create anything. You cant even look after what you steal from others and continue to develop it to new and greater heights. It always ends in tears with you lot. It always eventually unravels. And then you lot need to go on the warpath again, to find new places to conquer and steal from. You know why, Soraya? Its because of two things. 1. Because you insist on slavishly following the rules of a warmongering mad-man prophet who frankly, wasnt competent enough to be asked for directions to the nearest toilet, yet you all stubbornly stick to promoting his mad-cap ideas on how to raise and run an entire society. and 2. Because you Muslims from the Middle East, Africa and Asia have undertaken a concerted campaign of inbreeding for centuries and centuries and centuries now, without rest. The average IQ amongst you Muslims is dropping more and more with every generation. Genetic defaults run rampant throughout the Islamic world. You bunch are too inbred and as a result, too stupid to actually create an entire society or state from scratch that matches the first world standards that you think are your due. So go on, tell me more about this wonderful Caliphate you so desperately seek. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:09 AM Post: #4 RE: Australia: Muslima claims Muslims suffer great misery there, calls on Muslims to Saved that to a notepad (Sarah spiel). Very good. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:37 AM Post: #5 RE: Australia: Muslima claims Muslims suffer great misery there, calls on Muslims to LoP Guest Wrote: (04-25-2018 03:47 AM) replies section: Sarah says Apr 23, 2018 at 6:10 pm You want a Caliphate, huh? Well you Muslims HAD a Caliphate, remember? It all ended in tears just recently. If you want to experience a life as a good Muslim in an environment that is as close as possible to a real Caliphate then by all means, head off to the caves of Afghanistan. Go on, I dare you. Youll find a very close facsimilie right there. Ahhh, but you dont get Centrelink in the caves of Afghanistan. You dont get free education for your giant brood of children there. You dont get free healthcare for you or your family there. You dont get a nice modern home full of creature comforts there. You dont get any of those awful Capitalist inventions there, like electricity. Or airconditioning. Or your mobile phone. Or the Internet. You dont get a computer, or a tablet. Your kids dont get their Xboxs and Playstations. You dont get laws in Afghanistan that you can hide behind that protect you and your rights as a human being. You dont even get toothpaste, deoderant, a properly fitted bra or tampons and pads there. You wont even be able to pop down the road and buy a new burqa when youre in the caves of Afghanistan. And youre not going to be able to hop online to source instructions on how to weave wool so good luck working that all out, on your own. What about when you need dental work? You wont trade in a fully trained dentist from the West, equipped with the best technology, skills and modern pain-relief techniques. Youll get some filthy old man with a rock in one hand and a roll of rusty, blunt old instruments hes carried around since the 1950s. What happens when you get sick? When you or one of your kids needs surgery, or cancer treatment,or mental health treatment? Good luck getting that in the caves of Afghanistan. You cant even go to the damn Optometrist and get a new prescription for glasses when you need them. Youll be draped from head to toe in a rough-woven sheet, sitting on the hard-pack dirt floor of your tent, with your head bowed and silent. While your husband seats himself on a cushion, a few feet in front of you, close to the tent opening, so he gets all the nice cool breezes and fresh air. Youll spend your days consumed with backbreaking manual labour tasks, just to survive a subsistence experience. When your husband goes to the Mosque to pray 5 times a day, youll just drop to your knees in the dust, by your straggly little herd of half-starved goats and quickly run through your prayers there, because you desperately have to get back to finishing all your chores theres never quite enough daylight hours for everything you have to do, amiright? At night, after you feed your husband and son/s, you and your daughters get to eat the leftovers and then clean up from the meal. Then youll wash yourself with a bucket of cold water outside the tent and hurry back in, to lie on your back, spread your legs and let your husband have his rights. Youll fall into an exhausted sleep and wake at dawn to the muezzins call to prayer and start it all over again. And just wait for the day, Soraya, after youve spend the best years of your life slaving after that man, raising his kids, breaking your back with the day to day hardships of your beloved Caliphate life, when your darling husband brings home the new wife. Shes only 12 so not only do you have another kid to watch, but your husband has lost interest in you. Better hope you dont require expensive care of some type as you descend wearily into old age, well before your time, because hes not going to spend what little money he has, on you. Youre just the worn out, old workhorse and its time to be sent to the glue factory in the sky. It doesnt sound so good in reality, huh? No, you wont go there. There is, after all, a very good reason why you live in the West. Because its nice, its comfortable, its safe and its rewarding. The problem is you think that Muslims and Islam are completely capable of building the same. You also think youre all entitled to it and that its your due in this world. You think if a new Caliphate arises, that once the kinks are ironed out, youll basically have first world standards, all wrapped up in a cloak of Sharia. Youll have the best of everything and itll be halal. Yeah, Id like to see that, myself. Id like to see, just once, a Muslim built Islamic state with infrastructure and all the other things that you seem to think is your due that is, at first world standards, that is maintained the same way that the West maintains itself. That is respected and looked after by Muslims the way we Westerners respect and look after our societies and states. That is constantly growing, improving and developing, with new inventions and discoveries and breakthroughs, like the West. Id really like to see that. Because itd be a sight to see! The first time ever in recorded history where Muslims have actually created, built, maintained and improved a society with all new infrastructure that does not rely on stealing from conquered, enslaved innocents. Because the truth is, you lot cant create anything. You cant even look after what you steal from others and continue to develop it to new and greater heights. It always ends in tears with you lot. It always eventually unravels. And then you lot need to go on the warpath again, to find new places to conquer and steal from. You know why, Soraya? Its because of two things. 1. Because you insist on slavishly following the rules of a warmongering mad-man prophet who frankly, wasnt competent enough to be asked for directions to the nearest toilet, yet you all stubbornly stick to promoting his mad-cap ideas on how to raise and run an entire society. and 2. Because you Muslims from the Middle East, Africa and Asia have undertaken a concerted campaign of inbreeding for centuries and centuries and centuries now, without rest. The average IQ amongst you Muslims is dropping more and more with every generation. Genetic defaults run rampant throughout the Islamic world. You bunch are too inbred and as a result, too stupid to actually create an entire society or state from scratch that matches the first world standards that you think are your due. So go on, tell me more about this wonderful Caliphate you so desperately seek. Aaaaaaaand a ONE WORD reply to all of that from neo-libs: "Islamophobe!!" (Of course, though, let's be honest...they stopped reading about mid-first sentence when they realized continuing reading would make them feel uncomfortable about themselves.) Aaaaaaaand a ONE WORD reply to all of that from neo-libs: "Islamophobe!!"(Of course, though, let's be honest...they stopped reading about mid-first sentence when they realized continuing reading would make them feel uncomfortable about themselves.) ABCDEF_Jesus Dominios Pizza User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:55 AM Posts: 3,332 Post: #6 RE: Australia: Muslima claims Muslims suffer great misery there, calls on Muslims to Why doesn't the nwo just ban muslims. Put them all in concentration camps LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 05:18 AM Post: #7 RE: Australia: Muslima claims Muslims suffer great misery there, calls on Muslims to ABCDEF_Jesus Wrote: (04-25-2018 04:55 AM) Why doesn't the nwo just ban muslims. Put them all in concentration camps because they are too convenient as a tool atm is why because they are too convenient as a tool atm is why The Hermit Registered User User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 06:25 AM Posts: 697 Post: #8 RE: Australia: Muslima claims Muslims suffer great misery there, calls on Muslims to Bandwagon jumping, attention seeking, spoiled bimbo says what? Consciousness is an ocean from a distance. A wave from above. Droplets from within. Infidel lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 06:18 PM Post: #9 RE: Australia: Muslima claims Muslims suffer great misery there, calls on Muslims to Even as Russia pursues this engagement with Pakistan, Moscow is fully aware of the pitfalls of hobnobbing with an international pariah Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Jawed Bajwa is in Moscow to meet Russian military and defence officials. General Bajwa's visit follows a flurry of earlier visits to Moscow by Pakistani officials, at a time when Islamabad finds itself on back foot as the US has left no stone unturned to counter Pakistan: Be it at the Financial Action Task Force grey listing or putting the focus of the United Nations on the militant safe havens in Pakistan. Russia too finds itself at odds with the United States, for the former's alleged meddling in the 2016 American presidential election and chemical attack in the UK. With relations of both countries with the United States at its nadir, it appears that joining hands is the best way for Moscow and Islamabad. After receiving many brickbats over their dubious behaviour on counter-terrorism front, Pakistani officials are obviously looking at some kind of endorsement from a major power like Russia. And as expected, Inter-Services Public Relations handouts of Bajwas visit highlight how Russia has commended Pakistan's sacrifices in 'war on terror'. But self-praise aside, Pakistani officials would be naive to believe that their growing proximity with Russia is a function of their country being an attractive partner for Moscow. Rather, it is the other way round. While in West Asia, Russia and its proxies may have made matters difficult for the US and its allies, in South Asia, Russia finds itself increasingly in a precarious position: What with Indias growing proximity with the US, formation of 'Quad' alliance and a junior position in alliance with China. More importantly, the biggest casualty of Indias strategic alignment with the US has been the Russian defence companies, which are finding it difficult to compete with American and European companies in the attractive Indian defence market. Indias weariness to join hands with Russian companies is set to increase after major Russian defence companies find themselves on the American sanctions list. Take the example of the eagerly awaited deal between India and Russia for the purchase of S400 missile system: The deal is being negotiated for the last two years without any substantial progress. It is in these circumstances that Russia finds itself joining hands with Pakistan: Not the best of the options given Pakistan's international isolation. So even as Russia pursues this engagement with Pakistan, Moscow is fully aware of the pitfalls of hobnobbing with an international pariah. Therefore, in all likelihood this Russia-Pakistani bonhomie will be a temporary affair, with a full throttle effort from Russia to woo India, which despite its proximity with the US shares a common sentiment with Russia on many issues. The Russia-Pakistan relationship is certainly being upgraded, but slowly. This by itself has no great dangers, and ideally, India should not make too much diplomatic noise. There is a certain amount of smugness in Pakistani media reports that army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa is in Russia, meeting with the chief of the Russian Ground Forces, who is technically his counterpart. Commander of Russian Federation Ground Forces Colonel General Oleg Salyukov may have the longer title and command larger forces, but he is hardly the virtual head of the country, as General Bajwa is, in his. The Pakistan media and the government which nowadays is virtually the same thing has presented the Russian outreach as a way to counter growing US pressure on Pakistan to end its patronage of diverse terrorists. The facts on the ground, however, tell a somewhat different story. First, Russia is unlikely to emerge as a source of foreign aid assistance, in the manner that the US has been so far. Certainly, Russia is still number two in the list of arms exporters, and is the major power. Amidst a still shaky Russian economy, Moscow has announced big plans to expand its exports: For hard cash. Unlike the days of the USSR, there are no subsidies or friendship prices anymore. Conversely, Pakistan is scrambling for loans from friends and allies to keep another IMF bailout at bay. That in itself raises questions of the prospects of any major defence deals. Certainly, there have been some significant deals in the past. For instance, Moscow finally agreed to provide Russian engines for the Chinese made JF-17 fighters. This set in place a triangular relationship that sits well with Moscows own cosying up to Beijing. According to Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan, Pakistan is interested in buying air defence systems and the T-90 tanks. The Sukhoi-35 deal, however, is said to be in the early stages. That will probably remain so for a while as New Delhi digests this piece of information. The Indian Air Force has reportedly had difficulties operating the Su-30s, and its turn to alternative sources has clearly riled Moscow. Remember, however, that Russia still remains Indias largest supplier of defence equipment. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia accounts for more than 62 percent of India's total imports. That counts as leverage if New Delhi wants to use it. The Russian relationship seems brighter on the energy front. Pakistans LNG requirements are rising, and there was strong interest from Gazprom in 2017 in this regard. One is through cargo shipments to Karachi: Where there are two import terminals, and also to Port Qasim, where new terminals were completed last year. Notably, the company involved in setting up the pipeline infrastructure is none other than Fauji Oil Terminal and Distribution Company, a company owned by the Fauji Foundation of the Pakistani Army. The army, therefore, has a vested interest in seeing this project through. A second project that is being pushed is the North South Gas Pipeline project, with an intergovernmental deal signed in October 2015. A series of squabbles on pricing, as well as US sanctions on the executing Russian firm has led to this not yet seeing the light of day. There were reports that China would provide the finance for this project. If this comes through, then its another instance of triangular cooperation. Meanwhile, Russia is also expanding its physical footprint. Last month, a Russian Consulate was opened in Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Russian companies have been bidding for deals to open an oil refinery and power stations in the province. Whether this comes through or not, it certainly gives Moscow an entree into one of the worlds most combustible areas. A very real cooperation between Russia and Pakistan is in the area of terrorism, which is defined broadly by both. After years of backing Indian strategic plans for Afghanistan, Russia overturned its strategy to support the Taliban, allegedly also with weapons supplies. This shift in strategy is ostensibly to prevent the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria from establishing its presence close to virtually Russian forward defence borders of Tajikistan. This is assistance Rawalpindi will appreciate. General Bajwa certainly did. As he was was quoted as saying during his visit, Russia's was said to have played a positive role to help resolve complex situations in the region. It certainly doesnt get more complex than in Afghanistan. To sum up, the Russia-Pakistan relationship is certainly being upgraded, but slowly. This by itself has no great dangers, and ideally, India should not make too much diplomatic noise. Russian overtures to Pakistan will remain dependent on Pakistans ability to pay. Besides, a supplier of defence articles to Pakistan over whom New Delhi has some leverage is better than the other China over whom it has none at all. The threat, however, is from the rapid triangular relationship which is developing particularly in the field of defence. Recent meetings between the heads of defence on both sides have stressed this aspect, with Xu Qiliang, Vice Chairman of Chinas Central Military Commission, observing this as the "best period in their history". This is a pas de trois that is as complex as it is transactional. All three partners are likely to watch their steps. A top US official visited Pakistan to review the progress made by Islamabad on regional security and stability and met Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua Islamabad: A top US state department official visited Pakistan to review the progress made by Islamabad on regional security and stability and met Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and other senior officials, but the meeting ended without any breakthrough, according to a media report in Islamabad on Tuesday. The US Department of State's Senior Bureau Official for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs ambassador Alice Wells visited Islamabad for meetings with Foreign Secretary (Tehmina) Janjua and other senior officials, a statement, issued late on Tuesday, by the US Embassy in Islamabad said. "In her meetings, she discussed the status of the United States' South Asia strategy and efforts to make progress on regional security and stability," it added. Wells was on a day-long trip to Islamabad to continue her talks in the wake of President Donald Trump's new South Asia and Afghanistan policy, in particular Pakistan's commitment in the war against terrorism. In Washington, a State Department Spokesperson told PTI, "The purpose of Ambassador Wells' visit was to discuss the relationship between the United States and Pakistan, which is based on a broad range of shared interests, including a commitment to defeat all terrorist groups that threaten regional stability and security, and a desire to build economic and commercial ties that benefit both countries." This is a follow on of Ambassador Wells' visit there in March as part of its ongoing dialogue on the bilateral relationship and Pakistani support for our South Asia strategy, the spokesperson said. Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) spokeperson, Mohammad Faisal only shared a picture of Janjua receiving Wells on the micro-blogging site 'twitter', but did not share any details of the meeting. The two sides failed to make any headway, instead some new issues cropped up during the meeting which may further complicate the already strained US-Pak ties, the report said. The another round of Pakistan-US talks aimed at getting Islamabad to fulfil Washington's expectations, envisioned in its South Asia and Afghanistan policy, ended without any breakthrough, Dawn reported. Quoting a diplomatic source, it said that the agenda of both sides at the meeting at the FO were same as before, with the addition of two new issues the restrictions on Pakistani diplomats that would come into effect from 1 May and a traffic accident involving US defence attache Col Joseph Hall, who had earlier in April jumped a red light her and hit a motorcyclist, who later died. Pakistan has demanded waiver of the diplomatic immunity to Hall, so that he could be prosecuted. "There was no forward movement. But at the same time we must acknowledge that both sides continue to remain engaged in search of the elusive common ground," the source said. The US' Afghan strategy has soured the ties between the two countries after they openly traded barbs over deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. The US has been demanding Islamabad to use its influence to bring Taliban to negotiating table and but the latter said that it has only limited control of rebels who now have areas in Afghanistan to live and operate without any foreign assistance. This was ambassador Wells' second trip in less than a month after her last visit to Islamabad between 28 March and 3 April. By Matt Scuffham TORONTO (Reuters) - A Toronto police officer who refused to shoot the man suspected of plowing a van into crowds of pedestrians on Monday, killing 10 people, was praised for restraint in the face of a suspect who claimed to have a gun. Video footage showed the police officer staring down the suspect at gunpoint in the middle of a street, while the man pointed what appeared to be a gun and shouted 'Kill me.' The video, obtained by CBC News, showed the suspect repeatedly pulling an object from his side and aiming at police By Matt Scuffham TORONTO (Reuters) - A Toronto police officer who refused to shoot the man suspected of plowing a van into crowds of pedestrians on Monday, killing 10 people, was praised for restraint in the face of a suspect who claimed to have a gun. Video footage showed the police officer staring down the suspect at gunpoint in the middle of a street, while the man pointed what appeared to be a gun and shouted "Kill me." The video, obtained by CBC News, showed the suspect repeatedly pulling an object from his side and aiming at police. The arrest was praised as a welcome example of police restraint in the midst of chaos, coming just minutes after a white rental van plowed into a lunchtime crowd in north Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15 in one of the most violent incidents in Canadian history. As the suspect shouted "Kill me," the officer replied, "No, get down." When the suspect said, "I have a gun in my pocket," the officer responded: "I don't care. Get down." Toronto police identified the man arrested as Alek Minassian, 25, of Richmond Hill, a neighbourhood close to Toronto. "It's quite apparent that the suspect was trying to be executed. He was really looking for 'suicide-by-cop,'" Gary Clement, a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police superintendent with 34 years experience of policing, told Reuters. The Toronto Police Service declined to name the officer involved in the stand-off, but Clement said he appeared to be a "very seasoned and mature officer." "I would say this individual met the right police officer," Clement said. "Nobody knows how they're going to react. In this situation a lot of it comes down to muscle memory. This guy reacted in a very mature manner." Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said the officer's behaviour reflected the "high caliber of training that takes place. "They are taught to use as little force as possible in any given situation," he said. It helped that the officer had a clear view of the suspect, who was out of the van and pacing between the sidewalk and the arresting officer, Clement said. The non-violent end to the standoff won plaudits on social media. "Wow, at how these Canadian cops brought in this suspected killer," said Twitter user Stuart A. Thompson in a posting. Police in the United States have been criticized for being too quick to pull the trigger after a series of high-profile police shootings and deaths of suspects during arrest. Witnesses in Toronto expressed horror at the murders. Young Lee, a 56-year-old attorney, looked out his third-floor office window on Yonge Street and was shocked to see medics attempting to resuscitate two of the victims. "I've never seen violence like this here in Toronto," Lee said. "I felt a mix of rage and a lot of sympathy for the victims." (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Leslie Adler) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The man accused of plowing a rental van into pedestrians on a crowded Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people in Canadas deadliest mass killing in decades, left a cryptic message on social media before his attack. Toronto: The man accused of plowing a rental van into pedestrians on a crowded Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people in Canadas deadliest mass killing in decades, left a cryptic message on social media before his attack, police said on Tuesday. Suspect Alek Minassian, 25, was charged with 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder in the incident. One possible clue to his motive emerged on Tuesday as Facebook confirmed Minassian wrote a post before the incident that referenced an incel rebellion. The term is shorthand used in some online message boards for involuntary celibacy, a loose social media movement of men who blame women for their celibacy.[L1N1S11Z5] Canadian authorities have declined to say whether anger toward women had motivated the attack. The post also voiced admiration for a man who killed six college students before taking his own life in California in 2014 and who cited the cruelness of women for his virgin status. The accused is alleged to have posted a cryptic message on Facebook minutes before the attack, Graham Gibson, a Toronto police detective sergeant, told a news conference. The majority of the victims were women, ranging in age from their mid-20s to early 80s, Gibson said. He said the question of whether the attack was driven by anger against women was going to be part of our investigation. Facebook has since deleted Minassians account, a representative said. There is absolutely no place on our platform for people who commit such horrendous acts, she said in an email. Minassian kept his shaved head down during a brief court appearance in Canadas largest city, speaking quietly with a defence lawyer and stating his name in a steady voice when asked to do so. The incident had the hallmarks of deadly vehicle assaults by Islamic State supporters. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was no reason to suspect any national security connection. Trudeau called on all Canadians to stand united with Toronto as flowers and scrawled messages in multiple languages piled up at a makeshift memorial in the citys north end, an ethnically diverse neighbourhood of towering office buildings, shops, restaurants and homes. We cannot, as Canadians, choose to live in fear every single day as we go about our daily business, Trudeau told reporters outside of parliament in Ottawa. The prime minister said the incident had not changed the countrys threat level or security preparations for a G7 summit in Quebec in June. Minassian had briefly served in Canadas armed forces in late 2017 but asked to be voluntarily released after 16 days of training, defence ministry spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande said. The suspects two-story red-brick home in a suburb north of Toronto was a crime scene on Tuesday, taped off and surrounded by police vehicles. Officers went in and out of the house. South Koreans among victims Details about the dead began to emerge on Tuesday, with a South Korean foreign ministry representative saying that two of that countrys citizens were killed and one injured in the attack. The representative spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. A Jordanian citizen was also killed, said an official at the countrys embassy in Ottawa. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp identified one of the victims as Anne Marie DAmico, an employee of asset manager Invesco Canada. In a statement, Invesco confirmed that one of its employees had been killed but did not name her. It could be days before all the victims are publicly identified, said Ontario chief coroner Dirk Huyer said, adding that the extent of their injuries was making some identities difficult to determine. It ranges from scrapes and bruises to terrible injuries that I wont get into discussing here, Gibson added. The attack shook the usually peaceful streets of Toronto, which recorded 61 murders in 2017. The drama started at lunchtime on a warm spring day, when the driver drove his vehicle into the crowds. The street was soon covered in blood, empty shoes and bodies. Last October, eight people died in New York when a man driving a rented pickup truck mowed down pedestrians and cyclists on a bike path. The Islamic State militant group encourages its supporters to use vehicles for attacks. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had been 'very honourable' and that discussions ahead of a planned meeting between the two leaders were going well. 'We have been told directly that they would like to have the meeting as soon as possible, and we think that's a great thing for the world,' Trump told reporters during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had been "very honourable" and that discussions ahead of a planned meeting between the two leaders were going well. "We have been told directly that they would like to have the meeting as soon as possible, and we think that's a great thing for the world," Trump told reporters during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House. "We're having ... very good discussions. Kim Jong Un, he really has been very open and I think very honourable from everything we're seeing," Trump added. Trump has said he could meet with Kim in late May or June. The United States is pressing North Korea to denuclearize and has said it would keep up a policy of "maximum pressure" on Pyongyang to achieve that goal. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday North Korea had expressed a commitment to "complete denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula, and North Korea said on Saturday it would immediately suspend nuclear and missile tests. (This version of the story has been refiled to correct Macron's title to president, not prime minister) (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by David Alexander and Tom Brown) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The Supreme Court is saving one of its biggest cases for last. The justices are hearing arguments Wednesday over President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from several mostly Muslim countries. The Supreme Court is saving one of its biggest cases for last. The justices are hearing arguments Wednesday over President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from several mostly Muslim countries. It's the last case the justices will hear until October. The Trump administration is asking the court to reverse lower court rulings striking down the ban. The policy has been fully in effect since December, but this is the first time the justices are considering whether it violates immigration law or the Constitution. The court will consider whether the president can indefinitely keep people out of the country based on nationality. It will also look at whether the policy is aimed at excluding Muslims from the United States. People have been waiting in line for a seat for days, and on Wednesday morning opponents of the ban demonstrated outside the court holding signs that read "No Muslim Ban. Ever." and "Refugees Welcome," among other things. In another sign of heightened public interest, the court is taking the rare step of making an audio recording of the proceedings available just hours after the arguments end. The last time the court did that was the gay marriage arguments in 2015. The travel ban is the first Trump policy to undergo a full-blown Supreme Court review. The justices are looking at the third version of a policy that Trump first rolled out a week after taking office, triggering chaos and protests across the U.S. as travelers were stopped from boarding international flights and detained at airports for hours. The first version was blocked by courts and withdrawn. Its replacement was allowed to take partial effect, but expired in September. The current version is indefinite and now applies to travelers from five countries with overwhelmingly Muslim populations Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. It also affects two non-Muslim countries: blocking travelers from North Korea and some Venezuelan government officials and their families. A sixth majority Muslim country, Chad, was removed from the list this month after improving "its identity-management and information sharing practices," Trump said in a proclamation. Trump's campaign pledge to shut down Muslim entry into the U.S., his presidential tweets about the travel ban and last fall's retweets of inflammatory videos that stoked anti-Islam sentiment all could feature in the justices' questioning of Solicitor General Noel Francisco, defending the ban, and Neal Katyal, the former acting solicitor general under President Barack Obama. Katyal is representing the challengers. The administration has argued that courts have no role to play because the president has broad powers over immigration and national security, and foreigners have no right to enter the country. Francisco also has said in written arguments that Trump's September proclamation laying out the current policy comports with immigration law and does not violate the Constitution because it does not single out Muslims. The challengers, backed by a diverse array of supporting legal briefs, have said that Trump is flouting immigration law by trying to keep more than 150 million people, the vast majority of them Muslim, from entering the country. They also argue that it amounts to the Muslim ban that Trump called for as a candidate, violating the Constitution's prohibition against religious bias. A decision in Trump v. Hawaii, 17-965, is expected by late June. In the court's first full-blown consideration of a Trump order, the conservative justices who make up the court's majority seemed unwilling to hem in a president who has invoked national security to justify restrictions on who can or cannot step on U.S. soil. Washington: The Supreme Court seemed poised Wednesday to uphold President Donald Trump's ban on travel to the U.S. by visitors from several Muslim-majority countries, giving the president a major victory on a signature and controversial policy. In the court's first full-blown consideration of a Trump order, the conservative justices who make up the court's majority seemed unwilling to hem in a president who has invoked national security to justify restrictions on who can or cannot step on U.S. soil. The justices in December allowed the ban to take full effect even as the legal fight over it continued, but Wednesday was the first time they took it up in open court. Trump's tough stance on immigration was a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, and he rolled out the first version of the ban just a week after taking office, sparking chaos and protests at a number of airports. The ban's challengers almost certainly need either Chief Justice John Roberts or Justice Anthony Kennedy on their side if the court is to strike down the policy that its opponents have labeled a Muslim ban. But neither appeared receptive to arguments made by lawyer Neal Katyal, representing the ban's opponents, that Trump's rule stems from his campaign pledge to keep Muslims out of the country and is unlike immigration orders issued by any other president. The room was packed for the court's final arguments until October, and people waited in line for seats for days. "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda was in the audience. Demonstrators protesting the ban filled the area outside the building. Some who oppose the ban have said courts should treat Trump differently from his predecessors. But that issue was raised only obliquely from the bench when Justice Elena Kagan talked about a hypothetical president who campaigned on an anti-Semitic platform and then tried to ban visitors from Israel. When Solicitor General Noel Francisco, defending the ban, started to answer that such a turn of events was extremely unlikely because of the two countries' close relationship, Kagan stopped him. "This is an out-of-the-box kind of president in my hypothetical," she said, to laughter. "We don't have those, Your Honor," Francisco replied. While there was discussion about Trump's statements both as a candidate and as president, no justice specifically referenced his tweets on the subject, despite Katyal's attempt to get them to focus on last fall's retweets of inflammatory videos that stoked anti-Islam sentiment. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the most aggressive questioner of Francisco. She told him she doubted that the president has "the authority to do more than Congress has already decided is adequate" under immigration law. She and Kagan also questioned Francisco closely about whether the ban discriminates against Muslims. From the other side, Kennedy challenged Katyal about whether the ban would be unending. He said the policy's call for a report every six months "indicates there'll be a reassessment" from time to time. "You want the president to say, 'I'm convinced that in six months we're going to have a safe world,'" Kennedy said, seemingly rejecting Katyal's argument. His only question that seemed to favor the challengers came early in the arguments, when he asked Solicitor General Francisco whether Trump's campaign statements should be considered in evaluating the administration's ban. Francisco told the justices they shouldn't look at those campaign statements. Kennedy pressed on that point. Speaking of a hypothetical candidate for mayor, he asked if what was said during that candidate's campaign was irrelevant if on "day two" of his administration the new mayor acted on those statements. Francisco held his ground saying the presidential oath of office "marks a fundamental transformation." With Katyal at the lectern, Justice Samuel Alito said it seemed wrong to call the travel policy a Muslim ban when it applies to just five of 50 mostly Muslim countries, 8 percent of the world's Muslim population and only one country Iran among the 10 largest with Muslim majorities. "Would a reasonable observer think this is a Muslim ban?" Alito asked. Outside the court, opponents of the ban held signs that read "No Muslim Ban. Ever" and "Refugees Welcome." In another indication of heightened public interest, the court released an audio recording after arguments ended. The last time the court did that was for gay marriage arguments in 2015. The justices are looking at the third version of a policy that Trump brought out shortly after taking office. That brought immediate turmoil as travelers were stopped at airports and some were detained for hours. The first version was blocked by courts and withdrawn. Its replacement was allowed to take partial effect, but expired in September. The current version is indefinite and now applies to travelers from five countries with overwhelmingly Muslim populations Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. It also affects two non-Muslim countries, blocking travelers from North Korea and some Venezuelan government officials and their families. A sixth majority-Muslim country, Chad, was removed from the list this month after improving "its identity-management and information sharing practices," Trump said in a proclamation. The administration has argued that courts have no role to play because the president has broad powers over immigration and national security, and foreigners have no right to enter the country. Francisco also has said in written arguments that Trump's September proclamation laying out the current policy comports with immigration law and does not violate the Constitution because it does not single out Muslims. The challengers have said that Trump is flouting immigration law by trying to keep more than 150 million people, the vast majority of them Muslim, from entering the country. They also argue that his policy amounts to the Muslim ban that he called for as a candidate, violating the Constitution's prohibition against religious bias. The case is Trump v. Hawaii, 17-965. Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) has had an eventful couple of years, and not in a good way. The bank's public perception has been rocked by three major scandals, including the infamous fake-accounts scandal, which has not only resulted in sub-par business performance, but has resulted in a string of penalties, fines, and consumer refunds as well. Recently, Wells Fargo issued its 2017 annual report, which is entitled Rebuilding Trust. In the report, the annual letter from CEO Tim Sloan outlined the bank's efforts to repair itself. Here's what Sloan had to say about the bank's post-scandal efforts, the Federal Reserve's action against the bank, and what has been done thus far to correct the problem. A year of transformation "This was a year of transformation at Wells Fargo," said Sloan, continuing: Our top priority remains rebuilding the trust of our customers, team members, communities, regulators, and shareholders. We have made foundational changes to identify and fix problems so they do not happen again and achieved significant progress in our commitment to make things right for our customers and build a better bank. The Federal Reserve penalty One of the most significant developments in Wells Fargo's saga, especially from an investor's perspective, is the Federal Reserve's unprecedented penalty. If you aren't familiar, the Fed essentially says that Wells Fargo isn't allowed to grow beyond its asset level at the end of 2017 until "substantial improvements" are made. Sloan writes: We take very seriously the consent order we entered into with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in February 2018, and we will work diligently, yet swiftly, to meet the requirements. Now, the Fed's language is rather vague. After all, the phrase "substantial improvements" is certainly open to interpretation. However, Sloan did give some color in regards to what happens next: Under the terms of the consent order, the company will submit plans to the Federal Reserve within 60 days that detail our completed and planned actions to further enhance the board's governance oversight and the company's compliance and operational risk management program. After Federal Reserve approval, the company will engage independent third parties to conduct a review to be completed no later than Sept. 30, 2018. What exactly has Wells Fargo changed? "The first step toward building a better Wells Fargo was to take actions to address our challenges," Sloan wrote. In his letter, Sloan outlined some of the changes Wells Fargo has made thus far to correct its sales practices, repair its image, and to become a generally more consumer-friendly bank. So far, Wells Fargo has: Eliminated product sales goals for retail bankers. Implemented a new incentive program, driven by customer experiences, teamwork, and oversight -- as opposed to simply meeting sales targets. Strengthened risk and compliance controls. Established a Conduct Management Office. Simplified the leadership structure in the community banking division, with the goal of creating fewer layers between leadership and retail bankers. Automatic notifications when a customer opens a new checking, savings, or credit card account. Started a "mystery shopper" program to ensure that retail sales and service practices are working as intended. The program involves 15,000 to 18,000 visits per year. In addition, the bank has made several consumer-friendly changes. As Sloan wrote: For example, in March we introduced automatic zero balance alerts, and we now send more than 18 million real-time alerts a month, enabling our customers to make a deposit or transfer so they don't overdraw their account. In November, we introduced Overdraft Rewind, which in its first two months helped more than 350,000 direct-deposit customers avoid overdraft charges by including direct deposits received by 9 a.m. the next day in a reevaluation of the prior day's transactions which resulted in a fee. To be clear, these changes will certainly cost the bank money, at least in the short run. The Overdraft Rewind initiative, for example, could put a big dent in the bank's fee income. The hope is that over time, these features will be attractive to consumers and will pay for themselves in terms of the amount of new and retained business they can produce. Take Sloan's optimism with a grain of salt Sloan ended his letter by saying that Wells Fargo is a better company now than it was a year ago, and that he's confident the improvement will continue. He also pointed out that this isn't the first challenge Wells Fargo has had to overcome in its 166-year history. While I applaud Sloan's optimism, it's important to take it with a big grain of salt at this point. For starters, can you remember the last time a CEO wasn't optimistic about their turnaround efforts in an annual letter to shareholders? Also, Sloan is right. There is lots of work to be done. Wells Fargo is still in the relatively early stages of rebuilding the public's (and regulators') trust, and it's still not too clear what the Federal Reserve is looking for in terms of improvements. The bottom line is that Wells Fargo is certainly taking steps in the right direction, but investors should remain cautious for the time being until the bank is allowed to grow once again, and the numbers start to reflect that the turnaround is really working. Anything stand out as totally "Ford-absurd" to anyone in that fuel tank plate photo? Note that three of the four "legs" (lack of a better term) are bolted on. But one is spot-welded on ... Why? Three of the four of them could be easily removed for shipping, but the forth prohibits a compact shipping package. WTH Ford???????? Why spot weld on one leg, but bolt on the other three? If all four would be easily removed/installed, they could be broken down for easy flat shipping box. - either make them all spot welded; fewer parts (no bolts/nuts) - or make them all bolt-on (ease of shipping) Don't mix the two methods; that's just dumb. No other way to put it. I love Ford as a general rule, but at times they are just rife with stupidity. If anyone has a skid plate for 34 gallon tank (SuperCab Long bed is what I have) they'd be willing to give away or sell for a small price, I'd be willing to pay shipping. PM me please. Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 4 Vote(s) - 3 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Page: 1 2 Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy Laserz let there be light User ID: kaput 04-25-2018 04:23 PM Posts: 40,873 Post: #1 Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy Advertisement Let's see who complains about this thread any why. ................................................ INVISIBILITY cloaks? Its a clever piece of political propaganda aimed at US President Donald Trump who has repeatedly professed his belief that his new F-35 strike fighters are invisible. The South China Morning Post says China is testing stealth invisibility cloaks on its older fighter jets. But its nothing like that found in the Harry Potter novels and movies. Nor the see-through jet of the old Wonder Woman cartoons. Instead, its a new membrane coating capable of capturing radar waves, and bending them away in harmless directions. It reportedly works by using metamaterials combining plastics and metals in microscopic structures along the lines of integrated circuits. http://www.news.com.au/military/invisibi...7e3efe50d9 This is copy and paste below and the headline matches the internet article.Let's see who complains about this thread any why.................................................INVISIBILITY cloaks?Its a clever piece of political propaganda aimed at US President Donald Trump who has repeatedly professed his belief that his new F-35 strike fighters are invisible.The South China Morning Post says China is testing stealth invisibility cloaks on its older fighter jets.But its nothing like that found in the Harry Potter novels and movies.Nor the see-through jet of the old Wonder Woman cartoons.Instead, its a new membrane coating capable of capturing radar waves, and bending them away in harmless directions. It reportedly works by using metamaterials combining plastics and metals in microscopic structures along the lines of integrated circuits. Tommy Pastrami Registered User User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:24 PM Posts: 3,346 Post: #2 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy Only conservatives are dumb enough to fall for this. "The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them, inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false." ~Thomas Jefferson Tommy Pastrami Registered User User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:24 PM Posts: 3,346 Post: #3 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy Liberals are buying invisibility cloaks already to commit crime because they're all criminals. "The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them, inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false." ~Thomas Jefferson Laserz let there be light User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:26 PM Posts: 40,873 Post: #4 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy Here's more copy and paste: The metamaterial was developed by a team at the State Key Laboratory of Millimetre Waves in Southeast University in Nanjing, according to the Post. A researcher said it was being tested on aircraft at the military aircraft production base in Shenyang in the Liaoning province. Although it wasn't revealed which aircraft the metamaterial was being tested on, the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation builds fighter jets including the J-11 and the J-15. It comes after the Chinese state broadcaster revealed China has built an assembly line to mass produce cutting-edge 'super materials' that can perform the previously impossible. Read more: The most interesting part of this technology is the metamaterial... it can change the way radio waves bounce off the surface to limit the echo on a radar in order to make aircraft harder to detect.Here's more copy and paste:The metamaterial was developed by a team at the State Key Laboratory of Millimetre Waves in Southeast University in Nanjing, according to the Post.A researcher said it was being tested on aircraft at the military aircraft production base in Shenyang in the Liaoning province.Although it wasn't revealed which aircraft the metamaterial was being tested on, the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation builds fighter jets including the J-11 and the J-15.It comes after the Chinese state broadcaster revealed China has built an assembly line to mass produce cutting-edge 'super materials' that can perform the previously impossible.Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...z5Dh6SemFZ LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:26 PM Post: #5 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy Are they painting them sky blue? lol Laserz let there be light User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:27 PM Posts: 40,873 Post: #6 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy Would you like to learn about metamaterial boys and girls? Laserz let there be light User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:30 PM Posts: 40,873 Post: #7 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy We live in a world of waves. The radio waves hitting your car's antenna and the light coming in through its windshield, the X-rays that can detect a tumor and the gamma radiation that can destroy it are all different facets of the same phenomenon: electromagnetism. As one of the fundamental forces of nature, its imprint can be felt on almost everything in the universe. The difference between these waves that permeate the everyday aspects of our lives is where they fall on the electromagnetic spectrum, or how long it takes for each of these waves to crest, fall, and repeat. The waves carrying a radio broadcast might be a meter long, for examplelong enough to swerve around obstacles on their way to your receiver. The light waves that are coming from the screen and into your eyes are a million times smaller than that, and radioactive gamma waves are a million times smaller still. Mastering the movement of these waves is at the heart of much of modern technology, and at Penn, no one does that quite like Nader Engheta. The H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Engheta is a leading figure in the nascent field of metamaterials. Combining several branches of physics and engineering with a healthy dose of nanotechnology, metamaterials can bend and manipulate waves like nothing in nature can. Objects made from natural materials have atoms and molecules that are arranged in certain patterns dictated by the laws of physics and chemistry; those patterns give natural materials their electromagnetic properties, which in turn determine how they influence the properties of waves. With researchers' increasing abilities to engineer materials on ever-smaller scales, they can take these principles and apply them in more complex ways. Engheta and his colleagues start with the patterns of naturally occurring materials, but organize those patterns into larger ones. The atomic patterns found in a nanoscale cube of gold might be incorporated into an array of many cubes of gold, precisely spaced within a block of glass. This composite material would have properties that couldn't be achieved in either gold or glass alone. By designing arrangements of shapes with features that are smaller than a given wavelength, Engheta and other metamaterials researchers are developing "super lenses," which have unprecedented magnification abilities, and "cloaking devices," which can bend waves around an object, rendering it effectively invisible. Engheta is also working on structures consisting of metamaterials arranged in even larger patternseffectively, meta-metamaterials. Text by Evan Lerner Video by Kurtis Sensenig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK4RQr7RICY We live in a world of waves. The radio waves hitting your car's antenna and the light coming in through its windshield, the X-rays that can detect a tumor and the gamma radiation that can destroy it are all different facets of the same phenomenon: electromagnetism. As one of the fundamental forces of nature, its imprint can be felt on almost everything in the universe.The difference between these waves that permeate the everyday aspects of our lives is where they fall on the electromagnetic spectrum, or how long it takes for each of these waves to crest, fall, and repeat. The waves carrying a radio broadcast might be a meter long, for examplelong enough to swerve around obstacles on their way to your receiver. The light waves that are coming from the screen and into your eyes are a million times smaller than that, and radioactive gamma waves are a million times smaller still.Mastering the movement of these waves is at the heart of much of modern technology, and at Penn, no one does that quite like Nader Engheta.The H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Engheta is a leading figure in the nascent field of metamaterials. Combining several branches of physics and engineering with a healthy dose of nanotechnology, metamaterials can bend and manipulate waves like nothing in nature can.Objects made from natural materials have atoms and molecules that are arranged in certain patterns dictated by the laws of physics and chemistry; those patterns give natural materials their electromagnetic properties, which in turn determine how they influence the properties of waves.With researchers' increasing abilities to engineer materials on ever-smaller scales, they can take these principles and apply them in more complex ways. Engheta and his colleagues start with the patterns of naturally occurring materials, but organize those patterns into larger ones. The atomic patterns found in a nanoscale cube of gold might be incorporated into an array of many cubes of gold, precisely spaced within a block of glass. This composite material would have properties that couldn't be achieved in either gold or glass alone.By designing arrangements of shapes with features that are smaller than a given wavelength, Engheta and other metamaterials researchers are developing "super lenses," which have unprecedented magnification abilities, and "cloaking devices," which can bend waves around an object, rendering it effectively invisible.Engheta is also working on structures consisting of metamaterials arranged in even larger patternseffectively, meta-metamaterials.Text by Evan LernerVideo by Kurtis Sensenig LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:32 PM Post: #8 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy Fork Wrote: (04-25-2018 04:27 PM) Would you like to learn about metamaterial boys and girls? Quote: A metamaterial is a material engineered to have a property that is not found in nature. They are made from assemblies of multiple elements fashioned from composite materials such as metals or plastics. Laserz let there be light User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:33 PM Posts: 40,873 Post: #9 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy LoP Guest Wrote: (04-25-2018 04:32 PM) Fork Wrote: (04-25-2018 04:27 PM) Would you like to learn about metamaterial boys and girls? Quote: A metamaterial is a material engineered to have a property that is not found in nature. They are made from assemblies of multiple elements fashioned from composite materials such as metals or plastics. The matrix structure is intriguing.... it reminds me of the Fibonacci sequence. The matrix structure is intriguing....it reminds me of the Fibonacci sequence. Laserz let there be light User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:35 PM Posts: 40,873 Post: #10 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy LoP Guest Wrote: (04-25-2018 04:26 PM) Are they painting them sky blue? lol They are creating a shield so that radar can't detect the fighters. They are creating a shield so that radar can't detect the fighters. Laserz let there be light User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 04:39 PM Posts: 40,873 Post: #11 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy Reports in Chinese media have referred to it as the 'cloak of invisibility'. This approach is different from the Western methods of relying on stealthy airframes and surfaces for the aircraft. It will rely on 'metamaterials' to either absorb or deflect radio waves, theoretically making the aircraft invisible on command. Stealth technology is not a single unit of technical know-how. It is more of a collection of design principles and material usage that helps an aircraft or a ship minimise its radar cross-section. That means a massive craft will show up as a much smaller object when it is picked up by a radar. The very idea of stealth is aimed at giving fighter jets more time before they are detected, cutting down on the reaction time available to the adversary. The Chinese have claimed that their bid at building a stealth fighter - the Chengdu J-20 - has been successful. But defence experts have raised doubts on what they point out are design elements that are fundamentally anti-stealth - like the J-20's canards. The Chinese are now testing the metamaterial 'cloak of invisibility' on non-stealth aircraft at a testing facility near Eastern China's Shenyang, Chinese media have reported. The metamaterials used were developed at the State Key Laboratory of Millimetre Waves at Nanjing's Southeast University. The 'metamaterial' is a layer that features microscopic structures similar to integrated circuits. The metamaterial can alter the way radio waves bounce off its surface to create a ghost image or minimise echo on a radar. However, the reports did note that there are significant difficulties to be surmounted before the technology can come to fruition. The team developing the material had said in 2011 that it could absorb the three most commonly used military radar waves. In 2013, they claimed to have developed a 'ghost illusion device' that render the aircraft with almost no radar signature. But 'metamaterials' alone would not be enough to equip an aircraft with stealth. It would only be a piece of the puzzle. Metamaterials are also difficult to mass-produce, placing crushing curbs on their widespread use. Either way, the Chinese may be doing the same things the Americans did, but time will tell whether their difference in approach will help them reach an innovative result that the world has not seen yet. http://zeenews.india.com/world/china-eye...02712.html Interesting story about the metamaterials from Zeenews:Reports in Chinese media have referred to it as the 'cloak of invisibility'. This approach is different from the Western methods of relying on stealthy airframes and surfaces for the aircraft. It will rely on 'metamaterials' to either absorb or deflect radio waves, theoretically making the aircraft invisible on command.Stealth technology is not a single unit of technical know-how. It is more of a collection of design principles and material usage that helps an aircraft or a ship minimise its radar cross-section. That means a massive craft will show up as a much smaller object when it is picked up by a radar. The very idea of stealth is aimed at giving fighter jets more time before they are detected, cutting down on the reaction time available to the adversary.The Chinese have claimed that their bid at building a stealth fighter - the Chengdu J-20 - has been successful. But defence experts have raised doubts on what they point out are design elements that are fundamentally anti-stealth - like the J-20's canards.The Chinese are now testing the metamaterial 'cloak of invisibility' on non-stealth aircraft at a testing facility near Eastern China's Shenyang, Chinese media have reported. The metamaterials used were developed at the State Key Laboratory of Millimetre Waves at Nanjing's Southeast University.The 'metamaterial' is a layer that features microscopic structures similar to integrated circuits. The metamaterial can alter the way radio waves bounce off its surface to create a ghost image or minimise echo on a radar.However, the reports did note that there are significant difficulties to be surmounted before the technology can come to fruition. The team developing the material had said in 2011 that it could absorb the three most commonly used military radar waves. In 2013, they claimed to have developed a 'ghost illusion device' that render the aircraft with almost no radar signature.But 'metamaterials' alone would not be enough to equip an aircraft with stealth. It would only be a piece of the puzzle. Metamaterials are also difficult to mass-produce, placing crushing curbs on their widespread use.Either way, the Chinese may be doing the same things the Americans did, but time will tell whether their difference in approach will help them reach an innovative result that the world has not seen yet. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 05:17 PM Post: #12 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy Plus these coatings are fragile and need to be touched up like a paintjob often. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VERA_passive_sensor Stealth is a black hole they can throw billions of dollars into. Same issues engineered "stealth" has, longer wavelength radar can still see them and passive detection will always be able to see them.Plus these coatings are fragile and need to be touched up like a paintjob often.Stealth is a black hole they can throw billions of dollars into. Laserz let there be light User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 05:19 PM Posts: 40,873 Post: #13 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy LoP Guest Wrote: (04-25-2018 05:17 PM) Same issues engineered "stealth" has, longer wavelength radar can still see them and passive detection will always be able to see them. Plus these coatings are fragile and need to be touched up like a paintjob often. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VERA_passive_sensor Stealth is a black hole they can throw billions of dollars into. Thanks for this link.... maybe the coating can be enhanced for endurance, so it lasts. Thanks for this link.... maybe the coating can be enhanced for endurance, so it lasts. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 05:31 PM Post: #14 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy Fork Wrote: (04-25-2018 05:19 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (04-25-2018 05:17 PM) Same issues engineered "stealth" has, longer wavelength radar can still see them and passive detection will always be able to see them. Plus these coatings are fragile and need to be touched up like a paintjob often. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VERA_passive_sensor Stealth is a black hole they can throw billions of dollars into. Thanks for this link.... maybe the coating can be enhanced for endurance, so it lasts. Its a nanostructure, a dust particle moving at jet speed will always damage it. Stealth planes are not made for a massive and enduring conflict. Without time consuming maintenance the stealth coating quickly deteriorates. They can't just pump out mission after mission. Its a nanostructure, a dust particle moving at jet speed will always damage it.Stealth planes are not made for a massive and enduring conflict.Without time consuming maintenance the stealth coating quickly deteriorates.They can't just pump out mission after mission. Laserz let there be light User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 05:37 PM Posts: 40,873 Post: #15 RE: Invisibility cloaks: China claims it is making its old combat jets stealthy LoP Guest Wrote: (04-25-2018 05:31 PM) Fork Wrote: (04-25-2018 05:19 PM) Thanks for this link.... maybe the coating can be enhanced for endurance, so it lasts. Its a nanostructure, a dust particle moving at jet speed will always damage it. Stealth planes are not made for a massive and enduring conflict. Without time consuming maintenance the stealth coating quickly deteriorates. They can't just pump out mission after mission. It seems like you know a great deal about metamaterials... what do you suggest is the best type of cloaking device? It seems like you know a great deal about metamaterials... what do you suggest is the best type of cloaking device? Advertisement Dental Fix Rx Awards New Franchise Territory in the State of Arizona Fast-Growing Mobile Dental Equipment Repair Franchise Continues Rapid Expansion in Arizona Market April 25, 2018 // Franchising.com // DAVIE, Fla. - Dental Fix Rx, a fast-growing national mobile dental equipment repair franchise, has officially signed an agreement with Cody Elliott, a Phoenix-based entrepreneur to open a franchise territory in the State of Arizona. 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Disqus Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 3 Vote(s) - 2.33 Average 1 2 3 4 5 New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE zakkkkkkk lop guest User ID: kaput 04-25-2018 05:22 PM Post: #1 New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE Advertisement damn. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/25/mai...bbery.html just happened. its 8:30 am here in vegas.....damn. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 05:24 PM Post: #2 RE: New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE Authorities in Maine launched a dragnet Wednesday after a man shot and killed a sheriffs deputy, stole his cruiser, and then robbed a convenience store, officials said. Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster said Corporal Eugene Cole was killed around 1:45 a.m. on U.S. Route 2 in Norridgewock, located about 30 miles north of the state capital of Augusta. "He was one of the finest deputies that you would want to meet," Lancaster told reporters at a news conference. Corporal Eugene Cole was killed early Wednesday. (Somerset County Sheriff's Office) Authorities said the suspect, 29-year-old John Williams, stole Cole's police cruiser after the shooting and drove it to a Cumberland Farms store, a 24-hour gas and convenience store, and robbed it. Lancaster did not not disclose any details about what happened before the deputy was shot, saying that authorities would release further details by Wednesday afternoon. After fleeing the store, Williams later abandoned the vehicle, which was found around 5 a.m. It is not known if he is in another vehicle or on foot, but should be considered "armed and dangerous," according to Lancaster. Authorities are looking for 29-year-old John Williams. (Somerset County Sheriff's Office) Williams is described as 5-foot-6, 120 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair in a ponytail, Lancaster said. Williams was previously arrested in Massachusetts on March 22 on firearms violations, according to a police report. The FBI told WGME they are sending assistance to help the Somerset County Sheriff's Office and Maine State Police with the investigation. Cole was a member of the sheriff's office for 13 years and had a son, according to Lancaster. "We have lost an outstanding deputy today," he said. A sheriff's deputy was shot and killed early Wednesday in Norridgewock, Maine. (WGME) A portion of U.S. Route 2 heading through the downtown area of Norridgewock is closed as part of the investigation, according to WGME. Police and sheriff's deputies could be seen holding weapons near the convenience store. Authorities are now conducting a manhunt in the area, including using helicopters to try to locate Williams. OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY IN 2018 Maine Gov. Paul LePage asked for residents in Somerset County and the surrounding area to "stay safe" "Our deepest condolences go out to the family of fallen Deputy Sheriff Corporal Eugene Cole," LePage wrote on Twitter. If you live in Somerset County and the surrounding area, please cooperate with law enforcement and stay safe." Senator Susan Collins said on Twitter she was "deeply saddened" by the news. "I am deeply saddened to learn Cpl. Eugene Cole was killed in the line of duty in Norridgewock this morning," Collins said. "Cpl. Cole served the citizens of Somerset County for 13 years with honor & distinction, & Maine will be eternally grateful for his brave actions to protect his community." The last time a Maine officer was shot and killed in the line of duty was 29 years ago on March 31, 1989, according to WGME. Maine State Police Detective Giles Landry was gunned down in his police cruiser outside a mobile home in Leeds while investigating a child abuse case. The incident in Maine comes a day after a gunman critically killed one Dallas police officer, wounded a second, and hurt an employee at a home improvement store led law enforcement on a high-speed car chase before he was captured in a late-night arrest. Fox News' Shira Bush and The Associated Press contributed to this report. (This post was last modified: 04-25-2018 07:01 PM by silversides .) Lobster Boy Registered User User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 05:24 PM Posts: 1,148 Post: #3 RE: New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE Better take a hit on your meth pipe to wake up. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 05:31 PM Post: #4 RE: New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE Lobster Boy Wrote: (04-25-2018 05:24 PM) Better take a hit on your meth pipe to wake up. meth? I don't pooki, but look around, everyone else here does. Especially the CIA and freemasons... the homeless here, all pooki heads. Sorry, I'm a thc fan. Sour Diesel all the way! 22% thc! meth? I don't pooki, but look around, everyone else here does. Especially the CIA and freemasons... the homeless here, all pooki heads.Sorry, I'm a thc fan. Sour Diesel all the way! 22% thc! Jeff is da MAN lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 05:33 PM Post: #5 RE: New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE Lobster Boy Wrote: (04-25-2018 05:24 PM) Better take a hit on your meth pipe to wake up. They don't make drugs that strong. They don't make drugs that strong. Lobster Boy Registered User User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 06:05 PM Posts: 1,148 Post: #6 RE: New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE Jeff is da MAN Wrote: (04-25-2018 05:33 PM) Lobster Boy Wrote: (04-25-2018 05:24 PM) Better take a hit on your meth pipe to wake up. They don't make drugs that strong. Probably so. :deadhorse2: Probably so. :deadhorse2: LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 09:57 PM Post: #7 RE: New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE Wish they'd change their focus to lawyers. Damrod lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 09:59 PM Post: #8 RE: New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE GIMME YOUR GUNS AND WE CAN MAKE THIS RIGHT IS THAT NOT THE MODERN DAY MANTRA? you better be paying attention.....you are next they are going to strip you of your rights to have a weapon......and you are going to let them Lobster Boy Registered User User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 10:38 PM Posts: 1,148 Post: #9 RE: New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE Damrod Wrote: (04-25-2018 09:59 PM) GIMME YOUR GUNS AND WE CAN MAKE THIS RIGHT IS THAT NOT THE MODERN DAY MANTRA? you better be paying attention.....you are next they are going to strip you of your rights to have a weapon......and you are going to let them Not me. I'm at an age of do not care how long I have left. Not me. I'm at an age of do not care how long I have left. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 11:37 PM Post: #10 RE: New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE zakkkkkkk Wrote: (04-25-2018 05:22 PM) just happened. its 8:30 am here in vegas..... damn. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/25/mai...bbery.html It is not 8:30 am in vegas right now. It is not 8:30 am in vegas right now. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-26-2018 03:40 AM Post: #11 RE: New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE it's sad that good cops are dying from crazy people. Condolences to the respective families. In post #2, last paragraph, it states: "The incident in Maine comes a day after a gunman critically killed one Dallas police officer, wounded a second, and hurt an employee at a home improvement store led law enforcement on a high-speed car chase before he was captured in a late-night arrest." What exactly does that mean? Have the publishers of these articles gotten so lax or are they truly so ignorant that they cannot proof-read the articles before printing them? I know what was intended, but still. The mastery of language is reaching an all-time low along with the average intelligence levels of people feeding the rest of us information. Does this only happen in English or is the same thing happening in other languages? LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-26-2018 04:04 AM Post: #12 RE: New Shooting Breaking Another COP Shot to death in MAINE LoP Guest Wrote: (04-26-2018 03:40 AM) it's sad that good cops are dying from crazy people. Condolences to the respective families. In post #2, last paragraph, it states: "The incident in Maine comes a day after a gunman critically killed one Dallas police officer, wounded a second, and hurt an employee at a home improvement store led law enforcement on a high-speed car chase before he was captured in a late-night arrest." What exactly does that mean? Have the publishers of these articles gotten so lax or are they truly so ignorant that they cannot proof-read the articles before printing them? I know what was intended, but still. The mastery of language is reaching an all-time low along with the average intelligence levels of people feeding the rest of us information. Does this only happen in English or is the same thing happening in other languages? A journalism major isn't what it used to be. A journalism major isn't what it used to be. Gambling911.com has your 2018 Kentucky Derby early contenders with no runaway favorite as of yet. SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE KENTUCKY DERBY EARLY ODDS Justify +300 Mendelssohn +400 Audible +650 Magnum Moon +800 Bolt dOro +900 Good Magic +1100 Vino Rosso +1600 Hofburg +1800 Noble Indy +2000 Solomini +2200 My Boy Jack +2500 Enticed +2500 Promises Fulfilled +3300 Free Drop Billy +3300 Flameaway +3300 Restoring Hope +4000 Firenze Fire +4000 Lone Sailor +4000 Quip +4000 Combatant +4000 Reride +5000 Snapper Sinclair +5000 Bravazo +5000 Dream Baby Dream +6600 KENTUCKY DERBY EARLY CONTENDERS Justify (3/1) - The early favorite, beware of the dreaded "Apollo Curse". Dating back to 1882, a two-year-old horse named Apollo went on to win that year's Kentucky Derby and, no, he didn't drop dead the next day .... Since Apollo's victory, no two-year-old has gone on to win the Derby. But this is looking like 5-time Derby winning trainer Bob Bafferts best horse. So he could be the one with a payout of $30 on every $10 bet. Mendelssohn (4/1) - There is a possibility that Mendelssohn will ultimately enter this year's Kentucky Derby as the favorite, with early odds a point behind Justify. He's a winner of his last three including an 18 lengths victory at the UAE Derby. Audible (6.5/1) - Winner of the Florida Derby that sealed his ticket to the 2018 Kentucky Derby, Audible finished that 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park in 1:49.48. He's also trained by the highly successful Todd Pletcher. Bet the 2018 Kentucky Derby Here - Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com One day Georgia will become a member of NATO , - President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly - GeorgianJournal Amazon Alexa-powered domestic robots in works; 2019 launch expected News oi-Vishal Kawadkar Amazon wants to take Alexa-powered devices to a next level. Amazon seems to be working on domestic robots that will be launched in 2019, reports Bloomberg. The project is dubbed as Vesta, after the goddess of home and family in Roman mythology. The company will most likely begin testing the robots by the end of 2018, while targeting a 2019 launch. Amazon has a robotics division that develops industrial machines that perform the automated work in its warehouses, but the new project is lead by Gregg Zehr, president of Amazon's Lab126. The lab is based in California and houses the hardware team that is responsible for the Echo and Fire line of products. It has also posted several robotics-related positions on jobs page. Vesta could a mobile Echo device that can move from one place to another on its own, and can navigate its way similar to self-driving cars. The company reportedly hopes to have employees using the robots in their homes sometime this year. Amazon is also said to be working on a new breed of Echo speakers that will offer virtual assistance for cars. The retail giant is said to launch the new speakers worldwide later this year after releasing a beta test for the devices in India in February. The report also suggests that the speakers might be launched sometime in June or July in 2018. It's important to note that the company has previously joined forces with car manufacturers to introduce a range of features on their car's infotainment systems powered by Alexa. Back in February 2017, Ford introduced support for Alexa with its SYNC3 infotainment system. Amazon was most recently joined by the Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) development team, which was established in 2012 for automotive-based applications by major players such as Jaguar, Land Rover, Nissan, and more. Amazon Echo Plus: How to Setup, Add Skills and Give Commands Amazon's role here is to provide the code needed for compatibility across various platforms to better streamline the production of in-vehicle applications. This also indicates that the developers will be able to create a single version of their app which will work across a range of vehicles regardless of which voice recognition system installed. If the company manages to bring these device to the market, it will be a huge leap pushing it way ahead of its competition. (source) Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Harman announces JBL Free wireless headphones for Rs 9,999 News oi-Vishal Kawadkar Harman has anew offering for the audiophiles. Harman International, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics has announced the launch of JBL Free in India. JBL Free is a truly wireless in-ear headphone that offers a hands-free experience. The new headphones are available in both black and white color variants in India at a price of Rs 9,999. It is also available at the company's ecommerce platform - www.HarmanAudio.in, on various online and retail channels and at 350 key Samsung brand stores across the country. JBL Free claims to provide 24 hours of combined use; continuous listening for up to 4 hours with 20 hours of backup power from the smart charging case. The case is equipped with a built-in battery, letting listeners recharge an entire hour of music playback in 15-minutes. The earbuds are Bluetooth-enabled so users can connect smart devices and enjoy a completely hands-free experience. JBL Free has a built-in microphone for takingr calls at the touch of a button. Built with sweat and water resistant materials, the earbuds withstand rainfall or a vigorous morning sweat session at the gym. To ensure a secure fit, three comfort-fit ear tips and two secure fit silicone sleeves are included. Users can interchange ear tips and sleeves for nine different size combinations. Previously the company launched a portable Bluetooth speaker in India. Dubbed as JBL Boombox, this speaker is among the bigger sized portable speakers in the company's product portfolio. Further, the main highlight of this new device is that it comes with a massive battery which according to the company will easily provide playback time for a whole day. The device is backed by a big built-in rechargeable Li-ion 20000mAh battery that is said to provide 24 hours of continuous playtime on a single charge. The speaker is said to be capable of charging other devices. InFocus Vision 3 Pro first impression With the JBL boombox, users can connect up to two devices simultaneously via Bluetooth. The speaker features JBL's Connect+ technology, Where users can also connect "more than 100" JBL speakers together. In addition, the speaker comes with an IPX7 rated waterproof design and the company claims that it can withstand any weather and even the most epic pool parties. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Nokia making profit in the Indian market, says HMD Global News oi-Karan Nokia is not willing to give up and once again came back with its new phones. Nokia has become profitable again in the Indian handset business in just over a year or relaunching its phone. Nokia the company once which was the ruler of the Indian phone market saw a major fall in last few years. But the company is not willing to give up and once again came back with its new phones. Nokia has become profitable again in the Indian handset business in just over a year or relaunching its phone. "We are already profitable in India," Amit Goyal, the global business head( north & east) of HMD GLobal, which is the global licensee of Nokia brand, quoted by PTI. However, he didn't elaborate his statement further neither he has disclosed the number of the handsets, which HMD Global has shipped top India. He didn't even talk about the distribution of Nokia phones which is handled by the company's affiliated organisation TNS Mobile India. HMD Global is a Finland based company who has taken the licensee of Nokia brand for a 10-year period. So whatever phone which is launching under the brand name of Nokia are manufactured by the HMD Globals, in case if you don't know. According to Goyal, the company has sold 70 million units in 2017 globally. Out of which feature phones has contributed a major share. The company is planning to focus on this segment more because 50 percent of the domestic market is ruled by the feature phone segment. So far, Nokia has five feature phone and eight Android smartphone models which have been either launched or ready to be launch in upcoming day. The launch of more models will strengthen the foothold of Nokia in India, which come under the top three markets globally. "We want to be present in all the segments of the phone market. The future rollouts will also cater to diverse segments," he said. He further added that Nokia wants to be one of the top three handset manufacturers not only in India but also in international markets. Goyal said that creating an infrastructure of 550 distributors who have successfully served over a lack retail point in short notice was an exciting journey. Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6 First Impressions Nokia is yet to decide any exclusive store strategy in India. Let's see how the company will cope with the Indian market and stay in the race of smartphone business. Inputs from PTI Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Samsung might launch Galaxy S8 Lite and Galaxy A8 Star News oi-Karan The phone was said to be called S9 mini, is now claimed to be released as Galaxy S8 Lite in China. Here are the latest updates on the smartphone. Earlier this month a Samsung smartphone was spotted on Geekbench listing with code name SM-G8750. The model with dual camera setup got the China certification recently. The phone was said to be called S9 mini, but now the same Twitter user is claiming that it will be released as Galaxy S8 Lite in China. However, the recent Bluetooth certification revealed the 'Lite' tag of the phone. As we already have the specification of the Galaxy S8 Lite. Here is the specification of Samsung Galaxy A8 Star. The Geekbench listing already revealed that the phone will be powered by a Snapdragon 660 SoC, paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage, which can be expanded up to 400GB with microSD. Apart from the hardware, previously the phone is expected to feature a 5.8-inch Quad HD+ display, but it seems that the screen resolution will be 2960 1440 pixels and Super AMOLED Infinity display. As far as the rear camera is concerned this mobile is expected to come with a dual camera setup with the combination of the dual 12-megapixel rear camera sensor. On the front, the smartphone houses an 8MP autofocus front-facing camera with wide-angle lens. The smartphone also comes with a biometric scanner which is placed in the middle of the rear panel. The Galaxy S8 Star is said to come with Water and dust resistant features with the IP68 certification. The smartphone will offer connectivity options like 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz), VHT80 MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5 (LE up to 2Mbps), GPS with GLONASS, USB 3.1, NFC, MST. The smartphone will be backed by a 3700mAh battery which will also come with a fast charging support. The S8 Star will run on Android 8.0 Oreo out-of-the-box. The smartphone is expected to come with the Dimensions of 147.7mm x 68.7mm x 8.4mm and Weight around 163g. The Samsung Galaxy A8 Star is expected to come in Black and Blue colors. Both the phones are expected to go official in the next few weeks. Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ First Impressions As usual, we can't believe any rumor before the phone goes official. This smartphone is likely to be exclusive to China as Samsung is looking to regain its recently lost popularity in the country. Let's see how this new smartphone will help Samsung in seeking the attention of the Chinese buyers. Source Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 3 Vote(s) - 3.67 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Page: 1 2 3 4 US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 08:15 PM Post: #16 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! Advertisement engineering Wrote: (04-25-2018 07:06 PM) Good catch link to image: https://i.imgur.com/dfi9w59.png Here are more photos by Staff Sgt. Gustavo Castillo https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4308283/p...-free-fall Here are more photos byStaff Sgt. Gustavo Castillo 270110nli lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 08:35 PM Post: #17 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! welp, imma hava to go with my buddies both names redacted here. and noimnot a shill. at DOD -Did you say theres ? down there people all fsckd ? for those who have not figured this out yet, no this DOD tweet is definitely not in reference to child trafficking. its not a mil/cia psyops channel you goddamn retards. wheres fred. get your ass in here and correct these dumbasses properly please. and im not saying that its not interesting that people pedogated the whole twitter thing on the DOD, and even the russians chimed in, fully IDing and logging in, and although it might even get a pin, the fact that this is the first thing that comes to peoples mind, is a sin. cause these people in the 82nd dont know anything about pizzagate. they never heard of it before. thanks all you morons retarded people for ruining their otherwise happy day. just sayin. sure it might have some kinda effect. but im just sayin thats its really not cool to take it out on innocent people. this channel is already mighty surprised at how quickly it devolved into the gutter. it is not the place for this kind of discussion. but kudos to people for taking advantage of the situation. they do not ever serve good normal ? in the mess halls (cafeteria) in the army. not even in the 82nd airborne division (unless someone pays for it themselves). the army serves big rectangular pans and like 40 - 60 rectangled slices of elementary school quality slices per pan. so the fact that they are going for ? after a jump, this is what the tweet is about. just sayin, again. damn. i was going to login, the only reason i didnt was to show that you could put? on here without it. thanks DOD for the icon, and sorry people drag down your sh!t with pron, but now you know just how concerned people are with this. perhaps you might want to look into this deep state. oh, thats right. you already know. carry on. /end rant 68 lines EOF LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 08:41 PM Post: #18 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! 270110nli Wrote: (04-25-2018 08:35 PM) welp, imma hava to go with my buddies both names redacted here. and noimnot a shill. at DOD -Did you say theres ? down there people all fsckd ? for those who have not figured this out yet, no this DOD tweet is definitely not in reference to child trafficking. its not a mil/cia psyops channel you goddamn retards. wheres fred. get your ass in here and correct these dumbasses properly please. and im not saying that its not interesting that people pedogated the whole twitter thing on the DOD, and even the russians chimed in, fully IDing and logging in, and although it might even get a pin, the fact that this is the first thing that comes to peoples mind, is a sin. cause these people in the 82nd dont know anything about pizzagate. they never heard of it before. thanks all you morons retarded people for ruining their otherwise happy day. just sayin. sure it might have some kinda effect. but im just sayin thats its really not cool to take it out on innocent people. this channel is already mighty surprised at how quickly it devolved into the gutter. it is not the place for this kind of discussion. but kudos to people for taking advantage of the situation. they do not ever serve good normal ? in the mess halls (cafeteria) in the army. not even in the 82nd airborne division (unless someone pays for it themselves). the army serves big rectangular pans and like 40 - 60 rectangled slices of elementary school quality slices per pan. so the fact that they are going for ? after a jump, this is what the tweet is about. just sayin, again. damn. i was going to login, the only reason i didnt was to show that you could put? on here without it. thanks DOD for the icon, and sorry people drag down your sh!t with pron, but now you know just how concerned people are with this. perhaps you might want to look into this deep state. oh, thats right. you already know. carry on. /end rant 68 lines EOF Regardless, theres a lot of sex traffickers being arrested now in the news, and cold case abductors and rapists getting arrested if youve been living in a cave, I cant help you. Even if it takes awhile, evil cant hide for long, nor get away with it Regardless, theres a lot of sex traffickers being arrested now in the news, and cold case abductors and rapists getting arrested if youve been living in a cave, I cant help you.Even if it takes awhile, evil cant hide for long, nor get away with it LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 08:43 PM Post: #19 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! 270110nli Wrote: (04-25-2018 08:35 PM) welp, imma hava to go with my buddies both names redacted here. and noimnot a shill. at DOD -Did you say theres ? down there people all fsckd ? for those who have not figured this out yet, no this DOD tweet is definitely not in reference to child trafficking. its not a mil/cia psyops channel you goddamn retards. wheres fred. get your ass in here and correct these dumbasses properly please. and im not saying that its not interesting that people pedogated the whole twitter thing on the DOD, and even the russians chimed in, fully IDing and logging in, and although it might even get a pin, the fact that this is the first thing that comes to peoples mind, is a sin. cause these people in the 82nd dont know anything about pizzagate. they never heard of it before. thanks all you morons retarded people for ruining their otherwise happy day. just sayin. sure it might have some kinda effect. but im just sayin thats its really not cool to take it out on innocent people. this channel is already mighty surprised at how quickly it devolved into the gutter. it is not the place for this kind of discussion. but kudos to people for taking advantage of the situation. they do not ever serve good normal ? in the mess halls (cafeteria) in the army. not even in the 82nd airborne division (unless someone pays for it themselves). the army serves big rectangular pans and like 40 - 60 rectangled slices of elementary school quality slices per pan. so the fact that they are going for ? after a jump, this is what the tweet is about. just sayin, again. damn. i was going to login, the only reason i didnt was to show that you could put? on here without it. thanks DOD for the icon, and sorry people drag down your sh!t with pron, but now you know just how concerned people are with this. perhaps you might want to look into this deep state. oh, thats right. you already know. carry on. /end rant 68 lines EOF Despite Djiboutis small size, its central location on the Horn of Africa makes it a crucial transit point for several migration flows in the region, also making it a high-risk country for human trafficking. But there is more which fuels the degree of human trafficking in Djibouti, in particular sex trafficking: the busy trucking corridor towards Ethiopia and the presence of thousands of foreign soldiers. http://humantraffickingcenter.org/djibou...-thailand/ Despite Djiboutis small size, its central location on the Horn of Africa makes it a crucial transit point for several migration flows in the region, also making it a high-risk country for human trafficking.But there is more which fuels the degree of human trafficking in Djibouti, in particular sex trafficking: the busy trucking corridor towards Ethiopia and the presence of thousands of foreign soldiers. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 08:49 PM Post: #20 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! 270110nli Wrote: (04-25-2018 08:35 PM) welp, imma hava to go with my buddies both names redacted here. and noimnot a shill. at DOD -Did you say theres ? down there people all fsckd ? for those who have not figured this out yet, no this DOD tweet is definitely not in reference to child trafficking. its not a mil/cia psyops channel you goddamn retards. wheres fred. get your ass in here and correct these dumbasses properly please. and im not saying that its not interesting that people pedogated the whole twitter thing on the DOD, and even the russians chimed in, fully IDing and logging in, and although it might even get a pin, the fact that this is the first thing that comes to peoples mind, is a sin. cause these people in the 82nd dont know anything about pizzagate. they never heard of it before. thanks all you morons retarded people for ruining their otherwise happy day. just sayin. sure it might have some kinda effect. but im just sayin thats its really not cool to take it out on innocent people. this channel is already mighty surprised at how quickly it devolved into the gutter. it is not the place for this kind of discussion. but kudos to people for taking advantage of the situation. they do not ever serve good normal ? in the mess halls (cafeteria) in the army. not even in the 82nd airborne division (unless someone pays for it themselves). the army serves big rectangular pans and like 40 - 60 rectangled slices of elementary school quality slices per pan. so the fact that they are going for ? after a jump, this is what the tweet is about. just sayin, again. damn. i was going to login, the only reason i didnt was to show that you could put? on here without it. thanks DOD for the icon, and sorry people drag down your sh!t with pron, but now you know just how concerned people are with this. perhaps you might want to look into this deep state. oh, thats right. you already know. carry on. /end rant 68 lines EOF You just said they didnt know and at the end they know. And why would concerned people take advantage of the situation, wanting an end to all crimes against humanity is taking advantage? WTF, that is messed up You just said they didnt know and at the end they know. And why would concerned people take advantage of the situation, wanting an end to all crimes against humanity is taking advantage? WTF, that is messed up SEPTA U.S. VETERANS ADMINISTRATION User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 08:49 PM Posts: 1,180 Post: #21 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! I STAND CORRECTED THEN. thank you for clarifying. it is not for no reasons that i have absolutely no faith whatsoever in the US government, as a whole, at all. SEPTA U.S. VETERANS ADMINISTRATION User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 08:51 PM Posts: 1,180 Post: #22 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! LoP Guest Wrote: (04-25-2018 08:49 PM) 270110nli Wrote: (04-25-2018 08:35 PM) welp, imma hava to go with my buddies both names redacted here. and noimnot a shill. at DOD -Did you say theres ? down there people all fsckd ? for those who have not figured this out yet, no this DOD tweet is definitely not in reference to child trafficking. its not a mil/cia psyops channel you goddamn retards. wheres fred. get your ass in here and correct these dumbasses properly please. and im not saying that its not interesting that people pedogated the whole twitter thing on the DOD, and even the russians chimed in, fully IDing and logging in, and although it might even get a pin, the fact that this is the first thing that comes to peoples mind, is a sin. cause these people in the 82nd dont know anything about pizzagate. they never heard of it before. thanks all you morons retarded people for ruining their otherwise happy day. just sayin. sure it might have some kinda effect. but im just sayin thats its really not cool to take it out on innocent people. this channel is already mighty surprised at how quickly it devolved into the gutter. it is not the place for this kind of discussion. but kudos to people for taking advantage of the situation. they do not ever serve good normal ? in the mess halls (cafeteria) in the army. not even in the 82nd airborne division (unless someone pays for it themselves). the army serves big rectangular pans and like 40 - 60 rectangled slices of elementary school quality slices per pan. so the fact that they are going for ? after a jump, this is what the tweet is about. just sayin, again. damn. i was going to login, the only reason i didnt was to show that you could put? on here without it. thanks DOD for the icon, and sorry people drag down your sh!t with pron, but now you know just how concerned people are with this. perhaps you might want to look into this deep state. oh, thats right. you already know. carry on. /end rant 68 lines EOF You just said they didnt know and at the end they know. And why would concerned people take advantage of the situation, wanting an end to all crimes against humanity is taking advantage? WTF, that is messed up IT IS NOT A NEW THING that is why. i am pointing out the absurdity of the entire situation. yes it is messed up. and it has been that way, and it is only going to get worse. entropy. (no relation to or offense to dude on here) IT IS NOT A NEW THINGthat is why.i am pointing out the absurdity of the entire situation.yes it is messed up.and it has been that way, and it is only going to get worse.entropy. (no relation to or offense to dude on here) LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 08:52 PM Post: #23 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! 270110nli Wrote: (04-25-2018 08:35 PM) welp, imma hava to go with my buddies both names redacted here. and noimnot a shill. at DOD -Did you say theres ? down there people all fsckd ? for those who have not figured this out yet, no this DOD tweet is definitely not in reference to child trafficking. its not a mil/cia psyops channel you goddamn retards. wheres fred. get your ass in here and correct these dumbasses properly please. and im not saying that its not interesting that people pedogated the whole twitter thing on the DOD, and even the russians chimed in, fully IDing and logging in, and although it might even get a pin, the fact that this is the first thing that comes to peoples mind, is a sin. cause these people in the 82nd dont know anything about pizzagate. they never heard of it before. thanks all you morons retarded people for ruining their otherwise happy day. just sayin. sure it might have some kinda effect. but im just sayin thats its really not cool to take it out on innocent people. this channel is already mighty surprised at how quickly it devolved into the gutter. it is not the place for this kind of discussion. but kudos to people for taking advantage of the situation. they do not ever serve good normal ? in the mess halls (cafeteria) in the army. not even in the 82nd airborne division (unless someone pays for it themselves). the army serves big rectangular pans and like 40 - 60 rectangled slices of elementary school quality slices per pan. so the fact that they are going for ? after a jump, this is what the tweet is about. just sayin, again. damn. i was going to login, the only reason i didnt was to show that you could put? on here without it. thanks DOD for the icon, and sorry people drag down your sh!t with pron, but now you know just how concerned people are with this. perhaps you might want to look into this deep state. oh, thats right. you already know. carry on. /end rant 68 lines EOF so the dept of defense just sit on their butts worried about what they are going to eat The Department of Defense created the CTIP office in response to the Presidentas National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD 22) which stated the U.S. a?zero tolerance policya? for trafficking in persons (TIP). The Directive states, Agencies shall review their internal structures, personnel requirements, capabilities, information systems, professional education programs, training procedures, legislative authorities, and budgets to accommodate the provisions of this directiveDepartments and agencies shall ensure that all of the appropriate offices within their jurisdiction are fully training to carry out their responsibilities to combat trafficking. https://www.globalcenturion.org/programs...p-project/ so the dept of defense just sit on their butts worried about what they are going to eatThe Department of Defense created the CTIP office in response to the Presidentas National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD 22) which stated the U.S. a?zero tolerance policya? for trafficking in persons (TIP). The Directive states, Agencies shall review their internal structures, personnel requirements, capabilities, information systems, professional education programs, training procedures, legislative authorities, and budgets to accommodate the provisions of this directiveDepartments and agencies shall ensure that all of the appropriate offices within their jurisdiction are fully training to carry out their responsibilities to combat trafficking. silversides The bare necessities of life User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 08:59 PM Posts: 28,562 Post: #24 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! Fork Wrote: (04-25-2018 07:14 PM) the tweet in the OP was posted 15 hours ago. an hour ago the same twitter account posted about a training exercise named the AfricanLion. https://twitter.com/DeptofDefense/status...7524468736 As far as I know Ethiopia is the Lion Of Africa... Djibouti is next to Ethiopia... Yemen used to be a part of Ethiopia a very long time ago... Maybe we are going into Yemen... As far as I know Ethiopia is the Lion Of Africa...Djibouti is next to Ethiopia...Yemen used to be a part of Ethiopia a very long time ago...Maybe we are going into Yemen... Popurri Perez Prado LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 09:09 PM Post: #25 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! Quote: cause these people in the 82nd dont know anything about pizzagate. they never heard of it before. Some proper derp right there. He magically knows the browsing history and inner thoughts of the 82nd like it's a single entity. Some proper derp right there.He magically knows the browsing history and inner thoughts of the 82nd like it's a single entity. SEPTA U.S. VETERANS ADMINISTRATION User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 09:09 PM Posts: 1,180 Post: #26 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! https://lunaticoutpost.com/thread-26548.html Murderers, rapists and pedophiles are just some of the people who were reportedly given top-secret security clearances by the federal government as it faces a huge bureaucratic backlog. A senior government official said Wednesday that around 100,000 people currently hold interim clearances while carrying out work for companies with Defense Department contracts, as they await more comprehensive background checks. This is very, very dangerous, said Daniel E. Payne, head of the Defense Security Service, which oversees the issuing of temporary clearances on behalf of the Pentagon, McClatchy D.C. reported. Ive got murderers who have access to classified information. I have rapists. I have pedophiles. I have people involved in child porn. This is the risk we are taking. A temporary clearance requires applicantrs to merely complete a security form, a credit check and an initial FBI background check. In order to be granted a full clearance, much greater research into the applicant is required, including interviews with associates, visits to the applicant's home and deep dives into family history and overseas travel. The full process can take up to a year, Payne said. With a current backlog of around 700,000 casesit grew exponentially in 2015 and 2016increasing numbers of people are being given temporary clearances for work with the Defense Department in thousands of facilities across the country. Intelligence agencies, which do not grant temporary clearances, are not affected. http://www.newsweek.com/security-clearan...les-661511 Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups. A Handbook for Chaplains Extracted from: DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY PAMPHLET NO. 165-13 Note: this is a dated piece of information provided for historical interest. HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY APRIL 1978 CHURCH OF SATAN Post Office Box 7633 San Francisco, California 94120 Anton S. LaVey High Priest AKA: Satanists HISTORICAL ROOTS: The Church of Satan is an eclectic body that traces its origin to many sources - classical voodoo, the Hell-Fire Club of eighteenth century England, the ritual magic of Aleister Crowley, and the Black Order of Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. It departs from its predecessors by (1) its organization into a church, and (2) the openness of its magical endeavors. CURRENT WORLD LEADER: Anton Szandor LaVey, High Priest. ORIGINS IN THE U.S.: The Church of Satan was formed on Walpurgisnacht, April 30, 1966, in San Francisco California, when Anton LaVey proclaimed the beginning of the Satanic Era. Initial growth came from coverage in the mass media. Articles included coverage of LaVey holding a funeral for a member of the U.S. Navy killed in San Francisco. NUMBER OF ADHERENTS IN THE U.S.: Between 10,000 and 20,000. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: The Church of Satan is focused in the Central Grotto in San Francisco. It accepts or rejects all potential members and charters other grottos (congregations) around the country. Isolated individuals relate directly to the Central Grotto. Power to regulate members is in the hands of the Head of the Church. LEADERSHIP AND ROLE OF PRIESTS: The Priesthood of the Church of Satan is not comprised of individuals who are necessarily adept in the performance of rituals, though pastoral and organizational abilities are not minimized. The rank of Priest is conferred on those who have achieved a measurable degree of esteem or proficiency and/or success; one's level of membership within the Church is commensurate with his/her position outside the Church. Hence a respected career soldier or Commissioned Officer in the Army might qualify, though be totally uninvolved with group activity. This form of stratification determines the leadership and selects the governing body of the Church. Rituals are conducted by a de facto priest i.e., a celebrant member who has evidenced a working knowledge of and ability to conduct services and is authorized by the Central Grotto. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/se...en&ct=clnk https://steemit.com/conspiracy/@rfchaosheart/the-connection-between-the-church-of-satan-and-us-army-psychological-warfare this rabbit hole goes pretty deep, especially considering other aspects like who it is that is able to use military resources and to what end. there is a long long list of very bad things on record. a very long list. MURDERERS, RAPISTS AND PEDOPHILES GIVEN TOP-SECRET SECURITY CLEARANCES BY DEFENSE DEPARTMENTMurderers, rapists and pedophiles are just some of the people who were reportedly given top-secret security clearances by the federal government as it faces a huge bureaucratic backlog. A senior government official said Wednesday that around 100,000 people currently hold interim clearances while carrying out work for companies with Defense Department contracts, as they await more comprehensive background checks.This is very, very dangerous, said Daniel E. Payne, head of the Defense Security Service, which oversees the issuing of temporary clearances on behalf of the Pentagon, McClatchy D.C. reported. Ive got murderers who have access to classified information. I have rapists. I have pedophiles. I have people involved in child porn. This is the risk we are taking.A temporary clearance requires applicantrs to merely complete a security form, a credit check and an initial FBI background check. In order to be granted a full clearance, much greater research into the applicant is required, including interviews with associates, visits to the applicant's home and deep dives into family history and overseas travel. The full process can take up to a year, Payne said.With a current backlog of around 700,000 casesit grew exponentially in 2015 and 2016increasing numbers of people are being given temporary clearances for work with the Defense Department in thousands of facilities across the country. Intelligence agencies, which do not grant temporary clearances, are not affected.Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups. A Handbook for ChaplainsExtracted from: DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY PAMPHLET NO. 165-13Note: this is a dated piece of information provided for historical interest.HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY APRIL 1978CHURCH OF SATANPost Office Box 7633San Francisco, California 94120Anton S. LaVeyHigh PriestAKA: SatanistsHISTORICAL ROOTS: The Church of Satan is an eclectic body that traces its origin to many sources - classical voodoo, the Hell-Fire Club of eighteenth century England, the ritual magic of Aleister Crowley, and the Black Order of Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. It departs from its predecessors by (1) its organization into a church, and (2) the openness of its magical endeavors.CURRENT WORLD LEADER: Anton Szandor LaVey, High Priest.ORIGINS IN THE U.S.: The Church of Satan was formed on Walpurgisnacht, April 30, 1966, in San Francisco California, when Anton LaVey proclaimed the beginning of the Satanic Era. Initial growth came from coverage in the mass media. Articles included coverage of LaVey holding a funeral for a member of the U.S. Navy killed in San Francisco.NUMBER OF ADHERENTS IN THE U.S.: Between 10,000 and 20,000.ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: The Church of Satan is focused in the Central Grotto in San Francisco. It accepts or rejects all potential members and charters other grottos (congregations) around the country. Isolated individuals relate directly to the Central Grotto. Power to regulate members is in the hands of the Head of the Church.LEADERSHIP AND ROLE OF PRIESTS: The Priesthood of the Church of Satan is not comprised of individuals who are necessarily adept in the performance of rituals, though pastoral and organizational abilities are not minimized. The rank of Priest is conferred on those who have achieved a measurable degree of esteem or proficiency and/or success; one's level of membership within the Church is commensurate with his/her position outside the Church. Hence a respected career soldier or Commissioned Officer in the Army might qualify, though be totally uninvolved with group activity. This form of stratification determines the leadership and selects the governing body of the Church. Rituals are conducted by a de facto priest i.e., a celebrant member who has evidenced a working knowledge of and ability to conduct services and is authorized by the Central Grotto.this rabbit hole goes pretty deep, especially considering other aspects like who it is that is able to use military resources and to what end.there is a long long list of very bad things on record.a very long list. Strategos Against Dystopia User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 09:10 PM Posts: 9,436 Post: #27 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! This tweet is about a picture of an Air Force Search and Rescue operator skydiving in Dubai. Is it really pin-worthy? Hamburgerwagon lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 09:13 PM Post: #28 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! Strategos Wrote: (04-25-2018 09:10 PM) This tweet is about a picture of an Air Force Search and Rescue operator skydiving in Dubai. Is it really pin-worthy? Derpers gonna derp Derpers gonna derp SEPTA U.S. VETERANS ADMINISTRATION User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 09:17 PM Posts: 1,180 Post: #29 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! LoP Guest Wrote: (04-25-2018 09:09 PM) Quote: cause these people in the 82nd dont know anything about pizzagate. they never heard of it before. Some proper derp right there. He magically knows the browsing history and inner thoughts of the 82nd like it's a single entity. agreed. i know i know. agreed.i know i know. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-25-2018 11:08 PM Post: #30 RE: US Dept of Defense tweet. Its On ! silversides Wrote: (04-25-2018 08:59 PM) Fork Wrote: (04-25-2018 07:14 PM) the tweet in the OP was posted 15 hours ago. an hour ago the same twitter account posted about a training exercise named the AfricanLion. https://twitter.com/DeptofDefense/status...7524468736 As far as I know Ethiopia is the Lion Of Africa... Djibouti is next to Ethiopia... Yemen used to be a part of Ethiopia a very long time ago... Maybe we are going into Yemen... that is kind of what I think. they are training for more intensive involvement in Somalia. that is kind of what I think. they are training for more intensive involvement in Somalia. Advertisement Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Maine Democrats Quash Bill to Criminalize FGM LoP Guest lop guest User ID: kaput 04-25-2018 10:31 PM Post: #1 Maine Democrats Quash Bill to Criminalize FGM Advertisement The vote ironically came during the Week of the Young Child. The bill would have held the mutilator, consenting parents and/or guardians and the transporters accountable for their part in perpetrating the FGM and exacted penalties from each of these parties. Instead of passing the bill, all the House Democrats save for one, voted against the bill amid ad hominem cries against one of the bills sponsors, Republican legislator Rep. Heather Sirocki. Specifically, the Southern Poverty Law Center published emails between Sirocki and a Maine member of ACT for America, which the law center bogusly claims is the largest anti-Muslim hate group in the United States. During testimony regarding the bill, Leftist activists questioned why a white woman was fighting so hard to defend immigrant girls and accused the sponsors of the bill of being racists, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant. Legislators also heard heart breaking testimony from an FGM survivor, yet they were not moved. But the story doesnt end here. Last week, House Democrats passed a toothless bill that appears to ban FGM but in fact does not. That bill removed all penalties for those involved with the crime. In addition, the word mutilation was removed from the definition of the barbaric practice. (House Republicans rightly rejected that bill.) The bill was then sent back to the Senate, which re-inserted the penalties for all those connected to the crime. The bill passed the Senate 30-5, with the dissenters hailing from Far-Left parties. https://clarionproject.org/maine-democra...alize-fgm/ seems it says penalties were re-inserted at senate which the left didn't like ..the left involved above are truly mentally ill. A bill to criminalize female genital mutilation (FGM) in Maine was squashed by House Democrats due to political correctness and misplaced concerns about Islamophobia.The vote ironically came during the Week of the Young Child.The bill would have held the mutilator, consenting parents and/or guardians and the transporters accountable for their part in perpetrating the FGM and exacted penalties from each of these parties.Instead of passing the bill, all the House Democrats save for one, voted against the bill amid ad hominem cries against one of the bills sponsors, Republican legislator Rep. Heather Sirocki. Specifically, the Southern Poverty Law Center published emails between Sirocki and a Maine member of ACT for America, which the law center bogusly claims is the largest anti-Muslim hate group in the United States.During testimony regarding the bill, Leftist activists questioned why a white woman was fighting so hard to defend immigrant girls and accused the sponsors of the bill of being racists, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant.Legislators also heard heart breaking testimony from an FGM survivor, yet they were not moved.But the story doesnt end here. Last week, House Democrats passed a toothless bill that appears to ban FGM but in fact does not. That bill removed all penalties for those involved with the crime. In addition, the word mutilation was removed from the definition of the barbaric practice. (House Republicans rightly rejected that bill.)The bill was then sent back to the Senate, which re-inserted the penalties for all those connected to the crime. The bill passed the Senate 30-5, with the dissenters hailing from Far-Left parties.seems it says penalties were re-inserted at senatewhich the left didn't like..the left involved above are truly mentally ill. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-26-2018 07:45 AM Post: #2 RE: Maine Democrats Quash Bill to Criminalize FGM wow, these cowards really are slaves to islam LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-26-2018 08:07 AM Post: #3 RE: Maine Democrats Quash Bill to Criminalize FGM remember this bs when liberal filth claim to be on the side of women LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 1337 04-26-2018 07:04 PM Post: #4 RE: Maine Democrats Quash Bill to Criminalize FGM LoP Guest Wrote: (04-26-2018 08:07 AM) remember this bs when liberal filth claim to be on the side of women ^ MERCEDES-BENZ has lifted the lid on its long mooted A-Class sedan that has been confirmed for the Australian market and could arrive before the end of this year. The booted A-Class was uncovered at this weeks Beijing motor show in longer-wheelbase L guise which will be exclusively offered to the Chinese market before another version built for markets outside China will roll out in the second half of 2018. The Chinese A-Class L has a 60mm-longer wheelbase (2789mm) than the international version, and it will be built for China by Daimlers joint-venture partner, BAIC Motor. Specific Australian launch timing, model grade details and source country are being kept under wraps for now, but Benzs local arm says to expect a full range with a variety of powertrain offerings. When it arrives in Australia, it will compete with the Audi A3 sedan, but buyers are also likely to shop it against Benzs own CLA sedan that, in its current guise is based on the MFA platform shared with the A-Class hatch and GLA. In China, it will also compete with the BMW 1 Series sedan. Reports suggest the next-generation CLA which will share the MFA-2 compact cars architecture with the new A-Class will have a more sporting appearance and handling characteristics to ensure it does not cannibalise A-Class sedan sales. Mercedes has previously announced that its compact car family will expand to eight models, up from the five A-Class, B-Class, CLA, CLA Shooting Brake and GLA it offers now. Benz is yet to reveal any technical details about the international A-Class sedan, but the Chinese version measure 4609mm long, 1796mm wide and 1460mm high, with cargo capacity of 420 litres. As mentioned, the wheelbase is 60mm longer than the hatchback and the global sedan. Powertrain offerings in China include a 1.3-litre all-aluminium four-cylinder petrol engine with power outputs of 100kW and 120kW, while a 140kW 2.0-litre four-pot will follow. All engines are paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The international A-Class sedan is likely to match the hatchbacks powertrains, which include a 120kW/240Nm four-cylinder turbo petrol, an updated version of the 165kW/350Nm petrol unit from the A250 and a pair of diesels, including an 85kW unit thats unlikely to be offered in Australia. While it is yet to be officially confirmed by Benz, an A35 AMG version will be offered in hatchback guise to sit under the potent A45. It will add a 48-volt electrical system and electric turbocharger to the updated A250 engine and it is expected to be revealed at this years Paris motor show in October. The production version was previewed by the Concept A Sedan at last years Shanghai motor show, and while it has lost the multi-coloured glowing headlights and other concept flourishes, it has retained the sleek coupe-like shape. Penned using Benzs Sensual Purity design philosophy, the A-Class sedan matches the front-end design of the hatch. It has short front and rear overhangs and two-piece tail-lights that Benz says emphasises the width of the car. The sedan gains the all-new cabin of the hatch, including a full-colour widescreen display in place of a traditional instrument cowl, a wing-shaped dashboard and turbine-look air vents. Benzs new MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) multimedia system is offered in the A-Class sedan. It features artificial intelligence with unique learning abilities, while the voice recognition system understands various Chinese dialects. Mercedes has revealed the sedan jut as production of the new-gen A-Class hatchback kicks off in Germany. The first international media launch for the hatchback is currently underway in Croatia. GoAuto will have full details, including first-drive impressions, on Friday April 27. The Road to Recovery podcast series At General Electrics annual meeting on Wednesday morning, retirees blasted GEs board of directors and executives who oversaw the conglomerate the past few years as its stock plunged. GE CEO John Flannery told investors he has focused his attention on reorienting GE to businesses where it can be dominant since replacing Jeff Immelt in the role last year. Even as Flannery spoke, GE shares fell 5 percent Wednesday morning to below $14, with the issue off by more than half from a year ago. Its a back-to-basics story on cost, on cash ... on people, Flannery said. We are disappointed in our performance in 2017. Retirees, employees and investors were given the opportunity to address Flannery and other GE executives directly at the meeting in Imperial, Pa., outside Pittsburgh, with a man who identified himself as a GE employee in Erie, Pa., telling Flannery the company is playing shell games with jobs in Erie and elsewhere with a devastating impact on local communities where job cuts have occurred. The first speaker drew a sustained round of applause in excoriating Immelt and calling for the removal of board members who were in place as GE stock plunged the past few years, and as the company changed health benefits for retirees among other complaints. Were keenly aware of the pain that our performance has caused, and that the dividend cut has caused, Flannery said prior to fielding questions from the audience. For the company to succeed in the long run, we have to ensure that we have a competitive cost position. Multiple attendees also called for GE to remove KPMG as its auditor, with the companys board having recommended the firm be retained and shareholders voting in favor on Wednesday. KPMG CEO Lynne Doughtie was on hand for the annual meeting Wednesday morning, hearing firsthand investor skepticism of her firms auditing in the wake of GE taking billions of dollars of charges against earnings to account for GE Capital exposure to former insurance units. Leslie Seidman, the former chair of the Norwalk-based Financial Accounting Standards Board that establishes U.S. accounting standards, is one of three new additions to the GE board this year under Flannery, who holds the dual role of chairman. GE Capitals Norwalk office represents the parent companys last major employment site in southwestern Connecticut, less than two years after GE moved its former headquarters in Fairfield to Boston and vacated Stamford offices. But GE Capitals future is an open question as GE looks to pare off assets, with Flannery reiterating Wednesday a $15 billion target for asset sales. GE Capital greased the skids for some $14 billion in orders to General Electrics industrial divisions last year, the company disclosed Wednesday, about 12 percent of the $113 billion in industrial revenue generated by GE last year. Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman A Connecticut state representative who survived a 2007 home invasion in Cheshire has decided not to run for the Congressional seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty. Republican William Petit announced Wednesday that he is running for re-election to represent the 22nd state House District, and not for the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. GOP leaders had urged Petit to run for the 5th Congressional District, which covers greater Danbury and central and northwestern Connecticut, after Esty, a Democrat, withdrew due to an office abuse scandal. "I thought long and hard about running for Congress in the 5th District and all that would entail, Petit said in a statement. But family considerations and my deep-seated commitment to the people I now serve won out. Petit was one of three high-profile candidates who were urged to run after Esty announced she would not seek a fourth term. The other two - Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden of Newtown-based Sandy Hook Promise - are deciding between themselves whether one of them or neither of them will run as a Democrat. So far, theres been no word from them or from anyone close to them about when a decision will be announced. Hockley and Barden each lost sons in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. Both parents said family considerations would play an important role in their decision. In 2014, Petit decided against challenging Esty, citing his need to be with his new family. This time around, Petit also considered unfinished business he has in Hartford, where he represents Plainfield and New Britain. State GOP Chairman J.R. Romano said he respected Petits decision. He gave it serious consideration, contemplating how it would impact his family and how it would impact the state, Romano said. With Republicans being so close to gaining a majority, and putting state back on a path of fiscal sanity, it was a lot to weigh. Petit said as much in a statement on Wednesday. "Connecticut needs to come up with a better way to help businesses grow so that they can expand their payrolls, Petits statement read. We need fewer regulations and we need to lessen the overall burden on earners and employers if we want to stimulate economic growth," Petit said. "At this point, I feel I can be a stronger agent for changing Connecticut for the better in Hartford than in Washington. With Hockley and Barden keeping the Fifth District guessing, what remains is three declared candidates. Manny Santos, a former mayor of Meridan, is running for the GOP. Former Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman and former Newtown Rabbi Shaul Marshall Praver are running as Democrats. Party conventions are planned for mid-May. rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342 Untold numbers of women endure horrific threats and abuse online. The new film Netizens, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this past weekend, not only illustrates the problem but criticizes how little legislators and major social media platforms, including Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook are doing about it. "I hunger for you, Anita. It consumes me every day," an abuser identified as "Kevin Langham" wrote in a 2014 tweet depicted in the film. "I want to hold you in my arms. I'm going to choke the life out of you." That "Anita" is Anita Sarkeesian, the cultural critic who has often taken on Gamergate and others in the misogynist world of online gaming. In return for her stance, Sarkeesian has suffered frightening tweets like the one above, and others too crude to quote. In the film Sarkeesian showed a photo of a jar of semen sent online. when she speaks publicly, the film poinrws our, the venue is typically protected by armed guards and swept by bomb-sniffing dogs. Related: SXSW Festival Cancels Gamer Panels After Threats of Violence In a panel discussion following a Saturday screening of the film in New York, Sarkeesian -- a San Francisco entrepreneur who with her team of four creates the video series Feminist Frequency -- addressed possible responses to the online abuse women face from gamers, ex-boyfriends and other venomous sources. "My concerns are that these platforms were built from the ground up by white men and tested on their families and people in their orbit who looked like them, and they never thought about how their platforms could do harm," Sarkeesian said. "So, what happens is that when [a platform] takes off and you have millions of users, it's putting Band-Aids on this geyser of harm and chaos on their platforms. ... Can you ever fix a platform where the foundation is fundamentally flawed?" Image credit: Joan Oleck Sometimes yes, the critic herself acknowledged. She consults with major tech companies, including those in social media, Sarkeesian said. And, "It's fascinating to be in a space as long as I have, doing this work and [seeing] how rapidly we have come to recognize that online harassment is real. "Five or six years ago, when I met with Twitter, there were five or six people on their safety team; and they were like, 'Nah, we don't have an [issue].' And, I'm like, 'What?' Now, there's a safety council and they try to communicate with us about what we're doing, I don't know the specifics of whether it's working or not but that's such a huge difference." Related: Twitter Offers New Filter, Cracks Down on Abuse Certainly that difference doesn't work for everyone, the film pointed out in its profile of two other women. One was Tina Reine, a Miami-based carbon commodities trader and aerialist who once delivered a TEDx talk about dancing as a springboard to girls' self-confidence. Reine's personal history became the obsession of a hateful ex, whose extensive online defamation of her caused a potential and at least one actual employer to dismiss her. In one of the film's most telling scenes, Reine, who during the filming was eking out a living teaching gymnastics to children, signs up for a Toastmasters course. There, she explains to a skeptical fellow student, who is male, that what she had been encountered wasn't just a free speech do-or-die situation: It had wrecked her life emotionally and financially, she told him. "Every time I give out my name," Reine said elsewhere in the film about her ongoing struggle, "I know I'm about to be judged because I know eventually they're going to Google me and see what's there, and they're going to judge me." Also profiled in Netizens was New York-based attorney Carrie Goldberg. Goldberg became a lawyer specializing in online abuse, she recounted in the film, because she too had suffered online defamation and couldn't find counsel who knew enough about social media to help her fight back. In one of the film's most emotional scenes, Goldberg is shown opening boxes at a storage facility that have been labeled "tainted," because the clothing and jewelry they contain are items she wore during the abuse she suffered from a man she dated for just four months. She'd put her possessions in storage, she said in the film, because she'd had to move to a more secure apartment -- that was how scary the threats from her ex were. "New York doesn't have a revenge porn law because our politicians are doing nothing about it," Goldberg says elsewhere in the film. "This is not what the First Amendment is about." The Brooklyn-based attorney was in the news two years ago for filing complaints against New York City schools for actions taken against female students who'd alleged sexual attacks by male students. In one case Netizens describes, a Brooklyn girl's assault was actually recorded and posted online. The girl became the target of taunts; the principal responded by telling her to stay home because her presence "would make things worse." In an era when Mark Zuckerberg can be called on the carpet by Senate investigators because of possible wrongdoing by Facebook over the Russian hacking scandal -- and at a time when researchers are actively examining whether social media is psychologically, maybe even physically addictive -- revenge porn as a public policy issue is on the ascent. Related: Reddit to Crack Down on Abuse After CEO Is Targeted The internet, the film's website declares, is becoming "the next frontier of civil rights." And the film's speakers underscore that view. "How do we get the platforms to recognize that this is a problem that is actively harming their users? What do these platforms stand for?" Sarkeesian asked rhetorically during the panel. "Do they want Nazis on their platform? "I'm tried of giving them this free [free speech] waiver over what is happening ... The platforms are not built with human users in mind." Related: Things You Didn't Know About Social Media Marketing Treat Your Social Media Like the Storefront You Want Customers to See How Women Are Fighting Back Against Online Bullying -- and the Tech Companies That Allow It Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved There was a time when a prime piece of Chicagos downtown was an industrial wasteland. Railroad tracks cut off the downtown city core, known as the Loop, from Lake Michigan, creating a large-scale eyesore. But all that changed when the city partnered with developers, architects, and artists to envision what the city website calls a new kind of town square. When Millennium Park opened in 2004, anchored by open-air galleries and interactive public art, it created a ripple effect in nearby development. Soon, condo buildings stretched into the sky, and property values skyrocketed in the Loop. The Millennium Park factor has been credited with fueling the areas real estate growth by about 10,000 new units over the following decade, to the tune of $1.4 billion just in residential development, according to an economic impact study by URS and Goodwin Williams Group. Crown Fountain in Millennium Park, by Jaume Plensa Millennium Park Foundation "The art and the architecture of the park is absolutely at the core of the success of Millennium Park," says Scott Stewart, executive director of the Millennium Park Foundation. He touted the success of Cloud Gate, a 110-ton, mirrored sculpture by Anish Kapoor better known as "the Bean," a selfie magnet for tourists and residents alike. People really want to be near these great, iconic places or things that make a city recognizable," Stewart says. The Cloud Gate sculpture, (aka The Bean) in Millennium Park EddieHernandezPhotography/iStock Around the country, public art has become a hot commodity that is being used to spark revitalization in blighted neighborhoods and turn vacant land into places where people want to live, work, and play. Builders are increasingly incorporating art both into these emerging neighborhoods and into their own developments, as they compete to bring in both discerning buyers and tenants willing to pay top dollar. Developers are beginning to see that if they want to attract tenants, they have to offer them more than just four walls, says Barbara Goldstein, a public art planner and consultant based in San Jose, CA. She points to a new mixed-use development revamping downtown Orlando, FL, that she worked on, called Creative Village. The development includes schools, housing, offices and creative studios, parks, and shopping, and weaves art throughout its public spaces. "We're going to see more and more of this kind of thing," she predicts. Consider a flock of chrome birds suspended over a Detroit sidewalk, a 14-foot-long outdoor video wall in downtown St. Louis or 202 restored vintage street lamps that line a plaza outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Urban Light exhibit, as the L.A. standing lamps are called, has become a popular place for children to play and for grownups to take photos, encouraging lingering. Its all part of what Goldstein calls the new urbanism. "A lot of these spaces where youve created something spectacular out of something less than desirable ... those are attractive" communities now, says Millennium Park's Stewart. "They naturally draw people to them. Steve and Dorota Coy's "Flight" art installation over the new esplanade on Woodward Avenue in Detroit Raymond Boyd/Getty Images Public art can help to revitalize neighborhoods Beyond boosting property values, community art can help revitalize neighborhoods, says Juanita Hardy, senior visiting fellow at the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based land and real estate research and education group. She points to the formerly sleepy suburban Brookland neighborhood in northeast Washington, D.C. Its now home to the Monroe Street Market, a five-block, mixed-use development that opened in 2014 and includes a community center and three residential buildings. Two of the buildings have 27 affordable artist's studios on the ground floorprime real estate normally reserved as retail space. The artist's studios are equipped with glass doors, part of an art walk, bringing the community into the experience and attracting tourists to the area, says Hardy. Although theres no hard data on what impact the studios have had on the development, Hardy says the buildings have reported faster lease-up rates and higher retention rates. When the development opened, the median home list price in its ZIP code was $474,000, according to realtor.com data. By 2017, the median price had risen to $598,400a 26.2% increase in just three years. One of the most prominent examples of public art recently is the High Line in New York City, a 1-mile-long park that reclaimed an abandoned elevated railroad track and became one of Manhattan's top lures for tourists and locals alike. The park has incorporated art since its first section opened in June 2009, and has its own curator. The park attracted 1.3 million people in its first year. It was completed in 2014; in 2015, it saw 7.6 million visitors and real estate prices and development in the vicinity have soared. Art along the High Line in New York City. Neale Clark/Getty Images "It's the broader context of using art and culture to connect the community and provide places that attract people and provide economic opportunities," Hardy says of these kinds of developments. In Indianapolis, the Cultural Trail, an 8-mile pedestrian and bicycle path built in 2013 that connects downtown neighborhoods and features public art, is responsible for boosting property values in the surrounding area by $1 billion, a study by Indiana Universitys Public Policy Institute found. The trail was created as a place where artists could display their work, with about $4 million set aside for that purpose during the design and construction phases. It attracts suburbanites who flock downtown to cycle the trail and take in the art along the wayincluding 46 large murals that mark the time the city hosted Super Bowl XLVI, says real estate broker Ryan Mullin, of FS Houses. When the trail was built, it tied together all the coolest and hippest neighborhoods, he adds, and real estate prices climbed. You used to be able to buy a house for $35,000 to $40,000," he says of the area. Now, a vacant lot sells for that much and starter homes are selling for $220,000, he says. Art makes new buildings more attractive to prospective residents Many builders also make a point of following artists to the next trendy neighborhoodsand incorporating their work into the high-end condo and rental buildings that are going up to make them more appealing to buyers and renters. "[Art] is a huge consideration," says David Brause, president of Brause Realty, a New York City-based developer that has both residential and commercial developments in five states along the East Coast. "I love walking through a building that has art in it." When Brause developed a vacant lot in Long Island City, a New York neighborhood known for its graffiti art, he tried to preserve what he described as a "breathtaking" image of a rooster that had been painted with graffiti on a 15-foot retaining wall in the back of the lot. He was not successful, so his company took a photo of the piece, blew it up and put it in the lobby of the 38-story rental tower they built, named The Forge. A photograph of the rooster mural was incorporated into the lobby of The Forge residential building. Photo provided by Brause Realty The neighborhood is known for its graffiti art , since it had been home to the former 5Pointz, a former factory covered in curated aerosol art that become an international destination. It was demolished in 2014 to make way for two luxury high-rises that are under construction at the site. There are still plenty of art galleries and museums in the neighborhood. "I follow the artiststhey're always the pioneers," Brause says of choosing neighborhoods to build in. If you have a neighborhood that's just a bunch of bankers and lawyers, youre not going to find the vibrancy of artists, musicians, and chefs." When public art pushes out the artists However, the downside of art-driven urban revitalization is the gentrification that drives up home values to the point where creative types can no longer afford to live there. In Brause's building in Long Island City, studios start at $2,444 a month and one-bedrooms start at $3,240 a month. And it's not just new developmentsthe prices of existing rentals and homes also go up. About 20 years ago, the Fountain Square neighborhood next to the Indianapolis trail had cheap housing that was popular with edgier artists. But as the neighborhood's real-estate cachet grew, those artists were priced out, says Mullin. For more than 12 years, the neighborhood also hosted Subsurfacean arts festival that attracted graffiti artists from across the country. But some of the newer residents werent fans of the street art, which was one reason why in 2016 organizers put the festival on hold. The loss of the street art festival "was sad, because it ended an era," says Mullin. The post As Public Art Goes Up, So Do Nearby Home Prices appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. Published on 2018/04/25 | Source Director Lee Chang-dong (far right) poses with the cast of his film "Burning" at a press junket in Seoul on Tuesday. From left, Steven Yeun, Jun Jong-seo and Yoo Ah-in Award-winning director Lee Chang-dong shared his feelings ahead of the release of his latest film at a press event on Monday. "Burning" is his first film in eight years since "Poetry" in 2010. Advertisement "I can't believe that it's been eight years since I made "Poetry"," Lee said. "For the first time in ages, I worked with young people and tried to tell their stories in my film. I tried to forget my own age while making the film". "Burning" is a mystery drama based on the short story "Barn Burning" written by renowned Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. It has been nominated in the competition section of the annual Cannes Film Festival, along with "Ash Is Purest White" by Jia Zhangke, "BlacKkKlansman" directed by Spike Lee, "Le Livre d'Image" by Jean-Luc Godard and "Shoplifters" by Koreeda Hirokazu. Yoo Ah-in, who stars in the new film, said he has dreamed of working with Lee for some time. "It was different from any other filming experience", Yoo said. "As time went by, I really got to understand my character". Korean-American actor Steven Yeun voiced similar sentiments. "I've been a big fan of Lee, so it was very lucky for me to work with him", Yeun said. The actor, who appeared in Bong Joon-ho's film "Okja", said he got the opportunity through Bong. The film is set to hit the theaters here on May 17. By Lily Lee | Published on 2018/04/24 | Source Actor Lee Seung-gi wowed his fans in a stylish all-white suit. Advertisement On April 24th, Lee Seung-gi posted two photos of him dressed in white suit and posing with a tablet in his hands. Though an all-white suit can easily look tacky, Lee Seung-gi managed to look fashionable and as handsome as ever in off-white tone jacket and complimented with beige loafers. In his fitted suit, he looks like part royalty and many fans commented on the photo saying that he looks like a prince. Lee Seung-gi captioned the photos saying, "It was so good to see you, Taiwan Airen! Let's meet again soon. I'm getting ready in the waiting room". Airen is the name of Lee Seung-gi's official fanclub and this photo was taken on April 22nd, when he attended his fan meeting held in Taiwan. By. Lily Lee By Lily Lee | Published on 2018/04/24 Since Han Ye-seul openly conveyed her feelings regarding a medical accident that occured, the hospital finally released an official apology. Advertisement *CAUTION Graphic and potentially disturbing images* On April 20th, actress Han Ye-seul posted a picture of her scar and infection on Instagram with a message expressing her frustration and heartbreak. At first, the netizens were startled at a rather disturbing photo, but soon after reading her message, everyone was furious towards such irresponsible doctors and the hospital. Few weeks ago, Han Ye-seul had a surgery on her lipoma, which is a fatty lump most often situated between the skin and underlying muscle layer. Normally, surgery on a lipoma isn't necessary, but in Han Ye-seul's case, her lipoma was rather large, about 5 to 8cm in size, and bulging out of her skin. Unfortunately, the surgery was unsuccessful as a result of a medical accident. Though it's been two weeks since her surgery, her side has a huge scar and stitches along with what seems to be an infection. Her message on the post reads: "I experienced a medical accident when I had a surgery on my lipoma. It's been two weeks since the accident but there's no words of compensation nor reimbursement. As I head out for treatment every day, my heart is breaking to no end. Honestly, I don't think any compensation will be of any comfort to me". Since her first post, her doctor who operated the surgery appeared on a YouTube medical channel ran by a fellow doctor on April 21st, and shared, "[Regarding the accident] I've apologized to Han Ye-seul many times, but my heart is still heavy. I've done some finishing touch on her scar on Thursday, but she's at a different hospital for treatment now. I'm deeply sorry to damage an actress who's loved by everyone. I'd like to express another apology to Han Ye-seul". Such apology seemed light-hearted to many people and soon, the doctor faced furious comments from the netizens for such informal apology over a YouTube channel, not even an official statement. On April 23rd, another picture was shared by Han Ye-seul and her infection have become worse. This time, the picture has truly shocked everyone. Her caption reads, "This is a picture from today. ... really.. my heart is breaking". This is a big problem for anyone, especially for an actress like her. The netizens are sending her their most sincere sympathy and encouragements for her. In fact, since her original post, there's a movement that started on behalf of the actress, a national petition has been filed. Since April 20th, there have been 5 posts on national petition website using the keyword "Han Ye-seul" and 609 posts using the keyword "medical accident". Since such a big movement is underway, the hospital has finally released an official apology statement today, assuring the actress and the netizens that she will receive the most effective and professional aftercare treatment and apologizing for both physical and emotional damage Han Ye-seul had to experience. The hospital is experiencing huge repercussions as people began boycotting the hospital. After the statement by the hospital, Han Ye-seul posted a selfie on her Instagram account with a short caption expressing her gratitude for the fans saying, "Thank you. I'll be strong". Unlike her usual bright smiles in previous posts on her Instagram, she looks exhausted and sad. Best of luck to this beautiful actress, wishing that she will be able to heal well and regain her smiles! By. Lily Lee Sources (1) (2) (3) (4) By Vasia Orion | Published on 2018/04/24 Two folks in this group are certainly the most publicly desirable duo to work-elope after "Voice" and make something new together, and if Kim Dong-wook joins them, I can already hear the happy fan-cries. According to reports, Kim Jae-wook and Kim Dong-wook might be taking on leading roles for Kim Hong-seon-I's upcoming religious-themed drama, "The Guest - Drama". Advertisement "The Guest - Drama" (also reported as "The Guest - Drama") is a drama about a psychic, a priest and a detective who tackle crimes committed by strange powers in the country. It's touted as a genre drama about shamanism and exorcism, which I'm guessing is OCN's latest way of trying to diversify the all-crime-all-the-time fame that the station has. Kim Jae-wook is being courted for the role of the priest, while Kim Dong-wook for the psychic detective. If Kim Dong-wook accepts, he will reportedly be playing Yoon Hwa-pyeong, a man who had psychic powers since childhood, and who lost his mother and grandmother when the prayers to stifle his gift failed and he became possessed. Hwa-pyeong retains his psychic abilities, and he is the first out of the three leads to know when someone is possessed. Kim Jae-wook will be playing Choi Yoon, also known as Matteo. He acts as an assistant to exorcisms, but he's not formally a priest. If Hwa-pyeong has as fiery personality, Choi Yoon's is like ice, as the man doesn't have major emotional ups and downs. Because of that, he comes across as someone who lacks humanity. Kim Jae-wook's agency has been quick to clarify that the actor is only considering the offer among other works, while Kim Dong-wook's has stated that the actor is positively considering. This means we might be getting a "Coffee Prince" reunion aside from a "Voice" one for the former and PD Kim Hong-seon-I. For now we're on standby and hoping, adding the hope of this casting working out onto the hope that the "Entourage" writers in charge of "The Guest - Drama" aren't going to be as disappointing this time around. Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings' Sources (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Published on 2018/04/25 | Source Added episodes 25 and 26 captures for the Korean drama "The Great Seducer" (2018) Advertisement Directed by Kang In-I, Lee Dong-hyun-IV Written by Kim Bo-yeon-I Network : MBC With Woo Do-hwan, Joy, Moon Ga-young, Kim Min-jae-I, Kim Seo-hyung, Shin Sung-woo,... 32 episodes - Mon, Tue 22:00 (2x35min) Formerly know as "Love Game" and "Love Game: The Great Seduction" ( - , leo-beu-ge-im - wi-dae-han yu-ok") Synopsis Based on the 2003 "Untold Scandal", this drama centers on an aristocratic man and woman engage in a bet. If the man can convince a virtuous widow to sleep with him, then he can finally have the aristocratic woman. Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018/03/12 More Havre attorney Randy Randolph listens as Hill County Deputy Attorney Karen Alley speaks during a forum Tuesday in Montana State University-Northern's Hensler Auditorium. The two are facing off in the Democratic primary for Hill County attorney. They face no general election opponents. Three Democrats in contested primaries and two others with no opponents until November's general election took part in a candidate forum Tuesday in Hensler Auditorium at Montana State University-Northern's Applied Technology Center where they pitched themselves to voters and answered a few questions. The forum was hosted by the Young Democrats of MSU-Northern, a campus chapter of the Democratic Party that was started last fall. Democratic primary candidates for Hill County attorney Karen Alley and Randy Randolph took part in the forum as did Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson, Montana State Senate District 14 candidate Paul Tuss and Montana Public Service Commission District 1 candidate Doug Kaercher. Dana Kjersem, Peterson's primary challenger was set to attend but did not show up. Kaercher and Tuss do not have primary challengers All candidates were allotted three minutes to introduce themselves. Hill County Democratic Central Committee Chair and state Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, who is also up for re-election in House District 28 but does not face a primary opponent, was the master of ceremonies at the forum and asked each of the candidates several questions. Catherine Huston asked Peterson if he would admit a problem exists in the staff and management in the Hill County Attorney's office. Since Hill County Attorney Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson took over in November 2016, multiple criminal cases have been dismissed due to lack of preparation by the prosecution - the county attorney's office - and the office also has seen a high turnover in its staff. Peterson said he regrets how he made the decision to hire Cole-Hodgkinson, and that is the problem with the county attorney's office. "Biggest mistake of my life, I highly regret it," Peterson said. Peterson said he and the other Hill County commissioners called and interviewed every contact they were provided and did not hear anything negative about any of the applicants. He added that he was worried some of the other applicants would have to step aside in a number of cases due to conflicts of interest. He said a call from a retired county attorney who gave Cole-Hodgkinson "a glowing review" was what caused Peterson to vote to hire her. "There isn't anything I can do there about the appointment of the county attorney that was made. That is my biggest regret and that is what the problem is," he said. When asked about the commissioner's communication with the public, Peterson said it goes both ways. Peterson said people are always welcome to come to the commissioner's office to raise a concern or issue. Peterson said people have complained about the commission not listing a vote about restructuring the county attorney's office on the agenda for a business meeting in which the commissioners voted 2 to 1 to eliminate the office's manager and the county personnel manager and hire a fourth attorney instead. The commission also failed to list a vote on eliminating or furloughing the manager of the Great Northen Fairgrounds, saying after the meeting that it was included in the generic "personnel" listing on the agenda. All votes are always done on Thursday morning, Peterson said. "It is an announced meeting, it is a public meeting and anybody can walk in that door, sit down during that meeting and express themselves," he said, In his time as commissioner, Peterson said he probably had eight instances where people came into the office angry, six of which were probably by the same person. Peterson said he often gets phone calls from people in the county at 4 a.m, and he is always willing to talk. "Anytime you want to call, call me," he said. Alley and Randolph also commented on the reorganization and had different views on the subject. Randolph, a fifth-generation Hill County resident, said he has practiced criminal and civil law for clients throughout Montana and was court administrator for the Chippewa Cree tribal court. He said he thinks there needs to be a change to address problems, such as high turnover in the attorney's office, that have developed over time. The office is also not as accessible or approachable as it once was, he said. "I want people to be able to come into this office and say, 'Hey, I have this issue.' That is how it used to be," Randolph said. Alley said she has learned first-hand how the office works during the 10 months she has been a deputy county attorney. In addition to handling criminal cases, she also advised the county on issues like title opinions and construction contracts. Alley, who grew up in Townsend, said that she moved to Havre in 2011 where she worked for Lorang Law, including as a public defender. "I have dedicated by and large my legal career to public service," she said. Randolph said the current county attorney's office does seem to be in disarray. He said there has been high turnover which he finds troubling. That was not always the case. Randolph said that he is concerned about the recent decision to replace the office manager and personnel manager with a fourth county attorney. "I think that support staff is a very important part of that office, " he said. Randolph said he would like to get more support staff in the office who will stay in there long term. Alley said she also thinks the office is in disarray and is disorganized. She said the disorganization goes back to August 2016 when both deputy county attorneys resigned. That damaged the office, she said, and it has not recovered since then. Alley said that in the last 20 months the office has only been fully staffed for 10 of those. The reorganization of the office approved last month will go a long way toward resolving the situation, she said. "I think once we get the kinks worked out in the system, that for Hill County it will actually expand what the office is able to do and how the office is able to advise the county and actually responds to public concerns," she said. Bachmeier asked Alley and Randolph how they would approach cases where people were charged with possession or sale of small amounts of marijuana. Randolph said it would be on a case-by-case basis and would depend on a host of factors including an individual's background and whether they sold and or possessed marijuana in or near a school. He said, though, that the legal system is overburdened by people who face drug charges and he wants to focus the office on being accountable to victims of violent crime and less on what he said are victimless crimes like possession of a small amount of marijuana. "Those are much more serious cases in my mind than somebody who is caught with a small amount of marijuana," he said. Alley said Montana law still dictates that marijuana is a dangerous drug, and she doesn't get to pick and choose the drug cases that come before her office. She said she hasn't filed a charge for a sale of marijuana during her time working for the county attorney's office. She said in possession cases, how she moves forward depends on the amount of marijuana involved. Cases of possession with the intent to sell depend on how much marijuana is involved and what the police reports say and the evidence she has. Many people are in the criminal justice system face drug charges, and as a former defense attorney she said she knows that it is devastating for people to have criminal charges that follow them forever. "So that is something that goes into consideration," she said, "It really does depend on the evidence you have presented and what you have to work with," she said. Both candidates were asked if they think there is an opioid crisis and the debate on whether they should be given rehabilitation or face incarceration. Alley said Montana does have a crisis and it has affected Hill County, especially in the form of prescription drugs. She said the situation impacts both the criminal justice system and the children's protective service system. "That is an absolute, I would say, crisis within the child protective service system that our county has to work with," she said, adding that methamphetamine is also a problem. Rehabilitation is important, Alley said and she believes the drug court has been successful in reducing rates of recidivism. However, for people who do reoffend there has to be incarceration, she said. Randolph said he thinks it is less of a crisis and more of a trend, where people hop from one drug to the next based on what is popular at the time. He said that there is a problem with meth use and that when he first started practicing law there was a lot of meth use and that went down. As it relates to incarceration and rehabilitation, he said he strongly advises rehabilitation, listing as an example programs on reservations that incorporate parts of American Indian culture that are more successful for them. He added that he does have a problem that in order to be in the county treatment court that a person has to live in Havre and is therefore neglecting people from Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation who might need it the most. Kaercher, speaking about the Public Service Commission race, said he recently read that one of his opponents said the race for the open seat would be decided in the Republican primary. "I want to tell you that there is a reasonable and responsible voice besides these Republicans that are running for this board. That somebody is here and he is standing right here and that is me," Kaercher said. State Rep. Rob Cook, R-Shelby, former state Rep. Randy Pinocci, R-Sun River, former Libertarian U.S House candidate Mark Wicks of Inverness and Cory McKinney of Great Falls are running in the Republican primary. Havre Daily/News Ryan Welch Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson speaks during a Democratic candidate forum Tuesday in Havre in Montana State University-Northern's Hensler Auditorium. Paul Tuss is the lone Democrat in the race for Montana Senate District 14, which extends from the Canadian border in Liberty and most of Hill counties to just outside of Great Falls. Incumbent Russ Tempel, R-Chester, and Havre business owner and Hill County Republican Central Committee Finance Director Brad Lotton are running in the June 5 Republican primary in the district. Tuss said work in the Montana Senate, seems like it would be an extension of the community and economic development he has helped facilitate as executive director of Bear Paw Development Corp. "I want to take the work I have done in this area and do it for all of Montana as your next state senator," Tuss said. He also said that he wants to be an antidote to the hyperpartisanship that has trickled down from Washington, D.C., to Helena. "I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem," he said. For five days this month area residents will have the opportunity to participate in a dog training class with former California Sheriffs Department Lead K-9 Trainer Scott Jackson. Jackson who retired from the sheriffs department after 17 years, will be holding dog training classes at Blaine County Fairgrounds April 26-30. Alissa Hewitt, the organizer of Scott Jackson Dog Training classes in Montana, said that after Jackson retired he moved on to training military and police dogs. She said he is now working for the American Kennel Club as a kennel inspector. Last year Jackson came to Montana and did classes in August at the Great Northern Fairgrounds but this will be the first year the class is held at Blaine County Fairgrounds. Hewitt said they had about 75 dogs at last years classes and that some of the people who took the classes with their dogs have signed up again. People are really excited he is coming back, she said. The classes in Malta are almost full, Hewitt said, but there is still room for all the classes in Chinook. Hewitt said that the weather looks good for the classes and they will be held outside, but a building is reserved in case the weather changes. She encourages dog owners to sign up for a class since Jackson only comes to Montana once a year. Hewitt added that she decided to organize this training opportunity because she had her own difficulty with a rescue dog and she knows it can be a challenge. If we can keep one family from getting rid of their dog (because of behavior problems) I am happy, Hewitt said. The classes are split into basic and advanced and a puppy class. The puppy class will be April 26, 6-8 p.m., Adult Basic will be April 27, 6:30-9 p.m., and Adult Basic Advanced will be April 28, 9 a.m.-noon, and April 29, 2-5 p.m. The puppy class is for 8 weeks to 5 months and the basic and advanced classes are for all ages and breeds. There will also be a 4-H class April 30, 6-8 p.m. This class will be free for all 4-H students. All other classes will be $40 per dog. The cost goes toward the travel expenses for Jackson; he doesnt take any other money for teaching. Scott loves a challenge, Hewitt said, and that is why he likes teaching the classes. Jackson also does private home visits for $60 per hour, but Hewitt said that the home visit slots are for the most part booked up. For more information or to register for a class, people can call Hewitt at 357-3316. Hewitt said as long as there is room, participants can pay on the day of their registered class. More information about Scott Jackson Dog Training can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1974793649447657/. Montana State University News Service BOZEMAN The Montana State University Pesticide Education Program and the Montana Department of Agriculture are coordinating three regional worker protection standard, or WPS, trainings next month in an effort to update the states agricultural community. Training sessions will be offered in Glasgow May 1, Great Falls May 2 and Kalispell May 3. The WPS is an Environmental Protection Agency regulation designed to protect agricultural workers who perform tasks related to growing and harvesting plants on an agricultural site and handlers who mix, load or apply agricultural pesticides; clean or repair pesticide application equipment; or assist with the application of pesticides. It contains requirements for protective equipment, restricted-entry intervals following pesticide applications, safety training and other elements to prevent injury from pesticides. The half-day programs are designed to deliver WPS guidance to owners of agricultural establishments while training agricultural workers and/or handlers. Private applicator credits will be offered. According to EPA regulations, individuals must follow WPS requirements if a pesticide application is for the purpose of managing an agricultural commodity on an agricultural site and the pesticide has an agricultural use requirements box. The EPA released new WPS requirements in 2015, most of which became effective Jan. 2, 2017, said Cecil Tharp, MSU pesticide education specialist. He added that all applicators meeting the definition of WPS must meet some of the WPS requirements. If the owner has workers or handlers that are not family members, however, Tharp indicated that they must meet the expanded WPS requirements. Speakers at the training events will include Tharp; Amy Bowser, MSU pesticide education technician; Jolene Warnke-Roszel, commerical training coordinator; Theresa Schrum, MDA District 2 agent; and Kima Caddell, MDA District 7 agent. Hosts for each training session include MSU Pesticide Education Program, Valley County Extension, Cascade County Extension and Flathead County Extension and Pesticide Education Program. Registration for each of the events is $10, and pre-registration is required. To register online visit pesticides.montana.edu/event.html. For more information about registration, contact Bowser at 406-994-5178 or [email protected] For information on each training, including a schedule of events and location information, visit pesticides.montana.edu/documents/pat/agendas/agenda-2018/WPSTour_Combined_Agenda.pdf. For more information on the WPS visit EPA website or the MSU Pesticide Education Program website. WPS manuals titled How to Comply with the 2015 Revised Worker Protection Standard are available for free by calling the Montana Department of Agriculture at 406-444-3732. All other WPS resources can be found on the Pesticide Educational Resources Collective website at pesticideresources.org/wps/cp.html. For other pesticide education questions, contact Tharp at 406-994-5067 or [email protected] New Rochelle, NY Researchers have incorporated therapeutic microRNAs (miRNAs) into bioresorbable, silk-based medical devices such as screws and plates to achieve local delivery of factors that can improve bone growth and mineralization at the site of bone repair. The study, which demonstrated the promise of silk-based orthopedic devices combined with bioactive miRNA-based therapeutics, is published in Tissue Engineering, Part A, peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Tissue Engineering website until May 24, 2018. Eric James, Emily Van Doren, Chunmei Li, and David Kaplan, Tufts University, Medford, MA describe the method they used to deliver the antisense therapeutic miR-214 in the article entitled Silk Biomaterials-Mediated miRNA Functionalized Orthopedic Devices. The article is part of an upcoming special issue of Tissue Engineering on RNA Therapeutics for Tissue Engineering led by Guest Editors Elizabeth Balmayor, PhD, Technical University of Munich, Germany and Christopher Evans, PhD, DSc, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. The researchers coated the surface of bioresorbable silk-based devices used in bone repair with antisense-miR-214 and also studied the use of antisense-miR-214 silk films seeded with human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). The results showed that miR-214 was released continuously for up to 7 days in vitro and could block the production of proteins that downregulate new bone formation. This study leverages tissue engineering principles for the design of medical devices with enhanced biocompatibility, says Tissue Engineering Co-Editor-in-Chief Antonios G. Mikos, PhD, Louis Calder Professor at Rice University, Houston, TX. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R02 AR068048 and R01DE016525. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Sheriff's candidates diverge on training center, animal control, body cams Sheriff Charlie McDonald and challenger Lowell Griffin met in a candidate forum last week. Sheriff Charlie McDonald and challenger Lowell Griffin squared off during a campaign forum last week at Blue Ridge Community College, fielding questions on the proposed law enforcement training center, responsiveness to the Latino community, arming teachers, animal control, sheriffs personnel turnover and the use of body cameras. McDonald and Griffin meet in the May 8 primary, with the winner going on to serve as sheriff for the next four years barring an unprecedented write-in campaign. No Democrat filed to run. Among Griffins priorities are plans to reassign supervisors to patrol duties so they get to know the community better, develop joint law enforcement task forces to multiply our manpower without adding a burden to the taxpayer, develop a process where we have job security and lower the turnover rate at the sheriffs office and add body cameras. Imagine having a community where you knew who was in charge of your community in police protection, he said in closing remarks. We need these officers back out here in your community, responsive to you, able to identify problems areas, able to make a difference We need to revisit our relationships (with neighboring agencies). I want to bring job security to the sheriffs office. We talked about the turnover, the money associated with the turnover. McDonald touted reforms that he said has transformed the sheriffs office into a premier law enforcement agency from the one he took over amid turmoil in 2012 following the resignation the previous November of Sheriff Rick Davis. We have buried once and for all the good ol body system that inevitably leads to inefficiency and corruption, McDonald said. Strategic policing has enabled us to exceed our crime reduction goals five years in a row. We are leading the charge to improve school safety for our most precious resources our children and our grandchildren, he said. Despite whats being said by those with axes to grind, I would submit that we cant afford to turn back, he said in closing. Weve shown Henderson County what can be accomplished when an agency comes together as a team to accept necessary change, embrace best practices and organizational management. Morale is high, our staff is well-trained. Here is the candidate Q&A: Whats your position on the law enforcement training center? McDonald: The $20 million training center was never my idea, was never anything I asked for. I asked for an outdoor training facility and outdoor range area multiple times actually. The commissioners in trying to help facilitate our ability to train sought the services of architects that came up with a proposal that would cost $22 million. I talked to commissioners a year ago, one or two at a time, and asked them to table the current proposal at Blue Ridge Community College while we tried to find some land to do something outside. Were asking our men and women to do more and more and to be trained to a higher level of efficiency. I think everybody understands law enforcement needs to have the ability to train realistically in rapidly evolving situations so they can practice critical decision skills and combat tactics. The only way they can do that is to have a full-service training center where we can have force-on-force options and the ability for officers to train in more than one direction at a time. Griffin: He became aware of a training facility in Alabama with different concrete structures, bare bones, very cheap. Theyve created a village (that has) a mock post office, a convenience store, residential structures. With this village, we can employ different weapon systems besides the live fire. We can use that for static targets as well as force-on-force training. If we do this right, we can create a village that becomes a total emergency services training area. If we decide to go with an outdoor training center, weve got to have transparent studies that show the effect on the quality of life of everyone that may be around or affected by that. There are a lot of options. I think we really need to slow down and discuss and choose whats right. What are your plans for school safety? McDonald: Shortly after the Sandy Hook shootings, We put together the adopt-a-school program. Deputies, detectives would go to schools during unannounced times of the day. As we had this last incident in Parkland, quickly we changed the rules about getting folks to be at the schools. We also got permission to pay our off-duty guys to go into these schools that dont have a standing SRO. In the meantime, Henderson County is going to release money to hire the school resources deputies that we need (next school year). Griffin: Theres no bankful of gold anywhere in the world that is worth more than one child is. This was a topic of debate four years ago in this Republican primary. And I agree there has to be a collaborative effort between law enforcement, the school administration and the Board of Education. I know there needs to be some training inside these facilities. We need to practice lockdowns. These officers can have role model in the schools, somebody that can actually spot problems that these children have, even outside the schools. What is your position on arming teachers? McDonald: No. 1, its not legal in North Carolina. Ive talked to teachers who dont want to carry guns and dont think they should have to. Ive talk to other teachers who have conceal-carry and would like to be able to and feel like they would be that last line of defense if an active shooter comes into their classroom. I think theres a place for that. The most responsive law enforcement can get there within three minutes. The SRO may be halfway across the campus. I think armed teachers, properly trained and properly vetted, should be allowed. Griffin: Its one thing to carry a gun. Its another thing to have the mindset to actually use that gun in the use of deadly force. Not all teachers probably qualify to carry a gun and discharge it safely in the chaos when theres a crisis going on at the school. It has to be a collaborative effort to identify a teacher who has the mindset, who has the skills to maintain the security of a weapon on the school grounds and to be able to discharge that weapon in a manner thats not going to put anybody else in danger should a crisis occur. I do agree there are those that are capable of doing that. Why doesnt the sheriffs office enforce animal control inside cities? McDonald: Because its illegal. A citizen complained that the sheriffs office is not authorized to enforce city ordinances and basically said we were kidnapping animals. We dont have the legal authority to do that except through an agreement between the city and county. Cities chose not to pay for the service from the county. I think the county and the municipalities would be better off if we did it all. Its easier on the animal shelter, its easier on the health department and its easier on our deputies. The problem is we cant do it when we dont have the resources. The bottom line, this has nothing to do with my stance. It really rests on the Board of Commissioners and I support why they took the position that they did. Griffin: Folks in the municipalities, they pay county taxes, too. I would like to go back to the Board of Commissioners, work with the municipalities and work out an agreement to where we could enforce these animal enforcement laws inside the municipalities. A lot of these municipalities add a significant amount to the county tax base. I believe that I could reallocate resources, that I could work with the commissioners and work these municipalities to ensure they get the services that theyre entitled to. Is the sheriffs office better than four years ago? Griffin: What weve seen in the sheriffs office is a tremendous turnover rate. Were looking at right now, a 50 percent turnover rate. There are tremendous officers that are still there. Henderson County lost a lot of talent and experience. Taxpayers invested tens of thousands in training. What should have been a county asset has been pushed aside. School safety and animal control remain unresolved. I cant say its better off. McDonald: There has been turnover. Ive said this from day one. If you dont have character and ethics to wear the badge honorably youre not going to stay at our office. By the same token, we are recruiting some of the brightest people weve ever recruited. Were attracting from other places. Griffin: The mantra that Ive heard is loyalty over skill set. The only loyalty Im going to demand is going to be loyalty to you, the citizens of Henderson County that we serve. We have lost over 100 personnel at the sheriffs office. It takes $100,000 to $150,000 to replace that person. Youre looking at $10-15 million in what you the taxpayer has actually paid. McDonald: No. 1, anyone who runs an office or organization has the right to expect that the the folks that work for them carry out their duty. I was hired by the citizens of Henderson County to do specific things, I promised them I would and I havent broken a promise yet. But when I find folks within my agency who cant buy into that mission and who would be subversive and counterproductive I dont care how much training they have Ill pass and Ill go get another one. In turnover, 22 percent resigned for higher paying jobs, moving away, starting businesses or scheduled health issues, 25 percent retired; 33 percent retired or resigned in lieu of termination and of those 55 percent (were for) unbecoming conduct, ethics or policy violation, 17 percent work performance, 8 percent criminal acts and 17 percent subverted the sheriffs missions and goals. How effective is the sheriffs at working with the Latino community? McDonald: My commitment is to anybody who lives this county, whether theyre here on a visa or not, I dont ask about that. My deputies dont ask about that when we do our job. Our job is to provide safety and security. Griffin: The sheriff ought to be mindful of the economic contribution Latinos make. There are actually industries here that would fold without these folks. We have to have a relationship. I would actually like to establish a liaison for the Latino community. We have to earn trust. They can help us root out the bad actors in their community. Whats your position on body cameras? McDonald: When we start accepting things like this they take us down the slippery slope. Before we jump at something that looks good, weve got to think it through. Body cameras have caused officers to second guess or to hold back. Body cameras hold us to a level of visual acuity that a human being doesnt have. A body camera can see many many times more clearly and more detail than the human eye can, particularly when a human being is under stress. The camera doesnt have the information that the officer has. If the state were to mandate I would have to. If my deputies asked for it I would do that. If you carry yourself ethically and properly and you dont generate a bunch of complaints that are verified and validated I trust you. Griffin: Contrary to popular belief, we have suspects that are right. I have spoken to many officers whose agencies employ body cameras and the vast majority are pro-camera. Weve already got cameras in the cars. Sometimes officers are at a disadvantage because the suspects are able to produce more visual evidence than the officer during an arrest. Almost every one of you out there carries a video camera with you. I know of one case right now where were going to use body-cam footage in a homicide trial. It is basically a fundamental piece of technology that need to employ here. The crumpled front of a taxi badly damaged in the serious crash. Photo: Collins Gardai are investigating if a vehicle in a serious crash involving a garda car was involved in two earlier collisions. Three people were taken to hospital following the crash on Wellington Quay at around 2pm yesterday. A car struck the wing mirror of an official garda car. It then continued a short distance before hitting the rear of a taxi which was pushed into the path of a truck travelling in the outside lane. Conscious The driver of the car, who is in his 20s, the driver of the taxi and a passenger were all taken to St James's Hospital with minor injuries. A garda spokesman told the Herald: "Gardai in Pearse Street are investigating a collision on Wellington Quay. One of the cars involved was an official garda car. "Gardai are investigating the possibility the car involved in the crash at Wellington Quay was involved in two earlier minor collisions at St Stephen's Green and Tara Street." A man at the scene in the immediate aftermath of the accident told the Herald that it looked very serious. "It happened right outside the Clarence Hotel," he said. "Two of the cars involved were total write-offs and the drivers were taken out in stretchers. They were conscious, but their injuries looked serious. "What was very strange was that the BMW was facing in the opposite direction of the road. "Thank God, no one on the footpath was hit as there were loads of people around." The road remained closed for most of the day. The traffic ban on College Green had to be lifted to ease traffic and a number of diversions were put in place. Gardai are asking for any witnesses to contact them at Pearse Street Garda Station on 01 666 9000. Dublin City Council could pay over 125,0000 in a bid to stop more than 500 homes from being built. Council members met last night to discuss An Bord Pleanala's decision to grant permission for the controversial development beside St Anne's Park, Raheny. The scheme, at St Paul's College, would ultimately lead to the loss of playing fields used by many clubs. It was given the go-ahead despite more than 1,000 local objections, with the council and its chief executive, Owen Keegan, among those who objected. Members of the community recently decided to seek a judicial review and have raised thousands of euro for the costly court case. Most councillors now believe that it's their role to seek a judicial review, separately from the residents. Cllr Alison Gilliland said: "Like my fellow councillors, I'm appalled at the lack of consideration that An Bord Pleanala has taken. "I reject the lack of democracy. We made a decision here and over 1,000 local people also took the time to object to this. "This appalling decision is an example of misguided government direction. "I can see down the line that this will happen again and again and again. We will lose our recreational and green space and just have houses thrown up willy-nilly." Expensive Cllr Sean Paul Mahon said: "If we let this go our development plan is redundant. "Not only that, but we might as well let our planners go too because An Bord Pleanala [seems to be] the new planning department for the city of Dublin and for the whole country." However, Cllr Ciaran Cuffe did not agree that a judicial review was the best approach. "We're in the middle of a housing crisis," he said. "Judicial reviews are expensive and time-consuming." Local campaigners estimate that it will cost about 5,000 for a barrister to assess the case. The next step would be to accumulate all the necessary paperwork, which could cost 25,000. If the application is granted it could cost both the developer and An Bord Pleanala more than 125,000 each. But if the case goes against the objectors they could lose the same amount. Dublin City Council and the residents have until May 23 to make their application in the High Court. Speaking at the meeting, Mr Keegan said he would agree to get advice on a possible judicial review despite ruling out such a move previously. "I think that's a reasonable outcome," he said. Needed The decision, which was made under a fast-track planning process, is subject to 24 conditions. At least 10pc of all homes will be for social housing. Last year, An Bord Pleanala saw about 30 judicial review outcomes. Out of these, only two cases were judgments against the board. An Bord Pleanala does not comment on individual cases. Developer Marlet Property Group has previously said: "This development will provide 500 badly needed houses close to Dublin city. It will respect the wonderful amenity that is the neighbouring St Anne's Park." The judge threw out McDonaghs claim which meant the six other claims collapsed with it and were dismissed A drunk man became aggressive towards gardai who were called to a row between family members, a court heard. Judge Cormac Dunne fined Keith Hammond 300 for his behaviour when the argument got out of hand. Hammond, of Bath Road, Balbriggan, pleaded guilty to public drunkenness and threatening and abusive behaviour when he appeared before Swords District Court. Gda Oisin Finnegan described how he was called to Ashfield Rise, Balbriggan, shortly before 8.30am last January 28. Shouting Gda Finnegan said Hammond (22) was shouting at a number of other men and became aggressive towards officers when he was told to leave the area. The court heard Hamm-ond had 13 previous convictions. Defence lawyer Deirdre Flannery said the incident was "an argument that got out of hand". "Drink was involved," she added. The court was told Hammond had worked as a labourer but had lost his job and was now homeless. Fining him, Judge Dunne warned that with his his- tory, he was building himself up to a jail sentence. A man who was tortured by former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall has said he thought he was going to die during the terrifying attack. Jonathan Dowdall (39) and his father Patrick Dowdall (61) both admitted falsely imprisoning Alexander Hurley and threatening to kill him at Jonathan's home on January 15, 2015. Footage recorded on a mobile phone was shown to the court of Jonathan Dowdall wearing a balaclava and holding a tea towel to Mr Hurley's face before pouring water over his head, in what is commonly known as waterboarding. Patrick Dowdall was heard threatening to pull off his fingers one by one with pliers. Jonathan Dowdall was sentenced to 12 years in jail and Patrick Dowdall to eight years. The father and son had their jail terms cut on Monday, with the Court of Appeal resentencing Jonathan Dowdall to 10 years with the final 25 months suspended and Patrick Dowdall to seven with the final three years suspended. Waterboarded Mr Hurley revealed yesterday on RTE's Liveline that he was "surprised" and "shocked" by the appeal. "I was a bit surprised in one sense, but in another sense I knew it could possibly happen," he said. "I don't agree with it [the sentence reduction]. The offence was totally unacceptable. The punishment was correct. I didn't think it would be reduced to that extent. I'm shocked. "You just have to accept it and move on." Mr Hurley said that once the trial was over, he "shifted his mindset to rebuilding his life". "You have to try and pick yourself up... You have to dig deep and remain positive. Physical wounds will always heal quite quickly but the psychological issue isn't easy." He described how he was tied to a swivel chair, threatened and waterboarded. "I was in shock and terror," he added. "They shaved my head with an electric razor too. It was obviously a part of their torture that they wished to inflict. "They said 'you're not going anywhere. You're not leaving alive'. At that stage I thought, "that's it, I'm dead'." Mr Hurley said the Jonathan Dowdall made references to Sinn Fein during the attack and said "he was involved in the IRA". He said that when he was let go, he was told there were "terms and conditions attached". "They told me to leave Dublin and never return. There were also threats against me and my family if the conditions were breached," he explained. "A third person filmed the attack. It was said that the video would be played on YouTube if the terms were breached too." Mr Hurley said it was difficult being portrayed as a "criminal" himself during the court proceedings. Trap "It is definitely not true. I had admitted that I had made some mistakes in the past. They were dealt with accordingly. People make mistakes and you learn from them and move on," he said. He recalled how he came into contact with Jonathan Dowdall after the former Sinn Fein councillor advertised a 16,000 BMW motorcycle on Done Deal. Following an initial viewing of the bike at the Dowdall house on January 12, 2015, he was given a bank account to transfer the money to. Shortly after, Mr Hurley received a phone call inviting him to dinner. "They said they enjoyed my company. I said I would accept and after arriving that's when it all changed and turned into a nightmare. It was a trap." He said he didn't go to gardai because of the threats against him and his family. The incident came to light when officers searching Jonathan Dowdall's home as part of another investigation discovered a USB flash drive containing footage of the torture. "I realised I was lucky to be alive," added Mr Hurley. "You find inner strength that you don't know that you have. You realise that you are one of the lucky ones that you survived the ordeal. I kept in the mindset that if I uphold the terms they would have no reason to come near me." Mr Hurley said he would like a written apology from Jonathan Dowdall. Ryan Boyle was caught by staff at Wheatfield Prison A teenage visitor was caught by prison staff as he tried to hand over a package containing drugs and a phone charger to his jailed brother. Ryan Boyle (19) admitted attempting to smuggle the items at Wheatfield Prison. Judge David McHugh ordered a probation report and adjourned sentencing to a date in June. The defendant, of Sheephill Green, Blanchardstown, pleaded guilty at Blanchardstown District Court to attempting to take drugs into the prison. The offence took place at Wheatfield Prison on February 3 last year. Gda Shane Harten said Boyle was visiting his brother when prison staff saw him trying to hand over a package. Gda Harten said it contained 26 worth of cocaine, a mobile phone charger and 96 zimovane tablets. Convictions The court heard Boyle had six convictions. He had previously admitted failing to pay a taxi fare at Sheep- hill Park and failing to follow the directions of gardai at Sheep- hill Avenue last February 12. Defence solicitor Simon Fleming said Boyle was the second eldest of five children. He added that the defendant had avoided any serious criminality, and that much of his offending behaviour had been on the "coat-tails" of his older brother, who was now incarcerated. Mr Fleming said Boyle's brother was a "forceful" character, and in relation to this matter there was an element of him having "dominion" over the defendant. The solicitor said Boyle had grown up in unusual circumstances, and there would have been people in and out of his home who had alcohol and substance problems. Mr Fleming said Boyle was attending a training course and would benefit from working with the Probation Ser- vice. The heartbroken mother of a young woman who took her own life is calling for a meeting with Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan to discuss new laws against online bullying. Jackie Fox and around 300 supporters yesterday marched to the Dail to demand the creation of Coco's Law. Ms Fox's daughter, Nicole Fox Fenlon (21) - affectionately known as 'Coco' - died by suicide in January after being bullied online for years. After her death, her family was determined to hold the people who tormented her accountable. Sickening However, despite finding evidence of sickening abuse on her phone, the family has been told that no law was broken. It has spurred Ms Fox to call for a change. "They have to put a law in place. They have to make online bullying an offence," she told the Herald after the march. "I'm delighted with the turnout. This is just our first baby steps, but we are going to have more marches and more protests. I don't give up easily." Ms Fox has plans to meet with TDs in Leinster House in three weeks, but ultimately, she wants to talk with Mr Flanagan. "I will tell him that this isn't just an issue that affects rich families or poor families, it affects all sorts," she said. "I will tell him about the personal heartbreak families suffer. They're going to have to look at making people accountable for their actions." Ms Fox said she also wanted to see more accountability from social media companies. "You can post a picture topless online and be reported and banned, but you can send these things and nothing happens," she added. Ms Fox said bullies told her daughter they were going to kill her and made a number of other threats. Earlier this week, the Herald revealed how Ms Fox had lost hope of brining Coco's tormentors to justice. However, she now hopes her proposed law will ultimately save lives. "There are other kids out there suffering right now," she said. "The trouble started when Nicole was 18 and started going to local clubs. Bullies became jealous of her friendships and set up horrific social media pages to slag her." Ireland's harassment laws have not been updated since the advent of text messages, meaning threatening messages sent on social media are not considered crimes. Recently, a report from the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs urged the Government to introduce its proposed Digital Safety Commissioner without delay. The committee said the current law should be changed to include "digital harassment" as part of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act. Last year, a Labour Bill was published to modernise Ireland's existing harassment legislation to safeguard people against all forms of harassment. These include stalking, cyber-bullying and so-called revenge porn. D.L. George and Sons: 'I'm amazed at some of the stuff we've done' The fracas over the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC) highlights important tensions in Centre-state relations today. It also serves as an urgent reminder of the need to strengthen the institutional mechanisms through which these relationships can be mediated and ultimately re-negotiated. The rallying point in the current dispute is the mandate given to the FFC to use the 2011 rather than 1971 census data as the basis for determining revenue share across states. This, southern states argue, will serve to penalise their success in controlling population growth by reducing their share in the overall resource pool. Despite its political salience, this argument has little conceptual validity. For one, it undermines the core redistributive principle that underpins general purpose revenue transfers. As economist Govind Rao has argued, these transfers are meant to enable states to provide comparable levels of public services and must be provided at current population rates. Given Indias wide regional disparities, richer states subsiding poorer ones is inevitable. But the ongoing debate does bring to the fore a critical challenge that our fiscal architecture will have to navigate the tension between the imperatives of redistributive transfers and rewarding efficient development. Balancing this tension is going to be the FFCs greatest challenge and will likely shape the future of fiscal federalism in India. This dispute also highlights a second tension inherent in Centre-state relations an increasingly decentralised political economy coexisting with a deeply centralised fiscal architecture. Constitutionally, Indias fiscal federal arrangement has several centralising features. Over time, this centralisation has deepened with New Delhi increasingly encroaching on subjects that are the purview of the states. In 2015, the 14th Finance Commission attempted to reverse this trend, but with limited impact. In fact the real problem with the FFC TOR is the attempt to bias the commission towards undermining this decentralisation effort. States have long complained, from as far back as the Sarkaria commission report to the recent 14th Finance Commission, about fiscal centralisation. In 1996 a meeting of chief ministers in Hyderabad issued a statement titled Federalism Without a Centre, a slogan that gained fame when the scholar, Larwence Saez, used it as a title for his book on the evolving nature of Centre-state relations. But these complaints never translated in to a political push for greater fiscal decentralisation. And heres the puzzle. Since the 1990s, states have actively used their political bargaining power at the Centre to renegotiate their political and economic relations. Yet the centralised fiscal architecture has persisted. One explanation is offered by TN Srinivasan and Jessica Seddon in an insightful essay. They argue that Indias economic and political structure discourages collective action by states. I would add another argument. Inter-governmental transfers are viewed as a technocratic issue best left to bureaucrats. And our bureaucrats are great centralisers. This is not to suggest that centralised transfers have not been used politically. Studies on planning commission transfers demonstrate this well. The argument is that the centralised nature of fiscal transfers is not a critical bargaining point in the evolving federal dialogue. It is against this backdrop that the recent meeting of southern finance ministers in Kerala is significant, even if the articulation of the problem as a north-south issue is flawed. First, the issue of fiscal transfers is finally entering the political debate on deepening federalism. If harnessed well, this could result in nudging the fiscal architecture toward greater decentralisation. Second, it highlights the possibility of collective action from states. But for this to translate in to a meaningful engagement that goes beyond political posturing, the Centre needs to open up institutional spaces for a meaningful Centre-state dialogue. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs now viral Facebook post on federalism emphasises this in his demand for an institutional mechanism akin to the GST council. In this governments early days, when the PM repeatedly invoked the idea of co-operative federalism and dismantled the Planning Commission, many had suggested that a co-operative federalism agenda would be best served through a revitalised Inter-State Council (ISC) tasked with creating a deliberative space for Centre-state dialogues. Instead, the NITI Aayog was created. But the NITI Aayog is not a platform for dispute resolution and political deliberation. Rather, it is a technocratic space for idea generation and developing a monitoring framework to guide Centre-state fiscal relations. Moreover, early attempts to revitalise the ISC were abandoned, resulting in an institutional vacuum. Federalism in India is at a crossroads. To manage the current fracas, New Delhi must strengthen mechanisms for institutionalised deliberation with states. But can this be done by a PM whose instinct is to centralise? Yamini Aiyar is president and chief executive, Centre for Policy Research The views expressed are personal Deepika Padukone, one of the highest paid actors in the Indian film industry, says women must not shy away from demanding and even fighting for the pay they think they deserve. The actor, who attended the TIME 100 gala on Tuesday night, spoke to Time magazine about the need for confidence among women to ask for better pay. You can feel a sense of - am I stepping over the line, do I deserve it? But if you believe you deserve it, then you do, said Deepika, the only Indian to feature in the Time 100 Influential People in the World, sharing space with names like Nicole Kidman, Gal Gadot, Greta Gerwig and Lena Waithe. For years, weve been made to feel we should be okay with settling for less, with sometimes a promise of getting something more later on. But I think you should get what you think you deserve. Its okay to fight for it, and its okay to feel uncomfortable initially, because thats just the way weve been made to feel for so long, she added. Read: Filmmakers in India at mercy of moral policing, says Unfreedom director The actor, who won hearts by gesturing a namaste at the red carpet where she dazzled in an embellished ivory ensemble, also spoke about her struggle with clinical depression at the gala. February 15, 2014, I remember waking up that morning with a strange feeling in my stomach. I had no idea what I was feeling. Life all of a sudden just felt meaningless and there were days when I just wanted to give up. And couple of weeks later I was diagnosed with clinical depression. Four years on, I stand here in front of all of you with a slightly better understanding, I think, of life and my feelings and the person that I am, but I feel like more importantly, I think all of you will agree with me when I say that were going through some pretty challenging times all around the world, said the 32-year-old. Read: Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor at Veere Di Wedding trailer launch. See pics and videos She said its the power, strength and courage that she derives from the people around her that encourages her to go on every day. And for some of us I think who do think of giving up once in a while, I want you to know that were all in this together, and most importantly that there is hope, because in the words of Stephen Fry, Will be sunny one day, she said. Deepika also has a foundation The Live Love Laugh Foundation (TLLLF), which aims to reduce the stigma around mental health. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Newlyweds Milind Soman and Ankita Konwar cannot stop gushing about each other since they got married on Sunday. The two are posting cute pictures with love-soaked captions on Instagram and their fans love every bit of it. Love always finds its way #foreveryouandi, Ankita captioned a photo from their wedding mandap. Then love knew it was called love. And when I lifted my eyes to your name, suddenly your heart showed me my way - #pabloneruda #myman#foreveryouandi #love, she captioned another photo of the two of them. In the second photo, Milind is posing shirtless as Ankita looks at him with love in her eyes. To love forever and a new beginning everyday I love you, Milind captioned a wedding photo. A return gift to the resort they got married at in Alibaug, the couple planted a tree for each wedding guest. Nurture the gifts you have received, planting a tree with @earthy_5 for every guest, 11 done!, he captioned a picture of him and his wife, planting a sapling. Milind and Ankita celebrated their mehendi and haldi functions on Saturday among their closest friends and family and tied the knot on Sunday morning in traditional Assamese and Maharashtrian wedding. Milind wore a white and golden kurta pyjama while Ankita wore a crisp white saree. The couple has been dating for two years, with Milind facing a social media backlash for dating somebody almost two decades younger to him. However, they never let this come in the way. The actor who has appeared in 16 December, Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula and Bajirao Mastani was earlier married to French actor Mylene Jampanoi. Follow @htshowbiz for more Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh, who is all set for a summer holiday in Switzerland has claimed it is his kind of country. Ranveer, who is the first Indian ambassador for Switzerland Tourism, will be visiting the Lake Geneva region. Switzerland... Its my kind of country! No matter how many times you visit, theres always something new to explore. This time around Im visiting the Lake Geneva region... This part of Switzerland is quite a hidden gem that I cant wait to discover, Ranveer said in a statement. The region includes the Montreux also called the pearl of Swiss Riviera, Lausanne -- the Olympic capital, surrounded by vineyards, a trio of hills rolling down to the lake and a medieval cathedral; and Lavaux, a Unesco world heritage site. The actor, 32, says he is looking forward to a relaxing vacation. While gorging on some amazing food and as always letting my hair down and having some fun under the Swiss sun, he added. On the work front, Ranveer has just wrapped up shooting for director Zoya Akhtars Gully Boy, which also stars Alia Bhatt. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Follow @htshowbiz for more Bollywood superstar Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez shot a romantic number for their upcoming film Race in Jammu and Kashmir after they reached the valley on Monday. The crew also met the states chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. The crew first reached Srinagar where they received a warm welcome from CM Mufti and spent an hour with her. Later, they travelled to Sonamarg and shot for the film. Jacqueline and Salman then shot the romantic song. It is Jacquelines first time shooting in the valley were as Salman has already been here for Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Directed by Remo DSouza, the action packed thriller is being produced jointly by Ramesh S. Taurani and Salman. Taurani shared a picture on Twitter and wrote, We thank the Chief Minister Madam Mehbooba Mufti for welcoming us in Kashmir for the Final Lap of #Race3 with @BeingSalmanKhan #Race3InKashmir #Race3ThisEid We thank the Chief Minister Madam Mehbooba Mufti for welcoming us in Kashmir for the Final Lap of #Race3 with @BeingSalmanKhan #Race3InKashmir #Race3ThisEid pic.twitter.com/T6pRRzKQIu Ramesh Taurani (@RameshTaurani) April 24, 2018 More pictures from Salmans visit to the valley are doing the rounds online. Check them out: Race 3 also stars Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Jacqueline Fernandez, Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem. Like most Salman hits, Race 3 is also scheduled to be released on Eid this year. This is the second time Salman is shooting in Sonamarg - he shot for Kabir Khans hit film Bajrangi Bhaijaan in the picturesque hill station and spent a fortnight here. Salman Khan, alleged girlfriend Iulia Vantur in one pic. It wasnt meant for your eyes Abbas-Mustan directed the first two iterations of Race and both films had Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor in lead roles. Follow @htshowbiz for more The cast and crew of filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulias upcoming film, Milan Talkies, was in for a delicious surprise when they landed in Lucknow recently to shoot the film. Lead actor Ali Fazal, who hails from the Uttar Pradesh capital, brought home-cooked meals to the sets, adding the much needed flavour of enjoyment at work. Alis grandmother is fond of cooking. She made dishes such as biryani, galouti kebabs, shahi tukda and nalli nihari for everyone. The actor says, It is mad fun on set because I became the official supplier for food on sets when we were shooting in Lucknow. My maternal grandmother and aunt would make something delicious for the crew and send on the sets every day. The cast, including Shraddha Srinath, Ashutosh Rana, Sanjay Mishra, Yashpal Sharma and Sikander Kher also tried restaurants in the city whenever they got a chance. Tigmanshu sir knows the area very well, so we were invariable competing on who would bring what from which restaurant, says Ali, who was last seen on the silver screen in the film, Fukrey Returns, last year. Follow @htshowbiz for more For any nation-building project to triumph, it is essential that every stakeholder contributes to the initiative. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan programme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is one such mission that has seen significant efforts on the part of governments, NGOs, and corporates to spread the message of cleanliness. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), Indias largest fast moving consumer goods company, has also been educating the masses about the importance of sanitation. Having served Indians for 85 years, HULs brands, by virtue of their product characteristics and market position, are natural thought leaders when it comes to health and hygiene. For instance, Domex Toilet Academy is an on-ground sanitation intervention that deployed an entrepreneurial development model to build over one lakh toilets. A behavioural change programme is currently being implemented in Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh to increase usage and proper maintenance of toilets. The Lifebuoy handwashing behavioural change programme is among the largest such initiatives in the world. It helps promote the benefits of handwashing with soap on key occasions and encourages people to stick to the habit. The programme is run with the help of NGOs such as the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, and has reached more than 63 million Indians. Further, Pureit has partnered with Water Health International to set up four pilot community water plants in Tumkur, Karnataka. These plants provide safe drinking water to low-income consumers in the area. The Swachh Aadat curriculum is a 21-day behavioural change programme, whereby primary school students are educated about the importance of clean habits. (HUL) The missing link For creating lasting behavioural change in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), building infrastructure like toilets and hand wash stations in schools alone wouldnt suffice. There needs to be a focus on behavioural change, too, and that is where HUL plays a significant role. Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat is HULs movement to provide the missing link in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan programmebehavioural change. The focus is on handwashing, purification of water, and usage and maintenance of clean toilets. Swachhata Doot, Swachh Basti programme, and the Swachhata curriculum are some of the initiatives launched under the campaign. Swachhata Doot is a mobile-led rural behavioural change communication model, whereby volunteers share two-minute audio stories on clean habits with villagers. Ever since its inception, the programme has impacted over 30 lakh people. The Swachh Aadat curriculum is a 21-day behavioural change curriculum, whereby primary school students are educated about the importance of clean habits. The programme is taught in classrooms with the help of teachers for approximately 20 minutes for 21 continuous days. It combines classroom teaching with activities, games, and characters such as Chamatkari Sonu (a superhero) and Kitabyutor (kitab + computer). It has so far been taught in schools in parts of rural Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The Suvidha Centre addresses the hygiene needs of people from low-income urban households. (HUL) The Suvidha Centre is a first-of-its-kind urban water and sanitation community centre that addresses the hygiene needs of people from low-income urban households. It provides flush toilets, handwashing facilities with soap, clean showers, safe drinking water, and laundry facilities at significantly lower costs than that of the market. The first Suvidha Centre in Azad Nagar, Ghatkopar, one of the largest slums in Mumbai, has been running for more than a year and has attained operational sustainability. The Suvidha project will be expanded with more such centres being built in other slums of Mumbai. HUL also partners with NGOs, development organizations, and the government to achieve common goals in the field of hygiene. For example, HUL is the lead partner for all WASH behavioural change projects under the Village Social Transformation Mission. The latter is an initiative of the Maharashtra government and top private sector companies to develop the 1,000 most backward gram panchayats of the state based on their Human Development Index. HUL has created lasting changes in the lives of many Indians, thereby contributing to the ideals of the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development (Goal 3 being good health and well-being and Goal 6 being clean water and sanitation) and the Swachh Bharat Mission. You, too, can be an agent of change by volunteering for HULs Swachhata Doot programe. For more information, click here. A 17-year-old student of a madrasa in Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, has been detained for allegedly abducting a 10-year-old girl from her house in east Delhi and raping her. The girl was rescued from the madrasa on Sunday. The police are probing the role of some others in the case. On Tuesday, the case was transferred to the crime branch. Announcing the transfer of the case, joint commissioner of police(eastern range) Ravindra Yadav said,Owing to inter-state ramifications of the case and for thorough in-depth investigations, case is being transferred to professional and premier investigating unit, which is the crime branch. Deputy commissioner of police (east) Pankaj Singh said police registered a case of rape and under sections of POCSO (Protection Of Children From Sexual Offences Act) after the minor girls medical examination confirmed rape. We apprehended the minor. He has been sent to a juvenile home. We are also carrying out the ossification test of the juvenile to verify his claims of being a minor, said Singh. The childs family visited the Ghazipur police station on Tuesday and sought a probe on the role of others persons in the madrasa. The police are trying to hush up the matter by merely apprehending one minor boy. There is a larger conspiracy involved and we want everyone involved to face the consequences. Our child was sedated and confined. There were at least three to four men where she was kept, said the girls maternal uncle. Neither the uncle nor the police could confirm if the allegations made by the girls family were in the statement she recorded before a magistrate on Monday. On the allegations made by the childs family, joint commissioner Yadav said , We have assured them that fair investigation(on the role of cleric) is being conducted on merit and no one will be spared if hes involved in the crime. HT reported on Monday that the girl was rescued with the help of a phone that she girl taken with her. Even though the phone was switched off, the police found the numbers that were dialled and called up several people to find out the location of the phone in Arthala area of Sahibabad, from where the girl was rescued. The infamous Dilli ki garmi has begun, and with it comes the horror of extended power cuts. However, fret not, Dilliwalahs, as you would be compensated for those long unscheduled outages, starting this summer. The Delhi governments long-debated policy to compensate consumers for power cuts has finally been cleared. The first-of-its-kind policy has been touted as a revolutionary and very innovative decision that would make power distribution companies accountable to the public for the discomfort. The policy requires power distribution companies to fix any problem within 60 minutes. If that doesnt work out, they would have to pay a penalty of 50 per hour (for the first two hours) to every consumer who files a claim, and a penalty of 100 per hour after the first two hours. All Delhiites need to do is log their complaints with the corresponding company in their area as soon as the power supply is disrupted, via a text message to the designated phone number, email, phone app or a website, along with their basic details. All messages will be acknowledged, and the company shall automatically credit the penalty into the account of the consumers without any hassle (after the permissible time limit). This would in turn be adjusted in the consumers monthly bill. Cool, right? We asked a few Delhiites what they think about this new policy, and this is what they had to say. I THINK ITS A GREAT IDEA! Anhad Singh Anand, 27, Actor I think its a great idea! These power cuts have a greater negative influence on peoples lives than one would imagine, and its not just restricted to monetary loss. If such a deal for refund does actualise, the average consumer, who feels much aggrieved with the standard of life being provided by those running the country, would definitely take this as a positive statement of intent. Anhad Singh Anand, 27, Actor I HOPE THERE IS NO CATCH IN THIS POLICY Vineet Sehrawat, 27, Entrepreneur Power outages are a complete nuisance, and such a policy would ensure that people, at least, get something in return for the discomfort caused. I just hope that this actually materialises and doesnt have any catch in it. Vineet Sehrawat, 27, Entrepreneur I DONT SEE A POINT IN THIS Somya Gehlot, 28, Model Sure, this move sounds like a great idea, but I see no real point in this. Does any other service give us compensation for errors that they havent introduced themselves? Then why should power companies? I think they should instead have alloted a budget so such cuts dont happen in the first place. Somya Gehlot, 28, Model FINALLY, SOMEONE THOUGHT OF US Kunal Dhawan, 28, Aviation Professional These days, most policies work more for the companies or organisations involved, and not often do they really benefit the common man. I am glad that, finally, someone thought of us. Lets wait and watch now; time will tell how much this really works. Kunal Dhawan, 28, Aviation Professional THIS IS HOW A SERVICE IS SUPPOSED TO WORK Apoorva Dangi, 26, Teacher These companies provide us a service, something that we pay for, and if we face any discrepancies on their behalf, we deserve compensation. This is how a service is supposed to work in its truest form. I appreciate this move and hope it helps us all. Apoorva Dangi, 26, Teacher Follow @htshowbiz for more. Two days after a 55-year-old man was stabbed to death at his east Delhis Pandav Nagar home allegedly by his son-in-law, police on Tuesday said they have arrested the accused, who was hiding at his friends flat in Shakarpur. The son-in-law, identified by his first name Neeraj,27, has told police that he had planned to kill two more persons his mother-in-law and the boyfriend of his sister-in-law to teach a lesson to his wife, who had left him and started living with her parents. Neeraj was enraged with his wife and in-laws because she had filed a case of domestic violence and moved a city court, seeking divorce, said police. The couple got married in 2016 after courtship, but soon started having arguments and fights. Neeraj believed that his in-laws were conspiring to break his marriage as they never approved their relationship and were against the marriage. He planned to kill his in-laws when his wife left him and filed a case against him, an investigator said. According to the investigator, Neeraj went to his in-laws home on Sunday afternoon, with a plan to kill his wifes parents. He knocked at the door. As his father-in-law Prabhu Dayal opened the door, Neeraj allegedly stabbed him in his chest. Neerajs next target was his mother-in-law. But he failed to killed her because Dayals son saw Neeraj stabbing his father and raised an alarm that attracted neighbours attention. Neeraj fled when he saw neighbours rushing to catch him, said the officer. The officer said Neerajs third target was his sister-in-laws boyfriend. He hated him because his in-laws were fond of him and he often interfered in his family issues. Even as we were searching him, Neeraj was looking for an opportunity to kill the two, added the officer. Pankaj Singh, deputy commissioner of police (east), said the districts special staff team was roped in to nab Neeraj. The team questioned his family members, relatives and friends to track his movements and trace his hideouts. Neeraj had switched off his mobile phone. Police tracked his cellphones last location in Shakarpur. Investigators learnt that Neerajs friend lives in Shakarpur. They raised his flat and found Neeraj there. The friend was unaware of Neerajs crime, said police. We have recovered the knife that Neeraj had used to kill his father-in-law, said DCP Singh. AP LAWCET result 2018: The results of the Andhra Pradesh Common Law Entrance Test (AP LAWCET) will be announced after April 30 on sche.ap.gov.in The result was expected on Wednesday, but the exam conducting body Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur has issued a notification saying that the results will be published after April 30. The exam was held on April 19. Process to check results: 1. Log on to the official website. 2. Click on the link which shall be given on the homepage. 3. Key in the required information. 4. After doing all this, your AP LAWCET Result 2018 shall come up on the screen. 5. Make sure you download it and get a printout for future purposes. The AP LAWCET took place on April 19 for admission to the first year of 5-year LLB /3-year LLB. The exam was held by Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Ananthapuramu, Andhra Pradesh across 16 different centres in Andhra Pradesh. About SKU: Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Ananthapuramu, began as a Postgraduate Centre of Sri Venkateswara University in 1967-68. It got autonomy in 1976. To get further details regarding the result, candidates can log on to the official website. CBSE Class 12 economics re-exam 2018 analysis: The Class 12 economics paper of the Central Board of Secondary Education, which was reconducted on Wednesday, evoked a mixed response from students as some said it was easier than the last one and others complained about the lengthy numerical section. Students in Uttar Pradeshs Lucknow were among those who were satisfied with their performance and said they hope to score well in the paper. At City International School (CIS) in Indira Nagar, students said the question paper was conceptual and required core knowledge of the subject. Their economics teacher Sugandha Singh said some questions were tricky but manageable. Nikhil Vasishth of CIS said the paper was average in terms of its difficulty level and that he was satisfied with his answers. All those who were regular with the subject would have able to solve the paper, he added. His schoolmate Akhil also said the paper was average and that he was able to finish his paper well before time. ... I managed to solve the paper and tried to give my 100%. I am satisfied with my performance, Samarth said. For hard workers, it was a treat ... but few questions were tricky. It was not lengthy at all, Dhruv said. SKD Academys Prakhar Tripathi said they had enough time to prepare and found the paper better than the previous one. Kandarp Tripathi and Harsh Singh of the same school said their teachers worked hard and taught the topics well as they practised them through revision sheets. They said they will score well with Gods blessings. Anjali Singh and Divyank Shukla were also grateful for the frequent guidance from their teachers. Motivation from the principal and the right guidance from our teachers helped us to stay focussed for the re-exam, students of SKD Academy said. Tanu Singh, another student of SKD Academy, said she was under stress after the exam was cancelled by the board. We were afraid but the paper was quite good, she said. Students coming out of Kendriya Vidyalaya No1 after appearing in CBSE Class12th economics re-examination in Bhopal on Wednesday. (Mujeeb Faruqui/HT Photo) Students in Madhya Pradeshs capital Bhopal also found most of the questions easy but said that the cancelled exam was easier. Some also said the macroeconomic section was difficult. They were mostly relieved that their exams were finally over. I prepared for the exam for just two days as my focus was on the preparation of CLAT but I answered all the questions very easily and before time, Shashank Sharma, a student of Campion School, said. The pattern of question paper was same as it was earlier. It was quite easy and scoring one. I am expecting good marks, Sagar Public Schools Kumud Garg said. Rajeev Gandhi CBSE Schools principal PK Pathak said it was a normal paper. A maximum number of students attempted all the questions before time as all the questions were very direct, he added. A few students found the microeconomics section of the paper a bit difficult than the previous one. Campion Schools Pranjal Verma and Vishwajeet Singh said they did well in the last exam and were expecting a good score but this time they found questions from microeconomics tough. Riddhi Agarwal from Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls Public School in Rajasthans Jaipur said the previous paper on March 26 had direct questions. This time there were diagrams and examples with the theory as well. It was a little more complicated than the last paper. We had to think before writing, said Riddhi Agarwal from Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls Public School. However, Ashi Kala from Seedling Modern High School found the paper pretty straightforward and easier than the last one. The only problem was that there was a gap of almost one month since we have the last exam, so we had to go over everything again, she added. In Patna, Mansi Agarwal of St Michaels School also found the paper easier than the last. The questions in the re-exam were comparatively less lenghty, Agarwal added. I completed my paper an hour before time. The paper was more or less similar. However, I found the microeconomics section a bit tough, Sonali of the same school said. Students and teachers in Uttar Pradeshs Allahabad city said Wednesdays paper was comparatively a bit tough than the previous one but added it was lengthy and time-consuming, especially the numerical section. I attempted all the questions but not very sure about the numerical part, especially questions on elasticity of demand and deficient demand, Harsh Mittal, a student at Gangagurukulam School, said. Mittals principal Alpona Dey, who also teaches the subject, agreed with him but said the paper was a balanced one as it covered all topics. The previous paper had more of direct questions while todays paper had more application based where students had to put in higher order thinking skills. The numerical questions on topics like national income, aggregate demand, elasticity of demand, deficient demand, etc were time-consuming while around six theoretical questions had graphs, Dey said. Rupa Chakroborty, an economics teacher at Gangagurukulam School, said of the total 24 questions carrying 80 marks, theoretical questions on topics including banking, consumer equilibrium, costs, micro and macroeconomics, producers and consumers theory, budget, etc were scoring. In all the paper was balanced and in accordance with the syllabus, Chakroborty added. Teachers and students in Kolkata had a mixed opinion about the economics question paper. Anupam Mishra, a student of BD Memorial School, said that the questions were more difficult than the first test. In the previous paper, the questions were more direct, and therefore, answering them was easier. However, this time the questions were more complicated. Ordinary students might face difficulty in attempting all questions within the stipulated time, Mishra said. All I can say is that a student who could have easily scored at least 85 out of 100 in the previous paper, can score 60 to 65 this time, Mishra added. However, Haryana Vidya Mandirs principal Nandini Sen said her students found the difficulty level of the questions in Wednesdays paper same as that of the previous one. The board held the Class 12 economics exam almost a month after it was cancelled following reports of the question paper getting leaked leading to a nationwide protest and outrage. A private school teacher was arrested by Delhi Police from Una in Himachal Pradesh earlier in April for leaking the March 26 Class 12 economics paper as well as the Class 10 mathematics paper. They questioned over 60 people in connection with the case, including the administrators of 10 WhatsApp groups. The WhatsApp groups, each with 50-60 members, were believed to be involved in the paper leak, one of the biggest scandals to have hit the board. The members of the groups included private tutors, students and parents. Class 10 students were spared the repeat of the mathematics paper as the board decided against it after the police established that the leak was not countrywide. (With inputs from Rajeev Mullick in Lucknow, Shruti Tomar in Bhopal, Nitika Kakkar in Jaipur, Avijit Ghosal in West Bengal, Nandini in Patna and Kenneth John in Allahabad) Summer can bring in several hair woes. But dont give in to the heat just yet and taking care of your hair need not be a tedious exercise if you do the basics right. Using the right serum and going in for dry shampoo whenever needed will bring you relief. Read on for easy to follow hair care tips, as well as some facts surrounding common hair myths. Vibhoar, Director of NEU Salonz, busts some myths that can help you to get healthy hair: Myth: Cutting hair regularly makes it grow faster Fact: Hair grows from the root, and the body cannot detect when it has been cut (shaving, plucking or tweezing is a different story). Cutting the hair removes split ends which help the hair stay more aligned and look healthier. If you get your hair cut regularly, you will probably be more aware of how quickly it grows. via GIPHY Myth: You have to be rough to get the lather going Fact: Remember, your hair is delicate when it is wet, so be gentle. Massaging your shampoo in with soft, circular movements will give you a few minutes of bliss. Myth: Dying your hair will cause damage Fact: Bleaching hair can dry it out and damage it. However, there are plenty of nourishing treatments to help replenish hair. Invest in good quality, hydrating shampoos and conditioners and use a mask once a week to keep your hair in the best condition possible. via GIPHY Myth: Stress is making your hair fall out Fact: It is definitely true that certain traumatic events have been linked to hair loss. Suffering a major illness, gaining weight, career struggles or a death of loved one can trigger hair loss. However, the types of hair loss associated with high stress are typically telogen effluvium, a resting phase in which hair follicles stop growing, and alopecia areata, patchy hair loss. Both of which are temporary, reversible, and easily treated with topical or oral solutions to jumpstart the recovery process. Arpit Jain, founder and managing director, Auraine Botanicals, suggests tips to keep your hair healthy: * Always apply hair serum with finger tips -it gives a better look to your hair. Do not apply it too close to the scalp to avoid oily looking hair. * Wash your hair twice or thrice a week to retain essential oils. Ensure that you wash your hair with warm water (neither too hot and nor too cold) to avoid frizz and damaged hair. via GIPHY * Avoid brushing your hair too often - it leads to oil getting distributes all over your hair. * As summers have set in, dry shampoo is going to be your everyday saviour if you dont have time to wash your hair regularly. Dry shampoo will help your hair to not look greasy and matte. * To avoid extra stress to your hair, tie your hair when you sleep and when you go out in the sun or dust. This prevents your hair from further damage. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more Four of a family died when a truck fleeing after hitting a man plowed through two vehicles and ran over their motorbike in Harchandpur village near Sohna Tuesday night. The truck hit a person at BK chowk in Faridabad and was speeding towards Sohna when it hit a car, an SUV and then the bike at around 8.20 pm, said the police. Irshad and his sister Afsana died instantly and Afsanas young children Saima and Ayat succumbed to their injuries in a hospital. A one-year old boy named Zaid was injured. The family was going to Ballabhgarh . Two occupants of the car and the SUV were injured too. Delhi resident Rajiv Kohli told the police he saw the family being thrown off the bike when the truck hit them. Ravinder Kumar, public relations officer for Gurgaon police, said a case has been registered and the truck driver will be caught soon. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Deepika Padukone won over the world once again with her beautiful smile and an inspiring story at the TIME 100 Gala in Manhattan, New York on Tuesday. She was one of the 100 people honoured by the magazine this year in their 100 Most Influential list. The actor stunned everyone in her heavily embellished golden Anamika Khanna dress with a flowing cape behind her. She arrived on the red carpet with a big smile on her face and her hands joined in a namaste. A post shared by liaa (@liaaspeaks) on Apr 24, 2018 at 8:09pm PDT During the ceremony, she gave a short speech about her struggle with depression and how she defeated it and found a new faith in life. Before she could begin her speech, a man shouted a compliment at her from afar. Youre so beautiful!, he said as she blushed with a mic in her hand and thanked him for his words. Check out the video: Heres the entire speech: February 15th, 2014, I remember waking up that morning with a strange pittish feeling in my stomach. I had no idea what I was feeling. Life all of a sudden just felt meaningless and there were days when I just wanted to give up. And couple of weeks later I was diagnosed with clinical depression. Four years on I stand here in front of all of you with a slightly better understanding, I think, of life and my feelings and the person that I am, but I feel like more importantly, I think all of you will agree with me when I say that were going through some pretty challenging times all around the world. And so I want to raise a toast to every man and every woman and every child around the world that is faced with some sort of challenge every single day, but you do it with a smile, and I want to say that your power and your strength and your courage encourages me to go on every single day. And for the some of us I think who do think of giving up once in a while, I want you to know that were all in this together, and most importantly that there is hope, because in the words of Stephen Fry, Well be sunny one day. Thank you. During the ceremony, Deepika also posed for photographs with her Hollywood manager and Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi. She was also chased by a few excited fans who asked her when her next film will be out to which she replied, Soon. Also on the list of honorees were Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, who is the youngest person ever to feature on the list, the Parkland Shooting survivors and more. Check out pictures of more guests from the gala: Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman attend the TIME 100 Gala. (AFP) Actors Emily Blunt and John Krasinski arrive for the TIME 100 Gala. (REUTERS) Parkland high school student activists arrive for the TIME 100 Gala. (REUTERS) Padma Lakshmi attends the Time 100 Gala. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) Millie Bobby Brown attends the Time 100 Gala. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) Jennifer Lopez attends the TIME 100 Gala. (AFP) Follow @htshowbiz for more The Home Alone movies might be holiday favourites for many families, but they arent for Macaulay Culkin, who starred in the films as Kevin McCallister. During an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which is aired on Romedy Now in India, Culkin admitted he doesnt watch the movies. I dont really watch them all that often, the actor, now 37, told the host Ellen DeGeneres. In fact, the actor described it as background radiation at Christmas time. Ive had people want to sit down and watch it with me, he told Ellen, which is, like, both flattering and creepy. If Culkin does catch one of the movies, he tends to think more about his time on set than the plot itself. I cant watch it the same way other people do, he said. He doesnt even make an exception come December 25 (Christmas). So, when it comes on ... which it comes on, Im sure, every Christmas, every Thanksgiving...you dont watch it? DeGeneres asked. No, not really, he replied. Culkin said he doesnt really leave his house much during the entire holiday season. Yes, I definitely dont, he said. Its my season.Its Macaulay season. I try to go out less and less around that time of year. One of the reasons is because people still ask the actor to make the classic scared face his character Kevin made in the films. However, Culkin said he declines. Ive been there, done that already guys, he said. Im 37 now, Okay mom? Culkin said being recognised by his fans is both a curse and a blessing. I can get into any restaurant I want without a reservation, he said. But while Im there, everyones staring at me and all going awwww the whole time. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Follow @htshowbiz for more When Rajasthan police arrested Asaram in September 2013 for allegedly raping a girl at his ashram in Jodhpur, the halo around one of Indias most popular religious leaders came off. Soon after, two sisters from Surat accused Asaram and his son Narayan Sai of raping them when they stayed at their ashrams in Ahmedabad and Surat between 1997 and 2006. As the cases went through courts, three witnesses were killed and others were attacked or threatened. Here is a recap. September 2013: Manoj Kumar Vyas, a judge at the Jodhpur sessions court, was threatened to grant Asaram bail in the rape case. Police told the court that Asarams supporters threatened officers handling the case and even tried to bribe officials who arrested him. Asaram denied the allegations. December 2013: The husband of a woman who had accused Asaram of rape was stabbed and injured in Surat. The womans younger sister had accused Naryan Sai, who describes himself as a spiritual guru, of rape. March 2014: Two persons on a motorbike threw acid on Dinesh Bhavchandni, a former follower of Asaram, in Surat. Bhavchandani, a textile merchant, had provided legal assistance to people who had spoken against the spiritual guru. May 2014: Amrut Prajapati, Asarams ayurveda doctor for almost 12 years, was shot dead outside his clinic in Gujarats Rajkot city after he testified against him before a court. A Times of India report says Prajapati turned against Asaram after the death of two boys who studied at a gurukul (traditional school) Asaram operates in Ahmedabad. January 2015: Akhil Gupta, a cook and aide of Asaram, was shot dead in Muzaffarnagar city of Uttar Pradesh. Gupta had testified against Asaram in the alleged rape of two sisters from Surat. Gupta was accused of sexually assaulting a schoolgirl. February 2015: Rahul K Sachan, an Ayurvedic practitioner and Asarams former physician, is a key witness in the rape cases against the self-styled godman and Narayan Sai. He was stabbed by an alleged follower of Asaram in the Jodhpur sessions court when he was about to testify. The Central Bureau of Investigation filed a case of abduction in 2016 after Sachan went missing from his residence in Lucknow in November 2015. May 2015: Two men shot and injured Mahendra Chawla, a former aide of Asaram, in Panipat after the police constable guarding him left his post. Chawla was the sixth witness in the rape cases against Asaram and Narayan Sai to be attacked. July 2015: Sudha Pathak, a witness, turned hostile and told the Jodhpur sessions court that she had no knowledge of what Asaram did at his ashram. July 2015: Kripal Singh, a witness in the Jodhpur rape case, died a day after he was shot at in Shahjehanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Singh, in a statement before his death, alleged three followers of Asaram had approached him in a Jodhpur court and had offered him money. Kartik Haldar, a follower of Asaram, was arrested in March 2016 in Chhattisgarhs capital city of Raipur on suspicion that he had killed three key witnesses in the rape cases filed against the religious leader. He is blamed for the deaths of Amrut Prajapati, Akhil Gupta and Kripal Singh. Haldar was also accused of attacks on four other witnesses in the case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sought maximum punishment for all nine convicts in Rohtaks Apna Ghar sexual abuse case during a hearing in a special CBI court. The sentencing will be pronounced on April 27 after 2pm. Referring to the horrifying conduct of convicted Apna Ghar in-charge Jaswanti Devi and her kin, CBI senior counsel Jitender Kumar said that their act was unpardonable as the victims were orphans and already deserted in the society. The inmates of Apna Ghar, including minor, adult and physically challenged girls, were deposed during the trial and narrated painful ordeal of rape and sexual exploitation at the hands of the accused. Their sentencing should be exemplary as to create a deterrent in the society for such heinous crime, he said during the court hearing. The case came to light on May 9, 2012, after a team from the National Council for the Protection of Child Rights conducted a surprise raid at a shelter home, Apna Ghar, in Rohtaks Shrinagar colony and rescued nearly 120 inmates. The shelter was run by Jaswanti along with her family members and other employees that were arrested after the case handed with the CBI, following a report of court commissioner appointed by the Punjab and Haryana high court, soon after the raid. Apart from Jaswanti, her daughter Sushma alias Simmi, son-in-law Jai Bhagwan, brother Jaswant, cousin Sheela, driver Satish, employee Ram Prakash Saini and counsellor Veena have been convicted on various charges of sexual and physical molestation of inmates. Another accused Roshni has been convicted for buying a child born out of a rape victim. Defence seeks leniency The defence counsel of the accused sought leniency from the court. Roshnis counsel sought lesser punishment for her as she is suffering from cancer. Satishs wife pleaded that she has two kids to look after. With an ailing father in law, her husband was only one to support them, she reasoned. Jaswantis counsel said that she has already spent over six years in jail and should be shown some mercy. Prosecution and defence During the trial, the CBI counsel rested his argument on firm testimony of inmates who stood their ground in exposing Jaswanti and her aides barbaric act of sexual and physical abuses such as repeated rapes, inserting in private parts besides forced abortion. Besides, it had a DNA evidence of a new born baby that was born out of forced sexual exploitation of a visually and hearing impaired victim. On the other hand, the defence counsel argued that all scientific evidences linked to this case including pictures and videos tilted in favour of the accused following forensic reports. They said many victims whose testimony threw allegations of rape and other heinous charges against Jaswanti and others, had compromised past. The prosecution had examined 121 witnesses, 35 of them were inmates of the shelter while defence had produced 26 witnesses during the trial. A Jodhpur court on Wednesday convicted self-styled godman Asaram and sentenced him to life imprisonment for the rape of a teenage girl at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur in 2013. The verdict was pronounced in the TADA court in the Jodhpur Central Jail amidst high security, apprehending a threat to law and order from his followers. Judge Madhusudan Sharma also convicted two other accused Shilpi Gupta and Sharatchandra in the case and awarded them jail term of 20 years each. Asaram was charged with raping a 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradeshs Shahjahanpur in 2013. Here are the highlights: 7:46 pm: Asaram is now Quaidi number 130 in Jodhpur Central Jail. 6.45pm: Following the conviction of Asaram in a rape case, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Wednesday the places named after the controversial godman would be rechristened. No one is above the Constitution, the law, and the public sentiments. It is a country where the name of Aurangzeb Road has also been changed. Soon, we will take appropriate action on this matter too, Chouhan said. 4. 25 pm: CPI (M) Politburo member Brinda Karat welcomes the judgement. I welcome the judgement. In this case the witnesses were attacked, one was killed. The victim and her father were threatened, they were forced to leave their home. They were displaced. But today their fight for justice has been vindicated. What is worse is that this godman used the bhakti of these followers to abuse their believes, says Karat. 4.15 pm: 3.50 pm: I can say that hard work from everyone has finally paid off. We all are really happy with this decision. I need medias support to get the correct version out there to the supporters of Asaram, says Jodhpur DCP Amandeep Kapoor. 3.43pm: Home ministry informs that no untoward incident has been reported so far from anywhere. A home ministry spokesperson says, No significant law and order incident has been reported from anywhere so far in wake of the conviction of Asaram Bapu. 3.27pm: Asaram has been given 10 years rigorous imprisonment for trafficking of minor (section 370(4) of IPC), one year for wrongful confinement (section 342 of IPC), life imprisonment until death for rape (section 376(2)(f) of IPC) and six months of simple imprisonment (section 23 of Juvenile Justice Act). 3.10pm: The court ordered a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the victim. 3.08pm: Victims father hails the judgement. We accept the decision of the honourable court. This case will set an example for the daughters of the country who are harassed at the hands of people like Asaram, the father said. 2.55pm: During the arguments on quantum of sentence, defence counsel Sajjanraj Surana requested the court to take into consideration Asarams age while public prosecutor Pokarram Vishnoi requested the maximum punishment under the charges against him. 2.38pm: Asaram breaks down in courtroom after hearing his sentence. 2.33pm: Two other convicts, Shilpi alias Sanchita Gupta and Sharatchandra, get 20 years each in jail. Sharatchandra was the director of Chhindwara residential school where the 16-year-old girl was studying in Class 12, and Shilpi Gupta was the warden of her hostel. 2.31pm: Asaram sentenced to life imprisonment for rape. 1.55pm: Judge Madhusudan Sharma resumes his seat in the courtroom. Decision on quantum of sentence for Asaram soon. 1.40pm: Kiran Jha Thakur, founder of Kalpana, a non-government body that helped the victims family pursue the case, tells Reuters,I am waiting for the sentencing and I hope he gets the maximum sentence of life imprisonment. 1.15pm: Expressing satisfaction with the verdict convicting Asaram, the rape victims father told PTI, For the past four months, our family members had not been coming out (of our house)...it is satisfying that the verdict has gone against him, he said. We were living in constant terror, our business was adversely hit, he said 12.55pm: This judgment is a lesson to people who think they can get away by committing sexual offences against children. I would like to appreciate the girl and her family for fighting against the culprits, says Yashwant Jain of National Commission For Protection of Child Rights. 12.23pm: Arguments over quantum of sentence end. The judge has retired to his chamber. The verdict on the sentencing is expected soon. 12.14pm: Gujarat police has stepped up security outside two prominent ashrams of Asaram in the state. Over 50 policemen, led by a deputy commissioner of police, were deployed outside Asarams ashram in Motera area of Ahmedabad, around 40 policemen were maintaining vigil near Sabarmati area and around 100 policemen as well as personnel from the State Reserve Police Force were deployed at various places in Chandkheda area, DCP H R Muliana said. Police has been deployed at another prominent ashram in Jahangirpura area of Surat, a police official said. Continuous police patrolling was on in the city, he said. Read | Top cop probing Asaram rape case received 2000 threat letters, phone calls 11.45am: Congress Ashok Gehlot says, The time has come when people should be able to differentiate between the actual saints and frauds, as this creates a bad image of the country in the international arena. 11.32am: Courts in Rajasthan close at 1pm. If arguments over quantum of sentence for Asaram take long, the hearing will continue on Thursday. 11.20am: District Magistrate Amrit Tripathi has extended prohibitory orders across Shahjahanpur district following the judgement. 11.18am: IPS officer Ajay Pal Lamba, who supervised probe into the rape case in 2013, says truth has won. Verdict shows that even persons from the weakest sections of society can take on the most influential ones , says Lamba. Lamba calls judgment a historic verdict for criminal jurisprudence. 11.04am: Along with Asaram, court convicted Shilpi Gupta and Sharatchanda in the case. Two other accused Shiva and Prakash were acquitted. Arguments on quantum on sentence are being heard in the court now. 10.56am: Victims father says, Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice. 10.50am: Asarams spokesperson Neelam Dubey says, We will discuss with our legal team and then decide our future course of action. We have confidence in our judiciary. 10.42am: Asaram and two other accused have been convicted by the Jodhpur SC/ST court in the rape case. 10.25am: Jodhpur police is flying a drone around jail premises for security and surveillance purposes. 9.53am: Security has been provided to the family of Akhil Gupta, a witness in the rape case against Asaram in Surat, who was shot dead in January 2015, ahead of the verdict, police tell PTI. 9.52am: The case against Asaram is registered under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. In Rajasthan, courts hearing cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act are authorised to hear cases under the POCSO Act. Read | Asaram rape case: Womans family under police protection, seeks strict punishment 9.49am: There are thirty people inside the jail courtroom including the judge, one public prosecutor, five accused, 17 advocates and six court staff. 9.32am: Proceedings begin in court. Judge marks attendance of all the accused and their counsels. 9.20am: Four followers of Asaram have been detained from Jodhpur railway station. Police say they came from Gujarat. 9.16am: Asarams former aide Mahendra Chawla, a key witness in the case, says, Trust judiciary and am confident that Asaram will be convicted. I request judiciary that such rapists should be hanged. Though I have security, I request Centre for additional security, my life like other witnesses is constantly under threat. 9.14am: Co-accused Shilpi Gupta alias Sanchita, and Sharatchandra reach Jodhpur Central Jail. 9.11am: Judge Madhusudan Sharma has reached Jodhpur Central Jail courtroom with his staff. 9.10am: Ahead of the verdict, the district administration in Shahjahanpur stepped up security around the house of the victim. 9.05am: Both the roads towards the Jodhpur Central Jail, where Asaram is lodged, have been sealed and only mediapersons have been allowed outside the jail, PTI reports. 8.55am: Prayers underway at Asarams ashram in Varanasi. 8.45am: A follower of Asaram who had reached Jodhpur Central Jail with a garland was detained by the police, ANI reports. 8.15am: Security tightened at Jodhpur Central Jail ahead of the verdict. 8.05am: Co-accused in the case, Shiva, Shilpi Gupta alias Sanchita, Prakash and Sharatchandra will be present in the jail courtroom during the verdict. 7.55am: The judge of the special court for SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act cases, Madhusudan Sharma, is expected to reach his court at 8am, where he will be informed about the high court order allowing for the delivery of the judgment in a special courtroom inside Jodhpur Central Jail. 7.50am: The verdict in the case is expected by 10 am. If convicted, Asaram will get a minimum of 10 years in jail. The maximum punishment in charges framed against him is life imprisonment. Outside the ashram of self-styled godman Asaram at Motera on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, the usual buzz was missing on Wednesday. At the entrance to the ashram, which is packed with his followers and staff on other days, only police and media personnel were to be seen. In small groups, Asarams followers had arrived early in the morning for their daily routine of holding prayers and chanting shlokas behind the tall, grilled gates of the sprawling ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati river. Many of them tried to avoid the media and all that some of them had to say in response to questions was Hari Om. The only statement came from DG Vanzara, a former Indian Police Service officer who is an accused in the alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan, a case which dates back to 2004. Neither the FIR (first information report) nor the charge sheet anywhere mentions that it was a case of rape. Even the complainant girl never used the word rape, said Vanzara, brandishing a copy of the FIR. We do respect the courts judgement but the Constitution of India offers a four-layer judiciary system, from local to the Supreme Court. I am confident that the high court will acquit him. Gujarat police had stepped up security outside Asarams two ashrams in the state, in Ahmedabad and Surat. More than 50 police personnel, led by a deputy commissioner of police, were deployed at the Motera ashram; around 40 policemen were maintaining vigil in the Sabarmati area and around 100 police as well as personnel from the State Reserve Police Force were deployed at various places in Chandkheda, deputy commissioner of police HR Muliana said. Adequate police force was deployed since morning outside Asarams another ashram in Jahangirpura area of Surat district, a police official said. No untoward incident anywhere in Gujarat was reported. Adequate security measures have been taken to maintain law and order, said deputy chief minister Nitin Patel. In Rajasthans Jodhpur, the white two-storey cottage where the 16-year-old girl was raped by Asaram wore a similarly deserted look. It is partially shrouded by trees in the middle of a farm. The cottage was built by Vishnu Deora, one of Asarams over 20 million devotees, some 30km from Jodhpur. The road leading to Deoras estate is deserted and marked by scant vegetation on both sides and the intermittent sight of cattle resting under the shade of trees. The body of another woman Maoist was found in the forests of Kasnasur in Maharashtras Gadchiroli district, four days after she was shot in an operation by security forces on Sunday, taking the total toll to 38, an official said here on Wednesday. Security officials suspect she may have tried to escape the volley of bullets fired by the commandos, or may have been dragged some distance away by her associates before she succumbed to her injuries or they abandoned her. As many as 20 women and 18 men Maoists were gunned down in the twin-operations on Sunday morning and Monday evening in Gadchiroli, considered the worst Maoist-affected district in the country. Search efforts, deploying technology and gadgets, continue even in the Indravati River from where 15 bullet-ridden Maoists were fished out on Monday-Tuesday, with the waters reportedly infested with crocodiles, snakes and other deadly creatures. The successful operations came after the security forces landed an accurate tip-off well in advance about a proposed jungle meeting of around four dozen Maoists scheduled on Sunday morning and the exact venue - catching the rebels virtually by surprise and little time to hit back. However, there are conflicting reports of the purpose of the meeting, including a marriage celebration or to plan out some major offensive, but officials remain tightlipped. The operation - the biggest in the anti-Maoist war since the past over 38 years - saw the elimination of at least four prominent commanders, and dealt a body blow to their rebellious activities in the district. The prominent leaders eliminated include: south region chief Srikant alias Ravtu Vijendra, 50, known as Srinu, besides the commanders of the Aheri, Gatta and Permili dalams (Maoist fighter units), including a woman chief, a deputy commander and prominent members of various groups. The dalam commanders have been identified as: Dolesh Madi Atram alias Sainath (Permili), Mangli Pada alias Shantabai, 31, (Aheri), the wife of Srinu (above), Naresh Kutke Yeladi alias Raju/Ramesh, 29, (Gatta), and Vasudevo Bichha Atram alias Nandu, who is the Aheri dalams DVC (killed in the Monday night battle). Police officials surmise that the Aheri and Sironcha dalams have been totally wiped out in the two-day operations which claimed four out of five of their top leaders. Police have also recovered a cache of sophisticated arms and ammunition, including two AK-47s, two INSAS, three SLRs, three .303s, a 58-mm gun, eight 12 bore rifles, a musket, and detonators, besides Maoist literature from these two operations. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) A Delhi court has dismissed a plea seeking prosecution of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and others for allegedly defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi by raising questions over his educational degree, saying only aggrieved persons can file defamation complaints. Three persons Yogesh Bhardwaj, Rakshpal Singh and Ijharul-Haq had moved court seeking an order asking police to lodge an FIR against Kejriwal, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Aam Aadmi Party leaders Ashutosh, Raghav Chadha, Ashish Khetan and Jitender Singh Tomar, for allegedly defaming Modi. Only an aggrieved person, that is a person who has been defamed, can prosecute for his defamation. Admittedly, the complainants are not the aggrieved/victims of defamatory statements, if any, made by the respondents (Kejriwal, Sisodia, Ashutosh, Chadha, Khetan and Tomar). Therefore, they have no locus to file and prosecute the present case as far as the offence of defamation is concerned, additional chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal said while summarily rejecting the complaint. The court also noted that the complainants had not given any thought on what offence they were alleging against the respondents persons. The complainants state in the heading of the complaint, the commission of following other offences, that is 504, 467, 465, 468, 469 and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code but did not elaborate how these offences are made out in this case. All these offences except 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of IPC relates to the offence of forgery, it said. The court also said that no offence for forgery could be attributed to the respondents as the complainants did not place on record the document which has been forged. Regarding section 504, the court said there was nothing in the complaint to substantiate this charge. The complaint has no merits. Not only on merits that no case is made out, but also for want of locus to prosecute, I refuse to direct registration of FIR and refuse to take cognisance of the offence under section 499, 500, 504, 467, 465, 468, 469 and 34 of IPC against the respondents. The complaint is accordingly dismissed, the court said. The complaint had alleged that the respondents had defamed the Prime Minister in May 2016 on the issue of his degrees and tarnished his image by showing his false degrees in press conferences and print and other social media. However, the University of Delhi on May 11, 2016 made the Prime Ministers degrees public which had exposed the false propaganda of the accused persons, it had said. The complainants also claimed to have approached the police which did not take any step against the accused persons. The Allahabad high court on Wednesday granted bail to Dr Kafeel Ahmad Khan, who was arrested last September in connection with the death of several children in Baba Raghav Das Medical College, Gorakhpur, due to alleged interruption in oxygen supply to the hospital. Over 30 children had died at the medical college on August 10-11, 2017 allegedly due to the disruption in oxygen supply. Justice Yashwant Varma granted the bail after hearing counsels representing Dr Khan and the state government in the case. However, the court imposed several conditions, including that the applicant shall not tamper with the records/documents related to the case and not threaten or influence any witnesses of the case. Dr Khan was arrested on September 2 near Kalesar in Sahjanwa when he was on his way to Gorakhpur. He was in jail for more than seven months. The lower court had rejected his bail application earlier after which he approached the high court on February 16, 2018. After hearing his bail application, the court had granted time to the state government to file its counter affidavit in the case. The Gorakhpur police have already dropped charges of corruption and private practice against Dr Khan. Kafeel, the head of the encephalitis ward and an assistant professor at the paediatrics department, was also removed from the post of nodal officer at the National Health Mission in the wake of the deaths. In a letter written from jail which his wife Dr Shabista Khan released to media by in Delhi on Saturday, Dr Khan had alleged that he and others imprisoned in connection with the tragedy were being made scapegoats for administrative failure of the higher officials. Other than Dr Khan, eight others were named in the FIR. All the nine accused, including the oxygen supplier have been in jail since their arrest. Names or photographs of sexual abuse victims should not be revealed as such actions have long term detrimental consequences, the Delhi high court said on Wednesday. The observation by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar was directed at a media house, which apologised for revealing the identity of the eight-year-old girl who was raped and killed in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. The bench made the remark when the media house expressed reservation in paying the Rs 10 lakh compensation as ordered by the court, claiming it had revealed the identity of the victim to arouse public sentiments and sympathy. The court on April 18 had directed 12 media houses to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for revealing the identity of the minor rape victim. It had also indicated that it may enhance the amount that has to be deposited by the media houses in the Jammu and Kashmir Victim Compensation Fund. The court, which had initially suggested imposition of Rs 25 lakh cost on each of the concerned media house, later said for the time being, they should deposit Rs 10 lakh each. On Wednesday, strongly disagreeing with the stand of the media house, the bench said,The long term consequences of revealing a victims identity are drastic and detrimental to the victim and her family. We do not need photographs of the victim for people to be sympathetic. As a result of revealing the identity of the victim, her whole family is ostracised and suffers. The court directed the media house to make the payment within 10 days from Wednesday, saying it cannot be put on a special pedestal when others have agreed to pay the compensation. In its affidavit, the media house said it had published the name and photograph to arouse public sentiments and sympathy, ensure justice and under the belief that such publication was permitted in the instant case as the victims name and photos were circulating in the social media since January when her body was found. It also said that referring to the girl by another name or non-publication of her photographs or redacting them from photos of the agitations, would not have done justice to the victim. The court pulled up the media house for continuing to carry an article in one of its online blogs where the victims name was revealed, saying what was being advocated in the news report was that the law can be changed by publication. After the amicus curiae and senior advocate Arvind Nigam informed the court about other media houses, including some Hindi newspapers, which also had revealed the victims identity, the bench issued notice to them and sought their replies by the next date of hearing on May 18. The court also said that under provisions of the Information Technology Act, even intermediaries such as social media platforms Google, Facebook and Yahoo could be held liable for penal action for display and circulation of photos and name of the victim by others. It issued notice to several social media platforms, including Google and Facebook, and sought their replies by the next date of hearing. Meanwhile, several other media houses filed affidavits indicating they have complied with the courts April 18 order. The bench had directed that wide and continuous publicity be given to the statutory provisions of the law regarding the privacy of victims of sexual offences and punishment for revealing their identities. While Section 23 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act lays down the procedure for the media to report cases of sexual offences against child victims, section 228A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) deals with disclosure of identity of victims of such offences. The penal law provides for jail term of two years with a fine. The eight-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community had disappeared from near her home in a village near Kathua in Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later. The state polices Crime Branch, which probed the case, filed the main charge sheet against seven persons and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district last week. GV Surya Kiran, the son of a popular balladeer and former Maoist party ideologue Gaddar, on Wednesday joined the Congress, almost a year after his famous father shunned his rebellious ways to embrace spiritualism. Popularly known as Suryam, the 42-year old Surya Kiran, met Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi and formally joined the party. Two BJP leaders from Telangana Nagam Janardhan Reddy, a former minister, and Adi Srinivas also joined the Congress with Suryam. Suryam said he was interested in politics and had been looking for a right political platform. I find the Congress the most suitable for the young leaders like me under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, Suryam said. Telangana, the youngest state of India that was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, is due for assembly elections in 2019. Asked if he had his fathers support, Surya replied in the affirmative. He believes that whatever we do, we have to do it sincerely and be happy. His support will always be there with me, he said. Would Gaddar campaign for him, if not for the Congress? Suryam said it was his fathers decision to make. Suryam pointed out that Gaddar joined the parliamentary process in 2017 when he registered as a voter for the first time. Despite his age and health constraints, he had his own battles to fight -- to educate people and fight for their rights. He has come a long way from Marxism to Ambedkarism. And I am following the path of Ambedkar, as directed by my father, Suryam said. Despite repeated attempts Gaddar could not be reached for comments. Paramilitary forces engaged in battling stone-pelting protesters across Kashmir will shun pellet guns in favour of soft-nosed tear gas shells and chilli bombs, officials familiar with development have said. The tear gas shells, which have undergone successful trials, will have a softer plastic head aimed at reducing chances of inflicting grievous injuries on protesters. Chilli shells are already being used in the Valley. However, the Srinagar directorate of the Central Reserved Police Force (CRPF) seemed wary of being made to use less lethal weaponry. Indications to this effect came to light soon after several CRPF units in south and central Kashmir were trained in crowd-handling tactics by instructors from the Rapid Action Force (RAF) the countrys premier agency for handling mobs in mainland India last October. A few weeks later, the CRPFs Srinagar directorate informed its Delhi headquarters that the new tactics were not effective in the Valley because the mobs there were more aggressive when compared to protesters in other parts of the country. Nevertheless, the authorities remain firm in their resolve to cut collateral losses. Civilian casualties are definitely a concern, and we intend to address the same through the use of chilli and soft-nosed tear gas shells even if the situation deteriorates this summer, said a senior paramilitary officer on the condition of anonymity. He said the government introduced soft-nosed shells after several rounds of trials aimed at identifying weaponry that wouldnt cause grievous injuries to Kashmiri protesters. Scores of local residents had suffered grave injuries, mostly those affecting their eyesight, during protests that broke out in the Valley following the encounter death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in 2016. The plastic of the soft-nosed shells melts very easily, releasing a gas that helps disperse the crowds. So the shells cannot be fatal in themselves. Secondly, we have made advancements in tear smoke munitions (TSM) that can be used more prominently than other crowd-control weapons, said another officer. While violent street protests are a common occurrence in the Valley, there have been multiple incidents where crowds have broken through security reinforcements at encounter sites in attempts to help trapped militants escape. This has further complicated the Kashmir situation, said a paramilitary officer, adding that attempts to sabotage counter-insurgency operations have been taken up in discussions with the ministry of home affairs. CRPF director general RR Bhatnagar said the force follows a multi-step mechanism for handling hostile crowds. The first weapon used to disperse the crowds, be it near an encounter site or anywhere else, is the TSM. The next in the list are chilli bombs, followed by pump action guns. Preventing collateral damage is our priority. We do not want civilians getting injured during counter-insurgency operations, he added. When asked to comment on the Srinagar directorates view on RAF training, Bhatnagar said: The training was not rejected. The forces strategy is dynamic, and we keep discussing alternative and innovative methods to deal with crowds. The Rajasthan Police in its charge sheet against self-styled godman Asaram Bapu gave details of how he and his four associates conspired to sexually molest a minor girl at his Jodhpur ashram in 2013. (Asaram case verdict live) If the charges, filed in the district and session courts, are proved, the religious leader faces imprisonment from 10 years up to life. Police had told the court on the basis of the mobile call details how Asaram and his four associates plotted the criminal conspiracy to sexually molest the victim at the Manai ashram, 30 km from Jodhpur, on August 15, 2013. There are four other accused in the chargesheet Sharad and Shilpi, the wardens of the hostel in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh where the victim was studying in a residential school run by Asarams trust. Two other accused are Asaram's associates Shiva, and Prakash, who had helped in the crime by contacting the father of the victim and telling him that his daughter had been possessed and had to be taken to Jodhpur to meet babaji who would cure her. In the 1,011 page charge sheet, the police had included 121 documents and statements of 58 witnesses. Asaram is accused of trafficking, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, rape and criminal conspiracy. Section 370 (4) of IPC (Trafficking): Asaram has conspired with Sharad and Shilpi wardens at the hostel in Chhindwara where the girl was staying, for sexually exploiting the victim. In the conspiracy, Asaram's associate Shiva and Prakash also helped and contacted the father of the victim on mobile phone to get her to Jodhpur. Section 342 of IPC (wrongful confinement): Asaram called the victim to the ashram's room on the night of the alleged incident and closed the door from inside. The victim was kept in the room for one and a half hours for sexual exploitation and rape. Section 354A (sexual harassment), 506, 509 of IPC (criminal intimidation, insulting modesty of a woman) and Section 7/8 of POCSO Act (sexual assault): While holding the victim captive, Asaram opened his clothes and displayed nudity in front of the victim. The victim was sexually abused even though she continued to oppose. Asaram threatened to kill the victim and her parents. Section 376 of IPC: While holding the victim captive, the main accused molested the victim with touching her private part and raped her. Section 376 (2) (F) of IPC (Rape on woman below 12 years): The main accused Asaram was guru of the parents of the victim for several years. The victim herself considered him as God and was studying in a school run by his ashram. Despite person being in a position of trust, the accused raped her. Section 5 (F)/6 of POCSO Act (any management or staff of an educational institution commits penetrative sexual assault): The victim was a minor and was studying in a school run by Asaram's Trust. While being a trustee in the management of the educational institution, the accused raped her. Section 376D of IPC (intercourse by a management or staff of a hospital) and 5(G)/6 of POCSO Act (gang penetrative sexual assault on a child): By forming a gang with his associates Shilpi, Sharad, Prakash and Shiva, Asaram raped and sexually abused the victim. (Section 376D of IPC has been added because the school staff had told her father that the girl was possessed and had to be taken to Asaram for treatment). How much punishment: If the prosecution is able to prove its allegations on the basis of the police chargesheet, Asaram can be punished for imprisonment for a minimum of ten years and a maximum of life imprisonment. The government on Wednesday shot-off notices for the second time to both Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, seeking more details on the data breach issue, sources said. Taking a tough stance against Cambridge Analyticas cryptic response to its first notice, the government has again sent notices to both the British data analytics firm and Facebook, confronting them with additional questions on potential misuse of data. It has asked Facebook to list out security architecture proposed to be created by the company so that data concerning Indians are not pilfered or manipulated again for extraneous purposes including to influence the elections. The government also asked Facebook about steps it plans to clamp down on any unauthorised use of data or manipulation, and fixed a deadline of May 10 for responses. It had earlier questioned both the companies on the impact of the data breach, following which Facebook had admitted that nearly 5.62 lakh people in India were potentially affected by the incident. Earlier this month, Facebook and Cambridge Analytica had submitted their responses, following which the government has now sought more details. The sources, who did not wish to be identified, said the two companies have now been given time till May 10 to respond. Over the last few weeks, the US social networking giant has drawn intense criticism from users and governments globally over the data leak scandal that hit millions of users. Information of over 80 million Facebook users was allegedly harvested by data analytics and political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, leading to a global backlash against the American company. The Indian space agency has recalled its communication satellite GSAT-11 from Arianespaces rocket port in French Guiana for further tests, to be on the safe side, said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Sivan on Wednesday. We are bringing back the GSAT-11 satellite to carry out some tests to be doubly sure of its performance orbiting in the space. There is nothing more to it, Sivan told IANS. He said the satellite is expected to be back in India on April 5 or 6, and after the tests and checks, GSAT-11 can be back in Ariancespaces rocket port in Kourou. Due to additional technical checks with the Indian Space Research Organisations GSAT-11 satellite, to be conducted from the ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) located in Bengaluru, the Ariane 5 launch initially planned for May 25, VA243, has been postponed, Arianespace had said. The GSAT-11 was planned to be launched mid May. The satellite had reached Arianespaces rocket port in March. GSAT-11 was designed, assembled and integrated by the ISRO, and will have an estimated lift-off mass of 5,870 kg. This advanced communications satellite is to provide multi-spot beam coverage over the Indian mainland and nearby islands, bringing significant advantages to the user community when compared with Indias existing INSAT/GSAT satellite systems, Arianespace said earlier in a statement. With its new system architecture and cutting-edge technology elements, GSAT-11 will generate a capacity of more than 12 Gbps for users from a single platform, the statement added. The ISROs move to call back GSAT-11 for further tests and be doubly sure of its performance may be due to the loss of the recently launched GSAT-6A satellite, soon after it was put into orbit on March 29. ISRO suspects the failure of the power systems in the satellite for the loss of communication link. The satellites are powered by solar panels that charge the onboard batteries. The batteries are fully charged when the satellite is loaded on to the rocket. Even if there is a problem with the solar panel, then the battery power should have kicked in. Here the entire power system of the satellite seems to have failed, one space expert told IANS earlier. According to experts, the power system could have failed due to some short circuiting or arcing resulting in what is known in the space terminology loss of lock or loss of contact with the ground station. Satellites in space are locked to ground stations for tracking and other purposes. On March 29, Indian rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) slung GSAT-6A in its intended orbit. From there the satellite was to be taken up further to its orbital slot by firing its onboard motors. The first orbit raising operation was successfully carried out by firing the onboard motors for around 36 minutes on March 30 morning. The second orbit raising operation of GSAT-6A satellite was also successful as its motors was fired for about 53 minutes on March 31. After that, the communication link got snapped. Industry experts also said there has been instances where communication link with satellites got reestablished after a break of couple of days. A private hotel is being built illegally on Haryana government land in Karnal, the constituency of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Official documents show though government officials are in the know that the five-storeyed hotel is nearing completion. The construction of another unit adjoining the hotel spread over 3.42 kanals at Namaste Chowk along Grand Trunk Road is also in full swing. This despite the matter reaching the offices of the prime minister, chief minister and chief secretary. The hotel is 200 metres from the HSIIDCs Karnal office and falls within the municipal corporations jurisdiction. As per the district collectors commercial property rate (Rs 66,500 per sq yard), the cost of this 2,057 square yards plot is Rs 13.68 crore. The market rate, real estate agents say, is four times more than the collectors rate and that means this land is worth nearly Rs 55 crore. In its letters to departments between September 2015 and March 6, 2018, the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) refers to this hotel as illegal construction and encroachment/unauthorised possession of HSIIDC land by Vishal Gupta of Karnal. Gupta, who is into the business of publication, real estate and event management, admits that his hotel is an unauthorised construction. In the absence of any clear policy, a majority of commercial establishments in Karnal are unauthorised, says Gupta, who is close to one of Khattars officers on special duty. This is an unauthorised construction on land the HSIIDC acquired in 2005. Gupta illegally bought the land after the acquisition was over, says Rajbir Singh, the HSIIDCs senior manager in Karnal. I have spent more than Rs 10 crore on building this hotel. The CM is aware of this issue. My plea seeking release of this land from the ambit of acquisition is pending in the court. I started construction after the high court ordered status quo on possession in January 2016. The court has not stopped me from building this hotel, Gupta says. Land and lacunae May 30, 2005: Process to acquire 26 acres of Karnal town concludes June 8, 2005: Vishal Gupta, owner of hotel, buys 907 square yards after acquisition May 18, 2009: Gupta buys second part of 1,150 sq yards on power of attorney. Sept 2015: HSIIDC gets letter from Gupta to remove seal from property in its possession Jan 15, 2016: Gupta obtains status quo on possession from high court; starts constructing hotel Jan 27, 2016: HSIIDC registers FIR against Gupta and starts sending letters to different departments to stop illegal construction Illegal building He cannot construct, the HSIIDC officer says. The HSIIDC initiated contempt of court proceedings against Gupta in May 2016. The case is pending. A Delhi-based Haryana governments law officer says: Any construction on the land after the high court interim order to maintain status quo regarding possession is illegal. Since the hotel construction began in early 2016, the HSIIDC, chief town planner, Karnal deputy commissioner (DC), district town planner, municipal corporation commissioner and superintendent of police have been exchanging letters about this illegal construction frequently. In a July 2016 letter to DC Karnal, the HSIIDC listed out 15 steps taken since September 2015 to stop the illegal construction. As per another letter of February 7, 2018, marked to different departments, HSIIDC listed 19 steps taken to stop the illegal construction, saying: The FIR is registered against Gupta...police cancelled it in April 2016... information was sent to the chief town planner, DC and SP and the HSIIDC headquarters in Panchkula. Gupta did not stop construction and reminders were issued to police. This shows that this office took every possible step to stop the illegal construction on the land in dispute. Feigning ignorance Karnal DC Aditya Dahiya said: I am not aware about this issue. But documents show that the MC commissioner wrote to the DC on January 23. Since the unauthorised construction falls under the jurisdiction of the HSIIDC, the MC commissioner vide her order dated January 16 has decided that action in this matter is being taken by the HSIIDC and no action is required to be taken at the corporations level, the commissioner wrote. In another letter to the Karnal MC commissioner and HSIIDC, with a copy to the DC, the Karnal district town planner on December 20, 2017 wrote, ...No action is to be taken by this office as this site falls in the controlled area within the extended limits of the Karnal MC. So, you are requested to take necessary action. The official records reveal how departments expected to raise the red flag and stop the illegal construction were absolving themselves of the responsibility by asking other departments to act or suggesting that the HSIIDC take action. In its letters, the HSIIDC says: This office has taken every step to stop illegal construction on the land in dispute though this land was never transferred by the land acquisition collector to the HSIIDC. Revenue records show the land in Guptas name on March 28, 2006 but two years later, the mutation entry shows HSIIDC as the owner. The records were manipulated, says Gupta. Suspended after the Doklam face-off, the bilateral military exercise of India and China is likely to resume this year, in sync with renewed efforts by both the countries to reset ties hit by a tense standoff between their troops, government sources said on Wednesday. The exercise Hand-in-Hand between the armies of the two countries will take place within the next 4-5 months in China and an announcement is likely to be made very soon, sources told PTI. It is learnt that the issue of resumption of the annual exercise had figured during talks between Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe in Beijing on Tuesday. Sitharaman was in Beijing to attend a meeting of defence ministers of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) countries. Prime Narendra Modi is travelling to Chinese city of Wuhan on Friday on a two-day visit to hold an informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, seen as an effort to build mutual trust between the two sides. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said the two leaders will try to reach important consensus to resolve outstanding issues and build mutual trust during their talks in Wuhan. The government sources said both sides want to resume the military exercise as it will act as a confidence building measure between the two armies. The annual exercise was to be hosted by China in 2017 but it did not take place due to the Doklam standoff. So far, both sides have participated in six editions of the exercise. India had hosted the exercise in 2016. Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face off was resolved on August 28 last year. The area in Doklam where China tried to construct a road is a disputed territory claimed by both China and Bhutan. India sent its troops to stop the Chinese construction activity, saying it could be a threat to its strategic interests in the region. A group of Indians living in a Silicon Valley neighbourhood have sought the help of the Indian consulate after an alleged racial attack left two of them injured. Aniruddha Mondal and Monima Nandi were injured after they came to the help of Sharda KS during an argument last Sunday with a group of white men in front of their house at Dixon Landing Road in Milpitas, California, according to Mondal. We heard Sharda shouting for help as a group of white people (two men and a woman) were hurling abuses at her. When we tried to intervene, a white person hit me. After a few minutes, Monima was physically assaulted, said Mondal, who got American citizenship in 2016 has a PIO card. Statements by the attackers indicated the incident was racially motivated, according to Samrat Nandi, Monimas husband. Nandi, who works for a software firm, said he called the police, but by the time they came, the attackers had fled. All the Indians live in the same neighbourhood, except Mondal, who was visiting Nandi. Sharda and her husband Prithwi Patil, who was also involved in the altercation, came to the US six months ago. Later, a complaint was filed with the police, but Nandi alleged they are yet to take action. On behalf of the group, Nandi contacted the Indian consulate in San Francisco next day. Deputy consul general Rohit Rathish gave an assurance that the matter was being taken forward, Nandi said. An email by Rathish to Nandi, seen by Hindustan Times, said that the consulate had written to the mayor of Milpitas, the police department as well as Council members informing them about the incident and requesting their attention to the matter. Hindustan Times called the Milpitas Police, but was informed that only the watch commander could comment on the incident. HT was unable to reach the watch commander. An email to Milpitas Police went unanswered. Nandi also tweeted to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj seeking help. The government cleared on Wednesday the appointment of senior advocate Indu Malhotra as a Supreme Court judge but kept on hold the top court collegiums recommendation on elevating Uttarakhand high court Chief Justice KM Joseph, according to two people familiar with the matter. The collegium a body of the five top judges headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) that appoints judges had on January 10 cleared the names of Justice Joseph and lawyer Malhotra. While the government took up Malhotras case, it will spend more time to consider Justice Josephs file, one of the people quoted above said on condition of anonymity. Malhotra a renowned arbitration expert was, in 2007, only the second woman to be appointed a senior advocate by the court, three decades after Leila Seth made history. She is the first woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court directly from the Bar. Though segregation of recommendations (separate processing of names that have been sent by the collegium together) is rare in the Supreme Court, a government official defended the move, saying it was done routinely in the past in the case of high court judges appointments. The norm of appointing candidates, whose names have been cleared together, at the same time ensures that their seniority is not compromised, explained a former SC judge who did not want to be named. Judges who are appointed to the Supreme Court first are considered senior to those who are appointed later. While Justice Joseph has been the chief justice of the Uttarakhand high court since July 2014, Malhotra was part of a committee headed by former SC judge Justice BN Srikrishna to advise on a revamp of Indias institutional arbitration apparatus. Justice Joseph is the senior-most chief justice of a high court but in the all-India list of seniority, he figured at number 42 as on April 1, said one of the officials quoted above. He added that the government may raise his seniority for taking longer to consider his name. The last time the government had to segregate two recommendations made together, it led to a controversy. The then Chief Justice of India RM Lodha had written a strongly worded letter to the law minister against it on June 30, 2014. The current law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was in office then too. Justice Lodha had at that time said the move was made without his knowledge and consent and unilaterally. The same problem arose at the time (senior advocate) Gopal Subramanian was recommended. The government segregated his name from the other threeI had written to the law minister saying it should not be done without consulting the CJI. I emphasised that to the law minister. My view is it should not be done and that stands, Lodha said on Tuesday, before the name had been cleared. Subramanians name was sent back to the collegium for reconsideration, after which the lawyer withdrew his consent for elevation. The delay in processing the January 10 recommendations was raised by Justice Kurien Joseph in a letter to the CJI on April 9. The SC had only sent the recommendations to the law ministry on January 22, after which the process of considering the names started, an official confirmed. The acquisition of agricultural land for the upcoming airport at Jewar in Greater Noida will not be an easy task for the Uttar Pradesh government, unless landowners are offered handsome compensation. The UP government, in order to expedite the land acquisition for the airport, has decided to directly purchase land from farmers instead of acquiring it by invoking the Land Acquisition Act, 2013. The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), the nodal agency for the airport project, and the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration that will acquire the land on behalf of the state government has offered farmers the existing market rate of Rs 1,895 per square metre to buy land for the project. The Union civil aviation ministry on Monday directed YEIDA to complete formalities reagrding acquisition of land at the earliest so that the development work can be started by October this year. The district administration has already started the process of acquiring land. In the first phase it will acquire 1,400 hectares land from eight villages of Runhera, Kishorepur, Mukim Sivara, Dayanatpur, Rohi, Parohi, Ramner and Banwariwaas. A total of 5,000 hectares is required for the Jewar airport project and land from 39 villages will be acquired for this purpose. Officials of the district administration, however, said that they are likely to face problems in dealing directly with farmers as after the new airport was announced, prices of land in the neighbouring villages has increased. Farmers of the area, officals said, now want more compensation. We are more than happy to give our land for the airport project as it will bring development and prosperity in this region. But we demand a rate of Rs 5,000 per square metre, which is applicable in Noida . We are not happy with the proposed Rs 1,895 per square metre rate at all, said Thakur Daryav Singh, whose family owns 45 bigha land earmarked for the airport project in Ruhi village. The market rate for one bigha (843 square metre) of agricultural land was Rs 4-5 lakh in villages before the airport project was approved by the Centre. But now businessman and property agents reportedly are offering a rate of Rs 20-25 lakh per bigha to farmers as they feel the government will offer a higher rate. Why farmers would give their land for Rs 15 lakh per bigha when property agents are offering a rate of Rs 20-25 lakh for one bigha. The government should increase the rate if they want smooth acquisition and do not want to face agitation, said Singh, whose family is likely to make at least Rs 6.7 crore at the government rate of Rs 1895 per square metre. However, if the government offers Rs 5,000 per square metre, then this family will get around Rs 19 crore. The UP government, officials said, is likely to increase the land rate because it wants to finish the acquisition process at the earliest. We have studied the social impact assessment survey (SIA) report prepared by the Gautam Budh University. Now we are likely to issue a public notice giving villagers a weeks time for a public hearing at the villages next month. If villagers want higher rates then we will include their demands, including higher compensation in SIA and send it to the state government before starting acquisition, said Rakesh Chand Sharma, additional district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar. The administration will organise public hearing in five villages, from where more than 20 per cent farmer land will be acquired for the airport project. According to estimates, 95 per cent farmers of the area own 5-15 bigha land. And the remaining five per cent own 15-100 bigha of land in these 39 villages. Farmers are willing to part with their land for the airport because they do not find agriculture a profitable business. They do not want to protest against land acquisition because they hope that the airport project will change their lives for better. Farmers want to sell their lands without protesting because with the money they get, they can buy more property at cheaper rates in other areas in the state and start new businesses, said Prakash Fauji, a farmer leader of Choroli village. Several non-NDA states have alleged that a central government shortlist of 17 destinations across India for development into iconic tourist sites reeks of political bias. The destinations have been picked from 12 states, of which eight happen to be ruled by NDA governments. Odisha, Punjab, West Bengal, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have demanded that the Centre choose an iconic spot from each state of the country as all of them have something special to offer. After the 2018-19 post-budgetary proposal, wherein finance minister Arun Jaitley envisaged the creation of 10 iconic tourist sites in various parts of the country, the ministry of tourism earmarked historical monuments, forts, temples, wildlife sanctuaries and other places of tourist interest from 12 states for consideration. Sites to be developed into iconic tourist destinations Taj Mahal & Fatehpur Sikri (Uttar Pradesh) Ajanta and Ellora (Maharashtra) Humayun Tomb, Qutub Minar and Red Fort (Delhi) Colva Beach (Goa) Amer Fort (Rajasthan) Somnath and Dholavira (Gujarat) Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh) Hampi (Karnataka) Mahablipuram (Tamil Nadu) Kaziranga (Assam) Kumarakom (Kerala) Mahabodhi Temple (Bihar) Responding to a question in Parliament recently, tourism minister KJ Alphons said the ministry identified the tourist sites on the basis of footfalls, regional distribution, potential for development and ease of implementation. The tourist spots currently in the shortlist are from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Goa, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Bihar. The six disgruntled states alleged that the Union tourism ministry selected a few highly regarded tourist spots from non-NDA ruled states only to create an illusion of fairness. Navjot Singh Sidhu, the tourism minister of Punjab, alleged that the government failed to follow its own criteria in site selection. The Golden Temple in Amritsar gets 1.10 lakh visitors on an average every day, while the Taj Mahal receives just 10,000. Despite that, the Golden Temple wasnt selected. Sidhu said he has already written to the Union government, demanding that it consider developing sites such as the Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh and Khatakar Kala (the birthplace of Bhagat Singh) into iconic tourist destinations. Odisha tourism minister Ashok Chandra Panda said all states should have been represented as India has a federal structure. This goes against the principle of federalism, he said, listing out architectural marvels such as the Konark Sun Temple and Jagannath Temple that should have been taken into consideration. Puducherry chief minister Velu Narayanasamy alleged that the preference given to states ruled by the BJP and its allies was ample indication of the Centre playing politics on the issue. I will meet tourism minister KJ Alphons and tell him very clearly that Puducherry is one of the most important tourist destinations in India, he said. If even one of the tourist spots in my state is developed as an iconic destination, there will be a marked increase in tourism. West Bengal tourism minister Goutam Deb also expressed astonishment over iconic monuments like Victoria Memorial failing to make the cut. We have our own reservations... Ignoring non-NDA states is not justified. They should have selected one place of historical or tourist importance from each state, he said. Bhumi Akhila Priya, the tourism minister of Andhra Pradesh, criticised the manner in which a few destinations were picked for development as iconic tourist spots when the diverse and unique features of each place across the country should be given due importance. India is full of iconic monuments. The concept of just selecting a few places doesnt make any sense. I think it amounts to disrespecting our diversity, she said. Rajeev Kohli, senior vice-president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), also termed the concept of creating iconic tourism spots as flawed. Every budget announcement has some proposal or other to promote tourism. However, even the Taj Mahal one of the seven wonders of the world lacks basic civic facilities such as public toilets and parking, he said, suggesting that governments at both the central and state levels focus on improving basic amenities at tourist sites instead of undertaking such projects. Instead of blaming the Centre, the states should ensure such facilities at tourist spots. Who is stopping Odisha or Punjab from doing that? asked Kohli. The Union tourism minister, meanwhile, dismissed the allegations of discrimination in site selection as tourism was a state subject. Most states put very little money (into tourism). Its their job and we only supplement that, he said. Alphons explained that the government was developing sites with significant footfalls first because it has limited money for the purpose. We will keep on including more destinations, he added. A fresh plea has been moved in the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe into the CBSE paper leak case and its order to conduct re-examination saying it was done to protect the real culprits in the Board. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra has said that the plea would be taken up for hearing next week. Meanwhile, the CBSE conducted the re-examination of the economics paper of class 12 across the country on Wednesday. The petition sought to strike down the Central Board of Secondary Educations (CBSE) order to conduct the re-examination of the class 12 economics paper which was allegedly leaked last month. The plea filed by a social activist Sanjoy Sachdev, also sought to declare the results of the students who have already appeared in the test in good faith and trust. Order an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation to take charge of all the cases of leakage from police of various states in order to the fix the criminal liability of the respondent no.1 to 4 (Centre, CBSE, Controller of examination of the Board and the Director of CBSE) and nexus involved, the plea said. This order (re-examination order) appears to have been issued in order to save the skin of real culprits within the central board of secondary education or their subordinates or affiliates, the plea added. The petition said that the re-examination order was bad in law and against the principles of law of natural justice as it was taken without the students being heard. It said the order penalises the innocent and harmless students without a fault of theirs. No authority or the respondents ever gave any chance of hearing in the matter to lakhs of students from all over India, the plea said. Sachdev, in his plea, said that the action of the respondents (Centre and CBSE) has put a black scar on the lives of innocent and harmless students majority of whom are minors in age throughout the country as being convicts in paper leakage, which is totally in contrast to the law of natural justice. If the majority of these minor students have not committed any offence or crime then why are they being treated like that and being forced to undergo re-examination, the plea said. It also suggested that the affected students and their parents should have been given ample opportunity to appear before competent authorities in person and state truthfully in the matter, but that was not done. Amid widespread outrage over the paper leak issue, the CBSE had on March 30 said that the re-examination of CBSEs Class 12 economics paper will be held on April 25 i.e., today. The Delhi Police had registered separate cases on March 27 and March 28, respectively, to probe the leak of the Class 12 economics paper and Class 10 mathematics paper, following a complaint by the regional director of the CBSE. Fraud-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) has invited applications for empanelment of detective agencies to locate its untraceable borrowers as it looks to significantly supplement efforts to recover bad loans which surged to Rs 57,519 crore at December end. In its efforts to recover NPAs, the PNB has also resorted to Gandhigiri wherein its staff hope to name and shame defaulting borrowers to recover up to Rs 150 crore worth bad loans every month. The Delhi-headquartered bank has been at the receiving end of the over Rs 13,000 crore fraud involving diamond merchants Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. PNB on Wednesday invited applications to empanel detective agencies with an aim to significantly supplement efforts of the field officials in recovering banks dues in NPA accounts by utilising services of the detective agencies, it said. Interested parties have been asked to file applications and relevant documents by May 5. All NPA accounts (sub-standard, doubtful and loss category would be allocated to detective agencies for gathering information required by the bank. Services of detectives will be hired to locate the borrower(s)/co-borrower(s)/guarantor(s)/ mortgagor(s), (in/outside India) including their legal heirs who are either untraceable or not available at the addresses given in banks records. The selected agencies will have to ascertain latest information about defaulters present address, occupation, business, income streams, details of their all assets, among other things. They will also have to find out details of bank accounts maintained by the defaulting borrower/guarantor, including their legal heirs. Agencies will be given a maximum 60 days for submission of report, which may be extended to 90 days in emergent circumstances keeping in view complexity of the case. PNB, which is the countrys second largest state-run lender after SBI, had gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of Rs 57,519 crore or 12.11 per cent of gross advances as of December 2017. A mainstream political worker currently associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) died on Wednesday in a suspected militant attack in south Kashmirs Pulwama district. Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti condemned the killing of Ghulam Nabi Patel and identified the slain man as a senior Congress leader. The Congress denied that he was currently with the party. GN Monga, state vice president of the Congress,said Patel had left the party in 2008. After leaving us, he joined PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) and then he joined some other party, said Monga. Heartfelt condolences to the family of senior Congress leader, G. N. Patel who was killed by militants today in Rajpora. Such cowardly acts achieve nothing but leave one more family devastated. Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 25, 2018 The BJP said Patel was one of its members. BJP spokesman Altaf Thakur confirmed that Patel had been working with the party. He did not hold any party position but had been associated with us for a year now, said Thakur. Police said that Patel, a resident of Dangerpora Shadimarg , was travelling in a vehicle when militants opened fire on it at Rajpora Chowk in Pulwama. Terrorists fired upon a Scorpio vehicle at Rajpura Chowk in which Ghulam Nabi Patel and two policemen got injured. Patel succumbed to his injuries in the fatal attack, a police spokesman said. Imtiyaz Ahmad Zargar and Bilal Ahmad Mir, the two personal security officers of Patel, sustained bullet injuries and were moved to hospital. Mehbooba condemned the attack. Such cowardly acts achieve nothing but leave one more family devastated, she tweeted. The attack came a day after four militants, a policeman and an army soldier were killed in an encounter in Tral area of Pulwama. A trust headed by rape convict Asarams daughter manages his properties across India that includes 400 ashrams and 40 resident schools. His daughter Bhartishree has been running the trust since Asaram was arrested on September 1, 2013, in the Jodhpur rape case and the subsequent arrest of his son Narayan Sai. The Sant Shri Aasaramji Trust is registered as a charitable body with headquarters in Ahmedabad, where the self-styled godman established his first religious retreat. People who work with the trust said Bhartishree travels extensively and participates in daily activities of the ashrams spread over 30 states and Union Territories. Born in 1975, couple of years after Asaram established his first ashram in Ahmedabad, Bhartishree and her mother Laxmi Devi were arrested and released on bail in 2013 by the Gujarat police in connection with the rape cases against Asaram and Narayan Sai. Both Bhartishree and Laxmi Devi has been accused of supporting and helping Asaram and Sai in the Surat rape case. They are out on bail. Two student activists who shot into prominence during the 2016 agitation in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Kanhaiya Kumar and Shehla Rashid, have indicated that they may contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Kanhaiya and Shehla, who strongly oppose the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments policies, say they are working on forging a larger united front of social and political groups as well as liberal, progressive forces against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the run-up to 2019, and refer to Gujarat Dalit youth leader Jignesh Mewanis victory in the Gujarat Assembly elections last year as a landmark. Kanhaiya said in an interview to HT he would never rule it (contesting election) out. If there is an alliance of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and Left in Bihar, and they ask me to become a common candidate and collect money for my election, I can be a candidate, Kumar said. I believe in organised politics. If I contest any election, it will be through a mainstream party. This is very clear. I dont believe in individual charisma or all that, he said. Kanhaiya, who was the JNU Students Union president as a representative of the Communist Party of India-affiliated All India Students Federation (AISF), is understood to be considering contesting from his home district Begusarai in Bihar. My area has long been associated with the CPI, my family is associated with the CPI. My area has long been known as mini-Moscow and mini-Leningrad. The CPI had been in power there but lost to the BJP in the last two assembly elections. For the first time in 2014, BJP won the Lok Sabha poll from there, he said. Shehla, a former vice-president of JNU Students Union as a representative of the CPI-ML-affiliated All India Students Association , said she has held elected office before and was not averse to contesting elections. If in the natural course of things, there arises a situation where I could contest from a constituency, I would, Shehla, who is pursuing a PhD in the university, said. Shehla, who hails from Srinagar, said she hadnt picked any party or constituency yet, but a person familiar with the development said she was potentially looking at a seat in western UP. If Opposition parties now feel that the Constitution is in danger, then we have a role in highlighting that fact. Im not in it because its easy, but because its important, Shehla said. A special court in Jodhpur on Wednesday found self-styled godman Asaram guilty of raping a minor girl at his ashram in 2013. Apart from this case, Asaram and his son Narayan Sai, who is a senior functionary in his spiritual empire, are also accused of rape and sexual assault by two Surat-based sisters. Asaram is not the only spiritual guru or godman to be accused of rape and sexual assault and yet have a large, dedicated following. Here is a look at other godmen who have been charged with sexual assault: Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh In August 2017, self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted of rape and was sentenced to 10 years in jail in Rohtak. After the guilty verdict, angry supporters of Ram Rahim went on a rampage and the ensuing violence left 36 people dead. Singhs conviction has led to newspaper editorials and social media debate on why people have cult-like faith in godmen accused of rape and sexual harassment. Narayan Sai Asarams son Narayan Sai is in jail for allegedly raping a Surat-based woman disciple of his father between 2002 and 2005. She was allegedly raped when she was living at Asarams ashram in Surat. Sai, 40, is also accused of having physical relations with eight other girls. Gangananda Theerthapatha Theerthapatha, a self-styled godman of an ashram in Kollam, was allegedly sexually exploiting a law student for five years on the pretext of conducting pooja (rituals). The woman took revenge on him by chopping off his penis, says this report in May. Theerthapatha allegedly exploited the woman for five years during visits to her familys home in Thiruvananthapuram. Theerthapatha says he cut off his own penis as penance. Mehndi Kasim A Mumbai court in April 2016 convicted the 43-year-old self-styled godman for raping seven girls and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Kasim knew four sisters who had mentally challenged sons and healthy daughters. He promised to cure the boys and asked their mothers to send to him their daughters to him as well for treatment that would ensure they dont give birth to mentally challenged children. Santhosh Madhavan, alias Swami Amritha Chaitanya A Kerala court in May 2009 found Madhavan guilty of raping three minor girls. He lured the minor girls hailing from poor families, confined them and assaulted them. He was sentenced to 16 years of rigorous imprisonment and a penalty of Rs 2,10,000 in 2009. Madhavan is also accused of cheating a Dubai-based Indian woman of Rs. 40 lakh. Swami Premananda Premananda left war-ravaged Sri Lanka and moved to India in 1984 to set up an ashram in Tiruchirappalli. But in 1994, a young girl from the ashram alleged that she was pregnant after being raped by Premanand. In August 1997, Premananda and six of his accomplices were convicted of raping 13 minor girls. Gnyanachaitanya He spent 14 years in jail for three murders. After his release, he met a British family and convinced them that their daughter was his wife in a previous birth. He then sexually abused and tortured the woman for years. After she escaped and complained to her parents and the police, Gnyanachaitanya was arrested again. Senior police officer Ajay Pal Lamba received more than 2,000 threatening letters and hundreds of phone calls while he was overseeing the investigation in the rape case against self-styled godman Asaram. A special court in Rajasthans Jodhpur on Wednesday convicted Asaram of raping a minor girl at his Jodhpur ashram in 2013. Asaram faces at least 10 years in jail; under the charges, he could be sentenced to life imprisonment. The quantum of sentence is yet to be pronounced. Lamba says he was handed over the most high profile case of his career on August 20, 2013, that entailed relentless media spotlight, killing of witnesses and the most disturbing of all the threats to policemen by Asarams followers. He was the deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Jodhpur West, then. The letters carried abuses and threatened they would kill my family if anything happened to Asaram. My phone would not stop ringing and I stopped receiving calls from unknown numbers. The letters stopped only when I shifted to Udaipur, says Lamba, a 2005 batch Indian Police Service officer. Lamba, now the superintendent of police (anti-corruption bureau) in Jodhpur, stopped sending his daughter to school for a while and his wife would not step out of their house. He adds that one of the accused, arrested for killing a witness in the case, confessed that his next target was Chanchal Mishra, the then deputy superintendent of police with Jodhpur Police and investigating officer in the case. The victim was 16 when she was raped by Asaram at his ashram in Jodhpur in August 2013. Her family filed a complaint in Delhi on August 20, 2013, after which Asaram was charged with rape, wrongful confinement, sexual harassment, trafficking, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy. The case was transferred to Jodhpur. The investigating team, he says, filed its first chargesheet in the Asaram rape case in a little over 10 weeks. There was no political pressure of any kind but I felt that the longer the investigation is delayed, the more it tangles up, Lamba says. In addition, the tricky part was picking up Asaram from his ashram in Indore as well as ensuring his supporters dont create a law and order situation in Jodhpur and establishing evidence against him as the first information report was lodged five days after the incident. Asaram failed to appear before the team of policemen from Jodhpur and his arrest was a monumental task for the department. When my 11-member team went to deliver a summon notice to the Asaram at his ashram in Madhya Pradesh, they faced a mob of about 8,000 people. My team was shoved and it took them 10 hours just to be able to deliver that piece of paper, Lamba says. Lamba says the media coverage dampened the morale of the supporters to an extent and the local police managed to take control of the situation in Indore. The police team from Jodhpur entered the ashram on August 30, 2013, to arrest him. The 79-year-old Asaram was also booked under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. He has been in the Jodhpur Central Jail for the last 56 months. He requested that he be taken by flight and the police agreed. During the night, he was talking to his kids in Sindhi and asked them to amass 25,000 of his supporters by morning. Ill see how theyll take me then, he said on the phone. One of my men understood Sindhi and his plan was foiled, Lamba says. Asaram was brought to Jodhpur and put in a government guest house. When I entered the room, he was sitting on a sofa. I told him to get off and sit on the floor. The very moment he confessed that he made a mistake, Lamba says. Multiple testimonies, the victims statement and Asarams potency test helped the team frame a watertight case, which Lamba believes resulted in Asarams conviction. Calling the conviction historic, Lamba says the courts decision shows that truth has won. It shows that if the law works impartially, even persons from the weakest sections of the society can take on the most influential ones and get justice, he says. Two of the seven Dalits attacked by self-styled cow vigilantes in 2016 near Gujarats Una town on Wednesday alleged that they were threatened to withdraw the case. Ramesh Sarviya and Ashok Sarviya lodged an FIR with the Una police station saying that two men on a motorcyle armed with iron rods threatened them to withdraw the case. The incident happened near Samter village near Una, from where 13 of the 46 accused in the case hail. Based on their complaint, the Una police is in the process of registering an FIR, Gir Somnath superintendent of police Hitesh Joysar said. In July 2016 the vigilantes assaulted seven members of the Sarvaiya family, including Balu, his wife Kunvar, his sons Vasram and Ramesh, and relatives Ashok and Bechar in Samadhiyala village. Devarshi Banu came to the familys rescue was also assaulted. Later, the vigilantes tied Ramesh, Vasram, Ashok and Bechar to a car, and stripped, flogged and marched them half naked for about 25 km to Una. Joysar said the Sarviya family, as per court orders, has been provided security cover that includes four armed guards. If required, the security cover will be strengthened,he added. The family, however, maintained that the guards provide protection only while they are at home. Later this month, the family is planning to embrace Buddhism to avoid discrimination. Keval Rathod, a social activist and friend of the family, said, ``Many other dalits along with the Sarviya family will convert to Buddhism on April 29, on the occasion of Buddh Purnima. A Rajasthan court is expected to rule on Wednesday in a rape case against self-styled godman Asaram, who is accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl at his Jodhpur ashram in 2013. (Asaram case verdict live updates) Authorities have put in place watertight security, asked three states to be on alert and imposed prohibitory orders in sensitive areas, anticipating trouble by legions of followers of the influential 79-year-old who runs about 400 ashrams across the country. The verdict is expected soon. If convicted, Asaram will get a minimum of 10 years in jail. The maximum punishment for charges against him is life imprisonment. Asaram Bapu, as he is known to his followers, was charged with raping a 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradeshs Shahajahanpur in 2013. Arrested in September that year, he has been in Jodhpur Central Jail for 56 months. On Wednesday morning, judge Madhusudan Sharma shifted to a courtroom on the jail premises, where the order will be delivered, after reaching the special court in Jodhpur around 8am. This process is likely to take about an hour. The special court had on April 7 reserved its judgment for April 25 after the final arguments that stretched for over five months. The state had appealed in the high court that the verdict be pronounced on the jail premises to prevent any breach of peace. Watertight security Stringent security measures are in place in Jodhpur and the rest of Rajasthan after a Union home ministry advisory. The Centre also told Gujarat and Haryana to be on alert to prevent a repeat of the large-scale violence that singed Haryana and Punjab after the conviction of another self-styled godman, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, in a rape case last August. Asaram has a large support base in Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat, where he has been booked in a similar case. Two Surat-based sisters, who stayed at Asarams ashram in Gujarat between 1997 and 2006, lodged separate cases against Asaram and his son, Narayan Sai, accusing them of repeated rape and illegal confinement, among other charges. As the trials in these cases progressed, three key witnesses died and other witnesses and families of victims were attacked or received death threats. Authorities are trying to ensure theres no repeat of the kind of chaos that followed the August 2017 conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan. Rajasthan police conducted a flag march around the Jodhpur central jail on Tuesday evening led by deputy commissioner of police (East) Amandeep Singh Kapoor. Kapoor said no one except those authorised to be present there will be allowed near the jail on Wednesday. While prohibitory orders banning the assembly of five or more persons had been in place in the Jodhpur Police Commissionerate area since April 21, Kapoor said 1,500 police personnel will be deployed around the Central Jail premises, railway stations, roadways bus stand and court premises on Wednesday. Police also said that hotels and dharamshalas were being checked to ensure that Asarams followers would not be able to congregate. Police have asked the railways and roadways authorities to remain vigilant. The Uttar Pradesh administration tightened security near the house of the woman who accused Asaram of sexual assault in Jodhpur. Shahjahanpur superintendent of police KB Singh said, We are aware of the law and order challenges which may come up after the judgement. We have made arrangements for the security to the girl and her family. The likely appointment of Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to the post of Rajasthan BJP chief has brought divisions in the state unit to the fore, with a section of Rajasthan politicians expressing their reservations in this regard. Shekhawat and Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal were being considered as the front runners for the post ever since Ashok Parnami resigned a week ago. The row has also highlighted chief minister Vasundhara Rajes uncomfortable relationship with the partys central leadership, with her loyalists camping at Rajasthan House in New Delhi to push for a suitable candidate. Hectic lobbying is underway in both Jaipur and Delhi, with BJP chief Amit Shah expected to take a final decision in a day or two. Parliamentarians from Rajasthan are believed to have advised Shah to appoint someone who would be acceptable to everybody. The Rajasthan BJP is currently divided along caste lines, with Raje loyalists opposing Shekhawat a Rajput politician because they believe his appointment would further alienate Jats. There is a traditional rivalry between the two communities. Jats who constitute about 12% of the states population have never seen a member of the community become the chief minister, and this has become an emotive issue among them. The Raje camp is not overly enthusiastic about Meghwal, a Dalit MP from Bikaner, being appointed to the state party chiefs position either. Two prominent Jat leaders Devi Singh Bhati and Colonel (retired) Sonaram Choudhary have openly opposed the move to appoint Shekhawat. On the other hand, the chances of Meghwals appointment dimmed after his son Ravi Shekhar allegedly put up a viral Facebook post predicting 140 seats for the Congress in the upcoming state assembly polls unless the BJP propped up a clean face for the position. Although Shekhar subsequently claimed that somebody else had illegally used his cellphone to post the message, the damage was already done. The Raje camp is pushing for the appointment of Srichand Kriplani, the cabinet minister for urban development and housing, to the position. However, Kriplani who also hails from Parnamis Sindhi community has excused himself from the race. While people familiar with the developments say Shekhawat is still the forerunner for the position, the names of Brahmin candidates such as social justice minister Arun Chaturvedi are also doing the rounds. Others in the reckoning include former minister Lakshmi Narayan Dave and Rajya Sabha MPs Bhupender Yadav and Narayan Lal Panchariya. Amid all the brouhaha over caste calculations, the partys preparations for the coming assembly elections have been pushed to the back burner. However, a BJP MLA told HT on the condition of anonymity that it was all for a very good reason. Caste arithmetic was an important factor for our drubbing in the recent byelections. The ire of various communities cannot be ignored, he said. Rajasthan BJP leaders have reportedly held meetings with national general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal, Rajasthan in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna and national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav in this regard. However, none of them were willing to comment on the matter. I have come (to Delhi) on a personal trip. It has nothing to do with the appointment of the Rajasthan BJP president, said agriculture minister Prabhulal Saini. Ram Lal had called up Raje on Tuesday afternoon, in an attempt to break the deadlock. Shah was also in touch with her, despite his busy schedule in poll-bound Karnataka. This is not the first time Raje has locked horns with the partys central leadership. However, while the chief minister earlier enjoyed the backing of veteran party leaders such as LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj, she has to weather the storm by herself this time. A team of about 40 persons, who were injured and not allowed to file nomination for the rural elections in Bengal is expected to meet President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday. They will narrate how they have faced atrocities at the hands of ruling Trinamool Congress supporters. There are injured people from different districts of Bengal, said Rahul Sinha, BJP national secretary and immediate past president of the partys Bengal unit. Read: Clashes mar Bengal rural poll nominations; Opposition considers moving court The team has left for Delhi from Kolkata by train and is expected to reach the capital by Wednesday night. Leaders from BJPs Bengal unit such as Mukul Roy, who is in charge of the rural polls, Rahul Sinha, national secretary and Samik Bhattacharya, former MLA will accompany the team members to meet the President. Over the past few days, the war of words between BJP and Trinamool Congress leaders in Bengal reached new heights. During a press conference on April 23, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh remarked that Bengal is approaching a state where they could demand Presidents rule. Read: Scribes covering Bengal rural poll nominations attacked in Kolkata, districts The situation in Bengal is fast approaching a state where we will be forced to demand imposition of Presidents rule, said Ghosh. Since nomination for the rural polls began on April 2, opposition parties without exception have alleged that ruling party supporters have unleashed violence from the very first hour to prevent their candidates from submitting nomination papers. A total of seven persons lost their lives and hundreds injured during the nomination phase that took place on April 2 to 9 and April 23. Read: TMC virtually unopposed in zilla parishad, nominations for Bengal rural polls extended Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, however, has claimed that the nomination phase has been peaceful. There are 58,000 booths in the state and there has been trouble only in seven. BJP was the trouble maker in all cases except one, where CPI(M) was the mischief maker, she said on Tuesday. The rural polls in the state are crucial since it is the last pan-Bengal exercise that will indicate the support base for each party before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. BJP is targeting to win at least 22 of the 44 seats in the state -- currently it has two -- while ruling Trinamool Congress is determined to protect its grip on the state even as Mamata Banerjee is aspiring to cobble together an anti-BJP front with regional parties across the country. Read: Bhangar agitators file nominations through WhatsApp in face of TMC intimidation BJP leaders such as Dilip Ghosh, Rahul Sinha, Mukul Roy have already met Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi a few times with complaints against the ruling party during the nomination process of the Bengal rural elections. Trinamool leaders including chief minister Mamata Banerjee have criticised them for rushing to the governor on the slightest pretext. Party secretary general Partha Chatterjee earlier alleged that the governor has lost credibility by acting in a partisan manner. A 60-year-old tribal man and his elder sister were clubbed to death on Monday in Bengals East Burdwan district allegedly by their nephew, Bishu Mandi, and some local villagers. Mandi allegedly told the villagers that a witch doctor had told him that his uncle Mangal Mandi, 60, and his sister Maku Baskey, 65, were witches and responsible for his wifes prolonged illness. Read: Jharkhand tops in witch-hunt murders, 523 women lynched between 2001-16: NCRB The incident took place at Neor village in the Arui area in East Burdwan district, about 130 km away from Kolkata. The village comes under the jurisdiction of Madhadihi police station. After police and local administration came to know of incident on Tuesday, Bishu Mandi and his associates burnt the bodies on the banks of the Damodar river. They even stopped a police team from entering the village by shooting arrows. We have registered a case against Bishu Mandi and eight other villagers based on whatever information we could gather. We will raid the village again. We are investigating whether the real motive behind the crime is to grab property, said Debasish Nag, officer-in-charge of Madhadihi police station. Read: Witches no more: Women in MPs Patidar villages take on the unfair social custom I have asked the police to conduct a thorough investigation. We will also send a team to the village, said Dipyamay Majumder, the block development officer. The practice of witchcraft and visiting witch doctors go back a few centuries in the tribal belts scattered across Bengals western districts and parts of Jharkhand. There have been numerous summary killings and punishments by kangaroo courts. However, in recent years, many of these killings have resulted out of disputes over property. Local people told the police that Rekha Mandi, wife of Bishu Mandi, was unwell for some time. On Monday, Bishu claimed to have taken his wife to a witch doctor in the Jamalpur area in the same district. Some villagers accompanied them. Read: The lost case of witches After their return Bidhu Mandi told the rest of their villagers that the witch doctor declared Mangal Mandi and Maku Baskey witches and claimed that the duo was responsible for Rekhas illness. The locals mercilessly assaulted my uncle and aunt. When I tried to stop them, they roughed me up and locked me in room, said Gurupada Mandi, another nephew of the victims. Gurupada Mandi somehow managed to escape. When police reached the village, the locals prevented the men in uniform from entering. The villagers came armed with traditional weapons and chased away the police team. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath is set for his biggest campaign in poll-bound Karnataka, where BJP has lined up nearly 35 rallies and road shows for him. The itinerary of Yogi, whose Nath sect wields considerable influence in coastal Karnataka, is still not official, but he is set to begin his campaign in the first week of May. BJP leaders say Yogis twin identities of a monk-politician would come in handy for the party in polarising the voters of the Congress-ruled state that goes to polls on May 12. Yogis campaign is spread across six days and expected to be in two phases -- a short couple of days of intense campaigning followed by another round after a brief break. In between his rallies and road shows, Yogi is also expected to visit temples and mutts as BJP looks to play the Hindutva card in a state where it is anxious to regain power it lost 10 years ago. In December last, while addressing a Parivartan Yatra rally in Hubbali, Yogi had stoked passions by asking people to choose between Hanuman Jayanti and Tipu Jayanti; the remark aimed at questioning Congress two-year-old decision to commemorate the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan, the 18th century ruler who hailed from the region. Ahead of Yogis visit, a Congress leader has queered the pitch by making derogatory remarks against Yogi. BJP leaders say that a counter offensive from the UP chief minister is very likely. Expect a counter (attack) for sure, a BJP leader said. In mid-April, Karnataka Congress working president Dinesh Gundu Rao had set the tone for Yogis visit by openly asking the people of Karnataka to boycott him. Yogi is a hypocrite and a thug. He should not be allowed to enter Karnataka. In fact there isnt any need to call him Yogi ... He is a bhogi and if he visits Karnataka he should be beaten with slippers ..., Rao had said. He later apologised for his remarks describing them as an emotional outburst. Earlier, during his February visit, Yogi had taken on chief minister K Siddaramaiah on twitter, which blew up into a twitter war between the two chief ministers. Mrityunjay Kumar, the UP chief ministers advisor, said: He (Yogi) is equally popular among Lingayats, Vokkaligas and Dalits. His Nath sect has a considerable following there. A BJP leader pointed out how, during his previous visits, Yogi had stayed at Sri Adichunchunagiri Mutt, headed by Vokkaliga seer Nirmalananda Nath Swami (who belongs to the Nath sect) to showcase his connect with Vokkaligas. Vokkaligas are considered the second largest community in Karnataka after the Lingayats. An allegation of rape by a woman against her landlord later turned out to be false . Investigations revealed that the allegation was levelled after the landlord refused her the monetary favours which she had been regularly demanding. In yet another case, a girl accused her live-in partner of rape when the latter refused to marry her. There is no dearth of cases in which fake allegations are levelled against men for ulterior motives. Our helpline remains flooded with such complaints in which the real victims are men, said Indu Subhash, who works for the rights of men. Indu feels that in a number of cases, laws meant to protect women are misused . I have a long list of cases in which girls get into relationships with boys and if there is any tussle , they find it the easiest to level allegations of sexual assault on the boy. Since the law ensures immediate arrest of boys in cases of sexual abuse, the latter find themselves in troubled waters due to the fake allegations, Indu said . Laws are like double-edged weapons. If they are made to protect the rights of a person, they can also be misused to throttle the liberty of opponents, the Delhi court had observed, while acquitting the man of rape charges in a case in 2008. My neighbour accused my brother of sexual assault. My brother was arrested. But when it came to appearing in the court for the cases hearing, the girl never turned up. The case was later dismissed. But my brother and my family went through hell in all these days, said an IT professional pleading anonymity. A number of cases of blackmailing have also come to light. It all begins with blackmailing. Many times, the men are blackmailed and asked for favours. They are threatened that if they dont fulfil the demands, they will be accused of sexual abuse, said an office-bearer of Pati Pariwaran organisation that works for mens rights. Lawyers too admit that fake cases of sexual assault are common. In many cases, the woman gets hostile. There are cases in which there are out of court settlements also. All this adds to the low conviction rate in cases of rapes and sexual assault in the country, said a lawyer. While the number of fake cases is no less, there isnt any data available to substantiate the point. There is no list of fake cases maintained anywhere that has been shared in public. In many cases, girls are used as weapons for revenge, say the mens rights activists. You can easily find cases where there is a property dispute between parties and allegations are levelled through women. Such allegations tarnish the image of a man and are one of the most commonly used weapons during rivalries, said Indu Subhash. Ask a Western hotelier about his competitors in the rest of the world and sooner or later, he will start talking about Asian hospitality. Press him a little and he will explain what Asian hospitality means. Apparently it involves pampering, graciousness, smiley-smiley service and huge levels of efficiency. At some stage, the Westerner will complain that at his European/American hotel, it is getting harder and harder to develop a service culture among the staff. I understand why Western hoteliers are complaining. But I think that we sometimes forget how relatively recent a concept Asian hospitality is. And how, one reason why Asian hotels seem more welcoming and luxurious than those in the West is not only because Asia has changed but because the West has changed even faster. The term Asian hospitality only came into vogue in the late 1980s. Till then, Asia (with the notable exception of India) was dominated by the big American chains. Hilton and Intercontinental had hotels in nearly every city and Sheraton was not far behind. Many of these hotels were well-run but there was nothing special about them. If you asked the American chains which their top properties were, they were more likely to brag about their European or US hotels than they were about any of their Asian properties. My guess is that Asian hospitality only entered the conversation when Asia got its own chains. The trendsetter was Regent which pioneered many of the features now associated with luxury hotels: large rooms, huge bathrooms, personalised service, etc. In 1988, Adrian Zecha, one of Regents founders, started a new company called Aman, which changed the rules of the luxury resort game. Meanwhile, Regent had forged ahead, designing a resort in Balis Jimbaran Bay which was the first in the world to consist entirely of villas, each with its own swimming pool. Regent also began constructing a super-luxury hotel in New York, bringing its own brand of hospitality to America. Unfortunately Regents backers ran into financial problems and the company was sold to Four Seasons, till then, a relatively low-profile Canadian hotel company. The Four Seasons opened the Bali and New York hotels and converted such trendsetting Regent hotels (such as the ones in Bangkok and Chiang Mai ) into Four Seasons properties. More significantly, it adopted Regents (largely Asian) take on luxury for the new hotels it opened around the world and the older ones it rebranded and upgraded (Londons workmanlike Inn on the Park, for instance; it is now called Four Seasons.) Chao Phraya river with boat and Shangri-La hotel, in Bangkok. (Shutterstock) By the time the financial boom of the 21st Century came around, Four Seasons had turned itself into the premier luxury brand in the world. (And it became the chain of choice for the global financial community.) The Regent legacy of Asian hospitality, now part of the Four Seasons DNA, had become the benchmark for global luxury. It was in the 1980s that other Asian chains began expanding. There has been a Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon since 1928. But the expansion only began in earnest sixty years later in 1989 with the group taking its brand of Asian hospitality to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tokyo, Paris etc. Mandarin Oriental is a much newer company. The original Mandarin in Hong Kong opened in 1963 and in 1974, its owners bought 49% of Bangkoks Oriental Hotel. The expansion began in the late 1970s but the group only made its mark in this century with hotels in London (2000), Paris (2011) Las Vegas (2009) and many other cities. And then theres Shangri La, which occupies a space somewhere between a standard five star hotel and a Four Seasons. Owned by overseas Chinese (from Malaysia) it started out in Singapore in the 1970s but has been content so far to expand mainly in Asia (especially China). Only now has it opened a few hotels in the West including a uncharacteristically charming, historical palace-hotel in Paris. The Asian luxury chains redefined hospitality in a way that the American chains had never quite managed. They ran better restaurants, they had larger rooms, the service was better and personalised and the impersonal blandness of the American companies was replaced with charm and pampering. When Western hoteliers talk about Asian hospitality, they refer partly to the influence that the Asian companies have had on the global hotel scene. But they also mean the levels of service at all hotels within Asia. At most deluxe hotels in the Asian continent, you will be made to feel welcome, the staff will seem happy to serve you and rarely, if ever, will you have cause to complain. The lobby at the Regent hotel in Beijing. (Shutterstock) This is not necessarily true of Western hotels. And that has a lot to do with the way in which Western society has evolved in the last three decades. Most Westerners either want higher salaries or dont want to work in hotels at all. So Western hotels will have low staff-to-guest ratios (ie: there will be fewer staff per guest) than Asian hotels. A large chunk of the staff will consist of immigrants (some of them illegal) who will be made to work for low salaries and will be less invested in their jobs. And when Westerners will offer service, they will adopt a more equal, less deferential, approach to guests than staff at Asian hotels because they live in more egalitarian societies. For all the praise that Western hoteliers direct at Asian hospitality, I have a few reservations. The first is that outside of a few countries (Singapore, the Philippines, etc.), Asian staff often dont speak English well which can be a problem for foreign guests. Secondly most of them are trained to follow SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). If there is a deviation from the program or if things dont go according to plan, then they are not trained to take the initiative, to use their discretion or improvise. Thirdly, as the countries of East Asia get richer, their citizens are becoming more and more like their counterparts in the West. The Singapore Chinese, for instance, are now too proud to offer much service. So Singapore has also fallen back on foreign staff --- at many hotels, staff commute everyday from Malaysia. Moreover, as salaries go up (in Singapore, Hong Kong l, etc.) hotels can no longer hire that many staff and their impressive staff-to-guest ratios have begun to collapse. India lives in a bubble. We have our own hotel industry which follows few of the rules of global hospitality. The American chains have made their presence felt in India but the Asian luxury chains have ignored us. The Peninsula tried to buy the Delhi Leela but when that fell through, the group lost interest in India. Amans Delhi property was a disaster and in any case, the chain is re-inventing itself under new management. Shangri La had had the worst luck in India. It gave up its Mumbai property, the Delhi hotel does not live up to the chains standards (through the food is very good) and the one time I stayed there, the Bangalore hotel was very badly run. Many global chains look to India as a source of guests for their foreign properties. But the Asian chains really dont care. Neither Mandarin Oriental or Peninsula do any PR or marketing in India because they dont need Indian guests: there are enough Mainland Chinese travellers to fill up their hotels all over the world. The Mandarin Hotel on November 1st 2014 in Singapore. Built in 1987, the hotel underwent a significant renovation in 2004 from H.L. Lim of LTW Design Works to update the hotel. (Shutterstock) That said, Im not sure it matters that much. Levels of luxury at top American/European chains now equal those of the Hong Kong/Chinese companies. And besides, I will take Indian hospitality over Asian hospitality any day. Indian service is usually superior to Asian service because A) English is not a problem; most staff at Indian hotels can communicate well with foreign visitors. B) Indian staff have more initiative and discretion. When things go wrong, they can think on their feet and provide solutions. C) Indian managers are among the best in the world. You dont have to take my word for it. Consider how even the big American companies are increasingly using local managers in India whereas they prefer to despatch expatriates to the rest of Asia. Or just calculate how many Indians occupy senior posts at global hotel companies. No other Asian country even comes close to india when it comes to providing managerial talent. So yes, I admire Asian hospitality. It raised levels of luxury in the hotel business. And some Asian companies are among the worlds best. But no, I dont think we, in India, have anything to be embarrassed about. Indian hospitality and service can be among the best in the world. neha.tripathi@hindustantimes.com Flights between Mumbai and Kolhapur have received a good response, recording 70% passenger traffic already, after its operations began on Sunday. Air Deccan, the only operator on this route, has now sought clearance from Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) to provide thrice-a-week service to six times a week. The airline expects the passenger traffic to increase further in the coming weeks. An airline spokesperson said, It is too early to gauge the cities from where fliers are booking the flights. However, there has been a good response from passengers, indicating the interest and demand for the flight. The flights operate on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. While the Kolhapur to Mumbai flights take off at 3.05pm, the Mumbai to Kolhapur flights take off at 1.15pm. Senior officials said that the promotional flight on April 17, which operated from Kolhapur to Mumbai, had a full flight. The promotional fare was capped at Rs1,299 before April 22. We ran a couple of flights as soft runs before officially beginning the operations. On April 17, one of the passengers had booked the entire flight to Mumbai leading to full flight, said an airline official from Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj Airport, Kolhapur. The official also clarified that though there is a good response for the new flight, it wasnt fully occupied on its official commencement on Sunday, April 22. Read more: Develop Purandar airport at par with international standards: CM The regular one-way fare for the 90-minute flight is capped at Rs1,970. Operations on three other routes were also started on Sunday Mumbai- Jalgaon, Nashik- Pune and Nashik- Mumbai. The Thane crime branch on Wednesday recorded the statement of actor Udita Goswami in connection with the illegal procurement of call data records (CDR). She was accompanied by her husband Mohit Suri and it took her more than an hour to record her statement. Almost two weeks ago, Ayesha Shroff, wife of actor Jackie Shroff, also recorded her statement in the scam. Abhishek Trimukhe, deputy commissioner of Thane police (crime) said, Udita has shared crucial information and we are working on it. The case came to light on January 24 when four private detectives were arrested by the Thane crime branch (unit 1) for allegedly illegally obtaining and selling call data records. They used to sell the data for Rs25,000-Rs50,000. Makesh Pandiyan, 42, Prashant Palekar, 49, Jigar Makawana, 35, and Samresh Jha alias Pratik Mohpal, 32, were arrested from Kalwa. A police officer from Thane commissionerate said, Udita had obtained CDRs of her husband Mohit for personal reasons some two-three years ago. The CDRs were provided by advocate Rizwan Siddiqui, who obtained them from Palekar and one more accused. We have arrested Palekar while the other accused, who is suspected to be a private detective, is on the run. The actor came under lens after the police stumbled on a mobile chat between Rizwan and a person, said the officer. We later learnt that the person was Udita. The chat was about CDRs and charges. Thats why we have summoned her. She and her husband have co-operated with us, the officer said. Udita may be called again, if needed. As many as 14 people have been arrested in the CDR scam including an Assam police constable. The cop was arrested by the Assam police who will investigate his role. Earlier Rajani Pandit, Indias first woman private detective, was also arrested and granted bail last month. Autonomous colleges in Maharashtra may soon be able to start own courses and have more control over fees, as the state is keen on providing financial autonomy to the institutes willing to take it. At a recent meeting of joint board of vice-chancellors (JBV-C), chief minister Devendra Fadnavis urged vice-chancellors (V-Cs) of public universities in the state to give financial autonomy, alongside academic autonomy, to the institutes opting for it, said a government official. The proposal will allow colleges to start new courses and even decide their own fees, but under the watchful eyes of the state and the universities they are affiliated with, said an aide to education minister Vinod Tawde. However, the minister insisted that financially autonomous institutes will be subjected to same norms of fee regulation as other colleges. So far, colleges in Maharashtra were eligible for academic autonomy, which gave them the freedom to decide their own curriculum and examinations. Only a handful of colleges in the state have received autonomy 11 out of 774 colleges affiliated with University of Mumbai (MU). Sources added the state is pushing for more autonomy for colleges as it believes the move will enhance quality of higher education and resolve some of the administrative issues faced by the varsities. We are promoting autonomy because the government is not in a position to bring new ideas... Since universities cant bear the burden of so many affiliated colleges, the minister and the CM want that all eligible colleges should be given autonomy on a fast track, with no hurdle from universities, said Tawdes aide, adding. A state official said autonomy is an expedient way of resolving issues of governance in education. They also said that norms of autonomy will be in line with the guidelines provided by University Grants Commission (UGC). The ministers aide said that despite financial autonomy the state wont stop salary grants given to aided colleges in the state. Theres not much clarity on the extent to which the colleges will be able to control their fees. The minister's aide said that the colleges can't change the fees of the courses funded by the state government. He added that while the fees of professional courses such as engineering. medicine and management will continue to be regulated by the state's fee regulating authority (FRA), there's no such control over the fees of non-professional courses. "The colleges won't increase their fees much," he said. The official, on the other hand, pointed out the Maharashtra Public Universities Act 2016 provides for a fee fixation committee at every university to control the fees of affiliated colleges. However, many of the state universities, including MU, are yet to constitute such a body. Tawde said, The autonomous colleges will be allowed to increase their fees only when other affiliated colleges will be permitted to do so. Autonomous colleges have welcomed the proposal. This may be a necessity. If proper fee structure is not put in place, we won't be able to appoint good teachers and provide quality education, said Ancy Jose, principal, Nagindas Khandwala College, Borivali, which as an academically autonomous college under MU. MU hasn't revised fee structure for degree courses in last decade. SS Mantha, former chairman, All India Council for Technical Education, cautioned that financial autonomy shouldn't lead to exorbitant fees. "While autonomy is a must for providing quality education, it cannot be a free-for-all activity. There must be a public mechanism to justify fees of the courses," he said. fire broke out in a chemical factor in Navi Mumbais Khairne MIDC area and spread rapidly to four other factories in the area in the wee hours of Wednesday. Two of three people who suffered burn injuries are in critical condition. The injured have been identified as Mohammed Aslam Hussain, 55,Manikchand Gautam, 25, and Rajendra Prasad Chavan, 40. The blaze reportedly burnt down all five factories Alma Speciality Chemicals Pvt Ltd, Vaishnavi Ester Pvt Ltd, Narlabs, Excel Petroleum Pvt. Ltd. and Proton Bio Chem Pvt Ltd. The fire broke out shortly after 2 am at Alma. We rushed the MIDC fire brigades to the spot first, and called fire engines from Vashi, Airoli, CBD Belapur and Panvel, said Surendra Choudhary, MIDC fire officer. Fire engines from Mumbai, Thane and Reliance were also called in. The fire was brought under control by 6am, but cooling operations continued throughout the day. The cause of the fire is not yet known, Choudhary said. Amar Desai, senior police inspector of Turbhe MIDC police station, said, We have registered a case of accidental fire. Eye witnesses said the MIDC fire brigade was short of water, which caused a delay in operations, leading to the spread of fire. A few fire engines reached the spot, but soon ran out of water. It took 15 minutes for other vehicles. The fire had spread to two more factories by then, said Akil Khan, an eye-witness. There was no delay. Since it was a huge fire, we called other fire stations. In fact, we ensured that the fire did not spread further, said Choudhary. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a suspected hawala operator in connection with foreign remittances worth Rs 2252.82 crore and involving 13 companies. On Monday, the agency arrested Mohammed Farooq, 39, from Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ED said 13 companies remitted approximately Rs2,252 crore funds to overseas destinations by submitting non-existent and forged import documents to banks during 2015-16. According to the agency, the actual bills of entry amount to only Rs 24 crore while the amount remitted outside the country is Rs2,252 crore. As per the allegations, payments were made towards non-existent and fake imports and false import bills were submitted to banks. A bill of entry is a declaration by an importer or exporter of the nature, quantity and value of goods that have landed or have been shipped out. Farooq has been arrested because the ED believes he was using three mobile numbers that the agency found while scrutinising 149 bank accounts for this case. The ED prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar said, He [Farooq] is most likely privy to various confidential information, which will help in unravelling the truth behind the said scam. However, Farooq has not cooperated with the authorities so far and has denied any links with the 13 companies being investigated. Farooq has been sent to custody till April 26. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Indrani Mukerjea, former INX founder accused of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora and implicated in the INX Media deal case, fell unconscious as she had consumed two strips of an anti-depressants in Byculla jail on April 6, according to a senior police officer privy to the probe carried out by the prison authorities. The authorities found that apart from eating food outside the jail, Mukerjea took anti-depressants that were not part of her prescription. Mukerjeas statement was recorded at Byculla prison on Tuesday evening. In JJ hospital, Mukerjea told doctors that she had consumed two strips of the anti-depressants. It was based on this statement that the doctors treated her, said the officer. The inquiry, contrary to Mukerjeas Mondays claim that she only food from jail, shows she ate from outside when she came to the Mumbai city civil and sessions court. Mukerjeas husband Peter, and her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna, allegedly told the jail officials that she ate pizza (ordered by Peter) and paratha (ordered by Khanna). Jail authorities, however, have not ruled out complicity of jail guards or other inmates, who could have possibly smuggled anti-depressants on to the premises and mixed it with the dal Mukerjea claimed to have had in the cell after returning from the court hearing. Mukerjea was aware that 20 tablets would not kill her. It was a planned move to seek bail, claiming threat to her life. She has also sought permission from the jail superintendent to write to the court for bail, said the officer. The officer also said action would be taken against the team which escorted Indrani to the court on April 6. Indrani on Monday claimed before the court that she feared for her life in jail. On April 6, when I was brought for the hearing, I did not meet anyone else or did not eat any food from an outsider. After the hearing, I only spoke to my three lawyers to give them instructions, Indrani had claimed on Monday. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started an inquiry against a senior medical officer of Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Municipal Hospital in Jogeshwari after a junior doctor resigned, alleging mental harassment by a senior doctor. In her letter, a copy of which is with HT, Dr Namrata Chauhan, who was serving a bond in the medicine department, alleged that the doctor made staff uncomfortable by his public display of affection for a woman doctor friend. She claimed their public display of affection on hospital premises makes the nursing staff and other junior doctors uncomfortable. The senior doctor has denied the allegations and said he has a letter, signed by nine of his junior doctors, who claimed they dont have any problem with his style of functioning. Dr Chauhan, who completed her MBBS from Government Medical College in Kolhapur, alleged the harassment started two months ago, after she complained against the senior doctors woman friend for neglecting work. He started harassment by commenting on our personal appearance and giving us additional work such as collecting blood samples from patients who dont need investigation, extra working hours etc, said Dr Chauhan. Chauhan has alleged the senior doctor neglected work, made personal remarks about juniors, ran a private practice and sent pathological investigation work to private laboratories for a commission. Using his position, he managed to schedule his and the woman doctors duties together. Patients suffer as they dont receive treatment. Numerous times, it has happened that emergency cases like platelet drop in a leptospirosis patient and poison consumption cases didnt receive timely attention and died shortly after, Dr Chauhan said. Apparently, the staff members have also submitted a complaint letter, signed by multiple doctors and staff members on Monday, but no action has been taken against the accused. I wasnt left with any option, but to resign. The medical superintendent hasnt signed on my resignation yet. I cant work in such an environment, she said. The senior doctor said, There is no question of extra work as juniors are sent on duty only once in 10 days. When it comes to unnecessary investigations, being an MD, medicine, I need to have detailed investigation of patients to make accurate diagnosis. He said he has had a word with his seniors about the issue and the conflict is limited between him and Dr Chauhan and no other staff members have expressed any such concerns. Dr H Bhava, medical superintendent of the hospital, remained unavailable for a comment. Dr Shashikant Wadekar, chief medical superintendent, said he was busy in a meeting and cant comment. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Five weeks after the state issued a government resolution (GR) to compensate farmers for the loss suffered due to the pink bollworm attack last year, no amount has yet been released to its district administrations. More than 45 lakh farmers have to be compensated for losses amounting to about Rs3,373 crore towards loss of crop on more than 42 lakh hectares. After ground-level punchnamas and assessment of the loss of the cotton crop of the pink bollworm, the state government had, in December 2017, announced to compensate the farmers with Rs30,800 per hectare. Of this, Rs6,800 a hectare was to be from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF), Rs8,000 from the crop insurance cover and Rs16,000 from the claims from the seed companies. Though the compensation from two components has to come from the respective companies, the third component has to be paid by the state government. The state, in January, sent a memorandum to the Centre demanding Rs2,425 crore and later revised the amount to Rs3,373 crore in March demanding the assistance under NDRF. Since the Centre raised the queries related to the memorandum, and the delay led to further uproar among the farmers, the state government issued the GR on March 17 announcing it would compensate the farmers from its own kitty without waiting for the Centre to release the assistance. However, the financial condition of the state, which went haywire the previous financial year, did not allow the government to release the funds. Neither have we recovered the claims from the insurance or the seed companies, nor has the assistance under NDRF been released. The farmers are upset, as they need money at the beginning of the new season, said an official from the agriculture department. Bijay Kumar, additional chief secretary, agriculture department, said, We had a meeting of the state-level committee headed by the chief secretary last week and the amount will be released in days now. Meanwhile, a central government team of officials from 12 ministries is expected to visit Maharashtra in the first week of May to assess the loss of the cotton crop. We have received a communication from the Centre, in response to our memorandum, that a team of officials from 12 ministries will soon visit the affected areas. The assistance is released immediately under NDRF after the assessment, said an official from the relief and rehabilitation department. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday lashed out at the Devendra Fadnavis-government in Maharashtra, and called it useless. Demanding a full-time home minister for the state, he slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) government over the law and order situation in the state after two Sena leaders were murdered in Ahmednagar district. Fadnavis also holds the home portfolio. The Sena chief, who visited the families of the two Sena leaders in Ahmednagar on Wednesday, said his party had been demanding a full-time home minister in the state. Speaking to reporters in Ahmednagar, Thackeray said, I understand that the chief minister is busy with his development work, so he would not have time for the complaints of the people. We have been demanding a full-time home minister for long. Sanjay Kotkar, deputy chief of Shiv Sena in Ahmednagar, and Vasant Thube, a party leader, were killed after being shot and attacked with sharp weapons on April 7. Nine people have been booked in connection with the murders. They include a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA and a Congress corporator. The Fadnavis-led government is useless; the situation in Maharashtra is worse than Bihar. The state needs a full-time home minister, Thackeray added. He added that an independent inquiry should be carried out in the case. Thackeray demanded that the accused should be given a death penalty. The state should appoint Ujjwal Nikam as the prosecutor in the case. I have personally spoken to Nikam regarding this. He added that whichever party the accused may belong to, they should be given the strictest punishment. The Sena chief demanded that the BJP put an end to hooliganism. He said if the BJP follows the mantra of inducting criminals in the party to wrest power, there will be no acche din in the country and the state. He handed over a cheque of Rs15.50 lakh each to the two families of the victims. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet at Wuhan city for a two-day informal summit, starting Friday. As the worlds two largest developing countries and major emerging markets, the two nations have to explore ways to get along with each other. With the current backlash against globalisation, a heart-to-heart dialogue between the two leaders will promote free trade, strengthen unity among developing countries and uphold the principles of equity and justice. Both countries are at a critical stage of economic development and modernisation. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) recently laid out the blueprint for making the nation a great modern socialist country. India also has a three-year blueprint to achieve a New India by 2022 and a 15-year National Development Agenda. The three-year agenda mentions China 67 times. This is because our development goals are similar. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, Xi and Modi have met 13 times. When the Doklam standoff began, the two leaders inputs and the wisdom of the diplomatic teams helped to reach a resolution. India-China relations have been stabilising and improving. Since the end of 2017, China and Indias Special Representatives on Boundary Question and foreign ministers have exchanged visits. The China-India Joint Economic Groups, China-India Strategic Economic Dialogue and other dialogue mechanisms have been activated. These efforts contributed to a positive atmosphere for the informal summit. Economic and trade cooperation between the two nations is surging. There have also been cultural and personnel exchanges. There are 14 pairs of sister city/provinces. Personnel exchanges in 2017 exceed 1 million. Over 20,000 Indians study in China and 42 flights operate between the two countries every week. Yoga, Darjeeling tea and Bollywood movies are popular in China. Chinese language education has promising prospects in India. History is full of touching stories of monks such as Xuanzang and Bodhidharma traveling over mountains and oceans between China and India. In the 1950s, China and India co-proposed the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence (Panchsheel), a new contribution to modern international relations. President Xi and Modis leadership will contribute to the process of building a new type of international relations with a shared future for mankind. Its natural for neighbours to have differences. When differences cant be solved for now, we should properly manage them and focus on cooperation. Our consensus and cooperation outweigh differences and competition. We should bear in mind our bilateral long-term vision, hold reasonably optimistic expectations and give full play to five magic tools: the Navigator (strategic guidance of the two leaders), the accelerator (practical cooperation), the booster (people-to-people exchanges), the enhancer (multilateral cooperation), and the stabiliser (controlling differences). Luo Zhaohui is Chinas ambassador to India The views expressed are personal Britains first turbaned Sikh MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, along with two NGOs, has started a campaign for the launch of a direct flight between London and Amritsar, a long-pending demand of the British-Punjabi diaspora. The Labour party MP for Slough joined hands with the UK-based NGO, Social Education Volunteer Association (SEVA) Trust and the UK chapter of the Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM), at an event within the House of Commons complex recently to initiate efforts to push for starting of the non-stop flight services with the Indian and Punjab governments. In 2016, even with no direct connectivity, approximately 1.89 lakh passengers (517 per day) travelled between Amritsar and the UK as transit passengers, via other Indian and foreign airports. The demand is there and we hope the supply will come soon, Dhesi said. His campaign has found the backing of other British and Indian MPs, including fellow Labour Party MP Seema Malhotra and Congress MP for Amritsar, Gurjeet Singh Aujla. They believe that in addition to better connectivity for millions of passengers, a direct air link between Punjab and Britain holds immense potential to boost trade and tourism and to strengthen India-UK relationship. The MPs believe that London Heathrow, one of the worlds biggest aviation transit hubs, will open up new onward connections to Europe, Canada and the US. It will also enable farmers and businessmen from Amritsar and adjoining regions to resume export of dry and perishable goods to the UK, said Sameep Singh Gumtala, overseas secretary of the Amritsar Vikas Manch. An Air India official, Deepak Chudasama, acknowledged growing demand of the Punjabi community for the direct flights and assured MPs in Britain that their proposal would be raised with the airlines senior management. Dhesis team has also submitted a memorandum, addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to the Indian high commission here and the second one, addressed to Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, has been handed over to Aujla. Canadian authorities have reportedly rounded up and questioned Hardip Singh Nijjar, Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)-backed Sikh hardliner, for allegedly running training camps for terrorists. Indian authorities had issued a look-out circular against Nijjar on January 23, 2015. Punjab Police have Nijjar on its list of most-wanted Khalistanis. His name was also on the list of nine wanted Khalistanis that chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had given to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his recent India visit. Intelligence wing officials with the Punjab Police claim that Canada questioning Nijjar was a big diplomatic win and had resulted due to the pressure that the state had created. Nijjar was rounded up on the basis of crucial intelligence input that the Indian government provided. He was released after questioning and is now under strict vigil for his anti-India activities, a police source said. Reports from Delhi suggest that over the last week, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case against Nijjer for anti-India activities. Police also claim that Nijjar had been organising training camps in the Canadian province of British Columbia at the behest of the ISI. Nijjar has refuted the allegations. Born in 1977, he is from Jalandhar district and is now based in Surrey, Canada. He is wanted in Punjab in various cases, including a bomb blast near a temple in Patiala in 2010. He is also accused of hatching a conspiracy for a Khalistani terror module that has killed various Hindu leaders in Punjab over the past two years. In interviews available online, Nijjar has denied any links with the Pakistani spy agency and has instead claimed that Indian agencies had been framing him. Under fire for increasing fatalities of two-wheeler riders, especially women, the Chandigarh administration has proposed to make wearing of helmet mandatory for all women, except Sikh woman wearing a turban (keski). The move comes in the wake of Punjab and Haryana high court asking the administration to consider measures to contain road fatalities involving two-wheeler women riders. In the past three years, 24 women riding two-wheelers have lost their lives and 85 have sustained injuries on Chandigarh roads. Helmet rules in Punjab, Haryana The Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, makes headgear compulsory for all who are riding a two-wheeler, except turbaned Sikhs. However, the Act grants permission to state governments to make relaxation to some other categories. Punjab and Haryana exempt turbaned Sikhs and Sikh women while Chandigarh exempts all women besides turbaned Sikhs The UT has proposed amendment in Rule 193 of the Chandigarh Motor Vehicle Rules, 1990, and has invited objections and suggestions. At present, UT exempts all women from wearing helmets besides Sikh men wearing turban. UT transport director Amit Talwar said the amendment has been proposed for the safety of women, including Sikh women who are not wearing turban. HC took up matter in Dec 2017 It was in December 2017 that the HC initiated suo motu proceedings on rising number of road fatalities involving women. The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, mandates headgear for all who are riding two-wheelers, but permits state governments to make relaxation for some categories. It is under this rule that the UT has exempted all women. However, Punjab and Haryana has excluded only Sikh women, though it has not been clarified how they will be identified. Send your suggestions Residents can send their suggestions within 30 days. It can be mailed to the office superintendent, transport, room 19, ground floor, UT secretariat, Sector 9 Email can be sent to directorctuchd@gmail.com It was in 1998 that the HC had restricted the exemption only to Sikhs wearing turban while driving. However, it met with resistance from Sikh bodies and city witnessed protests. Sikh bodies had argued that their tenets forbid the wearing of any cap. In 2004, the Supreme Court too ruled that the state had powers to relax rules in a particular area. Following this, Chandigarh relaxed the norms and exempted all women. UT sought legal opinion Initially, after the HCs order in December 2017, the UT was mulling to make helmets mandatory for all women and give exemptions as per the Act only. But given the sensitivity of the issue, it later decided to take legal opinion. Sources said UTs top law officer Suvir Sehgal advised the administration that according to the Delhi HCs interpretation of the 1988 Act, only Sikh men are exempted, and to make any other exemptions, the UT will have to make desired changes in the rules. Sehgal had advised against making helmet mandatory for all women. Superstar Mahesh Babu can finally breathe a sigh of relief. After two back-to-back flops, hes delivered his careers biggest hit in the form of Bharat Ane Nenu, which he says has come after two years of not being able to live to the expectations of the audiences. Speaking at the thank you meet of the film in Hyderabad on Monday, Mahesh said: The last two years were emotionally draining and stressful. I dont know how to react, but Im really relieved and happy with this success. The tension of disappointing my fans over the last two years haunted me. Even though I knew deep down we had made a good film, I wanted audiences to watch and decide, Mahesh said. Siva Koratala directed Bharat Ane Nenu has grossed over Rs. 125 crore. Talking about the film in which he played the Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, he said hes proud to have been part of it. There are some films we want to have in our library. Bharat Ane Nenu is one such film which I want to proudly show it to my children. Mahesh thanked director Siva Koratala for giving him a blockbuster when needed the most. The success of Srimanthudu came after a lull in my career. Similarly, the success of Bharat Ane Nenu has come at a crucial time. Asked if the collaboration of Mahesh and Koratala Siva will continue for the third time, the latter said: It can only happen if I have a much bigger story. Once Im ready with a story, Ill go ring the bell of Maheshs home. Siva was asked why he didnt address the issue of black money, which is usually associated with politicians, in his film. There are so many problems and we cant address all of them. I chose problems that we deal with on a daily basis. Problems I chose to address through the film are usually easy to relate. I wanted to address them in detail and give out possible solutions. I think I have succeeded. Read: Bharat Ane Nenu movie review: Mahesh Babu as CM ushers in a new era A grand event will be organized on April 27th to celebrate the films success. The film is having a dream run at the box-office. Emerging as the biggest opener in Mahesh Babus career, it has become the second film in his career to join the $2 million club in the US. As on Monday, the film has grossed over 4 million in overseas, according to trade pundits. Even though Maheshs performance as a CM has earned good response from all quarters, he had said he had qualms about playing the role at the pre-release event. I was initially scared, but Sivas story was so inspiring that I didnt want to miss this opportunity. I believe this is my finest performance ever. Srimanthudu was a turning point in my career and I see Bharat Ane Nenu as another major turning point. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop The stand-off between Tamil Film Producers Council and Digital Service Providers over high Visual Print Fee (VPF) charges - resulted in shutdown of Kollywood for 48 days. As the industry is getting back on its feet, several filmmakers have commenced work on their projects which were put on hold due to the strike. Despite the mixed response to the strike from the industry folks, several Tamil projects went back to the sets this week. From Thalapathy 62 to Mani Ratnams Chekka Chivantha Vaanam and Dhanushs Maari 2, here are some films that have recommenced shooting. Mani Ratnams Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (CCV), featuring an ensemble cast of Arvind Swami, Vijay Sethupathi, Arun Vijay, Aishwarya Rajesh, Jyothika and Aditi Rao Hydari among others, has gone back to the sets. Lensman Santosh Sivan on Tuesday tweeted and wrote, Zero shadow day in Chennai today. And we are filming for CCV in Chennai, Sivan tweeted. Bankrolled by Madras Talkies, Oscar-winning composer A.R Rahman has been roped in to compose music. It has been learnt from reliable sources that the film will be an action-thriller and will be a departure from the filmmakers usual style of films. Ratnam has pinned high hopes on this project following the debacle of Kaatru Veliyidai. Vijays Thalapathy 62, which marks his third collaboration with A.R Murugadoss after Thuppakki and Kaththi, is believed to resume shooting from Wednesday. Having already completed two schedules in Kolkata and Chennai, the team will return to the sets today to starting shooting, a source told Hindustan Times, adding that the shoot will take place in Chennai. Balas Varma, the Tamil remake of Arjun Reddy, resumed shoot from earlier this week in Chennai. The project marks the debut of Vikrams son, Dhruv Vikram, who will be seen reprising the role of Vijay Deverakonda and will play an alcoholic, self-destructive surgeon in the film. The makers have so far shot a song in Kathmandu, Nepal in the first schedule. A reliable source from the team of Dhanushs Maari confirmed that the shooting resumed in Chennai on April 22. Not long ago, director Balaji Mohan tweeted that 40 percent of the shoot has been wrapped up. Happy that Maari 2 shoot is progressing at brisk pace and is 40 % done. I will resume after the strike and targeting release in second half of 2018, he tweeted on March 16. Suriyas NGK, directed by Selvaraghavan, began work on April 21. Actor Rakul Preet tweeted, And! Tada Day 1. NGK. The project marks the first time collaboration of Suriya and Selvaraghavan, known for films such as Kadhal Kondein and Pudhupettai. Being produced by Dream Warrior Pictures, the film also stars Sai Pallavi as one of the leading ladies. The highly anticipated Ajiths Viswasam will finally start rolling from May 5th in Hyderabad. The film was supposed to kick-off in March, but the shoot had to be postponed due to the announcement of the strike. The film will see Ajith and Siva join hands for the fourth time. Nayanthara has been confirmed as the leading lady. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Rajinikanth, who is set to team up with Karthik Subbaraj for his next project to be bankrolled by Sun Pictures took time to watch the directors recently released Mercury. The 67-year-old star and was all praise for the young team that worked in the film. Rajinikanth invited the entire team home, spoke at length about each department and appreciated the teams work. Thrilled by superstars gesture, Subbaraj took to twitter and wrote: So happy! Thalaivar watched Mercury and loved it. He met the team, appreciated every aspect of the film and said its a Super Padam. Great to hear these words from superstar Rajinikanth himself. Thanks a lot Thalaiva. Mercury, which hit the screens in Tamil Nadu last week, was the first release in 48 days since the Kollywood shutdown, courtesy a stand-off between Tamil Film Producers Council and Digital Service Providers. The film, which is shot entirely in a hill station, features Prabhu Deva in the role of an antagonist. Sananth, Induja and Deepak Paramesh play important roles in the movie. So happy!! Thalaivar watched #Mercury and loved it... He met the team , appreciated every aspect of the film and said it's "Super Padam".... Great to hear these words from #Superstar #Rajinikanth himself....... Thanks a lot Thalaivaaa..... pic.twitter.com/6bnFseiN15 karthik subbaraj (@karthiksubbaraj) April 22, 2018 Talking about the inspiration behind making a silent film, Subbaraj told Hindustan Times: Ive always been a fan of the silent era. The work of Charlie Chaplin and his contemporaries have had very strong influence on me. Ever since I started making films, Ive always toyed with the idea of making a film without dialogues. When I struck upon the idea of Mercury, I believed that it could be made sans any dialogues and thats how everything started. The experience is going very unique and Im confident audiences will love the film. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop A little less than a month before her royal wedding to Britains Prince Harry, Meghan Markle has said I do -- on television. Markle fans who cant wait until the actress walks down the aisle next month can tune into the seventh season finale of the legal drama Suits -- which sees Markles character Rachel tie the knot with Mike, played by Patrick J. Adams. I wanted to marry you from the second I met you, Mike says in a preview of the episode, to air Wednesday. After seven seasons, the moment has finally arrived. Don't miss #MikeAndRachel say "I do" in the two-episode season finale, this Wednesday at 9/8c on @USA_Network. pic.twitter.com/wYkh9rLy0T Suits (@Suits_USA) April 22, 2018 You are the husband Ive always wanted, Rachel says, marking a happy ending for the two actors leaving the series. We know theres another wedding on the horizon for Ms. Markle but just seeing her here in all of her bridal resplendence is a fairytale come true, said the network USA, which airs the series, on its website. The characters Mike and Rachel had already tried getting married in a previous season -- but police arrested the former and thwarted the nuptial plans. Shortly after announcing her engagement to Prince Harry, the future Duchess, 36, said she would leaving acting to focus on humanitarian work. Her final appearance on Suits -- in which she has starred since 2011 -- will be a dress rehearsal of sorts for her big day on May 19, when she will marry Prince Harry in a chapel inside Windsor Castle before 600 invited guests. Another 2,640 people will be welcomed onto the castle grounds. Britain's Prince Harry, left, and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London, Wednesday. (AP) American, mixed-race and fiercely independent, Markle is widely seen as a breath of fresh air for Britains royal family. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, a California girl who lives by the ethos that most things can be cured with either yoga, the beach, or a few avocados, she once wrote. She will be the second American to join the British monarchy after socialite Wallis Simpson -- who married King Edward VIII after he abdicated, and like Markle had once divorced prior to marrying royalty. Follow @htshowbiz for more As a Democrat, Indian-American Hiral Tipirneni always had an uphill task running in an election in a deeply Republican district. But on Tuesday, she ended just five points behind her rival Debbie Lesko in the Arizona special election for the US House of Representatives. Just a few points not double digits, she told her supporters on Tuesday her defeat margin, adding that she will try again in the November mid-term elections. This wasnt a victory, but to many Democrats, including Tipirneni and the Indian-American community that largely leans left, it looked like one President Donald Trump had won this district by 21 points in the 2016 presidential election. Though he did not campaign there in the special election, it was a vote on his presidency. Congratulations to Republican Debbie Lesko on her big win in the Special Election for Arizona House seat, he tweeted on Wednesday, complaining how the press is so silent. However, the press wasnt exactly silent. Tuesdays narrow victory by Republican Debbie Lesko over a Democratic political newcomer sends a big message to Republicans nationwide: Even the reddest of districts in a red state can be in play this year, said the Associated Press in an article analyzing the result. Tipirneni was the first Democrat to run in the district since 2012. The party had hoped to pull off a shock win similar to a congressional race in Pennsylvania in March. However, they are arguing that Tipirnenis narrow defeat shows that there is wave in their favour, which, they hope, will propel them to victory in the November mid-terms. Theatre for Lahore-based Madeeha Gauhar was dissent, crusade and togetherness as the theme demanded, and her commitment to socially and politically relevant subjects was complete. Along with her playwright husband Shahid Nadeem, she never hesitated in picking up subjects that would rattle the military-mullah nexus as she called it. The two were also not afraid of paying the price for their cause, be it jail for Madeeha, banning of a play or sacking from a government job for Shahid. As the news of her passing away after a three-year battle with cancer spread, the sense of loss was felt by theatre activists on both the sides. Remembering her, Chandigarh-based theatre director Neelam Maan Singh said, She was a very brave woman, from the themes she enacted to fighting her own illness. Just the last December, she was here to watch a rehearsal of my play Dark Borders, making a detour from Amritsar. She added that the value of her theatre could be appreciated greater in retrospect as theatre people in India too were engaged in finding ways of combating divisive forces. Madeeha always laid emphasis on the shared heritage of the people of the subcontinent, she said. Kewal Dhaliwal, chairperson of Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi based in Amritsar, said, When she brought Bullah to India in 2004, we welcomed it as taaza hava da Bulla (a whiff of fresh air). Later I was to collaborate with her in so many productions and one of the most memorable ones was Border Border, the outcome of a workshop with children from Pakistan and India. He recalled that in December, when she visited this side of the border last time, it was to discuss a festival of Partition plays. Dhaliwals most poignant memory was when she wept in the new Partition Museum in Amritsar, saying, Why did 10 lakh people have to die? Why couldnt the parting, if at all, be without violence? After completing her masters in English literature in Lahore, Madeeha went onto obtain another masters degree in theatre sciences in London. She set up the Ajoka Theatre group along with her husband Shahid in 1984. She took the plays of Ajoka to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and several European countries. She was the first Pakistani artiste to be awarded the prestigious Prince Claus award of the Netherlands. Her prominent plays, besides Bullah, include Toba Tek Singh, Dara Shikoh, Mera Rang De Basanti Chola, Letters to Uncle Sam and Lo Phir Basant Aayi. Her play against the purdah system, Burkavaganza, was banned in Pakistan. Two very relevant cross-border plays by Madeeha are Aik thi Nani and Dukh Dariya. In the former, she brought together two sisters of the Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA) on stage after 50 years. They were Zohra Sehgal and Uzra Butt, the latter having been the leading lady of Prithvi Theatres before the Partition. The second play, Dukh Dariya, was based on the real-life story of a woman, Shehnaz Parveen of Mirpur, who jumped into the river as she was tormented for not bearing a child. She was rescued in India and jailed. Raped by two jail wardens, she bore a child. The irony arose when Pakistan agreed to take the woman but not her child. Such Mantoesque stories would inspire plays from Madeeha. Madeeha is survived by her husband, two sons Sarang and Nirvaan, besides so many friends, colleagues and admirers. Madeeha Gauhar, an icon of independent theatre in Pakistan and a tireless campaigner for peace with India, died at her hometown of Lahore on Wednesday after a three-year battle with cancer. She was 61. The actor, director and activist was well-known for her commitment to theatre for social change and was also one of Pakistans leading womens rights activists. She founded Ajoka Theatre in 1984 with her husband, playwright Shahid Nadeem, after studying theatre in the UK and China. Gauhar frequently collaborated with Indian artists and staged a number of plays at theatre festivals in Indian cities. Ajoka Theatres plays are often based on social and human rights issues, such as female literacy, honour killings, oppression of women and religious extremism. While this endeared Gauhar to the liberals, she and her plays were often the target of the ire of Pakistans hardliners. Burqavaganza, a satirical play that Gauhar described as a love story in the times when society is grappling with issues such as extremism, intolerance and terrorism, was banned by Pakistani authorities in 2010. The play used the burqa as a metaphor for political and social cover-ups but angered leaders of the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami. Other plays by Ajoka Theatre dared to take on subjects that most Pakistani playwrights would stay away from, such as Mera Rang De Basanti Chola that took a closer look at Bhagat Singhs role in the independence movement and Dara, based on the life of Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan who was imprisoned and executed by his younger brother Aurangzeb. Toba Tek Singh, Aik Thi Nani, Bulha, Letters to Uncle Sam, Hotel Mohenjodaro and Lo Phir Basant Ayee are among Ajoka Theatres memorable plays. The group performed across the world, including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Iran, Egypt, the US and the UK. It also staged productions in backyards and open spaces in poor neighbourhoods to raise awareness about key issues. Gauhar was the first Pakistani to receive the prestigious Prince Claus Award for her leadership of Ajoka, which was praised by organisers of the Dutch prize for withstanding pressures from the political and religious establishment, and (remaining) committed to the cause of theatre for social change. She was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. Gauhar, the elder sister of actor Faryal Gauhar, is survived by her husband Shahid Nadeem and two sons, Sarang and Nirvaan. Pakistan police Wednesday exhumed the body of an Italian national over claims she had been murdered by relatives in a so-called honour killing, in a case that has made headlines across Italy. Police in the eastern city of Gujrat launched an investigation earlier this week into the death of Sana Cheema -- of Pakistani origin and believed to have been in her mid-twenties -- after allegations she had been murdered went viral online. After the news of her death spread on social media, police found the family and started an investigation, said police officer Waqar Gujjar. Cheemas father, brother and uncle are currently being held in custody for questioning but have not been charged, added Gujrat police officer Mudassar Sajjad. Now it depends on the post mortem report. If it determines the cause of death is due to murder, only then will police charge the suspects, said Sajjad. According to family members, Cheema died earlier this month after succumbing to an unspecified illness, said police officer Syed Mobarak. Police said Cheemas father Ghulam Mustafa brought her back to Pakistan to get married. This ultimately led to a confrontation with a nearby family who spurned the offer of a match, according to the womans family. Because of the rejection Cheema refused to eat, fell ill and died, relatives told police. Reports in Italian newspapers alleged Cheema was killed because she wanted to marry a man in Italy against her familys wishes. Hundreds of women in Pakistan are killed by their relatives each year after allegedly bringing shame on their families in the deeply conservative Muslim country. Under previous legislation the culprits -- usually men -- could escape punishment if pardoned by members of their own family. A new law removes the power to forgive culprits in such cases but critics contend some loopholes still exist. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Indian-American scientist Inder Verma, considered as one of the worlds leading authorities on gene therapy and cancer, has been placed on administrative leave following allegations of inappropriate conduct against him. Verma, 70, a scientist at the prestigious Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation into the allegations against him. The institute did not give any reason for suspending Verma. The institute has hired The Rose Group, a San Diego-based international employment law and consulting firm, to investigate allegations, not yet made public, that were reported to the institute in February. Verma, who is also on the boards of several Indian scientific institutes, has denied the allegations. Recently, the institute became aware of allegations concerning Inder Verma. Consistent with Salks policies governing workplace conduct, the institute has undertaken a formal investigation that is being led by an independent outside party, Dan Lewis, chairman of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies said in a statement. Verma has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation. He will not be performing scientific or administrative roles on behalf of the institute during this period, he said, without referring to the nature of the investigation. The action against Verma comes nearly four months after he was placed on temporary leave as editor of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a prestigious scientific journal. The allegations of inappropriate conduct against Verma were first reported by Science magazine, according to which last summer, three female Salk senior scientists sued the institute for gender discrimination calling it an old boys club that had systematically impeded their careers because they were women. The lawsuits are set to go to trial next December. Verma, who has denied the allegations, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the leave had stemmed from the lawsuits that Salk professors filed against the Institute in July. I have never used my position at the Salk Institute to take advantage of others. I have also never engaged in any sort of intimate relationship with anyone affiliated with the Salk Institute, he said in a statement to Science through his attorney. I have never inappropriately touched, nor have I made any sexually charged comments, to anyone affiliated with the Salk Institute. I have never allowed any offensive or sexually charged conversations, jokes, material, etc. to occur at the Salk Institute, said Verma who earned his MSc in Biochemistry from the Lucknow University. Denying misconduct allegations to the Union-Tribune, Verma said, I believe that it is inappropriate for an individual in a position of authority to engage in any intimate relationship with a direct report or to use that position of authority to take advantage of others. In 2005, he was appointed as foreign fellow by the Indian national Science Academy. US President Donald Trump is likely to hold talks with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in before his historical summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, officials in Seoul have indicated. Trump and Kim are scheduled to meet in late May or early June at a yet-to-be-determined location, the first meeting between the leaders of North Korea and the US after almost 70 years of confrontation. The Moon-Trump meet will likely take place in Washington, where the South Korean president will brief his US counterpart on his own meet with Kim and what transpired at the inter-Korea meet scheduled for this week, CNN reported, citing a senior official in Moons administration. Japanese newspaper The Mainichi reported that the Moon-Trump talks are expected to be held around mid-May. According to an unnamed Blue House official, Moon and Trump will also speak on telephone immediately after the inter-Korea summit. The CNN report, quoting Moons secretary for public relations Yoon Young-chan, said South Koreas top national security official Chung Eui-yong raised the possibility of a Trump-Moon summit during a meeting with US National Security Adviser John Bolton. According to South Koreas Yonhap News Agency, Chung travelled to Washington in March, shortly after meeting Kim in Pyongyang to convey the North Korean leaders desire to hold a summit with Trump. Once again, handholding has turned awkward for United States President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump. The US President was captured circling his pinky in a bid to hold Melanias hand as they welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron to the White House on Tuesday. Melania, who donned a white outfit and a brimming white hat, stood next to her husband rigidly as he appeared to make a subtle effort to hold her hand - first extending his pinky finger and then gently giving her hand a little shake before she finally placed her hand on his. After which Trump was seen mouthing Thank you. This isnt the first time the US first lady appeared reluctant to hold her husbands hand. In May, she was caught on camera clearly swatting away his hand during a trip to Tel Aviv, Israel. Then in February, as the couple departed from the White House for a trip to Ohio, Trump once again tried but failed to make hand-to-hand contact with his wife. The French President is currently on a three-day visit to the US to coax Trump on not leaving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The deal was signed between six countries - Iran, US, Britain, Germany, Russia, France and China for lifting economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limitations to the countrys nuclear programme. Appointment 24 April 2018 With over 20 years of experience, Cooper is a veteran of the hospitality industry with a strong connection to the Kimpton brand, having started her career in sales and hotel operations for Kimpton in 1995. Cooper joined Starwood Hotels & Resorts in 1999, working first in hotel operations before transitioning to the Real Estate Development Group for Starwood in 2005, where she grew the hotel's portfolio throughout the Western United States. In 2016, Cooper joined Marriott International's development team as Vice President of Lodging Development, focusing on full service and luxury hotel growth. Now, coming full circle, Cooper will be leading strategic growth initiatives for the brand including new markets, new products, and development partner outreach. In addition, Cooper will oversee development activity in the Western U.S. and Latin America. Supplier News 25 April 2018 Creating a mobile messaging service is effective, so why aren't more brands doing it asks EyeforTravel and SAP's new Driving Intelligent, Interconnected Mobile Engagement Throughout the Travel Journey report? The research, which is free to download now, finds that 83% of travel brands that have automated messaging services find that they are effective at increasing customer satisfaction. However, just 41% of brands surveyed report that they currently have these services, although a further 20% report that they are also developing the capability to do so. Delving deeper into the deployment of possible mobile messaging routes, a similar story emerges of a lack of communication routes between brands and travelers. Just under a third of brands reported that they had developed an app, 29% could reach customers with mobile messaging or push notifications and just under a quarter can send SMS texts. This leaves the majority of travel brands bereft of ways in which to communicate directly to travelers' smartphones, aside from through email, but even in this field, only 40.4% of respondents said they use mobile-optimised email. 83% of travel brands with automated mobile messaging find it improves customer satisfaction EyeforTravel Ltd This mismatch leaves a huge gap that is increasingly vital for travel brands to exploit. The research notes that not only do travel consumers increasingly resort to mobile as they research their trip and as they journey, but also they are actively interested in being reached. 87% of US travelers said that they find travel notifications useful, with trip status updates the most popular but also discounts and pricing widely sought after. Therefore, travel brands are missing out on better performance in two ways says the research: Firstly, they are largely unable to cross- and upsell the consumer travel products, as well as less able to accommodate last-minute mobile bookings, hitting revenue directly. Secondly, they are missing out on a key means to drive loyalty with the consumer, as smart mobile messaging allows a relationship to be built. This latter point can be done through a number of ways, such as making the customer's journey more convenient, sending personalized messages, responding appropriately in moments of crisis, and creating an easier means to gather feedback and encourage reviews. "Only the travel brand knows if you made a change to your flight or PNR, so in terms of loyalty why should a travel brand acquiesce that relationship to Google?" says Michael Bayle, head of mobile at Amadeus. "It should be them bringing these things to the attention of the traveler. The more current and actionable data, such as a flight cancellation, Google can't act upon. The travel brand can make a positive change to get a result and take advantage of that disruptive management." However, to make the most out of mobile, it isn't enough to simply deploy an app or an SMS service. Travel brands need to create an overarching mobile strategy. "For the traveler, there are no mobile stages. Mobile is everything and everything is mobile. We interact in making our purchase decisions seamlessly on our tablet and phones, and sometimes on our computers, so it is no longer fair to call out mobile as a separate category. It is no longer a case of 'do you have a mobile strategy?' Instead it's 'What are you doing to embed that deeper into the consumer lifecycle or purchase journey?' says Rohit Tripathi, general manager and head of products, SAP Digital Interconnect. Tripathi also notes that this needs to be contextual and appropriate to the consumer's situation. "If it's a general update or information about an upcoming promotion that is not immediately relevant, then email is the best way to reach out, or social media. If it is something critical that needs to be acted on, such as a change of travel plans, an unexpected disruption or threat, then SMS is clearly the way to go. You can safely rely on SMS to be available globally whether or not the person has a data plan," he explains. "When our customers reach out using SAP Intelligent Notification 365's unique multi-channel API they can do so across communication channels either on-device, social media or on a brand app. Therefore, they can maintain two-way transactional or marketing engagement that matches the customer's needs through an autonomous system that enables and escalates message routing across all mobile channels." Get ahead of the competition now and download this completely free mobile market report to access: Opinion Article 25 April 2018 Amidst all the jargon thrown up by self-help journals and wisdom gleaned out of Handbooks by Business leaders, it is seen that often it is the very simple things that make a huge difference. Advertisements We would all like to be in the Top Dog's chair some day. We all visualize ourselves as leaders. I am of the strong belief that there are two other genes in the human DNA - of stupidity and of excellence. The first one keeps us in the visualization mode and lets us float on our mental mirage. But it is our gene for excellence that puts the zeal, drive and perseverance into our endeavours to excel and achieve. Those with the "Excellence gene" also recognize the benefit of simple strategies that keep us on the top of our game and in the reckoning for the next big opportunity. Revisit your work practices and infuse the following simple rules to make your professional ride less bumpy and more rewarding. 1. Smile. And smile genuinely! Whether you open doors, carry luggage, devise strategies, cook award winning meals, pour the glass of expensive wine or sit in the corner office managing the entire show, one of the basic thumb rules to follow is - to smile. Training Managers, all over the world, will tell you that people can also 'see' you smile over a telephonic conversation. Smiling when speaking on the phone (and in these times on Skype, chats, Vimeo or what have you) is a surefire clincher for a deal and the super glue that has the propensity to seal your business relationship. Whether you are a PR person, a journalist, a service provider, a client, a telecaller, a smile is the perfect bridge over which you should lug your professional wares; even when dishing out something that may not be too palatable. 2. Give Feedback! When I was working with Australia's Diplomatic Mission as a rookie, I erred on one of my first assignments. I was handling the case of a PhD scholar and dealing with the Indian Ministry of Education on his behalf. I was doing all that had to be done to sort out all issues but I lacked in one important aspect. The lacuna in my handling of the case only dawned on me when the gent started sending harried messages to the High Commissioner wanting to know if anything was being done for him at all. In my naivete, I had decided that I would only brief him once everything was finalized. That was a big mistake which not only made the High Commission look ineffective, it caused embarrassment to my boss, the Counsellor of Public Affairs in front of the High Commissioner. And worst of all, it soiled my reputation of being a professional, despite having worked well on the case. I learned my lesson the very hard way. Please remember to always give feedback; no matter how busy you are and which chair you fill up. In fact, not just unprofessional, it is plain bad manners if you don't. I once had a boss who would respond to everybody on every message that he received - himself and not through his secretary - even as he ran one hell of a busy show at work. One great lesson I learned from him - as long as you respond, even with a word or a line you have covered a lot of ground. 3. Be Civil. Be Civilized! In the area of hospitality, we are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen; as the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company so beautifully describes. And this holds true for every service sector; actually in the non-service ones too. There was once this European General Manger who said to his Financial Controller, "I'll take your pants off," in the Morning Briefing, in front of the rest of the Excom!!! If you are taking the trouble to step out from the cozy comfort of your hearth and go out into the big bad and competitive world of work - to make a name or living or moolah or all - you owe it to the world and your professional persona to be courteous, always, even when your patience, intellect, wit and wisdom are sorely tried. There is just no other way, Mate! 4. Show Gratitude! A sense of gratitude will keep you grounded and help you not be a stuffed shirt that nobody ever likes. Besides, the attitude you throw into the Universe always comes back to haunt or enchant you, as the case may be. You have a job, a good job that pays you well, recognizes your contribution and allows you to grow; then there is a lot going for you to be grateful for. What the heck, in today's times of global recession and retrenchment, just having a job that pays is one hell of a reason to be grateful for. 5. Work extensively in CSR! Show Individual Responsibility too! In our digitally dynamic world that mostly stays on overdrive, there is enough opportunity for us to align ourselves with causes that speak to us and in the process get our organizations involved. Being responsible and conscientious as an individual paves the way; and getting all that corporate muscle of your organization behind you provides a remarkable fillip to the causes espoused. Warren Buffet, Bill and Melinda Gates, Azim Premji, Oprah Winfrey are known as much for their philanthropic pursuits as for their business acumen and for appearing on the lists of World's most famous, most influential and rich. With such examples before us, why wouldn't we want to join the league! 6. Do not indulge in gossip! Ever! No matter how much relief, momentary pleasure or feeling of getting back to somebody this nasty habit brings, we should resist this deplorable escape route from stress. Gossip can never bring succour. We must look out for brighter, more positive and fruitful avenues to make it a win-win situation. Besides, gossip is the kind of slush that is bound to splatter on you, as what goes around comes around. Build up your reputation on honesty, integrity, hard and clean work. Desist from being someone who cannot be trusted, who has a weak mouth and a weaker gut. 7. Be on your best Behaviour! Our behaviour is a reflection of our personality. It is a wholesome whole of the subsets of our thoughts, prejudices, values and beliefs. To be an outstanding leader and a good team player, we must endeavour to employ a crisp ABC of conducive behaviour - Enthusiasm in our Attitude - as it helps us be more productive, is infectious, assists us in sailing through choppy seas at work and rise and shine even when it's overcast. Buddy Up with the team and bulldoze to tease out the best talent in all so that the common pool of excellence always strives to create, innovate and perform remarkably. Compassion in one's Character - It is an age old Tao that we have no business to judge others unless and until we have walked their unique paths. Just as in life, in the sanitized sanctum of offices too, we need to show compassion to our peers, our subordinates and yes to our bosses as well. 8. Be Responsible in everything you do! Do not develop the habit of passing the buck. Be responsible for your words, your actions, your portfolio, for your team and their actions. With robust responsibility come great rewards, greater recognition and a far bigger sense of accomplishment. 9. Keep your Communication crystal clear! Whatever may be your line of expertise and choice of vocation, clarity in communication is one of your biggest assets. It helps you be unambiguous and to be clearly understood. Also avoid confusion in your interactions by being lucid, to the point and with an understanding of the other perspectives. Resist being verbose, needlessly. And stay away from using unnecessary jargon. 10. Don't be part of the problem. Be the Problem Solver! There will always be problems at work - personnel-related, business-centric, performance-led (or the lack thereof), market-induced, competition-created, economic, political, even ethnic or religiously motivated. Most of us, unfortunately, tend to fan the issues with our temperaments and attitudes, rather than attempting to nip the issues in the bud. There are enough of us releasing hot air in meetings, raking up issues on email, taking to the equivalent of temper tantrums at work; instead of bringing calm to a turbulent situation, soothing out frayed nerves, bringing sense to the table, giving solace to team members and endeavouring to keep our workplace clean, harmonious and balanced. What will make you stand out as a leader will be your accent on these situations, the ability to right the wrong, the perspicacity to influence others, to assist the management to steer to more stable waters and above-all to add to the bottomline as problems unhandled or mishandled are directly proportional to business adversely affected. So what would you like to be - a stumbling rock or the Rock star? Calabasas is home to some of the most well-known celebrities in the world, even being featured on several articles of clothing from Kanye West's Yeezy Season 4 and Season 5 lines. With Justin Bieber, the Kardashians, Toni Braxton and others having homes in the Los Angeles community, Calabasas can welcome a new star in Dr. Dre. The legendary rap figure has just purchased a custom estate in a gated Calabasas community, joining the many other celebrities who call the city home. While he owns several other properties, Dre spent a cool $4.9 million on the house, and the space looks amazing. Nearly $5 million will get you astonishing views, a recording studio and a movie theater in Calabasas as the doctor's new home includes all of these. With almost 9,400 square feet of living space, the house has 6 bedrooms and 5.75 bathrooms. While it is notably less extravagant than the $40 million Brentwood compound he bought from Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen in 2014, the three-quarter acre lot is large enough to hold him down when he doesn't feel like living life in eternal luxury. With Dre and Eminem recently getting back in the studio together, maybe Em will show up at the new Calabasas joint to record in the acoustically engineered studio space. The Los Angeles Times obtained photos of his new crib, which you can view here. We must warn you: you will likely be just a little envious after checking out the pictures. Today, we received news that we've been waiting on getting over five months. Meek Mill is finally free. The news came shortly after Kevin Hart paid a visit to the rapper from behind bars along with Sixers owner, Michael Rubin. Rubin's been one of the most supportive people in Meek's corner since his incarceration and helped facilitate many of the high profile visits he got behind bars. It should come as no surprise that he'll be attending Game 5 of Philly vs. the Miami Heat. And of course, he had to get their in style. Michael Rubin kept good on his promise to pick up Meek Mill from prison and pulled up in a chopper. According to TMZ, the helicopter actually belongs to Michael Rubin. The rapper got picked up about an hour before the tip off. The prison he was in is about 12 miles away from the arena. Meek's release only makes today an even better one for Philadelphians. The Sixers are currently leading 3-1 against the Miami Heat and tonight's game could be their opportunity to close out the series. Roc Nation also shared a statement on Meek's release earlier today. "We are thrilled that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has directed Judge Brinkley to immediately issue an order releasing Meek on bail." It read, "Meek is excited to be reunited with his family, and we, along with Meek, intend to continue to shine the light on a justice system in need of reform to prevent any other citizen from being put through what Meek has endured." A state district judge in Austin has sided with the Galveston-Texas City Pilots in a lawsuit challenging the process for licensing the state pilots who guide cruise ships and other vessels to their docks in Galveston County. An appeal is expected. A group of five ship captains is seeking to compete directly with the Galveston-Texas City Pilots. Unable to get state licenses, they sued Gov. Greg Abbott and the state-appointed commissioners who oversee the pilots group. MORE: Lawsuit seeks breakup of Galveston Co. ship pilots 'monopoly' A major theme of the lawsuit hinges on the states right to regulate a critical service for the public good versus the illegality of monopolies in Texas, with the ship captains attorney calling the Galveston-Texas City Pilots a cartel during a hearing two weeks ago. Attorney Justin Renshaw said theyre seeking to make as much money for themselves as possible and exclude other mariners. On Tuesday, Judge Dustin Howell issued a decision letter ruling in favor of Abbott, the Galveston-Texas City Pilots and the commissioners who oversee that group. He granted the governors plea to the jurisdiction, as well as the pilots and commissioners motions for summary judgment. Were very pleased with the judges decision, said Paxton Crew, attorney for the Galveston-Texas City Pilots. And if the federal pilots decide to appeal, we feel like the law is on our side. In earlier court documents, Assistant Attorney General John Langley, who represents Abbott and the pilot commissioners, argued that exceptions to the states prohibition on monopolies have been recognized in previous court decisions. Theyre justified when created by government regulations that protect public health and welfare, such as requiring occupational licenses to practice medicine or law. Renshaw countered that the pilot situation is not like getting a license to practice law because lawyers have the liberty of choosing among myriad firms. It would be comparable to the pilot situation only if there was just one law firm in town through which a lawyer could be licensed and employed. RELATED: Texas House committee hears debate on Galveston fog feud Hes previously said that the safety argument does not argue in favor of a monopoly, but it does support licensing. He emphasized that the mariners he represents are not trying to get rid of licensing. They just want everyone to have the same opportunity for receiving that license. On Wednesday, Renshaw filed a request for findings of fact and conclusions of law to get the judge to specify why he made that ruling. Renshaw said he is optimistic the captains case will prevail on appeal. Round 1 goes to them, he said. Now we move on to Round 2 and see what happens there. In an ideal world, no one would need the Guidry Group, an international kidnap and ransom, security services and crisis management company. In the actual world, the Guidry Group has resolved more than 70 kidnappings and 40 extortion cases. Its Crisis Management Team tackles an ever-growing number of global threats and emergencies such as terrorism, state-sponsored violence, cyberattacks and natural disasters. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Montgomery, the Guidry Group serves Fortune 500 companies, ultrahigh-net-worth individuals and U.S. government entities. CEO Michael Guidry recently discussed his challenging work with the Chronicle. Q: What inspired you to start the Guidry Group? A: Years ago, while working at a multinational corporation in Houston, I woke up thinking that I should try this business on my own. Q: How did you get involved in kidnap and ransom? A: My kidnap and ransom training began while I was a state trooper in Texas. I loved negotiating in hostage situations, so I put myself through training, not only in the U.S. but around the world. I continued training while at the international company and still train today. This helps me stay current with the ways kidnappings and extortions can happen. Methods of payment, items requested for negotiations and more continue to change. My skills have to change with them. Q: Who usually gets into the kidnap and ransom business? A: Usually, its ex-law enforcement or military who have been trained by the local, state or federal government. Although now there are hostage negotiation courses. People want someone with experience and a good reputation. Ultimately, its difficult to get job experience, no matter what field you come from. It took years for me to feel comfortable enough to even be the second person on a kidnap case. Q: Do you have any special tricks to save kidnap victims? A: Basically, we take over the situation and do the negotiations. I dont know if Id call our techniques tricks. We try to get into the perpetrators minds and determine what they really want. Experience is important, as is learning the dos and donts, and doing more of the dos. Keeping our clients not happy, because they wont be happy but satisfied, is important. Q: What is your company doing in the field of cyber security? A: We are working with another company called Halo Privacy, which was formed by a group of ex-government people who have developed one of the best encryption systems available. Many different companies are focusing on cybersecurity now. One problem in the field is staying ahead of it. We use encryption techniques and protect our clients' servers because communication and a businesss base of operations are so critical. But there's no silver bullet for any one client. Q: Are China and/or Russia our two biggest threats? A: Yes. From a state-sponsored standpoint, they are the ones to fear. If youre traveling to either of those countries, you should assume, right or wrong, that they are wondering why youre there and doing some sort of counter surveillance against you. Q: Are our cybersecurity defenses good enough? A: I think the US has the strongest defense against cybersecurity we can possibly have. We also engage in offensive measures to keep cyberhackers away. This is the battle of the future. I am not sure well ever have all the answers. Cyber tactics change on a second-to-second basis. Q: What are the biggest dangers facing Texas and the US? A: It's difficult to separate Texas from the U.S. In Texas, the greatest fears are weather-related. South Texas has hurricanes, and North Texas has tornadoes. When it comes to technology, cyberattacks could cause power grids to go down, blacking out large areas. Countries like Russia and China continue to attack our cyber-infrastructure. As tensions mount, we could see even more attacks. Ultimately, future wars will be cyber-based shutting down critical infrastructure like the electrical grids and targeting financial institutions. It's vital that we protect our infrastructure. Three things keep a country alive: finance, communication and energy. These are like three legs of a three-legged stool. Cutting down one hurts the others. Q: Can you describe your first infrastructure project? A: We're working in Libya to build the largest deep-sea port in North Africa. I went to Libya for security reasons about four years ago. I fell in love with the people and started thinking about ways to help them. There's a tremendous amount of conflict there and not many options for young people. One reason people join ISIS, aside from ideologies, is that there's little else to do except odd jobs, like selling vegetables on a corner; nothing that provides a great foundation for a future. We thought that they would be excited about new opportunities and strengthening their country. It's working already. Of course, we'll always have wars in conflict countries. But I think we've proven through Afghanistan and Iraq that, until we go in with a plan, we're chasing our tails. Today people are doing business projects in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, I'm not sure that we're getting the communities involved enough in rebuilding their country. Keep in mind, Libya was a dictatorship for over 40 years. After Gadhafi was forced out, there was a void. The population didn't have a great understanding of business and how to attract outside investors. Countries that have never been a democracy do not know how a democracy should work. Strong people start filling the void and taking advantage of their power. We repeatedly have made situations worse by intervening without a complete plan. We should step back and try something else. Q: What is your best success story? A: Stories concerning our efforts to bring peace to Libya. People have gone from having no hope or direction to really wanting to help their community and change the countrys focus. Q: What work has the Guidry Legacy Foundation (a nonprofit) done in Libya? A: Recently, I learned that around 100 children needed emergency heart surgery. So, we contacted a heart surgeon, and he went over and performed surgery on 64 of the children. Unfortunately, theres more to do, but talk about a great feeling! Q: Do you get donations or government funding for helping the children? A: So far, Ive been funding this on my own. No one working on the project now gets paid. We hope to get donations in the future. Q: Do you anticipate using Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure projects, such as the one in Libya? A: The deep-sea port project in Libya is a BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer, a type of PPP). After 35 years, the project goes back to the government. Right now, the Libyans have so many issues they are unable to contribute anything to the project. But I think PPP arrangements are the wave of the future. Since were the only American company working in Libya now, Im hoping we can influence other companies to move in and assist us in rebuilding the country. And I hope governments start calling us to help them get business from the U.S. and other countries. That would be a terrific success. A provincial premier in British Columbia, a 61-year-old woman in a Virginia treehouse and farmers in central Nebraska are fighting to stop pipelines from passing through their backyards, failing to realize they are doing more harm to the environment than good. Across North America, energy companies have discovered new reservoirs of oil and natural gas, straining the capacity of pipelines to deliver those hydrocarbons to market. If protesters get their way, these new supplies of low-sulfur crude and cleaner-burning natural gas will go to waste, prolonging our reliance on dirtier fuels such as foreign heavy crude and coal. The anti-pipeline movement has brought together property rights activists and environmentalists, who usually oppose one another. The property rights folks have the weaker hand. RELATED: Eminent domain proposals will cost businesses The not in my backyard sentiment is as old as America itself, but so is eminent domain, the governments power to force a landowner to sell their property for a public good, such as a road, power lines or pipelines delivering energy where its needed. While I understand how a landowner must feel, sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. If officials obey the law, and the government properly compensates the landowners, thats the cost of modern life. The environmentalists argument, though, is not much stronger. After failing to convince governments to limit oil and natural gas drilling, they protest pipelines because they cross many jurisdictions and involve both public and private property. Environmentalists believe that if they can stop pipelines, they will strand the assets and make them not worth drilling. The Keep It In The Ground movement, though, makes two faulty conclusions. First, there are insufficient alternatives to petroleum products available at a reasonable cost, which means they will get extracted somewhere. Second, blocking a pipeline will not stop companies from drilling and pumping because other delivery methods exist. The Keystone XL pipeline is a prime example. The only thing protesters have accomplished is forcing highly volatile crude onto rail cars. Rail accidents have spilled millions of barrels of crude into waterways since 2012, and a 2013 derailment and explosion killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. On average, 10 trains carrying oil or ethanol will derail every year. Despite the protests, there are not enough rail cars, forcing Canada to triple the amount of oil exported by road. Producers in Alberta are hiring hundreds of diesel trucks to carry oil to Montana. Stopping a pipeline does not slow production. It merely moves the crude onto more dangerous and polluting conveyances. Neither do pipeline protests slow oil demand. If environmentalists managed to shut down every pipeline carrying low-sulfur light crude oil, refiners would merely buy high-sulfur heavy crude from producers halfway around the world and produce far more air pollution. Perhaps the most misguided protests are against natural gas pipelines. The U.S. is awash with cheap natural gas, which has made gas-fired power plants more economical. The replacement of coal with gas has reduced greenhouse emissions from power plants to 1990 levels. RELATED: Coal is out and oil is fading, making natural gas the fossil fuel of choice Every sober proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions relies on gas-fired plants replacing coal to supplement renewable energy. That means building pipelines, like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline passing through Virginia, to ensure a reliable supply of gas. If anti-pipeline forces succeed, they will guarantee coals future and obstruct progress in fighting climate change. And not just in the U.S., but around the world. Countries including China and India are buying U.S. liquefied natural gas to reduce their reliance on coal. Three ships carrying U.S. LNG passed through the Panama Canal for the first time last week on their way to Asia. U.S. LNG makes Europe less dependent on Russian gas. Despite having a lower marginal cost of production, lower environmental impact than coal and potentially larger reserves, natural gas has been slower in emerging as a globally traded commodity, S&P Global Ratings reported last week. The key bottleneck has been infrastructure and transportation. Natural gas pipelines are especially needed in West Texas Permian Basin, where oil wells are setting records as they crank out more than 3 million barrels per day and produce gas as a byproduct. When no gas pipeline capacity is available, the Texas Railroad Commission grants companies permission to burn the gas with flares, wasting the energy and polluting the air. Pipelines are the safest and cheapest way to transport the energy we need. Blocking them endangers the environment. There may come a day when alternative energy can replace oil and natural gas, just as the world is phasing out coal today. But we are not there yet. The energy expended protesting pipelines is better spent bringing down the cost of clean energy and making it the most attractive choice on the market. Chris Tomlinson is the Chronicles business columnist. chris.tomlinson@chron.com twitter.com/cltomlinson When the city of Houston approved a master plan to restore Memorial Park three years ago, the snazzy, proposed land bridge design across Memorial Drive caused quite a stir. That dream could become a reality sooner than expected, significantly fast-tracked by the largest greenspace donation in the citys history: A $70 million pledge to the Memorial Park Conservancy from the Kinder Foundation that aims to complete the master plans priority projects within 10 years. The bridge, which could be finished in as little as five years, will do more than reconnect the parks long-divided north and south sectors with an architectural feature: Its part of an ecologically important central connector project that will improve the citys flood resilience with 50 acres of new prairie habitat and new drainage infrastructure along Memorial Drive. The grant offered by uber-philanthropists Rich and Nancy Kinder through their foundation also would be used to speed the completion of the park's Eastern Glades, currently under construction; improve connectivity to regional hike and bike trails; create new trails within the park; relocate ball fields that will have new and improved facilities; build a running track at the running center south of Memorial Drive; and develop a Memorial Grove that highlights remnants of Houstons unique military history. RELATED: Bringing the memorial back to Memorial Park Its all contingent on city councils approval. Mayor Sylvester Turner announced the Kinders offer Wednesday, shortly before the Memorial Park Conservancy presented a revised development agreement to city councils quality of life committee, which will send it to full council next week. The agreement outlines a private-public funding network for developing a significant portion of the parks master plan within ten years. By now, such partnerships are familiar to many Houstonians. They are a requirement of the Kinder Foundations lead gifts for major projects, Rich Kinder said. The Memorial Park Conservancy, the Uptown Development Authority and the citys parks and recreation department are implementing the plan, but the Kinders are not the type of donors who write checks and walk away. They will be actively involved, also participating in a standards committee that oversees the management of projects and ensures that investments will be maintained for years to come. The Kinders have previously given a total of $106 million to other greenspace developments, helping to create such landmark successes as Discovery Green, Buffalo Bayou Park and the ongoing Bayou Greenways 2020 with the city, management districts and conservancies that also must raise additional private funds. BY THE BOOK: A runner tells the stories of the 'People of Memorial Park' Weve proven to them were good partners, Nancy Kinder said. Conservancy president and CEO Shellye Arnold said the Kinders gift also positions her organization as a strong candidate for funds from other private donors, as well as a $30 million federal grant that would help facilitate connectivity projects into Memorial Park, which she said has been an island in a growing sea of hike and bike trails across Houston. The redevelopment authority has committed $50 million to the 10-year plan for infrastructure improvements including road, trail and drainage planning and construction of the central connector and trails. Neighborhood parks across Houston will share a bit in the windfall, since the partnership will release the city from annual obligations of $600,000 for park maintenance and the operation of the Cullen Running Trails Center. Those funds can be redistributed to other city parks. The restoration of the 1,500-acre preserve, which lost more than 60 percent of its tree canopy after a major drought that ended in 2012, is one of the nations largest and most visionary urban park projects. molly.glentzer@chron.com After an oxygen tank exploded aboard Apollo 13 in 1970, the crew and mission control at Johnson Space Center faced hurdle after hurdle in devising a way to get the astronauts home safely. The crew overcame limited fuel and electrical power, a failing air filter system that led to increasing levels of carbon dioxide and the threat of a tropical storm blowing the capsule far off course from its expected landing destination. For Jerry Woodfill, who served as NASA spacecraft warning system engineer for Apollo 13, the spacecrafts successful return has shaped more than his professional career. The event has resonated within him and shaped his view of Gods role in fashioning events. Without divine intervention, he says, the crew and Johnson Space Centers mission control team could not have overcome obstacles and brought the astronauts home safely. The whole world prayed. The pope in Rome prayed. People prayed all over the world, says Woodfill, 75, who still works at the Johnson Space Center. I saw prayer make a difference during Apollo 13. During a recent speech at Rothko Chapel in Montrose, Woodfill described how Apollo 13 and other experiences he went through not long after the space flight transformed him into a devout Christian. His presentation was the last in the chapels Concept of the Divine lecture series. As he looks back on the space flight, he said, he sees the hand of God playing a role in when the explosion occurred. If the explosion had happened after the lunar lander had left the space module for the moon, the astronauts would have died because they ended up relying on the lunar lander and its power to return to earth, he said. An unrehearsed script seemed to be guiding the drama, he wrote in a pamphlet that he distributed to the Rothko Chapel audience. When the explosion occurred, the crew wrongly assumed that space debris may have hit the lunar lander, creating a hole. Crew members tried to close the hatch between the space module and the lunar lander, but the hatch would not shut. Its failure to close helped the astronauts because they later relied on the lunar lander for their flight home. Again, an unseen author had scripted an implausible event a NASA-designed mechanism failing during the simplest of functions: closing a hatch, Woodfill writes. Woodfill, then a 27-year-old electrical engineer from Rice University, was among the NASA staffers who considered how the crew could address the rising levels of carbon dioxide. The crews battle to return home safely was celebrated in the 1995 movie Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks as Cmdr. Jim Lovell. The mission manager called Woodfill to his office to discuss the carbon dioxide problem. He asked me about the calibration curves for the CO2 sensor, Woodfill writes. My thought was, Its remarkable that I have this data since it was not my direct responsibility. This cant be a coincidence. There is someone beyond myself assisting here. Johnson Space Center engineers solved the carbon dioxide problem by instructing the crew to build filters using plastic bags and duct tape. During his lecture on April 17, the 48th anniversary of Apollo 13s safe return Woodfill, upbeat and optimistic, held up a roll of duct tape. God saw, by his providence, that this stuff would be on board, he said, and its called duct tape. NASA planned for the space ship to land in the Pacific Ocean. After those plans were laid, NASA meteorologists sought to move the landing site because Tropical Storm Helen looked like it would move through that area. But NASA managers did not alter their plans. The storm shifted course, and the spacecraft landed safely. Not long after its return, NASA received a letter from a special education teacher. The teacher said she and her students had prayed for the storm to move away from the landing site so the astronauts could land safely. Woodfill said he attributes the change in the storms direction to divine intervention God interceded after hearing the classs prayer. He said he does not believe that God answers all prayers. Clearly, many prayed that the Challenger enjoy a safe flight in 1986, he said. All seven crew members died when the spaceship exploded shortly after takeoff. In 2003, Columbias seven crew members were killed when the spacecraft disintegrated upon reentry into the earths atmosphere. Prayer didnt help them at all, said Woodfill, the father of Jared Woodfill, former head of the Harris County Republican Party, and the Rev. Matt Woodfill, pastor of The Way Church in The Woodlands. But Gods failure to intercede in certain instances, he said, does not mean that he does not often intercede. A lot of these things, I dont understand, he said. When I get to the Lord, hell tell me. A man in the Rothko Chapel audience said that even if Woodfills take on Apollo 13 were true and that God had intervened to bring the crew home safely, he wondered why God had not prevented the oxygen tank from exploding in the first place. Woodfill said he acknowledged that events such as the Challenger and Columbia tragedies raise serious questions. But he said he believes in the power of prayer. Bill Murphy is a writer in Houston. Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Ken Culbreath and Capt. Kevin Ray both resigned Wednesday morning, marking the third and fourth members of Sheriff Rand Henderson's leadership team to depart within the past two months. Henderson confirmed the unrelated resignations to The Courier, however he declined to provide any additional information. "I talked with Ken and we agreed we needed new leadership with our chief deputy," Henderson said. "I will be looking to appoint a new chief deputy soon." The announcement follows the recent resignations of Capt. Bryan Carlisle, Capt. Ollie Coward and Sgt. Kerri Shotwell. Carlisle retired earlier this month following an investigation into a domestic disturbance between him and his wife at their Conroe-area home in August. According to Conroe defense attorney Steve Jackson, Carlisle entered a plea of disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor. Carlisle, who led MCSO's Executive Division, will receive deferred adjudication and will surrender his Texas Commission on Law Enforcement certification. Coward and Shotwell both resigned amid an investigation into allegations Shotwell completed the online Texas Commission of Law Enforcement online certification for Coward. District Attorney Brett Ligon said his office received an anonymous complaint earlier this month from someone believed to be an MCSO deputy alleging criminal misconduct between a jail captain and a sergeant. Ligon added that he requested an Internal Affairs investigation and for those findings to be turned over to the Texas Rangers. "(The Texas Rangers) will bring those findings back to the DA's Office, and we will make an appropriate charging decision upon final review," Ligon said in a previous Courier article regarding Coward and Shotwell. Culbreath was promoted to chief deputy on Jan. 1, 2017 -- the day Henderson was sworn in as sheriff, replacing the retired Tommy Gage. Culbreath holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Houston-Downtown and possess several TCOLE licenses; Master Peace Officer, Instructor Proficiency Certificate and Firearm Instructor, according to the MCSO website. He is a graduate of the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas. Culbreath held several positions with the Sheriff's Office, including jail deputy, patrol deputy, undercover narcotic investigator, detective, Internal Affairs sergeant, detective sergeant and the first full-time SWAT sergeant/team leader. Ray, a 20-year veteran of county law enforcement, served the Sheriff's Office in several capacities in both the Detention and Patrol Divisions, according to the MCSO. He was captain of Henderson's East Precinct in East Montgomery County. Prior to that, Ray served as a civilian detention officer, patrol deputy, patrol sergeant and patrol lieutenant. He had earned an Instructor's and Master Peace Officer's License from TCOLE, as well as numerous other training certificates in specialized areas. In 2005, Carlisle joined the Shenandoah Police Department as the agency's Accreditation and Training Coordinator. He has held the rank of sergeant, master sergeant, lieutenant and assistant chief of police while leading, at various times, all facets of the agency's operations and support functions during his tenure. Carlisle returned to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office under the leadership of Sheriff Rand Henderson and was responsible for recruiting, training, human resources, records, internal affairs, media relations, Crime Stoppers and the Chaplaincy Program. Coward joined the MCSO as a patrol deputy in District 2 and was promoted to sergeant in The Woodlands. He later was promoted to lieutenant and district commander over District 2, The Woodlands and the Town Center. He also served as special services lieutenant overseeing Recruiting, Crime Prevention, Crime Stoppers and Community Policing programs. Additionally, he supervised the COPPS unit that created the Citizens' Academy and drafted Montgomery County's current Alarm Ordinance. Ever since Donald Trump began his improbable political rise, many pundits have credited his appeal among white, Christian and male voters to economic anxiety. Hobbled by unemployment and locked out of the recovery, those voters turned out in force to send Trump, and a message, to Washington. Or so that narrative goes. A study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences questions that explanation, the latest to suggest that Trump voters werent driven by anger over the past, but rather fear of what may come. White, Christian and male voters, the study suggests, turned to Trump because they felt their status was at risk. Its much more of a symbolic threat that people feel, said Diana C. Mutz, the author of the study and a political science and communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the Institute for the Study of Citizens and Politics. Its not a threat to their own economic well-being; its a threat to their groups dominance in our country overall. The study is not the first to cast doubt on the prevailing economic anxiety theory. Last year, a Public Religion Research Institute survey of more than 3,000 people also found that Trumps appeal could better be explained by a fear of cultural displacement. Stephen M. Dowell/AP In her study, Mutz sought to answer two questions: Is there evidence to support the economic anxiety argument, and did the fear of losing social dominance drive some voters to Trump? To find answers, she analyzed survey data from a nationally representative group of about 1,200 voters polled in 2012 and 2016. In both years, participants were asked the same wide-ranging set of questions. Party loyalty overwhelmingly explained how most people voted, but Mutzs statistical analysis focused on those who bucked the trend, switching their support to the Republican candidate, Trump, in 2016. Leaving Behind the Left Behind Theory Even before conducting her analysis, Mutz noted two reasons for skepticism of the economic anxiety, or left behind, theory. First, the economy was improving before the 2016 presidential campaign. Second, while research has suggested that voters are swayed by the economy, there is little evidence that their own financial situation similarly influences their choices at the ballot box. The analysis offered even more reason for doubt. Losing a job or income between 2012 and 2016 did not make a person any more likely to support Trump, Mutz found. Neither did the mere perception that ones financial situation had worsened. A persons opinion on how trade affected personal finances had little bearing on political preferences. Neither did unemployment or the density of manufacturing jobs in ones area. It wasnt people in those areas that were switching, those folks were already voting Republican, Mutz said. For further evidence, Mutz also analyzed a separate survey, conducted in 2016 by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. It showed that anxieties about retirement, education and medical bills also had little impact on whether a person supported Trump. Last years Public Religion Research Institute report went even further, finding a link, albeit a weak one, between poor, white, working-class Americans and support for Hillary Clinton. Status Under Threat: Things Have Changed While economic anxiety did not explain Trumps appeal, Mutz found reason instead to credit those whose thinking changed in ways that reflected a growing sense of racial or global threat. In 2012, voters perceived little difference between themselves and the candidates on trade. But, by 2016, the voters had moved slightly right, while they perceived Trump as moving about as far right as Clinton had moved left. As a result, the voters, in a defensive crouch, found themselves closer to Trump. On the threat posed by China, voters hardly moved between 2012 and 2016, but while they perceived both presidential candidates as being to their left in 2012, they found Trump as having moved just to their right by 2016, again placing them closer to the Republican candidate than the Democratic one. In both cases, the findings revealed a fear that U.S. global dominance was in danger, a belief that benefited Trump and the Republican Party. The shift toward an anti-trade stance was a particularly effective strategy for capitalizing on a public experiencing status threat due to race as well as globalization, Mutz wrote in the study. Her survey also assessed social dominance orientation, a common psychological measure of a persons belief in hierarchy as necessary and inherent to a society. People who exhibited a growing belief in such group dominance were also more likely to move toward Trump, Mutz found, reflecting their hope that the status quo be protected. It used to be a pretty good deal to be a white, Christian male in America, but things have changed, and I think they do feel threatened, Mutz said. The other surveys supported the cultural anxiety explanation, too. For example, Trump support was linked to a belief that high-status groups, such as whites, Christians or men, faced more discrimination than low-status groups, like minorities, Muslims or women, according to Mutzs analysis of the University of Chicago study. What does it matter which kind of anxiety cultural or economic explains Trumps appeal? If wrong, the prevailing economic theory lends unfounded virtue to his victory, crediting it to the disaffected masses, Mutz argues. More important, she said, it would teach the wrong lesson to elected officials, who often look to voting patterns in enacting new policy. This article originally appeared in The New York Times WASHINGTON In a rare move, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demanded Wednesday that scandal-plagued former Congressman Blake Farenthold cover the costs of the upcoming emergency special election that has been called in the wake of his abrupt resignation this month. In a letter to Farenthold's former congressional office, Abbott also urged the Corpus Christi Republican to make good on the $84,000 he promised to repay the U.S. Treasury for a taxpayer-funded settlement he reached in a 2014 sexual harassment lawsuit. "While you have publicly offered to reimburse the $84,000 in taxpayer funds you wrongly used to settle a sexual harassment claim, there is no legal recourse requiring you to give that money back to Congress," Abbott wrote. "I am urging you to give those funds back to the counties in your district to cover the costs of the June 30, 2018, special election. This seat must be filled, and the counties and taxpayers in the 27th Congressional District should not again pay the price for your actions." Abbott requested that Farenthold respond by next Wednesday. But with no legal requirement for Farenthold to pay or even respond to the governor, political analysts say the demand could amount to little more than a gesture for the Republican governor to put pressure on the ex-congressman and distance himself from the scandal. Farenthold did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Chronicle. Local election officials estimate the costs at more than $200,000, to be borne by the 13 counties that comprise the 27th district along the Texas Gulf Coast. Farenthold announced his resignation in a video released hours before he left office on April 6. That was days before a House Ethics panel was scheduled to vote on new allegations of sexual harassment and misusing his staff for campaign purposes. Abbott's payment demand came a day after he decreed an expedited special election on June 30, using emergency powers to bypass state and federal laws that he said could have pushed back voting into September. Abbott, backed by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, cited the urgency of the district's ongoing recovery from Hurricane Harvey. "All counties contained within this district continue to be under the state disaster declaration related to the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, making it imperative that we fill this vacancy as soon as possible," Abbott wrote. "Hurricane relief efforts depend heavily on action at the federal level, which can only occur if Texans residing in disaster zones have full and effective representation in Congress." Four candidates, two Republicans and two Democrats, already are contending in May 22 primary runoffs ahead of the regular mid-term elections on Nov. 6. The runoff is being held even as the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a legal challenge by a coalition of African-American and Hispanic groups alleging that the Republican-leaning district was one of several in Texas that were illegally gerrymandered by the Texas Legislature to marginalize minority voters. Farenthold, a four-term congressman, has been under a widening ethics cloud for months. Although he announced in December that he would not seek reelection, he did not immediately resign. Instead, he vowed to serve out his term to the end of 2018 and repay the $84,000 settlement he had reached with Lauren Greene, a 27-year-old former press secretary who had accused him of sexual harassment and retaliating against her when she complained. Until December, amid deepening scrutiny of sexual harassment claims against prominent media, business and political figures, the financial terms of Farenthold's settlement with Greene had remained confidential. Farenthold agreed to pay it only after the payment was made public by House administrators. At the same time several other Farenthold staffers went public with their own accusations, prompting the House Ethics Committee to renew a long-dormant investigation. Farenthold, maintaining his innocence, gave little explanation for his belated decision to resign, other than to say that "in my heart it's time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve." The Ethics Committee, noting that Farenthold's resignation ended Congress' jurisdiction over the matter, nevertheless urged Farenthold to make good on his promise to repay the Greene settlement, as have top Republican House leaders. In putting off any repayment over the past four months, Farenthold's office has said he was waiting on "advice of counsel" to see the fate of a reform bill that would overhaul the way staffers pursue harassment complaints against lawmakers -- and make lawmakers bear the costs of any financial settlements. The bill, introduced by California Democrat Jackie Speier, is now tied up in the Senate. But even if it passed and was signed by President Donald Trump - himself the target of sexual harassment claims before he was in office - it would not apply retroactively to Farenthold's case. The congressman, the scion of a wealthy family with deep political roots in Texas, has remained publicly silent amid the growing calls for him to honor his pledge to pay back the 2015 settlement. Financial disclosure statements put his net worth at $2.4 million in 2016, ranking him 120th in the Roll Call newspaper's listing of overall wealth in the House. With little legal recourse to force Farenthold to pay up, some analysts see Abbott's letter as little more than a public pressure campaign - and an unusual one at that. "It's entirely unprecedented," said Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson. Farenthold is one of a half-dozen lawmakers who have been accused of sexual harassment or misconduct in the wake of the #metoo movement. But he is the only one who's faced a call to repay the costs of a new election. "Congressmen are falling like flies in sexual and other kinds of scandals, and I've never heard of a governor or any other official call for the disgraced member to pay for the special election," Jillson said. "It's hard to say that anything serious is going on here. It's strange. The governor does not expect that Farenthold is going to pay the cost." But even if he does not, Abbott may be making a statement. "There's nothing he can do to make him other than to publicly shame him, which is what members of the House are trying to do," said Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "That's clearly not working. Farenthold is not somebody who's easy to publicly shame if he doesn't want to do something." Given the governor's limited clout in the matter, Libowitz added, "it seems more like political grandstanding. If he's not going to pay back the $84,000 he already said he was going to pay back, I can't imagine him paying $200,000 that he doesn't want to pay." A man detained in Port Isabel while awaiting deportation was one of the lucky few to get an attorney when Ruby Powers of Houston agreed to help him without charge. I said, What were you going to do if I didnt come help you? And he said, Well, God would be my lawyer, Powers recalled. Even God would find it difficult to prevail in a Trump-era immigration court. The Trump administration has put barrier after barrier in the way of people seeking due process in immigration courts. It overturned a long-standing policy of releasing most pregnant women on bond rather than detaining them. It made it more difficult for a detained immigrant to obtain bond or parole while legal proceedings continue. It created a quota system aimed at getting judges to quickly end immigration proceedings. In the latest move, the administration suspended a highly effective program that informs detained immigrants of their rights and explains the deportation process. EDITORIAL: We're a nation of immigrants, whether the Trump administration likes it or not Yet again, we look to Congress to correct the bizarre and spiteful policy that Trump aims at immigrants. These changes come to a system that already tilted against the people facing deportation (some of whom turn out to be legal residents). The government has no obligation to provide an attorney to those who cant afford one unlike in criminal proceedings so only a third of people facing deportation are represented by counsel. To help fill that void, the George W. Bush administration in 2003 created the Legal Orientation Program. Nonprofit agencies receive federal grants to educate detainees about their rights, the deportation system, and relief that may be available to them. The program has been a remarkable success. It shortens the duration of deportation cases. That decreases detention costs. A 2012 study found that the Legal Orientation Program created savings of $18 million a year a great return on investment for a program that costs $8 million annually. RELATED: A 'Rational Middle' exists for immigration reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement has praised the program. Immigration judges love it. It saves taxpayer money. And now the Trump administration has suspended the program after April 30, purportedly to study the programs effectiveness. The administrations reasoning is shallow, and its true intentions transparent. As the American Bar Association and others have pointed out, the administration could have studied the program without stopping it. Melissa Lopez, executive director of El Pasos Diocesan and Migrant Refugee Services, said suspending LOP and the other immigration court changes made by Trump have one purpose. I think its part of their collective plan to severely limit the number of people immigrating to the United States, said Lopez, whose program provides LOP services to thousands of immigrants at three detention centers in West Texas and New Mexico. Shell have to lay off seven people when the program ends at the end of the month. EDITORIAL: Border wall fails to address visa overstays, major source of illegal immigration Austin-based American Gateways serves 8,000 people a year through its programs. Executive Director Rebecca Lightsey said theyll try to find a way to keep the program going when federal funding is shut off, but it will be difficult. LOP grants make up a third of the agencys budget. We just really cannot bear the thought that they would have absolutely nowhere to turn for the critical information that we have been giving them, she said. The Legal Orientation Program is one of those rare areas where all sides of the immigration debate should find common ground. It allows for the quicker deportation or departure of people who clearly lack the legal right to be in the country, while providing some level of due process for those who may have a right to stay. El Pasos Lopez said her Legal Orientation Program staff have found U.S. citizens facing deportation. If the administration refuses to reverse this senseless decision, Congress should act. It already appropriated funds for the Legal Orientation Program in the 2018 spending bill. If the Trump administration wants to study the programs effectiveness, do it while the program continues to operate. The 5th and 14th amendments to the Constitution guarantee all persons the right to due process of law. This administration continues to undermine that fundamental right. When I thought about all of the social problems that troubled me crime, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, homelessness I realized many of our problems would be lessened if more people could read and write. I had found my cause. Nearly 30 years ago the first lady of the United States, Barbara Bush, shared the reasoning for why literacy would be the cause of her life in an interview for The Junior League. But years before this interview, years before she was first lady to one president and mother to another, and years before she would put herself on the path to becoming the most prominent literacy advocate of our time, she was a young wife in Midland with the desire to become a meaningful member of her Texas community. That young wife would join The Junior League in Midland, where she would help set up and ultimately run the leagues thrift shop, as well as work in hospitals, a nearby childrens school and a church. More important, her work with The Junior League would help ignite a commitment to volunteerism that would last the rest of her life a commitment culminating in a literacy program that would award tens of millions of dollars in grants. EDITORIAL: The nation mourns a first lady. Houston mourns a neighbor. My League work certainly helped teach me the importance of volunteerism, the power of teamwork for a cause you care about, and giving back some of what you have received, she would state in that same 1989 interview. While many people will consider what her legacy will be, it was her deep commitment to volunteerism that offers a few reminders that are just as relevant today as they were in the past. The first reminder is that community engagement can be the best platform to build women leaders. While the strength and resiliency of communities throughout the country tends to vary, every community faces challenges. For some, its confronting the scourge of domestic violence and child abuse. For others, its reversing food insecurity. And some communities can be forced to confront challenges far beyond their control, as Junior Leagues in Texas learned through their work in response to Hurricane Harvey. But every challenge a community faces is also an opportunity for new leaders to emerge. When women empower themselves to become the solution in their communities, they develop the skills that practical leadership requires strategic thinking, partnership building, effective communication, and sound management. And when women become leaders in their communities, that enables them to be leaders in their offices and homes as well. Another reminder is that in an age where information and ideas move with blinding speed, the value of volunteerism is undeniably timeless. Barbara Bush did not create volunteerism. But the work of the woman Newsweek declared Americas First Volunteer inspired waves of future volunteers, whether it was her daughter-in-law Laura Bush who continued her own work with The Junior League of Dallas, her granddaughters who have committed to their own volunteerism, the many women over the years who have worked for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, or the millions of women across the country who work to make their communities and world better. For a woman who lived to 92, her commitment to volunteerism made her rather millennial, when you consider that millennials consistently value volunteer service and community engagement more than previous generations. It is always worth remembering that fame may be fleeting and technology may be evolving. But the call to give your time and effort to make peoples lives better is a constant. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Mourning Barbara And in a time of undeniable political division, the overwhelming response to Barbara Bushs passing reminds us that what unites us as a nation is still stronger than what divides us. If you read the statements of President Donald Trump, or former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, it becomes clear that the reasons our nation will always cherish Barbara Bush transcend party lines. The fact is we all cherish women who are resilient and intelligent, who live lives defined by decency and humanity, and who are devoted to their family and their country. The regard that Barbara Bush is eliciting should remind all of us that no one political organization, group, or party has a monopoly on the values we relish. They are human values and American values, exemplified by an extraordinary human, and an extraordinary American. Maybe the most important reminder is that, a long time ago, Barbara Bush was a woman living in a new place looking to make a difference. In one way or another, for one group or another, for one cause or another, women throughout our country have the capability to be agents of change. And while those women may not make it into the history books, or be eulogized by presidents, they would have earned the greatest legacystrengthening their communities and country, becoming the leaders they have the potential to be, and making a difference in peoples lives. Barbara Bush, herself, may have said it best in a piece she wrote for The Junior League of Tampa in 1999. Likening working in the community to planting peonies, she wrote You may not see the results right away you may never see them but you never know when you will plant a seed that one day it will sprout and bloom forever. Danish is Executive Director of The Association of Junior Leagues International (The Junior League) Rich and Nancy Kinder grew up in small towns - he in Missouri, she in Louisiana - but have done more to transform the face of the nation's fourth-largest city than perhaps anyone in generations. Through their family foundation, the Kinders in 2008 were the catalyst for the transformation of a dreary vacant lot in downtown Houston into Discovery Green, one of the most spectacular urban park areas in the nation. More than 1 million visitors a year enjoy the lake, fountains, jogging trails and other amenities on the 12-acre site. Discovery Green also has spurred development in the immediate area. This year, the Kinders have followed up with an even more spectacular transformation. In October they announced a donation of $50 million to the non-profit Houston Parks Board for the Bayou Greenways 2020 project, the largest donation in the history of Houston's park system and one of the largest grants to a public green space in the United States. The donation puts them at the top of our list as Houstonians who had a profound impact on our community's quality of life. "They're always interested in transformative gifts," said Rice University sociologist Stephen Klineberg, "and this is a classic example." Although the trails, parkland and natural areas along Houston's bayous are several years away from completion, joggers and cyclists along Buffalo Bayou just west of downtown and motorists on Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive already can see a spectacular transformation in the making. When it's completed, the project will create 1,500 acres of new parkland within the city and ultimately connect 150 miles of trails along nine Houston bayous. The project is being funded through a public-private partnership. Voters last year approved a referendum allowing the city to fund $100 million to complete the project; the Houston Parks Board has committed to raising another $115 million. Rich Kinder, 68, a lawyer by training, was at Florida Gas in the late 1980s, when the company was acquired by Houston Natural Gas. He helped the late Ken Lay transform the company into the ill-fated Enron Corp. but left in 1996 when he was not promoted to succeed Lay as CEO. A year later, he joined Bill Morgan, another former Enron executive, and purchased a small pipeline business from Enron for $40 million. Since then, the corporation has grown and prospered spectacularly, making Kinder the richest Houstonian, with an estimated net worth of $10.2 billion. He has signed the Giving Pledge, a campaign founded by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to encourage the wealthiest people in the nation to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. The Kinders, who intend to give away 95 percent of their wealth, have donated more than $100 million toward green space and education just this year. "Rich's skill is business; his passion is history," said Bill White, who as mayor sought the Kinders' support for Discovery Green. "They both are interested in doing philanthropy that has a long-run, enduring impact." As president of the family foundation, Nancy Kinder, 62, is known for her drive to get things done and her administrative ability, not to mention her love for Houston. "They have great respect for each other and work wonderfully together," Klineberg said. They will share their insights on topics including leadership development, big data and technology, managing change, background screening and learning and development. View the full conference schedule. 2. Interactive workshops and panels This is not just another powerpoint presentation conference, HRD has put together several case studies, panel sessions and even a workshop to ensure delegates get the best experience. 3. Networking Over 200 HR professionals at the peak of their careers are expected to attend this Summit. Its a great opportunity to rub shoulders with like-minded HR leaders, share experiences and learn from each other. HRD readers interested in attending are encouraged to book online to pick up one of the last few limited-run discount tickets to this event. The HR Leaders Summit Hong Kong will be held at New World Millennium Hong Kong on Wednesday 13 June. Four Factors Which Make it Acceptable to Get Back With Your Ex Even though entrepreneurs like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and John Collison of Stripe famously started their companies when they were just teenagers, age is often still a hindrance for entrepreneurs. That's the experience of many young founders. Here, several of the top 30 entrepreneurs under the age of 30--who've gone on to pitch their startups to the celebrity investors of Shark Tank--reflect on their young age and explain how it either helped or hurt them as they began their careers. Abby Speicher, founder of the drone training company DARTdrones, said some people didn't take her seriously due to her age. She was 26 when she pitched the Sharks in 2017. While she felt like an outlier as a young, female founder in the heavily male-dominated drone and aviation industry, she says it inspired her to work harder. "Being young definitely makes it difficult to prove yourself, but it should never be an excuse," says Speicher, who is now 27. "I have to work twice as hard and twice as long to prove myself, but I would never let my age stop me from improving my business." Melissa and Lavanya Jawaharlal, the sister co-founders of the educational startup STEM Center USA, also felt as if they had to prove themselves to friends, family, and investors. The founders are 26 and 23 years old, respectively. They pitched their business to the Sharks three years ago. "Due to our age, gender, and ethnicity, we have constantly been met with expressions of doubt, disbelief, and sometimes, amusement," Melissa tells Inc. "While this can be frustrating, it is also a driving factor in how we push ourselves and our business model." Other founders believe their age was both a challenge and a benefit. Jack Bonneau, founder of Jack's Stands & Marketplaces--a marketplace and education opportunity for young entrepreneurs--told Inc. that adults were curious about what he had to say, but often discounted what he could achieve because of his age. Bonneau is 12 years old and was 10 when he appeared on Shark Tank. Moziah "Mo" Bridges, the founder of his eponymous bow and neck tie company, Mo's Bows, says his age prevented him from making business decisions; he was 11 when he pitched the Sharks. However, the 16-year-old feels it also helps him bring fresh ideas to his company. Similarly, Pete Davis, co-founder of the tiny homes startup Getaway, believes his youth and a fresh perspective helped him generate innovative ideas. The 28-year-old does note a disadvantage of having less experience, however. "It can lead you to unnecessarily reinvent the wheel sometimes," adds Davis, who was 27 when he appeared on Shark Tank. Of course, ignorance can also be blissful. Jess Edelstein, the 29-year-old co-founder of the natural deodorant startup PiperWai, says her age gives her a sense of fearlessness in business. "We have nothing to lose and everything to gain," she adds. She was just 27 when she pitched the Sharks. EXPLORE MORE 30 Under 30 2018 COMPANIES In the spring of 2011, University of Michigan fraternity brothers Alex Riley and Paul Kaser, along with their friend Patrick Beal, encountered an unexpected problem in the construction sector. While working a project in greater Detroit, Riley and Beal discovered that not all workers are suited for the same tasks. "We had a labor force of 150 demolition employees, but we were supposed to be doing a residential rehabilitation, which involves carpentry, plumbing, roofing, and masonry," Riley tells Inc. After trying unsuccessfully to recruit the proper workers themselves, Kaser, Riley, and Beal decided, that same year, to launch their own staffing portal, billing the website as a sort of "LinkedIn for contractors." Over the past seven years, that company--MeritHall--has expanded beyond construction-job fulfillment into landscaping and worker training, among other things. Although MeritHall clients are all nonunion workers, the founders' training center arm has worked with several labor unions, which are staples of Detroit infrastructure. The company has around 350 employees, and has worked with more than 400 clients across the Detroit metro area--including Warner Brothers Services and Bruttell Roofing--helping it book $10.5 million in sales last year. "We developed this niche of being a staffing agency in Detroit that could fill the hard-to-fill positions, and over time we added different industries," says Riley, who notes that in the past year alone, the company has connected more than 1,000 workers to jobs in construction. 'Bridging the skills gap' The founders insist that the issue they are trying to solve isn't a lack of talent, but rather a lack of access to talented workers. "When people think of Detroit, they think of riots, poverty, population decline, and illiteracy rates. What we saw was opportunity," says Riley. "There are a lot of people in Detroit who just never had the chance to get an education. Our focus has been to bridge the skills gap, getting Detroiters working on projects within their own city." In addition to connecting labor to local employers, and taking varying, though undisclosed, cuts from the clients, MeritHall now brokers road salt for companies in the landscaping, snow removal, and construction industries. Through its affiliates--Ringo Services and Detroit Training Center--it also offers facility-management services, as well as training programs and, on occasion, management consulting services. All told, the three businesses project booking $16 million in sales this year, while helping to revitalize the infrastructure of the Motor City. Meanwhile--and perhaps most impressively--the founders say that all three business arms are profitable. It helps, they suggest, that they've been able to achieve all this on their own terms. Riley, Kaser, and Beal have yet to take a penny in venture capital funding, although they personally invested a collective $100,000 in the early days. Shifting terrain That's not to say there haven't been challenges. Early on, the founders struggled to learn to complete such simple projects as processing worker compensation claims, documenting late payments, and writing up commercial contracts. In the beginning, funds were tight. At one point, Riley had to take out a loan from co-founder Kaser because he couldn't afford to pay his rent. "Once we were able to get that first loan and write the business plan, it got easier," says Riley. Their landscape arm, meanwhile--which accounts for the largest share of annual revenue--can be erratic. On Super Bowl Sunday in 2013, a massive snowstorm stranded multiple laborers, so the founders physically picked them up and drove them to their various job sites. "That snowstorm was one of our worst days," recalls Kaser. "I remember working a 17- or 18-hour shift and then just going home smelling like gasoline and collapsing," adds Riley. Analysts suggest the company could face new challenges moving forward too--especially as competition in the staffing industry mounts. "The market in Detroit has changed, and there's more demand than there are people," explains Matt Camp, the president and COO of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. The Roxbury, Massachusetts-based nonprofit recently recognized MeritHall as the No. 4 fastest-growing business on its annual list of 100 businesses serving inner-city communities across America. "Moving forward, they are going to be tapping into a smaller pool of potential employees, Camp says, though he adds that because the founders have invested in training new workers, with their Detroit Training Center branch, MeritHall could have a leg up over the competition. Ray Waters shares that sentiment. The president of the nonprofit Detroit Development Fund, which provided a roughly $100,000 loan to MeritHall in its early days, says he was won over by the plan the founders had established to expand into new areas of business, including the training center. "They had an excellent business plan, and a thoughtfulness about it, which we don't see very often," Waters tells Inc., adding that he wouldn't hesitate to lend the company more capital in the future. (The founders have already paid him back.) Despite the risks associated with growing the company, Riley says it is just getting started. "Our friends always ask us how we deal with uncertainty," he says. "We've gotten so used to it that it's hard to think about not taking big risks." EXPLORE MORE 30 Under 30 2018 COMPANIES The Lifters is about a kid with an embarrassing name: Granite Flowerpetal. He was stuck with a last name that didnt sound very intimidating. So his father gave him a counterbalancing first name, says the bestselling author Dave Eggers of his latest creation. Twelve-year-old Granite moves from a life of relative affluence with his family near the coast to the fictional town of Carousel, thousands of miles from the sea, so his father can find work. On the one hand, the boy is able to start over and shorten his name to Gran (though later realises Grant would have made much more sense). On the other, he has to create a new identity in a new place. He tries to insinuate himself into the life of a hard-to-impress girl with an unusual name of her own Catalina Catalan and the pair discover an underground warren of child-sized tunnels after opening a doorway in a hillside. The only ones who know of the wonders and terrors below, they slowly become responsible for keeping everyone aboveground safe. With a background in journalism, Massachusetts-born Eggers first broke onto the literary scene in 2000 with creative non-fiction book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. The partly fictionalised memoir chronicling the loss of both parents to cancer when Eggers was just 21, and the subsequent responsibility he faced of raising his younger brother took the world by storm. Praised for its originality and experimental style, its story of trauma struck a chord, and it reached the top of The New York Times bestseller list and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Since then hes proven prolific, writing fiction (What Is the What, Heroes of the Frontier), non-fiction (Surviving Justice: Americas Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated), screenplays and film adaptations (Where the Wild Things Are and The Circle, adapted from his own novel), as well as running his own independent publishing house, McSweeneys. The Lifters is unselfconsciously for younger readers So what led him to write for children? I actually first started outlining the idea for the book about 10 years ago, Eggers explains. We have a writing and tutoring centre for young people out here in San Francisco, called 826 Valencia, and through that I started getting back into middle-grade books which I hadnt read since I was a kid. And I was reminded of how much I loved so many of them. Through this philanthropic literacy project, which he cofounded in 2002 and now operates across the US and beyond, he rediscovered the joy of writing for young readers. Writing novels is not always fun it can be a real slog. But theres something crisp, streamlined, delightful, to use a corny term, about so many of these books. Things move at a steady pace, they are relatively unselfconscious in their storytelling. I started taking notes, and it was just about three years ago that I finally got down to writing The Lifters. And I just had so much fun. He was also inspired by what he sees as a golden age for childrens fiction. Theres so many great books for young readers that really arent just for young readers. As Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket demonstrate these books are secretly read by almost as many adults as they are kids. His latest book equally achieves this balance of clean storytelling in short, sharp chapters with enough edge, wit and mystery to hold a universal appeal. Throughout Eggerss career he has to an extent become a representative of liberal America, giving voice to the dispossessed and tackling thorny social issues. A Hologram for the King (2012) dealt with the financial crisis, 2013s bestseller The Circle tapped into the societal anxieties at play within our increasingly digital era (it was adapted into a 2017 film starring Emma Watson, Tom Hanks and John Boyega). Emma Watson stars in The Circle, adapted from Eggerss book While this latest fiction is directed at a younger audience, its undercurrent is no different, taking the reader into a forgotten America through the eyes of a young boy. Originally the setting was based on the hills outside San Francisco, explains Eggers. Then I visited rural Pennsylvania, which is also hilly, and some other industrial rust-belt towns that had been thriving before the collapse of manufacturing, and I was really intrigued what would it be like to be in a town collapsing in on itself? Fascinated by what he found, conditions in these economically carved-out regions which later proved fertile breeding ground for Donald Trump supporters seduced by promises of revitalising homegrown manufacturing in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election became a metaphorical point of inspiration for the world in his book. This part of the US is so pretty, indescribably pretty. But we think about it as this lost area that has all of its best days behind it. In lots of ways these towns are frozen in time. The grocery store that was built in the Forties hasnt been touched or updated since then. [But] theres a lot of pawn shops, a lot of personal injury lawyers. So thats where the political element came in. I definitely dont want to overstate the political aspects, Eggers quickly adds. Trump wont be around for long, so I dont want anyone to think its about him. It was conceived before Trump was this glimmer in the eye of part of our electorate, and hopefully will outlast him. An illustration from Eggerss new book The Lifters Rather, his time spent with young people and reflecting on his own chaotic youth has driven him to find new ways to reach such readers: My goal was to tell a story about young people and their responsibility for the welfare of everyone around them, he says. Year after year we continue to strip kids of any responsibility. I think to protect them we infantilise them, but we forget that kids desperately want to be given responsibility. So Im exploring a real-world scenario which then moves into a more magical-realism realm where the kids have to take charge because no one else can be trusted. Having already produced a number of works for young people, including 2015s This Bridge Will Not Be Gray, Eggers now sees childrens fiction as central to his creative output. I have a lot of friends that write books for kids, and they were always the happiest people I knew. I took note of that. I think its because young readers are the purest readers. Theyre so honest, so ready to believe, so pleased to be delighted. Writing for a varied audience also helps the writer stay fresh. Now Im working on a very grim adult novel. Ive always had to pivot between something very dark and lighter, fiction and non-fiction. And with The Monk of Mokha, which is about the true story of a young Yemeni-American man who had a dream of starting his own coffee company, recently released, and Her Right Foot, a non-fiction kids picture book examining the Statue of Liberty, on the horizon, that eclecticism seems here to stay. The main thing about literature, whether for young or old, is that it has a unique power to allow readers to get under the skin of contemporary issues, he suggests. Novels can illustrate something that you otherwise wouldnt see clearly, Eggers says, using The Circle as an example. You can read a lot of doomsday essays about the perils of the internet, but we always learn best through stories. We retain information through walking someone elses shoes or seeing something through someone elses eyes its just the way were built. Thats why, for Eggers, fiction will never die. Storytelling is in our bones. Fiction has a very unique place: it most mirrors our inner psyche, the way we tell ourselves stories. We dont dream in non-fiction, we actually dream in fiction every night. Were wired to be moved, outraged and edified through fiction. So no matter how many times people want to call it dead, it never seems to die. The Lifters is published in the UK by Scholastic, 25 April Summer is upon us and with it comes an abundance of exceptional novels and exciting new talent. From a seaside dystopia and a romance with a merman to gritty realism on a London estate and B-movie monsters in Singapore, weve picked out the best debut novels by writers to know coming out over the next few months. Good luck trying to cram all these into your suitcase. Things Bright and Beautiful by Anbara Salam Following her preacher husband to a remote island in the Pacific, Bea Harrison soon realises shes out of her depth. Advent Island is a place beyond her wildest imagination: filled with mosquitos, sweltering heat, and rumours of devil chasers who roam the island chasing evil spirits. As the island becomes increasingly hostile and her husband becomes increasingly lost in a fever dream, Bea is left alone, trapped in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and fighting for her sanity. Things Bright and Beautiful is a claustrophobic compelling read thatll suck you into its heart of darkness. Out now; 14.99, Fig Tree Ponti by Sharlene Teo Ponti is a startlingly poetic and impressive debut from Teo, who has already won Ian McEwans stamp of approval. Its 2003 in hot and humid Singapore and 16-year-old Szu is trapped. Her father is gone and her mother, Amisa, once the beautiful star of B-movie Ponti!, is lost in the past. Isolated at home and in school, things begin to turn around when Szu meets new girl Circe. Spanning three womens lives and three generations, Ponti is a portrayal of how loneliness makes monsters of us all, as well as a love letter to Teos home island. Out now; 14.99, Picador In Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratne In Our Mad and Furious City is a 48-hour peek into life on a London estate. These are two unforgettable days for three friends: Selvon, an athlete who sees sport as his way out of the estate; Ardan, who uses music as escapism, and Yusuf, whose life is spiralling out of control after his fathers death and the worryingly escalating radicalism of his mosque. Dealing with questions about Britains divided society and capturing the nuances of urban life, Gunaratnes novel is urgent, timely, and blistering. Think Zadie Smith meets This is England. Out now; 12.99, Tinder Press The Pisces by Melissa Broder Now in the ninth year of writing her dissertation, and following a breakup, PhD student Lucy has hit rock-bottom. She heads to Venice Beach, California, to dog-sit in her sisters home. After meeting a handsome swimmer by the sea, Lucy falls into a deep, obsessive infatuation but her object of desire might not be exactly what he first seems The Pisces is a frank, provocative, and brilliant debut that blends fantasy with realism as Broder examines just how unusual a shape love can take. Published 3 May; 16.99, Bloomsbury Darling by Rachel Edwards Lolas dad is re-marrying and shes not happy about it. She doesnt want a stepmother and, not like Lola is racist or anything, but since when has her dad fancied black women anyway? Darling isnt any happier about her new stepdaughter, but unfortunately she comes as part of the package along with her new husband. Looks like theyll have to get used to each other unless somehow they can get rid of each other. Darling is a darkly funny and modern take on literatures wicked stepmothers. Inspired by the racist abuse she was subjected to after the Brexit referendum, Rachel Edwards isnt pulling any punches. Published 17 May; 12.99, 4th Estate The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh Set in a world very much like our own but one in which women are no longer safe in their bodies, The Water Cure is an eerie dystopian fiction about gender, power, and destruction. Three sisters have been raised away from men and live alone by the sea with only their mother for company. However, when three men wash up on the shore, they bring the outside world with them. Creepy and sexy in equal measure, The Water Cure is a hypnotic portrait of three young women wakening up to the world, desire, and the power of their bodies. Published 24 May; 12.99, Hamish Hamilton Promising Young Women by Caroline ODonoghue From The Pools contributing editor comes Promising Young Women, a novel about what it means to be a young woman living and working in a mans world. Twentysomething Jane works in an office by day and is a world-weary agony aunt by night. After a drunken mistake at an office party, Jane finds herself playing the part of the Other Woman and discovers that sex and power can go hand in hand. Dedicated to women in offices, everywhere, Promising Young Women is a darkly funny novel with a gothic twist about surviving the workplace, modern feminism, and the power dynamics that come with relationships. Published 7 June; 16.99, Virago A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza A Place for Us centres on an Indian Muslim family as they prepare for their eldest daughters wedding. As Hadias marriage brings the family back together, questions of how they fell apart in the first place are raised as the family walk a path between two worlds one based on tradition, one embracing a more modern world. Told with tender delicacy, A Place for Us is moving and joyful portrait of a modern family and growing up between two cultures, reconciling with the past, and identity as a lived experience. Published 14 June; 12.99, Hogarth Crudo by Olivia Laing Olivia Laing has become a well established name in literary circles as a journalist and with her non-fiction books that have covered rivers, alcoholic authors and loneliness. She makes her fictional debut with Crudo. Set in the summer of 2017, Crudo is about Kathy: a writer in her forties whos getting married and watching the world fall apart via Trumps Twitter. In Crudo, the personal is the political and the political is the personal, as Kathys life changes alongside the world over the course of one summer. A witty and hopeful mediation on our turbulent times. Published 28 June; 12.99, Picador There There by Tommy Orange With rapturous praise from Margaret Atwood and Man Booker winner Marlon James, Thommy Orange has been tipped as the next big thing to set the literary world alight. Jacquie Red Feather and her sister Opal relied on each other during their childhood but as adults they grew apart. Newly sober, Jacquie decides to reconcile with the family and Native American culture she left behind. A bold and brash debut, There There weaves a portrait of a multigenerational community with different indigenous voices who are struggling to survive in contemporary America. Published 5 July; 12.99, Harvill Secker Suicide Club by Rachel Heng In the future, innovations in medical technology have made the average life expectancy 300 years. But the quest for immortality comes at a price, and lifers have to work at it, with yoga, juicing and early nights. Lea is one of the lifers, genetically perfect and one hundred years old. But when a brush with near-death makes her question her immortality, Lea discovers the Suicide Club, a group of similarly disillusioned lifers who seek out unhealthy activities. Suicide Club is an original and subversive exploration of health obsessions, consumptions, and what makes life worth living. Published 10 July; 12.99, Sceptre How Are You Going to Save Yourself by JM Holmes A blistering debut, How Are You Going to Save Yourself is about modern American life for four friends who live in the city of Pawtucket. As Rye, Dub, Rolls and G grow up, societal expectations and family pressures take their toll and the once indestructible bonds between the friends begin to loosen. Hilarious and compelling, Holmes offers up a mirror to contemporary society. How Are You Going to Save Yourself is a compassionate and powerful exploration of how race, friendship, and sex intersect and the real-world consequences of stereotypes. Published 9 August; 14.99, Sceptre The Wound recently won the Sutherland Trophy for best first or second film at the London Film Festival. I was part of the jury and in such a strong year for debut films, it was a difficult decision to reach. What made The Wound stand out from the crowd was the style with which director John Trengove told a delicate yet powerful story of queer black masculinity. It is based around the ukwaluka, a traditional initiation ceremony to celebrate the move from adolescence to adulthood that is widely practiced by the Xhosa people of South Africa. Twice a year groups of late teenagers mostly 16- and 17-year-olds go to live in secluded camps for three months, before being circumcised in a traditional ceremony. Xhosa men are forbidden to talk about their experience of being nursed and mentored in these camps to anyone who has not gone through this initiation process themselves. The filmmaker wanted The Wound to be richer and more resonant than being just a queer love story It was former South African president Nelson Mandela who broke the silence over this taboo subject when he described ukwaluka in his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. Mandela was 16 in 1934, when he went to a camp for three months. It is a right of passage that he romanticises somewhat: An uncircumcised Xhosa man is a contradiction in terms, he wrote, for he is not considered a man at all, but a boy. A boy will cry, but a man conceals his pain. However, when it came to describing the actual circumcision Mandela does not shirk from the pain. He recalls being surprised when his foreskin was suddenly pulled forward and then, in a single motion, [he] brought down his assegai [a light spear with a fire-hardened tip]. I felt as if fire was shooting through my veins. Mandela buried his chin in his chest as he composed himself and then cried out, Ndiyindoda! (I am a man!) The practice has come under fire in recent years because of the number of times these ceremonies end with initiates mutilated or even dying. In 2013, an Al Jazeera documentary by South African filmmaker Mayenzeke Baza questioned the practice after a spate of deaths. Bazas conclusion was that whilst the ceremony is important, a safer medical circumcision procedure should take place. Another Xhosa man, Thando Mgqolozana, wrote a novel, A Man who is Not a Man, about the ritual and its secrets, and focussing on the experiences of homosexual men. Following publication, there was an outbreak of condemnation from international organisations calling for a ban on the practice. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up This in turn was met with a reactionary outcry from the Xhosa people, arguing that the ceremonies are being misrepresented and that because they are forbidden to talk about them, the huge benefits and medical safeguards that exist go unreported. Trengove at the London Film Festival (BFI) After reading the novel, Trengove approached Mgqolozana. A friendship grew, and they collaborated on a short film, The Goat, based on a chapter from Mgqolozanas book. It is in this contentious atmosphere that The Wound has arrived. Trengove, a white South African middle-class New York University film graduate, agonised over whether he should be telling this story at all. Im very cognisant of my position as an outsider, a privileged white man, he says. I think the identity of the filmmaker is becoming more and more significant, the demographic of who is telling these stories, especially of marginalised people, is important, he posits. I had to think long and hard before I made this film. The deciding factor for Trengove was that he knew that his story was not simply about damning ukwaluka. As part of his research he interviewed Xhosa men in the Eastern Cape, many of whom told him about the positive effect that the ritual had on their lives. I realised that the ritual is really transformative when its connected to its real meaning, says Trengove. Its an absolutely potent thing to do and in a world that is under-fathered there is something to be said for a practice that shows young men their place in the world and within their communities. Trengove had a different motivation for making The Wound: We wanted to tell the story of same-sex desire, and we wanted to intersect it with this very particular ritual and in the process open up the film to be something to be richer and more resonant than being just a queer love story. Its in delving into black male masculinity through the prism of homosexuality that ultimately led Trengove to realise that, in todays climate, he was in the safest place to tell this story: I was able to approach this very sensitive subject of same-sex desire, perhaps, with a greater sense of freedom than somebody from within that culture. Niza Jay as Kwanda in The Wound This led to the central premise of The Wound: There is this sort of perception that the initiation marks the end of homosexuality and this kind of evil is left behind when you come out and then raise a family, explains the 40-year-old director. South Africas post-apartheid constitution was the first in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and it is the only country in Africa to legalise same-sex marriage. Nonetheless, homophobia is still a major issue and vilified by many. This obviously puts a lot of gay people in a huge dilemma: you either have to stay in the closet or you have to move away from the community to live another kind of life. I think that is where the idea of the main character came about. Xolani is a lonely factory worker who joins the men of his community to initiate a group of teenagers into manhood. The weeks in the mountains also allow him to renew sexual relations with his childhood friend Vija, a married father-of-three. At the ritual, Xolani is assigned to mentor Kwanda, a semi-Westernised teen forced to partake in the ukwaluka by his wealthy father. Kwanda upsets the traditionalists by questioning the ritual at every turn, and these challenges lead to a violent atmosphere. When initially writing the story, it was the initiates who were the principal protagonists. But as Trengove worked on the script it became clear that he wanted the story to represent his own value system and he could only do that by revolving the story around Kwanda: Its clear who brings my value system to the story: its the one who comes in and fucks it up for everyone else. The unlikely inspiration for wanting to show how Kwandas liberal values can shock and threaten patriarchal societies is former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe. He is somebody who has made statements along the lines that homosexuality is a symbol of Western decadence and a threat to South African culture, explains the director. Trengove wanted to riff on this problematic concept: We thought lets have Kwanda, this gay kid, come along as this symbol of Western decadence and begin to sort of f*** with the tradition. We took that principal and dramatised it. The race dimension is also striking in the film. Like Moonlight, the story is told only using black characters. Trengove was adamant that he didnt want to have a white character being our narrative guide as happens all too often in films about black subjects. When the screenplay was being written, students were protesting about the lack of progress in South Africa since the end of apartheid. Its absolutely extraordinary, this is the moment when an angry black student body is saying f*** this, 20 years have passed in democracy and we are still disempowered. And the legacy of apartheid can be seen in The Wound: I think that its very much there in the sense that this is still a poor and disenfranchised community and the ritual is playing out on a white farmers land. Its these complexities that led to the films recent award success at the London Film Festival a game-changer for the director, who follows in the footsteps of cinema greats such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Luc Godard, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Peter Greenaway in winning the BFI trophy, which in more recent years has been awarded to Clio Barnard, Benh Zeitlin and Andrea Arnold. Winning the Sutherland Award still doesn't feel quite real, he says. So many great filmmakers have won in the past, it seems unthinkable that it could happen to us. The Wound is out 27 April John Trengove, 88 mins, starring: Nakhane Toure, Bongile Mantsai, Niza Jay Ncoyini, Thobani Mseleni, Gabriel Mini, Zwelakhe Mtsaka Tradition and modernity clash head-on in Oscar-nominated South African drama, The Wound. Competing attitudes toward masculinity and sexuality are also exposed. (The films depiction of a gay romance provoked fury in the Xhosa community and a censorship backlash in South Africa.) Nakhane Toure stars as Xolani, a factory worker with little status or pride in his work. He feels a sense of importance about his work as a guide to the young men in an ancient initiation ceremony for young Xhosa men that takes place deep in the countryside. The men are kept in remote camps and are ritually circumcised. The rite supposedly protects them from evil and marks the passage into adulthood. Xolani is entrusted with a rich boy, Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini), whose father wants him to be toughened up and to get over his sybaritic city ways. Xolani is gay. If this was known, he would be ostracised. His only confidante is fellow guide Vija (Bongile Mantsai), who is also his lover. The relationship between the three central characters is fraught. Xolani is attracted to Kwanda; suspects he might be gay too, and is very wary about letting Vija get too close to him. Kwanda is rebellious and defiant. He refuses to follow the elders orders. He is also perceptive enough to realise both that his guide has designs on him and that Xolanis relationship with the other guide goes beyond mere friendship. Dont worry. Your secret is safe with me, he taunts the guide Its fraught sexual politics apart, The Wound is fascinating in its insights into Xhosa culture. There is an obvious poignance here in the knowledge that the characters will soon have to return from the wilds to their everyday lives back in the city until the next years ceremony. Xolani is painfully aware that there is nothing for him away from the mountain other than a life of anonymous drudgery. Director John Trengove handles complex subject matter in a sensitive and insightful way. There is a surprising twist too at the end of this unsettling rites of passage story. The Wound hits UK cinemas 27 April. Its a Thursday afternoon and Im waiting for a phone call from Tom Neuwirth, better known as Conchita Wurst. Im sat on my sofa watching The Chase, and by complete chance Bradley Walsh asks the question: Which country did Conchita Wurst represent at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest? Proof, if any were needed, that this Austrian is firmly established in pop culture in a way no other 21st-century Eurovision winner is. Ive yet to hear Sertab Erener or Loreen namechecked on Tipping Point. Regrettably. Earlier this month Conchita took the brave decision to talk about her HIV status, something she had intended to keep private but felt compelled to share after an ex-partner cruelly threatened to weaponise that deeply personal information. The revelation, made through her Instagram account, was posted with the hope that she she could control the situation and chip away at the stigma and misinformation surrounding the condition. This dignified, defiant reaction had echoes of the moment she took to the winners podium in Copenhagen and dedicated her victory to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom. Remember? You know who you are we are unity and we are unstoppable. That beard may have grabbed our attention but its Conchitas charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent thats kept her in the affections of the UK public. Read The Independents interview with her below: Conchita, its a pleasure to chat to you. Youre so well known in the UK now but can you remember your first time here? I do! I performed at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern my first international gig. It was the first time somebody outside of Austria had booked me, so that was very exciting. It was months before Eurovision and I performed Rise Like A Phoenix and Celines My Heart Will Go On. I also remember what I wore a red cape and some pants that were very revealing. I think that people could see my behind. I had a great time! So from the Palladium of Drag (Paul OGradys affectionate name for the Tavern) to the actual London Palladium thats quite some leap... Oh my God, yes. It was a huge honour to play at the Palladium with the BBC Concert Orchestra. I have to be completely honest, sometimes I sit back and I want to pinch myself because Im so lucky. I ask myself, how can that happen to me? Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up You know, whenever Im on stage I really try to reach for perfection, and obviously thats hard to achieve so I would go off stage and be totally mad about myself because I hit the wrong notes, or I didnt do this or that or whatever. But walking off the stage after I performed at the London Palladium, I just had the best time. It was such a new experience for me to walk off and actually celebrate because it went so well and I had a ball. The audience was just incredible. I would do it over and over again, every week if I could. Ive noticed on your Instagram and from your performance at the Palladium that weve not seen Conchita wear a dress for a while... is this a conscious decision? Its a little bit been there, done that. I celebrated my female side during the last ten years or so when I started doing drag. I just had so much fun with Eurovision and with everything that happened afterwards, I really understood that this stage persona that I created had so much potential to go in so many different directions and I just work myself through every inspiration I have. I started out as being a diva in a golden dress and now to a more bearded drag artist guy in boots. Thinking back to when you won Eurovision in 2014, and comparing it to today... where does the line between Tom Neuwirth the person and the character of Conchita Wurst intersect? I think that the lines are definitely blurring more than they used to. Especially around the Eurovision time when the win happened, I was very, very clear where the borders are and I was very clear about how to talk to me. I wanted to be called she and she said and she did when I was dressed as Conchita, so I really made it a thing, a rule that everybody had to follow. And over time I just evolved, and I became more and more comfortable in my skin. I dont do a face transformation with my make-up, I just paint my face like I want it to be (Reuters) I do what I feel at the moment and I dress how I feel at the moment, and this goes now towards a more masculine look, so its probably closer to my private persona, to my everyday life as Tom. And as Tom, I really do enjoy that nobody recognises me on the streets, I love it. Id recognise that beard anywhere its so glossy and lovely... Of course, there are people who would clock me right away, but most people dont and I really enjoy it because nobody needs to see me dancing at four in the morning on the bar, nobody needs to know that its me. Whether youre male or female, masculine or feminine, why do you think drag is such a powerful tool for self-expression? Some people would say that it allows you to show this side of you that is probably too much in some situations. For me, thats just ridiculous because you should always celebrate yourself in every situation that youre in. If youve got the chance to really speak your mind and do what you feel and express yourself how you want, then this is freedom. Drag is freedom. I think that anyone who is in any way creative or is creating something, whether an architect or fashion designer, I think if you have the opportunity to create something that is fully you, it frees your mind and your spirit and gives you the opportunity to really find yourself. This is what drag does to me. In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Show all 55 1 /55 In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Portugal's Salvador Sobral celebrates after winning the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Reuters In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Portugal's Salvador Sobral holds the trophy as he celebrates on stage after winning during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Portugal's Salvador Sobral celebrates with team during the voting at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Reuters In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 IMRI of Israel performs his song 'I Feel Alive' at the grand final show of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Rex In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Israeli singer representing Israel with the song 'I Feel Alive' Imri Ziv performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Polish singer representing Poland with the song 'Flashlight' Katarzyna Mos aka Kasia Mos performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Polish singer representing Poland with the song 'Flashlight' Katarzyna Mos aka Kasia Mos performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Belarussian indie pop band representing Belarus with the song 'Story of my life' Naviband composed by Belarussian singer and guitarist Artem Lukyanenko and Belarussian singer and pianist Ksenia Zhuk perform on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Naviband from Belarus perform during the Grand Final of the 62nd annual Eurovision Song Contest 2017 EPA In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Austrian singer representing Austria with the song 'Running on air' Nathan Trent performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Austrian singer representing Austria with the song 'Running on air' Nathan Trent performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Singer Artsvik, representing Armenia, performs the song 'Fly With Me' during the final of the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Artsvik of Armenia performs her song 'Fly with Me' at the grand final final show of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Rex In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Amy, Shelley and Lisa Vol of the band OG3NE, representing the Netherlands, are seen on stage during the final of the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Amy, Shelley and Lisa Vol of the band OG3NE, representing the Netherlands, perform the song 'Lights and Shadows' during the final of the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Sunstroke Project, representing Moldova, perform during the final of the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 SunStroke Project representing Moldova with the song 'Hey Mamma', perform on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Singer Joci Papai, representing Hungary, is seen on stage during the final of the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Representing Hungary with the song 'Origo', Papai Jozsef aka Papai Joci performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Singer Anja, representing Denmark, on stage during the final of the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Anja from Denmark performs during the Final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 AP In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Francesco Gabbani of Italy performs his song 'Occidentalis Karma' at the grand final final show of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Rex In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Singer Francesco Gabbani, representing Italy, during the final of the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Representing Portugal with the song 'Amar Pelos Dios', Salvador Vilar Braamcamp Sobral aka Salvador Sobral performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Portugal's Salvador Sobral performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Representing Azerbaidjan with the song 'Skeletons', Diana Hajiyeva aka Dihaj gestures as she performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Representing Azerbaidjan with the song 'Skeletons', Diana Hajiyeva aka Dihaj performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Croatian singer and songwriter representing Croatia with the song 'My Friend', Zeljko Houdek aka Jacques Houdek performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Zeljko Houdek performs the song 'My Friend', on stage during the Grand Final rehearsal of Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Isaiah Firebrace from Australia during the Final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 AP In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Isaiah Firebrace of Australia performs with the song 'Don't Come Easy', during the Grand Final rehearsal of Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Demy from Greece during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 AP In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Demy from Greece performs the song 'This is Love', during the final of the 62nd annual Eurovision Song Contest 2017 EPA In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Spanish singer, songwriter, and guitarist representing Spain with the song 'Do it for yor lover', Manel Navarro performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Spain's Manel Navarro performs the song 'Do It For Your Lover' during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Reuters In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 JOWST from Norway during the Final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 AP In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Representing Norway with the song 'Grab the moment' JOWST performs during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Lucie Jones of United Kingdom performs her song 'Never Give Up on You' at the grand final final show of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Rex In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 British singer representing United Kingdom with the song 'Never give up on you', Lucie Jones performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Hovig of Cyprus performs his song 'Gravity' at the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Rex In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Cypriot singer representing Cyprus with the song 'Gravity', Hovig Demirdjian performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Ilinca Bacila and Alex Florea representing Romania with the song 'Yodel it', perform on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Ilinca Bacila and Alex Florea representing Romania with the song 'Yodel it', perform on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Rex In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Isabella Levina representing Germany with the song 'Perfect life' performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Rex In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Isabella Levina representing Germany with the song 'Perfect life' performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 O.Torvald from Ukraine during the Final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 AP In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 O.Torvald from Ukraine perform the song 'Time' during Grand Final of the 62nd annual Eurovision Song Contest 2017 EPA In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Blanche of Belgium performs her song 'City Lights' at the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Rex In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Blanche of Belgium performs the song 'City lights', on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Robin Bengtsson of Sweden performs the song 'I can't go on', on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Robin Bengtsson of Sweden performs the song 'I can't go on', on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Kristian Kostov of Bulgaria performs his song 'Beautiful Mess' at the grand final show of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Rex In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 Bulgarian-Russian singer Kristian Kostov representing Bulgaria with the song 'Beautiful mess', performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 French singer Alma, representing France with the song 'Requiem' performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images In pictures: Eurovision song contest 2017 French singer Alma, representing France with the song 'Requiem' performs on stage during the final of the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Getty Images Do you watch RuPauls Drag Race? You must do? [Shouting] Of course! Ha! What a question! I mean Shangela won over Trixie any thoughts? Shangela was ROBBED. I mean, I love Trixie, dont get me wrong but Shangela got robbed. What do you think? I love Ben De La Creme but... [deleted: two minutes of cackling and Drag Race conspiracy theory chat that nobody needs to read] ...which is why it was so hard for Shangela to nail it. Poor Shangela. But you know what? It made good TV. Absolutely! How could they be so mean to Shangela? Oh, I love Shangela. So yes Im very much into RuPauls Drag Race. Has RuPaul ever approached you to be a guest judge? Well, they did approach me after the Eurovision win but there was just no chance to go to America at that time. But the other thing is, I really have so much respect for the girls, what they do, and I really would not consider myself, especially not these days, as a drag queen. On the other hand what is drag and what is not? But what these girls are doing is so much more effort. I dont shave my legs, I have no padding going on and I hot-glued on my lace when necessary. I dont do a face transformation with my make-up, I just paint my face like I want it to be. Conchita Wurst representing Austria at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest (Getty) These girls are incredible. Theyre a few months away from home its a commitment to a whole other life. I just sit there and watch them and go wow, its unbelievable what theyre pulling off and theyre so good. I have so much respect for these queens and Im a huge fan girl I follow them on Instagram and I fan-out like everybody else. And yes, I do have the privileged situation that when I write sometimes they write back and we have a meeting and I get to know them. Im sorry for everybody else but I do play the celebrity card! I dont care! I need to see them because Im a huge fan. Spill the tea! Who are your top 3 this season? Well I really fell in love with Miz Cracker. Shes hysterical and I absolutely love her. Aquaria, I want her in a sandwich and to eat her alive shes so delicious! Hes so gorgeous as a boy and stunning as a queen. Oh, and Eureka, I love Eureka! I love Monique, I think shes just so funny. Theres so many that are really good, its a fabulous cast this year. Reckon we could convince Jon Ola Sand [executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest] to commission a Eurovision Drag Contest? If its Eurovision then they would have to sing, right? Or like a huge drag contest? The concept of every country sending a drag queen and they bring to the stage whatever they have, alright, that would be fun! Maybe you could judge that? Of course! I have been off and on involved in conversations where it was about RuPauls Drag Race Germany or Drag Race UK but I dont see myself as being a serious judge on one of these shows because I dont do what they do. I think to be, like the head judge of a Drag Race anywhere youd really need to know what drag is, and I think Ive only scratched the surface Im doing my thing but its not what these American girls are doing. I can host it, guide the audience, but I wouldnt want to be the judge! Youre too nice youd be the Miss Congeniality. Ha! No, I do have opinions, but I think that my opinions are definitely not enough to be the head judge of a drag competition show. And what about your opinion on whos going win Eurovision 2018? Germany could have won it had they sent Ryk with the song You and I. You must listen to it. This song was so good, he would have been the best contestant in Lisbon but Germany went with a different choice. I would run with Netta from Israel. If she wins I will love it. The first time I heard Toy [Nettas track] I was like, Oh my God, this is so good, so incredible, its a little bit Bjork, its a little bit quirky. But then I have to say the chorus, to me, was a disappointment it becomes a little bit obvious. Again, who am I to judge? I had a song that was called Thats What I Am, so it doesnt get any more obvious than that! But yknow thats just my taste. Conchitas concert at the London Palladium will be broadcast on Friday Night is Music Night, BBC Radio 2, Friday 11 May. Her new album with the Wiener Symphoniker will be released in October 2018 (Oh, and Shangela will be commentating for the American broadcast of Eurovision on Logo TV. Totally robbed.) Kanye West's recent Twitter barrage has taken a turn towards the political over the last couple of days, with West expressing his appreciation of black conservative commentator Candace Owens and discussing his desire to 'challenge conventional black thought'. This concluded with him apparently renewing his promise to stage a presidential bid late last night, tweeting simply: "2024". The rapper also tweeted the year on 13 December, 2016, revising his initial claim that he would run for president in 2020 that he made at the 2015 MTV Awards. Recommended Kanye West announces two new albums Rappers are philosophers of our now, celebrities are the influencers of our now, just look at the president, he explained in 2016. [Trump] wasnt in politics and won. West met Trump not long after his election "to discuss multicultural issues such as bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculums, and violence in Chicago." He added: I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change. Kanye West told a radio presenter he 'loves Donald Trump' during an off-air phone conversation Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2015, West said of his surprise announcement: As soon as I said [I was going to run for president], it was like, Wait a second, we would really be into that, because actually if you think about it, hes extremely thoughtful. Every time hes ever gotten in trouble, he was really jumping in front of a bullet for someone else. Hes probably the most honest celebrity that we have. "I didnt approach that because I thought it would be fun. It wasnt like, Oh, lets go rent some jet skis in Hawaii. No, the exact opposite. I sit in clubs and Im like, Wow, Ive got five years before I go and run for office and Ive got a lot of research to do, Ive got a lot of growing up to do. West has suggested he will release a new album consisting of seven songs in June. Meek Mill will finally be freed from prison on Tuesday. A judge in a Philadelphia court ruled that Meek - born Robert Rihmeek Williams - would be released after it was discovered that the officer who arrested the rapper in 2007 "was on a secret DA's list of allegedly corrupt cops," reports Page Six. The Supreme Court overruled Philadelphia Judge Grenece Brinkley who denied the rapper bail last week after refusing to dispose of the conviction. She then set a hearing for 60 days later, which she was criticised for following her decision. Meek's lawyer Joe Tacopina issued a statement on behalf of the rapper following the news of his release: "Id like to thank God, my family, my friends, my attorneys, my team at Roc Nation including Jay Z, Desiree Perez, my good friend Michael Rubin, my fans, The Pennsylvania Supreme Court and all my public advocates for their love, support and encouragement during this difficult time. While the past five months have been a nightmare, the prayers, visits, calls, letters and rallies have helped me stay positive. To the Philadelphia District Attorneys office, Im grateful for your commitment to justice not only for my case, but for others that have been wrongfully jailed due to police misconduct. Although Im blessed to have the resources to fight this unjust situation, I understand that many people of colour across the country dont have that luxury and I plan to use my platform to shine a light on those issues." Recommended Jay Z says the US legal system is stalking black men He added, "In the meantime, I plan to work closely with my legal team to overturn this unwarranted conviction and look forward to reuniting with my family and resuming my music career." In November 2017, Meek was sentenced to two to four years in prison by Judge Brinkley for a probation violation. A request for Judge Brinkley's recusal on the grounds of bias was submitted later in the month. The sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania following several appeals from Meek's lawyers. In February, Meek's legal team filed a petition challenging the credibility of one of the police officers involved in Mill's 2007 arrest for drug and gun charges. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office replied to Meek's petitions saying "there is a strong showing of likelihood of the Petitioners conviction being reversed (in whole or in part)." Over the past six months, Meek has seen support from Al Sharpton, Kevin Hart and Colin Kaepernick. Jay-Z penned a piece in The New York Times in defence of the rapper signed to his label Roc Nation saying, "Probation is a trap and we must fight for Meek and everyone else unjustly sent to prison." The Super Bowl and Olympics paid tribute to Meek earlier this year. The Independent has reached out to Meek Mill's team for comment, but has not yet received a response. Most low-lying atoll islands are likely to become uninhabitable by the middle of the century, according to a new study. Scientists predict that as sea levels rise, thousands of islands will be afflicted by frequent flooding, lack of freshwater and damage to infrastructure. The research, published in the journal Science Advances, looked specifically at a case study from the Marshall Islands a country already feeling the harmful effects of climate change. However, the authors warned that their findings also apply to islands all over the world including the Maldives, Seychelles and parts of Hawaii meaning hundreds of thousands of people could be driven from their homes. The tipping point when potable groundwater on the majority of atoll islands will be unavailable is projected to be reached no later than the middle of the 21st century, said Dr Curt Storlazzi, a researcher at the US Geological Survey (USGS) and lead author of the new report. The scientists used current global greenhouse gas emission rates to predict future impacts of the changing climate on Roi-Namur, part of the Marshall Islands Kwajalein Atoll. They found that when local sea level around the island reaches one metre higher than present, at least half of the island will flood every year. 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke filled with the carbon that is driving climate change drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan Work in this area has primarily focused on rising sea levels literally engulfing islands, but the new study by Dr Storlazzi and his team took a broader view. Their analysis considered interactions between sea-level rise and wave dynamics over coral reefs. Such interactions will likely drive annual flooding events on atolls that will not only destroy infrastructure but contaminate island freshwater sources. This means that islands previously thought to be safe for at least a century could in fact be severely threatened within decades. The overwash events generally result in salty ocean water seeping into the ground and contaminating the freshwater aquifer, explained Dr Stephen Gingerich, USGS hydrologist and co-author of the report. Rainfall later in the year is not enough to flush out the saltwater and refresh the islands water supply before the next years storms arrive repeating the overwash events. Such information is key to assess multiple hazards and prioritise efforts to reduce risk and increase the resiliency of atoll islands communities around the globe, said Dr Storlazzi. Due to the imminent threat faced by so many island communities, the researchers called for governments to prioritise funding and adaptation efforts. Marshall Islands politicians have been particularly vocal in calls for world governments to meet the terms of the Paris climate agreement and limit global warming due to the existential threat their country faces. Eight young Floridians file lawsuit against the state of Florida over climate change The islands are home to around 70,000 people, and experts have said it is likely they will all have to be evacuated as the sea levels rise. The countrys former foreign minister, Tony de Brum, described a global temperature increase of over 2C above pre-industrial levels as a death warrant for us. At a recent international meeting in London to agree on emissions targets for the shipping industry, Marshall Islands environment minister David Paul made an impassioned plea to those gathered to take urgent action to halt climate change. Mr Paul said the decision would determine whether Marshallese children born today will have the chance of a secure and prosperous life or will have to leave the land of their ancestors and set sail across the oceans to an uncertain future. Veganism is still on the rise. The Vegan Society has noted that more than half of Brits have adopted vegan shopping habits, such as buying vegan products and checking if their cosmetics are cruelty-free. Research shows that there are now 600,000 vegans living in the UK, which is four times more than 2014. But being vegan is more than shunning meat, eggs and dairy, as animal-derived ingredients feature in clothing, beauty and household products too. When it comes to shopping for vegan nail polish, there are some key ingredients to avoid, including: Guanine, typically derived from fish scales, is what gives nail polish a shimmery finish. It is sometimes listed as natural pearl essence or CI 75170. Vegan alternatives include synthetic pearls or aluminium particles. Carmine often gives lipsticks, blushes and nail polish its red colour. It comes from female cochineal insects that are killed, dried, crushed and boiled to make the strong red dye. It is sometimes named crimson lake, natural red 4 or CI 75470. Keratin is an animal protein sometimes used in nail polish to help strengthen damaged nails. It is often sourced from animal feathers, horns and hooves. It can also be derived from plants. Shellac is a resin secreted from the female lac bug found in India and Thailand. It is sold as dry flakes and dissolved in alcohol to make the liquid shellac you find in nail salons. Several leading nail polish brands, including Nails Inc, Butter London and Sally Hansen, have vegan products in their range but are not fully vegan. To avoid confusion, we have only included nail polishes from fully vegan brands, so you can enjoy browsing all the colours and finishes, knowing that not one of them contains animal-derived ingredients. The brands listed below are also cruelty-free, meaning no animal testing at any point in the supply and manufacturing chain, and do not sell products in China, where animal testing is required by law. Every nail polish has been tested for ease of application, the density of colour, finish and durability to ensure that its quality rivals popular non-vegan equivalents. Many of these polishes are also free from some of the toxins commonly found in nail varnishes, such as formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate. If you want non-toxic products, look for the free label 3-free, 5-free, 7-free etc. But, bear in mind that these can be thinner in texture and require more coats of the nail polish. In any case, apply a clear or white base coat first for the best finish. You can trust our independent roundups. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence our selection. This revenue helps us to fund journalism across The Independent. Maggie Anne If your polish preference lies with deep reds and purples, youll love the shade Amy from award-winning British brand Maggie Annes range of more than 40 shades. It comes out as a rich aubergine much less garishly purple than the marketing photos suggest and left us with the glossiest finish of all the polishes we tested. Even the stubbornest gel aficionados will be impressed and theres no UV lamp required. The formula is fairly thick so we found two thin coats to be optimal, but you can expect strong pigment and no streaking from the first layer. Our manicure still looked pristine nearly a week after application (we used a base and top coat, and lightly brushed along the tip of each nail, as usual). These polishes are all 6-free and have been given the Peta seal of approval. Itll also last for up to two years once opened, unlike many other polishes that quickly go gloopy. Well take the lot, please. Buy now 10.50 , Maggie Anne {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Nailberry l'oxygene Peta-certified nail brand Nailberry ticks a lot of boxes for any conscious shopper. Its extensive line of polishes is entirely vegan-friendly, 12-free and halal-approved. Nailberrys USP, however, is its breathable formula that lets air and water vapour pass through the polish to the nail, keeping it healthy. New to the range is the its juicy collection, comprising of three fun and fruity pink hues just in time for spring/summer 2020. Our favourite shade was berry fizz a subtle glittering magenta that gives us that summer holiday feeling. Nailberrys formulas are sheer, meaning youll need to build them up for a stronger colour. This requires more time, but we love the glossy, semi-translucent finish it gives. The wide tapered brush neatly colours the nail in one sweep without blobbing. Base coat and two thin coats of colour later, we were happy with our result. This polish proved durable too run a top coat along the tip of your nail to keep them chip-free for days. Buy now 15 , Nailberry {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Barry M green origin nail paint Beauty lovers on a budget will already know and love Barry Ms affordable vegan nail polishes. Four new earthy colours have just been added to its green origin collection 70 per cent natural origin paints made with wheat, potato and corn. We were sceptical about whether these unusual ingredients would translate to a high-quality nail polish but we were pleasantly surprised by the results. Our pick from the latest collection is the uplifting, sky-blue Salt Lake but we also liked cranberry (actually more of a pinky terracotta), which flatters all skin tones. Expect exceptionally strong pigment from the first coat, so much so that we only needed one layer. This is just as well as the texture is thicker than usual, making it hard to paint a thin layer and more likely to smudge or chip. The brush is big, which is helpful for getting a lot of colour on quickly but makes neatening up the edges tricky. Despite the downsides, this is a great value nail polish. Pair it with your favourite vegan base and top coat for more protection both are available in this line. Buy now 3.99 , Superdrug {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Peacci nail polish Trendy new vegan nail brand Peacci has been the talk of the catwalks lately. It was launched in 2019 as the brainchild of nail industry icon Daisy Kalnina, who also owns the official London Fashion Week nail supplier The Gel Bottle Inc. There are more than 130 polishes in the collection, ranging from neon hues to glitters, and the square glass bottles with tall lids are an Instagrammers dream. The bright and beautiful coral hue sunshine instantly stood out to us as the perfect summer shade. We found the colour to be highly pigmented and liked the wide brush that sweeps polish across the nail in one swipe. The formula is on the thick side, so you could get away with just one coat if youre not the neatest home manicurist. We didnt find Peaccis nail polish to be any longer lasting than other brands we tried but it lasted three days without any noticeable chipping. Weve already got our eyes on the neon and nude starter sets, both 54 a pop. Buy now 10 , Peacci {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} J Hannah seven free nail polish Hip LA jewellery brand J. Hannah has a line of nail polishes that is still flying under the radar at the moment. The range is targeted at those who are colour-resistant and comes solely in muted shades that will complement a professional wardrobe. The collection was inspired by artists palettes, natural elements and the muses the brand envisioned channelling specific colours of moods. The 7-free polishes are available to buy in the UK through contemporary high street fashion store, Cos. The olive green and mustard yellow shades would look striking on dark skin tones, but our favourite is the universally flattering midnight blue. This polish has a shine to it but is less glossy than others we tested a positive if youre after something subtle. The brush is the thinnest we tried three sweeps per coat were required, meaning application took longer than usual, but the smaller tip came in handy for touch-ups and the polish dried quickly. Buy now 17 , Cos Stores {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Zoya calm 2020 spring nail polish collection Pastel fans looking for a new shade for spring will enjoy US nail polish brand Zoyas latest collection of mellow hues. The gentle sage leif is a bestseller for a reason it has a creamy tone to it and will make even the lightest tan pop, but we also like the baby blue Emerson. Two coats were enough to achieve a professional, opaque finish that lasted four days without chipping. This polish goes on fairly thick, but not so much that it smudges or takes ages to dry. The brush is on the thin side which helps to control coverage but does take longer to apply. Its breathable and 10-free, which will appeal to shoppers looking for a non-toxic manicure. Buy now 9.95 , Nail Polish Direct {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Cienna Rose enriched nail lacquer Everybody needs a classic post box red nail polish in their collection. Our go-to is the double decker from Cienna Rose, which has also recently launched a range of ice cream and sorbet inspired shades. The 12-free formula is infused with nourishing vitamins and essential oils to help keep your nails healthy while colouring them. The pigment is powerful, the finish is satisfyingly shiny, and the polish has a subtle lemony scent to it thats much more bearable than the usual chemical smell. The brush is shorter than the others we tried, making it easier to control the application, yet the polish is thick enough to apply one coat in a single sweep. Go for two, thin coats if you want it to last longer than a few days without chipping (thicker coats chip more easily) and expect your nails to be fully dry in around 15 minutes. Made in the UK, these nail polishes come in cute glass bottles with round lids thatll sit nicely on your dressing table. Buy now 9 , Cienna Rose {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Wilko essence, shine, last and go! Exclusive to Wilko, this bargain nail polish brand is a steal for the price. Named shine, last and go!, this polish promises a lot, but our expectations were low given each polish costs less than 2. While we dont think it rivals more expensive products on this list (understandably), we were pleasantly surprised by how well it lived up to its claims. The shine, in particular, is wonderfully gel-like and the colour of our favourite bright pink shade, endless summer, came out strongly from the first coat and dried quickly, making application speedy. While this colour is currently sold out, we love the look of millennial pink, an equally great choice for spring/summer. Regrettably, this polish chipped after two days, but if youre happy to carry one of the pleasingly shaped bottles with you, then administering the odd touch-up here and there isnt a hardship. Plus, its durability will improve greatly if you have the time to add a top coat and run it along the tips of your nails. Buy now 1.60 , Wilko {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Autograph lasting all in one nail colour M&S might not be the first shop you think of when looking for new nail polish, but we were excited to learn that all the polishes in its acclaimed own-brand Autograph range are vegan. We tried the all in one formula, which combines a base coat and top coat with the colour and is infused with argan oil and vitamin E to help protect your nails from drying out and flaking. The flat, wide brush got an instant thumbs up it makes application much easier for those without a perfectly steady hand and stops the polish from blobbing as it cant collect as easily. The first coat of our chosen shade, the deep raspberry amaranth, came out a little streaky but by the third thin layer, our nails looked professionally done. We were impressed with the durability of this polish, with our shiny manicure lasting for five days before small chips began appearing. Its great value at an affordable 6 a pop. Buy now 6 , M&S {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Soigne The French word soigne translates to dressed elegantly, well-groomed, making it an appropriate name for such a chic brand. It also means to take care of each polish is appropriately 5-free and made from up to 85 per cent natural ingredients. Soignes large range of shades will especially appeal to fans of a nude nail our hue of choice is creme au beurre, a creamy pale pink thatll match your manicure to the spring blossom outside, but there are lots of delicate neutrals to browse. The brushes are long and on the thinner side of some of the others we tested, so youll need a steady hand, but the polish dries within 15 minutes and two coats is enough. Soigne also does an extra tough top coat that can either be cured under a UV lamp or left to dry naturally, but its so popular it keeps selling out, so youll need to strike lucky. Buy now 11 , Soigne {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} The verdict: Vegan nail polishes For polishes that look as glossy as a shellac manicure for a fraction of the cost, make a beeline for Maggie Annes rightly acclaimed range. If youre on a budget, M&Ss Autograph range impressed with its durability and Barry M has a commendable collection of natural neutrals for under a fiver. 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. Scientists have developed a prototype for an app thats been designed for cannabis users so that they can determine whether or not theyre actually high. The app, called Am I Stoned, has been created by researchers from the University of Chicago to assess the effects of cannabis on cognitive ability. Co-authors Elisa Pabon, a doctoral student, and Harriet de Wit, professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioural neuroscience, presented the app yesterday at the Emerging Biology conference in California. The app, which has been supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse Grant, provides users with a series of tasks to test the impact of cannabis use on memory, reaction time and attention span. Pabon and de Wit decided to try the app out on people who regularly use cannabis in order to examine its impact in a nonlaboratory setting. They had volunteers take a pill containing either 0, 7.5 or 15 milligrams of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), which is the main psychoactive component of cannabis. After two and three hours, the participants then partook in a series of tasks, both on a computer and on an iPhone. Cannabis around the world Show all 13 1 /13 Cannabis around the world Cannabis around the world Morocco Farmers destroy cannabis plantations under Moroccan police supervision in the northern Moroccan Larache region, pictured here in 2006 AFP/Getty images Cannabis around the world Colorado Growing business: Cannabis on sale at River Rock Wellness Sam Adams Cannabis around the world Oakland Oaksterdam in Oakland, California, is the world's only university dedicated to the study and cultivation of cannabis Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty Images Cannabis around the world Seattle A cannabis smoker marks the start of the new law by the Space Needle in Seattle Getty Images Cannabis around the world China Cannabis growing wild in China, where it has been used to treat conditions such as gout and malaria Cannabis around the world Uruguay Uruguay has voted to make the country the first to legalize marijuana AFP/Getty Cannabis around the world Colorado A groundswell of support from the public led to full legalisation in Colorado Getty Images Cannabis around the world Berlin A man smokes licenced medicinal marijuana prior to participating in the annual Hemp Parade, or 'Hanfparade', in support of the legalization of marijuana in Germany on August 7, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. The consumption of cannabis in Germany is legal, though all other aspects, including growing, importing or selling it, are not. However, since the introduction of a new law in 2009, the sale and possession of marijuana for licenced medicinal use is legal. Sean Gallup/Getty Images Cannabis around the world UK The UK latest figures show 2.3 million people used cannabis in the last year AP Cannabis around the world Amsterdam Tourists visiting Amsterdam will not be banned from using the citys famous cannabis cafes Getty Images Cannabis around the world Merseyside These 25 cannabis plants, seized in Merseyside police, could have generated a turnover of 40,000 a year Cannabis around the world San Francisco April 20, 2012: People smoke marijuana joints at 4:20 p.m. as thousands of marijuana advocates gathered at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. The event was held on April 20, a date corresponding with a numerical 4/20 code widely known within the cannabis subculture as a symbol for all things marijuana. Reuters Cannabis around the world Spain A cannabis users' association will pay the town of Rasquera more than 600,000 a year for the lease of the land One of the tasks on the iPhone involved tapping two dots as fast as possible with fingers on the non-dominant hand for 20 seconds. Pabon and de Wit found that the performance of the individuals who had consumed the pills containing THC was impaired for three out of the four computer tasks and one of the iPhone tasks. The researchers have stated that further research is needed so that they can make alterations to the app. The tasks included in the application need to be optimised in a way that avoids floor or ceiling effects, practice effects, and baseline variation, Pabon told Gizmodo. Additionally, the tasks should be short and efficient but also long enough to be effective at catching drug effect. Pabon and de Wit stated in their research that the 24 participants of the study were aware of the quality of their performances during the computer and iPhone tasks. They hope to have finished making the necessary improvements to the prototype app by summer. One of the worlds most celebrated car designers is turning his back on terrestrial transport to join a flying taxi startup with the modest aim of revolutionising travel. Frank Stephenson, once described by Autoblog as "one of most influential automotive designers of our time, is set to join Munich-based startup Lilium next month to lead the design of a new type of vehicle. Mr Stephenson has spent over 30 years designing cars for Ferrari, McLaren and BMW but now believes the next great opportunity lies in less conventional modes of transport, like Liliums electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) jet. Deep down it just began to not feel so right to keep adding high volumes of cars to an already often overloaded road network, Mr Stephenson told The Independent. Frank Stephenson, the designer of some of the worlds most iconic cars, is joining aviation startup Lilium as Head of Product Design. (Lilium) Lilium is one of several startups hoping to transform the way we travel through on-demand autonomous air taxi services in cities around the world. Other companies include the aerospace giant Airbus and Slovakia-based startup Aeromobil, while Uber and Googles Larry Page have previously spoken about their ambitions in the space. A proposed route for a Lilium air taxi. (Lilium) Liliums CEO claims that one of its VTOL jets could cut journey times between New Yorks JFK International Airport and Manhattan from an hour to just a few minutes. The companys first full-scale prototype had its maiden flight in 2017, however there is still to be done before it becomes a reality, including the navigation of strict aviation regulations. The Lilium Jet will travel at speed of up to 300km per hour, and a range of up to 300km on a single all-electric charge. (Lilium) Once such hurdles have been overcome, Lilium hopes to integrate its service into existing transport infrastructure without being the sole preserve of the very wealthy. A Lilium VTOL jet will be designed to be for everybody, not just a privileged segment of the public, Mr Stephenson said. The purpose is to offer a more efficient and more enjoyable transport service to all. Mr Stephenson describes the initial connection he felt with Lilium as magnetic, which pushed him to take the bold step of joining such a nascent industry. Although he is the first renowned car designer to join a flying taxi startup, he believes others will soon follow. It feels good to be a first, a pioneer almost, in this specific field. Perhaps other car designers who aspire to creating an important impact on the future of mobility will consider aviation design, Mr Stephenson said. The market will take off, simply because a great team that puts its mind and passion into a project, always succeeds. If you can imagine something, it can be done. Theres always a way to make it real. As mobile phone manufacturer OnePlus confirms that its next device, the OnePlus 6, will be revealed in London on 16 May, co-founder Carl Pei talks exclusively to The Independent. OnePlus was founded by Pete Lau and Carl Pei in Shenzhen, China, in December 2013. Now, the company has revealed that its next phone is almost here and will be revealed at a global launch event in London next month on 16 May. Carl Pei, co-founder and Head of Global at OnePlus talked about the companys philosophy, how the phones are designed and why the headphone jack is going to stay. Probably. The companys debut handset was the numerically sensible OnePlus One which was highly-specced but without the price to match. Since then came OnePlus 2, then 3, 3T and 5. So, no surprise that the next chapter focuses on the OnePlus 6. Mr Pei explained how OnePlus began. We started with a simple idea, Mr Pei explained. To build a smartphone people really wanted to use and we asked people to give us suggestions. At the time, no one thought we could succeed in such a competitive industry but by focusing on users, thanks to our community, we proved them wrong. At the time, we only made 1,000 phones for our first Global order of the OnePlus One, but we ended up selling over one million. Four years later, we are still around and with 2017 being our most successful year ever with annual revenue of $1.4bn (1bn) and users in 183 countries. Not bad for a company only four years old. This sense of the importance of the OnePlus community is something that comes up over and again with Mr Pei. One of the striking features from the beginning was how the high-end specs were matched with a distinctive, attractive but not over-dominating industrial design. Since the start, weve had a strong stance that a smartphone should be a part of your life, but not the focus of it. We deliberate carefully over every decision which affects your experience, from how the phone feels and sits in your hand, through to how the software works. For us its about balance between style and power, comfort and flexibility, fast and smooth. As an example, we have always implemented the OnePlus Horizon line, a hallmark of OnePlus design, for our flagship devices. This is a continuous hard edge around the entire phone which gives a visually sleek appearance. Mr Pei said: [It] juxtaposes the smooth back of the device and feels great in the hand. OnePlus sells its phones around the world, but Europe can be a tough market to crack. Europe is always a challenge because of how many different markets there are and the specific user demands for each country. When you look at our history here, weve always had a strong presence across Europe and were continuing to see sustainable growth, while the market is reaching a plateau. But Mr Pei said there are specific aims for the company in Europe: First, being completely aware of what product people want in Europe and ensuring the community are being heard. We will also continue to develop our service, as its something we know is key to long-term growth and sales are a result of doing things the right way. And third, we believe in hiring local talent for our global operations and helping them develop their skills. Mr Pei wont give too much away about the upcoming handset, though the company has revealed the name already and hinted that it is going to be focused on being fast and today it confirmed that the London event is called The Speed You Need. Sometimes though, companies fall into the trap of building phones that are the most powerful, the most highly-specced, for the sake of it, without it necessarily meaning it will be the best. Were acutely aware its all about balance. We constantly look at the technology available and how it can address real needs, theres no point in having cutting-edge technology for the sake of it. We consider how technology affects the user experience, whether its the RAM or camera and then we make a decision. iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch People try the Animoji feature on iPhone X during its launch at the Apple store in Singapore Reuters iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch Apple staff congratulate customers as they are of the first to enter Apple's Regent Street store AFP/Getty Images iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch People queue outside Apple's Regent Street store AFP/Getty Images iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch The new iPhone X EPA iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch Customers line up to buy the new iPhone X in Hong Kong AP iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch Customers sleep, while in line, before purchasing the iphone X in Australia Rex Features iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch People queue outside Apple's Regent Street store in central London AFP/Getty Images iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch Customers queue at Dubai Mall EPA iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch Customers wait in line in Tokyo Getty Images iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch A man gestures as he holds an iPhone X in Sydney EPA iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch Customers wait outside an Apple store at Dubai Mall EPA iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch Customers queue outside an Apple store in Dubai EPA iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch The first purchasers of the iPhone X show off their boxed phones in Sydney EPA iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch Dozens of customers queue as they wait to buy the new iPhone X in Cologne EPA iPhone X on sale across the world: in pictures iPhone X Launch Customers queue at the Apple store Schildergasse in Cologne EPA OxygenOS is a customised version of Android which runs on OnePlus phones. OxygenOS is lightweight and unobtrusive and means our phone provides an unconstrained experience without the burden of being slowed down. Weve heard the complaints of real consumers and fine tune our hardware and software. We believe that a phone should be as fast on day one as day 100. Beyond that, how innovative will the camera be for the OnePlus 6? The camera on a smartphone is definitely important to a lot of people and with OnePlus 6, were excited to show the world our best camera to date. Everyone has different demands so were careful not to overburden the user with features they wont need, while ensuring they can push their photography to the next level. Weve added some new elements which give our community greater flexibility to capture incredible moments. Okay then, how about that other touchpoint, the headphone jack to OnePlus, which has disappeared from flagship handsets across the board this year? The latest phones from Apple, Google, HTC, Huawei, Sony and Nokia have all removed the jack, making Samsungs retention of it a rare thing. Mr Pei insisted, the more important question we ask is how important is the headphone jack to our users? The answer weve had is overwhelming. Every year I do a Twitter poll and the number of people taking part increases each time, this year there were over 19k votes and 88 per cent said they like physical headphone jacks. So thats a pretty clear indication that OnePlus wont be dropping the traditional connector yet. Recommended Everything you need to know about the new OnePlus 5T Finally, Mr Pei revealed what his best and worst moments at OnePlus have been. Executives are notorious for not answering the worst bit of that question, but Mr Pei is candid. Well, we started off with a bang and then got ahead of ourselves. In 2015, we thought we knew everything and stopped listening to consumers. The OnePlus 2 was a good device, but with the help of the community, it would have been better. Then, in 2016, we realised our mistake and were lucky to have such a strong bond with our community that they helped us develop the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T both were received very well and brought us back on track to where we started. And the best moment? That came with the persistence and belief we had, through the accumulation of those three years, that providing one product and listening to the community, would pay off. The Speed You Need global launch in London on 16 May begins at 5pm and is a ticketed event, with over 1,000 tickets on sale now and it will be the biggest OnePlus Community event yet. Ticket prices start at 16 for an Early Bird ticket. Attendees get to try the OnePlus 6 before anyone else and receive a swag bag. As a guide to whats in the bag, for the last event where the OnePlus 5T was revealed, attendees received a OnePlus backpack, event t-shirt, stickers and a $40 coupon for the OnePlus 5T, for an entry fee of $40. This time, the organisers promise, everything about the event in London is going to be even bigger and better, including whats available in the swag bag. The world's biggest cyber crime platform has been knocked offline after a major cyber security operation led by UK and Dutch police. The website Webstresser.org, which was responsible for over four million cyber attacks around the world, was brought down after police tracked down administrators in the UK, Croatia, Canada and Serbia. Attacks carried out using Webstresser included a series of attacks on UK high street banks last year that caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage. The illegal service was shut down and its infrastructure seized in the Netherlands, the US and Germany, Europol announced in a press release. Webstresser.org sold software capable of causing major disruption through what are known as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Such attacks overwhelms websites and online services by overloading internet servers with traffic. DDoS attacks have always been a relatively straightforward way to harass or extort an adversary and with sites like these offering to carry them out for such a low cost, its not just cybercriminals that are crippling others businesses, Trevor Reschke, head of threat intelligence at security company Trusted Knight, said in an emailed comment to The Independent. Mr Reschke warned that even with Webstresser offline, cyber criminals will continue to exploit security vulnerabilities through rival services. Ive no doubt that where Webstresser has left a hole, the existing competitors will quickly fill the space, Mr Reschke said. Webstresser offered its DDoS services from around 15 euros per month, allowing people to perform crippling attacks without the need for specialist knowledge. "We have a trend where the sophistication of certain professional hackers to provide resources is allowing individuals and not just experienced ones to conduct DDoS attacks and other kind of malicious activities online", said Steven Wilson, Head of Europols European Cybercrime Centre. "Its a growing problem, and one we take very seriously. Criminals are very good at collaborating, victimising millions of users in a moment form anywhere in the world. We need to collaborate as good as them with our international partners to turn the table on these criminals and shut down their malicious cyber attacks." People who smoke e-cigarettes could be at risk of adopting the products as long-term, lifestyle choices due to the way theyre marketed, a health expert has warned. Smoking e-cigarettes, otherwise known as vaping, has been acknowledged as being far safer for your health than smoking real cigarettes. In February last year, a study conducted by University College London and funded by Cancer Research UK found that individuals who used e-cigarettes were found to have far fewer toxins and cancer-causing substances in their bodies after a period of six months. However, the dangers of smoking e-cigarettes for a long time have yet to be explored, as the product was only developed in recent times. Professor Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive at NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) expressed her concerns while addressing MPs at the Science and Technology Committee yesterday. Evidence suggests that e-cigarettes are substantially less harmful to health than smoking but are not risk-free and that the evidence is still developing, including the evidence on long-term health impact, she said. E-cigarettes have been proven as an effective method of quitting smoking, a benefit that Professor Leng highlighted. Smoking in children's books Show all 4 1 /4 Smoking in children's books Smoking in children's books Smoking in children's books Captain Haddock inThe Adventures of TinTin (Rex) Rex Features Smoking in children's books Smoking in children's books No smoke without ire: the caterpillar in 'Alice in Wonderland' Disney Smoking in children's books Smoking in children's books Popeye loved his pipe nearly as much as he loved spinach (Rex) Rex Features Smoking in children's books Smoking in children's books The Scarecrows Wedding by Julia Donaldson I think thats the distinction between using e-cigarettes as a quitting aid, which you clearly can do, you can downgrade the amount of nicotine that you get through the product and it can help you to stop your nicotine addiction, she explained. The question is whether it becomes a long-term, lifestyle choice, and I think there might be questions about that because of the way e-cigarettes are being marketed. They are being marketed as an interesting, exciting, edgy product that might encourage people to use them in the longer term. Professor John Newton, director of health improvement at PHE (Public Health England) stated that studies have illustrated how smokers who opt for e-cigarettes are likely to then quit smoking altogether in future. However, Professor Leng argued that the risks of smoking e-cigarettes in the long-term cant yet be quantified. Theyre 95 per cent safer than cigarettes but theres five per cent that we dont know about, she said. A study carried out by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm recently concluded that e-cigarettes containing nicotine have been linked to an increased risk of heart attacks and stroke. The perfect overseas wedding conjures up an image of an idyllic ceremony swathed in the warming colours of the sunset, walks along a sandy beach and the most romantic, Insta-worthy photos imaginable. However, theres one big mistake that couples planning to exchange their vows in warmer climates should avoid if they hope to enjoy a stress-free wedding in the sun. While it may be all too tempting to make the most of the sunshine in the days leading up to the ceremony, an expert has advised placing your sunbathing plans on the back burner until after youve said I do. We encourage those getting married to avoid the sun as much as possible just before the big day, said Marsha-Ann Brown, director of romance at Sandals resorts. Its really easy for people to go overboard with sunbathing especially in the beautiful Caribbean, but we warn them not to. Brown, who works at Sandals resorts in Jamaica, usually recommends that couples head to the indoor spa the day before their wedding, rather than spend time outside under the suns glare. That way, brides and grooms with lighter complexions can steer clear from looking like smartly dressed lobsters on the day of their nuptials. Spending too much time in the sun on the days leading up to your wedding is a big no-no (Getty Images/iStockphoto) This isnt the only useful advice that Brown dished out. She also suggested that couples think carefully about the types of materials that they choose to wear on their big day. Id always advise lighter fabrics - because it is going to get hot and sweaty, she told The Sun. Recommended Everything you need to know about the royal wedding If you have a huge, dream dress that you want to wear then that is absolutely fine. But Id suggest an outfit change for afterwards. Men should pick linen suits in paler shades. These will look better in the wedding photos, too. The number of couples choosing to tie the knot overseas is on the rise, claimed a report recently published by tourism company Kuoni. According to the report, Mauritius was revealed as being the most popular wedding destination for 2017 and 2018. Growing up in a predominantly Greek family, Carol Pappapetru-Hallas, from California, assumed she knew all there was to know about her familys heritage. Her mother was of English, Irish and Scottish decent, while her father, Nick Pappapetru, was a second generation Greek American. However, after taking the AncestryDNA test, she uncovered that she was in fact just 39 per cent Greek a discovery which left her confused and searching for answers. Armed with the knowledge that her grandmother, Jeann Kachevas was born in Chromtero, and her grandfather, Vassillos Pappapetru was born in Melisschori, Pappapetru-Hallas knew she wanted to explore her roots further and so decided to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Greece. Growing up Greek I always thought I was half Greek but the DNA test said otherwise so I wondered why and it made me want to go and explore my Greek roots, she told The Independent. My grandfather died in 1947 so I wasn't able to ask him about our Pappapetru roots which are still a mystery. Having gained a greater understanding of her heritage from her AncestryDNA results, Pappapetru-Hallas went on to discover so much about her identity during her visit to Greece that she never knew, including that she is in fact a direct descendant of General Theodoreos Kolokotronis the pre-eminent leader of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. Carol's father, Nick Pappapetru, was a second generation Greek American (Carol Pappapetru-Hallas) But, perhaps her biggest and most life-changing discovery was the result of a happy coincidence of circumstances. Travelling with her friend Margarita, Pappapetru-Hallas visited her great grandparents village and decided to ask a group of local men seated outside a taverna if they knew whether anyone with her grandmothers family name, Kachevas, still lived there. To her surprise, every single one of the men raised their hands they were all her cousins. Carol's grandparents, Vasillos Pappapetru and Jeanne Kachevas, on their wedding day (Carol Pappapetru-Hallas) The long-lost family members also took pleasure in introducing her to someone that knew her grandfather very well. He came right over and it was my great uncle I didn't know I had. It was so awesome, he took us to his house and I found out my great great grandfather had built it, she explains. Thanks to AncestryDNA, Pappapetru-Hallas now has rooted connections in Greece and insists that she will return to take care of unfinished business and would also love to explore her mothers heritage by visiting the UK. During her trip to Greece Carol met her great uncle, who she never knew existed (Carol Pappapetru-Hallas) But, it seems her travels wont stop there. Upon meeting her long-lost cousins in Greece, Pappapetru-Hallas learnt that when the Kachevas family left the country all those years ago, instead of travelling to America with the rest, some of them parted ways and headed for Australia. Now, this means that her AncestryDNA journey continues to other parts of the world she had never considered before. As a result, she has found and made contact with more direct cousins who live in Melbourne and hopes to also travel there one day in the future. Where in the world will your DNA take you? Click here to buy AncestryDNA Breakfast show Good Morning Britain (GMB) has been accused of putting children and pets at risk after it emerged that it was planning to air a segment on whether animal vaccines can cause canine autism. A tweeted request from the show said it was intending to run a debate on the issue of pet vaccination. It said they were looking to speak with an owner who had not inoculated their pets "because they're concerned about side effects", as well as "people who have done so and now believe their pet has canine autism as a result." The National Autistic Society (NAS) said it had contacted the show directly with its concerns about such a high profile platform for claims that there a link between vaccines and autism, which have been completely discredited in humans. There is no link between autism and vaccines. Despite research proving this comprehensively, damaging myths about autism persist in some circles and must be challenged," added Jane Harris, director of external affairs at the NAS. "We were very disappointed to hear that a mainstream broadcaster would consider bringing autism into a story about vaccinations in this way". Autism is a developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with and relates to other people and how they interact with the world around them, and affects around 700,000 people in the UK. "As an autistic individual I was deeply offended," said Alexandra Forshaw, 44, who works as a software developer and is a board member Autistic Inclusive Meets. In a single tweet they managed to perpetuate the myth of a link between autism and vaccination, and the myth that autism is something that can be contracted. "But even more than the harm this does to public health, the comparison between autistic people and poorly-trained pet dogs is immensely insulting and hurtful." UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA 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 She said this was particularly hurtful coming in April, which autism awareness month. The scaremongering of the anti-vaccination movement has been responsible for a resurgence of preventable and potentially fatal diseases like measles, which is highly contagious. Outbreaks from Europe which are affecting thousands of people across Germany and Romania have been brought to the UK and taken root in unvaccinated communities infecting more than a hundred people. The British Veterinary Association said it was aware of a growing community of anti-vaccination pet owners in the US, "who have voiced concerns that vaccinations may lead to their dogs developing autism-like behaviour". But there is currently no scientific evidence to suggest autism in dogs or a link between vaccination and autism, said BVA senior vice president Gudrun Ravetz. We know from the example of the MMR vaccine and its now disproven link to autism in children that scaremongering can lead to a loss of public confidence in vaccination and knee-jerk reactions that can lead to outbreaks of disease, Adding that stoking fears in pet owners could have similarly serious results for their animals and spread killer conditions like canine distemper and the parovirus which have been significantly reduced and controlled by vaccines. The modern anti-vaccination movement was birthed by the discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield who claimed in a 1998 study - since withdrawn by the Lancet medical journal - that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) combined vaccination was causing autism. Wakefield was struck off after journalists exposed the fact that many of the patients in his study were litigants in a claim against the vaccine manufacturers, and funded by the group representing their case. UK vaccination rates are just now beginning to return to their pre-1998 levels, but Wakefield has relaunched himself in America, fronting documentaries on the subject and spawning an international anti-vaccination community spreading information online. A GMB spokesperson said: 'Good Morning Britain features daily debates around a variety of news stories and current affairs. On Friday's programme there will be a debate about pet vaccinations in relation to recent figures showing a decline in the number of animals being vaccinated. The item will reflect both a "for" and "against" vaccination standpoint.' Historians have reconstructed what Britains largest medieval fortress Windsor Castle originally looked like when it was built to keep the Home Counties under control some nine and a half centuries ago. Using a series of archaeological discoveries made over recent decades, researchers have been able to calculate that the original 11th century fortress, built by William the Conqueror, was around a fifth of the size of the current castle. They have also discovered that, although it has always been a Royal fortress, the land on which it stands had to be rented from a private landlord for the first 475 years of the castles existence. The new historical research sheds fascinating new light on the origins of Englands most famous royal palace outside London. It now appears that when William the Conqueror took over England in 1066, he initially had no intention of building a castle at Windsor. Indeed, he actually gave what is now Windsor to a politically well-connected Norman called Ralph son of Seffried (an old form of Siegfried) whose family appears to have come from a place in Normandy, probably called Sigefridisvast (literally, Siegfrieds wasteland). But then, between 1069 and 1071, the security situation in newly conquered England rapidly deteriorated. A Danish army invaded the country, Anglo-Saxon rebels (led by the last albeit uncrowned king of Anglo-Saxon England) invaded from Scotland and an insurrection broke out in East Anglia. Records suggest that there was also unrest in the Thames Valley. Determined to keep his throne, William the Conqueror ordered that three major new fortresses should be built along the Thames in Oxford, in Wallingford and at Windsor. Presumably for political reasons, he decided not to take back the land he had given to Ralph, But instead to rent it from him. As a result, William the Conqueror and 22 of his successor kings of England paid rent to Ralphs descendants and successors until the monarchy finally opted to buy the land back almost five centuries later in 1546 near the end of the reign of Henry VIII. That first Windsor Castle, built in 1071 to deter Anglo-Saxon rebels, is thought to have consisted of a multi-storey wooden keep on top of a large earthen mound flanked to its north and west by a two-and-a-half acre palisaded triangular courtyard (known as a bailey or ward). It was probably built there for three very specific reasons. Being on a hill it was easier to defend and, because the Thames was unusually narrow at that point, it could be easily bridged. Indeed, it is now thought that the very first Windsor Bridge was probably built by William the Conqueror at the same time that the castle was erected. The third reason was its proximity to an Anglo-Saxon royal palace at Old Windsor just one-and-a-half miles away. The reconstruction of that first Windsor Castle (as it would have looked in around 1085) has just been published by the Royal Collection Trust (which manages most public access aspects of Windsor Castle) in a major new book Windsor Castle: A Thousand Years of a Royal Palace. Research carried out by Dr Steven Brindle, co-author of the book and a leading expert on Windsor has also generated the first ever archaeologically based modern reconstructions of Windsor Castle as it looked in 1216 and in 1272 (as well as in 1085). All three have just been published for the first time in the book. They demonstrate the castles early development from strategic military fortress to a royal palace, the layout of which was then substantially maintained for the rest of its history. Windsor Castle as envisaged in 1216 (Royal Collection Trust/Bob Marshall) Today all that is left of the original 1071 castle is the great central mound and around 100 metres of the line of part of the original timber palisade (now the stone-built north wall of the so-called Middle Ward largely the original triangular courtyard). The next phase of the castle to be built (around 1105) was a large extension to the east (the so-called Upper Ward) and the fortressess first royal palace. Then in around 1170, the original courtyards wooden palisades were replaced by stone walls and the wooden keep was replaced by a circular stone one (the predecessor of the current one). Its exact design only came to light in around 1990. At around the same time that the first stone keep was erected, a great royal hall was built in a new timber-walled Lower Ward western extension to the fortress. The details of that building only emerged from archaeological investigations carried out in 2006. All those 12th century structures are revealed for the first time in the reconstruction of what Windsor Castle looked like in 1216 (the year it was besieged by French allies of the English rebel barons who had forced the monarchy to issue Magna Carta the previous year). The final major additions to the castle were the replacement of the Lower Ward timber wall by a stone one in the 1220s and the construction of a massive entranceway complex between 1220 and 1245 and the building of the original St Georges Chapel by Henry III in the 1240s. All those features are revealed in the third reconstruction, also featured in the book, showing the castle as it looked at the end of Henry IIIs reign in 1272. Artist's impression of the castle in circa 1272 shows, for the first time, how the fortress changed dramatically during the 13th century to assume the basic layout it still has today (Royal Trust Collection/Bob Marshall) Dr Brindle has used archaeological and other evidence to reveal for the first time what the original St Georges Chapel, predecessor of the current 14th-century structure, would have looked like. Henry IIIs original chapel in Windsor Castle was designed and built by the same architect who constructed Westminster Abbey. In a sense it was a dry run for the construction of that much larger building, he said. Dr Brindle has even discovered that Henry III ordered a major design change, mid-build. He believes that the English monarch discovered that the French king, Louis IX, was building the spectacular (and still surviving) Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. Not to be outdone, Henry III decided to upgrade St Georges design by ordering a more impressive roof to be constructed a vast timber vault cunningly painted to look like solid stone. The new reconstructions based on detailed new research will enable historians, for the very first time, to more fully understand the context and environment in which many of English historys most important events took place. For it was at and around Windsor that the negotiations for Magna Carta took place in 1215 and it was there also that, in a sense, the full story of the Wars of the Roses both started and ended. For it was at Windsor that Henry VI lived during his period of severe mental illness in 1453-1454 (one of the key events which eventually led to the outbreak of that civil war). And it was there that the last major rebel claimant to the throne was executed in 1513 (28 years after the war had effectively ended). UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA 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 In the mid-14th century Windsor was upgraded, mainly courtesy of another conflict the Hundred Years War with France. It was ransom payments for the safe return of high value French prisoners of war that partly funded it. Indeed many of the prisoners including the French king himself were incarcerated at Windsor, the very place their ransoms would help beautify. Windsor was also where the poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, headed restoration work in the late 14th century and where Edward III had established the Order of the Garter (and also, intriguingly, a short lived Arthurian-style Order of the Round Table) in the mid-14th century. One of the largest eggs ever known has been discovered hidden in the back of an American museum. While cataloguing their collection, curators at the Buffalo Museum of Science in New York stumbled across a gigantic egg hidden in a cabinet. Weighing 1.4kg and with a length of around 30cm, the piece was labelled as a replica of an elephant bird egg but a reappraisal has revealed it is in fact the genuine specimen. As their name suggests, elephant birds were enormous, with the largest individuals reaching three metres in height and weighing up to 500kg. Related to other modern flightless birds like ostriches and emus, the elephant bird lived on the island of Madagascar until it became extinct around the 17th century. Their eggs had a volume equivalent to around 150 chicken eggs, and were the largest ever recorded. It is generally thought that humans drove the birds to extinction through a combination of hunting and egg theft. When Paige Langle, the museums collections manager of zoology, laid eyes on the model egg, she immediately felt it too realistic. I tried to shrug it off, but the more closely I looked at the surface of the eggshell and felt the weight of the egg, the more I kept thinking this has to be real, she told Smithsonian.com. Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary After searching through the rest of the collection, Ms Langles suspicion was confirmed when she found the actual replica egg, along with records indicating the museum had indeed purchased a real elephant bird egg in 1939. Staff also found a letter written by the museums old curator, indicating he wanted to acquire just such an egg. To make absolutely sure, the curators sent their egg to scientists at the State University College at Buffalo. They radiographed the specimen and confirmed that not only was it authentic, it had actually been fertilised and contained fragments that could be all that was left of a developing chick. The discovery is notable as fewer than 40 elephant bird eggs exist in public institutions around the world. Having established the eggs true nature, the museum curators intend to put it on display for the first time since the 1950s. In a 2011 documentary, Sir David Attenborough visited Madagascar to learn about the elephant birds a species that had fascinated him since he was presented with some massive shards of egg when he visited the island in 1960. The veteran natural history presenter explained the role that humans had in the birds downfall, and warned that many animals today are likely to meet the same fate. Other giant flightless birds such as the moa of New Zealand are also known to have been driven to extinction as a result of human activity. Research by Dr Kristina Guild Douglass while she was a graduate student at Yale University suggested that besides elephant bird egg-poaching by humans, a changing climate on Madagascar also likely played a role in the decline of the species. Two killers who subjected a woman to four hours of unimaginable torture and rape before burning her alive in a car have been told they will never be freed from prison. Stephen Unwin and William McFall had already been jailed for unrelated murders and freed when they set their sights on Quyen Ngoc Nguyen, a Vietnamese mother-of-two. Unwin, 40, ran a property maintenance company and met his victim because she helped find homes for other members of the Vietnamese community. He lured her to his house in Sunderland under the pretext of making a visit to a home on 14 August. Ms Nguyen, 28, left her job as a nail technician as normal and was last seen alive arriving in Oswald Terrace, Houghton-le-Spring, at 7.30pm that evening. Newcastle Crown Court heard that 51-year-old McFall was already laying in wait for the horrific attack, when Ms Nguyen was dragged through the house and tortured to extract information including her PIN number. Both men participated in the attack, which saw Unwin rape her himself and with other objects, and ended with their victim being partially suffocated. Ms Nguyen was injected with a syringe filled with whiskey before Unwin took her bank cards to a nearby Co-op to withdraw 500. Quyen Ngoc Nguyen, 28, had two young children (Northumbria Police) He returned to the house and as she lay incapacitated on the floor, the pair tidied up and casually cooked and ate a curry. They disposed of Ms Nguyen by wrapping her in a dust sheet and putting her unconscious in the back seat of her Audi, driving it to allotments and setting it on fire. Forensic evidence presented to the court found it was likely that she was still alive when the car was set alight. Afterwards, McFall and Unwin took a smiling selfie together while during a trip to withdraw cash from the young mothers bank account. Mr Justice Morris said the full horror of what she was subjected to was only known to the two murders, sentencing them both to full life terms without opportunity for parole. Quyen Nguyen was a young, healthy and lively woman, a mother of two young children and much loved by her family both here and in Vietnam, the judge told a sentencing hearing on Wednesday. It is not possible for any of us to imagine the horrific ordeal to which she was subjected to over a number of hours on that night, but terrifying it most certainly was. Both defendants denied all allegations and McFall heckled the judge from the dock as the sentence was read. Mr Justice Morris called him an extremely violent man capable of monstrous behaviour, while describing Unwin as a calculating, manipulating and ruthless killer who had both sexual and financial motivations. The judge did not find that the murder was racially aggravated but the killers had swapped text messages including a reference to raping the chink. Stephen Unwin was convicted of rape and murder and John McFall was convicted of murder (Northumbria Police) The pair were already running a criminal enterprise involving stealing highly valuable cannabis crops, including the use of violence and attempts to procure guns. Unwin has previous convictions for burglary and arson, while McFall has been convicted of numerous offences including for robbery, arson, and possessing firearms and offensive weapons. The two men were already serving life sentences for brutally murdering pensioners in their homes during the course of unrelated burglaries when they met in prison as cellmates. Unwin had set the home of his first victim a 72-year-old man he bludgeoned and stabbed to death on Christmas Day 1998 on fire in a bid to destroy evidence. McFall, of Waterloo Road in Blackpool, had murdered an 86-year-old widow with a hammer in 1996 after she disturbed him ransacking her house. But they were both judged suitable for release on licence in 2010 and 2012 respectively and made contact again around three years ago. Police tracked and arrested both men the day after finding Ms Nguyens body in the burnt-out car, and discovered they had used her bank cards to withdraw a total of 1,000. They denied any involvement in her murder but were not aware CCTV from a neighbouring home had recorded their movements. Ms Nguyen, who was just 5ft and weighed seven stone, leaves behind a five-year-old son and six-year-old daughter. She had moved to the UK seven years ago and had studied at a London university. Her sister, Quynh Ngoc Nguyen, said the family cannot comprehend how McFall and Unwin had been allowed to go free after their first murders. Quyen Ngoc Nguyen, 28, had two young children (Northumbria Police) My sister believed, as I did, that you came to this country for a safer life, with better opportunities for herself and her children, added the 35-year-old, who had attended court for the trial. They did not act like human beings, they are evil. Quynh said her sister came to England for a better life and to improve her education, teaching herself English and living the life she had dreamed of. It breaks my heart that I will never see Quyen again but the result today does give us some justice, she said after the sentencing. She was a devoted mother and an amazing sister. I will remember her beautiful smile forever. Detective Inspector Ed Small, of Northumbria Police, said the case was one of the worst he had to investigate in 25 years of being a police officer. Nobody should ever go through what Quyen endured that night and some of the evidence heard during the trial will haunt her family forever. They have shown no remorse throughout and have refused to take any responsibility for their actions. The fact they thought they could get away with Quyens murder despite the overwhelming evidence against them, shows their level of their arrogance. It is my honest opinion, they will never change. UK news in pictures Show all 49 1 /49 UK news in pictures 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 UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA He added: The sentence handed to William McFall and Stephen Unwin today means they will never be released to kill again. I hope the families of all their victims, will take some comfort from todays sentence in the knowledge that these two evil men are locked up for good. A British-Iranian academic was detained in Iran by the country's Revolutionary Guards in mid-April, a rights group has reported. The Foreign Office (FCO) said it was urgently seeking information about Abbas Edalat, a professor of computer science at Imperial College in London. The dual British-Iranian national's detention was first reported by the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). It said that Prof Edalat had travelled to Iran from his home in London at an unknown date for academic purposes. The guards confiscated a computer, CDs and notebooks from Prof Edalat when he was arrested, the group said, quoting an unnamed source. The academic's family posted bail for him on 21 April but the Revolutionary Court in the country's capital Tehran, did not release him, citing problems with documentation, a statement from the group added. It did not specify what charges may have been brought against Prof Edalat. The Iranian judiciary could not be reached for comment. "Iran's continued arbitrary arrests of dual nationals without transparency and the denial of due process is extremely concerning," CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi said. Prof Edalat is a founder of the US-based Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII), an advocacy group that opposes foreign intervention in the Islamic Republic, according to CHRI. 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 Revolutionary Guards have arrested at least 30 dual nationals since 2015, most for alleged espionage. At least three other British-Iranian dual citizens are known to be held in the Islamic Republic. Among them is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who remains in Tehran's Evin Prison more than two years after arrested at the airport as she returned home with her young daughter Gabriella from a holiday celebrating the Iranian New Year celebration Nowruz with relatives. Her case was complicated by foreign secretary Boris Johnson, who was widely condemned in November when he told a committee of MPs that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been teaching journalists in Iran. The charity worker has denied teaching journalists. After Iranian state media portrayed Mr Johnsons words as an accidental confession that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was a spy, Mr Johnson eventually apologised and promised to do everything he could to secure her release. He visited Iran in December and had what were described as frank talks with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. But on the second anniversary of her incarceration, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband accused him of "failing to deliver" on his promise to secure her release. The question is: has the foreign secretary given up on his promise to bring home Nazanin soon?" he told The Independent. And more importantly, will Nazanin lose her faith that the foreign secretary is capable of keeping his promise?" Reuters contributed to this report Albert Thompson, the man who was denied NHS treatment for his cancer due to his immigration status, has finally been given a date to receive radiotherapy. The 63-year-old, whose case sparked the debate about the plight of the Windrush generation, had his treatment delayed by six months. Mr Thompson which is not his real name was told he had to pay 54,000 to have radiotherapy if he could not prove he was in the country legally, despite having lived in the UK for 44 years. Theresa May was forced to intervene and announced that Mr Thompson would get the treatment he needs. He said he was very excited that his treatment would start on 1 May. They are scared of all the publicity in the media; it has really shaken them up, Mr Thompson told The Guardian. The Home Office has known about my problems for years. I think this is all down to the media noise. Mr Thompson's case has been widely publicised despite the fact he is not technically part of the so-called "Windrush generation" because he arrived in the UK after the Immigration Act came into force. Im not quite happy yet, not until I get everything sorted. This has been a very scary time. At least I am still here to tell the story, he added. 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 David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham, has been campaigning on behalf of the Windrush generation and questioned why it took so long to resolve the issue. Why has it taken newspaper exposes and questions at prime ministers questions for Albert to get access to the NHS treatments he needs as is his right? Mr Lammy told The Guardian. Why has it taken so long for the government to act to address this Windrush scandal shamed into finally doing so after dragging their feet for so many months?" Alfie Evans parents are to appeal a High Court ruling that has prevented them taking the terminally ill boy to Italy for treatment, their lawyers have said. The Christian Legal Centre, which represents Alfies parents, said the Court of Appeal would hear the case on Wednesday afternoon. The Court of Appeal have reached out to us and said they are going to set back three judges to hear the case, Mr Evans told reporters outside Alder Hey Childrens Hospital on Tuesday night. On Tuesday a judge ruled Alfie can be taken home from the hospital, but will not be allowed to go to Rome for further treatment. Doctors and outside experts believe there is no cure for the boys degenerative neurological condition. The 23-month-old continued to live, sometimes breathing unaided, after life-support was withdrawn on Monday night, according to his father, Tom Evans. In reality, he could be in Italy right now. We all know the military air force are ready to take him and a team of doctors are there, Mr Evans said. Weve also got a German air ambulance team, who attempted to take him in the first place, ready. The reality is these people are eager to get him out of the country and Im not giving up because Alfies breathing away, hes not suffering. Mr Evans said Alfie had needed help to breathe at times, adding: At some point I had to give him mouth-to-mouth because his lips went blue and he was really fighting with his breathing so me and his mum were giving him mouth-to-mouth. The highly emotive case has seen Pope Francis weigh in, with his comments at odds with doctors findings about Alfies prospects. The pontiff tweeted on Monday: Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted. In the High Court in Manchester, Mr Justice Hayden described Alfie as courageous and a warrior, but said the case had now reached its final chapter. He rejected claims by Mr Evans that his son was significantly better than first thought because he had been breathing unaided for 20 hours after doctors first withdrew life support. Instead, the judge said the best Alfies parents could hope for was to explore the options of removing him from intensive care either to a ward, a hospice or his home. But a doctor treating Alfie, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that for Alfie to be allowed home would require a sea change in attitude from the childs family, and they feared that in the worst case they would try to take the boy abroad. Mr Justice Hayden ruled out the familys wishes to take the child to the Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome, following interventions from the Pope and the Italian authorities. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA 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 Alfie has been at the centre of a life-or-death treatment battle, with his parents, Mr Evans and Kate James, trying to block doctors from withdrawing life support in a sometimes acrimonious six-month dispute which has seen a series of court battles. A last-ditch appeal in which the Italian ambassador granted Alfie citizenship of Italy in order to take him to Rome for treatment failed on Monday. And a late-night court hearing heard by telephone by Mr Justice Hayden and lawyers for both sides confirmed his earlier decision permitting life support, helping Alfie to breathe, to be withdrawn. During another three-hour hearing on Tuesday at the Family Division of the High Court sitting in Manchester, Paul Diamond, from the Christian Legal Centre, suggested the alleged change in the position meant the court should reconsider its decision on allowing Alfie to travel abroad. He handed the court a witness statement from Mr Evans in which he suggested his sons health was significantly better than first thought since life support was withdrawn at 9.17pm on Monday, as he was continuing to live and breathe. But Mr Justice Hayden said in his ruling: The sad truth is that it is not. With little, indeed no hesitation, I reject that. Instead the judge said Alfies continued life was a shaft of light and a special opportunity for his parents to spend time with him not the time for more legal manoeuvres. And he criticised the malign hand of one of the familys advisers, law student Pavel Stroilov, who had, the court heard, been party to Mr Evans lodging a private prosecution of Alder Hey Hospital doctors, allegedly for murder. The judge said, in fact, the hospital had provided world class care for the child. The hospitals doctors and independent medical experts say there is no cure and no hope for Alfie. Following the court hearing, an Alder Hey spokesman said it was working closely with his parents, but the hospitals top priority therefore remains in ensuring Alfie receives the care he deserves to ensure his comfort, dignity and privacy are maintained throughout. Medics say Alfie has a degenerative neurological condition destroying his brain, and it is in his best interests to withdraw life support. But his parents have fought a long battle to ask the courts to allow them to take him abroad. The dispute ended up in the courts, but the family have already lost a series of appeals in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. Alfie was born on 9 May 2016, but suffered seizures and was taken to hospital in December that year. He is currently being hydrated and given oxygen to stop him becoming distressed, Mr Justice Hayden was told. Additional reporting by PA The parents of Alfie Evans, who is at the centre of a life-support treatment dispute, have lost the latest round of a legal battle The toddler suffers from a degenerative neurological condition that has left him in a semi-vegetative state. Doctors treating him at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool have said further treatment is futile, and his life support was withdrawn Monday after a series of court rulings sided with the doctors and blocked further medical treatment. Alfies parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, want to take him to the Vaticans childrens hospital in Italy, which has said it is willing to take him. Recommended Americans cannot blame the NHS for the tragic case of Alfie Evans But three appeal judges on Wednesday dismissed their challenge following a hearing in London that the couple did not attend. Judge Andrew McFarlane said nothing had changed since a previous court ruling that Alfies treatment should end. High Court Justice Anthony Hayden dismissed the parents case on Tuesday, and said his ruling represented the final chapter in the life of this extraordinary little boy. It was not immediately clear whether Alfies parents would seek another appeal. The months-long legal battle between Alfies parents, backed by a Christian pressure group, and his doctors has drawn interventions from the pope and Italian authorities, who support the parents desire to have their son treated in Italy. Paul Diamond, attorney for Alfies father Tom Evans, said Evans accepted that his son would die but wanted palliative care in line with his Catholic faith. Alfies father says the boy has continued to survive with no assistance after life support was withdrawn, and that doctors had subsequently resumed providing oxygen and hydration. On Wednesday he said Alfie was being given food again after 36 hours without it. Alfie is doing still as well as he can. Hes fighting, Mr Evans told ITV. 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 lawyer for Alfies mother told the court Wednesday the child was struggling and needed immediate intervention if he is to survive much longer. Doctors say it is hard to estimate how long Alfie will live without life support, but that there is no chance he will get better. Under British law, it is common for courts to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the treatment of a child. In such cases, the rights of the child take primacy over the parents right to decide whats best for their offspring. Emotions have run high over the case, with a band of supporters known as Alfies Army protesting regularly outside the hospital, at times trying to storm the entrance. The hospital increased its security, and police said they were monitoring social media posts about the case for malicious communications. McFarlane, the judge, said Tom Evans had attempted to bring a private prosecution for conspiracy to murder against three of Alfies doctors. Alfies case has drawn international attention, with officials in largely Catholic Poland and Italy implicitly criticizing Britains courts and state-run National Health Service. Polish President Andrzej Duda tweeted Wednesday that Alfie Evans must be saved! His brave little body has proved again that the miracle of life can be stronger than death, the president wrote on Twitter. Perhaps all thats needed is some goodwill on the part of decision makers. Alfie, we pray for you and your recovery! Pope Francis has met Alfies father and made appeals for the boys parents wishes to be heeded, saying only God can decide who dies. Italy has a military plane on standby to transport Alfie to Rome if the courts allow it. Alfie has also been granted Italian citizenship to facilitate his arrival and transport. Press Association contributed to this report Its a boy! The Duchess of Cambridge is officially a mother of three after giving birth to a royal baby boy earlier this week. All eight pounds and seven ounces of HRH Prince of Cambridge (whose name has not yet been announced) were welcomed in the Lindo Wing of St Marys Hospital in London, according to Kensington Palace. The Duke of Cambridge was present for the birth, read a tweet from Kensington Palace. Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well. Fifth in line to the throne, the new princes arrival came at a lower cost than one might expect for a royal baby delivery at least when compared to the cost of a similar delivery in the US. For 24 hours in a deluxe room and a non-Caesarean delivery in 2015, the Lindo Wing charged 5,670 and thats for luxurious maternity ward accommodations. the average cost of a normal delivery or a planned caesarean in the UK is just 1,755. If complications arise, it is still only 2,582 on average. In the US, the average fee for a delivery without complications (and without a luxury ensuite and or deluxe room) costs $10,808 (7,749) which can increase to an estimated $30,000 when considering care given before and after pregnancy. Thats more than the delivery cost of both a royal baby and a non-royal baby in the UK. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA 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 According to findings by the International Federation of Health Plans, the US leads in total average hospital and physician costs for a delivery without complications. Delivering a baby costs $7,751 in Switzerland and $5,312 in Australia. Spain and South Africa both cost less than $2,000, charging $1,950 and $1,271 respectively. Even though insurance typically covers most of the cost, American parents can still face a bill of roughly $3,000, while many Europeans have free maternity care. Read more: Barnier: Britain has to follow EU regulations forever if it wants a Brexit trade deal Trump is weighing a massive strike on Syria and it could bring all-out war with Russia Mark Zuckerberg gave his grueling testimony to Congress from a 4-inch booster seat Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2018. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. The UK is one of the worst countries in western Europe for press freedom because of new media-muzzling laws and a climate of hostility towards journalists, a new report has found. The country ranked 40 out of 180 in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index, a report compiled by influential non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF). It dropped to that position last year. The position marks a staggering decline for the UK of 18 places since the index began in 2002, RSF said. Recommended Cambridge Analytica whistleblower to give evidence to US Congress As well as western European nations such as Germany, Ireland and France, countries including South Africa, Jamaica, Namibia and Slovakia also outperformed Britain. Scandinavian countries had the best climates for the free exchange of information, with Norway, Sweden and Finland ranking best in the index. North Korea held the lowest ranking, below Eritrea Turkmenistan, Syria, China and Vietnam. A host of recent developments in the UK had threatened the press' ability to hold powerful people and institutions to account, the report found, including what it called an alarming proposal by the Law Commission to replace the Official Secrets Act with an updated Espionage Act. The move could make it easy to jail journalists as 'spies for obtaining leaked information and see them jailed for up to 14 years, the report found. RFS also criticised the Government over the introduction of the Investigatory Powers Act, saying the new law contained insufficient protections for whistleblowers, journalists and their sources. Freedom of the press became further imperilled when Home Secretary Amber Rudd threatened to restrict encryption on messaging services such as WhatsApp and announced plans to criminalise the repeated viewing of extremist content, the organisation said. Maintaining our ranking of 40th out of 180 countries is nothing to be proud of, and puts us in the embarrassing position of having one of the worst records on press freedom in Western Europe, RSF UK Bureau Director Rebecca Vincent said. This is unacceptable for a country that plays an important international standard-setting role when it comes to human rights and fundamental freedoms. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA 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 We must examine the longer-term trend of worrying moves to restrict press freedom, and hold the UK government to account. RSF also cited restrictions imposed by both the Conservative and Labour parties on journalists access to campaign events ahead of the June 2017 general election. Likewise, legal action against news organisations such as one launched by Appleby against the BBC and The Guardian over their coverage of the Panama Papers, demonstrated the erosion of the free press, according to RSF. They are the only two media outlets out of 96 in 67 countries that analysed the documents to be taken to court, it noted. A Windrush generation grandmother who has paid taxes in the UK for nearly 40 years lost her job at a charity which helps migrants because she could not prove her right to work in the country. Jessica Eugene, who moved to Britain from the Caribbean island of Dominica at the age 10, was sacked as a receptionist after her employer asked for papers showing her right to remain. Ms Eugene, who lives in Stratford, east London, has not left the UK since arriving in April 1970 and believed she did not need a passport. Recommended Daughter of Windrush immigrant facing deportation despite dying mother The 58-year-old considers herself to be British, and her four children and two grandchildren were born in the UK. She has held several jobs in London, including as an office manager at a fairtrade organisation for 17 years, and paid national insurance contributions for decades. But she was sacked by Newham Community Renewal Programme, where she had worked for three years, at the end of March. In her final dismissal letter, her employer said: I write to confirm that you have failed to provide your right to work documents to the charity. The Renewal Programme therefore has no choice but to terminate your employment with immediate effect. This is in line with our statutory obligation to comply with legislation regarding the right to work in the UK. Scores of Windrush generation migrants have been caught up in a government crackdown designed to make the UK a hostile environment for illegal immigrants. Changes to immigration law, introduced in 2014 when Theresa May was home secretary, require employers to take action in the absence of documents proving a right to live in the UK. Jeremy Corbyn calls on Amber Rudd to resign as Home Secretary over Windrush scandal Ms Eugene said she contacted the Home Office a year ago but, before losing her job, felt secure about her status because she had been told in the 1970s she had the right to remain in the country. The whole time I have had the immigration officer's words in my head, that I had the indefinite right to stay, she said. All my life I have worked and paid my taxes, even when I had children I made sure to work part-time. She said she was gutted to lose her job at the charity, which provides support to migrants, refugees, homeless people, and carers. Its really unjust the governments policy has had this impact, Ive always worked and want to continue doing so, she added. Im a very positive person, Ive always kept myself to myself its how we do things. Newham Community Renewal Programme told The Independent it had first-hand experience of the "deep pain and suffering caused by the governments immigration clampdown, but said as an employer, we are constrained by the legislation. Home secretary Amber Rudd this week pledged to fast-track citizenship applications for the Windrush generation as the government fought to quell the scandal. Ms Eugene said she would also like an apology. They need to look at people as individuals," she added. It all came at once, after all this time I wish that they could treat every case individually, so they could understand our situations. Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I cant face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty A Home Office spokeswoman said: The home secretary has been clear, this is about people who have built their lives here in the UK and contributed so much to our society. We dont want them to feel unwelcome or to be in any doubt about their right to remain here and she has apologised unreservedly for any distress caused. We have no record of Ms Eugene making an application to the Home Office but we would encourage her to contact the dedicated phone number so that we can help her obtain documentation as quickly as possible. In a statement, Newham Community Renewal Programme said: We respect the privacy of our clients and staff, and therefore we cannot comment about a specific individual. As an employer, we are constrained by the legislation which requires us to see documentation for all employees. Through our work we know there has been deep pain and suffering experienced by people as a result of the current legislation, and therefore we welcome the additional support recently announced for the Windrush generation. Ms May's "hostile environment" policy has led to migrants needing to prove their citizenship with documentary evidence before being able to work, rent homes or receive medical treatment, even if they have been in the country for many years. Often children who travelled to the UK on parents passports during the post-war Windrush period did not apply for travel documents, and so lack a trail of official paperwork. The daughter of a woman who arrived in the UK with the Windrush generation is facing imminent removal despite all of her family, including her dying mother, being based in Britain. Jamaican national Yvonne Williams, 59, was detained in Yarls Wood last August and has been served notice that she could be deported at any point in the next 72 hours, after a number of submissions for right to remain and asylum claims were rejected by the Home Office. Speaking to The Independent from the detention centre, Ms Williams said she feared being alone and living on the streets if she was sent back to Jamaica, where she has no family ties since the death of her grandmother in 2000. Prior to her detention, Ms Williams was the main carer for her young grandchildren, who along with her siblings, mother and children, all have British citizenship. Her 82-year-old mother, who came to Britain in 1962, is living in a care home. Ms Williams had been visiting her once a week before she was detained in Yarls Wood. Since she arrived in the UK 16 years ago on a six-month visa, when she and her children joined the rest of her family after the death of her grandmother in Jamaica, Ms Williams has made at least eight applications for her right to remain all of which have been rejected. Before she was detained last August, Ms Williams was living in Oxford where she cared for her UK-born grandchildren, aged seven and 14, in the mornings and after school while her daughter worked. Prior to this she had cared for her other grandchildren, who are now adults, after their mother her daughter died of breast cancer. Kareca Jones, her 40-year-old daughter, said the absence of her mother was having a profound effect on the family, leaving them financially worse off because she has had to reduce her hours due to lack of childcare, as well as causing stress to her children. On Saturday morning I was getting my daughter dressed to go to church, when she said, Im really stressed. I said What? Youre seven years old. She said she was stressed about Nanny, Ms Jones told The Independent. Ms Williams had been visiting her elderly Windrush mother in a care home once a week before she was detained in Yarl's Wood (Yvonne Williams) She asked me What am I supposed to do without her? Shes going to get deported. Nanny used to pick her up from school. She used to help her with her homework. And my 14-year-old son since this happened he is giving us problems. Hes neglecting school work and not really listening to me. I think hes worried about whats happening. Ms Jones, who works as a cleaner, said she has had to give up her early shifts five hours of work per day since her mother was detained, because she was the one who used to get the children ready for school. This is impacting us very much financially. I earn 1,250 a month and 850 of that goes on rent. We cant afford to visit her much anymore because we have to pay about 100 to someone each time for petrol, she said. I dont know what would happen if she were sent back. I cant afford to pay rent for her. Were really struggling without her. Its very stressful. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA UK news in pictures 25 July 2021 Vehicles drive through deep water on a flooded road in Nine Elms, London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 July 2021 Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main PA UK news in pictures 23 July 2021 Children interact with Mega Please Draw Freely by artist Ei Arakawa inside the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London, part of UNIQLO Tate Play the gallery's new free programme of art-inspired activities for families PA UK news in pictures 22 July 2021 Festivalgoers in the campsite at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk PA Speaking from Yarl's Wood, Ms Williams said: Im very stressed. I cant cope anymore. Its very depressing and stressful being locked up every day. I have no one in Jamaica. I would be on the streets. The judge said I can go to Jamaica and my family here can support me, but they dont have enough money to do that. My mother is ill. I used to go see her every week, but I havent been able to see her since August. If they send me to Jamaica Im scared my mum will die; Im scared I wont see her. The Home Office has declined to comment. A man who was seriously injured in a bomb blast in Afghanistan when he was 14 faces the risk of deportation to his former war-torn country, despite having lived in the UK for the past decade. Turyalai Khaksar will learn on Thursday whether Theresa May can deport him to Afghanistan, where he has not lived since he was a teenager. Mr Khaksar, who has suffered continuous pain and bleeding caused by malformations of his neck and back since the attack in Kunar province, was denied asylum in the UK by Theresa May in 2015 when she was Home Secretary. Ms May refused the Afghan nationals claim on the basis that his debilitating condition was not at a stage where she believed it would be inhumane to send him back to the country of his birth, according to court documents. Recommended Theresa May says UK should leave European Convention on Human RIghts The judgment, set to be issued by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, comes as the now prime minister faces massive criticism for trying to create a hostile environment for foreigners in Britain. The policy, which has been variously branded both cruel and incompetent by critics, saw an unknown number of undocumented Windrush-era immigrants from the Caribbean facing deportation, denied medical treatment, work, and the ability to rent a home. Afghanistan, which is still regularly wracked by violence, this week suffered its latest suicide bomb attacks on a voting registration centre in the capital Kabul, leaving more than 50 people dead and around 120 wounded. Gunmen also last week targeted two similar voter registration centres, abducting and killing people who worked for the countrys government. Mr Khaksar, who was born in 1990 and has been living in Britain for around a decade, says sending him back to the country he has not been in since he was a teenager would amount to inhuman or degrading treatment, a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as Article 8 which guarantees his right to a family life. Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I cant face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty The man appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg after being rebuffed by the British courts, and after having a new submission rejected by the new Home Secretary Amber Rudd last year. In 2016 shortly after refusing Mr Khaksar asylum Ms May said Britain should leave the European Convention on Human Rights, although the pledge was absent from her latest election manifesto published in 2017. The prime minister reportedly wanted to make ditching the bill of rights a centrepiece of a hypothetical 2020 general election after Brexit was completed. Boris Johnson has clashed with Theresa May after calling for an amnesty for all long-standing immigrants from the Commonwealth, as experts warned the scandal extends well beyond the Windrush generation. The Foreign Secretary is said to have become very agitated and annoyed at a bad-tempered Cabinet meeting as the prime minister appeared to reject his proposal. Mr Johnson is understood to have warned that many other people who moved to Britain from other Commonwealth countries decades ago would be trapped by the crackdown which triggered the Windrush debacle. They also faced mistreatment unless they could produce difficult-to-obtain evidence to show that they have lived in Britain and have the right to remain. That warning has been echoed by experts at Oxford University, which said the tough immigration rules were also hitting people from non-Windrush nations. The issue of citizenship and residence rights for Commonwealth migrants in the UK Commonwealth who arrived before and during the early 1970s does not just affect those from the Caribbean, said Robert McNeil, deputy director of the Migration Observatory. Tens of thousands of people from other Commonwealth countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas and elsewhere may also be in the same boat. Guy Verhofstadt: The Windrush scandal has raised anxiety for EU citizens living in the UK The Migration Observatory has estimated there are 13,000 people from India facing that situation almost as many as the 15,000 Jamaicans. At Cabinet, Mr Johnson urged the prime minister to go further than the effective amnesty for the Windrush generation, promised by Amber Rudd, the home secretary, The Spectator magazine reported. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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 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 The offer should be made to anyone from the Commonwealth or elsewhere who had been in Britain for many years, other than those with a criminal record. It said Ms May remarked acidly that he had twice called in the past for an amnesty for all immigrants, proposing the help for people who had been in Britain for more than a decade. It is suspected that Cabinet ministers with a more liberal approach to immigration believe the Windrush fiasco provides an opportunity to press their case against Ms Mays hardline stance. Also in their sights, is the failed and widely-ridiculed policy of reducing net migration to tens of thousands and the inclusion of foreign students in the migrant total. The clash was also Mr Johnsons second direct challenge to the prime minister, after he called, last week, for police to use stop-and-search powers more a second policy she has resisted. In a further sign of rancour, the prime minister is also reported to have admonished ministers for briefing journalists about Cabinet splits over leaving the EU customs union after Brexit. On Monday in a bid to defuse the Windrush row Ms Rudd announced fast-track citizenship for all those affected, as well as the waiving of huge fees. The Home Office, which has set up a taskforce and a hotline, has said that help will be provided to people from all Commonwealth countries, rather than simply Caribbean nationals. MPs are likely to reject the Brexit deal in the autumn unless an agreement on future trade with the EU has also been secured, David Davis has admitted. Theresa May will have the hardest time convincing the Commons to sign up to the 39bn-plus divorce bill if only flimsy details of the long-term trade deal are known, the brexit secretary said. It has to be substantive from a British parliament point of view, Mr Davis told MPs on the Brexit committee. He pointed out that the Commons will also be voting for a bill of 39bn, adding: It will want to know what it is getting in exchange. The hardest time I will have in October is people saying, what have we got for this?. The comments will be viewed as a possible hostage to fortune, because the EU has insisted there is only time to agree a framework for future trade by its October deadline. During the evidence session, Mr Davis also: * Insisted the government would win a critical looming Commons vote on leaving the EU customs union, saying: I expect the governments policy to be upheld. * Denied Brussels had rejected the UKs technology-based proposals to avoid a hard border in Ireland insisting that was merely an opening negotiating position. * Set up a future clash over the backstop of full alignment of regulations across Ireland, if necessary revealing the UK would put forward its own wording based on mutual recognition of standards. * Twice failed to rule out going back to the negotiating table if MPs reject the exit deal and vote for further talks despite previously insisting the UK would then crash out with no deal. * Claimed the Treasurys own studies, showing the UK will be worse off under every Brexit outcome, were wrong, saying: The best modelling in the world is wrong. * Acknowledged the two-year Article 50 process could be extended to delay Brexit beyond March 2019 if there was unanimity among the other EU members. Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced Welcome to Northern Ireland sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. Ive been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again, Johnson said laughing. We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that its gone, we wouldn't like it back again Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crocketts Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day, said Crockett. If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village, said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. I live in the south but the business is in the North, said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if theres duty, Ill have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. Ill have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. Id be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, youd have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful, said Mullen. All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters The Independent revealed at the weekend that ministers now accepted the October motion could be amended rather than being a take-it-or-leave-it choice. Stephen Kinnock, a Labour MP, seized on Mr Davis confirmation of that, to suggest the country was on track for a potential constitutional crisis. He asked if the government would accept an amendment to go back to Brussels and negotiate a different deal which the brexit secretary did not rule out. Im not going to speculate on amendments that have not even yet been laid, let alone been passed by the House, he replied. Mr Davis also denied suggestions the government was winging it over Brexit. No, we are not winging it but we are having to accommodate different changes as we go along, he said. And the brexit secretary insisted there would not be a repeat of the Windrush scandal, with the children of EU citizens living in Britain, when they are required to apply to stay in the UK. At the risk of being mildly self-righteous, Ill point you to my own speeches early on in this process, where I said our treatment of the European citizens in the UK would be a moral issue, it was a moral imperative and that is how we will treat it, he said. The head of Northern Irelands civil service has privately warned Downing Street that the UKs plan for the Irish border fails to solve the major problems caused by Brexit. In a leaked private letter to Theresa Mays Brexit chief seen by The Independent, David Sterling said the plans in the UKs position paper on the Irish border suffered from a number of practical problems and did not address certain issues. He also raised concerns that Whitehall was not engaging closely enough with local NI officials with a good understanding of issues like the Good Friday Agreement and North-South cooperation. The customs proposals, which the UK government has still been trying to sell to EU negotiators Brussels as recently as last week, were first laid out in an official position paper on Northern Ireland and customs published in August last year. Days after the paper was released Mr Sterling wrote to Olly Robbins, at the time permanent secretary of the Brexit department, to voice his concerns about its content. Downing Street, where Mr Robbins now heads up the Brexit unit, however confirmed last week that UK negotiators are still arguing for the solutions proposed in the position papers in talks, stating that the two proposals we have put forward remain the basis for our negotiation position. The same proposals interrogated by Mr Sterling in the letter were reportedly rubbished by EU officials during the talks and subjected to a systematic and forensic annihilation during meetings with the European Commission in Brussels. The letter to Mr Robbins, dated 23 August 2017 says: While the position papers have helpfully started a dialogue on movement of goods, many of the issues raised in June still require exploration. While the position papers have helpfully started a dialogue on movement of goods, many of the issues raised in June still require exploration David Sterling, head of the Northern Ireland civil service In the letter the top official in Northern Ireland also appears to be frustrated by a lack of involvement of local officials in drawing up the policy, stating that we would like to see a more intensive and open engagement between Whitehall and NICS [Northern Ireland Civil Service] officials. He goes on to list seven areas in which Whitehall had not been taking full advantage of local knowledge, including on the Good Friday Agreement, North-South cooperation, and trade. Going into detail about the issues with the UK customs proposals, Mr Sterling said plans to exempt small businesses from customs suffered from issues of practicality. The dividing line between businesses of different sizes in Northern Ireland supply chains will undoubtedly be blurred. This could make it difficult to accurately define which businesses are exempt from customs processes, he said. For example, bulk tankers owned or contracted by Irish milk processing firms collect raw milk from multiple farms in Northern Ireland before returning to Irish processing facilities. He adds: Small businesses trading on the island of Ireland may also be using inputs from outside these islands, or be part of an island of Ireland supply chain that ultimately sells into world markets. The NI executive civil service chief also highlighted concerns with plans for a robust enforcement mechanism to keep goods from crossing the border. The visibility and impact of a robust enforcement mechanism to ensure goods not complying with the EUs trade policy (whether through a lower tariff or diverging standard) stay in the UK is a significant challenge, he said. The example of Turkey illustrates that customs duties are only one part of the picture and technical barriers can be equally disruptive to trade. Potential trade barriers created by diverging tariffs or regulatory standards are therefore a key area for ongoing discussion. DAERA is currently engaged with DEFRA on complex sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues. In a separate leaked document also seen by The Independent, an internal economic analysis drawn up by the Northern Ireland executives Department for the Economy warns that the provinces economy will suffer because of Brexit whatever solution is applied. There is no quick or simple solution to the land border, the assessment, dated May 2017 says. There is likely to be some negative impact on the economy whether border controls are sited at the land or sea border, at least in the short-to-medium term. The policy question is therefore how these impacts can be minimised and what transitional support is required. The Government has declined to comment on the leaks. There has still be little progress on the border question in talks this year, despite the opening of talks about the future relationship last week. Under the Good Friday Agreement there can be no hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and both sides agree that none should return. The EU however says the customs union and single market must have external border checks to maintain their integrity. Commission negotiators effectively proposed moving the customs checks to the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but Theresa May refused the approach after pressure from her allies in the DUP. Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced Welcome to Northern Ireland sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. Ive been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again, Johnson said laughing. We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that its gone, we wouldn't like it back again Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crocketts Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day, said Crockett. If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village, said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. I live in the south but the business is in the North, said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if theres duty, Ill have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. Ill have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. Id be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, youd have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful, said Mullen. All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters The draft withdrawal agreement as envisaged by the EU says Britain can come up with a specific solution to the border problem, remove the need for a hard border by negotiating a close trade relationship with the EU, or revert to a backstop option that would keep Britain in full alignment with relevant EU regulations. But with Ms May having ruled out membership of the single market or a customs union the chance of solving the problem looks slim, barring a U-turn. Speaking in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday Guy Verhofstadt, the bodys Brexit coordinator, said he believed a solution to the border problem was needed by the end of June. UK Brexit secretary David Davis said earlier this week that he was aiming for October. Mr Verhofstadt said negotiators still have no proposal made by the UK side that could be a satisfactory solution for the problem. A solution to the Brexit Northern Ireland border problem realistically needs to be found before the European Council summit at the end of June, the European parliaments Brexit chief has said. Guy Verhofstadt said the October deadline Britain is working to would be late for a deal on the border because other issues also needed to be agreed by the autumn. Mr Verhofstadt was speaking on Wednesday morning as UK Brexit Secretary David Davis admitted that a substantial agreement on the future relationship would need to be reached by October to avoid MPs rejecting the plan. Recommended UK Brexit negotiators offered no new solutions in Irish border talks But Mr Davis said on Tuesday that the UK was aiming to get a deal on Ireland agreed by October. Speaking at a hearing of the European parliaments constitutional affairs committee, Brexit coordinator Mr Verhofstadt said: Our hope is that we can find in June already, an agreement on this. I have seen, heard that David Davis has said maybe October. I think October is late because in October we need to be ready with the whole withdrawal agreement including Ireland, plus already a declaration on the future relationship. If you look to the agenda the best way forward is that this problem is solved as fast as possible, before the June European Council. I have seen, heard that David Davis has said maybe October. I think October is late Guy Verhofstadt, European parliament Brexit coordinator Speaking to the wider issue, he added: Its clear that the ball is now in the court of the UK to come up with a satisfactory solution. Until now that is not the case For the moment we still have no proposal made by the UK side that could be a satisfactory solution for the problem. European Commission sources said there would be no official June deadline for a deal but that given the circumstances there was a need to make progress quickly. British diplomats in Brussels are confident that a solution can be found, and say they want to make progress as quickly as possible but that solving the issue needed discussions on the future relationship, which only started last week after months of insistence by the UK. MEPs used the committee hearing Mr Verhofstadt was speaking at to bemoan the British approach to talks so far. Mairead McGuinness, an Irish MEP from the governing Fine Gael party, who represents border communities, said there was a deep sense of unease about the lack of progress on the border problem. What is still needed to complete a deal with the EU? Northern Ireland Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson added: On the one hand theyre saying something and then on the other hand theyre doing something completely different. I think the problem is that the negotiations havent stopped in London with London. Theyre still in conflict among themselves and therefore they havent really negotiated with the EU yet. Brussels has consistently said that the whole withdrawal agreement, including citizens rights, the financial settlement, transition period, and Northern Ireland border needs to be agreed by the October meeting of the European Council in order to give time for the deal to be scrutinised and approved by bodies such as the European parliament. David Davis has said he wants the issue resolved by October (AP) The council, a quarterly Brussels summit attended by the 28 EU heads of state and government, generally has to sign off major decisions made by the European Union. With Britain set to fall out of the EU on 29 March 2019, the only real opportunity for the council to approve any deal after October would be a further summit in December. The next summit is scheduled for 21 March 2019, a date both sides want to avoid dragging talks out until. Speaking on a visit to Northern Ireland earlier this week, David Davis said: As we leave the EU its essential both the UK and EU do what it takes to keep the border, which I saw this morning, free from physical infrastructure. We are determined to get this agreed by October. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has previously said he would prefer a deal to be done properly by October than done badly in June. Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced Welcome to Northern Ireland sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. Ive been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again, Johnson said laughing. We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that its gone, we wouldn't like it back again Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crocketts Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day, said Crockett. If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village, said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. I live in the south but the business is in the North, said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if theres duty, Ill have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. Ill have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. Id be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, youd have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful, said Mullen. All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters There has been very little progress on the border issue in the March meeting of the European Council, with Downing Street admitting this week that it had produced no new solutions in talks on the issue and instead continued to argue for a proposal first made in August last year. Commenting last week on the talks at a regular briefing of journalists in Westminster, the prime ministers spokesperson told reporters: The two proposals we have put forward remain the basis for our negotiation position and what the PM set out at Mansion House. Demand for a second Brexit referendum on the final deal negotiated by Theresa May is growing as the damaging impact of leaving the European Union becomes clearer, Labours leader in Brussels has said. Richard Corbett, who leads the partys group of MEPs in the European Parliament, said a referendum could be called if the House of Commons voted down the withdrawal agreement, a state of affairs he said would lead to a ratification crisis. The Labour chiefs comments come a week after John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said Labour had not ruled out a second referendum, or any form of democratic engagement on Brexit though he said his preference was for a general election. Brexit Secretary David Davis himself admitted that MPs are likely to reject the Brexit deal in the autumn unless an agreement on future trade with the EU has also been secured. There is a demand that seems to be growing in Britain for a referendum on the actual deal once a deal is made on the withdrawal agreement, assuming one is made. Opinion polls show growing support for that, Mr Corbett said at a sitting of the European Parliaments constitutional affairs committee. The top Labour MEP said he had met with former supporters of Brexit who regret it and are demanding the right of people to reconsider, stating that it is by no means certain that the public would vote again for Brexit. Opinion has not done what one would have intuitively expected, he told MEPs. You would have expected public opinion to rally behind the result of the referendum we had two years ago thats clearly not happening. The feeling that [Brexit] is not entirely a done deal is a growing one Richard Corbett, Labour MEPs leader He added that demand was growing for a vote because the emerging Brexit is clearly very, very different from what was promised by the Leave campaign and that leaving the EU was turning out to be a very costly exercise that clearly has damaged the British economy. Who knows, there may well be a rejection of the deal by the House of Commons, in which case there will be a ratification crisis, in which case a referendum is one of the possible options that will no doubt be considered. We will see. The feeling that it is not entirely a done deal is a growing one. What is still needed to complete a deal with the EU? Labour has so far shied away from backing a second plebiscite and has voted with the government to begin the Brexit process. The party has, however, set a number of tests that it says must be met to secure its support for the final deal Theresa May comes back from Brussels with. The governments narrow majority with the support of the DUP means only a small rebellion by pro-EU Conservatives would be needed to bring down the deal. The government has previously been defeated in the Commons on Brexit issues with the combined support of Labour, the Lib Dems, SNP and other parties. 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 The government insists that if the final deal is voted down then it will take Britain out of the EU without a deal and quit the bloc on default World Trade Organisation terms which practically all economists agree would be the most damaging Brexit scenario. The European Council and European Commission presidents have, however, both said Britain could, if it wanted, stop the Brexit process. Speaking at the House of Commons Brexit committee during the same time as Mr Corbett, the Brexit Secretary David Davis said MPs would want something substantive from Brexit talks, suggesting he would have the hardest time in October convincing them. Dozens of Labour MPs have marched in support of their Jewish colleague Ruth Smeeth as she prepared to give evidence at a disciplinary hearing of a suspended party member accused of antisemitism almost two years ago. The MPs were met by a small group of placard-carrying protesters, who were chanting reinstate Marc Wandsworth outside the Church House in central London. The Labour activist was suspended from the party in June 2016 after he challenged the Labour MP Ruth Smeeth at a press conference launching the Chakrabarti report on antisemitism within the party. The disciplinary hearing of Mr Wandsworth will decide whether he should be expelled from the party. Labour sources said no final decision is imminent with the disciplinary panel using Wednesday to hear evidence from both sides. On a march from Westminster Hall, Ms Smeeth was accompanied by dozens of her parliamentary colleagues, with one of them, Jess Phillips, saying: [We are] making sure she isnt walking into a protest on her own. Ahead of the hearing, Mr Wadsworth told reporters: I'm confident, as I'm not guilty. Based on the facts, this hearing, if it's fair, I will be exonerated. I'm totally and utterly opposed to antisemitism, to all forms of bigotry, including anti-black racism and Islamophobia. Placard-carrying protesters chant 'reinstate Marc Wadsworth' outside antisemitism disciplinary hearing The hearing comes after Jewish community leaders hit out at Jeremy Corbyn following a crunch meeting to discuss antisemitism in Labours ranks, describing the talks as disappointing and a missed opportunity. The meeting on Tuesday was an attempt to defuse the row over antisemitism in Labour, which the Labour leader used an editorial in the London Evening Standard to outline his absolute determination to stamp out. Recommended Jeremy Corbyn apologises for Labour antisemitism ahead of key meeting However Jonathan Arkush, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who met with Mr Corbyn alongside the chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, rejected suggestions the meeting had been constructive. He told BBCs Newsnight: Positive yes, but if you measure constructiveness by the actions to go with the words then I don't think that's what I would call it. Mr Arkush said the meeting was friendly in tone and Mr Corbyn was extremely engaging (and) he looked interested. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA 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 But there were no actions to go with the words, yet again, and that's why we thought the meeting has been a real missed opportunity and a great disappointment, he added. In a joint statement following the two-hour meeting, the two Jewish community groups said: Our meeting with Jeremy Corbyn today was a disappointing missed opportunity regarding the problem of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. Jewish leaders call meeting with Jeremy Corbyn 'disappointing and a missed opportunity' We welcomed Mr Corbyn's personal involvement in the discussion and his new comments recognising and apologising for anti-Semitism in the Labour Party but he failed to agree to any of the concrete actions we asked for in our letter to him of March 28. They said the proposals put forward last month represented the minimum level of action the Jewish community expected from the Labour leadership following two years of inactivity. Words in letters and and newspaper articles will never be enough, the groups added, as they called on Mr Corbyn to turn his words into strong actions in order to bring about deep cultural change. An international conference aimed at raising aid for the victims of the Syrian conflict raised just over half of what the UN said was needed to support refugees from the country, as aid charities warn of unmet and growing needs among survivors. The Brussels II summit, which was jointly organised by the European Union and United Nations and held on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, raised $4.4bn (3.2bn) well short of the roughly $7-8bn the UN organisers had estimated was required. Thanking the EU, Germany and Britain for making large contributions, Mark Lowcock, the UNs humanitarian chief, said the money was a good start but that it would have to be saved for desperate cases given the shortfall. Recommended Britain to ramp up aid to Syria over next two years We are talking about a large sum of money and there is a lot of pressure on the financiers, he told reporters, though he predicted that that contributions would grow further. The key issue is to make sure ... priority is given to those in most need and those most vulnerable. Aid organisations, many of whom have presences on the ground in the conflict, said the conference did not go nearly far enough to provide support. Though the crisis is now in its eighth year, the unmet and growing needs of millions of men, women and children mean that donor countries cannot show any sign of fatigue, charities Care, IRC, Mercy Corps, NRC, Save the Children, Oxfam, Humanity and Inclusion, Action Against Hunger, and World Vision said in a joint statement. This conference did not go nearly far enough to provide adequate support to the millions of Syrians in need of assistance and who are left facing an uncertain future. Participants at the Brussels summit: donor countries cannot show any sign of fatigue, say charities (Getty) The organisations also added that the donor countries at the conference have once again done nothing to increase resettlement beyond the paltry 3 per cent of Syrian refugees they have taken in, favouring instead to leave them in Syrias neighbouring countries. Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, who faces elections in two weeks and whose country has well over 2 million refugees despite being half the size of Wales (which has a population of around 3.1 million), said the plight of Syrians was simply getting worse. The bitter truth is that despite all our combined efforts, conditions have deteriorated. Lebanon continues to be a big refugee camp, he said. Syria bombing: EU 'understands' recent airstrikes but calls for 'urgent' resumption of peace talks Britain pledged an extra 250m in humanitarian aid for Syria over two years on Wednesday. The announcement takes its commitment up to 450m for Syria and the region in 2018, with 300m earmarked for 2019, bringing the total UK aid to the region to 2.71bn. Alistair Burt, the UKs Middle East minister said: This is the worlds greatest protection crisis. If you look at whats happened and whats been done to people breaches of humanitarian laws, the weakening of multilateral norms that we have seen for a long time its all focusing on Syria, he said. Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Show all 13 1 /13 Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, which was targeted by the US, UK and France air strikes. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center surrounded by papers and rubble. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Firefighrers extinguish smoke that rises from the damage. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound . AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Part of a building collapsing, surrounded by the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damaged to the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier sprays water on the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syrian state news agency SANA reported several missiles hit a research centre in Barzeh, north of Damascus, "destroying a building that included scientific labs and a training centre". AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Damage to the Scientific Research Center building that was hit by the strikes. EPA Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The Scientific Studies and Research Centre was one of the targeted buildings by the US, UK and France. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damage to the centre. EPA Germany meanwhile pledged an additional billion euros (870m). In Syria alone there are still more than 13 million people who are dependent on humanitarian aid, the countrys foreign minister Heiko Mass said. We must not leave the people in Syria alone. An estimated 450,000 people have been killed in fighting in Syria since the countrys president Bashar al-Assads regime brutally cracked down on protests calling for his removal that started in 2011. The conflict has since spiralled into a civil war drawing in militias backed by the countrys neighbours, international terror groups, and Russian and Western coalition airstrikes and special forces. Opposition leaders have written a joint letter to the Prime Minister urging her to tackle the obesity crisis. The cross-party letter comes as TV chef Jamie Oliver is campaigning for a ban on advertising unhealthy foods prior to the 9pm watershed. In the letter to Theresa May, opposition leaders say that taking no action would result in the current generation of children living shorter lives than their parents. Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon, Sir Vince Cable, Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley urge Ms May to "take bold action to tackle one of the greatest health challenges of our time". They call for 13 measures, including an end to buy-one-get-one free junk food deals. Dozens of Labour MPs and peers are to gather in Westminster on Wednesday as part of Oliver's AdEnough campaign. In a post on his website, Oliver writes: "It's time we put child health first. I'm calling for the government to introduce a 9pm watershed on junk food advertising on TV, and for proper controls on what ads kids see online, in the street and on public transport. "Crucially, this campaign isn't about stopping big brands from advertising full stop; it's about making sure kids aren't being targeted with unhealthy products. It's about controlling the time and place." UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA 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 He adds: "If kids are constantly being targeted with cheap, easily accessible, unhealthy junk food, just think how hard it must be to make better, healthier choices. We have to make it easier for children to make good decisions. "These ads undermine any positive work we're doing in schools or at home to tackle the rise of childhood obesity. Currently, there's nothing in place to protect our kids from seeing these adverts - apart from literally covering their eyes! And that's where our AdEnough campaign comes in." Theresa May has vowed her hostile environment to tackle illegal immigration will continue, despite the Windrush scandal insisting the public demands it. Under fierce criticism in the Commons, the prime minister refused to review the harsh rules she introduced or explain why warnings that it would trap people who arrived in Britain legally decades ago were ignored. Instead, Ms May said the crackdown which has turned employers, the NHS and landlords into de facto border guards, critics say enjoyed widespread support. Up and down this country, people want to ensure that the government is taking action against those people who are here in this country illegally, she told MPs. It isnt fair that people who work hard day-in-day-out, who contribute to this country, who put into the life of this country, are seeing people who are here illegally accessing services in the same way, The prime minister ducked Jeremy Corbyns criticism that the hostile environment had also hit the Windrush arrivals who had been detained, denied healthcare and threatened with deportation. The Labour leader said Amber Rudd, the current Home Secretary had inherited a failing policy and made it worse, adding: Isnt it time she took responsibility and resigned. Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I cant face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty A clearly angry Mr Corbyn pointed out that a Home Office memo four years ago when Ms May was home secretary had warned her policies would provoke discrimination against Commonwealth immigrants. He said her own communities secretary, Eric Pickles, had warned the costs and risk considerably outweigh the benefits, adding: Why did she ignore his advice? The crisis had been caused by the environment she created in six years as home secretary when she knew full well of the problems the Windrush generation were facing, Mr Corbyn alleged. But the prime minister blamed the 1971 Immigration Act, which had left the children of immigrants without documents, insisting: That is what we are now putting right. She said the government was helping the Windrush generation, who are British, they are part of us and we are ensuring that they remain here and are able to continue to live their lives here. David Lammy, the former Labour minister, said that - in 2011 - he wrote to then immigration minister Damian Green about a Tottenham constituent who came to the UK in 1956 at the age of four. He said: In 2011, he was told he could no longer work and he did not have British citizenship. He [Mr Green] wrote to me and basically said 'tough'. Mr Lammy asked Ms May to explain what compensation would be provided and a guarantee that no vulnerable and scared people who ring the Windrush hotline would be face action by immigration officials. The prime minister said the compensation scheme would be set out shortly, adding the government had made clear there is no question of taking enforcement action when people ring that hotline. Close David Davis on Brexit trade bill: hardest part is proving 'what have we got for this?' Amber Rudd has defended the government over the Windrush fiasco as she appeared in front of the Home Affairs Committee. Jeremy Corbyn had earlier called on the Home Secretary to take responsibility and resign over the scandal, which has engulfed the government in recent days. During Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Corbyn also challenged Theresa May to explain why she ignored Home Office warnings about the potential discrimination caused by the hostile environment policies introduced during Ms Mays tenure at the Home Office. He pointed to an internal memo from the department in 2014 which said the approach could make it harder for people, such as the Windrush generation, to find homes and provoke discrimination. Ms May, formerly home secretary, replied by quoting Labour's Liam Byrne talking of a hostile environment when immigration minister under the previous Labour administration. As it happened... Amber Rudd has admitted that she bitterly regrets failing to grasp the scale of the Windrush scandal sooner and for not viewing it as a systemic issue until recently, as she was grilled by MPs. The home secretarys frank remarks came as she faced mounting calls to resign over her departments handling of the problems faced by members of the Windrush generation in recent years. Appearing in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee in the Commons, Ms Rudd added that she had only become aware that there was a potential issue over the past few months. But she confessed: I bitterly, deeply regret that I didnt see it as more than individual cases that had gone wrong that needed addressing. I didnt see it as a systemic issue until very recently. Ms Rudd said the government would also need to introduce legislation in the Commons so that the Home Office can waive citizenship fees for the entire Windrush generation. As it stands, the department is waiving fees on a discretionary basis, she said. Sitting alongside the home secretary, Glynn Williams, a senior civil servant in the department, who is in charge of immigration, added that since the hotline was set up last week, 3,800 calls have been made and 1,364 have been identified as potential Windrush individuals. He said that 91 appointments have been made so far and 23 cases had been resolved with documentation issued. Recommended Windrush grandmother sacked over status after working decades in UK Pressed on whether any individuals have been deported as a result of the Windrush scandal, Ms Rudd added: The answer to that is not as far as we can see at the moment. She told the committee that 7,000 out of 8,000 records dating back to 2002 had been checked so far, with no cases of wrongful removal discovered to date. Ms Rudd also denied that the Conservatives contentious target to bring net migration to the tens of thousands had fuelled the problems facing the Windrush generation. I dont think thats got anything to do with it, she said. Its wrong to think the net migration target is the problem here. The problem here is that people were not properly documented. Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I cant face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty Asked whether she had asked Theresa May to remove the target, Ms Rudd said: I have not discussed that with the Prime Minister. Pressed again on the issue, she said: I have private conversations with the Prime Minister which will stay private. Ms Rudds appearance at the committee, chaired by the senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper, comes after a week of stories flooding in regarding members of the Windrush era being threatened with deportation, having their benefits suspended, denied access to the NHS and losing their jobs due to a lack of official documentation. Jeremy Corbyn calls on Amber Rudd to resign as Home Secretary over Windrush scandal The scandal has led to both the home secretary and Theresa May personally apologising and with the Prime Minister promising a compensation scheme for those affected. But at the weekly session of Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday, Ms May vowed her hostile environment to tackle illegal immigration will continue, despite the Windrush scandal. Under fierce criticism in the Commons, the prime minister refused to review the harsh rules she introduced or explain why warnings that it would trap people who arrived in Britain legally decades ago were ignored. The Labour leader said Ms Rudd had inherited a failing policy and made it worse, adding: Isnt it time she took responsibility and resigned? Alek Minassian, the Toronto van attack suspect, is believed to have posted on Facebook praising incel killer Elliot Rodger only minutes before 10 people were mown down and killed in the Canadian city on Monday. Referencing the misogynistic involuntary celibacy online community, the post called Rodger the supreme gentleman and continued: The incel rebellion has already begun! In 2014 Rodger, 22, killed six people and injured 13 in California, having raged online at women for rejecting him, also using the term incel, before taking his own life. Last autumn, Reddit banned the r/incels sub-forum for violating its policy on violent content. In the group, which had some 40,000 subscribers, users posted about women who rejected them sexually. Similar communities exist on 4chan and elsewhere online. Recommended Officer who arrested van crash suspect without using gun hailed a hero Acknowledging Mr Minassians cryptic post, Toronto police said the question of whether his alleged actions were driven by anger against women would be part of our investigation. All the lanes are open with this investigation, police chief Mark Saunders said. The accused is alleged to have posted a cryptic message on Facebook minutes before the incident, Detective Sergeant Graham Gibson told reporters on Tuesday. Most victims were women, ranging in age from their mid-20s to early 80s, he added. Facebook has since deleted Mr Minassians account, a representative said, but the company confirmed that the post had appeared on an account belonging to the suspect. The 25-year-old, from the Richmond Hill suburb of the city, has been charged with 10 counts of murder and 13 of attempted murder. He appeared in court on Tuesday and said little except to confirm that he understood the proceedings. Mr Minassian attended Thornlea Secondary School in Richmond Hill, graduating in 2011, according to school officials, and a LinkedIn profile in his name listed him a student at Seneca College from 2011 to this year. Briefly, between August and October 2017, he was a member of the Canadian armed forces (CAF). National Defence spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande said: He did not complete his recruit training and requested to be voluntarily released from the CAF after 16 days of recruit training. A fellow Seneca student told the Toronto Star he attended a computer programming lesson with Mr Minassian. Joseph Pham described him as socially awkward and someone who didnt really talk to anyone. Toronto van attack: in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Toronto van attack: in pictures Toronto van attack: in pictures The front end damage of the van that a driver used to hit several pedestrians in Toronto. AFP/Getty Toronto van attack: in pictures A lone police officer confronts the man suspected of driving the rented white van. rayy0889/Twitter/Screengrab Toronto van attack: in pictures Alek Minassian, 25, of Richmond Hill, a suburb north of Toronto, was arrested after he drove the vehicle into pedestrians. LinkedIn Toronto van attack: in pictures 10 people were killed in the city on Monday, 23rd April. AP Toronto van attack: in pictures Farzad Salehi consoles his wife, Mehrsa Marjani, who was at a nearby cafe and witnessed the aftermath. AP Toronto van attack: in pictures Emergency services closed Yonge Street after the van mounted a pavement crashing into a crowd of pedestrians. AP Toronto van attack: in pictures A covered body lies on Yonge Street. EPA Toronto van attack: in pictures Police inspect the van involved with the collision. Getty Toronto van attack: in pictures People sign a memorial for the victims. AP Toronto van attack: in pictures Police officers stand by a covered body. Aaron Vincent Elkaim/The Canadian Press via AP The New York Times quoted a former high school classmate as saying Mr Minassian was a loner and had few friends. He was isolated and others made fun of him in private, Ari Blaff told the paper. He added: He had several tics and would sometimes grab the top of his shirt and spit on it, meow in the hallways and say, I am afraid of girls. It was like a mantra. Another student told the Times Mr Minassian had difficulty communicating and was worried that women could hurt him. Mr Minassians apparent involvement in the incel community recalled the 1989 massacre at Montreals Ecole Polytechnique, in which 25-year-old Marc Lepine murdered 14 women before turning his gun on himself. In a note, he blamed feminists for ruining his life. Police are yet to reveal a motive behind Mondays events, and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said: Obviously all Canadians continue and will continue to have questions about why this happened, what could possibly be the motive behind it. Mr Trudeau ruled out terrorism, however, adding on Tuesday that the incident hasnt changed the overall threat level in Canada, though it occurred as cabinet ministers from the G7 countries were meeting in Toronto. Additional reporting by agencies A former gang member sentenced to death for killing a five-year-old girl and her grandmother when he opened fire at a childs birthday party is to be executed in Texas. Erick Davila has spent nine years on death row after used a laser-sighted semi-automatic rifle to spray bullets at about 20 people more than a dozen of them children in apparent retaliation for an attack by one of the people attending the party. Annette Stevenson, 48, and her granddaughter, Queshawn Stevenson, were killed in the 6 April 2008 attack and four others were wounded, including the girl celebrating her ninth birthday. Davila is due to be executed by lethal injection, but lawyers in Fort Worth have asked the US Supreme Court for a stay of execution. If the execution goes ahead, Davila, 31, would be the fifth Texas inmate executed this year, and the ninth in the US. Queshawn Stevensons sister, then aged 11, testified she saw a man inside a dark car holding a gun with a red dot and a short time later saw him standing next door and shooting. Davila was caught the next day after a brief police chase. Lawyers for Davila argue his execution should be stopped because it was improper for his trial judge, Sharen Wilson, now the Tarrant County district attorney, to request an execution date. They also questioned the role of a lawyer working with Ms Wilson on capital appeals cases who had represented Davila in an earlier appeal. Prosecutors withheld information that Davila was so high on drugs during the shooting he was likely intoxicated to the degree that it would have rendered him temporarily insane, lawyer Seth Kretzer told the high court in a legal document. He argued the detail could have influenced jurors to decide on a lesser penalty. State attorneys said Ms Wilson never represented Davila and state law and court rulings allow her office to represent the states interests in the case. Prosecutors also argued Ms Wilson prohibits assistants from participating in cases where they were defence lawyers and that the court followed the states capital sentencing procedure. 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 They said evidence shows Davilas trial attorneys were provided notes from police investigators, that voluntary intoxication is not a defence under Texas law and that the shootings were intentional and deliberate. Katherine Hayes, an assistant Texas attorney general, told the justices Davila told detectives he went to a shoot em up". was trying to get the guys on the porch and never mentioned any intoxication to police. Defence lawyers at Davilas trial tried to show he did not intend to kill multiple people, a criterion for the capital murder charge. They argued he only intended to kill Jerry Stevenson, whose daughter and mother were shot to death. Authorities said Stevenson belonged to a rival gang and that Davila believed members of that gang shot him in 2005. Stevenson denied belonging to the gang. Davila was accused but not tried in another fatal shooting just days before the birthday party killings. While awaiting trial for capital murder, he also attacked Tarrant County jailers and maintenance workers during an escape attempt. He previously served prison time for a 2004 burglary in Tarrant County and was released after about a year. Associated Press contributed to this report A former police officer has been arrested in connection to a long-unsolved string of rapes and murders which are believed to have been carried out by the "Golden State Killer". Joseph James DeAngelo was picked up by authorities in California, who allege he was behind 12 murders and at least 50 rapes in the 1970s and 1980s, along with a number of burglaries. He was also known as the "East Area Rapist". Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said the 72-year-old was identified with a DNA test. The 72-year-old was identified by a DNA test (EPA) For over 40 years, Sacramento County district attorney Anne Marie Schubert told a press conference, countless victims have waited for justice. Sheriff Jones added that an investigative team formed two years ago was given virtually unlimited resources and freedom to catch the killer. Mr DeAngelo now faces murder charges across multiple counties for decades-old killings. As the string of crimes were making headlines, Mr DeAngelo was working as a police officer. He worked for two different police departments from 1973 to 1979, Mr Jones said. Very possibly he was committing the crimes during the time he was employed as a police officer, Mr Jones said, and authorities were investigating whether Mr DeAngelo committed any crimes while on duty. As the list of victims and geographical area in which they were targeted expanded, with cases in at least 10 different counties, the suspect earned more additional nicknames. Hes been called the East Side Rapist. Hes been called the Visalia Ransacker, the Original Night Stalker and the Golden State Killer, Orange County district attorney Tony Rackauckas said. Today, its our pleasure to call him defendant. The lack of arrests haunted California law enforcement for decades and was a source of great frustration, Ventura County district attorney Gregory Totten said. For people growing up in Sacramento, where the first cluster of crimes occurred, the memories are very vivid, Ms Schubert said. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty She added: For many of us [in law enforcement], it was more than a professional commitment. It became personal. Footage from the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights showed dozens of law enforcement officials, many of them with the FBI, outside a home surrounded by yellow tape. One of the alleged rapists victims told the Island Packet newspaper that she was overwhelmed with joy after detectives contacted her this week to inform her of the arrest. I've been crying, sobbing, Jane Carson-Sandler said. Authorities had redoubled their efforts to catch the suspect in recent months, with the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office last year releasing a list of items believed to have been stolen by the killer in the hopes someone would recognise them. We are in the hunt for a serial killer here in California, Ms Schubert said at the time. While the Australian reported that authorities in California and Australia had spoken to explore links between the East Area Rapist and Mr Cruel, who is suspected of committing a series of violent attacks in Australia in the 1980s, Ms Schubert said there was no evidence of a connection. We have no information linking the suspect to Australia, she said. Donald Trumps travel ban targeting citizens from mostly Muslim countries is likely to be upheld by the US Supreme Court after conservative judges signalled support for the presidents right to enact one of his most contentious policies. While the countrys highest court is not due to make known its decision known until June, comments from members of the court suggested they were not prepared to second guess the president on the issue of national security. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the court carrying banners opposing the measure. It was reported that both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, who sit on the conservative majority nine-member court, indicated they did not want to question Mr Trumps justification for introducing the ban by an executive order. The ban which applies to travellers from five Muslim majority countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen also affects citizens from North Korea, along with some Venezuelan government officials and their families. It is the first piece of Mr Trumps policy to come before the nations highest court, and one of the key elements of his presidential campaign. While the move triggered chaos and anxiety in airports around the world, and led to widespread protests, the president has defended the measure as an essential part of keeping the country safe especially from groups such as Isis. The president has continued with his rhetoric, even as critics have pointed out that most incidents of terror committed in the US are carried out by people who were born here, and in a majority of cases involve white people. Donald Trump blast "judicial overreach" as Hawaii judge blocks travel ban The court was hearing a challenge from several parties, including the state of Hawaii. They have argued the policy was motivated by Mr Trumps enmity towards Muslims and that it violated federal immigration law and the US constitutions prohibition on the government favouring one religion over another. It was reported at Wednesday mornings hearing that liberal judges (known as justices) indicated sympathy towards Hawaiis arguments. However, conservative Justice Samuel Alito said the text of Mr Trumps proclamation announcing the ban does not look at all like a Muslim ban. Fellow conservative John Roberts questioned whether the president could be restricted from taking action on foreign policy emergencies, such as the civil war in Syria, if he is prevented from targeting specific countries. Mr Kennedy pushed back on the notion pressed by the challengers that the ban was permanent, noting that the policy includes a requirement for ongoing reports that could potentially lead to the removal of a targeted country. New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Show all 27 1 /27 New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Ethnic Yemenis and supporters protest against President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Men pray during a protest by ethnic Yemenis and supporters over President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Ethnic Yemenis and supporters protest against President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Men pray during a protest by ethnic Yemenis and supporters over President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People gather for evening prayer at a rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner places a sign on the gate of his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner places a sign on the gate of his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 02: Yemeni business owner Musa closes the gate to his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner closes the gate to his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty In an exchange with Hawaiis lawyer, Neal Katyal, Mr Kennedy indicated it was not practical for a president to predict that six months after the ban was announced there will be a safe world. Mr Trumps own conservative appointee to the court, Neil Gorsuch, suggested the lawsuits challenging the ban should not have been considered by courts in the first place. On 4 December the Supreme Court signalled it may lean towards backing Donald Trump when it granted, on a 7-2 vote, his administrations request to let the ban go into full effect while legal challenges played out. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a statement that cited the presidents broad discretion and authority to protect the United States from all foreign and domestic threats. About 150 people demonstrated against the travel ban outside the courthouse. Seema Sked, 39, stood before the courts plaza with a homemade sign that read: Proud American Muslim. The Muslim ban offends freedom of religion, which is a protected right, said Ms Sked, who immigrated with her parents from Pakistan and now lives in Virginia. It hurts me because it is singling out and demeaning Muslims because of their faith. Nina Totenberg, a veteran legal journalist and expert on the Supreme Court, wrote for NPR that the justices seemed, by a narrow margin, to be leaning towards upholding the the third iteration of the Trump travel ban. The White House is standing by Donald Trump's embattled pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, despite the president's public admission that his nominee lacks experience. The nomination of Admiral Ronny Jackson is facing growing opposition on Capitol Hill, amid recent reports of inappropriate workplace behaviour. But a senior White House official signalled on Tuesday night that the administration did not intend to withdraw the presidential physician's nomination. Dr Jacksons record as a White House physician is impeccable," the official said in a statement obtained by The Independent. "He has improved unit morale, received glowing reviews and promotions under Republican and Democrat presidents, and has been given a clean vet from the FBI." Recommended Trump suggests his VA nominee should withdraw The statement appeared to contradict Mr Trumps comments from earlier in the day, when he admitted to reporters that his nominee suffered from a lack of experience. "I told Admiral Jackson just a little while ago, what do you need this for? Mr Trump said of the confirmation process. This is a vicious group of people what do you need it for?" He added: "The fact is, I wouldnt do it. Donald Trump: Veterans Affairs secretary-nominee Ronny Jackson should drop out The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee postponed Mr Jacksons confirmation hearing indefinitely on Tuesday morning, after hearing from whistleblowers that the admiral had created a toxic work environment at the White House Medical Unit. Senator Jon Tester, the ranking Democrat on the Veteran Affairs Committee, told NPR the group had heard from more than 20 military employees who complained Mr Jackson was repeatedly drunk on the job, and handed out drugs to staff members during work trips. We were told stories where he was repeatedly drunk on while duty where his main job was to take care of the most powerful man in the world, Mr Tester said. Thats not acceptable. 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 The claims of drinking and drug use on the job have not been verified. But a 2012 watchdog report viewed by The Independent found that Mr Jackson exhibited "unprofessional behaviours" during a battle for control with former presidential physician Jeffrey Kuhlman. The report suggested that the White House replace either Mr Kuhlman or Mr Jackson, who was serving as director of the White House Medical Unit at the time. "There is a severe and pervasive lack of trust in the leadership that has deteriorated to the point that staff walk on 'eggshells,'" the report said. The senior White House official responded to the report by saying Mr Jackson was being "railroaded by a bitter ex-colleague who was removed from his job". Mr Jackson served as presidential physician to President Barack Obama after Mr Kuhlman departed, and continued in the role under Mr Trump. He has never lead an agency the size of the Veterans Affairs Department, leading to complaints from some on the left and right that he is ill-equipped to lead the governments second-largest bureaucracy. But Mr Jackson showed no intention of dropping out on Tuesday, telling reporters on Capitol Hill that he was looking forward to the hearing tomorrow. "Kind of disappointed that it's been postponed, but I'm looking forward to getting it rescheduled and answering everybody's questions, he said. President Donald Trump has thanked rapper Kanye West for tweeting "he is my brother" and said the message was "very cool". West has been on a Twitter spree of late after being silent on social media for several months. His tweet regarding the president said that people do not have to necessarily agree with Mr Trump "but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother". It is unclear what prompted West's full-throated support of the controversial leader, but he also wrote: "I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought". However, he also tweeted about an hour later that his wife, reality television star and critic of the president Kim Kardashian West, "wanted me to make this clear to everyone. I don't agree with everything Trump does". He also retweeted a picture of a mobile which was displaying Mr Trump's tweet and series of other images: one of him wearing the president's signature, red, "Make America Great Hat;" a picture of the hat signed by Mr Trump; and a screenshot of a text someone called "Malik" sent him which was an image of a flyer on which West's photo is below the text "Keep America Great" and the hashtag #Kanye2024. West also recently split with his manager of three years Scooter Braun with no apparent explanation. His tweets of late have included philosophical musings like "I'm 40 years old and I'm just now becoming my parents child" and "fear takes strategy Unlearn linear thinking Hit you with these zig zag thoughts". They are often written without providing context. Mr Trump and West share a propensity for tweeting sprees, the "Gold Digger" artist has tweeted more than 40 times on 25 April alone. He also has not limited his political preferences to Twitter. On 23 April West told radio station Hot 97: "I do love Donald Trump". However, he also "love[s]" erstwhile presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as well, a point Mr Trump may have missed when tweeting out his thanks. The bitter rivalry between the president and former Secretary of State has played out on Twitter for the past two and a half years. But, West wrote in a tweet that followed his initial missive about being Mr Trump's "brother" that "for people In my life the idea of Trump is pretty much a 50 50 split but I don't tell a Hillary supporter not to support Hillary". But, a search on Twitter showed he has only tweeted about Ms Clinton once. She did not respond to the "Touch the Sky" rapper the way Mr Trump did. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was also asked about the president's relationship with West, which appeared to begin around the time West paid a visit to Trump Tower in New York in December 2016 as part of a series of meetings then president-elect Trump had taken ahead of his inauguration. West had defended the meeting in light of criticism from fans in a series of now-deleted tweets, writing that he had wanted to discuss "multicultural issues" with the soon-to-be leader. "I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change," West had written at the time. Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Show all 22 1 /22 Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump speak with the press after their meetings at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump speak with the press after their meetings at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump speak with the press after their meetings at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump speak with the press after their meetings at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump speak with the press after their meetings at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump speak with the press after their meetings at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump speak with the press after their meetings at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump speak with the press after their meetings at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump speak with the press after their meetings at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump speak with the press after their meetings at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Singer Kanye West arrives at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 as US President-elect Donald Trump continues to hold meetings in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Singer Kanye West arrives at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 as US President-elect Donald Trump continues to hold meetings in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Singer Kanye West arrives at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 as US President-elect Donald Trump continues to hold meetings in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Singer Kanye West arrives at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 as US President-elect Donald Trump continues to hold meetings in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Singer Kanye West arrives at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 as US President-elect Donald Trump continues to hold meetings in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Singer Kanye West arrives at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 as US President-elect Donald Trump continues to hold meetings in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Singer Kanye West arrives at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 as US President-elect Donald Trump continues to hold meetings in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Singer Kanye West arrives at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 as US President-elect Donald Trump continues to hold meetings in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Singer Kanye West arrives at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 as US President-elect Donald Trump continues to hold meetings in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Singer Kanye West arrives at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 as US President-elect Donald Trump continues to hold meetings in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Kanye West meets Donald Trump in Manhattan Singer Kanye West arrives at Trump Tower December 13, 2016 as US President-elect Donald Trump continues to hold meetings in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Ms Sanders said: "I don't know of any conversation that they've had over the last week or so," Sanders said. "I'll keep you posted if that changes". That meeting took place the month after West had been hospitalised for exhaustion after he ended a concert in Sacremento, California, and said that if he had voted in that month's election, he would have voted for Mr Trump. Kardashian West tweeted today as well in the wake of her husband's string of thoughts on life and politics. "To the media trying to demonize my husband let me just say this... your commentary on Kanye being erratic & his tweets being disturbing is actually scary. So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair," she had written. Specifically about West's thoughts on Mr Trump, Kardashian West said: "Most people (including myself) have very different feelings & opinions about this. But this is HIS opinion. I believe in people being able to have their own opinions,even if really different from mine He never said he agrees with his politics". West is expected to release a new album this summer along with collaborations and albums he has produced for other artists. French President Emmanuel Macron has repudiated many aspects of President Donald Trumps political world view while simultaneously linking the two countries fates in the past, present, and future, during a sweeping address to a joint session of the US Congress. A day after Mr Macron met with Mr Trump for a friendly day of pomp and circumstance at the White House, on the first state visit of this American presidency, Mr Macron urged Mr Trump to keep the US in the Iran nuclear deal, predicted that America would rejoin the Paris climate accord and warned against the dangers of nationalism. With Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan behind him, Mr Macron told the assembled Congress that isolationism and nationalism are a tempting remedy for our fears, but that international engagement and cooperation were the true solution. This requires more than ever the United States involvement, as your role was decisive for creating and guarding todays free world. The United States is the one who invented this multilateralism. You are the one now who has to help preserve and reinvent it, Mr Macron said. The French presidents calls for international cooperation included a plea to keep trade between the US and Europe open, and for the preservation of international institutions like the United Nations and Nato two institutions that Mr Trump has been dismissive of in the past. The address, which began with a detailed description of the connections between the United States and France since the inception of their democracies, appeared to be an attempt to leverage the amiable relationship between Mr Macron and Mr Trump they kissed at the White House, and Mr Trump at one point made a show of brushing what he said was dandruff off his French counterparts shoulder to encourage the US president to reconsider some of his more contentious policies. 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 Discussing the Iranian nuclear agreement, which was implemented by Mr Trumps predecessor, Mr Macron said that the deal should be left intact, but recognised concerns that it is not enough to curb the Middle Eastern countrys nuclear ambitions. While Mr Trump has remained publicly undecided about whether he will allow sanctions on Iran to remain suspended, Mr Macron cast the issue as one of national security and pledged that France would not walk away. Whatever the decision of the United States will be, we will not leave the floor to the actions of rogues, Mr Macron said. We will not leave the floor to this conflict of powers in the Middle East. I think we can work together to build this comprehensive deal for the whole region, for our people, because I think it fairly addresses our concerns. Mr Macron cast the Paris climate change agreement as an essential safeguard to ensure that future generations are able to strive and grow, and noted that the US had spearheaded that agreement as well. We signed it at the initiative of the United States, he said. We signed it, both the United States and France that is why we cannot say that we should get rid of it like that. I am sure one day, the US will come back and join the Paris Agreement, Mr Macron said. Let us face it: There is no planet B. The various aspects of the speech were received differently by the politicians in the room. When the French president mentioned reducing carbon emissions, for instance, a group of what appeared to be only Democrats eagerly applauded. At other moments especially those in which Mr Macron praised the strong relationship between France and the US the claps of approval were bipartisan in nature. Mr Macrons speech and visit, particularly when it came to trade between the US and France, sparked some concern from members of Parliament who claimed that the French president was realigning itself as the go-to country for the United States in Europe post-Brexit: a relegation of the historically cosy relationship that the United Kingdom has enjoyed with America. An expansive, ambitious, global speech from Mr Macron. He exploits the potential of bridging European Union and US power, until recently the British preserve, Labour Party MP Peter Kyle tweeted. Trump calls it a special relationship and Congress are rapturous. Brexit is not empowering Britain; its marginalising us. The speech came after Mr Macron and Mr Trump met during the three day visit, and held meetings to discuss several issues including those mentioned in the speech. Mr Macron reportedly met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel before the visit, and Ms Merkel is expected to visit Washington on Friday. The director of the White House budget office has reportedly told financial industry insiders that he only met with lobbyists who had donated to his campaign during his time in Congress. Mick Mulvaney, a former representative from South Carolina and the current director of the Office of Management and Budget, reportedly advised more than 1,000 bankers and lobbyists to donate to lawmakers in order to sway their opinions. We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress, Mr Mulvaney said at an American Bankers Association (ABA) conference in Washington, according to the New York Times. If youre a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didnt talk to you. If youre a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you. But, he added: If you came from back home and sat in my lobby, I talked to you without exception, regardless of the financial contributions. In a tweet, a spokesman for Mr Mulvaney said the Times "got it wrong" about the director's speech. "Director Mulvaney's speech today to the ABA made it clear that being from 'back home' is 'without exception' more important than money when visiting congressmen," wrote spokesman John Czwartacki. 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 Mulvaney is also the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) a regulatory agency that he lobbied to abolish during his time in Congress. The CFPB did not immediately respond to The Independent's request for comment. As director, Mr Mulvaney has worked to diminish the power of the bureau, placing a temporary freeze on hiring, rulemaking, and regulatory actions, and slowing down the implementation of new rules after that. He told the bankers and lobbyists at the conference that he wanted to further reduce the power of the bureau, which was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crash. He urged them to persuade legislators to support his aims by donating to their campaigns. According to the Times, Mr Mulvaney claimed trying to sway legislators through donations was one of the fundamental underpinnings of our representative democracy. Trump nominee Mick Mulvaney admits Obama's inauguration crowd size was bigger Among the changes the director said he wanted to make was shutting down public access to the CFPBs consumer complaint database. The database received some 320,000 complaints last year, on products ranging from debt collection to credit cards, according to the bureaus report to Congress. Mr Mulvaney compared the database to a restaurant review website, and said he did not see anything in the 2010 law that created the bureau that required it to make the complaints public. I dont see anything in here that says I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government, he said. The director has already announced other plans for the CFPB, including a proposal to fund it through congressional appropriations instead of through the Federal Reserve. The change would make it easier for Congress to cut funding to the bureau. In December, less than a month after Mr Mulvaney took over, the bureau changed its mission statement to say its first priority was "regularly identifying and addressing outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations. Thousands of people have marched around the world to commemorate the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks and demand recognition for the atrocity as a genocide. Armenians and many historians consider the killings during the First World War to be a genocide. Although Turkey, a successor to the Ottoman Empire, accepts many Christian Armenians were killed in fighting during the war, the Muslim-majority country vehemently denies the killings in 1915 amounted to a genocide. On Tuesday, thousands of Armenian-Americans took to the streets of Los Angeles, waving Armenian and American flags and carrying signs reading 1915 never again and Turkish denial must end. Armenian-Americans march in protest through the Little Armenia neighborhood of Hollywood, California, demanding recognition by Turkey on the 103rd anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide, which Turkey insists did not happen (FREDERIC J BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) The citys mayor, Eric Garcetti, marched alongside the demonstrators, saying in a speech the genocide was a human tragedy. To be a part of the human family we must accept our tragedies, Mr Garcetti said. And all of us will say, Never again. Demonstrators march towards the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles during a rally commemorating the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian genocide (Mario Tama/Getty Images) (Getty) Many called for a formal recognition of the genocide from countries such as the United States, Turkey and the United Kingdom, where it is recognised by the devolved governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales but not England. Donald Trump has called it one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century but stopped short of using the word genocide. Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the country has a responsibility to share the pain of its Armenian citizens over the 1915 events. Armenian protest leader Nikol Pashinyan (second left) leads a march to the monument to the victims of the 1915 massacres in Yerevan (Tigran Mehrabyan/PAN Photo via AP) In Yerevan, Armenias capital, tens of thousands of Armenians marched to a hilltop memorial dedicated to the victims of the massacres. Thousands were led by a politician who forced the countrys prime minister to resign earlier this week, after which he said he was ready to take the reins of power and would maintain pressure on the ruling elite until they agreed to real change. After 10 days of protest, Serzh Sargsyan, the prime minister, who had previously served as Armenias president for a decade, announced his resignation. Nikol Pashinyan, who played a key role in ousting Mr Sargsyan, said he was ready to become the countrys next prime minister. Some chanted Mr Pashinyans name and waved the national flag as they marched alongside him to mark the anniversary of the 1915 killings. 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 countrys acting prime minister, Karen Karapetyan, an ally of the ousted Mr Sargsyan, said it was important to stay united amid the political turmoil. We are going through a very difficult stage in our new history... demonstrating to the entire world that despite difficulties and unresolved problems we are united, Mr Karapetyan said in a statement after laying flowers at the memorial to the victims of the massacres. Several thousand protesters later took to the streets of the capital after talks between Mr Pashinyan and Mr Karapetyan were cancelled. We will not allow authorities to steal our victory, Mr Pashinyan told supporters. There will be more of us here with every day until we take power. Indian spiritual guru Asaram Bapu, 77, has been found guilty of raping a 16-year-old follower in a case that has shocked Asia. The holy man was arrested in 2013 after a sexual assault complaint was filed against him by the girl's parents. But who is Bapu and how influential is he? The "godman" is a teacher of meditation and yoga who claims to have 40m followers worldwide and 400 ashrams. He was born Asumal Thaumal Harplani in April 1941 in Bernai, a village in Sindh that was then in British India and is now part of Pakistan. The son of a trader in coal and wood, Asaram ran away to join an ashram in Bharuch, Gujurat, aged 15 to escape an arranged marriage to a woman called Laxmi Devi, which ultimately went ahead anyway. After reportedly pursuing a number of careers including selling liquor and tea and repairing bicycles, he became involved with spiritualism in the 1960s when the family relocated to Ahmadabad, at which point he adopted his present name. Bapu founded his first ashram in Motera on the banks of the river Sabarmati in 1972. In the intervening decades, the guru has amassed a huge following and a considerable property portfolio, an area of interest for Indian police currently investigating him for corruption and forgery. The endorsement of local politicians was crucial to his early success and even current Indian prime minister Narendra Modi heard his sermons. He has routinely been a figure of controversy, however. The deaths of several boys at his residential schools in 2008 led to accusations of black magic being practised there while his comments finding the victim in the 2012 Dehli gang rape case culpable for her assault drew widespread criticism. He has also previously been accused of raping another woman in Surat between 2002 and 2004, a case also due for trial. In the present case, for which he has now been convicted, the victim was reportedly sent to Bapu's ashram by her family for spiritual healing after they believed she was "under the influence of some supernatural ghostly powers". Bapu allegedly entered the girl's room and assaulted her while her parents were chanting prayers outside. As many as nine witnesses who came forward in relation to the two rape allegations against him have been attacked over the last five years, three of whom subsequently died of their injuries. Bapu has denied his followers were behind the violence. Today's verdict by the court in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, was read out inside a prison because of fears the conviction might lead to rioting by Bapu's acolytes. Violence erupted in Haryana state in 2017 following a similar case, when flamboyant guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of the Dera Sacha Sauda cult was found guilty on two counts of sexual assault. Those protests saw 29 people killed and more than 100 more injured. 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 highest penalty for rape in India is life imprisonment, with Judge Madhusudhan Sharma set to announce Bapu's sentence later after hearing from the prosecution and the defendant's lawyers. For his part, Bapu continues to deny the charge against him and has the right to appeal to a higher court. His son, Narayan Sai, is meanwhile currently embroiled in a separate sexual assault case, having also been accused of rape by two sisters. Asaram Bapu, a self-styled Indian godman, has been jailed for life after being found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl. The verdict against the 77-year-old was read out inside a prison in the city of Jodhpur, in Rajasthan state, where Bapu has been held since September 2013, over fears his followers may resort to violence. The spiritual guru, who claims to have millions of followers, is expected to appeal. Last August, followers of another flamboyant and popular guru, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, rampaged after he was found guilty of raping two followers, killing at least 38 and injuring more than 200. Judge Madhusudan Sharma announced the prison term for Bapu and sentenced two of his associates to 20 years in prison each for helping him in the crime. The judge convicted Bapu on charges of criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement and rape. He has denied the charges, and a spokeswoman, Neelam Dubey, said he would appeal the verdict in a higher court. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty In her complaint to police in 2013, the girl accused the preacher of sexually assaulting her when she visited his ashram in Jodhpur with her mother. The girl, who reportedly sought to be rid of evil spirits, said in her complaint she was asked to perform oral sex and was touched inappropriately, local media said. Before his arrest in 2013, Bapu ran more than 230 ashrams with residential schools with millions of followers across India and abroad, including the US, UK, Canada, Uganda and Kenya. He is also on trial along with his son, Narayan Sai, in a separate case where two sisters have accused the two men of sexual assault. The case is the latest in a series of high-profile sexual abuse accusations against such figures in India. Responding to widespread outrage over the recent rape and killings of young girls and other attacks on children, Indias government last week approved the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under the age of 12. Finland has denied widespread claims its basic income experiment has fallen flat. A series of media reports said the Finnish government had decided not to expand its trial a version of events which has been repudiated by officials. Miska Simanainen, a social affairs official, said the trial, where about 2,000 unemployed people aged 25-58 are being paid a tax-free 560 (490) monthly income with no questions asked, was "proceeding as planned." The 20m programme, which seeks to reform Finland's social security system, ends in December, at which point Prime Minister Juha Sipila's centre-right government will assess initial results. Reports have said the government social affairs agency has requested up to 70m in extra funding this year, something Mr Simanainen says is false. Finland became the first country in Europe to start the basic income experiment in January 2017. Supporters of basic income argue it would help get unemployed people into temporary jobs, rather than forcing them to remain unemployed to qualify for benefits. 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 They say it would provide a safety net, address insecurities associated with workers not having full-time staff contracts, and help boost mobility in the labour market as people would have a source of income between jobs. A woman who doubted she was pregnant was forced to use YouTube videos to learn how to deliver my own baby after she went into labour alone in a Turkish hotel room. Tia Freeman was travelling from the US to Germany to go on holiday when she started suffering contractions as she landed in Istanbul for a stopover in March. The 22-year-old, who was in "denial", having only been told about her pregnancy six months into her term, assumed she had food poisoning from a meal she had eaten on the plane. It was only when she was going through customs that she realised she was going into labour. Ms Freeman, a computer specialist in the US Air Force, revealed her amazing story in a Twitter thread, which has since been shared thousands of times. Determined not to give birth in an airport, Ms Freeman made it to her hotel room and began searching on YouTube for the best way to deliver her baby. Filling a bath with warm water and grabbing two towels one to bite onto, and one to wrap the baby in she began pushing once her contractions started happening every minute. After five or six pushes, a baby popped out and floated right on up to the top of the water. After checking the sex of her newly-born baby, she was forced to search on Google as to how to cut an umbilical cord without any tools beyond a knife. Using sterilised shoelaces as clamps, she managed to cut the cord before exhaustion began to set in. After cleaning up the bathroom, "which looked like the set of a horror movie", she breastfed her newborn son and went to sleep. Waking up the next day, she headed to the airport to find out how she would leave the country with a newborn baby. After convincing local police and Turkish Airlines staff of her story, local media organisations were tipped off and she became headline news in the country. Ms Freeman was eventually taken to the US Consulate in Istanbul, where she applied for a birth certificate and passport for her son, whom she named Xavier Ata Freeman. After being taken to hospital - almost 24 hours since giving birth - she was given the all clear and spent another two weeks in Istanbul, fully paid for by Turkish Airlines. Ms Freeman finally flew back to Nashville, her hometown, at the end of March. Speaking to The Independent, Ms Freeman said her family were left "absolutely stunned". "No one had a clue," she said. "But they were all extremely excited. Its my parents' first grandchild and he makes the fifth living generation on my mums side. "As soon as I flew back they all came to visit, bearing gifts and spoiling Xavier. They found out about four days after I gave birth to him while I was still in Istanbul. So of course they called every single day, wanting to talk to him and see pictures and videos and checking in to make sure we were okay." Looking back on the birth now, Ms Freeman says despite the risks, she "probably wouldn't change a thing". What its like to give birth at the Lindo Wing "The experience taught me so much. I learned how to be resourceful and calm under pressure. I was able to bond one on one with my son from his first breaths," she said. "Im thankful that everything went well and I was able to deliver a healthy baby," she added. "I know everyone isnt always so fortunate but I appreciate the experience and hopefully hell think its an amazing story when hes older!" And why she did not go to a hospital? "Not many people spoke English that I encountered at first," she said. "And I didnt know what the countrys emergency number was and I didnt know how my insurance would work overseas so I just decided to DIY it." Though Ms Freeman's birth was a success, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) "strongly discourages" women from giving birth alone. Whilst the RCM recognises that every woman has the right to give birth without professional assistance, there are potential risks for both mother and baby and for that reason the RCM would strongly discourage women from giving birth by themselves and without professional support or skilled medical help," an RCM spokesperson told The Independent. The RCM also believes that the more we develop maternity services which enable women and midwives to get to know each other and for women to trust their midwife the less likely women are to choose to give birth without a midwife present. On the huge reaction on social media, Ms Freeman said: "I expected my friends to go crazy reading it but I didnt expect it to get as big as it did. Though I probably should have, seeing as though everyone who knows the story loses their minds. "I think all the tweets broke my Twitter." Read Ms Freeman's amazing story in full below. Please wait a moment for the Tweets to load. Irans president has rejected a proposal to change the international deal regulating the countrys nuclear programme, mocking the suggestion outlined by Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump and dismissing the US leader as a tradesman. Speaking in Washington during a three-day state visit, Mr Macron proposed a new deal that he hoped would answer concerns raised by the US president and ensure Washington did not pull out. This is the only way to bring about stability, he had said. But the following day, the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani claimed the two leaders had no right to renegotiate the the terms of the 2015 accord, brokered by seven parties. He also poured scorn on Mr Trump, saying he was not qualified to comment on international affairs. You dont have any background in politics, he said in a televised speech, according to Reuters. You dont have any background in law. You dont have any background on international treaties. Together with a leader of a European country they say: We want to decide on an agreement reached by seven parties. What for? With what right? The French president proposed a new Iran nuclear deal to build on the one currently in place, a gamble that he hoped will convince Mr Trump not to pull out of the deal. Under the terms of the arrangement, the US president is required to recertify it every 90 days or leave its fate to Congress. The next date for Mr Trump to make such a decision on 12 May. Trump flicks dandruff off Macron's shoulder: 'I'll get that little piece of dandruff off' I would like us to have a new deal with the four pillars that already exist in the current agreement, Mr Macron said during a joint press conference in the White House. Mr Trump has fiercely criticised a three-year-old deal reached by world powers to curb Irans programme, and repeatedly threatened to pull the US out. Even when he appeared with Mr Macron, he criticised the deal that was brokered by his predecessor, Barack Obama. However, he concluded the press conference by looking to Mr Macron and saying: Nobody knows what Im going to do on the 12th, though Mr President, you have a pretty good idea. He added: We can change and we can be flexible. In life, you have to be flexible. 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 other powers that signed the agreement with Iran Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France have all said they want to preserve it. Many nations see it as the best hope of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb, and of heading off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Mr Macrons proposals aims to block any Iranian nuclear activity until 2025 and beyond, address Irans ballistic missile programme and generate conditions for a political solution to contain Iran in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Senior Iranian officials have said repeatedly its ballistic missile programme is not up for negotiation. Richard Nephew, a senior research scholar at Columbia University and author of the The Art of Sanctions, told The Independent talk of additional or supplementary elements being added to the 2015 deal was nothing new. He said he was heartened by Mr Trumps statement that he was willing to consider Mr Macrons proposal, even given the US presidents habit of walking away from pledges he once vocally supported. He said he also believed Mr Rouhani could live with supplementary elements to the deal, which the Iranian president did not want to see torn up. Yet he warned: There are an awful lot of people in Washington who want to see this deal fail, and two of them happen to be the presidents top advisers [Mr Trumps nominee for secretary of state, Mike] Pompeo and [national security adviser John] Bolton. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks with Mr Trump in Washington later in the week, as part of a coordinated European effort to keep the US in the deal. In London, British Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman said the UK was supportive of Mr Macrons efforts. We are working closely with our allies on how to address the range of challenges Iran poses in the Middle East, including those issues that President Macron proposed a new deal might cover, the spokesman said. In Geneva, the USs non-proliferation envoy Christopher Ford, said Washington was not seeking to reopen or renegotiate the JCPOA Iran nuclear deal, but hoped to stay in it to fix its flaws with a supplementary agreement. We are not aiming to renegotiate the JCPOA or reopen it or change its terms, Mr Ford told reporters on the sidelines of a nuclear non-proliferation conference. We are seeking a supplemental agreement that would in some fashion layer upon it a series of additional rules - restrictions, terms, parameters, whatever you want to call it - that help answer these challenges more effectively. In an address to the Joint Houses of Congress on Wednesday, Mr Macron said of the 2015 deal: We signed it at the initiative of the United States. We signed it, both the United States and France, that is why we cannot say that we should get rid of it like that. We will not leave the floor to the absence of rule. We will not leave the floor to this conflict of powers in the Middle East. Boracay, one of the most popular islands for tourists in the Philippines, is to close for six months on 26 April. The decision was announced by President Rodrigo Duterte on 4 April, after he dubbed the island a cesspool during a visit the previous month. The island is lauded for its white sand beaches, but problems of sewage being dumped into the sea by local hotels and restaurants, and buildings constructed too close to the shoreline, mean it is under threat. Recommended Famous bay from film The Beach to close due to overtourism The environment ministry has claimed some 195 businesses and 4,000 residential properties on Boracay are not connected to the sewer system. Environment undersecretary Jonas Leones told The Guardian: An iron fist is needed to bring it back to its previous condition. It will be a temporary thing. The measures will include suspending airline services and ferries, making beaches off limits and even stationing police officers if necessary. The move to close the island to tourists has been met with mixed reactions. We support the government in adopting responsible and sustainable tourism practices, said the Philippine Travel Agencies Association, but not in shutting down the whole island. Jose Clemente III, president of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines, said they had expected partial, rather than full, closure. Were a bit depressed right now in the industry, he told ABS-CBN. We were expecting some sort of compromise between a partial or total closure or at least given more time to adjust to a closure, but I guess the president made up his mind and were taken aback by it. He added: If given the opportunity, yes, we would like to present our case. The private sector did not have a face-to-face dialogue with the president. We were doing it through the various agencies. Unfortunately, I guess this is the result of the recommendations of those agencies. The closure is estimated to potentially lead to 36,000 job losses and PHP56bn (767m) loss of tourist-related revenue. However, senior deputy executive secretary Menardo Guevarra said that calamity funds would be used to keep affected workers afloat during the closure period. In 2017 alone, 3.72 million people flew to the island, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines. Summer is around the corner, which means holiday planning for many people and if you have some free time on your hands over the next few months, you could be in luck. Budget Icelandic airline Wow Air is seeking two friends who would like to travel the world together this summer, while blogging and vlogging about their experiences and getting paid to do it. The low-cost carrier is launching the WOW Travel Guide competition on 23 April. It says its looking for a fun pair of individuals who are able to think big. This can either be two content creators or one who wants to bring a friend along for the adventure. The successful applicants will move to Iceland from 1 June until 15 August, where they will receive a monthly salary and live in an apartment (pictured below) in downtown Reykjavik. They will use the place as a base to travel to destinations served by Wow Air across Europe and North America and will also explore Iceland. The apartment will be used by the winners as a place to stay and plan additional trips (Wow Air/Business Insider) The winners will be allowed to pick where they go, a representative for the airline told Business Insider, which could include places like Barcelona, Los Angeles, Stockholm and New York. Each traveller will receive a salary of about 3,300 (2,885) a month, which comes in addition to the apartment, as well as transportation and other tours around Iceland. Travel and living expenses will also be covered by the airline while the pair are visiting other destinations. The successful applicants will be required to document their trips, capturing short videos and writing budget-friendly travel tips to create guides for the destinations they visit. Their content, which will include videos, GIFs and blog posts, will be posted to a section on the Wow Air website called Travel Guide. From cityscapes to sunshine Show all 6 1 /6 From cityscapes to sunshine From cityscapes to sunshine Soak in the beautiful architecture of the Castell de Bellver From cityscapes to sunshine Enjoy contemporary art at Baluard Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani From cityscapes to sunshine See the sunset from an Arab fortress From cityscapes to sunshine Try some of the Balearic capital's tasty tapas at La Taberna del Caracol From cityscapes to sunshine Discover Palma's picturesque promenades From cityscapes to sunshine Stop for an authentic lunch at Mercat de lOlivar farmers market To apply, candidates should head to the competition website and upload a two-minute clip offering travel tips for their hometown. The contest is open to candidates everywhere. The deadline for entries is 14 May, after which a panel of judges will select the winners to be announced on social media on 18 May, just in time for the adventure to begin on 1 June. Read more: Barnier: Britain has to follow EU regulations forever if it wants a Brexit trade deal Trump is weighing a massive strike on Syria and it could bring all-out war with Russia Mark Zuckerberg gave his grueling testimony to Congress from a 4-inch booster seat Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2018. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. In all the many gut-wrenching aspects of the all-too-public case of Alfie Evans, one of the most sickening is exploitation of the tragedy by foreign politicians for their own selfish ideological ends. Exploitation, that is, made all the more objectionable for being based in a most profound ignorance about the medical and judicial systems of another country. Understandably, the story of Alfie Evans, the severely ill toddler whose parents have been barred from taking him to Italy for final treatment, has touched many hearts around the world. The Italian government went so far as to make him an Italian citizen to facilitate the care his parents wish him to receive in a Rome hospital. That is a relatively benign sort of intervention, an expression of support, opening up options, while leaving decisions to the family, the doctors and the courts concerned. Much less helpful, not to say impertinent, are Tweets from the likes of Mike Huckabee, former Republican governor of Arkansas, who says, quite simply, government-run health care fails again. Oddly for someone with his political background, he chucks in a dollop of class envy too: On the very day Brits celebrated the royal baby, the UK government removed life support system from 23-month-old Alfie Evans and stationed a line of police to keep his frantic parents from moving him to another hospital that would grant him care. A royal shame! What is really a royal shame is this vast well of ignorance that these know-nothings are swimming in. There are others, you see, no doubt representative of a deeply confused appreciation of reality. A Twitterer called burnt Peacock for example, who opines: And no govt bureaucracy should be making medical care decisions best left between doctors and patients. Or Steve Deace of the Steve Deace Show, who writes: Want to know what the Death of the West looks like? Exactly no one in the UK healthcare system has practiced some form of civil disobedience today for #AlfieEvans. Rather, all are dutifully carrying out a ritualistic execution in broad daylight because the state says so. Someone needs to get these guys off their hyperventilators. Here are some actual facts that will help reduce their blood pressure and simultaneously improve cognitive performance. Firstly, the National Health Service offers the British people superb health care financed from general taxation. It has its faults, but this form of social insurance means, for example, that a child such as Alfie Evans will receive treatment and round-the-clock care way beyond the means of his parents. Bear in mind too that in the UK private insurance health schemes rarely offer full cover against long-term conditions such as Alzheimers or cancer, or if they do, its at great cost in unaffordable premiums. I do not know what would have happened to Alfie if he was in New York or Arkansas rather than London, but I do know he would not have the automatic assurance of first class treatment under the NHS. Cost was not the issue in this case, nor did it come down to unthinking, uncaring state bureaucrats running some sort of Soviet-style system to take over peoples lives and kidnap their kids. Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Show all 6 1 /6 Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves The elderly We acknowledge that there are pressures on the health service, there are always extra pressures on the NHS in the winter, but we have the added pressures of the ageing population and the growing complex needs of the population, Theresa May has said. Waits of over 12 hours in A&E among elderly people have more than doubled in two years, according to figures from NHS Digital. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Patients going to A&E instead of seeing their GPs Jeremy Hunt has called for a honest discussion with the public about the purpose of A&E departments, saying that around a third of A&E patients were in hospital unnecessarily. Mr Hunt told Radio 4s Today programme the NHS now had more doctors, nurses and funding than ever, but explained what he called very serious problems at some hospitals by suggesting pressures were increasing in part because people are going to A&Es when they should not. He urged patients to visit their GP for non-emergency illnesses, outlined plans to release time for family doctors to support urgent care work, and said the NHS will soon be able to deliver seven-day access to a GP from 8am to 8pm. But doctors struggling amid a GP recruitment crisis said Mr Hunts plans were unrealistic and demanded the Government commit to investing in all areas of the overstretched health service. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Simon Stevens, head of NHS England Reports that key members of Ms Mays team used internal meetings to accuse Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, of being unenthusiastic and unresponsive have been rejected by Downing Street. Mr Stevens had allegedly rejected claims made by Ms May that the NHS had been given more funding than required. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Previous health policy, not funding In an interview with Sky Newss Sophy Ridge, Ms May acknowledged the NHS faced pressures but said it was a problem that had been ducked by government over the years. She refuted the claim that hospitals were tackling a humanitarian crisis and said health funding was at record levels. We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need, said the Prime Minister. They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required Funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in. But doctors accused Ms May of being in denial about how the lack of additional funding provided for health and social care were behind a spiralling crisis in NHS hospitals. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Target to treat all A&E patients within four hours Mr Hunt was accused of watering down the flagship target to treat all A&E patients within four hours. The Health Secretary told MPs the promise introduced by Tony Blairs government in 2000 should only be for those who actually need it. Amid jeers in the Commons, Mr Hunt said only four other countries pledged to treat all patients within a similar timeframe and all had less stringent rules. But Ms May has now said the Government will stand by the four-hour target for A&E, which says 95 per cent of patients must be dealt with within that time frame. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves No one Mr Hunt was accused of hiding from the public eye following news of the Red Crosss comments and didnt make an official statement for two days. He was also filmed refusing to answer questions from journalists who pursued him down the street yesterday to ask whether he planned to scrap the four-hour A&E waiting time target. Sky News reporter Beth Rigby pressed the Health Secretary on his position on the matter, saying the public will want to know, Mr Hunt. Sorry Beth, Ive answered questions about this already, replied Mr Hunt. But you didnt answer questions on this. You said it was over-interpreted in the House of Commons and you didnt want to water it down. Is that what youre saying? said Ms Rigby. Its very difficult, because how are we going to explain to the public what your intention is, when you change your position and then wont answer the question, Mr Hunt. But the Health Secretary maintained his silence until he reached his car and got in. Getty Its like this. A child in Britain is protected by the law and the courts, and his or her interests are represented properly. When there are issues of life and death, then the courts listen and sift the complex medical evidence, the wishes of parents and, of course, the legal framework, including human rights entrenched in British law. Doctors are not allowed to just turn off life support, still less civil servants. It is a cynical misrepresentation of a case that has been through every court of the land, treated with utmost seriousness throughout. If Alfie had been in a private hospital of which there are quite a few in the UK operating perfectly freely the courts would still have had a deciding role in the case. The bottom line, to be frank, is that parents cannot treat their child like an item of personal property with untrammelled liberty, or else there would be no laws against child abuse or cruelty. The issue before the courts was the pain and welfare of Alfie, no more or less. Recommended Why Trump is wrong about the NHS Thus, no parent can retain or dispose of a mortally ill child as they would a used car, and it is stupid to think human life is just another parental chattel. It isnt, and nor should it be. You cant run a hospital like you would an election for governor of Arkansas or the White House; it is not a suitable place for populism. As it happens, for what its worth (not much, Id be the first to admit), if Id been a judge in this case I would have allowed the parents the chance to take Alfie to Rome for a try at treatment, because it would be the only way they could achieve peace with themselves and their baby. I have no doubt that the courts and doctors were right to also weigh the prospective pain and suffering to be endured by the child, but I might have balanced things differently. But I also have no illusion that my views and judgements are superior to those reached. What I am most clear about and this is ironic considering the source of many of the tweets mentioned is that politicians, journalists and TV stars should have no role in this whatsoever, and still less should there be any consideration of money when it comes to relieving suffering. The abiding principle of the British National Health Service is that no one should ever have to suffer in pain because they havent got the money to pay for treatment. That, I believe, is not the case in America. Not so very long ago, Iran and North Korea were the two poles of what George W Bush famously labelled the axis of evil aggressive regional powers intent on acquiring nuclear weapons and representing a clear threat to American security interests. Not so today. North Koreas Kim Jong-un, once dubbed by President Trump as little rocket man and sick puppy, is to meet as an equal with the American leader, who he once disparaged as a dotard. Nowadays Mr Trump doesnt threaten Pyongyang with fire and fury, but praises his counterpart as an honourable man. As ever, with two such monumental and unpredictable egos, everything could fall apart at any point, but for now the Korean peninsula is living through an unusually sunny phase in its history. Contrast that, then, with Iran. America remains the Great Satan, just as it has been since the great revolution four decades ago that swept the ayatollahs to power. President Hassan Rouhani has chucked the unusual insult of tradesman at Mr Trump, adding, by way of explanation, that Mr Trump is not qualified to comment on international affairs or matters of law. While strictly, and demonstrably, true, and provoked by Mr Trumps belligerent talk, it is now what diplomats would term unhelpful in restraining Mr Trump from tearing up the troubled Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the international accord designed to constrain Irans nuclear ambitions. Mr Trump has long campaigned for it to be scrapped. As with so many of his despised predecessors policies, Mr Trump sees it as simply another line in Barack Obamas legacy to be wiped from the palimpsest. His new designated secretary of state, John Bolton, is a notorious hawk on Iran, and America now threatens to plunge relations between the West and Iran into a mini Cold War, if anything pushing Tehran ever closer to Moscow. This is not a hopeful development. There were some glimmers of pragmatism visible during President Trumps joint press conference with Emmanuel Macron. The French president, and indeed the whole world, will hope that Mr Trumps mention of flexibility in life heralds some softening in his approach to the JCPOA. Mr Macron, craftily, has proposed a new treaty, but preserving the essentials of the 2015 original thus saving Mr Trumps face while also saving the substantive elements of the original treaty. If his ploy succeeds then it will represent a substantial diplomatic coup for the French; and the world will owe Mr Macron a debt of gratitude. If not, it will prove beyond doubt that even the most faithful and pragmatic of allies cannot influence Mr Trump, and that the Middle East can only look forward to more violence. Iran has so far responded with a sullen rejection of any talk of change, but it is at least possible that Mr Macrons stratagem will succeed, and that President Trump will not, come the deadline on 12 May, withdraw from the treaty. That would both signal a renewed stance of hostility from Washington which would come as no great surprise and push relations into a new, more unstable phase. After decisive joint Western action in Syria against government forces backed by Iran and Russia, it is perfectly possible that the Americans might choose to take further action there and in other proxy wars in Yemen, Iraq and, possibly, Lebanon. The important lesson Tehran may draw from recent trends is that it pays to get your hands on a nuke. For it is plain that the only reason why Donald Trump is suddenly compromising with North Korea is because North Korea has managed to develop nuclear weaponry that directly threatens the United States. If the Iranians possessed nuclear-tipped missiles, would the Americans be quite as willing to try to push them around, they will wonder. The central point about the JCPOA is that, flawed as it is, it slows Irans nuclear progress; if Iran follows Americas example in renouncing it then there will be nothing, except American brute power, possibly backed by or exercised through Israel, that will deter Iran from speeding up its programme once again. Even if the original axis of evil is not reformed, there will be many other evil regimes around the world that would be happy to join the tribute band version. They will, like Tehran and Pyongyang before them, conclude that even a bombastic figure such as Donald Trump will pause and think again when trying to bully a smaller power. They will be right, too. Once again, US made weapons sold to our great friend Saudi Arabia are raining down on innocent men, women and children in Yemen. How can we call ourselves an ethical, law abiding nation when we continue to remain silent when such atrocities are being committed on a daily basis? We are complicit in the most heinous war crimes. Donald Trump, his enablers in Congress and his supporters are guilty. I shudder to think how they will explain their silence when they come face to face with their creator. The feigned reverence for God and Jesus Christ is gross hypocrisy in light of our obsession for trade, profits and lack of concern for innocent lives. At least 20 people died on Sunday when a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a wedding party in northern Yemen. Most of the dead were reportedly women and children who were gathered in one of the wedding party tents. The bride was among the dead. Medics and residents said more than 46 others including 30 children were also injured. The attack on the Yemeni wedding party was one of at least three airstrikes over the weekend that killed Yemeni civilians. A family of five died in an airstrike in the province of Hajja. And 20 civilians died on Saturday when fighter jets bombed a bus near the city of Taiz. Please call the White House and demand an immediate halt to this madness. Tejinder Uberoi California, USA Nicola Sturgeon should shift her focus from Scottish independence for a change So while the Welsh government is poised to accept the latest Brexit compromise from Westminster, the SNP administration in Scotland is not. Why? Easy. The Welsh government is headed by Labour and is not attempting to use Brexit to break up the UK. If settlement is reached over powers being transferred from Brussels via Westminster to Holyrood, then Nicola Sturgeon loses one of her cherished indyref2 triggers. Lets not forget that, for the nationalist leader, independence transcends everything: Brexit, the economy and oil. A successful outcome for the UK from Brexit is not on her agenda. Martin Redfern Edinburgh If the SNPs Brexit minister Mike Russell thought the arguments over powers returning from the EU were about devolution, he might well have considered a compromised deal could be found with the UK government. He perhaps realised, as the Welsh government has, that the latest proposals properly respected devolution and could be considered fair in that regard. Yet it seems Russells boss is not interested in fairness but rather is looking for an excuse to engineer a crisis. Throughout her time as first minister, Nicola Sturgeon has shown she is not prepared to accept no for an answer, and over Brexit and the EU this has been elevated to a new level, whereby nothing but getting her own way will ever be deemed good enough for the purposes of Scottish nationalism. Keith Howell West Linton The Conservatives need to address their racism problem Am I alone in feeling that while Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party are being accused of antisemitism, the Tory party is blatantly racist, particularly but not exclusively, towards people of colour? Whilst the current Windrush crisis has brought the status of long term immigrants to the fore, over the last few years there have been many other instances of people who have received citizenship through marriage being deported or threatened with deportation or not allowed to return because they went back to their country of origin to care for a sick relative and were then denied re-entry. Just because a person wants to live in Britain, that doesnt mean they should give up all contact with home or that contact should deny them a right to return. Pauline Edwards Leicestershire There is nothing honourable about honour killings I wonder if I might ask you to change the way you report the murders of daughters in Asian communities who have apparently besmirched the good name of their family. You currently refer to these murders as honour killings. I am sure this is the label the murderers themselves prefer as it subliminally implies, by word association, that there is something honourable in killing your own daughter. I would like to suggest that there is absolutely nothing honourable in killing your own daughter for what is actually just, in reality, a reaction to the slight of the ego of a misguided patriarch or sibling who perceives his standing in his community more important than a human life. Instead of granting these murders some kind of legitimacy by using a positive word like honour, could you perhaps start referring to them as dishonour murders, or if you are afraid to go this far at least compromise on dishonour killings. I feel this would still describe the act but would hopefully imply that the killing itself was dishonourable. Maurice Curran Glasgow Britains lean economic years are purely down to Tory de-regulation Looking at the public sector current budget graph in Ben Chus piece I am struck not by any sense of relief or optimism but, rather, I lament the lost years that Thatcherite neoliberal policy have brought us. The trend under Blair/Brown up until 2008 was favourable and the subsequent plunge is entirely attributable to the finance sector bailouts that were the foreseeable and foreseen consequences of Thatchers big bang deregulation and the repeal of glass steagall in the US. The more or less return to trend we now see is not a testimony to Tory virtue quite the reverse. The problem was wholly and solely authored by the Tories in the first place. Lets have no plaudits or laurels for the Tories please, just perpetual condemnation. Steve Ford Haydon Bridge Of course Windrush deportations are discriminatory With reference to your headline in Mondays edition, Home Office agencies at heart of Windrush scandal rife with discrimination no sh*t?! Ron Mure Mansfield What does Britain stand for? With Brexit approaching, an answer to that question feels more urgently needed than it has for some time. Ask a hundred people and you might expect to encounter some recurring themes. Democracy perhaps? What about fairness? Liberalism, tolerance and humour might get a look in. The stiff upper lip might still be mentioned by a few, as might queueing. What about free speech? We are, after all, a nation that apparently likes to speak its mind. Freedom of speech can mean all sorts of things though. And concepts of safe spaces and no-platforming have led many to question whether the right not to be offended has come to be a greater concern for many of us than the right of even those with deeply offensive views to express them. The news media, in its many and varied guises, has often been regarded as the symbol of Britains commitment to free expression. Elements of it may have been rambunctious but better that than being cowed or, even worse, dull. Social medias rise has made the role of the traditional media arguably less emblematic. Indeed, the more ardent critics of the now patronisingly acronymed MSM have sought to present it as merely part of the mysterious establishment and not really independent, or free, at all. Stephen Colbert buys billboard for Trump's 'Most Dishonest Corrupt Media Awards' Nevertheless, it ought to be a matter of national shame that in this years World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, the UK has fallen to number 40 in the global rankings, below the likes of Ghana, Lithuania, Uruguay and Jamaica. We are one of the worst performing countries in Western Europe. Among other things, the fall takes into account proposals to replace the Official Secrets Act with new legislation that might see journalists penalised for obtaining leaked information; as well as threats from ministers to limit the use of encryption tools such as WhatsApp; and restrictions placed on journalists access to political campaigns during the 2017 general election. It should go without saying that the media must be accountable for its actions. There have been times in the past when some sections of the press failed to meet their ethical and legal responsibilities, as became clear during the Leveson inquiry and associated legal claims over phone hacking. Its also true that journalists and editors sometimes make misjudgements and mistakes. Just today, The Times has been rebuked over its story of last year that alleged Tower Hamlets council had placed a Christian child with Muslim foster parents, to the childs detriment. Yet the media continues to expose wrongdoing and to raise awareness of important issues daily from the Windrush scandal to antisemitism in the Labour Party; and from tax-avoidance schemes to widespread sexual abuse of children in towns such as Rotherham. How the British media covered the Iraq War Show all 6 1 /6 How the British media covered the Iraq War How the British media covered the Iraq War Daily Mirror, 6 January 2003 How the British media covered the Iraq War The Guardian, 21 March 2003 How the British media covered the Iraq War The Daily Mail, 22 March 2003 How the British media covered the Iraq War Daily Telegraph, 21 March 2003 How the British media covered the Iraq War The Sun, 20 March 2003 How the British media covered the Iraq War Thanks to changing consumer habits, and to the dominance of big tech firms, such as Facebook, much of the traditional media already faces significant challenges to existing business models. In many respects, it is rising to those challenges. But as the Reporters Without Borders rankings show, press freedom is under pressure from a political discourse in which some of the loudest voices are antagonistic. The Data Protection Bill currently going through parliament has been used by press critics as a vehicle to promote changes to the law that could have a further, serious impact on media organisations. Aside from raising the spectre of another time-consuming, Leveson-style inquiry into the presss use of data (no mention of big techs use of data, mind you), amendments introduced in the Lords seek to make publishers liable for picking up both sides costs in any data protection cases brought against them unless the publisher agrees to be regulated by a body approved by an official panel. Such measures are not only anathema to press freedom, but also to natural justice. Whether the amendments pass into the statute books depends on MPs. The Labour Party is committed to pushing for a Leveson-esque inquiry (despite the fact that the purpose of the bill is to update data protection laws in any event); many within the partys ranks also back the proposal to change the costs regime in privacy cases. For those who have been on the receiving end of critical and perhaps erroneous media coverage, that attitude is perhaps understandable. But grudges against specific outlets could easily end up causing significant harm across the journalistic board if the amendments succeed. Arguing for a free press is not, as some would have it, the same as arguing for a free pass. But it is time politicians from all parties as well as those who dismiss the mainstream media as a whole because they dislike the political standpoint of a particular newspaper, or because journalists sometimes err understood the perils of the current, anti-media narrative. As we begin to consider what vision of Britain might emerge after EU withdrawal, now is the time to remember that press freedom is something that is integral to democracy, not an easily dismissed afterthought. If anything good is to come from the Windrush Scandal (or indeed the Windrush Sadness, as Amber Rudd bafflingly called it at one point) it could well be a new political TV format. Sometimes absolutely-bang-to-rights scandals at Westminster can get drowned in procedural complexity, so it was nothing short of ingenious for the Home Affairs Select Committee to seat three victims of the Windrush Abomination, to give its correct name, directly behind the Home Secretary as she spent two miserable hours trying and failing to account for herself and her department. If ever you got lost for a moment, this elderly trios helpfully indignant scowls, their utterly disbelieving shakes of the head, their disdainful flicks of the wrist were all right there to guide you to the correct reaction. It is the kind of stuff Facebook Live has been trying to do with emoji reaction buttons with considerably less success. In the future, every time a politician has to account for their own catastrophic failings, it should, in my view, be made law that a small handful of those who have had to live with its consequences be positioned behind them to provide real time reaction by way of facial semaphore. Events began in predictable enough fashion, with what may by now be the governments 10,000th woefully unsatisfactory mea culpa for its continued victimisation of ethnic minority British pensioners, which it has been told about weekly for at least the last six months, and until very recently done nothing. I pay tribute to the individuals, the journalists and campaigners who have brought this to our attention, Ms Rudd began. This tribute did not go down well in the seats behind her. Can I say how tragic it was to watch some of those cases, and repeat how committed I am to deal with them? You can if you like Home Secretary, but the tragedy has been rather more keenly felt by the people sitting behind you. These, after all, are the people who have lived that tragedy, as opposed to been forced finally to watch it. And if I were you, I wouldnt look round right now. Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I cant face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty The thing with the Windrush Disgrace, is that there are always more stories to tell. Every single MP seems to have a stash of them in their inbox. Sarah Jones has been the Labour MP for Croydon Central for less than a year and is already, she said, dealing with 450 immigration cases. One of them, she said, involves an elderly lady in her constituency whose home was raided at dawn by ten immigration officers who told her she was going to be deported because she was here illegally, that she would be taken to a detention centre. She wasnt here illegally, Ms Jones explained. Now shes been told to get in touch with the Home Office but shes too scared to do it. The faces in the gallery, as ever, said it all. There then came a series of questions to which, quite bafflingly, neither Ms Rudd, nor the gentleman she had brought along with her, Glynn Williams, the Director General responsible for Borders and Immigration within the Home Office, had any answers. The Labour MP Stephen Doughty said he had been told by regional immigration officials that, entirely in keeping of the hostile environment for immigration of which Theresa May was once so proud, they had net removal targets to meet. That there had been net removal targets turned out to be news not only to Amber Rudd, but to the very Director General of the Home Office responsible for them. Do you mean a number? Ms Rudd asked. A net removal target would surely mean a number, Mr Doughty told her. Both Ms Rudd and Mr Williams said they would go away and find out, whether their own department had been setting removal targets, because neither of them were aware. In their defence, it is perhaps conceivable, and certainly it has never been more conceivable than now, that a net removal target may have nothing to do with a number. Rather a Jamaican-born, British pensioner is declared a target, their photograph is handed to an immigration official, and he then goes and removes them, with a net. There may once have been a time when the outsourcing of the enforced deportation contract to the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang would come as as a shock, but those days are gone. Indeed, as the session carried on, Sky News went and found an immigration officer from the Borders Union, who told them that yes the removals targets do exist, and even went so far as to tell them the number - 8,337. Within a few minutes, this too had been put to the Home Secretary and the Director General of Borders who still didnt know about it. It is not commonly known that there are actually four original versions of Edvard Munchs painting The Scream, which makes life harder for investigators on the increasingly common occasions on which one of them is stolen. So it may be helpful to put on record that at this point, three of them appeared simultaneously behind Amber Rudds head. I saw them with my own eyes, in the Grimond Room of Portcullis House, Westminster, London, shortly after 6pm on Wednesday April 25. We ended with a warning from Committee Chair, Yvette Cooper, that there are other crises of a similar nature, coming down the track on, to take just one example, the treatment of torture victims in detention centres. Whoever is to blame, the hostile environment for Home Secretaries is just getting started, then. The question is for how long Ms Rudd has a right to remain. Baling 4x4 bales of silage has a charge of 4.50 per bale plus VAT. Baling and wrapping (including plastic cost) will be charged at 9.50 per bale plus VAT. The Farm Contractors Association of Ireland (FCI) have released a recommended list of guide prices that contractors will be charging for various jobs this year. With spring planting work finally getting going in the last week, farmers will be keen to have a close look at the fees to see what their contractor might be charging after the job is done. On this page we publish a selection of the common jobs and charges which cover a wide range of contractor services, including: cultivations; drilling/sowing operations; baling and bale handling; complete cultivation work; spraying and fertiliser application; combine harvesting; beet harvesting; hedge-cutting; silage and willow harvesting; zero-grazing; slurry and muck spreading; as well as plant and tractor hire. Whilst the FCI are keen to point out that charge rates can vary, the list should give a fair idea as to what farmers can reasonably expect to pay for jobs. In all cases, these prices are based on a green diesel price of 70c/Litre. Note that VAT (at 13.5pc) must also be added. Baling and handling charges Silage and haymaking charges Slurry and muck spreading charges Fertiliser charges Plant and Tractor hire charges Combining charges Cultivation charges Drilling and sowing charges Hedgecutting charges Agri-advisors have raised concerns about the pressures being placed on tillage farmers with the volume of work left to be completed due to the late spring. Farmers have been urged to put their safety first as they try to get back on track with their planting regimes. Teagasc advisor George Ramsbottom urged farmers to reach out to each other and talk about their heavy workloads and the financial costs of the harsh winter. "There is a level of depression at farm level that I wouldn't have seen for a number of years. It has been a long, hard few weeks. "Basically some people are still in winter mode. There is an awareness that this year is not going to be as good a year as other years," he said. "But sharing experiences is a great antidote." Mr Ramsbottom pointed out it was going to be an expensive spring for dairy and livestock farmers with feed levels running far ahead of other years. "From a profit perspective, difference per day is 2.70 per cow due to delay in turnout," he said. Feed bills Merchant credit is also running at higher than usual levels due to the increased feed costs. Pat Ryan of Liffey Mills said their feed sales were over 30pc ahead of last year, while Michael Slattery of Drummonds pointed out their sales were up by around a fifth so far. Glanbia said that dairy feed sales were continuing at record levels, with feed mills running 24/7 to try and keep up with demand. ICMSA dairy chair Gerald Quain said they estimated that a 350,000l milk supplier would be "down a minimum of 10,000 and for many it'll be much more than that through a combination of fodder and feed expenses and the decline in milk volume and constituents". "We'd be very concerned that this year's silage season will be late and the problem could run on into next winter," he said. "There's the question, too, of body condition of cows which has declined noticeably in the last month and which will certainly have a negative effect on the upcoming breeding season." Dairy farmer Michael Guinan of Rahan in Co Offaly estimated that he had spent around 7,000 on extra ration, loose silage, baled silage, maize and soya. John Bateman of Fedamore in Co Limerick said: "Over the last seven or eight weeks, I've spent 8,000. "Effectively I'm using the milk income to buy in the meal and there's nothing left over: I'm buying the milk, that's a bad spot to be in for spring milk and I do feel that there will be an increased 'mental bill' for farmers also." Sinn Fein is to back a unionist candidate in the upcoming Seanad by-election. Mary Lou McDonald has confirmed that TDs and senators have been told to vote for the ex-president of the Ulster Farmers Union Ian Marshall. Mr Marshall is running as an Independent candidate for one of two vacancies but put his name forward following an approach from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. He was a strong anti-Brexit campaigner and currently works in Queens University in Belfast. Ms McDonald met with him on several occasions in recent weeks and said she was impressed by his views on Brexit and the potential impact Brexit will have on the island, north and south. I believe Ian will be a strong Independent voice in the Seanad; providing an anti-Brexit unionist perspective, which is a welcome addition to the political discourse surrounding the issue in the Oireachtas. Brexit affects people from all backgrounds and ways of life; nationalist, unionists and everyone in between, she said. The move means Mr Marshall looks almost certain to secure a seat in the Upper House. Ian is a unionist. I am an Irish Republican. As I have stated repeatedly, the Ireland I want to see is one where one can comfortably be Irish or British, both or neither. I believe Ian can bring a new and interesting voice to the discussion surrounding a New Ireland, Ms McDonald said. Voting in the bye-elections to fill the seats vacated by Denis Landy and Trevor O Clochartaigh is due to conclude on Friday. Ryanair boss Michael OLeary has agreed to buy more Boeing 737 Max aircraft it dubbed a game changer Ryanair yesterday agreed to buy a further 25 Boeing 737 MAX planes, worth $3bn (2.45bn) at list prices, lifting its total order for the planes to 135. Ryanair was already the largest operator of Boeing planes in Europe. In 2014 the airline signed a record order for 100 737 MAX planes, with an option to buy up to 100 more. Ryanair, which currently operates around 430 Boeing 737 planes, says the MAX order will allow it reach its target of carrying 200 million passengers per year by 2024. However, the airline has previously struggled to roster enough pilots as its capacity has increased, and was forced to cancel thousands of flights in the final months of last year. The decision to exercise more of its purchase order is likely to be seen as a signal Ryanair management is confident it can continue its ambitious expansion policy. Ryanair has already expanded into countries such as Israel and Ukraine. CEO Michael O'Leary said in March that he expects to exercise "pretty much all" of its options. The latest order leaves it with 75 more purchase options. It bought 10 additional MAX planes in June last year, which were on top of the 2014 order. Ryanair has dubbed the MAX a "game-changer" for its business, due to a fuel consumption improvement it says could be up to 16pc and a greater number of seats. The configuration Ryanair has ordered has 197 seats compared to 189 in its current fleet of 737s. Ryanair rivals easyJet and Wizz have ordered Airbus A321 planes, which seat up to 239 passengers. Ryanair has held talks with Boeing about its new larger version of the 737 airliner, the MAX 10, which can carry up to 230 passengers, but has made clear it would only be interested if the price is lowered. The first of Ryanair's 737 MAX planes are due for delivery in the first half of 2019 and will use CFM Leap-1B engines. Meanwhile, after the fallout from last year's Ryanair rostering issue led to the company recognising trade unions for the first time, it has emerged Ryanair made an offer last week to formally recognise labour union Verdi to represent cabin crew in Germany, the union has said. "We welcome this first step toward collective bargaining," said Verdi board member Christine Behle. "A reform of working conditions for cabin crew at Ryanair in Germany is urgently needed," she added. Ryanair has been in talks to formalise union recognition in several European countries since its decision in December to recognise unions forthe first time in its 32-year history. Ryanair shares ended yesterday down just over 1pc at 15.485 each. Tullow Oil has said that it continues to make "strong progress" in 2018. In a statement ahead of its AGM today, Tullow, which primarily focuses its oil production and exploration activities in Africa, said that it continues to generate free cash flow from its "high-return" production assets in West Africa. "The drilling programme is now under way at the TEN and Jubilee fields in Ghana and we remain on track to deliver on our existing production guidance," Paul McDade, CEO of Tullow Oil, said. The full year guidance for TEN Ghana is 82,000-90,000 barrels of oil per day. In East Africa the group said that its Ugandan and Kenyan developments are on track for final investment decisions in 2018 and 2019 respectively. While the group also said that it is preparing for the start of its multi-year exploration programme across its diverse portfolio of exploration prospects in Africa and South America. "The progress we have made is due to the hard work and financial discipline of the team and the support of our shareholders, allowing us to focus on growing our business and delivering returns," Mr McDade said. During the period 1 January to 25 April the group issued $800m of senior notes due in 2025 to further extending debt maturities. Net debt at the company reduced to $3.4bn at 31 March 2018 and the company said that it has current headroom and free cash of approximately $1bn. Capital expenditure forecast for 2018 remains unchanged at $460m, while in Uganda expenditure of $110m is expected to be repaid following completion of Uganda farm-down. Earlier this month Tullow confirmed that Aidan Heavey will chair his last board meeting at Tullow Oil in July, before departing the company he founded 33 years ago. Dorothy Thompson has been named as Mr Heavey's successor. For 12 years, until the end of 2017, Ms Thompson served as chief executive of Drax, a power and energy trading company. Shares in Aughanish Alumina's Russian-controlled owner Rusal jumped in Hong Kong yesterday and aluminium prices fell after the US administration softened its position on sanctions against the Russian metals giant. The US sanctions, announced earlier this month, will prevent most major Western businesses doing business with Rusal and have cast a major doubt over 450 jobs at the huge Aughanish plant in Co Limerick. However, the US Treasury on Monday discussed a path for lifting the sanctions on Rusal - saying it would provide relief if Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska gives up control of the world's biggest aluminium producer. Rusal has been caught up in the sanctions because of its ties to Oleg Deripaska, who in turn is linked by the US to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Authorities in the US also extended the deadline for third-party companies to wind down dealings with Rusal by almost five months. That will make life easier; for example, allowing more time to shift banking arrangements of logistics contracts. Shares in the Russian producer jumped as much as 26pc in pre-market trading Tuesday morning in Hong Kong to HK$1.92 after surging 18pc in Moscow on Monday. Aluminium on the London Metal Exchange dropped 1.8pc to $2,254.50 (1,844.19) a metric ton after tumbling 7.1pc yesterday, the most in almost eight years. Authorities here, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's office, have said they are monitoring the Aughanish situation, and the plant continues to operate. (Additional reporting Bloomberg) Independent.ie's official Facebook page has ranked among the world's top media brands for engagement. According to a year-long analysis by Indivigital, a leading marketing and tech review website, Independent.ie ranked fifth for the best average engagement rate in the world. The analysis took place between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018. The team analysed 53,962 Facebook posts made by 64 of the world's top news brands across 14 countries. Independent.ie ranked with an average 0.27pc engagement rate. The average rate is calculated by dividing the total engagements on Facebook (likes, comments, shares and reactions) by total page likes. The Hill, a US-based political news website, had the best average engagement rate over the time frame analysed with an average rate of 0.39pc. Vox and Buzzfeed were second and third respectively, while CBS News came in fourth on the list. Independent.ie was the only Irish publication to feature in the top 10 brands and beat other globally-recognised titles such as the Daily Mail, Fox News, ABC News, The Guardian and the New York Post. The report also shows how The London Independents video of a toddler stealing popcorn from Prince Harry received more likes (1.3 million) than any other post analysed. Fox News generated more "angry" reactions than any other news brand, CNN generated the most "sad" reactions and the Daily Mail generated more "love", "wow" and "haha" reactions, than any other news brand. The BBC has the most page 'likes' of any news brand analysed and the video post type accounted for 89pc of total engagements. Meanwhile, NTD Television attracted the most post 'likes' (12 million) and the Daily Mail generated the most shares (9.2 million) over the timeframe analysed. Fox News, the Daily Mail and Breitbart ranked in first, second and third for comments. Ulster Bank has said it has now resolved the problem which yesterday left around 600,000 customers out of pocket. In a statement the bank said it apologised for the error. Yesterday Ulster Bank had been forced to offer emergency cash payments after another shambles meant funds have disappeared from the accounts of thousands of customers. A spokesperson for the bank claimed it was not an IT issue. A payment file did not process overnight as a result of human error, it said. The bank said that Ulster Bank was among the banks benefiting from 1.14bn spent every year by its parent Royal Bank of Scotland on technology and innovation. Ulster Bank yesterday did not say how many customers were affected, but stressed that not all of those with a current account had seen their funds disappear. We are investigating this issue as a matter of urgency and apologise for any inconvenience caused. No customer will be left out of pocket as a result of this issue. Emergency cash is available in branch or via telephone, the bank said. The Central Bank is now reviewing the latest in a string of accounts problems to hit the bank, which has around 600,000 current accounts. The bank has been accused of failing to invest in its payments systems. Large numbers of the banks customers reported that their salaries have vanished from their accounts, while direct debits have not been paid. Other customers have reported that credit and debit cards have been declined. Customers said when they checked their accounts online, their balances were not as they should be. Lodgements of cheques and the like are not showing up in current accounts. Customers said transactions since Friday were missing. Hundreds of frustrated customers took to Twitter yesterday to complain. My salary has disappeared from my account today and my wife had her card declined when trying to pay for a GP visit and medication. Extraordinary how often this kind of issue happens with this bank. Time to change to a competitor I think, one customer said. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said it was a very concerning development. He said the Central Bank was reviewing the matter. It is a real worry for anybody, caused a lot of panic and it is really important that Ulster Bank gives the assurance that nobody will be out of pocket, he said. Fianna Fail finance spokesman Michael McGrath said the fact that Ulster Bank customers have again been affected by a payments system failure meant there was a need for the Central Bank to now conduct a comprehensive review of the systems used by retail banks here. These IT failures are happening all too often at Ulster Bank and the question has to be asked if it is the result of a lack of investment by the bank. It is every banks responsibility to ensure that its IT systems are fit for purpose. The Oireachtas Finance Committee is to call in the banks executives and the Central Bank to explain what happened, following a suggestion from Sinn Fein finance spokesman Pearse Doherty. The Central Bank said it was aware of an issue involving the bank accounts of certain Ulster Bank customers. It said it was monitoring the situation. The Financial Services Union general secretary Dermot Ryan said that the mess served as a further reminder of the fragility of an over-reliance on technology and the impact on customers. Ulster Bank had offered customers affected by the disappearance of money from their accounts the option of getting emergency cash. The bank says it is investigating how money has gone missing from customer current accounts. And it promised that no affected customer would be left out of pocket. It said it would be making emergency cash of up to 500 available to customers who needed it. French billionaire Vincent Bollore was being held for questioning by French judicial police Tuesday as part of an investigation into possible bribes of public officials in two African countries. The probe - which could result in charges against Mr Bollore - is looking at contracts awarded to his company for the operation of container terminals in Lome, Togo, and Conakry, Guinea, according to a source. Investigating judges suspect that managers of Bollore Groupe used advertising company Havas to facilitate the election of African officials by providing communications advice nearly a decade ago at a discount price, the person said. Other managers were also held for questioning on Tuesday, according to the person. The investigation is a sign French authorities are stepping up prosecution of international corruption cases - and aren't afraid to go after top executives. Mr Bollore runs a company with a market value of $14.7bn (12.02) that has a near-monopoly on ports in West and Central Africa. He is the biggest shareholder in Vivendi. The Bollore Groupe said in a statement that one of its units is the target of an investigation over billing for communication services in Guinea and Togo in 2009 and 2010. The company said that it "formally denies" that the unit did anything irregular. "The interrogation of its executives will provide clarity to the judiciary on these questions, which were the subject of an independent audit that found the operations were perfectly regular," the company said. The executives "are happy to cooperate fully" with authorities. The police interrogation, which was reported earlier Tuesday by French daily 'Le Monde', could last all day and even be extended to a total of 48 hours, according to Stephane Bonifassi, a criminal lawyer in Paris, who isn't involved in the case. In all likeliness, Mr Bollore will then be charged by the lead investigator in the case - known in France as an investigative judge. Placing a suspect in custody for interrogation rather than issuing a simple summons is an age-old "spectacular" trick in France, often used to unsettle subjects of an investigation, including recently ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr Bonifassi said. (Bloomberg) Irish executives think more regulation is needed to force greater gender balance at the higher levels of businesses. According to research carried out by professional services firm EY, just under half of those surveyed were in favour of regulation as a driver for creating more diverse and inclusive organisations. Over the past 12 months there has been a lack of gender diversity progress on company boards and in senior leadership roles, with the research finding that there was just over a quarter of women on boards, and fewer than one in three women were represented in senior management in 2017, an increase of just 1pc and 2pc respectively in 12 months. Given this, it is perhaps unsurprising that managers are calling for increased regulation in this area. It is particularly noteworthy that the research - carried out among more than 150 senior leaders across a range of indigenous, multinational and public sector organisations - found that of the 49pc in favour of regulation to address diversity, almost eight in 10 people said that they favour regulation to address gender diversity of boards. Meanwhile nine in 10 people in this group said that they favoured legislation to address the gender pay gap. "With gender pay gap legislation on the government agenda, it's encouraging to see that many Irish businesses are supportive of the move," Olivia McEvoy, director of diversity and inclusion advisory service at EY Ireland, said. However, in line with the findings of the report, Ms MsEvoy warned that diversity at board levels is an issue that is not improving. "It is clear from the findings that organisations in Ireland emphatically acknowledge diversity and inclusion as a business imperative. However, actual progress and work practices do not entirely reflect that view," she said. This, she continued, seemed in part due to a failure to make a connection between diversity and inclusion (D&I) and a company's bottom line. However, there are signs that organisations are spending more money in the area of diversity and inclusion. The number of companies investing 1,000 per year or less in diversity and inclusion has decreased to 20pc this year, from 36pc last year, and there has been a jump in the number of businesses investing 50,000 per year in the area, increasing to 15pc in 2018, from 9pc in 2017. Companies are largely spending their investment in this area in two ways; on events, which accounted for diversity and inclusion spending among just over three in four firms, and sponsorship, which accounted for diversity and inclusion spending in 42pc of firms. Less than a fifth of companies are investing in strategy development, a similar proportion (19pc) in strategy implementation, and less than a third are spending money in data collection and analysis in respect of gender diversity and inclusion, the report found. "While it's encouraging to see that investment in D&I is increasing, investing in events and sponsorships alone will simply not drive business performance," Ms MsEvoy said. "An effective diversity and inclusion programme requires governance and executive sponsorship as well as an informed leadership who are held accountable for that success. It is essential to have an evidence base for D&I, setting specific goals and targets and measuring success and progress, achieved through diagnostics and data analytics." Of the firms that have invested in a diversity and inclusion assessment, they said that they were three times more likely to attribute higher sales revenue and profit margins to diversity and inclusion than those who haven't carried out a diagnostic assessment. The findings reflect the views of C-suite leaders, HR directors, and diversity leads. First Citizens Chris Hanlon and Mark Stynes, TWM director Sean ONeill and Ronan Lyons, assistant professor of economics at Trinity College Dublin at a CRE breakfast briefing US hedge fund Magnetar Capital has pumped a further 30m into alternative lender First Citizen as the firm ramps up lending across its motor finance and commercial real estate platforms. The cash infusion brings First Citizen's investment to about 100m. The car specialist's loan book now totals over 300m and spans property, farming and equipment finance as well as motor finance. Magnetar's decision to commit more working capital to the lender, which was spun out of Permanent TSB in 2012 as part of a 287m management buyout deal, deepens the Illinois-headquartered fund's ties to the business. The US hedge fund is best known for its massively lucrative trades when it successfully bet against the US housing market before the Lehman's Brothers' collapse. At First Citizen its backing includes a 28.2m equity slice, that gave it a 66.7pc stake in the business, and it also provided 42m in working capital. The latest pledge takes that figure to 72m. According to First Citizen founder Chris Hanlon, half of the extra capital has been funnelled into the lender's expanding commercial real estate venture, which was established last year and is set to pass the 100m loan book mark by Christmas as borrowers seek out alternative offerings to the banks. Total applications for the firm's CRE product is closer to 400m. But Mr Hanlon said the company ultimately commits to a fraction of that sum as it seeks out deals linked to income generating assets in major urban centres. The company targets the buy-to-let, industrial, retail and office sectors, with loans of between 750,000 and 7.5m. According to Mr Hanlon the firm's expansion will continue to hinge on debt issuance, meaning securitisations will fund its growth. Last summer the firm issued an inaugural 158m bond, secured against motor loans written in the three years prior to the deal. That deal was a key milestone for Ireland's car financing industry. First Citizen is expected to repeat the exercise later this year, potentially with a larger portfolio. The firm also has its sights set on a securitisation of its commercial loan book over the next few years. The remaining 15m in additional working capital from Magnetar will "fund continuing growth in our motor, agri, and equipment finance offerings," Mr Hanlon said. The end is near. Sort of. Indeed, Avengers: Infinity War is almost upon us, which can only mean one thing: The Marvel Cinematic Universe bank balance is about to get another humungous boost. Okay, so theres more at stake. This is, of course, the 19th entry in the MCU canon; the culmination of ten years worth of superhero movie magic, courtesy of Marvel Studios, and the beginning of the end for everyones favourite big screen, superhero soap opera. Seriously, theyre calling it the most ambitious crossover event in history (whatever that means). So, is Infinity War any use? Does it live up to the hype? Has everyone forgotten that the folks at Marvel have already shot a sequel, due for release in 2019? Probably. To help you on your way, weve decided to rank every MCU film, from worst to best. Infinity War features, obviously. You can make up your own mind, when the film is released in cinemas tomorrow 19. Thor: The Dark World (2013) Hey, remember when Anthony Hopkins set out on the promo trail for Thor: The Dark World (Thor 2, basically) a few years back? That was fun. The man who portrays Thors auld fella, Odin, had the following to say at a Disney expo in the run-up to the films release in 2013: I havent seen the movie and Ive forgotten it. Yup, that pretty much covers it. Only, we have seen the film. But weve still forgotten it. 18. The Incredible Hulk (2008) Ah yes, the Incredible Hulk stand-alone flick, in which Mark Ruffalo does his best Edward Norton impression andoh, wait. Hang on. What happened here? Were not allowed to talk about it? Thats probably for the best. 17. Iron Man 2 (2010) Mickey Rourke portrayed a Russian baddie armed with an electric skipping rope. It did not end well. Oh, and how about this one, fact fans? Recent Oscar winner, Sam Rockwell who also features here was originally considered for the part of Tony Stark / Iron Man. 16. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) So, were, um, just going to ignore the fact that Sylvester Stallone was in this one, are we? Yes? Good to know. All punchlines, no plot. Video of the Day 15. Thor (2011) Kenneth Branagh shakes things up with a, um, Shakespearean superhero tale, featuring Aussie dreamboat Chris Hemsworth as the hammer-wielding God of Thunder. Far too serious for its own good. 14. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) AKA, the busy Avengers sequel that left poor old writer and director Joss Whedon questioning his career choice (it was a tough shoot, folks you can Google it for yourselves). 13. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Lets be honest, the GOTG franchise is in desperate need of a proper story. Theyve got the choons. Theyve got Chris Pratt. Theyve got a freakin talkin tree, for crying out loud. But what the Guardians of the Galaxy really need is a damn good plot on which to hang their many, many quips. 12. Iron Man 3 (2013) Three words: Ben Kingsley rocks. 11. Ant-Man (2015) Honey, I Shrunk the Superhero. Actually, this one really worked. Of course it did. A wise-cracking, arse-kicking Paul Rudd as a teeny, tiny crime-fighter in a onesie? Who wouldnt want to watch that? 10. Avengers: Infinity War (2018) The one youve all been waiting for and, it just about cracked the top ten. What we have here isnt just the most expensive film of all time (it cost $400m to make), but probably the biggest superhero film of all time. Anditswellits fine. It is everything youd expect it to be, really. Noisy. Chaotic. Bonkers. Put it this way, there is a lot of it (149 minutes, to be precise). And, there is a lot of talk about magic pebbles. Plus, our very own Tom Vaughan-Lawlor plays one of the baddies (hidden under a mountain of CGI, we might add). Its fun. It occasionally sags. It is sort of exhausting, but sure listen, Josh Brolin finally gives us a proper Marvel villain to talk about. Oh, and the ending is amazing. Thats not a spoiler. We just said it was amazing. Which it is. Read More 9. Marvel Avengers Assemble (2012) At least, thats what we think it was called. It was just The Avengers in the US. On this side of the pond, however, producers were keen to avoid any unwanted confusion with the 1960s British spy series, or the horrid nineties film revival (the one with Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman). Because, apparently, Hollywood folks think were stupid. Were not. And Joss Whedon did a fine job with this, Marvels first big superhero mash-up. 8. Doctor Strange (2016) The trippiest Marvel adventure yet, in which a hyper-Americanised Benedict Cumberbatch grows a goatee and swaps a career in medicine for one in magic. Or something. Again, it works. The loopy third act is a game-changer. 7. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) The first Captain America flick, in which a skinny Chris Evans undergoes some freaky Operation Transformation in the middle of World War II. Incidentally, Captain America: The First Avenger also featured Tommy Lee Jones in a supporting role. Wouldnt it be fun to see Jones and the aforementioned Anthony Hopkins promoting a Marvel movie together? 6. Thor Ragnarok (2017) New Zealand film-maker, Taika Waititi, steps in to rescue the Thor franchise from oblivion. As it turns out, all it ever really needed was a barmy sense of humour. And a Led Zeppelin choon. And a bitta Hulk. 5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) The one where Steve Rogers goes on the run and Robert Redford shows up wearing a suit. No, not your favourite one. But its almost there. 4. Black Panther (2018) The folks at Marvel kick things up a notch with their first big-screen superhero offering to feature a predominantly black cast. The great Chadwick Boseman takes the lead in a rich, imaginative and sensationally decorated fantasy that is as phenomenal to listen to (Kendrick Lamar produced the soundtrack) as it is to watch. Still in cinemas, by the way. 3. Iron Man (2008) Where it all began, basically. Yes, the lads at Marvel had their big, epic plan in place from the get-go, but lets face it, back in 2008, nobody could have predicted that a loud-mouthed comic-book film, starring Robert Downey, Jr (still climbing his way back up the tinseltown ladder) as a narcissistic billionaire / superhero, would change the way Hollywood makes blockbusters. Thats exactly what it did. Super cast, super lead, super story. That final scene is a cracker. 2. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) If John Hughes had written and directed a superhero movie, it might have looked like Spider-Man: Homecoming, a fresh, spirited and beautifully-constructed coming of age drama, all dressed up as a comic book flick. Tom Holland is a delight. 1. Captain America: Civil War (2016) Or, to give it its alternative title, Marvels Avengers Have a Giant Scrap in a German Airport. We jest. If youre looking for a smart, slick and surprisingly sophisticated superhero mash-up, then look no further. Civil War was the versus film that Batman v Superman could only dream of being. Plus, giant Ant-Man was a hoot. The best. Dublin City Council is considering a costly judicial review in a bid to stop the building of more than 500 homes. Council members met last night to discuss An Bord Pleanala's decision to grant permission for the controversial development beside St Anne's Park in Raheny, north Dublin. The scheme would ultimately lead to the loss of playing fields used by many clubs. It was given the go-ahead despite more than 1,000 local objections, with the council and its chief executive Owen Keegan among those who objected. Members of the community recently decided to seek a judicial review. Most councillors now believe it's their role to seek a judicial review, separately from the residents. Labour Party councillor Alison Gilliland said: "I'm appalled at the lack of consideration that An Bord Pleanala has taken. "This appalling decision is an example of misguided government direction." However, Green Party Councillor Ciaran Cuffe claimed a judicial review would be "expensive and time consuming". Local campaigners estimate it would cost about 5,000 for a barrister to assess the case. The next step would be to accumulate all the necessary paperwork, which could cost 25,000. If the application is granted, it could cost both the developer and An Bord Pleanala more than 125,000 each. But if the case goes against the objectors they could lose the same amount. The council and residents have until May 23 to make their application. Mr Keegan said he would agree to get advice on a possible review despite ruling out such a move previously. "That's a reasonable outcome," he said. A MOTHER-OF-THREE charged with burglaries and assaulting a Garda who was injured after he was dragged by a car at a checkpoint in Dublin has been refused bail. Christina Joyce, 30, with an address at a hostel on Harcourt Street, in Dublin city-centre was charged two weeks ago and had consented to being remanded in custody. The incident happened just before 11am on April 9 on Macken Street in south Dublin when Garda Tom Gallagher who was on checkpoint duty was hit and dragged about 50 metres as he attempted to stop a light grey Volvo XC90. He was taken to hospital where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries. Ms Joyce applied for bail today at Dublin District Court but was opposed by Garda Christopher Jones who voiced objections based on the seriousness of the allegations. The accused was anxious to be able to attend her daughters communion and would abide by any bail terms set down by the court, defence solicitor Michael French told the court. Ms Joyce was charged with six offences including dangerous driving and assault causing harm to Garda Gallagher at Macken Street. She was also charged with criminal damage to the bonnet of a 08-reg motor vehicle belonging to another person, at Heytesbury Lane, Ballsbridge, D.4, on the same date She also faced three counts of burglary for entering one building at Heytesbury Lane and two other houses at Waterloo Road, Ballsbridge, as a trespasser with intent to commit theft, also on April 9. Objecting to bail Garda Jones told a bail hearing that the Garda was dragged along by the vehicle driven by Ms Joyce. He suffered a dislocated knee and ligament injury. Garda Jones alleged the defendant, crashed into council workers who were injured and still have not returned to work. It was expected that further charges would be brought, the Garda also said. It was envisaged the case will go forward to a higher court and he said the offences can carry maximum sentences ranging between five and 14 years. The garda also said there was CCTV evidence as well as independent eye witnesses. Judge Michael Walsh refused bail and further remanded Ms Joyce in custody to appear again in two weeks. Co-accused Trevor Robinson, 27, with an address at Cherry Orchard Parade, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10, was also charged two weeks with the same criminal damage and burglary offences. He had been granted legal aid and remanded on bail to appear again on June 20 next. He was not alleged to have been the driver, the court also heard today. Ex-priest John Calnan (centre) absolved the six-year-old girl of her sins after abusing her. Picture: Provision A priest sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl during her first confession and, when the abuse ended, put his hand on her head, blessed her and told her that her sins had been forgiven. The victim, who is now in her 50s, said that at the time she believed what had happened to her was part of the confession ceremony. The now retired priest John Calnan (79) was told by Judge Sean O'Donnabhain at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that his breach of trust had been "phenomenal". The judge said it was clear that Calnan was a serial offender - and the fact that some of the girls believed the abuse was part of the ceremony was "obviously an outrage". The elderly cleric, who had pleaded guilty to all offences, avoided jail with an 18-month suspended prison sentence for the abuse of three young girls. Judge O Donnabhain said that given Calnan's advanced age and serious health problems, a custodial sentence would not be appropriate. Calnan appeared before the court on a signed plea of guilty in respect of five counts of indecently assaulting three girls in the Diocese of Cork & Ross between 1974 and 1978. The victims cannot be identified for legal reasons. The retired priest, who was first ordained in 1964 but hasn't worked in ministry since 1992, has served several prison sentences since first being convicted of indecent assault and attempted rape of other youngsters in 2012 and 2015. Judge O'Donnabhain was told by Det Garda Maurice Shanley that an investigation was launched after complaints were received from three women. All alleged the then-priest had indecently assaulted them during Church ceremonies in Cork when they were aged from six to eight years. One woman said that when she was six she was taken into a room alone with Calnan at a national school for her first confession. Calnan placed his hand underneath her skirt while she was saying her prayers. As she continued with her prayers, Calnan then groped inside her underwear. In a statement to gardai, the woman said she remembered looking at Calnan and his eyes were closed as he abused her. Afterwards, Calnan "put his hand on her head and said: God bless you - your sins have been forgiven." Devastated In a hard-hitting victim impact statement, the woman said the abuse had devastated her. "I feel ashamed and embarrassed of my teenage years," she said. "I spent my teenage years feeling ashamed and dirty. I had no respect for my body and for myself. "I never go to Mass now - I sit in the church by myself and talk to God. "I just wanted him to admit that what he did to me was so wrong." The other two victims were also indecently assaulted during confession either at schools or at churches. When one girl tried to get away from Calnan, he insisted that he was only trying to tickle her. Another girl complained about how rough Calnan was with her. One victim said she felt she couldn't tell her parents what had happened because they were friendly with Calnan and held the Church in high esteem. "It would kill them to know what he did to me," she said. Det Garda Shanley said that when Calnan was first interviewed about the allegations in 2015, he was serving a prison sentence in Dublin. Calnan readily admitted what the women had alleged. The retired cleric is now resident at The Presbytery, Roman Street in Cork and is under careful supervision. In 1992, before any indecent assault allegations were made against him, he stopped his priestly duties and went to the Gracewell Clinic in Birmingham to deal with his offending behaviour. Calnan has continued to go to counselling and behavioural support meetings since then. The court was told he has taken full responsibility for his actions and now has great empathy with his victims. Calnan has chronic heart problems and serious mobility issues. A 43-year old mother of two dying of cervical cancer who had sued over a smear test taken seven years ago has settled her High Court action for 2.5million. Vicky Phelan launched the legal proceedings after it emerged her smear test which showed no abnormalities was later in a review found to be incorrect. She told the High Court she was extremely angry she was not told of the 2014 review of her smear test for another three years. I was in shock when I was told. I am angry, extremely angry. If I was diagnosed I probably would have had to have a procedure and at worsen a hysterectomy." she said. She added: "If I was told sooner I would not be in a position of a terminal cancer diagnosis." Outside court Mrs Phelan called for an investigation in to the CervicalCheck screening programme. Speaking outside court Vicky Phelan called for an investigation in to the CervicalCheck screening programme. "To know for almost three years a mistake had been made and I was misdiagnosed was bad enough but to keep that from me until I became terminally ill and to drag me through the courts to fight for my right to the truth is an appalling breach of trust and I truly hope some good will come of this case and there will be an investigation in the CervicalCheck programme as a result of this." Ms Phelan broke down in tears as she thanked her husband Jim and family. "To my family and friends and my supporters who supported my decision to take this case at a time I really should be concentrating on my health, I would not have been able to do this without you." she said. She added; "There are no winners here today, I am terminally ill and there is no cure for my cancer. My settlement will mostly be spent on buying me time and on paying for clinical trials to keep me alive and to allow me spend more time with my children." "If I die - I truly hope that won't be the case - the money will provide for my family," she said as her husband Jim comforted her. She thanked her solicitor Cian O'Carroll and her legal team for believing in her and bringing the case before the courts so quickly. She also thanked Mr Justice Kevin Cross who heard three days of evidence before the settlement was announced and said he was at all times conscious she was a terminally ill woman. Ms Phelan said evidence of a medical expert on their side in court on Tuesday had led to the settlement of the case. Test Mrs Phelan was given the tragic news last January that without palliative chemotherapy she has just six months to live and with the chemotherapy about twelve months. Her counsel Jeremy Maher SC instructed by Cian O Carroll solicitor told the court at the outset of the case if Mrs Phelans cervical cancer had been detected in 2011 when she had that smear test the young mother could have had a simple procedure and there was a 90 per cent chance she could have been cured. Counsel said experts on the Phelan side would say she would not have developed invasive cancer and would have survived into her 80s, but she will die by the end of the year . "She should have another forty years to look forward to but she has a couple of months, Counsel said. On the fourth day of the hearing today the young mother and her husband Jim were in court as the settlement was announced. The court was was asked to make directions in relation to the part of the settlement which is for the Phelan children Amelia (12) and Darragh (7). Mr Justice Kevin Cross said he was delighted the case had settled. Approving the settlement he said Ms Phelan was one of the most impressive witnesses he had co me across in his court. The case against the HSE was struck out and the settlement was against the US laboratory Clinical Pathology Laboratories Inc, Austin, Texas only. The settlement was without admission of liability. Wishing tMs Phelan success in the future as she attempts to go to the US for groundbreaking treatment the judge said : If anyone can beat this you can. The judge also praised the legal teams for getting the case which was only started inFebruary this year to court in record time. The mother of two who has recently started on new drug is still hopeful of being accepted on to the US programme offering radical innovative treatment and has already raised 200,000 though a Go Fund Me page. In the action by Ms Phelan and her husband Jim there was also a claim for aggravated and exemplary damages over the alleged failure to tell Ms Phelan for three years that a review of her 2011 smear test showed the original result of no abnormalities was incorrect. University educational manager Vicky Phelan, of Carrigeen, Annacotty, Co Limerick along with her husband Jim Phelan had sued the HSE and Clinical Pathology Laboratories Inc, Austin, Texas in the US over a smear test taken under the National Cervical Screening Programme CervicalCheck and analysed in the US laboratory. The smear test of May 24, 2011 showed no abnormality was detected and Ms Phelan was advised by letter in June 2011 the smear test detected no abnormalities. She had another smear test in June 2014 and when it was sent off for analysis it showed a high grade lesion and Ms Phelan was referred to a consultant. In July of that year Ms Phelan was diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent radical chemoradiotherapy. It was claimed that subsequent to her cancer diagnosis and unknown to her a review was carried out of previous smear tests from women who had a cancer diagnosis. A review of the May 2011 sample from Ms Phelan showed the original report in relation to the smear was incorrect and the smear test showed suspected cancerous cells. In September 2017, Ms Phelan was advised of the review and in November she was diagnosed with an incurable Stage 4 cancer and was given a life expectancy of between six and twelve months. It was claimed the alleged failure to diagnose the 2011 smear test sample caused a situation whereby Ms Phelan's cancer was allowed to develop and spread unidentified, unmonitored and untreated until she was diagnosed with cancer in July 2014. It was further claimed she was deprived of the opportunity of timely and effective investigation and management of her condition and deprived of the opportunity of treatment at a time when her disease was amenable to curative treatment. The claims were denied. Opening the case Jeremy Maher SC for the Phelans said an expert on their side would say there were plentiful abnormal cells in the 2011 smear sample and and the failure to identify them allegedly amounted to a clear breach of duty.Counsel said Vicky Phelan was reassured when she was told there were no abnormalities and she would not need a check for another three years. In 2014 Ms Phelan was called for a smear test but Counsel said it was very bad news. and she was referred to a consultant for what counsel described as a series of invasive treatments. She generally felt well in 2015 and 2016 but reattended in September 2017 for a CT scan and Counsel said at this stage she was told of an audit of cervical smears from 2011 which was carried out in 2014. "For the first time she was made aware the smear test report of 2011 was incorrect and in fact it was an incorrect result," Mr Maher said. Third-level colleges will not be able to train more teachers to address shortages in key subjects unless the Government provides more funding, the Oireachtas Education Committee has been warned. Dublin City University (DCU) plans to run a new post-primary teacher training programme for Irish and modern languages, but now it is worried about having the necessary money for lecturers, classrooms, library spaces and support staff. Dr Anne Looney, dean of the Institute of Education at DCU, told a committee hearing on teacher supply that additional places in teacher education programmes, or new programmes, were contingent on resources to support them. Dr Looney said Ireland's higher education system was continuing to struggle in the aftermath of austerity and in the absence of a sustainable funding model. She told the committee that, while the DCU education faculty had 4,000 students and 140 staff, a comparable faculty in the Netherlands had 6,000 students and 600 staff. "The reality of that ratio hits home when we sit down to plan for a new B.Ed in Gaeilge and modern languages we hope to offer in 2019 to respond to teacher shortages in these areas," she said, adding that the biggest challenge would be funding for staff and facilities. Meanwhile, with weeks to go, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) has put out an appeal for teachers to work as examiners and superintendents for the June Leaving and Junior Cert exams, giving rise to concerns about possible shortages. The SEC has vacancies for teachers to mark written exams across all subjects and is also seeking superintendents for the Greater Dublin Area. Fianna Fail education spokesperson Thomas Byrne said it was a case of "the chickens coming home to roost" on teacher shortages and called on Education Minister Richard Bruton to set out a plan to ensure that the exams took place without any disruption. A spokesperson for the minister said that the SEC had advised that it was confident that with the ongoing support of teachers, all positions would be filled, as in previous years. The SEC said it had run recruitment campaigns right up to the start of the marking process in previous years and had always secured the co-operation of teachers. A state grant to help the elderly make changes to their homes is being abused, with people "on the verge of passing away or going into a nursing home" receiving it, a senator has claimed. Senator Martin Conway said the taxpayer was pumping tens of thousands of euro into properties that are then sold or rented when their elderly owner either died or moved into a nursing home. He said the result was that the family of the homeowner were benefiting and he called for the introduction of a claw-back scheme so a portion of the Housing Adaptation Grant (HAG) has to be re-paid. Speaking at the Oireachtas Housing Committee, the Fine Gael senator said: "There are members of the public abusing the scheme. I have a number of examples of where, no disrespect to the elderly people, but they are on the verge of passing away or going into a nursing home. "Their families are drawing down money, they're upgrading the property - thus increasing the value of the property. "Next thing the person goes into a nursing home and we discover the property is being rented, or sadly the person passes away. And the taxpayer has pumped 20 or 30 grand into a property, upped the value of it." He has proposed introducing a clawback so that if within the first year of receiving the grant the property is sold or rented, then 50pc of the value must be repaid to the State. This would fall to 40pc in the second year and so on until after five years there was no liability. Mr Conway said he gave the Housing Minister a position paper on the issue 12 months ago, but had heard nothing back. Speaking to the Irish Independent, Mr Conway said that while the "vast majority" of people who got the grant were entitled to it, nonetheless the scheme is being abused. He said: "There are situations where people have died and the property has been sold and probated within 12 months. The works could have been completed in January, the person died a few months later and the value of the property has been enhanced significantly." Mr Conway said that if the property was inherited by a son or daughter living in the house, they should not have to repay the grant. He estimated that if 5pc of recipients of the annual 62.5m grants were to die within the first year, around 1m could be clawed-back and used to benefit others. Responding to a question from Mr Conway at the committee, Mary Hurley, assistant secretary at the Department of Housing, said the last time the scheme had been reviewed was in 2013 when the age criteria to qualify was raised from 60 to 65. Mr Conway told the Irish Independent: "Five years since any significant change to that scheme is not acceptable. There needs to be a review." Fine Gael TD Fergus O'Dowd told Ms Hurley such was the difficulty in getting the grant you had to be in category one - terminally ill or fully or mainly dependent on their family or carer - to get it. "You have to be practically dead to get it," he said. A man accused of murdering his wife on a cruise ship has been released from jail, according to local reports. Dublin-based IT worker Daniel Belling (45) was held in custody in Italy in connection with the disappearance of his Chinese wife Xiang Lei Li. Expand Close Daniel Belling and Xing Lei Li / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Daniel Belling and Xing Lei Li In February last year, Mr Belling was boarding a flight back to Dublin when he was stopped at Rome's Ciampino Airport. He and his wife, Li Yinglei, together with their children were on an 11-day cruise around the Mediterranean when she disappeared. After being arrested in connection to her disappearance, Mr Belling was sent to the Regina Coeli prison in Rome last February as the investigation continued. Read More Local Italian media report that after a successful appeal, Mr Belling was released from jail on Monday. According to Italian news organisation 'Corriere Della Sera', Mr Belling's lawyers Luigi Conti and Laura Camomilla asked Rome Court for his release on bail. The news site reports that investigations are ongoing and there may still be a trial, but it is unknown when the trial will be held. Mr Belling is now free to return home to Dublin. Disappearance Since her disappearance, there have been no traces of Xiang Lei Li. The couple, who live in Clare Hall in Dublin, had set off on an 11-day cruise aboard the MSC Magnifica. The ship set sail from the Italian port of Civitavecchia on February 9 and continued on to Genoa, Malta, Greece and Cyprus. Crew members noticed Ms Yinglei was missing when they did a head count at the end of the cruise. They alerted police, who arrested Mr Belling at Ciampino Airport in Rome as he was about to board a Ryanair flight. Ms Yinglei was registered on the Magnifica's passenger record on February 10, following a stop-over at Genoa, the day after the ship set sail. Read More A souvenir shop owner later told reporters that she remembered the couple in her store that morning, when Mr Belling was "agitated" and "yelled" at his wife over her shoes. "He said: 'Put these on instead of your sandals and shut up'," she said, adding that he handed his wife a pair of gym shoes. However, according to local reports, Mr Belling told a magistrate during a prison court hearing that the couple remained together until the ship reached Katakolon. Mr Belling reportedly told the judge that they had quarrelled the night before and she wanted to "quit the trip". According reports in local Italian press, he claimed his wife left while he was on an outing. "I thought she was returning to Dublin. She was acting weird lately," he reportedly told the judge. Mr Belling did not report his wife's disappearance to the ship's staff. However, his lawyer, Mr Conti, told the Sunday Independent that after she left, Mr Belling informed the cleaning personnel that three people were now staying in the room, not four. "This comportment [is] not the comportment of a killer," he said. Read More Mr Belling and Ms Yinglei, who also goes by the name Angie Li, have lived in the apartment block near the Clare Hall shopping centre for several years. Mr Belling worked as an IT consultant to firms such as Apple while Ms Yinglei set up her own wedding planning business targeted at the Chinese community in the city. Keith admitted raping three foster children all three girls were under 10 years of age at the time Photo: RTE Investigates Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has pledged that recommendations from an investigation into the case of young girls being raped in foster care will be acted upon. Mr Varadkar was commenting on revelations in a case highlighted in a television documentary broadcast on Tuesday night. The RTE Prime Time programme carried testimony from a young woman who detailed how she and others were raped in a foster home in Co Galway when she was just nine years old. Keith Burke, now aged 29, has since been jailed for seven and a half years. The focus is now on why the young child and others were left at his mercy, even after the unspeakable offences were brought to the attention of the Health Service Executive. In the Dail, Mr Varadkar said everyone shared the dismay and heartbreak surrounding this horrific case. "Sexual crimes against children are the worst form of crime: abhorrent, unspeakable and unforgiveable," the Taoiseach said. He was replying to Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald who said that in 2007, the young girl, Rachel Barry, disclosed that she and another girl, known as 'Amy' were repeatedly raped by Burke. She said that the complaint was deemed creditable but the young girl, Amy, and another child were left in the same foster home up to 2011. Ms McDonald wanted to know what inquiries were since carried out and what action was to be taken. The Taoiseach said an inquiry had been initiated in April 2016 under the National Review Panel which comprised a range of experts working in the child care sector. He pledged that the child care agency, Tusla, will act on the review recommendations and a report, delayed by a criminal case, is expected soon. Mr Varadkar added that some people may find the sentence meted out to the culprit as lenient. But it was up to the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide if an appeal was appropriate on this issue. The Taoiseach said a number of changes to child care had since been put in place including the new child agency, Tusla. Meanwhile, the chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said the foster home where children were abused by the family's teenage son "was not a safe place". Noeleen Blackwell said the foster children should have been moved as soon as the child's account of the abuse was taken. She also dismissed the belief of Tusla CEO Fred McBride that it can be potentially "traumatising" for children to be removed from a foster home. Speaking to RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland, Ms Blackwell said it is not "proportionate to leave children in a situation where they are at a serious risk of abuse". She was responding to the Tusla CEO's comments in 2016, which were made a day after the original RTE Investigates programme. Mr Fred McBride had told RTE that Tusla's job was "to assess that risk and take proportionate action where that is necessary". He said at the time; "We have to be really careful. Simply removing children from a situation where they may be abuse can cause its own difficulties. "Young people are often very traumatised from being removed from placements. We must concentrate how we can remove the abuse or the abuser rather than removing the child. The child can see the removal as a punishment. This can also cause additional trauma. "We must be very careful not to make the situation worse." However, Ms Blackwell said the HSE "must have known that there was a rusk when they received a credible report from Rachel Barry." "In this case, I have great sympathy for those who are trying to make these decisions. "These children have been removed from their natural homes, to foster homes and then removed again can be seen as a punishment. "[However], that is only when the foster home is a safe place to be. Keith was not supervised. In this case, it was not a safe place." She continued; "We don't take children seriously enough. Certainly, 10 years ago we didn't take them seriously enough. "There must be better ways to better understand what children are saying. "I noticed Rachel said she didn't have the words for [the abuse], of course she didn't have the words for it, she was a little thing. "We should better listen to children and try and understand what they're saying." Abuse Rachel Barry was raped by Keith Burke, (29), of Addergoolemore, Dunmore, Co Galway, at a foster home she shared with him from when she was just nine years old. Ms Barry waived her right to anonymity so Burke could be publicly named and she has spoken about the toll the abuse has had on her. Speaking on tonight's RTE Investigates, she said: "He took my virginity away from me at 9 - its sickening because I can never get that back. "In my eyes I was dirty, in my body I was dirty so how could I expect anyone to treat me any other way but dirty. I feel strong but at the same time I feel weak because I cant even face normal things, everyday things. "I dont go out, I have no friends, I dont do anything with my life, I cant even go into town without feeling genuinely petrified, Im nearly shaking like, its not a life, Im doing the prison sentence." Expand Close Rachel Barry has opened up about the sexual abuse she suffered Photo: RTE Investigates / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Rachel Barry has opened up about the sexual abuse she suffered Photo: RTE Investigates Ms Barry first went to a foster home run by Kathleen and Gerry Burke in Dunmore in Galway aged 8 in 2005, for a weekend of respite care once a month. She told RTE Investigates that there she became friends with another child called 'Amy' (not her real name) and she said that Keith Burke began to abuse both girls. "Keith called Amy upstairs and asked Amy to ask me to go to the hut to play, the hut was in the back of the house, a set of bushes and then there was the hut. "In the hut there was a bed, there was a curtain around the bed, there was a shelf and two windows. "Myself and Amy in turns had to strip down with nothing only our socks on and while he had obviously done it to Amy before, he called her over and I had to watch what was happening to her," Ms Barry remembers. Ms Barry said that the two girls were sexually abused by Keith in front of each other over the next two years, which made her want to "protect" 'Amy'. Things came to a head in May 2007 when Rachel confided about what was happening in the foster home to her biological mother. She recalls: "I was in the bath and I just started crying, I felt dirty, mainly dirty, in a bath do you know. "I just remember going in to my mother in a towel at 11 and saying what happened, Ididnt put a name on it because I didnt know what it was and then to see her crumble in front of me and me carrying it for two years before that." Rachel underwent medical tests and following an investigation her evidence was deemed "credible" by the HSE (who were responsible for child protection at the time), RTE reports. Rachel also reported that Keith had abused 'Amy' - who had been living at the foster home for over a decade, since she was six months old - but the younger girl did not disclose what had happened. A file was sent by Gardai to the DPP but there was no prosecution and 'Amy' stayed living with the Burkes. RTE Investigates reports that they have seen documents from months after Rachel's statement, where the HSE deemed that 'Amy' and another foster child, a boy, should remain in the Burke foster home. The HSE deemed that Keith could not be left alone with the foster children, the foster parents agreed to supervise this and he moved out of the family home. However at his sentencing two weeks ago, gardai said that he continued to have unsupervised access after 2007 to the foster home. A HSE spokesperson told RTE these are matters for Tusla. The Child & Family Agency, TUSLA told RTE that alongside the HSE they have been involved in the lives of the victims for a number of years and "in some cases this involvement continues to this day." Their priority is to "continue to support them in their lives as they see fit and appropriate." 'Amy' confided about the sexual abuse to a teacher in October 2011 and the case was re-opened by gardai, which Ms Barry said was a relief. She said candidly: "I was excited but so scared. I couldnt wait to give Amy a hug ... "When she came out and said what happened, I was relieved as well in a way that I wasnt lying, I was telling myself that I lied and I wasnt, I didnt lie - I was telling the truth you know." When the investigation was underway again in 2013 a third girl who had lived in the foster home, 'Sarah' (not her real name) came forward. She had been placed in the Burke's foster home aged 5 in 2000 and had been raped by Keith Burke for years. 'Sarah' told RTE Investigates: "My dad gets a phone call from a guard, I didnt know what was going on, he said he wanted to speak with me, its got to do with Amy. "When I came off the phone I was all shook up, my dad knew there was something wrong so he asked me did this boy ever touch you or do anything to you and I broke down and told him and that was the first time I ever told anyone about it." Brave 'Sarah' opened up about the sexual abuse she suffered from the age of six, saying: "I remember one time he had me, all my clothes off and he put me down on my stomach and he started having anal sex with me. "I didnt know what was happening - I just wanted it over. "He just told me not to move or Id be in trouble, he used to threaten me that hed kill me... All I wanted was my dad." 'Sarah' said that she had also been forced to watch Keith rape 'Amy'. She said: "It was horrible and she was so small and she was so young, she only a little girl like, and we both clicked and we both loved each other. "I always wanted to protect her, but I couldnt, like he was a beast, I was just too frightened of him." 'Sarah's' biological father took over her care in 2003 and she left the foster home, she says she found it hard to leave 'Amy' behind. She said candidly: "It was heart breaking, I wanted to take her with me but we eventually kind of lost touch because I wanted it all behind me. "I wanted nothing got to do with the house, it was kind of like a bad dream." After 'Amy' spoke about the abuse in 2011 gardai began to investigate Keith Burke again, he was charged with more than 70 counts of sexual abuse, he pleaded not guilty and Rachel, 'Amy' and 'Sarah' were forced to give evidence. 'Sarah' said she that taking to the trial brought her ordeal back. She said: "I had to go into detail about everything, I couldnt just sit there and say a certain word, I had to describe it down to a T ...Ive never been through anything like that before... "I was happy that this man was going to be put behind bars but at the back of my head I was thinking how long?" In July 2017 he was found he was found guilty on 23 sample charges including rape, sexual assault and buggery. At his sentencing hearing two weeks ago he admitted raping three foster children between 2003 and 2007 all three girls were under 10 years of age at the time, he was aged between 14 and 18. Burke (29) was sentenced to seven and a half years for the rape charges and concurrent terms of six and a half and five years for the remaining charges, the final year was suspended - 'Sarah' feels that justice has not been served. "I was very angry, I thought I was fine but 6.5 years, 7.5 years with one year suspended, thats nothing and what he put us through. "Im happy but itll always be there deep down like. Ive tried to do counselling to talk about it, it just didnt work out for me. Ive really, really bad anger problems," 'Sarah' said. Her solicitor Ronan Hynes is calling for a full investigation to be carried out. He said in a statement: "My client and her family feel incredibly let down by a system that really was designed to protect them and serious questions need to be answered by the HSE and TUSLA regarding both the placement and safeguarding of Sarah while she was in care. "Were calling on the Minister for Health, Simon Harris to ensure we have a full, independent and thorough investigation to ensure we get accountability, to ensure the victims of abuse and their families get the answers they deserve." A HSE spokesperson said: "The HSE apologises unreservedly to the three women for failings in care they received while they were in foster care arranged by HSEs Galway Community Care between 2005 and 2007. "While no apology can undo the harm inflicted on them, it is important that the HSE expresses a heartfelt apology at this time. "All of the relevant historic files are with Tusla since 2014. "The HSE has been in contact with Tusla in order to discuss how best to determine whether this case raises any concerns for HSE delivered services today." A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs told Independent.ie: "The case was referred to the National Review Panel, which has a remit to review cases where there has been a serious event or death of a child in care. "Now that the criminal case has been concluded, the review can now be completed. The Minister is looking forward to the report and its findings. "In this case, at the time of the disclosure 11 years ago, child protection services came under the remit of the HSE. It is understood that the abuse involved took place no later than 2007. "No further placements were made with the foster family. "A safety plan was agreed for the remaining foster children, agreed by the foster carers and the abuser left the family home from that time. "HSE Child protective service co-operated with Gardai in the investigation in 2007, when the DPP did not proceed with the case, and with the later investigation between 2011 and 2016. "The HSE provided the Gardai with contact details of children who had previously been fostered in this family, and through this a third child victim was identified. "It is often the case that the child, whether in their family home or a foster home, benefits most from an action to remove the person posing the risk to the child, rather than take the child from what may have been their only home. This minimises the disruption in their own lives. "Tusla balances the harm of removing a child from their family with the steps that the family can take, with support from social workers, to remove the risk. "When an allegation of abuse is made, Tusla takes immediate action to protect any child or children who may be at immediate risk. "All concerns and allegations in foster care are managed in line with Tuslas operational guidance. "Tusla has indicated that this will be further enhanced by a revised National Procedures and Guidance in 2018. "Foster care placements are subject to a number of safeguards including on-going Garda vetting for foster carers and adult family members; regular visits to the household from childrens social workers and foster carers social workers; and inspections of fostering services by HIQA." Independent.ie has also contacted TUSLA for comment. Gardai carried out the operation in Longford this morning GARDAI are on high alert for a dangerous young criminal who is the chief suspect in several armed robberies targeting the clients of prostitutes in the city centre. The vicious criminal has also been calling the victims wives on stolen mobile phones and forced one young victim to beg for his life in a knifepoint robbery. Detectives suspect that the same 22-year-old criminal is responsible for up to seven robberies in which men have been attacked after leaving a brothel in the north inner city. Only three of the incidents have been reported, but garda investigations have established that up to four more similar armed robberies have been carried out. In late February, an Irishman in his 50s was targeted near Wolfe Tone Street in a knifepoint robbery. His phone and wallet are understood to have been stolen during the incident. The next attack took place on March 8, when a Chinese man in his 40s was robbed by the same thug. On that occasion, the robber rang the victims wife after stealing his phone and informed her that her spouse had visited a brothel. He then fled the scene with the stolen items, which have not been recovered. Just over a week later, a Brazilian man in his mid-20s was robbed in a frightening ordeal during which he was forced to his knees and pleaded for his life. In that incident, the mugger held knives to the victims throat while stealing his mobile phone and wallet. While all of the robberies took place after the victims left the same brothel, the prostitutes operating out of the apartment are not suspected of any involvement in the thefts. The incidents first came to light after the prostitutes contacted gardai through Operation Quest, an initiative targeting the organisation of prostitution in the capital. A senior source told the Herald that most of the incidents had not been reported, while there was also a reluctance from complainants to proceed with a prosecution. Given the circumstances where you have men being robbed after leaving a brothel naturally there is a fear to come forward, the source said. However, there is concern that the suspect is escalating to a level where someone will suffer serious injuries. Gardai suspect that up to seven robberies have been carried out by the same thug. On at least one occasion he threatened to contact a newspaper and expose the prostitutes clients, which gardai believe was an attempt at further extorting the robbery victims. Detectives at Store Street Garda Station have identified a chief suspect in the case, who they are convinced was behind all of the knifepoint robberies. The suspect is a young thug from the north inner city who is well-known to gardai and has more than 50 previous convictions. He was previously convicted of threatening to kill his ex-partner, and is known as a prolific bag snatcher in the city centre. However, the source said that the robberies of prostitutes clients was a serious escalation. President Michael D Higgins has given his strongest hint yet he will seek re-election to Aras an Uachtarain later this year, saying: "I've never run from a contest in my life." Mr Higgins has yet to confirm officially that he will seek a second term in office. However, the remarks, which came after he delivered a major speech to the United Nations General Assembly, indicate he is gearing up for an election battle. Mr Higgins is on a five-day visit to New York where he used his speech at UN headquarters to issue a rallying call for a renewed commitment to global peace-building. He is also using his visit to make the case to other world leaders for Ireland to win one of the rotating seats on the UN Security Council for the 2021-2022 term. The President has indicated he will make his intentions in relation to whether he will seek a second term known by July. He has come under pressure from Senator Gerard Craughwell, who wants to run for the presidency and has called on Mr Higgins to make his own position clear. Previous incumbents have assumed the office for a second term without election. Mr Higgins declined to comment when asked whether he believed there should be an election, and said: "Really today is a day for the United Nations and for issues of peace." He also said: "My decision will be my decision. I'm not standing in the way of anybody making a decision." He added: "I've never run away from a contest in my life. Why should I?" Earlier, the President delivered an impassioned call for greater efforts to prevent conflict around the world. He said that if the international community was to "truly commit" to the objective of sustaining peace, it must discard "easy" and "lazy" cynicism. And he said: "The young of the world are appalled by any suggestion... that the strut of the powerful and the wielders of power can prevail." He cited Northern Ireland and the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement as an example of conflict resolution, but also the challenges of sustaining peace. Mr Higgins later said Ireland's experience of peace-making was "our strongest card to play" in seeking a UN Security Council seat. He met with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the Irish candidacy was among issues they discussed. Last night, Mr Higgins also raised the Irish bid at a dinner for Small Island Developing States where he spoke of combating climate change. He is due to meet UN secretary general Antonio Guterres today. Sinn Fein rebel Carol Nolan believes her future with the party is safe despite being heavily at odds with its policy on abortion. She says the referendum on abortion is likely to fail by a ratio of 70:30. Ms Nolan has been canvassing "in a number of different counties", including Offaly, Tipperary North and Laois, where the response has been "overwhelmingly No", she said. "People are shocked that this country has been faced with such a proposal," she added. Ms Nolan was suspended from her party for three months for voting against the whip on calling for a referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment. However, the deputy says her future in the party is secure in spite of being heavily at odds with policy on abortion. Ms Nolan says she is so confident that the referendum will fail to pass that she won't be forced to vote against any further party policy including future legislation on the matter. "We'll wait and see what happens. I'm very confident that this will be defeated." Her party colleague Peadair Toibin - the only other Sinn Fein member against repealing the Eighth - is of a similar view. "There's a good chance that the referendum is going to fail; and even if it passes the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis will have to decide on policy; and then the fractured nature of the Dail means there won't be appetite for the legislation", he said. Mr Toibin was speaking at the launch of the 'Cherish all the Children' campaign, which comprises of left-wing activists and republicans campaiging against repeal. Meanwhile in the Dail, Socialist TD Ruth Coppinger unfurled an image of a pro-repeal mural recently ordered to be removed from a Dublin arts centre. She told TDs: "We should not allow political censorship." Political opponents heckled that the move was a political stunt. Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher reprimanded Ms Coppinger: "You can't do that and you know it is wrong to do that." Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he believed the mural, created by Dublin artist Maser, may have now become more popular as a result of being removed. He also said: "I don't find the mural in any way offensive." Fatal collision happened in Cavan in the early hours of this morning A woman has been rushed to Cork University Hospital after the car she was driving overturned at a notorious junction this evening. The incident happened at the Waterloo junction on the N20 in Cork at around 7.30pm. No other vehicle was involved. It's the second incident that has occurred at the junction this week. On Monday, an American tourist suffered serious injuries in a head-on collision in the same area. Two other US tourists died in a horror crash there last year. The woman, who is in her 30s, was taken to hospital this evening is believed to have suffered non-life threatening injuries. Emergency services attended at the scene and the road has since reopened. Megan and Jake Murray's joy at the prospect of being parents turned to despair when doctors found no trace of a child A young woman who thought she was expecting her first child was devastated to discover that her longed-for 'baby' was actually cancer. Megan and Jake Murray's joy at the prospect of being parents turned to despair when doctors found no trace of a child - instead discovering a tumour in her womb. Belfast-born hairdresser Megan (23), who endured eight weeks of chemotherapy to shrink the growth, said: "To go from thinking we were having a baby to finding out it was cancer requiring immediate treatment was devastating." Megan was told she had experienced a molar pregnancy after heavy bleeding at 10-and-a-half-weeks. The rare condition, where the fertilisation of the egg by the sperm goes wrong and leads to the growth of abnormal cells which can be cancerous meant she had to have the tumour removed. But, to her horror, it grew back and Megan needed gruelling treatment to remove it, before being given the all-clear earlier this month. "Losing our baby was devastating, but now we are looking forward to trying again and starting a family," she said. Megan moved to Orihuela Costa, near Alicante in Spain, with Jake (23), who runs his in-laws' real estate business. The pair met on a night out in Spain and married on March 26, 2017 outside Benidorm. When Megan first saw the two blue lines on her pregnancy test just before Christmas last year she was overjoyed. "My period was five days late when I was back in Belfast visiting family and I had a feeling I might be pregnant," she said. "We'd been trying for three months, so when I did the test back in Spain with Jake it was the best feeling in the world. "He cried his eyes out and I was in total shock. We were so happy to be having a baby." Hampered with problems from the start, Megan was struck down with extreme nausea and her baby bump was so swollen that the midwife she saw at eight weeks commented on her being large for that stage of the pregnancy. Then, at 10-and-a-half-weeks, she experienced bleeding so severe that Jake rushed her to their nearest hospital casualty department where she was given an ultrasound scan. "The moment they turned the scan screen away from me I knew something was seriously wrong," Megan said. "The nurse sent for the doctor and he came in and told me my baby wasn't there anymore. I was totally devastated and had no idea what had happened. All I knew was that we'd lost our baby." Megan was told she in fact had a molar pregnancy and would need to return to the hospital the next day to have a procedure. Given a dilation and curettage - where the cervix is dilated and the contents of the uterus removed - in a bid to get rid of the tumour, afterwards Megan was left feeling numb. "Scared, I rang my mum afterwards, crying my eyes out, saying it could be cancer," she added. "I could not believe that what I had thought was a baby was actually a tumour, growing inside me." Because of the risk of the molar pregnancy tissue continuing to grow, Megan's hormone levels were monitored post-surgery, to ensure they stayed low. "Doctors said that if the levels of pregnancy hormones started increasing or didn't drop to normal, then it could be a sign that I needed treatment, like chemotherapy," she said. "At a check-up, they said my levels had risen, so I had an ultrasound scan at a private hospital in Alicante to be seen quicker, and a growth was spotted. Hearing the news, I just broke down. I was petrified about what was inside me. Doctors believed it was cancerous and wanted to start me on chemotherapy right away. "Looking at the scan on the screen, I could see the tumour. It was like a cluster of grapes and doctors believed a small amount had continued to grow after the first tumour was removed." Starting chemotherapy on February 20 this year, Megan had eight week cycles, involving eight days of the gruelling treatment, followed by six days off. Last week she was told the chemotherapy had shrunk the tumour and she was cancer-free. She said: "It was such amazing news. Now I need to go back for a check-up in three months and three months after that we can start to try again. "I always knew I wanted to start a family and once we were married we had it all planned out. "We own our own home and, with my husband running my parents' business, we were settled and ready to move to the next stage of becoming parents." An Irish bar serving a sustainably-minded drinks menu is opening in Dublin this week. Head bartender Paddy Noir at the Lucky Duck bar and restaurant has created a cocktail menu inspired by the closed-loop movement. Closed-loop cocktails leave no carbon footprint, and involve zero waste, especially in terms of food and packaging. Theyre a growing trend amongst sustainably-minded bartenders, and have been pioneered in bars like SuperLyan and restaurants like Cub and Silo in Britain. Its a growing trend in the industry as a whole, Paddy Noir tells Independent.ie. Weve tried to utilise what we have and whats close to home to make as little waste, and create as low a footprint, as possible when it comes to the drinks. Closed-loop is as close to zero waste as you can get: repurposing everything that youre using So you grow the grain yourself, then distil a liquid out of it, which you then use to create a drink and any other perishable products within that drink would then be repurposed a second time for say a garnish or flavouring. Its essentially creating next-to-no footprint, next-to-no waste, through to the process. The Lucky Ducks building lay derelict for over 20 years before the Press Up group spent a year restoring it and creating a traditional Victorian style pub and restaurant. It opens on Friday at 5pm on Dublins Aungier Street. Paddy says theyll use locally grown and locally foraged herbs and botanicals, as well as drinks produced in Ireland, for their menu. Lusca wine which is produced in north Dublin, will feature alongside wines from France, Spain, Italy and the new world, some of which will be served on tap. Sustainability he says, is as much the responsibility of businesses as of customers. The onus is on us as a business or as bartenders to be the ones to make the step to reduce the waste and to point people down that path, because at the end of the day, all Joe Bloggs really wants is to come out and have some nice drinks, some tasty foods, and to have a good time if you can help them do that whilst lowering your footprint on the earth or by lowering the amount of waste going out, then why not, its a great thing to do. Its just trying to utilise as many Irish products as possible. We all love cognacs and Tennessee whiskeys and Asian spirits, but if there are other things that are produced - obviously have a different flavour profile but which are equally as delicious, say an apple brandy being made down in west Cork or if you can use a red wine which is being grown in north Dublin as opposed to something thats being shipped around the earth, then why not? So theres a lot of focus on that. Also theres a lot of focus on taking just as much waste out of the bar to begin with. We try and use as little citrus as possible. We try and use very, very small amounts of fresh perishable produce. Instead of using lemon zest to go over every drink, we make a hydrosol which is a non-alcoholic distillate with the scent of lemon. So one lemon for that will give us a few hundred drinks, as opposed to eight drinks out of a single lemon. A lot of the time the fruit will just get thrown away. If theres anything which we are using thats fresh fruit, we will then keep the fruit and juice it afterwards, and then turn that juice into either a sherbert or a shrub - something with a longer shelf life. You want to keep the quality of your produce up [while cutting down on waste]. Paddy describes his menu as presenting big flavours done in a simple way. Big bright, clean flavours, he says. Here's a helpful piece of advice from a reader: "My wife drives a Skoda Octavia that is just past its third birthday. Thus its Skoda Assist has expired. "The car is very reliable but I feared punctures on the terrible rural roads. I wanted to continue with some form of recovery assistance or puncture assistance. "I contacted Skoda Assist. I was told that as I did not have our car serviced by a main Skoda dealer in the past 12 months, I would not have Skoda Assist. People should know this. I contacted my insurance company (Allianz). Better news here: As I have a comprehensive policy I have free recovery assistance. I think it is important [for people to know ] in rural Ireland, with poor roads." * Toyota's FaceItDown app has passed the 12m kilometre mark - that's how far people have driven without mobile phone use. The figure was logged with the app (in association with the RSA). It is reckoned to be similar to driving around our coast 3,799 times. As you probably know, the FaceItDown app rewards drivers for putting their phone face-down when driving. They get points every kilometre towards a free hot drink at Topaz ReStore or 50 off FBD Car Insurance, but you lose the lot if you pick up while driving. Now they are renewing their call from the start of National FaceItDown Awareness Week today for people to put their phones face-down. Research shows those with a mobile phone at the wheel are four times more likely to crash. The app has been downloaded more than 42,000 times, and 14,602 hot drinks have been redeemed in the nine months since it started. * Volvo Cars Ireland's great beach clean-up has begun. The idea, in partnership with Clean Coasts, was for Volvo Cars staff to collect as much rubbish, including plastic, from the Shelly Banks beach near Sandymount over the course of a morning. It was to help raise awareness and tackle the growing issue of marine plastic pollution. * Lexus has rolled out a new service facility. Called LexusService.ie, it gives owners a quick, accurate quote for their vehicles as well as booking a service online or through their retailer or authorised repairer. You just enter your registration number, select the work needed and you are given a free quote. * Audi's upcoming e-tron electric SUV will be capable of 400kms on one charge, they claim. Due to be revealed in August, it will be powered by two motors using a 95kWh lithium ion battery. They are claiming a world-first on their 150kWh DC fast-charging system, which they say is 30kW quicker than Tesla's. Donegal's Fanad Lighthouse is one of the most dramatic Discovery Points on the Wild Atlantic Way, and now it has a new Visitor Reception Centre. The Centre, set next to the lighthouse at the tip of the Fanad Peninsula, houses an exhibition highlighting the stories of Fanad Head. Fanad Lighthouse itself, which was first lit in 1817 and automated in 1983, opened to the public after refurbishment in 2015. Visitors can also stay over in former lighthouse keepers' cottages at the windswept site. "Since its opening, Fanad Lighthouse has attracted over 50,000 visitors," said Yvonne Shields, Chief Executive of Irish Lights. "This new facility will help attract even more of the ever-growing community of lighthouse enthusiasts that visit or stay at the Great Lighthouses of Ireland. The visitor centre has been resourced and developed by the local community, Special EU Programmes Body, Irish Lights, Donegal County Council and Udaras na Gaeltachta, with Failte Ireland investing 470,000 in the project. Fanad lighthouse is a special place - it really has to be seen to be believed," added Donegal TD Joe McHugh. "In the Donegal Gaeltacht, it is also a beacon for the Irish language, playing a key role in promoting the language, not least by hiring Irish speaking students to work there during the busy summer months." Expand Close Great Lighthouses of Ireland: Fanad Head, Co. Donegal. Photo/Copyright: Andy McInroy / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Great Lighthouses of Ireland: Fanad Head, Co. Donegal. Photo/Copyright: Andy McInroy Read More Now four years old, development of the Wild Atlantic Way is tacking towards improving visitor experiences at Signature Discovery Points and boosting visitor numbers in shoulder seasons each side of the summer months. In recent weeks, a new Connemara and Aran Islands visitor strategy was announced, as was a 4.3 million investment by the OPW and Failte Ireland in visitor experiences at the Blasket Islands, Ceide Fields, Inis Mor and Carrowmore heritage sites. Donegal has already benefited enormously from the Governments and Failte Irelands Wild Atlantic Way initiative, but we need to continue to deepen the experience and focus on growing that success year-on-year," said Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin, at the Fanad Lighthouse launch this week. Resources have also been invested in visitor facilities at Malin Head, with a visitor experience development plan proposed for Inishowen. Read more: Ballyfin Demesne in Co. Laois has been named Ireland's Hotel of the Year for 2018 at the annual AA Hospitality Awards. Double rooms at the five-star hotel, recently ranked as the world's No.1 hotel by Conde Nast Traveller, start from 960 per room B&B in peak season. "Ballyfin has, in its short history, become one of the finest hotels in Ireland, and perhaps one of the finest hotels in the world," commented AA Director of Consumer Affairs, Conor Faughnan, at an awards ceremony in Dublin this evening. The AA Hospitality Awards honour "the most exacting" standards of hospitality, service and cuisine using anonymous visits by a trained team. Expand Close Ballyfin, Co. Laois / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ballyfin, Co. Laois It takes a lot to impress our AA inspectors," Faughnan said. Ballyfin dates from the 1820s, when it was built as a Regency-era mansion for the Anglo-Irish Coote family. After decades as a Patrician Brothers boarding school, it was restored to former glories by US businessman Fred Krehbiel and his Irish wife, Kay. In fact, the multi-million euro reboot took longer than the original, 19th-century build - and celeb guests are said to have included Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who took a honeymoon trip to Ireland in 2014. The AAs head inspector described a stay as akin to being in a private home, with the atmosphere of a period Irish house with all the facilities of a five star resort." Expand Close The conservatory at Ballyfin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The conservatory at Ballyfin Its warm welcome, "friendly and highly professional staff" and of course, the landscaping and activities on its 600-acre estate, were also cited. We are very proud to gain this recognition for the hard work our team put in every day," said General Manager Damien Bastiat. "Its a real testament to the Ballyfin ethos and to the beautiful property we are lucky enough to work in. Other awards saw Aldridge Lodge in Duncannon, Co. Wexford win 'AA Guest Accommodation of the Year', while the 'AA Courtesy & Care Award' for excellence in customer care went to The Twelve Hotel in Barna, Co. Galway. All three hotels featured on Independent.ie Travel and Weekend Magazine's Fab 50, a list of the 50 best places to stay in Ireland for 2018. Last year's AA Hotel of the Year went to Ashford Castle. Read more: It's hard to single out the worst bit. The decision to cancel more than 2,000 flights on short notice? The drip-feeding of affected flight details? The PR car crash? The fact that Ryanair continued to sell 19.99 'autumn getaway' fares as all hell broke loose? All bad. But the worst was the fact that customers were so clearly being treated as fares, as data, and not as human beings. Yes, Michael O'Leary apologised. Ryanair's decision to cancel up to 50 flights a day for a six-week period, ostensibly to reduce a backlog of pilot holidays and improve punctuality, was "clearly a mess". But he continues to push the line that less than 2pc of passengers were affected, despite the fact 100pc of trips for this six-week period were effectively in doubt until a full list of cancellations was released late on Monday. Even if it is "just" 2pc, that's still almost 400,000 passenger journeys. That's still hundreds of thousands of people with hotels booked, annual leave taken, grandchildren to visit, weddings to attend and business meetings to go to. The raw contempt for passengers quickly blew up in Ryanair's face. It hit social media like a loose firehose. It was a watercooler moment, and, as has become clear, it's not something O'Leary can brush off with his bluster. Read More Ryanair has spent more than three years rolling out its 'Always Getting Better' programme of customer service improvements. It has made genuine progress, introducing new uniforms and interiors, free second cabin bags, a vastly improved app and several family benefits, among many changes. But this year, it has seemed determined to undo that. Dr Jekyll has tried really, really hard. But Mr Hyde keeps punching him in the face. In a triple-whammy of PR hits, Ryanair has been forced to deny claims it is splitting up passengers who refuse to pay for seat selection, it has announced plans to stop passengers from taking 10kg carry-on bags on board unless they fork out 5 for priority boarding and now this. What impact will the fiasco have on its new school travel service? Its efforts to cater for families, or 'Ryanair Holidays', its package holiday platform? Read More Of course, most of us will continue to fly with Ryanair. Competitors like Aer Lingus may get a bounce in bookings and sentiment, but they simply cannot compete with its scale and resources in the long term. We love to hate Ryanair, but we know that no airline has broadened our horizons like it; that it is cheap, safe and its route network is second to none. Plus, we're suckers for flash sales. Ryanair is not a charity. It is entitled to make a profit. For all the cancellations and backlash, it will continue to do that. But this brutal week will make a difference. The lights have come up in the nightclub, its attitude to customers has been laid bare, and everyone is squirming. Ryanair will carry this baggage for a long, long time. We get what we pay for. Right now, it's always getting worse. More than 500 people have taken to the streets to protest against the impact of overtourism in Ibiza the first rally of its kind on the Balearic island famed for its hedonistic 24-hour lifestyle. The rally, organised by local pressure group Prou!, took place on Vara de Rey in Ibiza Town last Friday. Protesters decried the privatisation of beaches, party boats, the rise in crime, the increase in rental prices and noise pollution. Some held placards reading For Sale. Speaking at the event, the director of Prou!, Angels Escandell, said: We dont reject tourism but we do reject tourism which is unlimited, disrespectful and excessive. On the groups Facebook page, they set out their agenda, stating: We want to return to the peace and quiet of the traditional Ibiza. They list environmental degradation and anti-social behaviour as symptoms of mass tourism on the island. In 2017 Ibiza received 3,236,360 tourists, a five per cent rise on the 3,061,895 that visited in 2016. Brits make up the majority of incoming tourists, followed by Spanish and then Italian visitors. While total tourist numbers are up, the latest year-on-year figures actually represent a slowdown in the growth of tourism in Ibiza, with French and German tourists slowing by 12 per cent and 6 per cent respectively. Britains growth has slowed from 7.8 per cent between 2015 and 2016 to 4.7 per cent in the last year. The only country to see a year-on-year growth in the percentage increase in visitors was Spain. Expand Close Ibiza Old Town is full of restaurants and cafes / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ibiza Old Town is full of restaurants and cafes But three million visitors is still a considerable number for an island with a population of just 130,000. So what is being done to curb any negative impacts of tourism on the island? This year, a new law has been introduced banning Airbnb and other accommodation platforms like HomeAway from listing rooms in private houses and apartments in Ibiza Town, meaning the only available accommodation on the site are hotels and licensed properties. Other areas in Ibiza including Santa Eularia des Riu, San Jose and San Antonio have implemented similar bans. Moves have been made to curb noise pollution, too. Councillors representing one of the island's most popular clubbing spots, San Antonio, have introduced a Special Acoustic Protection Zone this will bring the curfew of clubs back from 5am to 3am, and open-air bars will need to shut by midnight. Expand Close Tourist boom: Sunbathers on Playa de Palma beach in Majorca, Spain. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tourist boom: Sunbathers on Playa de Palma beach in Majorca, Spain. The tourist board has also made steps to address the impact of tourism on the island, with its new 'Love Ibiza' campaign focusing on sustainable travel. Launching the campaign at the Berlin tourism trade fair (ITB), the president of the Island Council and the department of tourism Vicente Torres said: Tourism has been the key to the development of the island, we cannot survive without tourism, but at the same time we must provide steps towards sustainable development," reported local paper The Ibizan. "Residents, visitors, businesses, workers, and first of all the institutions of the island, must all come together in an understanding of the need to preserve the landscapes, coastlines, monuments and culture of the island. Tourism in the 21st century is a tourism that respects and values the place it visits. It is a tourism that does not degrade the destination, but instead it contributes in a positive way. Telegraph Travel's cruise editor and regular visitor to Ibiza, Teresa Machan, offers a reality check on what it's like to visit the island. "In Ibiza, like other popular tourist destinations, there are pockets where the uglier side of mass tourism is visible," she said. Expand Close A protesters carry a banner that reads, "Barcelona: Tourist welcome, locals not welcome" during a demonstration in Barcelona on June 10, 2017 against what they claim is a lack of control by the city's tourism management. Photo: AFP / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A protesters carry a banner that reads, "Barcelona: Tourist welcome, locals not welcome" during a demonstration in Barcelona on June 10, 2017 against what they claim is a lack of control by the city's tourism management. Photo: AFP "But even in San Antonio, throbbing heart of the Ibizan club scene, measures are being taken to alleviate the effects of overtourism and to clean up the streets where bars are concentrated. Elsewhere on the island you can find plenty of tranquil places to enjoy the scenery, swim at a relatively empty beach, detox, eat quality food in a stunning outdoor setting and drive without traffic hassles. It is the ultimate 'dip in and out of' holiday." Ibiza is not the only Spanish destination to take measures against the impact of overtourism. With more than 10 million annual visitors and as many as 500 annual cruise ships depositing 22,000 people a day, Mallorca is feeling the strain of its popularity. The capital Palma was the scene of an anti-tourist protest last September, with demonstrators demanding holidaymakers go home. Read More Local authorities are well aware of the problem and are trying to fix it by doubling the tourist tax during peak season. Raising the levy to as much as 4 per person per day, depending on the type of accommodation used, will help fund ecological projects, they say, as well as encourage holidaymakers to visit out of season. Other proposed measures have included tougher restrictions on Airbnb and a ban on tourists arriving by car. Barcelona has also seen intense debate over the impact of tourism in the city. With more than 32 million annual visitors, tensions bubbled over last summer when a group of masked men stormed an open-top tourist bus, slashing the vehicles tyres and spraying "El Turisme Mata Els Barris" (Tourism Kills Neighbourhoods) on the side of the bus. Read more: Read More Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021] German research icebreaker Polarstern above the Lomonossov Ridge in the Arctic Ocean where microplastics have been found in record levels. Photo: Rudiger Stein/Alfred-Wegener-Institut/PA Wire Scientists have found an unprecedented number of microplastics frozen in Arctic sea ice, demonstrating the alarming extent to which they are pervading marine environments. Analysis of ice cores from across the region found levels of the pollution were up to three times higher than previously thought. Each litre of sea ice contained around 12,000 particles of plastic, which scientists are now concerned are being ingested by native animals. Based on their analysis, the researchers were even able to trace the tiny fragments' paths from their places of origin, from fishing vessels in Siberia to everyday detritus that had accumulated in the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch. "We are seeing a clear human imprint in the Arctic," the study's first author, Dr Ilka Peeken, said. "It suggests that microplastics are now ubiquitous within the surface waters of the world's ocean," said Dr Jeremy Wilkinson, a sea ice physicist at the British Antarctic Survey who was not involved with the study. "Nowhere is immune." Dr Peeken and her team at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research collected ice core samples over the course of three expeditions on the research icebreaker Polarstern. Their voyages covered five regions along the Transpolar Drift and Fram Strait, which channel sea ice from the Central Arctic to the North Atlantic. Missing climate change and renewable energy targets will cost the State well in excess of 150m as emissions continue to rise. The Government has admitted it will miss 2020 emission reduction and renewable energy targets, and has undertaken "informal discussions" with EU neighbours with a view to minimising the cost of compliance, the Dail Committee on Communications, Climate Action and the Environment has heard. However, the bill is likely to run into millions of euro, with committee members criticising the lack of climate action which they said was not only affecting the planet, but also leaving Ireland facing expensive compliance costs. EU member states are given a carbon budget, setting out the level of emissions allowed to be produced from transport, agriculture and other sources. If they rise above these thresholds, compliance can be bought using unused 'carbon credits' from member states where emission cuts have been achieved. In addition, Ireland must ensure some 16pc of final energy consumption in electricity, transport and heat is from renewable sources by 2020, a target which will also be missed. Officials from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment said that informal talks were under way in relation to so-called "statistical transfers", where member states which overachieve their renewable energy obligations may sell energy credits to underachieving nations. Last year, Luxembourg and Lithuania reached such a deal, but the cost is not known. The credits can be traded, meaning the price is not set. Britain's Prince Harry (R) and his US fiancee Meghan Markle arrive to attend a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square in London, on April 23, 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Invictus Games Reception at Australia House on April 21, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Alastair Grant - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Britain's Prince Harry (R) and his US fiancee Meghan Markle leave after attending a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square in London, on April 23, 2018 Britain's Prince Harry (R) and his US fiancee Meghan Markle arrive to attend a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square in London, on April 23, 2018 Meghan Markle departs after attending the 25th Anniversary Memorial Service to celebrate the life and legacy of Stephen Lawrence at St Martin-in-the-Fields on April 23, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images) Prince Harry and Meghan Markle depart after attending the 25th Anniversary Memorial Service to celebrate the life and legacy of Stephen Lawrence at St Martin-in-the-Fields on April 23, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images) Meghan Markle attends the 25th Anniversary Memorial Service to celebrate the life and legacy of Stephen Lawrence at St Martin-in-the-Fields on April 23, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images) Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the 25th Anniversary Memorial Service to celebrate the life and legacy of Stephen Lawrence at St Martin-in-the-Fields on April 23, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images) Meghan Markle, fiancee of Prince Harry, attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Meghan Markle, fiancee of Prince Harry, attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Meghan Markle, fiancee of Prince Harry, attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Meghan Markle attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Meghan Markle, fiancee of Britain's Prince Harry, attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London, Britain, April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville Meghan Markle, fiancee of Britain's Prince Harry, attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London, Britain, April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London Meghan Markle appeared close to tears during a moving Anzac Day dawn service where fiance Prince Harry honoured New Zealand and Australia's war dead. During the poignant event staged as the sun's rays broke over the London skyline, Ms Markle looked emotional as the hymn Abide With Me was sung by thousands gathered at the New Zealand war memorial. The American actress was making her first appearance at a service marking Anzac Day - April 25 - the anniversary of the start of the First World War Gallipoli landings, and a national day of remembrance for Australia and New Zealand. Harry, a former army officer who served for 10 years in the forces, led the nation's tribute to New Zealand and Australia's war dead by laying a wreath during the service at one of a group of metal crosses near Wellington Arch in central London. A handwritten note from the prince, attached to a wreath of red roses, read: "For all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of our freedom. Thank you. Harry" Expand Close Meghan Markle, fiancee of Britain's Prince Harry, attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London, Britain, April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Meghan Markle, fiancee of Britain's Prince Harry, attends the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London, Britain, April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville Ms Markle may not yet be a member of the Royal Family but she has attended a large number of official events in the run-up to her royal wedding on May 19. The US actress, who wore a grey coat and large brimmed hat, passed a cultural milestone when she, and Harry, were welcomed by Te Ataraiti Waretini from Ngati Ranana - the London Maori Club - with a traditional hongi, the soft pressing of noses and the sharing of each other's breath. There were other Maori cultural elements during the dawn service including a haka performed at the end, a longer version of the one displayed by the famous New Zealand rugby team the All Blacks before matches. Ms Waretini said about Meghan: "She was amazing. I'm not sure if it's her first time at a Maori ceremony but she did very very well. Expand Close Britain's Prince Harry (R) and his US fiancee Meghan Markle arrive to attend a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square in London, on April 23, 2018 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Britain's Prince Harry (R) and his US fiancee Meghan Markle arrive to attend a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square in London, on April 23, 2018 Video of the Day "It was really lovely to meet her and share the breath of life and share our culture with her and Harry." Trevor Mallard, speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, gave the address during the dawn service and told the Kiwis and Aussies: "Today we remember 100 years have passed since the final year of the First World War. We honour the service of those who came half way around the world. "Some with a deep conviction that they were fighting for king and empire, some fighting for peace and justice, others were young lads who saw an opportunity for adventure - none could have foreseen the hell on the frontline and in the trenches." He added: "Today in thousands of communities throughout Australia and New Zealand people have come together to acknowledge and pay tribute to those who left our shores and particularly to commemorate those who gave their lives for our freedom." Thousands of Anzac troops - Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - died in the ill-fated 1915 Gallipoli campaign. Waves of Allied forces launched an amphibious attack on the strategically important Turkish peninsula, which was key to controlling the Dardanelles straits, the crucial route to the Black Sea and Russia. But the plan backed by Winston Churchill, then first lord of the admiralty, was flawed and the campaign, which faced a heroic defence by the Turks, led to stalemate and withdrawal eight months later. Its legacy is the celebration of the "Anzac spirit" - courage, endurance, initiative, discipline, and mateship - shown by the Antipodean troops and today the Anzac Day service in London has become an important moment for thousands of New Zealanders and Australians. During the service prayers were read by young school children and the Last Post was sounded by a bugler before a minute's silence was observed by all. After the service Harry, Meghan and dignitaries walked the short distance to the Australian war memorial where the prince laid another floral tribute. Sir Jerry Mateparae, the high commissioner of New Zealand, who attended the service said later that Ms Markle was talked through the Maori elements of the service so she understood their significance and importance. He added: "She was very interested, also it's her first Anzac service so we were explaining what it meant to us and the Australian memorial, so for her it was a new experience. "The thing that was special in a way was the prayers led by the children and certainly Prince Harry and Ms Markle were impressed by the young people and the confidence of their delivery but also the way they conducted themselves." French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron arrive at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on April 23, 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron listen to the US and French national anthems after arriving at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on April 23, 2018 Brigitte Macron listens as her husband, French President Emmanuel Macron, speaks at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on April 23, 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron walk near the Lincoln Memorial after their arrival in Washington, DC, on April 23, 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron walk near the Lincoln Memorial after their arrival in Washington, DC, on April 23, 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron walk down the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC on April 23, 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on April 23, 2018 as he wife Brigitte Macron looks US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, and French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron walk outside the White House April 23, 2018 in Washington,DC. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONJIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron walk outside the White House April 23, 2018 in Washington,DC. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONJIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images Brigitte Macron and Lady Melania Trump walk after a tree planting ceremony with French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan SmialowskiBRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images (L-R) US President Donald Trump, Brigitte Macron, France's President Emmanuel Macron, and US first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn of the White House April 23, 2018 in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan SmialowskiBRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images (L-R) US first lady Melania Trump, husband US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife first lady Brigitte Macron arrive at Mount Vernon, the estate of the first US President George Washington, in Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Ludovic MARINLUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images (L-R) US first lady Melania Trump, husband US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife first lady Brigitte Macron pose at Mount Vernon, the estate of the first US President George Washington, in Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Ludovic MARINLUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, disembark from Marine One prior to dinner at Mount Vernon, the estate of the first US President George Washington, in Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images French first lady Brigitte Macron and French President Emmanuel Macron walk with US President Donald Trump and US first lady Melania Trump upon arrival at Mount Vernon, the estate of the first US President George Washington, in Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Ludovic MARINLUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump await the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, for a State Dinner at the North Portico of the White House in Washington, DC, April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stand with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron at the start of a State Dinner in the White House in Washington, DC, April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / ludovic MARINLUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron as they arrive for a State Dinner at the North Portico of the White House in Washington, DC, April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive to welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron (unseen), for a State Dinner at the North Portico of the White House in Washington, DC, April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / ludovic MARINLUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive to welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron (not in frame) for a State Dinner at the North Portico of the White House in Washington, DC, April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONJIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images US First Lady Melania Trump and Brigitte Macron, wife of the French President, tour the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, and US First Lady Melania Trump attend a joint press conference at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Ludovic MARINLUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images French President Emmanuel Macron (2nd L), US President Donald Trump (R), US First Lady Melania Trump (2nd L) and Brigitte Macron salute the crowd from the balcony during a state welcome at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / LUDOVIC MARINLUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images US First Lady Melania Trump and Brigitte Macron, wife of the French President, tour the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images U.S. first lady Melania Trump participates in a state arrival ceremony at the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC U.S. first lady Melania Trump participates in a state arrival ceremony at the South Lawn of the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC French first lady Brigitte Macron and French President Emmanuel Macron arrive at the North Portico before a State Dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the White House, April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC French President Emmanuel Macron and French first lady Brigitte Macron arrive at the North Portico before a State Dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the White House, April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC French first lady Brigitte Macron and French President Emmanuel Macron walk with US President Donald Trump and US first lady Melania Trump upon arrival at Mount Vernon, the estate of the first US President George Washington, in Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Ludovic MARINLUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images (L-R) US first lady Melania Trump, husband US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife first lady Brigitte Macron arrive at Mount Vernon, the estate of the first US President George Washington, in Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images US President Donald Trump, US first lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife first lady Brigitte Macron arrive at Mount Vernon, the estate of the first US President George Washington, in Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Ludovic MARINLUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images US first lady Melania Trump walks outside the White House as US President Donald Trump welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron to the presidential mansion April 23, 2018 in Washington,DC. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONJIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stand with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron following dinner at Mount Vernon, the estate of the first US President George Washington, in Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Ludovic MARINLUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images US First Lady Melania Trump escorts Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, upon their return to the White House in Washington, DC, on April 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONJIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images U.S. first lady Melania Trump participates in an official arrival ceremony for French President Emmanuel Macron on the South Lawn of the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC Washington's Mount Venon, a joint news conference with Trump and he will address a joint meeting of Congress Wednesday. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Presidential Advisors Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump walk the Colonnade at The White House while attending a state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron on April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images) Presidential Advisors Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump walk the Colonnade at The White House while attending a state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron on April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images) Ivanka Trump (R) arrives for a state arrival ceremony hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump welcoming French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC First Lady Melania Trump tours the National Gallery of Art on April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC First Lady Melania Trump tours the National Gallery of Art on April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC United States President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte for a State Dinner at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 24, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder U.S. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron (L) raise their linked hands in the air while on the Truman Balcony during the official arrival ceremony for the Macrons on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., April 24, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stand with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron following a dinner at Mount Vernon, the estate of the first US President George Washington, in Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 23, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Ludovic MARINLUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, second from left, and Brigitte Macron, left, talks as they walk to a tree planting ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, April 23, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) U.S President Donald Trump and U.S. first lady Melania Trump greet French President Emmanuel Macron and French first lady Brigitte Macron after their arrival at the North Portico before a State Dinner at the White House, April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC U.S President Donald Trump, and U.S. first lady Melania Trump wait for the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron, French first lady Brigitte Macron at the North Portico for before a State Dinner at the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC U.S President Donald Trump and U.S. first lady Melania Trump stand with French President Emmanuel Macron and French first lady Brigitte Macron after their arrival at the North Portico before a State Dinner at the White House, April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC U.S President Donald Trump, and U.S. first lady Melania Trump wait for the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron, French first lady Brigitte Macron at the North Portico for before a State Dinner at the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC French President Emmanuel Macron kisses the hand of U.S. first lady Melania Trump, during an arrival ceremony at the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC U.S President Donald Trump, and U.S. first lady Melania welcome French President Emmanuel Macron, French first lady Brigitte Macron after their arrival at the North Portico for before a State Dinner at the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron at the White House, Monday, April 23, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) First lady Melania Trump and Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, walk on the South Lawn at the White House, on April 23, 2018 in Washington, DC United States President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte for a State Dinner at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 24, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder US first lady Melania Trump brought her signature dramatic glamour to the White House for a state dinner welcoming French president Emmanuel Macron. Mr Macron and his wife of 11 years Brigitte, a style icon in her own right, continued her support of luxury brands, sticking with her unofficial uniform, wearing exclusively all Louis Vuitton. Expand Close US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive to welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron (not in frame) for a State Dinner at the North Portico of the White House in Washington, DC, April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONJIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive to welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron (not in frame) for a State Dinner at the North Portico of the White House in Washington, DC, April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONJIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images Melania paid homage to their visitors' home country in an haute couture gown by French fashion house Chanel, with a structured shimmer and sheer detail; finishing of her look with a pair of silver heels from her favourite designer Christian Louboutin. It was the Trump administration's first state dinner and the Macrons are on a two-day tour of Washington D.C., which will finish tonight. Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka made a rare appearance, alongside husband Jared Kushner, for two events yesterday, both at last night's dinner in a frill layered polka dot Rodarte design (which costs 12k) and earlier, in an asymmetric navy dress with rope detail by Oscar de la Renta to officially welcome Mr Macron. Expand Close French President Emmanuel Macron and French first lady Brigitte Macron arrive at the North Portico before a State Dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the White House, April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp French President Emmanuel Macron and French first lady Brigitte Macron arrive at the North Portico before a State Dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the White House, April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC Yesterday's jam-packed schedule included the traditional entertaining for partners as Melania and Brigitte enjoyed a private tour of the National Gallery of Art, with the former model choosing a crisp white Michael Kors skirt suit, custom made by the American designer and hat made by Herve Pierre, the man who designed her inauguration dress. It's custom for first ladies to wear designers honouring their visitors and Melania has a well-established link with French couturiers, established before her husband's race for the White House even began. She set the tone for an exciting array of ensembles while greeting the Macrons on the grounds of Mount Vernon, in a tuxedo cape dress by Givenchy, another preferred label of hers that also served her need for fashion diplomacy. Meanwhile, Brigitte has been injecting some colour into her wardrobe, choosing a double breasted pink coat by Louis Vuitton over a pair of black skinny jeans and white ribbed top, before a quick change to meet the Trumps in a pastel yellow dress with belted coat, carrying a black keather bag, all by Vuitton. Expand Close U.S. first lady Melania Trump (R) and French first lady Brigitte Macron (L) participate in a state arrival ceremony at the South Lawn of the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp U.S. first lady Melania Trump (R) and French first lady Brigitte Macron (L) participate in a state arrival ceremony at the South Lawn of the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC At last night's dinner, she showed off her signature elegance in a long sleeved creme dress with breathtaking gold embellishment detail, preferring her go-to hairstyle for formalwear, a chic chignon. Netflix sci-fi hit Black Mirror is in the middle of filming for its fifth season, and Croydon residents are getting front row seats. Images of a 1980s-themed set taking over the south London borough have been circulating online, after a letter posted through locals letterboxes announced the arrival of Charlie Brookers show. AS IF BLACK MIRROR IS FILMING IN CROYDON Becca W (@Bex52296) April 25, 2018 The series is filming one of its upcoming episodes along St Georges Walk from Wednesday to Friday April 27. Pictures show a number of shops on the parade being replaced by vintage facades. 1980s @WHSmith - part of the set for @blackmirror round the corner from our gaff in #Croydon - in fact they seem to be creating a whole 80s high street with Chelsea Girl, Wimpy and travel agents. Love it! pic.twitter.com/gAsOFyz4wg Bugeye (@Bugeyeband) April 24, 2018 Fast food chain Wimpy and clothing store Chelsea Girl which we now know and love as River Island have made a temporary comeback. Hive of activity at St. Georges Walk Croydon. Its Christmas at WH Smith. Theres a Wimpy, Chelsea Girl clothes store, FADS DIY Store, Soleil travel agency, Pizza Hut. Its gone complete 80s #blackmirror pic.twitter.com/jFou1UPh8D Lee (@CosmicScale) April 24, 2018 A letter last week addressed to residents from production company Ealing Studios read: I am writing to inform you about filming in your area for the well-known drama series, Black Mirror. If you are unfamiliar with Black Mirror, it is a series of sharp, suspenseful, satirical, standalone dramas written by Charlie Brooker. It is hugely popular with its audience and strives to use beautiful locations within all the films. YO CROYDON: Black Mirror is gonna be filmed in St George's Walk next week pic.twitter.com/pa8VdzUU3L Jonny Rose (@98rosjon) April 19, 2018 The letter also encouraged residents to alert the crew of any delivery arrangements. No release date for season five has yet been announced, although the show is likely to return later this year. A fox cub found covered in mud and petrol in a skip is being cared for by wildlife experts. Workmen found the cub standing on a piece of wood to keep her head above deep water in a skip in Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire on April 16. They called the Scottish SPCA who are caring for the six-week-old animal at their National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Clackmannanshire, where staff have named her Diesel. Centre workers hope to release the cub back into the wild later this year, once she is strong enough to fend for herself. Centre manager Colin Seddon said: Diesel was discovered by workmen in a skip where she was deep in water but had managed to keep her head above water by standing on a piece of wood. With no sign of her mother, they gave our animal helpline a call. We had to wash Diesel immediately to prevent the petrol damaging her eyes and being ingested. She handled the wash well and has been feeding, so well be mixing her in with other cubs of a similar size and age to be released back into the wild as a group later in the year. However the Scottish SPCA advised people living in more rural locations to leave cubs alone and check on them after a couple of hours as their mother may return for them. Mr Seddon said: Vixens will often move their cubs from one earth to another and if they are disturbed theyll leave the cubs and come back for them later. Often, vixens will not live in the same earth as her cubs and will only return at night to feed them. Diesel was very lucky to have been spotted by these vigilant workmen and we are so grateful they called us. Anyone who thinks a cub is injured, ill or has been orphaned is advised to call the Scottish SPCA animal helpline on 03000 999 999. When Josh, a 27-year-old working in theatre, decided to take the subway in Brooklyn, New York, he came across something rather ill-timed. A rail worker in Rockaway Avenue station was just finishing work on a thick line of yellow paint for the edge of the platform. someone just put down a fresh coat of yellow paint on the subway platform edge....... at 9:30 on a wednesday morning. this platform is going to be a mess of yellow footprints by the end of the day. what is going on pic.twitter.com/4SQa27HoCh bosh (@boshj) April 25, 2018 I was rather startled to discover it was completely wet to the touch, not even tacky, Josh, Twitter username @boshj, told the Press Association. Naturally, things turned out exactly as Josh predicted. update: the results have been as expected pic.twitter.com/PADIfLNylq bosh (@boshj) April 25, 2018 Joshs posts to social media of the bizarre line-painting decision have been shared widely and been met with derision from many towards the transport authorities in New York. Weve seen the transit authority cut countless corners and make a series of increasingly inexplicable decisions that have resulted in our subway system going from one of the best in the world to a total laughing stock, said Josh. Josh says the example for how things should be done with metropolitan transport could come from overseas. Its baffling to me that New York hasnt looked to examples like TfL (Transport for London), which while imperfect has managed to turn around the system tremendously from where it was 10 years ago, he said. If youre a Londoner and your train is late, at least be thankful your feet arent covered in paint. Australian Colonel Scott Clingan escorts Edouard Philippe and Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy at the military cemetery (Pascal Rossignol/AP) Thousands of Australians have gathered at pre-dawn services to commemorate the moment when Australian and New Zealand Army Corps troops waded ashore at the Gallipoli peninsula 103 years ago. Concrete barriers were placed around the service in downtown Sydney to protect those who gathered after threats to Anzac Day ceremonies in the past. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, his French counterpart Edouard Philippe, and the Prince of Wales are in France to mark what was the Anzacs first major battle of the First World War. It will also commemorate the 100th anniversary of Australian troops taking the town of Villers-Bretonneux from the Germans. Villers-Bretonneux is now home to the main Australian Memorial of the Western Front. Expand Close Australian military veterans participate in the Anzac dawn service at Elephant Rock in Currumbin on the Gold Coast (Dave Hunt/AAP/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Australian military veterans participate in the Anzac dawn service at Elephant Rock in Currumbin on the Gold Coast (Dave Hunt/AAP/AP) At Villers-Bretonneux, Mr Turnbull and Mr Philippe have unveiled a memorial plaque at the new Sir John Monash Centre museum which is named after the Australian general responsible for taking the town. Mr Turnbull and his wife Lucy have visited the grave of her great uncle Roger Hughes who was killed by a German shell in 1916 five days after arriving on the Western Front as a young military doctor. Mr Turnbull said in an Anzac Day message that Australians remember veterans of every generation who risked their lives for their country. We best honour the Anzacs of 1918 and the First World War by supporting todays service men and women, Mr Turnbull said on social media. Each year on the 25th of April, Australians gather in the quiet dawn to remember the ANZACs. Continue watching the Prime Ministers ANZAC message below #LestWeForget pic.twitter.com/BifBdQUJZS The PMO (@thepmo) April 24, 2018 Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton represented the Australian government at a service at Anzac Cove at Gallipoli, where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed under British command in an ill-fated attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war. More than 44,000 Allied soldiers were killed at Gallipoli. Turkish casualties were estimated at 250,000. At the Australian War Memorial in the capital Canberra, an estimated crowd of 38,000 10% of the citys population gathered in the cool autumn darkness for the dawn service which began with a lone soldier playing a didgeridoo. The attendance at this years dawn service shows the enduring connection so many people have to Anzac Day, memorial director Brendan Nelson said in a statement. France's President Emmanuel Macron touches his hand to his heart as he finishes his address (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Frances President Emmanuel Macron has urged the United States to reject fear and isolationism. Instead he urged it to embrace the historic bond between the two countries to launch a new era of 21st century leadership and security. Mr Macron told a joint meeting of Congress, the American and French people have had a rendez-vous with freedom. Speaking almost directly to President Donald Trump, Mr Macron quickly turned to the top issues of Syria, the Iran nuclear deal, free trade and the Paris accord on climate change, topics where he and Mr Trump disagree. He urged the United States not to retreat from its historic and military role in world affairs. We will #MakeOurPlanetGreatAgain while creating new jobs and opportunities. Im sure that one day the United States will come back and join the Paris Agreement. pic.twitter.com/73bcfzF7hs Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 25, 2018 Lets face it: there is not Planet B. pic.twitter.com/vtP2NQYcv9 Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 25, 2018 We are living in a time of anger and fear because of global threats, Mr Macron told politicians. You can play with fears and angers for a time, but they do not construct anything. With a nod to great American leaders, including former president Franklin Roosevelt, he warned against withdrawing from the world in fear. Expand Close French President Emmanuel Macrons edited speech is seen as he addresses a joint meeting of Congress (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp French President Emmanuel Macrons edited speech is seen as he addresses a joint meeting of Congress (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) We have two possible ways ahead. We can choose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism. It can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy to our fears, he said. But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. We have to shape the common answer to the global threats we are facing, based on a more effective multilateralism. A strong multilateralism. Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 25, 2018 He proposed a new breed of militarism that was more effective, accountable and results-oriented. This requires more than ever the United States involvement, he said. At times during the nearly hour-long speech, delivered in English, he took turns playing into his friendly relationship with Mr Trump, while nudging, forcefully at times, against their differences. Expand Close French President Emmanuel Macrons edited speech is seen as he addresses a joint meeting of Congress (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp French President Emmanuel Macrons edited speech is seen as he addresses a joint meeting of Congress (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) He reiterated French support for US sanctions on Pyongyang toward the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and said as for Iran, our objective is clear: Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons. But he warned against simply abandoning the multi-nation Iran nuclear deal, as Mr Trump has considered, promoting a more comprehensive deal he has been discussing with White House officials during his US visit. We can choose isolationism. But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. If we decide to open our eyes wider, we will be much stronger. pic.twitter.com/WwPRlR9AFs Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 25, 2018 In a nod to what Mr Trump calls Fake News, Mr Macron warned that lies disseminated online are threatening freedoms worldwide, and in a play on Mr Trumps famous campaign slogan, Mr Macron said he was confident the US will re-join the Paris climate agreement. Let us work together in order to make our planet great again, he said, and create new jobs and new opportunities while safeguarding our earth. If Earths climate continues to warm, there is no Planet B, he added. The independent centrist president, who does not always receive such a robust welcome at home, was greeted with repeated standing ovations from members of Congress, including Republicans, who have not always aligned with French leaders on policy. Expand Close French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he arrives to make his speech (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he arrives to make his speech (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) In recounting common bonds from the earliest days of the United States, Mr Macron talked about a meeting between Ben Franklin and the French philosopher Voltaire, kissing each others cheeks. In an apparent reference to his friendly meetings this week with Mr Trump, he said: It can remind you of something. Mr Macron was speaking as part of his visit to the United States. It is the first time a president from France has addressed Congress in more than a decade, but follows a tradition of foreign leaders appearing at the US Capitol. The parents of Alfie Evans are appealing against a High Court decision preventing the seriously ill boy from being taken abroad for treatment, lawyers have confirmed. A spokeswoman for the Christian Legal Centre, representing Alfie's parents, said the case is due to be heard at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday a judge ruled the boy may be allowed home from Alder Hey Children's Hospital, but will not be allowed to go to Rome for further treatment. The 23-month-old confounded doctors' expectations when he continued to live after life-support was withdrawn on Monday night, his father, Tom Evans, said. "The court of appeal have reached out to us and said they are going to set back three judges to hear the case," Mr Evans told reporters outside hospital on Tuesday night. "In reality, he could be in Italy right now. We all know the military air force are ready to take him and a team of doctors are there. "We've also got a German air ambulance team, who attempted to take him in the first place, ready... the reality is these people are eager to get him out of the country and I'm not giving up because Alfie's breathing away, he's not suffering." Mr Evans revealed that Alfie had at times needed to be helped with his breathing, telling reporters: "At some point I had to give him mouth-to-mouth because his lips went blue and he was really fighting with his breathing so me and his mum were giving him mouth-to-mouth." At an earlier High Court hearing in Manchester, Mr Justice Hayden described Alfie as "courageous" and a "warrior", but said the case had now reached its "final chapter". He rejected claims by Mr Evans that his son was "significantly better" than first thought because he had been breathing unaided for 20 hours after doctors first withdrew life support. Instead, the judge said the best Alfie's parents could hope for was to "explore" the options of removing him from intensive care either to a ward, a hospice or his home. But a doctor treating Alfie, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that for Alfie to be allowed home would require a "sea change" in attitude from the child's family, and they feared that in the "worst case" they would try to take the boy abroad. Mr Justice Hayden ruled out the family's wishes to take the child to the Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome, following interventions from the Pope and the Italian authorities. Alfie has been at the centre of a life or death treatment battle, with his parents, Mr Evans and Kate James, trying to block doctors from withdrawing life support in a sometimes acrimonious six-month dispute which has seen a series of court battles. A "last-ditch appeal" in which the Italian ambassador granted Alfie citizenship of Italy in order to take him to Rome for treatment failed on Monday. And a late night court hearing heard by telephone by Mr Justice Hayden and lawyers for both sides confirmed his earlier decision permitting life support, helping Alfie to breathe, to be withdrawn. During another three-hour hearing on Tuesday at the Family Division of the High Court sitting in Manchester, Paul Diamond, from the Christian Legal Centre, suggested the alleged change in the position meant the court should reconsider its decision on allowing Alfie to travel abroad. He handed the court a witness statement from Mr Evans in which he suggested his son's health was "significantly better" than first thought since life support was withdrawn at 9.17pm on Monday, as he was continuing to live and breathe. But Mr Justice Hayden said in his ruling: "The sad truth is that it is not. "With little, indeed no hesitation, I reject that." Instead the judge said Alfie's continued life was a "shaft of light" and a "special opportunity" for his parents to spend time with him - not the time for more legal manoeuvres. And he criticised the "malign hand" of one of the family's advisers, law student Pavel Stroilov, who had, the court heard, been party to Mr Evans lodging a private prosecution of Alder Hey Hospital doctors, allegedly for murder. The judge said, in fact, the hospital had provided "world class" care for the child. The hospital's doctors and independent medical experts say there is no cure and no hope for Alfie. Following the court hearing, an Alder Hey spokesman said it was working closely with his parents, but the hospital's "top priority therefore remains in ensuring Alfie receives the care he deserves to ensure his comfort, dignity and privacy are maintained throughout". Medics say Alfie has a degenerative neurological condition destroying his brain, and it is in his best interests to withdraw life support. But his parents have fought a long battle to ask the courts to allow them to take him abroad. The dispute ended up in the courts, but the family have already lost a series of appeals in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. Alfie was born on May 9 2016, but suffered seizures and was taken to hospital in December that year. He is currently being hydrated and given oxygen to stop him becoming distressed, Mr Justice Hayden was told. A DANISH court has handed down a life sentence to submarine entrepreneur Peter Madsen for murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall. He was convicted of murdering and dismembering the journalist aboard his homemade submarine in Copenhagen's harbour in August 2017. Police detained Madsen on August 11 last year when he emerged from his submarine without the 30-year-old, with whom he had boarded the home-built vessel the previous day. Later that month, police identified a torso washed ashore in Copenhagen as Wall's. Arms, legs and a head determined to be that of the victim were also later retrieved by the authorities. Madsen had admitted to dismembering Ms Wall's body before he "buried her at sea", saying he could not lift her up the submarine tower in one piece to throw her overboard, meaning he had to cut her up. Ms Wall, a 30-year-old freelance journalist who wrote for The New York Times, The Guardian and other publications, set out on the submarine on August 10 to interview Madsen, the co-founder of a company that develops and builds manned spacecraft. Her remains were found in plastic bags on the Baltic Sea bed weeks later. Her torso had been stabbed multiple times. The cause of Ms Wall's death has not been established. More to follow A car is backed out of the garage of a home searched in connection with the arrest of a man on suspicion of murder (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) A former police officer suspected of being a serial killer tied to dozens of killings and sexual assaults in the 1970s and 1980s has been charged with murder, California authorities said. Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten said his office charged Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, with two counts of first-degree murder in the 1980 killings of a couple. East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer Identified and in custody: Joseph James Deangelo (72) pic.twitter.com/9fBdiziaaJ Sacramento Sheriff (@sacsheriff) April 25, 2018 Mr Totten said prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the former police officer. Authorities in Sacramento County have also arrested DeAngelo on suspicion of murder in the killings of married couple Brian and Katie Maggiore in 1978. Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said DNA helped solve the case. Expand Close Law enforcement drawings released in 2016 show a suspected serial killer believed to have committed at least 12 murders across California in the 1970s and 1980s (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Law enforcement drawings released in 2016 show a suspected serial killer believed to have committed at least 12 murders across California in the 1970s and 1980s (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) She said dozens of people committed their professional lives to the search and spent hundreds of hours seeking justice for these victims and their families. The attacker who became known as the East Area Rapist is accused of at least 12 murders, 45 rapes and dozens of burglaries across the state. An Indian court has found a high-profile spiritual guru guilty of raping a teenage female devotee in 2013 and he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. The verdict against 77-year-old Asaram Bapu was read out inside a prison in the city of Jodhpur because of fears that his followers could resort to violence. The case is the latest in a series of high-profile rape cases in India that have fuelled public protests and raised questions about how police handle the cases and treat the victims. In August last year, another popular and flamboyant Indian spiritual guru, Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, was sentenced to 20 years for raping two female followers. Expand Close Security officers keep guard outside Central Jail / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Security officers keep guard outside Central Jail Judge Madhusudhan Sharma will announce the prison term for Bapu later after hearing arguments from the prosecution and Bapus lawyers. Bapu has denied the rape and can appeal against his conviction in a higher court. In a complaint to police in 2013, the girl accused Bapu of raping her when she visited his retreat in Jodhpur with her mother. Her family said they had been followers of Bapu for more than a decade. He has been in prison since his arrest in 2013. On Wednesday, security was tight around the prison complex and in states where the self-styled guru has a considerable following. Religious sects wield considerable political clout in India with several politicians as followers. Asaram is also on trial with his son Narayan Sai in a separate rape case where two sisters have accused them of sexual assault. Danish submarine inventor Peter Madsen has been given a life sentence after being found guilty of torturing and murdering Swedish reporter Kim Wall before dismembering her body during a private submarine trip. Copenhagen City Court Judge Anette Burkoe said she and two jurors unanimously decided Walls death was a murder, finding Madsen also guilty of sexual assault and the defilement of a corpse. It is the courts assessment that the defendant killed Kim Wall, Ms Burkoe told the packed courtroom. During the 12 days of the trial that began on March 8, the court heard evidence that Madsen, 47, lured 30-year-old Wall on to his homemade submarine with the promise of an interview she had been trying to get for months. Expand Close Denmark Journalist Killed / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Denmark Journalist Killed Ms Wall, a freelance journalist who wrote for leading magazines and newspapers, was last seen on August 10 waving to her boyfriend and other friends ashore as the submarine sailed off into the Baltic. Her dismembered torso was found days later at sea off Copenhagen, and other body parts were found in plastic bags in October. We are talking about a cynical and planned sexual assault and brutal murder of a random woman, who in connection with her journalistic work had accepted an offer to go sailing in the defendants submarine, Ms Burkoe told the court. Life sentences in Denmark usually equate to 16 years in prison, but prisoners are re-assessed during their incarceration to determine whether they would constitute a danger to society if released and should be kept longer. Immediately after the verdict, Madsens lawyer, Betina Hald Engmark, told the court she would appeal. Expand Close Peter Madsen picture in front of his submarine (Hougaard Niels/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Peter Madsen picture in front of his submarine (Hougaard Niels/AP) The court ordered Madsen kept behind bars during the appeals process. Ms Walls parents were not present for the verdict but prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen said that after the ruling he spoke with other family members who were present. We are, of course, very satisfied that the court has accepted the arguments of the prosecution and handed the heaviest sentence in Danish law, he said. Throughout the trial Madsen denied murder, saying 30-year-old Wall died accidentally inside the submarine. Initially he told authorities that he had dropped her off on shore and did not know what had happened to her. He then claimed she had died accidentally when hit in the head by the submarine's hatch. Finally, after her decapitated head was found by police divers in a weighted-down bag along with her appendages and the skull showed no signs of fracture, he said she had been asphyxiated in a malfunction aboard the submarine. He also initially denied dismembering her, then confessed that he had done so and said he had thrown her body parts into the Baltic Sea. He changed his story several times. Initially he told authorities that he had dropped her off on shore and did not know what had happened to her. He then claimed she had died accidentally when hit in the head by the submarines hatch. Finally, after her decapitated head was found by police divers in a weighted-down bag along with her appendages and the skull showed no signs of fracture, he said she had been asphyxiated in a malfunction aboard the submarine. Expand Close File photo of police and other authorities searching for a body during the Kim Wall case (Jens Dresling/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp File photo of police and other authorities searching for a body during the Kim Wall case (Jens Dresling/AP) He also initially denied dismembering her, then confessed that he had done so and said he had thrown her body parts into the Baltic Sea. Ms Burkoe noted the discrepancies, saying Madsen failed to give trustworthy explanations. She added that evidence also showed he has shown interest for killing and maiming of people and has shown interest for impaling. Madsen listened quietly as the verdict was read, looking down at the desk in front of him. Prosecutor Buch-Jepsen claimed Ms Walls murder was sexually motivated and premeditated because Madsen brought along tools he normally didnt take when sailing, including a saw and sharpened screwdrivers. Madsens defence lawyer had argued for his acquittal on the charge of murder, saying he should only be sentenced for the lesser charge of cutting Ms Walls body into pieces. The cause of death has never been established but the court found that Madsen cut the body into pieces to hide what had happened. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has received a life sentence for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Walls death was a murder. She said that Madsen did not give a trustworthy explanation. Expand Close File photo of police and other authorities searching for a body during the Kim Wall case (Jens Dresling/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp File photo of police and other authorities searching for a body during the Kim Wall case (Jens Dresling/AP) Madsen stood quietly listening as the judge read out the verdict on Wednesday. Madsen, 47, had denied murder and said Wall died accidentally inside the submarine. He confessed to cutting up her body and throwing the body parts into the sea. Madsen said he would appeal against the conviction and sentence. US President Donald Trump and Iran's top diplomat traded sharp warnings yesterday, with Mr Trump threatening "bigger problems" than ever if Tehran restarts its nuclear programme. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif put the president on notice, telling the Associated Press if the US pulls out of the nuclear deal, Iran "mostly likely" would abandon it, too. In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Zarif said a US withdrawal from the landmark 2015 accord would undermine Mr Trump's talks with North Korea by proving that America reneges on its promises. He said if Mr Trump re-imposes sanctions, "basically killing the deal," Iran would no longer be bound by the pact's international obligations, freeing it up to resume enrichment far beyond the deal's strict limits. "If the United States were to withdraw from the nuclear deal, the immediate consequence in all likelihood would be that Iran would reciprocate and withdraw," Mr Zarif said. He added: "There won't be any deal for Iran to stay in." As Mr Zarif spoke in New York yesterday, Mr Trump was meeting at the White House with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been leading an effort by France, Britain and Germany to find "fixes" to the deal that would satisfy Mr Trump's objections. Few expect such a solution can be found by May 12, the date on which Mr Trump has said he'll leave the deal if there's no fix agreed to with the Europeans. "No one knows what I'm going to do on the 12th, although, Mr President, you have a pretty good idea," Mr Trump said, referring to Mr Macron. He said if he does withdraw, he would look to see "if it will be possible to do a new deal with solid foundations, because this is a deal with decayed foundations." In a bleak warning to Iran President Hassan Rouhani, Mr Trump added that if Iran ever threatens the United States, "they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid". Iran has been working feverishly to frame Mr Trump's expected withdrawal as a major blot on the United States, just as America's closest allies in Europe try to persuade the president not to rip it up. US and European officials say they've made major progress on two of Mr Trump's demands - on nuclear inspections and Iran's ballistic missiles programme. But talks have stalemated on Mr Trump's third demand: that the deal be extended in perpetuity, rather than letting restrictions on Tehran to "sunset" after several years. Iran has outright rejected any changes to the deal, arguing it's unfair to impose more demands beyond what Tehran agreed to already. Mr Trump's strategy relies on the assumption if the US and the Europeans unilaterally agree to new demands, Iran will back down and voluntarily comply in order to continue enjoying the benefits. Under the 2015 deal Iran agreed to nuclear restrictions in exchange for billions in sanctions relief. Even if an add-on deal with the Europeans is achieved, there is no guarantee it will satisfy Mr Trump. His aides have said they can't predict with certainty what conditions would be enough to keep him in the pact. As Mr Trump prepares for a high-stakes summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un aimed at resolving nuclear weapons concerns, Mr Zarif emphasised that US credibility was at stake. He said Iran would welcome lower tensions on the Korean Peninsula, but Mr Trump was showing the world that the US is "not a trustworthy, reliable negotiating partner". Donald Trump has long provided a simple alibi for allegations about a wild night he spent in Moscow in 2013: He never spent the night there to begin with. But according to newly reported flight records, this may not be the case. Records obtained by Bloomberg News indicate that Mr Trump did spend the night in Moscow during the 2013 Miss Universe pageant - around the time he is alleged to have engaged in sex acts with Russian prostitutes at a hotel in the nation's capital. Earlier reports show Mr Trump flew to North Carolina on November 7 for a birthday tribute to evangelist minister Billy Graham. That night, according to the 'New York Times', Mr Trump flew to Moscow on a Bombardier Global 5000 private jet owned by American businessman Phil Ruffin. A Facebook post from the restaurant Nobu Moscow also appears to show Mr Trump in the city that night. According to the records and Mr Trump's own account, he stayed until early Sunday morning, when he jetted back to New York. The new timeline suggests Mr Trump did stay in Moscow overnight during his trip - despite reportedly telling then-FBI director James Comey that he did not. Mr Comey has claimed he discussed the allegations with Mr Trump early last year. The president, he said, told him that "the hookers thing is nonsense". "He then explained, as he had at our dinner, that he hadn't stayed overnight in Russia during the Miss Universe trip," Mr Comey wrote in a memo after a meeting with Mr Trump in February 2017. The president fired Mr Comey the next month. The allegations about Mr Trump's night in Moscow stemmed from an opposition research dossier compiled by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele, and which was later handed over to the FBI. The dossier - which has not been verified - claimed the Russian government had "kompromat" on Mr Trump on tapes showing sex acts. Mr Trump has denied the allegations. "Dossier is bogus. Clinton Campaign, DNC funded Dossier. FBI cannot (after all of this time) verify claims...", he tweeted in December. The board of pharmaceutical giant Shire has recommended a 46 billion takeover bid from Japans Takeda. It comes after Takeda tabled several offers that were rejected by the Irish-based firm. Takedas latest proposal is worth 49 per share, 21.75 of which is cash and 27.26 in new Takeda shares. The board has indicated to Takeda that it would be willing to recommend the revised proposal to Shire shareholders subject to satisfactory resolution of the other terms of the possible offer. Accordingly, the Board will engage in discussions with Takeda in relation to these terms, Shire said. At completion, Shire shareholders would own around 50% of the new entity, with new Takeda shares to be listed in Japan and the US. Under the terms of the offer, Shire shareholders would also be entitled to any dividends announced, declared, made or paid by Shire in the ordinary course prior to completion of the possible transaction. Botox maker Allergan confirmed last week it would not make a bid for Shire, just a day after saying it was weighing up an offer. Takedas rationale for acquiring Shire is to accelerate its transformation and result in a global, value-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader, to be headquartered in Japan. In addition, a tie-up would help realise the Japanese companys R&D strategy, drive financial value and allow it to exploit further opportunities in the US. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Special Counsel Robert Muellers office has rebuffed two attempts by former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to argue that evidence seized last summer by FBI agents from his home and nearby storage locker was unlawfully obtained. In a filing late Monday night, Muellers team rejected Manaforts claims that search warrants used to raid his home were unconstitutionally overbroad, arguing that evidence seized during both searches should, in fact, be permissible for use in an upcoming trial against Manafort. In May, initial access to the storage locker was gained after an employee of Manaforts, who was listed as the occupant of the lease, willingly allowed investigators to enter the unit. Prosecutors obtained a warrant the next day. Then in July, federal agents executed a search warrant and seized documents and records from Manaforts home during an early morning raid when they awoke a sleeping Manafort and his wife by knocking on their bedroom door. Manafort was listed as one of the people allowed to access the unit, alongside former campaign-aide Rick Gates and the unnamed Manafort employee. Gates pleaded guilty to two felony charges in February and admitted to helping Manafort syphon millions of dollars into overseas accounts. As part of his deal, Gates is now cooperating with the Mueller probe. Among other pieces of evidence seized during the searches of Manaforts home and storage locker were digital materials from iPods and iPads, receipts, documents and several binders from a box labeled Ukraine Binders, according to the court filing. Manaforts dealings with Ukraine and Ukrainian business associates have served as the basis for many of the charges leveled against him, including tax fraud, money laundering, failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiring against the United States. Prosecutors have alleged that Manafort was acting as a lobbyist for the government in Ukraine without registering to do such work. Manafort is the most senior Trump campaign adviser to face charges from the special prosecutor, though none of the charges brought against Manafort have been linked directly to his time with the Trump campaign. In court last week Manaforts team argued that charges related to his political dealings in Ukraine are beyond Muellers mandate. But federal prosecutors argued that Manaforts Ukrainian business ties fall within the special counsels purview, as he could have used those ties as a back-channel to contacts in Russia. Despite Gates guilty plea, Manafort has maintained his innocence in the special counsels probe, which includes cases in federal courts in DC as well as in Virginia, where Manafort faces another 18-count indictment. Manafort remains under house arrest, wearing two ankle braclets, while his legal team continues to negotiate collateral on his $10 million dollar bail. The courts have rejected the use of several of Manaforts properties largely because some of the charges against him involve bank fraud related to a mortgage on one of his properties. Manafort will next appear in federal court in Virginia on Friday, May 4. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Sky shares topped Londons blue chip market on Wednesday on the back of a bidding war for the company but that was not enough to prop up the wider market which suffered the effects of investor profit-taking. The FTSE 100 ended the day down 0.6% or 46.08 points at 7,379.32 points, with similar losses felt across Europe, where the French Cac 40 fell nearly 0.6% and the German Dax dropped 1%. David Madden, a market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said it was partly down to the current appeal of safe haven assets. Profit-taking has dented European equity markets. Some stocks saw multi-month highs yesterday, and they are now in retreat. The increase in US government bond yields has given traders an incentive to seek out safer assets, he explained. Sky shares meanwhile ended the day up 51p at 1,359p after US media giant Comcast unveiled a 22 billion rival bid that threatens 21st Century Foxs 11.7 billion attempt to take full control of the pay-TV group. Regulators should in theory happily wave the merger though if Comcast make the right noises on the independence of Sky News.Jasper Lawler, London Capital Group Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group, said a bidding war had not been fully priced in to the Sky share price, and Comcast now has a good chance of coming out on top given the complications surrounding Foxs offer. Media plurality is the main stumbling block for Murdochs approach and in part why the Sky board has withdrawn its recommendation, he explained. Regulators should in theory happily wave the merger through if Comcast make the right noises on the independence of Sky News. In currency markets, the pound was mixed, falling 0.3% against the US dollar to 1.393 and rising 0.2% versus the euro to 1.144. Brent crude prices dropped nearly 0.4% to around 73.57 US dollars per barrel, knocked by US government data pointing to higher oil and gas stockpiles, which fanned worries about global oversupply. In UK stocks, GlaxoSmithKline shares dropped 50p to 1,412p after reporting a 15% drop in operating profit to 1.24 billion and warning investors that sales of a key respiratory drug in its portfolio were likely to slump. Lloyds Banking Group fell 1.12p to 65p after taking another 90 million hit for payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling claims, bringing its total bill for the saga to an eye-watering 18.8 billion. It came as the bank reported a 23% rise in bottom line profits to 1.6 billion. Expand Close Costa Coffee demerger / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Costa Coffee demerger Whitbread edged lower by 9p to 4,177p after bowing to pressure from an activist investor and announcing plans to spin off Costa Coffee into a separately-listed business from its Premier Inn brand. Shire shares slumped 110p to 3,820p. It came as the pharma giant changed its tune and recommended a 46 billion takeover bid from Japans Takeda following a number of rejected offers. Metro Bank suffered a 258p drop in its share price to 3,260p despite reporting a 456% surge in bottom-line profits in the first quarter, as investors turned attention to the banks capital targets and higher costs. The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Sky up 51p at 1,359p, Imperial Brands up 83.5p at 2,472p, British American Tobacco up 106p at 3,850p, and CRH up 56p at 2,543p. The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Ashtead Group down 105p to 2,010p, Anglo American down 72.6p at 1,675p, Croda International down 181p to 4,438p, GlaxoSmithKline down 50p at 1,412.2p. Donald Trump is hosting Emmanuel Macron for the first state visit of his administration (Andrew Harnik/AP) With exaggerated handshakes and a pair of kisses, President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron professed a sunny, best-friends relationship on Tuesday, even as the two allies strained to bridge differences over the Iran nuclear agreement, Syria and more. Hosting Mr Macron for the first state visit of his administration, culminating in a lavish dinner on Tuesday night, Mr Trump remained firm in his criticism of past and enduring American undertakings in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East. But he appeared open to the French presidents pleas to maintain US involvement in Syria and expressed openness to negotiating a new agreement with Iran. As Mr Trump weighs withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear accord, he issued a warning to Iran against restarting its nuclear programme, saying, They will have bigger problems than theyve ever had before. At a joint White House news conference, he appeared to be more in line with Mr Macrons push for a longer-term US presence in Syria. Mr Trump, who announced weeks ago that he would withdraw American troops, said Mr Macron reinforced the idea of a potential Iranian takeover of territory liberated from the Islamic State group. Well be coming home, Mr Trump said, but we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint. Mr Macron told Mr Trump that together the US and France would defeat terrorism, curtail weapons of mass destruction in North Korea and Iran, and act together on behalf of the planet. That last point was a reference to Mr Macrons work to revive the US role in the Paris climate accord to fight global warming, another international agreement Mr Trump has spurned. Differences aside, Mr Trump and Mr Macron lavished praise and even a pair of kisses on each other Tuesday. Its an honour to call you my friend, Mr Trump said, after predicting Mr Macron would be a historic leader of France. In one light moment, Mr Trump sought to demonstrate some of the personal chemistry he claimed. The US president brushed something off Mr Macrons suit jacket, saying, We have a very special relationship; in fact, Ill get that little piece of dandruff off. We have to make him perfect he is perfect. The meetings followed a pomp-filled welcome ceremony on the South Lawn. Highlights included a 21-gun salute and Melania Trumps wide-brim white hat, which drew more comments than all the rest of the pageantry. Expand Close Donald Trump and Melania Trump, with Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House (Andrew Harnik/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Donald Trump and Melania Trump, with Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House (Andrew Harnik/AP) Mr Trump said before an audience of US soldiers and members of his Cabinet that the relationship he forged with Mr Macron at the start of his presidency was a testament to the enduring friendship that binds our two nations. He thanked the French leader for his steadfast partnership in the recent missile strike in response to the chemical attack in Syria. Mr Macron said, History is calling us. It is urging our people to find the fortitude that has guided us in the most difficult of times. France and with it, Europe, and the United States have an appointment with history. Later he placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery. The social highlight of Macrons visit was Tuesday nights formal state dinner at the White House. More than 130 guests dined on rack of lamb and nectarine tart and enjoyed an after-dinner performance by the Washington National Opera. The previous evening, the leaders and their wives took a helicopter tour of Washington landmarks and had dinner at the Potomac River home of George Washington in Mount Vernon, Virginia. As he gave a toast at the dinner, Mr Trump hailed the bonds between the US and France, saying, May our friendship grow even deeper, may our kinship grow even stronger and may our sacred liberty never die. Expand Close President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron share a toast (Susan Walsh/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron share a toast (Susan Walsh/AP) As for substantive issues, one of Mr Macrons main objectives during his three-day visit to Washington was to persuade Mr Trump to stay in the Iran accord, which is aimed at restricting Irans development of nuclear weapons. Mr Trump is sceptical of the pacts effectiveness its insane, its ridiculous, he said Tuesday but he declined to say whether he would withdraw the U.S. by the May 12 deadline he has set. He reminded his French counterpart of what he sees as flaws in the agreement, which he said fails to address ballistic missiles or Irans activities in Yemen or Syria. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that pulling out would undermine Americas upcoming nuclear talks with North Korea by proving the U.S. reneges on its promises. He told The Associated Press in an interview in New York that if Mr Trump withdraws, Iran would most likely abandon the deal as well and would no longer be bound by its international obligations. That would free Iran to resume enrichment activity beyond the limits imposed by the 2015 accord. Mr Macron told reporters that he and Mr Trump would look at the Iran deal in a wider regional context, taking into account the situation in Syria. We have a common objective, we want to make sure theres no escalation and no nuclear proliferation in the region. We now need to find the right path forward, Mr Macron said. Mr Trump suggested he was open to doing something beyond the current Iran agreement as long as it was done strongly. The third edition of Tax, Accounting and Audit in India is updated for 2017, and provides an overview of the f... New Delhi, Apr 25 (IBNS): The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the renewal of Long Term Agreements (LTAs) for supply of iron ore (lumps and fines) of grade +64% Fe content to Japanese Steel Mills (JSMs) and POSCO, South Korea for another five years (i.e. April 1, 2018 to March 31,2023) through MMTC Limited. The present LTAs were valid until March 31, 2018. The approval was given on Tuesday. The range of quantity of iron ore to be exported under LTA per annum shall be 3.80 million tons (min.) per annum to 5.50 million tons per annum (max.) of both NMDC and non-NMDC origin iron ore with quantitative ceilings for export of Bailadila Lumps at 1.81 million MTs per annum and Bailadila Fines at 2.71 million MTs per annum, said a government release. The quantities of iron ore proposed for supply to JSMs and POSCO, South Korea through MMTC Limited under these LTAs will be of grade +64% Fe content. The existing policy of single agency operation and exports through MMTC, with trading margin of 2.8% of FOB price, shall be continued. Export of iron ore under the LTAs will help to strengthen Indias bilateral ties with long-standing partner countries, Japan and South Korea secure an export market and result in inflow of foreign exchange, the release said. The government release also said that the agreement will enable India to secure international market for its ores and ensure stable economic ecosystem which provides direct and indirect employment in mining, logistics and related sectors. The history of India's iron ore exports to Japan is almost six decades old and is a consistent component of India's bilateral relations with Japan. MMTC has been supplying iron ore to JSMs since 1963 and to South Korea since 1973. Image: NMDC website Ulaanbaatar, Apr 25 (IBNS): External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said Mongolia is not only India's strategic partner but also its spiritual neighbour. Swaraj, who is on a trip to Mongolia, made the comment while addressing a joint press conference with her Mongolian counterpart Tsogtbaatar. Swaraj became the first Indian Foreign Minister to visit Mongolia in more than four decades. Commenting on the ties between the two countries, Swaraj said: "Mongolia is not only our strategic partner for India but also a spiritual neighbour. We share long historical links. Mongolia is well known in India for the valour of her kings and her strong Buddhist heritage." "We also agreed that we should make all efforts to maintain and accelerate the momentum of our interaction in all areas. We reviewed the progress in our on-going collaborative projects, including the refinery project selected by the Government of Mongolia for implementation with the support of one billion dollar Indian Line of Credit." Narendra Modi was the first Indian PM to visit Mongolia in 2015. Swaraj said PM Modi's visit "provided a fresh impetus to our relations and qualitatively raised the level of our engagement." Speaking about the areas in which both India and Mongolia can cooperate, the EAM said: "Foreign Minister Tsogtbaatar and I agreed to explore possible ways to identify new areas of cooperation in all sectors of mutual interest and to enhance our bilateral trade and investments. We discussed economic cooperation in areas such as infrastructure development, energy, services and IT. "We agreed to remove institutional and logistical impediments to boost our trade, tourism and people to people contacts. In this regard, we also agreed to explore possibility of launching direct air connectivity between our two capitals," she added. India and Mongolia have also agreed to work hand-in-hand in combating global terrorism. The External Affairs Minister said: "We discussed some of the pressing global challenges facing the humanity, particularly the scourge of terrorism and agreed to collaborate bilaterally and in international arena to ward off this evil and thwart the designs of those who extend support to terrorist outfits." Swaraj reached Mongolia on Tuesday after wrapping up her China visit. In China, she attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers meeting. She also met Chinese President Xi Jinping. Image: twitter.com/MEAIndia New Delhi, Apri 25 (IBNS): The Union government is considering a plan to relax the Restricted Area Permit requirements for Lakshadweep as well as Andaman & Nicobar Islands to promote tourism, according to media reports on Wednesday. The matter was discussed at the third meeting of the Island Development Agency (IDA) held in New Delhi on Tuesday. Chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Island Development Agency reviewed the progress made towards preparation of development plans for the identified islands (four in A&N Islands i.e. Smith, Ross, Long, Avis and five in Lakshadweep i.e. Minicoy, Bangaram, Thinnakara, Cheriyam, Suheli). The final Site Suitability Reports have been prepared, carrying capacity determined and environmental zoning carried out for these islands to ensure sustainable development, said the Home Ministry in a release. CEO, NITI Aayog made detailed presentation giving details of actions taken in pursuance to decisions taken in earlier meetings. The Union Home Minister expressed satisfaction at the progress made since its last meeting held on November 8, 2017 when directions were given to identify additional Islands for sustainable development and also accord priority to key infrastructure projects. Additional islands/locations -- 12 in Andaman and Nicobar (North Passage, Cinque, Inglis, Viper, Neil (Bharatpur Beach), Ramnagar Beach, Karmatang Beach, Dhaninallah Beach, Kalipur Beach, Rutland, North Bay and Great Nicobar - B Quarry) and five in Lakshadweep (Kalpeni, Kadmat, Agatti, Chetlat and Bitra) have been identified by NITI Aayog, in consultation with the UT Administrations, for planning of suitable projects aimed at creation of more jobs for the Islanders. Community-based tourism benefiting the islanders will be promoted here, the release said. Key infrastructure projects such as creation of jetties/berthing facilities, roll-on/roll-off ships; bridges on Andaman Trunk Road; upgradation of Diglipur Airport; construction of Minicoy Airport; modernization of existing Jetty at Kavarati; augmentation of Satellite Bandwidth from 1.118 Gbps to 2.118 Gbps in Andaman & Nicobar; augmentation of helicopter services for islanders and tourists, etc. are being accorded priority, according to the release. With better communication services, Information Technology based and other Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) are also likely to be promoted in the islands. After carrying out a systematic study, 18 projects, both in Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep, have been identified for implementation, out of which seven projects are ready for launch through PPP. Three projects in Andaman & Nicobar (one each in Long, Smith and Ayes Island) and three in Lakshadweep (one each in Suheli, Minicoy and Kadamat) are ready to be launched, according to the Home Ministry release. After implementation of these projects, investment of about Rs. 650 crore is expected from the private sector. It was informed at the meeting that an investors' conference is scheduled in May, 2018. Union Home Minister called upon all concerned to expedite implementation of ongoing key infrastructure projects in the islands, particularly for improving air, road and web connectivity; providing good quality drinking water to the residents; and power supply. He directed that designs of these projects be made in such a way to provide maximum benefits to the local population. The meeting was attended by Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Administrator of Lakshadweep, Cabinet Secretary P. K. Sinha, CEO, NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Secretary Defence, Secretary Tourism, Secretary, Tribal Affairs and other senior officers of Central ministries of Tourism, Power, Defence, Health, Telecommunications and Civil Aviation. Vice Chief of Naval Staff and Air Commodore from Indian Air Force were also present at the meeting. Image: PIB Dehra Dun, April 25 (IBNS): States must be incentivised for increasing forest cover, said Indian Vice President Venkaiah Naidu while addressing the Convocation of 2016 batch of Indian Forest Service officers, in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, on Wednesday. Vice President Naidu, who arrived in Dehra Dun earlier on Wednesday, was received by the Governor of Uttarakhand, Dr. Krishna Kant Pal, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and others. He also planted a Cinnamomum Tamala sapling in the premises of Raj Bhava in Dehradun, Then he proceeded to attend the Convocation of the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy ( IGNFA). Images: VPSecretariat/TwitterAddressing the officers of the Indian Forest Service (IFS), Naidu said, "As IFS officers, you play the role of a magistrate in regulating the developmental works for safeguarding the ecological security of the country," media reported. He said, "Young generation of forest officers have a unique opportunity and responsibility of meeting the forest needs of the people on the one hand and improve the forest cover on the other." The Vice President reminded the gathering that the fundamental principle of forest management should be based on conservation and sustainable utilization of natural resources, without affecting its productive and ecological functions, media reports said. "We need to employ environment friendly approach. We must live with nature for better future," said Vice President Naidu. Images: VPSecretariat/TwitterHe also said, "It should be the sacred duty of everyone to plant and protect trees. States must be incentivised for increasing forest cover." The Vice President complimented all the offices trainees of 2016 batch and the trainees from Bhutan as well as those who won awards for their merit and achievement. Images: VPSecretariat/Twitter Ulaanbaatar, Apr 25 (IBNS): External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on Speaker of Mongolian State Great Khural (Parliament), M.Enkhbold, in Ulaanbaatar, the national capital of Mongolia on Wednesday. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted, "Continuing the high-level meetings in Ulaanbaatar, EAM @SushmaSwaraj called on M.Enkhbold, Speaker of the Mongolian State Great Khural (Parliament). Among other issues, discussed cooperation between our Parliaments, which is an important pillar of our bilateral relationship." Swaraj became the first Indian Foreign Minister to visit Mongolia in more than four decades. Earlier addressing a joint press conference with her Mongolian counterpart Tsogtbaatar, Swaraj said Mongolia is not only India's strategic partner but also its spiritual neighbour. Commenting on the ties between the two countries, Swaraj said: "Mongolia is not only our strategic partner for India but also a spiritual neighbour. We share long historical links. Mongolia is well known in India for the valour of her kings and her strong Buddhist heritage." "We also agreed that we should make all efforts to maintain and accelerate the momentum of our interaction in all areas. We reviewed the progress in our on-going collaborative projects, including the refinery project selected by the Government of Mongolia for implementation with the support of one billion dollar Indian Line of Credit." Narendra Modi was the first Indian PM to visit Mongolia in 2015. Swaraj said PM Modi's visit "provided a fresh impetus to our relations and qualitatively raised the level of our engagement." Speaking about the areas in which both India and Mongolia can cooperate, the EAM said: "Foreign Minister Tsogtbaatar and I agreed to explore possible ways to identify new areas of cooperation in all sectors of mutual interest and to enhance our bilateral trade and investments. We discussed economic cooperation in areas such as infrastructure development, energy, services and IT. "We agreed to remove institutional and logistical impediments to boost our trade, tourism and people to people contacts. In this regard, we also agreed to explore possibility of launching direct air connectivity between our two capitals," she added. India and Mongolia have also agreed to work hand-in-hand in combating global terrorism. The External Affairs Minister said: "We discussed some of the pressing global challenges facing the humanity, particularly the scourge of terrorism and agreed to collaborate bilaterally and in international arena to ward off this evil and thwart the designs of those who extend support to terrorist outfits." Swaraj reached Mongolia on Tuesday after wrapping up her China visit. In China, she attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers meeting. She also met Chinese President Xi Jinping. Image: twitter.com/MEAIndia New Delhi, Apr 25 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired his twenty-fifth interaction through PRAGATI - the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation. The 25 PRAGATI meetings have seen a cumulative review of 227 projects with a total investment of over Rs. 10 lakh crore. Resolution of Public Grievances has also been reviewed across a range of sectors. The Prime Minister congratulated all stakeholders on the completion of 25 PRAGATI interactions. He said that coordination between the Centre and the States has increased as a result of the PRAGATI mechanism. He said the PRAGATI initiative is a great positive force for our federal structure. Modi said that besides stalled projects, the platform has also helped in the review and improvement of several social sector schemes. Today, in the twenty-fifth meeting, the Prime Minister reviewed the progress towards handling and resolution of grievances related to the welfare of ex-servicemen. He stressed on the importance of improving the speed of grievance disposal, so that the problems of ex-servicemen can be positively resolved in the shortest possible time. Modi reviewed the progress of ten infrastructure projects in the railway, road, petroleum, power, coal, urban development, and health and family welfare sectors. These projects are spread over several states including Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Assam, Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand. The Prime Minister reviewed the progress in implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. He also reviewed the programme for National Fellowships and Scholarships for Higher Education of Scheduled Tribe Students. Guwahati, Apr 25 (IBNS): Security forces on Wednesday apprehended two militants belonging to NSCN (K) and recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition in Nagaland. According to the reports, the Zunheboto battalion of Assam Rifles under the aegis of HQ IGAR (North) conducted an operation along with police representatives based on specific information regarding extortion, tax collection in general area Longkhim town. During the operation, the Assam Rifles troops apprehended two NSCN(K) militants along with illegal arms and incriminating documents. The nabbed militants were identified as Kanato Sema.and Hukheto Sema. Security forces have recovered one point 32 pistol with magazine, 25 extortion slips, GPRN/NSCN(K), 49 leaves GPRN/NSCN(K) identity cards for non locals. Later, the militant was handed over to Longkhim police station for further investigation. On the other hand, the Dimapur battalion of Assam Rifles conducted an operation with police representatives based on specific information in general area Sovima village, Dimapur and apprehended an individual in possession of illegal weapons and ammunition. The individual was identified as Vikuosa Mepfhuo.. He was handed over to Diphupar Police Station, Dimapur for further investigation. (By Hemanta Kumar Nath) UN Photo/Violaine Martin (file) New York, Apr 25 (IBNS): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed his concern about the casualties in recent protests in Nicaragua, and called for restraint on all sides. He also calls on the Government of Nicaragua to ensure the protection of human rights of all citizens, particularly the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, said Guterres Spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, in a statement issued late Monday. According to media reports, street demonstrations were triggered by planned changes to Nicaraguas social security system, and stand-offs between the security forces and protesters resulted in deaths and injuries. The Secretary-General supports the call for dialogue as an instrument to address the countrys current challenges, the Spokesman said. New York, Apr 25 (IBNS): At the start of World Immunization Week , the United Nations on Tuesday said that while vaccines are protecting more children than ever, more countries need to make immunization a priority, because more than one million children still die every year from vaccine-preventable diseases. Last year, it is estimated that vaccines saved the lives of as many as three million children, said Robin Nandy, the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) Chief of Immunization. Thats three million future doctors, teachers, artists, community leaders, mothers and fathers alive today, thanks to millions of frontline health workers who walk for hundreds of miles to remote locations, through jungles and across seas to reach every child, he added. But despite this solid progress, UNICEF points out that in 2016, approximately one-fourth of deaths among children under five were from pneumonia, diarrhoea and measles, and could have been mostly prevented by vaccines. Also troubling is that more than19 million children round the world miss routine vaccinations, including 13 million who have never been inoculated. Low immunization coverage compromises health gains throughout communities at risk, for mothers, children and the poorest all of whom need it most. Two-thirds of unvaccinated children live in fragile or conflict-affected countries, including Syria, which saw the sharpest decline in inoculated children between 2010 and 2016. According to UNICEF, in 2016 vaccine-preventable diseases were responsible for about a quarter of an estimated 1.4 million deaths among those under age five with Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) accounting for half of the worlds unimmunized children. A brighter future These vaccine-preventable diseases do not need to be deadly killers, and numerous countries have seen a significant increase in the number of children vaccinated since 2010. Sudan, Philippines, Mexico and Vietnam were among those driving most of this decades immunization coverage gains. Moreover, the number of unvaccinated children in India dropped from 5.3 million in 2010 to 2.9 million in 2016. The top 10 countries where vaccination coverage has increased between 2010 and 2016 are Palau, Malta, DRC, Comoros, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Timor-Leste, Barbados, Costa Rica and India. Additionally, thanks to vaccines, maternal and neonatal tetanus have been eliminated in all but 15 countries with Ethiopia, Haiti and Philippines having eradicated the disease just last year. We continue to work with governments on the ground, including in places affected by conflict, in support of these unsung heroes who take on this extremely dangerous work to save lives, Dr. Nandy said. The UN World Health Organization meanwhile pointed out that vaccines protect people from more than deadly diseases, saying: If we increase vaccine coverage in low- and middle-income countries by 2030, we could prevent 24 million peoplefrom falling into poverty due to health expenses. World Immunization Week, which runs from 24-30 April, shines a spotlight on global public health to increase rates of immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases around the world. UNICEF/Dejongh Kabul Apr 25 (IBNS): At least three policemen were killed in an attack conducted by militants in Afghanistan's capital city Kabul on Wednesday, local Tolo News reported. The incident took place at around 4 am. The militants attack a police checkpost in Campany area in PD13 of Kabul city. No group has claimed the attack so far. Image: Google Maps Kabul, Apr 25 (IBNS): A TV journalist was shot dead by unknown attackers in Afghanistan's Kandahar province on Wednesday, media reports said. The deceased has been identified as Abdul Manan Arghand. Abdul Manan Arghand was killed by unknown motorcyclists at about 9am in Yarana Market of Kandahar City, a relative of the victim told Pajhwok Afghan News. The journalist died on spot. The gunmen reportedly fled from the area after attacking the journalist. The Afghanistan journalist is survived by spouse and three children. New York Times correspondent Mujib Mashal tweeted: "Kandahar journalist Abdul Manan Arghand, who reported for Kabul News, shot dead this morning on his way to work." Ottawa, Apr 25 (IBNS): Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has shared an intimate moment with his wife Sophie on social media as the latter turned 43 on Tuesday. Trudeau even called Sophie his "best friend". He captioned the picture saying, "Happy birthday to the wonderful wife and mom, whom Im so lucky to call my best friend. Heres to another year of adventures together. xo" Happy birthday to the wonderful wife and mom, whom Im so lucky to call my best friend. Heres to another year of adventures together. xo pic.twitter.com/YiJVBGPmv8 Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 24, 2018 The PM married Sophie Gregoire Trudeau in 2005. Sophie, a former television host, currently participates in various philanthropic ventures. She also accompanies Trudeau in various foreign trips and the recent instance was the PM's tour to India. Toronto, Apr 25 (IBNS): Just before killing 10 persons by his driven van, accused Torontonian driver Alek Minassian had praised an American misogynistic 'incel' killer on a Facebook post, media reports said. Minassian has been quoted by BBC, "The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!" The profile was later reportedly confirmed by Facebook. Alek Minassian, 25, was arrested after a tense standoff with police during which Minassian appeared to be trying to provoke the officer into shooting him. Minassian is expected to appear in court at 10am local time on Wednesday. He has been charged with ten counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. "On Monday, April 23, 2018, at about 1:30 p.m., police were called to a collision in the area of Yonge Street and Finch Avenue East. It was reported that a van had mounted the curb and a number of pedestrians had been struck," the Toronto Police said in a statement. Toronto City police chief Mark Saunders has said that the incident seemed to be deliberate but the motive of the attack was still not known. One of the 10 people killed in the van attack on a busy Toronto street has been identified as Anne Marie D'Amico. Anne was an employee at Invesco, a U.S.-based investment management firm. Invesco Canada president Peter Intraligi confirmed the news in an emailed statement. "Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all those impacted by this tragic event," Intraligi said. "I can now confirm that unfortunately one of our employees has succumbed to her injuries. Out of respect for her and her family, we will not be providing any further comments." Annes next of kin have been notified. Invesco's Canadian headquarters is on Yonge Street, close to the crime scene where pedestrians were struck by the white rental van. (Reporting by Suman Das) Ottawa, Apr 25 (IBNS) Brampton MP Ruby Sahota today thanked the Ontario government, Brampton city administration, Ryerson University and Sheridan College as the location and funding of the new university in Brampton was announced. She was speaking at the House of Commons. Today is a good day for Brampton, proclaimed MP Sahota. Soon to be located in the heart of the city just off Main Street, this new university will rejuvenate the downtown core, support local small businesses and revamp the citys cultural scene. It will also be situated steps away from the downtown Brampton Transit terminal and the Brampton GO terminal. A press release from her office stated that Sahota expressed her excitement that investments made by the federal government, like the Riverwalk and major funding for public transit will work in conjunction with the university to breathe new life into Brampton. Sahota stated, I look forward to continue advocating for federal involvement in this project and others because this university will be a game changer. The university will be located on the southeast corner of Church Street West and Mill Street North, next to the GO station, in downtown Brampton. To support up to 2,000 new undergraduate students starting in September 2022, the Ontario government will be contributing $90 million and the City of Brampton has earmarked up to $150 million for this project. (Reporting by our Canadian bureau) When someone goes above an beyond their call of duty, they deserve all the applause. Like how Rajasthan police recently sponsored and hosted a village girl's wedding. It's a beautiful story, really. Mamta Mahawar, a debt-ridden MGNREGA worker was married on Akshaya Tritiya on April 18th and the function was fully sponsored and hosted by Datwas Police Station in Rajasthan's Tonk district. ips association/twitter Also read: Odisha Polices Ditches Technology, Uses Pigeons To Deliver Letters To Keep Old Tradition Alive Mamata, a resident of Tonk which is considered a backward region, lost her father when she was a kid. Two years ago, her only brother also passed away after a prolonged illness. After his death, Mamta started working hard as an MGNREGA worker to repay the loan taken for her brother. Since she had worked inside the police station premises, the staff there was aware of her financial condition. ips association/twitter According to The Rajasthan Post, the station staff decided to pool in and help her get married. They also played host to the groom's family at the station, where Mamta's wedding took place. Also read: Mumbai Police Comes To The Rescue Of A Homeless Pregnant Woman, Make Sure She Delivers Safely What a beautiful gesture! The police went a step ahead to help a girl out and in the process, won our respect. We salute these heroes. 1. Deepika Padukone Wins Hearts As She Greets The World With A 'Namaste' At TIME 100 Gala With those shining bright eyes and a glittering smile, Deepika Padukone made a stunning debut at TIME 100 Gala that took place in Manhattan, New York on April 24. The diva greeted everyone with a namaste and stole several hearts with that gesture. 2. 50K Tickets Sold In 1 Day! Avengers: Infinity War May Beat Baahubali 2's Advance Booking Record "We opened advance bookings on Sunday (April 22) morning and we sold over 40,000 tickets by 7 p.m., which is the highest ever for any Hollywood movie and second highest advance of all time after 'Baahubali 2'." Devang Sampat, Director - Strategic Initiatives, Cinepolis India, said, "In one day of advance booking, we sold around 50,000 tickets which is history in the making. 3. Veere Di Wedding Trailer: Kareena, Sonam & Swara's 'Womance' Will Take You On A Fun-Filled Ride After a long, long wait, the Veerey Di Wedding trailer is finally here, and it is screaming fun and joy in a single breath. Kareena Kapoor is back with a thunder. Sonam Kapoor can be seen in a never-seen-before avatar. The girl gang is having too much fun. And internet sensation Sumeet Vyas is for sure to look out for. Parties, fun, annoying relatives, the pressure to get married, and life in general - Veerey Di Wedding looks like a fun-filled ride. 4. Farhan Akhtar Slams People For Sharing PM Modis Old Pictures With Rape Convict Asaram Bapu Soon after Asaram Bapu was convicted, people on social media started sharing old pictures of the rape convict with Modi. Farhan slammed the trolls on Twitter. 5. Deepika Padukone Urges Women To Ask For Equal Pay, Says You Should Get What You Think You Deserve "You can feel a sense of - am I stepping over the line, do I deserve it? But if you believe you deserve it, then you do," said Deepika, the only Indian to feature in the Time 100 Influential People in the World, sharing space with names like Nicole Kidman, Gal Gadot, Greta Gerwig and Lena Waithe. April 25th of every year is observed as the World Malaria Day, in an effort to spread awareness about the disease and with the hope of developing counter-measures to combat the its menacing effects. The eventual goal is to eliminate it altogether by 2030. Here's how. As a per a report released by the World Health Organisation in November 2017, there were a total of 216 million reported cases of malaria in 2016, which is a tad more than 211 million in 2017. Reuters WHO is calling on member countries to expand the reach of their national malaria programmes among disadvantaged or neglected communities, including tribal, migrant or mobile populations, to achieve the disease elimination target by 2030. With one in seven Indians at risk of contracting malaria and an unfortunate break in the "dramatic success" of the last decade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment at the Commonwealth summit in London this week to beat the disease is eagerly awaited, say experts India has the third largest burden of malaria incidence in the world after Congo and Nigeria. In India, Odisha is the biggest victim of malaria constituting close to 41 per cent of India's malaria incidence as of 2016, the NGO said in a statement. Reuters According to government estimates, it will cost Rs 10,653 crore to eliminate malaria in India by 2030. "India is central to this achievement (eradication of malaria from Commonwealth countries). We look forward to hear the strategy India is working on to achieve its commitment of eliminating malaria by 2030," said James Whiting, Executive Director, Malaria No More (MNM), UK. "We would also be looking forward to hear about the financing part of the Indian strategy to eradicate malaria," Whiting told IANS. MNM is a global non-profit convening the campaign on behalf of the global malaria community and is registered as the Malaria Elimination Trust in India. Reuters In recent times, India has achieved remarkable progress in its fight against malaria as it has reduced its malaria burden by nearly half from two million cases in 2000 to one million cases in 2016, and malaria related deaths have gone down by two-thirds during this period. "The malaria campaign has seen a dramatic success in the last 10-15 years both in India and globally," said Whiting, adding that there has been a fall of 60 per cent in global malaria deaths since 2000 saving nearly seven million lives. However, for the first time in 15 years, progress towards ending the disease has stalled. The WHO's malaria report confirmed cases and deaths are no longer falling. Malaria affected around 216 million people globally in 2016, an increase of five million cases over the previous year. Reuters/Representational Image And, precisely for this the pressing decision the heads of Commonwealth nations, most importantly India, face is to either continue towards ending the disease with renewed financial and political commitments or put the hard fought progress in jeopardy. Heres what you need to know about Malaria to do your bit to personally prevent the onset of malaria and curb the spread of the disease: Why is a such a deadly disease? Reuters/Representational Image Malaria is a mosquito-borne blood disease which can be life-threatening if left untreated and is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium. Malaria can be easily detected by blood test and treated with medicines. But if not paid attention to and left untreated, it can lead to life-threatening complications. The most severe type of malaria which is caused by Plasmodium falciparum can lead to life-threatening conditions like organ failure. There is no vaccination available to protect us against the disease till date. Reuters Malaria can be treated easily and the treatment is simple and more effective if diagnosed early. The disease is common in subtropical and tropical regions as the parasite that causes it is more concentrated in these regions. There are two types of malaria: uncomplicated and severe. Uncomplicated malaria is when it is diagnosed even before the symptoms appear and in severe cases, there can be a failure of the vital organs of the body. In an uncomplicated situation, the symptoms appear for six to 10 hours every day and they can differ in cases of being attacked by different parasites. Often, the symptoms may be misinterpreted as they are similar to that of cold and flu, thus, delaying the diagnosis. Reuters/Representational Image Causes of malaria The bite of female Anopheles mosquito is responsible for the transmission of malaria in humans. After entering the human body, the parasite gets matured and multiplies in the liver. It then destroys the red blood cells, which are needed to build up your bodys immunity. After entering the bloodstream, the parasite travels to the liver where it grows and multiplies before entering back into the bloodstream. The infected blood cells burst at the intervals of 24-48 hours and keep releasing more parasites till an effective treatment is administered. The bursting of these infected cells shows symptoms like chills, fever and sweating. Reuters/Representational Image Malaria cannot be transmitted from one person to another. However, Malaria can be passed on from the mother to the newborn baby and this is known as congenital malaria. If an uninfected mosquito bites an infected person, then it will also get infected and will give this infection to all other persons it bites. This is how the infection spreads. Malaria is caused only when an infected mosquito bites you. When it comes to its transmission, it can only happen through blood, so some cases of transmission can be organ donation, blood donation or use of an infected needle. Malaria symptoms The symptoms of malaria are similar to that of flu. They can take around seven to 18 days to appear after the mosquito bites. This duration depends upon the type of parasite that has infected the person. Reuters You will be shocked to know that sometimes, it can take up to one year for the symptoms to appear! In some types, the fever occurs in the cycle of 24 to 48 hours. When this happens, you have high fever followed by chills, sweating and fatigue. These symptoms may last up to 6 hours. The symptoms of malaria are flu-like and that is why it is confused with flu, especially initially. Some initial symptoms are: - High fever - Chills - Headache - Vomiting - Sweat Reuters The severe type of malaria may show the following symptoms: - Chills and fever - Impaired consciousness - Respiratory problems - Abnormal bleeding - Clinical jaundice and evidence of vital organ dysfunction - Multiple convulsions - Abdominal pain - Diarrhoea - Muscle pain - Coma - Bloody stools In the regions where malaria is common, like Africa, people identify the symptoms and treat the condition on their own without consulting an expert. However, this is not the right practice to follow. People who live in these areas also become partially immune to this disease after being exposed to it throughout their lives. Reuters Heres how you can prevent malaria: The treatment of malaria is targeted at eliminating plasmodium parasite from the bloodstream of the patient. This is done through the ACT (Artemisinin-based combination therapy) method. For the regions where the parasite is resistant to ACT, the method is combined with some other effective drug. No approved vaccination against malaria is yet commercially available in India. The research, test and trials are going on for a global malaria vaccine. At present, more than 20 vaccines are in advanced preclinical development stage. However, Europe has one approved vaccine for protection against malaria. Reuters People who travel to tropical regions should take following measures: - Consume anti-malarial drug before they move there. - Wear clothes that cover you properly to avoid mosquito bites. - Carry mosquito nets. - Dont forget to carry insect repellents, insecticides and pre-treated bed nets. - Dont camp near stagnant water. - Stay in air-conditioned rooms. An impeccable investigation by police always leads to justice. In Asarams case, this notion once again got validation as the investigation led by Ajay Pal Lamba, a senior police officer in Rajasthan bore fruits as the self-styled godman was convicted the rape case of a 16-year-old girl along with two of his associates. Officer Lamba hails the verdict of the court as Asaram was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Jodhpur Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Court, which also sent two other associates to jail for 20 years. "Finally truth prevailed," said Lamba who was DCP, Jodhpur (West) when a minor alleged that Asaram raped her at his ashram in Manai area near the city on the night of August 15, 2013. Lamba led the investigation into the matter which led to Asaram's conviction today. "Justice delivered in Asaram Bapu case with the conviction of accused Asaram in a case of sexual assault on a minor girl during the night of Independence day of 2013. Judgment is a landmark in criminal jurisprudence in the country. It is heartening to witness that if the law of land is implemented impartially, then even weakest can afford to take on the might of most influential person like Asaram," Lamba said in a Facebook post soon after the verdict was announced by Judge Madhusudhan Sharma of the court of SC/ST cases. The court convicted two other accused Shilpi and Sharad while two others Prakash and Shiva were acquitted. The police officer also congratulated his team for taking the case to "its logical conclusion." "Kudos to the whole team which was associated with me in taking this case to its logical conclusion in the most efficient and professional manner despite all odds," he said. Lamba received more than 2000 threatened letter and hundreds of phone calls during the course of investigation in the rape case. BCCL/File "Thanks to colleagues, seniors and all members of the team whose support meant a lot to me in the entire phase of this case. My gratitude to all well wishers who stand for the cause, directly or indirectly by contributing in own ways. Thanks to one and all. God bless the victim and family," Lamba, now the superintendent of police (anti-corruption bureau) in Udaipur, said. He concluded his post with, "Jai Hind." The trial court in Jodhpur today delivered its verdict in the Jodhpur Central Jail premises where the 77-year-old Asaram has been lodged since his arrest on September 1, 2013. A court in Jodhpur, Rajasthan has found self-styled godman Asaram Bapu guilty, for the rape of a 16-year-old girl, bringing a closure to the case which dates back to 2013. PTI According to police sources, co-accused Shiva and Shilpi have been convicted and Sharad and Prakash have been acquitted. The five charges that have been levelled against Asaram Bapu are, raping a minor girl, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy and sexual harassment That said, when it comes to courting controversies Asaram Bapu is not alone. Here are few others who thought they were invincible: 1. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, head of spiritual sect Dera Sacha Sauda was declared guilty in a rape case by a special CBI court in Panchkula. According to reports, the victim, who is a former follower, accused Ram Rahim Singh of repeatedly raping her inside the Dera campus near Sirsa in Haryana. Facebook/Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan The head of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect also has two murder charges against him, one for allegedly killing journalist Ram Chander Chatrapati in 2001, and the other for killing sect manager Ranjit Singh in July 2002 The incident took place in 1999. An FIR was registered in 2002, however the Dera chief and the management of the sect have denied the allegations all throughout. Following the verdict, curfews have been imposed in several areas of the city and across the state of Punjab. 2. Swami Premananda A popular self styled Godman, Swami Premamnanda, escaped the ethnic riots in Sri Lanka in 1983, and many of his followers came to Tamil Nadu, South India and established ashrams in Trichy. http://sripremananda.org But the self-styled godman was convictedofr raping 13 girls and was put through two consecutive life sentences. 3. Swami Amrita Chaitanya Self-styled spiritual teacher Swami Amrita Chaitanya, also known as Santosh Madhavan, was accused in several cheating cases; sentenced to16 years in prison in 2009 for raping two minor girls; and producing pornographic films of underage girls. nriinternet. He had also been arrested in March 2008 for conning an NRI woman of Rs 45 lakh. 4. Swami Sadachari india-forums.com The 'Godman' who was known to have performed rituals for top dignitaries of the country was eventually caught for running an underground brothel. 5. Sant Rampal This self-styled godman was nabbed by Haryana police after they found the bodies of five women and an 18-month-old child at his Satlok ashram in Hisar. PTI In November 2014, in a standoff, his militia blocked paramilitary forces from entering the Satlok ashram. At least six persons had lost their lives in the stand-off as Rampal eluded the police, while many of his key aides and around 450 supporters were also arrested. Sant Rampal was later arrested and jailed for 22 months. 6. Paramahamsa Nithyananda Controversial self-styled godman Nithyananda Paramahamsa, disappeared five days after charges of rape and were levelled against him. A leaked video showed him engaging in sexual activities with Tamil actress Ranjitha. Nithyananda.net 7 . Ichchadhari Sant Swami Bhimanand PTI In the guise of leading a spiritual li,fe Ichchadhari Sant Swami was running a flourishing flesh trade racket. Ichchadhari Sant Swami Bhimanand Ji Maharaj Chitrakoot Wale, whose real name is Shiv Murat Dwivedi, was arrested twice for being involved in a large-scale sex racket in Delhi and later in Mumbai. Days after the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad named him among fake babas, self-styled godman Asaram who is currently facing trial in a rape case said he is neither a "saint" nor a "preacher" but belongs to the category of donkeys. BCCL/ File The godman was reacting to journalists who asked him about the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad's move. He made the comment while being produced in the court in connection with the rape case on Thursday. BCCL/ File Asaram had not been talking to the media during his court appearances of late in the wake of a petition filed in the high court, objecting to the presence of his devotees on the court premises. BCCL/ File The Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad has recently come up with a list of "fake babas", cautioning the countrymen against them. The names of Asaram and his son Narayan Sai who is also facing rape charges feature in it. India's water crisis is taking a grave turn as it is forcing families to leave their homes in search of potable water. The recent numbers from the World Bank are quite alarming - 163 million Indians lack access to safe drinking water. As many as 210 million Indians lack access to improved sanitation and 500 children under the age of five die from diarrhea each day in India. reuters According to a recent report by India Today, many villages are facing large-scale migration during summers, especially in Rajasthan. Displaced families In the area close to the Chambal region, the people say that administration has so far not been able to ensure that water supply reaches these villages. Archana Sharma, vice-president, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee claims that a number of structures have been built to preserve water, traditional structures have been renovated. But people are leaving Dholpur because of scarcity of water. This shows that the government has totally failed in dealing with the situation. reuters It is said that by 2050, India will only have 22% of the per capita water that it has today. Every summer, people from 40 villages of Dholpur district are forced to migrate with their animals. Some of these villages include Galori, Dagripura, Gopalpura, Sirona, Ballapura, Sukhsinghpura, Kharkai, Nayapura, Khaidar, Subedar ka Pura, Bhagatpura, Lehaspura, Dabarpura, Narsinghpura, Dankpura, Mughalpura, Layakpura, Bared, Kunakheda, Indora, Savarpali, Bharani, reported India Today. Going South According to another report by Reuters, Bengaluru, might be the first city to face acute water shortages, just like South Africa's Cape Town, already raising alarm with "Day Zero". The Guardian reports that the drought faced in India may be similar to the ones witnessed by Cape Town. According to a statement issued by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), ahead of World Water Day, water table there shrunk from 10-12 metres to 76-91 metres in two decades, while the number of extraction wells went up from 5,000 to 0.45 million in 30 years. reuters The shrinking of reservoirs is not just limited to Maharashtra-Gujarat-Rajasthan belt, coastal Andhra is also reeling under water scarcity. In parts of south-western Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and north India, next three months seem to throw a gigantic water crisis. The Cauvery Delta region in Tamil Nadu is facing extreme water stress. The Godavari, known as the Ganges of the South is also running dry. reuters Reservoirs are 'damned' The Guardian also reported that tensions have also been apparent in India over the water allocations for two reservoirs connected by the Narmada river. Poor rains last year left the upstream Indira Sagar dam a third below its seasonal average. When some of this shortfall was passed on to the downstream Sardar Sarovar reservoir, it caused an uproar because the latter is a drinking supply for 30 million people. Last month, the Gujarat state government halted irrigation and appealed to farmers not to sow crops India is the world's largest user of groundwater, accounting for 25 per cent of the worlds extracted groundwater. Over-exploitation has resulted in the decline in groundwater levels. In some parts of the country, the decline is more than one metre per year. Gujarat has already consumed 68% of its groundwater and figures among the worst offenders in exploiting aquifers for domestic, irrigation and industrial use. Police in Madhya Pradesh have unearthed the operations of a child pornography group on WhatsApp which has international links. The admin of the group, which is said to have some 250 members from 28 countries including India and Pakistan is a Kuwaiti national. According to Madhya Pradesh Cyber Cell, the WhatsApp group was originally known as "Kids Sex Video Only", but later it was changed to "Child Porn Only". Reuters/ Representational Image Videos circulated in group were that of boys and girls aged six to eight years, being exploited by over 50-year-olds. Out of the four arrested, three are from Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh while the fourth is from Chhattisgarh. One of the three arrested in Dhar is a 17 year old Class XII student. ALSO READ: Kerala Police Bust Child Pornography Group On Telegram. Its Operations Will Sent A Chill Down Your Spine According to the cops, the arrested men had become addicted to child pornography and could have committed any sexual offence. The incident also comes to light amid an increase in the number of child sex offence case being reported from Dhar. In a related development Madhya Pradesh has banned 25 porn sites and has sought a ban on all porn sites from the center. MP home minister Bhupendra Singh blamed pornography is the main cause for rapes in the state. ANI A study by the MP home department revealed pornography is adversely impacting childhood, with even young boys and girls getting easy access to it. Rapes and sexual assaults are a result of access to these sites, Singh said. The Panchayati Raj isnt only the smallest cog in the wheel called The State; it ought to be the biggest harbinger of change in the lives of people. Whether its women empowerment or the Dalit upliftment, the Panchayati Raj has to be medium of change if the state seeks the permanent change in lives of people. While rural India has come a long way and gram panchayats have played their part well in bringing this change, women sarpanches across India have shown great promise as most of them have risen to the top by elbowing the patriarchal structures. Today, we have scores of women sarpanches across villages in India, and most of them have done wonders to change the face of their villages. But, there are a few special ones, who not only overcame the deep-seated cultural resistance but also became the catalyst of change. Here are eight such women sarpanch (village council head) who proved that if one wants to change the lives of people, gender doesnt matter at all. 1. Chhavi Rajawat, Rajasthan She is known face as stories have been done on her. She is perhaps one of the very few, who set precedent and rose to claim what belonged to her. A sarpanch of Soda village near Jaipur has been an inspiration as shes only highly educated, but she also gave up her highly lucrative profession to change the face of her village. The address at UNs Info-Poverty World Conference in 2011 made her a figure of women empowerment. 2. Sushma Bhadu, Haryana redrickshawrevolution.in Haryana is a state with lowest sex ratio and being a woman, its quite tough out her to lead. But Seema turned the odds in her side. In 2010, she was elected as the sarpanch of three villages Dhani Miyan Khan, her own village and Salam Khera and Chablamori. The first front of the battle of the veiling practice for her she fought well that it should be a mandate. Later, she ensured that women and girls get the education and therefore she arranged for a training centre in the village and ensured that every girl child goes to school. It was her dedication that her villages have been given recognition for having best sex ratio, no open defecation and zero dropout rates in schools. 3. Meena Behan, Gujarat Meena Bahan (in pink) panchayatgyan.gov.in Meena Behen is the first woman sarpanch from her village in district Vyara as she heads all women panchayat board. Meena lived in a village where women werent allowed to get out of their residences and talk to other men. But she changed all that and raised a self-help group where other women came and formed a united front against customs that dont allow women to come out and prove themselves. Meena with her associate women worked hard to bring roads, hospitals and schools to her small village. 4. Vandana Bahadur Maida, Madhya Pradesh The Better India Her work was featured in the UN calendar 2013. Vandana Bahadur Maida first faced familys objection, then villagers, but her resilience was unbreakable. She not only fought panchayat polls in Khankhandvi village in MP but elected as the first female head of the panchayat. She has become a face of the development of not only the villages but also became a messenger for women who have been living under patriarchal hegemony. 5. Arati Devi, Odisha A former investment banker, Arati Devi is certainly a woman who shows us the way. Devi left her plush and well-paying job to do her bit for her village in Dhunkapara in Odisha. One of Indias youngest heads of the village, Arati is seen as the most active person around. She not only worked to revive the lost folk art of her village but also ensures that panchayat becomes accountable to every single penny came for the development of village. Arati work was also hailed internationally as she was selected to be a part of International Visitors Leadership Program by the US Consulate to speak on the importance transparency and accountability in the government. 6. Atram Padma Bai, Telangana twitter Her story is an enigma as tribal lady Atram Padma Bai heads the council of eight tribal villages in Telangana . Padma herself was once a Girijan farmer growing cotton, oilseeds and pulse on her 3 acre land. But she wanted to do something for 2000 odd farmers of her villages. In 2013, she took Rs 30,000 as the loan from an NGO and launched a hiring centre for farming tools such pick-axes, sickle, spades and wheelbarrows. Her idea was to help the farmers who cant afford these tools for their crops and provided these at the marginal rental. With the income of this centre, she builds the roads and she also used to funds from the government for rainwater harvesting and to install water pump that make clean water available for the school in the village. 7. Bhakti Sharma, Madhya Pradesh In 2016, Bhakti Sharma, a US return education woman ran for the village council elections and won. The sarpanch of Barkhedi Abdulla village in Bhopal was once included in 100 most influential women in the country. A graduate in political science, Bhakti had shifted to the US with her uncles family after completing her studies. But later she decided to serve the society and her native place. She refused job in the US and got involved in the social work in the US. She returned to India and contested to the polls and won. Ever since, she is here working in her village. Bhakti wants to make her village, a model panchayat. 8. Radha Devi, Rajasthan Radha Devi (in the yellow sari), WSF Radha Devi, Bhadsiya village sarpanch is someone who ensures that none of the girls in the village remain at home not attending the school. Education till 5th, Devi herself knows the value of education and therefore she keeps a watch over the school in her village where the children otherwise do chores like collecting water from a distance for the mid-day meal. Her work has reduced the dropout rate in three educational institutes under panchayat and ensured that more and more children especially girl child get the education. No, this article isn't about which Marvel Superhero dies in the Avengers Infinity War movie. It, however, does dwell on how Thanos (or another) supervillain can easily kill any Marvel Superhero. Let us explain... Over the years, weve seen a number of super villains try their best to take down some of the Marvel Cinematic Universes best superheroes. ALSO READ: The Avengers Infinity War Is About To Release & These 8 Things Prove People Are Going Bonkers! But mostly, they fail. So much so, that we as an audience have become numb to any real sense of danger during the fight sequences. And quite frankly, this is a little bit irritating. We deserve smarter supervillains who can give us more than just epic fight scenes. In fact, it isnt all that difficult to be a good super villain. All it really takes is a mathematical approach to solving the super-hero problem. What it takes to kill the Hulk People forget that at the core of it all, hes a Physicist and a Mathematician. He doesnt want any part of all of this. And to keep him from SMASHING everything and ruining your plans for world domination, all you really need to do is keep him happy and not make him angry. Hulk dead? Maybe The easiest way to accomplish that, for any scientifically inclined mind, is to give him an interesting problem to solve. Put on some calming classical music, give him a few mathematical toys to play with to keep him preoccupied, and let him be friends with your evil scientist interns. Theyre going to have hours of fun playing chess and discussing new papers and theorems while you take over the world! Killing off Iron Man? Very easy! Iron man is so easy to deal with, its almost laughable. Is this how Iron Man dies in Avengers Infinity War? A Giant Electromagnetic Ray Gun. Even if he has enough thrust in his boosters to fly away, the circuitboards in his suit will get frizzled after exposure to such high intensity magnetic fields. And without the suit, all thats left is a billionaire playboy philanthropist. Spider-Man can be killed too... In Spider-Mans case we can actually use his Spider-sense against him to systematically drive him insane. Does spidey die in Avengers Infinity War? All we really need to do is hire a handful of spies and of menacing henchmen to take turns following him, watching him, aiming at him from a safe distance, but never really attacking him. By taking advantage of his hyper-sensitivity and turning it into obsessive paranoia, it will be easy to engineer a public mental break-down and have spidey lose his mind. Hawk-Eye and Black Widow are also vulnerable... These two are not particularly powerful enemies, but like the knight in chess, they provide a surprising and often annoying strategic advantage to the enemy if theyre not dealt with properly. Hawk-Eyes and his ears and his eyes are his most powerful tools, so confusing them and keeping them that way is our best option of dealing with him before being detected. who dies in avengers infinity war Creating very high-pitched noises that are outside the range of normal human hearing, from multiple sources around him that take turns randomly switching on and off are enough to confuse his hearing. Flash bombs that create sudden, bright flashes of blinding light, smoke bombs, tear gas, pepper spray. All of this is more than enough to immobilize them both. Then all we need to do is strip them of their weapons and leave them both in different corners of a huge mirror maze made of bullet-proof glass. Killing Dr. Strange softly... Doctor Strange serves as the Sorcerer Supreme, the primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats. Hes an extremely powerful enemy, and it may at first seem impossible to face off against someone who draws all his power from magic and mysticism, with weapons like logic and reasoning. But people forget, that at his core, Dr. Strange is fundamentally a man of Science, logic and reasoning. He is an actual Doctor who started out as a proud and brilliant surgeon, who believed he could cure any human ailment that was within his power to control. To deal with Dr. Strange, all we need to do is bring to his attention the fact that life itself is essentially a sexually transmitted terminal disease. When he goes on his inevitable killing spree in a valiant attempt to cure humanity of its condition, the remaining avengers with magical abilities will invariably try and stop him. If they havent all killed each other by the end of it, theyve already done more than half of our work for us. Killing off the Black Panther? Nah... Give him a ball of yarn to play with instead. Problem solved. About the author: Manan Khurma is Founder & CEO of Cuemath - a home-based after-school startup based in Bangalore. ALSO READ: People Are Coming Up With Hilarious Ways To Distract Thanos So The Avengers Don't Get Whooped! Pesticide Use Near Record High in California, Monterey Numbers Concerning by Californians for Pesticide Reform Wednesday Apr 25th, 2018 3:36 PM Use of cancer-causing fumigant pesticide on the rise for Monterey strawberries Salinas, CA, April 25, 2018 - Agricultural pesticide use in California remains at a near-record high, according to data quietly released this week by the state agency responsible for tracking pesticide use. The California Department of Pesticide Regulations (DPR) latest numbers paint a grim picture of the states continued reliance on vast quantities of agricultural pesticides - 209 million pounds in 2016. Thats the third highest since reporting began in 1990. The greatest burden continues to be borne by the San Joaquin Valley and Central Coast. In Monterey County, use of the drift-prone carcinogenic fumigant chloropicrin the vast majority used on strawberries - rose above two million pounds, a 14% increase over the prior year. Numbers like these are nothing to brag about. Im not surprised DPR is keeping quiet and has decided to skip their usual press release, said Cesar Lara, Executive Director of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council. The increase in use of chloropicrin, a Word War I-era poison gas and carcinogen that causes severe lung damage, is especially troubling to public health advocates in the Monterey Bay. Its disheartening that Central Coast strawberries and the workers that grow them continue to be exposed to ever greater quantities of cancer-causing chemicals, said Lucia Calderon, organizer with the Monterey Bay area-based coalition Safe Ag Safe Schools. Among the top five most heavily used pesticides in 2016 were DowDuPonts hazardous, drift-prone fumigant 1,3-dichloropropene (Telone) and Monsantos blockbuster herbicide glyphosate (Roundup), both carcinogens. Telone was found in the air at levels so hazardous it was banned outright in California in 1990. It was brought back in 1995 in a backroom deal between the manufacturer and DPR, the regulator, in which DowDuPont was allowed to create special rules for its reintroduction and was handed the authority to track its use. Last year, despite pressure to further restrict this widely used hazardous chemical, DPR actually increased allowed usage by 50%. We are saddened but not surprised that Telone use continues unabated in California, given DPRs unconscionable abdication of their regulatory authority to DowDuPont. There can be no clearer example of putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, said Sarah Aird, co-director of the statewide coalition Californians for Pesticide Reform. One encouraging piece of news was reduced usage of the brain-harming organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos, which dipped just under a million pounds for the first time. Last year, a proposed nationwide ban of chlorpyrifos was reversed at the last minute by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, leaving California to take action to protect workers and residents from a chemical known to cause irreversible brain damage, even in tiny amounts. The overall downward trend in usage, from as much as 2.7 million pounds per year, comes as DPR considers banning the chemical in California. The alarming numbers in the 2016 data have many worried about the continued risk to the health and potential of children living and attending school near pesticide use in Californias agricultural regions. A 2014 report by the California Department of Public Health (DPH) documented extensive use of hazardous pesticides within a quarter mile of public schools, with Latino children almost twice as likely as their white peers to attend one of the most impacted schools. In response to that reports disturbing findings, DPR enacted a new rule earlier this year restricting the most drift-prone application methods within a quarter mile of schools and daycares from 6am to 6pm on weekdays. The regulation also requires growers to provide an annual list of the pesticides they intend to use within one quarter mile of schools to school and daycare administrators as well as to County Agricultural Commissioners, who are responsible for carrying out local pesticide enforcement under DPR oversight. Despite community calls for this information to be made public, DPR has refused to do so. I fail to understand why DPR would keep this critical information from the public, said Francisco Rodriguez, president of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers. When we see how much hazardous pesticide use continues in the Monterey Bay area and throughout Californias agricultural regions, the danger is evident, especially to the health of young children. ################################## The Safe Ag Safe Schools coalition is a coalition of 50-plus organizations and individuals working together to reduce pesticide exposure threats to the Monterey Bay regions residents. SASS is focused on increasing grassroots pressure on government decision makers to phase out hazardous drift-prone pesticides over the long term, and taking action to reduce hazardous pesticide use near schools and residential communities in the shorter term. Californians for Pesticide Reform is a diverse, statewide coalition of over 190 member groups working to strengthen pesticide policies in California to protect public health and the environment. Member groups include public and children's health advocates, clean air and water groups, health practitioners, environmental justice groups, labor, education, farmers and sustainable agriculture advocates from across the state. Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Rates and SP500 - They All Dance Together.... Cannon Trading - 13 minutes ago Natural Gas, Crude Oil, Stocks and Rates - They all work together with a strong relationship. At times direct correlation, at times inverse correlation. Canadian National says investor's shakeup drive 'misguided' AP - 55 minutes ago OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Canadian National has sharpened its criticism of the investor pressuring it to make changes to its operations and replace its CEO following its failed attempt to acquire the Kansas... $SPX : 4,300.46 (-1.30%) $DOWI : 34,002.92 (-0.94%) $IUXX : 14,472.12 (-2.16%) KSU : 276.49 (-0.17%) A Little Something For Everyone Blue Line Futures - 58 minutes ago Grains had a choppy session, with soybeans leading the way to the downside. Is there a bottom in sight? Cattle futures surged higher to start the week, is this just a blip on the radar, or is this the... Coffee Prices Close Lower on Rain in Brazil Barchart - 1 hour ago Dec arabica coffee (KCZ21 ) on Monday closed down -3.70 (-1.81%), and Nov ICE Robusta coffee (RMX21 ) closed down -20 (-0.92%). Coffee prices on Monday posted moderate losses after weekend rain in Minas... KCZ21 : 200.35s (-1.81%) RMX21 : 2,148s (-0.92%) ^USDBRL : 5.44281 (+1.46%) Treasury to shift rental assistance to places with demand AP - Mon Oct 4, 12:40PM CDT The Treasury Department on Monday announced plans to start reallocating the billions of dollars in federal rental assistance in a bid to get more money into the hands of tenants facing eviction. $SPX : 4,300.46 (-1.30%) $DOWI : 34,002.92 (-0.94%) $IUXX : 14,472.12 (-2.16%) Leaked 'Pandora' records show how the powerful shield assets AP - Mon Oct 4, 12:23PM CDT Calls grew Monday for an end to the financial secrecy and shell companies that have allowed many of the worlds richest and most powerful people to hide their wealth from tax collectors. $SPX : 4,300.46 (-1.30%) $DOWI : 34,002.92 (-0.94%) $IUXX : 14,472.12 (-2.16%) Catalan ex-leader Puigdemont freed temporarily in Sardinia AP - Mon Oct 4, 12:19PM CDT SASSARI, Sardinia (AP) Catalonia's former separatist leader Carles Puigdemont walked out of a Sardinian courthouse Monday after a judge delayed a decision on Spain's extradition request and said he... $SPX : 4,300.46 (-1.30%) $DOWI : 34,002.92 (-0.94%) $IUXX : 14,472.12 (-2.16%) This agreement acknowledges the benefits obtained from sharing information and resources, while maintaining proper information and privacy protections, ASIC Commissioner John Price said. This formal arrangement will allow ASIC and DJSB to engage more cooperatively in administering programs that assist employees affected by company insolvencies. The MOU will maximise the effectiveness of both our regulatory oversight functions through improved liaison, cooperation, assistance, and the exchange of information to enhance the effective and efficient performance of the respective functions of ASIC and DJSB, said Kerri Hartland, DJSB secretary. DJSB's responsibilities include managing the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) scheme, which provides financial assistance to employees who lose their job due to their employer's liquidation or bankruptcy. The associated FEG Recovery Program was created to strengthen the recovery of unpaid employee entitlements provided under the FEG scheme. Hartland said the MOU provides a framework for both agencies to enhance the impact and effectiveness of programs such as the FEG scheme. The FEG Recovery Program is already delivering strong results and will keep up the pressure on employers to meet their obligations to employees, Hartland said. Better information sharing between my department and ASIC is important because of the broad reach ASIC has to influence the insolvency industry. Related stories: Our primary focus is the care and support we provide our customers, Nagle told Insurance Business. No patient will be disadvantaged or out of pocket by the changes and we will continue to cover all reasonably necessary treatments. Any anomalies will be addressed on a case by case basis. Nagle also noted that icare had carried out consultations on its plans surrounding the use of X-ray and other imaging technologies for injured workers, including contact with ADIA. icare conducted a comprehensive review, including extensive stakeholder consultation and consideration of written submissions, including from the ADIA, Nagle told Insurance Business. Following this consultation, we have aligned ourselves with the accreditation requirements in accordance with the Diagnostic Imaging Accreditation Scheme (DIAS) as we continue to seek to improve the quality of services to injured workers and employers. Nagle said that icare will introduce changes to accreditation requirements and fee arrangements for medical diagnostic imaging services to ensure the NSW workers compensation scheme provides injured workers with quality services and value for money changes are set to be rolled out from June 01, 2018. In addition, he added that icare will use the Australian Governments Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) rates as the basis of its fee schedule, and service providers will be able to bill insurance agents directly, as the system does currently. Imaging is a vital part of the workers compensation system, Nagle continued. Having diagnostics means that doctors and, importantly, injured workers can be well informed when determining an injury management plan and supporting them to get back to work. Related stories: A release said that in her new role, Lapchuk will work closely with US Risk San Francisco Regional branch vice-president Charles Espinosa to help increase the companys presence and visibility as an integrated specialty wholesaler in Sacramento. We are pleased to have Jacklynn join our team at US Risk, Espinosa commented. Jacklynns addition supports and reinforces US Risks commitment to the Sacramento territory and will give our agents a local and seamless experience. US Risk is one of the nations largest P&C insurance wholesalers. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the international specialty lines underwriting manager and wholesale broker operates 16 branches both in America and abroad. Related stories: AXIS Capital Holdings has announced the establishment of the AXIS Risk Management Academy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. Under a five-year agreement with the university, AXIS will invest $1.5 million to fund the management of the academy and provide research opportunities and professional development for students interested in entering the risk management space. Through the AXIS Risk Management Academy, our goal is to help students understand the rich and exciting career opportunities that can be found in the insurance and reinsurance industry, said Albert Benchimol, president and CEO of AXIS Capital. We also wish to develop a new generation of professionals within the field in order to bring emerging ideas forward that will ensure the continual and effective management of risk in society. We are very pleased to grow our relationship with the University of Illinois, one of the top finance and actuarial schools and a leader in reinsurance research and education. The academy will work closely with the University of Illinois Office of Risk Management and Insurance Research. The academys inaugural class will begin in the spring 2018 semester. We are proud to expand our partnership with AXIS, a company that stands for leadership both in the specialty reinsurance sector and as an organization committed to educating and training future risk management professionals, said Jeffrey R. Brown, dean of the universitys Geis College of Business. The academy will provide our students with invaluable educational and professional experiences, and will help them prepare for the professional world while better understanding the wide range of career options within the reinsurance industry. Related stories: Through her teen years, OBrien focused hard on her education and managed to graduate high school on schedule despite having no English at the age of 15. She then put herself through college with a Business Degree. After a few entry-level jobs, OBrien found a home with Kemper Insurance in its claims department, where she learned policy forms and how to deal with customers. After that, she moved to Austin, TX, where she found employment in the Excess & Surplus industry with TAGA as a small business underwriter. Soon, after working her way up the ladder, an opportunity arose for OBrien to return to California to be closer to her family and work with USG Insurance Services, Inc. in its new Irvine location. She exceled in her new position, moving up rapidly from producer to production manager and then was promoted to branch manager in 2018. For the past three years, she was the top producer at USG, balancing her career along with raising her seven-year-old son. OBrien is well respected amongst her agents as being exceedingly responsive and knowledgeable. Being new to management, she said the favorite part of her job and her greatest challenge is helping others succeed in their careers. As to what advice this top broker offers to others: Have a work ethic and take the very best care of your clients; then they will take care of you! She stands by her own advice every day. As to the limited time OBrien has in her personal life, along with spending time with her son Kenzo and two little puppies, cooking remains one of her passions. She seldom consults a recipe, preferring instead to experiment and add her own touch to any dish. Related stories: For the sixth time in six years, the Florida Legislature adjourned its annual session having tried, and failed, to address the assignment-of-benefits (AOB) crisis that is driving up homeowners insurance rates across the state. Without reform, premiums are projected to rise more than 60 percent over the next five years in Broward and Miami-Dade and more than 50 percent in Clay and Duval counties. In fact, every Florida county should expect increases with the exception of Hernando, which already has some of the states highest homeowners insurance premiums. Hurricane Irma might be the most obvious reason for rates to go up, but thanks to widespread abuse of the AOB system, rates have been rising in some parts of the state even during the unprecedented decade-long hurricane drought. An AOB is an agreement initiated after ones property is damaged, through which a policyholder can appoint the contractor hired to fix the damages to work with and be paid directly by the insurer. This relieves the property owner of the headache of essentially being the middleman. AOBs are common in every state, but a confluence of unique factors, many having to do with the states one-way attorneys fee statute, has made abuse of the system particularly common in Florida. The problem stems from ambiguous laws, unscrupulous contractors and overzealous litigators. Frequently without a policyholders knowledge, a contractor obtains an attorney and formally sues the insurance company. Attorneys have incentive to represent these plaintiffs because, under Florida law, if the contractor is awarded even $1 more than the insurers original offer, the lawyers can charge their fees directly to the insurer. Meanwhile, the insurance company doesnt have the same privilege of recouping their legal fees even if they are victorious. And there are signs the problem is reaching a critical stage. The ratings agency Demotech announced in February that it was holding off on affirming the A ratings for 16 Florida property insurers, awaiting review of the March 1 filing of their final year-end financial reports before determining whether they would be downgraded. Though Demotech ultimately mass-affirmed the financial strength of more than 50 Florida property insurers in late March, the uncertainty will no doubt rear its head again next year. The agencys biggest concern is the companies exposure to rising AOB claims. Given that the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require mortgage loans to be insured by companies with a rating of A or better, downgrades could move hundreds or even thousands of properties into technical default. According to analysis by S&P Global, nonweather-related claims closed in 2016 and the first half of 2017 by the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. were 6.7 times higher when there was an assignment of benefits and attorney involvement than in claims without either characteristic. These increased costs are then passed on to consumers, who consequently pay much higher insurance premiums. These claims, often related to water damage, were at first largely quarantined to Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, but they have since spread throughout Florida. In fact, such lawsuits have jumped 90,000 percent since 1999, and the average size of the claims have grown from $9,000 to $15,000, according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. Lawmakers had the opportunity to address the crisis in 2018, with broad consensus on such reforms as allowing policyholders to revoke AOB assignments within seven days and requiring contractors to operate with more transparency. The state House successfully passed legislation that would do both of those things, in addition to mandating that attorneys fees be proportional to the difference between the contractors offer and insurers counter-offer. But the Senate failed to pass legislation, as Senate Banking and Insurance Committee Chair Anitere Flores, R-Miami, refused to advance any bill to address the one-way attorneys fee issue that wasnt paired with mandatory rate rollbacks. However, with Flores set to pass the committees gavel after this session, there is perhaps some hope that reform has a better shot in the Senate in 2019. In the meantime, things could get even worse. This post was co-authored by Marc Hyden, Southeast region director for the R Street Institute. Topics Carriers Legislation Florida Property Contractors Erie Insurance, based in Erie, Penn., has promoted Sheryl Rucker to senior vice president of Erie Insurances Law Division. In this role, Rucker will have oversight of compliance, special investigations, agency operations and marketing, claims legal, insurance operations and legal support areas. Rucker joined Erie Insurance in 2003 as associate general counsel. In 2010, she was promoted to senior counsel within insurance operations. During her tenure, she has handled complex litigation, government relations, corporate coverage matters and supported operations areas. Prior to joining Erie Insurance, she served as a judicial law clerk for a U.S. Magistrate Judge and as an associate attorney and later partner with Lamp, Bartram, Levy, Trautwein and Perry in Huntington, W.V. Source: Erie Insurance Group Topics Pennsylvania Specialty insurer Markel International has appointed Nicholas Davies as trade credit underwriter and senior risk analyst in Singapore. Davies will focus on developing Markels portfolio across the region, in addition to managing existing broker and client relationships. Davies reports to Abhishek Chhajer, head of Asia Pacific trade credit business. Davies has 20 years of experience in the financial services sector having started his career in banking and asset finance. He joined Atradius in 2006 as risk underwriter, initially working in Cardiff and then Ireland, where he held the position of risk manager. In 2012 Davies took on the role of senior underwriter, treaty reinsurance at Atradius Re, gaining experience of working in the Asia Pacific region. Most recently, he worked as senior underwriter at AIG Europe in London. The trade credit team in Singapore writes business throughout Asia offering comprehensive non-payment coverage on excess-of-loss and ground-up, multi-buyer and specific account basis. Topics Underwriting Beazley has partnered with international law firm DAC Beachcroft to launch a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) helpline for its Beazley Breach Response (BBR) policyholders in the UK. The new GDPR regulations, which take effect May 25, 2018, could lead to increased exposure to privacy and data breach liability risks for organizations worldwide. Organizations in the EU that process personal data, and those outside the EU that offer goods and services to EU citizens or monitor their behavior, will fall within the ambit of the new regulations. Beazley said despite widespread publicity and the long run-up to implementation, enquiries from its policyholders, which have been fielded by its BBR Services team, suggest that the effects of the regulation are still not well understood. In response, Beazley has partnered with DAC Beachcroft to set up a helpline service that will enable Beazleys BBR policyholders in the UK to connect free of charge with some of the UKs foremost GDPR legal experts. Policyholders will receive guidance on what the regulation means for them and the steps they should consider taking to minimize the risks of non-compliance from DAC Beachcrofts team. The Beazley helpline can also help assist its policyholders in determining where best to apply their internal resources and where best to commit budget to their compliance efforts. Policyholders seeking to take advantage of this valuable service can email Beazleys BBR Services team, who will then capture the nature of their enquiry and will connect them with a DAC Beachcroft lawyer. Beazley plc is the parent company of specialist insurance businesses with operations in Europe, the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Australia. Beazley manages six Lloyds syndicates. Beazleys underwriters in the United States focus on writing a range of specialist insurance products. In the admitted market, coverage is provided by Beazley Insurance Company, Inc., licensed in all 50 states. In the surplus lines market, coverage is provided by the Beazley syndicates at Lloyds. Beazleys coverage lines include professional indemnity, property, marine, reinsurance, accident and life, and political risks and contingency business. Topics Legislation Europe Princes heirs have sued Walgreens and the Illinois hospital that treated the music superstar after he suffered from an opioid overdose, alleging that a doctor and various pharmacists failed to provide Prince with reasonable care, contributing to his death. The wrongful-death lawsuit filed in Cook County, Illinois, alleges a doctor and pharmacist at Trinity Medical Center in Moline, Illinois, failed to appropriately treat and investigate Princes April 15, 2016, overdose, and that he died as a direct and proximate cause of one or more deviations from the standards of care. It accuses Walgreen Co. and pharmacists at two of its Minnesota branches of dispensing prescription medications not valid for a legitimate medical purpose. Walgreens and the hospitals parent company both declined to comment, citing pending litigation. Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park studio compound in suburban Minneapolis on April 21, 2016. An autopsy found he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin. Authorities said it was likely Prince didnt know he was taking the dangerous drug, which was laced in counterfeit pills made to look like a generic version of the painkiller Vicodin. The source of those pills is unknown and no one has been charged in Princes death. A week before he died, Prince passed out on a flight home from an Atlanta concert and the private plane made an emergency stop in Moline. The musician had to be revived with two doses of a drug that reverses effects of an opioid overdose. At Trinity Medical Center, Prince refused medical tests but was asked what drugs he took. Documents show a pill that he had with him, which was marked as Vicodin, was sent to the pharmacy for testing. A hospital pharmacist said it appeared to be Vicodin and returned it to Prince. Prosecutors said last week that no chemical testing was done on the pill, but evidence suggests it was counterfeit and laced with fentanyl. The lawsuit alleges the pharmacist and emergency room physician, Dr. Nicole Mancha, failed to timely diagnose and treat the overdose and failed to provide appropriate counseling. The allegations against Walgreens stem from prescriptions that were dispensed to Prince, but written under the name of his bodyguard, Kirk Johnson. Authorities said Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg admitted that he prescribed oxycodone to Prince under Johnsons name to protect Princes privacy. Schulenberg disputes that, but paid $30,000 to settle allegations the drug was prescribed illegally. Attorneys for Princes family, George Loucas and John Goetz, said in a statement that they will have more to say when the time is right. Princes family wishes, through its investigation, to shed additional light on what happened to Prince. At the same time further light on the opiate epidemic will hopefully help the fight to save lives, the attorneys said. If Princes death helps save lives, then all was not lost. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Illinois Drugs The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that foreign corporations cannot be sued in American courts for human rights abuses overseas, refusing to revive a lawsuit claiming Jordan-based Arab Bank Plc helped finance militant attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The 5-4 decision left in place a lower court ruling that had thrown out a lawsuit brought by some 6,000 plaintiffs, including survivors and relatives of non-U.S. citizens killed in attacks, filed under a 1789 U.S. law called the Alien Tort Statute that accused Arab Bank of being the paymaster to militant groups. The court ruled along ideological lines, with its five conservatives in the majority and its four liberal justices dissenting. Only in recent years have plaintiffs sought to bring human rights claims under that obscure law. The plaintiffs accused Arab Bank of deliberately financing terrorism, including suicide bombings and other attacks. They said Arab Bank used its New York branch to transfer money that helped Hamas and other Islamist militant groups fund attacks and reward families of the perpetrators between 1995 and 2005. Conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote Tuesdays opinion, said the relatively minor connection between the terrorist attacks at issue in this case and the alleged conduct in the United States illustrates the problems of extending liability to foreign corporations. Noting that the case has caused significant diplomatic tension with Jordan, a U.S. ally, Kennedy said that the political branches are in a better position to extend that liability if they so choose. In a dissenting opinion, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that barring suits against foreign companies ensures that they remain immune from liability for human rights abuses, however egregious they may be. The lead plaintiff in the Arab Bank case was Joseph Jesner, whose British citizen son was killed at age 19 in a 2002 suicide bombing of a bus in Tel Aviv. The bank said in court papers that the U.S. government has called it a constructive partner in the fight against terrorism financing. In a 2013 ruling, the Supreme Court did not resolve the corporate liability question when it ruled in favor of Royal Dutch Shell Plc over a lawsuit claiming the company was complicit in a crackdown on protesters in Nigeria. That 2013 ruling narrowed the Alien Tort Statutes reach, saying claims must sufficiently touch and concern the United States to overcome the presumption that the law does not cover foreign conduct. In a separate case involving U.S. citizens and brought under a different law, a New York jury in 2014 found Arab Bank liable for facilitating two dozen militant attacks in Israel. The Supreme Court, in another case involving U.S. litigation concerning an attack overseas, ruled on Feb. 21 that Americans injured in a 1997 suicide bombing in Jerusalem cannot seize ancient Persian artifacts from a Chicago museum to satisfy a $71.5 million court judgment against Iran. The plaintiffs had accused Iran of complicity in that attack. The justices on April 2 refused to consider reinstating a $655.5 million jury award won against the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization by 11 American families over militant attacks in Israel. In another case, the justices on March 5 declined to take up Iranian government-owned Bank Mellis appeal of a lower court ruling that allowed victims of militant attacks allegedly backed by Iran to seek millions of dollars in compensation from the bank. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) Topics USA Legislation Claims The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday gave its stamp of approval to a government review process prized by high technology companies as an easy and cheap way to combat patent trolls and others that bring patent infringement lawsuits. The justices ruled 7-2 that a type of in-house patent review at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not violate a defendants right under the U.S. Constitution to have a case adjudicated by a federal court and jury. The court ruled against Oil States International Inc, a Houston-based oilfield services company that had challenged the legality of the process, called inter partes review (IPR). Justices John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the decision authored by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas to uphold the reviews. While the ruling gave Silicon Valley reason to celebrate, it was sure to displease name-brand drugmakers, which had called the IPR process a threat to innovation. The U.S. Congress created the reviews as part of a 2011 law to deal with the perceived high number of flimsy patents that had been issued by the patent office in prior years. Since then, the patent offices Patent Trial and Appeal Board has canceled all or part of a patent in about 80 percent of its final decisions. In 2015, it canceled an Oil States patent on protecting wellhead equipment after an IPR proceeding. These reviews have been especially popular with companies like Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd that are frequent targets of patent infringement suits. On the other hand pharmaceutical companies like AbbVie Inc., Allergan plc and Celgene Corp. called for the IPR system to be scrapped. In challenging the review process, Oil States argued that patents are private property that may be the revoked only by a federal court. The standard for canceling a patent is higher in federal courts than in the review proceedings. Thomas, writing for the court, said the IPR process is an extension of the Patent and Trademark Offices decision to grant a patent. Inter partes review is simply a reconsideration of that grant, and Congress has permissibly reserved the PTOs authority to conduct that reconsideration, Thomas wrote. A ruling striking down the reviews could have diverted the bulk of patent disputes back to federal courts, where litigation is more drawn out and expensive. A patent office review costs about $350,000 to litigate fully, whereas in district court it could be $3 million, Apple said in legal papers. The case began when an Oil States subsidiary sued in 2012 claiming Houston-based rival Greenes Energy Group infringed its patent for use in the hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of oil wells. Greenes responded by filing an inter partes review at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the administrative tribunal run by the patent office that conducts the reviews. The board later canceled key parts of the patent. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a specialized Washington-based patent court, upheld that decision in 2016. Oil States appealed to the Supreme Court, telling the justices that the reviews are not wiping out weak patents as advertised but instead the best United States patents. Backed by the President Donald Trumps administration, Greenes Energy also had the support of large technology firms including Alphabets Google and Intel Corp. Firms dubbed patent trolls have business model based on suing other companies over patents rather than actually making products. (Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham) Topics USA InsurTech Tech Energy Oil Gas Despite higher catastrophe losses, Chubb Limited reported a solid first quarter with net income of $1,082 million, about the same as the $1,093 million it achieved for the same quarter last year. Core operating income was $1,097 million, compared with $1,175 million, for the same quarter last year. Catastrophe losses of $380 million contributed 5.8 points to the insurers property/casualty combined ratio of 90.1, which was up from last years 87.5. That impact this year from catastrophes compared with $206 million (3.3 points of the combined ratio) in last years first quarter. Catastrophe losses for this first quarter included $195 million for Northeast winter storms, $125 million for California mudslides and $60 million for all other catastrophe losses globally in the quarter. The P/C current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses was 87.6 compared with 88.0 prior year. Adjusted net investment income was $877 million, up 4.9 percent. P/C underwriting income was $642 million. P/C current accident year underwriting income excluding catastrophe losses was $813 million, up 7.2 percent. P/C net premiums written were $6.5 billion, up 5.8 percent. P/C premiums were up over 5 percent in Chubbs North America insurance business while internationally premium revenue was up 8.5 percent and benefited from a weaker dollar. Evan G. Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer, was pleased with the quarter and with pricing trends. We had a very good quarter though it was impacted by a higher level of catastrophe losses. We produced world-class ex-CAT underwriting results, strong net investment income and good premium revenue growth while achieving better commercial P/C pricing in many of our businesses globally, which improved as the quarter went along, Greenberg said in prepared remarks. He said commercial P/C pricing for the business Chubb wrote in the quarter continued to improve in the U.S. and in a number of territories outside the U.S. We achieved some of the best pricing in quite some time, and it improved as we moved through the quarter. In some classes, customer segments and territories we are observing a clear direction in price firming; in others its more chaotic, Greenberg said. North America commercial P/C insurance net premiums written in the middle market division increased 2.4 percent, reflecting a 3.5 percent increase in P/C lines and a decline of 0.6 percent in financial lines. Net premiums written in the small commercial division increased 1.9 percent. For North America agricultural Insurance, net premiums written were $108 million, an increase of $47 million over the prior year, driven by higher crop premiums, reflecting less premium returned to the U.S. government based on premium-sharing formulas, and increased new business. Global Reinsurance net premiums written decreased 3.0 percent, or 4.8 percent in constant dollars. Topics Catastrophe USA Profit Loss Property Casualty Chubb An attorney in Grand Prairie, Texas, has been sentenced to 120 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $26,572,458.93 in restitution for his role in a workers compensation fraud scheme. Federal prosecutors say that from July 2011 to September 2015, Tshombe Anderson and members of his family ran the scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $26 million from the Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Workers Compensation Program (OWCP). The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas. Anderson pleaded guilty in August 2017 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Anderson agreed to forfeit $375,000 seized from his residence, a 2015 Mercedes, and his share of the $8,383,075 that was seized from 25 bank accounts. Anderson has been in custody since the time of his arrest in August 2015. Andersons sister Lydia Bankhead, 63, his wife Brenda Anderson, 47, and his niece Lydia Taylor, 30, were also charged in the indictment returned in September 2015 and pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme. Tshombe Anderson and others conspired to defraud the U.S. Department of Labors Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP) of more than $26 million. Anderson stole patient information from over 200 injured federal workers and then used the information to fraudulently bill OWCP, enriching himself and others with taxpayer dollars intended for the treatment of injured federal workers, Steven Grell, special agent in-charge of the Dallas Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, said in a statement. According to plea documents in the case, Tshombe Anderson worked as an attorney for Union Treatment Centers (UTC). Anderson and his wife, Brenda Anderson, opened a durable medical equipment company called Best First Administration (BFA). BFA was formed, initially, to provide durable medical equipment to patients referred to BFA from UTC. In July 2011, Tshombe Anderson and Brenda Anderson disassociated from UTC. In April 2013, Tshombe Anderson agreed with Bankhead to open Union Medical Supplies and Equipment (UMSE). In August 2013, Tshombe Anderson opened Skycare Medical Supplies and Equipment (SMSE). Both companies were created in order to submit claims that were inappropriate to OWCP. The same medical information that BFA had received from UTC was used and billed to the same universe of claimants for duplicate, unwanted durable medical equipment that was not medically necessary, using outdated medical information. Tshombe Anderson continued to do so despite knowing that they were billing OWCP for items that were not associated with the claimants injuries and that claimants were often refusing or rejecting the durable medical equipment for which their company had billed. Tshombe Anderson had access to the operating accounts for UMSE and routinely transferred large sums of cash from those accounts for his personal use or to launder through business accounts for a shell company called American Federal Union Claims Advocates, as well as accounts associated with his law office. The total amount paid to OWCP for UMSE and SMSE was $26,572,458.93. The DOL Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicole Dana and P.J. Meitl prosecuted. Source: U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Texas Topics USA Texas Workers' Compensation Fraud A Washington appeals court has reversed a lower court ruling that held the federal government liable for some of the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina and other major storms a ruling that could have resulted in damage payments for residents and businesses of New Orleans Lower 9th Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish. The class action lawsuit by local governments and property owners blamed flooding on the now-closed Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. Often referred to locally as the Mr. Go, the canal was a man-made shortcut from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. The suit claimed construction, operation and failure to maintain the waterway contributed to government-caused flooding that amounted to an illegal government taking of private property. Judge Susan Braden of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims agreed in a 2015 ruling and granted class-action status in 2016. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a ruling dated April 20, said plaintiffs failed to prove that construction or operation of the outlet caused the flooding, in part because they failed to consider whether a levee project approved at the same time as the MRGO mitigated the flooding. And it said a taking claim cant be based on government inaction such as the failure to maintain the waterway. Takings liability must be premised on affirmative government acts, the appeal court said. The failure of the government to properly maintain the MRGO channel or to modify the channel cannot be the basis of takings liability. Bradens ruling had been a rare court victory against the government in lawsuits related to Katrina. Numerous other lawsuits filed against the federal government over Katrina-related flooding had failed. A string of court rulings insulated the federal government from liability for billions of dollars in flood damage that many residents and business owners have blamed on the Corps design, construction and maintenance of levees and floodwalls, as well as the MRGO. Were disappointed, naturally, Carlos Zelaya, one of the plaintiffs attorneys in the case. He said attorneys were analyzing the ruling and would make a decision soon on their next step. Related: Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Flood The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region III and the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (WVDHSEM) hosted the first-ever West Virginia Flood Insurance Partners Roundtable in White Sulphur Springs, W.V. last month. According to a statement from FEMA, the roundtable, held March 27, provided a forum for state partners, floodplain managers, emergency managers, realtors, lenders, and insurance agents to discuss floodplain management, increasing the number of flood insurance policies, and protecting the residents of West Virginia from the impacts of future flooding. The roundtable activities consisted of a three-hour continuing education session for insurance agents on the basics of the National Flood Insurance Program and featured an online demonstration of the W.V. Flood Tool presented by Kevin Sneed, the states National Flood Insurance Program Coordinator. In the afternoon, WVDHSEMs Director of Mitigation and Recovery, Al Lisko, emphasized the importance of local floodplain managers. Comparing the role of floodplain managers to the efforts of family doctors he said You are trying to maintain the health of your community and maintain it over time The more we can do now to help people and to help the next generation, the better. The open discussion also focused on the value of flood insurance in helping communities recover from disasters. Rich Sobota, Flood Insurance Specialist with FEMA Region III, offered a comparison in recovery from the June 2016 flooding in West Virginia. Sobota said after that flooding event, residents with flood insurance received an average of $48,000 per claim while residents relying on disaster assistance only received an average of $7,500. Attendees also discussed ways to engage residents about being prepared for the next flood, including ideas for personal conversations, social media and representation at local events. FEMA said Local officials also emphasized the importance of mitigation grant funding, particularly for improved reconstruction. According to the recently released National Institute of Building Sciences 2017 Interim Report, federally funded mitigation grants, on average, can save the nation $6 in future disaster costs for every $1 spent on hazard mitigation. Partners agreed that everyone needs to work to educate communities on stronger mitigation practices, but also ensure the grant programs and processes are clearly understood, the FEMA release said. Overall, the discussions that occurred will continue to help build effective relationships and strong partnerships for continued progress to ensure West Virginia is more resilient against future flooding. FEMA Region III said it will work with other state partners to host Flood Insurance Partner Roundtable events throughout the region in the coming year to broaden the conversation to reduce the risk of future flooding, increase the number of residents covered by flood insurance, and to establish productive partnerships with all stakeholders. FEMA Region IIIs jurisdiction includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Source: FEMA Topics Flood Virginia California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones appears to be poised for a fight with the insurance industry over a legislative package supports say will protect survivors of last years wildfires that struck in the fall. Jones is rallying with state Senators Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, and Bill Dodd, D-Napa, to oppose what he says are efforts by insurance lobbyists working in advance of a Senate Insurance Committee hearing today to kill or water down the legislative package. Insurers are pulling out all the stops to defeat our efforts to provide wildfire survivors and homeowners peace of mind when disaster strikes, Jones said in a statement. Thousands of Sonoma and Napa area residents lost everything and survived the fires only to face more emotional distress, as they were faced with trying to create detailed inventories or discovered they were underinsured and may not have enough to rebuild their homes. This is about doing the right thing for consumers who buy their homeowner policy believing they have enough coverage to rebuild should the worst happen, pay their premiums faithfully, and then find they are coming up short when disaster strikes. Jones said the bills in question are reasonable and address current shortcomings that have left residents on the short end of the claims process. McGuires Senate Bill 897 would require insurers to pay 80 percent of the limit of a policyholders personal property coverage with no requirement for a written inventory. Dodds Senate Bill 894 would allow policyholders to combine various coverages within their homeowner policy to pay any covered losses. The insurance entities Jones said hes poised to do battle with include Rebuild with Resilience, a coalition of homeowners insurers in California comprised of property/casualty insurance trades including Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, Personal Insurance Federation of California, National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies and American Insurance Association. The coalition issued a statement on Wednesday in response to a request for comment for this story that notes that insurers are supporting customers affected by the fires and helping them get back on their feet as quickly as possible. We are working collaboratively with lawmakers to strike a balance between making changes that further protect Californians and making sure we dont put accessibility and affordability out of reach in our high-cost state, the statement reads. The bills being evaluated in committee hearings today from Senators Dodd, Jackson and McGuire do not meet this bar and should be amended to ensure homeowners across the state are protected. Related: Topics Carriers Catastrophe California Natural Disasters Wildfire Homeowners RIC Insurance General Agency has named Gary Wells a business development manager. Wells is tasked with expanding the firms commercial and personal lines marketing efforts, working primarily with retail insurance agents and brokers in the San Francisco Bay area. Prior to joining RIC, he was a senior sales executive with Travelers in the Bay area, specializing in select small business for the past 11 years. He was an independent agent prior to that. RIC is a wholesale insurance brokerage and managing general agency with offices across the Western U.S. Topics California Ford Motor Company (F) is one of the biggest automotive companies in the world. In addition to its Ford-branded vehicles, it also markets luxury vehicles under the Lincoln brand and auto parts under the Motorcraft name. For the fiscal year ending 2020, it reported annual revenue of $127 billion and net income of $1.3 billion. Ford's wholly-owned automotive subsidiaries operate in numerous countries around the world, including Canada, Brazil, Australia, and India. The company's European automotive operations include wholly-owned subsidiaries headquartered in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. In addition to these core automotive subsidiaries, Ford owns various other companies around the world. Below are some of the most important of those businesses. 1. Ford Motor Credit Company, LLC Ford Motor Credit Company, LLC is a financial services company offering financing products to Ford consumers and Ford dealers. The company provides automobile loans and leases to retail, commercial, and government buyers of new and used Ford vehicles. It also offers business loans and lines of credit to its dealers for inventory and facility investments and other approved business uses. Ford Motor Credit Company handled 50% of all lease shares for retail sales for Ford vehicles sold in the United States in 2019. Ford Motor Credit Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. It operates in Europe under its own subsidiary, FCE Bank plc, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom. 2. Changan Ford Automobile Corporation, Ltd. Changan Ford Automobile Corporation, Ltd. is a 50-50 Chinese joint venture between Ford Motor Company and China's state-owned Chongqing Changan Automobile Company, Ltd., one of China's four biggest auto manufacturers. The company produces and distributes Ford-branded vehicles in China. Changan Ford operates an engine plant, a transmission plant, and five assembly plants. 3. AutoAlliance (Thailand) Co., Ltd. Rayong, Thailand-based AutoAlliance (Thailand) Co., Ltd. is a 50-50 joint venture between Ford and Mazda Motor Corporation. AutoAlliance operates an integrated automotive manufacturing facility for compact trucks and passenger cars. The company produces Ford- and Mazda-branded vehicles for Thailand and markets in other developing countries in Southeast Asia and beyond. 4. Getrag Ford Transmissions GmbH Getrag Ford Transmissions GmbH is a joint venture held equally between Ford and the German-based company Magna PT International GmbH (formerly Getrag International GmbH). Getrag Ford Transmissions produces transmissions for Ford automobiles at its manufacturing plants in Germany, England, India, and France. 5. Ford Motor Land Development Corporation Ford Motor Land Development Corporation (known more commonly as "Ford Land") is a full-service real estate company originally established in 1970 to develop acreage surrounding Ford Motor Company's corporate headquarters in Michigan. It now owns and manages more than 220 million square feet of real estate globally in 48 countries. The company also provides planning and engineering services, facility management services, and dealership design services in support of Ford's international operations. Ford Land is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. The company is in the process of a campus transformation to bring together over 30,000 employees from 70 buildings to two primary locations. Investopedia and our third-party partners use cookies and process personal data like unique identifiers based on your consent to store and/or access information on a device, display personalized ads and for content measurement, audience insight, and product development. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Investopedia.com, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, click below. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. List of Partners (vendors) Farmers are being urged to effectively boycott the sale of Irish farms by vulture funds. The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) says more than 2,500 farms across the country could be at risk. The IFA estimates that around 150,000 acres of Irish farm land could be sold off by vulture funds. It has launched a campaign calling on farmers, auctioneers, businesses and the media not to facilitate such sales. "I'm a farmer and if I had a neighbour and he was trying to deal with the banks or the vulture funds and if that land was put up for sale I wouldn't be involved in the buying of it," said Pat Healy, President of the IFA. IFA Farm Business Chairman Martin Stapleton says its about standing behind farmers who want to find a solution to their financial difficulties. "We want the same rights for our members as the other sectors," said Mr Stapleton. "We want farmers to have the option, where they're willing to commit to it, to have the option of paying that loan off over an appropriate time." Sinn Fein's Finance spokesman Pearse Doherty says its time for people power. "This is now for the community to stand firm and say that while you may try and repossess the lands, while you may try and sell them, we as a community, we as the Irish people in the history of boycott, we stand with the farmers in this case and we will boycott the sales." The IFA says more than 200 farmers have also contacted its Debt Support Service in the last 12 months. Digital Desk By Geoff Percival Paddy Power-Betfair earnings could take a 3%-6% hit if the UK government imposes maximum betting restrictions on gaming machines in bookmakers British shops, analysts have warned. Shares in all the major players took a hefty hit as investors braced themselves for a worst case scenario outcome to the UKs ongoing review of fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs). The latest moves in the UK coincide with Fianna Fail calling for Irish gambling regulation to be strengthened. Uncontrolled gambling has become a scourge on communities up and down this country and is often masqueraded as harmless socialising or enjoyment, said Fianna Fail TD Jack Chambers. Fianna Fail recently brought forward comprehensive legislation setting out a clear basis to regulate the industry, protect vulnerable people, and restrict the advertising and sponsorship of gambling. The bill, co-sponsored by Fianna Fail TDs Anne Rabbitte and Jim OCallaghan, will be moved in the Dail on May 9th. Regarding developments in the UK, meanwhile, British chancellor Philip Hammond has, reportedly, accepted recommendations for the top bet on slot machine- type machines in UK betting shops to be reduced to 2. Currently, punters are allowed to stake up to 100 every 20 seconds on FOBTs. The UK government has been looking, for some time, at lowering that maximum stake amount to between 2 and 50. Analysts see the likely harsher-than-expected restrictions as having severe implications for the earnings power of the major bookmaker chains. A cut in the FOBT staking limit to 2 would shrink William Hills [earnings] Ebitda by 25%, GVCs by 18%, and Paddy Power-Betfairs by 3%, said Davy analyst David Jennings, who also warned investors may start to wonder whether changes to the UKs existing point-of-consumption tax could also be on the cards. Were the point-of-consumption tax on gaming products to be increased to 25%, the impact would be 6% on William Hill, 5% on GVC, and 4% on Paddy Power-Betfair, said Mr Jennings. Goodbody predicted Paddy Powers earnings to be hit by closer to 6% if the 2 restriction were to become a reality. Morgan Stanley analyst Ed Young said Paddy Power-Betfair could take an additional hit of around 8% to earnings per share should the UK impose additional tax on online income to make up its tax shortfall. William Hill is the most exposed bookmaker to tighter FOBT regulation and a reduction in the maximum betting stake on the machines could see its earnings fall by over 40% and nearly 3,000 of its shops close down, according to Goodbody analyst Gavin Kelleher. William Hills share price fell by nearly 13% yesterday. Shares in Ladbrokes owner GVC fell by over 6%. Paddy Power-Betfair saw its share price slump by close to 4%. Regarding Irish law, Mr Chambers said the importance of regulation cannot be overestimated. The rapid growth of internet gambling, alone, means we need effective laws to protect vulnerable people placing bets online. The fact that theres no physical exchange of cash makes it even more dangerous. It is time that emerging trends in the gambling industry are more stringently regulated, he said. Update May 1, 2018: Gardai have located Kellie Taggart safe and well. They wish to thank the public with their assistance. No further action is required. April 25, 2018: Gardai ask for help to find missing Cork teenager A teenage girl has gone missing from her home in Cork city. Gardai are asking for help to trace Kellie Taggart, who is 16 years old, and has been missing from her home in Cork City since the early hours of yesterday morning. Kellie is described as being five foot seven inches tall with a slim build, and long blonde hair with brown streaks. It is not known what she was wearing when last seen. Anyone with information is asked to contact Togher Garda Station at 021-4947120, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station. - Digital Desk - By Ann O'Loughlin Former Irish Nationwide Building Society chief executive Michael Fingleton has lost his appeal arguing he cannot lawfully be subject to a Central Bank inquiry into alleged regulatory breaches at the Society. The three judge Court of Appeal today dismissed all grounds of Mr Fingletons appeal against the High Courts rejection of his challenge concerning the inquiry. Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan and Ms Justice Mary Irvine gave separate judgments dealing with different grounds of appeal and dismissed all those grounds, including claims of objective bias on the part of the Central Bank, that it lacked jurisdiction or had delayed. The judges also rejected claims his entitlement to a fair hearing was prejudiced by the Central Banks publication of details of a settlement agreed with the Society itself over the banks inquiry. Mr Justice Michael Peart agreed with his colleagues. Mr Fingleton, now aged in his late 70s was not in court for the delivery of judgment. His core argument in his appeal was that he had retired before the inquiry was formally initiated in 2015 and the relevant law does not allow for inquiry into his past conduct of the Societys affairs. Lawyers for the Central Bank had rejected that argument as absurd and nonsense. The Central Bank estimates the collapse of INBS, which was nationalised and merged with the former Anglo Irish Bank in 2011, has cost the Irish public some 5.4 billion. That figure is disputed by Mr Fingleton, who joined INBS in 1971 and retired as CEO in 2009. The Central Bank inquiry was initiated into allegations that certain prescribed contraventions were committed by both INBS, and certain persons concerned with its management, between August 2004 and September 2008. If the allegations are upheld, the relevant law allows for imposition of sanctions of up to 5m on a regulated firm and up to 500,000 on individuals. The Central Bank previously announced it had reached a settlement with INBS then management concerning the allegations against the Society and said the settlement involved INBS admitting multiple breaches of financial services law and regulations. The maximum 5m fine was imposed but the Central Bank said that would not be collected as INBS had no assets. Mr Fingleton and several other former officials of INBS remain subject of the inquiry. In his High Court judgment dismissing Mr Fingletons case, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan ruled a person who by virtue of their status was in a position to influence the actions of a regulated entity may be subject to Central Bank investigation even if they no longer held that position. When asked which international institution most closely resembles the United Nations, the average person probably wouldnt have the correct answer. But a well-informed person would. Such a person would say: the British Commonwealth of Nations. That would be the correct answer. The British Commonwealth of Nations the Commonwealth, for short is the international institution that most closely resembles the UN. The resemblance comes not only from the number of Commonwealth members; it comes also from their geographical distribution and cultural variety. British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchills famous remark The sun never sets on the British Empire was interpreted by his critics in Britain and overseas as a statement of arrogance and conceit on the part of Britains political leader. In actual fact Sir Winston was only speaking the truth: as it journeyed from east to west across the globe the sun never ceased to shine on a country formerly or currently ruled by Britain. Taking place in London this week is the annual gathering in effect it is the summit of the heads of state of the 53 overseas members of the Commonwealth. It is the biggest gathering of heads of state outside the opening of the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly. The host and de facto presiding officer of this weeks meeting is Queen Elizabeth II, who has been retained as head of sate by Canada, Australia, New Zealand and some of the other old British colonies. In a show of North America-type independence Canada several years ago dropped the Union Jack as its flag and God Save the Queen as its national anthem, but Australia and New Zealand have stayed true to the Crown and London. A little while back the Australian government held a referendum on the issue of retention of Britains Queen as Australias head of state; a substantial majority of the Australian people voted in favor of retaining Queen Elizabeth II. The Commonwealth truly is a mini-UN. Its membership includes countries as distant from one another and as different from one another as Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific area, Chinese SAR (Special Administrative Region) Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore in East Asia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan and Mauritius in South Asia, British Somaliland, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Seychelles, Botswana, Swaziland and South Africa in the eastern part of the African continent, Gambia, Nigeria and Ghana in West Africa, Belize and numerous Carribean islands, the Folkland Islands and Cyprus and Gibraltar in Europe. Truly the UN in miniature. A history of British rule in every continent except Antarctica.The biggest would-have-been member of the Commonwealth the one that got away is of course the US. Many historians have argued that were it not for the short-sightedness of King George III and the then-Parliament, there would have been no bitter War of Independence and the US would now be a member of the Commonwealth. But of course relations between America and the members of the Commonwealth family have always been cordial, and the US has always been a welcome guest at the Commonwealth table. The beauty about the Commonwealth idea is that there is a common focus of allegiance, goodwill and friendship. That is the British monarchy. The British sovereign has remained very popular n her former colonies and her visits to them are requested and welcomed. Even in countries like India, where British rule was once detested and opposed. How has the Commonwealth managed to survive during the long period since the 1940s, when the process of decolonization began? Did it survive by maintaining the principle of non-interference in other Commonwealth members affairs and sweeping contentious issues diplomatic, economic and cultural under the ring? Not at all. Realizing that such issues are likely, eventually, to affect all its members, the annual gathering of the Commonwealth heads of state do not avoid discussion of such issues, but the discussion is always done in an atmosphere of fraternality and goodwill and the glorious institution. Long may it last. Update 3.16pm: A campaign group called Fight the Pipe has claimed that 500 farms will be impacted by the proposed Shannon water pipeline. Irish Water is applying for planning permission to build the 1.3bn project. If given the go-ahead, it will supply water from the Shannon to houses in Dublin and the Midlands. The pipe will measure two metres wide and 170km long. Tipperary farmer Liam Minihan said that the pipe will ruin his farm. "When I let out my cows in the morning, I'm going to have to cross the pipe, then I'm going to have to cross the road I've always crossed, then I'm going to have to cross the pipe again to get to some of my land," he said. "By the time I get my cows out to grass in the morning, it's going to be time to get them back in." Earlier: Tipperary councillor accuses Irish Water of 'economic terrorism' over 1.3bn pipeline Irish Water has been accused of "economic terrorism" by a local councillor over its plans for a Shannon to Dublin pipeline. The utility says the project will cost 1.3bn and is needed to supply parts of the Midlands and east of the country. However, critics say leaking pipes should be fixed first. Representatives from Irish Water will appear before an Oireachtas committee this morning to explain their plans. Tipperary councillor Seamus Morris is part of the River Shannon Protection Alliance, and has criticised their handling of the situation so far. Councillor Morris said: "They're working by press release and soundbite, but we want them to sit down and explain to us why they would even countenance wasting 1.3bn of taxpayers' money on something that is not needed. "It beggars belief that they would inflict this sort of economic terrorism on the State, whereas what they should have been doing over the last 20 years was fixing the pipes." - Digital Desk By Ann O'Loughlin An Irishman serving an "indeterminate" sentence in the UK for "very grave sexual offences" against his daughter and step-daughter has lost his appeal over the Minister for Justice's refusal to sanction his transfer to a prison here. The Court of Appeal said the fact the indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) imposed on the man in 2009 is "quite unknown" in Irish law was at the heart of the difficulties in the case. Mr Justice Gerard Hogan, giving the three-judge Appeal Court judgment today, said the Minister had given detailed reasons for the refusal to permit transfer and those reasons centred on the difficulties posed by the IPP sentence. Under UK law, the man's IPP sentence was to last for an initial eight-year period, subject to review by the UK parole authorities. The sentencing judge had held a 16-year sentence was the appropriate minimum sentence which, on application of the 50% automatic statutory remission, meant an initial eight-year term. In refusing transfer, the Minister said the IPP sentence was unknown to Irish law and the only sentence that be imposed here would be an eight-year sentence which was considerably less than the 16 years the UK judge considered was appropriate had he imposed a fixed sentence. The Minister also said the fact the man denies he committed the offences would be a "very negative factor" in attempts to rehabilitate him here as it would be unlikely he would be considered suitable for Arbour Hill Prison, which rehabilitates sex offenders. Mr Justice Hogan said those reasons were "clearly bona fide, factually sustainable and not unreasonable". He agreed with the High Court the Minister has discretion in relation to transfer and is not obliged to transfer an IPP prisoner when transposition of IPP sentences had shown difficulties in the past and was likely to continue to do so into the future. In the circumstances, he affirmed the High Court finding the man had not set out arguable grounds for judicial review of the refusal. Earlier, the judge noted the man had lived in the UK from the 1990s and was convicted there in late 2009 of a series of "very grave" sexual offences against his daughter and step-daughter. An IPP sentence is "quite unknown" in Irish law and it is not easy to see how such a sentence can readily be adapted, or even understood, by reference to the traditional Irish sentencing regime, he said. IPP sentences are no longer imposed following a change of law in the UK in 2012, he also noted. The man first sought a transfer to an Irish prison in 2011 under the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act but no decision was made until late 2015, after he took High Court proceedings aimed at compelling a decision be made. After the Minister refused the transfer, the man sought to challenge that via judicial review but the High Court found he had not set out arguable grounds for review. Stormont leaders have traded fresh blows in their ongoing blame game ahead of talks with the British government. Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists will have separate meetings with Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley in Belfast tomorrow, as Mrs Bradley continues to consider ways to revive devolution. Northern Ireland has been without a properly functioning powersharing government for almost 16 months due to the bitter stand-off between the two main parties. A row that broke out over a botched green energy scheme, and widened to encompass long-standing disputes such as the Irish language and gay marriage, shows no sign of resolution. Negotiations to restore the institutions have effectively been on ice since Valentine's Day, when the talks broke up in acrimonious circumstances amid claim and counter-claim about a proposed deal to break the impasse. Today, Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O'Neill reiterated her view that the DUP's confidence and supply agreement with the UK government was preventing Mrs Bradley taking definitive action. DUP leader Arlene Foster insisted Sinn Fein was the only one of Stormont's five main parties standing in the way of an immediate restoration of powersharing. Mrs O'Neill said: "I will be telling the British Secretary of State that we need the powersharing institutions back up and running and there is a huge deal of frustration within the wider community at the unacceptable delay in restoring the Executive due to the British Government's pact with the DUP. "The British Government have obligations under the Good Friday Agreement and if they are not prepared to confront the DUP, then they need to deal with the issues directly and in partnership with the Dublin government. "The people of the north, our public services and our peace agreements should not be held to ransom by the DUP's anti-rights agenda." Mrs Foster downplayed the significance of tomorrow's meeting with Mrs Bradley. "This is a routine meeting with the Secretary of State," she said. "I am glad she is meeting all the parties and I hope she will recognise that four of the five main parties would restore devolution immediately. There is only one party which has placed barriers and preconditions in the path of returning local decision making to Northern Ireland. "In the absence of devolution there is still a need for decisions to be taken however. "Over the last few days, issues such as the 150m delivered for broadband by the DUP through the confidence and supply agreement have been in the news. "I will be urging the Secretary of State to ensure that necessary decisions are taken and the people of Northern Ireland do not suffer because of Sinn Fein's narrow agenda." - PA As we say goodbye to the worlds last male northern white rhino, Sarah Marshall looks at more species we cant risk losing. The death of any celebrity evokes a sense of shared sadness, even if the A-lister in question belongs to the animal kingdom, but the story of Sudan, the northern white rhino who passed away on March 19th, is especially heart-breaking. Being the last surviving male of a subspecies decimated by poaching and habitat destruction, his death signifies yet another needless wildlife loss. I, for one, cried when I heard the news. Not because I knew him personally, but as an expression of frustration. Every day, we lose a little bit more of our beautiful planet, and we have only ourselves to blame. Sudans story highlights even bigger issues in the natural world, where species - from insects through to mammals - are increasingly threatened by human activity. As David Attenborough has stressed time and time again, we are in the midst of a mass extinction. This is happening around us. Right now. Is there any hope for the future? Although two female northern white rhinos, Najin and Fatu, remain, the only hopes for continuing their line lie in IVF treatments using stored semen from Sudan. (Four years ago, vets realised he would be unable to mate naturally.) What can we do? Born in the wild, Sudan grew up in zoos and lived the last few years of his life in Kenyas Ol Pejeta conservancy, captivating tourists who came to learn about his plight and contribute funds to the IVF scheme. Managed and properly controlled, tourism can be used as an effective tool to protect species and raise awareness about the natural world. All the animals below appear in the International Union For Conservation Of Nature Red List, the official barometer for endangered species. By visiting them now and making an economic contribution, you could be safeguarding their future. 1. Orangutans in Borneo Classified as critically endangered on the IUCN list, which is one step away from extinction, these primates can only be found in two places: Sumatra, in Indonesia, and the island of Borneo. The main reason for their decline? Deforestation in favour of palm oil plantations. Its often tricky to see them in the wild, but sightings are guaranteed at the Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre in Sabah and Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Sarawak, both in Borneo. How: G Adventures (gadventures.co.uk) offers a 14-day escorted Experience Borneo trip as part of their Jane Goodall collection. A portion of funds from the 2,000 pp land-only price are donated to her institute, which helps to protect primates worldwide. 2. Pangolins in Namibia Looking like creatures from a prehistoric era, these small, scaly anteaters are the most trafficked animal in the world. Their scales are dried and sold as medicine and have even been used to make coats. Having evolved over 80 million years, they can be found in parts of Asia and Africa, though being nocturnal, they are hard to spot. One relatively reliable place to enjoy encounters is Okonjima Nature Reserve in Namibia; Chris Packham saw his first pangolin here and so did I. How: Expert Africa (expertafrica.com) offers an 11-day tailor-made Impala Self-drive Safari from 1,418pp (land-only), including a stay at Okonjima, where the AfriCat Foundation supports wildlife conservation. 3. Tigers in India The biggest cat on our planet is also the most under threat, once again the victim of a futile medicine market. The Bengal tiger is the most iconic of the species and can be found in parks across India. Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra state is a more under-the-radar option, where the emphasis on conservation is still greater than tourism. How: Steppes Travel (steppestravel.com) has a 14-day tailor-made Tiger Safari to Tadoba, Pench, and Kanha from 43,822pp (excluding flights). Along with searching for tigers, the trip includes a focus on conservation efforts in the parks. 4. Mountain gorillas in Uganda Spread across Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo, mountain gorillas have suffered at the hands of poachers and civil warfare. A new census, about to take place, promises to show an increase in numbers, though the great apes are not out of the danger zone just yet. With cheaper permit prices and rated as one of the most stable countries in Africa, Uganda is the best place to go. How: A percentage of the US$600 (490) one-hour permit price goes to community projects and conservation. Keep costs low by arranging your own trip and staying at the excellent Ride 4 A Woman (ride4awoman.org) community hostel in Bwindi, where doubles cost from US$130/106 full board. 5. Ethiopian wolves Almost wiped out by cases of canine distemper, spread by domestic dogs, the worlds rarest canid struggles to survive in Ethiopias Simien Mountains and the Sanetti Plateau. The latter area is part of the Bale Mountains, where British couple Yvonne and Guy Levene run the Bale Mountain Lodge with conservation always in mind. Earlier this month, Irish Water conceded that 761m litres of drinking-quality water are lost each day, because our supply infrastructure has been neglected for decades, by many governments. Yesterday, that agency announced that it was to press ahead with plans, despite hundreds of objections and probably many more to come, to extract water from the Shannon and pipe it to Dublin, in a 1.3bn project intended to supply 40% of Irelands population by 2025. The juxtaposition of those statements inevitably provokes a confrontational reaction why take water from the Shannon to pour it into a colander in Dublin? Why not accept that the leaks must be, no matter what level of inconvenience rolling repairs inflict on the residents of our capital, greatly reduced? They, after all, will be the ultimate beneficiaries of the project. What will happen if the leaks persist, even at a much-reduced level and Dublins population continues to grow, as is projected? What will happen if industry demands grow as well (and it is likely that they will)? Will ever-greater quantities of water be taken from the Shannon? Might a second sponge scheme to take water to Dublin from, say, the Nore, Barrow, or Slaney be proposed? Around half of the water processed to drinking-quality level is lost every day. That ratio, at 36%, is slightly lower in Dublin where there are 9,000km of water pipes, greater than the distance between Dublin and Beijing. In the Greater Dublin area, 207m litres are lost every day. Irish Water is addressing the leaks with a scheme that has an opening price tag of 500m. It will save 166m litres of water a day by 2021 enough to supply Cork city twice over. The leaks are an indictment of the dishonest and inept public administration that allowed the system, some of which was built when Victoria styled herself the Empress of India, to fall into such disrepair. Local authorities must shoulder a small portion of the blame, but the greater burden of responsibility must fall on the politicians of all parties who diverted public money from pressing water issues to other projects, maybe more exciting, more visible ones that might win a few votes. Naturally, and correctly, politicians will deflect that criticism and point to the no way, we wont pay rejection of water charges a rejection that came pretty close to mob rule on occasion during the life of the last government. With that rejection, which was driven by a very vocal minority, we surely cut a stick with which to beat our own back and let the politicians off the hook once again. It seems inevitable that the issue will have to be revisited. It will not, however, have an immediate impact on the Shannon proposal. This is one of those we-are-where-we-are unavoidables, a reality underlined by Irish Waters suggestion that even if all the leaks in Dublin were repaired, the capital still needs a new source of water. It is not, it never is, too late to learn the obvious lesson housekeeping cannot be avoided and it must be paid for, one way or another. This lesson applies to our housing crisis, as well as to our water difficulties. Surely its time to take it on board? A 13-year-old boy has fatally shot his 11-year-old brother in what police in Ohio are describing as an apparent "premeditated act". Police in Streetsboro said officers were called to a home at around 9.30pm local time on Monday. Update 1.15pm: Danish submarine inventor Peter Madsen has been found guilty of torturing and murdering Swedish reporter Kim Wall during a private submarine trip. He has been sentenced to life in prison. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and two jurors unanimously decided Ms Wall's death was a murder, saying Madsen did not given "a trustworthy" explanation. Madsen said he would appeal against the conviction and sentence. It was a "cynical murder" of a journalist who was performing her duties, the court heard in a hearing which was not broadcast live due to a court order. In Denmark, a life sentence equates to 16 years, which can be extended if necessary. Throughout the trial that started on March 8, Madsen, 47, has denied murder, saying 30-year-old Ms Wall died accidentally inside the submarine but changed his story about how she died. Ms Wall embarked on Madsen's submarine on August 10 to interview the entrepreneur. He initially denied dismembering her, then confessed he had done so and said he had thrown her body parts into the Baltic Sea. He listened quietly as the verdict was read, looking down at the desk in front of him. Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen claimed Ms Wall's murder was sexually motivated and premeditated because Madsen brought along tools he normally did not take when sailing, including a saw and sharpened screwdrivers. Madsen's defence lawyer had argued for his acquittal on the charge of murder, saying he should only be sentenced for the lesser charge of cutting Ms Wall's body into pieces. The cause of death has never been established but the court found Madsen "cut the body into pieces to hide what had happened". In this April 30, 2008 file photo, submarine owner Peter Madsen stands inside the vessel. Pic: Niels Hougaard /Ritzau via AP, File Earlier: Submarine inventor sentenced to life for murder of journalist Kim Wall Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his private submarine. Judge Anette Burkoe at the Copenhagen City Court said she and the two jurors agreed Ms Wall's death was a murder. She said Madsen did not given "a trustworthy" explanation. Madsen stood quietly listening as the judge read out the verdict on Wednesday. Madsen, 47, had denied murder and said Wall died accidentally inside the submarine but confessed to cutting up her body and throwing the body parts into the sea. More to follow. PA Posted Wednesday, April 25, 2018 3:00 am It was another gloomy Sunday outside but beautiful to be in Gods house. We sang O, How I Love Jesus, with Lola playing and Jeremy leading. Sunday school started with the lesson A New Day For Israel, from 2 Samuel 5:1-25. Prayers were by Shirley Sell and Brother Bill. Worship hour started with Martha playing Jesus Hold My Hand as everyone entered. Jeanette Johnston was greeter in Richards place, as he recovers from surgery. I read the report and Harper Curtis gave her birthday offering. The choir assembled and sang Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Prayers were requested for Richard Johnston, Ray Lawrence, Jason Marlin, Debbie Genetti, Matt Massie, Lola Day, Cole Cantrell, Lynn Scott, Randy Deckard, McKenzie Delozier, Carla Caffin, Larry Letterman, the Elkland shooting and all the others on our list. Prayer was by Martha Myers. We sang The Unclouded Day and The Gloryland Way. After the handshake of fellowship, John Henderson and Rex took the offering and Rex blessed it. A thank-you card was read from the Larry Letterman family for his illness and praise for his recovery. ANNOUNCEMENTS Leave for revival at Amity, 6 p.m. Tuesday. Bible study and youth, 7 p.m. Wednesday. Meet in Orschelns parking lot for trip to Pierce Arrow, 5:30 p.m. Friday Singing and refreshment, 6 p.m. Sunday, April 29. Janet Lowe gave info on drivers needed for our VIP Cherry Blossom guests and the new roof that was picked out for the church. Specials were by Wade and Jeremy, Herald Lee (reading), Martha, Lesley with the children and Jeremy. Brother Bill's message was Noah Prepared His Family, Are We? from Genesis 6. Closing song was I Must Tell Jesus and Bobby Atkison closed in prayer. The evening service was nice, with specials and a message from Genesis 7 to complete a good rain-themed day. It is overwhelming to think that only eight people survived that flood aboard the ark. We must always trust in God, even when we do not completely understand. He holds our tomorrows and knows us best. His love is never ending. Have a great week. But yesterday, US tourist David Motte walked out of Cork University Hospital hand in hand with his wife Joy, leaving a parting gift they hope will save another life. It follows a decision by HeartSafety Solutions, a firm which sells automated external defibrillators (AEDs), to donate one of their life-saving devices to David. As part of its Forward Hearts programme, the firm donates a free defibrillator to survivors of sudden cardiac arrest every time one of its devices is used. The survivor then forwards this to an organisation of their choice. David said he wants to gift his device to the Blarney Community First Responders (CFR) group who played a critical role in saving his life. CFR volunteer Jeremy Downey, who just happened to be working near Blarney Castle on Friday, was on the scene within minutes. Using CPR and a defibrillator, he worked alongside first aid-trained castle staff and paramedics to resuscitate David. The couple said while they are looking forward to being reunited with their three adult sons in North Carolina, they have forged a deep and lasting bond with the people of Ireland. David also revealed that while he managed to kiss a Blarney Stone trinket in his hospital bed, he hopes to organise a return trip to Ireland soon, climb the castle steps, and actually kiss the famous tourist attraction for himself. The average stay for the refugee families at the former 120-bed Clonea Strand Hotel near Dungarvan is 12-14 weeks. Overlooking Clonea beach about two miles from Dungarvan, the centre received its first allocation of displaced Syrian families from Lebanon in December 2015, under the UNHCR protection programme. Since then, more than 540 refugees, including approximately 90 children under the age of five, have passed through, from Lebanon and also from Greece under the UN/EU relocation programme. Our arrivals have mostly been Syrian but have also included Iraqis and Kurds, said the centres manager, Mark Knowles. David Stanton, minister of state for equality, immigration, and integration, opened the 50,000 creche at Clonea Emergency Reception and Orientation Centre (EROC). The cost of converting the building was met by the Justice Department through EU funding. Guests included Colm OConnell of the Irish Refugee Protection Programme and Rose Murphy, CEO of the Waterford childcare committee. Play is a fundamental learning tool for children, enabling them to develop their natural curiosity, creativity and social skills by which the flourish and form lifelong learning skills, said Ms Murphy. A five-member committee, assisted by 25 hotel staff, manages the programme, which is co-ordinated by agencies such as Waterford childcare, the HSE, An Garda, the Education and Training Board, Tulsa, Barnardos, the Department of Social Protection, and local community volunteers. As well as the creche, the former hotel also currently provides facilities for primary level education for up to 25 older children. The decision to provide an onsite creche was taken after local childcare services were unable to provide sufficient places. Mr Stanton said the dearth of creche places in the wider community meant that mothers of young children had endured restricted opportunity to participate in English language programmes run by local education training board. That dearth, he said, compromised their progress towards integration into Irish society. The minister said he had been encouraged by the work of centres such as Clonea EROC, noting todays refugee children, when properly nurtured and regarded, were tomorrows engineers, doctors, politicians and so on. Aleksandr Kogan, who supplied the personal information of millions of Facebook users to election consultancy Cambridge Analytica (CA) in 2014, told British politicians that personality scores he gave to the company were highly inaccurate and made little sense for political advertising. The idea that this data is accurate, I would say, is scientifically ridiculous. The idea that even if you had a lot more data you could make it super accurate is also pretty silly, he told a House of Commons select committee. Dr Kogan insisted that Facebooks tools were capable of helping campaign groups send targeted advertising without the need for more specific information about peoples personalities. In written evidence supplied to the committee before his appearance he said: The Facebook ads platform provides tools and capability to run targeted ads with little need for our work in fact, the platforms tools provide companies with a far more effective pathway to target people based on their personalities than using scores from users from our work. CA parent company SCL paid Dr Kogan to harvest data from Facebook using a personality survey, which he then processed to make predictions about personality under the company name Global Science Research. Asked what the value of the work he did for SCL was, Dr Kogan replied: Based on what we know now, nothing. CA executives and whistleblowers have previously insisted on the value and effectiveness of their work including that the company helped Donald Trumps US presidential election campaign and the Brexit campaign. In secret filming by Channel 4 News released in March, CA executives boasted about profiling voters to help politicians target them with social media adverts. Earlier in the hearing, Dr Kogan accused former CA chief executive Alexander Nix of lying in his evidence to the committee in February. Committee chairman Damian Collins asked Dr Kogan to verify answers from Mr Nix about data collected by his company, Global Science Research, and given to CA. Mr Collins said: I said to [Mr Nix]: Does any of your data come from Global Science Research? And he said no. Thats a fabrication, replied Dr Kogan. Mr Collins continued: I said: They have not supplied you with data or information? And he said no. Total fabrication, said Dr Kogan. He also cast doubt on the evidence of Mr Wylie, who presented large amounts of evidence about CA to the committee and testified in March. Mr Wylie has invented many things, claimed Dr Kogan. By March 2015 we had begun to suspect that Mr Wylie may not be the most reputable person in the world, he said. Facebooks chief technical officer, Mike Schroepfer, us due to give evidence at the committee tomorrow. While investigators have to finalise their inquiries, parish volunteer Billy Bevan, who is associated closely with Holy Cross Church and who is a former firefighter with the Kenmare service, said it appeared the fire started in the organ, which is electrical and had been plugged in. The fire, which was spotted at 9am, spread rapidly, but because of the quick response from the fire service, in both Kenmare and Sneem (they were on the scene within minutes), the worst of the damage was confined to the front-door area. The partys finance spokesman Michael McGrath said that since the suggestion was mooted there had been no progress in establishing the body. While insurance fraud is only one factor in rising premiums, it is undoubtedly the case that exaggerated and fraudulent claims have a direct effect on the price of insurance cover being charged on individuals, households, and businesses, he said. The Governments Cost of Insurance Working Group Report of January 2017 recommended that consideration be given to the feasibility of a specialised and dedicated insurance fraud unit within An Garda Siochana, funded by industry. Quarterly updates on the report show that by May 2017 the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) had visited a similar unit in Britain. By the July 2017 update, the GNECB had engaged with the industry with a view to examining a proposal that it would fund the unit. It said that the Department of Justice had indicated that the bureau had submitted a costed proposal to Insurance Ireland, the representative body for the industry. The October update said that the Non-Life Council of Insurance Ireland indicated that the industry agreed with exploring the proposal further, subject to a full cost-benefit analysis by the industrys Chief Financial Officers Working Group. The February 2018 update did not show up any progress on developments. Mr McGrath said: As of October last year, Insurance Ireland agreed to this proposal in principle. However, there is still no further update. We now need the Department of Justice to work with An Garda Siochana in order to sign off on this proposal and establish this unit. He said there was a wider need for data on prosecutions and convictions for insurance fraud. A spokesman for Insurance Ireland said: Discussions are still ongoing between An Garda Siochana and Insurance Ireland in relation to the proposed dedicated fraud unit. The experience of a similar unit in the UK, which is funded by the insurance industry, has been positive. A Department of Justice spokesman said further progress was dependent on the cost-benefit analysis being conducted by the industry. He added: Insurance Ireland has indicated that it expects to be in a position to provide an update in this regard by end of June 2018. Any agreed mechanism will, of course, be subject to the approval of the garda commissioner and the minister. For the first time since the homicide statistics scandal broke, acting garda chief Donall O Cualain will also say common issues have arisen in the Garda review of cases. He is expected to be pressed by the Oireachtas Justice Committee about the forces review of 41 cases and why investigations were not updated to homicides. The CSO put on hold its publication of Garda crime statistics arising from its dispute with the force about their recording. Mr O Cualain is also expected to confirm that the force is not ready yet to start releasing statistics once more. His statement to TDs and senators on the committee will say: Certain commonalities have been identified in the cases reviewed such as the revisiting and upgrading of investigate actions and crime classification on Pulse, which had been overlooked. Gardai are now expected to recommend changes to the Pulse system because of the homicide statistics review, which has looked suspicious deaths recorded between 2013 and 2015. TDs will be told: It is also important that each death is recorded accurately on Pulse to ensure an Garda Siochana, our stakeholders and society at large has the most up-to-date information available on natural, accidental and suspicious deaths recorded in Ireland at any particular time. The Garda chief will say that to date 12 of the 41 cases have been reviewed and two are before the courts. However, the review will not be finished by the end of April, despite a previous commitment by the force. Mr O Cualain will add: The review team has also consulted with a number of external bodies to ensure independent data quality. These include the office of the state pathologist, the courts service and the coroners inquests. As a result of findings so far, the review team has made a number of recommendations for changes to Pulse. The committee is expected to hear the force has enlisted the help of Transparency International to train gardai on how to handle whistleblowers and their concerns. Transparency Ireland is also assisting with the review of an Garda Siochanas existing practices, Mr O Cualains opening statement is also expected to say. The group is training four protected disclosure managers with the force. An independent report on the future of RTEs two orchestras, the Concert Orchestra and the NSO, said the broadcaster should retain the former. However, the report by former director of BBC Radio, Helen Boaden, recommends that the NSO should be established either as a national cultural institution in its own right or as part of the National Concert Hall and funded by the Government. Otherwise, Ms Boaden said, she would have to recommend a poor second choice the closure of one of the orchestras. The report found that while RTEs income as a whole declined by 24% between 2007 and 2016 and it continues to face very significant financial challenges, during the same period the orchestras were relatively protected with income declining by 11%. However, it said the orchestras now have significant vacancies and have been obliged to reduce commitments to touring and educational roles. The report said it was hard to see how RTE could fund even the current level of provision, let alone cover the increase to budgets that would be required for the orchestras to return to full strength. Shirley Bradshaw, chairwoman of the RTE Trade Union Group (TUG), said the removal of the NSO from RTE would be a cut to services which undermined the role of the national broadcaster and its contribution to culture. Already RTE made a very regrettable decision to cut jobs in its Young Peoples department; the outsourcing of jobs to the private sector has undermined RTE already, handing over responsibility for the Symphony Orchestra is another step in that direction and it should be a huge concern to fans of music and supporters of a strong public service broadcaster, said Ms Bradshaw. We welcome the recommendation in the review that both orchestras should be fully staffed and resourced, something unions have been calling for over recent years as management failed to fill a range of vacancies. However, we would like that RTE, as the public service broadcaster with a cultural remit, receives the support it needs to achieve that. TUG said it is ironic that the review does paint a very positive picture for the NSO and the Concert Orchestra. Fran McNulty, chairman of the National Union of Journalists sub-branch within RTE, said: The RTE board must defend the values of public service broadcasting and that applies across all services. The report acknowledges that Ireland is not unique and that orchestras across Europe are under pressure. Is it possible that Ireland could learn from the lessons of other countries and be more imaginative in our approach to funding? The meeting is planned as the Government yesterday shot down reports of major flaws in a special solution or backstop deal to guarantee a frictionless border in the North. It was reported that EU sources had raised doubts about what Mr Varadkar has called a cast iron deal to keep the North in the customs union if there is no Brexit final agreement. They said occupancy restrictions and controls can be used instead as conditions of planning to protect the residential amenity of established residential areas. The details are set out in a report to members of Cork City Councils Strategic Planning Committee which recommends the terms of a new policy to manage the development of student accommodation in the city. It comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented surge in planning applications for off-campus student accommodation in the city in recent months with almost 3,000 student beds in the pipeline. Several schemes, mostly in the south-western suburbs, have triggered local opposition. Planners have now suggested a raft of amendments to the City Development Plan to give effect to the new policy. Fine Gael councillor John Buttimer welcomed the report as a good first step but said the policy could go further. I think we should be able to designate specific sites as unsuitable for the larger schemes, and suggest others that are more appropriate, he said. Fianna Fail councillor Sean Martin also welcomed the report, but said such a policy should have been introduced years ago. About 40,000 students are in third-level education in Cork. The number of full-time students has risen steadily since 2001 up 26% between 2006 and 2016, from 19,500 students to 24,750. The current demand for student rental accommodation in the city is around 13,000 bed spaces, sourced either in the private rented sector or in PBSA. The citys existing PBSA supply is 3,788 bed spaces, with 2,748 to be delivered in the coming months, including on the former Beamish and Crawford site, in the former Square Deal premises, and on the Crows Nest site. The report says the main supply of student housing, particularly around UCC, comes from the private rented sector, with most of the housing stock occupied as house shares in property built originally for single occupation by individuals, couples, and families. However, it says there is no provision in planning law to distinguish between a dwelling of single occupation and multiple occupation, even though the material impacts can be significant, with dwellings of multiple occupation in some cases leading to a steady decline of the character and condition of streets and properties. While the benefits of PBSA are outlined, including reducing demand in the private rented sector, thereby freeing up housing stock, the complaints are about noise generation, late night activities, and the scale and design of some schemes which are out of keeping with the character of certain areas. The report says while most of this development has been in the south-western suburbs on transport corridors near UCC and CIT, future development is likely to migrate eastwards towards the city centre and docklands. The proposed changes to the City Development Plan will be subject to public consultation. Yesterday, the Health Minister, Simon Harris, brought the proposal to cabinet. It was first tabled as a private members motion by Fine Gael senators, including Dr Reilly. No conversation can begin about tobacco without remembering 6,000 men and women of this country die every year, prematurely, because of this product, Dr Reilly told Sean ORourke, on RTE Radio 1. He said the ban would reduce second-hand smoke inhalation, reduce the discomfort of diners seated near a smoker, and was proposed in the hope of denormalising smoking and protecting our children. Its annoying for people and more than annoying, its interfering with their ability to enjoy a meal outdoors on the sunny days that we do have in this country, without having the discomfort of peoples smoke blowing around them, Dr Reilly said. We are a society that likes to eat as a family, we like to go out as a family. We want our children with us when we go out for a meal and we dont want them surrounded by smokers and thinking that this is normal behaviour, when, clearly, A, its not and, B, its very detrimental to their health. However John Mallon, of the smokers representative group, Forest, said restaurants should be allowed to use their own discretion. Smoking is not an illegal habit in this country. It is not illegal in any country in the world that I know of, and, in the event, a smokers money is as good as anybody elses money in a restaurant, Mr Mallon said. They should, when they were bringing in the ban, have allowed indoor smoking rooms separate from non-smokers. If this is perceived as a problem...then allow the owner of the establishment involved to make their own decision to cater for both parties and then nobody needs be put out, Mr Mallon said. The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland Policy Group on Tobacco said it strongly supports the proposed bill. Dr Des Cox, chair of the policy group and consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine, said that this is important in reducing smoking. Any level of exposure to tobacco smoke is unacceptable, and there is robust research, demonstrating a significant risk from secondhand smoke in an outdoor setting where smokers are present. The developing lungs of children are particularly susceptible to damage from second-hand smoke, he said. Posted Tuesday, April 24, 2018 2:30 pm A drug-trafficking conspiracy case that led to murder in rural Webster County in April 2016 saw the final two defendants involved sentenced in federal court this week. In separate Monday hearings before U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark in Springfield, Anthony Edward Donovan, 21, Springfield, and Nathaniel Austin Lee, 20, Seymour, were sentenced to federal prison sentences without parole, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Missouri. Donovan received 35 years in prison, while Lee was given a 15-year sentence. Both men pleaded guilty last year to their involvement in a conspiracy to distribute methampheatmine in Greene, Dallas, Christian and Webster counties from April 28, 2015, to April 26, 2016. They also pleaded guilty to using a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, resulting in the murder of Oscar Adan Martinez-Gaxiola on April 25, 2016, in Webster County. According to court documents, co-defendant Yovanny Aroldo Mendivil-Balderama, 23, a Mexican national, and Martinez-Gaxiola obtained large amounts of methamphetamine from either Arizona or Mexico and transported it to Missouri. They supplied methamphetamine to co-defendant Brooke Danielle Beckley, 21, Nixa, for distribution in the Springfield area. Beckley met Mendivil-Balderama and Martinez-Gaxiola in January 2016, and Beckley and Mendivil-Balderama started a sexual relationship shortly afterwards. On April 6, 2016, law enforcement officers seized from Beckleys hotel room approximately 1.9 kilograms of methamphetamine, a loaded 20-gauge shotgun with a sawed off barrel and stock, four rounds of additional shotgun ammunition, a .22-caliber pistol, a drug ledger and $3,662. The loss of the 1.9 kilograms of methamphetamine created a $44,000 debt that Beckley owed to both Mendivil-Balderama and Martinez-Gaxiola. According to court documents, text messages between Mendivil-Balderama and Beckley revealed they both wanted to kill Martinez-Gaxiola as a way to reduce, or extend, the debt and to prevent Martinez-Gaxiola from possibly killing Beckley. Mendivil-Balderama suggested in a text to Beckley that he had an idea of how we can do so you do not have to pay me everything. Beckley, in a text on April 21, 2016, asked what he needed her to do. Mendivil-Balderama responded, I just need someone to help me get rid of someone I need gone like now. Subsequent text messages suggested that the person that needed to be gone was Martinez-Gaxiola. Beckley then recruited Donovan to assist in killing Martinez-Gaxiola, and offered to pay him $6,000, according to court documents. Donovan recruited co-defendant Lee to assist in the murder and allow for the use of Lees property in rural Webster County, in exchange for part of the $6,000. Lee then recruited Joshua Applegate (who was a minor under federal law at the time of the offense, and therefore charged as an adult in state court rather than in the federal indictment). According to court documents, on April 24, 2016, Beckley, Donovan and Lee practiced for the murder of Martinez-Gaxiola by discharging various firearms at the Lee residence. On April 25, 2016, Mendivil-Balderama traveled with Martinez-Gaxiola to the Lee residence on the pretext that Beckley would pay the drug debt. Beckley, Donovan, Lee and Applegate were waiting at the residence; Donovan and Lee were armed with handguns. Upon arrival, Mendivil-Balderama got out of the vehicle first. When Martinez-Gaxiola exited the vehicle, shots were fired at him and Martinez-Gaxiola fell to the ground. Eventually, Donovan went up to where Martinez-Gaxiola lay and shot him once in the head. Martinez-Gaxiola was armed with a handgun but did not discharge it during his murder. Lees neighbors reported the shots fired at the residence (it is estimated that the co-conspirators expended 30 to 60 rounds of ammunition during the murder). Webster County deputies responded to the location. Hearing the emergency sirens, the co-conspirators attempted to conceal Martinez-Gaxiola under a piece of tin siding, and then fled the area, according to court documents. When the deputies arrived, they found Martinez-Gaxiola, who was still alive but critically hurt and who died before transportation to the hospital. Law enforcement officers captured all the co-conspirators by the end of the day on April 25, 2016. Mendivil-Balderama was sentenced in March to 50 years in federal prison, while Beckley was given a 40-year sentence in February. Both are to be served without parole. Another co-defendant, Jourdan Ashley McGinnis, 29, Nixa, pleaded guilty to his role in the drug-trafficking conspiracy. McGinnis was sentenced in December 2017 to seven years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. Also in December 2017, a plea agreement was reached with the Webster County Prosecuting Attorneys office in which Applegate pleaded guilty to felony unlawful use of a weapon and was given a suspended imposition of sentence along with five years supervised probation. As part of the agreement, several other felonies filed against Applegate, including first-degree murder as an accessory, were dropped by the prosecution. A plan has been drawn up by Cork County Council, in conjunction with the city council, to address the needs of people who suffer sensory disability, mental health issues, physical disability, and intellectual disability. The local authorities now plan to ensure that there are enough social houses built which will be designed specifically to cater for disabled people on their housing waiting lists. A meeting of the county council heard that the Housing Strategic Policy Committee, chaired by Cllr Seamus McGrath, had drawn up the plan. It recognises that people with disabilities should have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live. There are currently 663 people on the county councils housing waiting list who are classified as having a disability. Of those, 390 fall into the physical disability class, 57 have sensory issues, 166 are deemed to have mental health issues, and 50 have been identified as having an intellectual disability. The council has a housing stock of 7,511 units. Annually a number of tenants, through new disability or injury, require alternative accommodation due to the inadequate nature of their existing living arrangements. This can be addressed through a transfer arrangement if appropriate accommodation is available. The decision to transfer may be made as a less costly alternative to adaption works, or where necessary adaption works are not feasible due to the nature of the property. The council also administers housing adaptation grants for people who become disabled or infirm who live in private properties. It hands out hundreds of these grants every year. The new draft policy recognises that there will always be an emerging need to cater for people with disabilities, and estimates have been made of how many will require disabled-friendly accommodation in the future. The council is also reviewing its housing stock to identify all adapted properties to ensure they are retainedin so far as this is possible. Mr McGrath told his colleagues that new housing units would be constructed in such a way as to be easily adaptable to cater for people with disabilities. The cost of retrofitting units would be much more, so it makes sense, he said. Cllr Eoghan Jeffers described the document as progressive and said he was delighted that autism had been recognised in it. All social housing should have a certain amount of fitting (done for disabilities) at the build stage, said Cllr Kevin Murphy. In order to gain the right to question the Government on promised legislation, TDs now have to get a numbered card and await to be called by the Ceann Comhairle. However, TDs have complained that they have to queue for anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour before the Dail gets under way, insisting it is a waste of their time. Limerick City and County Council has issued Pre-Qualification Documents for the long-awaited motorway clearing the way for the project to go to tender later this year. It is understood that the value of this four-year engineering, design, and route appraisal contract will be in the order of 8m. The estimated cost of the M20 will be about 850m. While some politicians in both Cork and Limerick yesterday incorrectly announced that the contract has gone out to tender, the issuing of the Pre-Qualification Documents is a significant step towards the issuing of invitation to tender documents. The document issued this week is intended to give information to parties who are interested in applying to be pre-qualified for the contract when it does eventually go to tender. It warns: The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to follow up this invitation in any way and/or to change the tender procedure and/or terminate discussions at any time. These parties have until 2pm on May 24 to declare their interest. Limerick City and County Council and Cork County Council in partnership with Transport Infrastructure Ireland propose to carry out the planning and design of the N/M20 Cork to Limerick Road Improvement Scheme, states the document. The scheme will provide a high quality road connecting Cork and Limerick. Limerick City and County Council requires Technical Consultancy Services from a multi-disciplinary engineering led Consultancy team which will provide the Engineering, Environmental, Economic and Appraisal services required to successfully deliver the project through the planning and design phases, it says. The document states that the contracting authority intends to invite at least five applicants to submit tenders. The Contracting Authority wishes to award the contract as soon as possible. The target timetable is that the services contract is awarded by September 2018. This timetable is indicative only and Tenderers will be advised of firm dates at later stages in the competition, says the document. Meanwhile, 1m in Local Improvement Scheme funding has been allocated to Cork for the upgrade of 41 rural roads. Girls making their first confession were sexually abused by a priest who afterwards put his hand on their heads and said: Your sins are forgiven. John Calnan, 79, who is now living at The Presbytery, Roman St, Cork, was yesterday given an 18-month, fully suspended sentence, on five counts of indecent assault, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. Detective Garda Maurice Shanley said two girls were sexually abused as they each went into a room alone with the priest to make their first confession. They were aged six or seven. A third girl was similarly abused when she was around the age of 10, again during confession. All of the indecent assaults consisted of Calnan putting his hand up their dresses, inside their underwear, and rubbing their vaginas or putting a finger inside their vaginas. It happened in the mid- to late 1970s. Judge Sean O Donnabain said: This is outrageous, to do this to innocent young girls, who were undergoing a sacrament of the church. The breach of trust is phenomenal. The man has taken significant steps to rehabilitate in Gracewell [treatment centre in Birmingham], before he was ever outed as an offender. He has if I can use the word religiously followed up on his rehabilitation. He has attended a relapse-prevention group and [from a report] he has developed empathy. He has not reoffended. Given his age and the level of his rehabilitation, I see no point or purpose in imprisoning him at this stage. Defence barrister John Devlin said the accused had very poor health. Detective Garda Shanley said the victims thought what the priest was doing to them was part of confession. Calnan has been jailed previously for sex crimes against children. In July 2012, at the Central Criminal Court, he was sentenced to eight years, with the last three years suspended, for attempted rape and three counts of indecently assaulting a girl and one of indecently assaulting a boy. In April 2015, he got a three-year sentence, with the last year suspended, for indecently assaulting a girl. In March of this year, he got a suspended two-year sentence for indecently assaulting another girl. Judge O Donnabhain wondered why the five counts against Calnan, related to three victims, were not brought before the court in March with the other case. The three victims of yesterdays cases were all in attendance at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. Only one of them had a victim impact statement, which was read by Det Garda Shanley. She said: I did not know if his actions were part of confession. I felt no-one would believe me. I was ashamed and embarrassed. It would kill my parents to know what he did to me. I want him to admit that what he did was so wrong. I was so relieved when the guards told me he was pleading guilty. Calnan was ordained in 1964, serving most of the time in Co Cork. In 1992, he stopped ministering as a priest and went to the Gracewell clinic in Birmingham to deal with his offending behaviour. The judge directed that no details of the precise locations for the sexual assaults be published, so that the three victims could not be identified. Education Minister Richard Bruton announced in February that community schools and multi-denominational schools run by education and training boards (ETBs) must offer all students an option to take a different subject instead of religion. The move is expected by schools to result in thousands of students choosing alternative subjects, particularly those in fifth and sixth year who want an additional Leaving Certificate subject. Anne Looney, dean of Dublin City Universitys Institute of Education, said the work of a recently-formed task force to put together data and policies around teacher supply comes too late for hundreds of her students. She told the Oireachtas Education Committee that DCU has over 300 students being prepared to teach religious education at second-level, with either English, history, or music. When they woke up to the recent announcement by the Department about new arrangements for the teaching of religious education in ETB schools, it sent them online looking for international options, as the jobs they expected to move into... appeared to have been swept away, said Ms Looney. She said all future developments in the education system, including new subjects or reducing pupil-teacher ratios, must consider the impact on teacher supply that is not always obvious. The same move is the subject of possible non-cooperation by members of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) over concerns that Mr Bruton does not plan to give any extra resources for schools to provide alternative subjects at times religion is timetabled as an option. At the same committee meeting yesterday, TUI president Joanne Irwin said the crisis around recruitment and retention of teachers emerged since those reduced pay arrangements were introduced for new entrants to the job from 2011. She said it was exacerbated by removal of qualifications allowances in 2012 and the addition of a year to the length of the postgraduate second-level teacher training qualification in 2013. All of this has made teaching less attractive, and unless there is a reversal [of these measures], it will only get worse, she said. Unless addressed properly, the scale of the crisis will increase even further in the coming years as the number of students in second-level rises by approximately 70,000 in the education system by 2025, said Ms Irwin. TUI and two other teacher unions are mandated to ballot nearly 70,000 members for industrial action if talks to resolve the matter are not satisfactorily concluded early next month. They will take part in broader talks with the Government from Friday around the pay of recent entrants to the public service, for which there are no commitments in the 2018-2020 lifetime of last years Public Service Stability Agreement. After a previous hearing with representatives of teachers, managers, and others in the primary sector, the Education Committee heard from second-level groups yesterday. A range of incentives were put forward, including restoration of equal pay scales, allowing pre-qualification teachers undertake paid work in schools, more primary degrees with a subject-specific teaching qualification element, and measures to attract people working in other fields to convert to teaching careers. One of the men was a student garda and has resigned. He has now been given the opportunity to leave the country voluntarily, or face deportation and possible criminal prosecution. Detectives from the Garda National Immigration Bureau are preparing a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions, having conducted voluntary interviews with the four people involved two Bangladeshi men and a Lithuanian lesbian couple. Gardai suspected that the two men paid a total of 30,000 to the women, as part of a bid to get EU citizenship by marriage. Sources said charges could be brought under legislation for deception offences, relating to the fraudulent use of documentation to obtain residency. After securing his papers, one of the men sought to apply for An Garda Siochana, following an advertising recruitment campaign. He successfully applied, and obtained vetting via Garda HQ. He was recruited into Templemore Garda College. Garda sources said that the four people voluntarily agreed to be interviewed, under caution, during which they made admissions. A file will now be prepared for the DPP. The individuals were released and the two Bangladeshi men have been given an opportunity to leave of their own volition. If they do not, they will be served with a deportation request and will have two weeks to respond. If they refuse, gardai will ask the justice minister for a deportation order. During this time, they could be prosecuted. The trainee garda faced being suspended and he resigned. The GNIB investigation was part of Operation Vantage, an ongoing initiative into tackling sham marriages, after legislation was introduced by then tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald in August 2015. A garda spokesperson declined to comment on the case, initial details of which appeared in thejournal.ie Hundreds of customers took to social media yesterday to vent their anger and fears after money went missing from their accounts and they were unable to pay bills and honour direct debits and standing orders. Ulster Bank said the problem was the result of human error, but this was disputed by union bosses who blamed technology problems and differed with the view of Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe who referred to an IT problem. The Central Bank, which slapped Ulster Bank with a record 3.5m fine in 2014 after IT failures resulted in hundreds of thousands of customers without basic banking services for almost a month in 2012, said it was examining the matter and expected all financial institutions to have adequate systems and controls in place. The Finance Committee is to haul Ulster Bank chiefs before it next week, while Mr Donohoe said the missing money was a matter of concern and said no one should be left out of pocket. In a statement issued mid-afternoon yesterday, an Ulster Bank spokesperson said: As a result of human error, a payment file did not process last night, which means that some transactions applied to some customers accounts since 20 April are temporarily not showing. We are investigating this issue as a matter of urgency and have already taken the necessary corrective action which will see recovery actions overnight. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and no customer will be left out of pocket as a result. It said emergency cash of 500 would be made available to affected customers. Financial Services Union boss Dermot Ryan said the failing was caused by technology problems at Ulster Bank. He said it was a further reminder of the fragility of an over-reliance on technology and the impact on customers and staff who had to sort out this mess. In a statement, the Central Bank said it was monitoring the situation and was in contact with Ulster Bank. It said: Customers have a legitimate expectation of high quality, uninterrupted services, whether provided through traditional or online channels. The Central Bank expects all firms to have adequate systems and controls in place and where issues that impact customers arise they should be addressed and rectified urgently, particularly as customers are increasingly using and becoming dependent on online and mobile banking services. Mr Donohoe said: It is a real worry for anybody to be pretty sure how much money is in your bank account and check your phone, use your ATM, or debit card only to find the money is not there. It can worry people and cause a lot of panic to people and this is why it is really important that Ulster Bank give the assurance, which they have, that no one will be out of pocket and that the Central Bank investigate and inquire as they have in the past. Fianna Fail finance spokesman Michael McGrath said the IT failure was a cause of serious concern and added: It is very distressing for Ulster Bank customers to discover that money has gone missing from their bank accounts or that they may have had debit card transactions declined. He said IT failures at the bank were happening all too often. Sinn Fein finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said Ulster Bank customers had been let down again. He said: Six years ago, we were reassured by Ulster Bank and the Central Bank that the problem was sorted. Now, we are back to a situation where the banks IT system is failing customers. Lifestyle Handmade Myanmar Bags with a Bohemian Style Local movie star Thet Mon Myint with a Zoey bag. / Supplied Nowadays, people pay close attention to their fashion choices. Some choose flashy brand names, while others focus on unique handmade items. Handmade goods are often produced in limited quantities, making them even more special. Many local brands have popped up that produce shoes, bags and clothing, among other things. One such brand called Zoey has become a hit with youth as well as celebrities. Zoey is a collection of handmade bags with a bohemian influence created by local designer Ma Pont. Actually, Zoey was my oldest daughters idea and I began this brand as a gift for her fourteenth birthday, said Ma Pont, adding that she named the brand after her daughter. Zoey, 14, is also interested in making her own styles and creations and is particularly interested in bags as well. One day, she told her mom that all of her brand name bags were too heavy and difficult to carry. The hope to create a lightweight bag was the spark that led to Zoey designs. Her mom started tinkering and was drawn to the bohemian style, which allowed her to experiment with color. She used traditional Burmese textile patterns but mixed them creatively. The mother-daughter pair discussed the designs at the beginning. At first, this wasnt going to be a business; I was just going to give the bags to my daughters friends, Ma Pont said. Some of Ma Ponts friends are popular actresses and the Zoey brand received a lot of attention after they carried her bags. Then, the items got noticed on social media and grew in popularity. Ma Pont used the feedback she received on the initial bags, which was overwhelmingly positive, and went ahead to design and produce more styles. Zoey was started in October 2017 and all of the bags are still sewn by hand. The brand is a mix of quality traditional textiles and colorful bohemian themes. Ma Pont also has her own design brand called My Favorite Collection, mostly creating wedding dresses and other dresses for local celebrities. Zoey doesnt maintain a large inventory. Only a small quantity of bags are produced to maintain quality, Ma Pont said. Customers can make suggestions as to designs, colors and materials that theyd like, and Zoey will either create something or match them with something that fits the customers wants. Zoey has many types of bags available including totes, slings, backpacks and clutches. The styles are versatile and women, men, and children are seen wearing them. The prices range from 35,000-50,000 kyats or more for custom orders. Zoey does not yet have a brick and mortar location but designs and information can be found on the Facebook page Zoey by designermapont. Asia India Death Penalty For Child Rape Unlikely to Deter Traffickers, Says Campaigner People participate in a protest against the rape of an 8-year-old girl in Kathua, near Jammu, and a teenager in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh state, in Mumbai, India, on April 15. / Reuters MUMBAI People selling children into Indias sex trade are unlikely to be deterred by a new order approving the death penalty for child rape because laws are rarely applied in trafficking cases, said a leading campaigner. Indias Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act which allows lifetime prison sentences for people who sexually assault children is being amended to introduce the death penalty for the rape of children below age 12. But authorities have consistently failed to use the law to prosecute child sex trafficking, said Sunitha Krishnan, who was named today as a finalist for the prestigious Aurora Humanitarian Prize. The death penalty can be a deterrent only if POCSO is applied in trafficking cases, and if there is speedy trial and justice, said Krishnan. But POCSO is applied in very few trafficking cases. Indias cabinet approved the amendment on April 21 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an emergency meeting in response to nationwide outrage in the wake of a series of child rape cases. However, an increase in the sex trafficking of children and infants has failed to spark a similar national outcry, according to campaigners. Reports of human trafficking rose by almost 20 percent in 2016 against the previous year to more than 8,000. More than 60 percent of nearly 24,000 victims rescued were children, according to government data. Krishnan, who petitioned the Supreme Court to take action against the circulation of rape videos on social media, said the internet has driven up demand for child sex videos while allowing traffickers to hide their identities. Sexual assault of children and babies is now being recorded and uploaded on porn websites or circulated on social media, said Krishnan, who is a co-founder of the anti-trafficking charity Prajwala. Krishnan, a gang rape survivor whose Hyderabad-based charity has rescued and rehabilitated scores of trafficking victims over the last two decades, said authorities are becoming more aware of the crime but that has not translated into action. There is a big gap between the rate with which this problem is expanding and our response to it, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. While authorities do use existing laws to prosecute pimps, brothel managers and traffickers, customers who assault children trafficked into sexual slavery are rarely arrested, Krishnan said. By the time we get our act together and do something, so many lives will be sacrificed, said Krishnan, who is also a recipient of one of Indias highest civilian awards, the Padma Shri. Her fellow Aurora finalists are Kyaw Hla Aung, a lawyer and leader of Myanmars beleaguered Rohingya community, and Hector Tomas Gonzalez Castillo, a Franciscan friar in Mexico who provides shelter for migrants headed to the United States. The annual Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity was founded by Armenia-based 100 LIVES, a global initiative that commemorates a 1915 massacre in which up to 1.5 million Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman Muslims. Burma Analysis: Chinas Shadow Over Myanmar Chinese Minister Sao Tong (left) and Myanmar President U Win Myint shake hands in Naypyitaw on Wednesday. / Htet Naing Zaw / The Irrawaddy Only weeks after lawmakers elected Myanmars new president last month, China has promptly dispatched a high-level delegation to meet him. Song Tao, minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of the Peoples Republic of China, met with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw today and became the first high-ranking foreign official to meet the new president, U Win Myint. On Sunday in Beijing, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with former President U Thein Sein, vowing to promote the development of the China-Myanmar economic corridor, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported. Wang Yi said the comprehensive strategic cooperation between the two countries had seen substantial progress, adding that China was willing to work with Myanmar to push forward construction of the China-Myanmar economic corridor and help stimulate Myanmars economic development. During U Thein Seins time in power, he suspended Chinas work on the controversial Myitsone project in Myanmar. U Thein Seins decision received both domestic support and rare praise from the West. The decision angered China and relations between the two nations soured. But Beijing is now back on track, having rekindled warm relations with Myanmar after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide election in the 2015 general elections. China sent several high-level delegations, including a previous visit by Song Tao to restore friendly relations. China backed Myanmar at the UN after hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled Rakhine State late last year and its military was accused of ethnic cleansing. When Myanmar recently agreed to let UN Security Council members visit the country later this month, including Rakhine, China was believed to have influenced its decision. Chinas influence in Myanmar is enormous. It has invested in a deep-sea port at Kyaukpyu in southern Rakhine from which it has run oil and gas pipelines across the country to southern Yunnan Province. It had planned to build a high-speed rail line as well , but the project has stalled. Chinese companies are also behind several mining projects in central Myanmar. In November, Minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar and proposed an economic corridor linking the neighbors as part of Beijings Belt and Road Initiative. The economic corridor will run from Yunnan to the city of Mandalay in central Myanmar. From there it will stretch south to Yangon and west to the Kyaukpyu special economic zone in Rakhine. Myanmar is in fact central to Chinas geopolitical strategic game plan in terms of trade links, energy security and its ambitious Silk Road project, and stability in Rakhine is critical to its success. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi welcomed the corridor proposal, though few details have been shared. Beijing also promised to persuade ethnic armed groups in northern Myanmar to talk with the central government. As a peace broker, Sun Guoxiang, Beijings special envoy for Asian affairs, made several visits to Yunnan and Naypyitaw to bring armed groups to the negotiating table at the last national peace conference in 2017. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has asked China to assist in the peace process. A younger brother of Khalifar Haftar has told an Egyptian media that the Libyan military commander, who is undergoing medical treatment in Paris, is in good shape and would return to the country soon. Omran Haftar told Egyptian magazine Rose Youssef on Tuesday that he spoke with his brother who assured him of his good health and suggested plans to return home shortly after a few week absence. Omran Haftar blasted rumors and media reports about the death of the former close military aid of Muammar Gaddafi. The marshal is in good health, but there are some abusers and traitors who are promoting the rumors of extremist groups, Omran said. Haftar was transferred to Paris from Jordan nearly two weeks ago for urgent medical treatment after falling into coma. A diplomat source had earlier said that the Head of the self-imposed Libyan National Army (LNA) has been suffering from lung cancer, which has affected his brain and damaged his speaking abilities. Local reports also noted that Egypt and United Arab Emirates, two of Haftars foreign supporters, have been organizing secret talks to pick up a successor to Haftar. Burma Court to Decide on Hostile Witness Status in Reuters Case Reuters reporter Ko Wa Lone arriving at the court on Wednesday. / Htet Wai / The Irrawaddy MANDALAY A Yangon court will decide next week whether to label Police Captain Moe Yan Naing a hostile witness in the ongoing trial of two Reuters reporters. As a prosecution witness, Moe Yan Naing admitted to the court on April 20 that Police Brigadier-General Tin Ko Ko ordered police officers to entrap the reporters Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo by handing them confidential government documents and then arresting them. Following the court hearing last week, the plaintiffs lawyer submitted a motion to label the police captain as a hostile witness. The court will make a decision at next weeks hearing on May 2. According to the lawyers, the plaintiff lawyers motion to the court included that Cpt. Moe Yan Naing might be fed up after more than 120 days in detention and that he might have a grudge against Brig-Gen Tin Ko Ko based on his previous testimony. Reporter Ko Wa Lone said he believed the court would make a fair ruling for the police captain and that he felt sorry for Moe Yan Naings family, who has been unable to visit him throughout his detention. Moe Yan Naing was one of two police officers arrested in December last year for allegedly giving documents to reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. The journalists were invited to meet police officers at a restaurant in Yangon and arrested shortly after when the documents were found in a random search. The day after Police Cpt. Moe Yan Naings testimony regarding the set up, his family was forced to move out of police housing. He is facing a minimum one-year imprisonment and dismissal from his position. Reuters reporters Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested on Dec. 12. They were accused of possessing confidential government papers and have been charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. They are facing a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for the alleged crime. The Irrawaddy reporter Tun Tun contributed to this story. Burma Kachin Relative of Slain IDPs Flees After Tatmadaw Opens Case Against Her Displaced Kachin villagers are seen at Mai Khaung IDP camp in Mansi, northern Shan. / Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint / The Irrawaddy A Kachin woman has gone into hiding after accusing the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) of killing two of her family members, apparently fearing detention by the military, according to local sources in Kachin State. Kaw Awng, 45, is already the subject of legal action by the Tatmadaw. She has been charged by the Army with violating section 17 (1) of the law against unlawful association for allegedly concealing information that the slain IDPs were members of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The charge was brought by Military Operation Command 21 based in Bamaw Township. According to an IDP camp leader based in Mai Khaung, Mansi Township, who asked to be identified as David, Myanmar Army personnel have made several trips to Kaw Awngs home intending to arrest her. It was Kachin IDP camp leaders who urged her to hide at a different location, David said. He requested the use of a pseudonym out of fear for his security, as there is a Myanmar military base near his IDP camp. Every time they come back to her home [in the camp] they ask us when she will be returning. The police have also come two times, David said. The two IDPs, Hpaugan Yaw, 65, and Nhkum Naw San, 35, from Mai Khaung camp disappeared in January. After their bodies were found in March, the victims family accused the Tatmadaw of killing the two men. Not knowing which Army unit is responsible for the killings, the family asked police to investigate. According to David, the family claims the police investigation has been dropped now that the Army is taking action against it, however. Police Major Myo Thant told The Irrawaddy that the police were no longer investigating the IDPs deaths, adding that in fact the police wanted to speak with Kaw Awng to conduct their own investigation into whether she violated the unlawful association law as alleged by the Army. According to David, the Army told the victims family during a meeting at the township authority office in Mansi that it killed the two men, but claimed the killings were justified as they were KIA members, in the Armys view. David Baulk, a Myanmar specialist for the rights group Fortify Rights, which has been following the case, told The Irrawaddy, The families of Hpaugan Yaw and Nhkum Naw San are demanding justice for their killings, and the Myanmar military is targeting them as a result. The reality is that in Myanmar today demanding accountability for crimes involving the military will likely result in a prison stretch. David said that Getting authorities to investigate and take action is difficult; they made up the story, but those two IDP were really civilians. They were not members of the KIA. We are still considering how to proceed. The doctor who conducted the autopsies on the two men has refused to provide the family with a report, despite repeated requests by the family and IDP camp leaders. The doctor told the family that he could only release the information in a court proceeding. Three other IDPs from Mansi camp were killed by the Tatmadaw in a separate case last year. In that case, however, camp leaders received cooperation from and were shown evidence by medical and police officials. In January this year, six Army personnel were sentenced to prison terms for the killings. They may not want more Army personnel to go to prison. Therefore, we believe that they are playing games and preventing the family of the victims from taking action against them, David said. Burma Launch of Report on Karen Crisis Blocked in Thailand under Pressure from Tatmadaw A poster for the human rights report The Nightmare Returns. / KPSN CHIANG MAI, Thailand At the request of the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw), Thai authorities on Wednesday shut down a launch event for a new report warning of a humanitarian crisis in Karen State and detailing ongoing human right abuses against local people there by the Tatmadaw. The Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN) had planned to launch its report, The Nightmare Returns: Karen Hopes for Peace and Stability Dashed by Burma Army Actions, at an event in Chiang Mai. The event was to include a documentary film screening, photo exhibition and two panel discussions in order to raise support for more than 2,400 Karen who have been displaced by the resumption last month of operations by the Myanmar military in northern Mutraw (Papun) district of Karen State. In March, the Tatmadaw deployed large numbers of troops in Luthaw Township to rebuild an old road linking the Kay Pu and Ler Mu Plaw areas. The deployment has sparked dozens of clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), since March 4. On April 5, a local indigenous Karen community leader was shot dead by Tatmadaw troops on suspicion of being a KNLA soldier. Both the KNU and the Tatmadaw are signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), under which both sides agreed not to deploy more troops. The KPSN originally planned to hold the launch event for the report at Chiang Mai University (CMU)s Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD) building. However, it was informed on Tuesday that the CMU had canceled its booking at the venue. The event was moved, but had to be canceled on Wednesday morning when police showed up at the second venue. CMU was asked to reconsider hosting the event by the commander of Thailands 3rd Army based in Phitsanulok, who received a letter from the Myanmar military attache, Brigadier-General Khin Zaw, earlier this week, according to RCSD director Dr. Chayan Vaddhanaput. Dr. Chayan told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the center agreed to the request, which was passed on by the head of the CMU. The RCSD and KPSN made plans for the event to be held at another venue, but that was eventually also blocked by the Thai police. This is the first time an RCSD-hosted event has been blocked by officials, said Dr. Chayan, who described the move as an intervention against academic freedom. He said the discussion was to center on the refugees future, and military-related issues were not the focus. During periods of tension in Myanmar between signatories of the NCA, the Myanmar military tends to demand that the activities of Thailand-based Myanmar rights groups be suppressed. In July last year a Shan coalition, the Committee for Shan State Unity, was forced to call off a meeting in Chiang Mai by Thai authorities, apparently at the request of the Myanmar military. KPSN spokesman Saw Soe Doh said the groups aim was to raise public awareness about the IDPs [internally displaced persons] suffering as a result of the Myanmar Army entering the areas in Luthaw Township without a prior agreement with the KNU. KPSN has documented cases of 2,417 people from 12 villages who were forced to flee the latest military clashes. Another 400 or so from another four villages are preparing to flee, it said. The displacement experienced by villagers in Mutraw (Papun) is not a new phenomenon, according to the KPSN. This is the fourth time this group of people alone has faced forced relocation. (In addition to March of this year, previous exoduses occurred in 1992-93, 1995-97 and 2005-08). In a field interview conducted by KPSN included in the report, an elderly woman named Naw Pwe says, We dont want the Burmese soldiers to come here and build this military road We just want them to let us live in peace. Another IDP, Saw Pyo Say from Htee Bway Kee village, is quoted as saying in the report: We dont want our children to face the nightmare, and the situation that we have faced. We want a better life for them, whichever life they choose, we want them to have a better life than we have. Whether they get an education or stay here on the farm, we want them to able to live in peace and not have to flee like we have. The KPSN accuses the Myanmar Army of violating the NCA, to which both the Tatmadaw and the KNU are signatories, by crossing a boundary set by the KNU and deemed off-limits to both armed groups. According to the KPSN, the Tatmadaw has deployed eight battalions in areas controlled by the KNLAs Brigade 5. As the [Tatmadaw] is showing no sign of withdrawing from their offensive positions, these Karen IDPs are now facing the specter of protracted displacement, and severe food and physical insecurity, the KPSN said in a statement released Wednesday. Burma After Suu Kyi Intervention, Yangon Govt Works to Solve Landfill Fire A drone-shot picture of the landfill fire captured on Monday by the Myanmar Fire Service. / Myanmar Fire Services Department / Facebook NAYPYITAW Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein held a hasty meeting late last night after Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi offered assistance to his government as a huge landfill fire in Yangons Hlaing Thayar Township worsened, threatening public health. It was the first high-level meeting held by the Yangon government on the issue since the fire broke out several days ago. The State Counselors intervention came on Tuesday night when many townshipsincluding the downtown areaacross the city suffered from noxious smoke produced by the fire raging at the landfill since Saturday. Presidents Office spokesperson U Zaw Htay told The Irrawaddy that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi informed the office about the Union governments proposed assistance to tackle the problem. We relayed her message to the regional government. They held a meeting last night. They are now preparing to let the people know what has been done and what will be done, he said. The Yangon government will issue a press release, as the meeting finished late Tuesday night, he added. Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein posted on his Facebook page at 11:45 p.m. about the meeting, saying that he discussed expanded measures to extinguish the fire quickly, as well as extended measures with relevant authorities. Long before the chief ministers late night meeting on Tuesday, Major General That Pone of the Yangon Military Command made a visit to the landfill personally and deployed troops to help put the fire out. As of Tuesday, Hlaing Thayar General Hospital admitted 14 patients for illnesses related to smoke inhalation. Four have been released. Necessary medics, including a chest specialist, have now come, said Dr. Thida Hla, the deputy director general from the Department of Medical Services under the Ministry of Health and Sports. The Ministry issue health warnings regarding the smoke last night. Commentary Chief Minister Nowhere in Sight While Yangon Suffers from Smoke Firefighters extinguish a fire at a landfill in Hlaing Thaya on Monday. / Aung Kyaw Htet / The Irrawaddy Has anybody seen Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein? I repeat, has anybody seen U Phyo Min Thein? For five days, a fire has been raging at a landfill in Yangons Hlaing Thaya Township, one of the outermost towns to the citys west across the Hlaing River, spreading noxious smoke across the city. Since Saturday, firefighters have been trying to put out the fire but in vain. On Tuesday night, even residents in the downtown area suffered from the smoke produced by the fire smoldering in the 17-year-old garbage dump site, raising public health concerns. Since Monday, the landfill fire attracted a wide range of media coverage. Local newspapers front pages were splashed with pictures of firemen struggling to control the fire on the 100-acre dump site with smoldering garbage and headlines about residents being rushed to the hospital after inhaling the smoke. When the smoke hit downtown Yangon last night, the Ministry of Health and Sports, 200 miles away in Naypyitaw, announced a health warning and precautionary measures against the smoke. But the Yangon regional government was still silent. People wondered: Where was U Phyo Min Thein, the head of the Yangon government? What was he doing? Well, for those questions, the answer in short was the chief minister was busy! On Tuesday afternoon when 16 people had been admitted to Hlaing Thaya General Hospital after inhaling smoke, U Phyo Min Thein was leading a ceremony, accompanied by 4,500 monks, to bring back the sacred hair relic of Buddha from the Shwedagon Pagoda to its original place in Botahtaung Pagoda. When the panic-stricken downtown residents wondered how to cope with the smoke that night, the chief minister who recently claimed that he would be the household leader if Yangon was considered a household was peacefully attending Dhamma talks as a celebration of the success of the ceremony. It is noticeable that the chief minister put much of his energy and time as well as the governments resources into the relic-related event since early this month. In a nutshell, the chief minister is irresponsible. As the fire was getting serious earlier this week, his government failed to make any city-wide warning or alert regarding the smoke for the sake of public health, especially for the elderly and children. He didnt bother to let the people know how his government was tackling the problem or what still needed to be done. He failed to show up at the landfill to provide moral support to firefighters who have been extinguishing the fire day in and day out. In contrast, when crony Tay Za-owned Kandawgyi Palace hotel was on fire in October last year, U Phyo Min Thein personally visited the site even very early in the morning. The Fire Services Department has earned popular praise for its hard work to extinguish the fire while the Yangon government attracted criticism for its inaction. Peoples hearts go out to the firemen who have been struggling to put out the fire under the intense heat for days. Well-wishers rushed in with food, electrolyte replacements and medicine for firefighters when the chief minister failed to appear. Its the latest example that in Myanmar if you care about people, they care about you too. But on Tuesday night, U Phyo Min Thein couldnt turn a blind eye to the issue when State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi intervened, offering the assistance of the Union government. Alarmed, the chief minister called the first high-level meeting on the issue in the middle of the night, to brainstorm how to solve the problem. It showed clearly that the chief minister was not proactive. But he didnt forget to post the meeting pictures on his Facebook, letting people know Hey, Im on it now! But it was already too late. In short, the landfill fire was a test for the chief ministers leadership in Yangon. Sadly, he failed. Like it or not, U Phyo Min Thein, the self-acclaimed household leader of Yangon, has seriously disappointed millions of the citys residents. Monday, June 26th, 2017 (12:27 pm) - Score 1,675 The United Kingdoms Conservative Party has today signed a new deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to secure the support of their 10 MPs in Parliament. As part of that Northern Ireland can expect to receive 75m per year over two years to help provide ultra-fast broadband. A Summary of the Deal can be found online and at present this provides no information about how the extra investment will be distributed, although thats no doubt more of a question for the DUP itself. In its 2017 June Manifesto the DUP merely pledged to develop a comprehensive Broadband Infrastructure Plan to roll out high speed internet connectivity across Northern Ireland, which doesnt tell us much. At present around 98% of N.Ireland can already access a fibre broadband (FTTC , FTTP or Cable DOCSIS) based network, although only about 82% of homes and businesses can expect to receive superfast broadband (24Mbps+) speeds (here). In terms of ultrafast (100Mbps+) coverage, over a quarter of premises can be reached via Virgin Medias cable network and theres also a tiny bit of FTTP. Suffice to say that N.Ireland might do better to focus on filling the sizeable gaps in their superfast coverage before they move on to tackle ultrafast, although they could also do both at the same time. We shall await more details and report back (it might take awhile before a solid plan emerges). UPDATE 1:27pm The head of Belfast based telecommunications firm, B4B Group, which is currently completing a roll-out of FTTP broadband infrastructure in 9 business parks around Northern Ireland, has welcomed todays news. Wednesday, April 25th, 2018 (8:42 am) - Score 2,035 Last year the Conservative UK government agreed to hand 75m per year (over two years) to help provide ultra-fast broadband (100Mbps+) across Northern Ireland, which formed part of a political deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in order to secure the support of their 10 MPs. Since then there has been little movement, which is in no small part due to the on-going political deadlock that has been afflicting the N.I parliament in Stormont. Mercifully were not here to talk about the political struggles over that side of the sea and the good news is that N.Is Department for the Economy (DfE) has finally begun preparation work for consulting on the new investment. According to the BBC, the DfE now plans to conduct a programme of engagement with political and industry stakeholders to discuss how best to invest the 150m of additional funding (potentially worth c.300m after match funding with councils/private investors etc.), which will be followed by the usual procurement process. We suspect that a new Open Market Review (OMR) will also need to be conducted in order to confirm precisely which areas will be in need of future intervention. The OMR will be important, particularly in light of BTs recent commitment to invest a further 20m across N.I in order to expand their coverage of ultrafast broadband services to a further 140,000 homes and businesses by March 2019 (here); reflecting 25% of the country. However most of this is likely to involve upgrades for existing areas (e.g. towns and cities) via FTTP and G.fast, rather than expanding coverage into more rural locations. At present N.I already has universal coverage of fibre broadband (FTTC , FTTP or Cable DOCSIS) based networks but only around 86% of premises can actually access superfast broadband speeds of 24Mbps+ via those. This drops to a little over 30% for those within reach of an ultrafast connection and at present the latter is mostly thanks to Virgin Media. Suffice to say that in our view N.I should be concentrating any state aid on boosting their coverage of superfast broadband to near universal levels rather than ultrafast, although no doubt the two aspirations could be combined in some areas. Much will depend upon both the technology mix and where they choose to target their investment. The other big problem is one of time-scale. At this rate it could be 2020 before a new contract has been assigned and can begin its deployment, which might make it even harder for providers to meet the new 10Mbps USO (i.e. those that are chosen to supply the legally binding obligation) and could shift completion back to around 2022/23. Another challenge is that N.I doesnt have the same wide diversity of alternative network (AltNet) ISPs as mainland England, Scotland or Wales. Outside of Openreach (BT) and Virgin Media there are only a few fixed wireless ISPs and off-hand we cant think of any FTTP/H altnets in N.I but they might still exist. The perception is that artificial intelligence (AI) is one of those arcane sets of technologies that only benefit organizations that have a few extra million dollars available in their IT budgets to explore the esoteric. In reality, AI is starting to be infused in some of the most widely used applications among small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). Oracle NetSuite today at a SuiteWorld18 conference unfurled an update to the business intelligence (BI) modules made available as part of the companys cloud application suite that is now infused with machine learning algorithms. Jason Maynard, senior vice president of marketing and strategy for Oracle NetSuite, says that while AI and machine learning algorithms may be overhyped, the fact is these technologies can now analyze mountains of data to surface up more accurate recommendations that shouldnt be ignored. For example, finance professionals can take advantage of machine learning algorithms to improve audit risk analysis, analyze past payment histories and enhance cash flow predictions. Similarly, human resource professionals can employ machine learning algorithms to create profiles of the best performing employees that can then be used to predict future high performers. At the same time, Oracle NetSuite today also revamped its e-commerce application with a goal of enabling SMBs to access an integrated e-commerce that will enable them to stand up an online store in less than 30 days. Finally, OracleNetSuite is moving to make its applications available on a global basis. Localized instances of Oracle NetSuite applications are now available in Germany, France, China, Japan, Brazil and Mexico. The flag is going to be planted everywhere, says Maynard. Its apparent that as more business processes are shifted into the cloud, the ability to apply machine learning algorithms globally could level much of the playing field between SMBs and large enterprises. The only challenge now may be determining which business processes to apply those algorithms to first. Hisham Geneina, Egypts former anti-corruption authority boss and campaign aide of presidential hopeful General Sami Anan has been sentenced to five years in prison for spearing fake news purporting that the former army Chief of Staff has sensitive documents that can incriminate the regime for crimes committed in the aftermath of 2011 revolution. Geneinas lawyer Ali Taha Tuesday pointed out that they will appeal the ruling. Geneina has been referred to a military court after being arrested in February following an interview with HuffPost Arabi posted in February. In the interview, Geneina operating as Anan campaign aide told the media that the army Chief of Staff, who has been placed in detention, possesses damning documents on the political crises that Egyptian society has passed through since the 2011, that incriminate the army. The documents were kept outside the country and would be released should Anan be harmed, Geneina had said in the interview. Anan was arrested few weeks before the March presidential polls. The army detained him for breaching military code over his candidacy. Geneina, before his arrest, had been attacked by armed men and beaten. He was fired from his position at the head of the anti-corruption authority in 2016 after he revealed that Egypt lost $67.6bn over four years due to corruption. Geneina, a vocal critic of President al-Sisi, had joined a group of political figures who called on Egyptians to boycott the presidential election. Turnout was put at little above 40 per cent despite regimes threats and incentives to urge people to cast their votes. Internet traffic bound for Amazon's Route 53 cloud service was hijacked for two hours on Tuesday, using known weaknesses in the border gateway protocol, which is used for routing traffic around the globe. The attack appears to have been used to steal cryptocurrency from the website MyEtherWallet.com. It involved about 1300 IP addresses, according to the Twitter feed of Oracle's global research. The fake routes were advertised by eNet, an ISP based in Columbus, Ohio, Ars Technica reported. BGP hijack this morning affected Amazon DNS. eNet (AS10297) of Columbus, OH announced the following more-specifics of Amazon routes from 11:05 to 13:03 UTC today: 205.251.192.0/24 205.251.193.0/24 205.251.195.0/24 205.251.197.0/24 205.251.199.0/24 InternetIntelligence (@InternetIntel) April 24, 2018 The hijacking was noticed by British security researcher Kevin Beaumont who said that the attackers had rerouted traffic using a man-in-the-middle attack and utilising a server at Equinix in Chicago to do so. This only seems to have affected users of Google DNS and it coincided with problems with Google resolving Route 53 DNS (which MEW also use). The problem with Google went away as soon as MEW returned to normal. A BGP hijack? Paul Barton (@barton_paul) 24 April 2018 This allowed the attackers to intercept traffic bound for customers of Amazon's Route 53 service, Beaumont wrote in a blog post. He said MyEtherWallet.com was the only known site to suffer, with its traffic diverted to a server in Russia that served the website using a fake certificate. "The attacks only gained a relatively small amount of currency from MyEtherWallet.com," Beaumont noted. "However their wallets in total already contained over 20 million of currency. Whoever the attackers were, (they) are not poor." Here is self signed cert users agreed to. Heres the wallet where funds are moving to: https://t.co/ONNrO8AfKs pic.twitter.com/Fa5oTRqoat Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) April 24, 2018 Beaumont said that mounting an attack this big needed access to BGP routers at major ISPs and a lot of computing resources to deal with the volume of DNS traffic. "The security vulnerabilities in BGP and DNS are well known, and have been attacked before," he commented. "This is the largest scale attack I have seen which combines both, and it underscores the fragility of internet security. "It also highlights how almost nobody noticed until the attack stopped. There is a blind spot." Use of the Internet in North Korea, limited as it is to elite circles, has now shifted from sites commonly used in the West to mainly Chinese sites like Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, according to a report from security and intelligence vendor Recorded Future. The company issued an updated analysis of a study on North Korean Internet use by former NSA analyst Priscilla Moriuchi on Thursday Australian time, following up on a study issued in July last year. Moriuchi now works for Recorded Future as part of its Insikt Group. Last year's study had found that "North Koreas ruling elite were plugged into contemporary Internet society, were technologically savvy, and had patterns of internet use that were very similar to users in the West". That appears to have changed in the period between December 2017 and March 2018, with Moriuchi writing, "North Korean leadership nearly totally abandoned Western social media and significantly increased their operational security procedures in the six months since our original analysis". The use of Western social media sites has been officially banned in North Korea since April 2016. The release of the data comes a day ahead of scheduled inter-Korean talks on Friday. The analysis covers the period December 2017 to 15 March, "because it represented a period of transition and intensified intra-Korean dialogue in advance of the February 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea". Recorded Future found that Internet use was still limited to a small group in Pyongyang, these being the most senior leaders and ruling elite. But the country has an internal network called Kwangmyong which connects libraries, universities, and government departments and is slowly making its way into homes of better-off citizens. It houses a number of domestic websites, an online learning system, and email. "What is most striking about the social media activity from the December 2017 through March 2018 dataset is the near absence of Facebook and Instagram activity, and the significant increase in use of Chinese services," the study noted. Access to the Internet is through three methods: Via their allocated .kp range, 175.45.176.0/22 (Intel Card), which also hosts the nations only Internet-accessible websites. These include nine top-level domains such as co.kp, gov.kp, and edu.kp, and approximately 25 subdomains for various North Korean state-run media, travel, and education-related sites. Via a range assigned by China Netcom, 210.52.109.0/24. Through an assigned range, 77.94.35.0/24, provided by a Russian satellite company, which resolves to SatGate in Lebanon. Other interesting aspects found during analysis of the date are: Over the course of six months, North Korean elite increased their use of Internet obfuscation services by 1200%. This includes a dramatic increase in services such as VPNs, Virtual Private Servers, Transport Layer Security, and The Onion Router. Two more countries, Thailand and Bangladesh, showed North Koreans were likely living there and conducting illicit revenue-generation activities. This is in addition to eight nations discovered in 2017, including India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nepal, Kenya, Mozambique, Indonesia and China. Activity in Malaysia and New Zealand decreased since the July 2017 study. There was no noticeable increase in mining cryptocurrencies compared to the first study. However, the new data found that in addition to bitcoin, the North Koreans had also started mining monero. The study found that the following online games were used by the North Korean elite: 0AD: Empires Ascendant; Ace of Spades; Quake; The Marathon trilogy games; Armed Assault 1-3; World of Warcraft; Cube 2: Sauerbraten; Diablo 2; League of Legends; Second Life; and Accounts and games on Steam. It said: "(This) could give researchers leads on which games overseas North Korean hackers are exploiting to generate revenue for the regime. It is not clear how much of this type of revenue generation is conducted from territorial North Korea. "However, it is clear that overseas operators would often develop bots or gaming hacks for platforms and services which with they were already familiar." Life Science Researcher and Entrepreneur to Speak at Commencement April 25, 2018 Kirk Schroeder 84 BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Kirk Schroeder 84, the co-founder of two life science companies, will deliver Illinois Wesleyan Universitys Commencement address on Sunday, May 6. The ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. in the Shirk Activity Center (302 E. Emerson St, Bloomington). New this year, a real-time translation of the ceremony will be offered to guests in both Mandarin and Spanish. Commencement will also be live streamed, both domestically (www.iwu.edu/live) and internationally. After graduating from Illinois Wesleyan in 1984 with a degree in physics, Schroeder earned a masters degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1986 with an emphasis in optical engineering. Schroeder first worked as a research engineer with the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) where he contributed to Department of Defense remote sensing applications. In 1992 he, along with Brad Neagle, co-founded his first company which invented, manufactured and commercialized the first high-throughput cell-based drug screening system in the life science industry, FLIPR. This company and technology was purchased in 1996 by Molecular Devices Inc. of Sunnyvale, California. In 1999, Schroeder co-founded a second company, Essen Bioscience of Ann Arbor, Michigan, for which he served as president and CEO for 16 years. During that time, Schroeder oversaw the organic growth of Essen into a global company with employees and facilities in the U.S., Europe and Japan. As a leading innovator in the development of laboratory instruments and software, Essens inventions included analytical instruments for making electrical measurements on living cells, IonWorks, as well as the real-time imaging system IncuCyte. Essen Bioscience was purchased by Sartorius AG of Germany in the spring of 2017. After more than 25 years of managing his companies, Schroeder has now redirected his energy toward technical consulting in life science research. He is also actively involved in developing and sponsoring philanthropic programs to advance life science research and course curriculum at the undergraduate collegiate level. By Rachel McCarthy 21 Riyadh Tuesday opened the lid over its covert plan to invade its neighbor Qatar with Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir suggesting that the tiny Gulf country would collapse unless it funds the replacement of US forces in Northern Syria. Al-Jubeir, in a statement relayed by local media, stressed that Qatar should pay for US forces presence in Syria. The top diplomat noted that Qatar would better send troops before the American President cancels American protection of Qatar, which hosts a (US) military base on its lands. The Qatari regime would collapse in a matter of one week, should the US cancel its protection, al-Jubeir added. President Trump promised earlier this month that the some 2,000 US troops in Syria helping in the fight against ISIS could be withdrawn, now that the threat of the militant group had been diminished. After military commanders and Pentagon officials harshly criticized his plan, President Trump suggested Arab countries could play a role in securing the peace in northern Syria. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment, and all of the anti-ISIS effort, Trump said. President Trump indicated should the US Middle East allies increase their contribution; Iran will not take advantage of the region with the gradual collapse of ISIS. He was referring to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, and other countries of the region. Qatar has been facing regional isolation since June after Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt cut off sea, air and ground links with the tiny gas-rich country, claiming it supports terrorism around the world. The boycotting countries contemplated invading the country and asked the US to withdraw from al-Udeid military base in Qatar. The base hosting over 10,000 US forces is used by the US-led coalition in the fight against ISIS in the region. Summerville, SC (29483) Today Thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low 67F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low 67F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference is a prestigious forum in the presence of the Prime Minister of Israel, where some 400 ambassadors, ambassadorial spokespeople and military attaches from around the world will convene. The purpose of the Diplomatic Conference is to strengthen Israel's public relations among diplomats residing in Israel. The Diplomatic Conference will be covered by dozens of international and Israeli media groups, and will receive broad coverage in all Jerusalem Post media outlets including: All local, national and international Jerusalem Post newspapers. Jpost.com, the number one English-language news website in the Jewish world Internationally circulated newspapers and magazines. Maariv daily newspaper and Maariv online website. Reddit Email 447 Shares By Jessica Purkiss and Abigail Fielding-Smith | (The Bureau of Investigative Journalism) | This story was published in partnership with The Daily Beast. Their version can be found here. The former CEO of Bell Pottinger USA was given over $500,000 to produce a six-part film linking Qatar with global terrorism A veteran of Pentagon propaganda operations was hired last year by a Dubai-based company to create a film accusing Qatar of links to terrorism, the Bureau can reveal. Charles Andreae, whose firm Andreae & Associates was contracted to produce the film, used to work for PR firm Bell Pottinger. Whilst at Bell Pottinger, he helped oversee a $500 million contract with the Pentagon to run top secret influence operations during the Iraq war. The latest contract underscores growing concerns about foreign influence campaigns in the heart of Washington. While much focus has been on Russias role in the US elections, Persian Gulf countries have also been spending large sums of money pushing their agenda to President Trumps administration. In August 2017, Andreae, former CEO of Bell Pottinger USA, was given over $500,000 to produce a six-part film linking Qatar with global terrorism. The slickly-produced film, entitled Qatar: A Dangerous Alliance, features conservative pundits talking about Qatars links with Islamist groups, interspersed with news and archive footage. Copies of the video were distributed at an event at the Hudson Institute think-tank in October 2017. President Trumps former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon was a key note speaker at the event, as was ex Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and General David Petraeus, former CIA director. Though its subject matter is niche and the treatment not especially gripping, the documentary appears to have been viewed more than 700,000 times on YouTube and is also streamable on Amazon. It is not clear how much of a success any of the anti-Qatar operations have been. The first YouTube comment underneath the video reads this is American propaganda While at Bell Pottinger, Andreae ran the Washington end of a Pentagon propaganda programme contract in Iraq revealed by the Bureau and The Sunday Times in 2016, the agencys co-founder, Tim Bell, told the Bureau last week. The Iraq programme included news reports made to look like they were produced by Arab media channels and fake al Qaeda videos used to track the viewers. The Bell Pottinger psyops team reported to General Petraeus, who led American forces in Iraq. Bell Pottinger went into administration last year, after it was implicated in a controversial campaign to stir up racial tension in South Africa. The Qatar film contract came to light in a newly-filed lobbying declaration with the US Department of Justice. US companies are required by law to disclose information on lobbying and PR work for foreign clients. The declaration showed that Andreae & Associates (A&A) was hired in August 2017 by Lapis Communications to produce six multimedia products focused on an investigation into the role of the state of Qatar and the states connection to global terrorism. Lapis is a Dubai-based strategic communications firm owned by an Afghan-Australian entrepreneur. The film was commissioned at a time when the Saudi and UAE governments were stepping up an unprecedented international campaign against Qatar. Last summer, the two countries severed relations with the fellow Gulf state, which they accuse of sponsoring terrorism in the Middle East. The rift represents a major split between resource-rich countries, both of which are key US allies. Shortly after the Lapis contract with Andreae & Associates, the Emirati National Media Council gave a $250,000 contract to a London PR firm. A chunk of this went to SCL Social for an anti-Qatar social media campaign. SCL Social is part of SCL Group which also owns Cambridge Analytica, a firm now mired in controversy over its exploitation of Facebook users data. Charles Andreae also registered as a lobbyist with the US Senate on Qatar-US relations on behalf of Lapis in January this year. Neither Charles Andreae nor anyone from Lapis Communications responded to the Bureaus requests for comment on this story. According to the New York Times, the political advisor to the UAEs de facto ruler also sought to push the Gulf states agenda in Washington through Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy. The Times reported that Broidys company Circinus had received lucrative contracts in the UAE, and that Broidy himself was circulating proposals for an anti Qatar PR campaign in March 2017. Broidy was a donor to the Hudson event where Qatar: A Dangerous Alliance was distributed, the Times and McClatchy reported. It is not clear how much of a success any of the anti-Qatar operations have been. The first YouTube comment underneath the Dangerous Alliance video reads: this video is American propaganda. The second goes further: I stand with Qatar. Qatar has also spent heavily on lobbying in the US, and earlier this month, Trump welcomed its Emir to the White House. Whichever side prevails, the Gulf spat has been a boost for PR and lobbying firms. A number of Bell Pottingers former employees remain at the heart of global influence operations. The biography of Charles Andreae on Andreae and Associates website states that he was CEO of Bell Pottinger USA between 2004 and 2008. The Lapis Communications employee named in the Department of Justice filing on the A&A contract, Colin Judd, also used to work for Bell Pottinger helping a UAE government client, according to his LinkedIn profile and A&As Strategic associate David Sowells is also listed on the firms website as an ex Bell Pottinger employee. Via The Bureau of Investigative Journalism This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License Bonus video added by Informed Comment: Wochit Politics from last year: Largest US Military Base Host In Mideast Reddit Email 103 Shares Gilles Paris and Marc Semo at Le Monde report on President Emmanuel Macrons state visit to President Trump in Washington and their discussions regarding the Iran deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA). They say that Macron repeated his four points regarding Iran policy: 1. Maintain the 2015 Iran deal, which freezes the Iranian uranium enrichment program for ten years 2. but to add further measures to extend it beyond that date 3. arrive at a new accord regarding Irans ballistic missile program (not an issue addressed in the JCPOA) 4. to establish conditions for regional stability and contain the influence of the Islamic Republic The last point, they say, refers to Macrons hopes to bring the Syrian civil war to an end in cooperation with Russia and Turkey and then to reduce Irans influence in Frances former colony. They point out that piling on this issue to the nuclear one risks making any further negotiations with Tehran even more problematic. Photo Credit: AFP / Brendan Smialowski. US President Donald Trump launched into an angry tirade against the Iran nuclear accord as he hosted Frances Emmanuel Macron at the White House The authors of the Le Monde article put their finger on the key issue in reopening negotiations. The original JCPOA negotiations between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany as an informal representative of the European Union, and Iran, carefully avoided complicating the talks by adding further concerns beyond nuclear enrichment. At the time, there were voices, especially Rupert Murdoch and his Fox Cable News, who wanted to use the negotiations to address hostages, or Irans attitude to Israels occupation of Palestine, or any number of other concerns. John Kerry and his UNSC colleagues carefully declined to listen to those voices, because the nuclear issue was the important one in the negotiations, and adding other points would only make it even less likely to reach an accord. It should be remembered that the JCPOA closed off all the plausible paths to an Iranian nuclear weapon (which all US and other intelligence agencies assess that Tehran had *not* decided to pursue). 1. Iran vastly reduced the number of centrifuges. 2. Iran destroyed its stockpile of uranium enriched to 19.5% for its medical reactor. 3. Iran accepted spot inspections of its nuclear facilities. 4. Iran discarded and cemented in its proposed heavy water reactor at Arak (light water reactors are much more difficult to use for acquiring fissile material, but with heavy water reactors it is easy.) The sort of nuclear know-how Iran has gained cannot be destroyed short of invading and occupying the country and killing or permanently removing in some way all the concerned scientists, engineers, administrators, etc. What the JCPOA did was to extend the timeline whereby Iran could construct a bomb if it decided to from a few months to a year or more, and to establish trip wires that would alert the UNSC that Iran had made the decision to go nuclear. Iran gave up 90% of its program, in order to lift international sanctions and get its economy back on an even keel. In fact, Iran was taken advantage of, since the United States if anything increased economic sanctions after the deal was signed, and went around threatening European companies who considered investing in Iran. So Iran gave up its leverage and was greatly weakened and then it was stiffed. This routine is similar to the one played on the Palestinians with Oslo, which required them to recognize Israel in return for a rump Palestinian state and Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Palestinian territories, but which saw the US and Israel pocket the PLO recognition and then proceed to screw the Palestinians over lethally. Trumps discontents with the program are all based on fake news. Part of the deal was that the US would release tens of billions of dollars belonging to Iran that it had sequestered in US banks as part of the boycott. It wasnt $150 billion and the US did not give the money to Iran, it simply returned Irans own money to Tehran after having taken it hostage. The deal deliberately did not discuss Irans ballistic missile program, which is much more primitive than that of India, Pakistan, Russia, Israel and other near neighbors, and into the warheads of which Iran has nothing to put. As for Irans alliance with Syria, it is bilateral and difficult to see how it is any of Frances and Americas business. It certainly is not something Syria, Russia or Iran will give up. Nor is there a way for Macron and Trump to make them give it up. It is, like many of Macrons ideas, not fully thought through and would be perceived in the region as arrogant. Trump is more complex, since he seems to want to acquiesce in Russian hegemony in Syria, which implies acquiescing in the Iranian presence that supports the al-Assad goverment that Russia is propping up. But Trump is capable of believing twelve self-contradictory things before breakfast. For its part, Iran is not interested in renegotiating the JCPOA. President Hassan Rouhani said that there is no warrant for Trump and Macron, just the two of them, insisting on renegotiating a 7-sided agreement. By what right? He had earlier said that if the US pulls out, it will have no impact on Iran, since that country has extensive contingency plans. He did say, however, that there would be dire consequences for the US. He also ridiculed Trump as a clueless real estate developer who does not even understand the issues. This slam is amusing since American elites always held that Shiite ayatollahs cannot run a country because they are ignorant of international affairs and economics. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif pointed out that if the 2015 agreement is made to collapse by the US, Iran always has the option of starting back up its uranium enrichment program. Trump threatened Iran over these remarks, but then he has threatened North Korea as well, and nothing has happened. Reddit Email 109 Shares By Todd Miller | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | At first, I thought I had inadvertently entered an active war zone. I was on a lonely two-lane road in southern New Mexico heading for El Paso, Texas. Off to the side of the road, hardly concealed behind some desert shrubs, I suddenly noticed what seemed to be a tank. For a second, I thought I might be seeing an apparition. When I stopped to take a picture, a soldier wearing a camouflage helmet emerged from the top of the Stryker, a 19-ton, eight-wheeled combat vehicle that was regularly used in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He looked my way and I offered a pathetic wave. To my relief, he waved back, then settled behind what seemed to be a large surveillance display mounted atop the vehicle. With high-tech binoculars, he began to monitor the mountainous desert that stretched toward Mexico, 20 miles away, as if the enemy might appear at any moment. That was in 2012 and, though I had already been reporting on the militarization of the U.S.-Mexican border for years, I had never seen anything like it. Barack Obama was still president and it would be another six years before Donald Trump announced with much fanfare that he was essentially going to declare war at the border and send in the National Guard. (We really havent done that before, Trump told the media on April 3rd, or certainly not very much before.) Operation Nimbus II, as the 2012 mission was called, involved 500 soldiers from Fort Bliss and Fort Hood and was a typical Joint Task Force North (JTF-N) operation. Those troops were officially there to provide the U.S. Border Patrol with intelligence and surveillance. Since JTF-N was tasked with supporting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the border, its motto was protecting the Homeland. However, it was also deeply involved in training soldiers for overseas military operations in ongoing American wars in the Greater Middle East. Only weeks before, 40 Alaskan-based Army airborne engineers had parachuted into nearby Fort Huachuca as if they were part of an invasion force landing in Southern Arizona. That border operation (despite the dramatic arrival, all they did was begin constructing a road) mirrors the type of mission the 40 soldiers might conduct if they were deployed to Afghanistan, JTF-N project organizers told the Nogales International. As JTF-N spokesman Armando Carrasco put it, This will prepare them for future deployments, especially in the areas of current contingency operations. So seeing combat vehicles on the border shouldnt have surprised me, even then. A war against immigrants had been declared long before Trump signed the memo to deploy 2,000-4,000 National Guard troops to the border. Indeed, there has been a continuous military presence there since 1989 and the Pentagon has played a crucial role in the historic expansion of the U.S. border security apparatus ever since. When, however, Trump began to pound out tweets on Easter Sunday on his way to church, Americans did get a vivid glimpse of a border battlefield more than 30 years in the making, whose intensity could be ramped up on the merest whim. The president described the border as getting more dangerous because 1,000 Central Americans, including significant numbers of children, in flight from violence in their home countries were in a caravan in Mexico slowly heading north on a Holy Week pilgrimage. Many of them were intending to ask for asylum at the border, as they feared for their lives back home. Fox & Friends labeled that caravan a small migrant army and so set the battlefield scenario perfectly for the shows number one fan. The end result those state National Guards caravaning south might have been as ludicrous a response to the situation as a tank in an empty desert pointed at Mexico, but it did catch a certain reality. The border has indeed become a place where the worlds most powerful military faces off against people who represent blowback from various Washington policies and are in flight from persecution, political violence, economic hardship, and increasing ecological distress. (Central America is becoming a climate-change hot spot.) Yet these twenty-first century border battlefields remain hidden from the public and largely beyond discussion. The Fetish of the Border As I moved away from the Stryker that day, I wondered what that soldier was seeing through his high-tech binoculars. Its a question that remains no less pertinent six years later as yet more National Guard troops head for the border. Even today, such forces arent likely to ever see a caravan of 1,000 refugees, only possibly tiny groups of crossers moving through the U.S. borderlands to look for work, reunite with family, or escape potentially grave harm. Such people, however, usually travel under the cover of night. Even less likely: anyone carrying drugs into the United States. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, the majority of illicit narcotics that cross the border into the worlds largest market (valued at approximately $100 billion per year) arrive through legal ports of entry. Least likely of all: a person designated as a terrorist by the U.S. government, even though thats became the priority mission of Joint Task Force North and Customs and Border Protection. A flood of money has, in these years, poured into border budgets for just such a counterterrorism mission, yet no such person, not a single one, has been reported crossing the southern border since 1984. (And even that incident seems dubious.) Indeed, the most likely thing to glimpse along that divide is evidence of the countless billions of dollars that have been spent there over the last 30 years to build the most gigantic border enforcement apparatus in U.S. history. You would be quite likely, for instance, to see armed U.S. Border Patrol agents in their green-striped vehicles. (After all Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, the Border Patrols parent outfit, is now the largest federal law enforcement agency.) You might also catch glimpses of high-tech surveillance apparatuses like aerostats, the tethered surveillance balloons brought back from American battle zones in Afghanistan that now hover over and monitor the borderlands with long-range cameras and radar. Those binoculars wouldnt be able to see as far as the small town of Columbus, New Mexico the very town that Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa so famously raided in 1916 but if they could, you might also see portions of an actual border wall, built with bipartisan support after the Secure Fence Act of 2006 passed, with votes from Democrats like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Chuck Schumer. Those 650 miles of walls and barriers cost an average of $3.9 million per mile to build and additional millions to maintain, money that went into the coffers of the military-industrial complex. Buy the Book In 2011, for example, CBP granted the former Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (a company known for its profiteering in Iraq) a three-year, $24.4 millioncontract for border wall maintenance. And you can multiply that so many times over since, year after year, bigger and bigger budgets have gone into border and immigration enforcement (and so into the pockets of such corporations) with little or no discussion. In 2018, the combined budgets of CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement amount to $24.3 billion, a more than 15-fold increase since the early 1990s, and a $4.7 billion jump from 2017. So, in those desert borderlands, that soldier was really looking at a market, a profit zone. He was also viewing (and himself part of) what sociologist Timothy Dunn, author of the pioneering book The Militarization of the U.S-Mexico Border, 1978-1992, calls the fetishization of the border. That Stryker the Cadillac of combat vehicles made by General Dynamics fit the bill perfectly. The slick armored beast, which can travel at speeds up to 60 miles per hour, could track down just about anything, except the real forces that lay behind why people continually arrive at the border. Low Intensity Doctrine and the Hidden Battlefields In 2006, George W. Bushs administration sent 6,000 National Guard troops to the border during Operation Jump Start, the largest military deployment there of the modern era. Those troops, however, were meant as no more than a placeholder for a post-9/11 enforcement apparatus still to be organized. Before then, as Timothy Dunn told me in an interview, there had normally been only 300 to 500 soldiers in border operations at any given time, whose justification then was the war against drugs. That Bush deployment was, as Dunn put it, the first to have them out there in high-profile, explicitly for immigration enforcement. Still, what those soldiers could do remained largely limited to reinforcing and supporting the U.S. Border Patrol, as has been the case ever since. As a start, the U.S. military operates under grave restrictions when it comes to either making arrests or performing searches and seizures on U.S. soil. (There are, however,loopholes when it comes to this, which means that National Guard units under state control should be watched carefully during the Trump deployments.) What those troops can do is perform aerial and ground reconnaissance, staff observation posts, and install electronic ground sensors. They can supply engineering support, help construct roads and barriers, and provide intelligence in all, Dunn reports, 33 activities, including mobile teams to train the Border Patrol in various increasingly militarized tactics. However, the Border Patrol, already a paramilitary organization, can take care of the arrests, searches, and seizures itself. It is, in fact, the perfect example of how the Pentagons low-intensity-conflict doctrine has operated along the border since the 1980s. That doctrine promotes coordination between the military and law enforcement with the goal of controlling potentially disruptive civilian populations. On the border, this mostly means undocumented people. This, in turn, means that the military does ever more police-like work and the Border Patrol is becoming ever more militarized. When Bush launched Operation Jump Start, Washington was already undertaking the largest hiring surge in Border Patrol history, planning to add 6,000 new agents to the ranks in two years, part of an overall expansion that has never ended. It has, in fact, only gained momentum again in the Trump era. The Border Patrol has increased from a force of 4,000 in the early 1990s to 21,000 today. The Bush-era recruitment program particularly targeted overseas military bases. The Border Patrol, as one analyst put it, already operated like a standing army on American soil and that was how it was sold to future war vets who would soon join up. To this day, veterans are still told that they will be sent to the front lines to defend the homeland. The Border Patrol not only recruits from the military and receives military training, but uses military equipment and technology prodigiously. The monoliths of the military-industrial complex companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Elbit Systems have long been tailoring their technologies to homeland security operations. They are now deeply involved in the increasingly lucrative border market. As one vendor told me many years ago, we are bringing the battlefield to the border. Much like the military, the Border Patrol uses radar, high-tech surveillance, complex biometric data bases, and Predator B drones that fly surveillance missions across the Southwest, at the border with Canada, and in the Caribbean. Such forces operate in 100-mile jurisdictions beyond U.S. international boundaries (including the coasts), places where they essentially have extra-constitutional powers. As one CBP officer told me, We are exempt from the fourth amendment. Border zones, in other words, have become zones of exception and the DHS is the only department the federal government permits to ethnically profile people in such areas, a highly racialized form of law enforcement. By deploying heavily armed Border Patrol officers, building walls, and using surveillance technologies in urban areas that traditionally had been crossing spots for the undocumented, such migrants are now forced to traverse dangerous and desolate areas of the southwestern deserts. Its a strategy that anthropologist Jason De Leon has described as creating a remote deathscape where American necropolitics are pecked onto the bones of those we deem excludable. Instances of overt violence on the border, the sort that might be associated with increased militarization, sometimes make the news, as in multiple incidents in which Border Patrol officers, deputized police, or even military troops have shot and killed people. Most border crossers, however, are now funneled away from the television cameras and reporters to those distant desertscapes where hidden battles with the elements remain unseen and so are no longer a political problem. According to Dunn, this is the low-intensity-conflict doctrine at work. Along the U.S. border with Mexico, 7,000 corpses have been found since the early 1990s and a reasonable estimate of the actual death toll is triple that number. Thousands of families still search for loved ones they fear lost in what journalist Margaret Regan has termed the Southwest killing fields. Recently, while I was giving a talk at a New York state college, a young man approached me, having realized that I was from Arizona. He told me that hed last seen his mother in the desert near Nogales and asked if I had any idea how he might search for her, his eyes brimming with tears. Globally, since 2014 the International Organization on Migration has recorded 25,000 migrant deaths a figure, the group writes, that is a significant indicator of the human toll of unsafe migration, yet fails to capture the true number of people who have died or gone missing during migration. On such hidden battlefields, the toll from the fetishization of the worlds borderlands remains unknown and virtually ignored. Securing the Unsustainable At a global level, the forecast for the displacement of people is only expected to rise. According to projections, when it comes to climate change alone, by 2050 there could be between 150 million and 750 million people on the move due to sea level rise, droughts, floods, super storms, and other ecological hazards. Former Vice President Al Gores former security adviser, Leon Fuerth, wrote that if global warming exceeded the two degree Celsius mark, border problems would overwhelm U.S. capabilities beyond the possibility of control, except by drastic measures and perhaps not even then. At the same time, estimates suggest that, by 2030, if present trends continue, the richest one percent of people on this planet may control 64% of global wealth. In other words, what we may have is an unsustainable world managed with an iron fist. In that case, an endless process of border militarization and fortification is likely to be used to control the blowback. If the booming border and surveillance markets are any indication, the future will be as dystopic as a Stryker in the beautiful desert highlands of New Mexico a world of mass displacements that leave the super-rich hunkered down behind their surveillance fortresses. Pouring billions of dollars into border zones to solve political, social, economic, and ecological problems is hardly a phenomenon limited to the United States. The border fetish has indeed gone global. Border walls now commonly zigzag between the global north and south and are being built up ever more as a rhetoric caught perfectly by the Trump administration focusing on criminals, terrorists, and drugs only ratchets up, while the huge forces that actually fuel displacements and migrations remain obscured. Borders have become another way of making sure that nothing gets in the way of the sanctity of business as usual in a world that desperately needs something new. Todd Miller, a TomDispatch regular, has written on border and immigration issues for the New York Times, Al Jazeera America, and the NACLA Report on the Americas. His latest book is Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration, and Homeland Security. You can follow him on Twitter @memomiller and view more of his work at toddmillerwriter.com. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Alfred McCoys In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power, as well as John Dowers The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II, John Feffers dystopian novel Splinterlands, Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardts Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World. Copyright 2018 Todd Miller Via Tomdispatch.com Reddit Email 115 Shares BETHLEHEM (Maan) Palestinian diplomats have filed an official complaint against Israel, alleging breaches of Israels obligations of the United Nations anti-racism treaty. The 350-page document was handed to the Geneva office of the United Nations that is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention. Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim Khraishi accused Israel of being in breach of the Convention, stating that Israels policies illustrate a common aim of displacing and replacing the Palestinian people, for the purpose of maintaining a colonial occupation. The document mentions specific breaches of the convention, contributing to apartheid in Gaza, as well as the the occupied West Bank, and East Jerusalem, with the sole purpose of maintaining a Jewish demographic majority in the entirety of historic Palestine. Not only is the purpose of the settlement regime discriminator in itself, it is further maintained by a system of discriminatory measures, severely depriving Palestinians of their fundamental rights. An Israeli soldier stands guard as others ID three Palestinians on March 21, 2017, in the city of Hebron (File) via Maan According to the 350-page document, Palestinians are not afforded the same rights and freedoms that are awarded to Israeli settlers, which are routinely perpetuated by the confiscation and seizure of their land. The complaint went on to state that: It is clear that Israels acts are part of a widespread and oppressive regime that is institutionalised and systematic; that accords separate and unequal treatment to Palestinians. In addition to the submitted complaints, the document states that Israel is in clear violation of Article Three of the Convention, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid. Article three declares: States Parties particularly condemn racial segregation and apartheid and undertake to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all practices of this nature in territories under their jurisdiction. The summary of the complaint called for the dismantling of current Israeli policies Speaking in an interview on Monday, Khraishi said that the system of racism and discrimination by the Israelis must not [be] recognised as a legal system. If the complaint is responded to by the UN, it could trigger a high-profile and independent investigation into the alleged breaches of the UN convention. The convention is overseen by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which consists of a body made up of eighteen independent monitors. Israels most recent report on the state of racism stated that it had successfully maintained a consistent policy prohibiting such discrimination. If the complaint is picked up by the respective UN committee, Israel will be required to submit written explanations and evidence of the contrary within the next three-months. Israel ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1979, while Palestine became a signatory in 2014; two years after receiving status as a UN observer state. By permission via Maan News Agency Positive Results from Initial Scout holes at Flatiron, 800 Metres West of Mother Lode Deposit VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corvus Gold Inc. (Corvus or the Company) - (TSX:KOR) (OTCQX:CORVF) announces it has received results from three stepout holes in the southwest extension of the Mother Lode deposit (Figure 1) highlighted by hole ML18-053 which returned 33.5m @ 2.2 g/t gold including 19.8m @ 3.3 g/t gold. Assay results returned encouraging intercepts showing continued expansion of the deposit which is nearly all oxide to the bottom of the holes (Table 1). This thickening oxide zone to the west is consistent with mineralization found in other holes to the north and could define a fundamental change in the system as drilling progresses west. Figure 1. In addition, Corvus has received results from the initial two scout holes testing the Flatiron Target which is approximately 800 metres southwest of the nearest Mother Lode drill holes (Figure 2). These initial results have outlined multiple zones of low-grade, oxide mineralization with narrower higher-grade zones (Table 2). Table 1 Phase II - Mother Lode Significant Drilling Results (Reported intercepts are not true widths as there is currently insufficient data to calculate true orientation in space. Mineralized intervals are calculated using a 0.3 g/t cutoff unless otherwise indicated below) Drill Hole # from (m) to (m) Interval (m) Gold (g/t) Silver (g/t) Comment ML18-053 AZ 085 dip-85 79.25 94.49 15.24 0.52 n/a West side of ML Pit Upper L-G OX Zone 114.30 126.49 12.19 0.38 n/a Upper L-G OX Zone 134.11 141.73 7.62 0.40 n/a Upper L-G OX Zone 146.30 149.35 3.05 0.67 n/a Upper L-G OX Zone 155.45 163.07 7.62 0.44 n/a Upper L-G OX Zone 173.74 176.78 3.05 1.17 n/a Upper L-G OX Zone 214.88 248.41 33.53 2.20 n/a Upper & Lower Zone inc 216.41 220.98 4.57 1.14 n/a 1 g/t cut inc 227.08 246.89 19.81 3.29 n/a 1 g/t cut ML18-054 AZ 085 dip-75 131.06 161.54 30.48 1.13 n/a West of ML18-053 Upper L-G OX Zone inc 135.64 141.73 6.09 1.50 n/a 1 g/t cut inc 149.35 155.45 6.09 2.73 n/a 1 g/t cut 166.12 172.21 6.09 0.72 n/a Upper L-G OX Zone 233.17 243.84 10.67 0.40 n/a Upper L-G OX Zone 262.13 288.04 25.91 1.50 n/a Upper & Lower Zone inc 262.13 271.27 9.14 2.65 n/a 1 g/t cut inc 283.46 288.04 4.58 1.49 n/a 1 g/t cut ML18-055 AZ 085 dip-75 188.98 214.88 25.90 0.94 n/a West of ML18-054 Upper LG OX Zone inc 195.07 201.17 6.10 1.30 n/a 1 g/t cut inc 207.26 210.31 3.05 1.87 n/a 1 g/t cut 303.28 306.32 3.05 0.41 n/a Upper L-G OX Zone 310.90 315.47 4.57 0.75 n/a Upper L-G OX Zone 326.14 338.33 12.19 1.27 n/a Upper Main Zone (OX) inc 327.66 335.28 7.62 1.72 n/a 1 g/t cut 342.90 353.57 10.67 0.34 n/a L-G OX Zone 361.19 367.28 6.09 1.18 n/a Lower Main Zone Southwest Extension, Mother Lode Deposit Holes ML18-053 to 055 are located at the Southwestern quadrant of the main Mother Lode target area. In this area of the Mother Lode deposit, the Main Zone of higher-grade mineralization is dominantly oxide (33.5m @ 2.2 g/t Au; 25.9m @ 1.5 g/t Au & 12.2m @ 1.27 g/t Au). This trend of expanding oxide mineralization is similar to recent holes to the north and appears to be marking an encouraging transition in the deposit as exploration progresses west. In addition, these holes continue to show a growing thickness of multiple upper zones of lower grade oxide which could benefit mine design (ML18-55 with 25.9m @ 0.94 & ML18-54 with 30.5m @ 1.13 g/t Au). The Company has at least 12 additional western stepout holes scheduled to the west and northwest as follow up for this expanding area of the deposit. Flatiron Gold Mineralization The initial results from the first two holes in the Flatiron target have indicated the Mother Lode gold system extends for almost one kilometre to the west and continues to be controlled by the large Fluorspar Canyon Fault zone (FCF). The broad low-grade intervals with narrow higher-grade zones are oxide and occur on the fault and in the carbonate rock immediately below. This continuation of the Mother Lode gold system in this large stepout target suggests potential for continued expansion of the deposit to the west with room to more than double the current size of the system. Mineralization in these initial holes suggests that gold mineralization is broadening with depth toward hole ML18-058 which had a thick intrusive intersection (assays pending). Further drilling is planned for this area at the end of the Phase 2 program with a series of wide spaced holes west of the Mother Lode deposit targeting the connection of the main Mother Lode with the Flatiron area. Jeff Pontius, President and CEO of Corvus states Our ongoing stepout drilling in all directions around the Mother Lode deposit indicates the system continues to grow. The development of multiple new upper oxide zones to the west is encouraging as it could add attractive ounces to the system. In addition, the positive results from our scout drilling at the Flatiron target are also encouraging as they indicate good potential for expanding the Mother Lode system to the west. In addition to ongoing stepout drilling to the west, we have just completed multiple holes following-up on the new Eastern High-Grade discovery with more drilling planned for the area. As before with every group on new holes, the Mother Lode system continues to evolve and expand. Figure 2. Table 2 Flatiron Scout Drilling Results (Reported intercepts are not true widths as there is currently insufficient data to calculate true orientation in space. Mineralized intervals are calculated using a 0.1 g/t cutoff unless otherwise indicated below) Drill Hole # from (m) to (m) Interval (m) Gold (g/t) Silver (g/t) Comment ML18-056 184.40 204.22 19.82 0.43 n/a Drilled at structure below hole ML18-057 AZ 145 dip-75 inc 184.40 185.93 1.52 3.73 n/a 1 g/t cut 213.36 230.12 16.76 0.24 n/a ML18-057 213.36 230.12 16.76 0.24 n/a Shallow angle, drilled at base of Jasperoid AZ 145 dip-50 inc 143.26 144.78 1.52 1.83 n/a 1 g/t cut Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance Jeffrey A. Pontius (CPG 11044), a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101), has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Pontius is not independent of Corvus, as he is the CEO & President and holds common shares and incentive stock options. Carl E. Brechtel, (Nevada PE 008744 and Registered Member 353000 of SME), a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, has coordinated execution of the work outlined in this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Brechtel is not independent of Corvus, as he is the COO and holds common shares and incentive stock options. The work program at Mother Lode was designed and supervised by Mark Reischman, Corvus Golds Nevada Exploration Manager, who is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance program. On-site personnel at the project log and track all samples prior to sealing and shipping. Quality control is monitored by the insertion of blind certified standard reference materials and blanks into each sample shipment. All resource sample shipments are sealed and shipped to American Assay Laboratories (AAL) in Reno, Nevada, for preparation and assaying. AAL is independent of the Company. AALs quality system complies with the requirements for the International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025:1999. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. Finally, representative blind duplicate samples are forwarded to AAL and an ISO compliant third-party laboratory for additional quality control. Mr. Reischman, a qualified person, has verified the data underlying the information disclosed herein, including sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information by reviewing the reports of AAL, methodologies, results and all procedures undertaken for quality assurance and quality control in a manner consistent with industry practice, and all matters were consistent and accurate according to his professional judgement. There were no limitations on the verification process About the North Bullfrog & Mother Lode Projects, Nevada Corvus controls 100% of its North Bullfrog Project, which covers approximately 72 km in southern Nevada. The property package is made up of a number of private mineral leases of patented federal mining claims and 865 federal unpatented mining claims. The project has excellent infrastructure, being adjacent to a major highway and power corridor as well as a large water right. The Company also controls 194 federal unpatented mining claims on the Mother Lode project which totals 1,597 hectares which it owns 100% of. About Corvus Gold Inc. Corvus Gold Inc. is a North American gold exploration and development company, focused on its near-term gold-silver mining project at the North Bullfrog and Mother Lode Districts in Nevada. In addition, the Company controls a number of royalties on other North American exploration properties representing a spectrum of gold, silver and copper projects. Corvus is committed to building shareholder value through new discoveries and the expansion of its projects to maximize share price leverage in an advancing gold and silver market. On behalf of Corvus Gold Inc. (signed) Jeffrey A. Pontius Jeffrey A. Pontius, President & Chief Executive Officer Contact Information: Ryan Ko Investor Relations Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Phone: 1-844-638-3246 (toll free) or (604) 638-3246 Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding the rapid and effective capture of the potential of our new Mother Lode project, the potential for new deposits and expected increases in a systems potential; anticipated content, commencement and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program results, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, the Companys belief that the parameters used in the WhittleTM pit optimization process are realistic and reasonable, the potential to discover additional high grade veins or additional deposits, the potential to expand the existing estimated resource at the Mother Lode project, the statement that the zone of high-grade mineralization is encouraging for expanding the mineralization zones of the Mother Lode deposit west along the Fluorspar Canyon Fault, the statement that drilling results bodes well for the continued growth of Corvus Gold over the next several phases of deposit expansion drilling programs in 2018, the growth potential of the Mother Lode project and the potential for any mining or production at the Mother Lode project, are forward-looking statements. Information concerning mineral resource estimates may be deemed to be forward-looking statements in that it reflects a prediction of the mineralization that would be encountered if a mineral deposit were developed and mined. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. 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, but not limited to, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, variations in the market price of any mineral products the Company may produce or plan to produce, the Company's inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, the Company's inability to produce minerals from its properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected growth, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Companys 2017 Annual Information Form and latest interim Management Discussion and Analysis filed with certain securities commissions in Canada and the Companys most recent filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). All of the Companys Canadian public disclosure filings in Canada may be accessed via www.sedar.com and filings with the SEC may be accessed via www.sec.gov and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Companys mineral properties. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Equinox Gold Corp. (TSX-V:EQX) (OTC:EQXGF) (Equinox Gold or the Company) is pleased to announce that mining activities are underway in the Piaba Deposit at its Aurizona Gold Mine in Brazil (Aurizona). Construction remains on track to pour gold by late 2018. All dollar amounts are in United States dollars unless otherwise noted. Mining Activities Mining is underway to prepare for gold production by the end of 2018. The mining contractor, U&M Mineracao e Construcao S/A (U&M), mobilized to site in March and mining commenced in mid-April. The majority of the mining fleet is on site and U&M has filled most of the planned 200 operator and support positions. U&M is operating two shifts a day and at the start of June will implement a third shift to mine 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Mining activities are currently focused on removing waste from two locations in the Piaba pit and developing access roads in preparation for ore mining in Q3-2018. Commencing mining activities is a significant construction milestone for the Aurizona Gold Mine and also for Equinox Gold, said Christian Milau, CEO of Equinox Gold. The project remains on track to pour gold by the end of 2018. Aurizona will be Equinox Golds first operating mine and is expected to produce on average 136,000 ounces of gold per year over the life of the mine. While the Aurizona operations team is focused on achieving production, Equinox Golds exploration team is focused on mine life extension and district-scale opportunities, continued Mr. Milau. A resource update is underway incorporating near-mine mineralization identified in the successful 2017 exploration program. There is also approximately four kilometres of strike extension to be tested with upcoming exploration programs and a study is underway examining opportunities to develop the underground potential of this exceptional gold deposit. Construction Progress Overall project was 44% complete and EPCM (engineering, procurement and construction management) activities were 61% complete at the end of March Plant construction was 27% complete at the end of March Refurbishment of the CIP circuit and detox tanks is complete Concrete foundations and pedestals for the new SAG and ball mills are complete Manufacturing of the SAG and ball mills is complete and the components are in-transit to Brazil with delivery to site expected in June Construction is proceeding on schedule and on budget, with $43 million of the $146 million construction budget spent and $76 million committed at the end of March. Construction is fully funded from cash and marketable securities on hand and an $85 million secured project credit facility, from which the Company has drawn $15 million to date. Construction progress is documented in a photo gallery on Equinox Golds website at www.equinoxgold.com and a number of photos can be viewed through a link at the end of this news release. Process Plant All process plant earthworks have been completed. Fabrication of the SAG and ball mills is complete and the components have been loaded onto a ship for transport to Brazil with delivery to site expected in June. The concrete foundations and pedestals for the SAG and ball mills are complete and ready for mill installation. Structural steel erection in the grinding area has commenced. Additional concrete work is being completed in the leaching and thickening areas while formwork and rebar work is underway in the crusher and surge bin areas. Refurbishment of the existing CIP circuit and detox tanks is complete while the refurbishment of other equipment such as pumps, agitators, screens and motors is 65% complete. The new jaw crusher has been delivered to site as well as other new equipment. A total of 600 tonnes from the anticipated 1,200 tonnes of structural steel has been delivered. The structural, mechanical and piping contract was awarded in March and steel erection activities have been underway since early April. The electrical and instrumentation contract is under technical and commercial evaluation and is expected to be awarded by the end of April. Engineering is well advanced and expected to be essentially complete by the end of April, with some follow-on field engineering activities moving to the site. Overall procurement of equipment and materials is 58% complete and all major purchase orders have been awarded. Purchasing activities are expected to be essentially complete by the end of May with follow-on expediting activities continuing through August. Most of the equipment is expected to be delivered to site from April through August. Infrastructure Improvements to secondary access roads to site have been completed. The incinerator is nearly complete and the site water treatment plant is 50% complete. All assay lab equipment has been ordered and the modular lab facilities are being assembled in containers by SGS-Geosol near Belo Horizonte, Brazil before being shipped to site. The first modules are expected to be delivered to site in June. The upgrades to two substations required to support the increased power draw for the 8,000 tonnes per day throughput were 65% complete at the end of March, with completion expected by August. Engineering is complete and the longest lead items, capacitor banks and voltage regulators, have been delivered to site. Civil work at one of the substations is complete with work at the second substation commencing soon. Award for Excellence in the Mining and Metallurgy Industry In March 2018 the Companys wholly-owned subsidiary, Mineracao Aurizona (MASA), was awarded the Award for Excellence in the Mining and Metallurgy Industry by the Brazilian magazine Minerios & Minerals in recognition of MASAs Young Environmental Agents Project. This is the magazines 20th annual Award for Excellence in the Mining and Metallurgy Industry. Previous recipients have included companies such as AngloGold Ashanti, ArcelorMittal, Vale, Imerys and Alcoa. The Young Environmental Agents Project was created in 2015 to strengthen the relationship between MASA and local communities through an environmental approach. The main objective is to educate young people by hosting workshops focused on how minerals are used in our daily lives and the social, environmental and economic impacts and opportunities associated with mining. In 2017 MASA participated in more than 150 hours of workshops and hosted Aurizona mine tours, actively engaging with more than 50 teachers and 40 students from three nearby communities. We are honoured to receive this award and are proud of the work the Aurizona team is doing in local communities, said David Laing, Chief Operating Officer of Equinox Gold. The Young Environmental Agents Project is just one of our ongoing community and stakeholder interaction programs. The Aurizona team works with community leaders and Brazilian organizations to implement a wide range of programs focused on infrastructure improvement, education, skills training, agricultural development and social programs. On Behalf of the Board of Equinox Gold Corp. Christian Milau CEO & Director Equinox Gold Contacts Christian Milau, CEO & Director Rhylin Bailie, Vice President Investor Relations Tel: +1 604-558-0560 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. About Equinox Gold Equinox Gold is a Canadian mining company with a multi-million-ounce gold resource base, near-term and growing gold production from two past-producing mines in Brazil and California, and a long-term growth platform with a diverse portfolio of gold and copper assets in North and South America. Construction is underway at the Companys Aurizona project in Brazil with the objective of pouring gold by late 2018, and a prefeasibility study is underway at the Companys Castle Mountain project in California with the objective of restarting production. Further information about Equinox Golds current portfolio of assets and long-term growth strategy is available at www.equinoxgold.com or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Cautionary Notes and Forward-Looking Statements Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This document contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively forward-looking statements). The use of the words will, expected, objective, anticipated, underway, targeted, expectation, scheduled, planned, potential, commencing and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding construction activities underway at Aurizona, anticipated production from the Aurizona Gold Mine and Castle Mountain Gold Mine, the Castle Mountain prefeasibility study, the potential for other assets of the Company, and the growth potential of the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements and/or information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements since the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements, including the risks, uncertainties and other factors identified in the Companys periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators, and assumptions made with regard to the Companys ability to complete construction at Aurizona on time and on budget or at all; the timing to achieve production; the Companys ability to extend the Aurizona mine life, develop the underground potential of the deposit or identify new mineralization in the Aurizona district; the Companys ability to complete the Castle Mountain prefeasibility study and the results of the study; and the Companys ability to achieve its expected growth and production potential. Readers are cautioned that the $76 million committed for Aurizona construction at the end of March is a non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) financial measure with no standard meaning under International Financial Reporting Standards. This number is intended to provide additional information about construction progress at Aurizona but does not represent the amount spent or invoiced to date and will not be reconciled in the Companys quarterly financial statements. Furthermore, the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligations to publicly update and/or revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of additional information, future events and/or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 25, 2018) - Rise Gold Corp. (CSE: RISE) (OTCQB: RYES) ("Rise Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that exploration drilling has resumed at the Idaho-Maryland ("I-M") Gold Project. The Company previously announced the assay results from drill hole B-17-01 ("the Drillhole"), the first drill hole of the exploration drilling program at the I-M Mine (see Rise Gold news release of Jan. 3, 2018) Click Here. The Drillhole intersected the Brunswick #1 Vein (the "B1 Vein") approximately 50 m below the B1600 level at a depth of ~540 m below surface and assayed 12.2 gpt gold over 14.9 m (7.8 m est. true width) including 63 gpt gold over 2.7 m (1.4 m est. true width). The Company plans to drill additional holes in the B1 Vein to follow-up on Drillhole B-17-01. These holes will target an area between the B1600 level and the B2300 level. Historical records report both levels on the B1 Vein to be mineralized. The Company will also test several other Brunswick veins which are parallel to the B1 Vein. Sections and plan maps supporting the planned drilling at the B1 Vein are available for download from the following link: Click Here The Company expects to be drilling the Brunswick targets until approximately mid-June and then will move the drill to test the Idaho #1 Vein target. Past production of the Idaho #1 Vein is estimated at 935,000 oz gold at an average mill head grade of 38.6 gpt gold. Historic drifting at the lowest mine level (I2400L) on the Idaho #1 Vein was abandoned in high-grade mineralization in 1942 as a result of the War Production Board order to close all major gold mines. Historic channel samples include 481 gpt gold over 1.2 m, 142 gpt gold over 2.5 m and 21 gpt gold over 4.5 m. The Company previously discussed the Idaho #1 Vein target by news release dated September 21, 2017) Click Here. About Rise Gold Corp. Rise Gold is an exploration-stage mining company. The Company's principal asset is the historic past producing Idaho-Maryland Gold Mine located in Nevada County, California, USA. The Idaho-Maryland Gold Mine is one of the United States' greatest past producing gold mines with total past production of 2,414,000 oz of gold at an average mill head grade of 17 gpt gold from 1866-1955. Rise Gold is incorporated in Nevada, USA and maintains its head office in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Historic production at the Idaho-Maryland Mine is disclosed in the Technical Report on the Idaho-Maryland Project dated June 1st 2017 and available on www.sedar.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors: Benjamin Mossman President, CEO and Director Rise Gold Corp. For further information, please contact: RISE GOLD CORP. Suite 650, 669 Howe Street Vancouver, BC V6C 0B4 T: 604.260.4577 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.risegoldcorp.com Benjamin Mossman, P.Eng, CEO of Rise Gold Corp, is the Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this news release. The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this news release. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to certain factors including, without limitation, obtaining all necessary approvals, meeting expenditure and financing requirements, compliance with environmental regulations, title matters, operating hazards, metal prices, political and economic factors, competitive factors, general economic conditions, relationships with vendors and strategic partners, governmental regulation and supervision, seasonality, technological change, industry practices, and one-time events that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information contained in this release. Rise undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements or information except as required by law. French business tycoon Vincent Bollore was arrested and detained on Tuesday in his native France over allegations that he indirectly influenced election outcomes for governments in Togo and Guinea to secure port contracts for his holding company, the Bollore Group. Officers in Nanterre, Near the French Capital Paris, are asking him how his company obtained contracts to operate the Lome and Conakry ports in Togo and Guinea respectively. According to State prosecutors, his Havas advertising agency has allegedly provided discounted communications advice to Guinean President Alpha Conde and Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe at election time in return the Bollore Africa Logistics Company was given licenses to operate container ports in the two West African nations. A statement from Bollore Group on Tuesday denied that its subsidiary company in Africa has committed irregularities. The services relating to this invoicing were carried out in full transparency, the statement said. Shares in Bollore Group dropped over 4 per cent while shares in Vivendi were down as much as 1.4 per cent, France24 reported. In 2017 Vivendi bought out communications company Havas from the Bollore Group. The younger Mr Bollore is chairman and chief executive of Havas. Bollore Africa Logistics is the biggest transport and logistics operator in Africa, where it has a network of 250 subsidiaries and almost 25,000 employees in 46 African countries. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ashanti Gold Corp. (Ashanti or the Company) - (TSXV:AGZ) announces it will commence drilling at Kossanto East (the Project) starting in May 2018. Two drilling rigs have been mobilized and will be drilling both diamond core (DD) and reverse circulation (RC) holes to provide sufficient information to develop a robust geological interpretation and mineral resource estimate to be complete in 3Q2018. Plans are for 10,000m of drilling with approximately 8,000m dedicated to RC and 2,000m of DD. Sixty RC holes are planned, to be drilled at a 100-150m depth and 10 diamond core holes to a depth of up to 200m. This drilling program will build on the strong results of previous drilling (see press releases August 2, August 10, August 21, September 12, and September 19, 2017) and will provide fill-in data between existing holes and to depths that are thus far untested. Most drilling to date has evaluated material from surface to a vertical depth of only ~75m. Demonstration of mineralized material to greater depths is expected to provide significant additional tonnage to the planned resource estimate. The drilling program goal is to provide higher geologic confidence, improved continuity of mineralization, and expand the volume of mineralized material along strike and at depth. Following Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) and construction of wireframe mineralization models by independent consultant CGK Consulting Services Inc., along with in-house 3D geologic modeling in Vulcan software, Ashanti has been able to select optimal drill locations for resource estimation. In addition, it is anticipated that several holes will test newly established anomalies to the north, east, and southwest of both main targets on the Project: Gourbassi East and Gourbassi West (see press releases February 13, 2018 and March 5, 2018). Historic drilling identified mineralization along approximately a 1 km zone at each of Gourbassi East and Gourbassi West. Drilling in 2017 by Ashanti verified, improved the continuity and expanded these mineralized zones, which were identified by historical drilling before Ashantis exploration work. Soil sampling has outlined anomalies along strike with Gourbassi West and Gourbassi East and within several other zones untested with drill holes. Drilling in this program will improve the data density to a level that will allow resource estimation work, which is planned for completion later this year. A drilling contract has been entered into with DCS Mali (Sahara Drilling) for commencement of drilling in May 2018. Ashanti staff are now on site preparing for the drill program. The Company anticipates a rolling laboratory assay process throughout the coming months to announce drilling results as they come available. Tim McCutcheon, Ashantis CEO, said Now that we have closed our increased-size placement to fund this drill program (see press release April 23, 2018), we are wasting no time in putting shareholder funds to work. This is a very exciting period for Ashantis development. ABOUT ASHANTI GOLD Ashanti is a gold-focused, exploration and development company that targets projects where it has a competitive advantage due to past work experience of the team and specific project know-how. The Company is driving forward its 100%-owned Kossanto East project in Mali on the prolific Kenieba Belt, which hosts such deposits as Loulo, Fekola and Sadiola. Ashanti is also working to advance, together with its earn-in partners, the Anumso project and the Ashanti Belt project in Ghana, which are near-adjacent to the Akyem deposit. On Behalf of the Board of Directors of ASHANTI GOLD CORP. "Tim McCutcheon" Tim McCutcheon CEO For further information, please contact: Ashanti Gold Corp. 2300 1177 West Hastings Street Vancouver BC, V6E 2K3 Phone: 604-638-3847 Qualified Person and Historical Data The information presented in this Press Release has been reviewed by Dr. Paul Klipfel CPG of Mineral Resource Services Inc. and a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian NI 43-101. Dr. Klipfel is not an Independent Person, as he is a shareholder of Ashanti. Historic data presented has been generated by historic explorers. The company has endeavored to check all data through resurvey of collars and check samples, but has not completed thorough, independent verification of historic data, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance thereon. All drill, soil, rock, and trench samples are subject to standard QA/QC procedures with certified standards and blanks inserted into all sample streams at the rate of 1:20. Duplicate samples are also inserted at the rate of 1:50. All assays are performed by international known (SGS in Mali) and accepted laboratories which insert their own QA/QC samples into the sample stream. Their results and Ashantis results are monitored for bias and errors in absolute and temporal terms. Batches with certified standards or blanks that do not meet QA/QC requirements are reassayed. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented in this news release and the information incorporated by reference herein, constitutes "forward looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Ashanti Gold Corp. (the "Company"). All statements, except for statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that management of the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including such things as future exploration plans concerning the Company's mineral properties, acquisitions, capital expenditures (including the amount and nature thereof), business strategies and measures to implement strategies, competitive strengths, goals, expansion and growth of the business and operations, plans and references to the future success of the Company, and such other matters, are forward looking statements. Often, but not always, forward looking information can be identified by words such as "pro forma", "plans", "expects", "may", "should", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development and mine development activities at the Project, including the geological mapping, prospecting and sampling program being proposed for the Project (the "Program"), actual results of exploration activities, including the Program, estimation or realization of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, the costs and timing of the development of new deposits, the availability of a sufficient supply of water and other materials, requirements for additional capital, future prices of precious metals, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates, possible failures of plants, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, hedging practices, currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, risks related to joint venture operations, and risks related to the integration of acquisitions, as well as those factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Management Information Circular (December 2017) and as discussed in the annual management's discussion and analysis and other filings of the Company with the Canadian Securities Authorities, copies of which can be found under the Company's profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward looking information in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 25, 2018 / Midnight Sun Mining Corp. (the "Company" or "Midnight Sun") (TSX-V: MMA) has commenced its exploration program for the 2018 field season. The Company has designed a comprehensive exploration program to further advance its Zambian copper properties. 2018 Exploration Program The Company has mobilized the first diamond drill rig to the Solwezi Group of Licences ("Solwezi Licences") and will start operations in the next two weeks. The second diamond drill rig is currently at the Zambian border and should be at site in two weeks' time, commencing work shortly thereafter. A team of seven geologists and data management personnel are on the ground and have completed the re-logging of all historic drill core to facilitate a strong comprehension of the geology and controls on mineralisation at the Solwezi targets. This knowledge will support optimization of drill holes in the upcoming program. Additionally, the Company has introduced robust QA/QC procedures for all work programs. A Natural Sourced Audio Magneto Tellurics ("NSAMT") ground geophysics programme over the north-west area of the Mitu copper-cobalt target has been completed by Symons Geophysics, with a total of 35 line kilometres surveyed. This survey was conducted on 500 metre spaced lines with the goal of providing a more detailed view of the position and distribution of the favourable black shale units which host the identified copper-cobalt mineralization. A final interpretation and model is expected in approximately three weeks. The Company has also contracted GeoTech Ltd. to fly a 200 metre spaced airborne geophysics survey, including Heli-borne Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetics ("VTEM"), magnetics and radiometrics over the entire property, with 100 metre spaced infill over the three main targets of Mitu, 22 Zone and Dumbwa (north and central). The survey should commence in the third week of May, subject to weather conditions at site. Midnight Sun will utilize the new data generated from these VTEM and NSAMT surveys to conduct a comparative interpretation using the exploration dataset, including the drill data from its 2016 and 2017 drilling campaign, early 2018 drill results, and soil geochemistry. This will help determine primary and secondary drill targets on the three main mineralized areas. In particular, the survey can identify the position of additional black shale units along the Mitu corridor and at a depth below the limestones at 22 Zone, where the Company sees the potential for mineralization analogous to that found at the neighbouring Kansanshi Mine (First Quantum Minerals). The Company will also mobilise an air core drill rig to Mitu in late May to evaluate the intensity of copper-cobalt mineralisation in the conductor rocks. This will guide the diamond drill holes to focus on testing the most significant and sizeable mineralised conductors and leverage the overall exploration program towards the discovery of significant mineral resources. The Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, Brett Richards stated, "We have made tremendous strides in preparing Midnight Sun with the people, processes, site infrastructure and logistics needed to maximize the comprehensive drilling campaign set to start this forthcoming field season and continue (up to) the next three years, if required. All of the planning and infrastructure built at site has been done so with a sustainable approach to our future work requirements, and I look forward to first results in June 2018." Private Placement The Company announces a non-brokered private placement of up to 3,750,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.32 per Unit for gross proceeds of $1,200,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit will consist of one (1) common share ("Common Share") in the capital of the Company and one half of one (1) Common Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each full Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one Common Share of the Company for a period of twelve months from the closing of the Offering at an exercise price of $0.48. The net proceeds from the Offering will be used by the Company to fund exploration on the Solwezi Licences as well as general working capital. The Company intends to close the Offering as soon as practicable. Brett Richards, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, has again committed to participate in the private placement as the lead order, personally subscribing for $200,000 worth of units. The Offering, including the future issuance of the Common Shares and Warrants, is subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued will be subject to a hold period of four months and one day pursuant to applicable securities laws. Please refer to the Company's previous New Releases as well as the Company presentation on its website at: www.midnightsunmining.com. ABOUT MIDNIGHT SUN MINING Midnight Sun Mining Corp. is a mineral exploration and development company that trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol MMA. Midnight Sun has earned a 60% interest in the Solwezi Licences, and has since agreed to a term sheet and letter of intent to purchase the remaining 40%. The Solwezi Licences are adjacent to First Quantum's Kansanshi Mine; Africa's largest copper mining complex, on the prolific Zambia-Congo Copper Belt. The Solwezi Licences are comprised of two (2) individual prospecting licences totalling 506 km2, located in the North-Western Province of Zambia approximately 450 km from the capital city, Lusaka. Led by experienced directors and talented management, Midnight Sun aims to further explore the impressive mineralization and anomalies that have recently been discovered on the Solwezi Permits. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF MIDNIGHT SUN MINING CORP. Brett A. Richards - President and Chief Executive Officer For Further Information Contact: Brett A. Richards President and Chief Executive Officer Tel: +1 905 449 1500 Al Fabbro Lead Director Tel: +1 604 351 8850 NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEW RELEASE. These securities being offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from the U.S. registration requirements. This release does not constitute an offer for sale of securities in the United States. This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed as "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, the expected completion of any Offering, and the expected use of proceeds are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include: changes in market conditions, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in the price of commodities (particularly copper, cobalt, gold and nickel), unanticipated changes in key management personnel and general social, economic or geo-political conditions. Mining exploration and development is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. TORONTO, April 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX:WDO) (Wesdome or the Company) is pleased to provide the results from the initial underground drilling of the Kiena Deep A Zone completed from the exploration ramp development at its 100% owned Kiena Mine Complex, in Val d'Or, Quebec. Development of the Kiena Deep exploration ramp at the 1000 metre level commenced early August 2017 and is now finished with a total of 986 linear metres completed to date. In sequence with the ramp development, drilling of the Kiena Deep A Zone has commenced and the first 7 holes have been completed. This drilling is designed to better define and extend the A Zone, where drilling in 2016 returned a number of encouraging results, including 192.95 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) (18.80 g/t Au cut) over 16.95 metres core length from the discovery hole 6125. (See news releases dated August 24, 2016 and November 15, 2016). Initial drilling continues to trace the Kiena Deep mineralized system along an altered and deformed north-northwest trending ("NNW") basalt-komatiite contact zone. Visible gold was observed in several drill holes within predominantly shear zone hosted quartz veins in mafic and ultramafic volcanic rocks. The results are highlighted below and summarized in Table 1. Results Highlights: Kiena Deep A Zone 39.58 g/t Au over 18.2 m core length (12.60 g/t cut, 10.4 m true width) in hole 6275 29.80 g/t Au over 6.5 m core length (6.12 g/t cut, 4.3 m true width ) in hole 6278 112.08 g/t Au over 3.1 m core length (28.24 g/t cut, 1.9 m true width) in hole 6279 22.69 g/t Au over 1.5 m core length (22.69 g/t cut, 0.6 m true width) in hole 6287 33.92 g/t Au over 12.9 m core length (10.47 g/t cut, 7.6 m true width) in hole 6288 200.30 g/t Au over 1.4 m core length (13.34 g/t cut, 0.8 m true width) in hole 6289 All assays cut to 34.28 g/t Au. True widths are estimated. In addition, development on cross-cut level 102 and 103 northeast exposed a narrow laminated quartz vein, named the Prospect Vein, trending 300 azimuth with a sub-vertical dip. Four grab samples returned 6.68, 137.85, 227.12 and 4.96 g/t Au (see below Table 2 and Figure 2a). Mr. Duncan Middlemiss, President and CEO, commented We are pleased with the recent drilling results from Zone A that confirm the previous high grade results from this zone, and continuity in this area. It is our goal to continue to better define the extent and geometry of the gold mineralization in advance of an updated resource estimate near the end of the year. This zone remains open up and down plunge and along strike to the northwest, and will be the focus of the ongoing drilling program. Additional development and drilling platforms are being established in April to test the Upper Quartz Zone, where previous drilling encountered an intercept of 94.4 g/t Au ( 18.03 g/t Au cut) over 17.4 m core length. Wesdome continues its accelerated drilling program with the goal of determining the extent, continuity and geometry of the Kiena Deep gold system. A fourth underground drill has now been added and a total of 50,000 metres is planned to be drilled underground in this program. To date, a total of 13,127 metres have been drilled. One drill continues to follow up on near-mine, auxiliary targets including the VC and S-50 Zones, as they are important components of any potential re-start plan since they are located close to existing mine infrastructure and development. Cross-cut development on the 670 metre level is scheduled to be completed in May 2018 to provide drilling platforms to test the VC1 and VC6 zones. The Company has completed this years drill program on Zone B of the Kiena Deep discovery. Drilling results of this area are detailed in Table 2. THE KIENA COMPLEX The Kiena Mine Complex is a fully permitted, integrated mining and milling infrastructure which includes a 930 metre production shaft and 2,000 tonne per day capacity mill. From 1981 to 2013 the mine produced 1.75 million ounces of gold from 12.5 million tonnes at a grade of 4.5 g/t. The bulk of this production came from the S-50 Zone between depths of 100 and 1,000 metres. In 2013, operations were suspended due to a combination of declining gold prices and lack of developed reserves. The infrastructure has been well preserved on care and maintenance status. An independent 43-101 report dated December 16, 2015 for the first time assessed the exploration potential and known resources for the entire property. Measured and Indicated resources below a 100 metre crown pillar total 2,500,600 tonnes at 5.59 grams per tonne for 449,000 ounces. Additional inferred resources below a 100 metre crown pillar total 1,563,300 tonnes at a 7.97 grams per tonne for 400,400 ounces. Technical Report for the Quebec Wesdome Project (according to National Instrument 43-101 and Form 43-101F1) dated December 16, 2015 prepared by Bruno Turcotte, P.Geo., Denis Gourde, Eng., Pierre-Luc Richard, P.Geo. of InnovExplo Inc. TECHNICAL DISCLOSURE The technical and scientific disclosure in this press release has been compiled, reviewed and approved by Marc Ducharme, P. Geo. (OGQ #597), Chief Exploration Geologist of Wesdome and a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Analytical work was performed by Techni-Lab (ActLabs) of Ste-Germaine-Boule (Quebec), a certified commercial laboratory (SCC Accredited Lab #707). Sample preparation was done at Techni-Lab (ActLabs) in Val d'Or (Quebec) and assaying was done by fire assay methods at Techni-Lab (ActLabs) laboratory in Ste-Germaine-Boule (Quebec). In addition to laboratory internal duplicates, standards and blanks, the geology department inserts blind duplicates, standards and blanks into the sample stream at a frequency of one in twenty to monitor quality control. ABOUT WESDOME Wesdome Gold Mines has had over 30 years of continuous gold mining operations in Canada. The Company is 100% Canadian focused with a pipeline of projects in various stages of development. The Eagle River Complex in Wawa, Ontario is currently producing gold from two mines, the Eagle River Underground Mine and the Mishi Open pit, from a central mill. Wesdome is actively exploring its brownfields asset, the Kiena Complex in Val dOr, Quebec. The Kiena Complex is a fully permitted former mine with a 930 metre shaft and 2,000 tonne per day mill. The Company has further upside at its Moss Lake gold deposit, located 100 kilometres west of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Company has approximately 133.9 million shares issued and outstanding and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol WDO. For further information, please contact: Duncan Middlemiss or Lindsay Carpenter Dunlop President and CEO VP Investor Relations 416-360-3743 ext. 29 416-360-3743 ext. 25 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Michael Michaud 8 King St. East, Suite 811 VP, Exploration Toronto, ON, M5C 1B5 416-360-3743 ext. 22 905-410-3191 Toll Free: 1-866-4-WDO-TSX This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Phone: 416-360-3743 Website: www.wesdome.com This news release contains forward-looking information which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future financial or operating performance of the Company and its projects. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates, or believes or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances, managements estimates or opinions should change, except as required by securities legislation. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Table 1: Kiena Drilling Results - Kiena Deep Zone A Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Estimated true width (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade * (g/t Au) Target 6275 196.50 197.50 1.0 0.6 1.04 1.04 Kiena Deep Zone A 6275 199.50 217.70 18.2 10.4 39.58 12.60 Kiena Deep Zone A Including 199.50 208.20 8.7 5.0 78.40 21.97 Including 211.90 217.70 5.8 3.4 6.49 6.49 6275 221.80 224.60 2.8 1.6 2.14 2.14 Kiena Deep Zone A 6277 164.20 165.50 1.3 1.0 1.84 1.84 Kiena Deep Zone A 6277 NSA NSA Kiena Deep Zone A 6278 181.90 188.40 6.5 4.3 29.80 6.12 Kiena Deep Zone A Including 181.90 182.90 1.0 0.7 188.16 34.28 6278 186.90 188.40 1.5 1.0 2.98 2.98 Kiena Deep Zone A 6279 169.10 172.20 3.1 1.9 112.08 28.24 Kiena Deep Zone A 6287 294.70 296.20 1.5 0.6 22.69 22.69 Kiena Deep Zone A 6287 313.80 316.80 3.0 1.2 5.32 5.32 Kiena Deep Zone A Including 313.80 315.50 1.7 0.7 9.36 9.36 6288 284.70 297.60 12.9 7.6 33.92 10.47 Kiena Deep Zone A Including 284.70 289.50 4.8 2.8 32.43 19.01 Including 294.70 297.60 2.9 1.7 97.00 14.94 6289 335.60 337.00 1.4 0.8 200.30 13.34 Kiena Deep Zone A * Assay intervals include values cut to an arbitrary, historic 1 oz / ton or 34.28 g/t Au NSA = No significant value ABD = Hole abandoned Table 2: Kiena Drilling Results - Kiena Deep Zone B Hole No. From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Estimated true width (m) Grade (g/t Au) Cut Grade * (g/t Au) Target 6264 127.00 128.00 1.0 0.7 1.76 1.76 Kiena Deep Zone B 6264 148.00 152.00 4.0 3.0 1.32 1.32 Kiena Deep Zone B 6264 171.00 172.00 1.0 0.7 7.46 7.46 Kiena Deep Zone B 6265 84.80 88.50 3.7 1.9 1.32 1.32 Kiena Deep Zone B 6265 153.00 155.00 2.0 1.1 0.93 0.93 Kiena Deep Zone B 6266 69.20 69.70 0.5 0.3 3.46 3.46 KD Zone B-Prospect Vein 6266 127.80 128.30 0.5 0.3 4.10 4.10 KD Zone B-Prospect Vein 6270 20.30 20.80 0.5 0.5 2.89 2.89 KD Zone B-Prospect Vein 6271 37.40 37.90 0.5 0.2 5.98 5.98 KD Zone B-Prospect Vein 6268 210.40 211.20 0.8 0.7 2.05 2.05 Kiena Deep Zone B 6269 65.00 66.50 1.5 0.8 3.02 3.02 Kiena Deep Zone B 6269 161.00 163.10 2.1 1.1 1.84 1.84 Kiena Deep Zone B 6269 269.00 270.50 1.5 0.8 1.25 1.25 Kiena Deep Zone B 6269 340.30 341.10 0.8 0.4 4.14 4.14 Kiena Deep Zone B 6269 347.60 348.50 0.9 0.5 1.86 1.86 Kiena Deep Zone B 6273 119.20 120.70 1.5 0.9 3.70 3.70 Kiena Deep Zone B 6273 198.70 200.70 2.0 1.3 1.94 1.94 Kiena Deep Zone B * Assay intervals include values cut to an arbitrary, historic 1 oz / ton or 34.28 g/t Au NSA = No significant value ABD = Hole abandoned Figure 1 Kiena Geology Map Figure 2a Figure 2b In 2012, the International Criminal Court (ICC) handed down its first ever verdict in the trial of Congolese ex-militia leader Thomas Lubanga. Since then, there have been two other confirmed convictions of Congolese Germain Katanga in 2014 and Malian Ahmed Al Mahdi in 2016. However, victims are still waiting for reparations. JusticeInfo talked to Pieter de Baan, Executive Director of the Trust Fund for Victims. JusticeInfo: Since the opening of the Court in 2002, 16 years ago, reparations have never yet been implemented. How do you explain that? Pieter de Baan: I can acknowledge the frustration of the victims, the diminishing confidence that they may have. But it is not only about the judicial proceedings, about what the Trust Fund is doing, or how we are finding the money. There is also the problem of security. In this moment, in Ituri province, there is a conflict going on again, targeting the exact same Hema community to which belongs a leading figure who is held liable for reparations. And we may have to readjust our plan. We are continuing to pursue the delivery of the collective awards and the selection of the partners. ICCs reparations are complex because we are trying to translate from paper into reality something which was never done before. And that is why there have been discussions on how best to manage, respecting the rights of victims and the fact that they should not be re-harmed by the process, what is the way to respect the rights of defense, how far the rights of the defense extend into the reparation stage So, this is very important for the Judges to think about, and to come up with solutions which are visible, are not too expensive you do not want to spend more money on the process than on the awards for the victims , solutions which satisfy victims and also satisfy the States. The success of the reparation mechanism of the Rome Statute is in the interest of all States parties. They need to have confidence that the mechanism they have created is the right one. You were due to deliver your plan regarding the reparations in Al Mahdi case by February, but you twice asked for a postponement. In a decision last week, the judge said that there is a pattern for routinely asking for an extension of time. What do you say to that? I dont really want to comment on it. But I can say that I understand the frustration of the judges, which is also our own frustration, frankly speaking. There is an enormous amount of work. For reparations, this includes all kind of consultations with the victims, with their lawyers, with donors, States We are only 15 persons working for the Fund. In a case like Al Mahdi, the drafting of the plan has been significantly impacted by the security situation in Mali and in Timbuktu. We needed to resort to alternative ways to engage with stakeholders, but that really limits the possibility of a meaningful conversation with those who are the most important sources of information. In addition, the arrest and transfer of Al Hassan is a potential game-changer. He is a son of the same town [as Ahmed Al Mahdi], and the crimes for which he has been charged are similar or sometimes overlapping. So, we need to be extremely careful and thoughtful in presenting our plan. But the Chamber noted that in all the cases, you asked 15 times to postpone the deadline. How are you going to improve the process? Part of the solution would be to have more staff. The Funds regular budget is less than 2% of the Courts budget [around 2.5 million/year]. We are not spending huge sums of money. But we need to have the ability to respond, which is a need for the Court and for the victims as well. We have proposed to the Court to work with local partners, like we do in the assistance mandate [the Trust Fund has two functions: reparations linked with the conviction of an accused; and assistance, not related to a conviction but to a general situation]. That means we need sufficient staff to manage, to control, and to guide, but we do not need to do everything by ourselves. This is not only efficient in terms of cost, it is also effective, because we can work with partners who have the trust and abilities of local communities that we do not automatically generate here in The Hague. We simply do not have the staff qualified in all the wide range of relevant disciplines, like psychology, education, medical services, protecting building. But regarding the award in Katanga [in this case, 297 victims had been individually awarded 250 dollars in addition to collective awards for a total of 1 million dollars], the Court has been asking the Fund to be more directly implicated in the implementation of reparations and to be less dependent on using local partners. That in itself is of course a good thing, especially for the victims to have a direct connection to the Trust Fund, but that is putting us in a narrower space in terms of being able to respond to the other reparations deadline that we are facing at the same time. If you want to build something that basically enables the system to respond to the bottom line of the Rome Statute which I think is justice for Victims there are not just words, you need to have the ability to deliver. There is often disappointment when the Court decides to allow collective reparations instead of individual. How do you explain that? Lots of people understand reparations only in the form of compensation, not just in Ituri [eastern province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC] but in most places in the world. It is my understanding that collective awards are now being accepted by victims. And it underlines the important role of legal representatives who build on the relationship of trust with their clients and explain what the nature of the collective award will be. The trust that victims have in a collective project being implemented by a third party was really low because of the experience they had in the past, with money being distributed in such way that it was not transparent. And they fear that the money will go to other places. That is very much understandable and I think it is indicative of the lack of trust that you would have in any post conflict society, where people have suffered harm, have been marginalized and stigmatized because they have suffered harms and so, they would have very little trust in any institution that on their behalf would implement a collective award. But collective reparation is just another way of organizing the awards. How do you make beneficiaries understand that this is about justice and not humanitarian aid? Some of the techniques are the same, but the purpose is different. We make it really clear to the victims that they are receiving reparations because of the link with the convicted crimes. And we make also very clear that the convicted person is financially liable. The Fund may come in, but the liability is still with that person. The reparative value is very clear for the victims. And this has a strong symbolic importance for them. But then, you cannot eat symbolic value you need to offer something concrete. One of the major things we have learnt with the assistance mandate is that psychological harm is always an element of the harm suffered by victims. It is one of the most invisible harms and one of the most stigmatized. Because if you have a mental problem, there is an automatic stigma, you will be kept in the shade. We are making psychological harm, trauma based counseling, and mediation of conflict a central part of our assistance programs. And we are also managing to convince the Court that psychological harm can be presumed. Then, as a victim, you do not have to prove it anymore. The Court asked Mali and Congo to take their part in the implementation of reparations. What do you think of this decision? A State party is not responsible for crimes committed by a convicted person, but they have the obligation to cooperate. We are working on a memorandum with the Congolese government. That does not mean they are going to pay for reparations, but that means that they may be helping us to create the conditions for it. I went to Kinshasa and Bamako. In Mali, we did not talk with the Justice ministry only. We had several ministries around the table, including Education, Culture, Solidarity, Health and it was really useful. Let me give you some examples. For educational support to victims, we have to find a way to do that without disrupting the system. This is very basic, but it is important. If we do vocational training for former child soldiers in the Lubanga reparations, we have to know which agencies already exist, we do not want to re-invent structures. If we talk about delivery of health services, we do not want to build hospital, which is the responsibility of a State. But how can we use hospitals and clinics to receive victims in such way that the integrity of the program is preserved. These are very practical steps. In Bamako, we had a really good conversation, making our counterparts to understand what the reparation awards are. At the same time we have to find a way to implement reparations in such way that we are not dependent on the States. Its nice and important to have their cooperation, but we do not need to go through their agencies. A few years ago, there was a decrease in the donations from States parties. How do you explain that? Many of our donors are from Europe. Those years, they are facing a significant problem of refugees and asylum seekers coming from the conflict in Syria and other parts. What happened is that a lot of the money they would have made available for the Fund and other activities were diverted to take care of these victims inside their own countries. For example, here in The Netherlands, 25% of the development cooperation budget was used to deal with the influx of refugees and asylum seekers. That situation has already diminished and we are seeing more donors coming back, and we are also seeing more donors coming on board. Some of these donors are not giving a lot of money, but they are new donors, with a great symbolic significance. I am talking about countries like Georgia, or Mali, or the Philippines, or Uruguay. It demonstrates that a greater number of States parties attach great importance to the Fund. The symbolic value of that is very important. It does help us to establish the credibility and the validity of the Fund as a mechanism of the Rome Statute. You have an agreement with Sweden. It agreed to give the Trust Fund around three million dollars within a period of three years. Did you try to have a similar arrangement with others? We have a similar arrangement with Finland. Other countries may not be able to make that long term financing arrangement, but they are able to commit and say that they will participate every year. Long term commitment is there. States parties are a composite of ministries, of people, and we need to build the bridge with those who have access to budget lines. They need to be convinced. They need to be made to understand that the Trust Fund is associated with the Court, but it has a reparative function that is relevant for post conflict recovery and transitional justice. Then they are able to connect funding of the Trust Fund with their policy priorities in this regard. This also helps to make the court relevant to society, beyond prosecutions, individual victims, beyond what is happening here in the courtrooms. During his tenure, former Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, accepted a gift from Qatar. It was a Rolex which was evaluated at around 6,500 Euros and finally given to the Trust Fund. The Trust Fund decided that it wpuld organize an auction. Did you do that? (Smile) It is still here! It is in a vault. We can still put it into an auction It is still here and we will do something. A United Nations Security Council delegation which wants to see first-hand the impact of the Rohingya refugee crisis will arrive in Myanmar on Monday and visit Rakhine state, a senior government official said. It will be the highest-profile UN visit to Rakhine since the start last August of a violent military crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority, which the UN and US have described as ethnic cleansing. Mainly Buddhist Myanmar disputes the charge but has severely curtailed access to the conflict zone, blocking UN fact-finders and a rights envoy from entering the country. After the Security Council first proposed a visit in February, Myanmars government said it was not the right time but it gave approval earlier this month for the visit by the 15 council ambassadors. The crackdown has driven some 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh. They will come to Naypyidaw on 30th (April) and will proceed to Rakhine the next day, a senior Myanmar official with knowledge of the trip told AFP, without providing more details. The armys scorched-earth campaign left hundreds of Rohingya villages razed to the ground while refugees have given consistent testimony of murder and rape. Myanmars military rejects the allegations and insists the response was a justified campaign to root out members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, who killed around a dozen members of the security forces in August raids on police posts. Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a repatriation deal for refugees to return in January but so far only one family has returned from a no mans land between the two nations. Several thousand Rohingya remain in the border zone, refusing to join the throngs in Bangladeshs refugee camps but also reluctant to return until their safety and rights are secured. Many Rohingya fear that returning to Myanmar will mean they fester for years in apartheid-like camps. In southern Rakhine some 130,000 Rohingya remain trapped in displacement camps after fleeing persecution in 2012. The stateless group has faced decades of discrimination in mainly Buddhist Myanmar, which stripped them of citizenship. We will carry on waiting here until we are allowed to go back to our homes, Rohingya leader Dil Mohamed told reporters from no mans land through the border fence on Wednesday during a government-organised press trip. Our parents and grandparents are all citizens of this country how come we are not citizens? bur-rs/joe/ssm/sm FURRY INK LaundroMutt owner Veronica Schabert paints a tattoo on Honey Knibbs, during the first Dogs Are People, Too event on Saturday at Carruthers Park in North Tonawanda. Oops! A Free Account... Buffalo man pleads guilty to murder of Parkedge Avenue woman Buffalo resident Clarence Simmons, 34, has pleaded guilty to a murder charge in connection with a stabbing that took place last March, in the Town of Tonawandas Riverview neighborhood. According... Western New York muralist wraps up project at Riviera Theatre Lancaster resident Tim Martin has completed the newly renovated mural on the southern wall of North Tonawandas Riviera Theatre. The mural has been in the making for over 20 years,... Ken-Ton resident named semifinalist in National Merit Scholarship Program Ken-Ton resident Kelsey Hammel, a senior at Buffalo Seminary, has been named a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Hammel now has an opportunity to compete next spring for... Give Me Shelter silent auction scheduled Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) will host its second Give Me Shelter online silent auction from 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 11, to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16. People are invited... Ghanas President Nana Akufo-Addo has revealed that his government had put back on track the countrys National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) that was crumbling under a huge debt, left behind by its predecessor. According to Akufo-Addo, his government has paid about $250 million debt out of the $300 million debt left by the previous administration. He further announced that payments to service providers were also being made since his administration took office in January 2017. President Akufo-Addo, who made the disclosure in a Keynote address at the London School of Economics Africa Summit, said the Scheme had regained its effectiveness and that for a minimum amount, subscribers could have access to a wide range of medical services. The Health Minister of the West African nation has, however, debunked the presidents claims as untenable. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu has warned that the National Health Insurance Scheme risks collapsing unless government comes up with other innovative ways to fund the program. Speaking at a health summit Monday, April 23, the health Minister said government is considering taxation to support the running of the scheme. The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) recently announced plans to hike the Health Insurance levy by 1% moving it from 2.5% to 3.5%. Currently, former workers pay 2.5% of their 17.5% contribution from the tier one pension fund to run the NHIS. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider subscribing to our ePaper and/or free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Georgia and Asian Development Bank to Focus on Regional Projects By Tea Mariamidze The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will focus on regional cooperation projects along with Georgia.The information was released by the Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili at the governmental session on April 19.In this case, "regional" refers to our country's neighborhood, along with the countries of Central Asia, other Asian regions, and the Gulf States, the PM explained.He added the emphasis is placed on the effect of each dollar or euro spent in terms of attracting investments from the private sector.In other words, greater emphasis will be placed on the development of the private sector, importantly on the development of green economy, alternative energy sources, which is also important to our country, also on the fulfillment of our international obligations related to the UN SDGs, said Kvirikashvili and thanked the Asian Development Bank and its local office for excellent cooperation.Kvirikashvili met with the new Director General for its Central and West Asia Department - Werner Liepach in Tbilisi on Wednesday.Positive economic dynamics stemming from the Georgian Government's correct and consistent policy, success in the implementation of the four-point reform agenda, and the Asian Development Bank's support for Georgia were the key issues of the meeting.Werner Liepach emphasized ADB's strong and growing partnership with Georgia and confirmed ADB's commitment to continue its support for Georgia's economic development. According to him, Georgia is a vital corridor connecting Europe and Asia, and the infrastructural projects implemented in the country with ADB's support have proved exceptionally successful.While discussing future plans, special attention was paid to the importance of the Kvesheti-Kobi project also implemented with ADBs support.Moreover, Georgias Ministry of Regional Department reports that the Asian Development Bank plans to increase investments in Georgia.ADB will be involved in the development of the countrys transit and tourism potential. It will fund the construction works of a 24 km long road, Kvesheti-Kobi road section, which is the part of the Mtskheta-Stepantsminda-Larsi road.The issue was discussed at the meeting held today between Maia Tskitishvili, Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, First Deputy Minister, Yesim Elhan-Kayalar, Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director for Georgia, and Werner Liepach, ADB Director General of Central and West Asia Department.The meeting participants also talked about the current large-scale water supply and sewerage projects, funded by ADB, which are being implemented in 13 cities of Georgia.The Asian Development Bank is one of Georgia's major development partners that has supported the implementation of $2.4 billion worth of projects in both public and private sectors. An American tourist has been convicted of dangerous driving at Templemartin in Kilkenny and fined 2,000 for the offence which saw one woman hospitalised with a lacerated liver. Justin Russ, with an address at 11661 Robert Road, Stockbridge, Michigan, America, was charged at Kilkenny District Court on April 17 for the Section 53 offence. Gardai were on mobile patrol on April 16 when they came upon the accident with one vehicle badly damaged on the left hand side of the road and another vehicle which Mr Russ was driving having come off the road and down into a dyke. Mr Russ, 27, arrived in the country on Monday, April 16 at 7am when he rented and insured a car for his trip through a rental company. The driver of the second car sustained minor injuries and a passenger suffered a liver laceration and multiple rib fractures. Mr Russs girlfriend was a passenger in the car he was driving and she was still in hospital at the time the case was heard. The pair were on holidays together. A legal representative for Mr Russ told the court that his client had gotten a full seven hours sleep on the flight into Ireland. They had a meal in a cafe in Dublin and Mr Russ bought a cup of coffee. The court heard, at a certain point [Mr Russ] lost consciousness and is not fully sure how this happened. Mr Russ has concerns about how the accident happened. The defendant did not feel tired on the day. Mr Russ acknowledged being at fault for the collision. His breath was analysed at the scene and the result was negative. Judge Colin Daly convicted and fined Mr Russ 2,000 and disqualified him from driving for two years. A man who stamped on, punched and threw a deck chair at another man in an unprovoked and violent attack has been sentenced to four years in prison with two years suspended. Nicky Campion, with an address at Newpark Close, Kilkenny pleaded guilty to the Section 3 assault causing harm and Section 15 violent disorder for an incident on February 2 of last year. Kilkenny Circuit Court last week heard that on the date in question, the victim and his colleague had attended a ball. The victims colleague left the ball and went home at around 2.30am. On his way home, the colleague lost his coat in the Kieran Street area of Kilkenny City. When the injured party returned to the property at 3.30am both he and his friend decided to go and look for the coat. The same night there was a large queue for tickets on Kieran Street to an upcoming concert. The defendant, Mr Campion, was part of that queue and was up near the top of it. The victim and his friend, in the process of looking for the jacket, lifted up a sleeping bag they mistook for a coat. With that Mr Campion punched the victim into the face and continued to punch him until the parties were separated. The incident lasted for between five and six minutes. Giving evidence, an investigating officer in the case told the court that at various stages, Mr Campion punched in the face and kicked the victim a number of times while the injured party was on the ground. The court heard Mr Campion was very intoxicated on the night and kicked the door of the patrol car from inside after his arrest and was complaining of an injury to his leg. CCTV footage played in court showed the melee on the night with Mr Campion seen giving and attempting to give the victim a number of kicks on the ground as well as stamping and throwing punches. The defendant suffered an injury to his leg during the incident, the court heard. Mr Campion was seen picking up a deck chair and trying to hit the injured party. Photos of the victims injuries were handed into court and he also approached the bench to show Judge Patrick Meghen the scarring he received as a result of the attack. The injured party suffered injuries to the face, head, bleeding from the nose, while both eyes were bloodshot and bruised. A victim impact statement from the man said he suffered numerous blows to the head, was sore for a couple of weeks after the assault and still has a couple of scars from it. Mr Campion is 23-years-old and has 74 previous convictions. A defence barrister for Mr Campion said his client would argue that he was provoked and lost control. The court heard Mr Campion had been drinking all day and taking other substances. His barrister said: (Mr Campion) was on his way home and met friends queuing and he sat down with them and drank vodka. He felt provoked after he was accused of robbing the jacket. Mr Campion has stability in his life with his daughter due to be born in the coming months. He has been sober four months and is training to be a listener for other prisoners. Judge Meghen asked the investigating officer if the injured party was an innocent victim in the case and the Garda said that he was and there was no provocation. Mr Campion was also on bail at the time of the incident for another offence. Judge Meghen described the incident as an unprovoked and sustained violent assault. He said the victim was kicked on several occasions, stamped on the ground, hit from behind and had a deck chair thrown at him. Judge Meghen sentenced Mr Campion to four years in prison and suspended two years of the sentence subject to conditions. For the violent disorder offence, Mr Campion also received a four year sentence with two years suspended to be served concurrent to the custodial sentence for assault. He backdated the sentences to March 2 of this year. Construction on the Castlecomer Pedestrian Bridge could be begin by as early as 2019, it has been confirmed. In a statement, Senior Executive Officer at Kilkenny County Council, Michael Delahunty, said: "Following a meeting with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (formally NRA) last Thursday April 18 an agreement has been reached for them to advance the design, tender and construction of the proposed pedestrian bridge in Castlecomer connecting the Town and the Discovery Park, subject to planning and other permissions. "To commence the process Kilkenny County Council will bring forward, to the Elected Council for approval, a Section 85 agreement with Kildare County Council for them to manage the project as they are the lead authority for the TII Bridge structures in the Leinster region. "The Planning, Design and Contract Documents will be advanced this year with a view to construction in 2019. "The Council, in conjunction with the local community Group developed and prepared the application for funding under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme 2017 and the application was a strong application which yielded a grant approval of 100,000 which will be spent on the project. "While the funding approved was not enough the application process, which highlighted and prioritised the proposal from a town renewal and economic point of view, the information it gathered and the considerable community support for the proposal has yielded a positive result and good news for the town. "It will provide a safe pedestrian connection between the Town and the Discovery Park and the potential to tap into the spending power that 120,000+ visitors annually bring." The project hit a stumbling block when it only received a grant of 100,000. Welcoming the investment, Cllr John Brennan added: This is fantastic news for the people of Castlecomer and for everyone involved with Castlecomer Discovery Park." A Kilkenny woman who was given incorrect test results and is now terminally ill with cervical cancer has settled her High Court action against a US laboratory for 2.5m. Vicky Phelan, 43, who lives in Annacotty, Limerick, was diagnosed with cancer three years after her smear test results of 2011 were incorrectly reported as being clear of any abnormalities. By the time she had another smear test in 2014 she had cervical cancer. A High Court action taken by Ms Phelan and her husband Jim Phelan against the Health Service Executive and Clinical Pathology Laboratories Inc, Austin, Texas, began last week. Approving the 2.5 settlement at the High Court this Wednesday, Mr Justice Kevin Cross described Ms Phelan as the most impressive witness he had ever encountered. He also praised both sides in the case for the speed with which the case was handled. The settlement with the US laboratory for 2.5m was made without admission of liability. The proceedings against the HSE were struck out. A portion of the monies will be paid into court and be held for the couple's two children who are now aged seven and 12. Speaking outside the court afterwards, Ms Phelan said there were no winners in the proceedings. 'There are no winners' terminally ill woman speaks after being awarded 2.5m settlement for missed cancer pic.twitter.com/CwemBjkckM RTE News (@rtenews) April 25, 2018 I am terminally-ill and there is no cure for my cancer. My settlement will be spent on mostly buying me time and on paying for clinical trials to keep me alive and to allow me to spend more time with my children, she told reporters. If I die, and I truly hope that wont be the case, the money will provide for my family, she added. To read more about Vicky's story, click here And news about a clinical trial in the US here Check out a recent fund raising event in her native Mooncoin here Also photo gallery here Williamsburg County School District Superintendent Dr. Rose Wilder meets Santee Electric President Robert Ardis during a reception held for her. Wilder was appointed to the position April 11, after S.C. Department of Education Superintendent Molly Spearman declared a state of emergency. Photo by Michaele Duke Kingstree, SC (29556) Today Considerable cloudiness. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. The Government spin continues to unravel. Stuff reports: Mark Darrow is a professional director, chartered accountant and Justice of the Peace who sits on numerous boards, including the New Zealand Transport Agency, and who lived in the Counties Manukau area for nearly 30 years. He leaves the board with a heavy heart and says he has had absolutely no explanation for why hes been removed. The story begins in December 2016 when four ministerial appointments were made under the then-National government. They were Darrow, Rabin Rabindran, Lester Levy and George Ngatai. Levy has already left, Ngatai is staying on, but for Rabindran and Darrow their time on the board has ended without warning simply a letter from Health Minister David Clark saying theyre being removed. Earlier this month Rabindran, who is the acting chair, and Darrow received a letter from Clark saying their position on the board was being reconsidered and they had until April 12 to make a case for why they should keep their jobs. Rabindran, fed up with how things had been handled, chose to respond by saying he didnt want to continue on the board regardless of Clarks final decision. Darrow, however, responded several times through until late on April 11 with documents outlining how the Board had dealt with various issues over the last year. But by 7.39am on April 13 Darrow had a response from Clark his time was up and his last day on the board would be May 2. Twelve days later however, and Clark is still telling media that the process around Rabindran and Darrows future is still underway despite them already having their termination letters. So is this just an excuse to appoint some new Directors? The shareholder can of course sack directors at any time, but to do so without giving any reason for doing so is very suspicious. Darrow said he has given Clark three chances to meet with him but had been declined or not given the courtesy of an answer on every occasion. To this day hes never met Clark, never spoken to him or received any correspondence from him other than a final notice letter and then his removal letter, he said. Not exactly good faith. He never rang me, never raised any issues and he wont meet with me. In the letters hes never even said what, if any, his concerns are no one, not him, his office or anyone in the Ministry of Health, has ever outlined to me any issue at all with my or the Boards performance. Which suggests an existing agenda. Suggestions sewage was running down the walls are a complete beat up and while there was a leak, it was in 2013/14 and was fixed, Darrow said. There is one type of PVC pipe in one building that remains a risk but the contract for repair has been signed and work is imminent. So for weeks the Government said this was symbolic of the public health system, which in fact it is only symbolic of their spin. Earlier this month Stuff revealed the DHB acting chief executive Gloria Johnson was at odds with Clark over what he was told about the state of Middlemore Hospitals problems when he visited on March 13. She says Clark was specifically told there were similar problems in multiple buildings, which Clark denies. He says there was no mention of any other urgent works other than the Scott Building. Clark and his adviser were both given dossiers of information that day that included the full remediation plan and costings but Clark says only the Scott Building was drawn to his attention. Another Minister who doesnt read his papers it seems. Darrow wasnt there the day of the visit but says hes received emails and has spoken to other people who were there who say Johnsons account of what happened was accurate and consistent. He says Clarks office contacted DHB asking for another copy of the information that was provided at that visit on the same day Stuff asked questions about it. So did the Minister just throw it away? Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More Reddit Pinterest Print Tumblr Black PR or a Mistake By Vladimer Napetvaridze The President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili,in response to the criticism of his presidential pardon cases, stated that black PR was used against him, which started in a disgusting way and ended poorly. Giorgi Margvelashvili thinks that in future, this kind of activities will be used many times against him:"We started consultations to improve a presidential pardon law and we will do it, but our society once again has seen the disgusting start and the poor end of another wave of black PR against me, and unfortunately, there will be more," Giorgi Margvelashvili said.On April 19, Mamuka Mdinaradze, the chairman of the faction "Georgian Dream" responded to the presidents statement. According to Mdinaradze, the pardoned prisoners who were convicted for a serious offense have been repeatedly committing serious offenses after being pardoned by the president.When the president speaks about the black PR against him, he should understand that it could not be otherwise, since he has pardoned thousands of persons convicted for a serious offense and hard crime, and over 500 of them have been repeatedly committing crimes. Processes of pardoning should to be improved", said Mdinaradze.Controversies over pardoned prisoners and their crimes have been resumed a few weeks ago when one of the pardoned prisoners killed a 25-year-old woman.In 2012, the Prime Minister of Georgia at the time- Bidzina Ivanishvili talked about the topic of pardoning prisoners and possible consequences of the processes: This [amnesty] will increase crime rates at some stages for a certain period of time. The society must treat the situation with understanding and must tolerate it. There are so many people in prison who deserve to be pardoned, but some of them will choose an old way of life, and in this case, we have police to help it and I believe that this is a healthy and natural process and the society must understand it," stated Bidzina Ivanishvili who was the leader of Georgian Dream and the Prime Minister of Georgia in 2012.The picture has altered since then- the representatives of the ruling party do not ask the society to understand and tolerate the crimes committed by the pardoned prisoners, but they are accusing a particular politician for this, in this case the president, who has the clemency rights.Reasons for such changes in the opinion about pardoning should be explored. One of the causes may be level of offenses that the pardoned prisoners have repeatedly committed after their clemency. Margvelashvilis transformation from a team member to a political opponent could have influenced the situation as well.Pardoning the prisoners who commit crimes again is a mistake, but blaming only Margvelashvili on a clemency system failure includes an element of negative PR.There will be the presidential elections held in Georgia in a few months. It is not known whether Margvelashvili will participate in the elections. It is not also clear who will be nominated as a candidate of Georgian Dream, but it is certain it wont be Giorgi Margvelashvili. The News in Brief Natia Mikeladze appointed as Government's Parliamentary Secretary Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili appointed Natia Mikeladze as New Parliamentary Secretary of the Government of Georgia on April 19, replacing Shalva Tadumadze, who had served at the post since October 2012. Kvirikashvili, while presenting her, noted that Mikeladze has a very rich experience in the public sector. She has served as Deputy Minister of Economy, Deputy Finance Minister, Deputy Minister of Energy, and recently she has been the Deputy of Shalva Tadumadze. I am convinced that Natia will be able to successfully accomplish this task with her experience and I wish her success in this very responsible job," said Kvirikashvili. The post of the Head of the Governments Parliamentary Secretary became vacant on April 12, when Shalva Tadumadze was appointed as Head of the Government Administration. PM on NATO Days in Georgia The 11th edition NATO Days started in Georgia on April 16 and will continue including May 1. The goal is to inform the Georgian public about the NATO integration process. The Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili made a statement about the event. This year these days are especially marked in regions, and it is of immense importance since the regions are populated by ethnic minorities. The Information Center on NATO and the European Union, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other agencies holds many events in order to provide our citizens with relevant information about the benefits that our country receives in the process of NATO integration. This cooperation brings the stability Georgia enjoys today. It should be noted that cooperation with NATO is at the highest level today. The progress we have in the process of implementing the basic package is crucial. The political support from the NATO member states and Secretary General is of the utmost importance, Kvirikashvili said. NATO Days are organized by the Information Center on NATO and EU, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NATO Liaison Office in Georgia and Embassy of Bulgaria in Georgia. (By Mariam Chanishvili) Jammu, Apr 24 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir cabinet today approved setting up of Jammu and Kashmir Renewable Energy Corporation. The decision was taken at the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti here. The corporation will be a private limited company wholly owned by the state government with an authorised share capital of Rs 1 crore fully paid up and subscribed by the Jammu and Kashmir government, an official spokesman said. The cabinet authorised the administrative secretary, Science and Technology Department, to take necessary steps for creation and setting up of the Renewable Energy Corporation. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Ulaanbaatar [Mongolia], Apr 25 (ANI): External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj, who is on a two-day visit to Mongolia, on Wednesday, addressed the Indian community in the Buddhist nation. "I am glad to see that the Indian community in Mongolia has already made a strong bond with the people of Mongolia. All of us gathered here will continue to work to further deepening and diversifying these ties," Swaraj said while addressing the Indian community in Mongolian capital city, Ulaanbaatar. "India and Mongolia are strategic partners and fellow democracies. Our relationship is based on firm foundation of our historical ties and mutual trust," the EAM added. Official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Raveesh Kumar took to Twitter and wrote, "No visit is complete without an interaction with our own abroad!" Earlier in the day, Swaraj delivered a keynote speech at an event to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Late Venerable 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche. This is Swaraj's maiden visit to Mongolia after she joined the office as the EAM in 2014. She arrived Mongolia on Tuesday after wrapping her one-day China's visit where she attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers' meeting in Beijing.(ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Ulaanbaatar, Apr. 25: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday met her counterpart Damdin Tsogtbaatar ahead of the 6th round of India-Mongolia Joint Consultative Committee meeting. Swaraj, who is the first Indian foreign minister to visit in Mongolia in 42 years, is on a two-day visit to the Buddhist nation. Earlier, she commenced the day with a visit to Gandan Tegchenling Monastery, where she was welcomed by the chief abbot of Mongolian Buddhism, Hambo Lama D. Choijamts. "The Gandan Tegchenling monastery is known to be the centre of Mongolian Buddhist and a treasure house of a valuable Buddhist heritage, knowledge and unique rituals." as said by Kumar," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. Later in the day, the foreign minister is scheduled to address a gathering to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of Buddhist Lama Kushok Bakula at Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar. She will also hold a meeting with the senior dignitaries and diplomats followed by an interaction with members of the Indian diaspora residing in Mongolia. Sushma Swaraj arrived Mongolia on Tuesday after wrapping her China visit where she attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers' meeting in Beijing. Swaraj is the first Indian foreign minister to visit in Mongolia in 42 years. She will emplane for India on Thursday. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Jamnagar, April 25: A Dakota DC-3 aircraft of 1940's era would be inducted shortly into the Vintage Aircraft Fleet of the Indian Air Force (IAF). The aircraft will land at Jamnagar Airbase today. The IAF organises ceremonial reception of this aircraft. A large fleet of Dakota DC-3 served in the IAF till 1988. It was one of the most versatile transport aircraft of its time. The first Dakota aircraft transferred the 1st Sikh Regiment to Srinagar during the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan in 1947 just after India's independence. It is World War II-era aircraft, which was built in 1944. It also served in the United Kingdom's (UK) Royal Air Force. The particular aircraft is recovered from the scarp from the UK by Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Rajeev Chandrashekhar. He gifted this aircraft to the IAF. The Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B.S Dhanoa had ceremonially accepted the aircraft into the IAF from Rajeev Chandrasekhar in February this year. His father air commodore M K Chandrasekhar (Retired) was a veteran Dakota pilot in the IAF. It will bear the tail number VP 905, the same one which the first such Dakota which transported troops to Srinagar on October 27, 1947. The Dakota will join the vintage fleet which was raised in Palam in 1988. Update on #DakotaHomebound : On 23 Apr 18, #VP905 got airborne from Bahrain at 1300 h & landed at Muscat International Airport, Oman. A short flight of 3H30Mins. Today the aircraft will land at Jamnagar. The Planning is done, Aircraft & the Crew is all set for the last lap home. pic.twitter.com/IBrr1exunj Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 25, 2018 Having started its flight from the UK on April 17, the Dakota DC-3named Parashuram-- will land on Indian in a short while. The aircraft had made halts at France, Italy, Greece, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman. The IAF had signed a contract with M/s Reflight Airworks Ltd London for upgrading its navigational systems. The Dakota is being flown to India by a joint crew of the Indian Air Force and M/s Reflight Airworks Ltd. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 25, 2018 02:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). A Crown, made in Ethiopia around 1740, made of gold and gilded copper at an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum in London, on April 5, 2018. (Photo: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images) The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is hosting an exhibit of treasures from Ethiopia but there is a hitch the gold artefacts were part of a loot carried out 150 years ago. The items, which include a gold crown, a gold chalice and a royal wedding dress, were stolen after the capture of Meqdela - the mountain capital of the then Ethiopian ruler, Emperor Tewodross II, in 1868. In 2007, Addis Ababa launched a formal restitution claim to have the treasures returned back to Ethiopia. This year as the exhibit goes on display, Ethiopia is renewing pressure for the return of its heritage artefacts. "Showing the looted Meqdela artifacts to the public is positive. We hope it is going to create pressure on them [the Museum] that will help us in our efforts to return the artifacts to where they belong," Desalegn Abebaw, the director of country's Cultural Heritage Inventory, Grading and Inspection, told Al Jazeera. The V&A museum has offered to give the items to Ethiopia on a long-term loan. The speediest way, if Ethiopia wanted to have these items on display, is a long-term loan that would be the easiest way to manage it, said Tristam Hunt, the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. However, Hunt stresses that this solution wouldn't be a "blanket policy" covering all of the museum's colonial treasures. The museum directors words are obviously to protect the items that UKs museums are full off rare and prized artefacts from the Crowns former colonies. Understandably, Ethiopia is not the only country requesting the UK to consider giving up the treasures adorning its museums. The Greek government has launched a long campaign to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece and even recruited Amal Clooney to fight its case. The sheer number of treasures looted from India is so many, the head of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the state body in-charge of India's heritage assets, told The Independent newspaper that the list of his country's treasures held abroad was "too long to handle" and there was a need for a "diplomatic and legal campaign" for their restitution from institutions including the British Museum, the Royal Collection and the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Among the items on India's list are the famed Birmingham Buddha at about 1500 years old taken from Sultanganj; Amravati railings, a series of limestone carvings dating from around AD100, acquired from a Buddhist temple in Andhra Pradesh by Victorian explorers; the Saraswati idol, a sculpture of the Hindu deity of knowledge from the Bhoj temple and last but not the least, the Kohinoor diamond, which sits in the heart of a crown made for the Queen Mother as the last empress of India. The increasing number of requests for restitution shows the time of cultural appropriation is over and it would behoove the British government to take a proactive stance when it comes to the repatriation of prized artefacts. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 25, 2018 04:44 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). 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. Los Angeles Times Until now, the loudest critics of the efforts have been bail agents who have filled Capitol committee hearing rooms, blasted legislators on social media and poured more than $600,000 into lobbying efforts to prevent changes to how judges set bail and how their businesses are regulated. Civil rights and criminal justice groups have aggressively fought back against campaigns from the bail industry. One tactic: exposing agents who have faced criminal charges on a public website. Jane Un, a Redlands bail agent who founded her own company in 2006, believes bail companies have too much power. There are a number of examples of practices for collecting the bail money that she calls abusive. Agents can use any citation to dock a client for breach of contract, such as arriving a few minutes late to a court appearance. She said clients have told her some agents hold people inside their offices until they or a relative can produce the money owed. Un got involved in the business after having her own negative experience following a brush with the law. (She was eventually cleared of real estate fraud and conspiracy to commit burglary, public records show.) She has privately reached out to lawmakers about the bad practices shes seen from bail agents motivated by greed. Jane Un, CEO and founder of Abba Bail Bonds, works with 24-year-old Tyshaun Middelton on posting bail. Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times Now shes being more vocal and calling for a change to the system. There are multilayered problems. Un sees her clients struggling from the beginning. When someone is arrested, judges set bail according to county-established fees based on the gravity of the alleged crime. The fixed amounts vary widely and are too high for many families, she said. Defendants must post the amount up front or pay a 10% fee to a bond company before they are released. Those who can't afford either option may remain behind bars up to an additional 48 hours before they are formally charged and see a judge. Un has helped petition courts for lower bail amounts on behalf of some defendants, according to court records and her clients something she says many others in her business dont do. Bail agents give [clients] the contract and dont explain it, and people sign and initial without fully reading or understanding it, she said. One of Uns most recent clients, 28-year-old Araceli Cortes, said a different bail company took $5,250 in payment for her husbands release, but lied to her and said he couldnt actually leave because of an immigration hold. Cortes said she checked with the jail and found there was no hold and that the company hadnt posted the bail. The agents refused to return her money. Jorge Garcia, 26, with wife Claudia Abarca and 2-year-old son Jaasiel Garcia, visits Jane Un, center left, who helped him make bail. Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times Another element of the business under scrutiny: recovery agents and bounty hunters. Many are paid on commission and dont need to be licensed, meaning they can have insufficient knowledge of search and seizure or other laws of arrest. Marc Bender is a recovery agent with Aladdin Bail Bonds, one of the largest companies of its kind in the state based on its number of employees. He said many bounty hunters dont get paid if they dont bring a person in, meaning there is a lot of incentive to cut corners. Un said she once overheard two bounty hunters that she hired bragging about taking an already stolen Louis Vuitton purse from the client. I am hearing all of this, and Im thinking, My god, the bounty hunters I hired are committing a crime and they are getting away with it, she said. She said the most she could do was not hire them again. Norma Alcala, a West Sacramento school board member who owned her own bail company in the late 1990s, remembers more-severe cases. In the male-dominated industry, she said, agents often did not return their clients collateral, things like luxury cars and expensive jewelry, and some were known for demanding couch bail, getting someone out in exchange for sexual favors. She left the business because she saw the rich buying themselves out of trouble while poor people were the ones who really suffer. Gov. Jerry Brown postpones negotiations over legislation to overhaul the bail system in California Investigator Marc Bender, a recovery agent for Aladdin Bail Bonds, looks for a person in Redlands who failed to appear for a scheduled court date. Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times Stories like these have prompted lawmakers to take a hard look at an industry of roughly 3,200 registered agents in California who collectively write about 175,000 bail bonds per year. Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) and state Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) are working to overhaul the bail system. One proposal would eliminate fixed bail fees and require counties to establish their own agencies to evaluate defendants for release. Another measure would compel bail companies to post the terms of their contracts online and direct the California Department of Insurance which regulates the bail bond industry to conduct a review of the surety corporations that back them. State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones supports the changes. Citing increases in complaints, he said in a February report that the state should also license bounty hunters, require more data disclosures from bail companies and create special units to investigate bail violations and enforce compliance. Department of Insurance data show that complaints against agents and companies more than tripled between 2010 and 2012, from 62 to 225 cases. In 2017, the number of complaints was 131, accounting for 10% of all violation allegations sent to the departments enforcement agency, even though bail makes up less than 2% of the insurance market. The figures could be even worse. State bail agent associations have told their members to stop filing complaints against other agents and companies while legislative debate is pending, according to a spokeswoman for the Insurance Department. One investigation out of Santa Clara County resulted in the arrests of more than 30 bail agents. They were charged in a scheme to scoop away business from competitors by paying inmates to recruit other inmates for them as clients. With limited state resources, only a few of the reported cases resulted in enforcement, such as agents having their licenses revoked or facing criminal charges. Legislation to increase funding for investigations and prosecutions was shelved in 2015 and 2016 amid heavy bail industry lobbying. Marc Bender, is one of a handful of bail agents that are calling for more oversight. (Video by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) The state also releases little public information about complaints. Thus, the Bail Reform Coalition, a group of civil rights and criminal justice organizations, on Monday detailed cases against agents and bounty hunters across the state. The research project is compiled from news stories, court records and regulatory proceedings. It lists agents including Fausto Atilano Jr., who, along with employees, has been charged in Riverside County with pointing guns at residents and, in one case, using a taser weapon against the daughter of a Wildomar mayor. Another offender on the groups website is former reality television star Arturo Alfred Torres, an agent with bond companies in Los Angeles and Orange counties. He pleaded guilty to felony grand theft in 2016 after investigators said he refused to return $18,000 to the mother of a client whose charges were dropped. The group cites vocal bail legislation opponents like Teresa Lynn Golt and Lisa Louise Golt. The sisters and founders of Lipstick Bail Bonds have testified at Capitol hearings and passed out chapsticks with their logo, clad in matching pink jackets. In one 2013 case, the Golt sisters were sued by a man alleging he was injured when they tried to detain him, pepper spraying him and shooting him with a stun gun and rubber bullets. The sisters countered the claims were false, and a judge dismissed the lawsuit. In 2000, they were charged with issuing bail without a license and illegally accessing private information from law enforcement computers. They were sentenced to probation after they pleaded no contest to lesser charges. Calls and emails to Atilano and the Golt sisters were not returned. Un, Bender and others in the industry are in favor of increasing standards, improving court evaluations of defendants and lowering bail fees. When it comes to the bigger picture, they remain staunch defenders of bail, saying it is needed to hold people accountable. Bender contended that counties need trained recovery agents like himself to bring people back to court. Some clients cycle in and out of jail, bailing out with different companies, and he believes court agencies wont have the resources to help them. He said his job isnt like what appears on reality television. He tries talking to his clients about turning their lives around. Every once in awhile, I do reach someone, Bender said. That is what its about for me. Those few people I could reach. jazmine.ulloa@latimes.com @jazmineulloa BMW has traveled to the biennial Beijing auto show to introduce a concept car named iX3. The thinly-veiled production model previews an upcoming electric crossover with a "made in China" label. The name says a lot about BMW's newest design study. It's an X3-sized crossover designed and sold by the company's i brand. Entirely electric, it's powered by an electric motor that draws electricity from a 70-kWh battery pack which stores enough juice for about 250 miles of range in the European testing cycle. That figure places it on par with the Jaguar I-Pace unveiled in Geneva last month and the Audi e-tron quattro we'll see before the end of the year. BMW predicts a 150-kilowatt quick charger can top up the battery pack in 30 minutes. The iX3 adopts an evolution of BMW's design language that moves away from the separate twin-kidney grille that has characterized the brand's cars since the early 1930s. The specific front end with blue accents hint at the electric powertrain hidden under the sheet metal; the rest of the car looks a lot like the X3 currently on sale. BMW hasn't released photos of the interior. Beijing: Hyundai Lafesta Apr 25, 2018, 1:46pm ET The sedan is the first production model to showcase Hyundai\'s new \'Sensuous Sportiness\' design philosophy. Hyundai has revealed the Lafesta sedan at the Beijing auto show, highlighting a more aggressive brand strategy for the Chinese market. Borrowing its name from the Italian word for 'festival,' the sporty sedan is said to be specifically geared for "a new mainstream generation from the '80s and '90s" in the world's largest automotive market. The Korean automaker last month introduced the Le Fil Rouge Concept, previewing a new design philosophy of "Sensuous Sportiness." The Lafesta is the first production model to follow the theme. "China is evolving quickly and so are Chinese people's attitudes. They are more self-confident, positive and creative," says Hyundai China design director Simon Loasby. "The Lafesta will help us reflect this shifting trend." The sedan is powered by a 1.6-liter GDi engine mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Additional details will be disclosed ahead of market arrival later this year. A Portlaoise man who held a knife to a priest's throat for some 25 minutes during a terrifying aggravted burglary at the local parochial house has been jailed for seven years with a portion of the sentence suspended. 'An attack on the fabric of civil society, was how Judge Keenan Johnson described the actions of John Lewis (28), St Brigid's Place, Portlaoise. At the recent sitting of Portlaoise Circuit Court, Lewis pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, at Portlaoise Parochial House on July 18, 2015. The accused and another male called to the house at 11.30pm on the night, where they encountered the sole occupant of the house, a locum priest who was looking after the parish while the regular clergy were away on pilgrimage. The two robbers had their faces covered and were armed with knives and the accused put the knife to the priests throat and pushed hard enough to hurt him. The priest was frightened and crying and begging the robbers to leave, but they kept demanding money and told him he would be killed if he didnt give them any. His pockets were searched and he was brought upstairs, while the accused kept the knife against his throat. The robbers stole 300, a HP laptop valued at 750 and a phone valued at 300 from upstairs, then brought the priest back downstairs with the knife still against his throat. Downstairs they located another laptop which they stole, The priest shouted at them to leave him alone and said he didnt have any more money. The accused then hit him on the head and the robbers sked for more money and he told them he didnt have any, to which Lewis then grabbed the priests hand and cut his thumb with the knife. The priest later told gardai that he feared his thumb would be cut off and he was in a lot of pain. The robbers then stole a bicycle from outside and made their escape. The incident lasted approximately 25 minutes and the priest sustained injuries to his neck and thumb. There were three surface scars on the right side of his neck, inflicted by the knife which the accused had. In a victim impact statement, the priest said he found the incident extremely shocking and he still has visions of it. He describes being scared when he thinks about it and being left in great despair, anxiety and fear. He felt totally helpless while the knife was held to his throat for 25 minutes, and indicated that he wanted to leave Ireland as early as possible after the incident. In sentencing, Judge Johnson said: It is shocking to think that somebody who was a visitor to this country should be subjected to such a frightening experience The actions of the accused and his accomplice have seriously undermined the respect and trust that members of the caring professions including the clergy are entitled to expect and as such constitute an attack on the fabric of society. The judge noted that the priest had since made contact with the accused and forgiven him for his offending, urging him to embrace a new life which is crime free. He is clearly a person who not only preaches the gospel, but lives the gospel by displaying the virtues of forgiveness and generosity, said Judge Johnson, adding that he wished the priest well and wanted to assure him that the terrifying experience he endured is not a true reflection of Ireland and its people. Judge Johnson said it was clear that the primary cause of the accuseds offending had been drug abuse. The accused had ten previous convictions, two of which were theft matters committed approximately 18 months after the aggravated burglary. The judge said that the fact the accused had been involved in further offending subsequent to this offence had to be deemed an aggravating factor. The fact that the offence took place at the residence of the victim is a further aggravating factor, he said. Citizens are entitled to feel safe in their homes and the type of offence to which the accused has pleaded guilty causes distress and alarm to the wider community and in particular vulnerable adults who are living on their own, said the judge. Judge Johnson imposed a sentence of seven years, suspending the last two years for a period of seven years, on condition the accused enter into a peace bond; he submit himself to probation supervision for 18 months post release; he complete a residential drug treatment programme; and he remain drug and alcohol free and provide urinalysis. The sentence was backdated to the date the accused went into custody, April 11 last. The dad of a baby who died at Portlaoise hospital says he and his wife have been left with more questions than answers by an inquiry which has caused upset and not given closure. Mark Molloy also called for laws to be introduced to ensure HSE management can be held to account when people suffer harm in the health service. He was speaking after the Medical Council cleared a non-consultant hospital doctor on most of the charges he faced at a Medical Council Fitness to Practice Inquiry over the care delivered to his wife Roisin during the delivery of their son Mark in 2012. Dr A was the obstetrics registrar. He was cleared of five of seven allegations. He was only found guilty of changing the notes retrospectively. The death was one of five which were the centre of a RTE Investigates programme. This led to several investigations into the hospital and care delivered. An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar was Minister for Health when one of these reports was published in 2015. It also led to national change. It also led to the Coombe Hospital becoming centrally involved in the running of the Portlaoise maternity serivce. However, no HSE has been officially disciplined. Mr Molloy believes the Medical Council outcome is another instance of nobody being held to account. "We have met Minister for Health Simon Harris on this on a number of occasions and we have future meetings planned with him," he told Morning Ireland on RTE Radio 1. "We have always said Mark's death is not down to the inactions of the people who were delivering him on the day. There were previous reports into deaths and injuries before Mark's in Portlaoise and the recommendations of those were not acted upon. "This comes back to management level in Portlaoise and at national level in relation to quality and patient safety. "We cannot continue to keep producing the same recommendations time and time again and no one is held to account over them. There has to be accountability at a management level and that is what we are discussing with the Minister. "We believe, and other senior people within the HSE also concur with us, that a legislative mechanism for accountability at management level in the HSE is absolutely necessary. "We have a new HSE director general coming in this year when Tony O'Brien retires. With a 100,000 staff, if he cannot hold his managers to account he or she is facing an uphill battle from the start. He said the Inquiry has left more questions than answers. "A lot of evidence was given under oath and lots of evidence came out that was in conflict to previous information that had been given. "What the inquiry was to give to us was to draw out information and try and establish what is the facts and what weren't the facts. Was the HSE's investigation correct? Was the inquiry correct? Was the inquest correct? Everything seemed to be conflicting with each other. "It doesn't give us any closure from that point of view. It just raised even more questions for us really. "You think of him so often. The local team are training in Under 6s and Under 8s and he should be down there. "Last September, the first day of school was very upsetting for us when we saw all the boys and girls going in that would have been his classmates. "We are reminded every day when we look back at pictures of our other boys when they were aged five and six and all the memories we have of them," he said. Mr Molloy also spoke about the Inquiry's outcome. "We were taken aback and very upset by the finding. Ultimately, everything really came down to the interpretation of the CTG (heartbeat monitor) being subjective and may depend on the reader's experience. He said the independent expert from outside the State told the Inquiry that this was a pathological CTG regardless of whether it was from Roisin or Mark. A pathological trace is regarded has having more than one non-reassuring or abnormal sign. Mr Molloy believes it was not correct to find that the doctor had not errored because others working with him found nothing was wrong. "But the yardstick that they appeared to base their verdict on was the in actions of others around the doctor on the morning that Mark died. "It is like mistaken majority syndrome rules here. You'd really have to question are we really going to base our medical inquiries on mistaken majority syndrome. Everyone failed to act on the pathological CTG and because of that the doctor is found not guilty of poor professional performance," he said. But he said the finding by the Medical Council is that everything is subjective and it depends on the readers experience. "Because other people around him did not find that there was anything wrong he didn't act and it seems to be the case that the interpretation of these CTGs in Ireland seems to come up time and time again. It certainly causes serious cause for concern as far as we are concerned," he said. A HSE report indentified CTG and failure to respond to fetal distress as the key reasons involved in the deaths of babies. Mr Molloy believes this is common. "Time after time every case we here on the TV or radio comes back to the interpretation of the CTG. The HSE completed their own risk assessment into CTG use last week and basically concluded that there is nothing to see here and everything is above board," he said. READ ALSO DOCTOR CLEARED OF MOST CHARGES ARISING FROM DELIVER AT PORTLAOISE MATERNITY A new school seems certain to rise from the ashes of the closure of Brannoxtown national school, writes Paul OMeara. A meeting on April 18, called by the local action group (Save Our School Brannoxtown) which is keen to see a new school open, was attended by a number of parents. It is understood that the new school will be operated by the Kildare Wicklow Education and Training Board or will be a Gaelscoil initiative or an Educate Together school. It is likely now that an open evening will take place aimed at establishing the level of interest from these organisations about opening a school in Brannockstown. Brannoxtown NS once had some 80 plus pupils but by the time the Archbishop of Dublin made the decision to effectively close the facility, the pupil population had fallen to three. The Department of Education will now oversee the future of the school an d will seek to confirm the level of interest among potential patrons. While the students who left Brannoxtown to enrol in other school sin the area are welcome to return to the new school, it is expected that most will remain where they are. Therefore most of the pupil population will enter as junior infants. Last weeks public meeting decided to invite the three educational bodies to an open day to discus their proposals for the new school and how it would be run. This will likely take place before the end of May but this is unconfirmed and a date for the meeting has yet to be finalised. The archdiocese of Dublin confirmed the closure of the primary school in Brannockstown two weeks ago. The school effectively closed for the first time in over 133 some four months ago, after the last remaining three pupils left six months ago. Save Our School Brannoxtown had highlighted the decline in pupil numbers - which it said fell from 87 in 2011 to none by last December. SEE ALSO: Kildare restaurants in running for top awards A man has been acquitted of a charge of failing to provide a breath specimen when arrested on suspicion of being drunk in charge of a vehicle, because there was no proof a breath test was carried out. An Evidenzer machine that takes breath specimen wasnt working in two Garda stations on the day Olawale Gazal was arrested, Naas Court heard. Mr. Gazal, with an address at 7 Moneen Drive, Rheban Manor, Athy, appeared before Naas District Court on April 19 last. Garda Dave McGrath gave evidence to the court that on January 11, 2012, he received a call of an alleged disturbance on Dublin Road, Athy at approximately 7.50am. When he arrived on the scene, he came across a female standing outside a vehicle, who seemed to be shouting at someone in the car. Garda McGrath said that when he pulled up horizontally to the car, a male (Mr Gazal), was in the drivers seat. Garda McGrath said that Mr Gazal then moved over to the passenger seat. Mr Gazal denied doing this. Mr Gazal told Garda McGrath that himself and the female shared the car, and both needed to use it, with Mr Gazal looking to drive to work in Dublin. Garda McGrath said there was a strong smell of intoxicant liquid off his breath, and asked the defendant for the keys of the car, which he subsequently found in his pocket. Garda McGrath brought him first to Athy Garda Station, and then to Carlow Garda Station, because the Evidenzer machine that takes breath specimens wasnt working. Garda McGrath said the machine in Carlow subsequently broke, so there was no test printed. There was no record of a breath test. He said he never received a reason why it didnt operate on that occasion. The solicitor for Mr Gazal said her client denied being in the drivers seat, and maintained that the woman who was the witness had thrown the keys on the car floor. Mr Gazal had taken them up and thats why they were in his pocket. The solicitor asked Garda McGrath if her client had been fully co-operative, to which he agreed. The court heard how there was four attempts made to take a breath specimen from Mr Gazal in Carlow Garda Station. Garda McGrath said there was no evidence that the Evidenzer machine was faulty until the fourth attempt was made. Mr Gazals solicitor added that her client gave every effort to provide a breath specimen, but it was not possible to get a reading so there was no evidence. However, Garda McGrath said he didnt believe Mr Gazal gave a full effort. The solicitor asked Garda McGrath why her client wasnt originally charged with failing to provide a specimen, to which he replied saying it was an unusual event, and he had to get direction first. The Garda said he had hoped to get a record of the breath test at the time. The solicitor said her client was pleading not guilty to both charges of drunk in charge of a vehicle and failing to give breath specimen based on the fact that he said he was not in charge of the vehicle and there was no statement a breath specimen was taken because of the faulty Evidenzer. The solicitor said that it was not the case Mr Gazal failed to give a specimen. She added that there seemed to be ambiguity in evidence that her client wasnt charged with failing to give a specimen on the day. She added that she was applying to the Judge for direction of dismissal based on this. Inspector David OSullivan said that as far as the State was concerned, there was enough evidence. He said it is the States case that Mr Gazal didnt provide a sample after four tries. He said that the subsequent charge was no later than 13 days after the incident, and that it was an unusual and complex case. Inspector OSullivan added that there was also an intent to drive. Judge Desmond Zaidan said from his experience of 30 years in the legal business, it is necessary to provide proof of a print out of a breath test to the court. On that grounds, he aquitted Mr Gazal of failing to provide a specimen. Judge Zaidan said on the charge of being drunk in charge of a vehicle, there was a presumption there he (Mr Gazal) intended to drive to work. He said he considered the evidence and submissions carefully, and believed the State proved this charge. He fined Mr Gazal 400 and disqualified him from driving for four years. Jockey Robbie Power, who rides for Kildare-based trainer Jessica Harrington, says the incident with Paul Townend at Punchestown yesterday was human error. In a bizzare finish, at the final fence of the Growise Champion Novice Chase, Townend veered right and pushed himself and Power off the track, with Townend sent through the rails. Paul Townend gets 21 days for dangerous riding after an extraordinary finale to the Growise Champion Novice Chase pic.twitter.com/vBolC94oWo At The Races (@AtTheRaces) April 24, 2018 Townend has issued a statement to Irish Racing saying he thought the fence had to be bypassed, saying he heard roaring on his left. He has apologised for a genuine mistake. Power has come to the defence of his fellow jockey, saying there are no hard feelings. He took to his BoyleSports blog saying; What happened at Punchestown yesterday with Paul Townend was just one of those unfortunate incidents, he said. He added; For some reason Paul thought that we were bypassing the last fence so he made a manoeuvre to bypass. He just got a brain freeze. It was a case of human error. He is a top class jockey and will put it behind him and move on hopefully. A 21-day ban was handed to Townend by the Punchestown stewards for dangerous riding. The application for grant aid for Carrick Community CCTV is now active and has been returned for final information before installation. Minister Charles Flanagan informed local TD Tony McLoughlin that only one application for the CCTV scheme has been received from the county, but more is expected. The application is under active consideration. The Carrick-on-Shannon application has been returned to enable them to provide the information necessary to qualify for grant-aid. Community-based CCTV systems can apply for grant-aid of up to 60% of the total capital cost of a proposed CCTV system, up to a maximum grant of 40,000. Chairperson of Carrick-on-Shannon Public CCTV Initiative, Joe Dolan is confident the project will be operational in late spring or early summer. The group exceeded their target of 70,000 funding and that they were awaiting written confirmation, required to draw grant aid, is pending. Another application is expected to be submitted to extend the Manor CCTV system into North Leitrim, The Manor system was installed seven years ago and cost 100,000. It has 22 fixed cameras and 5 ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras. The Manor CCTV system has aided the Garda Siochana, the Revenue Commissioners, the PSNI and others. Saturday 28th April is Workers Memorial Day, on this date every year all those injured or killed in work related accidents are remembered. In Ireland from 2008 to 2017 there were 501 people killed due to work activity with many thousands more seriously injured. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) along with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), Ibec and the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), are encouraging organisations to mark the occasion with awareness raising initiatives. Organisations are being encouraged to take this opportunity to review their approach to safety and health in the workplace and to consider initiatives such as in-house training sessions, toolbox talks or to promote safety through their websites, social media presence, and displays in offices. Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen TD, whose remit includes workplace safety and health, said that a collaborative approach is vital: The purpose of Workers Memorial Day is to remember accident victims and to collectively reflect on what can be done to prevent future tragedy. Workplace safety is everyones responsibility. Safety conditions are more likely to be improved when employers and employees engage proactively to identify risks in the workplace and the measures needed to eliminate them. I am calling on all businesses, trade unions, workers and self-employed persons to strive to make their workplaces safer and healthier. Martin OHalloran, Chief Executive of the HSA said: If you average out the number of fatal accidents over the last 10 years, nearly every week one person has died due to work activity. Clearly prevention is the best course of action to take. Our message to organisations is simple; protect your people, your business and reputation by identifying hazardous activity and putting plans in place to reduce risks. Dont wait until an accident or near miss occurs, make safety paramount today. Danny McCoy, Chief Executive of Ibec said: Workers Memorial Day is a day for everyone to re-focus on preventing and reducing the incidence of fatalities and injuries. All employers and workers must place their, and their colleagues, personal safety, health and welfare at the centre of their thinking and organisational culture. Ibec is also committed to supporting the many businesses that are showing their dedication to the Health and Wellbeing of their employees. As Health and Wellbeing becomes more prevalent, Ibec will continue to lead the way by providing our members with the support they need to ensure that workers get the benefit of such initiatives. Patricia King, General Secretary of ICTU said: Ensuring the safety and welfare of all at work can never be taken for granted. It requires ongoing training, greater awareness and better coordination in the workplace. Crucially, it also requires the input of trade unions and worker representatives into the decisions and policies that shape standards in their workplace. Congress would be supportive of any new initiatives or approaches that have as their goal the raising of health and safety standards across all workplaces. Tom Parlon, Director General of the CIF said: As an employers representative, we make a major investment in health and safety. Lets respectfully mark Workers Memorial Day 2018, grasping the significance of fallen work colleagues and renew a contract to work tirelessly to prevent further injury and loss of life. All persons in the workplace should engage with their employer on health and safety grounds and take measures to protect work colleagues. A number of Autism Units are expected to be built in Leitrim during this school term 2018/19. Minister Richard Bruton informed the Dail that 12 Autism Units will be built within Sligo/ Leitrim and Donegal this year. Since 2011 the number of ASD special classes have increased from two to five in Co. Leitrim. The new ASD classes will include five new Primary ASD classes and seven new Post-Primary ASD classes. In Leitrim there are currently special units at St Patrick's NS, Drumshanbo, Drumshanbo Vocational School, Carrigallen Vocational School, Mohill Community College and St Clare's Comprehensive, Manorhamilton. Minister Bruton was responding to a number of questions from Fianna Fail Deputy Marc MacSharry on the subject. Deputy MacSharry also queried the number of applications received for September 2018 by the special education needs organiser based in Manorhamilton, and details on the plans to accommodate the applications in the respective schools and areas. Minister Bruton outlined that the Department provides SNA support to over 12,000 extra pupils since 2011 and currently provides 13,400 resource teachers. Since 2011, the increase in SNAs has been 3,545, including an additional 2,080 posts in the last two years. The number of resource teachers has increased by 3,660 since 2011, including 1,600 additional posts in the past two years. The number of special classes has risen by 712 since 2011, including 277 new classes in the past two years. A professional report is needed before a child is placed in a special class. He told the TD, In schools where there are more applicants than places available a selection process may be necessary. This selection process and the enrolment policy on which it is based must be non-discriminatory and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants. However, this may result in some students not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) advises parents to seek to enrol their child, by applying in writing, to the school/s of their choice as early as possible. Details of all special classes for children with special educational needs are available on www.ncse.ie A LIMERICK woman who recently marked her first wedding anniversary has cause for more celebration as she will appear on Winning Streak this weekend. Lesley-Ann Danaher, 29, who lives with her husband Mike in Croagh, will be among the five participants appearing on the National Lottery Winning Streak game show on RTE One this Saturday night. The Limerick woman has worked as a quality control technician in Technopass in Ballina in Co. Tipperary for over a year and a half, is riginally from Old Mill, near Newcastle West. She was walking with a friend in Ballybunion on Saturday evening when she got a call from her aunt to let her know the good news. Her phone didnt stop hopping after with calls from friends and family wishing her the best of luck. Her parents, Tom and Mary, and two sisters, Ide and Vanessa from Old Mill will be in the RTE studios to support her on Saturday. Also in the audience will be a number of friends from Old Mill and from her college days in NUI Galway. Lesley-Ann graduated with a degree in Biomedical Science in 2011 and went back to NUIG to do a Masters in Toxicology. With any winnings from the show, Lesley-Ann is planning home improvements on her new home. The show airs at 8.35pm on Saturday, when presenters Marty Whelan and Sinead Kennedy will guide five players through Winning Streak, which gives them the chance to win cash, cars and luxury holidays. One will get the once-in-a-lifetime chance to spin the Grand Prize Wheel with a maximum prize of 500,000. THE Port of Foynes received a welcome boost this Wednesday with the arrival of the MV Astor which was carrying more than 700 passengers and crew. The 21,000 tonne vessel which is registered in the Bahamas arrived in Foynes at around 7am having travelled overnight from Glengarrif in West Cork. The eight-deck ship, which departed from Falmouth in the UK on Monday is due in Killybegs, County Donegal early on Thursday morning. Around 450 passengers mainly German nationals and 300 crew are on board for the cruise around Ireland. Drone footage recorded by Shanagolden native Cormac Hayes shows a fleet of buses on standby at Foynes Port as the Astor arrived to bring the passengers to tourist attractions across the Mid West. A spokesperson for Shannon Foynes Port company confirmed the guests were bussed to Limerick city and Killarney while many also took time out to visit the local Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum. The 176.5m long ship which includes a spa and wellness centre, an indoor swimming pool and a sauna is operated by Cruise and Maritime Voyages, which is based in the UK. Apr 24, 2018, 3 PM The 1921 Cilicia postage due set of four stamps of the French occupation (Scott J13-J16) is difficult to find in sound condition in grades of fine-very fine or better, and is a good buy at the 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue values. Tip of the Week By Henry Gitner and Rick Miller Although they often feature relatively low 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue values, back-of-the-book classic foreign stamps are often exceedingly difficult to find offered for sale. Cilicia, formerly part of the Hittite, Persian, Macedonian, Roman and Byzantine empires and an Armenian kingdom, is located on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. Conquered by the Seljuk Turks and later by the Ottoman Turks, it was part of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of World War I. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Cilicia was occupied by France from December 1918 to October 1921. More than 170,000 Armenian refugees, survivors of the genocide conducted by the Turks, were resettled in the area, originally with the idea of creating an independent Armenian state. Because of squabbles between various Armenian groups, as well as between the British and French, the idea was abandoned and the territory returned to the new Republic of Turkey. In 1921, French authorities overprinted and surcharged French postage due stamps with O.M.F. Cilicie and with new denominations in piasters (Scott J13-J16). Connect with Linns Stamp News: Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter The Scott Standard catalog values the set at $43.50 in both unused hinged condition and used condition. This set is difficult to find sound in either condition, as well as in grades of fine-very fine or better. It is a good buy at the Scott catalog values. Egyptian archaeologists have announced a rare discovery out of a temple along the Nile River: the carved head of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. The stone head depicts the emperor, who ruled from A.D. 161 to 180, with a shock of curly hair and a meandering beard-mustache combo, according toEgypt's antiquities ministry. The carved head was found in a well next to the temple of Kom Ombo, which was originally built around 180 B.C. and is located in Egypt's Aswan governorate. The temple was dedicated to two Egyptian gods, the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon-headed Horus, according to The British Museum. Archaeologists have excavated so many mummified crocodiles from cemeteries around the temple that, in 2012, the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities opened a museum next door dedicated to croc mummies. When Kom Ombo was built, Egypt was under the control of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Macedonian Greeks. The Romans conquered the Ptolemy family in 30 B.C., bringing Egypt under Roman rule. Nevertheless, it is rare to find statues of the emperor Marcus Aurelius in Egypt, according to the country's antiquities ministry. The statue fragment bearing Aurelius' likeness was discovered during a project meant to reduce groundwater at the Kom Ombo temple. It was 49 feet (15 meters) deep in a well that was once used as a gauge to determine the Nile's depth. The head measures about 16 inches (40 centimeters) tall, 13 inches (33 cm) wide and a little over 13 inches (34 cm) thick. The findings have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Original article on Live Science. About 1,500 years ago, in a ring-shaped fort, at least 26 men and women were massacred. Many of them were taken by surprise, with not even enough time to face their attackers and their bodies were left to rot, unburied, on the Swedish island of Oland in the Baltic Sea. Archaeologists have since excavated the 1,500-year-old fortress, along with other nearby structures, at a site that's now called Sandby borg. So far, they've discovered five caches of jewelry and the remains of the massacred individuals. "The trauma evident on several skulls, on one man's shoulder and one man's hip resulted from blows aimed at the back or the side of the bodies," the researchers wrote in an article published in the April issue of the journal Antiquity. "This pattern leads us to conclude that the perpetrators comprised a large number of people, striking simultaneously in several houses, and that several of the victims were not in a position to defend themselves." [See Images of the Site of the 1,500-Year-Old Massacre] In one house, archaeologists found the remains of at least nine people who appear to have been killed suddenly. The skeleton of half a herring suggests that these individuals were in the process of eating when they were suddenly attacked, the archaeologists wrote. The dead were left unburied. "In houses where the roof turf did not collapse as a result of fire, the bodies would have been left to decompose unburied where they lay, until the houses eventually caved in," the archaeologists wrote. "In most cases where human remains have been found in connection with battlefields or scenes of brutal violence, the bodies have been buried in mass graves," the archaeologists wrote. "This is not the case at Sandby borg, where victims were instead left where they had been killed." The discoveries leave archaeologists with a series of questions: Who attacked the inhabitants? Why did they do it? And why were the inhabitants left unburied? While the archaeologists don't have firm answers, they have turned up some clues. And since only 9 percent of the site has been excavated so far, plenty of yet-to-be-discovered artifacts could shed light on these puzzles, said study co-author Ludvig Papmehl-Dufay, an archaeologist at Kalmar County Museum in Sweden. [The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth] The inhabitants seemed to have been wealthy or at least they wore exquisite jewels. "Each deposit contained a gilded-silver relief brooch along with various items, such as glass beads, finger rings and silver pendants," the archaeologists wrote. The brooches "were probably part of aristocratic women's jewellery sets." "The riches found during the excavations clearly indicate that the fort was inhabited by people of the ruling elite. The reason that the jewelry caches and other riches were left was probably that they were hidden away, and that no-one lived who knew of them and could recover them," Papmehl-Dufay said. The archaeological history of Oland Island offers another clue. Sandby borg is one of at least 15 forts found on the island that date back to the same time. The people who controlled these different fortresses may have been rivals. The fact that the victims were left unburied "leads us to believe that the perpetrators were still in the vicinity afterwards and possibly prevented people [from taking] care of the dead. This in turn could mean that the attack was carried out by another elite group on the island, possibly connected to another fort," Papmehl-Dufay told Live Science. Analysis of the artifacts revealed that the massacre likely happened during the late fifth century A.D., after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (which occurred in A.D. 476). "The assault on Sandby borg may have been the result of subsequent power struggles on the island, at a time when the political map and power structures were being rewritten across the European continent, the archaeologists wrote. There may also have been taboos connected to this fortress that deterred people from entering the fort and burying the dead. Even today, the locals have fears about the site. "Ever since we started working on the site, we've been told various versions of oral histories from locals claiming that the site should be avoided since it is 'a dangerous place,'" Papmehl-Dufay said. Taboos about the site may have existed in ancient times as well. "I do find it most likely that the event was remembered and that it triggered strong taboos connected to the site, possibly brought on through oral history for centuries," said Papmehl-Dufay. The scientists are currently writing up the results of their excavations and analysis. They are also applying for funding to continue to excavate. Originally published on Live Science. A photo of the Shigir sculpture reconstructed by D. Lobanov in 1890-91. The figure remained displayed in this shape until 1914. A towering, human-like figure carved from wood and discovered in a Russian peat bog is more than twice as old as the Egyptian pyramids, scientists have found. Gold miners discovered pieces of the elongated structure, dubbed the Shigir Idol, in 1894. But it wasn't until about 100 years later, in the late 1990s, that researchers did radiocarbon dating and found that the structure was about 9,900 years old, making it the oldest wooden monumental sculpture in the world, the researchers said. But this dating wasn't reliable because it included only two pieces from the idol. So scientists recently did a more exhaustive analysis and discovered that the idol is much, much older than previously thought about 11,500 years old meaning it was constructed just after the last ice age ended. [25 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries] This date makes the Shigir Idol more than double the age of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, which was built in about 2550 B.C. In addition to updating the sculpture's birthday, the researchers found a previously unknown face carved into it, said study co-researcher Thomas Terberger, an archaeologist at the State Agency for Heritage Service of Lower Saxony, in Hannover, Germany. The head of the wooden Shigir sculpture (1-6) and anthropomorphic face on fragment (7-10). (Image credit: E.F. Tamplon; Antiquity 2018) Incredible find It's a "miracle" that the Shigir Idol survived all this time, Terberger told Live Science. Researchers began studying the larch-carved figure after it was found in the Shigir peat bog, in Russia's Middle Ural Mountains. Pieced together, the sections of the humanoid idol stood more than 17 feet (5 meters) high. Unfortunately, some of those sections have since been lost, so the idol now stands about 11.1 feet (3.4 m) high, Terberger said. The public can see the carved anthropomorphic figure at the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum. "When I visited the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum for the first time, I was completely surprised by seeing this large wooden sculpture on display in the exhibition," Terberger said. "If you come closer to the sculpture, you will notice that the 'body' is decorated by geometric ornamentation and a few small human faces." A drawing of the Shigir sculpture, including (A) the position of the anthropomorphic face discovered in 2014 and (B) the position of an anthropomorphic face found in 2003. (Image credit: Tolmachev (1914); Antiquity 2018) Some 20 years after it was discovered, researcher Vladimir Yakovlevich Tolmachev drew illustrations of the idol, noting the structure's five faces, the researchers of the new study noted. In 2003, a sixth, animal-like face with a rectangular nose was found by study co-researcher Svetlana Savchenko, a scientist at the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum. Just like a hidden-pictures game, the idol surprised researchers again in 2014, when Savchenko and lead study researcher Mikhail Zhilin, an archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeology in Moscow, discovered a seventh face concealed in the gnarled wood. These facial findings show that the early hunters, gatherers and fishers of Eurasia were making what was possibly spiritual art during the early Mesolithic, the researchers said. "Such a big sculpture was well visible for the hunter-gatherer community and might have been important to demonstrate their ancestry," Terberger said. "It is also possible that it was connected to specific myths and gods, but this is difficult to prove." Terberger noted that many researchers studying early humans focus on the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East. But the Shigir Idol indicates that these researchers should widen their search, given the "unexpected, complex monumental wooden art objects" of the Ural Mountains, he said. The study was published online today (April 25) in the journal Antiquity. The research was made possible by Natalia Vetrova, the director of the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum, Terberger added. Original article on Live Science. For billions of years, Earth has rotated in the same direction as the sun but what if that direction were reversed? Deserts would cover North America, arid sand dunes would replace expanses of the Amazon rainforest in South America, and lush, green landscapes would flourish from central Africa to the Middle East, according to a computer simulation presented earlier this month at the annual European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2018 in Austria. In the simulation, not only did deserts vanish from some continents and appear in others, but freezing winters plagued western Europe. Cyanobacteria, a group of bacteria that produce oxygen through photosynthesis, bloomed where they never had before. And the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), an important climate-regulating ocean current in the Atlantic, faded away and resurfaced in the northern Pacific Ocean, scientists reported at the conference. Related: What if the world stopped turning? During Earth's yearlong orbit around the sun, our planet completes a full rotation on its axis which runs from the North Pole to South Pole every 24 hours, spinning at a rate of about 1,040 mph (1,670 km/h) as measured at the equator. Its rotation direction is prograde, or west to east, which appears counterclockwise when viewed from above the North Pole, and it is common to all the planets in our solar system except Venus and Uranus, according to NASA. As Earth rotates, the push and pull of its momentum shapes ocean currents, which, along with atmospheric wind flows, produces a range of climate patterns around the globe. These patterns carry abundant rainfall to humid jungles or divert moisture away from rain-parched badlands, for example. Going retro To study how Earth's climate system is affected by its rotation, scientists recently modeled a digital version of Earth spinning in the opposite direction clockwise when viewed from above the North Pole, a direction known as retrograde, Florian Ziemen, co-creator of the simulation and a researcher with the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany, told Live Science in an email. "[Reversing Earth's rotation] preserves all major characteristics of the topography like sizes, shapes and positions of continents and oceans, while creating a completely different set of conditions for the interactions between the circulation and the topography," Ziemen said. This new rotation set the stage for ocean currents and winds to interact with the continents in different ways, generating entirely new climate conditions around the world, the researchers reported in a project overview. Spin cycle To simulate what would happen if Earth were to spin backward (retrograde instead of prograde), they used the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model to flip the sun's rotational path and thereby flip Earth's rotation and reverse the Coriolis effect, an invisible force that pushes against objects traveling over a rotating planet's surface. Once those alterations were in place and the model showed Earth spinning in the opposite direction, the researchers observed the changes that emerged in the climate system over several thousand years, as feedback among the rotation, atmosphere and ocean went to work on the planet, the scientists wrote in a description of the work, which they are currently preparing for publication. Overall, the researchers found that a backward-spinning Earth was a greener Earth. Global desert coverage shrank from about 16 million square miles (42 million square kilometers) to around 12 million square miles (31 million square km). Grasses sprouted over half of the former desert areas, and woody plants emerged to cover the other half. And this world's vegetation stored more carbon than our forward-spinning Earth, the researchers discovered. However, deserts emerged where they never had before in the southeastern U.S., southern Brazil and Argentina, and northern China. Turn, turn, turn The change in rotation also reversed global wind patterns, bringing temperature changes to the subtropics and midlatitudes; continents' western zones cooled as eastern boundaries warmed, and winters became significantly colder in northwestern Europe. Ocean currents also changed direction, warming seas' eastern boundaries and cooling their western ones. In the simulation, AMOC the ocean current responsible for transporting heat around the globe disappeared from the Atlantic Ocean, but a similar and slightly stronger current arose in the Pacific, carrying heat into eastern Russia. This was somewhat unusual, as a prior study that modeled a reverse-spinning Earth did not see this change, Ziemen told Live Science in an email. With retrograde rotation, a vast desert belt would form in the Americas (left), compared with its present position in Africa and the Middle East (right). (Image credit: Courtesy of Florian Ziemen) "But as the AMOC is the result of many complex interactions in the climate system, there can be a lot of reasons for this difference," he said. Related: Earth pictures: Iconic images of Earth from space Altered sea currents in the Indian Ocean also allowed cyanobacteria to dominate the region, which they have never managed to accomplish while the Earth spins in its current direction, the researchers discovered. But for Ziemen, the greening of the Sahara was the most intriguing change that appeared in their "backward" model of Earth. "Seeing the green Sahara in our model got me thinking about the reasons why we have a desert in the Sahara, and why there is none in the retrograde world," Ziemen said. "It is this thinking about the most basic questions that fascinates me about the project." Original article on Live Science. An artist's interpretation of how the sloth likely flailed its arms around to protect itself against the human hunters. A bigfoot-like ground sloth had unwelcome company about 11,000 years ago. No matter which way the giant creature went, ancient humans followed it, stepping in its elongated, kidney-shaped paw prints as they tracked the furry beast, a new study suggests. Finally, it seems that the giant ground sloth couldn't take it anymore. It reared up on its hind legs likely standing as tall as 7 feet (2.1 meters) and swung its sharp, sickle-shaped claws around, looking at the unwanted human interlopers, according to an analysis of the fossilized foot, paw and claw marks left at the site. What happened next remains a mystery. It's possible the humans attempted to kill the sloth and may have succeeded, said study co-researcher Matthew Bennett, a professor of environmental and geographical sciences at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom. [Photos: These Animals Used to Be Giants] But, given that the vast majority of hunts led by modern-day hunter-gatherers aren't successful, and that "sloths are so densely muscled," it would have been hard to overpower the animal with a stone weapon, so an outright kill is unlikely, the researchers wrote in the study. The Alkali Flat at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. Note the series of excavated footprints in the foreground. (Image credit: Matthew Bennett/Bournemouth University) Researchers found the prints left by this giant ground sloth and humans in New Mexico's White Sands National Monument park in April 2017. The find was a breakthrough for study lead researcher David Bustos, of the National Park Service, who had long suspected that fossilized footprints of ancient humans were hidden on the grounds of the monument. Even more surprising was the fact that some of the human footprints were found inside the sloth tracks, indicating that ancient people had followed the prints while they were still fresh in the sandy mud. Track marks from other giant, now-extinct animals, including mammoths, wolves, big cats, camels and cattle have also been found on the fossil-rich site. However, there were fewer than a dozen sloth track marks with human footprints inside, Bennett said. These sloth tracks were likely left by either Nothrotheriops or Paramylodon and were likely made by several animals of different ages, the researchers said. A human footprint inside of a sloth track. This composite track is part of a trackway in which a human appears to have stalked a sloth. The sloth prints were between nearly 12 and 22 inches (30 and 56 centimeters) long. (Image credit: Matthew Bennett/Bournemouth University) Calling Sherlock Holmes The prints reveal that ancient humans and giant ground sloths did, in fact, interact at the end of the last ice age. This evidence is key to figuring out whether humans stalked and hunted the furry giants, which went extinct around this time, as did other large mammals, including the mammoth and North American horse. There's an ongoing debate about whether human hunters or climate change ultimately led to the extinction of these large creatures, Bennett said. According to a 2016 study in the journal Science, a perfect storm of humans and a warming climate doomed the ice age giants. This composite cast shows a range of footprints found at the White Sands National Monument field site. (Image credit: David Bustos/National Park Service) Beyond this, it's challenging to play Sherlock Holmes on a trackway that was made 11,000 years ago. But researchers have some ideas. One is that human hunters were following and harassing the giant ground sloths, distracting them so they could be more easily hunted, the researchers said. Another idea is that humans' actions were playful and curious rather than ominous. "But human interactions with sloths are probably better interpreted in the context of stalking and/or hunting," the researchers wrote in the study. "Sloths would have been formidable prey. Their strong arms and sharp claws gave them a lethal reach and clear advantage in close-quarter encounters." [Sloth Quiz: Test Your Knowledge] The study is a "solid" one "they have done a very thorough job of documenting and analyzing the trackways," said William Harcourt-Smith, a paleoanthropologist at Lehman College and the American Museum of Natural History, both based in New York City, who was not involved with the research. But it's good to be cautious when imagining the ancient scene, Harcourt-Smith said. It's possible that the sloths made the tracks and humans followed an hour or so later meaning that the humans weren't hot on the sloths' tail. "How many times have children, or even adults, followed in the footsteps of others in the snow or sand, simply for the fun of it?" Harcourt-Smith told Live Science. However, it's definitely possible that the "flailing" marks that the sloth made in the ground with its enormous claws were prompted by the presence of humans, Harcourt-Smith said. But without any surviving weapons or butchered animal bones, it's anyone's guess what happened next, he said. The study was published online today (April 25) in the journal Science Advances. Original article on Live Science. WASHINGTON - "How," a woman next to me muttered, "can you have mimosas and no orange juice?" We were at the bottomless mimosa refill station at BrunchCon, a sprawling brunch festival that will stop in four cities this spring and summer, and for a brief moment, the orange juice had run dry. The brunchers were restless. We dared not say it aloud, but without that sunny splash of citrus, the elegant facade of brunch would collapse. Without juice, this was just drinking. "You can never have too many mimosas," Lincoln Powell, 35, visiting from Ahoskie, North Carolina, explained as his wife posed for photos in front of an ivy-covered BrunchCon backdrop and organizers located more OJ. Actually, I protested, it is entirely possible to have too many. "You can?" That was debatable at BrunchCon, which set up shop for one Sunday at the waterfront tourist magnet outside Washington, D.C., known as National Harbor, drawing 2,500 people who armed themselves upon entry with tote bags that proclaimed "Brunch so hard" and plastic flutes brimming with cheap champagne and orange juice. For more than $60 a person, they were entitled to scoop up tiny pitaya bowls piled with granola and berries, and crostini with chorizo and adorable little sunny-side-up quail eggs, and spoonfuls of cookie dough, and strange little discs that its purveyor promised would taste like a molecular-gastronomy version of a B.L.T., if you could get past the fact that they looked like communion wafers sprinkled with Fruity Pebbles. But the festival, whose bright orange logo bears the unmistakable silhouette of a mimosa glass, recognizes that cocktails are the lifeblood of the bruncher, the reason to rise in the morning (and the cause for a nap before dinner). Brunch has waxed, the founder of BrunchCon told me, as our interest in religion has waned. "I don't have time to get up at 7 or 8 to go to church. But I do have time to go brunch," confirmed Monica Zurita, 32, of Vienna, Virginia. Brunch is its own kind of religion. Or at least a pagan ritual, practiced each Sunday by urban elites who are known to pound so many mimosas that it's easy to imagine a nationwide shortage of Andre on the horizon. Brunch is a lifestyle. And friends, it is also a lewk, and that lewk is off-the-shoulder and frilly, and hobbles up the sidewalk in flesh-toned stilettos. Brunch wears coral-colored khakis and pocket squares tucked into baby-blue slim-fit blazers, or sometimes it rolls out of bed and throws on a cleanish T-shirt that says "Resting brunch face" or "You can't brunch with us." All of this - but especially the mimosas and the loud and leisurely ways of brunchers - is why every Sunday, brunch cleaves us into Two Americas. One America sneers at the drunken sea of humanity that emerges from restaurants at 4 p.m. to pose for the 'Gram (and, occasionally, to puke in the streets). The other brunches. We sidled up to the brunchers at BrunchCon in the hope that someone could explain our deep divide. You, ma'am, in the "Shut the brunch up" tank top - why do we, as Americans, feel compelled to brunch so hard? "I don't know," replied Amanda, a 26-year-old from Baltimore who, approximately five minutes into the VIP hour, had already had words with organizers over her two-fisted mimosa strategy. "I'm too drunk to think about it," she sighed. --- The first mention of the Sunday hybrid meal is often attributed to a late-19th-century British scribe, Guy Beringer, whose essay "Brunch: A Plea," called for a lighter, more sociable meal than the traditional laborious post-church meatfest. Naturally, though, it was Americans who turned brunch into an excuse to day-drink. In her book "Brunch: A History," sociologist Farha Ternikar traces the rise of the boozy brunch to Prohibition, when drinkers discovered that a little orange or tomato juice was a perfect camouflage for whatever illicit substances were in one's glass. By the 1940s, brunch emerged as a status-symbol meal, with omelet stations and cellists at swank hotels, or fussy, tableside bananas foster at dining destinations such as Brennan's in New Orleans. It was a new ritual for the wealthy; for everyone else, a splurge reserved for Easter or Mother's Day. Now, there are day-long DJ brunches in Dubai, and whole restaurants devoted only to brunch in Chicago. And a meal that should be innocuous - who can object to a little French press and eggs after sleeping in? - has triggered a great national hand-wringing. Brunch has become yet another insufferable symbol of millennial idleness, proof that foodies are the absolute worst. (Go on, just search for the phrase "brunch sucks," and realize that there are as many brunch thinkpieces as there are iterations of avocado toast.) Shawn Micallef, a Toronto Star columnist, even penned "The Trouble With Brunch," a book that connects brunch culture with a kind of class warfare. Micallef's call-out netted him his first death threat. People don't appreciate it, he notes sympathetically, when you take shots at things they love. And so now, he wants to make clear: "Brunch is not the enemy. I don't actually condemn it." But. It's just all the baggage that brunch has taken on. There's the wait for a table. The tired servers and overpriced, middling food. (Anthony Bourdain has inveighed against the stale moonrocks that are called home fries.) There is the avoidance of the gym and chores and adulthood. The willfully decadent day-drinking, which Micallef sees as a way for the middle class to feel as if it's living dangerously - a bourgeois distraction. "Brunch," he says, "is like a little bomb you set off in your day." --- According to Google Trends, searches for "brunch" have climbed steadily worldwide since 2004. But the area that Googles the word "brunch" more than anywhere else? Washington. It's no surprise, really, given that the city's population has, in the past decade, grown increasingly young, urbane and, well, lonely. "I grew up watching 'Sex and the City,' and they were always brunching," explained Richard Adams, 36, of D.C., at BrunchCon with his husband and friends. Now it's as if he's Carrie. "My friends are my family," Adams says. Mimosa mornings are the family meal. So, the capital city is the capital of brunch, and ground zero for brunch backlash: We have drag brunches and "day parties," a "Bad & Boozy Trap Brunch" and hookah brunch and the particularly debaucherous LaBoum Brunch, a party where the shades are drawn and phones are locked away. At LaBoum, "people's pants have come off, mysteriously," somewhere between the breakfast pastries and the frittatas, said Christopher Lynch, a restaurateur who co-founded the weekly party nearly a decade ago. "People's bras have come off, mysteriously." Brunch in Washington once was a meal "where you had to really consider if you wanted to have an alcoholic drink, because we're so boring, that stodgy," he says. But "somewhere along the way, this bottomless thing came into play." Bottomless - which keeps brunchers drinking for hours for one low, low price - then rippled through the restaurant community, he says, particularly in cities where restaurants operate like dominoes, one teetering directly next to another. Now, Sunday morning looks an awful lot like Saturday night. "I remember people just falling out of La Boum into the tree box," said Lynch. "And I was like, 'This is not a good look for you. Or me." Lauren Bliss of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, came to BrunchCon with her daughter, Lindsay Edwards, in matching T-shirts ("Momma needs a mimosa") to mark her 59th birthday. She remembers the time before bottomless, when you might have a drink or two, a little hair of the dog, but the champagne didn't flow quite so readily. Bliss taught the kids a few things about drinking, she said with a smirk as she balanced a spicy bloody mary. "They taught me a few things, too." Sarelyn Radecke launched BrunchCon in Los Angeles in 2016, when she was just 24 and working in marketing for the event ticketing site Eventbrite. Observing which events sold briskly taught her that "anything involving alcohol does really well." A brunch festival checked all the boxes: food + booze + a selfie-friendly "experience," in the parlance of those who market to millennials. She added a DJ, who flitted from Cardi B to Bell Biv DeVoe while the brunchers turned the pavement into a makeshift dance floor and got to twerking. Yes, at brunch. "There's a classy brunch culture, and a not-classy brunch culture," Radecke acknowledged. The drinking "may be a little destructive," but she argued that it's largely the domain of the young. "I don't see what the problem is. That specific culture, you grow out of it." For now, the brunch set is living a life of leisure that can, she said, begin with pancakes at 10 a.m. and end, godknowshow, at 10 p.m. "What else are you doing on Sunday?" said Grace Kim, 26, of Rosslyn, Virginia, her glittered eyelids twinkling in the sun. She knew brunch has its haters. She proclaimed it her favorite meal. "It's a classy drinking situation," she says. "It's what adults do." San Antonios hardcore chicken fanatics may have to change their Thursday lunch plans because Pollos Asados Los Nortenos is officially back in business after a lengthy closure. The popular restaurant at 4642 Rigsby on the Southeast Side will open its doors at 10 a.m. Thursday. Were expecting a big crowd, so were opening an hour earlier than normal, owner Frank Garcia told the Express-News on Wednesday. Ive been getting phone calls and texts every single day the past seven months from people trying to find out when we are opening. Everybody is so excited. I already had one person tell me theyve told 100 people. RELATED: Trendy Southtown eatery will no longer serve diners The restaurant has been closed since Sept. 29, when the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality filed a lawsuit against it for violating the Texas Clean Air Act. Since then, Garcia has installed a new enclosed outdoor grill space thats significantly larger than the former space and outfitted it with a new filtration and smoke-scrubbing system that was large enough to fill up a long-haul trailer bed. Its been very exhausting and stressful, but we received the help we needed from the city, Garcia said. We obey by the law, and thats what weve been going through every detail to do. We want to keep the city, environment and the neighbors happy. The billowing smoke from the grilled chicken always has been the restaurants signature: It could be seen, and smelled, from blocks away. But it created a rift with neighbors, who cited health concerns about the air quality, and became an issue with city and state officials. Garcia said that during a test run of the new system, they fired up the grill, starting it with the charcoal and oil, and no smoke escaped. Im pretty sure once we fire up the whole pit, there will be something coming out, but it will be legal and under those environmental limits, Garcia said. It shouldnt be different than any other restaurant that grills meats. RELATED: 4 Fiesta San Antonio cocktails that go way beyond beer Pollos Asados Los Nortenos was so popular with area diners that the restaurant cooked between 750 to 800 whole chickens a day on mesquite charcoal, while a line of customers often snaked around the building. The most popular order is a half chicken served with tortillas, rice, grilled onions and jalapeno and green and red salsa. The menu also includes grilled burgers and fajitas. The employees are ready to get back to work, Garcia said. Were ready to serve San Antonio again. Pollos Asados Los Nortenos, 4642 Rigsby, 210-648-3303. Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. Closed Mondays. Facebook: PollosAsadosLosNortenos cblount@express-news.net | Twitter: @chuck_blount | Instagram: bbqdiver Two brothers have been arrested in connection with recent armed robberies at local maquinitas, police said. Laredo police said Rodolfo Ramos, 23, and Ricardo Ramos, 27, are responsible for the heists at Winners Amusement on San Bernardo Avenue and Big Bear Amusement, 301 Market St. Each was served with warrants on charges of five counts of aggravated robbery with a firearm. More arrests are pending, said Investigator Joe E. Baeza, LPD spokesman. READ ALSO: Border Patrol agent opens fire on armed suspects who robbed Laredo maquinita Police said on Monday that investigators obtained evidence from the surrounding locations at Big Bear Amusement. Authorities identified the suspect vehicle as a white Dodge Ram with customized chrome rims. After issuing a lookout, officers said they encountered the suspect vehicle in the 4000 block of San Bernardo Avenue. Authorities identified the occupants as Rodolfo Ramos and Ricardo Ramos. Baeza said detectives collected additional evidence that was presented to the Webb County District Attorney's Office, which then approved warrants for their arrest. They allegedly stole about $2,000 from Winners and Big Bear, respectively. Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz has previously told Laredo City Council that because maquinitas operate illegally, the cash is swept daily at these businesses, taken out of the premises in bags, often lending themselves to money laundering and robbery. He argues this makes maquinitas target-rich environments. READ ALSO: A pregnant woman tripped a 4-year-old boy on purpose. The Internet went crazy. LPD also reported to City Council said it had recorded eight armed robberies relating to 8-liners from January 2017 to February of this year. At a City Council workshop in February, council voted to initiate a temporary moratorium on maquinitas. The following month, a majority of council members voted down the 90-day moratorium on new permits for maquinitas. Councilman Roberto Balli, who voted against the moratorium, had said he thinks the city can accomplish the objective of an ordinance without enacting a moratorium. Without coming up with an ordinance they are inappropriately discriminating against these businesses, he said. Balli also argued that convenience stores are more susceptible to robbery than maquinitas. Councilman George Altgelt contended that the city is setting itself up to see an increase in violent crime if they didn't maintain the moratorium and impose further controls beyond that. French regulators, notoriously slow in their pursuit of economic crimes, are announcing their arrival as global cops. The country's anti-bribery enforcers have rarely levied large fines against corruption cases, but are now going after the scalps of one of the country's richest men as well as one of Europe's flagship industrial companies. Billionaire Vincent Bollore was detained for police interrogation Tuesday on corruption suspicions -- and could remain in custody until Thursday -- while Airbus reportedly risks a fine in excess of $1 billion. For years, French regulators were missing from the international corruption enforcement scene, an absence that earned the country a rebuke from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development at the beginning of the decade. U.S. authorities, on the other hand, haven't been shy in fining foreign companies -- especially French ones. "The topic of corruption was totally taboo in France about 10 years ago," said Charles Duchaine, the head of the country's new anti-corruption agency. "Not only no one talked about it but also no one did anything about it -- or so very little." Corruption is something the general public doesn't see and that can furthermore take place in a faraway country, Duchaine, 55, said in an interview at his office in the south of Paris. "Today, mentalities are changing: Let's hope it's not just a change in looks without substance," said Duchaine, an old foe of organized crime and domestic corruption in his previous role as an elite French investigator known as a "juge d'instruction." France introduced a much tougher anti-corruption law last year that allows for settlements that use a procedure similar to Deferred Prosecution Agreements and obliges companies with more than 500 employees and 100 million euros ($122 million) in revenue to set up monitored anti-corruption policies. France launches the tougher approach following a period as a laggard. The case against Total can serve as an example of the difference between France and the U.S. Nearly 15 years after the case was first opened, French judges fined the oil company 750,000 euros in a corruption case linked to Iraq's oil-for-food program. That's about 500 times less than what it paid in the U.S. Other French companies have been targeted in American corruption cases. In 2010, Technip settled for $338 million and that same year, Alcatel-Lucent SAS paid $137 million. In 2015, Alstom was forced to pay a $772 million fine in a bribery case. American regulators fined BNP Paribas -- France's largest bank -- $9 billion four years ago to settle a sanctions violations case. While the case didn't involve corruption, the amount of its fine got the attention of companies and authorities in France, Stephane Bonifassi, a criminal lawyer in Paris who wasn't involved in the case, said in a phone interview. "France decided it's time to get its act together, otherwise it would just get fleeced by U.S. authorities," Bonifassi said. Lucie Mongin-Archambeaud, a Paris-based business ethnics lawyer with Osborne Clarke, said France wanted to show that it too can fight corruption, and doesn't need the U.S. to lead the way. "It became a sovereignty issue," she said by phone. As a result, enforcers in France have become bolder and better equipped in recent years. A prosecutor specializing in major financial crime was set up in 2014 and has begun making a name for itself outside of France. The Parquet National Financier, or PNF, is working with the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office in the investigation of possible bribery by Airbus. The PNF is also going after Societe Generale over corruption allegations related to the bank's work with the Libyan Investment Authority. "The current trend for anti-corruption in France is unique," said Nicolas Tollet, a Paris-based lawyer with Hughes Hubbard & Reed. "France was very inactive until very recently. That was partly due to a lack of willingness from the French state to prosecute companies for corruption." Bollore could remain in custody until as late as 10 a.m. Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing a confidential investigation. The probe into Bollore -- which could result in charges against the 66-year-old billionaire -- is looking at contracts awarded to his company for the operation of container terminals in Lome, Togo, and Conakry, Guinea, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the probe is ongoing. Investigating judges suspect that managers of Bollore used advertising company Havas to facilitate the election of African officials by providing communications advice nearly a decade ago at a discount price, the person said. Other managers were also held for questioning Tuesday, according to the person. The shares of his company declined as much as 3.7 percent Wednesday after falling 6.1 percent the previous day. Bollore said Tuesday that its executives "are happy to cooperate fully" with authorities. WASHINGTON - Rudolph Giuliani, President Donald Trump's new personal lawyer dealing with the ongoing probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, met with special counsel Robert Mueller III on Tuesday to reopen negotiations for a presidential interview, according to three people familiar with the talks. Giuliani, who joined Trump's legal team last week, conveyed the ongoing resistance of Trump and his advisers to an interview with federal investigators, but did not rule out the possibility, the people said, adding that Giuliani pressed Mueller for clarity on when the probe is expected to end. In response, Mueller reiterated that he would like a chance to ask Trump questions about steps he took during the transition and early months of his administration, the people said. The special counsel emphasized, as he did in conversations in March with Trump's team, that an interview is essential for investigators to understand Trump's intent in making key decisions as they seek to wrap up the portion of the probe focused on potential obstruction of justice. The people familiar with the meeting requested anonymity to describe the encounter because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The face-to-face discussions illustrated how Giuliani is functioning as Trump's chief liaison and lead negotiator with the special counsel. The meeting renewed talks that had largely faltered since the resignation last month of John Dowd, a veteran lawyer who was serving as Trump's lead outside attorney on the investigation. "I'm doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country and because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller," Giuliani said in an interview with The Washington Post last week. Trump said in a statement last week that Giuliani "wants to get this matter quickly resolved." Giuliani, 73, a former New York mayor and U.S. attorney, has known Mueller for decades through their work in federal law enforcement. Both men were joined by members of their teams in the Tuesday sit-down meeting at Mueller's office in southwest Washington. A Mueller spokesman declined to comment. Trump attorney Jay Sekulow declined to confirm a meeting took place or to describe the discussions. "We don't discuss conversations with the Office of the Special Counsel," Sekulow said. "We continue to maintain our ongoing cooperation." One person briefed on the discussions described the session as relaxed and an opportunity for both sides to "feel each other out." Still, Trump remains "extremely opposed" to granting Mueller an interview, according to one close adviser - setting up a potential high-stakes legal battle between the White House and the special counsel, who could ultimately seek to try to subpoena the president. When Mueller's office first broached the idea of an interview late last year, Trump initially was open to it, rejecting warnings from Dowd that such a move would be perilous, according to several advisers. Dowd resigned in late March after disagreements with Trump about the interview. But the president's willingness to meet with the special counsel cooled dramatically when he learned earlier this month that his personal attorney Michael Cohen was under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. He discovered that on April 9, when investigators raided Cohen's office and residences seeking communications between the lawyer and Trump in the lead-up to the 2016 election,they also sought records related to two women who received payments during the campaign after alleging affairs with Trump, as well as information about Cohen's interactions with American Media Inc. and chief executive David Pecker. American Media paid for the account of one of the women, but never published her story. Trump advisers have warned the president that they expect federal investigators will use Cohen's legal jeopardy as leverage to get him to cooperate with the special counsel's probe. Hours after the Cohen raids, a visibly agitated Trump blasted the investigation and the special counsel to reporters gathered to witness him meeting with top military officials at the White House that evening. "So I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys - a good man. And it's a disgraceful situation. It's a total witch hunt," Trump said. He repeated a familiar refrain - that Mueller's year-long investigation has "found no collusion whatsoever with Russia" - and called the probe "ridiculous." Giuliani joined Trump's legal team after his advisers had spent weeks unsuccessfully hunting for a replacement for Dowd, getting turned down by more than half a dozen candidates in the process. Former federal prosecutors Jane Serene Raskin and Marty Raskin, a couple who manage a Florida-based law firm, also agreed last week to join the legal team. Giuliani, a longtime defender of the president, took the helm of the defense nearly one year after Mueller began his investigation and amid signs that the special counsel is looking to wrap up the obstruction-related portion of his probe. In March, Mueller informed Trump's attorneys that he was continuing to investigate the president but did not consider him a criminal target at that point, The Post previously reported. Mueller's investigators said at the time they were considering writing reports on their findings in stages - with the first report focused on possible obstruction, according to two people briefed on the discussions. The special counsel said he needed to interview Trump to understand whether he had any corrupt intent to thwart the Russia investigation when he took certain steps, including firing FBI Director James Comey. French President Emmanuel Macron told U.S. lawmakers they must join with the international community to help preserve and extend the benefits of the postwar world order. Addressing a joint session of Congress Wednesday on the third day of a state visit, Macron appealed to the U.S. not to turn inward as he listed a host of threats facing the world from climate change and rogue nuclear weapons to inequality and fake news. "We have to keep our eyes wide open to the new risks right in front of us," he said. "The only option is to strengthen our cooperation. We can build the new 21st century world order on a new breed of multilateralism." Macron's trip has been dominated by rifts between the U.S. and the European Union stemming from President Donald Trump's "America First" foreign policy. With the U.S. threatening to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and impose tariffs on its trading partners, the French leader set out an alternative world view in which nations act together to control dangers and help the middle classes. "The United States is the one who invented this multilaterism," he said. "You are the one now who has to help to preserve and reinvent it." Macron was loudly cheered by Democrats while some passages drew only sparse applause from the Republicans. The U.S. Capitol has a long history as a setting for French leaders looking to make their mark on world affairs. The Marquis de Lafayette, a French general who fought for the U.S. in the Revolutionary War, was the first foreign dignitary to address Congress in 1824 and Macron's speech comes on the anniversary of one by Charles de Gaulle in 1960. Nicolas Sarkozy was the last French president to appear before U.S. lawmakers in 2007. Macron the previous day had proposed a new agreement with Iran in an effort to persuade Trump not to reimpose sanctions. The new pact would extend restrictions on its nuclear program, restrict its ballistic missile work and limit Iran's broader influence in the Middle East. While some Republican leaders criticize the existing deal's limited scope and the way it was negotiated, they have also been hesitant to pull out and start again from scratch. "As flawed as the deal is, I believe we must now enforce the hell out of it," Ed Royce, the California Republican who chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said in an October committee hearing. Mike Pompeo, the CIA director who Trump has nominated to be his next secretary of state, has harshly criticized both the nuclear and the Iranian regime. His promotion was received by many in Congress as a sign that Trump intends to pull out of the accord. The president has to decide by May 12, the deadline to extend a waiver on sanctions, a key plank of U.S. obligations under the deal. Trump on Tuesday seemed at least somewhat interested in Macron's blueprint, calling it a "new deal" with "solid foundations." Teams of American negotiators have been working with European allies for weeks on a new accord along the lines of what Macron laid out. Like Macron, their biggest challenge is the absence of any guarantee that Trump will accept the result. On trade, Macron, a former investment banker and economy minister, is more in line with traditional Republicans than their own president. Macron's recognition that some countries engage in trade violations and overcapacity of steel and aluminum -- but that Europe isn't the problem -- tracks closely with House Speaker Paul Ryan's response to Trump's tariff announcement last month. Congressional Republicans have urged the Trump administration to be more targeted in its trade policy, rather than instituting broad measures that impact traditional allies like France. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit the White House Friday with a similar message. Joy-Ann Reid, host of the weekend MSNBC show "AM Joy," apologized more than four months ago for homophobic comments she admitted to making on her blog in the mid-2000s. But now she's suggesting she didn't write many of the posts in the first place - that instead she was hacked. The controversy began in December, when a Twitter user named @Jamie_Maz and then Mediaite posted images of homophobic comments ostensibly made by Reid on her blog, The Reid Report, when she was a Florida talk-radio host. The blog frequently speculated that the former Republican governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, was a closeted gay man who only married a woman as a facade, despite the fact that Crist had never come out as gay. It made fun of a haircut on a straight woman saying that it seemed to indicate she could be a lesbian. And it conveyed disgust of gay kissing and gay sex, leading the author to confess that she couldn't bring herself to watch "Brokeback Mountain." In her December apology, Reid wrote: "As someone who is not a member of the LGBT community I regret the way I addressed the complex issue of the closet and speculation on a person's sexual orientation with a mocking tone and sarcasm. It was insensitive, tone deaf and dumb. There is no excusing it - not based on the taste-skewing mores of talk radio or the then-blogosphere, and not based on my intentions." But after @Jamie_Maz and Mediaite published a second round of blog post images Monday, Reid disputed them, revealing that she consulted with a cybersecurity expert in December who "identified unauthorized activity" on her blog. Reid did not specify which posts she believed were fraudulent or which offensive comments she allegedly didn't write. She offered no explanation for why she apologized for homophobic comments in December yet now claims a nefarious person must have hacked her. In a statement to Mediaite, Reid said, "In December I learned that an unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material from my now-defunct blog, The Reid Report, to include offensive and hateful references that are fabricated and run counter to my personal beliefs and ideology." "The manipulated material seems to be part of an effort to taint my character with false information by distorting a blog that ended a decade ago," she said. The Washington Post reviewed more than a dozen blog posts on Reid's site that were archived on archive.is and written between 2005 and 2010. Other posts were linked to in Mediaite. In a 2008 post filed under "not gay politicians," the author doubted the authenticity of Gov. Crist's recent marriage, saying, "I can just see poor Charlie on the honeymoon, ogling the male waiters and thinking to himself, 'god, do I actually have to see her naked. . .?'" The author wrote in one, unveiled Monday, that "there are concerns that adult gay men tend to be attracted to very young, post-pubescent types, bringing them 'into the lifestyle' in a way that many people consider to be immoral." In another post, the blog said, "Most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing. Most straight people cringed at the Snickers commercial. Most straight people had a hard time being convinced to watch 'Broke Back Mountain.' (I admit that I couldn't go to see the movie either, despite my sister's ringing endorsement, because I didn't want to watch the two male characters having sex.) "Does that make me homophobic? Probably." In response to questions from The Post about whether MSNBC believed Reid's claims that she was hacked, a spokesperson for the network sent a full-page statement from Reid's cybersecurity consultant, Jonathan Nichols. The spokesperson also included two December letters that an attorney for Reid sent to Google's parent, Alphabet, and to Internet Archive, which operates the Wayback Machine. In the letters, attorney John H. Reichman stated that Reid's blog contained both fabricated posts and "fraudulent additions" in legitimate posts. He said the writing style and viewpoint of the posts don't match that of a "well-known liberal journalist," and demanded that Internet Archive remove them from its archives and that Alphabet investigate whether Blogger.com, specifically Reid's blog, was compromised. Nichols, the cybersecurity consultant, said in his statement Tuesday, "We discovered that login information used to access the blog was available on the Dark Web and that fraudulent entries - featuring offensive statements - were entered with suspicious formatting and time stamps." But the Internet Archive cast doubt on Reid's hacking story Tuesday. In a statement responding to Reid's claims, the Internet Archive said it reviewed Reid's blog archives after her attorney contacted the company. The archives are no longer available on the Wayback Machine because somebody used its automated system to end screen captures of Reid's blog in recent months, the company said. "When we reviewed the archives, we found nothing to indicate tampering or hacking of the Wayback Machine versions," Butler's statement said. "At least some of the examples of allegedly fraudulent posts provided to us had been archived at different dates and different entities." The Washington Post has reached out to Reid for comment on her differing statements about the blog posts. Her change of course Monday drew swift criticism - most notably from the LGBTQ advocacy organization PFLAG National, which rescinded its Straight for Equality in Media award from Reid on Tuesday. "When we extended our invitation to Ms. Reid to honor her at our 45th anniversary celebration, we did so knowing about the blog posts from the late 2000s regarding Charlie Crist," PFLAG National President Jean Hodges said in a statement. "We appreciated how she stepped up, took ownership, apologized for them, and did better - this is the behavior and approach we ask of any ally. However, in light of new information, and the ongoing investigation of that information, we must at this time rescind our award to Ms. Reid." WASHINGTON - A coalition of news organizations, including The Washington Post, asked a federal court on Tuesday to unseal materials used by special counsel Robert Mueller to obtain search warrants in his investigation of President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and others indicted in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The news organizations are seeking to compel disclosure of affidavits, records of seizures and the warrants themselves that Mueller filed in bringing indictments against such figures as Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, among others. They argue that the material, which has been shielded under a court order, could contain newsworthy information about the shape and direction of Mueller's investigation. It could indicate, for example, details of criminal activity suspected by Mueller and the basis for FBI searches. The Post filed the joint motion with The New York Times, The Associated Press, CNN and Politico. The request covers warrant material used in the investigation of former Trump foreign-policy adviser George Papadopoulos, Manafort associate Rick Gates, and 13 Russian nationals who worked for the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based company that allegedly plotted to undermine the 2016 election. Information used to obtain criminal warrants is typically released to the public after a short holding period, typically a few weeks. But some of the Mueller documents have remained under seal for several months. Manafort and Gates, for example, were indicted in October. News organizations have partnered to advocate for the unsealing of documents in other high-profile cases, such as the 2016 Pulse nightclub shootings in Orlando, when more than a dozen news companies successfully sought recordings of 911 calls to police on the night of the shooting. The media coalition argues in its motion that the government's desire to keep the material under seal to protect an ongoing investigation is superseded by the public's interest in, and right of access to, the Mueller materials. Mueller was appointed in May and charged with investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether anyone associated with the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russian effort. Trump has denied his campaign acted inappropriately - frequently claiming in tweets that there was "no collusion" between his effort and Russia. So far, Mueller has netted a handful of guilty pleas from people associated with Trump, mostly related to allegations that they lied during FBI interviews. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. Papadopoulos also pleaded guilty to lying about Russian contacts. Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI about work he did as a political consultant in Ukraine prior to joining Trump's campaign. Mueller has also indicted Manafort on a series of conspiracy, bank and tax fraud and other charges related to the work he did with Gates in Ukraine. Manafort pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in Virginia in July and on related charges in Washington in September. Mueller's investigation has also led to the indictment of the 13 Russians and the three Russian companies on charges that they orchestrated a complex scheme to pose as Americans on social media and sow dissension online in an effort to help elect Trump. U.S. District Amy Berman Jackson, the trial judge overseeing Manafort's criminal case, has called the Mueller probe "one of the most high-profile and complicated investigations" in history and has admonished parties to file fewer pleading under seal, citing public interest in the case. "The fact that this case is of significant public interest is not a reason to seal things. It's a reason to unseal things," Jackson said at a Feb. 14 hearing over disputed bail terms for Manafort and an attempt by lawyers for his co-defendant, former aide Rick Gates, to withdraw from the case before he entered a plea deal. But Jackson has also allowed both sides to file documents in private, withhold financial information and information about relatives, and information about ongoing investigations. Jackson at the outset of the case also imposed a gag order to prevent pre-trial publicity from biasing potential jurors, which neither side opposed. "This is a criminal trial, and it's not a public relations campaign," Jackson said after Manafort was indicted. "So I want to make it clear, from this point on, that I expect counsel to do their talking in this courtroom and in their pleadings, and not on the courthouse steps." At the motion of prosecutors, Jackson last week unsealed portions of Jan. 16 and Feb. 14 hearings that discussed charges brought against Manafort in late February in Alexandria, Virginia. However, other portions of transcripts and a Feb. 7 hearing about Gates' change of attorneys right before his plea deal remain secret, even though he has admited guilt. Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell granted a media request last week to unseal 11 secret court cases associated with litigation among grand jury witnesses, the White House and independent counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation of President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s. CNN sought the legal proceedings from 20 years ago, arguing they could offer a road map for eventually making public aspects of special counsel Mueller's investigation. Howell cited the passage of sufficient time and public interest in the documents. Howell also oversees the grand jury used by Mueller, although individual charged cases are assigned to other district judges by random draw. - - - The Washington Post's Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this story. Republicans' narrow win in a conservative Arizona district is prompting nervous House leaders to warn incumbents to not get complacent and to brace for the worst in November's midterm elections. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told rank-and-file members in a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning that Debbie Lesko's single-digit victory in Arizona's 8th Congressional District was a fresh sign of mobilized Democrats putting even the most reliable GOP congressional districts in jeopardy. "He said, 'You need to understand what's happening,' " said Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., whose district borders Lesko's. "They've got money. They've got good candidates. They can speak well about issues. And they're engaged." Lesko on Tuesday prevailed by five points over Hiral Tipirneni, a physician and first-time Democratic candidate. Lesko will succeed Republican Trent Franks, who resigned last year amid allegations that he offered a staffer $5 million to bear his child as a surrogate. President Trump won the district by 21 percentage points in 2016, but wary Republicans spent more than $1 million to keep the seat, hitting voters with robo-calls from Trump, digital ads and get-out-the-vote canvasses. This year, the GOP faces fierce political head winds, the drag of an unpopular president and the retirement of its House leader, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. The win in Arizona broke a string of losses for the GOP in special elections in Alabama and Pennsylvania and in state legislative and judicial races in Florida and Wisconsin. But House Republicans were more concerned with the close result than with cheering the victory. They suggested that their base had become somewhat complacent as Democratic voters' enthusiasm surged. More people took part in Tuesday's special election than in the 2014 midterm election. The GOP got more unwelcome news Wednesday when a sought-after candidate in Connecticut's 5th Congressional District said that he would not run. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the leader of the House Freedom Caucus, said the Arizona result showed Republicans needed "to get something done." "Obviously, we see the Democrat base very energized," he said. "Probably 70 percent of Hillary Clinton voters turned out, and 50 percent of Trump voters turned out." Several Republicans argued that the party should respond by doubling down on a conservative agenda, either by extending tax cuts or clawing back spending that was passed in the omnibus funding bill. "The omnibus hurt enthusiasm considerably," said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. "We should have named it the GOP Voter Suppression Act." Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Pa., who is retiring this year and has warned fellow suburban Republicans of a coming Democratic wave, said that a vote to cut back the omnibus would do nothing for the midterm campaign. The campaign, he said, should be about the president. "What gets the base to the polls is, 'If you vote for my opponent, he'll impeach Trump,' " Costello said. In Arizona, as in Pennsylvania, Republicans did not spend the final weeks of the campaign talking about tax cuts. They also did little to tarnish Tipirneni's image with voters - a cautious strategy unlikely to be repeated in the midterm elections. Arizona Democrats said the result buoyed them as they looked to November and a key Senate race to replace the retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R. Polling last week found Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema with a lead over any potential Republican challenger for Flake's Senate seat. "Talking about positive solutions, rather than just talking about Trump, is a winner," said Steve Farley, a Democratic state senator running for governor. "If we see this kind of a swing in November, then I think Democrats stand to take every office on the ballot." A smaller swing, across the country, would give Democrats control of the House of Representatives. According to David Wasserman, the House editor for the Cook Political Report, 147 Republican-held House seats are less slanted toward the GOP than Arizona's 8th Congressional District. Republicans will defend two more House seats in special elections before November. On June 30, Texas's 27th District will elect a successor to Blake Farenthold, who resigned after a sexual harassment scandal; on Aug. 7, Ohio's 12th District will replace Patrick Tiberi, who resigned early to take over the Ohio Business Roundtable. Trump carried the Ohio seat by 11.3 points and the Texas seat by 23.6 points. In Arizona, Lesko will serve the rest of Franks' term, then face Tipirneni in a November rematch. The Democrat, who conceded the race on Wednesday morning, said in a statement that she would build on what happened in the special election. "Our communities have shown the courage to demand more of Washington and more of our representatives," Tipirneni said. "Now, on to November." - - - The Washington Post's Evan Wyloge in Peoria, Arizona, and Mike DeBonis in Washington contributed to this report. WASHINGTON - The conservative majority on the Supreme Court seemed to agree Wednesday that President Donald Trump has the authority to ban travelers from certain majority-Muslim countries if he thinks that it is necessary to protect the country. Lower courts have struck down each of the three iterations of the president's travel-ban proclamation, the first of which was issued just a week after he took office in January 2017. But the conservative-leaning Supreme Court may be Trump's best hope, and it gave the administration a boost by allowing the ban to go into effect in December while considering the challenges to it. Solicitor General Noel Francisco told the justices that the president was well within his power to issue the proclamation and that it came after a thorough, worldwide review of the vetting procedures of countries. "The vast majority of the world, including the vast majority of the Muslim world, was just fine," Francisco said, while a "tiny" number of countries were not. If it were meant to be a Muslim ban, he said, "it would be the most ineffective Muslim ban that one could possibly imagine, since not only does it exclude the vast majority of the Muslim world, it also omits three Muslim-majority countries that were covered by past orders." Chief Justice John Roberts was most active in advancing the notion that the president is privy to national security information that courts are ill prepared to second-guess. And Justice Anthony Kennedy, who always seems to occupy the pivotal position when conservative and liberal justices disagree, asked questions that mostly seemed supportive of the president's authority. It would seem almost impossible for challengers to prevail without one of those justices joining their colleagues on the left. The high-profile hearing, the last of the court's term as it turns now to writing opinions, called for the justices to balance their usual deference to the president on matters of national security with a never-before-seen barrage of campaign statements, tweets, retweets and comments from the president tying Muslims to terrorism. Just hours after Francisco told the court the president had made it "crystal clear . . . he had no intention of imposing the Muslim ban," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sidestepped a reporter's question about whether the administration disavowed Trump's campaign promise to enact one. Sanders read a statement about the ban that said residents of many majority-Muslim countries could travel to the United States. "I think that alone in action answers your question clearly," she said. The court is considering the iteration of Trump's travel ban, issued last fall, that barred various travelers from eight countries, six of them with Muslim majorities. They are Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, Somalia, North Korea and Venezuela. But restrictions on North Korea and Venezuela are not part of the challenge. Chad was removed from the list earlier this month. The first questions for Francisco came from the two liberal justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, who had noted their dissent from the high court's earlier order to allow the ban to go into effect while challenges continued. Sotomayor suggested that Congress had already taken steps to ensure national security by implementing a heightened vetting process for travelers from other countries. "Where does a president get the authority to do more than Congress has already decided is adequate?" she asked. Francisco pointed to the removal of Chad from the list as evidence that the review process was working as anticipated, by encouraging more cooperation from countries to help screen out those who might intend to harm the United States. The challengers are led by the state of Hawaii, which said its citizens and educational institutions have suffered because of the ban. Former Obama administration acting solicitor general Neal Katyal, representing Hawaii, said Trump had taken an "iron wrecking ball" to the law Congress had implemented to govern immigration and keep the nation safe. "If you accept this order, you're giving the president a power no president in 100 years has exercised, an executive proclamation that countermands Congress's policy judgments," Katyal said. Conservative justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, along with Roberts, peppered Katyal with questions on how the president had exceeded his lawful authority, given that Congress had granted the executive branch broad latitude to bar people's entry into the United States. Alito noted the law says that if the president found the entry of "any aliens" to be detrimental to U.S. interests, he could bar them. How, he asked, did the travel ban not fall "squarely" within that power? Alito also said the ban affected only 8 percent of the world's Muslim population. "If you look at what was done, it does not look at all like a Muslim ban," Alito said. Roberts posited a hypothetical: If the intelligence agencies told the president that 20 Syrian nationals planned to enter the United States with biological weapons, could the president ban the entry of Syrians to stop them? Katyal conceded that he could, because in that instance - unlike this one - there was a true emergency. Roberts asked if there were a "statute of limitations" on a president's campaign statements. "Tomorrow, he issues a proclamation disavowing those statements, then the next day he could re-enter this and your discrimination argument would not be applicable?" Roberts asked. Katyal said that it probably would. But Trump and his administration have "rekindled" the comments. Justice Elena Kagan similarly asked Francisco about a hypothetical anti-Semitic candidate for president who, once elected, put in place a proclamation blocking entry for citizens of Israel. She asked: Could the courts intervene in such a situation? "This is an out-of-the-box kind of president in my hypothetical," Kagan added, prompting laughter from the courtroom. Francisco called it a "tough hypothetical" but said such a president could impose the measure if it came at the recommendation of staffers who had identified a genuine national security problem. In contrast, Francisco said Trump's travel ban is an "easy case" because it came after a multi-agency review and on the advice of Cabinet officials. He conceded that if Cabinet officials knew the president was ordering a ban based on religious animus, because he told them as much, they would be "duty bound" to resign or refuse to comply with his order to come up with a justification. "Is everything that the president said effectively that?" Kagan asked. Kennedy picked up on Kagan's questioning, asking Francisco to consider a local candidate for mayor who made "hateful' comments and then upon being elected acted on those impulses. "You would say whatever he said in the campaign is irrelevant?" Kennedy asked. Francisco said he would. But Kennedy had more, and tougher, questions for Katyal. When Katyal said Trump's travel ban had no end, Kennedy said, "So you want the president to say, 'I'm convinced that in six months we're going to have a safe world?' " And if there is a question about whether there is a threat to security, Kennedy asked Katyal, did he think "that's for the courts to do, not the president?" The justices are reviewing a unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. That panel said the third version of the travel ban suffered from the deficiencies of the first two - that Trump had again exceeded his lawful authority and that he had not made a legally sufficient finding that entry of those blocked would be "detrimental to the interests of the United States." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit struck down the ban on the constitutional question. The 9-to-4 decision took a deep dive into Trump's statements and tweets since he became president and concluded that the proclamation, like the first two, was motivated not by national security concerns but by antipathy toward Muslims. The case is Trump v. Hawaii. The court will issue its decision some time before the conclusion of the term at the end of June. --- Video Embed Code Washington Post reporter Robert Barnes recaps oral arguments heard at the U.S. Supreme Court on President Trump's controversial travel ban. (Joyce Koh, Jorge Ribas/The Washington Post) Embed: --- Video Embed Code Video: Washington Post reporter Robert Barnes recaps oral arguments heard at the U.S. Supreme Court April 25 on President Trump's controversial travel ban from Muslim-majority countries.(Joyce Koh,Jorge Ribas/The Washington Post) Embed code: RICHMOND, Va. - Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday that it's "unlawful" for a mother and daughter to sit in trees and block a natural gas pipeline across their property outside Roanoke, and that he's particularly worried about the older woman's health. But Northam stopped short of saying he would order state police to do anything to resolve the standoff. Theresa "Red" Terry, 61, and her daughter Theresa Minor Terry, 30, have been on wooden platforms in trees on Bent Mountain since April 2, preventing workers for the Mountain Valley Pipeline from clearing trees on a path through their land. Roanoke County police have prohibited supporters from delivering food and water to the women for nearly two weeks. On Sunday, the day a story about the women's crusade ran in The Washington Post, officials gave the women bologna sandwiches and pizza. They have not, however, fulfilled Red's request for cigarettes. Northam had not previously criticized the women for their stand, but on Wednesday called it "unfortunate." "I want them to be safe and so we want to make sure that they have food and water," he said in a Facebook Live interview at the WTOP radio station. "The one that's up in one of the trees referred to as 'Red' has been asking for cigarettes. I worry about her health. She's 61 years old, she's up in the...weather, she's smoking cigarettes," said Northam, who is also a pediatric neurologist. "You know, the First Amendment is important but also the safety of individuals in Virginia is important so we hope that there's going to be a resolution to this in the near future," he said. A spokesman said later that Northam is not ordering any action on the part of state police, who are supporting local police around-the-clock at the base of the trees. Roanoke County police said they will continue to keep supporters away from the trees for safety reasons, with the platforms hanging more than 30 feet above. They said that Sunday was the first time the women had complained of being out of basic necessities. "Roanoke County will provide protesters with what is needed to ensure their physical needs are met," public information officer Amy Whittaker said in a prepared statement. The women are now being given three bags of food per day - generally sandwiches and fruit. Tree sitters are also protesting the pipeline in at least two other locations, though one protester came down from a tree in the Jefferson National Forest earlier this week. EQT Midstream Partners, the lead company on the 300-mile pipeline, last Friday asked a federal judge to levy penalties against the Terry family for every day of delayed work. Coles Terry III, whose wife and daughter are on those platforms, said Wednesday that he expects a hearing on the motions next week. In the meantime, he said the women remain in high spirits. He had not heard the governor's comments. "For Gov. Northam to be worried about a 61-year-old woman asking for cigarettes - I'm glad he's concerned about that, but he should be concerned...that state and federal [environmental] agencies are doing what they're supposed to be doing," Terry said. Anyway, he said, his wife is going to use this chance to quit smoking. No one would have thought that what started in 1998 as a small group of aspiring young Latino writers, chatting away with big ideas at the Chapultepec Lupita Mexican restaurant in Houston, would eventually become a movement that had gained national recognition. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say will showcase dozens of accomplished poets and writers reading samples of their creations today at Talento Bilingue de Houston from 7 to 9 pm. Its been a wonderful, 20-year party, said Tony Diaz, a professor of Mexican American Literature at Lone Star College who is recognized as the principal founder of Nuestra Palabra. The phrase means Our Word in Spanish, and the group came together at a time when the Latino written word didnt matter much to the mainstream publishing industry, he said. The group eventually moved to Talento Bilingue, a cultural center east of downtown, where they still host a monthly free workshop that includes writing classes and the readings for anyone interested. Over the years, the Houston group flourished and become an activist movement for Latino literature and education. Among their nationally recognized projects, they launched an audacious campaign called Librotraficante, or book traffickers, where they drove in caravans to Arizona to smuggle and distribute Mexican-American books when the state passed a law in 2012 prohibiting the texts in schools. Producing results In Texas, they have been at the forefront of the campaign for Mexican-American studies in the state schools, a four-year battle that is now producing results. This month, the State Board of Education voted to create an elective curriculum preliminarily called Ethnic Studies: An Overview of Americans of Mexican Descent. But in the literary realm, Nuestra Palabra has not only launched the careers of local writers but brought national writers to the heart of the community, said fiction writer and teacher Icess Fernandez Rojas. More Information Anniversary event Where: Talento Bilingue de Houston, at 333 S Jensen Drive, Houston When: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday 25 Who: Hosted by Nuestra palabra founder Tony Diaz, with the participation of authors reading from their writings: Lupe Mendez, from his book "Why I am Like Tequila." Jasminne Mendez, from her book "Night-Blooming Jasmine." Leslie Contreras Schwartz, from her new book "Nightbloom and Cenote." Claudia Macias, from her book "I Love You Even When You Cry." Mujeres Malas (Bad Women), presenting Karen Martinez. Marie Helena Cortez, from her book "My Annoying Little Brother." Maria Palacios, from her poetry collection "The Female King." Patricio Sanchez, sharing his poetry raps. National Spotlight: Natalia Sylvester, from her novel "Everyone Knows Yo Go Home." Yvette Benevidez Garcia, from her book "Tango Mike Mike." Open mic after the showcases. See More Collapse For so many of us, going to the monthly Nuestra Palabra showcases were the first time we saw or heard our identities reflected back at us, said Fernandez, who is also a journalist that started her career at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Back when Nuestra Palabra began, the literary world, as it still very much is, was white and male, as were a lot of the accepted narratives that were worthy of literature, explained Leslie Contreras Schwartz, author of the book Fuego, published by Saint Julian Press in 2016. She is about to publish a second book called Nightbloom & Cenote. Leslie Contreras remembered that 20 years ago, she didnt think her early writings would be of interest to anybody, but her brother Russel Contreras, another Nuestra Palabras founder and now a journalist with the Associated Press, encouraged her to share a poem at the first groups reading. Now, 20 years later, Contreras can count among her accolades being a finalist for the 2018 Houston Poet Laureate and the 2017 Tupelo Press Dorset Prize, judged by nationally renowned poet and critic Ilya Kaminsky. Nuestra Palabra is now recognized as a stepping stone in a movement that helped launch the careers of accomplished writers and educators. Some of them have created other poetry groups in the city, helping to make Houston a literary hub in the country. Expanding movement Lupe Mendez, a member and one of the group initiators and a teacher, founded the Tintero Project (Inkwell Project), as an emerging writers arm of Nuestra Palabra. Most of the initial participants of NP focused on English language writings. Tintero is expanding the movement with workshops and open mics also in Spanish, Indigenous Languages and Portuguese. They recently launched the Ink Well podcast showcasing writers and community movers and shakers. To Mendez, Nuestra Palabra provided much-needed space for Latino writers with little experience or places to learn and expose their creations. He has a forthcoming book, Why I am Like Tequila, scheduled to be published by a Michigan publishing house. Other projects seeded by members of Nuestra Palabra include Stephanie Saint Sanchezs all-female film event Senorita Film Festival in Houston. But their influence has surpassed the perimeters of the city. An example is The Royal Mexican Players theater group, a national touring performance troupe founded in Houston by Alvaro Saar Rios, who graduated from Northwestern University. His acclaimed play Luchadora!, about a woman who became a Mexican wrestler was presented in Houston, New York and other cities. He later took the group with him when he became a professor of Playwriting & Analysis at the University of Wisconsin. I dont think I would be doing this if it wasnt for Nuestra Palabra, Saar said. I feel it gave me permission to write, it inspired me with its workshops, and now I also teach playwriting and work with young people to inspire them, he added. Building inspiration And today, Nuestra Palabra continues to inspire new writers. Its time to re-imagine the role of the group, Diaz said of the anniversary. He said that the world has changed and we now have tools to spread our work that was not available before, such as self-publishing, social media, podcasts and live streaming of poetry performances. The sad thing, Diaz said, is that years ago we were pushing for mainstream publishers to pay attention to Latino writers, but they didnt care. They went to national book festival to showcase artists and participate in literature panels, but at the end, they just say thank you and goodbye. Now that the traditional publishing industry is struggling to keep afloat, perhaps they would look back and realize that they missed an opportunity as they are looking at last for ethnic writers in an attempt to stay relevant with the U.S. changing demographics. Would they now be interested in Latino authors like those we have inspired in Houston? Diaz wondered. If so, he believes that publishers should catch up quickly, because there are already empowered Hispanic writers that have learned the ropes and are capable of promoting their Palabras, their words on their own. olivia.tallet@chron.com twitter.com/oliviaptallet Police in north Texas put an identity theft suspect on notice in a tongue-in-cheek post on the agency's Facebook page. Police in Southlake, a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, addressed the letter to Crystal Ladawn Finley, a woman who detectives believe committed several acts of identity theft throughout the city in recent days. MEXICO CITY (AP) Five states in Mexico now have the sternest "do not travel" advisories under a revamped U.S. State Department system unveiled Wednesday, putting them on the same level as war-torn countries like Syria, Yemen and Somalia. The five states are Tamaulipas on the U.S. border and Sinaloa, Colima, Michoacan and Guerrero on the Pacific coast. All the states are hotspots of drug cartel activity, either hosting trafficking routes or extensive drug-crop cultivation. Tamaulipas shares a border with Texas, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Laredo. READ ALSO: Employee of Mexican music group reportedly beheaded by Gulf Cartel in Tamaulipas The State Department had previously discouraged travel to all or part of those states but the new warnings are sterner, placing them on a level 4 warning, the highest level of potential danger. Mexico as a whole has a level 2 rating, meaning Americans should "exercise increased caution" because of concerns about crime. But an additional 11 Mexican states got a level 3 warning Wednesday, which urges people to "reconsider travel" there. Mexico has 31 states, half of which are now under level 3 or 4 warnings. Those states where Americans are urged to reconsider travel include the State of Mexico Mexico's most populous state, which includes most suburbs of Mexico City and Jalisco, home to the city of Guadalajara, the Puerto Vallarta resorts and the lakeside expat community of Chapala and Ajijic. But the travel advisory said there are "no restrictions on U.S. government employees for stays in ... Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Chapala, and Ajijic." RELATED: Acapulco, once popular Mexican town, deteriorates as warring cartels provoke killings and violence Mexico's federal tourism department was not immediately available to comment on the new warnings. Most of northern Mexico, including the border states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Sonora as well as Durango, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi, are under level 3 warnings. Some of the states have long been off limits for U.S. government employees. Last year, the State Department extended a total ban on personal travel by U.S. government personnel to Guerrero. U.S. personnel had previously been allowed to fly to the resort of Ixtapa, the last place in Guerrero where they had been allowed to go. Personal travel by land and to the resort city of Acapulco had already been prohibited. Tamaulipas has long been riven by turf wars between rival drug cartels, and Sinaloa is home to the cartel of the same name. Michoacan was so dominated by a drug cartel that vigilantes took up arms in 2013 to drive them out. RELATED: Report: 8 cartel members arrested in Mexico after officials say they killed 16 people Colima has seen homicides skyrocket in recent years due to the growth of the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, and the state now has Mexico's highest homicide rate, with 83.3 killings per 100,000 residents, according to figures for the first 11 months of 2017. The state with second-highest homicide rate 61.6 per 100,000 was Baja California Sur, home to the twin resorts of Los Cabos. The state conserved its level 2 advisory, "exercise increased caution," despite a series of shootouts and killings in recent months. Rising levels of violence have not so far affected Los Cabos, which saw a 16 percent increase in tourism arrivals and an 18 percent rise in hotel occupancy in 2017, said Rodrigo Esponda, managing director of the Los Cabos Tourism Board. Esponda said local officials and tourism operators are investing in increased security, including camera systems and the construction of a new marine base. "We are going to keep working very hard in 2018 to make sure that Los Cabos continues as a safe destination," Esponda said. Speaking to local media earlier this week, Tourism Secretary Enrique De la Madrid said, "In my opinion, the most important challenge we have in the tourism sector are crime events occurring where they didn't before, for example in Cancun, la Paz and Los Cabos." A member of the Air Force National Guard who authorities say was caught at a local base trying to entice minors for sex pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Wednesday in San Antonios federal court. Robert Bernard Ernst, 37, was arrested in early April at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland by agents with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations on a preliminary enticement charge that carried a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. But as part of a quickly negotiated plea deal, Ernst pleaded guilty instead to attempted use of an interstate facility to transmit images of a minor a charge carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison. He also agreed to a term of five years in federal prison when Chief U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia sentences him on Aug. 2. After the plea, U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Farrer granted Ernst release on bond, which was also part of an agreement between his assistant federal public defender, Jack Carter and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bettina Richardson. The judge imposed several conditions, including monitoring by pretrial services officers as Ernst goes into the custody of his mother in Oregon. Ernsts 17-year-old son was killed in a crash in Medford, Oregon, on April 15 and Ernst wants to say goodbye before the boy is cremated, Carter told the judge. Ernst admitted to a factual basis included in his plea deal that said he used the handle DaddyNeedsASecret on mobile apps to have online, sexually explicit chats with Air Force investigators who posed as girls under 16 years of age. He was arrested April 4 when authorities say he showed up to meet with who he thought was an underage girl for sex. Richardson told Farrer that if Ernst violates any conditions of bond, the original charge is back on the table with the 10-year mandatory minimum. Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | gcontreras@express-news.net | @gmaninfedland A man fatally struck by a vehicle Tuesday morning as he attempted to cross Interstate 35 near Loop 410 has been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office. Craig Lee Steigleder, 66, was struck at about 10 a.m. on northbound I-35 near the George Beach Avenue Bridge, police said. From the boardroom to the classroom, the state of Texas is primed to be a leader for our entire nation. Our diversity is our strength and our state must reflect it and invest in it. Latinos continue to grow at an exponential rate. We made up more than 65 percent of the growth, and minorities in general comprised 90 percent of the states growth in the last decade. Im now chairman of the Texas Senate Hispanic Caucus, or SHC, which includes Anglo and African-American members. We will respond to this growth thoughtfully and swiftly. To improve the economic and educational success of our community and the state, we will take a comprehensive approach. State leaders need to increase the educational opportunities for Latinos in public and higher education. However, it must not stop there. We must also ensure that our community takes part in the economic leadership of our state and nation. We can partner with corporate leaders to make their companies more diverse by helping these businesses find high-achieving Latinos to be a part of the boards of the top companies in Texas and the entire United States. We need diverse boards of corporate directors with qualified and experienced men and women who will represent their community while providing these companies the opportunity to expand their success. However, we will not lose focus on overcoming the educational challenges that we continue to face. There are currently more than 5 million students enrolled in Texas public schools and about 60 percent of them are economically disadvantaged, with about 18 percent classified as English Language Learners. Yet, we fail to meet the funding needs to teach these students. It will be a team effort for the SHC to achieve its goals. In 2014 and 2016, the SHC hosted 14 regional summits in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, the Rio Grande Valley, and recently added other regions including Lubbock and Temple. These regional summits consisted of business leaders, educators, community activists, students, civic leaders, and service providers who gave input about the recommendations made to the SHC. These groups began the process of developing a Latino policy agenda informed by the community. Their primary issues included voter registration and voting rights, school funding and educational equity, quality and accessible health care, fair and thoughtful immigration policies, broad economic opportunities and civic engagement. Having listened to the concerns of our constituents across the state, SHC members will fight to ensure that our voices are heard in the Legislature, in the classrooms and in the boardrooms. We will fight against anti-immigrant attacks on the state level such as the Show Me Your Papers Bill (SB4). We will advocate for school finance equity, and programs that uplift undeserved and economically disadvantaged students. We will also partner with our largest employers to ensure that the voices of Latino workers, entrepreneurs and business leaders are contributing to the economic success of our state. In addition, we will be working toward access to quality health care, economic justice and fair wages, the reduction of predatory lending, environmental justice issues, and the promotion of small and minority owned businesses. In the long term, we will be promoting voting rights, civic engagement and economic diversity in our communities to foster a new generation of leaders who can help set a more inclusive state policy agenda, and bring new ideas to the table. It will take all of us to solve our states problems and propel us into the future with a competitive edge that embraces our diversity. We believe in Texas and its future success and we know that our success as a Latino community will help position our state as the leader it should be in our nation. State Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, was recently named chairman of the Texas Senate Hispanic Caucus. Longford enjoyed some time in the national spotlight on Monday night as Nationwide presenters Anne Cassin, Donal Byrne and Niall Martin explored the beauty of Ballymahon, Granard and Ardagh respectively. There was certainly a lot of history shared in Ardagh and Granard, but the main focus of Monday night's programme was on the beautiful south Longford town of Ballymahon, where construction is underway at the huge Center Parcs site. Monday night's episode of Nationwide offered viewers a sneak peek at the site, which currently employs 500 construction workers. CEO Martin Dalby told Ms Cassin that this number will increase to 750 in the summer, and there will be a thousand jobs when the park opens. A lot of those jobs are going to be for young people - people under the age of 25, Mr Dalby explained. And secondly for local people. Probably about 70 or 80 of those people will live in the Longford or Athlone area. When complete, Center Parcs will feature the biggest water park in Ireland, and will have approximately 466 lodges for guests, according to CEO Martin Dalby, who added that the whole park will be traffic-free, with people getting around on foot or by bike. That makes it a tranquil place - a very saft place, particularly for young children, he said. Following her visit to Center Parcs, Ms Cassin took a stroll through the town of Ballymahon itself, where she met local auctioneer, Jackie White, who talked her through the growth that Ballymahon has enjoyed since Center Parcs was announced on April 1, 2016. Initially, a lot of people thought it was a joke, said Ms White, referring to April Fool's Day. When the realisation started to set in, we had a huge amount of people inquiring about property. Property prices were probably half of what they are now, so anyone who purchased in the six to eight months after the announcement got grat value for money. And, she added, the construction of the site has given the town a huge boost, with new businesses opening up and morale increasing at the prospect of new jobs, and new business coming into the town. You can catch Monday's episode of Nationwide on the RTE Player: rte.ie/player. Read next: In Case You Missed It....Check out the superb Nationwide programme as it visited Longford A man who appeared before Longford District Court last week charged in connection with the theft of money from another man in a local bookies was sent to jail for six weeks following a hearing into the matter. Peter Dinnegan (47), 4 St Josephs Cottage, Mullingar, Co Westmeath appeared before Judge Seamus Hughes charged with stealing 250 - property of another man - from Bruce Betting, Main Street, Edgeworthstown, Co Longford on February 8 last. Outlining the evidence to the court, Inspector Padraig Jones said that on the date in question at 8pm, the injured party in the case contacted Granard Garda Station and told members there that a man had taken money from him in a local bookmakers earlier in the day. The injured party said that he had dropped 250 on the floor of the bookmakers and the defendant picked it up and left the shop, the Inspector continued, before pointing out the injured party subsequently followed Mr Dinnegan in an effort to retrieve his money. The injured party followed Mr Dinnegan out and asked him to return the money but Mr Dinnegan refused to do so, and denied that he had taken the cash in the first instance. Mr Dinnegan told the injured party that he didnt know what the injured party was talking about. Meanwhile, the court heard the defendant was later arrested and questioned in respect of the matter before the court. Mr Dinnegan was later arrested in respect of the matter and taken to the Garda Station for questioning, added Inspector Jones. While there he took four 50 notes from his socks and another 50 from his pocket. Defence solicitor John Quinn then told the court that Mr Dinnegan was adamant that the money in question had fallen on the ground in the bookmakers and he had subsequently picked it up. It was a regrettable thing to do, Mr Quinn said. Mr Dinnegan then addressed Judge Hughes directly. He said he had lost money himself that particular day and he thought his luck was in when he stumbled across the money on the floor of the bookies. Honest to God judge, added the defendant, I thought God was on my side when I saw the money on the floor. Meanwhile the court was told why the money ended up in the defendants socks! The money ended up in my sock because I had a hole in my right pocket, confirmed Mr Dinnegan, before apologising for his behaviour. Im very sorry about what happened; I dont want to go to jail for this. I miss my home and I miss my daughter judge. Mr Quinn then said in mitigation that his client had serious addiction problems and was currently attending support services. Mr Dinnegan has a serious alcohol addiction, but does go to his AA meetings, the solicitor continued. He would be prepared to do Community Service if the court were to allow it. During his deliberations on the matter, Judge Hughes asked Mr Dinnegan when he was going to grow up? This behaviour is not acceptable and you are going to prison today; when are you going to start growing up Mr Dinnegan?, added the Judge. Meanwhile, the 47-year-old Mullingar man was sentenced to six weeks in prison. Concluding proceedings Judge Hughes issued the defendant with a warning to behave himself in the future. A public meeting hosted by Longford Says Yes to Medical Cannabis will be held on Tuesday, May 8, to provide locals with information on Medical Cannabis. Guest speakers at the event will include Person of the Year, Vera Twomey, who fought for her daughter's licence to use medicinal cannabis to treat her severe epilepsy. Also speaking at the event will be TD Gino Kenny, and Kenny Tynan who defied the odds and survived a brain tumour. "There are an awful lot of people in the community who are using medicinal cannabis, but are scared about being criminalised," explained local political activist, Hazel Robinson, who is organising the event. "There are people who are suffering with all kinds of illnesses and we want to create an environment where they actually feel safe. Medicinal cannabis is a taboo in Ireland at the moment but people want it legalised. "We're hoping that there'll be a snowball effect after this meeting and that other counties will copy Longford, so we've created the hastag #BeLikeLongford," Ms Robinson continued. "On a personal level, I think that it's fantastic that we are highlighting our county and that we're forward-thinking. And I'm extremely proud of how many people are getting behind this." The meeting will take place in the Family Centre behind St Mel's Cathedral at 8pm on Tuesday May 8. Everyone is welcome to attend. Nature & Weather, Local News, Health & Wellness, Politics By Long Island News & PR Published: April 25 2018 AG Schneiderman Leads Coalition of States and Cities Defending Clean Power Plan; AG Has Vowed to Sue if Plan is Repealed. New York, NY - April 25, 2018 - The offices of New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio today delivered to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency testimony and comments collected during New Yorks Peoples Hearing on EPAs proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan the first-ever nationwide limits on emissions of climate change pollution from existing power plants. In the testimony, New Yorkers overwhelmingly supported the Clean Power Plan, focusing on the central role it plays in stemming climate changes growing harm to the health, environment, jobs, and prosperity of New Yorkers. In fact, rather than doing away with the regulation, most testified in support of strengthening the Clean Power Plan. Over 110 New Yorkers included elected officials, environmental, health, social justice, and religious organizations, and concerned New Yorkers attended the January 9, 2017 Peoples Hearing, with 65 providing oral testimony. An additional 75 pieces of written testimony were submitted. All testimony from the Peoples Hearing may be viewed here. From increased flooding and extreme weather to air pollution, New Yorkers are on the front lines of climate change and know first-hand the vital importance of the Clean Power Plan, said Attorney General Schneiderman. The EPA tried to avoid hearing directly from New Yorkers on the Clean Power Plan so were delivering our message to their doorstep: New Yorkers health and safety must come before corporate polluters. And if the Trump administration continues to move forward with this repeal, well see them in court. The EPAs attempt to repeal the Clean Power Plan proves again that the Trump Administration will choose fossil fuel profits over our future every time. New York City will not, said Mayor de Blasio. When our national government falls down, the people have to step up, and show that we can solve this problem at the grassroots. Our Peoples Hearing on the Clean Power Plan in NYC gave New Yorkers who have been directly affected by climate change the opportunity to make their voices heard. Our city supports the Clean Power Plan and knows that repealing it would lead to more carbon emissions, more respiratory diseases, and more likelihood of climate disaster. The Clean Power Plan would ensure that our nation does not continue to rely on coal or dirty fuel oils for electricity. By ending the plan, the EPA has made it clear that the Trump Administration will put the fossil fuel industry first. Thank you to the community groups and members of the public who attended and testified at the hearing. I also thank Attorney General Schneiderman and Mayor de Blasio for their partnership on protecting New Yorkers from the effects of climate change, said Council Member Costa Constantinides, Chair of the Councils Environmental Protection Committee. The Peoples Hearing was organized by the Attorney Generals and Mayors offices after the Trump EPA ignored requests by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the New York Citys Law Department to hold public hearings in the state to ensure that New Yorkers voices were heard directly on the proposed repeal. Despite the direct climate impacts facing residents of New York and other states on the eastern seaboard, EPA refused to hold a public hearing on their proposal anywhere north or east of West Virginia. New Yorkers are on the front lines of climate change, as tragically demonstrated by Hurricanes Sandy and Irene. The costs of Hurricane Sandy to New York alone will likely top $40 billion, including $32.8 billion to repair and restore damaged housing, parks, and infrastructure and to cover economic losses and other expenses. In 2014, Attorney General Schneiderman released a report entitled Current and Future Trends in Extreme Rainfall Across New York State that highlights dramatic increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme rain storms across New York. The countrys reliance on dirty, non-renewable fossil fuels for power generation is a major contributor of climate change pollution and its impacts on the lives and livelihoods of New Yorks residents, including more frequent and intense storms, rising sea levels, higher temperatures, and increased air pollution. The Clean Power Plan is a vital tool to slash climate change pollution greenhouse gas emissions from one of the leading causes of climate change pollution: fossil-fuel burning power plants. The Clean Power Plan is well-grounded in science and the federal Clean Air Act while respecting state authority. The Clean Power Plan is based, in large part, on existing state laws that have successfully cut carbon pollution from power plants by even greater amounts and in even less time than called for by EPA under the rule. For example, under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), New York and eight other states have shown that substantial carbon pollution cuts from existing fossil fuel power plants are achievable by encouraging shifts to less carbon-intensive generation, increasing use of renewable energy, and reducing demand through energy efficiency. RGGI has been a major climate success, and a new study shows that , in the last three years alone, it has helped grow participating states economies by $1.4 billion while adding 14,500 years of full-time employment in the region. The Peoples Hearing was held in partnership with New York City Councilmember Costa Constantinides and The New School, and co-sponsored by 32 New York organizations. Eddie Bautista, Executive Director, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, said, Climate change heightens the vulnerability of disadvantaged communities, which bear the brunt of its environmental and socioeconomic burdens. On behalf of these communities, we need to fight climate change through a comprehensive approach one that focuses on emissions reductions, resiliency and adaptation measures, and supporting workers and communities in the transition to 100 percent renewable energy. NYC-EJA supports the Clean Power Plan because it is critical to this fight. We thank the Attorney General and the Mayors office for holding the Peoples Hearing and helping the voices of New Yorkers be heard in support of the Clean Power Plan. Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said, The Clean Power Plan is an historic opportunity to reduce carbon pollution and fight climate change. Efforts to block sound science from guiding policies to protect the public interests are detrimental to our nations sustainability and financial security. We are abundantly grateful to Attorney General Schneiderman and the Mayors Office for their conviction and commitment to fighting climate change, and for giving New Yorkers an opportunity to voice their opposition to EPAs repeal of the Clean Power Plan. Donna De Costanzo, Eastern Region Director for Climate & Clean Energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, The Trump administration cant hide from the truth. The message New Yorkers are sending is loud, clear and compelling. They know, because theyve seen it firsthand, that climate change poses a dire and growing danger to our health, our economy and our future. And they, like the vast majority of Americans, want decisive action now to curb that threat. That starts with strengthening, not abandoning, the Clean Power Plans limits on dangerous carbon pollution from dirty power plants. Marcia Bystryn, President of the New York League of Conservation Voters said, New York is taking the lead on reducing emissions and improving air quality, with or without help from Washington, but repealing the Clean Power Plan would expose New Yorkers to unconscionable risks. We are proud to stand with Attorney General Schneiderman and the Mayors office as they deliver these comments to the EPA. Conor Bambrick, Air and Energy Director for Environmental Advocates of New York said, Today, while climate pollution continues to sicken people, harm the economy, and wreak havoc on our infrastructure, EPAs solution has been to repeal any progress we have made addressing this issue. Simply put, the Clean Power Plan is a critically important public health regulation that will save livesit should be strengthened, not eliminated. Riverkeeper's Legal Program Director Richard Webster said: To address climate change, we must cut emissions and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Unless we do, New Yorkers will face ever more extreme weather events and rising sea levels. However, the EPA is now proposing to scrap the Clean Power Plan, essential limits on power plant emissions of the gases that cause climate change. Adding insult to injury, the EPA refused to even schedule public hearings on their proposal that were accessible to New Yorkers. Today, were showing the Trump Administration that New Yorkers voices will not be silenced, and that we need the Clean Power Plan and clean energy to protect our lives and livelihoods. Local News, Crime By Long Island News & PR Published: April 25 2018 Michael Riggs is charged with robbing Kilwins and the European Image Tanning and Sunless Center, cops say. Babylon, NY - April 25, 2018 - Suffolk County Police on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 arrested a man who robbed two Suffolk County Police on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 arrested a man who robbed two Babylon Village businesses earlier this year. Michael Riggs entered Kilwins, located at 130 Deer Park Ave., on January 21, 2018 and demanded cash. Employees complied with his demand and he fled on foot. On February 15, 2018, he robbed the European Image Tanning and Sunless Center located at 1 Park Avenue. After a thorough investigation by First Squad detectives, Riggs was arrested at the intersection of the North Sunrise Service Road and Brookside Avenue in North Babylon at approximately 5:55 p.m. He was charged with two counts of Robbery 3rd Degree and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 7th Degree. Riggs will be held at the First Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on April 25. Tech & Science, Local News, Business & Finance, Politics By Long Island News & PR Published: April 25 2018 Sale of Former Power Plant Site will Save Suffolk County Over $300,000 Annually. North Bay Shore, NY - April 25, 2018 - Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and the Suffolk County Landbank Corporation today announced the remediation of the former Hubbard Power and Light facility in Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and the Suffolk County Landbank Corporation today announced the remediation of the former Hubbard Power and Light facility in North Bay Shore . The environmental remediation of the brownfield property will spur revitalization, create industrial jobs, and return the property to the county tax roll. The sale of this property means huge savings for our Suffolk County taxpayers, said Suffolk County Executive Bellone. This property will no longer be an eyesore for the community, but rather a new facility that will create quality jobs for our residents. The property, which was a small wood-burning power plant, was shut down in 1995 by a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation restraining order, which ultimately led to its abandonment and bankruptcy. The Town of Islip assigned a million-dollar cleanup cost to a property lien, which Suffolk County was obliged to assume pursuant to the Suffolk County Tax Act a state law requiring the county to pay owed property taxes if a property owner fails to pay taxes to a local jurisdiction. While the Town continued to assess the property, Suffolk County was required to financially cover the close to $7 million dollars in taxes over two decades. Suffolk County Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory said: This is a great day for the 16th Legislative District and for Suffolk County as a whole, because another abandoned property is being rehabilitated so it can be put back to productive use. That means more commerce, more jobs, and more vibrancy. I am grateful for the new owner for taking on this project. I was proud to be a sponsor of the legislation that created the Suffolk County Landbank, and I thank our partners in all levels of government who have been a part of making it a fruitful initiative. Suffolk County Minority Leader Tom Cilmi said: This is exactly why I ran for officeto be a part of big solutions. This closes a dark chapter in the history of this property in Bay Shore, and opens a new chapter filled with hope. Many years and millions of dollars of burden on the taxpayers of Suffolk are giving way to a future of economic development and job creation. As a member of the Landbank Board, I am incredibly proud of all the staff that helped make this happen, and I am incredibly thankful for entrepreneurs like Vince Trapani who find a way every day to make lemonade out of lemons. Suffolk County Legislator Susan Berland said: It is a great day for the 16th Legislative District when we can help bring economic development and jobs to our community. I want to thank Vincent Trapani for taking on this task and all of my colleagues in government for making it possible. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said: New Yorks land banks have successfully empowered communities across the state to rebuild and revitalize their neighborhoods. Im proud that the funding my office secured through our settlements with the big banks made it possible for the Suffolk County Landbank to remediate and redevelop this brownfield site and help create new jobs for Long Island workers. Vincent Trapani, the former owner of the Bay Shore automotive-parts manufacturing business USA Industries, bought the tax liens from the Suffolk County Landbank and took the title of the property in March. The property is currently undergoing environmental remediation before the construction of a new facility. The cleanup cost is projected to cost $100,000 and the demolition is expected to cost $210,000. The Suffolk County Landbank Corporation partners with Suffolk County to address tax-delinquent brownfield properties that are located throughout the county. Brownfield properties range from blighted lots with illegal dumping to abandoned corner gas stations. The Suffolk County Landback also works in collaboration with federal and state agencies to address the re-use of tax delinquent Superfund Sites after cleanup projects have occurred. Over the course of the past 25 years, Suffolk County has been the backstop for a number of these commercial properties, many abandoned as brownfields which further precludes restoration. When the Suffolk County Landbank formed in 2013, the cumulative cost to the County was $35 million. Since their formation, the Suffolk County Landbank has collected $5.5 million in back taxes from 70 properties, generated $1.1 million from tax lien sales and generated $383,000 in annual taxes. This is the fourth property the Suffolk County Landbank has closed on. School & Education, Local News By Long Island News & PR Published: April 25 2018 Students benefit from a strong entrepreneurial component where they learn how to operate a business. Mastic Beach, NY - April 25, 2018 - The Career and Technical Education Technical Assistance Center (CTE TAC) of NY has named the William Floyd High School Cosmetology program as a New York State Career and Technical Education Model Program. This recognition program honors high-quality CTE programs at the middle and secondary levels. This honor is one of just two bestowed upon NYS programs this year by CTE TAC and the only one recognized on Long Island. The characteristics that make this program a model will be shared with other schools and BOCES across the state. The two-year program, open to juniors and seniors, currently serves approximately 114 students, and has a staff which includes teacher, Wendy Joyce, and teaching assistant, Annie Bopp. Students benefit from a strong entrepreneurial component where they learn how to operate a business. It is provided by the Virtual Enterprise experience, which is included in the program of study along with several other business tie-in courses, such as accounting. After successful completion of the Cosmetology program, students have the 1,000 hours necessary to qualify for NYS licensure. The community connections within the program are evident through an advisory board representative of the various businesses in the community, as well as the opportunities presented to students through trainings and demonstrations hosted by local salon professionals. Students regularly take top awards at the SkillsUSA competitions, including this year, which saw two William Floyd students take home first- and second-place in the Cosmetology category. Additionally, an articulation agreement with SUNY Farmingdale provides students pursuing a post-secondary education with three college credits. Some of the success data highlighted by CTE TAC includes 100% of students passing the Regents or approved substitution exam, 82% passing a technical assessment and 82% receiving a technical endorsement on their diplomas. Wendy Joyce and Annie Bopp have taken this program to the next level, said Karen Poidomani, CTE Chairperson, William Floyd School District, who earlier this year was selected as the SkillsUSA Region VI Advisor of the Year. The success of our students is due to their passion for the field and connections to the industry. According to Ellen Palazzo, CTE TACs Field Associate for Long Island, Over the last five years the development of this comprehensive CTE-approved cosmetology program in William Floyd High School is making a difference! It has encouraged students to actively explore career pathways, develop their passions and talents, promoted success in high school, build professional skills, and positioned dozens to earn a licensure and entry to career success. Simultaneously, this program has served to enrich the school culture and heighten community connections. Once again the cosmetology students have excelled in the LI region earning first- and second-place in the island-wide SkillsUSA competition. Update 11:34 - we have received reports that these two comrades have now been released. Yesterday in Karachi two more supporters of the Lal Salaam group were abducted by the Rangers. They were protesting peacefully, together with other left activists and groups in front of the Karachi Press Club, against the previous abductions when there was crackdown by the military and four protesters were taken away. Later two of them were released. The two that were not released are Yasir Irshad and Shay Razai, who are presently being held by the Rangers. See this Reuters report, Pakistan group says nine activists missing after backing rights movement for an update. We will provide more information later in the day. Click here for the latest information on the abductions, a letter to send to your local Pakistani embassy and a model motion for trade union branches and student groups. by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, April 24, 2018 The right to be forgotten in data subject access, anonymous data, data processing agreements and other processes are very different in the U.S. compared with the European Union. As the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enforcement deadline nears, Gary Kibel, partner at Davis & Gilbert LLP, suggests email marketers pay close attention to the laws. Most marketing strategies these days are based on privacy and the collection of consumer data. Data and privacy drive businesses. The European Unions GDPR and the E-Privacy Directive are now the main focus in Europe. In the U.S., privacy, in general, is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission. Privacy law is governed by one concept in the U.S. -- unfair or deceptive acts, which have been declared unlawful, said Kibel, addressing email marketers at the MediaPost Email Insider Summit in Captiva, Florida on Tuesday. The laws governing children as well as healthcare and other sectors in the U.S. and the EU are different. advertisement advertisement Kibel spent about 30 minutes comparing and contrasting U.S. and European laws, key provisions in GDPR, and pending U.S. legislation that will change the way email advertisers design campaigns, and discussed personal information such as a persons name, email address, and tracking cookies in browsers. In the U.S., some data is only considered personal information for those who are under 13 years of age. In the EU, its all considered personal data. The GDPR has 99 articles that govern privacy. While the law is in effect now, enforcement begins May 25, 2018. And the penalties for not respecting personal privacy are huge. There will be some serious teeth if you mess up if the regulators choose to come after you, he said. The GDPR also applies to companies not established in the EU when companies process EU citizen data, such as email service providers and companies that target ads and sell goods. Consent is now required -- for example, serving up a note in an email asking the consumer to check a box for the brand to use the data that will transfer to their platform once the person clicks through the email to the website. Personal anonymous data also differs when comparing the EU to the U.S. In the EU, there can be no connection between the person and the data. In the U.S., marketers know they can match the data back to the person through a third-party matching cookie and re-identify the person, he said. Kibel warned email marketers to be cautious in how they use the description of anonymized data -- specifically when working with data from consumers in the EU -- and provided tips for email marketers. Much of what Kibel spoke about is also applicable to search marketers. The video of Kibels presentation can be found here. The Telegraph, Wednesday, April 25, 2018 7:34 AM Apple will begin paying the EUR13bn bill, which the European Commission (EC) says it owes the government of Ireland, The Telegraph reports. Although the company says it doesn't owe the money and Ireland claims not to want it, Apple is to meet the tax demand. Before insisting the money was paid, the EC had stated Apple's tax bill was so low it was tantamount to state aid. Read the whole story at The Telegraph by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, April 25, 2018 One day after announcing founder Bryan Wiener had stepped down as its chairman to become CEO of digital audience measurement firm comScore, 360i announced a restructuring of its senior management team -- moving another founder, Sarah Hofstetter to the chairmans role and naming long-time heir designate Jared Belsky as the CEO who will lead the agency into its next act. The timing of the two announcements was coincidental, say executives familiar with the moves, but are part of a longer-term succession plan to groom the next generation of management at 360i. They follow Abbey Klaassens ascent to president of the New York office from a short run as the agencys CMO, and together, Hofstetter, Belsky, Klaassen and 360i Chief Creative Officer Menno Kluin comprise the burgeoning agency networks new leadership team. advertisement advertisement The timing has nothing to do with earn-outs that followed the sale of independent 360i to Dentsu in 2010, which were completed in 2012, and is the culmination of a well thought process of grooming a new generation of talent to lead the agency, which has emerged as more than a digital centerpiece inside Dentsus organization, but a full-service network, including best-in-class media services. Belsky, who joined 360i in 2008 as managing director of the Atlanta office, was named 360is president in 2013. Klaassen joined 360i in 2015 after a brief stint at parent Dentsu Aegis Nework as director of corporate strategy development for the Americas. Prior to that, she was editor of Advertising Age. Hoffstetter, meanwhile, will shift from day-to-day operations of the agency she helped nurture to focusing on working with clients, new business development, public speaking and representing the agency in the community. by Sara Guaglione , April 25, 2018 Peter Thiel is ending his efforts to acquire Gawker.com. He is backing away from his year-long pursuit of the site in order to avoid a potential lawsuit, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news. The agreement between Thiel, his firm and an adviser liquidating Gawker Media was filed Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. It all started when Thiel secretly funded a suit against Gawker in 2016, brought by former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, after the site published a sex tape featuring Hogan and his friends wife. Hogan won a $140 million judgement against the site and settled for $31 million. advertisement advertisement Though Gawker.com shuttered as a result, its archives of nearly 200,000 articles live on the web, including those on Thiel's homosexuality published in 2007. It is likely the acquisition of Gawkers remaining assets (which also include its domain and its social-media accounts) would have allowed Theil to remove any stories related to him that remain on the site. The article on Hogan that set off the case was removed from Gawker as part of the settlement. Gawker Media recently launched a probe into Thiels secret backing of Hogans lawsuit. The new agreement means Gawker Media would halt those efforts, and Gawker can now be sold. Its archives can also be released to a potential new owner. Hogan is entitled to 45% of the proceeds from the sale of Gawker, according to his settlement. A hearing to seek approval of the agreement is scheduled for May 1, according to Bloomberg. Gawker Media's other sites Jezebel, Gizmodo, Kalopnick, Deadspin, Lifehacker and Kotaku were swept up by Univision in 2016 for $135 million and renamed Gizmodo Media Group. by Ray Schultz , April 25, 2018 Many variables may be involved in personalizing an insurance offer. But vehicle models are especially potent in generating insurance quotes, Liberty Mutual Insurance found in email tests with its OEM partners. People really, really love their cars, said Katy Fitzpatrick, program manger of Liberty Mutual Insurance, speaking on Tuesday at MediaPosts Email Insider Summit. Granted, it took awhile for the idea to germinate. Only a few years ago, creative focused heavily on the Liberty Mutual brand. In 2016, the insurance provider had see a 48% rise in click-to-open rates with versioned creative and brand colors featuring the Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat brands. The problem with working with OEMs is that no two are exactly alike, Fitzpatrick said. But the firm could see that personalized emails based on vehicle models would work better than a one-size-fits-all approach. Last September, it conducted an old-fashioned test, running its branded creative for Hyundai and Kia against its control. It was already pulling in the first line and model into the subject line, and the results were pretty solid there was a 15% lift in open rates, although the downstream metrics such as clicks and control start rates were flat compared to the control, Fitzpatrick said. advertisement advertisement It then tested 250,000 for each brand, pulling in images dynamically when the email was ready to go, focusing on the most popular four models for Hyundai and the six big models for Kia. The result was a huge landslide win for the tests, Fitzpatrick said. With Hyundai, quote starts hit 70%, a 42% increase --a huge lift for us, Fitzpatrick noted. And it saw a 73% rise in the other main metric the quote complete rate. The Kia results were similar. Liberty Mutual saw a 79% lift in quote starts, and 69% rise in quote complete rates both were above 90%. We knew were own to something, Fitzpatrick said. However, we wanted to make sure we werent crazy, Fitzpatrick added. So it ran tests with three other OEMs, and achieved a 12% increase in click-to-open rates for Nissan, Affinity and Volvo, although the results were not quite as big a landslide as they were in the earlier test. She added that the numbers are growing. And there is a lot at stake when swapping out an image that can produce 500 or 600 policies. Liberty sends roughly 60 million emails a year, producing an open rate that hovers around 23.3% and a click-through of roughly 1%. It gets monthly customer data from partners on a monthly basis, including such data points as names, addresses, email addresses and marital status. Sometimes the quality is not the best, but I would say for the most part its pretty legit, and we see pretty great results, Fitzpatrick said. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, April 25, 2018 IAB Europe and IAB Tech Lab Wednesday released technical specifications for a framework aimed at helping online companies comply with Europe's General Data Protection Regulation. That privacy law, which will take effect May 25, includes new restrictions on companies' ability to collect personal data from European consumers. Among other provisions, the law will require ad companies to obtain consumers' "unambiguous consent" before using their data for ad targeting. The Transparency & Consent Framework aims to serve as a standardized technology for notifying consumers about data collection, obtaining their consent, and informing online ad companies about that consent. advertisement advertisement The framework will "enable the passing of selected vendor information and user consumer consent signals," the IAB Europe says in an FAQ. The organizations state that the technology "enables the surfacing of the selected third parties information, the storage of a users choices related to those third parties and the passing of information about approved third parties, so that parties in the online advertising ecosystem understand which parties have been approved by publishers and surfaced to and approved (or consented to, where necessary) by their users." IAB Europe and the IAB Tech Lab say the framework "is particularly relevant for 'first parties' (publishers) and other suppliers of online services, who partner with 'third parties' (vendors) to enable those third parties to process user data." by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, April 25, 2018 Rhode Island has joined six other states in requiring broadband providers to adhere to the Obama-era net neutrality rules as a condition of contracting with state agencies. Governor Gina Raimondo on Tuesday signed an executive order prohibiting state agencies from entering into contracts with broadband carriers that engage in blocking, throttling or paid prioritization. The order also prohibits state contracts with broadband carriers that "unreasonably interfere" with consumers' ability to access sites and services online. Last December, the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal nationwide net neutrality rules. Republican Chairman Ajit Pai, who backed the repeal, says the regulations were too heavy-handed, and depressed investment. But consumer advocates and other net neutrality proponents say the rules are necessary to prevent broadband carriers like Comcast and AT&T from censoring sites or discriminating against over-the-top online video providers. advertisement advertisement Raimondo's order falls short of entirely reinstating the rules within the state. Instead, the order seeks to use the state government's power to procure service as leverage to persuade broadband providers to adhere to pen internet principles. The Rhode Island order is similar to ones signed recently by the governors of five other states -- New York, New Jersey, Montana, Hawaii and Vermont. A sixth state, Oregon, recently passed a law that similarly prohibits state agencies from contracting with broadband providers that violate net neutrality principles. The state of Washington recently passed a more comprehensive net neutrality law that prohibits broadband providers operating in the state from blocking or throttling traffic and from charging companies higher fees for prioritized delivery. Other states, including California, are considering similar laws. The broadband industry plans to challenge state net neutrality rules in court. When the FCC voted to repeal the net neutrality rules, it also voted to block states from passing their own versions of the regulations. It's not yet clear whether that prohibition on state laws is enforceable. In addition to the various statewide efforts to reinstate net neutrality rules, proponents of net neutrality advocates -- including 23 attorneys general, tech companies like Mozilla, and Silicon Valley lobbying groups -- have sued the FCC over the repeal. Those groups want the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the Obama-era regulations. SMITHS FALLS MELBOURNE, Australia April 25, 2018 Jaala Pulford Ben Quirin $16 million ~$16 million State of Victoria Asia-Pacific Victoria Ben Quirin Victoria Australia Victoria Victoria's Jaala Pulford Australia's Ensuring an affordable and consistent supply of medical cannabis is available to patients in Australia Building production and research infrastructure in Australia Engaging in rigorous evidence-based physician and pharmacist education to ensure patients' access needs are met Victoria Australia , ON and/CNW/ - Canopy Growth Corporation (TSX: WEED) ("Canopy Growth" or the "Company") is pleased to join the Victoria State Government in announcing the launch of the newest member of the Canopy Growth family, Spectrum Cannabis Australia ("Spectrum" or "Spectrum Australia").Minister for Agriculture, the Hon., alongside, Managing Director of Spectrum Australia, announced the Company will invest up toAUD (CAD) in theover the next four years to establish Spectrum's(APAC) headquarters and research and development facility."The State Government ofhas been an outstanding partner and welcomed our investment in the region with a shared passion for innovation in the medical cannabis industry," said, Managing Director, Spectrum Australia. "is now home for Spectrum as we introduce our world renowned medical cannabis products to the State, across, and throughout the entire APAC region as jurisdictions establish legal, regulated medical cannabis regimes."Thefacility will enable domestic cultivation and production of high quality medical cannabis for patients while serving as a distribution hub for other jurisdictions in APAC. It will also operate as the APAC Research and Development Center for the Company, supporting the ongoing research collaboration between Spectrum Australia and Agriculture Victoria on innovations in medical cannabis cultivation and production."Collaborating with international experts on cultivation and manufacturing will buildcapacity to develop our medicinal cannabis industry to be able to supply reliable and high quality medicinal cannabis products," said Minister for Agriculture, the Hon.The launch of Spectrum Australia builds on Canopy Growth's leadership position in the global medical cannabis space. Spectrumpriority is to improve the lives of patients. This goal will be accomplished by focusing on three core areas:This week Canopy Growth renewed its commitment to Australian partner, AusCann (ASX:AC8). Together with the State Government ofand our strong local partner Spectrum Australia is committed to building an industry for the benefit of patients and healthcare professionals throughout APAC.Spectrum Cannabis - Medical Cannabis. Simplified.Learn more by visiting spectrumcannabis.com.auSpectrum is an international cannabis business dedicated to improving the lives of patients and increasing cannabinoid knowledge within physician communities around the world. Its colour-coded strain classification system is available in Canada with operations underway in the European Union and South America, and. Spectrum products are available in a range of potencies and formats designed to simplify the dialogue around strength and dosage by categorizing medical cannabis according to THC and CBD levels. Spektrum Germany Gmbh processes cannabis for sale in Germany in a GMP-certified facility and then distributes products to hundreds of German pharmacies. Spectrum Denmark is a partnership between Canopy Growth and Danish Cannabis. Through the partnership, Spectrum Denmark is developing a large-scale greenhouse facility in the city of Odense. Learn more at www.spectrumcannabis.com.auCanopy Growth is a world-leading diversified cannabis and hemp company, offering distinct brands and curated cannabis varieties in dried, oil and Softgel capsule forms. From product and process innovation to market execution, Canopy Growth is driven by a passion for leadership and a commitment to building a world-class cannabis company one product, site and country at a time.Canopy Growth has established partnerships with leading sector names including cannabis icon Snoop Dogg, breeding legends DNA Genetics and Green House seeds, and Fortune 500 alcohol leader Constellation Brands, to name but a few. Canopy Growth operates eight cannabis production sites with over 2.4 million square feet of production capacity, including over 500,000 square feet of GMP-certified production space. The Company has operations in seven countries across four continents. The Company is proudly dedicated to educating healthcare practitioners, conducting robust clinical research, and furthering the public's understanding of cannabis, and through its partly owned subsidiary, Canopy Health Innovations, has devoted millions of dollars toward cutting edge, commercializable research and IP development. Through partly owned subsidiary Canopy Rivers Corporation, the Company is providing resources and investment to new market entrants and building a portfolio of stable investments in the sector. From our historic public listing to our continued international expansion, pride in advancing shareholder value through leadership is engrained in all we do at Canopy Growth. For more information visit www.canopygrowth.com.This news release contains forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Canopy Growth Corporation, its subsidiaries, or its affiliates to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Examples of such statements include future operational and production capacity, the impact of enhanced infrastructure and production capabilities, and forecasted available product selection. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and Canopy Growth Corporation does not undertake an obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities legislation.SOURCE Canopy Growth Corporation DALLAS April 25, 2018 Dallas Rod J. Rohrich March 22nd Dallas, Texas Rod J. Rohrich Rod Rohrich Dallas, Texas Dallas, Texas Baylor College of Medicine University of Michigan Massachusetts Harvard Oxford University Rod J. Rohrich /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Renownedrhinoplasty surgeon and Meeting Chairman, Dr., has announced the dates for the 2019 International Dallas Rhinoplasty Meeting. The meeting is scheduled to be heldand 23rd, 2018 at the Westin Galleria inDesigned to take participants from the basic training and fundamentals of rhinoplasty through the most modern advancements and updates in rhinoplasty and revision rhinoplasty, this unique, annual meeting is attended by plastic surgeons and otolaryngologists from around the world. Last year's symposium had attendees from over 35 countries.One of the truly unique features of this meeting is the interactive use of fresh cadaver anatomy dissections in which participants gain hands-on experience under the direction of Dr. Rohrich and other renowned experts in rhinoplasty. The meeting also includes surgical video demonstrations, detailed lectures, Q&A sessions, and panel discussions with some of the world's most experienced rhinoplasty surgeons."The Dallas Rhinoplasty Meeting is one of the most prolific educational experiences for surgeons studying this difficult procedure," says Dr. Rohrich, who has also co-authored the leading textbooks on rhinoplasty, "Dallas Rhinoplasty: Nasal Surgery by the Masters", based on presentations from the symposium. "Every plastic surgeon and otolaryngologist with any interest in rhinoplasty should consider attending this unique event. It will be a life changing event for all who attend if their focus is to become a true rhinoplasty expert."Dr. Rohrich, who also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery journal, believes that specialized hands-on educational symposia such as this one are a key component of surgeons' continuing medical education. The Dallas Rhinoplasty Meeting provides access to information and advances that are truly unique in the style of teaching pioneered by Dr. Rohrich who is on the forefront of this specialized area of plastic surgery. "Rhinoplasty remains one of the most difficult procedures in all of plastic surgery, one of great finesse which takes years to master," explains Dr. Rohrich.About, M.D., F.A.C.S.Dr.is aboard certified plastic surgeon, Distinguished Teaching Professor and was the Founding Chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center in. Dr. Rohrich graduated fromwith high honors, and completed residencies at theMedical Center and fellowships atGeneral Hospital/(hand/microsurgery) and(pediatric plastic surgery). He has served as president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the largest organization of board certified plastic surgeons in the world. He repeatedly has been selected by his peers as one of America's best doctors, and is the only plastic surgeon to receive one of his profession's highest honors three times in his career-the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes his contributions to education in plastic surgery. Dr. Rohrich participates in and has led numerous associations and councils for the advancement of plastic and reconstructive surgery.SOURCE Dr. MEMPHIS, Tenn. April 24, 2018 New York Pennsylvania Pennsylvania David A. Hansell The agencies participated in a competitive grant-making process and will receive nearly $3 million over the next three years to begin implementation of the program. The funding comes by way of a national effort by Youth Villages to expand effective services for former foster youth across the country. The funds will serve as a match for local public and philanthropic funds, allowing the jurisdictions to expand their investment in former foster youth. Marc Cherna Allegheny County Pittsburgh Pressley Ridge New York City Seattle, Washington Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Georgia Massachusetts Mississippi North Carolina Oklahoma Oregon Tennessee Patrick Lawler Harvard Business School /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Public agencies inandwill expand services to former foster and transition-age youth through public-private partnerships with Youth Villages, backed by local and national philanthropists.New Yorkers For Children, on behalf of the New York City Administration for Children's Services, and Allegheny County Department of Human Services inare launching YVLifeSet, an evidence-informed intensive program designed to help former foster and transition-age youth who need the most comprehensive support.While some youth who age out of state care are resilient and capable, statistics show that without help, many are more likely than their peers to be homeless, unemployed or incarcerated. These young adults are more likely to have significant mental and/or behavioral health issues than other young adults. Many will face challenges with relationships, family planning and achieving stability.YVLifeSet, developed by national nonprofit Youth Villages, is an evidence-informed program to assist young adults ages 17 to 22 who need intensive help as they transition to independent adulthood."We are proud that New Yorkers For Children, in partnership with ACS, has been selected as a partner for the YVLifeSet program," said ACS Commissioner"We are committed to helping every youth in foster care succeed in adulthood. This program delivers an intensive model to help young people with their education, employment, housing and health care, and to establish a support network. We look forward to working with New Yorkers For Children to ensure youth in care can thrive.""Making the transition to independent living is a particularly vulnerable time for youth, and it's crucial to have good supports in place," said, director of Allegheny County Department of Human Services. "The YVLifeSet model has proven effective in other jurisdictions, and we thank Youth Villages for the opportunity to offer it to those we are serving in."Inhas begun helping its first young people. In, Children's Aid Society will begin the program next month, and The New York Foundling will start YVLifeSet in the spring of 2019. They join the Accelerator YMCA in, and Turning Points for Children in, as YVLifeSet implementation partners.Youth Villages will provide administrative, training, clinical and research support to implementation partners. The organization provides YVLifeSet directly inand"These are strong public agency partners for this expansion effort. I've been impressed with the passion of the leadership teams in these jurisdictions," said, CEO of Youth Villages. "They've shown a real commitment to helping young people who age out of state services in their communities have a greater chance for long-term adult success. We'll be working closely with them every step of the way going forward."In the grant-making process, government agencies submitted proposals, and the selections were made based on the strength of program design, the public/private funding match, a commitment to a multi-year implementation and plans for sustainability of the program after the initial funding period. Public agencies interested in applying for funding can find more information at yvlifeset.org.Learn more about New Yorkers For Children and NYC Administration of Children's Services.Learn more about Allegheny County Department of Human Services.Youth Villages has helped nearly 12,000 young people through the program since it began in 1999. YVLifeSet is one of the largest programs helping transition-age young people in the country and one of the only to show, positive impacts in multiple areas of a young person's life in a large randomized trial. A five-year study by MDRC showed that YVLifeSet decreases homelessness, increases employment and earnings, increases mental health and decreases domestic violence. The community-based program pairs young people with specialists who are specifically trained in navigating the complexities of the transition to adulthood. Specialists have small caseloads and see young people face-to-face at least once each week, helping them set and achieve their goals around housing, transportation, education, employment, health and relationships through experiential learning.Learn more at yvlifeset.org.Youth Villages is a national leader in children's mental and behavioral health. Founded in 1986, the organization helps more than 25,000 children annually through programs that involve intensive work with the child and family, as well as a focus on measuring outcomes; keeping children in the community whenever safely possible; and providing accountability to families and funders. With locations across the U.S., Youth Villages' continuum of programs includes intensive in-home services; residential treatment; foster care and adoption; YVLifeSet for transition-age youth; mentoring; and crisis services. The organization has been recognized by theand U.S. News & World Report and was identified by The White House as one of the nation's most promising results-oriented nonprofit organizations. Learn more at www.youthvillages.org. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/public-agencies-nonprofits-in-new-york-city-pittsburgh-launch-intensive-program-to-help-former-foster-youth-300634852.html SOURCE Youth Villages 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 [] BASEL, Switzerland IRVINE, Calif. April 24, 2018 Michael McFadden Bryan E. Smith Christine Ocampo Nori Ebersole Irvine, California Keith Katkin Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt Germany Germany Northeast Louisiana University Gibson Brigham Young University University of Southern California the United States Seattle University University of Southern California's Marshall School Orange County the United States Japan and/PRNewswire/ -- Urovant Sciences, a global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for urologic conditions, today announced that it has strengthened its management team through the appointment of five senior executives: Cornelia Haag-Molkenteller M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer,as Chief Commercial Officer,as General Counsel,as Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, andas Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Urovant also announced that it has established its U.S. headquarters in"Cornelia, Michael, Bryan, Christine, and Nori are all outstanding leaders in their respective fields and they will each contribute to Urovant's success," said, Chief Executive Officer of Urovant. "As we continue to enroll patients with overactive bladder in our pivotal Phase 3 trial for vibegron, EMPOWUR, it is critical that we grow our team with the best talent in the industry to simultaneously advance our clinical programs and prepare for the eventual commercialization of our products."Dr. Haag-Molkenteller is a board-certified urologist with over 26 years of global experience in clinical development and medical affairs. She most recently served as Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head in Global Clinical Development for Women's Health, Internal Medicine, Anti-Infectives, and Urology at Allergan. While at Allergan, she led multiple development projects including the clinical development of onabotulinumtoxinA for the treatment of neurogenic detrusor overactivity and overactive bladder. Before joining Allergan, Dr. Haag-Molkenteller was Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head for Clinical Development in Urology at Schwarz Biosciences (now UCB) and started her career in the pharmaceutical industry with roles in clinical development and medical affairs at Hoechst-Marion-Roussel (now Sanofi). She received her M.D. and Ph.D. from thein-am-Main,and completed her clinical residency in urology inMr. McFadden has over 27 years of experience leading successful drug commercialization efforts across many therapeutic areas including urology. He served as Senior Vice President, Commercial at Avanir Pharmaceuticals and previously held leadership roles in commercial development, marketing, and sales at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacia, and Eli Lilly & Company. He has participated in numerous successful pharmaceutical drug launches, including those for NUEDEXTA, DETROL LA, BYETTA, ZYPREXA, and CELEBREX. Mr. McFadden received his B.A. in Business Administration and Accounting fromMr. Smith most recently served as Associate Vice President and Senior Counsel at Allergan, where he was chief counsel to the company's Urology, Neurology, Aesthetics, and Dermatology business units. Mr. Smith also led Allergan's anti-counterfeiting and anti-diversion efforts in close cooperation with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations and other federal, state, and international law enforcement agencies. Prior to joining Allergan, Mr. Smith was a litigator at, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Mr. Smith received his B.A. in Political Science fromand his J.D. from theLaw School. After graduating from law school, Mr. Smith was a law clerk to the Honorable Cormac J. Carney inDistrict Court for the Central District of California.Ms. Ocampo has over 20 years of accounting and finance experience, including over 15 years as the head of finance for publicly-traded companies in the healthcare industry. She most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Novus Therapeutics. Before joining Novus, Ms. Ocampo was Chief Accounting Officer and Vice President of Finance at Avanir Pharmaceuticals from 2007 to 2015, where she played a key role in the company's sale to Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Prior to Avanir, she served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer, Treasurer and Secretary of Cardiogenesis Corporation. After earning a B.A. in Business and Accounting from, Ms. Ocampo began her career at Ernst & Young LLP. Ms. Ocampo is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.Ms. Ebersole has over 25 years of global strategic human resources experience. She most recently served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Paul Hastings LLP, leading the redesign of its compensation system and talent acquisition. Before joining Paul Hastings, she spent 18 years at Allergan, where she was Vice President, Human Resources, partnering with executives globally on key strategic initiatives in the Urology, Neurology, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, and Aesthetics business units. At Allergan, Ms. Ebersole led numerous commercial and R&D expansions, compensation planning, leadership development, and retention strategies. She received her B.S. in Business Administration from theof Business and currently serves on the board of Big Brothers, Big Sisters ofOveractive bladder (OAB) is a condition that affects as many as 46 million adults inalone. The most common symptoms of OAB include the experience of sudden urges to urinate that cannot be controlled, frequent urination, and urinary incontinence due to involuntary contractions of the detrusor muscle. While several conditions may contribute to signs and symptoms of overactive bladder, the underlying cause of OAB remains unclear.Vibegron is an investigational oral ?3-adrenergic agonist being studied for the treatment of OAB. ?3-adrenergic receptors play a role in the bladder fill-void cycle. By stimulating that pathway, vibegron has the potential to relax the bladder detrusor muscle. Relaxing the bladder allows it to store urine more efficiently, thereby decreasing the symptoms of OAB. Over 2,700 patients with symptoms of OAB have previously been enrolled in clinical studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of vibegron and over 2,350 individuals have received vibegron in past studies.Urovant Sciences is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for urologic conditions. Urovant's lead therapeutic candidate is vibegron, a potent and selective ?3-adrenergic agonist being developed for the treatment of overactive bladder with symptoms of urge urinary incontinence, urgency, and urinary frequency.Urovant has licensed global rights, excludingand certain Asian territories, for the development and commercialization of vibegron. Urovant intends to develop treatments for additional urologic diseases. For more information, please visit urovant.com. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/urovant-sciences-strengthens-executive-management-team-with-senior-hires-and-establishes-us-headquarters-in-irvine-california-300635023.html SOURCE Urovant Sciences Advertisement Crume said the numbers are surprising but also reflect changing attitudes toward marijuana, especially in a state like Colorado where it is legal. "There is increased availability, increased potency and a vocal pro-cannabis advocacy movement that may be creating a perception that marijuana is safe to use during pregnancy," Crume said. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health suggests that cannabis use among pregnant women has increased as much as 62 percent between 2002 and 2014. At the same time, the potency of the drug has increased six or seven fold since the 1970s along with the ways it is consumed - eating, vaping, lotions etc."Growing evidence suggests prenatal cannabis exposure has a detrimental impact on offspring brain function starting in the toddler years, specifically issues related to attention deficit disorder," Crume said. "But much of the research on the effects of prenatal cannabis on neonatal outcomes was based on marijuana exposures in the 1980s and 1990s which may not reflect the potency of today's cannabis or the many ways it is used." The study found that 88.6 percent of women who used cannabis during pregnancy also breastfed. The risk of cannabis to the infant through breastmilk remains unknown. Various studies have found that cannabinoids are passed to the baby in this way. One of the study's co-authors, Dr. Erica Wymore, MD, MPH, from Children's Hospital Colorado and the CU School of Medicine, is currently conducting a study to evaluate this issue. The researchers recommend that health care providers ask pregnant women about their cannabis use and advise them to stop during pregnancy and lactation."Obstetric providers should refrain from prescribing or recommending cannabis for medical purposes during preconception, pregnancy and lactation," Crume said. "Guidance and messaging about this should be incorporated into prenatal care. And screening of pregnant women at risk for cannabis dependency should be linked to treatment options."Source: Eurekalert Political engagements can be a dodgy affair. From a missed handshake to foot-in-mouth moments, there's a lot of sh*t that can go wrong. And when it's American president Donald Trump known for his outlandish statements, eyebrow-raising tweets and awkward hand-holding with wife Melania, you know it's going to be anything but dull. It so happened that French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron were on their first visit to the White House as guests at the first state dinner hosted by the American president. As Donald Trump addressed the media standing alongside French prez Macron, talking about how they share a great relationship and it's no 'fake news', he reached out for Macron's shoulder and did the unthinkable. No, it wasn't a kiss to seal the deal. Mr Trump brushed off what he called a 'piece of dandruff' from a visibly embarrassed Macron's shoulder. He followed it with a We have to make him perfect. He is perfect. Trump, brushing off a "little piece of dandruff" from Macron's jacket: "We have to make him perfect. He is perfect." (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/MooZRoUbc7 Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 24, 2018 While we know France is a cold country and the cold begets dandruff, it could have been anything. Twitter wasted no time in rushing to the scene, anti-dandruff shampoo in hand 2017 power move: Dominate foreign leader with outrageous public handshake 2018 power move: Publicly comment on foreign leader's possibly imaginary dandruff, wipe it off his shoulder Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 24, 2018 We are blown away Let's just say Trump and Macron today were engaged in a little something known as... primate grooming. https://t.co/kquE1yQzcx pic.twitter.com/NIzpPxafAF Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) April 25, 2018 The nation wants to know I mean the cameras in that room should be high enough resolution to see it if it was there ... Matthew Durst (@MatthewDurst) April 24, 2018 Whoops Fake dandruff vs. fake hair. pic.twitter.com/pvNZ0WV47y Julie Laumann #FBPE (@Otpor17) April 24, 2018 Taking bromance to another level? Macron and Trump touched more in one day than we've seen Melania and Trump touch in 2 years. pic.twitter.com/yotcosYCAk Randy Prine #NeverAgain (@randyprine) April 25, 2018 What not to do in public If your bro does this to you at the bar, what will you do? There's no dearth of honest, hardworking police officers in our country and Ajay Pal Lamba is a testament to that statement. One of the key investigators in the Asaram Bapu case, Ajay continued the investigations with the same zeal and vigor despite getting death threats from the Godman's supporters. The 2005 batch IPS officer is credited with successfully arresting the self-styled Godman in 2013 at a time when Asaram boasted of millions of followers who were ready to lay their lives for him. Speaking with Hindustan Times, Ajay had then explained how difficult it was to do his job when death threats stormed his house. Twitter The letters carried abuses and even threats, stating that my family members would be killed if anything happened to Asaram. My phone did not stop ringing. The letters stopped only when I shifted to Udaipur, Ajay had told Hindustan Times. His commitment to the case despite the lingering fear of the safety of his family is actually awe-inspiring. "Our teams went to his ashrams in Gurukul, Shahjahanpur, Ahmedabad, and Indore. We investigated what the girl said. We have verified the charges and found some evidence," Ajay Pal Lamba, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Jodhpur, had then said. The statement of the 16-year old girl who accused Asaram of sexually assaulting her proved to be a crucial bit of evidence to nail Asaram. At that time though, Asaram had belittled the allegations as 'bakwas' (worthless). Twitter Ajay Pal Lamba also wrote a small Facebook post after the verdict in the case was delivered. Here's what the brave officer wrote: Finally truth prevailed. Justice delivered in Asharam Bapu case with the conviction of accused Asharam in a case of sexual assault on a minor girl during the night of Independence Day of 2013. Judgment is a landmark in criminal jurisprudence in the country. It is heartening to witness that if the law of land is implemented impartially, then even weakest can afford to take on the might of most influential person like Asharam. Kudos to the whole team who was associated with me in taking this case to its logical conclusion in the most efficient and professional manner despite all odds. Thanks to colleagues, seniors and all members of the team whose support meant a lot for me in the entire phase of this case. My gratitude to all well-wishers who stand for the cause directly or indirectly by contributing in own ways. Thanks to one and all. God bless the victim and family. Jai Hind. Officers like Ajay Pal Lamba who are honest and committed to serving the country need recognition and praise for putting the country ahead of themselves. We salute such officers and are in debt of their service forever. Failing to learn from others' mistakes, Huawei's new mobile spokesperson Gal Gadot has tweeted a Mate 10 Pro ad from an iPhone. This isn't the first time we're seeing this. Back in the days, BlackBerry had gotten Alicia Keys onboard as their brand ambassador and caught her tweeting from an iPhone while endorsing BlackBerry! The irony always is the same. How can these celebs expect us to believe that they are really 'endorsing' a brand because they actually love it while making such blunders? Or is it just about the money? Gadot, known for her starring role in 'Wonder Woman', tweeted a video of herself with the device captioned Say hello to my new mate! on April 24th. Twitter/MKBHD Gadot became Huawei's US brand ambassador for the Huawei Mate 10 Pro in January. The blunder was called out in another tweet by YouTuber and tech personality Marques Brownlee. She deleted the tweet 11 hours after posting it. But the damage was done. Gadot was quick to respond and according to CNET "Some people have asked about my recent post with my new Huawei smartphone, and think I am using an iPhone," Gadot said through her publicist. "That's simply not the case. I love my Huawei P20 and Mate10Pro. They are lifelines wherever I am in the world." Reuters "Sometimes I rely on help from my team to post larger videos," Gadot said, "And that is what happened here." Though in Gadot's defense, she never claimed to actually use the Mate 10 exclusively. While Alicia Keys had told the press that she exclusively used a BlackBerry 10 device but was caught tweeting from an iPhone. Huawei has been in a very difficult situation as far as the American market is concerned. The US Government has given out advisories asking companies and people to stay away from Huawei built phones due to concerns about Chinese snooping and surveillance. Hence, all telecom operators and retailers have stopped selling Huawei devices. Now's the time when Huawei needs a lot of goodwill from the press and such minor debacles aren't helping its cause. In his speech at the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) Summit Meeting, which started yesterday, together with the Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, in Brdo, Slovenia, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ioannis Amanatidis stressed Greeces firm and longstanding interest in the region of the Western Balkans; an interest that is focused, as a strategic goal, on promoting the regions European and Euroatlantic perspective in order to create a zone of stability and progress throughout the region. The SEECP, as a regional cooperation platform, was created on a Greek and Bulgarian initiative in 1996 and is made up exclusively of countries of Southeast Europe. In addition to Greece and Bulgaria, Albania, fYROM, Serbia, Romania, Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro and Slovenia participate in the SEECP. Slovenia has held the chairmanship since 2017. Within the framework of the Summit meeting, Mr. Amanatidis set out the four axes of Greek policy in the Western Balkans: on the one hand, support for the regions European and Euroatlantic perspective, on condition that the criteria set by the two organizations are met, and the building of bilateral relations and multilateral cooperation initiatives based on strategic actions, and on the other hand, promotion of major networks in the sectors of energy and transport, and assistance with economic development. More specifically, he stressed that the Greek approach is founded on the basic criteria that must be met as prerequisites in accordance with EU Enlargement Policy and the Stabilisation and Association Process by the countries that aspire to join the EU. These prerequisites include rule of law, democracy, combating corruption and organized crime, fundamental freedoms, minority rights, good neighbourly relations, and the resolution of the fYROM name issue. In parallel, Mr. Amanatidis clarified that Greece, as the oldest EU member state in Southeast Europe, is a force for stability, cooperation and development in the region. He referred to the significant Greek investment and business activities that have created thousands of jobs in a number of Balkan countries; jobs that, together with the hundreds of thousands of our neighbours who reside in Greece or visit us on holiday, are the foundation for a kind of osmosis with the Balkan neighbours and significant capital that Greece wants to utilise. Regarding the present summit meeting, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs reiterated Greeces support for the Slovenian Chairmanships initiatives within the framework of the SEECP and focused on the importance of enhancing security and stability in Southeast Europe, all forms of connectivity (digital connectivity, land and sea transport), and youth mobility in the Balkans. During his speech at the Meeting of SEECP Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Amanatidis focused on the great importance of this native regional organization in which all the states of the region participate as a key political forum for cooperation in Southeast Europe as the region proceeds on its European and Euroatlantic course. He pointed up the importance, as a milestone, of the 2003 Thessaloniki Agenda, as it is based on this Agenda that the Western Balkans gained a clear European perspective within the framework of the accession process and the Stability and Association Agreements. Moreover, the Thessaloniki Agenda has provided to date the basic framework for EU-Western Balkan relations and is aimed at promoting stability and economic development in the region. The European enlargement policy, Mr. Amanatidis said, is founded on the principle of just and strict conditionality, with special emphasis on good neighbourly relations. He stressed that Greece continues to actively promote the reforms the EU requires of the countries of the Western Balkans, providing expertise on the European acquis. Finally, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed the conviction that the European and Euroatlantic perspective can contribute to the handling of security problems in the region, on the condition that the interested countries work seriously on their preparations and initiate a sincere and courageous dialogue aimed at full normalisation of bilateral relations. Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire [] Right now there are two fun comedies involving senior citizens, one in Berlin and one in Waterbury, that are well worth your attention. Very few things are as private as your underwear. What you put on under your clothes is basically your business. But to senior citizen Sylvia Charles, her business is getting to the bottom of things, from your knickers to your knockers, in silk or feathers, satin or lace, and she is proud to be so intimately involved in your life. This feisty and innovative lady doesnt want to play bridge or take a walk in the park. Now widowed, she wants to raise a few eyebrows and a few bucks and have a little frisky fun in the process. To make Sylvias acquaintance, head over to the Connecticut Cabaret Theatre in Berlin for an intimate introduction to Katherine DiSavinos comic Nanas Naughty Knickers playing weekends until Saturday, May 5. Lori Feldmans innovative Sylvia has managed to keep her enterprising activities private, away from the prying eyes of her best friend Vera, a nosy but hard of hearing Karen Gagliardi, her good friend Police Officer Tom, a helpful Josh Luszczak, and her landlord Mr Schmidt, an interferring Dave Wall who would like nothing better than to find a good cause to evict her from her rent controlled apartment. Everything is under control and working well until the arrival of her granddaughter Bridget, a questioning Ashley Ayala, who gets quickly suspicious of her nanas unusual activities. As a law school student, Bridget quickly figures out that Nana is hiding a big secret, one that is kinky as well as illegal and she wants it to stop. When the UPS men, Chase Fish and Russell Fish, start delivering packages of sex objects and a model Heather, a scantily clad Melissa Pelletier, arrives at the door, Bridget realizes she must act quickly before Officer Tom hauls Nana off to jail for tax evasion and Mr Schmidt discovers the perfect excuse to evict her for breaking her lease. Luckily the arrival of Nanas best customer Claire, a commanding Linda Kelly, arrives in the knick of time to save the day. Kris McMurray has a lot of fun frolicking among the intimate apparel to great comic relief. For tickets ($30), call the CT Cabaret Theatre, 31 Webster Square Road, Berlin at 860-829-1248 or online at www.ctcabaretct.com. Performances are Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7:15p.m. Bring goodies to share at your table or plan to buy them at the concession stand onsite. Wear your fancy inner wear and your red or pink boas so youll feet right at home at Nanas ingenious new take on the old fashioned Tupperware parties of old. Meanwhile in Waterbury, there is another foray into the later years and the interesting complications of that mature crowd engender. Parents spend a lifetime helping to guide and nourish their offspring from new born baby to fully grown adults. They never stop caring and insinuating their advice, whether welcomed or not. What happens, however, when the bassinet is turned and the child becomes the keeper of the reins, the one who wants and needs to call the shots, when the parent is in need of help. How resistant or accepting will the parent be to receiving advice from the child. If the parent is a cantankerous and opinionated Jack Korman, the ruler of his own destiny for seventy seven years, he will be resentful of any guidance his son Larry has to offer. To witness the contretemps that blossom between the two men, mosey on over to the Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury to see whose side youll take in Mike Vogels comedy Second Chance until Sunday, April 29. Larry feels his dad needs to make changes in his living arrangements. After living for fifty years in the same apartment and being widowed for some time, Jack is set in his ways. He lives for the Yankees and resents Larry interfering in his life style. Paul DAmatos Jack has no desire to change any thing, especially not to move into an assisted living facility. Jack Laffertys Larry is equally determined that his dad will change his residence and tricks him into agreeing to try out the new facility for a week. Enter Marina Res Violet a spunky and sassy Welcoming Committee who literally sweeps Jack onto the dance floor and agreeing to move over in bed. With a ratio of 4 to 1, Jack is quickly in hot demand, much to the dismay of Warren Kelleys Chet who deeply resents the new competition. Amanda Kristin Nichols Malka is a young nurse in the building who also has unique services to offer the newly arrived resident. Soon Jack is ready to admit he might have been wrong about relocating but lots of complications arise to make this a rocky road of decisions. Russell Treyz directs this foray into retirement life that ventures onto rough seas before it can level off into smooth sailing. For tickets ($42-58), call Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Road, Waterbury at 203-757-4676 or online at www.sevenangelstheatre.org. Performances are Thursday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Watch how a feeding frenzy of women setting their sights on newcomer Jack help him adjust to his new surroundings and make his transition to retirement life all the easier and more fun. Soon Jack is hitting his own homeruns, without any help from his beloved Yankees. Enjoy either or both of these comedies that involve the unique problems of the more mature bunch. Who knows you might be experiencing the same predicaments yourself one of these days. Its always better to laugh. WILTON A Wilton woman is accused of stealing over $150,000 from a nonprofit she worked for, using the funds to take a trip to Disney World and buy a puppy, according to a news release. Michelle Foley, a former employee of a Manhattan-based nonprofit organization was arrested and charged Tuesday, said Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Foley was the finance director for an organization that provided arts and mentoring programs to low-income, homeless and neglected children, Berman said. Foley, 45, of Wilton, was charged with one count of bank fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of access device fraud. Michelle Foley allegedly used her position at a nonprofit to steal funds intended for disadvantaged youth. Rather than directing the organizations funds to those in need, Foley allegedly used over $150,000 for her own selfish gain, including a trip to Disney World and a puppy, Berman said. From roughly July 2017 to Feb. 2018, Foley is accused of stealing more than $150,000 from the organization by issuing unauthorized checks to herself from the organization. Foley allegedly made out checks totaling more than $56,000 and used two corporate credit cards to make personal, unauthorized purchases totaling over $100,000. Those credit card payments included making payments for a puppy, home furnishings and appliances, and expenses associated with a trip to Disney World, Berman said. Foley formerly served as the director of finance and operations for Free Arts NYC, a Manhattan-based nonprofit. Representatives of Free Arts NYC declined to comment. The 45-year-old fugitive of justice was captured by Wilton police as she awaited for an outstanding package at the local post office after spending months on the lam. Prior to her arrest, police said Foley, who has criminal history in at least four states, had been moving from state to state frequently to avoid capture. The bank fraud charge carries a maximum 30-year sentence. The wire fraud charge carries a maximum 20-year sentence and the access device fraud charge carries a maximum 10-year sentence. MILFORD The hit television show American Pickers is coming to Connecticut in June to film and its generating excitement, Chamber of Commerce official Nell Moll said, noting there is hope among residents theyll film in the Milford/Orange area. Im sure there are a lots of barns out there, tractor, old cars, bikes, Moll said. They (the pickers) love being on fields, farms, old buildings. Moll said that as word spreads, including on the chambers Facebook page, a lot of interest is being shown. Program officials say they dont know where theyll end up that all depends on who can attract the attention of hosts Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz by contacting the show ahead of time about what collections they have for review. The documentary series is focused on the pair as they hunt for Americas most valuable antiques, a press release from the show states. They are always excited to find sizeable, unique collections and learn the interesting stories behind them, a press release about the show states. As they hit the back roads from coast to coast, Mike and Frank are on a mission to recycle and rescue forgotten relics. If anyone out there in any part of Connecticut has a large, private collection or accumulation of antiques that the Pickers can spend the better part of the day looking through, they should send their name, phone number, location and description of the collection with photos to: americanpickers@cineflix.com or call 855-OLD-RUST. The press release states they are excited to return to Connecticut in June to film episodes of the series. They do not yet have dates set. In they travels on back roads, the Pickers want to meet characters with remarkable and exceptional items, the press release states. The pair aims to give historically significant objects a new lease on life, while learning about Americas past. Mike and Frank have seen a lot of rusty gold over the years and are always looking to discover something theyve never seen before, the press release states. A 12-year-old Freedom of Information request came back to haunt Supreme Court Justice Andrew J. McDonald, and is more evidence that two former members of the high court were aligned against him, Democrats said Tuesday. Within hours of McDonalds nomination to be chief justice on January 8, State Sen. Michael A. McLachlan, R-Danbury, sent him a request for specific documents and records from his time on the court. If the letter seemed familiar to McDonald, it might have been because it was nearly identical, word for word, to a letter he had sent to then-Supreme Court Justice Peter T. Zarella in 2006 when Zarella was nominated to be chief justice. McDonald was a state Senator at the time and co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee. We would be happy to meet with you to discuss your nomination and potential questions regarding your plans for the Judicial Branch, said the April 4, 2006 letter from McDonald and his committee co-chairman, then-Rep. Michael P. Lawlor. I would be happy to meet with you to discuss your nomination and potential questions regarding your plans for the Judicial Branch, Sen. McLachlan wrote on January 8. Both letters have nearly identical opening and closing paragraphs and identical requests for material related to the state Criminal Justice Commission, as well as their speeches and seminars. Democrats say its more than a coincidence that a letter from McDonald to Zarella, whose nomination to chief justice was unsuccessful, was sent back to McDonald at the start of his confirmation process. State Senate President Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, said Tuesday that its clear that Republicans, with the aid of Zarella and another former justice, C. Ian McLachlan, assisted in the near-unified Republican opposition to McDonald. It is also additional evidence that there was a concerted effort among Republicans, from the very beginning, with side support from two former justices, Looney said. It gives more credence to the argument that the decision was made to oppose Andrew McDonalds nomination, and reasons were developed after the fact to support that decision. Its word-for-word except one missing paragraph, (on the Rules Committee) but Justice McDonald was not on the Rules Committee. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the interference of politics in the judicial branch should offend fair-minded people everywhere. It is now undeniable that Senator McLachlan and his Republican colleagues never had any intention of fairly considering Justice Andrew McDonalds nomination, Malloy said. We need look no further than the completely different treatment they gave this week to another well-qualified nominee. Zarella was nominated by Gov. M. Jodi Rell who later withdrew the nomination after then-Chief Justice William J. Sullivan admitted to delaying the release of a controversial decision to possibly assist Zarellas candidacy. The 2006 letter was released to Hearst Connecticut Media on Tuesday morning by the state Judicial Branch under an open-records request. Both McDonald and Lawlor declined to comment on the letters. Senator McLachlan, a real estate agent, said Tuesday his FOIA request was intentionally written to mirror the 2006 request. Republican staff requested the 2006 letter from the Judiciary Committee, he said, using it as a model to direct to McDonald on the day of his nomination. The information sought is customarily and routinely requested as evidenced by the letter written by then Senator McDonald and Representative Lawlor, McLachlan said of the 2006 request. Although the letters were extremely similar, the responses to each were markedly different, with Peter Zarella providing numerous bankers boxes worth of information, and Justice McDonald providing a three ring binder. McDonalds candidacy for chief justice was opposed by every Republican in the Senate and the House but one. It failed 19-16 in a Senate vote last month. One Senate Democrat voted against him and another recused herself from voting. Hearst reported on Sunday that emails obtained under the states open-records laws indicate that C. Ian McLachlan and Peter T. Zarella, former Supreme Court justices now in senior positions with the firm of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, received emails related to the nomination from Sen. McLachlan and the legislative lawyer for Senate Republicans. In addition, Ian McLachlan, the senators cousin, advised him on the nomination, as he has about other legal issues during his 10 years in the General Assembly and his tenure on the Judicicary Committee. The senator said that while he met with Zarella and his cousin, he did not speak with Zarella about the McDonald nomination. Late Saturday night, Zarella issued a statement via email that said he never contacted legislators about the McDonald candidacy. Ian McLachlan has not returned requests for comment. Zarella, a former chairman of the West Hartford Republican Town Committee, was named to the high court in 2001 by then-Gov. John G. Rowland, and served with McDonald for three years before leaving the court in 2016. Rowland named Ian McLachlan to the Appellate in 2003 and was elevated to the Supreme Court by Rell in 2009. He retired to 2012, a year before the nomination of McDonald, who still serves on the Supreme Court. Suzanne E. Baldasare, a partner in McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenters Fairfield office said the law firm was neither aware of, nor involved in, this matter. The Firm has been and remains non-partisan, and does not endorse, or seek to defeat, any candidate for any office. McDonald sat for a 13-hour Judiciary Committee hearing in February that focused mostly on his legal writings that sparked a charge from supporters that Republicans were politicizing the nomination. On Monday, Justice Richard Robinsons three-hour hearing and confirmation vote centered on questions from lawmakers on what his goals might be as chief justice. kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT Immaculately restored Mid-Century Modern homes always manage to attract buyers. But a Mid-Century classic that mirrors an actual masterpiece? Priceless. Well, we've found a replica of the famed Upside-Down House built by John M. Johansen in 1950 in New Canaan, CT. The copy of the Connecticut classic is now on the market for $410,000 in Bayside, WI. Johansen's concept was to invert the standard American two-story style and put the bedrooms all on the bottom floor and the living spaces on the top floor. Built in 1955, this three-bedroom, 1.5-bath home sits proudly in this northern Milwaukee suburb and is listed by Lori Foulke with Keller Williams Realty. Located in a quiet cul-de-sac, the home even has a screened-in porch where the lucky buyers can keep an eye on local wildlife. All kinds of birds, deer, and even a rafter of wild turkeys frequently wander through the backyard, says Foulke. The natural touch was key to Johansens original design.The intentionputting the living room upstairs and three bedrooms downstairswas to create the feeling of suspension, as if the home's owners are living among the treetops. Bedroom realtor.com Bathroom realtor.com Dining room realtor.com The home has had only two owners over its many decades. In the beginning of the story, it was a case of love at first sight. After spotting the Upside-Down House in McCalls Magazine in 1952, a local family commissioned Milwaukee-area modernist architect Donald L. Grieb to replicate the design. They then lived in the home for over six decades before selling. However, due to family circumstances, the current ownerswho moved in just two years agoare selling because they need an additional bedroom. They are really heartbroken about having to leave this home, says Foulke. Among their renovations werewith help from an interior designerdeveloping a (mostly blue and yellow) color palette that remains true to the 1950s, says Foulke. Kitchen realtor.com Working from the Grieb blueprints and a copy of the article that appeared in McCalls, they carefully worked to update the house in a way that blends the original, vintage, and new materials together harmoniously, says the agent. The former black-and-white kitchen was replaced with 1950s-era Geneva cabinets painted turquoise, a formica-style countertop, and period-appropriate yellow and blue tile. They purchased the tile from a Michigan company that sells the same tiles that were available in the 1950s, says Foulke. This particular yellow is an authentic Mid-Century color that cant be found anywhere else. Staircase realtor.com Throughout the home, the flooring was updated while still keeping true to the original '50s-era designs. Carpeting was stripped from the staircase in favor of grasscloth-style wallpaper. Throughout the rest of the home, DuraCeramic tile replaced carpeting and rolled vinyl. The living and dining space now features cork flooring, and a new wall separates a bedroom from the den. The hallways new sliding-glass panels create privacy. Den realtor.com And there's great news for buyers in love with the listing photos, because theres wiggle room about what could be included with an accepted offer. The sellers have not included any of their furnishings in the sale price, but are open to the idea of selling items, says Foulke. They actually had asked for the dining set when they were buying the house, so they totally understand the desire to keep pieces that work well within the home. Whoever snaps up this home will likely be surrounded by neighbors with a mutual love of modernist architecture. The majority of the (Milwaukee area) atomic ranches and architect-designed Mid-Century Modern homes are located in Fox Point, Bayside, and Glendale, says Foulke. According to the agent, only a handful change hands every year. On average, about 40 of the 450 homes sold in those communities per year fall into this category. Plus, for Mid-Century fans priced out of coastal regions, they are more affordable. They usually sell in the $325,000 to $450,000 price rangethough sometimes as low as $250,000 to $275,000. However, prices for listings tied to an architectural heavyweight will soar. Last year, this home in Fox Point designed by Russell Barr Williamson sold for $1.525 million. As for who will buy this ravishing replica, Foulke hopes it's someone with the sense to pretty much leave it be. I would love to see it go to an owner who doesnt want to turn this special home into something it wasnt meant to be. Mid-Century Modern homes in particular tend to suffer more than their fair share of remuddlingremodeling that destroys, dilutes, or doesnt mesh with the original architectural design. The post 'Upside-Down House' Replica Wows Mid-Century Modern Fans in Wisconsin appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. The head of the U.S. Army's Drill Sergeant Academy said Tuesday that most Advanced Individual Training platoon sergeants should be wearing drill sergeant hats by July. The service began converting AIT platoon sergeants into drill sergeants in February as part of an effort to instill more discipline in trainees going though initial military training. The move comes amid statements from Army leaders that new soldiers have been arriving at their first assignments lacking military bearing and unwilling to work hard. So far, the Drill Sergeant Academy at Fort Jackson, South Carolina has converted 178 AIT platoon sergeants into drill sergeants, Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Berry, commandant of the academy, told Military.com. There are currently 367 platoon sergeants left to be converted, he said. Not all current AIT platoon sergeants will convert to drill sergeants. AIT platoon sergeants who have completed less than 12 months of the 18-month assignment are required to convert to drill sergeants. The remaining platoon sergeants with more than 12 months completed have the option to decline the conversion course, Army officials said. "Once the conversion is complete, the Drill Sergeant Academy will then go to training all drill sergeants that will then be assigned ... to go out to the AIT sites as drill sergeants," Berry explained. "The AIT platoon sergeant course and the drill sergeant course were actually very close in curriculum. The AIT platoon sergeant course is six weeks long, whereas the drill sergeant course is nine weeks long," he added. The Army launched the AIT platoon sergeant effort in 2007 since most trainees -- except those in one-station-unit training such as infantry -- take their AIT at a different installation than where they went to Basic Combat Training. But over the past five years, leaders in operational units have said they want to see new soldiers arrive at their first unit assignment displaying more discipline. In surveys of thousands of leaders across the Army, trends emerged of soldiers arriving at first units with a sloppy appearance, poor work ethic and a sense of entitlement, Army Initial Entry Training officials maintain. The findings prompted the Army to redesign BCT with a stronger emphasis on drill and ceremony, inspections and pride in military history without taking away from critical training such as physical fitness, marksmanship, communications and battlefield first aid skills. Going from a drill sergeant-run BCT to an AIT setting and not seeing drill sergeant hats is "a huge transition" for young trainees, Berry said. "[I'm] not saying that the AIT platoon sergeant was doing anything wrong at all; they were doing a lot of hard work," he said. "They were getting phenomenal trainees and privates in and out of training, but [this change creates] a continuity of discipline across that initial entry training. -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. For the first time in five years, all three components of the Air Force achieved both their recruiting goals and end strength... A subcommittee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act would require the secretary of defense and military service secretaries to post reports of misconduct by generals and admirals, and those of equivalent civilian rank, so they are accessible to the public. The House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel released its markup of the fiscal 2019 defense budget bill Wednesday, one step in the complex process of the bill passing the House and Senate and becoming law. The 121-page document contained language requiring all substantiated investigations of senior leader misconduct to be made public. "This section would require the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military departments to publish, on a public website, redacted reports of substantiated investigations of misconduct in which the subject of the investigation was an officer in the grade of O-7 and above, including officers who have been selected for promotion to O-7, or a civilian member of the Senior Executive Service," the section reads. Currently, such investigations can be requested through the Freedom of Information Act, but are not automatically made public if they are not requested. The prevalence and severity of misconduct among the senior ranks has been a common topic of conversation on Capitol Hill in recent months. At a February hearing of the personnel subcommittee, ranking member Jackie Speier, D-California, complained that there appeared to be "different spanks for different ranks," meaning that top brass seemed to get lighter punishments for their misdeeds. She highlighted five specific cases in which military generals had been found guilty of serious misconduct. In three, the violations came to light outside the military only because a journalist inquired or a FOIA request was filed. "As you will see, these senior leaders committed serious crimes and rule violations, yet received only light administrative, not judicial, punishments," Speier said. "Most got no public scrutiny until journalists inquired about their cases." A handful of new allegations has spurred additional criticism. Earlier this month, the Marine Corps removed its one-star head of Marine and Family Programs after he allegedly told troops and civilians at a town hall-style meeting at Quantico, Virginia, that allegations of sexual harassment by another officer were "fake news." While the Marine Corps proactively sent news releases about Brig. Gen. Kurt Stein's suspension and eventual firing, some have complained because he did not face additional loss of pay or rank. More recently, Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, President Donald Trump's nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, has had his confirmation process put on hold amid allegations he drank on duty and committed other misconduct. While it's not clear if any of the allegations against him were substantiated in military investigations, the case highlights the lack of public information about wrongdoing at the highest ranks. Following subcommittee markups, the NDAA must pass a full committee markup, be reconciled with the Senate version of the bill, and approved by both houses before it can go to the president to be signed into law. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and a House subcommittee Wednesday backed the White House proposal for a 2.6 percent military pay raise next year, which would be the largest increase since 2010. In prepared remarks for a closed hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Mattis said the 2.6 percent increase for those currently serving and retirees would contribute to his goals of modernizing the force and increasing its lethality. Separately, the House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel also backed the 2.6 percent pay raise, saying it would help "recruit and retain America's best and brightest." In its markup of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, the subcommittee said in a statement that its proposals would also extend existing special pay and bonuses for service members. In addition, the subcommittee proposed making permanent the services' career intermission programs, which allows servicemembers to take a break from active service to pursue personal interests, family needs, professional education, or career opportunities. In February, Trump cited the 2.4 percent military pay raise in the fiscal 2018 budget as one of his reasons for reluctantly signing a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill to fund all government agencies and avoid the potential for another government shutdown. Also in February, the White House went along with the Defense Department's initial request for a 2.6 percent pay increase in fiscal 2019 as part of a budget that included modest increases in the end strengths of the services, and major rebuilding programs aimed at retaining the U.S. edge over China and Russia. Pentagon Comptroller David Norquist said at the time that the 2.6 percent pay increase proposal for fiscal 2019 would boost the pay of a staff sergeant by $1,169. At a Pentagon briefing, Norquist said that the fiscal 2019 budget of nearly $700 billion was shaped by Mattis' National Defense Strategy. which concluded that "Great power competition, not terrorism, has emerged as the central challenge to U.S. security and prosperity." Service members began receiving the 2.4 percent pay increase in January under an executive order from Trump as Congress delayed, debated and resorted to continuing resolutions on passing the defense budget. In 2017, the military pay raise was 2.1 percent. The 2.6 percent proposed raise for fiscal 2019 would mark the third time since 2010 that the annual military pay raise has topped two percent. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defense ministry to plan for the possible transfer of S-300 anti-air missiles to Syria following the U.S. and allied cruise missile strikes that easily penetrated Syria's Soviet-era defenses. Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday that the Russian defense ministry would soon deliver modern air defense systems to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but did not specify that long-range S-300s would be part of the package. On Tuesday, Russia's Kommersant newspaper, citing sources, said that S-300s would be given -- not sold -- to Syria and that issues surrounding the transfer "have practically been resolved." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who was traveling in China, said later that a final decision on the S-300s had yet to be reached, but the intent to shore up Syria's porous air defenses was clear. "What decisions will be taken by the leadership of Russia together with the representatives of Syria have yet to be determined," Lavrov said, but "there is no secret here." Last week, Lavrov told the BBC that Russia is no longer bound by its pledge not to supply S-300s to Syria after the April 13 strikes by the U.S., Britain and France against three suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria. "A few years ago at the request of our partners, we decided not to supply S-300s to Syria," he said. "Now that this outrageous act of aggression was undertaken by the U.S., France and U.K., we might think how to make sure that the Syrian state is protected." Immediately following the reports that Syria would be getting S-300s, Israel threatened to destroy the S- systems if Israeli warplanes are targeted. "One thing should be clear: If someone fires on our planes, we will destroy them," Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in an interview with the Israeli website Ynet. "What's important to us is that the weapons defense systems that the Russians transfer to Syria are not used against us. If they are used against us, we will act against them," Lieberman said. The fully automated and mobile S-300 system of missiles and radars, called the SA-10 Grumble by NATO, was first deployed in 1979 around Russian military bases and industrial centers to guard against enemy strike aircraft and cruise missiles. Russia's more advanced S-400 system, dubbed the SA-21 Growler by NATO and called an "F-35 killer" by Moscow, was first deployed in 2004. Russia has arrayed S-300 and S-400 systems around its main bases in Syria near northeastern Latakia and has claimed that the U.S., France and Britain deliberately avoided the area for fear of interceptions during the April 13 missile strikes. Russia has also stuck to its claim that Syria's aging air defenses took down 71 of the 105 cruise missiles fired by the U.S. and its allies. At an April 14 Pentagon briefing, Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the Joint Staff director, said that all 105 missiles hit their targets. "We assess that over 40 surface-to-air missiles were employed by the Syrian regime," McKenzie said. "Most of these launches occurred after the last impact of our strike was over." Despite U.S. sanctions, Putin and Russian arms firms have increasingly pushed worldwide sales of the S-300 and S-400 systems. Last month, NATO-ally Turkey firmed up a $3 billion deal for the purchase of S-400 systems although the maker of the S-400, the Almaz-Antey firm, is on the sanctions list of the U.S. State and Treasury Departments. India has also been negotiating with Russia on a proposed $5 billion sale of the S-400 systems despite the U.S. sanctions. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. The Pentagon hopes to deliver an interim report to Congress by August on whether it's feasible to carve out a separate "Space Force" branch from the U.S. Air Force, according to a top Defense Department official. Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told reporters Tuesday the Pentagon, in conjunction with the Air Force, has spent the past six months weighing the fundamental transitions that would be needed. "We'll finish the analysis [and] what changes we'll have to make in our organization, in our acquisition process, in our architectures, in how we integrate across the services, what offensive ... and defensive capability we'll need. And, based on the changes that are required, we'll say, 'What's the right construct?' " Shanahan said during a breakfast with reporters in Washington, D.C. "We're on track to have our interim assessment June 1. We will provide our report to Congress in August, and the Air Force has been very, very responsive," he said. Related content: Shanahan said developing an organizational chart and simply checking boxes is easy. But implementing a brand-new structure may create more risk than reward. "Do we have the right leadership? Do we have the right changes?" he said, referring to setting up space systems "for a tactical advantage." The Pentagon has been scrutinizing not only how the Air Force intends to beat back adversaries such as Russia and China in space, but also how it plans to buy new space systems in the future. "If they can't do it, maybe it suggests we have to go a different way," Shanahan said. "And this is where we've been putting the Air Force and others to the paces: What changes can you commit to? And then really exploring the feasibility of those changes." In March, President Donald Trump said he had an idea for a "space force," or separate military service for space. His comments came a few months after the Air Force indicated it was done talking about a separate military force for space. Also known as "Space Corps," the concept is something some lawmakers have pushed the service to create in hopes of taking adversarial threats in space more seriously. When asked about the issue Tuesday, Air Force Secretary Wilson said she has full confidence in the service and the latest budget request to know the Air Force is the right branch to handle the job. "We are open to discussing ideas that people have in this realm," Wilson said during a Senate Armed Service Committee on Air Force posture. "I think the most important thing is not the organization, but what we actually do, and that is to defend ourselves on orbit and make clear to any adversary that, if they take us on in space, we will prevail," she said. "With respect to the bold moves and the changes, we are accelerating defendable space to deter, defend and prevail against anyone who seeks to deny our ability to freely operate in space." "There's an 18 percent increase from the fiscal year '18 five-year defense plan to the fiscal year '19 five-year defense plan in space. And there's a significant changes there," she added. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214. Dodging falling rocks and ice, fighting off massive waves of dropping snow and clinging to ropes to narrowly escape death from an avalanche at 10,000 feet, hikers on Oregons Mount Hood did not have much time to survive. But somehow, a rescue unit with Air Force Reserve Command managed to locate and save the imperiled hikers, using search and rescue helicopters filled with trained Air Force reservists. This mission is just one example of many that are gaining attention as Air Force Reserve Command prepares to commemorate its 70th anniversary. It was in February of this year when a team of 15 reserve Airmen dropped rope lines, enabling three of four stranded hikers to safely descend from the mountain. Tragically, one of the four fell 1,000 feet and did not survive. Climbers are found frequently on [Mount Hood]. They use different rescue methods depending upon altitude, time of day and temperature, Dr. Donald Boyd, Air Force Reserve Command historian, told Military.com in an interview. The rescue crew, from Air Force Reserve Guardian Angel 304th Squadron, had little time to act before the hikers near the summit of Mount Hood became overwhelmed by the conditions. The crew also faced an extra challenge by operating at high altitudes. Thinner air at high altitudes makes it hard for rotor blades to properly catch the air and move easily. As a result, advanced piloting skills are needed when it comes to these kinds of mountain rescues. Coordinating with Air Force leaders at command and control centers, some reservists dropped down the rope lines from the air, while others put on rescue gear and descended to the mountain itself to assist imperiled climbers. Air Force reservists in the area are familiar with Mount Hood terrain, as they have assisted troubled climbers before. They train in the area for the specific purpose of being equipped and prepared for Mount Hood search and rescue missions, should they be called upon. In 2017, Air Force reservists saved a lost hiker in the Mount Hood National Forest who had survived five days alone in the wilderness. Boyd explained how this incident reflects the long-standing mission of the Air Force Reserve, which seeks to complete humanitarian and combat missions in a manner fully equivalent to their active duty brethren. He added that reserve airmen are more experienced in recent years, given the massively increased deployment op-tempo that followed 9-11. Over the years, the challenge for reserve Airmen has, in some ways, been consistent but also changed. Airmen work on maintaining a balance between their civilian job and reserve duty, especially since 9-11 when more deployments came into play, Boyd said. Key Select Mineral List Type Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Dana Chemical Elements Gallery: List of minerals arranged by Dana 8th Edition classification Group 4 - SIMPLE OXIDES A 2 X 3 Ilmenite 4.3.5.1 Fe2+TiO 3 Group 7 - MULTIPLE OXIDES AB 2 X 4 Magnetite 7.2.2.3 Fe2+Fe3+ 2 O 4 Unclassified Minerals, Mixtures, etc. 'Albite-Anorthite Series' - 'Apatite' - Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (Cl/F/OH) 'Biotite' - K(Fe2+/Mg) 2 (Al/Fe3+/Mg)([Si/Al]Si 2 O 10 )(OH/F) 2 'Pyroxene Group' - List of minerals for each chemical element H Hydrogen H Apatite Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (Cl/F/OH) H Biotite K(Fe2+/Mg) 2 (Al/Fe3+/Mg)([Si/Al]Si 2 O 10 )(OH/F) 2 O Oxygen O Apatite Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (Cl/F/OH) O Magnetite Fe2+Fe 2 3+O 4 O Ilmenite Fe2+TiO 3 O Biotite K(Fe2+/Mg) 2 (Al/Fe3+/Mg)([Si/Al]Si 2 O 10 )(OH/F) 2 F Fluorine F Apatite Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (Cl/F/OH) F Biotite K(Fe2+/Mg) 2 (Al/Fe3+/Mg)([Si/Al]Si 2 O 10 )(OH/F) 2 Mg Magnesium Mg Biotite K(Fe2+/Mg) 2 (Al/Fe3+/Mg)([Si/Al]Si 2 O 10 )(OH/F) 2 Al Aluminium Al Biotite K(Fe2+/Mg) 2 (Al/Fe3+/Mg)([Si/Al]Si 2 O 10 )(OH/F) 2 Si Silicon Si Biotite K(Fe2+/Mg) 2 (Al/Fe3+/Mg)([Si/Al]Si 2 O 10 )(OH/F) 2 P Phosphorus P Apatite Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (Cl/F/OH) Cl Chlorine Cl Apatite Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (Cl/F/OH) K Potassium K Biotite K(Fe2+/Mg) 2 (Al/Fe3+/Mg)([Si/Al]Si 2 O 10 )(OH/F) 2 Ca Calcium Ca Apatite Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (Cl/F/OH) Ti Titanium Ti Ilmenite Fe2+TiO 3 Fe Iron Fe Magnetite Fe2+Fe 2 3+O 4 Fe Ilmenite Fe2+TiO 3 Fe Biotite K(Fe2+/Mg) 2 (Al/Fe3+/Mg)([Si/Al]Si 2 O 10 )(OH/F) 2 References Sort by Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A) Korneliussen, A., McEnroe, S.A., Nilsson, L-P., Schiellerup, H., Gautneb, H., Meyer, G. & Strseth, L.R.(2000): An overview of titanium deposits in Norway. Norges geologiske underskelse, NGU Bulletin. 436, 27-38. Schiellerup, H., Meyer, G.B., Tegner, C., Robins, B., Korneliussen, A. (2001): Resources of apatite, ilmenite and magnetite in the Bjerkreim Sokndal Layered Intrusion, Rogaland, South Norway. Norges geologiske underskelse (NGU), NGU-report No.2001.092, 33 pages. Korneliussen, A., Furuhaug, L., Gautneb, H., McEnroe, S., Nilsson, L.P., Srdal, T. (2001): Forekomster med ilmenitt, vanadiumholdig magnetitt og apatitt i norittiske bergarter i Egersundfeltet, Rogaland. Norges geologiske underskelse, NGU-report No.2001.014, 29 pages. Meyer, G.B., Schiellerup, H., Tegner, C. (2002): Chemical characterisation of ilmenite, magnetite and apatite in the Bjerkreim-Sokndal Layered Intrusion, Rogaland, South Norway. Norges geologiske underskelse, NGU-report No.2002.042, 25 pages. Geological Survey of Norway. The Ore Database, Deposit Area 1114 - 007, Asen-Bjerkreim Other Databases Link to Geological Survey of Norway: 13640 Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary. Oxide- and apatite-rich modally layered rocks in the lower part of the Bjerkreim-Sokndal Layered Intrusion in the Rogaland Anorthosite Province. The area is conventionally denoted MCUIB-e and defines a sequence of apatite-, ilmenite- and magnetite-bearing gabbronorite which may be followed from the farm at Asen to Bjerkreim. The area is densely covered and the sequence only rarely exposed. The poor exposure makes it difficult to confidently assess the persistency and aerial extent of the MCU1Be target area. However, the overall similarities observed in profiles across the zone in terms of layering and mafic index do suggest that a prominent apatite-, ilmenite- and magnetite-rich zone exists. The zone varies in thickness from 15-20 to 60 m and is likely to be laterally continuous for at least 3 km wedging out gradually to the north and south.The deposit located at Asen is part of the same zone (MCU1B-e) as the deposit described as Berse . At Asen, south of lake Berse, the zone is exposed in the slopes of a deep erosional valley, and to a large part covered by glaciofluvial sediments and talus. The profile consists a prominent melanocratic apatite-, ilmenite- and magnetite-rich gabbronorite sequence in intensely layered cumulates. In major parts of this sequence mafic layers make up 60-70% of all exposures. The profile covers a stratigraphic interval of 100 m. 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. An Ahmedabad sessions court on Tuesday sent the Amreli Superintendent of Police (SP) on seven days police remand. Indian Police Services officer Jagdish Patel who was arrested for his alleged role in extorting bitcoins and cash from a builder will remain in police custody until May 1. Patel was arrested by the Gujarat CID-Crime on Monday after he was questioned throughout the day at the department's office in Gandhinagar. Sleuths investigating the case had sought 14-days police remand for the accused saying that his role in the case of kidnapping, extortion, and illegal detention of a realtor from Surat, Shailesh Bhatt, was revealed by policemen arrested in the case. However, the court of sessions judge N C Rawal allowed police remand for a week. The CID alleged that Inspector Anant Patel, arrested earlier in the case, had said that the SP had given him Rs 40 lakh to distribute among other policemen, also arrested in the case, for legal expenses. On April 8, the CID-Crime had registered a case against Anant Patel and others for allegedly kidnapping Bhatt and extorting bitcoins, a popular cryptocurrency, and demanding Rs 32 crore from him. Bhatt had also alleged that Anant Patel kidnapped him and extorted bitcoins at the behest of the Amreli SP. Police had earlier said they were verifying Bhatt's claim of digitally transferring 200 bitcoins to Anant Patel. Bitcoin is the most valuable cryptocurrency in use and the exchange rate of one bitcoin is currently $9,348 or Rs 6.24 lakh. Bitcoin is a type of digital money that is issued and normally controlled by its developers and used and accepted among the members of the virtual community. The Indian government has repeatedly said it does not recognise bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency as legal tender in India. Reserve Bank of Indian recently barred all entities functioning under it to not deal with companies trading in cryptocurrencies. (With inputs from PTI) live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Shares of Bharti Airtel rose over 5 percent as investors cheered better than expected March quarter numbers for the telecom major. Its shares touched a high of Rs 419.40 on the BSE against its previous close of Rs 406.10. The company on Tuesday reported a profit of Rs 83 crore for the March quarter against analysts estimates of a loss by the firm. The profit has dipped by 78 per cent against Rs 373 crore that the firm reported during the same quarter last year. In the previous quarter, it had reported a profit of Rs 306 crore, implying a dip of 72 per cent. The company's revenue fell over 3 per cent at Rs 19,634 crore against Rs 20,318 crore in the previous quarter. On a YoY basis, the revenue has seen a fall of over 10 percent. At an operating level, the EBITDA fell 7 percent (down 12 per cent year-on-year) at Rs 7,034 crore against Rs 7,587 crore QoQ, while the operating margin came in at 35.8 per cent, down from 37.3 per cent QoQ. The margin was reported at 36.4 per cent in Q4 of FY17. Its India revenues were reported 13 per cent lower YoY at Rs 14,796 crore, while the India EBITDA is reported at Rs 5,237.2 crore, down 22 per cent YoY. The operating margin is reported at 35.4 per cent, down 390 basis points year-on-year. The telecom industry continues to witness below cost, artificially suppressed pricing. Industry revenues were further adversely impacted this quarter due to the reduction in International termination rates...Our strategic investments in data capacities, innovative digital content through Airtel TV, customer friendly bundles and upgrade programs led to the highest ever mobile data customer additions of 15 Mn during the quarter. Usage parameters remained robust on a YoY basis, we saw data and voice traffic grow 584% and 55% respectively," Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said in a statement. Brokerage: Credit Suisse | Rating: Maintain Neutral | Target: Rs 440 The brokerage house said that while EBITDA pressure continues, it is seeing signs of end of easy cost cuts in most segments. It observed that capex stayed high in India, while Africa capex restarted after four quarters. Further, it believes that some form of capital infusion could be needed soon. Heightened competition is also leading to pressure on ARPU/EBITDA, it added. Brokerage: CLSA | Rating: Retain Buy | Target: Cut to Rs 590 CLSA said that its Q4 Cons EBITDA was ahead of estimates. It lowered FY19-21 Revenue & EBITDA Forecasts By 8-15%. It expects the firm to deliver 14 percent CAGR in consolidated EBITDA. Brokerage: Deutsche Bank | Rating: Buy | Target: Rs 475 Deutsche Bank said that the financials were weak as expected, but had better metrics. It also said that the stock offers a valuation upside when sector revenues recover. RN Bhaskar Ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister of India, he has been advocating the setting up of toilets and promoting the concept of a Swachh Bharat. In order to achieve these objectives, he has also urged his government to allocate adequate funds. But someone should tell him that he could earn a lot of money both for this laudable scheme and for the entire country if this programme were to be taken a bit further with innovative thinking. First look at the financial constraints the government faces. As against the demand of Rs 25,000 crore for financial year 2017-18 for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Grameen), an allocation of only Rs 13,948.27 crore has been made. Another Rs.6,050 crore has been made available for the National Rural Drinking Water Programme. The demand is for a great deal more. Both projects are laudable. But good ideas can cost money as well. But what if the government could earn more than 90 times the allocated funds? Money from shit Sounds far-fetched? But wait. To understand how this could be done, people must first realise that waste means money. It could be human excreta or animal dung. The larger the population of people or animals, the more is the dung potential. The fact is that dung is rich in microbial content which, if fermented, can generate humongous amounts of methane. Methane is the same gas that is used for cooking (like LPG or liquefied petroleum gas) or when purified further as CNG (compressed natural gas) used as fuel by vehicles. What is different is only the source it comes from. LPG and CNG come from hydro-carbons. Methane can come from any source, including shit (here we move away from the polite words for human waste). So how does one compute the amount of shit India produces? Simple, each species has a corresponding volume of excreta it generates on an average. Human being generate between 400-500 grammes of excreta daily. Other animals produce varying volumes and much of this can be got from 2002, North Carolina Agricultural Chemicals Manual: Livestock manure production rates and nutrient content -- J. C. Barker, Biological and Agricultural Engineering; S. C. Hodges, Soil Science; and from F. R. Walls, North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. The calculations What about the population of humans and animals. Fortunately, data on human population is easily available from the Census the government conducts every ten years. The latest Census figures are 2011, but updated figures for the current year can be found with the World Bank and with Wikipedia. Data on animals can be sourced from the Livestock Censuses, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, and from here. Now all that one has to do is to marry the data for excreta output and multiply it with the population figures. That will give you the approximate volume of excreta produced daily. Multiply this with 365 days and divide it by 1,000 and you will get tonnage output for the year. And this is precisely what we have done (see chart). All that is missing is to find out the approximate methane each tonne of excreta can give you. While this would depend on the kind of digestor used, the ambient temperature bacteria generates more methane in warmer climates than in colder areas -- and the type of catalysts used, many experts are agreed that a safe conversion norm of 40 cubic metres for each tonne of excreta would be fair. Bundle all this data together, and voila. You then realise that India has the potential to produce methane worth a breath-stopping Rs.18,38,420 crore annually. Translated this would mean that India could produce methane worth Rs.18 trillion annually. Compare this against Rs.582,762 crore that was Indias import bill for petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) in 2016-17, and you begin to realise that India could actually wipe off its negative balance of trade and actually become surplus in foreign exchange earnings. What is more interesting is that after the methane is extracted, the slurry can be dried, diced and packaged (with a bit of cleaning up) and sold as organic manure. This would reduce our fertiliser import bills as well. Agro and forest waste But there is a lot more to come. While we have taken the value of methane from excreta, we have not considered agro waste and municipal waste. We will not consider the latter since this includes all other kinds of waste like plastics and metal, and focus instead only on agro waste. Moreover, while there is no denying that the potential for earning from waste to energy projects in municipalities is huge, one must also reckon with the garbage mafia which tries to prevent this, as Bengaluru discovered some years ago. All agricultural waste has the potential of being converted into methane as well. This include rotten vegetables (like tomatoes) and fruit, grass, bagasse, stubble from plants after the harvesting is done, twigs, dry leaves and the host of other types of forest waste. Many experts say that for a country the size of India, one could easily assume that agri waste could be 3-5 times bigger (if not more) than excreta. It is then that one wonders why the government hasnt tried hard enough to wean the farmers from burning the stubble of their crop after harvest. It could save Delhi the smog, and people the risk of lung infection. It could make money for the farmers and for the state as well. So this is where a new set of figures come in (see chart). Now add up these numbers, and you begin to realise that the revenue potential and the economic benefits to India can be truly mind-blowing. In fact, there is one more issue that needs to be highlighted here. By using methane instead of firewood, coal or even diesel, the country saves on environmental pollution as well. And by stopping the methane leaking into the atmosphere through garbage dumps, even the air becomes cleaner. In fact, as the Economic Survey for 2016-17 points out, the health impact of fumes alone have a negative impact on the respiratory system, cardiovascular diseases neurological effects etc. This is addition to the health impacts on the coal miners who are at a higher risk of chronic bronchitis and other lung diseases. The annual number of deaths linked to coal based power plants pollution is estimated to be around 115000 and the total monetary cost is around US$ 4.6 billion. Thus the imputed benefits from using methane could be several times greater than the amount shown for excreta-based solutions. How to do this? The answer would lie in India adopting the decentralised cluster model that these columns advocated for solar power. We believe that approximately 100 villages on an average could easily form a cluster. Since India has around 6 lakh villages, that would translate into 6,000 clusters. Large towns could be treated a single clusters as the potential for solar and dung would be a lot greater. Give the entrepreneur who has rights to providing decentralised solar power for the cluster another business opportunity. Give him the right over methane as well. Since even the Forest Act allows for a small amount of forest land being used for generating energy, the use of this type of land too will be an added convenience. Get each toilet and each stable to have a drain pipe that takes dung to a central pit. Periodically, one can use pumps to move the excreta faster in much the same way that Envac of Sweden (www.envacgroup.com) does. Since Envac does this for not more than 3 km, India will have to work out its own methods for moving garbage over longer distances. At the central pit, get biochemists to study the composition of waste that comes in agro waste, human and animal waste. Let them come up with the right type of catalysts that could speed up the generation of methane. Then if the input of waste is large enough, the decentralised unit could also consider putting up a desulphonation plant. This is because once the sulphur is removed, the bad odours also disappear, making the plant more acceptable to the community. The sulphur can be sold, thus paying for the cost of the desulphonation plant. When the methane is extracted, take the slurry, cleanse it of any noxious elements, and then allow the residual output to dry. Pack it up in bags to be sold at organic manure. In fact this is already being done by small users of the ubiquitous gobar gas plants that dot the entire countryside in India. Poultry farmers in Punjab have already begun extracting methane from poultry droppings. Methanation is also promoted in a small way by companies like the truck and bus maker Scania, which has supplied villages in Karnataka with small digestors which can allow them to convert waste vegetables into methane. And it is being done in a very impressive way by Vinay Kore of Warana Cooperative in Maharashtra. Kore is chairman of the Warana Cooperative which has substantial interests in sugarcane and milk, He was also once the state minister for non-conventional energy. During his tenure as a minister he met with delegations who talked about waste to energy, and he discovered that one part of the sugarcane juice that is extracted could be immensely useful for generating methane. He knew that a major part of sugarcane juice goes towards making sugar. A significant portion of the residual volume is molasses which go to distilleries (most Maharashtra cooperatives have interests in distilleries as well). But there is a part of this residue called spent wash (which the locals call bedmass) which is a noxious fluid and which is normally burnt. Kore discovered that this was rich in bacterial content and could be used for generating methane. Then with the help of consultants he began setting up one of Indias largest digestors that is capable of producing around 22,000 cubic metres of methane daily. When asked if he would use the methane to generate electricity, he scoffed at such a suggestion. He knows that each litre of methane would fetch him only Rs.6 if he were to use it to generate electricity. But if he could compress and liquefy it, he could then sell the bottled methane to the restaurant and the trucking industry. It would then fetch him upwards of Rs.45 a litre. What Kore has done for Warana could be replicated across the country. It needs private entrepreneurial initiative it will wither away as a government initiative. It needs the government to start auctioning rights to solar and to methane for each cluster. That process could take a year. And it needs the government to ensure that existing power grids and forest officials do not interfere with the decentralised cluster power and methane generation concept. Should India do this, it would generate a huge amount of employment (our estimates are around 83 million for solar alone). It would bring wealth and better health to rural areas. It would bring them both cooking gas, solar power and a healthy environment. What else could Swachh Bharat hope for? India stands at the 136th position on the list, with Syria being the most violent country in the world at 163rd place. (Image: REUTERS) The Maharashtra government today unveiled the much-awaited Development Plan (DP) 2034 for Mumbai, paving the way for the space-starved city to have more land available to build homes and commercial spaces. Infusion of new developable land and increasing the FSI (Floor Space Index) in the island city up to 3 for residential properties are the major takeaways of the revised development plan, which will be the blueprint for the city's land use over the next 16 years. FSI is the ratio of the total built-up area to the total area of a plot. It is basically a tool that defines the extent of construction permissible on a plot. In the new DP, the FSI for commercial properties is raised up to 5 in the island city from earlier 1.33. For suburbs, new FSI will be up to 2.5 and 5 for residential and commercial properties, respectively. The existing FSI for the two categories is 2 and 2.5, respectively. Unveiling the document, Maharashtra Urban Development department Principal Secretary Nitin Kareer said, "Among other major issues, availability of open spaces is well taken care of in the DP. No open space reservation has been removed even as some extra open space is proposed to be created, because the government feels that open space is the important parameter of the quality of life". He said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had approved the development blueprint yesterday. "A notification will be issued in the next ten days. The new DP will be implemented one month after the notification is published," the principal secretary said. He said the land that falls under No Development Zone (NDZ) category, where the civic body can provide infrastructure, can now be utilised for the purpose of affordable housing as well as creating other amenities under the Special Development Zone (SDZ). The NDZ areas include salt pan lands and lands earlier earmarked for tourism development. "Maximum FSI for commercial properties in the island city is capped at 5. However, it is not necessarily applicable to every property. The maximum FSI will commensurate with the width of a road near the property concerned. The FSI will be maximum for the widest road and will be lesser depending upon the width of a road concerned," Kareer said while sharing the new Development Control and Promotional Regulations 2034. Addressing the media, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Ajoy Mehta said over 3,000 hectares of land would be available for building affordable houses after unlocking the NDZ land. "Apart from this land, an additional 300 hectares of salt pan land will also be available for affordable housing. As per our estimate, about 10 lakh affordable houses will be built on these lands by 2034," Mehta said, adding that the new DP is based on the projection that Mumbai's population will come down by 2034. As per Census 2011, Mumbai's population is 1.24 crore. Availability of new land means a lot for the space-constrained city with a population density of 29,650 per sq Km. Mehta said four major issues, including affordable housing and creation of jobs, have been addressed to in the DP 2034. "The first and foremost issue is housing. Other issues are creating additional jobs in the financial capital of the country, facilitating qualitative life and not compromising on open spaces, green cover etc. "The fourth major issue is to improve the life of marginalised sections of the society by helping them to maintain pace with development. For this reason, we have made a number of provisions for various sections like working women, divyangs etc.", he said. Mehta said issues like creating more old age homes are also addressed to. "Moreover, a big impetus is given for promotion of art and culture in the city," he added. The chief minister approved the Mumbai DP 2034 yesterday, more than three years after it was submitted to him. He had scrapped the draft DP following a hue and cry generated by several quarters over its provisions, and had set up a new panel to come up with the revised plan. The draft Development Plan 2014-34 was earlier passed in the BMC civic body on August 1 last year. Corporators cutting across political parties had then proposed around 267 amendments in the plan. These amendments were mainly related to reservations for day care centres, children's park, another central park and a museum. Top seven Indian IT companies experienced a whopping 43 percent drop in their H-1B visa approvals between 2015 and 2017, a US think-tank has said. The National Foundation for American Policy in a report said that the 8,468 new H-1B visas for Indian-based companies in the finanacial year 2017 equaled only 0.006 percent of the 160 million in the US labour force. The top seven Indian-based companies received only 8,468 approved H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY 2017, a decline of 43 percent for these companies since FY 2015, when it received 14,792 H-1B visas. Given that 199,000 applications were filed in FY 2017 for the FY 2018 cap year 105,000 in excess of the FY 2018 H-1B annual limit even if none of these companies received new H-1B visas the annual limit still would have been reached on the first day of the April filing period, it said. "The data indicate the problem is not which companies are receiving H-1B visas, which some contend, but that the 85,000-annual limit is too low for an economy the size of the United States," it argued. Based on the H-1B visa data obtained from the US Citizenship and immigration Services (USCIS), the foundation said that the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) received 2,312 H-1B visas in 2017 as against 4,674 in 2015, registering a drop of 51 percent. Infosys, during the same period saw a whooping drop of 57 percent from 2,830 in 2015 to 1,218 in 2017. Wipro received 1,210 H-1B visas in 2017 as against 3,079 in 2015. Among the seven Indian-based companies the H-1B approval of Tech Mahindra went up from 1,576 in 2015 to 2233 in 2017. In its analysis, the National Foundation for American Policy said that the drop in H-1B visas for Indian-based companies is due to industry trends toward digital services such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence, which require fewer workers, and a choice by companies to rely less on visas and to build up their domestic workforces in the United States. In most cases, companies require fewer people per project, it argued. Also, like all companies, including US companies, restrictions on visas may result in more work being performed outside the US, which is the unintended consequence of many immigration restrictions in a global economy. Indian-based companies, of course, must compete for the same relatively limited pool of tech talent in the US as other companies, it said. The foundation said, corporate clients of both the US and Indian-based IT services companies are requesting digital engineering and more sophisticated services, including better data analysis, that require fewer workers and more advanced technology, and this is reflected in the H-1B visa numbers. While Cognizant, an IT services company headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, had the most H-1B petitions approved for new employment in FY 2017, with 3,194, that represented a decline of 800 approved petitions, or 25 percent from FY 2016. Further, five of the seven top Indian-based companies saw declines in FY 2017 from FY 2016 Infosys, Wipro, HCL America, Larsen & Toubro and Mindtree. Only TCS, with an increase of 13 percent, and Tech Mahindra, which increased by 42 percent, had more H-1B petitions for initial employment approved in FY 2017 than in FY 2016, it said. By Satish Gupta of astrostocktips.in Todays planetary position: Moon will be transiting in Leo. Jupiter in Libra. Lord Saturn & Mars in Sagittarius. Ketu in Capricorn. Mercury in Pisces. Sun in Aries. Venus in Taurus. Lord Rahu in Cancer. Pluto in Sagittarius. Neptune in Aquarius & Uranus in Pisces. RAHUKAL TIME: - 12.00 13.30 Following sectors will be receiving astrological support: Food processing: Jubilant Food, Britannia, Nestle, Milk Food, Future Consumer, etc. PREDICTING BULLISH SECTORS OF NEXT SAMVAT 2075 Every year with commencement of new Samvat (Hindu New Year), astrologically, based on planetary position, certain new sectors start getting strong astrological support & start outperforming, while some others sectors which were performing earlier start underperforming. Some sectors/stock remains laggard. Based on our experience of over 20 years as Financial Astrologer, stocks of astrological supported sectors outperform resulting in exorbitant gains irrespective of market behavior, either bull market or bear market. Every year we release sectors of new Samvat in the month of March/April when new Samvat starts. This time new Samvat started from 18th MARCH 2018. We firmly believe that these special astrological positions present very unique opportunities to investors and traders both. This opportunity, if utilized properly, can safeguard your existing portfolio and simultaneously optimize your future investments and trading also. So contact us at early and subscribe or renew the Sectors of Samvat 2075. After all Successful investing and trading is all about GOOD TIMING only. Needless to mention our innumerable past predictions, where most stocks from the SECTORS of SAMVAT gave exorbitant returns & certain stocks appreciated by over 500 percent. After gap of many years, sugar sector started getting astrological support in the year 2015 & many stocks i.ie; Dwarikesh Sugar, Mawana Sugar, Uppar Ganges & Uttam Sugar etc shot up by 500 900 percent. In the year 2016 dyes/chemical sector got astrological support and stocks like Bhageria Industries, Thirumalai Chemicals and Sudarshan Chemicals were up by 490- 650 percent. During last Samvat 2074 (2017-2018), among other sectors - food processing sector was predicted, which received strong astrological support. Many stocks from this sector appreciated exorbitantly. Sectors which get very strong astrological support are not normally affected by downfall in the market. Sectors which get strong astrological support also start getting favorable news along with all kind of positive support by regulatory authorities in that industry, resulting in strong growth & super positive results. Most of problems also start resolving. : 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. Did you know that six stocks from the BSE universe that have given at least 10 percent return in each of the September quarter for the last three years?. We considered companies with a market cap of over Rs 500 crore. (Data Source: ACE Equity) One normally associates successful couples in the same profession with lawyers, doctors and even filmstars. But stock market? Yes, that too has one. Chennai-based Dolly and Rajiv Khanna are a couple to beat. Few can rival their ability to spot value small-cap or mid-cap marvels. Dolly counts as one of the top analysts in the fraternity of value pickers in India. Rajiv started investing in the market in 1996 with an initial investment of Rs 1 crore, which is now worth over Rs 750 crore, according to reports. Their portfolio would also include other companies in which the duo holds less than 1 percent stake. The two have a knack of spotting multibagger stocks and know when to book profits and when to increase stake in companies offering value after a correction. During the March quarter, the duo reduced stake in nine out of 20 companies in which they held more than 1 percent stake. But they continue to hold more than 1 percent stake in each of these nine companies after the sale. Stocks in which the Khannas reduced their stake include names like Dwarikesh Sugar, Gujarat Narmada, Nitin Spinners, NOCIL, RSWM, Ruchira Papers, Sterling Tools, PPAP Automotive and Thirumalai Chemicals. The couple added 4 new stocks to their portfolio, namely Associated Alcohols & Breweries, LT Foods, Radico Khaitan, and Som Distilleries and Beverages. The duo added shares of three distillery companies during the recently-concluded quarter. These stocks have given stellar returns in the last one year, having risen around three times. Radico Khaitan rose 237 percent, Associated Alcohols 185 percent, and Som Distilleries rallied 108 percent in the last one year. Associated Alcohols is a liquor manufacturer and bottles vodka and Scotch whisky for international brands. Radico Khaitan makes various brands of whisky and rum, including 8 PM, Royal Whytehall, After Dark Whisky, Contessa Rum and 8 PM Bermuda Rum, among others. Som Distilleries & Breweries manufactures beer and whiskys. Dolly has always been an active trader and believes in playing the momentum game. This is evident from the fact that she has either bought or sold some part of the holding in all the 20 stocks listed in her portfolio. She added four stocks to her portfolio in the quarter ended March but exited or reduced her stake to less than 1 percent in four companies -- Dhampur Sugar Mills, Emkay Global, IFB Industries, and Nandan Denim, according to data available on April 20. Dollys portfolio has more winners than losers. More than 80 percent of the stocks gave positive returns, with eight stocks rising more than 100 percent in the last one year. Only four of the 20 stocks gave a negative return over the same period. Some of the stocks, other than the three beer and spirit makers that rose more than 100 percent each, include Rain Industries (up 226 percent), Thirumalai Chemicals (up 167 percent), and Butterfly Gandhimathi (up 164 percent), among others. Four stocks that ended in the red include Dwarikesh Sugar (down 48 percent), Nitin Spinners (down 24 percent), RSWM (down 24 percent), and Ruchira Papers (down 2 percent). 1:55 pm Price of Energy Commodities to rise this year: Prices for energy commodities like oil, natural gas and coal are expected to jump by a whopping 20 percent this year, the World Bank has said in a report. The increase in energy prices is expected to have adverse impact on India, given that the country is heavily dependent on import of major energy commodities. The latest World Bank forecast is a 16-percentage point upward revision from October's outlook, the World Bank said in its April Commodity Markets Outlook released yesterday. Oil prices are forecast to average USD 65 a barrel over 2018, up from an average of USD 53 a barrel in 2017, on strong demand from consumers and restraint by oil producers, while metals prices are expected to rise nine per cent this year, also on a pickup in demand and supply constraints, the World Bank said. 1:45 pm Buzzing: Midcap IT company Persistent Systems share price rallied nearly 5 percent intraday despite weak Q4 earnings performance, which was already intimated by the company during the quarter. The rally in the stock is largely on the hope of positive outlook for FY19 by the brokerage houses. The stock price was quoting at Rs 760.95, up Rs 35.10, or 4.84 percent on the BSE, at 13:30 hours IST. Net profit during the quarter fell by 19.7 percent sequentially to Rs 73.7 crore and revenue declined 5 percent to Rs 752.5 crore on lower IP revenue. Revenue in dollar terms also dropped 4.6 percent to USD 116.9 million for the quarter ended March 2018, from USD 122.5 million in previous quarter. Operating profit was down 21.2 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 108.3 crore and margin contracted 300 basis points to 14.4 percent in Q4FY18. During the March quarter, the company had intimated that it was expecting a decline in IP revenues during Q4 FY18, which would impact revenue and EBIDTA margin for the quarter. All brokerage houses retained their rating on the stock and expect the stock to rally up to 32 percent over one year period on hopes of good earnings in FY19. 1:35 pm Global Wind Capacity: Global wind energy capacity could increase by more than half over the next five years, as costs continue to fall and the market returns to growth at the end of this decade, a report by the Global Wind Energy Council shows. In its annual report on the status of the global wind industry, the GWEC said cumulative wind energy capacity stood at 539 gigawatts (GW) at the end of last year, 11 percent higher than the previous year. That should increase by 56 percent to 840 GW by the end of 2022 as countries develop more renewable energy to meet emissions cut targets and prices continue to fall, the wind industry association said. 1:25 pm Increase in MSP prices of Raw Jute: The government increased the minimum support price (MSP) of raw jute by Rs 200 per quintal to Rs 3,700 per quintal for the 2018-19 crop season, an official release said. The decision to increase the MSP for fair average quality (FAQ) of raw jute to Rs 3,700 per quintal for 2018-19 season from Rs 3,500 per quintal in 2017-18 was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. The decision would benefit jute farmers mainly in West Bengal, Assam and Bihar which account for 95 per cent of the country's jute production. 1:12 pm Results Date: Dr Reddy's Laboratories will announce its results for the fourth quarter and full year ended March 31, 2018 on May 22 after the board meeting. 1:02 pm Economic Growth: Indian economy is expected to witness a cyclical recovery driven by investments as well as consumption, and the average GDP growth is expected to rise to 7.8 percent in the first half of this year, says a report. According to the Japanese financial services major Nomura, investment and consumption demand are the main drivers for India's growth, amid worsening net exports. "Our leading indicators suggest the cyclical recovery, which started in the second half of 2017, is set to continue through the first half of 2018," Nomura said in a research note. Consistent with these data, "we expect average GDP growth to rise to 7.8 percent year-on-year in the first half 2018 from 7.2 percent in October-December 2017. Here are the top headlines at 1 pm from Moneycontrol News' Sakshi Batra 12:50 pm Videocon approaches NCLT: Debt-ridden Videocon Group approached the principal bench of NCLT requesting it to direct all insolvency case, filed by its lenders against seven group companies at different courts of Mumbai bench, to be heard together. The group has requested the principal bench sitting here to consolidate all multiple insolvency cases filed by lenders at three different courts of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Mumbai and hear together. The principal bench of NCLT, headed by President Justice M M Kumar, has directed the Videocon Industries to file an affidavit having details of its group companies and courts where insolvency matters are pending. The principal bench has directed to list immediately the matter once affidavit is filed by Videocon Industries. 12:40 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices continued to trade mildly lower, dragged by banking & financials, metals, infra and FMCG stocks. The Nifty IT retained its top position in the buying list among sectoral indices, rising 1.5 percent after the rupee hit fresh 13-month low of 66.74 against the US dollar. TCS, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra and Infosys gained up to 2.5 percent. The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 72.74 points at 34,543.90 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 28.60 points to 10,585.80. 12:20 pm Airtel on Tower Merger Deal: Bharti Airtel said it will engage with potential investors to evaluate a strategic stake sale in the new tower company, after merger of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers is completed. Earlier today, Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Group announced the merger of Indus Towers and Bharti Infratel to create a mobile tower juggernaut with over 1,63,000 towers across 22 telecom service areas. The combined company, which will fully own the respective businesses of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers, will change its name to Indus Towers and will continue to be listed on the Indian stock exchanges. 12:10 pm Manipal Health ups offer for Fortis: Manipal Health Enterprises has again raised its offer for Fortis Healthcare by valuing its hospital business higher at Rs 6,322 crore, ahead of the Fortis Healthcare board meet tomorrow to evaluate all binding offers. The new offer from Manipal Health Enterprises (MHEPL) also proposes to arrange financial assistance of up to Rs 750 crore ..by way of debt financing or guarantees to lenders of FHL. This is the second time Manipal/TPG-led consortium has revised its offer for Fortis Healthcare (FHL). 12:05 pm Rupee Update: The rupee weakened to a fresh 13-month low by falling 33 paise to 66.71 against the American currency on bouts of month-end dollar demand from importers amid crude price volatility and rising US bond yields. The rupee opened lower at 66.48 from yesterday's closing level at 66.38 per dollar at the interbank foreign exchange here. Continued FII-selling of local equity and debt, and weak stock market also weighed on the rupee. Rising crude is putting pressure on rupee already stressed by widening fiscal deficit, a dealer said. Meanwhile, the US dollar inched higher against its major peers in early Asian trade, approaching its recent four-month high as the US 10-year bond yield poked above 3 percent to hit its highest level since early 2014. Here are the top headlines at 12 pm from Moneycontrol News' Anchal Pathak 11:55 am Merger Approval: Bhageria Industries informed BSE that the National Company Law Tribunal [NCLT), Mumbai has approved the scheme of Amalgamation of Nipur Chemicals Limited with the company. 11:40 am Market Update: The market continued to trade mildly lower amid consolidation, following negative lead from global stocks. Banking & financials, oil, metals and infrastructure stocks are under pressure. IT is the only major gainer among sectoral indices, rising over a percent ahead of Wipro earnings due later in the day and after sharp depreciation in the rupee Bharti Airtel is up more than 4 percent after reporting profit in the March quarter against expectations of loss. The 30-share BSE Sensex is down 84.76 points at 34,531.88 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 31 points to 10,583.40. 11:22 am PTL to Consider Dividend: PTL Enterprises informed BSE that a meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled to be held on May 10 to consider and approve audited financial results of the company for the quarter/year ended March 31, 2018 and to consider & recommend a final dividend, if any, on the equity share for the financial year ended March 31, 2018. Here are the top headlines at 11:15 am from Moneycontrol News' Sakshi Batra 11:15 am Crude Update: Oil prices were stable, but were below more than three-year highs reached the previous session as rising US fuel inventories and production dragged on an otherwise bullish market. Brent crude oil futures were at USD 73.77 per barrel, down 0.12 percent, from their last close, but were some way below the November-2014 high of USD 75.47 a barrel reached the previous day. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 0.18 percent, at USD 67.58 per barrel. That was also off the late-2014 highs of USD 69.56 a barrel reached earlier in April, reports CNBC. 11:05 am Gold Outlook: CARE Ratings said US developments continue to remain the key influence on prices. Gold prices are expected to remain volatile in the near term. Gold prices are expected to be negatively impacted with the US dollar expected to strengthen further on the back of better performance of the US economy and expected US interest rate hikes, it added. In the medium term, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, increasing US government debt and rising inflation pressures, volatility and lower equity markets could support gold prices, it said. Gold is likely to remain rangebound in the short term around the USD 1,350 an ounce range. 10:55 am Narayana Hrudayalaya wind-up Malaysian subsidiary: Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospitals Malaysia Sdn Bhd , was registered as a wholly owned subsidiary of Narayana Hrudayalaya (NHL) on September 27, 2011 to set up and operate cardiac facilities in Malaysia. However, NHL had decided to terminate the project at its initial stages in FY 2014-15 due to various changes in the regulatory framework of Malaysia which made the project unviable. In view of the above NHL had decided to wind-up the said subsidiary in Malaysia. The subsidiary had commenced the process of Members' voluntary winding-up in 2017 as per the extant provisions of the Malaysian company law. The liquidation of the subsidiary has been completed and as per the search report from Companies Commission of Malaysia dated 24th April 2018, the status of the subsidiary is confirmed as dissolved. 10:45 am Buzzing: ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Ltd rose by about 15 percent in two straight days after the company reported fall in net profit but the value of new business (VNB) rose 93 percent to Rs 1,286 crore for the quarter ended March. Most brokerage firms which have come out with their note post-March quarter results maintain their buy rating while some of them raised their target price to Rs 570 which translates into an upside of 37 percent return in the next 12 months. ICICI Prudential Life Insurances standalone net profit for the March quarter declined 16.6 percent year-on-year on account of higher new business strain. The quarterly net profit stood at Rs 340 crore, compared to Rs 408.42 in the year-ago period. However, the private life insurance company's value of new business (VNB) rose 93.1 percent to Rs 1,286 crore in Q4FY18 as compared to Rs 666 crore a year ago. 10:37 am Market Update: The market continued to trade mildly lower amid consolidation, following weak global cues. The Nifty is trading below 10,600 levels while IT is the biggest loser among sectoral indices, falling over 1 percent. Bharti Airtel is up nearly 5 percent after reporting profit in the March quarter against expectations of loss and announcement of merger between Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers. The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 61.71 points at 34,554.93 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 24.80 points to 10,589.60. About 1,188 shares declined against 825 advancing shares on the BSE. 10:30 am Results Today: Wipro, Agro Tech Foods, Bajaj Corp, Future Supply, Gujarat Heavy Chemicals, ICICI Lombard, Indiabulls Real Estate, Jindal Stainless, KSB Pumps, M&M Financial, Meera Industries, Miven Machine, Reliance Nippon, Sterlite Tech, Syngene International, UltraTech Cement and Wendt will announce March quarter earnings today. 10:20 am Merger: Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Group today announced an agreement for merger of Indus Towers and Bharti Infratel to create the largest mobile tower operator in the world outside China with over 163,000 towers across 22 telecom service areas. "The combined company, which will fully own the respective businesses of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers, will change its name to Indus Towers Limited and will continue to be listed on Indian Stock Exchanges," Bharti Group said in a statement announcing the joint deal. The combined company will own 100 percent of Indus Towers. Indus Towers is currently jointly owned by Bharti Infratel (42 percent holding), Vodafone (42 percent), Idea Group (11.15 percent) and Providence (4.85 percent). Post the deal, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone will jointly control the combined company, and the transaction is expected to close before the end of 2018-19, subject to statutory approvals. 10:10 am Technical Outlook: Shitij Gandhi of SMC Global Securities said as we are heading towards April expiry with two trading session left, the short sellers seem to be on back foot as they still holding outstanding short positions. On every dip, we have been continuously seeing short covering in the Nifty as Call Writers are covering their positions which in turn supporting upside movement in prices. In the recent weeks, we have observed that put writers are continuously shifting towards the higher band which signifies limited downside in the market ahead of expiry. Furthermore, we also anticipate that more short covering can be seen in coming sessions which can lead Nifty towards 10,700 on the day of expiry. The initial rollover data also indicates long rollover to May series. On the technical front, 10,580 spot level should act as support while 10,750 will be the immediate hurdle. 10:00 am Market Update: Benchmark indices extended losses, with the Sensex falling 100.91 points to 34,515.73 and the Nifty declining 36 points to 10,578.40. About 1,078 shares declined against 710 advancing shares on the BSE. Here are the top headlines at 10 am from Moneycontrol News' Anchal Pathak 9:55 am Rupee Update: The rupee depreciated 28 paise to 66.66 against the US dollar the interbank foreign exchange due to appreciation of the greenback amid rising US bond yields and surge in global crude oil prices. Also, a lower opening in the domestic equity market too weighed on the investor sentiment. Dealers also attributed the rupee's fall to increased demand for the US currency from importers due to month-end demand and sustained foreign capital outflows. The rupee yesterday recovered by 10 paise to 66.38 against the US dollar due to fresh selling of the American currency by exporters and banks. 9:44 am Market Update: The market is seeing consolidation amid global weakness, with the benchmark indices trading marginally lower. Investors await more corporate earnings that scheduled to be announced over next one month and Karnataka elections due next month. Bharti Airtel is up more than 2 percent after reporting profit in the March quarter against expectations of loss. The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 25.28 points to 34,591.36 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 12.40 points to 10,602. 9:30 am Results Reaction: Raymond share price rallied 3 percent after reporting 61.7 percent YoY growth in net profit at Rs 54.5 crore and 10.6 percent growth in revenue at Rs 1,629.8 crore for the quarter ended March 2018. Operating profit increased 33.5 percent to Rs 150.6 cror and margin expanded by 160 basis points to 9.2 percent YoY. 9:22 am Buzzing: Fortis Healthcare gained a percent after KKR-backed Radiant Life Care made a revised bid for the company with a binding offer to acquire its Mulund hospital for an enterprise value of Rs 1,200 crore. This is the second revised offer received by Fortis after Malaysian major IHH Healthcare made a binding offer to infuse Rs 650 crore immediately in the Indian firm as part of an overall proposal to invest Rs 4,000 crore. The company has received a binding offer from Radiant Life Care, FHL said in a regulatory filing. 9:18 am Earnings Reaction: Bharti Airtel share price gained more than 3 percent after reporting profit against expectations of loss in the quarter ended March 2018. Net profit fell 72.8 percent sequentially to Rs 83 crore and revenue declined 3.4 percent to Rs 19,634 crore in Q4FY18 while operating income slipped 7.3 percent to Rs 7,034 crore and margin contracted 150 basis points to 35.8 percent QoQ. 9:15 am Market Check: Benchmark indices opened lower, tracking negative trend in global stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 52.82 points at 34,563.82 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 21.10 points to 10,593.30. Bharti Airtel, Bharti Infratel, HPCL, BPCL and Reliance Industries were early gainers. Hindalco, Cipla and HCL Technologies were under pressure. ICICI Prudential, Raymond, Idea Cellular, Advanced Enzyme, Bajaj Corp, MMTC, Parag Milk Foods, Coffee Day, Jubilant Life, Avanti Feeds, Granule India, Gati, Jaiprakash Associates, Indiabulls Ventures and Trent gained up to 5 percent. Uniply Industries gained 2 percent after block deal of 10 lakh shares. Balrampur Chini and Reliance Naval were under pressure. 9:09 am Pre-opening Settlement: The market settled lower in pre-opening session, with the Sensex falling 23.47 points to 34,593.17 and the Nifty down 2 points to 10,612.40. 9:05 am Technical Recommendations: We spoke to SMC Global Securities and heres what they have to recommend: Au Small Finance: BUY| Target Rs775| Stop Loss Rs640| Return 12% Praj Industries Ltd: BUY| Target Rs107| Stop Loss Rs89| Return 12% SBI Life Insurance: BUY| Target Rs822| Stop Loss Rs695| Return 11% 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. 9:03 am Stocks in news: Hero MotoCorp: Company hikes two-wheeler prices by up to Rs 625 to offset rising input cost Also Watch - Markets@Moneycontrol: Nifty likely to open lower; 3 stocks which can give up to 12% return Strides Shasun: The company will Divest Its Stake In Stride Chemicals For Rs 131 crore. State Bank of India: The bank will issue & encash electoral bonds through its 11 authorised branches from May 1-10. Fortis Healthcare: IHH has submitted binding bids for Fortis and has proposed to inject Rs 650 crore at Rs 160 per share. Blue Dart: The companys Board will meet on May 08, 2018 to consider the financial results and recommend a dividend. Bharti Infratel: Re-appoints Akhil Kumar Gupta as Exec chairman Raymond: Company approves Rs 300 crore development plan for 20 acres land at Thane DCM Shriram: Board approves expansion of PVC capacity for Rs 32 crore Zensar Tech: Board approves stock split of equity shares in the ratio 5:1 9:01 am Market Check: Benchmark indices were higher in pre-opening trade despite global weakness, with the Sensex rising 112.63 points to 34,729.27 and the Nifty climbing 1.90 points to 10,616.30. A gauge of world stocks tumbled on Tuesday, erasing early gains as US bond yields scaled the 3 percent threshold for the first time in four years, while oil prices reversed course after climbing above the USD 75 per barrel mark, said a Reuters report. Asian shares were under pressure on Wednesday, with a rise in US bond yields above the 3 percent threshold and warnings from bellwether U.S. companies of higher costs driving fears that corporate earnings growth may peak soon, it said. Oil prices slipped on concerns that the United States might reinstate sanctions against Iran faded somewhat, reducing worries about the future of Iranian exports. Brent slid 85 cents, or 1.1 percent, to settle at USD 73.86 a barrel, said a report. Rank 7 | Uday Kotak | Net worth: $15 billion | Company: Kotak Mahindra Bank (Image: Reuters) live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Investors who have a penchant for investing in companies that announce generous and consistent dividends would probably shy away from Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB). The banks dividend payout over the last decade has been a mere 2% of profits. This is far lower than the industry average of 12%. But there is a logic to this. As legendary investor Warren Buffett himself suggests, companies can create value for their shareholders by reinvesting profits in businesses and taking initiatives that remunerate capital instead of payoffs in the form of dividends. KMB has created more investor value even with a low dividend payout. It has instead redeployed capital in businesses to strengthen its moat and generate higher returns. To put things in perspective, the bank has cumulatively paid an overall dividend of Rs 572 crore on profits of Rs 23,000 crore. Had the bank not paid a dividend, this would have been worth Rs 2,400 crore based on current market capitalisation of the bank at five times its book value. The benefits would have been even higher had the impact of tax been accounted for. Nevertheless, this is just one of the wisest things that Uday Kotak-led bank is known for. Its capital allocation across verticals and segments could be a case study in itself for the banking sector. No wonder the 15-year old bank commands a market capitalisation (MCap) exceeding that of State Bank of India (SBI), which has been in existence for over two centuries. During 2007-17, KMBs profits grew 23% annually. Interestingly, 97% of these profits were ploughed back (at an average RoE of 16% over the last 10 years) in the business, growing shareholders networth by 24% annually. This has mirrored growth in MCap at 30% (FY07 till date). Is it an art or simple financial engineering? Raamdeo Agarwal, Co-Founder, Motilal Oswal, who has studied many such wealth creators in the past, said KMB has built franchisees and remained grounded in terms of its business activities. Public sector banks by virtue of their imprudent decisions and weak fundamentals have been left starved for capital. In contrast, KMB, after securing a banking licence, has demonstrated capital efficiency, thus bringing it on par with the some of the finest capital allocators such as HDFC Bank and Asian Paints. Be it acquisition of ING Vysya Bank or taping any other opportunity, Uday Kotak has demonstrated wise capital allocation. KMB strengthened its balance sheet to strike the right opportunity. Around mid-2014, the bank acquired 15% stake in MCX, whose share prices had fallen to around Rs 600 a share, after parent Financial Technologies was accused in the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) fraud case. Post the acquisition, the MCX counter hit a high of Rs 1,400 in 2016 and currently trades at about Rs 800 a share. While MCX was an investment, the acquisition of ING Vysya Bank was a good case in point. Instead of cash, the idea of merging the bank through a share swap deal (790 shares of KMB for every 1,000 shares held in ING Vysya Bank) turned out to be an attractive deal. At the time of acquisition, ING Vysya Bank was trading at about 1.7 times its book value compared to 4-5 times for KMB. Without shelling out a single rupee, KMB secured ready excess to ING Vysya Banks branches and customers. It was strategic as it helped the promoters pare down their holding in the bank to meet the deadline set by the Reserve Bank. It gave KMB ready access to 573 branches of ING Vysya Bank taking KMBs total branch count to 1,214. By retaining capital and earnings, the bank has created huge scale, which it has now leveraged to fund growth. Recently, KMB raised Rs 5,803 crore by selling a mere 6.2 crore shares at Rs 930 a share via a qualified institutional placement (QIP). This is supposed to be the second largest QIP in India in terms of value. The timing is interesting as the last time the bank raised funds through the QIP route was 2007 just before the market peak out. This time around (in May 2017), equity markets peaked just after the bank raised funds. Timing is crucial while raising equity as higher valuations mean a lower dilution. The last QIP resulted in 3.2% dilution in equity. Moreover, the amount raised is huge even at the current leverage ratio of about eight times. This could translate in dissemination of an additional about Rs 45,000 crore in loans. This offers it in a huge advantage in a market starving for capital. Sanjay Bakshi, adjunct professor at Management Development Institute, Gurugram, sees right capital allocation widening the business moat and paying off in the long run. Most investors forget to look at capital allocation within the businesses. If capital is allocated to well deserving activities or segments with an aim to widen the moat and to reap long-term payoffs, it should certainly create wealth. KMB has selectively allocated capital towards building capabilities. Acquisition of ING Vysya Bank, which had a 38% exposure to SMEs as against 10% for KMB, benefitted the bank. In FY17, it acquired 99.5% stake in BSS Microfinance in an all-cash deal by paying Rs 139.2 crore. This acquisition helped the bank tap bottom of the pyramid customers by giving it access to a customer base of 2.17 lakh and a network of 78 branches. KMB has been instrumental in building great business in the past. Today, many of these businesses that were started a few years back like Kotak Securities, Kotak Mahindra Capital (investment banking) and Kotak Mahindra Asset Management (mutual funds) are leaders in their respective categories. Since FY14, the bank has invested an additional Rs 4,000 crore in key subsidiaries (See table: Subsidiary performance) whose networth stood at Rs 11,524 crore. The same accounts for 30% of the banks consolidated equity capital. Cumulatively, these subsidiary profits have grown at 16% annually, reporting an average return on equity (RoE) of 13%. Kotak Securities and Kotak Mahindra Investments have reported a 441 and 928 basis points improvement in RoE, respectively. While some subsidiaries continue to bleed, their contribution is not significant. Of the total 18 reported subsidiaries, five are incurring losses with a cumulative loss of Rs 43 crore. This seems shallow when compared to the cumulative profits of Rs 1,582 crore earned by 13 subsidiaries. Great capital allocators do not hesitate in allocating capital towards business initiatives that will create long-term value, even though such initiatives will penalise near-term profits. Withdrawing capital from unproductive activities and redirecting them to other activities will improve its bond with customers and create loyalty, which is also a capital allocation decision, Bakshi added. The management has maintained its sharp focus on areas and businesses that grow while protecting capital at the same time. Aalok Shah, Banking Analyst, Centrum Broking, said KMBs non-performing asset numbers and asset quality have been much superior that state run peers like SBI. The management has allocated most of its resources and capital in relatively less risky commercial, rural, and retail loans segments. It has invested heavily in upgrading its technological infrastructure while periodically introducing convenience banking features periodically. Follow @jitendra1929 Follow @krishnakarwa152 Rank 1 | India | Population at present: 1.38 billion approx.| 2100 population projection: 1.09 billion (Image: Reuters) The ruling BJP today welcomed the "pro-poor" Mumbai Development Plan 2034, while the opposition Congress and NCP termed it as a roadmap to disaster which they said is aimed at favouring the builders. The Maharashtra government today unveiled the much-awaited Development Plan (DP) 2034, paving the way for the space-starved city to have more land available to build homes and commercial spaces. "This is a pro-middle class and pro-poor DP plan. Considering the fast development of the city and implementation of various projects like the Metro rail, (expansion of) suburban railway, (development of) coastal road etc, there would have been barely any residential space left for the middle class and lower middle class," said BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari. He said the new blueprint focuses on affordable housing. "Attempts have been made in the DP to ensure that people need not reside in far-off suburbs and spend hours on daily commuting. This DP will ensure that space remains available for the common man even 50 years from now," he said. Meanwhile, dismissing the DP as "builder friendly", NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said the blueprint is meant to benefit those sitting on large land banks. "This DP is designed to increase the government's revenue without much benefit to the common man. Increasing FSI will not bring down the rates of houses, but will increase (population) density, which will put a burden on traffic and pose parking problems. In the end, the city will get choked," Malik said. The NCP leader said 60 per cent of the city did not have sewerage lines, and questioned if there was a time-bound programme to remove various bottlenecks in the city. When contacted, leaders of the Shiv Sena, which heads the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), refused to comment on the DP. Criticising the plan, Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam said, "This Development Plan is a disaster plan in reality. The government is conspiring to join hands with the businessmen and real estate agents by conveniently excluding the BPT land which is spread over almost 1900 acres of land." "Even real estate experts have also said that the primary aim of the Plan is to favour builders," he said. In the new DP, the FSI (Floor Space Index) for commercial properties is raised up to 5 in the island city from earlier 1.33. Similarly, the FSI for residential properties in the island city is raised up to 3. For suburbs, new FSI will be up to 2.5 and 5 for residential and commercial properties, respectively. The existing FSI for the two categories is 2 and 2.5, respectively. An office-bearer of the Cooperative Societies Residents Users and Welfare Association said, "Builders will be first beneficiary of this move. It would be also be interesting to see whether Mumbai can bear the load of the infrastructure coming out of huge FSI upto 5". Despite the Central RERA being implemented two years ago, the performance of state governments in establishing the RERA machinery has been abysmally slow. Also, unless and until RERA is implemented in the true letter and spirit of the Act, the sentiment that drives purchase of residential property in unlikely to change, according to a whitepaper on RERA by Knight Frank. It is time for Centre to step in and impose stringent penalties for non-compliant states. The state governments had ample time to put regulatory machinery in line with the ground realities and their liability should not end with setting up interim authorities, it said. The scope of functions of the newly created Central Advisory Council (CAC) should be broadened to include advisory to state bodies on issues related to RERA compliance. In the past one year, RERA compliance in some markets has been a prominent factor for price rationalisation in the residential segment as it has put a break on pre-sales activities and fund mobilisation by developers' at the once popular soft launch stage. There have been instances where developers have resorted to selling inventory at a marked discount in a bid to raise finances as no sales at pre-launch stage are allowed now. New supply in the residential segment has also taken a massive hit as RERA compliance and mounting unsold inventory pressures have forced developers to curtail launches. In 2017, new residential supply across the top eight Indian cities (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, NCR and Pune) plunged by 41% over 2016. NCR was the worst hit market where a 56% annual drop was noted. However, the progress on RERA compliance across the country still presents a gloomy picture, the whitepaper notes. Permanent Regulator in 25 states yet to see light of the day Sections 20 to 39 of the Central RERA outlining the process for setting up a Real Estate Regulatory Authority came in force two years ago, but only 3 states (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab) have established a permanent one so far. The devil, as we know, is in the detail. Firstly, while the Central act permitted states to designate any regulatory authority as the Real Estate Regulatory Authority, it did not define any timeline when such an Interim Regulator should cease to exist. Secondly, since the interim regulators are only designated as a Real Estate Authority, it is only an additional responsibility for them to implement the rules and regulations as per RERA. Hence, their efforts fall short of the intended goal of a dedicated real estate regulator, according to the whitepaper. From the consumers' perspective, RERA implementation and compliance needs undivided attention and focus from regulators for smooth operations. Sadly, most states have been playing the waiting game about getting a Permanent Regulator after handing over the reins to such Interim authorities. What was strictly supposed to be a stopgap arrangement has turned into a standard, said the whitepaper. Such authorities are making half-hearted attempts as evident by progress on even basic parameters like getting the portals up and running, registering projects and agents. Since the Central RERA also stipulates transfer of all applications, complaints or pending cases to Permanent Regulators, the Interim regulators seem to let the grass grow under its feet. At present, 25 Indian states are yet to establish Permanent Real Estate Regulators, it says. What are the disadvantages if the Interim Real Estate Regulators continue to operate? Focus of regulators, whether permanent or interim, is to maintain RERA compliance visibility. However, with interim regulators, creation of an information rich portal and supporting infrastructure still remains work in progress. Hence buyers are left with no other choice but to resort to third party information for real estate due diligence, the Knight Frank whitepaper on RERA said. The administrative nonchalance puts a big question mark on the efficacy with which consumer disputes are addressed, ruled and made available to public at large. Also, several officers in interim regulators are heads of state level development departments, development authorities and housing boards. This raises a very pertinent question will there be no conflict of interest when these officers have to evaluate cases pertaining to projects where the said bodies are promoters/developers? In all likelihood, justice in real estate rulings would be tainted by bias, it added. Rank 1 | India | Population at present: 1.38 billion approx.| 2100 population projection: 1.09 billion (Image: Reuters) The real estate sector welcomed the government nod for the new development plan (DP) for the financial capital today, but experts were concerned about the toll it will take on the already stretched infrastructure. The research wing of rating agency Crisil said the 2034 DP will release over 3,650 hectares of barred zones and salt pan land for development but added that while the move is a positive for development, it is likely to "pressurise existing infrastructure further". "Though upcoming metro projects are lined up keeping in mind this DP provisions, the growth of real estate supply is likely to happen faster than the infrastructure extension," its director Binaifer Jehani said. Property consultancy Anarock's Anuj Puri echoed the same sentiments, saying, "If infrastructure development does not keep pace with increased construction, the stress on civic amenities and traffic may worsen in the city." It can be noted that just a few months ago, speaking in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, city-based corporate house Mahindra's chairman Anand Mahindra had warned the infra woes and warned that it will repel investors. "If Mumbai, the 'crown jewel', continues to groan under its weight, it will drive away investors...If the city begins to grow under its own weight and mismanages growth, then you may just as well turn away investors," he had said. Ratan Tata had also flagged the same issue while speaking at the same event, remarking that over the last few years the industrial growth in Maharashtra "has exceeded the ability if the state to provide infrastructure to support". Property consultant CBRE's chairman for India and south Asia Anshuman Magazine called the new DP a "game changer" for the city's real estate market, which has not had the best of times in the recent past. As widely expected, the real estate sector, which is struggling with sluggishness that has resulted in inventory pile-ups, welcomed the government move. Developer Niranjan Hiranandani who is also the president of industry lobby Naredco said the hike in floor space index will enhance GDP growth and also boost employment. The stress on creating affordable housing, an equal focus on the residential and commercial development were some of the salient features of the plan which were welcomed by the industry. The concept of walking to work and the stress on maintaining open spaces also found mention in the reactions from the industry. The Maharashtra government today unveiled the much-awaited development plan 2034 for Mumbai, paving the way for the space-starved city to have more land available to build homes and commercial spaces. Infusion of new developable land and increasing the FSI (floor space index) in the island city up to 3 for residential properties are the major takeaways of the revised development plan, which will be the blueprint for the city's land use over the next 16 years. FSI is the ratio of the total built-up area to the total area of a plot. It is basically a tool that defines the extent of construction permissible on a plot. In the new DP, the FSI for commercial properties is raised up to 5 in the island city from earlier 1.33. For suburbs, new FSI will be up to 2.5 and 5 for residential and commercial properties, respectively. The existing FSI for the two categories is 2 and 2.5, respectively. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Here are the stocks which are in news today: Results today: Wipro, Agro Tech Foods, Bajaj Corp, Future Supply, Gujarat Heavy Chemicals, ICICI Lombard, Indiabulls Real Estate, Jindal Stainless, KSB Pumps, M&M Financial, Meera Industries, Miven Machine, Reliance Nippon, Sterlite Tech, Syngene International, UltraTech Cement, Wendt Hero MotoCorp: Company hikes two-wheeler prices by up to Rs 625 to offset rising input cost Strides Shasun: The company will Divest Its Stake In Stride Chemicals For Rs 131 crore. Bharti Airtel Q4FY18 (QoQ): Net profit down 72.8 percent at Rs 83 crore, revenue down 3.4 percent at Rs 19,634 crore IDFC Bank Q4FY185 YoY: Net profit down 76.2 percent to Rs 41.9 crore; NII down 9.7 percent to Rs 453.2 crore while gross NPA at 3.31 percent versus 5.62 percent QoQ; net NPA at 1.69 percent versus 2.52 percent QoQ Oberoi Realty Q4FY18 YoY: Net profit up 40.4 percent at Rs 142.9 cr; revenue up 19.1 percent at Rs 345 crore Raymond Q4FY18 YoY: Net profit up 61.7 percent at Rs 54.5 cr; revenue up 10.6 percent at Rs 1,629.8 crore Veritas: Hazel International (WOS) commercially commissioned its TankTermina in UAE Gokaldas Exports: Fund raising committee approved opening of QIP on April 24; floor price of QIP is Rs 90.94 per share Fortis received revised offer from Radiant life care MT Educare: Letter of open offer for acquisition of 1.86 crore shares from shareholder of company by Zee learn along with Sprit Infrapower State Bank of India: The bank will issue & encash electoral bonds through its 11 authorised branches from May 1-10. REI Agro, SBI, UCO Bank, Bank of Baroda - REI Agro to give Rs 10,800 crore jolt to bankers: DNA Burmans of Dabur increase stake in Religare Enterprises to 9.9 percent: ET ICICI Bank drops plan to sell housing finance Unit: BS Tata Steel may dispute Libertys Bhushan bid: ET Fortis Healthcare: IHH has submitted binding bids for Fortis and has proposed to inject Rs 650 crore at Rs 160 per share. Blue Dart: The companys Board will meet on May 08, 2018 to consider the financial results and recommend a dividend. United Breweries - Stock market regulator to soon pass a final order on whether Mallya can hold board positions in listed companies: ET Kotak approves resolution plan for Monnet Ispat: Mint Adani Transmission raises funds to buy Reliance Infrastructure's Mumbai Power business: BS NMDC to increase capacity to 50 MT by 2019-2020: BS Bharti Infratel: Re-appoints Akhil Kumar Gupta as executive chairman Persistent Systems Q4FY18 QoQ: Net profit down 19.7 percent at Rs 73.7 crore versus Rs 91.7 crore; rupee revenue down 5 percent at Rs 752.5 crore; dollar revenue down 4.6 percent at USD 116.9 million Westbridge Capital in talks to match ICICI Lombards Rs 6,500 crore offer to buy Star Health: ET Raymond: Company approves Rs 300 crore development plan for 20 acres land at Thane Crompton Greaves expands its portfolio with new range launch of fans & air coolers HDFC Bank ups deposit rates by upto 100bps: FE ITC to enter Rs 7,000 crore mango drink market with B Natural: ToI Oberoi Realty: The firm has recommended a dividend of Rs 2 apiece and issuing of NCDs to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore. It has also approved issue of shares up to Rs 2,000 crore through QIP. Mindtree: Magnet 360 introduced new lightning bolt factory which is built on salesforce lightning; Magnet 360 is the Mindtree Salesforce practice Suven Life Sciences clarified on media news that observations by USFDA are procedural in nature; company has already revised its standard operating procedure & submitted documents to FDA in time GMR Infra said on order of Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) that it is significant event given that it provides clarity on the issues pending for the last 6 years Ashoka Buildcon: Company executes concession pact for Karnataka road project JB Chemicals: Closure order received from Pollution control committee has been revoked; Company to resume its operation at Daman plant HDFC board meeting on April 30 to consider issue of non-convertible debentures (NCD); also to increase overall borrowing power of the corporation Gruh Finance clarified on Q4FY18 result that trade payables do not include any amount due to Micro & Small Enterprises Deep Industries received letter of award valued at Rs 161.70 crore from Prabha Energy Pvt Ltd for hiring of integrated Drilling & Completion Services IMFA: Some people started agitation outside company's unit which affected the working at unit; all furnaces have been shut but company is trying to sort it out DCM Shriram: Board approves expansion of PVC capacity for Rs 32 crore Zensar Tech: Board approves stock split of equity shares in the ratio 5:1 Techno Electric: ICRA Revised its rating of letter of undertakings to AA PG Foils board meeting on May 4 to consider issue of equity shares via preferential issue JSW Energy board meeting on May 3 to consider dividend for FY18 Siti Network: Investment committee today approved incorporation of 2 LLP HIL Ltd: Company starts commercial production at Gujarat plant MPS: Company to acquire Tata Interactive Systems Forbes & Co: Regional director approved scheme of amalgamation of its subsidiary with company Fortis Healthcare | In the September quarter, Rakesh Junjhunwala held a 2.65 percent holding in the stock, and FIIs have increased its stake to 41.04 percent from 40.98 percent in the June quarter. In FY21 so far the stock price has risen 0 percent to Rs 125.70 as on October 26. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Fortis Healthcare share price gained 1.6 percent intraday Wednesday after KKR-backed Radiant Life Care made a revised bid for company with a binding offer to acquire its Mulund hospital for an enterprise value of Rs 1,200 crore. This is the second revised offer received by Fortis on Tuesday after Malaysian major IHH Healthcare made a binding offer to infuse Rs 650 crore immediately in the Indian firm as part of an overall proposal to invest Rs 4,000 crore. The company has received a binding offer from Radiant Life Care, Fortis Healthcare (FHL) said in a regulatory filing. "In order to provide immediate liquidity to FHL, we would like to make a binding offer to purchase Fortis Mulund hospital without due diligence and as a going concern at an enterprise value of Rs 1,200 crore as the first step," Radiant said in its revised offer to FHL. The transaction would provide an immediate liquidity of Rs 680 crore to FHL, Radiant said. The KKR-backed firm had earlier offered to acquire at least 26 percent stake in FHL at Rs 126 per share, excluding its diagnostic business SRL. The company also proposed a demerger of hospitals business of FHL into a new company, excluding FHL's stake in SRL. The revised offers have come two days ahead of a meeting of Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL) board to consider recommendation by an expert advisory panel formed to finalise evaluation process of only binding offers. Manipal-TPG combine and Munjals and Burmans were the only two groups that had made binding offers out of total of five suitors in race. Chinese firm Fosun Health Holdings and KKR-backed Radiant Life Care had also made non-binding expression of interests in FHL. At 11:36 hours IST, the stock price was quoting at Rs 152.00, up Rs 0.45, or 0.30 percent on the BSE. (With inputs from PTI) Aadhaar Card The Aadhaar scheme has the support of two successive governments and senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who had opposed it for a party in the Supreme Court, was part of the empowered Group of Ministers which had dealt with the 12 digit unique national identifier issue, the UIDAI counsel said today. In a veiled attack on Sibal who was in the forefront of the move by opposition MPs to impeach the Chief Justice of India, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), said the Congress leader was part of the Empowered Group of Minister (EGoM) that had dealt with the Aadhaar scheme. He said now the same person, who was once advocating the Aadhaar scheme, was making a submission that data would be compromised with private players. "Mr Sibal argued that the government is collecting data and would give them to private players," Dwivedi took a dig at Sibal while making his submission before a five judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra. "The (Aadhaar) policy had the support of two successive governments," he told the bench which also comprised Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan. "I will not say much," Dwivedi said and indicated about the recent developments involving the top judiciary. Sibal, who had appeared for some petitioners opposed to the Aadhaar scheme, was not present in the courtroom. He recently said he would not be appearing before the CJI as he was a signatory to the impeachment notice. Earlier, Sibal had opposed the Aadhaar scheme and said "our identity cannot be confined to mere Aadhaar numbers, we are all much more...I am against the this one-nation-one-identity move. Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal Pradesh Ninong Ering today pleaded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to raise with Chinese President Xi Jingping the issue of China providing stapled visa to people of the state. Modi is scheduled to meet Xi at China's Wuhan city on April 27 and 28 to discuss issues of mutual concern. The Congress MP from Arunachal East constituency in a letter to the Prime Minister said, "the issue of China providing stapled visa to people of Arunachal Pradesh is not new and must be brought to their attention tactfully". "The Government of India must assert the territorial integrity of India and convey the feelings of the people of Arunachal in a firm manner," he said in his letter. While welcoming the move for a positive dialogue with China, Ering said that dialogues are the best way to bring peaceful and meaningful solution to problems. "At many instances in recent time, Chinese troops have tried to enter into Arunachal Pradesh and build roads, recently in Bising village of Tuting subdivision. "You must protest against such incidents and ask China to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of India for a peaceful co-existence, as envisaged in historical Panchsheel agreement," Ering said in the letter. He said, a few months back, the Siang River, which is the lifeline of the state, turned black due to ill-intent projects and diversion of waters of Brahmaputra river by the Chinese authorities. "The focus of the government must be on negotiating a water treaty with China for the sustainable development of the region. It will help the north-eastern states of India to have their natural right of clean and continuous water," the MP said. "Since the NDA government is guided by "Panchamri" principles of foreign policy.I urge you to take up the issues with Chinese President and stand up to the hopes and aspirations of people of Arunachal Pradesh which, will truly help the people to reclaim 'samman' (dignity), 'samvad' (dialogue), 'samriddhi' (shared prosperity), 'suraksha' (regional and global security), 'sanskriti evam sabhayata' (cultural and civilization links)," he added. April 25, 2018 / 04:25 PM IST Asaram found guilty of raping teenager in 2013, awarded life term A Jodhpur court today awarded life sentence to self-styled godman Asaram after holding him guilty of raping a teenage girl in his ashram five years ago, the second case of a powerful spiritual leader being convicted of a sexual offence in less than a year after Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim last August. Special judge Madhusudan Sharma's verdict, which comes as the debate over sexual violence, particularly the rape of minors, intensifies across the country, was read out in the Jodhpur Central Jail where 77-year-old Asaram has been kept for over four years. The special court for SC/ST cases convicted two other accused, Shilpi and Sharad, and acquitted two, Prakash and Shiva. (PTI) New Delhi: NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant addresses at press conference for the launch of the schemes Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi-dhan Vyapari Yojana to encourage digital payments, in New Delhi on Thursday. PTI Photo by Vijay Kumar Joshi (PTI12_15_2016_000217B) *** Local Caption *** Chief ministers of Bihar and Chhattisgarh today rejected Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's remarks that these were among the states that were keeping India backward and said their states have made tremendous progress. On Monday, Kant said states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are keeping India backward, especially on social indicators. Against this backdrop, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said his state was making rapid progress despite being in need of more assistance than it had been receiving so far. Delving into history, Kumar said the British rulers had meted out a harsh treatment to the state following its active participation in the Revolt of 1857, which led to its relative backwardness. Speaking at an event in Patna, Kumar said, "Even today, Bihar is making progress mainly through its own resources though it needs and deserves help". Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said Kant's comments on the backwardness of the state were targeted at the 15-year-long disruption of progress when the RJD was in power. Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said the state has made tremendous progress in the areas of health and road-rail connectivity. Talking to reporters in the national capital, he also said there should be an analytical study about the fast growth achieved by Chhattisgarh after its formation in 2000. Chhattisgarh has made tremendous progress in health indicators like IMR (Infant Mortality Rate), MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) and malnutrition as well as in road and rail connectivity, Singh said. In response to a query about Kant's comments, Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria told a press conference in Jaipur that the state was lagging behind other states in sectors such as education and health although it had made considerable progress in the last few years. On Tuesday, Kant said India's eastern states have done remarkably well on ease of doing business index, but stressed that they need to repeat their progress on the human development index as well. The Union Cabinet today gave approval for inclusion of certain areas in Rajasthan under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution so that the tribals living there can avail benefit of protective measures under its provisions. The areas comprising three complete districts -- Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh, nine tehsils, one block and 46 complete gram panchayats covering 227 villages in district Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Pali and Sirohi of Rajasthan would be included in the scheduled areas, according to an official statement. The Cabinet gave the approval for declaration of scheduled areas by revoking the Constitution order dated February 12, 1981 and promulgation of a new Constitution order. "The promulgation of new order will ensure that the scheduled tribes of Rajasthan will get benefits of protective measures available under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India," an official statement said. The beneficiaries will include STs residing in Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh, and partial areas of Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Pali and Sirohi districts of Rajasthan, the statement stated. No additional funds are required as to be expended on account of declaration of scheduled areas. This will be part of Tribal sub-plan ( renamed as Tribal Sub-Scheme) within existing schemes of central and the state government for more focused attention in scheduled areas for effecting speedy development. April 25, 2018 / 06:06 PM IST Rahul Gandhi to release Congress manifesto on April 27 Congress president Rahul Gandhi will release the party's manifesto for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls on April 27 in Mangalore, sources told PTI on Wednesday. During his two-day seventh leg of campaigning in the southern state, which starts April 26, Gandhi would also visit parts of Uttara Kannada such as Ankola city, Mastikatte Circle (Kumta), Saraswati Circle (Honnavar) and hold a corner meeting at Bhatkal, the party said in a statement Wednesday. "Rahulji will release the manifesto in Mangalore the day after tomorrow. It will be an all-encompassing document," a Congress leader said, requesting anonymity. He refused to divulge more details, but added that the manifesto would have "something" for all sections of the society. PTI ArcelorMittal said to have bid higher than Numetal consortium for Essar Steel: Report PM Modi said Maharastra's image was of a state of brokers: CM Fadnavis US lawmakers and IT industry against ending work permit to H-4 visa holders India's average GDP growth to rise to 7.8% in first half of this year: Report Govt approves pacts for supply of iron ore to Japan, South Korea through MMTC ICC apologises for tweet on PM Modi from official handle, launches inquiry April 25, 2018 / 09:19 PM IST That's all for today, readers. Thanks for staying on with our coverage of the day's action. Your enthusiasm encourages us to better our coverage every day. Do come back tomorrow for more news, views and insights. April 25, 2018 / 09:05 PM IST ISRO defers launch of GSAT-11; Recalls satellite to carry out additional checks ISRO has rescheduled the high-profile launch of its advanced communication satellite GSAT-11, the heaviest made in India, from Kourou, French Guiana, for additional technical checks, and recalled the spacecraft. The Indian Space Research Organisation's move to put off the May 25 launch comes weeks after the country's communication satellite with military applications GSAT-6A went missing after a perfect launch. ISRO Chairman K Sivan said they wanted to carry out some tests and the satellite was in the process of being shipped back. (PTI) April 25, 2018 / 08:45 PM IST IDFC Bank to raise up to Rs 5,000 crore via bonds Private sector lender IDFC Bank today said it will raise up to Rs 5,000 crore by issuing bonds in next 12 months in one or more tranches from the domestic or overseas markets. The board of the bank had yesterday passed a resolution for borrowing or raising long term funds by issue of redeemable non-convertible debentures or other debt instruments. The instruments through which the bank has been permitted to raise capital include perpetual debt instruments (part of additional tier I capital), tier II capital bonds and long term bonds (financing of infrastructure and affordable housing), on private placement basis, up to an amount not exceeding Rs 5,000 crore, the bank said in a regulatory filing. (PTI) April 25, 2018 / 08:20 PM IST Mamata Banerjee thanks Stalin for supporting federal front West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today thanked DMK working president M K Stalin for his support to the federal front mooted by her to take on the BJP. "DMK has always stood for the unity of regional parties and stronger federal co-operation. I endorse the efforts of @MamataOfficial to bring together various political parties to oppose the autocratic and antidemocratic rule of the BJP," Stalin wrote on Twitter. "Thank you. We extend our full support," Banerjee tweeted in reply. Banerjee, who has advocated one-to-one fight against the BJP, told a Bengali news channel yesterday that all the regional parties have to work together on the basis of a common minimum agenda in the interest of the country. (PTI) April 25, 2018 / 07:39 PM IST North Korea nuclear test site part-collapsed: Chinese experts North Korea's underground nuclear test site has partially collapsed following a massive bomb blast last year, making it unusable, Chinese seismologists have concluded. The North's leader Kim Jong Un declared last week that his regime would halt nuclear and long-range missile tests and shut down its nuclear site at Punggye-ri under Mount Mantap in the country's northeast. The offer came days before his summit this Friday with the South's President Moon Jae-in, which is scheduled to be followed by a summit with US President Donald Trump. April 25, 2018 / 07:33 PM IST In sports news, MS Dhonis Chennai Super Kings are taking on Virat Kohlis Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The Super Kings have won the toss and chosen to bowl first. Catch the live updates here. April 25, 2018 / 07:19 PM IST Nitish Kumar rebuffs NITI Aayog CEO's comment on backwardness Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today apparently rebuffed NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's comment blaming states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for countrys economic backwardness, saying the state was making rapid progress despite being in need of more assistance than it had so far been receiving. Delving into history, Kumar claimed that the British rulers had meted out a harsh treatment to the state following its active participation in the Revolt of 1857, which led to its relative backwardness. (PTI) April 25, 2018 / 06:50 PM IST Landmarks named after Asaram to be richristened, MP CM assures Following the conviction of Asaram in a rape case, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said today the places named after the controversial godman would be rechristened. April 25, 2018 / 06:41 PM IST Shield CBI from political obstruction on Bofors cases: Parliamentary panel draft report After studying the Bofors deal for almost 27 years, a Parliamentary panel today pressed the need for a legislative review to shield the CBI from political obstruction in cases related to the Howitzer gun purchase and urged the agency to investigate the matter without "fear or favour". April 25, 2018 / 06:28 PM IST NCLT reserves order in Union Bank's insolvency plea against Era Infra The National Company Law Tribunal today reserved its order over the insolvency plea filed by Union Bank of India against debt ridden Era Infra Engineering Ltd. April 25, 2018 / 06:21 PM IST US dollar ends higher against rupee The US dollar ended sharply against the rupee at Rs 66.90/91 per dollar and the pound sterling also finished higher at Rs 92.31/33 per pound at the close of the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market here today. Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Consul General of China in Kolkata Ma Zhanwu today said the proposed meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping this month would boost the bilateral ties significantly. Modi is scheduled to meet Xi at China's Wuhan city on April 27 and 28. "Prime Minister Modi's meeting with Chinese premier Xi assumes a lot of significance, particularly after the Dokalam border standoff," Zhanwu said at the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry here. He said the meeting would signify a new era in the relations between the two countries. Growth of Chinese investments in India had dipped since the Dokalam stand-off in 2017, after having registered a new high in 2016, although on a small base. "This is certainly going to reverse after the proposed high-level meeting," the envoy said. Zhanwu said apart from economic exchanges, there was much scope for cooperation in the fields of culture and tourism. On West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee agreeing to visit China this year, the Chinese official said, "We are working out the details". He said the Chinese consulate here had been pursuing Banerjee to visit China for long. "This is sure to happen this year. But one visit is not enough. When Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, he had visited China nine times. This had helped the state in bringing investments from China," Zhanwu added. Development bank Nabard said it has provided an assistance of Rs 10,012 crore to Uttar Pradesh during 2017-18 to facilitate overall development with special focus on agricultural credit. "This has been achieved through commercial banks, RRBs and cooperatives, infrastructure development through dedicated funds, strengthening of rural financial institutions, women empowerment through Self Help Groups, micro-finance and several other new initiatives," Nabard Chief General Manager A K Panda said in a release here. Panda said digital transformation of RFIs and rural enterprises, development plans for Bundelkhand region, crop residue management in western UP and irrigation infrastructure and its command management would be on the priority list of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard)for 2018-19. He said the financial assistance extended to the state during 2017-18 included Rs 8,450 crore released to commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative Banks for financing agriculture allied and off farm sectors in the state by way of short and long term refinance support. Sanctions under RIDF loans aggregated Rs 1,706 crore and disbursed amount was Rs 1,500 crore for rural infrastructure projects including Rs 1,050 crore for Kanharirrigation project in Sonbhadra. On Nabard's future road map, Panda said it has projected a ground level credit flow target of Rs 2,37,801 crore for 2018-19 for financing by banks under priority sectors such as agriculture, SMEs and other priority sector in Uttar Pradesh which is 17 per cent higher than the projections of Rs 2,10,910 crore for 2017-18. The focus would be on doubling of farmers income and rural employment generation through skill and enterprise development in cluster mode, he added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Sweden will lead to greater cooperation between the two countries in green technology, says Nila Vikhe Patil, the political adviser in the Swedish PMO. Modi's talks with Swedish Prime Minister Kjell Stefan Lofven were fruitful, she said. The Indian prime minister visited Sweden last week with the purpose of striking up a collaboration on innovation and green technology - a mutually beneficial partnership to enhance opportunities and development for both the countries, Vikhe Patil said. "I see a great potential for this collaboration. India has excellent world class engineers and unmatched out-of-the- box thinking on innovative solutions to problems," she told PTI. Sweden has a capital intensive labour market, it is at the forefront of green technology and feminist policies, and has a transparent tax and regulatory framework for startups, she said. "I hope that this visit by Modi will be a great starting point for India and Sweden for a bright future with green technology and a new wave of technology disruption," said Nila Vikhe Patil, the daughter of leading educationist in Maharashtra, Ashok Vikhe Patil. "I also feel that religious and political unrest (in India) should be addressed. Without equal gender rights, we will go nowhere," she said. Sweden is one of the most feminist countries in the world, said Nila Vikhe Patil, the granddaughter of late Union minister Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. She was born in Sweden and spent early years at Ahmednagar in Maharashtra. Sweden has been on a charm offensive towards India recently, supporting Modi's 'Make in India' manufacturing summit with Lofven leading a delegation of the Swedish industry leaders to the launch event in 2016. India is also an increasingly important market for Sweden, with more than 160 Swedish companies now established in the country. Congress The Congress today alleged that India's national security and strategic interests had been compromised in Doklam with the Narendra Modi government maintaining a "conspiratorial silence" on it during the China visit. "Both Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had completely omitted confronting China on creation of full-fledged Chinese military complex in Doklam right upto 10 metres from Indian army post," Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters here. He alleged that both omitted confrontation with China over the building of a new road south of Doklam platform to provide easy access to China to Jhamperi Ridge overlooking the Siliguri Corridor, a gateway to North-Eastern states. Surjewala also asked whether Modi would take up the issue in the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 27-28. Sitharaman and Swaraj had attended the meetings of the defence and foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which began at Beijing yesterday. The congress leader said he wondered how the Modi government would settle the issue of tri-junction at Doklam in this scenario as it is an all-important issue for Bhutan and India's strategic interests viz-a-viz the "chicken neck." Surjewala said the party hoped that the Modi government would protect national security and strategic interests of the country when he meets the Chinese President. In the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Modi had made several insinuations on Congress and spoken about "red eye" to China, Surjewala said. On the Modi government's policy on saving Indian jobs, Surjewala said BJP government had failed Indian immigrants as the US has clamped down on H-4, H1-B and L1 visas. "India's growth story on the world stage as a tech power is under a cloud as Modi and BJP government flounders and fails India's young, standing as a mute spectator to the clampdown by US on H4, H1B and L1 Visas for Indians," he said. He said the Congress govermment in Karnataka created 15 lakh jobs in five years, while Modi government has snatched jobs of IT professionals. Modi and BJP must answer to India, especially Karnataka IT industry, IT professionals and the young, the reason for "bartering India's interests and compromising India's position as tech giant,@ Surjewala said. "Hugplomacy, trumpeting rhetoric and beating drums, while staying mum is the only delivery by Modi in last years," he added. An estimated 7.5 lakh Indians may consequently get deported after losing H1B status, Surjewala claimed. Supporters hold up cut-outs of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party symbol with images of M.K. Stalin, son and heir-apparent of M. Karunanidhi, chief of DMK during a rally ahead of a general election in the southern Indian city of Chennai April 6, 2014. India, the world's largest democracy, will hold its general election in nine stages staggered between April 7 and May 12. REUTERS/Babu (INDIA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3K57Q Tamil Nadu's principal opposition party DMK today said it "endorsed," the efforts of West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to bring together various parties against the BJP. "DMK has always stood for the unity of regional parties and stronger federal co-operation," DMK working president M K Stalin said in a tweet. "I endorse the efforts of @MamataOfficial to bring together various political parties to oppose the autocratic and antidemocratic rule of the BJP," he said. Responding, Mamata tweeted saying, Thank you. We extend our full support." For the DMK, Congress party is a key ally in Tamil Nadu and have faced several polls together in the past. Mamata Banerjee, who has been working on the idea of a "third front," against the BJP, recently said the Congress had to decide whether it should join her party-led federal front. The West Bengal Chief Minister had asked it to toe its "one-on-one fight," line in all the states. According to her, the formula meant nominating one candidate on behalf of the opposition against the BJP. West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, however, has maintained that an anti-BJP front in the country "can succeed only under party president Rahul Gandhi's leadership". Chowdhury claimed that Banerjee was trying to project herself as a pan-India leader. On March 23, Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi got elected to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal with the support of the Trinamool Congress. Katta Subramanya Naidu (second from left) Ramakrishna Upadhya As far as the fight against the rapacious mining barons of Ballari is concerned, Karnatakas politics has come a full circle. It was in July-August 2010 that the then Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader Siddaramaiah had spearheaded a 320-km padayatra from Bengaluru to Ballari to highlight the loot of natural resources under the BJP government led by BS Yeddyurappa and told a massive, cheering crowd in Ballari town: Our party will return to power and put these looters behind bars. Cut to April 2018, Siddaramaiah has been chief minister of Karnataka for the last five years. While the mining activity is now being closely monitored by the Supreme Court, the looters are very much at large and ironically, the Congress party has given tickets to some of them to contest the May 12 assembly elections. After the BJP denied party tickets to sitting MLAs B Nagendra and Anand Singh, the Congress promptly adopted them and is fielding them from Ballari rural and Vijayanagara constituencies respectively. Anil Lad, another mining lord, has been repeated from Ballari city. The BJP, for its part, has selected Janardhana Reddys brother, Somashekhara Reddy and TS Suresh Babu, while JD(S) has given a party ticket to mining contractor, Iqbal Ahmed Hottur, who has declared assets worth Rs590 crore. From Nagendra to Hottur, what distinguishes all of them is that they have served varying periods of jail terms for their alleged involvement in the mining scams which were investigated by the CBI and SIT, but most of the cases are yet to see closure. Somashekhara Reddy, incidentally, was allegedly caught red-handed trying to bribe a judge to obtain bail for Janaradhana Reddy, who spent nearly three years behind bars. For the ordinary people of Ballari, life has not really changed. The environmental destruction caused by the miners to the district moved the Supreme Court to order that the polluters pay towards rejuvenation of the land, but crores of rupees thus collected remain locked up in bureaucratic red-tape. Now that all parties have joined hands to offer the very same culprits as their candidates, the people of Ballari have little hope that things will ever change. If this is the story of Ballari, the situation is equally grim in many other constituencies. BJPs former industries minister Katta Subramanya Naidu, who has been given a ticket from Shivajinagar in Bengaluru, had caused huge embarrassment to the Yeddyurappa government with his alleged involvement in a land scam. Naidu and his son, Katta Jagadeesh, had been accused of receiving Rs 87 crore as kickback for illegal allotment of 325 acres of prime land to Itaska Software Company through Karnataka Industrial Area development Board (KIADB). After the scandal broke out, Naidu was forced to resign from the cabinet. Police investigations revealed that the father-son duo had indeed received Rs87 crore from Itaska into their bank accounts. Naidu, Jagadeesh and several officials of KIADB were arrested and they remained in custody for a few months. The high court, in its wisdom, subsequently held that the land allotment was made by the state high-level committee headed by the chief minister, and though Itaska had transferred money to Naidu and his sons accounts, the natural course of the case does not indicate direct demand and receipt of illegal gratification, and hence all the accused were acquitted. Another controversial minister in the Yeddyurappa government, Krishnaiah Setty, who had been jailed along with Yeddyurappa in a land denotification case, has also made a comeback and become a BJP candidate from Malur. Haratalu Halappa, who had quit Yeddyurappa cabinet after allegations of raping his friends wife surfaced, but was acquitted later for want of evidence, is the BJP candidate from Sagara. MP Renukacharya, who was accused of sexually harassing a nurse when he was a minister, is in the fray from Honnali. CP Yogeshwar, who is facing investigation for allegedly cheating people after promising housing sites, has switched over from Congress to BJP and he is contesting from Chennapatna. State JD(S) president and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, has filed nomination against Yogeshwar which involves Vokkaliga rivalry apart from his home turf, Ramanagara. Congress legislator Muniratna, who is one of the main accused in swindling the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) of Rs 1,500 crore through fake and inflated bills, is again being fielded from Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru. Thus, clearly, come election time, political parties that pay lip-service to fighting corruption, fall back on the corrupt, because they have the money and muscle power to get elected. Its all about backing the winning horses and staking claim for power. Gujarat police personnel deployed outside the ashram of self-styled godman Asaram after he was convicted in a special SC/ST court in Jodhpur for a 2013 rape case against him, in Ahmedabad. (PTI) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Mongolia Foreign Minister of Mongolia Damdin Tsogtbaatar pose for a picture during a signing ceremony during the 6th India-Mongolia Joint Committee meeting at Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. (PTI) BSP chief Mayawati is accorded grand welcome by her party workers and JD(S) supporters during her visit for campaign for Karnataka Assembly Elections in Mysore.(PTI) Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu being welcomed by Director General of Police (DGP) Anil Kumar Raturi, Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh on his arrival at Jollygrant airport in Dehradun. (PTI) Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova celebrates a point against the French Caroline Garcia during their 2018 Stuttgart Open round of 32 women's singles match in Stuttgart, Germany (PTI) Bishops attend the Wednesday general audience led by Pope Francis leads in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican. (REUTERS) A view of an empty beach is seen a day before the temporary closure of the holiday island Boracay in the Philippines. (REUTERS) German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister and vice-chancellor Olaf Scholz attend the weekly cabinet meeting in Berlin, Germany. (REUTERS) A flower in the rain is pictured during a candlelight vigil at a makeshift memorial on Yonge Street following a van that attacked multiple people in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (REUTERS) Former servicemen wearing medals show up at the Cenotaph to pay their respects on Anzac Day in Sydney, Australia. (REUTERS) Security personnel stand guard outside Central Jail ahead of the trial court verdict in the rape case against self-styled godman Asaram in Jodhpur on Wednesday. (PTI) Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London, Britain. (Reuters) Policemen stand guard on the Grand Unification Bridge which leads to the Peace House, the venue for the inter-Korean summit, near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea. (Reuters) French President Emmanuel Macron toasts U.S. President Donald Trump during a State Dinner at the White House in Washington, US. (Reuters) Students wait outside the examination centre to appear in the 12th standard CBSE board re-examination in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI) Native leaders perform a traditional prayer at a makeshift memorial on Yonge Street following a van that attacked multiple people in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Reuters) RSS Chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat performs 'Bhoomi Pujan' before the installation of 51 feet tall idol of Lord Shiva and proposed construction of Shree Rameshwaram Puja Dham in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. (PTI) European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini arrives at an international conference on the future of Syria and the region, in Brussels, Belgium. (Reuters) Supporters of Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan stage a rally in Yerevan, Armenia.(Reuters) Outstanding leaders, high achievers and innovative young turks converged at the biggest event held to felicitate true visionaries of the corporate world in India. CNBC-TV18s annual India Business Leader Awards (IBLA), held in New Delhi, honoured those personalities who brought equitable economic growth along with making socially conscious decisions. The 13th edition of the awards was based on the theme of Leaders of Change, highlighting efforts of stalwarts who believe in creating equitable and profitable businesses with a laser sharp focus on specialization, innovation and differentiation. Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18 said, CNBC-TV18 has been at the forefront of chronicling entrepreneurial Indias growth and evolution. For more than a decade, The India Business Leaders Awards has emerged as a destination to celebrate ideas & entrepreneurship. The awards were presented by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law & Justice, and Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, government of India and Hasmukh Adhia, Finance Secretary. The Outstanding Company of the Year Award went to Motherson Sumi; while Kumar Mangalam Birla was named the outstanding business leader of the year. Heres the complete list of winners: As climate change makes itself more and more felt, fossil fuels are being looked at as something that needs to be changed. In an effort to move towards something more sustainable auto companies have no doubt started moving towards the electric path. And while the road will be long and hard, it is not undoable. Here are the electric cars that are already on sale in India. A state-owned Chinese automaker today announced plans to produce electric vehicles in South Africa, highlighting the growing role of the world's largest auto market in a technology seen as the global industry's future. BAIC Group's announcement at the Beijing auto show, the industry's biggest sales event of the year, came as Nissan unveiled its first electric car designed for China while General Motors displayed Buick SUV it says can go 600 kilometres on one charge. Chinese automaker Geely debuted a gasoline-electric hybrid developed with its Swedish sister company, Volvo Cars. Electrics are money-losers for most producers, but automakers are investing heavily in what they see as the wave of the future, especially in China. Its communist leaders want to make their country a center for the emerging industry and are promoting electrics with subsidies and other tools. China accounted for half of last year's global sales of electrics. Auto executives say Chinese sales of electrics and hybrids could top 1 million vehicles this year. BAIC is preparing to set up a "new energy car production base" in South Africa by the end of June, said chairman Xu Heyi. Xu said it would have an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles but he gave no details of how much of the manufacturing would be done in South Africa. That would make BAIC the second Chinese company to produce electric vehicles abroad, following BYD Auto, which manufactures battery-powered buses in a California factory. "BAIC is going to become a leading domestic and world-class new energy car-manufacturing company," Xu said. BAIC makes a popular low-priced line of plug-in electrics. It plans to increase total annual sales of electrified models to 1.5 million by 2025, Xu told reporters. The government is shifting the financial burden for developing e-vehicles to automakers with quotas that take effect next year. They require them to earn credits by selling electrics or buy them from competitors. That is forcing brands to create models that can appeal to Chinese buyers without subsidies. At the auto show's media day, Nissan Motor Co unveiled its Sylphy Zero Emission, the first of 20 electric models the Japanese automaker and its local partner plan to roll out in China over the next five years. Nissan says the Sylphy, a lower-priced version of its popular Leaf, can go 338 kilometres on a charge. "The new EV era for Nissan begins today," said Jose Munoz, chairman of Nissan's management committee for China. Munoz said the car is part of efforts to make China a "profit pillar" for Nissan along with Japan and North America. The Beijing show, Auto China 2018, is being overshadowed by mounting trade tensions between Beijing and US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to hike tariffs on Chinese goods including automobiles in a dispute over technology policy. The impact on automakers should be small, according to industry analysts, because exports amount to only a few thousand vehicles a year. Those include a GM SUV, the Envision, and Volvo Cars sedans made in China for export to the United States. China's first-quarter sales of electrics and gasoline-electric hybrids rose 154 per cent over a year earlier to 143,000 units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. That compares with sales of just under 200,000 for all of last year in the United States, the No 2 market. GM, Ford Motor Co., Daimler AG's Mercedes unit and other automakers are developing models for China with local partners that deliver more range at lower prices. On Tuesday, Volkswagen unveiled the E20X, an SUV that is the first model for SOL, an electric brand launched by the German automaker with a Chinese partner. The E20X, promising a 300-kilometre range on one charge, is aimed at lower Chinese market tiers where demand is strongest. "The Chinese market is key for the international auto industry and it is key to our success," said VW CEO Herbert Diess. The auto show follows Beijing's announcement last month that it would allow full foreign ownership in its auto industry beginning with electrics producers this year and extending to all vehicle types by 2020. That would repeal rules that required global automakers to work through local partners, an arrangement that required them to share technology with potential Chinese competitors and prompted complaints by Washington, Europe and Japan. The results of the latest study conducted by real estate information portal Zoocasa revealed that consumer support for government measures that address the impact of foreign buyers on Canadian real estate prices remains high. Fully 70% of respondents from Ontario still support the foreign-buyer taxes required by the provinces Fair Housing Plan, a year after its introduction. Support is also at a strong 77% in British Columbia, which has imposed a similar tax. On a nationwide scale, 64% of Canadians polled support the presence of a tax on foreign buyers. 59% believe that foreign buyers are driving up real estate prices in their city. A few months away from the federal legalization of recreational marijuana, the Okanagan Valley is now playing host to several current and proposed cannabis production facilities and the heating up of the regions commercial and industrial segments is expected to only go further. The Okanagan has always become an incredible centre for agriculture and we have the unique opportunity here of taking advantage of the long days, the bright sun, and an incredible job pool in the agricultural community to draw from, according to Dominic Unsworth, head facilities designer with Green Mountain Health Alliance. The wholesale cannabis company has recently purchased a 16-acre private property off Highway 3A in Kaleden. The parcel could soon house a 200,000-square-foot production facility The city of Vancouvers new empty homes tax is expected to bring in $30 million in revenue on its first year. Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson said that $17 million has already been collected from owners of almost 8,500 properties, which were determined to be vacant or underutilized for at least six months of the year. For those who didnt rent their empty property and chose to pay the empty homes tax, I just want to say thank you for contributing to Vancouvers affordable housing funding and making sure we can invest more in affordable housing, Robertson said at a news conference earlier this week. Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle The Permian shale play is all about setting records. Now, the region will probably become the worlds largest oil patch over the next decade. Output in the basin is forecast to reach 3.18 million barrels a day in May, according to the Energy Information Administration. Thats the highest since the agency began compiling records in 2007. The size of the oil deposits coupled with increased technology and efficiency are fueling the rampant growth. 3 1 of 3 San Jacinto County Sheriff's Office Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Jacob McAdams Show More Show Less 3 of 3 COLDSPRING, Texas (AP) A county judge in Texas has been arrested on charges that he broke into a county clerk's office and forged a government document. San Jacinto County Judge John Lovett Jr. was arrested Monday on charges of burglary, forgery and tampering with an official government instrument. A van driver who ran over 10 people when he plowed onto a busy Toronto sidewalk was charged with murder Tuesday, as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged a rattled nation not to live in fear after the "senseless attack." Police said the suspect, 25-year-old Alek Minassian, was not known to them before Monday's carnage in Canada's most populous city, which also left 15 people injured. He also was not in the crosshairs of intelligence and security agencies, leading Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to sideline the theory of a terror attack such as those carried out by extremists in London, Nice and other major cities. "On the basis of all available information at the present time, there would appear to be no national security connection to this particular incident," Goodale said. But authorities said the incident during the busy lunch hour Monday was undoubtedly deliberate, and Minassian -- his head shaved, and in a white police jumpsuit -- was charged with first degree murder in a brief court appearance. He also faces multiple counts of attempted murder over those injured in the incident. Two South Koreans were among the dead, a foreign ministry official in Seoul told AFP, adding that another of the country's citizens seriously injured. As the wounded recovered in local hospitals, federal, provincial and local investigators were probing the case, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said. "Canadians across the country are shocked and saddened by this senseless attack," Trudeau told a news conference. But, he added: "We must not start living in fear and uncertainty every day as we go about our daily lives." - 'Kill me' - Students who attended a Toronto vocational school with Minassian described him as withdrawn and a bit awkward. The suspect lived with his father in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, and attended Seneca College, according to his LinkedIn social media profile. Minassian kept mostly to himself at school, and seemed to constantly rub his head or hands -- a sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), classmates told local media. Ari Blaff, one of the students, told public broadcaster CBC that Minassian's behavior "was usually quite strange." But he'd "never noticed anything violent" -- the suspect just "made people feel uneasy around him." Minassian, who has an imposing physical build, defied a police officer during his arrest. Wielding an object in his left hand, standing near the van with its front end smashed, the suspect shouted "kill me" to the police officer with his gun drawn, according to an amateur video posted on social media. The police officer approached the suspect as he knelt and handcuffed him. The city's police chief later said Minassian was unarmed. For 30 minutes prior, panic struck along the nearly kilometer-long (half-mile) stretch of Yonge Street where the driver had jumped the curb onto the sidewalk. "He was going really fast," witness Alex Shaker told CTV television. "All I could see was just people one by one getting knocked out, knocked out, one by one," Shaker said. "There are so many people lying down on the streets." On Tuesday, police continued to comb the crime scene for evidence, while crowds gathered at a makeshift memorial to leave messages of condolences and flowers. "We must remain a country that is open and free and comfortable with its values, and we will continue to do that," Trudeau said. Officials will "reflect on the changing situations in which we are in, and do everything we can to keep Canadians safe," he added. AFP To the editor: It seems ironic that Steve Hochstadt would categorize Wayne LaPierres column in the National Rifle Association publications as extreme, especially in view of his past columns. He has viciously attacked all Republicans, and conservatives in particular, as being extreme in their views. If being opposed to socialism and the leftist liberal agenda [is extreme], then count me in. Its too bad he cherry-picked LaPierres article and didnt include the part about the Young Democratic Socialists of America chapters proliferating on American college and university campuses. Are there chapters on our local college campuses? Mr. Hochstadt closed one of his columns a few months ago with a statement and a question. He stated Im Antifa. Are you? What I have seen of Antifa, they riot, destroy and refuse free speech. Thats scary, especially at institutions of higher learning. Thankfully, we do have the National Rifle Association and others protecting the Second Amendment. Its also fitting that the second column on April 17 supports LaPierres view as expressed in The American Rifleman and The American Hunter. Roger Allen Jacksonville About 17 million Ghanaians have been registered ... The Philippines on Wednesday ordered the deportation of an elderly Australian Catholic nun who angered President Rodrigo Duterte, accusing her of engaging in illegal political activities outside of her missionary work. Sister Patricia Fox, 71, who was briefly detained last week, will be the second foreigner who has spoken out recently against Duterte's policies to be expelled, as the government hits back at critics of his human rights record. The immigration service said it had cancelled the visa of Fox, who relocated to the Philippines in 1990 as a member of the missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Sion. "We direct Fox to leave the Philippines within 30 days from receipt of this order," it said in a statement, adding that the nun had "engaged in activities that are not allowed under the terms and conditions of her visa". Fox said in a statement Wednesday she helped to train Filipino farmers and tribesmen in organic farming to improve their incomes, as well as "to advocate with them for their rights to land, livelihood, peace, justice and security". "It seems this is what has brought me into conflict with the Philippine government," she added. "I am still hoping for a chance to explain how I see my mission as a religious sister and maybe the decision can be reconsidered." - 'You insult me' - Her lawyer Jobert Pahilga said the deportation order violated the nun's right to due process, and she would appeal to have the immigration service ruling rescinded. The immigration bureau held the nun overnight last week but released her without charges. Following her detention, Fox said she had recently joined a fact-finding mission to investigate alleged human rights abuses against farmers by soldiers fighting communist rebels. Hours after her release, Duterte announced he had personally ordered her arrest as a warning to foreigners to stop criticising his government. "I ordered her to be investigated... for disorderly conduct," Duterte said in a speech last week. "You insult me under the cloak of being a Catholic priest, and you are a foreigner! Who are you? It is a violation of sovereignty," Duterte said, apparently referring to Fox. Duterte has previously launched verbal attacks against critics of his government's narcotics crackdown, which has killed thousands of alleged dealers and users. The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor launched a preliminary investigation in February into allegations of extrajudicial killings. This prompted Duterte to withdraw from the ICC and threaten to arrest the chief prosecutor if she travels to the Philippines. Earlier this month Manila also deported Italian Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary general of the Party of European Socialists, who had previously condemned "extra-judicial killings" in Duterte's anti-drug war. AFP U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered border officials to repel and drive back Central American migrants, making their way towards the US-Mexico border in hopes of seeking asylum. Dozens of migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras arrived Mexico's city of Tijuana, which shares border with southern California on Tuesday evening. Trump began attacks against the group on Twitter early in April, when reports of migrants "caravans" headed towards the US emerged on US media channel FOX News. On Monday, U.S. authorities released statements on Monday saying they would driven back, casting doubts in the heart of many who had fled their homes because perceived lethal threats or political persecution, hanging onto hopes of being granted asylum in the United States. Two busloads of men, women and children arrived in the Tijuana after a nearly a month journey, with its occupants flooding the streets of the city while they looked on towards the city San Diego, visible at spots through a rusty barrier or across a pedestrian bridge. Four other busloads were also heading towards the border,after been stalled for days in the Mexican city, Hermosillo. A coordinator from immigrant rights group Pueblo Sin Fronteras that has been organizing similar caravans for several years, Rodrigo Abeja, said the group plans of regrouping before any decision would be made. "They will wait for all those seeking asylum to be together," Abeja said. Mexican authorities had given them temporary visas after Trumps comments in early April, which afforded the migrants legal status to travel to the border. Japanese education minister Yoshimasa Hayashi apologized Wednesday for "causing confusion" over a magazine article that said he used an official vehicle during daytime on a weekday to go to a yoga class. "I will make even more efforts to stay focused on performing my public duties in order to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings at a time when the government is being severely reprimanded and criticized (over a spate of scandals)," he also told a press conference. Hayashi explained that he has taken the lesson several times a month for five to six years for health management. His use of an official vehicle should be permitted under education ministry regulations, because its purpose was to ensure the smooth performance of official duties, the minister claimed. Asked about his trip to the Tokyo yoga class on a weekday during the day, Hayashi said: "The job of a cabinet minister is special as there are no set days or hours off. I visited there during free time between official duties." Stolen Truck Recovered In Sonora View Photos Sonora, CA The Sonora Police Department was notified about a suspicious looking truck parked in the Crossroads Shopping Center near Starbucks, and learned it had been stolen the day prior out of Berkeley. The vehicle had a logo for the non-profit charity Dorothy Day House. The group was contacted and it was confirmed the truck was stolen. Officers located Michael Brennan of Oakland and Corrine Benavidez of Ceres near the vehicle, and the investigation determined that Brennan was responsible for the theft. Drug paraphernalia was found inside the vehicle. Brennan was booked into Tuolumne County Jail and Benavidez was cited for an unrelated charge and released from the scene. However, the Police Department notes that Benavidez was arrested about an hour later for allegedly trying to walk out of nearby Safeway with unpaid groceries valued at hundreds of dollars. Angels Camp Police patrol car View Photos Angels Camp, CA The Angels Camp Police department is seeking the publics help to catch a bold thief who took off with a high-end vehicle right out of a closed garage. Just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the home owner notified police that his 2006 BMW 325i sedan was missing from his homes garage located in the 600 block of Gardner Lane in Angels Camp. He informed officers that at around 5 a.m. that morning he left the property and the vehicle was in the garage with the door shut. Then when he returned several hours later, the door was open and the car was gone. Police describe the vehicle as a black four door sedan with California license plate # 6MZJ244. Detectives caution the public not to approach or detain the occupants of the vehicle if they spot it. Instead, immediately contact the Angels Camp Police Department at (209) 736-2567. Anyone with information on the theft is also asked to call that number. A Pearl-area bartender at a Viva Tacoland was arrested Monday after two women told police he spiked their drinks and sexually assaulted them. Dillonger Hackett, 30, was arrested on a charge of sexual assault, San Antonio Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Michelle Ramos said. The two women told police Hackett was extremely nice as he was serving them on March 25 at a restaurant in the 100 block of Grayson Street, Ramos said. RELATED: Deputies investigating death of 2-year-old in Medina County An arrest warrant affidavit obtained Monday evening states that Hackett appeared to be nearing the end of his bar tending shift at Viva Tacoland, which is technically outside the Pearl development, when he approached them. One of the victims remembered walking away from their spot to use the restroom and returning to see Hackett standing with them, investigators said. The women told police thats when they blacked out until they woke up in their hotel room the next morning. They could only recall bits and pieces of what happened during the night, according to the affidavit. One victim said that she saw Hackett on top of her naked, while the other said she saw him showering, the affidavit states. As one woman tried to wake up the other in a brief moment of consciousness, she passed out herself, investigators said in the warrant. When they awoke, both of them had a physical feeling they had been sexually assaulted, according to the affidavit. They reported the crime to police and went to an area hospital to undergo a sexual assault exam, Ramos said. The two told investigators they think Hackett put something in their drinks because he was the one serving them before they blacked out. RELATED: Report: Anchor allegedly caught stealing jacket at NBA practice Hacket also messaged one of the victims via social media the morning after the assault, saying that he forgot his silver watch there, the women told police. Neither of them took the watch, leaving it there instead until police later collected it as evidence, according to the affidavit. Police corroborated the women's allegations by checking the security camera footage of the hotel they were staying at, which showed Hackett there that night, Ramos said. Detectives said in the affidavit that video shows Hackett helping the women to their hotel room, and that they appeared slightly intoxicated. Hackett could then be seen leaving their room and zipping up his pants in the elevator, investigators noted. Investigators said that Viva Tacolands management confirmed Hackett was working the night of the incident. They told police it was a slow evening and that nothing appeared out of the ordinary, according to the affidavit. Police have not gotten any other similar complaints about Hackett but Ramos asked anyone else who believes they may have been abused by Hackett to come forward. If police can confirm Hackett spiked the drink, his charge would be increased to aggravated sexual assault, Ramos said. Hackett kept his head down and did not answer questions from the media Monday afternoon as he was escorted by officers to a police vehicle at the Public Safety Headquarters, 315 S. Santa Rosa Ave. He was reprimanded without bond on an unrelated charge of possession of marijuana between four ounces and five pounds, according to court records. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @JBfromSA Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA Last month, three Mexican university students were filming a school project when they disappeared. The last time they were seen alive they were being forced into a car by two armed men dressed as police officers in Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city, in the western state of Jalisco. The disappearance of the three film students, 25-year-old Javier Salomon Aceves Gastelum and 20-year-olds Marco Avalos and Jesus Daniel Diaz, prompted protests across Mexico and drew outrage from the international filmmaking industry, including Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro. Thousands of enraged college students and others marched the streets of Guadalajara and Mexico City, demanding that officials bring the three young men home safely. "We're students, not criminals" they shouted. "Will I be next?" For more than a month, the case of the missing students remained a mystery. But on Monday, Mexican authorities revealed gruesome details from their investigation. After they were abducted, the film students were beaten and killed, and their bodies dissolved in acid, the attorney general's office in Jalisco said in a televised news conference Monday. The students, who authorities say had no connection to any criminal gangs, found themselves inadvertently enmeshed in an ongoing conflict between two drug cartels. Members of Mexico's most powerful cartel, Cartel Jalisco New Generation, may have confused the students with members of a rival drug cartel, the attorney general's office said. Authorities have arrested two suspects in connection with the crime and have issued arrest warrant for six others, all believed to be part of a cell of Cartel Jalisco New Generation. The students' deaths became the latest example of the lives upended by violence in a country that just marked its deadliest year in modern history, with more than 25,300 homicides. "There are no words to comprehend the magnitude of this madness," del Toro, a Guadalajara native, tweeted early Tuesday. "3 students are killed and dissolved in acid. The 'why' is unthinkable, the 'how is terrifying." In a news conference Monday, the attorney general's office laid out a timeline of what may have led up to the students' deaths. The three young men hailed from different parts of Mexico but were all students at the University of Audiovisual Media in Guadalajara. They had been working on a film project in a house they were told belonged to one of their aunts, located in Tonala, a city outside Guadalajara. But it turns out the home was also used as a safe house for a gang known as the "Nueva Plaza" cartel, headed by a leader known as "El Cholo," according to the attorney general's office. In 2015, a prominent member of that cartel, Diego Gabriel Mejia, had been detained at the house alongside other members. (Authorities said Mejia and the student's aunt both had ties to a massage parlor that served as a prostitution business). Because Mejia was soon to be released from prison, members of his rival gang, Cartel Jalisco New Generation, began keeping a close watch on the safe house. The presence of the three young men on the property may have raised their suspicions, the Jalisco attorney general's office said. "Without knowing it, the students were in a place of grave risk, watched by a criminal cell of the Cartel Nueva Generacion," the Jalisco attorney general's office said. Then, on March 19, the three students, along with a fourth classmate and three other young people, were leaving the area when one of their cars broke down. Two pickup trucks pulled up, and six heavily armed men approached them, authorities said. The armed men, dressed as law enforcement officers, ordered everyone to get down on the ground. Then, they forced the three students, Gastelum, Avalos and Diaz, into one of their trucks and drove them to a house used by the cartel to interrogate and torture victims, authorities said. "It is here that they begin to beat one of them," chief investigator Lizette Torres said in the news conference. While interrogating the students, the suspects ended up beating one of them so brutally that he died. Therefore, "they had to execute the other two," Torres said. Authorities say the suspects then took the bodies of the students to another location, where they dissolved them in acid. Investigators found 46 barrels of sulfuric acid at the site, and believe that other bodies may have been disposed of there. Cartels in Mexico are known to dissolve, burn or dismember bodies as a way to eliminate evidence of crimes. Officials said they found DNA evidence linked to two of the students at two of the three homes. When asked if she was certain if all three students were dead, Torres said investigators"logically inferred" that to be the case. That was not enough for many critics of the Jalisco attorney general's office in Mexico who expressed frustration by killings going unsolved or partially solved. Many people turned to social media to demand more evidence and more answers. The attorney general's office made clear the investigation is ongoing. Jalisco experienced a year of record violence in 2017, with a tally of 1,369 homicides. It is home to the powerful Cartel Jalisco New Generation, a network of traffickers and assassins who "have shot down an army helicopter, ambushed federal police and sent a pig's head to the former attorney general's home," as The Washington Post's Joshua Partlow wrote last year. The cartel stemmed from the remnants of another group, the Milenio cartel, and makes money by selling guns, stealing gasoline, extortion and kidnapping. Missing persons cases in Mexico often go unsolved. In a high-profile case in 2014, 43 student teachers protesting education reforms were stopped by police officers who opened fire at them. They were never seen again. Their disappearance led to international outrage, drew condemnations from President Barack Obama and Pope Francis, and became a turning point in the administration of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. The government later said the 43 students were captured by police and handed over to drug cartel assassins, who shot them and burned their bodies. But in a report, outside experts later said the government's narrative was wrong. More than 100 people have been arrested in the case. On Monday night, mourners gathered at a vigil in Jalisco to honor the three film students. Scores of Mexicans poured out their anger and frustration over the alleged killings - and too many other deaths across the country - on social media, using the hashtag #NoSonTresSomosTodos, meaning "it's not three, it's all of us." "They murdered the film students and dissolved their bodies in acid for doing homework. For doing homework," one person tweeted in Spanish. "This country is hell." "The rage, the impotence, things can't keep going like this," another said. "The most vile and nauseating, the story that never ends, the reality that surpasses fiction," wrote another. "We continue to suffer every day . . . Enough!" The Kerrville consulting company that sought bankruptcy protection amid possible financial wrongdoing has accused its former president of fraud. The HJH Consulting Group Inc., which does business as The Salt Group, also accused Stephen Canty of breaching his of fiduciary duty, according to a filing in bankruptcy court Monday. The company said it also has a claim against Kerrville accounting firm Pressler, Thompson & Co. for committing malpractice in regards to conducting audits for the debtor for a number of years, according to the filing. HJH sought bankruptcy protection due to the fact that one of its employees manipulated (its) accounting records to its detriment, it said in an April 9 court filing. FBI agents are investigating possible wrongdoing at HJH, three people familiar with the probe told the San Antonio Express-News earlier this month. FBI spokeswoman Michelle Lee had no comment today. She has said it doesnt confirm or deny the existence of investigations. HJH and two related firms, US Tax Recovery Partners and B2B Prospecting, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on April 2. The cases have been consolidated. A search of Kerr County court records did not turn up any any litigation filed by HJH against either Canty or the accounting firm. James Wilkins, HJHs bankruptcy lawyer, declined to comment. HJH didnt elaborate on its claims against Canty. His attorney, San Antonio criminal defense lawyer Gerald Gerry Goldstein, declined to comment. Canty was terminated on March 26, court papers show. He worked at HJH since at least 2000. State corporate records listed him as HJHs president. He also served as president of US Tax Recovery. Pressler, Thompson partner Tim Porter said he wasnt aware of any claim HJH might have against his accounting firm. He said its possible HJH may contend the firm failed to detect fraud during its financial audits, but added thats not the job of an outside auditor. It says right on the opinion letter that if we detect (fraud), we will let it be known, Porter said in a phone interview. But the purpose of an audit is the expression of an opinion on financial statements. Porter said he hasnt done any work for HJH since the end of 2016. Turn to Wednesdays Business section or click here on ExpressNews.com for the full article. Patrick Danner is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | pdanner@express-news.net | @AlamoPD San Antonio TV viewers are getting a new 10 p.m. anchorwoman, but shes far from a stranger to this market. Today, KENS announced the successor to station vet Sarah Lucero, who left the chief anchor job in late November. Its Deborah Knapp, 63, a seasoned anchor of more than three decades in San Antonio and Philadelphia. She has co-anchored KENS signature late news many times since Luceros exit, but always on an unoffical basis. RELATED: Photos: Former San Antonio anchor Sarah Lucero begins second act Now, the CBS affiliate has made it official. Knapp is the new 10 p.m. co-anchor next to Jeff Brady. Shes joined by chief weather forecaster Bill Taylor and sportscaster Joe Reinagel. According to a statement from KENS announcing the move, the team now has more than 85 years of combined experience covering San Antonio. Im thrilled to make the move permanent, Knapp said in the release. I enjoy working with Jeff, Bill, Joe and our terrific reporters each night. After talking it over with my husband, we felt this was a great move for me and our family. General Manager Tom Cury made it clear its a great move for KENS, too. We always knew Deborah was the right fit, Cury said. Were thrilled to have Deborahs professionalism and experience joining us permanently at 10 p.m. Knapp will continue to anchor KENS 4 p.m. news, which has been a consistent ratings winner for many years, as well as the stations 5 p.m. newscast, which wrested No. 1 from KSAT the station thats usually in first place in that time slot in the February Nielsens. Shes also a big help to the younger reporters and new hires when they need her. RELATED: KENS-TV traffic anchor Niku Kazori's secret sides may startle you Deborah is a mentor to many in our newsroom and a leader for our station and community, said Jack Acosta, KENS executive news director. We are lucky to have her. This isnt the first time shes been offered the 10 p.m. broadcast, but its the first time she has accepted. When her two kids, Alicia and Austin, were small, she was told the 10 p.m. co-anchor position next to Chris Marrou, KENS star anchorman at the time, was hers if she wanted it. She turned it down and, as she said in a recent interview, never regretted the decision. She preferred to do the earlier evening newscasts so she could be home nights to tuck her children in bed. You cant get those years with your kids back, she said. Knapp now has three grandchildren and visits them and their mom in Hong Kong, where Alicia lives, whenever possible. Son Austin is much easier to see these days. He recently moved back to San Antonio from New York. Though she considers San Antonio her hometown, she was born in Japan. Knapps dad was in the Air Force, so her family moved numerous times before settling in the Alamo City in the 60s, when she entered Garner Middle School. Before starting in the world of news, Knapp was cast in a movie in 1975 opposite Robert Redford. She played a farmers daughter in The Great Waldo Pepper, the brief love interest of Redfords dashing pilot. When we did the film, she said, Robert Redford told me, I guess you want to go to Hollywood now and be a movie star. I told him, No, I want to be a reporter. Knapp said that was her dream ever since she was 14 at MacArthur High School. Right out of college at the University of Texas at Austin, Knapp got her start not on KENS, but competitor KSAT, as the stations weekend weather girl. Not long after, she was hired by KENS as a weekday anchor. However, an opportunity in a bigger city the CBS station in the top-5 market of Philadelphia soon beckoned, and she answered the call. She anchored the news there for six years but left in 1986 to return to KENS. This is home. My family was here, she said. I wanted to raise my kids here. I feel close to the people. It makes me feel so good when a waiter or someone else tells me, Ive been watching you since I was little. Jeanne Jakles column appears Thursdays and Sundays in mySA. Read more of her columns here. | jjakle@express-news.net | @JakleJ A South Side property thats been empty for years is getting new life as a specialty coffee house and roasting operation. Espressivo Coffee is currently operating out of a trailer parked in front of the building at 502 W. Mitchell St. Owner and operator Stephen Flores said he hopes move into the space in early fall. Right now, we are in the rebuilding process, getting all the electrical figured out and the final blueprints drawn up for the design, Flores said. People in the neighborhood tell us it used to be a tortilla and barbacoa business, and that its been sitting there, unused, for a long time. RELATED: San Antonio bars, restaurants and coffee shops that rank among the best in Texas The building was purchased by Patricia Butler, owner of the locally based Coffeecionado Coffee Co. Coffeecionado imports beans from Colombia that are used in the Espressivo brews, and the two businesses operate as partners. Plans are to roast the beans on site. Food also will be part of the operation, but Flores said its too soon to tell what direction the menu will take. We look at this as an opportunity and a platform to educate the neighborhood on specialty coffee and get them interested inside a cool space, he said. For now, coffee enthusiasts who want to get their caffeine fixes can order off the Espressivo tea and coffee menu at the mobile operation. Espressivo Coffee, 502 W. Mitchell St., 210-560-4669. Hours: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Closed Sundays. Facebook: EspressivoCoffeeSA cblount@express-news.net | Twitter: @chuck_blount | Instagram: @bbqdiver San Antonio's best food and drink talents have been given space to shine in another list of the best restaurants and bars in Texas for 2018. The annual CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, presented by Woodford Reserve, honor the best in the business in major cities like Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. EDINBURG, Texas On Thursday, April 19, Weslaco Border Patrol agents received information on a possible stash house located near Edcouch, Texas. Agents, working in collaboration with the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office (HCSO), identified the suspected stash house and approached the residence. Several subjects began to exit the residence through the windows and rear door. Upon entry, agents discovered 29 male subjects crammed into the small home. Agents and HSCO deputies located a total of 39 illegal aliens after searching the home and surrounding area. HARTFORD Officials representing Hamden, Bridgeport and Torrington urged state lawmakers to keep to the spirit of a promise Wednesday afternoon and provide valuable funding to municipalities that was withheld because of a budgetary loophole. Under SB 1502, which implemented the state budget for the 2018-19 biennium, the Connecticut legislature raised the rate at which motor vehicle taxes can be assessed from 32 to 39 mills, noting that municipalities would be reimbursed for the difference between that figure and their respective tax rates in the assessment year that began Oct. 1, 2013 the 2013 fiscal year. Hamden, Torrington and Bridgeport conducted revaluations after that assessment year which pushed their tax rates beyond 39 mills to 45.36, 45.75, and 54.37 respectively. This was not factored into the reimbursement formula in the FY 2018 state budget, leaving municipalities with gaps in their potential budgets. Were just asking for our fair share, said Hamden Mayor Curt B. Leng. Th e choice, if not, is to harm our citizens harming them in one of two ways. Hurting the services, or in their pocketbook one or the other. The Office of Policy and Management released $4.5 million in available funding to the three communities earlier this month a portion of what was potentially owed. But officials would like to be made whole, and said so Wednesday during a press conference in the State Capitol & Legislative Office Building in Hartford. We pulled this off together to talk about a car tax gap that is currently affecting our three towns and just our three towns, blowing massive holes in our budget this year, said state Rep. Michael DAgostino, D-Hamden. Christina Crowder of the Whitneyville Progressive Action Network said the town had been underfunded by the Education Cost Sharing grant for years, and yet, was still facing this issue, which could prompt cuts to services. Were just here to say enough is enough. We are sick of getting the short end of the stick every time theres a problem with some legislative snafu up here in Hartford, said Crowder. Torrington still has approximately $1 million in potential reimbursement outstanding, according to state Rep. Michelle Cook, D-Torrington. She urged that it be supplied Wednesday. That really turns around and impacts, not only a struggling educational system, but it also impacts the decisions to be able to hire police officers, hire firefighters, and do exactly what we see people requesting us do fix potholes, fix the loopholes, said Cook. Cook said not every municipality had turned in its respective tax rates when the language was being drafted, which could have affected the decision to base the reimbursement formula off the FY 2013 rate. State Rep. Jay Case, R-Winsted, said the government should stick to the promise of an approved bill. To put this on the backs of the people who live in these communities is just wrong, sad Case. We all live here in the state of Connecticut. This is a law; lets follow the law lets get the money to the communities. DAgostino saidthe governors office and Office of Policy and Management had indicatedthe legislature should provide the approximately $5 million in funding required to make the three municipalities whole. Funding to rectify the issue was included in a package recently approved by the Appropriations Committee, according to state Rep. Ezequiel Santiago, D-Bridgeport. Leng said after the meeting the community would be left with a budgetary shortfall if the outstanding funding was not provided, which would have to be made up in the 2019 fiscal year. A hiring freeze and a pretty expansive spending freeze was instituted early in the fiscal year as a result of the issue, Leng said. Leng said no additional revenue from the state is included in his proposed FY 2019 budget. He said he recommended the tax rate on motor vehicles increase to 45 mills, as allowed for under state statute. He said he did not like to raise taxes, pointing to the level tax rate included in the FY 2018 budget, but considers a 45-mill rate more equitable for Hamden, given the number of renters and students who operate vehicles in town. It could lead to the overall tax rate decreasing a bit, he said. He said he was thankful for efforts to address the gap in funding, which he said stands at $1.2 million. I dont want to point fingers. I think the state is in an incredibly difficult situation, and that were all in this together because were all talking about the same constituents, said Leng. I just appreciate the fact that I think a lot of the legislature recognizes (the issue), and is trying to fix it. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com 3 1 of 3 Contributed photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 BERLIN Residents of several Middlesex County towns are among those who can now access business and residential internet speeds of up to 1 gigabite per second through Comcast. These speeds will be among the fastest and most widely available and include access to the nations largest Wi-Fi network of more than 19 million hotspots, according to a press release. Comcast plans to launch 1 gig service to the majority of its service areas in Connecticut throughout the year. Once again, Democrats overperformed in a special election in Trump country. They didn't win a special congressional election in Arizona on Tuesday to replace former GOP congressman Trent Franks, but they came surprisingly close. Across the country in New York, Democrats flipped their 40th state legislative seat of the Trump era. It was the first time a Democrat won this state legislative district in more than three decades. Let's go back to Arizona. On paper, Arizona's 8th Congressional District is not one where Democrats were expected to come close to victory. Franks ran unopposed in this Phoenix-area district for more than a decade before resigning in December over a scandal that involved asking staff members to have his baby. Donald Trump won this seat by 21 points in 2016. So did the past two GOP presidential nominees. On Tuesday, the Republican, Debbie Lesko, won her race by five points. Hours before the election, a progressive Democrat told The Post that Lesko winning by seven or eight points would be a reason for Democrats to celebrate. "We see districts that are written off suddenly having progressive energy," said Josselyn Berry of Progress Now Arizona, which organized with other progressive groups in the district for Democrat Hiral Tipirneni. "A lot of people write off Democrats not being able to win in deep red districts. We are living in a new political reality, and we can't assume what we always assume." Democrats do keep upending political assumptions about what districts are safe for Republicans. In Pennsylvania last month, Rep. Conor Lamb (D) ate into a 20-point Trump margin to win his special election. Democrats didn't win in Arizona, but they didn't need to. The 8th District is not the kind Democrats need to win or even come close to winning to take back the House in November. About 90 other districts are more competitive than this one, according to a ranking by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. That doesn't mean all 90 of those suddenly became competitive. But Democrats need to flip a net of 23 seats to take back the House. They came within five points on Tuesday to flipping the 90th most competitive. Also worth noting: Although they've been chomping into 20-point Trump districts, 23 Republican members of Congress are holding districts that Hillary Clinton won in November. In Arizona, Democrats hope to build off Tuesday's momentum - and the organizing network they set up deep in Republican territory - to try to win state legislative seats that previously weren't competitive. Berry said Democrats have a candidate in every state legislative district, a first for them. It's not all good news for Democrats lately. Their margin in a key poll asking whether voters prefer them over Republicans has narrowed recently as President Trump's approval rating has risen, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll this month. But when it comes to getting their voters to the polls and/or converting reluctant Trump voters in special elections, Democrats have been performing in a way they could only dream of a year and a half ago. They have outperformed Clinton in six of six special congressional elections since Trump took office. They've flipped a Senate seat in Alabama, a governor's seat in New Jersey and a House seat in Pennsylvania. And they've flipped 40 state legislative seats nationwide, including some that Trump won heavily. This is all despite the fact that Republicans have poured millions into these normally safe congressional seats to try to keep them in their hands. Come November, they'll have to spread out those resources. (Although, so will Democrats, Republicans point out.) But all of this is why after Tuesday, just as they have after every special election this year, Republicans are sounding the alarm about what November could mean for their party. BRUSSELS - The European Union on Thursday will unveil a strategy for fighting fake news that could be a model for Western nations, but already it has run into trouble defining the line between disinformation and dissent. The new EU proposals will encourage voluntary pledges from Facebook and others to highlight the sources of information they feature and to promote content from credible media outlets. The EU also wants to push news literacy education and to fund private fact-checking organizations that subscribe to standards of political independence and objectivity. Other countries, including the United States, are also cooperating with each other to combat fake news. France, Germany and Italy are working on national plans. But a separate EU effort to combat foreign interference illustrates what can go awry. The EU's East Stratcom Task Force compiled a hall of shame of 3,800 news articles it says reflect Kremlin attempts to influence political discussions in the West. Last month, however, the task force made an embarrassing about-face after three Dutch news outlets complained they were singled out because they quoted people out of step with the European mainstream. "It's a reminder of how really difficult is, and potentially problematic, if public authorities take it upon themselves to be arbiters of truth," said Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of research at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, who advised the EU on its new proposals. The task force cited each of the three Dutch outlets for promoting a dark view, advanced by the Kremlin, of Ukrainian corruption and alleged fascism. One article, published by the Post Online, conveyed that "Ukraine is an oligarch state with no independent media" and that "the resistance army, which killed thousands of Polish Jews during the Second World War, is still respected," the task force wrote on its website, EUvsDisinfo.eu. In fact, the article was summarizing a lecture delivered by a journalist who had spent time in Ukraine. The Post Online editor Bert Brussen said his publication was targeted because Brussels dislikes critics of its pro-Ukrainian policies. "For us, it was easy to show the world this is how it happens: You write something negative about Ukraine, you do everything right, they black-label it as fake news," said Brussen, whose website regularly skewers centrist Dutch politicians and mainstream journalists who, he said, cover up problems with Muslims and migration. In a second case, the task force appeared to take literally the views expressed in a tongue-in-cheek piece - an apparent byproduct of an article that was flagged by a non-Dutch speaker using Google Translate to search for evidence of Kremlin bias. The task force has a staff of 14 with just three people working full-time on the database, and it relies on volunteers across Europe to identify articles of concern. All three Dutch articles were sent in by Ukrainian activists, none of whom speak the language. The news outlets - the Post Online, GeenStijl, a far-right news blog, and De Gelderlander, a regional newspaper - complained they had no notice before they were included in the database and had no clear way to appeal. After they filed a lawsuit, the EU backed down, removing the three articles from its database and softening how it refers to outlets that publish what it says is disinformation. "Some of the things did get lost in translation," said Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for the European External Action Service, the foreign-policy arm of the European Commission that oversees the task force. "What they do as a team is done in a very transparent way. This in no way interferes with freedom of expression and freedom of speech," she said. But damage was already done. After the Dutch outlets filed their complaint, sympathetic Dutch lawmakers forced a debate in their national parliament. A motion to send their interior minister to Brussels and push to strip the task force of its funding passed a voice vote with wide support from political parties. "Addressing fake news is very important, but what is fake news?" asked Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, a lawmaker from the ruling center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy who co-sponsored the bill. She said she thought it was appropriate for governments to intervene when foreign actors try to undermine democracies. But when local newspapers report on meetings, she said, "then you are getting involved in the content of media. And I think that is super dangerous." The concerns extend beyond the Netherlands. "The lack of methodology has been opening the door to abuses of expression," said Alberto Alemanno, a law professor at HEC Paris, a business school, who filed a separate complaint about the task force's work. "They are clashing with the right of the self-determination of readers, of listeners." Despite the criticism, the task force retains EU backing. It recently won a $1.5 million budget increase, and at a meeting of the EU's 28 foreign ministers this month, it was singled out for unanimous support - including from the Dutch government. Members of the task force are not allowed by their superiors to speak out publicly, a restriction that hampers their ability to respond quickly to charges. Spokeswoman Kocijancic said the rule ensures their messages are part of the broader foreign policy strategy of the European Union. An official familiar with the group's plans said members want to use some of the increased funds to pay for better and more standardized vetting of the coverage they monitor. They may also shift focus away from countries such as the Netherlands, where sensitivities about government oversight of journalism is high, toward more direct monitoring of the Russian-language media, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to explain internal thinking at the task force. "The core of the issue is the resources," said Jakub Janda, the director of the Prague-based European Values think tank, which is among the most active groups that flag possible disinformation for inclusion in the EU database. He said that Russian efforts to discredit the British government's account of the nerve agent attack against ex-spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England, last month help highlight the need for a public project to fight Kremlin narratives. Private groups do similar work, but the EU task force sends an important message, Janda said. "It shows that this whole issue of Russian disinformation is a major national security issue," he said. "It's an official database, which is guaranteed by an EU institution." - - - Quentin Aries contributed to this report. NORWALK A tale of accepting change and another of embracing diversity will take center stage this high school musical season. At Brien McMahon High School, senior Cathy Colmenares will play her dream role in the schools production of Hairspray, the first musical she got into when she started performing at Crystal Theatre in fifth grade. Playing Tracy Turnblad, a dance-loving teen who brings attention to racial integration, is important to Colmenares since she can relate to the issue herself being a Latina who wants to see the inclusion of all people. I understand where shes coming from where she wants everybody to be together, so it feels more important to me to make that clear to the audience, Colmenares said during the schools first dress rehearsal. I want the audience just to understand how different the time periods are but how people are still struggling with these segregational issues now and how important it is that just because people may look different or have different parts of them that, they still want all the same things, she added. This message of inclusivity is not only conveyed through the schools musical choice but through casting, said Jessica Raye Foulds, assistant director and former Brien McMahon student. Foulds said she and lead director Frank Arcari made the deliberate decision to choose a musical that showcased and worked well with Brien McMahons diverse student body. More Information Showtimes and ticket prices "Hairspray" at Brien McMahon High School Opening night: Friday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m. Second show: Saturday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. Closing night: Saturday, May 5, at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices before the show are $20 for premium tickets (first 6 rows,), $15 for general admission and $10 for seniors, students and children. Advance sales close 24 hours before the performance. Remaining tickets will be available at the box office table one hour before show time. Cash or credit accepted. Online tickets close Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before each show weekend. Tickets can be purchased at bmhsmusical.com. For questions, contact audra@optonline.net. "The Addams Family" at Norwalk High School Opening night: Friday, April 27, at 7 p.m. Second show: Saturday, April 28, at 2 and 7 p.m. Third show: Friday, May 4, at 7 p.m. Closing night: Saturday, May 5, at 2 and 7 p.m. General admission is $18 and $15 for seniors and children. Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3321535. For more information, call 203-838-4481, ext. 13377, or email NHSspringmusical@gmail.com. See More Collapse About half of the student population at Brien McMahon is Hispanic, while one-fourth is white, one-fifth is black and three percent are Asian. This school is so diverse. Its something that a lot of other places throughout the country dont have, Foulds said. When you look up on the stage, you see every color, which was something I said I wanted to strive for. Arcari, a music teacher whos been directing Brien McMahons musicals since 2009, said Hairspray also served as a teaching moment for students. I think were the most diverse school in the state of Connecticut, and thats something thats a point of pride, Arcari said. I worked at other schools before, but Ive never seen culturally and racially the diversity work as well as it does in this school. Similar diversity of demographics and talents can be seen in Norwalk High Schools production of The Addams Family, a musical that follows the love story between Wednesday Addams and Lucas Beineke, a sweet, smart boy from Ohio the most un-Addams sounding person one could be. The entire production, with the exception of the pianist, is run by students, according to music director Chris Rivera. This is what sets the show apart from other high school musicals, he said. We try to make this look as close to Broadway as we can, said Rivera, whos been involved in musicals at Norwalk High since he was a freshman in 1994. Glenn Couture, a physics teacher at Norwalk High for 25 years, will be directing the show for the first time. As the former president of TheatreWorks in New Milford for eight years, Couture said he was impressed by the students involved in the production and the deep connections theyve built over the months of preparation. Every student involved, from those who help with the lights to the lead roles, is nothing less than remarkable, he said. Theres a line from the show: Family first, family last and family by and by. And oddly, thats been a great motto for this entire production. It brings this group together as a family, and its every part, Couture said. Preparations for school musicals also involve support from parents, who help with stage design, props and funding. Julie Begos, a Brien McMahon parent, formed a nonprofit this school year to raise money and to rally support from the community. She said she was driven by the impact drama and theater have and had on her children. Fundraising is crucial since school districts usually dont contribute funds to drama departments, although a typical high school musical costs thousands of dollars, she said. Being involved in the musicals changed my daughters lives. And now my son is on the tech side, Begos said. Its a place where kids who are not athletes find their own people, place and high school spot. skim@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2568; @stephaniehnkim "These people [drug dealers] kill thousands of people over the course of their lives through drugs. So we're going to have to get much, much tougher in terms of penalty. And if you want to stop it - if you look at certain countries where they have, as an example, the death penalty, and say, 'How's your drug problem?' And they will tell you, 'We don't have much of a drug problem.' " - President Donald Trump, during a panel discussion in Washington, March 22, 2018 - - - President Donald Trump has a prescription for solving drug trafficking and the deadly opioid epidemic: Give the death penalty to drug dealers. Some people convicted of murder already receive death sentences in the United States. But the president argues that even dealers and drug lords who do not commit violent crimes should be put to death, because they are hooking thousands of people on drugs that could kill them. It's not the first time Trump has suggested death sentences for drug dealers. White House officials have said the administration is considering whether to make trafficking large quantities of fentanyl - an especially lethal synthetic opioid - a capital offense. Is capital punishment effective at deterring drug crimes in countries where dealers are put to death? - The facts: The U.S. landscape for drug trafficking has shifted in the past 10 years as the abuse of prescription painkillers, heroin, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids reached epidemic levels, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "While the current opioid crisis has received significant attention, other drugs of abuse remain prevalent," the DEA reported at the end of 2017. "These include methamphetamine, cocaine, new psychoactive substances (NPS), and marijuana. In addition, drug poisoning deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States; they are currently at their highest ever recorded level and, every year since 2011, have outnumbered deaths by firearms, motor vehicle crashes, suicide, and homicide." Trump has mused about giving drug dealers the death penalty, but it's not clear that his idea would pass legal muster. The Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that Louisiana could not impose the death penalty "for the rape of a child where the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in the death of the victim." The case did not involve a drug dealer, but the court said "the death penalty should not be expanded to instances where the victim's life was not taken." The justices did not close the door to what Trump suggests, however. "We do not address, for example, crimes defining and punishing treason, espionage, terrorism, and drug kingpin activity, which are offenses against the state," not against individuals, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. Assuming it could be done, would this form of capital punishment be effective at curbing drug trafficking? We investigated what the drug situation looks like in countries that put drug traffickers to death and found that Trump's argument largely fails to hold water. "The majority of those sentenced to death and executed are low level couriers who often experience overlapping and intersecting forms of vulnerability, discrimination and exclusion and who are often subjected to forced confessions and unfair trials," according to Harm Reduction International, a nongovernmental organization partly funded by the European Union that keeps track of death-penalty laws for drug offenses around the world. "Not only do these executions continue to fail to achieve any reduction in drug use and trafficking, they are also a clear violation of fundamental human rights under international law." According to HRI, at least 32 countries and the Palestinian Authority employ some form of capital punishment for drug offenses. But of those countries and territories, only seven execute drug offenders with regularity. And the rate of such executions appears to be declining. "Between January 2015 and December 2017, at least 1,320 people are known to have been executed for drug-related offenses - 718 in 2015; 325 in 2016; and 280 in 2017," HRI reported. "These estimates do not include China, as reliable figures continue to be unavailable for the country." Amnesty International says 35 countries and the Palestinian Authority impose the death penalty for drug offenses; Amnesty's list is almost entirely the same as HRI's. Asked to provide examples that supported Trump's claim, an administration official pointed to Singapore, which has the death penalty for various drug offenses and claims to have one of the lowest rates of substance abuse in the world. To test Trump's claim, we reviewed what the drug situation looks like in the seven countries classified by HRI as being "high application states" for drug-related death sentences, including Singapore. China: News reports indicate that China has a significant drug-trafficking problem. "In March [2017], the China National Narcotics Control Commission told media that China's seizure of synthetic drugs including methamphetamine and ketamine has 'surged by 106 percent year on year in 2016,' " the BBC reported. The official Xinhua news agency said in November that a part of Guangdong province is "plagued with rampant drug production and trafficking," the BBC reported. Amnesty International says China executed more people in 2016 than all other countries combined. But we could not find any data breaking down how many drug offenders have been executed. Iran: "Drug trafficking represents a major challenge for the Islamic Republic of Iran," according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. "The geographical location of the country, particularly its porous 1,923 km-long Eastern border with Afghanistan - the world's largest illicit opium producer - and Pakistan, has turned it into a major transit country for illicit drugs. . . . According to the UNODC World Drug Report 2014, Iran accounted for 74 percent of the world's opium seizures and 25 percent of the world's heroin and morphine seizures in 2012." According to HRI, when excluding China, Iran accounted for nearly 90 percent of executions for drug offenses recorded worldwide in the past three years, "with at least 1,176 executions carried out" from 2015 to 2017. Of those, 242 were carried out in 2017, HRI reported. "Iranian officials have admitted that most of those executed for drug offenses are not the major traffickers, but poor and marginalized people who carry drugs for very little money," HRI reported. Iran recently abolished the death penalty for some drug-related crimes. As of November, "capital punishment is reserved for those charged with trafficking 2 kilograms of hard drugs or more than 50 kilograms of cannabis or opium" but "the death sentence still applies for repeat offenders and lethal drug-related offenses," according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Saudi Arabia: As of 2009, the U.S. State Department reported that "Saudi Arabia has no appreciable drug production and is not a significant transit country. . . . However, Saudi officials acknowledge that illegal drug consumption and trafficking are on the rise." At least 35 people were executed for drug offenses in 2017, according to HRI. Malaysia: Police seized nearly $50 million worth of illicit drugs in Malaysia in 2017, according to local media, and made 163,931 drug-related arrests. Malaysia abolished mandatory death sentences for drug offenses in 2017, and did not execute anyone for drug-related offenses that year, according to HRI. Singapore: Singapore's population stood at 5.6 million in 2016, less than New York City's and more than Los Angeles's. It is geographically small, about one-quarter the size of Rhode Island. Ashok Kumar Mirpuri, the country's ambassador to the United States, says Singapore's tough drug laws are an effective deterrent to trafficking. "Singapore has one of the lowest rates of drug abuse in the world: 30 opiates abusers per 100,000 people, compared with 600 in the United States," he wrote in a letter to the editor to The Washington Post in March. Singapore executed eight people for drug offenses from 2015 through 2017, according to HRI. Vietnam: According to the State Department, "Vietnam is an illicit drug transshipment point for local and international criminal organizations." The death penalty is a state secret in Vietnam. A 2017 report from the country's Ministry of Public Security said "429 prisoners were executed between August 2013 and June 2016," according to HRI, but there's no breakdown of how many executions stemmed from drug offenses. Indonesia: The president of Indonesia has called on police to shoot drug dealers who resist arrest. "Shoot them because we indeed are in a narcotics emergency position now," he was quoted as saying by Reuters in 2017. However, HRI did not learn of instances of drug dealers being executed in 2017, and it reported that "in January 2018, Indonesian politicians agreed to soften the country's harsh death penalty laws by imposing a 10-year stay on executions, after which death sentences could be commuted to a prison term." A White House official previously told The Washington Post that Trump privately has expressed interest in Singapore's policy of executing drug dealers. He has publicly endorsed the stance of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose "drug war" has led to the deaths of thousands of people in extrajudicial police killings. U.S. law forbids extrajudicial killings on suspicion of drug crimes. Duterte's actions have sparked international condemnation. "President Trump's statements are extremely concerning, on many levels," said Chiara Sangiorgio, a death penalty expert at Amnesty International. "International law requires countries that have not yet abolished the death penalty to restrict their use of the death penalty to the 'most serious crimes,' which does not include drug-related offenses." She added: "It is also worrying that President Trump states that the death penalty would have a deterrent effect on drug crime, when there is no evidence suggesting that this is the case, for drug or any crime. We have seen already in other countries that the death penalty has failed to stop the illegal drug trade or protect those who use drugs and those around them." - - - - The Pinocchio test Trump argues that certain countries that put drug dealers to death do not have "much of a drug problem." Of 33 countries and territories that impose death sentences for drug offenses, only seven do so with regularity, according to HRI. China, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Vietnam all have significant problems with drug production or trafficking, despite their use of capital punishment for these crimes. Saudi Arabia has a slight drug problem. Singapore does not really have a drug problem, but it is also a relatively small country with a population roughly equal to that of Colorado or Wisconsin. It's not an apt comparison. The facts hardly support the president's claim, so we award Three Pinocchios. --- Video Embed Code Video: President Trump draws a line between the death penalty and "drug problems" but his assumption is wrong.(Meg Kelly/The Washington Post) Embed code: President Donald Trump's effort to hire new defense lawyers in the Russia investigation had faltered badly when he met at Mar-a-Lago this month with Jane and Martin Raskin, a husband and wife who practice law together in a Miami suburb. Trump had little time. One of his top lawyers, John Dowd, had resigned over disagreements with his client, and several prominent law firms had declined to take the case. A key decision was pending about whether the president would agree to give an interview to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. So Trump hired the Raskins after meeting them for the first time. The decision was overshadowed by the simultaneous announcement that former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani would also join the team and take the lead in negotiating with Mueller. But the Raskins could play as important a role if the case escalates. They have both tried and defended clients in criminal cases and in hardball negotiations with prosecutors, skills that Trump would need if the Mueller case escalates. Among their early assignments is to try to use attorney-client protections to keep investigators from scouring Trump's communications with his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who is under federal scrutiny, according to a person familiar with the president's legal strategy who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential discussions. Jane Raskin has a long-ago work connection with Mueller, which associates said could be a plus to Trump's legal team. She prosecuted Mafia underbosses for a federal Organized Crime Strike Force in Boston when Mueller held supervisory positions in the U.S. attorney's office there. Mueller closely tracked her work, according to associates. She also has a reputation for independence: During the Reagan administration, she resigned in protest from a criminal division post in the Justice Department over the actions of Attorney General Ed Meese. Martin Raskin headed the criminal division in the U.S. attorney's office in Miami. After his marriage to Jane, the couple opened a two-person firm, Raskin & Raskin, in Coral Gables, specializing in white-collar defendants. "Both Marty and Jane, with their DOJ background, they know their way around the system," said David Weinstein, a former prosecutor who is a partner at Miami-based Hinshaw & Culbertson and knows the couple well. "Contrary to the way Giuliani is portrayed as a 'yes man,' Marty and Jane are not going to tell their client what they think they want to hear. They will give a realistic picture of what is going on." Giulianion Tuesday met with Mueller to discuss a possible presidential interview, according to three individuals. He did not respond to a request for comment. The Raskins declined to comment. Trump's difficulties in filling his legal team have included the reluctance of some firms to be associated with him and concerns about conflicts of interests with other clients, according to people familiar with the discussions. Trump is also known for ignoring legal advice, the people said. Trump had considered hiring the husband-and-wife couple of Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing in March, but declined after determining they had conflicts. The small size of the Raskins' firm and their distance from typical Washington, D.C., clients give them few, if any, conflicts of interest, which the Trump team regarded as a plus. In contrast to diGenova's outspoken criticism of Mueller on television, the Raskins are low-profile attorneys who prefer to work out of the spotlight and have not commented on the investigation. Jane Serene, as Raskin was known before her marriage, worked early in her career as a private attorney, and her clients included the Boston Globe. In the mid-1908s, after joining the federal strike force, she took on one of the prosecutions of the New England Mob. She was the lead prosecutor in a successful 1987 case against underboss Ilario M.A. Zannino, whom she told the court was "most assuredly one of the most vicious and ruthless criminals ever to be sentenced in this district." While the strike force reported directly to the Justice Department in Washington, Muellerclosely monitored its work. "Mueller admired the fact that she took on the Mafia and organized crime," said Mark Robinson, who worked at the time with both of them. "He saw things very much as good guys and bad guys, and Jane went after the bad guys, and he liked that." Robinson said Jane Raskin's knowledge of Mueller could prove useful in her role as Trump's attorney because "she has some experience with Bob, who respected her greatly, and she respected him." After the Mob case, Jane Raskin moved to Washington with the Justice Department and served as counsel to William Weld, who headed the agency's criminal division and later became Republican governor of Massachusetts. At the time, an independent prosecutor was investigating Meese over allegations of financial impropriety. With calls growing for Meese's departure, Weld resigned in protest of Meese's conduct, and Raskin joined him. Robinson, who had followed Weld to the Justice Department and also resigned, said Jane Raskin's departure demonstrated her ethics. "It was the right thing to do," he said. "A point needed to be made publicly, regardless of personal cost, on principle." Meese eventually stepped down but no charges were brought against him, demonstrating the importance of a diligent defense. "Jane was in the crucible," Weld said, referring to her work in Boston and Washington, both of which he observed closely. He said Trump "couldn't do better" than hiring her. Raskin followed Weld into private practice, and she attended a legal conference where she met her husband-to-be. Although the Raskins are little known outside of South Florida, Trump's legal team and associates of the Raskins said in interviews this week that the couple are uniquely suited to their monumental task. "Their breadth of experience as former federal prosecutors and also in private practice - that's a unique skill set," said Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's lawyers in the Russia probe. In their private practice, the Raskins' best-known case involved defending an aircraft maintenance company charged in a case connected to the 1996 crash of a Valujet plane, which killed 110 people. The Raskins won acquittal for the client on most charges, according to the Raskins' account of the case. The Raskins have not been prominent politically. But in the wake of the 2000 presidential campaign, the Raskins played a small role in the Florida recount, which led to the election of George W. Bush. "If anybody has a chance to provide wise counsel and handle the circumstances, it would be them," said Al Cardenas, a former chairman of the Florida Republican Party who went to Seton Hall Law School with Martin Raskin and knows the couple well. "They have handled their fair share of challenging clients." --- The Washington Post's Alice Crites and Carol Leonnig contributed to this report. Washington His nomination in peril, Veterans Affairs nominee Ronny Jackson fought Tuesday to convince lawmakers of his leadership abilities as more details emerged over his alleged misconduct, ranging from repeated drunkenness to a toxic work environment, as he served as a top White House doctor. President Donald Trump sent mixed signals about his choice to lead the sprawling veterans' agency, suggesting during a White House news conference that Jackson may want to withdraw because of unfair scrutiny. But the president privately urged his nominee to keep fighting to win Senate confirmation, and Jackson showed few signs of backing down. A watchdog report requested in 2012 and reviewed by The Associated Press found that Jackson and a rival physician exhibited "unprofessional behaviors" as they engaged in a power struggle over the White House medical unit. The six-page report by the Navy's Medical Inspector General found a lack of trust in the leadership and low morale among staff members, who described the working environment as "being caught between parents going through a bitter divorce." "There is a severe and pervasive lack of trust in the leadership that has deteriorated to the point that staff walk on 'eggshells,'" the assessment found. The inspector general report reviewed by The AP included no references to improper prescribing of drugs or the use of alcohol, separate allegations revealed by a Senate committee. The audit appeared to contradict public statements from Jackson, who declined Tuesday to answer reporters' questions about the allegations. He gave no indication he would withdraw and denied the existence of any inspector general report detailing troubling behavior. After the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee abruptly postponed his confirmation hearing, which had been set for Wednesday, Jackson visited lawmakers to assure them he was fit to lead the VA. "I'm looking forward to getting it rescheduled and answering everybody's questions," he said in video captured by MSNBC, referring to his hearing. During a White House news conference, Trump insisted he would stand behind Jackson, calling the White House doctor "one of the finest people that I have met." But he questioned why Jackson would want to put himself through the confirmation fight, which he characterized as unfair. "I wouldn't do it," Trump said in the East Room, standing next to French President Emmanuel Macron. "What does he need it for? What do you need this for? To be abused by a bunch of politicians that aren't thinking nicely about our country?" Trump asked. Trump said Jackson, who has been a White House physician since 2006, would make a decision soon. Jackson met privately with Trump Tuesday afternoon in the Oval Office and the president urged him to keep fighting to win confirmation, according to a White House official briefed on the meeting. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions, said Jackson denied the allegations. Digging in, the White House released handwritten reports from Trump and former President Barack Obama praising Jackson's leadership and medical care, and recommending him for promotion. Obama wrote in one report, "Promote to Rear Admiral now." Trump wrote last year that Jackson is "A GREAT DOCTOR + LEADER '2 STAR MATERIAL.'" Washington President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that his pick for Veterans Affairs secretary might want to withdraw after the emergence of allegations about inappropriate workplace behavior, including over-prescribing prescription drugs and drinking on the job. Trump said he would stand behind Dr. Ronny Jackson, calling the White House doctor "one of the finest people that I have met." But he questioned why Jackson would want to put up with the scrutiny, which he characterized as unfair. "I wouldn't do it," Trump said. "What does he need it for? What do you need this for? To be abused by a bunch of politicians that aren't thinking nicely about our country?" He said Jackson would make a decision soon. Trump spoke at a White House news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron shortly after the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee announced that Jackson's confirmation hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, would be postponed indefinitely while senators looked into the allegations. "We take very seriously our constitutional duty to thoroughly and carefully vet each nominee sent to the Senate for confirmation," said the chairman, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and the top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Jon Tester of Montana. "We will continue looking into these serious allegations and have requested additional information from the White House to enable the committee to conduct a full review." Asked if Jackson's nomination is still viable, Isakson responded, "We'll see." The two lawmakers sent a letter to Trump on Tuesday requesting additional information about Jackson, who has served as a White House physician since 2006. It demands any communication between the Pentagon and the White House for the past 12 years regarding "allegations or incidents" involving him. With Congress set to recess Friday for a week, Tester said the earliest a hearing could be held would be in about 10 days. Allegations began surfacing late last week involving Jackson's workplace practices, including claims of inappropriate behavior and over-prescribing prescription drugs, according to two aides granted anonymity to discuss the situation. The complaints the White House heard include that he oversaw a poor work environment and that he had drunk alcohol on the job, according to an administration official who demanded anonymity to speak on a sensitive personnel matter. Isakson told fellow GOP senators over the weekend about the allegations, prompting those on the panel to support delaying the hearing. "These concerns are bipartisan," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and a member of the committee. "The viability of his nomination depends on the administration's ability to provide answers quickly, thoroughly, accurately and honestly." Democrats on the committee assembled privately late Monday. Tester reiterated to the other senators that the allegations were out there, one aide said. But no specific evidence of wrongdoing was offered. Trump selected Jackson to head the VA last month after firing former Obama administration official David Shulkin following an ethics scandal and mounting rebellion within the agency. But Jackson has faced questions from Republican and Democratic lawmakers as well as veterans groups about whether he has the experience to manage the massive department of 360,000 employees serving 9 million veterans. Maryland gubernatorial hopeful Rushern Baker says he doesn't support legalizing marijuana, a rare difference between him and his rivals in the crowded Democratic primary. "I don't at this time," Baker, the Prince George's County executive, said Tuesday night at a candidate forum sponsored by the Woman's Democratic Club of Montgomery County. "I know that it's a trend moving across the country." Baker said he does support decriminalizing marijuana, which generally means possession of small amounts are not subject to criminal prosecution, but possession of large amounts and sales remain illegal. In 2014, Maryland removed criminal penalties for possessing less than 10 grams. The state has also legalized marijuana for medical use. "Too many of our children have gone to jail with a record" because of marijuana arrests, Baker said at the forum. "I think we need to do more to look at this issue and study it than we have, before we get to full-blown recreational marijuana use." In a statement Wednesday clarifying Baker's position, spokeswoman Madeleine Russak said he "does not oppose the legalization of marijuana, he just wants to make sure that it happens in a thoughtful way that leads towards equity and fairness within all communities." Before he would support legalization, she said, Baker would want the state to ensure a plan for expungement of marijuana-related arrests, address zoning and location issues surrounding dispensaries, resolve any banking and access-to-capital issues under state control, review minority business participation in Maryland's existing medical marijuana businesses, and require reliable DUI and impairment testing standards. Most of Baker's opponents in the June 12 primary support legalization, which has broad support across the state. Ben Jealous called for legalization in a keynote address last week at the National Cannabis Festival's policy summit. Alec Ross, Krish Vignarajah, Jim Shea, and Richard Madaleno also support legalization. Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz has called legalization "a rational next step after the full implementation of medical marijuana." But at the forum, he stopped short of supporting it. "This is an opportunity where we need to listen and keep an open mind," he said. He noted that while legalization could reduce violence among dealers, "I've got two teenage sons, and I have to balance those questions with them." A spokeswoman for Gov. Larry Hogan, R, who will face the Democratic nominee in November, has not responded to requests for his position. Ronny Jackson's imperiled nomination to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs underscores the agency's deep-seated struggle to overcome years of scandal and return its focus to serving a constituency that, historically, has remained above the political fray. "This is complete and total chaos after years of complete and total chaos," said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and chief executive officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group. "Our veterans deserve so much better. Our whole country does. Especially in a time of war." Jackson, a one-star Navy admiral serving as President Donald Trump's physician, has been accused of improperly dispensing medication and maintaining a hostile work environment while overseeing the White House medical staff. He has denied any wrongdoing. Senate lawmakers have postponed his confirmation hearing while they determine whether the allegations have merit. For the 9 million military veterans who rely on VA for medical care, vocational training, home loans and burial services, the uncertainty is "distressing," said Garry Augustine, who heads the Washington headquarters of Disabled American Veterans. DAV was among the advocacy groups whose representatives met Tuesday with 60 regional hospital directors and administrators at a conference center in Potomac, Maryland, for a panel discussion about improving VA - from streamlining its hiring process for doctors and mental-health professionals, to cutting the time it takes to make appointments and process benefits claims. Augustine credited VA's career employees for trying to remain focused amid the turmoil, but he described the mood among conference attendees as "numb." Hanging in the balance is proposed legislation - the Caring for Our Veterans Act - that would expand veterans' access to health care. Known as the Choice program, it allows patients to seek medical services from private providers at taxpayer expense. The bill was left out of the federal budget that passed last month after Democrats raised concerns that the measure would mark a first step toward dismantling VA. Now, funding for the Choice program is set to run out next month, and lawmakers are scrambling to push through a compromise plan. VA once was regarded as one of the federal government's most successful agencies, propelling the post-World War II generation into the middle class through education benefits provided by the Montgomery G.I. Bill and conducting groundbreaking research in the areas of spinal reconstruction and rehabilitation for amputees. But the agency, which employs more than 360,000, has been in a state of decline since at least 2014, when revelations surfaced that employees at some VA facilities had falsified records about the amount of time veterans wait for often urgent mental and health care. Trump, who during the presidential campaign characterized VA as "the most corrupt agency in the United States," pledged to fix the department. Through his first VA secretary, David Shulkin, the administration saw some early success, opening an office that protects whistleblowers, making it easier to fire underperforming employees and beginning to modernize the benefits-appeals process. But in recent months, the agency has become a poster child for dysfunction again. Shulkin's firing in late March was brought on, in part, by his public battles with other political appointees within VA and the White House. VA's acting secretary is Robert Wilkie, who moved into the role from an appointed position at the Defense Department. Since he began at the agency, he has implored its workforce to remember VA's sacred mission of caring for those who have fought the nation's wars. Given the questions facing Jackson's nomination, some surmise Wilkie will be in the job a while. Yet what has been lost amid the political disputes, veterans' advocates say, are VA's most vulnerable clientele, men and women who have suffered catastrophic combat wounds or are battling severe mental-health setbacks because of post-traumatic stress. Others simply want the peace of mind knowing they won't encounter trouble accessing their education benefits. "Veterans are losing six different ways right now, from all directions," said Joe Chenelly, the national executive director of AMVETS. "What makes it stop?" San Antonio Metropolitan Health District officials confirmed on Wednesday a case of tuberculosis at Brandeis High School. According to Metro Health, one individual contracted the infection, which typically affects the lungs. That person is off campus, in stable condition and will not return to the school "until no longer infectious," according to a news release. RELATED: Judson students air concerns about gun violence Metro Health met with school staff and faculty to discuss the situation and letters were sent home to parents, inviting them to attend an April 26 meeting on campus. Metro Health and the school are working to identify anyone who may have been exposed to the infection and asked anyone with questions to contact the Metro Health TB Chest Clinic at 210-207-8823. Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for mySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkye Police on Monday arrested an 18-year-old man who they say admitted to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old. Hugo Salazar faces a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was booked into the Bexar County Jail on a $50,000 bond. According to his arrest affidavit, Salazar, who lived near the victim, sexually assaulted the young girl on Sunday after entering her apartment and sneaking into her room. RELATED: SAPD: Man fatally shoots 18-year-old ex-girlfriend at S.A. apartment complex before killing himself She was able to escape by telling him she had to go to the bathroom. Salazar left and the victim told her aunt what had happened, according to the affidavit. Police came to the Northwest Side apartment complex and detained Salazar. He was taken in for further questioning and admitted assaulting the young girl, police said. He was then booked into jail on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child. 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 bailiff who has been employed with the Bexar County Sheriff's Office for 34 years was arrested early Wednesday morning by San Antonio police on suspicion of driving while intoxicated after she left NIOSA, officials said. Margie Hernandez Miranda, 61, was pulled over in the 8600 block of State Highway 151 after an officer saw her swerving across several lanes while driving 11 mph under the speed limit, according to a search warrant. More allegations have been reported to San Antonio police about a Viva Tacoland bartender since his arrest Monday on suspicion of sexually assaulting two customers, officials said. Dillonger Hackett, 30, was taken into custody by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force after two women alleged he spiked their drinks while serving them at the restaurant, just outside the Pearl, then assaulted them on March 25. The restaurant has not responded to repeated requests for comment. Detectives "are following up on multiple calls they've received as a result of this case," according to a police spokesperson. READ MORE: SAPD: Tacoland bartender spiked women's drinks, sexually assaulted 2 Police have not yet been able to confirm if the women's drinks were tampered with and are awaiting test results. If the test results indicate their drinks were spiked, Hackett's charges would be upgraded from sexual assault to aggravated sexual assault. Hackett doesn't have a serious criminal record in Texas or past assault charges but has had some run-ins with law enforcement. An altercation between Hackett and an ex-girlfriend at Bombay Bicycle Club, a bar on St. Mary's Street, ended with him being forcibly removed and banned from the business in January, the woman and employees told mySA.com. He had previously been a bouncer there while she worked as a bartender. The previous April, officers were called to Hackett's home for a report of a disturbance. Police reports show Hackett and the same woman got into an argument because Hackett thought he saw her give her number to another person. She threw a beer bottle at him and he shoved her out of his home with a hand on her wrist and another near her throat, according to the report. The relationship ended in December. When news of his arrest broke, the ex-girlfriend told mySA.com she wasn't shocked. "He definitely does not have a good reputation with a lot of people," she said. "No one's really surprised." Hackett was given deferred adjudication after a DWI arrest last July and was arrested by Houston police on suspicion of possessing between four ounces and five pounds of marijuana. Hackett is being held without bond in Bexar County Jail on the marijuana charge. Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA WASHINGTON The campaign manager for President Donald Trump wants San Antonio to host the 2020 Republican National Convention and has taken to Twitter to voice his frustration at the citys lack of response to bid for the event. San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he had been encouraged by some local business leaders notably Brad Parscale, Trumps campaign manager to submit a bid to host the convention. But the mayor said Wednesday he had gotten some mixed signals about the citys chances of securing the bid. He said representatives from the RNC were in San Antonio late last month to meet with political and business leaders about hosting the convention in the summer of 2020. Nirenberg said an RNC staff member told him shortly afterward that Republicans no longer were interested in San Antonio, so he did not raise the issue with the City Council. In an email to Nirenberg Wednesday, Parscale pressed for a response. It is very important that I let the group here in DC know that San Antonio is going to pass on this opportunity. Many cities are killing to have this, Parscale wrote. Parscale used his Twitter account Wednesday to express frustration. Coming soon to #SanAntonio : another mayor makes an epic political mistake that takes a possible 200MM from the community. Why??? I want to rip the last hair I have out of my head. Maybe he is just waiting on Mayor Sculley to decide for him, Parscale tweeted, referring to City Manager Sheryl Sculley. Nirenberg said: I do not respond to political operatives tweetstorms. But former Mayor Julian Castro, who has said he might run for the Democrats presidential nomination in 2020, did respond. The Trump campaign is so SCARED of losing Texas in 2020 that it is DESPERATELY trying to get San Antonio to bid for the RNC convention as political insurance. It won't work, Brad. RNC loses millions for its hosts. And you're going to lose Texas anyway in 2020, Castro tweeted. In an email to council members Wednesday, Nirenberg wrote: Today, I learned that the GOP has renewed its interest in San Antonio and is now actively seeking a convention bid. Nirenberg invited council members to a closed-door discussion next week about whether the city should attempt a late bid to host the event, which could be an economic bonanza for San Antonio. He said he has reservations. Theres a reason San Antonio has not pursued a national political convention since 2000. The local community has to commit tens of millions of dollars up front, and prudent fiscal stewards have good reason to question whether that expense is worthwhile for the community, Nirenberg said in an interview. He remarked: For all intents and purposes, there was nothing happening on this front until Parscale started blowing up the phones. Parscale has aggressively encouraged local officials and business leaders to bid on the convention. He holds considerable sway among national Republicans; he ran the Trump campaigns successful digital operation from San Antonio two years ago and, in addition to directing the presidents political operation, he sits on the 12-member committee that chooses the convention site. It would be one of the most premier events in the history of San Antonio, Parscale said in an interview. It would give the city tens of millions of dollars worth of international media exposure, hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact, help fill 85,000 hotel rooms for the struggling hotel industry and be one of the most significant food and beverage events ever in San Antonio. He added: It would be completely insane for the city of San Antonio not to make a bid when it is one of the most perfect sites for a national convention. The RNC did not respond to an inquiry about selection details or cities vying for the convention. But Charlotte, which hosted the 2012 Democratic convention, is viewed as a leader in the competition. Earlier this month, the North Carolina city submitted a formal proposal detailing its plan to house tens of thousands of visitors and provide security for an event at which thousands of protesters likely will be on hand. Some national Republicans view the selection of San Antonio as convention host as a way to begin mending fences with Latino voters, many of whom deeply resent the Trump administrations deportation policies along with his efforts to limit legal immigration and build a wall along the Southwest border. Trump rescinded the popular Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program begun in the Obama administration and fought to derail several bipartisan efforts in Congress to restore protections. The Republican Party is aware of the growing Hispanic population and recognizes that their conservative values are perfectly aligned with the agenda of Republicans. Holding our convention in the Hispanic capital of the U.S. would be a very important step, said a top Republican Party official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Hosting a political convention is a massive logistics and security task, but one that can bring substantial rewards. Cleveland, site of the 2016 GOP nominating convention, enjoyed a $188 million benefit, according to an independent study afterward by Tourism Economics. The convention drew 48,000 people to Cleveland, 15,000 of them from news outlets. The economic impact in 2016 for Philadelphia, which hosted the Democratic National Convention, was even more $230.9 million, a study by the same analysts showed. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, a Democrat, is among supporters of hosting the GOP gathering. As San Antonio mayor in 1992, Wolf tried unsuccessfully to bring the GOP convention to San Antonio. It went to Houston. San Antonio also lost out despite efforts to host the Democrats 1996 nominating convention and the GOP convention in 2000. I think it would be a big, big benefit to San Antonio to have it here, said Wolff, who has been present for discussions about hosting for the Republican gathering. I think we could handle it very well. Theres a concern about the controversies with President Trump. But the fact of the matter is that in a Republican convention, the presidents probably only here for a couple of hours if indeed he is nominated, and if indeed he wins the nomination, Wolff said. Wolf said local leaders were told that they could expect to receive about $40 million from the government to help cover security costs. In a memo sent to the Charlotte Regional Business Authority, the RNC said it expects the host city to raise roughly $70 million. That money would come from private rather than public sources. blambrecht@express-news.net The attitude of President Donald Trump toward federal law enforcement is, to put it mildly, mixed. The FBI refused to bend to his will. So it is comprised of hardened Democrats engaged in a WITCH HUNT. The FBI was, according to Trump, too preoccupied with the Russia investigation to prevent the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. Its reputation is in Tatters worst in History! But Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has passed the loyalty test. ICEs enforcement surge is merely the keeping of my campaign promise, explained the president. Referring to ICE acting Director Thomas Homan, Trump said, Somebody said the other day, they saw him on television. ... He looks very nasty, he looks very mean. I said, Thats what Im looking for! This is territory more familiar in political systems of personal rule. The agency that defies the ruler must be discredited. The agency that does his bidding is viewed as a kind of Praetorian Guard. Most of the professionals working in ICE would surely deny this characterization, pointing to an important legal role independent from any individual president. But they need to understand that their work is now being conflated with Trumps nativism. ICEs 40 percent increase in arrests within the country after Trump took office is now closely associated with the presidents political priorities. His sweeping executive orders on immigration broadened the focus of enforcement beyond serious threats to public order. Arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions have spiked dramatically. Routine check-ins with ICE officials can end with handcuffs and deportation. Sanctuary cities a recurring presidential political obsession are being targeted with additional personnel. Hundreds of children have been removed from parents seeking asylum and detained separately compounding their terrible ordeal of persecution and flight. ICE recently announced a new policy that makes it easier to detain pregnant women. Asylum seekers have often been denied humanitarian parole while their cases are decided, effectively jailing them without due process. Officials of the agency insist their nonpolitical mandate hasnt changed. But Homan has praised the Trump administration for taking the handcuffs off law enforcement. Whatever their intention, ICE agents are tying themselves to Trumps political fortunes. The job performed by ICE is essential to American security, and not easy. Agents must prevent some truly dangerous people from entering and staying in the country gang members, drug dealers and terrorists. But it is also their job to deal with asylum seekers men, women and children fleeing from gangs, targeted for death by drug cartels and oppressed by terrorist states. Some of the worst people in the world, and some of the most sympathetic people in the world, are processed by immigration officials. It takes care and discernment to make this distinction. ICE is not currently an agency famous for its care and discernment. In releasing an immigration activist detained by ICE early this year, U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest said, It ought not to be and it has never before been that those who have lived without incident in this country for years are subjected to treatment we associate with regimes we revile as unjust. We are not that country. Accusations of abuse in ICE custody are numerous and serious, and they pre-existed the Trump era. An investigation by ProPublica and the Philadelphia Inquirer reported cases of racial profiling, fabricated evidence and warrantless searches all given little scrutiny by overwhelmed immigration courts. During the last few years, there have been hundreds of accusations of sexual abuse, racial slurs, abusive strip searches and verbal harassment in ICE jails, prisons and detention centers. This is the bitter fruit of dehumanization in a facility, in a system, in a country. It is unclear if Trump would even regard such a reputation as undesirable. This is an issue ripe for more rigorous congressional oversight even an independent commission to investigate charges of physical and sexual abuse in the ICE system. But this would require a critical mass of elected Republicans to give a damn about the rights and dignity of migrants. michaelgerson@washpost.com Re: Mayor pushing a transit proposal; The model is multimodal; he wants vote on it in 19, front page, April 11: When Nelson Wolff and Ron Nierenberg unite in any venture, grab your wallet. Plan to camp out at polls until you get your no vote cast. Everybody with two brain cells to rub together knows that the developers and the glory hounds are gonna run rail up the flagpole again. Come to think of it, thats a good place for it. Penelope Talley Vouchers useless Re: School vouchers not best for military kids, Jason Lemieux, Jason, April 16: I was born into a career military family that moved a great deal. There were no vouchers or other aids in those days. I attended public schools in these cities (some of them more than once): Honolulu, San Diego, Washington, D.C., Shanghai, Tsingtao, Peking (all three pre-Mao names), Hong Kong, Manila, Pago Pago, Annapolis, Long Beach, Bremerton and Coronado (moving from here a week before graduation exercises). In between schools in China and aboard ship between countries, we used lessons from an accredited school-by-mail firm in the Midwest, with a teacher named Mom. I skipped a grade and a half, and entered college at 16. Mr. Lemieux is correct. Vouchers would have been utterly useless for this military kid and his brother. Yet somehow as in having a deep respect for education we made it. Retired U.S. Army Col. Jim Douglas No racism here Re: How Austin bombings fit a system of racism, Rogelio Saenz, Opinion, April 15: Rogelio Saenz claims the Austin bombing was a racist act and, therefore, Austin law enforcement agencies didnt handle it with urgency. There was nothing in the media reports to support that claim. Austin law enforcement agencies and FBI should be commended for their great police work to identify and find the bomber quickly. Its a shame that Saenz criticizes, by implication, the black and Latino members of those agencies rather than commend them for their good work. If they read his column, they must feel betrayed and unappreciated by a fellow minority. The commentary contains paragraphs of vague, academic accusations without any facts from the case to support his accusations. More than 500 federal agents were directed to help on the investigation, all working remarkably well to solve it. Unlike Saenz, I commend them for their professional achievement. Ralph Coker, Corpus Christi The Monday night meeting of the Government Hill Alliance Neighborhood Association was canceled, according to a sign taped to the door of St. Patricks Catholic Church by Rose Hill, who may or may not be the associations president, depending on whom you ask. Within seconds, a resident of the neighborhood tore down the sign. Hill taped up another, and someone else emerged from the church to rip it down. Concerns about runaway development and rising property taxes have created a constitutional crisis in the neighborhood association for Government Hill, a historic area bordering downtown and the Pearl that is one of the fastest-growing parts of the urban core. RELATED: Hemisfair redevelopment aims to turn park into mixed-use neighborhood Nearly 50 local residents met at St. Patricks on Monday night and voted to replace the associations board. They accuse Hill and other board members of being too friendly with developers and failing to notify residents of construction projects that have been proposed in the 130-year-old neighborhood, a mixture of colorful bungalows, weedy lots and neglected Victorian mansions. Were at a vital point right now where we can go forward or we can go backward. So we need to be prepared, we need to unite, said Denise Gutierrez Homer, who helped lead Mondays meeting, where she was elected to the new board. Were getting together, were meeting our neighbors again. Those who attended voted 26-0 to elect a new board that includes Joe Ashcraft, who previously served as the associations president between 2010 and 2014 and who was on the board until last year. Some attendees didnt vote because they werent members of the neighborhood association. The recent surge of development in San Antonios urban core has divided many neighborhood associations earlier this month, the new president of the Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association purged all six members of its Architectural Review Committee, which is in charge of meeting with developers to go over construction plans. The committee had played a big role in the struggle over a controversial five-story apartment complex proposed next to the Hays Street Bridge. Other neighborhoods, including Tobin Hill and Mahncke Park, have had contentious debates over whether to become historic in order to gain more control over development. Ashcraft said that the Government Hill residents who attended Mondays meeting were authorized to elect a new board under Texas state law for nonprofits. But Hill called the meeting illegal and said the vote wasnt valid because it wasnt called by the associations board members. They think were in cahoots with the developers, but were not, she said. I am holding my ground with my board of directors because the bottom line is we havent done anything. District 2 City Councilman William Cruz Shaw, whose district includes Government Hill, didnt respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Representatives of the board elected Monday met with someone from the staff of state Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, on Tuesday. He said in an interview that he wasnt the one to decide which board is legitimate. I dont doubt that these people did their homework, but Im not the arbiter, he said. Tensions were high at the meeting: Hill stood in the back filming it on her cell phone, and she called the police out of fear that things would get out of hand. Two officers arrived, but they didnt have much to do, and they ended up partaking in the buffet of cookies and fruit that had been provided. A developers plan to build three townhomes with ground-level parking garages on a vacant lot near the crossing of Carson Street and Pierce Avenue brought the neighborhood to a boiling point. Opponents of the project say they collected 250 signatures against it but that the neighborhood associations board supported it anyway. We dont want that. Its going to bring our taxes even way higher than they are now, resident Antoni Infante said. Hill said that members of the neighborhood association voted 48-8 in favor of that project at a meeting in March after negotiating with the developers to reduce the number of residential units down from eight. Another major concern among those who voted for the new board is that Government Hills neighborhood plan is being overridden for the sake of the citys SA Tomorrow plan, which was adopted in 2016 to manage population growth. We thought our neighborhood plan was a tight deal, and it turns out its actually not, resident Cindy Tower said. Local developer GrayStreet Partners is working on plans to build a massive mixed-use project on 23 acres of neglected land across Broadway from the Pearl. But those who elected the new board arent worried about that project because of GrayStreets reputation as a reputable, classy developer, Tower said. The board that was elected Monday plans to meet this week to decide who will serve as the neighborhood associations president and other officers, Tower said. Hill said she will continue operating the neighborhood association as if Mondays vote didnt happen. We have more transparency in this neighborhood association than they ever had, she said. What theyre looking for is control. Next week, the association Hill leads will hold a town hall to discuss property taxes. Richard Webner is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | rwebner@express-news.net | @RWebner A massive home in San Antonio's posh Fortaleza neighborhood is ready to move into for $2.95 million, that is. Roche Bobois, a European luxury company, released several photos of the recently completed mansion, which has 7 bedrooms and 7-and-a-half bathrooms. RosePost Box has a limited edition Mothers Day Box available for pre-order now and we have FULL spoilers! This is a one-time purchase box and will not start a subscription. To celebrate Mom (or You), we have put together a special collection of clean rose beauty luxuries that will pamper her and make her feel beautiful, inside and out. 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Hillbrow and Berea residents were left shocked after a shooting incident that happened outside Discount foods shop, in Hillbrow. It is claimed that a young man was coming from the shop, having bought a China bag and some few things. All of a sudden people closeby saw another man following him and pulled a gun and shot him without saying a word. The Zimbabwean man, who is in his late thirties, is said to be a soldier back home. Sources close to the deceased said he was in South Africa for a visit. He has been here for a week now and was preparing to go back home, that is why he came to the shops to buy the china bag. He had already bought his groceries and wanted to pack them in the bag, said a source close to him. It is, however, unknown why he was shot and who shot him, but according to the police officers who attended the scene, the two had an argument earlier on inside the shop. It is suspected that the killer wanted to rob the deceased right inside the shop, which led the two to a beefed up argument. All this was seen on the CCTV footage from Discount Foods. According to eyewitnesses, the man struggled for almost an hour on the ground, and in the process he lost lots and lots of blood. Had the ambulance arrived earlier, this man was supposed to be alive as we speak, said the witnesses. The only people who tried to offer some help are the traffic cops who were close by, but there was nothing they could do without any medical equipment. After almost an hour of struggling, the man gave up and passed on just like that. We are not safe at all here. You go to the shops or to work fearing for your life. The worst thing is we are living with these criminals in the same area. We are now even afraid of reporting them because if they get arrested today, you meet them in the same street again tomorrow, a situation that puts our own lives at risk, said a certain lady who was so devastated by the incident. SocialMedia Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News Senator Dino Melaye has raised alarm about his life claiming there is a plan to kill him. The Kogi senator made this allegation in a tweet on Monday, April 23. Melaye vowed that he will not stop speaking the truth and said he cannot be silenced. He also claimed the police has arrested his brother in front of his house. According to the senator, Nigeria is civil society and not a banana republic. READ ALSO: In a matter of days, major PDP players will defect to our party - APC chieftain See his tweets below: Report had surfaced on Monday that Melaye was arrested at Abujas international airport. He was however released after several hours in detention. According to a tweet the All Progressives Congress (APC) senator posted on his Twitter account early morning on Monday, he was arrested on his way to Morocco for an official engagement. Melaye tweeted: I have just been arrested at the international wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe airport on my way to Morocco for an official engagement sponsored by the federal government after checking in. He said his international passport was snatched from him but he snatched it back. Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) confirmed the arrest of Melaye at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Monday morning. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Spokesman of the Service, Sunday James, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that Melaye was arrested by Immigration officials based on instruction. The confirmation came hours after the senator, who represents Kogi West, announced the arrest on his Twitter handle at 7:32 a.m. I have just been arrested at the international wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on my way to Morocco for an official engagement sponsored by the Federal Government after checking in, he tweeted. Kogi West senatorial district to recall senator Dino Melaye from the Nigerian Senate on Legit.ng TV. Source: Legit - BBNaija's viewers recently blasted former housemate Ifu for visiting Miracle - Miracle who emerged winner of the BBnaija Double Wahala edition has become N45 million richer in cash and luxurious prizes - His new wealth status is making fans believe the love from former housemates is suspicious Fans recently blasted former housemate Ifu Ennada after she paid a courtesy visit to BBNaija winner, Miracle. Since her exit from the house, Ifu made it clear she's rooting for the flyboy as most of his fans call him. As the winner of the show, the pretty Ifu decided to congratulate him and visited him to extend her felicitations. Nigerian fans however, were not having any of it and instead bashed the N2.5 million winner, insinuating that she's a fair weather friend. It all started after Ifu shared a photo of herself with the Miracle. in her post, which was shared on her Instagram page, she said revealed she was spending quality time with the recently made millionaire. READ ALSO: Nigerian lady begs Cee-C, says 'permit me to wash your cloths for two months' Here are some of the comments from social media users below: '' Ifu thank you for visiting your friend miracle.. Now listen up please dont near Alex.. We dont need your famzing in her life.. N Im unfollowing you. I thought you were mature with a heart of gold'' ''Im just checking to see if ur feeling fine. U must be really sick now knowing that teddybam is going well. Na ur type they snap husbands.'' ''Youre now close to miracle just becos he won shame,first it was bamteddy now it miracle get a life girl.. You never liked miracle before y now??'' '' Ifu I beg stop this nonsense. If you want us to support you show us your worth. We want to see what you are doing for yourself. Others have moved on and you are here in others roooms in un Godly hours welcoming them?. Dont you have a schedule for tomorrow?. You were never even close to either Miracle or Bamteddy. Why go to visit them?. Please my girl do not disappoint me. Do something. I want to see you use the talent I saw in the house and do something I can be proud of. I did not support you so that you support others!.'' PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app BBNaija 2018: Heres why you should vote for Miracle, Alex and Tobi on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit.ng President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, April 24, approved the appointments of Ambassador Apollonius Demenongu Agev and Kio Solomon Benibo Amieyeofori as deputy directors-general at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). A statement by Olusegun Adekunle, permanent secretary (General Services) in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said the appointments are with immediate effect. Adekunle added that the appointments are in fulfillment of Para. 4 (1) & (2) of the relevant Instrument establishing the NIA. READ ALSO: President Buhari reacts to killing of 15 worshippers in Benue church The Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (DGNIA), in line with the provisions of the Instrument under reference, will assign areas of responsibilities to the DDGs who will assist him in carrying out his functions as Director-General," he added. Agev is from Benue state while Amieyeofori is from Rivers state. Legit.ng previously reported that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the appointment of Ahmed Rufai Abubakar as substantive director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). The president approved the appointment on Wednesday, January 10, and the development was made public by Femi Adesina, his special adviser on media and publicity. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app In a statement released, Adesina stated that the appointment takes effect immediately. List President Buhari's achievements in two years - on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit Newspaper - Former governor Adams Oshiomhole has been reportedly endorsed by President Buhari for the chairmanship position of the APC - Buhari met with the APC governors at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday - An unnamed official claimed Buhari called the meeting with the governors to ask them to back Oshiomholes candidature President Muhammadu Buhari met with the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors on Tuesday, April 24, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja behind closed doors between 8:30pm to 11pm. Presidency sources told State House correspondents that the president used the opportunity to endorse former governor of Edo state, Adams Oshiomhole, for the chairmanship of the party. The unnamed official, stated that President Buhari had resolved to back Oshiomhole for the partys chairmanship position. President Buhari with APC governors at the meeting last night. Photo credit: State House PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app The president called this meeting with the progressive governors to ask them to back Oshiomholes candidature. Thats the purpose of the meeting administration that is the Presidents position, New Telegraph quoted the source as saying. The ruling party had fixed its national convention for May 14 in Abuja, where its new National Working Committee members would be elected. Governors at the meeting included those of Edo, Kogi, Kaduna, Plateau, Adamawa, Zamfara, Imo, Kano, Borno, Niger, Nasarawa, Ogun, Oyo, Jigawa and Kebbi states. Before the meeting, the governors have been divided over their support for who emerges as the new APC chairman ahead of the convention. It is not clear yet if the partys current chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, will be seeking re-election at the convention now that the president has resolved to support Oshiomholes candidature. Oshiomole is generally seen as the candidate of a certain bloc in the party headed by former Lagos state governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. READ ALSO: APC national convention: Forum promises to buy chairmanship form, mobilise delegates for Timi Frank Meanwhile, the APC on Monday, April 23, inaugurated its national convention planning committee. The 68-member national convention committee is chaired by the governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar. The committee was inaugurated at the APC national secretariat in Abuja by the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. APC chieftains in Benue state say PDP has nothing to offer on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit - Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the federal government will no longer fold its arms while miscreants create religious tensions across Nigeria - Osinbajo describes killings in worship centres as the height of wickedness - He reveals the return of Jesus Christ is even closer than it was believed in the past Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has declared that the federal government will not allow miscreants to stoke up a religious conflict by making it impossible for anyone to preach the gospel or even for Muslims to worship in their mosques. A statement by Laolu Akande, his spokesperson, said Osinbajo stated this at the inauguration of the headquarters building and auditorium of the Deeper Life Bible Church in Gbagada, Lagos on Tuesday, April 24. It is not only a heinous sacrilege but high wickedness to kill persons in a place of worship. It is evident that the devils bigger agenda is to stoke up a religious conflict in Nigeria, one such as will make it impossible for anyone to preach the gospel or even for Muslims to worship in their mosques, Osinbajo said. Looking at examples of the recent attacks on worship places in Borno and Benue states, Prof Osinbajo said the federal government was working on arresting the situation and urged all Nigerians to be calm and remain focused on the teachings of their faith. READ ALSO: Just in: APC governors in closed door meeting with President Buhari While the security agencies continue to work relentlessly to hunt down the perpetrators of these evil acts, we all must not lose focus, he said. Kumuyi, his wife and others welcome Osinbajo to the church. Credit: Deeper Life church Concerning the church headquarters, Osinbajo said the opening of the building was one of the proudest moments for him as a Christian, seeing the great edifice being dedicated for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the disciplining of the saints. Read the full statement below: In the surroundings of this edifice in this neighbourhood, are investments in the community, a connecting bridge, street lights and greatly improved access roads. Because we know the Deeper Life Bible Church and we know of its commitment to the full gospel of Jesus Christ, we know that the motivation for this is to honour Jesus Christ and glorify His name in this land. There is no question at all, for those of us who have watched how this church has grown, for those of us who lived in this neighbourhood at one point in time, saw what was here before, that the glory of this latter temple is greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And we declare in the words of scripture that in this place the Lord of hosts will give peace. But there is another reason why the dedication of this sanctuary is at an exceptional moment in the history of the church of Jesus Christ in Nigeria and the world. We are in the end times. Indeed the time of his return is closer than when we first believed. The immediate implication is that there must be an urgency in the fulfilment of the great commission. We must work harder to obey the command and commission in Matthew 28:19-20 to go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded. As we work and recognise that we must work to meet with this commission, we must accept that there will be resistance, the devil is even more desperate and devious as the end comes nearer. So, what are some of the resistance we see? First, there is a resistance to the building of churches, there are specific cases of places where specific allegations have been made of valid applications to build churches have been refused. Time for worship as Osinbajo joins Kumuyi and others in thanking God. Credit: Deeper Life church The president has mandated that I take up those cases with the specific state and local authorities, the right to freedom of worship is also the right to build places of worship. Second is the physical persecution of Christians; a phenomenon we have seen for years. Just this morning on my way here, I was notified the violation of a catholic church in Benue state by armed killers who went in while a burial mass was taking place and they killed a priest and some worshippers. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app It is not only a heinous sacrilege, but high wickedness to kill persons in a place of worship. As I discussed these issues with the president and other ministers in the Security Council, it is evident to me and to many, that the devils bigger agenda is to stoke up a religious conflict in Nigeria, one that will make it impossible for anyone to preach the gospel or even for Muslims to worship in their mosques. A few days ago in Bama, a mosque was bombed and many died. Many such examples abound. While the security agencies continue to work relentlessly to hunt down the perpetrators of these evil acts and to bring a permanent end to all of the killings going on in the name of herdsmen, Boko Haram, or in any other name, we as a body of Christ must not lose focus. The enemy wants us to stand on our pulpits and preach hate, we will not. Addressing the congregation, the general superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor Wlliams Kumuyi, thanked Osinbajo for finding time to witness the official commissioning of the new auditorium, which he described as historical concerning the journey of the church towards evangelizing the world. Pastor Kumuyi recalled the modest beginning of the church, which he said has remained true to the propagation of the message of love embodied in the life of Jesus Christ on earth. He promised that the new auditorium would be a pilgrimage centre for spiritual development designed to emancipate the society from the shackles of sin. He also called on members of the church to take advantage of the new auditorium to continue to propagate the gospel, saying that only the eternal truth in the message of Christ has capacity to lift the country from the forces plaguing its journey to unity and prosperity. Osinbajo, Kumuyi and others reciting a hymn at the event. Credit: Deeper Life church On his part, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode thanked Pastor Kumuyi for being an example of selfless evangelism and expressed his joy to be associated with the church. Represented by the women affairs and poverty alleviation commissioner, Lola Akande, Ambode said the state government was especially impressed by the fact that the new church building came along with a new bridge and road enhancements for the people of Gbagada community and pledged for the use of the tabernacle towards the spread of the good news of Christ. As a government, our mission is the entrenchment of harmonious relations among the people; respect for the rights of other people for freedom of worship and association and we are happy to have found a worthy partner and ambassadors in the leadership of Deeper Life Church, the governor said. Legit.ng earlier reported that impromptu protests erupted in major areas of Makurdi, the Benue state capital as news of the killing of two priests and 17 worshipers by suspected armed herdsmen filtered into the town. Among the victims were two priests; Rev Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha, two primary school headmasters; Peter Di*k and Ape Chia, a secondary school principal; Michael Tor and 14 other worshipers. Nigeria News: Offa bank robbery - The untold story (NAIJ EXCLUSIVE) | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit - A while ago, Chimamanda Adichie received major backlash for her feminist remarks about Hilary Clinton - She has finally reacted to the criticisms - She took to the Facebook medium to throw more light on the issue, stating that people should stop forming lazy opinions using just headlines Earlier on, celebrated Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie, had caused quite a ruckus on social media after her feminist remarks about Hilary Clinton's Twitter bio in which she described herself as wife first before anything. One of such people to criticize her was Nigerian OAP, Daddy Freeze. He recently took to social media to express his disappointment at her remarks. Well, Chimamanda Adichie has finally responded to the backlash. She had this to say: "Dear Unnamed Person Who I Am Told Is On Social Media Saying I am Her Family and Telling Me to Shut Up: Cynicism is ugly. It doesnt flatter anyone. Yours doesnt suit you at all. I remember you vaguely; I think you were in my class in primary school. And now you claim to be my family and you are asking me to shut up. Did you watch the video of the conversation? Did you read a full transcript? I am tired of Nigerians who read a headline and, without bothering to get details and context, jump on the outrage bandwagon and form lazy, shallow opinions. I was happy when I was told that Hillary Clinton had specifically requested to be in conversation with me at the PEN World Voices festival. I am an unapologetic fan of Ms. Clintons. I have been for many years. I felt quite emotional when I met her. Having read and followed her for years, it was moving to see her: the warm, human, observant, present, thoughtful person (and looking wonderful, with her hair and makeup on point!). She said she had read my books and I restrained myself from doing cartwheels. "Is there anything you dont want to talk about? I asked backstage. Ask me anything, she said. READ ALSO: BBNaija's Bambam becomes a millionaire overnight, reportedly makes N25M in 24 hours "Towards the end of our conversation, I told her how, having read her writing about her own life, I think she has a great love story with Bill Clinton. A wonderful friendship. I said I feel irritated and protective of her when people dissect her personal life, but I also confessed to having an interest myself, particularly about her public Twitter profile. (I first noticed it when I was researching a piece about her during the presidential campaign). I was upset that the first word used to describe her was wife. Was it a choice she had made or was it something done for her campaign and, if it was a choice she had made, did she think my reaction to it was fair? Her response was very thoughtful. I was too excited, emotional, slightly nervous, to be on stage with this remarkable woman. Had I kept in mind how easily outrage-mongers would jump on a headline, I would have phrased my question better. I would not have made it about my being upset, because it can come across as navel-gazing." But the truth is that we were supposed to be having a conversation, the context of our conversation was personal and warm, I had made the decision to speak from the heart, and it would be dishonest to pretend that I had not reacted personally to so many issues around Ms. Clinton, whose life has become a kind of crucible of all the questions that affect women. We all react personally to public figures. And I WAS upset that the Twitter bio of a woman who is the most accomplished person to run for President of the United States, would begin with wife. And considering her personal history, it just didnt seem to fit. READ ALSO: Nigerians lambast Ifu for visiting BBNaija winner Miracle, says she's 'famzing' him because of money Yes, its just Twitter. But it matters. Its a public platform. Its where people go to hear directly from her. And there is context to consider. In LIVING HISTORY, Ms.Clinton writes that the two most difficult decisions she has made in her life were staying married to Bill Clinton and running for the senate seat in New York. Women, especially women in public life, face a lot of societal pressure about how to be, how to live, much more than men do. Women in public life are considered cold and un-relatable unless they define themselves in domestic terms. Womens accomplishments are often considered incomplete unless they have also ticked the marriage box. These things are not true of men, even though marriage can be a wonderful thing for both men and women. Feminism is indeed about choice. But it is intellectually lazy to suggest that, since everything is about choice, none of these choices can be interrogated. Choices are never made in a vacuum. And sometimes, for women, choices are not always real choices. After she got married, Ms. Clinton kept her name, but she was so viciously criticized for this that she then took on her husbands name. Was this a choice? Would she have done so if she wasnt being attacked and if she didnt want to feel responsible for her husbands potential losing of votes?During the last presidential campaign, she was expected to account for the policies of her husbands administration. She was labeled an enabler of sexual harassment. She was accused of cynically staying married because she wanted to benefit politically.Much of Ms. Clintons public image is a caricature of a person who is untrustworthy, calculated, cold, dishonest. That caricature has its roots in her early public life when she was the First Lady of Arkansas. Her crime was that she did not conform to the traditional role of First Lady. She had kept her name. She clearly considered herself to be her husbands equal partner. She did not intend merely to be a Wife. She had her own dreams, her own ambition. She dared to say that she wasnt planning on staying home and baking cookies, which was not about denigrating stay-at-home mothers but simply about saying that that was not what she wanted to do. A small comment about a small thing, but it was significant and revolutionary because she was consciously resisting the status quo. But she was attacked for that. Horrendously. And those attacks were repeated so often that they stuck and they contributed to her being reduced to a caricature. It was therefore upsetting to see her first descriptor as wife. The question isnt about including wife in her Twitter bio. The question is about giving wife a certain primacy as the first word that describes her, and it speaks to larger questions about the societal expectations placed on women. Ms. Clinton wrote in her most recent book WHAT HAPPENED, that she ran for president because she thinks she would have been a damned good president. She certainly would have been. And so I suggested, half-joking, that Would have been a damned good president is a perfect Twitter bio start. And then mother and wife and grandma and Senator and hair icon etc could follow! I completely stand by my question and by my conviction that it is a subject that matters. I had a truly enlightening evening on that stage with Ms. Clinton, and was once again awed by her grit, her humanity, her sparkling intelligence. After the conversation, Ms. Clinton told me, It was like talking to a friend. She is now my Aunty For Life. Oh, as for YOU, Unnamed Person, saying that I am family to you, mbakwa biko. The people I consider family dont do petty. Saying shut up to a woman who airs an opinion is so unoriginal. Try and be a bit more inventive. Try reasoning. Try intelligent debate. Try understanding things in context before you reveal your ignorant misogyny to the world. Try reading more than a headline. Try reading a whole book. Or two. And please keep talking. Keep speaking. Dont ever shut up. ~CNA" PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News on Legit.ng News App 2017: The Most Controversial Naija Celebrities Of The Year on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit.ng - Students of the National Open University have been warned against some examination questionnaires being circulated - The questionnaires, the school authorities said are been circulated by one Henry Osas - According to NOUNs director of media and publicity, Ibrahim Sheme, the questionnaire was being circulated as a document emanating from the university The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has alerted students, security agencies and the general public to the circulation of fake examination questionnaire purportedly from the institution on social media. Ibrahim Sheme, NOUNs director, media and publicity, in statement on Wednesday, April 24, in Abuja, said the questionnaire did not emanate from the institution and urged the public to disregard it. "The attention of NOUN has been drawn to a publication in the social media in which a purported examination questionnaire titled School of Education Course Code GST 103 was circulated as a document emanating from the University. In the fake exam sheet, four questions were posed, built around President Muhammadu Buharis recent statement on the Nigerian youth. Each question was said to attract 30 marks if answered correctly. READ ALSO: Flashback: How Dino Melaye was arrested '14 times' by Jonathans administration The so-called examination questionnaire issued by Henry Osas had nothing to do with NOUN as all our exams were concluded long before His Excellency, the presidents visit to the United Kingdom where he delivered the speech Osas quoted. Even though some might consider the document invented and circulated by Henry Osas and his co-travellers as a mere social media joke, we believe that the use of the hallowed name of the National Open University of Nigeria and its official logo to transmit the joke was done with mischief," Sheme said. He said that the institution took serious exception to the use of its well-respected identity for such unpatriotic and unbecoming behaviour. Sheme added that NOUN had filed a formal complaint with the security agencies with a plea to fish out the culprit(s) behind this mischief with the view to taking the appropriate legal action against them. Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier that two inmates of the Kirikiri Prison in Lagos enrolled for different doctorate degree at the National Open University of Nigeria. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app The inmates, Legit.ng gathered were among three others that were awarded masters' degree by the university's vice chancellor. The Nigeria Prison Service in its reaction said the NPS had empowered many inmates with education from secondary to masters degree level as part of efforts to reform the prisoners. 18-year-old teenager studying for PhD makes startling revelation - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit - Former vice president Atiku Abubakar has revealed why he parted with Buhari and APC - Atiku had last year defected from APC to his former party PDP - He said he wants to be Nigeria's president to right the things he could not do during his eight years as vice president Former vice president Atiku Abubakar, has explained why he parted ways with President Muhammadu Buhari. Daily Trust reports that Atiku said this in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service in London. Legit.ng gathered that Atiku, who resigned his membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), returned to his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), now the major opposition party in the country. READ ALSO: Senator Melaye speaks on arrest, alleged escape from police van The APC started on a wrong footing after President Buhari assumed office. Also, the way the government is being run; I made my suggestions but it seems they were deemed not important to them, Atiku said. He also said he was aspiring to be president to be able to right the things he could not do during the eight years he served as vice president. I want to be the President of Nigeria because I would be able to do things I could not do as vice president, he said. He added that if elected president, he would start with the countrys economy and that he believed Nigerians would trust him in the fight against corruption, citing how their administration set up the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He also vowed that there was no personality that he would not investigate if he was elected president, just as he dismissed insinuations that he was desperate to become president. On the allegations that he had been barred from the United States of America, Atiku said he had applied for a US visa but was denied and was given no reason for the denial. He denied allegations that his house in the US had been auctioned. I bought the house for my wife and she was the one who sold it, he added. On the recent comment of the president concerning Nigerian youths, Atiku said he disagreed with the president. I dont see Nigerian youths as lazy, he said. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Atiku called on the youths to get more involved in politics, promising to give them 40 per cent of his cabinet if elected president. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar revealed how he would manage the economy of Nigeria if elected president in the coming 2019 general elections. The former vice president said this on Wednesday, April 25, while speaking at Chatham House in London, United Kingdom. 2019 Presidency: Nigerians reveal why they prefer Atiku to President Buhari - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit - Court has ruled against the proposed election re-order bill moved by the National Assembly - The court said the National Assembly lacked the power to amend the election timetable - President Buhari had earlier rejected the bill proposing the re-ordering of election sequence A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ruled against the amendment of the 2019 election timetable proposed by the National Assembly. The court in its ruling said the National Assembly lacks the power to amend the election timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Cable reports. A two-third of the National Assembly had supported the move by the legislature calling for the amendment of 2019 election timetable. READ ALSO: Dino Melaye speaks on arrest, escape The National Assembly Conference Committee on Electoral Act (amendment) bill had adopted a re-ordered sequence of the 2019 general election. In the proposed bill, the presidential election in expected to come last after the National Assembly, governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections respectively. The bill which is against the order of election rolled out by the electoral body was rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari. Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that many Senators including political parties supported the National Assembly in its call for the re-ordering of the election. One of the parties, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) said it was throwing its weight behind the National Assembly on the reordering of 2019 general elections and beyond. The party insisted that the presidential election must come last to save Nigeria from nosediving into a one party state. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app CNPP also counselled all civil society organisations supporting INEC to retrace their steps as they are unwittingly aiding a rigging formula that would turn the country into a one party state. Nigerian youths reply to President Buhari over 'lazy' comment | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit Nigeria The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday, April 25, ended its plenary session early to enable lawmakers to visit their colleague, Senator Dino Melaye, Premium Times reports. Legit.ng gathered that the lawmakers, took turns at the plenary to condemn the police for what they termed as inhuman treatment of Melaye by security operatives. Oluremi Tinubu while deliberating on the incident moved a motion that the Senate adjourn plenary to immediately go in search of the Kogi state senator. Tinubus suggestion follows several accounts of earlier speakers that they were turned back while attempting to visit Melaye at the hospital. Members of the Nigerian Senate on Wednesday, April 25, adjourned its plenary to visit Dino Melaye in the hospital. READ ALSO: Flashback: How Dino Melaye was arrested '14 times' by Jonathans administration In a report by The Punch, the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, told the lawmakers that he had sent a delegation to the National Hospital Abuja where Melaye was being treated under the watch of policemen. Senator Bala Ibn NaAllah, the deputy majority leader, briefing the lawmakers on the visit, said the police and the hospital had not been feeding Melaye for fear of being implicated. He said the police and hospitals management however asked that any volunteer could feed him, provided that they would taste from the food. The Senate president, Bukola Saraki, with other lawmakers at the National Hospital Abuja where Melaye is being treated. He said they were also told that an undertaking must be signed for Melayes discharge from the hospital for better treatment elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Senate has summoned the inspector-general of police, Ibrahim Idris, to appear before the plenary on Thursday, April 26. Saraki announced that Idris is to appear by 11am on Thursday and that the IGP will be grilled on the arrest of Melaye and recent insecurity challenges in the country. The Senate president said summoning the IGP is necessary as he had not been able to reach Idris for some days. He also requested the session be aired live. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app The Senate thereafter adjourned plenary after a voice vote to enable all the lawmakers to visit Melaye. Legit.ng previously reported that the senator representing Kogi state west at the Senate, Dino Melaye, explained the events leading to his reported escape from a moving police vehicle that landed him in a hospital in Abuja on Tuesday, April 24. Premium Times reports that in a statement signed by Melaye's media aide, Gideon Ayodele, on Wednesday, April 25, said the senator voluntarily submitted himself to the police and, therefore, did not deserve to be forcibly taken to Kogi state to stand trial in a slew of criminal indictments that include murder and armed robbery. Ayodele said: Earlier in the morning, Senator Dino Melaye as a law-abiding citizen voluntarily submitted himself to the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) who had laid siege to his private residence since around 3.35pm of Monday, April 23." Kogi West senatorial district to recall senator Dino Melaye from the Nigerian Senate - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - The Federal Executive Council meeting is ongoing at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja - Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha and other cabinet members are in attendance President Muhammadu Buhari is currently presiding over the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. The meeting commenced at 11am on Wednesday, April 25, at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Vanguard reports. Legit.ng notes that the meeting is being attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha, amongst others. President Buhari presides over FEC meeting on Wednesday, April 25. (Photo credit: Twitter, @NGRPresident) READ ALSO: BREAKING: House of Reps summons President Buhari Issues that are being discussed in the meeting are unknown as at the time of filing this report. Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported the acting chairman of the EFCC Ibrahim Magu, managing director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, Hadiza Usman and her counterpart from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dakuku Peterside, attended the first meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for the year 2018. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app The first meeting of FEC for the year 2018 kicked off at the Presidential vVlla, Abuja with President Muhammadu Buhari presiding. Vice president Yemi Osinbajo and cabinet ministers were in attendance. The meeting also had in attendance the secretary to the government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, and head of service, Winifrey Oyo-Ita. Nigerian youths reply to President Buhari over 'lazy' comment | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit - Omo-Ageges constituents fault the suspension of their senator - The group say they will not allow Saraki to expel their senator from representing them - Senators storm National Hospital to visit Dino Melaye Some constituents of Delta central senatorial district on Wednesday April 25, asked the Senate to reverse the suspension of their senator, Ovie Omo-Agege. Premium Times reports that the constituents under the umbrella of Delta Central Collective, in a letter addressed to Senate president Bukola Saraki, threatened to resort to individual or collective representation in the Senate if their demand is not me. The group in a protest at the National Assembly argued that the suspension of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege violates the constitution of the Federal Republic Nigeria and other extant laws. The constituents said they would not allow Saraki to expel their senator from representing them and called on the Senate president to urgently allow Senator Ovie Omo-Agege to continue to represent them without any hindrance . READ ALSO: Breaking: Court remands PDP Senator in prison Copied in the letter are President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, attorney-general of the federation, national security adviser, inspector-general of police, director-general of the state security service, commandant-general of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, chairman of National Human Rights Commission and the commissioner of police, FCT command. Below is the letter written by Senator Omo-Ageges constituents: On Thursday, April 12, 2018, you moved the Senate to again violate the letters and spirit of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and other extant laws by purporting to suspend our Distinguished Senator Ovie Omo-Agege from the Nigerian Senate for 90 legislative days. By this act, you are now denying our over six (6) million people of Delta Central Senatorial District representation in the Senate. "In proper context, we have been constructively and effectively expelled from the 8th Senate. We totally reject this act of impunity as it violates our peoples inalienable constitutional right to elect a Senator of their choice to represent them. The suspension of our Senator and Delta Central from the Senate is extremely provocative, considering that Mr. Senate President said that it is a sanction against our Senator Omo-Agege for: a. associating with about 60 other serving senators as a frontline member and the Secretary of the Parliamentary Support Group (PSG) for President Muhammadu Buhari; b. expressing a dissenting opinion on a contentious amendment to Section 25 of the Electoral Act, 2010 regarding election sequence to the extent that, There is a perception out there that the amendment is targeted at Mr. President (Buhari) a perception repeatedly confirmed by many authoritative sources; and PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app c. seeking proper legal interpretation of the 1999 Constitution in certain areas. The group noted that the offences for which Mr Omo-Agege was suspended cannot be justified under any act of the 1999 Constitution Indeed, under the constitution and law, a senator can only vacate his seat if he dies; resigns; is recalled; decamps from the party on whose platform he was elected (without a division in that party); or he is otherwise removed by an appropriate court. The Senate has no constitutional powers to suspend or nullify a Senators election to represent his people. This is the main legal point already settled in rem in the cases of: Ali Ndume v Senate (i.e. also against the 8th Senate where Senator Saraki is Senate President); Bauchi State House of Assembly v. Hon. Danna; Usman v. Kaduna State House of Assembly; and Hon. Melaye v. House of Representatives. Given that the judgment in the Ndume case is against this 8th Senate that you lead and the 8th Senate did not appeal against it, it stands to reason that you are fully aware of the current state of the law. But somehow, this 8th Senate appears to thrive in extra-constitutional, extra-judicial, unlawful and tyrannical exercise of power and impunity. This must explain your declaration that the PSG must be disbanded before Senator Omo-Agege can return to the Senate! In other words, to you, for Senator Omo-Agege to represent his people, his constitutional rights of association (in PSG), to hold opinions and to seek legal redress must first be extinguished! This is very dangerous for the Rule of Law and our democracy. THAT we shall resort to SELF- or COLLECTIVE REPRESENTATION by coming physically in our numbers to represent ourselves in the Senate, as our removal, without any constitutional basis, from decision-making in the Senate is a very clear existential threat to us in the Nigerian Nation. Meanwhile, Senate president, Bukola Saraki has led his colleagues to the national hospital to visit their colleague, Dino Melaye, who was hospitalised on Tuesday, April 24, after jumping out of a moving police vehicle in bid to escape from the police who was conveying him to Lokoja to face trial. Premium Times reports that the senators arrived st 1: 29pm in three buses shortly after suspending plenary for the same purpose. Meanwhile, Saraki said that he had already sent the deputy leader of the Senate to go and visit Melaye at the National Hospital Abuja. Lets talk about salaries of Nigerian senators | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng News In a video clip shared by Sahara Reporters, members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) popularly known as Shia Muslims took the corpse of a member killed by the police during a protest in Abuja to the headquarters of the Human Rights Commission. The Shiites are protesting the continuous detention of their leader, Ibrahim El-zakzaky. Source: Legit Newspaper - Olusegun Obasanjo called on Igbos to vote out President Buhari in 2019 - The former president claimed the promise of an Igbo presidency in 2023 was a deceit - He said it was Igbos interest not to believe the lies Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has reportedly told Igbos not to believe the promise of zoning the presidency to them, describing it as a grand deceit. The former president also said it was in their best interest to vote out President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019. The Punch reports that Obasanjo spoke at a meeting of the Coalition of Nigerian Moment (CNM), in Awka, Anambra state chapter. In a statement through the southeast convener of CNM, Dr. Okey Nwosu, Obasanjo asked them not to believe the promise of producing the presidency in 2023 describing it as a grand deceit and evil machination." READ ALSO: Dino Melaye has not eaten in 24 hours - Saraki speaks after visiting him in hospital He called on the people to collectively work with the CNM towards ousting Buhari from office in the 2019 general elections. The former president accused the ruling All Progressives Congress-led government of perpetrating carnage and wanton destruction of lives and property across the country. He said: The meeting is a wake-up call for NdIgbo to dump APC and collaborate with CNM, which is the best alternative for their rescue from poverty, hunger, recklessness and ethnic cleansing in the hands of the Hausa/Fulani marauders. Every Nigerian leader is very much embarrassed with the state of the nation where people are attacked, killed and made refuges in their own homes. Political leaders must advocate action against these senseless killings and seek how to design a new democratic action plan to ensure we take care of this conundrum democratically, and say, Enough is enough.' If unchecked, these unethical activities will lead to the destruction of the country. It does not augur well for Nigerias development. He said their objective is to sack Buhari from Aso Rock in 2019 and ensure that a visionary government is elected. Nigerias eminent personalities, including Generals Yakubu Gowon, Ibrahim Babangida and T.Y. Danjuma have all spoken and condemned the killings and destruction in the country. If these people can say that the nation needs to be saved from these calamities, the South-East geo-political zone must add their voice to the clarion call," he added. Meanwhile, a leader of the Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Ayo Adebanjo, reportedly tongue-lashed former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, saying the latter has no moral right to accuse anyone of being corrupt. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app The Punch reports that Adebanjo noted that Obasanjo had not disputed that he had only N20,000 in his bank account as at when he returned from the prison in 1999 and that he was rescued from bankruptcy by Atiku Abubakar, and a businessman, Oyewole Fasawe. According to Adebanjo, Obasanjo should not feature in public life again if Nigeria was a decent country as it was rather amazing that the former president continues to assume undue prominence in spite of his known character. Consider rest - Obasanjo to Buhari - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit "I've had the pleasure of working with Wayne on several occasions and am thrilled he's bringing his prodigious talents to Crosslake," continued Albright. "Wayne will be leading our Global Technology and Strategy team, where he's charged with helping our clients optimize their software systems to create value in this rapidly changing environment." Prior to his tenure at HSBC, Filin-Matthews spent time in senior leadership at Accenture, and nearly a decade at Microsoft where he rose to Director of Business Transformation Programs within the worldwide office of the Chief Technology Officer. Filin-Matthews attended the Open University, the University of Oxford Said Business School, and Harvard Business School. About Crosslake Technologies Founded in 2008, Crosslake helps companies build and run better software. From strategic vision to planning and architecture, development and execution, Crosslake works to transform and optimize software delivery. In addition to our functional skills in software development, Crosslake's team of senior software professionals provides end-to-end value with expertise in management consulting and advisory services providing both strategic and tactical insight. Crosslake is headquartered in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Washington. More information can be found at www.crosslaketech.com. Or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180424006574/en/ Dear patient readers, Your humble blogger is fried due to dealing with some emotionally taxing and unproductive situations plus having some stuff that also takes time and $ that I cant put off. So forgive the lack of original posts. Trucker wall helps prevent man from jumping to his death BBC Researchers measure a record concentration of microplastic in Arctic sea ice PhysOrg (Robert M) Cheap 3-D printer can produce self-folding materials PhysOrg. Robert M: Ikea will love this if it can be scaled up. Is Facebook replaceable? Tech investor launches bid to start the process Guardian Bitcoin is the greatest scam in history Recode. One of two lead stories as of this hour. North Korea From DMZ to Seoul, hope and concern as summit approaches Asia Times . @yvessmith, @MkBlyth, @Ian_Fraser, @AnnPettifor, @StephanieKelton, this is MUST WATCH & retweet TV. Counsel in Australian Banking Royal Commission skewers "financial advisor" impersonating client to pension firm & advising strategy that would have lost her $500,000 https://t.co/eiE0XbeeOA Steve Keen (@ProfSteveKeen) April 25, 2018 Emmanuel Macrons risky role as Donald Trumps best friend DW Trump-Macron bromance conceals minimal movement on French demands Politico Facebook post connected to suspect in van rampage cites incel rebellion Globe & Mail (Dr. Kevin). Help me. This story treats 4Chan as a source of analysis.. This man, believed to be Minassian's relative, was escorted out by court officials and was crying in the front row during the hearing. He said "sorry" when asked if he had anything to say to the people of Canada and softly said "no"when asked if there were warning signs. @ABC pic.twitter.com/dm6whWGEbt Tom Llamas (@TomLlamasABC) April 24, 2018 Brexit Man now desperate for Brexit news after day two of rich woman fires out quite large baby Daily Mash TSB New record as Britain goes three days without coal power ITV (Kevin W) Cladding tests after Grenfell Tower fire utterly inadequate Guardian (Kevin W). Deadly in both senses of the word. Syraqistan Qatar govt. must send troops to Syria or lose US support and be toppled Saudi FM RT. Kevin W: Could you imagine if the US military moved out of that big base and then the Chinese military moved in? Big Brother is Watching You Watch Tariff Tantrum Trump Transition Bernie Sanders has conquered the Democratic Party The Week (UserFriendly) Why the DNC Is Fighting WikiLeaks and Not Wall Street Norman Solomon, Truthdig Centrist Elites: Please Save Democracy From Democracy Ian Welsh (Randy K) Kill Me Now Express Scripts targets Amgen, Lilly migraine drugs in pricing shift Reuters. EM: Snippet, and see if you can spot the wrong-homophone usage: Express Scripts told Reuters it is pressing them to forego the usual strategy of setting a high U.S. list price, then lowering the cost for health plans through hefty rebates. It is also seeking a refund if the drugs dont work within a defined timeframe.The shift could help Express Scripts and other pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) bring prices down, and deflect growing criticism of their role as middlemen in the drug supply chain. The Trump administration and members of Congress have demanded that PBMs pass on more of the rebates they receive to consumers outraged over rising costs at the pharmacy counter. Many Americans now have health plans with higher deductibles or co-payments, making them responsible for more of their medical costs. Foreclosure defense attorney Mark Stopa draws praise, criticism at penalty hearing Tampa Bay Tribune (Chuck L) Patent Death Squad System Upheld by U.S. Supreme Court Bloomberg (Kevin W) Facebook in PR crisis mode, says academic at heart of row BBC (David L) Treasuries March Above 3% Faces Challenge From Slumping Stocks Bloomberg Class Warfare Antidote du jour (Robert H). Story here. And a bonus, but this is a part way to an anti-antidote, since many of the animals had sad endings. Im not very good about having pets die. But they went to great lengths for many of them. The paraplegic possum, the cross-eyed cat, and the fish that can't swim, via @theatlvideo https://t.co/mJmZDLzFZK The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) April 25, 2018 See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. Yves here. This post provides an important reminder that while Trump has fetishized having US borders be even more openly hostile to foreigners, having our land borders be militarized frontiers well predates Trump and got a meaningful ratchet up under Obama. A bristling barrier is another excuse for military spending. But its also another pretext for conditioning Americans to accept ever more intrusive surveillance and inspections. Even though its not a focus of this article, recall that the Border Patrol has no restrictions on searches and seizures, and now considers it reasonable to inspect and even seize smartphones and laptops. If I ever go abroad, since I have two laptops, I wonder if I should remove my hard disk before I return and ship it home, and run the risk that the border cops will seize my dead machine out of pique. By contrast, when my mother was in college (she graduated in 49), a girlfriend drove her from Detroit over the bridge into Windsor, Canada. My mother was such a naif that she was unprepared for the US immigration authorities to ask for proof that she was a US citizen when they returned. She didnt even have a drivers license on her. They decided to accept her library card as ID. By Todd Miller, who has written on border and immigration issues for the New York Times, Al Jazeera America, and the NACLA Report on the Americas. His latest book is Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration, and Homeland Security. You can follow him on Twitter @memomiller and view more of his work at toddmillerwriter.com. Originally published at TomDispatch At first, I thought I had inadvertently entered an active war zone. I was on a lonely two-lane road in southern New Mexico heading for El Paso, Texas. Off to the side of the road, hardly concealed behind some desert shrubs, I suddenly noticed what seemed to be a tank. For a second, I thought I might be seeing an apparition. When I stopped to take a picture, a soldier wearing a camouflage helmet emerged from the top of the Stryker, a 19-ton, eight-wheeled combat vehicle that was regularly used in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He looked my way and I offered a pathetic wave. To my relief, he waved back, then settled behind what seemed to be a large surveillance display mounted atop the vehicle. With high-tech binoculars, he began to monitor the mountainous desert that stretched toward Mexico, 20 miles away, as if the enemy might appear at any moment. That was in 2012 and, though I had already been reporting on the militarization of the U.S.-Mexican border for years, I had never seen anything like it. Barack Obama was still president and it would be another six years before Donald Trump announced with much fanfare that he was essentially going to declare war at the border and send in the National Guard. (We really havent done that before, Trump told the media on April 3rd, or certainly not very much before.) Operation Nimbus II, as the 2012 mission was called, involved 500 soldiers from Fort Bliss and Fort Hood and was a typical Joint Task Force North (JTF-N) operation. Those troops were officially there to provide the U.S. Border Patrol with intelligence and surveillance. Since JTF-N was tasked with supporting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the border, its motto was protecting the Homeland. However, it was also deeply involved in training soldiers for overseas military operations in ongoing American wars in the Greater Middle East. Only weeks before, 40 Alaskan-based Army airborne engineers had parachuted into nearby Fort Huachuca as if they were part of an invasion force landing in Southern Arizona. That border operation (despite the dramatic arrival, all they did was begin constructing a road) mirrors the type of mission the 40 soldiers might conduct if they were deployed to Afghanistan, JTF-N project organizers told the Nogales International. As JTF-N spokesman Armando Carrasco put it, This will prepare them for future deployments, especially in the areas of current contingency operations. So seeing combat vehicles on the border shouldnt have surprised me, even then. A war against immigrants had been declared long before Trump signed the memo to deploy 2,000-4,000 National Guard troops to the border. Indeed, there has been a continuous military presence there since 1989 and the Pentagon has played a crucial role in the historic expansion of the U.S. border security apparatus ever since. When, however, Trump began to pound out tweets on Easter Sunday on his way to church, Americans did get a vivid glimpse of a border battlefield more than 30 years in the making, whose intensity could be ramped up on the merest whim. The president described the border as getting more dangerous because 1,000 Central Americans, including significant numbers of children, in flight from violence in their home countries were in a caravan in Mexico slowly heading north on a Holy Week pilgrimage. Many of them were intending to ask for asylum at the border, as they feared for their lives back home. Fox & Friends labeled that caravan a small migrant army and so set the battlefield scenario perfectly for the shows number one fan. The end result those state National Guards caravaning south might have been as ludicrous a response to the situation as a tank in an empty desert pointed at Mexico, but it did catch a certain reality. The border has indeed become a place where the worlds most powerful military faces off against people who represent blowback from various Washington policies and are in flight from persecution, political violence, economic hardship, and increasing ecological distress. (Central America is becoming a climate-change hot spot.) Yet these twenty-first century border battlefields remain hidden from the public and largely beyond discussion. The Fetish of the Border As I moved away from the Stryker that day, I wondered what that soldier was seeing through his high-tech binoculars. Its a question that remains no less pertinent six years later as yet more National Guard troops head for the border. Even today, such forces arent likely to ever see a caravan of 1,000 refugees, only possibly tiny groups of crossers moving through the U.S. borderlands to look for work, reunite with family, or escape potentially grave harm. Such people, however, usually travel under the cover of night. Even less likely: anyone carrying drugs into the United States. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, the majority of illicit narcotics that cross the border into the worlds largest market (valued at approximately $100 billion per year) arrive through legal ports of entry. Least likely of all: a person designated as a terrorist by the U.S. government, even though thats became the priority mission of Joint Task Force North and Customs and Border Protection. A flood of money has, in these years, poured into border budgets for just such a counterterrorism mission, yet no such person, not a single one, has been reported crossing the southern border since 1984. (And even that incident seems dubious.) Indeed, the most likely thing to glimpse along that divide is evidence of the countless billions of dollars that have been spent there over the last 30 years to build the most gigantic border enforcement apparatus in U.S. history. You would be quite likely, for instance, to see armed U.S. Border Patrol agents in their green-striped vehicles. (After all Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, the Border Patrols parent outfit, is now the largest federal law enforcement agency.) You might also catch glimpses of high-tech surveillance apparatuses like aerostats, the tethered surveillance balloons brought back from American battle zones in Afghanistan that now hover over and monitor the borderlands with long-range cameras and radar. Those binoculars wouldnt be able to see as far as the small town of Columbus, New Mexico the very town that Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa so famously raided in 1916 but if they could, you might also see portions of an actual border wall, built with bipartisan support after the Secure Fence Act of 2006 passed, with votes from Democrats like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Chuck Schumer. Those 650 miles of walls and barriers cost an average of $3.9 million per mile to build and additional millions to maintain, money that went into the coffers of the military-industrial complex. In 2011, for example, CBP granted the former Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (a company known for its profiteering in Iraq) a three-year, $24.4 million contract for border wall maintenance. And you can multiply that so many times over since, year after year, bigger and bigger budgets have gone into border and immigration enforcement (and so into the pockets of such corporations) with little or no discussion. In 2018, the combined budgets of CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement amount to $24.3 billion, a more than 15-fold increase since the early 1990s, and a $4.7 billion jump from 2017. So, in those desert borderlands, that soldier was really looking at a market, a profit zone. He was also viewing (and himself part of) what sociologist Timothy Dunn, author of the pioneering book The Militarization of the U.S-Mexico Border, 1978-1992, calls the fetishization of the border. That Stryker the Cadillac of combat vehicles made by General Dynamics fit the bill perfectly. The slick armored beast, which can travel at speeds up to 60 miles per hour, could track down just about anything, except the real forces that lay behind why people continually arrive at the border. Low Intensity Doctrine and the Hidden Battlefields In 2006, George W. Bushs administration sent 6,000 National Guard troops to the border during Operation Jump Start, the largest military deployment there of the modern era. Those troops, however, were meant as no more than a placeholder for a post-9/11 enforcement apparatus still to be organized. Before then, as Timothy Dunn told me in an interview, there had normally been only 300 to 500 soldiers in border operations at any given time, whose justification then was the war against drugs. That Bush deployment was, as Dunn put it, the first to have them out there in high-profile, explicitly for immigration enforcement. Still, what those soldiers could do remained largely limited to reinforcing and supporting the U.S. Border Patrol, as has been the case ever since. As a start, the U.S. military operates under grave restrictions when it comes to either making arrests or performing searches and seizures on U.S. soil. (There are, however, loopholes when it comes to this, which means that National Guard units under state control should be watched carefully during the Trump deployments.) What those troops can do is perform aerial and ground reconnaissance, staff observation posts, and install electronic ground sensors. They can supply engineering support, help construct roads and barriers, and provide intelligence in all, Dunn reports, 33 activities, including mobile teams to train the Border Patrol in various increasingly militarized tactics. However, the Border Patrol, already a paramilitary organization, can take care of the arrests, searches, and seizures itself. It is, in fact, the perfect example of how the Pentagons low-intensity-conflict doctrine has operated along the border since the 1980s. That doctrine promotes coordination between the military and law enforcement with the goal of controlling potentially disruptive civilian populations. On the border, this mostly means undocumented people. This, in turn, means that the military does ever more police-like work and the Border Patrol is becoming ever more militarized. When Bush launched Operation Jump Start, Washington was already undertaking the largest hiring surge in Border Patrol history, planning to add 6,000 new agents to the ranks in two years, part of an overall expansion that has never ended. It has, in fact, only gained momentum again in the Trump era. The Border Patrol has increased from a force of 4,000 in the early 1990s to 21,000 today. The Bush-era recruitment program particularly targeted overseas military bases. The Border Patrol, as one analyst put it, already operated like a standing army on American soil and that was how it was sold to future war vets who would soon join up. To this day, veterans are still told that they will be sent to the front lines to defend the homeland. The Border Patrol not only recruits from the military and receives military training, but uses military equipment and technology prodigiously. The monoliths of the military-industrial complex companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Elbit Systems have long been tailoring their technologies to homeland security operations. They are now deeply involved in the increasingly lucrative border market. As one vendor told me many years ago, we are bringing the battlefield to the border. Much like the military, the Border Patrol uses radar, high-tech surveillance, complex biometric data bases, and Predator B drones that fly surveillance missions across the Southwest, at the border with Canada, and in the Caribbean. Such forces operate in 100-mile jurisdictions beyond U.S. international boundaries (including the coasts), places where they essentially have extra-constitutional powers. As one CBP officer told me, We are exempt from the fourth amendment. Border zones, in other words, have become zones of exception and the DHS is the only department the federal government permits to ethnically profile people in such areas, a highly racialized form of law enforcement. By deploying heavily armed Border Patrol officers, building walls, and using surveillance technologies in urban areas that traditionally had been crossing spots for the undocumented, such migrants are now forced to traverse dangerous and desolate areas of the southwestern deserts. Its a strategy that anthropologist Jason De Leon has described as creating a remote deathscape where American necropolitics are pecked onto the bones of those we deem excludable. Instances of overt violence on the border, the sort that might be associated with increased militarization, sometimes make the news, as in multiple incidents in which Border Patrol officers, deputized police, or even military troops have shot and killed people. Most border crossers, however, are now funneled away from the television cameras and reporters to those distant desertscapes where hidden battles with the elements remain unseen and so are no longer a political problem. According to Dunn, this is the low-intensity-conflict doctrine at work. Along the U.S. border with Mexico, 7,000 corpses have been found since the early 1990s and a reasonable estimate of the actual death toll is triple that number. Thousands of families still search for loved ones they fear lost in what journalist Margaret Regan has termed the Southwest killing fields. Recently, while I was giving a talk at a New York state college, a young man approached me, having realized that I was from Arizona. He told me that hed last seen his mother in the desert near Nogales and asked if I had any idea how he might search for her, his eyes brimming with tears. Globally, since 2014 the International Organization on Migration has recorded 25,000 migrant deaths a figure, the group writes, that is a significant indicator of the human toll of unsafe migration, yet fails to capture the true number of people who have died or gone missing during migration. On such hidden battlefields, the toll from the fetishization of the worlds borderlands remains unknown and virtually ignored. Securing the Unsustainable At a global level, the forecast for the displacement of people is only expected to rise. According to projections, when it comes to climate change alone, by 2050 there could be between 150 million and 750 million people on the move due to sea level rise, droughts, floods, super storms, and other ecological hazards. Former Vice President Al Gores former security adviser, Leon Fuerth, wrote that if global warming exceeded the two degree Celsius mark, border problems would overwhelm U.S. capabilities beyond the possibility of control, except by drastic measures and perhaps not even then. At the same time, estimates suggest that, by 2030, if present trends continue, the richest one percent of people on this planet may control 64% of global wealth. In other words, what we may have is an unsustainable world managed with an iron fist. In that case, an endless process of border militarization and fortification is likely to be used to control the blowback. If the booming border and surveillance markets are any indication, the future will be as dystopic as a Stryker in the beautiful desert highlands of New Mexico a world of mass displacements that leave the super-rich hunkered down behind their surveillance fortresses. Pouring billions of dollars into border zones to solve political, social, economic, and ecological problems is hardly a phenomenon limited to the United States. The border fetish has indeed gone global. Border walls now commonly zigzag between the global north and south and are being built up ever more as a rhetoric caught perfectly by the Trump administration focusing on criminals, terrorists, and drugs only ratchets up, while the huge forces that actually fuel displacements and migrations remain obscured. Borders have become another way of making sure that nothing gets in the way of the sanctity of business as usual in a world that desperately needs something new. A Clonmel filmmaker has been honoured for an award-winning documentary, made in association with another Tipperary man. It happened at a wonderful day for the students of Waterford Institute of Technologys Higher Diploma in Television and Digital Media Production. Trained at Nemeton TV in Gaeltacht na nDeise in Co Waterford, the graduates dominated the Student Media Awards Category for Best TV Production of Documentary or Drama in Irish. The imaginative dramas and documentaries of nine students were recognized as being of the highest quality, with thefilms offering a fascinating and wide range of stories. The winner, An La a Thit an Condor wasdirected by Nial Kenny from Nenagh and co-edited with Allister Higgens from Clonmel. It is an evocative blend of reconstruction and archive, with the filmmakers grandfather recalling the day eight German pilots landed in Nenagh during WW2. Allister Higgens on left and Niall Kenny in the centre with their trophy. Following in the footsteps of former graduates of the course, this year's young group of filmmakers will also hope to win awards and have their work broadcast on TV and screened at some of Irelands best film festivals. And most importantly, they can look forward to employment in a vibrant industry that needs their skill set. The class of 2017 are working in production companies around the country as well as in the related digital media industries. The other nominated films for the Student Media Awards included Turas an Dreoilin, a warm observational documentary in which the filmmaker Donie Nolan captures the unique tradition of the Carrigkerry Wren Boys in his native West Limerick over Christmas 2016. In Is Cuimhin Liom,filmmaker Sarah McCoy gives us an intimate and surprisingly humorous portrait of Gerald Linehan as he and his family come to terms with his Alzheimers. In BFhearr Liom na Sleibhte,the filmmaker and musician Nuala Daltan explores the hidden musical tradition and history of her native South Carlow and Blackstairs Mountain Range. Seachtain i Saol Beirt Pholatoiris a quirky observational documentary in which filmmakers Neil Hallahan and Coilin Duffy contrast the busy lives of a Senator and a T.D. from Cork over the course of a week. And finally, in An tAthair O Fiannachta, director Fiona Griffin and editor Ryan ODwyer give us a touching portrait of the much loved Irish language scholar Padraig O Fiannachta of Dingle who died in 2016. The film features friends such as Micheal O Muircheartaigh. A Tipperary man whose lawyers claimed gardai who were interviewing him on suspicion of murder should not have supervised his cigarette breaks around the time he purportedly confessed, has lost an appeal against his conviction. Maurice Power (34), of Dranganbeg, Kilmoyler, Cahir, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Shane Rossiter following a house party in Church Lane, Golden, on October 17, 2012. The Central Criminal Court heard that Power had grown up with Mr Rossiter but that there was bad blood between them. Mr Rossiter died from gunshot wounds. Power was found guilty by a majority jury verdict of 10-1 and he was accordingly given the mandatory life sentence by Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy on June 5, 2014. Power lost an appeal against his conviction on Tuesday after the Court of Appeal stated it had not seen fit to uphold any of his 17 grounds of appeal. In a 74-page judgment delivered on behalf of the three-judge court, Mr Justice John Edwards said the Court of Appeal was satisfied that Powers trial was satisfactory and his conviction safe. He was then lead away to continue serving his life sentence. Giving background, Mr Justice Edwards said the house party on the day in question had involved a small group of people, including Mr Rossiter, and there was a degree of illicit drug use. In the early hours of the morning, Mr Rossiter and a Mr Paul McCarthy went out the front door of the house in the belief that Power would be there to deliver cannabis to them. Mr McCarthy told the jury that there was a car parked outside the house, that he had seen a gun and that he ran. He had run, believing he was a target, and having crossed a field into a graveyard, heard one gunshot. The jury heard evidence Mr Rossiter was in fact shot twice. The following day a burnt-out Audi A4 was discovered at a bog in the Nire Valley, Co Waterford. Power was identified as a person of interest at an early stage of the investigation. His then partner was known to drive an Audi A4. There was a history of violence between Power and Rossiter. Power had stated in one of his garda interviews that for him, it was a case of kill or be killed. Power had sought to appeal his conviction on grounds relating to how the trial judge instructed the jury, how she summarised the evidence and the admissibility of certain evidence especially the confession itself. His barrister, Dominic McGinn SC, had told the court that it was always difficult for an appeal court, faced with a confession, to listen to legal complaints about it afterwards. But the only evidence against Power was the confession. Associated with that were all manner of infirmities which should have caused the trial court and the Court of Appeal some disquiet about admissibility, Mr McGinn had said. Power had, for the most part, given a no comment interview to gardai but matters changed in interview seven, Mr McGinn said. He said Power had taken regular cigarette breaks supervised by a uniformed garda independent of the interview process. But there came a stage when the interviewing gardai became the supervisors for cigarette breaks. Mr McGinn said the purported reason for having to involve the interviewing gardai in the supervised cigarette breaks was a lack of resources or manpower. Having made the purported confession, the process moved on. Power continued to have cigarette breaks which were again supervised by uniformed gardai independent of the interview process. Mr McGinn claimed the gardai gave Power info that he said back to them in order to solve the case. When he came to admit the shooting, he did so in a way that parroted what the gardai told him, counsel claimed. Simply from an objective point of view, the interviewing gardai should not have been having the level of contact they were having with Power outside of the formal interviewing process, counsel said. When looking at the pattern of contact, Mr McGinn claimed it couldn't simply be a coincidence that the key interview, interview seven, came when the interviewing gardai were having this contact with Power. Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Anthony Sammon SC, said there was no substance in what Power's lawyers were saying. Mr Sammon said the appelant's submissions were like a vol-au-vent where you find the sauce but there's no mushroom and no chicken. Mr Justice Edwards said the court could see no basis to legitimately interfere with the trial judges ruling on voluntariness of Powers admissions. He said the complaint was unteneble. Mr Justice Edwards, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice John Hedigan, dismissed Powers appeal. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with Prime Minister Theresa May at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday (10 May 2017) to discuss preparations for the upcoming meeting of Allied leaders on 25 May. The Secretary General thanked the United Kingdom for its enduring commitment to NATO and its leadership in Europe and beyond. In their talks, the Secretary General and Prime Minister May underlined the importance of fairer burden sharing and NATOs role in the fight against terrorism. Mr. Stoltenberg noted that both issues will be high on the agenda for the meeting of NATO leaders and thanked the UK for leading by example on both fronts. The UK spends 2% of GDP on defence, and is making significant contributions to NATOs collective defence and deterrence. British troops are leading a NATO battlegroup in Estonia, Royal Air Force jets patrol the skies over the Black Sea region and the UK leads NATOs Spearhead Force this year. British troops also continue to play a leading role in NATO's mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces as they secure their country. The Secretary General and Prime Minister May discussed what more NATO can do in the fight against terrorism. The Alliance is supporting the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIL with AWACS surveillance planes and training for Iraqi forces, with strong UK support. Mr. Stoltenberg noted that strengthening local forces is essential in fighting terrorism, and NATO has untapped potential to do even more. He noted that NATOs military authorities have requested a few thousand more troops for Afghanistan, and that decisions will be taken in the coming weeks. . (Natural News) A new bill put forth by some members of the California legislature threatens to eliminate access to certain passages of the Bible that deal with sexuality and morality. Assembly Bill 2943 would amend Sections 1761 and 1770 of Californias Civil Code to basically outlaw the sale of any goods, including religious texts, that deal with issues related to sexual orientation and gender. In legal terms, the legislation would make it an unlawful business practice to engage in a transaction intended to result or that results in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer that in any way advertises, offers to engage in, or does engage in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual. In other words, passages like Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 would presumably have to be edited out of all new Bibles sold at Christian bookstores throughout California in order for them to continue to be sold in the state. And such drastic, crushing changes would all happen, of course, under the guise of protecting LGBT human rights and promoting tolerance. The bill is very specific in defining sexual orientation change efforts as any practices that seek to change an individuals sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex. The bills principal co-authors most of whom are women, many of whom identify as homosexuals themselves, and all of whom are Democrats include: Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes (D-Corona) Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton) Assemblymember Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) Senator Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) Senator Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) You can read the full text of the bill at this link. LGBT mafia and Democrats HATE Christianity and freedom of religion Like most legislative bills of this type, the devil is in the details. On its surface, it purports to simply outlaw so-called conversion therapy and other programs designed to help homosexuals, transgenders, and other LGBTers become straight. But at its core, what it really aims to eliminate is Christianity itself. This is the modus operandi of the LGBT mafia, after all to silence everyone and everything that believes or teaches something different than LGBT doctrine. The community of tolerance is probably the most intolerant group of people on the planet, and the most militant when it comes to trying to legislate their own acceptance into society. Truth be told, the word tolerance has become nothing more than an empty buzzword that LGBTers love to throw around as they pretend to be perpetual victims who are always somehow being persecuted. In reality, though, theyre actually the ones constantly persecuting everyone else with whom they disagree. What happened recently to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is a perfect example of the LGBT mafias extreme bullying tactics. Not even one full day after being appointed to the board of directors of the Country Music Associations CMA Foundation for underprivileged youth, Huckabee was basically threatened into resignation by powerful LGBT bullies who refused to tolerate his conservative presence within the organization. This latest assault with the introduction of AB 2943 is no different. Because Christianity and the Bible are very clear in defining marriage and sex as being exclusively reserved for one man and one woman, the LGBT brigade of cultural Marxists is trying everything to stamp them out from American society. The LGBT agenda represents a serious threat to Christianity and religious liberty at large. For more news on the attacks on Christianity, read Antichrist.news. Sources for this article include: WorldEventsAndTheBible.com LegInfo.Legislature.ca.gov NaturalNews.com Some of the sickest children in California need round-the-clock care at home. But many arent receiving the help that the state promised. The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit first exposed that home health agencies cant find enough nurses, leaving parents to provide critical medical care for their kids. Now a major move in Sacramento may bring some relief to struggling families. As part of his budget package, Governor Jerry Brown proposed a 50 percent wage increase for at-home nurses who provide care to patients through Medi-Cal, the health care system for low income and disabled Californians. Home health advocates are calling the pay hike significant. They hope it will entice more nurses to pursue home care and end what many are calling a crisis. Theres a shortage of available home health aides, and families across the state are feeling the impact. Noah Habibs family is one of them. Noah has cerebral palsy, cant walk and has trouble speaking. He eats and gets medicine through tubes, and is at constant risk of choking. Hes 22 years old, and for most of his life he's needed a nurse by his side. Hes eligible for 200 hours of nursing care each month, but for the past two years nurses could only fill about a quarter of those hours. Right now he doesnt have any help. Last year we got a letter from the agency we had been using for quite some time telling us that they were very sorry but they had exhausted all their recruitment strategies and they couldnt find us anyone, said his mother Heidi Cartan. Cartan quit her job to take care of Noah herself, but shes not a nurse. Cartan says many providers just cant afford to stay in home care jobs. Many choose to work in hospitals or other health care settings where the pay is higher. You can make more money where I live in Santa Cruz being a veterinary assistant than you can supporting Noah, Cartan said. And thats what Im up against. Payments to home health providers under Medi-Cal havent gone up in 18 years. Licensed vocation nurses, or LVNs, who work for home care agencies, make about $29 an hour. Now Governor Brown wants to increase pay by 50 percent for LVNs, registered nurses and other health care aides who provide care to children and adults. The governors proposal comes after the Department of Health Care Services, which oversees Medi-Cal, found nursing agencies cant always fill hours requested by patients. The department started tracking after NBC Bay Area started asking questions in 2016. DHCS noted in a recent report that nursing agencies can only provide 71 percent of the hours needed by sick children statewide. In Santa Clara County that number is 50 percent. In Sonoma County nurses could only fill hours 29 percent of the time. When the state cant deliver what it promises, it puts a strain on parents. NBC Bay Area first reported that a Napa family had to move to San Diego to find nursing services for their young daughter, and a teenage girl from the North Bay has simply gone without them for four years, leaving her mother to pick up the pieces. As president of the California Association for Health Services at Home (CAHSAH), Dean Chalios has seen parents upend their lives to get their kids help. Its dire and its tragic, he said. Its a chronic problem we deal with on a daily basis. The last thing a home health care agency wants to do is turn away a patient Medi-cal or other that we cant find somebody to take care of them. For years CAHSAH has lobbied for wage increases. Chalios calls the recent development monumental. Were very grateful to the governor and administration, Chalios said. Weve worked very hard on this issue for a very long time. Were grateful to NBC Bay Area News for your investigative work on this and helping to bring to public this important issue. Cartan says shes not going to be around forever, and she needs to know theres a system in place for Noah when she and her husband are gone. She says the wage increase is first step is to treat caregiving as a valued profession. This 50 percent sounds like a lot, she said. But to me, after 22 years of this I feel like its just catching up to where it should be. The new rates would add $74 million a year to the state budget. The legislature has to approve the proposal by June. If lawmakers give it the green light, the big question is will the rate hike solve the problem? Disability Rights California, an advocacy organization that launched an investigation into the availability of home health providers last year, says the state must meet its obligation to provide at-home services even if the nursing shortage persists after any wage increases take place. If you have a tip for the Investigative Unit, email theunit@nbcbayarea.com or call 888-996-TIPS. Follow Liz on Facebook and Twitter. What to Know The building that caught fire is considered to be a total loss with approximately $55 million in damages 250 residents at a nearby apartment building were forced to evacuate as a result of the fire It is not clear at this time what sparked the fire A national response team with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene Wednesday to help look into what sparked a three-alarm inferno at an under-construction apartment building in Concord early Tuesday. "We look forward to everyone in the city working together, and that's our name: Concord. We live in concordance with one another. We look out for one another," said Concord Mayor Edi Birsan at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. ATF Special Agent in Charge Jill Snyder said teams are conducting investigative lead on the incident and scene documentation, taking photographs and videos of the building. Once the documentation is done and the scene declared safe, crews will begin to physically investigate the area. A wall of scaffolding at the burned down building will be demolished Thursday morning due the fact that it's "right next to the apartment people evacuated from," Assistant Fire Chief Terence Carey of the Contra Costa County Fire said. Towering flames torched the 180-unit apartment building and left burned debris structurally unstable, forcing 250 residents at a neighboring apartment building to evacuate, according to fire officials. Scorched scaffolding soaring multiple stories into the air fell over onto a road and parked cars Tuesday hours after crews gained control of the flames. Firefighters believe other portions of the burned structure could also topple, according to a fire official. The blaze, which sent flames shooting into the air over the area of Galindo Street and Concord Boulevard, was pronounced under control after an hours-long onslaught from firefighters, but the building is considered to be a total loss with approximately $55 million in damages. Flames engulfed a building in Concord Tuesday morning. The apartment building was under construction. "This is the largest fire in memory here," Concord Mayor Edi Birsan said Tuesday. "Fifty-five million dollars is a substantial amount and will be an impact on the city." It is not clear at this time what sparked the blaze, according to officials. Fire officials are conducting an investigation, which is expected to last several days. Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Robert Marshall said there is a concrete parking garage at the center of the fire site. The wooden, under-construction apartment building wrapped around the garage is what caught fire. Fire crews will be on scene until Wednesday morning working on containing hot spots. Residents in the Renaissance Square apartments were forced to evacuate as a result of the nearby inferno, according to fire officials. They were given a few minutes Tuesday afternoon to collect some of their personal items from their residences, but they were still not allowed to return home for good as of Wednesday morning. It is not clear when the displaced residents will be allowed to return to their homes, according to fire officials. Crews are evaluating the stability of the structure that was torched. There is a risk that the charred walls of the burned structure could fall. "We don't know whether it would collapse in or whether it would collapse out," Scott Hill with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said Tuesday. "If it collapsed out, it would possibly infringe on the neighboring building, the evacuated building." A number of roadways surrounding the scene of the blaze were closed to allow for crews to battle the flames and investigate, according to police. Some roads have since reopened, but closures are in still in place at Willow Pass Road and Galindo Street, Willow Pass Road and Sutter Street, and along Concord Boulevard from Galindo Street to Mira Vista Terrace as of 4 a.m. Wednesday. It is not clear when the roadways and intersections will reopen, but the heart of downtown Concord including Todos Santos Plaza is accessible. "Downtown Concord is open for business," Concord Police Department Lt. Nick Gartner said Tuesday. "The plaza is accessible, but the surrounding area around this block where the structure fire took place is going to be shut down so public safety can do their work." A human rights activist who was attempting to visit the U.S. from the Philippines last week claims he was supplied with weapons and tortured by federal agents during a 28-hour detention at San Francisco International Airport. Jerome Aladdin Aba arrived at SFO around 8 p.m. last Tuesday, but was detained for questioning by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents due to unspecified problems with his visa. He was eventually denied entry, and was placed on a departing flight to Manila around 12:30 a.m. Thursday. In a subsequent news conference, Aba said he was forced to strip naked in an air-conditioned room and stand in front of a large fan during a lengthy interrogation. Aba claims he was questioned extensively about his political beliefs and President Rodrigo Duterte's controversial drug war, which has been condemned by human rights activists who say that thousands have died in the ensuing civil unrest. President Donald Trump has praised Duterte's actions, saying his Filipino counterpart has done an unbelievable job combating illicit drugs, according to an article by the New York Times last May. This was one of the human rights issues Aba was visiting the U.S. to discuss. One of his interrogating officers, identified only as Lopez, repeatedly touched a handgun he was wearing and said he would "not hesitate to shoot," Aba said. While in detention, Aba said he was left alone with a gun and later a hand grenade in an apparent attempt to tempt him into using the weapons. He has speculated that this may have been an effort to portray him as a suicide bomber. Before authorizing his release, Aba claims he was coerced into signing a blank document. He included the letters U.P. to indicate that he did so under pressure or duress, but federal agents reportedly made him sign another one and then forced him to record a video statement saying that he hadn't been tortured. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said today in a statement that the agency is aware of the allegations, but claimed they are false. Customs officials say he was not asked to remove his clothing. Their officers would never give Aba access to a weapon he could potentially use against them, and their airport personnel don't have hand grenades. Among other forms of mistreatment, Aba said he informed customs officials that he could not eat pork due to his religious beliefs as a Muslim, and they responded by offering him a ham sandwich after depriving him of food for 24 hours. Agency officials said Aba was kept in a "lounge" area with reclining chairs and blankets where he had access to food, water and bathroom facilities. They refuted Aba's claims about the ham sandwich, saying that while he was in custody they provided an egg and cheese sandwich as well as a turkey and cheese sandwich. He was also offered noodles, but declined. "No pork was provided and no religious discrimination took place," a CBP spokesman said in a statement. Aba and his colleagues with the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines have called on U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, to condemn the alleged actions of the customs agents involved in Aba's case. Their offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter. It seems like every neighborhood in San Francisco is falling victim to car break-ins, prompting city officials to take drastic measures. Deshawn Patton, 21, from San Francisco is being taken to court for 18 car break-ins dating back to 2016. The District Attorney says it is the only way they could get him into court and in front of a grand jury for an indictment as officials say he kept bailing out of jail for individual break-ins. "We knew he was going to bail," said San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon. "We knew he had the money to bail and where was the money coming from? Guess what, it was from stealing and ripping people off." Of more than 30,000 car break-ins in 2017, less than 2 percent result in an arrest, so Gascon wants a million dollars to dedicate three analysts and two prosecutors to a new car burglar task force that would handle that crime exclusively. "We can go to a grand jury, we can bring enough evidence to consolidate cases, we can make arguments about bail source, he said. "That kind of work requires a lot of people." However, Mayor Mark Farrell is not convinced claiming burglaries in street garages are down sharply because of lights, cameras and a foot patrol officer. "To me, a task force is not what is needed right now," Farrell said. "We need action on the ground, we need to install these cameras we need dedicated beat patrol officers thats whats making a difference on the ground. Though the mayor is not sure how San Francisco got into the epidemic of car burglars, he said he was interested in looking forward and not in the rearview mirror. Kicked out of school for being a victim. That's what some parents say is happening to their kids who were bullied at a South Bay school. San Jose police said a group of students beat up some other kids last week on the Mt. Pleasant High School campus in San Jose. But the parents of the alleged victims said their kids are being kept away from school, while the alleged bullies can return to campus. The parents of at least two students from Mt. Pleasant High tell NBC Bay area their kids are seen in video getting punched and kicked by a group of other students during school hours. "They started a fight and the consequences we get is this -- they're sending us home," a student victim said in an interview with NBC Bay Area. The student did not want to be identified because of safety concerns. He said the principal told him and his parents that he is not safe at school anymore and should finish the last three weeks of the semester from home. "They gave us papers so we can get independent studies," the student said. "So we go home and we're going to get a packet from all our teachers." The student's parents and others who said their sons were also attacked claim the kids have been bullied by the same students since February. Parents insist that is when they first reported it to the principal and the school district, but nothing was done. Police said officers arrested two students responsible for the fight on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Meanwhile, the principal of the high school will not comment on the incident or any of the parents' claims. The principal also said an investigation is ongoing. "Youre long past leaping over a fence. Take one of your hyper, gulping breaths. Clench your teeth. Inch timidly toward the insistent bell. This is how it ends for you." These are the words of Michelle McNamara, a mystery writer who coined the name "Golden State Killer" and the late wife of comedian Patton Oswalt, written toward the Golden State Killer a man allegedly responsible for approximately 45 rapes and 12 murders in California whose identity was unknown until Wednesday. McNamara was fascinated with unsolved mysteries and obsessed with the Golden State Killer, also known as the East Area Rapist and Original Night Stalker (EAR/ONS). She authored "I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer" but she died in 2016 at age 46 before she could finish the book. If theyve really caught the #GoldenStateKiller I hope I get to visit him. Not to gloat or gawk to ask him the questions that @TrueCrimeDiary wanted answered in her Letter To An Old Man at the end of #IllBeGoneInTheDark. pic.twitter.com/32EHSzBct5 Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 25, 2018 Oswalt stepped in to help realize his late-wife's vision and the book was finally published in February. Now, the suspect for the crimes has been arrested, according to law enforcement sources. And Oswalt said he would like to speak to the Golden State Killer. "Not to gloat or gawk to ask him the questions" that McNamara wanted answered in her "Letter To An Old Man" at the end of her book, Oswalt wrote on Twitter. An ex-police officer named Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, who appears to fit the description of the elusive California killer, was arrested overnight on two murder charges by police in Sacramento, just two days into the filming of the documentary on the gruesome crimes, according to Oswalt. Golden State Killer: Evidence, Victims in Decades-Old Case "You did it Michelle," Oswalt said in an Instagram video Wednesday ahead of an appearance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers." He added that police "are never gonna say it but your book helped get this thing closed." Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones had said earlier in the day that McNamara's work had "kept interest in tips coming in" but that "there was no information extracted from that book that directly led to the apprehension," The Associated Press reported. Speaking on Meyers, Oswalt said news of the arrest "feels like this thing that she wanted so badly is now done." Fans of McNamara also praised her work and contribution on social media after the details of the arrest were reported. Many lament how McNamara died before she got to see the results of the life's work. "It is heartbreaking that Michelle McNamara did not live to see her lifelong pursuit bear fruit," wrote actor James Woods. It is heartbreaking that Michelle McNamara did not live to see her lifelong pursuit bear fruit. Congratulations to @pattonoswalt for completing her work and staying vigilant in a cause to which she devoted so much of her life. #GoldenStateKiller https://t.co/GB3TiDiKMT James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) April 25, 2018 Now investigators "can start linking [DeAngelo] to all these other cases," Oswalt told Meyers. Mayor Mark Farrell, just three months into his tenure, is unveiling a $12.8 million plan to clean up the streets and sidewalks of San Francisco. Last year, I stepped on a needle on my way back to city hall, he told the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit in an exclusive interview. "I went back and made sure it didn't pierce through my shoe and it didn't...Im sick and tired as I believe residents of San Francisco are. Farrell wants to boost San Franciscos street cleaning crew by nearly 20 percent to reduce the amount of trash, feces, and needles littering the city. The additional 44 workers, four for each of the city's 11 Supervisorial districts, would be assigned to the highest need areas based on the advice and feedback Supervisors provide to the Public Works department. The mayor's proposal, which spans the next two years, also includes $3.4 million in new street cleaning equipment. When you see human feces and the smell of urine on the streets thats disgusting, he said. The anxiety of the people living in San Francisco continues to grow on this issue, and the tide is turning. The mayor's announcement comes after the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit exposed a potentially dangerous mix of trash, needles and feces scattered across parts of downtown San Francisco. The findings went viral and gained international attention after the story grabbed headlines across several major media outlets. Farrells proposal calls for expanding the operating hours of five staffed restrooms in the city, known as Pit Stops, as well as opening five new facilities, bringing the total number of restrooms in the program to 23. San Francisco has nearly 300 public restrooms, but about 70 percent are not open overnight, according to a report by the Controllers Office. The conditions of our streets right now are unacceptable, he said. [I] share the frustration that everybodys feeling & believe that should be our priority for our city. On Monday, the mayor announced plans to hire 10 workers solely focused on cleaning up used needles across the San Francisco. The city will provide $750,000 to the AIDS Foundation to hire the new needle cleanup team. The Public Health department, which already employs four workers dedicated to picking up used needles, will manage the new team. San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell (April 24, 2018). Mayor proposes $12.8 million increase for 'street cleaning' The mayor's latest street cleaning plan, which he intends to unveil during a press conference Wednesday afternoon, adds $12.8 million, over the next two years, to the citys street cleaning budget, which has nearly doubled in the last five years from $33.4 million to $65.4 million. At a recent budget committee hearing, the citys financial analysts raised concerns over the departments ballooning budget. Its unclear whats going on with the performance measures, said Dan Goncher, senior manager for the citys Budget Legislative Analyst Office, who addressed members of the Board of Supervisors during the April 12 hearing. There are some concerns over the methodology," he said, adding that service requests for street cleaning have continued to rise over the past few years. Farrell is now defending Public Works, saying he is absolutely confident the department is running properly. I really think the men and women picking up needles, picking up feces, cleaning up the urination this is tough work, he said. I think we need to fund more of them to make our streets cleaner. In addition to detailing his street cleaning plan Wednesday, the mayor also intends to veto Supervisor Jane Kim's recent $1.1 million street cleaning proposal. The money, left over from last years budget, would have been used to pay for additional street sweepers, cleaning equipment, and community grants to fund nonprofit organizations focused on cleaning San Francisco. While the board of supervisors passed the proposal in a narrow 6 to 5 vote, the mayor criticized the plan as a haphazard, temporary fix that focuses on Kim's own district rather than addressing street cleaning citywide. While Kim's proposal does include $230,000 in grants for nonprofits focused on cleaning up the Tenderloin, which is in her district, she had previously argued the Public Works department could decide how best to spend the remaining funds. NBC Bay Area Mayor's 'cleanup' proposal would take effect July 1 The mayor intends to present his full city budget to the Board of Supervisors by June 1 for approval. The new spending plan takes effect on July 1, the start of the fiscal year. We are going to put our money where our mouth is as a city and make the residents of our city know we are focusing on these issues, he said. As mayor, Im going to focus on that, and were going to see a difference on our streets moving forward. ______________________________________ Fire departments across the nation train their crews to go into a school or mall with police to save lives during active shooter situations. But in San Jose, the top brass is still working on a department policy that won't be ready for months. The San Jose Fire Department is well trained when it comes to responding to a nuclear or biological attacks. It routinely plans exercises. But when it comes to active shooter training, no one is as prepared as they would like to be to save lives when a gunman is still on the loose. In such a scenario, firefighters from the Santa Clara County Fire Department go in with police wearing bulletproof vests and protective helmets to treat victims and pull them to safety. The assumption going in is the shooter has not been caught. Kerry Harris is a former SWAT team leader who now runs a nonprofit where his team trains schools and businesses on how to deal with active shooter scenarios. "It's really important," Harris said. "So many active shooter situations, and we know we need to get immediate medical care to those people who are suffering a traumatic injury." During an active shooter response, police create a so-called warm zone, an area they've deemed temporarily safe for trained firefighters to go in while other officers look for the shooter. "We need to get them in there quickly," Harris said. During the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, many victims bled to death because firefighters and paramedics couldn't get to them until the campus was deemed secure. That was three hours after the incident began. With the rise in such active shooter incidents, many fire departments started training their crews for early entry into danger zones. But San Jose is not quite ready. Acting Fire Chief Robert Sapien Jr. says a final draft of the policy is in the works, and he hopes to begin training by the end of the fall. "Right now, we're not prepared to go live with that policy," Sapien said. "Building those capabilities with a fire department the size of San Jose is not an overnight operation. It's usually a one- to two-year evolution." San Francisco and Oakland fire departments said they've conducted active shooter training. In Oakland, it started after the Oikos University mass shooting that left seven people dead. The rapid increased population of Western Tussock Caterpillars has spread worry around the Bay Area as the furry insects can cause rashes if touched, especially in children. Though they are native to the Bay Area, experts say that there has been an explosion in caterpillar population, causing hundreds of them to drop from trees in the South Bay prompting calls to the Santa Clara County Agriculture Division. "I would say a million, a bunch of caterpillars, tons and tons," said four-year-oldd Jack Bryden from Los Gatos. Though the caterpillars can destroy a lot of leaves and plants, the big concern is the health effects it can have on those around them. "People want to touch them because they are furry, but the hairs have barbs and if your skin is tender they will get in there and causes a rash on your hand," said Joseph Deviney from the Santa Clara County Agriculture Division. Bay Area pediatricians have seen several patients with rashes recently but cannot confirm they were caused by contact with the insects. Experts say the caterpillar population is skyrocketing thanks to an increase in the food supply and a decrease in predators and diseases that kill the critters. If a child develops an immediate reaction to a caterpillar, it is recommended they remove the tiny hairs with a piece of tape and wash the area. Most reactions go away in a few days but if it seems more serious, parents are to contact their pediatrician. President Donald Trump met Wednesday with Apple CEO Tim Cook at the White House to discuss trade as he engages in negotiations around the globe. Trump tweeted before the meeting that they would be "talking about many things, including how the U.S. has been treated unfairly for many years, by many countries, on trade." The president met with Cook in the Oval Office a day after the leader of the technology giant attended Trump's state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump has had a fraught relationship with the electronics company, criticizing Apple Inc. on Twitter over its decision not to cooperate with law enforcement on breaching its phone encryption and over the size of the screens on iPhones. But Trump has praised the Cupertino, California-based company's planned investment in the U.S. after the passage of last year's tax cuts. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the primary focus of the meeting was trade. Cook also met with White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is expected to travel to China soon for trade talks as both countries have proposed tariffs of $50 billion on the other's products. Trump has said he's looking to impose tariffs of up to $100 billion more on Chinese goods. The administration is also engaged in negotiations with Canada and Mexico on a revised form of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump assailed during his 2016 Republican campaign. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area will host Decision 2018: The Race for Governor, a debate among candidates running for California governor, on May 8. The debate will be moderated by Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director and Moderator of Meet the Press. Part 2 of Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss immigration focuses on statewide issues and topics. The debate is scheduled to take place at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. It will be televised live on KNTV NBC Bay Area (Comcast channel 3 and 703 and over-the-air on 11), KSTS Telemundo 48 (Comcast channel 18 and 718 and over-the-air on 48), and broadcast live on KQED radio (FM channel 88.5). SVCF and NBC Bay Area have announced that the following six candidates will take the stage on May 8 for Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate: Travis Allen Party: Republican Education: Bachelor's degree in Economics, UC Long Beach Website: JoinTravisAllen.com Background: Allen has served as a State Assembly Member representing District 72 in Orange County since 2012. He has also operated his own small business as a Certified Financial Planner for over 20 years. On the issues: Read his positions on the issues here, including: cutting taxes, getting tough on crime, fixing roads and reducing traffic, improving education, and fixing the water system. What are some of the big issues California is facing in 2018? Immigration, jobs, environment and housing are just some of the topics the gubernatorial candidates will face off on in Tuesday's debate. Sam Brock reports. John Chiang Party: Democrat Education: Bachelor's degree in Finance, University of South Florida and a degree in Law, Georgetown University Website: JohnChiang.com Background: Chiang has served as State Treasurer since 2015. Prior to that, he was State Controller from 2007 to 2015. He also served on the State Board of Equalization from 1998 to 2006. On the issues: Read his positions on the issues here, including: affordable housing and homelessness, sexual harassment and assault, education, and more. John Cox Party: Republican Education: Bachelor's degree in Accounting and Political Science, University of Illinois at Chicago and a degree in Law, ITT/Chicago Kent School of Law Website: JohnCoxForGovernor.com Background: Cox is the Chairman of the Give Voters a Voice Gas Tax Repeal effort. He is also a businessman, attorney and CPA. In the past he has served on Jack Kemp's national steering committee and as Newt Gingrich's California Finance Chair. On the issues: Read his positions on the issues here, including: ending sanctuary cities, the Second Amendment, defending Prop. 13, and repealing the gas tax increase. On the issues: Read his positions on the issues here, including: ending sanctuary cities, the Second Amendment, defending Prop. 13, and repealing the gas tax increase. NBC Bay Area Delaine Eastin Party: Democrat Education: Bachelor's degree in Political Science, UC Davis and a Master's degree in Political Science, UC Santa Barbara Website: DelaineForGovernor.com Background: Eastin is the former State Superintendent of Public Instruction (1995-2003). Prior to that, she served eight years in the State Assembly and six years on the Union City City Council. Since leaving office she has participated on numerous boards related to education, youth and women's rights. On the issues: Read her positions on the issues here, including: climate change and environmental justice, criminal justice and prison reform, economy and jobs, education, gun violence prevention, housing and rent control, healthcare for all, immigration, infrastructure and transportation, LGBTQ rights, sexual harassment, and women's rights. Gavin Newsom Party: Democrat Education: Bachelor's degree in Political Science, Santa Clara University Website: GavinNewsom.com Background: Newsom has served as Lieutenant Governor of California since 2011. Prior to that, he was Mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010, and a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1998-2004. On the issues: Read his positions on issues here, including: Defending immigrant communities, fighting for women's empowerment, supporting the #MeToo movement and women's workplace rights, supporting the LGBT community, reforming the criminal justice system, advocating for gun safety, meeting the needs of veterans and military families, expanding access to mental health treatment, and more. Antonio Villaraigosa Party: Democrat Education: Bachelor's degree in History, UCLA and a degree in Law, People's College of Law Website: AntonioForCalifornia.com Background: Villaraigosa served as Mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. Prior to that, he was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2003 and aserved as a State Assembly Member from 1994-2000 and the Democratic Leader of the Assembly for two of those years (1996-1998). On the issues: Read his positions on the issues here, including: economic prosperity and equality, building affordable housing, equality in education, protecting dreamers and immigrants, defending affordable healthcare, transportation for the 21st century, and more. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area/KNTV will host Decision 2018: The Race for Governor, a debate among candidates running for California governor, on May 8. The debate will be moderated by Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director and Moderator of Meet the Press. Candidates were invited to participate in the debate based on objective criteria, including the results of independent statewide polls that will be conducted from March 9 to April 16 by the Public Policy Institute of California, University of Southern California Dornsife and Los Angeles Times, University of California at Berkeley and Institute for Governmental Studies, and SVCFs own independent poll (which will be conducted by a nonpartisan team). Get to know the candidates participating in the gubernatorial debate Decision 2018: The Race for Governor. The debate, which will be moderated by NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd, will air Tuesday, May 8 at 6:30 p.m. on NBC Bay Area. The debate will focus on a myriad of issues impacting Californians, including housing, transportation, the environment, education, and issues affecting children. The first 30 minutes will focus exclusively on issues facing Northern California, followed by an hour of discussion on issues facing the whole state. The people of California have always been the catalysts for change not just here in the state, but across the nation. Thats why the choice for governor is so important, said Stacy Owen, President and General Manager of NBC Bay Area and Telemundo 48. NBC Bay Area and Telemundo 48 share a core mission with SVCF to help empower the people of the Bay Area through information and resources. This debate is a critical part of that mission. [[480431453, C]] In addition to airing live on KNTV, KSTS and KQED radio, the debate will be offered for live broadcast on television and radio throughout California by stations affiliated with NBC, Telemundo and NPR. To join the conversation online about the debate as it approaches, use #CAGovDebate on Twitter, and follow @nbcbayarea and @siliconvalleycf. Part 1 of Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area focuses on issues and topics surrounding the Bay Area. Candidates in the Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss transportation. Candidates in the "Decision 2018: The Race for Governor" debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss immigration. Candidates in the Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss privacy in the wake of the Facebook data scandal. Candidates in the Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss housing and homelessness in the Bay Area and across the state. Candidates in the Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss sanctuary state. Candidates in the Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss the DACA program. Candidates in the Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss education. Candidates in the Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss the High-Speed Rail project. Candidates in the Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss if character matters in this race? Candidates in the Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss the states relationship with the Trump administration. Candidates in the Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area discuss pensions and how to fund public education. Candidates in the Decision 2018: The Race for Governor debate hosted by Silicon Valley Community Foundation and NBC Bay Area examine the current field. One of two Dallas police officers critically wounded in a triple shooting at a Home Depot Tuesday afternoon has died, authorities confirmed Wednesday. Officer Rogelio Santander died at 8:11 a.m. Wednesday after succumbing to his injuries, Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall said at a morning news conference. The 27-year-old is the ninth North Texas officer to be killed in the line of duty in about two years, The Dallas Morning News reported. The second wounded officer was identified as 26-year-old Crystal Almeida. She and a Home Depot security guard, identified as Scott Painter, were in critical condition after surgery. Dallas Police Department Santander and Almeida graduated from the police academy together and have been partners their entire time with the department, an officer told NBC DFW. Police arrested Armando Juarez, 29, on a murder charge, two charges of aggravated assault on a police officer and two previous felony theft charges. He was taken into custody shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday after a lengthy car chase involving officers of various law enforcement agencies. According to an arrest affidavit, Juarez was at a Home Depot in northeast Dallas about 4 p.m. Tuesday when he was acting suspiciously and possibly attempting to commit a theft at the store. An off-duty officer was alerted by loss prevention officer Scott Painter, the affidavit said. Juarez was detained. The off-duty officer then determined Juarez had an active warrant. The off-duty officer called for on-duty officers to come to the location to confirm the warrant. One of two Dallas police officers critically wounded in a triple shooting at a Home Depot Tuesday afternoon has died, authorities confirmed Wednesday morning. One of two Dallas police officers critically wounded in a triple shooting at a Home Depot Tuesday afternoon has died, authorities confirmed Wednesday. Officer Rogelio Santander died at 8:11 a.m. Wednesday after succumbing to his injuries, Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall said at a morning news conference. Santander and Almeida arrived at the loss prevention office and the off-duty officer confirmed the warrant in the squad vehicle, the affidavit said. Arlington County Fire Department The off-duty officer was returning to the loss prevention office at Home Depot when he heard "shots fired" broadcast over the police radio. He saw Almeida, Santander and Painter on the ground of the office with apparent gunshot wounds, the affidavit said. Body camera footage showed Almeida and Santander were trying to place the suspect into custody when he removed his hands from his pockets, drew a handgun and shot the officers, the affidavit said. Almeida, Santander and Painter were transported to Presbyterian Hospital. Armando Juarez was held on more than $1 million bond. He was suspected of theft at a Home Depot Tuesday and later removed his gun from his pocket and shot three people, two of whom were officers trying to arrest him. Almeida and Santander were both three-year veterans of the Northeast Division. Flags flew at half-staff at Dallas City Hall and the Northeast Patrol Division, where to two officers were based, after the announcement. "Thank you to our community and everyone at Presbyterian Hospital for your love and support during this time," the Dallas Police Department said in a statement. "Again, we ask that you please continue to pray for Officer Santanders family and our department as we all try to cope with this tragic loss." One of two Dallas police officers critically wounded in a triple shooting at a Home Depot Tuesday afternoon has died, authorities confirmed Wednesday. Officer Rogelio Santander died at 8:11 a.m. Wednesday after succumbing to his injuries, Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall said at a morning news conference. Michael Mata, President of the Dallas Police Association, had previously said Wednesday morning that Santander was "holding in there." "We've talked with the doctors and the prognosis is not real positive," Mata had said regarding Santander's condition at the time. He added that Almeida is "doing better than they suspected, but she is holding on." "I don't want to say she is stable, but she is, I think, out of the darkest part," Mata said. Two officers were critically injured after a shooting at Home Depot in Dallas. Officer Rogelio Santander died Wednesday morning, police said. Juarez's bond has been set at $1,010,000. "We got our man," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said at a late-night news conference. Police captured Juarez after he led them on a brief high speed chase near downtown Dallas. It eventually ended on a dead end street on South Versailles near Holland Avenue. Juarez crashed through a fence on John Scott Tinsley's property before backing into a truck and coming to a rest at his front steps. "It ends right at my doorstep. Its very bizarre. But its equally as bizarre and sad that these shootings keep happening. People get slain and families have to deal with it and loved ones lost," said Tinsley. Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall gives an update after 2 officers and a security guard were shot outside a Home Depot store on Tuesday. NBC 5's Jack Highberger spoke with Juarez's grandmother, Janie Longoria, Tuesday night. She called the shooting "devastating" and said her family is "all for the blue." "We back up the police officers," Longoria said, choking back tears. "And I couldn't believe that one of the members of the family would have done that." [[480751871,C]] Gov. Greg Abbott also tweeted about the incident. Our thoughts and prayers are with @DallasPD and the two officers shot and critically wounded. Texas honors all the men and women who protect and serve our communities, and justice will be served. https://t.co/gkUnxciFOs Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) April 24, 2018 In 2016, four Dallas police officers and a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer were shot dead by a sniper in an ambush that came toward the end of a peaceful protest over the police killings of black men that had occurred in other cities. Armando Juarez Affidavit Check back and refresh this page for the latest update. As this story is developing, elements may change. A manhunt is underway for a suspect police believe to be armed and extremely dangerous after a Maine sheriff's deputy was shot and killed early Wednesday morning. Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole was killed around 1:45 a.m. on Route 2 in Norridgewock, about 60 miles west of Bangor, police said. The suspect, identified as John Williams, 29, of Madison, Maine, then allegedly stole Cole's marked cruiser and committed a theft at a Cumberland Farms store on Waterville Road. He was seen fleeing the store in the cruiser. Cole's abandoned cruiser was found around 5 a.m. off of Martin Stream Road in Norridgewock. Law enforcement officials believe Williams fled on foot and is still at large. Wednesday evening, authorities executed a search warrant on Williams' Madison home. Tactical vehicles were outside, and over a loudspeaker, police instructed anyone inside to come out with their hands up. "We are trying to get your side of the story," police could be heard saying over the loudspeaker. "We understand it's been a long day. We want to help you resolve this." Shortly after 8 p.m., five or more officers with long guns were seen entering the home. Hours later, News Center Maine's Chris Costa reported that an evidence response team was leaving the home and would not return there Thursday. Williams is described as 5-foot-6, 120 pounds and with blue eyes. Although police initially said he had brown hair that was long enough for a ponytail and was shaved on the sides, they later said he did not, and instead has a full beard. It's unclear if Williams has access to another vehicle. "Many times we're able to say that there is not an ongoing threat, but that's not the case today," said State Police Lt. Col. John Cote. "There certainly is an ongoing public threat. He's considered armed and dangerous." A nationwide alert for Williams has been issued, police said. Anyone who sees him is asked to immediately call 911. The manhunt for Williams is being coordinated by the Somerset Count Sheriff's Office with help from state police, Maine Game Wardens, U.S. Marshals and the FBI. Aircraft and armored vehicles were seen around Norridgewock. Police ordered Mill Stream Elementary to close and part of Route 2 was also shut down amid the ongoing investigation. "We're a little on edge. It's unnerving knowing there's a guy running around out there," resident Tasha Raymond, who was home with her two children, said. Maine criminal records show that Williams was charged with felony burglary in 2005 and misdemeanor theft in 2007. A little over a month ago, on March 22, he was arrested on multiple firearms charges and traffic violations in Haverhill, Massachusetts, after he apparently drove off Interstate 495 and into a ditch. He was found with a 9mm handgun and a 16-round magazine after he told the police that he dozed off while driving. An officer wrote in the report that Williams appeared tired and impaired, but denied having consumed any alcohol or illegal drugs. Police also found containers with a powder residue, a pocket knife, razor blade and short drinking straw. The report noted that razor blades and straws are commonly used when snorting lines of narcotics. Williams was not charged with any drug offenses. The charges against him included possession of a firearm, improper storage of a firearm, possession of ammunition without an FID card, possession of a large-capacity feeding device, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and a marked lanes violation. Prosecutors requested $10,000 bail, but a judge set it at $7,500 and it was later reduced by another judge to $5,000. Williams posted bail on March 31 and was due to return to court in Massachusetts for a probable cause hearing Wednesday. Cole, 62, was a 13-year veteran of the Somerset County Sheriff's Office. His son is also a Somerset County deputy. Somerset Sheriff Dale Lancaster called Wednesday "a very sad day" for his office and Mainers. "We have lost an outstanding deputy today who has served with great distinction," he said. "He was an outstanding employee. He was one of the finest deputies that you'd want to meet." A relative described Cole as a lover of music who was well-known throughout the community for his generous and peaceful ways. "He was one of the most caring and considerate people that I had the pleasure to know," said Madison resident Scott Bishop, whose mother had been married to Cole's brother. "Our deepest condolences go out to the family of fallen Deputy Sheriff Corporal Eugene Cole," Maine Gov. Paul LePage tweeted. "If you live in Somerset County and the surrounding area, please cooperate with law enforcement and stay safe." "I am deeply saddened to learn Cpl. Eugene Cole was killed in the line of duty in Norridgewock this morning," U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said on Twitter. "Cpl. Cole served the citizens of Somerset County for 13 years with honor & distinction, & Maine will be eternally grateful for his brave actions to protect his community." Cole's death marked the first officer shooting death in Maine since 1989, when Maine State Police Detective Giles Landry was shot and killed while investigating a child abuse complaint in Leeds. If you wanted to keep up with Kourtney Kardashian Tuesday you would have had to take a trip to Capitol Hill. The reality TV star teamed up with Environmental Working Group President Ken Cook on Tuesday to talk to congressional leaders about the importance of updating cosmetics legislation. During the informational briefing, Kardashian talked about her experience with cosmetics and discussed the personal care products that she has used on her three kids over the years. "She's meeting with lawmakers to update an 80 year old FDA law to help make beauty products safer," NBC Washington's Jennifer Vasquez (@JennVasquez_DC) tweeted Tuesday, along with a photo of Kardashian from the meeting. "Kourtney Kardashian says that as a mom it's important for her to know what's in the personal care products she uses," Vasquez also shared with her followers. "She's calling for new legislation that will give cosmetic companies a guideline of how much of a certain chemical they can use." Kourtney Kardashian Celebrates 39th Birthday With Her Kids--and Ice Cream The Personal Care Products Safety Act was introduced in May 2017 by senators Dianne Feinstein and Susan Collins. This act was created in hopes of protecting the health of consumers by "strengthening" the Food and Drug Administration's "authority to regulate the ingredients in personal care products." After the informational briefing, attendees lined up to meet Kardashian. The E! star flew into Washington, D.C., on Monday and has been documenting her stay on social media. In addition to her meetings in D.C., Kardashian's also launching her KOURT X KYLIE collab with sister Kylie Jenner today. Three southern New Hampshire police officers are riding bikes in 21st annual Police Unity Tour to remember their fallen colleagues. The officers will ride from New Jersey on May 9th to Washington D.C. and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. On most days, Officer Terri Moore's mode of transportation is her Windham, New Hampshire police cruiser, but next month she'll be peddling 300 miles in memory of her husband. "A great man gone too soon," said Moore. Matt Moore was a police officer in Hampstead. He died of brain cancer in 2016. "[We] always wanted to go down me and my husband, but it never happened," Moore said. "Unfortunately after he passed I put it on my bucket list to do that." 'That' is the Police Unity Tour for charity. Participants have to raise $1950 to qualify to ride. This is Moore's second year riding. She'll be joined by Hampstead Officer Dave Cianfrini and retired Plaistow Officer Steve Ranlett. "She said she wanted to do it for Matt who passed away and for her two daughters and I wanted to be there to support her," Ranlett said. "I'm riding for the sole reason of remembering," Cianfrini said. "It becomes a personal thing. It becomes a way of life." So personal the officers got matching tattoos with the unity tour symbol. "As I talk to you I choke up," Cianfrini said. "It's a sense of pride, it's a sense of sadness. It's a sense of accomplishment." "If your knee bothers you, or your back hurts, while my back can hurt for 300 miles but Sergeant Gannon can't go home and that's what goes through your mind the whole tour while you're doing this," said Ranlett. The officers described the emotion they feel while riding along the route as filled with chills and tears. Officer Moore said she rides to teach her daughters there's still more work to do. "It always falls on Mother's Day, but they understand that I'm doing Daddy's ride," Moore said." They're going to grow up knowing that we're going to pay it forward and that no matter what life gives you it doesn't define you, but you know what we do with that is what defines us." The officers will arrive in Washington D.C. On May 12th. A southern Indiana Taco Bell is warning customers after a worker was diagnosed with Hepatitis A amid outbreaks in neighboring states. Taco Bell said in a statement that customers who ate at the Floyds Knobs location between April 1 and April 18 should follow guidance from Floyd County health officials. That guidance, according to NBC affiliate WTHR, includes getting a Hepatitis A vaccine before April 30 to reduce the chance of infection. As soon as the operator of this Floyds Knobs, IN location learned that one of the team members was diagnosed, the franchisee began working closely with Taco Bell as well as health officials, the statement read. The restaurant was thoroughly sanitized and all team members will be offered vaccinations. The Taco Bell isnt the first case reported in the state after significant outbreaks were seen in nearby Kentucky and Michigan. The Floyd County Health Department said it was investigating several recent cases of Hepatitis A and was working to identify and notify anyone who might have been exposed. Another case was confirmed in a food employee at TOMOS Restaurant in New Albany, Indiana. Those who ate at the restaurant on March 23, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31 and April 2 were urged to watch for potential symptoms and seek medical attention. Indiana health officials are also advising residents to get vaccinated for hepatitis A if their summer plans include visits to Kentucky or Michigan. The agency says Kentucky has seen more than 300 cases of the highly contagious viral infection , most of those in the Louisville area. Michigan has had more than 800 cases, including 25 deaths. Indiana typically sees less than 20 hepatitis cases each year, but 77 have been confirmed since January. Hepatitis A is a highly contagious viral infection of the liver and is generally transmitted via fecal and oral routes or by consuming contaminated food or water, health officials said. People can become ill 15 to 150 days after being exposed to the virus. Symptoms can vary greatly, but may include loss of appetite, nausea, tiredness, fever, stomach ache, dark-colored urine and light-colored stools. Jaundice may appear a few days after the onset of such symptoms, health officials said. Most people feel sick for several weeks but often recover without lasting liver damage, according to the health department. State Epidemiologist Pam Pontones says getting vaccinated for hepatitis A and thoroughly washing hands when preparing food are "simple, safe and effective ways" to prevent the spread of hepatitis A. Those with questions can contact the Floyd County Health Department at (812) 948-4726 or visit the ISDH website. Former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who seized power in a 1982 coup and presided over one of the bloodiest periods of Guatemala's civil war as soldiers waged a scorched-earth campaign to root out Marxist guerrillas, died on Sunday, his lawyers said. Lawyer Jaime Hernandez said the family told him the 91-year-old died of a heart attack. Another of his attorneys, Luis Rosales, said he "died in peace, surrounded by his family." Echoing Rios Montt's longstanding, angry denials, Rosales said, "Here (in Guatemala) there was no genocide." A U.N. truth commission determined that some 245,000 people were killed or disappeared during Guatemala's 1960-1996 civil war, with the vast majority of the killings attributed to the army or pro-government paramilitary groups. Tens of thousands of those deaths came during Rios Montt's 17-month rule. Rios Montt was convicted in 2013 of genocide and crimes against humanity for the massacre of 1,771 indigenous Ixil Mayans by security forces under his command. But the ruling was swiftly set aside and a new trial ordered, dismaying human rights activists and victims who long sought to see him punished for atrocities. In October, his trial on genocide charges resumed behind closed doors after being suspended for more than a year while his lawyers argued that he was too senile to participate, with no memory and unable to make decisions. An ex-general known for inspiring fear and giving speeches at a near-shout, Rios Montt was later a longtime member of congress and one of the most influential figures in Guatemalan politics for more than three decades. Born June 16, 1926, in the city of Huehuetenango, in western Guatemala's highlands, Rios Montt grew up in a conservative Roman Catholic family. He entered the army in 1946 as a cadet and, over a long career, held nearly every military post there was: troop assistant, platoon commander, instructor, defense secretary. He attended the U.S. School of the Americas in the 1950s, and became a brigadier general in 1972. Rios Montt first ran for president in 1974 but lost amid allegations of electoral fraud and was sent to the Guatemalan Embassy in Spain as military attache. In March 1982, he seized power in a military coup and promptly suspended the constitution, disbanded congress and set in motion a ruthless counterinsurgency campaign that resulted in thousands of deaths. According to a U.N. truth commission, the worst atrocities of the 1960-1996 Guatemalan Civil War took place during his rule. Nonetheless he continued to receive the support of the United States, where President Ronald Reagan called him "a man of great personal integrity and commitment." Rios Montt's government was known for summary trials of suspected subversives, and for moralistic Sunday night TV messages from the strongman who had become a born-again evangelical Christian. "A man who has two women is a pig; a woman who has two men is a hen," he said in one, using slang that translates roughly as a woman of loose morals. In power, Rios Montt alienated a broad spectrum of society. Much of the military was upset by his shake-ups of the hierarchy, businesspeople were irked by his economic policies and many Catholics disliked his fervent Protestantism. That led to his ouster by another putsch in August 1983 headed by his own defense minister. However he remained popular among many for his social welfare initiatives and for the relative peace his "iron fist" approach brought to some regions. In 1985, a clause was added to the constitution barring him and his progeny from seeking the presidency. But Rios Montt remained in politics, founding a new conservative party in 1990 and entering congress a decade later when political ally Alfonso Portillo was elected president. In 2003, Rios Montt was finally able to make another run for president after the Constitutional Court allowed his candidacy. He came in a distant third in part due to scandals under the government of Portillo, who would later plead guilty in the U.S. to laundering millions of ill-gotten dollars through American banks. For years Rios Montt enjoyed immunity from prosecution as an elected member of congress. That changed when he lost re-election in 2011 and was ordered into house arrest. After more than 100 legal appeals were exhausted, his 2013 trial was seen as a historic opportunity to hold a Latin American dictator responsible for abuses committed on his watch. Dozens of witnesses testified about rapes, massacres, forced displacement and other crimes by soldiers that, prosecutors argued, Rios Montt either ordered or must have known about. Smartly dressed in a suit and shoes polished to a shine, the former general vehemently maintained his innocence: "It was never my intention or my goal to destroy a whole ethnic group. ... I never ordered attacks on a specific race." Rios Montt was convicted and sentenced to 80 years. But practically before the ink on the ruling had time to dry, the ruling was tossed over trial irregularities and a new proceeding ordered. With Rios Montt by then in his late 80s and reportedly suffering from heart disease and spinal problems, human rights watchdogs feared the setback meant he would never be convicted. At a hearing in January 2015, he was wheeled into court on a gurney ashen-faced, clad in pajamas, covered with a blanket and wearing dark sunglasses. It was a far cry from the man Guatemalans knew: diminutive of stature but with a booming voice, commanding presence and penetrating gaze. A three-justice panel ruled that one of the judges had to recuse herself, delaying the retrial yet again until it resumed, never to be concluded, in October. Rios Montt was married to Maria Teresa Sosa and had three children: Adolfo, who joined the army, participated in his father's coup and was killed in 1984 in a rebel downing of a military helicopter; Zury, who was elected to Guatemala's congress and in 2004 married then-U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.); and Enrique, who also went into the army and served as defense minister. A home on Abbe Road in East Windsor was heavily damaged by fire Tuesday. East Windsor police said crews responded to 63 Abbe Road around 4:40 p.m. The homeowner was able to escape with the family pets unharmed before firefighters arrived. Multiple departments came out to control the blaze, which spread to the woods behind the home. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The American Red Cross responded to assist the displaced family. Anyone with information about this fire is encouraged to contact the Warehouse Point Fire Marshal Richard Austin at 860-623-7780 or the Office of the Connecticut State Fire Marshal at 860-713-5750. Both of Connecticuts U.S. senators now have bills in Congress aiming to help homeowners affected by crumbling foundations at the federal level. The plan being proposed in Congress is to get what amounts to cash to help homeowners. In the grand scheme of the federal budget it is not a lot of money, but political realities, and the fact that Connecticut is a blue state, could make crumbling foundations a tough sell in D.C. The geography of homes with crumbling foundations is growing. The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters confirmed that a home in Bloomfield has a failing foundation related to the mineral pyrrhotite, the second case west of the Connecticut River. Both Democratic senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy are proposing funding for repairs to the tune of $200 million in total. The $100 million in Murphys bill would be run through the Department of Housing and Urban Development for states like Connecticut with funds dedicated to homes with crumbling foundations. Blumenthals bill is a $100 million grant program that would be administered through FEMA. That amount of money is less than a rounding error. Thats barely enough to pick up the pencil and do a rounding correction for the federal government and that moral obligation has to be persuasive to FEMA, Blumenthal said. Getting that money could be the tallest task of all. Republicans control Congress, and the tax cuts passed late last year his historically blue, higher tax states like Connecticut hard, meaning these issues are not priorities for many members of Congress. Murphy said he needs to work hard to change that. Weve got to make our colleagues understand that this is a disaster not unlike these other natural disasters and the federal government has to step up in the same way, Murphy said. Blumenthal said these are not intended to be perfect fixes and that the insurance industry is still a target. Once they discovered this problem, they changed their policies without telling the insureds, the customers who bought those policies. I think that verges on fraud, frankly. But, one way or the the other, they have a moral responsibility, Blumenthal said. An hours-long standoff in Hartford ended peacefully Wednesday morning after a man surrendered peacefully. An armed man had threatened his wife, while his two children were sleeping upstairs in a home on Monroe Street, near Ansonia Street, in Hartford, according to police. Police received a 911 call around midnight, according to Deputy Chief Brian Foley, and the woman on the phone said her husband was threatening her. When police responded she ran out of the home, but her two young children were still asleep upstairs and police were made aware that the man had several guns. Our officers responded, initiated a dialogue with him. As a result, we called in our crisis negotiators, our emergency response team, and went through our protocols through that situation, Foley said. Police closed several streets surrounding the home and evacuated neighbors as a precaution. After a few hours, the man surrendered peacefully and his children were unharmed and unaware of what was happening, police said. Thankfully it proceeded positively. Eventually, after a few hours, the person emerged from the house peacefully, surrendered. Hes been taken to Hartford Hospital, hell be evaluated there and will likely face some criminal charges, Foley said. Police said no shots were fired and there were no threats made against the public or the police. A 13-year-old boy has fatally shot his 11-year-old brother in suburban Cleveland in what police are describing as an apparent "premeditated act." Officers were called to a home around 9:30 p.m. Monday, Streetsboro police said. The 11-year-old died at a hospital. Police say the 13-year-old has been charged with aggravated murder in Portage County Juvenile Court. Police say the gun used in the slaying was stolen from his grandfather's home. Police have not said what prompted the teen to shoot his brother. Streetsboro is roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of downtown Cleveland. Ill admit that if you look closely enough OK, maybe you dont even have to look all that closely youll see dust bunnies. And sand tracked in on the porch. Oh, yeah, and fingerprints on the windows. So, in other words, my house is not quite spotless. Dallas Police Officer Crystal Almeida has surprised even the doctors at Texas Health Presbyterian. The young woman in her 20s is still in critical condition after being shot at a Home Depot in Dallas. However, she is now able to communicate through body movements, according to the Dallas Police Association. The union says it shows how much of a fighter she really is. She and fallen police officer Rogelio Santander graduated in the same police academy class and joined the Dallas Police Department three years ago. A family member told NBC 5 via a Facebook message that they thank everyone for the prayers and the family hopes Almeida pulls through. During Wednesday's Spanish-language mass at the cathedral in downtown Dallas nearly a half-dozen Dallas police officers offered up their own prayers. Joel Arrona and his wife, a Dallas police officer, said the service brought them comfort in a difficult time. "It is tough because with my wife when she goes to work I jut never know if she is going to make it back and I thank God nothing like this has happened to her," he said. "Support from fellow officers and the general public means a lot to her." Officer Jaimie Castro of the DPA said he spent a lot time overnight with Almeidas father who rushed to Dallas from El Paso. We have a special connection, he said about Almeida. Shes from my hometown, from El Paso and it hurts, it really hurts to see someone from your hometown go through this. It hurts to see her family by their side its just an overall heartbreaking scene. The police union told reporters that Almeida is still in critical condition but is showing improvements. The Dallas Police Association tells NBC 5 donations made to the Assist the Officer Foundation will go to the two officers' families. An unspeakable incident rallied the community in Riverside, after a special needs man was bullied, pushed around and effectively mugged for his beloved LA Dodgers' hat at a Target. "I was scared and nervous and frightened," Michael Cadena, 27, said about the incident, which occurred on Apr. 12. After being robbed of his head wear, Cadena went to store security to report the incident immediately and filed a report with police once they arrived on scene. After taking a look at Target's security cameras, the police offered a photo of one of the suspects donning the Dodgers' hat in question. Police are investigating the incident as a robbery. "I'm proud of him," Sylvia Cadena, Michael's mother, said her son refused to give up his hat repeatedly before it was taken. "Proud for speaking up and saying what was in his heart and mind." This story, however, has a happy ending, as the mother of the man explained on social media. Sylvia said her son received "new hats of all sorts" after news of the incident spread across the Riverside community. In addition, a good Samaritan donated a couple tickets for Michael to enjoy the Dodgers' game live. On Tuesday night, Michael saw the "Boys in Blue" take on the Miami Marlins, as Walker Buehler made his first big league start and got Michael a 2-1 win for his day at "Blue Heaven." What started out as an unconscionable bully attack on a special needs man concluded with Riverside stepping up to support a vulnerable member of the community. Events will be held across the Southland Wednesday recognizing the 19th annual Denim Day campaign to combat sexual violence and supporting its victims. Denim Day founder Patti Giggans, executive director of the group Peace Over Violence, will join city and community leaders at Los Angeles City Hall to discuss the campaign and -- in conjunction with the #MeToo and Times Up movements -- announce a "Sexual harassment: Not on my watch" initiative. "Sexual harassment is a testing ground for sexual violence, and it is ingrained in our society where rape culture is rampant," Giggans said. "Inspired by the times that we are in, we've expanded our tagline, 'There is no excuse and never an invitation to rape,' to include, 'There is no excuse and never an invitation to harass, abuse, assault, rape.' "The climate of taking action and speaking out against these issues has been a crucial part of the Denim Day campaign since it began 19 years ago," she said. Peace Over Violence championed Denim Day in Los Angeles in 1999 as part of an international protest following the Italian Supreme Court's decision to overturn a rape conviction. The victim wore tight jeans, which the justices reasoned the suspect couldn't have removed without her help. Women in the Italian Parliament began to wear jeans to work in protest of the ruling, and the movement has spread around the world since then. Denim Day encourages people to wear jeans as a symbol of protest against sexual assault and raise awareness of misconceptions that surround it. In addition to a news conference and Los Angeles City Council presentation, Denim Day events are also planned in Irwindale, where police and city employees will take part in a 4 p.m. walk at Irwindale City Hall, 5050 N. Irwindale Ave. At 6 p.m. in Santa Monica, city and state officials will gather to proclaim Denim Day during a community event sponsored by the Commission on the Status of Women. Nearly 12 million people registered at the www.denimdayinfo.org website to participate in the event by wearing jeans on Wednesday. Authorities Tuesday served warrants in the Hollywood area and arrested five people suspected in a bank fraud scheme that employed devices used to steal information at automated teller machines. "Three of four defendants charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft were taken into custody this morning without incident," said Laura Eimiller of the FBI. The FBI identified the suspects as Cosmin Mihai Cozma, 41; Richard Ryan Mirron, 43; and Kasey Tcaciuc, 33. Two additional suspects arrested at the location where the warrants were served, identified as Sebastian-Alin Marita and Gogu-Alin Tipurita, were expected to be charged in a criminal complaint this afternoon, Eimiller said. Authorities did not release the name of the fourth person charged in the complaint. That individual remained outstanding and was being sought by the FBI and Torrance police, according to Eimiller. "The continuing investigation involves allegations that the defendants took part in a credit card fraud ring that they operated, in part, by inserting 'shimming' devices in many ATMs at various banks throughout Southern California," Eimiller said, adding that the defendants were expected to appear in court today. The investigation was conducted by the FBI and Torrance Police Department and personnel from the U.S. Attorney's Office were involved in the case, Eimiller said. A baby taken along when his family's car was stolen has been reunited with his family thanks in part to a news photographer, NBC affiliate WFLA reported. WFLA Photographer Mark Eggers found the baby, still strapped in his car seat, in a St. Petersburg, Florida parking lot Monday afternoon. Eggers was working on another story at the time and was unaware of the ongoing search for the child. "It was only a couple minutes and I had no idea why somebody would leave a baby there," Egger said afterward. "I just made sure that while I was watching the baby he was safe." Police are still searching for the car thief who took and abandoned the baby. Read more from WFLA What to Know The commission is to meet Tuesday to discuss its mission and how it will conduct its investigation. The 16 members are also to hear from the Broward Sheriff's Office about its investigation into the Feb. 14 shooting that left 17 dead. The members include law enforcement administrators, education officials, a mental health counselor and the fathers of three victims. Faulty classroom design and failures in the police radio and 911 systems contributed to the chaos and deaths during the recent Florida high school massacre, a commission investigating the shooting was told at its first meeting Tuesday. Broward Sheriff's Office Detective Zachary Scott told the Marjory Stoneman High School Public Safety Commission that teachers trying to lock down their students as the gunman began his attack couldn't lock classroom doors from the inside, but had to grab a key, open the door and turn the lock from the outside. "That's messed up, no matter how you slice it," said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, chairman of the 16-member commission, which is examining the actions of state officials before and after the shooting and will make recommendations for changes. Fourteen students and three staff members died in the Feb. 14 shooting, and 17 others were wounded. The doors also had small windows that enabled the suspect, identified by police as former student Nikolas Cruz, to fire into locked classrooms, killing several people, Scott told the commission. Commission members include law enforcement administrators, education officials, a state senator, a mental health counselor and the fathers of victims Alex Schachter, Meadow Pollack and Alaina Petty. They were appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, House Speaker Richard Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron. Also Tuesday, a judge ruled that Cruz should continue to be represented in the death penalty case by a public defender at taxpayer expense. Cruz has only about $28,000 in assets, most of which he cannot immediately access, and that's not enough to hire a private lawyer in a case of this magnitude, Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer wrote. Cruz, 19, is charged with 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder. Public Defender Howard Finkelstein repeated in email Tuesday that Cruz will plead guilty in exchange for life without parole, a deal prosecutors have declined to accept. "We still believe it is in the best interests of the families and the community to end this case now rather than take a 20-year march to impose the death penalty which will link them for decades to the person who killed their loved one," he said. The commission also learned that the Broward sheriff's office and Coral Springs police department had different radio systems, preventing the primary agencies responding to the shooting from exchanging information, and that attempts to merge the channels have failed. Another problem: The city of Parkland, where the school is located, has a bifurcated 911 system; Calls from cellular phones go to the Coral Springs 911 center, while calls from landlines go to the Broward sheriff. Most calls from campus were from cellphones, so Broward dispatchers were getting second-hand information. Scott played a rudimentary computer animation showing the gunman's actions as he moved through the three-story freshman building during his six-minute attack. The suspect and the victims were represented by dots, with the victims' dots changing colors when they were fatally wounded. The specific victims were not identified. The audience that filled a Broward College auditorium remained silent as Scott talked through the animation. Gualtieri told the members their goal should be to prevent any more mass shootings. "Nobody else should have to endure what those children had to endure that day," he said. The commission also will examine the Broward Sheriff's Office's conduct before, during and after the shooting. Deputy Scot Peterson, the school's security officer, retired after Sheriff Scott Israel criticized him and planned to suspend him for not rushing into the building to confront and kill the gunman. The commission also will consider the conduct of other deputies who arrived at the school but remained outside. School counselors and mental health officials also will appear to discuss their interactions with Cruz. He spent time at a school for emotionally and mentally disturbed students before being allowed to transfer briefly to Stoneman Douglas. He was kicked out later. The commission could also examine other Florida mass shootings, including the 2016 massacre at Orlando's Pulse nightclub that killed 49, and a 2017 shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport that left six dead. Gualtieri suggested that it focus solely on school shootings, however. The commission's final report is due Jan. 1. "What everyone is going to find out is how much incompetency there was that led to my daughter and the other 16 victims being murdered," said Andrew Pollack, Meadow's father. He pointed to the FBI, which ignored a warning call about Cruz, and sheriff's and school administrators who had numerous contacts with Cruz before the shooting. The sheriff's office said they had 18 contacts with Cruz before the shooting, but said he never did anything he could be arrested for. What to Know France and the U.S. must uphold the world order without retreating to nationalism, Macron said Macron said "I am sure one day the United States will come back" to the Paris climate agreement "There is no Planet B," Macron said After two days of friendly meetings with President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday took Trump's worldview to task in a rare address to a joint session of Congress. France and the United States, bound by shared values like freedom and liberty, must resist "closing the door to the world" and uphold the order they helped create without retreating to nationalism in the face of threats from globalization, terrorism, criminal states and more, Macron said. "I believe facing these challenges requires the opposite of massive deregulation and extreme nationalism. Commercial war is not the right answer," he said. Under his "America First" agenda, Trump has threatened to pull the U.S. out of longstanding international agreements and negotiate with countries one-on-one, rather than multilaterally. He's cut funding to the United Nations and demanded that other members of NATO contribute more Macron noted that those organizations wouldn't have a mandate or a stabilizing influence "if we do not act with urgency, as a global community." Trump has already rescinded U.S. participation in the Paris climate agreement, but Macron said "I am sure one day the United States will come back," dismissing the difference in opinion as the kind that all families have. He said he understood the fears of transitioning away from traditional energy economies that Trump has espoused, but said, "There is no Planet B." Members of Congress, who haven't had hosted an address from a world leader at the Capitol in nearly two years, were occasionally divided on some of Macron's points, with Republicans staying seated after some points while Democrats stood. Macron spoke to them all, saying they have the responsibility to show that democracy is still the best way to govern, even as their citizens experience new fears from the digital age. He said isolationism and nationalism "can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy to our fears, but closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. It will not douse but inflame the fears of our citizens. ... I am convinced, that if we decide to open our eyes wider, we will be stronger, we will overcome the dangers, we will not let the rampaging work of extreme nationalism shake a world full of hopes for greater prosperity." Macron's speech comes at the tail end of his state visit to Washington the first of Trump's administration. Macron charmed Trump on Monday and Tuesday, as the pair talked up their close friendship and shook hands, hugged, kissed each other on the cheek and toasted each other over a lavish dinner. Trump even called Macron "perfect" after playfully brushing a bit of "dandruff" from the French leader's shoulder in the Oval Office. It wasn't clear how Trump viewed Macron's speech, which he'd said he would be watching. "Looking forward to watching President Macron of France address a Joint Session of Congress today. This is a great honor and seldom allowed to be done...he will be GREAT!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. Macron came to Washington to solidify his close relationship with Trump and to try and convince him to stick with the Iran nuclear deal that Trump has derided from the campaign trail to the White House. After a couple of meetings, Trump declined to say whether he would withdraw the U.S. from the international Iran accord, which restricted Iran's development of nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions. But Trump said Macron knows what he plans to do, and hinted at the possibility of a new deal. On Wednesday, Macron laid out his reasoning for why the U.S. should stay in the deal, which runs through 2025 doing so could destabilize the region and possibly lead to war but put forth a framework for building on the agreement so it limits Iranian adventurism among neighboring countries and prevents the country from ever getting nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, Macron told reporters Wednesday night that he expects Trump to scrap the Iran deal and is working on mitigating the damage, NBC News reported. The last foreign leader to address a joint session of Congress was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2016. Macron was the seventh president of France to do so. What to Know Port Authority commissioner Caren Z. Turner was captured on police dash cam ranting at and cursing at police officers in Tenafly in March Her daughter was in a car that had been pulled over; she yells at the cops, "You may shut the f--- up!" Turner resigned Monday when she learned she was being investigated by the Port Authority board UPDATE: Port Authority Chief in Viral Cop Rant Issues Her First Statement on Controversy A recently resigned Port Authority commissioner was captured on police dash cam ranting at two police officers on a New Jersey roadway, yelling at them, "You may shut the f--- up!" after they pulled over a car in which her daughter was a passenger over Easter weekend. Caren Z. Turner abruptly resigned on Monday as the Port Authority said that it was investigating allegations that she'd violated the board's code of ethics. Police dash cam video shows Port Authority commissioner Caren Z. Turner ranting at two Tenafly police officers, You may shut the f up! A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement to News 4, "The Board takes its recently adopted Code of Ethics for Commissioners extremely seriously... Commissioner Turners resignation was appropriate given her outrageous conduct." Turner could not be reached for comment Tuesday. No one answered the door at her listed home address. Turner, a 60-year-old Democratic lobbyist who served as ethics chair of the Port Authority, had been called by her daughter on March 31 to pick up her and several friends on Route 9W after the car in which they were riding was impounded, according to a police report. When Turner arrives, video obtained by News 4 shows her introducing herself to the officers, saying, "I'm here as a concerned citizen and friend of the mayor." [NY ONLY CANVA] These Hospitals in New Jersey and New York Received Highest Grades in New Safety Report She asks why they were pulled over, and an officer responds, "The driver has all the information, he'll tell you all you need to know," adding that she wasn't involved in the traffic stop. "No, no, no. I'm involved. Trust me. I'm very involved," she said. Turner shows them something -- later identified in a police report as a Port Authority gold badge -- and says, "I am the commissioner of the Port Authority, and I am heading up over 4,000 police officers, OK?" "Let's hear -- why were they pulled over, first of all?" Turner says. One of the officers responds, "Miss --" Turner interrupts him, "No, no, no, don't call me 'Miss.' I'm 'Commissioner.' Thank you." [NY ONLY USES CANVA] These Hospitals in NYC and Surrounding Area Received Lowest Grades in New Safety Report The officer reiterates that she can ask the driver of the vehicle herself why the car was pulled over. Turner does not relent, however, and presses him: "I just want to know why." The officer tells her, "I just don't appreciate your demeanor. You're being very demanding with me," the officer says. The tense exchange continues for several minutes. "There's a problem with you describing it because you don't feel confident why these people are being pulled over," Turner says. The officer responds, "Your daughter is not being summoned. She was not the driver, it's not her vehicle, it's not your vehicle. How are you involved?" Turner vows to meet with the Tenafly police commissioner over the traffic stop, and then tells the officer, "I hope you have a really nice holiday weekend, because you just ruined it for a lot of people." [NY ONLY DO NOT NATIONALIZE]NYC Is Not One of the 25 Best Places to Live in America in 2018, According to U.S. News u0026 World Report As she continues to complain, the officer suggests they move the conversation to another location because they were on a high-speed road. Turner says sarcastically, "I'm so sorry, thank you for your concern for my safety. I don't need it. You can't put a sentence together, sorry. That's pathetic. You are a disappointment." Then she turns to the other officer, "And you are just following him. So you are also a disappointment." When the first officer tells Turner that she "may" now escort the group away, she responds, "You may not tell me when to take my child. You may shut the f--- up and not tell me when I may take my kid and her friends, who are Ph.D. students from M.I.T. and Yale. You may tell me nothing, because you told me nothing. Shame on both of you." Later, out of sight of the camera, after the car is impounded by a police-contracted towing operator, she tells the officer: "I hope you're happy because you seem to have a smug-ass look on your face and it seems to please you." The officer says, "You work with police officers, correct?" She responds, "Yeah, I work with 4,000 of them." He says, "I'm just a little disappointed that --" She interrupts, "You don't get to be disappointed in me." But the officer continues, "You don't seem like a very big police supporter, I don't know. It seems like you would have more of an inside look at the job... it just caught me by surprise, your demeanor a little bit, using inappropriate words and such." "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," Turner says. "You know what, Matt? This isn't going to go down like this." She later says, "The police have all been in my home, and in my second home, and in my third home in Tenafly." [NATL] Images of America's 'Creepiest' Abandoned Mall in Missouri Tenafly Police Chief Robert Chamberlain told NJ.com he would let the video speak for itself. He had sent a copy of the video to the Port Authority Inspector General, along with the incident report by the officers. He added in a statement to News 4 Wednesday that he was "extremely proud of the composure, poise and restraint" the two officers showed in the video. He also thanked the Port Authority "for their professionalism and prompt attention to the matter." The officer said in the report that he told her he was under no legal obligation to fill her in on what happened because all the occupants in the car were adults. Turner "became further enraged and began using profanity," the report said. The traffic stop stemmed from side tinted windows -- which are not legal in New Jersey -- and a partially obscured license plate. Police called a tow truck to impound the car and issued several summonses to the driver. Dash cam video from that portion of the traffic stop shows the driver and the police officer speaking calmly. The car is owned by the parents of the driver's girlfriend, who was also in the car, and the officer explains to the driver that the car has been unregistered for two years: "We can't have an unregistered car that's operating on the street." The officer says the car has to be impounded, and the driver nods and responds agreeably through the conversation, even prompting the officer to tell him, "You seem like a really nice guy, I don't mean to be doing this to you, putting you in this spot. I genuinely believe you had no idea, 100 percent." The Port Authority oversees airports, bridges, tunnels and rail facilities across the region. It also owns and manages the World Trade Center site. Turner was appointed to the Port Authority last year by then-Gov. Chris Christie, and has served on finance committees for Hillary Clinton and Gov. Jon Corzine, NJ.com reports. 16 Great Eats in New York City for $5 or Less u002du002d And Where to Find Them, According to Thrillist What to Know Meredith Sullivan Chapman, 33, was killed by the wife of her paramour, police said The shooter, identified as Jennair Gerardot, turned the gun on herself Police say the murder-suicide was the result of an affair between Mark Gerardot and Chapman A newly-hired Villanova University assistant vice president was gunned down Tuesday night after an affair led to a murder-suicide that shocked a quiet Delaware County, Pennsylvania, neighborhood, police said. Meredith Sullivan Chapman, 33, had just moved into a three-story brick home on Lowrys Lane in Radnor Township with her dog Indy, friends told NBC10. On Monday night, the wife of her paramour broke into Chapman's home, waited until she returned and killed her. The shooter, identified as Jennair Gerardot, turned the gun on herself. Gerardot's body was found near the kitchen, not far from Chapman, police said. "She broke into the house, she was lying in wait and she shot her as soon as she walked in and then she shot herself," Radnor Township Police Superintendent William Colarulo said. "There were emails and text messages indicating what [Gerardot] planned to do." When investigators arrived at the scene, Gerardots husband, Mark Gerardot, told officials that his wife might be inside. Investigators found the shooters gun, a wig and womens clothing that did not belong to Chapman at the scene. Investigators believe the shooter might have disguised herself before breaking into the house. Police say the murder-suicide was the result of an affair between Mark Gerardot and Chapman. Gerardot had gone to a restaurant where he thought he'd be meeting Chapman for dinner. When she didn't show up, he went to her house and found the bodies. He then called police. "You had a man that was married, that was having an affair with this other woman," Colarulo said. "The wife knew about it and this was a calculated, planned attack." Neighbor Tom Dougherty was stunned by the news, telling NBC10 that "this is not what usually happens on this street. "Nothing ever happens on this street, he said. Chapman was a former WHYY producer for its Delaware bureau and ran an unsuccessful bid as a Republican for a state senate seat in Delaware. She was also married to Newark City Councilman Luke Chapman. Our hearts are broken by the devastating loss of our new colleague, Villanova University officials said in a statement. The thoughts and prayers of the entire university community are with her family, friends and colleagues during this extremely difficult time. Chapman's family called her a "beacon of light to anyone who was fortunate enough to meet her," in a released statement. "She loved her family fiercely, was a compassionate friend and among the most talented and innovative professionals in her field," they wrote. "Her death was sudden and tragic, but will not definite who she was to the thousands of people who loved her." Courtesy University of Delaware SUICIDE PREVENTION HELP: The National Suicide Prevention Hotline (1-800-273-8255) is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What to Know Meredith Sullivan Chapman, 33, was killed by the wife of her paramour, police said Latex gloves, ear plugs and binoculars were found inside Jennair Gerardot's rental car Police say the murder-suicide was the result of an affair between Mark Gerardot and Chapman The woman identified as the killer in a murder-suicide stemming from a love triangle that occurred in a tony Philadelphia suburb had some unusual items inside her car, police said Wednesday. Latex gloves, ear plugs and binoculars were found by officers inside Jennair Gerardot's black Cadillac XTS, police in Radnor Township, Delaware County, said. The vehicle was a rental, investigators determined. Police believe Gerardot, of Delaware, drove to the Main Line town Monday night to shoot Meredith Sullivan Chapman. The victim had recently moved to Lowrys Lane for a new job at nearby Villanova University. Chapman, 33, was found shot to death inside the house. Gerardot was found dead nearby after she apparently turned the gun on herself, police said. The shocking slaying was rooted in an affair between Chapman and Gerardot's husband, Mark Gerardot, investigators have said. "She broke into the house, she was lying in wait and she shot her as soon as she walked in and then she shot herself," Radnor Township Police Superintendent William Colarulo said Tuesday. "There were emails and text messages indicating what [Gerardot] planned to do." Also inside the rented Cadillac was ammunition and a receipt from a nearby gas station that showed Gerardot had been in the area since at least 2:40 p.m. Monday, police said. The vehicle was found on an adjacent side street to Lowrys Lane. Gerardot had rented the vehicle April 13 in Wilmington, Delaware. In a twist, Mark Gerardot had gone to a restaurant nearby the murder scene where he thought he'd be meeting Chapman for dinner. When she didn't show up, he went to her house and found the bodies. He then called police. Chapman had just moved into a three-story brick home on Lowrys Lane with her dog Indy, friends told NBC10. When investigators arrived at the scene, Gerardots husband, Mark Gerardot, told officials that his wife might be inside. "You had a man that was married, that was having an affair with this other woman," Colarulo said. "The wife knew about it and this was a calculated, planned attack." Neighbor Tom Dougherty was stunned by the news, telling NBC10 that "this is not what usually happens on this street. "Nothing ever happens on this street, he said. Chapman was a former WHYY producer for its Delaware bureau and ran an unsuccessful bid as a Republican for a state senate seat in Delaware. She was also married to Newark City Councilman Luke Chapman, but the couple was reportedly separated. Our hearts are broken by the devastating loss of our new colleague, Villanova University officials said in a statement. The thoughts and prayers of the entire university community are with her family, friends and colleagues during this extremely difficult time. Chapman's family called her a "beacon of light to anyone who was fortunate enough to meet her," in a released statement. "She loved her family fiercely, was a compassionate friend and among the most talented and innovative professionals in her field," they wrote. "Her death was sudden and tragic, but will not definite who she was to the thousands of people who loved her." Courtesy University of Delaware SUICIDE PREVENTION HELP: The National Suicide Prevention Hotline (1-800-273-8255) is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So much for an abrupt U.S. pullout from Syria. One month ago President Donald Trump surprised many, including some in his own administration, by announcing, "We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now." He insisted that the time had come for the U.S. military to shift its focus away from Syria. But on Tuesday, it was clear that something or someone had changed Trump's mind. The president said at a White House news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at his side that before the U.S. withdraws from Syria, "we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint." This long-term approach, he added, was "a very big part" of his conversation with Macron, who told reporters that he and Trump now agree that the Syria problem involves more than Trump's priority of ridding the country of Islamic State extremists. The two leaders indicated that they see Syria as part of a broader problem of instability in the Middle East, which includes Iran's role in Syria and Iraq. That kind of strategic thinking bears little resemblance to Trump's words in late March when he said it was time to leave Syria to others. "We got to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be," he said March 29. His comments raised questions about U.S. intentions, including its commitment to the Syrian Kurds who have been the main U.S. proxy in fighting IS in Syria and who face an uncertain future. Since then, Trump has taken a markedly different course, including bombing three suspected chemical weapons sites in western Syria on April 13. In announcing that action, Trump said he was committed, along with France and Britain, to using "all instruments of our national power military, economic and diplomatic" to deter Syria from again using chemical weapons. And he said the U.S. would "sustain" this effort for as long as it takes. Two days later, Macron said France had persuaded Trump to stay in Syria and launch the airstrikes. "Ten days ago, President Trump wanted to withdraw from Syria. We convinced him to remain," the French president said. In responding to Macron's comments, the White House stressed that Trump's plans had not changed and he still wanted U.S. forces to "come home as quickly as possible." On Tuesday Trump seemed to step even further away from his March remarks. After saying he would "love to get out" of Syria, and claiming the U.S. had "done a big favor" for Iraq and other countries in Syria's neighborhood by hammering IS, Trump said he and Macron discussed the downside of leaving. "Emmanuel and myself have discussed the fact that we don't want to give Iran open season to the Mediterranean, especially since we really control it," Trump said. His comment echoed a concern shared by others, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, that withdrawing from Syria now, while Syria's political crisis is unresolved, would cede ground to Iran and enable its ambition to establish an overland pathway to the Mediterranean through Iraq and Syria. Trump stuck to his view that Arab nations should do more to prevent Iran from "profiting off" the U.S. success against IS. Even after Trump's talk last month of a quick exit, Mattis stuck to his approach, arguing that U.S. strategic goals had not changed. He told a congressional hearing on April 12 that the Trump administration remained committed to finding a political solution to Syria's seven-year-old civil war. "Our strategy remains the same as a year ago," he said. "It is to drive this to a U.N.-brokered peace, but, at the same time, keep our foot on the neck of ISIS until we suffocate it." On Tuesday, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, Col. Ryan Dillon, told reporters at the Pentagon that the United States is not slowing down in Syria. In fact, he said, the number of U.S. airstrikes against remaining pockets of IS fighters in eastern Syria had increased in the past week. For those with enough money or property, making bail is only an inconvenience. But for thousands of other Californians, not posting bail could mean they cant work or care for their families. Even if they are never convicted of the crime of their arrest that time in jail can increase the cycle of poverty. A Human Rights Watch report released last year concluded that Californias system of pretrial detention keeps people in jail who are never found guilty of any crime. The report is a criticism of the states monetary bail system and of those involved in the system, who the report said are not in it for justice. In addition, Human Rights Watch said that some judges and prosecutors use custody status as leverage to pressure guilty pleas. All of these dynamics are part of a growing movement to change the monetary bail system in California and across the country. On the other side, advocates for crime victims and the bail industry said bail reform would put more of an emphasis on criminal rights rather than victims' rights. The system impacts different lives in different ways. Maria Elena Morales of San Diego said shes paying back $2,400 she owes a bail bond company. Its a lot of money as a single mother, I dont have that extra money, she told NBC7 Investigates. Morales signed a note to bail her friend out of jail but that friend never showed for his court date. He is still wanted on outstanding warrants. I felt ashamed, I should have known better but I didnt, Morales said. Ashamed because Morales is an activist who works with prisoners returning to society. She admits she made a mistake in judgment but feels the court did too. In each case, she thinks, more information might have led to a different decision. Providing more information about defendants to Judges is one of the main focuses of the Pretrial Detention Reform study, organized by a group of California Judges. The judges behind the study, along with the urging of the states Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauke, recommended the state establish a new system based on an assessment of a defendants flight risk. The current system, the report concludes, bases a persons liberty on financial resources rather than the likelihood of future criminal behavior. We must not penalize the poor for being poor, Cantil-Sakauke said. San Diego County is already testing an alternative system where monetary bail is not the primary basis for deciding who stays in jail. Judges receive a limited assessment of those charged prepared by the San Diego Sheriffs Department. Judges and attorneys NBC7 Investigates spoke with said the information is helpful but not complete. Other counties are looking at other possible methods to replace their current systems. Both those in favor of and those opposed to the suggested reforms acknowledge California with its large counties with hundreds of judicial officers and its smaller counties with smaller judicial system face a challenge to find one system that fits all. In reviewing the latest numbers available for the years 2014-2015, there were on average 2,814 un-sentenced prisoners or about 53% of the total jail population in San Diego every day, according to Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch estimates it costs about $114.00 a day per prisoner, which would equate to about $321,000 dollars-a-day to keep un-sentenced prisoners here in local jails. The presiding judge of the criminal courts in Los Angeles County, Scott Gordon was on the Pretrial Detention Reform panel. Judge Gordon told NBC7 Investigates that a better, fairer and a safer system is needed. That is the goal of reform for all of California courts he says. Gordon said not everyone agrees on how this should be done but something must be done. The process we have recommended here is to provide more information to judges so that when they make the decisions, theyre doing it with as much information as possible, Gordon said. This has resulted in proposed legislation, Senate Bill 10, which would provide among other things computer-generated risk assessments of each defendant to help judges decide if the defendant is a danger to the community. Its being tweaked to find a compromise that will satisfy all the stakeholders in this game-changing overhaul of the states criminal justice system. But for every suggestion for reform, there are counter concerns. For example, Human Rights Watch said using risk assessment tools are only as good as the information provided. The assessments could reflect a system that is itself riddled with racial bias the group says. Judges like Kent Hamlin of Fresno County are uneasy about the Senate bill as proposed. Hamlin feels that experienced judges are capable of making the right decision. Were releasing people every day under conditions other than posting bail, Hamlin said. He sees the proposals as diminishing the role of the judge. We have a lot of options and were using them, Hamlin said. Hamlin is a member of the 500-member California based Alliance of Judges who support his position in opposition to Senate Bill 10 as currently written. Not surprisingly so does the bail industry. NBC7 Investigates spoke with Bill Clayton, an attorney from Denver, Colorado who represents the American Bail Coalition. The argument is to deny the right to a monetary condition of a bail entirely is unconstitutional, Clayton said. Clayton said similar efforts in other states have gone poorly, adding it will have an impact on jail populations and will result in higher crime and higher failure to appear. Judge Gordon counters this, saying bail reform is working in other states and in the end will improve the system by providing more information to judges. The current system that only looks at one factor, the financial ability to pay bail is not a fair system and doesn't provide the safety that should be provided to the citizens of California, Gordon said. Last month, California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra voiced his support for bail reform, saying the system is discriminatory towards poor Californians. NBC 7 Investigates has been told by one of Senate bill 10's authors that the state bill is being reworked to create more support for the measure. It's set for review by the State Assembly Appropriations Committee later this year. What to Know The FBI said the "Golden State Killer" is responsible for approximately 45 rapes, 12 homicides, and multiple residential burglaries In 2016, the FBI announced a $50,000 reward and a national campaign to identify the killer A man who was dubbed "The Golden State Killer" after he allegedly killed and raped multiple people across the state of California has been arrested, officials announced Wednesday. A 72-year-old ex-police officer named Joseph James DeAngelo, who appears to fit the description of the elusive California killer, was arrested overnight on two murder charges by police in Sacramento. Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said at a news conferences Wednesday afternoon that the answer for the arrest came down to the DNA of the killer. "It is fitting that today is National DNA Day. We found the needle in the haystack and it was right here in Sacramento," Schubert said. Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert at a press conference Wednesday, April 25, 2018, discusses the Golden State Killer case. DeAngelo was charged for the February 1978 murders of a Sacramento couple Brian and Katie Maggiore. He's being held without bail in the Sacramento County Main Jail, according to records. He also faces capital murder charges for slayings in 1980 in Ventura County, the county's district attorney Gregory D. Totten said Wednesday. Officials on Wednesday, April 25, announced the suspected Golden State Killer has been arrested. Watch raw video of the full press conference held in Sacramento, California. Bruce Harrington, brother of Golden State Killer murder victims Keith and Patrice Harrington, who were beaten to death in their Dana Point home on Aug. 19, 1980 said: "Id like to speak the multi-generational victims of this staggering crime spree. It is time for all victims to grieve and to take measure one last time. To bring closure to the anguish that were all suffered for the last 40-some odd years. It is time for the victims to begin to heal, so long overdue." Harrington worked to pass Proposition 69, a 2004 voter initiative that requires the collection of DNA samples from convicted felons for California's DNA database. The brother of Golden State Killer murder victims Keith and Patrice Harrington speaks at a press conference. Michelle Cruz, the sister of one of the killer's last victims, said "I'm so excited and overwhelmed. I'm feeling very blessed today and now I will be able to breathe again." Janelle Cruz was 18-years-old when she was murdered in 1986 in Irvine. NBC Affiliate KCRA said FBI agents and other law enforcement officials were outside a home in where property records showed DeAngelo lived for at least two decades. "When he came out of the resident, we had a team in place to put in to custody. He looked very surprised by that," said Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones. Source: http://www.coldcase-earons.com/ DeAngelo was an officer at the Auburn Police Department, according to Jones. He was fired from the department in 1979 after he was arrested for stealing a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a drug store, according to Auburn Journal articles from the time. "We knew we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we also knew that needle was there," Schubert said. "We found the needle in the haystack and it was right here in Sacramento." Armed with a gun, the masked attacker terrorized communities by breaking into homes while single women or couples were sleeping. He sometimes tied up the man and piled dishes on his back, then raped the woman while threatening to kill them both if the dishes tumbled. Sacramento County Sheriff's Department He often took souvenirs, notably coins and jewelry, from his victims, who ranged in age from 13 to 41. The suspect, also known as the East Bay Rapist, was described as a white male and thought to be currently between the ages of 60 and 75 years old, and approximately 5'10" tall, according to the FBI. He left DNA traces at crime scenes but officials weren't able to match them until now. The FBI said the killer is responsible for approximately 45 rapes, 12 homicides, and multiple residential burglaries between 1976 and 1986 in San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles area. Authorities decided to publicize the case again in 2016 in advance of the 40th anniversary of his first known assault in Sacramento County. Golden State Killer: Evidence, Victims in Decades-Old Case Neighbor Kevin Tapia, 36, said when he was a teenager, DeAngelo falsely accused him of throwing things over their shared fence, prompting a heated exchange between DeAngelo and Tapia's father. He said DeAngelo could often be heard cursing in frustration in his backyard. "No one thinks they live next door to a serial killer," Tapia said. "But at the same time I'm just like, he was a weird guy. He kept to himself. When you start to think about it you're like, I could see him doing something like that but I would never suspect it." The suspected serial killer worked at a distribution center for Save Mart grocery stores for the last 27 years, according to the Sacremento Bee, a local newspaper. What to Know The group was sleeping in tents and attending legal seminars given by volunteer attorneys from the U.S. about seeking asylum They plan to try to enter the U.S. on Sunday at San Diego's border crossing U.S. Customs and Border Protection has space to hold about 300 people at the crossing A group of migrants from Central America arrived in Tijuana Wednesday with hopes of seeking asylum from dangerous and violent conditions in their home countries. The group is part of a larger caravan that started their journey for shelter in Mexico at the beginning of March. The caravan has been described as dangerous by President Donald Trump and was mentioned as one of the reasons he asked for National Guard troops to be sent to the border region. The president tweeted this week that he has issued orders "not to let these large Caravans of people into our Country. It is a disgrace." Last week, Telemundo 20 spoke with the first of hundreds who were expected to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border. The group was sleeping in tents and attending legal seminars given by volunteer attorneys from the U.S. about seeking asylum. The first groups plan to try to enter the U.S. on Sunday at San Diego's border crossing. The caravans have been a fairly common tactic for years among advocacy groups to bring attention to Central American citizens seeking asylum in the U.S. to escape political persecution or criminal threats from gangs. "We are not terrorists we all have a dream," Mauricio Magana said who is also from El Salvador. Katherine Flores has traveled with the caravan from El Salvador with her toddler daughter. She told NBC News she wants to give her baby a better future. I came because of the gangs, she told NBC News. You cannot live in our country. This caravan's numbers pale compared to the roughly 200,000 people who were arrested at the border in Texas' Rio Grande Valley during the spring of 2014 during the administration of President Barack Obama, many of them Central American women and children. Thousands of Haitians seeking to enter the U.S. turned themselves in to U.S. border inspectors at the Tijuana-San Diego border crossing, the nation's busiest. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has space to hold about 300 people at the crossing, said Pete Flores, director of the agency's San Diego field office. It turns them over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to determine if they should be held long-term of if they can be released while their cases are pending, often wearing ankle monitors that track their movements. The San Diego border crossing was so overwhelmed by Haitians in 2016 that U.S. officials worked with their Mexican counterparts to create a ticketing system that let the Haitians in over time. Some waited their turn in Tijuana more than five weeks. More recently, asylum seekers have had to wait at most only a few hours, never overnight, Flores said. If asylum-seekers make it through initial screenings with asylum officers by establishing "credible fear" of being returned to their homelands, they are allowed in and face what can be lengthy proceedings before U.S. immigration judges. Ginger Jacobs, a San Diego immigration attorney who helped Haitians seeking entry to the U.S. in 2016, said Trump's concerns about a rush of Central Americans seeking asylum were "completely overblown." "I don't see this caravan thing being a big deal," she said. "I see it as something the port will be able to handle competently and professionally." Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, in a message apparently aimed at asylum seekers, said Wednesday that anyone who makes false claims to immigration authorities is subject to criminal prosecution. The same goes for anyone who assists or coaches immigrants on making false claims. Nielsen's threat is consistent with the administration's narrative of widespread "asylum fraud" and claims that asylum-seekers are coached on what to tell U.S. authorities. The secretary also said asylum seekers in the caravan should seek protection in the first safe country they reach, including Mexico. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he may assign additional immigration judges to handle caravan cases. The Juventud 2000 migrant shelter, on the edge of Tijuana's red-light district, is filled with dome-shaped tents to accommodate more than 200 arrivals. Its director, Jose Maria Garcia Luca, said two previous caravans in May and November of last year had about 100 people each. Those who sought asylum reported no significant delays entering the U.S. "This is nothing like the Haitians," Garcia Luca said. "That was chaos." The Associated Press contributed to this report A D.C. councilman sternly criticized the Districts homeland security director Thursday over a 2018 cybersecurity report withheld from the public for more than a year. Councilman Charles Allen called that unacceptable and was particularly concerned that the D.C. Council didn't even get to see it until just a few weeks ago. The law clearly states the report is to be sent to the mayor and to the Council, and that didn't happen, Allen said. And a closed door briefing almost a full year later does not count as the same thing. So I don't believe we met our requirements in this regard. I think the report should have been sent to the Council at the same time as the mayor. Chris Rodriguez, the head of D.C.s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, was in the hot seat Thursday at his annual oversight hearing just two days after finally releasing a report thats been subject to some scrutiny. The News4 I-Team revealed in early January the report was a year past due. The mayor and Rodriguez said they were withholding it citing concerns over tensions with Iran. We owe it to our residents and certainly to the 35,000 men and women who serve in District government to ensure that that report did not expose any vulnerabilities to the District's networks, Rodriguez said. As a result, we underwent a process of robust interagency review and coordination process that took nine months. "It has not been edited, Allen said. It doesn't make any sense to me as to why it had not been shared with the Council. So that to me is a failure of what was required, and we can't have that again." Rodriguez said he'd make sure it doesn't and vowed to work closely with the new members of the Homeland Security Commission which produced the report. They're now working on the 2019 version. The report assesses how the District is doing in preventing and preparing for a cyberattack and makes recommendations on how to improve the District's readiness and response if something does happen. The principal finding is that the District "continues to lack well-established coordination and collaboration processes within the government and across the National Capital Region to safeguard the District's cyberspace." It says the District has yet to define clear roles and responsibilities for its constituent agencies and positions responsible for cybersecurity. The District's Homeland Security Commission by law is tasked with creating an annual report for the mayor and Council members. D.C. Code also specifies the commission "shall make the report available to the public." The previous report was released in 2015. The report also criticizes District leaders for failing to implement some of the recommendations made in a 2013 report from the same commission. Those include the formation of a task force to perform cybersecurity risk assessment and development of a contingency response plan for catastrophic cyberattack on the District's electrical power grid. Two members of the Homeland Security Commission who helped draft the report told the News4 I-Team that they saw no reason for it to be kept secret and that some members, who are experts in varying security-related fields, including cybersecurity, had been advocating for the report's release for more than a year. It was completed in December 2018. D.C. government ultimately released the report late Tuesday, in its entirety, with no explanation for the change of heart. The I-Team emailed HSEMA and a spokesperson for the mayor to inquire further but did not receive a response. The I-Team finally obtained the report late Tuesday evening in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed in December after months of delay. HSEMA requested an extension on the FOIA, which expired Tuesday. On Wednesday, District leaders posted the report on the Homeland Security Commission website for the public to see. The recommendations contained in the report focus on high-level policy, including the importance of adequate funding for cybersecurity, keeping the District's top cybersecurity positions filled with talented leaders and improving intelligence and information sharing about threats facing the region. The report also recommends exploring ways to expand the authority of the chief technology officer and chief information security officer to be able to compel or require government entities outside the mayor's direct authority to adhere to and implement the District's information security programs and practices. Those offices, including the Board of Elections, DC Water and the D.C. Council, are currently encouraged to voluntarily comply. "A lot of the recommendations in the report have already been implemented by the mayor and so we feel confident that we have a strong cyber posture," Rodriguez said during a news conference in January. He did not specify which changes were made. U.S. Secret Service arrested a woman suspected of breaching security near the White House Friday. According to court filings, officers found the California woman running up the steps of the U.S. Treasury Building, which is part of the White House complex. Samira Jabr drove cross-country from California to reach Washington, D.C., hours before the security breach, according to a court filing from prosecutors. Jabr said police were conspiring with casinos to harm her and she believed the president could help her, according to the charging document. Jabr told Secret Service officers she had a piece in her car but said she was permitted to carry it, according to court filings. The officers searched her car but did not find a firearm, according to court filings. According to the charging document, Jabr acknowledged stopping at the Colusa Casino Resort in California and a casino in Winnemucca, Nevada, en route to D.C. last week. Court records said officers found a stolen purse in Jabrs car. Inside the purse, officers found a drivers license belonging to a Wisconsin woman who had reported the purse stolen at a Nevada casino April 17. The U.S. Treasury Building is surrounded by perimeter security fencing. According to the charging document, There were posted signs, on both temporary and permanent fences in the area where Jabr entered the Treasury grounds, that stated, 'Restricted Area, Do Not Enter.'" An Algerian court Tuesday sentenced several nationals from Liberia, Mali and Guinea for their involvement in espionage operations for Israel, Anadolu Agency reported. A Liberian national of Lebanese origin was handed death sentence. Seven other defendants from Mali and Guinea were given 10 years in jail each for espionage for Israel, the Turkish news agency reported. The men, according to Anadolu, were nabbed in 2015 in an army operation in the city of Ghardaia, 600 kilometers south of Algiers. They were arrested in possession of documents and communications equipment related to espionage for Israel. The court had issued a similar verdict in November last year. The defendants can appeal the sentences before the Supreme Court. The prosecution has accused them of threatening Algerian national security, foreign espionage, and involvement in a criminal group as part of a collective project threatening national security, the Turkish-state run agency noted. Algeria, like most Arab countries, has no diplomatic ties with Israel. The North African country bans its citizen from visiting Israel. A man bit an employee of an adult store in Virginia on the butt and sexually assaulted her, Prince William County police said. The victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was alone in Le Tache Couples Boutique in Manassas about 8:45 p.m. April 16 when a man entered and asked about items for his wife. He then went behind the counter and bit her butt, the victim said. She pushed him out from behind the counter and he paced around and touched her inappropriately, police said. At some point he went back behind the counter. The victim said he tried to push her down and take off her dress. She fought him off and he left the store. Security video of the attack helped police identify a suspect, 25-year-old Benjamin Alex Dinarte. Police arrested him at his Manassas home Tuesday. Dinarte is charged with two counts of sexual battery and one count of assault and battery among other charges. He is being held without bond and has a court date of June 4. What to Know Thrown out of his SUV during a crash, Greg Eubanks spent two days in a ditch near the Beltway. He said he saw buzzards and snakes, and drank rainwater to survive. The 40-year-old told News4 what went through his head as he waited for help to arrive. Alone and injured in the woods, Greg Eubanks saw snakes and buzzards around him. For two days, he drank rainwater to survive. Earlier this month, Eubanks crashed his SUV near the Capital Beltway in Maryland. Thrown from the vehicle, he spent two days in a ditch before someone saw his SUV and then found him. On Wednesday, he told News4 about the ordeal. "I definitely kept faith and kept talking to myself, telling myself constantly, 'Greg, you've gotta get out of this. Greg, you've got to beat this.' Constantly, constantly. The whole time I was down there," he said, his right arm in a sling. Eubanks went out for food on Friday, April 13. Then he disappeared. His family called his phone over and over, but it went straight to voicemail. They searched for his van. They filed a missing persons report. But there was still no sign of him. Eubanks was outside, as temperatures soared to the mid-80s and then heavy rains drenched the area. The 40-year-old had crashed his SUV down an embankment on Indian Head Highway (Route 210) near the Beltway. The force of the crash launched him through the sunroof on his white Mercedes. He landed about 400 feet from the vehicle, he said. He broke bones in his back and shoulders and could barely crawl. Birds circled around him. "There were buzzards starting to fly around above me, as if to prey on me, waiting for me to die," he said. Terrified of snakes, he saw those too. He drank rainwater. "I started to take the water and just drink it because there was nothing else. I felt my body just dehydrated, starting to fall apart," he said. He began to get desperate. "There was a time when I thought I might die, because I felt like no one would know where I was at," he said. Eubanks tried to cry out, but no one could hear him over the noise from the road. "I started to yell, 'Help! Help!' And I heard no one in response," he said. His family searched for him but turned up nothing. Finally, before 8 a.m. Monday, April 16, Maryland highway workers spotted the Mercedes. They saw Eubanks, and he was rushed to a hospital in stable condition. He spent four days in the hospital and was recovering at home on Wednesday. "I just feel like it wasn't my time, and I feel like God was just watching over me, letting me know that I still have a purpose here," he said. Police previously said they were investigating the cause of the crash. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Eubanks cover medical bills. A man who pleaded guilty to raping a Howard University student in a dormitory in November 2012 received a 48-year sentence Tuesday. DeMarco Myles, 24, pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony counts of first-degree sexual abuse while armed, burglary while armed, kidnapping while armed, and misdemeanor counts of assault and second-degree theft. Myles entered the Bethune Annex womens dormitory in the 2200 block of Fourth Street NW the afternoon of Nov. 2, 2012, and went from room to room until he found his victim, according to prosecutors. Threatening her with a distinctive knife, Myles raped her. During the attack, the victim pleaded with Myles to stop, saying she didn't know who he was, so he wrote Marco and a cellphone number on a piece of paper, showed it to her and said, Now you know me, according to the prosecution. He later tried to scratch out the number but left the paper behind. Police responding to a 911 call figured out the number and tracked it to Myles, who they arrested that night at his home, where the also found the knife, prosecutors said. Myles will serve the sentence concurrently with a 40-year term he is serving for an attack he committed a week earlier, prosecutors said. Until his arrest for the Howard rape, police conducted a manhunt for the man who attempted to sexually assault a woman Oct. 26 in an apartment near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station in northeast D.C. That victim hid in a closet after he broke in and tried to assault her, but Myles overpowered her, stabbed her more than 20 times and left her for dead, according to the prosecution. He later told police he had killed the woman, but she managed to call 911 and survived. Myles pleaded guilty in January 2015 to 10 charges connected to that attack. Upon his release from prison, Myles will be on supervised release and be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. What to Know The Washington Redskins wide receiver Paul Richardson was pulled over by Virginia State Police on Tuesday Richardson later tweeted about the traffic stop, alleging the officer asked him inappropriate, racially charged questions A Virginia State Police spokesperson says the department is investigating The Washington Redskins welcomed wide receiver Paul Richardson with open arms in March, but Richardson says he didn't receive similar treatment when a Virginia State Police Officer pulled him over and allegedly asked if he was in a gang. Virginia State Police acknowledge that Richardson was pulled over near the Dulles Toll Road about 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. They say that Richardson's plates weren't properly displayed on the car. Richardson tweeted about his experience: "Just got pulled over by Virginia police offer in a toll lane and before asking my name he asked me if I was in a gang, then minutes later told me he thought I was a dealer (drugs). What a welcome to the east coast. Finished up with asking me how much car cost me." The charged questions have prompted concern that Richardson was racially profiled by the Virginia State Police officer, who has not yet been named. "It represents a level of profiling," NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith told News4. The tweet has since been deleted. Richardson tweeted again later, saying the allegations were true but tweeting wasn't the best way to deal with the issue. Its true, but tweeting about it wasnt the right way to deal. PRichieJr (@prichiejr) April 24, 2018 The officer gave Richardson a ticket for failing to have his Mercedes properly registered. But Richardson also tweeted hes only had the SUV for two weeks and it has temporary registration. "The allegations are awful. And I don't think that it certainly represents the best of our community," Smith said. Smith then called the stop "an encounter with law enforcement that all too many people of color have first hand experience." The Virginia State Police said that no formal complaint had been filed, but they were conducting an investigation. While no formal complaint has been filed, the Department is reviewing the matter, to include the trooper's in-car camera footage of the traffic stop, to determine if the traffic stop was handled in accordance with state police policy," a spokesperson wrote in a statement. Richardson did not immediately respond to News4 for comment. Two men are in custody after a pursuit that started with a drive-by shooting in Massachusetts ended about 20 miles away in New Hampshire when the vehicle crashed and the driver and a passenger were arrested. The chase started in Haverhill, Massachusetts, around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Police said one of the men shot at a house in the Acre neighborhood but then started shooting at them when they gave chase. Home security video shows flashes from the gun coming from the passenger side window. Several bullets went through the walls of a nearby home as a family slept upstairs. Officers from Haverhill chased the Mazda along Interstate 495 before crossing into New Hampshire, where the car took exit 3 in Windham and lost control and crashed into an embankment on Route 111. The driver, Manuel Antonio Soto, 20, of Haverhill, was immediately taken into custody. Police said a gun along with two magazines were found in the passenger compartment of the car. Soto's passenger, Javonnie Chambers, 21, of Berlin, New Hampshire, initially fled into the nearby woods. Police said they knew who they were looking for because Chambers left his driver's license in the crashed car. Following a search of the area, he was eventually located around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday and taken into custody. "We did a perimeter search and a search of the woods. We were unable to find the second subject," Windham police Capt. Michael Caron said. "The subject was (later) found along the highway just north of exit 4 in Londonderry by the state police and brought into custody." No injuries were reported to any officers or either of the suspects. Soto was charged with one count of reckless conduct and as a fugitive from justice. He waived his rendition hearing on Wednesday and will be returned to Massachusetts to face charges there. Chambers was arraigned on fugitive from justice and resisting arrest charges and also faces an assault with intent to murder charge in Massachusetts. It wasn't immediately known if the two have lawyers. A 9-year-old boy was airlifted Tuesday after being pulled from the Androscoggin River in Maine; his 5-year-old brother, who also fell into the water, remains missing. According to News Center Maine, crews responded around 7 p.m. after reports that the chilldren had fallen into the river. Firefighters from Auburn pulled the 9-year-old out and he was taken by LifeFlight to Maine Medical Center. Responders continued to search for about three hours Tuesday night for the 5-year-old. The search was reportedly called off due to hazardous river conditions. The children have not been publicly identified, but police told News Center Maine their parents had been notified. One person has been arrested and another remains on the run after a car crashed Tuesday night across New Hampshire's border following a police chase that began in Massachusetts. Police in Haverhill, Massachusetts, say a suspect shot a handgun at an unknown target. When officers began to go after the car, they say the suspect began to shoot at them. Officers from Haverhill chased the car along Interstate 495 before crossing into New Hampshire. The car crashed in Windham. Dozens of police officers and state troopers were on the scene. One person was in police custody before 11 p.m. Police continued searching for a second suspect they say fled into the woods. A gun was taken from the car, but police say the second suspect may still be armed. Around midnight, a SWAT team arrived with an armored vehicle. People in the area are being asked to remain indoors. Anyone who sees anything suspicious is asked to call 911. Maine lawmakers and officials are reacting to the news of a Somerset County deputy being gunned down overnight Wednesday as authorities continue to hunt for his killer. Cpl. Eugene Cole, a 13-year veteran of the Somerset County Sheriff's Department, was shot and killed by John Williams, according to police. A nationwide alert has been issued for the 29-year-old suspect, whom police believe is armed and extremely dangerous. "Our deepest condolences go out to the family of fallen Deputy Sheriff Corporal Eugene Cole," Maine Gov. Paul LePage tweeted out. "If you live in Somerset County and the surrounding area, please cooperate with law enforcement and stay safe." In a tweet, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said she was "deeply saddened" when she heard about Cole's death. "Cpl. Cole served the citizens of Somerset County for 13 years with honor & distinction, & Maine will be eternally grateful for his brave actions to protect his community," she said. U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent, also expressed his condolences on social media. "Praying for his family and friends, and the many law enforcement officials working to capture his killer," he tweeted. "Every single day, the men and women of our law enforcement put their lives on the line to protect our families and our communities," U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, who represents Norridgewock in Congress, tweeted out. "I am praying for Mr. Cole, his family, and our entire community today and I send them my deepest condolences." The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) has decided against approving accreditation for the new institution that would be created by consolidating Connecticuts 12 community colleges. Connecticut State Colleges and University President Mark Ojakian had presented the Students First plan, which would have consolidated the 12 campuses into one accredited institution. The CSCU system has seen years of reductions due to budget cuts, lapses and holdbacks. The plan, Ojakian argued, would result in $28 million in annual savings and a net job loss of 200 positions. However, NEASC, which is the regional accreditation association, said that the plan was not simply a substantive change to the current model, but rather would create an entirely new institution, which would need to go through the full process of applying for accreditation. The commission ruled that it could not approve the Community College of Connecticut for accreditation based on the current proposal. Because of the magnitude of the proposed changes, the proposed timeline and the limited investment in supporting the changes, the Commission is concerned that the potential for a disorderly environmental for students is too high for it to approve the proposed Community College of Connecticut as a candidate for accreditation based on this proposal, NEASC wrote in a letter. In a letter to the CSCU community, Ojakian said officials were reviewing their options in light of the decision from NEASC. This decision by NEASC is devastating to our ability to hold the line on tuition and keep all campuses open. In the face of an on-going fiscal emergency, it forces us to consider options that we have strongly fought against because it will harm the 50,000 students who rely on their campuses and their campus communities, Ojakian wrote. Ojakian told NBC Connecticut he was shocked and blindsided by the decision. Accreditation affects things like school funding and financial aid. There had been stiff opposition to the plan from the start, including from faculty and staff. In a statement following the decision, the union CSU-AAUP president wrote she was relieved and that, This massive consolidation was ill-researched and underestimated in scope. NEASCs decision does not necessarily mean the plan was rejected entirely the commission went on to say that if CSCU moves forward with the plan, they would support efforts to create a comprehensive proposal for candidacy. What the decision does is prevent CSCU officials from moving forward with their proposed timeline, which aimed to have new leadership structures in place by July 2019. While we expected further guidance, we did not expect NEASC to redirect us to consider 'candidacy for accreditation,' a new process that will take another 5 years. The problems that our institutions and students face cannot wait 5 years. In 5 years, our institutions will be financially insolvent, Ojakian wrote. Ojakian said they were considering appealing the decision. "We dont have the luxury of time because in two years were going to be insolvent and we wont be able to pay our bills," he said. See the full response from NEASC below. The Moroccan tourist city of Marrakech will host the joint annual meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in October 2021. The decision was made by the Boards of Governors of the two institutions. It shows the trust Morocco enjoys at the international scene. The joint WB-IMF meetings bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, civil society, media and academics. They discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, global financial stability, poverty eradication, inclusive economic growth and job creation, climate change, and others. The last time the Annual Meetings were held in Africa was in 1973, in Nairobi, Kenya. Todays announcement of Morocco as the next location of the Meetings coincides with the 60th anniversary of the countrys membership of the WBG and the IMF. The Annual Meetings are usually held for two consecutive years at the two institutions headquarters in Washington, D.C. and every third year in another member country. The official signing ceremony for the 2021 Meetings in Morocco will take place during the 2018 Annual Meetings to take place in Indonesia in October. Intense emotions boiled over as angry and frustrated students, parents and faculty members addressed Massachusetts' Board of Higher Education Tuesday morning over the sudden closure of the Mount Ida College in Newton. "Mount Ida is more than a school," said one parent, Laura Gilson. "It's a home." "I'm a single mother. It's been heart-wrenching," another parent, Chris Connolly, said through tears. Earlier this month, the small school decided to close. School officials said the campus would be sold to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The Department of Higher Education, however, is reviewing its plans after many students and families complained. "This lack of communication was certainly negligent, but the fact that a month ago, I received a signed contract for next year, was cruel," added Mount Ida professor Jeffrey Marshall. For incoming students and their parents these are uncertain times scrambling to find a school to accept them with graduation approaching and financial aid money already awarded. "Why are you preying on our children, luring them to come to Mount Ida with this non-existent money?" Lisa McClean, whose daughter was accepted to Mount Ida, asked incredulously. The school's president, Barry Brown, held a closed-door meeting for students after the school announced it would close. Students, however, said the meeting did not help alleviate their frustrations. "It was pointless. It was a waste of time," said one student. "Barry Brown had nothing to say to us. It was just noise. I don't think they have answers for us." As the University of Massachusetts looks to accept Mount Ida transfers at its Dartmouth campus, many feel the plan is riddled with potential problems. "Students have been forgotten, students have been taken advantage of, and they have been let down by grownups," said UMass Boston undergrad student president Katelyn Mitrano. The announcement also upset students at the University of Massachusetts Boston. They believe their school, which is currently under construction, will take a backseat to UMass Amherst. They also feel that UMass Boston is underfunded. In addition to UMass Dartmouth, several other schools have offered admission deals to Mount Ida students, including Franklin Pierce University and Keene State College in New Hampshire. While the Board of Higher Education doesn't have jurisdiction over the deal, Chairman Chris Gabrieli says it's working to find solutions. "We could only start when this hot mess was handed to us," said Gabrieli. "I think we're doing everything we can, but there are real limits." Christian Aid speaker Chine MacDonald will speak on Wednesday October 6 about the vital importance of involving black voices in the climate justice movement especially in this pivotal year for climate justice as the UK hosts COP26 this year. Christian Aid speaker Chine MacDonald will speak on Wednesday October 6 about the vital importance of involving black voices in the climate justice movement especially in this pivotal year for climate justice as the UK hosts COP26 this year. Norwich Foodbank tackles the causes of poverty Norwich Foodbank has taken on Iain Turner to lead a new project dealing with the causes of food poverty. Read more Norwich Cathedrals Dippy and the Genesis deluge Following the news last month that well over 100,000 people have been to visit Dippy the Diplodocus at Norwich Cathedral, Matthew Pickhaver explains why he believes that Dippy helps to throw light on the biblical story of the great flood. Read more Norwich church Gaia art shows climate emergency St Peter Mancroft, Norwich made a public declaration of a climate emergency at it welcomed Luke Jerrams Gaia Earth Artwork for October. Read more Yarmouth mural to combat modern slavery A large mural will be erected in Great Yarmouth later this month to raise awareness of the widespread presence of slavery in this country. Read more Norwich bishop leads the way on climate change Bishop Graham Usher is among faith leaders who have signed a statement in the lead-up to COP26 calling on governments to take urgent action to protect the earths climate. Read more Norfolk leaders launch prayer for Armed Forces A group of Christian leaders in Norfolk is inviting churches to help launch a prayer group for the Armed Forces. Read more Pathways Tenancy Engagement Worker YMCA Norfolk is looking for a Pathways Tenancy Engagement Worker to work closely with service users by providing them with support to help them successfully manage their new, long term, secure tenancies. Read more Norfolk's nonagenarian seamstress makes dresses for Jordan Anna Bayles, a 96-year-old dressmaker from Wymondham, has sent her latest consignment of clothing as gifts to Christian refugees in Jordan. Read more Matthew Projects needs a Unity Service Manager The Matthew Project is seeking to recruit a new Service Manager for its Young Peoples Integrated Substance Misuse Service (Unity) in Norfolk, funded by Norfolk County Council Public Health. Read more Blue light services visit Dippy at night There are just under five weeks left of Dippy the dinosaurs stay at Norwich Cathedral and a spectacular farewell is planned with emergency services workers invited to a very special preview of the event. Read more Update with God before shutting down Ruth Lilley explains that some of the necessary housekeeping practices that keep our computers functioning correctly may have equivalent applications for our spiritual health. Read more Norwich event to explore sustainable futures Jonathon Porritt will be among speakers looking at sustainable futures at an event leading up to the COP 26 conference on Climate Change in Glasgow. Read more Great value residential centre in East Anglia Belsey Bridge residential centre offers fully catered group retreats in comfortable budget accommodation from only 40 per person per night Read more King's Lynn Pastor upcycles his mission to the homeless After serving for fourteen years as Pastor at Cornerstone King`s Lynn Baptist Church, Kevan Crane has taken on a new role serving the homeless. He explains his unusual journey of faith. Read more Perseverance brings rewards Andrew Frere-Smith has discovered the joys of DIY, but has realised that the best results are obtained when following the advice of James in the bible. Read more Hubb.church can help your church flourish on the web The Christian Cambridge-based web technology company which has supported the Network Norfolk website for the past 16 years has rebranded its church website, communications, administration and finance platform. Read more 'Visions of Salvation' Julian retreat The Friends of Julian of Norwich present 'Visions of Salvation', a two day in-person and online retreat taking place on October 29 and 30. Read more Ex-archbishop speaks of urban saints in Norwich Ex-archbishop speaks of urban saints in Norwich Holiness - demonstrated through the lives of three modern urban saints - was the subject of a Newman Lecture, given by former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams at the University of East Anglia last night (April 23). Addressing an audience of around 120, Dr Williams, now Master of Magdalene College in Cambridge, spoke about the lives of three rather remarkable 20th century women. They are to my mind among the very greatest Christian witnesses of the last 100 years, said Dr Williams. None of them were conventional saintly figures, all caused controversy and a degree of scandal in their day and all of them came to embrace the fullness of faith as adults. There is an extraordinary convergence in the vision of these three women, their writings and the heart of their witness in the 20th century city. They all ran their hands down the grain of reality and found it ran in the same way, said Dr Williams. They shared the experience of a century which witnessed an immense upheaval, suffering, violence and injustice on an exceptional scale. Each of them was directly involved in the consequences of it and each lived out their vocation in an urban environment. Maria Skobtsova, grew up as a radical and communist in Russia. She became politically active, was twice divorced and had to leave Russia in poverty. She ended up in Paris and, after the death of her youngest child at the age of five, turned towards faith and met the needs of the homeless and refugees. She became a nun and continued her work, using her home as a refuge for refugees first from Russia and then Jews from Nazi Germany. When the Nazis arrived in Paris she smuggled many Jews out. She was arrested and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp when she was executed. Dorothy Day, from New York, was the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement in the USA. She was active as a communist, a single mother and led a colourful life. She has a radical passion for the poor which consumed her and which made no sense at all unless there was a radical passion in the universe for the good of the human race, said Dr Williams. She organised small communities across the USA for vagrants, the homeless and the destitute, with no preconditions. She genuinely believed that if there was a need at the door, the door had to be opened. She did this for decades and it cost her and her family dearly French woman, Madeleine Delbrel, was a lively and unconventional young woman and a Communist. She was from a well-to-do and anti-religious background. When she discovered that there was something missing from her life she turned to a life of radical Christian discipleship at Ivry near Paris. It was essentially prayer that converted Madeleine and she trained as a social worker and spent most of her adult life as a director of social services. She set up a small informal community of single women who practiced hospitality. These three women are remarkable examples of lives of forbidding intensity and self-sacrifice which make me feel extremely half-hearted, said Dr Williams. They organised their Christian discipleship around a couple of very simple principles. The person who is before you with empty or open hands is God - understand that and all sorts of sometimes uncomfortable things follow. Also, part of what is in front of you holding out hands is yourself a needy, confused and quite often chaotic self. Be patient with that self as well, as that is God too, said Dr Williams. These three woman dont give us a theory of how to be holy in the modern city or modern world. They give us three stories of holiness, which is always the best way to approach holiness narratives not theories. The Newman Lecture series coincides with the recent release by Pope Francis of an apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate a call to holiness in todays world. The final lecture is from Sr Ann Swailes of Cambridge University on April 30 at 6.30pm, in the Julian Study Centre at the UEA and is free to attend. For more information contact andrew.Eburne@uea.ac.uk Pictured above is Dr Rowan Williams (centre), with Bishop Alan Hopes (left) and Deacon Andrew Eburne. It is all about compromise THE sun shone for a Woolton Hill couple who celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary last week. Doreen Pearce, 83, and her husband Harry, 86, were childhood sweethearts, first getting together when Doreen was 14 and Harry was 17. They met at an Old-Time dancing class, which they both attended regularly. Mrs Pearce said: He always asked me to dance. They married in 1953 at Woolton Hill church, two years after Mr Pearce proposed on a bridge over the river at Sonning. Mrs Pearce said the key to a long marriage was give and take. She said: You cant say that you have never had a row or fallen out, but it has to be give and take. Mr Pearce said: It is just a matter of getting on with it. You take the bad with the good. It is all about compromise. Throughout their 65-year marriage they have always used nicknames for each other, with Mr Pearce being known as Ducky and Mrs Pearce being Lover. The start of their marriage was difficult as they got married while Mr Pearce was on leave from the army. He joined the 11th Hussars in 1951 and had been deployed abroad. Following the wedding, he was deployed to Malaya for three years during which time the only contact they had was through letters, which they have kept safe for the whole of their marriage. While he was on active duty in Malaya, Mr Pearce lost an eye and was in a hospital in Singapore. He said: Doreen threatened to come out to see me in hospital, but because I was on active duty it wasnt allowed. Mrs Pearce added: I was really concerned, but they wouldnt let me go. It was horrific They celebrated their 65th anniversary by having a family meal at the Travellers Friend, Crookham Common, on Sunday. They have two daughters, Shirley Coleman and Diane Martin, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Fruit and veg-loving canal horse is village celebrity MEET Monty, the carrot-loving heavy horse. He has become something of a celebrity in Kintbury after developing a taste for free fruit and veg from The Corner Stores in the High Street. Monty pulls the narrowboats along the canal in the village for the Kennet Horse Boat Company. Each day, after finishing work, he is taken back through the village to his field. But one day the owners of the stores, Jay and Anita Mungur, fed him a carrot. From that day on, Monty would stop outside the shop and refuse to go any further until he had a treat. One regular customer at the store, Arabella Christian, said: He and his heavyhorse colleague Drummer, have become celebrities in the village and when neighbours and children hear them coming, they all come to watch them get their fruit and veg. The only way the owners can get them to move on is to allow them to get their daily fruit or veg from the shop. Ive watched it myself as Monty will position himself right outside the shop door. The owners drop everything theyre doing and rush out to feed the horses and its clear theyve developed a bit of a bond with each other. She added: Sundays are a bit of a problem because the shop is shut. So, to avoid disappointment, the owner of the horses has to fill his pockets with fruit to give them outside the shop. Everything in Kintbury stops for Monty and Drummer. But you can have too much of a good thing. Recently, Monty apparently felt he was not getting enough treats and so helped himself to a piece of fruit from the outside display of another shop. But it was a lemon. Mrs Christian said: The lady from the shop said it was hilarious because he tried to spit it out while making faces. He clearly found it absolutely disgusting. Monty and Drummer belong to Stephen Butler, who runs the Kennet Horse Boat Company with his wife Charlotte. The company offers horse-drawn trips on the Kennet and Avon Canal. The Butlers say adults and children alike love the cross-Shire horses who they describe as the pride and symbol of our business. Monty is a Welsh Cob Shire Cross and has been with the Butlers since 2012 Drummer, who joined them in 2016, is a young Clydesdale Cobb Cross. Homes to be demolished to make way for 232 rented flats, 13 of which affordable RESIDENTS housed in temporary council accommodation will have their homes demolished when work on Market Street begins later this year. Last week, the reported that work to construct a new bus station in the Wharf would begin next month and is scheduled to take six months. The newspaper also reported that temporary accommodation owned by West Berkshire Council would be demolished in phase one of the project. The was contacted by a Highfield Avenue resident, who said that her housing officer had not been informed of any developments regarding Market Street. Furthermore, no notice has been served by contractors at this stage. The council has since said that work on Market Street is expected to begin in November. In a letter to Newbury MP Richard Benyon, the resident said: The irony is that four houses which provide temporary accommodation for the council (meaning that the council is the landlord and not a housing association) are being demolished with no alternative housing being provided/available." In response, council spokesman Martin Dunscombe said: The regeneration of Market Street is a flagship project for the town and something which has been widely promoted locally. Local residents will have been aware of the plans for some time and, as such, the announcement made this/last week will not have come as a surprise to residents in Highfield Avenue. We take our responsibilities to the families we support very seriously. The support in place now will continue after the Highfield Avenue properties become unavailable. Once residents are given notice, which is expected soon, they will have seven months before they have to leave, with work expected to start on site in November. Until then, they will be able to remain in their homes and we will work with them to put alternative arrangements in place. Mr Dunscombe added that representatives from West Berkshire Council and Grainger had since contacted the resident to discuss the project, which will see 232 rented flats built, a multi-storey car park and the relocation of the bus station. A WPA truck being loaded with flood debris in Louisville, Kentucky, 1937. Photo: Corbis via Getty Images Two years ago, the notion that the federal government would hire anybody who didnt have a job was so obscure that it did not even qualify for Bernie Sanderss blue-sky social-democratic wish list of a platform. Since then, the jobs guarantee plan has materialized almost out of nowhere and ascended nearly to the status of Democratic Party doctrine. Last spring, the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank with a close relationship to the Democratic Party, proposed a version of a federal jobs guarantee. Another liberal think tank, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, commissioned a report by outside scholars Darrick Hamilton, William Darity, and Mark Paul that proposed a more fleshed-out version. It has cornered the progressive small-magazine market, with fulsome endorsements in The Nation, The New Republic, the Intercept, and Democracy Journal. In recent weeks, some version of a job guarantee has gained endorsements from senators and potential presidential candidates Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Bernie Sanders (in exactly that somewhat surprising chronological order). The customary years, or decades, it takes for a policy concept to matriculate from academic white papers to party platform has been compressed into mere months. The partys rapid embrace of a job guarantee is understandable, since the idea has enormous power as both an abstract social ideal and as a political messaging vehicle. The weak point of the Democrats economic appeal has always been the (heavily racialized) accusation that they are subsidizing sloth. Even working-class people who stand to benefit directly from government activism often recoil at the notion that their own hard work might subsidize lazy neighbors. A job guarantee neutralizes that objection, co-opting the conservative themes of self-sufficiency and hard work. Bill Clinton used this rhetoric to powerful effect in 1992, promising that he would transform welfare into a hand up, not a hand out. (Of course, Republicans won Congress, and passed a welfare-reform bill without the money for jobs Clinton envisioned, and he signed it anyway.) Still, the original promise could appeal simultaneously to skeptical Reagan Democrats and the partys loyal base. Indeed, one of the underplayed selling points of a job guarantee is that it would automatically lead to reduced spending on existing social welfare programs. The authors of one plan project that, by increasing the incomes of millions of recipients, demand for unemployment insurance would fall substantially, as would it for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, and the Childrens Health Insurance Program, while Temporary Assistance for Needy Families could be nearly eliminated. The early lines of attack conservatives have devised against the job guarantee proposal are almost a testament to its popularity. If the government offers decent compensations, warns Brian Riedl of the conservative Manhattan Institute, There will be pressure to introduce a higher wage or certain benefits that the private sector doesnt offer. I suspect Democrats would have little fear about facing attack ads warning that under their plan, employers are going to have to give everybody a raise or more generous benefits. The goal of true universal employment would also fulfill some of the deepest social aspirations of right and left alike. Unemployment imposes massive social costs. People who cant find jobs suffer mental and physical health consequences. Young people who are unlucky enough to enter the workforce (or to try to enter it) during a recession have lower lifetime wages than those who graduate from school into a healthy economy. Some of the sharpest social criticism from the right describes the cultural effects to communities where the norm of working-age adults having regular employment breaks down (think J.D. Vances Hillbilly Elegy.) In depressed rural and urban areas, chronic unemployment seems to defy traditional remedies. *** Unfortunately, Democrats do not yet have a proposal that can bring these aspirations to life. One problem to work through is the traditional Democratic question of how to finance their new program. (Republican policy ideas never have this issue they just put everything on the credit card and stick the next president with the bill.) Its quite a large expenditure, perhaps half a trillion dollars a year, depending on the exact contours. Progressives have circulated polling showing support for a job guarantee financed by a 5 percent income tax hike on earnings over $200,000 a year, but Josh Bivens at the liberal Economic Policy Institute notes that that would cover less than a fifth of the cost. And even that figure optimistically assumes the federal job guarantee would attract only people who are currently unemployed or underemployed. Since the most popular job guarantee plans would offer relatively solid wages and benefits ($15 an hour plus benefits), they would probably draw applicants who currently have jobs with stingier compensation. If that happened, as youd expect, the cost of the program might balloon up to several times over. Once you start financing the program with taxes on the middle class which would probably be necessary given the scale of its cost then the popularity would drop off precipitously. Thats just the small problem. The big problem is that designing a federal jobs program large enough to usefully employ all applicants is a devilishly complex challenge that none of the proposals currently circulating have worked through. Proposals to implement universal access to day care, or single-payer health insurance, have plenty of models up and running in industrialized democracies. The job guarantee doesnt have an easy showcase to copy. Advocates point to the Works Progress Administration during the New Deal, which put millions of unemployed men to work. They have also mentioned the Jefes program in Argentina from 2001, and a rural jobs program in India. What all three cases have in common is that they functioned in an environment where the work required relatively little training or equipment. The WPA is justifiably famous, but these days, not a lot of construction work can be done with just shovels. The Center for American Progress cites large, unmet needs that could be filled with unemployed workers: There are not nearly enough home care workers to aid the aged and disabled. Many working families with children under the age of 5 need access to affordable child care. Schools need teachers aides, and cities need EMTs. Its true that some temporary needs could be handled with the temporary workers who would be hired by the government for this purpose. But the program by design would fluctuate in size along with the business cycle, swelling during a recession, and contracting during a recovery. You cant just have your teachers and child-care workers come and go. The jobs in the job guarantee would have to be for work that is either temporary, or optional. That constricts the kinds of work that can be done. This is a more imposing obstacle than you might think. (I was far more optimistic about the potential for a federal job guarantee before I began studying the details.) In both the private and public sector, jobs are designed with an output in mind, with employing people a by-product. If employing people becomes the primary goal, then instead of starting with a job description and finding people who can do it, you start with the people you need to hire and then find work theyre qualified to do. And this task would be undertaken, even with a several year ramp-up, on a massive scale. The white papers Ive read have all basically yadda-yadda-yaddad away this enormous managerial challenge. Let everyone from churches to civic organizations to individuals submit ideas, proposes Jeff Spross in Democracy Journal. That would create a ground-level dialogue, giving Americans more democratic control over the planning of their local economies. Managing and overseeing $500 billion a year in open-ended employment subsidies, while safeguarding against direct embezzlement or the use of public labor for private gain, is a staggering bureaucratic challenge that wont disappear by calling it democratic control. If the government decided to reduce both the cost to taxpayers, and the ambition of the program, it could scale the job guarantee back to a low-wage make-work program finding tasks people can do during working hours as a bridge to prepare them for a real job. That would be more feasible to design, but also fall far short of the lofty promises currently dancing in Democratic heads. Job training and workfare programs have a pretty discouraging history. Booker has, appropriately, scaled back his job guarantee ambitions to match the embryonic state of its policy development. Bookers version is a three-year pilot program that would pick up to 15 communities and give them funding to employ every adult at $15 per hour plus health care and family and sick leave. A demonstration program seems like a sensible step to test out the job guarantee concept and work out the kinks. But the rhetoric many progressives are using to sell this idea promises something much bigger and faster than a pilot program. Intellectual advocates of the job guarantee believe their proposal serves a larger purpose of restoring the Democratic Party to its prelapsarian state of working-class innocence, before neoliberals took control. Franklin Roosevelt advocated a right to a useful and remunerative job. This goal was a fundamental Democratic theme for decades. But when McGovern lost to Richard Nixon in a landslide, the newly ascendant neoliberal wing of the party blamed McGoverns populism for his defeat, writes Bryce Covert in The New Republic, They turned the party toward the center supposedly the only way to win elections and mostly left it to the private sector to keep Americans gainfully employed. One might notice in this story a chronological gap of several decades between the virtuous Roosevelt and the craven modern neoliberals. At no point in this history not during Roosevelts presidency, nor that of Truman, Kennedy, or Johnson did Democrats actually design, let alone pass, a full-scale plan for permanent guaranteed employment. That fact should tell us that figuring out how to give every American a job is actually a really hard problem, and there may be a reason other than a lack of concern for the well-being of the working class that it hasnt happened. In the meantime, there are plenty of better-developed policies that can help lift incomes for poor people. And some of them will be fighting for the same finite pool of resources that might go to a job guarantee plan. There are proposals to raise taxes on the rich to pay for expanded health insurance, or universal pre-K, or a large-scale public infrastructure plan, but taxing the rich cant pay for all those things. Slotting a half-baked concept at the front of the queue seems, at best, wildly premature. Copyrights are for humans, not for monkeys, even the creature that used a wildlife photographers camera to take selfie photos that soon circulated worldwide, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Monday. The case stems from an incident in 2011, when British photographer David Slater, on a visit to the Tangkoko Reserve in Sulawesi, Indonesia, put down his camera and walked away. When he looked back, a crested black macaque monkey was examining the camera, looking at a reflection in the lens, and, as Slater described it, making funny faces before snapping the shutter. The photos became a hit on social media, while Slater went on to publish them in a 2014 book, Wildlife Personalities. That prompted the nonprofit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to file suit on behalf of the monkey, whom they named Naruto, claiming the right of a thinking nonhuman to legal ownership of the creatures own creative work. The suit relied on a 2004 ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that allowed animal-rights supporters to sue on behalf of whales and dolphins in opposing unsuccessfully, as it turned out Navy sonar testing. A federal judge in San Francisco, where Slaters book was published, ruled in 2016 that Narutos surrogates could bring a case in his name, but that the U.S. Copyright Act, as written, applied only to humans. The appeals court agreed Monday, rejecting a challenge from the animal-rights group which, in a separate development, has reached a settlement aimed at protecting Narutos habitat. The Copyright Act does not expressly authorize animals to file copyright infringement suits, Judge Carlos Bea said. PETA noted that courts have allowed corporations, which also are not expressly mentioned in the law, to claim copyrights and sue for violations. But Bea noted that the Supreme Court has upheld corporate claims of free speech and religion, and observed that corporations are formed and owned by humans; they are not formed or owned by animals. The court issued its ruling despite being urged by both sides in the case to dismiss it after they settled their dispute in September. The settlement recognized Slater as the copyright-holder but required him to donate 25 percent of any future revenue from the selfies to charities that would promote the habitat and well-being of crested macaques in Indonesia. The macaques are classified as critically endangered after years of habitat loss and being hunted for bush meat. While leaving the settlement undisturbed, Bea took a swipe at PETA, saying the animal-rights group seems to employ Naruto as an unwitting pawn in its ideological goals. He also said the full appeals court should reconsider and overturn the 2004 ruling allowing suits on behalf of animals. The case is the first time an animal will benefit financially from a work of his own creation, said PETAs general counsel, Jeff Kerr, referring to the habitat protection. Kerr said the group still maintains that Naruto shouldnt be treated any differently than any other photographer just because he doesnt happen to be human. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Courtesy of State Representative Richard Smith State Representative Richard Smith (R-108th) recently joined State Senator Michael McLachlan (R-24th) in welcoming a third-grade class from Sherman School, as well as their teachers and parent chaperones to the State Capitol. After touring the historic Capitol building, the third-graders were officially announced on the floor of the House by Rep. Smith during a scheduled House session. Then, Sen. McLachlan welcomed them to the Senate chamber. A Shepaug Valley School senior will present a multi-media art performance, Hope through the Arts, April 27 at 7 p.m. in Washington. Michelle Randall, a pre-professional dance student at FineLine Theatre Arts in New Milford, has organized the event as part of her required senior project. The event will showcase dance, music, poetry and art at the school, 159 South St. An intermission will be held so guests can view displayed art. For her project, Michelle chose to combine her passion for the arts with raising awareness for Ann's Place of Greater Danbury, a cancer research and support center that offers services to the community free of charge. Throughout the year, Michelle spent time at Ann's Place conducting interviews and learning more about the various services and forms of therapy they provide, including art therapy. Michelle became interested in learning about how art therapy can be spiritually healing, which became a significant portion of the research for her project. Admission is $15 for adults and $5 for students; tickets can be purchased at the door. All proceeds will benefit Ann's Place. WASHINGTON The Region 12 school board is sending a nearly $22 million school budget to voters next month. The spending plan is $589,000, or 2.76 percent, higher than the current budget, but lower than the initial department requests and Superintendent Patricia Cosentinos proposal. It is set for a district meeting on May 7 with the possible referendum on May 8. Region 12 includes Washington, Bridgewater and Roxbury. The Region 12 school boards budget vote came after a public hearing earlier this month where three people spoke against the increase and one in favor of the budget. I appreciate your efforts, but for me its not enough, Roxbury First Selectwoman Barbara Henry told the board at that meeting. She said the increase, coupled with reduced state funding, is making it harder for the town to make up the difference. She said its even harder for Roxbury where the student enrollment is declining at a slower rate than the other towns, which is typically seen as a positive thing but translates into a bigger share of the Region 12 budget. Board member Michelle Gorra has said the largest driver for the budget increase was $526,000 for health insurance premiums. An additional $100,000 is also needed for special education and another $100,000 for teacher contracts. Among the cuts made in the budget are two school buses, 2.5 paraprofessional positions and $20,000 from the superintendents salary. The current superintendent is going to New Fairfield at the end of this school year. WASHINGTON The state has given Region 12 the go-ahead to go out to bid for demolition, which is the first phase of construction for the long-discussed agriscience school. The program will be located at Shepaug Valley School and focus on agriculture and STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and math. It will serve 139 students from Region 12, Danbury, Brookfield, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown and Sherman. Bethel has not committed. Superintendent Patricia Cosentino also announced at Mondays Region 12 meeting that the state awarded the district an additional $1.5 million to purchase furniture and fixtures. She said that money was part of the original grant, but school officials were unsure how it would be awarded. We were very happy to hear that, she said. Excluding the furniture, the school is expected to cost $29.9 million, with the state paying nearly $24 million. It is expected to include 35,750 square feet of new construction, while also using unused space within Shepaug. Cosentino said when they met with the state Department of Administrative Services last week, it sounded like the size was OK, but the district is waiting for the state to put it in writing. The AgSTEM school was overwhelmingly approved at a referendum in 2015 in all three towns that make up Region 12 Bridgewater, Roxbury and Washington but some residents recently called for a new referendum on the updated project. The project has since been scaled back in size and enrollment projections. Critics of the project claim the cost to build and operate are higher than projected, putting more on the taxpayers. Supporters of the AgSTEM school see the program as a way to boost the districts declining enrollment and offer needed STEM training. Cosentino has said the program has gotten the needed approvals, including from voters during the referendum, and it is now a school board project. At Mondays meeting, she and board Chairman Anthony Amato said they were excited the school is so close to being a reality. This is getting more tangible by the moment, he said. Now that they have the green light from the state to go out to bid, demolition on the science wing and asbestos areas is expected to start as soon as school is out for the summer. Construction is set to begin shortly after, with the program planned to open for the 2019-20 school year. Its moving now, full steam ahead, Cosentino said. kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been awarded $58.1 million from the National Institutes of Health to renew its five-year Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program to help improve the health of North Carolinians. With the new award, the UNC-Chapel Hill-led CTSA will broaden its reach across the state by continuing its alliance with RTI International and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and adding a formal partnership with North Carolina State University. The partners will leverage their institutional strengths in cutting-edge research, education, and health care to bring biomedical innovations to bear on the greatest health needs of North Carolina. "This major award is good news for the health of all North Carolinians," said UNC-Chapel Hill Vice Chancellor for Research Terry Magnuson, PhD. "It supports a critical pipeline that takes the latest scientific discoveries in our university labs and moves them into practice, leading to new treatments and new drugs that improve and save lives." Launched in 2006, the CTSA program has enabled innovative research teams to speed discovery and advance science aimed at improving the nation's health. Institutional CTSA awards are at the heart of the program, providing academic hubs for translational sciences. The program currently supports a consortium of more than 50 academic medical institutions that is fostering team science, leveraging national resources, and transforming the way biomedical research is conducted across the country. The grant will provide another five years of funding for the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC TraCS) Institute, which is now recognized as the central entity on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus responsible for the advancement of clinical and translational research. Since its inception in 2008 as the home of UNC's CTSA, NC TraCS has fundamentally changed the clinical and translational research landscape at UNC and across the state, with outreach efforts touching each of North Carolina's 100 counties. Over the last funding period, NC TraCS worked with over 350 practices, 130 community-based organizations, 88 percent of other CTSA hubs, and numerous non-CTSA universities through pilot awards or other initiatives. The Institute provided leadership for a number of high-impact multi-center clinical trials in HIV, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and pregnancy, among others. It also engaged patients as allies in the research process by developing Join the Conquest, a clinical trials website that includes over 6,000 registered participants and over 200 unique research studies. "What sets NC TraCS apart is our deep engagement with the patients and communities we serve, as well as our focus on training the research investigators and staff of the future," said Tim Carey, MD, MPH, Co-Principal Investigator at NC TraCS at UNC-Chapel Hill. To increase its impact and scope over the next five years, NC TraCS is establishing a new formal relationship with North Carolina State University. "Through much of our research -- developing new biosensors, creating materials for biomedical products, and establishing data science solutions, just to name a few -- NC State works at the interface of human health," said Alan Rebar, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Research at NC State University. "This newly formed collaboration will enable us to work more closely with our colleagues at NC TraCS to bring together some of the brightest and best minds in the Triangle to create solutions to real human health challenges." During the new grant period, NC TraCS will continue its commitment to moving scientific advances from the laboratory into clinical practice. Through its 4D (Drugs, Devices, and Diagnostics Development) Program, it will focus on shortening the developmental pipeline and increasing the number of companies created so that important products that address identified clinical needs get to the marketplace more quickly. "The collaborative nature of scientists and clinicians at UNC-Chapel Hill has made NC TraCS a success story to be proud of," said William L. Roper, MD, MPH, dean of the UNC School of Medicine and CEO of UNC Health Care. "Through the CTSA, our researchers have accelerated research to benefit North Carolinians and will continue to do so in new and important ways with this new round of funding." A study performed by an international team led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, reports a link between exposure to blue light at night and higher risk of developing breast and prostate cancer. Blue light is a range of the visible light spectrum emitted by most white LEDs and many tablet and phone screens. The results have been published in Environmental Health Perspectives. "WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified night shift work as probably carcinogenic to humans. There is evidence pointing to an association between exposure to artificial light at night, disruption of the circadian rhythm, and breast and prostate cancers. With this study we sought to determine whether night exposure to light in cities can affect the development of these two types of cancer", explains Manolis Kogevinas, ISGlobal researcher and coordinator of the study. "We know that depending on its intensity and wave length, artificial light, particularly in the blue spectrum, can decrease melatonin production and secretion", says Martin Aube, physics professor at CEGEP in Sherbrooke, Canada and study co-author. The study was conducted within the framework of the MCC-Spain project co-funded by the 'Consorcio de Investigacion Biomedica en Red de Epidemiologia y Salud Publica' (CIBERESP) and includes medical and epidemiological data of more than 4,000 people between 20 and 85 years of age in 11 Spanish regions. Indoor exposure to artificial light was determined through personal questionnaires, while outdoor levels of artificial light were evaluated for Madrid and Barcelona, based on nocturnal images taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Results obtained for both cities show that participants exposed to higher levels of blue light had a 1.5 and 2-fold higher risk of developing breast and prostate cancer, respectively, as compared to the less-exposed population. Ariadna Garcia, ISGlobal researcher and first author of the study, says: "Given the ubiquity of artificial light at night, determining whether it increases or not the risk of cancer is a public health issue". At this point, further studies should include more individual data using for instance light sensors that allow measuring indoor light levels. It would also be important to do this kind of research in young people that extensively use blue light emitting screens". "Currently, the images taken by the astronauts on the Space Station are our only way of determining the colour of outdoor lighting at a large scale, and the spread of blue light-emitting white LEDs in our cities", comments Alejandro Sanchez de Miguel, scientist at the Astrophysics Institute in Andalucia-CSIC and Exeter University. Source: https://www.isglobal.org/documents/10179/6225531/NdP+Luz+azul+cancer+ENG.pdf/ee390e95-a616-4e92-8fcf-ff0b856a96ea Full control of Albany is still just out of reach for Dems. Photo: Daniel Barry/Getty Images Democrats won two special elections for the New York State Senate on Tuesday, theoretically giving them a one-vote advantage in that chamber, and full control of state government, for the first time in years. However, in reality their dream of turning the state into a progressive haven was crushed by Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat who said he will continue caucusing with the Republicans. Until recently Felder was joined by eight other members of the Independent Democratic Conference who caucused with Republicans, but on April 3 Governor Andrew Cuomo (allegedly spurred by attacks from primary challenger Cynthia Nixon) brokered a deal to reunite his partys caucus. If Democrats won both of the open Senate seats on Tuesday, each party would have 31 seats in the 63-seat chamber not counting Felder. Democrats already dominate the New York State Assembly, so he would suddenly have the power to decide whether New York would be a blue trifecta. Felder quashed Democrats hopes even before the polls closed. He announced on Tuesday afternoon that while he would remain a Democrat in name, he would continue to sit with Republicans, regardless of the election results. I believe it is my obligation to prevent an unprecedented and uncertain late-session political battle that will only hurt my constituents and New Yorkers, Felder said. Political gamesmanship must not be allowed to jeopardize the leadership, committee structure, and staff of the New York State Senate and push this institution into turmoil. Tuesdays results were still encouraging for New York Democrats. As expected, Democratic Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda easily beat Republican Patrick Delices in the Bronxs very blue Senate District 32. The race in Westchesters Senate District 37 was expected to be much closer. More than $3 million was spent on the race between Shelley Mayer, a Democratic state assemblywoman from Yonkers, and Julie Killian, the Republican deputy mayor of Rye. Mayer declared victory with 58 percent to Killians 42 percent, with 78 percent of districts counted. All of us are part of something bigger, a movement for change, a blue wave rising in special election after special election, Mayer said in a statement after she declared victory. This race was about finally bringing a Democratic majority to the State Senate so that New York can once again be a progressive leader. Democratic activists said that in light of Tuesdays encouraging results they would work even harder to score a decisive state senate majority in the fall. And Cuomo spokeswoman Dani Lever suggested he wasnt done working on Felder. The governors position is clear: the Democrats must unify to take back the majority, Lever said following the state senators announcement. This conversation will continue in the morning. Rosie Zaballos liked to host playtime tea parties and was sweet to everyone she met. But her older brother worried that the 16-year-old, whom her family described as "a little slow," might someday become pregnant. In his 30s and married, he had three kids of his own. And their mom was sick and needed help. So he took Rosie to be sterilized at a state-run hospital so she couldn't have babies who might place an extra burden on the family. Rosie never came home. She died during the operation. This painful history, recounted by Rosie's niece, Barbara Swarr, was rarely discussed in Barbara's family when she was growing up in a Spanish immigrant neighborhood in Hayward, Calif., just southeast of San Francisco. But in the past few years, Swarr, now 70, has pieced together the details of her aunt's short life and the prevailing attitudes toward immigrants, poor people and those with disabilities that allowed more than 20,000 Californians to be sterilized under the state's eugenics law often without their consent over a 70-year period in the 1900s. "This was something nobody thought twice about. 'If they are not all there, if they are Hispanic make sure they don't breed these inferiors,'" Swarr recounted with a mix of sadness and bitterness. Across the country last century, more than 60,000 people deemed unfit to reproduce were sterilized, many against their will or without their knowledge. It was a public health strategy embraced by 32 states under eugenics laws that advocated "better breeding." It began at state prisons in Indiana and spread to two-thirds of the country, targeting people with mental illness, disabilities and anyone who exhibited "abnormal" behavior. California abolished its eugenics law in 1979 during Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown's first term and apologized in 2003 under Gov. Gray Davis, also a Democrat. Legislation under consideration in the state Senate would go a step further to pay reparations, following in the footsteps of North Carolina and Virginia. The bill, by state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), would establish the Eugenics Sterilization Compensation Program for the living survivors of state-sponsored sterilization from 1909 to 1979. As currently written, the measure doesn't specify the amount of state money survivors would receive a detail that is still being hashed out by lawmakers. North Carolina lawmakers in 2013 set aside $10 million, and two years later Virginia authorized $25,000 for each victim. Researchers and advocacy groups estimate that roughly 800 survivors may still be alive today in California, although none have publicly come forward, whether because they're ashamed of what happened to them or they just don't realize they were victims. Skinner said she hopes that publicity surrounding her bill will encourage survivors to come out and speak out. "We are trying to ensure this is not forgotten," she said. "It was a completely unjustified wrong that the state authorized and that the state implemented." In California, state records described the women who were sterilized as "weak-willed," "dependent on others" and "feeble-minded." The reason for their sterilization: Their mental condition was "likely to become transmitted to descendants." State law authorized medical superintendents at 12 state homes and hospitals to perform "asexualization" on patients vasectomies for men and fallopian tube removals for women. Sonoma State Hospital carried out about 5,000 sterilizations, more than any other place in the country, according to records compiled by Alexandra Minna Stern, a professor at the University of Michigan and an expert on eugenics laws. Those records also show that Latinas in California were 59 percent more likely to be sterilized than non-Latinas. They were young girls and women who probably didn't speak English well and ranked low on IQ tests, said Stern, who uncovered the state's sterilization records in a file cabinet at the Department of Mental Health in Sacramento. In Southern states, African-Americans were targeted for sterilization. In Iowa, it was the poor. Being Hispanic, black or poor was characterized as a disability in those days, Stern said. "The way these laws played out, they impacted racial minorities, but it was through the disability lens, which makes it more insidious," she said. California historian William Deverell, a professor at the University of Southern California, traces the eugenics laws to a time when social reformers believed they could perfect the human race for the betterment of society much like agriculturists at the time were trying to perfect avocados or citrus fruits. "It's such a fascinating moment because a lot of do-good human types were eugenicists," Deverell said. "They had this notion they could bring perfection to bear even in the gene pool." The hope, historians and advocates say, is that Skinner's legislation will raise awareness about the sterilizations and the fact that they were little more than a vehicle for state-sanctioned discrimination. They note that these procedures occurred at state facilities as recently as this decade, when doctors sterilized 148 women in California prisons from 2006 to 2010, according to a report by The Center for Investigative Reporting. The bill requires markers to be placed at the institutions where sterilizations took place, and it calls for the creation of a traveling historical exhibit about eugenics laws. It's critical to educate people about this aspect of California's "dark history," said Myra Duran, policy manager for California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, a statewide advocacy group. "It's important to find the women who were sterilized because it's important to get their voices heard." That's what Swarr wants for her aunt. "I honor her by trying to find out about her," said Swarr, who owns the house where Rosie Zaballos grew up. "I don't want her to be forgotten. I don't want her to be just a statistic." This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation. Seven adults with sickle cell disease have been cured by doctors at the University of Illinois Hospital, thanks to the development of a new protocol for stem cell transplantation. Credit: Andrii Vodolazhskyi/Shutterstock.com Under the revised protocol, patients with aggressive sickle cell disease (SCD) can receive stem cells from donors that were previously thought to be incompatible for transplant. Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) markers are cell-surface proteins that the immune system uses to distinguish between cells that belong in the body and those that do not. Since these proteins are inherited from parents, family members are the most likely people to have HLA markers that match the patients. These fully-matched markers decrease the risk of the patient rejecting transplanted cells. However, only 20% of SCD patients have a family member with fully-matched HLA markers. As reported in the journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, the new protocol allows half-matched individuals to donate stem cells, thereby significantly increasing the number of potential donors. Damiano Rondelli and team screened 50 adult SCD patients as candidates for a half-matched stem cell transplant between January 2014 and March 2017. Of the 50 candidates screened, ten received a transplant. After the first two procedures resulted in failure to engraft, the team adopted the new treatment protocol, which included modifications to a regimen first developed at Johns Hopkins University. We modified the transplant protocol by increasing the dose of radiation used before the transplant, and by infusing growth factor-mobilized peripheral blood stem cells instead of bone marrow cells. These two modifications helped ensure the patient's body could accept the healthy donor cells. Damiano Rondelli Of the eight patients that were treated under the new protocol, one developed graft-versus-host disease and died of unknown causes more than a year later. After a median follow-up period of 16 months (range: 11 to 29 months), the other seven patients were alive and maintained at least 95% stable engraftment. Rondelli says the takeaway message here is two-fold: First, this transplant protocol may cure many more adult patients with advanced sickle cell disease. Second, despite the increasing safety of the transplant protocols and new compatibility of HLA half-matched donors, many sickle cell patients still face barriers to care - of the patients we screened, only 20 percent underwent a transplant." Damiano Rondelli Rondelli says 20% of the patients were refused the transplant because they were denied insurance. Other factors included personal decisions not to proceed and elevated levels of donor-specific antigens among patients who had received frequent blood transfusions. From holding your baby for the first time to bonding through breastfeeding, UC San Diego Health is committed to providing the highest quality of care and support for the best start to parenthood and life. Recently, Jacobs Medical Center in La Jolla was recognized with the prestigious Baby-Friendly Designation for the services offered to our tiniest patients and their moms. Baby-Friendly USA, Inc. is part of a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The initiative encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that are designed to optimize mother-baby bonding and to promote breastfeeding in the first few days of a baby's life. The designation means UC San Diego Health provides education to enable families to make informed decisions and offers services, such as lactation support, throughout and beyond the hospital stay. "We train all staff to help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth," said Michelle Leff, MD, newborn hospitalist at UC San Diego Health. "As a physician, I see that our mothers have a much higher success rate initiating breastfeeding and continuing once discharged with efforts like skin-to-skin, support groups and pump rentals." The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants be breastfed without supplemental foods or liquids for the first six months of life. An analysis by the National Institutes of Health showed a 21 percent lower all-cause infant mortality rate and a reduced risk of sudden infant death syndrome in breastfed babies. Breastfeeding has also been shown to protect newborns against many diseases, including ear infections, bowel disorders and respiratory illnesses. At UC San Diego Health, newborns stay in the hospital room with their mothers, lactation consultants offer personal instruction, techniques and positions with an extra level of assistance for special needs babies and skin-to-skin is promoted immediately after childbirth. "Skin-to-skin not only promotes breastfeeding but also strengthens mother-baby bonding, decreases maternal anxiety and stabilizes the newborn's body temperature, breathing and heart rate," said Leff. "Cesarean section babies are also placed skin-to-skin with their mothers and do not go to the neonatal intensive care unit unless it is medically necessary." Leff adds that UC San Diego Health also purchases formula for infants who are not breastfed, have special medical conditions or need additional supplementation. "We support all feeding choices." If babies require care in the UC San Diego Health neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), mothers can breastfeed in the unit at the baby's bedside. For those NICU babies too premature or otherwise unable to breastfeed, their mothers can pump breast milk for nurses to feed their babies. "For premature babies, receiving breastmilk leads to less infections, less bowel complications, less hospitalization in the years after they go home and better neurodevelopment," said Lisa Stellwagen, MD, pediatrician with UC San Diego Health. "The NICU at Jacobs Medical Center has private rooms and families are encouraged to visit every day for bonding and to collaborate with the medical team." UC San Diego Health also delays newborn bathing in order to increase breastfeeding and preserve the protective substance, called vernix, that helps protect against dryness and bacterial infections. Families also have the option for a delay in umbilical cord clamping, which allows for more blood transfer from the placenta to the baby. The Baby-Friendly designation at Jacobs Medical Center is an expansion to the one given to UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest in 2006. "We are extremely proud to have received this recognition for Jacobs Medical Center. It is another example of our dedication to the personal and compassionate care we provide our families during this exciting time in their lives," said Patty Maysent, CEO, UC San Diego Health. "Our extraordinary staff works hard every day to make sure new parents not only have state-of-the-art resources but the confidence when their baby enters the world." There are more than 20,000 designated Baby-Friendly hospitals and birth centers worldwide. Currently, there are 511 active Baby-Friendly hospitals and birth centers in the United States. A designation is given after a rigorous on-site survey is completed. "This effort was about two years in the making. It was made possible through an interdisciplinary effort and we are incredibly proud of the milestone for UC San Diego Health," said Leff. Approximately 3,000 babies are born at UC San Diego Health every year. Among the services offered are: When Garnett and Dave Mellen sent their 19-year-old daughter, Gita, off to college an hour away at Virginia Commonwealth University last fall, they didn't expect to follow her. But in November, the family received notice that its monthly health insurance premium in Charlottesville would triple for 2018, from $1,200 to an unaffordable $3,600. So, the Mellens, both longtime local business owners, packed their bags and spent time with Gita in her off-campus apartment in Richmond. "My whole life has been rearranged around trying to get health insurance," Garnett Mellen, 56, said, as she explained that claiming residency with her daughter in the new ZIP code had cut their premiums by more than half. Charlottesville now claims the dubious distinction of having the highest individual-market health insurance costs in the country prompting families like the Mellens to look for extreme solutions. An exodus of carriers, which was blamed on losses caused by the instability of the Obamacare marketplace, created a coverage vacuum, leaving locals and insurance regulators scrambling. Only one carrier Virginia Beach-based Optima Health decided to continue to participate in the individual market, but it did so with monthly premium increases that were, on average, in the high double-digits and for some consumers as much as 300 percent, according to people interviewed for this story. It's a problem that's likely to be replicated elsewhere, said Timothy Jost, an emeritus professor of law at Washington and Lee University in Virginia and expert on the health law. "In many states, it's going to be hard to maintain a functional individual market," he said. "Charlottesville is sort of ahead of everybody else in this but this is the direction things are heading." Insurers nationwide that intend to participate in the individual market face spring deadlines to file forms for 2019 plans and rate proposals. In Virginia, these dates are April 20 and May 4, respectively. The situation in Charlottesville has left many residents at their wits' end about how to pay for their health insurance, prompting the evolution of an angry and rebellious civic movement and thrusting the costs of coverage into the center of local politics. Charlottesville for Reasonable Health Insurance, a grass-roots organization and Facebook group of more than 700 people, has already claimed small victories in the state legislature, such as propelling the passage of a bill that will alleviate the cost burden for some of its members. But its highest priority has been pressing state regulators to explain and possibly reconsider the decision that allowed for the stunning premium increase. In the midst of various bureaucratic fits and starts, the state Bureau of Insurance (BOI) responded to the group April 11 by reiterating that Optima's rates were "actuarially justified." Ian Dixon, one of the group's organizers, said it plans to appeal this finding to the State Corporation Commission. "We're not going away, that's for sure," said Dixon. "They're hoping they can wait us out. They would drag this out for a year if they could." At the same time, the group has expanded its focus to other issues on health care costs, such as price transparency and regulatory reform. How It Came To This The trouble started in summer 2017, when the state's major insurance carriers announced they would be leaving the individual market in Virginia, saying the market was "shrinking and deteriorating" pointing to the instability of Obamacare under the Trump administration. Their departures left Albemarle County, home to Charlottesville, bare meaning residents had no insurance options. When Optima opted to continue to offer plans in and around Charlottesville, state insurance regulators breathed a collective sigh of relief. But Optima's decision came with updated rate increase proposals, which gained the OK of the under-the-gun BOI, led by Commissioner Scott White. "I think the [regulators] decided they were willing to accept almost anything to get someone to cover Albemarle County and Charlottesville," Jost said. About 15 miles north of Charlottesville on U.S. 29, there's a billboard that some residents now view with bitter irony. It features a smiling man with the message: "I chose Optima." On one hand, Optima did fill a void and offer health plans where no other insurer would. Still, many residents found their only choice came with a 300 percent boost in premium costs. They felt that state regulators had fallen short of their consumer-protection responsibilities. "Any assumption that I had that I thought [the Bureau of Insurance would be] protecting the people was completely naive," said Sarah Stovall, 40, who works for a small software company, lives in Charlottesville with her husband and two sons and has struggled to find affordable coverage. But Ken Schrad, the director of the Division of Information Resources for the State Corporation Commission, said the bureau is still questioning Optima, checking its math and evaluating its actuarial decisions. He couldn't answer specific questions about a matter he said is pending. Schrad said the bureau reached out to carriers and worked with them last summer when it was clear that much of the commonwealth wouldn't be covered. "It wasn't a question of what the premiums would be," Schrad said. "It was whether there would be any coverage. "[Filings] must be based on actuarially sound decisions, and that's all the bureau can review. The market is the market." A Movement Is Born Stovall, 40, teamed up with Dixon, 38, a web app developer, to manage the emerging Facebook group, which was originally set up as a support system for people in search of new insurance options in a short window of time. Soon, Karl Quist, 46, who had been actively calling the BOI to lodge complaints, joined the effort. "The three of us did not know each other before November," Dixon said. "We feel like we're relatives now." Others quickly piled on, including the Mellens and Gail Williamson, 64, a part-time secretary at a private school who needed insurance for herself and her husband, who owns a business restoring antiques. Like many of the people in the group, the Williamsons made too much money to qualify for federal subsidies, but too little to be able to afford the $3,725 monthly premium that Optima would have charged them. Sharing their knowledge, many Charlottesville for Reasonable Health Insurance members have resorted to imperfect jury-rigged policies that do not come with many of the coverage guarantees that protect patients from unexpected costs under the Affordable Care Act. Instead of paying $2,920 a month for Optima's least generous family health plan, Quist is saving $2,300 a month by purchasing two non-ACA-compliant plans, one for sickness and one for accidents. Williamson has settled on a "silly little" three-month policy for $1,400 per month, plus an extra $35 a month in supplemental accident insurance for her husband. "If I won the lottery, the first thing I'd do before giving my kids any money would be to buy health insurance for everyone in that group," Williamson said. Washington and Lee's Jost said he worries about the impact of such cobbled-together coverage. He said having these plans could damage the ACA market further by skimming the healthier people away from the more comprehensive coverage, leaving behind those who are ill or have chronic conditions. "It makes the situation worse because the only people who are going to pay premiums that high are people who are desperate," Jost said. Forward Motion Over the past months, the community-based effort has evolved beyond being an ad hoc information clearinghouse into a powerful organizing tool. For instance, it has raised almost $20,000 to hire lawyer Jay Angoff, a former federal and state insurance official, to appeal to Optima and state regulators about the Charlottesville-area rates. Dixon, Stovall and Quist also regularly pile into Stovall's minivan, drive to Richmond and become lobbyists for their cause. "The insurance companies pay people very good money to lobby for them on a regular basis," Stovall said. "Meanwhile, I have to take off work, Ian [Dixon] has to leave his business for a day." "On some level, I have faith that if we keep pushing, I don't know what the eventual outcome will be, but we'll find some type of justice," Dixon added. Their greatest victory came with the passage of SB 672. This law redefined what a "small employer" is so that self-employed people can buy insurance in the small-group market. The group sought this change because many people, including Dixon, found that the cost of adding an employee to a company of one allowed them to save money by obtaining insurance as a small group, though it still added significant overhead costs to these businesses. Many in the group see this success as only a band-aid fix. Though it allows some people to obtain cheaper insurance, it doesn't address the root of the problem: Optima's rate increases. For Garnett Mellen, though, the issue seems resolved, at least for now. She found a job with health benefits in Charlottesville, which enabled her and her husband to move back there. It's a big relief both for her and for Gita, her college-aged daughter. "She [was] not entirely happy with us being there," Mellen said. This story also ran on The Atlantic. This story can be republished for free (details). A research team from Queen's University Belfast, in collaboration with an international team of experts, have made ground-breaking insights into how inflammatory diseases work. This development could in time lead to new treatments for a range of diseases caused by inflammation, including sepsis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis and Multiple Sclerosis. The findings have recently been published in the highly prestigious scientific journal, Nature Communications. The team, led by Professor Paul Moynagh, Professor of Immunology at the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen's University Belfast alongside Researchers from the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen's, Dr Alice Dubois and Dr Rebecca Ingram found that a protein called Pellino 2 plays an important role in how the body starts the inflammatory response. Professor Moynagh, explains: "Inflammation is the body's response to infection by disease-causing micro-organisms. This involves the movement of white blood cells, such as neutrophils, from blood vessels, into the infected tissue where they destroy the invading micro-organism. "However, the recruitment of neutrophils into tissues needs to be tightly controlled since prolonged tissue infiltration of these cells will lead to damage of normal healthy tissue. In the case of sepsis, we see inflammation spread rapidly throughout the body as a response to a bacterial infection in the blood, which can lead to life-threatening organ dysfunction." The protein discovered by the researchers is involved in the triggering of the movement of white blood cells called neutrophils from blood vessels into the tissue that is infected by invading micro-organisms. Neutrophils kill the infection, but if they linger for too long they can also damage healthy tissue. If a method can be found to effectively and safely block or control the protein, then it could in future be developed into a specific therapy. The research team has already had success with stopping the protein in lab-based models and is now exploring molecules that could potentially be turned into a therapy. Inflammatory diseases are regarded as amongst some of the most difficult to treat, with sepsis in particular posing a critical challenge to frontline health care professionals. Understanding how the body promotes the migration of neutrophils into tissue may provide important clues for designing new drugs to control chronic inflammatory diseases such as sepsis. Studies suggest that vulnerability to sepsis is on the rise around the world, as more people undergo invasive procedures or take immunosuppressive drugs to treat other chronic conditions, due to both aging populations and increased access to healthcare. A global rise in resistance to antibiotics also has increased the risk of blood poisoning, driving a growth in sepsis cases. Dr Alice Dubois, Researcher at the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen's, commented on the breakthrough: "Our team at Queen's University demonstrated that the Pellino 2 protein was involved in the production of molecules that promote inflammation during bacterial infection. Blocking this particular protein could therefore be a strategy to treat inflammatory diseases caused by bacteria. This is a key step forward in improving treatment and patient outcomes in a wide range of diseases. "Queen's University is committed to tackling global health issues. Inflammatory disease is prevalent, problematic and difficult to treat; understanding it is one of the most important challenges in medical research today." A life changing silicone adhesive that prevents abdominal stomas from leaking and provides a range of benefits for patients and healthcare professionals, has been awarded the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise. Lloyd Pearce, Managing Director, Trio Privately-owned Trio Healthcare was presented the award under the Innovation category for its breakthrough patented silicone technology, which is improving the lives of ostomates around the world. It is the UKs most prestigious business accolade which recognizes the benefits offered to ostomates and their unique needs. Abdominal stomas are surgically created intestinal openings which are a result of treating conditions such as colorectal and bladder cancer, Crohns or colitis. The stoma outputs body waste such as feces and urine which is then collected in an odor-proof bag. At one time or another, all ostomates will suffer from leakage and therefore damaged to the skin, which has a dramatic impact on their social life and psychological wellbeing. To combat this, Trio has developed a unique, secure adhesive known as Trio Responsive Silicone, that can be used around the stoma to provide a skin-friendly seal and a long awaited alternative solution to hydrocolloid. The companys R&D team have focused on using a non-hydrocolloid technology to develop their innovation using silicone polymers. By modifying the chemical make-up of the silicone formulation, Trio has developed a secure but comfortable solution that allows the skin to breathe normally, even perspire, whilst maintaining a secure connection. The patented formulation leaves no residue and its waterproof nature prevents absorption of any feces or urine providing a complete barrier, which allows the skin to naturally heal underneath. The development of the pioneering technology which is manufactured in house -has enabled Trio to launch a revolutionary range of silicone-based accessory products in an industry dominated by hydrocolloid. These products are seen as a precursor to the natural next phase of ostomy products coming out of Trios pipeline. The company is currently in the development phase of a new, innovative ostomy system to complete the range. Lloyd Pearce, Managing Director from Trio, said: We are delighted to win such a prestigious award for our contribution to ostomy care. Due to the stigma and embarrassment associated with body waste and bag leakage, a persons social life and well-being is dependent on the ostomy adhesive and bags performance. Too many people around the world were suffering from leakage and irritated skin, so as a company we have made it our mission to provide an alternative solution. Our products offer reassurance and comfort, so the wearer can get on with their everyday lives without fear of sore skin. The Queens Awards are presented each year by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her birthday, 21st April, on the advice of the Prime Minister, assisted by an advisory committee comprising representatives of Government, industry, commerce and the trade unions. The company will attend a reception at Buckingham Palace in June, hosted by HRH Prince of Wales. This is the second time Trio Healthcare have been the recipients of a Queens Award for Enterprise. In 2011 they were awarded the Queens Award - International Trade. The company have offices in both Buckinghamshire and North Yorkshire. Source: http://trioostomycare.com/ Thought Leaders Dr Michael Griffiths Senior Clinical Lecturer, Institute of Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool & Honorary Paediatric Neurology Consultant, Alder Hey Childrens Hospital An interview with Dr Michael Griffiths on behalf of World Meningitis Day on 24th April 2018, conducted by Alina Shrourou, BSc. Why is meningitis contributing to the growing antimicrobial resistance crisis? Meningitis is a relatively rare disease, with our estimates for the incidence of meningitis in the UK being about 3.2 cases of meningitis per 100,000 adults. Crucially, bacterial meningitis is linked to significant morbidity and mortality - up to 30% mortality in pneumococcal meningitis cases. To limit mortality, UK guidelines recommend antibiotics are started within an hour of hospital presentation. Therefore, antibiotics are started in most patients with suspected bacterial meningitis, even though up to 92% of them have a different diagnosis that does not need antibiotics. Consequently, meningitis management results in an increase in both quantity and days of antibiotic use in hospitals, which all indirectly increase the risk of antimicrobial resistance. What are the implications for a patient with viral meningitis given antibiotic treatment? Antibiotics don't improve symptoms or shorten the duration of illness for patients with viral meningitis. Therefore, antibiotic provision is an unnecessary treatment. Patients are also exposed to extra risks with as unnecessary antibiotics pose the risk that the patient receiving a drug that may cause an allergic reaction Hospital stay is often extended when antibiotics are prescribed and this extension of stay is linked to increased patient anxiety, discomfort and an extended stay increases the risk of a patient being exposed to hospital-acquired infection. In a UK meningitis study led by the Liverpool Brain Infections group within the Institute of Infection and Global Health, we found the majority of patients who dont have true bacterial meningitis are prescribed antibiotics. Antibiotics are started in over two-thirds of patients with symptoms mimicking bacterial meningitis. Furthermore, these patients could remain on these antibiotics for 4 or more days. Please describe the current test used to distinguish between viral and bacterial meningitis. Currently, when a patient arrives at hospital with suspected meningitis, a lumbar puncture (LP) is the key diagnostic procedure. A lumbar puncture involves a needle into the canal, a fluid-filled space running down the spine, and the cerebrospinal fluid is drawn from the canal and sent to hospital laboratories. This can either be to microbiology, which focuses on bacteria, or virology that focuses on viruses. Casa nayafana/Shutterstock.com Microbiology labs will try and culture or grow the bacteria from the fluid where culture normally takes around 48 hours to provide a result. Virology labs usually employ molecular methods such as PCR to see if they can detect the viruses. Testing via PCR offers a faster result, typically 2 to 4 hours from sample arriving in the lab, and it can be more sensitive than culture - particularly if the patient has already received antibiotics. Systematic PCR testing for common viruses and bacteria known to cause meningitis, such as Enteroviruses or Streptococcus Pneumonia, are not always performed in hospital laboratories. In our UK Meningitis study we observed that pathogens were detected in less than 60% of suspected meningitis cases. Faced by these dilemmas, clinicians often continue antibiotics despite no bacteria being detected. What are the disadvantages associated with a lumbar puncture? A lumbar puncture needs to be performed by a trained doctor. It can be done by a nurse, but in the UK it's often done by a junior doctor, and that doctor may need assistance from a nurse to support the patient, or may need an anaesthetist to help perform that lumbar puncture or provide an anaesthetic or some sort of block to reduce anxiety or pain associated with the procedure. The LP procedure typically takes between 30-60 mins. However, the LP can be delayed or not done, because we often request brain imaging to be done before the lumbar puncture to rule out raised intercranial pressure, and that means the patient then waits for the imaging, and then after that waits again for the LP. The LP procedure may also be technically difficult. As a pediatric neurologist, in children the procedure can be challenging because it's difficult to simply keep the child still, and this is particularly a problem if the child is anxious as a result of being in hospital, away from their parents, or as part of that illness. You must have a group of people around you to keep them calm for the procedure for the procedure to be successful. UK guidelines recommend antibiotics are started within an hour of hospital presentation, thus in a lot of patients the antibiotics have been started before LP. Starting treatment prior to LP is a problem because it reduces the bacterial load in the body, significantly reducing the chance for pathogen detection, from 85% to 55% sensitivity. Also treatment can alter CSF characteristics such as white cell distribution, so that bacterial meningitis mimics viral meningitis, making diagnosis more challenging. Overall, delay in LP can lead to reduced chance of detecting a pathogen. In the UK meningitis study, we found a 1% reduction in detection a pathogen in CSF for each hour the LP was delayed. The factors that contribute to delays in a lumbar puncture procedure are problematic, as we identified in the UK meningitis study that there was a 1% reduction in detection of pathogen for every hour that the LP was delayed. Please outline the new test you have developed to distinguish between bacterial and viral meningitis. How does it work? We have developed the TRIM test, which stands for Transcripts for Identifying Meningitis. It is based on the body's host response to infection. It measures the pattern or relative abundance of RNA transcripts in white cells circulating in the blood. One transcript pattern indicates bacterial infection. If this pattern isnt seen, the test indicates the patient has a viral meningitis or meningism. The latter means a patient with symptoms of bacterial meningitis but no increase in white cells in the cerebrospinal fluid. The exciting part of this test, is that we are using the bodys white cells own ability to detect and communicate infection, so that we can look in the blood, to detect infection in remote parts of the body. In meningitis, we look in the blood to distinguish between bacterial or viral infection of the meninges or membranes covering the brain. What is also exciting, because the test is based on the bodys host response to infection, is it can detect bacterial infection even after antibiotics have been given. The TRIM test is a rule out test for bacterial meningitis. We aim for a blood sample to be collected on hospital admission. Once the sample is in the lab, the result will be available in 2-3hrs. With our industrial partners, Fast Track Diagnostics, which are now part of Siemens Healthineers, we are developing a multiplex PCR assay compatible with standard laboratory equipment already widely available in hospitals. We don't need any specialist kits and don't need to develop any new specialist equipment. The test will fit into current hospital practice. Working with laboratory staff, we have confirmed the TRIM test will fit into hospital workflows at the point of nucleic acid extraction from patient blood samples, where host rather than pathogen RNA will be extracted. The test is also compatible with point of care devices. So in the future, the test could be used in low technology settings or places where it's hard to maintain laboratories. Why is this test beneficial over the existing lumbar puncture procedure? And what do you hope to achieve with this test? There is a need to be able to confidently and rapidly diagnose or exclude bacterial meningitis in patients. Via the TRIM test, blood can be taken immediately on hospital entry, without needing to wait for the LP. The TRIM test result can be available soon after admission, within 2 to 3 hours. To date, the test has exhibited high sensitivity - 100%, and specificity. The high sensitivity makes it an excellent RULE-OUT test. Where the result indicates bacterial meningitis, the test will help clinicians to identify which patients need urgent LP and prompt starting of antibiotics - if not already started. Where the result rules out bacterial meningitis, the test will help clinicians stop antibiotics earlier. In turn this will promote shorter in-patient care. The test will help the clinician decide earlier which patients should or should not have antibiotics. In turn this offers to improve patient care. Currently the NHS spends about 30 million on meningitis patient care. Roughly 5 million is used to care for bacterial meningitis patients. So, if you could quickly rule out the patients that dont have bacterial meningitis you will reduce the cost of care. Ruling out patients with symptoms mimicking bacterial meningitis could potentially save up to 21 million per year. Has the new test been clinically approved? If not, what stage is it at? Not yet, but the accuracy of the test has been assessed in UK adults attending hospital with suspected community acquired meningitis. We are now about to start the TRIM test study trial which is being supported by MRC and our industrial partners. The study will validate test accuracy among suspected community acquired meningitis patients attending hospitals in the UK and Europe, focussing on Denmark, Netherlands and France. As part of this study, the TRIM diagnostic will be field tested, to ensure it is easy to perform and interpret by hospital staff and patients. Throughout the study, we will be working in liaison with our industrial partners to ensure the test is made to highest commercial standards We aim for the TRIM test to be available for clinical use by the end of the study within 3 years. What are the next steps for your research? We are looking to expand the use of TRIM test technology. As you know, meningitis remains a dreadful disease in children. However, in children and especially neonates, it can be difficult to take large volumes of blood. As part of the TRIM study, we are examining ways to reduce the volume of blood needed in the test, to make it simple to use in children. We are also beginning to look at the accuracy of the test in patients from lower middle income countries, such as in Africa. Microbiology laboratories are complex to maintain, requiring training, on-call staff, technology and finance. A test that would work via a point of care device opens up rapid accurate ruling-out of bacterial meningitis in resource poor settings, bringing new hope to these areas. Although the TRIM test has been developed in meningitis patients, the principle of using host based markers to distinguish between bacterial and viral infection, is potentially very useful for assisting diagnosis in a range of bacterial infection syndromes, including pneumonia, bacteraemia, sepsis, etc. We are already assessing the accuracy of our test in other bacterial infection syndromes, starting with pneumonia. Preliminary results are very exciting, showing accuracy to be essentially maintained. We are working with Fast Track Diagnostics to develop a similar study assessing test accuracy in pneumonia patients. Why is World Meningitis Day important for meningitis patients, researchers and society as a whole? For patients, we can't forget that meningitis is potentially a deadly disease, and that it can kill within 24 hours. While bacterial meningitis is thankfully becoming less frequent, in part because of vaccination, not all bacterial forms have a vaccine. Importantly, viral meningitis continues and viral meningitis is sometimes mislabeled as a benign illness, but as viral meningitis sufferers will tell you it's a devastating disease that impacts on their quality of life for several weeks or even months afterwards. Particularly problems of attention, emotional liability, depression, which then can limit their speed and ability to return to work or care for their family. Valuable research is still needed, particularly to improve speed and accuracy of diagnostic tests, to support faster appropriate treatment. Further work is also needed to develop vaccines for the remaining strains of bacteria that cause meningitis and to develop more effective adjunctive treatments to prevent brain damage and limit the disability this causes. Society needs to remain aware of this devastating disease and be supportive towards patients, families and carers of those who suffer or have suffered from meningitis. Where can readers find more information? About Dr Michael J Griffiths Dr Griffiths is a Senior Clinical Lecturer / Honorary Paediatric Neurology Consultant in the Institute of Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool and Alder Hey Childrens Hospital, who aims to improve diagnosis, treatment and management of brain infections in the UK and world-wide. Dr Griffiths research interests lie in the host responses to severe infection, particularly neurological infectious insults and their clinical look-a-like conditions; the impact of these insults on brain development and resulting neurological disabilities. Mikes team focuses on diagnostic and prognostic markers of outcome in neurological insults and the pathogenesis of brain infections. They use transcriptomic and proteomic approaches to explore these responses, both in patient populations and human brain infection models. Michaels team run multi-centre and single site studies examining brain infections in the UK, Europe (France, Netherlands, Denmark), Brazil, Malawi, Indonesia and Vietnam, including the MRC funded TRanscripts Identifying Meningitis (TRIM) test study and associated UK Meningitis study. Following on from the Kodiaq and Karoq, the Skoda Kamiq is the third member of Skodas SUV family for the Chinese market. This car has been devised and developed specifically to meet the requirements of urban customers in China. The Kamiq, another prong in Skodas SUV offensive, has been designed to dovetail with the brands SUV family, while echoing the preferences of Chinese customers. The grille and the headlights form a single unit, with the lower features on the sides flowing towards the rear to visually enhance the bold wheel arches. The crystalline tail lights are positioned horizontally, which makes the Kamiq appear wider, also with the outward position of the reflectors. Skoda Kamiq Interiors. (Image: Skoda) Crystalline components a common thread running through all of Skodas SUVs reflect the robust look of the new urban SUV. With a body 4,390 mm long, 1,781 mm wide and 1,593 mm high, the Kamiq features an astonishingly roomy interior. The Skoda Kamiq is kitted out with a brand-new 1.5-litre engine generating torque of 150 Nm and power of 81 kW. Also Read: Toyota Yaris Sedan Launched in India for Rs 8.75 Lakh Like its Kodiaq and Karoq siblings, the Kamiqs name has been inspired by the wilds of Alaska. KAMIQ is derived from the word Amiq, the name of an islet in the Bering Strait, where the inhabitants have spent generations weathering the dangers of this wilderness and discovering opportunities and conditions for a fresh start. Also Read: All-New Mitsubishi Outlander Bookings Officially Open in India Unveiling the new Skoda Kamiq, Bernhard Maier, Skoda Auto CEO said "Skoda sees particularly dynamic growth in the SUV segment on the Chinese automotive market, as demand for SUV models in China has doubled in the past three years alone. Skodas SUV campaign in China has begun with the successful launch of the Skoda Kodiaq and Karoq models. Continuing this campaign, we have developed another SUV exclusively for the Chinese market the new Skoda Kamiq. Skoda will be presenting the next large SUV later this year, expanding our offering to four SUV models in China." Also Watch: Tech and Auto Show | Ep 37 | Hyundai Elite i20, Virat Kohli, Google Pixel 2 & More New Delhi: The government on Wednesday gave its nod to the signing of a pact with medicine regulatory agencies of BRICS nations on cooperation in the field of regulation of medical products for human use. The approval was given by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The MoU would facilitate better understanding about the regulatory aspects between the parties and could help in increasing India's export of medical products to BRICS countries," according to an official statement. The cabinet also gave its ex-post facto approval for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed in March, between India and Sao Tome and Principe for cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy. The MoU between India and Sao Tome will enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the area of Traditional Systems of Medicine, the statement said. "This will be of immense importance to both the countries considering their shared cultural heritage," it said. The activities between the two sides will start after the receipt of copy of the signed MoU. The initiatives taken by the countries will be as per the MoU's terms of reference and will be a continuing process till the agreement remains in operation, it said. The cabinet also gave ex-post facto approval to an MoU between India and Sao Tome and Principe on cooperation in the field of Medicinal Plants. In another approval, the government has been apprised of the MoU between India and the World Health Organisation, represented by its Regional Office for South-East Asia acting through its India office. The MoU was signed on March 13 here. "The bilateral MoU shall encourage cooperation between India and WHO. This will facilitate in improving public health status of the people in India," the statement said. New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a long-term agreement for export of iron to Japan and South Korea through state-owned trading firm MMTC, an official release on Wednesday said. "Cabinet approves renewal of long-term agreements for supply of iron ore (lumps and fines)...to Japanese steel mills and POSCO, South Korea for another five years (from April 2018 to March 2023) through MMTC," it said. The range of quantity of iron ore to be exported would be 3.8 million tonnes per annum to 5.5 million tonnes per annum, it added. The supply of iron ore, although of smaller quantities, has been a core element in the bilateral ties with Japan and South Korea. MMTC will be supplying iron ore of grade (plus) 64 Fe, or high grade content, to Japanese and Korean steel mills from NMDC's Bailadila mines in Chhattisgarh. It added that the existing policy of single agency operation and exports through MMTC, with trading margin of 2.8 per cent of FOB (free on board) price, shall be continued. Its simple: Keep filling the swamp. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images Donald Trump ran for the presidency as an economic populist who promised to implement stringent new reforms to limit the power of money in government. Not only has he ignored these promises, hes likewise failed to observe even the old norms, which called for some pretense of good government. For instance, people in government might have always given their donors more influence over their decisions, but they at least pretended that was not the case in public. The Trump administration is not even bothering to put up a facade. Mick Mulvaney, the budget director and director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has gutted the latter agencys role in preventing consumer fraud. Tuesday, he met with lobbyists and executives from the banking industry, promising further steps to gut regulations to prevent them from cheating customers. Thats not even the scandalous part! The scandalous part is that Mulvaney asked the executives and lobbyists to donate more money, and told them the more they donated, the more influence they would have. Mulvaney didnt offer this as a sad concession to reality but an actual principle of governance he had personally abided: We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress, Mr. Mulvaney, a former Republican lawmaker from South Carolina, told 1,300 bankers and lobbyists at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington. If youre a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didnt talk to you. If youre a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you. The levels of corruption in this administration are simply staggering, and they range from open self-enrichment to openly selling policy to the highest bidder. The completely accurate sense that Trump and his party are out to get themselves and their friends rich is the administrations gaping vulnerability. Whats especially odd is that nobody in the administration seems to have taken even cursory steps to address or paper over this weakness. Theyre all just grabbing as much cash for themselves and their allies as they can, while they can. New Delhi: Manipal Health Enterprises has revised its offer for Fortis Healthcare again, raising the value to Rs 6,322 crore, according to a regulatory filing. The move comes ahead of Fortis board's meeting to consider the recommendations of an expert advisory panel formed to finalise the evaluation process of all binding offers. The new offer from Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt Ltd (MHEPL) also proposes that Manipal Education and Medical Group India Pvt Ltd will arrange financial assistance of up to Rs 750 crore either by way of debt financing or through guarantees, comfort letters to lenders of FHL. This is the second time Manipal/TPG-led consortium has revised its offer for Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL). FHL meanwhile said in a filing that acceptance of one-time waiver from the exclusivity provisions given by Manipal and TPG to it on April 19 would have limited its ability to run a competitive bid process. Manipal's revised offer states that it had given Fortis a one-time waiver from the exclusivity provisions under the Implementation Agreement signed with them on March 27, 2018 by permitting Fortis with a limited ability to undertake a process by permitting due diligence, Fortis said in a filing. "The aforementioned statement omits certain key facts, such as conditions of the waiver wherein Manipal and TPG sought to impose additional onerous conditions on the company over and above those contained in the Implementation Agreement...," it added. These conditions would limit the ability of Fortis to run a competitive bid process if such conditions were to be accepted, FHL said. "Since FHL did not accept the terms and conditions of the of the one-time waiver letter within the period specified therein, the proposals set out under the letter stand automatically terminated," the letter by Manipal Health Enterprises to Fortis board has said. It added: "MHEPL proposes to offer a premium of Rs 1,319 crore to the FHL shareholders over and above the FHL Hospital's Business' equity valuation of Rs 5,003 crore, as determined by the independent valuer....". This would result in an equity value of Rs 6,322 crore being attributed to FHL Hospital Business for purposes of computing the share entitlement ratio for the purposes of demerger, it added. The earlier revised offer of April 10 valued Fortis hospital business at Rs 6,061 crore. The letter also mentions that the new revised offer provides a road map for the exit of PE investors from SRL. As per the offer, Manipal Health would purchase 5 per cent of SRL's paid up share capital on a fully diluted basis from FHL for the same price per share as being paid for the PE SRL stake. "This is to ensure that FHL is able to monetise a portion of its stake in SRL towards repayment of its overdue loans while retaining a majority stake in SRL," the letter said. On April 10, the Manipal/TPG consortium had raised their offer for Fortis to Rs 155 per share by valuing the hospital business higher at Rs 6,061 crore from Rs 5,003 crore in its initial offer on March 27. Yesterday KKR-backed Radiant Life Care also made a revised bid for Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL) with a binding offer to acquire its Mulund hospital for an enterprise value of Rs 1,200 crore. Already Malaysian major IHH Healthcare has revised its proposal and made a binding offer to immediately infuse Rs 650 crore in the Indian firm as part of an overall proposal to invest Rs 4,000 crore. Besides, FHL has received a binding offer from Hero Enterprise Investment Office and Burman Family Office. Group entities of Hero Enterprise Investment Office led by Sunil Kant Munjal and the Burman family of the Dabur Group currently hold around 3 per cent stake in the healthcare chain. FHL had also received an unsolicited non-binding expression of interest from Fosun Health Holdings, an arm of Fosun International, with a proposal of primary infusion at a price up to Rs 156 per share up to a total investment of USD 350 million (over Rs 2,295 crore). FHL stock closed at Rs 152.65 per share on BSE, up 0.73 per cent from its previous close. New Delhi: The death toll of the successful encounter of Naxalites by security forces in Maharashtras Gadchiroli has gone up after two more bodies were fished out of the Indravati River. With this, the official death toll of Naxals now stands at 39, with six more killed in another encounter in region on Monday. Maharashtra Police have termed the operation as the most successful one by any force in Dandakaranya the liberated zone comprising of Naxal affected districts in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. "This is one of the best operations in the last 38 years since the Naxal problem began," an elated IG Naxal OPs (Maharashtra) had told News18. As per Gadchiroli police, the two-day-long operation led to the death of at least two Divisional commanders of CPI(Maoist) Srinivas alias Sinu alias Vijender and Sainath. Srinivas (51), is a resident of Warangal, Telangana and was wanted in 82 cases of murder, abduction and loot. On the other hand, Sainath was a Gattepalli village in Aheri taluka of Gadchiroli and was the local face of the Maoists. He had joined the Maoists in 2004 and was wanted in 75 cases of murder, abduction etc. Both Srinivas and Sainath were members of the Divisional Committee of CPI (Maoist), a top decision-making body of the Naxals. Sources said the two were leading a group of around 60 Naxals from Telangana to Gadchiroli and stopped on the banks of Indravati River in the Tadgaon forest of Bhamragad. Tadgaon is about 750 km from Mumbai and is considered to be a Naxal stronghold. Police believe the Naxals were travelling to extort money from tendu patta dealers. "At this time of the year, Naxal platoons move from Telangana to Gadchiroli for extortion. Tendu patta dealers are mostly their target," a top officer told News18. Preliminary information suggests that the platoon stopped for rest and breakfast. Tadgaon is on the Chattisgarh-Maharashtra border with Indravati River separating Bijapur in Chhattisgarh from Gadchiroli in Maharashtra. Police say they first surrounded the Naxals and warned them to surrender. "We had a specific tip-off about the groups movement in the area. A combing operation was launched on Saturday. On Sunday, between 10 and 11 am, the Naxals started firing and our boys retaliated killing many," IG Anti Naxal ops Sharad Shelar told News18. Sources said two parties of Maharashtra Police's elite anti-Naxal force C-60 were dispatched to Tadgaon. Each party had about 30 highly trained commandos. Firing began from the Naxal side leading to an hour-long gunfight. We have not lost any men. It was a successful operation," SP Gadchiroli Abhinav Deshmukh told News18. The last of the reports said that Police were carrying the Naxals bodies to the nearest Tadgaon Thana. Helicopters had been pressed into service to reinforce the forces on the ground where mobile connectivity is poor and hence information outflow is patchy. Maharashtra police suspects that the number of Naxals killed will go up since at least 60 Naxals were part of the group. "Rains and nightfall forced us to stop looking for more bodies but our operation will resume tomorrow," said SP Abhinav Deshmukh. The operation is being hailed by the police as next only to the one launched by Andhra Pradesh's Greyhounds, who killed 24 Naxals in Odishas Malkangiri in 2016. Thiruvananthapuram: Four deaths in a family in six years may not be an extraordinary development. However, the deaths had a similarity. All the four members of Vannathamveedu house in Pinarayi Panchayat of Keralas Kannur district died due to excessive vomiting. On Tuesday, the police arrested the Saumya, the lone survivor of the family, on charges of homicide. According to police, they questioned the 28-year old for 13 hours and she confessed to killing members of her family. They said Saumya killed her nine-year-old daughter Aishwarya in January as she saw her with two neighbours in a compromising situation. Later, her parents, Vadavathi Kamala and Kunhikkannan scolded her for the friendship with some men in the neighborhood. Hence, she poisoned her parents as well. These three deaths occurred in a gap of just 73 days. Aishwarya died on January 13, Kamala (68) on March 7, and Kunhikkannan (76) on April 13. The first of the tragedy in the family was the death of Keerthana, the one-and-a-half-year-old daughter of Saumya, who also died due to excessive vomiting on September 9, 2012. Saumya, who is separated from her husband, has denied any involvement in the first death. However, police is yet to accept it. It all came to light after the death of Kunhikkannan, after which the neighbours became suspicious. Soon, Soumya also fell ill from vomiting following her father's death. The anxious neighbours complained to authorities to inspect wells in the area. However, the inspection did not turn up anything suspicious. Soon, the most prominent person from the village, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan visited the house. He asked the police and the health department to conduct an inquiry. The health department and village officials also took the water samples from the house of Saumya and from around 25 wells in the area. But they also found nothing wrong. The police then registered a case on a complaint lodged by relatives expressing doubts about the deaths and launched an investigation. The post-mortem Soumya's parents bodies revealed the presence of aluminium phosphide, a highly toxic substance found in rat poison. On April 23, Aishwaryas body was exhumed and a post-mortem was conducted. The collected remains were taken to Thiruvananthapuram forensic lab for detailed examination. As remnants of aluminium phosphide were traced from the organs of the people died, the police took Saumya into custody from the hospital, where she was undergoing treatment. LIVE NOW auto-refresh LIVE NOW Asaram Case Verdict LIVE Updates: 'Godman' Gets Life in Jail for Raping Teen at Jodhpur Ashram Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu was convicted by a Jodhpur court in a 2013 rape case. The proceedings took place at a makeshift court in Jodhpur jail. News18.com | April 25, 2018, 17:04 IST Jodhpur: Self-styled godman Asaram on Wednesday was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Jodhpur court for raping a teenage girl in his ashram five years ago. This is the second such case of a high profile spiritual leader being convicted of a sexual offence in less than a year, after Dera sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan was convicted of rape in August 2017. Asaram broke down on hearing the verdict, which was read out by Special judge Madhusudan Sharma in the Jodhpur Central Jail, where the 77-year-old has been kept for over four years. Apart from Asaram, two other accused were convicted by the special court for SC/ST cases. They were sent to jail for 20 years each. Two others were acquitted. Police had stepped up security around Asaram's ashrams to prevent the kind of violence that was unleashed by followers when another so-called godman, Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, was convicted of rape last August. "Asaram was given life-long jail term, while his accomplices Sharad and Shilpi were sentenced to 20 years in jail by the court," public prosecutor Pokar Ram Bishnoi told reporters, soon after the court pronounced its judgment on the quantum of sentence to the three convicts. Asaram would be in prison till his natural death, said Bishnoi, adding the court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him. He said the prosecution demanded the maximum sentence. We argued that Asaram is not a saint and he, under a conspiracy, called the victim from the hostel and raped her." he said. "Sharad and Shilpi were also the part of the conspiracy, he added. Arguments for the quantum of sentencing were held inside the heavily fortified jail premises, where the trial court delivered its verdict in accordance with the directions of the Rajasthan High Court. Asaram, who started from a hut on the banks of the Sabarmati, created a Rs 10,000-crore empire with 400 ashrams in India and other parts of the world in four decades. The charge sheet against Asaram and the four other co-accused was filed by the police on November 6, 2013 under various sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, the Juvenile Justice Act and the Indian Penal Code. The teenager had said in her complaint that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. The 16-year-old girl from Shahjahanpur in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was studying at Asaram's ashram in Chhindwara in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. "We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice," her father told journalists after the verdict. The family, he said, was living in constant terror and their business was hit. Ahead of the verdict, security was stepped up in Jodhpur where prohibitory orders were imposed. Apprehending a threat to law and order, the Centre had asked Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana governments to tighten security and deploy additional forces as the three states have a large number of Asaram followers. New Delhi: Self-styled guru Asaram has been convicted by Jodhpur court for raping a teenager in 2013. News18 looks back at the series of events which led to the arrest of Asaram. Asaram was arrested on August 31, 2013, after a teenage girl alleged that she was subjected to sexual assault by the self-styled guru when she stayed at the Ashram in Mani village. The victim was a resident of Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh and was a student there. Asaram was charged under relevant sections of Prevention of Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and Schedule Caste and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. August 15, 2013: The day of alleged sexual assault by the self-styled guru. August 20, 2013: The victims parents filed a complaint in Delhi and the case was later transferred to Jodhpur police. August 23, 2013: Supporters of Asaram attacked Kamla Market police station in Delhi in retaliation to the case. August 28, 2013: Father of the teenager demands death for Asaram whereas the self-styled guru's son described the young girl as mentally unstable. August 29, 2013: Indirect allegations made by the accused that he was being targeted by the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi. August 31, 2013: Jodhpur police arrested Asaram, who was later sent to jail by a court. His supporters created a ruckus outside court against the order. November 6, 2013: Jodhpur police files chargesheet against Asaram and four co-accused. He was charged with wrongful confinement and rape of a sixteen-year-old. November 8, 2013: Rajasthan HC directs the District and Sessions Court to start trial with daily hearings and wrap up the case at the earliest. While Asaram was evading arrest, his son said that the self-styled guru was not hiding and would surrender once he recovers from trigeminal neuralgia (a chronic pain condition affecting the trigeminal nerve in the face). During one of the hearings, defence lawyer Ram Jethmalani argued that the victim had a chronic disease which draws a woman to a man. February 7, 2014: Charges framed against Asaram for rape, criminal conspiracy and other offences by Jodhpur court. February 13, 2014: Asaram pleads not guilty to charges in rape case. August 19, 2014: Supreme Court rejects Asaram's bail plea. January 1, 2015: A seven-member AIIMS medical board examined Asaram following a SC directive in connection with his bail plea. February 2015: Rahul K Sachan, a witness in the case was stabbed outside the local court. He was supposed to give his statement. July 8, 2015: A witness, Sudha Pathak, turned hostile and told the court she had no knowledge of Asarams activities. Four days later, a key witness, Kripal Singh was shot at by two motorcycle-borne people in Shahjahanpur. April 7, 2018: Final arguments in the case were completed in the court of SC/ST cases Special Judge Madhu Sudan Sharma and verdict was reserved. April 25, 2018: Self-styled guru Asaram has been convicted by Jodhpur court for raping a teenager in 2013. What are the charges against Asaram? Asaram sexually assaulted a minor girl in Mani Ashram, around 30 kilometres from Jodhpur. Shilpi, the warden at Chhindwara Gurukul in MP where the girl was a student, allegedly convinced the girl's parents to send her to the Ashram to ward off evil souls which was said to be behind her mental illness. It was also alleged that Shiva, the mediator between Shilpi and Ashram, was also present in Mani Ashram the day the assault took place. What are the sections Asaram is being tried for? IPC 342 (Wrongful confinement) IPC 376(2)(F) (Rape of a minor girl) IPC 376 D (Rape) IPC 354 A (Outraging the modesty of a woman) IPC 506 (Criminal intimidation) IPC 109 (Abetment to an offence) New Delhi: A special Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe court on Wednesday convicted self-styled godman Asaram Bapu in a 2013 minor girl rape case. It was one of Asarams aides, Shilpi, now convicted, who convinced the parents of the teenage girl that the latter was possessed by evil spirits and sent the girl to Asaram in Jodhpur. Shilpi was a warden in Asarams ashram in Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh. The teenage girl later claimed that the godman sexually assaulted her. The call details also showed that Shilpi was in constant touch with Asaram and the girls family and the communication became very frequent just a week before the girl was allegedly assaulted. The teenage girl, in her complaint, said that Shilpi used to brainwash young girls and send them to Asaram. It was also alleged that Shiva, the mediator between Shilpi and Ashram, was also present in Mani Ashram the day the assault took place. So who is Shilpi? According to reports, her real name is Sanchita and she, along with her family, was a devotee of Asaram. Her family used to take her to Asarams ashrams. With a masters in Psychology, she is said to have joined Asarams ashram in Ahmedabad in 2005. In 2012 she reportedly told her parents that she was embracing this life. There were certain reports that did the round during her surrender that she was in fact Asarams daughter. There was, however, no concrete evidence to prove that. Reid. Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for The Womens Med In late 2017, political commentator and MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid became the center of what was at the time a minor social-media controversy after it emerged that she had written numerous homophobic comments on her old blog, the Reid Report. On multiple occasions, she referred to former Florida governor Charlie Crist as Miss Charlie, attempted to out him, and criticized his marriage to his wife. (Since those blogging days, Reid has become a prominent anti-Trump liberal, popular on social media even apart from her role as a cable-news personality on AM Joy.) The posts were unearthed by a Twitter user, @Jamie_Maz, using the Wayback Machine, a service from the nonprofit Internet Archive that shows snapshots of websites as they appeared at specific points in time. The Wayback Machine sends bots called web crawlers or spiders to as many sites as possible, and then downloads those web pages, giving them a time and date stamp. Its a useful tool to track how a website has changed and evolved over time, and to find pages that are no longer live on the web. Following the reports in late 2017, Reids blog disappeared from the Wayback Machine (which is not in itself a problem; more on that later). On Monday, Mediaite published more old posts that are not flattering to Reid. Most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing, she wrote. Most straight people had a hard time being convinced to watch Broke Back Mountain. (I admit that I couldnt go see the movie either, despite my sisters ringing endorsement, because I didnt want to watch the two male characters having sex.) Does that make me homophobic? Probably. Jokes about homosexuality and public figures that she suspected to be gay abounded on her site, suggesting that it was a habit, and not an occasional gaffe. She also made lazy jokes about celebrities like Clay Aiken and Anderson Cooper years before they publicly came out. She also wrote about gene manipulation to ensure that a child would not be born gay, calling it an interesting moral question. The comments, while not virulently homophobic, were bad enough, and particularly damaging to a woman who has become a particular celebrity of the anti-Trump resistance. But the saga got even weirder when, instead of apologizing, Reid issued a confounding statement on the matter, claiming that she was the victim of a hack and that the material was manipulated and fabricated. She told Mediaite: In December I learned that an unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material from my now-defunct blog, The Reid Report, to include offensive and hateful references that are fabricated and run counter to my personal beliefs and ideology. I began working with a cyber-security expert who first identified the unauthorized activity, and we notified federal law enforcement officials of the breach. The manipulated material seems to be part of an effort to taint my character with false information by distorting a blog that ended a decade ago. Now that the site has been compromised I can state unequivocally that it does not represent the original entries. I hope that whoever corrupted the site recognizes the pain they have caused, not just to me, but to my family and communities that I care deeply about: LGBTQ, immigrants, people of color and other marginalized groups. In short, I was hacked! Or, in other words, some devious actors hacked into decade-old posts on Joy-Ann Reids defunct site to add widespread homophobia to her writing, and then someone discovered those posts when they were saved by the Internet Archive Okay, sure But the story took another twist yesterday when the Internet Archive, a studious record-keeper, clarified a few things. This past December, Reids lawyers contacted us, asking to have archives of the blog (blog.reidreport.com) taken down, stating that fraudulent posts were inserted into legitimate content in our archives of the blog. Her attorneys stated that they didnt know if the alleged insertion happened on the original site or with our archives (the point at which the manipulation is to have occurred, according to Reid, is still unclear to us). To hear Reids lawyers tell it, someone either hacked her blog or the Internet Archive. The claim is not impossible but it is highly, highly suspect the Internet Archive found no evidence of this and there is no precedent for it. The Internet Archive declined to remove the archives, mostly owing to Reids being a journalist (a very high-profile one, at that). But the Internet Archive has another, automated way to remove entries from its database. Most domains have a file called robots.txt, and the point of that file is to give instructions to automated web crawlers. For instance, if you dont want Googles search engine to index your site, you can tell Google not to via commands in the robots.txt file. For the Internet Archive, adding a couple of specific lines to the robots.txt file will stop a domain from being archived, and more importantly, will remove all documents hosted on that domain from the archive. According to, funnily enough, the Wayback Machine, Reid or someone acting on her behalf inserted this command on her site on or around March 1, and the sites archives have subsequently disappeared. Still with me? Great. Yesterday evening, another statement was released, this time from Jonathan Nichols, a security consultant working on Reids behalf. Here's the statement of security consultant Jonathan Nichols regarding the claims of blog-hacking by MSNBC's Joy Reid. pic.twitter.com/wGAui8Mfa5 ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) April 25, 2018 Five months ago, he writes, We discovered that login information used to access the blog was available on the Dark Web and that fraudulent entries were entered with suspicious formatting and time stamps. Nichols says that some of the posts are fraudulently because they are timestamped when Mrs. Reid hosted her radio show and feature unusual structure and anomalies within the posts and ghosting around images. He also says that Reids contact with the Internet Archive in late 2017 did not assert that the Wayback Machine had been compromised. MSNBC said that they back Nicholss statement on the matter. What should be clear about this whole situation is that absolutely nothing lines up. The archive likely wasnt hacked, and Reids own security consultant backs that up. But Reids website was edited recently to remove the blog archives from the Wayback Machine, meaning that she didnt want people to see her old posts suspect behavior from an innocent hacking victim. Its also a move that, consequently, also prevents her from presenting any record of the unhacked posts. And, of course, Reid already apologized for previous homophobic posts, authenticating some of them in the process. What this looks like is a very elaborate, incoherent smokescreen to avoid taking responsibility. New Delhi: Another year, another godman found guilty and convicted. Self-styled godman Asaram was on Wednesday convicted by a Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe court in Jodhpur for raping a teenager at his ashram in 2013. Special Judge (SC/ST court) Madhusudhan Sharma delivered the verdict in the Jodhpur Central jail premises. According to the complaint lodged on August 20, 2013, Asaram had raped the then 16-year-old girl on the pretext of giving her his blessings at his ashram in Jodhpur. After his arrest and emboldened by the girl and her family daring to speak out against Asaram, other victims started coming out and reporting similar incidents against him. Asaram allegedly assaulted many victims, including minors as well as sevikas from his ashram, initial News18 reports had found out. Since that time, many complaints have been lodged, however, a host of victims and witnesses have either been silenced forever or have been threatened with dire consequences in case of unfavorable disposition, allegedly by followers of Asaram. But is Asaram a lone case of a godman accused of a crime against a woman? Not at all, India with its many godmen and followers is not new to this phenomenon. News18 charts down all Babas who have, till now, faced the music of law due to either crime committed against women or are charged with other criminal charges. Gurmeet Ram Rahim In August, 2017, a CBI court sentenced self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to 20 years in jail and fined him Rs 30 lakh for raping two disciples, saying he acted like a wild beast and didnt even spare his pious followers. The convict did not even spare his own pious disciples and acted like a wild beast, the judge said. Both the victims put the accused on the pedestal of God and revered him like that only. However, the convict committed breach of gravest nature by sexually assaulting such gullible and blind followers. The flamboyant Dera Sacha Sauda leader, who was known for making films, was in tears and pleaded with folded hands for mercy as the judge read out the verdict. There was even large scale violence which rocked Haryana post his arrest. Narayan Sai Well if you think its only Asaram, then you may be wrong. Asarams son, Narayan Sai, was also accused of rape and sexual assault. Sai is currently lodged in jail for the rape and assault of a woman at one of Asarams ashrams between 2002 and 2005. He is also accused of sexually assaulting eight other girls, some of whom were his followers. The lid was blown in November 2016 when a scribe lodged a case against Narayan for sexually assaulting her when she went to interview him for a local TV channel at the formers Karol Bagh ashram in New Delhi. The woman claimed that the chief of the channel had then advised her against complaining about the issue. Sant Rampal Sant Rampal had been wanted in a murder case for which he had been evading appearance in the court as well as impending custody. It has also been alleged that he shared sexual relationships with select female followers whom he called sadhikayaen. The report claimed that one of the women, a 27-year-old, used to live in Rampals sons room and was one of the few persons to have access to Rampals personal chamber. However in August 2017, self-styled godman Rampal was acquitted by a local court at Hisar in two cases related to rioting, unlawful assembly and use of force. He, however, will continue to be in jail as he is facing several other charges including murder. Judicial Magistrate Mukesh Kumar, citing lack of evidence, acquitted the 66-year-old head of Satlok Ashram in Barwala and his followers. Swami Nithyananda This revered godman is a Hindu spiritual leader, and is believed by his disciples to be an avatar a reincarnated deity. He is the founder of Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam, which is based in India but has devotees on a broader international scale. Swami was seen in a video where he was seen engaged in sexual acts with a television actress sometime around March 2010. Nithyananda in his defence had stated that he was merely practising the shavasana at the time and that he was impotent and hence unable to achieve an erection, rendering him unable to have intercourse with the woman. That is not all, he was also accused of rape by a former disciple at his premises. Reports suggest that on search of his premises, the team had found condoms, drugs as well as other contrabands at his ashram. Later, the authenticity of the CD was verified by a forensic lab. But his ashram later refuted the forensic report and submitted an American labs report on the CD. The self-styled Godman had to spend 52 days in jail in connection with the matter. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi became a disciple and assistant of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya (spiritual leader) of Jyotirmath in the Indian Himalayas. The Maharishi credits Brahmananda Saraswati with inspiring his teachings. He was the guru who had made the famous band, The Beatles, his fanbase. The musicians even visited India in the 60s and stayed at his ashram in Rishikesh. However, later there were reports that sexual advances were made by the Guru towards Mia Farrow. Their relationship reached an endpoint with John Lennon later saying, There is no guru. You have to believe in yourself. Youve got to get down to your own God in your own temple. Its all down to you, mate. Swami Vikasanand This swami from Jabalpur was arrested in 2006 for sexually abusing minor girls and making pornographic films. Around 60 such films were found in his possession at the time of arrest. He was subsequently jailed. Later he was also given bail by the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. Swami Bhimanand Shreemurath Dwivedi, known as Ichchadhari Sant Swami Bhimanand Maharaj Chitrakoot Wale, was arrested in 2010 for running a 500-crore sex racket at his ashram. (Illustration: Mir Suhail) London: A senior British diplomat was forced to apologise on Tuesday after identifying one of the holiest places in Sikhism as a mosque instead of a temple. Simon McDonald, permanent under-secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, had tweeted on Monday referring to a picture of the "Golden Mosque" in Amritsar, northern India, being presented to the UK's deputy high commissioner in Chandigarh. I was wrong: I am sorry. I should of course have said the Golden Temple or, better, Sri Harmandir Sahib. https://t.co/4rJ4mwOdCJ Sir Simon McDonald (@SMcDonaldFCO) April 24, 2018 Realising his mistake, he wrote: "I was wrong: I am sorry. I should, of course, have said the Golden Temple or, better, Sri Harmandir Sahib". Bhai Amrik Singh, chairman of the Sikh Federation, said: "This was a major gaffe by a top civil servant and totally unacceptable. It demonstrates a remarkable level of ignorance from someone in his position," he said. The mistake is particularly sensitive because of suspicions of British involvement in the Indian army's deadly 1984 raid on the Golden Temple. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, on Tuesday, said he would launch an independent inquiry into the British military's role if he becomes prime minister. At least 400 people were killed in the Indian army's attack on the temple, which was aimed at flushing out armed separatists demanding an independent Sikh homeland. The error follows criticism of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson for risking offending Buddhists during a 2017 visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda, the religion's most sacred site in Myanmar's capital, Yangon. Andrew Patrick, the UK ambassador to the country, was forced to tell Johnson to stop reciting the opening verse to Rudyard Kipling's "The Road to Mandalay", which chronicles a retired British serviceman's memories of colonial service. "Not appropriate" he was caught on camera telling Britain's top diplomat. The gaffe comes as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced plans to launch an independent inquiry into Britain's military role in the Indian army's 1984 raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar will be launched under a Labour government. The Labour leader promised that an investigation into the attack, which is said to have left thousands of people dead, would be in the party's next manifesto. Lucknow: Restricting the newly-found bonhomie to Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party to begin their campaigns for upcoming Karnataka elections soon. While BSP chief Mayawati will finally embark on her tour to the poll-bound state on Thursday, SP will announce Akhilesh Yadav's schedule shortly. Months after announcing BSPs alliance with Janta Dal (Secular), Mayawati will finally campaign in Mysore and Chitradurga district during her two-day visit to the state on Thursday. She will also share the stage with JD(S) leadership at public rallies. On the other hand, Samajwadi Party has declared 27 candidates and is expected to announce contenders for 15 seats soon. According to sources in SP, Yadav will soon hold public rallies for four candidates together instead of addressing a public gathering each for the party candidates. Our national president has a vision to establish Samajwadi Party as a national party and that is why we are strengthening our party structure in other states and contesting elections at the same time. Yadavs schedule for Karnataka will be announced soon, said SP spokesperson Sunil Singh Sajan. After the victory in Gorakhpur and Phulpur by-elections, leaders from both SP and BSP camps made it clear that the pre-poll alignment was limited to bypolls. However, BSP supremo Mayawati and SP national president Akhilesh Yadav have hinted at both parties contesting 2019 Lok Sabha polls in an understanding. The understanding for 2019 Lok Sabha polls might be, as indicated by sources, limited to Uttar Pradesh only. Canada: Canadian authorities arrested Hardip Singh Nijjar to interrogate him for allegedly running training camps for terrorists in Canada and his alleged links with the ISI in Pakistan. Nijjar, who is one of the most wanted Khalistani terrorists by Punjab police, was rounded up on the basis of some crucial intelligence input provided by the Indian Government and later released after questioning. He has been put under strict surveillance for his anti-India activities. Punjab police had earlier alleged that Nijjar was organising training camps in British Columbia at the behest of the Pakistani spy agency ISI and has made several attempts to book him in the past. He was one of nine people on the list of wanted Khalistanis that was handed over by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau during his recent visit to India. In 2010 Punjab police filed an FIR against Nijjar for his role in the bomb explosion near Satya Narayan Mandir in Patiala on April 21, 2010. UK based Paramjit Singh Pamma was one of the main accused in the case. In 2015, another FIR was filed against Nijjar for his alleged role in targeting Hindu leaders and yet another case was lodged against him in 2016, pertaining to his alleged involvement in the training and funding to Mandeep Dhaliwal & hatching conspiracy for killing of Hindu leaders, as per the FIR. A 'Look Out Circular (LOC) and a 'Red Corner Notice' (RCN) were also lodged against the Surrey resident in 2015 and 2016 respectively with regard to earlier charges. New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education will conduct a re-test of Class 12 economics paper on Wednesday, nearly a month after it was leaked triggering widespread outrage and confusion among students across India. The CBSE on Tuesday said that for the retest, candidates will appear from the same allotted centres using the same admit Card as already notified on March 30. After reports of the leak surfaced on March 28, the CBSE announced it will re-conduct the examination on April 25. The board had exempted the foreign students from appearing for the exam again since, in its investigation, it did not find the leak to have impacted their results. "About six lakh students will appear for the exam on Wednesday at 4,000 centres," an official from the Central Board of Secondary Education told IANS, adding that the board has taken some extra security measures for the conduct of the exam, which, for the sake of security, cannot be revealed. Then, there were also reports of the CBSE's Class 10 mathematics paper being leaked, but the board decided against a re-test of the Class 10 paper, saying the examination was "largely an internal segment" of the school education system. "The candidates will appear (for the exam) from the same allotted centres using the same admit card," a board official said today. For conducting the re-test of the economics paper, the board had said "Class 12 exams are a gateway to higher education and various professional competitive exams which have limited seats... Therefore, giving undue advantage to a handful of beneficiaries of the alleged leak of the economics paper would not be in larger interest of the students." Earlier this month, the CBSE had said it found no impact of the Class 10 mathematics paper leak after an assessment. The reports of leak of the CBSE papers had caused disappointment among students across the country last month. In Delhi, students held protests, accusing the CBSE of negligence and demanded immediate action against the guilty. Investigators made arrests in several parts of the country in connection with the case, including in Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh. They claimed to have arrested the main conspirators behind the leak from Una town in Himachal Pradesh. The three people were staffers at a school in the town. The Class 12 economics paper was leaked on March 23 - three days before the scheduled date, according to Delhi Police. The leak was exposed after an envelop containing four images of the hand-written economics paper was delivered to the CBSE Headquarters in Delhi on the evening of the scheduled date of examination - March 26. Following the leak reports, on April 2 CBSE tried a "leak-proof" system of "encrypted" question papers, which delayed the exam as a few centres in Delhi were unable to follow the printing of encrypted papers, e-mailed to them, at the school itself. The HRD ministry then set up a committee to examine the process by which the CBSE conducts examinations. The seven-member panel, headed by former HRD secretary Vinay Sheel Oberoi, will suggest measures to make the process "secure and fool-proof" using technology. The committee has to submit its report by May 31 to the Human Resource Development Ministry. New Delhi: The central government has cleared the appointment of senior advocate Indu Malhotra as a judge in the Supreme Court. The appointment has come through three months after her name was recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium. Malhotra will become the first woman lawyer to be elevated directly as a judge in the top court. On April 22, CNN-News18 had first reported about the government finally acting upon the Collegium's recommendation and processing her file. It was then forwarded by the Law Ministry to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) for verifying her credentials, professional competence and provide inputs on other pertinent aspects before clearing the name. According to the sources in the Ministry, the IB sent back the file earlier this week, and the Ministry has put its stamp of approval after a nod from the Prime Minister's Office. However, another name recommended by the Collegium along with Malhotra is still stuck in a limbo. The government has opted to segregate the name of Uttarakhand High Court chief justice KM Joseph and cleared only Malhotra for appointment as judges in the top court. Justice Joseph's file is still under consideration by the Law Ministry and there is no further movement in his case. The decision to segregate the name was taken after the Law Ministry, sources said, arrived at a conclusion that the present was a case distinguished from an earlier instance when a former CJI had asked government not to segregate names sent by the Collegium. Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph, in his letter addressed to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, had recently questioned the government's intent behind sitting over the recommendations. In his letter dated April 9, Justice Joseph had cautioned the CJI that "dignity, honour and respect of this institution is going down day by day" because of the judiciary's inability to get judges appointed. In February, most senior judge J Chelameswar had also criticised the government over stalling judicial appointments. "For some time, our unhappy experience has been that the Governments accepting our recommendations is an exception and sitting on them is the norm. Inconvenient but able judges or judges to be are being bypassed through this route, the judge wrote to the CJI. New Delhi: Microsoft Corp is not auditing how its partner KPMG cracks down on illegal use of Microsoft software in India, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The denial comes after a prior claim made by an executive of the U.S. technology giant following a client complaint in March. Microsoft runs a global "software asset management" (SAM) programme under which it partners with global consultants such as KPMG in India. Under that programme, KPMG seeks permission from business owners to check for the use of unlicensed software. Reuters reported earlier this month that Microsoft had begun probing KPMG's work in India after a member of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Vinit Goenka, complained to both companies that a KPMG employee had "barged in" to his Mumbai recruitment firm without an appointment to check its software last month. Following the incident, a senior Microsoft India executive, Rajiv Sodhi, wrote to Goenka and apologised, saying Microsoft was "getting an assessment agency to carry out an audit of the process delivery at KPMG to identify and correct gaps, if any," according to an e-mail reviewed by Reuters. Microsoft and KPMG, who had earlier declined to comment on the probe, on Tuesday denied there was such an audit, and said allegations made against the programme's implementation were "incorrect". "Microsoft and KPMG strongly refute any suggestion that Microsoft is auditing KPMG, or either company has engaged in any wrong doing," the companies said in the statement sent to Reuters. A spokeswoman for Microsoft in India clarified on Tuesday that the company was only examining conduct around the recent incident and was not carrying out a broad probe into KPMG's other anti-piracy work for Microsoft. POLICE COMPLAINT Microsoft declined to comment on why Sodhi previously told Goenka there was an audit being carried out. It also declined to comment on whether it hired an assessment agency to do such an audit, citing employee and customer confidentiality concerns. "When a customer complains to us about a process issue they may have experienced, Microsoft and KPMG take the concern seriously and address appropriately through process review and gap assessment, if any," the companies said in the joint statement. Sodhi did not respond to a request for comment. Told about the statement from Microsoft and KPMG, Goenka said the companies should be addressing the issues he raised. "Why would he (Sodhi) apologise if they had not done any mistake?" said Goenka, who advises government committees on IT initiatives and filed a police complaint after the incident. India is one of Microsoft's biggest markets in Asia, but over half of all software installed on computers in the country is unlicensed, advocacy group Business Software Alliance said in 2016. Goenka said his firm, Ratein Infotech, used genuine software. Last month, he received a letter from Microsoft saying his company needed help in "interpreting licensing policies of Microsoft", according to emails seen by Reuters. The issue escalated when a KPMG employee, identified only as Srijesh, entered Ratein's office on March 15. Microsoft and KPMG apologised to Goenka and Srijesh wrote an e-mail resigning, the emails showed. "The resignation of the KPMG employee was involuntary and hence KPMG has not accepted the resignation," the companies said in their statement, without elaborating. Srijesh could not be reached for comment. The Telangana Board of Secondary Education, also known as the Directorate of Government Examinations, announce the TS SSC Result 2018 or Telangana SSC Class 10 Result 2018 on April 27 at 7 pm. The Telangana Board of Secondary Education will release the Telangana SSC Class 10 Result 2018 or Telangana Class 10 Result 2018 on its official website bse.telangana.gov.in. TS SSC Results 2018 Number of Students: 5,38,867 Pass Percentage: 83.78% Girls: 85.14% Boys: 82.46% District with highest pass percentage: Jagtial District with lowest pass percentage: Adilabad 2125 schools had 100% pass 25 schools had 0% pass Supplementary date June 4th to 19th June The Telangana Board of Secondary Education, also known as the Directorate of Government Examinations, Board of Secondary Education (BSE) Telangana conducted the TS SSC Result 2018 or Telangana SSC Class 10 Result 2018 from March 15 to April 2, 2018. Students can also check their results on examresults.net/telangana and results.nic.in Steps to check the TS SSC Result 2018 or Telangana SSC Class 10 Result 2018, students need to follow the steps below: Step 1: Visit the official website bse.telangana.gov.in Step 2: Look for the link which says TS SSC Result 2018 or Telangana SSC Class 10 Result 2018 Step 3: Click on the link and fill up the details required to get your Telangana Class 10 Result 2018 or Telangana SSC Class 10 Result 2018 Step 4: Enter your Roll number and the other details Step 5: Click on Submit Step 6: Download and take a print out of your TS SSC Result 2018 or Telangana SSC Class 10 Result 2018 Students can also get their TS SSC Result 2018 or Telangana SSC Class 10 Result 2018 on mobile via SMS by following the steps below: TS SSC Result 2018 or Telangana SSC Class 10 Result 2018 - Telangana SSC Results 2018 via SMS SMS - TS10 ROLL NUMBER - Send it to 56263 In 2018, a total of 5,33,701 students appeared for Telangana Board of Secondary Education's Class 10 examination at various examination centers across the state. Churu/Jaipur/New Delhi: Over a dozen people were used as guinea pigs for a drug being developed by a pharmaceutical company at a private hospital in Rajasthan. News18 met with 12 people from one village Digaria who were offered this potentially harmful drug this April. Three of them backed out on seeing the delirious state of those who had consumed the drug. People from other villages in Rajasthan were also roped in for the drug trial, but they refused to be identified during their interactions with News18. Those from Digaria, who are still suffering from the side-effects of this trial, told this to News18 - a) Consent of none of them was sought before they were exposed to potentially harmful clinical drug trials. b) None of these people even knew that they were being given yet-to-be-released drugs. c) In several cases, they were told that the tablets they were being given would help digestion. d) None of them were told about the possible side-effects and almost all of them are suffering from head-aches, upset stomachs, extreme lethargy and drowsiness, since taking the drug. One of the recipients said he jotted down the name of the drug from the strips given to them, it was Quetiapine, which is an anti-psychotic drug used to treat mental conditions such as schizophrenia. Doctors who News18 reached out to said that except stomach ache, all other symptoms like drowsiness, lethargy, head-ache, were congruent with the effects of anti-psychotic drugs when taken by a healthy person. The pharmaceutical company in question Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd denied having given Quetiapine for its clinical trials. A company representative claimed that they were instead conducting clinical trials for a drug meant for osteoarthritis. He also said that Glenmark had found "irregularities in the hospital records. We are therefore launching our own investigation in the case." (Image: Rounak Kumar Gunjan/News18) In its official statement to News18, Glenmark did not deny the possibility of Malpani hospital, whom it had entrusted with conducting clinical trials, having actually conducted the trials without seeking the consent of the volunteers. (Scroll to the end of the story to read the complete statement by Glenmark.) The hospital where these trials were conducted Jaipurs Malpani hospital admitted to bringing people over for clinical trials, when contacted by News18, but claimed not to have administered the drug to any of the "volunteers" at all. The people who were made part of these clinical trials told News18 that they were brought to the hospital with the promise of being offered a few days jobs at a medical camp where they needed to assist doctors and nurses. The 12 people said that they did as told for the money Rs 500 per day for people from village Digaria, Rs 1000 per day for those from Bharatpur free food and alcohol. Multiple investigations have been launched into the episode, one by the state government which has constituted a three-member panel, and another by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). The two investigating bodies are yet to submit their findings. However sources in CDSCO, on condition of anonymity, told News 18 that doctors in the hospital have admitted to discrepancies in the stocks of the drug in question. Glenmark says they gave the hospital 36 tablets of GRC 27864, however, according to hospitals record books there are only 33 tablets of the drug with them. Privately, the hospital officials admitted that they had indeed given three people this drug. Rajasthans minister for health, Kali Charan Saraf, has called this a serious matter and promised strong action against the guilty. What the Indian rule-book says about clinical trials The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has laid down 12 guidelines for the conduct of clinical trials in India. The second guideline on this list explicitly states principles of voluntariness and talks of informed consent. Principles of voluntariness, informed consent, whereby research participants are fully apprised of the research and the impact and risk of such research; and whereby the research participants retain the right to abstain from further participation. The guidelines also warn against exploitation of the volunteers to the clinical trials. Other guidelines make it compulsory for the research to be carried out by professionally competent individuals in conditions medically suitable for experimentation. The guidelines are binding on all clinical trials going on anywhere in India. Villagers speak out To meet the recipients of GRC 27864, News18 travelled to Digaria village in district Churu, 12 of whose residents were made part of the clinical trials. One of the people who took the drug and, like everyone who did is suffering the side-effects like acute head and body ache, is 25 year-old Sawarmal Meghwal. He works as a daily labour in the village and earns about Rs 300 per day. One of the villagersSher Singhtold us on the night of April 17 about a medical camp being set up in Jaipur for ten days. He said they will pay us Rs 500 per day and take care of our food and shelter. All we had to do was help the doctors and nurses in running the camp, he said. Meghwal along with 11 other villagers left for Jaipur in a bus the next day. They were accommodated in the basement of the Malpani hospital. On the gates of the hospitals basement, News18 saw Clinical Trials written clearly in bold red. Mularam Meghwal, a daily wager, who also boarded that bus to earn money said that lunch, followed by dinner and alcohol was served to them that day. Nobody asked us to work on the first day. They just asked us to rest. We were given food twice and alcohol at night. At 2 pm on April 19, after having served them lunch, the middleman between the villagers and the hospital, Bhur Singh, asked the villagers to have a tablet each. He said the tablet will help us in digesting food. He also said that there will be three tablets given to us and if we have the third tablet, we will not be allowed to leave hospital premises for the next thirteen days, said Sonu Meghwal, another local of Digaria village. The villagers who had the tables experienced acute headache, stomach ache and extreme drowsiness after having the tablet. However, there were some who opted not to have the medicine. We were out of the hospital for a stroll. When we returned we saw our fellow villagers in a state of intoxication. Bhur Singh asked us to have the same tablet but we refused to see their condition. Those who had the tablets slept the entire afternoon and night, said Lichhuram Meghwal, a resident of Digaria. Though none of them had any clue about the medicine they were being given. It was out of sheer luck that, as Sonu Meghwal claims, he was the only from his group who could read English and read the name on the medicine strip before discarding it. They were taking out a tablet each and giving it to us. I was the second last in the queue so I was given the strip and asked to have one and give one to the man next to me. This is when I saw the name on the strip. At that time I did not know what it does, said Sonu, still ailing with stomach and headache. Dangerous drugs Lichhuram Meghwal was among the three who, not having taken the drug, was in senses to rush back to his village and bring back more villagers to rescue the remaining nine. One of the people Lichhuram Meghwal returned with clicked a photo of the strip. This photo was then shown to a private doctor in Jaipur to find what was ailing them. The independent medical practitioner, speaking on condition of anonymity told News18, The villagers were carrying the wrapper of Quetiapine. It is used to treat mental conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, sudden episodes of mania or depression associated with bipolar disorder. Quetiapine is known as an anti-psychotic drug. NK Malpani, the director of Malpani Hospital, admitted to not having informed or sought consent from the people he had enrolled for the clinical trials. It is true that our volunteers had not told the villagers about the trial. The villagers had come here only for the money. However, we have a proper licence of drug trial. That day we were testing for osteoarthritis. The medicines were from Glenmark, he said. Officials in the CDSCO investigative team told News18 that on being questioned, the hospital authorities admitted to giving drug supplied by Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd to three patients. Malpani Hospital in Jaipur is one of the many sites that has recently initiated Phase II clinical trial for Glenmark's molecule GRC 27864 in patients with moderate osteoarthritis pain. Malpani Hospital has enrolled only 3 patients in this trial, said a spokesperson of Glenmark. However, according to the officer from CDSCO who is part of the investigative team the three individuals named by Malpani had denied having taken any medication. We went to these people for physical verification. They said they have not been to the hospital at all. At this time were not ruling out the possibility of being fed dummy names, said the official. Despite strong assurance by the state health minister, no FIR has been registered in the case so far. The local police officer has refused to register FIR based on complaints by the Digaria villagers. An FIR can only be registered in Jaipur. We cannot take up the matter here as it involved multiple villages, like Bharatpur. Also, the incident did not occur here, said Prahlad Ray, circle inspector, Bidasar told News18. When contacted by News18, the Churu Superintendent of police, S P Barhat and District Magistrate, Lalit Kumar Gupta, said they agreed with the circle inspector. Churu MLA Khemaram Meghwal said he was unaware of the matter. I got to know about this from you. I was busy last week. I havent got the time to read the newspapers, said Khemaram. Here is the complete statement from Glenmark "Glenmark has been conducting clinical trials in India and around the world since many years. Patient safety and regulatory compliance are of utmost importance to us. Malpani Hospital in Jaipur is one of the many sites that has recently initiated Phase ll clinical trial for Glenmark's molecule GRC 27864 in patients with moderate osteoarthritis pain. Malpani Hospital has enrolled only 3 patients in this trial and no adverse reactions have been reported so far. The Phase II study for GRC 27864 has been initiated at 23 sites so far across India and we have not faced any protocol-related issues at any of the sites. For the trial at Malpani Hospital, Glenmark has in place all the necessary regulatory approvals. However, in the wake of the event of media reports alleging irregularities at the hospital, the company has decided to immediately investigate the matter and suspend the clinical trial at the site. Glenmark will also fully support and cooperate with the regulatory authorities in any investigation on this trial. As a responsible organization, we will not compromise safety of patients." New Delhi: A Congress leader was killed and his two security guards injured in a terrorist attack on Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, police said. Ghulam Nabi Patel was travelling in his car in Rajpora Chowk of Pulwama when terrorists opened fire. Patel later succumbed to his injuries, while the injured security guards, Imtiyaz Ahmad and Bilal Ahmed, are being treated, the police said. "Heartfelt condolences to the family of senior Congress leader, G. N. Patel who was killed by militants today in Rajpora. Such cowardly acts achieve nothing but leave one more family devastated," said Mehbooba Mufti in a tweet. Heartfelt condolences to the family of senior Congress leader, G. N. Patel who was killed by militants today in Rajpora. Such cowardly acts achieve nothing but leave one more family devastated. Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 25, 2018 Security forces have cordoned off the area and a hunt has been launched to nab the attackers, the police said. Bloggers and others running online platforms in Tanzania have two weeks to register with the government or face fines and jail time. Rights groups are expressing concern about the measure, which stems from a new law regulating online content. The new law in Tanzania targets online platforms like blogs, podcasts and others streaming live content, for example via YouTube channels. The government says it will monitor the platforms for hate speech, obscene content and threats to national security and public order. Local bloggers fear the oversight will be used to stifle dissent. Maxence Melo is the co-founder of Jamii forums, a web site about corruption in Tanzania. He has been detained several times since 2015, including two formal arrests. "We have been a lot of pressure from our government in the past years because authorities wanted to know our whistle blowers, and we said we cannot do this," said Melo. "And most of the whistle blowers were people helping to reveal some misconduct in the government. As we speak we are facing three trials, and all of them are about revealing our sources of our stories." Tanzania's government spokesman declined VOA's request for an interview. On Friday, the Tanzania communication regulatory authority said the owners of online platforms must pay about $900 (about Shs 3.3 million) to get a license. The state agency also said it would use suspensions to force the removal of content it deems in violation of the law. Those who fail to comply with the new regulations could face fines and up to a year in jail. Reporters without Borders has slammed the license fee as "exorbitant" and called the new law "the latest blow to free speech in Tanzania." Since taking office in 2015, President John Magufuli has cracked down on a range of issues, including corruption, tardiness among civil servants, and criticism of his government. Newspapers seen as critical have been shut down or seen their licenses suspended. In February, two opposition politicians were jailed for allegedly insulting the president. Henry Maina is the East Africa regional director for Article 19, a global NGO that promotes freedom of expression and information worldwide. "Tanzanians are beginning to organize themselves online, and so here is a clear measure of a state policy to try and close down civic space," said Maina". "And in so doing, they are not only closing down civic space, but they are closing down virtual space so that Tanzanians cannot organize." Maina points to a regional trend. Countries like Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia have cut the internet or restricted access to certain social media sites during times of unrest. Rights groups like Article 19 urge restraint. "There is a big discussion globally on how to regulate social media, but that must not be equated to criminalizing social media. Yes, regulation may be required, and if so, the regulation must be done for three or four main purposes. One for the purpose of protecting the reputation of others, two is for the purpose of what will be narrowly described as national security, three public morality and four public health. Any other reason that a state may throw up as a reason for regulating or controlling social media in itself will be a violation of human rights." In Tanzania, bloggers and administrators of other online platforms have until May 5thto get registered. Their licenses will then come up for renewal, for a fee, every three years Lucknow: After spending more than seven months in jail, Dr Kafeel Khan, prime accused in the death of dozens of children at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur last year, was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday. The single bench of Justice Yashwant Verma while granting bail said since the chargesheet has already been filed in the case there was no need of custody. Dr Khans family had applied for bail on six different occasions in the past seven months. The Gorakhpur Police have already dropped charges of corruption and private practice against Kafeel, who is one of the nine accused in the BRD Medical College case that left many dead allegedly due to oxygen shortage in the childrens ward. Kafeel, the head of the encephalitis ward and an assistant professor at the paediatrics department, was removed from the post of the nodal officer at the National Health Mission in the wake of deaths. Khan has been charged under Sections 120-B, 308 and 409 of the IPC by the office of DG Medical Education. Addressing a press conference in Delhi last week, Dr Shabista Khan, the wife of Dr Kafeel Khan, alleged that the prison authorities were not giving proper medical care to her husband. Citing her husbands ailing health, Dr Shabista urged the government to consider his deteriorating condition as an emergency and grant him bail on medical grounds. My husband is a heart patient, his blood pressure is running high, he is also suffering from depression. Who will bear the responsibility if something happens to him, asked Dr Shabista Khan. Speaking to media during his visit to district hospital, Kafeel said, I am being framed by administration. A doctor is falsely accused. In December last year, Kafeel's mother, Nuzhat Parveen had met Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath during a Janta Darbar held in Gorakhpur and demanded justice for her son. Parveen told Adityanath that her family was going through a difficult time and that the CM must help them. My son was arrested over the BRD Medical College incident while he was doing his duty because a conspiracy was hatched against him. I have requested CM Yogi Adityanath and he has assured me to look into the case, said Nuzhat Parveen. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to visit Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim populated country, a month from now. Sources told News18 that while a date has not been fixed, it has been decided that the PM will go around the same time as the head of Singapore. Modi will deliver the keynote address at the prestigious annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 1. The PMs visit will either be before the Shangri-La dialogue or right after it. Which essentially means that the visit will happen between the last week of May and the first week of June, sources told News18. Modis visit holds significance as Indonesia has been a steady ally of India in key areas, including cooperation in maritime defence. When Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited India in December 2016, the leaders issued a joint statement on Maritime Cooperation which mandates both sides to draw up a MoU for cooperation in this area; and agreed to annual meetings of the leaders. The two sides agreed to commence strategic dialogue, security dialogue and to negotiate a new comprehensive defence cooperation agreement. Interestingly, like India, Indonesia also goes to polls in 2019. The visit may help boost credentials for both leaders, as far as foreign policy is concerned. Widodo has, time and again, asserted that he wishes to see Indonesia as a force to reckon with in the maritime sector and he reaffirmed his vision during his visit to India earlier this year for the ASEAN Summit. Indonesia is also South East Asias largest economy which also accounts to almost one-third of the ASEAN economy. As far as trade with India is concerned, as per government estimates, bilateral trade touched approximately $13.43 billion dollars during 2016-17. It is after five years that an Indian PM is visiting the nation. Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh visited Indonesia in October 2013. During the visit, MOUs on various issues were signed, including those on curbing illicit trafficking in narcotics, disaster management and combating corruption. The two countries, in 2013, had also committed to strengthening partnership in areas of strategic engagement, defence and security cooperation, comprehensive economic partnership, and culturally too. Jodhpur: Asaram was arrested four and a half years ago on August 31, 2013, by Rajasthan's Jodhpur police from Indore in Madhya Pradesh. This was a big success by Jodhpur police. After keeping him for four days in police remand, Asaram was lodged in the Jodhpur Central Jail. It was the successful planning and meticulous operation headed by then DCP of Jodhpur, Ajay Pal Lamba, that managed to send Asaram behind bars. According to Lamba, it was a very difficult task. But after the charges were proved in the investigation against Asaram, a proper planning was done to execute the arrest of Asaram from Indore. Lamba says that there were a lot of hurdles. Asaram was at the peak of spiritual success then and had mass blind followers all across the country. In that situation to arrest Asaram from another state was extremely challenging. However, the most crucial part of evidence in the case was the statement by the victim, who is a minor, said the then DCP. The evidence matched with the statement of the victim thus strengthening the case against Asaram. This became the basis on which Asaram was arrested and proved a major success for Jodhpur police. The Rajasthan police claimed it had the necessary evidence to pin down Asaram, who has been accused of sexually assaulting the 16-year-old daughter of his disciple. The teenager had accused the 72-year-old of forcing himself on her at his ashram in Jodhpur, and threatened to kill her and her parents if she reported the matter to anyone. Asaram Bapu dismissed the allegations as 'bakwas' (nonsense). "Our teams went to his ashrams in Gurukul, Shahjahanpur, Ahmedabad and Indore. We investigated what the girl said. We have verified the charges and found some evidence," Ajay Pal Lamba, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Jodhpur, had then said. In a Facebook post, the former police officer said that it was a landmark judgment that proved that if the law of the land is implemented partially, even the weakest can take on the might of the most influential person. Read his full post here: New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation submitted its 12-page status report in the sensational Kotkhai rape and murder case in Shimla to the Himachal Pradesh government on Wednesday, in which it claimed to have zeroed in on the suspect by tracing his lineage through DNA fingerprinting. According to CBI sources, they reached the suspect Anil Kumar after a team of 40 sifted through scientific evidence for nine months. They said that they first tested the samples at the crime scene to arrive at the age group of the suspect. This helped in zeroing in on the family and then they traced Kumar by tracking his calls. The agency has also given a clean chit to the six suspects arrested by the Himachal Pradesh police during its investigation. The case was transferred to the CBI last year in July last year after the local police botched up the investigation. On July 4 last year, a 16-year-old school-going girl had gone missing while returning from her school in Shimla. Two days later, her brutalised body was found from Halaila forests of Kotkhai. The case had led to massive protests in the state. Anil Kumar, the main accused, was arrested by CBI on April 13. He was interrogated for 12 days in Delhi and was taken to the scene of crime as well, which was recreated by sleuths. He has been sent to judicial custody till May 7. The court has asked the CBI to file an affidavit in the court by May 8. Scientific evidence led to the main accused CBI sources said that after they took over the case, they started the probe afresh. They spoke to close to 2,000 persons, including the locals, school authorities and history sheeters from nearby areas. Statements of 400 persons were recorded. This helped it narrow the list of suspects and blood samples of 250 people were collected, including the victims family members and school staff. All were sent for forensic examination to see if it matched with blood samples found on a liquor bottle found at the crime scene and the blood and semen samples collected from the clothes of the victim. But it bore no fruit. But the agency ascertained that the suspect was an adult in the age group of 25-45 years. The CBIs Forensic Science Laboratory then went for percentage match and lineage match. This helps to focus on the samples that show significant similarities with the ones found at the crime scene. Through this technique, the CBI found that the crime scene samples showed maximum similarities with the samples collected from a family in Kangra. To be sure, the CBI then did further sampling for parental and maternal lineage. This led us to the man we were looking for, a CBI officer said. During the investigation, it was found that Anil had a criminal background. Who is Anil and the motive behind gruesome crime? Anil used to work as a woodcutter at Dhar Kalua, eight kilometres away from where the crime took place. Anil had been involved in criminal activities in the past and had come out of jail in September 2016 on bail, but was absconding since then. According to the investigators, he was not in touch with anyone in his family. At the time of arrest, he was working at a farm in Rohru, said sources in the CBI. He had joined just eight days before his arrest. Sources said the girl was alone while returning from school when Anil saw her. It was a forest area where he raped and smothered her to death, they said. The motive is still not clear and whether more persons were present with Anil is still a matter of investigation. Arrest of Anil As Anil was not in touch with any of the family members, the task became difficult for the investigators. They zeroed in on around 80 people they thought Anil would contact. Teams of agents in civilian clothes were deployed outside a few houses so that they could arrest Anil if he ever returned. Anil made calls on certain identified numbers in August 2017, February 2018, March 2018 and April 2018. But the calls were from different numbers. According to sources, he was clever and made calls from borrowed phones and he never used to reveal his whereabouts. Investigators tracked the numbers from which Anil made the calls. They mapped the movement of calls made by place. They questioned persons who lent their mobile phones to Anil to make calls. On the basis of questioning, a rough sketch was made. In April, he made a call from Rohru. A team was rushed there. They reached the location, a farm. The team questioned everyone. One of the workers matched their impression of the accused, said sources. He was arrested and brought to Delhi for interrogation. CBI changes the theory of local police For the suspects arrested by the local police, the CBI conducted a digital footprint match. Digital footprint is a technique to find out the location of persons through their mobile phone. It was found that none of the persons arrested by the local police had visited the scene of crime on the day the girl was raped and murdered. The blood samples recovered from the scene of crime also didn't match the DNA of the suspects arrested. The investigators also conducted four polygraph and narco tests but the result were negative. They corroborated the alibis given by these suspects and it was found to be true. All these led to the conclusion that the local police arrested the wrong people. I saw her being brought in a car. She was taken inside Asarams room. Later she came out yelling. It was almost dawn when her sobbing broke the morning peace in the Ashram. She was shouting at Asaram. She called him an animal, a sexual deviant. But soon Asaram and his henchmen came out. She was taken away in a car. The baba soon told us that she was under a spell of black magic, a rival tantric had set her up. This is the story that Mahinder Chawla tells us about the Ashram. An incident he was eyewitness to when he worked as the personal secretary to Asarams son Narayan Sai. He worked for him between 2003 and 2005. But later quit in disgust, after seeing the murky world of the self-proclaimed godman. Mahinder was in search of faith, when a friend recommended him to visit Asarams satsang. Impressed by his words, Mahinder soon joined the cult. He rose through the rank to become a close aide of Asaram and his son. But the proximity made him realise that his god was actually human. He says, The driver of Narayan Sai would tell me how they would get women for him in the middle of the night. I too had seen him in objectionable position with women. When I tried to raise my voice, I was told this is how things always were. This is what Asumal Sirumalanis (aka Asaram) is in real life. Those who broke out of the cult say the father-son duo preyed on the young female disciples. The Jodhpur case is only one of the various cases of sexual assault that is against them. The head of the Rs 10,000 crore trust and his son Narayan Sai are facing charges of sexual assault in Surat as well. This time the complainants were two sisters. The elder sister claims that she was raped by Asarams son Narayan Sai and the younger sister pins the blame on the self-proclaimed godman himself. Asarams wife Lakshmi Devi and daughter Bharti Devi have been accused of being complicit in his alleged sexual predation. The young victims claim Asarams wife and daughter played an active role in supplying young girls to him. But ever wondered why there was not much of a noise against these crimes before this case? The Fear Psychosis The trial began in the Asaram case in December 2013. Since then there have been nine attacks on the witnesses. Three witnesses are dead, one is missing and one witness turned hostile. Fate of Three Men Jan 2015: Thirty-six-year-old Akhil Gupta was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle while walking down to his home in Muzzaffarnagar. Feb 2015: Forty-one-year-old Rahul Sachan stabbed on the back that left him partially paralysed. Nov 2015: Sachan mysteriously goes missing, no trace till date. July 2015: Thirty-five-year-old Kripal Singh, a friend of the Jodhpur victims family, shot dead in Shahjahanpur. There was so much fear amongst those involved in the case that the routine life of them were completely thrown off guard. The father of the Shahjahanpur braveheart told News18, It appears as if we have been sent to jail and not Asaram. After my daughter complained about him, she cannot go out of her house, in fact, she cant even have her favourite vegetable Their friends and relatives have stopped visiting them out of fear. His three children have been forced to give up their normal life. They rarely ever leave home. The father of the girl has been receiving death threats, hate messages and his business has taken a huge hit. I had four trucks, now I am down to one. I cant even venture out. How will I run my business? asks the father. Even the journalists are not spared. Narendra Yadav, a Saharanpur journalist, who wrote over 200 pieces exposing Asaram and his cronies, says, They made threat calls and asked me to not write about his dark empire. And when he did not heed their words, they attacked him. Narendra not only wrote about the sexual assault but also about the multi-crore empire of the self-styled godman. On September 17, 2014, he was returning from his office a little late in the evening. As Narendra was opening his car door, there was a sharp attack on him. He realised his attacker had a sickle and the attacker missed his throat. In the end, it was his bag carrying his water bottle and tiffin which came in the way and he survived the attack. Mahinder Chawla, who is a witness in all the cases, was attacked too. They offered me money when I refused, they came with the sarpanch (village headman) and asked me not to depose. But after he testified, the retribution was swift. The former personal assistant to Narayan Sai was attacked by two armed assailants. He survived the attack but had gunshot injuries. The attack happened on the day his personal security guard was on leave. Today he has round the clock security but still doesnt feel safe. The Empire How does Asaram and his cult manage to create such a fear psychosis? This is possible only because of the wealth they had managed to accumulate. According to the estimate of a former close aide of Asaram, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, before he went to jail, his empire was worth Rs 10,000 crore. Wealth received as donation, were multiplied many times by investing them in shady deals, giving loans at ungodly rate of interest and acquiring land by force. According to Mahinder Chawla, who used to keep Narayan Sais book at one point of time in 2002, they had floated over Rs 9,000 crore in the market. He blows the lid on how Asaram was at one point of time one of the biggest moneylenders of the country. The money was given as loan to the big business men. He also became partner in some of the companies. He took money from the devotees and instead of putting them into good social use, they were invested in shady deals, Mahinder says. Apart from the money lending operation, the Asaram Trust is also accused of land grab and illegal encroachment. After the arrests of Asaram and his son Narayan Sai in 2013, the Gujarat government went on a month-long drive to regain government land, which had been encroached upon by Asarams trust in various cities and towns of Gujarat. While some of the Ashrams are now defunct, at the time of their arrest the trust had over 400 ashrams, gaushalas and schools across 20 states in the country. Despite overwhelming claims and charges, his trust and followers maintain all these allegations are false. Yogesh, an Ashram spokesperson, told News18, People gave bapuji land out of their own wish and now their heirs are accusing us of land grabbing. Everything is on paper. How and why would we claim what is not ours. However, trust and faith may be blind, but law is not. Thus, the father of the Saharanpur braveheart has faith in the law as he says, Gurmeet Ram Rahim bana, Asaram Bapu bhi Asumal banega. New Delhi: Suspended after the Doklam face-off, the bilateral military exercise of India and China is likely to resume this year, in sync with renewed efforts by both the countries to reset ties hit by a tense standoff between their troops, government sources said today. The exercise 'Hand-in-Hand' between the armies of the two countries will take place within next 4-5 months in China and an announcement is likely to be made very soon, sources told PTI. It is learnt that the issue of resumption of the annual exercise had figured during talks between Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe in Beijing yesterday. Sitharaman was in Beijing to attend a meeting of defence ministers of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) countries. Prime Narendra Modi is travelling to Chinese city of Wuhan on Friday on a two-day visit to hold an "informal summit" with Chinese President Xi Jinping, seen as an effort to build mutual trust between the two sides. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said the two leaders will try to reach important consensus to resolve outstanding issues and build mutual trust during their talks in Wuhan. The government sources said both sides want to resume the military exercise as it will act as a confidence building measure between the two armies. The annual exercise was to be hosted by China in 2017 but it did not take place due to the Doklam standoff. So far, both sides have participated in six editions of the exercise. India had hosted the exercise in 2016. Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face off was "resolved" on August 28 last year. The area in Doklam where China tried to construct a road is a disputed territory claimed by both China and Bhutan. India sent its troops to stop the Chinese construction activity, saying it could be a threat to its strategic interests in the region. London: India's ranking in the Press Freedom Index has fallen two places to 138, a watchdog said on Wednesday in an annual report, blaming "physical violence" against journalists like Gauri Lankesh as the key reason behind the country's low ranking. Norway topped the list of having the world's freest press for the second year in a row, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said while North Korea remained the most repressive country followed by Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Syria and then China. India's ranking has fallen two places to 138th position in a ranking of 180 countries, just one place ahead of Pakistan which stands at a consistent 139. India was ranked 136th in 2015, gained three places to 133rd in 2016, and fell back to 136th last year. The report warned that hate crime is a major issue plaguing India. "Hate speech is also an issue in the continent's other giant, India, which has fallen another two places to 138th. Ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014, Hindu fundamentalists have been referring to journalists in extremely violent terms," the report said. "Any investigative reporting that annoys the ruling party or any criticism of Hindutva, elicits a torrent of online insults and calls for the death of the reporter or writer responsible, most of it coming from the prime minister's troll army," the report said. The RSF cited the case of the killing of journalist- activist Gauri Lankesh who was shot down outside her house in Bengaluru in September last year. "The newspaper editor Gauri Lankesh was gunned down outside her home in September after being the target of hate speech and death threats for criticising Hindu supremacy, the caste system and discrimination against women," the report said. "The physical violence against journalists is largely responsible for India's low ranking. At least three journalists were murdered in connection with their work. More were killed in circumstances that were unclear, as is often the case in rural areas, where reporters are poorly paid," according to the RSF ranking. China's ranking remained unchanged at 175th position for the second year. Underlining that China's censorship and surveillance has reached unprecedented levels due to the massive use of new technology, the RSF said foreign reporters are finding it harder to work and ordinary citizens can now be jailed just for sharing content on a social network or during a private chat on a messaging service. New Delhi: A meeting of the Sentence Review Board (SRB) of the Tihar Central Jail was postponed on Tuesday in the absence of permission from Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain, who was to chair it to decide on a proposal to release Jessica Lall murder convict Manu Sharma. "The SRB meeting scheduled for Tuesday was postponed. The date for the next SRB meeting will be decided by the Home Department in consultation with Minister Satyendar Jain. When SRB meetings are postponed due to some reasons, these are generally held in the next 15 days. May 9 may be the next date on which Manu Sharma's case could be decided," a jail official, requesting anonymity, told IANS. The SRB is a statutory body with Delhi Home Minister, Law Secretary and Home Secretary among its seven to eight members. The members review the jail and police reports and the social welfare reports of 40-50 prisoners to take a final decision on the proposals for their release. Their report is forwarded to Delhi Lieutenant Governor for a final decision. A jail official, requesting anonymity, told IANS: "As per Manu Sharma's transfer order, he has to work at his family NGO Siddhartha Vashishta Trust and work for thousands of children of underprivileged prisoners to provide the books, free education, and financial aid. The open jail inmates are only a step away from release from incarceration." However, the officer said, Jessica's sister cannot decide Manu Sharma's release but the L-G. "It is up to the SRB meeting of seven to eight high-rank officials, chaired by Minister Satyendar Jain. The SRB will examine the case of 40-50 prisoners along with Manu Sharma, their police reports and social welfare reports to take a final decision. "Even if the SRB approves a prisoner's release, a report is sent to the Lieutenant Governor for the final decision. The L-G reserves the right to turn down even the SRB report," the official said. Tihar authorities also said that the Delhi government rules permit a murder convict undergoing a life sentence to approach a review board to seek 'premature release'. "But such application can be made only after undergoing actual imprisonment for a minimum of 14 years without remission, or 20 years with remission, depending on the case. The review board, however, has to consider the circumstances in which the crime was committed and a possibility of the convict reclaiming his life as a useful member of society," an official said. The officer said that Manu Sharma's name would be sent to the SRB later this month. Last month, Sabrina Lall, elder sister of Jessica Lall, had written to the prison Welfare Officer that her family wants to lead a normal life and has no objection if Manu Sharma is released from the Tihar jail. Manu Sharma, son of former Union Minister Venod Sharma, was sentenced to life for killing Jessica Lall in 1999. The trial court had acquitted him, but the High Court reversed the verdict and convicted him whereas the Supreme Court upheld the life sentence in April 2010. Dubai: An Indian businessman on Tuesday won USD 1 million in a Duty-Free draw at Dubai International Airport. Prabin Thomas, who hails from Kerala businessman and runs a networking business that sells IT products, won the prize with ticket number 0471, Khaleej Times reported. Though a regular buyer of local lottery tickets in India, Thomas has never won anything before, until he decided to try his luck with the Millennium Millionaire promotion and purchased his first ticket online. "I will expand my networking business and probably start a small software company," he said after winning the prize. Another Indian based in Dubai won a motorbike in the same draw. Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday gave assurances that places named after self-styled godman Asaram will be renamed after he was convicted of raping a minor. Chouhan's response came after people took to social media after the verdict to express their anger soon after the verdict was declared. Nobody is above the law, Chouhan said and promised "appropriate action" on an activist's demand that two places in Bhopal named after 77-year-old Asaram be renamed. "No one is above the Constitution, the law, and the public sentiments. It is a country where the name of Aurangzeb Road has also been changed. Soon, we will take appropriate action on this matter too," Chouhan said. Activist Rachna Dhingra, who works for the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster, made the demand in a video on social media. "I am asking the chief Minister who claims to be a big proponent and protector of girls' rights that the names of this crossing and bus stand be changed," she said. Another activist, Akshay Hunka, tagged the chief minister in his tweet and asked to spell out the government's stand on Dhingra's demand. Replying to it, Chouhan assured to take appropriate action. A court in Rajasthan on Wednesday sentenced Asaram to life in jail for raping a minor girl. Bhopal has two places named after Asaram -- a road crossing and a bus stand, both located near the godman's ashram near the Raja Bhoj Airport on the city outskirts. Speaking in Kampala, South Sudan officials signalled at a three-day high level meeting of the eight-nation Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) that the newest member of the bloc wants a law barring its political opponents from getting asylum in the region. In his speech at the opening of the meeting of Igad officials and member states in Kampala yesterday, South Sudan foreign affairs minister Dr Martin Elia Lomuro warned that rich South Sudan politicians residing in the regions capitals could wage war against his government. Second day of the South Sudan national consultative meeting on free movement of persons. Photo: Mehari Taddele Some of them (politicians) have huge properties and investments inappropriately earned from South Sudan. This undeserved wealth is used to advocate violence and war against South Sudan, Lomuro said in his remarks to the high level experts discussing the ratification of IGADs Protocol on Free Movement of Persons at Sheraton hotel, Kampala. Lumuro wants such political refugees expelled from Igad member nations. These kind of people cannot just be treated like ordinary asylum seekers because according to the IGAD Instrument of Establishment no member state should harbor rebels or allow such negative elements to use its territory against member states, he charged. Previously, Riek Machar, the main political nemesis of South Sudan president Salva Kiir, lived in Uganda and Ethiopia, which are key members of the Igad. He has, however, since relocated to South Africa. Lumuros concerns are expected to form the basis for conclusions from the high level experts meeting, which concludes on April 26. Top officials including foreign and internal affairs ministers, MPs, and immigration experts from the Igad attended the meeting. There are also representatives from partner UN agencies such as the International Organisation for Migration, the UNHRC (refugees), UNILO (labour) and the European Union (EU), who facilitate the Igad secretariat work on immigration projects. The meeting is a follow-up on first consultations, which Igad held with South Sudan government officials and other national stakeholders in Juba last year. Resolutions on the provisions of the protocol will provide a political endorsement to fast-track its negotiation and adoption. The Igad Protocol on Free Movement of Persons to enhance regional economic integration and development. Once adopted, the protocol will also help in regulating the high volume of informal movement which currently takes place in the Igad region. Rocked by civil war since 2013, South Sudan has more than two million refugees living in the Igad nations, which include; Uganda, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia and The Sudan. Uganda alone hosts an estimated 1.3 million South Sudan refugees. mugalu@observer.ug New Delhi: Crisis-hit lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Wednesday launched applications to hire detective agencies to significantly supplement efforts of its officials in recovering dues. These detectives will help the bank locate borrowers, co-borrowers, guarantors in and outside India, including their legal heirs who are either untraceable or not available at the addresses given in the banks records, according to an advertisement uploaded on the banks website. The detective agency must ascertain the latest information about defaulting borrowers present addresses, occupations, business, income streams, details of their all assets, whether charged or uncharged, their location (whether in India or abroad), value and ownership, etc.; give details of bank accounts and credit facilities availed by the defaulting borrowers including their legal heirs. They also want to confirm the present state of ownership of the secured assets of defaulting borrowers by personal visits or market report duly confirmed by the documents. They plan to gather any other information which the bank cannot access by utilising normal channels like CIBIL or internet or local enquiries and which may be considered necessary by the bank for the recovery of the bank's dues. PNB has also given the eligibility criteria for allocation of accounts to detective agencies, "All NPA accounts under any category i.e. sub-standard, doubtful and loss category (whether non-suit filed, suit filed or decreed) shall be covered by the policy in which engagement of detective agency seemed appropriate, as per the requirement, said a statement from the bank. Investigating authorities have accused diamond merchants Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi of masterminding the country's biggest banking sector scam estimated at Rs 13,000 crore at the Brady House branch of PNB by using fake guarantees. Both Modi and Choksi are absconding and are said to be outside India. After the scam, the fraud-hit bank has taken an aggressive stand towards willful defaulters by impounding 150 passports and lodging 37 FIRs. But industry experts said that government-run banks arent as aggressive compared to private banks, which hire investigators at the first sign of trouble. A number of banks earlier have sought help of detective agencies with their assets recovery divisions. New Delhi: A two-judge bench of the Rajasthan High Court has refused to allow media entry into the Jodhpur Central Jail premises to cover the proceedings in the verdict of Asaram case, which is set to be delivered on Wednesday. While dismissing a plea filed by a News18 reporter, the bench of the Rajasthan high court stated that though media was the fourth pillar of democracy, but for the sake of maintaining public order, they would be allowed to cover the proceedings from outside the jail premises. We are of the opinion that there is no provision to allow media in the court premises camped at Central Jail for coverage. It is true that media is fourth pillar of democracy and media is required to perform its pious duty, but at the same time, it is the prime duty of every citizen to cooperative with the administration for maintaining public order, read the order by Justices Gopal Krishnan and Ramchandra Singh Jhala. Therefore, no such permission can be granted to allow media personnel in the court premises or in the Central Jail, Jodhpur for the purpose of coverage of the proceedings, the order further said. However, the court allowed coverage outside the jail premises. The media personnel may make coverage outside the jail premises as per the instruction of the administration. Therefore, we are not inclined to accept the prayer of the applicants so as to provide them an opportunity to enter in the Central Jail or in the court premises for making coverage of court proceedings, the order said. This also comes close on the heels of a press note from Sant Sri Asaramji Ashram Trust in Delhi which said that any person who indulges in anarchy cannot be a devotee of Asaram. The note asked his followers to exercise restraint and not resort to activities that might create an obstacle in the process of justice. The note advised people not to believe the information being circulated on social media, and to consult the nearest ashram or the one in Ahmedabad for the authenticity of any notice. Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's conviction in a rape case in August last year triggered widespread violence, killing nearly 35 people in Panchkula and injuring several others. The arson later spread to the national capital and also Gurgaon. The supporters vandalised properties and police personnel had to be deployed in several areas. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday raised questions over the government's decision ordering mandatory seeding of mobile numbers with Aadhaar and said its earlier order on mandatory authentication of the users was used as a "tool". A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, hearing a clutch of petitions challenging Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law, said its order on a PIL filed by 'Lokniti Foundation' had said that mobile users needed to be verified in the interest of national security. "In fact there was no such direction from the Supreme Court, but you took it and used it as tool to make Aadhaar mandatory for mobile users," the bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, said. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), said the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) notification talked about re-verification of mobile numbers by using e-KYC process and the Telegraph Act gave "exclusive power to central government to decide license conditions" of service providers. "How can you (DoT) impose condition on service recipients for seeding Aadhaar with mobile phones," the bench said, adding that license agreements were between the government and the service providers. Dwivedi said the direction to seed mobile with Aadhaar was taken in pursuance of TRAI's recommendation. Besides, the government was entitled and had legitimate state interest to ensure that a sim card is given to only those who applied, he said, seeking to allay apprehensions that the State would will surveil the people 24x7. "My submission is that the government had a legal basis to link Aadhaar with SIM by virtue of section 4 of the Telegraph Act and also, the measure is reasonable in the interest of national security," the lawyer stressed. Dwivedi, at the outset, alleged that the Aadhaar scheme was being unfairly targeted as nobody was questioning the banks and the telecom firms on collection of information. The banks and telecom companies have much "bigger data base" about the citizens, he said, adding, "For example, Vodafone has much bigger data base of information even without Aadhaar. The Aadhaar data is immaterial for them." "Appreciate the fact as to how much information a bank possesses about its customers. Every transaction as to what I purchase by using cards, where and when, all this information is with banks. Aadhaar does not tell all this. This information are already there and is being used for commercial purposes," he said, adding that a person starts getting numerous calls before their car insurance expire. He said people are being "scared" about Aadhaar but "nobody questions the telecom companies, banks.... Their single target is Aadhaar". Dwivedi informed the bench about an app, available on Google Playstore and said it has so many personal information about a person. He gave details, procured by using the app, about him, his family members to the bench. The bench was pleasantly surprised. Dwivedi said it has details regarding how much he charged from the Jammu and Kashmir government for appearing in a case. The lawyer referred to the control being enjoyed by the UIDAI over entities, private and government which seek Aadhaar authentication for providing services and benefits to citizens. These entities cannot track any individual by using these information and moreover, they themselves have enough information with them, he said, adding that Aadhaar cannot lead to surveillance as apprehended by the petitioners. "Vodafone can do targeted advertising using the data which is already happening without Aadhaar. Vodafone has far more demographic data about an individual than UIDAI has," Dwivedi said, adding that at the most, such details can lead to formation of a directory and targeted advertisements is happening already. "Google and Facebook process tremendous data on a daily basis. UIDAI does not have that kind of algorithm," he said and urged the court to save the Aadhaar law and suggest measures, if any, to make it work. He referred to a list of entities and said most of them required one-time authentication and hence there was no question that State will surveil the people 24x7. He also referred to inbuilt security features in the law and system of Aadhaar authentication. Dwivedi concluded his arguments on behalf of UIDAI saying that CIDR was safe, data was encrypted and was held offline and above all, the Aadhaar scheme was safer than smart cards as there was no chance of data breach. Lawyer Gopal Shankarnarayan, who started his submissions, said the right to identity was an "absolute fundamental right" and Aadhaar provided a kind of proof of identification to all Indians. Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah upped the ante on Wednesday by dubbing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath as north Indians, who have reduced BJP's CM face B S Yeddyurappa to a dummy in the battle for Karnataka. In a tweet, the chief minister attacked BJP for making the polls a fight between "outsider" north Indians versus local Kannadigas. . @BJP4Karnataka by waiting for North Indian imports like PM Modi, UPCM Adityanath is admiting they have no leaders in the state. They have reduced their CM face @BSYBJP to a dummy. PM may come & go. Here it is Siddaramaiah vs BSY & you know who is winning.#CongressMathomme https://t.co/IatRRstyAe Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) April 25, 2018 Lashing out at Siddaramaiah for stooping low, the state BJP said that CMs attempt at North-South divide is disgusting. Imports? How much lower can you stoop Mr. CM?Your attempt at North-South divide is disgusting. But we understand your anxiety.While you are rejected by your own constituents, PM Modi has a pan India appeal. It's time you learn a thing or two about leadership when he's here. https://t.co/YYo978DO74 BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 25, 2018 Well, speaking of imports, what do you have to say about the occupants of 10 JP?We can understand your frustration & desperation Mr. CM. When you realize PM Modi is more popular than you are even in your own Chamundeshwari, these kind of outbursts are natural. https://t.co/YYo978DO74 BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 25, 2018 Now, we think it is time we teach CM definition of'Import': bring (goods or services) into a country from abroad. For ex: when you get Italian toiletries for your Bengaluru bathroom, it's import.Not 'Import': When you get rape accused KC Venu from Kerala as Karnataka Incharge https://t.co/YYo978DO74 BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 25, 2018 Siddaramaiah has been taking on the north-centric politics of the BJP and RSS for the past one year, calling them anti-Kannada and Karnataka. Be it primacy of Kannada in Karnataka or a separate state flag for Karnataka, Siddaramaiah has deftly played the locals card against the BJP, which he calls primarily a Hindi belt political party insensitive towards non-Hindi speakers. He has also questioned the Centre for siphoning off rich southern states money and diverting the same to backward Hindi belt states, triggering another controversy a month ago. UP CM Yogi Adityanath, who came to Karnataka three months ago, had set the tone for the elections by calling Siddaramaiah government an anti-Hindu government. The statement was also endorsed by party chief Amit Shah. Later, the chief minister hit back at them calling himself a much better Hindu than the two. Since then, Siddaramaiah has been playing the Hindu card, describing his government as a better one comprising good Hindus unlike the fake Hindu party of BJP. After the BJP high command denied ticket to Yeddyurappa's son Vijayendra against Siddaramaiah's son Dr. Yatheendra in Varuna assembly seat, the ruling Congress has been ridiculing the state BJP leaders and Yeddyurappa, dubbing them as dummies of north Indian leaders of the saffron party. The Karnataka Congress alleges that the entire election campaign is being managed by the north Indians and the BJP local leaders are their puppets. The BJP has hit back at the chief minister questioning Congress president Rahul Gandhi's domicile. New Delhi: Just two days after Congress, along with six other parties, moved impeachment motion against CJI Dipak Misra, two senior judges of the Supreme Court, Justices Ranjan Gogoi and MB Lokur, wrote to CJI urging him to hold a full court to discuss the institutional issues plaguing the higher judiciary. The impeachment notice against the CJI was shot down by Chairman of Rajya Sabha Venkaiah Naidu saying opposition MPs were "unsure" of their own case and that their notice was based on "suspicion and conjectures". The issue raised in the letter is understood to have come up on Monday morning at the tea meeting attended by all the judges, which had delayed the start of the day's court proceedings by about 15 minutes, reported PTI. Sources said that Justices Gogoi and Lokur signed the joint two-line letter on April 22 in which they spoke about holding of a "full court". The same issue was for the first time raised by Justice J Chelameswar on March 21, which was followed by a similar missive on April 9 by Justice Kurian Joseph, who had sought the setting up of a bench of seven senior most judges to deal with the issues plaguing the top court. The short letter by Justices Gogoi and Lokur urged the CJI to convene a full court on the judicial side to discuss institutional issues and the "future" of the top court, they said. As per convention, a full court meeting of the Supreme Court, involving all judges, is usually convened by the CJI when a matter of public importance relating to the judiciary comes up. The CJI is yet to respond the letter. Justice Gogoi is the next in line to take over the mantle of the CJI from Chief Justice Misra who retires on October 2. New Delhi: Congress MP from Arunachal Pradesh Ninong Ering has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting the issues regarding his state that could be discussed during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In the letter, Ering mentions that China providing stapled visas to people of the state is of concern and needs to be addressed immediately. Government must assert the territorial integrity of India and convey the feelings of Arunachal Pradesh people in a firm manner, the letter reads, a copy of which is with News18. Speaking to News18, Ering said that he had requested for a meeting with the PM but could not get it, which is why he wrote the letter instead. I actually wanted to tell him to take someone from the state too to make the point better but I didnt get the chance to meet him. It is my duty to express the concerns and issues related to people of the state to the Prime Minister, Ering added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold an informal summit in China's Wuhan city from April 27 to 28 to exchange views on bilateral and international matters and to enhance mutual communication between the two leaders. The letter also talks about Chinese transgressions into Arunachal Pradesh. At many instances in recent times, Chinese troops have tried to enter into Arunachal Pradesh and built roads, recently in Bising villageyou must protest against such incidents and tell China to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of India as envisaged in the Panscheel agreement, Ering wrote. He also mentioned the Siang valley and the alleged diversion of Brahmaputra river water by the Chinese and called upon Modi to negotiate a water treaty with China for sustainable development. Shahjahanpur (UP): The principal of the school where Asaram's victim studied was a much-relieved man on Wednesday with a Jodhpur court pronouncing the self-styled godman guilty of her rape. The teacher, who is also a witness in the case, said he had been facing threats from Asaram's followers to change the child's date of birth to help the godman evade stringent punishment under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. "There was pressure on me to change the date of birth mentioned by the guardian in the form at the time of admission. The disciples wanted me to show the age to be more than it actually was so as to suit them," he said after the verdict. But society has a lot of faith in schools and it was my moral duty to live up to it and I fulfilled my responsibility," he added. The principal, who is not being identified by PTI to protect the victim's identity, said he had received threatening letters and was sent a packet with cartridges to put pressure on him. The teacher said the security provided to him by the district administration was inadequate in the backdrop of deaths of some witnesses in the case. Three witnesses have been killed and several others attacked and threatened for speaking against the 77-year-old godman. Followers of Asaram and his son Narayan Sai were accused of threatening people who testified against the "guru". "Only one constable has been given to me for my security," the teacher said. "The administration needs to look into it," he termed the conviction of Asaram as the victory of truth and justice. A Jodhpur court on Wednesday held Asaram guilty of raping a teenage girl in his ashram five years ago, the second case of a powerful spiritual leader being convicted of a sexual offence in less than a year after Gurmeet Ram Rahim last August. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment. The verdict was delivered amid tight security arrangements in Jodhpur and in other parts of Rajasthan, as well as Gujarat and Haryana. The teenager had said in her complaint that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. The girl from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh was studying at Asaram's ashram in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. Final arguments in the Asaram case were completed on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved for April 25. Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He has under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. He is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat. Asaram unsuccessfully moved 12 bail applications, of which six were rejected by the trial court, three by the Rajasthan high court and three by the Supreme Court. Ahmedabad: Two victims of the Una Dalit flogging incident in Gujarat on Wednesday alleged that one of the accused, who is on bail, threatened them and tried to pressurise them into withdrawing the FIR lodged in the case. Ramesh Sarvaiya, who was among the four Dalit youths allegedly beaten up by cow vigilantes in Mota Samadhiyala village of Una tehsil in 2016, alleged that one Kiran and another unidentified person threatened him and his cousin Ashok on Wednesday, and asked them to withdraw the FIR lodged in 2016. "When I and Ashok were returning to Mota Samadhiyala from Una town on our motorbike this evening, one Kiran, who is out on bail and another person from nearby Samter village stopped us. They asked us to withdraw the case, as Kiran is one of the accused, and threatened us," said Sarvaiya. He and Ashok then went to the Una tehsil police station to lodge a complaint, he said. "I have learned that the victims were threatened. I have directed the concerned police station to register their FIR....More policemen would be provided for their protection, in addition to four personnel currently deployed," said Gir-Somnath district Superintendent of Police Hitesh Joysar said four Dalit men were allegedly beaten up by cow vigilantes near Mota Samadhiyala when they were skinning a dead cow on July 11, 2016. The assailants alleged that the victims had killed the cow. The four victims -- Vashram Sarvaiya, his brother Ramesh and cousins Ashok and Bechar -- were all residents of Mota Samadhiyala. Later, the accused took them to nearby Una town and once again thrashed them with sticks and iron rods after tying them to a vehicle. A video of this thrashing went viral and created nationwide outrage. Pain in the neck from too much mobile usage? Keep changing hands and hold cellphone at the eye level to avoid it, say experts. Agnivesh Tikko, Consultant, Spine Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai, and Neeraj Kasat Chief Joint Replacement Surgeon at Wockhardt Hospitals - Mira Road, tell how: * Maintain correct posture: It is very essential to maintain good body posture while sitting or standing. It is important to stand up straight and keep the neck in line with the trunk. * Hold cellphone at the eye level: Hold the cellphone at eye level and avoid bending the neck forward for a prolonged period. Hold it such that it reduces stress both on the head/neck and the arms. * Take a break: Avoid continuously using smart phones for more than a few minutes. While working on laptops or desktops, take a break for 5 minutes after every 25 minutes of continuous working. * Work ergonomics: Understand the ergonomics of your work place and if necessary, change it to keep a comfortable posture while working. It also increases your ability and work output. * Avoid prolonged static postures: In between working on the desktop/laptop, move your neck regularly with movements like rotations, arching neck backwards and side bends to relieve the muscles of the strain. * Change the hand: Avoid holding large or heavy devices in one hand continuously for a long duration. * Neck exercises: Neck and shoulder exercises help to improve muscle stamina, correct posture and strengthen the neck muscle. Trapezius and levator stretches may help. * Ice/heat packs: Ice/hot packs can be applied to the painful area of the neck or upper back. Some physicians suggest alternate ice and hot packs as well. * Massage: Massage by trained professionals or even just a gentle rubbing can give relief from the stiffness and pain. * Use technology: Use apps and devices which track and calculate the time spent in a static position or with stooped posture and give an analysis of the same. If the pain continues, it is important to consult a spine specialist and not try any self-medication. Specialists can prescribe pain medication and inject medicine into the facet joint or trigger point for relief from painful text neck. With the battle between Thanos and the Avengers coming to a head in this week's Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel is in the process of tying up Phase Three of its Marvel Cinematic Universe plan. Ant-Man, Captain Marvel, 2019's untitled Avengers film, and a sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming are "taking up 90 percent of our time," producer Kevin Feige told TheWrap. The other 10 percent is going towards future projects. "Some of that is you can take cues from everything we've done in the 22 movies before those -- which is sequels to existing characters, new interpretation of existing characters and trying whole new swings with stuff that most people never heard of. 'Eternals' is one of many many many things that we are actively beginning to have creative discussions about to see if we believe in them enough to put them on a slate," said Feige. The Eternals are a race of incredibly powerful, genetically engineered superhumans originally created in order to defend the Earth. Despite his antagonist status, Infinity War big bad Thanos is one of the Eternals, though in appearance looks more like their sworn enemies, the Deviants. Multiple screenwriters have been asked to create a storyline for an Eternals movie, per TheWrap, which reports that a female character called Sersi is its focus. Over the course of her comic book history, Sersi has been connected to various members of the Avengers as well as the group as a whole. The Eternals were created by comic book legend Jack Kirby, who was also intrinsic to the creation of Captain America, Thor and Loki, Black Panther, Ant-Man and The Wasp, and Guardians of the Galaxy member Groot, as well as The X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Four volumes of The Eternals have been published since their 1976 introduction. Volume 3 arrived in 2006 with Neil Gaiman as its writer; it cast Sersi as a New York publicist with no knowledge of her true identity as a near-immortal, immeasurably powerful cosmic being and previous member of the Avengers. As it happens, Kirby came up with the expansive Eternals mythology after a stint at Marvel rival DC, where he had unfurled a conceptually similar New Gods line-up. Several outlets, including SlashFilm, io9 and ScreenRant, note that DC Films already has a New Gods movie in development, with Oscar-nominated Ava DuVernay of Selma, 13th and A Wrinkle in Time installed as co-writer and director. Journalist Sulaiman Kakaires critical review of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) internal politics is an eye-opening in-depth introspection into Ugandas biggest opposition political party. Focusing on Dr Kizza Besigye, the partys most celebrated leader, Kakaire reveals enormous ideological confusion and outright selfishness bordering on authoritarianism. The picture that emerges is that the difference between Mr Yoweri Museveni and Dr Besigye gets blurred as regards the ways both men act and estimate themselves against their parties. As I read Kakaires reportage, my mind returned to Kitgum municipality MP Beatrice Anywar who shocked the world when she voted in favour of removal of the age limit provision from the Constitution, a move which endorsed a Museveni life presidency. In what appeared as betrayal, Anywar instead embodies the dilemma in which many FDC/opposition-leaning Ugandans find themselves in as their leaders are constantly exposed as sheep in wolves skin. Multiparty democracy thrives on a clear distinction between government and opposition. In our pseudo democracies where opposition parties have limited or zero chance of forming government, and the wolves in government have committed enormous abuses the image is of the coloniser and the colonised: you are either with them or us. The line between the oppressed and the coloniser has to be kept sharp and pure. To betray the cause of the colonised is to attract their crudest wrath. After her vote, Anywar was bitterly bashed. One columnist called her a political slay queen. Cartoonists had a field day making her look dumb and dumber: The Observers Jimmy Spire Ssentongo had her dressed in yellow, being baptised by President Museveni in yellow water from a scrawny mineral water bottle tied on the brim of Musevenis hat. This impression satirised Musevenis earlier pitiable campaign promoting an archaic method of irrigation where wasted bottles are filled with water and tied to sticks from which water drips onto the root of the plant. Daily Monitors Ogon cartoons Anywar as a chameleon with a yellow head, reddish belly and blue tail. But was she really bad? Before becoming yellow, Anywar, the then district Woman MP for Kitgum had established herself as the champion of the people. In 2007, she emerged as the outright champion in the fight to save Ugandas biggest natural forest Mabira which had been given away to Indian sugarcane planters. In 2011, when MPs were being bribed with Shs 20 million claimed as facilitation for monitoring government programmes, Anywar was first to return the money. This stunt endeared her to many Ugandans who saw a selfless fighter against corruption. The Mama Mabira as she was endearingly called fame grew by lips and bounds. But when she voted in favour of lifting the age limit, she became villain number one. As Kakaires critical series on Besigye continue, the picture that emerges is that all those that loathed Anywar were wrong. She surely knew more than we did. She thus took, not necessarily the right, but the most honest decision. Among other things, Kakaire has showed us that in terms of leadership strategies, Besigye has little respect for party structures. This is not because the Museveni authoritarianism makes it difficult for FDC to create them, but because Besigyes ideological embrace of structures is lukewarm. So does Museveni. Although the retired colonel has never openly declared being the only one in possession of a vision for the opposition, Kakaires reportage signals to this reality. Deception, shadiness, unpredictability, and opaqueness are attributes both men appear to exhibit in equal measure. In terms of teambuilding, Kakaire shows us that Besigye has fallen out with and sidelined most of his senior colleagues and is now hobnobbing with young lads and lasses. So has Museveni. It also emerges Besigye is a rich man [especially in charge of party resources], who may not necessarily have brown envelopes for voters, but is a brown-enveloped man inside the party ranks. The money bit is most curious because, in Musevenis world, opponents have to be bankrupt but not Besigye. I now return to Anywar. For years working with Besigye and delivering Kitgum to the opposition, she must have realised being in the opposition under a KB leadership was tantamount to working with a version of Museveni but with limited power and resources. Thus, she opted to join the original Museveni. But this should not take away any of Besigyes plaudits in fighting Musevenis authoritarianism; it challenges followers to be more critical in their faith in anti-regime intelligentsia. The author is a PhD fellow, Makerere Institute of Social Research. The appointment of former foreign secretary S Jaishankar as president of global corporate affairs in Tata Sons, the closely-held holding company that controls the salt-to-software business empire, is bound to raise eyebrows, whispers and sighs across the chattering chambers of Lutyens' Delhi. Consider the fact that the current chairman of Tata Sons, N Chandrasekaran, was last seen drawing an annual salary package of Rs 30 crore as CEO of Tata Consultancy Services. Chandrasekaran is now estimated to be getting about Rs 4.8 crore. The cabinet secretary, India's highest ranking civil servant, draws around Rs 250,000 a month, which amounts to Rs 30 lakh per annum. Whatever the details not yet disclosed, it is safe to assume Jaishankar will earn at least ten times the salary he received last from the government of India. And thereby hangs a case of outdated ideas, misplaced morality and convoluted thinking on what government servants in India should earn or do before or after retirement. Think of the fact that Jaishankar is an acclaimed diplomat who has been India's ambassador to the US and China. Doors will open for him across the planet based on familiarity, admiration, respect and in some places, gratitude. Not to speak of his meritocratic entry and rise in the foreign service that has bestowed on him valuable insights and wisdom. For a globally ambitious conglomerate like the Tatas, every penny they pay him must be worth it. After all, the Tata group's global sales totalled more than Rs 673,000 crore in the year to March 2017. Somebody like Jaishankar is of immense strategic values to the Tatas. But that's not how critics will look at itbecause we are a nation of hypocrites who do not have the courage to acknowledge that the world economy has changed and talent is of critical market value. Two years ago, a story pointed out how the President of India earned Rs 150,000 a month, even less than the cabinet secretary. Things get extremely complicated here. There is one bunch of people wondering about the propriety and ethics of former bureaucrats earning high corporate salaries on retirement. Another set feels government salaries are a pittance compared to their qualifications and worth and they deserve better at least after retirement. A third looks at the numbers enviously and gossips about them because few look at competitive salaries as a fallout of a global "war for talent"a term coined by global consulting firm McKinsey. Last year, Chandrasekaran said that Tata Motors unit head Ralph Speth's 7-million-pound (Rs 57 crore) annual package was on the lower side compared with his peers. The thing to understand is that experienced talent is a much-sought-after global resource and it is time to shed old-world values. It is time to have a policy that addresses both potential conflicts of interest and the need to reward talent and merit. True, some appointments may raise questions. Last month, former Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman U.K. Sinha was named as an independent director on the board of Vedanta groupexactly one year after he left his position as India's chief stock markets regulator. India's government was last seen grappling with the issue of hiring its own retired bureaucrats for salaries as low as Rs 50,000 a month with two-stage approvals. The contrast between global corporate demand and government attitude is striking. Two years ago, Lok Sabha MPs urged the government to consider a cooling-off period for retired government officers to seek private sector jobsonly to be told that such a period already exists. Current rules have a cooling off period of one year, with an earlier employment possible with government permission and clean records. Jaishankar, who is officially not eligible until January next year to seek a private sector job, had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a special waiver, which has apparently been given. The significant point is that civil servants are not really public servants like elected representatives although it may seem so. IAS and IFS officers serve the government for a salary. In a market economy, their worth needs to be reassessed, before or after retirement. The alternative to this would be hiring mediocre people or indirectly encouraging corruption. (The author is a senior journalist who has covered business, public policy, politics, technology and diplomacy and worked in leading organisations, including Reuters, Economic Times and Hindustan Times. He tweets as @madversity) Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party has started behind the scenes preparations for Kairana bypolls. The UP state president of Samajwadi Party, Naresh Uttam Patel visited Kairana and gave a mantra to the party workers to prepare for the upcoming bypolls. As per Samajwadi Party sources, the party will be working to consolidate Dalit, Jaat and Muslim votes in order to ensure victory in the by-elections. The Kairana parliamentary seat was vacated after the death of MP Hukum Singh and is due for bypolls before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The orders have been given to the Samajwadi Party workers to get ready for the Kairana by-elections and meetings are being held in this regard among the SP cadre. Addressing the party workers on the occasion, Naresh Uttam Patel said, The decision for the candidate for Kairana bypolls will be taken shortly and all the workers should work relentlessly for the victory of the SP candidate. At the moment, SP is having alignment with BSP and decision to have alliance with other parties will be taken by the party leadership soon. The Samajwadi Party might field Professor Sudhir Panwar as its candidate. However, the final decision is yet to be made by the SP leadership in this regard. Communal tensions in the area were at a high in the months of June and July in 2016 after Hukum Singh alleged that 250 Hindu families had fled Kairana in a mass exodus over the last few years due to pressure from another community. Singh went as far as to claim that Kairana was becoming another Kashmir with Hindu families fleeing. The saffron party had then made the Kairana exodus one of the key issues ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections last year, with CM Yogi Adityanath saying at party campaigns that he will not let western Uttar Pradesh turn into another Kashmir, a reference to the forced migration of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the 1990s. Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday claimed that she wont give any credit to BJP for winning the Tripura elections as winning in Tripura is like winning the municipal elections. Discrediting the BJPs massive victory in Tripura, which had remained a Left bastion for 25 years, Banerjee told News18 Bangla in an exclusive interview that the recently concluded elections is not a cause of worry for her. The Tripura elections were being touted as the gateway for BJP to make inroads into Bengal. Speaking on Congress refusal to go into an alliance with the Trinamool Congress in Bengal, she added, We wanted to give 30 seats to the Congress in Tripura, to which they did not agree. But now the time has come to think collectively. Reflecting her opinion of the Left stalwarts of Bengal, Mamata said that except for a few Left leaders of the earlier generation, most dont have any ideology and in Bengal they have struck a secret deal with the BJP to take on the Trinamool Congress. She said, Former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu used to believe in an ideology. Even Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, also ex-CM, believes in an ideology. But most of the Left leaders in Bengal today do not believe in any such thing. They are opportunists. She went on to elaborate on her claim saying, I have all the information on who is having lunch and dinner together and who all are meeting with the BJP leaders. Ram (BJP) and Baam (Left parties) are together in Bengal. Speaking on the violence during panchayat poll nomination procedure, she said, Certain media houses in Bengal have joined hands with the BJP and are spreading hatred. I would like to ask them if our workers were involved in violence then how come the Opposition parties managed to file nearly 96,000 nominations. She added, There is one media house in Bengal which broadcasts fake news. They brought goons from neighbouring Jharkhand and created problem in Birbhums Suri. One person was killed and it is a matter of investigation as to how did the particular media house manage to get footage of the dead body. The person who was killed was a TMC worker and if they think that they can get away with such crime, then we will not spare them. She also said that it would be tough for the BJP to win the 2019 General Elections because of the blunder they had made with the twin decisions of demonetisation and GST. US Vice President Mike Pence has sworn in Jim Bridenstine as the 13th NASA Administrator, the space agency said in a statement. For his new role at NASA, Bridenstine who was the Republican Representative from Oklahoma, resigned from the House of Representatives on Monday. He is the first politician to be named as the NASA administrator. "NASA represents the best of the United States of America. We lead, we discover, we pioneer, and we inspire. I look forward to our journey together," Bridenstine said late Monday. Bridenstine was given the oath of office by Pence at the NASA Headquarters in Washington. "It is a great privilege for me to be here today, to be able to usher in on behalf of the President of the United States what we believe is a new chapter of renewed American leadership in space with the swearing-in of the newest Administrator of NASA, Jim Bridenstine," said Pence. "Under Space Policy Directive 1, we will send American astronauts back to the Moon, and after that we will establish the capacity, with international and commercial partners, to send Americans to Mars. And NASA will lead the way." As part of the swearing-in ceremony, Pence and Bridenstine also spoke live with NASA astronauts Scott Tingle, Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold, who currently are aboard the International Space Station. Also read: OnePlus 6 is Coming to India on May 17; Global Launch on May 16 "The appropriations bill that is now law renews focus on human spaceflight activities and expands our commercial and international partnerships. It also continues our pursuit of cutting-edge science and aeronautics breakthroughs," Bridenstine told senior agency leadership at headquarters and NASA's centres via video teleconference. Bridenstine's lack of professional space experience and technical education prompted criticism from Democrats. He was confirmed on a party-line 50-49 vote by the US Senate on April 19 to serve as the NASA administrator, more than seven and a half months after the administration nominated him to the position. A former Navy pilot, Bridenstine majored in economics, psychology and business at Rice University and holds an MBA from Cornell University. During his Navy career, he accumulated 1,900 hours flying time and 333 carrier landings flying E-2C Hawkeye turboprops and, later, F-18 Hornets before leaving active duty to serve as executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium. He was elected to represent Oklahoma's first congressional district in 2012, serving on the House Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. Watch: Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Review: Best Bang For Your Buck at Rs 13,999 HMD Global will be launching two smartphones in its Nokia X-series on April 27. According to earlier leaks, the launch date was out for the new X series smartphones. New leaks reveal the specifications and render of one of the phones that will be launched - the Nokia X6. It looks very similar to the Nokia 7 Plus and has an iPhone X like display. Chinese website Weibo states that the Nokia X6 will come with a 5.8-inch full-HD+ (1080x2280 pixels) display. The display will also have an aspect ratio of 19:9. There will also be two processors that will be used on the Nokia X6 depending on markets. One will be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC and the other will be a MediaTek P60 processor.There will also be two storage variants 4GB RAM, 64GB inbuilt storage and 6GB RAM, 128GB inbuilt storage. Also Watch: Nokia 6 (2018) Review: A Smooth Performer in a Striking New Design Like many Nokia phones of 2018, the Nokia X6 is expected to sport a dual-camera setup with Carl Zeiss lens. The dual-camera set up will consist of a 12-megapixel sensor. The Nokia X6 will run on stock android 8.1 Oreo and there will be a fingerprint sensor as well. Nokia X6 will be a smartphone that's expected to be priced under Rs 20,000 for both the variants. Soon after Samsung had announced the Galaxy S9 and the S9+ as its flagship offerings for the year 2018, reports about a 'Mini' version of the Samsung Galaxy S9 had surfaced on the Internet. While the smartphone has not been confirmed to exist in Samsung's upcoming line-up till date, fresh reports indicate towards another variant of the Galaxy S9 in production. This time, the variant spotted is being called the Galaxy S9 Active. If the reports are to be believed, the Samsung Galaxy S9 Active will also be powered by Qualcomm's latest most powerful SoC, the Snapdragon 845, just like the Galaxy S9. Samsung Galaxy S9 Active Specifications As per a new screenshot that has surfaced on the Internet, the new Samsung smartphone will come with the model number SM-G893. The report mentions that the smartphone might make its appearance in the market in the Quarter 3 of 2018. As for its specifications, the Galaxy S9 Active has been reported to come with a 5.8-inch QHD+ display with 2960x1440 pixels resolution. As mentioned, it will be powered by a Snapdragon 845 SoC and will carry a 4GB RAM coupled with a 64GB internal storage. It will draw its juice from a 4000 mAh battery. (Image: Reddy Tricks) Also read: Huawei P20 Pro First Impressions Review: All Flagship Elements Done Right As for its camera, the Galaxy S9 Active is believed to sport a 12-megapixel sensor with f/1.5 - f/2.4 dual aperture at the back, while at the front, it will have an 8-megapixel camera sensor with f/1.7 aperture. The smartphone is also expected to be a more durable and tough version of the Galaxy S9. Samsung Galaxy S9 Active Price and Avaialability As per the report, Samsung might launch the Galaxy S9 Active by as soon as within a few weeks from now. However, the device is expected to be available in the market in the latter half of the year. Carrying more or less the same specifications, the Galaxy S9 Active is expected to come with a price tag close to that of the Galaxy S9. Watch: Samsung Galaxy S9, S9+ First Impressions Review: Best Android Flagships of 2018? TORONTO: The man accused of plowing a rental van into pedestrians on a crowded Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people in Canada's deadliest mass killing in decades, left a "cryptic message" on social media before his attack, police said on Tuesday. Suspect Alek Minassian, 25, was charged with 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder in the incident. One possible clue to his motive emerged on Tuesday as Facebook confirmed Minassian wrote a post before the incident that referenced an "incel rebellion." The term is shorthand used in some online message boards for "involuntary celibacy", a loose social media movement of men who blame women for their celibacy. Canadian authorities have declined to say whether anger toward women had motivated the attack. The post also voiced admiration for a man who killed six college students before taking his own life in California in 2014 and who cited the "cruelness of women" for his virgin status. "The accused is alleged to have posted a cryptic message on Facebook minutes before" the attack, Graham Gibson, a Toronto police detective sergeant, told a news conference. The majority of the victims were women, ranging in age from their mid-20s to early 80s, Gibson said. He said the question of whether the attack was driven by anger against women was "going to be part of our investigation." Facebook has since deleted Minassian's account, a representative said. "There is absolutely no place on our platform for people who commit such horrendous acts," she said in an email. Minassian kept his shaved head down during a brief court appearance in Canada's largest city, speaking quietly with a defence lawyer and stating his name in a steady voice when asked to do so. The incident had the hallmarks of deadly vehicle assaults by Islamic State supporters. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was no reason to suspect any national security connection. Trudeau called on all Canadians to stand united with Toronto as flowers and scrawled messages in multiple languages piled up at a makeshift memorial in the city's north end, an ethnically diverse neighbourhood of towering office buildings, shops, restaurants and homes. "We cannot as Canadians choose to live in fear every single day as we go about our daily business," Trudeau told reporters outside of parliament in Ottawa. The prime minister said the incident had not changed the country's threat level or security preparations for a G7 summit in Quebec in June. Minassian had briefly served in Canada's armed forces in late 2017 but asked to be voluntarily released after 16 days of training, defence ministry spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande said. The suspect's two-story red-brick home in a suburb north of Toronto was a crime scene Tuesday, taped off and surrounded by police vehicles. Officers went in and out of the house. SOUTH KOREANS AMONG VICTIMS Details about the dead began to emerge on Tuesday, with a South Korean foreign ministry representative saying that two of the country's citizens were killed and one injured in the attack. The representative spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. A Jordanian citizen was also killed, said an official at the country's embassy in Ottawa. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp identified one of the victims as Anne Marie D'Amico, an employee of asset manager Invesco Canada. In a statement, Invesco confirmed that one of its employees had been killed but did not name her. It could be days before all the victims are publicly identified, said Ontario Chief Coroner Dirk Huyer said, adding that the extent of their injuries was making some identities difficult to determine. "It ranges from scrapes and bruises to terrible injuries that I won't get into discussing here," Gibson added. The attack shook the usually peaceful streets of Toronto, which recorded 61 murders last year. The drama started at lunchtime on a warm spring day, when the driver drove his vehicle into the crowds. The street was soon covered in blood, empty shoes and bodies. Last October, eight people died in New York when a man driving a rented pickup truck mowed down pedestrians and cyclists on a bike path. The Islamic State militant group encourages its supporters to use vehicles for attacks. Copenhagen: Danish inventor Peter Madsen was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for murdering, sexually mutilating and dismembering a Swedish female journalist with premeditation aboard his home-made submarine in Copenhagen harbour in 2017. Madsen, dressed entirely in black, sat motionless as the Copenhagen City Court handed down its verdict in a grisly case straight from the pages of a dark Scandinavian psycho-thriller. Already well known in Denmark for his submarines and his plan to send a human into space in a home-made rocket, Madsen was detained last August when he emerged from his submarine without Wall, a 30-year-old who was researching a piece on him. Later that month, police identified a torso washed ashore in Copenhagen as Wall's. Her arms, legs and head were found later. Madsen changed his version of events several times, finally arguing that Wall had been suffocated by an accidental gas leak. But forensic tests found that she had either been strangled or had her throat cut - and that around the time of her death, Madsen had stabbed her in her breasts and genitals with a knife or screwdriver. Judge Anette Burkoe said the panel of judges had been unanimous in finding him guilty of a murder that had been planned. During the trial, a police prosecutor said images of women being strangled and decapitated, "which we presumed to be real", had been found on Madsen's computer in a laboratory he ran. Wall was a freelance journalist whose work had appeared in Harper's Magazine, Time, the New York Times, the Atlantic Magazine, the Guardian, Foreign Policy and the South China Morning Post. She held degrees from New York's Columbia University and the London School of Economics and had written about topics ranging from gender and social justice to pop culture and foreign policy, according to her LinkedIn profile. "HE BROUGHT COFFEE AND COOKIES" Wall had been writing an article for the US magazine Wired on Madsen's race against another Danish group to be the first to send a person into space in a home-made rocket, her boyfriend told the court during the trial. Wall had split her time between New York and Beijing, and was planning to move to China with her boyfriend less than a week after the fatal trip. Poignantly, she sent him unsuspecting text messages on the evening she was meeting Madsen, reading: "I'm still alive btw", "But going down now", "I love you!!!", "He brought coffee and cookies too". Wall's closest relatives were not present in court; her mother had previously said: "She gave a voice to the weak, the vulnerable and marginalised people. That voice would have been needed for a long, long time. Now, that won't be." Madsen, 47, admitted to dismembering the body and throwing it off his 17-metre (56-ft) submarine, but denied murder. But the court found that he had dismembered the body to conceal the evidence of the killing. He was also found to have committed "sexual assault without intercourse" in relation to the 14 interior and exterior stab wounds found on Wall's genitals. Forensic tests did not support Madsen's claim that Wall had suffocated, and the judge said the explanation was not credible and "not consistent with the subsequent decision to dismember the body". A life sentence in Denmark is typically around 15 years without parole. The longest-serving convict in modern Danish history is set to begin his 34th year behind bars this year after the murder of two young adults in 1985. Madsen will appeal against the sentence, his lawyer told the court. A memorial fund set up in Kim Wall's name by her parents, brother and friends has received donations from over a thousand individuals. Washington: President Donald Trump on Tuesday made a show of flicking dandruff from the suit collar of visiting French President Emmanuel Macron, saying it was a sign of the two leaders' "very special relationship." Trump made the surprise gesture as Macron, the first foreign leader to be honored with a state visit in Washington since Trump took office 15 months ago, stood at his side for a photo opportunity in the White House's Oval Office. "We have a very special relationship, in fact, I'll get that little piece of dandruff off... We have to make him perfect, he is perfect," Trump said to a laughing Macron. Police have already imposed Section 144 in Jodhpur from April 21 which will stay till April 30 to keep the situation under control in the aftermath of a negative verdict. (Image: News18/Bharat Bhushan) DC and Marvel in the '90s - when comic books were 'Extreme!' We fondly look back at the '90s when the comic book rivals Marvel and DC tried to out-extreme one another GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more Rouhani warns Trump against walking away from n-deal Tehran : Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday warned his US counterpart Donald Trump that abandoning a nuclear deal that the Tehran government signed with world powers in 2015 would lead to "serious consequences". Speaking live on television, Rouhani said his government had kept its end of the deal and warned Trump not to tear up the agreement, which had also been signed by Russia, China, Germany, the UK and France. "I am telling those in the White House that if they do not live up to their commitments, the Iranian government will react firmly," Rouhani said. "If anyone betrays the deal, they should know that they would face severe consequences," he added. Trump has said that unless the US' European allies put right what he has described as "terrible flaws" in the deal by May 12, his government would re-establish economic sanctions on Iran, dealing the pact a major blow, Xinhua news agency reported. Rouhani stressed that Iran was complying with the deal, as has been confirmed a dozen times by the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose Director General Yukiya Amano said in March that a possible failure of the agreement would be a great loss. French President Emmanuel Macron was in Washington in an attempt to try and persuade Trump not to walk away from the accord. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday he had agreed with his Chinese counterpart that Moscow and Beijing would try to block any US attempt to wreck the nuclear deal. Iran has said it would ramp up its nuclear programme if the deal collapses. 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Johnston has been sentenced to 18 months behind bars for publicly branding Toronto restaurateur and philanthropist Mohamad Fakih a "terrorist" and a... Taiwan reports record number of Chinese planes in defence zone Taiwan says 56 Chinese warplanes entered its air defence zone on Monday. Why exercise is more important than weight loss for a longer life A new scientific review adds to mounting evidence that most of us can be healthy at any weight, if we are also active enough. Jeremy Corbyn to thank for enabling Brexit, claims Rees-Mogg Jacob Rees-Mogg has hailed Jeremy Corbyn for helping to save Brexit, as he warned the UKs exit from the EU came close to being scuppered. Man Utd star plays down first-team struggles as exit rumours emerge The player has spoken openly about his situation at Man Utd to reporters in his home country ahead of the international break Arnold Schwarzenegger Sends Love to Son Joseph Baena in Birthday Tribute Arnold Schwarzenegger's son, Joseph Baena, is saying "hasta la vista, baby" to another year. The Terminator star, 74, took to social media over the weekend to... Unionist leaders come together at conference event to denounce NI Protocol The Government has been warned by the DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson that the Irish Sea border needs to be removed for the future of the union. More than a dozen schools close in New Brunswick as COVID-19 cases continue to rise Another sharp jump in COVID-19 cases in New Brunswick forced more than a dozen schools to close Monday, following reports on the weekend indicating the latest... Federal government could push provinces on vaccine mandate for workers: document Senior federal officials were told in the spring that the government could make it mandatory for all workers nationwide to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Five arrests following alleged assault on ex-Tory leader Duncan Smith at party conference Five people have been arrested following an alleged assault on former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith at the Tory conference in Manchester. Bitcoin has no value and authorities will soon 'regulate the hell out of it,' says JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Pressed on his $31 million salary, Dimon said: "We have a free market in this country, which ... everyone should applaud." Andrew Yang 'Breaking Up With Democratic Party' The leading voice for the $1,000 a month freedom dividend, Andrew Yang has announced he is "breaking up with the Democratic Party" and changing his voter... Stephanie Grisham says she is 'terrified' of a 2024 Donald Trump presidential run Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who worked for Donald Trump for more than five years, now says she fears another... Fiona Hill says Trump's presidency was a 'mistake,' warning populist politicians like him 'short-circuit our democracy' "Unfortunately, we saw with President Trump that his whole focus was on himself," Hill told ABC, adding that he "clearly intends to run" in 2024. Lars Vilks, Swedish Artist Threatened For Muhammad Sketch, Dies In Crash The 75-year-old artist had lived under police protection since making a sketch of the Prophet Muhammad with a dogs body in 2007. Andrew Yang announces he's leaving the Democratic Party, changes registration to independent Yang had no harsh words for Democrats as he's in the process of launching "The Forward Party," whose name was revealed by Insider in September. Jeff Bezos reportedly bought a new house on Maui after spending weeks donating to local charities Bezos joins several other tech leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison, in putting down roots in Hawaii. Backyard pool rentals make big splash in Toronto. But it's not going swimmingly for neighbours The renting out of backyard private pools was one of this past summer's hottest trends in the GTA. But Toronto Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong has received some... China flies record 52 warplanes toward self-ruled Taiwan China flew 52 fighter planes toward Taiwan on Monday in the largest show of force on record, continuing the three days of sustained military harassment against... Schumer: Congress needs to raise debt ceiling by end of the week Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Monday that Congress needs to get a bill raising the debt ceiling to President... 'Callous' son who killed mother with hammer and lived with body for two months jailed for life A man who bludgeoned his mother to death with a hammer and left her decomposing body in a bedroom over Christmas has been jailed for life. Canadas corporate-controlled media claims van terror attack was merely a collision If the Canadians dont dial back their political correctness, just like the Europeans more of their citizens are going to be targeted and more will die thanks to radical Islamic terrorism. On Monday a man drove a van repeatedly into crowds of people in Toronto, killing 10 and injuring 15. The suspect, Alek Minassian, has yet to be labeled a terrorist and of course, Canadian authorities are reluctant to call it a terrorist attack. But that is despite the fact that Islamic terrorists have resorted to using vehicles to mow people over as opposed to using firearms as their weapon of choice especially in countries where gun laws prevent private ownership of guns. Was it an actual act of terrorism which, by definition, is a political act motivated by political policy, religious beliefs, or social conditions? As of this writing we dont yet know or, at least, the Canadians have yet to confirm it but it looks awfully suspicious. The problem is that if the attack turns out to have been an act of terrorism, the Canadians with assistance from the American Pravda media are setting themselves up for similar attacks in the future. Thats because by refusing to identify what the act was, and what motivated the attacker, Canadian authorities cant sufficiently protect their citizens. You have to buck up and put on your big-boy and big-girl pants and face the reality that the West is under assault from radical Islam and whats more, that its nothing new. Otherwise, you will never adopt the kind of posture necessary to address the threat. And more people will die. As reported by Newsbusters, a media fact-checking and analytical organization sponsored by the Media Research Center, the Pravda media is doing all it can to deflect from what occurred and steer readers and viewers away from the 1,000-pound gorilla in the room that the act could very well have been terrorism. CBS News broke the absurdity meter in a Monday afternoon tweet and related story about todays sidewalk attacks by the driver of a van in Toronto, Newsbusters Tom Blumer reported. Despite acknowledging that the mans actions appeared to be deliberate, the networks described them as hit-and-run. Definitions of that term include fleeing the scene of an accident or injury one has caused, especially a vehicular accident, thereby attempting to evade being identified and held responsible. Thats not what happened, as Heavy reported. That website noted that witnesses told police Minassian drove onto the sidewalk multiple times, making his act a hit-and-hit (and hit) instead. CBS News and additional Pravda media, in a very obvious attempt to downplay any possible association with terrorism, sought to blame the van for the attack, not the suspected driver, Minassian. Van strikes pedestrians in Toronto, killing 9 live updates, said the CBS News headline. The New York Times reported: Toronto Van Plows Along Sidewalk, Killing 9 in Carnage. CNN reported the incident thusly: Toronto collision leaves 9 dead, 16 injured; suspect in custody. It was a collision. (Related: Terrorism suspected in new truck attack in Berlin as scores mowed down, killed.) Later, as reporting moved past the initial 24-hour news cycle, CNN and others began hyper-focusing on Minassians social awkwardness and his being terrified of women as the most likely motive for his crime. Its possible that rejection motivated him, but its just not likely. Yet even if that turns out to be the case, there are hundreds of dead lying in graves today after being mowed over by the Islamic jihadists new weapon of choice, The Vehicle. Minassian did what the jihadists have done he rented a van and used it as a murder weapon. The Canadian government and the Pravda media are going all-out to steer us away from any possible terrorist connection. But that wont make real terrorists go away. Itll just make those folks less willing and able to spot them. See more about Islamic extremist terrorism at Terrorism.news. J.D. Heyes is editor of The National Sentinel and a senior writer for Natural News and News Target. Sources include: NewsCartels.com NewsBusters.org United Socialist States of America: Crazy Bernie wants to give everyone a government job what could go wrong? Your grandfathers Democratic Party is dead and gone, as evidenced by its hard-Left turn away from ordinary everyday Americans who make this country work. The latest evidence of this massive shift in political ideology is a serious legislative proposal by Sen. Crazy Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who honeymooned with his wife back in the day in the workers paradise known as the Soviet Union. Seems Bernie thinks everyone ought to have a government job, and ought to make at least $15 an hour doing it. No word yet on how Bernie would pay for this boondoggle other than taxing the wealthy who, presumably, will continue working at whatever it is they do rather than taking a Bernie-supplied government gig. (Meanwhile, the Trump FDA is about to regulatepizza.) About Bernies government jobs for all plan, hes not quite finished with it, The Hill notes. But we are assured that the proposed legislation is on the way: The senator is still in the early stages of crafting the plan, according to the Post, which would provide a job or required training for any American. Sanderss office has yet to release the details of the plans funding, but previous large-scale projects proposed by the Vermont progressive have involved ending tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations. As further reported by The Washington Post, the proposal would provide a government job to those who only want or need one, but no doubt Bernie the Socialist wants everyone to be on the government dole because that way the government could become quite authoritarian and demand all sorts of things from We the People, lest they take away what they giveth: Sanderss jobs guarantee would fund hundreds of projects throughout the United States aimed at addressing priorities such as infrastructure, care giving, the environment, education and other goals. Under the job guarantee, every American would be entitled to a job under one of these projects or receive job training to be able to do so, according to an early draft of the proposal. Sounds great, huh? What could go wrong? Before you get all giddy and believe the lie that plans like this will pay for themselves as someone wrote in response to the Post article, ask yourself some basic questions and then try to answer them. Such as, if plans like this pay for themselves, why are Bernie and his staff still figuring out how to pay for them, as the Post reported? Heres something else to ponder. If communist/socialist economic and labor policies are superior to free-market capitalism (our supposed model), why did the Soviet Union collapse? Why isnt Cuba a global superpower? Why isnt Venezuela rich and prosperous instead of destitute and on the brink of self-destruction? Bernie and every other Democrat like him support using OPM other peoples money to fund their unworkable and outrageous economic and labor schemes. They believe that successful Americans dont deserve to keep the fruits of their labor, that the money the rich earn isnt noble or honorable and doesnt really belong to them but instead belongs to the unwashed masses who need it much more than the rich guy does. They dont understand or refuse to see the logic, wisdom, and successful history of an economy driven by innovation, self-serving desires, wants, needs, and a motivation to get ahead. Plus, theres no need for an expensive government jobs program. As The National Sentinel reports, there is record low unemployment all over the country, thanks to the Trump economic plan of deregulation, lower taxes, and created opportunity. Democrats are still trying to convince voters that government rather than the private sector is best suited to manage the economy. For anyone who still believes that one word should convince them otherwise: Obamacare. See more big government nonsense at BigGovernment.news. J.D. Heyes is also editor-in-chief of The National Sentinel. Sources include: TheNationalSentionel.com WashingtonExaminer.com NationalReview.com China plans to finance and build thousands of coal-fired power plants worldwide China has big plans concerning renewable energy in the future. After all, increased adoption of renewable energy sources can help in Chinas plan to clean up its skies and minimize the levels of pollution. But while everything seems to be on the right track domestically, quite the opposite appears to be going on outside of its borders. As online reports indicate, almost half of all the new coal generation expected to occur in the next decade will be due to the work of a number of different Chinese corporations. This is based on data compiled and presented by a Berlin-based environmental group called Urgewald, which showed that there will be more than 700 new coal plants built in China and in other countries over the next few years. Although Urgewalds report is clear in that many of the coal plants are going to be based in China, if you look at things based on capacity, youll find that about 20 percent of all new coal power stations will be constructed in countries outside of China. All told, Urgewald said that the overall number of planned coal plants for construction is 1,600. This would reportedly expand the worlds coal-fired power generation capacity by about 43 percent. Heffa Schuecking, the director of Urgewald, said that Chinas plan even involves building plants in countries that currently burn little to no coal at all. Even today, new countries are being brought into the cycle of coal dependency, Schuecking said. It is a move that is most likely motivated by the potential for profits. (Related: China caught committing emissions fraud by lying about its industrial pollution.) For its part, the U.S. could also be in on the coal-fired power game, as President Trump himself declared a vision for a new energy policy that was focused on exports. Primarily, this policy would involve the use of coal alongside other sources of energy. We have nearly 100 years worth of natural gas and more than 250 years worth of clean, beautiful coal, said Trump. We will be dominant. We will export American energy all over the world, all around the globe. But the revelation of the data presented by Urgewald shows that China will likely be on top of all the worlds countries in terms of emissions for the next decade at least, especially if the China-based companies in charge of building the many coal-fired power plants in certain countries like those in the Middle East follow through with their plans. It is said that out of the 20 biggest coal plant developers in the world, 11 are Chinese, based on data from Urgewald. Some examples of Chinese firms involved are Shanghai Electric Group, which is one of Chinas biggest electrical equipment makers, and China Energy Engineering Corp, which is said to be working on 2,200 megawatts worth of coal-fired power capacity in countries such as Malawi and Vietnam. Chinas secretive push for the creation of all these big coal-fired power plants in countries that dont even currently rely on coal that much, if at all, shows that firms are still fixated on profits without much care for the consequences to the environment. All of these things, which appear to be going on behind the scenes, so to speak, undermines Chinas own efforts to increase renewable energy adoption. Ultimately, its the planet itself that will be affected negatively. And that will be a shame since everybody else is trying to work together to make things better. Read more about environmental problems in Pollution.news. Sources include: StraitsTimes.com Reuters.com Contributed photo WASHINGTON The next performer in St. Johns Concert Series is classical pianist Jackson Merrill on Sunday, May 6 at 4 p.m., at St. Johns Parish House, 9 Parsonage Lane. Merrill is recognized as one of the most gifted young pianists in New England. A native of Florida, since his arrival in Connecticut, Merrill has quickly attracted an enthusiastic following for his inspired performance and distinguished technique. Chef Matt Storch, chef and owner of three Fairfield County restaurants (Match in Norwalk, Nom-Eez in Bridgeport, Match Burger Lobster in Westport) was nervous when he filmed his episode of Food Network's Chopped about seven or eight months ago. "The pressure is insane...I was sweating and uncertain that I would be able to finish, but I did," he said. READ MORE: Hearst caught up with Chef Storch the day of the airing to find out what it's like to be on "Chopped." And not only did he finish, but he won the whole thing, as was revealed at 10pm April 24 when the episode aired. The episode, titled "Sensational Sandwiches" was a three-part sandwich challengeappetizer, main course and dessert. For the appetizer and main course rounds, Storch channeled his Asian know-how and made Vietnamese-style bao buns out of less-than-gourmet ingredients like turducken. The judges (Geoffrey Zakarian, Alex Guarnaschelli and Jeff Mauro) were impressed, but it wasn't all smooth sailing for Storch; in one round he burned some potatoes and the judges questioned if he could only cook Vietnamese food. The dessert round is where Storch's victory was sealed. Out of an unusual fruit called soursop and a children's ham and cheese lunch pack, Storch created a biscuit-based dessert with a cream filling. Storch described winning "Chopped" as a "blue ribbon." "And the $10,000 prize isn't bad either," he said. Storch, whose seven-year-old twins pushed him to audition for the show, held a viewing party at his restaurant, Match. His plans the following morning were to to re-watch the show with his sons who were not able to stay up late enough to watch. This is not the first time a local chef has won "Chopped." Back in December, Chef Stephen Costanzo, co-owner and head chef at Olio in Stamford, won an episode against a fellow Stamford chef, Chef Jean Gabriel of Soul Tasty. DANBURY The manager of Tails of Courage Animal Rescue pleaded not guilty Wednesday to allegations that animals were found living in squalor during three separate inspections of its shelter on Smith Street. Krystel A. Lopez, 30, who turned herself in to police last week, was arraigned on two counts of animal cruelty following an investigation by Connecticut Animal Control. Animal control officers said dogs, cats and rabbits at the shelter were found in unsanitary or too-small cages, many without access to water, during two visits to the rescue facility in December. The facility was also given citations by the fire marshal for a burst water pipe and by the health and human services for a rat infestation. But when animal control officers returned on January 3, officers still found 25 animals in unhealthy and extremely unsanitary conditions and ordered them removed from the property. Upon entering the facility, there was a strong odor of urine and feces, officer Kelli Peet said in Lopezs arrest affidavit. Numerous dogs were standing in crates that were smeared with their own urine or feces. Many dogs had feces smeared on their sides, paws and tails. In investigating the original complaint on December 14, officers sent an email with photographs of the unacceptable conditions to Tails of Courage founder Kristan Exner, who then forwarded it to Lopez. Exner said Wednesday that she does not remember being contacted. She has been on medical and maternity leave for several months, Exner said. I feel like it wouldve jumped out to me, but I dont remember anything like that, Exner said. She added that she was blindsided by the charges and does not think Lopez is guilty. Lopez started as a volunteer with Tails of Courage and began training in October to take over as manager. It was a big surprise, Exner said. "Im not aware of any unresolved issues. Krystel is wonderful and I imagine if there was anything it wouldve been resolved instantly. Lopez, who was not present during the initial inspection, told officers after receiving the email that she agreed the conditions were unacceptable. But according to the affidavit, when the officers returned days later, they found similar problems and issued a written notice and contacted the fire marshal and health department. On Wednesday, Lopezs attorney, Vicki Hutchinson, maintained that her client is not guilty of the allegations. The defendant and all staff are committed to rescuing dogs and cats from kill shelters and providing homes for them, Hutchinson said ouside the courtroom. That is their sole mission. Posts on the Tails of Courage Facebook page show that the kennel has been under construction and that staff were seeking foster homes for many of the animals. Calling all fostersdue to the incoming weather we are asking for fosters for a few days or longer while we ride out the snow and do some kennel renovations, reads a post from January 3, the day of the last inspection, reads. Another post a few days later announces the adoption of Twilight, a dog officers sent for evaluation at Plumtrees Animal Hospital after the third visit. Twilight had sores and ulcers on her paws from being exposed to urine or feces, the affidavit said. Lopez will appear in court again on May 16. aquinn@newstimes.com NEW MILFORD Facing a drastic cut in state funding in next years budget, the school district is hoping for some relief as the General Assembly considers two budget proposals that would give towns more money for education. Board of Education Chairman David Lawson said he was cautiously optimistic at Tuesdays meeting that the town would get more funding than the state has proposed. New Milford is expecting to receive $3 million less in state money for the next school year. Lawson said the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education is heavily lobbying for the state to restore grants given to towns to cover education costs, as well as other areas that use state money for school-related expenses. Tuesdays meeting was the first school board meeting since the finance board approved a $101.6 million budget, including $63.3 million for the schools about $900,000 less than the $1.4 million, or 2.34 percent, increase the school board requested. Superintendent of Schools Joshua Smith said school officials were looking at possible places to make up that $900,000 and welcomed suggestions from the board as soon as possible so they could start researching the feasibilities and cost savings. The budget the school board approved already included nine less positions, two of which were eliminated this school year. Smith said he met with the other seven teachers Tuesday to let them know their positions wont be there next year. He said the district will try to find other places for them if there are retirements or other teachers leave. Earlier in the meeting, Megan Byrd, a parent who started a group to advocate for more money for the schools, offered suggestions on how school officials could think outside of the box to find savings and avoid cutting programs or staff. These included starting pay to play for extracurricular activities, having parents donate supplies at the beginning of the year and letting people give more money when they pay taxes for certain items. Once we cut something, it will be more costly to reinstate something and more difficult to bring it back, she said. She said she and members of the group will now push for people to pass the budgets as presented to prevent the possibility of them being cut when they go back to Town Council if they fail. The budget referendum will be on May 15, following the town meeting on May 3. HARTFORD In a historic vote, the House on Wednesday joined the state Senate in passing landmark legislation that allows undocumented immigrants to get state financial aid at Connecticuts colleges and universities. The Dreamers are some of the finest students, said state Rep. Gregg Haddad, D-Mansfield, using a popular term to describe young undocumented immigrants. They camped out in the Capitol, Haddad said, referring to a four-year lobbying effort. In their hearts and minds they are Americans. The bill passed the House by a vote of 91-59, with 13 Republicans in support, and now heads to Gov. Dannel P. Malloys desk for an expected signature. The state Senate passed the bill last week by a 30-5 vote. Najey Clavijo, an undocumented student at Danbury High School, said shes now one step closer to paying for college. The Trump administration has tried to bury immigrant youth, Clavijo said. Ive been studying hard to graduate in two months and juggling a 35-hour workweek to help my mom with rent and bills, Clavijo said. Its been difficult, but Im one step closer to realizing my dream of studying computer engineering. Trump blocked The vote marked an end to four years of debate over whether Dreamers children brought to the U.S. illegally by parents or relatives at a young age should receive state financial aid funded by tuition paid by all students. The legislation mostly follows the provisions of the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, policy, which allows young illegal immigrants to remain in the country if certain requirements are met. A U.S. District Court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trumps cancellation of DACA last year, saying the decision to phase out the program was backed by meager legal reasoning and the protections must be reinstated. Under the bill, undocumented applicants for state financial aid the legislation does not apply to federal financial aid cannot have a felony on their record, must have graduated or attended a state high school and must seek citizenship as soon as legally possible. The less than 1,000 undocumented college students in Connecticut can tap into the states $140 million financial aid fund beginning in January 2020. The financial aid ranges from a few hundred to several thousand dollars a semester. Dreamers are part of the fabric of this state, Malloy said. Yet until now, they have not had access to the very financial aid that they pay into at our colleges and universities. Malloy said. The legislature has rightly taken long overdue action to correct this injustice, and I applaud the members who supported this commonsense legislation. Done everything right The nearly nine-hour House debate encapsulated much of the ongoing argument over immigration, Dreamers and financial aid. Some lawmakers maintained that basic fairness dictated passage of the bill while others said undocumented residents should not be given special treatment, and worried that legal students would lose financial aid. State Rep. Joe Polletta, R-Watertown, said his family came to the U.S. illegally and worked hard to obtain legal status. He said the bill could take limited financial aid away from legal students. To hand out any dollar, and to take away from someone here legally, is in my opinion wrong, Polletta said. Camila Bortolleto, an undocumented Danbury resident and campaign manager for CT Students for a Dream, said Connecticut succeeded where Washington, D.C. failed. (Wednesday) was a landmark moment for Connecticut, Bortolleto said. While DC has failed again and again to support immigrant youth since the end of DACA, we saw that Connecticut can do better we can rise above the partisanship of Washington and protect our people. State Rep. Tim LeGeyt, R-Canton, said undocumented students had no say in the decision to bring them to the U.S. They almost qualify as victims in that regard, LeGeyt said. They have become part of our culture; they have done everything right and are making all the right moves to comply as best they can. To deny them, I think that is wrong. State Rep. Charles Ferraro, R-West Haven, said he has spoken with constituents who do not favor sharing financial aid with undocumented studen ts. The dissatisfaction was universal, he said. bcummings@ctpost.com I'm both fascinated by and perpetually in awe of people like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma and Tim Ferriss. They accomplish, grow, connect and utterly excel in so many different ways and verticals that they seem almost superhuman. But as I've studied their careers and trajectories over the years, I've found a set of simple mental tools they all seem to make excellent use of. Though we won't all accomplish as much as these super performers have, at the very least we can train our brains to think like them, which will give us massive advantages regardless of what we choose to pursue. 1. Lateral Thinking The human brain is wired to see things in terms of black and white; safe and unsafe, good and bad, love and hate...alas, very little in life is actually black and white, and the greatest advantages tend to appear in gray areas. Lateral thinking is the ability to look at something, be it a problem or an object, and see far more options than appear to most people. You see the black, and the white, but also all the shades of gray, and maybe some colors as well. You could think of it as the ability to blend logic and imagination harmoniously. So what's the best way to develop better lateral thinking skills? Solving riddles. Riddles force you to think outside the box the reach an answer, and are one of the best ways to hone lateral thinking. There's also a great video from Ken Robinson that talks about divergent thinking, which is a component of lateral thinking. Related: Forget Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead. 2. Systems Thinking Our brains like to oversimplify things, and as such they tend to focus in on parts of a problem or thing, often discarding the nuances of the complex whole in the process. We miss the forest for the trees, so to speak. Systems thinking involves understanding how all the pieces of a system work together and impact one another, and using that knowledge to make more informed decisions. Empathy is a facet of this, as empathetic people are better at seeing and understanding things from someone else's perspective. Systems thinking is difficult, and often imprecise as it can involve a lot of estimation and guesswork, but it's a much better approach than honing in on a single part. To develop this trait, work to rekindle your childlike curiosity. Explore things, try to be more aware of your surroundings, and ask yourself "How does this work?" as often as you can. Most importantly, you need to try and see things from alternate perspectives. Related: 5 Ways Childlike Curiosity Can (and Should) Inspire the Entrepreneurial Mindset 3. Self-Awareness As Paulo Coelho wrote, "If you conquer yourself, then you will conquer the world." You can't truly conquer that which you don't truly understand, and very, very few people truly know themselves. That said, I would say this is by far the most common characteristic of top performers -- they know themselves, both strengths and weaknesses, exceptionally well. They seek constantly to understand themselves even better. They meditate, they write notes or keep a journal. They read and study psychology, philosophy and neuroscience to better understand who they are, and why they do what they do. These are the three keys to mastering self-awareness: meditation, introspection through writing, and constant study into the nature of self. I meditate, journal read voraciously to better understand myself and humanity in general. Related: Does Meditation Make You More Productive? These 5 Entrepreneurs and CEOs Think So. 4. Mushin Mushin is a Japanese word that translates roughly to "no mind." It is a state of clarity without active thought, fully in the moment, aware of your surroundings to an intense degree but only softly focused. This is a state sought by monks, meditators of all varieties and martial artists around the world. It is in many ways comparable to, but not exactly the same, as Flow. It's really, really hard to describe effectively in English, as we have no real parallel. If you're a fan of fantasy books, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series would describe this as The Flame and the Void. Many high performers seek this state through various avenues. There is no better frame of mind in which to live, if you can achieve it. To do this, you need to master two key things: Meditation, as we've already discussed in regards to self-awareness, and Flow, which we'll dig into next. Related: I Tried This Oprah Meditation Hack Every Day for Two Weeks. Here Are My 5 Takeaways. 5. Flow Last, but far from least, is a state researched and coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Numerous books have been written on the subject, though my favorite so far is The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler. Mushin and Flow are tightly connected states, albeit at opposite ends of the spectrum. Where Mushin is a relaxed, loosely focused state of awareness, Flow is an intense, highly focused state of awareness. Call it what you will -- in the zone, dialed in, etc -- flow occurs when you are intently focused on a task, at the edge of your abilities, and getting instant feedback on your efforts. From programmers to professional gamers to extreme athletes, all are familiar with this state. For high performers, who often have to juggle a ton of data and data streams and complex decisions, the ability to get into flow states is critical for effective performance. But what about the average Jane or Joe? The best place to start are with the above mentioned book, The Rise of Superman, and with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's TED talk on Flow. Once you come to understand what it is, you'll be able to look at your life and the activities you perform and find better, more frequent ways to slip into flow. For those who want to change the world, whether in a big way or a small one, it starts by changing yourself into the best possible version of you. Related: 5 Mental Powers Every Entrepreneur Can Develop Addicted to Your Business? Never Satisfied? It's Not a Bad Thing. Entrepreneurs Spend Too Little, Once They Personally Reflect on It Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, is often called a cyber savvy politician and with good reason. Back in late 90s, when Madhapur was little more than a rocky suburb of Hyderabad, Naidu, as the chief minister of the then united Andhra Pradesh, transformed it into an IT hub. The suburb eventually got rechristened as Cyberabad. Today, Naidu, short of funds to build a new capital at Amaravati, near Vijayawada in Andhra, is showcasing Andhra's tech governance projects, including a major real-time governance control centre that he has set up in Amaravati. Permanent building structures have been built across 6 lakh sq ft at Rs 600 crore in the new capital, to temporarily house the state secretariat. One such tech project is the state government's collaboration with IT major Tech Mahindra to establish, what is being billed, as the country's first Cyber Security Operations Centre (APCSOC). The state-of-the-art Cyber Security Operations Centre, launched on Monday, April 23rd, in the new capital region and currently in Vijayawada, is equipped with traditional security operations centre and predictive threat analytics capabilities. The security coverage extends to all the central and state government entities, according to a media release put out by Tech Mahindra. It quotes Rajiv Singh, Global Head of Enterprise Security & Risk Management, Tech Mahindra, as saying: "In order to protect government infrastructure and assets from the threats of growing and constantly evolving cyber-attacks, we have designed and deployed the Andhra Pradesh Cyber Security Operations Centre, (APCSOC) - that will extend its security coverage to all state government departments and entities. This is a big step forward towards an integrated approach to security and risk management - an aspect that is affecting both the private and government sectors today." While the investment numbers are not readily available, it should be noted that Naidu is not in the best of times financially. He is miffed with the centre and after the split with the former partner BJP, is already coping with rising debt, growing revenue deficit and pending bills. But then, a visit to state secretariat, particularly, Naidu's office block will tell you the importance he gives to the use of information technology. A key symbol of this is his real-time governance facility - a large glass-panelled room with huge wall size screens and parallel desktop monitors, giving real-time information on various parameters about government department files that have been digitised and can be accessed by ministers and officials anytime, anywhere. Then, there is CM Office Real Time Executive, called CORE dashboard in quickspeak, which is meant to provide details of the power situation, weather updates and forecasts, water levels in canals and the progress of government schemes. Balaji Adivishnu, director in the department of real time governance in the chief minister's office says that since September last year, what stands out is the scale at which satisfaction levels of citizens across 34 different schemes are getting measured. Apart from this, for nearly three years now, there has been extensive use of IoT using more than one million sensors. In addition, at regular intervals, Balaji Adivishnu says, Naidu monitors the progress of the construction in the capital region based on the drone shot images and regular video conferences. Chinas GDP for the first quarter of 2018 was 19.88 trillion yuan. This was 10.5% more than the first quarter of 2017 (18.03 trillion yuan). The exchange rate is 6.32 yuan per US dollar. The exchange has been in the range of 6.25 to 6.35 for most of 2018. The inflation rate is 1.5 to 2.9%. For the past four quarters, the GDP was 84.56 trillion yuan. This is US$13.4 trillion. Adding in Hong Kong and Macau puts Chinas GDP at $13.8 trillion. Chinas per capita GDP is $9500. If China maintains the first quarter pace throughout 2018 then GDP China GDP should be 91.2 trillion yuan ($14.5 trillion). Per capita income would be $10,200. The nominal (exchange rate) GDP per capita of world in 2018 is forecasted at $11,311, its GDP per capita (PPP) is projected at $17,936. Chinas PPP GDP per capita will be very close to the world average of GDP per capita at the end of 2018. For the current 2018 fiscal year, low-income economies are defined as those with a GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method, of $1,005 or less in 2016; lower middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between $1,006 and $3,955; upper middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between $3,956 and $12,235; high-income economies are those with a GNI per capita of $12,236 or more. China will have GNI per capita of about $9700-10,000 at the end of 2018. China will likely be defined as a high-income economy by the World Bank in 2021-2023. Chinas GDP between January and March this year grew by 6.8 percent more than during the same period in 2017. Exports will play a smaller role for Chinas economy. Ten years ago, they made up 35 percent of Chinas GDP. Exports currently make up 18 percent of Chinas economy. Consumption in China now makes up 77.8 percent of the economic growth, having increased by 20 percent since last year. Compared to the US, where it makes up 70 percent of the economy. In the first quarter of 2018, it produced 30 percent more industrial robots than in the year before and 139 percent more electric cars. If trade were to completely stop between the US and China, it would affect Chinas growth by between 0.3 and 0.6 percent according to the Beijing-based economy professor, Hu Xingdou. The New Silk Road project is creating and growing new export markets exports, in South Asia, Latin America and Africa. Chinas exchange of goods with ASEAN states alone has grown by 9 percent to $279 billion (227 billion). When the Silk Road is finished, it will link 65 countries and unite some 40 percent of the global economy. China has economic weak points : * The gap between the rural and urban parts of the country remains a challenge for Beijing. * slow retail figures in rural areas. * The debts of state businesses and official budgets are also growing. * Inefficient state companies have high debts * overcapacity in state, cement and aluminum production has to be balanced. WALLINGFORD Sue Gilleaudeau, education director for the High Road Academy, had a simple goal when she invited Sarah Selvaggi-Hernandez of Enfield to speak to her students Tuesday. The most important thing that I wanted was that they understand they are no different than you or I are, Gilleaudeau told reporters after Selvaggi-Hernandez addressed some of High Roads students. Just because theyre diagnosed with autism, its not the end of the world. The school serves students in kindergarten through twelfth grade who have learning disabilities, autism, ADHD, emotional disturbance, traumatic brain injury, communication disorders and physical challenges. Selvaggi-Hernandez was diagnosed as having autism while she was studying to be an occupational therapist. Now 38, Selvaggi-Hernandez is an assistant professor of occupational therapy at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Mass,. and a mother of four. Last year, she was elected to serve on the Enfield Board of Education. You can and should be the most influential voice in your life, Selvaggi-Hernandez told a group of about 30 students. Know your rights, know who can support you and be bold in defining who you are and how you want to live this life. Autism is a general term for a group of complex disorders of brain development, according to the organization Autism Speaks, an organization devoted to help those who have some form of it live richer lives and to help the general public better understand it. The disorder is characterized by a wide spectrum of difficulties in the realm of social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. Gilleaudeau said the students who heard Selvaggi-Hernandez speak are considered to be part of the middle or higher functioning end of the autism spectrum. But Selvaggi-Hernandez said she doesnt like the way the spectrum concept portrays those with autism. I consider anyone with autism my brothers and sisters and I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them, Selvaggi-Hernandez said. During the time she spent with the students, Selvaggi-Hernandez discussed her strategies for coping with stressful situations and asked them about theirs. She asked the students whether any of them used what she called flappies as a coping mechanism. Flappies are repetitive hand or arm movements, often used as a coping mechanism, Selvaggi-Hernandez later explained. But when talking to the students, she urged them not to be self-conscious about the habit. Flappy hands are happy hands, Selvaggi-Hernandez said. Tyler Wahl is a junior at High Road Academy. During the question-and-answer period with Selvaggi-Hernandez, Wahl, 17, recalled that at one point in his young life, he couldnt read and never thought hed be able to achieve that goal. But teachers and staff at the school convinced Wahl he was underestimating his potential. Through hard work over the years, Wahl is now able to read at an appropriate level for a high school student and has set his sights on another goal. My next goal is to find a job for after I leave here, Wahl said. Having Selvaggi-Hernandez speak to him and his classmates was important, Wahl said. I dont know too many people who are adults and have autism, he said. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com NEW HAVEN There was nothing but praise Tuesday for a development project that will bring amost 400 apartments to Newhallville on property that was 13 acres of weed-covered, contaminated soil for decades when it was owned by the Olin Corp. Kim Harris, chairwoman of the Newhallville Community Management Team, called the proposal by Double A Development Partners a beautiful utopia. Doug Gray, one of the owners, talked about the updated site plan and invited more people from the neighborhood interested in construction work at the site to come to a training program they have set up. There will be 18 to 20, two-story, 1,300-square-foot townhouses facing Munson Street that will have three bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Gray said they will be the same height as the multi-family homes in the area and will serve as a good transition to the planned apartment complex behind them. That four-story complex will have the majority of the units, expected to bring the projects total, including the townhouses, to some 400 apartments. The majority of these will be one-bedroom homes with a choice of six floor plans. There will also be some 20 to 25 two-bedroom apartments and a mix of studios or one-bedroom units with a den. Gray said they lowered the number of two-bedroom, two-bath apartments, because they dont seem to be moving in other new apartment buildings in New Haven. He said the exact number of units will depend on what the final mix of apartments will be. Gray said they are accommodating 1.6 parking spaces per unit so there will be no need for the occupants to park on the street. The townhouses will have their own garages, while most of the rest of the parking will be under the apartment building. He said the market continues to be dominated by people associated with Yale University who seem to be favoring the one-bedroom units. The City Plan Commission has already approved a plan for clean-up of the site, while the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection did so last summer. There is some 15,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated by lead, the majority of which will be put under the foundation of the four-story apartments, covered by a vapor barrier and a foot of clean soil. Some 1,500 cubic yards of PCBs will be trucked off the site to New Jersey over a months time with four truckloads per day, according to the developer. Acting City Plan Director Michael Piscitelli, at the commission meeting last week, said a representative from DEEP will come to the city to explain the remediation plan which the state approved last summer to residents. Any concerns about the size of the proposal, whether it would interfere with the Farmington Canal Trail or generate too much traffic were not brought up at the Newhallville meeting. Gray has now shared the schematics of the site plan with the Dixwell and Newhallville neighbors, but has yet to submit it to the City Plan Commission. He hopes to undertake site remediation work in June and start construction in July. The plans also call for demolishing some building foundations on the site before the remediation can start. Anstress Farwell, president of the New Haven Design League, had sent a letter to the City Plan Commission asking that it put off approval of the remediation plan until there was a meeting with DEEPs Environmental Justice unit to explain the clean-up to the neighhorhood. We all know the history of the difficult remediation of other nearby sites in Newhallville. Many residents have health problems which they believe are related to the history of industrial uses on these related sites, she wrote. Gray, whose company specializes in cleaning polluted industrial sites, said the Olin property is not a difficult one to remediate. Its a fairly simple site as the contamination is fairly benign, Gray said. The PCBs are not difficult to remove, he said. As for the soil containing lead, which has remained there for decades, Gray said it will now be inaccessible to the public. He said the presence of lead under the building will be noted on the land records as a way to notify anyone interested in a future use of the land. A number of recent developers in New Haven sold their complexes within a short period of time, but Gray said his company plans to be here for the long term. We are going to build and stay part of the community, Gray said. The owner, at the top of his meeting with the Newhallville residents, said they have had one OSHA training class, and another for some 17 more people will be held within the next two weeks, with a third in the planning. He said that is being spearheaded by Rodney Williams, a resident of the neighborhood and supporter of the project when there were some initial concerns by others. Harris said she wants the specifics on that training so they can keep track of it and Double A Development Partners can hire as many residents as possible for jobs at the site. Gray said 10 percent of the units, an estimated 40 apartments, across all the housing options, including the townhouses, will be affordable. He said if they can get some state funds to help subsidize more as affordable, they will do so. There will be sidewalks throughout the development, but no through street. Understand, it is private property, Gray said. He said they will also improve the sidewalk along the front. One schematic shows a large swimming pool around which the four-story apartment building will be built. There will also be a dog park, a few tennis courts, a basketball court and a tot lot. Gray said there will probaby be a workout area outdoors in addition to the gym in the apartment building. mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com; 203-641-2577 Contributed / Michael P. Walsh / City of West Haven WEST HAVEN The city is seeking participants for its annual Memorial Day parade, including veterans, civic groups, fraternal organizations, service clubs and marching bands, organizers said Tuesday in a news release. The parade will take place on May 28, rain or shine. It begins at 10:30 a.m. Over five crore members of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) can look forward to stepped-up transparency on the part of the retirement fund body. Today, EPFO announced that it will now inform its subscribers if contributions are not duly deposited by their employers, going beyond credit information. "The members whose contributions are not deposited in time remain uninformed. In order to bring more transparency, it has been decided that an intimation by way of SMS/email shall be sent to members (who have registered their Mobile Number/email ID against respective Universal Account Number) in respect of whom contribution has not been deposited by the employer with EPFO for a given month in due time," the body said in a statement. The EPFO, which manages a corpus of over Rs 10 lakh crore, has so far been intimating its members through SMSes on credit of their respective monthly contribution into their accounts. The statement added that now the credit information will be available through e-passbook online and UMANG mobile App as well as through the missed call service for all members. The EPFO members whose monthly contribution is regularly received may view their contribution details using any of these options. In addition, the body has also decided to publish the age-band wise estimate of all new subscribers as declared by their employers after deducting the number of subscribers exiting jobs every month. This information can also be accessed online. This is just one among a number of initiatives taken by the EPFO in the recent past to provide timely information and better service to all its stakeholders in tune with the government's motto of minimum government and maximum governance. With PTI inputs North Augusta, SC (29841) Today Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Samsung could launch another Android Go phone soon, namely the Galaxy A2 Core Samsung makes trademark applications for Galaxy J2 Shine device Meizu announces 6-inch Note 8, shipments to start next week The Meizu 16X may just be the ideal sub-premium smartphone First Android Go handset by Samsung now official as the Galaxy J2 Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 710-powered Meizu X8 hits AnTuTu Meizu 16 and 16 Plus specs leaked on TENNA Samsung's first Android Go smartphone gets one step closer to launch The Meizu 16 devices are coming, Snapdragon 845 in tow The Meizu M6T is now official, packs a dual-camera setup for less than US$125 Huawei joins the Android Go crowd with the Y3 2018 smartphone Asus entering the Android Go realm with the ZenFone Live L1 The Meizu 15 Plus offers a perfect blend of great hardware and poor, shackling software First Android Go phone by Samsung apparently spotted on Geekbench Google launches the Tasks mobile productivity app The Meizu 15 Plus appears on multiple benchmarks, QHD display and Exynos 8895 in tow Meizu 15/15+ specs and hands-on pics surface online The Meizu X2 is coming, and it will be powered by the Snapdragon 845 Live images of the Meizu E3 surface Live images of the Meizu 15 Plus have surfaced The Meizu M15 Plus will take the bezel-less life to the extreme Managing Editor Having lived and worked in Indy on and off since 1977, and currently living in Carmel, I've seen the city change a great deal. I love covering the arts in all its forms, and the places where the arts and broader cultural issues intersect. Viewed of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. BEIJING Chinas vibrant technology scene is searching for people like Shen Yue. Qualifications: Must be attractive, know how to charm socially awkward programmers and give relaxing massages. Ms. Shen is a programmer motivator, as they are known in China. Part psychologist, part cheerleader, the women are hired to chat up and calm stressed-out coders. The jobs are proliferating in a society that largely adheres to gender stereotypes and believes that male programmers are zhai, or nerds who have no social lives. They really need someone to talk to them from time to time and to organize activities for them to ease some of the pressure, said Ms. Shen, a 25-year-old who has a degree in civil engineering from a university in Beijing. Chinese women have made great strides in the workplace. The country has the worlds largest number of self-made female billionaires, while many start-ups have women in senior roles. But at a time when the United States and other countries are directly confronting the #MeToo movement, the inequalities and biases in China are rarely discussed openly and remain firmly entrenched. Back in December, after a series of homophobic posts on her defunct, decade-old blog resurfaced on social media, the MSNBC host Joy Reid apologized for them. But this week, when Ms. Reid was confronted with a new batch of homophobic writings from that same period, she said she had been the victim of hackers. That claim was called into question on Tuesday, when the Internet Archive, the meticulous online record-keeping nonprofit that hosted the archived version of her site, said it had found no evidence to support her claim. Late Tuesday night, MSNBC provided documents that show Ms. Reids lawyers alerted Google and the Internet Archive to the alleged hacking in December, shortly after her public apology but long before the latest batch of posts appeared on social media. The latest group of alleged blog posts includes a great deal of material that might embarrass a prominent liberal figure like Ms. Reid, including expressions of disgust at the thought of homosexuality, opposition to gay marriage, claims that gay men prey on impressionable teens and criticism of political correctness. In a special election in New York that was thought to hold the key to Democrats capturing the State Senate, Shelley B. Mayer, the Democratic candidate, sailed to victory in Westchester County on Tuesday, buoyed by a large turnout of progressive voters angered by the Trump presidency. Ms. Mayer, a state assemblywoman from Yonkers, defeated her Republican challenger, Julie Killian, a deputy mayor of Rye, in the 37th District, which covers much of the eastern portion of the county. With 78 percent of districts counted, Ms. Mayer led Ms. Killian, 58 percent to 42 percent. Her victory coupled with another Democratic win in a special election in the 32nd Senate District in the Bronx gave the Democrats a theoretical one-vote edge over the Republicans in the Senate, 32 to 31. But theory gave way earlier on Tuesday to Simcha Felder, a Democrat of Brooklyn who has caucused with Republicans. Under the Kaine-Corker proposal, these 2001 and 2002 authorizations would be replaced with one that approves the use of force not just against Al Qaeda and the Taliban but also against six groups not in the 2001 authorization: the Islamic State, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the East African group Al Shabab, Al Qaeda in Syria, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Haqqani Network, which operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It would also increase the countries where force is authorized to include Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Libya. Significantly, a president in the future could add to these lists more terrorist groups and associated forces that are successors to existing terrorist groups as well as other countries, and could carry out operations involving them just by informing Congress within 48 hours of acting. This new reporting requirement is a step in the right direction. So is another one in the legislation, mandating that every four years Congress review the authorization and decide whether it should be continued or modified. But over all the bills provisions are too broad and could bless military operations in perpetuity, not least because Congress would be unlikely to muster the two-thirds majority that would be needed to take away or alter an authorization once it is enshrined in law or is later added on by a president. There is also the question of how this latest authorization could affect the War Powers Act, which, even if often ignored, puts the burden on the president to justify force, not Congress, by giving him 60 days either to secure congressional approval after initiating hostilities against a new enemy or to end the operation. Bruce Ackerman, a Yale law professor, says the proposed authorization would effectively repeal the War Powers Act and its protections for Congresss war-making role by taking away those presidential requirements. Although the bills supporters say no country could be considered an associated force under the proposal, some critics fear that it could be used by the Trump administration to go to war against Iran or North Korea, both of which the United States considers to be state sponsors of terrorism. Given how far Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump stretched the 2001 authorization, such concerns cannot be dismissed. Congress needs to be more involved in decisions like those about when and where America fights terrorists. But the Kaine-Corker bill would not make Congress take enough responsibility for how those decisions are made and would give presidents too great an ability to keep spreading the war on terrorism. After launching 'Google for Jobs' last year in the US, the IT giant has taken an initiative to launch the same feature in India as well. When we tried searching jobs on Google, we received umpteen number of job opportunities which were distributed in many categories like Computer & IT, Sales & Retail, Advertising & Marketing, Manufacturing & Warehouse etc. Companies like Huawei Technologies and YouTube seem to be few of the first companies offering job opportunities through Times Jobs and Wisdom Jobs. Other employers included Deloitte, Accenture, Crescendo Global, Black & White Business Solutions and many more. According to Google, freshers and job seekers will be able to find opportunities across prominent job portals with the ease of just typing-in a search. The search portal has officially joined hands with Google. Companies who have teamed up with the search engine are LinkedIn, Shine.com, Quikr Jobs, T-Jobs, Times Jobs, IBM Talent Management Solutions, Quezx, and Wisdom Jobs. Google's Vice President India and Southeast Asia, Rajan Anandan said, "Google saw more than 45 per cent increase in the number of job search queries." He further added, "SMEs are the largest job creators but are often unable to make their listings discoverable. This new job search initiative powered by our partners and our platform approach attempts to bridge this gap." The users or job seekers will be able to find appropriate opportunities by selecting jobs through various categories. They can use job filters according to their skills and specialization and even save listings. Another nifty feature is signing up for job alerts through the search app available on both Android and iOS platforms. Another way to go about this will be subscribing to mail-alerts for their preferred positions. CEO of Niti Aayog, Amitabh Kant said, "The government wants India to thrive with the jobs and our objective is to create more and more job opportunities for the youth." He further added, "We are entering a new age of disruption, it will be an era of speed and transparency." NATIONAL Because of an editing error, an article on Tuesday about the confirmation hearing for Mike Pompeo misstated when President Trump said that Senator Rand Paul has never let us down and that hes a good man. It was last week, not Monday. An article on April 4 misstated, in one instance, the name of the group that compared fuel economy standards for different countries. It is the International Council on Clean Transportation, not the International Center on Clean Transportation. SPORTS An article on Tuesday about Darius Bazley, a young N.B.A. prospect, attributed an erroneous distinction to Bazley. He was the first player since Latavious Williams to join the N.B.A.s development league directly out of high school; he was not the first player to do so. OBITUARIES An obituary on April 2 about Gen. Efrain Rios Montt, the former dictator of Guatemala who was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity in 2013, misstated the length of his trial. It was about two months, not five. The obituary also misstated the year General Rios Montts son Homero died it was 1984, not 1982 and overstated what is known about the helicopter crash in which he was killed. Most reports at the time said that the helicopter experienced mechanical failure; it has not been determined that guerrillas shot it down. WASHINGTON Facebook on Tuesday replaced its head of policy in the United States, Erin Egan, as the social network scrambles to respond to intense scrutiny from federal regulators and lawmakers. Ms. Egan, who is also Facebooks chief privacy officer, was responsible for lobbying and government relations as head of policy for the last two years. She will be replaced by Kevin Martin on an interim basis, the company said. Mr. Martin has been Facebooks vice president of mobile and global access policy and is a former Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Ms. Egan will remain chief privacy officer and focus on privacy policies across the globe, Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesman, said. Elliot Schrage, Facebooks vice president of communications and public policy, said in a statement on Wednesday: We need to focus our best people on our most important priorities. We are committed to rebuilding peoples trust in how we handle their information, and Erin is the best person to partner with our product teams on that task. Because what makes Travesties so deeply engaging and hilarious and touching isnt its flashy erudition but its authors rapt fascination with the workings of the human mind and its enduring relationship with art. Mr. Stoppard possesses the enthusiasm of an eternal student, both arrogant about what he knows and humble about what he doesnt. This sensibility is filtered through the backward-looking perspective of good old Carr (based on a real person), a thoroughly middle-class British consul who claims to have been in Zurich at a magic moment when Joyce (Peter McDonald), Tzara (Seth Numrich) and Lenin (Dan Butler) were all in residence. Carr is in his dressing gown and his dotage when we first meet him, thinking up ways to transform this improbable slice of history into a book. Joyce who is working on his novel Ulysses and Lenin nearing the end of his exile from Russia can be found in the Zurich library, along with Lenins wife, Nadya (Opal Alladin). Tzara, chief exponent of the art of poetic anarchy, is there, too, because he has a crush on Joyces assistant, Gwendolen (Scarlett Strallen). Overseeing, and regularly shushing, the others is a librarian, one Cecily Cardew (Sara Topham). Gwendolen and Cecily are the names of the rivalrous heroines of Wildes Earnest. And much of the dialogue in Travesties takes its cues from that masterpiece of elegant absurdism. You see, Joyce is involved in a local production of Earnest. He recruits Carr to appear in it as Algernon. The collaboration ends badly, because of an altercation over the cost of Carrs costumes. The elderly Carr doffs his bathrobe to become his younger self to participate in his encounters with the others, who also include his manservant, Bennett (Patrick Kerr), who harbors revolutionary sympathies. Many of the scenes are enacted in several variations, as history stops and starts and never exactly repeats itself. Our leading men face off in duels of words about the purpose and nature of art. Carr, a Gilbert and Sullivan fan, takes the conventional bourgeois view of it as a collection of worthy monuments. Lenin has no use for art, though his wife describes him as being unnervingly moved by a Beethoven sonata. Tzara, the Dadaist, is a desecrater of traditional art, and is seen cutting up a sonnet by Shakespeare into a bowler hat, the better to randomly reassemble its words. I would rather believe a woman who has given birth to a baby and still insists that she is a virgin than Kim Jong-un. KIM CHANG-GUK, 73, who joined other older citizens in downtown Seoul on a recent weekend to protest the inter-Korean summit meeting. The politicians are using us like a sport, you know, theyre using us like punching bags. Democrats and Republicans alike have to stand up for us because there are DACA beneficiaries in every state. I was brought when I was 11 ... when I was 7, from Brazil. I was about 10. I was 12 years old. I was 7 years old. ... about 8 years old. We crossed the border, but we were little. So Ive been here 18 years. Im 29 years old. I am 20. I am 19 years old. Ive been here for 21 years. I am 27 years old now. I am 23 years old and I am originally from Mexico. When DACA was announced, I remember exactly where I was in 2012. I was at the Museum of American History. Before DACA I always felt like I was in between two worlds. I was born in Honduras. But if I were to go back to Honduras, its like Im foreign to them. Its a tug of war. When youre undocumented, youre always just aware of the situations, of the locations, who you were talking to, how you are interacting with folks, ensuring that you dont do anything that will bring attention to you because you live a life of shadows. You know, I have been able to accomplish a lot more than when I was undocumented. To get a social security number, loans from the bank, a better job. Every time my parents call me after 11 p.m., its like my heart is racing. When you are an immigrant in this country, you wake up every day with the fear that you could be taken away, right, that your family could be broken up. I have been preparing my kids of, for, you know, These are the risk[s]. This could happen to your dad and to me. I just cant imagine, you know, my nieces and nephews being separated from their parents or them going back to a country that they dont know because this is their home. They shouldnt live with that fear that I had to grow up with. Thats not a normal life. Thats not normal. And I know that like my friends that are U.S. citizens dont go through that. And nobody should go through that. Im not leaving my home, and I think if Trump ever wanted to talk to us, if he wanted to talk to these Dreamers he would realize that we love this country. We want to stay here, and ... ... if its taken away, Im losing my job, Im losing the opportunity to work and school. People dont understand but its a big thing, its a huge thing, its privileges that some people here take for granted. Taking DACA away is like taking a family member away from me. That wall that Donald Trump wants to build, you know, its putting a wall in front of me where I wont be able to move forward. You are not just taking something away from us, but youre taking something away from this country. This land is not a white America. Its not. This is a land of immigrants. I mean, I was already a person before DACA. A lot of people say, Oh, you know, whats going to happen after DACA? Im not going down without a fight. You know, whatever happens next, I love this country and I belong here. Im fighting for my family, Im fighting for the friends of mine that cant even stand up because theyre scared. We just want to stay here and contribute to this country, to the economy ... We are good people. Were not criminals. A Dallas police officer died on Wednesday, one day after he, another officer and a store security guard were shot at a Home Depot. The officer, Rogelio Santander, and a fellow officer, Crystal Almeida, were at the store responding to a request for assistance with an arrest. Officer Santander died from his injuries at 8:11 a.m., according to the Dallas Police Department. Our hearts are aching because of this Dallas police officer who lost his life in the line of duty, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said on Twitter. We thank him for paying the ultimate sacrifice protecting his community and we keep his family in our prayers. Officer Almeida and Scott Painter, the Home Depot security guard, both remain critically injured, Chief U. Renee Hall of the Dallas Police Department said at a news conference on Wednesday. WASHINGTON Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told banking industry executives on Tuesday that they should press lawmakers hard to pursue their agenda, and revealed that, as a congressman, he would meet with lobbyists only if they had contributed to his campaign. We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress, Mr. Mulvaney, a former Republican lawmaker from South Carolina, told 1,300 bankers and lending industry officials at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington. If youre a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didnt talk to you. If youre a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you. At the top of the hierarchy, he added, were his constituents. If you came from back home and sat in my lobby, I talked to you without exception, regardless of the financial contributions, said Mr. Mulvaney, who received nearly $63,000 from payday lenders for his congressional campaigns. Mr. Mulvaney, who also runs the White House budget office, is a longtime critic of the Obama-era consumer bureau, including while serving in Congress. He was tapped by President Trump in November to temporarily run the bureau, in part because of his promise to sharply curtail it. MIAMI Armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and more than 300 rounds of ammunition, Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in February without entering a single classroom. Instead, Mr. Cruz, a former Stoneman Douglas High student, carried out his carnage by walking down the hallways of the freshman building and taking aim at students and teachers trapped in the corridors or locked inside classrooms. Several times, he returned to victims he had already wounded to shoot them dead. That was the chilling narrative that law enforcement provided on Tuesday in a minute-by-minute animation of Mr. Cruzs movements through the school, the first time the police made public a detailed timeline of the gunmans actions inside the building. The animation, played for members of a Florida commission investigating the mass shooting, showed that the gunman had time to pursue victims on all three floors of the building during his six-minute rampage. At no point during the shooting did police officers enter the building or engage the gunman, even though there was an armed deputy from the Broward County Sheriffs Office outside less than two minutes after the shooting began, and several other officers heard gunfire after they arrived. The law enforcement response is expected to be closely reviewed by a special public safety commission created by the Florida Legislature last month. Among its 16 members are three fathers of students killed in the shooting. WASHINGTON The former Secret Service agent who leads the security detail for Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, worked on assignments for the tabloid news publisher American Media Inc. during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to records and interviews. The security official, Pasquale Perrotta, had received a waiver from the E.P.A. under the Obama administration to hold outside employment, but the work has now become the subject of scrutiny in both the agency and Congress. Federal law enforcement personnel face stringent restrictions on outside jobs to prevent conflicts of interest. A.M.I.s chairman, David J. Pecker, is a friend of President Trumps, and his publications The National Enquirer and Radar chief among them have put an emphasis on helping Mr. Trump and hurting his rivals, including endorsing his presidential bid. The companys payment in August 2016 to Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump, has been drawn into a federal investigation of Mr. Trumps personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen. Republican officials described their efforts as precautionary, a nod toward the partys humiliating special election losses in Alabama and Pennsylvania and an acknowledgment that they must fortify their defenses in even the reddest of districts. The Phoenix-area seat for the Eighth Congressional District, a haven for sunshine-seeking retirees from the Midwest, is so reliably Republican that Democrats did not even field a candidate in the last two elections. But after the previous representative, Trent Franks, resigned following revelations he had offered $5 million to an aide in exchange for carrying his child, Arizona Democrats rallied to Ms. Tipirneni. She outraised Ms. Lesko in what was the first high-profile congressional election since 2016 between two women. National Democrats, however, stayed away from the race, deducing that a district that has sent only Republicans to Congress for four decades was out of reach. And any hopes Ms. Tipirneni had to win outside support may have faded this month when a local TV station reported that she had not practiced medicine since 2007 and had settled a malpractice lawsuit with a woman who blamed her for contracting tetanus. Mr. Anton is also a prolific essayist who flavors his writing with references to Gibbon and Montesquieu. He is most famous for a polemical article he published in September 2016 in the Claremont Review of Books, The Flight 93 Election, which became an unlikely, highbrow manifesto for Mr. Trumps election. Charge the cockpit or you die, he wrote, this time under the pseudonym Publius Decius Mus. A Hillary Clinton presidency is Russian roulette with a semi-auto. With Trump, at least you can spin the cylinders and take your chances. His argument for a Trumpian assault on the nations elites, conservative and liberal alike, was a sensation on the right. When Mr. Trumps aides recruited him to be director of strategic communications for the National Security Council, Vanity Fair and The Weekly Standard portrayed him as an enigmatic figure a thinking mans Beau Brummell among the philistines of Trump world. The most interesting man in the White House, Yahoo News said. And that was without the cooking. Mr. Anton dates his interest in French cuisine to graduate school at St. Johns College in Annapolis, Md., where, he says, he cooked the recipes in Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking, years before Julie in the Nora Ephron film Julie & Julia. He worked as a vegetable cutter at a local restaurant, Treaty of Paris, and told his parents he wanted to drop out and go to culinary school (they vetoed that plan). He honed his cooking while working in the Bush White House, once losing a half-finished demi-glace sauce a three-day project when the national security adviser called him from the Situation Room and told him to get to the office immediately. Down the drain it all had to go, he wrote in a 2014 essay, the wages of divided loyalty. Living in New York during the Obama years, Mr. Anton decided to get serious about cooking. He took classes at the French Culinary Institute (now known as the International Culinary Center) in Lower Manhattan, and worked, unpaid, as a line cook at LEcole, a French restaurant that was affiliated with the institute. You got yelled at for screwing up, he recalled. But I liked the fact that they didnt let you get away with things. He pointed an object threateningly at Constable Ken Lam, the Toronto police officer who was the first to encounter him as he stepped outside of his rental van. Constable Lam pulled out his gun and commanded the man, 25-year-old Alek Minassian, identified by the police as the driver who had plowed down dozens of pedestrians on a busy Toronto street on Monday, to get down. But before rushing toward him, or firing his gun, Constable Lam did something else: He paused, walked briskly back to his car and turned off its blaring siren. Policing experts cited that as the first sign not only of Constable Lams calm-under-fire composure, but also, and more important, of the training he had in de-escalation tactics. There were many more. The Trump administration has abruptly decided that Washingtons pick for ambassador to Australia should instead become envoy to South Korea, filling a diplomatic void just as President Trump prepares to meet Kim Jong-un, North Koreas leader, officials said on Wednesday. The shift involving Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of the United States forces in the Pacific, is a diplomatic blow to Australia, a close American ally. Australias foreign minister, Julie Bishop, confirmed that Admiral Harris would not be taking the post in Australia. While we would have welcomed Admiral Harris here as ambassador to Australia, we understand that there are significant challenges for the United States on the Korean Peninsula, Ms. Bishop said. The Trump administrations decision to nominate Admiral Harris for the posting in Seoul was confirmed by a recent member of the staff of the Pacific Command who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity. LONDON Renford McIntyre was just a child when he left Jamaica to join his parents in Britain. He spent the next 50 years here, working various jobs and paying taxes. Like tens of thousands of people from families encouraged to come from British colonies in the Caribbean to help rebuild postwar Britain, he had always assumed that he was a full-fledged British citizen. Until, that is, the government decided he wasnt. At the age of 60, he was declared an illegal immigrant. He lost his job. He could no longer apply for benefits. He became homeless. Ive lost out on everything, said Mr. McIntyre, who is now 64. The issue has simmered in Britain since Theresa May was home secretary and set out to create a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants, imposing tough new requirements in 2012 for people to prove their legal status. But that was not easy for thousands of people like Mr. McIntyre, many of whom did not have British documents and whose parents came to Britain before the Caribbean colonies gained independence. Just this month, as leaders of former British colonies gathered in London for a Commonwealth meeting, Mrs. May, now prime minister, found herself forced to apologize for the harsh treatment many Caribbean immigrants were experiencing and pledged to grant citizenship to all those caught up in the bureaucratic tangle. About a year ago, just as the SoundCloud rap ecosystem was beginning to erupt into broader consciousness, some of its most agitated and popular figures including Lil Pump and XXXTentacion began screaming, in unprintable language, that the older and more measured rapper J. Cole should kiss off. They said it the way one child pulls another childs hair, the way a bad kid flips off a teacher. They said it because it was funny, and borderline improbable. And they said it because Mr. Cole, in his intense aesthetic sobriety, had become the avatar for a style of hip-hop that the young generation had no use for: lyrical, meditative, concerned rather than concerning. For J. Cole, a 33-year-old monastic who is nonetheless one of the most popular rappers of the day, it was maybe a shock to find himself the butt of the joke. But a consequence of avoiding cautionary tales by committing to your own idiosyncratic path is that you will almost certainly become someone elses cautionary tale. Image J. Coles fifth album is KOD. Credit... In hip-hop, Mr. Cole has more or less been a lone warrior he lives in North Carolina, not far from where he grew up; he produces his own music; he essentially scorns collaboration. After flirtations with the conventions of major-label rap stardom, he retreated and began establishing a more tonally modest, historically minded and grown-up strain of hip-hop. He has things in common with Kendrick Lamar and Drake, and inheritors like Logic, but he is truly singular. A lawsuit accusing the music mogul Russell Simmons of rape was dropped from federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The complaint was filed in January by Jennifer Jarosik, 37, who sought $5 million in damages. She said that she had first met Mr. Simmons in 2006 when he had offered to help her produce a documentary. Ms. Jarosik said that Mr. Simmons raped her at his home in Los Angeles in 2016 and that afterward she felt humiliation, fear and depression. On April 4, Mr. Simmonss legal team submitted an answer in court that strongly denied the accusations, saying that the complaint was filled with lies against Mr. Simmons, who has only ever tried to help her. The filing claims that the sexual encounter was consensual and alludes to a series of text messages in which Ms. Jarosik expresses affection for Mr. Simmons. It also claims that Ms. Jarosik sent unsolicited nude photos to Mr. Simmons after the date on which she said the rape had occurred. Ms. Wolf is no fan of President Trumps, and was relieved when it was announced that for the second year, he would not be attending the dinner. I thought, oh, thank God, I dont have to hear him eat, she said. Still, she said there was limited value in standing in front of a crowd and cracking a bunch of knee-jerk jokes about Mr. Trump. The audience cheers, but that isnt comedy, she said. Its just a rally. Ms. Wolf said she was not interested in what she called cool-teacher comedy were going to learn and have fun at the same time. You dont want to say what people want you to say, she added. You want to say what people didnt know they wanted you to say. Ms. Wolf, who grew up in Hershey, Pa., has been following her own muse since she quit her career in finance (where shed worked at banks like Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase) to take improv classes at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and the Pit in New York. Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep and lets us get paid to watch comedy. If youre interested in hearing from The Times regularly about great TV, sign up for our Watching newsletter and get recommendations straight to your inbox. Bromance Francaise President Trump has shown a lot of affection for Emmanuel Macron during the French presidents visit to the White House this week. His handshakes seem to last a little too long, fingers get tangled, cheek-kisses flow abundantly. The late-night hosts rolled the tapes and let the jokes fly. Have you ever seen him touch anyone like that? He gave him the full Stormy Daniels there. JIMMY KIMMEL When President Emmanuel Macron greeted President Trump, he kissed Trump on both cheeks. Then out of habit, Michael Cohen showed up and handed Macron $130,000. CONAN OBRIEN One incident was a little less affectionate, but at least as awkward: Standing next to Macron, Trump told reporters hed found dandruff on the French leaders jacket. As the popular sheriff of Lake County, Fla., between 1944 and 1972, Willis McCall seemed to embrace the hallmarks of ignominy: a penchant for brazen cruelty and an unyielding commitment to an unjust cause. Punching a wayward horse in the head, as he did on at least one occasion, was the least of it; McCall enforced Jim Crow with a brutality that made even his fellow segregationists blanch. In Beneath a Ruthless Sun: A True Story of Violence, Race, and Justice Lost and Found, Gilbert King recounts how the sheriff descended on the cabin rendezvous of two interracial couples in 1956 and arrested them for violating Floridas anti-miscegenation statute but not before trying to enlist his deputies to help him throw the black men to the alligators and daring one of the men to run. (I want to get in some target practice, McCall said.) The F.B.I. investigated, and then withdrew. McCall was re-elected to his fourth term as sheriff, celebrated by those who praised him for what one supporter called his efficiency and untiring efforts in punishing the ravages of Negroes upon white women and girls. This isnt the main incident in the book, but its a telling one, if only because it reflects the many convolutions King pursues. As the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Devil in the Grove (2012) and The Execution of Willie Francis (2008), King has written about racism and spectacular miscarriages of justice before. McCall was a central figure in Devil in the Grove, having participated in the zealous prosecution of four black men wrongly convicted of raping a 17-year-old white woman in 1949. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the convictions of two of the so-called Groveland Four, McCall shot the men, killing one of them. Financial companies have worked to diminish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus powers since the day the agency was created. Now, theyre on the brink of having one of their top demands granted: an end to the regulators public database of complaints about their products and services. Since 2011, the bureau has maintained an open, searchable record of more than one million consumer reports about inaccurate debt collections, illegal fees, improper overdraft charges, mistakes on loans and other problems. By law, the consumer bureau has to collect those complaints. But it is not legally required to share them online. Mick Mulvaney, the bureaus acting director, hinted Tuesday that he would like to end that public access. I dont see anything in here that says I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government, he said at a banking industry conference in Washington. I dont see anything in here that says that I have to make all of those public. The Supreme Court today began hearing oral arguments in a case debating the constitutionality of President Trumps September 2017 Presidential Proclamation, the third version of his administrations controversial travel ban. The outcome of the Courts deliberations will have far-reaching consequences for asylum seekers, refugees, and other vulnerable immigrants: while the first two travel bans were temporary, this one could be permanent. The case came about as a result of a challenge led by the state of Hawaii, which argued that the ban violates the Immigration and Nationality Act prohibition on discrimination based on race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence. Trumps travel ban targets eight countries (Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen), representing some 180 million people, the majority of Muslim faith and background. The Supreme Court will also consider whether these travel restrictions represent a violation of the First Amendment. Syria, among the affected countries, has been ravaged by war for the past seven years. Some 11 million civilians have been displaced by the violent conflict, many of whom feel that their last hope is asylum abroad. Dr. Saeed* is a young surgeon from western Syria. After the conflict started in his country, he continued to perform surgery in the hospital where he worked, which is in an area controlled by opposition forces. After a local news report of Dr. Saeed operating was uploaded to YouTube, he was arrested, detained, and tortured for days. He was released on the condition that he only work in a government hospital. Not long afterwards, Dr. Saeeds brother and a friend were both victims of targeted killings. He feared that he would be next, so he fled to the United States and applied for asylum. Little did he know that, in todays America, he would not be easily welcomed due to the policy changes initiated by the new administration. His case in limbo, Dr. Saeed now spends his time volunteering in a surgery research unit in the northeast United States while completing the painstaking process of converting his Syrian medical credentials into ones that are recognized by U.S. institutions. A forensic evaluator volunteering for Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) examined Dr. Saeed in order to assess the severity and nature of his trauma symptoms. She found that he presented a clinical picture consistent with his narrative of having been tortured, exhibiting symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. His predicament begs the question: if someone as threatened and endangered as Dr. Saeed is not welcome in America, then who is? Only 11 Syrian refugees have been admitted into the United States in 2018, despite the horrific and illegal use of chemical weapons throughout the conflict and the intentional targeting of health care and civilians, documented on an ongoing basis by PHR. After years of living in refugee camps, most displaced Syrians who manage to validate their asylum claims wait indefinitely for possible future resettlement, even after undergoing extreme vetting. The travel ban allows for the possibility of a waiver if a denial would cause the applicant undue hardship. Yet, according to the State Department, despite more than 8,400 visa applications from the eight countries targeted by the ban, only 100 have been issued waivers, an approval rate of just over one percent. A record-low refugee quota, which stands at 45,000 for 2018, coupled with a travel ban with no real waiver option, represent a systematic policy change which endangers the right of those with legitimate claims to seek asylum. Some in the United States fear that asylum seekers like Dr. Saeed may cause a threat to national security. This is, after all, part of the justification for the Trump administrations ban. But the reality is that very few people seek asylum by choice. Most are forced from homes they love under extreme duress, and seek haven in lands far away because they have run out of other options to protect their lives and those of their families. For many like Dr. Saeed, it makes no sense for the United States to emphatically denounce the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians and then in the same breath to say that those civilians threaten U.S. national security. The Unites States has ratified the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees and it is its legal responsibility to act in concert in a true spirit of international cooperation to respond to global refugee crises. Article 3 of the protocol strictly prohibits discrimination against refugees based on race, religion, or country of origin. Asylum seekers should be treated no differently. Admitting only a handful of refugees from war-torn parts of the world like Syria each year, in the face of mounting violence, including chemical attacks, is tantamount to deserting a population in need. *Name changed to protect identity. BEIJING When President Xi Jinping announced measures to further open up Chinas auto industry to foreign carmakers, the global industry initially cheered. Now the cheering has stopped. As details are emerging, foreign auto executives attending Chinas annual auto show in Beijing this week said Mr. Xis initiative was too narrow and vague to change business on the ground. That means the initiative may not be a strong enough starting point for talks to stave off the Trump administrations threats to impose tariffs on $150 billion in Chinese-made goods. Central to Mr. Xis plan is that it will allow foreign automakers to own Chinese factories, instead of working through a 50-50 Chinese partner, as is currently required. But auto executives in Beijing said they were comfortable with the current system. It would be crazy to think you can do it all yourself, in a market that is so different, said Trevor Worthington, Fords vice president for product development in Asia and the Pacific. HOUSTON ConocoPhillips won a ruling on Wednesday that says it is entitled to more than $2 billion from Venezuelas state oil company over the countrys expropriation of several oil projects more than a decade ago. Now the problem is trying to collect. The Venezuelan government has resisted the demands of companies whose assets it has confiscated, and it is effectively bankrupt. A drawn-out international legal struggle began in 2007 when ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil refused to cede control of their major oil production ventures to the Venezuelan government, as demanded by Hugo Chavez, who was president. Several other oil companies, including Chevron, Repsol of Spain and Total of France, agreed to the demand and accepted partnerships with the national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, better known as Pdvsa. An inquiry could deepen the problems at Kobe Steel. The company already faces an investigation in the United States, where the Justice Department has asked its American unit for records related to any substandard metal sold there. Kobe Steel said last year that some of its managers lied about the quality of aluminum, copper and other products it sold to companies around the world in order to meet its own lofty quality targets. The metals have gone into products including passenger jetliners, cars and high-speed trains. The company has said that the deceptions went back decades. It blamed an emphasis on short-term profits and a corporate culture that discouraged front-line employees from questioning the decisions of more senior managers. It vowed to shake up its management practices, and last month it named a new president, a longtime Kobe Steel executive named Mitsugu Yamaguchi, to replace Hiroya Kawasaki, who stepped down to take responsibility for the scandal. No deaths or safety incidents have been blamed on the products, which still met government safety standards. But they set off a series of disclosures about falsified data at other companies that are known for supplying high-performance parts. They include Toray Industries, a manufacturer of materials like carbon fiber, and Mitsubishi Materials, which makes components for cars, aircraft and industrial equipment. They also came a year after Japans vaunted auto industry disclosed its own data falsification issues. Mitsubishi Motors and Suzuki Motor both said in 2016 that managers there cheated on fuel economy tests. And last year, Nissan and Subaru said they allowed unauthorized employees to conduct safety tests on finished vehicles. A Havas executive, Jean-Philippe Dorent, and a top Bollore Group official, Gilles Alix, were also placed under formal investigation after questioning by the police, who searched the Bollore Group headquarters outside Paris this month. Investigators from Frances financial crimes unit are examining whether a subsidiary of Havas, whose clients include luxury brands like Calvin Klein and Valentino, facilitated the elections of the presidents of Guinea and Togo and underbilled them for advertising work during their campaigns. Prosecutors are investigating whether the deals paved the way for Bollore Group, a holding company that manages Mr. Bollores sweeping infrastructure interests, to run container ports in the two countries. In a statement, the Bollore Group acknowledged the formal investigation and said that Mr. Bollore continues to be presumed innocent and would now have access to this dossier (of evidence) whose content he had no knowledge of and will have the opportunity to answer these unfounded accusations. In a statement on Tuesday, the company had denied all wrongdoing and had said it was cooperating with the inquiry. Good morning. Its full-on spring in New York at last, and there is some delicious writing about restaurants in the analog version of The Times that we delivered to our subscribers front doors this morning. Pete Wellss accounting of the food, service and pleasures of Noma in Copenhagen leads the Food section, and Priya Krishna runs at his side, examining the success of a Hawaiian restaurant group in Utah, of all places. The combination soft air, exciting news from away has left a lot of us here in the shop itching to travel, same as when Mr. Mallard flies off to explore the rest of the river in Make Way for Ducklings. Theres cool stuff out there. Travel often yields fruit for NYT Cooking. Kim Severson went to India last year with the chef Asha Gomez and came back with an amazing recipe for Kerala roadside chicken (above). Julia Moskin went to South Africa and returned with a super recipe for braai-spiced T-bone steaks. I learned how to make the best margarita ever on the porch of a beautiful home in the King William neighborhood of San Antonio, when I was in town to, among other things, learn how to make cabrito. Tejal Rao went to New Orleans and picked up a great recipe for grilled oysters with hot-sauce butter; it served as the ending of this marvelous love story she wrote. We really have the best jobs in the world. But maybe youre not going to barbecue goat this evening, or chase down fresh curry leaves or Kashmiri chiles, or open oysters, or grill big steaks. Maybe youd just like a quick and elegant dinner of chicken in mustard sauce, with rice and roasted asparagus instead. Perhaps you dont want a recipe at all, but a kind of narrative prompt, a description of a meal, something to modify according to your larder and your inclinations. Like, for instance, you could roast sweet potatoes and serve them split open with sour cream and lashings of harissa, a little sprinkled mint. Those would be delicious on their own, but you could also serve them as a side dish for simply broiled lamb chops, the meat showered in salt and pepper, then blasted in the oven until crisp-skinned and rosy-hued within. Two doses a year of an antibiotic can sharply cut death rates among infants in poor countries, perhaps by as much as 25 percent among the very young, researchers reported on Wednesday. Their large study of nearly 200,000 children in three African countries raises the exciting possibility that deploying antibiotics as doctors do vaccines could rapidly reduce deaths among newborns and infants. Death rates in this age group have remained stubbornly high in poor countries even as deaths among all children under age 5 have dropped by half, thanks to vaccines against childhood diseases. As a result of the study, the World Health Organization is considering whether to recommend routinely giving antibiotics to newborns. Our independent expert panel says this holds a lot of promise, said Dr. Per Ashorn, a W.H.O. expert in maternal and child health. But we will review it with very rigorous procedures. Murders in Denmark are often national news, because there are so few of them. Last year 55 people were killed, a number thats slightly up from previous years, but not an alarming increase, experts say. In a strange way, that is kind of comforting for us Danes. We are not very likely to get killed at all, and in particular not by a random stranger. (Murderers and victims are usually related through either family or gangs.) Danish society is one of the worlds safest, most tranquil some would say boring societies, and when we are warned about dangerous city districts or about shoot-first-ask-questions-later-police officers, its always abroad. In the days after Ms. Walls death, I asked female colleagues for their thoughts because I sensed many of them saw this as more than just another news story. Generally, there is no gender difference in how stories are perceived here. There are roughly as many women who are reporters, journalists, editors and international correspondents in Danish media as there are men, and they are at least as prominent. In asking them I found that Ms. Walls killing struck at the core of the sense of trust that is the fabric of our society. She was doing brilliantly exactly what we as women in our society have been taught that we can do. Which is anything a man can do, and better, if youre smarter, said Lotte Folke Kaarsholm, a TV anchor. Classic Scandinavian feminism, she explained, involves a thinking that says that were actually all the same, were all equal, and the fact that youre a woman should never stop you from becoming anything you want to become such as, for instance, a fearless reporter. As the case unfolded I realized that the fearless female reporters around me took a hit from Ms. Walls death. They were used to keeping their guards up on assignments in more volatile, less egalitarian societies. But at home, in Scandinavia, they knew that they were safe and could enjoy high levels of trust even between strangers. Sim Chi Yin has won the seventh annual Getty Images and Chris Hondros Fund Award, which was established in honor of Mr. Hondros, who was killed in Libya in April 2011 along with the photographer and filmmaker Tim Hetherington. The $20,000 award comes at a fortuitous time for Ms. Sim, a freelance photographer based in Beijing who works for various publications, and also on long-term projects. This came completely out of the blue, she said. Ive been collecting rejection letters from various grants and trying to figure out funding for my long-term projects. It comes when Im at a crossroads in my work and my life. Let me say that the Democratic conference will not need you in November the way they need you now, the governor wrote in a letter to Mr. Felder and distributed to the news media. I believe there will be additional Democrats who win and are seated for the next Legislature. You have said that you act in the best interest of your constituents. For their benefit, now is the time that matters. For all that rhetoric, however, it was not clear that Mr. Cuomo, or other Democrats, had enough leverage to convince Mr. Felder that he would pay a political price, and even if so, whether they would use it any time soon. Indeed, the governors letter was met with a polite shrug from Mr. Felder I look forward to productive conversations with the governor and respect his position, he said on Wednesday and little, if any, immediate follow-up. The leader of the Senate Democratic Conference, State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who was ccd in the governors letter, had not spoken to Mr. Felder on Wednesday, nor had Mr. Cuomo. The state Democratic Party, meanwhile, seemed to have no plans to revoke Mr. Felders membership, a move that would end its mathematic majority. Mr. Felder does have a primary challenger, Blake Morris, but his campaign would seem to be a long shot in a district in which Mr. Felder runs on multiple party lines, and won unopposed in 2016. One group, however, was undeniably happy about Mr. Felders recent decision to continue to caucus with the Republicans. Before a brief legislative session on Wednesday in Albany, John J. Flanagan, the Long Island Republican who leads the Senate, addressed his Republican colleagues, with Mr. Felder in attendance, and thanked him for staying. The Republican conference then gave Mr. Felder a round of applause. The city said that in order to fund all schools at 100 percent of its formula, it needs the state to fulfill its obligations. About half of the citys 1,800 schools will share in the new money, and while the $125 million is significant, it is not a game changer. If every school received the same amount, each would see a boost of about $146,000, but thats not how the money will be allocated. Funding varies based on enrollment as well as factors like how many students in a given school have special education needs or are still learning to speak English. Schools in the citys Renewal program, for its lowest performing institutions, are already funded at 100 percent of the formula. As a longtime principal, let me tell you this: Every dollar counts, said Philip Santos, the principal of Leadership and Public Service High School in Manhattan. Were already making plans. Leadership and Public Service needs a full-time college counselor, and these additional funds can pay for it. The total education department budget for this year is about $30 billion. After a parade of local lawmakers took their turns praising the new funds and gleefully swiping at Albany, Mr. de Blasio answered questions from reporters, during which he wandered into his statement on sexual harassment. While politically it was undoubtedly a misstep as the country grapples with the #MeToo movement, the mayor, perhaps inadvertently, gave voice to concerns about the way investigations are used as weapons within the citys schools. He said, Im also trying to be honest about something that is different at D.O.E. than a lot of other places, and its a pretty well-known thing in the educational world. Some people inappropriately make complaints for other reasons. Im not even sure its ever about sexual harassment. But it is unfortunately a part of the culture and it has to be addressed separately. He went on to talk about ulterior motives that might drive complaints in the schools. In 2017, there were 1,932 complaints of all kinds made against principals or assistant principals to the citys Special Commissioner of Investigations, the office that investigates corruption and criminal activity in city schools, compared with 870 complaints in 2007. Principals brought in to improve struggling schools can be confronted with a cascade of allegations. The Special Commissioners office has been embroiled in its own turmoil in recent months. The office has long had a degree of independence, but earlier this year, Mark G. Peters, the citys investigations commissioner, tried to seize control of the unit. Mr. Peters, who was once Mr. de Blasios campaign treasurer but is now feuding with the mayor, installed a new special commissioner only to fire her a few weeks later when she pushed back against efforts to limit the offices independence. Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the American Authors Association Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the Military Writers Society of America. New York Citys most expensive transit project just keeps getting more expensive. And it has nothing to do with fixing the failing subway. A new train station under Grand Central Terminal and a tunnel connecting it to the Long Island Rail Road will now cost more than $11 billion about $1 billion more than a 2014 estimate, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The project is unlikely to open before December 2022. The compounding cost overruns and construction delays on a project that began more than a decade ago have raised doubts among city leaders over whether transit officials can tackle an ambitious overhaul to rescue the subway, which serves many times more riders than the new train station will. The rail project, known as East Side Access, would bring the Long Island Rail Road to the East Side of Manhattan the commuter railroad currently uses Pennsylvania Station on the West Side. An investigation last year by The New York Times found that the costs for the project were likely to surpass $12 billion, or nearly $3.5 billion for each new mile of track, seven times the average cost in other cities across the world. Theyre sharing data across their networks, and this introduces just a more vast and fast dissemination of personal information than existed 10 years ago or before that, Ms. Borchetta said. These technologies represent great advancements in law enforcement but they also create new privacy concerns. Eugene ODonnell, a former city police officer who now teaches at John Jay College, said the information contained in arrest reports is indispensable to investigators because it can help them track patterns, determine affiliations and examine particular crime spikes. Its a treasure trove of information for investigators, whether youre talking about street crime, terrorism or more sophisticated investigations, said Professor ODonnell, who was also a prosecutor in Brooklyn and Queens. Its not something you want to put out of your reach. Even though a sealed case did not result in a conviction, he said, that does not always mean a person did not commit a crime or other egregious act. If you want to hire someone for a position of trust, do you want to be blind to that or see what was on file? he said. There are very clear cases where someone got away with a very serious crime for whatever reason. Narrow exceptions in the sealing statutes allow access to someones sealed case records for prosecutors, parole and corrections agencies, gun licensing authorities, and employers that hire peace officers and police officers. For instance, prosecutors may see the sealed records of someone to whom they are considering offering a deal to dismiss a subsequent case if the person stays out of trouble for a certain period of time. In another example, police departments are permitted to access the sealed arrest records of people who apply to become officers. But the process for the police to obtain a court order for individuals records can be burdensome, Professor ODonnell said, and the lawsuit could spur the Legislature to amend the statutes, which lawmakers expanded last year to include nonviolent criminal convictions more than 10 years old. Or, he said, it might prompt a streamlining of the process to obtain court approval for sealed records, much as the process for getting warrants has been simplified. In 1926, when Samuel S. Epstein was born in Yorkshire, an English baby boys estimated life span was about 60 years. Dr. Epstein lived to be 91, after devoting his career to preventing cancer and heeding his own advice. He died of cardiac arrest on March 18 in Chicago. In his own way, Dr. Epstein seemed to be getting the last word in an argument he first ignited four decades ago, when he blamed greedy manufacturers, lax regulators, misguided researchers and complicit charitable groups for what he saw as a coming cancer epidemic. A widely read author and widely heard lecturer, Dr. Epstein was venerated by some as an environmental prophet and reviled by others as an overzealous toxin avenger. He outlived many of his critics, perhaps because he had practiced what he preached about prevention in his own life. Dr. Epstein did not live his life in a bubble, but he sought to avoid tobacco, X-rays, pesticides, saccharin, talcum powder, cyclamates used as sweeteners, hair spray with vinyl chloride, hot dogs treated with nitrites, milk from cows injected with genetically engineered growth hormones and pajamas treated with a certain flame retardant all of which he considered carcinogenic. Vel Phillips, a barrier-breaking African-American lawmaker from Milwaukee who became an influential voice in the national movement for fair housing during the 1960s, died on April 17 in Mequon, Wis. She was 95. Her son Michael confirmed the death. Ms. Phillips the first African-American to serve on the citys Common Council and the first woman elected to it began introducing open-housing bills in 1962, two years after championing civil rights at the Democratic National Convention that nominated Senator John F. Kennedy for president. The city legislations aim was to end practices by landlords and real estate agents that had made it nearly impossible for blacks to find housing beyond Milwaukees so-called inner core, a run-down section where nearly all the citys black population lived. But she faced repeated opposition from the other members of the council, all of them white and male. Several times her bills were defeated, 18-1. The carnivals of death where African-American men, women and children were hanged, burned and dismembered as cheering crowds of whites looked on were the cornerstone of white supremacist rule in the Jim Crow-era South. These bloody spectacles terrified black communities into submission and showed whites that there would be no price to pay for murdering black people who asserted the right to vote, competed with whites in business or so much as brushed against a white person on the sidewalk. The lynching belt states looked away from this history, even as they developed now-popular tourism programs that attract visitors to churches, schools, courthouses and other landmarks associated with the civil rights movement. The long-neglected chapter of this story becomes breathtakingly visible on Thursday in Montgomery, Ala., where the nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative will inaugurate two institutions focused on racial-terror lynching as the practice manifested itself between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries. The Legacy Museum, which is not far from the place where enslaved African-Americans entered Alabamas capital city in chains, frankly explores how lynch mobs sought to preserve slavery and how the contempt for black life exemplified by extralegal hangings took new forms, like the death penalty and mass incarceration. SAN FRANCISCO We might be living through a new age of miracles. Last month, Los Angeles decided against adding lanes to a freeway, an unexpected move in a city that has mistakenly thought for years that more lanes mean fewer traffic jams. Shortly before that, Germanys highest court ruled that diesel cars could be banned from city centers to clean up the air. Mind you, Germany is the land where diesel technology was invented and Volkswagen, the worlds largest automobile maker, invested heavily in pushing the cars before it was caught lying about their emissions. After the court ruling, Volkswagen sputtered that it was unable to comprehend the decision. These events occurred nearly 6,000 miles apart, in different political contexts, but they are connected. Both the public and a few of our bolder political leaders are waking up to the reality that we simply cannot keep jamming more cars into our cities. A century of experience has taught us the folly of it. Three pathologies emerge. First, every car becomes the enemy of every other. The car you hate most is the one thats right in front of you not moving. As cars pile in, journey times and pollution rise. To the Editor: Re Cuomo vs. de Blasio: One of the Countrys Ugliest Political Feuds (front page, April 23): No need for New Yorkers to look to the White House to find a selfish, megalomaniacal, petty, childish leader who is concerned only about himself, his image and his political viability. We have two such men much closer to home. Is there any wonder that our streets are dirtier, our subways are falling apart, our infrastructure is crumbling, the number of homeless on the streets is climbing and our children are not being well educated? All of these concerns apparently are not as important as the fragile egos of the men elected to address them. I have only two words for Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio: Grow up! CAROL NADELL, NEW YORK To the Editor: The bitterness of feuds between governors and mayors over the years points to an institutional source for these conflicts. That source is the states control over many city functions and undue influence over others. The framework is dysfunctional: Governors can interfere when it is convenient for their personal political agendas and neglect legitimate city needs when it suits them. WASHINGTON When the government of South Korea announced last week that it would begin work on a formal peace treaty with North Korea, to be discussed at a summit meeting on April 27, its so-called Sunshine Policy of engagement gave way to P.T. Barnum-style, a-sucker-born-every-minute diplomacy. Fighting in the Korean War ended in 1953 with just an armistice, and South Korean officials are calling for a permanent peace. But it is not merely unrealistic to hope that Kim Jong-un, the leader of the North, will offer the South real and lasting peace; it is delusional. If the past is any guide, the North will offer the South unenforceable verbiage. And if the South accepts a phony peace ploy, it will expose itself to more manipulation by the government in Pyongyang not only in its domestic politics, but potentially also in its alliance with the United States. Lets begin with the obvious. A peace treaty between two countries is a legal document that requires one sovereign state to recognize the other sovereign states right to exist. (Think Camp David accords of 1978, when Egypt agreed to recognize Israel.) Yet North Korea cannot commit to any such thing with South Korea, not least because the existential objective of its ruling family, the Kims, has been to wipe the state of South Korea off the face of the earth. If necessary, members of Congress could unilaterally release classified information on the floor of the House or the Senate. The Constitutions speech and debate clause would protect them from criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits. If Mr. Trump attempted any legal action, courts would almost certainly dismiss it on separation-of-powers grounds. With bipartisan support, Congress could even pass a new statute specifically to declassify key documents, overriding a presidential veto if necessary. If individual whistle-blowers know what to ask for, they can also litigate. To force the government to release specific classified documents, they can follow administrative declassification procedures and sue under the Freedom of Information Act. Any Justice Department official who destroyed documents during litigation would be violating multiple criminal statutes. In such a high-profile case, its hard to say how successful such litigation would be, but in other matters, journalists have quite often won such lawsuits against the government. Mr. Mueller could also write an article describing what he learned, and submit it to the Department of Justice for prepublication review for classified material. If the department insists on redacting even one word, Mr. Mueller could sue to enforce his own First Amendment rights to communicate with the American people on matters of public concern. Courts have sometimes ruled favorably in less-prominent cases. President Trump and the Justice Department could certainly try to make these whistle-blowers lives difficult. They could drag the cases out for lengthy periods of time or even seek to prosecute the whistle-blowers based on various legal theories. These mechanisms are imperfect and would produce uncertain results. And theyre still risky. A whistle-blower giving a media interview could inadvertently disclose classified information and wind up in prison. But these mechanisms are lawful. As you read these words, it is likely that a handful of civil servants are out there, sitting on evidence of official lawbreaking that none of us know about. We dont yet know their names. But if we enter a constitutional crisis, they could play a special role in defending the republic. They are national heroes waiting to be born. A common refrain among conservatives is that black people should get over slavery. Even though conservatives refuse to. Last week, the Tennessee legislature withheld $250,000 from Memphiss bicentennial celebration budget, punishing the majority-black city for removing three Confederate monuments. Memphis had circumvented a state law prohibiting the removal of historical monuments by selling the parks that held statues of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first head of the Ku Klux Klan; Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy; and Capt. J. Harvey Mathes, a Confederate soldier, to a nonprofit that took the monuments down last year. The legislatures move to rebuke Memphis for honoring the wishes of its people continues an ugly tradition of mostly white Southern state legislatures yanking power away from cities with multiracial or majority-black leadership or voters when those cities act in ways meant to benefit their minority residents. In 1917, the Georgia legislature established the county unit system, which operated until 1962 and allotted votes by county in primary elections instead of allowing the popular vote to decide those elections. So candidates could win the county unit vote without winning the popular vote. Speaking on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of Sinai's liberation from Israeli occupation, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said the peninsula today faces renewed threats from terrorist groups. The military and police forces, in the joint operation, also destroyed three militant hideout and destroyed 10 vehicles carrying arms and ammunitions, it said, without mentioning when the raids were carried out. The military launched a massive operation earlier this year aimed at restoring security in northern Sinai and the Western Desert, which borders chaotic Libya. The Sinai Peninsula has remained the epicenter of a militant insurgency since 2013, when the army ousted Mohamed Morsi - Egypt's first freely elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader - in a military coup. Terror attacks gradually expanded from North Sinai province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip to other provinces including the capital Cairo and started to target the Coptic minority via church bombings and shootings. Avanza programa de construccion de viviendas en Venezuela El ministro de Habitat y Vivienda, Ildemaro Villarroel , anuncio este martes que la Gran Mision Vivienda Venezuela hara entrega esta semana de nuevos hogares alcanzado hasta la fecha la cifra de 2.068.766 viviendas. Desempleo en el Gran Santiago bajo a 7,6% en marzo En el otro extremo, la Industria Manufacturera presento una cesantia de 5,8 % y servicios personales y de los hogares un 5,6%. Esta cifra se compara con el 8,2% de diciembre y el 7,7% de marzo de 2017. Will the Lethal Weapon TV series be renewed? I met with human resources, I apologized for my part of the conflict, and I completed studio appointed therapy in October. Prior to Lethal Weapon , Crawford appeared in TV shows including 24, Justified and Sundance TV series Rectify . Security forces also rounded up 173 suspected militants in north and central Sinai over the past week, the statement said. Dozens of "takfiris" have been killed and hundreds other suspects arrested in the offensive. In mid-April, Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail announced that his government allocated 275 billion Egyptian pounds (about 15.6 billion USA dollars) for the development of the Sinai Peninsula within four year as part of the country's efforts to eradicate terrorism. Ms. T., 75, came to see me for therapy after a man stole her purse. He was in a car and lured her over under the guise of asking directions. Then he grabbed her bag and stepped on the accelerator. She was dragged halfway down the block before she let go. When I saw her a month later, she was still in physical pain from her injuries and emotional pain from having endured a traumatic experience. Ms. T. had raised three successful children as a single mother, while enjoying a prosperous career as the head of a social services agency. She had gone through difficult times before, but shed always been able to overcome them. Now she was embarrassed that she hadnt been able to get over what had happened. She didnt want to show her adult children her weakness and lean on them for support. She believed in therapy, in theory, but was ashamed to be the one who needed it. She no longer saw herself as the strong black woman she had once been. This Strong Black Woman is a cultural icon, born of black womens resilience in the face of systemic oppression that has dismantled families and made economic stability a formidable challenge. She is self-sufficient and self-sacrificing. She is a provider, caretaker and homemaker. And often, she is suffering. I provide therapy to people from all socio-economic and racial backgrounds. I am the only black female clinical psychologist on the faculty of the department of psychiatry at Northwestern University, and black women often come to me in secret, feeling alone and embarrassed. They come despite friends and family telling them to just pray. They come because they are desperate and cant take it anymore. I often get requests for informal consultation via email, LinkedIn, even Facebook. Theyre skeptical about mental health treatment. They dont want therapy, just to talk, and maybe get some advice. The Trump presidency has sparked a debate about which voices are and arent reflected in the national media. Many publications have been criticized for publishing too narrow a range of opinions. And several publications, including The Times, The Atlantic and The Washington Post, have recently made high-profile conservative hires. I recently asked Times readers for their thoughts on the issue: Which opinions are underrepresented in the national media? And which if any should remain underrepresented because theyre beyond the pale of productive discourse? We have received almost 1,000 responses, via email and social media. Here, we describe some common themes from those replies: The national media should expand the boundaries of the debate to both the right and left, among other ways. This was perhaps the most common response. There should be more writing from both pro-Trump conservatives and Jacobin-level socialists, as one reader, Andrew Ross, put it even though (or maybe especially because) elite readers may find their arguments objectionable. Joshua Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab, called for a better airing of the views of people whose politics are more than one standard deviation from the national mean. A Twitter user named Rust Belt Jacobin summarized the missing as: Leftists; Trump supporters; Latinos; working-class people. In the 2016 Democratic primaries, for example, Bernie Sanders excited millions of people and won about 43 percent of the popular vote. Yet most national publications employed few if any opinion writers who preferred him over Hillary Clinton. Only a smattering of editorial boards endorsed Sanders: The San Francisco Examiner, The Seattle Times, The Daily Iowan and several alternative weeklies. WASHINGTON This is my first and only book party, and I didnt do the invites, the former F.B.I. director James Comey said Tuesday night, peering out over a sparse crowd on the seventh floor of the Newseum. (This was easy for him to do as he is, famously, 6-foot-8.) Mr. Comey, by now a bona fide bipartisan pariah, was sipping California pinot noir from a paper cup and celebrating the remarkable success of his juicy new memoir, A Higher Loyalty, with perhaps the last crowd left in town who will gladly have him: journalists. In a city not known for snappy dressing, Mr. Comey cut a sharp figure in a bespoke blue plaid suit made by the haberdasher The Tailored Man of Alexandria, Va., and brown R.M. Williams Chelsea boots he says were given to him by friends from the Australian police force (not to be confused with the black Chelsea boots Mr. Comey wore for his prime time 20/20 interview, which earned him plaudits from Esquire and GQ). As a late-April rain lashed the museums panoramic windows, the man of the hour cheerily recounted tales from his whirlwind media tour. The clutch of people coming up to me in airports, thats probably the hardest thing to get used to, he said. On Wednesday night Meghan Markle finally walked down the wedding aisle, resplendent in a lacy, sparkling white dress. It was, of course, the Suits season finale, and she was marrying her on-show fiance. But it was also a mere three weeks or so before Ms. Markle herself biracial American, now former actress, divorcee, United Nations womens advocate will walk down the aisle in Windsor Castle to to marry her real fiance, Prince Harry (beloved royal soldier and hell raiser turned mental health activist). That made for a digital frenzy about what may be coming, which is only going to grow as the days wind down. After all, the drip-drip-drip of details has already sped up. The betting is closed. On what? The still outstanding question: What will she wear? There are economic and cultural repercussions riding on the answer. And you thought it was just a dress. Pshaw. First, odds were on Ralph & Russo, makers of Ms. Markles official engagement dress. Then Erdem Moralioglu. After all, he is a Canadian Ms. Markle lived in Toronto while she filmed Suits who has become a stalwart of London Fashion Week, famous for his way with a romantic lace dress, and Ms. Markle told Vanity Fair she had been wearing his clothes for years. Then Burberry became a favorite, because well, Britishness. (It probably wont be the Anne Barge Versailles gown Ms. Markle wore in Suits, though that extravaganza did have a princess vibe.) I grab parts of the print paper to read on the train, but I usually end up doing most of my reading on my phone. Im increasingly keeping an eye on the various attempts by tech companies to personalize the news. I like Flipboard and Nuzzel, in particular. While my job requires me to follow the news constantly, I strive to avoid being sucked into merely reacting to someone elses headlines. The Times aims to break news and do the kind of journalism that sets the agenda other outlets must follow. What are some of your favorite tech tools in general? One is the Apple Watch. While I was initially skeptical, I really like how it allows me to be more present in conversations and look at my phone less during the day. It will alert me when I have a meeting coming up. Texts come right to me, which lessens the odds of missing important messages. I also like how it logs the distance of my runs. It would be great to have it be more independent of the phone, though. I havent upgraded to the new one, but I may have to. Battery life is a constant challenge for me, and I know that the new iPhone would help, but Ive only had mine for a year and it would feel a bit wasteful ditching it. Ive also been trying out the Huawei Mate 10 Pro phone, which has a significantly longer battery life with two cameras and a processor that uses artificial intelligence to improve the user experience. Dear tech workers, Long year, huh? I get it. Your industry is under siege. Whether you work at an established giant like Facebook or Google, a private company like Uber or Palantir, or a lesser-known start-up, it feels like youre being attacked from a thousand directions. People are comparing your companies to Big Tobacco, and Congress is accusing your executives of undermining democracy, poisoning users brains and censoring content. All of a sudden, Silicon Valley once the golden child of American industry has become a villain. Some of the backlash probably feels excessive. After all, the tech industry still creates useful things and employs lots of decent and ethical people. But Ive talked to a number of tech workers recently, and Ive seen you wrestling with your consciences. Some of you have stopped wearing your company T-shirts around town, fearing dirty looks from strangers. Others have taken extended vacations after a particularly shameful scandal, or asked for a transfer within a company. More than a few of you have had awkward conversations with your parents. Heres the thing, though. You dont have to keep your concerns bottled up. You are your employers most valuable assets, and your bosses are desperate to keep you happy. As tech companies take on increasingly vital roles in global commerce and culture, you have the power to shape the way they operate and the ethical standards they uphold. On a recent trip to London, I attempted to arrange an interview with Caryl Churchill, who alongside Tom Stoppard is considered the greatest living English playwright. I didnt expect to get an answer (Ms. Churchill hasnt granted a real interview since the 1990s) and indeed, I did not get one. Trying to obtain an audience with her is like trying to obtain one with Thomas Pynchon or Cormac McCarthy. She maintains a Sphinx-like silence. If you want to absorb a bit of Ms. Churchills London, however, the place to linger is the venerable Royal Court Theater, where many of her plays had their debuts. The Royal Court is a playwrights arena, a word-drunk place, dedicated to new writing. John Osbornes Look Back in Anger (1956) had its premiere there. So did Ann Jellicoes The Knack (1962), and Ms. Churchills own Top Girls (1982). As I wandered the Royal Court, alone and with a guide, and saw a smart new play there (Thomas Eccleshares Instructions for Correct Assembly), I sensed that, handed a time machine, the play Id most want to beam myself backward to witness on opening night might well be Top Girls. MONTGOMERY, Ala. In a plain brown building sits an office run by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, a place for people who have been held accountable for their crimes and duly expressed remorse. Just a few yards up the street lies a different kind of rehabilitation center, for a country that has not been held to nearly the same standard. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opens Thursday on a six-acre site overlooking the Alabama State Capitol, is dedicated to the victims of American white supremacy. And it demands a reckoning with one of the nations least recognized atrocities: the lynching of thousands of black people in a decades-long campaign of racist terror. At the center is a grim cloister, a walkway with 800 weathered steel columns, all hanging from a roof. Etched on each column is the name of an American county and the people who were lynched there, most listed by name, many simply as unknown. The columns meet you first at eye level, like the headstones that lynching victims were rarely given. But as you walk, the floor steadily descends; by the end, the columns are all dangling above, leaving you in the position of the callous spectators in old photographs of public lynchings. WASHINGTON It is supposed to be a last line of defense against a Sept. 11-style attack on the United States. But a federal program that puts armed undercover guards on commercial airliners is in such disarray that it does little to deter terrorists, many of its employees say, and is being investigated by Congress. Alcohol abuse among some in the Federal Air Marshal Service is so rampant that the Transportation Security Administration, which oversees the program, has had to monitor whether the armed guards show up for their flights sober, according to five people familiar with the situation. T.S.A. said its office of inspection makes quality assurance visits to ensure that the air marshals are properly prepared for their missions. Female and minority air marshals said in court documents and interviews that they faced discrimination at work, including being subjected to sexually explicit messages and racist jokes and memes sent on government-issued cellphones. Other air marshals said they were fired or threatened with termination for minor infractions, while misconduct by managers was overlooked. Just 22 percent of the marshals thought their leaders maintained high standards of honesty and integrity, according to a federal employee survey completed last year, one of the lowest rankings among agencies. I ultimately decided to leave (retire) because I was denied the ability to leverage my experience for the good of the FAMs and I realize that I was part of a system which was putting the emotional well-being of FAMs at risk, Kathleen Christian, who resigned last year as a clinical psychologist with the federal air marshals, said on Nov. 17 in a scathing email to several marshals. A copy was obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Macron acknowledged that the deal had not addressed crucial concerns, including future nuclear activities in Iran, the use of ballistic missiles and the countrys destabilizing activities in the region. But we should not abandon it without having something substantial, and more substantial, instead, he added. What we decided, together with your president, is that we can work on a more comprehensive deal addressing all these concerns. Later, in a news conference before wrapping up his three-day visit to the United States the first formal state visit of the Trump era Mr. Macron told reporters that while he could not be certain, he expected that Mr. Trump would disregard his entreaties and withdraw from the nuclear deal after all, given that scrapping it was a campaign promise. On Capitol Hill, Mr. Macron was greeted warmly with a three-minute standing ovation, and he drew several more ovations throughout his speech as he outlined his vision of global affairs and the alliance between the United States and France, in nearly flawless English. He opened with a humorous nod to the much-discussed embraces he and Mr. Trump shared at the White House on Tuesday, comparing their interactions to those between the French philosopher Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin when they met in Paris in 1778. They embraced each other by hugging one another in their arms, and kissing each others cheeks, Mr. Macron said, pausing for effect. It can remind you of something. 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 But when pressed, Ms. Sanders said she could not comment on the credibility of specific charges. These are new, she said. I can only speak to some of the personal accounts that those of us have, as well as the records that we have that are substantiated through a very detailed and thorough background investigation process. Among those new charges she did not address: During an overseas trip by the Obama administration in 2015, Dr. Jackson went out drinking, came back to the delegations hotel and began banging on the door of a staff members hotel room, according to an account shared with Mr. Tester. The noise was so loud that members of the Secret Service came to see what was happening and warned Dr. Jackson to be quiet so he would not wake the president, who was staying nearby. The episode was first reported by CNN. On another trip during Barack Obamas presidency, White House staff members reached out to Dr. Jackson for medical reasons but found him passed out in his hotel room after a night of drinking, Tester aides said. The staff members took the medical supplies they were looking for without waking Dr. Jackson. The document prepared by the Democratic staff of the Veterans Affairs Committee paints a picture of a medical office that was casual with the prescribing and distribution of drugs but terrorized by a mercurial boss, quick to anger. According to the summary, interviewed staff members described Dr. Jackson as the most unethical person I have ever worked with, flat-out unethical and incapable of not losing his temper, among other charges. The document includes allegations that Dr. Jackson regularly distributed Ambien, a prescription sleep aid, to members of the White House staff and members of the news media flying on long overseas trips, as well as another prescription drug to promote wakefulness. It says that the committee was told that physicians working with Dr. Jackson felt uncomfortable and refused to be a part of the loose dispensing of drugs to current and former White House staff members. It also states that Dr. Jackson also had private stocks of controlled substances. What follows is a selection of some of the questions the justices grappled with. Who has the authority to decide the details of immigration policy? NOEL J. FRANCISCO, THE SOLICITOR GENERAL: Its up to the executive branch to set it up. Its up to the executive branch to maintain it. And its up to the executive branch to constantly improve it. Mr. Francisco insisted that the details of immigration policy were for the president to decide. How much deference is owed a president who harbors animus? JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN: So lets say in some future time a a president gets elected who is a vehement anti-Semite and says all kinds of denigrating comments about Jews and provokes a lot of resentment and hatred over the course of a campaign and in his presidency and, in the course of that, asks his staff or his cabinet members to issue a proc to issue recommendations so that he can issue a proclamation of this kind, and they dot all the is and they cross all the ts. And what emerges and, again, in the context of this virulent anti-Semitism what emerges is a proclamation that says no one shall enter from Israel. This colorful and provocative question from Justice Kagan cut to the heart of the case. How much deference is owed a president who harbors illegitimate motives for what may be an otherwise permissible policy? MR. FRANCISCO: But if his cabinet were to actually come to him and say, Mr. President, there is honestly a national security risk here and you have to act, I think then that the president would be allowed to follow that advice even if in his private heart of hearts, he also harbored animus. Mr. Francisco gave a forthright answer to what he called a very hard question from Justice Kagan. Did the administration provide enough detail to support its reasons for the travel ban? JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR: I thought that the government had kept confidential and refused to share, either with the litigants or the courts, exactly what was done, how, what the evaluation and how The administration says the latest travel ban was the result of careful study. Justice Sotomayor pointed out that the underlying report has not been made public. MR. FRANCISCO: First of all, I think that the proclamation is very transparent and lays out in great detail both the process and the substance upon which the proclamation is based. And I think that under the duty of regularity or good faith, or whatever you want to call it, that one branch of the government owes to another coequal branch of the government, there is a very strong presumption that what is being set out there is the truth. Mr. Francisco responded that the administration had provided a great deal of information about the basis for the latest travel ban and was entitled to considerable deference. Did the presidents order amount to a Muslim ban? MR. FRANCISCO: The first is that the presidents cabinet, just like all of us here, is duty-bound to protect and defend the Constitution. So I would expect that if any cabinet member were given that order, that cabinet member would refuse to comply or resign in the face of a plainly unconstitutional order. Mr. Francisco said that members of an administration would violate the Constitution by aiding a president in promulgating a discriminatory policy. Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco, representing the administration, said the latest travel ban, issued in September as a presidential proclamation, was not directed at Muslims. This is not a so-called Muslim ban, he said. If it were, it would be the most ineffective Muslim ban that one could possibly imagine. It excluded, he said, the vast majority of the Muslim world. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. added his own statistics. I think there are 50 predominantly Muslim countries in the world, he said. Five predominantly Muslim countries are on this list. The population of the predominantly Muslim countries on this list make up about 8 percent of the worlds Muslim population. If you looked at the 10 countries with the most Muslims, exactly one, Iran, would be on that list of the top 10. Neal K. Katyal, a lawyer for the challengers, rejected that analysis. If Im an employer and I have 10 African-Americans working for me and I only fire two of them but retain the other eight, he said, I dont think anyone can say thats not discrimination. Mr. Trump issued his first travel ban a week after he took office, causing chaos at the nations airports and starting a cascade of lawsuits and appeals. The case before the court, Trump v. Hawaii, No. 17-965, concerns Mr. Trumps third and most concerted effort to make good on his campaign promise to secure the United States borders. The court had considered aspects of an earlier version of the travel ban, but this was the first time the justices heard arguments on any of the challenges. But a reconstruction of how Facebook-based misinformation and hate speech contributed to anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka last month, along with research on how people use social media, suggests that those who set out to be provocateurs are not the only danger or even the biggest one. Everyday users might not intend to participate in online outrage, much less lead it. But the incentive structures and social cues of algorithm-driven social media sites like Facebook can train them over time perhaps without their awareness to pump up the anger and fear. Eventually, feeding into one another, users arrive at hate speech on their own. Extremism, in other words, can emerge organically. We saw this firsthand in the small town of Digana, Sri Lanka, a week after anti-Muslim mobs had torn through. One of the posts seen as inspiring the attacks was a Facebook video posted by Amith Weerasinghe, who has gained a large online following. Just before the mob arrived, hed filmed himself walking Diganas shops, warning that too many were owned by Muslims and calling on Sinhalese to take the town back. But Mr. Weerasinghes online stardom was newfound and, according to neighbors, a mere persona. Hes from the area, he went to school here, Jainulabdeen Riyaz, a member of the local Muslim community, said, laughing at the absurdity of this standoffish local boy posing as a crusading outsider. His father is a carpenter. Hes a normal person. NEW DELHI An Indian court on Wednesday sentenced an influential guru to life in prison for the rape of a teenage girl, putting to rest a long legal battle that has been marred by the murder of at least two witnesses connected to the case. The conviction of the white-bearded guru, Asaram Bapu, in the 2013 rape of a 16-year-old follower who was studying at one of his ashrams comes during a time of national reckoning on sexual assault in India. Over the past few weeks, the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl belonging to a nomadic community in northern India has dominated the news, spurring heated discussions about how rape should be handled in the countrys courts. The verdict was read out Wednesday inside the prison where Mr. Bapu is being held in the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan State. The court said Mr. Bapu had dented the image of saints among the common masses. Mr. Bapus followers said his legal team would appeal the verdict. The court also sentenced two of Mr. Bapus aides to 20 years in prison and dropped charges against two others. JAKARTA, Indonesia A fire erupted at an illegal oil well site in Indonesias northernmost province on Wednesday, killing at least 18 people and injuring about 40 others, some of whom were badly burned, the authorities said. The fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. at a backyard well in a village in Aceh Province, on the northern tip of Sumatra Island, according to the National Disaster Management Agency. The authorities were still trying to determine what had caused the fire. Local news reports said it may have started with a spark from a blowtorch or a worker smoking a cigarette. Television news footage and photos showed flames rising at least 30 feet into the air in the farming village of Pasir Putih in East Aceh District, which is about 1,000 miles northwest of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. Mr. Kims recent announcement that North Korea no longer needs to test nuclear weapons or long-range missiles has left Japan acutely concerned that the North intends to keep what nuclear weapons it already has, and to maintain its arsenal of short- and medium-range missiles that can reach Japan. An editorial in the right-leaning newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun called Mr. Kims announcement a tactic to weaken the pressure of the international communitys sanctions, adding that there was no mention of any intention to abandon nuclear and ballistic missiles in the statement. Japanese officials are trying to keep the conversation very focused on what denuclearization means, Ms. Smith said. The experts that have been here before have had these conversations multiple times. They understand that when Kim Jong-un is talking about denuclearization he doesnt necessarily mean the same thing that we mean, so theres a lot of pressure to just put the brakes on, be cautious, make sure you know what youre doing. Commentators in Japan speculated that Mr. Trump might also see some value in keeping Japan nervous. For President Trump, it may be favorable to keep Japan feeling left behind and facing a threat, Park Il, an economics professor and expert on the Korean Peninsula at Osaka City University, said on a Tokyo Broadcasting System news program. Japan will possibly have to buy more weapons for whatever price the United States sets. Besides the security concerns, the return of the Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 80s is a top priority of Japan and Mr. Abe in particular. Mr. Abe scored what appeared to be a diplomatic victory in Mar-a-Lago when Mr. Trump promised he would raise the issue directly with Mr. Kim. Were going to do everything possible to have them brought back, and bring them back to Japan, Mr. Trump said in a joint news conference with Mr. Abe. I gave you that promise. 1950: The Korean War begins. Its technically never ended. Heres why. First off, the war itself. It killed about 4 million people. On one side, there was South Korea, allied with U.N. forces led by the Americans. On the other side, there was North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and China. They fought for three years, until A special building had been erected for the signing of the Korean armistice. This was the signing of a cease-fire, and it did seem to offer some hope. We have stopped the shooting. That means much to the fighting men and their families. And it will allow some of the grievous wounds of Korea to heal. But a cease-fire is not a binding peace treaty. It was all quiet on the Korean front the day after the signing of the armistice. It only ended the fighting. It also set guidelines, like for the exchange of prisoners and where the army should withdraw to. The open ground left between must become the demilitarized zone or DMZ. It also laid the groundwork for a permanent peace treaty. But heres the catch. South Koreas president was against the troops President Syngman Rhee is the man who threw a spanner into the works just as the armistice talks at Panmunjom seemed to have reached finality. and never let his country sign it. He wanted to keep fighting to unify the whole peninsula and punish the North. None of this boded well for the peace conference, which kicked off a year later. Seeking solutions for Far Eastern problems. The free world and Communism are again locked in bitter argument. One of those arguments was over whether foreign allies, like the U.S. and China, could keep troops on the peninsula. And another was how to unify the two countries through elections. Even allies couldnt agree amongst themselves. So the talks went nowhere. Sixty-five years later, theres now talk of hashing out a formal ending to the Korean War. And that could set the stage for a broader peace on the Korean peninsula. Im not a steel man; of course Im personally affected by this case, Mr. Buch-Jepsen said after the verdict was pronounced. This case has crept under my skin more than other cases. It was a case so heinous and repulsive that as a prosecutor, it renders you speechless, he said in his closing argument on Monday. Peter Madsen is not normal. He is a danger to society. A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation of Mr. Madsen described him as a narcissistic psychopath, lacking in empathy but not psychotic or delusional. Ms. Engmark, the defense lawyer, noted during the trial that investigators had been unable to establish the cause of Ms. Walls death. She admitted that Mr. Madsen had mutilated the body and thrown pieces into the sea, and that he had lied to the police. But she argued that there was no clear evidence that Ms. Wall had been murdered. Ms. Wall, who was Swedish and lived in Copenhagen, was last seen alive on Aug. 10, when she met Mr. Madsen for what was supposed to be a two-hour trip aboard the submarine. The submarine sank the next day officials have said Mr. Madsen sank it deliberately and while he was rescued, Ms. Wall was nowhere to be found. He claimed at first that he had put her safely ashore hours earlier the first of several conflicting stories he gave, according to the police but her mutilated remains were found in the waters near Copenhagen over the next several weeks. He then claimed that she had died in an accident aboard the submarine, and said that he had cut up the body and discarded the pieces. But Mr. Buch-Jepsen presented evidence that Mr. Madsen had planned to assault and kill her, bringing the tools to bind, cut and stab his victim, and heavy objects like pipes to weigh down her remains. The prosecutor showed text messages that Mr. Madsen had deleted, but that investigators were able to recover, telling another woman that she should be tied up and tortured aboard the sub, and telling a friend that he had planned the perfect murder, one that would be a great pleasure. ROME Pope Francis will host three victims of Chiles sexual abuse scandal this weekend at the Vatican hotel where he lives, to ask their forgiveness and listen to their suggestions, the Vatican announced on Wednesday, as he tries to make amends for voicing doubts about their accusations. The three men, Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton and Jose Andres Murillo, have been among the most vocal survivors of abuse by priests in Chile. In a statement, the Vatican said that the pope would meet with each man individually, allowing each one to speak for as long as they wish. Though the past three popes have apologized to victims of sexual abuse in many countries, the situation in Chile had become especially venomous, forcing Pope Francis to reverse his public stance on specific accusations. MOSCOW Street demonstrations resumed in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Wednesday at the urging of an opposition leader, after negotiations stalled on the way forward after the unexpected resignation of the prime minister. The resumption of public protests and the deployment of the police around the headquarters of the ruling Republican Party threatened to shift the tenor of what has so far been a peaceful movement for change in the small, southern Caucasus nation of about three million people. Nikol Pashinyan, 42, a member of Parliament and the leader of demonstrations that forced the resignation of the prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan, led the marchers, who beat drums and chanted for new elections. Local news agencies carried live feeds showing the protests. Although Mr. Pashinyan lacks a party and an established constituency, he has won widespread support, mainly among young Armenians who are fed up with corruption and nepotism in the elite group of pro-Russia politicians and their allies who have long commanded the government and the economy. ISTANBUL A Turkish court convicted 13 employees of Cumhuriyet, Turkeys oldest independent newspaper, of terrorism-related crimes on Wednesday, and handed down stiff sentences for several of them even while ordering the release of the newspapers chief executive. The defendants journalists, managers and two lawyers, most of whom had been released from jail during the monthslong trial received sentences of two to seven years in prison, but they will remain free while their cases are appealed. The chief executive, Akin Atalay, the executive chairman of the Cumhuriyet Foundation, which manages the newspaper, was the last of the group still in jail. The court ordered his release on Wednesday evening, but he was barred from traveling abroad. Mr. Atalay, along with several other defendants, was acquitted of a charge of misuse of authority but convicted of helping terrorist organizations. Supporters and press freedom groups denounced the verdicts as travesty of justice. Iran seized a prominent British-Iranian scholar during his visit there this month, a rights group said Wednesday, an arrest that may further stoke tensions with the West over President Trumps threat to scrap the 2015 nuclear accord. The scholar, Abbas Edalat, an award-winning professor of computer science and mathematics at the Imperial College of London, is at least the third British-Iranian dual citizen to be incarcerated by the Tehran authorities in recent years. The group that reported Mr. Edalats arrest, the Center for Human Rights in Iran, said members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps took him into custody on April 15 while he was in Tehran to visit his family and attend an academic workshop. The group said the professors computer, CDs and notebooks were impounded. Irans continued arbitrary arrests of dual nationals without transparency and lack of due process is extremely concerning, Hadi Ghaemi, the groups executive director, said in a statement. JERUSALEM An Israeli court on Wednesday sentenced a border police officer to nine months in prison for the fatal shooting of a Palestinian teenager during a protest in the West Bank in 2014. The relatively light sentence was handed down as part of a plea deal with the prosecution. The court found the shooting unjustified because the youth was not posing any threat to Israeli forces when he was shot. The officer, Ben Deri, was convicted of causing death by negligence in the shooting of Nadeem Nawara, 17, who was hit in the chest with a live round. The forces at the scene had been instructed to use only rubber-coated bullets, where necessary, to disperse the stone-throwing demonstrators in Beitunia, a town on the edge of Ramallah in the West Bank. Nadeems father, Siam Nawara, told reporters at the court that the sentence was unjust. The prosecution had requested that Mr. Deri be sentenced to 20 to 27 months in prison. WASHINGTON A person with a weapon was arrested Wednesday at a building that houses several foreign consular offices in Northwest Washington, Secret Service officials said. About 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, Secret Service officials responded to reports of gunfire in a neighborhood that hosts restaurants, hotels, apartments and some diplomatic offices. Law enforcement officers determined that no shots had been fired, but they arrested and charged an armed person with assault, officials said. Metropolitan Police in Washington are now handling the arrest, and Secret Service officials declined to comment further on the incident, citing an ongoing investigation. Whenever we hear about careers in the hospitality and tourism industry, there are usually two general notions that come to our mind. Some of us think that a career in this sector is like constantly being on holiday-hanging out in hotels, bars and restaurant, doing a bit of work here and there, or simply jetting off around the world. Alternatively, the rest think that a job in hospitality and tourism is always a stopgap. It's merely something you do during your holidays to earn a bit of extra cash. But, let us break the bubble and tell you that these notions stand true in all respect. As much as these careers can be exciting, adventurous and varied, they, at the same time, also require immense hard work and dedication. Yes, the shifts, at times, can be long and tiring, but you'll rarely come across someone with a hospitality job who doesn't have the passion for it. And on top of it all, hospitality management is unlocking doors to a wide range of careers opportunities each year, as it represents one of the fastest growing industries all across the globe. So, whether you're someone who thrives for making people's day besides being creative or you're dreaming about exploring the planet while earning a competitive income, getting into the hospitality sector could be the perfect choice for you. Consider these ten reasons why hospitality management is exponentially gaining attention as one of the best career paths in the world. 1. Go ahead, make someone's day: Whether you're a concierge in a hotel, a kitchen porter working behind the scenes, or even if you're involved in the management, hospitality business is all about making people happy. Alongside, the hospitality industry brings a wide range of work opportunities to the table. You could be entrusted with varied responsibilities every now and then, so you never stop learning and you never stop growing. 2. It's time to be creative: Just like being a part of any people-oriented industry, hospitality jobs demand creativity. Be it a cuisine, a drink, or an experience, you are creating a product and there's always room to dream up new ways of improvising and enhancing them for your customers. 3. Open yourself up to a vast world of opportunities: Very few actually realize how much staff is required to operate a large hotel-chain, such as Marriott, or another huge chain of restaurants, such as Cracker Barrel. From IT workers who are familiar with how the hospitality industry works, to event and conference planners, to managers who can deliver unique gaming experience in casinos, the opportunities are virtually never-ending. And then, each bit of skill you acquire in this industry are readily transferable, which means that a career in hospitality can easily be your key to exploring new countries, culture and people. 4. No more monotonous work: The hospitality industry offers such enormous scope that there's never any need for you to get stuck in a particular niche. You could stay with the same employer and in the span of a few years, move between receptionist jobs, reservations manager to the concierge and beyond. Where else would you get variety and growth of this sort? 5. Now, No need to settle for low pay: It's true that entry-level hospitality jobs may not pay much above the minimum wage, but as said earlier, it's pretty seamless to advance from your first position to one with greater responsibility (and, naturally a bigger salary). The only catch here is you've got to be willing to work hard and prove your worth to your employer. 6. Ample perks: And being on the topic of compensation, let's not overlook the myriad perks of working in hospitality. Depending on your position and employer, these perks can range from free meals and hotel rooms to even discounted airfare, hard-to-get reservations at the world's most posh restaurants, entry tickets to popular shows and events, and a whole lot more. Rubbing shoulders with celebrities could just be another thing you do as a part of your daily job. 7. No 9-5; no fixed desks: If you're the sort of person who doesn't like getting up at the same time, having the same breakfast, and then getting on the same way to the same office, day after day after day, then probably hospitality is your calling. It provides a great deal of variety, not only in terms of the hours you work but also the work you do during those hours. Besides, the world opens up with the scope of the hospitality industry. According to a report by STR Global, there are over 187,000 hotels in the world with 17.5 million rooms to be serviced. Therefore, you can literally move to any city or town of your choice, looking for a job that suits your experience. GCan you imagine that? 8. A great atmosphere to work in: In any given workplace, there always have to be colleagues that you either don't get on with or are to some extent unfriendly. But that's not the thing with hospitality. Why? Because this industry never hires people who are unfriendly to their customers. This is the reason why the hospitality industry is home to some of the most vibrant, lively and fun people you'll ever meet. 9. Unmatched love & appreciation: Who doesn't adore that amazing feeling when random strangers come up to thank them for a job well done? Well, working in hospitality gives you ample opportunities like this. From running an extra mile to help hotel guests to simply smile and greeting restaurant goers, you will always savour that lovely feeling that you get from knowing that you just made someone's day. 10. Be a part of the world's fastest-growing industry: Last but not the least, by opting for a career in hospital management you enroll for one of the largest career-families in the world today. According to a report, the travel and tourism industry added 7.2 million jobs globally in 2015, alongside contributing to over $7.2 trillion to the world's GDP. In an industry as dynamic and diverse as hospitality and tourism, today's educators are taking a close look at newer trends in the industry to tailor their programs and ensure they are designed to equip their students with relevant knowledge that will help them advance their careers. If you're looking forward to a booming career in the hospitality sector, one of the best management institutes you can opt for is Chennais Amirta. With courses efficiently customized to today's need and unmatched placement assistance, Chennais Amirta forms the perfect destination to give your hospitality career the very start it needs. For More Details: https://www.chennaisamirta.com/?src=OneIndia PH: 09362 100 200 7th Pay Commission: History created in J&K, find out how India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Jammu and Kashmir created history after it implemented the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. Following this decision a 20 per cent average hike in the salaries of employees could be witnessed, according to Finance Minister Mohammad Altaf Bukhari. He also added that the decision would benefit 5 lakh employees and pensioners. The decision would cost the state an additional burden of Rs 4,201 crore annually in terms of salaries and Rs 7,477 crore on account of one-time arrears on the state exchequer, he added. Bukhari said it was a major commitment of state government promised in the budget. He also added that this has been the first time in the history of the state that pay commission's recommendations have been implemented without any agitation from employees and despite lack of resources. The decision was made at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and attended by both PDP and BJP ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh. Employees can draw their revised salary from the current month itself and the arrears accruing on account of implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations will be credited to their GP Fund account as has been the practice in the past. There will be three years moratorium on withdrawal of these arrears by employees, but such a restriction will not be applicable to those retiring from government service up to March 31, 2021. The arrears shall be paid to pensioners in cash in three installments after every six months. Following the implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations, the basic pay of employees as on December 31, 2015, shall be multiplied by the uniform factor of 2.57 and then adjusted in the matrix recommended by the pay committee, an official release here said. The benefit of House Rent Allowance on revised pay shall be available from April 2018 and all allowances except Dearness Allowance shall continue as before, it said, adding that DA from January 2016 onwards shall be payable on revised pay on new rates to be notified by the Finance Department. Gratuity shall be enhanced from the existing ceiling of Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh with effect from January 1, 2016, with an increase in ceiling gratuity by 25 per cent whenever DA rises by 50 per cent as recommended by 7th Pay Commission as per the pattern of Central government. The pensioners shall be given the option to choose revision of pension by any of the two formulations suggested by the Pay Committee. The cabinet left the implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations in respect to employees of Public Sector Undertakings and autonomous organisations on the availability of resources with respective organisations. After a spine chilling chase, how Indias most wanted Abdul Subhan was nabbed India oi-Vicky Nanjappa The arrest of Indian Mujahideen co-founder, Abdul Subhan was a prized catch for the security agencies. The man wanted for a series of blasts that rocked the country was nabbed recently in a dare-devil operation by the Delhi police. Amidst claims that there was no exchange of fire that took place before Subhan was arrested, the Delhi police have clarified the same in its chargesheet. Subhan was arrested from Ghazipur in East Delhi on January 20. The police had inputs about his presence and had later spotted him in a car. When the cops tried intercepting the car, the driver sped away. This led to a chase and finally, the police managed to block the car at the Khoda Colony. While one party blocked Subhan's car from the front the other did so from the rear. The Delhi police first signalled to Subhan to surrender. Subhan, however, got out of the car and began running. While the police were chasing him, he opened fire on the party and in the bargain, DCP Pramod Singh Kushwah was hit. He was however saved thanks to the bulletproof vest that he was wearing. The police then fired back in self-defence and by around 8.15 pm on January 20, he was cornered. The chargesheet states that another accused, Mohammad Aziz managed to escape. He too had opened fire and a bullet hit Amul Tyagi an inspector. He too was saved thanks to the bulletproof jacket that he was wearing. Asaram awarded life imprisonment, to file bail plea tomorrow India oi-Vikas By Vikas Sv Self styled godman Asaram Bapu and two of his aides, who were accused in a rape case involving a minor, were on Wednesday convicted by the special court for SC/ST Cases in Jodhpur. Two others were acquitted by the court. Security was stepped up in Jodhpur. The verdict was announced from inside the jail premises as was mandated by the Rajasthan High Court. Asaram the self-styled godman accused of raping a 16 year girl could face up to 10 years in jail if convicted. He is in judicial custody since September 2, 2013. Stay tuned to all the updates: Newest First Oldest First Along with life imprisonment, the court has also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Asaram. Asaram's lawyers are likely to file bail plea in the High Court tomorrow. Asaram's lawyer has said that they would approach the High Court for bail. WHat needs to be considered here is that Asaram has unsuccessfully moved 12 bail applications in the past, of which 6 were rejected by the trial court, 3 by the Rajasthan high court and 3 by the Supreme Court. 376 D section was invoked to award maximum possible punishment under POCSO act to Asaram. Asaram to remain imprisoned till the time of natural death. Asaram reportedly broke down when the quantum of sentence was pronounced. Asaram's lawyer has reportedly said that they would appeal against the judgement in a higher court. The defence had earlier argued that the court should take notice of Asaram's age and health condition while pronouncing the quantum of punishment. But the court decided to award maximum punishment to the self styled godman. Asaram sentenced to life imprisonment by Jodhpur Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Court in a rape case. Co-accused Shilpi and Sharad have been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. ABP news has reported that Asaram fell ill after the the verdict was pronounced. An ambulance is in Jodhpur Central jail now for Asaram. Update: Asaram Bapu, Shilpi and Sharad found guilty in rape case. Prakash and Shiva acquitted. The arguments for quantum of sentence is currently underway in the courtroom at Jodhpur Central Jail. While the prosecution is pressing for maximum punishment, the defence is saying that Asaram has done a lot for the society. Defence is also arguing on the lines that Asaram is not a repeat offender. "The time has come when people should be able to differentiate between the actual saints and the frauds, as this creates a bad image of the country in the international arena," senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot told the media. Asaram found guilty under section 376 and POCSO. News 18 reported that quantum of sentence would be announced today. Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice: Father of Shahjahanpur victim #AsaramCaseVerdict pic.twitter.com/sUJ3atJJJY ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2018 Reaction of victim's family Asaram, Shiva and Shilpi convicted; Sharad and Prakash acquitted. The trial of the case had begun in the district and session court on March 19, 2017, which had been shifted to the special court for SC/ST Cases on December 16, 2016. "We will discuss with our legal team and then decide our future course of action. We have confidence in our judiciary," Asaram's spokesperson Neelam Dubey told the media. There are 4 other co-accused namely Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash. All were charged under various sections of the POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC. Asaram and all other accused have been convicted by Jodhpur Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Court in a 2013 rape case. Asaram reportedly reached the courtroom in jail 15 mins late. He made judge and lawyers wait for 15 minutes. There are 30 persons inside the jail courtroom. The judge, public prosecutor, five accused, 17 advocates and six court staff. Main charges against Asaram are illegal confinement, criminal conspiracy and sexual assault. The prosecution would push for maximum punishment. The hearing is underway and the verdict can be out any moment now. Security is tight around the court premises and other parts of the city. Drones have been deployed to monitor the situation. Anticipating trouble by Asaram's followers in case the verdict is against the godman, watertight security has been put in place. Three states are on alert and prohibitory orders have been imposed in sensitive areas. Asaram runs around 400 ashrams across the country. Reports say that security has been provided to the family of Akhil Gupta, a witness in the rape case against Asaram Bapu in Surat, who was shot dead in January 2015. The hearing begins. Judge is set to pronounce verdict inside Jodhpur Central Jail. Security apparatus on high alert. Judge Madhusudan Sharma arrives at Jodhpur Central Jail and hearing will begin shortly. Reports say that the hearing will begin at 10 am. Prayers are being held in several parts of northern India by Asaram's followers. The Defence Lawyer has exuded confidence that Asaram would be acquitted. The final arguments in the case had been completed by the special court for SC/ST cases on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved to be pronounced today. The Centre has reportedly told Gujarat and Haryana to be on alert to prevent a repeat of the large-scale violence that took place in Haryana and Punjab after the conviction of another self-styled godman, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, in a rape case last August. Prosecution will press for maximum possible punishment. Prosecution is said to have examined 44 witnesses in the case. The defence is said to have examined 33 witnesses. Five followers of Asaram Bapu have detained today from Jodhpur. The trust run by Asaram Bapu has appealed to followers to maintain peace. Reports say that around 20,000 supporters of Asaram have reached. The message being spread in the Whatsapp groups is that Asaram would be coming out of jail. Section 144 in Jodhpur till April 30. Close vigil on bus and railway stations and hotels in the city. Assembly of four or more persons banned. Security for the complainant has been stepped up too. Three witnesses in the case have died so far. The judgment will be pronounced inside the Jodhpur central jail to prevent a breach of law and order in the city. Jodhpur Court dismissed the petition seeking entry of media persons in Central Jail of Jodhpur for the coverage of Asaram Bapu rape case judgment. The Home Ministry told three states to beef up security and ensure that no violence takes place after the judgment. Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana have a large number of followers of Asaram. All arrangements have been made to ensure maximum security says DIG Jail Vikram Singh. Six companies of the armed battalions of Rajasthan Police have been deployed around the Jodhpur Central Jail. Police are also converting two stadiums in Jodhpur city into makeshift jails in case there is a need of making mass arrests after the verdict. 378 persons have been taken into preventive custody and they will kept in custody till April 28. The judge has reached the Central Jail premises. Verdict to be out shortly. A follower of Asaram Bapu, who had reached Jodhpur Central Jail with a garland, has been detained by Police. The verdict will be pronounced in the jail. Reports say that around 20,000 supporters of Asaram have reached. The message being spread in the Whatsapp groups is that Asaram would be coming out of jail. Five followers of Asaram Bapu have detained today from Jodhpur. The trust run by Asaram Bapu has appealed to followers to maintain peace. Prosecution will press for maximum possible punishment. Prosecution is said to have examined 44 witnesses in the case. The defence is said to have examined 33 witnesses. The Centre has reportedly told Gujarat and Haryana to be on alert to prevent a repeat of the large-scale violence that took place in Haryana and Punjab after the conviction of another self-styled godman, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, in a rape case last August. The final arguments in the case had been completed by the special court for SC/ST cases on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved to be pronounced today. Prayers are being held in several parts of northern India by Asaram's followers. The Defence Lawyer has exuded confidence that Asaram would be acquitted. Judge Madhusudan Sharma arrives at Jodhpur Central Jail and hearing will begin shortly. Reports say that the hearing will begin at 10 am. The hearing begins. Judge is set to pronounce verdict inside Jodhpur Central Jail. Security apparatus on high alert. Reports say that security has been provided to the family of Akhil Gupta, a witness in the rape case against Asaram Bapu in Surat, who was shot dead in January 2015. Anticipating trouble by Asaram's followers in case the verdict is against the godman, watertight security has been put in place. Three states are on alert and prohibitory orders have been imposed in sensitive areas. Asaram runs around 400 ashrams across the country. The hearing is underway and the verdict can be out any moment now. Security is tight around the court premises and other parts of the city. Drones have been deployed to monitor the situation. Main charges against Asaram are illegal confinement, criminal conspiracy and sexual assault. The prosecution would push for maximum punishment. There are 30 persons inside the jail courtroom. The judge, public prosecutor, five accused, 17 advocates and six court staff. Asaram reportedly reached the courtroom in jail 15 mins late. He made judge and lawyers wait for 15 minutes. Asaram and all other accused have been convicted by Jodhpur Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Court in a 2013 rape case. There are 4 other co-accused namely Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash. All were charged under various sections of the POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC. "We will discuss with our legal team and then decide our future course of action. We have confidence in our judiciary," Asaram's spokesperson Neelam Dubey told the media. The trial of the case had begun in the district and session court on March 19, 2017, which had been shifted to the special court for SC/ST Cases on December 16, 2016. Asaram, Shiva and Shilpi convicted; Sharad and Prakash acquitted. Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice: Father of Shahjahanpur victim #AsaramCaseVerdict pic.twitter.com/sUJ3atJJJY ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2018 Reaction of victim's family The final arguments in the case had been completed by the special court for SC/ST cases on April 7 and the court had kept the order reserved to be pronounced on April 25. Asaram was arrested on the complaint filed by a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh, who was studying at the godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. The victim had alleged that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. Asaram was arrested from Indore and brought to Jodhpur on 1 September 2013. He is in judicial custody since September 2, 2013. A charge sheet against Asaram and 4 other co-accused namely Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash had been filed by the police on November 6, 2013, under various sections of the POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC. The trial of the case had begun in the district and session court on March 19, 2017, which had been shifted to the special court for SC/ST Cases on December 16, 2016. Asaram has unsuccessfully moved 12 bail applications, of which 6 were rejected by the trial court, 3 by the Rajasthan high court and 3 by the Supreme Court. Asaram rape case verdict: Security provided to family of witness who was shot dead India pti-PTI Muzaffarnagar, Apr 25: Ahead of the Asaram Bapu's verdict in Jodhpur today (April 25), security has been provided to the family of Akhil Gupta, a witness in the rape case against the self styled godman in Surat, who was shot dead in January 2015. "Security has been provided to the wife and father of Gupta," SP (city) Ombir Singh said. He was returning home from his shop on a scooter when the two motorcycle-borne assailant shot at him on Januray 11, 2015. Gupta was a cook and personal aide of Asaram, who is in jail since September 2013 in connection with another case of sexual assault on a minor girl in Jodhpur. Meanwhile, the deceased's father Naresh Gupta said, " I am confident that justice will be given to the victim today in Jodhpur case." Two sisters in Surat had accused Asaram and his son Narayan Sai of raping them. Gupta was a witness in the rape case against Asaram and had recorded his statement before a Gandhinagar court. PTI Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Moscow had not decided yet if would supply its S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. Whats important to us is that the defensive weapons the Russians are giving Syria wont be used against us. If theyre used against us, well act against them, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the Ynet media outlet, reflecting upon the possibility of Syrias acquisition of S-300 missile defense systems. The defense minister elaborated that Israel doesnt interfere in Syrias internal affairs, but on the other hand we wont allow Iran to flood [the country] with advanced weapons systems that would be aimed against Israel. If anyone attacks us, we will retaliate, regardless of S-300, S-700 [sic] or any anything elses presence there, Lieberman said. In an interview with Army Radio, Israeli Minister of Intelligence Yisrael Katz cast doubts on Russias potential supply of S-300 missile defense systems to Syria, suggesting that the move will undermine Moscows relations with Tel Aviv. I doubt that they will supply this missile defense system at the very moment they will cross a certain line in our relations, Army Radio cited Katz as saying. Another senior Israeli official also expressed his concerns over the potential supply of Russian S-300 systems to Syria. Any type of weapon that threatens Israeli security is always a matter of concern, Deputy Director General and Director of the Eurasia Department of the Foreign Ministry Alexander Ben-Zvi said. At the same time, Ben-Zvi did not clarify if Tel Aviv would raise the issue of S-300 supplies during talks with Russian officials. He did, however, note that matters concerning the Syrian conflict are constantly being discussed during the meetings between Israeli politicians and diplomats in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Russian Security Council. The statements come just a day after the IDF launched an attack on Syrian artillery after a mortar shell fell next to a security fence in the northern Golan Heights, a disputed area, which has been a focal point in relations between Tel Aviv and Damascus since the 1967 Six-Day War. Assam horror: Newly-wed woman gang-raped by husband, friends over dowry India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Guwahati, April 25: As the nation is grappling over an alarming spike in rape cases in the recent times, a shocking case of gang-rape has been reported from Assam. According to reports, a newly-married woman in the northeastern state was allegedly gang-raped by her husband and his two friends to punish her for not bringing enough dowry from her maternal home. The victim sustained severe injuries because of the brutal nature of the crime and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital. The crime took place in Assam's Karimganj on April 17, just three days after her wedding. On the basis of her complaint, the husband was arrested on Sunday, said the police. In her complaint to the police, the woman claimed that her husband had demanded gold jewellery as dowry, and when his demand was not met, he along with his friends raped her on April 17. The incident came to light when she had gone for medical treatment to a government hospital in Karimganj, the police said. Her condition was critical at that time. On the basis of the woman's complaint, an FIR was filed on April 20 and a hunt is on to nab the other two accused, informed the police. In the last two months, at least 20 cases of rapes of women and girls have been reported from Assam. "This is absolutely shocking. In the last two months, we have documented at least 20 cases of sexual assault... the reasons are varied but the huge economic and social disparity in Assam is a major factor," Miguel Das Queah, a rights activist from Guwahati, was quoted as saying by NDTV. In the recent past, we have seen protests taking place in various parts of the country over the horrific rape cases reported from Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua and Uttar Pradesh's Unnao. Both the cases caught the attention of the nation because of its barbarity and open support for the accused from a section of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). After its "studied silence" over crimes against women, especially minor girls, the Narendra Modi government approved the ordinance to allow courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping girls under 12 years recently. The ordinance has got mixed reactions as many feel that laws hold no meaning if the authorities do not bring cases of rapes to justice. We live in times when what we eat is not personal: Justice Gogoi Quick fire staccato: Here is what happened on day 1 at CJI Gogois court hall Going public was the only option says Justice Chelameswar on the famous presser by SCs top 4 'Call full court to discuss future of Supreme Court': Senior Judges to CJI Dipak Misra India oi-Deepika By Deepika In a letter addressed to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra two senior judges of the Supreme Court, Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Madan Lokur have called for a full court to discuss "institutional issues" and the "future" of the apex court. In a brief two-sentence letter delivered to CJI Misra on Sunday, Justices Gogoi and Lokur, who are members of the Collegium, demanded that he call a "full court" on the judicial side to discuss "institutional issues" and the "future" of the court. CJI Dipak Misra has reportedly not responded to the letter. The CJI had called an informal meeting last week which reached no conclusion. The CJI calls a full court meeting of the Supreme Court when a matter of public importance relating to the judiciary comes up. On April 9, Justice Kurian Joseph had written to the CJI and all judges of the Supreme Court over the government sitting on the Collegium recommendation to appoint Justice K M Joseph and Indu Malhotra to the apex court. Justice Jasti Chelameswar, the most senior judge, which he had written on March 21 to all judges, asking the CJI to call for a full court to discuss government interference in the appointment of judges to the High Court. The CJI neither replied to the letter nor did he call a full court. The Opposition notice for impeachment was rejected on Monday by Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu. Justice Gogoi is expected to succeed CJI Misra who demits office in October. Naidu held extensive consultations with top legal and constitutional experts, including former chief justices and judges, before taking the decision. From Mumbai to London, a journey to create awareness on organ donation India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Mumbai, April 25: Sample this. According to figures, more than 3 lakh people require organ transplant in India every year. Unfortunately, only two to three per cent of the patients is lucky enough to get a donor. The main reason, in India, people don't donate their organs due to various reasons. "While it has improved over the past three to four years, lack of awareness still looms large. Every year, over 3 lakh people require organ transplant in India, but only 2 to 3 per cent of the demand is met. Finance becomes a major obstacle, too. The poor are unable to shell out enough money to get a transplant done and require aids from social organisations," CY Pal, founder of Transplant--Help the Poor Foundation, an NGO, told DNA. The NGO is working to create awareness on organ donation and help the poor to avail organ transplant. Things are likely to change as indicated by Pal himself too, as more and more people want to raise awareness on organ donation. In fact, Mumbai-based man Shekhar Chilana has embarked on a long journey from his city to London in the United Kingdom (UK) to create awareness on organ donation. Giving support to the cause of the banker, a group of his friends is also travelling with him. During the road trip, which is at least 23,000 km long, travellers will be visiting 14 countries. "Mumbai: Bhal Shekhar Chilana along with a group of people will travel from Mumbai to London by road. The aim of this is to create awareness about organ donation. The group will visit 14 countries," tweeted ANI. Mumbai: Bhal Shekhar Chilana along with a group of people will travel from Mumbai to London by road. The aim of this is to create awareness about organ donation. The group will visit 14 countries. pic.twitter.com/xffTdXvD0h ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2018 Chilana decided to take the journey after his daughter suffered from kidney failure and there was no organ available for transplant. Thankfully, his son-in-law decided to donate a kidney to his wife and thus Chilana's daughter was saved. Now, Chilana wants that more and more people pledge to donate their organs and save lives. Key contests to watch out for in seventh and final phase of LS polls 2019 Ravi Kishan vows to develop Gorakhpur as one of the best cities in north India Gorakhpur tragedy: Dr Kafeel Khan gets bail after 8 months India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar Allahabad High Court granted bail to Dr Kafeel Khan, who was booked in connection with the death of children due to lack of oxygen at Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College. Dr Kafeel Khan has been in a Gorakhpur jail since the 2nd of September, 2017. Justice Yashwant Varma granted him relief after hearing his bail application. He was lodged in a Gorakhpur jail after being arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy, attempt to commit culpable homicide and criminal breach of trust by public servant, among others. Dr Kafeel Khan got bail after his letter written in the jail got published in the Indian Express paper. In the letter, Khan alleged that he and the others with him are being made "scapegoats" for an "administrative failure" at a higher level. Last week, Khan was admitted to the hospital after his wife told media that her husband's health was deteriorating in jail. She alleged that jail administration was not allowing Dr. Kafeel to shift to Lucknow. Police have charged Khan, a former doctor at Gorakhpur's Baba Raghubar Das Medical College Hospital, with an attempt to murder over the death of 30 children in August but dropped the corruption charges for lack of evidence. In December last year, Khan's mother, Nuzhat Parveen had met Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath during a Janta Darbar held in Gorakhpur and demanded justice for her son. Nuzhat Parveen told Yogi Adityanath that her family was going through a difficult time and that the CM must help them. Karnataka elections: BJP calls CM #LiarSiddu, attacks him for 'fake promises, fake development' India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Bengaluru, April 25: When politicians cutting across party lines forget to attack each other with "sensational" allegations in poll-bound Karnataka, it's their social media "warriors" who are doing the 'job' on behalf of their leaders with more vim and vigour. On Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party's social media cell decided to come up with a list of "fake promises" made by incumbent chief minister Siddaramaiah. Till the time of filing this report, only two of the "failed" promises made by the incumbent Congress government had been listed by the BJP on Twitter. "NOT DELIVERED AS PROMISED - No. 1 PROMISE: To provide Rs 50,000 crores to Krishna Basin Irrigation Projects. STATUS: Not Fulfilled Empty Promises - Full Pockets of Congress #LiarSiddu," tweeted BJP. NOT DELIVERED AS PROMISED - No. 1 PROMISE: To provide Rs 50,000 crores to Krishna Basin Irrigation Projects. STATUS: Not Fulfilled Empty Promises - Full Pockets of Congress #LiarSiddu pic.twitter.com/Ha5LNHaMsm BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 24, 2018 "NOT DELIVERED AS PROMISED - No. 2PROMISE: To provide a house for every single family in the state. STATUS: Not Fulfilled Empty Promises - Full Pockets of Congress #LiarSiddu," tweeted BJP. NOT DELIVERED AS PROMISED - No. 2 PROMISE: To provide a house for every single family in the state. STATUS: Not Fulfilled Empty Promises - Full Pockets of Congress #LiarSiddu pic.twitter.com/2JFUvp3c3p BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 24, 2018 The hard-hitting allegations made by the BJP are yet to be refuted by the Congress. Earlier, the social media cell of BJP in Karnataka has called Siddaramaiah as "jihadi Siddu" for the deaths of "only Hindus during communal clashes in the state". Now, the BJP is calling the CM as "#LiarSiddu". It is not just the BJP which is trying to outsmart the Congress online. The social media cell of the Congress too has hit the BJP hard for giving tickets to a host of relatives of Bellary's tainted mining baron Janardhana Reddy on Twitter. The allegations and counter allegations of both the parties on social media are surely going to continue till polling date (well, it might continue after that too) and keep us amused. However, what is worrying is the nature of the language used by those manning the official Twitter and Facebook accounts of both the BJP and the Congress. Probably, they have forgotten that one can speak loud and clear without being foul. But then, who cares about civilised conversations when sane voices are lost over the current political din in the country. The elections to the 224-member Assembly in Karnataka are scheduled on May 12. The results will be declared on May 15. Over 400 farmers leave for Delhi to protest over Mahadayi water dispute India oi-Madhuri Over 400 farmers protesting over Mahadayi River water dispute left for Delhi from Karnataka to meet President Ram Nath Kovind on April 30. The agitated farmers said, 'We'll meet the President on 30th & tell him if we don't get water then we must be permitted to give up our lives'. Karnataka wants 7.56 tmcft water from the Mahadayi river for the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project. This will help in augmenting the drinking water supply to Hubballi-Dharwad and districts of Belagavi and Gadag. The farmers had demanded the PMs intervention in the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project by bringing a compromise between Goa and Maharashtra, so that the state of Karnataka can get its share. Earlier, Pro-Kannada organisations had called for a state-wide bandh in Karanataka on January 25. Various pro-Kannada organisations led by the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and Vatal Nagaraj, leader of Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha (KCVP) participated in the bandh all over the state. They claim around 2,000 pro-Kannada outfits have backed this bandh call. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 25, 2018, 20:25 [IST] What is AFSPA and why this act became necessary Political clamour grows for total repeal of AFSPA from Arunachal Pradesh India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Itanagar, April 25: A day after the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA has been partly revoked from Arunachal Pradesh, both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from the state reacted about the Centre's latest move on the army act on Tuesday. While the opposition Congress has demanded a total revocation of the act, the BJP leaders too have asked the Centre to see if it could be removed from across the hill state. The AFSPA empowers security forces to conduct operations and arrest anyone anywhere without prior notice. The areas of the state that come under the controversial act have been reduced from 16 police stations, bordering Assam, to eight police stations, besides Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts by the Centre on Monday. The Centre repealed the act totally from Meghalaya. State Congress president Takam Sanjoy said the AFSPA is "not relevant" in a peaceful state like Arunachal Pradesh. "When the Centre can lift the act from (entire) Meghalaya, why not in Arunachal Pradesh? There are no records of terrorist activities in the state over the past several years. There are other laws to deal with such activities and the AFSPA would only jeopardise public peace," he claimed. Sanjoy alleged that the Home Ministry has "arbitrarily extended" the provisions of the act at a time when Naga rebel groups are engaged in peace talks. The ruling BJP, however, said the Centre should "study the ground situation" in the state and, if permissible, should repeal the Act to ensure peace in the region. The AFSPA was necessitated in 16 police station areas, bordering Assam, and three districts of the state, bordering Myanmar, because a few insurgents had tried to take refuge in Arunachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Pema Khandu told PTI. The constant efforts of security forces and comprehensive plans of the Union Home Ministry, and the state police has drastically improved the law and order situation in the last couple of years, he said. State BJP president Tapir Gao said, if the Union government deems fit to revoke the Act, then it will be for the "greater good". Kahfa Bengia, the chief of People's Party of Arunachal, said the eight police stations areas need not come under the AFSPA as there were no reports of militant activities from these regions in a very long time. "The Home Ministry should make sure its decisions do not affect the people of the state," Bengia asserted. In Meghalaya, the Union government's move was unanimously welcomed by political parties, students' organisations and church leaders. James K Sangma, the state's home minister, said he was grateful to the Union government for considering Meghalaya's request to revoke the act from the state. "We are thankful to the Centre for responding to Meghalaya government's request for the denotification of AFSPA in the Garo Hills areas, adjoining Assam," Sangma told PTI. Militancy has been "by and large contained" in the state and this was made possible by the Meghalaya police, he said. Lauding the Centre's move, the Congress credited the erstwhile Mukul Sangma-led government for it. "The imposition of AFSPA has lots of demerits in a state like Meghalaya as it has often been seen that language barrier led to atrocities here. This was the reason why former chief minister Mukul Sangma did not allow the army to take up operations in the Garo Hills," Congress spokesperson Zenith Sangma said. There have been demands from various organisations in the Northeast as well as in Jammu and Kashmir for repealing the act, which, they say, gives "sweeping powers" to the security forces to act against "civilians". The AFSPA has been in place in Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. 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 Karnataka polls: Winner with highest vote share was 77 per cent, lowest 24 All is well between Congress, JD(S)? Kumaraswamy meets Rahul as Karnataka waits for full cabinet How Congress-JD(S) coalition govt in Karnataka aptly proves Opposition unity is a farce Siddaramaiah's embarrassing moment during campaign in Chamundeshwari India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar Chief Minister Siddaramaiah faced an embarrassing moment during a campaign rally in Chamundeshwari constituency when a Dalit Gram Panchayat member Mariswamy, said he would not vote for Siddaramaiah. Siddaramaiah was campaigning in Halekesare village when Gram Panchayat member Mariswamy embarrassed Siddaramaiah by expressing his displeasure for his anti-Dalit moves. Mariswamy, who was standing in the crowd, said, "I will not vote for you. I will vote for only JD (S)." Siddaramaiah identified his old associate and called him for a talk. Siddaramaiah replied, "Mariswamy, you don't have to join the Congress, but vote for me." Mariswamy said, "I will vote only for JD (S)." Again, Siddaramaiah replied, "Mariswamy, BJP and JDS are two faces of the same coin. Don't vote for JDS". According to reports, Mariswamy is said to be an old friend of Siddaramaiah. Mariswamy told a private television that Siddaramaiah is known as an anti-Dalit leader. "Everybody knows, he schemed against G Parameshwara in Koratgere. Also, he ensured the defeat of another Dalit leader Srinivas Prasad." "He (Siddaramaiah) did not allow Dalit to become CM or deputy CM in his Cabinet," Mariswamy said. Mariswamy said, "JDS leader GT Deve Gowda should win this election, and should become in-charge minister of Chamundeshwari." 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 The consolidation of the anti Siddaramaiah Vokkaliga votes has Congress worried India oi-Vicky Nanjappa The Vokkaliga community in Karnataka comprises around 12 to 15 per cent of the electorate. The community has traditionally voted for the JD(S) and Congress and has been crucial to any party wanting to form the government. OneIndia had reported that the over-emphasising of the Lingayat issue could have an impact on the Vokkaliga votes. Siddaramaiah's decision to recommend religious minority status to the Lingayats has been seen as an attempt to eat into the BJP's vote share. The Lokniti-CSDS survey which was out on Monday suggested that the Congress was not making any major gains out of this issue. The other interesting aspect thrown up by the survey suggested that the BJP, on the other hand, was making some gains where the Vokkaliga votes are concerned. These could be concerns for Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah who is seen as a strong leader in the Mysore belt which is dominated by Vokkaligas. Many Vokkaligas are in fact upset with Siddaramaiah's over-emphasising of the AHINDA and Lingayat issue. The Vokkaligas feel that they were not beneficiaries of any of the schemes doled by Siddaramaiah which were aimed towards appeasing the minorities, backward classes and Dalits. The Vokkaligas felt that they were given a raw deal by the Congress despite voting for them in 2013. One small instance was the appointment of Neelamani Raju as state police chief. The Vokkaligas felt that their man, Kishore Chandra ought to have occupied that post. Siddaramaiah is contesting against G T Deve Gowda, a one time friend who is in the JD(S). It was Gowda who helped Siddaramaiah consolidate the Vokkaliga votes in the previous elections as a result of which he won Chamundeshwari five times. The Vokkaligas feel that Siddaramaiah dumped his one-time friend, a Vokkaliga, who had helped him all along. Analysts say that it is this consolidation of the Vokkaliga votes against the Congress that prompted Siddaramaiah to chose Badami considered to be a safe seat. With most parts of Northern and Central Karnataka backing the BJP, the votes in the old Mysore region become crucial. The old Mysore region which has a dominant Vokkaliga population has backed both the Congress and JD(S). The Congress has also had the Ambareesh worry on its head who has made it clear that he would not contest the elections from Mandya, the heartland of the Vokkaligas. The Congress understands his clout in the seven assembly constituencies in Mandya and would hope that he would not campaign against the party. The Congress by roping in two JD(S) leaders into its fold from Mandya had hoped to improve its tally. In 2013, the party had won 2 seats from Mandya. With the inclusion of the two JD(S) men it had at least hoped to better its tally to four. The consolidation of the Vokkaliga votes against the Congress and the Ambareesh factor included sure would have the Congress worried. The biggest gainer of these developments would be the JD(S) largely and BJP to a certain extent. 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 Two accused in Kathua gangrape-murder case move SC for CBI probe India pti-PTI New Delhi, Apr 25: Two prime accused in the sensational Kathua gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl today moved the Supreme Court opposing the plea of the victim's father seeking transfer of trial outside the state, preferably to Chandigarh. Sanji Ram and Vishal Jangotra, who have been chargesheeted by the crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police in the case, have also sought transfer of probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation besides seeking to be impleaded as parties in the petition filed by the father of the victim. Recently, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had ordered the state police to grant security to the family of the victim, their friend and their lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat. The top court had also said it would later decide on the prayer for transfer of case out of Kathua in Jammu after the state government filed its reply. PTI To get China to budge, India brings in its best 3 Doklam standoff due to mistrust says China ahead of Modi-Xi meet International oi-Vicky Nanjappa The Doklam standoff happened due to "lack of mutual trust" between India and China, and they need to work together to create favourable conditions and gradually settle the boundary issue, a top Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday. The statement comes ahead of this week's informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Indian and Chinese troops had been locked in a stand-off for over two months last year in the Doklam area near Sikkim before "disengaging" on August 28. The area of the standoff is also claimed by Bhutan. "The boundary incident that happened (at Doklam) last year someway reflected lack of mutual trust between the two countries," Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou told the media when asked about the Doklam standoff. Asked whether the Doklam standoff and the boundary issue will figure in the talks between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi, Kong said the two leaders decided to hold informal summit "because both the countries attach great importance to each other in external strategy, not because of the boundary question that still remained unresolved, that we need to talk about it during the informal summit". India-China boundary dispute spans to 3,488-km along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Both sides have held 20 rounds of talks between the Special Representatives to resolve it. "Of course, the boundary question is important. Both sides need to work together to create favourable conditions and gradually settle it. Proper settlement of boundary question will help deepen cooperation, mutual understanding and trust between the two countries," Kong said. He said both China and India need to make greater efforts to deepen their mutual trust. "At the informal summit, the two leaders will have heart-to-heart discussions on the issues of overarching, long-term and strategic importance to bilateral relations. In terms of some specific differences or sensitive issues, the two sides will stay in touch with each other through relevant channels. In the process of deepening mutual trust, they will gradually find a way to try to settle them," he said. Collapse of Kabul will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history: Donald Trump Macron comes up with proposal for new deal on Iran; will Trump be convinced? International oi-Shubham By Shubham US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, April 24, pledged with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to seek even stronger policies to contain Iran through the former did not commit to continuing with the Barack Obama-era nuclear deal and threatened the Asian country with retaliation if it resumed its nuclear programme. Iran, too, has sounded a warning to the US saying there would be "expected and unexpected" reactions from its soil if the US quit the nuclear deal of 2015. Recently, it also warned of walking out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty if the US went ahead to scrap the deal. Bush, during a news conference with Macron who is currently on a state visit to the US and joined the Trumps over a state dinner on Tuesday with his wife Brigitte, slammed the nuclear accord between Iran and the world powers saying it did little to address Iran's rising clout in the Middle East or contain the country's ballistic missile programme, Reuters said. The Republican also called it insane, terrible and ridiculous, it added. The Iran problem is gaining prominence with the approaching of May 12, the deadline for Trump to decide whether to restore Washington's economic sanctions on Tehran. The French president said he discussed with Trump about a fresh deal in which America and Europe would handle the outstanding concerns about Iran beyond its N-programme, Reuters reported. The European powers are in favour of continuing with the deal as they think it is the best hope to prevent Iran from going berserk with the nuclear programme and leading to a nuclear arms race in West Asia. Macron's current US visit also has to salvage the deal with Iran as one of its main goals but convincing Trump is a lot difficult work than it sounds. As per Macron's proposal, the US and Europe would reach a consensus on blocking Iran's nuclear activity till 2025 and beyond and address Tehran's ballistic missile programme and create conditions for a political solution to check Iran in countries like Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon, Reuters added. Trump on Tuesday was caught flicking a piece of dandruff from the shoulder of Macron, saying it was to make Marcon perfect and ensure that the special relationship between the US and France continued. Was it removing dandruff or Trump's mockery of any deal with Iran? Centre renames 2 prominent institutes after Sushma Swaraj on the eve of her birth anniversary The joy of our lives: Sushma Swaraj's husband warm birthday wishes for late leader Remembering Sushma Swaraj on her death anniversary: Facts about Iron Lady of India India, Mangolia vow to combat terror, boost trade; ink pacts International oi-Deepika By Deepika External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday held bilateral talks with her Mongolian counterpart Damdin Tsogtbaatar. During the Indian-Mongolia Joint Committee on Cooperation, the two sides discussed pressing global challenges, particularly the scourge of terrorism and agreed to collaborate bilaterally and in international arena to thwart the designs of those who extend support to terrorist outfits. "We (India & Mongolia) discussed some of the pressing global challenges facing the humanity particularly terrorism and agreed to calibrate bilaterally and in the international arena to ward off these evil thoughts and designs extended to support terror outfits," Swaraj said. The two sides also reviewed the progress in the ongoing collaborative projects, including the refinery project selected by the Government of Mongolia for implementation with the support of USD one billion Indian Line of Credit. "We directed our officials to coordinate follow up action on each side for the expeditious implementation of these projects. Our strong political ties must be complemented by commensurate levels of trade, economy and investment," she said. "Today, India has emerged as one of the fastest growing large economies in the world. With its rich natural resources and strong aspiration for development, Mongolia can be an important partner in India's growth story," she said. Swaraj, who is the first Indian foreign minister to visit in Mongolia in 42 years, is on a two-day visit to the Buddhist nation. Earlier, she commenced the day with a visit to Gandan Tegchenling Monastery, where she was welcomed by the chief abbot of Mongolian Buddhism, Hambo Lama D. Choijamts. "The Gandan Tegchenling monastery is known to be the centre of Mongolian Buddhist and a treasure house of a valuable Buddhist heritage, knowledge and unique rituals." as said by Kumar," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. The minister will co-chair the 6th round of India-Mongolia Joint Consultative Committee (IMJCC) meeting with Tsogtbaatar, covering a range of issues including, inter alia, political, strategic, economic, educational and cultural ties. The last meeting of IMJCC was held in New Delhi in 2016. Swaraj will also deliver the keynote address at the Kushok Bakula Birth Centenary Celebrations in Ulaanbaatar. India and Mongolia have close cooperation in trade and economy, science, health, agriculture, culture, education, communication and tourism. The two countries are also working closely to ensure security and curbing international crimes and terrorism. The total trade between the two countries amounted to $25.6 million in 2016. Swaraj earlier visited China where she participated in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting and on Sunday held wide-ranging bilateral talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. OneIndia News (with agency inputs) Toronto attack: Victims were 'predominantly women', accused said to be 'frustrated' International pti-PTI Toronto, Apr 25: In an incident that shook Canada, a man who apparently had a grudge against women was charged with murder after allegedly plowing a rented van onto a crowded Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people. Police said the suspect, 25-year-old Alek Minassian, was not known to them before Monday's carnage in Canada's most populous city, which also left 14 people injured. Most of the victims were women. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale played down any suggestion that the attack bore the hallmarks of those carried out by truck-driving extremists in London, Nice and other cities, saying "there is no discernable connection to national security." But authorities said the incident during the busy lunch hour Monday was undoubtedly deliberate. Lead investigator Detective-Sergeant Graham Gibson said Minassian had posted a "cryptic message on Facebook minutes before he began driving the rented van" along a long stretch of Yonge Street, eventually jumping the curb onto the sidewalk. In the post, Minassian praised mass killer Elliot Rodger -- a 22-year-old American who murdered six people and then killed himself in California in 2014, and who had professed frustration over his virginity and women rejecting him. The suspect's post also referred to the "Incel Rebellion" -- "incel" is short for "involuntarily celibate" and is often used in connection with online groups of sexually frustrated men who are known to rant against women. "We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys!" the post read, monikers used in the community to describe people who have no trouble finding sexual partners. Gibson said the victims of the Toronto attack were "predominantly women" and ranged in age from the mid-20s to 80s. Minassian also referred to himself on social media as a private in the army. Canadian military spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande confirmed that he enlisted last August but asked to be discharged after only 16 days of basic training. A shaven-headed Minassian appeared in court early Tuesday to hear the charges against him -- 10 counts of premeditated murder and 13 of attempted murder. A 14th count of attempted murder was pending after the toll of injured was revised down. Minassian stood impassively with his hands behind his back, wearing a white police jumpsuit. He was calm as he was led away. The suspect is scheduled to return to court on May 10 for a bail hearing. Several of the victims were named in court documents, but others were still being identified by the coroner, who brought in extra help overnight. The first of the dead to be publicly identified was Anne Marie D'Amico, who worked at an investment management company near the scene. Her family called her a "shining light," saying in a statement: "We hope that in this time, people fight with the same altruism (she had) rather than anger and hatred." Two South Koreans were among the dead, a foreign ministry official in Seoul told AFP, adding that another of the country's citizens was seriously injured. PTI The curious case of Turkeys non-alignment in days of Syria crisis International oi-Shubham By Shubham Even as the West and Russia stand polarised over the civil war in Syria, the stance taken by Turkey has been deemed interesting by many. While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is no fan of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, he doesn't share a rapport with the West and Nato either and this raises the question over Ankara's position in the current international affairs. Turkey's relations with Russia, a supporter of Syria, also hit the rock bottom after a Russian jet was shot down by the Turkish forces over the Turkey-Syria border in November 2015. In a recent editorial in the mouthpiece of Turkey's ruling party AKP (Justice & Development Party), Yeni Safak, it was said that Turkey is neither pro-Russia nor pro-Nato. "We Are Turkish, Thank God," it said while speaking on the country's relations with Russia and the West. The editorial also opined that the recent US-UK-France strike against Syria's chemical weapons facilities was not directed at punishing Assad but rather create a gulf between Turkey and Russia. Turkey had praised the West's attack against Syria on April 14 in the wake of Assad's alleged chemical weapons attack against his own people in Douma a week earlier but it disappointed Russia through its president Vladimir Putin had a talk with Erdogan the same day over the phone. Putin slammed the attack on Syria saying it violated the principles of international law. Moscow also stressed on the need of intensifying bilateral relations between Russia and Turkey to achieve a political solution in Syria. Erdogan also had a talk with French President Emmanuel Macron on the same day whereby he condemned the use of chemical weapons and a couple of days later, Macron said the multinational strike "separated Turkey and Russia". Turkey was not impressed by this as its Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a joint news conference with Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary-general, in Ankara that Turkey's relations with Moscow were not an alternative to its ties with the West and neither Ankara's ties with Moscow were so weak that they could be broken by France. The Yeni Safak editorial said Turkey's alliances with the Nato and Russia were based on realpolitik and Ankara only stood by Turkey's own interests. Gun violence has zero effect on Trump as he backs gun rights in Dallas A plane from Seattle had to return because somebody left a human heart on board! US: 29-year-old man shoots at two police officers, a civilian in Dallas International pti-PTI Houston, Apr 25: Two police officers were shot and critically wounded outside a home improvement store in the US state of Texas, police said. The suspect, identified by police as 29-year-old Armando Luis Juarez, is still at large. Police said he may have fled in a white pickup truck. A civilian was also shot and the incident sparked a manhunt, police said. The incident began yesterday when an off-duty officer at the Home Depot called to request backup officers for an arrest. The two officers who responded to the call were wounded, police chief Renee Hall said. A civilian who was working as a loss prevention officer at the store was also injured, police said. The three injured were being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, police chief Renee Hall told reporters. She declined to give their names or more details about their condition. The suspect is considered dangerous, Hall said, adding it is unclear, "how he was able to get a gun and shoot all three of the victims". Earlier yesterday, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings also tweeted on the shooting: "We are closely monitoring the situation in northeast Dallas and praying for our officers and their families." Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent "thoughts and prayers" to the officers in a tweet. "Texas honors all the men and women who protect and serve our communities, and justice will be served," he said. Five Dallas officers were killed and seven others injured in July 2016 when a military veteran who had served in Afghanistan fired on them. The shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of Mesquite, Texas, was killed after a lengthy standoff with police. PTI Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. From Sputnik All the handshakes, hugs and smooching between Trump and Macron this week made for cringing viewing. Not because two males were being cordial and affectionate. No, the embarrassment stems from the French leader being such a pathetic poodle to the White House bully. The "dandruff moment" was perhaps the most revealing. At one point in the Oval Office, the American president interrupted himself mid-sentence to lean over to his French counterpart and he began grooming his collar, saying he was removing "dandruff." Macron seemed unfazed and continued smiling. It was what Trump said next that was revealing. "We want him to be perfect" He is perfect." The Freudian slip from the American signified that the French president is little more than a cypher, a flunkey, a perfect little poodle for Washington. Does as he's told. During the three-day state visit, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron gave the appearance of best buddies, of being equals. That's certainly what the French leader was striving to achieve. To be seen as the top European ally of America, and the European politician who best understands Trump, best manages the maverick American. In that way, Macron aims to make "France great again"; for it to be seen as a re-energized world power on an equal footing with the US. Since Macron was elected president last May, his stated goal has been to restore France as a great power. That seemed to be working to plan this week. Macron is the first international leader to be hosted by Trump in an official state visit. The British "special relationship" with Washington has been eclipsed; and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel who follows Macron's visit on Friday is being only afforded a low-key, one-day working meeting in the White House. But the optics of bonhomie and "bromance" aside, Macron's pretensions of standing alongside Trump as the "leaders of world freedom" are overblown. The proof of that came when Macron caved-in to Trump's antagonism over the Iranian nuclear deal. Saving that deal by keeping Trump onboard was supposed to be Macron's main mission in Washington DC. The day before Macron arrived, he gave an interview to Fox News asserting that "there was no Plan B" to the Iran nuclear accord which was signed in 2015 by the US, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China. Macron was billed as the European leader who would persuade Trump to stick with the nuclear agreement. But this week, despite all the glad-handing with "my friend Emmanuel," Trump maintains an aggressive disdain for the Iran deal, hinting that he is ready to scrap it next month. And what was Macron's response? He said that France was now working with the US to "renegotiate a new deal" with Iran. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. From Unz Review Think of Nikki Haley for President! The musical chairs playing out among the senior officials that make up the President Donald Trump White House team would be amusing to watch but for the genuine damage that it is doing to the United States. The lack of any coherence in policy means that the State Department now has diplomats that do not believe in diplomacy, and environment agency heads that do not believe in protecting the environment. It also means that well-funded and disciplined lobbies and pressure groups are having a field day, befuddling ignorant administrators with their "fact sheets" and successfully promoting policies that benefit no one but themselves. In the Trumpean world of all-the-time-stupid, there is, however, one individual who stands out for her complete inability to perceive anything beyond threats of unrelenting violence combined with adherence to policies that have already proven to be catastrophic. That person is our own Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who surfaced in the news lately after she unilaterally and evidently prematurely announced sanctions on Russia. When the White House suggested that she might have been "confused" she responded that "With all due respect, I don't get confused." This ignited a firestorm among the Trump haters, lauding Haley as a strong and self-confident woman for standing up to the White House male bullies while also suggesting that the hapless Administration had not bothered to inform one of its senior diplomats of a policy change. It also produced a flurry of Haley for higher office tweets based on what was described as her "brilliant riposte" to the president. One over-the-top bit of effusion from a former Haley aide even suggested that her "deft rebuttal" emphasizes her qualities, enthusing that "What distinguishes her from the star-struck sycophants in the White House is that she understands the intersection of strong leadership and public service, where great things happen," and placing her on what is being promoted as the short list of future presidential candidates. For sure, neocon barking dog Bill Kristol has for years been promoting Haley for president, a sign that something is up as he was previously the one who "discovered" Sarah Palin. Indeed, the similarities between the two women are readily observable. Neither is very cerebral or much given to make any attempt to understand an adversary's point of view; both are reflexively aggressive and dismissive when dealing with foreigners and domestic critics; both are passionately anti-Russian and pro-Israel. And Kristol is not alone in his advocacy. Haley regularly receives praise from Senators like South Carolina's Lindsey Graham and from the Murdoch media as well as in the opinion pages of National Review and The Weekly Standard. The greater problem right now is that Nikki Haley is America's face to the international community, even more than the Secretary of State. She has used her bully pulpit to do just that, i.e., bully, and she is ugly America personified, having apparently decided that something called American Exceptionalism gives her license to say and do whatever she wants at the United Nations. In her mind, the United States can do what it wants globally because it has a God-given right to do so, a viewpoint that doesn't go down well with many countries that believe that they have a legal and moral right to be left alone and remain exempt from America's all too frequent military interventions. Nikki Haley sees things differently, however. During her 15 months at the United Nations she has been instrumental in cutting funding for programs that she disapproves of and has repeatedly threatened military action against countries that disagree with U.S. policies. Most recently, in the wake of the U.S. cruise missile attack against Syria, she announced that the action was potentially only the first step. She declared that Washington was "locked and loaded," prepared to exercise more lethal military options if Syria and its Russian and Iranian supporters did not cease and desist from the use of chemical weapons. Ironically, the cruise missile attack was carried out even though the White House had no clue as to what had actually happened and it now turns out that the entire story, spread by the terrorist groups in Syria and their mouthpieces, has begun to unravel. Will Nikki Haley apologize? I would suspect that if she doesn't do confusion she doesn't do apologies either. Haley, who had no foreign policy experience of any kind prior to assuming office, relies on a gaggle of neoconservative foreign-policy "experts" to help shape her public utterances, which are often not cleared with the State Department, where she is at least nominally employed. Her speechwriter is Jessica Gavora, who is the wife of the leading neoconservative journalist Jonah Goldberg. Unfortunately, being a neocon mouthpiece makes her particularly dangerous as she is holding a position where she can do bad things. She has been shooting from the lip since she assumed office with only minimal vetting by the Trump Administration, and, as in the recent imbroglio over her "confusion," it is never quite clear whether she is speaking for herself or for the White House. Haley has her own foreign policy. She has declared that Russia "is not, will not be our friend" and has lately described the Russians as having their hands covered with the blood of Syrian children. From the start of her time at the U.N., Haley has made it clear that she is neoconservatism personified and she has done nothing since to change that impression. In December 2017 she warned the U.N. that she was "taking names" and threatened retaliation against any country that was so "disrespectful" as to dare to vote against Washington's disastrous recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which she also helped to bring about. As governor of South Carolina, Haley first became identified as an unquestioning supporter of Israel through her signing of a bill punishing supporters of the nonviolent pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the first legislation of its kind on a state level. Immediately upon taking office at the United Nations she complained that "nowhere has the U.N.'s failure been more consistent and more outrageous than in its bias against our close ally Israel" and vowed that the "days of Israel bashing are over." On a recent visit to Israel, she was feted and honored by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She was also greeted by rounds of applause and cheering when she spoke at the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in March, saying "When I come to AIPAC I am with friends." Nikki Haley's embrace of Israeli points of view is unrelenting and serves no American interest. If she were a recruited agent of influence for the Israeli Mossad she could not be more cooperative than she apparently is voluntarily. In February 2017, she blocked the appointment of former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to a diplomatic position at the United Nations because he is a Palestinian. In a congressional hearing she was asked about the decision: "Is it this administration's position that support for Israel and support for the appointment of a well-qualified individual of Palestinian nationality to an appointment at the U.N. are mutually exclusive?" Haley responded yes, that the administration is "supporting Israel" by blocking every Palestinian. At various U.N. meetings, though Haley has repeatedly and uncritically complained of institutional bias towards Israel, she has never addressed the issue that Israel's treatment of the Palestinians might in part be responsible for the criticism leveled against it. Her description of Israel as a "close ally" is hyperbolic and she tends to be oblivious to actual American interests in the region when Israel is involved. She has never challenged the Israeli occupation of the West Bank as well as the recent large expansion of settlements, which are at least nominally opposed by the State Department and White House. Nor has she spoken up about the more recent shooting of three thousand unarmed Gazan demonstrators by Israeli Army sharpshooters, which is a war crime. Haley's hardline on Syria reflects the Israeli bias, and her consistent hostility to Russia is a neoconservative position. She has repeatedly said that regime change in Damascus is a Trump administration priority, even when the White House was saying something different. A White House warning that it had "identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime led to a Haley elaboration in a tweet that "...further attacks will be blamed on Assad but also on Russia and Iran who support him killing his own people." Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. Ronan Farrow's book War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence recounts episodes from the Obama-Trump militarization of U.S. foreign policy. While the book begins with and has been marketed with the story of Trump firing lots of key diplomats and leaving positions unfilled, much of its content is from the pre-Trump, Obama-era and even Bush-era erosion of diplomacy as something distinct from war and weapons sales. The distinction between employing diplomats whose opinions are allowed to matter only when they agree with the Pentagon and not employing them at all is not as sharp a distinction as people may imagine. As with the distinction between drones that fire on unknown people when some poor schmuck is ordered to push a button and drones that decide when to fire all on their own, the question of whether or not you have diplomats sounds dramatic but can make little actual difference on the ground. Farrow might partially agree with my assessment, but he writes as someone who believes that the United States responds to North Korean threats, rather than the reverse, and works nobly to "contain" Iranian pursuits of "regional hegemony," rather than strives for global hegemony at all costs. While Obama was president, the State Department helped break all records for weapons sales, the United States bombed several countries, the U.S. and NATO destroyed Libya, drone wars came into their own with catastrophic results, serious action on the earth's climate was carefully sabotaged, and the U.S. military expanded into much of Africa and Asia. The crowning achievement called the Iran Nuclear Agreement was not some sort of advance in human rights, peace, justice, or cooperation. Rather, it was the unnecessary and pointless product of U.S. propaganda creating a false threat from Iran, belief in which may outlast the agreement. A large chunk of Farrow's book is a portrait of Richard Holbrooke as a power-mad schemer but frustrated advocate for non-militarized diplomacy. This is the same Richard Holbrooke, I had to remind myself, who publicly told Congress that the State Department's job in Afghanistan was to support the military. This is the same guy who claimed that if the United States ended the war, the Taliban would work with al Qaeda which would endanger the United States -- while at the same time admitting that al Qaeda had virtually no presence in Afghanistan, that the Taliban would be unlikely to work with al Qaeda, and that al Qaeda could plan crimes from anywhere in the world, there being nothing special about Afghan air for that purpose. Asked at a U.S. Senate hearing in 2010, the year he died, what in the world he was doing and toward what end in Afghanistan, Holbrooke repeatedly failed to produce an answer. That could explain his deathbed conversion and his final words to his surgeon: "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan." As if his doctor could do what he refused to play any role in, or at least failed to play any role in. It's hard to picture Holbrooke as struggling for peace when we recall that this is the very same man who in 1999 intentionally raised demands to include what Serbia would never accept, so that NATO could begin bombing. The least we can say is that Holbrooke was employed as a diplomat, a job that can sometimes involve choosing peace instead of war. And nobody replaced him. So, we now have to expect peace out of people employed to wage war. But the notion that the State Department is now engaged in or was until recently even partially engaged in pursuing peace is difficult to swallow because no account of life inside the State Department can compare with our encounter with that life itself as it was slipped to us through WikiLeaks in the form of all those cables. It's interesting, for sure, to read about the frustrations of those who want to actually provide humanitarian aid but whose intended recipients need to not be publicly associated with the United States due to its unpopularity. But the need to kiss up to the war makers is something we've seen in public. And the State Department cables reveal an institution dripping with contempt for humanity, democracy, peace, justice, and the rule of law. The solution is not, I think, to shout "good riddance!" and dance on the grave of diplomacy. Though it is to get out of the way and allow the two Koreas, and numerous other partners, to engage in it unmolested. In the end, what we need is to recognize diplomacy as something incompatible with war mongering and to choose the former over the latter. Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. From Paul Craig Roberts Website Now that the Trump, May, and Macron regimes have proven beyond all doubt that they are lawless war criminal regimes, what is next? Will the Russian president and foreign minister continue to speak of "our Western partners" and seek common ground with proven lawless war criminals? What would that common ground be? How can other governments accept the US, UK, and French governments that intentionally lied about a Russian chemical attack on the Skripals and about a Syrian chemical attack on Douma, risking a third world war, and then themselves attacking Syria on the basis of a transparent lie unsupported by any evidence? How exactly do you conduct diplomatic relations with war criminals? You don't. You put them on trial. Why aren't Trump, May, and Macron on trial? The reason is that the world has been conditioned, like Pavlov's dogs, to expect and accept the West's war crimes as ordinary common features of life. The West's crimes are protected by precedents established by decades of failing to hold the West accountable. The West has squatters rights in committing unaccountable war crimes. Stymied in the effort to overthrow Syria, Netanyahu is now focusing the Trump regime on renewing Washington's conflict with Iran. Will Washington's vassals continue to provide cover for Washington's crimes, or are some of the Europeans beginning to understand that the risks they assume for Washington exceed the money that Washington pays them? Where will Russia stand if Washington renews its assault on Iran? Despite the air attacks carried out on its Syrian ally by the US, NATO, and Israel, the Russian government still has not found the decisiveness to sell Syria its S-300 air defense system. Syria intercepted 70% of the US missiles in the last attack using obsolete Soviet-era air defense systems. The S-300 would allow Syria to protect itself from air attack and thus reduce the chance of war resulting from Israeli and US attacks on Syria. Russian indecisiveness combined with the rest of the world's toleration of ongoing US war crimes suggests that more provocations will be orchestrated, that more lawless attacks will take place, and that eventually a fatal conflict will be brewed. Think about it. The British are caught in the Skripal lie. Washington, the British, and the French are caught in the Douma chemical attack lie, and there are no consequences for those governments who orchestrated hoaxes and then used the hoaxes to justify their war crime. How can it be that the American people are undisturbed by their government's 17 years of wars based entirely on blatant lies? How can it be that the American people and the Evangelical churches are unmoved by the millions of innocent peoples in seven countries who have been murdered, maimed, orphaned, and displaced by the profit-driven US military/security complex and by the neoconservative ideology in service to Israel? How can it be that the US media is as effective a propaganda ministry for Washington as the German press was for the Nazis? How can it be that the European, Canadian, and Australian governments and the citizens of these countries are not ashamed of their participation in these never-ending crimes? Where is India's voice? China's? South America's? Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Quicklink Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them. To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here. Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. See original here By Walter Einenkel Daily Kos Staff Parents Of Sandy Hook Children Are Suing Alex Jones (Image by YouTube, Channel: ThinkTank) Details DMCA The other day it was reported that two Sandy Hook families decided to sue InfoWars snake oil salesman Alex Jones for defamation, stemming from his years of attacks on the validity of the murders that took place in Sandy Hook Elementary. Jones's lucrative propaganda war against reality has led to parents of deceased children receiving death threats from very deplorable people. WSHU Public Radio reports that Alex Jones is now saying that the Sandy Hook shooting did happen. "In a YouTube video, Jones said he now believes the shooting really happened, and that the families are being used by the Democratic Party and the news media. Jones invited the parents onto his program for a discussion about guns. "In the past, Jones has repeatedly claimed the shooting was staged and that parents of children who died in the shooting are actors." Alex Jones has stoked the fires of people who believe conspiracy theories that somehow connect a super vast evil conspiracy -- so vampirish and insidious in nature, so cruel and power-hungry -- that instead of actually killing people and covering it up, they pretend to kill people and then cover up that cover up by paying actors to pretend, hundreds and hundreds of "crisis actors," for years and decades after that their loved ones were murdered. They also believe that these shadowy forces are also trafficking in child sex slavery at pizza places; and so while these shadowy forces have the morality not to murder children in order to take away your guns, they don't have the morality to protect children from being systematically raped in order to ... whatever the reason is. People like Alex Jones are the only time I vaguely hope that there is an actual hell. You can watch Jones' weak sauce statement below the fold; but you can watch a supercut of what Jones is pretending he didn't say now right here.